Stirring Up The Assembly (Hebrews 10:24-25) - Worship Service | Modern Translations - Adult Sunday S

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You'll just have to scroll. Here's just how simple it is.

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Josiah, you want to come up? Okay, we're going to utilize the different pianists.

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So, for communion today, Sandy is going to play for communion, and then

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Josiah is going to play for the closing song. So, we may have to adjust the volume a little bit, just so you're aware. Okay.

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Okay. Hearing loss, and yet I will be joyful As woods which mar the chosen one

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Bring many sons to glory Behold the man upon the cross

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My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

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Call out among the scoffers

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It was my sin that held Him there

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Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life

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I know that it is finished

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I will not boast in anything

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No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection

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Why should I gain from His reward?

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I cannot give an answer But this

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I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom

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Yes, actually, yeah, we'll tag on that there at the end. And then, since it's the last, yeah, yeah, so.

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Yeah, we're not repeating it ourselves, but if you want to play it yourself, tag it yourself, then you can vocally, instrumentally.

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But what we may have.

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Well, good morning, everyone. Come on in and find a spot in the sanctuary for the

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Adult Sunday School class. We are in Lesson 15 in your workbook,

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Modern Translations. All right, let's pray as we begin.

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Father, we give our time and attention to You this morning. We are grateful for this place that we can gather and for the freedom to do so.

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We are thankful that You've called us here and that You've given us this time and this day. We pray that we may use it wisely and that You would keep our hearts and minds attentive to Your Word, help us to think clearly, to learn much today, and that this time would be spiritually fruitful for us.

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We pray in Christ's name, amen. All right, we're in Lesson 15, Modern Translations. This is the last lesson that I'm going to be teaching in this series on God Wrote a

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Book. There are actually two other lessons that I have that are kind of along this same vein.

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One of them is about the textual variant at the end of Mark's gospel, the long ending of Mark, verses 9 through 20.

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And the textual transmission of that and where that appears and whether that is legitimate or not. And then

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I have a lesson on the other textual variant, the other large textual variant, which is the woman caught in adultery in John 7,

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I think it's verse 53 through 8, verse 11 or 12, somewhere in there. Those are the two longest textual variants in the

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New Testament. There are some other ones, but those are the two big ones, the main ones. And so every time you read through your

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Bible, you see that footnote that says, most manuscripts do not have this or most manuscript families do not contain this section.

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So you always wonder, is that scripture or not? How should I treat that? How should I view it? So I have a lesson on each one of those. And in the months ahead, if I have time and there's an opportunity for me to jump into adult

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Sunday school class and we'll end up covering one of those textual variants. Oftentimes I have the opportunity when

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Cornell's out of town and Jess can't make it for some reason or some physical malady strikes somebody else who was supposed to teach, then

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I get called upon sort of last minute. And instead of doing a Q &A, I'll just grab one of those lessons and teach that.

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But this will be the end officially of the God Wrote a Book series of lessons. So modern translations.

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I mentioned a couple of weeks ago or a couple of lessons ago that in the English language, there are about 350

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English translations of the Bible, 350. Now I think that that would probably, in order to get a very generous figure like that, that would probably include both revisions as well as paraphrases.

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Paraphrases are different than translations. So what we're covering today is what makes a paraphrase a paraphrase, what makes a translation a translation, what is a good translation, what is a bad translation, what are the translations to stay away from.

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So we're gonna cover all of that material as well as some of the pluses and minuses, the positives and the negatives with various English translations.

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Mostly we're just gonna be focusing on the most popular ones and some of the most recent ones. So let's talk about, first of all, translations, revisions, and paraphrases.

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And we're gonna revisit some of this a little bit later on, but I wanna give you a few definitions. Translation. Translation translates from the

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Greek and the Hebrew texts, attempting to give the meaning of the words to the nearest equivalent English words.

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Now there are issues that come up with this, but if you were trying to write that down, I'll give it to you again. It translates from the

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Greek and Hebrew texts, attempting to give the meaning of the words of those texts in the nearest equivalent

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English words. So it's just a translation from the original documents, or the copies, we should say, of the original documents into whatever language it is that we're speaking.

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We're talking about the English translations today. A revision is a little bit different. A revision is based upon an existing translation, and the revisors may consult the

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Greek and the Hebrew texts in an attempt to clarify, to improve, or to tighten up an already existing translation.

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So there are translations which go from Greek and Hebrew right into English. A revision takes a translation, and usually years, decades later, they try and take that translation and they try and clean it up and make it tighter, make it better, and they consult the

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Greek and Hebrew texts in an attempt to do that. And then third is a paraphrase, and a paraphrase attempts to convey meaning rather than the words of the original authors.

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Paraphrase attempts to convey meaning, and so it translates really the thoughts rather than the words themselves.

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So a paraphrase really takes an idea of the text and tries to put the idea in the nearest

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English equivalent. Sometimes using a paragraph where a sentence will do, sometimes adding words to it in order to really expand the meaning of it.

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So a paraphrase plays very fast and loose with the meaning of Scripture, and oftentimes, in fact, most times, a paraphrase is not based upon the

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Greek or the Hebrew texts of the Scriptures, it's based upon an English translation. So they will take an

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English translation and expand upon that to try and make it more flowery and more readable and sort of add to it a little bit, kind of so you can catch sort of the flow of it and the meaning of it.

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That's the idea behind a paraphrase. All right? There are two different types of translation.

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This is number two. There are two different types of translation. You cannot simply take a

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Greek... Translation doesn't work the way that many of us think that it works, where you have the

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Greek text, and you take a Greek word, and you say, what's the English equivalent of this word? And you take that word and you write that down, and then you take the next word in the

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Greek and you write that word in English. You don't just take a word and find a synonym in English and just translate it word for word for word like that, going through.

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That's not how translations work. I wish it worked that way, but it doesn't. Because you know and understand that oftentimes a word can have radically different meanings in different contexts.

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Right? The word trunk, for instance. I use this one commonly. The word trunk can mean a number of different things.

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It could be the trunk of a tree. It could be a trunk that you put your clothes in. It could be the trunk of a car. It could be the trunk of a utility line. Right? So the word trunk has all kinds of different meanings depending on the context in which it is used.

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So it is impossible to just simply take a word and find an English equivalent and say that's where it's going to do a word for word translation.

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You can't do that. Translations don't work that way. Languages don't work that way. And so there are two types of translations.

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Since language involves the use of grammar and vocabulary, syntax, and not one but two different languages that you're studying, there are two different ways of translating

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Scripture. And these are letter C here. First, there is what we call formal equivalency, and then there is what we call dynamic equivalency.

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And here's the difficulty of rendering languages in translation.

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Let me give you an illustration. In the French, let me give you a French phrase, and then I'm going to translate it into English.

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The French phrase, je le capharde. Does anybody else besides me speak French here? No? You do?

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No, we do. Okay. We do, yeah. I don't speak French. Je le capharde.

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Anybody know what that means in French? It means, I have the cockroach. I have the cockroach.

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Now, if you just translated that literally, this is a literal equivalency, a formal equivalency.

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If you just translate it literally, it means, I have the cockroach. But if you want to know what it means in the

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English equivalent, the meaning is, I'm depressed. I'm depressed. Now, you say, what does a cockroach have to do with being depressed?

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I don't know. We take our phrase, he's a little down in the mouth, a little down in the mouth, right?

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If you take that and you try and translate that into another culture, into another language, maybe even another time, they would say, how is somebody down in the mouth?

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That wouldn't make any sense to them, right? So you can't just take a word -for -word translation and catch necessarily the meaning of that in the context of the language in which that phrase was used.

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Let me give you another one, this one from the German language. I'm going to try this one, Angelica. So I'm not asking you to translate this, but if you need to correct the pronunciation of this in any way, feel free.

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Okay, here's the German phrase. Morgenstund hat gulden Mund. How did

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I do? I did well? Okay, don't translate it for me. Okay, does anybody here, other than Angelica and is

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Andrea in here? No, Andrea's not here. Know what that means? Morgenstund hat gulden

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Mund. It means the morning hours have gold in their mouths. That make sense to you?

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It does, thank you. Angelica says yes. But if I were to say, the early bird gets the worm, that would be an

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English equivalent of that. The morning hours have gold in their mouths. The early bird gets the worm.

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So you can't just take a word -for -word equivalency, that would be formal equivalency, and dynamic equivalency would be trying to catch the meaning of that phrase in its equivalent in the language that you're addressing, you're talking about, you're translating into.

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Okay, so there is formal equivalency and dynamic equivalency. A formal equivalency is a word -for -word translation, a word -for -word translation.

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Dynamic equivalency is more of a meaning -for -meaning translation. So formal equivalency is word -for -word, dynamic equivalency is meaning -for -meaning.

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So a formal equivalency is I have the cockroach and morning hours have gold in their mouths. Dynamic equivalency would be

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I'm depressed and the early bird gets the worm. Let me give you a scriptural example of this.

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In Luke 9 .44, in the King James Version, this is a formal equivalency, we read, let these sayings sink deep into your ears.

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The New American Standard, Luke 9 .44, let these words sink into your ears. The NIV is more of a dynamic equivalency and it reads listen carefully to what

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I'm about to tell you. You see the difference between that? Let these words sink deep into your ears.

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Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. So one of those is a formal equivalency where it's more strictly kind of trying to capture the word -for -word essence of a phrase.

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Dynamic equivalency tries to stay faithful to the word -for -word meaning of that but also tries to capture the meaning of it even if they have to sort of dip into a little bit more flowery and less formal equivalency translation.

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Does that make sense? A formal equivalency and a dynamic equivalency. Now, translators have a difficulty sticking with one or the other of those translation methodologies.

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It is impossible, impossible to strictly translate.

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Think of it on a spectrum. It is impossible to strictly translate something word -for -word. It cannot be done.

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You have to translate. In the Greek language, word order is far less essential than it is in English.

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In the English, Bob hit the ball is different than the ball hit Bob. It's all four of the same words in English.

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But the word order, it tells you the case, it tells you the noun, what the verb is, what the direct object of that verb is.

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All of that's conveyed in word order. In Greek, it's not. It's not as significant as it is in English.

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You might have a Greek word order that would make no sense at all if you translated that just word -for -word into English.

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No translation is able to hold to a strictly formal equivalency translation. Neither are you able to be faithful to Scripture and hold to a dynamic equivalency of translation.

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Every translation is going to fall somewhere on this spectrum, and every translation or translation committee is going to have to balance between leaning towards being word -for -word as well as trying to capture the meaning of it.

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Does all that make sense to you? Okay, so formal equivalency, dynamic equivalency, and the inability to stick to one approach.

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So, a literal translation of Genesis 33, verse 14. Now, this is the account of Jacob meeting

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Esau, and Esau says, Hey, why don't you and your folks come join me? After they had reunited there, after the conflict, they had reunited.

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And you remember Jacob had sent his wives and his children ahead of him in offerings for Esau, and then finally when they saw each other, there was this sort of reconciliation between those two brothers, and then

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Esau said, Why don't you come to Seir and join us? Well, Jacob says this, Genesis 33, verse 14. Now, this is a word -for -word translation of Genesis 33, verse 14.

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As for me, let me lead my gentleness to the foot of the business, which is to my face, and to the foot of the children, that I shall come to see my

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Lord to Seir. Yeah, I'll read it again just in case you're wondering, what did

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I miss in that? Did he leave out any words? No, here it is again. As for me, let me lead my gentleness to the foot of the business, which is to my face, and to the foot of the children, that I shall come to my

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Lord to Seir. Now, the NASB translates it this way. Please let my Lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children until I come to my

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Lord at Seir. Radically different, right? Now, the NASB, which is more formal equivalence than dynamic equivalence, that's the

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NASB translation. If the NASB had just translated it word -for -word, it wouldn't have made any sense. You'd never be able to read through that and have any idea what

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Jacob was talking about. But they had to go way over into the dynamic equivalent side of that to try and capture the sense of what

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Jacob meant by all of those Hebrew phrases that he was using. So every translation tries to strike a balance between translating literal words and literal meanings, and sometimes interpretation comes to play in here.

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Sometimes interpretation comes to play. Sometimes the translator has to, and if you...

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And let me finish this sentence before I get into an illustration. Sometimes the translator has to read and exegete the text and say, what is the author talking about?

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What is he meaning? What is the point here? How does this fit into the flow of the argument of the whole book so that he might know exactly how to translate that phrase according to the intended meaning of the author and the understood meaning of the original audience?

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So sometimes a translator has to be a theologian, an exegete, he has to be somebody who can faithfully handle scripture and get the understanding and the meaning of the text and be able to do so so that he can translate faithfully because every translation requires interpretation.

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You need to know this when you read an English translation. Every translation that you have here, no matter what it is, every one of them is gonna require some interpretive judgment calls along the way.

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Okay, any questions here before we get into the different translations? Oh, and if you want a fascinating sort of side education on this, there's,

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I think, two, maybe three interviews that I did with Gordon and Nancy Hunt. They're the family that attends Kootenai here, the retired missionaries.

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And Gordy and Nancy were on the mission field translating the New Testament into the Monhoe language.

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They spent seven years just learning, trying to learn the language, the spoken language of the Monhoe people. Then they had to create a written alphabet and then they had to create written words for them and then teach them how to read it while they were translating scripture into their own language.

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So I think it was three hours of interviews that I did with Gordy and Nancy and talked about the translation process and the difficulties and the challenges of doing that.

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He would be, listen to those interviews. It's fascinating, that family. All right, any questions before I get into the different, evaluating the different translations?

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Okay, you understand the difference between formal equivalency and dynamic equivalency? Now we're gonna talk about different translations that are somewhere on this spectrum.

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Let's begin with the King James Version. I'm gonna give you some of the strengths and weaknesses of each of these translations.

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Now what might be strengths to me might be weaknesses to somebody else. What might be a weakness, a perceived weakness that I would see in the translation might be to somebody else a strength.

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But here's my evaluation of some of the more popular translations. First of all, the positives of the King James Translation.

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The King James is a fairly good literal translation of scripture. It is more formal equivalency. The King James is more formal equivalency.

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It's widely used and has been very influential throughout church history and I think that you saw that over the course of those last two lessons that we taught on this subject as we talked about the history of the

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English translation. It is an accurate translation. It has nice Shakespearean prose, beautiful language.

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It does have an authoritative sort of God has spoken feel to the King James. When you read the King James, it sounds otherworldly because in many ways it is otherworldly.

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It comes from a different world that is different than ours and the language sort of bears that out.

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The language bears out a different style. It's a different syntax almost, a different feel to the

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King James. Those are some of the positives of that. Some of the negatives of the King James Translation.

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The King James does not take advantage of the wealth of textual information that we have in the text other than the textus receptus or the received text.

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The King James Translation comes from Erasmus' Greek text produced from five or six different textual sources.

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We have hundreds and thousands of textual sources now to compare and contrast. The textual family that the

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King James Translates from is a very narrow field of the textual tradition. They didn't have the wealth of information that we have today.

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Not only just the wealth of text that are available to us today but also the wealth of understanding of those ancient languages, the culture of the time and the different idioms that were used in that.

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There's so much that we have learned about Greek and Hebrew language, syntax and grammar since the translation of the

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King James Translation. There's so much more we have learned from our study of ancient manuscripts that the King James Translators did not have access to.

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The King James has some wording that simply does not mean anything to the modern reader. There are passages,

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I shouldn't say passages, there are phrases and wordings of the King James that mean nothing to the modern reader. And the point of having the

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Bible in your own language is so that you can understand the text of Scripture. This is what the King James Translators themselves were going after when they made the

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King James Translation. They wanted to put the Bible in the tongue of the English speaking people so that they could read and understand

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Scripture in their own language. And the fact is that language has changed since the King James was translated and the

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King James has not done very well in keeping up with the changes in modern English language. And by the way,

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I just remind you the King James Translators did not see themselves as producing the final and full and inspired English translation of Scripture.

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They didn't. In the preface to one of their revisions of the King James Translation, they actually wrote in the preface that they knew that more translations would come and they welcomed improvements to the 1611 translation of the

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King James Bible. Because they knew the goal was to be clear and faithful to the text. That was what they were trying to do.

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And they knew that others would come along. More information would come to light. And that would need to be revised and tightened up a little bit.

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So they were open to that. The King James contains some obscure or misleading words.

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Now some of these words might... Maybe you use this every day. I don't. How be it? Holden, peradventure, because that, for that, thee, thou, thy, thine.

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We don't speak like that. Now that doesn't mean that you can't speak like that. I'm just saying that none of you here do.

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I know this because I've had conversations with pretty much everybody in this room. So I know that you don't use that language. Unless you're a lawyer, you might use how be it in your average day -to -day doings.

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The King James also contains words that mean something different today than they did in King James' day.

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The King James words uses the word allege where it should translate it as prove.

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See, allege meant something different 500 years ago than it does today. You allege something, that means you're doing what?

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Does that mean you're proving it? It just means you're alleging it. Right? That's why we talk about alleged murderers.

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That doesn't mean he's a proved murderer. So that word has changed meaning in the last 500 years. Communicate is used for the word share.

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Suffer is used for allow. Suffer the little children to come unto me. When I was reading the

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King James translation, I read that and I don't know why suffering children. I don't know what that has to do with coming unto Jesus.

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Allow is used for the word approve. Let instead of hinder. Let something happen instead of hindering something.

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Let and hinder. Those are opposites. That language has changed in the last 500 years.

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Prevent instead of precede. And conversation is used instead of conduct. Much of the grammar of the

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King James is outdated and inappropriate. And remember that the goal of the King James was to have a

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Bible translation in the English language that everybody could understand. The King James also contains a few errors of translation.

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These errors of translation are due to the fact that today we know more about the language and the meaning and the usage of these words than they did 500 years ago.

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Mark 6 20 in the King James says, For Herod feared John knowing that he was a just man and a holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly.

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Well the NASB translates that kept him safe or protected him. The New King James translates it protected him.

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The New King James improved that translation. Right? Observed him. You observe somebody. You observe

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John. Herod feared John so he observed him and he protected him or kept him safe. 1 Thessalonians 5 22

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Abstain from all appearance of evil. The word appearance is not a good translation of that. That's a mistranslation.

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It should be every form of evil, kind of evil, but not appearance of evil. And then the King James includes some misleading translations.

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Acts 17 verses 19 and 22. Those two verses use the word Areopagus and the word

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Mars Hill of the exact same word. It's translated in two different ways. Areopagus and Mars Hill.

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Is that clear to you? That's something that could be improved in the King James. Matthew 25 46 uses the word everlasting and eternal for the exact same

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Greek word which has no distinction in those two words. The King James in Matthew 27 verse 9 16 verse 14 and 2 verse 4 uses the terms the words

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Jeremiah, Jeremias and Jeremy to refer to one Old Testament prophet,

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Jeremiah. It translates his name three different ways. That would almost lead one who didn't know better to suspect that either three people wrote the book of Jeremiah or that Jeremiah had three different names.

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So those are some of the negatives of the King James translation. Now, again, King James is more formal equivalency.

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It is an older translation. There are certain positives about it. It's not a bad translation. You're not going to hell if you read the King James.

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You're not going to hell if you study the King James. None of that. But we have to be aware that there are weaknesses particularly with older translations.

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These weaknesses come up. Yes, Peter. Yeah, let me address that real quick.

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The question is what about the King James only claims that the King James translation was and they would claim this almost a re -inspiration of Scripture?

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There are some extreme King James only advocates who would say that in 1611 God was basically correcting the

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Greek and Hebrew texts and re -inspiring Scripture. And so there are some King James only advocates not all but some of them who would say that the

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King James translation needs to be used to correct our understanding of Greek and Hebrew texts. I'll give it just a second.

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Right. Maybe he's a King James only. He doesn't like me. Had enough of this. See, there are some

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King James only advocates who would suggest that the King James translation should be used to correct the Greek and the Hebrew. If the

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Greek and the Hebrew differ from the King James that needs to be corrected not the King James. That's obviously a very extreme camp.

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There's no evidence and no reason whatsoever to believe that the

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King James translation is a re -inspiration of the text in that way. It was a translation. The translators did not see themselves that way as re -inspired agents of Scripture and it is simply an abuse of Scripture to suggest that anything that Scripture teaches that the

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King James translation is the only English inspired version. I have a book coming written by a friend

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Fred Butler who works at Grace to You. He wrote a book called King James No. What's it called? King James Conspiracies.

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No. I should know this. I did the formatting for him on the inside and helped him get it self -published just this last year but I was hoping it would be here by today and it hasn't.

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I think it's coming this next week but those will be available out in the foyer and it kind of deals with basically six of the arguments that King James only advocates use.

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Yes. Royal Deception The Conspiracies The Conspiracies Against God's Word and so he came out of the

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King James only movement and he wrote a book basically it's a very good primer dealing with some of those arguments and fallacious reasoning of King James only advocates.

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Alright now The New King James The New King James The New King James is a 1982 revision of the

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King James translation so again now we're talking about revisions right? King James is a translation The New King James is a revision.

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Here are some of the positives. The New King James attempted to clean up some of the faults of the King James and tried to keep the original

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King James wording and yet be modern so it really tries to strike a balance between the authoritative kind of flowery

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Elizabethan Shakespearean language feeling as well as trying to be a little bit more modern and more readable.

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That was the balance that they were trying to strike. The New King James is committed to a more formal equivalence than dynamic equivalence and it improved some of the mistranslations of the

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King James but lost some of the archaic words the these, the this, the those, etc. and then all of the pronouns in the

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New King James those were the pronouns relating to God.

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I don't know if are those capitalized? Anybody have a New King James translation? Anybody use the New King James? Are the pronouns to God and Christ capitalized in the

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Holy Spirit? I think so. Okay. Alright so here's the negatives of the New King James.

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It is a revision and not a translation and the reliance upon the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, the wealth of it is not there.

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Now extreme King James only advocates will say that the New King James is nothing but another perversion of God's Word. So just because they use the

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King James in the title of the New King James does not in any way woe King James only advocates from attacking the

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New King James. They would see it as a watered down liberalized version of God's Word a perversion, another perversion.

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There is some awkward and old school language in the New King James that was retained in like manner and did not heed them fruit of your womb etc.

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Some of those kinds of phrases that were part of the King James some of those came over into the New King James and the

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New King James did not clean up every fault of the King James but it was an attempt to make more modern and I think that the

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New King James did what it was intending to do which was to clean up some of the issues with the King James make it more modern but also keep that sort of original feel of the

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King James language to some extent. But again you can't yes they are capitalized okay and so the

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New King James tries to strike that balance and I think that they did a good job of doing that. Alright the

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New International Version published in 1978 here are some of the positives of all the modern versions the

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NIV is the most widely used and accepted. Now I would say that that is a positive in the sense that it is a widely used translation of Scripture that is one of the things that the

39:05

NIV has going for it though I'm not a fan of the NIV and I would stay away from the

39:10

NIV. It is very readable and it is very clear but the NIV is on the dynamic equivalency side of the spectrum way over on the dynamic equivalency side of the spectrum and they will sacrifice a word for word meaning or a word for word translation in order to be more readable at times and that is one of the negatives.

39:32

Sometimes the NIV relies too heavily on the word so for instance in Philippians 3 verse 2 where Paul says beware of the false prophets beware of the dogs beware of the circumcision he uses the term beware three times there but the

39:46

NIV in order to make it more readable just says beware of the dogs the evildoers and the circumcision or something like that it cuts out two of the references to beware.

39:55

Well if I'm reading the Scripture I don't like that. I don't want translators not reflecting what's in the text. If Paul says beware three times

40:02

I want it however unreadable it might be I want to see it in my Bible three times. So because the

40:08

NIV errs on the side of a formal dynamic equivalency sometimes trying to capture the meaning even if it means not necessarily recognizing the presence of certain words there it will err on that side and I think that that is one of the negatives of it.

40:21

That's why I don't recommend it. I don't use it. The NIV also breaks up some of the longer sentences into shorter sentences and that might make it more readable more digestible to the

40:32

English speaking person but I don't I don't like that judgment called by the translators to break up the sentences into shorter sentences and sometimes they sacrifice meaning in the text for readability in the text.

40:47

That's one of the errors of the NIV. Yes, Thomas. Yeah, I knew

40:59

I was hoping somebody to bring this up actually because I was sitting here as I was saying and I was thinking should I bring this up or maybe if nobody notices that I won't bring it up.

41:06

So here's the question. Is in the original Greek language there is no punctuation in Greek? So if there's no punctuation in Greek then how can you fault the

41:13

NIV for breaking up longer sentences? Well, just because there was no punctuation in Greek doesn't mean they didn't have sentences. So though the language the writing of the language wouldn't have included a period there was obviously sentence structure in the

41:25

Greek language that you recognize. We mark that sentence structure with punctuation to highlight that whereas as for instance in Paul's in the first chapter of the book of Ephesians verses 1 through is it 11 or 14 is all one sentence.

41:41

It's one long run try it again it's one long run on sentence there we go it's one sentence in the

41:49

Greek. Well, you can recognize that that's one sentence and put semicolons or leave out punctuation or however it is but I prefer to see that in my

41:58

English translation. I don't want it broken up into four different sentences or even broken up into paragraphs. I don't like it being broken up into paragraphs.

42:06

Alright? And one warning about the NIV this happened back in 19 I think it was 95 or 96 the

42:12

NIV publishers tried to come out with the T -NIV today's NIV and that was a huge bomb because they were trying to make the translation gender inclusive and get rid of the gender exclusive language like he and him and brethren and things like that and make it more gender neutral and of course that was met with resistance back then and that push is still on today there are translations that still try and do that today and back when

42:37

I designed this that was sort of a new when I designed this series this study that was sort of a new thing going on.

42:43

So you need to be aware of that. Avoid anything that tries to downplay the gender gendered nature of the language of scripture.

42:54

Yeah. Yeah. So the question is the fact that somebody tried to do this with a gender neutral translation indicates there are decision makers in charge of these translations.

43:21

Who are those people? And for most of the translations the names of the translation committee are openly revealed.

43:29

They're not held secret. You do have to be aware of who is in charge of the translations and what influences that and who is affecting that.

43:37

I think that plays into it. Thankfully most of our modern translations at least all the ones that I'm dealing with here are translations by committees so that you have some oversight and revision of that.

43:46

But it's true once you have somebody who's making that decision to translate scripture and we're going to allow culture or the political environment of the day to affect how we're translating scripture then that's a non -starter.

44:02

Yeah, many of them do. I'm not sure who publishes the NIV. I think Zondervan publishes the NIV. Yes. Good.

44:55

So the publishers make that call. The publishers make that call. Who's going to be on that because a lot of it is publisher driven. Yeah, do you have a question

45:01

Peter? You just want me to repeat that. Yeah, Zondervan for the NIV. Okay, number four is the

45:08

NASB. This is the Bible that I preach from and have since 2002. Before I changed to the

45:14

NASB I was preaching in the New King James and before I was preaching in the New King James I was preaching from the Old King James.

45:19

So there was a time in my life when I was a King James only advocate. I believed that the NIV was a liberal version and nearly inspired version and only perverts, pedophiles and apostates preached out of the

45:30

NIV and I don't of course believe that anymore. I was eventually frustrated by the language of the

45:36

King James and my own inability to understand it. If I can't understand the text then I can't explain the text to anybody else so I switched over to the

45:42

New King James and I got tired of correcting some of the translation issues in the New King James so I switched over to the

45:47

NASB. The NASB that I preach out of is not the NASB published in the 1970s, sorry 1963

45:53

I think is when the first, when the New Testament was published to the NASB. 1971, 70 or 71 is when the entire

46:01

Bible was published. In 1995 they did an update to the NASB and that update capitalized the pronouns that refer to God and got rid of some of the old archaic language the these and the thous etc that the old

46:14

NAS had. So here are some of the positives of the NASB and I'm going to make a little bit of the case for this and then

46:20

I'm going to make a case for two other translations that I think are of equal or better value.

46:27

First, the NASB is the product of 58 scholars and they were committed to being as literal in their translation as possible without sacrificing meaning and I think that the

46:37

NASB did quite well on that. So the King James and the New King James over here on the formal equivalency, NIV over here on the dynamic equivalency side of it, the

46:45

NASB is over on the formal equivalency side, it is more word -for -word. I think that they did a good job of striking a balance between being formally equivalent and yet capturing meaning and trying to get a good readable translation.

46:59

I think the NASB accomplishes that. Everything the New King James tried to do, everything the NIV claimed it was trying to do,

47:04

I think that the NASB particularly the 1995 update does that very well. They used an eclectic text, which means that they were using all of the evidences, all of the manuscript families, the discoveries, all of that comes into play for that.

47:17

They're not just Textus Receptus or just Alexandrian or just the Vaticanus manuscripts. They're not narrowing the field and they take into consideration all of the various textual families and texts that have been discovered.

47:28

Their punctuation and paragraphs have been changed to clarify the meaning of the passage which can be helpful. The personal pronouns referring to deity are capitalized,

47:36

I mentioned that, and this involves some interpretive judgments. One of them is coming up in Hebrews chapter 10 in this warning passage, in the warning passage of the apostate where it talks about God judging the one who walks away and considers as nothing the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified.

47:52

Who does the he refer to there? Well, if it refers to, if it's lowercase h and refers to the apostate then it means that you can lose your salvation.

48:00

But if it's uppercase h and refers to Christ being sanctified by the blood of the covenant then it means you can't lose your salvation.

48:07

So, obviously, how you translate that pronoun he is going to play into your theological construct and your understanding of that whole warning passage.

48:17

Words that are added that are not in the original but are added in the English to make it readable and to clarify, those were put in italics.

48:26

And the thing I like about the NASB is they are not afraid to be word for word literal even if it means that the phrasing is awkward and they are not

48:32

The other thing I like about the NASB is that they are not afraid to use theological words like propitiation, justification, sanctification, etc.

48:41

And there is a dignity to the language of the NASB that I like. I don't think it is so modern that it feels like you are just, you know, speaking

48:49

Eubonics down in south central LA but at the same time it's not so archaic that you feel like you are having a conversation with Shakespeare.

48:55

I think the NASB kind of strikes a good balance between those two extremes. So, here are the negatives.

49:02

There are none. No, I'm just kidding. I don't always like paragraph divisions in my translations.

49:07

I don't always like that because sometimes just like chapter divisions they are not always helpful. Sometimes chapter divisions are helpful.

49:14

Sometimes verse divisions are helpful. Sometimes they are not. But when we break the passage up into paragraphs we are breaking it up.

49:19

We are trained to read paragraphs in terms of unit of thought. So, sometimes the paragraph divisions are not helpful.

49:25

That's the translators putting a paragraph division in there. Sometimes it's accurate. Sometimes it's not.

49:30

And we have to be aware of that when we are studying Scripture. But that objection, I think, could be made of a lot of other translations, modern translations as well.

49:37

The King James and the New King James just divide it up into verse. Each verse begins at the beginning of the head of the column, the left -hand side of the column, and in the middle of the sentence it will just break off and go to the next verse.

49:47

It doesn't try and group the words into units of thought. Sometimes in the

49:52

NASB a bad translation or a slightly inadequate translation, which we are going to have today in the message today, there's a word that we are dealing with in the text today that I think could be a little bit stronger in the

50:02

NASB, would be a little bit better. There are sometimes bad translations that persist in the

50:07

NASB. I've had to correct some of those or mention some of those we've gone through Hebrews, and it's not like I never come across something where I say

50:14

I think this would be translated better this way. One such example is 2 Timothy 3 .16, which uses the word inspired.

50:20

I wish the NASB would get rid of that word inspired. It doesn't mean inspired in the sense that we talk about inspired. It means

50:25

God -breathed. And ironically, the NIV uses the term God -breathed. It's the dynamic equivalency of it.

50:31

It uses the term God -breathed. That's a formal equivalent translation of Theonoustos. So I wish the

50:37

NASB would follow suit. And I have found some areas in the NASB that have needed to be corrected.

50:45

Overall, I think, I said at the time that I wrote this little series of lessons, I think it was the most accurate translation available, and it just is.

50:54

I think it is more accurate. I'd be willing to die for this. It is more accurate than the King James, the New King James, or the

51:00

NIV, the NASB. Now, let me talk about two others, because there are two other very good translations that have come out since I originally wrote out the notes for this.

51:13

So one of them is the ESV, the English Standard Version. The benefit of this is that it's free. It's not a published translation that is controlled by the

51:21

Lockman Foundation, which publishes the NASB, or Zondervan, which publishes the

51:26

NIV. It is a free translation. It's available. It's wide. It's very liked and loved in Reformed circles or Calvinistic circles, rightly so because it's a very good translation that is not afraid of getting into some of those areas of theology when it translates the text, and I think that that's a good thing.

51:45

The ESV is more formal equivalency, and it stays away from dynamic equivalency.

51:50

The language is a little bit more modern than the NASB, so it's a little bit more spoken English like we speak it, but it is a very good formal equivalency translation, and if I were preaching the

52:02

New King James, if the ESV had been available in 2002 when I went from New King James to NASB, I would have gladly jumped from the

52:08

New King James to the ESV, but I'm on this road right now, and it's too late in the game.

52:13

I've got more years behind me than I do ahead of me probably, so I'm not changing any time soon from the

52:18

NASB to the ESV, but I do often consult. Almost every week I consult the ESV just because I want to see how the

52:25

ESV puts it, and sometimes it will highlight things that need to be addressed in the preaching or the handling of the text in the way that they will translate something.

52:37

Then, just coming out this last March, is the LSB. This is the Legacy Standard Bible. Now, I'm going to spend a couple of moments.

52:44

I'm going to read to you a couple of short passages out of this so you can see how this reads. The LSB, the

52:50

Legacy Standard, is the product of Master St. Paul's Seminary down in Southern California. This is

52:56

John MacArthur, Grace Community Church, the seminary that they oversee. This is the product of Master's Seminary.

53:01

It is the Lachman Foundation, who owns the rights to the NASB, gave to Master's Seminary the ability and the right to their text to create and update a revision of the

53:13

NASB. Well, when Master's Seminary got that authorization from the

53:19

Lachman Foundation to do that with the NASB, they had a couple of things in mind that they wanted to do with this new translation.

53:26

One of them, of course, was to tighten up and make the NASB better because MacArthur's preached out of the NASB for years.

53:31

That's his preferred translation, so he wanted a translation that was going to kind of read the same and be as a formal equivalency translation, be very readable, but also improve it in a couple of very specific and intentional ways.

53:43

One of the ways that they improved it, very specifically and intentionally, is in the New Testament, when you come across the word bond -servant or servant, when it is the word do -loss, they translate that consistently as slave.

53:56

That is important. Many English translations, modern English translations, have avoided the term slave because of its political or racial connotations.

54:04

And so the LSB, the Legacy Standard Bible, translates that word as slave, and it does so consistently through the

54:12

New Testament. The other good improvement is the fact that in the New Testament, where the word tongues occurs, speaking of the gift of tongues, they will translate that as languages.

54:22

That is a major thematic improvement because tongues are not just babbling, nonsensical, angelic, incoherent gibberish.

54:30

They were languages, spoken languages. I am speaking in a tongue. It is the English tongue. Earlier I spoke in the

54:37

French tongue. It is the French tongue. After that I spoke in the German tongue. A tongue is a language, so when they translate it as languages, when it is appropriate in the text, then that is a huge improvement.

54:48

Then the other thing is in the Old Testament, the Tetragrammaton, Y -H -W -S, which is the covenant name for God, which we would pronounce

54:55

Yahweh, they actually translate it as Yahweh in the Old Testament. Oftentimes we are used to reading in our

55:01

Old Testament of the Lord doing this, the word of the Lord is pure, etc. The Lord is not a translation of that.

55:09

Yahweh is God's name. When God gave His name to Moses and to Israel, this was His covenant name, and He expected us to know

55:16

His name. So all the way through the Old Testament and the New Testament, we read about the name of God. His name is

55:21

Yahweh. It is not Jehovah. It is Yahweh. The LSB translates that, the

55:26

Lord, as Yahweh, in the Old Testament consistently. Here is the benefit of it. It kind of adds a little bit of flavor to the hearing of the word.

55:38

It strikes the hearer, especially those of us in English who are used to reading Yahweh as the

55:43

Lord, translated in the Old Testament. It adds a little bit of a different, more personal flavor to some of the passages. In my

55:49

Bible reading through the year, I was going through the book of Psalms recently, and I usually do the first 50 in a chunk, and so I was reading through the

55:56

Psalms, and I thought, I'm going to do it in the LSB, because right now they don't have the whole Old Testament, by the way. They have the

56:01

New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. The rest of the Bible, the entire Bible, we published in October. That's the word on the street.

56:07

So probably by the end of the year, at the absolute latest, they'll have the whole Bible out. But I have here the Psalms and the Proverbs. So I'm going to read Psalm 19.

56:13

This is a familiar passage. I'm going to read Psalm 24, which is also a familiar passage. So you can hear how some of the familiar phrases that you're used to just reading as the

56:21

Lord, they'll probably strike you a little bit differently. Psalm 19. For the choir director,

56:26

Psalm of David. The heavens are telling of the glory of God, and the expanse is declaring the work of his hands.

56:32

Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words.

56:37

Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterance is to the end of the world. In them he has placed a tent for the son, which is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber.

56:48

And he has placed a tent as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them.

56:54

And there is nothing hidden from its heat. This is just a description of creation. Verse 7.

57:00

The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple.

57:06

The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.

57:13

The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of Yahweh are true, they are righteous, all together.

57:19

They are more desirable than gold, even more than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

57:25

Moreover, by them your slave is warned. In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors?

57:31

Acquit me of hidden faults and keep back your slave from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me.

57:37

Then I will be blameless and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,

57:45

O Yahweh, my rock and my redeemer. A little bit different, isn't it? You're used to reading the

57:50

Lord, but when you're just reading through an English translation, you read the Lord, it doesn't stand out to you as something other than just a reference to a deity.

57:59

Now the name of God is there in the text for you. It's a little bit different. Psalm 24, another example.

58:08

The earth is Yahweh's as well as its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it.

58:13

For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers, who may ascend into the mountain of Yahweh and who may rise in his holy place.

58:22

He who has innocent hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to worthlessness and has not sworn deceitfully, he shall lift up a blessing from Yahweh and the righteousness from the

58:32

God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face. Pay heed,

58:38

O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in.

58:44

Who is this king of glory? Yahweh, strong and mighty. Yahweh, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads,

58:50

O gates, and lift up yourselves, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. Who is he, this king of glory?

58:55

Yahweh of hosts. He is the king of glory. See, it's a little bit different. And I think that that is a good thing.

59:02

That is a dramatic improvement and a good improvement. Now, we don't, let me get your question in just a second.

59:08

We don't necessarily like that right away when we read it because there's a whole group of Christians who have abused this idea that they think they need to take

59:18

Hebrew sounding words and phrases and bring them in. So, it's not Jesus, it's Yeshua. And they have to do the whole

59:23

Hebrew thing. And they have robbed from us something that is precious. And that is an understanding of the name of God and who he is.

59:33

And so, this I think is a good attempt to try and take some of that back. Yes? Yeah.

59:47

Right. He gave us his name not because he doesn't want us to pronounce it or to use it. He wants us to know him by that name.

59:54

His covenant name. So, it is completely appropriate to approach him in prayer and call him Yahweh. That is his name.

01:00:00

And he said, this is my name. And he gives it to us. Not so that we could never say it, but so that we could know him by it.

01:00:06

It's personal. You and I have an intimate relationship with God. We know his name. He knows us by name. We call him

01:00:12

Yahweh, our God. That is our God. And this will, I think in the New Testament, there will be phrases where there would be places where the name of God, Yahweh, is used of Jesus in the

01:00:23

New Testament. And so when we have an opportunity to read the New Testament in the LSB, it's going to bring some of that out and you're going to see the deed of Christ pop right off the page as it would if you understood the original languages and were able to read the original languages in that way.

01:00:35

Is there another question over here? Yes. Well, Jehovah is an anglicized attempt to do the same thing with the

01:00:48

Tetragrammaton. So, it's not, we would, you wouldn't say Jehovah Yahweh as if they're two different things.

01:00:54

It's just Yahweh. Jehovah is an English attempt to try and add vowel sounds to the Y -H -W -H.

01:01:00

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, so these are paraphrases and this was the next thing

01:01:17

I needed to get to. So, yes. Right.

01:01:26

Do I know anything about the NASB 2020? I do not yet. I know that that is like a parallel attempt because while the, while Master Seminary was working on the

01:01:35

LSB, the NASB, the Lachman Foundation, was also making some recommendations. So, I know that there is an attempt to update that into modern language, but I don't know anything about it.

01:01:48

I haven't read it yet. I haven't seen it. I haven't had a copy of it at all. And I'm not even, I haven't even taken the time really to research what were they trying to accomplish with that update.

01:01:56

So, regarding paraphrases. Now, paraphrases, right, formal equivalency, word for word, dynamic equivalency, thought for thought, and then paraphrases are over here on this side here where they're not really interested in Greek and Hebrew text and being formally equivalent.

01:02:10

They're really interested in just trying to be flowery and, and give you sort of a meaning and an idea of it. Now, there are, there are good paraphrases that try and be very restrictive and then there are paraphrases that don't care anything about theology.

01:02:23

The Living Bible, J .B. Phillips, the Amplified Bible, the Message Bible, the Good News Bible, the Word on the Street Bible, and probably a hundred other ones that will all be paraphrases, but those are probably some of the most well -known examples of a paraphrase.

01:02:35

The positives paraphrases can sometimes help you kind of make a catch the sense of a passage, but I do not recommend studying out of a paraphrase nor would

01:02:43

I recommend that a paraphrase should be part of your daily, normal Bible reading. It should not be.

01:02:49

Just, if you're reading something, the King James, the NIV, I'm not quite sure, reading a paraphrase can kind of help you say, okay, this is this guy's attempt to try and explain a little bit about what that means, and so it can be helpful with that.

01:03:00

Um, Woust, Kenneth Woust has a good paraphrase, paraphrasistic translation of scriptures.

01:03:08

That I think is probably one of the best paraphrases, um, but again, paraphrases are not translations.

01:03:13

They're, they're trying to catch the sense and the ideas behind it, so I, I think it's more, far more of a liberal approach to translating scripture.

01:03:20

I wouldn't even call it a translating scripture because many paraphrases are not based upon Greek or Hebrew at all. They take the English translation and they just expand upon that without consulting the

01:03:29

Greek or the Hebrew at all. Those, I think, are radically dangerous and you need to stay away from them. The message Bible has, has become very politically, um, geared to translating scripture in a way that's politically acceptable.

01:03:41

They downplay some of the passages dealing with homosexuality and certain sins in the message, uh, paraphrase.

01:03:47

Um, the living Bible came out years and years ago. It was the only Bible I had growing up in my home. It was just a living

01:03:53

Bible and once in a while we'd sort of wipe the dust off of it and I would crack it open and read a couple of sentences and put it back away.

01:03:59

Some of the negatives of the, uh, of the paraphrases is meaning is nearly always sacrificed for readability and the difficult, the, the, the paraphrases will show you the interpretation and the biases of the translator.

01:04:15

I use that term translator loosely, the paraphraser. The biases and the theological leanings of the paraphraser will come out really quickly in a paraphrase because oftentimes they are going to steer away from things that might be controversial.

01:04:27

The other things that paraphrases do not do is they, they do not use words that we ought to learn what the meaning of those words are, justification, sanctification, et cetera.

01:04:35

They're theological words that we do well to know the meaning of them and to know how they're used and see them in Scripture and understand them.

01:04:41

We should. And paraphrases will stay away from that because they're not interested in getting into nuances of theology. They're interested in just being a readable sort of assessment of what

01:04:49

Scripture says. Um, you would do better to read J. Vernon McGee's running commentary on Scripture than you would a paraphrase in my opinion.

01:04:56

Peter? The Good News Bible is a paraphrase.

01:05:01

So it's not a translation, it's a paraphrase. Again, having one on your, this is how I would use a paraphrase.

01:05:07

I don't, I can't even tell you the last time that I consulted a paraphrase unless I was trying to critique a paraphrase.

01:05:12

Because I have my NASB, now I have the LSB and I have the ESV and then I have very readable, good language tools that we can use.

01:05:20

There's just no need for me to consult a paraphrase. And I know that some people will say, well I like to use a paraphrase because it just makes

01:05:26

Scripture sort of personal and makes it understandable. Okay, um, look, I don't mean this to sound harsh but let's mature to the point where we can quickly, where you can use a translation.

01:05:38

Stay away from the paraphrases. Get into a good translation, start learning the language, start learning the text of Scripture, you will be well served.

01:05:46

You will not grow in your faith if you are reading, if what you are reading is milk and pabulum, you will not ever get to the point where you can choose steak and potatoes.

01:05:55

You have to, you have to mature past a paraphrase. Do so quickly. Get out of the paraphrase, get into a more formal equivalency translation.

01:06:04

I would recommend the ESV, the LSB, the LSB, or the NASB. 1995 or 2020 update,

01:06:09

I guess. Those would be what I would recommend. Yes? Yeah, that's a good point.

01:06:20

A good study Bible with a good solid commentary would be a good way to wean yourself out of reliance upon a paraphrase. And of course, we give out to all of our high school graduates here the

01:06:28

MacArthur Study Bible. MacArthur Study Bible is available in New King James, in, I think it's in NIV, I think it's in ESV, and I know it's in the

01:06:36

NASB because that's normally what we give to our graduates. Those are good notes. In fact, if you are reading, if you read the text of the

01:06:42

Bible and every footnote and every study note in the MacArthur Study Bible, you'll know more than 99 % of pastors that are alive today and preaching in churches across the country.

01:06:50

And I'm not exaggerating. You will be more theologically trained than most people who stand in pulpits today if you just are familiar with the

01:06:57

MacArthur Study Bible notes. The theology there is great. And I know, I'm certain that the LSB will be available as a

01:07:03

MacArthur Study Bible probably by, probably by the end of next year at the latest. Yes, Peter?

01:07:10

Yeah, the recommended list of Bible translations would be ESV, the

01:07:15

English Standard Version, the NASB 1995 update, and I'm holding off judgment on the 2020 because I haven't seen it, or the

01:07:22

LSB, the Legacy Standard Bible. The Legacy Standard Bible in calf skin, this feels so nice.

01:07:28

And it just smells like God's Word in there. It's available,

01:07:34

New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. Now, to show you how tight this is to the NASB, the passage that I'm preaching on here, the passage reads, identical in the

01:07:52

LASB as it does in the NASB. There's absolutely no difference. It's the exact same passage. I compared those.

01:07:57

So, you're going to see a lot of that. This is going to be an improvement on the NASB. So, this might work its way into my preaching in the years to come, possibly.

01:08:09

All right. Yes, question? We'll come back to real quick. We're way over time, but go ahead. You've been told the 1977 edition of the

01:08:23

NASB is better than the 95 edition. That would probably be a judgment call by people, probably whether they like the language.

01:08:29

The 95 edition got rid of the these and the thous and some of the more archaic language that the earlier NASB had.

01:08:34

So, it might be that somebody who liked that liked the more flowery language. As far as tightening up the usage of it,

01:08:42

I've never, tightening up the translation itself, I don't know that I've ever heard anybody, any scholar make that claim.

01:08:48

That the 95 update was not an improvement in every way. But, I don't own a 1977 edition of it.

01:08:55

It came out in 1963, I think, and the New Testament, or sorry, the full Bible came out in 1970.

01:09:01

So, I don't know if there was a 77 revision of that. I do know that the 95 revision is the one I use. It's the one

01:09:06

I'm most familiar with. Okay? All right. We are done.

01:09:12

That is my last class on this subject. I hope that was beneficial. And, yay.

01:09:18

All right. Okay. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this time that we've had and for the blessings of your grace.

01:09:24

Thank you for your word again and for the fact that we can have one in our own language. What a joy and a blessing that is.

01:09:30

Thank you for the faithful men who have translated your word and the faithful people throughout the ages who have made this possible.

01:09:35

We're grateful for your preserving work and your inspiring work and giving us your word and we pray that it may have its way and its will in our hearts and that we may be continually transformed by it into the image of Christ.

01:09:46

Thank you for your grace again in Christ's name. Amen. The mystery of the cross

01:11:43

I cannot comprehend, The agonies of Calvary, You the perfect Holy Crushed your son, who drank the bitter cup reserved for me.

01:12:07

Your blood has washed away my sin. Jesus, thank you.

01:12:15

The Father's wrath completely satisfied. Jesus, thank you.

01:12:22

One, two, and I'm now seated at your table.

01:12:28

Jesus, thank you. Jesus, thank you.

01:13:56

My soul. I want to live for you.

01:14:08

Love of my soul. I want to live for you.

01:15:45

I'm now seated at your table. Jesus, thank you.

01:16:31

Who has held the oceans in his hand? Who has numbered every grain of sand?

01:16:42

Kings and nations tremble at his voice.

01:16:48

All creation rises to rejoice.

01:16:55

Counsel to the

01:17:12

Lord. Question any of his words.

01:17:21

And teach the one who knows all things. Who can fathom all his wondrous deeds?

01:17:38

Seated on his throne. Come, let us adore him.

01:17:47

Behold the king, the

01:17:56

Lord. Has felt the nails upon his hands.

01:18:19

Bearing all the guilt of sinful men.

01:18:25

God eternal, humble to the grave.

01:18:31

Jesus, savior, risen now to reign.

01:18:37

God eternal, humble to the grave.

01:18:44

Jesus, savior, risen now to reign.

01:18:50

Behold. Seated on his throne.

01:18:58

Come, let us adore him. Seated on his throne.

01:21:56

Oh, great God of highest heaven. Occupy my lowly heart.

01:22:06

Own it all and reign supreme. Conquer every rebel power.

01:22:14

Let no vice or sin remain. That resists your holy war.

01:22:23

You have loved and purchased me. Make me yours forevermore.

01:22:35

I was blinded by my sin. Had no ears to hear your voice.

01:22:44

Did not know your love within. Had no taste for heaven's joys.

01:22:53

Then your spirit gave me life. Opened up your words to me.

01:23:02

Through the gospel of your son. Gave me endless hope.

01:23:09

And help me now to live a life.

01:23:35

That's dependent on your grace. Keep my heart and guard my soul.

01:23:44

From the evils that I face. You are worthy to be praised.

01:23:53

With my every thought and desire.

01:24:02

Glorify your name. Worthy to be praised.

01:24:12

With my every thought and desire.

01:24:20

Glorify your name. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus.

01:24:54

Vast unmeasured, boundless, free. Rolling ocean in its force.

01:25:07

Oh, is the cup feeding on to your glorious rest of us.

01:25:39

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Spread his praise from shore to shore.

01:25:49

How he came to pay our ransom. Through the saving cross he bore.

01:25:59

How he watches o 'er his loved ones.

01:26:05

Those he died to make his own. How for them he's interceding, pleading now.

01:28:23

Good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church. If you would, please stand as we sing this morning, God of Grace and God of Glory.

01:28:35

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

01:28:45

Crown thine ancient church in story. Bring her forth to glorious flower.

01:28:53

Grant us wisdom. Grant us courage. For the facing of disarm.

01:29:02

For the facing of disarm. Lo, the host of evil around us.

01:29:16

Scorned by Christ, assail his ways. Fears and doubts too long have bound us.

01:29:24

Free our hearts to faith and grace. Grant us wisdom.

01:29:31

Grant us courage. For the living of these days.

01:29:37

For the living of these days. Cure thy children's mooring madness.

01:29:50

Bend our pride to thy control. Chain our wanton, selfish gladness.

01:29:59

Rich it beats and poor it's sold. Grant us wisdom.

01:30:05

Grant us courage. Lest we miss thy kingdom's goal. Lest we miss thy kingdom's goal.

01:30:19

Set our feet on lofty places. Gird our lives that they may be.

01:30:29

Armored with all Christ -like graces. In the fight to set men free.

01:30:38

Grant us wisdom. Grant us courage. That we fail not, man, nor thee.

01:30:46

That we fail not, man, nor thee. Stay standing and we're going to sing

01:30:53

Jesus, Your Mercy. Jesus, your mercy is all my being.

01:31:22

I have no defense, my guilt runs too deep. The best of my works pierce your hands and your feet.

01:31:33

Jesus, your mercy is all my being.

01:31:47

Jesus, your mercy is all my hope. The goodness

01:31:53

I claim, the grounds of my hope. Whatever I lack is still what

01:32:00

I need most. Jesus, your mercy is all my hope.

01:32:12

Praise the King who bore my sin. Took my place when

01:32:20

I stood condemned. Oh, how good you've always been to me.

01:32:28

I will sing of your mercy. Jesus, your mercy is all my rest.

01:32:47

When fears weigh me down and enemies press. The comfort

01:32:52

I cling to in life and in death. Jesus, your mercy is all my rest.

01:33:06

Praise the King who bore my sin.

01:33:12

Took my place when I stood condemned. Oh, how good you've always been to me.

01:33:22

I will sing of your mercy. Jesus, your mercy is all my joy.

01:33:50

Forever I'll lift my heart and my voice. To sing of a treasure no power can destroy.

01:34:01

Jesus, your mercy is all my joy.

01:34:07

Praise the King. Praise the King who bore my sin.

01:34:14

Took my place when I stood condemned. Oh, how good you've always been to me.

01:34:25

I will sing. Praise the King who bore my sin.

01:34:33

Took my place when I stood condemned. Oh, how good you've always been to me.

01:34:44

I will sing of your mercy. Praise Lord Jesus, ruler of all and man the

01:35:20

Son. Thee will I cherish.

01:35:27

Thee will I honor. Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

01:35:38

Fairer still the woodlands.

01:35:47

Broken blooming garb of spring.

01:35:55

Jesus is fairer. Jesus is purer.

01:36:04

Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

01:36:11

Beautiful Savior. Lord of the nations.

01:36:19

Son of God and Son of Man.

01:36:28

Glory and honor. Praise adoration.

01:36:36

Now and forevermore. Divine. You may be seated.

01:36:52

Well, you'll notice that something is a little bit different with how we're starting our service, and so I should probably explain what we're doing with that.

01:36:59

You'll notice if you're standing inside the sanctuary or out in the foyer, that one of the very first things that you hear is the majestic -sounding organ music that for the last two weeks has been immortal, invisible,

01:37:08

God only wise. Josh and I were talking about a way to avoid him having to say, hey, if you're out in the foyer, come in and join us for worship, and please stand as we sing and get everybody's attention and call us to worship.

01:37:20

So that anthem or something like that is going to be immortal, invisible, God only wise for a while, but that type of majestic music with the organ that you hear, when you hear that anywhere in this facility, that is your indication that we are

01:37:34

T minus two minutes until we start worship. So please quiet your conversations, dump your coffee, come into the sanctuary, stand or sit, and be prepared to join us in worship.

01:37:47

So when you hear that music, that is our call to worship from now on. So that will be, again, that's the first thing you'll hear, and then after that,

01:37:56

Josh is going to go right into that first song. That avoids us having to interrupt that. So take that opportunity, those two minutes to get in here, to be thinking about the

01:38:05

Lord, preparing your heart, quieting yourself and getting ready, and try not to be rushing up here when

01:38:11

Josh is starting that first song. So that's what the anthem is about, and then also you'll notice a little bit of a different order of service, and that might change up from week to week as well.

01:38:20

There is a graduation meeting today at 12 .15, immediately after the service, or shortly after the service, 12 .15,

01:38:27

depending on how long everything goes today, and that will be in this classroom right back there. Graduates, you are welcome to join your parents as they plan what's going on for you.

01:38:35

You don't need to be there, and if you are a new family here, and this is going to be your church, and you've just showed up in the last couple of weeks or months, and you have somebody who's graduating from high school, and you'd like to participate in that service, that special graduation service, you are welcome to join that, but please make your way into that classroom at 12 .15

01:38:52

so that you can be part of participating in it. And the spring retreat with Phil Johnson on the life and legacy of Charles Spurgeon, that is officially closed.

01:39:01

We've reached capacity for that. And so the women's retreat is still open, not if you're a man and you were hoping to go to the spring retreat.

01:39:09

It's not open for you, but it is open for any ladies who still want to register for the spring retreat. So that registration is still open.

01:39:16

You can still sign up for that. And if you are interested in attending the spring conference with Phil Johnson, then you can still sign up.

01:39:24

You'll be put on a waiting list, and if somebody else cancels or we have a last -minute alteration of some nature, then you'll be informed if you'll be able to come or not.

01:39:32

Turn in your Bibles, please, to the book of Psalms, to Psalm 97. Psalm 97.

01:39:51

Psalm 97. And we'll read the entire Psalm together. And we'll read this, and then I'll ask you to stand with me as we open in prayer.

01:39:59

Psalm 97. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the many islands be glad.

01:40:07

Clouds and thick darkness surround Him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

01:40:13

Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about. His lightnings lit up the world.

01:40:19

The earth saw and trembled. The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the

01:40:24

Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen

01:40:30

His glory. Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, who boast themselves of idols.

01:40:36

Worship Him, all you gods. Zion heard this and was glad, and the daughters of Judah have rejoiced because of your judgments,

01:40:43

O Lord. For You are the Lord most high over all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods.

01:40:49

Hate evil, you who love the Lord, who preserves the souls of His godly ones. He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

01:40:57

Light is sown like seed for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, and give thanks to His holy name.

01:41:05

Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.

01:41:13

Father, You are majestic and holy and righteous and glorious, infinite in all of Your perfections, and Your beauty and Your majesty and Your sovereignty rule over all.

01:41:23

Justice and righteousness are the foundation of Your throne, and all that You do is good and right and just.

01:41:29

And in truth You rule the nations, and in righteousness You rule us. We are grateful for the fact that we can serve such an awesome and glorious and infinite and eternal

01:41:39

God. We thank You that our times are in Your hands, and we know that the time of Your church and the churches around this world, we know that the body of Christ rests under Your care and Your guidance and Your protection now and forevermore.

01:41:53

We thank You that You have called us out of darkness and into light and brought us here to be part of that glorious entity, the body of Christ.

01:42:00

You've also called us out of darkness into light that we may be here and be part of this body of Christ locally.

01:42:06

And we thank You for the joy and the blessing that that is, for this place to meet, the freedom to be here, the joy that our fellowship brings us, the edification and equipping that we receive from Your Word.

01:42:16

We are grateful for all of these graces and blessings, and we thank You for it in the name of Christ. We ask that You would be glorified here through our worship as we sing to You of the affection and praise of our hearts, that You may be honored amongst

01:42:28

Your people and that You would have our lips to give You praise and our hearts be lifted in affection toward You.

01:42:34

May You be all that we think about and all that we are meditating upon this morning. For the glory of Christ our

01:42:39

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

01:43:03

Dressed in righteous faith to hide all the stains below.

01:43:10

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

01:43:16

May we now forgive each other and lay down our stones.

01:43:27

Forgiven, forgiven. Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven.

01:43:38

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

01:43:44

We forsake the feast above for all the crumbs below.

01:43:51

Though You've made us sons and daughters, when You're not the world is slow.

01:43:58

May we find our greatest treasure is in You alone.

01:44:08

Forgiven, forgiven. Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven.

01:44:21

Forgiven, forgiven. Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven.

01:44:45

Forgive us for our shame when we can't release the past.

01:44:51

When we're quick to take the blame, but forget we're free at last.

01:44:58

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

01:45:04

Give us eyes to see each other through Your only Son. Forgiven, forgiven.

01:45:18

Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven.

01:45:25

Forgiven, forgiven. Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven.

01:45:38

In Romans 5 verses 6 through 9 it says, For while we were still weak, at the right time

01:45:46

Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.

01:45:54

But God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

01:46:02

Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

01:46:10

This morning we're going to learn a new song called O Fount of Love. O fount of love, divine outflows from my

01:46:29

Savior's bleeding side, where sinners trade their filthy rags for His righteousness applied.

01:46:41

Mercy cleansing every stain, now rushing o 'er us like a flood.

01:46:52

There the wretched and vilest ones stand adopted through His blood.

01:47:06

Fount of grace to Thee we plead, from the law that set us free.

01:47:14

Once and for all on Calvary's hill, love and justice shall agree.

01:47:25

Praise the Lord, the price is paid, the curse defeated by the

01:47:33

Lamb. We who once were slaves by birth, sons and daughters, now we stand.

01:47:49

O well of joy, it's thine to drink, for my

01:47:56

Lord has conquered death. Bid us forevermore, the ancient foe is laid to rest.

01:48:09

Hallelujah, Christ is King, alive and reigning on the throne.

01:48:17

Our tongues employed with hymns of praise, glory be to God alone.

01:48:28

Hallelujah, Christ is King, alive and reigning on the throne.

01:48:37

Our tongues employed with hymns of praise, glory be to God alone.

01:48:46

Our tongues employed with hymns of praise, glory be to God alone.

01:49:12

Now if you will, please find your place in Hebrews chapter 10, beginning at verse 19.

01:49:19

We're going to read together 19 through verse 25. Hebrews chapter 10, beginning at verse 19.

01:49:31

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which

01:49:37

He inaugurated for us through the veil that is His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

01:49:53

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

01:49:59

And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

01:50:11

Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessing before we begin. Fathers, by Your mercy that we are able to be here, and by Your grace that we have

01:50:19

Your Word, and we now pray that You would extend grace to us in understanding Your Word, that You would illuminate our hearts and our minds by the ministry of the

01:50:27

Holy Spirit, so that we may know and understand Your Word, and how it is that we are to live in light of this

01:50:33

Word, that You would grant us hearts able to hear and ready to obey, that Jesus Christ may be glorified through us and in His church, both now and forever.

01:50:43

We pray in Christ's name. Amen. We are back to the book of Hebrews, and we are in the middle of these exhortations that we find in verses 22 through 25.

01:50:53

The three of them, they all begin with, let us, let us draw near, let us hold fast, and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

01:51:02

And these three exhortations all come as a sort of a summary of the doctrinal section, which has come before this, and the doctrinal section ends with chapter 10, verse 18.

01:51:12

I shouldn't say it ends, but the doctrinal emphasis kind of is drawn to a close there at the end of verse 18.

01:51:17

And though the rest of the book is doctrinal, it is also very heavily practical. And so these three exhortations that sort of follow on the heels of that very deep theology regarding the sacrifice of Christ and His priesthood and all that that means, it introduces us to this later section of the book of Hebrews, which is more practical.

01:51:37

It's filled with applications and exhortations and commands and things that we are to do in light of these great truths.

01:51:44

And we always need to be careful when we say that one portion is doctrinal and one portion is practical, because that can tend to make us think that that which is doctrinal is not practical, and that which is practical is not doctrinal, but that's not true.

01:51:56

So we always need to be careful. There's a theological emphasis in the beginning of the book where he lays out these theological principles, but now for the rest of the book, he's beginning to apply these in some very specific ways for the rest of this book.

01:52:07

And of course, these three exhortations come right before a warning passage that begins in verse 26.

01:52:13

And I just want to draw your attention to this, because as we've mentioned, as I've mentioned previously, the warning passage comes after these exhortations, because these exhortations are to keep us from falling into the trap that the warning passage warns us about, namely apostasy, walking away or falling away or shrinking back to destruction.

01:52:32

And so when we draw near to God and we hold fast to him, our confession, and when we consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, these are all very practical ways to avoid going on and sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth.

01:52:49

And these three exhortations have, as we've noted before, both an individual as well as a corporate dimension. You remember that?

01:52:54

The drawing near to God is something that we do personally and individually as we approach God through the sacrifice of the

01:53:00

Lord Jesus Christ. It is also something that we do corporately as we gather together here as God's people, and we draw near to God as a group, as a body of believers together.

01:53:10

The holding fast is something that we do both individually as well as corporately. There is a holding fast to a common confession, something that all of us hold to.

01:53:19

So this is obviously a corporate activity as well as an individual activity. And this idea of doing these things corporately sort of hangs over the whole passage.

01:53:28

You can see from verse 25 that he specifically addresses not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together as is the habit of some.

01:53:35

And so this idea of an assembly and doing these things as we are gathered together, it casts its shadow over all of these exhortations.

01:53:43

The first two are really things that we do individually, specifically, primarily individually. We draw near personally as well as holding fast.

01:53:51

But there are also things that have a corporate application, a corporate way that we obey those commands. But this third one, to consider how it is that we are to stimulate one another to love and to good deeds, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, obviously the author has in mind here the corporate gathering of believers in which all of these exhortations are obeyed in some measure or another.

01:54:13

So this idea of an assembly and gathering together as people assemble, as we gather together, we're doing these things, drawing near, holding fast, and encouraging one another.

01:54:23

These are all things that find their ultimate expression of obedience in the public, physical gathering together of God's people, known as the church.

01:54:32

Namely, what you are doing here this morning, as well as other gatherings together with God's people.

01:54:38

So here's the outline for verses 24 and 25. As we've looked at each of these three exhortations, draw near, hold fast, the outline was basically we have an exhortation and then we have an explanation of the exhortation.

01:54:50

And we saw that with the first two exhortations. Let us draw near, there's an explanation of it. We are to do so with hearts that are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and a sincere faith.

01:54:59

We are to hold fast to common confession. How is it that we are to do this? Without wavering, steadfast, not bending one way or another.

01:55:06

And then how is it that we are to consider ways in which we are to encourage one another in love and in good deeds?

01:55:12

That's the exhortation. Let us consider how we are to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

01:55:18

That's the exhortation. How is it that we do that? Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the habit of son, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

01:55:27

So there's the exhortation and then the explanation of that exhortation. And then as with the second exhortation, there's a bit of a motivation there at the end.

01:55:35

We are to do this all the more as we see the day drawing near. There is a day drawing near us.

01:55:41

And if it was near back then, it is nearer still today. There is a day drawing near that should motivate us to obey the injunctions that are here in this passage.

01:55:51

Verses 24 and 25. Look again at verse 25. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

01:55:58

Now that's the exhortation. That word consider is the word kata noeo. And you might recognize the

01:56:03

Greek word noeo there, which has to do with the thinking and the mind, the consideration, what goes on in the mind.

01:56:10

Nuos is the word for mind in the Greek. Metanoia, it has also that root word in it, which means it's translated as repentance and has to do with the changing of a mind, a change in the way that you think, which obviously would also affect one's behavior.

01:56:24

That idea of repenting or turning, it affects the way that you think. Metanoia describes that. It's the changing of a mind.

01:56:30

So this word describes considering something or contemplating something. It means to think carefully, to give deliberate, intentional, specific, focused concentration to something.

01:56:42

It means to set your mind on something, to take notice of it, to observe it, to perceive it, to give careful and deliberate consideration to it.

01:56:51

In the NASB, this word variously used in other places in the New Testament, it is translated as notice, observe, look, detect, contemplate, and of course here consider.

01:57:02

So to obey this command, to consider how it is that we are to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, this obviously requires a diligent effort.

01:57:12

It requires an intentional application of our mind that directs itself to the good and the welfare of our fellow believers.

01:57:20

This is not describing the accidental stumbling onto a way that you can encourage somebody. This is describing the deliberate, focused, considered giving attention to how it is that I can show love to somebody.

01:57:34

How is it that I can encourage another person? It's the deliberate, intentional giving of ourselves to this task.

01:57:42

He's not simply saying go to church and wait for an opportunity to sort of fall across your path. He is saying before you go to church, to gather together with the assembly of people, give consideration as to how it is that you can stimulate others to love and to good deeds.

01:57:58

This requires the application of your mind. How can I serve others by motivating them? Now I want you to notice how counter -cultural this is to how most people approach church in our day.

01:58:07

You notice that? Most people in our day approach church as if the church is a service provider. What they think of when they think of going to church is, is the parking convenient?

01:58:18

Are the facilities nice? Are the facilities new? Do I like the sound? Do I like the arrangement of the chairs?

01:58:25

Does it have all of the ministries and the functions? Is there something there for my toddler? Is there something there for my teenager?

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Is there something there for my great aunt? Does it have the services on the right night of the week? Does it have all the things that I might pick and choose?

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Kind of like a buffet. Most people when they are thinking of church and what a church means, they're thinking of a buffet.

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I want to go there and I'm going to see what it is that I can pull out for me, what I like, and I'll take those things and then

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I'll walk away having consumed a product. That's how most people approach church. Or they approach church as if it is simply a filler activity.

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If there's no sport on TV, on radio, on the internet, on a rerun, anywhere in our town that my kids are playing in or that I'm obligated to watch or that I'm anyway interested in at any time, or if the weather is disagreeable to me and kind of keeps me from doing all the things in my yard and my garden that I wanted to do, or if it's not springtime when

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I'm doing the work to prepare for summer, or not summertime when I'm out enjoying the only two months of the year that are pleasant in North Idaho, or if it's not falltime when

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I'm getting ready to do all my work for winter on the weekend, or if it's not in the wintertime when I'm up enjoying the ski hill and being outside enjoying the snow and all that that brings, if it's not any of those seasons so that I have anything else to do and there are no sports on TV and nobody else to get together with and none of my friends are doing anything else that might in any way draw or attract me away from church, then

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I can go to church. Church is treated like it's a filler activity. It's something that you do on a

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Sunday if you've got nothing else that competes with it. I would suggest to you that everything else in life is a filler activity around the gathering of God's people.

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Those are the things that fill up the rest of our week. Church and the assembling of ourselves together, if this is not the highlight of your week, something is wrong.

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It's a highlight of my week, and not just because I get to be up here. Quite frankly, I'd rather not be up here most

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Sundays. I'd rather be sitting in the back row with one of you observing what goes on here, but church is the highlight for me, not because I'm up front and not because I know everybody here and everybody looks at me as the pastor.

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That's not it at all. Church is the highlight of my week because everything I do, I look forward to being here with the assembling of God's people in worship and in fellowship and in being with my church family.

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Everything else is filler. Everything around that, I work everything else around that so that this can be my priority.

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I know it's easy to say, well, Jim, you just say that because you're paid to be here every Sunday. Well, I'm not paid to be here every

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Sunday. I'm paid to work all week long so that when I get here on Sunday, it doesn't look like I wasn't paid to be here on Sunday.

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But this is the highlight of my week for that reason. It's not a filler activity. How many people who view church, how many people in America do you think woke up today and thought to themselves, my brothers and sisters in Christ, people who are bought by the same blood that I'm purchased by, that will share my inheritance for all of eternity, that worship the same

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Lord that I worship, they are gathering together in this location. I wonder how it is that I can go there and stimulate others to love and do good deeds.

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How many people do you think approach church that way? It's few. Now, I think that this congregation, from what

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I've observed, has a higher percentage of those people than probably any other place that I've ever been around. But most people don't approach church that way.

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Most people approach church with an entirely different attitude rather than let me give some thought and some consideration as to how it is that I can plan to motivate someone else to love and to good deeds.

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That word stimulate, it's the word paroxysmos. Paroxysmos is only used twice in the New Testament.

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It's a very interesting word and it's kind of a graphic word. Here it is used in a positive way. It's used one at a time but in a not so positive way.

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It's used in the book of Acts chapter 15 by presumably a different author. I don't think Luke wrote

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Acts. It's used by presumably a different author in a bit of a different context. In Acts chapter 15, you may remember the story, after Paul and Barnabas had made their first missionary journey and gone up through the regions of Turkey and Asia Minor, they came back down, they had the

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Jerusalem Council in Acts chapter 15, and then Paul had this idea, hey, Barnabas, you and I go back and let's visit all the churches that we visited and we founded on our first missionary journey.

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And Barnabas said, I think that's a great idea, Paul, let's do that. I'll give John Mark a call and see when he was free to leave.

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And Paul said, what are you talking about, Willis? John Mark? The same John Mark that left us on the first journey?

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I don't think so. And Acts 15 .39 says, there occurred such a sharp disagreement, that's the word, such a sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas over this issue that they parted ways.

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Paul took Silas, Barnabas took John Mark, and they separated ways. And according to the New Testament, they never worked together again,

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Paul and Barnabas. There's no other indication that they ever crossed paths or came together in any kind of a joint enterprise after that.

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There occurred such a perixmos, a sharp disagreement. The word, the root word of that is used to describe a sour wine, something with a biting and cutting edge, something that was sharp.

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And so you can kind of see how some of the different translators translate this word to bring out this agitated and provocative nature of this word.

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The NASB translates it, stimulate, that's a bit mild. It's a bit mild, stimulate.

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I think the NASB could have done a little bit better than that. The King James translates it, provoke unto love and good works.

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Provoke. You ever been provoked? How do you feel when you're provoked?

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We use the word provocative to describe something that what? Agitates us. Well, that was a bit provocative. It agitates us, it stirs us up, it gets us going on the inside.

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The New King James translates it, stir up, and the NIV spur one another. And the NIV in that translation kind of catches the idea of that poking, that prodding, that sharp edge to something.

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We are to spur, to provoke, to agitate, to incite one another to love and good deeds.

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Now that's kind of an interesting word to use in that context, is it not? Have you ever been incited to love and good deeds?

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Typically we don't use words like that to describe that affection that we have, being stirred up in that way, being provoked in that way.

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What this is describing is a lively interest in the affairs of other people, but not in a busybody way.

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So if you have a busybody gene in you, this is not your verse. This is not describing that. I was told to go walk around provoking people.

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Not in that way. We are to have a lively interest in the affairs of other people, the spiritual affairs of other people, to the end that we are agitating them, stirring them up, in an aggressive and passionate way to love and to good deeds.

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It seems as if it is an awfully negative word to use to describe such a positive activity, isn't it?

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It just seems out of place. And I will explain to you why I think the author used that word here in just a moment.

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But I want you to understand that he is not describing here any kind of negative behavior on behalf of the believers.

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As if you were to say to your spouse on the way home, look, I had a conversation with that Sunday school teacher, and I'll tell you what,

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I had it out with her, and I provoked her to love and good deeds. She'll be much better next week than she is this week because of what she did.

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And he's not describing here the painful part of this. Like I gave that deacon a tongue lashing, and I told him you better get on it or get out of here.

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And so he's going to be a lot better in his duties as well. It's not a negative activity. The word is describing the excited nature of this endeavor.

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It's not describing the negative connotations of it, but rather the agitated and provocative nature of our interest in other people and of what our interest and our motivating of other people should do.

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People should respond to us considering how to stimulate one another. The response of people to us should be so provocative in a good sense that we think, wow, who lit a fire under them?

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And if you trace it back to who it was and what it was that was the fire, you would say that was the best possible thing for them.

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Somebody really gave some thought as to how to be so invested in that person in a spiritual way, in a positive way, that the result is like this person just exploded, but not in anger, not in incitement, not in a provocation, but in joy and love and in good deeds.

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So it's not a negative thing that we're doing, even though it is a bit of a negative word. Let me tell you why it is that I think that the author would have chosen this word.

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I didn't come up with this myself. I kind of gleaned this from a couple of other commentators who suggested this. First, it's possible that some in the congregation to which this author was speaking or writing that they had been provoked by those who were on the outside of the church, that they had been provoked by others on the outside of the church.

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Now remember, this is a group of people who had left all of their Hebrew and Judaism and the sacrifices and everything else to the temple.

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And some of them were suffering soft persecution from their friends and their loved ones as a result of the commitment that they had made to Jesus Christ.

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That's why the author, look at it in verse 32, says, 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.

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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.

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Now how had some of those on the outside, their former acquaintances, friends and family members, employers and employees, how had they responded to their commitment to Christ?

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It was soft persecution. Some of them had their property seized. Some of them were, in the words of verse 32, enduring great conflict of sufferings.

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They were made public spectacles. They were reproached, had suffered tribulation, and become sharers with those who were so treated.

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There were those on the outside who were provoking those new Christians to leave the

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Christian assembly. And some of those inside the Christian assembly might have thought to themselves, you know, every time

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I get together with my family for Levi's birthday, this issue of my commitment to Christ always comes up, and it is always fraught with this conflict, this sharp disagreement.

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They think Jesus was a liar and deceiver. I think He was the Messiah, and I know of my salvation. But they don't get this.

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And so it's always an issue of conversation when our family gets together. Or in my neighborhood, when I'm out at the community potluck in our neighborhood, the issue of my commitment to Christ comes up and why

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I haven't been attending the sacrifices at the temple, and why I haven't been bringing a lamb on Passover, and why

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I haven't been attending all of these other Judaistic activities that were part of my old life. It always comes up, and there's always this conflict, this provocation.

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This whole commitment to Christ has ended up provoking me, and others are provoking me to leave the congregation.

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And the author here would be saying, it is our duty to provoke others to stay in the congregation, to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but rather to be provoked to further our commitment to Christ and our adherence to Him.

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That's why I think the author is using the word provoking. They were used to being provoked by others who were trying to provoke them to leave.

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He's wanting those in the congregation to provoke those same people to stay and to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

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It's also true that some of us can be provoked by those on the inside. It's one thing to be provoked by those on the outside who say, no, your commitment to Christianity, it's ruined your old life, you're no longer one of us, you don't see things the same way.

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It's this constant state of conflict when we get together as a family. But it's another thing to be provoked by the person that's across the aisle from you, right?

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Sometimes we can provoke one another in a bad way within the congregation, and if there's any kind of strife within the body, here the author might be trying to address that fact, the fact that there was some provoking going on as people were rubbing against each other.

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This is what happens when sinners get together and live life together. This is what happens when sinners get together and worship and serve one another together.

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Sometimes there can be conflict and strife and we rub each other the wrong way. All that needs to happen for that to happen is for us to be us.

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That's it. You do you and I do me, and that's a recipe for disaster. And so when that happens and there's strife and conflict, it might provoke some people to just say, well,

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I'm not coming back, I don't need those people, I'll just stay home and worship. I can watch the live stream. I don't need to sit there next to those other sinners and listen to that kid or listen to that person or listen to the old man who can't hear anything and say, what does he say?

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I don't have to put up with all of that stuff, all the irritants of gathering together as a people. I can just stay home.

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No, don't let anything provoke you to leave. Let one another provoke you to stay and to hold fast, to draw near, to hold fast, and to encourage others to do the same.

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Those are the three exhortations. Why such a negative word to describe something so beautiful and positive? Because, number one,

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I think it describes the effect that we are to have upon people, stirred up in such a passionate way, but not to leave, but to draw near and hold fast, and stirred up in such a passionate way that when you look at them, you think, man, they're just pursuing love and good deeds.

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Somebody must have provoked them to that. What a beautiful word, provoked. And we are to do this with the goal, the end in view, of love and good deeds.

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Provoke one another to love and good deeds. Notice that both of these are categories of things, nothing specific. They're categories of things.

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There are things that we can love. There are things that create love within us. We can love God. We can love Christ. We can love the church, love others, love the truth, love the lost, a lot of things to love.

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Love has a number of expressions. Love can be created and stirred up by a number of things. There are a number of different ways in which we love others and show our love for others.

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And so this is just a category of things to be stirred up to love. It is somewhat specific, but it also kind of encompasses a whole bunch of other things.

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And notice that good deeds is a very broad category, isn't it? What does he mean by that, good deeds?

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That could be serving others. That could be just remaining faithful. A good deed could just be obeying the simple commands of Scripture.

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Those are the good deeds. And notice that not only are these categories of things, but notice that there is a connection between love and good deeds.

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These two things do go together because love is the motivation that motivates all the good deeds that we do. It's not just that we are to be stirred up to do good deeds, but that we are to do so in a loving way.

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We have to consider, give thoughtful consideration to how it is that we can be an instrument in the hand of God to motivate somebody else to love and to do good deeds and how to best do that in a way that they are provoked to express the faithfulness to Christ through good deeds and their love for Christ in serving others.

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And notice the third thing here. There's a triad of virtues, and this kind of stood out to me, and I've been waiting weeks and weeks and weeks to point this out until we got to the end of it.

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Notice, you know what the Christian triad of virtues is? Love, faith, and hope. 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says that these things remain love, faith, hope, and love.

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Whatever the order is, it's those three. 1 Corinthians 13, notice that all three of those are present in these three exhortations.

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Let us draw near in full assurance of faith. Let us hold fast to confession of our hope, and let us consider how to stir one another up to love.

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Faith, hope, and love, all three of those are present here in the text. You say, what do I do with that? What does that mean?

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I don't know. I think it's a great observation. These three things, faith, hope, and love, they are central aspects, central themes throughout all the

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New Testament, and they are certainly all present and all central to the body life of a local church.

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There has to be faith by which we draw near to God. There has to be a hope to which we aspire and we confess, and there has to be love that is to mark and characterize our relationships and our interactions with one another, and they all come together here in this passage, these exhortations, as he is encouraging us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as is the habit of some.

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Now, how do we do this? This is the point where I could say, okay, here are the ten things that you need to do this week in order to obey this command, but you'll notice that the passage is not specific in terms of its application, is it?

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We are to stimulate one another to love and to good deeds. Now, the idea of stimulating here has a parallel in verse 25, the encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

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Obviously, it has something to do with our assembling together, but the writer does not give us a list of things that we are to do.

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I think specifically because the application of this and the way in which this will work itself out will be in many ways gift -specific, gift -specific.

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I'm talking about spiritual gifts. In other words, this is going to look a lot different when I do this as it does when somebody else does this.

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Somebody else's spiritual gift is going to cause them to look at the kids in their Sunday school class and write encouraging notes to each one of those kids or send them a gift or to remember people's birthdays.

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Another person's spiritual gift is going to cause them to go out and make sure that the doors are open and that the driveway is plowed and that they can help in somebody who gets around with more difficulty or has a wheelchair.

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Somebody else's gift is going to be to make sure that the whole place is clean for the assembling of the saints. Somebody else's gift is going to be to run this service or to run that service and to stimulate one another.

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This way in which we do this is gift -specific, so it's going to look different for each and every individual.

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I'll tell you what this looks like for me. No, well, no. I won't finish that sentence.

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No, I will. Here we go. No, I'll finish the sentence. Here's what it looks like when I try and do this for other people.

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I give thought all week long to how I can study Scripture and be an encouragement to other people in my handling and treatment of Scripture.

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So I believe that my gift makes me stimulate, stir up other people to love and good deeds in the teaching of Scripture and in the communicating of that and in counseling and in sharing and sometimes meeting with people and helping people through different issues and answering questions.

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That's how I'm geared. I'm not the guy that writes. I don't know if any of you, other than my wife, will get a note on your birthday.

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But there are people here who do that all the time. There's somebody here who, when somebody's going in for a surgery, he knows about it.

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And before they started kicking people out of hospitals, he would go to the hospital and pray for the person who was having a surgery while they were going through that whole procedure.

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And no matter how many hours it was, 8, 9, 10, 12, whatever it was, he would stay there and he would be praying the whole time with the people who were waiting in the waiting room for that.

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You know what that does? That just stirs you up to love and good deeds, does it not? When you see the example of somebody else who does this, you see other people doing this, it motivates you to do it.

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And when you do it, it motivates other people to do it. And so in that way, we're all like a big agitator in the bottom of a washing machine.

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We're all going around and around doing this one for another, stirring everything up and stirring other people up. You do it.

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When you do it, it stirs me up. When I do it, it stirs you up. When you each do it, it stirs other people up. They see it and they think, man, that motivates me.

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I should be more like that individual in doing that. I should give my time and attention to that. That person is so considerate, I should be more like that.

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That person is so thoughtful, I could do the same thing if I just had the time. I should really do that.

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And in that way, we are motivated to use our spiritual gift, and the expression of this is going to look different depending on the giftedness and the unique capacities and time, skills, talents, and abilities that the

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Lord has given to each and every one of us. And it is to a mutual effect. You should notice that this is the work of the whole body, not just the pastor.

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Because I'll tell you right now, I cannot. I cannot. I do not have the mental, emotional, spiritual, physical capacity to do this to every single individual on a personal basis.

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I cannot do that. You cannot do that. Nobody here can do that. That's why this command is given to the entire body.

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And when you're doing this for several other people in the congregation, several other people in the congregation are doing this, for other people in the congregation, then everybody is involved in this, giving thought as to how they can motivate others to love and to good deeds, to use their spiritual gifts in the benefit of others, to help others along and to motivate them and encourage them, to draw near, to hold fast, and to encourage others to do the same.

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This just creates a dynamic body life in which all of us are doing this together, one for another, out of love.

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This is the good deed that we do out of love to motivate others to good deeds and to love. And it's a beautiful thing.

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And this requires, obviously, the gathering of ourselves together, does it not? There are people watching right now on live stream, but they have almost a complete inability to be here and to do that to you personally.

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You are not really able to do this in the fullest extent to those who watch remotely. You just can't do it.

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This is something that can only be fulfilled in the physical, literal, regular gathering together of God's people.

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It's the only way this can be fulfilled in its fullest sense. You can send somebody an email and encourage them, yeah, you can do this, but listen, the more separate you are from people, the more difficult this is to fulfill.

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That's just the nature of reality. It is in meeting together, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, it's in that meeting and in our gathering together, as I get to know you, you get to know me, we all get to know each other, we take an interest in one another, we learn, we hear from one another, we understand what the struggles are and the difficulties are, we understand what the needs are.

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This is something that is only fulfilled in its fullest sense when you are vitally connected to a local gathering of people, known as the church.

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This is something that can only be done when you are involved in the lives of others and others are involved in your life.

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And the more distant you keep yourself, the more separate you become from this very good grace of other people stirring you up to love and good deeds.

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And the further away you keep yourself from other Christian people, the more alienated you become, the less able you become to do this in the lives of others and the less able they are to do this in your life.

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So our willingness or our wanting at times to keep our distance from other people and to stay out of accountability circles and to stay out of other people's lives and to keep other people's out of our lives, you cut yourself off from this very grace.

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This is the grace of God in your life. The church, the gathering of the saints locally by which all of this is fulfilled, us meeting together and encouraging one another, this is

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God's gift to you. Millions of Christians today are not enjoying what you get to enjoy here.

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You know how graced we are? You know how blessed we are to enjoy this? To have this? This is almost for millions and millions of Christians across the ages.

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What we get to enjoy here on a Sunday morning is so rare to them that they don't get to have any of this.

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And to think that in our culture we just want to keep everybody at a distance. No, no. I'll attend once in a while. I'll keep those people.

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I don't get to know any of those people. I mean I know the people in front of me and behind me, but those people in the other section against the wall, I mean they are, that's the loony left for a reason.

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They're over there. I don't want to, I mean look at the people. You cut yourself off from the grace of God.

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This is His gift to us. And we have to embrace this. So let us give considered, deliberate, focused intention as to how it is that we can provoke other people in the best way possible with the result being that we will be encouraging in them love and good deeds, obedience to the commands of Christ.

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Do you see how this keeps apostasy at bay? When we do this for one another and we see other people who are heading in a certain direction and we stop them and we grab them and say,

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Hey, no, that's not the right way to go. That's not what you should be doing. Listen, I want to encourage you to do this.

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Or when we find some way to be an encouragement to them, some way to bless them, some way to serve them, some way to encourage them, provoke them to not forsake the assembling of yourselves together.

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Provoke them to love and good deeds. Provoke them to obedience to Scripture. That becomes a guard against apostasy.

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It becomes a guard against us leaving the faith and walking away from the truth. This is something that all believers need.

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No matter how old you are, no matter how mature you are, it's something that all believers need because spiritual sloth is a real danger.

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We get apathetic and we get apathetic easy. Especially when we live in a country that at a time, not just a country, but at a time, when all of our needs are met and we become just, we almost are awash in prosperity and ease of life.

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We have it easier than anybody else has ever had it. That slothfulness, spiritually speaking, can creep in and can strangle your soul.

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Spiritual deception is a real danger. At a time when it's so easy, it's very easy in getting slothful to let down the guard and to open ourselves up to being spiritually deceived by false teachers, by well -meaning people who would lead us astray.

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Spiritual deception is a real danger and the slothfulness and becoming spiritually weak. We don't want to do any of that.

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What is it that keeps sloth, the deception, and becoming spiritually weak at bay? What is the remedy for that? Give careful, considerate attention, thoughtfulness as to how you can be provocative to others in the best way possible.

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With the end, not to be an irritant to them, not to be a busybody, but to encourage them to love and good deeds.

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If we all do that, that helps guard all of us against being deceived, against falling away, against apostasy, against being weak, and against slothfulness.

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Now, what do we do with this command in verse 25? This is the explanation. We are to do this not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some.

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And what is, at the end of verse 25, this day that is drawing near? What is that day? And how is that to motivate us to do this even more?

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You see, there's something coming that when we look at that, we should say, I better get busy doing this because something is on the horizon and when that hits, my time to do that will be over.

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What is that day? We'll look at that next week. We'll look at the explanation of this in verse 25 next week. Let's bow our heads.

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Father, we are grateful to you for this body of believers, for this church, the church was your idea to create a people of Jew and Gentile, people from all nationalities, ages, and ethnicities to gather together and to worship

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Christ and to glorify Him and to be saved and redeemed in that new covenant by the blood of your Son.

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What a marvelous idea it is. And you have, by your grace and by the working of your Spirit, you have brought us into that reality in Jesus Christ.

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And we thank you for this grace in our life and for the blessing that it is to be here at this time in this body with these people.

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We pray that you would give us grace to know how to thoughtfully and considerately and deliberately provoke one another in the best sense possible.

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Help us to apply this as we look forward to and look for the interests of others. As we seek that out and pursue that, not considering ourselves as more important than another but other people as better and more important than ourselves.

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Help us to selflessly give ourselves in this endeavor and to do this for the good of others.

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And then to receive the blessing that comes to us because of our obedience to that. May you continue to strengthen us in this body of believers through your word and through the work of your

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Spirit amongst us. May you continue to unite our hearts in love and in unity and affection not only for one another but also for your word, for the truth and for Christ our

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Lord in whose name we pray. Amen. One of the things we gather together as God's people is to observe the ordinances the

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Lord's Supper and that's what we're going to do now. The elements that are before us, the bread and the wine are the bread and the juice.

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Sorry, I mean wine if you're a teetotaler but the bread and the juice that are before us. These things are symbols of a spiritual reality.

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They are symbols of what Christ has done for us in giving his body and his blood on the cross so that we might have eternal life.

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There is nothing inherently salvific in these elements. In other words, by eating and drinking this you do not become a believer nor do you become more sanctified nor are you raised to another level of your spiritual progress or your spiritual growth.

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These are symbols that remind us of the one thing that unites all of us. Those of us who are in Jesus Christ are in Jesus Christ because he died on a cross to pay the price for our sin.

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He was buried and on the third day he rose again for our justification. And those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ by the working of the

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Spirit are those who have repented of their sins, their iniquities, their transgressions and they have turned and believed savingly upon Jesus Christ and been born again.

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And if you are not in that camp, if you have never trusted Christ for salvation and you're not born again, then I would discourage you from partaking in these elements because scripture says you eat and drink judgment to yourself.

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So instead, as believers, we eat and drink only after we have examined ourselves first and that is that we prayerfully examine our own hearts, confessing our sin, our unworthiness and our iniquity and we come to the

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Lord to partake of this as a symbol of our union with one another, of our unity and of that which has made us one body under that one blood of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And so I will ask you to bow your heads and we'll have a moment of silence and then

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I will pray and we will confess our sin together and you can examine yourselves with your heads bowed and then

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I'll ask the ushers to come forward. Let's bow our heads. Our Father, we are wholly unworthy of any grace that you have bestowed upon us.

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We don't deserve your mercy. We don't deserve forgiveness or salvation. We don't deserve to be in your church, in the body of Christ.

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We don't deserve to have all of our sins washed away and we don't deserve the righteousness that you give us in Jesus Christ.

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None of these things are merited by us because of our sin and the great weight of our transgressions, the sacrifice of Christ was necessary to atone for our sin and so we thank you that you do not mark or number our sins.

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We thank you that you have cast them far behind your back. As far as the east is from the west, that you remember our sins no more.

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We thank you for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We confess with great humility and oftentimes with sorrow, the sin that weighs us down and the sin that we still have to battle and we thank you that you have provided for us full and complete atonement and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

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We truly have erred and we sin each and every day and we are in these bodies of flesh and we cannot escape this flesh that we are tied to and we shall not until we are dead and we go to be with you but we thank you that our hope is complete and total glorification and someday the complete deliverance not only from the penalty and the power of sin but also from his very presence.

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We thank you that you will, because of what Christ has done, make us fully like him and that we rest sanctified and righteous in your son.

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Thank you for these graces and thank you for that forgiveness and for that righteousness.

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In Christ's name, amen. Will the ushers come forward and help serve communion? All right, let's pray together before we do.

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Father, you sent your son to take upon himself human flesh so that he might live a perfect life and in giving of his body to die on that cross and to die a perfect death in our stead and the bread that we enjoy is just a symbol of that offering and that sacrifice so we thank you that you provided a body for your son and that he gave it on a cross in our stead.

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We ask your blessing upon this, our communion, which is to follow in Christ's name. He said, take, eat.

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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 in my blood.

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Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let's pray.

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Father, we thank you for so perfect a sacrifice, so perfect a life, and so perfect a righteousness provided by that life and that sacrifice.

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In him we have perfect and complete forgiveness of sins and we thank you for it in the name of your glorious and gracious son.

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Amen. Please stand.

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How deep the Father's love for us,

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How vast beyond all measure

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That he should give his only

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Son To make a righteous treasure

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How great the pain of searing loss

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And yet I will be joyful As wounds which mar the

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Chosen One Bring many sons to glory

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Behold the man lost, my sin upon his shoulders

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Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

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Call out among the scoffers

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It was my sin that held him there

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Until it was accomplished

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His dying breath has brought me life

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I know that it is finished

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I will not boast in anything

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No gifts, no power, no wisdom

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But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection

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Why should I gain from his reward?

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I cannot give an answer But this

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I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom

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You rescued us through your great love

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Wounds for us to face Were sheltered by your saving grace

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And sprinkled with your blood Jesus, all my trust is in your blood

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Jesus, you rescued us

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Through your great love How sweet the sound of saving grace

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How sweet the sound of saving grace Christ died for me

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The sound of saving grace

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How sweet the sound of saving grace Christ died for me

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The merits of your great high priest

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Have bought you liberty From his precious blood

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Don't fear banishment from God Since Jesus set you free

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Jesus, all my trust is in your blood

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Jesus, you rescued us

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Through your great love How sweet the sound of saving grace

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How sweet the sound of saving grace Christ died for me

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How sweet the sound of saving grace

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How sweet the sound of saving grace Christ died for me

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How sweet the sound of saving grace How sweet the sound of saving grace

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Christ died for me How sweet the sound of saving grace

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Christ died for me.

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How sweet the sound of saving grace. How sweet the sound of saving grace.

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How sweet the sound of saving grace.

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How sweet the sound of saving grace. Christ died for me.

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How sweet the sound of saving grace. How sweet the sound of saving grace. How sweet the sound of saving grace. Christ died for me. Christ died for me.

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Too much. Too wonderful.

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For comprehension. Like nothing ever seen or heard.

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Who can grasp your infinite wisdom?

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The types of your love before and beyond description.

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Majesty enthroned above. I stand,

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I stand in awe of You I stand,

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I stand in awe of You Holy God to whom all praises do

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I stand in awe of You In description, yeah

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God crushed You for my sin In agony and deep affliction, a path that I might enter in Such tender compassion, mercy so free

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In description, yeah

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I stand, I stand,

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I stand in awe of You Holy God to whom all praises do

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I stand in awe of You I have a strong and perfect plea

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

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My name is graven on his hands My name is written on his heart

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I know that when in him he stands No tongue can bid me thence depart

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When Satan tempts me to despair

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And tells me of the guilt when to all my sin

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Be my sinful soul is counted free

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For to look on him, to look on him in righteousness