Jaw-dropping: Did Jesus Tell The Truth?

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Hey, everybody. I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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We truly believe that it's important for the Christian church to have an engagement in the public square with the

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Word of God. So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world. I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this, and that is that I'm not your pastor, though I'd love to be.

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I am not your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. If you would, open your

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Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew. Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24.

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For those of you guys who are new to your Bibles, that's your first book in your New Testament. Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24.

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As I said before, this is the famous section of the Olivet Discourse. It's where the Lord Jesus has left

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Jerusalem after condemning the leadership in Jerusalem, indicting them, promising them judgment.

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He's gone now to the east towards the Mount of Olives. And there he is now in the Mount of Olives. By the way,

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I've said it many times. Hope you've caught it. It's actually interesting that that's recorded for us, that it is on the

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Mount of Olives that Yahweh, taken on flesh, gives this indictment and this promise of judgment.

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Because in the Old Testament, what preceded the destruction of that first temple was precisely that.

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Yahweh's glory departed that temple and rested over on the Mount of Olives before its judgment and destruction.

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And now Yahweh takes on flesh. God walks among us. And as he indicts face to face the covenant breakers, he leaves

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Jerusalem and now he's on the Mount of Olives. That's not an accident of the text. That's the same story being played out before us.

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But this is the Mount of Olives. This is the section known as the Great Tribulation, discussion of the

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Great Tribulation. And so we're in Matthew chapter 24. I want to encourage everybody who's new to Apologia Church, who's watching this right now online, across them internets.

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You're going to want to go back and catch all the other ones because I can't go over the same things over and over and over again.

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Today we are moving forward into some, I think, very exciting things. So if some of this seems foreign to you, go back and listen to the hours and hours of content.

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Matthew chapter 24, starting in verse one, hear now the words of the living and the true

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God. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to him.

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I came to point out to him the buildings of the temple, but he answered them. You see all these, these do you not truly

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I say to you, there will not be left here. One stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

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As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be?

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And what will be the sign of your coming end of the end of the age, the close of the age.

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And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray for many will come into my name saying,

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I am the Christ. And they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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See that you're not alarmed for this must take place, but the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

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And there'll be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

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Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you'll be hated by all nations for my namesake.

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And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

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And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.

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And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

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And then the end will come. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet

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Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

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Let the one who's on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.

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And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a

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Sabbath. As far as the reading of God's holy word, let's pray together. Father, I pray that you'd please bless today as we open your holy word.

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This is a gift. We recognize that not all people have this special revelation, this gift that we hold in our hands right now.

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So Lord, we humble ourselves before you and we thank you for this gift and we ask that you teach us. Please, Lord, bless us.

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And I pray that, Lord, what we gain from this study, from this word being taught, is a fear of you, a love for you, a devotion towards you, and joyful sacrifice and service for you.

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I pray that you would cause this to increase our boldness and our certainty in who

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Jesus truly is, the Messiah, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. Please get me out of the way.

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Cause me to decrease, Christ to increase. Let everyone forget me and remember Jesus. It's in his name we pray.

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Amen. So, just that point. Why are we doing this? Well, we're doing an exposition of the gospel according to Matthew, verse by verse, through the

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Bible. We picked Matthew because we thought this would be a good way to get a church plant, a baby church, a full understanding of the

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Old Testament along with the New Testament. Going through Matthew, you get to survey really the whole revelation in some way or another.

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And so, but why would we spend so much time here? Why the Great Tribulation? Why so much time?

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Why so much emphasis? I saw someone this week as we were posting things about going through the Great Tribulation.

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Somebody was like, you're still in Matthew 24? Goodness, right? And the answer is yes, because it's my duty to teach you, not entertain you.

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It's my duty to make sure you understand this revelation and not that you guys are just tickled.

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Okay? Why do we spend so much time here? Well, I'm going to say this. There is a website. I remember from a long time ago, about 20 years ago,

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I was doing ministry. This guy was attacking me and he was like, Jesus is a false prophet. The Christian faith is just a lie.

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It's all a fraud. There's no basis for it. And his main argument against the

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Christian faith was actually a pretty potent one that many Christians could not adequately respond to.

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I remember the name of his website. I don't even know if it exists anymore. I'm going to give him some, maybe some platforming right now, but it's, it was jcnotforme .com.

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jcnotforme .com. So you at least know where he's at, right? So jcnotforme .com. And one of the main thrusts that he had was that Jesus Christ is a false prophet.

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He's a false prophet. On what basis? The Olivet Discourse. Great Tribulation.

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His argument was there's no way out of it. Text is plain. It's clear. If you read it in its original context, if you rethink about the original audience, if you apply

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Christian hermeneutical skills and methodology to this text, the same methodology you apply to when you get to the

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Trinity and the atonement and the resurrection and all the rest, he was appealing to all those things. When you read this text,

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Jesus is a false prophet. How do you argue with that?

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Well, the text says in Matthew chapter 24, verse 34, after the discourse, Jesus says, truly,

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I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

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What things? Well, some of them. No, he says all of these things. Which generation?

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Not that generation that sees these things, not this Jewish race, but it's this genea, generation.

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Same word used throughout Matthew to describe the people living at that time. And interestingly, the early

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Christians, there were early Christians using this very text to demonstrate as an apologetic that Jesus is the

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Messiah. Think about it in the modern atheists are using a text like this to try to say

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Jesus is a false prophet, that he falsely predicted his quote second coming.

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But early on in the church, you have Christians using these very texts as an apologetic to demonstrate that Jesus is the

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Messiah because these things actually happen on time and as plans. So what happens?

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I would argue the problem isn't with the text. I would argue that the problem is with very, very poor

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Christian interpretation of the text that gives to the unbeliever ammunition that they shouldn't have in the first place.

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This text demonstrates without question, Jesus is the Messiah. This text should be anticipated.

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The Old Testament predicted that when Messiah came, there would be salvation and what?

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Judgment, salvation and judgment, judgment upon the covenant breakers and salvation.

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So when Jesus enters into Jerusalem, they're going to kill him. He says he's going to rise again.

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He begins his indictment from chapter 21 through 24 upon those covenant breakers and that leadership.

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This was anticipated. The fall of the Jewish temple, the destruction of the temple and the judgment upon the covenant breakers is part of the biblical narrative.

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Here's the thing. If Jesus wasn't talking like this, we would have every reason to question whether he was truly the anticipated

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Messiah. In other words, we need all these parts working together. Is Jesus God in the flesh?

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Yes. How do we know that? The Bible teaches it where? In the Old and New Testament.

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The Old Testament, Isaiah nine, six through seven says that it's El Gabor coming as a son and as a child.

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The father of eternity, the creator is coming as a son and as a child, bringing a kingdom that will increase and will never end.

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It says that the one coming to Bethlehem in Micah five, two is God in the flesh. But what else does it say?

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Isaiah 53, he'd be pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The Lord is going to lay on him the iniquity of us all by his wounds were healed.

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Where do you get that? That's from the Old Testament. That's part of the narrative. But here's the thing. It's not just his deity.

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It's not just the atonement. It's also a very specific narrative about the covenant breakers, about what

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God was going to do to bring judgment upon the covenant breakers. As listen, he brings salvation to the ends of the earth.

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And you might say to yourself, why do I care? I'm a 21st century

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Gentile Christian. Most of us, right? Why do I care about this story? Here's why you should care.

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The reason you and I are in this story now and it's happening now is because God kept these promises of salvation and judgment and the good news of the kingdom being brought now to the ends of the earth.

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That's why this story matters. This is God's story.

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He is the master storyteller and it ought to matter. Somebody might say, I don't think this matters.

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I don't think we should concern ourselves with eschatology. I'm going to say, try that in a debate with Christopher Hitchens.

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I had Douglas Wilson on recently. And we talked about this in his debate with Christopher Hitchens at Westminster. Hitchens, I think was losing.

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I think badly. He lost a lot with Wilson and he was not doing well.

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And then I think he used one of his chestnut arguments as a famous chestnut argument. And that's what Jesus is a false prophet,

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Matthew 24. He said all those things were going to happen that generation. And Doug Wilson took his legs off in 60 seconds.

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It was epic. How did he do it? He showed all this happened. It took place exactly on time and as planned, precisely as Jesus said it.

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And Hitchens mouth was shut. I want to ask a question.

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How does somebody who is say a brother or sister in Christ, the holes to dispensational premillennialism, how do they answer that question in 60 seconds?

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Accurately, exegetically, faithfully, biblically, coherently using the same methods and principles they use to get to doctrines like the atonement, the resurrection, the deity of Christ, the

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Trinity and all the rest. This matters a lot. Here's what I'm concerned with. And I'll say one last thing on this point here.

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And we're going right into this next point in the text. Here's what I'm concerned with. I'm concerned because this text demonstrates that Jesus is the

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Messiah. It demonstrates that he is the Messiah.

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I don't believe that we should be giving this text away to people to use it against Jesus to say that he's not the

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Messiah. I think what Jesus says here in this text is astonishing. And I think the historical background in the

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New Testament itself and outside the New Testament demonstrates that these things happen on time and as planned.

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And I don't want to give that ground to the unbeliever. This demonstrates in a shining way that Jesus is owed our allegiance and obedience.

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Here's the key. They did not believe it. They didn't believe it. Jesus promised them in their generation, they were going to see these things before they all died.

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It was coming. Judgment was coming and they did not accept it. They didn't believe it. They thought they had more time.

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They didn't believe his message. They rejected the son of man coming on time and as planned.

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And they didn't even know the hour of their visitation. They did not understand. And they perished many times in very miserable, terrible, terrible ways.

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I'm reminded of this last night. I got a message that my tattoo artist in Kauai died unexpectedly.

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I just saw the man. I mean, fairly recently spent time with him and hours and hours and hours with this guy drilling into my body, right?

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So much time with this man. And we did talk about Jesus. I was trying to witness to this man.

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He wasn't an old guy. He was actually a really great guy. I loved spending time with him. He's really one of the only guys

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I would trust now to do that kind of work on me. And we spent so much time together and had some pretty deep conversations.

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I talked to him about Christ. I talked to him about salvation and he was open, but sort of, yeah,

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I'll get to that. You know, I respect that. Sure. Yeah. I see what you're saying, but I don't know.

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I went to see him when we were there recently just to say hi and check in with him. And he was out sick. So I got,

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I didn't get a chance to see him face to face. I just got word last night that he died unexpectedly this week. No one thought it was coming and he just died.

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He's gone. He did not understand that at any moment we're going to face the king of Kings.

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It could happen to any of us at any time. These are serious matters for all of us.

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They are not things to be trifled with. When Jesus promises salvation and judgment, we have to listen.

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And if somebody says, why should I listen to Jesus? Why? My answer is look at the text.

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Look at the text. Look what God says about the Messiah. Look what Jesus fulfills. And look what happens to those in history who refuse to obey the message of the son of man.

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All of us are a moment away from eternity. And I promise you this with all my heart, I am not trying to scare you into eternity.

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I'm just trying to be as honest and as faithful as an image bearer of God and a servant of Jesus that I possibly can.

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We all have to face Jesus. Who is he to you? Is he savior? Is he

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Lord? Is he the one you bow the knee to? Who is Jesus to you? Because none of us are promised tomorrow.

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Amen. Let's do it. So Matthew chapter 24, Jesus again leaves

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Mount of Olives. And now the question is what? Help me here guys. Is the question about the end of the cosmos?

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It is not about the end of the physical world. The context 24, 21 through 24 is

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Jerusalem. The indictments are upon the Jewish leadership. The indictments are upon the covenant breakers.

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The promises keep coming towards them. What's going to happen to them? All the blood of the righteous upon you, upon this generation,

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Jerusalem, Jerusalem, your house is left to you. Desolate temple being taken apart, not one stone upon another.

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And they say, wait, what's the sign of your coming in the end of the age? What age?

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The Jewish age, the old covenant age, the old Testament breaks things into two sections, the old covenant and the time of the

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Messiah or the new covenant, two ages. They hear Jesus saying that magnificent, glorious temple is going to be dismantled, not one stone upon another.

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And they immediately say, what's the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Not the end of the physical cosmos, not the end of the physical world.

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There is no conversation here about the end of the physical world. It is about the

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Jewish temple and the old covenant age. So Jesus tells them what?

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See to it that no one misleads you or to lead you astray. For many will come in my name saying, I'm the

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Christ. They'll lead many astray. You'll hear of wars and rumors of wars. See to it that you're not alarmed for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

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For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines, earthquakes in various places.

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And all these are at the beginning of the birth pains. Hold that together in your minds for a moment.

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War, famines, all these things, hold it together because at the end of the sermon,

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I'm going to bring it back to you with Eusebius, one of the early church bishop, bishops and fathers and historians.

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Now we talked last week, and I'm not going to do a review of last week. You got to go get it yourselves about the fact that in the new

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Testament itself, we have evidence that there were false Christ's attempting to lead many people astray.

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There's historical evidence for this outside of the new Testament. We talked about acts eight, nine through 10.

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We talked about the fact that there was the Pax Romana at this time. That's the peace of Rome.

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This is where Rome essentially was trying to enforce or guard peace. I talked about the fact that it wouldn't be impressive today.

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If as a Christian pretending to be a prophet in the 21st century in 2019, if I said,

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I have a prediction, there's going to be wars and rumors of wars in the next 20 or 30 or 40 years, nobody's impressed by that because there are constantly wars.

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It's not impressive. It is, however, impressive for Jesus to be saying it during the

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Pax Romana. So he does. And there were wars throughout that generation.

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Wars in Rome, Palestine, Galilee, Samaria. We talked about in 40 AD, Mesopotamia, 50 ,000 died, 20 ,000 in Caesarea.

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49 AD, Jerusalem, approximately 20 ,000 died. On and on, we can show that there were wars and rumors of wars.

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And Josephus actually says, a first century historian, that it seemed at one point like the entire world was fighting with each other.

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Like the whole world was at war with each other at one point during that generation. We also talked about the fact that there were intense famines during this time period in generation.

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It's actually, there's actually a name, a named moment here in Acts 11, 28.

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There are famous famines mentioned by Josephus and Eusebius. More famines mentioned by Tacitus and Eusebius in the 10th or 11th year of Claudius.

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We talked about pestilence throughout that time period, 40 AD at Babylon, 60

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AD in Rome. We talked about earthquakes throughout the period. We talked about earthquakes recorded in the

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New Testament itself. What's the first earthquake after this recorded? At the crucifixion. Then where?

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The resurrection. Then in the book of Acts throughout the period. One of the largest recorded earthquakes in that time period is from 62

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AD in Pompeii, February 5th. It leveled the area and destroyed many lives.

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We talked about the persecution throughout the New Testament itself. This is key. Jesus promises to his followers, being delivered over to councils and synagogues.

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Do you see the Jewish context? Any of you guys plan on any persecution of being delivered over to the local synagogue, right?

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So you see the very local context of this, very Jewish context, being delivered over persecution.

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You see throughout the New Testament record, the book of Acts, very intense persecution of the early disciples.

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As a primary antagonist towards the spread of the gospel and the

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Christian faith in the first century, as the church is getting off the ground. Who is it? It's the covenant -breaking

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Jews. Those who are opposed to the message of the Messiah. They're taking oaths to kill Paul and not to even eat until he's dead.

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Paul talks about the persecution in his own writings. He says what? We mentioned it last week. He's in danger constantly.

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From what? His own countrymen. What's that? Jews. Who else? False brethren.

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He says he's been shipwrecked, right? Adrift at sea. He calls it a light momentary affliction.

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We also know that in the first century during the 60s, listen closely, we have records earlier in the 50s of riots breaking out because of Christus, that over Christ, the issue of Christ.

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We see the Jews being expelled from Rome. Why? Because of riots over Jesus and the

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Christian message. But in the 60s, we see that Rome ultimately turns on the

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Christians and now Rome puts their sights on the early Christians. Nero pursues violently the early

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Christians. He goes after Paul. He goes after Peter. We have Paul's head cut off.

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You have all the apostles martyred, save one apostle. You have the fact that the early

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Christians were actually rounded up in the streets by Nero, tied to stakes during his garden party, so he'd ride his chariot through them.

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They'd wrap them in pitch, set them on fire as Roman candles. I mentioned the fact that Nero was a beast, a despicable, disgusting man.

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He actually married a ten -year -old boy and castrated him. He kicked his pregnant wife to death.

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He actually tied Christians to the stake, covered himself in animal skins and tried to eat them.

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He was a beast, a disgraceful, evil, evil man. He actually persecuted

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Christians in history, forget this, 42 months, which is precisely the amount of time that the apostle

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John predicts that he would actually come after the Christians, the beast of Revelation. That's my reading of Revelation.

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But we see that throughout the New Testament. Here's the key. As we go further, we see that we're promised they're going to deliver you in verse 9 up to tribulation.

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We do see that. They're going to put you to death in verse 9. We do see that. Now, verse 10, read this.

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In verse 10, the text says, and then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

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And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray, falling away, betrayal, hating one another.

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Well, I want to encourage you to consider that you know this, brothers and sisters. We've read this in our New Testament.

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You don't have to necessarily go out to external historical sources to read that what

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Jesus predicted here actually came true, very clearly came true. We can look in the

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New Testament record itself. This is by no means exhaustive, but you know these verses.

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If you read in the New Testament, you'll see in the book of Galatians, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another.

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Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. That's early on in the

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Christian experience and the propagation of the gospel. Paul's warning them about abandoning the true gospel for another one.

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That's apostasy. Paul says again, but it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus in order to bring us into bondage.

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This is in the book of Galatians more in first Timothy chapter one, verses 18 through 19.

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Paul says to Timothy, this command, I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.

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You also see more. And again, this is not an exhaustive list, brothers and sisters, but in the book of Hebrews, that's what the book is about.

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I highly encourage everybody go and get the sermon audio series that pastor

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James did on sermon audio in the book of Hebrews. You must get that series.

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But one of the things I want to point you to is in the book of Hebrews, the context, what's going on, what's happening in the book of Hebrews is the early

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Jewish Christians are being warned, do not go back to temple and do sacrifices.

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Jesus is a better prophet. He is a better priest. He is a better king. He is a better mediator.

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Don't go back. He gave the once for all sacrifice. Why are you going back to remember these things annually?

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Constantly? It's a once for all sacrifice. It's over. And how does the book of Hebrews ends?

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Commentary commentators are agreed on this. The book of Hebrews ends with a warning. It's written before the destruction of Jerusalem and it ends with a warning that God is about to destroy this.

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He's about to destroy all these things which can be shaken so that the things which cannot be shaken will remain.

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Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, that's the context.

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This stuff, this earthly stuff, the temple, the priesthood, all this gold, the fixtures, the stones, it's about to be taken down.

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And the warning of the book of Hebrews is do not go back. Why? Because people are going back.

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Here's what it says in Hebrews chapter six, for in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the

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Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, they've tasted it, right?

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We've got the old covenant age hanging out about to be destroyed. The new covenant age brought in, right?

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There's this overlap period, right? The passing off of the baton, the old covenant age is defunct at the cross, but it's still standing around.

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The edifice is still there and the messianic age has already been brought in with Messiah and his sacrifice and his salvation, but it says the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away.

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It is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the son of God and put him to open shame.

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Who's this talking about? People who have apostatized and fallen away from the faith before the destruction of Jerusalem and are saying, everyone, come back, guys.

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Come on now. I know it sounded good and all. I know Jesus, it sounded like a good story, but come on, come back to temple.

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Come back to the priesthood. Come back, come back. Let's leave it all behind us. Just come back. Don't follow this

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Jesus character. I mean, come on, where, where, where is he? They, you promised that this thing was going to be destroyed, that Jesus is going to come back and destroy all these things.

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It's all going to be destroyed. And where is he? Huh? Where is he? Where is he at? And the writer of Hebrews says in a little while, in just a little while.

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And what it says here also is the book of Hebrews for, if we go on sending willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there's no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

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And then here's the famous one. You already know this one. First John two 19, they went out from us, but they were not really of us for if they had been of us, they would not, they would have remained with us, but they went out so that it would be shown that they are all not of us.

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And one more Jude versus three through four beloved. While I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation,

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I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints for certain persons of crept in unnoticed.

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Those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation on godly persons who turned the grace of our

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God into the sensuousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Here's my points.

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Jesus promised that before that generation had all passed away, all these things contains this promise that they'd be delivered over to tribulation and death, that many would fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

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And many false prophets would arise and leave many astray. We demonstrated that all of that occurred before that generation had all passed away.

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Good. Yes. Amen. Next piece. Verse 13, the one who endures to the end will be saved.

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This has caused a few people concern. Why? Because salvation is a gift of God.

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Amen. Who keeps us? God. Who's responsible for saving us?

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God. Who started this process of salvation? God. Who saved us at the cross?

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God did. Who keeps us and preserves us to the end? Say it. God. Is it us?

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No, it's all God. It's all to his glory. Every bit of it, including my repentance and my faith, it's all a gift of God.

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And so we see a verse like this and someone rips it out of context and throws it at us. And we say salvation is a gift of God from all eternity.

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He says, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my voice and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into what?

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Life. That's eternal life as a gift. Jesus promises it. So what's this text here about?

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The one enduring to the end will be saved. Well, this is where we need to learn to read the verses above and below.

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Amen. Yes. I was listening to a great debate recently between a

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Christian and an atheist and the atheist, Dan Barker, actually tried to whip out a verse out of context.

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He's like, well, what do you have to say about that? And the Christian said, well, Jesus was expecting the people who read that verse to read the ones above and below.

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I love that. And this verse here, when someone says the one who endures to the end shall be saved. Here's my question.

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Where's the conversation in here about justification through faith alone, how we're reconciled to God, how we have peace with God?

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Where's the conversation here? If we apply sound hermeneutical and exegetical principles, like let the text speak.

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I want to ask the question, where's the discussion in here about justification through faith and atonement and how we have peace with God?

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There's a pretty elaborate discussion on that in say the book of Romans systematically chapters one through five, go read it.

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Very systematic, very precise by divine inspiration and apostle. But we have one verse here that says the one who endures to the end shall be saved.

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My question is this, what's the end discussed in the passage? There's another end mentioned.

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It's the end of the what? Age. Not the end of the what?

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World. But the end of the age, the one who endures to the end will be saved.

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Well, I want to actually argue the context isn't here salvific. It has to do with the destruction of Jerusalem.

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And I want to say that a good translation and it's done say in other translation is the one who endures to the end will be delivered, delivered from what?

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All this destruction. What's promised here right after this is how to actually escape the tribulation.

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It's local. Those who are in Judea flee where? To the mountains, to the hills.

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You can escape this judgment. It's a local judgment. And the one who endures to the end will be delivered.

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I want to point you also to that context. End of what? Not the world. End of the age.

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When were these things supposed to be happening? Before that generation passed away. I want to argue that you can definitely translate this as delivered, but I'm going to point you to this.

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Even if we were to argue from this premise, that the one who endures to the end will be saved.

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I want to argue that that fits with biblical theology or soteriology in this way.

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Help me with this one. And we're going to go right past this one in John chapter six and John chapter 10, the

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Lord of glory himself defines for us how he saves people, who he saves and what's going to actually be accomplished in their lives.

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Jesus says this in John six, go read it later. I've come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who has sent me.

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And this is the will of him who has sent me that of all that he has given me,

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I should lose nothing. I should lose nothing of all that the father has given to me.

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Jesus says, no man can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.

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And here's what he says about the one, the father draws. And he says, no man can come to me unless the father's in me draws him.

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And he says, and I will raise him up. I will raise who up the one the father draws.

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So what does Jesus say about salvation and his people? He'll never lose them. And what does he say in John 10 that he knows his sheep and they know him and he gives his life for them.

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He gives them eternal life. And he says they're in his hands and nobody can snatch them from his hands.

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And they're in his father's hands and nobody snatching them from his father's hands. It's a double -fisted grip of the father and the son.

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I think you're safe. And if you've been justified, declared righteous by the thrice

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Holy God, who keeps his word and does not change and cannot lie, then that means you have peace with God, eternal life, and God has saved you and God will keep you.

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So the one who endures to the end will be saved. Soteriologically, if you're reformed y 'all.

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Next verse 14, here we go. Verse 14. I know what happens here.

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And this is what always happens in Matthew 24. You ready for this? Here's what always happens. Somebody goes,

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I see all that pastor Jeff. I see it. I see this generation. I can't get out of that. I see it's local

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Judea mountains, Jerusalem, your house, desolate. I see truly.

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I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things. I see it. I see it.

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I see it. Here's where I've got you. I've got you where it says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

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And then the end will come. Gotcha. Done. How's your interpretation work with that?

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Well, I want to argue that we should be reading our Bible in its context.

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Would you agree? Yes. Do we have a right to go to the Bible and be, and start imposing the standards of 2019

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Gentile Christians in North America into the text? Or should we read the Bible in its own context with its own definition and its own language?

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Someone says, gotcha. There's no way that this fits before 70 AD. The whole world, the gospel preached to the whole world.

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Well, I want to argue, well, someone should tell that to the apostle Paul, because in Romans, go there, see it with your own eyes.

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Don't take my word for it. In Romans chapter one, starting in verse five,

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I'll start reading. The apostle Paul says before the destruction of Jerusalem, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

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Hashtag Calvinism. Next, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.

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Grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the worlds.

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Your faith is being proclaimed in all the worlds. What's the context of the first century itself?

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These are residents, occupiers of the first century, the known world, the entire oikumene, the

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Roman empire, the known world. The gospel had broke forth after the miracle of Pentecost all over the

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Roman empire. And Paul says before the destruction of Jerusalem through divine inspiration, according to their language, their definitions, your faith is being proclaimed where?

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In the whole world. He might be saying, pastor Jeff, I get it, but that's maybe a little weak.

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Do you have more? The answer is I'm glad you asked. Yes. Colossians chapter one,

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Colossians chapter one. I'll start reading in verse 15. So you guys can get there. He is the image of the invisible

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God, by the way, just a note. This was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. He is the image of the invisible

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God, the firstborn of all creation for by him. That's Jesus. All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

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And he is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church.

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He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent for in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

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Hashtag that post mill next. And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you wholly and blameless and above reproach before him.

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If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which

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I, Paul became a minister. So when the

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Lord Jesus uses language that the gospel of the kingdom he proclaims throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations through divine inspiration, the apostle says it was, it was next.

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We need to consider the Bible in its context and language. For example, when you look at a text like this, the gospel, he proclaimed gospel, the kingdom proclaimed in all the world is a testimony.

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We need to consider the Bible in its own context, its own language and not impose hours upon it.

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That's not how you do proper exegesis. So for example, this happens a lot, just a quick side note.

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We've talked about this before, but I think it's vital. Somebody sees all these things have to take place before that generation passes away.

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And then they say, yes, but how do we have the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light and the stars falling from heaven?

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How did that happen before 70 AD or how does that work?

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Well, brothers and sisters, this goes down to interpreting the Bible biblically. You see, here's the key watch.

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It's not a question of whether we interpret the Bible figuratively or literally.

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It's a question of whether we do it biblically, biblically, not figurative versus literal, but biblical.

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For example, when I see Jesus saying here in this text, the sun's going to be dark and the moon turned to blood, the stars are going to fall from the heavens.

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My mind immediately goes back to what God said in Isaiah 13, when he talks in Isaiah 13, long before the time of Jesus about taking down a pagan nation, he threatens them with exactly this terminology and brothers and sisters, he destroyed that nation.

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Did the stars literally fall from the heavens and literally strike the earth?

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Brothers and sisters think about it literally. If our star, our sun got a little bit closer, we'd be in big trouble and climate change would be a real thing.

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Next we need to consider when Jesus says, then the end will come. What is the context brothers and sisters?

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Let the text speak. Then the end of what will come the end of the, what of the age?

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No discussion here about the end of the physical cosmos. It's the end of the old covenant age tied together with the

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Jewish temple. Next. Are you ready for this? I'm going to do this. Listen, because of the time

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I'm listening. I even asked this week for some help and some guidance on how to do this in a way to bless my church that I'm called to shepherd so that I can make sure that I give you the most that I can in a bird's eye view in one sermon.

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And I want to do this in a way that helps you, encourages you, challenges you, but it's a bird's eye view for today.

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So you're ready for this? Yes. Are you with me? I'm telling you now that I'm going to blitz you today.

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Please don't expect me to fully unpack Daniel 70 weeks right now.

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That could be done over six months. And guess what? We might do that. No, I'm just joking. I'm teasing. Okay.

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Well, I'm just gonna give you a bird's eye view because watch Jesus says, watch here. Verse 15. He says, so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet

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Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Then let those who were in Judea flee to the mountains.

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Jesus warns his people. If look, if you're on a housetop, like, look, go get out this abomination of desolation.

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When you see it, get out of the city, flee. If you're in Judea, flee to the mountains, get away.

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Don't go back, grab your cloak. Don't do that. You look, if you're pregnant or nursing, like it, this is a big deal.

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Pray that it's not on the Sabbath, brothers and sisters, Jewish context, local context,

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Sabbath, Judea hills. Amen. Yes. See how local it is. Do you see how

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Jewish this judgment is? But Jesus says to them, when they see that abomination of desolation flee quick thing.

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Number one, if you're taking notes, obviously Daniel is the key.

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Jesus tells us which book to go research to understand this.

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Daniel is not a large book, 12 chapters, not difficult. You can read through Daniel.

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I'm not saying you're going to fully understand it. There's a lot of amazing things in Daniel, but you know where to go.

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Jesus says it's in Daniel. Number one. Next, if you're taking notes, number two, this is clearly local.

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It's clearly local. A 2335, all the blood of the righteous.

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This generation B 2336 upon this generation

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C 2337 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, D 2338.

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Your house is left to you. Listen, desolate. E 24, one through two.

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It's about the temple's destruction. F 2416. Those in Judea.

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G 2416. You can escape, flee to the mountains. H 2420.

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It's clearly a Jewish context, Sabbath. And finally, let's read verse 34.

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Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place, which things are contained in the, all the abomination of desolation.

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So the question is what's in Daniel. Okay. So again, bird's eye view. All right.

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Daniel chapter two, go there quickly. Old Testament, not too far back.

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Daniel chapter two, just a smattering today. Bird's eye view in terms of what does Daniel talk about?

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Daniel two talks about a vision, really amazing vision. And here's a summary quick thing.

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Again, bird's eye view today, right? There's four kingdoms described in this vision. How many kingdoms for which kingdom is

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Daniel speaking from the Babylonian kingdom? So we've got Babylon and then three more kingdoms after that.

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And historically we know what those are and it lands on which one Rome. So he speaks from Babylon.

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The vision is four kingdoms. The final kingdom is Rome. And here's watch through divine inspiration.

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What is said about the time of the fourth kingdom, which we know historically is

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Rome. This is what it says in Daniel chapter two, verse 44.

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And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.

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It shall break in pieces, all these kingdoms and bring them to an end. And it shall stand forever.

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Just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.

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A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure.

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How many kingdoms for during the fourth kingdom, God himself said to the kingdom that will never be destroyed.

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What were the first words in Matthew's gospel in chapter three by John the Baptist? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is what at hands.

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What is Jesus preaching? As soon as he comes out of the wilderness, his temptation, Satan says, I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world.

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If you bow down and worship me. And Jesus says, what you shall worship the Lord, your

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God and him only shall you serve. Why is Satan offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the world?

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Because that's what he came for. And Jesus comes out of the wilderness.

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It says in Matthew four, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.

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Daniel says fourth kingdom, God sets it up during that time Rome, Jesus did. That's amazing.

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Daniel chapter seven, again, bird's eye view, 713 through 14. Here's the vision.

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Now watch. This is key. Watch. If you are leaving, come back.

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Remember I told you reading the Bible in its context, sun darkened moon to blood stars falling from the heavens.

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We go. And then we listened to guys talking about blood moons, blood moons, and buying these like these, these kits, right?

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Buckets to eat in and poop in like, that's what Jim Baker says. Literally, I'm not being foul.

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That's what he's selling because of Matthew 24. Tons of stuff based upon this text.

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Now people sell books called blood moon stars, right? And we go, wait, wait, wait.

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The Bible uses that language in Isaiah 13, Isaiah 34, to talk about the destruction of a pagan nation.

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That's judgment talk. That's dramatic prophetic hyperbole. God uses throughout the old

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Testament to talk about turning their world upside down. And then he does it. But another example, if someone says, well,

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Hey, Matthew 24, it talks about the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. It sure does.

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And where's that come from? Daniel 713 through 14. Here's the vision of Daniel. I saw in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man.

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And he came up to the ancient of days. And was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and the kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

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

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Daniel gets a vision of the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. Wait a second. This is where we see the divine son of man, because who else comes on the clouds of heaven in the old

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Testament? Yahweh, Isaiah 19 one. It says that God comes writing.

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Yahweh comes writing on a swift cloud against Egypt and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.

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That's Yahweh writing on a cloud. Now we have the divine son of man coming on the clouds of heaven, coming up to the ancient of days and given a kingdom dominion that everyone should serve

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Jesus. Brothers and sisters, quick question. Which direction did Jesus go? You can say it.

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Don't be afraid. I will not hurt you. Which way did he go? He came up. Now, what was

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Jesus? What were his last words? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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Go therefore and make disciples of what? All the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the

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Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. As Jesus goes up, what's he tell his people to do?

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Go win the world for me. What's the vision of the son of man? Up to the ancient of days, given a kingdom on his throne.

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Are you guys seeing it? Are you seeing it? I hope so. Next, Daniel 9. Just take a peek in Daniel chapter 9.

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I'm going to point you to verse 24 and I'm just going to run through here and show you some key parts.

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I do have a study on this. I did many years ago at Apologia Church. I'll try to find it and put it up for everybody.

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Also, one of my good friends did an amazing study. I'll put up this week for everybody in the church page. 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city.

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This is Daniel now agonizing in prayer and the angel Gabriel, a very reliable angel, comes and tells him about the 70 weeks prophecy.

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Now, I want you to remember now, listen, please listen to the timing and the details. This is so incredible.

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I'm going to tell you a story in a second that I'll never forget. When Daniel says this here or when he's given this revelation, the

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Jewish temple is destroyed. There isn't one. Did you get it?

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Babylon, captivity, exile. Jewish temple's gone.

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Daniel's in agony. His people are being punished. They're sinful. They've sinned with a high hand against God and Daniel is pleading with God.

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The angel comes and the angel says 70 weeks are decreed about your people, your holy city.

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What for? Here is what you need to hear and it's amazing. Here's the point of the 70 weeks prophecy.

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No matter how you interpret it, you have to hear this. This is the point. Remember where we're at in history.

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Exile, captivity, Babylon, temple destroyed. He's in agony.

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We've sinned against God. Help us, God. And then what happens is the angel says, here's the point.

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To finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to put an end to sin, to listen, watch, atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

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So here's the purpose of the 70 weeks prophecy. Now, I'll just throw this again, bird's eye view.

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490 years. It's 70 weeks of seven. Each day represents a year.

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Multiplying it, they're being told how many years are left before we make an end of sin, atonement for iniquity, everlasting righteousness, seal both vision and profit.

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All those things are contained in this prophecy of 490 years.

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Daniel is told when he can start counting down. Now, we don't have time today, again, to do all the details, but I would actually argue,

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I would argue that if you count down the days, it lands on Jesus' baptism, which gives us the last week of seven years.

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Just hold that in your minds for a second. Again, this is not an attempt to explain the whole thing today, but stay with me here in terms of what's vital in this prophecy.

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It says verse 25, know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build

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Jerusalem to the coming of Messiah, a prince, there should be seven weeks.

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Now watch, this is Daniel being told when to start counting down, when to start counting, and when you can start counting down from a decree to restore and rebuild

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Jerusalem until the Messiah. It says then for 62 weeks, it should be built again with squares and moat, but in troubled time.

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And after the 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

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Now, the word there cut off is a word used to describe a violent death. So here's the point again, bird's eye view.

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The prophecy is about atonement. The prophecy is about everlasting righteousness. The prophecy is putting an end to sin to finish the transgression, to bring the

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Jewish sin to its ultimate climax. I would argue in the murder of the Messiah, but you're told when to start counting and it lands on Jesus.

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Now here's what's amazing. It says the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.

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And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

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Come with me now. If you're holding it together in your mind, is there a temple when Daniel's writing this?

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Where are the Jews? Babylon in captivity, exile, no temple, no sanctuary.

01:00:03

This is now gone, but he's being told Messiah, the prince is coming.

01:00:09

He's going to be cut off. And then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.

01:00:16

Well, hey, Daniel, city and sanctuary is gone. What are you talking about? Here's a prediction of a rebuilt temple that's going to be destroyed after the

01:00:25

Messiah dies a violent death. Is that incredible?

01:00:32

Brothers and sisters, this is the word of God. Are you kidding me? Atheists are like, where's your evidence for God?

01:00:39

Hey fool, have you tasted

01:00:44

Chick -fil -A's chicken sandwich? And then have you read Daniel 9? That's all

01:00:50

I have to say. So some of you guys have heard this, but for those who haven't,

01:00:56

I'm going to just do a quick thing to show you here how this was used. Years and years ago, I saw a

01:01:01

Jewish newspaper in Scottsdale and it had an advertisement for Jews against Jesus. They were doing a seminar on how we know

01:01:08

Jesus isn't the Messiah. And I was excited because I'm a

01:01:13

Jew, right? I'm a spiritual Jew. I've been grafted in. So these are my people.

01:01:19

Shalom. So I go, and it was exciting. I go to the synagogue. I got to wear the yarmulke.

01:01:25

It was awesome. I went with a couple of friends and we were the only people there that had our Bibles. That's the first thing we noted.

01:01:31

We were the only ones there with Bibles. I'll say it again. We were the only ones there with our

01:01:37

Bibles and everybody was eyeballing the Christians and looking at our Bibles because we're holding them up.

01:01:42

What do you got that in? What are you doing with the Bible in the synagogue? And so this rabbi goes to the front.

01:01:50

He spoke for about two hours. He had the whole get up. He looked like you would imagine a Pharisee, you know, the things and very modest yahoo.

01:02:02

And when he finished, it was perplexing because he didn't deal with any of the verses that Christians historically would use to demonstrate from the

01:02:12

Torah and the Tanakh that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. So when he was finished,

01:02:18

I very respectfully walked down the aisle to the front. And at this moment that we walked up there with my friends and my

01:02:24

Bible, this rabbi's in front, we were immediately surrounded. The whole place was waiting for this moment to go down.

01:02:33

And you saw everybody in there. They were ready for the rabbi to take down this young Christian boy.

01:02:38

I was maybe 21, 22 years old at the time. And everybody there is just round this like this delicious wonder.

01:02:45

Are you ready for this? Get ready. Right. And I am there in front of him. I said, rabbi, I want to thank you so much for allowing us to sit through this.

01:02:52

Thank you for spending the time. I said, but I am curious, how come you didn't deal with any of the prophecies from the

01:02:57

Torah and the Tanakh that Christians historically have appealed to to show that Jesus is in fact Mashiach? How come?

01:03:04

He said, well, young man, I dealt with all of them. I said, rabbi, you didn't deal with one that I would appeal to.

01:03:11

And he says, okay, which one? And at that moment, everyone is just so amazing.

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Get ready for this moment. The rabbi versus the Christian. Let's do it. I said, well, I don't know.

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I, how about Daniel chapter nine? He said, okay, what about it? I said, well, in Daniel chapter nine, the prophecy clearly says whatever your interpretation of the 70 weeks that the

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Messiah comes and is cut off before the destruction of the second temple.

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Say that again. It says the Messiah comes and he's cut off before the destruction of the second temple.

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I said, rabbi, when was the temple destroyed? He said, well, young man, everybody knows the temple was destroyed in 70

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AD. I said, okay, rabbi, if Jesus isn't Mashiach, who is?

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And he takes my Bible. He didn't have one. And he starts looking through and he goes, and everyone's looking at him, looking at me, looking at him and they're delighted and excited.

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He's like, he goes, I'll tell you what, um, give me your email address. I'll get back to you. He never did get back to me, but brothers and sisters, the text that talks about the desolation of the temple, the city, the sanctuary, the text shows the

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Messiah comes is cut off and then the sanctuary is destroyed. And watch this final thing here in terms of, well, how can it say the people of the

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Prince who is to come? Who's the only Prince mentioned in the text? Messiah, the

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Prince. There's no antichrist figure in this text. None. Neither is there a gap in this text that is imposed upon the text.

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It says Messiah, the Prince, and it says the people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

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And somebody says, Pastor Jeff, that's confusing. If Messiah is the Prince, how is the

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Roman armies, how are the Roman armies, the armies of the Messiah, the Prince?

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Well, that's commonly used throughout the Bible. In Isaiah chapter 10, Assyria, a pagan nation, is called the rod of God's, the rod of God's anger, the rod of God's anger.

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Assyria, a pagan nation, he's using a pagan army as his army to destroy, oh, his covenant -breaking people, to punish them.

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God calls a pagan nation his punishing rod against the covenant -breaking people.

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It's not uncommon for God to call a pagan army his army when he destroys the covenant breakers.

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Further, in Matthew 22, Jesus gives the parable of the king and the wedding feast, and he says the king becomes enraged, and he sends his armies to destroy their city.

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Well, who are the armies that are sent? The Roman armies. So the people of the

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Prince who is to come makes sense in the text. And again, I can't do the whole text with you, but I hope it gives you a little detail in terms of the desolation promised, the city and the sanctuary, the cutting off of the

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Messiah. But let me just end it with this. I think a better thing to do would be this, and we're ending on this, two points.

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One, just read Luke 21 20. Mark it down. When Luke illustrates this part, what

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Luke says is he says this, when you see

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Jerusalem surrounded by armies, flee.

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You see, Matthew says when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, let the reader understand, then flee.

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Those in Judea, flee to the mountains. Luke 21, a little different. Luke says when you see

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Jerusalem surrounded by armies, flee. Next, I want to read to you a section, and we're ending on this, from Eusebius, an early church father, a bishop from the fourth century.

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He's also an historian, and he recorded this section in chapter five, the last siege of the

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Jews after Christ. Now, listen closely. If you've been following everything I've been saying to this point, and you've heard about Daniel, you've heard about the false

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Christ, the false messiahs, the famines, the wars, you've heard about Jesus and the abomination of desolation, you've heard about the warning about those in Judea fleeing to the mountains, don't go back and take your cloak.

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Jesus warned his people before the destruction of Jerusalem to flee when they saw it at least surrounded by armies.

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Here's what Eusebius does in the fourth century as a Christian pastor and historian.

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Here's what he records. But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called

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Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come there from Jerusalem, then as if the royal city of the

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Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and listen to the words, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.

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Brothers and sisters, here is a fourth century Christian pastor using Matthew 24 and that warning as evidence of Jesus as the

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Messiah. Here is a fourth century Christian pastor and historian saying, listen, the people of the church in Jerusalem have been commanded by a revelation to flee the city.

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Brothers and sisters, do you know of any revelation in Holy Scripture where Jesus warned the people of God in Jerusalem to flee the city to the mountains?

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Anywhere you can think of? How about Matthew 24? And you know what's amazing that I love?

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You see in the book of Acts, it says that the early Christians in Jerusalem are doing what with their stuff? They're selling their stuff and land.

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Why are Christians in Jerusalem in the book of Acts just selling their land in Jerusalem? Why? Because that wasn't good land to hold on to no more.

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Why? They were told it was about to be destroyed. By the way, how many Christian communes and weird socialist communities have been created off of a bad interpretation of those texts and acts?

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They're like, look at the early Christians, bro. They're selling all their property and distributing it one to another. No one owns anything, bro.

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Right? Like people have really done that. Context, context, context. Why were the

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Christians in Jerusalem selling property in Jerusalem? Because it's about to be destroyed, everybody.

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And don't you love that you have a matter of record in history? And this is what's praiseworthy.

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Listen closely to this, that Jesus loves his people.

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He protected them and he warned them. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, flee.

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And what did they do as a matter of record in history, brothers and sisters? Listen, the Roman armies as a matter of record came, surrounded

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Jerusalem in the city, the war was breaking out. And then all of a sudden, really, we don't really understand exactly why.

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There's different theories as to why. But all of a sudden, the Roman armies backed away from the city and started heading back.

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And do you know who fled the city? The Christians fled to a town called

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Pella. So brothers and sisters, who were the ones who were delivered from the destruction of Jerusalem?

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The Christians as a matter of historic record. And why?

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Because Jesus warned them on the Mount of Olives about the great tribulation that was going to fall on that generation.

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Here's the key. Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus was promised to be the one to bring salvation and judgment.

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Jesus promised that generation they wouldn't pass away until all these things took place. He told them their temple was left desolate to them.

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And he said there wouldn't be left one stone upon another. And that was literally true by 70

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AD. God's word is true. Amen. Yes. So here's the call of the gospel.

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Repent and believe in the good news. Jesus is the king of kings. He is reigning on his throne.

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You better repent and believe in a hurry. He's come to win the world to himself.

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He is making all things new. You're a sinner. God is holy. Jesus is perfect and righteous who died for sinners.

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And he rose again victoriously from the dead. He is on his throne reigning and ruling.

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And he calls you to bow your knee and kiss the sun. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you bless the word that went out today for the glory of Jesus.

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Please, Lord, help us with what we've learned to not merely have this in our minds as intellectual gymnastics or moments of gotcha, but help us to have reverence for your word in respect to the discourse that you kept your promises and your word is true.