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Eschatology is a study of last things.
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It's a study of the end times.
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Classic eschatology includes things like
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the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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When we think eschatology,
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we think of the second coming.
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When we think of eschatology,
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we think of prophecy.
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We think of the new
heavens and the new earth.
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We think of judgment day.
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We think of eternal punishment.
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Oftentimes, in this category of theology,
-
we discuss the nature
of the Kingdom of God.
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Is the Kingdom of God a thousand years?
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Or what is the Kingdom of God?
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The Kingdom of Heaven?
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The future of the church,
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the future of Israel -
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these are things that are
discussed under this heading.
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The millennium.
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The rapture.
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The resurrection of the dead.
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The tribulation.
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The antichrist.
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Can you think of anything else?
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Those are the things that are
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commonly included in
this branch of theology.
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So, here's the question.
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Why take a number of Lord's Days
-
and devote them to this topic?
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Is this necessary?
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My sermon this morning,
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I've entitled this:
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Why a Series on Eschatology?
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Today, an introduction.
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I just want to talk to you about why.
-
(incomplete thought)
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I have five reasons.
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There are other reasons,
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but in this message I want to lay down
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five reasons as to why I want to do
-
a series concerning eschatology.
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And I hope you leave here today
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believing that at least
3 or 4 or 5 of these
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are sufficiently important to
warrant a series like this.
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I think all of them are.
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So, I think that before we dive into this,
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I feel like I need to say something here.
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I cannot help but that this series
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is going to be polemic.
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Do you know that word?
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What's a good synonym for polemic?
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It's controversial.
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You might even think critical
-
or argumentative.
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It's the idea that this series
-
is not just going to be
a setting forth of truth;
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it is going to be a combating error.
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So, I can hardly avoid confronting
-
dispensational premillenialism.
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I detest it.
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But I want to show you that there's
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a biblical reason for detesting it.
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(incomplete thought)
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Brethren, look, if you
don't know that term
-
by the end of this, you
will know that term.
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You will know some of the major tenets
-
of dispensational premillenialism.
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Over against what?
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What do you hold to, pastor?
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Over against the biblical position.
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Brethren, look, I say
that tongue-in-cheek,
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but brethren, I don't want you to believe
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anything unless it can be shown to you
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from Scripture.
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Dispensational premillenialism is
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that eschatology that is
largely touted by Hollywood,
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by John Hagee,
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and yes, by John MacArthur.
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Now, I want to say this at the beginning.
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God has used John MacArthur
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instrumentally in my own conversion.
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He's had a profound influence on my life,
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even at a day when I didn't recognize
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that I would a preacher and a pastor.
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He influenced me tremendously.
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And as much as anything,
-
it was his example as a preacher
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who was deeply committed
to the Word of God.
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I appreciated that about him.
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He could convince me of anything,
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just so long as he could
show me from Scripture.
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I mean, from day one when God saved me,
-
he had a powerful influence on my life,
-
but God gave me a hunger
for the Word of God
-
that was greater than the
influence of John MacArthur.
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John could take me anywhere as long as
-
he could show me from Scripture
-
that I ought to go there.
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And he did. He convinced
me of many things.
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I mean, the sovereignty of God.
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There it is.
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I would hear him preach it.
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Yep, there it is.
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Election. Yep, I see it right there
-
in the Word of God.
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You know, he was big on Lordship.
-
I was saved reading
"The Gospel According to Jesus,"
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which deals with this
whole Lordship issue.
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Yep, there it is in the Bible.
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He was very convincing.
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Repentance. Yep, there is it.
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The rapture...
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Where is it at?
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Now folks, as a young believer,
-
he could have taken me anywhere
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that he could have shown me from Scripture
-
that I ought to go.
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The rapture.
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Let me tell you something
about the rapture.
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It's not like the Trinity.
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The Trinity is a concept
-
that you don't find the
word "Trinity" in Scripture,
-
but you find the concept.
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But with rapture, I don't
even find the word.
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But I don't find the concept.
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And in the verses that are used
-
to reference this supposed rapture,
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I'd get to looking at those things
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and say that's not
what that's talking about.
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Brethren, I actually heard,
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I believe it was the time I
was out there in California,
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I actually heard John MacArthur say
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as he was preaching through Revelation,
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he said now some of you are going to ask
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where the rapture is.
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He said it's in the white
spaces between verse 3 and 4.
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And I'm not making that up,
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because you found that
message, didn't you, James.
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I mentioned it and somebody told me here -
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you've heard that Jeff?
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(unintelligible)
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But he used specifically
"in the white spaces"
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when I heard it.
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And I said "in the white spaces?"
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You're telling me there's a doctrine
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in the white spaces?
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Brethren, there's something wrong
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with that approach to Scripture.
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As a young believer who had been
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so impressed by John's commitment
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to the Word of God, I was baffled
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as to how that commitment seemed to
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disintegrate when it came to eschatology.
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Look, I want to tell you right up front.
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I appreciate John MacArthur,
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but my commitment to God's Word
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is greater; it is foremost.
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I will follow any preacher
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that I sit before and listen to preach;
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I will follow any preacher as long as
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he can show me from the Word of God
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that I ought to go where
he wants to take me.
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But God help us, brethren.
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Let no one take you anywhere -
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including me -
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don't ever let me take you,
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or any of the preachers in this church
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on the radio or on the Internet
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take you anywhere they cannot show you
-
from the Word of God.
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It is not responsible listening to sermons
-
unless you have an open Bible.
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Listening to sermons and
listening to theology
-
and listening to doctrine,
-
listening to teachers
without an open Bible
-
is irresponsible on your part.
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Because you have no way of knowing
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whether this guy is
leading you into error or not.
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And just because somebody
has a certain reputation
-
as being a Bible scholar,
-
or being this or being
that or being reformed
-
does not mean that they
cannot lead you into error.
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And you will not know if they are,
-
unless you are checking
and proving everything.
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Brethren, there is a reason why
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the Bereans show up in Scripture.
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They were more noble.
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And what were they doing?
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There's a nobility in testing everything
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by the Word of God.
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Everything.
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Brethren, the primary thing compelling me
-
to do this series is
that I do not believe -
-
for one, I believe that
there are serious errors
-
associated with dispensational
premillenialism.
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The second thing about that is
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I don't believe that those
errors are harmless.
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I do not believe that they are harmless
-
with regards to sound doctrine
-
or the life of the church.
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There's implications in this system
-
that I believe are harmful.
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And that's why I want to deal with it.
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Brethren, I am under a charge
-
to preach the Word.
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And I think if we just
did a survey right now
-
of how much these subjects
that are dealt with
-
under this heading of eschatology
-
are dealt with in our New Testaments -
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well, the whole Bible,
-
but the New Testament specifically,
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how much of it actually
deals (incomplete thought).
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I've gone through the New Testament.
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I believe I can find
aspects of eschatology
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in every single book
of the New Testament
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except 3 John.
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I can't find it there.
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But in every other book.
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This is something that the early church
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counted as a doctrine for us to know,
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to embrace - it's important.
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God has given it to us in His Word.
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And so, ok, I have five reasons
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as to why I believe
that a series like this
-
is justifiable.
-
And I think this introduction
is important.
-
I want you all to feel this.
-
So, here's the first.
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This is the first reason why I believe
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we need to look at this.
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See, brethren, the thing is
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this dispensational premillenialism
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is being taught everywhere
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as though it's the truth.
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It's being taught by Hollywood.
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I'll tell you, when Hollywood owns
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a doctrine, you ought to fear.
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I'm not saying that every single thing
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that possibly can come
across the television screen
-
or movie screen is going to be erroneous,
-
but when the world gets on board,
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beware.
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Do you remember from 1 John
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who controls the world?
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If Satan controls the world,
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then the world jumps on board this system;
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this eschatology.
-
Satan typically does not
just do thing randomly.
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He does things with intent.
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Deliberately.
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On purpose.
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He means to accomplish his ends,
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and his ends are not favorable to us.
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So, here's the first thing.
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I believe that that system
of eschatology out there -
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you know what I'm talking about.
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I'm talking about this eschatology
-
that basically says this:
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we're going along right now
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and we're going to get raptured.
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And then there's going to be 7 years.
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Now if you're pre-tribulational,
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there's going to be 7 years of tribulation
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and then Jesus Christ is going to come
and set up an earthly kingdom,
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and it's going to last for 1,000 years
and then you're going to have Armageddon
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and then you're going to
have this judgment day,
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and then the new heavens and new earth
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are going to be ushered in.
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I'm talking about that kind of system.
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I'm talking about the "left behind" thing.
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This is all the charts and everything
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that you see John Hagee set up.
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Now look, I'm not going to say that
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John MacArthur buys into every last iota
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of the "left behind" stuff,
-
but by and large, he holds to this same
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type of eschatology.
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Here's the first reason.
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I believe it commandeers the promises
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that God has given to the church.
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Probably the most defining aspect
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of dispensational premillenialism
-
is its insistence that there are
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two people of God.
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Let's just lay that down.
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Fundamental to this eschatological system;
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this dispensationalism:
-
two people of God.
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Who are the two people?
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The church and Israel.
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Two distinct people.
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Two distinct purposes for each.
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You need to see this for what it is.
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MacArthur insists that certain promises
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made to Israel are not for you and me.
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That's what's being insisted.
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What's the big deal?
What's the big deal?
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Brethren, think about it.
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This is what this is like.
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Imagine this.
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You know, we have families in the church
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that are adopting children.
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Imagine this.
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Imagine that you have a son.
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A man and a woman.
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They have a son.
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It's born to them.
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Well, later on, they've got this one son.
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They decide that they're going to adopt
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two sons.
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One is born into the family.
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Two are adopted into the family.
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Imagine this.
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Imagine that these two adopted sons -
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suppose it's my family.
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I have one son.
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Let's suppose I adopt two sons now.
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I bring those two sons home,
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and I sit down at the table with them
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and I look across the table
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and I look in their eyes.
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And I say, "Boys, you
see Joshua over here?
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He was born into the family.
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My wife gave birth to him.
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He's blood of my blood,
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bone of my bone.
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He's my boy.
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Boys, guess what?
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I want you to know this.
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I am going to treat you as equal to him.
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I am going to be every bit a father to you
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that I am to him.
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I am going to love you like I love him.
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I am going to care for
you like I care for him.
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All that it means for him to be a child
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in this family, it's going to mean to you.
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I'm going to give you everything.
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You are mine.
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I'm your father.
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You are full heirs.
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Every privilege he has, you have.
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You bear my name.
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You're going to bear the name 'Conway,'
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and everything that it means
-
to be a Conway child is yours.
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No difference.
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No difference between you at all."
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Now look, if I go upstairs
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and I'm listening down the stairway
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because I want to hear if they really
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appreciate what I just told them.
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One of those adopted sons
says to the other one,
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"that's not true.
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We're really inferior to Joshua.
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Our father - he's really not
going to treat us the same.
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He is going to play
favorites with Joshua."
-
(incomplete thought)
-
You see, this is what's happening.
-
You've got the adopted brother - you.
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The adopted brother -
somebody like John MacArthur.
-
And he's saying in your ear,
-
"it's not true. It's not true.
-
Don't believe that the Father is going to
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give us everything that
He's giving to Israel."
-
That's what he's saying.
-
And he will admit he's saying that.
-
He doesn't deny that.
-
But Scripture simply does not teach that.
-
I am going to prove that to you
-
in the weeks ahead
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beyond any shadow of a doubt.
-
It does not teach that, brethren.
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Not at all.
-
Guys that hold to that system
-
would take certain promises away from us.
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And I don't believe
this is any small matter.
-
I want you to turn in your Bibles
-
to 1 Peter 1:13.
-
There's undoubtedly many places
-
that I could go here,
-
but brethren, 1 Peter 1:13.
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Notice how this reads.
-
1 Peter 1:13
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"Therefore, preparing
your minds for action."
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See, what Peter is speaking about here
-
is living life now being ready for action;
-
being sober-minded.
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He wants us to set our hope -
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what is hope?
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Hope is faith in things that happen
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in the future.
-
That's what it is.
-
Like Piper talks about "future grace."
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It's faith in future things.
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That's what hope is.
-
I hope for things to yet come.
-
He says set your hope; your expectation;
-
your faith in the future things,
-
"fully on the grace that
will be brought to you
-
at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
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What I want you to see is Peter believes
-
that you living now with
minds set for action;
-
prepared for action, being sober-minded.
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How are we to live?
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We're to live with our minds set
-
on that hope that is going
to be revealed to us
-
when Christ comes.
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You know what?
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You know what we get when He comes?
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Everything that's been promised.
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We get the inheritance.
-
You see, it's like having
the two adopted boys.
-
When does this all come really to fruition
-
about being even?
-
Well, it's when I die
-
and the will is read.
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Are they truly heirs?
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Are they going to receive everything
-
that the family-born son
-
is going to receive.
-
And you see what he wants?
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What Peter wants us to do
-
is he wants us to look at what is coming;
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what God has promised,
-
and he wants us to set our hope there.
-
Brethren, I'll tell you,
-
does that not keep people going?
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Look, people can endure
very difficult things today
-
if there's a promise of something
-
absolutely altogether glorious tomorrow.
-
Right? That's just a reality about life.
-
We can endure hardship now.
-
Look, if some of the things
we have to endure now
-
are forever, then that's not good.
-
That's not very encouraging.
-
But when you know that these things,
-
like Paul says,
-
only momentary, only light affliction,
-
to be followed by an
eternal weight of glory.
-
Well, that keeps us going!
-
I can suffer today if I
know paradise tomorrow.
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And this is the idea here.
-
It matters what's been promised to us.
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Am I a full heir?
-
Or am I really just going to be regarded
-
as a step-child when the inheritance
-
is being handed out?
-
That's not a small thing.
-
If I believe ethnic Jews have somehow
-
been afforded a greater privilege,
-
or somehow they are greater benefactors
-
in the Abrahamic covenant - somehow -
-
than us believing Gentiles,
-
it makes a difference.
-
Am I even?
-
Or am I inferior?
-
Brethren, don't you love the thought
-
that anything - anything -
a believing Jew,
-
not just any Jew, but a believing Jew -
-
anything a believing Jew can come to
-
and look in Scripture and say,
-
that is mine -
-
I as a believing Gentile can
look over his shoulder
-
and say that's mine too.
-
That matters.
-
That matters to me.
-
Brethren, to me that makes
my salvation glorious.
-
Now, it would be glorious if I was
-
just delivered from hell,
-
cast out on to an island,
-
never got to see God face-to-face.
-
But the very fact that I've been
-
brought into the family;
-
into the citizenship of the same
-
commonwealth of Israel;
-
into the same family;
-
grafted into the same tree
-
and all those promises that were given
-
to the believing Jew are
"yes and amen" in Christ.
-
That brings our salvation
to a level of glory.
-
It ought to stagger us
-
what God has done for us.
-
It really ought to.
-
Dispensationalists constantly
-
want to stress that Israel gets
-
an earthly kingdom and land
-
and all manner of territorial promises
-
while the church doesn't.
-
The church is going to be somewhere else.
-
But listen, our Lord comes
-
and does He make any distinction?
-
When our Lord talks about who gets
-
the kingdom of God,
-
or who inherits the earth -
-
you think about right when He
-
starts out His ministry in Matthew
-
and He gives the Sermon on the Mount
-
and those so well known Beatitudes.
-
Does He make any distinction between
-
believing Gentiles and believing Jews?
-
Who does He promise the kingdom to?
-
Do you remember?
-
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
-
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
-
And blessed are the meek,
-
for what?
-
They shall inherit the earth.
-
Not the believing Israelites.
-
The meek. The meek.
-
The distinctions are gone.
-
That's what we find in Scripture.
-
I would say to John MacArthur
-
and to all the other dispensational
premillenialists out there,
-
we will not surrender one
blood-bought promise to you.
-
Not one.
-
The beauty is John's going to get them
-
even though he doesn't believe
he's going to get them.
-
But still, if you've got the
two adopted kids downstairs
-
and the father hears that,
-
he doesn't like it.
-
He doesn't like it, because you know what?
-
He really wants to comfort them
-
and to cause them rejoicing
-
in the reality of that.
-
He wants us to live in
light of that right now.
-
He really does.
-
And listen, I am not saying -
-
I will not say that the
church replaces Israel.
-
Or displaces Israel.
-
What I'm saying is this,
-
God's true people
-
even in the Old Testament,
-
God's true people -
-
not all ethnic Israel.
-
It was a remnant.
-
And what God has done
-
is He's determined to take
-
from Gentile stock and make
true Jews out of them.
-
All Israel is not Israel.
-
And now, some Gentiles are.
-
They're grafted in.
-
That's the truth.
-
Every promise.
-
Every covenant ever given
-
to those true Israelites.
-
Yes and amen, they are mine in Christ.
-
And that's exactly what the New
Testament would have us teach.
-
We're going to look at this a lot more.
-
But I believe that that eschatology
-
commandeers the promises
given to the church.
-
Here's a second thing.
-
The church's urgency is dulled
-
by that form of eschatology.
-
Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 24.
-
Matthew 24:42
-
"Therefore, stay awake..."
-
This is concerning His coming.
-
"Stay awake, for you do not know
-
on what day your Lord is coming.
-
But know this, that if
the master of the house
-
had known in what part of the night
-
the thief was coming,
-
he would have stayed awake
-
and would not have let
his house be broken into.
-
Therefore, you also must be ready,
-
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour
-
you do not expect."
-
Our Lord left His disciples
-
with a sense of urgency.
-
Be ready.
-
His words to them were words:
-
you want to be ready,
-
because I'm going to come
like a thief in the night.
-
And I'm going to come quickly.
-
You want to be ready.
-
Be ready.
-
And you know what you find in Scripture?
-
There's a sense that we're to
-
pass that urgency on to the lost.
-
Today is the day of salvation.
-
Today, if you hear His voice,
-
do not harden your heart. Why?
-
Because there's an urgency.
-
Christ may return at any time
-
or death may take you at anytime.
-
There is no guarantee of any future
-
beyond right now.
-
You want to settle matters
with Christ immediately.
-
Be watchful. Be ready.
-
That is the urgency of Scripture.
-
Let me ask you something.
-
Is there the real possibility
-
that Jesus Christ might come today?
-
That's what you need to ask yourself.
-
Could He come today?
-
And bang! It's all over.
All over. All done.
-
Time as we know it is over.
-
The world comes to an end.
-
The trumpet of the archangel sounds.
-
And there is the Lord Jesus Christ
-
come as a thief in the night.
-
Suddenly revealed from heaven
-
with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
-
and He's bringing vengeance upon those
-
who did not obey the Gospel;
-
those who would not surrender to Him.
-
Couldn't that happen today?
-
Is it possible?
-
That's how Jesus Christ left His church
-
with that mindset of that urgency
-
that that can happen.
-
It makes everything urgent.
-
When you think that that sky out there
-
might split open today and He may come
-
and there is nothing keeping Him back;
-
that is not what all this "left behind"
-
dispensationalists believe.
-
And this is not what
John MacArthur believes.
-
Listen.
-
All you have to do is watch
-
one of these "Left Behind" movies.
-
Inevitably, you know what you get?
-
The rapture takes place.
-
And then somebody who is cold,
-
hard-hearted unbeliever,
-
when the rapture takes place,
-
well now they see.
-
Oh, it's all real.
-
Now I get a second chance to believe.
-
Well, and if I'm not
convinced by the rapture,
-
then I go through seven
years of tribulation.
-
Oh! Ok, now I can believe.
-
And if I don't believe after that,
-
well, now, Jesus comes and sets up
-
a 1,000 year kingdom.
-
Oh, now, I get to believe.
-
That's basically the mindset behind this.
-
If you believe that that is garbage,
-
and that when He comes, it's going
to be like a thief in the night,
-
and it's going to be like the days of Noah
-
when nobody's saying, well, you know,
-
it's been 7 years since the rapture
-
and this probably is going to happen.
-
It's been 1,007 years
-
and so we're probably due for Armageddon.
-
Brethren, that's not what Scripture says.
-
It says in an hour when you do not think
-
He's coming.
-
It is going to be as in the days of Noah.
-
They are going to be going
about their business
-
and marrying and giving in marriage
-
and nobody's keeping the calendar
-
and marking it.
-
He says not even the Son knows that time.
-
It is going to happen swift.
-
It is going to happen quickly.
-
It is going to take men
and women by surprise.
-
And Jesus knows it.
-
And as He's leaving, He's saying
-
to His disciples: Watch!
-
Watch! Watch!
-
Be ready!
-
Brethren, ask a dispensational
premillenialist
-
if it's possible for Jesus Christ
-
to return this very day
-
and judge all the nations as described
-
in Matthew 25 where Jesus gathers
-
all the nations before
Him and divides them.
-
Some on His right hand to eternal life.
-
Some on His left hand
to eternal punishment.
-
And it's over.
-
Just ask your dispensational friend
-
if he believes that could happen today.
-
You know what his answer's going to be?
-
I don't expect so.
-
Look at verse 44.
-
"Therefore, you also must be ready.
-
For the Son of Man is coming at an hour
-
you do not expect."
-
Brethren, just think about how this
-
appeals to the unbeliever.
-
Because I used to think this way
-
when I was lost.
-
I would hear this stuff about
there being a rapture
-
and about 7 year tribulation
-
and about a 1,000 year kingdom,
-
and I thought, well, I'm going to go on
-
with my life and if the rapture happens,
-
well, then I'll get my act together.
-
That just appeals to the unbeliever.
-
That is not what Scripture says.
-
That is not a hope that the Scriptures
-
give to the unconverted.
-
Not at all.
-
It leaves us with a
second-chance theology.
-
And I think it's dangerous.
-
This sort of eschatology
puts men to sleep.
-
Just check out the "Left Behind"
mentality that's out there
-
regularly portraying unbelievers
-
who they begin to see all these things
-
come to pass and then they believe.
-
Brethren, let's be honest with Scripture.
-
Do you know that shortly after Jesus
-
said to His disciples,
-
you better be ready,
-
He says let me tell you
what it's going to be like.
-
It's going to be like 10 virgins.
-
Five are wise. Five are foolish.
-
They all look the same.
-
It's people in the church.
-
It's religious people.
-
It's professing Christianity.
-
Five are ready. Five are not ready.
-
It's portrayed by not having oil
-
in their lamps among the five foolish.
-
The five wise - they have oil.
-
The five foolish - they do not have oil.
-
What happens?
-
They're waiting. They're waiting. They're
waiting. Like we're waiting today.
-
They're waiting, but
what is the whole point
-
of the parable?
-
Be ready! Be ready!
-
The five that are ready - what happens?
-
Bang! Christ comes!
-
And it's over!
-
There is no rapture.
-
There is no 7 year tribulation.
-
There is no 1,000 year kingdom.
-
It's over!
-
And if you're not ready, the door is shut.
-
And if you don't believe me,
-
read in the 25th chapter of Matthew
-
about the parable of the 10 virgins.
-
When Christ comes, if you are not ready,
-
the door is shut.
-
And when the door is shut,
-
they cry out, "Lord, Lord, open to us!"
-
And He says, "truly, I say to
you, I do not know you."
-
"Watch therefore, for you know
-
neither the day nor the hour."
-
Brethren, there is an urgency
-
that Scripture puts upon the church
-
and upon the evangelization of this world
-
because of the possible imminent return
-
of Christ at any single moment.
-
And when He comes, the door is shut.
-
And if you're not ready, it's all over.
-
That is what Jesus is teaching.
-
How can so many be wrong?
How can so many be wrong?
-
How can they come up with
this convoluted system?
-
Which, by the way, does not have
-
very good historical weight behind it;
-
not the dispensational type
of premillenialism,
-
propounded by Scofield, Darby,
-
but really not much history
-
beyond the early 1800's.
-
Brethren, when you go
to Scripture, you tell me.
-
You've got 10 virgins.
-
Five wise. Five foolish.
-
It doesn't say the rapture takes place
-
and the five wise get zapped out
-
and the five foolish are left
-
and now have an opportunity to believe.
-
What you are told is the door is shut.
-
While they were going to buy,
-
the Bridegroom came and
those who were ready
-
went in with Him to the marriage feast
-
and that door was shut.
-
That's it.
-
If you're not ready, it's over.
-
It's over.
-
Third.
-
The first: that system commandeers
the church's promises.
-
That system commandeers
the church's urgency.
-
Third, that system commandeers
-
one of our basic hermeneutics;
-
one of our basic Bible
interpretation methods.
-
Let me tell you what I mean.
-
I believe that dispensationalism
-
is founded on an unsound method
-
of Bible interpretation.
-
You know what we have here?
-
We have a Bible.
-
Sixty-six books.
-
Was it all given to us just like that? No.
-
It was given to us over a
matter of thousands of years.
-
What happened?
-
Well, what happens is we have
-
progressive revelation.
-
God begins to tell us
about the coming of Christ
-
back in Genesis 3.
-
And as you go through your Bibles,
-
what happens?
-
More and more and more light.
-
More revelation.
-
More information.
-
It builds.
-
It keeps building upon itself.
-
Progressively God reveals more and more.
-
The further you go in God's Word,
-
the more light we have,
-
because the more knowledge we have;
-
the more God is revealing to us.
-
And it was given to us progressively.
-
Over quite a few years.
-
And you know where we especially see
-
progression made is when you go
-
from the Old Testament
to the New Testament.
-
Why?
-
Because suddenly, Christ has come.
-
The Spirit of God is given to the church
-
which leads the church into all truth;
-
led those apostles into all truth
-
that could write the New Testament.
-
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment.
-
You know what the Old Testament is?
-
Do you know what the New Testament
-
tells us about the
Old Testament repeatedly?
-
It's types and shadows.
-
Christ is the fulfillment.
-
Look, we don't say that
a shadow is darkness.
-
Shadows aren't darkness.
-
They're just not as bright as being
-
in the full sunlight.
-
Right?
-
I mean, you go out in the full noonday sun
-
and you cast a shadow.
-
You don't look and say, oh, that's black.
-
That's darkness.
-
No, it's not darkness.
-
I can see lots of things in my shadow.
-
But if I step away and I let
the full light shine down there,
-
well, yes, it's brighter now.
-
Shadows are not darkness.
-
They're just not as bright.
-
The thing is God reveals
in the New Testament
-
this full blazing light of Jesus Christ.
-
The full sunlight's there.
-
This blazing revelation of Christ.
-
Since the New Testament explains
-
so many of the types and shadows
-
and concepts of the Old Testament,
-
we definitely need
to constantly be looking
-
at our New Testament
-
in order to figure out what this means
-
back here in the Old Testament.
-
I'm not making that up.
-
That's exactly what
happened when Jesus came.
-
That's exactly what happened
when the apostles
-
walked this earth.
-
What did they do?
-
They explained what was going on
-
in the Old Testament that
was not understood
-
when they just had the Old Testament.
-
You say, is that true?
-
Brethren, look at Malachi 4.
-
This is no small thing.
-
Malachi 4:5
-
I'm just going to show you
a few examples of this.
-
Remember, I'm talking about the fact
-
that this dispensationalism commandeers
-
one of the church's
most basic hermeneutics;
-
one of the basic biblical
interpretive methods.
-
You know, we want to be
able to interpret Scripture.
-
We want to come to Scripture,
-
and we want to figure
out what things mean.
-
There's some basic rules that we apply
-
to interpreting Scripture.
-
You want to look at context.
-
You want to compare what this author
-
has to say about the same
thing in other places.
-
You compare Scripture with Scripture.
-
One of the most fundamental
-
biblical hermeneutics is that you examine
-
the Old Testament in light of the New.
-
Let me show you why.
-
Let me show you Jesus
doing this exact thing.
-
Here we have Malachi 4:5-6.
-
"Behold, I will send
you Elijah the prophet
-
before the great and awesome
day of the Lord comes,
-
and he will turn the hearts
of fathers to their children
-
and the hearts of
children to their fathers,
-
lest I come and strike the land
-
with a decree of utter destruction."
-
Now look, here's the thing,
-
the Old Testament has shadows or types.
-
Do you know what that is?
-
That's where the shadow is real,
-
it's physical,
-
but it points to a
greater spiritual reality.
-
But you know what else you have?
-
You have metaphors.
-
Guess what's true about a metaphor?
-
If I say, you know, you and I were
talking about this afterwards
-
and we locked horns.
-
That's a metaphor.
-
Here's the thing about a metaphor.
-
If you take a metaphor literally,
-
is it true or not true?
-
It's not true.
-
You see, when you look at a shadow,
-
there's reality to it.
-
The fulfillment - there's greater reality.
-
There's spiritual reality.
-
One points to the other.
-
But when you're dealing with metaphor,
-
to literally take the metaphor is error.
-
That's key, because if you mix up
-
a metaphor for that which you believe
-
ought to be taken literally,
-
you are going to end up in error.
-
Here's what happens.
-
We look at Malachi.
-
Elijah the prophet is going to come.
-
Now look, if I take this
at literal face value,
-
you know what this says?
-
It says Elijah the Tishbite.
-
Remember Elijah?
-
Predecessor to Elisha.
-
Elijah.
-
Remember Mt. Carmel?
-
Called down fire from heaven?
-
That Elijah. Elijah the Tishbite.
-
That Elijah. Called down
fire from heaven Elijah
-
is going to be sent,
-
presumably from the dead
-
if you're going to take it literally.
-
He's going to come back from the dead.
-
"Before the day of the Lord."
-
But you know what happens when you
-
come over to the New Testament?
-
The New Testament gives us light.
-
How so? Matthew 11:12.
-
Jump over there. Matthew 11:12.
-
"From the days of John
the Baptist until now,
-
the kingdom of heaven
has suffered violence,
-
and the violent take it by force.
-
For all the prophets and the law
-
prophesied until John.
-
And if you are willing to accept it,
-
he is Elijah who is to come.
-
He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
-
You see, you need ears like that to hear,
-
to process.
-
Or how about this. Go over to Matthew 17.
-
You see, it is a metaphor.
-
It is a metaphor when you portray
-
someone as being someone
else who they are not.
-
It is a metaphor when you portray
-
someone as being someone else
-
even though they are not
actually that someone else,
-
but you portray them that way
-
because of certain similarities.
-
That is metaphor.
-
But to take that literally is to come away
-
with an erroneous conclusion.
-
Jesus says John the Baptist,
-
he is Elijah who is to come.
-
He is the one.
-
It wasn't meant to say that it was
-
Elijah exactly the Tishbite,
-
but one who is like him.
-
Matthew 17:10-12
-
"The disciples asked Him,
-
'Then why do the scribes say
-
that first Elijah must come?'
-
He answered, 'Elijah does come,
-
and he will restore all things,
-
but I tell you that Elijah
has already come,
-
and they did not recognize him,
-
but did to him whatever the pleased.
-
So also the Son of Man
will certainly suffer
-
at their hands.'"
-
To take such a metaphor as literal
-
is to end up with a falsehood.
-
One of the most fundamental rules
-
of Bible interpretation that can be
-
deduced from passages like these
-
is that we need Jesus and His apostles
-
to correctly interpret the Old Testament.
-
Can you see it there?
-
If you don't have the New Testament,
-
then you're left without
-
some pretty important information.
-
Dispensational premillenialism,
-
like that of John MacArthur's
-
denies - denies the
fundamental hermeneutic
-
or Bible interpretation method.
-
Listen to John MacArthur.
-
These are his words.
-
He did a message called:
-
"Why Every Calvinist
Should be a Premillenial."
-
Something like that,
-
back at his Shepherd's Conference
-
back in 2007.
-
These are his words.
-
"It is not legitimate to
interpret the Old Testament
-
as secondary and the
New Testament as primary.
-
Otherwise, the Old Testament was
-
literally darkness, not light."
-
No, it's not.
-
It's shadow.
-
Not full light.
-
But shadow isn't darkness.
-
These are his words.
-
"If you say the Old Testament cannot be
-
rightly interpreted apart
from the New Testament,
-
then you have denied the perspicuity
-
of the Old Testament."
-
Who knows what the word perspicuity means?
-
Clarity.
-
How can he say that?
-
When Jesus comes along and says,
-
let Me tell you about Malachi's Elijah.
-
It's John.
-
I don't know how he (John
MacArthur) comes to this.
-
Brethren, does it deny the
clarity of the New Testament
-
when Scripture says,
-
"don't muzzle the ox?"
-
Well, in its physical reality,
-
that doesn't deny any perspicuity.
-
That's pretty clear.
-
Don't muzzle the ox.
-
You've got an ox
-
pulling the grinding wheel.
-
Don't put a muzzle on it so it can't eat.
-
Let it eat.
-
But is that the end of the story?
-
You see, if I take John
MacArthur's approach
-
and say, nope, the Old
Testament's got to stand alone.
-
If you can't interpret it all by itself,
-
it's darkness. You're denying perspicuity.
-
The Apostle Paul did not believe that.
-
Brethren, when the Apostle Paul
-
begins to teach Gentile believers -
-
Corinthians, Timothy who was
-
with the Ephesians,
-
you know what he says?
-
He says muzzling the ox -
-
God didn't give that because
He was concerned about oxen.
-
He says God gave that
-
because He wants those who render to you
-
spiritual things not to be muzzled.
-
Take care of them.
-
Take care of your preachers.
-
He says that's what it's for.
-
Do you get that out of the Old Testament?
-
You can read your Old Testament
-
till you're blue in the face,
-
and you are not going to find that said.
-
You see how you rob the text?
-
Do you see how it's
just massively incomplete?
-
Brethren, have you ever read
-
there in the Sermon on the Mount
-
that your righteousness;
-
your righteousness if
you're in the kingdom,
-
it better exceed that of
the Scribes and Pharisees.
-
And you know right before that,
-
He talks about what that
righteousness looks like.
-
It looks like you not relaxing
-
even one of the least commandments
-
given in the Old Testament,
-
which would include commandments
-
just like this.
-
But you see, if I'm not gong to relax
-
commandments like muzzling the ox,
-
I better have some New Testament manner
-
of interpreting it, or you're going to be
-
running your oxen out there all muzzled.
-
I mean, right?
-
If you're going to
take all this literally,
-
what I'm being told by Christ
-
is I better not relax one of the least
-
of the commandments that was given.
-
But what I find in the New Testament
-
is all those commandments
had moral realities.
-
They had practical realities
-
that pointed to living my life in this age
-
as a Christian.
-
But knowing how to apply those things
-
and how to interpret those things...
-
Brethren, when I come
into the New Testament,
-
I find Christ is the Passover Lamb.
-
It's in the New Testament that I find
-
that Christ is the fulfillment
-
of the Old Testament priesthood.
-
It's in the New Testament that I find
-
that all the festivals, the new moons,
-
the Sabbath days were all shadows,
-
but Christ is the substance.
-
Can I tell you something?
-
Whether it's dispensationalism
-
or whether it's covenant theology,
-
any time you start in the Old Testament,
-
you are going to end up going somewhere
-
God never intended you to go.
-
If you start there.
-
It's inspired.
-
We need it.
-
But what we see is that we never
-
want to deal with the Old Testament
-
as though Jesus Christ never came
-
and as though the apostles never
-
wrote the New Testament.
-
Clearly, brethren, clearly they show us
-
repeatedly that that is how we are
-
to deal with Scripture.
-
If we embrace John
MacArthur's hermeneutic,
-
(incomplete thought).
-
You know what he said?
-
He said nobody ends up an amillenialist
-
unless they read the New Testament
-
back into the Old.
-
I just say: exactly!
-
That's what I'm supposed to do!
-
Brethren, reading what
the Old Testament says
-
concerning Israel, the
covenants made to Israel,
-
promises made to Israel,
-
and coming to all manner
of dogmatic conclusions
-
without first reading the New Testament
-
to see how the
Holy Spirit inspired apostles,
-
teach us to interpret those things
-
in the Old Testament
-
is a very irresponsible way
-
to approach Scripture.
-
It is.
-
That is irresponsible.
-
You let the New Testament light
-
shine on that Old Testament,
-
and it will come to life.
-
That's what Jesus did.
-
Brethren, He came along and He just
-
started throwing all this stuff out,
-
and it just blew everybody away.
-
He starts explaining things in ways
-
that He just let the light in.
-
Never read the Old Testament promises;
-
never read anything from the Old Testament
-
as if Jesus had not come;
-
as if the New Testament
had not been written.
-
That's the third.
-
This basic hermeneutic of
interpreting the Old by the New.
-
They would wrest it from our hands.
-
Because I would say this.
-
Nobody ever ends up becoming
-
a dispensational premillenialist
-
unless they refuse to
read the New Testament
-
back into the Old.
-
I understand how they come up with
-
what they come up with,
-
because they don't let the New Testament
-
guide them in their interpretations.
-
Here's a fourth thing.
-
The church's missionary
hope is commandeered.
-
For the sake of time,
-
I'm going to shoot right through this.
-
Brethren, in Revelation 20,
-
it says that during the millenium,
-
the devil is bound
-
from deceiving the nations.
-
If that is indeed a way of
describing this current time,
-
then the missionary hope is this:
-
the devil is bound.
-
Not totally.
-
He's bound from doing one thing:
-
deceiving the nations; the Gentiles.
-
Listen, that's what Scripture says.
-
Jesus Himself said,
-
"How can somebody enter
the strongman's house
-
and plunder his goods?"
-
Unless what?
-
"Unless he first binds the strongman.
-
Then indeed, he may plunder the house."
-
Remember what happened?
-
He sends 72 out.
-
72. They go out preaching the Gospel.
-
And when they came back, they said,
-
Lord, the demons - they obeyed us!
-
He says, "I saw...
-
I saw Satan fall."
-
You see, Satan does not
have power before the Gospel.
-
That's what this is all about.
-
That's what we're talking about here.
-
He said to them,
-
"I saw Satan fall like
lightning from heaven.
-
Behold, I have given you authority
-
to tread on serpents, scorpions,
-
and over all the power of the enemy,
-
and nothing shall hurt you."
-
You know in John 12, He says this:
-
Think of this. Jesus is
going to the cross.
-
John 12.
-
He says this:
-
"Now is the judgment of this world."
-
"Now is the judgment of this world.
-
Now the ruler of this
world will be cast out."
-
What? The ruler of this world
-
is going to be cast out when?
-
In John 12.
-
See how perfectly that correlates
-
with taking that millenium to be
-
this long period of time
-
between Christ's comings -
-
His first coming and His second coming.
-
This is the missionary age.
-
This is the age of the ingathering
-
of the Gentiles.
-
This is the time of the Gentiles.
-
This is a time when Satan cannot keep
-
the nations in darkness
-
as he did before the cross.
-
And I'll tell you this.
-
Jesus said this.
-
He said now - now - I'm
going to the cross.
-
Now is the ruler of this world cast out.
-
And you know what He says next?
-
And if you lift Me up,
-
I'm going to draw all men -
-
not just Jews.
-
I'm going to draw all men unto Me.
-
Brethren, the hope of the church
-
is that we live in an age
-
when Satan is bound,
-
when we can go out among the nations,
-
and by the power of Christ -
-
Him going with us,
-
"Lo, I am with you to the
end of the world."
-
All authority - and we can go out there,
-
and we're going to come
back with a harvest.
-
They would commandeer that from us.
-
John MacArthur mocks at that.
-
Yeah, the devil, he goes
around like a roaring lion
-
seeking whom he may devour.
-
Doesn't sound like he's chained to me.
-
John, that is just shoddy,
shoddy Bible interpretation.
-
Again. Because if you go to Revelation 20,
-
it does not say that he's bound
-
from seeking whom he may devour.
-
It doesn't say that he's not going around
-
like a roaring lion.
-
It says he's bound from
deceiving the nations.
-
That's what it says.
-
That's what Jesus said.
-
The ruler of this world -
-
at the cross - the ruler of this world
-
is cast out.
-
You say, what does that mean?
-
It means something.
-
And what He follows it with
-
is I will gather all men unto Myself.
-
That's what it means.
-
The devil will not be able to resist that
-
from taking place.
-
So that's the fourth thing.
-
The fifth thing is this.
-
That system commandeers
the church's glory.
-
You say, what do you mean by that?
-
Brethren, brethren, a faithful examination
-
of the Scriptures is going to reveal this:
-
Brethren, brethren!
-
This is the pinnacle.
-
This is the top of the mountain.
-
Everything in this book
-
is pointing somewhere.
-
It is pointing to Christ.
-
And when you come to the New Testament,
-
what you find is all this was shadow,
-
and it's all pointing to Him.
-
And you come to the New Testament,
-
and the four Gospels are all about Him,
-
and the epistles are all about
-
interpreting what happened in His teaching
-
and in His life.
-
And it's all about Him.
-
It's about Him.
-
It pointed.
-
The Gospel was all in types and shadows
-
found in the Old Testament.
-
It's pointing to Christ.
-
And it's pointing to the church.
-
You come to the New Testament,
-
the church...
-
the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
-
Christ and the church
-
is the focal point.
-
Everything looks there.
-
It is on the mountain top.
-
It is the culmination of all prophecy.
-
Do you realize what this
dispensationalism teaches?
-
We've got to build a temple again.
-
We actually have to have priests
-
offering sacrifices again.
-
Brethren, let me tell you something.
-
Types and shadows always look
-
to the fulfillment.
-
They look to that which is far better.
-
Think of the type and shadow
-
that we have been given in this age
-
when most types and shadows
have been put away.
-
The Lord's Supper is a type and shadow
-
of what?
-
Of sitting with Christ face-to-face.
-
Of having Him forever.
-
Do you recognize what it says
-
if we get to Christ and the church,
-
and then we allow this
-
redemptive retrograde, regression -
-
we go back down the mountain.
-
And we set up sacrifices again.
-
Do you know what happens?
-
Do you know what it communicates
-
if when Christ comes,
-
you revert back to shadow?
-
Do you realize what that communicates?
-
Do you realize what shadows
always communicate?
-
Something better is yet to come.
-
Do you recognize that if Christ comes
-
and we go back to shadow,
-
it says Christ is not it.
-
There's something better.
-
Do you know what Jesus did?
-
He came.
-
He's on the road to Emmaus.
-
He says, boys, I can take you through
-
this whole book.
-
And it's about Me.
-
It's pointing to Me.
-
Do you realize when He died
-
that veil tore from the top to the bottom?
-
Saying it's done!
-
All done with the shadows
-
because the reality has come.
-
Brethren, the church -
-
the church is His body.
-
It's the fullness of Him
who fills all in all.
-
He can look at the church -
-
this is the highest point of redemption.
-
This is the highest point of blessing
-
bestowed upon man
-
that we actually are His bride.
-
We actually are His body.
-
We actually are the fullness of Him.
-
Have you ever just stopped?
-
We are the fullness of Him
-
who fills all in all?
-
This is it. This is it.
-
This whole perversion
-
for you to tell me that in God's plan
-
there's going to be a
reconstruction of a temple,
-
there's going to be a re-institution
of the Levitical priesthood.
-
Does Hebrews not just
blow that whole thing
-
right out of the water?
-
Hebrews is all about the
Levitical priesthood
-
[no more].
-
It needed a better priest.
-
Brethren, Hebrews 10:1,
-
"Since the law has but a shadow
-
of the good things to come,
-
instead of the true
form of these realities,
-
it can never by the same sacrifices
-
that are continually offered every year
-
make perfect those who draw near."
-
It never made anything perfect.
-
Never made anything perfect.
-
But He has come now who does make perfect.
-
Will we reinstitute shadows that mean
-
we now need to look for something else?
-
That's what a shadow is.
-
If you just look at the basic intent
-
and definition of a shadow,
-
it should dispel.
-
I can remember as a new believer
-
even hearing that somebody
-
like J. Vernon McGee
-
or one of these Scofield-ites
-
was saying that they were going to
-
reestablish the Old Testament worship.
-
I didn't know a lot, but it made me
-
recoil with horror at such a thought.
-
Because I could see it even
as a young believer.
-
That dishonors Christ.
-
Brethren, if that is not sufficient reason
-
to go to Scripture and to seek the truth
-
on this matter, I don't know
what sufficient matters.
-
How we handle the Word,
-
not being disarmed of one
of the basic hermeneutics,
-
owning every promise
that God has given to us,
-
not losing the glory of
Christ and the church.
-
We do not want to back down
-
to some shadows again.
-
Losing that missionary hope
-
of the binding of the devil.
-
Brethren, harmful errors.
-
I believe harmful.
-
The church's urgency is dulled.
-
We don't want that.
-
I want to set forth before you
-
in these weeks ahead
-
the biblical view of end times.
-
And I think you will find this.
-
It gives all the promises to us in Christ.
-
It demands urgency.
-
It will show us we need to interpret
-
everything in the Old by the New.
-
It will show us this
is the missionary time.
-
This is the time of
ingathering of the Gentiles.
-
It will show us that Jesus Christ
-
and the church is the fulfillment;
-
it is the culmination.
-
There's nothing higher.
-
Christ is all the glory
of Immanuel's land.
-
I could just imagine a true
Christian shedding tears.
-
Even if Israel at some point
-
rebuilds the temple,
-
the true Christian would lay those bricks
-
with tears as an affront to Christ.
-
They may do that,
-
but don't believe for a second
-
that it's got anything
to do with God's plan -
-
not His redemptive plan.
-
It does not have to
do with the fulfillment
-
of what these guys are talking about.
-
We're going to look at this.
-
We're going to look at this
-
because Scripture is not
silent on these things.
-
Scripture has an enormous amount to say.
-
Father, I know that those
of us here in this church
-
do not have a corner on the truth.
-
And I know that my brother John MacArthur
-
has been so instrumental in leading me
-
into so much truth.
-
Lord, we know that many that hold
-
to that way of thinking,
-
that mindset, they're Your children.
-
But Father, we pray for them.
-
We pray that You would
lead them into truth.
-
We pray that You would lead us into truth.
-
Lord, may Your Word be a lamp
-
unto our feet in these days all our life;
-
in the days ahead and
all the way to the end.
-
May You lead us in truth.
-
The Spirit who was sent
-
to guide us into all truth,
-
we pray that He would lead us into truth;
-
lead us into understanding,
-
rightly comprehending in the weeks ahead.
-
Lord, oh, if there's
anything I can pray for,
-
I pray that this church
would live and teach
-
unto the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-
And whatever we look at in the weeks ahead
-
we want it to be for His glory.
-
We want it to be for His sake.
-
Lord, in humility, we
want to handle the Word.
-
We want to believe what the Word says.
-
Lord, we thank You that that One
-
who fulfills all the shadows has come.
-
Oh, we thank You that
we don't have to live
-
under that Old Testament law.
-
That was a yoke about their neck
-
that none of them could bear.
-
Oh, Lord, we thank You we're not under
-
that dispensation.
-
We thank You that our Lord has come.
-
We thank You we've been set free.
-
We thank You that we have the light
-
of the New Testament now.
-
Lord, thank You that we
live in such a time as this.
-
In such a time that You
are harvesting the Gentiles,
-
and many of us in this room -
-
we are the Gentiles that Satan
-
has not been able to deceive.
-
His hand was held back
and we were rescued.
-
And we have come to find rest and trust
-
in the bosom of Jesus Christ.
-
Oh Lord, thank You!
-
Thank You for this salvation.
-
Thank You for choosing us.
-
Thank You for rescuing us.
-
Thank You for all the glorious hope
-
and the promises that
we have in Jesus Christ.
-
Thank You that You've
made us full inclusion,
-
full sons, grafted in to
the tree of Your people.
-
Made fellow citizens with the saints.
-
Members of the household of God.
-
In all ways, partakers of the covenants.
-
The covenants, the promises
have become ours.
-
True offspring of Abraham.
-
All because of Christ.
All because of Christ.
-
Lord, thank You our salvation
-
is abundantly great, abundantly glorious.
-
Salvation which is to the uttermost.
-
Thank You, Lord.
-
Thank You.
-
In Christ's name we thank You.
-
Amen.