1 00:00:00,777 --> 00:00:08,395 Eschatology is a study of last things. 2 00:00:08,395 --> 00:00:14,260 It's a study of the end times. 3 00:00:14,260 --> 00:00:21,575 Classic eschatology includes things like 4 00:00:21,575 --> 00:00:25,107 the second coming of Jesus Christ. 5 00:00:25,107 --> 00:00:27,053 When we think eschatology, 6 00:00:27,053 --> 00:00:29,425 we think of the second coming. 7 00:00:29,425 --> 00:00:31,784 When we think of eschatology, 8 00:00:31,784 --> 00:00:37,496 we think of prophecy. 9 00:00:37,496 --> 00:00:41,744 We think of the new heavens and the new earth. 10 00:00:41,744 --> 00:00:44,767 We think of judgment day. 11 00:00:44,767 --> 00:00:47,702 We think of eternal punishment. 12 00:00:47,702 --> 00:00:53,070 Oftentimes, in this category of theology, 13 00:00:53,070 --> 00:00:59,909 we discuss the nature of the Kingdom of God. 14 00:00:59,909 --> 00:01:01,976 Is the Kingdom of God a thousand years? 15 00:01:01,976 --> 00:01:04,922 Or what is the Kingdom of God? 16 00:01:04,922 --> 00:01:08,349 The Kingdom of Heaven? 17 00:01:08,349 --> 00:01:10,880 The future of the church, 18 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:12,842 the future of Israel - 19 00:01:12,842 --> 00:01:17,035 these are things that are discussed under this heading. 20 00:01:17,035 --> 00:01:20,074 The millennium. 21 00:01:20,074 --> 00:01:23,859 The rapture. 22 00:01:23,859 --> 00:01:27,762 The resurrection of the dead. 23 00:01:27,762 --> 00:01:32,251 The tribulation. 24 00:01:32,251 --> 00:01:35,108 The antichrist. 25 00:01:35,108 --> 00:01:38,468 Can you think of anything else? 26 00:01:38,468 --> 00:01:40,275 Those are the things that are 27 00:01:40,275 --> 00:01:46,521 commonly included in this branch of theology. 28 00:01:46,521 --> 00:01:49,114 So, here's the question. 29 00:01:49,114 --> 00:01:54,397 Why take a number of Lord's Days 30 00:01:54,397 --> 00:01:57,652 and devote them to this topic? 31 00:01:57,652 --> 00:01:59,094 Is this necessary? 32 00:01:59,094 --> 00:02:00,445 My sermon this morning, 33 00:02:00,445 --> 00:02:01,794 I've entitled this: 34 00:02:01,794 --> 00:02:04,384 Why a Series on Eschatology? 35 00:02:04,384 --> 00:02:05,978 Today, an introduction. 36 00:02:05,978 --> 00:02:09,318 I just want to talk to you about why. 37 00:02:09,318 --> 00:02:11,668 (incomplete thought) 38 00:02:11,668 --> 00:02:13,450 I have five reasons. 39 00:02:13,450 --> 00:02:14,697 There are other reasons, 40 00:02:14,697 --> 00:02:16,726 but in this message I want to lay down 41 00:02:16,726 --> 00:02:19,061 five reasons as to why I want to do 42 00:02:19,061 --> 00:02:22,376 a series concerning eschatology. 43 00:02:22,376 --> 00:02:24,204 And I hope you leave here today 44 00:02:24,204 --> 00:02:29,028 believing that at least 3 or 4 or 5 of these 45 00:02:29,028 --> 00:02:32,514 are sufficiently important to warrant a series like this. 46 00:02:32,514 --> 00:02:37,675 I think all of them are. 47 00:02:37,675 --> 00:02:42,521 So, I think that before we dive into this, 48 00:02:42,521 --> 00:02:46,150 I feel like I need to say something here. 49 00:02:46,150 --> 00:02:50,943 I cannot help but that this series 50 00:02:50,943 --> 00:02:54,822 is going to be polemic. 51 00:02:54,822 --> 00:02:58,133 Do you know that word? 52 00:02:58,133 --> 00:03:04,133 What's a good synonym for polemic? 53 00:03:04,133 --> 00:03:08,056 It's controversial. 54 00:03:08,056 --> 00:03:10,065 You might even think critical 55 00:03:10,065 --> 00:03:11,425 or argumentative. 56 00:03:11,425 --> 00:03:13,470 It's the idea that this series 57 00:03:13,470 --> 00:03:18,967 is not just going to be a setting forth of truth; 58 00:03:18,967 --> 00:03:27,031 it is going to be a combating error. 59 00:03:27,031 --> 00:03:31,032 So, I can hardly avoid confronting 60 00:03:31,032 --> 00:03:34,448 dispensational premillenialism. 61 00:03:34,448 --> 00:03:37,334 I detest it. 62 00:03:37,334 --> 00:03:39,121 But I want to show you that there's 63 00:03:39,121 --> 00:03:43,556 a biblical reason for detesting it. 64 00:03:43,556 --> 00:03:47,468 (incomplete thought) 65 00:03:47,468 --> 00:03:50,666 Brethren, look, if you don't know that term 66 00:03:50,666 --> 00:03:53,017 by the end of this, you will know that term. 67 00:03:53,017 --> 00:03:55,707 You will know some of the major tenets 68 00:03:55,707 --> 00:03:59,834 of dispensational premillenialism. 69 00:03:59,834 --> 00:04:00,984 Over against what? 70 00:04:00,984 --> 00:04:02,488 What do you hold to, pastor? 71 00:04:02,488 --> 00:04:08,183 Over against the biblical position. 72 00:04:08,183 --> 00:04:15,293 Brethren, look, I say that tongue-in-cheek, 73 00:04:15,293 --> 00:04:20,282 but brethren, I don't want you to believe 74 00:04:20,282 --> 00:04:22,713 anything unless it can be shown to you 75 00:04:22,713 --> 00:04:27,972 from Scripture. 76 00:04:27,972 --> 00:04:29,962 Dispensational premillenialism is 77 00:04:29,962 --> 00:04:35,445 that eschatology that is largely touted by Hollywood, 78 00:04:35,445 --> 00:04:37,694 by John Hagee, 79 00:04:37,694 --> 00:04:42,364 and yes, by John MacArthur. 80 00:04:42,364 --> 00:04:46,688 Now, I want to say this at the beginning. 81 00:04:46,688 --> 00:04:49,878 God has used John MacArthur 82 00:04:49,878 --> 00:04:56,385 instrumentally in my own conversion. 83 00:04:56,385 --> 00:05:01,206 He's had a profound influence on my life, 84 00:05:01,206 --> 00:05:03,112 even at a day when I didn't recognize 85 00:05:03,112 --> 00:05:06,357 that I would a preacher and a pastor. 86 00:05:06,357 --> 00:05:10,237 He influenced me tremendously. 87 00:05:10,237 --> 00:05:13,401 And as much as anything, 88 00:05:13,401 --> 00:05:16,269 it was his example as a preacher 89 00:05:16,269 --> 00:05:19,868 who was deeply committed to the Word of God. 90 00:05:19,868 --> 00:05:21,690 I appreciated that about him. 91 00:05:21,690 --> 00:05:26,561 He could convince me of anything, 92 00:05:26,561 --> 00:05:29,028 just so long as he could show me from Scripture. 93 00:05:29,028 --> 00:05:31,087 I mean, from day one when God saved me, 94 00:05:31,087 --> 00:05:33,004 he had a powerful influence on my life, 95 00:05:33,004 --> 00:05:36,325 but God gave me a hunger for the Word of God 96 00:05:36,325 --> 00:05:38,952 that was greater than the influence of John MacArthur. 97 00:05:38,952 --> 00:05:41,506 John could take me anywhere as long as 98 00:05:41,506 --> 00:05:43,293 he could show me from Scripture 99 00:05:43,293 --> 00:05:45,113 that I ought to go there. 100 00:05:45,113 --> 00:05:47,265 And he did. He convinced me of many things. 101 00:05:47,265 --> 00:05:49,041 I mean, the sovereignty of God. 102 00:05:49,041 --> 00:05:50,443 There it is. 103 00:05:50,443 --> 00:05:52,456 I would hear him preach it. 104 00:05:52,456 --> 00:05:53,546 Yep, there it is. 105 00:05:53,546 --> 00:05:55,854 Election. Yep, I see it right there 106 00:05:55,854 --> 00:05:57,127 in the Word of God. 107 00:05:57,127 --> 00:05:58,763 You know, he was big on Lordship. 108 00:05:58,763 --> 00:06:02,209 I was saved reading "The Gospel According to Jesus," 109 00:06:02,209 --> 00:06:04,418 which deals with this whole Lordship issue. 110 00:06:04,418 --> 00:06:05,919 Yep, there it is in the Bible. 111 00:06:05,919 --> 00:06:07,356 He was very convincing. 112 00:06:07,356 --> 00:06:08,768 Repentance. Yep, there is it. 113 00:06:08,768 --> 00:06:14,048 The rapture... 114 00:06:14,048 --> 00:06:17,107 Where is it at? 115 00:06:17,107 --> 00:06:23,562 Now folks, as a young believer, 116 00:06:23,562 --> 00:06:25,358 he could have taken me anywhere 117 00:06:25,358 --> 00:06:27,379 that he could have shown me from Scripture 118 00:06:27,379 --> 00:06:28,874 that I ought to go. 119 00:06:28,874 --> 00:06:29,978 The rapture. 120 00:06:29,978 --> 00:06:32,144 Let me tell you something about the rapture. 121 00:06:32,144 --> 00:06:35,526 It's not like the Trinity. 122 00:06:35,526 --> 00:06:38,318 The Trinity is a concept 123 00:06:38,318 --> 00:06:41,188 that you don't find the word "Trinity" in Scripture, 124 00:06:41,188 --> 00:06:45,139 but you find the concept. 125 00:06:45,139 --> 00:06:50,288 But with rapture, I don't even find the word. 126 00:06:50,288 --> 00:06:52,834 But I don't find the concept. 127 00:06:52,834 --> 00:06:55,405 And in the verses that are used 128 00:06:55,405 --> 00:06:58,921 to reference this supposed rapture, 129 00:06:58,921 --> 00:07:00,662 I'd get to looking at those things 130 00:07:00,662 --> 00:07:07,998 and say that's not what that's talking about. 131 00:07:07,998 --> 00:07:11,970 Brethren, I actually heard, 132 00:07:11,970 --> 00:07:14,943 I believe it was the time I was out there in California, 133 00:07:14,943 --> 00:07:18,248 I actually heard John MacArthur say 134 00:07:18,248 --> 00:07:20,120 as he was preaching through Revelation, 135 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,115 he said now some of you are going to ask 136 00:07:22,115 --> 00:07:23,385 where the rapture is. 137 00:07:23,385 --> 00:07:27,361 He said it's in the white spaces between verse 3 and 4. 138 00:07:27,361 --> 00:07:28,800 And I'm not making that up, 139 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:32,387 because you found that message, didn't you, James. 140 00:07:32,387 --> 00:07:35,413 I mentioned it and somebody told me here - 141 00:07:35,413 --> 00:07:37,459 you've heard that Jeff? 142 00:07:37,459 --> 00:07:40,363 (unintelligible) 143 00:07:40,363 --> 00:07:44,804 But he used specifically "in the white spaces" 144 00:07:44,804 --> 00:07:46,546 when I heard it. 145 00:07:46,546 --> 00:07:50,285 And I said "in the white spaces?" 146 00:07:50,285 --> 00:07:52,396 You're telling me there's a doctrine 147 00:07:52,396 --> 00:07:57,079 in the white spaces? 148 00:07:57,079 --> 00:08:00,106 Brethren, there's something wrong 149 00:08:00,106 --> 00:08:01,897 with that approach to Scripture. 150 00:08:01,897 --> 00:08:03,434 As a young believer who had been 151 00:08:03,434 --> 00:08:06,067 so impressed by John's commitment 152 00:08:06,067 --> 00:08:09,401 to the Word of God, I was baffled 153 00:08:09,401 --> 00:08:11,596 as to how that commitment seemed to 154 00:08:11,596 --> 00:08:13,776 disintegrate when it came to eschatology. 155 00:08:13,776 --> 00:08:15,706 Look, I want to tell you right up front. 156 00:08:15,706 --> 00:08:17,728 I appreciate John MacArthur, 157 00:08:17,728 --> 00:08:20,830 but my commitment to God's Word 158 00:08:20,830 --> 00:08:23,985 is greater; it is foremost. 159 00:08:23,985 --> 00:08:26,524 I will follow any preacher 160 00:08:26,524 --> 00:08:30,409 that I sit before and listen to preach; 161 00:08:30,409 --> 00:08:32,856 I will follow any preacher as long as 162 00:08:32,856 --> 00:08:35,496 he can show me from the Word of God 163 00:08:35,496 --> 00:08:39,933 that I ought to go where he wants to take me. 164 00:08:39,933 --> 00:08:41,826 But God help us, brethren. 165 00:08:41,826 --> 00:08:44,404 Let no one take you anywhere - 166 00:08:44,404 --> 00:08:45,745 including me - 167 00:08:45,745 --> 00:08:47,441 don't ever let me take you, 168 00:08:47,441 --> 00:08:49,337 or any of the preachers in this church 169 00:08:49,337 --> 00:08:50,983 on the radio or on the Internet 170 00:08:50,983 --> 00:08:53,076 take you anywhere they cannot show you 171 00:08:53,076 --> 00:08:54,433 from the Word of God. 172 00:08:54,433 --> 00:08:58,176 It is not responsible listening to sermons 173 00:08:58,176 --> 00:09:01,686 unless you have an open Bible. 174 00:09:01,686 --> 00:09:04,253 Listening to sermons and listening to theology 175 00:09:04,253 --> 00:09:05,752 and listening to doctrine, 176 00:09:05,752 --> 00:09:09,292 listening to teachers without an open Bible 177 00:09:09,292 --> 00:09:11,929 is irresponsible on your part. 178 00:09:11,929 --> 00:09:13,719 Because you have no way of knowing 179 00:09:13,719 --> 00:09:17,880 whether this guy is leading you into error or not. 180 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,472 And just because somebody has a certain reputation 181 00:09:21,472 --> 00:09:23,084 as being a Bible scholar, 182 00:09:23,084 --> 00:09:25,547 or being this or being that or being reformed 183 00:09:25,547 --> 00:09:29,996 does not mean that they cannot lead you into error. 184 00:09:29,996 --> 00:09:32,206 And you will not know if they are, 185 00:09:32,206 --> 00:09:35,561 unless you are checking and proving everything. 186 00:09:35,561 --> 00:09:38,277 Brethren, there is a reason why 187 00:09:38,277 --> 00:09:40,414 the Bereans show up in Scripture. 188 00:09:40,414 --> 00:09:41,786 They were more noble. 189 00:09:41,786 --> 00:09:43,148 And what were they doing? 190 00:09:43,148 --> 00:09:46,229 There's a nobility in testing everything 191 00:09:46,229 --> 00:09:49,607 by the Word of God. 192 00:09:49,607 --> 00:09:51,762 Everything. 193 00:09:51,762 --> 00:09:55,231 Brethren, the primary thing compelling me 194 00:09:55,231 --> 00:09:59,969 to do this series is that I do not believe - 195 00:09:59,969 --> 00:10:03,429 for one, I believe that there are serious errors 196 00:10:03,429 --> 00:10:07,253 associated with dispensational premillenialism. 197 00:10:07,253 --> 00:10:09,916 The second thing about that is 198 00:10:09,916 --> 00:10:12,693 I don't believe that those errors are harmless. 199 00:10:12,693 --> 00:10:15,638 I do not believe that they are harmless 200 00:10:15,638 --> 00:10:18,332 with regards to sound doctrine 201 00:10:18,332 --> 00:10:20,210 or the life of the church. 202 00:10:20,210 --> 00:10:23,099 There's implications in this system 203 00:10:23,099 --> 00:10:27,169 that I believe are harmful. 204 00:10:27,169 --> 00:10:30,944 And that's why I want to deal with it. 205 00:10:30,944 --> 00:10:34,250 Brethren, I am under a charge 206 00:10:34,250 --> 00:10:37,202 to preach the Word. 207 00:10:37,202 --> 00:10:40,092 And I think if we just did a survey right now 208 00:10:40,092 --> 00:10:42,669 of how much these subjects that are dealt with 209 00:10:42,669 --> 00:10:44,416 under this heading of eschatology 210 00:10:44,416 --> 00:10:46,428 are dealt with in our New Testaments - 211 00:10:46,428 --> 00:10:47,639 well, the whole Bible, 212 00:10:47,639 --> 00:10:50,229 but the New Testament specifically, 213 00:10:50,229 --> 00:10:54,303 how much of it actually deals (incomplete thought). 214 00:10:54,303 --> 00:10:56,397 I've gone through the New Testament. 215 00:10:56,397 --> 00:10:59,670 I believe I can find aspects of eschatology 216 00:10:59,670 --> 00:11:03,341 in every single book of the New Testament 217 00:11:03,341 --> 00:11:04,602 except 3 John. 218 00:11:04,602 --> 00:11:07,107 I can't find it there. 219 00:11:07,107 --> 00:11:08,933 But in every other book. 220 00:11:08,933 --> 00:11:10,867 This is something that the early church 221 00:11:10,867 --> 00:11:14,621 counted as a doctrine for us to know, 222 00:11:14,621 --> 00:11:17,814 to embrace - it's important. 223 00:11:17,814 --> 00:11:20,047 God has given it to us in His Word. 224 00:11:20,047 --> 00:11:29,442 And so, ok, I have five reasons 225 00:11:29,442 --> 00:11:33,702 as to why I believe that a series like this 226 00:11:33,702 --> 00:11:37,300 is justifiable. 227 00:11:37,300 --> 00:11:42,256 And I think this introduction is important. 228 00:11:42,256 --> 00:11:48,088 I want you all to feel this. 229 00:11:48,088 --> 00:11:53,452 So, here's the first. 230 00:11:53,452 --> 00:11:56,629 This is the first reason why I believe 231 00:11:56,629 --> 00:12:00,547 we need to look at this. 232 00:12:00,547 --> 00:12:02,986 See, brethren, the thing is 233 00:12:02,986 --> 00:12:07,306 this dispensational premillenialism 234 00:12:07,306 --> 00:12:12,996 is being taught everywhere 235 00:12:12,996 --> 00:12:14,673 as though it's the truth. 236 00:12:14,673 --> 00:12:16,176 It's being taught by Hollywood. 237 00:12:16,176 --> 00:12:18,122 I'll tell you, when Hollywood owns 238 00:12:18,122 --> 00:12:21,466 a doctrine, you ought to fear. 239 00:12:21,466 --> 00:12:23,629 I'm not saying that every single thing 240 00:12:23,629 --> 00:12:26,229 that possibly can come across the television screen 241 00:12:26,229 --> 00:12:28,280 or movie screen is going to be erroneous, 242 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:30,460 but when the world gets on board, 243 00:12:30,460 --> 00:12:35,009 beware. 244 00:12:35,009 --> 00:12:37,751 Do you remember from 1 John 245 00:12:37,751 --> 00:12:42,992 who controls the world? 246 00:12:42,992 --> 00:12:44,732 If Satan controls the world, 247 00:12:44,732 --> 00:12:49,089 then the world jumps on board this system; 248 00:12:49,089 --> 00:12:52,000 this eschatology. 249 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:57,639 Satan typically does not just do thing randomly. 250 00:12:57,639 --> 00:12:59,977 He does things with intent. 251 00:12:59,977 --> 00:13:01,095 Deliberately. 252 00:13:01,095 --> 00:13:02,941 On purpose. 253 00:13:02,941 --> 00:13:05,103 He means to accomplish his ends, 254 00:13:05,103 --> 00:13:09,587 and his ends are not favorable to us. 255 00:13:09,587 --> 00:13:12,575 So, here's the first thing. 256 00:13:12,575 --> 00:13:16,848 I believe that that system of eschatology out there - 257 00:13:16,848 --> 00:13:18,513 you know what I'm talking about. 258 00:13:18,513 --> 00:13:20,751 I'm talking about this eschatology 259 00:13:20,751 --> 00:13:22,472 that basically says this: 260 00:13:22,472 --> 00:13:23,835 we're going along right now 261 00:13:23,835 --> 00:13:25,419 and we're going to get raptured. 262 00:13:25,419 --> 00:13:27,195 And then there's going to be 7 years. 263 00:13:27,195 --> 00:13:29,441 Now if you're pre-tribulational, 264 00:13:29,441 --> 00:13:32,803 there's going to be 7 years of tribulation 265 00:13:32,803 --> 00:13:35,686 and then Jesus Christ is going to come and set up an earthly kingdom, 266 00:13:35,686 --> 00:13:38,495 and it's going to last for 1,000 years and then you're going to have Armageddon 267 00:13:38,495 --> 00:13:40,527 and then you're going to have this judgment day, 268 00:13:40,527 --> 00:13:42,945 and then the new heavens and new earth 269 00:13:42,945 --> 00:13:44,244 are going to be ushered in. 270 00:13:44,244 --> 00:13:46,151 I'm talking about that kind of system. 271 00:13:46,151 --> 00:13:48,380 I'm talking about the "left behind" thing. 272 00:13:48,380 --> 00:13:50,367 This is all the charts and everything 273 00:13:50,367 --> 00:13:52,129 that you see John Hagee set up. 274 00:13:52,129 --> 00:13:53,950 Now look, I'm not going to say that 275 00:13:53,950 --> 00:13:57,286 John MacArthur buys into every last iota 276 00:13:57,286 --> 00:14:00,122 of the "left behind" stuff, 277 00:14:00,122 --> 00:14:03,023 but by and large, he holds to this same 278 00:14:03,023 --> 00:14:05,204 type of eschatology. 279 00:14:05,204 --> 00:14:07,348 Here's the first reason. 280 00:14:07,348 --> 00:14:13,921 I believe it commandeers the promises 281 00:14:13,921 --> 00:14:18,041 that God has given to the church. 282 00:14:18,041 --> 00:14:20,094 Probably the most defining aspect 283 00:14:20,094 --> 00:14:21,998 of dispensational premillenialism 284 00:14:21,998 --> 00:14:24,671 is its insistence that there are 285 00:14:24,671 --> 00:14:27,896 two people of God. 286 00:14:27,896 --> 00:14:30,015 Let's just lay that down. 287 00:14:30,015 --> 00:14:34,459 Fundamental to this eschatological system; 288 00:14:34,459 --> 00:14:37,382 this dispensationalism: 289 00:14:37,382 --> 00:14:39,308 two people of God. 290 00:14:39,308 --> 00:14:42,733 Who are the two people? 291 00:14:42,733 --> 00:14:46,608 The church and Israel. 292 00:14:46,608 --> 00:14:48,915 Two distinct people. 293 00:14:48,915 --> 00:14:52,809 Two distinct purposes for each. 294 00:14:52,809 --> 00:14:55,062 You need to see this for what it is. 295 00:14:55,062 --> 00:14:57,921 MacArthur insists that certain promises 296 00:14:57,921 --> 00:15:01,527 made to Israel are not for you and me. 297 00:15:01,527 --> 00:15:03,214 That's what's being insisted. 298 00:15:03,214 --> 00:15:07,158 What's the big deal? What's the big deal? 299 00:15:07,158 --> 00:15:09,118 Brethren, think about it. 300 00:15:09,118 --> 00:15:12,649 This is what this is like. 301 00:15:12,649 --> 00:15:15,307 Imagine this. 302 00:15:15,307 --> 00:15:18,092 You know, we have families in the church 303 00:15:18,092 --> 00:15:21,251 that are adopting children. 304 00:15:21,251 --> 00:15:24,952 Imagine this. 305 00:15:24,952 --> 00:15:31,997 Imagine that you have a son. 306 00:15:31,997 --> 00:15:33,836 A man and a woman. 307 00:15:33,836 --> 00:15:36,169 They have a son. 308 00:15:36,169 --> 00:15:40,923 It's born to them. 309 00:15:40,923 --> 00:15:45,154 Well, later on, they've got this one son. 310 00:15:45,154 --> 00:15:48,182 They decide that they're going to adopt 311 00:15:48,182 --> 00:15:51,522 two sons. 312 00:15:51,522 --> 00:15:55,013 One is born into the family. 313 00:15:55,013 --> 00:15:58,437 Two are adopted into the family. 314 00:15:58,437 --> 00:16:00,511 Imagine this. 315 00:16:00,511 --> 00:16:07,209 Imagine that these two adopted sons - 316 00:16:07,209 --> 00:16:10,082 suppose it's my family. 317 00:16:10,082 --> 00:16:11,685 I have one son. 318 00:16:11,685 --> 00:16:14,403 Let's suppose I adopt two sons now. 319 00:16:14,403 --> 00:16:15,978 I bring those two sons home, 320 00:16:15,978 --> 00:16:17,812 and I sit down at the table with them 321 00:16:17,812 --> 00:16:19,204 and I look across the table 322 00:16:19,204 --> 00:16:20,762 and I look in their eyes. 323 00:16:20,762 --> 00:16:28,865 And I say, "Boys, you see Joshua over here? 324 00:16:28,865 --> 00:16:33,220 He was born into the family. 325 00:16:33,220 --> 00:16:37,050 My wife gave birth to him. 326 00:16:37,050 --> 00:16:38,792 He's blood of my blood, 327 00:16:38,792 --> 00:16:40,162 bone of my bone. 328 00:16:40,162 --> 00:16:43,199 He's my boy. 329 00:16:43,199 --> 00:16:47,534 Boys, guess what? 330 00:16:47,534 --> 00:16:50,619 I want you to know this. 331 00:16:50,619 --> 00:16:57,824 I am going to treat you as equal to him. 332 00:16:57,824 --> 00:17:01,490 I am going to be every bit a father to you 333 00:17:01,490 --> 00:17:03,468 that I am to him. 334 00:17:03,468 --> 00:17:06,281 I am going to love you like I love him. 335 00:17:06,281 --> 00:17:09,482 I am going to care for you like I care for him. 336 00:17:09,482 --> 00:17:13,719 All that it means for him to be a child 337 00:17:13,719 --> 00:17:19,220 in this family, it's going to mean to you. 338 00:17:19,220 --> 00:17:20,891 I'm going to give you everything. 339 00:17:20,891 --> 00:17:24,285 You are mine. 340 00:17:24,285 --> 00:17:26,515 I'm your father. 341 00:17:26,515 --> 00:17:30,244 You are full heirs. 342 00:17:30,244 --> 00:17:34,554 Every privilege he has, you have. 343 00:17:34,554 --> 00:17:36,451 You bear my name. 344 00:17:36,451 --> 00:17:38,858 You're going to bear the name 'Conway,' 345 00:17:38,858 --> 00:17:40,637 and everything that it means 346 00:17:40,637 --> 00:17:49,157 to be a Conway child is yours. 347 00:17:49,157 --> 00:17:50,692 No difference. 348 00:17:50,692 --> 00:17:52,654 No difference between you at all." 349 00:17:52,654 --> 00:17:55,906 Now look, if I go upstairs 350 00:17:55,906 --> 00:17:58,448 and I'm listening down the stairway 351 00:17:58,448 --> 00:18:03,134 because I want to hear if they really 352 00:18:03,134 --> 00:18:05,453 appreciate what I just told them. 353 00:18:05,453 --> 00:18:11,836 One of those adopted sons says to the other one, 354 00:18:11,836 --> 00:18:14,389 "that's not true. 355 00:18:14,389 --> 00:18:18,738 We're really inferior to Joshua. 356 00:18:18,738 --> 00:18:23,256 Our father - he's really not going to treat us the same. 357 00:18:23,256 --> 00:18:29,425 He is going to play favorites with Joshua." 358 00:18:29,425 --> 00:18:34,589 (incomplete thought) 359 00:18:34,589 --> 00:18:36,449 You see, this is what's happening. 360 00:18:36,449 --> 00:18:39,207 You've got the adopted brother - you. 361 00:18:39,207 --> 00:18:41,964 The adopted brother - somebody like John MacArthur. 362 00:18:41,964 --> 00:18:43,527 And he's saying in your ear, 363 00:18:43,527 --> 00:18:45,340 "it's not true. It's not true. 364 00:18:45,340 --> 00:18:47,845 Don't believe that the Father is going to 365 00:18:47,845 --> 00:18:52,748 give us everything that He's giving to Israel." 366 00:18:52,748 --> 00:18:55,014 That's what he's saying. 367 00:18:55,014 --> 00:18:56,686 And he will admit he's saying that. 368 00:18:56,686 --> 00:18:59,921 He doesn't deny that. 369 00:18:59,921 --> 00:19:04,567 But Scripture simply does not teach that. 370 00:19:04,567 --> 00:19:06,655 I am going to prove that to you 371 00:19:06,655 --> 00:19:07,929 in the weeks ahead 372 00:19:07,929 --> 00:19:10,510 beyond any shadow of a doubt. 373 00:19:10,510 --> 00:19:13,603 It does not teach that, brethren. 374 00:19:13,603 --> 00:19:16,881 Not at all. 375 00:19:16,881 --> 00:19:18,898 Guys that hold to that system 376 00:19:18,898 --> 00:19:21,451 would take certain promises away from us. 377 00:19:21,451 --> 00:19:23,613 And I don't believe this is any small matter. 378 00:19:23,613 --> 00:19:25,332 I want you to turn in your Bibles 379 00:19:25,332 --> 00:19:32,994 to 1 Peter 1:13. 380 00:19:32,994 --> 00:19:35,274 There's undoubtedly many places 381 00:19:35,274 --> 00:19:37,127 that I could go here, 382 00:19:37,127 --> 00:19:46,756 but brethren, 1 Peter 1:13. 383 00:19:46,756 --> 00:19:50,726 Notice how this reads. 384 00:19:50,726 --> 00:19:55,925 1 Peter 1:13 385 00:19:55,925 --> 00:20:01,087 "Therefore, preparing your minds for action." 386 00:20:01,087 --> 00:20:05,684 See, what Peter is speaking about here 387 00:20:05,684 --> 00:20:11,432 is living life now being ready for action; 388 00:20:11,432 --> 00:20:14,233 being sober-minded. 389 00:20:14,233 --> 00:20:17,538 He wants us to set our hope - 390 00:20:17,538 --> 00:20:19,394 what is hope? 391 00:20:19,394 --> 00:20:21,437 Hope is faith in things that happen 392 00:20:21,437 --> 00:20:23,026 in the future. 393 00:20:23,026 --> 00:20:24,396 That's what it is. 394 00:20:24,396 --> 00:20:28,305 Like Piper talks about "future grace." 395 00:20:28,305 --> 00:20:30,207 It's faith in future things. 396 00:20:30,207 --> 00:20:31,560 That's what hope is. 397 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,186 I hope for things to yet come. 398 00:20:35,186 --> 00:20:39,020 He says set your hope; your expectation; 399 00:20:39,020 --> 00:20:41,362 your faith in the future things, 400 00:20:41,362 --> 00:20:45,085 "fully on the grace that will be brought to you 401 00:20:45,085 --> 00:20:47,378 at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 402 00:20:47,378 --> 00:20:49,808 What I want you to see is Peter believes 403 00:20:49,808 --> 00:20:55,404 that you living now with minds set for action; 404 00:20:55,404 --> 00:20:57,513 prepared for action, being sober-minded. 405 00:20:57,513 --> 00:20:58,715 How are we to live? 406 00:20:58,715 --> 00:21:01,418 We're to live with our minds set 407 00:21:01,418 --> 00:21:03,845 on that hope that is going to be revealed to us 408 00:21:03,845 --> 00:21:04,929 when Christ comes. 409 00:21:04,929 --> 00:21:05,893 You know what? 410 00:21:05,893 --> 00:21:07,569 You know what we get when He comes? 411 00:21:07,569 --> 00:21:09,157 Everything that's been promised. 412 00:21:09,157 --> 00:21:11,288 We get the inheritance. 413 00:21:11,288 --> 00:21:13,704 You see, it's like having the two adopted boys. 414 00:21:13,704 --> 00:21:16,993 When does this all come really to fruition 415 00:21:16,993 --> 00:21:18,364 about being even? 416 00:21:18,364 --> 00:21:19,815 Well, it's when I die 417 00:21:19,815 --> 00:21:21,630 and the will is read. 418 00:21:21,630 --> 00:21:24,482 Are they truly heirs? 419 00:21:24,482 --> 00:21:27,031 Are they going to receive everything 420 00:21:27,031 --> 00:21:30,224 that the family-born son 421 00:21:30,224 --> 00:21:31,739 is going to receive. 422 00:21:31,739 --> 00:21:33,139 And you see what he wants? 423 00:21:33,139 --> 00:21:34,683 What Peter wants us to do 424 00:21:34,683 --> 00:21:38,243 is he wants us to look at what is coming; 425 00:21:38,243 --> 00:21:40,427 what God has promised, 426 00:21:40,427 --> 00:21:42,553 and he wants us to set our hope there. 427 00:21:42,553 --> 00:21:44,666 Brethren, I'll tell you, 428 00:21:44,666 --> 00:21:47,028 does that not keep people going? 429 00:21:47,028 --> 00:21:50,068 Look, people can endure very difficult things today 430 00:21:50,068 --> 00:21:51,665 if there's a promise of something 431 00:21:51,665 --> 00:21:54,488 absolutely altogether glorious tomorrow. 432 00:21:54,488 --> 00:21:57,359 Right? That's just a reality about life. 433 00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:58,957 We can endure hardship now. 434 00:21:58,957 --> 00:22:01,484 Look, if some of the things we have to endure now 435 00:22:01,484 --> 00:22:04,206 are forever, then that's not good. 436 00:22:04,206 --> 00:22:06,128 That's not very encouraging. 437 00:22:06,128 --> 00:22:07,940 But when you know that these things, 438 00:22:07,940 --> 00:22:09,113 like Paul says, 439 00:22:09,113 --> 00:22:12,195 only momentary, only light affliction, 440 00:22:12,195 --> 00:22:14,742 to be followed by an eternal weight of glory. 441 00:22:14,742 --> 00:22:16,751 Well, that keeps us going! 442 00:22:16,751 --> 00:22:21,372 I can suffer today if I know paradise tomorrow. 443 00:22:21,372 --> 00:22:23,710 And this is the idea here. 444 00:22:23,710 --> 00:22:27,454 It matters what's been promised to us. 445 00:22:27,454 --> 00:22:29,596 Am I a full heir? 446 00:22:29,596 --> 00:22:31,582 Or am I really just going to be regarded 447 00:22:31,582 --> 00:22:33,666 as a step-child when the inheritance 448 00:22:33,666 --> 00:22:37,668 is being handed out? 449 00:22:37,668 --> 00:22:39,579 That's not a small thing. 450 00:22:39,579 --> 00:22:43,099 If I believe ethnic Jews have somehow 451 00:22:43,099 --> 00:22:45,414 been afforded a greater privilege, 452 00:22:45,414 --> 00:22:48,763 or somehow they are greater benefactors 453 00:22:48,763 --> 00:22:52,625 in the Abrahamic covenant - somehow - 454 00:22:52,625 --> 00:22:55,146 than us believing Gentiles, 455 00:22:55,146 --> 00:22:57,017 it makes a difference. 456 00:22:57,017 --> 00:22:59,111 Am I even? 457 00:22:59,111 --> 00:23:04,640 Or am I inferior? 458 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,753 Brethren, don't you love the thought 459 00:23:07,753 --> 00:23:13,532 that anything - anything - a believing Jew, 460 00:23:13,532 --> 00:23:17,067 not just any Jew, but a believing Jew - 461 00:23:17,067 --> 00:23:20,522 anything a believing Jew can come to 462 00:23:20,522 --> 00:23:22,362 and look in Scripture and say, 463 00:23:22,362 --> 00:23:24,171 that is mine - 464 00:23:24,171 --> 00:23:26,714 I as a believing Gentile can look over his shoulder 465 00:23:26,714 --> 00:23:30,345 and say that's mine too. 466 00:23:30,345 --> 00:23:31,593 That matters. 467 00:23:31,593 --> 00:23:34,664 That matters to me. 468 00:23:34,664 --> 00:23:44,099 Brethren, to me that makes my salvation glorious. 469 00:23:44,099 --> 00:23:47,205 Now, it would be glorious if I was 470 00:23:47,205 --> 00:23:49,693 just delivered from hell, 471 00:23:49,693 --> 00:23:51,163 cast out on to an island, 472 00:23:51,163 --> 00:23:55,533 never got to see God face-to-face. 473 00:23:55,533 --> 00:23:57,135 But the very fact that I've been 474 00:23:57,135 --> 00:23:58,731 brought into the family; 475 00:23:58,731 --> 00:24:01,657 into the citizenship of the same 476 00:24:01,657 --> 00:24:03,593 commonwealth of Israel; 477 00:24:03,593 --> 00:24:06,409 into the same family; 478 00:24:06,409 --> 00:24:09,092 grafted into the same tree 479 00:24:09,092 --> 00:24:12,356 and all those promises that were given 480 00:24:12,356 --> 00:24:15,671 to the believing Jew are "yes and amen" in Christ. 481 00:24:15,671 --> 00:24:22,209 That brings our salvation to a level of glory. 482 00:24:22,209 --> 00:24:23,923 It ought to stagger us 483 00:24:23,923 --> 00:24:27,202 what God has done for us. 484 00:24:27,202 --> 00:24:29,403 It really ought to. 485 00:24:29,403 --> 00:24:32,075 Dispensationalists constantly 486 00:24:32,075 --> 00:24:35,843 want to stress that Israel gets 487 00:24:35,843 --> 00:24:39,180 an earthly kingdom and land 488 00:24:39,180 --> 00:24:41,823 and all manner of territorial promises 489 00:24:41,823 --> 00:24:43,783 while the church doesn't. 490 00:24:43,783 --> 00:24:46,101 The church is going to be somewhere else. 491 00:24:46,101 --> 00:24:47,895 But listen, our Lord comes 492 00:24:47,895 --> 00:24:51,152 and does He make any distinction? 493 00:24:51,152 --> 00:24:53,704 When our Lord talks about who gets 494 00:24:53,704 --> 00:24:55,864 the kingdom of God, 495 00:24:55,864 --> 00:25:00,417 or who inherits the earth - 496 00:25:00,417 --> 00:25:01,898 you think about right when He 497 00:25:01,898 --> 00:25:04,009 starts out His ministry in Matthew 498 00:25:04,009 --> 00:25:06,317 and He gives the Sermon on the Mount 499 00:25:06,317 --> 00:25:10,194 and those so well known Beatitudes. 500 00:25:10,194 --> 00:25:11,933 Does He make any distinction between 501 00:25:11,933 --> 00:25:16,385 believing Gentiles and believing Jews? 502 00:25:16,385 --> 00:25:20,798 Who does He promise the kingdom to? 503 00:25:20,798 --> 00:25:21,669 Do you remember? 504 00:25:21,669 --> 00:25:25,375 Blessed are the poor in spirit, 505 00:25:25,375 --> 00:25:30,156 for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 506 00:25:30,156 --> 00:25:33,951 And blessed are the meek, 507 00:25:33,951 --> 00:25:36,572 for what? 508 00:25:36,572 --> 00:25:39,414 They shall inherit the earth. 509 00:25:39,414 --> 00:25:47,154 Not the believing Israelites. 510 00:25:47,154 --> 00:25:50,922 The meek. The meek. 511 00:25:50,922 --> 00:25:53,675 The distinctions are gone. 512 00:25:53,675 --> 00:25:56,082 That's what we find in Scripture. 513 00:25:56,082 --> 00:25:57,817 I would say to John MacArthur 514 00:25:57,817 --> 00:26:01,351 and to all the other dispensational premillenialists out there, 515 00:26:01,351 --> 00:26:06,467 we will not surrender one blood-bought promise to you. 516 00:26:06,467 --> 00:26:08,910 Not one. 517 00:26:08,910 --> 00:26:11,334 The beauty is John's going to get them 518 00:26:11,334 --> 00:26:15,609 even though he doesn't believe he's going to get them. 519 00:26:15,609 --> 00:26:19,044 But still, if you've got the two adopted kids downstairs 520 00:26:19,044 --> 00:26:21,088 and the father hears that, 521 00:26:21,088 --> 00:26:23,070 he doesn't like it. 522 00:26:23,070 --> 00:26:25,409 He doesn't like it, because you know what? 523 00:26:25,409 --> 00:26:27,958 He really wants to comfort them 524 00:26:27,958 --> 00:26:31,843 and to cause them rejoicing 525 00:26:31,843 --> 00:26:34,031 in the reality of that. 526 00:26:34,031 --> 00:26:37,009 He wants us to live in light of that right now. 527 00:26:37,009 --> 00:26:39,782 He really does. 528 00:26:39,782 --> 00:26:42,616 And listen, I am not saying - 529 00:26:42,616 --> 00:26:48,275 I will not say that the church replaces Israel. 530 00:26:48,275 --> 00:26:50,501 Or displaces Israel. 531 00:26:50,501 --> 00:26:53,616 What I'm saying is this, 532 00:26:53,616 --> 00:26:59,078 God's true people 533 00:26:59,078 --> 00:27:00,531 even in the Old Testament, 534 00:27:00,531 --> 00:27:02,162 God's true people - 535 00:27:02,162 --> 00:27:04,168 not all ethnic Israel. 536 00:27:04,168 --> 00:27:07,977 It was a remnant. 537 00:27:07,977 --> 00:27:10,607 And what God has done 538 00:27:10,607 --> 00:27:13,608 is He's determined to take 539 00:27:13,608 --> 00:27:20,939 from Gentile stock and make true Jews out of them. 540 00:27:20,939 --> 00:27:24,426 All Israel is not Israel. 541 00:27:24,426 --> 00:27:28,983 And now, some Gentiles are. 542 00:27:28,983 --> 00:27:31,212 They're grafted in. 543 00:27:31,212 --> 00:27:33,319 That's the truth. 544 00:27:33,319 --> 00:27:35,397 Every promise. 545 00:27:35,397 --> 00:27:39,652 Every covenant ever given 546 00:27:39,652 --> 00:27:42,938 to those true Israelites. 547 00:27:42,938 --> 00:27:47,017 Yes and amen, they are mine in Christ. 548 00:27:47,017 --> 00:27:50,316 And that's exactly what the New Testament would have us teach. 549 00:27:50,316 --> 00:27:53,293 We're going to look at this a lot more. 550 00:27:53,293 --> 00:27:56,119 But I believe that that eschatology 551 00:27:56,119 --> 00:28:00,407 commandeers the promises given to the church. 552 00:28:00,407 --> 00:28:02,297 Here's a second thing. 553 00:28:02,297 --> 00:28:05,927 The church's urgency is dulled 554 00:28:05,927 --> 00:28:08,788 by that form of eschatology. 555 00:28:08,788 --> 00:28:14,390 Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 24. 556 00:28:14,390 --> 00:28:40,360 Matthew 24:42 557 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:48,078 "Therefore, stay awake..." 558 00:28:48,078 --> 00:28:51,857 This is concerning His coming. 559 00:28:51,857 --> 00:28:57,664 "Stay awake, for you do not know 560 00:28:57,664 --> 00:29:01,288 on what day your Lord is coming. 561 00:29:01,288 --> 00:29:04,706 But know this, that if the master of the house 562 00:29:04,706 --> 00:29:07,020 had known in what part of the night 563 00:29:07,020 --> 00:29:08,710 the thief was coming, 564 00:29:08,710 --> 00:29:10,490 he would have stayed awake 565 00:29:10,490 --> 00:29:13,819 and would not have let his house be broken into. 566 00:29:13,819 --> 00:29:18,434 Therefore, you also must be ready, 567 00:29:18,434 --> 00:29:20,920 for the Son of Man is coming at an hour 568 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:25,049 you do not expect." 569 00:29:25,049 --> 00:29:28,149 Our Lord left His disciples 570 00:29:28,149 --> 00:29:30,651 with a sense of urgency. 571 00:29:30,651 --> 00:29:34,507 Be ready. 572 00:29:34,507 --> 00:29:41,823 His words to them were words: 573 00:29:41,823 --> 00:29:43,289 you want to be ready, 574 00:29:43,289 --> 00:29:46,207 because I'm going to come like a thief in the night. 575 00:29:46,207 --> 00:29:49,200 And I'm going to come quickly. 576 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,687 You want to be ready. 577 00:29:51,687 --> 00:29:53,343 Be ready. 578 00:29:53,343 --> 00:29:55,270 And you know what you find in Scripture? 579 00:29:55,270 --> 00:29:56,685 There's a sense that we're to 580 00:29:56,685 --> 00:29:58,782 pass that urgency on to the lost. 581 00:29:58,782 --> 00:30:01,105 Today is the day of salvation. 582 00:30:01,105 --> 00:30:03,180 Today, if you hear His voice, 583 00:30:03,180 --> 00:30:06,821 do not harden your heart. Why? 584 00:30:06,821 --> 00:30:09,680 Because there's an urgency. 585 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,526 Christ may return at any time 586 00:30:11,526 --> 00:30:13,199 or death may take you at anytime. 587 00:30:13,199 --> 00:30:15,110 There is no guarantee of any future 588 00:30:15,110 --> 00:30:16,134 beyond right now. 589 00:30:16,134 --> 00:30:18,899 You want to settle matters with Christ immediately. 590 00:30:18,899 --> 00:30:20,446 Be watchful. Be ready. 591 00:30:20,446 --> 00:30:22,310 That is the urgency of Scripture. 592 00:30:22,310 --> 00:30:24,289 Let me ask you something. 593 00:30:24,289 --> 00:30:27,069 Is there the real possibility 594 00:30:27,069 --> 00:30:30,796 that Jesus Christ might come today? 595 00:30:30,796 --> 00:30:32,688 That's what you need to ask yourself. 596 00:30:32,688 --> 00:30:33,686 Could He come today? 597 00:30:33,686 --> 00:30:36,256 And bang! It's all over. All over. All done. 598 00:30:36,256 --> 00:30:38,058 Time as we know it is over. 599 00:30:38,058 --> 00:30:39,585 The world comes to an end. 600 00:30:39,585 --> 00:30:42,029 The trumpet of the archangel sounds. 601 00:30:42,029 --> 00:30:44,483 And there is the Lord Jesus Christ 602 00:30:44,483 --> 00:30:46,746 come as a thief in the night. 603 00:30:46,746 --> 00:30:48,983 Suddenly revealed from heaven 604 00:30:48,983 --> 00:30:51,744 with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 605 00:30:51,744 --> 00:30:53,729 and He's bringing vengeance upon those 606 00:30:53,729 --> 00:30:55,935 who did not obey the Gospel; 607 00:30:55,935 --> 00:30:57,961 those who would not surrender to Him. 608 00:30:57,961 --> 00:30:59,692 Couldn't that happen today? 609 00:30:59,692 --> 00:31:01,652 Is it possible? 610 00:31:01,652 --> 00:31:04,905 That's how Jesus Christ left His church 611 00:31:04,905 --> 00:31:07,398 with that mindset of that urgency 612 00:31:07,398 --> 00:31:09,378 that that can happen. 613 00:31:09,378 --> 00:31:10,739 It makes everything urgent. 614 00:31:10,739 --> 00:31:13,248 When you think that that sky out there 615 00:31:13,248 --> 00:31:16,472 might split open today and He may come 616 00:31:16,472 --> 00:31:20,160 and there is nothing keeping Him back; 617 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,253 that is not what all this "left behind" 618 00:31:22,253 --> 00:31:23,986 dispensationalists believe. 619 00:31:23,986 --> 00:31:26,788 And this is not what John MacArthur believes. 620 00:31:26,788 --> 00:31:29,122 Listen. 621 00:31:29,122 --> 00:31:31,632 All you have to do is watch 622 00:31:31,632 --> 00:31:39,167 one of these "Left Behind" movies. 623 00:31:39,167 --> 00:31:41,394 Inevitably, you know what you get? 624 00:31:41,394 --> 00:31:43,254 The rapture takes place. 625 00:31:43,254 --> 00:31:44,975 And then somebody who is cold, 626 00:31:44,975 --> 00:31:46,948 hard-hearted unbeliever, 627 00:31:46,948 --> 00:31:48,745 when the rapture takes place, 628 00:31:48,745 --> 00:31:50,525 well now they see. 629 00:31:50,525 --> 00:31:56,708 Oh, it's all real. 630 00:31:56,708 --> 00:32:00,987 Now I get a second chance to believe. 631 00:32:00,987 --> 00:32:03,530 Well, and if I'm not convinced by the rapture, 632 00:32:03,530 --> 00:32:05,770 then I go through seven years of tribulation. 633 00:32:05,770 --> 00:32:08,666 Oh! Ok, now I can believe. 634 00:32:08,666 --> 00:32:10,370 And if I don't believe after that, 635 00:32:10,370 --> 00:32:12,058 well, now, Jesus comes and sets up 636 00:32:12,058 --> 00:32:13,098 a 1,000 year kingdom. 637 00:32:13,098 --> 00:32:16,119 Oh, now, I get to believe. 638 00:32:16,119 --> 00:32:20,891 That's basically the mindset behind this. 639 00:32:20,891 --> 00:32:24,484 If you believe that that is garbage, 640 00:32:24,484 --> 00:32:27,795 and that when He comes, it's going to be like a thief in the night, 641 00:32:27,795 --> 00:32:29,814 and it's going to be like the days of Noah 642 00:32:29,814 --> 00:32:31,883 when nobody's saying, well, you know, 643 00:32:31,883 --> 00:32:34,045 it's been 7 years since the rapture 644 00:32:34,045 --> 00:32:35,871 and this probably is going to happen. 645 00:32:35,871 --> 00:32:37,623 It's been 1,007 years 646 00:32:37,623 --> 00:32:41,755 and so we're probably due for Armageddon. 647 00:32:41,755 --> 00:32:44,002 Brethren, that's not what Scripture says. 648 00:32:44,002 --> 00:32:47,591 It says in an hour when you do not think 649 00:32:47,591 --> 00:32:49,236 He's coming. 650 00:32:49,236 --> 00:32:52,358 It is going to be as in the days of Noah. 651 00:32:52,358 --> 00:32:55,295 They are going to be going about their business 652 00:32:55,295 --> 00:32:57,132 and marrying and giving in marriage 653 00:32:57,132 --> 00:32:58,965 and nobody's keeping the calendar 654 00:32:58,965 --> 00:33:00,251 and marking it. 655 00:33:00,251 --> 00:33:03,847 He says not even the Son knows that time. 656 00:33:03,847 --> 00:33:05,260 It is going to happen swift. 657 00:33:05,260 --> 00:33:06,694 It is going to happen quickly. 658 00:33:06,694 --> 00:33:08,943 It is going to take men and women by surprise. 659 00:33:08,943 --> 00:33:10,233 And Jesus knows it. 660 00:33:10,233 --> 00:33:12,141 And as He's leaving, He's saying 661 00:33:12,141 --> 00:33:14,061 to His disciples: Watch! 662 00:33:14,061 --> 00:33:15,573 Watch! Watch! 663 00:33:15,573 --> 00:33:19,733 Be ready! 664 00:33:19,733 --> 00:33:24,191 Brethren, ask a dispensational premillenialist 665 00:33:24,191 --> 00:33:27,238 if it's possible for Jesus Christ 666 00:33:27,238 --> 00:33:29,962 to return this very day 667 00:33:29,962 --> 00:33:32,873 and judge all the nations as described 668 00:33:32,873 --> 00:33:36,893 in Matthew 25 where Jesus gathers 669 00:33:36,893 --> 00:33:39,586 all the nations before Him and divides them. 670 00:33:39,586 --> 00:33:42,539 Some on His right hand to eternal life. 671 00:33:42,539 --> 00:33:47,524 Some on His left hand to eternal punishment. 672 00:33:47,524 --> 00:33:51,518 And it's over. 673 00:33:51,518 --> 00:33:53,685 Just ask your dispensational friend 674 00:33:53,685 --> 00:33:57,125 if he believes that could happen today. 675 00:33:57,125 --> 00:33:59,919 You know what his answer's going to be? 676 00:33:59,919 --> 00:34:03,973 I don't expect so. 677 00:34:03,973 --> 00:34:06,265 Look at verse 44. 678 00:34:06,265 --> 00:34:09,975 "Therefore, you also must be ready. 679 00:34:09,975 --> 00:34:12,016 For the Son of Man is coming at an hour 680 00:34:12,016 --> 00:34:17,164 you do not expect." 681 00:34:17,164 --> 00:34:18,912 Brethren, just think about how this 682 00:34:18,912 --> 00:34:21,491 appeals to the unbeliever. 683 00:34:21,491 --> 00:34:23,180 Because I used to think this way 684 00:34:23,180 --> 00:34:24,171 when I was lost. 685 00:34:24,171 --> 00:34:26,658 I would hear this stuff about there being a rapture 686 00:34:26,658 --> 00:34:28,420 and about 7 year tribulation 687 00:34:28,420 --> 00:34:29,936 and about a 1,000 year kingdom, 688 00:34:29,936 --> 00:34:31,870 and I thought, well, I'm going to go on 689 00:34:31,870 --> 00:34:33,927 with my life and if the rapture happens, 690 00:34:33,927 --> 00:34:36,643 well, then I'll get my act together. 691 00:34:36,643 --> 00:34:42,392 That just appeals to the unbeliever. 692 00:34:42,392 --> 00:34:45,402 That is not what Scripture says. 693 00:34:45,402 --> 00:34:48,724 That is not a hope that the Scriptures 694 00:34:48,724 --> 00:34:53,192 give to the unconverted. 695 00:34:53,192 --> 00:34:54,427 Not at all. 696 00:34:54,427 --> 00:35:00,068 It leaves us with a second-chance theology. 697 00:35:00,068 --> 00:35:02,743 And I think it's dangerous. 698 00:35:02,743 --> 00:35:07,111 This sort of eschatology puts men to sleep. 699 00:35:07,111 --> 00:35:10,433 Just check out the "Left Behind" mentality that's out there 700 00:35:10,433 --> 00:35:12,514 regularly portraying unbelievers 701 00:35:12,514 --> 00:35:16,057 who they begin to see all these things 702 00:35:16,057 --> 00:35:20,442 come to pass and then they believe. 703 00:35:20,442 --> 00:35:28,545 Brethren, let's be honest with Scripture. 704 00:35:28,545 --> 00:35:30,815 Do you know that shortly after Jesus 705 00:35:30,815 --> 00:35:33,721 said to His disciples, 706 00:35:33,721 --> 00:35:37,798 you better be ready, 707 00:35:37,798 --> 00:35:41,836 He says let me tell you what it's going to be like. 708 00:35:41,836 --> 00:35:45,607 It's going to be like 10 virgins. 709 00:35:45,607 --> 00:35:54,905 Five are wise. Five are foolish. 710 00:35:54,905 --> 00:35:57,395 They all look the same. 711 00:35:57,395 --> 00:35:59,587 It's people in the church. 712 00:35:59,587 --> 00:36:01,498 It's religious people. 713 00:36:01,498 --> 00:36:04,019 It's professing Christianity. 714 00:36:04,019 --> 00:36:06,811 Five are ready. Five are not ready. 715 00:36:06,811 --> 00:36:10,273 It's portrayed by not having oil 716 00:36:10,273 --> 00:36:13,289 in their lamps among the five foolish. 717 00:36:13,289 --> 00:36:14,822 The five wise - they have oil. 718 00:36:14,822 --> 00:36:17,015 The five foolish - they do not have oil. 719 00:36:17,015 --> 00:36:17,986 What happens? 720 00:36:17,986 --> 00:36:21,733 They're waiting. They're waiting. They're waiting. Like we're waiting today. 721 00:36:21,733 --> 00:36:23,981 They're waiting, but what is the whole point 722 00:36:23,981 --> 00:36:25,328 of the parable? 723 00:36:25,328 --> 00:36:26,665 Be ready! Be ready! 724 00:36:26,665 --> 00:36:29,420 The five that are ready - what happens? 725 00:36:29,420 --> 00:36:31,868 Bang! Christ comes! 726 00:36:31,868 --> 00:36:33,190 And it's over! 727 00:36:33,190 --> 00:36:34,550 There is no rapture. 728 00:36:34,550 --> 00:36:36,752 There is no 7 year tribulation. 729 00:36:36,752 --> 00:36:38,881 There is no 1,000 year kingdom. 730 00:36:38,881 --> 00:36:40,080 It's over! 731 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:42,738 And if you're not ready, the door is shut. 732 00:36:42,738 --> 00:36:44,074 And if you don't believe me, 733 00:36:44,074 --> 00:36:54,449 read in the 25th chapter of Matthew 734 00:36:54,449 --> 00:36:57,739 about the parable of the 10 virgins. 735 00:36:57,739 --> 00:37:01,260 When Christ comes, if you are not ready, 736 00:37:01,260 --> 00:37:04,236 the door is shut. 737 00:37:04,236 --> 00:37:06,395 And when the door is shut, 738 00:37:06,395 --> 00:37:12,195 they cry out, "Lord, Lord, open to us!" 739 00:37:12,195 --> 00:37:16,029 And He says, "truly, I say to you, I do not know you." 740 00:37:16,029 --> 00:37:17,826 "Watch therefore, for you know 741 00:37:17,826 --> 00:37:22,277 neither the day nor the hour." 742 00:37:22,277 --> 00:37:24,582 Brethren, there is an urgency 743 00:37:24,582 --> 00:37:27,540 that Scripture puts upon the church 744 00:37:27,540 --> 00:37:31,370 and upon the evangelization of this world 745 00:37:31,370 --> 00:37:33,975 because of the possible imminent return 746 00:37:33,975 --> 00:37:35,655 of Christ at any single moment. 747 00:37:35,655 --> 00:37:37,434 And when He comes, the door is shut. 748 00:37:37,434 --> 00:37:39,865 And if you're not ready, it's all over. 749 00:37:39,865 --> 00:37:43,112 That is what Jesus is teaching. 750 00:37:43,112 --> 00:37:45,988 How can so many be wrong? How can so many be wrong? 751 00:37:45,988 --> 00:37:48,877 How can they come up with this convoluted system? 752 00:37:48,877 --> 00:37:50,873 Which, by the way, does not have 753 00:37:50,873 --> 00:37:58,451 very good historical weight behind it; 754 00:37:58,451 --> 00:38:02,346 not the dispensational type of premillenialism, 755 00:38:02,346 --> 00:38:05,842 propounded by Scofield, Darby, 756 00:38:05,842 --> 00:38:07,289 but really not much history 757 00:38:07,289 --> 00:38:10,660 beyond the early 1800's. 758 00:38:10,660 --> 00:38:13,023 Brethren, when you go to Scripture, you tell me. 759 00:38:13,023 --> 00:38:16,248 You've got 10 virgins. 760 00:38:16,248 --> 00:38:18,673 Five wise. Five foolish. 761 00:38:18,673 --> 00:38:20,998 It doesn't say the rapture takes place 762 00:38:20,998 --> 00:38:23,175 and the five wise get zapped out 763 00:38:23,175 --> 00:38:24,758 and the five foolish are left 764 00:38:24,758 --> 00:38:28,129 and now have an opportunity to believe. 765 00:38:28,129 --> 00:38:35,629 What you are told is the door is shut. 766 00:38:35,629 --> 00:38:39,490 While they were going to buy, 767 00:38:39,490 --> 00:38:42,836 the Bridegroom came and those who were ready 768 00:38:42,836 --> 00:38:47,779 went in with Him to the marriage feast 769 00:38:47,779 --> 00:38:52,367 and that door was shut. 770 00:38:52,367 --> 00:38:54,944 That's it. 771 00:38:54,944 --> 00:39:03,631 If you're not ready, it's over. 772 00:39:03,631 --> 00:39:08,193 It's over. 773 00:39:08,193 --> 00:39:09,913 Third. 774 00:39:09,913 --> 00:39:16,825 The first: that system commandeers the church's promises. 775 00:39:16,825 --> 00:39:22,352 That system commandeers the church's urgency. 776 00:39:22,352 --> 00:39:28,156 Third, that system commandeers 777 00:39:28,156 --> 00:39:33,376 one of our basic hermeneutics; 778 00:39:33,376 --> 00:39:41,980 one of our basic Bible interpretation methods. 779 00:39:41,980 --> 00:39:43,405 Let me tell you what I mean. 780 00:39:43,405 --> 00:39:45,129 I believe that dispensationalism 781 00:39:45,129 --> 00:39:47,710 is founded on an unsound method 782 00:39:47,710 --> 00:39:49,376 of Bible interpretation. 783 00:39:49,376 --> 00:39:51,918 You know what we have here? 784 00:39:51,918 --> 00:39:53,263 We have a Bible. 785 00:39:53,263 --> 00:39:54,793 Sixty-six books. 786 00:39:54,793 --> 00:39:57,806 Was it all given to us just like that? No. 787 00:39:57,806 --> 00:40:00,944 It was given to us over a matter of thousands of years. 788 00:40:00,944 --> 00:40:02,253 What happened? 789 00:40:02,253 --> 00:40:05,298 Well, what happens is we have 790 00:40:05,298 --> 00:40:08,298 progressive revelation. 791 00:40:08,298 --> 00:40:11,580 God begins to tell us about the coming of Christ 792 00:40:11,580 --> 00:40:14,516 back in Genesis 3. 793 00:40:14,516 --> 00:40:17,452 And as you go through your Bibles, 794 00:40:17,452 --> 00:40:19,084 what happens? 795 00:40:19,084 --> 00:40:23,960 More and more and more light. 796 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:25,336 More revelation. 797 00:40:25,336 --> 00:40:27,374 More information. 798 00:40:27,374 --> 00:40:30,487 It builds. 799 00:40:30,487 --> 00:40:34,403 It keeps building upon itself. 800 00:40:34,403 --> 00:40:38,514 Progressively God reveals more and more. 801 00:40:38,514 --> 00:40:40,192 The further you go in God's Word, 802 00:40:40,192 --> 00:40:42,053 the more light we have, 803 00:40:42,053 --> 00:40:43,870 because the more knowledge we have; 804 00:40:43,870 --> 00:40:47,515 the more God is revealing to us. 805 00:40:47,515 --> 00:40:52,781 And it was given to us progressively. 806 00:40:52,781 --> 00:40:59,651 Over quite a few years. 807 00:40:59,651 --> 00:41:04,212 And you know where we especially see 808 00:41:04,212 --> 00:41:07,352 progression made is when you go 809 00:41:07,352 --> 00:41:10,768 from the Old Testament to the New Testament. 810 00:41:10,768 --> 00:41:13,566 Why? 811 00:41:13,566 --> 00:41:17,317 Because suddenly, Christ has come. 812 00:41:17,317 --> 00:41:19,740 The Spirit of God is given to the church 813 00:41:19,740 --> 00:41:23,663 which leads the church into all truth; 814 00:41:23,663 --> 00:41:25,968 led those apostles into all truth 815 00:41:25,968 --> 00:41:28,144 that could write the New Testament. 816 00:41:28,144 --> 00:41:32,140 Jesus Christ is the fulfillment. 817 00:41:32,140 --> 00:41:34,135 You know what the Old Testament is? 818 00:41:34,135 --> 00:41:35,978 Do you know what the New Testament 819 00:41:35,978 --> 00:41:38,791 tells us about the Old Testament repeatedly? 820 00:41:38,791 --> 00:41:43,575 It's types and shadows. 821 00:41:43,575 --> 00:41:48,358 Christ is the fulfillment. 822 00:41:48,358 --> 00:41:54,744 Look, we don't say that a shadow is darkness. 823 00:41:54,744 --> 00:41:56,701 Shadows aren't darkness. 824 00:41:56,701 --> 00:41:58,432 They're just not as bright as being 825 00:41:58,432 --> 00:41:59,781 in the full sunlight. 826 00:41:59,781 --> 00:42:01,040 Right? 827 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:03,170 I mean, you go out in the full noonday sun 828 00:42:03,170 --> 00:42:04,310 and you cast a shadow. 829 00:42:04,310 --> 00:42:06,928 You don't look and say, oh, that's black. 830 00:42:06,928 --> 00:42:08,781 That's darkness. 831 00:42:08,781 --> 00:42:11,455 No, it's not darkness. 832 00:42:11,455 --> 00:42:15,489 I can see lots of things in my shadow. 833 00:42:15,489 --> 00:42:18,819 But if I step away and I let the full light shine down there, 834 00:42:18,819 --> 00:42:21,907 well, yes, it's brighter now. 835 00:42:21,907 --> 00:42:26,326 Shadows are not darkness. 836 00:42:26,326 --> 00:42:30,527 They're just not as bright. 837 00:42:30,527 --> 00:42:34,184 The thing is God reveals in the New Testament 838 00:42:34,184 --> 00:42:37,109 this full blazing light of Jesus Christ. 839 00:42:37,109 --> 00:42:39,038 The full sunlight's there. 840 00:42:39,038 --> 00:42:42,543 This blazing revelation of Christ. 841 00:42:42,543 --> 00:42:44,841 Since the New Testament explains 842 00:42:44,841 --> 00:42:47,373 so many of the types and shadows 843 00:42:47,373 --> 00:42:49,174 and concepts of the Old Testament, 844 00:42:49,174 --> 00:42:52,096 we definitely need to constantly be looking 845 00:42:52,096 --> 00:42:53,493 at our New Testament 846 00:42:53,493 --> 00:42:55,883 in order to figure out what this means 847 00:42:55,883 --> 00:42:58,521 back here in the Old Testament. 848 00:42:58,521 --> 00:43:00,736 I'm not making that up. 849 00:43:00,736 --> 00:43:03,740 That's exactly what happened when Jesus came. 850 00:43:03,740 --> 00:43:06,161 That's exactly what happened when the apostles 851 00:43:06,161 --> 00:43:07,383 walked this earth. 852 00:43:07,383 --> 00:43:08,815 What did they do? 853 00:43:08,815 --> 00:43:12,717 They explained what was going on 854 00:43:12,717 --> 00:43:15,908 in the Old Testament that was not understood 855 00:43:15,908 --> 00:43:19,379 when they just had the Old Testament. 856 00:43:19,379 --> 00:43:22,071 You say, is that true? 857 00:43:22,071 --> 00:43:28,357 Brethren, look at Malachi 4. 858 00:43:28,357 --> 00:43:32,827 This is no small thing. 859 00:43:32,827 --> 00:43:36,133 Malachi 4:5 860 00:43:36,133 --> 00:43:42,494 I'm just going to show you a few examples of this. 861 00:43:42,494 --> 00:43:45,930 Remember, I'm talking about the fact 862 00:43:45,930 --> 00:43:48,945 that this dispensationalism commandeers 863 00:43:48,945 --> 00:43:53,885 one of the church's most basic hermeneutics; 864 00:43:53,885 --> 00:43:59,449 one of the basic biblical interpretive methods. 865 00:43:59,449 --> 00:44:02,003 You know, we want to be able to interpret Scripture. 866 00:44:02,003 --> 00:44:03,766 We want to come to Scripture, 867 00:44:03,766 --> 00:44:05,964 and we want to figure out what things mean. 868 00:44:05,964 --> 00:44:08,223 There's some basic rules that we apply 869 00:44:08,223 --> 00:44:11,912 to interpreting Scripture. 870 00:44:11,912 --> 00:44:15,907 You want to look at context. 871 00:44:15,907 --> 00:44:19,756 You want to compare what this author 872 00:44:19,756 --> 00:44:24,762 has to say about the same thing in other places. 873 00:44:24,762 --> 00:44:28,734 You compare Scripture with Scripture. 874 00:44:28,734 --> 00:44:30,637 One of the most fundamental 875 00:44:30,637 --> 00:44:34,629 biblical hermeneutics is that you examine 876 00:44:34,629 --> 00:44:38,749 the Old Testament in light of the New. 877 00:44:38,749 --> 00:44:40,986 Let me show you why. 878 00:44:40,986 --> 00:44:45,419 Let me show you Jesus doing this exact thing. 879 00:44:45,419 --> 00:44:48,493 Here we have Malachi 4:5-6. 880 00:44:48,493 --> 00:44:53,559 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet 881 00:44:53,559 --> 00:44:56,216 before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, 882 00:44:56,216 --> 00:44:58,994 and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children 883 00:44:58,994 --> 00:45:01,183 and the hearts of children to their fathers, 884 00:45:01,183 --> 00:45:02,884 lest I come and strike the land 885 00:45:02,884 --> 00:45:05,444 with a decree of utter destruction." 886 00:45:05,444 --> 00:45:07,522 Now look, here's the thing, 887 00:45:07,522 --> 00:45:13,064 the Old Testament has shadows or types. 888 00:45:13,064 --> 00:45:15,160 Do you know what that is? 889 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:24,056 That's where the shadow is real, 890 00:45:24,056 --> 00:45:26,170 it's physical, 891 00:45:26,170 --> 00:45:29,938 but it points to a greater spiritual reality. 892 00:45:29,938 --> 00:45:31,613 But you know what else you have? 893 00:45:31,613 --> 00:45:33,427 You have metaphors. 894 00:45:33,427 --> 00:45:37,568 Guess what's true about a metaphor? 895 00:45:37,568 --> 00:45:40,802 If I say, you know, you and I were talking about this afterwards 896 00:45:40,802 --> 00:45:43,042 and we locked horns. 897 00:45:43,042 --> 00:45:46,373 That's a metaphor. 898 00:45:46,373 --> 00:45:48,438 Here's the thing about a metaphor. 899 00:45:48,438 --> 00:45:50,535 If you take a metaphor literally, 900 00:45:50,535 --> 00:45:53,263 is it true or not true? 901 00:45:53,263 --> 00:45:55,100 It's not true. 902 00:45:55,100 --> 00:45:57,763 You see, when you look at a shadow, 903 00:45:57,763 --> 00:46:01,380 there's reality to it. 904 00:46:01,380 --> 00:46:03,697 The fulfillment - there's greater reality. 905 00:46:03,697 --> 00:46:05,525 There's spiritual reality. 906 00:46:05,525 --> 00:46:07,000 One points to the other. 907 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,946 But when you're dealing with metaphor, 908 00:46:09,946 --> 00:46:16,445 to literally take the metaphor is error. 909 00:46:16,445 --> 00:46:19,374 That's key, because if you mix up 910 00:46:19,374 --> 00:46:21,569 a metaphor for that which you believe 911 00:46:21,569 --> 00:46:23,230 ought to be taken literally, 912 00:46:23,230 --> 00:46:28,986 you are going to end up in error. 913 00:46:28,988 --> 00:46:30,994 Here's what happens. 914 00:46:30,994 --> 00:46:33,268 We look at Malachi. 915 00:46:33,268 --> 00:46:35,341 Elijah the prophet is going to come. 916 00:46:35,341 --> 00:46:41,042 Now look, if I take this at literal face value, 917 00:46:41,042 --> 00:46:43,404 you know what this says? 918 00:46:43,404 --> 00:46:46,627 It says Elijah the Tishbite. 919 00:46:46,627 --> 00:46:49,341 Remember Elijah? 920 00:46:49,341 --> 00:46:51,914 Predecessor to Elisha. 921 00:46:51,914 --> 00:46:53,505 Elijah. 922 00:46:53,505 --> 00:46:54,628 Remember Mt. Carmel? 923 00:46:54,628 --> 00:46:56,586 Called down fire from heaven? 924 00:46:56,586 --> 00:46:59,055 That Elijah. Elijah the Tishbite. 925 00:46:59,055 --> 00:47:02,263 That Elijah. Called down fire from heaven Elijah 926 00:47:02,263 --> 00:47:08,072 is going to be sent, 927 00:47:08,072 --> 00:47:09,556 presumably from the dead 928 00:47:09,556 --> 00:47:11,736 if you're going to take it literally. 929 00:47:11,736 --> 00:47:16,368 He's going to come back from the dead. 930 00:47:16,368 --> 00:47:18,092 "Before the day of the Lord." 931 00:47:18,092 --> 00:47:19,793 But you know what happens when you 932 00:47:19,793 --> 00:47:22,578 come over to the New Testament? 933 00:47:22,578 --> 00:47:26,092 The New Testament gives us light. 934 00:47:26,092 --> 00:47:30,879 How so? Matthew 11:12. 935 00:47:30,879 --> 00:47:41,523 Jump over there. Matthew 11:12. 936 00:47:41,523 --> 00:47:44,484 "From the days of John the Baptist until now, 937 00:47:44,484 --> 00:47:46,773 the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, 938 00:47:46,773 --> 00:47:49,582 and the violent take it by force. 939 00:47:49,582 --> 00:47:51,381 For all the prophets and the law 940 00:47:51,381 --> 00:47:55,344 prophesied until John. 941 00:47:55,344 --> 00:47:59,901 And if you are willing to accept it, 942 00:47:59,901 --> 00:48:05,925 he is Elijah who is to come. 943 00:48:05,925 --> 00:48:13,031 He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 944 00:48:13,031 --> 00:48:17,142 You see, you need ears like that to hear, 945 00:48:17,142 --> 00:48:19,147 to process. 946 00:48:19,147 --> 00:48:24,863 Or how about this. Go over to Matthew 17. 947 00:48:24,863 --> 00:48:28,961 You see, it is a metaphor. 948 00:48:28,961 --> 00:48:32,568 It is a metaphor when you portray 949 00:48:32,568 --> 00:48:37,086 someone as being someone else who they are not. 950 00:48:37,086 --> 00:48:38,874 It is a metaphor when you portray 951 00:48:38,874 --> 00:48:40,691 someone as being someone else 952 00:48:40,691 --> 00:48:43,719 even though they are not actually that someone else, 953 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:45,235 but you portray them that way 954 00:48:45,235 --> 00:48:47,487 because of certain similarities. 955 00:48:47,487 --> 00:48:49,980 That is metaphor. 956 00:48:49,980 --> 00:48:53,768 But to take that literally is to come away 957 00:48:53,768 --> 00:48:58,899 with an erroneous conclusion. 958 00:48:58,899 --> 00:49:03,127 Jesus says John the Baptist, 959 00:49:03,127 --> 00:49:05,604 he is Elijah who is to come. 960 00:49:05,604 --> 00:49:07,427 He is the one. 961 00:49:07,427 --> 00:49:09,056 It wasn't meant to say that it was 962 00:49:09,056 --> 00:49:12,579 Elijah exactly the Tishbite, 963 00:49:12,579 --> 00:49:17,301 but one who is like him. 964 00:49:17,301 --> 00:49:20,087 Matthew 17:10-12 965 00:49:20,087 --> 00:49:21,551 "The disciples asked Him, 966 00:49:21,551 --> 00:49:23,695 'Then why do the scribes say 967 00:49:23,695 --> 00:49:25,310 that first Elijah must come?' 968 00:49:25,310 --> 00:49:27,633 He answered, 'Elijah does come, 969 00:49:27,633 --> 00:49:29,203 and he will restore all things, 970 00:49:29,203 --> 00:49:33,446 but I tell you that Elijah has already come, 971 00:49:33,446 --> 00:49:35,870 and they did not recognize him, 972 00:49:35,870 --> 00:49:37,645 but did to him whatever the pleased. 973 00:49:37,645 --> 00:49:40,128 So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer 974 00:49:40,128 --> 00:49:42,851 at their hands.'" 975 00:49:42,851 --> 00:49:45,123 To take such a metaphor as literal 976 00:49:45,123 --> 00:49:47,134 is to end up with a falsehood. 977 00:49:47,134 --> 00:49:48,756 One of the most fundamental rules 978 00:49:48,756 --> 00:49:50,476 of Bible interpretation that can be 979 00:49:50,476 --> 00:49:52,505 deduced from passages like these 980 00:49:52,505 --> 00:49:54,910 is that we need Jesus and His apostles 981 00:49:54,910 --> 00:49:58,659 to correctly interpret the Old Testament. 982 00:49:58,659 --> 00:50:00,397 Can you see it there? 983 00:50:00,397 --> 00:50:05,019 If you don't have the New Testament, 984 00:50:05,019 --> 00:50:06,437 then you're left without 985 00:50:06,437 --> 00:50:10,117 some pretty important information. 986 00:50:10,117 --> 00:50:11,805 Dispensational premillenialism, 987 00:50:11,805 --> 00:50:13,245 like that of John MacArthur's 988 00:50:13,245 --> 00:50:17,362 denies - denies the fundamental hermeneutic 989 00:50:17,362 --> 00:50:19,666 or Bible interpretation method. 990 00:50:19,666 --> 00:50:21,142 Listen to John MacArthur. 991 00:50:21,142 --> 00:50:22,945 These are his words. 992 00:50:22,945 --> 00:50:25,885 He did a message called: 993 00:50:25,885 --> 00:50:28,843 "Why Every Calvinist Should be a Premillenial." 994 00:50:28,843 --> 00:50:29,951 Something like that, 995 00:50:29,951 --> 00:50:34,081 back at his Shepherd's Conference 996 00:50:34,081 --> 00:50:36,042 back in 2007. 997 00:50:36,042 --> 00:50:37,848 These are his words. 998 00:50:37,848 --> 00:50:40,838 "It is not legitimate to interpret the Old Testament 999 00:50:40,838 --> 00:50:44,941 as secondary and the New Testament as primary. 1000 00:50:44,941 --> 00:50:47,249 Otherwise, the Old Testament was 1001 00:50:47,249 --> 00:50:52,143 literally darkness, not light." 1002 00:50:52,143 --> 00:50:53,734 No, it's not. 1003 00:50:53,734 --> 00:50:56,802 It's shadow. 1004 00:50:56,802 --> 00:50:58,901 Not full light. 1005 00:50:58,901 --> 00:51:02,280 But shadow isn't darkness. 1006 00:51:02,280 --> 00:51:04,161 These are his words. 1007 00:51:04,161 --> 00:51:06,291 "If you say the Old Testament cannot be 1008 00:51:06,291 --> 00:51:09,743 rightly interpreted apart from the New Testament, 1009 00:51:09,743 --> 00:51:12,352 then you have denied the perspicuity 1010 00:51:12,352 --> 00:51:13,944 of the Old Testament." 1011 00:51:13,944 --> 00:51:17,012 Who knows what the word perspicuity means? 1012 00:51:17,012 --> 00:51:21,469 Clarity. 1013 00:51:21,469 --> 00:51:23,775 How can he say that? 1014 00:51:23,775 --> 00:51:27,592 When Jesus comes along and says, 1015 00:51:27,592 --> 00:51:32,174 let Me tell you about Malachi's Elijah. 1016 00:51:32,174 --> 00:51:36,770 It's John. 1017 00:51:36,770 --> 00:51:42,115 I don't know how he (John MacArthur) comes to this. 1018 00:51:42,115 --> 00:51:48,755 Brethren, does it deny the clarity of the New Testament 1019 00:51:48,755 --> 00:51:51,468 when Scripture says, 1020 00:51:51,468 --> 00:51:56,314 "don't muzzle the ox?" 1021 00:51:56,314 --> 00:52:02,618 Well, in its physical reality, 1022 00:52:02,618 --> 00:52:05,261 that doesn't deny any perspicuity. 1023 00:52:05,261 --> 00:52:07,161 That's pretty clear. 1024 00:52:07,161 --> 00:52:08,738 Don't muzzle the ox. 1025 00:52:08,738 --> 00:52:10,594 You've got an ox 1026 00:52:10,594 --> 00:52:13,701 pulling the grinding wheel. 1027 00:52:13,701 --> 00:52:16,163 Don't put a muzzle on it so it can't eat. 1028 00:52:16,163 --> 00:52:18,552 Let it eat. 1029 00:52:18,552 --> 00:52:21,420 But is that the end of the story? 1030 00:52:21,420 --> 00:52:23,991 You see, if I take John MacArthur's approach 1031 00:52:23,991 --> 00:52:26,611 and say, nope, the Old Testament's got to stand alone. 1032 00:52:26,611 --> 00:52:28,623 If you can't interpret it all by itself, 1033 00:52:28,623 --> 00:52:30,682 it's darkness. You're denying perspicuity. 1034 00:52:30,682 --> 00:52:35,345 The Apostle Paul did not believe that. 1035 00:52:35,345 --> 00:52:37,267 Brethren, when the Apostle Paul 1036 00:52:37,267 --> 00:52:42,288 begins to teach Gentile believers - 1037 00:52:42,288 --> 00:52:45,711 Corinthians, Timothy who was 1038 00:52:45,711 --> 00:52:47,617 with the Ephesians, 1039 00:52:47,617 --> 00:52:50,059 you know what he says? 1040 00:52:50,059 --> 00:52:52,288 He says muzzling the ox - 1041 00:52:52,288 --> 00:52:57,857 God didn't give that because He was concerned about oxen. 1042 00:52:57,857 --> 00:53:01,391 He says God gave that 1043 00:53:01,391 --> 00:53:03,614 because He wants those who render to you 1044 00:53:03,614 --> 00:53:06,509 spiritual things not to be muzzled. 1045 00:53:06,509 --> 00:53:07,576 Take care of them. 1046 00:53:07,576 --> 00:53:10,423 Take care of your preachers. 1047 00:53:10,423 --> 00:53:12,487 He says that's what it's for. 1048 00:53:12,487 --> 00:53:14,555 Do you get that out of the Old Testament? 1049 00:53:14,555 --> 00:53:16,133 You can read your Old Testament 1050 00:53:16,133 --> 00:53:17,858 till you're blue in the face, 1051 00:53:17,858 --> 00:53:21,830 and you are not going to find that said. 1052 00:53:21,830 --> 00:53:26,018 You see how you rob the text? 1053 00:53:26,018 --> 00:53:31,068 Do you see how it's just massively incomplete? 1054 00:53:31,068 --> 00:53:34,747 Brethren, have you ever read 1055 00:53:34,747 --> 00:53:37,991 there in the Sermon on the Mount 1056 00:53:37,991 --> 00:53:39,334 that your righteousness; 1057 00:53:39,334 --> 00:53:41,818 your righteousness if you're in the kingdom, 1058 00:53:41,818 --> 00:53:46,055 it better exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees. 1059 00:53:46,055 --> 00:53:47,948 And you know right before that, 1060 00:53:47,948 --> 00:53:51,150 He talks about what that righteousness looks like. 1061 00:53:51,150 --> 00:53:53,622 It looks like you not relaxing 1062 00:53:53,622 --> 00:53:55,958 even one of the least commandments 1063 00:53:55,958 --> 00:53:57,852 given in the Old Testament, 1064 00:53:57,852 --> 00:53:59,472 which would include commandments 1065 00:53:59,472 --> 00:54:01,263 just like this. 1066 00:54:01,263 --> 00:54:04,932 But you see, if I'm not gong to relax 1067 00:54:04,932 --> 00:54:07,838 commandments like muzzling the ox, 1068 00:54:07,838 --> 00:54:11,216 I better have some New Testament manner 1069 00:54:11,216 --> 00:54:13,263 of interpreting it, or you're going to be 1070 00:54:13,263 --> 00:54:17,516 running your oxen out there all muzzled. 1071 00:54:17,516 --> 00:54:18,539 I mean, right? 1072 00:54:18,539 --> 00:54:20,642 If you're going to take all this literally, 1073 00:54:20,642 --> 00:54:22,685 what I'm being told by Christ 1074 00:54:22,685 --> 00:54:24,634 is I better not relax one of the least 1075 00:54:24,634 --> 00:54:27,123 of the commandments that was given. 1076 00:54:27,123 --> 00:54:29,788 But what I find in the New Testament 1077 00:54:29,788 --> 00:54:35,288 is all those commandments had moral realities. 1078 00:54:35,288 --> 00:54:38,360 They had practical realities 1079 00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:41,969 that pointed to living my life in this age 1080 00:54:41,969 --> 00:54:43,795 as a Christian. 1081 00:54:43,795 --> 00:54:45,804 But knowing how to apply those things 1082 00:54:45,804 --> 00:54:48,713 and how to interpret those things... 1083 00:54:48,713 --> 00:54:51,998 Brethren, when I come into the New Testament, 1084 00:54:51,998 --> 00:54:56,936 I find Christ is the Passover Lamb. 1085 00:54:56,936 --> 00:54:59,224 It's in the New Testament that I find 1086 00:54:59,224 --> 00:55:01,629 that Christ is the fulfillment 1087 00:55:01,629 --> 00:55:04,630 of the Old Testament priesthood. 1088 00:55:04,630 --> 00:55:07,503 It's in the New Testament that I find 1089 00:55:07,503 --> 00:55:09,338 that all the festivals, the new moons, 1090 00:55:09,338 --> 00:55:13,219 the Sabbath days were all shadows, 1091 00:55:13,219 --> 00:55:15,225 but Christ is the substance. 1092 00:55:15,225 --> 00:55:17,773 Can I tell you something? 1093 00:55:17,773 --> 00:55:19,381 Whether it's dispensationalism 1094 00:55:19,381 --> 00:55:22,341 or whether it's covenant theology, 1095 00:55:22,341 --> 00:55:28,976 any time you start in the Old Testament, 1096 00:55:28,976 --> 00:55:30,971 you are going to end up going somewhere 1097 00:55:30,971 --> 00:55:33,111 God never intended you to go. 1098 00:55:33,111 --> 00:55:34,672 If you start there. 1099 00:55:34,672 --> 00:55:36,300 It's inspired. 1100 00:55:36,300 --> 00:55:37,347 We need it. 1101 00:55:37,347 --> 00:55:43,654 But what we see is that we never 1102 00:55:43,654 --> 00:55:45,853 want to deal with the Old Testament 1103 00:55:45,853 --> 00:55:47,480 as though Jesus Christ never came 1104 00:55:47,480 --> 00:55:49,052 and as though the apostles never 1105 00:55:49,052 --> 00:55:51,220 wrote the New Testament. 1106 00:55:51,220 --> 00:55:54,286 Clearly, brethren, clearly they show us 1107 00:55:54,286 --> 00:55:57,367 repeatedly that that is how we are 1108 00:55:57,367 --> 00:55:59,661 to deal with Scripture. 1109 00:55:59,661 --> 00:56:05,517 If we embrace John MacArthur's hermeneutic, 1110 00:56:05,517 --> 00:56:07,418 (incomplete thought). 1111 00:56:07,418 --> 00:56:09,846 You know what he said? 1112 00:56:09,846 --> 00:56:16,161 He said nobody ends up an amillenialist 1113 00:56:16,161 --> 00:56:18,770 unless they read the New Testament 1114 00:56:18,770 --> 00:56:20,409 back into the Old. 1115 00:56:20,409 --> 00:56:25,157 I just say: exactly! 1116 00:56:25,157 --> 00:56:32,928 That's what I'm supposed to do! 1117 00:56:32,928 --> 00:56:37,217 Brethren, reading what the Old Testament says 1118 00:56:37,217 --> 00:56:42,419 concerning Israel, the covenants made to Israel, 1119 00:56:42,419 --> 00:56:45,482 promises made to Israel, 1120 00:56:45,482 --> 00:56:49,723 and coming to all manner of dogmatic conclusions 1121 00:56:49,723 --> 00:56:51,724 without first reading the New Testament 1122 00:56:51,724 --> 00:56:54,542 to see how the Holy Spirit inspired apostles, 1123 00:56:54,542 --> 00:56:57,056 teach us to interpret those things 1124 00:56:57,056 --> 00:56:58,175 in the Old Testament 1125 00:56:58,175 --> 00:57:00,840 is a very irresponsible way 1126 00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:03,039 to approach Scripture. 1127 00:57:03,039 --> 00:57:04,094 It is. 1128 00:57:04,094 --> 00:57:06,650 That is irresponsible. 1129 00:57:06,650 --> 00:57:09,996 You let the New Testament light 1130 00:57:09,996 --> 00:57:12,558 shine on that Old Testament, 1131 00:57:12,558 --> 00:57:15,776 and it will come to life. 1132 00:57:15,776 --> 00:57:18,589 That's what Jesus did. 1133 00:57:18,589 --> 00:57:22,721 Brethren, He came along and He just 1134 00:57:22,721 --> 00:57:24,721 started throwing all this stuff out, 1135 00:57:24,721 --> 00:57:29,574 and it just blew everybody away. 1136 00:57:29,574 --> 00:57:32,741 He starts explaining things in ways 1137 00:57:32,741 --> 00:57:38,265 that He just let the light in. 1138 00:57:38,265 --> 00:57:40,417 Never read the Old Testament promises; 1139 00:57:40,417 --> 00:57:42,479 never read anything from the Old Testament 1140 00:57:42,479 --> 00:57:45,414 as if Jesus had not come; 1141 00:57:45,414 --> 00:57:51,526 as if the New Testament had not been written. 1142 00:57:51,526 --> 00:57:54,365 That's the third. 1143 00:57:54,365 --> 00:58:00,287 This basic hermeneutic of interpreting the Old by the New. 1144 00:58:00,287 --> 00:58:03,046 They would wrest it from our hands. 1145 00:58:03,046 --> 00:58:04,643 Because I would say this. 1146 00:58:04,643 --> 00:58:07,329 Nobody ever ends up becoming 1147 00:58:07,329 --> 00:58:09,276 a dispensational premillenialist 1148 00:58:09,276 --> 00:58:12,940 unless they refuse to read the New Testament 1149 00:58:12,940 --> 00:58:16,193 back into the Old. 1150 00:58:16,193 --> 00:58:18,095 I understand how they come up with 1151 00:58:18,095 --> 00:58:19,317 what they come up with, 1152 00:58:19,317 --> 00:58:21,252 because they don't let the New Testament 1153 00:58:21,252 --> 00:58:25,811 guide them in their interpretations. 1154 00:58:25,811 --> 00:58:28,992 Here's a fourth thing. 1155 00:58:28,992 --> 00:58:35,376 The church's missionary hope is commandeered. 1156 00:58:35,376 --> 00:58:36,614 For the sake of time, 1157 00:58:36,614 --> 00:58:38,534 I'm going to shoot right through this. 1158 00:58:38,534 --> 00:58:42,593 Brethren, in Revelation 20, 1159 00:58:42,593 --> 00:58:45,850 it says that during the millenium, 1160 00:58:45,850 --> 00:58:51,058 the devil is bound 1161 00:58:51,058 --> 00:58:56,668 from deceiving the nations. 1162 00:58:56,668 --> 00:59:03,056 If that is indeed a way of describing this current time, 1163 00:59:03,056 --> 00:59:05,885 then the missionary hope is this: 1164 00:59:05,885 --> 00:59:08,031 the devil is bound. 1165 00:59:08,031 --> 00:59:09,942 Not totally. 1166 00:59:09,942 --> 00:59:13,464 He's bound from doing one thing: 1167 00:59:13,464 --> 00:59:18,113 deceiving the nations; the Gentiles. 1168 00:59:18,113 --> 00:59:20,922 Listen, that's what Scripture says. 1169 00:59:20,922 --> 00:59:22,410 Jesus Himself said, 1170 00:59:22,410 --> 00:59:27,009 "How can somebody enter the strongman's house 1171 00:59:27,009 --> 00:59:29,968 and plunder his goods?" 1172 00:59:29,968 --> 00:59:32,057 Unless what? 1173 00:59:32,057 --> 00:59:34,280 "Unless he first binds the strongman. 1174 00:59:34,280 --> 00:59:37,065 Then indeed, he may plunder the house." 1175 00:59:37,065 --> 00:59:38,453 Remember what happened? 1176 00:59:38,453 --> 00:59:40,427 He sends 72 out. 1177 00:59:40,427 --> 00:59:43,117 72. They go out preaching the Gospel. 1178 00:59:43,117 --> 00:59:44,895 And when they came back, they said, 1179 00:59:44,895 --> 00:59:50,678 Lord, the demons - they obeyed us! 1180 00:59:50,678 --> 00:59:51,817 He says, "I saw... 1181 00:59:51,817 --> 00:59:54,288 I saw Satan fall." 1182 00:59:54,288 --> 00:59:56,912 You see, Satan does not have power before the Gospel. 1183 00:59:56,912 --> 00:59:58,411 That's what this is all about. 1184 00:59:58,411 --> 01:00:00,371 That's what we're talking about here. 1185 01:00:00,371 --> 01:00:01,518 He said to them, 1186 01:00:01,518 --> 01:00:03,725 "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 1187 01:00:03,725 --> 01:00:05,348 Behold, I have given you authority 1188 01:00:05,348 --> 01:00:07,033 to tread on serpents, scorpions, 1189 01:00:07,033 --> 01:00:08,779 and over all the power of the enemy, 1190 01:00:08,779 --> 01:00:10,325 and nothing shall hurt you." 1191 01:00:10,325 --> 01:00:13,238 You know in John 12, He says this: 1192 01:00:13,238 --> 01:00:16,645 Think of this. Jesus is going to the cross. 1193 01:00:16,645 --> 01:00:19,544 John 12. 1194 01:00:19,544 --> 01:00:21,141 He says this: 1195 01:00:21,141 --> 01:00:26,152 "Now is the judgment of this world." 1196 01:00:26,152 --> 01:00:28,849 "Now is the judgment of this world. 1197 01:00:28,849 --> 01:00:32,600 Now the ruler of this world will be cast out." 1198 01:00:32,600 --> 01:00:35,480 What? The ruler of this world 1199 01:00:35,480 --> 01:00:39,319 is going to be cast out when? 1200 01:00:39,319 --> 01:00:42,240 In John 12. 1201 01:00:42,240 --> 01:00:49,425 See how perfectly that correlates 1202 01:00:49,425 --> 01:00:54,232 with taking that millenium to be 1203 01:00:54,232 --> 01:00:56,697 this long period of time 1204 01:00:56,697 --> 01:01:00,004 between Christ's comings - 1205 01:01:00,004 --> 01:01:02,628 His first coming and His second coming. 1206 01:01:02,628 --> 01:01:04,686 This is the missionary age. 1207 01:01:04,686 --> 01:01:07,449 This is the age of the ingathering 1208 01:01:07,449 --> 01:01:09,043 of the Gentiles. 1209 01:01:09,043 --> 01:01:12,187 This is the time of the Gentiles. 1210 01:01:12,187 --> 01:01:16,071 This is a time when Satan cannot keep 1211 01:01:16,071 --> 01:01:17,742 the nations in darkness 1212 01:01:17,742 --> 01:01:20,972 as he did before the cross. 1213 01:01:20,972 --> 01:01:22,141 And I'll tell you this. 1214 01:01:22,141 --> 01:01:24,287 Jesus said this. 1215 01:01:24,287 --> 01:01:27,519 He said now - now - I'm going to the cross. 1216 01:01:27,519 --> 01:01:30,443 Now is the ruler of this world cast out. 1217 01:01:30,443 --> 01:01:33,766 And you know what He says next? 1218 01:01:33,766 --> 01:01:36,297 And if you lift Me up, 1219 01:01:36,297 --> 01:01:39,730 I'm going to draw all men - 1220 01:01:39,730 --> 01:01:41,241 not just Jews. 1221 01:01:41,241 --> 01:01:45,746 I'm going to draw all men unto Me. 1222 01:01:45,746 --> 01:01:47,926 Brethren, the hope of the church 1223 01:01:47,926 --> 01:01:50,423 is that we live in an age 1224 01:01:50,423 --> 01:01:52,428 when Satan is bound, 1225 01:01:52,428 --> 01:01:54,372 when we can go out among the nations, 1226 01:01:54,372 --> 01:01:56,749 and by the power of Christ - 1227 01:01:56,749 --> 01:01:57,775 Him going with us, 1228 01:01:57,775 --> 01:02:01,376 "Lo, I am with you to the end of the world." 1229 01:02:01,376 --> 01:02:04,255 All authority - and we can go out there, 1230 01:02:04,255 --> 01:02:09,563 and we're going to come back with a harvest. 1231 01:02:09,563 --> 01:02:11,254 They would commandeer that from us. 1232 01:02:11,254 --> 01:02:14,126 John MacArthur mocks at that. 1233 01:02:14,126 --> 01:02:16,806 Yeah, the devil, he goes around like a roaring lion 1234 01:02:16,806 --> 01:02:18,179 seeking whom he may devour. 1235 01:02:18,179 --> 01:02:20,047 Doesn't sound like he's chained to me. 1236 01:02:20,047 --> 01:02:24,500 John, that is just shoddy, shoddy Bible interpretation. 1237 01:02:24,500 --> 01:02:27,249 Again. Because if you go to Revelation 20, 1238 01:02:27,249 --> 01:02:29,414 it does not say that he's bound 1239 01:02:29,414 --> 01:02:31,255 from seeking whom he may devour. 1240 01:02:31,255 --> 01:02:33,310 It doesn't say that he's not going around 1241 01:02:33,310 --> 01:02:34,461 like a roaring lion. 1242 01:02:34,461 --> 01:02:41,589 It says he's bound from deceiving the nations. 1243 01:02:41,589 --> 01:02:43,986 That's what it says. 1244 01:02:43,986 --> 01:02:46,375 That's what Jesus said. 1245 01:02:46,375 --> 01:02:47,908 The ruler of this world - 1246 01:02:47,908 --> 01:02:50,215 at the cross - the ruler of this world 1247 01:02:50,215 --> 01:02:51,495 is cast out. 1248 01:02:51,495 --> 01:02:53,458 You say, what does that mean? 1249 01:02:53,458 --> 01:02:57,194 It means something. 1250 01:02:57,194 --> 01:03:00,120 And what He follows it with 1251 01:03:00,120 --> 01:03:04,957 is I will gather all men unto Myself. 1252 01:03:04,957 --> 01:03:06,249 That's what it means. 1253 01:03:06,249 --> 01:03:08,286 The devil will not be able to resist that 1254 01:03:08,286 --> 01:03:10,413 from taking place. 1255 01:03:10,413 --> 01:03:11,940 So that's the fourth thing. 1256 01:03:11,940 --> 01:03:14,071 The fifth thing is this. 1257 01:03:14,071 --> 01:03:18,327 That system commandeers the church's glory. 1258 01:03:18,327 --> 01:03:20,025 You say, what do you mean by that? 1259 01:03:20,025 --> 01:03:22,616 Brethren, brethren, a faithful examination 1260 01:03:22,616 --> 01:03:25,044 of the Scriptures is going to reveal this: 1261 01:03:25,044 --> 01:03:27,399 Brethren, brethren! 1262 01:03:27,399 --> 01:03:29,007 This is the pinnacle. 1263 01:03:29,007 --> 01:03:31,206 This is the top of the mountain. 1264 01:03:31,206 --> 01:03:34,029 Everything in this book 1265 01:03:34,029 --> 01:03:37,155 is pointing somewhere. 1266 01:03:37,155 --> 01:03:38,986 It is pointing to Christ. 1267 01:03:38,986 --> 01:03:40,937 And when you come to the New Testament, 1268 01:03:40,937 --> 01:03:43,979 what you find is all this was shadow, 1269 01:03:43,979 --> 01:03:45,793 and it's all pointing to Him. 1270 01:03:45,793 --> 01:03:47,557 And you come to the New Testament, 1271 01:03:47,557 --> 01:03:49,532 and the four Gospels are all about Him, 1272 01:03:49,532 --> 01:03:51,810 and the epistles are all about 1273 01:03:51,810 --> 01:03:54,215 interpreting what happened in His teaching 1274 01:03:54,215 --> 01:03:55,236 and in His life. 1275 01:03:55,236 --> 01:03:56,991 And it's all about Him. 1276 01:03:56,991 --> 01:03:58,162 It's about Him. 1277 01:03:58,162 --> 01:03:59,118 It pointed. 1278 01:03:59,118 --> 01:04:03,630 The Gospel was all in types and shadows 1279 01:04:03,630 --> 01:04:05,333 found in the Old Testament. 1280 01:04:05,333 --> 01:04:07,142 It's pointing to Christ. 1281 01:04:07,142 --> 01:04:09,429 And it's pointing to the church. 1282 01:04:09,429 --> 01:04:11,597 You come to the New Testament, 1283 01:04:11,597 --> 01:04:13,371 the church... 1284 01:04:13,371 --> 01:04:22,303 the fullness of Him who fills all in all. 1285 01:04:22,303 --> 01:04:24,770 Christ and the church 1286 01:04:24,770 --> 01:04:29,425 is the focal point. 1287 01:04:29,425 --> 01:04:31,824 Everything looks there. 1288 01:04:31,824 --> 01:04:33,596 It is on the mountain top. 1289 01:04:33,596 --> 01:04:37,069 It is the culmination of all prophecy. 1290 01:04:37,069 --> 01:04:44,485 Do you realize what this dispensationalism teaches? 1291 01:04:44,485 --> 01:04:46,988 We've got to build a temple again. 1292 01:04:46,988 --> 01:04:48,557 We actually have to have priests 1293 01:04:48,557 --> 01:04:51,713 offering sacrifices again. 1294 01:04:51,713 --> 01:04:55,717 Brethren, let me tell you something. 1295 01:04:55,717 --> 01:05:02,766 Types and shadows always look 1296 01:05:02,766 --> 01:05:05,059 to the fulfillment. 1297 01:05:05,059 --> 01:05:11,028 They look to that which is far better. 1298 01:05:11,028 --> 01:05:12,558 Think of the type and shadow 1299 01:05:12,558 --> 01:05:14,605 that we have been given in this age 1300 01:05:14,605 --> 01:05:18,075 when most types and shadows have been put away. 1301 01:05:18,075 --> 01:05:23,205 The Lord's Supper is a type and shadow 1302 01:05:23,205 --> 01:05:25,625 of what? 1303 01:05:25,625 --> 01:05:30,078 Of sitting with Christ face-to-face. 1304 01:05:30,078 --> 01:05:35,554 Of having Him forever. 1305 01:05:35,554 --> 01:05:38,166 Do you recognize what it says 1306 01:05:38,166 --> 01:05:41,603 if we get to Christ and the church, 1307 01:05:41,603 --> 01:05:44,809 and then we allow this 1308 01:05:44,809 --> 01:05:49,400 redemptive retrograde, regression - 1309 01:05:49,400 --> 01:05:52,481 we go back down the mountain. 1310 01:05:52,481 --> 01:05:54,946 And we set up sacrifices again. 1311 01:05:54,946 --> 01:05:56,433 Do you know what happens? 1312 01:05:56,433 --> 01:05:59,381 Do you know what it communicates 1313 01:05:59,381 --> 01:06:04,679 if when Christ comes, 1314 01:06:04,679 --> 01:06:07,044 you revert back to shadow? 1315 01:06:07,044 --> 01:06:10,353 Do you realize what that communicates? 1316 01:06:10,353 --> 01:06:15,832 Do you realize what shadows always communicate? 1317 01:06:15,832 --> 01:06:19,703 Something better is yet to come. 1318 01:06:19,703 --> 01:06:24,421 Do you recognize that if Christ comes 1319 01:06:24,421 --> 01:06:28,532 and we go back to shadow, 1320 01:06:28,532 --> 01:06:33,674 it says Christ is not it. 1321 01:06:33,674 --> 01:06:39,025 There's something better. 1322 01:06:39,025 --> 01:06:41,469 Do you know what Jesus did? 1323 01:06:41,469 --> 01:06:43,297 He came. 1324 01:06:43,297 --> 01:06:47,270 He's on the road to Emmaus. 1325 01:06:47,270 --> 01:06:50,823 He says, boys, I can take you through 1326 01:06:50,823 --> 01:06:53,445 this whole book. 1327 01:06:53,445 --> 01:06:56,317 And it's about Me. 1328 01:06:56,317 --> 01:06:59,762 It's pointing to Me. 1329 01:06:59,762 --> 01:07:01,613 Do you realize when He died 1330 01:07:01,613 --> 01:07:05,412 that veil tore from the top to the bottom? 1331 01:07:05,412 --> 01:07:07,998 Saying it's done! 1332 01:07:07,998 --> 01:07:11,345 All done with the shadows 1333 01:07:11,345 --> 01:07:17,759 because the reality has come. 1334 01:07:17,759 --> 01:07:21,962 Brethren, the church - 1335 01:07:21,962 --> 01:07:24,978 the church is His body. 1336 01:07:24,978 --> 01:07:29,044 It's the fullness of Him who fills all in all. 1337 01:07:29,044 --> 01:07:30,670 He can look at the church - 1338 01:07:30,670 --> 01:07:34,500 this is the highest point of redemption. 1339 01:07:34,500 --> 01:07:37,930 This is the highest point of blessing 1340 01:07:37,930 --> 01:07:39,700 bestowed upon man 1341 01:07:39,700 --> 01:07:42,265 that we actually are His bride. 1342 01:07:42,265 --> 01:07:44,094 We actually are His body. 1343 01:07:44,094 --> 01:07:49,145 We actually are the fullness of Him. 1344 01:07:49,145 --> 01:07:53,198 Have you ever just stopped? 1345 01:07:53,198 --> 01:07:57,453 We are the fullness of Him 1346 01:07:57,453 --> 01:08:02,936 who fills all in all? 1347 01:08:02,936 --> 01:08:06,836 This is it. This is it. 1348 01:08:06,836 --> 01:08:13,061 This whole perversion 1349 01:08:13,061 --> 01:08:15,493 for you to tell me that in God's plan 1350 01:08:15,493 --> 01:08:17,989 there's going to be a reconstruction of a temple, 1351 01:08:17,989 --> 01:08:22,474 there's going to be a re-institution of the Levitical priesthood. 1352 01:08:22,474 --> 01:08:24,803 Does Hebrews not just blow that whole thing 1353 01:08:24,803 --> 01:08:27,033 right out of the water? 1354 01:08:27,033 --> 01:08:30,253 Hebrews is all about the Levitical priesthood 1355 01:08:30,253 --> 01:08:32,706 [no more]. 1356 01:08:32,706 --> 01:08:35,756 It needed a better priest. 1357 01:08:35,756 --> 01:08:38,802 Brethren, Hebrews 10:1, 1358 01:08:38,802 --> 01:08:41,391 "Since the law has but a shadow 1359 01:08:41,391 --> 01:08:42,873 of the good things to come, 1360 01:08:42,873 --> 01:08:45,049 instead of the true form of these realities, 1361 01:08:45,049 --> 01:08:47,074 it can never by the same sacrifices 1362 01:08:47,074 --> 01:08:49,060 that are continually offered every year 1363 01:08:49,060 --> 01:08:50,779 make perfect those who draw near." 1364 01:08:50,779 --> 01:08:52,334 It never made anything perfect. 1365 01:08:52,334 --> 01:08:53,713 Never made anything perfect. 1366 01:08:53,713 --> 01:08:58,182 But He has come now who does make perfect. 1367 01:08:58,182 --> 01:09:00,825 Will we reinstitute shadows that mean 1368 01:09:00,825 --> 01:09:04,010 we now need to look for something else? 1369 01:09:04,010 --> 01:09:06,460 That's what a shadow is. 1370 01:09:06,460 --> 01:09:08,502 If you just look at the basic intent 1371 01:09:08,502 --> 01:09:10,340 and definition of a shadow, 1372 01:09:10,340 --> 01:09:14,549 it should dispel. 1373 01:09:14,549 --> 01:09:17,040 I can remember as a new believer 1374 01:09:17,040 --> 01:09:20,635 even hearing that somebody 1375 01:09:20,635 --> 01:09:21,892 like J. Vernon McGee 1376 01:09:21,892 --> 01:09:24,086 or one of these Scofield-ites 1377 01:09:24,086 --> 01:09:26,480 was saying that they were going to 1378 01:09:26,480 --> 01:09:29,643 reestablish the Old Testament worship. 1379 01:09:29,643 --> 01:09:35,113 I didn't know a lot, but it made me 1380 01:09:35,113 --> 01:09:38,986 recoil with horror at such a thought. 1381 01:09:38,986 --> 01:09:41,377 Because I could see it even as a young believer. 1382 01:09:41,377 --> 01:09:45,674 That dishonors Christ. 1383 01:09:45,674 --> 01:09:48,776 Brethren, if that is not sufficient reason 1384 01:09:48,776 --> 01:09:52,997 to go to Scripture and to seek the truth 1385 01:09:52,997 --> 01:09:56,492 on this matter, I don't know what sufficient matters. 1386 01:09:56,492 --> 01:09:58,427 How we handle the Word, 1387 01:09:58,427 --> 01:10:03,408 not being disarmed of one of the basic hermeneutics, 1388 01:10:03,408 --> 01:10:08,979 owning every promise that God has given to us, 1389 01:10:08,979 --> 01:10:12,747 not losing the glory of Christ and the church. 1390 01:10:12,747 --> 01:10:14,121 We do not want to back down 1391 01:10:14,121 --> 01:10:17,038 to some shadows again. 1392 01:10:17,038 --> 01:10:19,042 Losing that missionary hope 1393 01:10:19,042 --> 01:10:22,092 of the binding of the devil. 1394 01:10:22,092 --> 01:10:24,780 Brethren, harmful errors. 1395 01:10:24,780 --> 01:10:26,625 I believe harmful. 1396 01:10:26,625 --> 01:10:29,135 The church's urgency is dulled. 1397 01:10:29,135 --> 01:10:31,478 We don't want that. 1398 01:10:31,478 --> 01:10:33,080 I want to set forth before you 1399 01:10:33,080 --> 01:10:34,269 in these weeks ahead 1400 01:10:34,269 --> 01:10:38,554 the biblical view of end times. 1401 01:10:38,554 --> 01:10:42,359 And I think you will find this. 1402 01:10:42,359 --> 01:10:49,268 It gives all the promises to us in Christ. 1403 01:10:49,268 --> 01:10:55,015 It demands urgency. 1404 01:10:55,015 --> 01:10:57,004 It will show us we need to interpret 1405 01:10:57,004 --> 01:10:59,729 everything in the Old by the New. 1406 01:10:59,729 --> 01:11:02,376 It will show us this is the missionary time. 1407 01:11:02,376 --> 01:11:05,119 This is the time of ingathering of the Gentiles. 1408 01:11:05,119 --> 01:11:07,783 It will show us that Jesus Christ 1409 01:11:07,783 --> 01:11:13,395 and the church is the fulfillment; 1410 01:11:13,395 --> 01:11:17,454 it is the culmination. 1411 01:11:17,454 --> 01:11:20,254 There's nothing higher. 1412 01:11:20,254 --> 01:11:33,789 Christ is all the glory of Immanuel's land. 1413 01:11:33,789 --> 01:11:38,224 I could just imagine a true Christian shedding tears. 1414 01:11:38,224 --> 01:11:46,578 Even if Israel at some point 1415 01:11:46,578 --> 01:11:51,192 rebuilds the temple, 1416 01:11:51,192 --> 01:11:53,607 the true Christian would lay those bricks 1417 01:11:53,607 --> 01:12:03,607 with tears as an affront to Christ. 1418 01:12:03,607 --> 01:12:06,080 They may do that, 1419 01:12:06,080 --> 01:12:07,691 but don't believe for a second 1420 01:12:07,691 --> 01:12:10,286 that it's got anything to do with God's plan - 1421 01:12:10,286 --> 01:12:11,863 not His redemptive plan. 1422 01:12:11,863 --> 01:12:14,097 It does not have to do with the fulfillment 1423 01:12:14,097 --> 01:12:16,545 of what these guys are talking about. 1424 01:12:16,545 --> 01:12:18,100 We're going to look at this. 1425 01:12:18,100 --> 01:12:19,467 We're going to look at this 1426 01:12:19,467 --> 01:12:22,334 because Scripture is not silent on these things. 1427 01:12:22,334 --> 01:12:29,367 Scripture has an enormous amount to say. 1428 01:12:29,367 --> 01:12:35,936 Father, I know that those of us here in this church 1429 01:12:35,936 --> 01:12:41,907 do not have a corner on the truth. 1430 01:12:41,907 --> 01:12:45,001 And I know that my brother John MacArthur 1431 01:12:45,001 --> 01:12:47,142 has been so instrumental in leading me 1432 01:12:47,142 --> 01:12:53,410 into so much truth. 1433 01:12:53,410 --> 01:12:57,861 Lord, we know that many that hold 1434 01:12:57,861 --> 01:12:59,391 to that way of thinking, 1435 01:12:59,391 --> 01:13:07,739 that mindset, they're Your children. 1436 01:13:07,739 --> 01:13:11,906 But Father, we pray for them. 1437 01:13:11,906 --> 01:13:14,246 We pray that You would lead them into truth. 1438 01:13:14,246 --> 01:13:17,617 We pray that You would lead us into truth. 1439 01:13:17,617 --> 01:13:19,725 Lord, may Your Word be a lamp 1440 01:13:19,725 --> 01:13:23,809 unto our feet in these days all our life; 1441 01:13:23,809 --> 01:13:26,639 in the days ahead and all the way to the end. 1442 01:13:26,639 --> 01:13:28,359 May You lead us in truth. 1443 01:13:28,359 --> 01:13:30,598 The Spirit who was sent 1444 01:13:30,598 --> 01:13:32,983 to guide us into all truth, 1445 01:13:32,983 --> 01:13:35,837 we pray that He would lead us into truth; 1446 01:13:35,837 --> 01:13:37,163 lead us into understanding, 1447 01:13:37,163 --> 01:13:40,016 rightly comprehending in the weeks ahead. 1448 01:13:40,016 --> 01:13:46,378 Lord, oh, if there's anything I can pray for, 1449 01:13:46,378 --> 01:13:51,540 I pray that this church would live and teach 1450 01:13:51,540 --> 01:13:54,339 unto the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1451 01:13:54,339 --> 01:13:56,841 And whatever we look at in the weeks ahead 1452 01:13:56,841 --> 01:13:58,425 we want it to be for His glory. 1453 01:13:58,425 --> 01:14:05,489 We want it to be for His sake. 1454 01:14:05,489 --> 01:14:08,365 Lord, in humility, we want to handle the Word. 1455 01:14:08,365 --> 01:14:14,654 We want to believe what the Word says. 1456 01:14:14,654 --> 01:14:17,199 Lord, we thank You that that One 1457 01:14:17,199 --> 01:14:20,704 who fulfills all the shadows has come. 1458 01:14:20,704 --> 01:14:22,858 Oh, we thank You that we don't have to live 1459 01:14:22,858 --> 01:14:25,043 under that Old Testament law. 1460 01:14:25,043 --> 01:14:27,080 That was a yoke about their neck 1461 01:14:27,080 --> 01:14:28,548 that none of them could bear. 1462 01:14:28,548 --> 01:14:31,080 Oh, Lord, we thank You we're not under 1463 01:14:31,080 --> 01:14:32,377 that dispensation. 1464 01:14:32,377 --> 01:14:34,492 We thank You that our Lord has come. 1465 01:14:34,492 --> 01:14:36,142 We thank You we've been set free. 1466 01:14:36,142 --> 01:14:37,916 We thank You that we have the light 1467 01:14:37,916 --> 01:14:39,350 of the New Testament now. 1468 01:14:39,350 --> 01:14:42,181 Lord, thank You that we live in such a time as this. 1469 01:14:42,181 --> 01:14:44,988 In such a time that You are harvesting the Gentiles, 1470 01:14:44,988 --> 01:14:46,414 and many of us in this room - 1471 01:14:46,414 --> 01:14:48,600 we are the Gentiles that Satan 1472 01:14:48,600 --> 01:14:50,821 has not been able to deceive. 1473 01:14:50,821 --> 01:14:55,439 His hand was held back and we were rescued. 1474 01:14:55,439 --> 01:14:58,474 And we have come to find rest and trust 1475 01:14:58,474 --> 01:15:00,920 in the bosom of Jesus Christ. 1476 01:15:00,920 --> 01:15:02,222 Oh Lord, thank You! 1477 01:15:02,222 --> 01:15:03,786 Thank You for this salvation. 1478 01:15:03,786 --> 01:15:05,402 Thank You for choosing us. 1479 01:15:05,402 --> 01:15:07,049 Thank You for rescuing us. 1480 01:15:07,049 --> 01:15:09,462 Thank You for all the glorious hope 1481 01:15:09,462 --> 01:15:11,953 and the promises that we have in Jesus Christ. 1482 01:15:11,953 --> 01:15:14,834 Thank You that You've made us full inclusion, 1483 01:15:14,834 --> 01:15:24,253 full sons, grafted in to the tree of Your people. 1484 01:15:24,253 --> 01:15:27,449 Made fellow citizens with the saints. 1485 01:15:27,449 --> 01:15:30,908 Members of the household of God. 1486 01:15:30,908 --> 01:15:34,365 In all ways, partakers of the covenants. 1487 01:15:34,365 --> 01:15:38,091 The covenants, the promises have become ours. 1488 01:15:38,091 --> 01:15:41,116 True offspring of Abraham. 1489 01:15:41,116 --> 01:15:46,730 All because of Christ. All because of Christ. 1490 01:15:46,730 --> 01:15:48,990 Lord, thank You our salvation 1491 01:15:48,990 --> 01:15:53,075 is abundantly great, abundantly glorious. 1492 01:15:53,075 --> 01:15:56,193 Salvation which is to the uttermost. 1493 01:15:56,193 --> 01:15:57,791 Thank You, Lord. 1494 01:15:57,791 --> 01:15:58,977 Thank You. 1495 01:15:58,977 --> 01:16:00,866 In Christ's name we thank You. 1496 01:16:00,866 --> 01:16:01,671 Amen.