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again it's a fairly lengthy passage but again I believe that believe that is a uh a section that is ought to be all looked at at the same
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time and for those of you who are visitors we're kind of plunging in in the middle of what is called the allette
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13 and you will be hated by all on account of my name but the one who endures to the end he shall be saved but when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be let the reader understand then let
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those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and let him who is on the housetop not go down or enter in to get anything out of his house and let him who is in the field not turn back to get
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his cloak but woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days but pray that it may not happen in the winter for those days will
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be a time time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of creation which God created until now and never shall and unless the Lord had
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shortened those days no life would have been saved but for the sake of the elect whom he chose he shortened the days and then if anyone says to you behold here
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is the Christ or behold here he is there do not believe him for false christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders in order if possible
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to lead the elect astray but take heed behold I have told you everything in advance let us
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pray father we we sang those words that we ought to be reminded of that all L and honor goes to you the
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father to the son to the Holy Spirit you are one in might and one in glory and we worship you and we know that your truth
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as Luther wrote in his hymn Your Truth abide is still and we ask father that your truth might be proclaimed this morning that by your Holy Spirit you
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might cause us to hear your word to understand and to walk in these things we ask in Christ's name
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amen it's interesting that in our Sunday school this morning Chuck mentioned some of the differences between us and and other churches where
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some preachers preach topically different topic week by week and some as we have uh opportunity to do here teach
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verse by verse through a book of the scriptures and that uh he was reading listening to the radio and the preacher got to a section where he did not want
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to preach from that and said uh I wouldn't touch that passage with a 10-ft pole and then proceeded to not as he said not touch it at all and skip that
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whole passage of scripture well for me this is one of those passages that I would I would rather um and I'm looking I don't see the 10-ft pole here so I've got to touch
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it more more closely I remember in seminary when we began to talk about uh eschatology the the end times and we had to read a a book about that thick on Revelation I I
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almost withdrew from the class because I in my early Christian experience everybody wanted to know what I thought about the end times and are you this and
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are you that and I had no idea what they were talking about and I was afraid of the scripture I was afraid to read Revelation until I actually sat down and said well I'm not going to read the book yet I'm going to read Revelation first
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and I and I find how much there is of the glory of the Lord and the joy and the glory of God in Saving
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man and yet here we have a difficult passage we have this phrase the abomination of desolation what in the world does that mean why is it why is it
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here it's in the section remember that the disciples have asked Jesus a question he he's told them to to you know you're you're looking at the temple and you're you're thinking how wonderful
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that Temple is and it was a marvelous building but he's saying that not one stone shall be left upon another but all will be torn down and
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the disciples immediately ask him tell us when will these things be and the second part of that question is what will be the sign of them what will be
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the th sign that these things are going to be fulfilled and I believe their question and there again this is The theologians Clash on this whether the
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disciples are thinking strictly now in terms of the destruction of the temple or are they looking at also what they feel is going to happen almost
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immediately afterwards the coming of of the Lord in glory I answer that by saying I believe this section that we have just read 14-
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23 is speaking of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and and and the sign announcing that that would happen but there there is when we read the synoptic
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gospels Matthew Mark and Luke they all have this narrative in it they have this preaching and teaching of Christ there
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but to a varying degree Matthew has lots of information he has his eight woes that are not in the others Mark here doesn't mention some
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things that Matthew and Luke do so in Matthew's gospel it seems to indicate the destruction of the temple and the coming of Christ will happen
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very closely in in time almost in immediate success immediate success ession but Jesus in other places speaks of this generation will not pass away
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they will be Witnesses of the destruction but it seems to indicate that the second coming of Christ will be much further away in
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time on the other hand we hear of the punishment by the Gentiles on the Jews the destruction and the coming of
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the Roman arm Army to Jerusalem in 66 through 70 through 70 AD followed closely by the Gentiles punishment by
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punishment by Jehovah so here we have this we're trying to look as some theologians picture we're looking at mountaintops but we don't know how close that other
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mountain is to the one that might be right in front of us are we is there a valley there is there something else between there
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and so I've had to decide what is the abomination of desolation but what is the time period
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what is Christ's meaning here well many look at this phrase in verse um 14 but when you see the abomination of desolation standing where
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it should not be many will take us back to Daniel 9: 27 where Daniel is speaking of a person
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he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering and on the wing of Abominations will come the one who makes
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desolate an Abomination is something which causes disgust or hatred and desolation is a state of complete destruction or an
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emptiness and emptiness and certainly when we look back at history we can see what what some would call a
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partial fulfillment in about 167 BC there was a man by the name of and I think it's how you pronounce it Antiochus epiphanies I
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fourth Epiphany is an appearing he called himself God manifest Antiochus Epiphany he wanted people to know that
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he had he had come and he set up an altar to Zeus in the Holy place so we look at this passage and we see where it should
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not stand or where he should not stand the holy place he came in and he set up the altar in the Holy place and what did he
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sacrifice and make the Jews sacrifice on altar pigs they're forbidden to eat pork but he made them sacrifice pigs and forced
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some of them to eat pork to sacrifice to Idols he sold many into slavery and he
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slaughtered many many Jews but is that what Jesus is referring to here that was 167 BC we're now in
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about ad30 it's happened 2 Century BC many years before could that be that Jesus didn't understand history I I I don't
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think so to understand what the gospels teach here I think we have to go to Luke's account in Luke 21 he says but when you
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you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies then recognize that her desolation is near see he he tells us that it was the Roman armies who came in
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ad. 66 to 70 encamped around Jerusalem and began a Siege in that Siege the historians tell
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us 1 million Jews perished 97,000 approximately were sent captive in Egypt to Egypt and other
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provinces Luke speaks of them being trampled underfoot of being trotten down literally they were taken by
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possession but that word in the Greek is a stronger meaning not only are you now captive but it has the idea of the
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oppression and the contempt for for the Jews that were captured it was a terrible and utterly profane
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thing that the Romans did sending in what amounted to Terrace to Terrace to Israel profaning God's Temple and the
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holy place holy place again and again and certainly we think of the word desolate the destruction but to me the definition that I found of
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emptiness there there was nothing left in the in the temple they had wiped it all out they had taken had taken everything but to me the emptiness was
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there were no worshippers there it was made desolate so to me it seems as if we we see in history and the warning of of
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Jesus up in the previous verses that we talked about last week be be on your guard nation's going to rise against Nation a and Kings against Kings and yet
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this is not the end this is just the birth pangs and to me the abomination of desolation at this time in Jerusalem is one of the birth
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pangs of judgment it's a Prelude we might even think of it as a type that just as the first fruits of a
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harvest tell you that something more is coming what we see here and what he's preparing them for here it it is a
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protracted time as we'll find out by the grace of God shortened for a time but to me it
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inaugurates and is a foreshadowing of what is to come for years Luke says that this state of things will last until quote the times
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of the Gentiles end that period when God by his grace called the called the Gentiles who were before this time
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complete strangers to the kingdom of God and God begins to call them in graft them in to his kingdom so when I read these words it's
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in parentheses in my version Let the reader understand I don't know that we can comprehend all of what
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Daniel has said but I think the warning is or the exhortation is look and see there is something new
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and something terrible in the meaning to the words of Daniel there is something that is coming and that will be for a time that we will shake you that will
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cause you to perhaps doubt that will cause you to wonder what is going on it will surprise and startle you and yet the end is not
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yet and I am in control because he gives them the means here of Escape he he tells them and let him who is on or let those who are in
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Judea flee to the mountains and let him who is on the housetop not go down and enter in or get anything out of the house let him who was in the field not turn back to get his cloak there's
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there's a graciousness to God's method here flee to the mountains and the historians tell us that that many of the Christians in in the
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fledgling Church did exactly that they fled North and went across the Jordan to the region of peria and settled many of them in a city called or a region called Pella
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over on the other side of the Jordan just south of the Sea of Galilee and what we find here is that certain circumstances were told to
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flee and in other circumstances were told to stand firm and we see that in the scripture we we see is it is it Hezekiah he was being
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the armies of sakar were coming and he told his people it is God who will fight for us and then he prepared his army he he he was prepared to stand but he was also
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prepared to do whatever he needed to do Paul he tells us in in Acts chapter 21 when he was being arrested and he was
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being hauled away he said no listen to me I'm going to make my stand I'm going to defend myself and he began to tell them who he
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was but in 2 Corinthians 11 when he was being chased as he says by the ethnarch of Damascus what did he allow himself to do they put him in a
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basket and the they lowered him through a window in the wall so that he could escape the
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king there are times when we stand against evil and there are times when we fly from danger and I think here again to me this is an instance this is a this this is a foreshadowing this is a
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Prelude to other things that are to come and he's telling them use the means that God provides es but all the while
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remembering is God who does them and so our blessing is to God we bless him because he has provided these things sometimes we can be very
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foolish and not use even common sense you you've heard the old joke about the family who was you know they looked outside their torrential rains and it's
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starting to flood so they moved up into their second story of their house their neighbors came by in a rowboat and said hey you know we can rescue you and they said no we're waiting on the Lord and then the flood got higher and
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they had to move on to the roof and the rescue helicopter came and dropped the ladder down and said hop on and they said no we're waiting on God to
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provide and then the flood came over the roof of the house and they started shaking their fist to God why are you not helping us well I sent you a rowo and you rejected I sent you a help
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helicopter and you rejected it there there are there are we can be foolish as Christians I guess is what I want to
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say God will provide the means and we must use common sense we must use Faith yes and there are times when he will use other people and sometimes we again I think as American
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Christians we are very independent and God will send people to help us and we will not listen thinking no I got to figure this out on my
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own but God Jesus instructions here tell us that this was a very great and tragic Calamity that was about to come he says if you're on the housetop and remember they had those Flatt top roofs and
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sometimes the roofs were just side by side so you could Escape by going on other rooftops and most of them had outdoor stairs and they would he he told
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them don't think this way as many of us would if your house is on fire what do you think I'm going to go in and get all my valuables and he's saying no don't even go downstairs Escape while you can
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it's not worth it and if you're out in the field you have your outer cloak and you leave it and now you're on the other side of the field plowing and you see the armies Gathering don't run across
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the field or don't go back to your house to get your outer cloak it's not worth it you have a chance to escape take it but I think again we see the
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compassion of Jesus for people when he writes but woe to those who are with child and those who nurse babes in those
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days think about it those who are with child difficulty traveling very traveling very quickly those who are nursing you can't
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leave your children behind but they can't travel as fast as you can and he says pray pray that it would not be in Winter and I don't know much
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about Judean Winters but I'm told that they're cold and very very rainy and you says pray that it would not be in that time because you won't be
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able to travel fast enough to escape the armies that are besing
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Jerusalem but Jesus has compassion for the elect for his own in verse 20 we are told or verse 19 we're told of the extraordinary evil of the time for those
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days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now and never shall
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that's quite a statement the historian Josephus wrote that there was no greater amount of human suffering from physical and moral
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causes in so short a time in so confined a space as in the last Siege of Jerusalem by
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Jerusalem by Titus this distress was too much for humans to endure both bodily and emotionally that nobody and that's literally what it
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says no life meaning nobody could endure no one could be saved not salvation from
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sin but saved physically you would die without the intervention of God to shorten the days the days were still 24
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hours but he shortened the time over which it took place literally it means to cut off as in amputation if God had not cut off that time and made it
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shorter no one would have survived it indicates the severity of the war but it also indicates the Frailty
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and the weakness of human flesh and God knows our weakness God knows that we are flesh
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and again history indicates that many of the Christians fled and they found refuge in the mountains and in the region across the Jordan but many
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of the Jews did not arrogantly assuming again well God will provide he'll figure something out we will be saved and they became victims and captives and many
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were forced to worship idols one theologian has said the Jews would have committed self Annihilation
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had not God shortened the days we read in Romans 910 and 11 I believe there will be a day a time when God deals with the Jews
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again but the Jews as a as a people could have been wiped out during that Siege of ad70 they could have been no more but by
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God's hand the Jews were kept from kept from Annihilation they were kept I believe
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for distinction and we can read in history how that happened and and we think of it well these were coincidences but again it's God in control God shortening the
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days I'm told that the emperor had ordered King Agrippa to stop strengthening the the walls of Jerusalem
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that that he was Shoring it up for Invasion and the emperor told him to to stop so it was weaker than it would have been when Emperor Titus showed up it was
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a surprise to everyone when he came and the Jews as I've said pre neglected to prepare for a long
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Siege in fact I told that Titus said God must hate the Jews because there's no way our armies and our Siege engines would have gotten
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into that into that City and City and unless he had made it so for us but for the sake of the elect Jesus
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says for the sake of the elect God delivered his chosen ones from destruction it refers not only to the elect in general but a
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testament to God God's providential power the Jews were saved many of them as the commentator Linsky says quote
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miraculously marked for all time by a Divine attestation for all the elect he had his people and he made a way he shortened the time he made it so that
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they would survive as a nation God has his elect people they are his chosen from before the world was formed we're told in the
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scriptures they have great privileges we have great privileges they're big long 25 cent words but without his election we would
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not be justified we would not be Sanctified we would not be glorified we have been saved we've been adopted as children of God that's a
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ction we've been given an eternal reward we've been given a name that other people do not have we are called the bride of Christ we are called the body
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of Christ we are called as our brother said this morning we are called The Beloved of
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Christ yet the Deep mystery of election comes with responsibility and accountability and I understand why those who believe that there is no such thing as election say this oh you're
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just going to rest on that you're you're you're you're you're just going to rot away because you you don't do anything and the scriptures teach us no the Bible calls men to repent and
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believe the believe the gospel that's not a works that's God drawing people to himself and causing people to repent and
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call upon his name we're called to seek God where he may be found we're called to pray we're called to strive to enter into his rest we're
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called to called to labor and we're going to see that labor at the end of the olette discourse we are to cease from Evil to
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learn righteousness flee sin and draw near to near to God that is the work that is the accountability and responsibility of the
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Jesus ends this section by repeating a warning that he has already given them before in verse 20 and he says and then if someone says to you behold here is the Christ or
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behold he is there do not believe him for false christs and false prophets will arise we've already seen something of that do not be deceived he says look
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look look Heed These Things take heed look around you see what's happening these false christs these false Messiahs they will appear and notice
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it's what we Sayang Luther's hymn this morning the the Enemy what is it his his might and power are are are great he his
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design to deceive even the elect is powerful he says they will have signs and wonders they'll do Miracles and and we've seen that in the scripture haven't we not when when Moses had to meet the
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the men of pharaoh they were doing all these miraculous these miraculous things even though it was they were not led by led by God and what he's saying that you'll see
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that and they'll shown be shown to be real and they'll be exhibiting things that promise the truth
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but these Miracles I think he says will not be enough to prove that they are truth but they will be very very seductive do not be drawn in Satan does
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use lying wonders to make men think they're seeing genuine Miracles what does he want to do he wants to lead Believers astray he wants
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to get them away from their faith away from their Church away from the
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Lord but Jesus I think there's Assurance in here in verse 22 many false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders in order if
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possible to lead the elect astray I look at that and go as if it were possible for anyone to snatch you out of Christ
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hand see I I don't think he's saying it's possible to be led astray to a True Believer if you are in Christ it will be impossible to lead you astray and
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yet there will be Temptations because it will be very very attractive and Believers are not spared
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from that temptation just because God has made this decree just because you know it's only as someone had prayed
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this morning it's only by the grace of God and his power of Grace that we are able to stand and not be misled the the dangers will be
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there Paul explains this in 2 Thessalon uh Thessalonians 2 listen again he's talking about the man
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of lawlessness the abomination of desolation whether it be a a what or or a who I don't know but here he puts it in personal terms he says no one is to
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deceive you in any way for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of Destruction who opposes and
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exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as God does that not sound like
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a man like Antiochus epiphanies God epiphanies God manifest someone pretending to be him and what he is saying here is I am
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warning you verse 23 but take heed behold I have told you everything in advance the dangers will be
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there but still our responsibility is to take heed he uses the word see look at it understand what they're saying be on
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your guard that you are not misled and the emphasis here is on the you it's as if he says but you you take heed you Disciples of mine you elect of
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mine you children of mine take heed my warning is meant for you he has forewarned you of everything so there is no excuse for being
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misled these are scary words these are powerful words but as I wrote in your news and notes the quote from G Campbell Morgan
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as he says everything in this world the wars that we hear about the Wess
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the just stupidity of people sometimes and the wonderment of what in the world is our government doing he says they can startle me and
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they can surprise me but nothing startles or surprises our God let us
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these words we ask again that you would teach us that you would help us to study these things help us to ponder them meditate upon them that we might understand we
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might have that heart of wisdom we might have that that joy and peace in believing and we ask father that you would continue to build your church and
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make her that beautiful bride that you call us in Christ's name we pray amen please rise for the benediction from Romans chapter
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15 now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in Hope by the power of the holy spirit amen
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amen please uh join us outside for the uh the baptism as we
