1 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:09,820 Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2 00:00:09,820 --> 00:00:14,160 with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:22,899 Today, part two of My People Perish for a Lack of Knowledge from Hosea 4, verse 6. 4 00:00:23,379 --> 00:00:28,719 Often cited, My People Perish for a Lack of Knowledge and what that means for America. 5 00:00:28,719 --> 00:00:38,979 America, you remember hearing this verse and how often it's used by speakers of various stripes to add authority to the kind of knowledge they think Americans should be apprised of, right? 6 00:00:39,859 --> 00:00:43,439 If it's a radio talk show host, America perishes because they don't listen to his knowledge. 7 00:00:43,619 --> 00:00:47,119 If it's a politician, America perishes because they don't follow his policies. 8 00:00:47,799 --> 00:00:55,920 If it's a radio preacher, oh, like me, America perishes because we do not follow my knowledge, my understanding of the Bible, right? 9 00:00:56,020 --> 00:00:56,939 And on and on we could go. 10 00:00:56,939 --> 00:01:03,179 But we also looked at this verse, Hosea 4, 6, in its context. 11 00:01:03,899 --> 00:01:11,319 And lo and behold, the knowledge spoken of there by Hosea was not a bare apprehension of certain pertinent facts, 12 00:01:11,359 --> 00:01:18,719 like you need X, Y, Z calories every day to function, or pertinent fact that the United States is a republic and not a democracy, 13 00:01:18,879 --> 00:01:23,159 or pertinent fact that ISIS was funded and armed by our own State Department, right? 14 00:01:23,159 --> 00:01:28,620 All these are pertinent facts, but America does not perish for a lack of this kind of knowledge. 15 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:33,939 In the first place, that is primarily as a matter of the greatest importance, 16 00:01:34,819 --> 00:01:40,819 the knowledge of which Hosea speaks, for the lack of which the people perish, is the knowledge of God. 17 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:41,780 We saw this. 18 00:01:42,620 --> 00:01:44,900 Hosea, in his first verse of this chapter, says, 19 00:01:44,900 --> 00:01:48,260 The Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. 20 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:54,120 There is no faithfulness or steadfast love and no knowledge of God in the land. 21 00:01:54,379 --> 00:01:56,459 Ah, no knowledge of God in the land. 22 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,760 This is the knowledge for the lack of which the people perish. 23 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:05,620 Even this knowledge is far more than we might first suspect we saw, right? 24 00:02:05,620 --> 00:02:14,340 That is, it's not a bare fact about God, like he really does exist, or he created the world, or God is closer to us than we know. 25 00:02:14,439 --> 00:02:15,819 All of these facts are true. 26 00:02:16,060 --> 00:02:21,180 But when the Hebrew of Hosea's day heard this phrase, the knowledge of God, 27 00:02:21,580 --> 00:02:26,120 he understood it to be the deep, personal, and intimate knowing of a person. 28 00:02:26,580 --> 00:02:29,259 That is the person, the living God of the Bible. 29 00:02:30,039 --> 00:02:32,479 We saw this idea of knowledge all through the Bible. 30 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:34,599 Husbands and wives know each other. 31 00:02:34,599 --> 00:02:37,159 God knew Israel in the wilderness. 32 00:02:37,319 --> 00:02:41,520 That is, he knew her so as to love her and save, protect, feed, and shepherd her. 33 00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:44,439 Negatively also, we saw that Jesus says, 34 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,439 I never knew you to those he casts out on the last day. 35 00:02:48,539 --> 00:02:52,379 The knowledge of God in the Bible is deep, personal, and intimate. 36 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:59,400 To know in the Bible is to love so as to act in deep, personal, and intimate ways. 37 00:02:59,580 --> 00:03:00,500 Let me say that again. 38 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:07,020 To know in the Bible is to love so as to act in deep, personal, and intimate ways. 39 00:03:07,819 --> 00:03:12,060 To know does so out of covenantal faithfulness and obedience, too. 40 00:03:12,199 --> 00:03:15,180 These are not mutually exclusive concepts. 41 00:03:16,219 --> 00:03:16,500 No. 42 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:24,229 Now, this is the knowledge that America lacks, too, I submit to you. 43 00:03:24,310 --> 00:03:25,789 The knowledge that America lacks. 44 00:03:25,949 --> 00:03:27,110 The knowledge of the Lord. 45 00:03:27,870 --> 00:03:32,210 So when I use this verse, my people perish for a lack of knowledge, this is what I mean. 46 00:03:32,689 --> 00:03:34,810 This is the prior to all knowledge. 47 00:03:34,909 --> 00:03:38,430 It is the kind of knowledge that politicians, statesmen, preachers, and commentators should 48 00:03:38,430 --> 00:03:40,069 have in mind when they use these words. 49 00:03:40,409 --> 00:03:42,310 My people perish for a lack of knowledge. 50 00:03:42,530 --> 00:03:45,810 We perish for a lack of knowledge of the Lord in the United States. 51 00:03:45,810 --> 00:03:50,770 It is the kind of knowledge that used to suffuse the hearts and minds of Americans, so much 52 00:03:50,770 --> 00:03:55,250 so that we even called ourselves a Christian nation. 53 00:03:55,490 --> 00:04:01,569 Now, I rehearsed this faithfully for you last week, but we also saw that there was cause for 54 00:04:01,569 --> 00:04:02,669 this lack of knowledge, too. 55 00:04:02,789 --> 00:04:03,870 There's a reason for it. 56 00:04:04,949 --> 00:04:08,490 Hosea says, the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, all right. 57 00:04:08,789 --> 00:04:13,069 But he goes on to say, yet let no one contend and let no one accuse, for it with you is 58 00:04:13,069 --> 00:04:14,650 my contention, O priest. 59 00:04:15,090 --> 00:04:20,290 Oh, it was the priest of Israel, the preachers and teachers of the land, who utterly failed 60 00:04:20,290 --> 00:04:24,509 to teach, exhort, inculcate, exemplify, to preach the knowledge of God. 61 00:04:24,509 --> 00:04:30,990 The priest pastors of Hosea's day neglected their teaching, knowing function, because they 62 00:04:30,990 --> 00:04:34,509 were too busy satisfying their appetites at the expense of the people. 63 00:04:35,110 --> 00:04:37,750 Hosea said, they feed on the sin of my people. 64 00:04:37,750 --> 00:04:40,350 They are greedy for their iniquity, unquote. 65 00:04:41,290 --> 00:04:46,970 By this time, the people of Israel had lapsed into idolatry and all of the corruption and 66 00:04:46,970 --> 00:04:48,569 debauchery that this entails. 67 00:04:49,250 --> 00:04:53,970 And Hosea says that the priests saw it, and they were hungry and greedy for that corruption 68 00:04:53,970 --> 00:04:55,050 and debauchery, too. 69 00:04:55,509 --> 00:05:00,649 The feasting and football, the fame and fortune, the priests pursued as eagerly as the people. 70 00:05:01,550 --> 00:05:02,110 What then? 71 00:05:02,209 --> 00:05:03,810 Was God's judgment against these pastors? 72 00:05:03,810 --> 00:05:06,589 He says, it shall be like people, like priests. 73 00:05:07,329 --> 00:05:10,589 I shall punish them for their ways, and I will repay them for their deeds. 74 00:05:10,810 --> 00:05:12,410 Oh, like people, like priests. 75 00:05:12,449 --> 00:05:13,769 It should be the other way around. 76 00:05:14,209 --> 00:05:15,550 Like priests, like people. 77 00:05:15,670 --> 00:05:19,370 But no, the priests were hungry for the sin of the people. 78 00:05:20,189 --> 00:05:27,209 And I also confessed to you last week, my own mea culpa, that this is on us, O pastor in 79 00:05:27,209 --> 00:05:28,029 the United States. 80 00:05:28,569 --> 00:05:31,730 We are the priests today, of whom Hosea spoke yesterday. 81 00:05:31,730 --> 00:05:38,009 We cannot self-righteously wag our finger at the American people, can we, saying, bad 82 00:05:38,009 --> 00:05:43,250 dog, that you people are to reform while we primp and preen in our pulpits. 83 00:05:43,370 --> 00:05:45,529 No, God's contention is with us. 84 00:05:46,009 --> 00:05:51,129 We must be preaching the knowledge of God in its fullness and exemplifying it in our lives 85 00:05:51,129 --> 00:05:51,589 as well. 86 00:05:52,089 --> 00:05:54,910 So, I don't know about you, but I got a lot of work to do. 87 00:05:55,730 --> 00:06:00,610 What we must also come to understand is that there will be consequences for not knowing God. 88 00:06:00,610 --> 00:06:04,290 There is always consequences for the lack of the knowledge of God. 89 00:06:04,569 --> 00:06:08,850 There's a trait in human nature, isn't there, that ignores what may be inconvenience to 90 00:06:08,850 --> 00:06:14,269 us, overlooks that which may demand that we change, deliberately passes by that which 91 00:06:14,269 --> 00:06:15,149 may cause pain. 92 00:06:15,670 --> 00:06:20,470 We become sublime in our ignorance, delighted in our blindness, and content in our deafness. 93 00:06:20,629 --> 00:06:22,490 It's called willful ignorance. 94 00:06:23,449 --> 00:06:28,050 Willful ignorance is America's state of its union to God these days. 95 00:06:28,050 --> 00:06:31,029 What happens to such a people, though? 96 00:06:31,870 --> 00:06:37,009 Well, I submit to you, God judges an obstinate people by confirming them in their ignorance. 97 00:06:37,189 --> 00:06:38,290 This is how God works. 98 00:06:39,209 --> 00:06:43,370 He judges an obstinate people by confirming them in their ignorance. 99 00:06:43,529 --> 00:06:47,389 And as we speak, the United States is being confirmed in her ignorance. 100 00:06:48,230 --> 00:06:51,430 And no book of the Bible exemplifies this truth better than Isaiah. 101 00:06:52,050 --> 00:06:54,350 Isaiah was called as a preacher to convert. 102 00:06:54,350 --> 00:06:56,009 To convert how many? 103 00:06:56,129 --> 00:06:56,750 The whole nation? 104 00:06:57,610 --> 00:06:58,990 Well, maybe half of them. 105 00:06:59,430 --> 00:07:00,569 How about a small remnant? 106 00:07:01,310 --> 00:07:04,449 No, Isaiah was called to convert none. 107 00:07:05,730 --> 00:07:08,649 Isaiah was called to confirm Judah in her ignorance. 108 00:07:09,370 --> 00:07:12,209 Oh, what a dire ministry. 109 00:07:13,290 --> 00:07:18,910 By the time of Isaiah's ministry, Judah had for centuries been willfully ignorant of her God. 110 00:07:18,910 --> 00:07:25,790 For generations, God had sent his prophets to call the people to repentance, to the knowledge of God, even as Hosea had. 111 00:07:26,449 --> 00:07:31,290 For generations, he had held out his hand to a stubborn and rebellious people, as the prophets say. 112 00:07:31,629 --> 00:07:32,990 But alas, they would not listen. 113 00:07:34,610 --> 00:07:38,490 They, Judah, was sublime in her ignorance. 114 00:07:38,769 --> 00:07:40,250 She delighted in her blindness. 115 00:07:40,689 --> 00:07:42,410 She was content in her deafness. 116 00:07:43,189 --> 00:07:44,870 Judah was willfully ignorant. 117 00:07:44,870 --> 00:07:50,209 And therefore, God sent this prophet, Isaiah, to confirm them in that ignorance. 118 00:07:50,829 --> 00:07:53,009 At Isaiah's commissioning, God says, 119 00:07:53,329 --> 00:07:54,410 Go and say to this people, 120 00:07:54,649 --> 00:07:56,250 Keep on hearing, but do not understand. 121 00:07:56,689 --> 00:07:58,589 Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. 122 00:07:59,290 --> 00:08:05,310 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes, Isaiah. 123 00:08:05,990 --> 00:08:11,949 Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. 124 00:08:11,949 --> 00:08:12,589 Unquote. 125 00:08:13,089 --> 00:08:17,689 God was no longer to heal them, but to judge them. 126 00:08:18,370 --> 00:08:23,529 By this time, God had decided to judge Judah, and nothing was going to stand in his way. 127 00:08:23,930 --> 00:08:24,410 Right? 128 00:08:24,930 --> 00:08:27,970 This is a fearful thing to comprehend about God. 129 00:08:28,529 --> 00:08:33,590 It doesn't fit that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, of our popular evangelism. 130 00:08:34,129 --> 00:08:38,250 People who feel that we are all children of God recoil from the God of Isaiah. 131 00:08:38,250 --> 00:08:45,470 People who secretly tell themselves, I can always go back to God, His door is always open, and thus continue in their sin. 132 00:08:45,789 --> 00:08:48,570 These fail to see the God of the whole Bible. 133 00:08:49,470 --> 00:08:50,690 God does close His door. 134 00:08:51,289 --> 00:08:53,429 Not all children are children of God. 135 00:08:53,889 --> 00:08:56,669 God does not have a wonderful plan for everyone's life. 136 00:08:57,350 --> 00:09:02,250 Such people are willfully ignorant, and God confirms such ones in their ignorance. 137 00:09:03,509 --> 00:09:06,009 Americans are at this very crossroads, dear listener. 138 00:09:06,009 --> 00:09:10,730 Remember, we are being confirmed in our ignorance, that is, our ignorance of God. 139 00:09:11,330 --> 00:09:14,990 My people perish for a lack of knowledge, that is, the knowledge of God. 140 00:09:15,710 --> 00:09:18,590 No one does this better than the false prophets of God either. 141 00:09:18,850 --> 00:09:22,169 That is, the ones who tell us there's peace, peace when there is no peace. 142 00:09:22,870 --> 00:09:27,149 The ones who tell us America will be delivered when God has decided on enslavement. 143 00:09:27,950 --> 00:09:33,809 Those who tell you, you can't do anything to improve the world, we'll be raptured out of all this pretty soon anyway. 144 00:09:33,809 --> 00:09:35,669 Ah, these are false prophets. 145 00:09:36,350 --> 00:09:43,950 These are the kinds of lying spirits that God sends to confirm a people in their ignorance in preparation for judgment. 146 00:09:44,669 --> 00:09:48,549 For example, when God wanted to judge King Ahab, He asked, 147 00:09:48,730 --> 00:09:51,850 Who will entice Ahab that he may go and fall at Ramoth Gilead? 148 00:09:52,389 --> 00:09:54,070 Well, a spirit comes forward and says, 149 00:09:54,169 --> 00:09:58,190 I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets, unquote. 150 00:09:58,190 --> 00:10:00,809 And then in Ezekiel, he says, 151 00:10:00,950 --> 00:10:06,309 If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived the prophet. 152 00:10:07,230 --> 00:10:10,750 When God decides to judge, when his patience has run out, 153 00:10:11,009 --> 00:10:14,370 he sends lying, deceiving prophets and spirits. 154 00:10:14,990 --> 00:10:18,409 The Bible is clear that God is of such a character 155 00:10:18,409 --> 00:10:21,769 that when a people persist in their ignorance long enough, 156 00:10:21,769 --> 00:10:26,330 He will send his own prophets like Isaiah to make the heart of this people dull 157 00:10:26,330 --> 00:10:28,909 and their ears heavy and blind their eyes, 158 00:10:29,049 --> 00:10:31,690 lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears 159 00:10:31,690 --> 00:10:35,570 and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed, unquote. 160 00:10:36,190 --> 00:10:39,230 He will also confirm these people in their ignorance 161 00:10:39,230 --> 00:10:42,190 by sending a lying spirit in the mouths of false prophets 162 00:10:42,190 --> 00:10:46,570 who may sincerely believe they speak the word of the Lord when they do not. 163 00:10:47,490 --> 00:10:50,269 God's patience is not perpetual, dear listener. 164 00:10:50,269 --> 00:10:52,950 God's patience is not perpetual. 165 00:10:53,850 --> 00:10:56,490 The Bible is clear that at a time of his own choosing, 166 00:10:57,129 --> 00:10:58,970 in the counsel of his own will, 167 00:10:59,610 --> 00:11:02,889 God will judge a people and nothing will stay his hand. 168 00:11:03,690 --> 00:11:05,690 In that day, there will be no mercy. 169 00:11:06,370 --> 00:11:09,769 In that day, there will be no cry of repentance that will be heard. 170 00:11:10,570 --> 00:11:12,850 Jeremiah says this regarding Judah, 171 00:11:13,669 --> 00:11:17,269 Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. 172 00:11:17,750 --> 00:11:19,889 Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. 173 00:11:20,269 --> 00:11:21,990 Therefore, he tells Jeremiah, 174 00:11:22,350 --> 00:11:27,509 Do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, 175 00:11:27,690 --> 00:11:33,029 for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble, unquote. 176 00:11:33,370 --> 00:11:34,190 Ominous words. 177 00:11:35,110 --> 00:11:37,110 Is America at this juncture, dear listener? 178 00:11:37,490 --> 00:11:40,950 Has God decreed destruction for us? 179 00:11:41,409 --> 00:11:44,429 Has God decreed destruction for us? 180 00:11:44,429 --> 00:11:48,610 Will no cry for mercy be heard by him, even if we were to offer it? 181 00:11:49,070 --> 00:11:53,169 Will no petition of repentance be accepted, even if we were to submit one? 182 00:11:53,809 --> 00:12:00,529 Are we at the point in God's dealings with us that it is no longer salutary to pray for the United States? 183 00:12:00,529 --> 00:12:05,190 Yes, the Bible is clear that nations and peoples do come to this point. 184 00:12:06,490 --> 00:12:11,190 Oh, dear listener, if God would only admit me to the counsel of his will, 185 00:12:11,610 --> 00:12:15,129 then I can tell you to what point the fuse of his patience has burned 186 00:12:15,129 --> 00:12:19,929 and whether the powder keg of his wrath is about to explode over the United States. 187 00:12:19,929 --> 00:12:26,210 But alas, God has not consulted me, nor has he shown me the mystery of his will, 188 00:12:26,289 --> 00:12:27,409 nor do I expect him to. 189 00:12:28,409 --> 00:12:30,309 Moses said this about the will of God. 190 00:12:30,389 --> 00:12:30,629 He says, 191 00:12:30,730 --> 00:12:33,009 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, 192 00:12:33,309 --> 00:12:38,389 but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, 193 00:12:38,570 --> 00:12:40,850 that we may do all the words of this law. 194 00:12:41,190 --> 00:12:44,110 Oh, dear listener, the measure of God's patience 195 00:12:44,110 --> 00:12:48,129 and the day of his wrath are two of those secret things. 196 00:12:48,129 --> 00:12:52,570 But the things revealed to us, we have already touched upon. 197 00:12:52,690 --> 00:12:56,370 That is, though at present my people perish for a lack of knowledge, we do not have to. 198 00:12:56,590 --> 00:12:59,549 We can know the living God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 199 00:13:00,230 --> 00:13:04,309 We also know that God's controversy is with us, oh, pastor, preacher. 200 00:13:05,269 --> 00:13:10,090 Unless and until we as pastors preach the knowledge of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 201 00:13:10,090 --> 00:13:13,029 and we do it for and as a nation, 202 00:13:13,309 --> 00:13:15,370 and not just in the four walls of our churches, 203 00:13:15,370 --> 00:13:20,409 we will perish for a lack of knowledge right now. 204 00:13:21,070 --> 00:13:25,490 Our people, dear listener, right now, our people, dear pastor, 205 00:13:26,389 --> 00:13:28,230 perish for a lack of knowledge. 206 00:13:28,889 --> 00:13:33,429 We are wandering around in the wilderness of our civil society like sheep without a shepherd. 207 00:13:34,429 --> 00:13:36,009 It has not always been the case, has it? 208 00:13:36,190 --> 00:13:38,669 The history of this nation, you have the church through the centuries, 209 00:13:38,809 --> 00:13:42,970 is that the church has always been a prophetic voice to its ruling magistrates. 210 00:13:42,970 --> 00:13:48,610 That is, it has been faithful to the civil covenant in seeking justice and only justice. 211 00:13:49,169 --> 00:13:53,950 For example, St. John Chrysostom preached against the injustices of Queen Eudoxia, 212 00:13:54,350 --> 00:13:56,330 and he was persecuted severely for it. 213 00:13:56,570 --> 00:14:01,230 John Knox preached against the injustices of Bloody Mary, and he preached to her face. 214 00:14:01,309 --> 00:14:05,090 It so stunned her that she fell into silence for a full 15 minutes. 215 00:14:05,149 --> 00:14:05,950 She couldn't even respond. 216 00:14:06,049 --> 00:14:08,370 She'd never been spoken to so frankly before, 217 00:14:08,370 --> 00:14:11,870 but nevertheless, John Knox was thrown into prison for it. 218 00:14:12,789 --> 00:14:14,990 Preachers in the colonies, too, in our own history, 219 00:14:15,350 --> 00:14:19,629 preachers in the colonies spoke relentlessly against the injustices of King George 220 00:14:19,629 --> 00:14:23,090 and his parliament against the American colonies, 221 00:14:23,169 --> 00:14:25,830 made the hanging list of General Cornwallis, too. 222 00:14:26,690 --> 00:14:28,149 On and on we could go. 223 00:14:28,710 --> 00:14:31,929 The Bible and church history are filled with examples of those 224 00:14:31,929 --> 00:14:37,029 knowledgeable of and faithful to their covenants, the civil covenants. 225 00:14:37,970 --> 00:14:42,370 Brother preacher, if we do not shake off these false notions of pacifism 226 00:14:42,370 --> 00:14:46,669 and compartmentalization of the gospel, 227 00:14:47,169 --> 00:14:49,289 we compartmentalize the gospel when we say, 228 00:14:49,690 --> 00:14:53,549 we must not soil the garments of the gospel with culture, society, and government. 229 00:14:53,870 --> 00:14:56,190 We compartmentalize the gospel when we say, 230 00:14:56,269 --> 00:14:58,029 the world's going to hell in a handbasket, 231 00:14:58,289 --> 00:14:59,889 and we can't do anything about it. 232 00:14:59,929 --> 00:15:01,129 Just wait for the rapture. 233 00:15:01,129 --> 00:15:04,169 Oh, unless we jettison these false notions, 234 00:15:04,350 --> 00:15:08,710 then my people will continue to perish for a lack of knowledge, 235 00:15:09,110 --> 00:15:10,210 the knowledge of God. 236 00:15:10,490 --> 00:15:15,110 And, dear pastor, God's contention will continue to be with us. 237 00:15:15,889 --> 00:15:18,789 Dear pastor, in order to be faithful to our charge, 238 00:15:18,929 --> 00:15:20,149 we must do several things. 239 00:15:20,649 --> 00:15:23,389 Number one, we must fully awaken the people. 240 00:15:23,929 --> 00:15:26,730 Number one, we must fully awaken the people. 241 00:15:27,289 --> 00:15:30,210 We are right to call people to repentance and salvation in Christ. 242 00:15:30,210 --> 00:15:33,710 As Paul says, awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, 243 00:15:33,990 --> 00:15:35,669 and Christ will shine on you. 244 00:15:36,210 --> 00:15:39,549 Oh, this is indeed salvation, repentance and salvation in Christ. 245 00:15:39,850 --> 00:15:41,070 But as we have outlined above, 246 00:15:41,149 --> 00:15:44,309 that awakening involves the whole consciousness of the Christian life. 247 00:15:44,789 --> 00:15:48,389 All who are saved and entering into discipleship in the Christian life 248 00:15:48,389 --> 00:15:51,409 must understand that a crucial part of discipleship 249 00:15:51,409 --> 00:15:57,370 is how they frame, form, and fashion their surrounding culture, society, and government. 250 00:15:57,590 --> 00:16:02,750 This is part of sanctification, and sanctification is part of the gospel. 251 00:16:03,490 --> 00:16:07,070 Right now, the church is walking around in a hypnotic stupor, 252 00:16:07,570 --> 00:16:11,230 babbling about revelation, red heifers, raptures, and antichrists. 253 00:16:11,230 --> 00:16:14,730 Meanwhile, the beast is already here, ravaging the world. 254 00:16:15,009 --> 00:16:17,750 And all we can do is throw up our hands, figuratively speaking, 255 00:16:17,850 --> 00:16:19,850 and say, God is in control, God is in control. 256 00:16:20,070 --> 00:16:22,169 It only means the rapture is almost here, right? 257 00:16:22,750 --> 00:16:25,649 This is a true example of Christian fatalism, too. 258 00:16:26,210 --> 00:16:29,049 It is time for us to offer our people the red pill. 259 00:16:29,350 --> 00:16:29,789 Right? 260 00:16:29,789 --> 00:16:31,570 Out of the matrix, wake up. 261 00:16:32,190 --> 00:16:33,009 Show them the truth. 262 00:16:33,490 --> 00:16:38,529 Come out of the cloister and break the hypnosis of dispensational premillennialism. 263 00:16:39,549 --> 00:16:44,289 Maybe look at another eschatology that has served the church much better in her history. 264 00:16:44,870 --> 00:16:46,429 Secondly, O pastor, O preacher, 265 00:16:46,710 --> 00:16:51,950 we must also hearken back to biblical principles of government and then teach them, too. 266 00:16:52,429 --> 00:16:54,490 Do not be afraid to do this, O pastor. 267 00:16:55,149 --> 00:16:58,669 We here in the United States especially have a rich tradition 268 00:16:58,669 --> 00:17:00,789 of a constitutional republic. 269 00:17:00,929 --> 00:17:02,870 This model, the constitutional republic, 270 00:17:03,289 --> 00:17:08,210 as I teach exhaustively in my series on the Christian background to the American Constitution, 271 00:17:09,210 --> 00:17:12,410 this model has been labored over for millennia. 272 00:17:12,829 --> 00:17:15,970 And it is founded on clear biblical principles, too. 273 00:17:16,450 --> 00:17:19,789 Things like justice and mercy, law and order, 274 00:17:20,309 --> 00:17:21,950 provision for our common defense, 275 00:17:22,069 --> 00:17:25,170 and also the general welfare of all the people. 276 00:17:25,170 --> 00:17:31,509 Our founders also understood that we yet live and are bound by a civil covenant. 277 00:17:32,250 --> 00:17:35,569 We are obligated to participate in it as Christians, too. 278 00:17:36,089 --> 00:17:40,809 It is part of our responsibility before God to keep the provisions of the civil covenant. 279 00:17:41,569 --> 00:17:44,509 We cannot put ourselves on theological cruise control 280 00:17:44,509 --> 00:17:49,269 and play civil solitaire in the back seat while the vehicle goes God knows where. 281 00:17:49,269 --> 00:17:55,990 Christians are obliged to pay attention and labor for justice and mercy in the halls of government. 282 00:17:56,509 --> 00:17:59,470 And we as preachers are obliged to teach our people so, 283 00:18:00,049 --> 00:18:03,150 or else we persist in perishing for a lack of knowledge. 284 00:18:03,150 --> 00:18:08,809 Dear preacher, dear pastor, stop preaching escape, hatch, rapture, fatalism. 285 00:18:09,230 --> 00:18:12,869 Stop preaching Bible bubble believism about government, 286 00:18:13,130 --> 00:18:17,809 as if faith can be put in one box and us civil lives together in another box, 287 00:18:18,150 --> 00:18:19,529 and ne'er the twain shall meet. 288 00:18:20,289 --> 00:18:23,890 Our people continue to perish for a lack of the knowledge of God 289 00:18:23,890 --> 00:18:27,930 because we preachers are dying for the right biblical message for our people. 290 00:18:27,930 --> 00:18:34,990 So, is the Christian Republic, is the civil covenant and our obedience to it perfect? 291 00:18:35,170 --> 00:18:35,470 No. 292 00:18:36,109 --> 00:18:37,809 No, it can be improved. 293 00:18:38,069 --> 00:18:40,769 But instead of whining about its imperfection 294 00:18:40,769 --> 00:18:44,910 and waiting only for the perfect rule of King Jesus in the future, 295 00:18:45,609 --> 00:18:49,569 some literal thousand-year millennium, which I questioned in the first place, 296 00:18:50,369 --> 00:18:51,910 do the hard thing instead. 297 00:18:52,049 --> 00:18:53,509 Do the hard thing instead. 298 00:18:53,509 --> 00:18:58,450 That is sweating over, improving the Christian Republic now, 299 00:18:58,589 --> 00:19:00,190 insofar as it can be done. 300 00:19:00,269 --> 00:19:02,589 It will never be perfect, but it can be improved, 301 00:19:02,690 --> 00:19:05,210 and we must labor in our sanctification of it, 302 00:19:05,250 --> 00:19:07,789 even as we labor in our own personal sanctification, 303 00:19:08,089 --> 00:19:09,349 though it will never be perfect. 304 00:19:09,809 --> 00:19:13,029 This is our obligation under the civil covenant. 305 00:19:13,750 --> 00:19:15,789 And then thirdly, preacher, thirdly, pastor, 306 00:19:15,869 --> 00:19:19,589 we must also mitigate the ignorance of our people with true sources, 307 00:19:19,589 --> 00:19:24,049 with the truth of the world and society around us. 308 00:19:24,809 --> 00:19:26,750 Indeed, people perish for a lack of knowledge. 309 00:19:27,369 --> 00:19:29,170 That knowledge begins with the truth of Scripture, 310 00:19:29,670 --> 00:19:31,930 of new birth in Christ, of life in Christ. 311 00:19:32,089 --> 00:19:33,329 But it does not end there. 312 00:19:33,890 --> 00:19:36,890 The ninth commandment is as much enforced today 313 00:19:36,890 --> 00:19:40,289 as it was on the day it was promulgated on Mount Sinai. 314 00:19:40,410 --> 00:19:41,309 That ninth commandment, 315 00:19:41,769 --> 00:19:44,849 you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 316 00:19:45,450 --> 00:19:48,769 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 317 00:19:48,769 --> 00:19:50,069 The ninth commandment. 318 00:19:50,609 --> 00:19:54,490 And implied then in this negative format of the command 319 00:19:54,490 --> 00:19:55,890 is it's positive too. 320 00:19:55,970 --> 00:19:59,329 That is, you shall speak the truth to your neighbor. 321 00:20:00,069 --> 00:20:01,210 This is a good test. 322 00:20:01,789 --> 00:20:03,849 Dear listener, this is a good test, dear pastor, 323 00:20:04,230 --> 00:20:06,250 of the information that we consume. 324 00:20:06,690 --> 00:20:10,210 Is the truth being spoken to us in our news, 325 00:20:10,349 --> 00:20:11,470 in our information? 326 00:20:12,690 --> 00:20:15,269 Is it being spoken in truth to us? 327 00:20:15,509 --> 00:20:18,269 We are, after all, a neighbor to the news source in question. 328 00:20:18,269 --> 00:20:20,829 Or is it a false witness, a lie? 329 00:20:21,769 --> 00:20:24,230 As preachers, we must be trained and attuned 330 00:20:24,230 --> 00:20:25,930 to discern truth from lie 331 00:20:25,930 --> 00:20:28,990 and also to train our people to do the same. 332 00:20:29,650 --> 00:20:30,769 Without true information, 333 00:20:31,069 --> 00:20:34,329 we will not be able to act righteously or truly. 334 00:20:35,170 --> 00:20:37,329 This is so true, dear listener, so true, pastor. 335 00:20:37,450 --> 00:20:38,529 Without true information, 336 00:20:38,710 --> 00:20:41,430 we will not be able to act righteously or truly. 337 00:20:41,430 --> 00:20:44,829 There is much to address in this realm 338 00:20:44,829 --> 00:20:45,930 for the Christian, dear listener. 339 00:20:46,710 --> 00:20:47,650 Terms like spin. 340 00:20:47,829 --> 00:20:51,650 How often do you hear terms like this on our news today? 341 00:20:51,990 --> 00:20:54,289 Cynically, we see our politicians cynically. 342 00:20:54,670 --> 00:20:57,690 We see the mainstream media use terms like spin 343 00:20:57,690 --> 00:21:01,049 or maybe a politician's or a statesman's 344 00:21:01,049 --> 00:21:03,910 or a news outlet's narrative of a story. 345 00:21:04,549 --> 00:21:05,509 Narratives can differ. 346 00:21:06,069 --> 00:21:07,309 Narratives can deviate. 347 00:21:07,829 --> 00:21:10,130 Narratives can alter from the truth, 348 00:21:10,329 --> 00:21:12,890 but they are still called narratives of a story. 349 00:21:13,349 --> 00:21:14,470 Or phrases like this. 350 00:21:14,549 --> 00:21:16,269 The fact of the matter is. 351 00:21:16,329 --> 00:21:18,569 How often have you heard a talking head use that phrase? 352 00:21:18,809 --> 00:21:20,289 The fact of a matter is. 353 00:21:20,630 --> 00:21:22,009 It's a euphemism, isn't it? 354 00:21:22,029 --> 00:21:24,569 For doubtful and distorted information all the time. 355 00:21:25,210 --> 00:21:26,730 The fact of the matter is. 356 00:21:27,750 --> 00:21:30,430 Talking heads use this when they have no facts 357 00:21:30,430 --> 00:21:32,630 and they have no matter to their matter anymore. 358 00:21:32,630 --> 00:21:35,009 They use a phrase like the fact of the matter 359 00:21:35,009 --> 00:21:37,170 to lend weight to their point. 360 00:21:38,230 --> 00:21:40,710 It is doubtful and distorted information 361 00:21:40,710 --> 00:21:42,250 we get from mainstream media. 362 00:21:42,890 --> 00:21:46,109 It only makes the public cynical about hearing the truth 363 00:21:46,109 --> 00:21:47,329 about their world. 364 00:21:47,589 --> 00:21:48,789 They turn off, do they not? 365 00:21:49,130 --> 00:21:51,809 We as pastors, we as preachers, 366 00:21:51,869 --> 00:21:54,089 must be trained and attuned ourselves 367 00:21:54,089 --> 00:21:56,849 to bona fide sources of information 368 00:21:56,849 --> 00:21:58,869 for ourselves and for our people. 369 00:21:59,910 --> 00:22:02,529 Dear listener, if indeed the United States of America 370 00:22:02,529 --> 00:22:04,589 perishes for a lack of knowledge, 371 00:22:04,589 --> 00:22:06,670 then it is because God's people, 372 00:22:06,789 --> 00:22:10,970 that is the church, has no knowledge of God. 373 00:22:12,910 --> 00:22:14,390 Truth begins with a church. 374 00:22:15,009 --> 00:22:17,769 Repentance and reformation begins with a church. 375 00:22:17,970 --> 00:22:20,549 We cannot stamp our foot and impatiently point 376 00:22:20,549 --> 00:22:22,930 at the people and ask them to reform 377 00:22:22,930 --> 00:22:24,589 when indeed the church has not, 378 00:22:24,849 --> 00:22:26,109 when the pastors have not. 379 00:22:26,809 --> 00:22:28,109 It does not have to be so. 380 00:22:28,630 --> 00:22:30,829 We do not have to perish for a lack of knowledge. 381 00:22:31,589 --> 00:22:35,309 We can know God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 382 00:22:35,430 --> 00:22:37,150 We have seen that true knowledge, 383 00:22:37,690 --> 00:22:41,349 that the knowledge for which we perish for a lack of 384 00:22:41,349 --> 00:22:43,289 is indeed the knowledge of God. 385 00:22:43,690 --> 00:22:45,049 But we can change this. 386 00:22:45,109 --> 00:22:46,309 It does not have to be this way. 387 00:22:46,609 --> 00:22:48,230 We can know the living God 388 00:22:48,230 --> 00:22:49,869 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 389 00:22:49,950 --> 00:22:51,250 And this is the first and foremost 390 00:22:51,250 --> 00:22:52,269 what we must preach. 391 00:22:52,329 --> 00:22:53,250 Is it not, dear pastor, 392 00:22:53,329 --> 00:22:54,690 as I speak to you, brother and sister, 393 00:22:54,690 --> 00:22:57,089 and I look in a mirror when I say these things 394 00:22:57,089 --> 00:22:58,410 because our first obligation 395 00:22:58,410 --> 00:23:00,869 is to preach repentance and salvation 396 00:23:00,869 --> 00:23:02,230 in the Lord Jesus Christ. 397 00:23:02,710 --> 00:23:04,230 And then all of the responsibilities 398 00:23:04,230 --> 00:23:05,710 that come after that. 399 00:23:06,150 --> 00:23:07,789 Dear listener, if you do not believe 400 00:23:07,789 --> 00:23:11,490 that sanctification is part of the gospel, 401 00:23:11,650 --> 00:23:14,509 if you reject this sanctification, 402 00:23:14,730 --> 00:23:16,990 that is the transformation of the life of the believer, 403 00:23:17,250 --> 00:23:18,609 then you have half a gospel. 404 00:23:18,970 --> 00:23:20,410 Because without sanctification, 405 00:23:20,630 --> 00:23:21,569 without true transformation, 406 00:23:21,890 --> 00:23:22,910 there is no salvation. 407 00:23:22,910 --> 00:23:24,730 Without fruit, there is no root. 408 00:23:25,490 --> 00:23:27,990 And part and parcel of sanctification 409 00:23:27,990 --> 00:23:30,789 is our relations with each other 410 00:23:30,789 --> 00:23:33,329 as we govern ourselves under the civil covenant. 411 00:23:34,009 --> 00:23:37,170 That is, our sanctification must progress apace 412 00:23:37,170 --> 00:23:41,450 in culture, in society, and in government as well. 413 00:23:41,990 --> 00:23:43,990 This is indeed part of sanctification, 414 00:23:44,289 --> 00:23:46,809 and sanctification is a part of the gospel too. 415 00:23:46,890 --> 00:23:50,150 So as we preach salvation and repentance in Christ, 416 00:23:50,269 --> 00:23:51,490 eternal life in Christ, 417 00:23:51,490 --> 00:23:55,789 we also preach our responsibilities then in sanctification 418 00:23:55,789 --> 00:23:58,630 and our responsibilities of sanctification 419 00:23:58,630 --> 00:24:01,069 then under the civil covenant 420 00:24:01,069 --> 00:24:02,890 and all the other covenants of God. 421 00:24:03,109 --> 00:24:05,509 Just as you, O married person, 422 00:24:06,089 --> 00:24:08,309 are engaged and you are under 423 00:24:08,309 --> 00:24:10,329 and you are bound to your spouse 424 00:24:10,329 --> 00:24:11,670 in the marriage covenant, 425 00:24:12,309 --> 00:24:14,470 and just as you, dear listener, 426 00:24:14,609 --> 00:24:16,730 are bound to Christ and to the living God 427 00:24:16,730 --> 00:24:18,549 in the covenant of redemption. 428 00:24:19,309 --> 00:24:21,930 You are also bound one to another, 429 00:24:22,210 --> 00:24:22,910 to a brother. 430 00:24:23,130 --> 00:24:25,509 You are bound to a neighbor under the civil covenant, 431 00:24:25,910 --> 00:24:28,150 and therefore you must labor for justice 432 00:24:28,150 --> 00:24:32,470 and mercy and safety and law and order 433 00:24:32,470 --> 00:24:35,390 and all of the other things that government stands for 434 00:24:35,390 --> 00:24:37,029 under the civil covenant. 435 00:24:37,170 --> 00:24:38,869 You must labor for these things, 436 00:24:38,930 --> 00:24:39,589 not only vote, 437 00:24:39,869 --> 00:24:42,069 but also labor for your brother's good, 438 00:24:42,490 --> 00:24:43,609 labor for true justice, 439 00:24:43,609 --> 00:24:45,289 call injustice what it is, 440 00:24:45,730 --> 00:24:47,630 prosecute injustice where you find it, 441 00:24:47,890 --> 00:24:49,829 and indeed establish mercy 442 00:24:49,829 --> 00:24:51,150 towards brothers and sisters 443 00:24:51,150 --> 00:24:53,349 to those indeed who are in need, 444 00:24:53,470 --> 00:24:55,769 for those who are being carried away to death, 445 00:24:55,809 --> 00:24:56,809 as the Proverbs say, 446 00:24:57,009 --> 00:24:58,009 we must intervene. 447 00:24:58,230 --> 00:25:00,549 That means intervening on the issue of abortion. 448 00:25:00,730 --> 00:25:03,569 That means intervening on the issue of injustice 449 00:25:03,569 --> 00:25:04,890 and unjust wars 450 00:25:04,890 --> 00:25:08,609 and all of the things under that kind of a rubric, 451 00:25:08,750 --> 00:25:10,410 all falling under the civil covenant. 452 00:25:10,410 --> 00:25:11,869 So, dear brother and sister, 453 00:25:12,990 --> 00:25:16,150 it is time indeed to get proper 454 00:25:16,150 --> 00:25:17,509 and good information out there. 455 00:25:18,150 --> 00:25:20,470 If indeed the United States perishes 456 00:25:20,470 --> 00:25:21,650 for a lack of knowledge, 457 00:25:21,950 --> 00:25:22,930 it's on us, pastors. 458 00:25:23,250 --> 00:25:24,369 It's on us, church. 459 00:25:24,690 --> 00:25:26,289 It's because we, God's people, 460 00:25:26,529 --> 00:25:26,990 the church, 461 00:25:27,289 --> 00:25:29,829 have not a true knowledge of God in Christ. 462 00:25:30,730 --> 00:25:32,089 Doesn't have to be so, does it? 463 00:25:32,170 --> 00:25:33,470 Continue to preach Christ. 464 00:25:33,849 --> 00:25:36,150 Continue then to preach the love of God. 465 00:25:36,309 --> 00:25:38,029 Continue to preach our responsibilities 466 00:25:38,029 --> 00:25:39,089 and sanctification, 467 00:25:39,309 --> 00:25:41,329 which includes our responsibilities 468 00:25:41,329 --> 00:25:42,750 under the civil covenant. 469 00:25:42,930 --> 00:25:43,930 Do this, brother and sister. 470 00:25:44,230 --> 00:25:46,130 And as we do, we will see a transformation. 471 00:25:46,690 --> 00:25:49,589 We will see us basking in the knowledge of God, 472 00:25:49,690 --> 00:25:50,849 a true knowledge of God, 473 00:25:50,990 --> 00:25:53,650 thriving and living rather than dying 474 00:25:53,650 --> 00:25:55,190 for a lack of knowledge of God. 475 00:25:55,490 --> 00:25:56,990 Let us live and thrive 476 00:25:56,990 --> 00:25:59,329 for a bountiful knowledge of God 477 00:25:59,329 --> 00:26:01,069 in the Lord Jesus Christ. 478 00:26:01,410 --> 00:26:03,029 This has been Pastor David Bass 479 00:26:03,029 --> 00:26:05,609 at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. 480 00:26:05,609 --> 00:26:08,890 New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday 481 00:26:08,890 --> 00:26:11,490 at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street 482 00:26:11,490 --> 00:26:13,170 on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. 483 00:26:13,470 --> 00:26:15,210 I exhort you to visit us. 484 00:26:15,309 --> 00:26:16,009 Come and see us. 485 00:26:17,049 --> 00:26:19,529 Perhaps you've been meaning to pay us a visit here 486 00:26:19,529 --> 00:26:21,470 in the past few weeks, 487 00:26:21,609 --> 00:26:23,109 and this is the time to do it. 488 00:26:23,190 --> 00:26:24,049 Cross our threshold. 489 00:26:24,190 --> 00:26:25,190 You'll find a warm welcome 490 00:26:25,190 --> 00:26:28,549 and solid worship and preaching of the word. 491 00:26:29,069 --> 00:26:29,829 Come and visit us. 492 00:26:29,950 --> 00:26:32,109 New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. 493 00:26:32,109 --> 00:26:34,329 We meet for holy worship on Sunday 494 00:26:34,329 --> 00:26:36,130 at 101 4th Street 495 00:26:36,130 --> 00:26:37,809 on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. 496 00:26:37,970 --> 00:26:40,210 And you can call us for further information 497 00:26:40,210 --> 00:26:43,329 at 523-0196. 498 00:26:43,690 --> 00:26:46,190 That is, call us once again at New Geneva, 499 00:26:46,549 --> 00:26:49,710 523-0196. 500 00:26:49,710 --> 00:26:49,910 523-0196. 501 00:26:49,910 --> 00:26:50,009 523-0196. 502 00:26:50,009 --> 00:26:50,210 523-0196. 503 00:26:50,210 --> 00:26:50,309 523-0196.