1 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:09,480 Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:15,480 with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:23,300 faith. And today I want to challenge you to think over the issue of being banned, of being forsaken, 4 00:00:23,300 --> 00:00:28,940 of being shunned by your own culture because you are a Christian. This is the situation 5 00:00:28,940 --> 00:00:36,299 that the saints in the church in Philadelphia faced back in the first century according to the book of 6 00:00:36,299 --> 00:00:43,600 Revelation. Now we are studying at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church the book of Revelation. 7 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:52,020 I'm preaching through it and I want to announce, I'm excited to announce, that we will be commencing 8 00:00:52,020 --> 00:01:00,640 a community Bible study on the book of Revelation beginning this fall. And we're going to have it 9 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:07,219 off-site from our church because it is open to the entire community and we want to take it out of the 10 00:01:07,219 --> 00:01:16,879 classic church setting. And so beginning October 10, that's a Thursday night, we will have regularly 11 00:01:16,879 --> 00:01:27,200 on Thursday evenings a community Bible study between the hours of 7 and 8.15. We'll commence promptly at 12 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:37,219 7 p.m. and conclude promptly at 8.15. So you can count on those times. And we want to open this up 13 00:01:37,219 --> 00:01:44,859 then to the entire community to bring in just in a relaxed, casual atmosphere. We want to be able 14 00:01:44,859 --> 00:01:51,780 then to discuss the book of Revelation and any attendant issues too. We want to be ready and 15 00:01:51,780 --> 00:01:59,620 willing to go where the participants are willing to go. I'm also excited to announce, broadening it 16 00:01:59,620 --> 00:02:09,099 into the community, is that I will be team teaching it then with Pastor Mike Gilea from Share the Sun 17 00:02:09,099 --> 00:02:18,479 Ministries. Pastor Mike Gilea from Share the Sun Ministries. Now many of you know Pastor Mike. We 18 00:02:18,479 --> 00:02:26,919 support him in his missionary efforts and outreach in our community. And he's excited about team 19 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:32,319 teaching this with me too. He is passionately reading and studying the book of Revelation himself 20 00:02:32,319 --> 00:02:42,580 at this stage of his life. And I am too. And so our paths have merged here over this issue of the book 21 00:02:42,580 --> 00:02:49,599 of Revelation. And so we will be team teaching a series on the book of Revelation on the apocalypse 22 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:59,520 beginning Thursday, October 10 at 7 p.m. Now our venue has not yet been identified. So we're not sure 23 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:06,099 exactly where we're going to be holding it. But we do know these things. And soon I will be able to 24 00:03:06,099 --> 00:03:15,180 share with you our venue. It will be a relaxed atmosphere with our coffee and treats to purchase 25 00:03:15,180 --> 00:03:22,599 wherever we end up having it. It'll be at a public facility, public restaurant or coffee house or some 26 00:03:22,599 --> 00:03:30,719 such relaxed and friendly atmosphere. That's a study on the apocalypse, the book of Revelation 27 00:03:30,719 --> 00:03:42,159 beginning Thursday, October 10 at 7 p.m. running from 7 p.m. to 8 15 p.m. Wow. Let's get back then to 28 00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:50,460 our letter before us and the issue of being shunned, of being excluded, of being persecuted and suffering for 29 00:03:50,460 --> 00:03:57,500 your faith because you are Christian and you refuse to participate in the debauched parts of your 30 00:03:57,500 --> 00:04:03,439 culture, which indeed the church in Philadelphia was doing, standing for the gospel, standing for 31 00:04:03,439 --> 00:04:11,020 Christ. And we know this from Revelation chapter 3, verses 7 through 13. So let me read those verses 32 00:04:11,020 --> 00:04:24,500 for you so that we can familiarize ourselves with the circumstances of the church in Philadelphia in 33 00:04:24,500 --> 00:04:31,240 the first century in the book of Revelation. Revelation 3, verses 7 to 13. To the angel of 34 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:37,600 the church in Philadelphia write, these are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of 35 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:45,500 David. What he opens, no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one can open. I know your deeds. See, 36 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:51,800 I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, 37 00:04:51,879 --> 00:04:58,319 yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of 38 00:04:58,319 --> 00:05:05,660 Satan, who claim to be Jews, though they are not, but are liars. I will make them come and fall down 39 00:05:05,660 --> 00:05:12,459 at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, 40 00:05:12,860 --> 00:05:18,839 I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those 41 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:24,939 who live on the earth. I'm coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one will take your crown. 42 00:05:24,939 --> 00:05:31,720 Him who overcomes, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. 43 00:05:32,319 --> 00:05:39,079 I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, 44 00:05:39,519 --> 00:05:45,540 which is coming down out of heaven from my God. And I will also write on him my new name. 45 00:05:46,259 --> 00:05:53,959 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, unquote. That is the letter 46 00:05:53,959 --> 00:06:03,379 to the church in Philadelphia found in the apocalypse in Revelation chapter three, written to this church 47 00:06:03,379 --> 00:06:12,120 that was being banned, that was being shadow banned, if you will, even as banning goes on now in the 48 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:19,540 social media world, doesn't it? Social media in our own time and culture, we can better understand 49 00:06:19,540 --> 00:06:24,660 the situation in Philadelphia if we understand some of the things that are going on with us 50 00:06:24,660 --> 00:06:30,959 here today as well. Social media, for example, has increasingly succumbed to progressive tyranny 51 00:06:30,959 --> 00:06:36,779 by banning conservative voices on all their platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Google, Instagram, 52 00:06:37,019 --> 00:06:44,500 other social media giants have colluded to silence conservatives by seeing that they do not share 53 00:06:44,500 --> 00:06:50,740 their content with other users. Now, conservative activist James O'Keefe is founder of Project 54 00:06:50,740 --> 00:06:56,339 Veritas, an organization that captures progressives in their own lives by going underground and then 55 00:06:56,339 --> 00:07:03,259 exposing them unawares. Now, the Washington Post did an article on how O'Keefe and Project Veritas 56 00:07:03,259 --> 00:07:08,860 caught Twitter employees admitting bias against conservatives and revealing what we've known for 57 00:07:08,860 --> 00:07:16,720 a long time. That is, Twitter shadow bans conservatives. Shadow banning means that your post still appears 58 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:22,399 on your site as if posted as usual, but Twitter's algorithm reduces or eliminates altogether the 59 00:07:22,399 --> 00:07:28,639 distribution of that post to other Twitter accounts. And consequently, you may think you've posted to your 60 00:07:28,639 --> 00:07:34,439 own followers, but in reality, they have received nothing from you. The Washington Post article 61 00:07:34,439 --> 00:07:41,540 chronicles how this happens to conservatives exclusively since the social media giants are all 62 00:07:41,540 --> 00:07:48,060 progressive liberals. How does that happen, huh? In addition to this more subtle form of ostracizing, 63 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:56,079 and that really is what it is, ostracizing, excuse me, media platforms like Facebook and Twitter resort 64 00:07:56,079 --> 00:08:03,199 to outright banning of content they find offensive. Is it any wonder that James O'Keefe and Project 65 00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:08,019 Veritas are banned from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and many other social media sites after their 66 00:08:08,019 --> 00:08:14,120 expose of Twitter and its bias? All the other sites realized they were guilty of the very same 67 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:20,579 practices as Twitter and therefore kill the messenger. But of course, the draconian methods 68 00:08:20,579 --> 00:08:27,379 haven't stopped with Project Veritas. Other prominent effective voices have been banned as well. Matt 69 00:08:27,379 --> 00:08:35,740 Drudge, Alex Jones, Laura Loomer, Paul Joseph Watson, to name just a few. Matt Drudge, who presides over 70 00:08:35,740 --> 00:08:43,299 the Drudge Report, whose audience exceeds that of CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC combined, in spite of being banned, 71 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:50,720 he described the mainstream media's efforts as similar to that of the Nazis, enforcing minorities hated by 72 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:58,220 them into ghettos. Only ours are digital ghettos. And the object is the same, though, as that of the 73 00:08:58,220 --> 00:09:06,340 Nazis, that is to isolate, demonize, and then destroy. Well, what happens when you depend on your social 74 00:09:06,340 --> 00:09:13,399 media accounts and the advertising they draw for your livelihood and your band? All right, you go 75 00:09:13,399 --> 00:09:20,960 hungry. You are deprived of your means of living. You are a social pariah. You are a persona non grata. 76 00:09:21,259 --> 00:09:28,919 You are dangerous and racist. Well, the saints in Philadelphia found themselves in a very similar 77 00:09:28,919 --> 00:09:37,200 situation in their own day, their own technology, their own experiences. Only they found it happening to 78 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:46,360 them. This banning, this shunning in real time and space, not in cyberspace. They were being banned 79 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:52,379 from the synagogue and the trade guilds for their faith. They suffered the consequences for their stand 80 00:09:52,379 --> 00:09:59,240 as well. And they found themselves isolated, demonized, and then destroyed. Well, let us find 81 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:05,779 out how our first century brothers were shadow banned, if you will, in their own way in the city of 82 00:10:05,779 --> 00:10:13,480 Philadelphia. Now, I just read for you the text, and what I'd like to do is make several points 83 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:20,700 concerning the church in Philadelphia so that we have an understanding of their circumstances and 84 00:10:20,700 --> 00:10:29,480 what the book of Revelation means. From verses 7 through 9, let me make the point from verses 7 through 85 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:35,440 9 that the church in Philadelphia, although you have been closed out from the synagogue, 86 00:10:35,779 --> 00:10:52,559 you have open access to my presence, the Lord Jesus Christ's presence. As all believers do, do they not 87 00:10:52,559 --> 00:11:01,159 open access to the presence of God through Christ? Well, the scene in Philadelphia opens, as you may 88 00:11:01,159 --> 00:11:07,200 remember from our reading, the scene in Philadelphia opens with a slightly different emphasis than in 89 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:12,840 other letters, because there our Lord draws directly from the opening vision of the risen Lord 90 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:18,200 in chapter 1 in order to cite an attribute that pertains to the church under consideration. But here 91 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:25,139 in Philadelphia, he calls himself the holy one, the true one. Now, these are attributes implicit in the 92 00:11:25,139 --> 00:11:32,519 vision of the Lord in chapter 1, but not explicitly mentioned. What is pertinent here is that this is 93 00:11:32,519 --> 00:11:40,980 part of the opening salutation in early synagogue services. Yes, the holy one, the true one. God 94 00:11:40,980 --> 00:11:47,919 himself was called the holy one, the true one, in the commencement of synagogue services. When we know 95 00:11:47,919 --> 00:11:56,360 this little bit of fact, we can better understand the context why our Lord is mentioning these things. And in 96 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:03,559 addition, at the opening of synagogue services, the lector would walk up to the scriptorum and produce a key 97 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:12,039 to unlock it, and then he would retrieve the scroll to be read from that Sabbath day, and he would bring it to the 98 00:12:12,039 --> 00:12:19,740 rabbi. And so, we have an allusion to the true synagogue service in the very opening verse, where it is 99 00:12:19,740 --> 00:12:27,500 Christ who has the key of David, i.e. the key of the scriptorum to open the word of God, who opens and no one 100 00:12:27,500 --> 00:12:36,100 will shut, who shuts and no one opens. The key, which unalterably locks and unlocks, has more symbolism 101 00:12:36,100 --> 00:12:44,779 than this, however, as well. For example, the key, which unalterably locks and unlocks, was a symbol 102 00:12:44,779 --> 00:12:51,360 of authority, in that those in possession of keys were men of great authority in those days. In the 103 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:58,279 palaces of kings and the temples of gods, the steward permitted access and egress to the kings and to the 104 00:12:58,279 --> 00:13:06,080 gods. The key of David has a specific reference here, too. Isaiah 22, where the faithless 105 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:12,000 steward of the temple at the time of the exile, Shebna, is promised that he will be thrown out of 106 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:18,720 office like a baseball on opening day. And then looking to the future, that office will be given 107 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:27,519 to Eliakim. If you read Isaiah chapter 22, the office would be taken from Shebna and given to Eliakim, 108 00:13:27,519 --> 00:13:35,779 the son of Hilkiah, where he says in Isaiah 22, I will clothe him with your robe and will bind your 109 00:13:35,779 --> 00:13:44,980 sash on him and will commit your authority to his hand. See what keys represented? Oh, the sign of that 110 00:13:44,980 --> 00:13:56,379 authority is the key. That's plain from Isaiah 22, verse 22, where Eliakim is promised, I will place 111 00:13:56,379 --> 00:14:02,740 on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and 112 00:14:02,740 --> 00:14:10,059 none shall open, unquote. And then Isaiah goes on to detail the glories and honor of that day as well 113 00:14:10,059 --> 00:14:17,320 in Isaiah chapter 22. Well, the key of David here on the risen Lord's shoulder, they were big, heavy 114 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:26,379 iron keys in those days. Well, it means that the key of David on the risen Lord's shoulder means 115 00:14:26,379 --> 00:14:33,740 profoundly more than access and egress to the earthly temple. It is the very presence of God now in the 116 00:14:33,740 --> 00:14:40,500 heavenly temple to which we have access, courtesy of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who opened those 117 00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:47,379 doors through his death on the cross. David's greater son has fulfilled all of the covenant promises made 118 00:14:47,379 --> 00:14:55,460 to David, and he now bears authority to grant access and egress to his father's throne. We'll see this 119 00:14:55,460 --> 00:15:02,779 transpiring very soon. How do you think this would have made the saints in Philadelphia feel, dear listener, 120 00:15:03,340 --> 00:15:09,580 since they had been shut out of the only place previously granted access by God, that is, his temple 121 00:15:09,580 --> 00:15:17,419 and its adjunct, the synagogue. Yes, those believers, those Jewish believers all over the Roman Empire, 122 00:15:17,919 --> 00:15:26,519 all over the civilized world, had been shut out. We see this in the book of Acts, too, as Paul and Silas 123 00:15:26,519 --> 00:15:32,679 and his fellow travelers were constantly thrown out of the synagogues unceremoniously, weren't they, 124 00:15:32,679 --> 00:15:39,240 for preaching the gospel, persecuted, beaten, threatened with death. Well, this is happening then 125 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:46,940 to Christian Jews all over the kingdom at this time, when they still, of course, wanted to worship 126 00:15:46,940 --> 00:15:54,580 at the temple or its adjunct, the synagogue. The Jews considered themselves stewards of his presence, 127 00:15:54,580 --> 00:16:01,899 didn't they? Jesus demonstrates that he is the true, holy, and faithful steward of the presence. 128 00:16:02,700 --> 00:16:08,980 The Jews were no longer stewards of the presence. No, not the temple, not the synagogue, 129 00:16:08,980 --> 00:16:15,220 anymore, but the doors of the heavenly temple had been opened, and Jesus demonstrates clearly that he 130 00:16:15,220 --> 00:16:23,340 is the true, holy, and faithful steward of the presence. Our Lord then assures them of a fact 131 00:16:23,340 --> 00:16:29,860 seen in the other churches. He says, I know your works, right? That's a constant refrain we see all 132 00:16:29,860 --> 00:16:36,980 through the seven letters to the churches. They are expected to be characterized by good works, 133 00:16:36,980 --> 00:16:46,720 and this is one of the weapons that we have to take dominion of our world for the Lord Jesus Christ 134 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:54,340 is our good works. I know your works, he says, and that they are implicitly full and complete in his 135 00:16:54,340 --> 00:17:00,460 sight is shown by what he has done with the key that is in his possession. Our Lord says, I have set 136 00:17:00,460 --> 00:17:08,940 before you an open door which no one is able to shut. Oh, what a powerful and profoundly beautiful image 137 00:17:08,940 --> 00:17:17,460 that is. There's no persecutor, there's no anti-Christ Christian in the world that can keep you from the 138 00:17:17,460 --> 00:17:25,079 presence of the living Lord. Though they would love to, the Jews of Philadelphia are not able to shut that 139 00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:32,299 open door to the presence of the Father because it is spiritual, it is heavenly, it is invisible, 140 00:17:33,079 --> 00:17:40,619 and it is precisely because it is the very one they hate and crucified, these Jews, the very one they hate 141 00:17:40,619 --> 00:17:47,740 and crucified who is opening the door and whose saints they persecute. It's this one who holds the 142 00:17:47,740 --> 00:17:54,759 key of David to the presence of the Father. In fact, it is they who are shut out of his presence, 143 00:17:54,759 --> 00:18:02,539 isn't it? And so it is that the way things look on earth are not always how they are in heaven. This 144 00:18:02,539 --> 00:18:09,819 is one of the constant motifs of the book of Revelation. The persecuted saints may think that 145 00:18:09,819 --> 00:18:16,460 things are chaotic and abysmal and that the Lord has forgotten them or does not see, but the book of 146 00:18:16,460 --> 00:18:23,759 Revelation is written in part to reassure all of us, the saints in the first century also, that God 147 00:18:23,759 --> 00:18:34,079 is not ignorant of our circumstances. He does see. In fact, he is weaving and closely knitting together 148 00:18:34,079 --> 00:18:43,519 the circumstances of each and every saint into a great tapestry in the life of the church with full 149 00:18:43,539 --> 00:18:50,440 knowledge and full sovereign control of all the circumstances as chaotic and as meaningless as they 150 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:56,960 may seem to us here on the ground, on the earth. It's not so in heaven. We also see one of the great 151 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:02,920 motifs of the book of Revelation is that of oscillation. That is, we move back and forth from 152 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:08,940 heaven and earth precisely so we can see these things. What may transpire on earth may seem chaotic and 153 00:19:08,940 --> 00:19:14,920 meaningless. God does not see, but when we oscillate back up to heaven, we see that God does see. 154 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:23,980 In fact, he is sovereignly ordaining all that comes to pass on the earth so that it serves his purposes 155 00:19:23,980 --> 00:19:30,960 and our good. The way things look on earth, therefore, are not always how they are in the 156 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:37,019 heavenlies. And our Lord notes his cognizance of their earthly circumstances when he says here in the 157 00:19:37,019 --> 00:19:44,740 letter to the church in Philadelphia, I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word 158 00:19:44,740 --> 00:19:50,680 and have not denied my name. That shows full knowledge of the life of the church in Philadelphia. 159 00:19:51,539 --> 00:19:56,480 They are not masters of the trade guilds in Philadelphia, nor are they elders in the synagogues 160 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:02,319 of the region. The saints of the church in Philadelphia have little power. Despite this, 161 00:20:02,319 --> 00:20:06,980 they have spiritual power. They have kept his word. That is, they have obeyed what he commands, 162 00:20:07,099 --> 00:20:12,099 and they have not denied his name. That is, they have been faithful. They have been faithful 163 00:20:12,099 --> 00:20:18,980 marturos. They have been a faithful witness. That's the idea of marturos. You can hear the derivative 164 00:20:18,980 --> 00:20:25,200 in our English language for martyr. Martyrs were originally witnesses to Christ and his gospel 165 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:32,099 who were then slain. And those two things came to be associated very closely together in the one word 166 00:20:32,099 --> 00:20:39,039 martyr. Witnesses who die for their witness. And they have been faithful witnesses when challenged 167 00:20:39,039 --> 00:20:47,420 to confess precisely who is their Lord. Not Caesar, no, but Christ. Because of the faithful witness of 168 00:20:47,420 --> 00:20:53,700 the saints of Christ in Philadelphia, Christ himself will witness to them before their persecutors. 169 00:20:54,259 --> 00:20:59,099 And our Lord is emphatic on this point. He says, behold, whenever that word occurs in Revelation, 170 00:20:59,099 --> 00:21:06,259 we're meant to look in wonder. What does he then call their persecutors? He says, I will make those 171 00:21:06,259 --> 00:21:15,799 of the synagogue of the synagogue of God's children on a different but equally valid path. No, not like 172 00:21:15,799 --> 00:21:22,279 dispensationalists. Are they of the synagogue of God's chosen people who will get to heaven by keeping 173 00:21:22,279 --> 00:21:29,700 the law they were given? No. Were they the synagogue of Israel with different promises and a different 174 00:21:29,700 --> 00:21:36,220 destiny than the church, like dispensationalism says? No. They are called a synagogue of Satan. 175 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:44,160 I think this identifies their true Lord and Savior. The saints in Philadelphia do the things of their 176 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:51,579 Lord, and the Jews of Philadelphia do the things of their Lord. It's even as Jesus says, you are of your 177 00:21:51,579 --> 00:21:57,799 father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning 178 00:21:57,799 --> 00:22:04,559 and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his 179 00:22:04,559 --> 00:22:11,680 own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Unquote from John chapter eight, our Lord's words 180 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:20,099 that the Jews of Philadelphia are of their lying father. Satan is reaffirmed who say they are Jews 181 00:22:20,099 --> 00:22:26,400 and are not, but lie, our Lord says. Here they're characterized as liars like their father, Satan, 182 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:35,339 who are the true Jews. Oh, it is the Christian saints. Dear listener, they are the true Jews. And here we have 183 00:22:35,339 --> 00:22:41,039 interpretive truth that the church is the new Israel. Let me say this again for all of you 184 00:22:41,039 --> 00:22:47,599 dispensationalists out there who make a separation, a separate people of Jews and the church. 185 00:22:47,599 --> 00:22:55,839 Here in this text, we have interpretive truth that the church is the new Israel. If Jews by blood and 186 00:22:55,839 --> 00:23:03,660 heritage are not true Jews, then who are true Jews? Implicit here is that true Jews are those who 187 00:23:03,660 --> 00:23:11,000 believe in and confess the Messiah foretold by Israel and the prophets that is Jesus the Christ. These are 188 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:19,359 true Jews. Israelites who deny this, but still claim to be Jews are not being truthful. They are liars, 189 00:23:19,539 --> 00:23:27,099 according to the Lord himself. The church is perfectly contiguous with Israel. This is a point that has to 190 00:23:27,099 --> 00:23:34,079 be made time and time again, dear listener. The church is perfectly contiguous with Israel. Israel's 191 00:23:34,079 --> 00:23:39,880 covenants and promises, law, worship, even from their race, according to the flesh, as Paul so 192 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:47,380 poignantly points out, is the Christ himself. All culminate in the same Christ. The Bible knows 193 00:23:47,380 --> 00:23:55,200 nothing of replacement theology, as it so derisively puts traditional covenant theology. The Bible knows 194 00:23:55,200 --> 00:24:01,140 nothing of replacement theology that is in Gentile theology over the centuries. The church has replaced 195 00:24:01,140 --> 00:24:07,079 Israel as God's chosen people. No, no. On the contrary, the church as it is today has grown 196 00:24:07,079 --> 00:24:13,759 organically out of Israel. Her covenants are our covenants. Israel's covenants are our covenants. Her 197 00:24:13,759 --> 00:24:19,799 Messiah is our Messiah. Israel is the church of the old covenant and the church is the Israel of the new 198 00:24:19,799 --> 00:24:25,720 covenant. This is an easy way to remember precisely what has transpired. Israel is the church of the old 199 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:33,619 covenant and the church is the Israel of the new covenant. This text asserts in no uncertain terms 200 00:24:33,619 --> 00:24:40,400 that there is no distinction between Israel and the church. Ultimately and finally, as articulated by 201 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:48,740 dispensationalists, the church flourishes and blossoms organically and naturally from the roots of Israel. 202 00:24:48,740 --> 00:24:56,380 And this needs to be strongly maintained. And this is one of those texts, um, that is a very much a proof 203 00:24:56,380 --> 00:25:03,299 text towards that end. Um, well, this has been pastor David Bass at new Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian 204 00:25:03,299 --> 00:25:10,279 church. And, uh, I want to encourage you again to consider, uh, coming to our Bible study, the community 205 00:25:10,279 --> 00:25:17,220 Bible study. It's not a new Geneva's Bible study. It is a community Bible study on the apocalypse on the 206 00:25:17,220 --> 00:25:22,299 book of Revelation where we can sit down, talk Turkey, talk over these issues and go over text 207 00:25:22,299 --> 00:25:28,819 time. And again, it's going to be team taught by myself and pastor Mike Gilea of share the sun 208 00:25:28,819 --> 00:25:35,720 ministries. And it's going to begin Thursday, October 10 from seven until eight 15, promptly 209 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:41,359 beginning at seven, promptly concluding at eight 15. And, uh, we're going to begin the study and it's 210 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:46,700 going to go at least through December up until Christmas. Uh, but we're beginning once again, 211 00:25:46,700 --> 00:25:52,579 a community Bible study on the book of revelation, the apocalypse. It's going to begin Thursday, 212 00:25:52,740 --> 00:26:01,779 October 10, running from seven PM until eight 15 PM. And the, uh, uh, the locale has not been 213 00:26:01,779 --> 00:26:06,740 chosen yet. That's going to come soon. And I'm going to be team teaching that with pastor 214 00:26:06,740 --> 00:26:12,519 Mike Gilea of share the sun ministries. This has been pastor David Bass at new Geneva Orthodox 215 00:26:12,519 --> 00:26:20,640 Presbyterian church. And we invite you to join us for worship on Sunday at 10 AM at one on one 216 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:26,119 fourth street on the corner of fourth and Boulevard where I'm preaching through the book of revelation. 217 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:33,339 Even now, what a joy it's been very fruitful. And, um, you can call us for more information 218 00:26:33,339 --> 00:26:38,640 or some feedback to give me some feedback. If you like a positive or negative, I learned by both 219 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:49,640 area code 208-523-0196. Once again, that's area code 208-523-0196.