1 00:00:06,700 --> 00:00:11,939 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2 00:00:11,939 --> 00:00:17,320 with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and 3 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:23,660 faith. And today, I want to ask you, what did the prophet Hosea mean when he said, 4 00:00:23,660 --> 00:00:30,539 my people perish for a lack of knowledge? He spoke this to Israel. And then what does it mean 5 00:00:30,539 --> 00:00:37,719 for us in the 21st century in America? It is cited from time to time, this verse, my people perish 6 00:00:37,719 --> 00:00:41,859 for a lack of knowledge. From time to time, you'll hear it from preachers and statesmen, 7 00:00:42,380 --> 00:00:49,140 commentators to lend weight to a more general point they're making that Americans are ill-informed. And 8 00:00:49,140 --> 00:00:54,299 if they only had the right information, that is, if they listen to the particular commentator in 9 00:00:54,299 --> 00:00:59,560 question, right, then they would have the right knowledge and be able to think right, vote right, 10 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:06,079 and live right. But does this exhaust the meaning of this phrase? I would say no, emphatically no. 11 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:13,280 This text, Hosea chapter 4, verse 6, has never been more pertinent to America than it is today, 12 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:19,959 but not for those above reasons. First of all, we must ask, what kind of knowledge is God speaking of? 13 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:27,319 My people perish for a lack of knowledge. Sailors perished at sea from scurvy for generations for the 14 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:32,620 lack of knowledge that they had a vitamin C deficiency. General Custer and his men perished 15 00:01:32,620 --> 00:01:38,200 at Little Bighorn for a lack of knowledge that the Plains tribes had gathered en masse for war. 16 00:01:38,659 --> 00:01:45,159 Whole societies perished from famine for a lack of knowledge that they exhausted soils by failing to 17 00:01:45,159 --> 00:01:52,159 rotate their crops, among other factors, right? It is possible to perish from a lack of knowledge. 18 00:01:52,159 --> 00:01:57,840 Is this what God means, though, when he proclaims through Hosea, my people perish for a lack of 19 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:04,459 knowledge? Is the lack of knowledge a bare ignorance of certain pertinent facts? And I would say no, 20 00:02:04,579 --> 00:02:11,340 emphatically no, and so would Hosea. If you read this statement in its context, you know that the 21 00:02:11,340 --> 00:02:18,280 people are dying for not knowing the Lord. The knowledge that they lack is a close, personal, 22 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:25,819 intimate knowledge of God. The Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, Hosea says, 23 00:02:25,979 --> 00:02:31,979 to begin chapter 4, a controversy with the people. He goes on to say, there is no faithfulness or 24 00:02:31,979 --> 00:02:37,580 steadfast love and no knowledge of God in the land. That's the knowledge for which they perish, 25 00:02:37,719 --> 00:02:45,360 dear listener. This is the first and prior of all knowledge, to know the Lord. Do you know the Lord 26 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:51,580 here today through Jesus Christ? This is that knowledge that America lacks, I submit to you. 27 00:02:52,099 --> 00:02:58,539 More and more we see this ignorance across our land, the knowledge by which in the lack of America 28 00:02:58,539 --> 00:03:05,560 perishes. America is perishing for a lack of knowledge, but for a lack of knowledge of God. God can be known 29 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:14,900 as a person, the person. It is ensconced in the Emmanuel principle, that is, God with us. Jeremiah 31 30 00:03:14,900 --> 00:03:21,219 begins, the promise of the new covenant. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their 31 00:03:21,219 --> 00:03:27,039 hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his 32 00:03:27,039 --> 00:03:33,120 neighbor and each other his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of 33 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:38,439 them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin 34 00:03:38,439 --> 00:03:45,960 no more, unquote. This sense of knowledge is critical to understanding the Bible. It is not a bare 35 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:52,300 comprehension of facts. It is not a shallow acquaintance one may have with a neighbor. It is 36 00:03:52,300 --> 00:03:59,020 not a simple recognition of something you've seen before. The knowledge of God in the Bible is deep, 37 00:03:59,020 --> 00:04:04,639 personal, and intimate. We know this from how knowledge is used in personal relationships 38 00:04:04,639 --> 00:04:10,039 throughout the Bible. For example, in the very beginning, Genesis 4, verse 1, now Adam knew his 39 00:04:10,039 --> 00:04:16,600 wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. That's intimate knowledge. Or from Hosea 13, verses 4 and 5, 40 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:23,639 I am the Lord your God, who delivered you from the land of Egypt. You know no God, but me, and besides me, 41 00:04:23,639 --> 00:04:30,779 there is no Savior. It is I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought, unquote. And here that 42 00:04:30,779 --> 00:04:36,360 knowledge is reciprocal. God knows us, and we know him. And then from Matthew chapter 7, not everyone 43 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:42,160 who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. And then I will say to them, I never knew 44 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:49,000 you. Depart me from me, you workers of lawlessness, unquote. That's the sense of deep, intimate, 45 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:55,180 personal knowledge the Bible speaks of. The knowledge of God in the Bible is deep, personal, and intimate. 46 00:04:55,560 --> 00:05:02,639 To know in the Bible is to love so as to act in deep, personal, and intimate ways. It does so, 47 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:08,139 the knowledge of God, out of covenantal faithfulness and obedience, very important 48 00:05:08,139 --> 00:05:14,620 underlying principle. These are not mutually exclusive, but rather they are requisite. Deep and 49 00:05:14,620 --> 00:05:19,699 personal, and covenantal faithfulness, and obedience. This is the kind of knowledge that 50 00:05:19,699 --> 00:05:25,860 America lacks, the knowledge of the Lord. So when I use this verse, my people perish for a lack of 51 00:05:25,860 --> 00:05:32,300 knowledge, that's what I mean. This is the prior to all knowledge. It is the kind of knowledge that 52 00:05:32,300 --> 00:05:37,160 politicians, and statesmen, and preachers, and commentators should have in mind when they use 53 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:44,180 these words, my people perish for a lack of knowledge. We perish for a lack of knowledge of 54 00:05:44,180 --> 00:05:50,600 the Lord. It is the kind of knowledge that used to suffuse the hearts and minds of Americans, and so much 55 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:57,220 so that even our founders could characterize us as a Christian nation. George Washington said, 56 00:05:57,439 --> 00:06:03,199 and I quote, Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well 57 00:06:03,199 --> 00:06:09,139 as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers, 58 00:06:09,300 --> 00:06:14,560 unquote. Oh, whoops, can I say that anymore? Facebook and Google would probably ban me for doing 59 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:20,300 so, right? But it is true, we'd have more character in Congress instead of more characters in Congress 60 00:06:20,300 --> 00:06:25,720 if we did this. And this, despite our holy trinity of progressivism, which is tolerance, diversity, and 61 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:32,220 radical egalitarianism, right? Progressivism is tolerance, diversity, and radical egalitarianism. 62 00:06:32,220 --> 00:06:39,660 And once more, we owe the very values, virtues of tolerance and diversity and egalitarianism in 63 00:06:39,660 --> 00:06:45,699 their proper form and perspective to Christianity. Our founders assumed as a working principle that 64 00:06:45,699 --> 00:06:52,079 America was a Christian nation. So did entire branches of early government in reflecting upon 65 00:06:52,079 --> 00:06:57,980 the early colonial charters and their purposes, that is, that they were founded, as the Mayflower 66 00:06:57,980 --> 00:07:03,439 Compact puts it, for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. Well, the Supreme 67 00:07:03,439 --> 00:07:11,100 Court of 1892, in the case of Church of the Holy Trinity versus the United States, the Supreme Court 68 00:07:11,100 --> 00:07:16,660 decision tediously goes through charter after charter and concludes, and I quote, there is a universal 69 00:07:16,660 --> 00:07:22,199 language pervading them all, having one meaning. They affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious 70 00:07:22,199 --> 00:07:27,439 nation. These are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons. They are 71 00:07:27,439 --> 00:07:34,160 organic utterances. They speak the voice of the entire people, unquote. We are a Christian nation. At 72 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:41,240 least early on, we were. An early American historian, Benjamin Franklin Morris, said in 1864, 73 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:48,379 this is a Christian nation, first in name and second because of the many and mighty elements of a pure 74 00:07:48,379 --> 00:07:53,660 Christianity which have given it character and shaped its destiny from the beginning. The chief 75 00:07:53,660 --> 00:07:59,399 security and glory of the United States of America has been, now is, and will be forever the prevalence 76 00:07:59,399 --> 00:08:06,680 and domination of the Christian faith, unquote. Historian Benjamin Franklin Morris, I've only begun to 77 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:14,759 document for you that indeed America used to thrive in an abundance of knowledge. Now we perish for a lack 78 00:08:14,759 --> 00:08:21,500 of knowledge. Make no mistake about it, dear listener, that knowledge is the knowledge of God. The knowledge 79 00:08:21,500 --> 00:08:29,160 of God is deep, personal, and intimate, and is bound closely with covenant faithfulness and obedience. It is 80 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:35,600 to this knowledge that we must return. It is to this knowledge that we must cling. But today, my people perish 81 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:42,779 for a lack of knowledge. There is cause for this lack of knowledge. Hosea puts his finger on it too. Read the 82 00:08:42,779 --> 00:08:48,740 wider context. He says, and Hosea says, the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, 83 00:08:48,860 --> 00:08:55,559 yet let no one contend, and let no one accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest, unquote. 84 00:08:56,139 --> 00:09:03,419 Not kings, not prophets, not pagan soothsayers, not radio commentators, no, but the priests of the land. 85 00:09:03,980 --> 00:09:09,820 It is to their charge that he lays the blame for the people's lack of knowledge. It is to them, 86 00:09:09,820 --> 00:09:15,259 the priests, that he says, my people perish for a lack of knowledge, because you, that is the priest, 87 00:09:15,399 --> 00:09:21,279 have rejected knowledge. Remember what we mean by knowledge now. I reject you from being a priest to 88 00:09:21,279 --> 00:09:27,740 me, the Lord says in Hosea. Aha! Is your knowledge increasing, dear listener? Do you begin to see the 89 00:09:27,740 --> 00:09:34,179 fuller context? The priests were the teachers of Israel, the pastors of Israel, who were to teach the 90 00:09:34,179 --> 00:09:40,039 knowledge of the Lord. That's our job, men, fellow pastors. To Aaron and his sons, the Lord said, 91 00:09:40,139 --> 00:09:45,019 you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses. 92 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:50,620 He says in Deuteronomy chapter 33, in the final word of Moses to the Levites, he says, 93 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:57,259 they shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law. By this knowledge of the word, the people would 94 00:09:57,259 --> 00:10:03,379 come to know God. This is how God works. Dear listener, dear fellow pastor, it's still true 95 00:10:03,379 --> 00:10:10,200 today. Pastors serve this priestly function today. The priests of the land were those who not only 96 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:16,039 interceded for the people at the altar of God, right? The Bible says they shall put incense before 97 00:10:16,039 --> 00:10:22,240 you and whole burnt offerings on your altar. So they were not only to intercede on behalf of the people, 98 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:29,139 but also made the people to understand God's word so that they might then obey and come to know him. 99 00:10:30,659 --> 00:10:36,919 Good example, when Nehemiah called all of the returnees from Babylon to Israel to hear the reading 100 00:10:36,919 --> 00:10:44,059 of the book of the law, the Torah, who was it who exegeted the text? It was the priest. Nehemiah 101 00:10:44,059 --> 00:10:50,399 chapter 8 verses 7 and 8 put it this way. The Levites helped the people to understand the law 102 00:10:50,399 --> 00:10:55,720 while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the law of God clearly, 103 00:10:56,019 --> 00:11:01,519 and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading. Yes, it was the Levites, 104 00:11:01,820 --> 00:11:09,240 the teachers of the land who gave the sense of the text. We get our word exegete from that word used 105 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:15,000 there, giving the sense. That is to draw out the meaning of the text so that the people understood 106 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:21,100 the reading. Behold the mandate of the priest under the old covenant, dear listener. Behold the mandate 107 00:11:21,100 --> 00:11:27,519 of the pastor under the new covenant. Behold the condemnation of Hosea to false priests, 108 00:11:28,159 --> 00:11:35,360 false pastors today. My people perish for a lack of knowledge because you priests or pastors in our 109 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:42,000 day, because you pastors have rejected knowledge. I reject you from being a pastor to me. And since you 110 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:48,440 have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children, unquote. The priests slash 111 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:55,080 pastors of Hosea's day neglected their teaching, knowing function, that is, because they were too 112 00:11:55,080 --> 00:12:01,220 busy satisfying their appetites at the expense of the people. Hosea says, they feed on the sin of my 113 00:12:01,220 --> 00:12:08,460 people. They are greedy for their iniquity. By this time, by Hosea's day, the people of Israel had lapsed 114 00:12:08,460 --> 00:12:15,120 into idolatry, even as America has fallen into idolatry, and all of the corruption and debauchery 115 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:20,740 that that entails. And Hosea says that the priests saw it, and they were hungry, greedy for that very 116 00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:27,019 same corruption and debauchery. The wine, women, and song of the pagan festivities, and the worship 117 00:12:27,019 --> 00:12:33,360 that the priests pursued as eagerly as the people. What then was God's judgment against these pastors, 118 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:38,259 right? He says, it shall be like people like priests. I shall punish them for their ways, 119 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:43,360 and I will repay them for their deeds, unquote. Oh, like people like priests. Oh, in our own day, 120 00:12:43,399 --> 00:12:48,299 it's like people like pastors. God's judgment against these false pastors was that they would 121 00:12:48,299 --> 00:12:54,019 become like the people they so envied for their wickedness. It would be a punishment slash judgment, 122 00:12:54,019 --> 00:13:00,899 not a relief and reward. And this fate is exactly 180 degrees opposite of their role. 123 00:13:00,899 --> 00:13:06,799 They were to be leaders, not followers. The true model would be like priests, like people. The model 124 00:13:06,799 --> 00:13:12,799 at the time of Hosea, like people like priests. Oh, Jesus was fond of telling his disciples this truth 125 00:13:12,799 --> 00:13:19,940 as well. Teaching is extant throughout the ancient world. He says, like teacher, like student, like 126 00:13:19,940 --> 00:13:25,000 master, like servant. And this he would do, especially when he wished to undermine the certainty 127 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:32,419 of suffering, to underline, excuse me, to underline the certainty of suffering in their future. Oh, 128 00:13:32,620 --> 00:13:39,480 yes. Like teacher, like student, like teacher, like student, like master, like servant. The true 129 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:46,779 pastoral model is that of Jesus and Hosea, like priests, like people. Pastors are to be leaders out in 130 00:13:46,779 --> 00:13:53,039 front, brothers, sometimes halting the advance of the people when its direction is wrong, not following 131 00:13:53,039 --> 00:13:59,220 them in their error. Pastors are to declare clearly, this is the way, walk ye in it, not which way are 132 00:13:59,220 --> 00:14:05,179 you guys going? Okay, I'm right behind you, leading from behind, right? We say we, we see where that 133 00:14:05,179 --> 00:14:10,759 model, the Obama model of leadership has gotten us, all right, leading from behind. You see where it gets 134 00:14:10,759 --> 00:14:16,539 the United States of America when her pastors lead from behind too, like the priests of Israel. For many 135 00:14:16,539 --> 00:14:21,919 of us, brothers, I'm talking to you, fellow pastors, it is like people like pastor. We are so afraid of 136 00:14:21,919 --> 00:14:28,200 offending too many people or preaching the whole counsel of God. Dear pastor, this is on us. Rather 137 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:34,100 than crying crocodile tears and wringing our hands and pointing the finger at the people for the sad 138 00:14:34,100 --> 00:14:39,379 spiritual state of the nation, perhaps we ought to look first to our own house, to look in the mirror. 139 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:45,980 This is on us. God holds us responsible for this mess. The Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants 140 00:14:45,980 --> 00:14:54,360 of the land. For with you is my contention, O pastor, we might say today. Dear brother and dear listener, 141 00:14:54,639 --> 00:15:00,360 you need to exhort your own pastor in these things. Dear brother pastor, if we are not preaching Christ 142 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:07,860 crucified, first, foremost, and boldly, then with us is God's contention. If we are not preaching Christ 143 00:15:07,860 --> 00:15:13,580 alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, based upon scripture alone, then with us is God's 144 00:15:13,580 --> 00:15:20,200 contention. If we are letting the worldling dictate our worship styles, like in the seeker model with 145 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:27,500 McMusic and McPraying and McSermons, that is insipid, comfortable worship to make the seeker, 146 00:15:27,639 --> 00:15:32,000 that is the unbeliever, feel comfortable if we're doing this kind of thing, then with us 147 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:38,440 is God's contention. If we are still preaching blood, moon, buffoon, balderdash, revelation, 148 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:44,779 red heifer, rapture, rigamarole, end time prophecy with no end in sight, if we're doing this and 149 00:15:44,779 --> 00:15:52,080 preaching these kinds of eschatologies, then with us is God's contention. If we're not preaching God's 150 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:58,460 true economy with man, that is his motive, dispensing grace and law, blessing and cursing, judgment and 151 00:15:58,460 --> 00:16:03,980 salvation, that is if we're not preaching covenant, then with us is God's contention. And if we are not 152 00:16:03,980 --> 00:16:09,940 preaching the Christian's obligation under the civil covenant, that is to do all within our power to 153 00:16:09,940 --> 00:16:17,980 ensure godly culture, society and government, then with us is God's contention. God has dealt with us 154 00:16:17,980 --> 00:16:24,879 under four great covenants, which is his economy, the way he works with man, the way he deals with man, 155 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:31,460 four great covenants, the covenant of creation, this bond God made with the creature who bore his image, 156 00:16:31,460 --> 00:16:36,419 that is Adam. God made all of creation out of nothing and put it all under someone that is our 157 00:16:36,419 --> 00:16:43,480 first father, Adam, under the covenant of creation. Under it, he gave him the dominion mandate, that is 158 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:49,899 be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and 159 00:16:49,899 --> 00:16:54,700 over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. From Genesis chapter 160 00:16:54,700 --> 00:17:00,940 one, the covenant of creation. There's also the covenant of marriage. Number two, the second of four, 161 00:17:00,940 --> 00:17:06,819 the covenant of marriage. And this bond God makes between the man and woman, between husband and 162 00:17:06,819 --> 00:17:14,640 wife. This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, Adam declares. Therefore, a man shall 163 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:20,900 leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. By the covenant 164 00:17:20,900 --> 00:17:29,619 of marriage, we find fruitfulness and companionship and God gets for himself godly seed, as Malachi says, 165 00:17:29,619 --> 00:17:35,039 all the sweet and great covenant of marriage. The third covenant is the covenant of redemption. 166 00:17:35,759 --> 00:17:41,460 This is that great solemn covenant by which we are saved, the covenant of redemption. Number three, 167 00:17:42,099 --> 00:17:48,200 God the father has covenanted with his son to purchase and redeem a people for himself from among 168 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:55,319 the lost of mankind. He says in his great high priestly prayer, Jesus does, father, the hour has come. 169 00:17:55,319 --> 00:18:00,839 Glorify your son, glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority 170 00:18:00,839 --> 00:18:08,000 over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given to him. And this is eternal life that 171 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:15,160 they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Excuse me, there we have the 172 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:20,519 knowledge of God again. And then fourthly, the fourth great covenant that God has made with us is 173 00:18:20,519 --> 00:18:26,819 the civil covenant. Here, God rules the temporal affairs of men, immediately through his image 174 00:18:26,819 --> 00:18:31,480 bearer, that is man. He doesn't just sit on a cloud every day with his gavel yelling, hey you, 175 00:18:31,599 --> 00:18:38,460 off to jail, you a big fat fine, you off with your head. No, this is not how God rules. God rules 176 00:18:38,460 --> 00:18:46,019 immediately, that is through his intermediary, godly men. God first ordained this covenant, a covenant 177 00:18:46,019 --> 00:18:54,640 that is forgotten today, ignored, swept aside, held in contempt. Even as one of my favorite old-timey 178 00:18:54,640 --> 00:19:01,400 preachers used to say, we're not going to soil the garments of the gospel with politics, right? Nothing 179 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:08,200 but scorn and contempt for politics, when indeed we ought to be interacting in our cultures, our societies, 180 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:15,079 and our government. Because we are under a civil covenant, God first ordained the civil covenant 181 00:19:15,079 --> 00:19:21,240 after the flood, when he said, for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning. From every beast I will 182 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:26,980 require it, and from man, from his fellow man, I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 183 00:19:27,420 --> 00:19:33,700 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. For God made man in his own image. 184 00:19:33,700 --> 00:19:39,839 From Genesis chapter 9. This is the first obligation of government, justice. To those who 185 00:19:39,839 --> 00:19:46,660 would be magistrates he commands. In Deuteronomy chapter 16. Justice and only justice you shall 186 00:19:46,660 --> 00:19:51,619 follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you. This is 187 00:19:51,619 --> 00:19:57,599 reinforced for us in the New Testament. Rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. He is 188 00:19:57,599 --> 00:20:04,500 God's servant for your good. From Romans 13. The idea of the just magistrate. That good is good 189 00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:14,640 defined by what? Defined by what? Dear listener, is it the code of Hammurabi? Is it the communist 190 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:24,480 manifesto? Is it the Sharia law of Islam? No. Good is defined by the Bible. Biblical standards of 191 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:30,720 justice, dear pastor. We must hold to these and command and commend these. Biblical standards of 192 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:36,500 justice and mercy. By what other standard will you measure this good, the bad, and the ugly, right? 193 00:20:36,859 --> 00:20:42,819 Dear fellow pastor, fellow priest and servant of the Most High God, we are under covenant obligation 194 00:20:42,819 --> 00:20:48,339 to strive after godly government. And if we're not doing so, if you're not doing so, I'm preaching 195 00:20:48,339 --> 00:20:55,180 this to your people, then with us is God's contention. It is an abrogation of duty as a pastor to say, 196 00:20:55,619 --> 00:21:00,440 ah, get them saved and let the devil take the hindmost, right? Well, hunker down, save a few souls, 197 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:06,380 and wait for the rapture. No, that's an abrogation of your calling. It is a partial gospel that you 198 00:21:06,380 --> 00:21:12,799 preach if we do not preach sanctification of the whole man, including his obligation under the civil 199 00:21:12,799 --> 00:21:20,000 covenant to sanctify his culture, society, and government insofar as he is able. Because we do 200 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:26,500 not do this, my people perish for a lack of knowledge. Knowing and fulfilling God's covenants is part and 201 00:21:26,500 --> 00:21:33,960 parcel of knowing God. If the knowledge of God is deep and personal and intimate, a bond of covenant 202 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:39,980 and obedience, then knowing and obeying his covenants is crucial that my people thrive for an 203 00:21:39,980 --> 00:21:46,359 abundance of knowledge, not my people perish for a lack of knowledge. Ah, dear fellow pastor, dear brother, 204 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:51,680 it requires that we engage with our culture, society, and government, not withdraw from it and 205 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:56,920 keep silent about it, pretending that all we have to do is cloister ourselves in the four walls of the 206 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:02,319 church and preach the gospel in season and out of season. We pick at faults and foibles, pimples and 207 00:22:02,319 --> 00:22:08,960 picadillos, but we ignore the big cancerous tumor that is mushrooming in our gut as a nation. We must 208 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:14,740 call evil for what it is and the evil for who they are. It's part of the prophetic stance of the prophet 209 00:22:14,740 --> 00:22:21,140 pastor and part of the teaching function of the priest pastor. Here, there is an implicit warning, 210 00:22:21,279 --> 00:22:26,099 dear listener, God judges and obstinate people by confirming them in their ignorance. That's 211 00:22:26,099 --> 00:22:31,579 happening to us. Sinners do not go on at their own timing and discretion, letting God know when 212 00:22:31,579 --> 00:22:36,859 they're done sinning, ready now for an accounting. Rather, it is God who decides when he has had 213 00:22:36,859 --> 00:22:42,720 enough and when he should bring judgment and what kind of judgment that should be. Ah, Jesus said to them, 214 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:48,019 To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything is in 215 00:22:48,019 --> 00:22:53,619 parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, may indeed hear but not understand, 216 00:22:53,839 --> 00:22:59,640 lest they should turn and be forgiven. Oh, those are awful words of judgment. Right now, our people, 217 00:22:59,819 --> 00:23:05,339 including us, dear fellow pastor, were wandering around in the wilderness of our civil society like 218 00:23:05,339 --> 00:23:09,660 sheep without a shepherd. That's us. It's not always been so. The history of this nation, 219 00:23:09,660 --> 00:23:14,660 you hear the church through the centuries is that the church has always been a prophetic voice to its 220 00:23:14,660 --> 00:23:20,980 ruling magistrates. They've been faithful to the civil covenant, excuse me, that is, in seeking 221 00:23:20,980 --> 00:23:27,599 justice and only justice. Oh, just for example, brief example, St. John Chrysostom preached against 222 00:23:27,599 --> 00:23:34,259 the injustices of Queen Eudoxia, and he was persecuted severely for it. John Knox, during the 223 00:23:34,259 --> 00:23:40,559 Reformation, preached against the injustices of Bloody Mary to her face, and he stunned her into 224 00:23:40,559 --> 00:23:45,200 silence for a full 15 minutes. She couldn't speak. She had never been spoken to so frankly before, 225 00:23:45,599 --> 00:23:50,180 and he was thrown into prison for it. Preachers in the colonies spoke relentlessly against the 226 00:23:50,180 --> 00:23:55,799 injustices of King George and Parliament against the American colonies and made the hanging list 227 00:23:55,799 --> 00:24:01,839 of General Cornwallis. On and on we could go. The Bible and church history are filled with 228 00:24:01,839 --> 00:24:08,400 examples of those knowledgeable of and faithful to their covenants, even the civil covenant. You must 229 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:14,319 investigate this, Pastor. Brother preacher, if we do not shake off these false notions of pacifism 230 00:24:14,319 --> 00:24:20,920 and compartmentalization of the gospel, oh, then my people will continue to perish for a lack of 231 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:27,240 knowledge, and God's contention will continue to be with us. In order to be faithful, dear preacher, 232 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:32,880 to our charge, we must do a couple of things. We must first fully awaken the people. We are right to 233 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:38,259 call people to repentance and salvation in Christ. Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ 234 00:24:38,259 --> 00:24:43,619 will shine on you, as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5. But as we've outlined above, that awakening 235 00:24:43,619 --> 00:24:49,500 involves the whole consciousness of the Christian life. All who are saved and entering into discipleship 236 00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:53,880 in the Christian life must understand that a crucial part of discipleship is how they frame, 237 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:59,059 form, and fashion their surrounding culture, society, and government. Right now, the church 238 00:24:59,059 --> 00:25:04,940 is walking around in a hypnotic stupor, babbling about revelation, red heifers, raptures, and 239 00:25:04,940 --> 00:25:10,640 antichrists. Meanwhile, the beast is already here, ravaging the world, and all we can do is throw up 240 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:15,779 our hands figuratively and say, God's in control, God's in control. It only means the rapture's almost 241 00:25:15,779 --> 00:25:21,920 here, right? It's time for us to offer our people the red pill and show them the truth. Come out of the 242 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:28,460 cloister and break the hypnosis of dispensational premillennialism, and look to the eschatology, 243 00:25:28,740 --> 00:25:34,740 indeed, of covenant that has served the church in her past. Secondly, we must hearken back to biblical 244 00:25:34,740 --> 00:25:40,220 models, dear listener. We here in the United States especially have a rich tradition of a constitutional 245 00:25:40,220 --> 00:25:47,759 republic. Inculcate, teach the American constitutional republic again. And then thirdly, mitigate the 246 00:25:47,759 --> 00:25:53,680 ignorance of our people with true sources, true sources. Indeed, people perish for a lack of 247 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:58,720 knowledge. And that knowledge begins with the truth of Scripture, but doesn't end there. The evil 248 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:04,099 one deceives not only with bad theology, but also with bad information. Let us give our people good 249 00:26:04,099 --> 00:26:11,920 information, dear listener, dear pastor. In any case, we have to stop here. But let us ensure that our 250 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:16,740 people will no longer perish for a lack of knowledge. Let's bring them to the Lord and keep them true to 251 00:26:16,740 --> 00:26:23,500 their covenants. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for 252 00:26:23,500 --> 00:26:29,259 holy worship, and there is no lack of knowledge preached at our church. We meet for holy worship 253 00:26:29,259 --> 00:26:36,220 on Sundays. Come and join us at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can 254 00:26:36,220 --> 00:26:47,660 call us for more information and some feedback perhaps at area code 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.