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[0:00] Well, we continue our study of the Minor Prophets. This started quite some time ago. Does anybody recall when it did start? Anybody make a note of that? I probably should have, but I didn't. But it's probably been well over a year ago, maybe a couple of years, I don't know.

[0:17] But anyway, we are winding down with the Minor Prophets. We've only got three more chapters in Zechariah, and then we'll conclude with Malachi. And by that time, it will be time for us to decide where we're going from there. So if you will open your Bibles, please, to the prophecy of Zechariah.

[0:38] We will be looking at chapter 11. And in this book, be aware that it consists of a series of visions.

[0:50] A vision is different from a dream. In a dream, you are asleep. And many in the Bible experience dreams like Joseph and others. But this is a vision. And the vision, you are wide awake, but you see this panoramic spread of whatever it is before you. And you see it with eyes that are wide open and alert. And I've never had a vision. And I suspect you probably haven't either.

[1:22] But there was a time when God operated in that way, standard operating procedure. But one of the principles that separates the age and dispensation of Israel from the age and dispensation of grace is that there is an absent of the things so physical and so frequent and so obvious and so hands-on under the old dispensation that are not present in the new. And the reason they aren't present in the new is because they're not supposed to be. We walk not by faith.

[1:59] We walk not by sight, but by faith. And in the Old Testament, they could say they walk by sight and faith. But sight was the thing that produced their faith. And all that means is when you walk by sight, you are dependent upon what you see that enables you to believe.

[2:23] Remember when Jesus confronted doubting Thomas after his resurrection and Thomas didn't believe him and Jesus said, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who having not seen shall believe. And that's us. I haven't seen Jesus. And I'm confident that you haven't either. But one of these days we will. So the Jew, Paul reminds us, as a Jew in 1 Corinthians, he reminds us that Jews seek or require a sign. What's that mean? That means exactly what it says. The sign is the word semion, and it means a miracle, a physical, visible manifestation. And the reason the Jew required a sign is because the Jewish people as a nation cut their teeth on miraculous signs. And it began with Moses and the burning bush, and the ten plagues that were visited upon Egypt, that were not visited upon the children of Israel, and the exodus, and the passing of the Red Sea, and the manna from heaven, and the water from the rock. All these things were in your face, up front, visible, physical, no denying them.

[3:45] They were obvious. But when you walk by faith, you do not need nor require a physical demonstration or manifestation. You believe on the basis of the word of God. You believe just because God said it.

[4:04] And when Paul said, we walk by faith, not by sight, that means we take God at his word, and he does not have to provide some attendant physical manifestation. So here in the book of Zechariah, we've got a series of visions that are supernatural, that God is revealing to this choice prophet. He is a post-exilic prophet.

[4:29] They've spent their time in Babylon, 70 years. They've come back to the land. Nehemiah has rebuilt the wall. The temple has been rebuilt or is under construction.

[4:40] And things are settling in. And what we find is that over a period of time, from 586, from about 500 or so, 500 years before the birth of Christ, that's about the time we would plot Zechariah, about 500 years before the birth of Christ. After they had returned to the land, got reestablished and settled, and everything returned to normal. For Israel, the normal became a negative thing.

[5:12] They are slipping and sliding again into apostasy, into idolatry, and God is going to bring them up short for it again. These people have a really, really hard head. And someone says, well, that's the Jew for you. And I would hasten to add, no, that's the human being for you. The Jewish people in the Jewish nation are a microcosm of all humanity. And the bitter truth is, you've got a hard head too.

[5:55] We all do. None of us has escaped it. It's part of our fallenness. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.

[6:12] The hymn writer nailed it. Prone to wander, prone to self-centeredness. This thing called self-centeredness and ego and self-seeking is all a natural part of the fall, and it has infected all of humanity.

[6:29] So what we've got here with the prophecy of Zechariah is an up and a down and an up and a down. And that's the history of Israel. They go through this cycle. And we've seen this, as Zechariah points it out.

[6:40] And in the preceding chapter, it was positive. Chapter 10, great blessing, great privilege, great honor. That's coming. And it is. And it will be fulfilled for Israel. But here in chapter 11, what have we got? A reversal again. And chapter 11 is going to give us a brief picture of the situation that was existing from the time our Lord came on the scene, was baptized of John, and so on, until it ends in his death, crucifixion, etc. So let's get into chapter 11. It says, if you've got a little notation above your chapter, like I do with mine, it says, the doomed flock. Doomed flock. Who's the flock? The flock is the nation of Israel. They are often referred to as God's flock. And he is the shepherd. And the shepherd Psalm 23 was based on this. So what we've got here in the chapter is it opens. Open your doors, O Lebanon, that a fire may feed on your cedars. Whale, O Cyprus, for the cedar has fallen, because the glorious trees have been destroyed. Whale, O oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has come down. What is that all about? What that is all about, most scholars believe, and I think they're probably right on track, is that this is speaking of the Jewish temple. What's these trees got to do with the Jewish temple? They were construction items in the Jewish temple. The Jewish temple was constructed in the main with those cedars of Lebanon. Solomon used those when he built the original temple. You'll recall that he had struck a deal with a man named Hiram, who was the king of Tyre that was up north on the coast. He was the king of Tyre and the king of Lebanon. And the nation of Lebanon was famous for this splendid forestry, particularly the cedars and the Lebanon. In fact, there's even a hospital in

[9:12] New York City that's called the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, and it harkens back to that. And Solomon struck a deal with Hiram, his neighboring king, and they were good friends, obviously spent some time together. And Hiram agreed to hew down a number of those great cedar trees. And you've got to remember, Tyre is already a seaport town, still is, right on the coast. And they would take these cedars, move them to the coast of the Mediterranean, put them on rafts, and float them down the Mediterranean, right along the coast, and take them off. And when they got to Israel, take them off and carry them inland to Jerusalem, where they would be placed in construction. And they were oak and cedar and, well, let's read the text, cypress. The glorious trees have been destroyed. And the destruction that he's talking about is what is going to take place with the destruction of the temple. Now, wait a minute.

[10:21] It's just been rebuilt. This is the second temple. And it's just been rebuilt. But this is talking about a time when it's all going to come crashing down again. And I believe what we've got here is a description of what is going to occur many years in the future. This is all prophetic. And he is talking about the time period that will involve the earthly life of Christ and the situation that will be taking place in Israel when Jesus is introduced to Israel as the Messiah and the sparks begin to fly. And he'll have a three-year ministry of conflict, of blessing, etc. And it will end in his crucifixion. And when he goes out of the temple the last time, when he leaves the temple, he makes the statement and he says, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And from that time on, and by the way, when Jesus came to the city of Jerusalem for the last time, what we call

[11:31] Palm Sunday, he weeps over the city and he says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen doth gather her chicks under her wings? But you would not. And he said, the time is coming when an enemy is going to besiege you and tear down your walls. Now, wait a minute. This sounds like a repetition. Well, it is. These walls are going to be torn down again, and the city is going to be leveled again. And Jesus said, the time is coming when they are going to bring this city to ruin. And he's talking about 40 years in the distance, 70 AD, when Titus, the Roman general, comes against Jerusalem, besieges the city, and tears everything down, and it is a time. So let's move on.

[12:29] There is a sound of the shepherd's wail, for their glory is ruined. There is a sound of the young lion's roar, for the pride of the Jordan is ruined. Thus says the Lord my God, pasture the flock doomed to slaughter. Pasture the flock. That's Israel. That's the nation. They are the flock. They are doomed to slaughter. Who's going to slaughter them? Romans, Titus, his army.

[13:08] Those who buy them, slay them, and go unpunished. And each of those who sell them says, blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich, and their own shepherds have no pity on them. This is talking about the corrupt personnel who were in charge of Israel at the time. They were corrupt priests. They were corrupt kings, and there were corrupt prophets. This is Israel's deep state.

[13:45] Verse 6, For I shall no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land, declares the Lord, but behold, I shall cause the men to fall into one another's power, and into the power of his king, and they will strike the land, and I shall not deliver them from their power. Repeatedly, God hands his own chosen people over to a pagan enemy, that they may be disciplined, that they may be brought to bear. And it is going to be something that is repetitive. It happens over and over again. And yet, they fall back. And the reason this is so repetitive and ongoing is simple when you stop to think about it. Because each time the nation is subjected to military invasion and ruination and captivity and everything, it's always a new generation of people, or a couple of generations later. And the present generation who experienced that, hey, they learned their lesson, but their grandchildren haven't. And they will repeat.

[15:11] Do we see any? Yes, yes we do, don't we? I mean, it's just, if someone has said, if we learn anything from history, it's that we don't learn from history. And that's true. Each generation has to bump its head on the same old rock. And each one thinks we are superior to those guys that went before, because they were kind of dumb. They didn't know anything. But we are so enlightened. We are so smart. We are so much more advanced. Our technology, blah, blah, blah, yak, yak, yak. And then eventually, we discover that, hey, we're made of the same stuff as they were. And nothing has changed. Because human nature doesn't change. It is systemic to humanity, that self-centered fallenness, and that's all part of the picture. So, Zechariah is going on, and he says, so I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter. And the slaughter, of course, will be 70 AD. Hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs. The one I called favor, and the other I called union. So I pastured the flock. This is, this is quite fascinating stuff here. These, these staffs are, are walking staffs, and like shepherd's staffs. And they're elongated sticks. And they provide strength and support, etc. And they can also be used as a cudgel, as a weapon against wild animals, or whatever. And he's got two of them. And he put a name on each one. And one of them he calls favor. And that refers to blessing, the good stuff. That staff represents the blessing, and the profit, and all that is positive about Israel, and what God is going to do, and can do through them. And the other is called union. And that, I think, speaks of the fact that when Zechariah wrote this prophecy, as well as when the others did, Israel was a divided nation. Remember the ten and two? The northern tribes and the southern tribes? All twelve, and the twelve had seceded from the union. When Rehoboam came to the throne, the son of Solomon, and he said, I'm going to raise your taxes.

[17:33] I'm going, he says, you think my daddy built a wonderful kingdom? I'm going to outdo him. But it's going to cost you. I'm going to raise your taxes. And the ten tribes in the north said, nothing doing. We're not going to have anything more to do with this chicken outfit.

[17:50] To your tents, O Israel, what interest have we in Jesse? And of course, Jesse is synonymous with David. Jesse is David's father. And he's talking about the Davidic kingdom, and the dynasty, and everything.

[18:04] And these ten tribes in the north says, we're breaking from the union, we're getting out of here. So they went up north, they established their own king, their own monarchy, which was totally illegitimate.

[18:16] They established their own priesthood, which was totally illegitimate. And they became eventually involved with what is going to be known as Samaria and the Samaritans.

[18:27] But now, this one staff that is union, it means the ten and the two are going to be brought back together again. And they will be one nation. And that's the way it's going to be in the end time.

[18:40] So, these two sticks, these two sticks. And he says, Then, I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them.

[18:52] I wish I had a better handle on this, but I'm inclined to go with what is probably the majority opinion among the commentators and scholars, that these three, these three shepherds are not three individuals, but they are three institutions.

[19:07] They are the corrupt prophets, the corrupt priests, and the corrupt kings. Those three elements provided all of the guidance, the authority, the power, the direction for the nation of Israel.

[19:20] And they were corrupt to the bone. These were the kind of people who were in power when Christ was here on earth. They were referred to as the chief priests and Pharisees, Annas and Caiaphas and that crowd.

[19:33] They are the ones who entered into the bargain with Judas to betray the Lord Jesus. They are those who are going to be deposed. And he says, In one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me.

[19:51] Then I said, I will not pastor you. And the pastoring is, of course, having to do with what the shepherd does for the sheep. He protects, he provides, he does all these things, and God is looked upon sometimes as a great shepherd, and the people are the sheep of his pasture.

[20:11] Then I said, I will not pastor you. What is to die, let it die. What is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated. And let those who are left eat one another's flesh.

[20:25] It's very distressful to even read. It's talking about cannibalism. And for anybody who thinks that they could never be a partaker of that, maybe you couldn't.

[20:40] And maybe you just haven't been hungry long enough. I remember reading, are you familiar with the Donner Pass in California? A tragic incident.

[20:51] But when you're in such dire circumstances like that, where you know you're going to die without some nourishment, it is amazing what you are able to rationalize and what you are able to allow yourself to do, given the right circumstances.

[21:13] And some people shake their head and say things like, well, I could never do. Well, I suppose there are some people who would probably prefer to die than to eat the flesh of another human being in order to stay alive.

[21:27] But if you've never been there, then you don't have a right to speak. Extremity brings forth, extremity and desperation can bring forth unheard of things that people are capable of.

[21:46] And there's numerous instances in the Bible. I remember reading about in the north when Samaria was invaded by the Assyrians.

[22:02] And there they were reduced to eating flesh. Remember the two women who came to Solomon and about the babies and this kind of, well, it's a nasty thing.

[22:14] But let's just go on. Anyway, it's something that is a reality in humanity. And it has happened, of course, many, many times. So we read that I took my staff favor, cut it in pieces.

[22:29] And that means the blessings are withheld. The favor represented the positives and the blessings. But that's going to be cut. That's going to be destroyed because the time of blessing and fruitfulness and benefit, it's over.

[22:44] That's gone. And that's symbolizing that. Break my covenant, which I had made with all the peoples.

[22:55] So it was broken on that day. And thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. Now, I don't know for sure what this means, but I'll just give you a Wiseman opinion and you can take it or leave it.

[23:15] When Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., there were a number of people who were within the city. In fact, there were tens of thousands of people in the city.

[23:28] And there were a number of them, Jews, who were solid believers in Jesus as their Messiah. Remember, we're talking about 70 A.D.

[23:39] And the gospel had been proclaimed. Well, we know it wasn't proclaimed for the first 10 years at all because all the recipients after the crucifixion of Christ, all of the believers in Christ were Jews.

[23:57] There were no Gentiles. They were all Jews. And you've got to go clear up to Acts chapter 10, approximately 8 to 10 years after the resurrection, before you find one non-Jew who has come to faith in Jesus as the Messiah.

[24:19] And this guy was a trailblazer. His name was Cornelius, and he's found in Acts chapter 10. And he caused a big stir among the Jews because he wasn't a Jew.

[24:33] He was a Gentile. He was a God-fearer, which meant that he had already embraced the concept of Israel's God, but he was not what you would call a believer in Christ and was not aware of what all was involved with that until Peter, with the sheet let down from heaven, went and told him.

[24:54] So anyway, what I'm saying is when Jerusalem was under siege by the Romans and Titus, the Roman general, had given orders to his men not to destroy the Jewish temple because he wanted to preserve it as a kind of trophy, you know.

[25:19] But what happened was because the Jews had exacted such an enormous toll on the Roman army, and so many of these Roman soldiers had lost good friends, best buddies, men in arms.

[25:40] Titus lost control of his men when they broke through the wall, and they just went berserk. And the slaughter was unbelievable. Men, women, children made no difference.

[25:53] They slaughtered everybody. And those they didn't slaughter, they carried off into captivity and sold them as slaves. And in that time, there are those who know the Romans are out there or that they're coming or that they're going to invade, etc.

[26:11] And they are believers, believing Jews. And the text says, it was broken on that day, and thus the afflicted of the flock, that's the people who were under duress and under siege, who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord.

[26:48] And I know it is established from history that there were numbers of people who one way or another made it out of the city under siege.

[27:03] I don't know how they got out or what it was. But I know that they fled to Pella. Where is Pella? I think Pella is in Syria. Pretty sure it's in Syria.

[27:15] They fled Jerusalem and made their way to Pella, and thus they escaped the siege and their lives were preserved. And the theory of a number of Bible scholars is that those who did were believers in Jesus as their Messiah.

[27:34] And when they heard this message, they put two and two together, and they knew what was coming. And they may very well have known the prophecy of Jesus about the time is coming when an enemy will come upon you, break down your walls, etc.

[27:50] And that's the Jerusalem that he was weeping over. And this is the fulfillment. And they realized that. And I don't know that that's the case, but it's an interesting speculation. And I said to them, If it is good in your sight, give me my wages.

[28:05] But if not, never mind. So they weighed out 30 shekels of silver as my wages.

[28:15] Now, what are these 30 shekels of silver all about? And what does that have to do with anything? Well, you are familiar, of course, with the purchase price that Judas received from the chief priest to turn over Jesus.

[28:30] But there's an interesting parallel. And back in Exodus chapter 21, and if you'll turn there for a moment, please, this just goes to show you, fellas, something that I've been talking about for a long time, how that everything in the Bible is connected with everything in the Bible.

[28:55] Sometimes we're unable to make the connections, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. Exodus 21, and if you will look at verse 32 under the law of Moses, we read that if the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner, that's the owner of the ox who's responsible or liable, he shall give his or her master 30 shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

[29:31] And the idea is the ox has already demonstrated itself to be wild and lethal and deadly, so it's going to be put down. And the owner of the ox is liable for the ox having gored this one who is a male or female slave.

[29:53] And the point is, of course, what was the going price then for an injured male or female slave?

[30:04] And the idea is that this slave is probably, as a result of the goring, no longer able to fulfill his responsibilities as a slave or as a servant.

[30:17] So the owner of the ox has to give him compensatory damage to compensate for the ox not being able to perform anymore. So the going price was 30 pieces of silver.

[30:30] And Zechariah mentions this, and of course it is prophetic. And while we're making connections with other passages, come back to just a few pages over to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 26.

[30:43] I want to hurry so we're going to have time for some Q&A here. Matthew 26. And if you will look at... Verse 14.

[31:01] And one of the twelve named Judas Iscariot went to the chief priest and said, What are you willing to give me to deliver him up to you? And they weighed out to him 30 pieces of silver.

[31:12] It's kind of like saying, What's Jesus worth? He's worth the price of an incapacitated animal. Not putting a very high premium on him, is it?

[31:26] And that's the irony of it all. That he whose value and worth was inestimable is placed at 30 pieces of silver.

[31:40] Remember just what an injured ox is worth. The price. The injury slave. So, in chapter 27 then, when you turn over a page, we've got, When the morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

[32:04] They bound him, led him away, delivered him up to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, that Jesus had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.

[32:30] His own testimony is ascribing innocence to his Lord. But they said, So what? What is that to us?

[32:44] See to that yourself. Judas, that's your problem, not ours. That's what they're saying. And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary.

[32:55] Just threw them, threw them on the floor and discussed and turned around and walked off. And he went away and hanged himself. And the chief priests, these are part of the corrupt group that was in place at the time.

[33:15] These are those of whom Zechariah is speaking. The chief priest took the pieces of silver and said, It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasure.

[33:26] Can you, I'll tell you, the hypocrisy of these guys just oozes out of their pores. Here they are concerned about the technical legality of what can be done with this money.

[33:41] This is straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. This is exactly the kind of behavior that Jesus accused them of. You nitpick all the tiny details and you overlook the greater issues of mercy and compassion and honesty.

[33:58] Pathetic group, I'll tell you. The chief priest took the pieces of silver. It's not lawful to put them into the temple. Oh, we wouldn't want to do anything that was unlawful. Give me a break.

[34:12] It's the price of blood. They counseled together and with the money bought the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason, that field has been called the field of blood to this day.

[34:28] Then, that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet and is also spoken through Zechariah. They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me.

[34:52] And the potter's field was simply an area that was designated as the local graveyard. Very often, it was high in content of clay.

[35:08] That's one reason it was called the potter's field. The potters would go out to that particular field and dig the soil and get the clay from which to make their clay pots and put it on the potter's wheel.

[35:20] So, let's go back to our text now and see if we can wrap this up in chapter 11. The Lord said to me, Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd, for behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.

[35:50] Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock. This is the one of whom Jesus was speaking in John's Gospel chapter 10 when he says, The shepherd, the one who is a hireling and doesn't really care for the flock, doesn't have any skin in the game, he will ravage the flock, he doesn't protect them, doesn't care for them, he's an unworthy shepherd.

[36:11] And those were the kind of people who were guiding Israel at the time when our Lord was here. The priesthood was thoroughly corrupt. In fact, the priesthood was so corrupt, how did Annas and Caiaphas, who were father-in-law and son-in-law, how did they get to be priests?

[36:30] Well, the law of Moses made it very clear the high priest had to be a direct descendant, bloodline, to Aaron and to Levi, the priestly tribe.

[36:44] Well, who were these guys? Caiaphas and Annas. They were lackeys. They had been appointed to their positions by Rome.

[36:55] Rome. What business does Rome have determining who Israel's high priest is going to be for crying out loud? That's supposed to be something that is handed down that God had established.

[37:06] But this is the nation of Israel that had gone so corrupt and its leadership was in bed with the Romans and yet there was distrust between the Romans and the Jews.

[37:17] The Jews hated the Romans. The Romans hated the Jews. But for survival they both kind of went along and neither one trusted either one. Remember when Pilate says, when Pilate said to the Jews as Jesus was standing there before them and he'd been beaten and flogged and Pilate brought him out all disheveled blood running down him the crown of thorns put on him body emaciated weakened condition and Pilate brings Jesus out and points to him and says Ece homo Ece homo Behold the man Now haven't you had enough beating him well let him go you can't let him go if you let him go you are not a friend of Caesar well that's a pretty serious thing to accuse

[38:25] Caesar's appointee of not being a friend of Caesar that was a technical term by the way you're not a friend of Caesar and Pilate fully wished desired to free Jesus and was prepared to let him go and they would have none of it and he says well if I don't let him go what else is there what can I do crucify him crucify him you've got to be kidding and Pilate Pilate didn't believe that Jesus was the king of the Jews at all he was just rubbing a little salt on it and he says shall I crucify your king and they cried back we have no king but Caesar and they hated Caesar's guts because Caesar was the guy that not only invaded them but taxed them and they had no and brought those legionnaires poles with their idols and false worship false deities on them was an insult to the

[39:30] Jews every time they saw them they hated Rome they hated Caesar they hated Pilate but they had a kind of working relationship with the leading elites of Israel and the Romans so woe verse 17 woe to the worthless shepherd who leads the flock a sword will be on his arm and on his right eye his arm will be totally withered and his right eye will be blind in other words he will be rendered powerless by God unable to be sustained so wow what a chapter it's just now when we get into chapter 12 we're into prophecy that is not yet fulfilled and I want to remind you that verse 3 refers to in that day and verse 4 in that day and verse 6 in that day and verse 8 in that day and verse 9 in that day and verse 11 in that day and chapter 13 and they're all speaking on the same day but it's not a 24 hour period it's a time frame that will encompass the 70th week of

[40:50] Daniel which will be 7 years and this will be that time of tribulation so comments or questions before we break I want to give you opportunity and have you out of here by 9 anybody Dan Marva you know you look at the Jewish people from the time that Moses led them out throughout his entire history is there any one thing that they did that displeased God the most I would come to mind worshiping false gods that was number one all the shenanigans they did and it appears that that was their downfall yeah that was number one idolatry and then if you look at the Roman gods the Romans had a god and what they did they created a miscellaneous god so if there was anything that wasn't covered by the rest of the gods they would go go the miscellaneous god he was the unknown god is that what it was called yeah yeah yeah when Paul when the apostle Paul came to

[41:58] Athens in Acts chapter 17 it's a remarkable remarkable and fellas you've heard me say you've heard me say before that one of the principal things that has infected systemically the whole of humanity as a result of the fall is a fallen intellect now we don't have any difficulty believing that our bodies are fallen because once you get enough mileage on this body it starts revealing its fallenness the aches and pains and everything and if there could possibly be any doubt it's removed when you die because that's part of a fallen body we've got bodies but so often we humans lose sight of the fact that we have an intellect we have a mind we have an IQ we have an ability to think to cogitate to assess information and reach a conclusion and sometimes we may think well there may be something wrong with my body but there's nothing wrong with my mind oh yes there is if you think not you just read 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 and it talks about the foolishness of man and it says and Paul uses an interesting expression when he says the foolishness of God which of course doesn't exist because there's nothing foolish about

[43:35] God but he's using it in a literary sense and he says the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men and he's using it on a comparative basis and the point is that we automatically we automatically think incorrectly draw wrong conclusions act on those wrong conclusions and get wrong results that's part of our fallenness we're all like that there isn't a one of us born that doesn't need intellectual straightening out and this is the main reason well maybe not the main reason it's close to the main reason why we have the Bible God gives us his take his viewpoint his position his understanding in the scriptures and when you read the scriptures you will discover that you are not in line with them and we are called upon to get in line with them and how do you do that you do that as an act of your will by submitting your will your personal authority to the authority of God and that is bringing yourself in line with the truth that

[45:03] God reveals and it starts with salvation that's the beginning because there isn't any growth or development until that takes place and then we are able to think the thoughts of God after him and that's where the blessing and the benefit comes in so we have these wrong thoughts wrong ideas and they're all around us and we've all got and by the way just because you are a believer in Christ doesn't mean that you still do not have to contend with your fallen ego and your fallen intellect we have to constantly check and bring ourselves in line with the word of God and this is one reason I said listen repentance repentance is not just for sinners to come to faith in Christ you never outgrow your need for repentance because all repentance is is the changing of your mind why should you change your mind about anything because you receive from the word of God information that is contrary to your own position and it requires you to change your mind this is what the word says but this is what

[46:30] I believe but this is what I've always believed yeah but the Bible says thus and so what do you need to do about that well I guess I need to change my mind I guess I need to bring my mind in accordance with what God has revealed that's called repentance and it is through the mind the word is metanoia and it means through the mind you change your mind and the changing of the mind is always motivated by it's always activated by the same thing and that is information information information information is critical when we preach the gospel all we are doing is giving people a reason to change their mind from being outside of Christ in their sin destined for hell and all the rest of it to embracing Jesus Christ as their personal savior receiving the salvation that is in him what is all that it's just information that's all it's information but people have no reason to change their mind without information without something to indicate that they need to and you know something sometimes we can be real stubborn about that but this is what

[47:46] I've always believed therefore that makes it right no it doesn't not necessarily what you've always believed may be right and what you've always believed may not be right that's why you've got to be a Berean search the scriptures and see whether those things are so other comments or questions anyone yeah Roger oh yeah yeah yeah psalm 19 addresses that about the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork and day and the day utters a speech etc and you're right God God reveals himself in two principal ways well actually three principal ways first there is creation the things that are made

[48:56] Paul says in Romans 1 things that are made are clearly seen so that they are without excuse so revelation is called general revelation that's the revelation of creation and then there is specific revelation that comes through two channels one is the written word of God or the inscripturation of God's will in the Bible and the other is through the incarnation and it is the word of God incarnated in human flesh and this is the word that was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory and that of course is the Lord Jesus Christ so you've got creation you've got the scriptures and you've got the son of God in incarnation and all of these reveal the existence of God and the way back to him other thoughts or comments anyone well it looks like it's shaping up to be a beautiful day well Roger go ahead

[50:01] Sunday you mentioned about the bad people of the world paraphrasing that they deny God they seek their self gratification forget the some kind of psychobabble term for them and it's like God gives them over to their own lust talking about some of the senators or whatever in the deep state or whatever you want to call it yeah yeah and you mentioned the devil it's like God gives them free reign in their life I mean he just leads them astray and they're blinded you know you talk about the nation of Israel and these people it's almost like there's no hope for them I mean it just you know it just frustrates me that they they can't see their wrongdoing yeah well that's that's just the nature of fallenness it's denial someone has said denial is not a river in Egypt denial is something that's systemic to the whole human race you know it's it's something we very very often when someone hears the gospel for the first time very often their response is

[51:25] I hear what you're saying but I'm not that bad I mean this this salvation stuff that you're preaching that's for the really wicked people they they need all the help they can get but I'm a nice guy I'm a nice guy Joe why how does somebody in the dark all of a sudden see the light what can cause a person to see the light what does something happen in his life does somebody influence him does he have an illness what can cause a person to see the light well a lot of times a lot of times there is what we call a wake up call you know and it can be it can be something that is debilitating and something I think it was C.S. Lewis I probably ought to memorize the exact quote because it's such a good quote I can't I can't think of it now but it's it's on CDs back there 19, 20, and 21

[52:26] I think where I deal with the issues of Romans 8, 28 really being true and the why of the of the reversals of life why pain why suffering why sickness Phil Yancey wrote a book I think it's back there on the table too I think there's copies back there it's called The Question That Won't Go Away and the question is why why why this why me why now what did I do to deserve this this kind of thing you know and and it's it can be a gracious wake up call when someone comes to the end of themselves and they they're confronted with their own weakness and their own inability someone has said that man's extremity is God's opportunity and the quote that I was referring to by C.S. Lewis is that God whispers to us through our pleasures and he speaks to us through our

[53:37] I don't recall what it is maybe accomplishments but he screams to us in our pain there isn't anything that will get your attention and hold it more than pain pain that you cannot resolve or deal with it is our weakness that can bring us to God's strength and keep in mind as someone has said every time we pray every time we pray we are automatically acknowledging our weakness and God's strength our ignorance and God's wisdom yes but then it's his blessings then that can keep us close to him yeah after we it's his blessings then that can keep us close to him right absolutely short accounts yeah yes yes yes Raj to bring your point to the edge in 1989 when I had my first heart attack the elephant was on my chest

[54:47] I could not breathe I was not saved but all I kept saying was oh Jesus oh God oh Jesus that was mine yeah yeah I hear you I didn't get saved right away but boy did I start thinking I'm not got your attention absolutely got your attention God is gracious in doing that and he he allows these things to come into our lives and they are they are designed for our blessing and our benefit and these see you guys have a great day these these things that we are talking about and and the and the evil that is out there and you know the deep state the the atheist the evolutionist all the rest of it keep in mind the fact that as negative and as detrimental and as damaging as these people are and the damage that they cause more than anything they need our pity and our compassion because they are not the enemy they are captives of the enemy and so were you before Jesus came into your life so these these people it's so it's so easy to hold them in contempt and disgust but really they're to be pitied they're to be pitied and they have they don't have a clue as I've said they don't even have a clue that they don't have a clue that's the blindness with which Satan blinds people that and our own fallen intellect we got two strikes two strikes against us our own fallen intellect and the deception of Satan who blinds the minds of men in 2nd Corinthians 4 well thank you all for being here this morning

[56:38]  I do very much appreciate it you all have a great day and we will take up chapter 12 which is really getting more into the 70th week of Daniel and the prophetic picture that lies ahead and we'll see you next week the Lord willing and we'll see you next week and we'll see you next week next week we'll see you next week