Amos: True Worship - Amos 9:11-15

[0:00] Well good morning church. Happy Labor Day weekend. Thank you for not all leaving town this weekend.

[0:13] I'm thankful to be able to preach this final message. It was pretty under the weather this week. And by Wednesday I told Scott I think I can preach. And he was like well you better let me know.

[0:25] But I'm thankful to be able to close out our series this morning. In just this fantastic text. So go ahead if you're not there turn open to Amos chapter 9.

[0:38] And we'll be looking at the passage verses 11 to 15 that Lisa just read for us. So would you join me in prayer before we dive into our study?

[0:55] Lord you have said that the secret things belong to you. But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. That we may do all the words of your law.

[1:09] Lord there is certainly much mystery that we are not privy to. That is in your heart and your mind. But Lord there is much that you have revealed to us.

[1:21] And so Lord would you give us help this morning as we strive to understand this passage together. Would you fill me with your spirit? Give me unction and clarity of thought.

[1:33] Father would you minister to your people this morning? Lord give them something perhaps they didn't even know they needed. Father we want to hear from you. Would you refresh us in your word this morning?

[1:47] For your glory and our joy. It's in Jesus name and all God's people said. Amen. Well if you have been absent all summer and chose this morning to return.

[2:02] You have chosen well. Two reasons. First we are going to be talking this morning about an end time doctrine that has all been but ignored.

[2:18] And even I think has become a bit controversial for churches that lean in a reformed direction. Which we do as a church. I think some of you have we heard Pastor Scott I think it was last week or the week before said his favorite doctrine in the Bible is what?

[2:34] The sovereignty of God. And so we're going to dive into this doctrine a bit. Second reason is a great morning to be with us in the study with Amos.

[2:47] It is simply because you're going to have a very different view of Amos than the rest of us. Sort of like Tolkien talks about this this you this good catastrophe that comes after the catastrophe.

[2:59] You get to be part of the good catastrophe this morning. You can see the the redemptive piece of this story. See Amos has been sanctifying us with about eight and a half chapters of judgment impending judgment towards God's wayward people.

[3:16] Their hearts had grown cold towards the Lord. In fact they had become lover of things user of people. This entire book has been actually a warning to Israel about an approaching day of judgment.

[3:34] In fact we read about that name is five verse 18 where Amos writes woe to you who desire the day of the Lord. Why would you have the day of the Lord it is darkness and not light.

[3:46] In fact this day of judgment for ancient Israel is so bad that it says in Amos 216 that the mighty they should actually flee away naked in that day. It will come upon you so swiftly you won't have time to get dressed.

[4:00] And we know that it's in reference to this day of judgment that's coming in about 40 years for the northern kingdom that God judges them through the Assyrians in 722 BC.

[4:12] And that carries out a sovereign judgment through that nation and God is sovereign. Amen. And he will use nations to accomplish his will.

[4:24] In fact it says in Daniel 221 that he changes times and seasons he removes kings and he sets them up. God is not above using nations to accomplish his purposes.

[4:37] And that has been the thrust of this entire book and yet today this final passage we're told something altogether different about a day Israel is to actually look forward to.

[4:50] Confused? Don't be. Because Amos is talking about a different day that is promised for the faithful remnant that lies beyond the approaching doom of the Assyrian nation.

[5:08] And there's a twofold promise that Amos gives to the northern kingdom. He gives a messianic promise in the first set of verses verses 11 and 12 and then verses 13 to 15 he gives an eschatological promise.

[5:26] And we talk about eschatological eschatology, eschatos, just simply means end. So we're talking about the study of end times. And so let's just dive in and look at these future promises to Israel and this first one the messianic promise found in the first couple of verses.

[5:44] Amos writes verse 11 in that day I will raise up the booth of David that has fallen and repair its breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old that they may possess the remedy of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name declares the Lord who does this.

[6:08] So there is a day coming when God is going to repair the booth or rather the tent of David.

[6:21] What is the current status of the Davidic kingdom? It is in ruins. It's divided. That happened in 930 BC about 150 years prior to the words of Amos.

[6:35] We know 10 tribes went up north followed Jeroboam the first two tribes stayed in the south in Jerusalem following Solomon's son Ray Abom the knucklehead.

[6:47] Doesn't say that in Scripture but he pretty much was read with a lead with a harsh hand. It said in Scripture that that he said you know what my father is you know my pinky is thicker than the than the thigh of my father.

[7:00] I'm going to lead with such a heavy hand. And so you have this divided nation and it's interesting that this house of David is referred to as a tent and perhaps because it's in such disrepair that Amos calls it a tent and not a house.

[7:19] But a united nation no longer exists intact. A nation that God sovereignly chose to place his covenant his hesed covenant keeping love upon.

[7:32] In fact we read about that earlier in Amos and Amos 3 2 where Amos says you only you write you only have I known of all the families of the earth.

[7:45] And God didn't sovereignly choose to place his covenant keeping love upon Israel because they were the greatest in fact Deuteronomy 7 7 says I chose you for you were the fewest of all people.

[7:58] And so we have to ask the question how are they doing as God's people. Well if you have been with us for this study you know they are not doing well at all.

[8:11] The nation surrounding them would have no idea who this covenant keeping God is who this personal God is what's the nature of his character.

[8:22] In fact Israel was hiding the testimony of the living God and they were doing it through just the choice in which they they chose to live.

[8:36] Amos 4 talks about in fact that they were oppressing the poor that they were crushing the needy. Church the world should always receive a testimony and learn something of the character of God anytime they are around God's people.

[8:53] Amen. Always. So we're always showing as it were God's kingdom in all of life. I had the opportunity to pick up a young man from a local Christian college last week who was hung over the night before and so I had to drive him in the morning to go retrieve his car.

[9:15] Now just thinking about it I wonder what his friends that don't know the Lord think about his God. And that's pretty much been the testimony of the northern kingdom as we have observed it in this study with Amos.

[9:31] And yet despite the mess that Israel has made of God's kingdom the promise here from Amos is that it will be unified again never to move back into disrepair.

[9:43] Well what's the first step in rebuilding a kingdom in disrepair? You need to select a better king. And in fact we have reference of this better king prophet Samuel back in 2 Samuel 7 verse 16.

[10:01] We know this as the Davidic covenant this promise of an eternal king where Samuel says and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me your throne shall be established forever.

[10:15] Now has that been fulfilled in Amos's day? Say no. No. Okay. It has not. When will this be established? When will this occur?

[10:26] Well it actually occurs 750 years later because we have the words of Gabriel spoken to Mary in Luke 132 where he says hey he will be great and will be called the son of the most high.

[10:40] And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom there will be no end. Who is that in reference to?

[10:52] Jesus. Yes. Jesus is this promised king. This is a messianic promise given to the northern kingdom that Amos refers to.

[11:08] And what's remarkable for us church is that actually we have the blessing of living almost 3000 years removed from Amos and we get to experience today a portion of this reality that Amos was only pointing to.

[11:28] Church the king has come. And we'll celebrate this in a few months as we get to our Christmas season. Now did the Jewish people, did they receive their king when he came?

[11:44] No. No. In fact they crucified him. Which really it just, it goes against everything God had promised way back to Abraham in Genesis 12 where he said to Abraham, Abraham, you know what? I'm going to make you a great nation.

[12:04] And in you all the families of the earth they're going to be blessed. And certainly Messiah king came through the Jews but God intended that they would be the vehicle, the ambassadors, the voice to proclaim this king.

[12:19] And they said no we don't like the king God that you provided. We want a suffering Messiah. We want a king in the spirit of David, a military ruler.

[12:31] And so they punted. They said we're not going to speak of this king. And yet God's plans cannot be thwarted by disobedient man. Why? Because God is sovereign. Amen?

[12:47] And in fact the nations, the Gentiles will come to know this king with or without Israel's participation. And that's part of the promise that Amos makes. In fact he says it in verse 12 where he writes, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, declares the Lord who does this.

[13:15] So who can be part of God's kingdom? There's a couple groups here. It says Edom, this is of the line of Esau, Jacob and Esau. These were the perpetual enemies of Israel.

[13:27] So the enemies of Israel's can be part of God's kingdom. And then he says here the Gentile nations called by my name. So the nations, the Gentile, the kingdom is for everyone.

[13:43] The king is for everyone. Well how do you enter into God's spiritual kingdom in the now? Simple faith, right?

[13:54] And Paul tells us that in Romans 10 where he says, you know what if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.

[14:06] It's simple. It's not your works. It's my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection.

[14:17] Trust that that is all you need. It's sufficient for you to be right with holy God. And I love actually that this section of Amos that James actually quotes Amos in Acts 15.

[14:33] You may not know that, but he does in Acts 15 verses 15 and 16. He quotes Amos 9, 11 and 12. Because actually James saw what was happening with Jesus was a fulfillment of what was promised in Amos' day.

[14:50] That the Gentiles, they can come to the king. They don't have to become Jewish first. Everyone is welcome. And what I love about that is it says the kingdom, there's a part of God's kingdom that is actually a now reality.

[15:05] Like God on his clock, it's ticking, getting us to the fulfillment, the final consummation of that. And the first step is that the king has to appear and he has.

[15:19] That's exciting church, amen? Amen? And I don't know if the folks in Amos' day could have even imagined our experience today that the king has already come.

[15:33] Well, we live in this tension of God's kingdom being now and yet it's not fully here. It is the now and the not yet.

[15:44] And so Amos now speaks of this fuller reality of this coming day, which is the eschatological promise that we read at the end now verses 13 and 15. Listen, Amos writes, When the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed, the mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it.

[16:07] I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given to them.

[16:22] Says the Lord your God. Amos is now giving us a vision of a coming day when Israel as a nation will be permanently planted in the land that God had promised to them as part of the Abrahamic covenant.

[16:49] And if this is all new to you, just hang on because we're going to hit a lot of content. And I hope that this isn't just an information dump on you.

[17:02] Land promise. It's talked about in Genesis 15.18. It's in other places, but let me just read this verse. It says on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying to your offspring, I give this land.

[17:18] The river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. And then if I were to keep reading there in Genesis 15 verses 9 to 21, there's actually a list of 10 nations of even broader territories that Israel will receive.

[17:35] And the point is this, that the land promise that God made to ancient Israel, it is actually extensive. It actually contains portions of Turkey and Syria and Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

[17:48] And so the question we have to ask this promise that was made to Israel, has this been fulfilled? And I would tell you, again, the answer today is always no.

[17:59] So just say no. You can read in Judges chapter 1, during the initial conquest, Israel never possessed the full breath of the land that God had promised.

[18:11] We know that there's a return. When Judah returns from captivity in Babylon, under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, they never possessed the full area that God had promised.

[18:26] And we even have in our modern day, Israel 1948, I think it's May 14th, 1948, Israel becomes a nation after 2000 years.

[18:37] And yet today we know they possess basically a sliver of the promise. And so the conclusion is this, that this promise God has made to Israel, it is what?

[18:48] It's yet future. Some of you guys get a little excited? And it says when they possess the land, it'll be forever.

[19:02] They will never be uprooted. We also know something of this future in terms of the quality of life, that is something that Israel has actually never experienced.

[19:17] Listen to the description that Amos describes, the image of bounty in this future kingdom when he says what? The plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed.

[19:37] The reaper is gathering the harvest, and then the plowman runs him over planting new crop.

[19:48] The treader of grapes, they have to chase after the sower as the crops are growing so fast.

[19:59] There are no deer destroying the garden in this age. This land is so fertile that it says the mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it.

[20:19] Church, what do we have here? This is a return to Eden. And I think this is the longing of our hearts, is it not?

[20:31] That's the ache that you feel at Christmas time. We long for a better day, we long for a time when the land and the world, there's a renewal that has taken place.

[20:44] Church, our city is so broken. I picked up a man last Friday, he said, man, today's a good day. I was like, why? He said, I got out of jail.

[20:56] He never proceeded to tell me, I've been struggling as an alcoholic since 1995. And I continue to do dumb things.

[21:09] We live in a land that is so very broken, and we long for this image that Amos paints. This return to Eden, even Ezekiel says in Ezekiel 36-35, the land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden.

[21:29] Amos is speaking about a future day, something that has occurred on planet Earth to reverse the effects of sin across all facets alike.

[21:48] It's a time unlike anything the man has ever known in this present life. And I think for those folks in the northern kingdom, that faithful remnant, they would have heard these words of Amos and they would have taken comfort, they would have been hopeful, especially as they're enduring this Assyrian siege.

[22:10] Wait, there's a better day coming. There's a better day coming. It's been promised there's a better day coming. Well, here's the million dollar question really in this text.

[22:25] And the question is this, when does this occur? We all know that it's future, as it hasn't occurred yet. And so the question is, is this a description of the eternal state, or is this something else?

[22:46] I think we're out of time, so I'm going to just... You know, the easiest thing for me to do with Jesus is just tell you, well, this is heaven, let's pray and go home.

[23:01] And yet, I don't know that that's what Amos is talking about here. In fact, there's a number of passages in the Old Testament that describe a renewed Earth.

[23:12] And yet, these descriptions sound short of the eternal state. And there's a handful of them throughout the prophets. Let me just give you three.

[23:24] Isaiah 11 verses 6-9. Isaiah writes, The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the lion and the fatted calf together.

[23:38] And the little child shall lead them, the cow and the bear shall graze. That'll be a sight. Their young shall lie down together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, the nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra.

[23:54] Hey, get out of the house, go play with the cobras. And the weaned child shall put his hand on the outer den, and the outer den shall not hurt or destroy, and all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

[24:17] We have a description here of a time when children are born, the animal kingdom, everyone gets along, they all play nice. Mom tells the kids, go out, feed the grizzlies.

[24:29] It's a time we've never known. And yet it sounds short of the eternal state. Or how about Isaiah 65, verse 20 and 21, No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days.

[24:48] For the young man shall die a hundred years old, and a sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

[25:02] So life sort of goes on as normal, but if you die at a hundred, you die young during this time of Eden 2.0.

[25:14] Which is very different than what we experience today. If you're a centenarian in our day, you are officially old.

[25:26] In this day, you will have died too young. And let me give you a final passage here, Zechariah 14.7, and by the way, the context of Zechariah 14.17, we read about in Zechariah 14.9 where it says, The Lord will be king over all the earth.

[25:46] So the Lord is ruling over the entire earth at this moment. That's the context. And then it says in Zechariah 14.17, And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.

[26:06] What? I thought the Lord was ruling over the entire earth. And so certainly this is not the eternal state, the vision of heaven.

[26:21] We have here nations punished for lack of worship, no rain. What is going on here, church?

[26:32] Well, this is where we have grace for one another. I have many friends, theologians, I love, I respect, who differ on this ending section of Amos.

[26:46] And I would say in Amos, the first section, the Messianic promises, those are closed-fisted issues for us. We die for those issues. Yes, Jesus is that king.

[26:58] Now we have eschatological promises and we are a little bit more open-handed with them. I actually believe that Amos, he's not referring to the eternal state in chapter 9, rather he's referring to the reign of Christ over Israel and the nations as described in Revelation 20, which is known as the Millennial Kingdom.

[27:24] It's called that because John describes a thousand-year reign of Christ. He describes it, he mentions that name six times in that chapter.

[27:35] This Millennial reign of Christ, it occurs after the Tribulation events from Revelation 6 to chapter 18, and it happens after then the return of Christ in Revelation 19.

[27:51] Revelation 20 follows. And we hear about this thousand-year reign of Christ. Let me just read about it. Revelation 20 verses 1 to 4, it's a section, we don't have time to get into the whole thing, but we read, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit in a great chain.

[28:10] He is the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended.

[28:27] After that he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.

[28:48] They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Now there are three mainstream evangelical Protestant positions on the screen that are happening here.

[29:07] Some view, Revelation 20, is that which, that they kind of view it as that which we can usher in. We can usher in this reign of Christ through the advancement of the Gospel, and we'll actually experience it in the here and now.

[29:24] And then after it sort of like the world gets better because of the Gospel, then Jesus will return and he will set up his eternal kingdom. That view is known as post-millennialism, right?

[29:35] That we usher in the millennium and then Jesus, second coming, is post the millennium. It is a very positive view of what's happening on planet Earth.

[29:49] It's not widely held these days, predominantly because we went through a couple of world wars and we see that life is a mess. We actually know that Jesus asked in Luke 18.8, the question, hey, when I return, am I going to find faith on planet Earth?

[30:05] 2 Timothy 3 talks about like these days of rebellion that are coming. And so it's not really, I think, as major a player these days anymore, but that's the post-millennial view.

[30:20] Some view Revelation 20, as it's actually occurring right now, not on Earth, but in Heaven. Revelation 20 is describing sort of what's happening with those saints who have already died and they're with Jesus.

[30:39] When Jesus then returns, there's no thousand-year reign of Christ, he just immediately sets up his eternal kingdom comprised of Jew and Gentile alike. And this view views the church as the new Israel that all the promises made to ancient Israel now are fulfilled spiritually in the church.

[30:58] And this view is known as Amillennialism. And awe is the way you put that as a prefix and it's a negation that the millennium is not actually going to be something in the future, it's a spiritual reality in the now.

[31:13] That view is very simple, it's very clean, I like clean. I wish I were an Amillennialist. But Scripture doesn't allow me to be.

[31:26] I think some of the major issues with Amillennialism actually is that the New Testament, it contradicts this description of Satan being completely cut off of influence during this age.

[31:39] If you read Revelation 20 as though Satan is bound, he's in the pit, he's shut in, he's sealed over, he's not going to deceive the nations that that's what's happening today, man, I don't know how you square that with the rest of the New Testament.

[31:56] Satan is described as the prince of the year in Ephesians 2. 2 Corinthians 4, 4 says, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the Gospel.

[32:08] We know in 1 Peter 5, 8 that the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom to devour. I mean, if Satan is so sequestered, he is so removed from the equation, how in the world did he have capacity to fill Ananias' heart and ask chapter 5 to lie against the Holy Spirit?

[32:28] And I believe the testimony of 1 John 5, 19, that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one today. So I am not an Amillennialist.

[32:40] And actually, at 4th, we hold as a secondary doctrine, you can be at 4th and not hold this view, because we're united in Christ.

[32:54] But as a secondary doctrine, we hold to a premillennial view of Revelation 20, that in fact Jesus returns pre a literal thousand year reign on a renewed earth, excuse me, which then will give way to the eternal state, which is described in Revelation 21 and 22.

[33:16] In this premillennial camp, there's a couple of different teams, and they have everything to do with whether the church goes through the tribulation or not.

[33:27] I'm not sure there's super clarity on that. We will see. We will see. And maybe you're thinking, wow, Jay, I didn't see that coming this morning.

[33:41] Well, you weren't asked to preach. Amos chapter 9. Amen. Maybe you're thinking, wow, folks at 4th have been reading way too many left behind series, right?

[33:56] Getting their theology from Kurt Cameron. Revelation can't be literal. Well, this is the predominant view in the first three centuries of the church, actually.

[34:08] This is what the ancient church actually believed to be so. Justin Mardin, the second century, said this, but I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built adorned and enlarged as the prophet Ezekiel and Isaiah and others, Amos, declare.

[34:32] Now, why do we hold to this? Because we take a plain reading of Revelation 20. We see it as simply sitting chronologically between Revelation 19, the return of Christ, and Revelation 21 and 22, the Lord setting up His eternal kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth.

[34:56] I would say also, promises made to Israel, God intends to keep these that are distinct from the church. Paul clearly indicates that God has a yet future plan for Israel.

[35:12] Listen to what he says in Romans 11. He says this in verse 25, A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

[35:23] And in this way, all Israel will be saved. So we presently live in what is described as this age of the Gentiles, which is so cool.

[35:39] Let's bring this to the end. If you're here and you haven't trusted in Christ, repent. You may be the final Gentile to repent. And then we just God's program, it just ticks along.

[35:51] That's exciting. We know that there's going to be a mass Jewish conversion during the events of the tribulation. It's interesting in the whole book of Revelation after about chapter four, you don't hear anything more about the church.

[36:09] But what you do hear about is the fact that Israel is now proclaiming King Jesus. Because you actually have in Revelation 7 verse 4, a description of these 144,000 Jewish evangelists.

[36:24] And they're preaching Jesus, their Messiah. It's beautiful. God is giving Israel opportunity, a second chance to function in the spirit that he intended from the beginning.

[36:37] You're to be a blessing. You are to proclaim the King. And God's going to give them a chance yet still to do that.

[36:48] I love that. We serve a God of second chances. Well, maybe you're asking, I'm very confused and I get it.

[36:59] There's a lot here. But who exactly is going to be in this millennial kingdom that John writes about in Revelation 20? Well, there's two groups.

[37:11] There's Christians who trust in Jesus during the tribulation and they survive. The tribulation during that time, you're going to see a mass Jewish conversion.

[37:25] There's going to be a heavy contingent of Jewish believers and Gentile believers. If they survive through the tribulation, they will then populate a renewed earth in physical bodies.

[37:40] This judgment that Matthew 25 talks about of the sheep and the ghost. This is the sheep now entering into their rest, entering into this millennial kingdom in earthly bodies. That's the first group.

[37:52] But there will also be another group, a second group, believers from all ages who have died in the here and now. And they died in the tribulation.

[38:05] If that were to occur and they were to die, they didn't worship the beast as Revelation 24 talks about, they will then enter this thousand year reign of Jesus on a renewed planet, not in earthly bodies, but now in glorified bodies.

[38:28] Really? Because it sounds pretty fantastical, which is actually what we long for. It's so funny we come to Scripture, it's like, man, that's too far out.

[38:43] But everything in man longs for this. They long for this adventure. It's, man, I want something that is bigger, that is better, that is even beyond my imagination.

[38:54] And God says, I'm giving it to you. I think it's interesting we think, man, how do you even have two groups of people? What in the world, earthly and then heavenly?

[39:07] We like freak out, but then we read the Bible, we're like, well, Jesus did it, right? Post resurrection, glorified body, 40 days, planet earth. Oh yeah, yeah, of course.

[39:18] Yeah, yeah, he does that. But then when the Lord says, that's what I'm going to be doing with you, we're like, no, could never be. I mean, could you imagine to be here, a renewed Spokane, glorified body.

[39:37] God has things for us to do to accomplish for him. We're glorified bodies, there are no bad days. Nothing hurts. Jesus in a glorified body, he ate food.

[39:50] You can eat, you can go to Chick-fil-A and you will look amazing, even if you go there every day. So I think the question for us is what does this promise have to do with us?

[40:13] If this was a word Amos gave to ancient Israel, this is what it has to do with us, fourth. Based on our faithfulness now, it will determine the responsibilities that God gives us in the Millennial Kingdom.

[40:32] So this has nothing to do with salvation, but it has to do with reward. How faithful we walk, we live, and we have indication that this is so. In Luke 19, we have the parable of the 10 minus, verse 17, he said to them, well done, good servant, because you've been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities.

[40:52] You have a similar parable in Matthew 25 of the Talents. 1 Corinthians 6, 2, or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

[41:03] Well, when will that occur? I think it's pointing to this Millennial reign of Christ on a renewed and Eden 2.0 planet earth.

[41:14] Even to the church at Thyatira Revelation 2.26, the one who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.

[41:27] All of these are Millennial promises given to us in terms of roles and responsibilities, church.

[41:38] And it just flows in line with God's plan for the church. Presently, the church mediates the Kingdom of God by what? Proclaiming the Gospel.

[41:50] We mediate the Kingdom. And yet there's a promise that there's a day coming when we will help administrate it. I mean, that is not bad for a bunch of wild olive shoots grafted into the family of Abraham.

[42:07] And I had a conversation this week studying this passage. I was talking with Scott and we were thinking, we were just sort of talking about the Millennial reign of Christ and thinking about the fact that the Lord wants to use His people.

[42:23] And it was just thrilling to sort of talk about this, have this conversation. And Scott's a pretty serious guy, but he was smiling in my office. And I think he might have even used the word, felt a little giddy.

[42:42] I've never seen Scott giddy. It was on the inside and it was deep, but he did use the word just so that you know.

[42:54] It's thrilling to consider this opportunity to help administrate the Kingdom with our King. And church, there's an entire renewed earth to run.

[43:11] So yes, in this Eden 2.0, Spokane is going to look very different. I believe it's going to be. It's still going to be Spokane.

[43:23] There's no road work. It'll be wonderful. It'll be wonderful. And I just engage your imagination on this of what this could be like.

[43:37] And what is it that the Lord is going to have us do? We're in glorified bodies. The nations are present. We're on a renewed earth. And the thing that I kept thinking about is I was studying this as like, man, I don't want to sit on the bench for a thousand years.

[43:54] That's going to be a hard lesson. There's no tears in the eternal state. I don't know in terms of the Millennial Kingdom, but man, I want to participate.

[44:08] I want to participate. I don't know what responsibilities I'll be given. I don't know if it's just I'm keeping the bathroom clean in the city park down on division.

[44:22] I mean, I don't know. Maybe I get the whole park. I don't know. I don't know what the Lord has for us, but we want to participate. And I think this passage is for us.

[44:33] There's an exhortation. Man, repent of sin. Walk faithful with the Lord today. Amen. Walk faithfully. And I'm telling you what, the Millennial Kingdom, the promise of it, it's a sanctifying doctrine.

[44:50] And that's a very good thing. I think also it helps us in our vision of eternity.

[45:01] What happens prior to the eternal state, I think sometimes we have this view of heaven that this is a ethereal thing. Great, we're in glory. What are we doing? Well, if you know you have a thousand years to help administrate a global kingdom, and there's labor and there's work for you to do, you're just all of a sudden going, whoa, I have a different view of the afterlife.

[45:21] Because I was thinking, well, you know, the earth is not my home. I'm just a passing through. No, no, no, no. You're not. You got a thousand years ahead of you to help King Jesus rule this kingdom that he promised to ancient Israel.

[45:36] Man, it's a wonderful promise. Well, let me conclude with this question. Why the Millennium? And why allow Satan to rebel one last time at the end of it?

[45:49] Right? He's bound. He's sequestered off. And I think we could even just simply ask the question, why did God allow Satan to rebel the first time? It's kind of the same question, actually.

[46:02] And I would say somehow God receives more glory as a result. And because Satan rebelled the first time, instead of us just simply knowing this state of innocence, like there's a quality to life now where we understand the redeemed life.

[46:16] We actually understand grace. We understand depravity. We understand that salvation is of the Lord. And I think at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, there's going to be a rebellion.

[46:29] I think we're going to see that man has every advantage to follow Christ in that day. He's ruling physically on planet earth.

[46:40] And yet, even yet, in all the gifts of the environment around and God's very present, presents man still. Some man still chooses to rebel.

[46:54] And I think at that moment, we're going to have a thousand years of school of learning about grace and learning about depravity. And I think we're going to be shocked at the end of this and go, I can't believe we're saved.

[47:09] That God would rescue some. And I think on that day, we're going to recognize, you know what, salvation, yes, truly is all of the Lord. Amen?

[47:21] Let me pray. Father, we thank You for these promises made 3,000 years ago. Lord, we're thankful that we live in a day where Jesus, You have been revealed.

[47:35] The King has come. You are also now coming again. We're thankful that there's a day when You will rule as You have promised.

[47:46] Father, we're thankful that we are going to understand that it is Your sovereign grace alone that any should respond to the Gospel.

[47:59] And so Lord, let us hold to these things in charity to one another to embrace this understanding of Revelation 20.

[48:11] It's not necessary to be part of it. To trust that Jesus is King and that He's going to rule forever one day. Well, that's necessary. So Lord, we find our unity in You and we find it in the Gospel.

[48:25] But Lord, thank You for a doctrine that helps us today. It sanctifies us today. It increases our hope and our expectation for what lies ahead.

[48:36] And we give You all praise for that. In the name of Jesus we say, Amen.