ethnicities anymore but it doesn't matter as regards the gospel so we both having access in one spirit to the father means that the Jewish believers have access to the father through the spirit as do the Gentile believers so those who are far off that's us ethnically we are far off from the Old Covenant We have access to the same spirit as those who are near which is the Jewish Christians who? Are genetic heirs to the old covenant promises so now again. This is this adoption theme of When we have a family and the kids are adopted in, we have one family. There's one family. There's not two families, there's not different tracts of families. We're one group of adopted siblings in God's family. So your ethnicity, your pay grade, the century in which you were born, your gender, none of that matters at this point. There's one family, one people of God adopted in by grace all so both far off and both near have access in one spirit to the Father so we're one people of God and who because of the work of Jesus Christ have access to the Father. We can enter God's throne room without any fear of shame, without our guilt holding us back because we are legitimately there at the invitation of Christ Jesus. And he shields us from the justice of God that we would otherwise rightly deserve. And I'll stop there and ask if there's further discussion on this aspect of it. Does this make sense? We're all adopted children, okay? There are no natural-born children in the family of God, none, none. And there's several ways we can get that confused, to have natural-born children in the family of God. Who's ever wondered why we say that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God? Has that word ever stood out to anyone? He's the only begotten Son of God? Well, what does begotten mean? It means to issue from the same kind of thing as me. I'm begotten. I can beget my children because they're made of the same stuff as I am. And they have certain resemblances either in their physical appearance or in their character to their parents. You beget your children. They're from the same stuff as you are. So Katie is begotten of Matt and Tanya. I beget children, I make a sandwich. A sandwich is my handiwork. If I make myself a sandwich, but it's not of the same stuff. It's not begotten from me. It's a special creation by me. So I make a sandwich, I beget my children. Keith. Okay. So that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, that means that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God who flows from naturally, who is made of the same stuff of the Father. He's the only natural child. And so that's why you see, if we're not thinking that way, what people, and this was the problem with the Pharisees in the New Testament, is they thought that because of their Jewishness, because of their descent, that they were natural born children of God. and they're not. If you're a covenant breaker, you have no claim on Abraham whatsoever, and yet, now those who are far off become children of Abraham by faith. Okay? God adopts. Because Jew and Gentile, none of us are made of the same stuff of God. We're a special creation, okay? So God makes man, like I make a sandwich. It's a different stuff. It's a special creation of God. But he begets the one Son, Jesus Christ. All others are made sons and daughters by adoption. So believing Jews are in by adoption, not because they belong there, they don't. They hate God from the pit of their stomach just like me and you do. They must be adopted in. Likewise, Norwegian and Low German and Belgian and Ugandan believers must also be adopted in because they're also God-haters by nature. Adoption brings us all in and levels us all at the feet of Jesus so that there's not a hierarchy, there's not some who belong here and some who are only adopted as though there's two tiers in God's family, none of that. We're all adopted children, all by the grace of Jesus, all through the gospel, and we can all cry Abba Father in the same way. Because adoption means legitimate sonship. An adopted son is a legitimate son. He has right to dad's inheritance just the same as a natural born son. So adoption is, again, I think adoption is the highest watermark of the gospel promises, is adoption. Whatever Christ earned, me and you have legitimate claim to. legitimate claim because the Son, the begotten Son secured it for us and now it's part of this household goods that God is happy to give to all his adopted children. Keith. Right, okay, so Keith's asking, what about, okay, in terms of Christ's origin. So Christ is begotten, not made, it says in the creeds. It's a continual thing. So Keith's question is, okay, so Christ is begotten, not made. One of the chief heresies that has attached itself to Christianity is a heresy called Arianism, which says that Christ is God's first and greatest creation. Okay, to whom does that sound pretty good? Oh, Jesus Christ is God's first and greatest creation. That's pretty good, right? That's heresy. That's heresy. Because to say that Jesus Christ is God's first and greatest creation implies what? He's created. Is Jesus Christ created? No. Jesus Christ is. He is. God did not have a beginning. Jesus Christ did not have a beginning. Did he have a start in terms of his human nature entering creation? Yes. But before there was Jesus of Nazareth, there was God the Son eternally existent in heaven with the Father. So the second person of the Trinity is just as eternal as the first and third person of the Trinity. He is eternally begotten. which means that even, so there's no beginning to the second person of the Trinity, there's no beginning to the son. He is eternally begotten means that the way the first and the second person of the Trinity relate to one another is an eternal relationship of sonship and fatherhood. He's eternally begotten. They have always related to each other as father and son, and they always will. So even before Jesus became a man, He was eternally begotten of the Father. They've always related to one another as Father and Son, even before he took on a human nature and a human body. It's an eternal begetting, if that makes sense. Yeah, it's a continual begetting. It's an eternal begetting. And so the That's right, yeah. So the language of the creeds and confessions is genius on that point because it shows the word begotten or begetting shows two things. One, he's of the same stuff as the father. And two, they always relate to each other this way. There's always a father-son dynamic. Even before creation was there, they related to one another as father and son. And so if you're ever in conversation with the Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon, they essentially hold to Arianism. There was God the Father all by himself, and then he created the sun, and then he created the cosmos. That's Arianism. And it's not Christian thinking. It's heretical. Margaret. In Arianism, can Jesus be God? No. And that's the point. That's the point. They want to get rid of the deity of Christ. So they would hold him in high regard. He's a prophet. a great prophet even, but he's not God. He's God's son. If he's created, he's not God. And so there's certain attributes of God that can't be replicated. Could God, okay, here's a thought, could God create another God? Could God create another God? Can God make a rock so heavy he can't lift? Can God make another God? He can't. Well, you're putting limits on God. Yeah, correct. God can't do absurd things, because we live in his universe. And God is logical. So absurdity, I think C.S. Lewis said, foolishness doesn't cease to be foolishness if we ascribe it to God. God cannot make a rock so heavy he can't lift. He can't do it, because we don't live in a world of contradictions. Can Matt lose an arm wrestle to himself? Dumb question. It's a question that's nonsense. I can't lose an arm wrestle to myself. It's a nonsense question. Can God make another God? No, because if he did, that second God would have a beginning. And one of the very characteristics of the nature of God is that you have no beginning. Okay, if you are created, if you come into existence, you are not God. If you come into existence, you are a created thing, and if you are a created thing, you cannot be God. God has a deity, God is eternal, and so the Son is eternal, and so Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses would not hold to the deity of Christ the way you and me would understand it, to Margaret's point. Does that, yeah, okay, and then Sean. Why don't they get called heretics more often? Okay, so I'll make it real simple. Is Jehovah's Witness a cult? Yes. Is Mormonism a cult? Yes. They are not Christian. They are Christian cults. And what do I mean with Christian cults? Well, they are cults that have attached themselves. All cults are a parasite on something legitimate. They are parasites on Christianity because they would identify as being based on the Bible or being based on Christianity. So they are Christian cults, but they are cults. Why do we not use that word more often? One, we live in an incredibly soft age. I think if you would go back to any century other than our own and they would hear the amount of qualifications and the softness with which we speak and the contortions we bend ourselves into as gymnasts to make everybody feel safe, I think they'd look at us and say, boy, are you guys soft. The flip side is, you read medieval theologians going after each other, and with our eyes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You read Kelvin talking about the Armenians as a bunch of barking dogs, and someone needs to chuck a rock at them. We don't talk that way. Luther talks about Erasmus, he says, you know, he's so eloquent, he speaks so well, he writes so beautifully, it's like he serves everything on these silver trays, and yet it's just full of horse dung. But he doesn't say dung, okay? That's just how people talked until 15 minutes ago, because they saw that these things were extremely important. And we might say they were too rude, we might say that. But because these things were so important, they spoke with a certain directness that we have lost. Some of that may be a sanctifying thing that we should speak softly, and the Bible says to speak carefully, and we need to. But what we shouldn't communicate with our tone is that these things don't matter. And I'm frequently concerned that our softness implies, well, yeah, so they believe Jesus was God's first and greatest creation. We'd say he's eternal. Potato, potato, right? You've got dark hair, I've got light hair. And if that's what's being communicated, then we have a serious problem. So I would encourage us as Christians to be happy warriors. I think that way about a lot of things. Happy warriors. We shouldn't be shrill. We should represent our opponents fairly, and that's one thing that the medievals did very, very well. Sometimes you're reading Calvin and he describes his opponent's view so thoroughly, you're almost convinced of it, right? And then he'll just completely undress it. It's fair, but devastating. Fair but clear. And I think that's a model that we should follow. Our demeanor should show these things are eternally important. Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christians. They're not. And yet to also do it in a way that's not shrill, it doesn't just send people the other way because they're not listening because we're shrill. Happy warriors are warriors, but they have a smile on their face. They love battle. And they're having fun while they're doing it. that communicates a certain warmth, okay, like the men in the Sherwood Forest, I think that's a great example of the way we should fight. Happy, jolly soldiers, we get together, we have a meal, we laugh, you know, fight, laugh, and feast is what the Greyfriars in Scotland was their motto. Fight, laugh, and feast, that's the Christian life. And I think that's That's how we should do it. So there's a happiness, there's a cheerfulness, there's a warmth, but there's an absolute clarity. These things actually matter, and we're not just gonna paper these differences over. Some differences are actually pretty important. The deity of Jesus is a, that's the big E on the eye chart. You get that one wrong, you're gonna get absolutely everything wrong. But yeah, so I would encourage you, go back and read some dead guys, and you'll see, wow, they lived in a different world than we do, because they're just, You don't find many modern people talking that way. And when they do, so some of our modern people that are crafted in that old mold, people like James White, get pulled apart for being shrill. And I don't think James White is shrill, but I think he's just direct. And that's the old mold. That's the old way. This stuff matters. So I'm not going to pretend like it's nothing. Right, okay, so Jeremy's asking about Psalm 2, where, let's turn to Psalm 2. Yeah, Psalm 2 is probably the greatest messianic psalm. Behind Psalm 110.1, it is the next most used psalm in the New Testament. Okay? So let's read what's happening here in Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on my holy hill. I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Okay, what does this mean? Jeremy's question is, what does this mean, today I have begotten you? If the son is eternally begotten of the father, why would the father say, today I have begotten you? And I think like many times when we have questions like that, we need the further revelation of the New Testament to explain to us what the types and shadows meant. So I'm gonna ask for some volunteers to do some Bible reading here. Who wants to read Romans 1 verse 4? Who's got that? Jeremy, take Romans 1 verse 4. Who can take Acts 13, 33? Sonia. And then Hebrews one, five. Who's got that? Maggie. And Hebrews five, five. Who's got that? Val. Okay. So we're gonna do some jumping around here. So the first one is Romans one, verse four. Go ahead. Okay, so here Paul in Romans is echoing back to Psalm 2, and he's attaching that, that Jesus is declared to be the Son of God, today I have begotten you, Jesus is declared to be the Son of God as he is vindicated in which event? Which event in Jesus' ministry is he attaching this to? What's that? No, just yes, but just in the text here. What event is he attaching it to? The resurrection. Okay? So put that in your puzzle box. Just set it aside. So the resurrection, God is saying, today I have begotten you of the resurrection. Okay? Let's go back. Who has Acts 13.33? Who took that one? Sonia, go ahead and read Acts 13.33. Okay, there it is again. Psalm 2 being referenced again. And what's this in reference to? Yep. Raising Jesus, the resurrection. Okay, so now we've seen this twice with the resurrection, so now I'm just gonna stop and ask you, was Jesus the Son of God before the resurrection? Okay, good, so far so good? We're all together so far? Jesus was the Son of God before the resurrection, and yet at the resurrection, God, through the apostles, says Psalm 2 was fulfilled at the resurrection. Okay? Today I have begotten you. I begat Jesus at the resurrection. Let's keep going. Who had Hebrews 1.5? Margaret. Mm-hmm. Okay, and this is in regards, if we go back a little bit, this is in regards to the ascension. So this is after the resurrection. Now Jesus goes, in verse three, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purifications for sins, he sat down, past tense, past tense, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. And then we have what Margaret said. Jesus is not waiting to be crowned king of the universe. He did that at his ascension. This world, I hate to disrupt the panic porn, this world is not Satan's world. Satan is not the ruler of this world. Satan is not even the ruler of this age any longer. Jesus Christ took his throne, he is sitting on it right now. Jesus Christ reigns and rules the universe today, not Satan. This is not Satan's world, this is my father's. world. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father in Acts it says he took David's throne in the past tense. Jesus is sitting on David's throne today. Very important when you think and plan for the future. The panic porn is a lie. Don't give in to panic and fear. Yes, Satan is not yet thrown in the lake of fire, but he is bound. Okay, he's not utterly destroyed, but he is bound, he is on a leash, he can only go so far. Why? Because all authority in heaven and earth will be given to me in about 4,000 years from now, is what Jesus said at the end of Matthew, right? What did Jesus say at the end of Matthew? All authority in heaven and earth. Whoa, past tense. Jesus is saying this already happened? Yes, it already happened. Today I have begotten you, one at his resurrection, Now we see it at His ascension. Jesus has been begotten by the Father at His resurrection. Now we see it in Hebrews at His ascension. And we all agreed He was already the Son of God before either of these events happened. He's begotten many different ways. And then lastly, we had Hebrews 5.5. Who wants to take that? Okay, very good. So Jesus now in his priestly role, okay, in being the better Aaron. Being the better Moses, being the better Levi, Jesus is making intercession as the last terminal high priest before the Father, bringing all of us, and this touches adoption, bringing all of our needs, all of our concerns, all of our cares, all of our suffering, all of our sin to the Father as the great and final high priest. He is the last high priest, and in reference to that, Now the author of Hebrews says, today I have begotten you. Okay, and we could do this more. So Jesus is eternally begotten of the Father. So before there's a cosmos, Jesus was begotten of the Father. At his birth in Bethlehem, he's begotten of the Father. As he's baptized, God says, this is my son. He's begotten of the Father. Through his preaching, he's begotten of the Father. At his death, he's begotten of the Father. In his resurrection, he's begotten of the Father. And of his ascension and his mediatorial priesthood, he is begotten of the Father. The way I understand this, and I think the only biblically faithful way to understand this is the same way we understand the kingdom of God. It is already and not yet fully, okay? I sometimes have given the picture of tide coming in. If you stand on the beach, the waves come in and then they go out. And if you're measuring close to each time, they come up a little bit higher, right? It's not like it's low tide and then eight seconds later it's high tide. Wave comes in a little further, goes back out. In a little further, comes back out. Until several hours later, you're at high tide. Jesus Christ is eternally begotten of the Father and yet the way that that is manifested in history keeps showing up in these events that keep pushing it further and deeper for us to see. So Jesus is eternally begotten of the Father and yet there's these dramatic moments in redemptive history which it is clearly displayed that he is the Son of God and that the Father is perfectly pleased with him. Okay, so that's how I understand what it means to say that he is begotten of the Father. That doesn't mean that Jesus became the Son of God. Some hold to a view that's called adoptionism about Jesus, which says God was scanning the world for a man, he found a righteous one, And then he adopted Jesus at his baptism. That's when Jesus became the Son of God, based on what Jeremy had just suggested. Some understand it that way. So God found a man, and he adopted him as his son at his baptism. And hopefully we've seen that is clearly not the case. He's eternally begotten of the Father, and yet at his baptism, at his death, at his resurrection, at his ascension, This is put on display, that God is absolutely pleased with His Son, and that's how we should understand, today I have begotten you, from Psalm 2. The New Testament writers say this has happened several times, okay? Several times this has happened. That's a bit of a grand tour of Scripture, but hopefully that makes the point that we, we let the New Testament define what the Old Testament is meant. Don't just take an obscure, well I shouldn't say obscure, To take an Old Testament passage like that, that could mean several things, and then we already decide what it must and must not mean, and then have difficulties with the New Testament is the wrong way to do it. Let the New Testament fill in those gaps and shadows that are promised in the Old Testament. Keith. No, you're not overthinking it. You're not overthinking it. So Keith's question is, is there an element that God wants to be asked by the Son for the nations? As a father, Reid's not talking yet, but I can assure you, as a father, and I think the dads here will agree with me, there is a tremendous warmth and relational intimacy that happens when a father is asked for help by his children, right? Will you dads agree with me? When your kids say, dad, I need you to show me this, dad, I need you to teach me this, dad, can you help me? That's an incredible moment. The father wants Jesus to ask for his inheritance. Jesus earned it. You did it, son. You pulled off this mission. Now, now that you're ascended at my right hand, ask me for your inheritance. And I don't think Jesus forgot to ask. Jesus asked for the nations, and that's why he can say in Matthew 5 verse 5, okay, Abram got this in a small little deposit, a little sliver of land in the Middle East, But by the time the greater Abram comes, Jesus says the meek will inherit, yeah, not 4,000 acres in the Middle East, okay? Not the small little promised land that was a type and a shadow of what the greater Abram would inherit. Ask for it. It's yours. I'll make the nations your inheritance. The meek shall inherit the earth. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and disciple the nations, the ethnoi, the peoples of the earth. Everything just gets bigger and better in Christ. And so what we see in the Old Testament is always types and shadows, and it just escalates that much more in Jesus Christ. That land belongs to Jesus, yep. And there will be no Dome of the Rock or no Jewish temple there at some future point. It belongs to Jesus. And our Dome of the Rock and a temple say we don't believe in Jesus. We want the types and shadows. We want the old ways. We want the inferior priestly system because we don't believe the promises of Hebrews. even more manifest the Antichrist is the Dome of the Rock. They're both Antichrist systems. Fighting for land that Jesus says is mine. It's mine. That doesn't mean all people in a party like that are equally evil. Hamas is clearly much more evil than Israel. So it doesn't mean, oh, it's six of one, half dozen of the other. But God often uses more evil people to humiliate less evil people. He uses the wicked Assyrians to punish less wicked Israel. And if God chooses to humiliate us with people who are more evil than us, that would be perfectly just and fitting. If God uses Islam to humiliate us, that's in his prerogative, because we are wicked people in our society. But yeah, to say that there's any kind of mediator or any kind of promise at this point in history, apart from living faith in Jesus Christ, severely misguided. It's in Jesus that these things terminate. It's in Christ. And he says, everything is mine. It's all mine. Ask for the nations. Don't ask for a sliver of land. Don't ask for a church somewhere in China. The nations belong to me. It's all Jesus's. Okay, so Keith just made a great pastoral application. This answers why we pray. Does prayer change God's mind? God's dedicated to course of action A, but then after we in our wisdom provide him with the additional information he needs to make wise decisions, then oh, yeah, now that you said that, Matt, I wasn't thinking about that. That's a pretty good point. So we're gonna change from path A to path B. Thanks for helping me out, Matt. Is that how prayer works? No. So why do we pray? That's right. So God can be glorified because he's bringing us in on his purposes. Okay? Prayer changes Lisa, it doesn't change God. Prayer brings Lisa into submission to the Father. because God is glorified, just like Jesus himself needs to ask for the nations, the Father is glorified when we ask Him for the salvation of our children, or for good health, or for whatever else we need. God is glorified when His children show humble, obedient trust in the good purposes of their Father and they come to Him. Prayer changes me. It does not change God. Yeah, so Dave, if you didn't just hear, Dave just gave the example of Dusty Devers. who is a Reformed Baptist pastor from Oklahoma who recently just won a Senate seat and immediately went to work crafting godly legislation that, humanly speaking, has zero chance. But Dave is saying Dusty Devers understands his role as a Christian man. This isn't about feasibility. This is about proclaiming the lordship of Christ out loud. So some of the bills he has introduced is to get rid of no-fault divorce, and to make pornography illegal, and a number of other things that would just be godly legislation, unbelievers will say, well, that's not feasible. And he said, well, I'm not here for feasibility. I'm here to announce the absolute lordship of Christ. And it's amazing, once there's enough people who are courageous enough to push the lordship of Christ in public, how feasibility changes. Did Scotland, Did half pagan, half superstitious Roman Catholic Scotland look feasible to John Knox in 1550? Absolutely not. Half the people are praying to Mary and the other half have war paint on their face because they're still living as barbarians. John Knox says, God, give me Scotland or I'm going to die. And in one man's lifetime, in an incredibly short period of time, in 50 years, Scotland is the birthplace of Presbyterianism. And with it, actually, to this day, our system of Westminster democracy that we have in our public square in Canada, our monarchy, our Westminster parliamentary system is Presbyterian government for the civil state. John Knox got Scotland. against all odds, against all feasibility. And so when it comes to the realm of politics and people say, well, yeah, that would be nice, but we're like 5% of the population, it's not gonna happen. A committed 5% can change an entire nation if they believe it. And if you don't believe me, look what the Rainbow Gestapo has done. That's like 1% of the population. They have absolutely taken hold of our society. What if Christians actually believed what we believe? and we weren't afraid to say it out loud in public, okay? The LGBTQ plus crowd has shown a committed one or 2% absolutely can be transformational. So I'm gonna ask us, do we believe the Bible like they believe in their sexual depravity? And if so, why are we afraid to say it out loud? We don't have to whisper about the Lordship of Jesus, Keith. Yep. Yep. Politically, the best tactical move you can make is to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. God, me plus God, is a majority. So you don't have to put your finger in the air and see which way the polling is If you're with Christ, you're on the right side of history. Whether that costs you your life, like Jan Hus, or whether you get Scotland, like John Knox, immaterial. World history is bigger than your short 80 years. Just press the lordship of Christ, and he will do with that what he does with it. But we are at 20 after here, so we should bring it in for a landing. Good discussion. We got one verse done, so by the end of 2024, we should be done this chapter. Let's close in prayer. Father God, thank you for your kindness. Thank you for your fatherhood. Thank you that that means that we can come to your throne boldly, not because we deserve to be there, but because your son has invited us. Your son has made us unembarrassed to cry Abba Father, to ask of you all that we need. And I pray that we would see that you are also glorified when we ask what we need from you. That that makes you happy and glorified as a father, that your children trust you to ask and to come. And then you are pleased to give it to us. Lord, I pray that you'd be with us as we move to corporate worship. Lord, I pray that our hearts would be focused on you, on your glory, that our minds would be trained on your word, and that you would be glorified in everything we do. Amen.