Well, good morning. Welcome to
our continuing Bible study in the Gospel According to Luke. And if you turn in your Bibles
then, please, to Luke chapter 12. Upside down and backwards here. We're in Luke chapter 12, and
today's lesson is just three short verses, but boy, the potency
of it just takes your breath away when we start to examine
just what all is involved. And last time, our message was
sending fire. He says, I'm come to send fire
on the earth. And we looked at the fire of
the gospel that's in us from the Holy Spirit and how we proclaim
that in verse 49 through 53 of chapter 12. And today, beginning
in verse 54, after that section on fire and
the division that the gospel causes. In verse 54, he said, and he,
that'd be Jesus, and he said also to the people, When you
see a cloud rise out of the west straightway, you say, there cometh
a shower, and so it is. And when you see the south wind
blow, you say, there will be heat, and it cometh to pass.
You hypocrites. You can discern the face of the
sky and of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern
this time? Boy, what a... Just one sentence
there, and he just dismantles all of our self-righteousness
and everything that we have. Just a few words addresses a
really serious and deadly flaw, which every person born is subject
to, ruined by the fall. And, you know, our natural response
is, well, not really, not really ruined. sin is really just a
matter of perspective, not really serious, doesn't really require
any special attention or remedy, just is what it is. But you know,
he addresses this He's been speaking to the disciples, but this time
he's talking to a multitude of people, and he calls them hypocrites. So I don't think he was addressing
his apostles or his disciples. And he says, you hypocrites.
And you know, the same applied to those who in the days of the
prophets, you know, right up to John the Baptist, didn't really
believe that someone was coming. They didn't. They kind of acknowledged
that it was written that the Messiah was going to come, but
they didn't really believe that. Or they didn't really believe
that it could happen to them. at that time. And that's a serious
problem today. We look for someone to come back
and many people say, well, I don't really look for him to come back
really. Not right now. Not at this time. Someday. Someday
maybe even. Not really now. And it's applicable
to the churches nowadays and to those that go by the name
of churches and religion. You don't discern the time, and we're in the time of someone's
coming back. But at the time that Jesus says
this, he was in the someone is here mode. And so that statement
is really, really potent, really powerful. And he kind of uses
this analogy of the weather. He says, you look out at the
weather and make observations, and generally they're They're
pretty close to what really happens. You say, well, I look out over
the Mediterranean Sea and see clouds, and I know that it's
going to be cool and rainy. And if I see the wind blowing
up out of the Arabian Desert, up out of Africa, I know it's
going to be hot. But things that seem to be perfectly
obvious to the most casual observer, as a friend of mine used to say,
that's perfectly obvious. I think Hawker uses that analogy
all the time. This is perfectly obvious and
needs no comment from me. But you know, when we look at
those things spiritually, We have no desire or ability to
discern the most important thing. And a little bit later in the
Gospel of Luke in chapter 19, He refers to it as the time of
thy visitation. How is it that you discern not
the time? In Luke 19.41, This is really a powerful verse
here, because if we look at it from the standpoint of Jesus
as the Great I Am, the One who's eternal, and all things to Him
are now, He looks out at the city and He knows their fate,
not because He has a crystal ball, but because before Abraham
was, I am. To him, all things are now. And
in Luke 19.41, it says, And when he was come near, he beheld the
city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou
at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy
peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the day shall
come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee,
and encompass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and
shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within
thee, and they shall not leave thee one stone upon the other,
because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. He was
right there, and they knew Him not. He came into His own, and
His own received Him not, the Scriptures say. And of course,
this prophecy that he relates here occurred in 70 A.D., when
the Romans besieged Jerusalem at kind of the Passover time. And Josephus says that there
was probably as many as three million Jews in the walls at
the time. and they just laid siege to them
and nobody could come in, nobody could go out. They couldn't get
any food. They had water from the well and the channels that
were dug in there, but they were throwing dead people over the
walls because they couldn't deal with how many people were dying
from just starvation, and looting, and pillaging, and all the awful
things that happened during the siege. And even the Roman general
just kind of shook his head and wept when he saw them doing those
kind of things. And they burnt the town. I think Josephus said that the
Roman soldiers, because the temple had been kind of upgraded by
the governor of Jerusalem, and he put in a lot of gold plating
and ritz it all up, and when it was on fire and it melted,
And some of the gold ran down in the cracks of the rocks and
stuff. So the soldiers would take their little short swords
and pry the rocks apart to get in there and dig out the little
pieces of melted gold that dribbled down in the crevices. And so
what a thing. He says, because you knew us
not the time of thy visitation. You knew us. You couldn't discern
the time. You know, that woman at the well,
she says, we know that when Messiah cometh, And he was standing there
talking to her, and she didn't know that until the end of that
conversation with the Lord. And then she says, come see a
man that told me all things ever I did. Is this not the Christ? He was there. He was approved
of God by signs and miracles, testified of by the prophets
that He was going to come. We read last time, I think, in
Daniel 9.26 in that prophecy. So many weeks, and then Messiah,
the Prince, shall be cut off, but not for Himself. And it gives
a time frame that from this day, from the rebuilding of the temple
to this day, so many weeks, and then Messiah shall appear, and
then you'll be cut off. So he was there, and he said,
how is it that you do not discern the time? And it's just a fundamental
statement about being ruined by the fall. Right there in front
of you. How many people did He heal?
How many people did He resurrect? How many people that were blind
did He make to see? How many lame did He make to
walk? How many lepers did He heal? All things that were not
capable of man to deal with. And kind of in researching this
a little bit, how in the Greek kind of expresses the question
of in what way? In what way? In what way do the
Scriptures not declare the Gospel? This one sentence that he says
is just so powerful because he just lays bare our condition
before the Lord. How is it that you do not discern
the time? In what way? Haven't the Scriptures
declared that I'm coming? Do you not believe the prophets
concerning me? Haven't you witnessed all these
miracles and signs and wonders? And then the next thing is in
that phrase is he says, how is it that you do not and is it
that you do not? It's just one word that expresses
the absolute negative. The absolute negative. In what way? that you know not absolutely
to see is what that, that you discern the times. You just absolutely
do not. And the only answer that's possible
is ruined by the fall, because you're dead spiritually. You're
unable to come to the only remedy unless you're aided by some divine
miracle that's beyond our capability to produce in our own self, because
we're dead in trespasses and sins. So that's why in John 644 it
says, no man can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to me unless, except the Father which sent me draw him. And that's
just, in today's religion, that word is kind of transposed with
a kind of a wooing. He kind of woos you to come to
him, but it's draw, like a very powerful word. It's like when
those men drew the net out of the ocean, and it was so full
of fish that they couldn't hardly lift it. They were using all
their might. And if we apply that to God,
He uses all His might, all His power, all of His attributes
to draw His people to His Son for salvation. And apart from that, no man can. They have no ability. And that's
really what this whole block of Scripture discusses and has
to do with is ability and who has it. In Matthew, the example
is given that even among the disciples, they understood not
until revealed to them by the Lord. who in this kind of the
same rhetorical question, he asked a rhetorical question of
them and kind of reveals to them all in the same sentence. It's
really miraculous how he does that. How is it? In Matthew 16,
11, 11 and 12 there, he's discussing the fact that
he'd fed 5,000 with two loaves of fish, and the fact that he'd
fed another 7,000 with 12 loaves, and they had baskets left over. And then he says, beware the
leaven of the Pharisees. Beware. How is it in verse 11
of Matthew 16? How is it that you do not understand
that I spake it not to you concerning bread, physical bread, that you
should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they, how that
he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. So in this one question he says
to them, he reveals a spiritual truth to them while asking a
rhetorical question that they had no answer for by themselves. How is it? In what way don't
you understand that The words that I speak into here, they're
life. They keep bringing Jesus down
to this, He was just a wise man that had wise sayings and moral
guidelines and societal things that we should strive for. But
the words that He spoke, they were always deeper than just
on the surface, and they were always more meaningful than what
could be just attributed to them the mere words that were written
or said. And in Mark 4, when they're out
on the ocean and they have that little storm sets in by no accident,
and they're all panicking out and saying, oh, we're going to
die, we're going to die. And they had He that created
the waves, He that created the world, He that created everything,
He that was the Almighty that was in charge and controlled
everything. And He said, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? It means to possess. I mean,
they just didn't have much total reliance on him, even though
they were his disciples and spent time with him and witnessed all
these things that he did. And yet, a little turbulence
on the ocean. and they revert back to their
physical senses and physical reactions to things. And that
is something for the church to guard against is that we don't
look so much for the spiritual truths about things as we always
try to apply some physical rationality to something and try to come
up with solution or remedy for it, instead of trusting him. And he said, just calm, be still. And everything was fine. But
again, that had to be brought to them. They didn't come up
with that on their own, because they were all screaming, we're
going to die. And again, in Mark 8, kind of the same thing about
the feeding of the 5,000 and the 7,000s. And he said, how
is it, in what way do you not understand? And we find that same phrasing
used when he was a child, when he was twelve, and they were
going to Jerusalem for the feast, and when they left town, they
were out like three days, and they said, well, where did Jesus,
where did that scamp get off to? which I didn't really understand
that part of it, that your child would be gone three days, you
might not miss him. I could understand that with
some kids, they go, man, he's been gone three days. But the Lord says they went back
to town and looked for him, and they found him talking with the
scholars there and explaining the Scriptures to them. And he
said, how is it that you sought me? In what way were you seeking
me? Were you seeking me for worship? Were you seeking to plot against
me? Were you seeking to desire and
inquire after me? Those are all kind of the meanings
that that word brings to bear. In what way were you seeking
me? Didn't you know that I would be about my father's business?"
They didn't have that spiritual understanding of why. They didn't
discern the times, I guess you might say, of why he was there. And it had to be revealed to
them as well. And, you know, kind of the best
example we have of this is those ones that are on the road to
Emmaus, those two on the road to Emmaus. If you go to Luke 24, there's a lot in Luke 24. They actually describe many of the things that had transpired. They came to the sepulcher, and
he wasn't there. and the stone was rolled away,
and they were perplexed, and the angels appeared to them.
And why seek ye the living among
the dead? It's kind of another how is it
that you don't understand question. Why are you seeking the living
among the dead? Didn't you know that he must
be raised again from the dead, just like the Scripture said?
He's not here, but he's risen. And then He told you that the
Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men
and be crucified and the third day rise again. And then they
remembered His words and returned from the sepulchral. And they
told the things to the 11 and to all the arrest. And you know
what? They said, oh, these are tall
tales. We don't really believe that. And then in verse 13, we find
these two that are on the road to Emmaus after all these things
have transpired. They're walking home, and it
says it's about three score furlongs from Jerusalem. A couple of good
jaunts by walking, and they're talking about all the things
that have happened. And it came to pass, while they
communed together in reason, that Jesus Himself drew nearer,
and went with them. But their eyes were holden, that
they should not know Him. And He said, what communications
are these, that you have one to another as you walk, and you're
real sad? They just didn't discern the
meaning of the crucifixion and the resurrection. They didn't
discern that it meant that Christ died for their sins according
to the Scriptures and was buried and was raised again the third
day. They just didn't quite grasp that whole thing there. When Jesus asked them that question,
they said, Are you just like a stranger here? Have you not
been around town to see what's been going on these days concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet? Here's some things
that they noted. He was a prophet, mighty indeed.
And we listed some of the things that he actually did. that fulfilled,
remember from Luke chapter 4 where he fulfilled the scriptures from
Isaiah, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind receive sight,
and lepers are healed, and all this stuff is fulfilled in your
hearing. So they say that, he was a prophet,
mighty in deed and word, before God and all the people. how the
chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned
to death and have crucified him. But we trusted it had been He
that would have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today's
the third day since all these things were done. And certain
women of our company made us astonished, which were at the
sepulcher, and they didn't find Him. And they had a vision of
angels that said He was alive. And when we went there, we found
it even so as He said. And they're telling all this stuff
to the Lord. And he says, oh fools, how is
it that you don't discern the time? Oh fools and slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have spoken, not Christ who has
suffered these things and enter into His glory. And beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, he gave them discernment that
they didn't have before, even though they were believers, it
would seem. He expounded to them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And we just can't stress
enough how all the Scriptures in some way relate to Jesus and
the redemption of the church. It all has to do with that or
it's of no value. all the Scriptures concerning
himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, where they went,
and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained
him, and said, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and
the day is spent. And so he went in to tarry with them. And as
he sat at meat, he took bread, and blessed it, and break it,
and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew
him. And he vanished out of their
sight. And they said to one another, Didn't our hearts burn within
us while He talked with us, by the way? That fire of the Word
of God, that fire of the Gospel that burns in our hearts. Didn't our hearts burn while
He talked with us, by the way, and while He opened to us the
Scriptures? And so they went back to the disciples
and joined up with them again and so on. Anyway, it's just a good example
of having been eyewitnesses to all the things and yet not being
able to put it together, not being able to discern it until
it was revealed to them. So the sense then for believers
is that the total necessity for the Lord to reveal His Word to
us, to open the Scriptures and expound to us all the things
concerning Himself. And if it's true for believers
that have been born again, that have been given a new heart,
a new life, then how much more so for them who are in the natural
state before the rebirth. It's just crucial. except you
be born again, you can't see the Kingdom of God. You cannot. It says you cannot see unless
you be born again. You cannot see. So there's no
bridge there other than being born again is the bridge. I'm dead, but if I squint my
eyes real hard, I can see a little bit. Or I have a spark in me I can discern a little bit. He
says, unless you're born again, you cannot, absolutely cannot
see the kingdom of God, John 3. And to the multitude here
who he describes in Luke chapter 12 as hypocrites, and remember
that word referred to actors or pretenders. And people that
pretend to religion, how is it that you do not discern this
time with all the things that you've seen, all the things that
you've heard, all the things that you witness physically? It requires something more. Unless
you're born again, you can't see the Kingdom of God. They're
just like, well, that was novel. I'd like to see that again. I'd
like to see a rabbit pulled out of the hat there or something
akin to that. You see physically, but you're
blind spiritually. John 6.36, he says, but I said
unto you that you've seen me and believe not. You've seen
me. I'm here. You saw what I did."
And he took issue with most of it. He said, well, you shouldn't
do that on a Sabbath day. Or most of the time he did it
on a Sabbath day that they were upset with, but mostly they were
upset because he did any of it. You shouldn't have raised that
kid from the dead or healed that person or whatever. You've seen
me, but you believe not. You hear physically, but you're
deaf to the message of grace. And then John 8, 43 says, why
do you not? How is it that you don't understand
my speech? It's even because you cannot
hear My Word. Because you're in the condition
of being dead. You don't hear good when you're dead. Some of
us don't hear that well while we're alive. As my wife points
out to me all the time. But in the dead condition, you
don't hear anything. Unless you're born again, you
cannot see the Kingdom of God. Unless you're born again, you
cannot hear My word. You say you have understanding
in the world, but it's not really applicable toward God. In Romans
3.10 it says, and he's quoting Psalm 14 and Psalm 73, I believe
it is. There's none righteous. No, not one. Not a single one. He doesn't make any exceptions
here. There's none that understands.
None that seeketh after God. John the Baptist, when everybody
was kind of flocking to him and they were talking to him about
it, he says, you know, a man can receive nothing except he
be given it from heaven. And Paul wrote, well, what have
you got that you haven't received? You didn't come up with that. You didn't create that in yourself
without aid. What have you got in salvation
that you didn't receive? Not one bit of it. So discerning
the times, we'll look at a couple of references here. One is concerning
making David king over Israel, and it lists all the tribes and
all the things that they did about what they did to make that
happen according to the Word of the Lord. 1 Chronicles 12,
32, the children of Issachar. were men that had understanding
of the times to know what Israel ought to do, and not just in
a physical way, because this is very important in the Lord's
plan of redemption, that David would be king and out of his
loins would be the true king. They had understanding of the
times to know what Israel ought to do. They've been given spiritual
understanding of the importance and the nuances of this. The heads of them were 200, and
all their brethren were at their commandment." And in Exodus,
remember last time when we were talking about sending fire, we
had the pillar of fire in the darkness of night? And you know,
the prophets wrote about that. Nehemiah 9.12 said, he says,
"...Thou led them in the day by a cloudy pillar, and in the
night, by a pillar of fire to give them light in the way wherein
they should go, not just as a compass, but in a spiritual way, the following
and worshiping the true Lord. And of course, some of that didn't
work out for a lot of them, but for a few that it did. In the
New Testament, we have a statement by Paul concerning the warning
of the state of apathy in which it's so easy for the church to
fall into in Romans 13, 11, he wrote to them, and that knowing
the time, that now it's high time to awake out of sleep, for
now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. He said, wake
up. He says, He said he's coming
back, and that could happen any time. There's only one thing
preventing him coming back, and that's when the last sheep gets
reborn, gets saved. And then after that, Then the
end part comes. So knowing the time, it's now
high time to wake out of sleep. And so it's kind of a warning
to get, don't get into this lazy habit like those people like,
well, we know that Messiah is coming back someday, but we don't
really, not today, probably not tomorrow, probably not next week,
sometime. And so we fall into this, well,
we're not really prepared, which he preaches about. And Peter
wrote about that a little bit in 2 Peter 3.1, this second epistle,
beloved, I now write unto you both in which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets. So this
is nothing new. It wasn't new then. It wasn't
new before. It's not new in the future. It's
like with us every day, that you're mindful of the words that
were spoken before the holy prophets and of the commandments of us,
the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that
there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their
own lusts And we might just in parentheses note who by nature
were unable to discern the time. Someone's coming back and saying,
where is the promise of his coming? Why do you fools believe this
stuff? Because. You've been saying He's coming back for a long time,
and yet, here He's not. He's not here. For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of creation. And so, in the Scriptures, it's
not linear in all the prophecies and all
things concerning the Lord. He's coming, and then we don't
hear anything about Him being here until after He's here. And
then we don't hear anything about Him coming back until after that. It's all there in the beginning. He's coming. He's here. Before
Abraham was, I am. He's here. He's coming. And He's
coming back. How is it that you do not discern
this time? In Matthew 16 when the Lord was
talking to Peter, He says, He says, you're the Christ. You're
the Anointed One. He says, well, hallelujah, flesh
and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father which is
in heaven, which is the key point through all this thing that that's
how things have to happen. How is it that you do not discern
the time? You know, the Scripture says
things are spiritually discerned in 1 Corinthians 2.14. Now, we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things which are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth." Where's the promise of His coming? You can take care of your own
problems. You don't need to be involved
in all that other stuff. Not in the words which man's
wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual, but the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned." So when he says, how is it that you do not discern
the time to these hypocrites? It's right there in black and
white on 2 Corinthians 2.14. It's spiritually discerned and
the natural man cannot receive them, cannot understand them.
And this speaks really to ability rather, or rather lack of ability,
in man in the natural state being lost and dead in sin and enmity
against God and far from Him as I think Norman mentioned earlier. You're in a state that's far
from God. Ye that were far off are now made nigh by His blood. So, we have evidence or reasons
for unbelief. We have the fall. And as we pointed
out, the absolute need of the rebirth because you cannot see
the Kingdom of God unless you're born again. You believe not because
you're not of my sheep. John 10, 26. And our Wednesday
night, I told Pastor Norm I was going to borrow a phrase or two
from his message on Wednesday night from Zechariah. Behold,
the King cometh part two. And a good deal of that message
dealt with qualifications of the Lord. He is just. He has
these two qualifications. He's just and He has salvation. He has those two things. And
He's eminently qualified in those things. And that means proven,
competent, and having shown complete ability. That's what qualified
kind of means that. And when I lived up in Alaska,
I used to have this friend that was in the security, pipeline
security business, and a couple times a year he had to go out
to the shooting range and get qualified. He had to prove his
ability with the firearm and so he had to practice and he
had to demonstrate competency in that. He had to demonstrate
that he was qualified. And if he didn't, he didn't have
a job anymore. So ability must be displayed. And the main thing in our text
today is the glaring lack of qualifications, the glaring lack
of ability in this multitude that's made up of man in their
natural state. Because you hypocrites, how is
it that you can tell stuff about the weather, but you do not discern
the times? And Nicodemus is such a good
example of that. He would have been clasped with
the hypocrites. who claim to be qualified, claim
to observe the law, claim to know the scriptures, claim to
be in the family of Abraham, and claim to base their relationship
with God based on those elements. which was all wrong. They were
unqualified, but they didn't have that sense of it in their
own natural state. They believed that they were
qualified. And he says, in Israel. And that means in
today's parlance, that would be the equivalent of having a
doctorate in religion or theology. One that's supposedly qualified
to teach. A master in Israel, and you don't
know these things? How could you be elevated to
the title of master and not know the basic things of foundation
of salvation. He says, you know what? You're
not qualified because you're not born again. Unless you're
born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. And he said,
well, how can I be born again? How can I fit back in there?
I'm big now. How's that going to happen? And
so I'm trying to apply physical rationality to a spiritual issue. He missed the point there. And,
you know, the Lord says, If you can't believe about world things,
how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? Unless
you're born again, you can't see or hear or understand the
things. That's from John 3.12 there.
So the results of unbelief is not having His Word abide in you, living
in you. He says, for whom He has sent,
you believe not. So you're not able to discern
the time. You're not able to discern someone
is coming, someone is here, or someone is coming back. And,
you know, in our day, in our parlance, according to Wikipedia,
and this fits right into the religious scheme of things, that
discernment is defined as a decision-making process in which a person makes
a discovery that can lead to a further action, a future action. To be able, it means to be able
to recognize something and then make an intelligent decision.
to be able to tell good from bad. Well, it talks about ability. It talks about can. It talks about
to be able, to be able to do things. And the truth is when
you're dead in trespasses and sins, you can't make that unless
it's revealed to you from the Lord in the rebirth. You can't
recognize anything. I mean, Jesus was standing right
there talking to those people. They didn't know who He was.
Lazarus was dead until the Lord commanded him to rise up off
that tomb. He didn't know who was standing
there. So it's not possible for one
who's not born again to be able to discern the time or anything,
spiritually. And then even after we are born
again, it requires, boy, you know, if we were able to automatically
discern all things, understand all understanding, like Paul
said, boy, if I had all understanding and I don't have charity or love,
I'm nothing. And he understood a lot more
than probably anybody, but he recognized that what he had,
he didn't get immediately. I conferred not with men. I went
and met with the Lord there. So, you know, our discernment
changes the more Christ reveals Himself to us. And discerning the time of Christ
spiritually versus looking for signs physically. And in religion,
there's that thing that goes all the way back Well, if I understand
the times, then just at the last second, then I can repent. But
I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it until
I'm through fooling around, until I see some signs that say, okay,
well, he's coming back tomorrow, so I better get right with him
today. You shall hear of wars and rumors
of wars. See that you be not troubled,
for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." So that's not the important thing.
2 Timothy 3.15 where Paul writes to Timothy and he says, Thou
hast known the Holy Scriptures from a child. You have known
the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Jesus Christ." And this is kind of
an interesting phrase here because unto, they're able to make thee
wise unto salvation. We have to understand that first
off, Timothy was not an unregenerate person when he was being written
to here. So he was a believer that Paul was writing to, so
it wouldn't make any sense for him to say, well, you know the
Holy Scriptures, they're able to make you wise unto salvation,
because he's already saved, and unto kind of means with regard
to. The Holy Scriptures are able
to make thee wise with regard to salvation through faith, which
is in Christ Jesus. It's not something you did. It's
just to make you wise about what He did for you. And since it's
apparent he was a believer, the intent cannot be that he utilized
the Scriptures for the purpose of getting saved, but it was
just to make him wise into how that happens. So then it's not
Him that willeth or Him that runneth, but God that showeth
mercy and so on. It's electing grace, Romans 9.16. It's God that showeth mercy.
So then. So the natural man cannot discern
the time, the time of Christ, neither can he understand them
because they're spiritually discerned. So then we must understand how
is it to be a clear statement regarding our fallen state. that none understand and none
really seek God. And it must come to us in the
rebirth. It must come to us through the
revelation of Christ and the purpose of His visitation. When the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. So the physical presence of Jesus, the miracles, the prophecies
didn't really enable the multitude then or now to discern the times. You've got Abraham and the prophets.
If you don't believe them, you're not going to believe me. It takes
being born again. And for that, We're out of time
here, but Romans 10.14 says, How shall
they call on Him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they've not heard? And we were talking
this morning about the significance of the hymn.
In religion, are they talking about the real hymn? How shall
they call on Him in whom they've not heard?" Are they hearing
about the Almighty God who's effectual in salvation and saving
His people, or are they hearing about some ineffectual God who's
done all He can, and yet the result really is up to you and
how that turns out, and the real God. Norman was on Mars Hill,
and they were all worshiping this unknown God that couldn't
do anything. And he says, let me tell you
about the real Him. Let me tell you about the effectual
God, not one that's relegated to ceremony or obligated to you
by works which we have done. So we preach Christ crucified.
under the Jews a stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness. So we're going to stop there
and next week we'll be dealing with paying the utmost farthing. So we'll stop there and thank
you for your attention and as always be free.