Matthew 24:1-2 (#83.2024.01.28)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group, depending on how you're listening to this, there'll be a link to the episode website at beholding truth.com and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode. A fan of Sherlock Holmes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:50

Love the Sherlock Holmes series. How many have read Sherlock Holmes? I love Sherlock Holmes. And how many have read father Brown? Oh, father Brown is really good. Father Brown is the he's Sherlock Holmes as a priest. And so Sherlock Holmes solves cases by clues, by seeing things that other people don't see. Father Brown solved cases having heard of people, he solves them by motives, which is very interesting. So the 2 are are very similar. It's written by, GK Chesterton, a great defender of the faith in the, in the early 1900.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:27

So father Brown and Sherlock Holmes. And I always loved Sherlock Holmes would say to doctor Watson, He would say you see, but you do not observe and of the belief that all wisdom is fundamentally from God, and you we find it in the Bible. That's true. It's in Isaiah. Right? He he hearkens back to that very phrase you see and yet you do not Observe. And so today, we're encountering this idea that you see and you do not observe. We're gonna counter this truth, and we're gonna see that we see and do not observe because we have a problem with what most photographers, most photographers, do, and they're really clear about where is their focal point, what do I look at, and what do I don't look at? What do I bring into focus, and what do I keep out of focus? Right? So we're gonna see that Jesus is gonna help us with that today. So we're in Matthew 24.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:27

We're gonna read 2 verses. And as always, you're gonna see that God has Deep truth. Right? Don't need a lot of scripture. Just need to have your shovel ready to go deep. Stand with me, if you will. We'll we'll read it together out of reverence forgotten his word, Jesus came from the temple and was going away when his disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to him. And he said to them, do you not see all these things? Truly, I say to you, not 1 stone here will be left upon another, Which will not be torn down. The word of the lord.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:05

Thanks be to god. Thanks be to god. So Jesus comes out of the temple, and it's both of actually and There's a turning point because he's done with the scribes and Pharisees. So he is coming out of, if you will, both both physically, but also there's a turning from the scribes and Pharisees. So the temple when I started to think about the temple, Let's talk about the history of the temple history of the temple. The temp before the temple, there was the tabernacle, The tabernacle in the wilderness, they, picture of a mock tabernacle in the wilderness. And the idea with the tabernacle in the wilderness is this. In Exodus 259, he says, construct a sanctuary for me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:58

Well, what's that for? That. That's a pointer. What's the point of the sanctuary? Underline that. That I may dwell among them, that I may dwell among them. And Exodus 4034 says the glory of the lord, underline that filled the temple. The glory of the lord filled the temple. Easy to read that and think, oh, the glory of the lord filled the temple, because we start with us, and we think the glory of the lord. What's glory? Does it mean Rightness, it means I mean, literally, glory has this idea of heaviness, of weightiness, weightiness in value, weightiness in composition.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:43

Right? Valuable and worthy and and and deep and strong. So I thought, how do we think? We think from where we are, and we project up, which is what I said last week. God is not like us, only bigger. So instead, let's think of the sun. That's my favorite since it's also god's favorite because he's put the sun out there. So think of the sun. How many love to see the sun When it topped out, right, I'd love to see the sun. You get winter, and you think, where is the sun? So we were over in, Moscow in yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:22

What 9 1994, what month? July. July. And it is, White Nights over there. And White Nights is literally around midnight, the sun sets. It's up. It's down for about 4 hours, and then it shows up again at 4 in the morning. So you're out at night. We'd go out at 10 o'clock at night, and it was, like, midday, almost or late afternoon.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:48

And I thought about if you flip the calendar and come here in December, there's 4 hours of sun. There's 4 hours of sun. Only 4 hours of sun. I drink a lot of vodka too. I mean, think about that. Right? Why they're so good at vodka? Because boy right? It's depressing, Right. The sun. So you think the power of the sun, there's life coming from the sun.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:16

10,000 degrees at its at on its surface, millions of degrees in the center. They haven't been able to get within a 1000000 miles of it because it will consume any any craft that we send toward it. So let's imagine if we were going to say, I'm gonna bring the sun and put it in this room. What would happen? Yeah. It would consume everything. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna bring the sun. I'm gonna put it in this building. What would it do? If it got near the earth, the sun would consume the earth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:53

So when god says his glory build the temple, it's a speck of his glory. It's a reduced mini version, if you will, of his glory. That's it. Otherwise, it would consume. It would consume. So the mere fact that god would share his glory In a reduced, if you will, right, in a form that could fill a temple just shows the character in nature, The humility of our god to speak to us, to humble himself, it says to behold the things that are upon the earth, That his glory fills the temple wide, that he might dwell with us. Really. Sometimes I can't stand to dwell with me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:38

I think sleep is God's grace. I get a break from myself, And I wake up again, and I can only take myself so long. God wanted to dwell with the with the people. Think about that. So god's glory wells with man. That's the point of the tabernacle. This is where we meet. This is where we meet.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:02

And in in Exodus, it tells us that that god spoke with Moses like Like a man speaks with a friend, that god humbled himself to be in fellowship. The glory of the lord filled the temple. So the point of the tabernacle was literally a mobile temple, if you will. It was a mobile place because why? Because the people were mobile. They were on the move to the land. Right? It's God's dwelling place. So there is a picture, and if you studied it before, you see the components of it. Right? Inside of the tent on there is The holy of holies where his the glory the Shekinah glory of god dwelt above the ark.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:51

Well, let's look at 1st Chronicles. King David said, I had intended to build a permanent hold for the ark. The ark is literally where the glory of god, right, rose over and for the footstool of our god. I love that. The footstool. God says heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. In other words, just get a just a glimpse of my power and my my my glory. Heaven is my throne.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:22

The earth is kinda like my footstool. So he gives that sense. So he said, I wanted to build it, but god said to me, you shall not build the house. Why? For my name, because you're a man of war and you shed blood. And he said, what's the house? Underline that. It's a house for my name. It's a house for my name. The house for my name.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:44

And it's a great reminder. It's not your house. The temple was not for you. Right? It's a house for my name, for my glory, for my reputation. He says your son, Solomon, shall build it. And so the second is Solomon's temple. Solomon built the temple, something that if you were around at that time and you were Jewish, there was great pride in the temple, because the temple presumably had some at least informed people about the glory of the god that they served when you looked at the temple. After 400 years, the Babylonians come in.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:26

They take The Jews out, and they destroyed the temple in 586 BC 586 BC. After The end of the captivity, the Jews who returned to Jerusalem had a heart to rebuild the temple And a heart to rebuild the temple, and that one is Zerubabbles. Zerububles or Bubba Bells. Right? That's the one. Yes. The set known as the 2nd temple known as the 2nd temple. Jews who returned to Jerusalem built a humbler version, right, a humbler version, Solomon's Temple. Not possible.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:11

They didn't have the resources to build, like, Solomon's temple. Well, time went on, and The 2nd temple was expanded by Herod, Herod's temple, as Herod wanted to put his hand upon everything known as Herod's temple. It's the expansion of the second temple, and it supposedly took about 80 years to to expand. And as they were getting close to the end, he employed 10,000 men for for 6 to 8 years, something like that. 10,000 men working on it every year. It had the size of about a 144,000 square meters. It was Essentially 27 football fields. So think about go downtown.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:01

You go to the Steeler game. Think about 27 of those. Like, 3 football fields wide and 9 long. Three football fields wide, 9 long. That'd be pretty big, wouldn't it? Think about it. Take out The whole north side, you think about that. Right? It's because it's hard to it's hard to kinda fathom how big that would be. Right? It was huge.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:25

It was huge. It was made of pure gold. Imagine what it cost to build the temple. And there were white stones in it, which were 50 feet by 24 feet by 16 deep. We had a shed delivered. We had a shed made by the Amish delivered to our back. They had to put it on a hydraulic machine. How do you move 50 by 27 16 feet deep, think about how heavy those stones would be.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:59

No hydraulic machines. You didn't have bobcats. So lots of stone upon stone. Right? And, of course, for about, a 1000 years, it was the center of Jewish life. Not only center meaning kinda life ran around it, but, literally, It was the identification, if you will, right, around the temple. So, Scott Yes. So Why would the Junes go into it and consider it holy as Harry? Well, he didn't touch the original. He expanded it, the outside courts.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:32

Right? He span feel it again, like, you filed it. I don't know, but fairly not. Yep. I mean, they they They used it for a long time, and I don't think he messed with the the, the sacrificial pieces. He just made the court large as far as I know. But not really sure about that. But 1000 years, it stood. And then in 70 AD, We know that it was destroyed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:00

And the story goes that as they as the Roman soldiers are, sacking Jerusalem, But they surround the temple and at least very various versions of the story. 1 soldier 1 drunken soldier was one of the stories, Threw a torch in and it just began the fire began, and then it the whole entire temple was consumed. And as it burned, the gold melted, not surprisingly, and it would go into the of the stones and into the ground. So the commander said, take Every stone take every stone. Not 1 stone was left. Every stone was taken. Stone upon stone. So, literally, there was nothing left.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:56

And then the the commander who was leaving At the end, Ernest Rufus, the, army general, he drew a plow over it as he left so that, literally, you couldn't see The ground. It was plowed under. Well, we know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would Say not 1 stone will be left is what Jesus said. Not 1 stone will be left, but we are we also might know that Jeremiah said, oh, by the way, the lord of hosts, Yahweh of hosts says this, Zion will be cloud as a field, And Jerusalem will become ruins. So 100 of years earlier, not only That there would be nothing left on top, but, literally, that it would be plowed under. It would be plowed under. Amazing, Demi, bowed under. So I look at that, and I think, okay.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:53

So what about us? What do we take from that? The truth in god's word? Sometimes sometimes, Like I say oftentimes, although it could be oftentimes, we are looking to, Right. And at, we are looking at and to the wrong things. Sometimes, we are looking at and to. Verbs mean different things, of course. 1 is what we're focusing on. 2 is what we're trusting in. So here we are, the context. What's the context? Jesus laments.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:30

He's lamenting over the lost and their future judgment. Right? He's lamenting that these people are lost, That they that they're blind, that they're not paying attention, they will kill the messengers, and that their destruction, their imminent destruction, Right? Is for sure in the future. He's lamenting over that. And as they walk out, the disciples say, Have you checked out the buildings? I mean, they're amazing. This temple's amazing. Now I don't know what they said or What their thought is, you can't I mean, it isn't in there, but, you know, it was amazing. And as they're leaving, Jesus leaving there, and they're saying, wow. These are amazing buildings.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:15

They said they came up, right, they they came up to point out the temple buildings to him. So they're saying, hey, Jesus. Did you check these out? I I mean, you were a stonemason. You were a a wood crafter. Amazing architecture. Amazing construction. Guessing. Pretty cool.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:36

So he's lamenting over the lost, and the disciples are pointing out the temple buildings. So I thought it's probably true that we are more impressed by and by our old nature, we worship the things that we create. We are more impressed by And by our old nature, we worship what we create, what man creates. What are you talking about? Not me. Well, So as in Romans 1, we exchange the glory of the incorruptible god for an image. We love images. Our Simple nature loves images. Beware today that you are being betwixt by HD images, images that appear even nicer than life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:22

I mean, you, you know, you will you'll watch a football game in HD, and it gets better being there. It looks better than Life is is is not HD, but it's because we are attracted to images. Make no graven Image, but we're attracted to images. It it it it there's something in our nature that attracts us to images. Now notice, what is the world today? They're just following images all day long. They're just scanning through images. And now there's there's literally Millions of them. There's images everywhere, from billboards to TV to right? And so be cautious About the HT sewer pipe that comes into your devices, just be care very, very careful About that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:12

Right? But there are great images on there, so pay attention. Why? It's our nature. It's our old nature to exchange the glory of god for an image, and they they exchange the truth about god for A lie. That's our old nature. And worshiped and served created things. Underline that. Served created things. Served Creatures, sir, those things that are created.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:40

It is our nature to worship what we create what we create, so be cautious. And I love this in Isaiah 44. It's a great picture. He said those who fashion a great image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit. So it says, hey. You go out. You look around in the forest, and you plant a tree, and you water it, and you know what I mean? It grows, and then you cut it down, and then you passionate into 1 of 2 things. Some of it, half of it, you put in the fire, and you burn it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:14

You make your stuff from it. Yeah. You cook your food. You warm your house. You, right, you you you you use the light to see things. The other half, you make into An image, and you bow down to that image. You pray to that image. You trust in that image.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:33

We don't bow down anymore. We bow down in our hearts for sure. We bow down in our hearts for sure. But So he says no he says no one recalls in Isaiah nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, I burned half of it in the fire. So in other words right? Notice right. And he says 3 things. Right? He said, then I make the rest of it into an abomination. I fall down before a block of wood.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:01

Well, he says recall, have knowledge, or understanding. Three things you don't remember. Right? You don't know. And from that knowledge, you don't have understanding. In other words, Understanding that applies to your life. You're in darkness. Why are you in darkness? You are deceived. The heart, Jeremiah says it's deceptively wicked.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:25

It's hard to think about. Remember, that's our heart. Our heart chooses and love's deception. We deceive ourselves just like we deceive others. He said the deceived Tardis Turned him aside, and he cannot deliver himself nor say, notice, is there not a a lie in my hand? He's saying you're not he's not even able to see it. Like, there's 2 pieces of wood. 1 you burn, 1 you bow down to. What's the difference? It seems So clear.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:56

But saying you don't remember, you don't have knowledge, and it isn't applied knowledge. That's our old nature. It is our old nature to want to worship the created thing, worship our own accomplishments. Right? So the point is we are by nature, we've been redeemed from that, but our heart we still have an old heart. Our heart wants to follow the lie. It just does. That's why he says scripture is super important. Why? It's living And active.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:28

And it's able able. It has power. Right? It's able to judge, Discern, separate, judge the thoughts and intentions of what? The heart. Right. Piercing, as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, it's able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Oh, I don't want my thoughts and intentions to be judged, frankly. Right? Because I judge them myself, and it's easy to lie to ourselves, isn't it? Yes. It's super easy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:07

It's super easy. So that's our old nature. It's good to remember, right, that we are more impressed by and our old nature worships what we create. Now think about that. Right? Isaiah cries out holy, holy, holy. It's Yahweh god, the lord god. Right? And it says, the lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. But I will drive around, and I'll be amazed by buildings and stuff.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:37

I will. I'll just think, like, how did they build that? You know? That's really ama it's just amazing, And I don't think about that often. Oh, you built the mountains. Oh, you built the sun. Oh, the wind. I was thinking the other day, the the so I'm trying to think here, the snow comes. Oh, great. Now I have to shovel it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:59

Then I said, lord, The scripture says you have this in a storehouse somewhere. Where is your storehouse? Isn't that super cool? I just send some I just send the snow. It's in the storehouse. Super cool. Right? So the whole earth is full of his glory. So he reminds us to be impressed by him. Okay. So I also thought, similar to being impressed by, we're also we more easily trust.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:28

And by our old nature, we hope in and even idolize what we can see. We hope in and we idolize what we can see. It's our nature trust in. Scripture says we walk by Faith. Faith. Don't don't line up by faith, not by Sight. Sight. In I think it's Isaiah 63.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:52

It says the spirit of the lord is upon him, spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of the of knowledge and the fear of the lord, and he will delight in the fear of the lord. You will not judge by what his eyes see nor make decisions by what his ears hear. Will not judge by what his eyes see nor make decisions by what his ears hear, picture of the lord Jesus, the anointing of the spirits upon him, and he doesn't judge by this stuff Or make decisions by this stuff. Well, Lord, that's how we're wired. We see the world, and we make judgments about it. And he's saying no. You that's why we talked about living inside out. Right? The spirit of God, his word as he directs us.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:40

That's why I thought if we're making I was talking with somebody the other day. If we're making a major decision, like a a move of a turn That would be a major change on the the daily decedent. We ask the lord for a scripture so that we can stand on that. Right. And like I said, we were thinking about, you know, kind of talking about looking for a new you know, build a new house. We've we've done new before, and we thought about that. So I said, Lord, you just let me know. What do you what do you want? And, you know, within a couple of days or out of week or whatever, he just said no.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:11

He gave me a scripture. I was really clear. No. Okay. Done. Like, so major changes. Daily, if you're in his word and you walk with him, you don't have to wait for the writing on the wall. But if you're making a major your life.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:24

Right? Change of jobs or, you know, change of city or whatever. Drugs, we like because I wanna stand. Lord, you said this. This is a promise I can stand on. Does that make sense? Standing on the promises of god, my savior. Right? On the promises. Right? We walk by faith. What is faith? Right? So when Josh and Mary Anne close on this house, They will get a deed, a title deed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:54

The title deed would be if somebody shows up and they can say, Hey. We own that house, and you bought the title deed, said, no. I own this car. I own this house. I own this retirement account, whatever, we have a deed, if you will, title deed. That's what faith is. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the Conviction title deed of things not seen. You have a title deed that things not seen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:22

Yeah. But I like to see. Right? I I this this made me comfortable. Right? I hold on to things. Like, how do I hold on to those things I can't see? They're visible. But he's saying they're real. They're realer or as real as the things which we can see. So it reminds us, face the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:47

In hope, we have been saved. So he says hope you don't hope for what you have, do you? You don't hope for what you see. Right. So we're saved in hope. Quite hope for what? Our our our resurrection just like the lord Jesus. When we see him, we'll be made like him. Right? We will dwell with him eternally. You don't see those things.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:12

While we look not, it says in 2nd Corinthians, underline not. In other words, if you're going to live as a Christian, We have to learn to look not at the things which are seen, underline, but at the things which you're not seeing. The Things that you're seeing are temporal. Things that you're not seeing are eternal, everlasting. Don't wear out. It says that our inheritance is eternal, incorruptible, Unchangeable, it is preserved. It is guarded in heaven for you. Nobody's getting To your inheritance.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:55

The lord himself preserves it. So we need eyes to see, don't we? How do we get that? Well, Paul prays that, and I pray that for you, that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. What? Know the hope of this calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of his power for you as you believe, the surpassing greatness of his power toward you as you believe. What's that power like? He said that's the power that raised the lord Jesus from the dead, seated him at his right hand, well, far above all rule, Authority, power, dominion, every demonic level will rule authority, power, dominion, and god gave him a name. What name is that? Name that is greater than every other name, the only name by which you may be saved. Right? And one day, every bow and every tongue confess. So he says we have to look at the things not seen. Set your mind on things above, it says in Colossians 3.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:59

So So here's the question. Today, we talk about this. What seen things are you looking to and hoping in, what seeing things are you looking to and hoping in? For example, you look around and let me say the world is insane. It's not insane. It's in Satan. So the prince of the power of the air. Why is this a surprise? It's also under the sovereignty and authority and the providence of almighty god, who is moving all things To the end of times in which he will sum up all things into Christ, that is unseen. What do I see? An insane world Where lots of megalomaniacs are trying to take control of the world through fear and And power and all the things that's going on.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:49

You got Clark Schwab and all this stuff that's going on in Davos right now because they are planning for and And letting you know, we we wanna take control of the entire world. Wanna take control of your health. We wanna take control of your mind. As that goes on, that's what's seen, isn't it? Somebody said that's pretty scary. Yeah. If you look at America, what's going on, right, same way. All the things that are seen are pretty scary, which is always occlude to me. Warning, it's the idle warning light.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:19

I love Certainty. I love comfort. I love safety. Right? I love all those things. Who doesn't? We talk about that. Like, who doesn't? Nobody's gonna pray for, Lord, bring, you know, bring not peace. Right? So we love all that saying. The the the problem is when we love it Too much.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:40

Yeah. And we love it too much. It's easy to love what we can see, to hope in it. Right? Look to it And hope in it, right, where all our plans are based upon it. That make sense? So he's saying to them, the temple's gonna be Corey, don't you understand? This is fading away. Right here, this is fading away. So it's good to say, okay. Right? John Calvin said our heart loves to create it's a factory.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:11

It's a factory. One after another. They come out of there like on the assembly line, don't they? To so just pay attention. You're just saying pay attention. That's why his word is essential to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And as you look around the world, I I would say you should have 2 buckets. 1 is the bucket that you can control, Very small budget. The other is what I would call the black hole.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:41

It's the black hole of the uncontrollable. It's the black hole of the uncontrolled. In a black hole, there is no light because the gravity of the black hole sucks Literally the light into it and consumes it. And the black hole, right, is out there. It's media. It's all the stuff that you can't control. How much during your day are you in the black hole About with things you cannot control. I mean, I look at that stuff, and I think, okay.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:13

That's bad. But there's 0 I can do about it. So be depressed Or be hopeless or be frustrated or aggravated or and it doesn't seem like anything that comes from that is helpful. So my answer is shut off all media. Oh, how would you know what's going on? What do you need to know that's going on? Do you presume that what they're telling you is going on is actually what's going on? It's not. It's like, today, it's outright propaganda, And they don't even pretend to lie. Used to pretend to lie. Now it's just lies.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:50

Right? So what's the point? Well, you gotta know why. If it's really bad, somebody will come up like you and tell me, did you hear? I hear you. Right? Just start to think, what what am I doing in In the black hole of uncontrollable in the uncontrollable black hole. So my point is there, let God be God. Because the uncontrollable bucket is his bucket, and it's not out of his control. So I said he knows what will be done. He knows when it will be done, and he fulfills all his purpose and plans. He fulfilled them all.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:31

It's like he said the temple is gone. Well, it took 70 years. What? On time. In the fullness of time, he sent forth his son. In the fullness of time, the temple was destroyed. In the fullness of time, the world will be summed up into Christ. In the fullness of time, he will call you home in the fullness of time, his time. So he reminds you and me in Isaiah, I am god, just underline it, Which is inherent, and you are not.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:05

I am god, and you are not. Because he says and by the way, there is No other. I am god, and there's no one like me declaring the end From the beginning, the end of the world, the end of your life, the end of America, The end of Alexander the Great's reign, I mean, it just said all of a sudden, he it was done, and he died. K. It was the end. He declared the beginning. He declared the end. Scarcely have they been planted.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:39

Scarcely have they been, Scarcely have their stock taken root. Scarcely have they been planted. Scarcely have they been sown. Scarcely has their stock taken root. But he merely on them and they wither. And he carries them away like chat. Right? So he'll let them be for a time, and then it's done. So he says, right, from ancient times, things which have not been done saying my purpose will be Establish, and I will accomplish how much? All my good pleasure.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:13

Not some, but all. Truly, I've spoken truly. I will bring it to pass. I have planned it. I will do it. So he reminds us here, the temple, you you you could have said, oh, we're gonna protect it, and it's never gonna be torn down. Lord, say, no. My purpose will be accomplished.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:35

And it's a great reminder here. It's not about the temple, It's not about the tabernacle. It's all about Jesus. The temple and the tabernacle always pointed to Jesus. Sounds like the gray squirrel issue. Johnny little Johnny in Sunday school. It's gray. Furry lives in a tree.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:56

I don't know. It sounds like a squirrel, but the answer must be Jesus. Right? Well, the fact is the answer is Jesus. The tabernacle and the temple are a copy and a shadow of heavenly things. There is shadow. So if I see a shadow, what do I know? There's light, and there is A solid object which is creating the shadow. Of course. He's saying the temple, the stuff in there was a shadow of heavenly things.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:28

The solid is in heaven. The Old testament priest offered the gifts according to the law, And they serve a copy and a shadow. Where are the real things? In heaven. Oh, oh, that's pretty cool. And we have the most high. And, by the way, the most high doesn't dwell in houses made by human hands. Duh. You're not putting the sun in this building.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:03

I mean, they he's saying think about it. Right? Think about it. If the prophet says, heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool, the footstool of my feet. What kind of house will you build for me? Go ahead. Build me a house. How big should it be? I mean, think about it. And he says, oh, by the way, Was it not my hand that made all the things that you would use to make the house? So why do I need you to make a house? I made you. I made the stuff.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:31

I don't need a house to rest in. Right? Don't need a house to rest in. Is that a great reminder? And I love this stuff. He said, I created this stuff. I don't need this stuff. And Jesus is the high priest. He is the high priest in the true tabernacle. I love this.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:54

It says in Hebrews, we have we have such a high priest. Where is he? He's taken his seat at the right hand. What's the right hand? It's the seat of power and favor. Receive inheritance at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary. What's the sanctuary? It's the true tabernacle. Well, who pitched that one? Yeah. You pitched a copy. You pitched a copy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:22

Miniature. So that picture I have on there, on the front is literally miniature. Right? That one's full size, but the The the Solomon's Temple, the the miniature. Somebody somebody built it. He's saying that's not just like that's not the real The one the one you made in the temple is not for me. Right? So Jesus is the high priest, and he is in the true tabernacle which the lord has pitched. What does that mean that he is the high priest, that he's at the right hand of the father? That means he is able to save forever those who come through him. Right? He's able to save forever those who draw near to god through him.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:04

Why? Why is it possible that he is able to save you forever? Because he ever lives to make Intercession for you. He ever lives to make intercession for you. Those flippy say those flippy sayings, Which have a have a journal of truth, once they've always say, are so they they they they make the truth of god so irrelevant and pedestrian and and junk. It's just junk. Right? You have to he says, why what's the point? He is able he, who? Jesus is able to save forever those who's who come through him. Why? Because he ever lives to make intercession for you. How can he do that? Because he is the he is the sinless one. He is the lamb.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:58

It's the lamb who was slain. And at the end of the days, there will be myriads of myriads. Like, you'll look in every direction. I try and close my eyes and think about this. Imagine if you could look and there would be people that you couldn't even see the end of. Right? And it would say but but with a loud voice, they say, worthy. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and might, honor, glory, blessing. And then it says, Every created thing which is in the heavens and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, I heard them all say the same thing to him who sits upon the throne and to the lamb.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:34

Be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever. Right? They worship the one. That's why you are saved forever. You're saved forever because he intercedes, because I have a high priest. It's not because it's once saved, always saved. No. I have a high priest. I have a high priest who intercedes for me and said to first John, if any man sins, we have an advocate.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:59

Who's the advocate? Jesus Christ, the righteous. Jesus Christ, the righteous. That's why I know if we confess our sins, he is faithful and Righteous, the forgiver of our sin. In his righteousness, he forgives us. If he didn't, he wouldn't be righteous Because Jesus was slain. His blood was shed. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. His blood was shed for me, Yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:28

I love this. It says the word became flesh and it dwelt among us. And I think, oh, walked among us. Right? Moved among us. No. The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. It's literally the word. The word became flesh and tabernacled among us, as in dwelled in the tent, as in in camp, as in the tabernacle, as in the temple.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:54

Don't you understand he's saying that was me all along, pointing pointing to the one who would tabernacle Among you, god's glory with us. That's what it is. Right? The the the the tabernacle was god's glory with us. Right? The glory of the lord filled the glory of the lord filled Jesus. Of course. The glory. Glory is all the only Begotten, full of grace and truth. It says no man has seen god at any time, but Jesus, the only begotten god, he has brought him out into the open.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:28

The glory of the lord tabernacled among us. The uncontainable stepped into a container and showed forth the glory in such a way that we weren't consumed by it, That we weren't burned up by the light and the power. We saw the glory The glory of the lord Jesus tabernacled among us. Is that cool? So what about now? Growing into a holy temple and the lord being built together into a dwelling of god, a dwelling of god. Who is that? You also As living stones being built up as a spiritual house or holy priesthood to offer up what? Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god through Jesus Christ, sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, Sacrifice of good works, sacrifices. God's people are his temple now. God's people or his temple now. Lord, I think we shoulda used Solomon's temple.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:34

I think it looked better. It's a better representation of you. God's peep us? In all our brokenness and our sin, where is Temple now? God's people are the church. For that, before, we don't go to church. This isn't the church. Right. But it's become easy to say. Right? Where are you going? I'm going to church.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:59

Right? Right? We think of that as a building. He said, no. No. We are the church. Its people, which I'd say, lord, what what is that that your plan and your purpose, overtime fussing? You look at it now and you think, oh, it'd have been great in the beginning. Then you read about the beginning, and it's no different than now. They're fussing and fighting. There was, you know, there was truth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:23

There was deception going on. There's power struggles, or all that stuff was happening all the way along. This is his plan and purpose. But he says, we don't hope for what we see, do we? We hope for what we Cannot see. Well, what is it that we're hoping for? God with us eternally. That's the hope. God will tabernacle with us eternally. That's what we hope for, ain't it? They'll be made like him, and I I will he will tabernacle with us.

Scott Keffer [: 00:46:00

So he said in Revelation, which was also prophesied in Isaiah, I saw in a a new heaven and a new earth. For the 1st heaven and the 1st earth passed away. The temple was destroyed. Jesus said new temple. He said the heavens and the earth, Right? How will that happen? What will it be like? I don't know. I don't know. Those are all the questions we ask other than The old will pass away. The new will come.

Scott Keffer [: 00:46:32

Right? Just like with you. Heard a loud voice from the throne. What did it say? Behold, The tabernacle, tabernacle of God, the glory of God will do what? Among men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. That's the whole point of the tabernacle. God's glory, god's people What would that be like, Lord? God himself will be among them. He will wipe away every tear. Elaine, that girl is broke. She's broken.

Scott Keffer [: 00:47:06

Right? She's broken. How many have shed tears in life because of brokenness, pain, right, Loss. I mean, all the things. He says, I'm gonna wipe away every tear. There's a tear that you have. In fact, he says, for sure, There isn't a tear that you shed, but he doesn't have it in a bottle. What's that mean? It isn't lost. There isn't a tear that's lost.

Scott Keffer [: 00:47:28

Just like there's not a prayer that's lost, a tear that's lost. He said I'm gonna wipe away. There shall no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning, Crying or pain, mourning or crying or pain, the first things passed away and in the sense of not to be remembered anymore, What would that be like? I don't know how we'll remember, but certainly not from pain. Right? He will have washed that all away. So god will tabernacle among us the glory of god in fellowship with man eternally. That's what we hope for, isn't it? Alright. Write down an insight from the temple, from our inclination to be impressed by what we create and Easily trust in it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:48:23

You know, that the tabernacle and the temple have always pointed to the lord Jesus. They're a picture for us. Right down inside, we'll share a few. He is our blessing. Right? And he is our only hope, and he is a solid hope. For sure. Right? Use it for sure hope. For sure.

Scott Keffer [: 00:48:41

I love when I think just even physically that, like, one of the things that you can do change your physical right? To change your your your mindset and perception, change your so what does scripture say? Look to the mountains. We're we're not to look I looked at the mountains. Oh, from whence does my help come? Then ask a question. Right? My help comes from the lord, oh, the maker of heaven and earth. The idea is to change. Right? Nebuchadnezzar, at the end of its days, it says he looked up, and his reason resumed to him. And he said, oh, your kingdom's an everlasting kingdom. You're dominion from generation to generation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:23

So, literally, right, Physically, look up. You just change your right? When you're feeling down, look up.

Audience [: 00:49:30

Who else? There's 2. The first exodus 259 should be 8, and then the Jeremiah 26 1 should be 18.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:40

Jeremiah 26/18?

Audience [: 00:49:43

Right.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:45

Yeah. Gretchen said it was in Micah, and you said it's exit is what?

Audience [: 00:49:51

258 rather than 9.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:55

So I mean, many gifts today. Many gifts today. Yeah.

Audience [: 00:49:59

There was a couple last week as well, but we're not gonna go there. Just a a comment about, Your images, we've taken to a new level. Photoshop now allows us to do false images. Right? Cut and paste. And now it looks like AI is coming to the scene with yet another step above To make even more attractive but false images. So here are comments about Isaiah 46. I'd taken to a passage in, Acts 17 where Paul is at Athens. Right? Act 17/24.

Audience [: 00:50:44

God who made the world and all things in it, since he is the lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives all people life and breath and all things. That's a That's a really powerful passage to sum up his sovereignty and his control.

Scott Keffer [: 00:51:10

Amen. We'll pray for us if you would, Roger, please.

Audience [: 00:51:14

Father god, we are humbled once again to get a better understanding of your person And how great you are and how feeble we are. But, father, we humbly fall at your feet, and we, Submit to you and your ways. And we, we make our bucket small and your bucket large. Things that are in control and things that are out of our control. Help us in discerning that and not the fuss over the things that We have no controls. And father, help us to take the long view. You know, help us to look, As I was just said here, look beyond that, the things of this world are of a temporary nature and create anxiety. But, as pastor Dave said last evening in his sermon, we have eternal security.

Audience [: 00:52:11

We cannot let the things of the opposition and persecution and anxiety now Confuse us when we have eternity in store. Just as this lesson wraps up, we have eternity reserved for us. And, father, we thank you, and we are in deeply in gratitude for what you have done. Thank you for this lesson, father. Be with us now as we go about our day. For we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Scott Keffer [: 00:52:41

And may the king of heaven, The god who created the heavens and the earth, may he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance Grant you shalom deep in your soul that you would know that he is the lord, the god who tabernacles with you and may be with you now and always The grace of the lord Jesus Christ, the love of god the father, and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you now and always. Amen. Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in in the God of the Bible and his son, Jesus Christ, until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:53:22

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May god bless you and keep you.