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Voddie Baucham - Eschatological Hope in Exile · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: The following message is brought to you by Covenant Baptist
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  Speaker 1: Theological Seminary. To learn more about our mission to train
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  Speaker 1: the next generation of gospel ministers, visit us at cbtseminary.org.
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  Speaker 2: Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the privilege of worship,
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  Speaker 2: the privilege of gathering together in your presence and among
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  Speaker 2: your people, and the privilege of setting our minds' attention
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  Speaker 2: and hearts' affection on you and praising you for who
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  Speaker 2: you are and for what you've done. Thank you for
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  Speaker 2: reminding us of that this evening. Grant by your grace
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  Speaker 2: that we might have ears to hear. For we ask
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  Speaker 2: this in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. If
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  Speaker 2: you have your Bibles with you, open them to the
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  Speaker 2: book of Daniel. My assignment this weekend was a simple one,
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  Speaker 2: and I was asked to bring really three expositions, three
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  Speaker 2: optimistic expositions. Amen? You can't talk about optimistic amillennialism without
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  Speaker 2: bringing some optimistic expositions. And so I'll be looking at
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  Speaker 2: Daniel chapter 1 tonight and then Jeremiah 29 tomorrow and
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  Speaker 2: Revelation 1 in the last session. And the idea behind
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  Speaker 2: this for me is that I had to learn to
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  Speaker 2: be optimistic about eschatology. Amen? Amen. I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: any of you had that experience, but I had that experience.
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  Speaker 2: And I had that experience for the same reason that
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  Speaker 2: some of you had it, and that is that I
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  Speaker 2: learned an eschatology that was pessimistic. But even before that,
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  Speaker 2: I didn't grow up in the church. I didn't grow
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  Speaker 2: up around Christians, Christianity. I was raised by a single
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  Speaker 2: Buddhist mother. And the first time I ever heard the
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  Speaker 2: gospel was my first year in university. And I remember
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  Speaker 2: as a new believer... getting a Bible, and for some
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  Speaker 2: odd reason, I just thought it would be a good
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  Speaker 2: idea to start at the end. So the first book
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  Speaker 2: in the Bible I ever read all the way through
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  Speaker 2: was Revelation. Not the best way to develop an optimistic eschatology,
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  Speaker 2: I'll say. No idea what I was reading, no idea
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  Speaker 2: what I was doing. So I was not very optimistic.
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  Speaker 2: Fast forward many years later and in our church in Houston,
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  Speaker 2: we preached through the book of Revelation, worked our way
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  Speaker 2: through it as elders and then preached through it and
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  Speaker 2: preached through it from an optimistic, amillennial perspective. And one
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  Speaker 2: of the things that we continued to hear was how
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  Speaker 2: encouraged people were that in an eschatological book, could be
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  Speaker 2: something other than frightening or confusing. Amen? And more specifically,
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  Speaker 2: that it could be relevant. That we can actually look
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  Speaker 2: at eschatological books and they can be for something other
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  Speaker 2: than looking at the newspaper and trying to figure out
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  Speaker 2: where we are right now. Amen? That we could actually
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  Speaker 2: have God-honoring, gospel-saturated messages from these literary sources in the Bible.
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  Speaker 2: So that's my hope. So let's look at Daniel chapter 1.
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  Speaker 2: I really want to concentrate on verses 8 through 16,
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  Speaker 2: but we've got to sort of back up to the
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  Speaker 2: beginning so that we can understand this in its context
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  Speaker 2: and why this is so important. incredibly optimistic. If you
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  Speaker 2: look at the beginning in verse 1, in the third
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  Speaker 2: year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar,
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  Speaker 2: king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. This
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  Speaker 2: is one of those wonderful texts in the Bible that
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  Speaker 2: locates us very specifically in terms of history. Because we
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  Speaker 2: know that this is happening in 597. We know that
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  Speaker 2: this is when This siege happens. A few years earlier
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  Speaker 2: is when Jehoiakim decides that he's going to rebel. Josiah
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  Speaker 2: has died. Jehoiakim comes on the throne. He's anti-Egyptian, and
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  Speaker 2: the Egyptians are in control of the region at the time,
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  Speaker 2: so he's deposed. Jehoiakim is a vassal of Egypt who's
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  Speaker 2: put on the throne. and then the famous Battle of
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  Speaker 2: Carchemish that happens in 605. Amen? That was like the
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  Speaker 2: only thing I got an A on in church history, right? 605,
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  Speaker 2: the Battle of Carchemish. And all of a sudden, the
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  Speaker 2: balance in the region shifts, and Nebuchadnezzar is now the
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  Speaker 2: big man on the block. And so now, all of
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  Speaker 2: a sudden, Jehoiakim is under this influence. But Nebuchadnezzar doesn't
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  Speaker 2: go in and invade Egypt, and Jehoiakim decides that he's
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  Speaker 2: going to rebel and hope to get help from Egypt,
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  Speaker 2: and that doesn't happen, and instead, they're sieged. So that's
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  Speaker 2: where we are historically. And that's incredibly important for us
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  Speaker 2: to remember for a number of reasons. But look at
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  Speaker 2: verse 2. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
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  Speaker 2: into his hand with some of the vessels of the
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  Speaker 2: house of God. And he brought them to the land
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  Speaker 2: of Shinar, to the house of his God and placed
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  Speaker 2: the vessels in the treasury of his God. Don't miss that. Why?
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  Speaker 2: Why are we doing this? We're doing this because in
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  Speaker 2: that age, war was understood not to necessarily be a
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  Speaker 2: battle between brute forces or technological forces or economic forces.
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  Speaker 2: At the end of the day, there were seen to
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  Speaker 2: be battles between divine forces. Us and our God versus
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  Speaker 2: you and your God. And we don't just defeat you.
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  Speaker 2: If we defeat you, we don't turn around and say
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  Speaker 2: to our people, look how strong our economy is. Look
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  Speaker 2: how advanced our technology is. Look how advanced our weaponry is.
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  Speaker 2: Look how well trained our soldiers are. No, we turn
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  Speaker 2: and we say to our people, our God is God,
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  Speaker 2: and that is why we defeated them and their God.
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  Speaker 2: This is incredibly important to know. That's why they took
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  Speaker 2: these things away. It's also important to know because it
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  Speaker 2: allows us to get inside the minds of our main
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  Speaker 2: characters here in Daniel 1, really in all of Daniel.
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  Speaker 2: Because here are the covenant people of God living in
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  Speaker 2: the land that God promised to them as his covenant people.
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  Speaker 2: And these covenant people of God have been warned. They've
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  Speaker 2: been warned that this bloodthirsty people will come and that
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  Speaker 2: they'll be carried off, that they'll be judged by God,
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  Speaker 2: that they'll be disciplined by God. But hear me, brothers
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  Speaker 2: and sisters. When this is happening, the knee-jerk reaction is
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  Speaker 2: not to say, hey, The prophets have told us about this.
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  Speaker 2: It's just discipline. We're going to be okay. No, when
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  Speaker 2: this happens, you think like a product of your day,
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  Speaker 2: and you think their God has defeated Yahweh. Now, you
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  Speaker 2: don't talk about that at church. You don't bring that
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  Speaker 2: up in your small group. But in the quiet moments...
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  Speaker 2: of your heart, you can't help but wonder. And that's
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  Speaker 2: what this book is about. This book is about reminding
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  Speaker 2: us that the kingdom of God is undefeated. Even when
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  Speaker 2: the people of God experience defeat, the kingdom of God
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  Speaker 2: is undefeated. By the way, these vignettes in the beginning
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  Speaker 2: of Daniel are all about that on the micro level.
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  Speaker 2: These are not the only stories of God preserving his
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  Speaker 2: people during this time. But These stories serve to remind
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  Speaker 2: us that the kingdom of God is undefeated, that God
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  Speaker 2: is in control, that God disciplines his people, but he
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  Speaker 2: will never forsake them. And therefore, we must always be
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  Speaker 2: optimistic and have hope, regardless of our sociopolitical situation. Somebody
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  Speaker 2: probably needs that right about now. Amen? Amen? As we stand. Anyway.
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  Speaker 2: Look at the next verse. Verse 3. Then the king
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  Speaker 2: commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the
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  Speaker 2: people of Israel, both of the royal family and of
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  Speaker 2: the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skilled
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  Speaker 2: in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent
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  Speaker 2: to stand in the king's palace and to teach them
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  Speaker 2: the literature and language of the Chaldeans. This is incredibly
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  Speaker 2: important to note as well. Oftentimes we think about the
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  Speaker 2: characters here that we're about to read about as Boys,
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  Speaker 2: you can refer to them as the three Hebrew boys, right?
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  Speaker 2: Oftentimes we think about them as individuals who were snatched
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  Speaker 2: away and perhaps they were incredibly young, maybe even babies
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  Speaker 2: or something, and that they learn and they grow when
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  Speaker 2: they're taught within the context and confines of this Babylonian empire.
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  Speaker 2: But if you read the text carefully, what you discover
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  Speaker 2: is these are men. They are men who've been fully
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  Speaker 2: trained and discipled. Look at it again. Verse 3, King
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  Speaker 2: commanded Ashpenaz, the chief eunuch, to bring some of the
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  Speaker 2: people of Israel, both of the royal family and of
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  Speaker 2: the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance. So give
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  Speaker 2: me some young, strong, beautiful people, skillful in all wisdom.
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  Speaker 2: Some well-educated, young, strong, beautiful people, skillful in all wisdom.
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  Speaker 2: I want people who already know stuff. I want people
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  Speaker 2: who are brilliant. So these are people who've been brought up, trained, educated, discipled.
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  Speaker 2: They are the creme de la creme in Israelite society.
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  Speaker 2: Competent to stand in the king's palace and then do what?
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  Speaker 2: Teach them the literature and the language of the Chaldeans.
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  Speaker 2: People who are sharp enough to be trained in our literature,
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  Speaker 2: trained in our language. People whom we can take from
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  Speaker 2: their culture and turn them into Babylonians. People whom we
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  Speaker 2: can take from their culture and have them to stand
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  Speaker 2: before me, the king, who has defeated them and who
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  Speaker 2: has defeated their God and fully assimilate them into our
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  Speaker 2: culture so that they become part of our kingdom and
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  Speaker 2: forget their own. King assigned them a daily portion of
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  Speaker 2: food that the king ate. and of the wine that
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  Speaker 2: he drank. They were to be educated for three years,
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  Speaker 2: and at the end of that time, they were to
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  Speaker 2: stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,
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  Speaker 2: and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief
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  Speaker 2: of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel he called Belshazzar,
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  Speaker 2: Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach. Azariah, he
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  Speaker 2: called Abednego. He changes their names from references to their
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  Speaker 2: own god, Yahweh, to names that refer to Babylonian gods.
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  Speaker 2: So here they are. They've been taken away from the
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  Speaker 2: promised land. They've been taken away from their They've been
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  Speaker 2: stripped of their culture. They've been stripped of their names.
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  Speaker 2: They're in this training center that is designed to completely
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  Speaker 2: assimilate them into the Babylonian culture so that they can
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  Speaker 2: serve the Babylonian king. There doesn't seem to be any
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  Speaker 2: reason to be optimistic Amen? And that's the point here,
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  Speaker 2: that there doesn't seem to be a reason to be optimistic.
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  Speaker 2: Chapter 1, verse 8. Now we get to our text.
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  Speaker 2: But Daniel. Amen. Something good's about to come, y'all, right?
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  Speaker 2: But Daniel. But Daniel. resolved that he would not defile
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  Speaker 2: himself with the king's food or with the wine that
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  Speaker 2: he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs
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  Speaker 2: to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave
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  Speaker 2: Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief
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  Speaker 2: of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said
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  Speaker 2: to Daniel, I fear my lord, the king, who assigned
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  Speaker 2: your food and your drink, for why should he see
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  Speaker 2: that you are in worse condition than the youths who
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  Speaker 2: are of your own age. So you would endanger my
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  Speaker 2: head with the king. Then Daniel said to the steward,
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  Speaker 2: whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,
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  Speaker 2: and Azariah, test your servants for 10 days. Let us
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  Speaker 2: be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then
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  Speaker 2: let our appearance be and the appearance of the youths
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  Speaker 2: who eat the king's food be observed by you and
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  Speaker 2: deal with your servants according to what you see. We
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  Speaker 2: have to be careful here. We have to understand that
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  Speaker 2: this happens within the context of a book that is
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  Speaker 2: eschatological in nature. When we understand that it happens within
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  Speaker 2: the context of a book that is eschatological in nature,
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  Speaker 2: then we can avoid some of the pitfalls of those
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  Speaker 2: who try to make this about something other than eschatology.
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  Speaker 2: Some try to make this about dietary laws. This is
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  Speaker 2: not about dietary laws. They're not saying, don't make us
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  Speaker 2: eat the food because the food is not kosher. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: the vegetables that they were given were probably not going
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  Speaker 2: to be made in ways that would suffice in terms
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  Speaker 2: of the kosher laws. That wasn't it. That wasn't the point.
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  Speaker 2: This was also not about them saying that vegetarianism is superior.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. They were
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  Speaker 2: not saying that meat was bad. They weren't even saying
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  Speaker 2: that wine was bad. That wasn't the point. They also
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  Speaker 2: weren't saying that this was bad because it comes from
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  Speaker 2: the king and perhaps it would have been sacrificed to
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  Speaker 2: idols because the fact of the matter is if food
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  Speaker 2: was being sacrificed to idols, they're vegetables. could have been
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  Speaker 2: defiled as well. That was not the point. This also
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  Speaker 2: wasn't about health and fitness. I love the people who
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  Speaker 2: talk about, you know, the Daniel diet, and we're going
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  Speaker 2: to do the Daniel diet so we can lose weight
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  Speaker 2: at the end. They're fatter. I'm just saying. I'm just saying.
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  Speaker 2: That's not what this is about. This text doesn't exist
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  Speaker 2: so that it can give us rules about eating. This
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  Speaker 2: text exists so that it can give us encouragement in
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  Speaker 2: the midst of dark days. This text is saying, you
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  Speaker 2: took us from our land. There was nothing we could
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  Speaker 2: do about that. You took us from our families. There
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  Speaker 2: was nothing that we could do about that. You changed
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  Speaker 2: our names. There's not really anything that we could do
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  Speaker 2: about that. You're going to call us what you call us.
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  Speaker 2: You've changed our education. We don't have our books. There's
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  Speaker 2: nothing we can do about that. But there's one area
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  Speaker 2: where we can resist. And not only resist, but we
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  Speaker 2: can resist in such a way. that in this vignette,
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  Speaker 2: we can remind ourselves and we can remind you and
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  Speaker 2: we can remind everybody who reads the book of Daniel
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  Speaker 2: that the kingdom of God is undefeated. Test us and
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  Speaker 2: see what God does. That's what this is about. Test
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  Speaker 2: us and see what God does. And that's precisely what
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  Speaker 2: they do. Look at verse 14. So he listened to
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  Speaker 2: them in this matter and tested them for 10 days.
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  Speaker 2: And at the end of 10 days, it was seen
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  Speaker 2: that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh
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  Speaker 2: than all the youths who ate the king's food. So
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  Speaker 2: the steward took away their food and the wine they
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  Speaker 2: were to drink and gave them vegetables. This is the
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  Speaker 2: first opposition that we see. There's other opposition that's going
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  Speaker 2: to come, but all of the opposition that we see
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  Speaker 2: is here for the same purpose. And that purpose is
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  Speaker 2: to encourage all of those who find themselves in exile.
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  Speaker 2: And here's a newsflash. All of us find ourselves in exile. Amen?
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  Speaker 2: No matter how good our situation and our circumstances may be,
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  Speaker 2: this is not the new Jerusalem. Amen? I even say
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  Speaker 2: that in Texas. There are people who want to pull
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  Speaker 2: me aside afterwards and say, now, brother, listen, I'm all
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  Speaker 2: right with almost everything you said. But you've got to
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  Speaker 2: know that the capital of the New Jerusalem is going
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  Speaker 2: to be set up somewhere around Austin. But it's not.
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  Speaker 2: It's absolutely not. This is our Babylon. Amen? Amen. And
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  Speaker 2: we are absolutely being opposed. We are absolutely being challenged.
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  Speaker 2: And there are individuals all around us who are clutching
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  Speaker 2: at their pearls because of the ways in which we
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  Speaker 2: are being challenged. And there are some Christians right now
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  Speaker 2: today who are worried about whether or not God is
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  Speaker 2: still on his throne and whether or not He is
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  Speaker 2: still in control. And whether or not this is all
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  Speaker 2: going to be all right, and whether or not this
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  Speaker 2: is the end, and they are absolutely terrified, they're afraid. Daniel,
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  Speaker 2: in this one little episode, and all of the episodes
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  Speaker 2: that are to come, says the kingdom of God is undefeated.
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  Speaker 2: God may discipline his people, but he does not forsake them. Well,
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  Speaker 2: Daniel's vindicated. And not only is Daniel vindicated, but all
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  Speaker 2: of those who serve the one true and living God
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  Speaker 2: are vindicated. And we're vindicated, why? What is our hope?
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  Speaker 2: What is our answer? Again, if we read this text
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  Speaker 2: as though somehow it's designed just to give us rules
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  Speaker 2: about what we eat and when we eat and where
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  Speaker 2: we eat, we miss it. But if we read this
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  Speaker 2: text within its proper historical context, then we're reminded of
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  Speaker 2: where our hope comes from and what it is that
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  Speaker 2: we ought always To hold on to. But. Here's the issue.
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  Speaker 2: God remembers his covenant people Israel. And ultimately his covenant
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  Speaker 2: people Israel are delivered and we know and we'll look
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  Speaker 2: tomorrow in Jeremiah chapter 29 and we'll see that that
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  Speaker 2: deliverance is going to come. But it doesn't come now.
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  Speaker 2: for everyone. In fact, no one here is going to
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  Speaker 2: be there when that deliverance finally comes. Why? Well, we'll
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  Speaker 2: see tomorrow because that deliverance is not about these individuals
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  Speaker 2: who went into captivity. That deliverance is about God's covenant
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  Speaker 2: people as a whole. Those people who bear his name
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  Speaker 2: And that's incredibly important for us because it reminds us
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  Speaker 2: that our hope, our eschatological hope, is not bound up
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  Speaker 2: in our individual circumstances or even in this individual life.
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  Speaker 2: Some of you know that three years ago, I came
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  Speaker 2: really close to going to be with the Lord. Amen?
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  Speaker 2: And I remember when we finally got the last piece
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  Speaker 2: of news and I'd had one heart procedure and thought
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  Speaker 2: that everything was okay and I went for one last
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  Speaker 2: test and my family was in the hotel room. I
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  Speaker 2: took the shuttle. We were all packed up. I took
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  Speaker 2: the shuttle over for this last procedure and I was
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  Speaker 2: going to take the shuttle back and then the next
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  Speaker 2: morning we were going to drive off. I was going
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  Speaker 2: to drop them off with our oldest daughter in Jackson, Mississippi,
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  Speaker 2: and then I was going to go off, you know,
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  Speaker 2: because I had a book coming out that Monday. This
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  Speaker 2: was Thursday night. I go there Thursday night for that
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  Speaker 2: quick little procedure, and they go in for that quick procedure,
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  Speaker 2: and about 10 minutes into that quick procedure, everything stops,
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  Speaker 2: and everybody starts packing up. The cardiologist comes over and says...
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  Speaker 2: We found some things and we're not going to be
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  Speaker 2: able to deal with it here. We're going to admit
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  Speaker 2: you and you're going to have to have open heart surgery.
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  Speaker 2: Very interesting thing about that. When I was in college,
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  Speaker 2: there was a friend of mine who had gone to
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  Speaker 2: medical school. He came back looking for another friend of
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  Speaker 2: ours who was considering going to medical school and he
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  Speaker 2: was going to take him with him to the hospital
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  Speaker 2: where he was doing a rotation. Guy wasn't there, so
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  Speaker 2: he asked me if I wanted to go. So sure,
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: I went. Turns out that I was actually going to
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: get to scrub in and go into a surgical theater
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: where there was a very fascinating procedure taking place. Open-heart surgery.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: I watched it. I saw them bring the saw. I
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: saw them cut the sternum. I saw them take the spreaders.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: I saw them. I saw it. I saw it. I
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: watched it. And until that day three years ago, it
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: was the coolest thing I'd ever seen in my life.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: I dreaded a number of things that day, but I
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: don't think I dreaded anything more than the moment I
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: realized I was going to have to call my wife,
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: tell her that I'm not coming back, and that I'm
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: going to have open heart surgery. Please don't Google it.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Please don't look at it on YouTube. She got off
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: the phone and she Googled it and she looked at
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: it on YouTube. She calls me back and she says, wait,
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: they're not going to do that to you. And I said, yes,
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: they're going to do that to me. We had to
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: wait a couple of days. For the next couple of days,
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: we sat there and we contemplated. What if this is it?
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: And there were a lot of people who tried to
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: encourage my dear wife. And I heard one of the conversations.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: where she said to this dear friend of ours who
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: was trying to say, listen, he's serving the Lord. The
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: Lord's going to bring him through this. God's not finished
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: with him yet. And my dear wife said, you know what?
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: God is no man's debtor and he doesn't need my husband.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: So I appreciate it, but there's no guarantees here. And
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: she got off the phone and she looked at me
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: and she said, I think I'm ready. And I said,
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: I think you are too. See, an optimistic eschatology is
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: not a happy, happy, joy, joy. We're going to make it.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: We're going to see the victory. I'm going to rise
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: up out of this bed. That's not what's meant here.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Daniel never sees the promised land again. Please don't forget that.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: Daniel and his friends never see the promised land again.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: And yet, Yahweh is good. Yahweh is faithful. The kingdom
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: of God is undefeated. And for God's people, there is
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: always peace. We may be here when the Lord returns. Amen?
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: It could happen tonight. Or all of us could be gone.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: But whether it does or not is not the determining
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: factor in God's faithfulness to his people. It may just
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: be him vindicating his people in small ways here and
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: there while we wait for the ultimate vindication of the
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: kingdom of God on that day when he returns and
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: everything that is wrong is made right. In the meantime,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: we trust him. In the meantime, we serve him. In
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: the meantime, we look for his faithfulness and thank him
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: for it every time we see it. In the meantime,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: we have hope. Why? God is faithful. Kingdom of God
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: is undefeated. And in the end, he will deliver his people.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: For those of us who belong to him, that's enough. Amen?
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: Let's pray. Gracious God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: and we praise you for your mercies that are new
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: every morning. We praise you and we thank you for
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: ways large and small that you remind us that you
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: are absolutely in control. Father, I pray for those people
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: under the sound of my voice right now who are
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: facing situations in their own lives that caused them to
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: doubt this truth. And I ask that by your grace,
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: you would cause them to see Christ and his glory
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: and his majesty, that you would cause them to rejoice
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: in his kingdom, to anxiously anticipate his coming, And to
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: celebrate his rule and his reign in their lives and
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: in his church. Thank you for the victory that is ours.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Already and not yet. Thank you for the hope that
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: is ours. And for reminding us of the source of
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: that hope tonight. We pray these things, believe these things,
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: and hope these things. In Christ's name and for his sake, amen.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: We hope you were helped by this session from the
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: annual conference of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. CBTS relies on
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: the generous gifts of supporting churches and individuals. If you
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: would like to invest in the next generation of gospel ministers,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: visit us at cbtseminary.org slash give.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening.