Latest / Reformed Thinking / δοκιμάζω (Dokimazō): Tried by Fire, Approved by God

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δοκιμάζω (Dokimazō): Tried by Fire, Approved by God · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. I was I was looking through the
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sources for today's deep dive and it is it is just astonishing
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how one single ancient Greek Word family can totally reframe
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how we view suffering, making decisions, and even the darkest
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aspects of human depravity. Yeah, we really do have a
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massive stack of lexical, historical and theological
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material sitting on the table today.
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We do. We are looking at the verb
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dokimazo and it's related nouns and adjectives.
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So words like dokimo, dokimian, dokimos and the negative form of
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dokimos. And you know, for you listening,
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this is not just some dry academic exercise confined to a
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seminary classroom. This concept really is the
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secret key to understanding mechanics of the Christian life.
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Absolutely, we are going to look at ancient papyri, the Old
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Testament background, and the New Testament usage to uncover
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the realities hiding right there in plain sight.
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It is a staggering amount of material, honestly, and as
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Protestant Christians who hold to Reformed theology and adhere
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to the Westminster Confession, understanding this concept is
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vital. Yeah, because it touches
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directly on the doctrines of Providence, sanctification, the
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total corruption of the human mind, and even how believers are
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meant to approach the Lord's Supper.
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What really stands out to me as we get into this is how a
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practical, everyday concept from the ancient world gets elevated
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into this massive theological framework, right?
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The biblical authors, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
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took a word used by merchants and magistrates and applied it
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to the most intense spiritual realities a person can
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experience. Let's start right there in the
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ancient marketplace actually, because to grasp the theology
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you have to understand the dirt and the smoke of the ancient
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world. I agree.
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The root of this whole Word family is do ke, which
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translates to watching in classical Greek.
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In the ancient papyri, this word was intensely.
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It was It was used to the bustling marketplace for testing
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and assaying metals. Our sources detail ancient
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documents mentioning things like 3 gold salidi of imperial
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coinage checked for good minting.
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They also talk about testing silver for impurities.
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So picture a silversmith or a merchant in the agora.
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He does not just take someone's word that a coin is pure gold.
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No, of course not. He takes that piece of metal,
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puts it in a Crucible and holds it to the fire.
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Right, and he is literally watching the metal react to the
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heat. He's looking for the dross, the
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cheap filler to separate from the genuine article.
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That visual of the merchant watching the metal is the
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perfect anchor for everything we're going to discuss today.
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The heat of the fire reveals the true nature of the object.
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And the assayer is not destroying the gold, he is
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verifying its authenticity by burning away what is false.
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Exactly. Or rather, that is precisely the
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point. And this concept of objective
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verification expands beyond metals to human beings in the
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ancient civic contact. It really does.
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In ancient Athens, in Rome, a dacamazio was a formal official
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examination. Yes.
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For instance, the sources reference Aristotle's Politics
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where he states a tested citizen, a documo's is one who
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can rule and be ruled well. So state officials, military
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generals and even young boys entering manhood, the effa boy,
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they all had to pass this public scrutiny.
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They were evaluated on their character, their lineage, and
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their physical capabilities. The ancient world demanded
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verification before granting any kind of civic approval.
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We even see this in the papyri. Regarding professional trades,
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there is an inscription in our sources where a physician is
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tested and approved on his medical skill before he is
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allowed to practice. The community essentially put
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his knowledge to the fire. Yeah, we also have a fascinating
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papyrus where an architect evaluates a site to set rent.
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The architect has to document the land, measuring it against
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an objective standard of value. Because approval was never
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automatic, it required passing a strict objective standard.
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The everyday nature of this word is just everywhere in the
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ancient documents. It is.
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We have a mother in the Adelphia writing a petition to a prefect
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in Egypt to force someone to pay rent.
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And she uses this exact concept, asking the official to evaluate
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and approve her case. She is demanding that the Roman
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magistrate act as the assayer of her legal dispute to weigh the
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facts and render an approved verdict.
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This is the cultural error the biblical authors were breathing.
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Evaluation was a constant physical and legal reality.
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You see that everyday usage right in the gospels too.
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Oh definitely. Take the example Jesus uses in
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Luke chapter 14 verse 19. He is telling a parable about a
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great banquet and a man makes an excuse for not attending by
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saying I have bought 5 yoke of oxen and I go to test them.
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He says he is going to documazo his new livestock.
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Right. He is not taking them to a
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laboratory. He is going to hitch them to a
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plow, put them in the dirt and see if they can pull the weight.
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He needs to verify their usefulness under stream.
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It is a highly functional concept, but when the Jewish
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translators took this marketplace word to translate
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the Hebrew Bible into Greek, the Septuagint, they did something
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spectacular with it. She.
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Absolutely did. When they translated the Hebrew
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text, they applied this word almost exclusively to God.
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God becomes the divine assayer of the human heart.
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The word shifts from the dirt of the marketplace to the thrain of
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heaven. The prophets use it extensively.
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Jeremiah refers to God as the one who tries the reigns and the
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heart in chapters 11 and 17. And the imagery in Jeremiah
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chapter 6 and 9 is incredibly vivid.
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The prophet himself is appointed as refiner of metals, tasked
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with testing the people of Israel.
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Yahweh says behold, I have melted them, I have tried them.
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That is a terrifying image if you really think about.
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It it is, Jeremiah is looking at the entire covenant nation of
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Israel and comparing them to a smelting pot.
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He is acting as the divine assayer on God's behalf, looking
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for pure metal but finding nothing but rebellion in dross.
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The heat is turned up, the bellows are blowing fiercely,
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the lead is consumed by the fire, but the wicked are not
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removed. The metal is completely
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corrupted. And this connects directly to
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the Westminster Confessions teaching on God's exhaustive
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Providence. It does.
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God is not a passive observer watching human history unfold
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from a distance. He actively orchestrates the
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melting and testing of his people in the Crucible of
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history. The entire history of Israel is
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portrayed as a judicial and refining process.
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God is the active agent, turning up the heat.
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He brings the Babylonians, He brings the famine, he brings the
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geopolitical turmoil, all to test the mettle of his covenant
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people. Because nothing happens outside
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of His sovereign decree, and that includes the fiery trials
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that us say the human heart. Right.
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But let's pause there. If the Psalms are full of
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requests like David saying in Psalm 26, examine me, O Lord,
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and prove me. Try my reigns in my heart.
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I have to be honest, that sounds like a terrifying thing to ask
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for. It really does.
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If God's standard is absolute perfection and He is a consuming
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fire, why on earth would David invite that kind of scrutiny?
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Isn't that just asking to be destroyed?
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Why would anyone ask the holy God of the universe to
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scrutinize their inner life? That is the natural human
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reaction. We want to hide from the fire.
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But the Old Testament St. understood something crucial
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about the nature of God's covenant love.
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Yes, the psalmist wants to live his life under the eyes of God
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because he knows that God's testing is meant to purify the
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believer, not to annihilate him. It is the loving discipline of a
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father. The comfort lies in knowing that
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God's searching eyes or a proof of His gracious presence.
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The fire hurts, but the fire means God is actusly engaged in
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your life. Being ignored by God, being left
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to your own sinful devices and allowed to accumulate dross
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without correction is a far worse fate than being tested by
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Him. That makes a lot of sense.
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The alternative to the assayer's fire is being abandoned to the
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scrapheap. So when we crossover into the
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New Testament, we see this concept collide with the reality
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of Christians suffering. We do.
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The New Testament writers take Dokimian, which means testing or
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proven worth, and they link it directly with words like the
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ellipsis meaning affliction, pressure, or tribulation.
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And perasmos meaning trials. And then, shockingly, they
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command the Church to rejoice. They do in James chapter 1 and
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First Peter chapter 1. Both apostles compare the
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testing of faith directly to gold tried in the fire.
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They are pulling that exact marketplace imagery right into
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the Christian life. Peter says the trial of your
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faith is much more precious than gold.
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That peril perishes, though it is tested by fire.
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The fire destroys the impurities, the self-reliance,
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the love of the world, but the solid, eternal metal of
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God-given faith remains. The chemistry of this process is
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laid out in Romans chapter 5. Paul breaks down the mechanism
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of sanctification. He says that affliction works
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out patience or endurance. That endurance works out doctor
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me, which translates to proven character or attestation.
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And that proven character brings hope.
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God uses the friction and heat of living in a fallen world
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opposed by satanic forces to burn away our reliance on the
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flesh. Which proves that the faith God
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granted the believer is genuine. It is an objective verification,
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just like the assayer testing the gold solidi in the ancient
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markets. The trial does not create the
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faith. The trial verifies the faith
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that the Holy Spirit has already implanted.
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When you come through the fire, still clinging to Christ, you
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have Ducomie. You have the attestation that
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you belong to Him. This biblical view of suffering
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and proven character ran headlong into the false theology
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that infected the Corinthian church.
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Oh. Definitely, the Corinthians
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wanted visible, flashy proof of spiritual validation.
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They looked at the Apostle Paul with all his sufferings, his
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shipwrecks, his beatings and his physical weaknesses, and they
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despised him for. It they wanted a theology of
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glory, not a theology of the cross.
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To a 1st century Greco Roman culture that idolized physical
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perfection, rhetorical dominance, and upward mobility,
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Paul's life looked like an absolute failure.
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They demanded A dokimo a proof of Christ speaking in Paul, and
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they expected that proof to look like worldly success.
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The Corinthian church was using the wrong as Sayers scale.
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They were evaluating spiritual realities with carnal weights.
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Paul's response to them in Second Corinthians chapters 10
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and 13 is a master class in theological correction.
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He completely strips the right of evaluation away from human
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standards. He writes for not he who
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commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
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He tells them that true spiritual validation often looks
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like quiet, resilient faithfulness under severe
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pressure. It is not about flashy miracles,
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massive crowds or a commanding stage presence.
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When you look at your own struggles, it is incredibly easy
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to look for validation from your peers or your circumstances.
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You want your life to look successful by the world
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standards so you can feel approved.
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But Paul entirely shifts the standard.
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Your validation comes from the Lord's objective evaluation of
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your faithful endurance, not from the applause of the crowd.
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God holds the essay or fire, Not your coworkers, not your family,
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and certainly not the culture. That is a liberating truth.
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We have spent a lot of time talking about what happens when
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God puts us in the fire. We are the metal being acted
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upon. But the word ducky mazzo also
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has a highly active intellectual side.
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The New Testament writers take this essayer's tool and hand it
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directly to the believer, commanding us to be the ones
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doing the evaluating. In Romans chapter 12 verse 2,
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Paul commands believers to be renewed in their minds so that
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they can prove there's our Word document.
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So what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of
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God? The Christian mind is absolutely
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not meant to be passive or gullible.
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This requires rigorous critical thinking.
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We see this demand for active discernment all over the
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epistles. In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul
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tells the church to find out or test what is pleasing to the
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Lord. And in Philippians chapter 1, he
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prays that their love may abound in knowledge and depth of
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insight so that they may be able to discern what is best or to
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distinguish the things that differ.
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Distinguishing the things that differ is the essence of Ducky
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Mazzo. It is looking at 2 pieces of
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metal that might look similar on the surface and knowing how to
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test them to find out which one is genuine and which one is
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counterfeit in. Reformed Theology.
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We understand from the doctrine of total depravity that the Fall
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ruined human judgment. The unregenerate mind cannot
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accurately evaluate spiritual truths.
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It will always choose the counterfeit.
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But the Holy Spirit's regeneration restores that
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capacity. The believer's mind is renewed,
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equipping and obligating them to exercise moral and theological
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discernment in every area of life.
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That spiritual instinct is completely broken in the
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unregenerate mind. Jesus gives a sharp rebuke to
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the Pharisees in Luke chapter 12 regarding this very issue.
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He points out that they could look at the sky and predict the
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weather. They knew how to dockumazine the
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clouds. They could evaluate
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meteorological data perfectly to know if a storm was coming or if
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it would be hot. They had massive intellectual
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capacity for earthly things, but they absolutely refuse to
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evaluate the historical moment of the Messiah's arrival right
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in front of. Them their spiritual discernment
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was totally non functional. They could us say the weather,
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but they could not us say the Son of God.
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That failure to discern the times is exactly why the New
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Testament epistles constantly command the Church to be on high
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alert. In first John chapter 4, John
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says do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to
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see whether they are from God. In First Thessalonians chapter
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5, Paul writes prove all things things hold fast that which is
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good. You live in an era of
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unprecedented information overload.
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False teaching is highly accessible and expertly
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packaged. The mandate for the Christian is
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to be a relentless critical thinker, passing every doctrine,
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every sermon, every cultural trend.
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Through the fire is Scripture. You are called to be the assayer
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of the ideas you consume. Which brings us to a terrifying
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reality. We have to look at the opposite
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of being approved. What happens when someone is put
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in the fire or tested and is found to be completely worthless
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dross? If we take the prefix A and
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attach it to docomos, we get the negative form A docomos.
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This translates to reprobate, rejected or disqualified.
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In Hebrews chapter 6, the author uses an agricultural analogy
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that paints a stark picture. He describes a piece of land
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that receives rain but only produces thorns and thistles.
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That field is a dokimos, worthless, rejected and near to
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being cursed. It failed the test of
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fruitfulness. It took in the resources but
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produced nothing of value. This concept reaches its darkest
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theological point in Romans chapter one, verse 28.
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Paul, Diagnosis The fundamental problem of fallen humanity.
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He writes that because humanity did not think it worthwhile,
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there's the verb dokamazo. Again, to retain the knowledge
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of God, God gave them come over to a reprobate mind.
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And a Doki MO's mind, when humans actively evaluate God and
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decide he is not worth keeping in their knowledge, the judicial
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punishment from God is a terrifying reciprocation.
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They're very cognitive equipment becomes disqualified.
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They lose the capacity for sound moral judgement.
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Their minds become worthless for evaluating truth.
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That is a chilling thought. The mind itself becomes broken
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equipment because it rejected its creator.
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It is a terrifying judgement to be handed over to a mind that
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can no longer distinguish between gold and dross, between
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truth and a lie. And even the apostle Paul
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recognized the severe standard of God's evaluation in his own
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life. He did not take this lightly.
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In First Corinthians Chapter 9, verse 27, he writes about
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beating his body into submission.
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He disciplines himself relentlessly, lest after
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preaching to others, he himself should become a castaway or
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disqualified. He uses that exact word a
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docomos. The context Paul uses there is
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athletic, specifically drawing from the Isthmian Games held
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near Corinth. In the ancient games, the judges
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or the heralds would evaluate the contestants.
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If an athlete broke the rules, failed to meet the training
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standards or competed unlawfully, the judge would
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eliminate them from the competition.
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They were declared A docomos. Paul is not expressing a terror
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of losing his justification before God.
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Rather, he is demonstrating the absolute necessity of rigorous
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self-discipline in the Christian life.
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He knows that the visible fruit of obedience is the necessary
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proof of a genuine calling. If his private life does not
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match his public preaching, he would be disqualified from the
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prize in the ministry. He demands that his own life
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pass the assayers test. This demand for verified proof
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is not just an individual pursuit, it applies directly to
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the local church structure. Paul demanded that others be
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tested before taking on any leadership roles.
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In First Timothy chapter 3, verse 10, when discussing
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candidates for the diaconate, Paul gives a crystal clear
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directive. He says let them first be tested
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or dacamaz assess some prichon before they can serve.
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This ties directly back to that ancient Greek civic testing, the
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Dacamazi of magistrates, that we discussed earlier.
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The Church is an organized body, an institution ordained by
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Christ. Just as ancient Athens would
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never hand over its treasury or its military command to an
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untested citizen, the Church must never hand over spiritual
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authority, leadership. Requires a verified track record
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of holiness. The covenant community must
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watch the candidate evaluate their character against the
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standard of Scripture over time and only approve them once
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they've passed the test. Rushing someone?
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Into leadership without the fire of time and scrutiny is a recipe
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for disaster, that principle. Of rigorous testing applies to
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the individual believer sitting in the Pew as well, especially
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when we gather for corporate worship.
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First Corinthians. Chapter 11, verse 28 gives a
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strict command regarding the Lord's Supper.
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Let a man examine himself talking Macedo, and so let him
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eat of that bread and drink of that cup the Lord's.
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Supper is a holy ordinance. The Westminster Confession has
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entire chapters dedicated to the proper administration and
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reception of the sacraments. When Paul commands.
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The believer to Dokamazo himself, he is calling for a
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thorough internal audit. Believers must.
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Us say their own hearts before taking the elements.
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They are looking for true repentance, genuine faith in
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Christ, and sincere love for the brethren if they approach.
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The table lightly without evaluating their standing before
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God and resolving conflicts within the church body, they
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risk eating and drinking judgement upon themselves.
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The communion table. Is a place of intense spiritual
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reality and it demands the utmost self scrutiny.
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We have been. Talking about this intense,
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rigorous standard of testing for the entire hour, God is the
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divine essayer, he demands. Pure gold.
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He demands a mind that evaluates rightly.
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He demands character proven through affliction.
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So this. Raises the ultimate question, if
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God's standard is absolute fiery perfection, and humans are
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fallen, broken, and prone to produce dross instead of gold,
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how can anyone ever truly be docomo's approved before a holy
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God that is the greatest? Question of all and the answer
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is the absolute climax of our source material today in Matthew
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chapter. 21 And again in first Peter chapter 2, Jesus and the
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Apostles quote Psalm 118, the stone.
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Which the builders rejected. The same has become the head of
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the corner, the Greek word. Used for rejected there is apodo
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kimazo. It is a root word with the
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prefix oppo meaning to castaway as worthless After putting it
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through a test the historical. Reality of that word is
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heartbreaking. The religious builders of the
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day, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the theological
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experts, subjected Jesus to their human flawed testing.
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They looked at the. Incarnate Son of God evaluated
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him according to their corrupted, politically motivated
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standards and threw him out, they declared.
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The sinless Son of God to be a documos.
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They cast him aside to be crucified outside the city gates
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like refuse human wisdom. Evaluated Christ and rejected
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him, but God the Father evaluated him and made him the
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chief cornerstone, the greatest. Comfort of Reformed theology is
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that our approval before God is not based on our own flawless
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performance in the Crucible left to.
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Ourselves, we fail the test constantly.
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Our mettle is full of impurities, but Christ.
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Endured the ultimate fiery test of God's wrath on the cross.
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He was crushed. He was tried in the unyielding
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fire of divine justice, and he emerged as the perfectly pure,
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universally approved Son of God. We are approved.
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Only because we are hidden in the one who perfectly passed the
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test, his dalkami, his proven character.
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Imperfect righteousness is imputed to us by faith that
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reality. Changes everything.
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It means we can face the SAR's fire in our own lives without
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the terror of final condemnation.
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The fire. We face now is for purification,
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not destruction, because Christ already absorbed the destructive
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fire on our behalf. We have.
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Covered a massive scope of material today.
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We started with ancient silversmiths and the bustling
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marketplaces of Greece and Egypt.
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We moved to the. Refining fire of God's
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Providence over Israel. The self examination required of
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every believer at the communion table and substitutionary test
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passed by Jesus Christ on our behalf.
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It is a remarkable. Concept to study.
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Before we close, I want to leave you with a different angle to
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consider as you go about your week.
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We have talked. Entirely about God as saying us,
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and us as saying our own hearts. But consider this as you walk
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into the world tomorrow. How much of modern society, our
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algorithms, our corporate structure, our social media
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platforms, is designed to artificially evaluate and
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approve of you based on completely worthless metrics?
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The world is constantly. Holding up its own false assay
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or scale, demanding that you conform to its standard of
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success to be considered docomos.
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What if the greatest? Act of Christian rebellion today
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is simply refusing to let the culture hold the scale.
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What if resting? In Christ's final approval frees
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you entirely from the exhausting algorithm of human validation.
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That is a phenomenal. Thought to carry with you when
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the Creator of the universe has already declared you approved in
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Christ, the world's counterfeit scales lose all their weight.
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We want to thank. You for joining this deep dive
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into the source material today. Keep testing all things, hold
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fast to the genuine gold of scripture and rest entirely in
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the proven cornerstone. We will see you next time.