Address—Paul Renaud
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Good evening welcome.
It's truly a privilege to be here amongst so many friends and old and new. And it's just, it's just a pleasure. Yeah, it's a pleasure to be here. I hope that I pray that what what I believe is on my heart is of some encouragement and help. We're truly, as I look out on the crowd, I feel like we're fellow soldiers here, really just having a break somewhat from the battle. And we're here to.
Really. Discuss.
Our spiritual warfare.
I just want to introduce my topic before praying. I'm going to basically give the whole thing away with.
These two two verses is really the theme of what I have before me. Wasn't very long ago that.
My family and I were in Israel and you are there and you see all these devout Jews who are still, still expecting the Messiah. You read the New Testament and you say, what? What did they miss? What? How did they get it so wrong? What were they looking for? How did Jesus not?
How did they not accept him?
This question.
Led me in some way to study Old Testament prophecy.
To study what was obviously fulfilled and what is still going to be fulfilled and in the process of doing that.
Then leads to New Testament prophecy and I have to admit for I'm 42 for most of my life when I heard the word prophecy it was almost like I just kind of.
Zoned out.
And maybe many of you are already doing that, but I really think there's practical implications here and I.
And the study of this have realized that a lot of my.
Ideas about Westacom were wrong and it's changed the way I look at scripture and I if you haven't been through this process yourself, I hope this is of some help to you so the two verses here you'll recognize Luke 24. This is on the road to Emmaus two of Jesus.
Followers are perplexed. They just saw Jesus crucified. That wasn't what they expected. And they just heard from amongst their own company that he's risen again. That wasn't what they expected and they don't know what to think of it. They're not overjoyed, they're shocked. And Jesus meets them and he says to them, old fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
And then the other verse is from Matthew where Peter, Jesus asked them, OK, who do you say that I am? And he says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's a wonderful confession of faith.
And then soon after that, Jesus talks about how he's going to be in front of the the chief rulers of the day. They're going to condemn him to death and they're going to crucify him. And Peter says, no, they can't be right. And Jesus rebukes him. You remember, he says, get behind me, Satan.
Floured an offence to me, thou savor is not the things that be of God, but those that be of man.
And that's really the theme of what I have before me. So let's pray.
Dear God.
Again, thank you for the privilege of being together. We pray that.
Words.
That aren't from your word would be.
Corrected and rebuked. And we thank you for your word, for living the day we do where we have your whole word. We have the Spirit inside us, but yet we are men with an old nature that just looks at one's own things and interprets Scripture that way so many times and so we.
Pray that you leave us here both for tonight and the rest of the planned week, that it would be a blessing and encouragement and learning and better understanding and appreciation of all that you've done.
Amen.
Let's turn to Genesis chapter 3. You and I as Christians read the book of Genesis.
And we see so much in there that tells us about the Messiah, about the Lord's Christ. It's just so obvious to us. But it wasn't at all obvious to the Jews, the time of Jesus.
Start in Genesis chapter 3.
Where we have Adam and Eve and the first sin you and I see this is not only.
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When men begin to die. But through what we learn in Romans chapter 5 and one Corinthians 15, we see this as the inherent nature of man. Something that we can't overcome, something that's just part of us, something that begs for redemption, something that begs for deliverance. The Jews didn't see it this way. They never saw it that way. Sin was something that.
Yes, the result of sin was death, but it wasn't an inherent part of.
Who they thought, man, was they really did believe this could be overcome. They didn't see it.
Like we do in Romans chapter 5 or One Corinthians 15.
When we look at verse 15 of chapter 3 of Genesis and says, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel, we see that as the first promise of the Messiah. The Jews interpreted the word seed in the plural, not the singular like you and I do through the light of the gospel, and they see this verse.
At most as a promise of continual conflict between Satan.
And mankind or some just see this verse as a story about a woman and a snake.
They don't see what we see.
When men continue to sin and there's a line of Seth that follows God and eventually stops following God and there's just no one in his family and God destroys the world in the in the flood. The Jews really saw that as a time for men to distinguish themselves and their obedience to God. They didn't see that as.
A story about man's deplorable condition.
Abraham we keep on turning in Genesis to Genesis chapter 22.
That story where Abraham offers up Isaac.
It's a story that the Jewish nation can't escape. If you stop and think about it, Jerusalem is founded on that very site.
Where Isaac offered up sorry. Where Abraham offered up Isaac The Jews, though again, in kind of a word place.
A way of interpreting scripture, they say. Look, that word offered can really be interpreted as buying him up.
They basically say God was just challenging Abraham.
He didn't really tell Abraham to sacrifice his son.
They never saw that as a picture of the Messiah. Never.
Really.
It's not until Moses.
When they start to see a promise of the Messiah and you turn to Deuteronomy chapter 18.
And I'm just trying to get through this quickly.
But Deuteronomy chapter 18 is where Moses says I think it's verse 5.
I wasn't planning on turning to this and now I've lost my reference, but Moses says there will be a prophet like me.
And him you will listen to. The Jews were looking for a prophet like Moses to be the Messiah, but they were looking.
At the qualities of Moses, where he had military victories, military might, where Moses did miracles, brought down bread from heaven, that's what they were looking for in Moses. They did not think of Moses as the one who interceded for them on behalf of God. Many times we know the Lord Jesus, like when he talks to Nicodemus, he references.
How the serpent had to be lifted up and the Son of Man will have to be lifted up. That's about Moses, and Moses was providing intercession, if you remember the story the people send.
God.
Their condemnation was to be bitten by the fiery serpent and die.
Guys, remember that. And then there's this strange story about how Moses pleads on their behalf. And then.
Moses is told to make.
A brass, fiery serpent. And they look at it and that's what what allows them to escape that judgment is a picture of the cross. And that's what Jesus is telling Nicodemus when he says that the Son of Man must be lifted up. It's in direct reference to that serpent. And there's the Son of Man, Jesus Christ on the cross was their deserved condemnation. And they have to look up and to Him. And that's how they are delivered from their sins.
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The Jews really just thought of Moses as powerful miracles, not at all about intercession. They even went so far as to win the the Israelites sin by making the calf. They said well.
If they hadn't send, the people would have lived forever and.
They go so far as to say that God caused them to sin. They really, they really didn't get it in their own writings.
David.
David they saw as as a conquering king. They knew that the Messiah would come through the line of David.
They knew that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, but scriptures that the Lord refers to like in Psalm 110 where?
The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, and three of the gospels he mentions that.
As proof of his deity that never crossed their minds, Scriptures that the Apostle Paul and Peter referred to in the Acts.
It's a Psalm chapter 16 where it says you will not see my holy one to see corruption they again.
They didn't know what to think of that.
So we know the history of.
Israel, I kind of, this is my little outline. I'm going to turn to this. This is my simple, simplified kind of way of thinking about what happens to the Old Testament. We have the Garden of Eden, We have the Satan in the fall, we have Noah. We have Abraham and Israel. Eventually the Kingdom is dispersed.
And.
Power is taken away from Israel. They are under the Gentiles authority.
And the profits start to prophecy about the Messiah and.
Lots of different things are said. Let me just turn to my notes so I don't get off topic. The prophets talk about the Messiah being the second David, the 2nd Melchizedek, a faithful priest. They talk about him being rejected and betrayed. They talk about him coming in weakness on a donkey. They talk about him being a suffering servant and the sacrifice for the sins of Israel. But they also talk about him coming on the clouds in power. They talk about him.
Being a ruler of all nations.
Redeeming Israel from the ******* that they were under.
And.
It's very clear in the New Testament that that's the Messiah they were looking for the one that would.
Deliver them from the surrounding *******.
That was really.
Clearly, what was on their minds.
With that in mind, this turn finally to Luke chapter 4.
The Jews went so far at the time of Jesus, and they actually still some of the ultra Orthodox believe this. They went so far at the time of Jesus to say that OK, if if there was a time when Israel wouldn't sin for one day, the whole nation wouldn't send for one day, then that would usher in the Messiah.
They really were convinced that they left idolatry. This is at the time of Jesus. They said, OK, we've left idolatry. We're worshipping in the temple. We're we're following the law. We're as good as we've ever been.
We're waiting for the Messiah. When is he going to come? That was really the mindset. So Luke chapter 4.
Starting at verse 16.
Oh.
And he came to Nazareth. Nazareth. This is Jesus, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found a place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal a broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.
The set of liberty, them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say to them, This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which were seated out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, You will surely say unto me this proverb.
Heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up, three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. And unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto SER Repta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. So this is a Gentile woman.
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And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliezer the prophet, and none of them was cleansed saving name in the Syrian. So he gets up, reads texts about the Messiah, but it's about healing the poor, the broken hearted, delivering the captives. And then he goes on to tell them that they're going to reject him and.
That they've rejected all the profits, essentially.
And so when they hear this verse 28 and they were in all in the synagogue, when they heard these things, they were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and let him unto the brow of the hill where on their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
That was their response. The words that Jesus said were not at all crowd pleasing.
We are very aware, of course, of the words he said that convicted them of sin.
But he also.
Talked about.
The gospel being preached to the poor and healing the broken hearted, that was not what they were looking for.
If we move to Luke Chapter 7.
We have even John the Baptist, who's confused about the coming Messiah. John the Baptist, of course, preached the baptism of repentance. He said that Israel needed to repent, and there were those who recognized that.
And they they flocked to him. But he also talked about judgment that was coming.
And that appealed to them, that appealed to them. They wanted that judgment.
They wanted things to be set right, right in their own eyes. So John here is lingering in prison. He's in prison because of Herod, who was very evil, came from a very evil family. And John's starting to wonder. So in verse 19 of Chapter 7, John calling unto him, two of his disciples sent them to Jesus saying.
Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?
When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist has sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come?
Or look we for another. And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, and of the many that were blind, he gave sight.
Then Jesus answering, said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have heard and seen.
How that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to the poor, the gospel is preached, and blessed is he whoever shall not be offended in me. So again he refers to the same portion that he had gotten up into the synagogue and read. And then verse 23, an important verse for us to not gloss over. He says blessed is he who should not be offended in me. So my words are offensive.
And you're blessed if you're not offended by them.
It's an important thing to realize that his miracles.
Displayed his power and authority.
His words were upsetting.
To them.
In general.
Pretty much all of them were upset at one time or another by his words.
Let's turn to John, John Chapter 9.
John Chapter 9 we have the story of a man who was born blind.
And on the Sabbath day.
Jesus heals him, and the way he heals him is by making.
Clay and putting it on his eyes.
Their own rules that they had set up.
Because they were.
In their own eyes, being ultra righteous, their own rules about work.
According to their feelings, what Jesus did by making the clay violated their own rules, and that was really upsetting to them. So in verse 24.
Of Chapter 9 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise. We know that this man is a Sinner.
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Now this is the response of the one who was born blind. He answered and said, Whether he be a Sinner or no, I know not. But one thing I know that where as I was blind, now I see. And said they to him again, What did he do to thee? How open he thine eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and he did not hear. Wherefore would you hear it again? Will he also be his disciples? And they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple. We are Moses disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses. As for this fellow, we.
Not from whence he is. The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened my eyes. Now we know that God here is not sinners. But if any man be a worshiper of God, and do with his will, him he heareth. Since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
So I think this is a very good example of.
Of the miracles that he did.
Being the display of God's approval, we'll see this mention again an axe.
But the words were confusing.
A very good example of this is think is found in John chapter 6.
So in John chapter 6 we have the miracle of the the loaves and the fish when Jesus did this miracle.
I think it's clear from the text that to them it evoked memories of Moses, and again we talked about how Moses was.
To them.
A picture of the Messiah. And that was true. It was definitely true, but they were really emphasizing the miracles. And so John chapter 6, verse 15. This is after Jesus had done this miracle and Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king. He departed again into a mountain himself alone. So they were ready to to crown him the king. They were all excited. He was doing this miracle and he vanished, he left.
This was upsetting to them. The next day, 1St 26.
This is what Jesus says to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me, not because he saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. So he's saying, you didn't seek me because the miracles were.
Something that you realized means that I have God's authority, but you just want it to be filled with bread, says labor. Not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed.
And then he goes on to say to them some very difficult words later on. There's several places we could we could look at and, and John chapter 6. But let's look at let's start with verse 56.
He says to them, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in Him. As a living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your Father's did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth at this bread shall live forever.
Verse 60, the middle of it, the people say this is a hard saying. Who can hear it?
Jesus says in verse 61, Does this offend you?
Towards the end of this verse 63, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.
And then in verse 66, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
So again, they were attracted to the miracles.
But the words were so disturbing that it offended many and they walked away.
I want to just briefly give an illustration about miracles. I think it's my next slide.
How does that project? It's OK, I I work as an ER physician and.
I was a few weeks ago working a particularly busy shift and.
Before you walk in the door, the nurse writes down the chief complaint. And I saw it was the next patient was going to be a 19 year old woman.
And the chief complaint said something like, I'm anxious and I want an ultrasound. She was pregnant, 10 or 11 weeks pregnant. She wanted an ultrasound. And that's why she showed up in my ER in the middle of a busy day with people who were very sick and dying and so on. And I had to go in and see her. I walked in the door.
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Talk to her sister and the patient and she had not sought will be here yet. She was not bleeding. There was nothing emergent about her presentation.
And I politely explained to her I'm sorry, I can't.
This is not a I didn't say this is not a drive by ultrasound service. That's what I felt like saying. I said, I'm sorry, I cannot do this. It's just not appropriate use of resources. I, I know you're, you know, you want to see the baby, but sorry.
I left.
And my mind went on to the next patient. Well, a nurse came up to me and said her sister wants to talk to you. All right.
So I went over to the sister and the sister said, look, she's really anxious, She's really nervous, and she's considering an abortion. And I thought that if she saw a picture of the baby, it would be real to her and she might reconsider it.
Well, that kind of changed things. I couldn't order a formal ultrasound, but I have an ultrasound machine in my department. I was able to take a couple of minutes, and her baby was just about as far along as this picture. I think this is a picture of 11 weeks. Hers was like 10 days, five weeks. I'm sorry, 10 weeks, 5 days by her dates. And it looked like this. You can see a little hand moving around. You can see a heart. You can see baby parts. There's no mistaking that at 10 weeks, this is a baby.
You can call it a fetus if you want, but this is a baby. We had about two minutes.
And then I had to take the ultrasound probe off and that was it.
This to me is somewhat like a miracle, the way miracles were used by God. They showed His approval. They showed His power.
But miracles are not what sustain us. This woman, this ultrasound was there to prick her conscience, was there to make her think, OK, there is a life inside of me.
But that ultrasound wasn't going to sustain her.
It had to be her conscious and these miracles were not going to sustain the people. It was the words that Jesus spoke that had to sustain them.
I can't remember yet if I've read what Peter says. Jesus says unto the 12.
Verse 67 will ye also go away? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord.
To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ. Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
We've already read about Peter's response to Jesus saying that he would die and rise again. Peter. Peter wasn't ready for that. None of the disciples were ready for that.
We know the story that when Jesus willingly gave himself up, that everyone forsook Him wasn't what they planned. They had been drawn to Him by His words, but even in the end, things weren't going how they expected.
And so.
Let's go back to the Road to Emmaus, Luke Chapter 7. Luke.
The end of loop.
Chapter 24.
Start with.
Verse.
19.
80 Sorry. And one of them, whose name was Cleopas answering, said unto him, Into Jesus, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass therein these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which would redeem.
Is real. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yay. And certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre. And when they found not his body, they came, saying that they had seen also seen a vision of angels which said that He was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it even as the woman had said. But him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the.
Spoken, Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory, and beginning and beginning at Moses?
And all the prophets he expounded unto them, and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.
And then later he appears to be 11, he says in verse 36.
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Peace be unto you. He shows him his hands and his feet.
I didn't read what the ones on the road to Emmaus said. They said while he talked to us, by the way, and while he opened us to us, the Scriptures didn't. Our heart burned within us. Now verse 44, Jesus says to them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.
Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
And said unto them, Thus it is written, And thus it behoove Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.
So again Jesus says to them all things need to be fulfilled, which were written about me by the prophets in Moses. So what is he referring to when he says all things?
The next slide.
It's busy and I'm sorry.
I probably should have trimmed this up a little bit.
I have the heading Colossians 120 where it says he will reconcile all things on the earth and in the heavens.
On the left hand side, I already showed most of that. That's easy for all of us. I think you remember the Garden of Eden and Satan, then Noah and how with Noah that ushered in government where God says now you're going to govern yourselves. They failed miserably. Then we have Abraham and Israel, the Gentiles, and then finally, so the Gentiles are when God gave authority to.
Gentile kings to act on his behalf.
And then finally we just read about how the Messiah came, and as the scripture says, you know, surely they will reference my son. And of course they did not. He was rejected. You and I are now living.
At the end there of the left hand side were part of the church and we've been given the Holy Spirit, which Scripture tells us is the earnest of our expectation. It's like that.
The promise of things to come.
On the right hand side is my very simplified way of thinking about what's next.
I kind of in my head line things up with the left hand side just to kind of remember the order of events. It's not perfect at all, but it makes it easier for me to understand. At the bottom right hand side is when He comes for His own, His second coming, the first resurrection. That's when you and I received a changed body, not a new body. Was easy for us to say a new body was a changed body.
And then we're up with him.
But notice there's a lot that's still to come.
I have lined up with Jesus rejected the Antichrist, which is the one that they choose.
And then Jesus comes with his own, with us. The nations are judged. Israel is restored. Israel becomes prominent again. This is what people at the time of Jesus were hoping for right then. They didn't realize other things had to happen. They didn't pay attention to them.
And then after Israel was restored, that starts the millennial reign, the 1000 years. And I haven't lined up with with government where government was.
Given to men and men failed. It's easy for me to remember to line those up. And then finally Satan is destroyed.
And then we have the eternal state.
I want to read a few verses, a few portions from Acts.
Where we can clearly see that the disciples when it says he opened up the scriptures to them that they understood.
All things we can clearly see where the disciples preach this from the beginning. Acts chapter one.
The beginning of Acts. Jesus is there with them. He promises them the Holy Spirit.
And then in verse six, Acts chapter one, verse six, they say to Jesus in the middle of the verse, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? They were waiting for that.
That's what they were wanting. They were anxiously waiting for it. And what does Jesus say to them?
For seven, he says, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.
He doesn't say it's not going to happen. He says it's not for you to know when this is going to happen. And then in verse 11.
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Since after Jesus goes up, the angels say to his disciples, verse 11, Ye men of Galilee.
Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This St. Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, and like manner as ye have seen him.
Go into heaven, they say. He's coming again. That was their expectation right away. He is coming again.
And then in chapter 2, we have the Day of Pentecost.
You remember this. This is where the Holy Spirit comes down in a very powerful way. Verse five tells us that they were dwelling at Jerusalem. Jews, devout men of every nation under heaven. So a great multitude of devout Jews, they were there for the feast of the Pentecost.
They saw men speaking in their own language. Very powerful sign.
It was prophesied in Joel. That's what we have in verse 16 and then in verse 22.
We have Peter talking and this is what he says. He says ye men of Israel hear these words.
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.
We were talking about those which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. And then he talks about how David had.
Prophesied this when he said I believe it was Psalm 110.
And then other psalms about not leaving his holy one to see corruption.
So again tells them, look, I know you didn't expect it, but look at these miracles. Look at the fact, the ultimate fact that Jesus was risen from the dead. And here look, you just saw the Holy Spirit descend on these men.
He says to them.
You thought you were so righteous, and here you took the one who God clearly approved of, and you crucified him.
And so some of them.
Verse 37 says, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter into the rest of the apostles, Ben and brother, and what shall we do?
Than Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.
Verse 39 For the promises unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many.
As the Lord our God shall call.
Chapter 3.
In chapter 3, there's a man who was lame from his mother's womb. He's healed.
And this upsets.
The Pharisees.
Verse 12.
When Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, have glorified His Son Jesus, whom he delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But he denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.
And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are all we are witnesses.
And His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong whom ye see and know. Yeah, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brother, and I wot that through ignorance he did it, as did also your rulers. But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Let me read that again. But those things which God before has showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath.
Fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive, until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the Father, As a prophet, shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me, Him shall ye hear in all things. Whatsoever ye shall say unto you, he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which shall not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.
00:40:00
Yay, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
So he tells them again.
You took God's.
Son, I failed to read it in chapter 3, but Peter tells them this one that you crucified, He has made both Lord and Christ. So he is God and he is the Messiah. He's telling the people.
Repentance, remission of sins need to happen first before this time of refreshing, which is what they were looking for. They were looking for when it says the timer refreshing and the restitution of all things. This is what they were looking for. They're looking for Israel to be prominent again. But they totally missed that their sins were a problem. They totally missed the things the prophet said about their hearts being of stone and about.
And constantly rejecting the profits.
OK, that was long winded.
And I promised that I would share with you.
What I realized I have not been paying attention to and it's it's it's like this basically throughout most of my life.
I basically think something like this, I die, I go to heaven, not sure what it'll be like, but God says it's going to be really good. And so that's what I'm waiting for and that's about as far as I've gone.
You know, we, we live in a society where Christians, when someone dies, we generally say, well, they're in heaven now.
What do we mean by that?
What do we mean by that? Are we, if you look at that funny diagram, are we thinking about the eternal state where there's a new heaven and a new earth?
Where there's no more sand? Is that what we're thinking about?
I knew.
That our body was going to be changed.
But.
I very easily would say a new body didn't really care about the distinction and say, well what does it matter?
I'm going to try to be fast. That's an X-ray. This is my illustration of why it matters.
Those of you who are the biggest screen, do you see the fracture?
Can you see it? I don't have my laser pointer, but there's actually two fractures. I want you to look at that X-ray and decide.
To yourselves. How's the alignment?
How well do you think that that fracture is going to heal? How painful does that fracture look to you?
Just kind of answer those questions in your mind. Now I want to show you another X-ray.
How is that alignment?
What kind of treatment do you think that means? Can you put that in a brace? Can you sling that? Can you put a cast on it? Does it look like it hurts?
You can't see this very well on the small screen, but there's a comparison you might have already guessed. This is the same fracture viewed from two different angles.
So if you looked at the first X-ray and described it as good alignment, you know as a fracture of the.
The latter third of the radius and you know the distal all done the line that looks good. You wouldn't have been.
Lying. That's just the information you had. That was your perspective. This X-ray sheds a lot more light on it. You would describe it differently. You would think the treatment would be different. And indeed that fracture needs surgery. It's not going to. You're not going to put that in a sling.
I believe.
There are big implications for what I've been doing most of my life and just thinking about heaven in a very.
Laissez faire sort of way.
Let's quickly turn to Romans chapter 8.
The verse that I've always been pretty always but been very familiar with is Romans chapter 8 verse 22. It says we know the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now looked at that verse and thought, OK, that that means that you know we can see the effects of sin and is really bad and the whole creation is groaning. OK, fine, but I haven't really been paying attention to.
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The context. Let's go back to verse 18.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in US. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered for the ******* of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth in travaileth and pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which had.
First fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our body.
This is saying that Creation not only groans in its state, but is looking for the day.
When it's going to be restored?
What, what are some of the implications of that for me? Well, I'm, I'm somebody who honestly just likes to think of creation as it's going to burn up one day and it's disposable and it's for my consumption.
If I realize that God cares about this ruined creation, God cares. God is looking for the day during the Millennium when there will be the restitution, the restoration of all things. It's not going to be perfect, but things are going to change. That's part of God's plan. That's part of what God cares about.
Does that affect the way I look at his earth? I think so. It should. I don't know if it will because I'm pretty. I like my disposable earth.
Remember my next thing here? Oh, I got ahead of myself.
Looking at the clock.
What I want to mention was that what I had traditionally thought of, which is I die and then.
Go to heaven.
When we start to look at scripture and start to notice.
When does Scripture talk about what happens to us right after death, according to.
Brethren far more alert than me. They say there's only really four mentions of that state of things in Scripture. They mentioned the thief on the cross where Jesus says to him, today thou shalt be with me in paradise is kind of a verse that's always confused me. They talk about Steven where Steven says to Jesus, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. And then there's two times where Paul mentions this state. He says to be absent from the body and to be present from with the Lord.
And then he says also for I am in a straight betwixt 2 having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
But notice that all of these, that one with the thief on the cross, where it says today thou shalt be with me in paradise. The word that's used is the word that the Jews had been expecting, that the place of the departed soul, the place where yes, you were with God, but you were waiting for what's next.
And that's really the emphasis of all four of those.
Is what's next. What's the head?
OK, let's turn to Acts chapter 17.
I think there's implications in the gospel message for having a wrong view.
Of what's that come at least implications for me when I think about the gospel.
The verse that I want to highlight is Paul is talking to the the Athenians.
They were a very learned bunch, and let's know what he says to them in verse 31 of chapter 17. He says God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.
Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.
So he says two things, two of them that I want to point out. He says all the world will be judged, All the world will be judged.
And he also says he will judge the world by the man he has raised from the dead, the Lord Jesus, and when they heard about the resurrection.
Of the dead. They mocked him because the resurrection of the dead that Paul was talking to them about was a bodily resurrection.
A body, not a spiritual resurrection, they believed, and they were Greeks.
They believed in some sort of eternal state of the soul, some sort of like the soul lives on. And we live in a society that a lot of people believe in something of that nature, like the soul kind of lives on, and it's comforting to them.
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It's comforting to them to think that some when they die, some part of them keeps on going.
But that's not the resurrection that Paul is talking about. He's talking about a bodily resurrection. Resurrection of the soul is something that's comforting to men because it gives glory to men. It makes them think highly about themselves. But the truth of Scripture is that God is going to change your body. He's going to raise up from dust.
Your body, I don't understand it, but that's the truth of Scripture. And there's going to be a bodily resurrection. You're going to have a change. Glorified body.
It's very different, and I think in the gospel that I have shared, I don't share that because it's so different, but that is the gospel, a bodily resurrection.
And how about this idea that God is going to judge the whole world? Yes, people have to realize the sin in their own heart. But I think generally when I preach the gospel, I emphasize that, and I don't emphasize the judgment of the world. And we live in a society where very few people really feel sin within their own hearts. They generally feel pretty good about themselves. But it's not hard for people to look at the world and see sand. It's not hard for them to look at events in the world and see send.
And it's not hard for some of them who maybe think men are inherently good. It's not hard for them to see the ruin of the world around them. The world is ruined and God cares.
God cares. I have a quote as I was making these slides that kind of jumped out for me from the news and I don't want to.
S kind of one of those quotes here is it's easy to kind of chuckle, but it's really solemn. And it's about the El Paso shootings recently. And this is a quote from the mayor from El Paso.
He says. I haven't been informed by the FBI at all about the individual, except he came from the Dallas area.
I am convinced no one from El Paso would have ever done this. It is not our nature and it is not our culture.
To me, this exemplified what?
State of men as we don't see sin within ourselves, but we see sin around us.
And when we preach the gospel, it's OK to say God cares about all the sin around us. God cares about the suffering, and he's going to make it right. But he's long tearing right now. He's he's, he's waiting for men to repent.
Remember where my next one? Oh, OK. Another implication of realizing all that's ahead, I think is.
Is for when we think about.
The Jews and what they are the criticism of the Messiah right now.
There's a group called Jews for Jesus that you might have heard of. There's also one called Jews for Judaism.
Where they list these things as the reasons why not to accept Jesus. It's kind of an interesting list. This is right from their website. They say Jesus failed as the Messiah because he must be Jewish. He must be a member of the tribe of Judah, a direct bail descendant of King David and King Solomon. He must gather the Jewish people from exile and return them to Israel. He must rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. He must bring World Peace.
He must influence the entire world to acknowledge and serve one God, they say.
The Messiah was always a political figure.
The portions in the Old Testament that talk about.
Him suffering only applied to the nation of Israel. They weren't about the Messiah. So Isaiah 52 and 53.
And they say a bunch of other stuff, but one of the more interesting things I think they say is they basically say look.
Jesus was a failed Messiah. He didn't do what the Messiah was supposed to accomplish. And his followers came up with a clever, very clever doctrine, starting with original sin. This idea that sin was passed on and and only God could atone for sin. Say it was a very clever doctor and very clever, but it was an inside job basically done by people who felt like the Messiah had failed.
Or or were disappointed because they spent three years with the Messiah and we're we're trying to.
Recover things. I think it's just with that in mind, it's very interesting to think that God used the apostle Paul.
Jew of the Jews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, one who openly.
Persecuted the Christians. He had nothing to gain.
He was not a loyal follower, he was called by God.
When we read Galatians one he he, he makes that very explicit. He says I am not an apostle of man. I was called by God. I was a Jew of the Jew. I did not do this for human gain.
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I would have stayed a Jew, a Pharisee, if I wanted to do this for human gain. It's just that interesting to me.
Point and we can look at all those points that the Jews for Judaism make about the Messiah, and we can say hey.
This will happen one day.
My myself. My next.
Quickly.
There's a pamphlet that I think Mr. Kelly wrote.
That's called 1 sided theology. And in it he talks about predestination and how we can get so into the truth of predestination that you can justify not preaching the gospel. And I think we're familiar with this idea that, you know, we're so in the predestination. Why do you preach the gospel? Well, that's that's wrong. And he talks about the dangers of that, I think in my own heart.
I can get so into my heavenly calling and please listen to me.
So into the heavenly calling that I use it as an excuse or as a way to justify not caring about the suffering around me, as a way to look at fellow Christians who think they need to change the world and that's clearly wrong and that's not going to happen.
But I can be critical of their action.
And forget that my heavenly calling is about not laying up treasure on this earth, but it doesn't give me license to not care about the pain and suffering around me.
I can't just sing a little song in my head. Heaven is my home. I'm a stranger here. I don't care about earth. Heaven is my home.
I'll just take up my.
Topic of the day and whatever I find interesting in the Bible and select and choose what I want to care about. Because I'm just waiting for heaven. Just hanging on for heaven.
When we see all of what God cares about, I don't know how we can do that, how we can just.
Just go on waiting for heaven.
It's a shame.
Done that and.
It's not enough just to be conscious of it, but.
I want to quote in the end here almost the end something that.
Darby says in the Geneva lecture series, and it's a big quote. He says the difficulty people find in the subjects of which we are treating do not arise from the word of God not being simple. This is a lecture series that he gave about prophecy. Says the difficulties are not from the word of God being simple, clear and convincing, but from this that preconceived ideas often rob us of his natural sense. We have habits of thinking apart from Scripture before we know it, then it is we find inconsistencies incompat.
And that which presents itself to us not suspecting that this incompatibility belongs alone to human preconceived opinions. So that's a big long worded way of saying. And basically we go into scripture with our preconceived notions and ideas. One of which for me has been what's in it for me and just read what's in it for me. What is where, where am I in this? And I don't care about the rest of what God cares about and it.
Makes my interpretation of scripture.
Wrong. There are so many Times Now that I'm more conscious of this. So many times I read scripture now and realize.
You know, so many times Scripture talks about what's ahead and it talks about.
The restitution of all things, it talks about. The restoration of Israel, it talks about.
Awaiting our changed bodies.
Doesn't talk about my version of heaven because my version of heaven was wrong.
Finally, we really have time to turn to it, but in second Peter.
Maybe we'll we'll just quickly turn to this will be the end second Peter.
Chapter One.
My last point about.
The effects of paying attention to everything that God cares about. What does Scripture say the effects will be?
Verse two of chapter one Peter says grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According to according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that have called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. That by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
So what he's saying here is when we.
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Care about all of his great and precious promises when we.
Are filled with the knowledge of Him that's called us when we become more and more partakers of the divine nature. And then in chapter 3.
We won't read all of this. He talks about what's to come. He talks about the new heaven and the new earth. He talks about paying attention to all that the prophets have said. He talks about in verse two paying attention to the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Later on he mentions our beloved brother Paul, but at the very beginning he says in verse one this second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your your pure minds by way of remembrance. So the effects.
Of, as far as I can see, the effects of caring about all that God has.
All that God cares about is we're more like his divine nature, and we're stirred up. We're stirred up.
It's not to.
Pursue our own things. Like what? Lord rebukes Peter where he says.
Thou art at what do you say an offense to me you care more about?
The things of men and of God.
All right, let's pray.
Dear God, we thank you for.
This time, thank you for each other. Thank you for most of all for your word and pray that.
But learn more of their ways and apply it and not just behead knowledge and.
Pray for correction.
Your name we pray, man.