Dispensational Odds and Ends Part II

[0:00] If you'll turn in your bulletin, Miles Coverdale, back in the 1500s, came up with this way to approach the scriptures.

[0:17] And this morning, I would like us all to read in unison what Miles Coverdale came up with.

[0:27] In the Elizabethan language. It shall greatly help ye to understand scripture.

[0:41] If thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeth after.

[1:08] Remember, Coverdale's rules for interpreting and understanding the Bible to be the most important thing I have ever learned since I became a believer and started engaging the scriptures in a serious way.

[1:23] I'm also of the opinion that if there were some way that we could convince every preacher about the validity of this statement and these principles, a huge number of differences that distinguish Christians from one another would disappear overnight.

[1:43] Because more and more people would be reaching the same conclusions. In my estimation, this is nothing more than just common sense, reasonable approach to the scriptures.

[1:57] And it involves all of those things that Miles Coverdale is talking about. And they ought to be implemented every time we come to the Bible and expect to understand it.

[2:09] They are very simple rules. They're not difficult to follow at all. And if you do follow them, you will be a dispensationalist.

[2:20] It is absolutely inevitable. Taking the Bible at face value and reading it with the idea that the Bible was intended to be a disclosure, not a concealer.

[2:36] It is a book of revealment, not of concealment. God fully expects us to not only understand, but to obey and appreciate that which is recorded in scripture.

[2:51] And one of the principles we've dealt with numerous times in the past is that the Bible represents an ongoing revelation. That is a progressive revelation so that what you have revealed about God, his plan and program in Genesis is understandably the very beginning.

[3:13] But as you go through the Bible, more and more of God and his plan and program are revealed. They are shown to us.

[3:25] Content that you don't get in the first part of the Bible. Because the Bible is a book that is on the move. It is progressing and developing. God could have just taken this Bible.

[3:36] He could have written it with the finger of God and just dropped it out of heaven. Kerplop. Here it is. Pick it up. But he didn't. He used 40 plus different individuals over a period of 1,500 years to record his plan and program for us.

[3:55] And as you move through the Bible, you can see doctrine developing. Changing. Changing. And I have told you there is no greater example of the progress of revelation that we have all throughout scripture, in my opinion.

[4:11] And the distinction between the Old and the New Covenant. Commonly referred to as the Old and New Testament. More accurately referred to as the Old and New Covenant. In the Old Covenant, we have not only the requirement for animal sacrifice, we have detailed explanations as to how it is to be carried out and who is to do it.

[4:33] And it was exclusively a Jewish proposition given by God, the God of the Jews, for the Jews, never intended to be implemented by humanity as a whole.

[4:45] So, we have got this principle of substitution established in the Old Testament, animal sacrifice. But we don't do that anymore. Nobody does that. Even the Jews don't do that anymore.

[4:56] Why not? Well, because times have changed. And I have facetiously told some of my Reformed and Covenant theologian friends who say, I just can't buy your dispensationalism, Wiseman.

[5:10] I just can't buy that. I say, oh, well, you don't have to be a dispensationalist. You still sacrifice animals, do you? Oh, no, we don't do that. Well, why not? It's right there in black and white.

[5:23] The Bible says, why don't? And then they say, well, you dispensationalists, you don't take all of the Bible. You just take the Pauline part.

[5:34] You just take what Paul wrote, which, of course, is complete nonsense. But if you want to take all of the Bible, do you take all of the Bible? Do you sacrifice animals?

[5:44] And do you bring your money into a commonplace? And do you sell your lands and bring the money here to the church and let the elders distribute it as they will? No, you don't do that. Why don't you do that?

[5:55] Well, we don't believe that's for our day precisely. It is not for our day. There's a reason why it is not. There was a time when that was appropriate. That was the end thing.

[6:05] That's what you were supposed to be doing then. But it's changed. And the most dramatic thing that changed it all was when he said, it is finished.

[6:18] And he ushered in a whole new thing. And that was Christ on the cross. And when he said, it is finished, he meant that which the Father had commissioned him to do, to come and provide, which is redemption for a fallen race.

[6:35] That was finished. It was over. It was over with the spiritual death of Christ, and it was followed with the physical death of Christ. Marvelous, marvelous thing. It is the event that splits all of human history.

[6:50] And in reality, it's the only thing that really matters, is what Jesus Christ did on that cross, and what your response to it is. Nothing else matters compared to that.

[7:02] Nothing. Nothing. So, we are here with a Memorial Day weekend. Years ago, some of you won't remember this, but I'm happy to say I know some of you will.

[7:21] It was called Decoration Day. And the reason we called it Decoration Day was because that was weekend especially that we decorated graves. Went out to the cemetery, and there'd be lots of people there with lots of flowers and every description that you could imagine.

[7:39] And they would pretty up the cemetery plot and cut away any weeds or trim the grass or whatever and decorate it with flowers. And over the years, particularly after World War II and subsequent conflicts, there has been a shift that has occurred from Decoration Day to Memorial Day.

[8:06] And we still decorate graves on Memorial Day. But something happened with World War II, particularly World War II, and then Korea, and then Vietnam, and now Iraq and Afghanistan, and 9-11, and the terrorist activity.

[8:28] And there has been a kind of a shift from Decoration Day and the decorating of all graves of just loved ones who have gone ahead over the past few years with more and more emphasis being placed on those who have died in honor and service of their country.

[8:55] And these are all extremely legitimate concerns. But nothing has so heightened this decorating and the memorializing that has taken place in connection with fallen heroes and those who gave their lives in the service of the country.

[9:21] It has just kind of morphed from a general recognition of those who have gone ahead to, more specifically, those who have given their all in the line of duty in defense of our nation.

[9:39] Why? Why did they die? Why was it all necessary? Why were their deaths necessary? Why didn't we peacefully negotiate our way out of differences?

[9:59] Why do we have to go to war? Why do we have to shed the blood of fellow human beings who are just as much made in the image and likeness of God as we are?

[10:17] Why is it that man seems intent on destroying his own kind? War, in many respects, can be considered humanity's greatest insanity.

[10:35] That's what it is. War is an insanity of humanity. War is an insanity of humanity. And yet, we find it an evil that is absolutely necessary.

[10:54] Now, that is a conundrum. It's especially a conundrum if you don't understand what man really is and how we are constituted in our fallenness.

[11:12] You cannot find a more ugly business than war. War is an insanity of humanity. I spent three years in the Army, and I consider myself blessed to have never been in harm's way.

[11:31] I never had anyone shooting at me, trying to kill me. A couple of months before I entered the Army back in 1954, the peace accord at Panmunjom had been signed in Korea, and hostilities had ceased.

[11:50] We still have troops there, occupying, because even though the treaty was signed, you know, many people don't know this, but that conflict has never been pronounced as over by either side.

[12:06] It's still a truce that is just holding. So, there's been no peace treaty signed between the North and the South. It's still open, and they still have occasional, you know, incidents on the border.

[12:23] Why we don't peacefully negotiate our way out of differences and insist on going to war with the horrible carnage, bloodshed creates widows and fatherless children by the thousands, and cumulatively over the years, war has created millions of widows and millions of orphans, fatherless children.

[13:02] War, I think it was General Curtis LeMay, who was the originator of SAC, the Air Force Strategic Air Command.

[13:16] It was back during the Cold War days when we fully anticipated intercontinental ballistic missiles being launched from the Soviet Union headed for the United States.

[13:29] Some of you are old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and we were teaching our children in grade school and in other schools how to protect themselves by hiding under their desk.

[13:44] Fat lot of good that would do, in case of a nuclear explosion. And there were bomb shelters being built all over the United States because we considered the Soviet threat very real, and they considered us a very real threat.

[13:58] And we knew already, because of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, we knew what these bombs could do, and we knew that Russia had them, and they knew that we had them.

[14:09] And it's the MAD principle, it's the only thing that keeps us safe at all. The MAD principle, M-A-D, stands for Mutual Assured Destruction.

[14:22] And the one thing that keeps any nation from launching a nuclear attack on any other nation is the absolute assurance that if they did so, the retaliation would be such that they would be destroyed.

[14:41] So, it's what you call, I guess, a Mexican standoff. Everybody is afraid to throw the first punch because they know the retaliation would be horrific.

[14:54] You might get in your first lick, but you would pay a horrible price for doing so. Now, isn't it something, isn't it a sad commentary on humanity when a scene like that has to be your basis for security?

[15:10] See, they won't try to wipe us out because they know that in return, they would get wiped out.

[15:20] And that's the only thing that keeps people from going at one another. This General Curtis LeMay, who founded that Strategic Air Command, it was a principle that said, we will have B-52s armed with nuclear weapons in the air.

[15:38] Not ready to take off, but in the air, 24-7, 365. And they rotated so that there were always these armed B-52s flying somewhere, and all they needed was a word from the President as to where to go to drop their payload.

[16:02] Now, thankfully, those days are over, but that was at the height of the Cold War. War. And this was in the 1950s and 1960s. And General LeMay said, War is all about killing people.

[16:19] That's what you do in war. You kill as many of their people as you can, while they are trying to kill as many of you as they can. You see why I call this humanity's insanity?

[16:31] It's crazy. And he says, War is all about killing people, and when enough people have been killed, the war is over.

[16:42] Well, you know that sounds very simplistic, but it's very true. It's only when one nation comes to the place of where they are willing to say, That's enough!

[16:54] Enough killing. Enough dead. Enough casualties. We quit. We surrender. We don't want any more. That's when the war is over. And it has to come to that.

[17:08] I have described war as a necessary evil, and that's exactly what it is, because it is all about man's insatiable appetite to control and dominate his fellow man.

[17:28] War is all about power and control. It is about making the enemy do what you want them to do.

[17:42] And it is to keep from doing what the enemy wants you to do. Now, that's very simplistic, but it's very true.

[17:56] War is all about power and control. Politics is all about power and control. In peacetime or in wartime, politics is all about power and control.

[18:09] It doesn't make any difference whether you're talking Republican, Democrat, or Independent. That's the name of the game. It's power, because those who win the office, those who win the election, those who are in power, set the agenda.

[18:24] And the agenda is that which determines the goals and objectives of the political entity and how they are going to be achieved. And theoretically, we are supposed to vote for the president or the senator or the representative or whatever in Columbus.

[18:44] We are supposed to vote for the one whose agenda we favor. The one whom we feel will take the nation in the right direction.

[18:56] That's the one we vote for because we want that particular agenda that we are sympathetic to to be implemented and followed. So, here we go and we elect people.

[19:12] And we have done this admirably for over 200 years. You know, just the other day I heard a statement made about the people of Egypt. Now, this is a very, very old nation.

[19:24] We're talking Pharaoh times. We're talking thousands of years before the birth of Christ. We're talking about a nation that existed even before Moses went to Pharaoh and said, let my people go.

[19:40] Egypt was a nation that was intact long before that. And this statement that was made on the radio really, really grabbed me. I thought, wow, this is really something.

[19:50] And it talked about what is going on in Egypt right now. These people are going to the polls for the first time in the history of the entire nation to decide who is going to be their leader.

[20:09] They have never decided that before. Never in the history of Egypt have the people ever decided who was going to be their leader. It was always somebody who was imposed upon them, either a Pharaoh or a military junta led by some general or colonel like Nasser or whomever.

[20:28] But never had they gone to the polls. Never in the existence of the nation had they ever gone and voted for the kind of government or the leader that they wanted.

[20:40] And here, we take that so for granted we do it every couple of years and we elect a president every four years and we just kind of think that's kind of the way it is in other parts of the world.

[20:52] No, it isn't. Do you realize what we have here? What we have here is unparalleled. This is the United States is an anomaly.

[21:07] Politically, worldwide, we are a bunch of oddballs. Good oddballs, I might add. Benefited oddballs.

[21:18] But nonetheless, we are a rarity. I'm not suggesting we're the only democracy in the world because we're not. And there are others who do a pretty good job of it too. But you need to understand that this is our nation is the exception rather than the rule.

[21:35] And we are a most blessed and fortunate people. Usually, those who are seeking political power see no further than their own agenda.

[21:49] This is truly ironic because there is a much bigger agenda. agenda. And the bigger agenda is found in Acts chapter 3.

[22:00] And I want you to go there because this is critical. Acts chapter 3, and there is a necessity, some overlap here with what we are studying in the men's class on Thursday mornings because we are going through the book of Acts and we just finished chapter 2.

[22:19] We started chapter 3, but we haven't gotten to this portion yet. And this is really, really critical because this is God's agenda.

[22:30] This is what God is going to provide for this world. and it will put an end to man's bloodthirstiness.

[22:43] It will put an end to conflict and wars, bloodshed, deprivation, poverty, disease, everything that goes with it.

[22:55] All of these things are coming to an end according to God's agenda. And I want to begin in Acts chapter 3 and verse 12 because let me set the scene a little bit historically if I can.

[23:12] This is sometime probably this is probably about two weeks. Probably about two weeks after the ascension of Christ.

[23:29] Christ. A very short time after the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 when Peter preached his message and 3,000 people Jews responded to Peter's message and they were baptized with the baptism of John.

[23:49] Probably some of them had refused it earlier. Now they have come on board and the number of believers who are Jews who are coming to faith in Jesus as their Messiah is increasing.

[24:08] In addition to the few hundred that began even before his crucifixion, now thousands have been added to it. And shortly after Acts chapter 2 and Peter's Pentecostal address, chapter 3 introduces another occasion for another address and it is just incredible.

[24:31] Wonderfully dynamic. It's just so filled. Peter and John are going up to the temple to pray. This is of course in Jerusalem and there's only one temple and that at the time was called Solomon's Temple and it was the temple that Herod had been in process of rebuilding.

[24:49] It wasn't even finished yet. Still under construction, although mostly done. And they are going up to the temple at the hour of prayer. It's the third hour of prayer, I believe it is. Actually, it's about three o'clock in the afternoon, the ninth hour, about three o'clock in the afternoon.

[25:04] And when they approach the temple area, there is this beautiful structure that's called the gate beautiful. Now, there are several gates around, but this gate was outstanding.

[25:18] It's decor, it's architecture, it's beauty, design, everything. This was just a stunning, stunning gate entranced into the temple proper area.

[25:31] And right there, perched at the outside of that gate, just as you were to go in and enter, sat a beggar, cross-legged, holding out his cup or his little basket or whatever, saying, alms, alms, alms for the poor.

[25:52] And he obviously had dibs on that spot because begging was a respectable profession. And some people were so physically incapacitated, they couldn't earn a living by doing any kind of work, so they begged.

[26:07] And begging was not looked upon then like it is looked upon today. And this was considered a pretty legitimate occupation. This man was a beggar because he had never walked a day in his life.

[26:20] He was over 40 years of age. And every morning, family, friends, or relatives would carry this man physically to his assigned place.

[26:34] I'm sure that he had this place, like I said, this was his official spot. It's kind of like he had his name on it. And everybody knew this is where so-and-so the beggar is.

[26:45] And he hangs out there. And the idea, of course, is there are really good places for begging and there are bad places for begging. And if you are a low beggar on the totem pole, you get the out-of-the-way places where there aren't a whole lot of people and a lot of traffic and the pickings aren't too good.

[27:03] But if you are a well-established, well-respected beggar and you've made a name for yourself, you just kind of had dibs on a certain spot. And if you had a spot at the temple gate beautiful, that was the creme de la creme.

[27:19] Because you catch people coming in and out of the temple, they tend to be in a more religious frame of mind and it can affect their generosity and they will come across with a few more shekels, you know.

[27:34] And that was this guy's spot. And Peter and John walk up to this fellow as he's sitting there and he holds out his cup expecting to receive something from them.

[27:48] And Peter says, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Rise up!

[27:59] And he reached down and took that man and yanked on him. And here is a man who had never stood on his own two legs or walked a day in his life.

[28:11] He was born with either malformed legs or some kind of a physical deformity that would never allow him to walk.

[28:23] And this fellow came right up out of there and he was standing on his own two legs. And you know, if somebody has been in a hospital bed for a couple of months, when they get back on their feet, they have to learn to walk all over again because they lose their motor and muscle coordination and they actually have to learn to walk all over again.

[28:46] This guy was not only walking, he was leaping and jumping up and down and looking at his legs and he stamps and he can't believe it.

[28:56] It is just amazing. He's probably pinching himself saying, surely I've got to be dreaming. This can't be real. But it was real. And this fellow was jumping around, leaping around, making most that he could out of this newfound ability and people are looking at him and he's starting to draw a crowd and they're saying things like, hey, that's, that's, no, it isn't him.

[29:21] It's somebody that looks, no, that's him, I know, hey, I helped carry this guy up here, I know him, that's him. How is it that he's walking? And the crowd is building, getting bigger, all this commotion going on.

[29:34] People are yelling, asking questions, wondering, what in the world, what's happened to this guy? How do you, you've never been able, how is, and the crowd gets, you can just see the numbers begin piling in because you know what draws a big crowd?

[29:46] a small crowd. They just keep adding to it, everybody's nosy, everybody wants to know, hey, what's going on over there? And they all start running over there. And the thing is building, and the audience is becoming huge.

[30:00] And they're all asking the same question, is this the same, yes, this is the same guy. Well, how is it possible? And that's where Peter comes in with his answer.

[30:11] This poor man is clinging to Peter and John. I wouldn't want to turn loose of them either. He is just so elated, he doesn't know how to express his gratitude.

[30:23] He's hugging Peter and John, won't let them go. And all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.

[30:35] Well, I guess they're full of amazement. And when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, men of Israel, I can just see this big old fisherman standing out there and everybody's gathering around and Peter lifts up that booming, and by the way, this is the same man who just a few weeks earlier said, I don't know the man, never seen him before, and he cursed and swore, denied that he ever knew him, and now look at him.

[31:06] Wow, what a transformation. men of Israel, he calls them that because that's what they are, and there isn't anybody there who is not a man of Israel, because if you were a Gentile, you weren't even allowed here, you were on the other side of the barrier, it was verboten for you to be where Peter was if you were a Gentile.

[31:30] He addresses them as men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you gaze at us as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?

[31:45] Peter is right away rightfully disclaiming any personal ability on his part. We didn't do this, but I'll tell you who did.

[31:56] The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up. This sounds like Pentecost all over again, doesn't it?

[32:09] You have by wicked hands crucified and slain the Lord of glory. Here he is leveling that same indictment whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.

[32:24] But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer, Barabbas, to be granted unto you. You put to death the Prince of Life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.

[32:45] And on the basis of faith, confidence, reliance, trust, in his name, that is, it is the name of Jesus, which has strengthened this man whom you see and know, and the faith which comes through him, that is, Jesus, has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

[33:12] You know, I never really noticed that before. This perfect health. I wonder if this poor man also had a liver condition and that was taken care of, and if he had some other problems then they were taken care of.

[33:33] So maybe it's not just his legs. And you know, that only stands to reason, because it seems to me that if God himself is going to touch someone who is ill and make them well, it doesn't seem that he would do a halfway job, does it?

[33:52] I mean, it seems like he would make them well every whit hole. And perhaps that's what Peter is saying here. Given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

[34:05] Took care of his arthritis and whatever else he might have had. That's pretty neat. And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance just as your rulers did also.

[34:20] But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets. Now, what's that? That's earlier information. What the prophets had to say hundreds of years earlier is what Peter is talking about.

[34:41] You know what Isaiah and Jeremiah and Haggai and Zechariah and Daniel and all those fellows, what they talked about hundreds of years before Christ was ever born.

[34:52] This is what we're talking about now. God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, and here's what he announced, that his Christ, his Messiah, should suffer, he has fulfilled.

[35:11] The Old Testament is replete in a number of places where it talks about a suffering Messiah, but it also talks about a glorious reigning Messiah, pomp and glory and honor and victory and all of that, and it talks a lot about that.

[35:35] In the Bible, in the Old Testament, the first and second coming of Christ are both very clearly spelled out, Christ. But the second coming of Christ is mentioned far, far more often than the first coming.

[35:53] Make no mistake about it, the babe of Bethlehem is predicted in the Old Testament, very definitely, goes all the way back to Genesis 3, and even specific places like Micah 5, 2 tells us exactly where he will be born.

[36:07] He will be born in Bethlehem, and Isaiah tells us that he will be born of a virgin, and all of those things are there in regard to the first coming of Christ. But, the Bible speaks so many more times in the Old Testament about the second coming of Christ than it does the first.

[36:28] Many, many more times. It is almost a theme, because it is in connection with the second coming of Christ, that God's agenda, is going to be implemented, not man's.

[36:49] And it is found numerous times in the Old Testament. Second coming. Two things, we have told you repeatedly over the years, two things are required before the kingdom of heaven can come to earth.

[37:08] God's prayer. This is the kingdom that is referred to in what is often called the Lord's Prayer. I don't know if you're aware of it or not, sometimes people don't understand this because they just mouth the words they're so used to saying them from rote memory.

[37:26] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But that's a prayer. prayer. It's a prayer asking God to bring the kingdom that he has promised to the earth so that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[37:48] And for those of you who may not be aware of it, it isn't now. That is not really news to you, is it? It isn't now. someone says and even suggests that well, God is ruling and reigning on the earth.

[38:07] Right now, as I speak, God is ruling and reigning on the earth. And all I can say is the earth doesn't know that. The planet is not about to acknowledge that.

[38:23] The UN is not aware of that. Surely you jest when you say God is ruling and that this is the kingdom. So you're telling me Satan is bound now?

[38:38] Someone said, if Satan is bound, who's raising all the hell? Well, we don't need Satan to do that. We've got capabilities of our own, don't we? So two things have to happen before this kingdom of heaven can be established on the earth.

[38:55] And the first one is this. The scales of heaven's justice and righteousness have to be balanced so that God can righteously lift the curse that has been imposed upon the earth and upon mankind because of sin.

[39:23] the wages of which is death. That that curse has not been fully lifted is obvious in the fact that we still die.

[39:39] Just look at the obituary in your local paper. We're all in root. Someone has said, we are all terminal.

[39:50] We're all terminally ill. we have all been infected with a disease that is systemic to the human race and it's called sin and it will kill you.

[40:06] Just give it time. It will kill you because that's what sin does. So, the price has to be paid for equalizing or balancing these scales because God is not someone who can just overlook our sin and pretend that it didn't happen.

[40:31] Someone says, but isn't God in the business of forgiving? Yes, he is. Doesn't he specialize in forgiving? Yes, he does. God is but what is it that makes it possible for a righteous, holy God to forgive sin without compromising his justice and his holiness?

[40:53] holiness. And there we come back again to the balanced scales. And the only thing that could balance the scales is an utterly righteous payment for sins of humanity.

[41:11] And there was only one qualified to make the payment. So, this trinity of beings in the Godhead formulated a plan whereby they themselves would execute what was required to balance those scales and do for humanity what humanity could not do for itself.

[41:39] And the only thing that prompted this trinity of persons to do that was an absolutely incredible and exhaustible love and grace that you and I cannot begin to imagine.

[41:58] God so loved the world that he reached into himself to provide a remedy. That's called Calvary love.

[42:13] And a real biblical definition of love is that you do for the object of your love that which is in its best interests. And Christ dying for our sins certainly was in our best interests.

[42:27] And that's the extent to which God went providing his son. That's the first thing that has to be realized before God can righteously establish this wonderful kingdom of heaven come to earth.

[42:41] and what that's going to be is everything is going to be fixed. Everything is going to be right. There will not be any war.

[42:52] Men will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And everybody will know him.

[43:05] We don't even come close to that now. And where there are not wars going on. There are rumors of wars now. That's all going to be put away.

[43:16] When this kingdom comes in, Christ himself is going to rule and reign in righteousness. And he will rule with a rod of iron. And it will be absolutely wonderful.

[43:29] Everything is going to be fixed. Everything is going to be as it ought to be. There won't be any poverty. There won't be any disease. There won't be any ravaging thunderstorms.

[43:41] There won't be any tsunamis. There won't be any earthquakes. There won't be any floods. Everything will be under control. It will be utopia.

[43:54] Man will not have brought it. Communism will not have brought it. Capitalism will not have brought it. Jesus Christ will have brought it. And that's why we will have it.

[44:06] that's the first thing that has to be done. These scales have to be balanced. And when Jesus Christ was on that cross, it was God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.

[44:21] Incredible event. The event of all human history is that which took place there on that lonely hillside outside the city of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.

[44:34] nothing ever equaled it up to that time. Nothing has ever equaled it since. Nothing ever will. That is that which split all of human history. That's that which made man and God at peace again.

[44:51] And the second thing that has to be accomplished is what Peter is referring to here in Acts chapter 3. If you look at verse 18, Peter says the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ should suffer, he has thus fulfilled.

[45:15] Boiled down, that means this. God has done his part. God has made his contribution to the rectifying of this situation called human sin.

[45:30] God has held up his end of the promise. He sent his son. And when Jesus said it is finished, this is what he was talking about.

[45:41] This great transaction is completed. It's over and done with. And of the two things that need to be done before that kingdom of heaven can be realized, one is past.

[45:53] And that's what Peter is saying. He has thus fulfilled. Now, now it's time for you to do your part. Israel, what is your part?

[46:07] You repent therefore, and that will be your proper response to God having done his part. You repent and return that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing.

[46:28] What's that mean? That's just more lingo for the arrival of the kingdom. Because when that kingdom comes in, it will replenish, refurbish, refresh the earth.

[46:43] It will restore the earth to what it's supposed to be. And it hasn't been that since Genesis 3. This is the time of refreshing. If you've ever had something that really, you know what really refreshes me?

[46:58] I can be so bone weary tired from doing whatever that I just can't hardly put one foot in front of another. I can step into the shower and lather up and get a good hot shower and towel off and I'm good for two or three more hours.

[47:19] It just refreshes me. That's what the earth is going to undergo. Only in such a grander, more significant way, when all that is wrong with this old world is going to be made right, it will be a time of refreshment.

[47:36] It will come from the presence of the Lord. He's the only one that can bring it. That is this millennial rule, the kingdom of heaven. And he may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you.

[47:52] You see, this Christ was appointed, anointed, the word Messiah, the word Christ means the anointed one.

[48:06] It was the Father who anointed him. That means chosen, selected, delegated, Christ to do this. And he was the one who was appointed for you, whom heaven must receive, and had already received him.

[48:23] He had already ascended to heaven in Acts chapter one. Until, until, heaven must receive him until.

[48:35] And that until implies that heaven that receives him is going to once again give him up. Why?

[48:46] Because he's coming back. Heaven will receive him until the period of restoration of all things. That is nothing more than synonymous with the times of refreshing in verse 19.

[49:02] The period of restoration of all things simply means the earth is going to be restored. We live in and on a broken planet.

[49:14] it is seriously sick. The whole planet is and the people on it.

[49:26] And it's going to be changed. It's going to be fixed. It will be restored. Period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times.

[49:42] Boy, what a passage. What an agenda. What a truth. This is just absolutely mind-boggling. And this, this will be God's final answer to man's conflict and wars and brutality and hostility and all the rest.

[50:02] Think of it this way, that this world is so messed up and so far gone that it's going to take God himself to fix it.

[50:15] And that's exactly what's going to happen. And it will all be in response to a promise that the God who cannot lie has given us. I'm not finished, but I quit.

[50:29] And I'll entertain any questions or comments you may have for the next five minutes, if you don't mind my holding you an extra five minutes. Any comments or questions? Feel free. Yes, Joe?

[50:41] Joe? And your descendants will bless all people on the soil. Yeah. Amen. Amen. Your descendants will bless all people on this earth.

[50:56] Microphone in the back there. Thank you. If God isn't reigning now on earth, then how is it that we say that God is in control of everything?

[51:15] Oh, well, that's, you are your mother's daughter. Well, let me just put it this way.

[51:26] I don't, because I don't have a better way of putting it, I don't have another way of putting it. And that is, man is in control. God is in ultimate control.

[51:40] In the same way that, in the same way that this is Satan's hour of power, power. And yet, Satan can go no further than what God is willing to allow him to go.

[51:57] Case in point, the Job scenario. God said, all right, Satan, I'm going to turn him over to you and you can do anything you want to him.

[52:08] But, you cannot take his life. You cannot take his life. So he put parameters on Satan. Satan. And you've read the book of Job, you know how that goes.

[52:20] And I realize, sweetheart, this may sound somewhat like a cop-out, but I don't know of any other way of saying it other than we have volition and we have the freedom of will and we can make choices that God allows us to make, but God is still in ultimate control.

[52:43] And I don't know how else to answer that. We are responsible moral agents and we engage in actions, etc. But God is in ultimate control. And this, I would tie in, even with Romans 8.28, we know, and that's not a good translation where all things don't work together for good.

[53:05] And it doesn't mean that. What it means and what it says is, God works all things together for our good. And they may, at the immediate, not be for our good at all.

[53:18] They may be for our hurt. They may be for our pain. They may even result in our death. But, it is the ultimate promise that God does indeed work all things together for our good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

[53:35] It's just that it's not always obvious and he doesn't always do it right away. But, God is behind the scenes orchestrating the events of our life. And, let me emphasize this, this includes even the stupid things you do.

[53:52] Now, we're talking about some kind of deity. Even the stupid things you do. Even the sinful things you do, which God does not condone or approve of at all.

[54:06] But, he is the God he is and he is able to coordinate and orchestrate all events so that ultimately they are for our blessing and benefit, no matter how much they may hurt at the present.

[54:25] And, sometimes they really do hurt. But, God can be relied upon. He can be trusted, even in the dark times, especially in the dark times.

[54:37] Anybody can trust God in the sunshine. Another comment or question and we'll close. Up here in the front. I don't know why you people always ask questions all the way in the back or all the way in the front.

[54:50] Come on, we've got to get you a pair of rollerblades. Okay, Ron. You were preaching on the refreshing and Christ coming in the earth and taking over sin.

[55:12] Get in the mic. Clean up the earth, right? So, my question is, what about revelation? There will be a new earth and a new heaven.

[55:24] Well, that's part of the package. That's part of the package. Well, I don't think that it means it will be a different earth. It's still going to be this same ball of clay.

[55:37] It will be a new earth in that it will be refurbished, cleansed, renewed, restored. If it were going to be altogether new, it wouldn't need to be restored.

[55:48] It would be just thrown away and replaced with a new one. But new doesn't mean an altogether different one. It's going to be, you see, God has made an enormous investment in this planet.

[56:04] And he is going to redeem it and refurbish it. And it will be this same ball of earth, but utterly, thoroughly purged of sin and evil.

[56:16] That's why it will be refreshed and restored. And Revelation does say a new heaven and a new earth, but they'll be cleansed and purged. So they'll be new in that sense.

[56:28] Yes, Roger? Isn't that what Jesus said when he told the disciples, greater things than what I have done, you will do, they will rebuild this earth? Well, I think that's part of it.

[56:40] Yeah, it's just, folks, our minds would be just absolutely blown away if we had any idea what is really in store.

[56:51] It is going to be something. And you know, the thing that is going to make this new heaven and the new earth so incredible, and your new body so incredible, is that they are all going to be as good as God can make them.

[57:13] How good is that? Would you stand with me please? loving father, we are so grateful and rightly overwhelmed by what is in store for us, and it all comes from the beneficent and all-powerful hand of an incredibly loving, gracious God.

[57:38] There's no way that we can ever begin to thank you enough for what you've already done, much less for what you plan to do in the future. and it all is hinged upon the integrity behind the promises that you've given, and how grateful we are.

[57:59] You are a God who cannot lie, and we can lean fully, completely, entirely upon you, knowing that no matter what comes into our life, whether death or life or angels or principalities or powers or things present or things to come, none of these things can ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[58:23] We bless you for that. We look forward to seeing you and being able to thank you personally. In Christ's wonderful name, Amen.