Connecting the Dots ... Where is the Kingdom Now?

[0:00] If you didn't get the handout last week, please avail yourself of it today. This is an excellent, excellent article by Billy Graham on the Bible, our highest authority.

[0:12] Ties in with what we were just talking about. And reading this article by Billy Graham makes me think of that verse in Hebrews.

[0:24] I think it was talking of Enoch, that he being dead, yet speaketh. This article by Billy Graham, he being dead, yet speaketh.

[0:35] He's dead to us, but he's very much alive to the Lord. And his son, Franklin, has written an excellent article as well called The Eternal Peril of Progressive Christianity.

[0:48] If you do not understand what progressive Christianity is, you'll want this article because you are living in the midst of it.

[1:00] It is all around us, and this will help you understand it and identify it. Wayne Grudem, extraordinary theologians, authored an article called How God Values Our Jobs.

[1:11] We are called to work as unto the Lord. And it, too, is available, and you'll find these near the back door. There's a huge rack back there with all of these literature items in them. Please feel free to avail yourself of them.

[1:24] And as well, any of the CDs that are over there on the table, you're more than welcome to them. I think everything that is pretty much in the bulletin is pretty much self-explained, so I will not elaborate on it.

[1:38] But you may have something that needs to be mentioned that isn't in there. Is there anyone? Okay, that being the case, then, if you will open your Bible, please, to Acts chapter 1.

[1:56] We're going to connect some dots. Acts chapter 1, and the principal thing, principal issue that we are dealing with that is indicated in your bulletin, is where is the kingdom now?

[2:12] And this is not it. And Acts chapter 1 will give us a great deal of enlightenment regarding this subject. And I do not think that there is anything that provides so much emotional stability and a lack of worrisome fretting and stewing more than knowing what God wants us to know.

[2:41] Of course, we don't know everything that he does, naturally. But we do have the ability to know everything that he has been pleased to reveal because it is for our blessing and for our benefit.

[2:55] So we want to consider Acts chapter 1 and try to connect some dots because these are dots that do need to be connected. We are going to be talking about this subject regarding the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God.

[3:14] Many think that these are two different kingdoms, but they are not. They are synonymous. And if you compare the notes that are found in Matthew, where he uses almost exclusively the kingdom of heaven, with, for instance, those of Dr. Luke in his gospel, who uses almost exclusively the kingdom of God, it gives cause for some people to think, well, these are two different kingdoms.

[3:39] No, they aren't. And if you will examine the context in which each is found, you will discover that they are spoken of in the same framework and in the same context.

[3:50] It is just that they are synonymous terms, but they do actually mean one and the same thing. And in Acts chapter 1, we have a fallout that has been in the train of the crucifixion of Christ.

[4:10] And understand, if you will, that he was raised on the third day, and then he spent 40 days, almost six weeks, 40 days with his apostles after his resurrection.

[4:23] And on one occasion, he presented himself to above 500 witnesses at one time. This is all found in 1 Corinthians 15.

[4:35] And then the apostle Paul goes on to say, who was writing that, and last of all, he appeared unto me as one born out of due time. So there were plenty of witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, but no one spent as much time with him during those six weeks as did the apostles.

[4:54] And we are going to look at chapter 1 of Acts. Dr. Luke, who comprised the gospel of Luke that bears his name, also has written the Acts of the Apostles.

[5:06] And all that means is the deeds, the deeds, the things that the apostles did during this time frame. And it is going to encompass from Acts chapter 1 to the conclusion in Acts chapter 28, about three decades of time.

[5:27] That's very, very important, especially when you realize that for the first eight to ten years after the resurrection of Christ, there was no one who believed in his death, burial, and resurrection that was not a Jew.

[5:50] Think of that. That's very significant. Now, if you get the impression, what does this mean? Was this a Jewish thing?

[6:02] You mean nobody believed in the resurrection of Jesus for eight to ten years after the resurrection, except Jews and Jews only?

[6:14] What's going on? I'll tell you what's going on. What's going on is exactly what Jesus prescribed in the beginning. When you read in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 10, and we won't go there for time's sake, but chapter 10, we are told that Jesus called these 12 apostles, and he gives the name of them, and he says that he gave them authority to cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, all the rest of it.

[6:47] Jesus gave the 12 apostles the same miracle-working power that he had. He bestowed that upon them so that they could go out as teams of two and present a message that was exclusively for the nation of Israel.

[7:07] This is the meaning in John's Gospel chapter 1, when it says that Jesus came unto his own, and his own received him not.

[7:19] His own was the nation of Israel, the Jewish people. This tiny little sliver of a country with a population today, and the size, well, I don't know what the exact population is because it has grown tremendously, but geographically and physically, it's about the size of New Jersey, just a tiny little piece of land, and it is in this land that God refers to exclusively as, think of this, my land.

[7:53] Now, God created the heavens and the earth, and all of the planets, and all of the stars, and all of the everything that you see, but this tiny little piece of territory, God calls my land, as if all the rest of it were not his, and all the rest of it is, but there is a particular ownership for Israel, and out of this land, God chose one particular man who by way of religion was a moon worshiper, his name was Abram.

[8:34] He's later going to change his name to Abraham, same man, and he tells him that through you and your seed, that's your offspring, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

[8:52] It is an amazing thing. Absolutely amazing. This just goes to show you what humanity is able to do with God's provision.

[9:06] We can wreck it and ruin it. That's precisely what man has done with this great creation that God pronounced very good.

[9:17] He told Abraham that his seed would be the blessing for the entire world, and as a result, the world has demonstrated its thanks to this great seed with making Israel and the Jewish people the most ostracized, the most persecuted, the most vilified nation on the face of the earth.

[9:51] How's that for humanity's thankfulness? And why has that been done? Because this nation to whom Jesus came had the opportunity and responsibility of embracing him as their long-awaited Messiah.

[10:12] They waited 4,000 years for him to come. Genesis 3.15 gives the original promise, and Israel as a nation actually wasn't birthed as a nation until they came out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses where they were formed into a people.

[10:31] And from that nation, God was going to produce one who would be called the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent.

[10:43] The serpent would bite his heel, and the idea of those two wounds, one is mortal and one is temporal. And the biting of the heel of the Messiah refers to Jesus and the death that he died, which was activated three days later, and the crushing of the head of Satan will be the final blow that will be delivered against him, which, by the way, has not yet been done.

[11:16] And that is why Satan, to this day, is referred to as the God of this age, who has blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image of God, should shine unto them.

[11:35] So this is where the world is today. We are in a state in a flux of blindness and of sin and of death and disease, and these things continue apace.

[11:47] And someone has said that with all of the benefits and the improvements and the discoveries of medical technology that we have at our disposal, we humans still die at the rate of one per person because that final enemy, which will be destroyed, has not been destroyed.

[12:10] And Satan and the realm of death is reigning today so that it is appointed unto man once to die. After this comes the judgment. So this whole kingdom concept, which we insist we are not in.

[12:26] It is a kingdom that is postponed. It is held in abeyance. And the reason, as indicated in your bulletin, the question that is asked at the, it says, where is the kingdom now?

[12:41] Prior to the crucifixion and resurrection, the message of Jesus and the twelve apostles was all about the kingdom. Jesus said, go, preach wherever you go, but limit yourself, this is very important, limit yourself to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[13:03] And he said that positively and to say it negatively is to give additional emphasis to it and he said, do not go to the Gentiles, do not go to the Samaritans, limit yourself to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[13:22] Which on the surface makes it sound like Jesus didn't care about anybody but Jews. But you must understand the plan and the program. And the plan and the program is this.

[13:34] Jesus, the Messiah, came to Israel, his own, with the intent of proclaiming this good news to Israel as a nation.

[13:45] and then the idea would be Israel as a nation would buy into it. They would accept it. Why should they?

[13:58] Because Jesus vindicated himself, he validated the claims that he made with the miracles that he performed. They were intended to be the proof positive that would convince the Jewish people, hey, this guy really is the Messiah.

[14:21] And one of their own by the name of Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night confessed to Jesus, we know that you have come from God.

[14:33] And the way we know that is because no man can do the miracles that you've been doing unless God is with him. And Nicodemus was on board.

[14:46] He later, by the way, with his companion Joseph of Arimathea, will be the two men who go to Pontius Pilate and request the broken crucified body of Jesus so they can provide a proper burial for him.

[15:06] And Joseph of Arimathea just happened to have a new tomb for his family cut out of the limestone wherein no body had ever been laid and Jesus would be the first one to occupy that tomb.

[15:24] But he would only need it for three days and then Joseph could have it back. So, all of this is coming in focus because what God is planning to do and had planned to do through Jesus was for Israel to come on board.

[15:42] And the miracles that he performed were to be his credentials. They were to be his calling card. And as Nicodemus confessed, nobody can do these miracles.

[15:56] Nobody else is doing this. You and your apostles, the only ones. And you know, nobody ever challenged the reality or the legitimacy of the miracles that Jesus performed.

[16:12] When you go to funerals and you ruin every funeral because you make the corpse get up and walk away, that gets people's attention. And word was spreading.

[16:23] and you would think that Israel would say, oh boy, this is it. Can't wait to get behind this guy. And thousands did.

[16:37] But hundreds of thousands did not. Why didn't they? And here's a lesson you really need to understand. The biggest reason they didn't was because the shakers and movers didn't.

[16:55] Nothing has changed. Do you know who the shakers and movers are in this nation? Sure you do. They're in Washington, D.C.

[17:08] For the state of Ohio, they're in Columbus. Who are these people? They're the people that we put in charge. They are the people who inform us. They are the people who bring us up to date.

[17:20] They are the people who tell us the truth. And they are also people who tell us the lie, the fake news. I've often wondered how much fake news there was around Jerusalem when Jesus was there.

[17:34] This man cannot be of God. He violates the Sabbath. He heals on the Sabbath. You can't do that on the Sabbath.

[17:45] That's work. And you work on the Sabbath, that makes you a violator of the law of Moses. And the penalty is kill him. Stone him to death. And on different occasions, they would have taken his life.

[17:59] Because the shakers and movers never did get on board. And when Jesus presented himself on Palm Sunday, walked into town, rode into town on the back of that donkey, and people were shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna to the son of David.

[18:18] And who were these? This was the friendly element. These were the people who were already signed on. But there were those others in the crowd who said, Master.

[18:31] They came up alongside Jesus riding on that donkey, and they said, you heard what these people are saying about you. Tell them to stop it. And Jesus said, if these hold their peace, the very stones will cry out.

[18:48] I'm not telling them anything. Hosanna, Hosanna to the son of David. And the thinking was, and it was electrifying. What was this?

[18:59] This was what we call Palm Sunday. And Jesus was riding in the town, and we are told that his own apostles.

[19:11] Peter, James, John, Bartholomew, all the rest of them, thought, boy, this is it. Showtime!

[19:22] When Jesus gets into that temple, he's going to set up his throne, the Romans are going to be routed that have been occupying us and defiling our land with these ridiculous false images and false deities that they've got, and he's going to drive them all out and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth, and it's going to be wonderful!

[19:45] But before Jesus got there, he broke down, and he sobbed, and he said, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if only you had known the things that belonged to your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes.

[20:14] and he wept, because he wasn't going into Jerusalem to be put on a throne.

[20:33] He was going in to be put on a cross, and his own disciples didn't even know that. and on that cross, you need to understand this, please hear me if you don't hear anything else I say.

[20:54] On that cross, for the space of six hours, nine o'clock in the morning to three o'clock in the afternoon, God in the flesh hung on that cross, and gave up his life for you.

[21:23] I mean for you. For you, for me, for all of us. Have you ever dealt with that? Have you ever faced that reality?

[21:37] Have you ever personalized that? because that's everything. Do you realize that in those six hours, the center piece of the universe was established for all time and eternity?

[22:01] that was the most significant event that ever took place. And I can never think of it without thinking of the songwriter who sang and said, well, might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in when Christ the mighty maker died for man the creature's sin.

[22:37] Wow. Boy, he got it. You get it? Do you understand that Jesus died on that cross and took your shame and your sin and your ignominy upon himself?

[22:54] And because of who he was, he was able to pay a payment in full for the sins of the whole human race.

[23:08] This is why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

[23:27] And what he did in paying the sin debt for all of humanity, he made man eligible to connect with God through the payment that Jesus Christ made.

[23:48] so when we go to God, we don't plead our values, we don't plead our righteousness, we plead the righteousness of Christ.

[24:01] That's all we need, and that's what God will accept. This is just, this is, do you realize, listen, and I'm not exaggerating, this is not hyperbole, Nathan, I'm not exaggerating, this is the most important, significant event that has ever occurred in the history of the universe, and I'm here to sadly tell you it is the world's best kept secret.

[24:36] desert. You know what this is called, what we're talking about, you know what this is called? It's called the gospel.

[24:48] Gospel. What does that word mean? It means good news. That's what it means, good news. And it's the best good news anyone ever heard.

[25:01] And we are privileged to proclaim it far and wide. and we pull out all the stops and we do what we can, and we sew a little here and sew a little there, and we do it so poorly, but we do it with our meager efforts.

[25:20] This message, this message is the message of all times. This is the message that has life. This is the message that has eternity.

[25:32] This is the message that has forgiveness. And there's no other message that does. None. None. Only this. Do you realize, do you realize that biblical Christianity is the only faith in the whole world?

[25:53] And there are some 1,500, there are some 1,500 major and minor religions, faiths, denominations, denominations, synods, splits, and splinters, 1,500 of them.

[26:10] And biblical Christianity is the only one, the only one that makes salvation by grace through faith available.

[26:25] The only one. all the others, without exception, are dependent upon the works, the behavior, the giving of the recipients.

[26:41] Biblical Christianity is connected to what the founder did for the followers, not what the followers do for the founder. it is a complete opposite of works so that the worries that most people would have about am I going to heaven, that we deal with in this little thing on being sure of heaven, can you be?

[27:05] You would be surprised. You would be surprised. Well, I would hope grace people wouldn't be surprised. You would probably know. But can we be sure of heaven? Most people today are going to tell you, nobody can know that until you die.

[27:23] Oh, my word. You don't know, you don't know if you've been good enough. You don't know if you've given enough.

[27:34] You don't know if you've prayed enough. You don't know if you've been nice enough. You don't know if you have overstepped your limit on bad things that you've done.

[27:46] You don't know. Does that sound like good news to you? There's no good news in that. I've often said there is no good news in connection with a question mark.

[28:00] That's not good news. The good news comes with the exclamation. Jesus paid it all. If you are in him, you've got it all.

[28:11] That's amazing. John Newton was so struck by that that he wrote a song and he called it amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

[28:25] Wow. But all of that is not my message. I want to get back to my message. We're in Acts chapter one. And Dr. Luke is bringing this up to date and he is saying, as they gather there together, Jesus has presented himself alive after many convincing proofs.

[28:46] And in verse four, he's gathered them together and he's giving them instructions. And that is that they are not to leave Jerusalem, but wait for the father. Now, Peter, I know you're anxious to get back to fishing.

[29:00] He demonstrated that once before. You know, Peter says, I'm going fishing. And Jesus says, no, you don't go fishing in the Sea of Galilee. You stay right here in Jerusalem until the time comes when you are endued with power, supernatural power that you do not have.

[29:15] And when that happens, you will have extraordinary ability to communicate this gospel. But you won't have until that comes.

[29:26] And that will be the Holy Spirit and the day of Pentecost. And in verse six, they ask the question that I'm actually getting at. Believe me, I will get there eventually.

[29:37] And they came together. They, the disciples, were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?

[29:51] Now, at the expense of being repetitious, but it is the mother of learning, I'm going to remind you that the kingdom that they are talking about is the kingdom of Israel.

[30:02] king. The last king that sat on the throne of Israel was Zedekiah. And he was the guy who was captured by the Babylonians, forced to watch the execution of his sons, and then they put his eyes out and made him walk all the way to Babylon.

[30:26] That was Israel's last king, and Israel never had a king since. They still don't have a king. They're not a monarchy. They have a Knesset, the equivalent of a congress, and they have a prime minister.

[30:41] And when they asked that question here, they had been invaded by the Babylonians, they had been invaded by the Egyptians, and now they are being invaded by the Romans, and the Romans are occupying them, and Pontius Pilate is the direct representative of Rome.

[30:59] He's in charge of all of Israel. Israel, and he is a pagan. He's a Gentile. He's an idolatrous worshiper of many gods, and they're asking the question to Jesus, whom they accepted and believed to be the king of the Jews.

[31:22] If you're the king, where's your crown? Well, we know that was thorns. And where's the throne that you're going to sit on? Well, he wasn't sitting on that throne. And the last king that did, Zedekiah, that had been hundreds of years ago, and they'd never had it.

[31:36] So you can understand why these men, and they were good, loyal, patriotic Jews, and they're saying, oh boy, are you going to? You know, when Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on the back of that donkey, they thought then that he was going to set up the kingdom.

[31:54] And he didn't. He was put on the cross. Now they're asking the question, they're asking for an update. And that's what they mean when they say, is it at this time?

[32:08] Now, we thought you were going to before, but you didn't. You went to the cross. And then you were raised again from the dead, and we've spent the last six weeks with you. Are you going to do it now?

[32:20] I want you to note, first of all, what Jesus did not say. And I'm going to tell you because I really want you to understand this.

[32:32] You must understand what Jesus did not say because most of Christendom today do not agree.

[32:48] What Jesus did not say is, fellas, fellas, kingdom, kingdom, oh, my, my. Listen, you've got it all wrong, guys. I never was talking about a real, actual, physical, literal kingdom with a real, literal throne and all of that stuff.

[33:07] Oh, no, no, no, no. I was talking spiritually. It's just going to be a spiritual kingdom, you know, where I will be just ruling and reigning in your hearts individually.

[33:21] spiritually. But you've got it all wrong. It's not going to be a literal king. No, we're not worried about driving out the Romans or anything like that. You just misunderstood.

[33:32] understood. Now, how in the world anyone can read the gospels and the teachings of Jesus and the statements that he made and the miracles that he accomplished and possibly come to the conclusion that he wasn't talking about a literal earthly kingdom.

[33:52] He's just talking about a spiritual kingdom. kingdom. And now follow me closely. And do you know when that spiritual kingdom starts? In Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost?

[34:07] That's the beginning of the church and the church is the spiritual realization of the kingdom and this is it. And if you don't believe that, you are in the minority of about 20% as opposed to the 80% that do.

[34:33] You understand that? We are a minority. We take this kingdom business literally. Do you not think this world needs radically a refurbishing?

[34:52] Of course it does. And what do you think the 12 meant when Jesus talked about the kingdom and prayed that the kingdom will come so that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven?

[35:04] What do you think he was talking about? While we're in Acts, come over just a page if you would please to Acts chapter 3.

[35:14] Just turn a couple of pages. Acts chapter 3. I want you to just begin with, this is Peter's sermon following up a couple days after Pentecost.

[35:29] And in verse 18 we read, well, verse 17, verse 17. Now brethren, and by the way, when Peter says brethren, you know who he's talking to? He's talking to Jewish brethren.

[35:44] No Gentiles. Brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance just as your rulers did also. Rulers? Yeah, the scribes, the Pharisees, and so on, the establishment.

[35:58] What he's talking about is the deep state of Israel. That's what he's talking about. Your rulers acted in ignorance. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets.

[36:14] Now what's Peter saying? Hey, this stuff is saturated in the Old Testament. All of the prophets talked about it. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, they all talked about it. The minor prophets, they all talked about it.

[36:28] That his Christ, his Messiah, should suffer, he has thus fulfilled. Jesus did that. He did suffer. He died. Repent, therefore, and return, that is, return to God, so that your sins may be wiped away, forgiven, in order that times of refreshing.

[36:57] What is a refreshing? It's a renewing. It's a rejuvenating. rejuvenating. It's a making something new out of something old.

[37:12] Times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you. Well, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. Send Jesus the Christ. Wasn't he just there?

[37:26] Yes. When? Just weeks earlier. Weeks earlier. Peter. And now he's talking about him coming back? Contingent upon what?

[37:38] Contingent upon those to whom he came this time, not rejecting him, but accepting him. And do you know what Peter and the twelve continue preaching?

[37:52] Same thing they preached before the crucifixion. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but they had one dramatic add-on, and it was the death and resurrection of Christ.

[38:08] They had that to add to it, and they made that part of their message. Now, Israel, the ball is in your court again.

[38:24] When Jesus was here, before the crucifixion, he presented himself as your king, and you said, we will not have this man to reign over us. You rejected him.

[38:37] You were complicit in his crucifixion. Now, Israel, be advised, you've got another opportunity.

[38:50] Here it is. What will you do? And the text goes on to say, he may send Jesus to Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time.

[39:11] What do you say, Israel? Do we have a deal? Are you ready to embrace Yeshua Hamashiach as your Messiah? And you know what their answer is?

[39:23] the very next chapter says that the deep state of Israel confronted these apostles, arrested them, and the persecution begins.

[39:42] Jew persecuting Jew. No Gentiles involved at all. Romans weren't involved in this persecution at all. Roman persecution will come later, much later, but this is all Jews on Jews, and the one who was heading the pack, who was the most bloodthirsty of all the Jews, was a man named Saul of Tarsus.

[40:08] And you know who he is going to become and why. So this kingdom thing is absolutely key, and I am here to tell you today we're not in it, not even close.

[40:23] What we are in is a period that is completely divorced from all of this Jewish business, and it is a kingdom, if you will, that is referred to in 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, in Colossians chapter 1, where Paul talks about us as believers being transferred, transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son, and that is spiritual.

[41:03] We are in spiritual darkness, and when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, you move into spiritual light, where you are able to see and understand things that were completely foreign to you before, and now they take on a whole new meaning, and that is the realm into which you are placed when you come to faith in Jesus Christ.

[41:27] You are transferred, translated, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son, and you become a member of the spiritual body of Christ. This thing is so involved and so packed, and I haven't even scratched the scratch on the surface, but we're going to keep on scratch.

[41:48] Tell you what I want you to do. I hope you will keep on itching so we can keep on scratching because there is so much here, and listen, when you get a handle on this, when you get, and I'm not saying I have all, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not even close to having a full understanding of this, not even close, but I've got enough.

[42:15] That gives me peace, and joy, and enlightenment, and encouragement, and blessing. Hey, that's not a bad trade-off.

[42:26] This is traveling first class, and it is something that's made available for every believer. I'm not finished, but I quit. But I will take a couple of questions if you have questions.

[42:37] And be reminded, the only stupid question, the only stupid question is the one that doesn't get asked. Got a pair of young legs back there.

[42:54] Okay. David? Did anybody have a question or comment? Feel free. In the back. When you mentioned the elite back in Israel's day, it made me think of what we have today.

[43:18] They really don't have our best interests in mind, and neither did they back then. Well, in fact, they as much as made that clear in John's gospel, I think it's chapter 12 if it didn't move, where where Jesus had just performed miracles and the establishment got together and the high priest said, you people don't understand anything at all.

[43:50] Don't you see that it is better that one man be handed over as he didn't say this, but I'm putting words in his mouth, but this is what it would amount to.

[44:04] So, that we hand over one man as the sacrificial lamb, rather than all of us be deposed. And what he was saying is, this deep state of Israel, made up by a renegade chief priest and his son-in-law, Ananias and Caiaphas, neither of whom were legitimate priests at all, not even in the priestly line, they were put in power by the Romans.

[44:27] And the Romans told them, the Romans told these head Jews, they said, now listen, you keep your people in line. You keep your people in line, because if you don't, we'll fire you, we'll remove you.

[44:44] And they knew that. So, in that position, they had perks and privileges and benefits and everything that went with it. And they said, if we don't stop this man, Jesus, if we don't stop him, everybody's going to believe on him.

[45:00] And then they're going to get real frisky and nationalistic. And they're going to think, we can take these Romans. And Roman will come in with its heavy boot again.

[45:12] And so listen, isn't it preferable that one man die for the nation? Rather than all of us be out of our position?

[45:25] Well, that's nothing more than CYA. And it goes on today. Everywhere. Because corruption is the thing that is killing us everywhere.

[45:38] And not just the USA. This is systemic. This is in all nations. This is endemic and systemic and it's to the whole world. Other comments or questions? Anyone?

[45:49] that really wanted to believe in Jesus at that time and if they kept that belief after he was crucified or did they just fall into oblivion?

[46:13] I'm sorry, I didn't hear the first part of your question. You went on the mic and I've got both hearing aids on too. Go ahead. I just wondered, you know, the people back then that truly wanted to believe in Jesus, just the ordinary people and then they crucify them, what they did, did they still believe in him or did they just fall by the wayside?

[46:33] Well, there was a mix. What actually happened was a couple of things. One was, oh my, this is, involved and I don't want to keep it, but let me be as brief as I can.

[46:51] And by the way, if anybody is under time constraint and you need to leave, no one will think you're rude. Just feel free to get up and leave, okay? But when Jesus was on that cross and those who were taunting especially, they were among the deep state, they were among the deep state, and they were saying things like, ah, he saved others.

[47:18] If he be the son of God, let him save himself. Let him come down from the cross. Yuck, yuck, yuck. And they all had a big laugh. Hey, you're the Messiah.

[47:31] Save yourself. And when a lot of people saw Jesus on that cross, the faulty assumption that many of them reached was this.

[47:47] Well, that settles that. That's proof positive. Jesus could not be the Messiah.

[47:59] And those who thought he was, they just put their faith in somebody that was other than who they thought he was.

[48:11] Because if Jesus really was sent from God and the Messiah, do you think in your wildest imagination that God would allow human beings to put him on a cross and crucify the Messiah?

[48:25] That's crazy. Jesus on the cross is proof positive that he's not the Messiah. Messiah. And there were those no doubt congratulating themselves for not having believed on him.

[48:40] And there were those who had believed on him who were in tears, who were confused. But we thought, but we thought. And remember on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, when Jesus after the resurrection comes alongside these two disciples and they didn't know it was Jesus, and he walks up, they're just a pair of people walking down the path, the Emmaus road, Jesus comes alongside of them and he says to them, my, you people really look kind of downcast.

[49:17] Why do you look so sad? And they said, you must be a stranger in these parts, don't you? Don't you know what's happened here the last few days?

[49:29] Jesus said, what are you talking about? Well, we're talking about Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God, and we trusted that it was he who would deliver Israel, but they crucified him three days ago, he's dead, it's all over, we were wrong, we were mistaken.

[49:54] And Jesus said, oh, oh, you are foolish ones and slow of heart. You are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

[50:10] Ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things and enter into his glory?

[50:21] glory. And when Jesus was talking to them, he was in his glory. He was in a resurrected, glorified body, and they didn't even know they were talking to him.

[50:35] And later, it was revealed that it was Jesus. And they said, when he left them, went out of their presence, and one of these disciples turns to the others that they were talking to and said, did not our hearts burn within us as he opened unto us the scriptures and revealed all those things concerning the Messiah?

[51:09] Oh. I got to quit before I burst. Would you stand, please? Once again, Father, we have labored in areas that we know so little about, but as much as we do know, it just gladdens our hearts in an indescribable way.

[51:37] Thank you again for this blessed book and the truths that it contains. Thank you that you are the very source of information, of light, of everything that we need, because all scripture is given by inspiration of God is profitable for correction, instruction, and righteousness.

[51:56] Everything that we need so that the man or woman of God can be thoroughly furnished and do all good works. We bless you for the word and for our meager and lacking understanding of it.

[52:07] What we do understand, we love, and we treasure. Should there be anyone in our midst today who does not know the joy and the peace that comes from an assurance of sins forgiven, we pray that they may look to you as the only source that has it to give, and as a source that is willing to give it, and say, Lord Jesus, I want to trust you as my sin bearer and my savior.

[52:36] Thank you for dying on that cross for my sin. I don't understand much of that, but I believe that, and I want to thank you for it. If that's your prayer, God will register it in heaven.

[52:49] You can rejoice together. Thank you for the time we share together. In Christ's wonderful name, amen. You are dismissed. Don't forget your handouts.rone to van ministry because they see you in love.

[53:20] Is what can? You can see you in love. Have a goat. You can go to