The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - The Kingdon-Body Transition Completed

[0:00] I suppose I should have given you a week's notice about our extended Q&A, and I should have mentioned it last Sunday, and it simply slipped my mind, but I trust that you will be prepared and will be able to ask any questions that you might have after my presentation this morning.

[0:23] And the reason that we are doing this by way of a roving microphone rather than just have people speak from where they are is, first of all, I might have difficulty hearing you, and secondly, your voice and your question would not be on the CD, and we want it to be as complete as possible because if you have questions regarding some of these issues that we have covered, you may be sure that there are others in the audience who are not here but will be listening via CDs that have been sent to them or passed on by others, and your question is almost certain not to be your question alone, but the likelihood is that others will have the same question.

[1:10] So you may be doing other people a great favor in asking the questions that you have, or it does not have to be a question. It can be some insight that you have gained or a statement, concept that you would like to share in connection with that, which would certainly be appropriate as well.

[1:30] Suffice it to say, what we have been considering for the past number of months, actually, having to do with the Jewish final solution to the world's problems, has necessitated our engaging the subject of Jewishness in the Bible and how that morphed into a Jewish-slash-Gentile situation, and then further on in history came to be one almost exclusively of Gentile, whereas the situation as it is developed in the Bible all through the Old Testament, including the Gospels and including the Book of Acts up to about halfway the book or the first 15 years or so, everything, and I do mean everything, was Jewish, Jewish, Jewish, Jewish.

[2:32] And then something really dramatic happened, because it was not exclusively Jewish any longer, but it was going to include non-Jews as well.

[2:48] And this was a cataclysmic thing. This was absolutely unheard of, unthought of, and never entertained at all, particularly by any of the Jewish people, that God would have any interest outside His chosen people.

[3:08] But God's interest and concern was not just for the Jewish people, but was for all humanity. And God's intention, even though it was not clearly revealed from the outset, was to be able to use this small Jewish segment, who enjoyed a special covenant relationship with Jehovah, to be the vehicle through which all the rest of the world would be reached.

[3:37] That is, through the nation of Israel, designated by God to be the light to the Gentiles, that they would be just that.

[3:50] Well, as it turned out, they actually were a light, but rather involuntarily so, because it was not because of their agreement or their enthusiasm for it.

[4:01] In fact, it was with great reluctance that the Jew was going to have anything to do with the Gentile. And we saw how dramatically that was played out in Peter's unwillingness to go to Cornelius in chapter 10, for one reason and one reason only.

[4:19] Cornelius was a Gentile. True, he was a God-fearer, which meant he wasn't like most Gentiles, but he at least had sympathy for the things of the Jews. But nonetheless, he was a bona fide Gentile.

[4:33] And Peter made it very clear when he said, you know that it is unlawful for a man that is a Jew to keep company with Gentiles, or to eat with them. And yet, that's what God had required him to do with that great sheet let down from heaven.

[4:47] And folks, I cannot tell you how utterly critical and important that 10th chapter of the book of Acts is, with the introduction of Cornelius.

[5:00] That was going to change everything. Because you see, up until this point in time, despite the fact that Christ had been crucified and buried and raised again from the dead, all involvement concerning him was still limited to the Jew.

[5:17] And this is true, clear up and into chapter 10, which encompasses about 10 to 12 years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

[5:31] You would have thought that this message would have engulfed the whole world. After all, the Great Commission, spelled out in Matthew 28, 19, and 20, says that they were to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

[5:45] And yet, as you get on later in the book of Acts, you find the 12 apostles stuck in Jerusalem. Well, what's that all about? Why haven't they gone?

[5:57] Why haven't they penetrated the regions beyond? They were told to go into all the world. They're still in Jerusalem. And the reason is because Jerusalem, which was the very heartbeat of Judaism, had never come online with Jesus being their Messiah.

[6:18] They remained in a posture of unbelief. And despite the thousands of Jews who became believers in Jesus as their Messiah, the vast majority of the nation had not.

[6:33] And certainly, the religious establishment of Judaism had not. They remained in a negative posture toward Jesus of Nazareth, and they began a campaign of persecuting their fellow countrymen who embraced Jesus as their Messiah.

[6:52] And we know one of those chief persecutors was none other than Saul of Tarsus, who was going to become Paul the Apostle. So, here's what we have.

[7:03] All through the Old Testament, all through the four Gospels, and all through the first 10 or 12 chapters of the book of Acts, we have no significant non-Jewish involvement at all.

[7:20] Everything is Jewish. Jewish, Jewish. After all, the promises were given to the Jews, and particularly the promise of the kingdom. This is what John the Baptist was preaching.

[7:33] Repent to a Jewish audience. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That message didn't mean anything to people who were not Jewish, but it meant everything to those who were Jews.

[7:48] Then, when John introduced Jesus as being the Messiah, and said that the very purpose he did so was that he might be introduced to Israel as the Messiah, the burning question came to be, was he, or was he not?

[8:04] And the official, final answer of Israel was, he was not. That remains the official, final answer of Israel to this day.

[8:19] This is why Jewish people throughout the world are still looking for the first appearance of the Messiah, because they do not accept the first appearance of Jesus of Nazareth as being the Messiah.

[8:37] So, we are looking for the second appearance. We're looking for the second coming. They're looking for what they believe is the first coming. The time is coming when the Jewish nation will be wondrously enlightened, and they too will look upon him whom they pierced, and they will mourn for him.

[9:01] Zechariah tells us in chapter 12, and I think it's verse 10, 10. But that's all prophecy, and that's where we're going, and we will be there in rather short order, but we do have to spend some time regarding the Jews and what they underwent in their early history of the first and second and third century, how and why the Jew became the worldwide butt of persecution and ostracism and ridicule and vilification and everything, and much of it still goes on in certain parts of the world.

[9:39] So, all of these things are coming together, and the prophetic studies that we will engage will show how that is going to pan out. And by the way, I just want to inject this too, because it may not be all that clear, but behind all of this, behind all of this Jewish involvement and the persecution that goes with it, the vilification of the Jew, and the ostracism of the Jew, the mistreatment of the Jew, the hatred of the Jew, during the first century, most of that came from Christians.

[10:23] And it continued to intensify from official Christian sources. And I do not know if you are aware of it, but the early church, most of which would have to be described as Roman Catholic, in the early centuries, looked upon the Jew as cursed of God, therefore, to be cursed by God's people.

[10:53] And this is what aggravated the situation of the persecution of the Jew early on, because they were convinced that the Jew was under the damnation of God, and we ought to do everything we can to make life as miserable as possible for the Jew.

[11:10] Because after all, they were the ones responsible for the crucifixion of Christ. Now we ought to use every opportunity to persecute, to isolate, to discriminate against the Jew, and make them the hated, cursed people of the world.

[11:28] And do you know, that is precisely what has been done. Is it any wonder then, is it any wonder that Jewish people want nothing to do with what is called Christianity?

[11:42] That's the track record. That's why there is such distrust and hatred among Jewish people today. It is with good reason, and I cannot blame them at all. And instead of the Gentile Christian attitude being one of treating the Jew as simply someone who is outside of Christ, as we would treat every Gentile who is outside of Christ, they used that opportunity of God setting them aside as license for berating and mistreating and persecuting the Jew.

[12:14] And, as we shall see from painful and somewhat embarrassing history, Martin Luther was one of the chief persecutors of the Jewish people in the 16th century, and others have taken up the cause afterwards, and it has led to what today is known as replacement theology.

[12:36] So, let me move along here quickly so I'll be able to give you the time for Q&A that I had promised. What we have in the book of Acts that develops is an opening that is a fulfillment, or at least a partial fulfillment, or a reference to the promise that Joel made, that is, comes into reality on the day of Pentecost when Peter stood and said, this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.

[13:09] And he went on to describe the young men seeing visions, the old men dreaming dreams, and tongues being, languages being spoken by people who had not learned them.

[13:20] but, as you read there in Acts 2, only a portion of the prophecy given by Joel is fulfilled. There are no wonders of smoke and fire, and there is no heavenly activity, the sun and moon are not affected, or anything like that.

[13:36] And yet, that's what Joel says is going to come to pass. That has never yet been fulfilled. That part is still put on hold. It's going to be, but only the first part was. And it is very, very significant.

[13:49] So, as Peter goes on to explain this being God making good on his promise, and that makes Pentecost an exclusively Jewish thing as well.

[14:02] After all, what is the feast of Pentecost? It's a Jewish feast. What did that mean to Gentiles? Absolutely nothing. It's like saying, what does the 4th of July mean to people who are living in India?

[14:22] Nothing. They don't have any reference for the 4th. It means a lot to us. It doesn't mean anything to them. And the principle is the same. So, this is an exclusively Jewish thing, and we've taken the position, and on this, I will not budge one inch.

[14:40] It is not the beginning of the church. The church, which is the body of Christ, must be comprised of Jew and Gentile, comprised in one body, making one new man.

[14:57] That's the church, which is the body of Christ. It doesn't even exist until after the Apostle Paul comes on the scene, and he's the first one that begins talking about it, and defining it, up until that time.

[15:12] what we call the Christian church, or the body of Christ, did not even exist. This is a revelation that God gave to Paul after Christ had ascended, and the recording of it is in 2 Corinthians 12, 11 and 12, where Paul spells out this abundance of revelations that Christ revealed to him.

[15:36] So, prior to that time, we have those front and center, Peter. Peter, the chief apostle of the 12, and his 11 associates, Judas being replaced, and the message they were preaching was the same message that John the Baptist preached, the same message that Jesus preached.

[15:57] There was just one important ingredient added to John the Baptist's message, and that was, Christ is risen from the dead. John the Baptist never preached that, because it hadn't happened yet, but that became the cornerstone of the Christian message, the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

[16:17] That became everything, and it also got the Jews who believed it put in jail and persecuted by the Jews who didn't believe it, and as I mentioned earlier, one of those chief persecutors was none other than Saul of Tarsus, who would become Paul.

[16:35] So, for the first, almost the first half of the book of Acts, we have a strictly Jewish thing, and it was overseen by the twelve apostles, chiefest of whom was Peter, and he was the one used of God to open the truth reluctantly, in fact, we could say unwillingly, to Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, because he couldn't believe that that was happening.

[17:02] He couldn't believe that God was doing anything with Gentiles, and yet, he used Peter as the strategic one to bridge this gap. You see, it's going to move from the gospel of the kingdom to Peter, and his opening the truth to Cornelius, a Gentile, and right about that same time, we have the account given of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and that is going to set the stage for a whole new thing, that no Jew, including Saul of Tarsus, had ever imagined.

[17:43] It was going to be a blending of Jew and Gentile into one body. That is part of what is called the mystery of Christ.

[17:54] It was a secret, not known before, but only revealed when Christ revealed it to Paul. And for people who think that this is Pauline or Paul's idea, let me say, has nothing to do with being Paul's idea.

[18:11] The truth of the body of Christ was not Paul's idea any more than the Ten Commandments was Moses' idea. These both originated with God, and they simply used human instruments to communicate God's will.

[18:28] So it has nothing to do with this originating with Paul. And in fact, even when Paul was going to use the term, three times he's going to use it, my gospel.

[18:40] Well, what gives him the right to say my gospel? Where does he come off of that? He's not suggesting that he originated the gospel.

[18:51] He is making a distinction between the gospel he was preaching and the gospel that the twelve were preaching, which was different. They were preaching the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.

[19:02] God. And Paul the apostle was preaching the gospel of the grace of God. That meant all are justified by faith solely on believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:14] And that was unheard of before that. Nobody was preaching that. This was a new message. Paul didn't think it up. It would not have occurred to him any more than it had occurred to anybody else.

[19:27] But God is revealing this thing. And Ephesians tells us that it was the purpose hidden in God from time past, but never before revealed until now.

[19:42] And Paul is revealing, and when he does, in many respects, it went over like a lead balloon. Are you kidding me? You mean to tell me that the Jew, God's chosen people, is going to have goyim?

[19:57] uncircumcised dogs? On the same plane and the same level as those of us who are Jews?

[20:09] You can't be serious. That's crazy. That's exactly what God was doing. Making of the twain. One new man. Unheard of.

[20:20] Never imagined. Wasn't hard at all for Jews to reject that. That was, as far as they were concerned, that was the most insane thing they'd ever heard of. Surely, God couldn't be behind this.

[20:34] Oh, but he was. And this man, this man, Saul of Tarsus, to become Paul the apostle, is going to spend and be spent and give his life a martyr for the proclamation of the truth.

[20:55] of that message. There's always a dear price to be paid for proclaiming the truth because people live in a hotbed of error.

[21:11] And when the truth comes in, conflict will result. Always has, always will. So we are moving from the kingdom, to the Jew, to the grace of God, to the Gentile.

[21:27] And there is a flow, there is a transition. This developed over a period of years. I've told you repeatedly, the Acts of the Apostles, 28 chapters, took 30 years for them to live that.

[21:40] And there's a great deal that happened, of course. It's not recorded in those 28 chapters, but what we have is what God wants us to have. Now, here's a question that I have. While these two messages were running side by side, and we pointed out to you that Paul preached a different message than what the twelve preached, that's why he went to Antioch in Galatians chapter 2, and explained to the twelve apostles what he had been preaching to the Gentiles, because it wasn't the same thing that they had been preaching to the Jews.

[22:27] They had been preaching to the Jews. You still need to embrace Jesus as the Messiah because the kingdom of heaven is still a possibility.

[22:39] If the nation will repent, God will return Jesus and he will get underway with whatever is involved with establishing that kingdom.

[22:50] That opportunity continued. It did not end with a crucifixion. And by the way, that's a major mistake that most Christians make. They think that the crucifixion of Christ was the Jewish final answer.

[23:07] And when they said crucify him and the Romans carried out the execution, then that was it for Israel. They're done, kaput, finished. They are off the charts.

[23:18] No more Israel, no more opportunity, no more anything for the Jew. That's the way a great many Christians see it. That's not the way it was. When Jesus prayed on that cross, Father, forgive them.

[23:37] They don't know what they're doing. I believe that prayer was answered. I believe that prayer was answered and that in God forgiving them for their ignorance, he continued, he extended the opportunity for the nation of Israel to now come in line and embrace this same one that you crucified, change your mind about him, and receive him.

[24:09] That was Peter's message in Acts chapter 2. that was the Pentecostal message. And it has nothing to do with the beginning of the church. It has to do with a continued ongoing appeal to the nation of Israel to reverse themselves.

[24:26] That's what Peter preached. What can we do? We've crucified him. What can we do? Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[24:36] You know where that message came from? Peter. Do you know where Peter got it? That was John's message. Same thing John the Baptist preached and the same thing that Jesus preached. And it was a Jewish message for the Jewish people exclusively.

[24:50] Gentiles had nothing to do with it. Completely out of it. That is going to continue until God brings the Gentiles on board and he does this through the most unlikely vehicle on the planet.

[25:07] Saul of Tarsus. And it took a dramatic conversion to bring him online. So we've got a message that is moving from exclusively Jewish in the kingdom of heaven.

[25:21] It continues for years until there is a change that is coming about and it starts with Peter and Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 and it continues until God raises Paul up and sends him commissioned to the Gentiles as the apostle of the Gentiles.

[25:43] So what we've got is a Jewish message that is continuing with the kingdom of heaven still being offered and extended still an opportunity for Israel and this is what the apostles are preaching and this is why they're staying in Jerusalem.

[25:58] That's where it has to start. And at the same time a message a new message has developed that is for the Gentile and it has nothing to do with keeping the Sabbath offering animal sacrifices circumcision and all the rest.

[26:15] It has nothing to do with any of those things. It has to do exclusively with believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That is the gospel of the grace of God. And here you've got two tracks.

[26:25] You've got the Jew and the kingdom of heaven message here and on the same siding they are both being preached to two different audiences.

[26:39] And I've often wondered what did Paul preach when he went into a Jewish synagogue? Now think about that.

[26:54] He could tell the Gentiles listen all you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. No you don't have to be circumcised.

[27:05] No you don't have to offer animal sacrifices. No you don't have to keep the Sabbath. Do you think he preached that when he went into a Jewish synagogue? Absolutely not.

[27:18] Because to a Jew he became as a Jew. To the Gentiles he became as a Gentile. He became all things to all men that he might by any means save some. This is really very very important stuff.

[27:33] So now we've got both messages being preached to two different audiences and this is precisely why Peter went to Antioch and explained to the twelve apostles that message which I have been preaching to the Gentiles.

[27:53] He saw the necessity for doing that because it was different. He wanted them to be aware of what he was preaching and they agreed with him.

[28:04] They gave him the right hand of fellowship and they as much as said go to it Paul we're with you preach your gospel and Paul calls it my gospel my gospel because it was the gospel that Christ ascended Christ had revealed to him exclusively and he became the pattern an expression we'll see later for what was to follow.

[28:29] So the question now becomes when did that time come when the opportunity that had been held out to the nation of Israel to repent of their sin and embrace Jesus as their Messiah when did God withdraw that offer so that it was no longer available to Israel now all there is is the gospel of the grace of God the gospel of the kingdom is passé the opportunity is no longer there for Israel God has withdrawn it he has set Israel aside as indicated in Romans 9 10 and 11 and my question is when did that happen and my answer is I don't know I don't know some are convinced that it happened with the stoning of

[29:30] Stephen that was a message that was a position that I used to take formerly but I can't embrace that any longer and the reason I can't is simple is because it's very abundant abundantly clear that the offer to Israel for the kingdom of heaven continued on and it would not have been something to be preaching if it was no longer a possibility but it was and it was well up until and maybe even the 28th chapter and the closing of the book of Acts and that's where many believe that the kingdom ceased to be offered at the end of the book of Acts and everything was focused upon the church as the body of Christ which is Jew and Gentile in one body making no distinction between them so there's neither Jew nor Gentile bond nor free male or female you are all on the same footing all on the same level in Christ that was a totally new concept and it became the only message the preaching of the kingdom of heaven is not the valid message to be preaching today but that does not keep many from preaching it they do anyway so some are of the opinion that that the kingdom offering was was came to an end with the crucifixion some think that it came to an end with

[31:01] Pentecost some think that it came to an end with the raising up of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9 some think that it came to an end later on in mid Acts some think that it came to an end at the Acts of the apostles I don't know all I know is it's not a current message our message today is not repent and be baptized for the remission of sins although that's the message that many preachers are preaching our message today is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved that's the gospel of the grace of God and it doesn't require anything to be added to it so Peter Peter and the twelve were out of business as far as proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of heaven is concerned that message is now passé twelve no longer have a kingdom message to preach because the opportunity is no longer there what is there is the preaching and the teaching of the gospel of the grace of

[32:15] God which is not Jewish strictly and is not Gentile strictly but is Jew and Gentile so if a Jew wants to be saved today he has to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior and if a Gentile wants to be saved he has to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior this is across the board this is utterly new and this is part of what the Bible calls the mystery of Christ the coming of the Messiah was prophesied 4,000 years before he showed up and it was reinforced by virtually all of the prophets in the Old Testament they all prophesied that one day a glorious Messiah would come God would send him and he would restore the earth and he would fix everything and he would bring in righteousness and he would put an end to death and all of those things and every

[33:20] Jew worth his salt believed that and longed for that and looked forward to that but what never entered the Jewish mind for thousands of years was that their Messiah when he came he would be the vehicle for reconciling the entire world to God for God was in Christ reconciling the world unto God they never saw that at all never in their wildest imagination did they have any idea that God cared for those who were not Jews so this gospel of the grace of God incorporates everybody that's part of the mystery they saw the Messiah as being strictly a Jewish Messiah come for Jewish people and he's going to restore the fortunes of Israel and Israel as a nation will rule throughout the world and the Gentiles would just be dogs underlings etc so this is really monumental stuff but it is all spelled out once you carefully compare scripture with scripture now have an opportunity for you to provide any feedback or questions or comments that you may have up front here we've got the roving mic

[34:39] Ron has a question or comment right up here this is Ron Ziltz he's the only man I've ever known whose name begins and ends with the letter Z what a distinction Ron okay pastor I guess I have a comment and I'm inclined to think that the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of grace are still going side by side to this day and I'll explain why I think that is because what Jesus said I am not come to bring peace in the world but division you know and I believe you know it's going on even now and the Jews are in blindness until the fullness of

[35:43] Gentiles yeah you're right the gospel the gospel of the kingdom is being preached after a fashion in a lot of places in a lot of places today it really is a saved Jew you know is a completed Jew right right a completed Jew absolutely so so they're both side by side now I think anyway you know yeah and as far as everyone can tell I mean you have you know the denial Jewish synagogues and everything yeah you're right unfortunately unfortunately you're right in that in that both gospels are being preached today and and and it is sad because there is really only one legitimate gospel to be proclaimed in our dispensation and that is the gospel of the grace of God that is believe on the

[36:46] Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved that's the gospel of the grace of God but many confuse that with the gospel of the kingdom and they add things to it like for instance believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be circumcised believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized and not just baptized anyway but you've got to be immersed unless of course you happen to be of a brethren persuasion and then you have to be or it's not a legitimate baptism unless of course you are Presbyterian or Methodist in which case you sprinkle but as the point has been made it doesn't make any difference what position you take on water baptism you are in a minority and the only thing that they have in common is each one believes that theirs is the right way and all the other guys are wrong but I dare say there aren't very many who have considered the possibility that water baptism is invalid period it isn't even part of the gospel and

[37:51] I know people will point out believe and be baptized and where are they getting that they're getting that from the kingdom message that's the message that is passé and the message today is simply to believe and the baptism the water baptism that was provided under the old order is now a spirit baptism and there's no H2O in it it's dry cleaning it's a dry baptism this is the baptism that is referred to in Romans chapter 6 know ye not that as many of you as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death there's no water there and 1 Corinthians 12 13 for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body what is that body that's the body of Christ that's what identifies you with Christ that places you in union with Christ for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body there's no water that's taken the place of water baptism and the same with circumcision scriptures refer to physical circumcision it's called the circumcision made with hands that means that there was there was a man who physically with his hands and a flint knife performed that minor surgical operation and he did it with hands but all who are in

[39:25] Christ have been circumcised in the heart a circumcision made without hands and the whole idea of circumcision was it was an indication that the one who received it the physical circumcision was set apart unto God only now it is a spiritual circumcision so under the old testament the old covenant so much so much was physical and material in the new it is spiritual and that's the gospel of the grace of God remarkable thank you for your comments some other comments or questions anyone in the back yeah my first major question was when did the kingdom the preaching of the kingdom the effectiveness that when that end and you told me you don't know so I understand that

[40:25] I guess really the other thing which I've struggled with a lot is knowing how strong he was he had to be extremely strong and yet knowing that the grace message was for everybody that he continued to preach to the Jews the kingdom message and somebody as strong as he was I'm surprised that he didn't preach some kind of a transition to the Jews wanting to come to them and knowing that he's talking to the Jews he can't depart from them but I'm surprised that he didn't try and preach some type of a transition from kingdom to grace when he talked to them and when he preached to them and I wonder did Paul feel or was it his understanding that when he started preaching his grace message was only for the

[41:25] Gentiles and not for the Jews is that why he preached two different messages well your question is very well taken I appreciate it when Paul Paul always geared his message to the audience that he was speaking to and it is not coincidental when you read through the book of Acts virtually every new place that Paul arrived at every new city he arrived at the text invariably says and I think for very good reason and he went into the synagogue he knew that there would be a Jewish audience there and I know some Greece people have great difficulty with Paul preaching the gospel of the kingdom and I think he was doing that more of an explanatory way and as you look at the very last verse of the book of

[42:33] Acts or the last two verses it says that he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him and by the way the text indicates in this same chapter that these were Jewish people who were living in Rome who came to Paul in his hard quarters and they had this day-long Bible conference the result of which was some believed and some believed not and they were all Jews and they went away from there arguing but the verse the very last verse in the book of Acts says that he was welcoming all who came to him preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness unhindered so I cannot honestly say that he did not preach both messages and I think he preached this with understanding because the question that anybody would have I think that any Jew would have would be this okay okay you say that if

[43:37] Jesus is the Messiah then he's going to bring in the kingdom of heaven so where is it why did he go back to heaven without finishing the job where is the kingdom of heaven don't you think that would be a legitimate question in fact even before the cross even before Christ was crucified the question was whether or not Jesus was the Messiah and by the way those who were not Jews didn't even care they didn't know they were completely out of it they didn't know all they knew was what some Jewish friend may have told them and you find somebody like the Canaanite woman and a couple of other Gentiles sprinkled in the gospels relatively insignificant but this kingdom thing didn't mean anything at all to them meant nothing meant everything to the Jew so when

[44:38] Jesus was arriving on the scene and was introduced as the Messiah of Israel one sent from God every Jew had a perfect right to say to Jesus okay you say that you're the Messiah you say that God has sent you prove it how are you going to convince us so what did he do he provided a whole bevy of miracles all kinds of miracles right before their eyes raised the dead gave sight to the blind opened the ears of the deaf healed lepers gave them one evidence after another and he said if I by the spirit of God cast out demons then is the spirit of God come among you and it was in his own individual person that the kingdom of God was right there in their midst in his person and that's what he meant when he said the kingdom of heaven is among you here I am he was a personification of that kingdom but those who reject that interpretation see that as meaning the kingdom of heaven and the king

[45:48] James says the kingdom of heaven is within you and that led a lot of people to believe well the kingdom of heaven is just a spiritual kingdom and it's inside of each individual believer but that does not pass the test of all of the other qualifications so I wish I had a better answer but it has to be a topic of ongoing conversation because let me put it this way folks maybe this will give you a picture the really big essence the really major thing about all of creation is not the church it's not the body of Christ that is merely a part of it the bigger part the major part the large part the anticipated part the part that matters the most is the kingdom of heaven come to earth of which the church will play a role and be some part of it in some way

[46:57] I don't understand but this is the big picture because the kingdom of heaven coming to earth is the restoration of the whole planet it's the restitution of all things it's the justice of God and the waters of justice prevailing the whole earth it is righteousness being established that's a lot bigger than what we think of as the body of Christ now I don't minimize that it's extremely important simply because Christ is the head and he has redeemed everyone in that body but the greater picture the overall picture is the kingdom of heaven that's the restoration that's the undoing of Adam's sin that's the undoing of the satanic involvement and that is largely what is behind so much of it anyway this grand conspiracy that is taking place right before our very eyes is headed up by none other than the adversary himself so keep that perspective in mind and that's why that is why the kingdom that is why the church which is the body of

[48:04] Christ is a temporary thing the time is going to come when the body is complete and when it's complete we're gone that's the rapture he will call away everyone who is in the body of Christ and then when he does what's going to take place then then then the day of the Lord is at hand and that's the next item in our agenda which we will be considering and that of course is where the major theme of prophecy comes in and we'll see how that how that develops as we as we move along so really the big picture is the church the big big picture the gigantic picture that overpowers everything is the kingdom the kingdom of heaven coming to earth and when that happens then the will of God will be done on earth as it is done in heaven that's not happening now in case you haven't noticed we'll take time for one more anyone in the back regarding

[49:25] Gary's comment over there about a transition message I was thinking about that and I don't think Paul could have preached a transition message because what he wanted was for the Jews as a nation to accept Jesus as their Messiah which would have fast tracked everything to the kingdom of heaven coming to earth so he didn't want a transition message I wonder if he didn't very reluctantly preach the grace of God even though he understood the grace of God he just wanted everybody to get quicker which would have been the Jews as a nation accepting Jesus as their Messiah and going from there the question I have is way back at John's baptism my understanding is that mostly those from the tribe of

[50:28] Levi were those who participated in baptisms and washings and things like that when John said come and be baptized nobody said what does baptism mean they understood what baptism was but my understanding is that John was opening this up to all of Israel which my question is why didn't those who were not from Levi s tribe say you're opening it up to us why are we being baptized I mean I don't understand that part of it well I think what you're talking about I think is really significant and Hebrews 6 talks about baptisms plural and it literally means washings and it has to do with the Old Testament priesthood when an Old Testament priest who by the way had to be a direct descendant of

[51:32] Levi in order to even be eligible and when he reached the age of 30 he was ceremonially washed cleansed his whole body washed and attired with new priestly garments and that was his induction into the Levitical priesthood but in Exodus 19 a passage that is so often overlooked in connection with Mount Sinai and the giving of the law God says to Israel I am going to make you a nation of priests not just the tribe of Levi I'm going to make the whole nation a nation of priests I mean all twelve tribes are going to be priests well if the Levites were the priestly tribe and they ministered priestly functions to the other eleven tribes of Israel then to whom would the whole nation of

[52:37] Israel with all twelve tribes being priests to whom would they minister priestly functions and the answer is to all the rest of the world Gentiles I don't know that they understood that but that's there in Exodus 19 7 and I think enough people understood it that when John the Baptist came on the scene and Jesus was thirty years old John the Baptist was just six months older and he was a second cousin of Jesus and when he began baptizing saying repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand he is saying folks what you have longed for and prayed for and looked for and wished for for thousands of years is right on the brink and he baptized everyone who came to him with no stipulation he didn't say are you by the way are you from the tribe of

[53:37] Levi the indication was he baptized everybody who came to him but they were all Jews and they were electrified by John's message they were really hyped excited because they knew what that meant and when he said the kingdom of heaven is at hand these people are saying after 4,000 years of waiting for the Messiah and now here he is and John the Baptist says yes here he is the lamb of God takes away the sin of the world he is the one whom God is sending to undo the curse of Adam and he's going to bring a glorious revival to the whole world and everything that is broken and fallen which is everything is going to be fixed and he's going to fix it wow no wonder these people were excited we'll have to take one more and that will be it okay just one more in the back there when we speak of the apostle Paul he first was told by well believed that

[54:43] Jesus was the Christ as a Jew and then he was given the grace message to pass along and it seems like us that are of the grace movement we learn that Jesus was the Christ the Jewish thing and a Jew that hears the grace message today I assume most of them are unbelievers don't care about the Bible or Torah or whatever it is when they hear the grace message and get saved they have to learn that Jesus was the Christ is that correct well I think that that's I think that that's a given I think the word Christ the word Christ is not Jesus last name it's his title he is Jesus the Christ which means the anointed one in Hebrew it is Yeshua HaMashiach he is the anointed one and it is God who anointed him and sent him designated him to be this one and any

[55:48] Jew today has to believe that Jesus no one who doesn't believe Jesus is the Christ is going to look for salvation anyway that's for sure so and you know I am confident that as you read through the book of Acts do you know what the greatest single criticism was that was leveled against the apostle Paul and from whom it came the greatest single criticism that Paul had to contend with was he's teaching against the law of Moses and from whom did the criticism come from his Jewish countrymen and he had been one of them with the same criticism before Damascus road so it would not be hard for me to see at all Jews saying well he is not teaching according to the law of Moses because he didn't he said that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes and to the

[56:53] Jew that was absolutely unthinkable because they could not divorce themselves from the law of Moses and its importance and this is why Christ when he wouldn't put them under the law he fought tooth and nail he says no no circumcision absolutely they had a big conference took up a whole chapter Acts 15 just deciding that issue do these Gentiles who have come to faith in a Jewish Messiah as their savior do they have to be circumcised and most of the Jews were saying yes yes because you have to come to Jesus through Judaism and Paul is saying no absolutely not it is not Jesus plus it is Jesus period that's what they had drift cully with and he would not back down he said to whom we gave place not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might remain with you so when he would not make these impositions and make these demands upon

[57:55] Gentiles that made a lot of the Jews unhappy and it was kind of like we have to keep the law why don't they have to keep the law because the law is now passe Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes neither Jew Gentile bond or free all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus wow what a message and this is this is has a potential for really being confusing and you know something these things that we talked about are the major reasons that Christianity I'm talking about the Christian churches and the denominations these are the principal reasons why there is so much division among us and we don't have the united front because there's disagreement misunderstanding regarding these points would you stand please you know this stuff really rings my bell I could be here for another two hours and forget all about lunch but you're not as spiritual as I am couldn't resist that thank you father for your goodness and grace to us and thank you for this marvelous message of the grace of

[59:12] God how that Jesus Christ plus nothing is the all sufficient answer to human sin we are so grateful for that message give us the courage and the opportunity we pray to proclaim it faithfully in Christ's name amen who is free and they go