More Big Picture Content

[0:01] I don't know exactly how to describe what we're considering right now, but it is, I guess you would say, another part or maybe the essence of the big picture that we've sometimes talked about.

[0:17] How that there is a big picture that creation and the world as we know it is not, and our existence is not circular, it is linear.

[0:31] That is, there's a starting point and there is a conclusion, there's an end game. And each day we're a little bit closer to it, to the end game, and a little bit further away from the start.

[0:42] And what we want to try to put in perspective this morning with the limited time we have is an overall picture of that, that will perhaps give you some reference points to connect some dots.

[0:57] That's what we're going to try to do, is to connect some dots because none of us has a full and complete picture of the whole thing. None of us do. But there are areas of our thinking and of our, even our imagination that are just like dots out there that are dangling and hanging and we can't connect them, we can't put them together and we don't know exactly how it fits.

[1:24] And I'm not suggesting that I'm going to answer all of that this morning, but if we can succeed in just connecting a few of those dots, then that gives you more to work with and more to think about.

[1:36] And that's what we're going to try and do. And this, by the way, is a result of some of the questions that you have submitted. So, first of all, I want you to go to Deuteronomy chapter 28 in the Old Testament.

[1:51] Deuteronomy chapter 28. And while you're getting there, I want to make a few introductory remarks regarding this passage and the others that we'll be looking at. And principally they have to do with the Jew, the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

[2:09] Very few people understand how critical and how strategic the Jew is to the whole plan and program of God from the beginning of creation to the end.

[2:22] And as a result, there has been all kinds of negative activity that has been brought against the Jew by way of ostracism and persecution and vilification and deprivation and separation and everything that you can think of.

[2:44] There are no people in the world that have been so isolated and persecuted as a Jew. And little wonder, history refers to him as the wandering Jew.

[2:58] Why is the Jew wandering? He's wandering because about every place he plants his feet, it's just a question of time until there will be opposition raised against him and he'll find himself on the moon.

[3:12] And you pick up and move again. And anybody who's seen the films, one of my favorite films because it's one of the most true that you could get historically, is Fiddler on the Roof.

[3:25] Remember seeing that? If you haven't seen Fiddler on the Roof, you really need to. It points this out in bold relief in ways that I can't express. But it's quite a, not only a great musical, but it's got a lot of really great theology to it, even though many of the Jews don't recognize it.

[3:45] And the ironic thing about it, we're talking about a nation of people that is so small and so relatively insignificant that you would think they almost count for nothing.

[4:00] And as I've given you statistics before, and I know we've covered this, the Jew is in such a minority that he doesn't even make up 1% of the world's population.

[4:15] He makes up 2% of the world's population. And 6 million of these people were eliminated by the Nazi regime in World War II.

[4:34] And yet that is nothing compared to what lies ahead because in the tribulation period, to which we may be much closer than we know, the tribulation, two-thirds of the Jews living on planet Earth are going to be eliminated.

[4:54] Two-thirds. Two-thirds. And those who are remaining will comprise that remnant that will be gathered at Petra during the tribulation period where they will be providentially cared for with food and water, just as the Lord did when they came out of Egypt.

[5:10] And the Antichrist will be unable to get to them, although that will be his goal. What, Jeff? We don't should be surprised at all that this is their lot in this world because God told them it would be.

[5:22] Oh, yeah. He told them it would be, so we shouldn't be surprised if they get what they deserve before he died. And that's what we're going to see right here in Deuteronomy 28 where it begins. And by the way, let me remind you that the first Jew was not considered a Jew at all.

[5:40] He was just a person. Just a person. And his name was Abraham. And that wasn't even his name in the beginning. In the beginning his name was Abram.

[5:51] The spelling is A-B-R-A-M. Abram. But when God selected him and called him for a specific purpose, he changed his name from Abram to Abraham.

[6:08] And he did so because that signified a relationship with the Almighty that didn't exist before. What, Roger? Was there a DNA that popped out with Abraham?

[6:21] That he looked different? I mean, we distinguish from the Jews today, so was there something different with Abram? I don't know, but there is definitely a DNA factor.

[6:35] I'm going to take you on a little rabbit trail now, but he brought it up and it's his fault. But it is quite interesting. In the modern state of Israel, they have made a provision.

[6:47] And by the way, Israel as a nation utilizes 90% of their revenue from taxes and everything else for defense.

[7:01] Think of that. 90% of their budget is for their defense. And there's no nation in the world, including the U.S. of A.D. that even comes close to that.

[7:14] But they do so because they know that the first conflict they lose, it's over for them. They will no longer exist as a nation, and they're aware of that.

[7:26] So, what we've got here is a group of people that's so unique and so unusual, well, they're virtually indescribable.

[7:38] And I know when I talk like this, people say, well, that figures, Wiseman, that you would say something like that, because with a name like Wiseman, you're obviously Jewish. No, I'm not. And my name isn't even Wiseman originally.

[7:51] It's Stevens because of a conflict situation way back when, when my birth mother and birth father got together as teenagers, and they took sexual liberties that they ought not to have taken, and I was the result.

[8:09] And so my name would have been, actually would have been Stevens, not Wiseman. So I guess I'm Irish and English and a little bit of something else.

[8:21] I'm not sure which. But the DNA thing is significant. And the thing I want to point out to you in connection with what Roger said is that a number of years ago, not too many, it was in the 1990s, and the state of Israel had enacted a law called the Law of Return.

[8:41] And in it, it stipulated that anyone, anywhere in the world who is Jewish will be accepted into the state of Israel and provided with an income and with housing at the expense of the government until they can get on their feet.

[9:03] And it was called the Law of Return. And it was Aliyah, they call it in Hebrew. Aliyah. It means going back to the land.

[9:14] Even though you've never been there, never lived there, your parents were there, you've got Jewish blood in you, and that makes you automatically eligible to become a recipient of that benefit in Israel.

[9:26] Israel. And the State Department in Israel got a letter of request from a group of people in Africa. And you can imagine the color of skin.

[9:41] These were Africans. And they were applying for an entrance visa for a group of people who claimed to be Jewish into the state of Israel.

[9:52] They wanted to emigrate and become Israelis. And the government looked at it and said, well, this is crazy. They can't be Jews. So they sent a delegation down to Africa, where the country was, to explore the situation and find out what was going on.

[10:09] And they also had provision to take and make DNA tests. And they provided DNA tests for this group of people.

[10:21] And voila, there's Abraham in that DNA. What? But how can that be? These are Africans. They are black-skinned, dark-skinned Africans, as opposed to the Jewish people who were the colors that we are.

[10:38] And there's something wrong with this picture. And they began doing the history. And guess what? You read back into the Old Testament. And Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

[10:51] And she came from Egypt. Not from Egypt, but from Africa. Ethiopia. Thank you. Ethiopia. Ethiopia.

[11:01] And explored the situation. And you can figure out the rest. But anyway, there is a lineage that is established there. And these black Africans tested positive for Jewish ancestry.

[11:18] And they were welcomed. In fact, what they did, they took a jumbo 747 to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the capital.

[11:29] They took all of the seats out of the plain so that the surface would be as large as possible. And they put hundreds of these Ethiopian Jews on that plain, took them to Israel, and they are part of the assimilation.

[11:48] And like I said, you can Google this. This was in the 1990s, I do believe. So, the Jewish thing and the Jewish blood is quite remarkable.

[11:59] There's no people like these in the face of the earth. And that is because they are a God thing. And you know what the irony of it is? There are a lot of Jews today that don't even believe that.

[12:14] They don't even believe their own ancestry. They think that it's just so much fable. It's just so much fable. But it's very real. And I want you to look at this text in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

[12:26] And if anybody has a question about, well, why did God choose the Jews? There's an old saying, how odd of God to choose the Jews. Why did He choose Abraham? And I think the answer is simple.

[12:39] If God is going to choose anybody, He had to choose somebody. And He chose Abraham. And we are not given specific reasons why, other than the fact that it pleased God.

[12:51] So now, we've got Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And by the way, God's going to change Jacob's name too. You know what his name is going to be changed to?

[13:03] Israel. His name will be Israel. Israel. And out of all of those descendants, we have today the nation of Israel.

[13:13] The only nation on the face of the earth that has ever been reborn after a 2,000 year absence. And that in and of itself is a miracle.

[13:23] By the way, Israel has never been in a war that they should not have lost. And every conflict that they've engaged in, that was brought against them, they have won.

[13:39] And there was no reason why they should have won it. Because in each instance, they were out-generaled, out-armed, out-numbered, out-everything. There's no reason why they should have won any of those conflicts.

[13:50] But they did. And that too is a God thing. So what we've got and what we're talking about now here in Deuteronomy is after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph in Egypt, and the whole family then coming down and living there in the land of Goshen and multiplying, and a pharaoh raises up, the pharaoh is raised up that knew not Joseph and had no sympathy for the Jewish people at all, and he enslaved them.

[14:17] And they spent hundreds of years in Egypt in slavery until the Lord raised up a man by the name of Moses to see to it that the people were freed.

[14:28] And you know the story about the plagues and pharaoh and all the rest. Well, that's where we're going now. And they've been in Egypt for 400 years, and God has brought them out of the land of Egypt by a mighty hand and has established them in the land of Israel.

[14:43] And now we're going to read something about here in Deuteronomy 28 of directions that the Lord is giving to them as a nation. He says, Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments, which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

[15:09] Now they weren't there at the time, that's for sure. And by the way, this needs to be understood because clarification is required regarding all of the laws that God gave to Israel.

[15:23] They were all with intent and purpose for the benefit and blessing of the people. In other words, all of the laws and requirements that God laid down for Israel was not so God could just throw his weight around and show him who's boss and blah, blah, blah, and all of that stuff.

[15:43] No, no, no, no. All of the laws, all of the requirements, each and every one of them, was for the benefit and the blessing of the people. They often didn't realize that, didn't understand that, and sometimes chafed against it, just like children do against their parents.

[16:00] But they were all designed for their own protection and their own blessing. And yet they often acted contrary to that. And he says, if you will be careful to do all his commandments, which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

[16:16] And all these blessings, these are positives, shall come upon you and overtake you. If you will obey the Lord your God, and he's going to name them, blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

[16:34] And this blessed, the word blessed means, it means physically and spiritually well advantaged. That's a nice expression.

[16:47] Physically and spiritually well advantaged. And the idea is, the blessing means, you're going to have everything going for you. It's going to be a proverbial bed of roses.

[17:01] If, and it comes with a condition, if you will obey me. And blessed, in verse 4, blessed shall be the offspring of your body, and the produce of your ground, and the offspring of your beast.

[17:12] And blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. And blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall be. God is saying, I'm going to look out for you. You people are going to be the apple of my eye, and I'm going to make every provision for you that is needed.

[17:27] However, it comes with a stipulation. You have to mind it. You have to do what I tell you. And even that is going to contain blessing, because that will be for your benefit.

[17:38] And in verse 9, he says, the Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself, as he swore to you. If, you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways, and on and on and on.

[17:52] And verse 13, and the Lord shall make you the head, and not the tail.

[18:02] What's that mean? It means just what it says. It means it's going to put you in front. Going to make you prominent. Going to elevate you.

[18:13] Going to bless you. So that you will be ahead of all the other nations. As opposed to being the end. So this is a condition that is provided for them, and their obedience is required.

[18:28] However, if you do not obey me, then if you look at verse, this is a long chapter, but I'm going to have to skip a lot of this.

[18:40] But I want you to look at verse 45, same chapter, Deuteronomy 28 and verse 45. So all these curses shall come on you, and pursue you, and overtake you, until you are destroyed.

[19:00] Because you would not obey the Lord your God, by keeping his commandments, and his statutes, which he commanded you. Now, here is the basis upon which a lot of jurisprudence throughout the whole world is established.

[19:15] So that, like right here in the United States, and we're familiar with this, whenever requirements are given, something involving the breaking of the law, you will often find something posted that tells you what you must not do.

[19:32] And, immediately following that, is the penalty that will be applied if you ignore it. In other words, subject to, one year in jail, $10,000 fine, and all this stuff.

[19:45] So they're letting a potential lawbreaker know what he's in for if he violates the law. And that principle goes all the way back to this passage, and this principle.

[19:57] So you warn people about the consequences if they defy what is required of you. This is what it's going to cost you. So many days in jail, so much of fine, and so on.

[20:09] And that's exactly what this is here, what this is all about here. And they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever, because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things.

[20:28] In other words, they took it for granted. They disobeyed. Therefore, you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things, and he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

[20:50] The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down a nation whose language you shall not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who shall have no respect for the old nor show favor to the young.

[21:07] This is bad stuff. And let me ask you a question. How many times has history revealed that this is precisely what has happened to Israel?

[21:20] And it is all in accordance with what God told them would happen. Now, is this any way to look out for your chosen people? Well, it seems so from a human standpoint.

[21:35] But what God is doing is fulfilling His promise negatively, as He promised. And you see, the worst thing that one in authority can allow someone under his authority to do is to get away with it.

[21:56] To ignore it. And God isn't up to that. He isn't going to... You know, a lot of doting parents do. A lot of doting parents, when their kids misbehave, they just kind of look the other way. But the worst thing you can do is to allow bad behavior to go unpunished.

[22:13] And God sets the example here. He gives them the advance warning as to what they're going to suffer by way of consequences if they ignore Him. And then He brings them upon them like He promised.

[22:24] Because God is faithful even in delivering the punishment that He promised. He's faithful in that too. And He's doing it for the good and the welfare of the people for the same reason that we discipline our children.

[22:39] We do it for their own good. And it's often resented, but it afterwards yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who are exposed thereby. And that's exactly the principle in which God is operating here.

[22:52] So, as a result, Israel, as a nation, is going to be under bondage to a lot of people. They'll be under bondage.

[23:02] They start out with the Egyptians and they're serving them for 400 years. And then the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar, brings them against them, destroys the city, leads the people into captivity for 70 years.

[23:15] And this is after Jeremiah, the prophet, gave them warning not only what was going to happen, but at whose hands it was going to happen.

[23:26] And the people said, oh, he's just a religious old nut. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Ignore him. Don't pay any attention to him. Well, the prophecy of Jeremiah was right on track.

[23:37] And then, there will be the Persians under whom Esther will reign and they will be brought into bondage as well. And as a result of the miracle, actually, that is accomplished through Esther and Mordecai, the people are spared and the nation is saved and as a result, they're able to continue.

[23:58] God delivers them. And then, they're in bondage to the Greeks under Alexander the Great and his four generals when he dies and it's broken up.

[24:09] Then, they go under bondage to the Romans. You see, they're delivered each time to a nation that takes away their freedom and enslaves them. And here, the Romans, this is during the time of Christ, the Romans are there with thousands of troops that they have sent into Israel as occupational forces and the exact taxes from them and all the rest and in the days of Caesar Augustus is when Christ was born.

[24:35] So, here they are in bondage to the Roman Caesars and it has been this way. So, along, well, before the birth of Christ, when Israel is invaded again, they do so by capturing the king, his name is Zedekiah, and they put out his eyes, blind him, and then, well, I'm sorry, I got my order mixed up.

[25:08] First thing they did was they executed all of his sons and then they made him watch them. All of his sons die and then they put out Zedekiah's eyes physically and strapped him in the chain and made him walk with the others all the way from Israel to Babylon.

[25:29] And there, they are going to be in Babylon for 400 years until they come out. God brings them out through a new generation and the man by the name of Nehemiah.

[25:41] And they come back to Israel and they build the wall and they start inhabiting the land again. But, the monarchy that was originally established under King Saul and then went to King David and then went to David's son Solomon and then on down through the line and it is expressed in Matthew and also in Luke.

[26:06] And the line ends with Zedekiah. And Zedekiah being put to death in Babylon, that was the end of the Jewish monarchy and they haven't had a king since.

[26:20] And by the way, I just want to insert this because I think it is so neat. If you take the genealogical line of royalty that came through Joseph, the adopted father of Jesus, and take the genealogical line in Luke that comes from Mary because both of them were descendants of David, only through David's different sons, you will discover that with Zedekiah the line ends and there is no one to sit on the throne that is available until someone is born recorded in Matthew's gospel and in Luke's gospel and his name is Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah.

[27:17] So if you look at the Jewish genealogical table of royalty and the way the line ascends, there is only one person eligible to sit on the throne of David and occupy it righteously from the standpoint of the Jewish genealogy and the throne remains open and one day Jesus is going to sit on that throne and he's the only one in all of the world that is in that line but he is considered unavailable because he's gone but he's coming back and when he does he will occupy that throne.

[27:58] Now I want you to turn if you would please to the book of Acts chapter 1 we're fast forwarding a whole bunch of pages here a bunch of years Acts chapter 1 and bear in mind the crucifixion the crucifixion is history and the resurrection is history and in Acts chapter 1 we read that he has gotten together after his resurrection after he spent 40 days in verse 3 40 days speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God that guys is the big picture it is the kingdom of God sometimes called the kingdom of heaven but they are one and the same the confusion enters because when the term the kingdom of heaven is used people almost automatically think about a believer who dies and goes to heaven and that's up and you go to heaven that is heaven that is not the kingdom of heaven of which the bible so often speaks what that is is the rule and reign of heaven brought down to planet earth and established on planet earth so that the will of God that is done in heaven is done on earth as it is in heaven in that popular prayer called the

[29:45] Lord's Prayer that's what this kingdom of heaven is all about and the kingdom of heaven coming to earth is the revitalization the reestablishment the repair the fixing of a broken planet and everything about it we live in a beautiful ugly world it's both it has its beauty that is unparalleled and I think that is just by the grace of God and it also has an inherent ugliness and the ugliness comes from human behavior it is sin and death and disease and disorder and everything that comes with a fallen world and when the kingdom of heaven comes it's going to be fixed it's going to be repaired it's going to be renewed it's going to be wonderful it's going to be heaven on earth and fellas believe it or not the majority of christendom and by majority of christendom

[31:06] I'm talking about catholicism and a larger part of protestantism believes this is it we're in it right now didn't you recognize it well how do you how do you get that well you get that by saying well there is the kingdom of heaven physically literally so that everything that is broken is fixed and ruin and sin and everything are done away there is that kingdom of heaven if you're talking about the literal physical kingdom and there is what they believe we have is a spiritual kingdom of heaven where jesus is ruling spiritually from heaven and he is ordering all things on earth spiritually not literally or physically and of course the difference is how in the world would you know that how what what what's where's the example of that how can you define that in my estimation it isn't definable and fellas here's a principle

[32:22] I hope you will always remember the bible does use a lot of figurative language that is not intended to be taken literally such as the eyes of the lord run to and fro upon the earth well we don't expect god to have eyes that pop out of his head and roll around earth that's a figurative expression but it's another way it's a colorful way of saying god sees everything god knows everything nothing is hidden from him that's figurative language and it's used a lot in the bible but in the vast majority of instances the bible is to be taken at face value that it means what it says and it says what it means and when you depart from that and you go into an allegorical or a spiritual interpretation the interpretation is at the mercy of the imagination of the individual who reads it and that can make it mean almost anything and by the way guys this is where postmodernism is this is what we're dealing with today whether you realize it or not this is what's going on and actually it's a bitter pill to swallow but this is what they insist on that when you read scripture the message the message is not from the writer of scripture the message that is to be understood is provided by the reader and this is why you get people saying things like well what this passage says to me is thus and so and thus and so and someone else says well that's wonderful for you but for me what it says is thus and so and thus and so and those two different opinions may be completely contradictory to each other but guess what they're both right that's the postmodern interpretation scripture doesn't mean what it says it means what it means to you but the age-old principle for interpreting scripture has always been and still ought to be the meaning of the text what it's saying is what the writer intended to communicate it's what he had on mind it's what he is expressing and when you understand what he is saying and you appreciate it and you are gathering it and understanding it then you have a wonderful thing take place and it's called communication then you have communicated communication occurs when what is in the mind of the speaker is appreciated and understood in the mind of the reader then you have communication that has taken place and believe it or not the bible was provided as the tool of communication for us

[35:45] God has something to say and he wants us to read his words and come to the same conclusion as the one he used to write those words then communication has taken place and by the way guys there isn't any way there isn't any way that an intelligent response can be made to what is written unless you understand what is written otherwise you're just shooting in the dark so the bible is a book that communicates it is a revelation it is intended to be understood it speaks 95% of the time it speaks with great plainness of speech with the intent that it be understood at face value so that you can intelligently respond to it and in that way actually even your disobedience can be intelligent because you're being disobedient and you know it even that counts for that so that's something to keep in mind now here in Acts when he is here this is right before his ascension and the disciples are gathered together verse 4 gathering them together he commanded them not to leave

[37:04] Jerusalem but to wait for what the father had promised which he said you have heard from me now what he's talking about here is the day of Pentecost which is going to come just 10 days later they don't know that but they know that it's not too many days hence and they're going to be gathered together on the day of Pentecost when the spirit of God is going to come and the manifestation they'll be speaking in languages they hadn't learned and so on so on and we read in verse 5 Jesus is saying for John baptized with water but you and the but is a conjunction of contrast means something different is coming John baptized with water but you shall be baptized or identified with the Holy Spirit not many days from now and that'll be 10 days and so verse 6 when they had come together they the apostles were asking him

[38:05] Jesus saying Lord is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel that is such a tremendously important question we read in the gospels as they are on their way to Jerusalem I can't say this for sure because the older I get the more these texts move around but I think it was Luke 19 where they were going to Jerusalem and the text says and as they were going to Jerusalem Jesus spoke this parable and that's really significant as they were going to Jerusalem what was going to happen when they got to Jerusalem the text tells us there in Luke 19 for they believe the apostles believed that when they got to Jerusalem Jesus was going to go right into the temple and sit on the throne and establish his kingdom that's what they expected but because that was not at all in the game plan

[39:19] Jesus gave a parable there in that immediate context and the parable expresses one who was in charge going away leaving for a long period of time what was that that was going to be his ascension that he was talking about they didn't have a clue they thought when boy this is going to be it when we get to Jerusalem he is going to set up that king it is going to be wonderful the crowd gathered there all those who believed in Jesus and that oh they were going to Jerusalem but Jesus was going to a cross not a throne they didn't have a clue didn't have a clue he had told them but Luke also tells us that their eyes were their minds were blinded and they did not perceive the truth but they would perceive it afterwards after the fact so here what they are interested in in

[40:22] Acts chapter 1 is is at the Israel this time as opposed to the other time when we thought you were but you went to the cross and you died on the cross and you were buried and you were resurrected and you have been with us 40 days now that is all history tell us are you going to do it now is this going to be the time now and Jesus said it is not for you to which the father has fixed in his own authority he didn't say yes he didn't say no he said something else is on the table that you don't even know about and the father is in complete control of it and what you are to do in the meantime the directions that he gave him and what is he talking about here he's talking about he's going to ascend and go back to heaven and what is going to happen is that and the kingdom by the way notice it is restoring the kingdom to whom to

[41:30] Israel they aren't thinking globally they aren't thinking of the whole thing they're thinking of Zedekiah was our last king and that's been hundreds of years ago and we haven't had a king since and we've been dominated by the Babylonians we've been dominated by the Romans we're going to dominate by everybody are you going to establish that kingdom now are we going to get a king now and I don't know if they understood who that king would be but I suspect that they probably did are you going to establish that kingdom now and Jesus said it's not for you to know the time and do you know what he had in mind that was you and I are living in a parenthesis that thing with the parenthetical marks around it we are inserted in there where on the surface it doesn't appear we even belong what are we doing there what's going on here this is a whole new ball game and it is called church what what is it we're interested in the kingdom that's what we're after the kingdom what is this church stuff they don't know a thing about that so

[42:54] I want you come over Acts chapter 3 and this is Peter's second message he's going to deliver to an audience there in the temple this is right in connection to Peter and who was it with him John yeah Peter was it John okay Peter and John healed that man that had been born lame from his mother's womb and all the guy could do and by the way begging was an honorable occupation in Israel at this time especially for those who were physically incapacitated and this guy hadn't walked one day in his life he was in his forties and he was born lame from his mother's womb and he had a favorite spot there that he had dibs on in the temple a certain corner and family or relatives would carry this guy there and plunk him down in that spot and he would sit there with his cup and say alms alms for the poor and people would come by and drop money in his cup and Peter and John came by and this guy looked up at him and alms alms and Peter said silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I unto thee rise up and walk and he reached down and grabbed that guy by the hand and yanked on him and pulled him and the guy came and stood upright on two legs he had never stood on in his life and he is simply amazed and he's standing there and he's looking at himself and he's going like this and people start gathering they all know this guy he's a permanent fixture there and the crowd starts gathering and they say hey isn't that old so and so yeah that's him no that's not him he can't walk that couldn't be him and and the crowd is building and building and there's a huge number of people because nothing draws a crowd like a crowd and everybody knows something's going on over there and they all start running over there and as soon as they get there and there's a whole bunch of people we aren't told how many but Peter sees this as an opportunity and this is going to be a Pentecostal message number two and it follows hard on the heels of the first one and here in chapter three he talks about let me get my right get my right place here all the people in verse 10 they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the beautiful gate of the temple that was the name of that particular gate to big alms and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to them and while he was clinging that's this guy that was healed he's clinging to Peter and John he goes gets up and he gets

[45:44] Peter a big bear hug and he goes to John and he hugs him and this man is ecstatic because he's doing something he's never done in his whole life and when Peter saw this he replied to the people you men of Israel these are all Jews this is taking place in the temple no Gentiles here not even allowed you 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 the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus the one whom you delivered up and you wonder if there were not people in the audience there who were in that crowd before Pilate who said crucify him crucify him and boy the rent has come due and now these people are amazed at this message and what has happened and verse 14 you disown the Holy One you ask for a murderer

[46:44] Barabbas to be granted to you you put to death the prince of life the one whom God raised from the dead and he goes on and preaches and then he says in verse 18 but the things which God has announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ should suffer he has thus fulfilled remember on the road to Emmaus Jesus told the two disciples ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory this is all part of the same marvelous package and he says he has fulfilled that in other words he's saying God has done his part what was his part God so loved the world that he gave and Jesus so loved the world that he was willing to be given and he gave his life for the sins of others that's the whole gospel message

[47:49] Christ died for your sin what are you going to do about that that's the whole message and they are now delivering it and it is absolutely amazing and when he says he has thus fulfilled there are two things fellas hope you never forget this there are two things that have to occur before the kingdom of heaven comes to earth and is established here two things the first is the sinless son of God has to pay for the sins of the world and the right to rule and reign in it he did that he did that that's the first leg the second leg is for Israel to get on board many Jews had many believed it wasn't just the twelve there were hundreds there were thousands we read that there was number grew three thousand on the day of Pentecost and then a couple thousand later and the numbers are growing but the numbers are a small pittance compared to the population of the nation and the shakers and movers tribes

[49:03] Pharisees Sanhedrin all of them they're still in a positive mode regarding Jesus and the resurrection but he is saying he has thus fulfilled repent therefore and the word literally means the attitude and the opinion that you had previously regarding Jesus of Nazareth who he was and why came the attitude that you had regarding that you need to reverse that's the meaning of repent metanoia it means the word meta is from the Greek word through through in the same way as metastasis and metabolism it means through something in this case it is through the mind it is a mental intellectual act that requires you on the basis of the evidence you now have that you didn't have before that you reverse yourself from your previous position and fellas this is one of the hardest things that people have to do especially men because we hate to admit we have been wrong about anything that's the human that's the male ego we'll take a whipping rather than admit that we were wrong but that's what we need to do that's that's that's what repentance means it means change your mind and the idea is if you change your mind and that is genuine your behavior is going to line up behind the new change that is involved in the new birth and the changing of your mind from well I'm okay the way I am

[50:58] I'm not the worst guy in the world but I'm not the best either and I'll I'll make it if anybody I'm just as good as anybody else and I tried hard to do the right thing and all that you've got to scrap all of that BS you know that's what it is anyway and admit the facts and that is I am undone I am a sinner standing in the midst of sinners I am a member of the human race and that automatically makes me a sinner a sinner is anyone who has sinned a liar is a how many times do you have to lie to be a liar just once lie just once how many times do you have to steal to be a thief just once that makes you a thief so we're all thieves and liars aren't we yeah and when you admit that and acknowledge that then there is hope then is when salvation comes to the rescue and he says he has hope repent therefore change your minds in return that or so that your sins may be wiped away and the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord what are those that's that kingdom that's the millennium that's when everything gets fixed everything is refreshed and he goes on and says and that he may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you where is

[52:24] Jesus when Peter is saying this he's in heaven he's already gone and what he's saying is if you as a nation will get on board guess what God will send him back and this time when he comes back will be the second coming and someone has said Jesus is coming again this time he will not be in a good mood this time he's going to destroy the enemies of God and the enemies of Israel at a place called Megiddo which will be the gathering but where this conflict is going to take place is smack dab in front of Jerusalem right there in the valley of Jehoshaphat that's where this conflict is going to take place Christ will have returned and the antichrist and his armies will be moving south and Jesus will be moving north and the conflict is going to take place there and John tells us in Revelation 20 and a sharp sword proceeds out of his mouth and that's simply a metaphor for saying the spoken word of Christ will be like a sharp sword and the enemies of

[53:35] Israel will be decimated and it will be it will be the period verse 21 it will be the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time that will be the kingdom and it will take place when two things are realized when Christ pays for the sins of the world and the right to establish the kingdom and the second is when Israel nationally agrees and is on board and that's what John the baptist is talking about when he comes in Matthew chapter 3 and says repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand John is saying boys it's right around the corner will you get on board will you accept this one as your messiah and undergo the ceremonial purification of cleansing by being water baptized and cleansed in his name that's the second leg that is required the first is history the second is yet to be fulfilled and the way the text reads it leaves no question if you go on we won't have time now and I can't compete with the food so in chapter 4

[55:01] Israel starts providing their ongoing answer and guess what it is it's arrest these men and they warn them stop preaching and teaching and his name and the new resurrection and all the rest or there's going to be severe and the persecution sets in and keep this in mind it is Jews who are persecuting Jews their own people and that brings the kingdom and its whole concept to a screeching halt but that's going to be replaced with something else utterly different and guess what it is it's you it's this thing called the church the body of Christ and the whole kingdom concept is going to be set aside temporarily until the times of the Gentiles and blindness in part has happened to Israel until the times of the Gentiles have come in and when that happens then Christ is going to return but Joe question okay in order to receive the meaning from the person given this message which is

[56:10] God of course don't you first have to accept him Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and have the Holy Spirit come within you then you will be able to understand what the message is in other words you can't receive this message until the Holy Spirit comes within you and you become a believer don't you have to be a believer first I you have to be no I wouldn't say you have to be a believer first I would say you have to be receptive and open to the truth and this is a process that takes place first of all you have to hear the message you have to deal with your own need you have to process the information you have to reach a conclusion about it and then you have to act on that conclusion and by the way this can be done almost in a heartbeat and it happens sometimes at evangelistic meetings when the gospel is presented and people are what are they doing they're getting information and fellas when people attend church whatever it is wherever it is the main thing that is going on is the dispensing of information people are being told things told things why so that they can act on it so that they can respond to it so in the gospel message there are things that have to be heard and understood and processed before the decision can be made and some people make it almost immediately and some people it germinates in their mind maybe for months before they actually come to a decision and very often it is in connection with some kind of a crisis that they have so all these things all come into play and I'd like to go on further but

[58:13] I'm not finished but I quit enjoy your meal thank you again for being here