20240227_TuesdayMorning

[0:00] I'm looking at my calendar this morning and on my phone it came up March 5 and I thought March 5 March 5 something oh yeah March 5 1954 70 years ago was my first day in the US Army stationed at Fort Knox Kentucky spent my first night in an army bunk and the next three years was two of which were spent in Alaska and I'll say one thing the best thing that ever happened to me while I was in the army was on a Sunday afternoon in July in Olympia Washington when I met the love of my life it's a long story and I won't go into it but and we were married just a few months short of 50 years before the Lord called her home so a lot of memories a lot of water over the dam wouldn't trade one of them for anything and I have somewhat of an apology to offer this group because I told you at the beginning with the Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday classes each of which meet in a different location in New Carlisle and out towards Urbana and and then here that we were going to be teaching all different subjects at all of those and I fully intended when I said that to make good on it but given the level of interest that you have all demonstrated plus what is taking place in our world today with all of the craziness and uncertainty that I mean even more uncertainty than usual that is abounding I just thought for the time I have with you which will only be the next couple of weeks we're going to focus in all three locations on this particular subject and I don't know that we'll resume it when I return from the surgery that's scheduled for the for the 18th but at any rate you'll be in good hands so everything will continue as per usual and we'll see we'll assess the situation and see what the group wants to do whether we pursue what we're talking about now or not but in the meanwhile all three of these locations are talking about this same subject only in different spheres and I want you to turn if you would please to Acts chapter 4 and we will do our best to get over to first Peter because we didn't make it last time but I just want to stir up your pure minds minds which by the way is what Peter what Peter was saying to his writers I want to stir up your minds pure stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance even though you already know these things but we're in

[3:15] Acts and I want you to look at chapter 4 because what is happening is this is shortly after Pentecost in Acts 2 and things are really really humming and you need to be reminded that what we are talking about and those of whom we are speaking this morning are all Jewish people there are no Christians no Gentiles involved in this at all and by way of stirring up your pure minds by way of remembrance let me recollect if I will that about the first eight or ten years after the ascension of Christ back to heaven and after the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 everyone in the Bible with whom we are associated and connecting was Jewish no Gentiles no non-Jews matter of fact I don't know if you're aware of this or not but let me just wax eloquent a little bit on this because it's very very important you realize this is a Jewish book the old and new testament that all of the contributors to it from Genesis to Revelation are Jews you understand that and many of those are going to become Christians but they are going to be like like like my old friend Marv Rosenthal that I told you about earlier when he as a young Jewish lad running a cash register and his parents delicatessen in Philadelphia came to faith in Christ he later described himself as not a converted Jew but a completed Jew and that's the way I think that most Jews who become believers refer to themselves because they're still Jewish that doesn't change at all their Judaism was when they were born into the into the Jewish family and faith they were forever a Jew but uh well that's another subject because so keep in mind now here in Acts chapter 4 the heat is on and guys I want to preface this with just a couple of things to stimulate your thinking in case you haven't noticed

[5:41] Christianity is becoming more and more marginalized we are becoming less and less welcome less and less influential more and more tolerated and the reason for that is simply this and this is a very very important point there is a thing that has been sweeping over our nation for probably the last 60 70 years years and it is moral relativism and moral relativism has morphed into relativistic faith and belief so that what we are dealing with pretty much anymore is the homogenization of faiths of faiths and beliefs so that all are equal and all are right and all are legitimate and there essentially is no difference and whatever you believe is what is right for you it may be completely opposite to what I believe believe but that doesn't make any difference because if my faith contradicts your faith it's because you personalize yours and I personalize mine and even though they are contradictory neither of us is wrong we're both right now one thing that that does immediately is it eliminates the gospel because the gospel of Jesus Christ insists that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God but there is a remedy and the remedy is through personal faith in Jesus Christ not only is that the remedy it is the only remedy and fellas you know probably as well as I do that is the idea against which the world as a whole keeps they don't like that because mankind loves his options choices don't tell me there's just one way to heaven

[8:07] I don't buy that what are you going to do about the Hindus and the Muslims and the this and the that and all the rest of them what about those people well they have to come the same way that you did in the same way that I did because God vested everything in the person of his son and what he was going to accomplish and in fact did accomplish on that cross when he screamed out tetelestai it is finished it was there on that cross the son of God who knew no sin was made to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him and fellas what that does is it gives us a very a very exclusive message and I know we as Christians take a lot of heat in that well the problem with you Christians is you say that that that

[9:13] Christianity is the only way to God and yeah we do but be reminded guys we don't say that because we made that up that's not our idea we didn't come up with that matter of fact it would be a lot easier to get along in this world if we just adopted that homogenization and say hey whatever you believe is just as good as what anybody else believes because there's not a whip stitch of difference in them and uh you know like like the sign I saw on the bulletin board one time it said just love everybody I I will sort them out later sign God well but we've got a definite message guys and the exclusivity of this message is wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ and the reason we have to insist on it and that it's so important is because Jesus is the only panacea for the sins of humanity and when you come to faith in Jesus Christ you are placed into union with him and you partake of now get ready for this because it's a biggie you are a partaker of his righteousness now if that doesn't stun you then you don't understand it this is saying that

[10:48] God imparts to you through Christ the very righteousness of Christ and acceptance with God that Christ has becomes yours that's what it means to be in Christ Christ and it is the most glorious thing that could ever happen to anybody God it has nothing to do with your performance it has everything to do with your position when you come to faith in Jesus Christ you are placed in union with him and the merit and the work that Christ accomplished on that cross is attributed to you just as if you had been on that cross and died with him that's what Paul was talking about when he said I'm crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me this is just amazing this is the message that the apostles were trying to get out to people in fact well I

[11:58] I have to backtrack a little bit I'm not even sure they understood that message at that point in time they knew this they knew that Christ was innocent and that Christ died on the cross as an innocent man they knew that but guys and here's a rabbit trail but I've got to inject it here because it's very very important if you want a little study on your own and I've done this a number of times but I can't satisfy myself with the answers go to the book of Acts and try to determine where is the first time that you find the substitutionary death of Christ taught in the book of Acts because hey guys that becomes the message that is our message today it is Christ died for sinners that's the message but early on in the book of Acts even at what we're looking at here the big issue is that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel and guys what we're talking about now in the book of Acts in chapter 4 is part of those first 8 to 10 years think of this 8 to 10 years after the resurrection of Christ there were no Christians didn't exist what there was was believing Jews they were every bit the sons of Abraham all the way back and they were Jewish and it isn't until you get clear up into chapter 10 of the book of Acts that we find a Roman army officer by the name of Cornelius who has a pagan background by the way like I said he's a Roman army officer a centurion he had a hundred men a hundred troops under his authority and somewhere along the line he had come to a conviction conviction that the God of Israel was the only true God there was guys you've got to appreciate this man was coming from a Roman pagan background multiple gods multiple deities they had a different name for all their gods they lined them up and everything and this man

[14:28] Cornelius came to faith and the stunning thing about it was he was a Gentile and we've got the same situation that develops later on in the book of Acts when Gentiles are expressing faith in the Jewish Messiah Savior and the Jews were stunned and they're saying what is this he's he's our savior Gentile he didn't come for Gentiles he came for Jews and you know John's gospel one and he came into his own and his own received it not who were his own they were Jews fellow Jews and then we find Gentiles putting their faith in a Jewish Messiah

[15:28] Gentiles have their own gods a whole bunch of them and now you're telling me that as a Jew or as a Gentile I have to put my trust and faith in a Jewish Messiah guys the book of Acts is so climactic and so so intertwined with different things that it's you've got to remember when you read these 28 chapters it took 30 years or 35 years for these 28 chapters to develop and as you go through the book it is history unfolding and it is doctrine unfolding so that in the beginning in the beginning it is Jewish Jewish Jewish and then when you move on through the book of Acts lo and behold you find the least likely the least likely Jew in the world named Saul of Tarsus to come to faith in the

[16:33] Messiah and he who once wanted to destroy that faith is now preaching it and Saul of Tarsus has become Paul the apostle that is stunning stunning stuff and right after his conversion which we won't look at now but right after his conversion he spent three days and three nights stewing over this couldn't eat couldn't drink was stunned shocked out of his gourd this man that he saw in the Damascus road really was Jesus he really was in heaven and he thought about having crucified not crucified but having stoned to death Stephen the martyr in Acts chapter 7 all of these things come flooding through his mind and he is wrestling and struggling and arguing and fighting with God for three days and three nights there in that street called straight where he's at the house of this man named

[17:35] Judas not to be confused with the other Judas and I can just see Ananias in a vision God comes to him and says Ananias I want you to go to a street called straight and find a guy by the name of Saul of Tarsus he's praying he's praying that's interesting he's praying he's not rebelling and he's not fighting but he's praying I know what he was praying for too he was praying for more information and Ananias says Lord I've heard about this guy he's come from Jerusalem and he's come here all the way just to arrest other Jews who have fled the persecution in Jerusalem and he's going to take them back in irons and they're going to stand trial in Jerusalem I don't want anything to do that guy and he said to Ananias he said no no you go he's praying now and I will show him and guys this is this is so tremendous says I will show him

[18:39] Saul of Tarsus I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name and Ananias says well okay okay and he goes and he inquires on this street and by the way I've never been there but I've been told that for tourists you can still go to the street called straight and I guess one of the names one of the reasons it was given that name is because it's a main highway right through the city of Damascus and as I told you the city of Damascus is the oldest continually existing city in the world today Damascus Syria and they say that the house called that there on the straight street is still identifiable and I don't know if it's a tourist trap or if it's real or not but anyway he goes there and he finds him and he lays hands on and he prays for him and

[19:39] Saul has been blind as a bat for three days the man has been traumatized by this vision on the road and he's been arguing and I'm convinced that at the end of this three day and three night struggle where he neither ate nor drank he was and I characterize this just like a rider breaking a horse the horse is wild and it finally becomes exhausted and he just gives in to the guy that's on his back and he's all of a sudden he's a tame horse his spirit has been broken his will hasn't been broken his spirit has been broken that's what happened to Saul of Tarsus three days and three nights and he said as a result of that Ananias laid his hands on him he received his sight and Saul of Tarsus must have said something like this verbally to God okay

[20:41] God I'm your guy I'm your guy that was a broken man but he was put back together by the Lord and it's no coincidence that you read in the next few verses after that conversion he's in the synagogue there in Damascus and he is preaching Jesus was the Messiah and Israel was complicit in crucifying him I'm telling you the place must have been electrified because this was this was dynamite stuff in fact it got so bad that they put out a contract on him and they were going to kill him and they had people stationed at every exit gate of Damascus and whoever had the favor of being at the gate that

[21:42] Saul was leaving through and could kill him will all be indebted to you so they stationed sentries at all the gates waiting to waylay him and that's why the text says that they got wind of it and other believers there put Saul in this great big basket great big woven basket tied a rope to it and led him down over the wall in between the city gates so that he could escape and he did the next thing you know he shows up in Jerusalem and there there he's going to cause quite a stir too because this guy was the number one man for eliminating these believers in Jesus as the Messiah and guys keep in mind please keep in mind Christianity has nothing to do with this yet that's going to be later this is still all Jewish and the one single burning issue that consumed the law was was

[22:50] Jesus of Nazareth the one crucified on that cross was he the heaven sent Messiah to Israel or was he not that was the issue and by the way do you know what you probably know this but I'm going to refresh your pure minds by way of remembrance this is still the singular issue among all Jews today worldwide and the Jewish people as a whole have still not come to the conviction that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel and Israel was complicit in crucifying him they still don't believe that you know what they do believe is what Luke closes out his gospel with what they do believe is the story that went around back then because they had to explain the empty tomb some way how they going to explain the empty tomb and they came up with this his disciples came at night while the guards were sleeping and stole away the body and we don't know where he was really buried but he really was dead and he stayed dead too but the fly in the ointment there is if the guards were there how did he steal away the body how did the disciples steal away the body with four guards on duty because they did this around the clock had 16 guards that would rotate every six hours to be another set of four guards how in the world the disciples come in and roll back the stone and take the body out all the while you've got four Roman guards standing guard who supposedly were sleeping well that's going on and you're supposed to believe that but guys this is the official answer that remains to this day as to what happened to the body of Jesus and of course we believe he is not here he has risen well that's another subject let's get into chapter four okay they were speaking to the people priest the captain of the temple guard and the

[25:10] Sadducees came upon them now keep in mind these are all Jews these are Jews confronting Jews no Gentiles in this picture at all being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead and they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day for it was already evening but many of those who had heard the message believed and the number of the men came to be about five thousand now where do we get those all right you start out with about 120 remember the 120 in the upper room shortly before Pentecost came and they were there in the temple and Peter was preaching his message and it was an electrifying thing that's when the spirit of God came down and bridged the languages because all of these people there and there were thousands and thousands by the way guys out of all of the Jewish feasts that were kept in

[26:18] Israel the annual feast this was the biggest one of the whole year every year it was first the big it was the biggest one feast of Pentecost everybody that could make that possibly made it so they are here thousands of them and Peter is delivering his message and when he finishes with that message in Acts chapter 2 we are told there were 3,000 who believed the message and said okay so Peter what you say is true we believe that but what's done is done we can't undo it Jesus was crucified we can't change that what do we do now and Peter said you can repent that means reverse yourself means change your mind and guys our Roman Catholic friends have taken this word and done something with it that ought not to have been done and they have they have made repentance into penance and penance is something that you do acts you perform as a kind of payback for the sin death that you have so you say prayers and you you're baptized and you go to the church and you take communion and all of this and this is all penance but that's got nothing to do with repent the word repent metanoia in the Greek literally means meta is the word Greek word the

[27:52] English the English meaning is through or by way of and anointa is the word that is used for the mind in the Greek and what Peter is saying is you need to change your mind about what you need to change your mind from the position you previously held about Jesus of Nazareth wherein you believe he was not the Messiah he was not from God he was crucified but it was because he deserved it and the Romans were right in putting him to death that was the standard opinion and Peter says you've got to change your mind you've got to reverse yourself about that and come away from that belief to the conviction that Jesus really was who he said he was the son of God and you've got to put your faith and trust in him and three thousand did it must have been something and the text goes on and says and they were baptized and the baptism with which they were baptized was the only baptism anybody knew then it was the baptism of

[29:05] John this was John's baptism and three thousand now here what we've got in chapter five and chapter four and verse four the number of men came to be about five thousand and we don't know how many women there were because women women were not held in the esteem in that day that men were and all of the emphasis was placed on maleness not on femininity we know how that's going to change over the years but back then this was five thousand men and they're added the total was five thousand three thousand in Pentecost here's another two thousand and they're added to the hundred and twenty that started out in the upper room so we're told about in verse five came about the next day rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Israel and as the high priest was there this is the Jewish religious establishment this is the high priest of Judaism and we are told that

[30:08] Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all were of high priestly descent all Jews all Jews and when they placed them in the center they begin to inquire by what power or in what name have you done this because they've really stirred up a ruckus I mean this is this is something that is just circulating all throughout the area and Peter says and verse eight says Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers rulers and now I can just see Peter standing there getting everybody's attention rulers all you people elders of the people and then Peter by the way guys this Peter is the same Peter who two months earlier said to a young Jewish girl hey aren't you one of his disciples I don't know what you're talking about I never knew the man three times he denied the Lord wow now what explains the about face in the life of this man the resurrection and the truth of it and listen guys all Peter is doing and all Peter is saying is listen we know what we know and we cannot deny it we were there we handled him with our hands we heard him we saw him eat fish in front of us and offered us some and this was an amazing thing this is the same Peter filled with the

[31:55] Holy Spirit said if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man that's the man who was at the gate lame that the gate lame that they healed as to how this man has been made well let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified I think I can just see Peter's long bony finger pointing to that crowd he's saying whom you crucified my oh my by this man this man stands here before you in good health he's talking about that man that was born lame he is the stone which was rejected by you the builders and then in verse 12 he says there's salvation in no one else no other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved and as they observed this this is the religious hoi polloi these are the shakers and movers in the

[33:04] Judaism of that time and they observed the confidence of Peter and John guys nothing instills confidence in a speaker like knowing that he knows what he's talking about got that if you're on thin ice and you're not sure of your position you have every reason to be tentative but when you know and you know that you know and you know that your eyes are not deceiving you and you know what your hands have handled and you know what you've seen and all the rest of it nothing puts unction in your gumption like that and this guy is just so bold and so forthright that they are amazed it's the text says they began to recognize them as having been with Jesus and I told you before that's one of the greatest compliments that anyone could ever be paid that someone conducts their life in such a way that people can only say he must have been with

[34:19] Jesus because this is where he got it and seeing the man who had been healed standing with them they had nothing to say to reply why not well they couldn't they couldn't here's the evidence right there before them and this guy we're told was over 40 years old and he was born lame from his mother's womb had not walked a day in his life and now he's leaping and jumping up and down and shouting and everybody knows it you know why everybody knows because this guy was a recognizable feature there in the temple his relatives and friends would carry him there on a stretcher every day and deposit him there at that central place that called called the gate called beautiful right right outside to get where everybody had to come in and he had the flow of traffic this guy was a permanent fixture as a beggar and everybody knew him probably knew him on a first name basis and now here is this guy that had never walked a day in his life jumping up and down shouting and praising God and the people are eyebrows are raising and mouths are popping open and they're saying what is this what's going on here anyway well what's going on here is God is an action through the apostles and it was electrifying and this is seeing the man who had been healed standing with them I love this verse they had nothing to say in reply they couldn't they couldn't deny what was standing right there so they've got to come up with some kind of game plan what are they going to do we can listen this thing is getting out of control so what they do is they order Peter and the 12 you guys go over there such and such place when we're ready we'll call for you so they leave that scene and they go over to a separate place and here is the high priest meeting with his cohorts and they're scratching their heads and saying to each other what are we going to do how are we going to handle this everybody sees what's going on and the text says the fact that a noteworthy verse 16 the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it you know I get the impression that he is saying that with great regret that they would love to deny it but they can't and if they did deny it that would be that would make it even worse because everybody's looking at the evidence and these guys are saying what you were seeing he was saying don't don't believe what you're seeing your lying eyes let you astray wow so they can't do that so let's say they say it but here's what we can do here's here's the game plan guys this is the only thing we can do verse 17 in order that it may not spread any further among the people kind of cut this off right here stop this let us warn them to speak no more to any man in this name okay you can believe what you want to believe but you better shut up about it because you're not allowed to speak any more in this name and they call them back over they said all right all right you guys come back over here we got some orders for you and you got to remember guys in judaism there is no separation between church and state got that the church is the state and the state is the church and there's no separation now you've got rome involved politically as a conquering people and they've got their own politics but this has nothing to do with rome this is strictly a jewish thing and and the jews by the way the the hoi polloi here of israel doesn't want this thing to get out of control because if it does and the people start getting excited and rioting about this you know what that's going to do that's going to bring the roman hammer down and they're going to make us pay and that could be to our detriment so the fact we can't we cannot deny but in order that it may not spread any further among the people let us warn them speak no more in this name and when they had summoned them they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus got that you shut up we don't want to hear any more about this and Peter says whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God you be the judge we just know one thing we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard you expect us to be quiet about that and when they had threatened them further they let them go finding no basis on which they might punish them on account of the people all they've got this crowd looking on because they were all glorifying God for what had happened and how did these rulers and leaders of the people how did they regard the common people they're just a bunch of dummies they're uneducated they don't know anything they believe anything that comes down the pike we of course are the sophisticated ones we have the training and the background and the knowledge and all the rest of it and you can't expect these poor dumb people to think anything right you know so all they were doing was elevating themselves over that and here's what taking place is they've been placed under a ban of silence and Peter says we cannot obey that now guys here's where the civil disobedience thing comes in and I make an important distinction here because this is something we all need to understand as believers and that is they may require us to be silent the time may come I don't know if it'll be in this generation or next or 50 years from now but the time is coming when there will be an official pronouncement about the proclamation of the gospel it will just not be allowed that's all there is to it not be tolerated and just like it was here and the time is going to come when

[41:43] Christians are going to be silenced or attempted to be silent and the text says yes and what I think it is demonstrating here is you cannot help but speak of the things that you know and we are duty bound and conscience bound to proclaim the finished work of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world and and here's the here's the thing and if you want to arrest us for that or even charge us try us bring us to court put us in jail for doing that then you'll just have to do what you're going to do and the important distinction is here guys and this is very important is that there's no indication that Peter or the 12 are really ready to say put up your dukes we're going to fight you over this we're going to rebel and fight against the authority no they didn't do that they didn't even attempt to do that didn't even threaten to do that they said you want to beat us okay here's my back layer stripes on it put me in jail if that's what it takes there is a peaceful differentiation here they are not fighting back that's where this Christian thing comes in so the authorities wrong as they are are recognized by the recipients that they are the authorities and they did not have the right to fight against them so they were not going to and they're going to beat them they're going to put them in jail they're going to do everything they can to disenfranchise them and yet these apostles and these early believers are going to submit to the powers that be for as we saw in Romans 13 the powers that be are ordained of God and what this means is that there are a lot of people in positions of authority that are actually anti-God I mean you can you can start with Hitler because he's one of the more famous ones during our lifetime but history has been replete with all kinds of tyrants and bullies and and everything else idiomines and all the rest of it and the Christian response to that is not to take up arms and fight against it and I know I know this presents a sticky wicket because we got into this last time I don't remember this class or one of the other classes about the American Revolution and and I pointed out to you that there was an element in in the colonies there was an element consisted of about a third of the population that wanted to remain loyal to England and in submission to England and the crown and there were a third who were in favor of revolution like John Adams and Washington and Tom Jefferson and so on they were in favor of revolution but they only represented about a third of the people and then there was the third third who was ambivalent and simply took the position well we'll see whichever way this goes and we'll be on the side of whoever is the winner that was about a third of the people so it was by far removed from a unanimous thing to revolt against England and they did not have the majority matter of fact historical records bear out the truth that the sad truth that some of the American revolutionaries were so hostile to those who were loyal to the crown that they actually persecuted them burned down their homes and chased many of them out of the country and had to flee to

[46:05] Canada to save their life and they continued remain the rest of their lives in Canada so there's a lot of black and white in the revolution and there's a lot of gray too and we can't rewrite the history of the revolution but it wasn't all peaches and cream like a lot of people think and everybody was on the same side because they weren't there was a lot of division in fact it just rankled the American colonists so much that the British soldiers found a very recipient home and of all places Philadelphia are you kidding me I mean Philadelphia is supposed to be the major center of the new colonies and here is where the British troops fully uniformed of course by the thousands received hospitality and graciousness and kindness and generosity and everything else that went with it and you can imagine how that rankled John Adams and Sam Adams and the other guys so it's a very tumultuous time and all this is boiling down to is what is the Christian response to those placed in positions of authority when they make demands upon us that we be silent we simply have to say look I know what I know and I've been given a commission and a message to proclaim and I am duty bound to proclaim it and I recognize your authority but I am marching to the drum beat of another drummer and that is Jesus and I have to be first of all loyal to him so I will not be silent now if you insist on putting me in jail so that I can't speak anymore publicly then where's your handcuffs here I am and I will submit to your authority I don't agree with it but I'm not going to fight you there is the peaceful coexistence or resistance and by the way you need to understand that this didn't start with Martin Luther King either Martin Luther King jr. got his position and his philosophy from Mahatma Gandhi who in the late 1940s wanted to break away from England because India India was a colony was a colony of Great

[48:50] Britain and the crown was represented there and troops and everything else and they were subservient as a conquered people if you will to the crown and it was Mahatma Gandhi that began with his peaceful resistance and non-compliance that really ended up winning the day and it was Martin Luther King that pretty much patterned his philosophy after that but he also patterned it after the book of Acts and what took a place because you remember Martin Luther King I know he's very controversial figure some love him and some hate him but he was a he was a pastor he was a preacher and he took the biblical position and this is the same thing that we're preaching in the teaching right now it is the only biblical position that we will not be be silent we can't be silent but if you are going to threaten us and punish us for what we say we'll just have to take it because we're not going to fight you and that was the Christian position then and that's the Christian position now and I'm not finished but I'm quitting and questions or comments and anybody Joe what just one comment when you were talking about the Jews Peter told them to repent and be baptized it's very seldom brought out what that baptism represents why why baptized well it goes all the way back to Abraham Abraham said you will be priests you Jews will be priests to the Gentiles that was his plan then they were to be priests and in Deuteronomy priests had to be cleaned cleansed to be priests so get yourself ready to be a priest ready to be a priest he was telling the Jews he was telling the Jews he was hoping you know the priest was hoping that all the Jews would accept Christ get salvation and when you do you've got to get yourself set to be a priest to go to the Gentiles okay thank you Joe that goes all the way back goes all the way back to the Pentateuch the first five books of the Bible where the Lord told Moses the children of Israel there in the book of the in the book of Exodus and you shall be a kingdom a priest to be a kingdom of priests to be like Joe was saying and out of the 12 tribes of Israel there was one tribe that surfaced that was designated official priests anybody remember who they were yeah Levites they were the Levites in fact if you want if you want something to really put you to sleep at night if you have difficulty sleeping turn on your bed lamp and get into the book of Leviticus

[51:33] Leviticus and start reading Leviticus and I'll tell you it'll put you out pretty quick it's some of those boring stuff but by by the way guys it's still all part of the word of God and there was a time when those texts laborious though they are to us and detailed to us there was a time when they had a very practical meaning especially if you were a Levitical priest back in that day so he was going to use the whole nation of Israel to be priests or go-betweens for all the rest of the world and when Jesus presented himself as Israel's Messiah and as the king of the Jews he was offering to them then the establishment of that glorious kingdom that would result in giving them a message to take to all the rest of the world and the official answer of Israel was thanks but no thanks we don't want any part of it and of course they rejected that and they remain in that sphere of rejection today and the best commentary you'll get on that is in

[52:45] Romans 9, 10 and 11 Romans 9, 10 and 11 say guys we've been all over the map this morning but I just wanted you to get the impact of this because it's a subject matter that is going to become more and more in the forefront as time goes on and I cannot compete with breakfast and it is here now so anybody with a closing comment?

[53:06] okay thank you all for being here this morning and we will continue this next week next next next Tuesday will be my last one with you while I'm recuperating from the hip surgery unless unless I have knee surgery you know I thought about asking the surgeon I'm going to meet with the surgeon today I thought about asking him could you guys just do a team thing and one of you do my knee and the other does my hip at the same time but and I could tell them guys this is your opportunity to establish medical history but I don't think they would buy it anyhow we've got to see that that's going to enjoy your breakfast so