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[0:00] Before we actually engage the subject matter for the morning, I want to share with you a verse of Scripture that, as we were discussing in the 9 o'clock hour earlier, is the only verse I know of in the Bible that gives us the divine rationale for why God ever decided to create anything.

[0:24] The age-old question of theologians and philosophers has been this. Why is there something rather than nothing?

[0:36] Because apparently there was a time when there was nothing. There was someone, but that someone existed only as an individual being subsisting in three persons, God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[0:58] One God subsisting in three persons. But there was a time when there were no people and no angels and no planets and no stars and no universe and no anything.

[1:13] And yet, there was this being called deity, called God. And the only verse that I've been able to come up with as to why he was prompted to ever create anything is found in Revelation chapter 4, beginning with verse 10, where we read, The 24 elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.

[2:01] For, we could render that, because thou didst create all things, and because of thy will, they existed and were created.

[2:19] I think the King James renders it, and for thy good pleasure, they were created, which, of course, ties in with the idea that God was pleased to do so.

[2:35] And, sometimes we wonder, when we see so much violence and heartache and injustice going on in the world, why did God ever create this world in the first place?

[2:50] Didn't he see this coming? Well, yes, he did see it coming, because part of God's job description is to be omniscient, to know everything. And he knew full well when he created our first parents, and when he created angels.

[3:07] He was creating them with this thing called volition. That means he instilled within them the ability to obey him or to disobey him.

[3:20] He made them willful beings. And my understanding of that is because that is the only kind of being whose behavior is at all praiseworthy or at all negative.

[3:38] Had God made us without a will or a volition so that we couldn't do anything wrong, so that we couldn't kill each other, we couldn't injure each other, we weren't able to tell a lie, we weren't able to do anything contrary to God's holiness, then he would have made us mere puppets.

[3:58] We would just be programmed, if you will, to do exactly what he wanted done, and there would be no conflict of wills at all. But would an obedience like that be worth anything?

[4:13] Would love like that be worth anything? We take it that the value of love is that it is dispensed voluntarily, not out of necessity.

[4:26] And therein also lies the basis for reward or punishment, because it is wrapped up in our possessing this thing called volition.

[4:43] We have a will. God gave us a will. He knew full well that we were going to exercise our wills contrary to his will. He also knew that angels were going to do that, and they did.

[4:57] And built into that capacity for disobedience is also the divine provision for redemption. And as we pointed out, this is really what the Bible is all about.

[5:12] It is the drama, the story of redemption. John Milton, whom I quoted earlier, labeled this, as he wrote, I think, in the 1500s.

[5:24] He called it paradise that was in the beginning. It was paradise in the garden. And then with the fall in Genesis chapter 3, paradise was lost.

[5:38] It was forfeited. Adam was the supreme being over the earth.

[6:01] He was given dominion over the earth and everything concerning it. And when he rebelled against God, he lost his position.

[6:13] He forfeited that dominion. And in that fall, there was necessitated a need for recapturing what was lost. That's called redemption.

[6:25] And no sooner had the loss taken place in Genesis 3 and verse 15, But God provided a coming deliverer, the promise of a coming deliverer, who would restore all things.

[6:39] And this deliverer would actually be the seed of the woman. That is, a descendant, an offspring of the woman. But they were not told how far in the future that offspring would come.

[6:54] They did not know, at least so far as the text is concerned, but what it would be another few years, 20 years, 30 years. Had no idea that it would be 4,000 years.

[7:07] 4,000 years before this plan called God's redemption would really begin to take physical effect in the person of the one designated as the Redeemer when he was born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary.

[7:29] He became the personification of that redemption. He was going to accomplish in his righteousness and in his vicarious sacrifice, he was going to accomplish and undo what Adam had caused by his original disobedience and fall.

[7:49] This one called the Messiah, the anointed one. He was anointed by his Father. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

[8:01] And the anointed one means, the name literally means Messiah. We call him Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah.

[8:13] And this one had been promised to be the seed of the woman. But as I've said, they had no idea how far in the future this would be. Scarcely believing that it would be 4,000 years.

[8:26] But it was before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. So there is a particular class of people descended from Adam and Eve and coming down through Noah because with Noah and his family and his sons, all the rest of the population of the earth was destroyed in the great flood.

[8:49] It left just Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their three wives. And it would be through the line of Shem, as indicated in Genesis, through the line of Shem that this messianic line would continue.

[9:11] And as you follow the genealogy, as much as we are given, it comes all the way down through thousands of years and tends to focus on a man called David.

[9:25] He is of the tribe of Judah. You see, not only was it through the line of Shem, but through Shem's direct descendants and down into the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[9:39] And of Jacob, Jacob's 12 sons, one of those sons would produce a man by the name of Judah. And Judah would constitute the royal tribe.

[9:52] He is the head of the royal tribe. The son Levi will be the head of the priestly tribe. So God is focusing the promise of this Messiah through this one particular strain of people.

[10:05] We call them Hebrews or Jews. And not only was Judah a direct descendant of Jacob, of course, who was a direct descendant of Isaac, who was a direct descendant of Abraham, who was a direct descendant with several removed in between from the line of Shem.

[10:29] But it came down to David the king. And then a thousand years later, another direct descendant of David the king, of the tribe of Judah, Yeshua HaMashiach comes on the scene, Jesus the Messiah.

[10:46] And he is presented by John the Baptist as being the long-awaited one that God promised way back in Genesis, and he is finally here.

[10:59] Every generation of Jews from the time of Abraham on had looked for and longed for the coming of the Messiah. All they could think about is when the Messiah comes, when the Messiah comes, he's going to be God's Superman.

[11:14] He's going to fix what's wrong with this earth. He's going to repair it. He's going to redeem the world. He's going to be God's fix-it man. He's going to reverse the curse.

[11:25] He's going to bring in peace and happiness, and nations will learn of war no more. They'll beat their spears into pruning hooks, and their swords into plowshares, and the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth, and it will be wonderful.

[11:39] This concept is called the kingdom of heaven. It is what the Jew looked for, and longed for, and prayed for, and pined for, and lived for.

[11:52] The coming of the kingdom of heaven. Because when that happens, when that prayer is answered, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven, and everything is going to be made right.

[12:12] And who's going to do that? Who's going to head that up? The Messiah. The Messiah. And when he comes, he's going to fix everything.

[12:24] And then, a strange man by the name of John the Baptist arrived on the scene.

[12:35] He, too, was the child of miraculous conception. Because his father was Zacharias, and he was way past the age.

[12:46] And his mother was Elizabeth, and she had long since past the childbearing age. She knew it was utterly impossible for her to have a baby.

[12:57] Never considered the thought at all. But the angel appeared to Zacharias and told him that he was going to be the father of a child, and you're going to name him John.

[13:08] And your son John is going to prepare the way and announce the arrival of the Messiah. And when he comes, he will do what God has anointed him to do.

[13:25] Shortly into John the Baptist's ministry, he looked up and saw his second cousin by the name of Jesus, son of Mary, supposed to be the son of Joseph the carpenter, but we know better.

[13:43] And here he comes down the road toward John. John is out there baptizing people. Why is he baptizing people? The only Jews who were baptized before were those who were going to be baptized into the priesthood.

[13:58] And when they were 30 years of age, they were baptized into the Levitical priesthood. You had to, of course, be of the tribe of Levi to be a priest.

[14:10] Jesus wasn't of the tribe of Levi. He was of the tribe of Judah. Technically, he wouldn't be qualified to be a priest, but his priesthood was after the order of Melchizedek, a singular order, a special kind of order, completely removed from the tribe of Levi.

[14:28] So Jesus is going to be not only a prophet, but a priest and a king. He's going to occupy all three offices and be the only person ever to have done so.

[14:43] So, when he saw Jesus coming down the road, he announced to all those people who were there, and we don't know how many there were, but there was a significant number there, and he was baptizing them.

[14:55] And the reason John was baptizing, there's no indication that he was saying, now, you are, of course, 30 years of age, and you are of the tribe of Levi, right?

[15:06] There's no indication that he ever asked them that. He was baptizing all of these Jews who came. Well, why was he doing that? If only those who were of the priestly tribe were to be baptized at 30 years of age when they entered the priesthood, why was John baptizing everybody?

[15:23] Because in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 7, God promised the Israelites that they would be a nation of priests.

[15:35] The whole nation of Israel is going to be priests. Just as the tribe of Levi served as the priestly tribe for all the 11 other tribes of Israel, God is going to institute the nation of Israel to be a priest of nations, a nation of priests for all the rest of the world.

[16:01] All of the Gentiles. Everybody else. And they are to be a light to the Gentiles. So, John, in fulfillment of that promise, John was preaching this get-ready message, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[16:16] This is it, folks. God is beginning to do his thing. And Jesus was introduced as that long-awaited one, the Messiah.

[16:31] Those whom he called to be his apostles were thoroughly convinced that's exactly who he was. And Peter made that stellar confession in Matthew 16 when Jesus asked them, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?

[16:51] And Peter made that profession, you are the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God. Wow!

[17:05] And Jesus didn't say, oh, well, now, you're kind of stretching it a little bit there. Let's not get carried away. I know in your enthusiasm you would like me to be the Messiah, but I'm not making that claim.

[17:18] Nonsense. He made it full well and he said to Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood is not revealed that unto thee but my father. And I say unto you that you are Peter, upon this rock, this confession that you have made, identifying me as the Messiah, I will build my church, I will build my assembly, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

[17:44] And I will give unto thee the keys to the kingdom of heaven. I don't think Peter had any idea what that meant. But keys represented authority.

[17:54] It meant the ability to gain entrance to something, to open up something, or to lock up something in either case. That authority was given to Peter.

[18:07] So John went on with his message preaching and proclaiming to the Israelites. And by the way, there is no indication, none whatever, that there are any Gentiles involved in this.

[18:20] John isn't baptizing Egyptians and Babylonians and Syrians. These are Jews. They are the only people to whom that kingdom promise meant anything.

[18:33] They were the only ones to whom the promise was given. They were the only ones who even understood what it was all about. This was completely foreign territory to all of the nations surrounding them. They knew nothing about this.

[18:45] All they knew was that the Jew was a really strange person because they only had one God. That was really different. They all worshipped several idols and pagan deities.

[19:00] And the Jew was distinguished for his monotheism. One God. And it was the Jew who had this fixation on the Messiah.

[19:11] The Messiah. The Messiah. When the Messiah comes. Now, he has arrived. He is on the scene. The twelve have identified him.

[19:21] They've signed on with him. People have asked him, if you are the Messiah, what sign do you show us? He gave them signs aplenty. He performed miracles. He did things that no ordinary human being could do.

[19:37] utterly impossible. He put his fingers on the eyelids of a blind man and he opened his eyes. And he spat on the ground and made spittle of the clay and rubbed it on another man's eyes and gave him sight.

[19:57] He opened the ears of the deaf. He cast demons out. He raised Lazarus from the dead. What more proof do you need? What more do you want? And when they continue to ask him for signs, finally, he came to the place where he said, if the signs that have been done in you already had been done in Tyre and Sidon, those were Gentile territories.

[20:31] They would have repented long ago, people. But you haven't. And the repentance to which these people were called is the same as to which repentance calls us today.

[20:42] It is this. You are wrong in your position. You are wrong and you need to reverse yourself. You need to change your mind because of the evidence given you and you need to act on that evidence.

[20:54] So John preached to his countrymen, repent. Repent of your sin and be baptized. Submit yourselves to what was called John's baptism for the repentance of sins, remission of sins and repentance.

[21:12] And we don't know how many came but there must have been thousands. And no, we don't know what mode he used or how exactly he went about it physically, but we do know that there were many, many who were baptized of John, but.

[21:27] But. the people who held all the cards, the people who were the shakers and movers, rejected John and rejected Jesus.

[21:43] And we are told that the scribes and Pharisees and the chief priests rejected the counsel of God against themselves, not being baptized of John.

[21:59] they rejected John. And they were probably glad when Herod executed him, cut off his head. Well, that's the end of him.

[22:09] Just one more nuisance out of the way. But there's still this fellow called Jesus and a bunch of people think that he really is the Messiah. But of course we know he isn't.

[22:20] We know that he's an imposter. We know that he's just phony, that he is not the Messiah. After all, he doesn't come from the right place. You know where Jesus is from?

[22:32] He's from Galilee, for crying out loud. Can you believe that? Galilee of the Gentiles? Nazareth? One of his own apostles, upon meeting him, when he hears that Jesus is from Nazareth, Philip is going to say, are you kidding me?

[22:49] You're telling me the Messiah is coming from Nazareth? Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? That's on the wrong side of the tracks. Can't be. Messiah has to be born in a palace in Jerusalem.

[23:02] Well, we know he was born where he was supposed to be born, because five hundred years earlier, the prophet Micah said, but thou Bethlehem, Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, who is to be ruler of all, from everlasting to everlasting.

[23:23] Five hundred years before he was born. And then he was born, of all places, in a little town called the city of David. Well, why not?

[23:35] The city of David. Kingly city. The word Bethlehem means house of bread. That's why Jesus is called the bread of life.

[23:50] So, everything focused upon the identity of this person. John preached one thing. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What he meant was this.

[24:01] Listen, listen folks. Talking to Israel, you people, repent of your sin, and submit yourself to my baptism, which will introduce you to this priesthood of which God is speaking back in Exodus 19, and we will prepare ourselves to meet this Messiah, and to welcome him.

[24:22] John preached a get-ready message. It's going to happen, folks. The kingdom is right around the corner. We are right on the threshold of it.

[24:34] And here is the king. That was John's message. That's the message that Jesus is going to preach, continuing right after John when he is executed.

[24:49] commanded. And we read in Matthew 10 that he calls the twelve and he tells them that they are not to go to the Gentiles.

[25:01] Don't go to the Samaritans. Why not? Because the kingdom of heaven is for the Jew. It is for the nation of Israel, specifically.

[25:12] And when they embrace it as a nation, and they get on board with it, then it will go to the other nations. But it's got to start here.

[25:23] Because of the promise God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Israel has to be the spearhead nation. That's the message he told them to preach.

[25:35] Go, go forth, two by two, go throughout all the land, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and preach unto them the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of heaven coming to earth.

[25:51] It's right around the corner. And the only thing that is waiting is for the nation, not just a handful of disciples, but for the nation to embrace Jesus as their Messiah.

[26:13] Next thing you know, they're not embracing him. It's a big piece of wood called a cross that is embracing him.

[26:30] And yet, though nobody knew it, though nobody understood it, not even the twelve understood it, they didn't have a clue.

[26:41] I don't think anybody understood it except Jesus himself. They had no idea that when he was hanging upon that cross, he was in that act and in that death.

[26:58] He was right then and there purchasing, buying with his own flesh and blood, buying the right to establish that kingdom.

[27:12] Because on that cross, he was dealing with the cancellation of the sin that had been imposed by Adam. kingdom. That gave the apostles the right to actually offer that kingdom.

[27:29] It has been bought and paid for by the Messiah. That was Peter's message. That's why he preached what he did on the day of Pentecost.

[27:41] And that's why he told them, you by wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. And they said, you know what? What this man is saying fits.

[27:56] It's true. That's the way this thing played out. God, how could we have been so blind? How could we have missed it? We waited and waited and waited for the Messiah to come and when he came, we crucified him.

[28:10] We killed him. Men and brethren, what are we going to do? They were scared witless. Peter was telling them, the one whom you crucified, the one whom you handed over to Pilate to be crucified, he has been raised from the dead.

[28:32] Now, what kind of fear do you think that put in their hearts and minds? Thinking, we are the ones who were in the crowd shouting out, crucify him, crucify him.

[28:43] We have no king but Caesar. Crucify him. And now he's alive? What are we going to do? Peter said, you can start by repenting.

[29:02] You acknowledge. You admit. You own up to it. You were wrong. You blew it. Big time.

[29:13] You blew it. Are you man enough to admit that? And if you are, then you be baptized with John's baptism, just like he was baptizing with, that you refused earlier.

[29:31] You show the genuineness of your repentance. You get on board with the program. You be baptized with the baptism of John. And three thousand were.

[29:44] We don't know how many there were there, but three thousand were baptized. And Peter is going to continue that same message in chapter three, following that day of Pentecost.

[30:00] He's going to preach essentially the same thing. And he's going to say two things. Two things need to happen before the kingdom of heaven can come to earth and God will fix everything.

[30:12] And those two things are, the Messiah has to die for the sins of the world, to remove the curse. And God was in Christ reconciling the world into himself.

[30:29] And, Israel needs to embrace Jesus as the Messiah. Messiah. Now, Peter says, brethren, let me tell you something. God has already done his part.

[30:44] Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. God has fulfilled his part of the deal. Now it's your turn to fulfill your part.

[30:57] You, as a nation, must get behind this, and you must embrace the one whom you earlier rejected. And shortly thereafter, Peter's message.

[31:12] You read where the chief authorities, the priests, the high priests, and so on, come upon the apostles, start manhandling them, arresting them, putting them in jail, and the rejection is going to continue.

[31:29] The persecution will intensify, and the nation of Israel never did get on board. And I'm telling you all of this to illustrate to you and hope to contribute to your understanding of this was the plan and program for the kingdom of heaven coming to earth.

[31:52] earth. This was exclusively Jewish. This was only for the chosen people of Israel. And once that nation, once that nation of Israel got on board and enthusiastically endorsed Jesus as their Messiah, then the message would go from Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth.

[32:18] It will go everywhere. everywhere. But it never got off the ground in Jerusalem. Out of the thousands who came to faith in Jesus as the Messiah, there were far greater numbers that never did that still haven't.

[32:39] This message and this offer of the kingdom continued to be preached. The twelve apostles were preaching this message everywhere they went, throughout all Jerusalem.

[32:51] They were trying desperately to win Jerusalem. And they weren't going to leave Jerusalem for other regions until they had successfully brought Jerusalem in line.

[33:04] It never happened. It never happened. Jerusalem was never receptive as a whole. Of course, there were thousands who did believe, but there were no doubt tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands that did not believe throughout Israel.

[33:21] So what happened? Peter continued to preach this message. The twelve continued to preach this message. And for the first ten chapters of the book of Acts, for about the first ten years, after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, you've got nothing but an exclusively Jewish situation where appeals are still being made by the twelve to convert Jerusalem without success.

[33:54] We start reading in chapter four and five, they're arrested, they're put in jail, they're persecuted, and the persecution intensifies. This isn't an embracing of Jesus, it's an intensification of the rejection of Jesus, even after the resurrection, even after his being alive on earth for nearly six weeks, after his crucifixion, and being seen by Peter, by the twelve, and Paul says, oh yes, there were over five hundred who saw him all at one time.

[34:36] And by the way, most of them are still alive today. you can go check with them. And the rejection continued. Finally, God calls on his number one man.

[34:56] His name is Peter. He's the spokesman of the twelve. So many times we read where Jesus did things, Mount of Transfiguration, who was there?

[35:12] Peter, James, and John. We don't know where the other nine were, but they weren't there. They didn't see him transfigured. Peter, James, and John. Other instances, no one was in on it, but Peter, James, and John.

[35:27] I call them the big three. And of the big three, there was the big one. That was the big fisherman. That was Peter. Peter. And Peter gets this strange, strange command from God to go to a Gentile.

[35:42] Are you kidding me? A Gentile? A Roman army officer? A Gentile? The sheet let down from heaven, didn't want to go, refused, I've never eaten anything unclean, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[35:55] And God said, what God has cleansed that you call not unclean. And what that refers to is God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, he redeemed the entirety of humanity.

[36:15] God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. As in Adam, all die. in Christ all are made alive.

[36:27] This gives you a gospel to preach and you can preach and proclaim to people that the barrier that stood between God and man has been removed.

[36:38] That's the sin barrier. And you are now free to come to God through Jesus Christ who gave himself for you. We beseech you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God.

[36:54] because Jesus has made the way open. You can come now. You don't have to be a Jew. You just have to be a human being who is willing to admit and acknowledge your sin and that Jesus died for it.

[37:10] Will you do that? That was the message. Peter, going to this Gentile, is using his key. he is opening a way of access to non-Jews.

[37:27] Unthinkable. So for the first ten years, we've got nothing but Jewish, Jewish, Jewish, Jewish, Jewish. Now, there's one little old lone Gentile on the scene by the name of Cornelius and he is raising eyebrows all over the place.

[37:48] Raising eyebrows among whom? Raising eyebrows among the Jews. This man's a Gentile. Peter, we heard that you went in and actually ate with the Gentile.

[37:59] We don't believe it, so tell us it isn't true, Peter. Well, actually, it is true. I did do that, but it was this sheet let down. And they were just dumbfounded. They said, what is this?

[38:11] Are you telling us then that God is also granted salvation, repentance to Gentiles?

[38:22] Man, we thought that was just for Jews. Yeshua, this is the God of Israel. And Peter is in effect saying, no, no, no. He's the God of the planet.

[38:35] He's the God of the universe. He's everyone's God. God. And Peter is confused.

[38:46] Peter is saying, this isn't the program that Jesus gave. He told us, don't go to the Samaritans, don't go to the Gentiles, confine yourself to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[39:00] Well, Cornelius isn't that. He doesn't qualify. What am I doing going to him? But I didn't know what I was doing. I did this voice that I had to go. What did you want me to do?

[39:11] Tell God he couldn't do that? And Peter is as perplexed as anybody. He doesn't understand what God is doing. This kingdom thing, where is it?

[39:27] Well, it's still in limbo. It's still hanging there. Kingdom certainly hadn't come. God done his part. God had done his part through the Messiah dying.

[39:38] Now it's up to Israel to do their part by embracing this Messiah that they did not do and that they still have not done. So this whole thing called the kingdom of heaven coming to earth with the Messiah to bring it has never been realized.

[40:00] It has never come to earth. It most assuredly will. But it hasn't. And in case you're under some illusion this is not it.

[40:17] This is not nations learning war no more. This is not peace prevailing over the earth. This is not men beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

[40:29] no no this isn't it. This is an ugly fallen world filled with injustice and violence and death and disease and everything that goes with it.

[40:46] Kingdom of heaven has never come to earth even though it is and it will. now we've got injected into this situation something so radically different so upsetting and so confusing it just threw the whole Mediterranean world into a tizzy and you know something they never have gotten over still haven't to this day God has taken the whole concept of the kingdom of heaven and all of its promises and all of its eventual fulfillment and has put it on hold isn't there isn't going to be one it's that it isn't time yet what's lacking same thing that was lacking back in the book of acts Israel getting on board that is still lacking and while the kingdom is set aside

[41:53] God is going to do something that is so radical so different so out of the ordinary it was just mind blowing to the people who were involved with it and it's called a whole new program all together radically different and it's called the church which is the spiritual body of Christ what what is that what that is is a message that is directed to not just the Jew as the kingdom of heaven coming to earth it is a message that is addressed to everybody Jew and Gentile and the message is if you as a Jew or a

[42:54] Gentile if you will acknowledge your sin and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ crucified buried risen again ascended to be on high with his father you will put your trust and confidence in him God will take you the spirit of God will take you spiritually and baptize you not in water but baptize you into this spiritual body of Christ and you will become one with him in union with him in an entirely separate different thing altogether and it's called the church which is his body and it ushered in a whole new thing called the administration or the dispensation the dispensing of the giving out of the grace of

[43:59] God so that by simply believing on the Lord Jesus Christ you are justified from all things by which you could not be justified through the law of Moses he would say to the Jew and to the Gentile he would say you put your faith and trust in this Jewish Messiah as your Savior and as your sin bearer and God will place you in union with Christ so that you will become one with him and you are complete in him who is going to preach that message it will not be Peter Peter was a kingdom guy Peter was right where he was supposed to be for what he was supposed to be for but now this is a whole new thing altogether and it requires a new personality with new talents and different gifts on board and his name is going to be the last guy in the world that you would think would be appointed to a job like that because this guy has devoted his life to stamping out people who were

[45:16] Jews who believed in Jesus to be the Messiah got to eliminate these people there are cancer growing on his name is Saul of Tarsus and God says I'm going to raise this man up and I'm going to make him present his message in synagogues all over to Jews and to Gentiles alike and the startling thing about this new thing called the body of Christ is that it isn't just Jewish and it isn't just Gentile it is Jew and Gentile together in one body on the same plane equal so that they constitute a whole new thing and I'm going to call it the mystery and it's called the mystery because nobody ever dreamed this up the mystery is a word that means a secret it means something that no one could have figured out or would have even tried to figure out because it was so far removed from everybody's thinking that it just never would have occurred to them it is a term that is used in connection with only those who are initiated can understand it you have to have the key or the clue you know it's kind of like some of these secret lodges and secret groups that exist they have a secret handshake and a secret password and nobody knows what that is unless you are one of the initiated then you know you are on the inside that's what this secret was and

[46:55] Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 3 that this thing hidden in God from eternity past but was never before made known until now to the sons of men and it is through the rejection of Israel that this whole new thing has been birthed called the church which is the body of Christ what does that mean what do you mean body of Christ it is a spiritual body and that almost sounds like a contradiction in terms because we think of a body as being physical but this body of Christ is not physical and it's not the physical body of Christ but it is an organism or a unit that is comprised of all believers everywhere and anywhere in the world regardless of their background their color their language their ethnicity or whatever if they have placed their faith in Jesus

[48:00] Christ as their savior they are members of that body and Christ is the spiritual head this is a whole new thing and what I am telling you and trying to explain that is so critical is that we have got a development of doctrine here that if you miss it you will not be able to make sense of the New Testament you'll only have one contradiction after another and here is where the big mistake comes in so many people preachers included sorry to say so many people try to take the principles of the kingdom of heaven which were intended for the Jew and the spiritual truths of the body of Christ and marry them you can't do that they won't mix they're like oil and water they are completely different entities they have different different people involved they have a different objective everything about them is different this is something that nobody would have ever dreamed of but it was in the mind of God from eternity past and he used this man called

[49:10] Saul of Tarsus whom he saved on the road to Damascus who became Paul the apostle and Paul says it was to me that the revelation of this mystery was given I didn't know it any more than anyone else but God revealed it to me and that's what I'm preaching to you so we've got a progression of doctrine we've got a transition and it is found in the book of Acts so that this is doctrine on the move and where are we now we are in the church age this is called the dispensation of grace and this is why we don't see an abundance of miracles like we saw under the dispensation anticipation of the kingdom of heaven where Jesus used miracles to authenticate his messiahship well he's done that he's gone now he's coming again but this isn't the age this is the age where the emphasis is not on physicality it's on spirituality and the promise that

[50:16] God has given to us is not earthly it's heavenly we are already blessed with heavenly places in Christ Jesus what were the promises to Israel the kingdom earthly physical material ours are different we are a different people a different time a different destiny everything is different don't try to mix them they won't mix would you pray with me father throughout throughout the ministry of John and Jesus and the twelve proclaiming the kingdom of heaven is at hand up to and including the ministry of the apostle Paul which makes no kingdom demands at all but simply says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in both of those we see a need for repentance a need for acknowledging of our sin and a need for embracing you as the one who has dealt with our sin and our prayer today for each of these dear folks who are here is that every one of them may already have experienced that newness of life the forgiveness of sins having been placed into the body of Christ by the spirit of

[51:47] God simply on the basis of your grace and their having believed on Jesus maybe everyone here has experienced that but dear friend if you are here man or woman boy or girl and maybe you've never understood things before but you've got an inkling now of what's involved what God is doing why is there something rather than nothing the plan of redemption and how you fit in God wants you to know that he loves you very very much and to demonstrate his love for you he sent his own son to do for you what you could never do for yourself and all God wants from you is acknowledge admit own up to your sin your flaws your imperfections admit to God that you cannot save yourself that's why

[52:49] Jesus died and as best as you know how right now you want to commit yourself to the person of Jesus Christ who gave himself for you would you do that would you mean business with God right here and now nobody's asking you to raise your hand or walk an aisle I'm just asking you to be honest with yourself and honest with God are you willing to admit you are just like us a flawed failing human being and you don't measure up to God's standards are you willing to admit that and are you willing to say Jesus died for my sin and I want him as my savior and make that your decision right now dear friend you will never ever ever regret it be the most important thing you've ever done in your entire life our prayer is that God may enable you to see that need and that you respond to it even now say Lord

[53:54]  Jesus there's a whole lot about this stuff that I don't understand but I know I'm a sinner and I know Jesus is a savior and I want his salvation thank you Lord Jesus for being for me what was really needed my sacrifice for sin I trust you as my own thank you for it all in Christ's name amen amen