I'm calling them today to the
book of Acts. And it'll be Acts 13, and I'll
be reading 26 through 39. Acts 13, verses 26 through 39. Brothers, children of Abraham,
and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message
of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their
rulers did not recognize Jesus. Yet in condemning him, they fulfilled
the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though
they found no proper ground for death sentence, they asked Pilate
to have him executed. When they had carried out all
that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in the tomb. But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he was seen
by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.
They are now his witnesses to our people. We tell you the good
news. What God promised our fathers,
He has fulfilled for us their children by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second
Psalm, you are my son, today I have become your father. The
fact that God raised him from the dead never to decay is stated
in these words. I will give you the holy and
sure blessings promised to David. So it is stated elsewhere, you
will not let your holy ones see decay. For when David had served
God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. He was buried
with his fathers, and his body decayed. But the one whom God
raised from the dead did not see decay. Therefore, my brothers,
I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins
is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes
is justified. from everything you could not
be justified from by the law of Moses. Let's pray together. Our Father, we come to you, first
of all, asking that you'll be with us this morning. One of
your many promises, that where two or three gather in your name,
you'll be there. And we are so thankful for each
and every one of your promises, because for your people, your
promises are our hope. And the wonder that comes behind
the fact that every promise is a yes and is a guarantee in what
your Son, our Savior, has done. Every promise, even the one where
you promised to be here with us today. were Christ not resurrected,
there would be no reason for you to be here with us today.
There would be no one to save. But because of what Christ has
done, every promise you have given us is already fulfilled. And Lord, we thank you for that.
We thank you that none of it relies on us. that none of it
relies on the future in any way, any other circumstances, any
other variables. We thank you, God, that all of
your promises are already fulfilled in Christ. We ask that you'll bless our
time this morning. We ask that you'll do the same for all of
your churches. That your word reaches everyone and is meant
to reach this morning. And we know that is the case.
We pray this, Lord, with great thanks. And we pray it in Jesus'
name, amen. So I was, this all started, this
entire message started by listening to one of Joe's radio messages
where he actually started talking about dispensationalism, which
is not something I'm familiar with. I'm not studied in those
areas like a lot of people are. Certainly not like Joe was. Not
on Bernie's level. But it was interesting and I
really enjoyed it so I went back and I looked at some of his notes
on that and that's where this kind of began. So people love,
and this is our nature, people love to discover a mystery. People love to dive into mysteries
and feel like they are special in a way because they've figured
out something that others haven't. That's just our nature. We enjoy
that. We like to feel special, like
we're privy to special information. And that's just as true when
it comes to things in a spiritual sense or religious sense. People
love the idea of being able to get more out of this book than
somebody else. And it's not even untrue among
the people of God. Like God's people have the same
inclination. We're all human. We have that
same inert desire. That natural inclination is often
used by Satan to distract us from what's really important. To distract us from the true
simplicity that is found in the gospel of Christ. It is simple
and plain for a reason. Complicating it is a tool of
the devil. And this happens in many ways,
but this tendency tends to show itself more often in our desire
to know the future. We all want to know the future.
We think about it constantly. We are generally creatures that
are either thinking about the past or thinking about the future.
We're very seldom present. That's where anxiety comes from,
that's where worry comes from, that's thinking of the future,
wondering what the future has in store for us, what God's plan
is for our lives and beyond. So therefore, among professed
Christians, there's a significant emphasis placed on the prophetic
scriptures, prophecies, trying to figure out what God's plan
is. There are many famous preachers who have become famous and become
even more famous by saying they have some sort of special insight
into the scripture's prophetic messages. And that can go in
a lot of different directions. What they're claiming to know
isn't important, but they've claimed to learn something beyond
the average individual. That their study and their special
blessing, they have figured out what God has laid out in the
future. Constantly looking for clues
as to how God will fulfill his promises. As if there are some that are
yet to be fulfilled. There are a lot of different
theologies in the world. A lot, even in just Christianity. And a lot of them believe that
there are yet unfulfilled promises of God. And that's where Joe was talking
about dispensationalism. And I'm going by what his notes
are because he was by far the more schooled in understanding
when it comes to what dispensationalism is. And I'm not going to focus
a ton on it. I'm going to use dispensationalism as an example of what I'm talking
about here, where we tend to get caught up in things that
just simply don't matter. Joe had notes, again, on dispensationalism,
which is what he was actually raised in as a small child. This
theology, he says, is most widely known as its belief that there
is kind of a two-fold second coming of Christ. The first is
the rapture in which Christ comes back and takes back all of his
people. Takes them out of the world. And then next comes seven
years of tribulation followed by the second coming of Christ
to rule on an actual literal throne in the country of Jerusalem,
on David's throne in the literal country of Jerusalem. And he
would rule there in Jerusalem for a thousand years, and after
this millennium, then there would be the final judgment. So it's
really complex. I don't know where they come up with it. But
that's one of the keystones of dispensationalism. So what is
essential to this system of theology is the belief that there are
yet promises by God that are not fulfilled. It is said that
these promises will be fulfilled only in that millennium age when
the nation of Israel will be restored to its literal promised
land, like the real estate in the Middle East, and the Lord
Jesus, the Son of David, will sit on that literal throne in
Jerusalem. Until then, the promises of God
will not be fulfilled. That's what they believe. They're
waiting for their promises to be fulfilled. But if we look
at our text today, if you go back to Acts, stay in Acts here,
and just go to 13, 32 and 33, Paul is preaching to his synagogue in Cydia, and it's a statement
that he's making to Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, believers. that were present on that Sabbath
day, and it says, and we bring to you the good news, that's
the gospel, the gospel of Christ, that what God promised to the
fathers, that encompasses all promises, that he has already
fulfilled, that he has fulfilled, not will fulfill, he has fulfilled
to us, their children, by raising Christ, by raising Jesus. Paul
is speaking to a group of Jews here, his own people by blood,
and believing Gentiles, and he tells them that everything they
were to look for, everything they are to hope for, according to God's promises,
and there are many, everything has already been fulfilled
by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Paul reduced all the individual
promises made over the entire span of Jewish history to a single
promise, the promise made to the fathers. That's what he calls
it. And this single, all-encompassing promise was fulfilled completely
by the resurrection of Christ. What God promised to the fathers
This he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus. Paul repeats this concept. If
you'll turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter one, verse 20, which actually we all already
read. That's what I had Oliver read. Verse 20, it says, for
no matter how many promises God made, They are yes in Christ. Everyone, every promise he has
made to his people is a yes in Christ. And here in Acts, it
specifically talks about in the raising of Christ. Note that it does not say that
they are yeses in Christ, they are yes in Christ. It's a singular
yes because it was a singular promise, all of them. Every promise of God was a promise
of Christ. Even the patriarchs knew this. If you'll turn to Hebrews, Chapter
11, starting in verse eight, it says, by faith Abraham, when
called to go to a place, he would later receive as his inheritance,
obeyed and went. Even though he did not know where
he was going, by faith he made his home in the promised land.
Like a stranger in a foreign country, he lived in tents, as
did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him for the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose
architect and builder is God. Then in verse 13 it says, all
these people were still living by faith when they died. They
did not receive the things promised. They only saw them and welcomed
them from a distance. And they admitted that they were
aliens and strangers on earth. So they were in the land. They
were in the right land of promise but did not consider it home.
They were in the real estate that was promised to them, but
they had not received the full blessing of the promise. In fact,
for these faithful believers in God's promise, there was nowhere
on earth that would be home. And then it goes on in verse
14. It says, people who say such things show that they are looking
for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of
the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to
return. Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly
one. Therefore, God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
There it is, as plain as day. Not even Abraham thought that
promise of God was about land. It wasn't about real estate. And in the actual possession
of that real estate, he knew it was a spiritual blessing,
a spiritual promise. For an eventual city where the
architect is God, a true home for the soul of the believer
cannot be found here. Abraham saw Christ's day. It
says, your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day.
This is what Christ said. He saw it and was glad. So Abraham
saw Christ's day, said the Lord Jesus, and rejoiced in it. Abraham
was not looking for land in this world. Even if he had come into
possession of the land that God showed him, he would not have
been satisfied. He would not have considered
it the fulfillment of God's promise. There is only one fulfillment
to God's promises. It is Christ. All of this, it's not for the
purpose of speaking poorly or disproving dispensationalism.
It's just an example that the land over there is not the promise.
A lot of these promises, they all point to Christ. But what I am trying to point
out is that these can be distractions in a theological way. The harm
of dispensationalism or any other idea that takes away is not so
much where it leads us to believe, but what it distracts us from. Joe, in his notes that I was
looking at, talked about his home in 2002 that burnt down
just outside of town here. Many of you remember that. So
in 2002, there was a house fire. The entire thing couldn't be
fixed, so they tore it down and they built a new house. In between
tearing down the old one and the new one, someone came by
the empty lot, saw Bonnie outside and said, I never knew what a
beautiful view you had in your backyard. And it was, it was
a beautiful view. That beautiful view was always
there. But the house had obstructed
that view from everyone but us and our neighbors, said Joe.
Once the house was out of the way, everyone can see it. And
it's the same thing with many of these theological buildings
that we create. These theological structures,
these distractions. And a lot of times they're built
with this mistaken idea that they're actually going to enhance
the truth, when in a way all they do is obstruct the glory
of God's truth in Christ. So the overall message here.
is that every promise God has made is in Christ and was fulfilled
in the resurrection of Christ. None of what the believer looks
for and hopes for is in this world. None of it. There is nothing
here for us. Nothing that lasts. Nothing that
will last. Nothing of this world lasts.
The hope of a believer is simply not here. We look to a heavenly country,
an eternal place that we were made for, heavenly treasures,
it says, and a home in the presence of our actual Father and our
actual Savior. That is what we hope for. That is what we look for. Everything
else is a distraction. And there are many, and we're
easily distracted. but in the believer's soul, in
the believer's heart, our hope is not here. It is Christ and
our home with him. And it's a perfect hope because
it's already fulfilled. It's one of the promises that
are fulfilled already, has been fulfilled in the raising of Jesus. So let's look now at some of the Old Testament
promises and see how they were fulfilled in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. First, if you go all the way
back to Genesis, after Adam sinned and the entire human race fell,
God issued some curses and a promise. He promised that the seed of
the woman would crush the head of the serpent. That was a promise. We know the serpent was Satan.
Satan is the accuser of the brethren. I don't, I'm not gonna pretend to know
that I have all this depth of theological understanding, but
Satan's real. And he is the accuser of the
saints. And we've all experienced that. His hatred for Christ compels
him to trouble the people of Christ by first dragging them
into their sin and then accusing them over and over and over and
over and over in their heads. In front of God is what it makes
you feel. He's accusing me in front of
God. Look at what you've done. Look at who you are. That's the work of Satan, the
accuser of the brethren. Look at how far you've gone.
Grace can't be meant for you. Yes, it's free for God's people,
but that can't be you. Look at you. You're lost. That's the work of the devil.
It's not, hey everybody, become a Satanist or go sin as much
as you can. It's getting in that head of
yours and making you believe this can't possibly be for you. Because think about this, if
he can make just one of the Lord's people guilty under the law, he's won. If he can make any
of those people come under the Lord's condemnation for sin,
then he shall have won the victory. Because even if one Christ's
sheep can be lost, one of them than they all can. So that's his job. He's going
to fail and he knows it. But that's the work of the devil.
And the promise back in Genesis was the seed of the woman would
crush the serpent's head. Christ came into this world born
of a woman, the seed of a woman, and born under the very law that
Satan tries to drag us into a sense of condemnation with. He himself
was born under that law. And as one born under that law,
Christ came under its obligations, which he fulfilled perfectly. He earned all of those blessings
that are due to the righteous person. But instead of grasping those
blessings, he surrendered them and willfully
became a curse, willingly absorbing within himself
all that it means to be cursed by God, which we don't understand,
and God's people Never will. Another promise fulfilled. This came to the culmination of him absorbing within himself
all it means to be cursed by God. That came to its culmination
in the crucifixion. There the serpent raised up in
the hearts of wicked men and struck the heel of our Lord.
according to the word of the Lord given in the Garden of Eden.
But God raised him from the dead. And when Christ was raised from
the dead, he crushed the head of the serpent. Never again can
that wicked one touch the Lord or any of his people to bring
them into God's disfavor. Never again. Satan's kingdom is over. It is
overcome. Another example of a promise
of the Old Testament being fulfilled in Christ, a couple thousand
years later, God made this promise to Abraham in Genesis, said,
the Lord had said to Abram, go from your country, your people
and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will
make you a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name
great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you. And whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples
on the earth will be blessed through you. People have taken
these promises in a strictly literal way and think that God
has given natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
a special protection in the world. So much so that they believe
that any nation that stands against the actual nation of Israel will
come under God's curse. But it is not the Israel of Jacob
that is protected, it's the Israel of God. It is not all the descendants
that are protected, but the one seed, in particular, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul calls Christ the seed of
Abraham, and it is written in Galatians, the promises were
spoken to Abraham and his seed. He did not say, and to his seeds,
singularly and to your seed, which is simply Christ. The promises
of God to Abraham were not fulfilled in a large, prosperous nation
of Israel. That's obvious. They were fulfilled
in Christ when God raised him from the dead. When Christ died and rose again,
the Israel of God, God's church, God's people, was in him. They died and they rose again
with him. Christ rose in a new and spiritual
kingdom and the church, the Israel of God, rose with him. According
to the book of Hebrews in 2, 2.13, the Old Testament words
come from the mouth of Christ. It says, I and the children whom
you have given me. The innumerable seed of Abraham
is not his natural descendants, but his spiritual ones, all those
in Christ. For through Christ, it is we
who believe in him. That is the seed of Abraham.
It is we who actually possess the land, but the land is not
here. Third, another example of an
Old Testament promise fulfilled through Christ is in 2 Samuel,
God promised David that there would always be one of his descendants
on the throne of Israel. As Paul continued in Acts 13,
he showed that the promise to David was fulfilled in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Christ's resurrection was not
simply his coming out of the tomb. The word translated raised
up, can mean more than simply being raised from the dead. It
can include that he's being raised to the right hand of God to sit
on the throne and rule over all of creation for all of eternity. Where God will make his enemies
footstools for his feet. God has set his king on his holy
hill. Jesus Christ is enthroned right
now as the king over all of God's creation. This creation, the
old creation, all creation. The earth is our Lord's and everything
in it. He is the King who will never die. Therefore, He is able
to save to the uttermost them who come to Him, come to God
by Him, seeing He never, He always lives to intercede for them. So when he tells David there
will always be your seed on the throne, he wasn't saying there's
always going to be a relative of David on the throne of Israel.
He said your seed, Christ, will forever be on the throne. It can't be said any simpler. Christ will forever be on the
throne. And to the people of God, we
want it no other way. Christ, every promise fulfilled
in him. Like I said earlier when I was
praying, Christ promised to be with us when we gather in his
name. There would be no reason for
him to gather with us if it wasn't for Christ and his resurrection,
because that is what saved his people. Without that, we cannot
be saved. There would be no reason for
that promise to be here to be fulfilled. Every promise is fulfilled
in Christ and Him resurrected. Christ gave us the law and Christ fulfilled it perfectly. Christ earned every spiritual
blessing that is due to the righteous. But again, instead of grasping
those blessings, he surrendered them. In that first song we sang, maybe
it was the second song, no, the last verse of the first song,
he says, then he will own my worthless name. That's the hard part for a believer
to understand. We're so grateful for it, but
why would he want to own our worthless name? Because it's
truly worthless. He had earned every blessing
that his father can give. And instead of holding onto those,
he became a curse. for those with a worthless name. Every promise made to God's people
is because of that fact. Christ set aside all the glory
he deserved, which is every glory there is, and became a curse
for the most vile for the lowest of the low, the
vilest of humankind, for sinners that are truly nothing
other than sin. That's who the king of the world
set aside every blessing that he earned for. Brothers and sisters, there is
nothing else to look for besides Christ. All God's promises are yes in
him. Every promise of God is fulfilled
in his being raised to the throne of heaven. If your hope is in
him, that's where your hope sits. on the one at the right hand
of God who rules and delights in mercy for those
that deserve nothing of the sort. Every promise of God is fulfilled
in him being raised to the throne of heaven. And our only response
that we should give, and we should give it with glad and joyful
hearts, is in Ephesians one, verse three, praise be to God
and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. in Christ. And there are moments when that
hits harder than others. There are moments when I can
read scripture and just read scripture. And then there are moments where
it's the weight of that sentence. Praise be to God and the Father
of our Savior. who has blessed us in the heavenly
realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. I want that to be just imprinted
on my brain all the time. I have nothing else to add. I
have nothing else to say. Praise God. We who deserve nothing have received
every spiritual blessing afforded by God. How? Why? Our Savior Christ. We owe it all to him. Praise God. Dear Lord, we thank you It's hard to find words to thank
you enough. We thank you, Lord, for making
your plan so merciful and your will so glorious for us. The depths that our Savior had
to go, what he gave up, so that we could have everything that
he earned and everything that he deserved. It just doesn't make sense to
our human mind. But we are so grateful, Lord, that you've shown
us this truth, because without you showing us this truth, we
would reject it. It just doesn't fit in our hearts. But we thank you, Lord, for showing
us this truth and for making us believe it. And we pray, Lord, that we thank
you that all your promises are kept, all your promises are fulfilled.
Your beautiful promises that none of your people shall be
lost. Again, your promise fulfilled.
We thank you, Lord. We thank you, Christ. And we
pray this in your name, amen.