So we're in Acts chapter 3 and
last week we were working through the whole concept of restitution
as we have it over in verse 21 where the Apostle Peter, encouraging
the Jews after having indicted them for crucifying the Savior,
the incontrovertible evidence is in, they cannot deny it, they
are under now compulsion to to reckon with this great judgment. And before they fall apart, Peter
calls upon them, in verse 19, to repent and be converted that
your sins may be blotted out. When the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord, we talked about
the blessed refreshing of the gospel and the salvation of our
souls. And then he spoke about sending
Jesus Christ. And we understood that as the
sending of Christ through the gospel. Men and women come to
know Christ personally through the preaching of the word and
by the power of his spirit every believer hears the voice of Christ
by the spirit through the preaching of the gospel that is a personal
salvation call my sheep hear my voice and they follow me this
is a radical introduction of the second person by the third
person at the behest of the first person that brings us to a saving
knowledge of our great God and King and then Peter started speaking
to the fact that heaven must acknowledge the crown rights
of Jesus Christ. That's verse 21. And if you have
our PowerPoint, can you pull that up? If our PowerPoint is
there, the first point there, let's see, the promise of Abraham
fulfilled in Christ to Israel. He sends Christ how we dealt
with that point number two. Restitution is what we were dealing
with last week. We're going to build from there.
We, uh, we raised the question, what is restitution? And you
can see that the term means to fully restore and beyond. And I wrote it down on the board
last week, two prepositions, Apple and Kata. And we dealt
with those prepositions and the root verb there. Stasis means
to stand, to stand, to stand. And I shared with you last week
that we, as Christians, must understand the significance of
standing. Standing is a very significant
concept in the scriptures because our natural state, our natural
disposition in our fallen state is not standing, but fallen. We are all fallen by nature. Not only are we fallen, we are
dead. That is our condition prior to
experiencing the grace of God. We are dead. Not only dead, fallen. Fallen means that we have violated
God's law and have been separated from God. And now without the
life of God, we are spiritually dead. The men or the women that
comes into a saving knowledge of God is first of all, raised
from the dead. Raised from the dead and made
to stand. made to stand. That's what the
idea of resurrection is. Anastasis is the Greek term for
the resurrection. Stasis being our root word. Ana
being a preposition which literally means again. And so resurrection
simply means to stand what? Again. To stand again. And it implies that we have stood
at one point in time. And we were standing in Adam
before he fell. God made him upright. He was
righteous. He was flawless, but he was not
impeccable. Very important distinction between
Adam one in the last Adam. He was flawless in that he was
made righteous without sin, but he was culpable. He wasn't impeccable.
He wasn't immutable. And so Adam and Eve obviously
sinned, and when they sinned, their whole posterity sinned
with them. So everything that comes out of the womb of the
natural man is sinful by nature, and we are spiritually dead.
When you and I are introduced in a way of saving grace by the
power of God, the first thing you experience is a resurrection
in your soul. You are raised from the dead,
John chapter 5, Verse 24, 25, Jesus said, no, 26 through 28,
Jesus said, the hour is coming when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall what? Live. And the idea is being raised
from the dead. And the great graphic picture
of that is Ezekiel chapter 37, verses one through 10, where
the prophet was told by God to speak to these dry bones that
they may live. And when we look at the picture,
the vivid description of their response by the power of God
is that they stood upon their feet. They didn't do anything. They simply stood because the
standing denotes a posture of life. It denotes not only a posture
of life, but a posture of dignity. because in our fallen state,
we become like the animals. We are bowed down, we are groveling
at the ground. And so Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
around chapter eight or so, all that men might know his estate,
that he is no different than a beast so long as he is separated
from God. And this is what we see in our
culture today, don't we? That not only are we acting like
animals, but that we are advocating an equality of animals to us. And we are working towards the
kind of egalitarianism that makes us and the animals on an equal
part. In fact, in some places, we have
more sympathy for the animals than we do for human beings,
do we not? And what all this is, is an indication
of our spiritual depravity. When man who was made as the
highest creature in the universe Depicts himself as only being
on a par with animals apes and donkeys and dogs and cats and
even the smallest minutest creature of which whole agencies will
blockade Large land masses to protect that animal and yet they
won't go into the slums and the ghetto neighborhoods to save
eternity bound souls and And what we have done is turn things
upside down. And we have said to the potter,
you don't know what you're doing. We're going to have to take over
because after all, there's a worm in that jungle or an owl in that
jungle or butterfly in that jungle that if we don't save, he's going
to go into extinction. And what a ludicrous assumption
to be made on the part of finite mankind for to assert that, you
know for sure that that thing is going to be extinct means
that you have omniscience. Isn't that radical? Lord, we've
searched the world over and we've only seen 500 butterflies like
this. Well, you have only seen 500
butterfly. God has multitudes of those very
kinds of butterflies in hidden places all over the world. And
whenever he wants to, he could have them to emerge and populate
the land like a plague to demonstrate that we don't know anything.
Our problem is not saving butterflies. Our problem is saving our own
souls from the wrath of God. God knows how to take care of
his creation. But the idea of standing is critical in the scriptures.
And the idea of being under restitution, verse 21, apokatastasis, means
to be fully restored and beyond. And I use that last part, and
beyond, because sometimes we make the faulty assumption that
salvation is simply being restored to the first Adamic state. And that would be a fallacy.
It would actually, it would actually imply a deficiency in our understanding
of theology. I won't be on, I won't take this
as an aside too much, but you and I are not trying to get back
to Adam one. We are not trying to get back
to Adam one. In fact, I don't want to go backwards.
I want to go forwards. I am headed towards the last
Adam, the second man from heaven, who is infinitely far more superb
than the first Adam. We are not trying to get back
to that antitype because in the antitype was a provision for
sin. Are you guys understanding what
I'm saying? The death of Christ would also be impugned if we
were simply trying to get back to Adam one, because if we're
simply getting back to Adam one, with the possibility of sinning
again, then what good was Christ's death? All it did was replace
us back into that probational period wherein over time someone
would mess up and we'd be in this predicament all over again.
But the atonement of Jesus Christ perfects forever everyone who
trusts in him because of the one who made the atonement. The
last man from heaven was truly perfect. And when we are raised
from the dead, we are positionally perfect. And the unfolding of
that perfection is the restitution process that you and I are undergoing
as true believers. So there were four hours that
I talked about on Sunday under restitution. The first of which
was restoration. You guys remember that? Restoration. In fact, that's where we were
in Matthew chapter 11. Verse 17, if you can pull that
up and pull it back, where the disciples were really struggling
with what is the nature and character of the restoration process. And
this is going to infringe upon our study tonight, but I do want
to lay this foundation as a premise. If you and I have a flawed idea
of what God is doing to restore us, as I have just argued, that
we're not going back to Eden, oh, we're going towards the new
heavens and the new earth, where things are going to be glorified,
not simply purged and made like they were before. But in Matthew
chapter 11, verse 17, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to the work
of John the Baptist, if you recall that, Jesus says truly John Shall
restore all things or Elijah will restore all things and we
were able to make the connection Were we not between? Elijah in
the Old Testament and John the Baptist in the New Testament
where Jesus said that he was That he was I think it's John
Matthew 17 Matthew 17 11 and here's what Jesus saying to the
people that were asking the question Verse 10, the disciples, his
disciples asked him, Sam, why then say the scribes that Elias
must first come? And Jesus answered and said to
them, Elias truly shall first come and do what? Restore all
things. So restoration becomes a very
important idea for Israel and it should be also for you and
me. We should understand that we
are in a process of restoration. that we are not perfected yet,
that we are on a journey towards that perfection, but we do want
to understand the characteristic of it. So what Jesus says was,
but I say unto you that Elias is already come, and they knew
him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they have desired,
likewise shall also the son of man suffer. So what happened
to Elias? He was killed. Who was Elias? What text explicitly
affirms that? The Gospel of Luke, chapter one,
verse 17. So just go there just so you can have it for your understanding. This, too, infringes upon biblical
hermeneutics. For those who have an aversion
to allegory and have an aversion to spiritual interpretations
of scripture, Jesus used them frequently, and so did the apostle
Paul, as well as Peter, and the book of Revelation is filled
with it. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, This is what the angel
said to Zacharias concerning his son, John the Baptist. And
I'm going to start at verse 15 for he shall be great in the
sight of the Lord. Who was the, he John the Baptist
and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. This is a,
a consecration that John the Baptist was engaged in like a
Nazarite Bob vow. And he shall be filled with the
Holy ghost, even from his mother's what? That's right. And so cognition
is not a prerequisite for the reception of the Holy Ghost.
Did you guys get that? Cognition is not a prerequisite
for the reception of the Holy Spirit. He was filled with the
Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, meaning that the Holy Spirit
is not bound by your ascentia before he enters in and begins
working in your life. Your ascentia, that is your ascent,
is merely an evidence that the Holy Ghost is there and that
you welcome him. But his presence is a sovereign
prerogative of choice. Y'all got that? A sovereign prerogative
of choice. Now here's what it goes on further
to say. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his
mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall be turned
unto the Lord, their God." See verse 16? That is part of the
restoration in the days of Jesus and John the Baptist. Quite remarkable. Quite remarkable. Because if
we were to take our time and deal with the significance of
soteriology or the doctrine of salvation, I really do want to
get to the blessing tonight, and I will. but quite remarkable. And I think that every student
of the word of God should, should really drink deeply of these
reflections. What, what does it mean for God
to restore us? And what is it that needs to
be restored? I think that that reflection
is critical on our part, because when you read the text, what
John was doing was changing the hearts parents towards children
and children towards parents which means for God the family
structure is a critical component to his glory being advanced in
all of the world that why would God go about saving people and
leaving families broken you understand the implications of that question
why would God go about saving this person in that person and
this person and that person and leave families broken. How would
that be a restoration of sorts? If restoration is recovering
and restoring that which is now marred and broken and distorted
from its original design, aren't we going to go back to some semblance
of the previous and original design? Of course we are. So
for you and me, The restoration process and the restitution process
under which you and I are now going by the work of the spirit
of God would mean that in my mind, if before my conversion,
before my salvation, I had no regard for the family, when once
I was converted, my regard for family would rise exponentially
because I'm learning to think God's thoughts after him. If
before my conversion, I was so driven by my own existential
autonomous agenda, which is perfectly fine because in my unsafe state,
it's all about me. And you and I know that we have
tore up a million things, doing it all by ourselves and all for
ourselves. But upon conversion, God is now
going to have me to value what he values. And whereas I may
have been so selfish that I spent little or no time regarding the
welfare of the youth or the welfare of my own children or the welfare
of families in general, when once I am converted, I have now
a level of God consciousness that causes me to regard the
importance of healthy families, especially according to this
text. And there's another verse here
that we have to look at. The critical restoration process
is circumscribed around the fathers to the children, according to
the original Malachi text. Malachi chapter 4 says he will
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children
to the fathers. Luke says, and many of the children
of Israel shall be turned to the what? Lord their God. What
does Luke do? He starts with the vertical relationship
first. and says that it begins to impact
the horizontal relationship. You guys got that? That until
there is a real reconnection between the unsaved person or
unsaved family member or unsaved husband or unsaved wife, where
brokenness is everywhere, until that vertical relationship is
established, we're not gonna see any success in the restoration
of the families. So we read again in verse 17.
and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of what?
There's your text. Explicit, isn't it? Who is this
talking about? John the Baptist. He's taking
on the alias of Elias, the spirit and power of Elias. Now watch
this. To turn the hearts of the what? Fathers to the what? Now
the fathers are going to be fathers for we are not fathers if our
hearts are not given to the children. Now you can be a sperm donor
But you're not a father until your hearts are committed to
the downline you guys understand that and that's part of restoration
This is why I know so many men who after conversion start to
enter into crisis around their children They become extremely
concerned about their relationship with their children. Because
they... See, when you get saved, here's what happens. You now
have the lights cut on and you get to look back at all the stuff
you messed up. And you ask the question, what
of all this can be fixed? What can I do about some of this?
You know what that's called? Restitution. Remember Zacchaeus,
when God called him and saved him, this day salvation is coming
to your house. And on their way to the house,
Zacchaeus was saying to the Lord, Lord, you know what I do. When
I get my money, I give it back to people. I make sure everybody
is equally taken care of or equitably taken care of in terms of taxes.
He's letting the Lord know that God was working on his heart
all along so that he wasn't part of that crowd that was so oppressive
in Taxation that he had no heart for them. God was working on
Zacchaeus Zacchaeus was glad to say these are the fruits and
evidences of the grace of God in my life for a tax collector.
That's remarkable Isn't that right? Wouldn't we all want? saved tax collectors Okay. So now here's what he says, and
he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And here it
is. And the disobedient to the wisdom of the just in order to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Now we can carry
that old Testament promise that started to be fulfilled in the
days of John the Baptist in Christ and bring it to where we are
today for you and our call to that same restoration process.
Do you believe that? you and I are called to that
same restoration process. And we're not talking the literal
restoration of trying to fix things that are inextricably
broken, but we are talking about the concept of trying to restore
that which is God's original design. That's really the battle
that we are fighting. In fact, on a theological level,
go back with me now to Acts chapter three, so we can begin to go
further into our text. On a worldview level, as I was
saying to our ladies in biblical theology last night, Our present world manufactures
forms of expressions, lifestyles, if you will, worldviews, modes
of operation, modus operandi. Our present world manufactures,
like a conveyor belt in a factory, different worldviews every time
you turn around, so that we have hundreds and hundreds of lifestyle
expressions out there, cultural lifestyle expressions. We have
multiple, multiple Worldviews of which people are embracing
and and everybody is adopting one or the other and these are
kind of idolatrous schemes, right? We've been talking about this
that people adopt and put on In order to avoid the reality
that they are in a crisis that they don't know God And and the
Christian church's objective is to be able to reach those
people, isn't it? How do you reach a world that
is constantly manufacturing new ideologies and new worldviews
and new expressions? Because they're like mass producing
like eggs, dividing up a hundred times over. You look up a new
idea, a new this, a new that, a new that. And that's all strategically
set forth by the enemy. And it requires on the part of
the people of God the kind of diligence to know what the scriptures
say about humanities constantly seeking for all of these idle
expressions in order to effectively reach them. And you and I have
to know the core of people's lives. We have to also know the
core of human existence, how God made us. We have to actually
believe that. Like I was reading a wonderful
commentary today about, again, the whole a whole homosexual
movement by a very profound scholar of which I had never read his
observation about it because it's, you know, by virtue of
the way the media works over time, and the devil knows this
too, over time, if society hears a view constantly and unendingly
and pervasively, society begins to adopt that view because society
is not grounded in absolutes. And even believers start falling
prey to embracing those views because believers are not anchored
in absolutes. I'm here to tell you, this is
true. This is why you know so many believers, as I said before,
who are, they're caught, sure, they're saved, but they're not
sure the Bible is the word of God. Do you understand how broad
a disconnect that is? And so you and I might laugh
about that, but this is actually a serious problem that's systemic
in the church. And it's because we have not
landed on the core of who we are in God and what God has designed
originally so that we don't have the conviction of what's right.
Do you know that when you know what's right, you don't waste
time contemplating whether it's right or not? Do you know that? Do you know no one can move you,
even if it's the whole world, when you are very sure of what's
right? And when you are sure of what's
right, you are not only emboldened to stand on what's right, but
to rest in what's right. Do you understand what that means,
child of God, when you are clear on what's right and resting in
what's right? It means you are strong. and
what's right, because your energies are not dissipated by aimless
battles over that thing which is right. Am I making some sense? And see, the church's job was
to stand on God's side and let the whole world know, hey, God's
right. And we're not going to waste
time debating whether God is right. We're just going to let
you know God is right. And, uh, and that would make
an impact in the culture because there would be a people who would
be standing for truth, both firmly and soundly. And that would be
a bridge for people who are in those worldviews as a facade
and a scheme, not even really knowing their own core is what
we're talking about in evangelism. And so you guys are getting a
little piece of that. Now, if you are going to be effective
at reaching people for Christ, you have to know who's you are. and who you are and what he has
stated immutably and unchangeably so that you can not only stand
on that truth but rest in that truth when you engage people
around that truth. And so these are the things that
constitute our restitution in the text says, whom the heavens
must receive until the times of restitution of what? All things. Wow. All things. Again, I'm tempted to stay here
because if we're contemplating the process of restoration and
restitution, what does that look like in the present state of
things in our world? I mean, from our perspective,
empirically considering we've got a long way to go before everything
is restored. Is that true? And if we were
to stay on the doctrine of soteriology in the context of sanctification
on a larger sociological level, we certainly got work to do as
a church if we're going to be the vehicle by which a significant
restoration process will take place in terms of God calling
his people out of darkness into his marvelous light, right? Now,
you know, I'm not saying by the restitution of all things that
everything that's made is going to be restored. But I am saying
that there is a lengthy process that is implied in the salvation
plan of God that requires an understanding of the comprehensive
nature of the gospel that will serve as a model and witness
for God in the salvation of sinners that will take place. And when
God has finished that process, all that is to be restored. will
have been restored. Am I making some sense? I think
also inclusive of that are some real significant eschatological
considerations too, but we won't go any further into that. What
Peter is saying in our text that will move us to two other thoughts
that are critical is that you can know that Christ is going
to stay on his throne. And interestingly enough, for
Peter, this message is preached probably no more than a year
after Christ ascended to heaven. But we're reading about it 2,000
years later, aren't we? So Christ has been in heaven
for 2,000 years. And according to that text, he's
restoring, isn't he? And in his mercy, he got a hold
of you and me, didn't he? Because this is what God has
been doing for the last 2,000 years. And I don't know about
you, but God doesn't operate out of haste. Did you know that? So God's not in a hurry, is he?
Because God operates on a time schedule that is consistent with
his nature, right? And God by nature is eternal,
isn't he? So God's never in a hurry, is he? But now you know what
that means? That's a test for you and me.
Because suppose God's timetable includes another 10,000 years. You know what that means? A whole
lot of our assumptions about how close we are to the end and
what's getting ready to happen and all that kind of stuff simply
falls back into the same category of our brothers and sisters for
the last 10 centuries or rather 20 centuries. Cause you know,
every century people rise up. I swear we getting close to the
end. I can see the antichrist right around the corner. I hear
it's orange. I smell that unclean spirit. By the way, you can't smell an
unclean spirit. Our pagan Christian brothers talk like they can,
but you can't. The point is this, that we start binding God to
our own narrow, limited chronology and fail to understand that he
doesn't operate on the same time frame. Am I making some sense?
I know I could go over into other areas and they would be problematic
for us because we really see where our world is going in terms
of biogenetics and all kinds of technology that really is
going to shape the world in a different way if we hold on. The morphing,
the external morphing of the facade of humanity is going to
go through radical changes over the next 20, 30, 40 years without
a doubt and we have to ask the question. no matter how radical
the external changes are of man, no matter how successful technology
becomes in terms of being able to manufacture body parts and
create, you know, the kind of technology where we can actually
mix human body parts with mechanical parts and give create mechanical
hearts and mechanical lungs and mechanical livers and kidneys
and even portions of the brain will have computer chips in them
because it will be practically possible to do that. And then
the doors open up for all kinds of implications with that kind
of human hybrid. Now, we know that these things
are on the verge of possibility. Do you guys know that? And so
what we have to do is start considering not only the implications of
that kind of hybrid culture makeup, but how does the gospel fit into
that? The gospel has to fit into it
somewhere, right? I'm simply saying, there are
people whose synapses start to blow and their fuses start to
go in their brains when we start talking about the scientific
probabilities of the near future. They don't want to go there.
Well, you know, it would be great if the Lord Jesus came back today,
right? But for us to say that is for us to be selfish All right
See the see the tension we have to hold between What we see and
what we want Do you see the tension? I? Think about this too. Maybe
I'm getting pastoral here. I'll get to my next point, but
I remember when God saved me I was 18, 19 years old at that
time. And I really thought the world
was bad. I mean, I really, when, when
God opened my eyes, I looked at the world and I thought it
was, I mean, the middle seventies, I thought the world was mess. And listen, the idea of getting
a 2000, no way we're going to make it to 2000. We were already
in the cold war. Some of my old saints know what
I'm talking about. We were already in the Cold War and our leaders
were, they were mad dogs, bloodthirsty. And we were every day shaking
in our boots at the possibility of major destruction of humanity,
weren't we? And like one of my sisters was
saying, you know, the idea of teaching us in school, how to
get up under the desk and fold our legs, you know, in case of
a nuclear bomb, you know, like somehow that's going, Ease the
blow, you know. I was a bunch of psychological
babble if I ever heard any. And yet, because my wife was
a student up at Lawrence Livermore Lab, I had to sit in weekly and
listen to the professors and the scientists talking about
the very serious possibility of nuclear exchange between us
and Russia. many times there were close calls
of which nobody in America ever really knew. And so these things
were really true and they gripped my heart when I was 19 years
old, 20 years old, and was just wondering, how does this kind
of imminent danger play into the scope and scheme of the gospel? You know what God taught me over
the years? As Matthew chapter 24 said, now this is going to
help some of you new Christians. There shall be wars. Watch this. And there shall be rumors of
wars. And the vast majority of my years
have been both wars and rumors. And you know what our master
told us? Do not be concerned with those things. How gracious
a shepherd he is. How gracious a shepherd he is
to tell us, let the pagan worry about that. I'm on the throne.
I'll govern all that. I still want you to do my will.
And it's been 37 years for me. And I'll tell you, if I had fallen
prey to that propaganda, I'd never be doing God's will. And
so you and I have to be very careful to keep all that stuff
in proportion. What's the point? Christ is on his throne. Christ
is running this universe, Christ is restoring all things, and
when he's done, he's coming back. The Lord goes on to say, which
God has spoken by the mouth of all of his holy prophets since
the world began, verse 22, for Moses truly said unto the fathers,
a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, up your
brethren, like unto me, Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever
he shall say unto you. Our PowerPoint moves us to the
next point. Christ, the new and true lawgiver. Christ, the new and true lawgiver. You guys see that? Implication. You don't have that in your outline,
but it's up there. It's on the PowerPoint. You guys see it, right? That's
why we have a PowerPoint. See that? Good. There we go. What's the point? The point is
that now Peter is going to introduce to the Jewish people the very
clear and explicit position of Christ as being the new Moses. And for them, this would resonate
because what it would say to them is, we actually don't have
an option not to listen to this man. More than that, Peter has
a passage, a point of passage to affirm that in Deuteronomy
chapter 18, verse 15, right? Prophet shall the Lord your God
raise up from among his brethren like unto me Him shall you hear
in all things and in fact back in the Deuteronomy text It says
and if you do not hear him, he will destroy you Are you guys
following me? So what this does is it actually
places they're hearing Peter's gospel on a very level a very
serious level in fact Judgment Day serious level That they don't
have the option not to listen to Jesus Because Jesus becomes
the new lawgiver prophesied by Moses Confirmed by the father
did the father confirmed Jesus as the one that we should listen
to in Matthew chapter 17 verse 5 This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased what hear ye him. It's an imperative that
And for Israel, that means that he is your Messiah. You must
listen to him. And if you don't, you will perish.
Now, you guys know that the model of the book of Acts for us is
a model of Israel being under probation right now, aren't they?
They're under the probation of the gospel. And if they don't
hear the gospel, they will perish. And what Peter is doing is strengthening
his gospel message by letting them know you can you can consider
Jesus as the new Moses. In the same way Moses brought
the children of Israel out of Egypt to bring them into the
promised land, and they were under the exclusive authority
of Moses, so we in this New Testament church are under the exclusive
authority of Jesus Christ, who is not only a new Moses, but
a greater Moses. And he was preached by the apostles. Romans 10, verses 8 through 13
simply tells us that we are to hear him, who is going to be
preached, even Jesus Christ. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the word of God, and that Jesus Christ is the Lord to whom
all must bow. We must admit that he is Lord.
We must confess him with our mouth. We must believe in our
heart that God raised him from the dead. To reject the clear
testimony of the scriptures is to set ourselves in a position
for eternal judgment. And so we read in 1 Corinthians
1 as well, the Bible is very clear, 1st Corinthians 2 verse
2 rather that's Corinthians 118 but 1st Corinthians 2 verse 2
the Apostle Paul says we preach Christ in him crucified and nothing
else so the gospel becomes both an offer or an option or a path
of salvation as well as a a Stern warning of judgment for those
who reject it. That's the insertion of what
Peter is saying here and then he goes on to say In verses 23
and following, we've got three verses left that we want to work
with. He says, and it shall come to pass that every soul which
will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.
You see that? That's part of the preaching we don't hear today,
do we? Jesus will destroy you. But do you know what Paul said
in 2 Thessalonians 1 around verse 8? He shall come in flaming fire,
taking vengeance upon all them that know not God and obey not
the gospel. And they shall be destroyed from
the presence of the Lord. Eternal destruction shall be
upon them. That's the Jesus that's coming
back. Isn't that an amazing depiction of this one that we laud as the
epitome of love and kindness and gentleness? When he comes
back, he's going to destroy two kinds of people. People that
don't know God, And live like it and act like it and people
who have rejected the gospel and some theologians say that's
two sides of the same coin and probably so So men and women
are under serious indictment who hear the gospel and reject
the gospel When christ comes back a second time for his elect
is going to be without sin unto salvation We're looking for him
coming back to actually usher us into the final stage of our
covenant blessings But for the world, it will be a fearful day
when christ comes back And in a sense as we are dealing with
the microcosm of the jewish apostles sharing the gospel with their
jewish constituents in the book of acts and the People of Israel
are going to be under a probation of the hearing of the gospel
for 37 years until AD 70. You and I, on a larger scale,
are doing the same thing with the world today. The church today,
as the prophet of God, is telling the world, you're going to face
judgment. If you don't bow to Christ now,
you will perish. That's really what we're saying
if we're being authentic, if we're being faithful to the word.
So let's go on to our next. These last two verses, are very
interesting, and it's what we want to close with tonight, work
through tonight. You are the children of the prophets
and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying
unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the
earth be what? Verse 26. Unto you first, God,
having raised up Jesus, his son Jesus, sent him to bless you
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Now,
if we're insensitive, we do not realize that what Peter has just
done under inspiration of the Holy Ghost is giving us a clear
explanation of the blessing of Abraham. If we're insensitive,
So going back to our PowerPoint, because this is the last one,
next PowerPoint. This is the area I want us to
work through right now. The promise of Abraham through
Christ to Israel first. The promise to Abraham through
Christ to Israel first. That's the way I'm setting it
up because I want you to understand The way Peter is going to introduce
to the children of Israel this promise that God made to Abraham. He first starts in verse 25 by
saying, you are the children of the what? The prophets. Pastor, what does that mean?
You've heard. You've heard. You are not ignorant. The role of the prophets from
the beginning of time to the end of time was to preach and
to declare the coming of the just one, Jesus Christ. You are
the children of the prophets. You are the ones who were privileged
first to hear the gospel. You are the ones who have received
the revelation of God by the angels through to the prophets
and you have had the word of God for these now 1500 years. You are the children of the prophets.
Now, what Peter is doing, he's saying that you out of all the
people of the earth cannot. You can't call yourselves ignorant
of the revelation of God. You guys have had the testimony,
you've had the law, you've had the prophets, you've had all
the Old Testament writings, you've had witness upon witness upon
witness upon witness of what God was up to. You are the children
of the what? Prophets. You are the children
of the prophets. And so you are culpable to whom
much is given. What? And so this is clearly
the case that Peter is asserting. Then he says, and of the what
covenant, which God made with our fathers, that brings him
to, um, that brings him back, go to our PowerPoint and you
can just stay on the PowerPoint that brings him back to explaining
that the nature of the gospel is a covenant issue. And I know
probably for some of you that are new at grace, when you hear
us using this phraseology, covenant, covenant, covenant, covenant,
theology, covenant, this covenant, that, and it may almost sound
like we're saying it too much. We are not. Here's what we are
stating that God never acts arbitrarily. that God does not function in
a ad hoc fashion just kind of because he's God he can do whatever
he wants to do. That the God of the Bible has
always functioned within a framework of covenant. That he operates
contingent upon negotiation of terms that are ratified between
at least two parties with the objective of other persons being
blessed thereby. This is the nature wherein God
works. But what Peter is doing now is
anchoring the present reality. And the present reality where
Peter is, is that these Jewish brethren are seeing the rising
up of a whole new movement which has at its head the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they're trying to reconcile
this movement of Christ, this dynamic of Christ, the salvation
of sinners coming to Christ. Remember now we are at about
3,500, 4,000, maybe even more people who have
moved from Judaism to a full or Christianity in Israel up
to this point. So there's being noised abroad
in the temple and in synagogues and from house to house, the
movement of the gospel. Are you guys hearing me? It would,
For Israel, they are experiencing a strange conflation of the old
and the new. And everywhere they turn, they
are running across an apostle preaching Christ and Him crucified.
And here's what Peter is saying. Your Bible talked about this.
You are the children of the prophets. And this is part of the covenant
promise that God made. Now, what this does is it causes
us to begin to embark upon the nature of that promise. The promise of Abraham through
Christ to Israel first, the promise of Abraham through whom? Christ
to Israel first. Turning your Bibles to Galatians
3 verse 16 and 17 before we go to the Old Testament. So now
in the book of Acts, Peter is talking, but in Galatians 3,
Paul will be taking up the theological mantle and explaining this same
covenant issue to the Jewish brethren in Galatia and to the
Gentile brothers there too, explaining to them the real negotiating
factors around the covenant of which Israel was all wrapped
up in. They were wrapped up in the covenant too. They were looking
for the covenant blessings. This is the way Mary talked.
This is the way Elizabeth talked. In fact, in Luke chapter one,
Mary is talking about, you have shown mercy to Israel and you
have fulfilled your covenant purposes to us. she understood
that being centrally in Jesus Christ. Let me start at verse
15 and then I'm going to go through verse 17 and I want you to hear
how Paul treats this and this will be an affirmation of what
we have constantly stated at grace that the covenant that
God has established throughout all of human history have as
its central focus and figure the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren,
I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's what?
Yet if it be confirmed, no man disannuls or adds to it. If the
covenant is established, if it's ratified, you can't disannul
it or add to it because it's a covenant. Look at verse 16. Now to Abraham and his what? And here becomes the dual language
that requires a disciplined mind for you to be able to understand
the terminology. For the word seed, most of the
time by most people, both in the old Jewish state, as well
as in the Christian church, the word seed often is interpreted
as the children of Abraham, the physical lineage of Abraham,
the physical seed of Abraham. And when once we take up that
assumption, we're going to read into texts of scripture conclusions
that will only correspond to our assumption. And so here's
what Paul has to do right here, because he understands the fallacy
of what's going on in the church at Galatia. In the church at
Galatia, the Jewish Christians are still holding on to legalism. They're still holding on to circumcision. They're still holding on to keeping
the law. They're still holding on to their
old Jewish identity Are you hearing me? And here's what they're saying
You Chris you Gentiles can be Christians, but first you have
to come through the door of Judaism Because the promise was given
to us Are you hearing me? Now you can be Christians, but
you can't get to Jesus until you come through Moses and This
is why Paul radically said in chapter 5, ye who are trusting
in the law, you have totally fallen from grace. So I want
to treat this in our study tonight so that if there's any of you
still falling prey to naturally defaulting to the term seed,
applying to the physical nation of Israel, you can now begin
to divest yourself of that flawed interpretation because it doesn't
correspond with the gospel scheme. Am I making some sense? So here's
what the apostle says in verse 16. Now to Abraham and to his
seed were the what promises made. Now this is Paul talking. Paul is a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He's a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He's the highest order of Jewish
law there is. He was taught by the best of
them. Gamaliel, a very famous conservative
theologian of that first century era. Hyper conservative. He would be in the camp that
I'm in today. Because you had liberals and
you had conservatives back in that day too. The conservative
is the smaller group who were far more tenacious to and committed
to sound exegesis of the scriptures so the Apostle Paul came from
that ilk and here's what he says now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made he says not and to siege as a what do you
understand what kind of argument he's getting ready to get into
right here He's right now, he's establishing a radical distinction
between the plurality of consensus on the part of the nation and
the exclusivity of the singularity of Jesus Christ. There's a plurality
consensus. And this is a default mechanism
we all fall prey to. You know what that is? If a whole
lot of people believe it, it must be true. If a whole lot
of people are doing it, it must be right. If a whole lot of people
are doing it for long periods of time, it must be okay. Now,
let me back up and state that carefully so that you can embrace
this principle of discernment that's critical. Just because
everybody's doing it doesn't make it right. And just because
everyone's doing it for a long period of time doesn't mean it's
okay. See, what God said in Psalm 50
is true. Now, just because I keep silent, you think I'm all together
just like you. Did you get that? See, so what
we do is we get up to the line of transgression and we look
back to see if God's looking. And then we kick the can a little
bit. I'm telling the truth. We kick
the can. And we step back and we just
wait a little while and we see if God's going to do anything.
And then when God doesn't do anything, we scratch our head
and we ease on up again. And we kick the can a little
further down the line. And we step on over. We're over
into the transgression now. We're a little conscious. We're
not haughty. We're not proud. But what we're
doing is we are interpreting the favor and approval of God
by actions or non-actions. when that becomes a trading of
the explicit prohibition of the command for providential evidences
of God's approval or disapproval. Did you guys understand what
I just said? The Bible will clearly tell us don't do a thing and
then we'll go do it. And when once the earth don't
open up and swallow us up whole, we start rationalizing whether
it's okay or not. And then we look around to see
if other people are doing it. And if other people are doing
it, then it becomes okay for us to do because we are now operating
out of a consensus mode rather than out of obedience to the
scriptures. And God had already taught Israel
in the wilderness, you shall not follow a multitude to do
evil. Just because everybody else doing
it doesn't make it right. Am I making some sense? And so
what the apostle Paul is doing in the book of Galatians is he's
challenging his Jewish brethren on the fallacious thinking that
the Bible is about them instead of about Christ. And we're getting
ready to get into the source of the blessing that God had
given to Abraham back in Genesis 12. And I'm going to develop
that so that you and I can be clear and divest ourselves of
a false notion that is prevalent today around the notion that
God will bless you if you bless Abraham. God will bless us if
we bless the nation of Israel. You guys hear that all the time.
If you bless Israel, God will bless you. There's no biblical
basis for that. You're getting ready to see that
now. This is part of the stuff that I've been saying for years,
that if we buy into certain assumptions without testing them, we buy
it hook, line and sinker and we go down the river with it.
So first and foremost, the promises made according to Pauline theology,
and he was under inspiration of the Holy Ghost, was between
Abraham and Jesus. Did you guys get that? The promises
made are between Abraham and Jesus. Abraham to Jesus. This is why last night, ladies,
I had you guys in biblical theology raising the question, how many
generations from Adam to Noah? How many? And then I said, how
many generations from Noah to Abraham? And then I said, how
many generations from Abraham to Jesus? 42 generations, right? How many generations from Adam
to Jesus? 62. And I told you that genealogies
for God were critical and that the end point was not the nation
of Israel. The end point was Jesus. The
end point was not the nation of Israel. The end point was
Jesus. This is why Matthew's gospel
gives us a clean-cut Hebrew triad of 14 times 14 times 14 or 14
plus 14 plus 14 leading from Abraham to Jesus. Because Jesus
is the son of Abraham in the larger redemptive scope of what
we're dealing with. So naturally the question would
be raised is, then where in comes the nation? Where in comes the
nation where we can say the physical seed? Right? Is that a good question? What's the purpose of the physical
seed? And what is the answer? Conduit. Vehicle. It corresponds to the Genesis
1, 26 and 27. Let them be fruitful, let them multiply, let them replenish
the earth. My goal, says God, is to reduplicate
my image in men and women who would believe my word, starting
with Adam. But everyone wouldn't believe.
Some would. The line from Adam to Noah is
a godly line, including Seth. including the children of Noah
and from Noah all the way to Abraham is a godly line of Shemites. Now they weren't godly because
they were the mere physical seed. You guys know that, right? But
they were godly because God had chosen these patriarchs who believed
the gospel and these individual patriarchs were, they became
parameters and boundaries where in the blessing resided under
the patriarchal system. Remember the four manifestations?
The patriarchal system, the theocratic system, and then the ecclesiastical
system, and finally the state of glorification, right? In the
Old Testament system, the gospel passed from Adam to Seth, to
Noah, to Shem, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all those that believed
in the 12 tribes. But certainly you know that the
12 tribes as a whole did not believe the gospel. They were
constantly rebelling against God, were they not? But there
was always an election according to grace who believed the gospel.
Is that true? So this is why Paul has to treat
Romans 9 so critical. Not all that were in Israel were
truly Israel. But the promise, the children
of promise were counted for the sea. You guys got that? The children
of promise, you angle on, and it really means the children
of the gospel, right? For instance, Ishmael was the
son of Abraham, but was he one of God's elect? Of course not. So logic would say that the physical
seed or physical genealogical connection to Abraham doesn't
automatically make you a child of God. Is that true? I want
to get this on because I had this conversation with a young
lady two weeks ago here in the Friday study. And it was a, it
was a problem for her when I said that you cannot make the physical
seed of Abraham to be the children of God. The Bible explicitly
denies that in Romans chapter 9, and it very articulately denies
it in John chapter 8, where Jesus said, you are of your father
the devil, and the works of your father you will do. You are Abraham's
sperm, but you are not Abraham's techno. We've been learning this
for years. And here, the Lord God who had
made them, Divides between the spiritual seed and the carnal
seed and said the carnal seed you're not God's children Are
you guys hearing me? So now what this means is we
have to raise our level of comprehension and understanding of what it
means to be Israel Or to be Jewish or to be circumcised, or to be
Abraham's children. All nomenclatures that are all
in the New Testament. He that is a true Jew is not
one outwardly in the flesh made with hands. Whoa! And see that one, that's Romans
chapter 2 around verse 28 or so. That one goes way over the
head of people. Doesn't that go over people's heads? We're
still swirling from the consensus of the multitude that anyone
who has a blood descendancy or relationship to Abraham is a
child of God. When Paul says, no, no, he's
not only not a child of God, he's not even a true Jew. Oh, I don't know about you, but
I hear Paul. I've been hearing Paul for a
long time. And I am, I am utterly thankful for Paul. Can I tell
you why? Because he was Jewish. He was Jewish. He had the conviction
of an astounding revelation of the glory of God in Christ to
line up his theology when once it was out of kilter and it was
leaning towards a hyper-Judaism because he was part of that crowd.
And he thought he could force the scriptures into his own set
of presuppositions. And this is why he went out to
kill the Christians. Because he swore that they had
a false gospel. And he swore that Jesus was the
ringleader of a sect. He swore that he was a demon.
He swore that he was a child of the Samaritans. He swore until
God revealed his glory to him. And utterly and radically changed
his understanding. And you know what Paul did? He
went back to the scriptures. Because God had given him the
key. And that key is Christ. And he started re-examining the
Genesis account, and the Exodus account, and the Leviticus account,
and the Deuteronomy account, and the Numbers account. And
you know what started happening? Everything started lining up.
That's what happens when you get the gospel right. It starts
lining up. And the book starts to open.
And you see now the glory of God at the linear progressive
unfolding of, of constant true manifesting itself in the centrality
of Jesus Christ throughout the scriptures. And Paul is here
now bold because he's been liberated from Judaism. He's been liberated
from legalism. He's been liberated from works
religion. I can see him struggling through the hypocrisy. Can you? Remember when you were doing
religion, but you didn't know Christ it was dreadful Because you were
putting on a facade you had no reality and You were blinded
you were being led by the hand by some man or some woman or
some group and deep down inside You didn't have the conviction
that these things were true for yourself Am I making some sense
and when once you heard the gospel In the Spirit of God, as I said
in the opening of the study, Christ spoke clearly to you. It became alarming to you because
it was so simple once you saw Him. You realize how blinded you were
by the false assumptions and teachings of men who led you
away from Christ rather than to Christ. You remember that? You were led away from Christ,
not to Christ. So help me, help me, because
I'm still trying to figure this out. Why are my constituents
so upset with me because I keep exalting Christ? Somebody help
me. Somebody help me. Why would my
constituents be aloof and disarming and distant and prevaricating
Behind closed doors saying things and why would they be that way
and all I'm saying is Christ is all Now if I'm wrong show me You
know, I'm not saying that I understand everything in the scriptures
But I am saying I understand this that God has made it clear
that Christ is the key He's made it very clear and where we are
not Exalting Christ It's a clear indication of the level of our
appreciation for him, if we even know him. You see, because God's
answer to the human plight was to send Jesus. And then the apostles answer
to the subsequent plight of men all around the world was to preach
Jesus. And when God saves Paul out of
the most arduous system of legalistic works religion, which by the
way was orthodox until Jesus came. Paul, according to Acts
9, when we get there, you know what it says? In straight way,
he preached Christ. Do you see that? You see that? It's absolutely amazing to me
that we are actually dealing with some of the same dynamics
today. Listen to how he unfolds this.
Because I want us to just, I got about 15 minutes before I let
you go. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He said not to seeds as of many, but as of one. In Paul's mind,
every seed was a link to every other seed. to every other seed
until they got to the one seed which was Christ. That's all the conduit means.
That they were a vehicle through whom and by whom Jesus would
come. Does that make sense? Conduit.
And that's Romans chapter 9 verses 1, 2, and 3, by the way. But
I want to say this about that journey. Because we're learning
a little bit about this in biblical theology. But I want you to understand
something about the journey. The journey of the physical seed.
It was never pure Judaism ever. It was never pure Judaism. I'm having a small theological
discussion with a young man on the East Coast who happens to
stumble on our website just recently and is just absolutely Flabbergasted
by our teaching which is what happens with most people who
are seeking to hunt down the truth when they come across our
teachings because we have so many Resources on our website
that it's like, you know, just just you just out being in the
desert then hitting an oasis You just you just can't you can't
help yourself and then he's young to like are you my young brother?
I mean he young African American ready to go. He couldn't believe
it. He had to find out if I really existed, right? I understand
the search Because often in our young Christian life, as we are
working through religion and we get tired and it gets dry,
we don't know where to go. But we do get on our hearts and
start looking, don't we? And then God leads you where
he needs to lead you, doesn't he? And then he gives you what
he needs to give you, doesn't he? And so this is the truth
for the Apostle Paul too. He develops this though. I would
what I was saying was that the genealogical line is no boasting
for Israel Because it was a hybrid of Gentiles all the way through Are y'all hearing me so I'll
make this assertion I'll deal with this later. I'll get the
emails and especially when this go on the radio I'm you know,
I'm borderline heretic again, particularly when it comes to
Judaism Judaism is an ideal in the mind of God that has to do
with a people that bear His nature through Christ. Judaism is an
ideal, not an idea, an ideal. I-D-E-A-L. It's an ideal scenario,
situation in the mind of God that constitutes a people who
bear His nature through His Son, Jesus. They are and have always
been the Israel of God. Always. Are you hearing me? Always. Always. Was Abraham an Israelite? Was
he? Yes, he was. You didn't get that. You didn't get the phraseology.
Abraham was an Israelite. He wasn't a Jew. He was a Gentile. See, this Paul's argument in
Romans four, y'all all hung up on Abraham. But when God saved
Abraham, Abraham was a pagan Gentile, just like Pastor Jesse.
He didn't know God from the man on the moon. He was not circumcised.
Are you hearing me? Abraham many, many years as a
non Jewish entity. It was his seed that would take
on the identification of Judaism. Not Abraham. Abraham was never
under the law. Abraham never worshipped under
the Levitical Aaronic priesthood Abraham was not up under that
covenant of works. He was not a Jew He was a Gentile But that's what Paul is saying
are you hearing me? because He becomes the father
of all nations of men This is what we're learning in biblical
theology. I will make you Abraham a father of many ethnox, ethnos,
ethnic groups, goyums in the Old Testament. He's a father
of many ethnic groups, Jew and Gentile from every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. Y'all got that? God was never limited to the
physical nation. He gave them a temporary covenant
that corresponded to the larger redemptive covenant because there
had to be a seed process that went from Abraham to Jesus. So Abraham had Isaac within that
framework of the promise fulfilled where God works miraculously
to bring forth his only son. And then Isaac has Jacob. But
Isaac also has Esau. Esau is just as much a blood
descendant of Abraham as Jacob is. But Esau is not in the inheritance. Are you guys hearing me? God
was never bound by the blood of Abraham's physical seed. So the promise was given to the
children who believe the gospel. Abraham believed the gospel.
Isaac believed the gospel. Jacob believed the gospel. Jacob
had 12 tribes. 13 with Dinah. And she wasn't a tribe. And I
could get into the whole dynamics of that. But here's what I would
say. Out of the multitude that came from the 12, There was only
a remnant that actually believed the gospel. The vast majority
of them, even though they were Jews in the flesh, they were
worse than pagans in their life. So what was God doing? He was
preserving a rebellious people from Abraham to Jesus because
God was always looking for that one seed. Am I making some sense? And when that one seed came,
He now serves to be a blessing to both Jew and Gentile if they
are willing to abandon their own identity and take up his.
This is what this text is about to explain to us. Let me see
if I can deal with this briefly, and then we'll come back and
fulfill it more next week. Here's what he says. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, enter seeds as
of many, but as of one. and to thy seed, which is what? And this I say, that the covenant
is what we're talking about, right? And that what Peter's
saying in Acts chapter three, you are children of the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in where? It was confirmed before of God
in Christ. Who knows the text? Genesis 15. You know the text. Here's what
Paul is about to do. He's about to say that God did
not confirm his promise with Abraham to the children of Israel. He confirmed his promise to Abraham,
to Christ. 400 years before Israel even
had an identity as a Jewish people. 1900 BC, Abraham has Isaac, right? But before he has Isaac, God
says to him, of your own loins, out of your own loins, out of
the womb of your wife, Sarah, will you have my seed? And by
the way, you can call him Isaac. That means God had it all planned
out. And Abraham says, OK, I mean, you know, that's cool, but ain't
nothing going on. This is where we left off last
night, ladies, remember? Me and Sarah, you know, we've been sitting
up late at night eating marshmallows for the last 25 years. Ain't
nothing going on And so Abraham and his weakness goes Give me something Give me something. How shall I know? Because I can't know by by what's
happening right now because there is nothing happening That would
correspond with your promise. You know what God does He says
let's make a blood covenant This is what I preached to you last
week. This was before Isaac was born. This is the covenant that
Paul is talking about here in Galatians 3, 19. This is the
covenant that gave Abraham assurance that God is going to keep his
word. And you remember it was the divided covenant of which
when two equal parties are going to make a blood oath, to obey
the terms of the covenant, they would walk through that divided
sacrifice. You guys remember that? You remember
what God did? He had Abraham to set up the
sacrifices. And as he went back to prepare
the wood, he fell asleep. That was a divine sleep that
God put on him. A deep sleep fell upon him. He
slept for some time and then he woke up. And you know what
he woke up to? God the father and God the son
walking through the pieces themselves You know what the father was
saying to Abraham This is not about you. This is about my son
Who will come through your loins? I'm making the covenant with
you, but you're not making the covenant with me Because we're
not equal parties in this covenant Are you hearing me? See, he's
Abraham's God. They are not equal. And what
Abraham understood at that moment was that God was up to something
that was outside of the scope of his ability on his part to
affirm. And when you and I understand
the gospel correctly, what we understand is salvation is all
together of the Lord. It is not the compilation of
what God does plus what we do to confirm the covenant. It's
what God did in Christ to confirm the covenant and we are simply
beneficiaries of it. And what's remarkable about that
sacrifice is that Abraham was given assurance by it. He was
assured that God was going to come through because he understood
that kind of sacrifice. He understood that that's a blood
oath. God made an oath. He made an oath with Abraham.
That's Hebrew six. That's where we are in our Hebrew
study. God swore and he cannot lie. He swore that by two immutable
things he would bring to pass his promise to Abraham. So Abraham
was resting from that point on. Are you guys hearing me? He was
resting because he knew that it wasn't going to require anything
on his part to violate that covenant or to affect that covenant. And
the smoking flax and the burning flame was Jehovah God and his
glorious son, the Lord Jesus Christ, simultaneously. God, the father and God, the
son walking through those two sacrifices. And that's why when
God gave Isaac to Abraham and Isaac was just a young lad, 16
to 20 years old, and they had sent Ishmael away to get that
covenant of works out of the way in order to affirm the covenant
of grace in Sarah. And in Isaac, as Paul teaches
in the fourth chapter of Galatians, he had sent that covenant of
works away. The covenant of works cannot coexist with the covenant
of grace. So Hagar and Ishmael legalism
works, religion representing national Israel had to go. Legalism
works, religion representing national Israel had to go. This
is what Paul teaches in the fourth chapter, right ladies, right
gentlemen. So you can't mix works with grace. This is what Paul
is teaching. And so what does God do? He tells Abraham to take
his son, his only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest. Now we see the great typological
paradigm of God the father and God the son. And that's what
faith always does, exalts the gospel. And they go up in faith. they come down in faith as Abraham
says I and the lad will go up yonder and worship and we will
be back and We will be back See now Abraham is is speaking as
a type of God the father Knowing that he will offer his only begotten
son But that in the offering of his only begotten son to put
away our sins by the sacrifice of himself He will raise him
from the dead also. I He will raise them from the
dead so that they will both come back again. And Abraham thus
now is operating in the great scheme of redemption, pointing
to Jesus Christ. You guys got that? And this is what Paul is teaching
here concerning God confirming the covenant in Christ. And then he goes, the law, which
was 430 years, what? That's right. That unique miracle of manifestation
of God's covenant blessing confirmed to Abraham in Christ. After that
was settled, we have 400 years of Israel being in Egypt, the
nation, and then Moses bringing them out. And then Moses establishing
between him and God, the covenant of law, the covenant of works,
the Levitical code and the priesthood. And the people are sprinkled
with blood and the law is sprinkled with blood and everything is
sprinkled with blood. And guess what? On that day,
they became the Jewish people. They were not the Jewish people
until then. They were part of God's scheme,
but they hadn't entered into covenant. Remember, it's covenant
we're talking about. They had not yet entered into
covenant. They were confirmed as God's people on that day on
Mount Sinai when the law was given with blood. This is what
the Hebrew writers teach in the book of Hebrews. And so they
were under covenant of works. They were under covenant of law
to keep them until Jesus was to be born to whom the promises
were given. Listen to it again, verse 17
and 18, or verse 18, the latter part. He says, verse 17, the
latter part, in this I say that the covenant that was confirmed
before of God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years afterwards,
cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of non effect.
For if the inheritance be of what? It is no more of what? So now we have a juxtaposition
and a contrast between law and promise, don't we? See how Paul
is reasoning through very syllogistically and logically. Watch this. It
is no more promise, but God gave it to Abraham by what the word
promises a synonym for the gospel. So synonym for the gospel. So
and when the apostle Peter Says in our text go back to our text.
I'm going to close here I'm just going to read this and then we'll
come back and deal with the original passage in genesis 12 Uh next
week and we'll finish off this study on the idea of the blessing
when peter says, uh in verse, um 25 the latter part and god
god made this covenant with our father saying that abraham and
in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Who
do we see the seed as now? Do you see that? Now watch this.
And shall all the kindreds of the earth be what? Unto you first,
God having raised up his son, Jesus, he's the seed, right?
Sent him to do what? In what? Making you the head
and not the tail? Making you a great and powerful political
nation? in turning away every one of
you from your sins. Now the language is technical
and there's some things that evade us. So next week we're
going to take our time and unpack that because the way that the
apostle puts it it needs to be understood a little bit clearer
terms. But you can be sure of this the
blessing that God had always intended both for the Jews and
the Gentiles. is Christ. Christ is the blessing. You guys got that? Let's pray.
Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for the folks that have come out to study your word and with all
the challenges of coming out after a long day's work and the
mind can be weary and having a difficulty to take up these
things. May this be driven home that from God the Father's standpoint,
Christ is the blessing. and everything that's in him.
May we draw from him every blessing necessary to give you honor and
glory in our life. As we go our way, give us traveling
mercies, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you guys.