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We return again this morning to Acts chapter 13, and I've entitled my discourse to you, “The Exhortation of a Converted Rabbi.” Obviously, I'm referring to the ex-Pharisee, the Apostle Paul. We continue to study now his first missionary journey. And I decided to title my sermon to you, “The Exhortation of a Converted Rabbi,” because I want you to begin to understand that we need to look at Scripture through the same kind of worldview, the same kind of lens as that of the Apostle Paul; in fact, all of the apostles and certainly the Lord. You know, historically, Bible exegesis and exposition of Scripture has been predominantly done through the grid of a Gentile worldview, and therefore, the results many times are conclusions that I fear are not biblical, especially the conclusion that would in essence say that God is completely finished with Israel, with the Jew, that all of that has been replaced or fulfilled in the church.

But what we want to do is understand as we look at Scripture, especially now as we look at what is going to happen here with the Apostle Paul and his ministry, because this will be the focus now, is that Paul's gospel ministry was vigorously Judeo-centric and we want to understand what he was up to, what he was saying with respect to his particular worldview.

Now, let me give you a bit of the context here. We're going to be in verses 13 through 41 of Acts 13. Let me read verse 13, he says,

“Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John left them and returned to Jerusalem.”

Now, let me pause here to give you context. John Mark was Barnabas's cousin, and here we read that he deserts them. Now, we're uncertain as to why he did that, but we know that it offended the Apostle Paul because later on we read that he refused to take John Mark with him on his second missionary journey. We even know that it caused a bit of a rift between Paul and Barnabas, as typically those things will do.  But later, we also know that all of this gets resolved and we see John Mark once again working alongside the Apostle Paul in Rome. We read about that in Colossians 4:10 and Philemon 24. We even read in 2 Timothy 4:11 that he becomes a valued helper to the Apostle Paul.

But I want you to remember now that it was John Mark's mother's home in Jerusalem that Peter went to when he was first released from prison. And obviously, he matured over time and he was restored to useful ministry. And there's also evidence that Peter mentored this young man that deserts them at this particular point.

We know that in 1 Peter 5:13, Peter calls him “my son Mark,” so there's certainly an endearment there. And we also know that Mark eventually becomes Peter's interpreter and Mark becomes the author of the gospel that bears his name. In fact, one of the early church fathers, Justin Martyr, writing, in about AD 150, referred to the gospel of Mark as “the memoirs of Peter.”

Now, what's going on here? Well, they're leaving the island of Cyprus. They're going to sail north some 200 miles to Paul's homeland in Asia Minor, which would be modern day Turkey, a very large area in comparison to their earlier ministries, 200,000 square miles that certainly would have dwarfed the isle of Cyprus and even Palestine and Syria where they had been previously. That, by the way, would be equal to about the whole northeastern region of the United States. And they arrive now at a port, the port of Perga. And it's interesting that Paul doesn't preach here in the lowlands.

And some have argued that perhaps he had malaria. There's some tradition that would say that maybe he was struggling with that, but we don't know that for sure. But we do know that he and Barnabas now are going to leave the coastlands. And we know geographically that in order to do that, in order to get up to Pisidian Antioch, they have to trudge through some very violent river basins that are the runoff of the big Taurus mountains, the Cestrus and Eurymedon rivers flow down through there. And they would have to climb eventually up through these very treacherous, steep, really violent mountains that would have 10,000 foot peaks with snow up on the top. So it was a very, very rugged, mountainous region with lots of cliffs, lots of dangerous canyons.

Those of you that have been in the mountains know the dangers associated with all of that. And to make it even worse, we know that it was infested with outlaws. We even read today, don't we, that there are those in Pakistan that we’re unable to get to because of the same kind of mountainous region. And that's the way it was back in those days. These were the same outlaws that that had plagued Alexander the Great and even Augustus Caesar. And some have said that maybe that's why John Mark didn't want to go with them.

But we don't know that for sure. And perhaps this is what prompted the Apostle Paul to say later in 2 Corinthians 11:26, “I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers…” and so forth. So, intending on making their way up to Pisidian Antioch, they had to go up through these rugged, rugged mountains.

And Antioch was basically 3,600 feet above sea level down in one of the large valleys of that region. So it would have been about 100 miles as the crow flies from the port city up to Antioch. And if you know anything about traveling through the mountains with all of the switchbacks and canyons, if it's 100 miles as the crow flies, it's at least double that if you're going to walk it.

And so Paul and Barnabas had to have been very, very physically fit men. Antioch was a large military colony. It was a place where many of the Roman soldiers had retired. It would be similar to Clarksville here in Tennessee. And it also had good roads. We know historically that they had roads that were 20 to 26 feet broad and could therefore carry four wheeled traffic along the southern edge of the central plateau of Asia Minor; so it was a strategic location to go to begin to present the gospel, kind of a crossroad area.

And I want to give you a little mental picture. I like to do this when I'm studying the scripture. Let me tell you a little bit about what life would have been like. What would what would they eat in that area? Don't you often wonder that? I mean, there's no McDonald's along the road here. So how do you survive? Well, we know that that is an area that even in those days was filled with lush fields of fruits. And even along the mountains, you could you could have fruits like apples. They had apples and pears and peaches and cherries and figs and so on. Along with lots of nuts that they could eat, they would eat almonds and hazelnuts and chestnuts.

And then likewise, there were farmers along the way and the farmers raised vegetables. They raised sheep and goats and even cattle. It's interesting, by the way, in those days, only the wealthy could afford to eat meat. The poor typically did not do so. And we also know that some of the finest horses in the Roman Empire came from the Taurus Mountain region of Asia Minor.

What about the clothing? Well, Paul and Barnabas would have worn wool or linen tunics. In fact, the men and women both of those days wore either wool or linen tunics with long sleeves. It's kind of like an undergarment. And the sleeves would extend, I should say, just below the elbows. Some of them all the way down to the depending upon the temperature, all the way down to the wrists. And then those tunics would extend down just below the knees and some of them a bit longer. Most of them had a belt that went around the middle and allowed the tunic to kind of blouse over the belt.

We've seen pictures of this and some of the drawings of that day. And we know that in Greece they wore them a little bit shorter. They even wore some of them down about mid-thigh. And I'm sure some even shorter than that. I'm certain they had their version of a mini skirt back in those days amongst those people. And then they also had wool cloaks that they would throw over their shoulder for the evening and for the night. This was extremely crucial for people because they would it's almost like having your own little sleeping bag. You had to have in order to survive.

Howard Voss, a historian that can give us some insight of that era, writes this, quote, “In Palestine and elsewhere in the Mediterranean world, men had a vertical stripe on their tunics over each shoulder and running its full length. Commonly, the width of the stripe indicated age or prestige. Over the tunic, men and women wore a mantle, which was a large square or rectangle of cloth wrapped around the body and supported on the left arm. This might be draped in such a way as to expose one or both shoulders or pulled up around the neck over the head to act as a cloak. Mantle of women had an L-shaped strip at the corner and men a strip with a notch cut out of it. In addition, women had hair coverings that reached approximately to the waist and men's mantles were usually yellow or yellow brown. Women's often were too but sometimes were red or blue or purple.” End quote.

So that gives you a little flavor of what they looked like. On their feet, they typically wore sandals unless they were in the highlands. And in the highlands, they would have to wear boots. You know that, again, if you've been in the mountains, you know that you cannot survive with sandals. You have to have boots because of the snow and the jagged rocks and so forth. You need protection.

Some of you women might wonder, well, what did their hair look like? Well, we have a real good idea. The hair was basically short cropped around to their shoulders. It was easier to take care of that way. And that was the look of that day. The men were clean shaven for the most part or they had trimmed beards. We can see pictures again of that. And the men also had short, cropped hair. You know, Paul condemned long hair on men in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 14, so he probably did not wear long hair himself. We also, again, can see drawings of that day that would depict men having short, cropped hair. We believe that Jesus looked the same, otherwise, Paul would not have condemned that. Unlike the Sunday school pictures that we typically see with Jesus with, you know, this long kind of effeminate looking hair with the beard and so forth. There's also a fresco from a catacomb in Rome that portrays Jesus as the good shepherd. And in that he has the short, cropped hair that was typical of that day and no beard.

Now, a little more context, why would they go to Pisidian Antioch? There were other towns, there was certainly the coastal city there. What was Paul's strategy? Well, this is important as we continue our journey through Acts.

Paul's strategy throughout his ministry was to target large urban areas of Jews. He preached the gospel and he said in Romans 1:16, that it was the gospel that was “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” And remember now, I want you to begin to get a Jewish mindset, understand his worldview. It's sad that many Christians will go to great lengths to avoid the obvious meaning of language and scripture to argue that God is finished with the Jews. But we see that that wasn't the idea that Paul had. You see, even the Lord went to his Israelites first, as we read in Matthew 15:24. Some would argue that all of the promised covenants to the Jews were conditional, that they were violated. And so therefore, they're all over; God is finished with national Israel, there will be no earthly kingdom and all of those types of things - that the church has been permanently displaced, or that Israel has been permanently displaced and replaced by the church. And this goes by different names you're familiar with at some level, I'm sure. Amillennialism, replacement theology. You'll hear the term fulfillment theology or supersessionism and so on. And many of the reformers picked this up from Augustine many years ago - not all of the reformers, but many of them did - and it's basically Roman Catholic eschatology, it's a view that's not taught in scripture. In fact, no one taught that particular view until the fourth century when it was first espoused by Augustine, who was considered the father of Amillennialism, who abandoned a literal hermeneutic in favor of an allegorizing method.

But again, Paul obviously didn't believe that God was finished with his covenant people, though he was called to be an apostle of the Gentiles, though they had a reputation for being pugnacious, for being disbelievers of the Lord Jesus Christ, he did the same thing that Jesus did. He went to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.

And it's sad that for the most part, what you can see historically is that for our brothers in Christ, who believe that Israel has been replaced by the church, you will see that for the most part, historically, they have had anti-Judaic bias, both racially and theologically. That's just a matter of record. You can just read the writings and see that.

And in terms of missionary outreach, typically they don't go to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. Most of the time they don't go to the Jew at all. And I would challenge us all to share the same kind of benevolent attitude towards the Jew, as did our Savior and certainly the Apostle Paul.

And it's interesting when we study Paul's ministry in his first missionary journey, he goes to the synagogue first. We see that in Salamis and Pisidian Antioch that we're going to be at today and also in Iconium. And yet they all reject him; they all reject the gospel. In his second missionary journey, what does he do? Goes to the Jew first, goes to the synagogue first. We see that in in Philippi, in Thessalonica, in Berea, in Athens, in Corinth and in Ephesus - they reject him again. His third missionary journey. What does he do? He goes back to Ephesus. What does he do then? Goes right back to the synagogue. And we know that there he remains for three months. And finally, in his last journey, he's back in Jerusalem. And what does he do? He goes to the temple and he gets arrested, taken to Rome for trial. And it's funny, he's in Rome and three days after his arrival in Acts 28, verse 17, we read that he calls together all the leaders of the Jews. In verse 20, he declares to them,” It is for the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.”

Now, again, Paul was a converted rabbi. He was an ex-Pharisee and he had a deep love for his countrymen. He knew that the Jews were the witness nation that God had called Exodus 19:6, and it was through Israel that salvation had come to the world, and therefore they continued to have distinct privileges, even though they had rejected their Messiah. And he knew that despite their unbelief, that God was going to remain faithful to them as his chosen people. He knew that all but the Mosaic covenants were unconditional. In fact, he wrote in Romans 11:1,

“God has not rejected his people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin.

“God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.”

Literally whom he foreloved. We know that Israel is God's chosen. We read that all through the Old Testament. In Isaiah 45:4, they're described as “Israel, My elect.” And so later, with great exuberance, Paul would write in Romans 11 that when the Deliverer will come someday, all Israel will be saved. He goes on to say in verse 29, “From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies.”

And indeed, they were. And many of them continue to be so to this day. But he says, “…but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” And then you will recall he closes with that exhilarating doxology there in verse 33, “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways.”

So with this passion for their countrymen, they go directly to this city that's filled with Jews as well as Gentiles - the center, this hub of civilization, this crossroad of commerce. And again, with this background, we read in verse 14 that “on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and they sat down.”

Now folks, the place must have been electric. Can't you imagine a visiting rabbi is here, a visiting rabbi who was trained by Gamaliel? I mean, he was like the most famous of them all. Paul obviously felt right at home. He was with his countrymen. He was in a synagogue. And though deeply burdened for their spiritual condition, he knew that many of them, if not most of them, would reject continue to reject the gospel message.

Again just for a moment, put yourself in Paul's place here. Imagine if you were him. Imagine that, you know, as you come into the synagogue, that not all of the children of Israel, not all of the children of Abraham through Isaac would be saved and enjoy the promises that God gave to Abraham, Abraham's spiritual children. You know that. And yet you're coming in to preach to them.

In fact, in Romans nine, beginning of verse two, Paul laments,

“I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh who are Israelites.”

And also in Romans 10, verse one, he says,

“Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation, for they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.”

This is the mindset.

So they come into the synagogue, they sit down, verse 15, and

“After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, ‘Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.’”

Now, this was customary for them to do when a visiting rabbi would come to a synagogue. And so they said, if you have something you want to share with us, an exhortation, something that you want to teach us, won't you please come forward? And so, verse 16,

“Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, said,

“’Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen:’”

Beloved, isn't this an amazing scene? What an amazing scene. The Holy Spirit now has orchestrated all of the events in the lives of all of these people to bring them to this point. And now the Apostle Paul stands before them, a converted rabbi, an ex-pharisee, and he somehow does something with his hands to grab their attention, and he begins to preach, knowing full well how highly incredible his words would impact, or how highly incredibly offensive his words would be to them. He knew that. He had it in his mind.

And so he gives them a three-point sermon, at least the way I see it. Let me give you what I think he gave them in terms of an outline. Remember now, he's got to grab the hearts of the countrymen. He's got to get their attention, his burning desires to see them saved. And so he's going to remind them of three things. Number one, God's providential care for Israel. Secondly, he's going to remind them of God's promise of Israel's Savior. And thirdly, he's going to remind them of God's passion for Israel's salvation.

First of all, God's providential care for Israel. You know, I'm always amazed when I think about the doctrine of the providence of God, whereby he remains intimately involved in every minute aspect of his creation. He directs every atom and every action to fulfill his glorious purposes. Notice in verse 17, we read about this,

“’The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.’”

And again, now he's going to grab them with the idea of God's providential care for Israel, giving them a historical summary.

Verse 18,

“’And for a period of about 40 years He put up with them in the wilderness.’”

As a footnote, other manuscripts indicate with equal weight a slightly different term that is used in the original language that could be interpreted. He cared for them rather than he put up with them. But both were certainly true.

Verse 19,

“’When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance - all of which took about 450 years.

“’And after these things, He gave them judges until Samuel, the prophet.

“’Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years.

“And after he had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all My will.”’”

Now, dear friends, imagine the scene there in the synagogue at this point, all of the heads are nodding, people are smiling, but all of this is about to change as Paul moves to his second point. He moves from God's providential care for Israel to God's promise of Israel's Savior. In verse 23, we read,

“’From the offspring of this man, or in other words, from the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

“’after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

“’And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, “What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.”’”

Now, beloved, I would submit to you that by now the heads have stopped nodding. The smiles have turned to scowls. Barnabas is looking for something to scratch on his body. He's probably adjusting his sandals a bit. And then he looks straight forward at Paul, staring straight ahead and thinks to himself, here we go. And the Jews certainly were thinking, “You've got to be kidding me. This man, this rabbi is one of those Christians we've been hearing about.” So he reminds them here, doesn't he, that God had promised that Israel's Savior would come. Notice again, verse 23,

“according to promise…”

He even tells them that one of their own prophets, John the Baptist, had proclaimed the coming of Jesus. May I remind you of some of just a few of the prophecies to which Paul would have referred some of those that certainly those Jews should have been aware of.

We read, for example, in Genesis 3:15, what is many times called the Proto Evangelium or the first evangelistic message here - the first gospel - we read of the seed of the woman who would someday bruise the serpent's head. In Genesis 12, we read that Jesus or the Messiah would ultimately be from the line of Abraham, a descendant of Abraham, and in Psalms alone, the Psalter, there are 26 Messianic prophecies that predicted the coming Savior. I’ll give you all 20, but I'll not give you the references, they go as follows.

Number one, that God will announce Christ to be a son, that all things will be put under Christ's feet, that he will be resurrected from the grave, that God will forsake Christ in his moment of agony, that he would be scorned and ridiculed, that his hands and feet would be pierced, that others would gamble for his clothes, that not one of his bones would be broken, that he would be hated unjustly, that he would come to do God's will, that he would be betrayed by a friend, that his throne would be eternal, that he would ascend to heaven, the zeal for God's temple would consume him, that he would be given vinegar and gall and that his betrayer would be replaced, that his enemies would bow down to him and that he would be a priest like Melchizedek, that he would be the chief cornerstone and that he would come in the name of the Lord.

May I give you some others that they should have been aware of? Certainly, ones to which Paul would have pointed them, found even in the prophet Isaiah's words. Isaiah predicted his virgin birth, that he would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. He predicted the birth of Emmanuel, God with us, that there would be a revival of the Davidic dynasty through the Messiah. He predicted the incarnation of Christ, that that he would be one that would heal physically the deaf and the blind. He predicted the preaching of John the Baptist.

He predicted Christ's baptism and transfiguration. He predicted that he would be beaten and spat upon, that he would set his face to go toward Jerusalem, that Israel would fail to recognize her Messiah, that Jesus would remain silent in all phases of his trial, that he would be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that he was completely innocent of all charges against him, that he saw the need to be crucified between two criminals, that his resurrection would be a prerequisite to his someday coming and occupying the throne of David on earth, that Jesus would fulfill the call to the daughter of Zion and his triumphal entry.

That's just to mention a few in Isaiah and in Micah 5:2 Micah predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

Zechariah 9:9, that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. In fact, in Isaiah 40, verses three through five, there is the prediction of the forerunner of John the Baptist here, the forerunner of the Messiah King. There we read,

“A voice is calling clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low and let the rough ground become a plain and the rugged terrain, a broad valley. Let the glory of the Lord be revealed and all flesh will see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

So indeed, even as Paul said here in verse twenty-three, the Old Testament promised the coming of Jesus, Israel's savior.

Now, Paul employs a tool of debate and pedagogy that is very interesting, one that is customary in his writings. A number of theologians over the years have pointed this out, and I find it to be true. We see it here. What Paul is now going to do is anticipate some of the questions and objections of his audience and answer them before they have a chance to ask those questions in protest.

 So here Paul anticipates and answers basically two questions. Number one, if Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, he knows that they're going to ask if that's the case, then why did our leaders reject him? Notice what he says in verse twenty-six,

“’Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us, the message of this salvation has been sent.”

“For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath fulfilled these by condemning Him.

“’And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.’”

In other words, what he's saying is your leaders murdered him. The people of Jerusalem murdered him because they were ignorant of the word of God, the very word that they read every Sabbath, the word that Jesus taught. They were wicked, they were unjust, they were murderers who had him crucified.

And I want you to notice a fascinating phrase here in verse twenty-seven. There at the end, he says, “fulfilled these by condemning Him.” We read the whole passage “For those who live in Jerusalem and the rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these…’” fulfilled what? Well, the prophecies.

How did they do that? By condemning him. In other words, what he's saying, and I want you to catch this, it was God's plan all along for your leaders - for the people of Israel - to reject the Messiah. I mean, this is predicted all through the Old Testament and it's restated in the New Testament. Beloved, this did not catch God off guard, it did not surprise God, and he have to say, “Oh, my, I got to come up with a plan B here.”

You will remember Peter mentioned the same type of thing in his prayer for boldness with John in Acts 4 beginning in verse 27. He said,

“’For truly in the city there were gathered together against Your holy servant, Jesus, whom. You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

“’to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.’”

Is that not amazing? That's what Paul was telling them here, that what the Jews of Jerusalem and the leaders did was all part of God's plan. It was prophesied in the Old Testament.

Now, beloved, again, think of the prophecies, some of which I just read to you. And when you think about Isaiah fifty-three and how that is filled with prophecies concerning his death, Zechariah 12:10 refers to the piercing of his side with a spear, and even the Messiah's death by crucifixion we see is pictured in Numbers 21. You remember that story? Remember how the people complained and murmured against Moses, murmured against God and so God sent the fiery serpents. Remember that story? And God instructed Moses to erect this standard with a bronze serpent up on top of it. And when someone was bit, they had to look and then they would live. And Jesus later on in John 3:14 said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” (John 3:14).

This is especially remarkable, dear friends, since the Jews knew nothing of crucifixion in the Old Testament, knew nothing about that. They didn't use that form of execution, only the Romans did that. And yet Jesus was crucified; and even that was predicted in Psalm twenty two. Amazing.

And Paul continues in verse 29,

“’When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb again.’”

Notice that when they had carried out all that was “concerning Him…”what a staggering statement, once again, underscoring the absolute sovereignty of God. So, in other words, as he anticipates their question, why didn't our leaders say this? Well, it's because God had sovereignly ordained that they not see it. Isaiah 53:9, with respect to them laying him in the tomb, as he says there at the end of verse 29, we see the prophet predicting that his grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death. What a stunning, literal fulfillment, again, of prophecy.

Then to verse 30, notice what Paul says,

“’But God raised Him from the dead

“’and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.’”

In other words, if you don't believe us, ask them. And according to First Corinthians 15:6, there were about five hundred of them that he appeared to.

And then Paul continues now by giving them the good news of the gospel of grace that was promised to their fathers, and he answers the second question before they have a chance to ask it. And we're certain that many of them ask this. We know that a number of them had to have come to a saving knowledge of Christ later on, but here would have been the second question, OK, if our leaders didn't see it and we didn't see it and because of our sin, we missed this. Now we rejected our Messiah. Is God finished with us? Have we forfeited all of the covenantal blessings? Are the covenants nullified now? And the answer, of course, is absolutely not. In fact, ultimately, we're going to see that the Mosaic covenant was fulfilled in Christ.

Verse 32, he says,

“’And when we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers

“’that God has fulfilled this promise to our children and that He raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.”

“’As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: “I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.”

“’Therefore He also says in another Psalm, “You will not allow your holy one to undergo decay”

“’For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;

“’But…’”

in other words, unlike David,

“’He whom God raised…’”

referring to Jesus,

“’..did not undergo decay.

“’Therefore, in light of these glorious truths, therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you

“’and through Him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.’”

In other words, he's saying our Messiah has risen from the dead. God's eternal plan of redemption is still perfectly intact. God has not abandoned you. In fact, God has, in Christ, fulfilled the law. The promises have not been nullified. He has freed you from the tyranny of the law.

Again, may I remind you, Peter said the same type of thing to the Jews in Acts three. Remember his sermon in Acts three and verse 25? We read there that he reminded his fellow Jews that they were children of the covenants. And this is crucial, by the way, in Jewish evangelism. I've had the joy of witnessing to Jewish people. I grew up with many of them when I was a young man, and I've had the joy of seeing some of them come to a saving knowledge of Christ. And it's crucial in Jewish evangelism to understand that, indeed, they remain children of the covenants. And that's why in Acts 3:25, Peter says,

“It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”

 And we know that that indeed happened through Jesus.

And by the way, also the Abrahamic covenant, which was an unconditional covenant, includes the land of promise. And we need to keep this in mind in light of all that's going on in the world around us today with respect to Israel, that in the Abrahamic covenant, there was a promised land. And we know that this will be the arena of salvation from their years of disloyalty. We know that this is the eschatological promise for a regenerated Israel, where Jesus will reign from Jerusalem, surrounded even by Gentile nations. What an incredible time that will be when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord and how I long for this great day of triumph. And I hope you do as well.

Indeed, God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, Paul said in Romans 11:2. The Gentile church has not, dear friends, has not superseded Israel and the Jewish people. It is the Gentile church that is the wild olive branch that has been engrafted into the root. So we must not be arrogant toward the Jews, as Paul says repeatedly in Romans 11.

So it was very, very important, you must understand, for Paul to anticipate their concern that if indeed, if you're right, Paul, that Jesus was the Messiah and we murdered him, is God finished with us? And the answer is not at all. Again, may I remind you that Paul said to his kinsmen, the Jews, in Romans 9:4 that “You are those to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants.”

As a footnote - you’ve heard me say this before - all of God's covenants are eternal and unilateral except the Mosaic covenant, which because of Israel's sin was abrogated and permanently replaced by the new covenant. We've celebrated that a few minutes ago in our time of communion. And when I say eternal and unilateral, that means that God has promised to accomplish something based on his own character, not based upon the obedience of the promised beneficiary of the covenant. And when we look at Scripture, we see that there are basically six Old Testament covenants. There's the covenant to Noah in Genesis nine. There is the covenant to Abraham in Genesis 12. There is the covenant of the law given to Moses on Sinai in Exodus 19 through 31 or so. And then there is the covenant of the eternal kingdom through David's greatest son that we read about in Second Samuel seven, and in the New Covenant that we read about in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 37. And only one of those is conditional. That was the Mosaic covenant, and it's now permanently replaced by the New Covenant.

And it's important for you to understand that the Jewish rejection of their Messiah did not nullify the unilateral, unconditional, irreversible covenants that God made, for example, to Abraham and to David. They're unconditional, those covenants concerning the establishment of an earthly kingdom, all their Jewish rejection did was postpone that. It's still coming. And certainly the custodianship of divine truth would be taken from the Jews who rejected it. It's now going to be transferred to the Gentile church. Jesus says in Matthew 21:43, “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.” And also in Luke 20 and verse 16, it's made very clear that the Jews who killed the prophets and killed the Son will lose the vineyard. And there we see that the sphere of God's saving purposes, the privilege and responsibility of disseminating truth now is going to be taken from them. It's going to be given now to the church, but not permanently.

And for this reason, the gospel was taken to the Gentiles. To be sure, the keys of the kingdom, as we read in Scripture, were taken from the Jews, given to a new people with a new set of leaders, namely the apostles and the New Testament prophets. And then those being replaced by evangelists, or in other words, missionaries and teaching shepherds. And these all become the new vine growers. And so the Jews were set aside, and a new guardianship was put into place and it was established through the Gentile church. But your friends, this transfer will not be permanent; it will not be permanent. In Luke 21:24, we read that Jerusalem “will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

And so Israel, you must understand, was temporarily displaced, but not permanently replaced. And there is not one verse in Scripture that says that the promises to Israel are now permanently canceled and transferred to the church. You just simply will not see that. And Jeremiah 31, verse 33, he speaks of the new covenant with his people, Israel, where he says, “’I will put my law within them and on their heart, I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be My people.’”  And the new covenant promises are also expanded in great detail in Ezekiel 36 and 37, for example, in Ezekiel 37, verse 27, God says, “’I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will be careful to observe My ordinances and you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers. So you will be my people and I will be your God.’”

Beloved, God is not finished with Israel, and all the glorious promises of the messianic kingdom are still coming; and how I long for them. In 1864, Charles Spurgeon was speaking at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Ezekiel 37, 1 through 10. You remember, that's the vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones. And the purpose of his discourse was not only to exposit the word of God, but to help raise funds for the British Society for the propagation of the gospel amongst the Jews. And I want to read to you what he said with respect to Ezekiel 37:1-10, and therefore all of these promises that God will ultimately fulfill to his people Israel, which Paul certainly had in mind in all of his ministry to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. Here's what Spurgeon said, and I quote,

“The meaning of our text, (referring to Ezekiel 37:1-10), as opened up by the context is most evidently, if words mean anything, first, that there shall be a political restoration of the Jews to their own land and to their own nationality. And then secondly, there is in the text and in the context, a most plain declaration that there shall be a spiritual restoration, a conversion, in fact, of the tribes of Israel. Her sons, though they can never forget the sacred dust of Palestine yet die at a hopeless distance from her consecrated shores. But it shall not be so forever. They shall again walk upon her mountains, shall once more sit under her vines and rejoice under her fig trees. And they are also to be reunited. There shall not be two, nor ten, nor twelve, but one - one Israel praising one God, serving one king and that one king, the son of David, the descended Messiah. They are to have a national prosperity, which shall make them famous, nay, so glorious shall they be that Egypt and Tyre and Greece and Rome shall all forget their glory in the greater splendor of the throne of David.” And finally, Spurgeon says, “If there be meaning in words, this must be the meaning of this chapter. I wish never to learn the art of tearing down God's meaning out of his words. If there be anything clear and plain, the literal sense and meaning of this passage, a meaning not to be spirited or spiritualized away, must be evident that both the two and the ten tribes of Israel are to be restored to their own land and that a king is to rule over them.” End quote.

So, Paul reminds these dear people of God's providential care for Israel in his sermon. Secondly, of his promise of Israel's savior, and then finally and quickly, he reminds them of God's passion for Israel's salvation. And we see this manifested in his solemn warning and gracious invitation. Notice in verse 40,

“’Therefore, take heed…’” In other words, therefore, in light of all that I have said, in light of all that has happened according to God's promise, in light of the reality that only Jesus can forgive sins, that he fulfilled the law; that you cannot save yourself through adherence to the Mosaic law,

“’Therefore, take heed so that the things spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you.’”

And here now he quotes Habakkuk 1:5, where Habakkuk warned of the impending judgment on Judah for their apostasy.

“’Behold, you scoffers and marvel and perish;

“’for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’”

Dear friends, as we close this morning, if you're here today and you have never been broken over your sin and you have never cried out for God's mercy, if you have never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, if you have never yielded your life to him completely as his slave, then this warning applies to you. And by your refusal to confess Jesus as Savior and Lord, you are a scoffer, even as those of that day. And you, likewise, will someday surely perish in your sins, judgment will come upon you as certain as the sun rises in the east.

And for those of us who know and love Christ, oh, what wonderful truths they are. These eternal truths stir our hearts to deeper praise as well as a higher anticipation of all that is to come. Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, we thank you for that which we have studied today. We pray that you will cause these truths to ignite our hearts with praise and to encourage us with even a deeper anticipation of the glories to come, not only of the millennial kingdom when we will rule and reign with you here upon the earth for a thousand years. But Lord, we know that that is just a preview of that which is to come in the eternal state. Lord, our hope is so glorious because of Christ and we praise you and we thank you for it. Dismiss us now with your grace, I pray in Jesus name. Amen.