Revive Us Again, Week 10 | Acts 13

If you will at this time, take your cup, well, you're already in Acts, stay in Acts. Chapter 13, we will consider verses 38 through 41. Acts chapter 13, 38 through 41, and this is the 10th message in this series.

Let me pray. Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Lord, we have already been in amazement of your glory. Lord, as we have been able to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to you while speaking to one another.

We've been able to praise you in our confessing of sins. Lord, we now open the book in anticipation of what you have for us. And God, the only barrier in the way is me. And God, I pray that you will speak through me to your people.

Speak in such a way that your spirit will flow from the book, from your word to them in power and in demonstration, Lord. And that you will encourage their hearts to pursue revival. Lord, please remove me.

Let not their sights be on my flesh, but on the spirit that speaks through me. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. So let's begin with reading this portion of the text, Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 38.

This is Luke writing, Paul speaking, Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astonished and perish. For I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe even if someone tells it to you.

Our overarching theme for this series has been revive us again. The main reason for wanting to go through this series is because we have seen false revivals pop up. Even this past week, one of my friends on Facebook is talking about we're having a revival this week.

It begins at such and such day and such and such times, and it will end at a such and such day and such and such time. That's not how revival works. It works when God's people read God's word and obey God's word by doing what God's word tells God's people to do.

And what better book than the book of Acts do we have where we see God's people do what God's word tells them to do as a demonstration? We can read the book of Acts and see what God has, what God did through people who are obedient to what the word of God said to them.

And so we're looking at this. We want to know, well, what does it look like and and how does one start it? Right. And what it looks like is the obedience, right? They're going out there preaching the gospel, which is God's power for salvation.

Can anyone be saved if there's no gospel proclamation? No. Well, who are supposed to proclaim this gospel proclamation? All of us, God's people are to proclaim this message. Charles Spurgeon says this, quote, if we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the word of God.

End quote. That's so good. Let's just read that again. If we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the word of God. And ladies and gentlemen, I spoke about this last week. We have this in abundance.

We have the word of God in abundance. There's no excuse for any Christian to not know the word of God. We are living in a day and time where Christians are anemic to the word of God. They are a part of the body of Christ, but they do not have what is needed for them to be healthy.

I mean, they have it, but they don't have it. They're not getting it in them. They have just enough of the word of God to be dangerous and just enough of the word to be in danger for not knowing the word.

This is how we have false teachers and sometimes teachers who don't even know they're teaching falsely, right? If your sermon comes from TBN, my brother, from another mother. Let me tell you, there is no such thing as a Christian who does not have a desire to know the word of God.

There's just no such thing. We hear a lot today. It's very common for people to say that they have a relationship with God, a relationship with Christ. Imagine you've been in a 20, 30 year relationship with someone and they know little to nothing about you.

And some of the information that they speak about you, it's actually false information. What kind of relationship is that? What is a relationship? A relationship is when two people live in community together.

They live with each other. They know each other. They experience one another. They speak to each other. They have conversation. And we live in a day and time where people say, oh, I have a relationship with God.

Well, you better have a relationship with God. Well, how do you have it? It's through word and prayer. How is someone to know God?

Through his word.

It's through his word. To be in a relationship with someone is to know that someone, and I would say it's to know them intimately. Again, imagine if I asked you about your spouse, your wife, or your husband.

Hey, tell me about your wife. Tell me about your husband. And you were like, I don't know.

I have no clue.

I would doubt that relationship. Being a member of a Reformed Baptist church is in one sentence saying, we don't care about programs, we don't care about youth groups, and we don't care about children crying in the service.

Give us the word of God. It's one thing that you can expect when you go to a Reformed church, whether it's Baptist, Presbyterian, or Anglican. Some Anglicans are Reformed, if you did not know that. Just like some Baptists are Reformed.

And some Presbyterians are falling out of the Reformed circle. But when you come to these Reformed churches, you expect the word of God to be preached. Imagine going to a Reformed church, and all the preacher did was talk about his week.

Doesn't open the book. You would say that that guy did not experience God this past week. Hebrews 4, verse 12 says this,. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joint and marrow, and is able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.

Why is it you do what you do? The word of God can judge that. The intentions of your thoughts and your heart. You might be doing something you think is good, with the wrong motive. The word of God can judge those things.

The God of the word. Ephesians 6, verse 17 tells us the word of God is the sword of the spirit. The word of God is our weapon. Imagine going into warfare. Imagine approaching an opposing army, and you had no weapon.

You had no shield. You had no sword. Modern times, you had no helmet. You had no gun. There was no coverage. You did not have your weapon. You would be a useless soldier. You would be approaching a battle that you are unprepared to fight.

The word of God is the sword of the spirit. It is our weapon. And when we leave here, we are entering into a battlefield, and for the most part, most Christians that feel peace are walking out into the world a useless soldier because they do not have the sword of the spirit.

And last week, we saw that through the word of God, particularly in the New Testament, we are able to know the God of the Bible. Without the word of God, we would not know that God is triune. We would not know that the second person of the Holy Trinity came into time, and we would not know the gospel.

Thanks to Scriptures, thanks to these Scriptures, we are able to know the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of Christology, and the doctrine of justification by faith alone. These glorious doctrines are given to us in Scripture alone.

We would not have this knowledge, this information, without the Scriptures and without men throughout time studying the Scriptures and helping us to understand these things. Our theme for this Lord's Day is God's Announcement of the Savior, Jesus, part one.

And how does Paul reveal to them, that is, the sons of Israel and the God-fearers, those who have been proselytized and brought into the Jewish faith, how does he announce to them the Savior, Jesus? And the answer is through the Word of God.

He uses the Word of God to announce to them that God has given a Savior, and His name is Jesus. Throughout history, God's people chosen to bring about the seed of Abraham and David to bless the nations.

And now we are in a world where there is a word that has taken a bad reputation. These days, there's a word that has been given a bad reputation, and rightly so in the way that it has been used, and that word is biblicalism, biblicalist.

However, for those of you who do not know, as Baptists, we are, by definition, biblicist. Not a biblicist in the sense of no creed but Christ, which is, in fact, a creed. At this church, Reformed Baptist Church, we hold to the creeds.

We hold to everything throughout church history that is truth, that came forth from the Scriptures. So what a Reformed Baptist should say in this matter is this, if the Bible doesn't say it or teach it, then we don't hold to it.

If the Bible doesn't say the words, it must teach it. Let's give a simple way to understand this. Last week, we spoke about the Trinity. I have never found a verse that says the Trinity. It doesn't say the Trinity.

It doesn't say that God... There's not a verse that says that He's one being and three persons, right? It doesn't say that. And so some, in the word form of biblicism where it's bad, would say that there's no Trinity because it doesn't say the word.

But it does, in fact, teach the Trinity, and I showed that last week. God, there is one God, and yet this one God is three persons. But if it doesn't say the words, nor does it teach it, brothers and sisters, that's not what we should be going for.

We want to be people of the book. And in our outline, we're going to see the results of the word of God. And I would say if you do any kind of evangelism, if your heart is full, it doesn't matter if you're on the streets, or if you're catechizing your kids, or you just, you know, a chatty Cathy, right?

Is that how it says?

Everywhere you go, you just talk to people, right? Okay, these are three things you want in your arsenal. The first is the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins. Second, that justification is through Jesus Christ, and not Jesus, and not Moses.

And the third is a warning to watch out. So point number one, the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins. Point number two, justification through Jesus and not Moses. Point number three, a warning to watch out.

And as we transition, I want you to ask yourself, where would you be without the word of God?

Where would you be?

Where would you be without the word of God? Because faith comes by hearing. Hearing, most translation would say of the word of God, should actually be translated by hearing the message of Christ, the gospel.

We would not know that God is, there's one God, and that this one God is triune. We would not know that Christology, the doctrine of Christology, that the second person of the Trinity enters into time, takes on flesh, lives the life he could not live, dies the death that we deserve, was buried and rose again on the third day, and he's coming back.

Right? We would not know the gospel. We would not know any of these things without the word of God. Where would you be? I can tell you one place you wouldn't be.

Here.

You wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here. Point number one, the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins. And in our chapter, Saul, Paul shows back up, and this time is no longer Saul, it's just Paul. And he does so as the preacher, as the preacher.

This is, in fact, the first sermon preached by Paul in the book of Acts. I assure you, this is not Paul's first sermon. This is the first sermon Luke writes for us in this story through the book of Acts.

Paul and his companions are at a synagogue, and trust me when I say they are not there to worship by way of the old covenant. They are there to preach Christ and the new covenant. They are there for one purpose, and that is to preach Christ and to tell people that the old covenant has ended and the new covenant has begun.

And he does so by speaking of forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins under the old covenant was through the sacrificial system. You had to, you sinned, you bring forth whatever animal was required for that sin, and someone would sacrifice that animal and sprinkle the blood.

While the forgiveness of sins under the new covenant is much different, much better, and Paul is going, is there at this synagogue to explain to them. It picks up in verse 38, he says, let it be known to you, speaking to the Jews and the God-fearers, therefore, let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man, speaking of Jesus, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

In preaching Jesus Christ, Paul, just like the other preachers in the book of Acts, such as Peter and Stephen, they go back to the fathers. And by fathers, I need you to think their ancestors. They go back to their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, so on and so forth.

Like if you can recall, every time that a gospel message has been proclaimed to the Jews, they go back to the ancestors. They pull the word of God. They bring, they take Jesus with them, and they show the light of Christ through the Old Testament.

So let's pick up reading where Haps left off in verse 16. Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 16. So let's just remember they are in the synagogue. They have just been asked by the leaders of the synagogue, does anyone have a word of encouragement for the people?

Verse 16, so Paul stood up and motioning with his hands. This right here tells you he's a true preacher, right? He's giving hand gestures. He's motioning with his hands, right? I would love to see Paul get down.

Motioning with his hands said, men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt. With uplifted arm, he led them out of it.

And for about 40 years, he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. And after that, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

And then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, the son of Cush as a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. And when they had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all my will.

Verse 23, for this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, right here, as he promised. Verse 23 is key to unlocking this gospel message. Let's read that again. Of this man, speaking of David's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as he promised.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you go to Matthew chapter one, the very beginning, it proclaims to us that Jesus is son of David, son of David. Jesus is a descendant of David. And then it says a savior. What did the Jews as well as the rest of the world need saving from?

Right? The one thing that even the physical descendants of Abraham who were a part of the earthly kingdom could not escape from and you could not escape from was sin, was their sin. It's your sin. You cannot escape from it.

Their sins, your sins will keep you separated from God. Their sins kept them separated from God. They were God's chosen people to bring about an offspring. They were God's chosen people by way of a covenant, right, of these descendants.

They were in his kingdom and their sins separated them from God. Their sin, their breaking of God's law had become a chasm that had no door. There was no way for them to get to God because of this chasm.

And that chasm is their sin. God through the Mosaic law gives them a sacrificial system. But we know that God is not satisfied with the blood of bulls and goats. Isaiah chapter 1. They needed, you needed someone, a savior to save you from your sins in order to unite us together with God.

We were in need of this because of a great chasm, our sins, that separates us from God. We needed a door. We needed a clear path through. We needed someone to part the Red Sea, let's say, the Red Sea of our sins so that we can cross over and get to God.

And verse 23 tells us that the Savior is the seed that came through David, Jesus, the son of David. He speaks about the promise. He says that this was promised to us. And it's promised to us in the Davidic covenant.

God promised David that he was going to raise up for him a seed and that this seed, the son of David, would keep God's covenant. He would keep God's law and therefore sit on the throne of David forever.

This seed, the son of David, Jesus, with his life, kept the law, kept the covenant, which means Jesus sits on the throne of David forever. And I've said this so much we could probably turn it into a song.

As goes the king, so goes the kingdom. Let me prove that real quick. When Adam sinned, all creation fell with Adam. When Adam sinned, all creation fell with Adam. That's when this chasm entered the world, death and sin.

When King David sinned, his kingdom suffered for his sins. His kingdom was being punished and put to death because of his sins. So when Jesus keeps the law, his kingdom, the new covenant, the kingdom of heaven, we're blessed with him.

The promise began with Abraham and his seed, that a seed, an offspring is going to come from him. And all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him. For those of us who know the gospel, we know what's next.

He says that a savior is coming and a savior has come through the line of David. So now a sacrifice must be brought forth. And Paul does not disappoint. Let's begin back with verse 23 and read to verse 29.

Of this man's, remember that's David, man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

And as John was finishing his course, he said, what do you suppose that I am? I am not he, no, but behold, after me is coming one whose sandals, of whose feet I am unworthy to untie. Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of salvation.

For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterance of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfill them by condemning him. He's saying that you, you killed the Christ.

Verse 28, and though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in the tomb.

Right here, Paul preaches the death of the savior that came as the promised seed of David. His own people had him killed by hanging him on a tree, on that cross. And I've mentioned this before, Galatians tells us, well, Bidicchus tells us that whoever's hung on a tree is cursed, and Galatians tells us that this curse came upon Jesus.

And I want you to understand that when the Bible talks about your sins are laid upon him, it's because he was on that tree and became a curse. Your sins could not have been applied to Christ if he had not been laid on that tree.

He had not been crucified on that cross. They had to fulfill everything that was spoken about him. And Paul is explaining this to them. And the question is, as he keeps going, so he mentions that there's a savior, that he's the promise, that his death came, and that they are the ones that killed him.

But by them killing him, they are fulfilling what is written in the Bible. And what comes after the death of Christ is the resurrection of Christ. We see this beginning in verse 30. So remember, they hung him from the tree and they laid him in a tomb, verse 30, but God raised him from the dead.

Let's read that again. But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. So those that he were with, those that saw him are now out being his witness.

And we bring you the good news. That what God has promised to the fathers. So there's another promise coming up. So not only was he promised to sit on the throne of David, listen to this.

Verse 33.

This he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus as it is written in the second Psalm. You are my son. Today I have begotten you. And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, I will give you the holy and sure blessing of David.

Therefore, he says in another Psalm, you will not let your holy one see corruption. For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his father and fathers and saw corruption.

But he whom God raised did not see corruption. Real quick, turn with me to Psalm chapter two. Psalm chapter two. I'm going to read all this Psalm. Remember, he began with the death. Chapter two, verse one.

Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves against set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying.

Verse three is speaking about how they take him and kill him. So if you just read it, you don't have this knowledge. It's hard to make clear that. Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away the cords from among us.

Now, what does God think about their rebellion and their crucifixion of his sons? Verse four, he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my son.

I know I have set my king on Zion, my holy heel. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nation's your inheritance in the ends of the earth, your possessions.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Now, therefore, oh, king, oh, kings, be wise, be warned. Oh, rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are those who take refuge in him.

Acts.

Chapter two, look at verse 20, Acts chapter two, look at verse 29. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch, David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day.

Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that he would set his descendants on the throne. So he's speaking of this covenant that was made with David, that one of his sons was set on the throne.

He's speaking of God for David. He's speaking of David for Saul and spoke about the resurrection of Jesus, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Real quick, turn to Hebrews chapter five.

We're going to read chapter four, verse 14, and then we'll lead into five. It kind of goes together. Since therefore, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. This is talking about when Jesus.

When Jesus was put to death, where did he go? He went into the heavens, the earth, the heavenly temple. He went through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in the time of need. Chapter five. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of man in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beseeched with weakness. Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins, just as he does for those people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God as just as Aaron was.

So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, You are my son, today I have begotten you. Now as I finish reading, I want you to ask yourself this question.

What does it mean that he was begotten? You are my son, today I have begotten you. As he says also in another place, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with a loud cry and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his reverence.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered and being made perfect, complete. Talking about without this crucifixion and what's about to take place, he could never be complete because he was begotten.

He became the source of eternal life to all those who obey him, being designated by God as a high priest at the order of Melchizedek. So right here, this is telling us, Paul is telling them about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he points to Psalm 2.

And he tells us that he will not see corruption. And by not seeing corruption, he points to another psalm, it says, I think it's Psalm 16, verse 8, I believe, to show that he would not see corruption.

That God is going to raise him from the dead, and when he does so, he calls this his begotten. Begotten, from what I've just read to you, equals resurrection. Begotten equals resurrection. This tells us that not only was Jesus crucified before the foundation of the world, meaning that it wasn't plan B, Peter tells us that he was crucified before the foundation of the world.

Not only is that true, but he was eternally begotten, meaning his resurrection. Jesus, the story of Jesus cannot be told outside of his death, burial, and resurrection. He is the begotten, the eternally begotten.

He was not made, he was begotten before all time. That's what the creeds tell us. He's not made, he is begotten. He is in his begotten. It's telling us that his purpose and everything that he does throughout his life, it's really hard to explain because we're living in what's called a time zone.

We are trapped by time. When we start talking about things that's eternal, our mind does not know how to understand it. So please give me some grace here as I attempt to explain it. There's never been a time that Jesus was not supposed to be going to enter into time, taking on flesh, becoming a man, dying for our sins, being buried and rising again, and coming back.

There's never been a... It's hard to speak of eternity and say the word time, but there's never been a time that that has not been his purpose. And Hebrews tells us that this is how he is perfected. He is made perfect.

Tell you the Greek word, he is made complete.

Right?

If Adam would have not fallen and the nation would have not fallen after him, there would have been no need for Christ to come. And he therefore would have never been made complete. He had to come. This is what Paul is saying to them.

Just as it is written, he comes. And you read these words in the synagogues every week, and you carry out what they said by crucifying him. But he's letting them know he was begotten. He came back because he was begotten.

Now have that in mind. Verse 38, let it be known to you. Since he was crucified, dead, buried, rose from the dead, never to see corruption, because he is begotten. Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man, speaking of Jesus, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

Through David, Paul proclaimed to them, as well as to you and I, through the word of God, that forgiveness of sins is through Jesus Christ. Jesus, our Savior. Through our Savior, Jesus Christ, the once and for all sacrifice.

The book of Hebrews tells us that his sacrifice is once for all. Everyone who is before him and everyone that comes after him. And then our next point is going to tell us how it is applied. Point number two, justification through Jesus, not Moses.

Look at verse 39. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything which you could not be freed from by the law of Moses. In one way, the law had become the great chasm. We're told over and over throughout the Old Testament.

You want to live? Keep the law. You want to live in the land? Keep the law. Keep the law and live. No one was able to keep the law but one Christ. No one is eternally begotten but one Christ who kept the law.

Keep the law and live. The law had become a chasm. Sin is breaking God's law. So when I said earlier that sin is this great chasm, it's because we cannot keep the law. So the law in one sense had become this chasm keeping us from God.

No one can be justified through the law. Like this is what Romans tells us in chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 beginning in verse 19. Romans chapter 3. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be held accountable to God.

For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. The problem with the old covenant is that the Jews were using the law as a way to establish their own righteousness.

And we see this in chapter 10 of Romans beginning in verse 1, 1 through 4. Brothers, my heart desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. Paul wants his Jewish brothers to be saved. For I bear witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit themselves to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

In order to be made righteous, you have to believe in Jesus. Moses had taken on the old covenant representation because the law was given through Moses. John 17, excuse me, John chapter 1, verse 17 says, for the law was given through Moses.

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. This grace and truth is pointing us to the new covenant where there is forgiveness of sins through the Savior, Jesus Christ. Not through a sacrificial system, but through the Savior, Jesus Christ.

And ladies and gentlemen, the more we understand the gospel, the more we will understand the word of God. I would challenge you to devote yourself to understanding the gospel. Let that be your centerpiece.

If you set a table to have a meal with someone, a lot of women sometimes will have some kind of a centerpiece. Your centerpiece in life needs to be the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's your centerpiece.

If you don't know that, I don't care how much of the Bible you can quote. It means nothing to me. Know the gospel and knowing the gospel, you'll be able to understand the word of God. If anyone is to be justified before God, they are to be justified by faith, by believing in Jesus, our Savior, and not in keeping the law.

Point number three.

Watch out.

My warning to watch out. So let's go back to Acts chapter 13. Look at verses 40 and 41. Look, you scoffers. No, verse 40, excuse me. Beware, therefore, what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astonished and perish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe even if someone tells you.

We quoted Psalm 2 earlier where it talks about kiss the sun least you die. Verses 40 and 41 are also hinting at Psalm chapter 2, this warning that Jesus is going to inherit the nations and there's nothing you can do about it.

And you better take warning. You better bow your knee. You better kiss the sun or you are going to perish. That's what he's saying. You scoffers, be astonished and perish. He tells us something is going to happen and the prophets have told you about it.

These two verses, speaking in verses 41 and 42 are the reason that you heard in your hearing is why we should never mix Moses and Jesus. We should never mix law and gospel. If you, if you confuse the law and the gospel, you will end up trying to establish your own righteousness just like the Jews.

I have to do this in order to be safe. I have to keep God's law in order to be made right with God and for God to be pleased with me. That is a wrong way to look at God's law. But also if you believe in the gospel, but live as if there is no law, you prove yourself to be a false convert.

If you use the law to try to make yourself right with God. You're a false convert. You if you believe in the gospel, you believe everything there is about Jesus Christ. But you live as if there is no law.

You prove yourself to be a false convert. There are categories for a reason. There are distinctions for a reason. The law cannot save you. But we look to the law in order to know how we are to live. But it cannot save you and don't dare use it as a way to say, well, I'm good with God because I done this, this, this and begin the patent on the back.

You cannot confuse the law and the gospel. We are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and those who are in Christ are to follow Jesus Christ.