Sunday, June 19, 2022 AM

Good morning everyone. Oh, I didn't hear very much there. Good morning. Good morning.

It's good to be here to be with you on this Father's Day today. I want to real quickly honor the fathers that we have in the room this morning.

If you're a father, a grandfather, we'd like for you to stand real quick so that we can honor you this morning.

Father figure, let's give these guys a hand for all that they do.

You can be seated. I was thinking about Father's Day this morning and as part of that, there's a book that's come out recently that I've been reading through and reading with my boys from Michael Foster and non -tenant.

It's good to be a man. And there's an excerpt in there just that I want to read. Although we may think of fatherhood as a metaphor that we apply to God, scripture has things the other way around.

When Jesus calls God his father, this is not anthropomorphic language. Rather, when we call men our father, that is theomorphic language.

God is the archetypal father. This is because to image God, we must first fear him.

And our fathers are the ones who teach us this fear. He, your fathers, has a powerful fear to impose order upon us.

Indeed, both boys and girls tend to love their father, especially because he is to be feared, but not because he's dangerous to them, but because he is dangerous to the sin and chaos that threatens the harmony of the household.

So rejoice in the fathers that interpose between our households, our families, in sin and hold them to that standard.

Honor your fathers every day, but honor them especially today. Because of that, we will not be having evening service tonight.

Spend that time with your families this evening. Looking ahead, this Wednesday, we'll have our meal at 545, regular time, and then prayer meeting and children's choir at 630.

Looking ahead to a few Sundays in the future, communion in the morning on Sunday, June 26th, and truth group for the young adults.

That's after the evening service that evening. Sunday, July 3rd, we'll have a

Sunnyside 70th birthday celebration after the evening service. And then, looking at a few days after that on Saturday, the 9th

Word of Life of Women's Retreat, and that's all day. Mission House demolition is coming up.

Really want to encourage you, if there's anything you want to look at in that house to get out of there before it's demolished, please see

Hannah Hamilton. Is Hannah in here? Go ahead and raise your hand high so they know who you are. Get with Hannah to look through the house before it's torn down on the 9th.

Also, want to just encourage you to, if you're not already subscribed to the email that we put out, kind of preparing for Sunday, there's a link in the bulletin to get you on that.

Any other announcements this morning? All right, this week's fighter verse comes from 1st

Peter, chapter 5, verses 6 through 8. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind.

Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We're going to prepare our hearts for worship now, and at the conclusion of that, Dad will come up and open us in prayer.

Almighty God, Heavenly Father, thank you for the blessing of these moments of quietness, of stillness, that reminds us that in that stillness you are

God. You are over all. There is nothing too difficult for you.

There is nothing in all creation that is hidden from your sight. Lord, you know our hearts, how grateful we are that Jesus himself taught us that when we pray, we are to call you

Father. Lord, we come to you this morning as children, children who desire to draw near to you.

You yourself tell us that we are to seek your face, to gaze upon your beauty, to draw near to you.

Lord, we confess this morning that far too often we seek your gifts and not your face.

We want your blessings. We want all the good gifts that you give, and they are indeed good, and for those things we are grateful.

But all those good gifts have no real value apart from you. And so,

Lord, with the

Lord do I seek. Lord, help us today to enter in with joy and thanksgiving into your presence.

Thank you for drawing near to us and that you have done so in the person of your son, the

Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge through faith in Christ.

So, Lord, may we draw near to you today. May our worship be a pleasing sound in your ear today.

Let us seek you, Lord, with our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Would you stand with me for our call to worship this morning?

We're continuing in chapter 78 of Psalms. We'll be reading verses 34 to 39.

Read with me together. When he killed them, he sought them. They repented and sought

God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, the

Most High God, their Redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouths.

They lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward him.

They were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them.

He restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.

He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comments not again.

So, if you would, turn into your Psalms for worship hymnal and we'll sing page 78

F. We'll sing all four verses. Then our regular hymnal, page 60,

Morning Has Broken. Morning has broken, like the first morning.

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning, praise for this free world.

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunbeam from heaven, like the first to pass.

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden sprung in complete task.

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning and softly.

Praise every morning,

God's re -created. Sounds like somebody's happy to hear the word read this morning.

If you would turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 27, we'll be reading the entirety of the chapter.

Isaiah 27, beginning in verse 1. In that day, the

Lord with his severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent.

Leviathan, that twisted serpent, and he will slay the reptile that is in the sea.

In that day, sing to her, a vineyard of red wine. I, the

Lord, keep it. I water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I keep it night and day.

Fury is not in me. Who would set briars and thorns against me in battle?

I would go through them. I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me.

And he shall make peace with me. Those who come, he shall cause to take root in Jacob.

Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit.

Has he struck Israel as he struck those who struck him? Or has he been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by him?

In measure, by sending it away, you contended with it. He removes it by his rough wind in the day of the east wind.

Therefore, by this, the iniquity of Jacob will be covered. And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin.

When he makes all the stones of the altar like chalk stones that are beaten to dust, wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.

Yet the fortified city will be desolate, the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness.

There the calf will feed and there it will lie down and consume its branches. When its bows are withered, they will be broken off.

The women come and set them on fire. For it is a people of no understanding.

Therefore, he who made them will not have mercy on them. And he who formed them will show them no favor.

And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will thresh from the channel of the river to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one,

O you children of Israel. So it shall be in that day, the great trumpet will be blown.

They will come who are about to perish in the hand of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt and shall worship the

Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem." Would you pray with me?

Lord God, you have taken your vineyard and you have given it to new vine dressers who will produce the fruit of it in its season.

Lord, and you keep them in perfect peace because their minds are stayed upon you and they trust in you.

You have grafted them into a choice vine, a life giving vine.

You have gathered your people and united them to Jesus Christ, your son, that we might have life and have it abundantly.

Lord, I pray that we might produce fruit that is pleasing to you by your spirit as we sing psalms and hymns and songs of praise, as we give an amen to your word as it's declared, and as we truly love and serve one another as you have commanded.

We ask for these mercies in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. You may be seated.

Our next song this morning is Blessed Assurance, page 345. We'll sing verses one and three.

This is my story, this is my song. Born of his spirit, washed in his blood.

This is my story, this is my song.

Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song.

Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest.

I am my Savior and happy and blessed.

Watching and hearing my story, this is my song.

Praising my Savior all the day long. So where is salvation and where is life?

Words the Apostle Paul says, For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. In our

Hymns of Modern and Ancient Hymnal, page 4, we'll sing, All I Have is Christ.

I once was lost in darkest night,

Yet I knew the way.

The sin that promised joy and life, That led me to the grave.

I had no hope that you would hold forever to your will.

And if you had a loving heart,

I would refuse you still. But as I read my help, a grace indifferent to the cost,

You looked upon my helpless state, And led me to the cross.

And I beheld God's loveliest way. He suffered in me.

Now my only hope,

Jesus, is

Christ. Hallelujah.

Jesus is my life. At this time, would the men come forward.

We'd like to share a special song with you. I Know That My Redeemer Lives. Brother Brian's going to lead us.

We are going to sing the first three verses of the Archipelago just today. Now the fourth verse will ask you to join us.

Redeemer lives, glory hallelujah.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives.

Glory hallelujah. Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground.

Glory hallelujah. The dead's alive and the lost is found.

Glory hallelujah. He lives, he lives, who once was dead.

Glory hallelujah. He lives, my everlasting head.

Glory hallelujah. Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground.

Glory hallelujah. The dead's alive and the lost is found.

Glory hallelujah. He lives to bless me with his love.

Glory hallelujah. He lives to plead for me above.

Glory hallelujah. Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground.

Glory hallelujah. The dead's alive and the lost is found.

Glory hallelujah. He lives on glory to his name.

Glory hallelujah. He lives, my

Jesus, still the same. Glory hallelujah.

Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground.

Glory hallelujah. The dead's alive and the lost is found.

Glory hallelujah. Amen. Let's go to Lord together in prayer.

Father, we thank you for the joys of gathering together to rejoice in your name, to give you praise.

We may sing together so freely and joyfully because of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Because you have given us your Son and with him you freely give us all things. And you have given us your

Holy Spirit to indwell us and empower us and by whom we offer up our supplications.

We know that you hear us because of your Son who is at your right hand. We pray today that as we read your word together, as we orient ourselves to your glory, that we would truly fear you, that we would rejoice in your truth, and that you would give us a clear view of your

Son here in this word, that we may look like him in this world.

We pray for these mercies in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. I invite you to open your

Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1, we'll be reading verses 1 through 11 in a moment.

The title of this introduction is The King in His Kingdom. These are the themes that should capture our attention throughout the book of Acts.

Indeed, we will read about the acts of the apostles, but they would be the first to indicate that what they did was by the power of the

Holy Spirit who was sent to them from their Lord, their Sovereign, their King Jesus.

And that really, truly, anything that was accomplished by the work of the church here in this book of Acts, all the credit goes to the risen

Lord Jesus. And so here at the very beginning of the book of Acts, the focus is on the

King in his kingdom. And it is a good opportunity to consider the definitions of the key terms and to be oriented in the correct direction as we read this most vital book in the

New Testament. So I invite you to stand with me as I read Acts chapter 1, verses 1 through 11, the word of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit and His servant Luke. The former account

I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which

He was taken up after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom

He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the

Father, which He said, You have heard from Me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the

Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked

Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them,

It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all

Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched,

He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white peril, who also said,

Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same

Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw

Him go into heaven. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

You may be seated. Here as we look at the introduction to the book of Acts, we should be struck by the note that the

Lord sounds in His temple. The chorus

He assigns for His choir to sing. The theme that He wants them to be all about.

The theme of the message that He wants His apostles to declare moving forward. For three and a half years,

Jesus has been teaching and preaching and giving illustrations and telling parables and confronting the

Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes and priests and bringing forward this one message time and again, the gospel of the kingdom.

For three and a half years, He declares the gospel of the kingdom, the good news about the kingdom.

He tells stories about the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God and He declares its nature and He affirms its presence in Him and His power.

And here, after His death and resurrection, as He has but 40 days to spend with His apostles before He ascends to heaven, what does

He spend His time doing? What is His priority? It is declaring to them the things pertaining the kingdom of God.

Here is His focus. He is setting the priority. He is talking to them about what He wants them to talk about.

He is laying out before them the plan of action, the direction they are to go.

Their understanding for all what comes next is caught up in this expression, the kingdom of God.

And as they gather together, having presented to them the kingdom in verses 1 through 3,

He begins to tell them of the progress of the kingdom. And He first gives them the promise of the

Holy Spirit in verses 4 and 5, which we have spent a couple of weeks investigating and meditating upon, the riches of the theme of this promise, the promise of the

Holy Spirit. It is difficult to find any area of Bible doctrine where we don't have this important promise of the

Holy Spirit as a key factor. To understand the difference between the Old Covenant and the

New Covenant, we have to understand the promise of the Holy Spirit. And He wants

His disciples, His apostles, in view of the kingdom of God, to be focused upon the priority of the

Holy Spirit. So first He reminds them of the promise that they may understand the importance, the necessity of the

Holy Spirit. And that is our attention here this morning in verses 6 through 8.

The kingdom is all about the king. That's the theme of verses 1 through 11. It would be a tragedy if we thought the kingdom was all about the kingdom.

But the kingdom is all about the king. When the king shows up, all it takes is for the king to show up, for him to say, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.

All it takes is for him to show up, for the kingdom to be at hand. And so the kingdom is all about the king.

And indeed, when it comes to the progress of the kingdom, it's all about the provision of the king. How in the world will

Christ's kingdom advance except by the resources and the power that He Himself provides?

And He puts all of our attention upon the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so we're going to talk about the priority of the

Holy Spirit as that provision the king provides for the progress of his kingdom.

Now, as we've noted, for three and a half years, Jesus has been preaching about the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom.

And then for these 40 days between His resurrection and ascension, He's been talking about the kingdom of God.

And He, in that context, says you must wait in Jerusalem for the power of the

Holy Spirit to come upon you. And then the disciples ask a question.

It's a two -part question. The first part has to do with timing. And the second part has to do with triumph.

And they ask this question in verse 6. Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

After all this time of Jesus preaching and teaching about the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, three and a half years, and then for 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension, on the very day of His ascension when

He's about to leave, it's the last day of class. They're supposed to be graduating soon.

And they're asking a question that at some level seems to be disjointed from everything He's been saying. But don't be too hard on the disciples.

Sometimes this text is read and someone says, yeah, well, this is the disciples asking about a whole other theme in the

Old Testament that Jesus has never touched on. That Jesus has spent

His time in His three and a half years, and even in these 40 days, He's been talking about just portions, small slivers of the

Old Testament that He found to be very important for the current era. And He has left vast swaths of the

Old Testament untouched, undealt with, and He has not taught it at all. And this is what sparks the question of the disciples, the apostles in this moment, and they want to say, yes, but what about all these other parts, all these other promises, all these other distinctives of the

Old Testament, of the scriptures? When is that going to happen, Jesus? You've not told us anything about that.

Why have you left this subject entirely alone? This would be an improper reading of the text, for the disciples are not so ignorant as to ask a question unrelated to the themes that Jesus has been teaching.

Additionally, when Jesus answers, He's not talking about something entirely unrelated to their question.

Some people look at the question that the apostles ask, and they say, well, good grief, they're not even in the same ballpark as Jesus is.

But in fact, they are. They're in the same ballpark. And indeed, blessed by Jesus and taught by Jesus, Jesus has been effective in their life, and He is blessing them and leading them and guiding them.

And they have made it to first base. They've gotten out of the batter's box, and they've made it to first base.

By the grace of God, they are there. The only problem is, instead of leading off towards second, they've led off back where they came.

You're not supposed to do that. I don't know if you've watched any baseball at all, but when you get to first base, you lead off this way.

You head over to second base. The only problem is in their question, they're in the right ballpark, and they've made it to first base, and that's all well and good, but now they're leading off back towards the way they came.

And that batter's path is familiar. That feels like the best way to get home.

And they're leading off the wrong direction, which Jesus, of course, in His patience and kindness and long -suffering,

He corrects as a master teacher. So we should not think that their question is unrelated to the themes that He has been teaching, and we ought not think that His answer to them is unrelated to their question, but indeed the whole thing is, the whole passage is coherent, not incoherent.

This is not a passage which is pitted against itself, full of contradictions, but indeed it is coherent and thematic, and we must pay attention to the way in which our

Savior answers the question. You see the question of both timing and triumph in verse 6.

They come together and they ask, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

So Jesus takes it in two parts. There's the part about the timing, and there's the part about restoring the kingdom to Israel.

And so in verse 7, He deals with the timing, as we talked about last week. And He said to them, and this is a humbling thing for them to hear, but He says, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the

Father has put in His own authority. They need to trust their Father about this. They need to trust their

Father about the timing. When Jesus gives answers about timing, sometimes

He's more specific than other times, but in every case, there is a need for trust that it will come about in the particulars which

God has ordained. In the meantime, there is the need to fear the Lord and wait and be patient about His procedures and His timing.

And so we looked at that last week, and we're admonished about that. But now, what about the second part?

They want to know about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, and Jesus answers this question.

Now the question that we need to ask is, why would Peter and John and Philip and the rest of them, why would they begin to think about this theme of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel?

What have they been hearing? They've been hearing three and a half years of parables, three and a half years of teaching, three and a half years of debate and discourse and confrontation of the scribes and the

Pharisees. And they've had 40 days with the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ as He's been instructing them about the kingdom of God.

And even now, in the immediate text, He indicates that He is the

King. Obviously, He's the Messiah. He's risen from the dead.

He's the heir of David. He obviously has all authority and power.

We read in Matthew chapter 28, Jesus says, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

So He's the King, and He's talking about the kingdom, and He's talking about the

Holy Spirit, the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit, the promised Holy Spirit, just as John preached and just as Jesus had said.

And so these are the things that are rattling around the disciples' minds, and they begin to make connections with all kinds of Old Testament passages that regard the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.

There are many such passages, and we can read about them in the book of Isaiah. We saw many of them in the book of Jeremiah and in the book of Daniel.

We can read about them in the book of Ezekiel, and we can find many other passages in the minor prophets, the smaller prophets, talking about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.

The pattern is set generally thus. Israel is a rebellious nation.

They're not keeping covenant. They're full of immorality and idolatry and injustice, and God promises that they're going to be judged, and He promises that there's a nation coming who's going to destroy them, and we find out it's

Babylon. And God gives promises to His people that that's not the end of the story, that God's going to restore their kingdom after He judges them and destroys them.

There's going to be a restoration of the kingdom to Israel. And every time that picture is painted in the

Old Testament, there are certain themes that come to the fore. Those themes include no one less than David or the son of David reigning once again over the kingdom of Israel.

And this is taken up by the prophets and understood by the apostles as Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of that promise.

He is David. He is the son of David. He is the one who reigns over the kingdom. There's also the theme of the pouring forth of the

Holy Spirit in the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Many promises are given and many metaphors are given about the arrival of the

Holy Spirit, the blessing of the Holy Spirit in ways that they have never seen before. The restoration of the kingdom, you see, is going to be far more glorious and far more grand than any experience they have had prior.

They have a lot to look forward to, great hopes. So there's the theme of the Messiah. There's the theme of the

Holy Spirit. There's also the theme of the gathering in of God's people from all the quarters of the earth, from the north and the south and the east and the west.

They are all gathered back together into Zion, into Jerusalem, brought back to the temple so that the worship of God may be purified and restored.

And in fact, not only is there a gathering from all the four quarters of the earth, but also among them, with them, are the

Gentiles, the nations. They also come to the covenant topography, the holy mountain, the covenant geography, the holy city, the covenant architecture, the holy temple.

And so God's people are gathered from all over the earth. Even the nations come in with them, and they're all gathered together in Jerusalem, and they worship

God, and over them is reigning Messiah. The Holy Spirit's being poured out all over the place.

That is the picture of the restored kingdom to Israel. And there are many different passages in the

Old Testament. It is a major theme. As you read through your Bibles in the year, you're going to find passage after passage where God promises that after the judgment against idolatrous

Israel, He's going to restore the kingdom, and this is going to look like people gathered in from all over the place by the power of the

Holy Spirit to serve and to worship in a holy way under the reign of Messiah. And that is the theme time and again of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.

And these promises are given in Old Testament pictures and shadows and types, meaning central to the themes,

Mount Zion, Jerusalem, the temple, and all manner of the shadows and types and pictures of the

Old Testament are used to express this great hope of the restored kingdom to Israel.

So when Jesus is set forth by the power of the

Holy Spirit as the true Son of God and the Son of David, having been raised from the dead the third day, and everything that He has said about the kingdom of God thus far begins to fall into place, and He begins preaching about the pouring forth of the

Holy Spirit, it is correct for the disciples to reflect upon the promises of a restored kingdom to Israel because, hey,

Messiah, the pouring of the Holy Spirit, is it now, Lord, is it now that you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

So they've made it to the first base, they're just leading off in the wrong direction. Let's see how that is in Jesus' answer to their question about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.

They know it's time, the themes are all in place, how is this going to look?

Right now they're leading off in the wrong direction because they believe that the Messiah, somehow in their minds, the

Messiah is the one who pushes the right mechanisms to bring about this restored kingdom to Israel.

They're leading off back home, back where they came from, back towards the old covenant, but Jesus, in His answer, is going to reorient them toward the blessings of the new covenant, and they're going to see the distinction that we need to see this morning because the kingdom is all about the king, the kingdom's not about the kingdom.

Well, let's look in our Bibles in John 6. The first thing that should have indicated to the disciples that they shouldn't have led off back home from first base, and at the very least they should have just stayed on the bag, is that Jesus has already answered the question about His relationship to a kingdom of Israel envisioned in the ethnic geopolitical sense.

He had a prime opportunity to be declared the king of an ethnic, sociopolitical, theological kingdom, kingdom of Israel.

He had the primary, best opportunity to do that, and it happens in John 6. Jesus feeds the 5 ,000, as we recall.

He feeds the 5 ,000 with just five barley loaves and two small fish. But He breaks the bread, blesses, and all of a sudden, there's bread everywhere.

There's fish everywhere, and He feeds the 5 ,000. And in verse 15, let's go back up to verse 14.

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.

Deuteronomy 18. The great prophet, the successor of Moses. One who will come from among you and will be a prophet greater than Moses, and everyone must listen to him, and if they don't, then they will be judged.

Deuteronomy 18. And they're saying, hey, here's the fulfillment of it. Here's one greater than Moses. And He's feeding us with, like, you know, bread from heaven.

Go figure. It's like we're in the wilderness again, and we're getting manna from heaven. So what do they want to do?

Verse 15. Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make

Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. They're ready.

Here we go. The restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Let's go. Let's get this guy on the throne. He feeds us.

He's like Moses. Let's do this. And He withdraws. They don't give up that easily, though, and they follow

Him. And they show up on the other side of the lake, and they hint rather awkwardly and obviously that they'd like some more food, please.

And Jesus says, okay, eat my flesh and drink my blood. Whoa, hang on a second.

Jews don't even eat their steaks medium, let alone deal with cannibalism.

What in the world is He talking about? He's setting Himself forth in the context of chapter 6, in the context of Passover, and He's setting

Himself forth as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You see that at the beginning of the

Gospel of John. This is what John the Baptist declared of Him. He's setting Himself forth as the sacrifice, the one mediator between God and man, and He's saying, you must come in through me.

God is going to be satisfied in me. You must be satisfied in me. You must eat my flesh and drink my blood.

A hard saying, after which John 6, 66, many turned away and followed

Him no more. So He had the prime opportunity to establish the kind of kingdom that many of them anticipated and expected, but He did not.

You say, well, maybe it was just a matter of timing, and they had the nature of the kingdom correct, but they just didn't have the timing correct.

Well, we go over to John chapter 18. John chapter 18.

And now we move from the most opportune moment to establish an ethnocentric, geopolitical kingdom.

From the most opportune moment, when He had 5 ,000 men, let alone their families and everybody else that they could bring together, it would have been the most successful messianic movement within that 100 -year period where so many messianic movements were had.

He had way more people ready to make Him king, way more than any other messiah, false messiah that tried to make the maneuver in that whole time period.

So He had the most opportune moment to do it, but He passed that up. And now we come to the most critical moment, when

He's on trial. He's on trial. What is He going to do? This is the moment where He's got to make the stand and accomplish the political coup and push out the

Romans and get rid of the oppressors and get back to having a Jewish kingdom.

This is the critical moment. We come to John chapter 18 and verse 33.

Then Pilate entered the praetorium again, called Jesus and said to Him, Are you the king of the Jews?

Here it is. Here's the opportunity. Jesus answered him,

Are you speaking this for yourself? Are you speaking for yourself about this? Or did others tell you this concerning me?

Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?

Now watch how Jesus answers. Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.

Two things. There's a positive and a negative. His kingdom is. That's the positive.

But His kingdom is not of this world. In the very same way that Jesus prayed over His followers and asked that the

Father would not take them out of the world but leave them in the world, in the same way that we are instructed that we are in this world but not of this world,

Jesus indicates that His kingdom is, but His kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom is not sourced from the earthly powers.

It is not sourced like other kingdoms are. All we have to do is read the vision in Daniel chapter 2 to see that empire after empire is stacked upon one another on a man -carved image.

But the kingdom of Christ comes like no other kingdom. A stone, watch it, uncut by human hands.

The idol is definitely carved by human hands. But the rock is not carved by human hands.

And it doesn't come from the ground. It comes from heaven. The kingdom of heaven comes in a way that is different than all other empires and all other nations.

And so Jesus is saying very clearly to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world,

My servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now My kingdom is not from here.

And so He clarifies the situation. So at least the disciples should not be leading off from first base back home, envisioning some kind of a kingdom in which there would be a military ousting of the

Roman occupying force and some sort of reestablishing of Jerusalem as the time of Solomon when everybody had to do business with Jerusalem and everybody had to travel in and out of Jerusalem as the capital of the world.

They're leaning back home, leading off the wrong direction off of first base. At least these two situations should have brought them back to first base and left them there.

But now, the way that Jesus answers tells them which way to lead off. The way home is not to go back towards the old covenant, but to go around the whole matter and see the beauty and the glory of the new covenant.

And He uses an expression here in verse 8. But you shall receive power.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you shall, watch this word, you shall be witnesses to Me, and watch the scope of it, in Jerusalem and in all

Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now what are the elements of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel in all the passages in the

Old Testament? It is what? The Messiah is going to be king. There's going to be the outpouring of the

Holy Spirit. And there is going to be an ingathering from all quarters of the earth who will worship once again in holy reverence before God, in God's holy mountain, holy city, holy temple.

So when you look at this passage, Jesus is talking about the very same elements of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel.

He's obviously the king, He's promising the Holy Spirit, and He's talking about a gathering in from all quarters of the earth to the proper worship of the

Lord. And He's saying to His apostles, you're going to be witnesses, you're going to be witnesses to Me.

Now, we really ought to take a break here and do a whole exposition of the book of Isaiah, but we're not going to.

We are, however, going to read a little bit from the book of Isaiah, the servant songs of Isaiah.

What a beautiful, beautiful collection of songs to the glory of Christ in light of a transition from the

Old to the New Covenant. And we go back to Isaiah chapter 14, verses 1 through 5, and we're going to hear some introductory themes to these songs which last for several chapters, well over a dozen chapters ahead of it.

And we're going to hear some good news. Israel needs to hear good news. We need to hear good news.

The thing that just happened prior in Isaiah is the promise that Babylon's going to come destroy them.

Way to go, Hezekiah. You invite the Babylonian envoys and show off to them, but they're going to come back and be laying waste to your city sometime in a future generation.

That's really bad news. Here's some good news, Isaiah 40, verse 1. Comfort. Isn't that good?

Comfort. Yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.

For she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

Lord. Who's that? John the Baptist, right? Jesus has already talked about John the

Baptist in our text. And as we look back at the servant songs, this is a critical moment, the forerunner of the

Messiah. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill brought low.

The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the

Lord has spoken. It's difficult to get to Mount Zion.

It's difficult to make your way to Jerusalem. Difficult to ascend throughout all the curvy paths of Jerusalem to get even to the

Temple Mount. And it was said in the Old Testament that the people were offered sacrifices only in one place, a place where God had chosen to set

His name. But perhaps if it was too difficult to make it there, then they would have to suffice by making altars here and there where they could.

But it was a difficult journey to ever make it to the place where God had set His name. Time and again they would have to make sacrificial journeys to even get there to have these feasts and these sacrifices that they offered.

Yet look what happens here. By the proclamation of the Gospel, by the preaching of the Word of God, what happens in the preparation of the way of the

Lord? The desert path is made a highway. Every valley is brought up, the mountains and the hills brought low.

All of a sudden, the way to the glory of the Lord is smooth. Suddenly, it's not difficult at all to make it to Jerusalem.

Suddenly, it's not difficult at all to make it to Zion. Suddenly, it's easy to get there because the glory of the

Lord has been revealed. And indeed, we have seen that glory manifested in Christ.

We beheld His glory, glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Isaiah 43, verses 5 through 20. We'll read certain selections from this. Verse 5 of Isaiah 43.

The servant songs. He's talking about the servant of the Lord. Let's pay attention to that language. Verse 5.

Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring your descendants from the east and gather you from the west.

I will say to the north, give them up. And to the south, do not keep them back. Four quarters of the earth, they're all being gathered in.

Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone who is called by my name, whom

I have created for my glory. I have formed him. Yes, I have made him. So bring in all my people from everywhere on the earth.

North, south, east, west. Bring them all in. Verse 10. And here we have the expression

Jesus uses for His apostles. You are my witnesses, says the

Lord. You think this is escaping Jesus' mind as He says to His disciples, His apostles, you are my witnesses, and then says this message must go out to all four quarters of the earth?

He says, you are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am

He. Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after me. I, even I, am the

Lord, and besides me there is no Savior. I have declared and saved,

I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign God among you. Therefore you are my witnesses, says the Lord, that I am

God. And what was the message that Jesus Christ gave to His apostles that they were

His witnesses to what? That He was the way, the truth, and the life, and apart from Him no one could come to the

Father except through Christ. That there was one mediator between God and man, the man in Christ Jesus. There was only one

Savior, and God the Son revealed God the Father by the power of God the Holy Spirit that there was only one

God, thus one Savior, one salvation, one gospel. You shall be my witnesses,

Christ says to His apostles. Verse 18 of Isaiah 43, Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.

Meaning, stop leading off first base going back home. We're not going to go back to the old covenant.

We're not going to go back to the old ways. We're going to lead off in a new direction. Behold, I will do a new thing.

Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Reminds us of chapter 40, doesn't it? The beast of the field will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I gave waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, this people

I have formed for myself, that they shall declare my praise. Do you remember the story in the wilderness? They're in the middle of the desert, and they need water.

And water comes gushing out of a rock. He promises to give water. Now, what kind of water is this?

Chapter 44 of Isaiah. Verse 1. Yet hear now, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom

I have chosen. Thus says the Lord, who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you.

Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. Now, pay attention.

Here's the explanation of the water. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground.

In other words, what? He explains the metaphor. I will pour my spirit.

I will pour water on him who is thirsty. I will pour my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring.

What did Jesus offer to the Samaritan woman? Water of everlasting life. And he says in John chapter 7 that this was the water of the

Holy Spirit. Verse 4. They will spring up among the grass like willows by the water courses.

One will say, I am the Lord. Another will call himself by the name of Jacob. Another will write with his hand, the Lord's, and name himself by the name of Israel.

In other words, the water of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the thirsty is going to define who is the

Lord's and who calls himself by the name of Jacob and who calls himself by the name of Israel will be those who drink the water of the

Holy Spirit. That people who call themselves Israel are not all Israel, Paul says.

That being a part of Israel will henceforth mean in this new thing those who have drunk of the water of the

Holy Spirit. It will not be ethnically defined by who is physically descended from Abraham. It will not be physically defined by those who have undergone the rite of circumcision.

It will not be by ethnicity and it will not be the ritual knife. It will be by the gift of the

Holy Spirit. Verse 6. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his

Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no God, and who can proclaim as I do?

Then let him declare it and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming and shall come.

Let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid. Jesus saying to his disciples,

Do not be afraid. Have I not told you from that time and declared it? You are my witnesses.

Is there a God beside me? Indeed, there is no other rock. I know not one. Once again in the

Servant Songs of Isaiah, in the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gathering in of the people of God, there is the declaration,

You are my witnesses of this new thing. This is not happenstance that Jesus is using the very same language as he commissions his apostles here in Acts chapter 1.

Again, in Isaiah chapter 49, this is a passage I read 20 years ago and set my world upside down.

The glory of Christ in Isaiah 49. Verse 1. Listen, O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you peoples from afar.

The Lord has called me, notice in your text it should be a capital M, called me from the womb, from the matrix of my mother.

He has made a mention of my name, and he has put my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand.

He has hidden me and made me a polished shaft in his quiver. He has hidden me, and all the me's and my's are capitalized because it's recognized by the translators this is talking about none other than God the

Son, Jesus Christ. Verse 3. Now notice what the declaration is made of Jesus of Nazareth, the

Son of the living God. What declaration is made of him in verse 3? And he said to me,

You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. What does

God, by the prophet, call the Messiah? He says of him, You are

Israel. Not the only place that we find it in the text. Hosea says,

Out of Egypt I have called my Son. Matthew chapter 2 says this is fulfilled when Joseph and Mary bring him up out of Egypt.

Isaiah chapter 5, and other places in the Old Testament, likens Israel to a vine. But what does

Jesus say in the Gospel of John? I am the true vine. In the Old Testament, the shadow question was,

Are you in Israel or out of Israel? In the New Covenant, the substance question is, Are you in Christ or are you out of Christ?

The whole of the New Testament is interpreting the Old Testament in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ and his glory.

Verse 5 of Isaiah 49. And now the Lord says, Who formed me from the womb to be his servant, capital

S, servant. Notice, he was formed from the womb to bring Jacob back to him.

So the servant who is called Israel, Jesus Christ, has been formed for this purpose to bring

Jacob back to him so that Israel is gathered to him. So Israel gathers

Israel to him. You following? So that true

Israel will gather Israel back to him. The Gospel is to the

Jew first. For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and God shall be my strength. The Gospel is to the

Jew first, but also to the Gentiles. Verse 6. Indeed, he says, It is too small a thing that you should be my servant, capital

S, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. The Gospel went to the

Jews first, but that's too small a thing. Also, I will give you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

To the ends of the earth. God says in verse 8, I give you as a covenant to the people. Christ is our new covenant in his blood.

He is the ark of the covenant, bearing the covenant in and of himself. And notice in verse 11 and 12,

I will make each of my mountains a road, and my highway shall be elevated. Surely these shall come from afar. Look, those from the north and the west, and those from the land of Sinai.

Once again, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gathering of the people of God into and under the reign of the

Messiah is from every quarter of the earth. There is a great deal of theme and power behind what

Jesus is saying here. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be witnesses of me, and you will be witnesses everywhere.

Someone once said, you know, in the old covenant it's about everybody gathering into one place, into Jerusalem, but in the new covenant it's about everybody going out.

But this confuses the matter. The new covenant is the fulfillment of the old.

And every promise you read in the Old Testament that says there's going to be a gathering in of the people of God, whether Jew or Gentile, into Zion, into Jerusalem, should be interpreted rightly by the reading of the

New Testament, which constantly says that Jerusalem and Mount Zion is in Christ.

The heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Mount Zion, and indeed that's where everybody is gathered. So there's no contradiction between the old covenant and the new.

The new simply fulfills the old in the glory of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The covenant shadows coalesce in Christ.

The covenant promises are fulfilled in Christ. All of God's promises are yes in Christ, 2

Corinthians 1 .20, which means all the promises of God are granted in Christ for all of God's people who are the ones gathered in Christ.

And so this kingdom, this kingdom that they're concerned about, is this the time?

Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Well, brothers and sisters, Christ is Israel.

And has the kingdom been given to Him? Yes it has. All authority in heaven and earth has been granted to Him. The kingdom is

His. And the impact of this statement will be made very clear when we get to chapter 2 and Peter begins preaching that the

Old Testament passages which say that Jesus will reign on a throne in Jerusalem are currently fulfilled in Acts chapter 2 at Pentecost.

So we must read the scripture as the scripture reads itself. And here's the important point.

We must understand the nature of the kingdom so we can understand the priority of the Holy Spirit. Everywhere we look in the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, in other words, the advancement of the kingdom through Christ, everywhere we look, the

Holy Spirit is central. And this matters for not only how we enter the kingdom, but it also matters for how we live in the kingdom.

Do you realize that you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven simply by saying the right thing?

That even if we were to stand together at the same time and quote the Lord's Prayer, that doesn't bring you into the kingdom.

That if we were to stand together and quote the Apostles' Creed, that would not bring you into the kingdom.

And that you don't enter into the kingdom of heaven because someone performs a holy ritual on your behalf.

Somebody sprinkles you with some water and says that you are baptized in the name of the Father, the

Son, and the Holy Spirit. That does not bring you into the kingdom. But without the

Holy Spirit, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, who was the most religious and educated and well -credentialed man in Israel.

And he says to Nicodemus, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

You must be born again. Nicodemus says, well, how do I do that? What's the ritual

I have to go through? What's the lever I have to pull? What's the button I have to push in order to be born again? And Jesus clearly says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the

Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.

So was everyone who was born of the Spirit. You must be born again.

The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the gospel of the kingdom, this kingdom which Jesus commissioned

His apostles to proclaim to the four quarters of the earth, so that the people that God made, those made in His image may be gathered in to Christ, is a gospel of the kingdom which says, first and foremost, you must be born again.

There must be an entire change in your life. You say, well, Nicodemus says, how can

I do that? Well, Nicodemus, you know, what did you do to be born the first time? And by the way, you out there in the pew, what did you do to direct or produce or accomplish your birth?

I mean, when the credits rolled up on the screen, after the whole thing was done, you know, your name was listed under special appearance, but under the heading of director and producer and actor, your name wasn't there.

And the same thing occurs when Jesus is talking about the new birth. It's about what the

Spirit does, not about what we do. You must be born again. There must be something absolutely new in your life.

You say, well, how can I be born again? Well, let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question.

Do you recognize that God is holy and that you are sinful? Not just like I've messed up and I've made some mistakes and I've gone the wrong way a couple of times, but who hasn't?

Is your heart full of excuses before God and before others who would bring God's word to bear upon your life?

Or is your heart full of a humble, repentant, weeping amen?

Indeed, I am a sinner. Indeed, I am a sinner. I need the mercy of God in light of how sinful

I am. Do you see that you are a rebel before God and that you are unholy, a wicked sinner?

Do you understand that you are enslaved by trespasses and sins and transgressions against the holy

God? Do you see the entrapment of the enemy and the death of sin? Do you see that you are ensnared in so many lies that you can't even break the surface to breathe the air of truth?

Do you understand what it means to be a sinner? Jesus says, repent and believe in the gospel.

Believe the good news. The good news is the person and work of Jesus Christ, that He is

God of very God and man of very man, that He was born of the Virgin, that He lived a perfect, holy, righteous life, fulfilling all of the covenant standards of a holy

God, that He died upon the cross as a propitiating sacrifice, the Lamb of God, shedding

His blood for the forgiveness of our sins, that in Him God is satisfied, in Him that we are satisfied, and thus we are reconciled together, that He was raised the third day for our justification, that He would ever live ascended beside the hand of God to intercede for us and to stand in for us,

His righteousness making us acceptable before God, and that He has poured forth His Holy Spirit to indwell us and to make us alive again, and that He's going to reign from the right hand of the

Father until all of His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. Do you know the good news?

The good news of Jesus Christ. And then do you see that you are a rebel against God's authority, but Jesus Christ is

King, and that you may do homage to the Son and kiss His ring and find refuge in Him?

And do you see that you are a wicked, sinful, defiled person before the holy sight of God, but that Jesus Christ is

High Priest and that He is holy and that He is at the right hand of the Father and that by His blood our sins may be forgiven?

And do you see that your life is wrapped up with lies and that you are ensnared in so many fictions and falsities, but that Jesus Christ is the great prophet who always speaks the truth?

Indeed, He is the way, the truth, and the life. And do you see that sin and transgression and trespasses are an ensnarement of death, but that in Christ there is life?

Turn to Christ. Believe the good news. Repent, which means leave off all of your excuses and leave off all of your sins.

Make a pile of all of your bad deeds and make a pile of all of your good deeds and leave it all to hold fast to Christ and Christ alone.

If that is your testimony, if that is your desire, if that is the way the Lord is leading you, we always may look back and watch the credits at the end of the story.

And as they go up on the screen, you're going to see that the actor and director and producer of Salvation is

God. And you'll see your name under special appearance. Recipient of God's grace.

There's more to say. We'll leave it in the Lord's hand for next time. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the time you've given to us.

What a joy it is. What a joy it is to look at your word and be taught, discipled, and brought along about the promises that you have made that Christ keeps.

I pray that you would direct us into worship that we'd fear and reverence you. And we pray all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. We're going to sing a hymn, and then after that, we're going to present somebody for church membership.

So, Brother Jay, why don't you come up and lead us in a hymn. Stand with me for our song of benediction.

We've heard of the patience of Job, but we also have the testimony and faith of Job.

Job chapter 19, he says, And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will take his stand on the earth.

Brother Michael Silver, I'm going to sing what the men sang earlier, I know that my Redeemer lives.

I know that my Redeemer lives. Glory, hallelujah.

The Lord this week's intense gives. Glory, hallelujah.

Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground. Glory, hallelujah.

The dead's alive and the lost is found. Glory, hallelujah.

He lends a glory to his name. Glory, hallelujah.

Is my Jesus still the same? Glory, hallelujah.

Shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground. The lost is found.

Glory, hallelujah.

Okay, you may be seated. I'm going to ask Luann Keith if he would come up.