Sunday, January 14, 2024 AM

And what you have to say. And I pray that what you have to say will make your desired changes in our life. As you grant to us faith and repentance and holiness and hope. As you lead us to love you, to love one another.

And to live in this world as salt and as light. We pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Acts 13 and the Search for Glory

I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, we will be reading verses 13 through 26 this morning. Acts chapter 13, verses 13 through 26. Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark have been sent out by the church in Antioch.

And they are on their way to Antioch. There was a Roman emperor by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes who thought a lot of himself and named several cities after himself. So things got a little confusing sometimes.

But the Antioch they leave from is the third largest city in the empire. So it gets just to be Antioch. And the Antioch they're heading to is a Roman colony called Antioch of Pisidia. And they are in the process of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ wherever they go.

They have preached the gospel through the island of Cyprus from the east coast to the west coast of the island. And now they will head across the sea to the province of Galatia. God's messengers are trumpeting gospel notes.

They are being borne along by the four winds to gather Christ's sheep scattered under heaven into his fold of Zion. I encourage you to stand with me as we read God's word. Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 13 through verse 26.

Now, when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they had departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.

And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up and motioning with his hand said, men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.

The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt and with an uplifted arm, he brought them out of it. Now for a time of about 40 years, he put up with their ways in the wilderness and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land to them by allotment.

After that, he gave them judges for about 450 years until Samuel the prophet. And afterward, they asked for a king. So God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years.

And when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel, a savior, Jesus.

After John had first preached before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, who do you think I am? I am not he, but behold, there comes one after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to lose.

Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God, unto you the word of this salvation has been sent. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Back in 2006, I was in seminary and had an internship at a church in Tennessee.

And it was one of my weekly customs to go out to the University of Memphis and do street evangelism. And in 2006, there was a growing phenomenon in which people, as soon as they exited a building or got away from their friends, they were on their phone.

And they were on their phone and fully engaged in something else, scrolling along, looking at things on their phone. That wasn't everybody, but it was beginning to be a healthy portion. And it's just hard for somebody who's trying to do personal evangelism to interrupt somebody on their phone, which is why I always went to the smokers.

They were great because they hadn't figured out how to scroll on their phone and smoke at the same time. So they were unoccupied and in a slightly better mood than the phone scrollers. And so I got to talk with them about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But now, scrolling is, well, it's everywhere and everyone almost. When somebody takes a breather, when somebody takes a rest, when somebody takes five, out comes the phone and they start scrolling. And if you were able to see their timeline, you would discover what they were scrolling for.

Maybe they're scrolling for a distraction, for entertainment, for a story, for a thrill. Scrolling for a better job, answer to a question, solution to a problem, validation for their feelings. We all do that.

We scroll through our context and our messages because we want to communicate and to relate to somebody. We scroll through our pictures, recalling good times and some bad. We scroll through our apps and wonder what's going to compel us to invest time and money.

We're scrolling and scrolling and scrolling for something, something other than what we've seen before, something new, something better, something so good, it moves us to share it. And when it's shared, it's undiminished, only increasing.

Why?

Because we're made for glory. And for glory we seek. We're made for glory and for glory we seek. And this is not a new human experience brought on by an internet or technology age. The same sun that causes unwanted glare on our screens has shown upon the restlessness of men for many ages.

And in Psalm 4, verse two, the question is asked, how long, how long will you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? Selah, let that rest a little bit, think about it.

But know that the Lord has set apart for himself him who is godly. The Lord will hear when I call to him, be angry and do not sin, meditate within your heart on your bed and be still. Selah, meditate and be still.

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.

You have put gladness in my heart. Who puts gladness in our hearts? More than in the season that their grain and wine increased. We are made for glory, for glory we seek. And Paul preaches to the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia and tells them where and in whom defined their rest, defined their glory.

The savior declared in this word has come into this world and we must put our trust in the Lord. He's the one who will show us what is good. God has declared to us where to seek the savior we so badly need.

God has declared to us where to seek the savior. And now in verses 13 through 15, we find something that is very common in the ancient Near East, something that was going on all over the place, something very, very common, something for some would be even mundane, but they were reading in the synagogue on the Sabbath.

Look at verse 13 again. Now, when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga and Pamphylia and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.

And after reading, and after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Well, Paul and company catch the prevailing southwest winds and they head northwest.

They put the famous rock of the Roman to their stern and they curve smoothly around to the westward side of the island of Cyprus, probably a slow slalom in green blue waters around fishermen and merchantmen till finally they head northwest in open sea and head for Perga.

And the sun is going to set on the Western horizon before they make Perga, but the stars steady in their courses will guide them. This is the first day of their journey and they have possibly five more to go.

It's quite possible that the day after the Sabbath on a Sunday, after meeting with some, meeting together, worshiping together, Paul and company head out and they try to make for Antioch of Pisidia before the next Sabbath.

They may be there on the Sabbath day with the Jews in the synagogue. The course has taken them far, far from home. They are hundreds of miles away from home. Perhaps they've gone farther than they anticipated and it's too much for John Mark.

When they make Perga, the port of Perga, there are some rides that promise a trip home. They're going to go along the southern coast of the province of Galatia. They're going to head for the Roman province of Syria and they're going to drop down to the port of Joppa where John Mark will be able to get on the road and get home to Jerusalem.

It's very attractive to John Mark to do this and so he departs. He leaves Paul and Barnabas and heads home. And we're not told what Paul and Barnabas think about that until a later chapter, but we are told that this is the point at which he leaves.

The path from Perga to Antioch in Pisidia is a laborious trek through the mountains. You have to go through a mountain pass and you have to hike a trail that rises a thousand meters in elevation. If you were to hike for 12 hours a day, it would take you five days to get from ancient Perga to the ancient city of Antioch in Pisidia.

I wonder how much they thought about John Mark riding home while they hike north into the mountains. Drawing close to Antioch might have been something of a relief and a concern. Before them lay the most important Roman colony in that area, in Asia Minor.

It was organized into seven districts. It was a Rome in miniature. Many prosperous Greek merchants and powerful Roman politicians had their residence there. The imperial cult was very strong. They worshiped the Roman emperor as Lord and Savior.

And the ancients who occupied that city worshiped the moon god and would trek up to their highest hill on a regular basis to offer their sacrifices. And among these pagans and among these Romans and Gentiles, there were a myriad of Jews who have enforceably resettled there 250 years earlier.

And there, as they were accustomed, on every Sabbath, they would gather together in their synagogue and they would read the sacred scrolls. What did it look like? We don't know what the building may have looked like, but there would have probably been two different rooms, one for the men, one for the women.

And there would be stone benches around the walls and wooden benches in the center. And one of the seats on the wall might be just a little bit higher, the chair of Moses. And from this chair, the scriptures would be read.

A reading from Moses, from the Torah. A reading from the prophets, from the Nevi 'im. This would come after they recited the Shema together. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. Him only shall you serve.

And after they read the scriptures, there would be an exhortation of some kind. Someone would stand up among them, somebody respected, somebody who had a word of exhortation. And the exhortation tended to be some kind of lesson about prudence or temperance or courage or justice.

There was an expectation that in any synagogue around the Roman Empire, you could go there and you could receive in wholesome instruction, you could get some lessons on how to improve your life, living in the wisdom of the one true God.

And then the whole service would conclude with the benediction, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and grant you peace.

And then they would depart. And this was going on in all the synagogues across the Roman Empire, where God in judgment had cast the people of Israel. And yet He had done so in hope. And there they read the scriptures time and again, the sacred scriptures which are sufficient to make us wise for salvation, Paul said to Timothy.

The scriptures that they read in their synagogues every single Sabbath were the same scriptures that testified that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the son of the living God by which Timothy was saved.

So Paul and Barnabas put themselves there where the scripture is being read because they will take up the scriptures and they will declare the scriptures in the light of Jesus Christ to their hearers.

They were invited to do so. Here's Barnabas, he's a Levite from Cyprus. And then there's Paul, a trained rabbi who sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Two notable personages have come into their synagogue. They have come a long way.

And we know that an expert is somebody who lives 50 miles away. And these guys have traveled hundreds of miles. So certainly they've got something to say. They've got credentials. They have captured the interest of the people there in the synagogue.

They want to hear. And so notice the rulers, the leaders of the synagogue invite them to share, notice any word of exhortation for the people.

Any word.

Any word will do. Oh, what's on your heart? What's been going on with you lately? Surely they could have shared something. They've just traveled from Antioch on the Orontes River. They've sailed across the Mediterranean to Cyprus.

They've hiked Cyprus. They had a showdown with a Jewish sorcerer in the capital city of the island of Cyprus. They've sailed into ancient Perga. Perhaps there's news from there. They've had this experience where one of their own left them and they've had to trek on their own thinking about an abandonment.

And they've had to trek for five days to get to Antioch of Pisidia. They could have talked about a lot of things. They could have shared what was on their hearts. They could have talked about the beauty of the hike.

They could have talked about the personal feelings of abandonment. They could have come up with a lesson about determination. They could have done a lot of different things, said a lot of different things, related to personal experiences and say, you should listen to us because of what we've experienced.

Paul could have traded on his credentials, his Roman credentials, perhaps his Jewish credentials. He could have traded in on those. They could have talked about the people there in the synagogue and where they lived.

And they could have said nice things about Antioch of Pisidia and, oh, this is the nicest synagogue we've ever seen. And built rapport with the people there. They could have brought any word of exhortation.

It was wide open to share what's on your heart, brother. But instead, instead of just any word, Paul, beginning at Moses and with all the prophets, expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Christ.

And they've come a long way. Surely something that's occurred to them should be shared. Days and nights of hiking and sailing, hundreds and hundreds of miles by river and sea and island and mountain. What do they have to say?

They have something to say about Jesus Christ. This is the good word. This is the good news. This is the salvation story that they have come to say at this far distance. We have lived many seasons and years on God's green earth.

How many days have been expended before His welcoming smile in the sun? How many miles have we traveled? Always home with the Lord and the Holy Spirit. What do we have to say to the sons of men who love worthlessness?

Will we exhort them to trust in the Lord? There are many who say, who will show us any good? Let us pray to the Lord that He would lift up His countenance upon us. Will we testify that it is the Lord who has put gladness in our hearts?

Is that the word we bring? What will we say to those scrolling and scrolling and scrolling for a Savior, looking for glory? What are we going to offer? Donald Trump's economy? Ben Franklin's common sense?

Libertarian values? Patriotic militancy?

What's the word? What's the word?

We are the called of Jesus Christ. We are beloved of God. We are called to be saints. We are separated to the gospel of God, which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The same Holy Scriptures that were being read in this synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia.

And this gospel of God was concerning His Son. This good news of God is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.

That's the word. That's the word we bring. That's the word we share to those scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, looking for glory. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

In it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The Jews in the synagogue are just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, any word of exhortation will do.

Any word, any word?

How about the word?

How about the word who became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten, full of grace and truth. And so the scriptures are read in the synagogue. But Paul brings to their attention a story, an old, old story that is familiar to them and yet not well understood by them.

We see this in verses 16 through 23. And of course, how he declares to them this word of exhortation, the word that needs to be shared. When he sums it all up in verse 26, he says, to you, the word of this salvation has been sent.

This is a word of salvation and it's been sent to you. He tells them salvation's story. He tells them about Moses. He tells them about Israel, tells them about Samuel and Saul and David. Man, this is kindergarten stuff.

I mean, these are the topics at BBS. Come on, Paul, don't you have anything better? Something more intriguing? Something a little bit more deep or complicated? I mean, you have come over 50 miles. Surely you have something very complicated to talk about.

He tells them the old story. And by God's grace, many of them heard it as if it was the first time.

Why?

Because the missing piece of the puzzle, the light that was absent before is now being shown upon the story. And now all of a sudden, everything makes sense. For example, if I were to relate to you the story of the Wizard of Oz, you probably know the story of the Wizard of Oz.

It may get a little fuzzy about when the monkeys come in. But you probably have an understanding of the Wizard of Oz. Some of your children probably haven't seen that film. And if they did, they would think it was a horror movie.

But if I told you the story of the Wizard of Oz, you would probably remember it. But if I were to set it against the author, Frank L. Baum, if I were to set it against his understanding of 20th century monetary policy in America and his assessment of the national debate on the gold versus silver standards, then all of a sudden, it would be like you were hearing the story for the first time.

Wizard of Oz or is it the Wizard of Ounces? And what do all the fools chant to travel the Yellow Brick Road, which goes to a central city where there's a scam artist, a con artist, right? And there's the empty-headed farmers who go along with it.

There's the heartless industrialists who go along with it. There's the cowardly politicians that go along with it,.

Right?

And the East Coast and the West Coast are going along with it. And poor little innocent Dorothy, she had to answer with her all along to solve all the problems. All she had to do the whole time was what?

Click her heels together three times because she was wearing not ruby slippers as the movies were showing off because they had color now, but in the book, silver slippers. Click it three times and you're home.

So what was Baum saying about monetary policies in his day? Not the gold standard, but the silver standard is the answer. Now you're home. So all of a sudden, now you read the story, you're like, oh, this is hilarious, that's funny.

Now this makes sense. Why do we have these characters at all? So on and so forth. And a much more important level and a far more intriguing fashion. When we begin to go through those VBS stories, the place markers of the Bible's track record, now it begins to make a little bit more sense when we think about it in the light of Jesus Christ.

In verse 16, Paul stood up, motioning with his hand and said, men of Israel and you who fear God. So he's talking to Israelites, he's talking to Jews and to God-fearers. God-fearers in this day and age were Gentiles who believed in the God declared in scripture like Cornelius, remember Cornelius, who was saved when God sent Peter to preach the gospel to him.

And so Paul was saying to the Jews and Gentiles who were there, listen, listen to this story. And he starts way back when God talked to Abraham. The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers. In other words, the God of this people, he wasn't made by this people, as how gods are normally introduced.

Gods are made by the people, but this God made them. He pre-existed Israel. The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers. They didn't choose him and make him and create him and describe him. He chose them.

Abraham, he chose, not Lot. Isaac, he chose, not Ishmael. Jacob, he chose, not Esau. He chose our fathers. And exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt by means of the favored son, Joseph.

Betrayed by his brothers, cast down, God raised him up to the right hand and provided bread and favor to his own people. The story continues. And with an uplifted arm, he brought them out of it. An uplifted arm, he brought them out of the slavery that they were in in Egypt.

When a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph arose, God triumphed over this serpent-crowned, devouring enemy and redeemed the people by the Passover lamb, leading them through the sea to Sinai. Verse 18, now for a time of about 40 years, he put up with their ways in the wilderness.

For 40 years, Moses oversaw the destruction of a wicked and perverse generation, all the while preaching and warning the up and coming second generation. God raised up this new people, this new generation, and all the promises had come to Moses.

The fulfillment came through Yeshua, Joshua, who led them into the promised rest, the land of milk and honey, achieving victory over all of their enemies. And all their enemies came to rest in defeat before him.

Verse 19, and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, those were all the Ites, seven different Ites, after they were all defeated and destroyed, he distributed their land to them by allotment.

So God delivers them and he saves them and he conquers their enemies. And then he provides the promised inheritance. Then what happened? Every man did what was right in his own eyes, as if there were no king in Israel, no God to serve.

Verse 20, after that, he gave them judges for about 450 years, until Samuel the prophet. God does not give up on his people. He does not wash them away. He does not wash his hands of them. He does not break his covenant promises, but he simply strengthens them and deepens them and specifies them.

And it's when Samuel is the prophet that they begin asking for kings. And afterward, they asked for a king, verse 21. So God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years, another 40 year judgment, another 40 year wilderness, because they wanted to be like the other pagan nations.

Very well, I'll give you a very paganized kind of king. And when he had removed him, he raised up for them another king, a new king, a second generation king, David, to whom he also gave testimony by Samuel the prophet and said, through Nathan the prophet, said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.

So before it was dealing with the nation as a whole, and now the nation is personified down to the king.

Who's the king?

God's dealing with him. So from Abraham to Sinai to David, Paul preaches salvation story according to the markers of the covenants that God made. Covenants that God made, which assured those who were made in his own image that his word would come to pass, a word of salvation.

Now this story, Abraham, Moses, Israel, Joshua, David, I mean, this story is just so well-remembered by Paul's audience. And yet it was not clearly understood. There's a lacking element to it. There's a fitting conclusion that without it, none of the previous chapters really cohere.

They don't make sense. But once the final element is added now, every part is precious to the reader. Verse 23. From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a savior, Jesus.

From this man's seed, from the seed of David, it's according to the promise, the promised seed of Genesis 3 .15, the promised seed to Abraham concerning Isaac. According to the promise, God raised up for Israel a savior, Jesus.

God's assurance to all mankind in all creation, Mount Ararat was given more specifically at Mount Moriah. Yes, all of mankind will be preserved. I'm not going to wash away all mankind. I'm not going to destroy you.

You're going to survive. And now the blessings to all the nations are gonna come through the seed of Abraham. And then all of God's covenant dealings with the often rebellious nation of Israel were then concentrated into his dealings with their king.

And that's why they're waiting. And they're on the edge of their seats. And they're wondering, where is this king? When is the king coming who is going to, by his own righteousness, save us from our disaster?

And they're waiting and they're waiting and they're looking for the Messiah. And some of them thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah because they're doing Daniel's math and they're saying, hey, where is he?

And this king will be a savior to more than just Israel. As Isaiah says, this would be too small a thing. And so it's people of Israel, you who fear God, here is a word of salvation given to you. Men and brethren, verse 26, sons of the family of Abraham, those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent.

Now, when Paul begins to tell the story, he decides to start with God chose our forefathers. He decided to start with Genesis chapter 12. That's where he decided to start. And so often when we think about trying to tell the story of salvation to somebody, we tend to lop off most of what Paul said.

We start the story with our sinful mess. Look how messy we are. Look how bad things are. Well, that's true, is it not? The Bible clearly declares that and demonstrates that. But we start the story with our sinful mess and then we change the channel and then we check in on the fourth quarter of God sent his son to die for our sins.

Why not God called Abraham out of Ur? Or God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and he was sorry that he made man. Or maybe we could begin with, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

I mean, we can afford to start remembering the story a little bit earlier and it will bring much needed context for calling Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You might say, well, these were Jews.

There's Gentiles there too. God has graven, engraved the story of salvation for the nations upon the granite of Israel's hard and happy history. So it's an essential part to be told. We cannot declare the gospel of Jesus Christ without saying things that make utterly no sense unless there's a background of God's dealings with his covenant dealings with his people.

And I think it's instructive to us when we see the preaching of Jesus and the apostles repeatedly move along the arc of redemptive history. We're not living in a culture, we're not living in a society, we're not living around people who just automatically have some sort of investment from Christendom past where they kind of have the ideas in the terminology of the Bible.

Very often, we're going to have to start way back and start telling the story earlier. I'm not saying that the story of Abraham and Isaac is the gospel. I'm not saying that God's covenant with Israel at Sinai is the gospel.

But I'm saying that the gospel makes those things make sense. And it is those things which give understanding to phrases about Jesus Christ as our mediator or Jesus Christ as the lamb of God. We may have to start a little earlier in how we tell the story.

You know, Paul, think about this. If Paul and Peter and Jesus start early in the storytelling, and they were talking to first century Jews, it's certainly an idea that we should as well. The story of salvation is ultimately about recognizing the superior self.

Recognizing the superior son. Look at verses 23 through 26. From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a savior, Jesus, after John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

And as John was finishing his course, he said, who do you think I am? I am not he, but behold, there comes one after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to lose. Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent.

Paul caps off his review of the Old Covenant survey with John the Baptist. He brings up John the Baptist. He describes his water immersion of repentance for all the people of Israel. That's an essential point to make for Paul's current audience.

As excellent and as effective as John the Baptist proved to be as a prophet, even he needed a savior. And he told Jesus that when Jesus came to him to be baptized. John, as the forerunner, made certain that all of his audience knew how far superior the Christ was to him in his own ministry.

How far superior Jesus of Nazareth was to John the Baptist. The rabbis said that all manner of service that a slave must render to his master, the pupil must also render to his teacher. In other words, the disciple must treat his rabbi as the slave does his master in all things except for one thing, that of taking off his shoe.

So the disciple did not have to stoop so low as the slave. And yet, John the Baptist, the greatest of all the prophets, is not so worthy as a common slave that he would be even allowed to lose the strap of Christ's sandal.

You see how John puts it? What's the point? Israel needs a savior. Israel needs a savior. And if the nation for the nations needs a savior, then all the nations need a savior. So you see the point that Paul is making as he's preaching and preaching not just to the men of Israel, but also to those who fear God there in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia.

The nature of the salvation is expressed in the degree of the Savior's supremacy. I mean, think about John the Baptist. As we'll find later on in the book of Acts, the message of John the Baptist, the ministry of John the Baptist, the baptism of John was something that was known throughout the ancient Roman Empire.

The news of John the Baptist was a horn sounding in the Jordan Valley deep, and it flew across every sea lane and echoed up every mountain trail. The water of the forerunner had soaked deep into the wood, into the stones, and into the trenches of the old covenant.

But now in Christ and by His Spirit has come the fire that proves God's word true. It exposes all the false prophets and it utterly consumes every last scrap of old covenant significance. The old covenant is not so much obliterated by the new covenant as it is fully and satisfyingly consumed in the greater.

Now that's the underlying point of Paul's whole message. This is the fundamental metastructure of apostolic gospel preaching. Notice in the text, Paul preaches from lesser to greater the entire sermon.

Hey, there was Moses, but then there was Joshua. Hey, they were in the wilderness, but then they were in the land of Canaan. Hey, there were the judges, but then there was Samuel the prophet. Hey, there was King Saul, but then there was King David.

And there was John the Baptist, but then there was Jesus. You see what he's doing? From the lesser to the greater, from the lesser to the greater, from the lesser to the greater. This is the resounding hammer blow.

To the main impediment.

To the preaching of the gospel to the Jews. What do they keep saying? We have Abraham as our father. Someone greater than Abraham is here. They kept saying, we observe the laws of Moses. Well, someone greater than Moses is here.

They kept saying, we have the temple. Jesus said something greater than the temple is here. Jesus and his apostles kept preaching lesser to the greater over and over again because Jesus Christ is the greater son.

He's the greater servant. He's the greater seed. He's the greater shalom. It's all those shadows that were part of that salvation story. They're not only surpassed by Christ, they are satisfyingly fulfilled in Christ, who is the substance.

As God had forged all these truths in the mold of his image, salvation is not just for the Jew, but also for the nation. Jesus Christ is not only the greater servant, he's also the greater man. He is the last and superior Adam.