Good morning, church. It's good to be back. Deb and I spent the last couple of weeks in Orange Beach, Alabama. And when we left to come back here, it was 24 degrees down there. It wasn't actually a tropical getaway by no means. We tried fishing. The winds won. We tried crabbing. They won, too. And we really did come to actualize finally in our life that the reason you get away is because it makes you appreciate home, doesn't it? We saw those mountains and said, we're home. Thanks to Christian who did a wonderful job last week. Just thank God for young men like that who are working their way through seminary and going to pursue the ministry, who obviously have a passion for and a gifting towards the preaching of God's word. Great to have him and host him at our church last Lord's Day. This morning we're returning to our study of the Apostles' Creed, where we left off three weeks ago, and I want to focus on the second of those Names and titles for Jesus in the second section of the Apostles Creed which says this, I believe in Jesus, here's what we're focused on, Christ, his only son and our Lord. Again, the second name or title in that second section of the Apostles Creed, the first section deals with the father, the second section with the son, the final section with the Holy Spirit and his church. And so we're focusing again on the second word in the second section, the word Christ. We use the word a lot, Jesus Christ. Some people use it rightly, some people use it profanely. What does it mean? We certainly ought to understand as Christians. Amen? I'd like to invite you to take your Bibles and of all places to turn with me if you would to Matthew's Gospel. I want to look at the genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew's Gospel. Matthew chapter 1, we'll look at verses 1 through 18a. Matthew chapter 1 verses 1 through 18a as we zero in on the idea of Jesus being Christ or the Christ. If you have found your way there, Matthew 1 verses 1 through 18a, would you join me as we stand together for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and infallible word. Follow along if you would, Matthew chapter 1 beginning at verse 1. The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez fathered Hezron and Hezron fathered Ram. Ram fathered Abinadab, Abinadab fathered Nashon, Nashon fathered Salmon. Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, Jesse fathered David the king. David fathered Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon fathered Rehoboam. Rehoboam fathered Abijah. Abijah fathered Asa. Asa fathered Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat fathered Joram. Joram fathered Uzziah. Uzziah fathered Jotham. Jotham fathered Ahaz. Ahaz fathered Hezekiah. Hezekiah fathered Manasseh. Manasseh fathered Ammon. Ammon fathered Josiah. Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah fathered Shittiel, Shittiel fathered Zerubbel, Zerubbel fathered Abuhud, Abuhud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor, Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud, Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Mathan, Mathan fathered Jacob, Jacob father Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who was called the Messiah. So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations. From David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations. From the deportation to Babylon to Messiah, 14 generations. And verse 18a begins, now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was as follows. Let's pray. Father, this morning we come into your presence. You have invited us, as Bob said, to worship you. You have called us to worship. This first day of the week that commemorates the resurrection of Christ, the beginning of new things, we come as your people, called by you, redeemed by you, loved by you, to worship you. And we do. Father, as your people and this generation, we have been through a crazy year and seen so many disconcerting and disheartening things, fear, dishonesty, truth, all of that. We pause and remember that we are part of history, the outworking of your plan and purpose in this world. We are your church. the bride of Christ, the body of Christ. We are God's city and God's vineyard. Today, as we consider the Christ, we pray, Lord, that you would give us eyes to see and hearts to hear and believe. Help us to know him, to appreciate him, to understand the Christ of Christianity. We do pray for the one who preaches this morning. His sins are many. Hide him behind the Christ. We pray again that we would not just be challenged by your word but changed, not just confronted but conformed to the image of the Christ. We commit ourselves, Father, body and soul to you. Teach us, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. When we read Matthew's account of the genealogy of Jesus, there are a lot of things that can be and should be noted in the genealogy. For instance, the patriarchs that are listed in verse 2 of Matthew 1, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here we have Jesus who is the descendant of Israel's patriarchs. The Old Testament kings listed in verses 6 through 11, Jesus' royalty. The kings of Israel, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asia. Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Ammon, Josiah, Jeconiah, here are the kings of Israel. Amazing. We also find in this genealogy, the Old Testament, unlikely women of faith. Verse 3, Tamar, verse 5, both Rahab and Ruth. Verse 6, Bathsheba, who is referred to as her who had been the wife of Uriah. And then, of course, in verse 16 where it says that Joseph was the husband of Mary by whom Jesus was born, and it does not say that Joseph fathered Jesus. It is the exception to the entire genealogy. But pertinent to this particular message this morning, I want you to notice in the genealogy the repeated reference to Jesus as the Messiah. That Jesus is the Messiah. You'll notice in verse one where it says, this is the record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah. Or in verse 16, that Jacob, father Joseph, the husband of Mary by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. Or verse 17, so all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations from David to the deportation of Babylon, 14 generations from the deportation of Babylon to the Messiah. fourteen generations. And of course, verse 18a, now the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, was as follows. Jesus, the Messiah. What does that have to do with the Apostles' Creed? The Apostles' Creed, the second section, begins, I believe in Jesus Christ. Christ. The word Christ is a transliteration in your English Bible of the Greek word Christos. The word Christos in the New Testament appears 531 times in the New Testament and over 500 verses. It is uniquely so that in Matthew's account of Jesus' genealogy that the New Testament Greek word Christos is not translated as Christ, but rather purposely translated as Messiah. Literally, in the genealogy, verse 1 says, this is a record of the genealogy of Jesus the Christ, the Christos. Verse 16, who is called the Christos. Verse 17, 14 generations from the deportation of Babylon to the Christos. Verse 18a, now this is the birth of Jesus the Christos, but Matthew translates this, or the translators translated this not as Christ, but as Messiah. Why is that? Some brief history on biblical language. Between the composition of the Old Testament and the New Testament, there is a period of 400 years of silence. That is to say, between the end of Malachi and the beginning of Matthew, God stopped speaking. He did not speak for 400 years until Jesus was born. And so 400 years of silence between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. And during that 400 years of silence came, historically, what we call the rise of the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great. And the Greeks, with Alexander the Great and his succeeders, sought to what they call Hellenize the ancient Near Eastern world. They call that, in fact, historically the Hellenistic Era or the Hellenistic Period. And part of the Hellenistic Period was the introduction by the Greeks and Alexander of a universal language, a language that would universally be adopted and spoken, written and read throughout that part of the world. And that language is referred to as Koinon Greek. Koinon refers to the common Greek, common Greek. When you're working on your master's degree in seminary and you take all the semesters of Greek, you're actually studying Koinon Greek, biblical Greek, common Greek that was at the time of Alexander all the way to the time of Jesus. That is not to say that when you're in seminary, you study what would be considered to be modern conversational Greek. That is to say that when we study New Testament Greek, the seminary is a very limited vocabulary, limited to the words in the New Testament and limited to words that were customary to the time of Jesus and his people at that time. It's completely different than modern Greek. Not completely different, but you get the gist. You're studying New Testament Greek. not conversational modern Greek. So common Greek. By the time of Jesus' birth, koinine Greek or common Greek was simply the common language of that part of the world. In fact, it is my opinion and conviction that Jesus' contemporaries, his parents, Mary, Joseph, Jesus himself, his disciples, all the people that appear in the New Testament, were all multi-linguistic. They would have all spoken, read, been apt in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. But, but, when the New Testament writers went to give a universal account of the words and works of Jesus, they wrote the New Testament in the common language of the day, which was Koinon Greek, the universal language. And I say all that to say this, that Christ, is the New Testament Greek equivalent to the Old Testament Hebrew word Messiah. Christ is the Greek equivalent to Messiah and that is why in Matthew's genealogy the word New Testament Greek word Christ is purposely translated in the Old Testament Messiah. Let me ask you this, what is the significance of Messiah in the Old Testament or Christ in the New Testament? We refer to Jesus Christ all the time. We call ourselves Christians. We adhere to what we call Christianity. What does the word Christ or Messiah mean? A little bit more language, but you'll get it. Messiah is the translation of the original Old Testament Hebrew noun, Mashiach. That's how you would have pronounced Messiah in the Old Testament, Mashiach. Let's say that together, Mashiach. One more time, Mashiach, Messiah, Messiah. The noun, Mashiach, the Messiah, is derived from the Old Testament verb, mashach. Mashach simply means, the verb means to smear something, to spread something, to apply something. Most specifically, it means to anoint. The idea of Jesus Christ is Jesus the anointed one, the anointed. In fact, in the Old Testament, we find God calling for all kinds of things to be smeared or all kinds of things to be anointed. In Genesis 31, 13, God commanded that a particular or specific pillar was to be smeared, was to be anointed. In Exodus 29.2 we find unleavened wafers that were to be anointed or smeared with oil. Now in the South we do that with butter, don't we? Different point. Exodus 29.36, the altar was to be anointed, was to be smeared with oil. All kinds of things in the Old Testament God called to be anointed or smeared. Clothing, furnishings, food, shields. pans, pots, dishes, all kinds of things God called to be smeared or God called to be anointed. Why? Well, when God called for these kinds of things to be anointed, he did so because God was setting them aside for special purposes, for sacred purposes. To anoint something under the command of God was to set aside that thing for a sacred divinely charged purpose. Step further, when God called for a person to be anointed or smeared, when that person was anointed, the verb to smear or to anoint became a noun. And that person became known as the anointed. The anointed. The act of anointing, the verb, gave way to the noun, the anointed. The word Mishak or Misiach, Messiah, means the anointed. The anointed. The idea of a Messiah is a person who was appointed by God, sovereignly chosen by God, elected by God, designated by God, appointed by God, given authority by God, equipped by God for the specific task or mission for which that person was anointed. Does that make sense? This morning, I want you to really do a Bible study with me. We're going to look at a handful of verses to really understand better what Christ means. We say it all the time. In our confession, I believe in Jesus Christ. 531 times it appears in the New Testament, 500 verses. What does Christ mean? What does it mean, the anointed? Again, a Bible study. Let me say this. In the Old Testament, the first kind of people that God called to be anointed were priests. If you look with me at Exodus chapter 28, look there. Verse 40, Exodus 28 verse 40. Of course, here is the record in Exodus. They've come out of Egypt, bondage, cross the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, God's given them. the Ten Commandments, the Book of the Covenant, instructions to build the tabernacle, and now comes instructions for the priests who will serve as mediators between Israel and God in the tabernacle, priests. We're in Exodus 28 verse 40. Here's Aaron, the Aaronic priesthood, the first high priest, his sons are underlings, underpriests, his sons, the Aaronic priesthood. Verse 40, for Aaron's sons, you shall make tunics, you shall make sashes for them, you shall make caps for them for glory and for beauty. You shall put them on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons with them, and, listen, and you shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them so that, God says, so that they may serve me as priests. Here again, someone who has been anointed, sovereignly chosen, elected, designated, appointed, authority, equipped for a specific task, specific mission, the anointed. Here are priests who are anointed. And as you look at verse 41, this is the first time in the Bible, in the Old Testament, that you will find the Hebrew word, verb, to anoint, the first anointing. to take place in the Bible were Israel's first ancient priests. You're in Exodus 28, look at Exodus 29, verse 1 and following. Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to serve me as priests to me. Take one bull, two rams without blemish, unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil. Here are the wafers again anointed. all in preparation for the anointing of these men. You shall make them of fine flour, verse 3, and you shall put them in one basket and present In the basket, along with a bull and two rams, she shall bring Aaron, his son, to the doorway of the tent of meeting, here's the tabernacle, and wash them with water. He shall take the garments and put them on Aaron, the tunic, the robe, the ephod, the ephod breastplate, wrap his waist with skillfully woven band of the ephod, and shall set a turban on his head, put a crown on the turban. Verse seven, then, then, he shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. You shall bring in his sons, put tunics on them. You shall wrap their waist with sashes. Aaron and his sons fit caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood as a permanent statute. So, just like this, God says, this is how you shall ordain Aaron and his sons. To what? To serve as the first priests. Now think about this. In subsequent history, throughout the history of Israel, from the anointing of Aaron and his sons in Exodus 28 and 29, all the way until the time of Jesus himself, to the very end of the Jewish priest system, every ancient priest of Israel was to be anointed. Anointed. All of them. For centuries and centuries. Anointed. So again, I remind you, the first people to be anointed, the first anointed ones, were God's priests. Why? They were again sovereignly chosen by God, elected by God, designated by God, appointed by God, given authority by God, equipped by God for a specific task and mission to which they had been anointed. Secondly, the second kind of person that was to be anointed in the Old Testament were God's kings. Kings were to be anointed. And to give you a sense of Old Testament history, for 250 years the only people anointed were the priests. Because it wasn't until 250 years after the Exodus that Israel suddenly decided they wanted to have a king. And so for 250 years only priests anointed, then came the rise of the monarchy. And if you'll look with me now at 1 Samuel chapter 10. God didn't want Israel to have a king. He wanted to be their king. They insisted. God gave way and suddenly we have Israel's first king and it is Saul. How is Saul to be made king? 1 Samuel chapter 10 verses 1 through 2. Then Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on Saul's head and kissed him and said, has the Lord not anointed you as ruler over his inheritance? Here we have a new classification of anointed ones, kings. When it comes to Israel's first king, Saul, what would I say about Saul? Not so good. Right? And not so good from the very beginning. Not so good. Look at verse 20. I just find this to be amazing. Verse 20, we're still in 1 Samuel 10. So Samuel brought all the tribes to Israel forward. That is, he's going to introduce the newly anointed king to his nation. And the tribe of Benjamin was selected by Lot. They're giving the front row. And a particular family within the tribe of Benjamin was brought. Verse 12, then they brought the tribe of Benjamin forward and his families. And the Matrite family was selected by Lot. And Saul, the son of Kish, was selected by Lot. And when they all, here's the nation, looked for him, their newly anointed king, he could not be found. Not so good. Therefore they inquired further, O Lord, has the man come here yet? Is he here? And the Lord said, Behold, he's hiding himself among the baggage. Everybody got the picture? Here's a nation who has come, traveled from all over the land to see the king and they've brought stuff and he's hiding in the stuff. Not so good for the newly anointed king. Verse 23, so they ran and took him from there. And when he stood up among the people, he was taller than any other people from his shoulders upwards. And Samuel said to all the people, do you see whom the Lord has chosen? Surely there was no one like him among all the people. So all the people shouted, hooray, long live the what? The king. So it isn't very soon afterwards that God, what does God do? God rejects Saul as king. He is a godless man, godless man. And you'll notice 1 Samuel 16 beginning at verse 1. Now the Lord says to Samuel, how long are you going to mourn for Saul since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Okay. What now? God says, notice, fill your horn with oil and go. And I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite because I have chosen a king for myself from among his sons." Drop to verse 11. After going through all of Jesse's sons, then Samuel said to Jesse, are these all the boys? And he, Jesse, said, the youngest is still left, but behold, he is tending sheep. That's what happens to the youngest in the family. Tending sheep was the low rung of the ladder, right? So Samuel said to Jesse, send word, bring him here, for we will not take our places at the table until he comes. Verse 12, he sent word, brought him in, brought David in. He was reddish, beautiful eyes, handsome in appearance. And the Lord said to Samuel, arise, anoint him, for this is he. So Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. First priests, now kings anointed. Kings anointed. Remember again, sovereignly chosen by God, elected by God, designated by God, appointed by God, given authority by God, equipped by God for a specific task, mission to which he had been anointed. And so priests were anointed and kings were anointed. And interestingly, prophets were also anointed. And to the best of my knowledge, and you may know different, to the best of my knowledge, there is only one biblical record of a prophet being anointed, and that takes place in 1 Kings chapter 19, where God tells the prophet Elijah, you are to go anoint Jehu, the son of Nimish, to be king. We're familiar with that over Israel. But you shall also anoint Elisha, the prophet, to take your place. And so here we have prophets also being anointed. Yes, only one biblical record. However, in 1 Chronicles and Psalm 105, we have this repeated phrase twice where God says this, do not touch my anointed ones and do not harm my prophets. And here God refers to his prophets as the anointed ones. So here we have this idea of anointing. Initially it's things, but things give way to people. begins with the priests, then it's extended to the kings. And with the kings came prophets. Why? Because prophets were God's sent lawyers. They defended the covenant against the kings. They also are to be anointed. Let's pause and think for a minute. In the Old Testament we have priests anointed with God's authority to mediate. We have a priest anointed to mediate, kings anointed to rule, prophets anointed to proclaim. And in the Old Testament, all of these three offices give way to a picture or a type or an image of a coming anointed one. One who would be anointed by God and would serve God as the consummate priest mediator. ruler, king, and proclaimer, prophet, the promised one. And interestingly enough, this individual, who will be prophet, priest, and king, becomes known by ancient Israel simply as, listen to this, the Lord's anointed, the Lord's Messiah. Look with me if you would, Isaiah chapter 61, powerful, powerful passage where we learn some things about this promised anointed one, where we learn some things about the Lord's anointed. In Isaiah 61, God leads the prophet Isaiah to write this about the anointed one, the Lord's anointed. Verse one, Isaiah 61, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord, the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken heart, to proclaim release to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and grant those who mourn in Zion, to give them garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the cloak of praise instead of a disheartened spirit. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the plantings of the Lord that he may be glorified." Here is the promise of the consummate mediator priest, the consummate ruler king, the consummate proclaimer prophet. In Isaiah 61 we find some interesting things about this person. We find first of all that he is not to be anointed by man, but he will be anointed by God himself. That he is not anointed with oil as we've seen over and over, but he will be anointed with the Holy Spirit. And not one to mediate and another to rule and still another to proclaim, but just one. The Lord's anointed who will be prophet, priest, and king. Or as Calvin referred to it as, the moon is triplex, the three offices in one being, one anointed one, the Messiah, the promised Messiah. That's what Christ means. I can't help but take you there. Look at Luke chapter four with me. Very early on in Jesus' public ministry, Jesus will refer to Isaiah 61 as the Old Testament revelation of who he is, of who he is. And as you're turning there, Luke chapter 4, I remember years ago, Debbie and I being in this ancient synagogue that was built on the very same site as this synagogue, 400 AD built, but it's the very same spot. I couldn't help but being overwhelmed at what must have passed through the minds and hearts and emotions of the people who were really presently there when these events unfolded. So again, you're in Luke chapter 4. Notice how it begins, verse 14, and Jesus returned to Galilee, listen to this, in the power of the Holy Spirit. What does that refer to? That Jesus is now the anointed one, anointed by God with what? The Holy Spirit, or with you, the Holy Spirit. And news about him spread through all the surrounding region. And we begin to see these offices unfolding in the life of Jesus. In verse 15, for instance, he began preaching or proclaiming in their synagogues, and was praised by all. And he came to Nazareth, that's his hometown, where he had been brought up, and as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And he unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. Stop there. Do you not have any idea how long the prophet Isaiah's scroll is? It would be like if you unrolled it, it would be like from this pulpit to the back doors. We have a portion of it that's contained in what we call the Dead Sea Scrolls, this massive mess. And Jesus goes through the process of unrolling this and finding his way specifically to this passage, Isaiah 61. And so he begins to read, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, verse 18, because he, the Lord, has anointed me to bring me good news to the poor, to send me to proclaim release to the captives, to cover sight of the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable ear of the Lord." And get this, get this. Verse 20, he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down. All the eyes of the people in the synagogue were intently directed at him. You bet they are. And he began to say to them, listen, today, This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus is saying, I am the promised anointed one of God. I am the Lord's anointed. I am that being which every priest pointed to, every king pointed to, every prophet pointed to. Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Amazing. We won't turn you there, but you can mark it down. You'll remember in John 4 where Jesus meets the woman at the well. Here is Jesus, the anointed one, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit. And he says to the Samaritan woman, he says, but at this time even now has arrived. Jesus is saying to this woman, it's now arrived. When true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And then the woman responds to him. She says to him, I know that Messiah is coming, who is called the Christ. You should understand what that means now. I know that Messiah is coming, Hebrew, who is called in Greek the Christ. But when that one comes, that one comes, he will declare to you all things. In verse 26, John 4, Jesus said to her, I am that one. Jesus unambiguously declared himself to be the long awaited Lord's anointed one. The one to which every priest, every king, every prophet pointed he had come. Again, when we speak of Jesus Christ, Christ is not Jesus' last name. Christ is the identification of the one who was promised in the Old Testament, who became flesh in the New Testament, who was appointed by God himself and anointed with the Holy Spirit, who is the fulfillment and final prophet, priest, and king, who is the true Messiah. And by the way, not just Israel's Messiah, but the world's Messiah. And I think this is a very important point. Because in my Christian experience early on, and even now I hear it, typically when you hear the word Messiah or Messianic Christianity or whatever, typically it's done in the context of Jesus being uniquely related to Israel. As if Gentiles don't have a Messiah, they've got a Savior, but no, we have a Messiah. Our Savior is the Messiah, and he's as much a Gentile Messiah as he is a Jewish Messiah. Interesting passage just for your consideration. Look with me if you would for a minute at Acts chapter 10. In Acts chapter 10, we have the account of some of the first Gentile converts. In verse 1 and 2, Acts chapter 10, we meet a Gentile man named Cornelius. Verse one says, now there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Roman cohort. Here is a Gentile man, he's Italian, he's a leader over a hundred other men, a military man. Verse two tells us that he was a godly man, a devout man who feared God, all his household, made many charitable contributions to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. Here is a Gentile man, a Gentile man. And then in verse 9 and following we meet Peter. Peter who believes that Jesus is the Christ but also really struggles with the idea of Jesus being anything else or other than Israel's Messiah. This won't come easy for Peter. And that's why I'm making the point. You'll notice in verse 9, a familiar account, on the next day as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the six hour to pray. He became hungry and wanted to eat. But while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance. And he saw the sky opened up and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by the four corners to the ground. And on it were all kinds of four-footed animals calling creatures of the earth and birds of the sky. And a voice, this is God's voice, came to him, get up, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, by no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean. And again, a voice came to him a second time, what God has cleansed no longer considered unholy. Not twice, three times, this happened three times. And immediately the object was taken up into the sky. Can I make the point that nowhere in the biblical account does Peter ever obey God? He never gets up, kills and eats. He won't do it. He won't do it. And believe it or not, Peter's vision is not about Jewish dietary law. Peter's vision is about whose Messiah is Jesus? Whose Messiah is Jesus? And you'll notice verse 17. Now, while Peter was greatly perplexed in his mind as to what the vision he had seen meant, he has no clue what this means. No clue what this means. Three times, still no clue what it means. This doesn't come easy for Peter. And yet, verse 19, isn't this interesting? While Peter was reflecting on the vision, of which the meaning isn't coming easy for Peter, If you read the account, and I'll make it short, guess what happens? Gentiles show up. As the sheet is disappearing in the sky, Gentiles are knocking at the door. Verse 34, Peter finally gets it, and this is the point. Opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality. But in every nation, the one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. And the word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus, here it is, Christ. He's Lord of all. You yourselves know what happened throughout Judea starting from Galilee after his baptism, which John proclaimed. You know how Jesus of Nazareth, how God, listen to this, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit. and with power, and how he went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all the things that he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third day, granted that he be revealed not to all people, but to witnesses who had been chosen beforehand by God. That is, to us who ate and drank with him, Peter says, after he arose from dead. Notice, and he ordered us to preach to the people and to testify solemnly that he is the one. Which one? God's anointed one who had been, here it is, appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. All prophets, right? All prophets testified, all prophets pointed to him that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive the forgiveness of sins. And don't miss this, verse 44, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who were listening to the message. And all the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed. Here's the Holy Spirit falling on Gentiles. They're amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter responded, surely no one can refuse water for these, these Gentiles to be baptized. who have received the Holy Spirit just as we, the Jews, did. Can he? And here's the point, isn't it? And he ordered them, these Gentiles, to be baptized in the name of Jesus, what? Christ. Jesus the Messiah. Jesus Misha, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. Gentiles being baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah. Just some verses that we're familiar with as the significance of all this. For instance Luke 2, the angels do not be afraid for behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all people, to all people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ, who is Christ the Lord. Matthew 16, but who do you yourself say that I am? And Simon answered, you are the Christ. The Apostle John at the end of his gospel says this, many other signs which Jesus performed in the presence of disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written. They've been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that by believing you may have life in his name. that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. Acts 5, and every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and preaching the good news of Jesus as the Christ. How important is this? It's life or death. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? the anointed one of God, that being, that promised one to which every priest, every king, and every prophet pointed to. Look with mood finally and we'll be done. Look at 1st John chapter 2 just for a minute. Here's John, many years removed from writing the gospel. The same John who said, I've recorded these things in my gospel that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. And that by believing that you might have life in his name. This is the same apostle John many years later in his life. And I want you to notice what he says, this is profound. 1 John 2, verse 8, children, it is the last hour. Folks, we're not waiting for the last hour, we're in it. And if you can't see it, you must be blind. Everybody say Amen. We're in the last days. Make no mistake. And just as you've heard that Antichrist is coming, now, even now, many Antichrists have appeared. And from this, we know that this is the last hour. Some people, and maybe rightly, believe in a future ultimate Antichrist. And the real question is, the man of sin that Paul refers to, is he the Antichrist? That's not an easy question to answer. But one thing we do know, without ambiguity, is that there are and have always been many Antichrists, and the rise of these many Antichrists tells us that we are in the end days, the last days. What is an Antichrist? What is an Antichrist? An Antichrist is someone who denies that Jesus is the Christ. What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. Verse 19, John is talking about what happened in this early church. They, the Antichrist, went out from us because they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us so that it would be evident they were not of us." So here in this, what we would call the visible church, we find people committing apostasy and leaving different notions, belief systems, ideas, and ideologies, and theologies. And what is the premise of all this? They're leaving because they don't believe that Jesus is the Christ. Verse 21, writing to the Christians, those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, verse 21, I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is in the truth. Verse 22, carefully, who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person who does that is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father." Listen, to deny Jesus is the Christ is to cut yourself off from God the Father. That's what John is saying. The issue of Christ, Messiah, is rooted in what it means to be Christian. And yet there are all kinds of quote unquote Christian churches and Christian institutions and universities and colleges and seminaries who deny that Jesus is the Christ. All kinds of cults, isms, and schisms who deny that Jesus is the Christ. Our public domain at large denies that Jesus is the Christ. Even as conservatives, we've watched this election and we've been worried about this thing and that thing, but you know what the bottom line issue for all of us ought to be? Who is acknowledging that Jesus is the Christ? To say it simply another way, according to John, there are only two kinds of people in the world, Christians and Antichrists. Those who believe that Jesus is the Christ and those who don't. Just think about that. We call ourselves Christians. Why Christians? Because we are people who believe that Jesus Christ is the anointed one of God. He is the consummate king, prophet, and priest. Therefore, we need no other. We look for no other. We acknowledge no other. We don't acknowledge priests. We don't acknowledge kings. We don't acknowledge prophets. Why? Because the final great anointed one has come. And guess what? He's more than sufficient. And yet our world is filled with people who are anti-Christ. Why? They deny and reject Jesus as the Christ. The early church spent its energy and time teaching and preaching and spreading the news that Jesus was the Christ, baptizing people in the name of Jesus the Christ. Important stuff. Let's pray together. Father we thank you for your word and we thank you most of all for our Savior who is Jesus Christ. He is the consummation of all that the Old Testament ever even anticipated or gave us previews of. Father it's It's nearly impossible for even us who are Christians to get our heads around, our hearts around, our minds around all that Jesus is. Help us, Lord, to hear your word this morning, beginning with me, that I might adore him more, love him more, need him more, seek him more, trust him more, anticipate his return more. Jesus is our Christ. He is our King. He is our mediator. And He is the perfect proclaimed Word of God to us. And we need none else. The sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Father, for the person here today or listening from afar who has never trusted in Jesus the Christ, I pray that the Holy Spirit and Your Word would do its perfect work in them. Whoever you may be, I encourage you by the mercies of God, believe upon Jesus as the Christ, as the Savior, sent from God to sinners like you and I. Believe upon Him. And the Bible declares that you'll be saved. And again, for us, Lord, as Christians, when we leave this place, may we ponder on these thoughts and ideas, what your word has said to us, that we might love him all the more, appreciate him and revere him in awe and wonder and love all the more. And we do thank you for this time in your word and all God's people said, amen. Please join me.