I invite your attention today in your Bibles to the book of Matthew 28, verses 18-20. Matthew 28, the great commission which our Lord left to His Church to evangelize and to carry out in this generation. Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Our Lord came the first time that he might suffer, pay the price for our sin debt. he rose the third day from the grave, ascended to the right hand of God, and there he now sits upon what is known as the throne of David, with all power and all authority given to him to execute the decrees of God the Father. And he will do so until those decrees are completed, when the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." And there in his work as a king-priest upon the throne at the right hand of God, in his deity and in his humanity, he is administering the application through the ministry of the Holy Spirit of all the merits of his death and his sufferings and his humiliation. He shall come again one day at the end of the world. And it says, At that time he shall conquer the last enemy of his people, which is the resurrection from the dead. At which time then he will turn over the kingdom to the eternalness of the Godhead, and eternity shall be ushered in, and we shall be partakers of all the joys of the benefits of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Today's message will be the ninth in the series on the subject of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and it will be the third within that series on the subject of the Lordship of Christ and his present kingdom of grace. It has been our contention in this to show us from the word of God, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament scriptures, that the prophets foretold that Messiah would have a kingdom. And this kingdom was inaugurated at his first coming by his suffering, his death, and his resurrection unto glory. He came to his throne by way of a cross, and it was known and is known as a kingdom of grace. It is a redemptive kingdom wherein that he would overthrow the enemies of his people through his own merits upon the cross of Calvary. In this three-part series within the overall messages on the Lordship of Christ, we have seen that Christ was promised a throne by the Godhead in Psalm 110, rule at my right hand, and that Christ was shown by the Old Testament prophets from their viewpoint that Messiah was to come to this throne which God had promised him by way of a suffering cross and an empty tomb. Isaiah 53 foretold the suffering of the Lord. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, etc., etc. And Psalm 16 foretold of his glorious resurrection and of his ascension to that throne which the Father had promised him. That is, that he would sit on the right hand of God in his resurrected glory. And it is there, according to Mark chapter 16 and verse 19, he is presently seated at the right hand of God upon his resurrection. We have seen in this series of messages that God's proposed method of conquering his enemies was to be first announced in the book of Genesis in chapter 3, verse 15, where he said that from the seed of the woman, that is, from the womb of Eve herself, there would come forth one who would overthrow the effects of the fall. And that this one Satan whom had conquered, or who had conquered, Adam's creature, or rather God's creature, man, Out of God's creature, man, would come one that would conquer Satan and the effects of the fall. And we've seen this principle, that in the fullness of time God sent forth his son, made it a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. So the seed of the woman is the means in which God ordained to overthrow the effects of the fall. This is ratified again in the expression in Genesis 12 and verse 15, the seed of Abraham. There would come someone from Abraham who would be the one who would overthrow the effects of the fall. 1 Chronicles chapter 17, it was ratified again as the seed of David. And we've seen in the previous messages that all three of these, according to the New Testament interpretation of the apostles, is applied to the one and only person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who is the promised Redeemer that will overthrow the effects of the fall in the garden. Then also in the previous messages we have seen that the commencement of this promised kingdom has already begun in that it was promised that it would begin to David while David's body sleeps in the earth, that the kingdom would be established before David is resurrected. While David's body is in the earth, Peter says in interpreting the Old Testament scriptures, that the king would come to his glory. And then because of his resurrection, Then he lives, all those that are joined to him shall live also." And the Lord Jesus Christ said this in his own earthly ministry. So the kingdom that was promised by the prophets of Messiah has been established, and it is before the saints are resurrected. Now today, let's begin the final thoughts upon this present kingdom of grace. And this will be under part number four of your outline in the bulletin. It will be our principle today, or our purpose today, to try to show that the resurrected Christ is now fulfilling God's statement or promise to Satan and to man that he would conquer sin. Christ has conquered sin, and now death and hell are in his hands. He has the option to exercise power over all that is in heaven and in earth. It's not something he is going to assume one day, but he already assumes that prerogative. In the nail-scarred hands of Jesus Christ and his pure side, he purchased a kingdom a kingdom of gracious power and majesty that would have the ability to overthrow the effects of sin, Satan, and suffering and death itself. It's in the hands of Jesus Christ today, and that he is now fulfilling that promise in that he is creating a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he is what? a new creation. Old things are literally passing away, and all things are becoming new. You look at a Christian, and that's just a little foretaste of what's going to come out here in the future. God takes something out of the miry clay and begins to work with it and shape it into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what all of us have been predestined to be as his people, is that we're going to be like Christ one day. And he's working with us to bring about that complete overthrow of the effects of sin and the fall. And he's doing it now. Not that he'll do it one day. He'll complete it one day, and we'll see that in the upcoming messages. That is coming. But he's already in the process of making the new creation, the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth what? Righteousness. Now then, let's look at four hopes today. that are given to us in the Word of God, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that is, his present Lordship at the right hand of God, is the hope of man. And it grieves me, it saddens me, but when I preach on the Lordship of Christ, that's one subject that people gnash at. and gnarled their teeth. I have noticed I can preach about God as a creator, I can preach about God and his providence, I can preach about God performing miracles, preach about the love of God, preach about nearly every subject in the Bible, and handle it in such a way that it won't offend men. But there is one subject And when I preach on, it changes the whole disposition of men. It's when God sits on his throne. And that's a clash. When God—I don't know how you mean that. Brother Gable, that doesn't upset me. Listen to what it means. When God exercises his sovereignty, he does what he pleases. And that man will not have They will have a God of every other position, but when God ascends to his throne and says, I'm God, I'll not share my glory with another, then you see people get mad. I preach this series of messages on three different occasions in three different churches. I did so most recently about four months ago in a church in Florida. The pastor asked me to come and preach on this subject. I said, Are you sure you want this subject handled? It's the same messages which I'm bringing here? He said, Yes. I got notice last week he's been dismissed from his church over these very messages that I'm preaching here. All three churches I've preached this series of messages in, the pastors have lasted less than six months. Now some of you may be enjoying me, I hope you are. Not everybody enjoys what we're preaching today, and these are in Baptist churches. So I'm not going away and preaching something different in some other church than what I am preaching right here in this series of messages. But I'm saying that contemporary Baptist people will have a God in all areas except when he ascends to the throne and he says, I'll tell you what to do, I'll tell you what's right, I'll tell you what's wrong, I'll tell you who I'm going to save and whom I'm going to let go on to perish. I'll tell you this. I exercise that right. That's my right." And then you see people begin to gnash their teeth. That's not the God I worship, they say. An individual told me one time, I've never been afraid of God, he's a God of love. That person hasn't got the beginning of wisdom, for the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Until we see God as first our enemy, we will never love him as our Lord and Savior. So the idea, smile, God loves you, that means nothing to the average person in the street. We can only know the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, and God sent him into the world to save sinful people, people who were enemies of God, and God was their enemy, until we're brought to see God as our enemy. We'll never appreciate the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ in his redemptive work, and we'll never seek him out and bow down before that throne. We might have him as a good teacher or a messenger, something of that, but we'll never have him as a Lord and a Savior. Now, let's look at this today, because what I'm going to try to show is that it is this very thing which men hate the most which is the very hope of man. That which men hate the most is their only hope of eternal life. And that's the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because if he's not sovereign, you're not going to get out of the grave. Because man's free will is not going to consent in that grave. When you go into that grave, there's going to be nothing there that's going to concur and agree with God before he gets you out of there. He's going to have to get you out of there or you're going to stay there in your bodily form. So my hope is built upon what? Nothing less than Jesus' blood and his righteousness, and I want to show today this has been the hope of all of God's spiritual people throughout the ages. Now first, let's go to the passage which we have looked at somewhat extensively in the book of Acts, chapter 2. And I want to show first that this was the hope of David, was in the Lordship of Jesus Christ to get him out of the grave. Acts 2, verse 22. The ye men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, the man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. That is, God exercised his option as sovereign God, and he allowed men to crucify his own beloved son. And, beloved, he didn't have to do that. But he decreed that it ought to be done for sinners to be saved. But he's showing here, that is, Peter in his preaching is showing that men didn't do to Jesus something that they wanted to do without what, first of all, God ordained it. God ordained the crucifixion of his own son, but yet men were responsible for what they did. It was the wicked heart and wicked hands that did it. And God raised up having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Now Peter stops his introductory comments, and he quotes from Scripture for this statement. For David speaketh concerning him, that is, the Lord. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, and I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest," now watch those next two words, "...in hope." David saw someone at the right hand of the throne of God that he said, "'It gives me joy and meaning of life. I understand now the ways of life. I understand what God is doing, and I understand that when I die, my flesh is going to rest there, but it's going to have a hope that that body is going to come out of the grave one day. And it's going to rest entirely in the one who's at the right hand of God to exercise his authority over heaven and earth and bring my body out of the grave. So David, while he was alive, could say, I could face death and having my body covered up and having it going back to the dust of the earth, I can face all that because someone at the right hand of God is in control. That gave him a hope. Gave him a hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, or Sheol, the grave here in this case, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. That is, Christ's body shall not disintegrate. David says, Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Understand the meaning of life now. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Now Peter stops quoting, and he preaches or interprets what David is talking about. And brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. That is, David has since died. He's been buried, and his grave is still there, his body is still in the earth. Therefore, he being a prophet, David a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, someone coming out of David's body, according to the flesh he would raise up who? Christ to sit on whose throne? David's throne, on his own throne. The throne of David and the throne of Christ are one and the same, because whosoever is on the throne has hope. They're in control. And isn't that the problem with most of us? is that we want to feel like we are in control, and when we lose control of our environment and that which is over us, we lose hope. Is that not true? I find it to be very true. Hence, that which gives hope and meaning and optimism for the future lies in the hands of Jesus Christ. He is the believer's hope. He is David's hope. Now, when did Christ sit on his own throne? Look at it, verse 31. He seeing this before spake of the what? The resurrection of Christ. That his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not yet ascended into the heavens." Now why is he bringing in that statement? What What difference does that make, that David hadn't been raised from the dead? Because the principle is that the kingdom was to be established before David was resurrected, not after David was resurrected. The kingdom which was promised by God to the Son through the prophets was to be inaugurated while the saints sleep in the earth, that is, their bodies. Now those of you who are more advanced in the things of the Bible and the views of eschatology, you know that the premillennial system holds that the saints are not resurrected until the coming of Christ, which all believers hold to. But the premillennial system says that it is after the return of Christ that the kingdom is established. The prophets show here, as interpreted by the apostles, the kingdom promised by God to the Son was to be established prior to the resurrection of the saints, not after the resurrection of the saints. And this is what Peter is showing out, that what is taking place on the day of Pentecost has biblical validity. Now watch, David's not ascending to the heavens. But he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, that's God saying unto his Son, until I make thy foes thy what? Thy footstool. You rule here at my right hand until all of your enemies are brought to bow at your feet." Now, Peter is saying, that is taking place right now as I am preaching here on the Day of Pentecost. Christ has suffered according to the prophets. He has been buried and has been in the grave for three days according to the prophets, and he has been raised from the dead as the prophets said he would be. And he has ascended to the right hand of God, as the prophet said he would be, and he has inherited a redemptive kingdom wherein he shall overthrow the effects of Satan, sin, suffering, disease, and death." Peter says it's fulfilled right now, and we should, instead of looking for something to come out here as our hope, we should see that the hope of David has found fulfillment. David's hope that he would go into the grave that his body would not be left there, but while he slept, one would be raised from the dead, whose name was Messiah, and that that Messiah would ultimately raise David from the dead. That was David's hope. Now then, secondly, this same hope of the lordship of Jesus Christ to raise the dead was the hope of Paul. It wasn't Paul's hope when he was Saul of Tarsus. When he was Saul of Tarsus, Paul's hope, as he interpreted the prophets, was that God would send his Messiah, and that his Messiah would overthrow the armies of Rome and reestablish the kingdom which he believed the prophets promised to Israel, and that the Israelites would rule as the worldwide leaders of a worldwide empire. This was Saul of Tarsus' way of interpreting the prophets. Thus it was an earthly, temporal, political kingdom that Saul, as a devout Pharisee, saw in his interpreting the prophets would be established upon the appearance of Messiah, and that he would sit on the earthly throne of David in Jerusalem as king over all. But when he became Paul, he changed his outlook on prophecy. He became a Christian. It is a Jewish hope that looks for a restored political kingdom to Israel. It is a Christian hope that is to be found elsewhere. Now, what was Paul's hope? Let's go to Acts chapter 24. Paul had to defend his hope because he got in trouble with his fellow countrymen, and they accused him of being a heretic, a false teacher, someone who was deceiving people. Acts 24, verse 14. I'm going to begin in verse 10. He's defending himself before Felix. Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself." That is, Paul says, I don't need a lawyer, I'm going to answer for my own defense. And I believe you are a judge who knows the issues, so I'm going to speak to you. Because that thou mayest understand that there are yet twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for the worship. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, nor raising up the people, neither in the synagogues nor in the city." That is, they cannot prove I was an insurrectionist. I didn't go up there as a troublemaker to rant and rave and disrupt the temple and everything. Neither can they prove the things whereupon they now accuse me. Paul was being accused by his fellow kinsmen or his countrymen. He is now preaching what he used to destroy. You talk about changing churches, it's all changed. He changed from a persecutor and murderer of Christians, now to a defender of the faith, and so he knew all the arguments Brother Jim was going to be using against him, because he was using those very ones against Jesus and Christians. And he says, now here are the charges which I'm being charged with, verse 14. But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written," now notice, in the law and in the prophets. Now what is Paul saying? I'm going to defend myself, and I'm going to do so on a biblical basis. I'm not here teaching some new thing. I'm here teaching what the prophets and the law said was to come to pass. So I'm not originating some new fantasy or some new religion. I'm here basing my religious beliefs on the way I interpret the Old Testament Bible. That's the only Bible they had at that time. Now, what was the hope of Paul? Verse 15. and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow," that is, you have a hope, "...that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." Now what was Paul's hope? It was in the resurrection. of the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand being able to raise the dead. That was where his hope lay at now. He used to persecute that way, but now then he promotes that way. The hope of David, the Lordship of Jesus Christ to raise the dead. The hope of Paul, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gave Paul a hope in the world to come. Now then, let's go thirdly. What is the hope of Israel? What's Israel's hope? Would you for a moment all become Israelites, physically, in your thinking? I'd like to have a whole church full of Abraham's descendants right here. All Jews today. And you don't believe in Jesus. In fact, you believe he's a deceiver and imposter. I'd like to talk to you. Let me ask you first, do you have a spiritual or a religious hope? You would say, yes, we do. If you're Orthodox, not many Orthodox Jews around today, but if you're Orthodox, I would say, would you tell me what your hope is? Our hope is in Messiah. Well, who is this Messiah, I ask? And you would reply, we don't know who he is, he hasn't come yet. I say, well, what will happen when he comes? He will fulfill our hope. Well, explain to me what you have a hope of. Well, in this present life we have a hope that we as a race shall once again be reestablished to worldwide prominence. That we shall be reestablished to the nation of Israel and Palestine. All of that land shall become ours. And we shall have a king who shall rule over all the other kingdoms of the world, and we shall be the dominant world empire. And if we are Pharisees, or we believe in the Bible, not a Sadducee, then we believe that after we die we shall have an eternal state of bliss in the world to come. And all this will come through Messiah. All right, now that is your hope. as a devout Jew, as an Orthodox believer of the Old Testament scriptures. Now then, I would now ask you a question. Do you believe that your hope is yet future, or that your hope has already appeared? Do you believe that the prophets, what they spoke of, has come to pass, or is it yet to come to pass? And you would say it is yet to come to pass in the future. Our Messiah has not yet come. Now then, it's incumbent upon me, then, to try to come back biblically and to show you that Messiah has come and that his name is Jesus, and that I must now first agree with you there is to be a Messiah. Secondly, I must disagree with you over who it is. And thirdly, I must disagree with you, as Orthodox Jews, as to the nature of your hope of the kingdom. I want to show to you now the way the Apostle Paul argued in his own defense that he did this very thing, and the result was he got his head chopped off. He would say, we have the same Bible, I've got the same Bible as my Orthodox brethren, but we don't interpret that Bible alike. They, my brethren in the flesh, look for the hope of Israel under Messiah in the restoration of an earthly, temporal, political kingdom. I, as a spiritual believer in Jesus Messiah, look for the hope of Israel to be the same as that which David had, and it is in the resurrection of the dead. Now then, let's see if that can be shown. Acts chapter 26, verse 1. Paul's now before Agrippa. He's having to defend himself in Roman court. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself, and Paul stretched forth his hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews, especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews, wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life and my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews." That is, I'm not a stranger to the Jews. They know me. They've known me from a child. "...which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the," what? What does it say? The hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers. That's the issue. Here's what they're charging against me. They're saying I am undermining the Jewish hope. The promise which God made to our earthly fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are charging me as being a deceiver and having departed from that promise. That's the charge that's laid against Paul. Unto which promise are twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night? What's the next three words? Hope to come. The tribes of Israel were all looking for their hope to be yet future. They didn't see it in Christ Jesus. Look on. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews? Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?" Now here he's going to bring in the resurrection question as the essence of the hope. I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests. And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them, and I punished them often in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceeding mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities, or into the Gentile cities which they fled." Saul says, I know what I'm talking about here because I used to be on the other side of this issue. Here's my credentials, here's what I did, unto the people whom I am now identified with. Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priest at midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the priests. When I said, Who art thou, Lord? He said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee. delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive." Now what is it, my hearers? Forgiveness of sins. That's Israel's need. That's all mankind's need. That should have been Israel's hope. to have their sins forgiven, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith which is in me. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and through all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come." That is, I'm still abiding by the Bible. I'm still going by the book. I'm still preaching from what the book says. Now, what did the book say? Verse 23, that Christ, Messiah, should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. That's what the prophet said Messiah would do. That's the kind of a kingdom he promised, he was promised, is a kingdom wherein Israel might obtain forgiveness of sins. Isn't that blessed? Israel's hope in Messiah is not a political restoration to the land of Palestine. Israel's hope in Messiah is the forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God, and that Jesus is God's Messiah. That's the message I would speak to all of you who are my Jewish hearers this morning, or putting yourself in the Jewish place. I cannot give you any hope. outside of Messiah, and the messianic hope is not a restoration to an earthly temporal position in the Middle East. It is the eternal justification of God on account of your sins, wherein you may be accepted through the suffering, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of God's appointed Messiah, and His name is Jesus. If you reject Him and refuse Him, there is absolutely no biblical hope which I can hold out unto you. and you still look for your day to come in the future, I say now by the authority of Paul and the Apostles, if you do not embrace Christ now, you shall have no hope in the future. For God does not have one plan for the earthly Jew and another plan for the Gentile. All must come before this person of Jesus Christ to receive forgiveness of sin. And Paul said that's all based on the Bible and what the prophets should say. So he said, what I'm being charged with by my Israelite nation is destroying their hope. But the hope's in the resurrection from the dead. And Jesus has been raised from the dead. Now then, let's look over. in Acts 28. You say, well, Pastor, we still have a question or two. Are you sure that Israel's hope is not one thing and that there's another hope for the Gentiles? Well, let's let Paul again, who knew the issues. He'd been on both sides of the question. Acts 28, verse 20. Paul is now imprisoned in Rome. The charges have been made against him. He never has got a thorough hearing in court. For this cause, verse 20 of Acts 28, therefore have I called for you, to see you and to speak with you, because that for the what? What does your Bible say? The hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. Paul says, the charge that's being leveled against me involves what Israel's hope is. Wouldn't it be something, Bill, if Paul would go just a little bit further and tell us what that hope means? You know what? He does. He does. He doesn't leave it up to us today to interpret that hope. He tells us what the Christian interpretation of Israel's hope is. Now look what it is. Verse 21, they said unto him, We neither receive letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee, but we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest. For as concerning this sect," that is, this breakaway element from Judaism which we know as Christianity, "...we know that everywhere it spoken against. And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him and to his lodging." That would be a great way to be a preacher, wouldn't it? Be in jail, and people come to hear you preach. I preached in jails to jail people, but I've never been in jail and had people come to hear me preach. That's what they did to Paul. He's in jail, and now people are coming to hear what he has to say about the hope of Israel. Now look what he's going to say. What's he going to testify? To whom he expounded and testified thee what? the kingdom of God. Do you see that, my hearers? What is the hope of Israel? The kingdom of God. And what kind of a kingdom is that? Look on. Persuading them concerning Jesus both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening. He was diligent. All day long he preached unto them that the hope of Israel was the kingdom which the prophets had foretold about Messiah, the kingdom of God. Verse 24, some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. They didn't like the way Paul was interpreting the Bible. Some did, some didn't. And when they were not agreed among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word. Well said spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our father, saying, Go unto this people, and saying, Here ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people is wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you that the," what? I'm asking these questions because I want your answers. The salvation of God. What's the kingdom of God? It's salvation in Jesus Christ. What's the hope of Israel? The kingdom of God involving a Savior who can save them from their sins. Now Paul said, that's what I'm in jail for. It's the way I'm interpreting the Bible and I'm called a religious heretic. for preaching that the kingdom has now been established, and it's not something future. Be it known there unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, that they will hear it. And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own house and received all that came in unto him." That's quite a jail ministry. preaching the kingdom of God and testifying those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lordship of Jesus Christ in his present kingdom is the hope of Israel. And Paul says, I'm willing to die for it. Now I submit unto you then that to interpret the Bible in such a way that there is a future hope for a present-day Jew outside of Jesus Christ is to put yourself into the same camp of Zionism and not Christianity. If there is a Jew today in the synod of Abraham, I say to you, your hope is in Messiah. And that hope has already come, it's not something which is yet future. Quickly, Acts chapter 13. Beginning in verse 22, Paul's sermon in Antioch. The theme, justification by faith. And when he had removed him, that is Saul, king of Israel, he raised unto them David to be their king, to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will." I must handle this passage of scripture because some who are knowledgeable in the word of God will say, but Pastor, you're overlooking the Davidic covenant. You're overlooking the covenant God made with David now. You're leaving something out of the Bible. You haven't covered that. All right, Paul's going to handle that, too. A man after mine own heart which shall fulfill all my will. Verse 23, of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. God promised David a Savior, and he's Jesus. Look on, "...when John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance concerning to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you that feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent." For all they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." They're still reading the prophets and they're misinterpreting them, Jim. That's what Paul is saying. They're reading the prophets every Sabbath day, but they're not hearing what the prophets are saying. Why? Because they're looking and interpreting the prophets as a kingdom in an earthly temporal reign, rather than in a kingdom of grace preparing them for a new world on the other side of the resurrection. They misinterpreted the prophets. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from a tree and laid him in a sepulcher, but God raised him from the dead. He was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are witnesses unto the people, and we declare unto you glad tidings." That's the gospel, is it not? How that the promise which was made unto the fathers Watch it, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again. I submit to you that is clear and concrete, that the promise which God made through the Hebrew fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, and David, he has now fulfilled that promise. when he raised up Jesus from the grave. As it is written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. What did God promise David? The earthly-minded Jews said that he would raise up Messiah and David to sit on an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem. Paul, the spiritually-minded individual, says that David believed that he would raise up the Messiah and that he would raise him up also. And there's the hope of David, the sure mercies of David, and it's the hope of Israel. Wherefore, he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again saw no corruption, be it known unto you therefore." What's the conclusion? Men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Lest that come upon you which was spoken of in the prophets." The prophets not only foretold a Messiah who would suffer, they not only foretold a Messiah who would be raised from the dead, they not only foretold a Messiah who would sit at the Father's right hand in a marvelous kingdom, but they also foretold that the masses of Israel's people would be so dense in their thinking they would not see. the work of the Messiah, and hence they nailed him to a cross. Jesus came preaching the forgiveness of sin and turning the cheek to the Romans, and the Jews said, No, no, that's not our Messiah. I submit unto you that the hope of Israel is to have their sins forgiven, just as the prophets said that they would. Now, one more passage very briefly and we close, and that's, What is your hope? What's the hope of the believer? Colossians 1, verse 27. What is your hope and mine? The hope of David, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, to raise the dead. The hope of Paul, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, to raise the dead. The hope of Israel, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, to raise the dead. What's the hope of the believer? Colossians 1, verse 27. to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, would you cleanse it for me? The hope of glory. I have a hope this morning, Brother Pete, that Jesus Christ is dwelling in my life, that my sins have been forgiven. that I've been given a heart that loves him and wants to serve him, even though I'm yet sinful and imperfect, I want to serve my Lord. Do you? And that holds out a hope to me that every man, as John says in his little epistle, that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure, so that every person who has this hope wants to be sinless like the Lord Jesus Christ is presently sinless. And when the day of glorification comes for me, I shall have my hope fulfilled. And when is that coming day of glorification? In the day of the resurrection, and that occurs at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I submit unto you that our hope as Gentiles is the Lordship of Jesus to raise the dead. It's David's hope, the Lordship of Jesus to raise the dead. It's Paul's hope, the Lordship of Jesus, to raise to dead. It's all of Israel's hope, if they have eyes to see and ears to hear, is the Lordship of Jesus Christ to raise to dead. I submit unto you all of my hearers who have rationality this morning and are mature enough to discern the things which we've spoken of, that your hope of the world to come in an accepted state with God lies in the gospel. And to miss the gospel is to miss the way God has promised he's going to overthrow the effects of the fall. He's not going to overthrow the effects of the fall by the Jews going back to Palestine. In fact, they passed an edict here two years ago, an official government edict over there now, that if any natural-born Jew becomes a Christian, they can no longer have citizenship. in that land. You say, who are those people? They're anti-Christ. That's what Paul calls them in his epistles. Any man who loves not the Lord Jesus Christ is anti-Christ. And Paul says, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be what? Anathema. Oh, this is the same Paul that said, O that my brethren, my kinsmen, according to flesh, might be saved. that I, myself, would be willing to be accursed in their place that they could be saved. This is the same one that says if they reject Jesus Christ, they are under the wrath of God. Now, you're not a Jew today, but you are a Gentile. But I submit unto you, that's your same hope. And to miss Jesus Christ is to miss God's way of overthrowing the effects of the fall of man and sin in this world. Let's stand together.