Participants: Ralph Ringer
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000155
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth, live from Surprise, Arizona.
00:21 And we welcome you to the last of our series of programs. 00:25 For this particular Anchors, we welcome you to Surprise, Arizona 00:29 to the beautiful Clearview Seventh-day Adventist Church, 00:32 and to what we suspect will be a wonderful presentation 00:37 by Ralph Ringer, who we will introduce 00:38 to you in just a moment. 00:40 I need to say a very special "thank you" to 00:42 Pastor Murrell Tull and his lovely wife, Ginger, 00:46 who have been such gracious hosts, 00:48 and to everyone here. 00:50 Thank you all for forcing me to open my belt one more notch 00:56 during potluck. 00:58 What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful dinner. 01:01 And someone said we weren't going to have enough food, 01:04 and I think this is the first time I hear the pastor actually 01:06 forcing people to go back and do seconds. 01:09 He had to beg us to go back. 01:10 And we went back and had seconds, and there was 01:13 still extra food left. 01:14 So Pastor, thank you so very much. 01:15 And to all of the cooks who supplied that wonderful food, 01:21 I thank you, my crew thanks you, the directors thank you, 01:24 and everybody thanks you. 01:25 You did a fabulous, fabulous job. 01:27 So we say "welcome" to you, those of you here. 01:29 We have a very nice audience this afternoon. 01:32 And to those of you watching around the world. 01:34 This has been a very blessed time of messages 01:38 from really anointed speakers. 01:41 And we get to see and experience a little different perspective 01:45 on the gospel from those who were once of the 01:49 Jewish persuasion and now who have come and added 01:52 Christ to the mix and become Hebrew Christians, 01:56 and those who are working for and with them. 01:59 And that is why we really do this particular Anchors. 02:02 And we're going to make it kind of an annual thing, 02:04 to try to sensitize the world that there is a great work 02:07 to be done among our Jewish brothers. 02:09 And we certainly want to give them an opportunity 02:12 to know about Christ and receive Christ before Christ returns. 02:17 Our message this morning was another fine message 02:20 by our friend, Sasha. 02:22 We should call him, Alexander Bolotnikov. 02:24 We call him, Sasha. 02:26 The Ukrainian accent not withstanding, 02:29 we understood you well, Sasha. 02:30 And he is a great speaker, and really just a great person. 02:34 A fun guy to be with, he loves to laugh. 02:36 He loves the Lord, and really an intelligent guy. 02:40 and a great preacher of the Word. 02:42 This afternoon, our message will be coming to us from 02:45 Ralph Ringer, who is the Director of 02:48 North American Division Jewish Ministries. 02:50 And he's the fellow that sort of stirs the drink for all of this. 02:54 And we sort of saved him for last for this afternoon. 02:59 I wanted to say also, we have met a number of people here 03:03 who have either come to the church through 3ABN, 03:06 come back to the church through 3ABN, 03:09 come to Adventism through 3ABN. 03:11 I have a couple of names, I talked with Keith a bit ago. 03:13 Where is Keith? Keith, Keith, Keith. 03:15 There he is, sitting there. He is a Bermudian. 03:18 And he spent some time in the wilderness. 03:20 And 3ABN was instrumental in his return. 03:22 We had a chance to talk. 03:24 And Vonne sitting right there in front of me, 03:25 also she mentioned to me. 03:27 And there was someone else here who 3ABN was sort of 03:30 instrumental in coming back to the Lord. 03:33 And we love to hear those stories. 03:35 Because it lets us know that we're fulfilling God's mission 03:38 to encourage those who are in the faith, 03:41 but also to go out and reach those who are not in the faith. 03:44 And that is a blessing to us. 03:46 Got a chance to meet Peter all the way from Australia. 03:49 Married an American girl and she dragged him all the way from 03:51 Perth in western Australia here to Phoenix, Arizona. 03:55 So that was fun also. 03:58 What a wonderful congregation you have, Pastor. 04:00 And it has been a pleasure for us to be here, 04:02 and a pleasure for us to get to know some of you. 04:06 I'm going to ask Pastor to come and have our 04:10 prayer for this afternoon. 04:11 Then after he shall have prayed, we get the 04:14 other half of the duo. 04:16 His lovely wife, Ginger, will sing for us, 04:19 let's see, The Body and Blood. 04:22 And then the next voice you will hear will be that of 04:24 our speaker, our friend, Dr. Ralph Ringer, 04:27 who is the Director of North American Division 04:30 Jewish Ministries. 04:32 He's going to be speaking on, God's Covenant Completed. 04:36 And we praise God for that. 04:38 Pastor. 04:39 Shall we pray. 04:41 Loving Father, You are our God. 04:46 You're the God of the universe, and You know our name. 04:51 We thank You for doing all that You do for each of us. 04:57 We do not know what we would do without the Holy Spirit 05:02 guiding us each day, each moment. 05:06 So we thank You for the Holy Spirit guiding us. 05:11 Now we pray that as we continue the message for the Jewish work, 05:18 we pray that they too around the world 05:21 will hear this message some way. 05:24 You know the way in which they need to hear it. 05:28 So may it be visible to them all. 05:32 Again we thank You for Jesus, 05:34 that He died that we may have eternal life. 05:37 So today bless us and keep us. 05:41 In Jesus name I pray, amen. 06:09 Fifty year ago today she gave her only child away 06:18 to live a life easy to regret. 06:26 Years went by, how time has flown, 06:30 her days are mostly spent alone; 06:34 daring to remember, hoping to forget. 06:48 This is My body broken for you; 06:57 for all you've been, and all you've been through. 07:08 And this is My blood; 07:15 and when you've reached the end, 07:21 I promise you again the body and blood. 07:40 He fought a war against his will; 07:45 truth be known, he's fighting still. 07:49 He looks for hope through narrow blood-shot eyes. 07:57 He slips into a polished pew and he lingers for an hour or two; 08:05 sometimes it feels better to sit and cry a while. 08:19 This is My body broken for you; 08:27 for all you've been, and all you've been through. 08:36 This is My blood; 08:41 and when you've reached the end, 08:47 I promise you again the body and blood. 08:58 And one by one we take the common cup, 09:06 and we remember as we lift it up: 09:16 This is My body broken for you; 09:26 for all you've been, and all you've been through. 09:34 This is My blood; 09:39 and when you've reached the end, 09:46 I offer you again the body and blood. 09:56 This is My blood; 10:00 and when you've reached the end, 10:07 I offer you again the body and blood. 10:39 Amen, amen. 10:45 What a beautiful song beautifully sung. 10:49 God's Covenant Completed. 10:54 In this series, we have been looking at the covenant. 11:00 In fact, there were many covenants 11:02 throughout the Scripture. 11:05 And when we look at God's covenant, we want to realize, 11:10 first of all, some definitions of what a covenant is like. 11:14 We're going to see God's covenant is all of the above. 11:20 And I believe we have it on the screen over here. 11:24 It is a league, an alliance, an agreement, 11:36 a promise or promises, a commitment, 11:44 relationship. 11:47 And the ultimate relationship of a marriage. 11:56 God's covenant are all the above. 12:01 God brought a covenant. 12:04 I want us to look, and I want you to take a look at this 12:07 on the screen here. 12:09 Some of you can't see it as well. 12:11 But God's covenant bridges the two creations. 12:18 In fact, the Bible, the first two chapters and the 12:23 last two chapters of the Bible are bookends 12:29 for the covenant in the great controversy. 12:31 Let me share with you why. 12:33 In Genesis chapter 1 and 2, we have God making 12:38 a perfect creation. 12:42 Then in Genesis chapter 3 sin comes in. 12:47 But God starts His covenant right there in Genesis 3:15, 12:52 that He gave that promise. 12:55 He starts that bridge between that first creation 13:00 and the ultimate creation in Revelation chapter 21 13:05 and chapter 22. 13:07 The great controversy starts right there 13:10 in Genesis chapter 3. 13:12 The great controversy on this earth, I'm speaking of. 13:17 And then it goes all the way through to 13:20 Revelation chapter 19 and 20 where God brings an end 13:26 to Satan, sin, and sinners. 13:32 Fast forward to Revelation chapter 21 and chapter 22. 13:39 We find that God makes a new heaven and a new earth. 13:44 The New Jerusalem descents down on earth. 13:48 We have the new earth is actually better than the 13:54 original creation because God's throne is there 13:58 and the New Jerusalem is there. 14:02 The new earth becomes the capital of the universe. 14:09 We have the marriage of the Lamb. 14:13 We have God lives with His people and they see His face. 14:19 We sing the hymn, "Face to face," 14:22 oh wait a minute, "with Christ my Savior." 14:24 We will see Him face to face. 14:31 And God's name is on our foreheads. 14:37 You see, the purpose of the covenant 14:41 is to restore the image of God into fallen mankind. 14:48 And they become His spiritual bride for eternity. 14:56 His name is on their forehead. 14:58 We are His people. 15:01 That's how the covenant ends. 15:04 In fact, all the covenants... 15:06 And so far we've seen various covenants. 15:13 Sasha and Jeff, Alan, have referred to different covenants. 15:19 In fact, some people get hung up on the old covenant, 15:22 on the new covenant, on this covenant. 15:25 And there are many of them throughout the Bible. 15:27 If we could remember one thing, all the covenants, the purpose 15:32 is to someway draw fallen humanity back to God. 15:38 That's the bottom line of all the covenants. 15:42 And that is the ultimate completion. 15:44 But now let's go through and see where God starts His covenants. 15:48 There in the Garden of Eden, the promise. 15:52 Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, "And I will put enmity between 15:56 you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. 16:01 And He will crush your head, and you will strike His heal." 16:08 Now all these pronouns is basically saying, 16:12 and the woman was the symbol from the very beginning 16:16 of God's people. 16:18 From the Garden of Eden right on through, 16:21 we'll see, through Revelation. 16:24 And so, through the Seed of the woman, 16:26 and that Seed of the woman, this is the first 16:29 Messianic prophecy of the Scripture in Genesis 3:15. 16:34 The promise that... Yeah, Satan... 16:37 The "He" here, that Seed, the "He" that is capitalized 16:42 as you see, that is Jesus crushing the head 16:47 of the serpent who is Satan. 16:51 And even though His heal would be struck, 16:55 He was going to have to face Calvary 16:57 to crush the head of the serpent. 17:00 But here is the first Messianic prophecy. 17:05 In Genesis chapter 9 and verse 16, after the flood, 17:10 we find that here in that verse, it says, 17:14 "The rainbow shall be in the cloud, 17:16 and I will look on it to remember the everlasting 17:21 covenant between God and every living creature 17:26 of all flesh that is on the earth." 17:30 Notice, it is the everlasting covenant. 17:35 God doesn't want a one night stand. 17:40 God doesn't want a temporary relationship. 17:45 He wants an everlasting relationship with us. 17:49 And the everlasting covenant that He gave, 17:53 He doesn't back up on His word. 17:58 Sometimes we back up on our word, 18:00 but He never backs up on His. 18:04 And so what we see... 18:05 Now notice, when it says, "the everlasting covenant 18:10 between God and..." What? 18:13 What does it say? 18:15 "...every living creature..." 18:17 Have you ever realized that God's covenant 18:19 goes beyond mankind to all the animals. 18:23 Sin has brought all the death and the pain, and all the rest, 18:29 on the animals as well as the people on earth. 18:34 God is going to take care of all of His creatures, 18:39 including the animals. 18:41 And He says, "Look, the whole world will never be 18:45 destroyed by a flood again." 18:46 The rainbow is the evidence of that covenant. 18:51 And we still see rainbows today, don't we. 18:54 And so Leviticus chapter 24 verse 8, here is a different 19:00 angle of the covenant. 19:02 The other night, Jeff was pointing out how that 19:05 the Sabbath and those things that are eternal, 19:07 those are the things before sin. 19:09 And the Sabbath, in Genesis chapter 2 verses 1 to 3, 19:13 was given before sin. 19:14 But through the covenants, the Sabbath took on 19:18 an even closer role in the sense that it shows that same God 19:23 that created and that same Sabbath that was given 19:27 at creation as a sign of the relationship 19:30 between God and His people. 19:33 It's precious. 19:34 It's kind of like when you're separated from your spouse 19:39 or your loved one, and that special, whatever special 19:42 symbols or times that you have, even grow a little closer 19:46 as you long to see them. 19:49 And so the Sabbath was given here, it says, 19:52 "Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord..." 19:56 Talking about special things they were to do on this Sabbath 19:59 to show the relationship that started from the Garden of Eden. 20:04 And being taken from the children of Israel 20:07 by an everlasting covenant. 20:10 Again, here we see the everlasting covenant for Israel. 20:15 That covenant of Israel is not broken by God. 20:22 Some Israelites might go another way, but God 20:25 stays with them for eternity. 20:28 Stays with us eternally. 20:30 We don't have to worry if God loves us, 20:35 if God wants to save us, if He cares about us most. 20:39 Even the very hairs of our heads are numbered. 20:42 You see, God cares and He has covenanted that He's going to go 20:48 with us through eternity. 20:50 And all the covenants, and especially this everlasting 20:54 covenant, that is behind it all. 20:58 And as Sasha so ably pointed out this morning, 21:01 the covenant and atonement are one and the same. 21:06 They are together in this. 21:09 That atonement is the reason for that covenant. 21:18 The atonement; to save mankind. 21:24 As we look on, now we're going to turn. 21:28 God's answer to Daniel's prayer. 21:32 We don't have enough time, I'm just going through 21:35 the things in the Scripture. 21:36 We can't give a detailed description. 21:39 But you remember, Daniel, after he had the vision in 21:43 Daniel 8:14 about the 2300 days, he was thinking 21:47 some way those 70 years of Jeremiah that he understood 21:51 was going to be lengthened. 21:52 He didn't understand. 21:54 In fact, he got sick and he's praying 21:55 for his sins and the sins of Israel. 21:58 And so then we find God's answer to Daniel's prayer 22:04 was the Messiah. 22:07 And when we look, Daniel 9 is all about Jesus Christ 22:16 our Messiah. 22:18 It is the most complete Messianic prophecy 22:22 in the Scriptures. 22:24 And by the way, more Jews have come to accept Jesus 22:30 as their Jewish Messiah from Daniel 9:24-27 22:38 than any other portion of the Bible. 22:42 When we look and understand Daniel 9:24... 22:48 Now I have put, if you look on the screen, 22:50 I have put the numbers in parentheses. 22:53 And sometimes I will change the color of the letters there 23:00 and underline it. 23:01 I won't change the words though. 23:03 In Daniel 9:24 we have, it says, "Seventy weeks are determined 23:09 for your people and for your holy city..." 23:12 So Gabriel was sent from God to tell Daniel 23:16 what this vision of the 2300 days should mean. 23:21 And we are only going to look at the first 70 weeks of that 23:25 just briefly right now. 23:28 But notice those numbers. 23:30 Those numbers, there are six of them here, 23:33 there are six prepositional phrases in Daniel 9:24 23:38 that all apply to the Messiah. 23:41 All the verbs of 9:24 apply to the Messiah in these six. 23:48 And so let's notice, number one, 23:51 "...to finish the transgression..." 23:53 Jesus stopped the rebellion of mankind. 23:57 Sin is a rebellion against God. 24:00 And Jesus was the first one, He stopped that process. 24:04 He was totally in harmony with the Father. 24:07 Number two, "...to make an end of sins..." 24:10 He was the first one to end... 24:17 Any person after Adam and Eve fell, He was the first one 24:23 to live the perfect life. 24:24 He was tempted in all points, and yet without sin. 24:28 Number three, "...to make reconciliation for iniquity..." 24:32 He is the one that reconciles. 24:34 Sin separated God and man. 24:37 And He is the one that died for those sins 24:41 and takes that separation away. 24:44 He reconciles God and mankind. 24:48 And number four, "...to bring in everlasting righteousness..." 24:52 He lived the perfect life before He died the perfect death. 24:58 And His righteousness, by righteousness by faith, 25:02 we can have His righteousness. 25:06 We are saved by His blood and by His life. 25:11 And then number five, "...to seal up vision and prophecy..." 25:16 It ratifies all of the prophecies, 25:22 the Messianic prophecies. 25:23 You look at all the hundreds of prophecies 25:26 about the Messiah, and He fulfilled them all. 25:31 He made all of them come to pass. 25:36 In fact, He even told John the Baptist when He asked 25:41 to be baptized, and John said, "Well, I need to 25:44 be baptized of You." 25:45 And He said, "It's necessary to fulfill all righteousness." 25:52 To fulfill the promise. 25:53 He understood that He was fulfilling all of these things. 25:59 And then number six, "...to anoint the Most Holy." 26:03 Things were anointed, and especially the Most Holy 26:06 in the Sanctuary service. 26:07 Every part of that Sanctuary service; the building, 26:11 the furniture, all the sacrifices, 26:14 were all pointing to the One who came. 26:17 The Messiah means, Anointed One. 26:20 In fact, His name "Immanuel" means, "God with us." 26:25 And God was with us in the Most Holy Place. 26:28 And the symbol of His throne, the ark of His covenant, 26:32 was there; and it all symbolized Jesus, the Messiah. 26:38 Now those six prepositional phrases, we're going to 26:41 get to the antecedent to them in just a moment. 26:44 If we go on to verse 25, "Know therefore and understand, 26:49 that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and 26:52 to build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, 26:56 there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; 27:00 the street shall be built again, and the wall, 27:03 even in troublesome times." 27:04 Now by the way, Ezekiel 4:6, you see there in the parentheses, 27:08 Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34 point out each day for a year. 27:14 I don't have time to go through that apocalyptic literature, 27:19 each day equals a year. 27:20 Well in verse 26, it says, "And after the sixty-two weeks 27:24 Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself." 27:28 So what we have is, we have seven weeks. 27:32 It was going to take 49 years for the city of Jerusalem 27:37 to be rebuilt. 27:38 And then go on another sixty-two weeks 27:41 until the Messiah the Prince. 27:43 I want you to notice three times, anoint the Most Holy, 27:47 Messiah the Prince, and Messiah cut off. 27:50 All three of those are about the Messiah. 27:52 And by the way, three is a number that is used for God. 27:56 And so, "Messiah cut off," this is referring to 28:00 Him as the Savior. 28:01 "Messiah the Prince," it's referring to Him as King. 28:05 And we're going to see more of that. 28:07 And Daniel 9:24-27 is the Messianic covenant 28:12 for the Jews and is the answer that Gabriel brought from God 28:17 to show Daniel how the people would be saved 28:24 and how their belief and their faith of the Messiah 28:30 would materialize in Jesus Christ. 28:34 And it was all about that. 28:35 Well let's go on and notice the 70 weeks. 28:38 If you look in the prophecy, the chart there, 28:41 you see the decree, and Sasha referred to that this morning, 28:44 457 BC, and he gave some of the background to such. 28:49 You had seven weeks plus the sixty-two; 28:53 a total of sixty-nine weeks. 28:55 That brought it up to His baptism. 28:57 And by the way, that's when He was anointed of the Holy Spirit, 29:01 at the baptism. 29:02 And the voice from heaven, "This is My beloved Son 29:05 in whom I'm well pleased." 29:07 And then we're going to see at the cross... 29:12 Now I believe I skipped a verse here. 29:15 Oh no, it's the next one. Okay. 29:18 And in the midst of the week He'll cause the sacrifice... 29:22 Here it is. 29:23 No. 29:25 Oh you know, that didn't get in there. 29:27 It's Daniel 9:27. 29:29 Daniel 9:27, I sent them one, and then I realized 29:33 I left this verse out. 29:34 If you have your Bible, turn to Daniel 9:27. 29:37 And you'll see that there it says, in the midst of the 29:43 covenant how He's going to have the covenant for one more week, 29:48 with many for one week. 29:49 And in the midst of the week, He will cause sacrifice, 29:53 or some translation say oblation, to cease. 29:57 Why don't we sacrifice lambs today when we worship? 30:02 Because the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, 30:05 has died on the cross of Calvary. 30:08 We no longer need to sacrifice lambs. 30:10 All those lambs were looking forward to Him. 30:13 So in the midst of that last prophetic week, 30:18 we have the cross. 30:22 The cross is why we do not sacrifice lambs today. 30:28 And then, if we end that last week, it ends in AD 34, 30:32 that's when the gospel goes to the Gentiles. 30:35 Now if we look at Acts chapter 7... 30:38 And we're going quickly as we're going through on our way to 30:41 Revelation to see God's covenant completed. 30:46 It says there Stephen is looking up, and he sees 30:52 Jesus standing at the right hand of God, in verse 55 of Acts 7. 30:58 In verse 56, "...and said, 'Behold, I see the 31:02 heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing 31:06 on the right hand of God.'" 31:09 Now let's stop right here. 31:12 If you read the first part of Acts 7, 31:16 he tells them a lot of strong things. 31:18 He takes them through history and shows a lot how they 31:20 have rebelled against God. 31:23 They held their tongue until he says, "I see the heavens opened 31:29 and the Son of Man," that was Jesus' favorite name 31:32 for Himself, "standing on the right hand of God." 31:38 Now notice, He's standing. 31:41 They understood this. 31:42 Most of us don't really get the message. 31:45 But they understood exactly what Stephen was saying. 31:49 And notice in verses 57 and 58, "Then they cried out 31:55 with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, 31:58 and ran upon him with one accord, 32:02 and cast him out of the city, and stoned him." 32:05 That was against Jewish law and that was against Roman law. 32:09 But they couldn't stand hearing that Jesus 32:13 was standing at the right hand of God. 32:16 Now by the way, "standing;" 32:17 you will find 25 times the New Testament 32:21 refers to standing or sitting, most of the time sitting, 32:25 at the right hand of God; majesty, 32:28 various terminologies there. 32:30 But here we see Him standing. 32:33 Sitting at the right hand or the left hand, 32:36 as the disciples wanted to do to Jesus, 32:39 was showing their authority, their position. 32:43 But when they're standing, then they are putting 32:48 their authority into action. 32:51 And so Jesus is standing at the right hand of God 32:55 indicating He is now taking on that authority with action. 33:02 And so, what was he doing? 33:04 Well, let's look. 33:06 Let's look, in AD 34, at the stoning of Stephen. 33:10 They stoned him illegally. 33:14 But as we look at Acts 9 and the last part of verse 4, 33:18 "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" 33:23 This is on the road to Damascus. 33:25 "And he said, 'Who are You, Lord?' 33:28 Then the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 33:33 It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'" 33:38 Now we don't use that term anymore. 33:40 It's thorns. 33:42 Stickers. Sharp things. 33:44 In other words, yeah, like you're kicking against 33:47 a cactus out here barefooted. 33:51 You can relate to that here in Phoenix, couldn't you? 33:54 And what was He talking about? 33:57 What was He talking about? 34:00 Who had held the coats at the stoning of Stephen 34:04 and the official witness of that stoning? 34:08 It was Saul. 34:10 He had seen Stephen's face light up as an angel's face. 34:15 He had heard the words inspired by the Holy Spirit. 34:21 And it was pricking him, and he was kicking against it. 34:29 He was fighting it. 34:30 By the way, have some of you ever fought as the 34:32 Holy Spirit was trying to reach your heart? 34:35 He was fighting it, he was kicking against it. 34:37 And He said, "It's hard to do it, isn't it." 34:41 And you see, it was at the stoning of Stephen 34:46 that the apostle to the Gentiles, as he said he was 34:50 in Romans 11:13, "I am the apostle to the Gentiles." 34:57 The apostle to the Gentiles was called starting 35:00 at the stoning of Stephen; AD 34. 35:04 And he carried the gospel unto the world 35:07 as that great leader. 35:09 So now let's look at Daniel and make sure 35:12 we're putting all this picture together. 35:15 Daniel chapter 9, well let's start with chapter 2. 35:18 Daniel 2, the image was that God is in charge of leadership. 35:24 He sets them up and He takes them down. 35:27 He used an image there. 35:29 In Daniel 7, He uses beasts. 35:32 And God changes the leadership of nations, 35:36 but also dealing with spiritual things as well. 35:40 In chapter 8, He uses different beasts and more details. 35:45 And He goes through, and even more details 35:48 about the religious issues. 35:50 And, oh wait a minute, He changes leadership again. 35:57 In Daniel 9, God changes leadership in Israel. 36:03 In the covenants. 36:06 And so we're going to see that later. 36:08 But so, now the high priest and Sanhedrin, God changes 36:14 their leadership into the Messiah the Priest 36:18 and the Messiah the Prince. 36:21 So Caiaphas is no longer the high priest for God. 36:27 Jesus, the Messiah, is the High Priest for God and His people. 36:35 And the Sanhedrin council is no longer in charge 36:39 of His people. 36:42 Messiah the Prince is. 36:47 If we look on, did Jesus understand this principle? 36:51 Let's look at John 18 verse 37. 36:55 "Pilate therefore said unto Him, 'Are You the king then?' 37:00 Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am king.'" 37:06 And I put the numbers in here again. 37:08 Number one, "For this cause I was born..." 37:12 And number two, "...for this cause I have 37:16 come into the world..." 37:18 Now He did say, as Alan mentioned last night, 37:21 that His kingdom was not of this world. 37:23 In other words, He was not trying to overthrow Caesar. 37:25 That was not His purpose here. 37:27 That's what the Jews wanted Him to do. 37:30 That's what the Jews wanted the Messiah to do. 37:32 But that's not what He came for. 37:34 He came as King, but He came first of all as Savior. 37:39 Now He's going to come back and we're going to see 37:41 He will come as King. 37:49 Seems like the clicker is not wanting to go. 37:52 There we go. 37:53 Mark 14 verse 61, "Again the high priest..." 37:59 Now He's talking to the high priest 38:00 just before the crucifixion. 38:03 "...asked Him, saying to Him, 'Are You the Christ, 38:09 the Son of the Blessed?' 38:11 And Jesus said, 'I am. 38:13 And you will see the Son of Man sitting on the 38:18 right hand of the Power, and coming with the 38:21 clouds of heaven.'" 38:23 The right hand of the throne, or power, or of God, 38:28 or the Majesty, refers to Jesus being King. 38:33 Five times in the book of Hebrews and twenty-five times 38:38 in the New Testament it refers to Jesus 38:41 at the right hand of the Father. 38:45 Now we look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2. 38:51 "...looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher 38:54 of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him 38:58 endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down 39:04 on the right hand of the throne of God." 39:07 Now this goes along with Revelation 3:21. 39:11 "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me 39:15 in My throne, as I also overcame and am sat down 39:20 with My Father on His throne." 39:23 Now let's look at Revelation 19 verses 15 and 16. 39:29 "Now out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, 39:34 that with it He should strike the nations. 39:38 And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. 39:42 And He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness 39:46 and the wrath of the Almighty God. 39:49 And He has on His robe and on His thigh the name written: 39:54 KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." 39:56 And you notice, every one of those letters of that 40:00 title are capitalized. 40:01 The highest title that He has. 40:04 "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." 40:06 It's when He comes riding on the white horse. 40:09 It's the time that He comes now to finish up 40:13 all of the wicked and to destroy Satan, sinners, and sin 40:21 from this world. 40:23 Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11. 40:25 "But Christ came as High Priest of good things to come..." 40:30 Now go down to verse 24. 40:32 "For Christ is not entered into holy places made with hands, 40:37 which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, 40:42 now to appear in the presence of God for us." 40:45 Sixteen times in the book of Hebrews, Jesus is referred to 40:50 as the High Priest. 40:53 You see, what happened, this is the application of what... 40:58 By the way, the apostles had said, Stephen had said, 41:02 Jesus had said, the Bible says, when we're looking at 41:07 all of this together. 41:09 Now let's go on in verse 19. 41:12 Talking about how the High Priest enters in 41:15 the Most Holy Place behind the veil. 41:17 In verse 20, "...where the forerunner has entered for us, 41:22 even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according 41:28 to the order of Melchizedek." 41:30 This is fulfilling a Messianic prophecy of Psalm 110 verse 4. 41:38 "You are a priest forever according to the 41:42 order of Melchizedek." 41:46 Nine times in the book of Hebrews, Melchizedek is used. 41:51 It's always used in a reference of how Melchizedek 41:56 was a symbol for Jesus the Messiah. 41:59 He was a priest of the Most High God. 42:02 He was the king of Salem, which was the forerunner 42:06 of Jerusalem. 42:09 And Jesus is the High Priest and the King of the New Jerusalem. 42:17 And so we see that he was a type of Christ. 42:21 As we go on in Hebrews 7 verse 11, 42:24 "Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood 42:29 what further need was there that another priest should 42:33 rise according to the order of Melchizedek, 42:37 and not be called after the order of Aaron? 42:42 For the priesthood being changed..." 42:45 Now let's go on down to verse 14. 42:47 "For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, 42:53 of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. 42:59 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of 43:05 Melchizedek, there arises another priest who has come, 43:11 not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, 43:14 but according to the power of an endless life. 43:19 For He testifies, 'You are a priest forever according to the 43:25 order of Melchizedek.'" 43:28 You see, Jesus' priesthood is so much better 43:31 than even that of Melchizedek. 43:34 Because He has the power of life eternal, 43:39 and giving us life eternal. 43:41 Death could not hold Him in the grave. 43:45 And He raises. 43:46 And the fact that He rose, it makes no difference 43:50 whether we live or die on this earth, 43:52 if we're in Jesus we have eternal life. 43:56 And so we go on and notice. 43:59 Now let's look at Romans, how Paul puts this in. 44:03 Romans 9 verse 2, "...that I have great sorrow 44:07 and continual grief in my heart. 44:09 For I could wish that I myself were accursed for Christ 44:14 and my brethren, and my countrymen 44:16 according to the flesh," 44:19 in verse 4, "who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, 44:24 the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, 44:28 the service of God, and the promises..." 44:31 Now notice, I want you to notice the word, "covenants," 44:34 and, "promises." 44:35 It's through Israel that the covenants especially 44:39 were shown and demonstrated so visually and emphatically. 44:45 Now in verse 5, "...from whom, according to the flesh, 44:50 Christ came, who is over all, the eternally 44:54 blessed God; amen." 44:57 Now notice who the flesh... 44:58 Who came? Christ came. 45:00 Jesus was a Jew. 45:02 And those who are against Jews and hate Jews, 45:06 well how could you be a Christian? 45:09 Jesus, the source of Christianity, was a Jew. 45:14 And he says the covenants came there, 45:16 the promises came through them. 45:17 In fact, of all the Bible writers, almost exclusively 45:22 the Bible writers under the inspiration of God were Jews. 45:25 And Paul says, "Look, all of this came through there. 45:28 Don't turn your back on your roots." 45:31 And Christ Himself came there. 45:34 As we go on in chapter 9 verse 6, "But it is not 45:38 that the word of God has taken no effect. 45:40 For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 45:45 nor are they all children because they are the 45:49 seed of Abraham; but, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called.'" 45:54 By the way, I like that what Sasha brought out. 45:57 You know, 9/11 couldn't happen unless 46:00 first of all Abraham went into Hagar. 46:03 And that's true. 46:04 A lot of other terrorism could be added to that as well. 46:08 But then notice in verse 8, "...the children of the promise 46:13 are counted as the seed." 46:15 The children of the promise. 46:16 In fact, if we go to verse 24, "...even us whom He called, 46:21 not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?" 46:26 So it's not just a Jewish thing. 46:29 God didn't want just to save the Jews. 46:32 Even in the Old Testament they were to be a witness, 46:36 they were to be a light to the rest of the world. 46:38 Just like the church is to be a light to the rest of the world. 46:41 All the blessings aren't suppose to be just on the church. 46:44 The church is the means of getting the gospel 46:48 out to the others. 46:49 And that was true then as well. 46:51 And we're going to see how that ties in to Revelation 46:54 in just a moment. 46:55 And now notice in Romans 9 verse 27, 46:58 "Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel, 47:02 'Though the number of the children of Israel be as the 47:05 sand of the sea...'" 47:06 Read this last part with me. 47:08 "...the remnant will be saved." 47:12 I want you to notice, it says a remnant will be saved. 47:15 Now he is talking about the end of time. 47:18 Look at the very next verse, the very next phrase. 47:22 "For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, 47:28 because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth." 47:33 Now this shows, and there are many from the 47:38 pen of inspiration that say these are the last people group 47:40 to be reached before Jesus comes. 47:42 Here it says the remnant will be saved, 47:44 He's going to finish the work. 47:46 It's the remnant at the finishing that he's 47:48 talking about here, isn't it? 47:50 That's the context. 47:51 And the Lord's going to make a short work out of it. 47:54 We go on in chapter 10 verse 1, "Brethren, my heart's desire 48:00 and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved." 48:06 Going on in verse 2, "...they have a zeal of God, 48:10 but not according to knowledge. 48:12 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, 48:17 and seeking to establish their own righteousness, 48:21 have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 48:25 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness 48:29 to everyone who believes." 48:31 In other words, righteousness by faith 48:34 is the basis of salvation. 48:36 It's not how good we are, it's how good He is; 48:39 is the basis of our salvation. 48:42 And so all the lambs, all the sacrifices, 48:45 were looking to the cross. 48:47 That's what we looked at in Daniel 9 48:51 and verses 24 and right on through 27. 48:55 And the righteousness of Christ is what, His righteousness, 49:00 is what will give us righteousness now 49:03 and for eternity. 49:04 It's His righteousness that covers our sins, 49:07 that washes away our sins, and empowers us to 49:10 overcome our sins. 49:12 Now notice 2 Corinthians 5:19, "...God was in Christ 49:19 reconciling the world to Himself..." 49:23 You remember the reconciling? 49:25 That was one of the lines of the prepositional phrases. 49:29 God was in Christ reconciling the world. 49:33 It's through His sacrifice, it's through His atonement, 49:37 it's through His covenant, that we are saved. 49:41 Now let's notice in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10. 49:45 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the 49:48 house of Israel: 49:50 I will put My laws in their mind and write them 49:53 in their hearts; and I will be their God, 49:56 and they shall be My people." 49:59 Here is the new covenant. 50:01 It was prophesied in Jeremiah. 50:03 Here we have it, in saying that it's going to be, 50:07 and it's at the end time. 50:10 Now as we go on, and notice in chapter 13 of Hebrews, 50:15 verses 20 and 21, "...through the blood of the 50:18 everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work 50:24 to do His will..." 50:26 The everlasting covenant is complete in His blood. 50:31 And it makes us do every good work 50:35 when we accept and allow that covenant, that atonement, 50:40 that change in our life from what the Messiah has done. 50:45 Now in Romans chapter 11. 50:49 "Has God cast away His people? 50:52 Certainly not. 50:53 For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, 50:58 of the tribe of Benjamin." 51:00 Those who say the Jews were gone after AD 34, 51:04 you know, replacement theology; hey, the Bible says, 51:08 God says certainly not. 51:09 They have not been cast away. 51:12 God doesn't cast away His people. 51:14 People leave Him, but God doesn't cast away His people. 51:17 We're teaching wrong about the character of God when we 51:20 say God throws people out. 51:22 They throw themselves out. 51:24 God doesn't throw them out. 51:25 He wants to save all of them. 51:27 But going on in verse 2, "God has not cast away His people..." 51:33 What part of that do we not understand. 51:36 He hasn't cast them away. He's talking about Israel. 51:39 And then going on, "...what the Scripture says of Elijah, 51:43 how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 51:46 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down 51:50 Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.' 51:56 But what does the divine response say to him? 51:59 'I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men 52:03 who have not bowed their knee to Baal.' 52:05 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant 52:11 according to the election of grace." 52:13 There's, again, the second time "remnant" is used for Israel. 52:17 And it's used after the cross. 52:19 It's used in Paul's day. 52:21 And he says, a remnant after grace; Jewish believers. 52:25 And going on in chapter 16, you can read about the tree. 52:31 And basically what we find is, the branches were, 52:36 some branches were broken, in verse 17. 52:39 And wild olive tree branches were grafted in them. 52:44 For time's sake, we're going to go on down to verse 19. 52:47 "You may say then, 'Branches were broken off 52:50 that I might be grafted in.' 52:54 Well said. 52:55 Because of unbelief they were broken off, 52:58 and you stand by faith. 53:00 Do not be haughty, but fear. 53:02 For if God did not spare the natural branches, 53:05 He may not spare you either." 53:08 And then in verse 24, the natural branches are grafted 53:11 back into their olive tree. 53:13 Remember, the tree wasn't cut down. 53:15 And Jesus is the root. 53:17 The tree was there. 53:18 Some branches were cut off. 53:20 Wild branches were grafted in. 53:22 And then some of the original branches 53:25 were grafted back in. 53:27 Now as we look in verse 25, he says he didn't 53:33 want them to be ignorant, "lest you should be wise 53:36 in your own opinion, that blindness in part has 53:41 happened to Israel until the fullness of the 53:44 Gentiles has come in." 53:45 So Paul is saying there's blindness on much of Israel 53:49 until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. 53:52 And then we're going to find the grafting back in. 53:56 Just as we saw in chapter 9 at the end in finishing the work. 54:01 But let's go on in verse 26. 54:04 "And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, 54:08 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will 54:13 turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 54:16 For this is My covenant with them, 54:19 when I take away their sins.'" 54:21 I want you to notice that all Israel being saved is 54:25 referring to all the branches; the natural and the other. 54:28 That is all Israel being saved. 54:31 It's not like some are saying, it's all the nation of Israel. 54:35 No, it's all the believers. 54:36 All the believers. 54:38 And we look now at Revelation chapter 12 and verse 17. 54:44 And I want us to look at what it says. 54:46 "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, 54:48 and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, 54:51 which keep the commandments of God and have the 54:54 testimony of Jesus Christ." 54:55 In Revelation chapter 12 we find a woman in the beginning 55:01 who bears a child, and that man-child is Jesus. 55:05 In the Old Testament, Israel was the bride 55:10 of God, wasn't it? 55:12 And we've already read in chapter 9 of Romans 55:16 that it was through Israel that Jesus was born. 55:20 But now we find that in the wilderness, 55:24 this is the church. 55:26 The two become one to make this final remnant. 55:31 What we see is happening. 55:32 And how do I know that it true? 55:34 Look at Revelation chapter 21 and verses 12 and 14. 55:40 In verse 12, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel 55:45 are over the gates of the New Jerusalem. 55:48 The names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb 55:52 are on the foundations. 55:53 Wait a minute. 55:55 On the New Jerusalem. 55:57 The names of the tribes and the names of the apostles. 56:02 You see, the final remnant are the believing Jews 56:08 and the believing Gentiles together; 56:11 make up the final remnant. 56:13 And that is God's completed covenant where they are saved. 56:21 And what we find there in Revelation chapter 21 56:25 and verse 3, "And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 56:29 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, 56:31 and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. 56:35 And God Himself will be with them and be their God.'" 56:39 And in chapter 22, there we find, it says, 56:43 "They shall see His face, and His name shall be 56:47 on their foreheads." 56:49 This is God's covenant completed. 56:52 This is what all the covenants were working toward. 56:56 This is why the covenants were given. 57:01 To redeem all mankind. 57:04 And let's rejoice that we can be part of God's 57:10 covenant completed. 57:12 Let's pray. 57:14 Father in heaven, thank You for loving us and saving us. 57:19 Thank You for Your covenants. 57:21 And thank You that we can be the result of those covenants. 57:27 In Jesus' name we pray, amen. |
Revised 2016-09-26