Law & Grace - Gospel of the Kingdom/Substitution-New Testament

Well, good morning. We, in recent weeks, have been talking about law and grace. Matter of fact, we began talking about that last November. And it looks like we're going to lap ourselves here in a couple months. So we'll continue talking on that theme. We talked last week about what was the gospel. The word gospel meaning literally good message. Or another good way to convey it is the idea of good news. So we talked about that.

We've been using the term the gospel of substitution. That particular phrase is not found specifically in the Bible, but it's meant to convey the good news that Christ died for our sins. That is, he died as our substitute. So you could use another term for the gospel of atonement or something of that sort, but the idea is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, and that's good news. The song that we're going to finish with this morning is amazing love the first verse goes like this and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood died he for me what is that he died for me he died in my place who caused his pain for me to him to death pursued amazing love how can it be that thou my God should die for me He dying in our place.

He being our substitute. So, the last point here, we've been talking about the gospel of the kingdom. That is a term that's used in the gospels, three times in the gospel of Matthew, as we've been going through it here. The good news of the coming kingdom is a different gospel, and that's a point that we've been making.

These two Gospels are not to be confused. They are a different message and they are about different places and are about different things. The one thing they have in common is the question, what do you think of Christ? What do you think of Christ? Now, the song Joy to the World, you may be wondering, why did we sing a Christmas song three months early?

Well, we'll get there. We'll talk about that. Meanwhile, I have an exciting slide to talk to you about. Not that kind of exciting, of course. This kind of exciting. It's on the full front page there of your handout. And it's nice and big and in color, so you can read it easily. Assuming you aren't colorblind. OK.

The top half of it is about the gospel of substitution, that is, the gospel that Jesus Christ, the Savior, suffered for us in our place. He was our substitute. He died for us. What this steps through is certainly not all, but a number of different passages that address Christ dying in our place and being buried and rising again.

The bottom half of that same chart talks about the gospel of the kingdom and similarly talks about not every passage but a number of passages from the beginning to the end of scripture that address this gospel of the kingdom. This gospel that Jesus Christ the Messiah will reign in this coming kingdom. The kingdom, as we've said, Revelation chapter 20, says it's a thousand years long, six times in Revelation chapter 20. So it's definitive, six times, and it could start as soon as seven years from now. Could start that soon. Now, so with this exciting chart that we have here, we're going to step our way through it.

The first verse is one we actually looked at last week, Genesis 3.15, and it reads like this, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He, that is the seed of the woman, shall bruise you on the head, speaking to the serpent, and you shall bruise him on the heel. It'll be a wound that's not ultimately fatal since Christ was resurrected from the dead. Now, the next one that comes along in the chart there is Genesis 12 and 15.

It talks about the land. In Genesis 12, God makes promises in the first three verses to Abraham, and one of those promises is about a land that I will show you. It was a land that Abraham had not apparently been to, a land that he would see later on. And that's why God refers to it as a land that I will show you. It is this land that we have here in view from space.

And in fact, during the Millennial Kingdom, the land that will be Israel's will go all the way to the Euphrates River. That is, it will be much larger than Israel's land now. So this is about the Millennial Kingdom. This is the land from which Christ will reign.

He will reign from Jerusalem over Israel as the king of Israel and he will reign from Jerusalem over the entire earth over all the Gentile nations for a thousand years. The next is Genesis 49, 8 through 10 where Jacob is blessing his sons one at a time and going through and in Genesis 49 8-10 he tells Judah that Judah is a lion and he talks in those verses about the one who will hold the scepter and the one who will hold the rulers rod and so this is a continuing prediction saying that the Messiah will come through the line of Judah The next one that you see on the top of the chart there is Exodus 12.

This is the Passover lamb. As we studied some months ago, when the Israelites were getting ready to leave under the leadership of Moses, getting ready to leave Egypt, The night before they were to leave, they were to sacrifice a Passover lamb, take the blood and put it on each side of the doorposts and on the lintel. And that was to mark the house to be passed over. Otherwise it would be as happened to the Egyptians where they lost the firstborn that night. The next day after eating the Passover meal, the Israelites all left Egypt. That Passover lamb is a picture of Christ, the one who was sacrificed so that we might live.

The next you'll see, and you'll notice this is blue, that is the bottom of the chart there, 1 Chronicles 17, 11-15, is the prophet Nathan telling David that there will be a descendant of yours who will be on the throne, and he says it this way, I will establish his kingdom forever.

Forever. This is the promise to David given about 3,000 years ago. So this is the gospel of the kingdom because we've talked about the land where the Messiah will reign. Now this is the line through whom the Messiah would come, a descendant of David. Now back up at the top part, I'm going in sequence here, so that's why I'm going from one part to the next.

Isaiah 53, written about 700 BC, is a passage that describes that Christ will bear our iniquities, that's the gospel of substitution, but in fact Isaiah 53 says that the Messiah will die for your sins. It says several times, He will bear our sins. He was wounded for our transgressions. He will bear our iniquities. It also says that He will be buried and it says that He will be resurrected. And it asks the question, do you believe the message? So there is the question, it's basically the gospel given 2,700 years ago. Christ died for your sins. He was buried. He rose again. Do you believe it?

That's the gospel, right? And it was right there in Isaiah 53, seven centuries before Christ was even born. Now, you may be wondering why we had joy to the world. at the beginning there, which is, of course, three months early for Christmas song. We'll get there. Don't worry about it. Okay. Now, here's this gospel of substitution, Jesus and the suffering Savior. We've got this chart here on page one. That's the one we've been looking at. We're going to zoom in here about the time of what you see as the cross. So to do that, you're going to have to flip your page over. Don't you flip, flip the page over. Okay? All right. So it looks like this on the top half. Okay? You're with me. Okay. At the bottom part on the left, it looks like this.

Luke 1, 32-33 is the passage where the angel Gabriel is talking to Mary showing up to Mary. Imagine, here's Mary, probably in her early teens. Here is Mary in this little tiny town of Nazareth. Archaeologically, we give estimates, and sometimes it's quite a range. It may be as few as 80 people in this little tiny town, a town that was not well regarded.

That reminds me, I went to high school in a little town called Boonville. When I'd go over to Ukiah, I'd talk to people and they'd say, well, where are you from? Well, I'm just over the hill from Boonville. And they used to say, could anything good come from Boonville?

Well, anyway, I'll let you decide that. So here's Mary in this little tiny town. And the angel Gabriel shows up. Now, interesting, there's only two angels in the whole Bible that are God's goodly angels. that are named, and this is one of them. So one of the two named angels in the whole Bible shows up in this little podunk town to talk to this young Jewish girl who happens to be a descendant of David. And so the angel Gabriel gives Mary this most astounding message. You're going to have a son, and you're going to name him Jesus. and he will sit on the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end." Oh, okay. You can imagine what that's like, right? Sure! Where do I sign? Right? Yeah.

Wow, what a thought, what a presentation. I mean that would make your whole day or longer, you know. So now, Mary's been told and she comes to Joseph. Joseph, guess what? I'm gonna have a baby. Isn't that cool? And this baby is going to reign over the house of Jacob. His kingdom will never end.

And Joseph is right. So Joseph doesn't know what's going on. He's figuring, I've got to dump this gal. Let's do it quick and quiet. Until the Lord appears to Joseph. And what happens? To Joseph, he says, in a dream, Mary is going to have a son. And it's exactly what I have in mind. And you're going to call him Jesus. Why?

Because he's going to save his people from their sins. The gospel of substitution. The previous message that Mary was given is a part of the gospel of the kingdom, right? This message, very interestingly, is the gospel of substitution. He's going to pay the price. Isn't it interesting that God chose to have Mary be told, oh, he's going to be the one that reigns. But Joseph was the one that was told, he's the one that's going to die for their sins.

Very interesting. Now, we have next in this. Here is John, as a matter of fact, twice in John chapter 1. Verse 29 and 36. And verses 29 is the one that has this whole phrase, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And it's shortened there, Behold the Lamb of God, in verse 36. Here's what's interesting.

This word, takes away, doesn't mean that He just dies for their sins and it all goes whoosh, gone. Takes away means to lift the sins off of us. The other half of it is putting those on himself. So when he takes away the sin, he doesn't make it all just go away. Not for the whole world, but he takes the sins of the whole world off of us and upon himself.

Behold the Lamb of God. The Lamb that is God's own sacrifice. The one foreshadowed by Abraham. saying God will provide the lamb. One foreshadowed by the Passover that we looked at. By all the sacrifices that were done in the temple. God's lamb. You keep sacrificing and sacrificing and sacrificing and sacrificing and that really doesn't get the job done. You need God's lamb. You need His sacrifice. The one He puts forth.

Now we have, on the Gospel of the Kingdom side, an extant sequence in Matthew 3 to John the Baptist, and in Matthew 4, 17, Christ, both of them begin announcing repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, what's interesting is in neither case is there a great deal of explanation. What does that mean? And there's a reason for that. When John or Jesus would say that, it was understood what that meant. One of the points we'll cover in more detail next week, not this week, but next week, is here's the phrase Kingdom of God, here's Kingdom of Heaven. Is there a difference? Are they the same? And how about just Kingdom? Is that the same as one or the other?

So we'll be addressing that. But it was understood that this is the gospel of the kingdom. And repent, by the way, means a change of mind. It doesn't mean to come up front here and put your knees on this step and go, I feel so sorry. It has nothing to do with that. It doesn't have to do with the number of tears or catching the volume and measuring it. None of that. It doesn't have to do with the decibels of your wailing and weeping.

It has to do with changing the mind. Changing the mind so as to what? As to believe. You know, no change of mind is going to do any good spiritually unless it ends up with belief. You don't get any credit for just changing your mind. It has to end up with belief. That's the intent. Repent. Change your mind so as to end up believing because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

What does at hand mean? It means the opportunity is close. The opportunity is at close. if I say my water is at hand it's close okay next Matthew 10 Jesus sends out the twelve disciples and this is not too long after he'd begun with this message here of repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand even the term gospel of the kingdom in the passages that Courtney read for us even the term gospel of the kingdom was right before, twice, this passage.

Jesus sends out the twelve disciples and he tells them, do not go to a road that leads to the Gentiles. Go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. By the way, that's an Old Testament prophet's term. By chapter 15, a Gentile will come up and ask for something from him. You know what he's going to answer? I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As he sends them out, he tells the disciples, well we've heard this before, go out and preach, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the message that you're going to go out and tell.

Only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, do not go on the road that leads to the Gentiles. This is a message only for the Jews in the land of Israel. I kind of toy with this, thinking about sending out the disciples two by two. Who did he pair up with Judas? Oh boy. Oh, here's a good one. Here's Matthew. And you know Matthew used to be a tax collector for the Romans, right? Oh boy. Did Jesus pair Matthew up with Simon the zealot who hated the Romans? I don't know. That would be interesting to think about. Okay. Next one, Matthew 12, 40 and 16, 21, and those are just the starters. Christ begins to tell them that he must die and be buried and rise again. And they're so excited to hear that, right?

No. They're not. They're puzzled. They're grieved. As a matter of fact, they're so baffled, they don't even ask a question. They'll talk to one another. What does he mean? I don't know. Why don't you ask him? No, no, you do it. You know? Nobody dared ask him the question. What do you mean by that? Now, you have on your handout here an actual slide of typical character.

So in Matthew, Jesus presented that he would die and be buried and raise Matthew 1240, as we mentioned. 1621, which is about a year before he was actually crucified. Matthew 17, 23, he tells them again. Now, and in Matthew 20, 19, he tells them again.

What's going to happen? That is outside of all the other references in the other Gospels where he tells them. Now, very interestingly, here's out of Luke. Luke 9, 43. He said to his disciples, let these words sink into your ears. By the way, what does that mean? You've got to tilt your head and let it sink? No. It means, listen carefully and let this kind of soak into your mind. And hear what I'm saying.

The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. And FedEx and UPS will not be involved. Now what does it mean, delivered into the hands of men? What they're thinking is, wait a minute, this guy's the Messiah. He's going to get these Romans out of here. And He is going to lead us, and let me tell you, He is going to take over. And so to have the Messiah, who is supposed to do all that, get delivered into the hands of men and be subject to whatever they want to do, that's disturbing. So what happens here?

But they did not understand this statement. And by the way, just in case you need to know that even better, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it, and just to make sure you understand, and they were afraid to ask him about the statement. What does he mean? I don't know. You ask. No, you ask. No, you. You, you, you, you, you, you. Right?

But here's what happens. We're back to the gospel of the kingdom. A lot of people will hear messages about the triumphal entry, and it's supposed to be this big build-up, you know. Boy, isn't this great? Jesus, here just a week before, you know, he goes into this city and there's all these palm trees and, you know, all that. By the way, the palm trees are only mentioned once, donkeys nine times, but let's go on.

When he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and laughed? Sang a song? No. When he saw Jerusalem, what did he do? He wept. He wept. Why? Is it because the architecture was bad? No. They need to paint it a different color? No. That's not the problem. What he saw because they had rejected the gospel of the kingdom. What he saw was a royal disastrous mess.

Coming up real soon. verse 42 saying if you had known in this day even you the things that make for peace but now they've been hidden from your eyes for the days will come when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side and they will level you to the ground and your children with you and they will not leave you one stone upon another in 66 AD the Jews rebelled against Rome. Fortress Antonia, right next to the temple area where Jesus was brought through trial and sentenced under Pontius Pilate and whipped, the Jews went in and slaughtered all the Roman soldiers. But that was not to turn out very good. By 70 AD, the Roman soldiers brought in 12 legions of soldiers from as far away as Britain.

And it was a disaster. In fact, the last mention of the descendants of Esau was in that event. The descendants of Esau came up to the gates of Jerusalem and said, hey, let us join you. Let us help you out. Never heard from again. Jews killed thousands and thousands of other Jews who would not fight. It was a disaster. Jesus weeping was not just empty or theoretical. What's the problem?

You did not recognize the time of your visitation. I, the Messiah, the promised one for centuries, have come and presented myself to you And to use our figure of speech, you thumbed your nose at me. You told me to go take a hike. You didn't embrace me as the Messiah.

Israel's response to that gospel of the kingdom that Christ was indeed the King of Israel and to be received by Israel would determine the outcome. How is this going to work out? Frankly, not so good. If Israel's response to Christ as their Messiah had been favorable, then the kingdom could have begun soon, very soon. But they rejected Christ their Messiah. So the beginning of the kingdom was delayed, and it still is. Here in Matthew 23, 37-39, Jesus says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those sent to her.

How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were what? Unwilling. The Psalms, 17.8, 37.6, and many more, all picture God taking Israel under his wings for their protection. Looking at the picture of a bird protecting the young. Verse 38, Behold, your house is left for you desolate, for I say to you, from now on you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now, Israel having rejected the Messiah, we have this.

Jesus is crucified, as he had been telling them would happen. He was buried and he was raised from the dead. He appeared, as Paul testifies, to as many as 500 witnesses at once, multiple times throughout that time. So it's just as Jesus had said, and it is the fulfillment of the gospel of substitution. What Jesus said would take place, what Isaiah said would take place, what Genesis said would take place, the sacrificial systems all the way in the Old Testament pointing to Christ. All of what those pointed to actually did take place.

And now we have the last item there in the Gospels. Christ ascends from the Mount of Olives to return to the Mount of Olives at His second coming. In Acts 1, 1 through 11, the disciples asked Jesus, is now the time when you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And guess where they're thinking, right? They're looking at the gospel of the kingdom, right?

And he says, it's not for you to have that. The Father determines those times. He sets the specific times and the spans of time. But you, and he talks to them about their empowerment. He ascends into heaven, and I'm sure they must have been thinking, but I've got a lot of questions, right? So he ascends into heaven, and the angels standing there say, he will return in the same way that you've seen him go.

And that's exactly what Zechariah 14.4 says will happen. Even saying to the Mount of Olives, when Christ comes again, he will return, his feet will land on the Mount of Olives.

That's what Zechariah 14.4 says in his second coming. So what the angels told the disciples there on the Mount of Olives was absolutely correct. So here is the end of Christ's first coming looking forward to the second coming, a reversal of what they saw at the Ascension. So now, you're probably wondering why we had joy to the world earlier We'll get there. Anyway. Okay. Back on page one. This is the big slide. This is the exciting one. We're going to complete that. In Acts 3, 18 and 19, Peter is speaking. He's speaking to Jews there at the temple.

He says that Christ would suffer. He said Christ would suffer for you. This is the gospel of substitution that he's preaching to them. In the very next verses, we're going to see the next part. This is what he says in verses 18 and part of 19. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. He's done them.

It happened right here in Jerusalem. Therefore repent, remember here's that word repent again, change of mind so as to believe, and return so that your sins may be wiped away. Believe in the gospel of substitution that Christ, the one who died right here, right here in this area of Jerusalem, the one who was in this very temple not that long ago, that one died for you. Do you believe it? Repent, because previously you did not believe, so change your mind so as to believe, and return to a place of belief.

Now, the very next verses address the gospel of the kingdom. Christ the Messiah reigns, Acts 3, 19-21. God will send Jesus the Christ, and it looks like this, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. Christos, in the Greek, is anointed one. Messiah means anointed one. So they're just two of the same terms. Different languages.

Jesus the Christ appointed for you whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things. Where is Jesus right now? In heaven. Until the restoration of all things. Everything on this planet here will be summed up in Christ. Things will be restored substantially to the time before the fall. The period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time. Ah, yes.

In Revelation 1.18, it says that Christ is the living one. That is, he was dead and is now alive.

Revelation 5.9, Christ purchased for God those who were redeemed with his blood.

In Revelation 5-6 all the way to the last chapter, 22-3, Christ is called the Lamb. Interesting that only John, in the Gospel of John chapter 1, we've referenced it, and the book of Revelation, only John calls Christ the Lamb. The Lamb. He will be the Lamb on into eternity.

In Revelation 5-5, Christ is called the Lion of Judah. That's putting it briefly. It's a little more complex than that. But the Lion of Judah. The Lion who is from the tribe of Judah. Revelation chapters 1 all the way through 19 have interspersed with it. Christ has a sword coming out of his mouth.

What's that for? It's rather awkward, you know, having a sword come out of your mouth. And by the way, the sword isn't just a little Roman short sword. You know, it's about two feet long. That's a machaira. This is a Ramphaya, it's a five foot long barbarian battle sword. And the idea with the Ramphaya is the barbarians would swing it and hack flesh.

When Jesus comes again, oh yes, he will reign as the Prince of Peace, but not until he is taken down with the word of his mouth, Israel's enemies. And it won't be like this. It won't be, okay, here we are coming back with the Lord, and vroom, vroom, vroom, we're going on the horses, you know, and then the Lord says, okay, Courtney, you take the Holly Hills contingent over here, and you try to get those guys over there, whack them hard, you know, give them a hard time. Okay. Is that what's going to happen? No. We're going to be with Him, returning with Him. He's going to speak, and it will be done. Okay? intending to convey we will reign with him revelation 20 verse 6 for a thousand years on this earth as his bride we in the church all of us here in the church will be with him return with him will be his bride none of us will have these kinds of bodies during that time aren't you glad I will be.

Okay. Now, about this song, Joy to the World, let's actually talk about that. Courtney was right. It is actually a millennial song. It's a song that focuses about Christ and the gospel of the kingdom. As you look through the words, let earth receive her King, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Let every heart prepare a room, maybe some reference to the room at the inn. But heaven and nature will sing. Why? Because the curse will be lifted from the earth for those thousand years. Joy to the earth. Joy to the earth. Why? Because of that restoration. Let men their songs employ. What's going to be impacted? Fields and floods and rocks and hills and plains. No more let sins and sorrows grow. Why? Christ will be reigning. Nor thorns infest the ground. Why?

Because the curse will be lifted. Oh, that's what it says. He makes his blessings flow. Earthly blessings. For as the curse is found, for as the curse is found, for as the curse is found. It's like this snow that's just melting away to a new spring. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove. Psalm chapter 2 is about that. and the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love. That's what the song is about. So now you've got this great exciting chart. You can keep it under your pillow. You can put it on the table as you're eating and study this and remember this precious moment.

But we have the questions from last week. In fact, somebody asked me about the questions from last week. All right. And there's no slides on it, so you have to write it somewhere. And there's not a lot of room on the edges of the handout, but good luck. It goes like this. We asked the question last week. We left this with you. If a Jewish person believes in just one of the two Gospels, is that just fine? Just pick one. One's good enough. One, and we got you covered. No. Believing the Gospel substitution now for whether a person is Jew or Gentile places that person into the body of Christ, the church. So it's a trick question, sorry about that.

Okay, but the apostles desired, and here's the interesting thing, all through the book of Acts, the apostles continued to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the Jews and the gospel of substitution to everyone. all throughout the book of Acts to the very last verses the gospel of the kingdom was preached and the gospel of substitution. It will be again in the coming tribulation period. Why?

The church will be gone and there will be a seven-year period of tribulation in which Jews will need to embrace both gospels. They will need to believe that the Messiah who died for them is also the one who is going to save them at the end. And in the end, all Israel will be saved. All Israel will be saved. Romans 11. Okay, next question.

Why did Jesus tell his disciples not to go to the Gentiles with the gospel of the kingdom? Is that selfish? Is he myopic? What's the reason for that? Why stop at the Jewish border? Why the stop sign? Well, because Israel's reception of Christ their Messiah, the King of Israel, would have brought the kingdom in very soon. They needed to have the opportunity to embrace the gospel of the kingdom. And so it's specific to the Jews. And those in Israel need to be the ones that heard and responded.

Now, the last question. Is your identification with Christ, in other words, if you are a believer here during the time of the church, you've been identified with Christ, is that a part of the gospel of substitution, Christ died in your place, or in addition to it? Yes? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm supposed to answer that. Okay. Identification with Christ is added to the gospel of substitution. Why? Every person from all time has the gospel of substitution, the good news, made available to them. Here is Abel, the one that Cain killed. He was offering a sacrifice. What did that do? It pointed to Christ's death. It was in anticipation of Christ's death. Abel was recognizing the gospel of substitution then.

People during the coming tribulation period when you and I are out of here, people during that time will need to recognize that Christ died for their sins too and believe that in order to be saved. But for us in the church from Acts 2 to the time when the Lord takes us home, those in the body of Christ, we uniquely are identified with Christ.

1 Corinthians 10 says that the Jews were baptized into Moses. We, Romans 6, Galatians 3, are baptized into Christ. Here's the interesting thing. If you believe that Christ died for your sins and was buried and rose again, those first three things pictured there, if you believe that, you're saved. And from the time of Acts 2 until the time when the Lord takes His church out, the Lord makes you identified with Christ in His crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding, whether you know it or not.

You believe just this. That's the gospel of substitution. But you are placed in Christ in all these five ways. That's what the Bible says, whether you believe it or not. This is only true of those in the church, the body of Christ, those believing from Acts 2 to the day the Lord comes to take us all home with Him, known as the rapture. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you as we look at these two Gospels. These distinctions are clear from the very first pages of Scripture to the very last. It is a thread that is woven through the chapters of Scripture from beginning to end. And we thank you for the good news that you've given us. It is indeed tremendous good news. We give you thanks for it all. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.