The Gospel of Luke - Gospel of the Kingdom - Gospel of Substitution
Luke · Vern Peterman · Aug 7, 2016
Gospel of Luke, No. 81
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926537194879

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We've got kind of a different pattern here. And by the way, Elliska, you're very welcome. Yeah, we have Elliska with us here as of yesterday. And so that's, that's really great. We have, we have a kind of a different pattern here on Camp Out Sundays.

We teach on something that is sort of along the same theme, but doesn't then make a lapse for those who have been going through, as we have been, through the Gospel of Luke, calling it as we have been, investigating Jesus. And so we had Wayne read these passages out of Matthew and 1 Corinthians. And there's a reason for picking those particularly. And you have on your handout, this is rather unusual, we have a color handout.

And on the top part of the front page, we have this pattern here. And those items in red represent the gospel of substitution. That is, Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. As we'll see, that gospel of substitution, that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again, starts in Genesis and continues throughout the Bible all the way into the book of Revelation. It is this gospel that must be believed in order for a person to be saved. The gospel that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again. Do you believe it? Then you're saved.

And not otherwise. Then we have on the bottom part of that the gospel of the kingdom Christ the Messiah reigns and that's looking forward to Christ's second coming Okay, and we'll find that that continues from Genesis through the Bible all the way into Revelation We'll further look at these Passages that come out of the Gospels primarily during the first coming of Christ and where the gospel of substitution that Christ died for your sins was buried and rose again is mentioned there throughout the gospels and then the gospel of the kingdom which is again this is the second chart on the bottom of the first page the gospel of the kingdom has passages there out of the gospels all the way to Christ's ascension And so we'll be taking a look at those in more detail. Now, here's the pattern. This is page one. We'll get back to it. Right now, we're going to turn to page two. And so your slides will be at the top of page two.

So the word that is translated gospel in the New Testament is a compound word that literally means good message. Good message. So the word gospel is often brought across to people with the idea that it simply means good news. See those critters off to the right there? Those are ganoos. That's different. Just so you know. Good news is what the gospel is about. Ganoos is what the picture is about. They're not the same thing.

Now, we find the word gospel actually only in the New Testament. But the word pair, this good news word pair, is found both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. And it is often, in those contexts, telling about a spiritual truth. There's good news for you, and that good news is some spiritual truth. Obviously, it has to do with salvation, especially in the New Testament. Alright, so there are two Gospels, and this is key. People often get them mixed up Two Gospels that span from Genesis to Revelation. They start in Genesis, they end in Revelation, and they're in multiple places in between.

And so what we're doing today is actually only sampling some of those. We could have much, much more if we were to try to be exhaustive about it. I won't exhaust you with being exhaustive though, right? Okay. So what we have is from the book of Genesis, it continues as two threads. two parallel threads but entirely different Gospels all the way into the book of Revelation now this is key one of the reasons for pointing this out is it starts from the very first book of the Bible continues on through the whole Bible on into the very last book of the Bible as two separate Gospels What sometimes happens is people don't recognize they're two separate Gospels and they try to merge them into one. And they actually have a different message and a different purpose. So that's one of our reasons for pointing out the distinction here.

If you look at it, we have everything extending from here's where Jacob is blessing his sons, here we have Abraham offering up his son Isaac, and those refer to different Gospels. With Abraham offering up Isaac, Abraham says, God will provide the Lamb. This is the Gospel of substitution. Judah says, your father's son shall bow down to you. This is the gospel of the kingdom. The Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God, which we oftentimes see them put together like this, and it's an interesting picture because it's a sharp contrast, but the Lion of Judah is about the gospel of the kingdom. The Lamb of God is about the gospel of substitution.

That Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. He died in our place, is another way to put it. So the lion and the lamb theme, very dramatic, a huge contrast. And that comes out of the book of Revelation. But as dramatic as it is, it also shows two different Gospels. Two different Gospels. Two Gospels that span from Genesis to Revelation. The Gospel of Substitution is that Christ died in the place of every single human being on the planet for all time. From Adam to the last one to be born here on this planet at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. He died for the sins of all. Did he die for the sins of Adolf Hitler? Yes. Did he die for the sins of Saddam Hussein? Yes. Did he die for the sins of Verne? Yes. I don't know why I put myself in the category, but anyway.

So the gospel of the kingdom, just to make it clear, is that Christ will reign over Israel and the entire earth for a thousand years as the last of all earth times on this present planet. That's it. Does someone embrace that, that Christ is the Messiah, long promised by the prophets, starting all the way back in the book of Genesis? And so that's the gospel of the kingdom. It's a very different gospel from the one that says Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again. Radically different gospel. It's important to make a distinction between those two. So, just to be clear, the Gospel of the Kingdom is that Christ will reign on earth for the last of all earthly times on this present earth, and that time is yet begun.

It hasn't happened yet. People will say, Jesus is King! Not yet. He is not reigning as King now. And when He reigns, it will be over Israel as Israel's King. People will say, Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But that hasn't started yet because that's his title as he reigns over the Gentile nations. It hasn't begun yet.

The earth will be restored in many ways according to its original fertile and productive state. Animals that are at conflict and at risk with one another now will no longer be so. People who are now squabbling and fighting, even killing one another, will no longer be doing so, okay? It will be a radically different world than the one we know now, okay? By the way, you won't need an election for who's the king, right? No elections, right? Don't need that. Don't need to go through that. You won't get any phone calls, right? Endless phone calls, right? Okay.

The gospel of the kingdom is primarily what the people of Israel need to know to enter and do well into that coming kingdom. What's oftentimes not recognized is the gospel of the kingdom continued to be preached throughout the time of the book of Acts all the way to the last verses. in the book of Acts, the gospel of the kingdom. Peter did it in Pentecost, in the next message in chapter 3 of Acts. Paul did it in the very last verses in the last chapter of Acts. So the gospel of the kingdom continued to be preached to Jews all throughout the book of Acts. And we'll talk later about why, when later I mean months from now, about why that's the case. But it's a huge perspective for us to have.

It's primarily for Jews, for them to enter. One, because entrance is not guaranteed. That's one thing the Jews didn't understand. They'd say, I'm a son of Abraham. I'm going into the kingdom. Uh-uh. Not necessarily so. So Jesus had a rather stunning message for the Jews. Strive to enter the narrow gate. Wide is the gate that leads to destruction. You mean for Jews? Yeah, for Jews. Including you, right?

Okay, so here is a big question for both Gospels. For the Gospel of Substitution, for the Gospel of the Kingdom. What do you think of Christ? What do you think of Christ? We have here pictured crucified, buried, and raised. Do you believe that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again? And that all relates to what do you think of Christ? And one of the things we'll see here is that the disciples didn't understand the gospel of substitution until after Christ was resurrected and even beyond.

The gospel of the kingdom is centered on Israel. And one of the things, we don't show it here, one of the things that will be true is that Christ will reign over an enlarged Israel that will go all the way to the Euphrates River. The nation of Israel will encompass what is now eight different nations. And that's prophesied in Genesis and in Ezekiel. Ezekiel lays out here the tribes.

But it centers on what do you think of Christ? What do you think of Christ? Is he the Messiah? Is he the King? Will he be the one that reigns as King of Israel and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations? What do you think of Christ?

So the big question in the gospel of substitution, do you believe that God about Jesus, excuse me, Jesus Christ's death for your sins is burial and resurrection? That's the question. Do you believe, God, about Jesus Christ's death for your sins, his burial, and resurrection? That's the fundamental question of the gospel of substitution. It's not one that can be avoided. The big question of the gospel of the kingdom is, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, that is, the Messiah?

And that question is a first priority for Israel. When the Apostle Paul went to Rome, so far as we know, that was his first time. It's recorded in the last chapter of Acts. He presented the gospel of the kingdom to the Jews in Rome. When he would go to the Jews, he would present the gospel of the kingdom as a primary message all the way through.

But notice that the questions about Christ are different for each of these Gospels. It's always the question of what do you think of Christ? But the questions are different. They're radically different. And therefore radically different Gospels. So what it boils down to is who is Christ when? Who is Christ when? The Gospel of Jesus Christ dying as our substitute centers on what?

His first coming. When Christ died for the whole world's sins, He was buried and rose again. That happened in His first coming. That's what His first coming was about. The gospel of the kingdom on earth is about Jesus Christ the Messiah in His second coming, who will reign as King of Israel and over the earth. Some years ago, I had an opportunity to talk with a local Orthodox rabbi who said, When the Messiah comes, we'll ask Him, is this your first or your second coming? But guess what? You won't get a chance to ask that question. Nobody will get a chance to ask that question. If you don't believe the gospel of substitution having to do with His first coming, then His second coming won't be any fun. Right? You have a very bad time.

Here is a silver bowl. It has an inscription, an old Persian cuneiform. Artaxerxes I, who was the Persian ruler who reigned from 464 to 423, about, plus or minus a year, is the one who commissioned both Ezra and Nehemiah. That fellow had these bowls that are very well preserved and cleaned up. They look great. It says here, Artaxerxes, the great king, king of kings, king of countries, the son of Xerxes, the king of Xerxes, who was son of Darius, the king, the Archimedean, whose house this silver drinking cup was made.

Ezra 7.12 also has Artaxerxes titled as king of kings. and Psalm 42 and Matthew 535 have the term great king five times in the Old Testament the emperor of Assyria is given the title you know king of kings and the great king So what you see here is there's a pattern essentially of one who rules over whole nations, multiple nations.

And so when they say Jesus is the great king, this is Matthew 5.35, when we talk about him being king of kings, this is essentially saying he rules over multiple nations. That's his title is the ruler over all the Gentile nations.

So who is Christ when Jesus himself says, but who do you say that I am? Matthew 16 15 mark 8 29 and Luke 9 20 as we saw earlier in our study of the gospel of Luke But who do you say that I am? Okay. It's a very important question. He first asked what do other people say? right and and that's worth listening to and to find out where people's thinking is and But it is a very important question for each of us. Who do you say that I am?

All right, so now we have, back to page one, now we have on the top, this is the gospel of substitution in red outline on the top, and the gospel of the kingdom in blue outline on the bottom. And this stretches from one end of the Bible to the other. What I've done is to take things at each end and a sampling of things in between.

The truth is we could include a great many more passages. So this is more to get the idea across clearly. but realize it's a sampling. I could take a great many more passages in here. For example, Psalm 22 is about the crucifixion. I haven't got that included, right? So there are a great many more that I could include for both of these. All right, so with that, let's step through it.

So the gospel of substitution, that Christ, the suffering Savior, was crucified for your sins and mine, was buried and raised. Do you believe it? That's the gospel to be believed in order for someone to be saved. And then we have the gospel of the kingdom, which is that Christ the Messiah will reign. And do we recognize that? And that too starts from Genesis 12, continues on into the book of Revelation. And so we see that message.

Again, we also with that just have a sampling passages we could include many many more about that so beginning with the gospel of substitution and starting with the chart that's on the top of your first page there so here is Genesis 315 the seed of the woman so and I will put enmity between you and the woman in between your seed and her seed he shall bruise you on the head so a fatal wound right And you shall bruise him on the heel, a wound that would not ultimately be fatal since Christ was resurrected from the dead. So this is the beginning of the gospel of substitution. And not only that, but the seed of the woman that is particularly the seed born of a woman and not born of a woman and a man. And so that points to a virgin birth.

Here is Genesis 12 and 15. Focus upon the land. This is the land of Israel. God said to Abraham, the land that I will show you. So this is land that God promised to Abraham. And it wasn't for him, though. It wasn't to say, here's this land, and you're going to get it, and here's the deed when you get there. Not that. Promise to who? His descendants. Promise to his descendants. So this is about the land, and how does that connect to the kingdom? This is the land in which the kingdom will be established.

When Christ comes again, so that's the land that Genesis 12 and 15 is talking about here is Genesis 49 8 through 10 the Lion of Judah the Lion of Judah is promises Jacob is blessing his sons and he blesses Judah and that's where that originates and And as we'll see later on, the Lion of Judah then comes up in Revelation 5.5. And we'll look at that shortly here. Got this blinking lion here. So anyway, OK. All right. Now, next one. And again, this is just a sampling because I'm just touching on a few brief passages to get the idea across.

We could include many, many more. than what we're touching on here. But one of them, Exodus 12, is the Passover lamb, is a prefigure, a picture, if you will, of Christ the Lamb. And Christ is called our Passover by the Apostle Paul. So we have Exodus 12 is the Passover lamb.

And remember what they did there? They were to have the Passover, and they were to take blood from the lamb and they put it on the top and on the sides of the door lintel, right? So that the angel of death would pass over, right? And they were to eat that lamb, all of it, before they left. And matter of fact, they were to eat it standing. That was one tradition that was changed as Passover later on was you don't have to stand the whole time, right? But this first one they did. So Christ is the Passover lamb. He is the one sacrificed that spares life. We have another one here in 1 Chronicles 17, 11-15.

I will establish his kingdom forever. This is a set of words from the prophet Nathan. Nathan was a court prophet in David's court. And so David was promised that there would be a descendant of his who would reign and rule over Israel. And so this promise, I will establish his kingdom forever. And whose kingdom is that? This is the one descended from David would reign, Christ would reign over the nation of Israel.

Now, moving on to Isaiah 53. He will bear their iniquities. Actually, the end of Isaiah 52 and the entire chapter of Isaiah 53 talks about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection more than 700 years in advance. And if we were to go to Psalm 22, which is also about the crucifixion, that would be over a thousand years in advance. But here we have, in Isaiah 53, a very recognizable promise of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. He's speaking about it in advance.

When the Ethiopian eunuch in the book of Acts has the scroll of Isaiah in front of him, where is he taken? He's taken to this Isaiah 53 passage. By the way, they didn't have the chapter numbers yet, but that's where they took him, right? He will bear their iniquity.

So this is Christ died in my place 700 years in advance. It should have been me up there. I was the one that deserved it. It should have been me. But He died instead of me, voluntarily. He gave up His life. So then we have the actual crucifixion and burial and resurrection here.

And then after the fact, So during that time here we move on to this second set of slides here And so we have the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and so here's Luke 1 30 and to 33 and the angel Gabriel tells Mary about what this child that you're going to bear is This child that you're going to bear will be the one that will have the throne of his father David.

He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. What's the house of Jacob? That's the house of Israel as well. The nation and people of Israel. And his kingdom will have no end. That is the gospel of the kingdom. So here Mary is promised the gospel of the kingdom. to be fulfilled through her.

Right? She has a part in that. And that's what she's told about this child that's to be born from her. Joseph, on the other hand, Matthew 1, 20-21, says, Jesus, he will save his people from their sins. So isn't it interesting that Mary is told about the gospel of the kingdom, but Joseph is told about the gospel of substitution. He's going to save his people from their sins.

Right? Then we have, again in the Gospels, John 1, 29 and 36, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. There's something to point out here. That word takes away does not mean that He just takes the whole sin problem and just throws it out. That's not what it means. This word for takes away means He lifts up the sins off of us and puts them upon Himself. He lifts them up and puts them upon Himself. So, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world to place those sins upon Himself.

That's the other part of this message here. Behold the Lamb of God. And again, why the word Lamb? The word Lamb points to all the different indicators in the Old Testament, like the Passover, that says that Jesus is God's sacrificial Lamb. By the way, John is the only one in the New Testament, Gospel of John, Book of Revelation, who calls Christ the Lamb. And he, as we'll see, will be the Lamb on into eternity.

Here is the Gospel of the Kingdom, Matthew 3.2 with John the Baptist, and Matthew 4.17 with Christ.

It says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Kingdom gospel right that's about the kingdom isn't it right so a very different message So you're here you have John talking about the gospel of substitution behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and John the Baptist also saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand John himself was preparing a message for both the gospel of substitution and the gospel of the kingdom and It's amazing.

He understood it, even though the disciples wouldn't understand it until later. In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. What's interesting is Jesus sends out the twelve disciples. They seem to understand the gospel of the kingdom. And He sends them out two by two, even. And they seem to understand it enough so that they can go and proclaim it.

In Matthew 12.40 and 16.21 however, Jesus says that he must die and rise again and the disciples haven't a clue what he's talking about. Isn't that amazing?

That also is one of the things that should tell us there is a radical difference between the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of substitution. The disciples understood the gospel of the kingdom early. They didn't understand the gospel of substitution until much later, after Christ's resurrection and on into when the Holy Spirit was given and Christ had already ascended. So, the Apostle Paul testifies Jesus is crucified, buried and raised, appearing to as many as 500 witnesses at once.

Who was the first to see Him? Mary Magdalene, right? And here's Mary Magdalene. Did she believe that Christ was resurrected when she saw him and talked to him? Yes. But one of the disciples, Thomas, would not believe until a week later. Really amazing. But that is the gospel of substitution. Christ is crucified, buried, and resurrected. Do you believe it? Then you're saved. Right? Do you believe it? Then you're saved. But not otherwise. Okay? And just, you know, understanding it or thinking, okay, I understand what that is, is not enough. You must believe it.

Do you believe that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again? That's the basic essential gospel. Then we have Christ ascends from the Mount of Olives to return to the Mount of Olives at his second coming. Acts 1, 1-11, which we'll be going through after the start of the year. Acts 1, 1-11 talks about Jesus ascending from the Mount of Olives.

His disciples still have lots of questions. Can you imagine that? But wait, we've got questions! Bye! And so so here and then and then they're told by angels who are present right they're told by angels who are present Oh, he'll come back in the same way in which you just saw him go up And he's also by the way coming back to the exact same place that you saw him go up right the Mount of Olives and He ascended from the Mount of Olives to come back to the Mount of Olives.

That will be the end of eight stages of what's called the campaign of Armageddon, sometimes mistakenly called the Battle of Armageddon. But this is the gospel of the kingdom. He ascended and he's coming back in his second coming to this place. And he won't just have 11 disciples who are really puzzled and wondering why he's leaving when they still have so many questions.

Instead he will come back and there will be no questions right no questions at all So here you have this this sweeping representation of the gospel of substitution Christ died for your sins was buried and rose again and the gospel of the kingdom Christ the Messiah will reign Do you believe it right? Acts 13 8 and 9 in our Our upper, this is back to the upper chart here, Acts 13, 18, 18 and 19 rather, Christ would suffer, Peter presents there, and in the same message he also tells them about the gospel of the kingdom. So here's Acts 3, 17 through 21, And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.

But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ, the Messiah, would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore, repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away. In order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, that He may send Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, appointed for you."

Right immediately past us. He's telling that these Jews just immediately in our past year like you know a couple months ago Christ died for your sins Was buried and rose again now if right now you will repent and return The Messiah could still come Quickly and that's something that's why the gospel of the kingdom continued to be shared So, he will send Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. That's the gospel of the kingdom. So right in that same message there, in Acts chapter 3, he says, alright, we've just had this gospel of substitution, and now I'm presenting to you the gospel of the kingdom.

Christ coming again. whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times. Restoration of all things. You want it now? You want it now? That's what he's asking them.

Finally, we see in Revelation 1.18, the living one, Revelation 5.9, purchase for God with your blood Revelation 5, 6, and 22, 3, the Lamb, through that whole stretch from chapter 5 of Revelation, verse 6, all the way into chapter 22, verse 3, Christ is called the Lamb. Christ is called the Lamb, God's Lamb. But then we have the Gospel of the Kingdom, Revelation 5, 5, He is called the Lion of Judah.

Revelation 1-19, there is a sword coming out of his mouth. By the way, that's not a little short Roman battle sword the Roman soldier has. This is a five foot long barbarian battle sword coming out of his mouth. Really awkward, if you try to picture it. That's the sword coming out of Christ's mouth. And it comes out through chapter 19. Why? Because those are chapters of judgment. Chapters of judgment.

Revelation 20, verse 6, will reign with him for a thousand years. Are you ready for that? Reign with him for a thousand years. That's gospel of the kingdom. Lion of Judah, that's gospel of the kingdom. Sword from his mouth, that's gospel of the kingdom. Reign with him for a thousand years, that's gospel of the kingdom. So two very different gospels. So the gospel of the kingdom was to be presented to Israel.

So here Jesus went about Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom that John the Baptist went about proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, right? Jesus sent out the disciples two by two proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom now two little points that to me are kind of humorous You know just my funny head here, but one is can you imagine being paired up with Judas?

That that would be a shuddering thought the other is I think it would be really funny if I The Lord paired up Matthew the tax collector with Simon the zealot. I just think that would be really fun. Anyway, here we have, if Israel's response to Christ as their Messiah had been favorable, then the kingdom could have begun soon. It was still possible, Peter was still presenting it, during the time of the book of Acts.

Hypothetically possible, but still possible. They rejected Christ as their Messiah. Only a relative handful embraced Christ as their Messiah. So the beginning of the kingdom was delayed. And so far, the delay has been, oh, something like 20 centuries. Right? Isn't that something? It's quite a delay. But it was delayed. And for us, that's actually good. Right? Because we get to be a part of the body of Christ. So here's the rejection of the gospel of the kingdom in Luke 19, 41 through 44. You have the slide on page 3 of your handout if you want to follow along.

And he, that is Jesus, in what's typically called the triumphal entry, when he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it. Now that wept is not a, you know, sniff, sniff, you know, little tears coming down. This is an audible weeping. Okay, he was he was noticeably distressed As he came and saw why? Verse 42 saying if you had known in this day even you the things which make for peace But now they've been hidden from your eyes for the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and Surround you and hem you in on every side.

I and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." The Messiah is here. Do you get it? For the most part. For the most part, they did not.

With the gospel of substitution, there's a sequence in Matthew, and it's also in the other gospels as well, Jesus presented that he would die, be buried, and rise again. So Matthew 12.40 is one of those passages where he did exactly that.

Matthew 16.21, one year before the actual events, he said it again.

Matthew 17.23, much closer to the time of his crucifixion.

And then in Matthew 20.19, The last time He's telling them in advance, this is what's going to happen.

Now, did they get it? Let's look at Luke 9, 43-45, and we'll see how well they understood this. And He said to His disciples, so that's Jesus speaking, Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. But they did not understand this statement. and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask. What's he talking about? I don't know, but don't ask. Right? Don't ask. I'm afraid of what his answer will be. Right? Isn't that strange? We don't know what he's talking about, but don't ask.

So one of the things we could ask, since this is a message that's conveyed, this is a message that is conveyed all the way from the beginning of the Bible all the way to the end so we have the gospel of the kingdom was pivotal for Israel and the Jews it would be preached again now this is amazing it will be preached again during the seven-year tribulation to Israel and to the whole world They'll be the gospel of the kingdom. And God's going to do it miraculously. Including, this is out of Revelation 14, a gospel angel calling out the gospel of the kingdom from the sky. Can you imagine that?

And he's going to have for the first half of that tribulation period, three and a half years, two witnesses that nobody can touch. You even think about touching them and you're done. And those two witnesses are going to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. And other witnesses on top of that.

The gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the entire world. People, even if they repress it, will hear it. The gospel of substitution, however, was, and is now, and will be preached until the end of time. It will even be remembered when time is no more.

What do I mean by that? When this present heavens and earth is done for. And that could be as soon as 1,007 years from now. When this present heavens and earth is done for and gone, and there is the new heavens and new earth, what we still find, Revelation 22 verses 1 and 3, What we still find is we recognize Christ as the Lamb. There will be no more death, no more mourning, sorrow, crying, or pain. Those will all be gone. But we will remember somehow, He paid the price for me. He paid the price for me. A price I couldn't pay. Hallelujah.

But as extensive and as important as these two Gospels are, the Word of God does not just contain these Gospels. It has words for you and I to grow on and to impact us deeply. Hebrews 4.12 says it goes deep like nothing else can. The doctor can't do anything to you or give you anything that goes as deep as the Word of God. It goes at the dividing line between soul and spirit. Nothing else touches that. Nothing can. But that's what the Word of God has in it. Let's look at 1 Peter 2.

Like newborn babes, Long for, by the way that's an imperative, you must long for the pure milk of the Word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. Are you already saved at the very moment you believe that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again? Yep. Okay, grow on the basis of that salvation that you already have. That's what this verse is about. And what's the ingredient? The Word of God. The Word of God.

Here's 2 Peter 3.18. Here's Peter's last of two books. And okay, how do we have a grand finale here? Let me write a grand finale. This is it. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Grow is the same word we just saw in 1 Peter 2.2. Only here, the imperative is grow. Here, the imperative is to long for. But he's giving us the answer. How do I grow? The Word of God. That by it you may grow. The Word of God is an essential for growth, not just a good idea. Or, oh boy, that would be awfully nice. It's an essential for growth. We have to have it. It's absolutely necessary.

There isn't any other substitute. There's no plan B. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you as we look at your word. You've made from Genesis to Revelation, the two Gospels, just crystal clear. And you've made for eons and centuries a distinction between those two. And yet they're both gospels that are good for us to completely understand and to embrace. And we thank you for your word. We thank you for your word that makes these things clear, but also great and marvelous other truths as well, and truths to grow on, truths to impact us deeply. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.