You Shall Not Go Very Far Away - Part Six Feb 21, 2021 by: John Herbert | Series: You Shall Not Go Very Far Away Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T016_20210221.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Ex 8:27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He will command us.” We will continue to look at the three days' journey from a Christian perspective. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday February 21st 2021 You Shall Not Go Very Far Away Part 6 1). Ex 8:27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He will command us.” 28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away……… We have seen that the 3 days’ journey from a Christian perspective, is about separation. Separation from the world and the things in the world on the one hand and separation from the old man on the other. And because of the inextricable connection between the ‘world’ and the ‘old man’ through our first birth, to separate from one is to separate from the other - Eph 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. And we had seen in our previous study that the process of separation is brought about by the renewing of our mind which cannot be accomplished apart from the Word of God. It is the ‘epignosis’ knowledge of the Word concerning Christ and His Kingdom alone that renews our mind and brings about our transformation – 2 Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Col 3:10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge [‘epignosis’] according to the image of Him who created him, We will realize then, that at the heart of the transformation and separation from the world and the old man, is ‘the faith’. Believing that which God has said about the 7th Day. We will either have faith to the saving of the soul, bringing about separation and transformation, or we will draw back from the faith to perdition. There is no middle ground here – Heb 11:6 But without faith [to the saving of the soul] it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe [have the faith] to the saving of the soul. Mt 12:30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. It becomes obvious then that the choice we are to make to separate from the world and the old man, thereby embracing the transformation, is not for its own sake but because of the hope that is set before us. It is because we have heard the Word of the Kingdom, the gospel of the glory of Christ, and have believed that which God has said about the coming of the Lord and our appearance at His Judgment Seat in relation to this, that this separation and transformation are not only necessary but also a matter of life or death. And these are things that we must constantly have in the forefront of our mind every day – 2 Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Having read these verses from 2 Peter in which Peter talks of providing a constant reminder of the ‘present truth’ in which his readers were already established, it is interesting to note that which the Lord commanded the nation of Israel with respect to the ‘present truth’ He had given to them with regards to realizing their inheritance in the land of promise – De 6:6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. The point of what we see here is that the Lord commanded His people to always keep before them, to have a constant reminder of the words He had spoken to them concerning His purpose for them. And these words were to be continually before them from their laying down at night to their waking in the morning. They were to be at the forefront of every aspect of their lives, both outside of their home and within their family. These were the words they were to diligently teach to their children throughout their generations. a). Although these verses apply to the Jewish people, we cannot overlook the secondary application for ourselves. It is the Word of the Kingdom, the gospel of the glory of Christ that we must devote our time and energy to, the very thing uppermost in Peter’s mind, as there is nothing more important than the so great salvation that is offered to us – Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. The end of v21 and v22 take us, via Ephesians Chapter 5, back to the building of the Woman and her presentation to Adam in Genesis Chapter 2, picturing Christ’s present work in us in conjunction with the Holy Spirit’s search for a bride, the glorious conclusion to which we all aspire. b). But note the word that begins v23, ‘IF’, the glorious conclusion that can be ours, is conditional. It is conditional upon us continuing in, or adhering to, ‘the faith’, having been established on the foundation, ‘grounded and steadfast’, which we have been taught, the present truth of 2 Peter, so that we will not be moved away from the hope that we have received through the preaching of the whole counsel of God – Col 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. So, what would it look like for us to be grounded and steadfast, to be established in the faith, so as not to be moved away from our hope? Well, having the same single-minded focus, diligence and the seriousness with regards to the gospel of the glory of Christ, as presented to us in the verses we read from Deuteronomy Chapter 6 would come to mind. c). In conjunction with Deuteronomy let’s also consider this – Ex 31:14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ” The sign of the Sabbath given to the Jewish people is inextricably linked to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for Man laid out in the first Chapter of Genesis through the 6 days of work to be followed by a 7th day of rest; the 7th Day that God has as His focus throughout His written revelation to the eternally saved – Ge 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. The sign of the Sabbath pointed to that future Day when the present system of rulership would be overthrown, and a redeemed Jewish people would rule at the head of the nations within a Theocracy. And the seriousness of keeping that pictured through observing the Sabbath is seen through the command that anyone who profaned the Sabbath would ‘surely be put to death’. d). Now we have not been given the sign of the Sabbath as signs are only for the Jew. But no doubt, had we been given such a sign, we would have turned it into a religious ritual that would be kept for its own sake rather than seeing that to which it pointed. e). However, the 7th Day is a day that we are to keep separated in our thinking; it is the Day that we are to honor and hallow, that should be in our mind when we lie down and when we rise up; it is the foundation on which we are built that we might be grounded and steadfast. It is the Day of the realization of our hope – Col 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ proclaimed among you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. And should we profane the 7th Day by regarding it as a casual thing, witnessed through the way we live our lives now in anticipation of it, then at the Judgment Seat we shall ‘surely be put to death’. We will find ourselves separated from the 7th Day, having no part in God’s purpose for us in it, having spurned the reason for which God, in the person of Son, died and shed His blood. f). And of course, once lost, the 7th Day can never be reclaimed. 2). Mt 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. In preaching the good news of the Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Heavens which was at hand, the Lord was declaring to the Jewish people the imminence of the 7th Day to which the sign of the Sabbath, kept throughout their generations, pointed. a). And in the proclamation of this good news, attested to by the supernatural signs of healing that accompanied it, was the very Word that God had given the Jewish people concerning His purpose for them in the Day which they were commanded to diligently teach their children about and keep ever before them as we had read in Deuteronomy Chapter 6 and Exodus Chapter 31. b). And yet despite having this Word ever before them that foretold of the coming of Messiah and despite, on pain of death, keeping the Sabbath every week throughout their generations, both their King, the Word made flesh, and His Kingdom, the 7th Day, were rejected. Not by an unsaved people but those who had spiritual life, who had more than a rudimentary understanding of God’s purpose for them. c). And why did such a thing happen? Because on the one hand, Satan had begun his deceptive work among the Jewish people from the moment the first Jewish foot stepped outside of Egypt, in anticipation of Messiah’s advent. And on the other hand, because the Jewish people themselves, under the direction of their religious leaders, never made the 3 days’ journey – Jn 19:15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” Now, we know that as a result of Israel’s rejection of the Kingdom of the Heavens, the Church, the new creation in Christ, was brought into being to be the recipient of that which Israel had rejected. d). And we also know that the Kingdom of the Heavens was then re-offered to the generation of eternally saved Jews who were alive at the time of the Lord’s first advent, those who had previously rejected the King and His Kingdom, throughout the period of time covered by the Book of Acts, by the newly formed Church, as national repentance on Israel’s part would still have remained possible. e). This is why Paul, although given as an Apostle to the Gentiles, when he entered any town or city, during the Acts period, went to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. God’s established order had to be observed. f). It was only if and when the Jews rejected his message, the gospel of the glory of Christ, that he would then take this same message to the eternally saved Gentiles in that place. g). And if we follow his ministry journey through the time covered by the Book of Acts, we will see that there were 3 separate occasions, in 3 different cities, when Paul declared that the Jews would left to the consequences of their unbelief – Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of age lasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” The first occasion, seen in the verses we have just read, was in Antioch. The second occasion was when Paul was in Corinth – Acts 18:5 When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. 6 But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” The third and final occasion was in Rome, around 62AD when the re-offer of the Kingdom of the Heavens to the Jewish people came to an end Acts 28:25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, 26 saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; 27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” ’ 28 “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” 29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. Although the action here is recorded of Paul, we should be clear that it was God Himself who withdrew His hand from the Jewish people to give them over to the consequences of their unbelief. We can see that Paul was ‘compelled by the Spirit’. And there is more than a touch of irony to the fact that it was in Rome, the center of Gentile world power of that day, the place where the scepter of rulership resided that had originally been given to Nebuchadnezzar, 600 years before which began the times of the Gentiles, that God finally withdrew His hand from the Jewish people allowing them to walk the path they had chosen for themselves. h). Rome was the place where the scepter of rulership that should have been Israel’s was held and was the center of the governing power under Satan to whom the nation had pledged allegiance on the day of the Lord’s crucifixion. i). Remember the Jewish people had been driven out among the Gentiles to bring about national repentance. Their continued unbelief meant that this repentance did not come, leaving them to wait until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in before the opportunity will present itself again – Ro 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And because of their continued unbelief God has allowed them to follow their own course to the inevitable horrors of the great tribulation. j). Now what we are going to realize from these events in Acts is that there were 3 occasions when God, through Paul’s actions, withdrew His hand from the Jews, leaving them to the consequences of their unbelief, there wasn’t a fourth. There was a terminal point then, on the 3rd occasion, seen in Rome, beyond which there was no further attempt to call the nation to repentance. k). Although by 62AD many of that eternally saved generation who were alive at the Lord’s first advent were dying off, so that eventually there would be no eternally saved Jews to whom the re-offer could have been made, they did not all die instantly at that moment in Acts Chapter 28 that we read about. l). So, was national repentance for Israel still possible after Acts 28:28, before all that generation had died? Well, from one perspective we would have to say, ‘Yes’ as they still had the freedom to choose, but the reality would be, ‘No’, because if the Word of God could not change their minds, they could never do so by their own volition. m). The terminal point reached in Rome is the same terminal point reached by the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt at Kadesh Barnea, and for exactly the same reason – Heb 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. 3). It was towards the end of the period of time covered by the Book of Acts in which the events we have been looking at occurred, that Paul wrote his letter to the Church in Rome, to Roman Christians - Ro 1:7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the first Chapter of Romans Paul writes about 2 groups of Christians with respect to the message given to him – Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. It was as we see ‘the gospel of Christ’, and just to make sure we are clear, the gospel of Christ is the gospel given to Paul, the gospel of the glory of Christ, that was to be preached to the eternally saved. And this is made very clear in the opening verses of Chapter 1 – Ro 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. 5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; We will notice that Paul’s message concerned the good news of God, to which he had been separated. And we will remember that Paul had been taken into the third heaven where he was taught by the Lord the message he was to subsequently take to the Gentiles – 2 Co 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. Ga 1:11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is the message containing that which God had ‘promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord’. And that contained in the Holy Scriptures written by the hands of the prophets would begin with Moses in Genesis. a). And that contained in the Holy Scriptures, beginning with Moses shows that Jesus ‘was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.’ And it was from this same Jesus that Paul ‘received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among the nations’ – Eph 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel…….. This then is the gospel, the good news, of Christ that is the power of God to salvation for those who believe, those who have faith, that was preached to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. a). A gospel that is exclusively for the eternally saved, dealing with a salvation that is a present process leading to a future fulfillment, the salvation of the soul. And it is with respect to receiving this gospel that Paul wrote about both faithful and unfaithful Christians in the first Chapter of his letter to the Romans. b). And God’s response to the unfaithful Christians, recorded by Paul, follows the exact same pattern we have just seen concerning unfaithful Jews in the Book of Acts. We will, however, have to continue with this next time – if the Lord is willing. You Shall Not Go Very Far Away - Part Six Feb 21, 2021 Speaker: John Herbert Series: You Shall Not Go Very Far Away Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T016_20210221.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Ex 8:27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He will command us.” We will continue to look at the three days' journey from a Christian perspective. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday February 21st 2021 You Shall Not Go Very Far Away Part 6 1). Ex 8:27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He will command us.” 28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away……… We have seen that the 3 days’ journey from a Christian perspective, is about separation. Separation from the world and the things in the world on the one hand and separation from the old man on the other. And because of the inextricable connection between the ‘world’ and the ‘old man’ through our first birth, to separate from one is to separate from the other - Eph 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. And we had seen in our previous study that the process of separation is brought about by the renewing of our mind which cannot be accomplished apart from the Word of God. It is the ‘epignosis’ knowledge of the Word concerning Christ and His Kingdom alone that renews our mind and brings about our transformation – 2 Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Col 3:10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge [‘epignosis’] according to the image of Him who created him, We will realize then, that at the heart of the transformation and separation from the world and the old man, is ‘the faith’. Believing that which God has said about the 7th Day. We will either have faith to the saving of the soul, bringing about separation and transformation, or we will draw back from the faith to perdition. There is no middle ground here – Heb 11:6 But without faith [to the saving of the soul] it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe [have the faith] to the saving of the soul. Mt 12:30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. It becomes obvious then that the choice we are to make to separate from the world and the old man, thereby embracing the transformation, is not for its own sake but because of the hope that is set before us. It is because we have heard the Word of the Kingdom, the gospel of the glory of Christ, and have believed that which God has said about the coming of the Lord and our appearance at His Judgment Seat in relation to this, that this separation and transformation are not only necessary but also a matter of life or death. And these are things that we must constantly have in the forefront of our mind every day – 2 Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Having read these verses from 2 Peter in which Peter talks of providing a constant reminder of the ‘present truth’ in which his readers were already established, it is interesting to note that which the Lord commanded the nation of Israel with respect to the ‘present truth’ He had given to them with regards to realizing their inheritance in the land of promise – De 6:6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. The point of what we see here is that the Lord commanded His people to always keep before them, to have a constant reminder of the words He had spoken to them concerning His purpose for them. And these words were to be continually before them from their laying down at night to their waking in the morning. They were to be at the forefront of every aspect of their lives, both outside of their home and within their family. These were the words they were to diligently teach to their children throughout their generations. a). Although these verses apply to the Jewish people, we cannot overlook the secondary application for ourselves. It is the Word of the Kingdom, the gospel of the glory of Christ that we must devote our time and energy to, the very thing uppermost in Peter’s mind, as there is nothing more important than the so great salvation that is offered to us – Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. The end of v21 and v22 take us, via Ephesians Chapter 5, back to the building of the Woman and her presentation to Adam in Genesis Chapter 2, picturing Christ’s present work in us in conjunction with the Holy Spirit’s search for a bride, the glorious conclusion to which we all aspire. b). But note the word that begins v23, ‘IF’, the glorious conclusion that can be ours, is conditional. It is conditional upon us continuing in, or adhering to, ‘the faith’, having been established on the foundation, ‘grounded and steadfast’, which we have been taught, the present truth of 2 Peter, so that we will not be moved away from the hope that we have received through the preaching of the whole counsel of God – Col 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. So, what would it look like for us to be grounded and steadfast, to be established in the faith, so as not to be moved away from our hope? Well, having the same single-minded focus, diligence and the seriousness with regards to the gospel of the glory of Christ, as presented to us in the verses we read from Deuteronomy Chapter 6 would come to mind. c). In conjunction with Deuteronomy let’s also consider this – Ex 31:14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ” The sign of the Sabbath given to the Jewish people is inextricably linked to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for Man laid out in the first Chapter of Genesis through the 6 days of work to be followed by a 7th day of rest; the 7th Day that God has as His focus throughout His written revelation to the eternally saved – Ge 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. The sign of the Sabbath pointed to that future Day when the present system of rulership would be overthrown, and a redeemed Jewish people would rule at the head of the nations within a Theocracy. And the seriousness of keeping that pictured through observing the Sabbath is seen through the command that anyone who profaned the Sabbath would ‘surely be put to death’. d). Now we have not been given the sign of the Sabbath as signs are only for the Jew. But no doubt, had we been given such a sign, we would have turned it into a religious ritual that would be kept for its own sake rather than seeing that to which it pointed. e). However, the 7th Day is a day that we are to keep separated in our thinking; it is the Day that we are to honor and hallow, that should be in our mind when we lie down and when we rise up; it is the foundation on which we are built that we might be grounded and steadfast. It is the Day of the realization of our hope – Col 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ proclaimed among you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. And should we profane the 7th Day by regarding it as a casual thing, witnessed through the way we live our lives now in anticipation of it, then at the Judgment Seat we shall ‘surely be put to death’. We will find ourselves separated from the 7th Day, having no part in God’s purpose for us in it, having spurned the reason for which God, in the person of Son, died and shed His blood. f). And of course, once lost, the 7th Day can never be reclaimed. 2). Mt 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. In preaching the good news of the Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Heavens which was at hand, the Lord was declaring to the Jewish people the imminence of the 7th Day to which the sign of the Sabbath, kept throughout their generations, pointed. a). And in the proclamation of this good news, attested to by the supernatural signs of healing that accompanied it, was the very Word that God had given the Jewish people concerning His purpose for them in the Day which they were commanded to diligently teach their children about and keep ever before them as we had read in Deuteronomy Chapter 6 and Exodus Chapter 31. b). And yet despite having this Word ever before them that foretold of the coming of Messiah and despite, on pain of death, keeping the Sabbath every week throughout their generations, both their King, the Word made flesh, and His Kingdom, the 7th Day, were rejected. Not by an unsaved people but those who had spiritual life, who had more than a rudimentary understanding of God’s purpose for them. c). And why did such a thing happen? Because on the one hand, Satan had begun his deceptive work among the Jewish people from the moment the first Jewish foot stepped outside of Egypt, in anticipation of Messiah’s advent. And on the other hand, because the Jewish people themselves, under the direction of their religious leaders, never made the 3 days’ journey – Jn 19:15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” Now, we know that as a result of Israel’s rejection of the Kingdom of the Heavens, the Church, the new creation in Christ, was brought into being to be the recipient of that which Israel had rejected. d). And we also know that the Kingdom of the Heavens was then re-offered to the generation of eternally saved Jews who were alive at the time of the Lord’s first advent, those who had previously rejected the King and His Kingdom, throughout the period of time covered by the Book of Acts, by the newly formed Church, as national repentance on Israel’s part would still have remained possible. e). This is why Paul, although given as an Apostle to the Gentiles, when he entered any town or city, during the Acts period, went to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. God’s established order had to be observed. f). It was only if and when the Jews rejected his message, the gospel of the glory of Christ, that he would then take this same message to the eternally saved Gentiles in that place. g). And if we follow his ministry journey through the time covered by the Book of Acts, we will see that there were 3 separate occasions, in 3 different cities, when Paul declared that the Jews would left to the consequences of their unbelief – Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of age lasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” The first occasion, seen in the verses we have just read, was in Antioch. The second occasion was when Paul was in Corinth – Acts 18:5 When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. 6 But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” The third and final occasion was in Rome, around 62AD when the re-offer of the Kingdom of the Heavens to the Jewish people came to an end Acts 28:25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, 26 saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; 27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” ’ 28 “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” 29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. Although the action here is recorded of Paul, we should be clear that it was God Himself who withdrew His hand from the Jewish people to give them over to the consequences of their unbelief. We can see that Paul was ‘compelled by the Spirit’. And there is more than a touch of irony to the fact that it was in Rome, the center of Gentile world power of that day, the place where the scepter of rulership resided that had originally been given to Nebuchadnezzar, 600 years before which began the times of the Gentiles, that God finally withdrew His hand from the Jewish people allowing them to walk the path they had chosen for themselves. h). Rome was the place where the scepter of rulership that should have been Israel’s was held and was the center of the governing power under Satan to whom the nation had pledged allegiance on the day of the Lord’s crucifixion. i). Remember the Jewish people had been driven out among the Gentiles to bring about national repentance. Their continued unbelief meant that this repentance did not come, leaving them to wait until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in before the opportunity will present itself again – Ro 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And because of their continued unbelief God has allowed them to follow their own course to the inevitable horrors of the great tribulation. j). Now what we are going to realize from these events in Acts is that there were 3 occasions when God, through Paul’s actions, withdrew His hand from the Jews, leaving them to the consequences of their unbelief, there wasn’t a fourth. There was a terminal point then, on the 3rd occasion, seen in Rome, beyond which there was no further attempt to call the nation to repentance. k). Although by 62AD many of that eternally saved generation who were alive at the Lord’s first advent were dying off, so that eventually there would be no eternally saved Jews to whom the re-offer could have been made, they did not all die instantly at that moment in Acts Chapter 28 that we read about. l). So, was national repentance for Israel still possible after Acts 28:28, before all that generation had died? Well, from one perspective we would have to say, ‘Yes’ as they still had the freedom to choose, but the reality would be, ‘No’, because if the Word of God could not change their minds, they could never do so by their own volition. m). The terminal point reached in Rome is the same terminal point reached by the first generation of Israel to come out of Egypt at Kadesh Barnea, and for exactly the same reason – Heb 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. 3). It was towards the end of the period of time covered by the Book of Acts in which the events we have been looking at occurred, that Paul wrote his letter to the Church in Rome, to Roman Christians - Ro 1:7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the first Chapter of Romans Paul writes about 2 groups of Christians with respect to the message given to him – Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. It was as we see ‘the gospel of Christ’, and just to make sure we are clear, the gospel of Christ is the gospel given to Paul, the gospel of the glory of Christ, that was to be preached to the eternally saved. And this is made very clear in the opening verses of Chapter 1 – Ro 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. 5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; We will notice that Paul’s message concerned the good news of God, to which he had been separated. And we will remember that Paul had been taken into the third heaven where he was taught by the Lord the message he was to subsequently take to the Gentiles – 2 Co 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. Ga 1:11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is the message containing that which God had ‘promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord’. And that contained in the Holy Scriptures written by the hands of the prophets would begin with Moses in Genesis. a). And that contained in the Holy Scriptures, beginning with Moses shows that Jesus ‘was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.’ And it was from this same Jesus that Paul ‘received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among the nations’ – Eph 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel…….. This then is the gospel, the good news, of Christ that is the power of God to salvation for those who believe, those who have faith, that was preached to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. a). A gospel that is exclusively for the eternally saved, dealing with a salvation that is a present process leading to a future fulfillment, the salvation of the soul. And it is with respect to receiving this gospel that Paul wrote about both faithful and unfaithful Christians in the first Chapter of his letter to the Romans. b). And God’s response to the unfaithful Christians, recorded by Paul, follows the exact same pattern we have just seen concerning unfaithful Jews in the Book of Acts. We will, however, have to continue with this next time – if the Lord is willing.