Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
Worship call 1163 Encouragement from the Prophets - 2024/10/16
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome to worship call with Bible teacher Buzz Lawbet. Buzz is the pastor of Grace Chapel Bible Ministries located in Duncan, South Carolina. This ministry is dedicated to the verse by verse teaching of God's word and discipleship programs aimed at strengthening the faith of God's people. Now here's today's message. Child of two worlds, A.W. Tozer pursuing God, in the kingdom of God, the surest way to lose something is to try to protect it. The best way to keep it is to let it go. This was the word of our Lord Jesus Christ. Quote, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, Luke 923." Christ's turn from the fallen world of Adam and spoke about another world all together. A world where Adam's philosophy is invalid and his technique inoperable. He spoke of a kingdom of God whose laws are exactly opposite to those of the kingdom of men. So the two Christian is a child of two worlds. He lives among fallen men, but when he is regenerated he is called to live according to the laws and the principles that underline the new kingdom. He may then find himself trying to live a heavenly life after an earthly pattern and this is what Paul called carnal living. That is why it is vitally important to move up into life of the Spirit of God. Give up your earthly treasures and the Lord will keep them for you until life eternal. This is the fourth day of the week in God's created order. The 16th day of the 10th month, 2024th year of our Lord, and this is another fine day in the Lord. Father in Heaven thank you for this day. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the looking forward kingdom that comes. I pray Heavenly Father that it is not patterned after this earth. That it is something totally different than what anything that we could ever think or imagine. But you have given us hints of it and we certainly have a confident expectation and a growing excitement about it. Open our hearts this morning through the study of your word and these things we pray in Christ's name, Amen. And yes, it is another fine day in the Lord as we look. What are we doing here? Alright, let's go. Here we are. Let's start with Acts 19, 21 this morning. Acts 19 through 21. Therefore, repent and return so that your sins will be wiped away in order that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And that he may sin Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 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 time. And this takes us back to Acts 1, 11. They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking in the sky?" This Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into Heaven. And in Psalm 1, 10, 1, the Lord says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." See, Jesus left. His work was not done. His work on earth was complete, but the work in Heaven was yet to be completed. You see, the early tabernacle, the one constructed by Moses or under his watch, was an earthly tabernacle, but it was modeled after heavenly things. And the procedures were modeled after heavenly procedures. There was a high priest that once a year that took the blood into the holy of holies once a year. That he would enter into the most holy place, that place where there was the ark of the covenant, the atomic covering, where the Shekinic glory was to be. And the high priest would come in after the sacrifice, and he would sprinkle blood upon that atonement seat for the atonement of sins for that nation. Well, again, that is a model after a heavenly tabernacle. Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is to say, not of this creation. And so he enters into that heavenly tabernacle, the one not of this earth, but in Heaven itself. And so the restoration, coming back up to our verse, Acts 3, 19, and verse 20, and that he may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you, whom Heaven must receive until the period of restoration. So the Lord is in Heaven. And he's not, listen, he's not in a holding pattern. This was my mindset. So when it's my mindset, I imagine I'm not so unique that other people think the same way that Jesus is simply in Heaven, waiting for the Father to say, okay, it's not for you to go. Okay. And so until then, he's going to just sit and wait. No, he's at work. Our Jesus is in Heaven. He's working on our behalf. He's making intercession for us. He enters into that holy of holy. You see, he is the high priest. The work wasn't done completely done on the cross. Yes, the work for sins was. That proportion, that phase of work was done. But a priest, after he sacrifices, after the sacrifice, he wasn't done either. He had to take the blood into the holy of holies. Jesus sacrificed. As a high priest, he gave up the sacrifice upon the cross, which was his own body. So here's the priest in Heaven. He takes the sacrifice in for the atonement of sin for ourselves in Heaven. And he continues to be there, making intercession for us, as John says, that you may not sin. But if you do so, we have an advocate. We have the one who stands beside us. We have the one who represents us in Heaven. So Jesus is at work. And this is up until it's time for him to leave. Up at the time that he is set, and that's the period of restoration. And as I've said before, that there is the principal stance that God had purposed from the beginning with the establishment of Adam and him as a dominion ruler. What he purposed from the beginning will be brought to its conclusion. But yet, it will be better in a sense that it will be a better relationship. And if there's a better relationship, there's going to be a better environment. You see, when Adam was created perfect, he was created in perfection. When at the end of Genesis, Jesus saw all that he had made was very good. Adam was included in there in his wife. So of course, when he took from the tree, he became a lawbreaker. He became a sinner. But in the restoration, the Lord doesn't bring Adam up to the level of where he was before. He doesn't bring man up to being good and perfect. He makes him better. He brings him up to being righteousness. Because Adam wasn't righteous in God. He was made perfection. But when we are born again, we are born better. And therefore, as great and as perfect as that creation was, we are looking for a better, something even better than what it was when it first started out. And this is what 2 Peter 3, 13 tells us. But according to his promise, we are looking for a new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells. This is something that we should be excited about. Matthew 17, 11. And he answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you, Elijah already came and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wish. So also, the son of man is going to suffer in their hands. John the Baptist would have been that Elijah if they would have accepted him. Romans 8, 21, that all creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. It is the creation that is an anticipation. The believer and most that I know will talk about the conditions of this world. They will talk about the evil. They will groan under the wickedness and travail, just like nature does. But how many of us are looking forward with great anticipation for the return of the Lord? How many of us are this world so secondary to the message that Jesus Christ is coming back? This is not the time of restoration yet. We can wring our hands. We can we can we can we can groan and we can moan and we can complain and we can we can sweat this out. But how many of us are actually the what I say is that the news of the day seems to have drowned out the glorious message that there is coming a time of restoration. Weeping must endure for the night, but joy a shot of joy comes in the morning. Jeremiah 23 5. Behold the days are coming declares the Lord. When I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteous in the land. Proverbs 29 to says when the righteous increase the people rejoice. But when the wicked man rules people grown while we have they put the best the emphasis and look at this. Then this is how the Hebrews set up by the way. Just like it just like and notice in in Genesis 3 15 and I will put enmity between you and the woman. He will crush your head. That's a good news. It places the emphasis upon Jesus Christ crushing the head of the serpent first and he will bruise your heel. Well, the heel bruising actually takes place chronologically first doesn't it? But the emphasis is placed upon the victory in Jesus. Here's the same way the righteous increase with when increase the people rejoice emphasis upon that. But when the wicked man rules people grown. So that's where the condition that we have now. Acts 3 20. Let's move on to Acts 3 22 here. Moses says the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. To him you shall give heed to everything he says to you. And let's take a look at this. Rise up for prophet. This is Moses speaking. Rise a prophet or he raised up me from the brethren. A prophet like me from the brethren. I like Moses. There are so many things. When you look at the life of Moses, we mentioned the same thing with Joseph. But this is much more. When you look at the life of Moses and compare it to life with Jesus or take Jesus and compare him to Moses, there are so many similarities. There are so many types. When Moses says like me, this is so validated in Scripture. I'll give you just a few and this is not a conclusive list by no means. I'm not going to read off the verses here. I'll just give that here. Both were preserved from perils of infancy. Both, and we saw that Jesus was when Jesus of born Herod tried to kill him. And we saw in the beginning where the Pharaoh tried to kill Moses. Both were tempted but had mastery over evil. Both knew what it was to fast for 40 days. Both had the power to control the sea. You remember that there was the parting of the sea and the exodus and there was calming of the storm by Jesus. Both fed the multitudes. Both spoke of manna from heaven. Both had a radiant face. Both endured murmurings. Both were discredited at home. Both were mighty intercessors. Both spoke as oracles of God. Both had 70 helpers. Both established memorials. Both represented both appeared after death. Both were presented at the transfiguration. These are just a few of the things like the light that Moses speaks of here. And so there is a great simulation. There is a great hype in there. So Moses knows what he's talking about. He's going to raise up one like me. And that's going to be Jesus, Acts 3, 23. And it will be that every soul that does not heed the prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. What does that sound like? There's quite the warning here. And at this point, these people need to reflect back on their own history. What exactly took place back then? And what happened when people rebelled against Moses? When they rebelled against Moses, they rebelled against God's man and they rebelled, therefore, against God. And what happened to Korah? When the ground opened up and swallowed his people. Not only Korah, but all those who sided with him, they were brought down in the shield. What happened to Moses' return when he found the worshiper, then worshiping the golden calf? What happened with the murmurings of the Lord and what happened with the murmurings when the Lord sent the fiery serpents against them? And finally, what happened to that first generation? And I think this is where it leads to. That first generation, these other sufferings and these other deaths were just a shot across the bow because in the end, this whole generation, this old first generation, they died in their wilderness. And there was only two that entered into the Promised Land. And so, in this case, should we not ourselves reflect upon this? You know, when I've learned in life that you learn from others, you can learn from others' people's mistakes, or you can make your own. Or you can learn from people's successes. What was it that they succeeded and how was it that they succeeded? And follow that pattern. And you can do it either way. And it was to Joshua Taylor from that first generation. They were the only ones that allowed to cross over with the second generation. I'm sure they were with their families as well. But the second generation, young generation, went into the land. But that first generation died. And that's where we are in Acts 3, 23. And it will be that every soul that does not heed the Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. What was before, and this is the warning, what was before will be again. We're talking about a parallel. Don't be like these people here. Don't be like that first generation. But move on. As Paul says, this is written for an example that you might not fall into the same mistakes that that first generation had. So this is quite the warning. Verse 24. And likewise, all prophets who have spoken from Samuel and his successors onward also announced these days. The prophets, a prophet was one who spoke for God. A prophet was one. A prophet didn't come up and the prophet just didn't speak for himself. The prophet wasn't one who sat out on a Friday night and writing out a sermon for the Sabbath the next day that he was going to teach in a synagogue, something that was going to lift their spirits or do this or do that. They didn't write for themselves. They spoke what God had given them to speak. When the prophets spoke, when God spoke, when the prophets spoke, it was God speaking. What was the word said? The Prophet said, "Thus says the Lord." This has come from the Lord. This is not coming from me. He didn't speak for himself. And so it was the prophets that there were. And there was encouragement from the prophets talking about the kingdom and talking about things to come. Hey, listen, if God is speaking, he's telling us. He's given us something to us. And here we still have the words today to tell us about the time of refreshing, to tell us about the time when the Lord is going to come, to tell us about the things that are coming. And we should be excited about that. Let's say, for example, Isaiah 11. I'm not going to read this yesterday, but I didn't. But let's look at Isaiah 11. And this is not from Isaiah. This is Isaiah saying, "Thus says the Lord." This is Isaiah speaking what the Lord is giving him to speak and given the people of vision of what they should be looking for and what they should be anticipating. Let's start with verse 1. "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his root to a bare fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest on him and the spirit of wisdom and understanding. The spirit of counsel and strength and the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." And he would delight in the fear of the Lord. And he will not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his ears hear. But with righteousness, he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. And the breath of his lips, he will slay with the wicked. Also righteous, it will be a belt about his loins and faithfulness, a belt about his waist. And what will be the outcome of this? This is our ruler. Remember that that rejoicing comes when the righteous reign. The wolf will dwell with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. The little boy will leave them and also the cow and the bear will graze. Their young will lie down together. The lion will each draw like an ox. The nursing child will play by the whole of the cobra. And a ween child will put his hand on the bipers den. That is the cobra. And he will be petting that cobra den. But they will not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain. For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord and the waters cover seed. Then in that day the nation will resort to the root of Jesse who will stand as a signal for the peoples and a resting place will be glorious. Then it will happen that on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with his hand. The remnant of people who will remain from Assyria, Egypt, Patros, Kush, Ilam, Shenar, Hamah and from the islands of the sea. And it goes on. And this is something that the Lord through the prophets gave encouragement like this. Painting a picture of the promises that are ahead. And the people in the wilderness. The people in the wilderness died because they could only look at their current circumstances and murmur. And they were locked in. They could not see beyond that. And this is what we need to do today, folks. That our hearts need to be saved. And again, this is Peter Sermon here. And this is exactly what Peter started out. This is hope because the people started out with their rejection of Christ. They handed them over to Pilate and their hearts are pierced. But with repentance, with repentance and turning back to what they had believed before. They could now, with great anticipation, look forward to that time coming, that time of refreshing. Should we not be looking for a time of refreshing? And remember that the key, as we spoke of, the key is Israel. It is the channel of blessings for all the families of the earth to be blessed. Acts 3, 26. For you first, for you first, God raised up as a servant and sent him to bless you by turning everyone of you from your wicked ways. The first verse really comes to mind on this as Romans 1, 16. I am not ashamed of God before. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. That bright shining hill is Jerusalem folks. And it is that message that they had received first. And it is they who become the first evangelist to get the message out about Jesus Christ he is living. And Matthew 10, 27. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light. And what you hear whispered in your ear proclaim upon the housetops. And the message is that Jesus Christ lives. The message is that that message started with Israel. It started in Jerusalem. And now it is going to spread out. And that gospel is going to spread to all the nations of the world. Because remember, Israel rejected their king. This is a reversal. Israel rejected their king. And they themselves had to be the first to repent. But also understand that coming back to the Tower of Babel, which these classes are connecting together, going back to the Tower of Babel, the world had rejected. That world had rejected the Lord. The world won their independence from God. And they were spread out through all the world, through all the nations. And so the world is saturated paganism. The world under the dark Lord Satan. And so as this message comes out, it's good news that Jesus Christ will provide eternal life for anyone that trusts in him. And this message goes out to all the nations to repent from their rejection at one point. And their part of their repentance is to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust in him, to come out of this dark world. Father in Heaven, thank You. But His opportunity is more than to fell shipping in Your Word. We ask Heavenly Father to open our hearts. They're the things that we've studied this morning. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. All right. Another fine day in the Lord. Keep your armor on. Keep fighting a good fight of faith. Lord, Willensburg, God, Raptor, Pentate. We'll be back here in the AM. You can hear this message again as well as previous lessons. And get note by visiting us online at www.gchapel.org. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]
From Moses and on through the prophets