Israel's Christ (Romans 9:4-5)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:10.230 Let's hear God's word from Romans Nine, verses four and five. Here we 2 00:00:10.390 --> 00:00:15.349 come to the last of the things that Paul Mentions in this list, Christ 3 00:00:15.390 --> 00:00:22.940 himself, and I'm going to read from verse one and through a verse five. 4 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:31.420 Let's hear God's word. I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I am 5 00:00:31.539 --> 00:00:36.289 not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have 6 00:00:36.450 --> 00:00:41.450 great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I 7 00:00:41.689 --> 00:00:46.969 myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, 8 00:00:47.369 --> 00:00:53.880 my kinsmen. According to the flesh, they are Israelites, and to them 9 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:00.359 belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, 10 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:06.590 the worship and the promises. To Them Belong the Patriarchs, and from 11 00:01:06.629 --> 00:01:11.230 their race, according to the Flesh, is the Christ, who is God 12 00:01:11.430 --> 00:01:23.420 over all, blessed forever. Amen, you may be seated. I heard 13 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:26.219 this phrase once. Maybe I read it on the title of a book. 14 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:34.170 I'm not sure, but it essentially said your God is too small. If 15 00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:36.129 it's not the title of a book, it might be a good one. 16 00:01:37.329 --> 00:01:42.530 Your God is too small. It expresses something that's really true, and I 17 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:47.090 think about it a lot because it's something that we all, including me, 18 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:53.599 fall into. Even when we worship the true God, when we don't have 19 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.599 our minds on any other God but the one true living God of the Bible, 20 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.590 we often do think of him a lot smaller than he is. We 21 00:02:02.790 --> 00:02:08.110 love him a lot less than he deserves. If you're not so sure about 22 00:02:08.110 --> 00:02:13.430 that, here's a test that you can apply to see if I'm talking not 23 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:19.060 just about myself, but maybe about you too. Have you ever thought about 24 00:02:19.099 --> 00:02:23.740 your future, upcoming plans and and then only to realize, maybe even years 25 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:28.580 later, maybe even in this moment right now, that in your thinking about 26 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:32.050 your future and you're dreaming up your visions of how things will be, that 27 00:02:32.569 --> 00:02:38.250 God didn't have any part of it, not a background role, not a 28 00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:43.650 supervising role, not an immediate note role, just wasn't there. Have you 29 00:02:43.729 --> 00:02:47.599 ever thought about your future and where God wasn't replaced, but he just was 30 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:57.280 absent? Have you ever doubted one of the attributes of God and the or 31 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:02.710 maybe the extent of it? Maybe you've doubted the depth of his love or 32 00:03:02.870 --> 00:03:09.590 the fairness of his justice? Maybe he doesn't really know all things as he 33 00:03:09.750 --> 00:03:14.580 says. He does, or maybe even though he knows all things, his 34 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:19.219 ability to do all things or to do all things well is limited in some 35 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:24.419 way. If you have these kinds of thoughts, doubt about God, about 36 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:30.129 his attributes, if you don't think of him and everything you do, perhaps 37 00:03:30.210 --> 00:03:36.449 your God, or the your conception of God, is too small. Have 38 00:03:36.569 --> 00:03:39.330 you ever tried to flee from God, to get away from him or the 39 00:03:39.490 --> 00:03:44.599 things that he's doing, or if you ever tried to control him, as 40 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:49.800 though he was a statue that could be tucked under a tent or a bunch 41 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.840 of clothes? Have you ever thought that God is unwilling to take care of 42 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:59.550 you or unable to take care of you, or that he's got all things 43 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:04.349 in his hands? I think we all have these thoughts and we all struggle 44 00:04:04.430 --> 00:04:10.419 with our small conceptions of God. It's not that God has any fault in 45 00:04:10.460 --> 00:04:14.740 him. We often struggle in our faith because our faith is not really in 46 00:04:15.500 --> 00:04:19.939 God, and at least in God is he presents himself. But the good 47 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:26.089 news is that our big God loves us and he push is back on these 48 00:04:26.170 --> 00:04:30.009 misconceptions and he pulls out the rug on them time and time again, and 49 00:04:30.170 --> 00:04:34.970 he loves to do this on Sundays when we come and we hear his word 50 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:40.600 and he speaks to us from the Bible and he tells us I am not 51 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:45.839 small. And when we say God, we are speaking, of course, 52 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:50.759 of our triune God, Father, son and Holy Spirit. Here Paul has, 53 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:56.470 in Romans nine, Jesus particularly in mind, the son of God, 54 00:04:56.709 --> 00:05:01.550 the second person of the Trinity, when he says to them belong the Patriarchs 55 00:05:01.589 --> 00:05:05.750 and from their race according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is 56 00:05:06.069 --> 00:05:16.180 God over all, blessed forever. Amen. He pushes back on this. 57 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:24.170 When Jesus comes into the world and reveals God to us, when he casts 58 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:29.889 out demons, when he walks on water, when he forgives sins and heals 59 00:05:30.490 --> 00:05:40.839 ailments and disfigurements, when he reaches into our hearts and knows them, we 60 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:46.639 see that God, that Jesus, is not small, but indeed he is 61 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:54.670 God and he is God over all. It reminds us of his greatness. 62 00:05:54.750 --> 00:05:59.910 And in this they are all kinds of implications, all kinds of ways, 63 00:05:59.910 --> 00:06:01.470 and I've hinted it some of them already. Some of the ways in which 64 00:06:01.509 --> 00:06:05.740 we fail to conceive of God properly are corrected here. or at least should 65 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:12.500 be corrected here, when we submit ourselves to his word, and there are 66 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:15.699 a thousand others. God, who is as great as he is, has 67 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:23.329 implications for every detail and area of our lives, and this is what our 68 00:06:23.370 --> 00:06:30.329 passage does. Today. I want to help us all grow our conception of 69 00:06:30.410 --> 00:06:36.720 who God is by focusing on these words that Paul uses when he talks about 70 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:43.800 the Christ, who is God overall. But before we can talk about who 71 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:47.589 is the Christ and understand we have to understand what is the Christ. Maybe 72 00:06:47.670 --> 00:06:50.629 that's not a question you've thought about very often, and it is a little 73 00:06:50.629 --> 00:06:56.149 odd to sounding, isn't it? What is Christ? WHAT IS THE CHRIST? 74 00:06:57.870 --> 00:07:00.660 It sounds a little odd because we know Jesus is the Christ and there 75 00:07:00.819 --> 00:07:05.259 is no other Christ, and his name in fact gets so associated with that 76 00:07:05.540 --> 00:07:13.100 title Christ that it almost becomes like his name, Jesus Christ, and he 77 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:19.129 is use that way throughout throughout scripture. Who is Christ is the question people 78 00:07:19.170 --> 00:07:21.889 have been asking since Adam and Eve. Who is he going to be? 79 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:28.209 WHO IS CHRIST? WHO IS THE CHRIST? But whenever we ask that question 80 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.600 we're asking it beat with a particular understanding of the what in mind? What 81 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:36.879 is Christ? So what is Christ? WHAT IS THE CHRIST? Well, 82 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:42.879 Christaus is the Greek word for Messiah, which is a Hebrew word, and 83 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:50.750 both these words Christ Messiah mean simply anointed. They mean anointed. Now that's 84 00:07:50.750 --> 00:07:57.350 an old testament concept, anointing. Anointing is an action where a person is 85 00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:03.300 marked as chosen, a person is marked as set apart for a particular purpose 86 00:08:03.459 --> 00:08:07.620 and particularly unto God. So in the Old Testament, as you read, 87 00:08:07.660 --> 00:08:13.769 there's all kinds of things that are anointed. The furniture and various vessels in 88 00:08:13.889 --> 00:08:18.050 the temple, for example, were anointed. What does that mean? It 89 00:08:18.170 --> 00:08:22.449 means that they were chosen, they were marked out as being holy and specifically 90 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:28.120 purpose to do something for the Lord and of the Lord. So this lamp 91 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:33.559 stand is now not just any old lampstand, it is the lamp stand of 92 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:37.320 God. It has been anointed. Right, it's not just things, but 93 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:43.190 also people. Before the priests could serve as priests, we read that they 94 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:48.629 had to be anointed, they had to be marked off as people that were 95 00:08:48.710 --> 00:08:54.820 particularly belonging to the Lord. Now, this was often done with oil, 96 00:08:54.980 --> 00:09:01.139 but it symbolized the work of the spirit of God be pouring out of the 97 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:05.100 oil symbolize the pouring out of the spirit, and you get these concepts coming 98 00:09:05.220 --> 00:09:11.690 together, for example in Isaiah Sixty one one, where it says the spirit 99 00:09:11.769 --> 00:09:18.450 of the Lord Yahway is upon me, because Yahway has anointed me, God 100 00:09:18.610 --> 00:09:26.039 himself marking things and people off for his service. But among all the things 101 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.720 and people that were marked off and set apart and anointed for this chosen, 102 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:37.480 Holy Service of God, one thing, person stood above them. All other 103 00:09:37.629 --> 00:09:45.149 things were anointed, but one thing, the Christ, was the anointed, 104 00:09:46.269 --> 00:09:52.470 the anointed one. There was one person, one particular anointed person, who 105 00:09:52.590 --> 00:09:58.580 stood about all, above all the rest and for home all the rest belonged 106 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:05.179 and to whom they were all connected. This anointed one, this Messiah, 107 00:10:05.340 --> 00:10:09.250 is Christ is prophesied about as far back as the very first few books of 108 00:10:09.370 --> 00:10:16.769 the Bible, sometimes implicitly and subtly, sometimes very explicitly, like when in 109 00:10:16.970 --> 00:10:20.559 Deuteronomy Eighteen, Moses says there will be a prophet who comes after me, 110 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:24.720 who is like me. What does he mean like? What does he mean 111 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:28.720 by that when he says one who is like me? Well, he means 112 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:35.070 particularly one who is going to establish something. Moses wasn't just any old prophet, 113 00:10:35.590 --> 00:10:39.909 he was the Prophet, he was the special chosen one of God. 114 00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:46.909 The prophets that came after him were it not like Moses. Moses established the 115 00:10:46.990 --> 00:10:52.340 word of God, he mediated a covenant, he brought about a whole new 116 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:58.539 order of things. The Messiah, this coming Prophet of the Lord, prophesied 117 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:03.299 by Moses, would be one who would do this. He would also mediate 118 00:11:03.340 --> 00:11:07.610 a confidant. He would also establish a whole new order, and this, 119 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:11.889 of course, was Jesus. Moses spoke about it. David spoke about it 120 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:16.610 too, or rather, we can say that the Lord first spoke about it 121 00:11:16.769 --> 00:11:20.120 to David when he promised David that there would be an anointed one, a 122 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:26.080 king, one of David's sons, who would sit on his throne and establish 123 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:33.789 the order of God, the Kingdom of God, this royal this Royal Kingdom. 124 00:11:35.669 --> 00:11:39.549 We have all the prophecies. We have Isaiah's Emmanuel God with us, 125 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:43.269 this Messiah who would come as a mighty king, ruling over the world, 126 00:11:43.870 --> 00:11:50.700 bringing salvation for many, for people in particular, who are lost and broken 127 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:58.340 and sad poor. When you go back through the Old Testament and you read 128 00:11:58.379 --> 00:12:01.289 about the anointed one, when you read about the Messiah, and there's a 129 00:12:01.330 --> 00:12:07.370 lot to read. You come up with this picture of a conqueror, of 130 00:12:07.490 --> 00:12:13.169 a prophet, of a Savior, of a servant, of a King, 131 00:12:13.370 --> 00:12:16.000 of a mediator, who would be the son of Abraham, who would be 132 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:22.480 the son of David, who would be like a new Moses, he would 133 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:28.000 be this promised seed who would destroy the serpent, as was promised to eve. 134 00:12:31.309 --> 00:12:33.429 I know this is a lat especially if you're not very familiar with the 135 00:12:33.509 --> 00:12:41.309 Bible, but the point is this. All the hopes and expectations of the 136 00:12:41.350 --> 00:12:48.899 Old Testament were leading and dependent on this anointed one. The Salvation of the 137 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:56.500 world, God's plans for humanity, everything was dependent on this anointed one, 138 00:12:58.210 --> 00:13:05.769 this Christ, and that's who Jesus is. The Christ, the Messiah, 139 00:13:05.889 --> 00:13:09.970 the anointed one, is the key to everything God had been doing, and 140 00:13:09.570 --> 00:13:13.759 you can you can see that in these words that he's already used in Romans 141 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:18.000 nine, four through five, I've so consider them with me briefly again. 142 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:22.840 And how Jesus relates to each one of these? Well, to Israel belongs 143 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:28.110 of the adoption into the world through them, through this Messiah. Well, 144 00:13:28.190 --> 00:13:33.350 how is this? Let me throw in their glory as well. The second 145 00:13:33.389 --> 00:13:37.590 on this list, Hebrews. The book of Hebrews, ties these two things 146 00:13:37.669 --> 00:13:43.299 together when it says that Jesus was made like us. He took on flesh 147 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:50.100 and became like his brothers so that he could bring many sons. There's that 148 00:13:50.220 --> 00:13:56.169 connection to adoption, to glory. Jesus came, the Messiah came into the 149 00:13:56.330 --> 00:14:03.210 world to gather worshippers up out of the world. He is the fulfillment of 150 00:14:03.370 --> 00:14:09.210 the covenants and the promises of the covenants. He is this new Moses, 151 00:14:09.250 --> 00:14:13.960 as we've thought about already. We have here in this list the giving of 152 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:18.080 the law, and indeed the Messiah is intimately related to that as well. 153 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:22.120 He is the reason for the law. He is why we must be holy. 154 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:26.429 He who comes into the world to judge it and to rule it, 155 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:33.309 will rule it righteously, and we are required to be righteous. But he 156 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:37.350 is not only the righteous law giver, he is also the one who keeps 157 00:14:37.470 --> 00:14:43.740 the law on our behalf. He was holy not just so that we could 158 00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:48.059 know what holiness is, but Jesus was holy so that we could be holly 159 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:54.210 in him as a substitute. The sin that we confessed earlier are breaking of 160 00:14:54.330 --> 00:15:03.850 the law. That problem is solved by Jesus. He blesses those who come 161 00:15:03.970 --> 00:15:09.440 in his name and curses those who are apart from it. He is the 162 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:13.639 answer to the law, he is the fulfillment of the law and he fulfills 163 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:18.120 it in us. He is, in the worship of God, the promised 164 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:22.710 sacrifices and indeed the aim of our worship as well. He is the one 165 00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:28.149 who we worship and he is the one to whom we are able to worship 166 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:33.389 or through whom we come in order to worship. He fulfills every promise God 167 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:37.500 has ever made. He fulfills those promises that we thought about, that God 168 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:43.580 made to Abraham, that through him a seed would come through whom all the 169 00:15:43.659 --> 00:15:50.850 nations of the world would be blessed. He belongs to those Patriarchs, as 170 00:15:50.889 --> 00:15:56.330 Paul points out here, is from their flesh, but they are also his 171 00:15:56.490 --> 00:16:04.080 servants, as he says in John, before Abraham was I am the Messiah, 172 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:08.000 then, we see, is the one who brings all the things that 173 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:11.639 God is given to Israel, all these things that belong to them. He 174 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:18.549 brings them all together in himself, through himself, by himself, to himself. 175 00:16:22.350 --> 00:16:26.389 And when we put all this together, and we understand them as we 176 00:16:26.549 --> 00:16:30.110 have, as we've gone through them, we come to the undeniable conclusion that, 177 00:16:30.149 --> 00:16:37.059 Paul Makes, this anointed one is not just another prophet, not just 178 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:40.379 another king. In some ways, though he's like Moses, he's also very 179 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:52.049 unlike Moses too, because, as Paul says, he's God. He is 180 00:16:52.210 --> 00:16:59.450 God. We come to this undeniable conclusion that Jesus, this man born of 181 00:16:59.570 --> 00:17:06.799 Mary, is God, not just one who's used by God, not just 182 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:12.960 a holy person, a servant, but God himself, God with us, 183 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:22.150 not just in his works, but in the person of the Sun. Isaiah 184 00:17:22.230 --> 00:17:26.750 does call him mighty God, and when you read and remember of the words 185 00:17:26.789 --> 00:17:30.019 from the beginning of John, one of these things are expressed to us very 186 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:37.299 clearly about who the Christ is. We read in the beginning was the word, 187 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:41.740 and the word was with God, and the word was God. He 188 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:45.329 was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without 189 00:17:45.569 --> 00:17:48.809 him was not anything made. That was made in him was life, and 190 00:17:48.930 --> 00:17:52.529 the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and 191 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:59.279 the darkness does not overcome it. What is John Telling us? Is Telling 192 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:03.759 US what Paul tells us, that Jesus is not just a servants, he's 193 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:08.319 not just an anointed one, he is God himself. He is eternal from 194 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:12.910 the beginning with God, he is the Creator, he is the giver of 195 00:18:14.069 --> 00:18:19.069 Life, and Paul makes that point here too. From Israel, Abraham, 196 00:18:19.190 --> 00:18:25.789 Isaac Jacob, this woman made named Mary, the light of the world, 197 00:18:26.589 --> 00:18:30.619 came into the darkness, the son of God who took on humanity to be 198 00:18:30.819 --> 00:18:37.180 the Christ he came. When you think about that and you go back and 199 00:18:37.259 --> 00:18:42.650 you think about all those Christmas stories that come from the Gospels, when you 200 00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:49.089 think about the fact that God himself came into the world to fulfill all the 201 00:18:49.289 --> 00:18:53.170 promises that he had made in the Old Testament, is it any wonder that 202 00:18:53.329 --> 00:19:00.200 his birth was accompanied by Miraculous Stars in the heavens, choirs of angels seeing 203 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:07.559 prophecies being fulfilled, the birth of a or the giving of birth from a 204 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:15.390 virgin? This is amazing. These stories that we have are like fireworks going 205 00:19:15.630 --> 00:19:22.309 off in the sky, in some ways somewhat literally, telling us he's here. 206 00:19:22.509 --> 00:19:27.740 The grave promised anointed one has come, and you see it not only 207 00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:33.339 in all the announcing that God does through the angels and and all the other 208 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:40.890 things that go on, but in the the antagonism and hatred that comes from 209 00:19:40.890 --> 00:19:48.049 the Lord's enemies, Satan doesn't see this is no big deal, just another 210 00:19:48.170 --> 00:19:53.079 servant, just another prophet to be killed off. No, immediately his plans 211 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:57.799 go to work. We see an explosion of demonic activity throughout the gospels that 212 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:03.839 we don't see in the rest of the Bible. We see the King Herod 213 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:10.109 trying to destroy all the babies in the land to make sure that this king, 214 00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:15.029 this prophesied King, this Messiah, would not come to pass, that 215 00:20:15.109 --> 00:20:18.390 he would be put to death. You see it all throughout the Bible. 216 00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:23.339 Even after Jesus first starts his ministry. What happens? He goes out into 217 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:30.140 the Wilderness and there Satan is tempting him, trying him, trying to overcome 218 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:34.849 him. All these things are just reminders to us that Jesus, again, 219 00:20:34.970 --> 00:20:42.130 is not some ordinary servant of God, not even an amazing servant of God, 220 00:20:42.289 --> 00:20:49.240 or even the best one. He is God, the anointed one who 221 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:52.400 has come is God and he is, as Paul goes on to say, 222 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:59.039 the last a part of this God over all. This is where we get 223 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:03.160 even more to the bigness of God, as we thought about as I began 224 00:21:04.829 --> 00:21:10.150 your God. I hope you are already seeing your conception of God is too 225 00:21:10.309 --> 00:21:15.269 small. Paul presses this point even further when he says he is God over 226 00:21:15.549 --> 00:21:19.619 all. Now this, of course, may seem obvious if we seem if 227 00:21:19.660 --> 00:21:23.940 we say that Jesus is God, that he is the Messiah, the Christ, 228 00:21:25.859 --> 00:21:27.740 isn't it enough? Isn't that say that he has God over all? 229 00:21:27.819 --> 00:21:33.049 But remember how often we think of God is small. And it's not just 230 00:21:33.289 --> 00:21:38.890 us. Israel did it too. Israel's neighbors did it too. Israel went 231 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:45.849 and worshiped other gods. Can you believe it? They worshiped other gods because 232 00:21:45.890 --> 00:21:51.839 they didn't conceive of God properly. And if and then they did, they 233 00:21:51.880 --> 00:21:59.519 didn't care. They didn't fear the Lord. Israel's neighbors did the same thing. 234 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:06.470 There's this amazing story in the book of Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar, this great 235 00:22:06.509 --> 00:22:14.029 Babylonian King, I'm goes out in a great amount of pride. He goes. 236 00:22:14.069 --> 00:22:15.420 This is a Daniel Chapter nine. I'm going to read a little bit 237 00:22:15.460 --> 00:22:25.220 to you. I'm sorry, Daniel Four. Neverchadnezzar goes out on his balcony 238 00:22:25.299 --> 00:22:30.250 and proclaims this great thing, even after this has been prophesied and he's been 239 00:22:30.289 --> 00:22:34.170 warned against this and all the rest. Never Cannezzar, this great Babylonian King. 240 00:22:34.210 --> 00:22:37.650 He goes out and he says, is not this great Babylon, this 241 00:22:37.849 --> 00:22:42.130 is a verse thirty. If you're reading along, which I have built by 242 00:22:42.170 --> 00:22:49.799 my mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of My Majesty, You, 243 00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:52.960 I always imagine him. They are sort of standing out on the balcony 244 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:56.039 of his palace. His arms are probably behind him or on his hips or 245 00:22:56.119 --> 00:23:00.750 something like that. You know he's looking. He's looking out at his kingdom 246 00:23:00.789 --> 00:23:07.750 right and no doubt he saw some glorious things, buildings with columns, gardens 247 00:23:07.869 --> 00:23:11.859 that were magnificent, slaves and people and all kinds of things all over the 248 00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:17.900 place, and he looks out he says, I'm amazing, look at what 249 00:23:18.019 --> 00:23:22.940 I have done by my hand. I have done all these things to the 250 00:23:22.099 --> 00:23:29.170 glory of My Majesty. But then comes verse thirty one. Your God is 251 00:23:29.250 --> 00:23:32.930 to or your God is too small. While the words were still in the 252 00:23:33.130 --> 00:23:38.890 king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven. o King Nebuchadnezzar, to you, 253 00:23:40.130 --> 00:23:44.720 it is spoken the Kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be 254 00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:48.319 driven from among them, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the 255 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:52.519 field, and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and 256 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:57.349 seven periods of time shall pass on over you, until you know that the 257 00:23:57.509 --> 00:24:02.470 most high rules the Kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. 258 00:24:02.549 --> 00:24:08.269 Immediately. The word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. Kids, listen to what happened 259 00:24:08.309 --> 00:24:12.940 to him. He was driven among men and ate grass like an ox. 260 00:24:14.339 --> 00:24:19.339 Can you imagine going out and seeing your former king in the fields eating grass 261 00:24:19.779 --> 00:24:25.890 like an ox? His body was wet with the dew of heaven till his 262 00:24:26.089 --> 00:24:30.809 hair grew as long as eagles feathers and his nails were like birds claws. 263 00:24:32.890 --> 00:24:37.569 At the end of the days, this wild Nebuchadnezzar, who was once so 264 00:24:37.890 --> 00:24:44.480 grand and now had been brought so low in this beast like way. When 265 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:48.799 God said, okay, Time's up, you can come out of your time 266 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:56.230 out, Nebuchadnezzar lifts his eyes up to heaven, his reason returns to him 267 00:24:56.269 --> 00:25:03.509 and he blesses the most high and listen what he says. Dominion is an 268 00:25:03.549 --> 00:25:10.579 Everlasting Dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. He's not talking about 269 00:25:10.900 --> 00:25:15.019 his kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, he's talking about God's. All the inhabitants on 270 00:25:15.140 --> 00:25:19.339 the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among 271 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:23.450 the host of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can 272 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:30.809 stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? Nebuchadnezzar, 273 00:25:30.890 --> 00:25:36.279 at least at this moment, is at least beginning to get it. And 274 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:40.640 this is the conception, at least the beginning of the conception that we are 275 00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:44.759 to have, of Jesus, the son of God, who comes in the 276 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:48.480 world, who is God over all, who does his who does the father's 277 00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:56.549 will in heaven and on Earth. This awesome power of God who rules over 278 00:25:56.750 --> 00:26:03.190 all, this Jesus, who has come into the world, whom all authority 279 00:26:03.309 --> 00:26:07.700 in Heaven and earth has been given to you, I imagine, will make 280 00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:15.059 you feel one of two things, depending on whether or not you know or 281 00:26:15.299 --> 00:26:22.170 and trust him as the Christ. If you live apart from him, if 282 00:26:22.210 --> 00:26:26.490 you refuse him, if you hate him, if you wish to stone him 283 00:26:26.490 --> 00:26:30.369 and deride him and reject him, even as the people of his own day 284 00:26:30.450 --> 00:26:34.440 did, even as his own people did. If you hear this news that 285 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:40.200 he proclaims and said in his saying I am the son of God, I 286 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:44.119 am the light of the world, I am the savior, and you hear 287 00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:47.710 that and you say, I hate him, I don't want to have anything 288 00:26:47.789 --> 00:26:52.309 to do with him. Then to hear that he is the God over all, 289 00:26:52.430 --> 00:26:56.829 that he is the one who can take the mightiest king of the world 290 00:26:56.869 --> 00:27:00.859 and put him on his knees, then I hope that makes you fear, 291 00:27:03.619 --> 00:27:12.460 because who dares cross the God over all, who dares ignore him and refuse 292 00:27:12.619 --> 00:27:22.250 him? All that is owed to God is owed to Jesus, and all 293 00:27:22.410 --> 00:27:30.480 that is owed to God is everything, and no amount of bargaining or pleading 294 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:37.160 will allow you to escape his righteous judgment on your pride. If God can 295 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:42.000 bring low a king as mighty as King Nebuchadnezzar, certainly he can do it 296 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:49.630 with peons like you and me. God is powerful, our Lord Jesus is 297 00:27:49.869 --> 00:27:56.109 powerful and he promises that when he comes on his day, he will rule 298 00:27:56.349 --> 00:28:00.940 all all things. We will see coming under subject action to him. There 299 00:28:00.980 --> 00:28:06.859 will be people who cry for the rocks to fall on them because of their 300 00:28:06.940 --> 00:28:14.089 fear, but it is also because of this awesome power that we can be 301 00:28:14.170 --> 00:28:19.690 saved, because Jesus comes as the divine King, as the Divine Prophet, 302 00:28:19.849 --> 00:28:27.359 is the Divine Warrior, as the divine priest. It means that Jesus is 303 00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:33.200 able to accomplish everything that he promises to do. It means that when God 304 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:38.799 sends Jesus and the world, he doesn't send Moses, who messed up so 305 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:45.230 bad that he wasn't able to go into the promised land. It doesn't mean 306 00:28:45.349 --> 00:28:51.710 he sent David, who sinned very greatly and his kingdom eventually fell apart because 307 00:28:51.789 --> 00:28:56.819 of it, or he didn't send any number of the other kings of Israel 308 00:28:56.859 --> 00:29:00.980 and prophets who failed over and over again. He sent the son, the 309 00:29:00.140 --> 00:29:04.220 father, sent the son who did it all and did it perfectly. And 310 00:29:04.460 --> 00:29:11.289 by this awesome power, by this authority, he transgresses every single human boundary 311 00:29:11.890 --> 00:29:19.130 that keeps US apart. He crosses over racial boundaries, familial boundaries, national 312 00:29:19.250 --> 00:29:25.480 boundaries, cultural boundaries. He takes Jews and one hand and gentiles of the 313 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:30.400 other hand, and they hugs them all and says you're my he takes us, 314 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:34.119 whether we're rich or poor, wise or stupid, and he takes us 315 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:41.230 all together and he glorifies himself by drawing people from all over the world. 316 00:29:41.789 --> 00:29:47.150 He is not a provincial God. He's not just the God of the Jews, 317 00:29:47.309 --> 00:29:52.150 though he is reveals himself from the Jews, and though Jesus comes from 318 00:29:52.150 --> 00:29:56.940 the Jews, he's not a provincial God that's tied to a particular territory or 319 00:29:57.059 --> 00:30:02.619 household. Yes, he is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, 320 00:30:02.859 --> 00:30:08.369 but through Christ he becomes the God of us all. He's not a small 321 00:30:08.410 --> 00:30:17.450 territorial God or a philosophy of some ivory tower or little cafe. He is 322 00:30:17.569 --> 00:30:21.369 the Christ, he is the God over all and he comes into the world 323 00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:25.839 to save the world. He is the hope of the world, the light 324 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:33.160 of the world. And so that means that if you are a Jew and 325 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:37.750 to you belongs the Christ, what reason do you have to refuse him? 326 00:30:37.990 --> 00:30:41.029 What reason do you have to walk away, to not give you the to 327 00:30:41.109 --> 00:30:45.390 not receive the thing that God has been promising from the very beginning? And 328 00:30:47.950 --> 00:30:51.779 if you are a gentile, if you're not a Jew. It means that 329 00:30:51.940 --> 00:30:56.619 you don't need to stand outside looking in, hoping, wishing, wonder. 330 00:30:56.700 --> 00:31:02.059 It means that you don't need to sneak or beg or bargain with God, 331 00:31:03.099 --> 00:31:07.529 but you simply walk freely into the Kingdom with the invitation in your hand, 332 00:31:07.410 --> 00:31:12.930 saying this belongs to me, this is my residency card. I own this. 333 00:31:14.569 --> 00:31:18.039 It belongs to me because it's been offered to me freely by the father 334 00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:27.160 in his son. This is why Paul concludes this whole section by saying blessed 335 00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:34.630 forever. Moving back to my Bible, here to Romans Nine, he says 336 00:31:37.710 --> 00:31:41.789 to them belong the Patriarchs and from their race, according to the Flesh, 337 00:31:41.869 --> 00:31:45.869 is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. A men, 338 00:31:48.420 --> 00:31:52.259 God is of course blessed forever. He's glorious forever. Everything that is 339 00:31:52.380 --> 00:31:59.059 good is always forever in God, and that is just yet another reason to 340 00:31:59.220 --> 00:32:05.970 worship and praise him. But it affects us in this way. If God 341 00:32:06.369 --> 00:32:14.130 is blessed forever and gives us his son, who is blessed forever, that 342 00:32:14.369 --> 00:32:21.200 we might abide in him, it means that he's giving to us in himself 343 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:30.950 blessing forever. Everything, every good thing that God has ever desired and ever 344 00:32:31.069 --> 00:32:37.549 will desire for us as his people, comes to us in Christ. When 345 00:32:37.630 --> 00:32:45.859 we abide in him, we have everything. Happiness to the highest degree, 346 00:32:45.940 --> 00:32:52.700 joy that is complete, life that is eternal, every way that you can 347 00:32:53.140 --> 00:32:59.329 come at that blessing, every door that you can come into that room to 348 00:32:59.609 --> 00:33:04.970 explore. What does that mean? It's all for us. It's all for 349 00:33:05.130 --> 00:33:13.319 us in Christ. So do not reject him, do not stand far off, 350 00:33:13.559 --> 00:33:19.200 do not wonder if it's all really true, because it is true. 351 00:33:19.240 --> 00:33:25.119 Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, who is over all and 352 00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:30.509 blessed forever, and we are blessed in him, whether we are Jews or 353 00:33:30.630 --> 00:33:36.109 whether we are gentiles. All the things that have been given to this people, 354 00:33:37.029 --> 00:33:43.140 the Israelites, have now been given to the world, to all who 355 00:33:43.539 --> 00:33:52.220 believe in him, in the anointed one, in God. Let us pray