Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / April 25, 2021 | True Story - Proper Expectations

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April 25, 2021 | True Story - Proper Expectations · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Alex Wolf, uh leader of I guess the Wolf Pack.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I can't believe she said that.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Teresa, I told you that in confidence.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I thought, you know, you can't trust anyone around, dude.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Goodness gracious.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's alright.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Forgive you.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, my name is Alex Wolf.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm the young adults pastor here.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um my wife, Lindsay, sitting right here and I moved our family here about a year ago, last May.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of been a crazy year, hasn't it?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um we have a two-year-old, almost two-year-old son, and uh we have, here's the announcement, we have another baby on the way.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: We think September, so yeah.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're pretty excited about that.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you about my son Lachlan for a second.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um I feel the need to tell you this, I guess.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have much to do with the sermon, but uh he he's he's almost two, so he's developing a lot of words and phrases and things.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh, you know, he he's very food-centric.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so he just learned the word a few weeks ago for fork.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um doesn't sound like fork.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh sounds like another four-letter word that starts with an F if you're tracking with me, right?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and this has kind of become a problem for us because we we meet with a lot of uh you know young families for dinner where he has a fork in his hand and he loves repeating the word over and over again, and we're just like, look, it's not what you think it is.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: So so if if you see my son running through the hallway at any point in the next two weeks and you think he's screaming profanities, it's probably just fork.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So so just remember that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but my son's redeeming feature is that uh he absolutely loves church.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: More, and I, you know, I'm a pastor, I have to say that, but he actually really, really loves church, and that's probably thanks to our nursery and our children's program here.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: But uh a few months ago, if yeah, thank you.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh a few months ago, if we would say the word church, he would start to understand this, he would lose his mind.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he would just, he would just church, church, church, take me to church, right?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: But problem is we had to get his shoes on, we had to get his diaper changed, we had to get his clothes changed, we had to, you know, feed him a snack.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so church was happening, but all he could focus on was you, uh he's longing so much for this church that he just wants it right now.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And and he became absolutely useless for the next 30 minutes.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're dragging this dead weight around.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you ever tried to put shoes on a kicking two-year-old, but it doesn't go very well.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: But we're trying to work with him to use that information to help us kind of carry these things along, right?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So when we say, Lachlan, we're going to church soon, that he knows, okay, there's probably things we have to do first.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: We gotta get my shoes on, I gotta get my diaper shape.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we're hopefully hoping that he eventually uses this information uh to motivate him to get to this thing that he's longing for.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think many of us, if if we're completely honest with ourselves, are a lot like my two-year-old.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: We read things, uh, you know, whether we like to admit it or not, we read things in the Bible, we hear things about Christianity, we hear things about peace and justice and prosperity and the and the ending of suffering, and instead of asking what the Bible means by those things, our minds automatically race ahead and we hyperfocus on them and we demand them right now.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: We can't think of anything else and we kind of become these dead weights, and when it doesn't happen immediately, when it doesn't happen right now, we like my son kind of start losing our heads.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Or worse, we all but lose our faith.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so this morning I want to talk just a little bit about unmet expectations.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, how can we tear those down and reset them and use them to our advantage and not for our downfall.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, today we're going to be looking at the book of Acts.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be looking at Jesus' last interaction with his disciples before he ascended to the Father.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we're currently in a four-week series called True Story.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is the last of the four weeks, uh, in which, starting with looking at the resurrection on Easter Sunday, we've been looking the last two weeks at the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And today, fittingly, we're going to be looking at the last of those interactions in the book of Acts, uh, in chapter one in the first handful of verses.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so my sermon is going to look a little bit differently today than what you might be used to.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to be an easy three points.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know if y'all ever remember, you know, uh going to the restaurants and putting the quarter in those machines, you get those big old gumballs.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm talking about, and you bite off a little more than you could chew.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's gonna be us this morning, most likely.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it's at times gonna be a lot more teaching and seminary class than sermon, but I think that if you lean into it and you're prepared for it, uh I think that we'll be just fine.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So uh here we go.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna jump into Acts 1.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can follow along in your Bibles, otherwise we'll have the text on the screen.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: He starts out saying this: the first account I composed, Theophilus.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is important because um Acts, believe it or not, is not its own book.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually part two of another book called the Gospel of Luke.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so Luke is writing this letter and it's volume two of his first thing.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just kind of keep that in the back of our minds.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be important to remember later.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: He says the first account, Theophilus, uh, that I composed was about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up, re uh ascended to heaven after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Jesus had appeared to them after the resurrection, and now he's talking to them in the Holy Spirit.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh so he goes on to say in verse 3 to these, that is, his uh apostles, he also presented himself alive after his suffering.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: That is, he uh presented himself resurrected from the dead by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus has resurrected from the dead, he comes to them in the Spirit for 40 days, and he's teaching them for 40 days specifically about things concerning the kingdom of God.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: This was his main topic.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in Christianity today we kind of have this vague concept of what this kingdom is, but in the Bible it's not a vague idea, it's a very tangible, real kingdom in which Jesus would have been teaching about, and the apostles would have been very aware of this.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but so so in order to understand what he's talking about, we need to summarize some stuff.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the problem is the kingdom idea is one of the most common themes in the Old Testament, and so we'd have to cover a lot of ground if we want to summarize it, and we don't have time to do that, unfortunately for me.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what we're gonna do is we're gonna go to a book that's probably most centered around the kingdom of God, that is the book of Isaiah, and we're gonna look at a handful of passages, and even then, we're not even gonna read the passages.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I have pre-read the passages, I have extracted some keywords from them that will help us build this picture of what the kingdom was in the Old Testament that to help us all understand what Jesus is talking about.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, um, so I call this the the kingdom cloud of witnesses.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh these are just keywords that are gonna describe the kingdom.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Isaiah 2, 1 through 4, he says, In the latter days, in the later times, uh, this kingdom will be centered on the mountain of the house of the Lord exalted, and the nations will go up to this mountain, Zion, and the law will go forth from Zion, and uh the word of the Lord will go forth in judge, and there will be no more war.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: There will be peace.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 4, 2 through 6 adds, in that day, in that future time, the branch of Yahweh, this is uh a uh the Messiah, Jesus.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this kingdom will be associated with beauty and glory.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it'll be centered around Israel, they'll be holy.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be in Jerusalem, it'll be a purifying kingdom.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be a kingdom uh associated with the presence of God and his protection.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in Isaiah 9, it adds, it'll be a kingdom of hope.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be in these in these latter days, the nations will, uh the light of the gospel will go out to the nations, and there will be joy, and there will be liberty, and there will be a child, and his name will be Emmanuel, and the government will rest upon his shoulders, and there will be peace, and he will sit on the throne of David in this kingdom, and it'll be a kingdom of justice, it'll be a kingdom of righteousness, it'll be an eternal kingdom.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 11, 1 through 12 adds, it's the root of Jesse.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is Jesus the Messiah, the branch of Yahweh.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be a kingdom associated with the Spirit of God.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be a kingdom of justice and righteousness and judgment.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be a kingdom where there is harmony in nature, a kingdom where knowledge of God is spread worldwide.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Kingdom of righteousness for the nations, kingdom of Israel, kingdom of Judah.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 25 adds uh all people will come up to the mountain of the Lord to worship, and it'll be a kingdom of prosperity.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be a kingdom where death is defeated and there's no more suffering.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is the this is the type of kingdom we're talking about.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: You start to get that there's all kinds of things we can add.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, we haven't even hit most of them.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: But you start to get this common picture, right?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: That this is a kingdom of justice, it's a kingdom of peace, it's a kingdom where no more suffering exists, it's a kingdom, a very real kingdom centered on the holy mountain of God, Zion, Jerusalem.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus raises from the dead, comes to them in the Spirit, and he's speaking to them about this kingdom that we just looked at for 40 days.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says to them, gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is very consistent with what Luke says, and we'll look at that in just a minute, so hold on to that.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the fa for what the Father had promised, which he said, You heard of from me.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so if you're the apostles and you saw the resurrected Jesus, and he's coming to you in the Holy Spirit, and he's teaching you about the kingdom on earth for 40 days, and then he says to you, you're about to get the Holy Spirit, which we know the Spirit is associated with the kingdom, what would you be thinking?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think the apostles are thinking?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're thinking, oh man, this is it.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is he finally going to do it?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Is he finally going to bring this kingdom?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And this is exactly what they ask.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So when they'd come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you were restoring the kingdom to Israel?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's the natural question, right?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: But as we saw, this kingdom has with it this idea of peace and prosperity and the end of suffering.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so behind this question is so many more questions.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh behind this question includes the question, one, is it happening right now?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is it finally time?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Are these the latter days that Isaiah spoke of?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um peace and joy and righteousness, are they finally here?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Is this finally the time when our suffering will end?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: These are the questions they're asking, and I think it's similar to questions we might be asking of our world in our lives, right?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Our questions are very similar.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: When will there ever be peace in our nation?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or our world?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: When will people stop acting wickedly?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: More recently, when will the mass shooting stop?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: When will my suffering be over?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're dealing with some kind of illness, or when will I get better?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you're dealing with the loss of a loved one.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're saying, when will my sorrow finally be gone?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And uh maybe this one, when will the Lord finally come through on his promises?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: When will he finally answer my prayers?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think we have a good reason to ask these things.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think we have the right idea here because the Lord does intend to make good on all of these things.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: He does intend to bring peace, he does intend to stop wickedness, to judge, he does intend to bring an end to suffering and to make good on all of these promises.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: But just like the apostles here, I think we often have a timing issue.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: The apostles ask, is it at this time, is it right now, that you are restoring the kingdom?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus responds this way: He said to them, It's not for you to know the times or the epics which the Father has fixed by his own authority.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now notice Jesus does not say, as many Christians today uh claim that he is saying, they it does not say, uh, you stupid apostles, have you not learned anything?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's no real kingdom coming.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's all spiritual.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not actually gonna sit in Jerusalem on David's throne.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go to sit at the right hand of the Father and rule from there.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: This will be a spiritual kingdom, and there'll be no resurrection from the dead.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be spiritual resurrection, and we'll have this, you know, internal enlightenment.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: If that's what Jesus is saying, imagine what the apostles must be thinking.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: You've been teaching you raised you raised from the dead physically, and you've been teaching us about Isaiah for 40 days.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And now you're saying, what?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is the kingdom?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean that guy still I still see death all around, I still see uh war all around.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's not much of a kingdom, at least compared to what they were looking for, but that's not what Jesus says.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And we're we we do well to take note of that.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he says, not, he doesn't even respond negatively at all to this question.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, he just answers the question.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is it at this time that you will that the kingdom is coming?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, that's that's just not for you to know.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna tell you.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but he does say this.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna tell you the times or epics which the Father has fixed by his own authority.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: This word fixed is so important.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's this idea that God has determined, he has established beforehand.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's already set it into motion, he's already placed it in the timeline.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's already fixed.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So he doesn't answer no at all.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: He says, he says, it's not for you to know that the father, but the father has placed it at some point in the future.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just not gonna tell you when that's going to happen.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: But this this word fix is so important because it means that we have every right to trust God for the things that we're asking him of, and we have every right to expect these things from God because he has already predetermined that they will happen.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: He will make good on his promise.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: There will be peace, there will be justice, there will be joy and rejoicing, there will be healing and there will be resurrection from the dead.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: There will be an end to the suffering because he has set all of that up beforehand.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not a question of if it's going to happen, it's a question of when is it going to happen.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is essentially answering them, yes, you are right to hope for that, but no, I cannot tell you when that's going to happen.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus, this isn't the end of Jesus' answer.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: He says, not for you to know the times that the Father is fixed by his own authority, but then he goes on to say, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the remotest part of the earth.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: What does that have to do with the question?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Is this Jesus just yeah, is this is that it?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: You just say, I don't know, and then you change the subject?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly that's what a lot of people say Jesus is doing in this passage.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know when it's coming.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna tell you, but you know, hey, we're gonna go do something else.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're with Jesus hanging out for 40 days talking about the kingdom, that's not a very fun situation for you.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, Jesus does not change the subject at all.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is continuing the answer to the question, is it now that the kingdom is coming?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, it's it's not for you to know, uh, but this.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, I can't tell you when it's gonna happen, but I can tell you this, is the idea here.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh so how in the world does this answer contribute to the apostles' question of when is the kingdom coming?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's the question we have to wrestle with.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: But do you remember when I said that uh Acts is just part two of Luke?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is where that becomes extremely important if we're to understand how Jesus answers and how his answer contributes to the question.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, in order to understand Jesus' answer here, we have to do what we call biblical theology, which is just a fancy word for saying that the Bible is a story.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and that if you want to understand the story, each individual part contributes to the whole thing.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So this just means that if you're reading any book of literature of any kind, and you want to understand what's happening on page two, you have to first read page one, right?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: See, this is the kind of stuff they teach us in seminary.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's revolutionary.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: See, the idea is that you wouldn't, you wouldn't open up the you know, second book in the Lord of the Rings series, which I have not read, so I don't know what I'm talking about.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but you wouldn't open up that book, right, without reading the first book, and you certainly wouldn't open that book to the middle and start reading and expect to know what's going on at all.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Similarly, then we can't just start reading in the book of Acts and expect to know what's happening in the book of Acts, because Acts is part two of the Gospel of Luke.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: We have to first read Luke.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so we get to the Gospel of Luke, and Jesus shows up on the scene.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he's saying, he goes to the Jews, he goes to Israel, and he says, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, if you come to me, I will bring the kingdom.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And all the while he's setting up his his apostles, his disciples, and he's telling them, hey, go to Israel, tell them to repent, but do not go to the Gentiles.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do not go to the Gentiles, go only to the perishing sheep of the lost house of Israel.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then we follow the book of Luke, uh, and Israel rejects their king and therefore their kingdom.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: They crucify him, he raises from the dead, and you come to the book of Acts, and now in light of Israel's rejection of their king and their kingdom, now Jesus says, Go to the uttermost ends of the earth.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So for their entire ministry, he's been saying, Don't go to the Gentiles, and now all of a sudden he raises from the dead, hangs out with them for 40 days talking about the kingdom, and now he says, Go to the Gentiles.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it kind of sounds like a bait and switch.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of sounds like he's changing the subject, but he he really isn't.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: In order to understand this, we have to understand something else.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because just as Acts is part two of Luke, so Luke and Acts as a unified book are part of an entire Old Testament narrative.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Luke and Acts, I did the math probably wrong on this, so don't you know email me about this later.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, in my estimation, Luke and Acts is somewhere like volume 37 of the Bible, given that Genesis through Deuteronomy is one volume, you get the idea.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's contributing to a bigger thing.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so, in order to understand how Jesus' message and answer is significant to their question of when is the kingdom coming, we have to understand something about the whole Old Testament.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I don't have time to go through the whole Old Testament, unfortunately for me.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we're going to SparkNotes it.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, y'all ever know what SparkNotes is?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in college and you didn't want to read a book, you know, you go to SparkNotes and you get the review, and then you could write your paper on that short little message, right?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: So uh the Bible has one of those, and no, I did not get it online.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the Bible has one of its own in the Bible.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Deuteronomy 32.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Deuteronomy 32, in my estimation, is the spark notes of the Bible, and unfortunately, we don't have time to look at the whole chapter, so I'm gonna spark notes the spark notes.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Stick with me on this one.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: I promise it'll wrap around.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: So Deuteronomy 32, just a little background.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: In Genesis through Deuteronomy, God is creating the nation of Israel.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And he's not just creating the nation of Israel, he's creating them so that they will bring forth their king, who is the new Adam, who's the one who's gonna fix the problem of humanity, namely death and sin.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: And Israel's gonna give birth to him, and he's going to rule over them, he's gonna be their king, and together they will rule over and bless the nations.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is what God is doing.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: And all throughout the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, God is, you know, he's giving, bringing them out of Egypt, he's giving them people, he's giving them a government, and now they need a land if they're ever going to become a nation, a great nation, if they're ever gonna have a kingdom.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, so they get to the land, right?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is the book of Deuteronomy.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're right up against their land, they're about to finally take their promised land.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: They're standing on the edge of the Jordan looking in, and Moses says, Yeah, I'm not going with you.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: God's gonna take me out.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: So he Deuteronomy is Moses' last sermons to the nation of Israel before they go in and take their kingdom.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so he tells them all the things he wants to tell them.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy 32, uh, Moses predicts and summarizes what will happen in their history from then on out.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: He summarizes how they're going to fare in the story and world history after he dies.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is what he says.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is a song, by the way, that Israel's supposed to memorize and sing throughout their history.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's verses 1 through 14, Moses goes on, he said, God alone is the God of Israel.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: God has taken Israel as his own possession.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: He alone is their God.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then he goes on to say that once Israel takes their land, they will go after other gods.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: He predicts this.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Israel's gonna go after other gods, and they're gonna reject the one true God.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 15, he says this, but Jeshurun grew fat and kicked.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: This word uh Jeshurun is just another name for Israel.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's from the Hebrew word Yeshar, which means righteous.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the righteous ones, i.e.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Israel, grew fat and kicked.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: You are grown fat, thick, and sleek.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then he that is Israel forsook the God who made him.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: But not just that, he scorned the rock of his salvation, which is a name for Jesus in the Old Testament.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: This idea is so not only do they reject the uh God who made them, but they reject their king.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so he goes on to say, Israel's gonna reject their one true God and their king, and as a result, in verses 19 through 38, God will judge Israel for their rejection of him.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he says this they have made me jealous with what is not God, that is Israel.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Israel has provoked me to anger with their idols, so I will make Israel jealous with those who are not a people.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: So Israel has gone after other gods and therefore have made God jealous.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God, as a response, will go to other nations to make the nation of Israel jealous.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: And these other nations are Gentile nations.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, God's gonna go to the Gentiles in order to make Israel jealous.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is part of their judgment.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: So after this judgment, uh he says, it's not just for jealousy's sake that he's doing this.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: But God wants them to repent.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to make them jealous in order that they will repent.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses says they will repent.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Israel will repent, and when they do, God will vindicate them, he will restore them to their land, and he will bring kingdom celebration.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is the path to the kingdom.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the chapter, he says, Rejoice, O nations, with his people.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're familiar with the book of Revelation, there's every tribe, nation, and tongue coming up to Israel to worship with them.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: He will avenge the blood of his servants and render vengeance on his adversaries.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: He will bring justice and peace.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he will atone for his land and his people.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, he will restore them.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: He will restore his land and restore his people.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is the kingdom.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so on this timeline that Moses presents, starting with Israel taking possession of the land and ending with kingdom celebration, there's a few steps in the process.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that makes sense.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: First, Israel's going to go after other gods.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Next, Israel is going to reject the rock of their salvation, the Messiah.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then, as a result, God is going to make Israel jealous with Gentiles.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: As a result of that, Israel will repent and then the kingdom will come.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if you know the story in the Old Testament and how it plays out, Israel does take the land, and then Israel does go after other gods.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then we read the book of Luke and we find out that Israel does, in fact, reject the rock of their salvation.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're reading this, what's the next step?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: God's going to go to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then what?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then they'll repent, and then the kingdom will come.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so when the disciples ask when the kingdom is coming, and Jesus says, I don't know exactly, but you all are going to the Gentiles, he is pointing them to this timeline in Deuteronomy 32, and he's saying, Remember, there's still a stage or two to go.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you when that's coming, but I can tell you where you are right now.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Make Israel jealous, and then the kingdom.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, Jesus gives them the you are here sign.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can see that.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Apostles are right here.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is where they're at in the timeline.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so the apostles can now look at this and look at Deuteronomy 32, and they could place themselves here.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus is basically saying, don't worry.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: All of your hopes and dreams, the end of suffering, uh the peace that the kingdom talks about, that's all coming.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Your right to hope for that.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's all going to happen just not yet.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, God is working a plan, and not all stages are complete yet, just yet, but we're almost there.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus gives them.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see how this might make a difference in the apostles' lives?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: See, in one view, Jesus answers the question, nope.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Don't know when it is.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Peace out, I'm going to the Father.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he changes the subject.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine the anxiety that would have caused for the apostles who just heard about the kingdom for 40 days and then he changed his mind?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think they would have felt a missed expectation.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think they would have been crippled by the fact that they just have all this expectation.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, well, none of that's actually going to happen.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, can you see at least can you see how Jesus is giving them this answer?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like the GPS to understanding how they fit into God's plan.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's one of the most gracious and comforting things that he could have done for the apostles.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: They ask, when's the kingdom coming?
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I can't tell you that.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: But what I can tell you is that God's plan is not derailed.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's still driving forward.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's still doing what he promised he was going to do.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's just a few steps to go.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you have ever spent time wondering how you fit into God's plan?
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Or ever wondered what he has for you in life?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine Jesus rolling out a timeline in front of you and saying, You are here.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: How comforting would that be?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Even if he identified you in a difficult, tumultuous time in the timeline, I think if it were me, I would immediately start setting my expectations to face that difficult time with confidence, knowing that it's still driving towards that end.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know that God's plan is not derailed and that he's gonna still make good on his promises.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'd strengthen myself, get up, and focus on the task at hand.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what the Apostle Paul does with this information.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus showed up to Paul too and told him where he's at in the timeline, and it strengthened him and it motivated him.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna use him as my illustration today.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says in Romans 11, verse 11, he says this, I say then, they, that is Israel, Israel did not stumble so as to fall, did they?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, God has not given up on Israel, has he?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: May it never be.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: But by there, by Israel's transgression, that is rejection of God and the rock of his salvation, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Does sound familiar?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's looking at the timeline, he's saying, I'm right here.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: This makes sense to me, this is where I am.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: And how does he respond to that?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he goes on to say, but I am speaking to you who are Gentiles.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's us, most of us, I think.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul's the guy who's gonna go take the gospel to the nations.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, I'm a I'm an apostle to the Gentiles, and that I'm the one carrying it out there, and guess what?
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go at them even harder.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: I magnify my ministry.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go even harder to the Gentiles if somehow I might move to jealousy some of my fellow countrymen, that is Israelites, and save some of them.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm an apostle to Gentiles, but I'm going harder to the Gentiles, so that Israel will be jealous.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why would he do that?
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he goes on to say, for if their rejection, that is, if Israel's rejection of God or by God is the reconciliation of the world, that is, if because of Israel's rejection of the gospel, the gospel went out to the nations, what more will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, Paul is reading this timeline, and he's saying, sure, their rejection meant that the gospel went to the Gentiles, and I'm excited about that, but guess what happens when Israel repents?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Life from the dead.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: The kingdom comes.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, I magnify my ministry to Gentiles.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I can't persuade God to do it any quicker than he's already set, but if I might somehow contribute to this timeline in some way, shape, or form, I magnify my ministry.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this passage is really about setting the apostles' expectations.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: And the great thing is that we're still in the same similar times or epochs that they began.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: See, we are right, you know, I did a little shake there.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you are somewhere in this area.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the gospel is still going out to the Gentiles, and Israel still hasn't repented.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Not as a nation.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so we are here, and so their you are here sign is sort of our you are here sign.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: The kingdom is still not here, but it's coming.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so, therefore, let's talk very quickly about expectations.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: First, let's talk about false expectations.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the problem with false expectations is that expectations influence our present action, as we just saw with the Apostle Paul.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: If it's your belief that the kingdom is now, then you ought to expect God to make good on all of his promises now.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you expect that the kingdom is now, then you expect peace, prosperity, end of suffering right here and right now.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if the Lord doesn't make it better now, then I'm gonna question things.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I might even bail on this whole ship.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: But we when we put expectations on God, uh we often put expectations on him that he likely won't meet.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: As Connor pointed out a few weeks ago, because um he's already prefixed, he's already predetermined, he's already pre-established the times when all of this will be fulfilled.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then we blame him for our own lack of understanding.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we often do nothing but doubt, as Connor pointed out, because we missed our expectation.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that missed expectation takes so much of our focus that we become ineffective for ministry.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Much like my son.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: He longed for church, and when it didn't happen right now, he just became a lump.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just dragging him.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm literally dragging him.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great picture of a Christian with false expectations.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: A Christian with missed expectation comes to church, but they don't serve, they consume, because they have so many questions and insecurities about their own life.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: And why God's not coming through on his seeming promises to me.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: But what happens when a Christian properly sets expectations in the right place?
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: See, if we have a proper view of where we are in the program and who we are, then we can manage our expectations and we can focus our hope in the right place.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because the reality is the Lord will make it better one day.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Peace is coming, prosperity is coming, resurrection from the dead, the end of suffering, that's all coming.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we know that's coming.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: We just know that it's not now.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so, therefore, we have need to endure and to persevere.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so, when our expectations are in their proper place, we can be more effective in the ministry, in the waiting period, waiting for our expectations to be met.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of anxiously wondering why God isn't making the world better, we know that it's coming.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then our minds and our emotions are free to focus on the task at hand.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: See, people who think, uh people who think God has not met their expectations have no capacity for ministry.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: It seems so futile to them.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: They can't figure out why God's not coming through for them.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, how are you going to show up and come through for anybody else?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: But people who know their place in the story are freed up and can use their knowledge to help them do the task at hand to work towards the end goal.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Christian who has properly set expectations come to church and they serve because they're focused on the task at hand, endure till the end.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: They know we're here.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: The plan has not been derailed.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: God is still working his plan, he's still finishing his program at some point in time, but there's still work to be done.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: So just a few thoughts I have in regards to this.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the first is that Christianity is not a vending machine.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: Christianity is not a vending machine.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes we approach God as if we, you know, push the button, we pray a prayer, and he just drops a blessing.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what God is like.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, this is a horrible analogy, I know.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, God's a lot more like a guaranteed long-term investment.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: You push the button and you understand that your your reward might not be accessible now, but you're guaranteed even better in the future.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh remember this, that the point of the Bible is not that God is a part of your story.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's that you're a part of his.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're partaking in his plan.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: He's not just centered around us as individuals and our every temporal desire.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, God is working for the good of all who love him corporately.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: The ultimate good, the good that comes with the kingdom of the Messiah.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it is coming.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he's still working, but it's not here yet.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if of course it might be in his plan, sure, uh, or will, to answer some of these prayers with a yes temporally.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not saying don't ask for these things, not saying don't pray for these things, because we all know the Lord answers some of these prayers at his will.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: But the point is that it's certainly not a promise.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it certainly doesn't happen to all of us.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: But all of us will, in fact, receive a big old yes to all of our prayers once and for all at the end.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's already predetermined it, he's already set it in place.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, as we wait, I think we need to set our expectations on the right place.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: The reality is that we are not in the kingdom, but we are still in the program that's heading towards the kingdom.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was gracious to tell his disciples that.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: So therefore, there is work to be done.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: So my suggestion is let's set our hope on the future and allow that future day that is coming to motivate us to godly service today and every day until He returns.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for uh your word.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Lord, sometimes uh we have to dig a little deeper to understand how you're communicating.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we just thank you so much that you are faithful to us.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't just leave us in the dark to guess at when you're gonna come through with your promises that we read so much about in the Bible.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: But rather you graciously laid out the future for us so that we can focus on it and we can use that information to help us accomplish your purposes on earth until your son returns to bring the kingdom.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we long for that day.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so we ask today uh come, Lord Jesus.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: And in Jesus' name we pray.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.