[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:15] Take your Bibles if you would, turn to John chapter 12 and I will amend my amendment. There will be no men's meeting next Sunday night because there will be no service next Sunday night. It's called senility and it has already set in.
[0:29] And we have celebration Sunday next Sunday and we'll meet here Sunday morning, 930, have Sunday school and the adult Bible fellowships. And we'll have church and we'll eat lunch and they will have our evening service.
[0:41] And that'll be it for the day here at this church. And so we'll do our men's meeting maybe the next Sunday. I'll just check. We may just wait till the next month. But so anyway, I hope you'll be here for celebration Sunday next week.
[0:55] I hope you'll invite friends. I hope you're celebrating what God's done in our lives as a church in six years. He's been awful good to us. And I hope that you'll come and join the celebration.
[1:06] Turn in your Bibles if you would to John chapter 12. And I'm going to be honest with you tonight. It's going to be like a family meeting and I'm going to walk you through the entire Bible. Can you believe I'm going to try to preach to you?
[1:18] I mean, I'm going to give you like an outline of the Bible. But I want you to study with me and I want you to notice a phrase and the title of the message that is written of him. John chapter 10 or 12 verse 12.
[1:31] John chapter 12 verse 12. Read with me if you would. The Bible says, I wish you to underline that.
[1:57] As it is written. I want you to know that God has been at work in history. God was at work before we were ever here on this planet. And Jesus' life is written or excuse me, is lived out according to a plan that God had.
[2:13] As it is written. Verse 15. Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh sitting on an ass's coat. These things understood not his disciples at the first.
[2:24] But when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they, these things were written of him. We'll join tonight again. Written of him. And they had done these things unto him.
[2:37] The people therefore that was with him, when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead, bear record. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
[2:49] The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, perceive you how you prevail nothing. Do you realize y'all are doing nothing to stop Jesus? You're doing nothing to stop this plan that God has.
[3:00] Behold, the world is gone after him. Everybody's following Jesus. Verse 20. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.
[3:12] The same came therefore to Philip, which was Bethesda of Galilee. And desired him saying, sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew.
[3:23] And again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them saying, it's time now. The hour is come that the son of man should be glorified.
[3:34] Father, I pray that tonight you might help us get an overall grasp of what's going on in Scripture, Lord. And you'd help them to realize how you brought Israel.
[3:46] And Israel did not fulfill their ministry and their mission that you gave them. And you set them aside for a time. And you replaced them with the church. And then, Lord, you're going to replace us again.
[3:58] You're going to take us out of here and put Israel back to work. I pray that you'd help us to understand tonight that you're a sovereign God in charge. That you're not going to lose. You are going to win.
[4:08] That your will is to be done and will be done. And you are a wonderful and a great God. I pray, dear God, tonight that you'd help us as Christians to believe and trust a God. Who could write history before it ever happened.
[4:21] And I pray, God, that you would do a work in our lives. And I'll give you great glory and great honor and great praise for what you do. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Amen. Now, to be honest with you, I'd like to treat you like I would last time I was in Burkina Faso.
[4:33] And I would just like to talk you through the Bible. And I'll do that in just a minute. I want you to know Jesus has just raised Lazarus, remember? And now they wanted to kill Lazarus. And we saw that this morning.
[4:44] And now the people are ready. This is Palm Sunday, we call it, basically. They're throwing the palms. They're using the palms.
[4:55] They're throwing their garments in front of him. And Jesus is coming into town. He's going to be killed in just a few days. And it looks like all of a sudden, after everybody's wanted to kill him and after they've tried to kill him over and over, finally he's being respected for who he is.
[5:09] But this is a fickle group of people. They are easily swayed by public opinion. They're superficial, selfish people. They seem to love and accept Jesus.
[5:20] Look at you in verse 12. Again, you just read it. But just look at it. On the next day, much people that were coming to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna.
[5:34] Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. These people are going with the crowd. It's now popular. So everybody gets involved. They aren't really with Jesus, but they're not against him.
[5:46] As long as everyone else is excited about Jesus, they will be also. In just a few days, these same people will be crying, crucify him, crucify him, instead of Hosanna to the king.
[6:00] Don't forget that the religious crowd is right now plotting his death. Look at verse 10. Look at verse 10. But the chief priest consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death because by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.
[6:19] Now, in just a minute, I'm fixing to go completely off the tracks and I'm going to just pretend we're on a mission field and I'm just going to tell you a Bible story. But before I do that, I want you to know that God's in charge.
[6:30] And I want you to know that God's been working and all through the life of Jesus tonight. Right? He says in the passage, my hour's here. The hour has come. And I want you to remember, they tried to kill him and he wouldn't let them.
[6:41] He would escape through the crowd. They wanted to push him off a cliff one day. But he said, it's not time. And in fact, isn't Mary asking to turn the water into wine? If you remember, he said, lady, it's not my time. He was on a timetable because God is at work and he has been through history.
[6:56] And so before I tell you the story, I want to establish that with you biblically. So open your Bibles if you were to Acts chapter 2 and verse 23. We know from John chapter 10 that we've already been through that no man took his life from him.
[7:09] Is that right or not? Amen? No man took his life from him. He laid it down of himself. God told him he could. He lay it down and he could take it up again. And then now if you would, in Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, the Bible says, Him, Jesus, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
[7:32] And I think that's Acts 2, 23. Look at it. He said, Him, Jesus, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge, not of Jews, not of the religious crowd, not of the Pharisees, but of God.
[7:47] The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken him by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Go with me if you would to Acts chapter 4, verse 27. Acts chapter 4, verse 27.
[7:57] For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Jews and the people of Israel were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to do.
[8:14] God is at work. The Jews thought, Herod thought, Pontius Pilate thought they were doing things. But the Bible says in Acts chapter 4, verse 28.
[8:28] For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Galatians chapter 4, if you would. Be through in just a second. And I'm going to tell you a story. But I want you to know that things aren't happening by accident.
[8:42] I want you to know that Jesus is dying exactly on the day God planned for him to die. It's all planned. He's going to die on the Passover. He's going to die to pay for our sins. Look, if you would, in Galatians chapter 4, verse 4.
[8:54] But when the fullness of time was come, when the right time came, when exactly the moment came that God wanted, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.
[9:09] Did you realize what it said? In the fullness of time. In other words, God up in heaven had a timetable. Jesus had a timetable. There's a playbook. There's a play chart. There's things going on. And God is at work.
[9:20] One more verse. Now I'm going to tell you a story. Daniel chapter 9, if you would, verse 25. Old Testament. Daniel chapter 9 and verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks or 69 weeks.
[9:43] The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks, 62 weeks, shall Messiah be cut off.
[9:54] He will be killed. But not of himself. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be with a flood until the end of the war of desolations are determined.
[10:07] I want to go with you if you would. I think it will help you understand several things if you can kind of grasp this overall view of the Bible.
[10:18] Let me just tell you that I am basically dispensational. I am not hyper dispensational or ultra dispensational. Those are terms you might not understand. I do believe that God is always saved only by one method and that's grace.
[10:31] It's never been by works. It's never been by any other means. It's always been because God is good and man is bad and God provides a way of salvation. But I do believe that God is working with different people.
[10:43] I do believe that some people that don't understand Baptist churches and what we do, it's because they confuse Israel and the church. And so I would like with you to just kind of walk through it.
[10:55] And I'm going to do it by memory. And if I mess up, you can straighten me up. My wife told me I got home tonight. This afternoon she said, well, you were totally off. You better thank God you had good guys in the sound booth that could find your verses because you didn't know what you was talking about.
[11:07] And then she said, when you told everybody they ought to pass out one gospel track a day, seven tracks for seven weeks. She said, I don't know where you got that either. It's supposed to be at one track a day for a week.
[11:18] Everybody ought to take seven tracks, pick you up seven tracks and give them out all week long. How many of you going to do that? Say amen. How many of you just lied? Say amen. Take a gospel track and give out a gospel track and tell people about Jesus.
[11:30] Spread the gospel. Help people to learn. But you know how it started. It started all the way back over here with Adam and Eve. And Adam and Eve, Eve decided, I think Adam failed to explain to Eve real well what God's plan was.
[11:43] I think Adam didn't explain to her exactly right. Maybe he used too much hyperbole. Maybe he tried to scare her, but she didn't get the message. And she took of the fruit, she ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
[11:55] And that caused sin and death to enter into the world. And death by sin passed on everybody. And Adam, because he loved her, ate that same fruit with her. And now the whole human race was fallen.
[12:07] We call that the fall. You ought to remember that man fell. Man was in a, man was in a, not a perfect condition, but an innocent condition. He was walking with God and talking with God.
[12:19] He was in a beautiful and a wonderful place. And he sinned against God and he failed. Then we don't know exactly how it happened, but God told his people to give an offering. And Abel and Cain were the two boys and they come with an offering.
[12:31] And God's not satisfied with Cain's offering. And he is satisfied with Abel's offering. Cain brings a grain offering, a fruit offering, a vegetable offering, something of the work of his hands.
[12:42] And Abel brings a lamb or an offering that can be blood. And God's not satisfied with what Cain did. And he is satisfied with what Abel did. And he offered Cain a chance to go and do it again.
[12:54] But Cain and his pride wouldn't do it. And so right at the very beginning, you find the two religions that the whole world has. And everybody in this room ought to get this straight. There's only two religions in the world. There's a religion of grace.
[13:05] And there's a religion of works. There's a religion of what you do. And there's a religion of what he did. And so what happened with Cain, Cain came with what he could produce. It's the same thing Adam and Eve did when they walked out of the garden.
[13:18] You remember they were kicked out of the garden because of their sin. And they immediately went and covered themselves with leaves, with plants. And Jesus later covers them with skins and the blood. And so there's truth there.
[13:30] There's Cain wanting to do it his way. There's Abel doing it God's way. And there's a godly seed. And man is so wicked. Man is so wicked from the very beginning. In the garden, man chose to do wrong.
[13:41] And from Cain killing Abel, man chose to do wrong. And the whole story is how bad man is. And you get all the way down to Genesis chapter 6. And man is so wicked that every thought in his mind is evil continually.
[13:53] The guy never can quit thinking wrong thoughts, dirty thoughts, mean thoughts, evil thoughts, perverted thoughts. Man is just wicked all the time. And by the way, you want me to tell you how wicked he was?
[14:05] Just look around. He's about like what we are today. Because all men are? All men are sinners. All men are wicked. Let's just be honest. That's where you were before Jesus saved you.
[14:16] And then in Genesis chapter 11, God did a very wonderful, wonderful thing. In Genesis chapter 11, God called forth a people that he would use to get his message to the world.
[14:28] And in Genesis chapter 12, Abraham steps out in 11. In chapter 12, God gives him a promise. And he says, I'm going to bless you to be a blessing. And you're going to be a blessing to the entire human race.
[14:40] You're going to be a blessing to the... This is all going to get to John chapter 12. I promise you. And you're going to be a blessing to the entire human race. And so he called out Abraham. And he set Abraham aside.
[14:50] And just let me say, we're going to use my Bible as this blessing. And Ed, can you come be Abraham? You look like a Jew. How many of y'all think he has Jewish tendencies? Say amen.
[15:01] Do what? I don't know what that means. He doesn't even know what that means. That's a Filipino for you. All right. And so God gave him his word. Not his word yet. But it's his people.
[15:12] It's Abraham's people that are going to be used to write the word of God. It's Abraham's people that are going to be used to give us the Savior. It's Abraham's people that are going to be used to give us the 12 apostles.
[15:23] That are going to be the foundation of the church. Jesus being the chief cornerstone. It's the Jewish people God's going to use in a great and a tremendous way. And so Abraham has a son.
[15:35] And his son, Ben. You look just like your daddy. And so anyway, there came a time. And his son passed the Bible off to Isaac.
[15:47] And you can go sit down, son. And now Isaac was God's man. And Isaac was carrying on. The father of the Jews. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Those are the father of the Jews. The patriarchs, we call them.
[15:58] And now Isaac had two sons. And how about you two, Ben. Would you all come up here? All right. All right. Now, you're hairy. Okay. This guy's hairy.
[16:09] Esau was a hairy guy. Esau had so much hair on his body. That when his daddy touched a goat skin, he thought he was touching Esau. He's not that hairy, is he?
[16:21] Okay. Just checking. And so anyway, it came time. It came time for God to have the next spiritual leader. And it ought to go to Esau, who's the oldest son.
[16:31] But Esau has been trifling with spiritual things. And playing with spiritual things. And his belly is more important than doing what God wants him to do. And he comes down to his brother, Jacob.
[16:41] And he says, hey, Jacob, I love the smell of those beans. Those are great beans. And I'd like to have some. And Jacob said, well, if you want the beans, you'll have to give me your birthright. And Esau said, well, I'm going to die anyway.
[16:53] So I might as well give you my birthright. So he gave him his birthright. And later on, Jacob tricked his daddy. His mama helped him. Well, that's a good child rearing lesson. Say, man. Mama helped her child lie to daddy.
[17:06] And daddy had a favorite. And mama had a favorite. Everything you ought not do. You can study that in their family. And so anyway, God chose to use Jacob and not Esau.
[17:17] And so Esau have I hated. And Jacob have I loved. And God chose not to use you. Sorry, you're out of the picture. We don't like you anymore. You may pass it on to Jacob.
[17:27] Then Jacob had 12 sons. And those 12 sons will become the tribes of Israel. The 12 tribes of Israel. Before it's over, in all essence, you're going to have 13 tribes.
[17:38] Because the Levites won't be. And Joseph's kids get two counts. And so it ends up being like 13 really. Although it's not called that. But it's kind of like that. So I'm just going to let Jacob stay here just a minute.
[17:51] But you know what happens with Jacob? Jacob becomes so selfish. He loves God's blessings. He loves all God's doing for him.
[18:02] He loves it. God gives him a promised land. And God uses Moses. So then Moses is his son. And now Moses and God leads him out of the nation of Egypt. He takes him out of captivity.
[18:13] And he takes him across the wilderness. And he gets him right to the door of the promised land. But then in his pride, he has not obeyed God. It's something simple like don't strike the rock. He didn't say that.
[18:23] He just said speak to the rock. And Moses wrote the rock and he didn't get to go in. And then Joshua stepped forward. And then the judges stepped forward. And then the kings stepped forward. Saul and David and Solomon.
[18:35] And then they split up into two kingdoms. And you know somewhat of all that story there. And here's what happened. These people were supposed to bless the world.
[18:46] But they became inwardly focused. They became selfish, superficial people. People. And they no longer carried the gospel.
[18:58] And then about the book of Malachi. Thank you, my brother. There are 400 years of silence. Basically, nothing seems to be happening. The prophets have quit speaking.
[19:10] The priests have quit speaking and ministering. God seems to have gone off the scene. What's happening? But what God's going to do. And I'm going to show you in the book of Romans in just a minute. Is God's going to bring about a new people.
[19:22] A people that are a mystery in the Old Testament. There's a big wall between them. A wall of partition that separates God's people, the Jews, from Gentiles. And I'm going to show you some verses about that if I get time.
[19:35] And they're going to be separated. And so 400 years pass. And along comes John the Baptist. You want to be John the Baptist? You don't look strong enough. But come on. You've been eating locusts and wild honey?
[19:47] That's why you're so fit. Grab the Bible. If I eat locusts and wild honey, I probably wouldn't weigh this much either. And so now God's got this. He's got John the Baptist.
[19:57] And John the Baptist is preaching. And Jesus comes out. And he says those famous words. I hope you never forget. He points up and says, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Israel.
[20:08] And what's happening in Jesus' ministry, and we'll show you some verses in a minute, is he is going to blind the eyes of Israel. He is going to close the ears of Israel.
[20:20] And he's going to move Israel off the scene. It's not an individual choosing. It's a corporate choosing. A body choosing. A group choosing. He's going to move Israel off the scene.
[20:32] Can I get five or six of you guys come up here real quick? Stand over here. John, you can be Jesus right now. I get five or six of you. Come on up here real quick. Real quick. Now here's what ends up happening. He preaches to them.
[20:43] And the Bible's going to say stuff like this when you're reading it. He's going to say stuff like this. They can't hear. They can't see. They can't grasp it. He's even going to say in Matthew 13, I speak to them in parables so they won't understand me.
[20:57] I speak to them in parables so they won't understand me. The Bible says in John chapter 1, if you recall, I came to my own and his own received him not. I came to my own. And my own wouldn't receive me.
[21:09] So Jesus, in John chapter 1, we're in John chapter 12. In John chapter 1, the apostle John started off by telling us, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God.
[21:19] And then it says, but Jesus came to his own people, and his own people wouldn't receive him. And these are his people, the Jewish nation. They should have taken the message of Jesus and ran with it to the four corners.
[21:30] But by now, they have become like the institutionalized church in America. Dead, selfish, enjoying blessings, but not wanting to be a blessing.
[21:43] Thinking little of what God wants to be done. And as God spoke, he called out a few of them and saved a few of them. The apostles, and they were picked right out of the nation of Israel.
[21:57] Israel, and all of a sudden, you get to this chapter. By the way, all along, these guys have been trying to kill him. These guys have been trying to kill him all through the story. All in John, from John chapter 2 and on, you've watched them get madder and madder every chapter.
[22:11] They've been wanting to get rid of Jesus. They want to get him off the scene. They want to get rid of him. And right now, in John chapter 11 and John chapter 12, it's like, we've got to kill Lazarus and we've got to kill Jesus.
[22:24] They're gone. And God has blinded their eyes and deafened theirs. Individually, they could get saved. Old Nicodemus got saved and Joseph of Arimathea got saved and all the apostles got saved and many others got saved.
[22:36] But God was choosing a new group of people that he would use to carry the gospel. Would you all sit down and don't come back because you're all Jews and I don't want you to stay here. Hey, you two stay here. Y'all been chosen. And then here's what happened.
[22:51] Come up here, Mr. Gentile. This is a Gentile dog right here. He's a Rastelli. He's an Italian. He came to Jesus. His wife actually did.
[23:02] And he asked and Jesus said, no, he said, my bread's for my people. And you remember the woman? She said, well, even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
[23:13] And then he sends them out. Go stand over here just a minute. Not just you, Micah. Then he sends them out. And where does he say? He says, go to the house of Israel.
[23:24] Don't go to any towns in Samaria. Don't talk to Samaritans. Only talk to Jews. Because what's happening is God's in this major transition. And he's letting the Jewish people know you had your chance and you've blown it.
[23:38] And then he's going to, by the time we get to Luke chapter 24, he's going to say, and I want this priest in all nations. Now, all along you wanted that done. Let's remember there is nothing surprising God.
[23:52] Can you say amen right there? Did it surprise God way back over here in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned? Did it surprise him? Not the least. Not the least.
[24:02] The old country preacher said, did it ever dawn on you that nothing ever dawned on God? It didn't surprise him in the least. God knew they were going to sin. And before they ever were created, he'd already worked out a plan of salvation.
[24:12] He's the author and the finisher of our faith, Hebrews chapter 12. And he had a plan of salvation already worked out. God knew you was going to mess up. God knew you was a mess up, but he had a plan through Jesus, through grace to save us.
[24:26] I just want to get you over here to where we are. And in John chapter 12, they come into town and all of a sudden, even these guys, oh, these are good guys.
[24:37] Those bad guys I just had sat down. They're laying, they're laying their coats in the street. They're laying palms, leaves in the street. They're waving Jesus in. They're all singing, Hosanna, Hosanna. And in just a few hours after that, they're all going to cry, crucify him, crucify him.
[24:51] They don't really love Jesus. They're just going along with the latest religious thing. Like you did with what would Jesus do? Like you do with whatever the latest Christian thing is to stick on your car.
[25:02] Maybe it's a fish. Maybe it's a song. Maybe it's a symbol. And we just go along with stuff, but we don't really love Jesus. We don't really love Jesus. And that was what was happening. And by the end of that story, some Greeks come.
[25:17] And those Greeks come and they say, sir, we would see Jesus. And I'm not sure who those Greeks were. I don't know if they were totally on the outside or if they were what were called proselytes.
[25:27] A proselyte was a person. A proselyte was a person that was of another origin. He could have been a Gentile, but he would have come to the Jewish nation.
[25:38] And if he was a male, he would have gotten circumcised. Maybe a form of baptism also took place. And he became a Jewish person, though he wasn't born a Jew. He could convert to Judaism.
[25:49] Maybe that's who they were. Maybe that's not who they were. But when they came, they said, sirs, we would see Jesus. We want to talk to Jesus. We've come to see Jesus. And here's what's beautiful that's going to happen.
[26:01] I'm going to tell you the whole story. Then I'll show you some verses. Maybe I bored you enough. You can go home after that. Watch this. So what happened is Jesus broke down this middle wall of partition.
[26:12] And he put Jews and Gentiles together. Here's a basic Bible lesson for you. There are three groups of people found in the Bible. Of course, there's two groups, saved and lost. There's also a group called the church. Then there's Jews and then there's Gentiles.
[26:24] The Jews were God's chosen people, but they've rejected Jesus as their Savior. They're going to hell. They're Gentiles. Those are people that aren't saved, that aren't saved, that aren't in the church. But when we get saved, we're in the church.
[26:35] So it doesn't matter what your racial background was, whether you were Jew or whether you're Gentile were brought into the church. But here's the beautiful thing. God is not finished with those Jews.
[26:46] God has a plan. And by the way, as it is written, I mean, we don't have time, but in Daniel chapter 9, I mean, the plan. Many Bible scholars will tell you that Daniel chapter 9 probably takes you to the exact day that Jesus died.
[27:05] How did Daniel know that? He didn't. But the guy who wrote it did. I mean, well, the guy who told him what to write. The author knew the writer might not have known because oftentimes Bible writers didn't really know all they were writing because this is the spiritual, supernatural, all-powerful word of God.
[27:22] And they often prophesied and didn't even understand. You remember Caiaphas? We just read about him, what, a week or so ago? And Caiaphas prophesied that one would die for the nation. And the Bible said he didn't even speak that of himself.
[27:34] The old boy didn't even know what he was saying, but God was going to give some prophecy through him. So they don't always know what they're saying. So can I get my bad Jews back? Where'd all you guys go? Go stand over there.
[27:45] I'll get you the verses on this in a minute. Here's the most beautiful thing in the world. Jesus turned to his church and said, take the gospel to the whole world. Now, I'm just going to tell you in words, and then I'll try to show you a couple of verses.
[27:56] But watch this. The natural branches are these Jews. They're God's people from the very beginning, Genesis chapter 12. This group of people right here, they're wild branches.
[28:07] They really don't belong in this tree. They don't really belong because God had a people, and those people were the Jewish people, and that's not us. But he took them out.
[28:17] He took those Jews out, and he put them to the side for a while, and he grafted in us, the church. And we ought never be boastful or proud or arrogant against God's people, the Jews, because they are God's people.
[28:29] And you might not know this, but I'm always going to vote on the side of the Jews because I really believe that when God promised something to those Jews in Genesis chapter 12 and all the other promises, they were literal, and they are going to come true.
[28:43] That's why it's important to me as a Christian that God's people really are the Jews and that those things really are going to happen. And I do want to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and I do want to pray for them because I know God has a plan for Jerusalem and for Israel.
[28:57] By the way, the center of the universe, the center of this earth is not New York City, nor is it Atlanta, Georgia. It's Jerusalem. And in the Bible, when you hear north, it's always north of Jerusalem. And when you hear south, it's south of Jerusalem because it's Jerusalem.
[29:09] That's the thing everything revolves around. And here's what happens. So God took these people, the church, that's us. We ought never boast. By the way, hey, those Jewish people, God used them to give us our Bible.
[29:21] God used them to give us our church. God used them to give us everything we have that we use to get the gospel message around the world. So God used it and blessed us through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the 12 and so on.
[29:35] Can you say amen if that's true or not? So we'll never get boastful or proud or arrogant and have an attitude with them. God wanted the message to go to them. But you know what's happening? Since these guys have gotten so proud and selfish and arrogant and thinking they were God's chosen people, God picked another people.
[29:50] And guess what he's doing? He's provoking this crowd to jealousy. And they're over here on the side saying, man, look what God's doing with those people. They're just a bunch of ragtail, messed up bunch of people.
[30:01] They don't have a good pedigree. They don't know who their daddy was. They don't know who their granddaddy was. They don't go back to the original 12. They're just a bunch of nobodies over there. And man, look how God's using them.
[30:12] And all of a sudden, come this way, all of you, but Jesus, Jesus, you can get up there in heaven. Jesus went to heaven. And then one day, Jesus is going to come down here in the clouds.
[30:23] And he's going to call them up. And that church is going to disappear. We call that the rapture. But that word's not found in the Bible. A snatching away.
[30:35] I think, is it snatching away? Because Spanish may be messing me up. What is it? In 1 Thessalonians 4. Go ahead, Jeff. You're telling me. Holler. I can't hear you. Meeting in the air. There's another word there you use, though.
[30:46] What is it? Catching away. Caught up. Caught up. And they're caught up to be with Jesus. And guess what's going to happen? Then God's going to do something wild. You say, how wild? Good.
[30:57] Not at Sawat. I don't understand it. Somebody's going to save all these Jews. And there's going to be 144,000 Jewish guys out of the 12 tribes. They're all going to know the tribe. That's impossible.
[31:07] Nobody knows the tribe. But God still keeps records. Whoa. That's good. Because he's got your record. Amen? I mean, he saved you. He knows he saved you. And you can go to heaven.
[31:18] And your name's been moved from the book of death to the book of life. You've been passed from death into life. And you're never brought into condemnation. And these guys are 144,000.
[31:29] 12 of them from the 12 tribes. All young virgin men. They hadn't had sex. And they hadn't told a lie. And they're all going to be picked. And God's going to use them. And they're going to finish the plan of world evangelism.
[31:40] I hate to tell you this. You probably know I love world evangelism. You probably heard about missions around here. But we're never going to get the job done. God's going to get the job done through his people.
[31:52] God's going to get the job done through his people. Those Jewish guys over there. He's going to get the job done through them. Thank you. Y'all can have a seat. Just leave my Bible there. If you want to watch this real quick.
[32:03] How's that get to John chapter 12? Because there's something wild going on. We're in the last week of his life. We're in the last week of his life. There's something wild going on. He goes into town.
[32:13] And they accept him like a king. But they don't really want him to be a king. They only want him to be a king. If possibly he'll keep putting bread on their plates. If possibly he'll be. If he'll keep doing miracles and healings.
[32:24] They want him as a king. If he'll lift them up out of slavery. If he'll throw Rome away. If he'll get rid of them and make them rulers. They don't understand that his kingdom is not of this world. When he stands in front of Pilate.
[32:36] That's what he tells me. He said this. Hey if this were my kingdom buddy. I would be taken over. But this is not my kingdom. So God's at work. And I think maybe the most important thing I want to get across to you.
[32:47] And I'm going to reach out a little bit. I just want to get this across to you. Nothing is happening that God doesn't already know about. And nothing is happening that's not being written.
[32:59] You serve a God who's in charge. No, no, no. You should have said amen. You serve a God who's in charge. You should realize that no matter how much everybody thinks the world is spun out of control.
[33:12] And things are happening. God's still in charge. In charge. He's still in control. Boy, that's weak. So who do you think you serve? Do you think God serves at your whims?
[33:22] No, God's in charge. Okay. And by the way, when Jesus was born and Herod, wasn't it Herod that tried to kill all the babies under the age of two? Who was it that tried to kill all the babies under the age of two?
[33:34] Help me. I can't. I don't remember his name. What was his name? Herod. Tried to kill all the babies under the age of two. And Jeremiah had written about that. And Jeremiah talked about weeping and going. You know why? Because everything was written.
[33:45] By the way, when the wise men showed up in Bethlehem and they said, we've come to seek him in his star. And they asked Herod and Herod said, well, I don't know anything about that story. And Herod turned to the guys and said, y'all know anything about that?
[33:57] They said, give us a few minutes. They ran back in there, opened up logos, hit a couple of search buttons, used these sort. And they found out Jesus was going to be born in a town named Bethlehem. You know why? Because it's written.
[34:08] It's written. And all his life story, it's written, it's written, it's written, it's written. Hundreds of prophecies came true. What's important about that? Because I serve God.
[34:20] God. Because he's the God of the universe. Because none of Jesus' life was an accident. Because I know God's at work in my life. It's important, you know, it was written.
[34:31] Two times in that passage. I love this. If anything jumped off the page to me, it said, it's written of him. It's written of him. You see, God's in charge. I just, you're so discouraged and so worried about everything.
[34:46] And yet you have a father who's been controlling the events of this world for nearly 6,000 or over 6,000 years. And he's still in charge. And he reached down and found you in your dirty, filthy, sinful state.
[35:00] And you weren't looking for him. And he came looking for you. And he didn't love you because you first loved him. He loved you first. That's why you love him. And he loved you while you were yet a sinner.
[35:10] And that's when he saved you. Romans chapter 5 and what? Verse 8. And so all that's happening is God's at work through this. Now he shows up in town and they say, Hosanna.
[35:22] Hosanna to the king of kings. They're like, save us now. Do a work in us now. Look if you would at chapter 12 and verse 13. They took branches of palm leaves and they went forth to meet him.
[35:32] And they cried, Hosanna. Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. By the way, he's going to come riding a donkey. You say, well, how would anybody know that? Because Zechariah said it in chapter 9 and verse 9.
[35:45] Look at it. Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation.
[35:56] Lowly and riding upon an ass. Upon the colt, the foal of an ass. Jesus came into town just like the scriptures said he would. Jesus came into town.
[36:08] Just like the scriptures said he would. There were Greeks in verse 20 and they wanted to see Jesus. There were Greeks and they wanted to see Jesus. Now I want you to, I want to give you some Bible verses.
[36:21] It's probably too deep, man. Maybe I've gone too far. Maybe I'm treating this like a Bible college class. But we're just going to have to do it anyway. It's only about 10 more minutes, 8 more minutes and you'll be through. Can you all handle 8 more minutes of adult stuff?
[36:33] This is an adult themed class. This is not milk. This is meat. Get out of steak knife. Are you ready? Did you know, watch what happens. John chapter 4 verse 22.
[36:45] Jesus is going to move from Israel to the church. John 4 22. Jesus says, you worship, you know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.
[36:57] I think some Americans don't know that. I was in Peru one time. When I lived in Peru, this guy said to me, he said, hey, he said, where is the center? Your center, the place you come from.
[37:10] And I said, well, I come from the United States in a place called Georgia. And he said, no, I want to know where your church's headquarters are. And I said, oh, oh, they're in heaven. And he said, no, I'm talking about where they are on earth.
[37:22] I said, well, then they're in Jerusalem. I said, that's where our first king sat and got all this going. He said, no, I'm talking real. I said, me too. You do know that, don't you?
[37:34] We serve Jesus. We're not a Baptist church that serves some Baptist guy. By the way, we're not followers of John the Baptist either. We're followers of Jesus. Can you say amen right there? Now look at what happens.
[37:45] Matthew chapter 10. I want you to see this. Matthew 10, verse 5. These 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter you not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
[38:01] Let's go to Israel one more time. In Matthew chapter 15, verse 24, he said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But in Luke 24, 47, notice what he said.
[38:16] Repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. I'll give you one more passage of scripture to mull over.
[38:27] I just want you to understand something. First thing, go home and remember this. It was written of him. It was written of him. If this were something that the apostles thunk up, and I know I said thunk.
[38:41] If this was something that a bunch of guys got together after Jesus died, and they made up a story, made up a plan, I wouldn't trust it either. But when Jesus was alive and walking on earth, he kept saying, I'm on my daddy's timetable.
[38:57] I'm on my father's timetable. There were prophecies about his birth. There were prophecies about his life. There were prophecies about his death. There were prophecies about his resurrection. There were prophecies about his coming again.
[39:08] And we serve. Jesus even knew it. Jesus would even tell them, I'm fixing to go die. Everybody knows it. You need to know. It's written. That changes the whole scope of things.
[39:20] That's why the Bible is so important to you. Study the book. Study the book. It has the plan. Study the book. It tells us what God's doing. It tells us what God's about. It tells us what God's going to do.
[39:32] People always ask me for years and prove. They said, well, when's the world going to end? I said, it's going to be at least 1,007 years from today at the quickest it could be over. They said, what about all this stuff that's going on? Next world war.
[39:43] I said, oh, the next world war ain't going to end everything. Don't worry about it. They said, how do you know that? I said, I read the Bible. The word of God, it's written. Could you say amen right there? You've got a copy of the Bible. Study it.
[39:54] Romans chapter 9. The Gentiles were on the outside looking in. Romans 9, 4. Who are Israelites? Israelites, Jewish people, to whom pertaineth the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises.
[40:13] Whose are the fathers and of whom is concerned the flesh Christ came, who is over all God blessed forever. Amen. Jewish people. God's people. Special stuff.
[40:25] Given to them. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 12. That at the time you were without Christ. Talking about you Gentiles and me as a Gentile.
[40:36] Without Christ. Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Strangers from the covenants of promise. Having no hope. And without God. In the world.
[40:47] That's where we were. Till Jesus came. Broke down the middle wall. Sent the gospel to all of us. The Jews had failed to carry the gospel, but they won't fail when it's over.
[40:59] First Thessalonians 4 or 5. Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as a Gentiles, which know not God. Lost people did not know God. Romans 2, 14. Gentiles did not have the law.
[41:11] Did you know that in the New Testament, it was such a thing that when Cornelius wanted to get saved. Do you remember the story of Cornelius? He wanted to get saved. And Peter could not in any way conceive of God saving this Roman guy.
[41:26] And so he lets his sheep down three times. God lets his sheep down in a dream before Peter. And he says, rise and kill. And every animal in there was not a clean animal. And he says, rise and kill. And don't you call unclean what I call clean.
[41:38] And Peter couldn't figure out the dream. And it happened three times. And then he went downstairs to the doorbell rang. And they told him Cornelius' guys were at the door. And Peter said, I get it now.
[41:48] And then he goes over and preaches the gospel to them. But that is so strange to them. It's strange to be around non-Jewish people. They had become very, very selfish, very self-centered, very closed, very inward.
[42:01] Like many of our churches. In Acts chapter 10 and verse 28. In that story he said, you know how that it's an unlawful thing for a man that's a Jew to keep company.
[42:13] Or to come unto one of another nation. But God showed me that I shouldn't call any man common or unclean. And my time's up.
[42:23] But watch this. In Hebrews chapter 9. And you can read chapter 11. In chapter 11. Verse 25. I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery.
[42:35] Lest you should be wise in your own conceits. That blindness in part is happened to Israel. Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Read chapter 9, chapter 11.
[42:48] I would like to show you this verse right here. Chapter 11 and verse 11. If you would watch this. Romans 11, 11. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid.
[42:59] But rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles. For to provoke them to jealousy. So God took the word out of the hands of the Jewish nation.
[43:11] Not individuals. Because Jewish people can still be saved. And they've always been able to be saved. How does a Jewish person get saved? Exactly like the rest of us. Believing in Jesus. Since the time of Jesus.
[43:22] You either trust Jesus. And what he did on the cross. Or you don't go to heaven. You say, what did you do before that? You trusted what God said. And that was the lamb that was slain. The lamb's been dying ever since Genesis chapter 3, verse 15.
[43:36] That might not be the right verse. Genesis chapter 3. And lambs have been dying all the way through there. The lamb, Jesus. Look if you would in Romans chapter 11. Verse 14.
[43:48] If by any means I may provoke to emulation. Emulation. Verse 17. There's a wild olive tree. And we were grafted in among them. Verse 20. We are not to be high-minded.
[44:00] Verse 21. If God didn't spare the natural branches. What do you think he might do with us? Verse 25. For I would not, brethren. That you should be ignorant of this mystery. Lest you should be wise in your own conceits.
[44:12] That blindness in part is happened to Israel. Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And let me, I've not done a good job of this. I really feel like I've failed you. But let me just tell you what happened.
[44:24] The Jewish nation did not fulfill God's plan. God knew they wouldn't fulfill his plan. He had a plan that Paul called a mystery. The church. They didn't know about it. And there's this big parentheses in history.
[44:35] And God put us in. It's been about 2,000 years. And we're at work. And we have a job to do. And churches have lost focus of what God wants us to do. God wants us to take the gospel to the world.
[44:47] Just like he wanted those Jews to do it. And they didn't do it. And the first Christians. The first Christians. The first born again people. The first people in the church. They went crazy to get the gospel to the world.
[44:59] They went crazy. They gave everything they had. They gave up their lives. They were willing to be killed. They carried the gospel like wild men. Stephen runs down to the temple and gets stoned.
[45:10] And killed because of the gospel. The apostles are all dying weird wild deaths. Because they're carrying the gospel message of Jesus Christ. And there's still some churches today.
[45:21] That are crazy about getting the gospel. I think we are. And I hope we are. But don't ever forget this. God's at work. See I don't know if you got this. It's not about us.
[45:32] It's not about our plans. It's not about what we want to do. We have to know. There's somebody super big. In charge of all of this. He's in charge of all of this.
[45:43] And he's at work. All over the world. And right now he's using some guys in South America. And some guys in Africa. And some guys in Asia. And he's using some guys among the Muslims.
[45:53] And all of it's God. It's all God. And everything that happens in this church. It's of any value. It's all God. And God's at work. It's written. God's at work. But the debtor the church gets.
[46:08] And as a whole. Not the true church. True church isn't going to be dead. Man. The institution of the church. Everybody that calls themselves Christians.
[46:19] Man. It seems like God's word is no longer important. Seems like world evangelism is no longer important. Seems like carrying out the great commission is no longer important. And here's what's going to happen. God's going to say. Okay boys.
[46:31] Time's up. Call them off the court. Going to bring on the first string again. Subs. Out of the way. We're subs. We've been brought in after the first team.
[46:43] And the first team is about to come back in. And until he comes. I want to go like a wild crazy man. To help Greeks.
[46:54] See Jesus. Sir. We would see. Jesus. Father in heaven. I ask you to bless. I pray you'd cause our church to know you're in charge.
[47:07] That you're an all powerful. Amazing. Wonderful. God. That you haven't lost control. You won't lose control. The devil won't win. Sin won't win.
[47:18] Hell won't win. You. Are. God. I pray you'd help our people to realize it's not about us. But it's about you. It's not our plans.
[47:29] But it's your plans. It's not what Vision Baptist wants. But it's what Jesus. Our Savior. Our Lord. And our Master wants. I pray that our church.
[47:39] Would look to you. And we wouldn't become. A social club. And we wouldn't become. People that just want to raise our kids right. And have a good life.
[47:50] But we would become. Servants. Of our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. Thank you for what you're doing. Forgive me for not communicating it well tonight.
[48:01] Work in your people's lives. And I'll give you praise. You have been listening to Austin Gardner. Pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[48:12] For contact information. Location. Service times. Or more audio and video recordings. Log on to. www.visionbaptist.com www.visionbaptist.com