The Plan Revealed

as i said a few moments ago what i'd
like for us to try to do this morning is
take a look
at how the apostle paul would have used
the old testament scriptures
to try to persuade jewish believers
to come to faith
in the lord jesus christ
you would think would you not
that when the jewish people had looked
forward to the coming messiah literally
for hundreds of years
they would eagerly embrace the message
that jesus of nazareth
is indeed the long-promised messiah
and of course some people did the
gospels make that clear the book of acts
make that clear
equally clear in both the gospels and
the book of acts
is the fact that
many many
refused to believe in fact became
extremely antagonistic to the message of
the gospel
and it's very important for us to
understand that from a jewish
perspective there was a twofold reason
for that
the first the messiah was very different
from what they had been led to expect
their idea of the messiah and this is
well known to all of us i would think is
that he would be an updated version
of king david
one who would rally the troops
drive out the hated romans and
established the kingdom of god
in israel
and when it became obvious that jesus
really had no interest in that
they in turn
had no interest in him the messiah
was not what they
expected but there was a second reason
and that's one that we don't think of
quite so readily and that is this
they were offended
by the message
of the cross
they were offended
by the message of the cross
paul in 1 corinthians 1 23 puts it this
way he says we preach christ crucified
a stumbling block to jews
and foolishness
to gentiles
why was the message of the cross
foolishness to gentiles
because gentiles prided themselves in
strength and the weakness of the cross
was not something that they were
prepared to embrace
but notice to the jews it wasn't
foolishness
it was a stumbling
block
and the greek word for stumbling block
there is the word
scandalon
and you don't have to be a linguist
to realize what english word comes from
there right
what's the word
scandal
the cross
was a scandal
to the jews now stick with me on this
because it's really important to
understand that why was the cross a
scandal
it was a scandal because to be hung on
the cross meant that you were cursed by
god
the messiah was going to be blessed by
god not cursed by god
that's why when jesus hung on the cross
they said if you're really the messiah
come down from the cross then we can
believe that god favors you
see they didn't understand
that the messiah would come twice
the first time and we'll talk about this
a little bit later to deal with sin
the second time
to deal with judgment and salvation
the ultimate vindication of the lord
jesus
was not in this life but rather by his
resurrection from the dead
so for jewish believers to come to
christ
those two objections
had to be addressed
and that is why paul here
and elsewhere goes about reasoning with
them from the scriptures explaining and
proving
that the christ had to suffer
and rise from the dead
when they read the old testament
scriptures all they saw was the glory
hallelujah
they totally skipped over
all the suffering and the dying
and the resurrection of christ from the
dead it was all there but there was a
veil over their eyes as paul says
writing to the corinthians that kept
them from seeing the glory of god in the
face of christ when moses was read now
just show you how important this is this
is exactly the same thing the lord jesus
does after his resurrection in luke
chapter 24.
some of you may remember the story
two disciples on the way from jerusalem
to emmaus remember that story
they were in hard conversation because
they couldn't figure out
why jesus had died and they didn't know
what to do with the tales they had heard
of late
that the grave was empty so they were in
animated conversation when jesus joins
them that would kind of be a freakish
thing i think here you are walking along
and hey where'd you come from you know
teleport me in
whatever
but do you remember
what the scripture says
jesus did
in that conversation with them
he says first of all how foolish you are
and how slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken
did not the christ have to suffer these
things and then enter his glory
now listen to verse 27
and beginning with moses and all the
prophets
he explained to them what was said in
all the scriptures concerning himself
it was saint augustine many years ago
who was the author of the famous quote
the new is in the old
concealed
and the old is in the new
revealed
every page of the old testament
if you have eyes to see it
breathes with the reality
of who jesus is
and what jesus has come to do
so how then would paul go about
expositing
three sabbaths in a row
in the jewish synagogue in thessalonica
that the christ had to suffer and die
and be raised from the dead well i
believe he would go about it this way
number one he would start
by pointing out the direct promises of
god
in the old testament leading towards the
coming
of the messiah now here's a very
interesting thing
paul says in second timothy 1 9
concerning the grace of salvation
this grace was given us in christ listen
to this carefully in christ when
before
the beginning of time
and he says the same thing in ephesians
1 4 he chose us in him
before the creation of the world to be
holy and blameless
in
his sight now we don't have time to talk
about that a lot but i take that to mean
this
long before we ever fell into sin
indeed before the world was even created
god had already planned our
salvation blows my mind
raises all kinds of questions about
you know
why did god let the world fall into sin
other than that he wanted to demonstrate
his amazing grace in the person of
christ even before the creation of the
world
but this is what we know
that once the world plunged itself into
sin it wasn't god's fault he allowed it
to happen
for reasons we can now talk about
but no sooner had the world plunged
itself into sin
god came along and he started to reveal
his program of salvation who knows the
first passage in scripture that promises
you'll know it as soon as i quote it for
you
genesis 3 15
i will put enmity god speaking to the
serpent
i will put enmity between you and the
woman between your offspring and hers he
will crush your head and you will strike
his heel
this is known in theological circles as
it's latin
the greek is very similar proto-eva even
gaily yuan
proto means first
evangelion means what
gospel
this is the first proclamation of the
gospel in scripture
it's god coming along to adam and eve
and he is declaring to them look
the battle of the ages
is satan versus humanity
and it's the seed of the serpent
versus the seed of the woman
in that battle
the seed of the woman is going to be
bruised
but the head of the serpent is going to
be crushed at the end of the day
god's people will triumph that's your
first old testament promise that there
is going to come a messiah who is going
to redeem the sons and the daughters
of adam and eve and from there on of
course the old testament is filled with
promises i'll quote just a few of them
numbers 24 17
the prophet balaam called by balak to
bring curses on israel
he is a prophet and he says i see him
but not now i behold him but not near a
star will come out of jacob a scepter
will rise out of israel and then he goes
on to say that this star is going to
beat the snot out of the moabites
whose king bala balak has just hired
balaam to pronounce judgment
on israel
and there can be very little doubt
that
this was one of the passages in the old
testament that was inspirational for the
wise men
to come looking for baby jesus many many
years later well there's a lot more
passages like that you know this one
from isaiah 11
a shoot will come up from the stump of
jesse
from his roots a branch will bear fruit
the spirit of the lord will rest on him
the spirit of wisdom and of
understanding the spirit of counsel and
of power the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the lord and he will delight
in the fear of the lord he will not
judge by what he sees with his eyes or
decide what he hears
with his ears a shoot
out of the stump
jesse is the father of david
and throughout the old testament there
is an emphasis
that a son of david would arise to sit
on his throne
why was it a stump
because the line was discontinued after
judgment on the house of judah
and so
with the exile and with captivity
the promises of god looked like they
were
all out of what
but you see there was life in the stump
and the prophet isaiah
with the eyes of god looking into the
future says there's life in that stump
and one day a shoot will come out of
that stump
and the spirit of the lord will be upon
him
and we know from the new testament of
course that's fulfilled in the person of
jesus
and one of the reasons matthew and luke
in the gospels spend so much time on the
genealogy of jesus is that every
believing israel i knew
that for the messiah to be authentic he
had to be
of the offspring
of king david
and that of course is also why he had to
be born in bethlehem because micah
chapter 5 verse 2 you bethlehem
ephrathah
though you are small among the clans of
judah
out of you will come one for me
who will be ruler over israel whose
origins are from of old from ancient
times
i find it fascinating
that when
the wise men come to jerusalem looking
for baby jesus
and they consult the religious leaders
of their day
this verse at least they know
and when they ask him where is the
christ child to be born they know the
answer is
bethlehem
they don't believe it they don't believe
that jesus is the one
but they at least have that much right
in the reading of the old testament they
didn't have much else right but that one
they really knew so
so so paul and silas would begin
by going through the old testament in
this fashion
showing the promises of god there is a
messiah who is coming and guess who fits
it to a t his name is jesus there are
some who say there are dozens upon
dozens if not hundreds of direct old
testament illusions that have been
fulfilled only in the person of jesus
that's where he'd start
but he wouldn't stop there of course
because then he'd go on
and he would point out to the law of
moses
particularly what he would do is he
would point out the ceremonial
law
of moses because as you know under the
terms of the old covenant
god gave very specific instructions to
israel
about how it was that they were to
relate to him
he gave them instructions about all the
sacrifices they had to make he gave them
instructions about the feast days they
had to observe he gave them instructions
about
festive days and he gave them
instructions about practical everyday
rules as to how they were supposed to
live their lives
and the purpose of all of those rules
can be summarized by four statements
four things that god was trying to teach
israel through the ceremonial law
in the old testament number one god
is incredibly
holy
that is to say he dwells in
unapproachable glory
he is brighter than a thousand sons
and he
cannot
stand in his presence any sin number two
these ceremonial laws are intended to
teach the sinfulness of man
we are unholy
we have fallen into sin we don't put god
first we put ourselves first
god is angry on account of sin
number three
sin has to be atoned for
the justice of god has to be satisfied
else god and man cannot live in
proximity
if you're going to hang around with god
you got to be like him
because if you're not like him
you're going to fry
in the fire
of his judgment
so
you have
you have the foreshadowing
of everything that jesus christ
has come to do the law particularly the
ceremonial law
is an expression
of how jesus has come to deal with the
issues of sin he's come to deal with the
separation between god and man and he
has come to bridge the gap so that it is
actually safe for god in us to be
together
and that is why
paul in colossians chapter 2 verse 17
puts it this way he says concerning the
ceremonial law
sabbaths and feast days and all the
other kind of things these are a shadow
of the things that were to come
the reality however belongs to christ
and what he means by that is that these
old testament sacrifices these old
testament feast days which by the way
foreshadow the resurrection as well as
the death of jesus we don't have time to
talk about this
all of these could only remind you
of your sinfulness
it could only remind you of the holiness
of god
couldn't really change you didn't make
you holy
it just reminded you
of how far short you fell
and how somebody had to pay the price
it's jesus
who absorbed it all into himself
so that not only our sins could be
forgiven but our character can be
changed so that one day we can actually
stand in the presence of god without a
blemish without a spot without a wrinkle
without anything
that god might have against us because
of the saving power of jesus who is the
christ
that's the gospel
and that's why the book of hebrews puts
it this way then by one sacrifice
as opposed to the ongoing sacrifices of
the old testament by one sacrifice the
lord jesus
has made perfect forever
those who are being
made holy
did you know that if you're in christ
today you are perfect
from god's point of view do you know
that if you're in christ today you are
as holy as you're ever going to be
because he sees you
through the eyes of christ
so what does paul do
he goes to the old testament
and he says listen let me point out to
you
what you've been studying and what
you've been practicing all along all
these sacrifices all this blood that was
shed it all pointed towards jesus
these feasts that talk about the first
fruits of a new harvest they point
forward to the resurrection of the lord
jesus and you need to believe in jesus
if you're going to have life that was
his message
so he points to the promises
he points to the old testament law
because remember both moses and the
prophets
speak of the christ
if you have eyes to see
and then of course
thirdly he would go on
and he would point to the writings
of the
prophets now the writings the prophets
were people god raised up
to speak his word to israel
and if you read through the prophetic
books in the old testament and you have
the major prophets like isaiah jeremiah
and ezekiel
and then you have a lot of the
the minor prophets that we hardly ever
know how to find in the old testament
because they're hidden in there
somewhere
but they all share
a common two-fold message
and that message is this
number one
if you don't repent
god's going to judge you
and he's going to judge the nations
and number two
if you do repent
god is going to come to you
and he's going to restore you to glory
beyond anything that you have ever
imagined
and every so often both of these
elements are combined together in one
passage and here's a good example isaiah
1 27 and 28. listen to this
zion will be redeemed with justice
her penitent ones that is those who feel
sorry for their sin with righteousness
but rebels and sinners will both be
broken
and those who forsake the lord
will
perish
and that's a summary
of what you find
in all of the prophets and if we had
more time this morning i'd walk you
through some of those passages that you
and i don't like to look at
because they're passages that breathe
with fire and with judgment and we say
to ourselves oh god couldn't yes he
could
and if you don't believe it look at
jesus on the cross if that's what god
does to his own son
then imagine what he's going to do to a
world who rejects his own son and who
wants to stand in their own
righteousness don't ever let anybody
fool you
that the love of god
outweighs the justice of god
because you see the love of god is the
reverse side
of the justice of god or vice versa
the justice of god
is the reverse side
of his love
but the prophets always end on a
positive note
and the always with the eye of faith
they look forward
to the day of restoration
when god brings in his new kingdom let
me just
quote you one passage from the book of
zephaniah
single daughter of zion shout aloud to
israel be glad and rejoice with all your
heart or daughter of jerusalem remember
this is after the lord has spoken words
of judgment and condemnation
and has invited them back to himself the
lord has taken away your punishment he
has turned back your enemy the lord the
king of israel is with you never again
will you fear any harm
on that day they will say to jerusalem
do not fear o zion do not let your hands
hang limp the lord your god is with you
he is mighty to save we sang about that
earlier this morning he will take great
delight in you
he will quiet you with his love he will
rejoice over you with singing the
sorrows for the appointed feasts i will
remove from you
at that time i love this passage
that's my interpolation that's not in
there at that time i will deal with all
who oppressed you
i will gather the lame
and gather those who have been scattered
i will give them praise and honor in
every land where they were put to shame
at that time i will gather you
at that time i will bring you home
i will give you honor and praise among
all the peoples of the earth when i
restore your fortunes before
your very eyes
that's one of many
you know isaiah talks about the day when
when the wolf will lie down with a lamb
and the kid will play with the poisonous
snake and there will not be any hurt or
harm in all
god's holy mountain
and the apostle paul says if you read
the prophets
and you read them through the eyes of
faith
then you will see that both aspects of
that message have been fulfilled in the
person of jesus
all those judgments that god pronounces
upon rebellious and unrepentant people
that judgment has been born by christ on
the cross i say it again if you don't
believe that god hates seeing or that he
is going to judge sinners then look
at the cross and what jesus went through
in terms of being abandoned and forsaken
by god
that is the prophetic word
that is absolutely true
don't let anybody ever deceive here
it's the scripture
but
in jesus
remember jesus died he was raised from
the dead exalted into heaven sits at the
right hand of god the father name above
every name glory beyond compare that's
the other side of the gospel message
you believe in jesus you believe that
your sins have been forgiven you repent
of your sins then the promise is that
god is for you he is not against you
and of god before me
who can be against me paul says later on
in the book of romans
and the promise is
and he will bring salvation
because of our connection
with jesus
it's a lot more that i want to say about
that we're going to skip ahead to four
practical lessons from this if we can
we're just going to move forward here to
this
christ was sacrificed once
i refer to this earlier to take away the
sins of many people
he will appear a second time
not to bear sin but to bring salvation
to those who are waiting for him
see this is this this is where the old
testament saints
missed it
they couldn't see the gap between the
first coming and the second coming and
they had to have their vision expanded
that first jesus had to deal with the
issue of sin
and then when he comes again he is going
to deal with the issue of salvation
when he rescues not only individuals but
when he saves the whole wide world
so what do we learn from all of this
just very quickly in closing four quick
lessons number one
god
has a plan
god has a plan
paul puts it this way
god accomplishes all things according to
the counsel
of his will
long before the world was created
father son and holy spirit sat down
together
and they said this is what we're going
to do
we're going to create people
we're going to create a universe
they're going to fall into sin
they're really going to mess up badly
but we're going to show them that our
love is greater than they can imagine
and we're going to offer them a way of
salvation everything that god has done
from then till this day follows his plan
and guess what nobody but nobody is
going to frustrate his plan when history
ends he will have exactly what he has
promised and determined he will have
none of the council of hell
will make the plans of god vain and
either your stubbornness your sin or my
stubbornness or my sin is going to make
one i order of difference in terms of
what it is that god's after do you
understand that
i know for some of us that's a real
surprise that god is bigger than
than we are
but honestly
he is
god has a plan
number two throughout the course of
history
he has revealed
that plan
to those
who are humble
and i don't know if you've noticed it in
this passage but as the passage goes on
there are some jews who believe
but there's a lot of gentiles who
believe
why only a few jews
because they are proud
they are arrogant they think they know
it all
the gentile believers have already come
to faith in the god of israel because
they're god fearers which is a term for
gentile converts to judaism
and they're just hungry for more of what
god has to offer
and the profound principle there is this
god opposes the proud
but he gives grace
to the humble
people often ask me the question
why does god
do this in somebody else's life and why
won't he do it in my life
and there's a lot of different answers
to that question
but one of the first places always to
start
is to ask yourself the question
am i humbled before god
and if god reveals to me my sin will i
deal with it
if god speaks to me about something that
he wants am i willing to do it no matter
what is the cost he is near to the
brokenhearted but he's far away
from those who are self-sufficient
mary
you know in her song says
the rich he is sent away empty
but the poor
he has filled and then i want to move on
to a couple of slides further down the
line
god's plan
is fulfilled
in jesus christ
love second corinthians 1 verse 20
all the promises of god
find their yes and amen
in christ
all
the promises of god
find their yes
in him you know what that means
really
everything
that god has promised to the human race
everything that you and i long for in
the depths of our heart whether it's
happiness whether it's joy whether it's
success whether it's good relationships
whether it's appreciation whether it's a
good reputation whether it is is
whatever
whatever you're looking for in your
christmas gift
god
has given it
to jesus
because he was obedient even unto death
and guess what happens when by faith you
are joined to jesus you give up all your
self-righteousness all your
earthly inheritance so to speak all your
earthly credentials everything
that you derive your identity from in
the flesh and you claim your allegiance
to jesus and jesus alone what god has
given to jesus he gives to you through
the holy spirit of foretaste of it today
and in the day of eternity glory that i
has not seen and ear has not heard
that
is the gospel message and that is the
message
of christmas
and so finally this
finally this
last lesson then you can go home
we have hope
peter
blessed be the god and father of our
lord jesus christ
by his great mercy we have been born
anew to a living hope
through the resurrection of jesus christ
from the dead
to an inheritance which is imperishable
undefiled and unfading
kept in heaven for you who by god's
power are guarded through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time
in this
you rejoice
i don't profess to know where each of us
finds himself or herself this morning
some of us struggle with health issues
some of us struggle with
finances some of us struggle
relationally some of us struggle with
trying to find our destiny or our
purpose in life and
the world is filled with people who are
hopeless
and some of us we listen to the news and
we despair
i mean really 132 kids this past week
slaughtered
in pakistan by seven terrorists can you
imagine
eight kids
in australia
killed
seven of them
by their own crazy mother
that's after they went through that
whole terrorist thing in that chocolate
cafe
and there isn't a day that goes by
when you wonder what in the world is the
world coming to
and it's not hard to become cynical
it's not hard to say god where are you
there's some of us here we have prayed
for years and years and years for things
to change and nothing has changed and
some of us are here we give up and we
have given up and we say well
it's never going to happen you know what
i really enjoyed about our profession of
faith service two weeks ago
i mean the stories were great and they
were powerful but you know what struck
me
each of the persons who share their
story
brenda joey
they're not just young
i don't mean to sound wrong
they're not just young whiffer snappers
living in the idealism of youth are they
they're people who have lived
and they have
fought and they have battled and they've
they've been through the meal
but if you listen to their stories and
if you haven't they're all online and
you need to listen to them
but you know what struck me about him
is that each of them was able to testify
god has given them hope
and he has shown his face
and that has made all the difference
and i believe with all my heart
that no matter where you or i find
ourselves
god in jesus christ has already done
everything that needs to be done
and if we will but hang on to him with
everything that we have come hell or
high water sooner or later we will see
his face and we will experience his
touch if not in this life but in the
life to come and we will forever
celebrate the fact that god's promises
have been fulfilled in the person of
jesus
he's got a plan
he reveals that plan
to those who are humble
that plan is fulfilled in jesus
and because of jesus
we have hope
may god give us eyes to see
may he give us a revelation
of the preciousness of jesus
because out of that flows worship and
adoration
and appreciation because his name is
higher than any other
name