{"id":19244,"date":"2019-03-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-064\/"},"modified":"2019-03-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T05:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-064","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-064\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 064"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[89],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19244","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-acts","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 064","sermon_date":"20190327","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6526,"sermon_slides":6525,"sermon_mp3":6527,"sermon_id":"327192350175249","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":89,"chapter_and_verse":"15:14-21","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n3-27-19\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Acts 15:14-21\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 64\n\nGood to see everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Acts, chapter 15 verse 14.\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks to Jim for filling in for me last Sunday.\u00a0 I was ill, I\u2019m feeling better though.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been doing this teaching on the kingdom and we are in chapter 19 of the book I wrote, called The Coming Kingdom.\u00a0 And just when you thought that that book was too long then the author (myself) thinks of something I should have included but didn\u2019t so now I\u2019ve got to make the book even longer. It\u2019s one of those things where it\u2019s like why didn\u2019t I include this.\u00a0 If I get a chance to do a revised and expanded edition I want to include this because I don\u2019t know what I was thinking but Acts 2, as we\u2019ve studied, is a big deal in the Kingdom Now debate.\u00a0\u00a0 And what I didn\u2019t include is Acts 15; that\u2019s a big deal in the Kingdom Now debate.\n\nAnd the reason we\u2019re talking about this is we\u2019ve been developing the idea that the kingdom has been offered, not cancelled but postponed.\u00a0 So we believe that we\u2019re in the church age which is not the kingdom.\u00a0 And there are many, many people who believe that we are in the kingdom today and they develop a lot of their thinking, not just from the passages related to Christ\u2019s first coming but also to things happening in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 So we spent some time in Acts 2, we\u2019re finished with that; that was a big thing to deal with.\u00a0 And now we\u2019re just going to spend this evening, as God allows it, in Acts 15.\n\nI don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve studied Acts 15 lately but it\u2019s a very pivotal chapter and it deals with the time period when the early church was heavily becoming dominated by Gentiles.\u00a0 So the first Gentile conversion in the church in Acts 10 was a man named Cornelius; prior to his conversion the whole church is Jewish.\u00a0 And then, as you can see from the map here, Paul beginning in Acts 13 and 14 from Syrian Antioch, which is the upper north of Israel, launches out on his first missionary journey into non-Jewish non-Israeli Gentile territory.\u00a0 And he goes through southern Galatia, the blue line is the outgoing trip and the red line is the return trip.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a missionary journey that we call his first missionary journey.\u00a0 It\u2019s recorded in Acts 12 and 14 and it took place about A.D. 48-49 and once Paul does that there\u2019s a pattern that starts to set in where it\u2019s the Jews that are primarily rejecting the gospel, and it\u2019s the Gentiles that are getting saved like crazy.\n\nIn fact, let me show you this pattern, just go back to Acts 13 for a minute if you could, and I kind of have to do this to set the table for what\u2019s happening in Acts 15 to understand it correctly.\u00a0 Acts 13:44, which is Paul\u2019s first missionary journey.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThe next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 This is in Southern Galatia.\u00a0 [45] \u201cBut when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.\u201d\u00a0 [46] Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, \"It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. [47] For so the Lord has commanded us, \u2018I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 [48] When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.\u00a0 [49] And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.\u201d\n\nSo this is what\u2019s happening in Southern Galatia and this is now what happens basically everywhere where Paul goes in the Book of Acts, it\u2019s the Gentiles that are embracing it and the Jews that are rejecting it.\u00a0 So what\u2019s happening is the church, which started off primarily as an offshoot of Judaism is not becoming an institution dominated by Gentiles. And so the question becomes as all of these Gentiles are now coming into the church is what do you do with these people?\u00a0 Do you make them submit to the Law of Moses to be a member of the church?\u00a0 The Jewish leadership probably thought that because that\u2019s how it had been for 1500 years under the dispensation of the Law.\n\nSo if you are a Gentile in that prior dispensation and you wanted to follow Yahweh you had to become what\u2019s called a proselyte where you submitted to the Mosaic Law and you went under the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 In fact, probably the most famous proselyte in the whole Old Testament is Ruth, who was not a Hebrew, she was a Moabite and basically she said to her mother-in-law, Naomi, your God will be what?\u00a0 My God,\u00a0 your people will be my people.\n\nSo now we\u2019re in the age of the church and the Gentiles are the ones that are really interested in Christianity and the cause of Christ.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got Gentiles coming into the church in droves and the Jewish leadership has got to figure out what do we do with all these Gentiles.\u00a0 Do they have to go under the Mosaic Law to join the church.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the whole meeting in Acts 15 is about, which is the first Jerusalem Council.\u00a0 Actually, as I\u2019ll show you in a minute, it really isn\u2019t the first Jerusalem Council, it\u2019s the second Jerusalem Council.\u00a0 The first Jerusalem Council is in Acts 10 and 11 where Cornelius got saved and in Caesarea, and then they all rushed back to Jerusalem to have a pow-wow about it to figure out can a Gentile really get saved.\u00a0 And so Peter has to recount how this Gentile got saved.\u00a0 That\u2019s Jerusalem Council number one.\n\nAnd now that Paul has launched off into his first missionary journey and the Gentiles are getting saved like crazy, they\u2019ve got to have a second Jerusalem Council meeting related to what do you do with all these Gentiles?\u00a0 Do they have to go under the Law of Moses to join the church or not?\u00a0 Is it going to be just like it was in the prior dispensation where we have proselytes, Gentile proselytes coming into the Mosaic Law or not.\u00a0 That\u2019s really the issue here in Acts 15.\n\nSo what\u2019s happening in Acts 15 in the discussion that takes place is not a justification issue, that issue has already been figured out with the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10, and the first council meeting in Acts 11.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a sanctification issue either, that issue has already been handled in which book of the Bible?\u00a0 The very first epistle that Paul wrote\u2026 Galatians.\u00a0 So the issue here is not a justification issue, the issue here is not a sanctification issue, the issue here is an ecclesiology issue. And what\u2019s happening with all of these decisions is the church is battling Pharisaism. Pharisaism is the idea that we\u2019re going to take people and put them under the Law.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re going to take Gentiles and put them under the Law.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to take members of the church and put them under the Law.\n\nSo the first group of Pharisees are justification Pharisees who said you\u2019ve got to believe in Christ but you\u2019ll also got to submit to the Law of Moses to be justified before God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the crowd that Jesus is dealing with in the Gospels.\u00a0 And I think He settled that issue in Matthew 5:20 where He said, \u201cFor I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds\u201d what? \u201cthat<\/em> of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\u00a0 So how do you get right with God?\u00a0 Is it faith plus Law?\u00a0 NO, it\u2019s faith alone!\u00a0 And the issue was also resolved in the first Jerusalem Council in Acts 10 and 11 where a man named Cornelius, a Gentile, got saved by faith alone without the Law.\n\nThen the second issue of the early church is dealing with is sanctification issues.\u00a0 Do you have to go under the Mosaic Law to grow as a Christian, to develop properly as a Christian?\u00a0 And a group of Pharisees had come into the church\u2019s Paul had planted in Southern Galatia and they were trying to convince the church that they needed to do this.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s why Paul, at the end of missionary journey number one writes the whole Book of Galatians.\u00a0 What\u2019s the point of the Book of Galatians?\u00a0 That you grow as a Christian, you are progressively sanctified as a Christian the exact same way you were justified.\u00a0 How were you justified?\u00a0 By the Spirit alone and by faith alone!\u00a0 So how do you grow as a Christian?\u00a0 By the Spirit alone and by faith alone, and therefore it\u2019s not necessary that you go under the Mosaic Law to grow as a New Testament Christian.\n\nThe key verse in the Book of Galatians, and I have to share this background with you or else you really won\u2019t understand what\u2019s happening in Acts 15.\u00a0 The key verse in the Book of Galatians is Galatians 3:3, which says, \u201cAre you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So how do you get justified as a New Testament believer?\u00a0 Faith alone without the Law.\u00a0 How do you grow as a New Testament Christian?\u00a0 Faith alone without the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 You\u2019re under a new set of rules called the Law of Christ but not the Law of Moses.\n\nSo now we finally get to Acts 15 where the church is dealing with the third round of Pharisees who were saying all of these Gentiles that just got saved on Paul\u2019s first missionary journey have to come under the Mosaic Law to be a member of the church.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not a justification issue here in Acts 15; it\u2019s not a sanctification issue in Acts 15, those have already been settled.\u00a0 It\u2019s an ecclesiology issue.\u00a0 Do you follow me on this?\n\nSo the Jewish leadership probably thought to themselves it\u2019s got to be like it\u2019s always been, for 1500 years, we\u2019ve always had Gentile proselytes and so many of them probably thought that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to be in the age of the church.\u00a0 So they have this huge pow-wow (if you will), in Jerusalem at the Jerusalem Council to solve this issue.\u00a0 Now how did they solve this issue?\u00a0 They got no vision from God to figure this out and it\u2019s interesting in a book of audible voices from God and the Spirit told Philip to stand by the chariot, Acts 8.\u00a0 And Peter saw the vision of the sheet, Acts 10.\u00a0 By the time you get to Acts 15 there\u2019s no voice from God, there\u2019s no vision from God, and yet they\u2019re confronted with this problem\u2014what do we do with all of these Gentiles that want to come into the church?\u00a0 Do they have to go under the Law of Moses to come into the church or not?\n\nHow could the early church leadership figure this out if God wasn\u2019t saying anything to them or giving them a vision?\u00a0 Well, they had to take existing Scripture and the only thing they had was Hebrew Bible, Old Testament is what we call it today, and they had to reason from the Scriptures that God had already revealed.\u00a0 And that\u2019s how they reached their conclusion in Acts 15.\n\nSo how does this whole thing play out?\u00a0 Here\u2019s kind of an outline if you will.\u00a0 In Acts 15:1-6\u00a0 you see the necessity of Paull and Barnabas to travel to Jerusalem; they have to travel there to figure out this issue that I\u2019ve been describing.\u00a0 And then when you get to Acts 15:7-21 you have the deliberations; I mean, what Luke is showing us is how the decision was made.\u00a0 First of all Peter speaks, verses 7-11, and I sort of get a kick out of Peter speaking because he makes the point there in verses 7-11 that why would we\u00a0 put these Gentiles under the Mosaic Law when us Jews, going back 1,500 years couldn\u2019t keep the Law ourselves.\u00a0 I mean, look at our history, we\u2019ve done a terrible job trying to keep the Law, why would we think the Gentiles would do any better.\n\nAnd then verse 12\u00a0 you have just sort of a brief reference of Paul and Barnabas\u2019s speeches, the details really aren\u2019t given, they just sort of corroborate what Peter said.\u00a0 And then a guy named James speaks, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re focused on here, because these are the verses that James uses that are ripped out of context to teach that we\u2019re in the kingdom.\u00a0 And he quotes the Book of Amos, chapter 9, verses 11-12 and we\u2019ll talk about that speech in just a minute.\u00a0 Now you know who James is, right?\u00a0 James is the half-brother of Jesus.\u00a0 James is the pastor of the Jerusalem church and James is the same guy who wrote the Book of James.\u00a0 So we\u2019re dealing with that fellow.\u00a0 He was one of the first martyrs of the church age.\u00a0 I think tradition says they threw them off the walls, a high wall surrounding Jerusalem.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the James that we\u2019re dealing with here.\n\nBut to just to sort of round off Acts 15 I\u2019ve been trying to get to verses 22-35, you have the \u00a0resolution of the matter and what is the resolution? Do the Gentiles have to come under the Mosaic Law to join the church?\u00a0 Yes or no?\u00a0 The answer would be no; if the answer was yet we\u2019d all be acting and thinking a lot differently today, wouldn\u2019t we, in the year 2019.\u00a0 First of all we wouldn\u2019t be meeting on Sunday, we\u2019d be meeting on Saturday and all these other things.\u00a0 And so obviously the decision, do the Gentiles have to go under the Mosaic Law to join the church?\u00a0 The answer to that question would be no as the early church didn\u2019t receive a direct word from God on this but they had to reason from existing Scripture.\n\nSo you have an Antioch delegation consisting of Paul, Barnabas and Silas, they\u2019re sent from Jerusalem to Antioch where the church is growing like crazy, to announce the decision.\u00a0 You have in verses 23-29 the formal letter that was crafted explaining the Jerusalem Council\u2019s ruling on this matter.\u00a0 And then you have in verses 30-35 the ministry in Antioch now just taking off because they are not under the Mosaic Law and God is doing a new work in and through them.\n\nSo that\u2019s a little background on Acts chapter 15 and what we\u2019re focused on is James\u2019 speech in this council and exactly how he\u2019s quoting Amos 9:11-12.\u00a0 So with that background in mind let\u2019s take a look at Acts 15:14-21 and we\u2019ll look at James speech.\n\nJames says [14] \u201cSimeon\u201d that would be Peter, \u201chas related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. [15] \u201cWith this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written,\u201d and here\u2019s where he begins to quote Amos 9:11-12, Amos was an 8th<\/sup> century B.C. prophet and because we don\u2019t have a direct word from God on this he\u2019s got to go back into existing Scripture and he\u2019s got to reason from existing Scripture.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [16] \u201c\u2018AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN,\u201d now you can see how Kingdom Now theologians use that, can\u2019t\u00a0 you?\u00a0 They use that verbiage to say that Jesus, according to James, is reigning on David\u2019s throne right now.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m bringing up all this.\u00a0 \u201cAfter these things I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT,\u00a0 [17] SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,\u2019\u00a0 [18] SAYS THE LORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO.[19] \u201cTherefore\u201d James speaking, \u201cit is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, [20] but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. [21]\u201cFor Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.\u201d\n\nSo the ruling of the Jerusalem Council is the Jerusalem Gentiles did not have to go under the Law of Moses to join the church and in the process James quotes Amos 9:11-12, and those words \u201cthe restored tabernacle of David\u201d now become key words that kingdom now theologians use over and over and over again to argue that James is saying that the Davidic Kingdom has started.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they think James is quoting Amos 9; he\u2019s not just saying the Gentiles can come into the church without submitting to the Law of Moses.\u00a0 He\u2019s also saying that Jesus is now reigning on David\u2019s throne now and we are in a spiritual phase of the kingdom.\u00a0 The question is are they using James\u2019 words correctly; that\u2019s why I\u2019m bringing all this up.\n\nJust to show you that I\u2019m not making things up this is a quote, now it\u2019s kind of an extended quote, I\u2019ve got a few slides on it, it\u2019s from a man named Kim Riddlebarger who is an amillennialist who argues very strongly that there is no future millennium nor future kingdom because we are in the kingdom now.\u00a0 He wrote a book back in 2003 called A Case For Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times.<\/em>\u00a0 And notice how important James use of Amos 9 is to his kingdom now thinking.\n\nRiddlebarger says, \u201cIn Acts 15, the church in Antioch appointed Paul and Barnabas to report to the Jerusalem council regarding the salvation of the Gentiles and to seek help in resolving the question that had been troubling the church as a result. Should Gentile converts be circumcised in order to be saved?\u201d\u00a0 Now when he says that, as a side note, I think he missed the point of Acts 15.\u00a0 We already know that a Gentile can get saved, through whose conversion?\u00a0 Cornelius\u2019s and the church already had a meeting about that in Acts 11, and so I think he\u2019s misread Acts 15 which is not a justification issue but a ecclesiological issue.\u00a0 \u201cOnce in the city, Paul and Barnabas reported to the elders and apostles on all the things God was doing among the Gentiles (Acts 15: 4). When certain converted Pharisees declared that Gentiles must be circumcised and obey the law of Moses (v. 5), Peter refuted their arguments by pointing out that it was God who had given these Gentiles the Holy Spirit:\u201d\n\n\u201cWe believe\u201d quoting Peter here, \u201cit is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are\u2019 (v. 11).\u201d Riddlebarger then says, \u201cThen James, the leader of the church, spoke (vv. 13ff.):\u201d He begins to quote James here who speaks up in Acts 15, \u201c\u2018God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written,\u2019 and James cited a passage from Amos 9:11\u201312: \u2018After this I will return and rebuild David\u2019s fallen tent.\u201d\u00a0 Riddlebarger loved that language because to Riddlebarger\u2019s mind that means that we\u2019re in the Davidic kingdom now.\u00a0 \u201cIts ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things\u2019 that have been known for ages.\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd here\u2019s Riddlebarger commentary.\u00a0 \u201c\u201cJames saw the prophecy\u201d that\u2019s the one in Amos 9, \u201cas\u201d what?\u00a0 What\u2019s the next word there?\u00a0 \u201cfulfilled, this is how these amillennialists think, it was actually fulfilled at that point in them.\u00a0 \u201cJames saw that the prophecy as fulfilled<\/u> in Christ\u2019s resurrection and exaltation and in the reconstitution of his disciples as the new<\/u>\u201d what? \u201cthe new \u00a0Israel<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 Now when you see that you know \u201cHouston, we\u2019ve got a problem\u201d\u00a0 because the church is never called Israel, and Israel is never called the church. In fact, when you go through the Book of Acts, when the two existed together just prior to A.D. 70, you\u2019ll see that each word, Israel and church is used about twenty times each and they\u2019re never intermingled.\u00a0 Even the famous Galatians 6:16 passage that we\u2019ve studied in this class does not teach that the church is the new Israel.\u00a0 [Galatians\u00a0 6:16, \u201cAnd those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.\u201d]\u00a0 So whenever someone calls the church the new Israel you know right off the bat that you\u2019re dealing with a kingdom now theologian or a replacement theologian.\n\nHe goes on and he says, \u201cThe presence of both Jew and Gentile in the church was proof that the prophecy of Amos had been\u201d what? \u201cfulfilled<\/u>.[ 15] David\u2019s fallen tent had been rebuilt by Christ. In Amos\u2019s prophecy, \u2018after this\u2019 indicated that the prophecy referred to what God would do for Israel after the exile. When James applied this prophecy to the church<\/u>, was he spiritualiz\u00ading an Old Testament text? \u201c\u00a0 I would say yes.\u00a0 \u201cOr was James reading the Old Testament<\/u>\u201d watch this very carefully now, \u201cthrough a Christ-centered lens typical of the greater light of the messianic age<\/u>?\u201d\u00a0 [Kim Riddlebarger, A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 39-40.]\n\nThat is how Kingdom Now theology thinks; they think that the Christ event caused the apostles to take all of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel and alter them. And we in this class have preached and taught very strongly against that perspective.\u00a0 We do not believe that the New Testament changes the Old Testament; haven\u2019t we talked about that?\u00a0 The New Testament can add details, it can add clarity but it cannot alter what was originally set.\u00a0 The New Testament can never say ha-ha Israel, just fooling those prophecies don\u2019t apply to you, they instead apply only to the church.\u00a0 And if anybody says that the New Testament changes the Old they\u2019re following a bad method of interpretation and you know that you are in the presence of a kingdom now theologian who\u2019s talking that way.\n\nRiddlebarger,<\/em> goes on and he says, \u201cThis question lies at the heart of the debate between amillenarians and dispensationalists.\u201d Dispensationalists are who we are, and I agree with him, this question does lie at the heart of the debate between the two.\u00a0 We\u2019re teaching that the kingdom is postponed; he\u2019s teaching that the kingdom is now and he\u2019s building his house on James\u2019 use of the Book of Amos in Acts 15. And you know\u00a0 you\u2019re in the presence of a kingdom now theologian when they can\u2019t control themselves, they\u2019ve got to attack the Scofield Reference Bible at some point, you know that terrible Bible that so many people love.\u00a0 They can\u2019t even get through their spiel without some kind of dig at the Scofield Reference Bible.\u00a0 By the way, the Scofield Reference Bible is one my two favorite study Bibles.\u00a0 People ask me all the time, what study Bibles do you recommend; I recommend\u2026 first of all I tell people there\u2019s no perfect study Bible because they\u2019re manmade.\u00a0 But if I had my choice the one with the least problems is the Ryrie Study Bible and if that doesn\u2019t meet your druthers then you might think about the Scofield Reference Bible.\n\n\u201cThe famous notes of the Scofield Reference Bible (1909) say that from a dispensational perspective James\u2019s speech is the most important in the New Testament. According to Scofield, James is describing what will happen after the church age concludes (\u2018after this\u2019), i.e., in the millennium, when God will reestablish a Davidic rule over Israel. If this is true, when Paul and Barnabas sought guidance for a concern that was immediate to them<\/u> (Should Gentile converts be circumcised?), James responded by pointing to a future millennium thousands of years distant<\/u>.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere is one instance in which dispensational presuppositions get in the way of the plain sense of the text. Scofield interprets the text literalistically, not literally. Dispensationalists are often forced to reinterpret any New Testament data that does not fit in their Old Testament\u2013derived prophetic scheme. Dispensational presuppositions will not fit with much of the interpretation supplied to Old Testament data by New Testament authors. A thorough survey of both Old Testament and New Testament eschatological categories will demonstrate the dispensational hermeneutic to be untenable.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m almost finished with the Riddlebarger quote.\u00a0 And the reason I give you these long quotes is not to bore you to death but when you name names what people will say is oh, you misrepresented me.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s hard for me to misrepresent you when I\u2019m quoting extensively your own words.\n\n\u201cMore importantly, such a survey gives us the proper framework and external controls to interpret prophetic sections of Scripture correctly. The irony is that dispensationalists\u2019 practice of interpreting all prophetic texts in a literalistic fashion amounts to a repudiation of the historic Protestant hermeneutic and the principle of the analogy of faith<\/u>. If amillenarians adopt the New Testament writers\u2019 interpretation of the Old Testament, are they not following the literal sense of Scripture, even if the New Testament writers universalize something<\/u> that was limited to Israel in the Old Testament?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe dispensationalists\u2019 literalistic reading of prophetic passages must not be confused with a literal reading. A literal reading\u2014a reading that gets at the plain sense of the text\u2014will allow the New Testament to<\/u>\u201d what? \u201cinterpret the Old<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 That means to change it, in his mind.\u00a0 \u201cIt is amillenarians, not dispensationalists, who interpret prophecy literally in that they follow the literal sense of how the writers of the New Testament interpret Old Testament prophecy<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 [Kim Riddlebarger, A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 39-40]\n\nThere\u2019s just an awful lot of gobblety-gook there. So what\u2019s the BLT, Bottom Line Time? What he\u2019s saying is James in Acts 15, by quoting Amos 9 in the midst of this ecclesiological discussion about what do we do with all these Gentiles that just got saved?\u00a0 Do they have to join the church?\u00a0\u00a0 Do they have to go under the Law of Moses to join the church or not?\u00a0 James, quoting Amos 9, James is not just saying that the Gentiles don\u2019t have to go under the Mosaic Law to join the church, but he\u2019s also saying that James\u2019 use of the language, the historic tabernacle of David means that James is taking Amos\u2019 prophecy and changing it.\u00a0 It\u2019s no longer governing Israel in the millennium, it\u2019s taking place now in the church age, and we are the new Israel after all.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll walk, Jesus is now reigning on David\u2019s throne and we are now in the kingdom age.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m bringing all this stuff up.\n\nSo with that introduction in mind which took half the class to do that, more than half, I want to give a really fast response to what Riddlebarger is doing here and how I think he is abusing the Acts 15 passage and I want to show you what James is really saying through his use of Amos 9 in Acts 15.\n\nSo what do we have, it looks like six points.\u00a0 Number one, Riddlebarger is presupposing that the New Testament interprets the Old Testament.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he says the prophecy was fulfilled in Acts 15.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he calls the church the new Israel.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he says James applied it to the church.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why he says we need to read the Old Testament through what?\u00a0 A Christ-centered lens, in other words, the New Testament does what to the Old Testament?\u00a0 Changes it.\u00a0 He calls this the analogy of faith and he says this is what New Testament writers do all the time.\n\nYou might be looking at this and saying this is the most boring talk I\u2019ve ever heard but the reality of the situation is Christians all over the United States, all over the world, are sitting in churches that are teaching this kind of dogma to people\u00a0 without really ever explaining how they arrived at their amillennial position.\n\nSo number one, I think Riddlebarger\u2019s presupposition is off base.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think the New Testament ever changes the Old or ever reinterprets the Old or else God would be doing what in the Old Testament?\u00a0 He\u2019d be lying!\u00a0 I mean, do we understand that for the New Testament to come along and cancel or rewrite Old Testament passages to teach kingdom now basically is to say that everything God said in the Old Testament was I really didn\u2019t mean that, there was another meaning coming that you don\u2019t know about, which to me is a very serious attack on the character of God because God cannot what?\u00a0 He cannot lie, Numbers 23:19, \u201cGod is not a man that He should lie.\u201d\u00a0 [Numbers 23:19, \u201cGod is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?\u201d]\n\nNumber two, my second response to what Riddlebarger is doing here\u00a0 is he\u2019s building Kingdom Now theology from a chapter of the Bible that doesn\u2019t even contain the word what?\u00a0 The word \u201ckingdom\u201d is not even here.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that kind of odd?\u00a0 I mean if Acts 15 is all about the establish\u00adment of the Davidic kingdom in spiritual form wouldn't the word \u201ckingdom\u201d show up once in Acts 15?\u00a0 It\u2019s used about eight times in Acts so why wouldn\u2019t it show up here Acts 15?\u00a0 That\u2019s, to me, a bit strange.\n\nNumber three, if Riddlebarger is saying that the Amos passage is fulfilled in Acts 15 isn\u2019t that a little strange when you don\u2019t find what word in Acts 15?\u00a0 The word \u201cfulfilled\u201d isn\u2019t there.\u00a0 Now does Luke, in the Book of Acts use the word \u201cfulfilled\u201d when passages are being fulfilled.\u00a0 Yes he does.\u00a0 Acts 1:16 he records these words.\u00a0 \u201cBrethren, the Scripture had to be\u201d what? \u201cfulfilled,\u201d pl\u0113ro\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 You don\u2019t find the word \u201cfulfilled in Acts 15, you don\u2019t find the word kingdom in Acts 15 and to get this idea that the kingdom is now present in Acts 15 requires a presupposition that the New Testament changes the Old Testament.\n\nI hope you\u2019re seeing a pattern here because when we went through Acts 2, those were the same issues there as well, the exact same issues.\n\nWhich takes us to a fourth problem with what Riddlebarger is doing: What is the meaning of \u201cafter this.\u201d\u00a0 Go back to Acts 15:14 and take a look at that for a minute. James is speaking of Peter, \u201cSimeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.\u201d\u00a0 Now that verse is a beautiful statement of what God started to do in Acts and what He\u2019s been doing for the last 2,000 years.\u00a0 He, in the church age, has been reaching out to Gentiles in unprecedented form and many, many Gentiles have been won to Christ and God in this age, although a few Jews do get saved, the people in dominant ascendency in the church today are not Jewish, although we praise the Lord for every Jewish conversion, but it\u2019s primarily Gentiles and that\u2019s exactly what James said was going to happen, God was going to take from among the Gentiles a people for His own name.\u00a0 I mean, you\u2019re a part of it, I\u2019m part of it as well.\n\nWith this word of the prophets agree, just as it is written after this, \u201c see that, \u201cafter this I will return and rebuild the tabernacle of David.\u201d\u00a0 After what?\u00a0 After God has finished this great work of reaching out over two thousand years to Gentile people, the church age.\u00a0 After that program is over (and we\u2019re in that program now) after that program is over THEN God will do what?\u00a0 Rebuild the tabernacle of David.\u00a0\u00a0 See the chronology here.\u00a0 The tabernacle of David is not being built now; the tabernacle of David and the Davidic throne and the Davidic kingdom, all of those things, it\u2019s specifically saying in this passage that they will come into existence \u201cafter these things.\u201d\n\nAfter what things?\u00a0 Back up to verse 14, after the Gentile age of the church is over.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s sort of surprising to me that scholars of the capability of Kim Riddlebarger can\u2019t even see the chronology in the passage. I mean to me it\u2019s crystal clear but to me he is ignoring the chronology of the passage by making it sound like we\u2019re in the Davidic kingdom now.\n\nThomas Ice writes, of this passage, \u201cJames explains how the decision of the council at Jerusalem was an outworking of God\u2018s purpose for this age. God\u2018s plan for history relates to the past ages with Israel and to Israel\u2018s role in the coming age (the Millennium), but the current Church Age\u201d that\u2019s today, \u201cwill center around the Gentiles. After the Church Age is concluded,\u201d see the chronology here, \u201cafter the Church age is concluded then the Lord will return, and \u2018rebuild the tabernacle of David\u2019 [verse 16], i.e., the nation of Israel. This Old Testament reference is from Amos 9:11\u201312. During the Tribulation\u201d that\u2019s after the church has been removed, \u201cthe Lord will work to convert the nation of Israel to Himself, ending with the second coming and the millennial reign of Christ. God\u2018s plans for history will come to pass just as He ordained.\u201d\u00a0 [Tim LaHaye Prophecy Study Bible, p. 1304.]\n\nAnd I think Thomas Ice has the right order there.\u00a0 We\u2019re not in the Davidic age, we\u2019re in the Gentile age but one of these days this age will be over. After this completion then God is going to fulfill the tabernacle of David prophecy in Amos 9:11-12.\u00a0 [Amos 9:11, \u201cIn that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old;\u00a0 [12] That they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by My name,\u201d declares the LORD who does this.\u201d]\n\nBeyond that how could Amos 9 be a prophecy about the church when the church in Old Testament times was a what?\u00a0\u00a0 Ephesians 2:14-16 says the church is a mystery.\u00a0 Ephesians 3:3-6 the church is a mystery.\u00a0 Ephesians 3:9 the church is a mystery.\n\n[Ephesians 2:14-16, \u201cFor He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into<\/em> one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, [15] by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is<\/em> the Law of commandments contained<\/em> in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus<\/em> establishing peace, [16] and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.\u201d\n\nEphesians 3:3-6, \u201cthat by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. [4] By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, [5] which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; [6] to be specific,<\/em> that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,\u201d\n\nEphesians 3:9, \u201cand to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;\u201d]\n\nWhat\u2019s a mystery?\u00a0 That which being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension could be made only known by divine revelation.\u00a0 A mystery is a truth hidden but now brought into the open.\u00a0 So you can read the Book of Amos, you can read the Old Testament all\u00a0 you want,\u00a0 you\u2019re not going to find a single reference to the church in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 Because the church is a mystery, it\u2019s a brand new truth disclosed in New Testament times.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s true how in the world can Amos be making a prophecy about the church age when he couldn\u2019t even fathom what the concept was; the church hadn\u2019t been revealed yet.\u00a0 Are you following me on this?\n\nRomans 16:25-26 defines what a mystery is, that which is kept secret from long ages past but now is manifested by the Scriptures.\u00a0 [Romans 16:25-26, \u201cNow to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading<\/em> to obedience of faith;\u201d]\n\nColossians 1:26 talks about what a mystery is. A mystery has been hidden from past ages and generations but now has been manifested.\u00a0 [Colossians 1:26, \u201cthat is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,\u2019]\n\nThe mystery is that parenthesis, or that time period in between the end of the sixty-ninth week of Daniel but before the seventieth week starts, that gap.\u00a0 Have we not talked about this?\u00a0 That\u2019s where we are, living in between those two increments of time and we\u2019re part of this mystery, something that Amos didn\u2019t know anything about.\u00a0 So how could Amos\u2019 prophecies be fulfilled in the church age when the church by nature is a mystery?\n\nHere\u2019s another chart that we\u2019ve used describing the mystery concept and the prophets couldn\u2019t really see the valley that we call a mystery.\u00a0 The mystery is the period of time between the ankles in Daniel 2 and the feet of ten toes.\u00a0 If you want to know where we fit in Daniel 2 we\u2019re living between the ankles and the toes, or maybe the ankles and the feet would be a better way of saying it, because there\u2019s a gap of time there that\u2019s undisclosed, isn\u2019t there.\n\nIs any of this ringing a bell, because we spent\u00a0 63 weeks in Daniel so I\u2019m hoping some of this resonated.\u00a0 This is why the Old Testament prophets couldn\u2019t even make sense of their own prophecies.\u00a0 Peter says the prophets made careful searches and inquiries, not understanding the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.\u00a0 [I Peter 1:10-11, \u201cAs to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries,\u00a0 [11]\u00a0 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.\u201d]\n\nI mean, we can look back in the 21st<\/sup> century and we can see what prophecies relate to what things, which prophecies relate to the first coming, what prophecies relate to the second coming.\u00a0 The poor Old Testament prophets themselves, without the vantage point of history, not understanding the mystery had no such luxury and they themselves were confused by their own prophecies.\u00a0 Do you understand that, that you can understand Isaiah\u2019s prophecies better than Isaiah himself?\u00a0 Remember at the end of the Book of Daniel what he wanted? He wanted understanding.\u00a0 Remember what he was told?\u00a0 Go your way, Daniel 12, many will go to and fro and knowledge will increase.\u00a0 [Daniel 12:4, \u201cBut as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.\u201d]\n\nDaniel himself didn\u2019t even understand his own prophecies.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet here\u2019s little old me in the year 2019 able to read Daniel and understand it better than Daniel himself, the author. We\u2019re very privileged, don\u2019t you think, based on the time period that we\u2019re living in.\u00a0 So my point there is what he\u2019s doing with Amos 9 can\u2019t be accurate because he\u2019s making Amos 9 a prophecy about the church, being fulfilled in the church when the church was something that Amos knew absolutely nothing about.\u00a0 It was a mystery.\n\nSo if all of this is true then why in the world would James use Amos 9 in Acts 15? Why did he do it?\u00a0 And here\u2019s the reason he used it; he\u2019s not saying the kingdom started, he\u2019s not changing the meaning.\u00a0 He\u2019s using it as a what?\u00a0 As an analogy.\u00a0 Why does he have to use it as an analogy?\u00a0 Because the church, in Acts 15 is at a crisis point, they\u2019re trying to figure out what to do with all these Gentile converts.\u00a0 Do they have to go under the Law of Moses or not to join the church?\u00a0 That\u2019s what they\u2019re wrestling with.\u00a0 And Luke records the outcome of this because Luke is all about describing the birth and the growth of the church and this was a time in church history where the church just took a massive quantum leap forward ethnically.\u00a0 That\u2019s why this is all recorded by Luke, for our edification!\n\nAnd so why is James using Amos 9?\u00a0 He\u2019s not saying we\u2019re in the kingdom. He\u2019s not saying Jesus is reigning on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 He\u2019s using it as an analogy.\u00a0 Why does he have to reach back and\u00a0 use analogies?\u00a0 Because there\u2019s no direct voice from God as there was in other times in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 And there\u2019s no direct vision from God as there was in other times in the Book of Acts. So the only thing the church had was the existing Scriptures available to them. The New Testament hadn\u2019t even been written yet.\u00a0 And so they\u2019re using the only Scriptures that they had by way of analogy to resolve this ecclesiological crisis.\n\nSo basically what James\u2019s point is this if you go back to Acts 15 for a minute and you look at verse 15,\u00a0 \u201cWith this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, [16] \u2018AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT,\u00a0 [17] SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD,\u201d look at the middle of verse 17, \u201cAND ALL THE\u201d what? \u201cGENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,' [18] SAYS THE LORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO.\u201d\n\nWhy is James using Amos 9?\u00a0 He\u2019s saying this, you know what, when the millennial kingdom is set up the Gentiles are going to be full citizens so why not make them full citizens when?\u00a0 NOW, in the age of the church\u00a0 All James is doing is reasoning from God\u2019s plan in history.\u00a0 He\u2019s not saying the Davidic kingdom has started; he\u2019s not doing anything of this sort.\u00a0 The only thing he is saying is the Gentiles are going to be full participants in the Millennial kingdom so way of analogy what shall we be doing now?\u00a0 Let\u2019s let the Gentiles become full citizens in the church also, without first making them submit to the law of Moses after they get saved.\u00a0 After they get saved and they want to come into the church let\u2019s not do it like we did it for 1500 years under God\u2019s command, where proselytized had to come under the Mosaic Law to walk with Yahweh.\u00a0 We\u2019re in a new age no, we\u2019re in a new dispensation now and if I am reading Amos 9 correctly the Gentiles are going to be full citizens in the future so by way of analogy let\u2019s make them full citizens now.\u00a0 That\u2019s a very BLT, Bottom Line Time explanation of what\u2019s going on here in Acts 15 and James use of Amos 9.\n\nAnd just to show you that this is not my opinion alone this is the opinion of J. Dwight Pentecost, my professor who is commenting on this passage. \u201cAfterward a question was raised concerning whether it was necessary for the Gentiles who had believed and had been brought into the church to abide by the precepts of the Mosaic Law. Judaizers insisted that in order to please God as believers and members of the kingdom of God, it was necessary for all men to live under the precepts of the Mosaic Law. This question was submitted to the apostles in Jerusalem, and Peter testified to the salvation of the Gentiles by faith in Jesus Christ apart from the Law (15:7\u201311)\u201d\n\n\u201c<\/em>His testimony is further corroborated by Barnabas and Paul (v. 12), and James who presided at this council hearing rendered the decision of the council. It was evident that God for the first time in dealing with men was dealing with Gentiles as Gentiles \u2018taking from the Gentiles a people for Himself (v. 14). James found this in keeping with the prophetic program.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0See that sentence there, \u201cJames found this in keeping with the prophetic program. In Amos 9:11\u201312 it was prophesied that after the period in which Israel was disciplined because of disobedience (vv. 1\u201310) and the Davidic throne left empty for a time, the Davidic throne would be restored and the Davidic kingdom would be instituted. \u00a0\u00a0When it is reinstituted, the kingdom will include not only the physical descendants of Abraham, but also a multitude of Gentiles as well. Therefore the restored Davidic kingdom under its rightful Davidic king would be composed of both Jews and Gentiles. In that kingdom Gentiles would not be made into Jews; instead they would be in the kingdom as Gentiles. This allowed James to conclude that if God had a program for Gentiles as Gentiles in the future Davidic kingdom established here on the earth, there was no reason to deny that God could include Gentiles as Gentiles in this present\u201d age of the church. It\u2019s just a simple analogy, is all James is doing here.\u00a0 Dwight Pentecost concludes, \u201cTherefore the issue was settled\u2014the Gentiles did not need to be circumcised and bring themselves under the Mosaic Law in order to participate in the present form of the kingdom.\u201d\n\nNow when Dr. Pentecost talks about a present form of the kingdom I have a difficulty with that; he believed in what\u2019s called a mystery form of the kingdom and I don\u2019t believe in that so that\u2019s why his language is kind of different than mine and if you want to know where the two of us disagree with each other, he\u2019s dead now, he\u2019s with the Lord so now he agrees with me and Jesus perfectly.\u00a0 [Andy laughs]\u00a0 If you want to know why we disagree on some of the language then just go back and look at our studies on Matthew 13.\u00a0 But his point is still a valid one.\u00a0 \u201cRather, apart from the Mosaic Law, through faith in Jesus Christ they are equal participants with believing Jews in the present form of the kingdom of God\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 [J. Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come<\/em>, Page 279-80]\n\nAnd this is the same view of the Scofield Reference Bible that [can't understand word] is attacking.\u00a0 The Scofield Reference Bible has it right in the notes here. Commenting on Acts 15 it says, \u201c<\/em>...begins with the words \u2018on that day.\u2019 James introduced this quotation in such a way as to show what day Amos was talking about, namely, the time after the present world witness (Acts 1:8), when Christ will return. James showed that there will be Gentile believers at that time,\u201d what time, the kingdom age, \u201cas well as Jewish believers; hence he concluded\u201d why did he have to conclude this way, no audible voice from God, no vision, he had to reason from the existing Scriptures that they had.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026he concluded that Gentiles are not required to become Jewish proselytes by circumcision.\u201d\n\nSo I think that\u2019s really what\u2019s happening in Acts 15 and I think when people use it to say that the tabernacle of David has been restored today they\u2019re completely abusing the passage.\u00a0 What are their six problems.\u00a0 They\u2019re presuming that the New Testament reinterprets the Old Testament, which it does not.\u00a0\u00a0 Number two, They\u2019re doing this despite the fact that the word \u201ckingdom\u201d is missing in Acts 15.\u00a0 How could the kingdom be established in Acts 15 when the word isn\u2019t even used.\u00a0 Number three, the word fulfilled isn\u2019t even used.\u00a0 Number four, they\u2019re ignoring the words \u201cafter this.\u201d\u00a0 The Davidic Kingdom is restored after the Gentile work of the church is over.\u00a0 Number five, how could Amos 9 be a prophecy about the age of the church when the church at the time Amos wrote was a mystery.\u00a0 Which leads me to number six, then why in the world is James quoting Amos 9 in Acts 15?\u00a0 He\u2019s just using the passage by way of analogy.\u00a0\u00a0 So Dr. Pentecost has it right, the Scofield Reference Bible has it right, the Kingdom Now\u00a0 theologians I think have it wrong.\n\nSo next week when we\u2019re together we\u2019re going to finish up the passages from the Book of Acts, there\u2019s a few loosely hanging passages that use the word \u201ckingdom\u201d in the Book of Acts, and after we\u2019re finished with all of that then we\u2019re going to be moving into passages from the Apostle Paul that support the idea that the church is the kingdom.\u00a0 So look at that, I got all that in and I finished even a minute early and actually I finished two minutes early because we started one minute late.\u00a0 So what do you think about that?\u00a0 So the Holy Spirit is really working tonight.\n\nSo we\u2019ll let folks go, if they need to take off or collect their children or otherwise they\u2019re tired from sitting for an hour after that heavy meal, and if other folks want to stick around for Q&A we can do that.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t