The New Testament Part 1

The drama of redemption.

The Old Testament is a grand prologue in the New Testament the great transaction takes place of sacrifice for the sins of all mankind is offered on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus gives his life not far from where Abraham almost offered his son Isaac. No playwright could dream of the story so bold, so loving and so wonderful from Chicago. This is The Moody Church. Our weekly service of worship and teaching with pastor Erwin Blitzer on this broadcast. We continue a four-part overview of the entire Bible in a series that traces the drama of redemption.

Later Erwin Blitzer will take us on a tour of the entire New Testament. The Moody choir comes now to open today's service will and and when we invite you to bless the name of the Lord.

We are very scriptural. Psalm 103. Bless the Lord all my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name.

We are here to focus on God to worship the Lord Jesus Christ and the father in the spirit and at the same time to ask the question what does all this mean for us.

Is it worth going to India in different parts of the world. 80 with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Will the answer is yes, but now we are indeed in God's presence that we as we have gathered together in a moment I'm going to ask you to stand for Scripture reading our Scripture reading is going to be conducted by Mark Peary who is responsible for community life here at The Moody Church and we will be standing for the Scripture. When you join me now as we pray together and then we shall stand for the reading of the Scripture and the singing of the prepared song now father we ask in Jesus name that you might take these moments and make them sacred. Help us oh Lord to leave all of the concerns of this past weekend, the worries of tomorrow and make these moments be dedicated to you in Jesus name. Our Scripture reading this morning is taken from Galatians 3 verses 21 through 29. It is printed in your bulletin for you and please join with me on the bold print is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God, absolutely not. For a full law had been given that could impart life in righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. May God bless the reading of this work will we live today as always in a world of promises don't way politicians make promises we bold made promises.

Some of them we have kept undoubtedly, there also some that we have broken the question before us today is is God trustworthy does he keep his promises.

The Bible says that all the promises of God are yes and yes in Jesus Christ. God is a God of the integrity. This is actually a message entitled the drama of redemption. It's the third message in the series, the drama of redemption. Two of them were based on the Old Testament. An overview of the Old Testament history so that we all might be able to know where the books fit and we prepared a chart that you can use so that in your reading. You know what books carry along the storyline and those books that support the storyline. Today we get to the New Testament and were going to cover 26 of the 27 books of the New Testament, but I need to also say that the 27th book. The book of Revelation that is going to have its own message.

That's the time when you need to bring your Bibles for sure because we're going to take a survey of the 22 chapters of the book of Revelation and you need to be here for that, but today the New Testament remember the Old Testament promise was that Genesis 318 God says to the serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed and it. That is the seed of the woman will crush your head, and the question was how does this holy seed relate to our redemption and the story of the Old Testament is tracing that promise. First of all we know it's going to come through Abraham then through Judah, then through David and all the way down to Jesus Christ as we learned last time after the time of Malachi 400, the silent years, God is speaking through prophets.

Not much seems to be happening in the world and undoubtedly the people began to think God hasn't kept his promise where is the promise of his coming, and then Jesus Christ bursts onto the scene. He's born in Bethlehem and there is a huge explosion of Revelation and God, who in many different ways at many different times spoke in times past, now speaks through his son and the megaphone of heaven comes to earth, because God has arrived personally in the womb of a woman. What a story, and now what we discover is that the New Testament is the outworking of God's promises Old Testament, God promised New Testament fulfillment. When we look at our Bibles will notice that in the New Testament you have in Matthew Mark Luke and John. These are the Gospels and visa Gospels give us the story of Jesus Christ on earth in that little territory that we referred to as Israel. Jesus never went very far from home, perhaps from North to South 100 miles from east to west, perhaps 30 or 40 miles and there in this territory is where also the world is going to come by climactic dramatic and at least the world as we know it when we open the book of Matthew and you can open it and by the way, this is the only time I'm going to ask you today to open the Bible, I know that I'm going to be using many different scriptures and I decided to simply them to you rather than have you turned to them so that you can follow along, but don't let that discourage you from bringing your Bible to church. You need to do that. This is an unusual message. You'll notice it begins the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham and many people who read the New Testament site will why is it that to. It begins with his long boring genealogy hits a critical genealogy what it's showing is that Jesus is the holy seed is tracing the lineage of Jesus and David is Jesus Christ the legal father so that Jesus can meet the requirements of what God promised David and so it's critical to the Bible's storyline and now what I'd like us to do is to realize that Matthew is a book that was written primarily by a Jew to the Jews showing the fulfillment of prophecy.

Mark is a book written primarily for the Romans. Although it's for everyone, as is a Luke with the stress possibly for the Greeks and then the gospel of John, which is for the entire world are showing that Jesus is the son of God and all of those miracles in the four Gospels are designed with one purpose, and that is to show us that Jesus is qualified to be who he claims to be the Messiah son of God, Lord God in the flesh like us to see now is how the New Testament actually fulfills the old. When I was in Bible College. There was a line that we had to memorize and it's very simple to remember. It is simply this, that in the Old Testament, the new is concealed. The new is concealed in the old and in the new. The golden is revealed Bibles a remarkable book. Just imagine 40 different authors writing over a period of 1500 years. Some of the authors were fishermen. Others were kings and prophets, and all kinds of different shepherds. They all rode over a period of 1500 years and from a number of different countries and it all hangs together. It's a library of 66 books.

I want you to love the Bible love the laws of God love his word.

Imagine, for example, a cathedral being built and you have some material. Perhaps the stones coming from one part of the country. The windows come from another country. The mortar comes from somewhere else. The beams from another part and and yet it comes together over a period of time and it fits perfectly and you say to yourself that back behind it. There must be a divine or a super minded that is actually planned this, imagine a book on medicine written over a period of 1500 years with 40 different authors. Each of them contributing each of them giving a different perspective, but all unified. Surely you hold in your hands.

The book of God. But now, how does the New Testament fulfill the old. How does Jesus do it very briefly. First of all we really need to realize that he is the seed. The seed of Abraham. Galatians chapter 3 verse 16 the apostle Paul says this he says that in the Old Testament God didn't say seed plurals plural God said seed singular because at the end of the day, the fulfillment of the seed is in Jesus the promise that was made in Genesis 315 is fulfilled in Jesus who crushed the head of the serpent. When Jesus died on the cross. The Bible says that he disarmed all principalities and powers making a show of them openly triumphing over them in it want you to visualize Jesus taking his heel and crushing the head of the serpent into the dirt and just moving his heel like I'm doing now. I want you to visualize Jesus doing that and Satan is out on bond briefly, but his doom is sure it's been established. When you receive Christ as your Savior. You will receive it into your life a winner proved that he was able to crush the head of the serpent.

So Jesus is a winner is the seed of Abraham. He's also the king of Israel is the king of Israel, not just imagine this at Christmas time we go over this so quickly we forget it.

Significance the angel is coming to Mary and the angel is saying regarding the child that she will bear, behold, he shall be great, and shall be called the son of the most time and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, there you have it. Second Samuel chapter 7 with the promise was made to David. The Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no and and when Jesus comes to establish his kingdom. Filling those promises. When that happens, that kingdom is going to be a bridge to the eternal kingdom. That's why he shall reign forever and ever. And the Bible says we shall reign with him for ever and ever. Jesus is the promise that God made it to David.

He is Israel's king. So when you receive Christ as Savior, you receive a victory receive the king. You also receive a Savior he's our Passover. Paul says in first Corinthians chapter 5. Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us and you remember the Passover, God says I want you to kill a lamb take the blood of that lamb and put it on the doorpost the lintels of your door because when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague of the killing of the firstborn will not happen in your house.

If I see the blood, the reason it is called the Passover, God says, I will pass over you. I want you to imagine for a moment, but there is a child in the Jewish home and this child. First of all, says will dad what good is blood and he says I may not understand it all. But the angel said the Lord said through Moses when I see the blotto Passover. You, the plague won't come near you may be the firstborn son in one of those homes was evil. Maybe he was a disobedient child didn't matter. The promise was when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Course if he was evil. If he had committed crimes. Those would have to be dealt with most assuredly. But at the end of the day. It wasn't the greatness of his sin.

It was the power of the blood, but delivered him just like some of you if I could talk to you one-on-one and you'd be honest, some of you have committed crimes. You've done some pretty terrible thing, but when you receive Christ as Savior. That blood is as it were applied to you. And God says when I see the blood, I will Passover and the plague will not come upon you.

You may die in an earthquake. Not but the wrath of God will no longer be upon you.

You are exempt from that and that's why we urge you to receive Christ as Savior because when you do you can affect from his death and the blood that was shed, and later on, Jesus said you remember he said so beautifully at the Passover feast with his disciples. This cop now is the new covenant in my blood. This drink in remembrance of me. I am your Passover and so we no longer celebrate Passover. Rather, we celebrate communion. The new covenant because Jesus did away with the need for the Passover because his blood can make the foulest clean is blood available for me is the Passover. He turns out to be. So when you receive them as Savior. You do indeed receive somebody qualified to save let me say that he's also the temple Jesus one day was standing next to the great Temple of Herod that we talked about last time, and by the way, if you were here last time you should get the CD so that you see the continuity and that he says destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up and that you said this temple has been 46 years in building and you're gonna raise it up in three days and then John adds that he spoke of the temple of his body. Jesus is the temple fact in John 114 the Word became flesh and tabernacle among us dwelt with us.

What was the tabernacle. The temple of the Old Testament. What was it all about. It was the meeting place between God and man because God always wants to meet with his people, and God says I want to take you through this ritual so that you understand the seriousness of sin and you will have a high priest who will represent you to me.

Yes, to make sacrifice for his own sins first, but he'll represent you to me and all represent what I have to say through him to you. Jesus abolished all that because Jesus is high priest, not a high priest in the Old Testament. He offered bulls and goats on the altar Jesus turns out to be not just the priest but also the offering. He offers himself he is the Lamb and that he is the priest and so he did away with the temple. We here at Moody Church do not have an altar. Maybe you are right up in a church that had an altar. They talked about the altar. What usually upfront.

Here we have a communion table.

We have stairs that lead to the lower platform but you'll never hear me say, the altar wife don't have one. Jesus did away with the need for an altar we doing no longer offer sacrifices his sacrifice.

The Bible says sanctifies this eternally by one offering he is perfect.

All those who are sanctified years are high priest, don't you love him, don't you love him when you think of what is going on our behalf. Jesus also is the end of the law.

Paul says Jesus is the end of the law to all those who believe you know he read the Old Testament law. That's why I suggested when you read the book of Leviticus and some of these passages in the Old Testament I gave you permission to speed read them receives them some feedback from that but it's all been good people say you know this time I'm going to get beyond Leviticus.

When I read through the Bible we don't understand all those laws. Now they're rich in meaning. If we stop and study them. I don't never get through your Bible. If you're going to stop and study everywhere what you should do is designate say I want to investigate this and then you study those more carefully in a different time, but all these rituals all these laws, there was the moral law, there was the ceremonial law, there was the civil law. Jesus is the end he fulfills it all and says I release you from the obligation of fulfilling the law. Now the reason is because the law could never be fulfilled by the people they would stand and they'd say, all the Lord has said we will do and then moments later they were rebelling against God and breaking their covenant they couldn't keep it. Then you can keep it. The law, though, wasn't a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It showed us the great needed that we have and Jesus said now you're no longer going to be under that law.

Now there is the law of Christ were not law… If you go from America to Canada… Shall we say choose a country arbitrarily. If you go from America to Canada. You'll be under Canadian law. Now, many of these laws will be the same laws against murder laws against theft. But you are under a new dispensation and a new set of laws and we as Christians are why because there was no way that we could keep the long God says if I'm going to save you if I'm going to save you. I have to take the law and set it aside because you can't keep it. I'm going to keep it for you and the Bible says curse.

It is everyone who hangs on the tree because the law had curses Jesus that I will become a curse for use so that you can be free and you no longer are under obligation to be saved by works which could never save you anyway.

Christ is the end of the law by faith in Christ. Paul says in Romans chapter 10. Now how do the Gospels and will the end by Jesus saying, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel and that's why we have missionaries in Haiti and missionaries and in and missionaries around the world and when we get to the book of acts when we get to ask what we discover is that the apostle Paul is dramatically converted and the book of acts is basically the story of how the gospel gets from Jerusalem to what we call Asia minor. It is cold turkey today and then beyond to grace and eventually to Rome and that's the story of the book of acts and this man told it was especially designated by God and called by God, wrote letters and he wrote letters to different churches. He wrote a total of 13 of the books of the New Testament and most of them were two churches, but then there were some letters also to individuals and as such as Timothy, Titus, and Philemon wrote these letters as well. Now we don't know who wrote the book of Hebrews but what we do know is that it belongs in the canon. Interesting story that we have to omit but the book of Hebrews is just a fulfillment and an explanation of the book of Leviticus. In light of all that Jesus has done and then you have some other writers such as James and Peter and John writes three letters and then John has that marvelous, marvelous revelation from God. That is a mystery to people and much of it is a mystery to all of us, but there's a special blessing to those who read it and when I want to do when we do the next session is to open the book up for you in such a way that you say I'm going to read it and read it and read it because it says blessed are those who hear it and who obey the words of this prophecy, and what a prophecy it is.

Well, that's the 26 books of the New Testament.

Don't you think I did pretty well in about 20 minutes question is where does this leave us and what is the bottom.

What is the bottom line. First of all I want us to think about the integrity of God question of whether or not God keeps his promises. God's integrity was seen by the coming of the New Testament and the events of the New Testament. I can imagine because the coming of Jesus and the life of Abraham, about 1800 years before that. I can imagine during those 400 silent years. In addition to all the other centuries that I talked about that that people began to wonder you know where is his promise any promises of Messiah promises a seed. Nothing going on. Year after year generation after generation, century after century where is God and the people were asking that question. Then suddenly an answer came cry.

The newborn baby in Bethlehem.

God kept his promise.

Let us not be confused because God takes so long. Sometimes, in keeping his promise.

You know, there are two different kinds of trees many different kinds of trees. I'm told that all humans, the elementary bugs very quickly and and bears its fruit, but the mulberry mulberry bushes in the mulberry trees sometimes bear fruit over a period of 75 200 years and some of God's promises are instant. God says I'm going to do something he does it right away and then there promises of God that linger on and we wonder whether we can believe him. That's why Abraham.

The Bible says died, not having seen the promises we die with unfulfilled promises no doubt about it, but we die in hope and we die in faith and someday Abraham will still see those promises fulfilled in ways that he could never have dreamed. Now the same kind of skepticism that existed back then no doubt exists today and that's why, in the book of second Peter we have these words of Peter writing to a skeptical audience and this is what he says you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Now catch this knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing following their own sinful desires and they will say where is the promise of his coming forever. Since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning. And so today you have scoffers you say you know you talk about the return of Jesus. Jesus is coming back to earth, but where is he, year after year, month after month when I was growing up we stepped prophecy, conferences, and you felt for sure that before the meeting was over.

Jesus was going to come and he still isn't here.

I don't think it's going to be hundreds of years. I think it's going to be a lot less than that, but we don't really know when Jesus is coming, the events of the world are coming together in such a way that it's startling but at the same time. Let's not think we know, but there will be scoffers who will say where is the promise of his coming he promised to come. Where is he, and then some day the heavens opened and Jesus shows up according to God's timetable and not ours.

Clouds are a promise reign is the fulfillment of Old Testament clouds God says I'm going to do this I meant to send a Redeemer I'm going to send a king. I'm going to crush the head of the serpent New Testament. The rain comes in Jesus comes to this earth and fulfills the promises but not even he fulfilled all of them yet but they will be fulfilled. You're going through a trial today want you to think of the promises of God likes stars.

The darker the night, the more clearly they can be seen. Hang on to the promises because they are yes and yes in Jesus we serve and we worship a God who has integrity second.

It is not just the integrity of God.

It is the redemption of God.

If you get lost in the Old Testament. If you get lost in Leviticus and Numbers and does some of the rituals of the Old Testament that we don't understand very well. Always remember what the dilemma was, as I explained in the first message in this series.

In the Old Testament. The issue is this God is devising a way by which he can have fellowship with us without contaminating himself by sin and without compromising his holiness in the rituals Drew were to remind people of their sinfulness. God's holiness and the way that he is devising today. Of course we don't have those rituals. As I explained they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and how wondrously Old Testament you could be ceremonially clean.

You know you could wash your hands, you could go through the rituals that the labor but it didn't change your heart necessarily new covenant God says I will write my law into their heart, and the law of God, and is written into the hearts of all those who believe in Jesus and trust him. And that's why when we get saved as we use the terminology which is very biblical actually changes our desires so that we begin to love him. We begin to have different priorities because under the new covenant we receive a new heart. Those who are in Christ all old things are passed away behold all things have become new. And the story of the Bible the story line, the drama of redemption is God answering this simple question as I post it and then Jesus comes on the cross and dies on the cross and he needs all of God's requirements, his holy life meets all the requirements of the law.

He lives it perfectly, and he says to you and to me now, on the basis of my righteousness my gift to you. If you receive it you are acquitted by God.

You can have fellowship with him and he remains entirely holy and justice is fully satisfied. That is the good news of the gospel.

Why would anyone.

Why would anyone think about rejecting Jesus.

It is unthinkable. Finally, we have not only the integrity of God in the redemption of God, but the condescension, the condescension of God, that is. I mean, I'll even use the word humiliation of God church historian said that Christianity is the only religion to have as its central event, the humiliation of God. Islam cannot accept this to them. A law always has to be victorious. A log cannot humble himself a lock cannot become a man and a log cannot allow himself to be crucified.

Jesus comes in against all reason because you and I would not of done it this way, against all reason is able to come out of heaven to leave his glories to become a baby to grow up. A man is the son of God is the second member of the Trinity, humble himself. Take all the curses and the accusations that were heaped upon them to have him humiliated in the eyes of others did die on a cross naked along with two other criminals only Christianity can say that God did that. If that isn't mercy of that is grace.

If that isn't the unbelievable gift that God offers you the day you may be watching this by way of our Internet ministry.

You may be hearing this on the radio and of course the large crowd that is here today at The Moody Church.

When you receive Christ to receive the victor receive a king, you receive a Savior you receive a priest and you receive a liberator liberates you from the law.

Why would you reject them you may be seated in the balcony today but you know that you need a Savior.

I ask you to reach out and saved by faith I receive him as mine and you see that's why we sing lifted up, was he to die. It is finished was his cry now in the heaven exalted a high hallelujah what a Savior. What a Savior. And if you will let us pray father we stand amazed in the presence of Jesus, we thank you that the promises that you have given were fulfilled with integrity and those still unfulfilled will be yesterday that you will help us to cleave to the promises because we live by promises, not explanations. We ask in the darkness of the night that the stars might shine very brightly as we look at him and remember what he did on our behalf, maybe love your word may we love you may work in us to bring about the transformation we need. And for those who never trusted Christ as Savior. May they do that, even where they are seated right now and say Jesus be my pray in his name.

This song says so much about what we believe about Jesus. Let's stand together and sing hallelujah what is Savior on today's Moody Church. Our pastor looks or spoke on the New Testament part one third of four messages in a series on the drama of redemption next week.

Our trip through the Bible concludes as we take a high-speed trip through the entire book of Revelation.

The drama of redemption series helps us make sense of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We'd like to put this four-part series in your hands on either CD or DVD is our way of saying thanks for your gift of any amount that The Moody Church. Our just call us at 1-800-215-5001.

Ask about the drama of redemption. When you call 1-800-215-5081 or you can write to us at Moody Church media 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 also you can go online moodyoffer.com that's Moody offer all one word.com join us next week for another Moody Church.

Our with pastor Erwin looks or in the congregation of historic Moody Church in Chicago. This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church