Thursday, May 4, 2023

Do you know how long the Jewish people have been waiting for Messiah? Since the time of the prophets. They waited through the first century, the second century, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the Twentieth Century. That’s a long wait, and they haven’t given up. The religious among them are still waiting. Imagine waiting for someone for 2,000 years. That person must be so important. And yet, you have the One for whom the Jewish people have been waiting thousands of years. How much more should you live gloriously in light of that. How great is your Messiah and your salvation. If they waited and longed for Him so long, how much more must you live for Him with all faith, confidence, joy, and perseverance. You have the One worth waiting for, for more than a millennium. You don’t have to wait to know Him, love Him, follow Him, sit at His feet and dwell in His kingdom. Go all out for Messiah, because He is the One worth waiting for.

Therefore says, Yakov James, it’s in my judgment.
We don’t trouble those who are turning to God from the gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from that which is strangled and from blood.
For Moses from ancient generations has in every city, those who preach him since he has read in the synagogues.
Every service. In other words, they already are familiar with, with Moses, my judgment. He says, I judge.
So he’s this man has authority.
I judge this, that we do not put this all on them that this is not required of them, but simply have them abstain from idols, abstain from blood, drinking blood which and abstain from sexual immorality.
So the fact is coming to the Lord, it should do that anyway, should bring, you know, the the the turning from idols of course.
But but he’s saying that this is part of gentile culture and we don’t, this is gonna cause that this is wrong and we don’t want this in the church or in the in the Kingdom of God.
So you have so here is the only thing he says the power of, of the gospel and also he wants you, he doesn’t want them drinking blood or drinking, polluted, eating, polluted things because that’s also gonna cause a another controversy.
So here is what it is basics.
Here it is, James comes up and now this crucial, crucial thing here that they make a decision that has affected the faith ever since.
Note the sovereignty of God. What if they had decided?
No, you know, we have to keep the law of Moses. God. You know, we have to do it.
This is what he gave. It’s from Moses, it’s from God.
There’s no record here of a prophetic word coming and a supernatural event coming saying, hey guys, this is the answer.
It could have gone different ways.
But I mean, you would think it except God is sovereign in every word, you know, you know, even what looks like natural.
You don’t see any supernatural thing in this, in this council yet, God is clearly directing the natural events.
Many times people come up to me at a service and they’ll say you, you had to be listening to our conversation on the way here.
You preached exactly what we were talking about.
Well, well, it’s exactly what we, exactly what I was praying about or exactly what I needed. Exactly.
But, you know, now God is the one who answers that. But he often, but I didn’t see a vision.
I didn’t see an angel but God works through our, what seems like it’s natural. God works supernaturally through it.
It could have been a message that I planned two weeks before for that week.
I had no idea that at the same time they’re going to have a conversation. But God did.
God did so many times.
You know, there are people who sometimes give a message and a person is wearing in his T shirt, the exact scripture that I’m preaching on.
Why was that was that? It wasn’t natural, it’s supernatural, but it wasn’t that an angel said, here’s what you’re wearing this morning.
They just chose that, but God is working everything together, the freedom, free will and God’s sovereignty together, both are true.
Verse 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with a whole congregation to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, Judas Kus and Silas leading men among the brethren.
And they sent this letter with them, the apostles and the brethren is the letter who are elders to the brethren and Antioch Syria.
So so and who are among the gentiles, who are greetings since we heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with the words, unsettling your souls.
It seemed good to us of being of one mind to select men to send with you, our beloved Barnabus and Paul men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord, Yeshua Jesus, the Messiah.
Therefore, we have sent Judas and Silas who themselves also report the same thing by the word of mouth.
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these basics that you abstain from things sacrificed to idol, from blood and from all things gold and from fornication, sexual immorality.
If you keep yourselves free from such things, you do. Well, farewell. It seemed good to us. That’s interesting.
It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and it seemed good to us to, to this, this word.
It seemed interesting because you think with such a decision so important and so crucial, they wouldn’t say it seemed, it shows how God uses everything.
How do you know the will of God?
It may not always be written in stone for your life, but it may be that the Lord uses the spirit and it seems good.
It seemed right. God uses it. Now, if the word says something that’s absolute, but God uses that.
And again, there are many things that we might think it see, we might think it’s just what we think, but it’s God saying it, it’s God moving, it seemed good to the Holy Spirit.
What seemed good here. And so then he basically says, just don’t grieve God with.
And then by the way, he’s telling the gentiles avoid sexual morality, how much more you who have been in the Lord for years.
It’s weird to have no hint of sexual immorality if you keep yourselves. That’s it.
Don’t worry about the rest. Now, imagine if this had not happened.
But let’s look at here what goes it says they were sent away.
Verse 30 they went down to Antioch, having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter when they read it, they rejoiced because of the encouragement and it strengthened the brethren there or, or Judas and Silas also being prophets themselves, encourage, strengthen the brethren with a lengthy message.
Interesting Judas and Silas are called prophets.
There are those who say there are no prophets in the age of Messiah.
But you can’t biblically say that it speaks about those who prophesy clearly, it’s not the same as Isaiah and Jeremiah in that office.
But you can’t argue that way either they come to Antioch, they people rejoice and the mission, you know, the center of the quote, what was called the church or what’s called the church now remained primarily in Je centered in Jerusalem for the next decades, primarily Jewish.
But then in 70 ad disaster came, the Romans came in, swept out the city.
Had this not happened, had they not had this council, it could have ended the faith if they had just kept it to themselves or kept it with very strict things.
But thank God that they did this, what they thought was just a little problem was God.
It was gonna be the entire future of the faith and they could, I don’t think it even fathomed it that most of the believers through, most of the age would be gentile.
They thought they’re just dealing with this thing, but God is dealing with it.
This is the great unleashing up to that point.
They had to be under the law pretty much, or at least the question had never been taken up.
Now, everything changes and the effect it had on the gospel to go to all the earth, the whole the world Jewish Christianity or this faith gave birth to a faith that was universal.
Now, we’ve come full circle in many ways.
2000 years of church history, it becomes, has become a yoke preventing Jewish people from coming back.
But thank God, Jewish people are now coming back. It’s the reverse of what happened back then.
But if this didn’t happen, if this didn’t happen, then we wouldn’t just do altar calls, we’d do circumcision calls.
This is the fact, maybe that would be a good thing because, you know, they have to really mean it.
If they’re going for a circumstance, yes, I’m going, I’d have to be standing up here with a Swiss army knife.
It would be a whole different thing here.
We’d have some very unhappy new believers in the altar count, you’ll hear screams there.
You know, you know, God has a pray, read the Bible and take some aspirin and rest.
You know, to find out how you can receive more of Jonathan’s teachings to receive special free gifts or get in touch.
Go to hope of the world dot org or call toll free 1 800 Yeshua one that’s hope of the world dot org or call 1 800 Yeshua one that’s 1 809 374821.
You can also get more at Jonathan Khan’s Facebook or write us direct at Hope of the World Box.
1111, Lodi New Jersey, 07644 USA.
Hope of the world is dedicated to the goal of spreading God’s word and salvation to every land and people who do this by spreading the word throughout the world and sponsoring compassion projects to the most poor and needy around the earth to get in touch or have a part in God’s work.
Just write to Hope of the World Box 1111, Lodi New Jersey 07644 USA or go to Hope of the world dot org or call 1 800 Yeshua one that’s 1 809 374821.