We're talking about, in the big picture of things, mastering God's word. And in order to master God's word, we need to have an understanding of what the whole book is, what the big picture is. And so that's why we're looking at the timeline and spent some time looking at the beginning and the end and getting God's message here. Thoroughly familiar in the big picture, the overall. We've come out of the proverbial forest where we get looking at the trees and now we're looking at the forest so we can see and appreciate the trees that are within. Now, mastering God's Word means becoming so deeply familiar with it that it actually shapes our thoughts, it shapes our decisions, it shapes the character that we manifest. And ultimately, when we talk about mastering God's Word, we're really talking about God's Word mastering us. and the Master. We're conforming to God's Word, and the Master has control of us. Because as we grasp and have an understanding of God's Word, it's shaping and molding and controlling our thoughts. And that's why it's so important to be immersed in the Word of God, memorizing it, studying it, reading it, listening to it. As the Word of God filters into our mind, It's putting God's thoughts into our thoughts so we can conform our way of thinking to His way of thinking. And I like that whole idea of, yeah, mastering the Word of God is letting God master us. Grasping its message in detail requires grasping its message as a whole, in the big picture. Because we can get so bogged down into the details, we lose sight of the big picture and don't really master the Word of God, though we may master some of the nitty-gritty. So we began the whole series with looking at the overall theme of the Bible, upon which everything can be understood. Because whenever you write a book, you write a chapter, whatever it is, you got the big outline, and everything is about that particular topic. And so we were establishing that from God's direct proclamations in his word to looking at the beginning and the end, the first book, the last book, as well as everything else. But one of the best ways to determine what a book is all about, go read the last chapter and find out how it ends, because that tells you where it's all going. And what is it? The establishment of God's kingdom. That's what it is forevermore. And as I said in the last meeting, and they lived happily evermore. That's a good story to think about. So from God's direct proclamation to the beginning and the end of the Bible, from the mouth of Jesus himself, and according to our expected mission that God has given to us, and God's message to humanity, we know it's all about his kingdom. the problem with entering into his kingdom and what he's done and is doing to make citizenship possible in his kingdom. And we discover in his message that the solution is all about Jesus Christ, his payment for our sins, his resurrection for our life everlasting. In the context of God's kingdom, we see the message of the Old Testament emphasizing the lack of humanity's ability to qualify to enter into God's kingdom. But God has a solution. So the Old Testament is all about the problem, but God's promised to fix it. The New Testament then emphasizes the fulfillment of God's promise to solve our dilemma. In simplest terms, it comes right down to humanity's problem, God's solution. That's just how simple the message of the gospel is. The three basic pillars of principles of the gospel. is promise, law, grace, promise, law, grace. And this is important to have in mind because you see this pattern represented and repeated over and over and over again throughout the scriptures. And these are the three things that we want to take note of and that I'll be mentioning here and describing as we go through this portion of our lesson. So here's God's overarching message in creation. God promised in eternity past, he promised eternal life in his kingdom before the foundation of the world. Titus chapter one, verse two. It says in Titus chapter one, verse two, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. The promise came first. God already had a promise. Number two. Awareness of God's law is written in the hearts of humanity. For this reason, we sin and are condemned. Why? Because of the knowledge of sin. We know that because of the words of Paul in Romans 7, 9. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. The principle there in Romans is where there's no law, there's no sin. Where there's no sin, there's no death. You can reverse that. Where there's no death, there's no sin. Where there's no sin, there's no law. That explains why we die. It's not because we're human. It's because we have knowledge of the law. That's why Paul said, I was alive once. Well, wait. You're human. You can't be alive spiritually. You can't have life. But he said, I was. Well, then what happened? Law came. But Paul, that doesn't make sense. The law was a couple thousand years before you were even born. How can you say before the commandment came, before the law came? Before I was aware of it. It doesn't matter how long the law's been around. If I don't know what the law is, I'm not accountable to it. And that's what we call the age of accountability. when we become knowledgeable of the law. That's why where there's law, there's sin, and where there's sin, there's death. And then the third pillar of grace, by God's mercy and grace, he saves us and qualifies us to enter his kingdom of righteousness. Ephesians chapter two, verses four and five. Says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. That's wonderful. So we have these three principles that run through the history of mankind over and over and over again, where we've got promise, we've got law, we've got grace. Guess what? That's Abraham, that's Moses, and that's Christ. Moses didn't come before Abraham, Abraham came before Moses. And Moses didn't come after Christ, Christ came after Moses. Because of that pattern, when we are born in this world, as I already read from Paul's words in Romans 7, 9, The promise was already there. The law came after the promise, and then grace came. That's what happened in Paul's life, but we see it in history here. God promised Abraham inheritance in his kingdom. In Genesis chapter 17, verses seven and eight, It says, God says, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God. Let's write out Revelations chapter 21 verses one through four, where we have a promise of the kingdom of God being established and an everlasting covenant of peace and no more tears, no more crying, no more sorrow. And secondly, then, we look at the law of Moses, the law of righteousness. In Exodus chapter 19, verse 5, it says, Notice that is an if-then statement. It says, if, if, You do this, then you'll be a peculiar treasure unto me. You'll be blessed if, that's a big if, if ye what? Obey my voice. In other words, keep the law, keep the commandments that I'm giving to you. Romans chapter three, verse 20 says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. There's that principle again, where there's no law, there's no sin. Where there's sin, there's gotta be law. And here we've got a very clear statement that's written in Romans 3.20, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. We got a problem, there's humanity's problem. That was the whole point of the law was to demonstrate, to prove, to convince, to persuade the, sinful, depraved, deceived in their own minds thinking I'm good enough to convince the lost, you're not good enough and you're not qualified to enter into the kingdom of God. There's no way you're going to make it. And then 1 Timothy 1, 9, 10, knowing that the law is not made for a righteous man. Why not? Because the righteous man is already doing what's right. He doesn't have to be told what's right. He's already doing what's right. So the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the You go through this long list, you can sum it up. It's not made for the righteous man, it's made for the unrighteous. It's made for the sinner. The law was made for the sinner. for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly, for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that's contrary to sound doctrine, et cetera, et cetera. The point of the law was to convince the sinners, you're a sinner, because one thing that sinners are convinced of, they're not a sinner. Or, I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not that bad. Well, the law was given to be convincing. Now, number three, talking about God's grace, and in particular with Jesus Christ, we see God mercifully and graciously giving his son, Jesus Christ, to save us from the condemnation that comes with knowing the law. First John chapter four, verse nine says, in this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. That's the solution and the fulfillment of God's promise that I will make it possible for you to enter into my kingdom is through his son. Romans chapter four, verse 13 says, for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law. It wasn't to Abraham or to his seed through the law. It was given to Abraham and to his seed, but not by law, but through the righteousness of faith. That's how the promise would be fulfilled, the promise of God. It wasn't gonna be by the law. The seed referred to, as we've looked at last week, is Jesus Christ himself. And then John 1, verse 17, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful to see? That's fantastic. And so what we have set up here are these three primary principles of truths of the gospel message. We've got promise, we have law, and we have grace. That is demonstrated in the appearance of Abraham and Moses and Christ. And they came in that order because each one represents promise and then law and then grace. Now, when you look for these pillars of God's message in the scriptures, you'll frequently find that there's a contrast between law and promise. flesh versus spirit, works versus grace. You always see that tension that's set up in the scriptures. I'll give you some examples here. I've got about nine examples here. If you look for these three pillars of principles of the gospel, you're going to see it time and time again. Once you get a hold of it, you're not going to be able to not see it. It's going to flap you in the face. We start out with Cain and Abel. Cain preceded Abel just as sin precedes grace. And Abel's sacrifice was acceptable because it was offered by faith. We have Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was of the flesh and preceded Isaac who fulfilled the promise. Notice who comes first and who comes second. It happens over and over again. Why? Because law always precedes the grace. The sin always precedes the salvation experience. The rejected always precedes the accepted. And then we have Esau and Jacob. Esau was first in line by law, but Jacob was the one who received the inheritance. Leah and Rachel, their story was about Leah who was first by law, but Rachel was the beloved. We see Egypt in the promised land. There was bondage in Egypt. Israel was chosen to be the, in this case, represent the lost person. They were in bondage in Egypt, which preceded the fulfillment of God's promise of deliverance into the promised land. And then we have Mount Sinai preceding Mount Zion, the mountain of law preceding the mountain of grace. And then we have Saul and David. The kingdom of Saul was by condition of law, as long as Saul met the conditions and did what was right, his kingdom would have lasted, but he didn't. And it was replaced by the kingdom of promise. I love telling that story because you look at Saul, Saul was a man that God chose to be the king, but someone had to play the bad guy, the guy that's going to have to do it by law. Some nation had to play the role of the lost person and suffer the consequences, that was Israel. in Egypt, and over and over again under the law. Curse, curse, curse, curse, curse. And as has been mentioned many times here, and I like to refer to Fiddler on the Roof, where Tevye says, Lord, if this is what it's like to be your people, please find someone else. Yeah, because it's a curse to me to have a relationship with God based on law. It's no good, it won't work. And you see that over and over again. Adam and Christ, you had the first and you had the last. In fact, the first has become the last and the last has become the first. Isn't that interesting? The flesh was unable, but Christ was able. And then the ninth example is the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant precedes the New Covenant. The law precedes the promise and the fulfillment and is replaced by the gracious fulfillment of God's promise. And in every example, law always precedes the grace and is replaced by grace. Now Paul explains this contrast that we just briefly reviewed. He explains this in Galatians chapter 4 verses 22 through 29. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. which things are an allegory. That is a typology. It serves as an example. For these are the two covenants. What are the two covenants? The two sons, the two, the bond woman and well, Hagar and Sarah. These are allegories for the two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, where the law was given to Moses, which genereth to bondage, which is Agar, for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children, because we're living in the kingdom of Satan. That's why. Christ has not established his kingdom yet. But he goes on and says, But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren, thou bearest not. Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that what Jesus said? Many are called, few are chosen. Most will reject him. And that's what he's talking about. See, even that is an analogy. It's already an allegory in the scriptures. that the lost world out here, even in Israel's situation, even when you look at Rachel and Leah, you had the unloved, so to speak, who were bearing much fruit and you had the much loved barren. And if they did have children, it was by the grace and mercy of God. Then Paul wraps it up and says, now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. Why? We are not in the kingdom of Christ. We are in the kingdom of Satan, waiting for, praying for, expectantly, the establishment of Christ's kingdom with the downfall of Satan's kingdom. Now, it's an interesting parallel that's brought to our attention about the desolate have many more children. And as I already mentioned, this is where we see our own real experience in life. We see that there are more lost then there are saved and we experience the persecution. If not us personally, throughout the world and throughout history, that has been the experience of Christian people, believers in Christ. They have been subject to persecution. This is the biblical timeline, the gospel of God's kingdom. You have numbers up here. There are nine epics. Between the eternity past and eternity future, there are nine major epics right here that signal specific changes, alterations, milestones of meaning. Of course, you start out with creation, number one, and then man fell, number two, and then God judged sin after the fall. That's number three. And then he started all over again, giving man another chance, but he fell again and needed to be judged at the Tower of Babel. Why? Because man is incorrigible. That's the story of Babel. The incorrigibility and propensity of man to sin. Well, that tells us that man needs a help. He needs help. He can't do this on his own. Enter Abraham and the promise of God. And then the Mosaic Law coming, showing this is what the criteria God has set up. You have to obey him if you're going to be right with him and qualified to enter into his kingdom. And then we see in the history of law that fails and no one can keep the law. It's fail, fail, fail, fail, fail. That's the testimony of poor old Israel. Someone's got to play the role of the bad guy. And that was their role. And then Christ comes into history and shows the grace and the fulfillment of God's promise since eternity past. He is the fulfillment and makes what can happen that could not happen under the law. Man has a serious problem. Christ solves that problem. And then at the last trumpet, Revelation 11, 15 tells us, with the announcement, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord. And so we have the ending of Satan's kingdom, not the ending of all evil yet. That happens at the end of the millennial reign with the Battle of Gog. But at this point, we have the ending of Satan's kingdom. He's no longer ruling. For a thousand years, he is in prison, and then he will be raised up, loosed, and he'll lead an army against Christ at the end. In the timeline of creation history from eternity past to eternity future, those nine epics stand out. I'm going to read some verses here, and that's what these other charts are, so that we can appreciate what's unfolding in these timelines. As Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 25, verse 34, the ultimate goal of God since the very beginning was to establish his kingdom and have everyone who would, and his desire is that everyone would have a part in his kingdom. Well, Matthew chapter 25 verse 34, he says, then shall the king say unto them that are on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. In other words, the kingdom was not an afterthought. It was intended this way from the very beginning. And then we have, some more instruction from the Lord about instructing us to pray for his kingdom to come. In Luke 11, verse 2, he says, When you pray, say, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth. Not only did he command us to pray for the coming of his kingdom, he commissioned us to preach it and to proclaim that it's coming. And then just a couple more verses here. Matthew chapter 24 verse 14 affirms what he's already said. He says, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. Then shall the end come. And then one more verse here along this line. The establishment of God's kingdom is the fulfillment of God's eternal promise. As Titus chapter 1 verse 2 declares, in hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. The promise of eternal life exists within the context of the eternal kingdom of God. And this promise defines the purpose and structure of all the epic events throughout creation history. From beginning to end, God's intention was to establish his kingdom. Before he created all things, he knew what must be done and what he himself would do to fulfill that vision of establishing his kingdom and qualifying us for citizenship. The promise and the message of his kingdom began before creation and will continue forever and ever into the future. Amen. We're glad you joined us for our services here at Mission Boulevard Baptist Church. If this program has helped you and you would like to have more information about trusting Christ as your Lord and Savior, or if you would like to have resources to help you in your spiritual walk and growth, please email us at the address on your screen. We look forward to having you join us again online, but you are always welcome to personally attend any of our services at the Mission Boulevard Baptist Church here in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Hi, this is Dr. Patrick Briney. I hope and pray this important lesson has improved your life. For more life changing lessons, and to get your free book that I've written for you, visit my website at patrickbriney.com. And please share this valuable lesson with at least three of your friends to enrich their lives in our Lord Jesus Christ. I'll upload my next lesson for you soon. God Bless.