And one particular verse kind
of jumped out at me. Then as I kind of got to looking
at a few more verses again, I kind of once again was led down kind
of a rabbit trail. Larry said something in a thing
that he did, I can't remember if it was this week or last week, but he was talking about how
the church or the people of God have replaced Israel. There's this notion, not to get
into eschatology or not to get into all the different views
of different things, but there is this mainstream notion that
Israel as a nation is God's chosen people, and that whenever they
rejected Jesus as the Messiah, that that began a pause in the
timeline of God and then God opened up this church age and
then started the church and then the church is all this group
of people that are of the Gentiles and this time of the Gentiles
is going on and then there's going to be a certain point at
the end of that that God's going to come back and rapture out
all of the church and then you're going to pick right back up with
the nation Israel and establish them once again as his nation
and put them in control, and he's going to rule with them
in the kingdom, and all like this, and that Israel is going
to continue to be his chosen people. And those of us, or at
least those of me, I don't want to speak for everybody that's
here, but I think we're all somewhat the same mind, most of us here
understand the scriptures to teach that the nation of Israel
in its capacity as a fleshly nation or a natural people was
just like everything else in the old covenant system, was
a type and a foreshadow of the spiritual realities that God
had set up in his kingdom. And Larry made a very controversial
statement in his deal whenever he said that the church has replaced
Israel. And I agree with what Larry said,
although I wanna expound on that just a little bit further, and
I think Larry probably won't find any disagreement with what
I will say here, or if he does, he can holler at me about it
later. But I'm gonna expound a little
bit on something that Larry said. He said that the church, or the
people of God, have replaced Israel, and we are, given all
kinds of names because of things that we believe in. One of the
things is, you know, we believe in what's called replacement
theology. That's kind of what they call
what we're saying is replacement theology. And whenever they give
us that moniker or that name, you're a replacement theologian.
They do that to make us feel bad that we are going to get
some orthodoxy. And that's what all named hyper
Calvinist, antinomian, you know, whatever, the hard shell, all
these names are given to people to make people think that, ooh,
that's bad, you better stay away from that, I don't want to have
that name tag, so you better come over here to my side and
believe what I believe. Now, Replacement Theology, I'll
be honest with you, I don't know all the tenets of what is actually
embedded in that in its academic understanding, but I will say
this, if what Replacement Theology is teaching is that the elect
of God are the true Israel of God, and that the fleshly national
people of Israel in the old covenant system was a type and a foreshadow
of that, then I would say, yes, I believe in replacement theology.
Okay? So I can go on record of saying
that. And I think the Bible is very
clear in that. Now, the people that believe
that mostly today, are what we would call dispensationalists.
That's kind of the academic theological term that is used for them, is
dispensationalists. Now, we don't believe in dispensationalism
here. We do have varying differences
in our eschatologies here, and we never make that a point of
fellowship. Me and Larry see a few things
different in eschatology, but that doesn't cause us to have
broken fellowship over that. We don't see that that's a gospel
issue. However, the only time we do let eschatology be a fellowship
issue is when it comes down to how people are saved. And if
Israel is saved because Israel is the fleshly group of people,
then that's not the gospel and that will be something that we
will divide over and everything. But that being said, this issue
or this statement that Larry made that the people of God,
the church, has replaced Israel is a very controversial statement
here. And I believe that it's true
because whenever Jesus came and he died and rose from the dead
and ascended back to the Father, the Bible is very clear throughout
Hebrews and other places in Scripture that that was the fulfillment,
the ending, and the putting away of the Old Covenant. The Old
Covenant is the Old Covenant. It's been put away. Hebrews is
very clear that the old covenant is gone, the new covenant has
come. The new covenant wouldn't have to have come if there was
something wrong with the old covenant. The old covenant had
promises that was based upon the ability of man, and the ability
of man was not able to keep the covenant. So now it's built upon
better promises, a promise that Christ will fulfill all righteousness. and that that promise of righteousness
will be given to the people of God by grace. That's why it's
a better covenant, because it doesn't involve our dirty hands,
okay? Our dirty hands can't do anything.
So this new covenant has come in, and because of that, Christ
not only did he fulfill all of the law on our behalf, he fulfilled
all of the prophecy concerning himself, coming as our Messiah,
coming as our substitute, coming as our Redeemer, He fulfilled
all of those things. That covenant, that old covenant,
was done away with. Okay? So it's ended. It's gone. And so what has come? Well, starting with the gospel,
starting with John the Baptist, his preaching and teaching, the
Bible says that the gospel began with John. And John came preaching
the kingdom of God. And he was preaching the kingdom
of God is at hand. Jesus was preaching the kingdom
of God is at hand. And the apostles were preaching
that the kingdom of God was at hand. So the preaching of the
kingdom was the spiritual kingdom of God that was being realized
or being manifested and being taught. Now this spiritual kingdom
is something that for the Jew and for most of the world, actually
but specifically to the Jew, had been hidden as mystery for
all the previous years until Christ came and the Holy Spirit
came. We see that in Ephesians chapter 3. That was said that
this was hidden in mystery and wasn't known to those people
back then as it is known now. Now there was teaching in the
Old Testament that there would be Gentiles included in the people
of God. It's just not the fleshly people
of Abraham but it's people of the Gentiles as well who are
no kin to Abraham. There's several places in the
Old Testament that talks about that. However, their eyes were
blinded to that, their heart was hardened to that, their ears
were deaf to that because God had not revealed it. It still
was the truth. It still was truth to be known
and thankfully We live on this side of Pentecost, and the Spirit
has been given to us in a way that it was not given to them
in the past to understand the mystery of the inclusion of the
Gentiles and the whole people of God being of every nation,
language, tribe, and tongue. So, this understanding of the
Gentile inclusion was something that was hidden, but with the
coming of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, And specifically, the
giving of the Holy Spirit in power at Pentecost, when that
Holy Spirit baptism was done, it was promised that Jesus would
baptize the church in the Spirit of God. That there was whenever
the church began to understand and see and be taught the mystery
that was it is not a physical, but a spiritual kingdom. It is
a spiritual kingship. It is a spiritual servitude. It is a spiritual matter, not
a physical matter. The old covenant was that old
covenant of circumcision in the flesh. The new covenant is a
circumcision in the shedding of blood by the Lamb of God.
It is a spiritual covenant. It is not a fleshly covenant.
And so whenever we look at that, We see, well, if this is a spiritual
covenant, and if this is a spiritual kingdom, and if we see that the
Old Testament people are included in this spiritual kingdom, and
the New Testament people are included in this kingdom, and
now we see that the Gentiles are included in this kingdom,
meaning that it's neither Jew nor Gentile. It's neither Greek
nor barbarian. It's of every language, tribe,
and tongue. then we see that the true Israel
is not made up of just fleshly Israelites. It's made up of fleshly
Israelites, fleshly Gentiles, Italians, Spaniards, Germans,
Russians, Chinese, Indonesians, whoever, okay? It's made up of
everybody. And so whenever Larry made that
comment that the church replaces Israel he was absolutely correct
in that statement because the kingdom of Christ had come and
It was no longer about the kingdom of Israel in its fleshly form
in type and foreshadow Because all of that was to signify and
to show forth that which was to be in the spiritual realm
If you will look with me in Hebrews In chapter 8, I want you to look at something
here, and we will get back to Ephesians and what I was looking
at this morning, but the Lord seems to want to take me down
a different path here in the last half hour or so. In Hebrews
chapter 8, if you would, look with me at verse 1. It says,
Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have
such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne
of the majesty in heaven. Now pay close attention to what's
being said here. A minister, speaking of Christ,
a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which
the Lord pitched and not man. Now the earthly tabernacle, whether
it was the first one or the second one, or whether it was this preconceived
one that might be built in the future sometime now, that's a
tabernacle that men will pitch, that men have pitched. We're
talking about a tabernacle that God had pitched, meaning God
had set up or God had built. The word pitch means to build. Christ is the minister of the
sanctuary and the true tabernacle, meaning that Christ is not the
minister to necessarily, although Christ is a minister to us, but
he's the minister within the true tabernacle. Because the
priest, if you remember in the Old Testament, the priest went into
the tabernacle and their ministry was within the tabernacle. Every
day they came in and they offered up sacrifices. Once a year they
went into the Holy of Holies, and in that Holy of Holies, they
offered up the atonement sacrifice for the nation of Israel. So,
this imagery here is what's being talked about. And here we're
seeing that Christ, at the right hand of God, in the majesty of
heaven, is the minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle. Now if I'm not mistaken, the
sanctuary, and I can be correct on this, the sanctuary and of
the true tabernacle, that's two different things. There's the
true tabernacle and then there's the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.
But look what it said, verse 3. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer. So if the high priest
and the tabernacle that was pitched by man is working and doing all
these things to, what does it say, to offer, okay, then if
they're doing that, then Christ even the more. Christ even the
more. Because see, these men were given
this, and here's the reason why. For if he were on earth, He should
not be a priest seeing that there are priests that offer gifts
according to the law who serve unto the example and shadow of
heavenly things. See, the whole purpose of the
Old Covenant, the whole purpose of the tabernacle, the whole
purpose of the Holy of Holies, the whole purpose of the priesthood
was to be for an example and shadow of heavenly things. Something that was already being
done in the heavy. Now listen, I don't mean to get
philosophical here or anything, but let me tell you, or ask you,
how can something be an example and shadow of unless there's
already a substance? If something is an example of
something, that means there's an original already, right? If
it's a shadow of something, that means there's a substance that's
casting that shadow. Whenever I stand out there in
the center, or if I look out the window right now, I see the
sun shining from over here, and I see shadow of that tree cast
over there. Well, that shadow ain't gonna
be there unless there's already a tree standing there, right?
If there's no tree, there's no shadow, okay? So if the earthly tabernacle,
sanctuary, and priesthood is an example and shadow then that
means the substance had already existed. It's not something that
we're waiting for in the future to happen. It wasn't something
we were waiting on for after the cross of Jesus Christ to
happen. It's something that was already being done and it says
here that the minister of that heavenly tabernacle, that substance
that we see the earthly shadow signifying to, that the minister
of that is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was already ministering
his place as high priest within the sanctuary and true tabernacle
that God had already pitched in the heavenlies. And what took
place on earth was just a shadow and type example of what was
in the heavenlies. who serve unto the example and
shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when
he was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pattern shown to thee in
the mount." The pattern that was shown to Moses in the mount
can't have a pattern unless there was already a plan, right? The
pattern is something that was already there, it was already
drew up, it was already after something that was already pre-configured. He says, See, saith he, that
thou makest all things according to the pattern shown to thee
in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry
by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was
established upon better promises. For if the first covenant hath
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for for
the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Beholdeth
the days, come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not
according to the covenant that I made with their father." So
see, the covenant that we're looking at, that is the covenant
going forward, which is the everlasting covenant, the eternal covenant,
the covenant that came from the heavenlies, the covenant that
is the covenant that is binding the work in the true sanctuary
and the true tabernacle by the true high priest, the true minister
of his people, that is a covenant that is not according to the
covenant that was made in a timely way with the old covenant people. It's a new covenant made with
new covenant people. So we must search the Scriptures
and find out, does the Bible reveal, does Christ reveal to
us in the Word who the new covenant people are? And I believe He
does. The new covenant people are just
as Larry said, those spiritual people of God, the elect of God,
the people of God. But He says, not according to
the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day. He's
not going to do anything as far as the New Covenant is concerned
as it pertained to the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant has no hand
in the New Covenant works. He said, Not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because
they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded not, saith the
Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. And he refers back here to, in the Old Testament, well, he
also refers back to what he had previously said, but in Zechariah,
he says, I will put my law in their mind and write them in
their heart and I will be to them a God and they shall be
to me a people, and they shall not teach every man his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall
know me from the least to the greatest. Now, in verse 13 he
says, In that he saith a new covenant he hath made the first
old, now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish
away. what solidified that Old Covenant
was the destruction of Jerusalem. That's whenever God ended the
Old Covenant. Whenever they were made desolate,
whenever that system was made desolate, that was the end of
the Old Covenant. And whenever Paul wrote this
to the Hebrews and over in Ephesians, as we'll see, and other places
of Scripture, that time was not yet happened. The fall of Jerusalem
had not yet happened. Now, the reason I believe that
Brother Larry is correct whenever he said that the people of God
is this replacement is number one, verse 10 goes back to the
New Covenant being taught in the Old Testament where it says
that I will take out of their heart a heart of stone and put
in it a heart of flesh. and I will put my laws in their
mind and I will put my laws into their hearts and I will cause
them to walk in my statutes. We see these New Testament concepts
in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Isaiah, we see all these concepts here.
But we know throughout scripture that this is talking about the
spiritual Israel and not about the fleshly national Israel.
So whenever he uses this, for this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, he's speaking
now of the Israel that is not the fleshly Israel, but the spiritual
Israel. Paul has already made these things
clear in Romans, that it is not the children of the flesh who
are the children of the promise, but it is the children of promise
that these things are coming to, the children of the spirit
that these things are talking about. We see here in Hebrews,
we see that there was a pattern that was given, and that pattern
was before it was given to Moses. It was already here. There was
a pattern in the heavenlies. Now, if you'll look with me to
2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles, that's in the Old
Testament. 2 Chronicles, look with me through
chapter 3. This is describing how this temple
was built. It says, and he made the most
holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth
of the house, 20 cubits, and the breadth thereof, 20 cubits,
and overlaid it with fine gold amounting to 600 talents. So
he made the house, the most holy house, was 20 cubits by 20 cubits. Okay, so the length and the breadth
were equal, right? Now, look with me, if you would,
keep that in mind. That's the pattern that God gave
Moses to build the earthly that was patterned after the substance
in heaven, okay? So that heavenly tabernacle that
was in heaven that Christ is the minister of was pictured
as a building in which the length and the breadth were exactly
the same. Now look if you would with me over in Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter 3, And actually
the whole epistle to the Ephesians is a letter that Paul is writing to give the good news to the
Gentiles that they have been included in those that chapter 1 say are
the blessed, those who are the faithful in
Christ Jesus. See, Paul starts us out with,
to the saints which are of Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. See, if you remember, the Gentile
during the old covenant time was excluded from all the ordinances
of God, all the things of God. They weren't considered God's
people as far as the fleshly things were concerned. But here
now, Paul is letting the Gentiles know that This whole thing of
this elect of God is something that took place before the foundation
of the world, and it's something that has included even you. And
so, Ephesians 1 and 2 is Paul letting them know that all the
blessings of this elect is not upon the nation Israel as a people,
but it is upon the blessed of God who were chosen in him before
the foundation of the world. That's who are the recipients
of the promise of this new covenant. And they are included in that.
And so whenever Paul begins the third chapter, he says, For this
cause I call the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is
given me to you, how that by revelation he made known unto
me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when you
read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that
the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body,"
now there's the word body, God uses the word body sometimes
to describe his people as a whole, collective. He uses a marriage,
husband and a wife. Sometimes he uses a building,
okay? Wherefore I was made, excuse
me, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body
and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof
I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of
the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in
God." So this fellowship of Jew and Gentile, or Israel, of the
flesh and Gentiles of the flesh all being one people in Christ
Jesus, the Bible said this was set up. It was pitched before
the foundation of the world. It was already set up. It was
built. It was already there before the
foundation of the world. But it was being hid because
in the old covenant system, God chose to use national Israel
as a picture of you spiritual Israel. He didn't choose everybody
else, he chose Israel. Just like in the spiritual realm,
God doesn't choose everybody, but he has chosen his people. And so Paul is saying that this
relationship of a oneness, one body, one flesh, one building,
One marriage is the union of Christ and his people, and that
was set up for the foundation of the world. He says, and to
make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the world have been hidden in God, who
created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now, under
the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be
known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Principalities
and powers understood this, but now it's being made known by
the church, the manifold wisdom of God. According to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Well,
we learned that the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord in Romans chapter 9 is the purpose of election. The
purpose of God according to election will stand. And what was Paul's
point in Romans 9 of election? That even though there are unbelieving
Jews, that means God's promise didn't fail because God didn't
promise to save all national Jews or national Israel. He promised
to save all his people. Not all that are Israel are of
Israel. There are the elect among Israel
just like there are the elect among all the Gentiles. And in Ephesians 1, he said that
it was according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. That choosing us before him in
the foundation of the world, that's election. That's another
phrase for election. So we, our recipients, if we're
Gentiles, we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, not after the fact. Okay? We were already part of
that building. We were already part of that.
Now, naturally, not our fleshly bodies. We're not talking about
that, are we, brethren? Again, we're talking about the
spiritual house. We're talking about the spiritual
things. And it says that we were already a part of this building. And it says, to the intent that
now, under the principalities and powers of heavenly places,
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by
faith of him. Wherefore, I desire that ye faint
not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this
cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom the whole family in heaven..." Now he's relating us as a family.
"...the whole family in heaven and in earth is named." Now,
brethren, what does that mean, the whole family of heaven and
earth is named? Now, he's speaking, I bow my
knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named. If somebody is named,
that boy right there is named Zach Smith. That boy in there
is named Waylon Smith. That boy that sits right there,
his name is Caveman Smith. How is he named? He is named
because he is my son. And he will carry my name on
from generation to generation to generation as long as there
is a seed within him. Right? We are sons of God And
we are named, we are given a name, we are given a name as His sons. And that, Paul is saying, is
something that we were a part of before the world began. If
you don't think there's eternal union, there it is. If you don't
think there was Gentile inclusion before, there it is. If you don't
think that the true Israel of God is those out of every kindred
and tongue, there it is. that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man." There it is. He's talking about
the inner man. Who are these people? It's the
people of the inner man. The reprobate does not have the
inner man. All they have is the outward
man of the flesh, which is an Adam. But the child of grace
has the outward man of Adam, but he has the inward man of
the second Adam. It is the seed of the second
Adam that we are talking about, who is the family, who is the
body, who is the building, who is the bride. That's who we are talking about.
We're talking about those who are of the spiritual nature,
the descendants of Christ. They are his seed. He is our
head. We are His body. He is our husband. We are His bride. We are His building. He is the
minister of the building, and He is the glory within the building. Just like in the Old Testament,
the ministry within that Holy of Holies was a picture of Christ,
but so was the glory of God that came and filled that building
was the picture of Christ. Let's go on and look. He says
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being
rooted and grounded in love may be able... Here it is. This is
what's tying back into what we've already been talking about. And
you'll see that there is a connection in the verbiage again. What we've
seen in Hebrews, what we've seen in 2 Chronicles. That ye being
rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and
the height. See, it's going back and describing
that tabernacle in the Old Testament. The length and the breadth and
the depth, and now it's included the height, but it shows in the
Old Testament that that was built after the pattern in the heavenlies.
Paul is drawing the imagery the visuals from the Old Testament
tabernacle which was built after that pattern in the heavenlies,
which is the people of God. And so the true tabernacle is
not a tabernacle built by man in this world. It is not a tabernacle
that is made up of rocks and bricks and mortar. It's a tabernacle
that is built up with the people of God who has now become as
our perception is, has now become the place of God's dwelling.
No more does God dwell in that brick and mortar tabernacle where
His glory would come down and fill that place and He would
meet with His people there above the Ark of the Covenant, above
the mercy seat. Now God's presence is being manifested
and felt and known within the true tabernacle which is us. We are the tabernacle of Christ. And he's making that comparison
that we might know what is the breadth and the length and the
depth and the height, that we might know what the breadth is,
how far reaching it goes. It reaches to all nations, to
all tribes, to all tongues. It's not just for the Jews. The
breadth of this tabernacle reaches to every nation. The length of
it goes from eternity to eternity. It's a tabernacle that has been
with God and ministered by Christ from beginning to the end. The depth of it, brethren, listen,
we don't know how deep the love of God goes in bringing this
building together. We don't know. Now, we know it's
called a remnant. We know that it's smaller than
those who are on the other road. But brethren, the Bible says
that there are thousands upon thousands and ten thousands and
thousands of thousands. Which to me, in my understanding,
means an innumerable number of people. You can't count them. That is making up this. Whenever
I see the word height, I at least think that there's nothing can
get over the walls of it. It's unfathomable the height,
nothing's gonna get in and take it away from us. But it says,
may be compared, comprehend with the, excuse me, may be able to
comprehend with the saints what is the breadth and length and
depth and height, and to know the love of Christ with passive
knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now unto him that is able, to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we can ask or think according to the power that worketh
in us. Unto him be glory and the church. So here again, he's
saying that this group of people that make up this invisible spiritual
tabernacle, now I'm not talking about an invisible church. I'm
talking about an invisible people that is on the inside. We can't
see it. It's been hidden with God through
all the ages. The mystery of it is being revealed.
It's the inner man. Kingdom of God is within you.
He says here, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages. Not just since he passed away
and rose again and ascended on high, but through all ages, world
without end. We see another picture of this
in the Revelation. Whenever Christ is talked about
in In Revelation 21, we see in verse
2, it says, And I, John, saw the holy
city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of God, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, going for her husband.
And if you jump over to verse 9, it says, And there came unto
me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vows, full of the
seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither,
I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me
away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed
me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God. So he's going to show him the bride, but then he goes and
shows him a city, which I believe is representing the bride, descending
out of heaven from God. So this is a city that descended
from God. It was in heaven, descended from
God. And then it gives all the different
things about gates and about the apostles being the foundation,
which the Bible says that the apostles are the foundation of
the church, laid first in the foundation of the church. But
he says in verse 15, and he that talked with me had a golden reed
to measure the city and the gates thereof and the wall thereof.
And the city lie four square, and the length is as large as
the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed 12,000
furlongs, the length and breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the walls thereof
in 144 cubits according to the measure of a man, that is, of
the angel." So we see here again the Bible says that the length
and the width and the breadth was all equal. So that imagery
again is being shared from what we've seen back in Chronicles,
what Paul was given credence to in Ephesians to the church
or the people of God, the people of God. We also see in Hebrews
chapter 12 this same imagery being talked about when Paul
writes Hebrews chapter 12 and look if you would with me at
verse 22. It says, but ye are come. Ye are come. Not ye will come,
but ye are come. That's a present perfect. That
means that something that has already happened in the past
and it continues on today. And it's also an indicative meaning
that it's a present reality, it's a statement of fact. But
ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven and to God, whose names are written in heaven, maybe,
which are written in heaven and to God, the judge of all, and
to the spirits of just men made perfect. That's that inner man.
The spirits of just men made perfect. That's that inner man.
The spirit that comes to live within us. The Bible says that
that new creation is created in righteousness and true holiness. But Brother Paul makes that very
clear back in Ephesians, if you want to turn back there again.
He makes that very clear that this is not Jews nationally,
physically, fleshly, but this is speaking
of the spiritual people of God. out of every language, nation,
and tongue. They're the ones that make up
this holy city, that makes up this holy tabernacle, that makes
up this bride, this family, this body, this eternal union of a
husband and a wife. It is us, Gentiles. And Paul here, whenever he's
writing this, this was good news to the Gentiles. Matter of fact,
whenever Paul first went among the Gentiles, kind of the watershed
verse for me as far as the Doctrines of Grace is concerned, whenever
this message began to go out to the Gentiles, and that's chapter
13 and verse 48, whenever Paul was preaching in Antioch, he
preached this message to them in Antioch. He was preaching
the mystery of Christ in the church. meaning the mystery of
Christ as we've seen in Ephesians, what was Christ doing in the
church? He was a minister of, or excuse me, in Hebrews, he
was being a minister to them. But in Acts chapter 13, in verse
48, he said, and when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and
glorified the word of the Lord. They were glad to hear this good
news. The good news is, hey, We Gentiles
are included in this promise. It isn't just fleshly Israel.
It isn't national Israel. It isn't just the Jewish people.
That includes us. This promise is for us. And you
know what it said there? Look at it. It said, and as many
as were ordained to eternal life believe. It didn't say all of
the Gentiles believed, but it said all that were ordained to
eternal life believed. Well, why is that? Well, because
those who were ordained to eternal life have been given the faith
of Christ. They've been given the faith
of Christ to believe upon Christ, and that, brethren, is what Paul
was saying there in Ephesians. Look back where we were there
in Ephesians. He said, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according
to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and the length and the depth, that He might give you faith
to believe that you are a part of this promise, just like all
the rest. See, brethren, it's by faith
that He has given us these things. He's given us faith to believe
that we are His. He's given us faith to believe
that we are a part of that everlasting covenant. That's where our hope
comes from. It's the faith that has been given to us. And we,
by faith, we walk in faith. We walk by the faith of the elect,
which is Christ. He is the elect one and we walk
by His faith. We walk looking towards His obedience,
to His perfection, to His righteousness. That's what's been given to us
because those who are perfect inwardly are the seed of that
man and His righteousness is our righteousness. Not this outward
man, not this fleshly man. It's been adopted until the day
of redemption whenever we will put off this body and put on
that body that is prepared for that inward man. But brethren,
until then, we continue to walk in this flesh and we walk in
the warfare between the flesh and the spirit. But brethren,
who we truly are in Christ Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, we are
that true sanctuary, that true tabernacle, and where righteousness
dwells and where the minister of that tabernacle has been ministering
as our, as I preached a few weeks ago, our mediator before the
foundation of the world. He's been mediating that covenant
within his people amongst his people, for his people, from
before the foundation of the world. So what Larry said as
far as we have replaced Israel is exactly true. The church has
replaced that in our time perspective. But the fuller understanding
of what Brother Larry, as I understand what he was preaching, is this,
is that it is the elect people of God that has been elected
before the foundation of the world who is in view of those
people that have been replaced. National Israel, as our perception
of time, period, goes. But as far as eternality goes,
it has always been the people of God. It has always been those
out of every kinder child. Matter of fact, the children
of God, that inward man, those spiritual seeds, the Bible says
there is no Jew or Gentile, right? There is no Greek or barbarian.
So there is no ethnic differences in that inner man. We are all
the same. We are Christ's. God has planted
us in vessels of clay in our habitations wherever they might
be. Whether it's in America or whether
it's in Israel or whether it's in the Arab nations or whether
it's in the African nations or the Chinese Asian nations. He's
placed those seeds within those bodies, but the inner child that
comes from God has no ethnic birth, has no ethnic name tag. There is no male or female. There is no Greek or barbarian. We are all one in Christ Jesus.
That's why the Bible says that whenever Christ died and that
veil was written to, He said the middle wall of partition
has been taken down Now, that middle wall partition is still
seen in the eyes of men in this lifetime, in the flesh, because
we still believe the ethnic differences here and there and here and there,
which I believe there are ethnic differences between people. People
have different cultures, ethnic leads and all that kind of stuff.
I'm not saying that that's not there, but what I'm saying as
far as the spiritual people of God is concerned, there is no
difference in us. There's no difference in us. We're not afraid to preach that
which was in mystery in the Old Testament, but is in full revelation
in God's Word now in the new covenant, that we are the people
of God who inhabit this new Jerusalem, this new tabernacle. All right,
anybody got any questions, comments, or corrections or reviews? Father, thank you for this day,
and thank you for Christ Jesus, and thank you for the Word of
God, and thank you, Father, for the promises of God, and thank
you for the continuity of the scriptures. Thank you, Father,
that you have called your people by your name, and that you have
provided for them within your covenant a salvation that cannot
be touched with human hands, that cannot be changed, revoked,
cannot be altered, cannot be sullied by our sin, by our inadequacy. We thank you, Father, that it
is championed by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is
the mediator of this new covenant, who is the minister within this
tabernacle, this building, this body, this bride, our husband. We thank you, Father, that you've
given us such a perfect that we might look to him, that our
faith might be found in him. Father, that you might grant
us perseverance in the faith, not only in the doctrine of Christ,
but in our looking to him. And again, we thank you for all
these brethren that are here, that call upon your name, that
claim and hope to be children of God. And Father, we pray that
you continue to remind them of these things, encourage them
by these things. Father, we pray that as this
gospel continues to go out throughout this world, wherever your people
are found, no matter what nation or ethnicity that they are, that
they might hear the gospel promise of salvation for them and that
they might repent from their thinking of religious activity
and adherence to some religious system of works for your for
your acceptance, and that they might look to Christ Jesus, who
has finished all things on their behalf. Father, I pray that you
keep everybody safe. We especially pray for all those,
Lord, during this cold weather, that you might keep them safe
and warm. Lord, we pray that you'd be traveling
mercies with the Phillips as they travel back home today. And Lord, we just ask that you
would guard us and guide us throughout this week until we meet again.
And it's all in Christ's name that we pray.