Good evening. Let's go to Isaiah
chapter 9. And our text is just going to
be verses 9 and 10 this evening. Isaiah 9, 9 and 10. Now last
week when we were here, we saw how that Christ wrought salvation
for his people, an eternal salvation. And we know from the scriptures,
from the Apostle John, he said in 1 John 4.10, herein is love,
not that we loved God. We didn't even know the death
that we were in. We don't know or understand our
depravity, our foolishness, and how blind and deaf and dumb and
lame we are, and unable to worship holy God. We don't understand
even how to approach Him because we're dead in trespasses and
sins and wicked. It's not that we loved God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. That Christ came shedding His
blood to be the means of our forgiveness, the means by which
God forgives sinners. And He gives us life in Christ. He makes us alive by the seed
of Christ, by His Spirit regenerating us and giving us life that we
might walk and dwell before Him in light and in love in Christ
and what He's done. Now the enemy of our souls, he
hates God. We saw that. We saw how he hates
God's people and how that he hates the means of God's forgiveness. There's nothing about God and
his love and mercy and grace toward his people through the
Son that the evil one, the enemy of our souls, loves. There's
nothing about that that he loves. And so he continually tries and
seeks to destroy the people of God and the church and what he
can. As we read in Revelation 12,
12, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea. for
the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because
he knoweth that he hath but a short time." And so he attacks Christ,
he attacks his church repeatedly over and over throughout history. As we saw with Cain, Cain rose
up and he slew his brother Abel because God had respect unto
Abel's sacrifice. and not his own, but we saw how
that God continues to provide for and protect his church, to
bring forth the seed. He gave Adam and Eve another
seed, and Seth, and that's where the godly line came from. We
saw it when he tried to destroy Joseph, but God had done that
purposefully by his wisdom in preserving Joseph, that he might
preserve the seed, that in wisdom that God gave him, he might protect
the people, and not only his family, but even the Egyptians
and many people. And then we saw how he tried
to destroy all the Jewish males because a deliverer would come,
and he tried to destroy Moses, but God had him even raise up
Moses himself by his own means. We saw when Christ was born how
that they slew many, many sons of Israel and Bethlehem and the
surrounding areas, but God preserved Christ. And so you see this pattern
throughout history where Satan continually tries to destroy
the kingdom of God. And while men and devils intend
evil and intend to destroy God and the hope that we have in
God and intend to destroy God's people, God always preserves
and accomplishes the salvation of his people. It always continues
to stand and remain and go forth and continue to expand even abundantly
because it's an eternal kingdom which God has given to his son
because the son wrought effectually our salvation. He saved the people
of God by his own work. And we saw that even there in
the greatest attempt when he thought he had the son. to slay
him, and to put the heir to death, that while he was there Christ
accomplished our salvation, as it says in Colossians 2.15, having
spoiled principalities and powers, Christ made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it." where we saw his blood. When
he shed his blood there on the cross, he purged our sins. He wrought our salvation. He
cleansed us of our unrighteousness and made us the very righteousness
of God, so that we may stand before him and know him and worship
him. We read in Hebrews 9.15, And
for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. And that's because in Christ
we are reconciled to God, and now in Christ have peace with
holy God. We have peace with God, that
we may know him and have fellowship with Him, Him who created, He
who created the heavens and the earth. And because Christ finished
this work, this kingdom shall continue to go forward and shall
continue, this gospel shall continue to go forth and draw in the sheep
of Christ till every last one of them is saved. And that's
what we saw in last week's text, in 9-7, where it said, of the
increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end.
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it,
and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth,
or from here forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. Now, the way that Christ does
this, this increase of his government, it's through the gospel. And
that's what we saw in the next verse, verse 8, where it says,
the Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. So that God the Father, he sends
forth this gospel. and because of what the Son has
accomplished, this gospel goes forth. It's good news to his
people and it conquers our hearts and he gives us life by the Spirit
by which we have these gifts that Christ obtained when he
rose from the dead and he gives these gifts to his people whereby
We now know him, and we believe, and hope in him, and have love
for him, and love one for another, and serve him. We're granted
and given repentance to turn from the dead, false, vain works
of this world, whereby now, by his Spirit, we worship God in
spirit and in truth. And so tonight what I want us
to see is that this world's spirit, the spirit of this world and
the people in this world who don't have the spirit of Christ,
their worship is only that which is carnal and fleshly. And because
it's carnal and fleshly, all it can bring forth are thorns
and thistles. It can't bring forth anything
that's lasting or precious, and that's because it's not wrought
by the spirit of God. The only reason why our worship
is acceptable is because it's brought in us by the Spirit of
God. He's worked this in us. He's
given us salvation and made us alive unto him so that we walk
by his Spirit and we walk in the light, we walk in truth by
his spirit and worship and serve him. So when this gospel goes
forth now, it tears down man's works, doesn't it? When you hear
the gospel, doesn't it go contrary to what we are by nature? That's
what we were delivered from. We thought to worship God one
way until we heard the gospel and it was made light and life
to us and it set us free from that prison and that bondage,
those works of darkness, those works that were just fleshly
works and condemning works and judgmental works against others
and all we did was that which was of the flesh and he's delivered
us from that so it tore down everything that was man-made
and fleshly and didn't profit us at all so that's been been
done but Even though the people of God, they hear this and they
come out, but the wicked of this world, they don't hear it. They
hear what we hear, perhaps audibly, but their ear hasn't been opened. They don't hear what the Spirit
says to the churches, so that they go right back when those
works are torn down. They go right back to doing what
they were doing before, and it doesn't move them, it doesn't
change them, it doesn't alter anything about them. They're
not shaken, or whatever's shaken and comes down, they just seek
to build it right back up with their own works and their own
means. Our Lord says to us in Revelation 18, 4, I heard, well,
John says, I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out
of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and
that ye receive not of her plagues. Now tonight, the message is titled,
The Temple Raised. The Temple Raised. And that'll
be our one division, The Temple Raised. Christ builds the temple.
Let's get into it now. The Church of Christ, they rejoice
in this gospel. We are glad to continually hear
it and to be fed and be reminded how we are saved, how we are
preserved, how we live and move and have our being. It's all
in the Lord Jesus Christ because this gospel continues to shine
the light on us, showing us what we are by nature, that we are
turned from those vain dead works that this flesh just naturally
gravitates towards and goes towards and turns us again to Christ
our Savior, to Christ the Lord who is provided to save his people
from their sins. But what about other people? What about the people of this
world who have nothing more than the spirit of this world. Do
they delight and rejoice in this gospel? Do they love the things
that we delight in and rejoice in? Well it says there in Isaiah
9 verses 9 and 10, that's our text. And all the people shall
know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride
and stoutness of heart, the bricks are fallen down, but we will
build with hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but
we will change them into cedars. So through this gospel, the Lord
sends it forth and he's destroying the works of natural, man-made,
carnal, fleshly religion. And that's all the spiritual
works of darkness. That's their religion, that's
their system, that's their customs. All these things of this earth
are just spiritually dark. They're spiritually dark and
they're not lasting They don't lead us to the Lord. They're
not lasting. They're not profitable to us
spiritually in any way. Turn over to 1 John 2. 1 John
2, verse 18, we'll start. All right, 1 John 2. The apostle
writes, little children. It is the last time, and as ye
have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many
Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time, or the last
hour. Since Christ came, we are in
the final days, the last time, the last days. John speaks of,
he says there's many antichrists, and that's because this is, you
know, Paul spoke of one antichrist, he spoke of the son of perdition
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, there being one, but this is
the body, if you will, of antichrist who's always mimicking, always
trying to look and appear like Christ, always trying to put
on that vain show and that appearance of those things which are heavenly
and of God and of above. So this is the body of Antichrist
made up of many members and because of this, John tells us, because
the spirit of Antichrist is now out and about and going forth
in the world and And the Lord spoke of this and the Apostle
spoke of this. But because of this, because this is just infiltrated,
this world is just full of darkness, he says up in verse 15 through
17, because of that, love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life is not of the Father, but is of the world." And what
he's saying is that the whole system of things and the running
of things and how things operate and govern with with wealth and
the deals that are done and things of that nature, all that stuff
is driven by greed and the wickedness of man and it produces that which
is of the flesh as you see where the world is always telling you
what you are to love and what you're not to condemn and what
you are to condemn and what's good and what's dark or what's
good or bad or what's dark or what's light. It's always backwards. It's always contrary to the things
that God reveals in his word of what is good and right versus
what is of what is wicked and darkness and evil. And that's because it's the system
of Antichrist. And because it's a product of
the flesh and because it's the system of Antichrist, John says
in verse 17, the world, that system, it passeth away and the
lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And that's the eternal promise
that we have because we're in the everlasting kingdom of Christ. We've been translated to his
everlasting kingdom. Now, Paul said very similar language
when he said, and they that use this world as not abusing it
for the fashion of this world passeth away. Just like John
said, it's passing away. These things are all going to
be gone. And so we're not to set our heart
and our desires and our love on this world because it's all
passing away. We don't know. Tomorrow, the
way things work today, tomorrow all things could be different.
When you think about those people in World War II, those people,
those families that lived in London, when the bombs started
being dropped by the Germans, when that started, everything
changed for those people. Nothing was the same ever again
for them. until the war ended and even
then it probably took a long time for normalcy to take place. So we don't know what this world
and its ways are going to be like even tomorrow. So don't
set your heart on it. This world and its system isn't
our rock. It's not our comfort. It's not
our hope. Christ is. So things change. If your heart is set on these
things and things change, your whole world will be thrown upside
down. But if this isn't your hope,
and you're expecting that one day the Lord's going to return,
and things are going to be very different, and leading up to
His change, things are going to change and be different, then
if your heart's set on those things, you'll be nervous and
afraid. But if your heart's set on Christ,
you'll be looking for and praying for the hastening of his coming. So there's a spiritual warfare
which is going on in this world. It hates God, it hates his people,
and it hates his Christ. And this world is, if you're
watching and looking at it, it's working towards a false sense
of peace. They want peace on their terms.
They're not looking for the peace that God's provided in his Son.
They're looking to make and to establish their own peace. And
that which doesn't align with their peace, they hate. And they
don't want to give it a voice and they want to silence it and
put it aside. So don't put your hope and your
confidence in this world is the point. Paul said in 2 Corinthians
10, 3-5, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after
the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. So through this gospel,
through our hope in Christ, that this world is in our lasting
home, it's not the things that we delight in and relish in and
seek to prosper in the things that this world seeks to prosper
in. these strongholds of man's natural hopes and desires, these
things come down. They're brought down before us
so that, yes, we have to do things. Yes, we go to work, and yes,
we provide for our families, and we have to do certain things,
but it's not our hope. Even Abraham, he provided for
his family, he took care of his family, but he didn't put down
anything more than tent stakes, if you will. He didn't set his
heart and remain, because he knew any day these things could
change, and I just want to be ready to go when the Lord will
have me to go. That's what he saw. The vanity
of this world becomes more plain and more obvious to us, and it
passes away. The worldly things get exposed
for what they are, and they're just brought to nothing. For
some, they're delivered from the kingdom of darkness, and
they're brought into the kingdom of light. As Paul wrote to the
Colossians, he said in 112 through 14, he said, power of darkness, and that translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." But there's many that
continue not being moved. They're not moved by the gospel. They don't look to Christ. They
don't have a hope because they have no need for Christ. They're
not sinners. They're not condemned. They're
not standing before a holy God. They're not hearing what he's
saying, that all our works our darkness. All our works are polluted. All the things that we do are
an offense to holy God, and so the warnings of God mean nothing
to them, and therefore the gospel that God has provided through
his Son means nothing to them. And so they push on in their
rebellion. Even when things come down, they say in the pride and
stoutness of heart, the bricks are falling down, but we'll build
with hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but
we will change them into cedars. And so you see there that They're
so deluded in their thoughts that they're not even moved or
shaken. When things are shaken and come apart and fall apart,
they're not moved by that. They see it rather as an opportunity
to just implement even more of their imagination and more of
their own wisdom and their cunning in lifting up their tools to
build and make a grander and more lovely religion and something
more that they feel confident in with their hewn stones and
their cedars. And the issue that we're looking
at in this text, this was Israel, right, at the time, this was
Israel, and yet it's a problem that's true of all men and women. It's not just true to them. They
were fixing their heart and their hope on earthly things. They were fixing it on On Reason
was the guy's name from Syria, and they had an alliance with
him, and they were trusting in him and their alliances, and
that they were mighty and strong and could deliver themselves.
And the Lord's saying, I'm going to destroy this and bring your
alliances to nothing. And then what are you going to
do? You're not looking to me, who's your hope and your confidence.
What are you going to do? Then, when these things come
apart, and so they're looking, it's just like men and women
who are looking to vein outward religion that cannot save, that
can't bring a deliverance for their souls when they stand before
God who is the judge of all the earth. And the Lord sent his
word, his gospel word there. They heard it through the prophets. They heard it. As it says, the
Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it lighted upon Israel. And it exposes that which is
false, the vain hope that men have in other men, the vain hope
that they have in their own cunning and their own abilities to deliver
themselves and work out a salvation for themselves, but it exposes
these things. The Gospel exposes man's false
hopes and his confidences, and that's why people don't like
it. They don't want the truth. That's
why they hated Christ, because he spoke truth. How many times
did he say, and because I tell you the truth, you seek to kill
me. and he exposed it, that they
hated that truth. Nobody likes to hear the truth
unless they're ready to hear it and they're given an ear to
hear it. So this passage in Isaiah is
what led up to Samaria and Israel actually being destroyed and
taken captive by Assyria. The Lord raised up the enemies
of Israel and Syria with Assyria. But that's just a picture. What
happened there in Israel back then in the Old Testament, these
are just pictures for us to see this pattern that's continually
going. Man's always going away from God. Man's always turning
away from the true and living God. to do that which his own
hands seek to do, to believe the lies that he wants to believe.
We'll get there at some point where we see that Israel made
a covenant with death. And they're like, we're not going
to be destroyed. We've made lies our refuge. We're trusting in
these things. They're false and they're lies,
but that's our hope. And we're going to stand right
there And we're not going to be destroyed. And of course they
were, because if you're trusting in a lie, it's false. It's going
to come apart and you're going to be found ashamed for trusting
in those things like man does. You know, when Christ came in
the flesh, his word was light, his word is truth, and it exposed
the outward, vain practices of the Pharisees, and they hated
him for it, even though they cannot save. It was the kindest
thing to do, is to tell someone the truth, although it's hard,
and we don't feel it's our place oftentimes, but it definitely
was Christ's place, because he's God, and he's the one who's going
to judge all men. And he told them the truth that
they needed to hear, and they would not hear it. And so they
rejected him, who is the Savior, as it says in Titus 2, 11 through
12, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared
to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world. But the Jews didn't care, they
were content with their outward show of vain religion, so God
would destroy them. And Christ said this in the beginning
of the Gospel, in John 2, 19-21, Jesus answered and said unto
them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up. Then said the Jews, forty and six years was this temple
in building, wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake
of the temple of his body. So we see how consistently they
had no ear to hear that which is spiritual, no ear for that
which the Lord is revealing to us, how we are to worship Him,
to not trust in and look to these outward forms of religion, but
look to the Savior that is provided in His Son Jesus Christ. Later
on concerning the temple, the earthly temple, Christ said in
Matthew 24 verse 2, He said to them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there
shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down. And that earthly temple was the
seat of their pride. They looked at that and they
gloried in it. The apostles and the other gospels, they were
pointing out and showing the Lord and glorying in the beauty
of that outward form and the stone building. And that's why
the Lord said that. He said, this is all going to
be thrown down. And the reason is because men
put their confidences and hopes in those outward carnal things
that they can see and that are tangible and they wouldn't look
to, they weren't looking to, and they didn't trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ by whom we worship God in spirit and truth.
He is the temple of God. He's the one by whom we know
God and have fellowship with Him and worship Him. So Christ
Himself is the very temple And Israel would not hear that because
it was a spiritual word. As he told them, even in John
6, he said, the words that I speak unto you, they're spirit in their
life. Don't listen just to the carnal,
physical words, but listen for the spirit, what the spirit is
saying to the church. And so the temple is Christ. And when he was raised from the
dead, He was resurrecting, He was raising up His body, His
temple by wherein He dwells, wherein we know Him and worship
Him and walk before Him in light. Turn over to Romans 6. We'll
start in verse 3. Romans 6.3. Know ye not that
so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death? Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life." Walking and serving in the temple of
Christ's body, walking in his temple, walking in him by his
Spirit, serving and worshipping, truly worshipping God. in spirit
and in truth. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. That is that
that reigning dominion of sin which ruled over us when we did
not know Christ and when we did not believe Him, that dominion
of sin is now destroyed. It's been broken, that ruling
and reigning, that henceforth we should not serve sin for he
that is dead is freed from sin. Now drop down to verse 14. For
sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the
law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because
we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know
ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,
or to submit to, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether
of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? That is,
that obedience is the faith that we have in Christ, that he is
my righteousness. The hope of my standing before
God is the Lord Jesus Christ. But God be thanked that ye were
the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart or believed
that form of doctrine which was delivered you." Because it's
in Christ now. It's that hope and belief in
Him that He put away my sin forever. There's nothing more for me to
do. I'm not still working to obtain
or to earn favor with God. My justification is done, as
it is for all those who hope and believe that Christ is sufficient
to save them, that God provided him for that very purpose, to
be a complete and a full salvation for all his people, so that even
our sanctification is complete in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
we rest in him. We walk in Him and believe Him
and trust Him. And even when we sin, even when
we sin, because we walk in that light, in that fellowship with
Him, He reveals it to us. He shows us our sin. He shows
us that we can never survive, never live apart from Him. We always ever need Him. And
He reveals that to us. He lets us know and makes it
known to us that we always need Him. We always need His forgiveness.
We must be covered in His blood from beginning to end. So it's
the Lord Jesus Christ doing all that work. It's not a physical
thing. We're not even looking to our
own works and our own self for any confidence. We continue to
look to Him because it's in Christ alone. And therefore, because
it's not physical, it cannot be shaken. So we're not looking
for physical ceremonial ordinances whereby we worship and obey God. It's not through physical outward
forms. We're not looking for those things. God is a spirit and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Now carnal
man fixates and focuses on that which is external and outward. That beautiful form of outward
religion that man stands in awe of. Like when you go into one
of those those buildings where people worship God, especially
if you go into a Catholic church or maybe an old Presbyterian
church or something like that, you go into these things and
they're large, they're huge, there's pillars in there, you know, with chapters
and ornate things on the tops and on the bottoms of them. There's
statues that are very moving for you. There's the smell of
incense being waved around as you go through there, and there's
all these ornate beautiful robes being worn, and hats, and just pictures and candles and stained
glass and high ceilings, and it's all meant to rapture and
rapture you and to lift you up out of the earthly, but it's
all a very carnal moving for you to feel like you've just
entered into the heavenly or into the presence of God, but
all it is is just a very carnal, sensual manipulation of what
we are by nature, being very religious, but being very dead
in religion. And so the Lord saves us. He
delivers us from that. And they mocked Christ because
man is so fixated on the carnal. They mocked Christ. When he hung
on the cross, that's what they said. They said, thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If
thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. But he who
is the word and which lighted upon Israel, shed his light,
his divine power and light upon Israel. He did not come down
from that cross because he was working. He was purging us of
our sins. He was obtaining our very redemption
and our salvation. He was making atonement for our
sins. Had he come down and proved that
he was the Son of God, we'd all be in our sins and destined for
hell. He fulfilled that work which
he came to do. And that's because he himself
built the temple. He built the church. He raised
it up in his own body for our good and for his glory and for
our benefit, our everlasting eternal benefit. This prophecy
in Zechariah 6 says, And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh
the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch.
And he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the
temple of the Lord, even he shall build the temple of the Lord.
And he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his
throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the council
of peace shall be between them both." Brethren, the rejoicing
and the glory that we have is that in Christ God is no longer
angry with us. He's not angry with his people. He's satisfied. He's pleased. He rejoices in the work that
Christ did, and he's satisfied. His anger is put away so that
in Christ, who is the very temple of God provided for his people,
we worship Him who is holy in God and in Christ, he can't be
shaken. And so in Christ, there's no
place more secure that we could ever be because He is the very
security. He is the provision and the deliverance
and the salvation of his people. And anyone who goes outside of
Christ, they shall meet an angry God with whom they cannot reconcile
themselves. They can't stand before that
God. And the Lord destroyed that Jewish
temple in 70 A.D. And there's people that they
themselves are still waiting for the messiah and yet there's
even those that that claim to have a hope in christ that say
he's going to return in a physical body and he's going to set up
the temple and he's going to reinstitute that outward ceremonial
law of slaying of bulls and of goats and the shedding of blood
and those things. They're going to institute those
sacrifices and rule for a thousand year reign. they're missing the
fact that Christ has come, and the temple has been raised, and
right now, even now, in Christ, we worship God. And we're pleasing to God in
Christ because He's made that atonement. He is the incense
by whom the Lord smells and enjoys that sweet aroma, which is His
Son, the scent of His Son, Jesus Christ, by whom we worship Him. So Christ is the temple by whom
we worship God in spirit and in truth. And that political
nation over there, it wouldn't surprise me if they rebuild a
temple over there. I would not be surprised if that
nation starts erecting up some temple and they start doing what
they think is sanctifying the priesthood and creating a new
line because they don't know who the line is anymore so they'd
have to specifically sanctify them. And they talk like that.
I used to work with many Jews and they spoke about those things
and that's what they're working towards. And these are the people
that saying the pride and stoutness of heart, the bricks are falling
down, but we will build with hewn stones. The sycamores are
cut down, but we will change them into cedars. But those that
are looking for that physical building, those that are not
trusting in the salvation God provided and trusting in that
physical work, they set themselves up for strong delusion, a strong
delusion to be deceived because God may grant some Jews to repent
and to be delivered from that and take them from that, but
he's going to bring them under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they're going to know that Christ is all their hope and
all their glory and all their salvation. So they're not going
to be turned to a physical temple and a sacrificing of animals
and worshipping that form of a Christ. Whatever that delusion
may be, it's going to be through the true and the living Christ.
If you turn over to Ephesians 2 verses 14 through 22, I think
you'll want to turn there, but will be brought unto all the
children of God are brought under Christ, are brought under His
blood and His cleansing. And the reason is that He, Ephesians
2.14, for Christ is our peace, who hath made both one and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having
abolished in His flesh the enmity even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make it himself of two, one
new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you which were far off, those
are the Gentiles, and to them that were nigh, those were the
Jews. and through him we both have access by one spirit unto
the Father. Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God." There's not two households of
God. There's not two brides. There's not one bride for God
and one bride for Christ. Christ is made one. He has taken
the two, and made one to worship God in himself, and were built,
verse 20, upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all
the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation
of God through the Spirit. So why anyone is looking for
an earthly temple to be raised up and for earthly sacrifices
to be reinstituted, I don't know, because those things are going
to be shaken and brought down and exposed to be what they are,
which is just a physical, earthly, fleshly, vain religion. Now turn over to Hebrews 12.
Hebrews 12, verse 25. Hebrews 12, 25. And we'll read down to verse
29. We read, see that ye refuse not
him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then
shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more
I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet
once more signified the removing of those things that are shaken
as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be
shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is
a consuming fire. So we don't want to meet that
God outside of Christ, because we'll all be consumed. And the
works that we are, they shall be outside of Christ. We'll know
what they are, because they're nothing more Even a stone-made
temple will be found to be wood, hay, and stubble, and will burn
up in that fire. It will not last. That's because
in Christ, the counsel of peace shall be between them both. Christ has made peace for us
with God, and we stand and worship in him alone. So don't be like
these in our text that are proud and stout-hearted ones who refuse
Christ whose works were and are to be destroyed and overthrown. Look to Christ who is the only
salvation and that's whom God provided to save his people,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So don't look to outward physical
things. Look to Christ who is the temple
of God by whom we worship and walk in fellowship and light
with him. So I pray the Lord will bless
that to our hearts. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for the mercy you've provided to us,
the grace that you've provided in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord,
let us not deliver us from the spirit of this world, whereby
men and women seek to worship you with carnal and fleshly things. with outward things, Lord, and
when your word tears down their works, they go right back to
building them up with hewn stones and cedars. And Lord, deliver
us from that outward, vain form of religion and settle us in
the Lord Jesus Christ, whereby we may worship you in spirit
and in truth. Keep us walking and abiding in
him, Lord. For apart from you, without you,
we can do nothing, Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.