stood out to me. You know, we have to continue
to hear all the stuff with the war over in Israel and all this
stuff. And I surely want everyone to
know that, you know, my heart goes out to anybody that's involved
in any of that stuff. Having having to live around
a place, I mean, that Middle East is just always at war, always
constantly under that, and to live underneath that with the
constant fear of fighting and wars and bombs and military action
and all that kind of stuff, I can only imagine how thankful I am
that the Lord is, even though as bad as America is, and everything,
we still are really blessed to be able to live here where we
don't really see that kind of skirmishes all the time here
and we do have quite the freedom. Still, to some degree, here in
the United States, even though we have a very tranquil government
and a lot of Sinfulness and wickedness has really ramped up in our country,
but still we're blessed to not have to live in the conditions
that a lot of people have to live in. But thinking about everything
that's going on, and again, I'm very sensitive to what's happening
and I hate it that people are dying and all the killing that's
going on during these wars, but as we objectively have to look
at some of these things, and especially as it pertains to
Christianity, it pertains to church, as it pertains to the
Word of God, we must always look at things as the Bible, as Scripture
dictates, I guess I should say, teaches us. And, you know, I
see, I was noticing that yesterday when we were watching some of
the football games, there was a bunch of ads sporadically about
supporting Israel and putting up the blue square and all this
kind of stuff on your social media showing that you're support
for Israel and all that. A lot of discussions are going
on. Of course, you know, I preached a few weeks ago on the Israel,
the biblical view of Israel. And, you know, I think that a
lot of times we as preachers and as churches, as we discuss
these types of things and everything, we need to keep that in the forefront.
You know, some of the things that goes on in our society and
what's going on in the world that a lot of times we need to,
uh, uh, you know, discuss those things. For the most part, I
try to keep a lot of politics and a lot of stuff out of, you
know, whenever I preach, just preach the word. You know, preach
the gospel. Let this be our center focus,
Christ be our center focus. But a lot of times, and that's
as a preacher. Now, the pastor side of things,
a lot of times we have to deal with, you know, What happens
in our society, what's going on in our government, what's
going on in our towns, what we're seeing, the atrocities that goes
on with these wars and any kind of false teachings. If there's
new fangled things that come up, sometimes people start having
questions about that. especially at work, people that
know that I'm a preacher, they're always wanting me to give my
opinion on what do you think about the end times with all
this that's going on with Israel and what's your thought about,
you know, the, you think the anti-Christ is coming on the
scene, all these things that are pertaining to this eschatology
that has come from the 1800s through Darby Ryrie and Schofield and the Plymouth
Brethren and the Dispensationalists and everything today. And a lot
of times whenever I give them my, you know, most of the time
I don't even give them my opinion. I just say, well, the Bible says
this about that. The Bible says this about that. And they immediately
don't want to hear what the Bible says. They want to know, you
know, So you're saying that you don't believe in this or that.
I said, I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying that's what the
Bible was saying. Uh, I'm not saying one thing or the other.
And most of the time it's not what they want to hear. Um, because
it, it, it's not what they had been taught and what's been ingrained
in us for years and years and years and years of, uh, false
teaching that we've been under. Uh, most of us at least have
been under false teachings most of our lives. And a lot of times, some of these
things, you know, as they're talking about it in the newspaper
theology and eschatology, a lot of what is talked about is, oh
my, all the wars and rumors of wars and all these nations coming
against Israel and they've got the red heifer in the waiting
and they're already got the plans drawn up for the new tabernacle.
And professing Christians are excited about this. Excited about
this new tabernacle being built. They're going to reinstitute
these sacrifices. And of course you got that with
all these Christians who have been influenced by dispensational
teaching. Then on the other hand you have
the people who are within the Hebrew Roots movement who believe
that we're still under the Old Testament and the Old Covenant
and all the ceremonial and things of the Old Testament and everything
and they're looking at all these feasts and festivals and all
this kind of stuff and the rebuilding of the tabernacle and the institution
of sacrifices and that's exciting their base, you know? But what
does the Bible say about that? That's really what matters is
what does God's Word say about that? And one thing I have learned
from Scripture, and it's very clear, especially if you read
through the book of Hebrews, you know that the Old Covenant
has been done away with. It's gone, folks. It's done. There is no more Old Covenant.
That Old Covenant was only for a time and for a purpose, and
it's gone away. The Old Covenant was set there
with its types and shadows, and the Scripture is very clear that
these things was just a type or was just a foreshadowing. It was a picture of things that was to
come. It's fulfillment. The fulfillment
of all those things throughout the Old Testament found that
fulfillment in the work of Jesus Christ. Not only in Him as His
person, but in all that He did in His work. That was the fulfillment
of everything in there. And the New Covenant that we
are under is not a New Covenant that is still working with the
Old Covenant. Hebrews is very clear that this
Old Covenant has gone away, that it is no longer in action. Now with that being said, everything
under the Old Covenant has been done away with and is no more
active. And one of the things is those
covenant blessings promised to physical Israel, the sacrifices,
the tabernacle worship, the ministry of the tabernacle, all those
things was part of the old covenant. And if Hebrews is clear that
those things have now gone away, then they are no longer going
to be active. We're not to be looking for that.
Why? Why are we not to look for those
to be reinstated? Because Christ was the one who
all those were talking about. And the substance of everything
that that shadow was pointing to has now come and fulfilled
the purpose for everything that those promises and everything
was pointing to. Christ came and has fulfilled
that. The types and foreshadows are
no longer needed. We don't need to have tabernacle
sacrifices. We don't need to have all the
ceremonial things, the priestly garments, the red heifers, the
ashes, the blood of bulls and goats. We do not have to have
that because everything that those were typifying has been
fully shown and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so my thoughts was, whenever
I was reading through this portion of scripture, one of the things
is, is this institution, reinstituting of the tabernacle and this reinstituting
of the sacrifices. Now, in my opinion, and I think
that the Bible could back me up on this or my opinion is in
accord with the Bible, I probably should say, is that any kind
of bull and goat sacrifice in any future date, whether it's
now or whether it's in a thousand years or whether it's somewhere
on down the line, to me that is a slap in the face, a spit
in the face, it's blasphemy before the Lord Jesus Christ and what
he has accomplished. You're saying we are looking
for the type, the shadow, when the fulfillment is right there
on the throne before us. We're looking for something that
has been given to point us to the substance and the fulfillment,
but yet here the fulfillment has fulfilled it all, but you
want to return and you're rejecting Him and wanting the types and
shadows. I mean, Hebrews is very clear. that he is not interested in
the sacrifices of bulls and goats. That these are things that have
gone away, that they are no longer needed, and that they are no
longer things that the Lord requires. But if you want to look at Hebrews
chapter 8, and I want us to look at this tabernacle thing, we'll
probably talk about some more of this stuff that I've been
talking about, but I want us to look at a few things. Now you've heard
me mention before, And anything that you guys want to add to
this or correct or rebuke and stuff, I'm open to it. But as
I see and understand the description on this, there is a physical
and there is a spiritual. We've talked about this a lot
of times. The Bible talks about physical things, but the physical
things are always there to give us and point us to the spiritual
realities. Just as though Adam was a physical
man, it pointed to the spiritual man, Christ Jesus. Just as Israel
was a physical nation, it points to the true spiritual Israel,
which is the elect of God out of every nation. Just as though
there are types and foreshadows in the Old Testament of things,
of the ordinances, and the tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant,
and the priestly garments, and all the things that was involved
in the service, even the wandering in the wilderness, and Pharaoh,
and Egypt, and the Red Sea, the manna, the rock that was hewn,
the stone that was hewn out of the rock. All these things, while
they were physical things, are all there to teach and to speak
to a greater spiritual reality. And in the New Testament, we
see that as Christians, as the people of God, that we are to
look and we are to deal with and look for the spiritual, and
that takes precedence over those things which are physical. And
I believe that's part of understanding eschatology as well. We have
to get past the physical, and I heard this all my life growing
up under a premillennial eschatology, is that we have to take the Bible
literal. Well, there are places where
you do take the Bible literal. To take the Bible literal does
not mean that in every case you take it in a wooden literal sense. You have to take it in the sense
that it was intended. So for me to take the Bible literal,
if it is speaking of something physical, then I interpret it
in a physical way. If it's talking about something
spiritual, we interpret it in a spiritual way. If it's talking
about something historical, we interpret it in a historical
way. And so whenever we look at the scripture and we see things
that are being talked about in a typified way, then it's for
us to pray that the Spirit would give us understanding of what
is that spiritual application to what we're seeing in the physical.
If we stop at the physical, we're going to miss what the true spiritual
reality is being taught and what the goodness is in all of this. particularly, and probably paramount,
is we're going to miss Christ. Because a lot of times, in eschatology
especially, we are not dwelling on Christ, but on all the literal
interpretations of everything surrounding Christ, like the
antichrist, like the man of sin, like the two witnesses, like
the plagues, like the vials, like the tribulation, thousand
year reign, like all these things we are hyper-focused on all this
stuff and now we're opening up our newspapers, we're watching
the news trying to figure out how all this is tied together
and we've missed the complete and total purpose for which that
book at the end of our Bible was written and that was to reveal
Christ. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. But so is Genesis. Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Hebrews. Every book in this Bible is written
as a revelation of Jesus Christ. The epistles that were written
to the churches for instruction on the worship was to focus and
to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ. And so if we get our eyes on
tabernacles and heifers and altars and people and take it off of
the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are going to miss the beautiful
picture that God has given us in His Word declaring who Christ
is. Not to mention that we begin
to exalt the things of the creation more than the Creator. We begin
to exalt man over the Son of Man. So, in Hebrews chapter 8,
we see this. It says, I'm going to start at
verse 1. Sorry guys, I've got a hair sticking in my eye and
it's bothering me. It says, Now of these things
which we have spoken, this is the sum. Now, what have we seen
up to this point in Hebrews? Well, the first seven chapters
of Hebrews is a revelation of Jesus Christ. It's Christ being
revealed as the High Priest. Christ being revealed in His
manhood. Christ being revealed as our
substitute. Christ being revealed as better
than Moses. Christ being revealed as the
mediator of a better covenant. We see these things leading up
to chapter 8 and he says this, Now of these 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 the
heavens. Of everything that could ever
be revealed and talked about, Jesus Christ, one thing is for
sure and the sum of all of it is this. Jesus Christ is King. Jesus Christ is Lord. He is God. There is only one throne in heaven. There's not three thrones. There's
not 20 thrones or 12 thrones or 15 thrones. There's not 144,000
thrones. There is one throne in heaven. And there is only one who sits on
that throne. And the Bible is very clear that
the one who sits on the throne is the Lamb. The one who sits
on the throne is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The one who
sits on the throne is the only one who has immortality. The
one who sits on the throne is the one into whom every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess. The one who sits on
the throne is the image of the invisible God. made visible,
the man Jesus Christ. He is God incarnate. He is God
in flesh. He is God revealed. And that revealing of God, sitting
on that throne, means that He and He alone, not only has immortality,
but He and He alone has the right over all. He has the right to
do with, to dispose of. He has the right to say and to
do whatever he wants to do because he is sovereign. That's what
being on the throne means. If I am king, I have to say so
over all my subjects. If I am the creator, I have to
say so in whatever it is that I create and what its function
and use is. If I am the Lord, that means
I have complete and total domination and control over everything of
every part of everyone's lives, whether it be beast, animal,
or any other living thing. I have control over it. He is
the prophet. He is the priest. He is the king.
He is the creator. He is all things that is divine. He is all things that is holy.
This is the one who is set at the right hand of the throne
of the majesty in the heavens. What does that mean to sit at
the right hand of the throne of the majesty of heaven? Does
that mean that there is a big throne with an invisible God
sitting on it and a little throne with the man Jesus Christ sitting
on it looking up at Big Daddy saying, all right, what do you
want me to do? No, it means the right hand is
the one who has the power. The right hand of the king is
someone who has the power. My boss says this all the time
whenever we go in and we're introducing ourselves to a new client or
we're going in and doing a demo of all of our equipment. My boss
is the president, CEO, owner, and he handles all the sales,
all the office stuff, and the dealings with ordering equipment
and all that kind of stuff. But when it comes to the service
side of things, installing and repairing, and training on how
it does, that's my job, that's what I do, okay? Now he helps
me on the installs as well, but that's mostly what I do, right?
He comes in and a lot of times he'll introduce me, this is Michael
Smith, he's my right-hand man. Well, what does that mean? I'm
just always right there beside him? No, he's saying this is
the man who I have entrusted everything in my company As far
as it pertains to your installation of equipment, your training of
equipment, and your repair of your equipment, this is the guy.
He's got all the power to do whatever it takes and whatever
is needed to do whatever needs to be done with this x-ray stuff.
The right hand of my boss. Jesus is said to be the right
hand of God, meaning that He is the one who has been given
authority and has been given a power to do whatever the will
of God is. And He does that in earth and
in heaven. He has been given power over
all flesh to give eternal life. He has been given power over
all flesh to give eternal death. He has been given power over
all flesh to do with as He sees fit in accordance to the purpose
and will of God. Jesus Christ is the one, and
I believe, and again, this is how I understand the typology
and the symbolism of the revelation, that Jesus is the one who sits
on that throne and has been given that scroll and is the only one
who has the authority to take that scroll and to open up that
scroll, and that scroll being signified as the complete and
total purpose of God, the will of God, all things that God has
decreed from the foundation of the world until the end of time
and everything past that that we may not even know is going
to take place. Christ is the only one that has
been given authority and power to break the seals of that document,
to roll it out and by Providence bring it into existence and be
and control it by his mighty power. He is the one at the right
hand of God doing it. Meaning that he is the authority.
He is the power. He is the magistrate. He is the
one who is conducting it all. He is the author of providence. He is the controller of providence. He is the consummation of the
providence of God. That is who we see set as the
high priest who is set at the right hand of the throne of the
majesty in the heavens. And the scripture says that this
is the sum of everything that has been said before. And brethren,
I would say that this is the sum of everything that will be
said afterwards. The sum of all things is Jesus
Christ is the center of everything. If this has anything to do with
God, Jesus is at the center of it because He makes God known.
He is the image of the invisible God. He is the prize of God. He is the promise of God. All
the promises of God are yea and amen in Him. Everything that
there is to be known of God and to be worshipped about God is
in Christ Jesus. If there's anything to have to
do with anything about God, It has to be tied and part of Jesus
Christ. And if you look in scripture,
you can't find where that is separated. three distinct persons
that they each get their individual praise because you can't praise
the Father without praising Jesus Christ. You can't praise the
Word without praising Jesus Christ. You can't praise the Holy Spirit
without praising Jesus Christ because those are in Christ Jesus. He is the everlasting Father. He is the Word of God and He
is the comforting Spirit that is being sent to His people and
residing in His people that indwells in them. Jesus is the embodiment
of all of the Godhead and He is the one who is the fulfillment
of everything that God has spoken. So if it has anything to do about
God, it all is focused upon Jesus Christ. People like to try to
separate their things out as far as they can. I don't know
how it is, but all I know is the Bible speaks more of that
unity than it does of its segregation. God is one God. And whether it's
Father, Word, Holy Spirit, we know that that is found and manifested
in the Lord Jesus Christ. For now and all eternity. I mean,
when we get to heaven, we're not going to see anything but
Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, anybody
that did see an image of God, it was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah saw Him high and lifted up. Look at verse 2. It says that
this majesty that is at the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in heavens, he is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. So that tells me that there is
a sanctuary and a tabernacle that is a true sanctuary and
a true tabernacle that is not pitched by man. So that means
it's not something built over in the Middle East. It's not
something built by anybody on this earth. It's not the tabernacle
of the Old Covenant. It's not the sanctuary of the
Old Covenant. It says here that Christ Jesus
is a minister of a sanctuary and a tabernacle that is not
from man. Now that word pitched there,
you don't hear that real often anymore unless you're a redneck
like us. Where do we use the word pitched?
What do you think of whenever I say pitched? Pitched a tent.
Pitched a tent, right? We pitch a tent. Well, that's
actually what this is talking about, is pitching a tent. That's
what the word tabernacle means, is a tent. Pitching a tent, what does that
mean? Setting up, forming or building a tent. So what does
it say here? Jesus is a minister of the sanctuary
and the true tabernacle which the Lord formed or set up and
not man. Brethren, why are we looking
for a man-made tabernacle? Why are we looking for a man-made
sanctuary? The sanctuary was that outer
part where all the service was being done, right? That was the
court where all the service work of the smaller priest were all
working. But the high priest went into
the Holy of Holies, the tabernacle where God dwelt. Right? We look throughout all the Old
Testament and you see that before the tabernacle of Sodom was built,
whenever they were wandering, I take that back. I was corrected
of that this week and I take that correction. They were not
wandering in the wilderness. They were being led in the wilderness
by Christ. As they were being led through
the wilderness, that tent that was set up, God came and dwelt
in that tent. So are we to look for the physical
whenever we're talking about these things? You know that that
earthly tabernacle and all that was about it was actually a type
and a picture of the true heavenly tabernacle that God had already
set up in heaven. Hebrews even tells that that
what he gives Moses in very descriptive detail on how to construct this
thing was the picture of the tabernacle that was in heaven.
That's in chapter 9, I believe. Verse 23,
it says, It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in
the heavens be purified with these, but the heavenly Christ is not entered into the
holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us." So here we see that the holy places that Christ
entered into is not the holy places made with hands. Those
were only figures of the true. So there is a true tabernacle. There is a true sanctuary that
is not made with hands. It's spiritual. There's a spiritual application
here, that God give us a physical thing to teach us of the spiritual
thing. That's what I was trying to teach
back when we were talking about Israel. Whenever we say there
is a true Israel, and everybody says, well you guys keep saying
true Israel, Israel is a nation. It's the ethnic thing. It's always
the physical. It's always the physical. No,
it's not. There is a true Israel of God. And Paul makes that clear. Now,
in Hebrews, he says it right here. There is a true tabernacle. Not a physical tabernacle, but
a true tabernacle. Or I should say a spiritual. It's not a physical, but a spiritual
tabernacle. Because I do believe that the
tabernacle that's being spoken of here is actually a physical
thing. But it's a spiritual physical thing. And I'll explain that
here in a minute. But anyway, Paul uses true tabernacle
here. Now he doesn't say true Israel.
But yet he does teach that whenever he says not all that are of Israel
are Israel. That means that there is an Israel
that is the real Israel. And there are those who profess
to be Israel that are not really of Israel. That means there's
an Israel within Israel that is the true Israel. He also said
he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, but one which is one
inwardly. So the outward Jew is one who
professes to be Jews, but are not Jews. The Jew is one who
has been circumcised in the heart. So there is a true Jew. The true
meaning of Jew is not the one who has been circumcised in the
flesh, but the one who has been circumcised in the heart by God
himself, which is only the elected God from every nation, every
tribe, every tongue. That's the true Jew. So if we
want to talk about the true part of anything, whether it be a
Jew, whether it be a Israel or whether it be a Jerusalem or
whether it be a tabernacle or a sanctuary, we're talking about
the spiritual fulfillment of these things, not the physical. And so he says here, a minister
of the sanctuary. Well, who's the sanctuary? Well,
turn with me, if you would, over to Psalms 114. I think the Lord gives us a little insight
into this. Psalms 114, verse 2. Now again, remembering back what
I've taught about Israel and Jerusalem and Judah and things
like that in the message a few weeks ago, but what I just said
just now, We're looking at the spiritual through the types,
right? We're looking at the physical
types, but we're gleaning out of it the spiritual. Verse 1,
When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people
of strange language, Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his
dominion. Judah was his sanctuary. Judah
was where he resided. When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from the people of a strange language, Judah,
was his sanctuary. Now, look with me if you would
at Isaiah 63. So verse 17 says, O Lord, why
hast thou made us to err from thy ways and harden our heart
from thy fear? Just a side note, by the way. Who made those people err? For all the limited predestinarians
out there. He says, return for thy servant's
sake the tribes of thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have
possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden
down thy sanctuary." So here he compares his people to his
sanctuary. Now the sanctuary was the place
where the Lord dwelt with his people. We know the Bible says
that I will be a God unto them. I will be their God and they
will be my people and I will dwell with them. The sanctuary of God is his people. So whenever we're talking here
that he is a minister of the sanctuary, the true sanctuary,
that means that God is the minister among his people. He's the one
who ministers amongst his people. His work of service in that ministry
is within his people, not a physical building that's going to be rebuilt
somewhere with an outer court where he's going to be ministering
or other people are going to be set up to minister for him
while he's sitting there watching on. It says that he is the minister. of the sanctuary. Not the priests
that are getting themselves all ready together to reinstate all
this stuff. He's going to be the minister
of this true sanctuary. And the true sanctuary is not
a physical thing. It is a spiritual thing. It is
a people. He is dwelling in them and ministering
among them. Jesus said of the church as it's
gathered, did he not say, where two or three are gathered in
my name, there will I be also with them? He is going to dwell
among them. He dwells within our heart. What
did He say about the Holy Spirit of His that He would send? He
said, I will be their God. I will dwell with them. I will
be in them. He is dwelling in us. We are the sanctuary, the true
sanctuary of God. But it says here He is also the
minister of the true tabernacle. Now who's, what's the tabernacle
represent? What's the spiritual look of
the tabernacle? We know it's not physical because
it's not pitched by man. Well I would hold that the tabernacle
is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ himself and specifically
his manhood. Look with me if you would at
Hebrews chapter Hebrews chapter 10. Now this is a quote. As a matter of fact, I'm just going
to read from verse 1 because there's some things in here that's
pertinent to what we've been talking about. It says, for the law having
a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things, can never, with those sacrifices, which they offered
year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
So my question, and there's a man that was on our church Facebook
page, commenting on some things yesterday, saying that all this
stuff about Israel and everything, we need to keep looking back
to the Old Testament, and that, you know, that, the sacrifices are about to be
reinstated and that there was a need for those and all this
kind of stuff. And as I've been conversing with
this gentleman, one of the things that I pointed out is that why
would, whether it's wherever you want to put that built tabernacle,
wherever you want to put that reinstitution of sacrifices,
whether it's before the thousand years, in the thousand years
or after the thousand years, wherever you want to put that,
What is the purpose of it? Why would you reinstate that
whenever the fulfillment is here? Why would you reinstate something
that the scriptures is clear that those sacrifices offered
year by year cannot make anyone perfect, but it goes on even
more than that. Not only can it not make them
perfect, because whenever I mentioned that, he said, yeah, but it's
there to set up for forgiveness. for our consciousness. As we
come and we offer those sacrifices, we know that we are being forgiven.
We'll look at verse 2. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered if they were to make them perfect? If
it would have made them perfect, then they would have went away
eventually as everybody made their sacrifices. If that made
them perfect, there's no need for sacrifice anymore if you're
made perfect. Right? Because there's no more
sin. But there was continual sin, therefore the sacrifices
went on and on and on and on and on, therefore showing that
the sacrifices did nothing as far as making people perfect.
But look at verse 2, the second part, because that the worshippers
once purged should have had no more consciousness of sin. So
those sacrifices, not only did it not make them perfect, it
couldn't clear their conscience either. because it was an ever-living
reminder of how sinful they were. The sacrifices didn't help my
conscience. Oh, I've made my sacrifice to
God. No, brethren, every time those people brought that sacrifice,
they came in shame, because again, here I am, priest, with my sacrifice,
because I am a sinner. We think that everybody just
troll a lot up to the priest. Here's my weekly sacrifice. Here's
my monthly sacrifice. Here's my yearly sacrifice. For
all the sins that I may have committed, like some blanket
prayers that we often pray. Lord, just whatever it is that
I've done, forgive me of it. Some blanket sacrifice. No, brethren,
listen. That bloody sacrificial system
was a constant reminder, not only to those people, but to
those priests who were offering those sacrifices and getting
themselves drenched in blood, around the smell of blood and
the grossness of all the slaughtering, day in and day out, year in,
year out. It was a constant reminder, we
cannot keep God's laws and we cannot please God by doing these
things. That is a constant reminder.
So, brethren, this re-institution of a tabernacle and a sanctuary
and an offering service to God by bulls and goats or whatever
is not pleasing to God. It's not benefiting you in any
way. It is not making you right with
God, acceptable for God, or going to clear your conscience. And if you have been made perfect
and there is no more sin, whatever time frame you want to put this
tabernacle in, if there is no more sin, if there is no more
need for sacrifice, which there is, by the way, because of Jesus,
but if you have been made perfect, then there is no more need for
sacrifice. So what's the purpose of the sacrifice? Why would Jesus
want to sit there and see that all the time? There's no need
for it. There's no want of it, and there's
no application for it. He says, because that the worshippers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sin, but in
those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible It is
not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away
sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, now, wherefore, he's linking what he's talking about
here about the sin issue and these sacrifice things, right?
He's linking that together. Wherefore, in light of what I
just said, when he cometh into the world, he says, sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not. Now that Jesus has come in the
flesh, in his mediatorial work, he says, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. See, it's
no more about bulls and goats, but it's about the body of Jesus
Christ. It is about the broken body and
the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That is the one time eternal
sacrifice of God for His people, the only thing that can remove
sin, the only thing that can clear the conscience, the only
thing that can make us acceptable before God, and the only sacrifice
that God will accept. And that is that, and He is the
true tabernacle. And in that true tabernacle,
that flesh That body that God prepared for him, he once for
all made the sacrifice, he did the service of the priest, he
offered the blood unto God, it was accepted of God, and therefore
it has made all of the people that he shed that blood for perfect,
and he has obtained eternal redemption for them. There is no need for
anything else. Why would you go back to the
shadow pointing to that that was insufficient in and of itself
and give that to worship for God instead of just worshiping
the one who did it by himself, for himself. It's crazy. It's asinine. It's blasphemy. In my view, it's
blasphemy. to Christ to drag up those bulls
and goats when God has clearly said, I do not desire that. That
will not do anything for me. It will not do anything for you.
It was there to point and to remind you of your sinfulness
and it was to show you of what the true sacrifice really was. So that body was prepared. Verse
six, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written
of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offerings and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither hast pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standing daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. But this man, this tabernacle,
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God." Didn't our passage a while
ago just say, we have a high priest who has sat on the right
hand of the throne of the majesty of God? And he is a minister
of the sanctuary, the true tabernacle? How is Christ ministering to
the sanctuary and being the minister of the true tabernacle by sitting at the right hand
of God with authority and power. He is interceding for us. I mentioned
that a few weeks ago. The fact that he is sitting there
on the throne is the intercession. The intercession that He has
completed all that is needed for sin, all that is needed for
redemption, all that is needed for acceptance before God and
justification. He has sanctified His people
and that He has redeemed His people and that He has done everything
and He has sat down. God was pleased with it all.
God accepted it all. It was what God required and
Christ fulfilled it all. The fulfillment of everything,
that old covenant, could not do, Christ did. Everything that
that new covenant promised, Christ gives us by what He did. He is the fulfillment of everything
old, everything new. He is the center point of it
all. That is why He is in the middle of the throne. That's
why He is the center point of all of what we preach, what we
teach, and as we interpret scripture, put forth and look for is Christ. Not buildings and nations and
things like that. Heifers. Look with me if you would at
Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14. Verse 14 says, for as much then
as the children are protectors of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same flesh and blood. That through
death he might destroy him that had power of death, that is the
devil. So here we see that Jesus took
on, verse 16, for verily he took
not on him the nature of angels, But he took on him the seed of
Abraham. So we see that he has taken on
this body that God has prepared for him. And it is a body made
like unto his brethren. Not the same as his brethren.
It's flesh and blood, but it is without sin. See, we have
flesh and blood, and we have sin. But Christ Jesus does not
have a nature of sin. We do. So yes, He is made likened
to His brethren. Flesh and blood was needed to
be that sacrifice. The body had to be broke, the
blood had to be shed. He had to have flesh and blood.
Likened to His brethren, but not with sin. In Revelation chapter 21, we
read this. Verse 3, it says, And I heard
a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. I can't believe
that's talking not about a physical building, but about Christ. The
tabernacle of God is with men. In John chapter 1, the Bible says
that He dwelt among us, right? That word there means to tabernacle. Jesus is the tabernacle. Matter
of fact, I just thought of this. I didn't even, wasn't even thinking
about this in my, in my scriptures that I wrote down. Didn't Jesus
say, tear down this tabernacle and in three days I will raise
it up again. He wasn't talking about the big
building, although that did eventually be tore down as prophesied. But he was talking about his
body. He was talking about his body that God had prepared for
him. He said, tear this down and in three days I'll raise
it up again. He was talking about his body. But here it says here,
I have heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold the
tabernacle of God. is with men, and He will dwell
with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall
be with them, and be their God." Christ is tabernacle, is dwelling
with His people. It's not a physical thing, as
in a building, but in a person. Christ Jesus, that's the spiritual
implication. That's the spiritual application.
is Christ in His person as the man, Jesus Christ. God is dwelling
with us and in us by His Spirit, by His body. He is the minister
of all that we need. We are His sanctuary, the place
in which He dwells and which He ministers the things of God. I go back to Ezekiel, if you
would, I think I'm going to wrap it up with this, probably convoluted
as much as I can. I pray that the Spirit's made
clear some of the things that were on my mind. In Ezekiel 37,
I think this wraps everything back
up to the sanctuary that we began with. In Ezekiel chapter 37,
look with me down at verse 27. Excuse me, verse... I am going to read down to that,
but where did I want to start here? Verse 24. And David my
servant, and of course we know David is a type of Christ, right?
I don't think anybody would argue that point. And David my servant
shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd.
The New Testament also says that Jesus is the great shepherd,
right? And David, my servant, shall
be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall
also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them. Wow. We shall. We shall. We shall. It doesn't say we might
or we should. It says we shall walk in his
judgments and observe my statutes. Doesn't the Bible say that it
is God who works in you both to will and to do? And something I noticed, I might
have mentioned this to you before, but I noticed something recently
in that verse. It says that, for it is God who
worketh in you both to will and to do, and it says of His good
pleasure, not just to will and to do His good pleasure. See,
some people will look at that and say that God works in us
to will and to do His good pleasure, meaning whatever He tells us
to do in His Word. But it says to will and to do
of His good pleasure. Meaning God is working in us
whatever He pleases. He works our will and He works
our working for His pleasure. whatever it is His pleasure is.
Didn't the Bible say that I will do all My pleasure? Anyway, He goes on, He says,
And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob
My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell
therein, even they and their children and their children's
children forever. And My servant David shall be
their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant
of peace with them, and that shall be an everlasting covenant
with them. And I will place them and multiply
them and set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore,
my dwelling place, in the midst of them. See, they are the dwelling
place for this prince, for this king. My tabernacle also shall be with
them." So God's dwelling place is going to be the tabernacle
amongst His people. The sanctuary. My tabernacle
also shall be with them. Yea, I will be their God and
they shall be My people. And look at verse 18. I think
this is what might tie it all back together before we started.
And the heathen shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel
when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore." See, the heathen shall know that
I, the Lord, do set Israel apart, sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary,
where my dwelling, where my presence shall be in the midst of them
forevermore. He's promised to be our God and
to dwell with us forevermore. Matter of fact, in Romans, whenever
he's actually telling the physical Israel, the physical Jews, he
said, listen, the fact that I'm going to dwell among the Gentiles,
the elect out of every nation, tribe, and tongue, that's going
to be to show you and to bring jealousy into your heart because
I am dwelling there. You thought I was just going
to dwell amongst your tents, among your buildings, but that
was just a typology. It was just a symbol. It was
just a shadow to show forth the true sanctuary, the true tabernacle,
which is Jesus Christ dwelling among His elect from every tribe,
language, nation, people. That's the true dwelling of God
with man. That's where I will be. I will
be in the midst of my people. I will be in the midst of the
church. I will be in the midst of my brethren. I will be in
them and I will be their God and they will be my people. I
will minister in the sanctuary of God, which is my people. I
will minister in them. And is he not our teacher? Is
he not our comforter? Is He not our convictor? Is He not our convincer of sin? Is He not everything that we
have need of? The one who brings us joy, who
brings us all the spiritual gifts that God has given? Isn't Jesus
Christ the one who is the one ministering those things in us?
He is ministering in the sanctuary, which is His people. And the
one that is doing that is the tabernacle of God, the man Jesus
Christ. So Brethren, again, let's look
past these literal, physical things that the Bible teaches
and see Christ at the center of everything in its spiritual
fulfillment and who Christ is for His people. It's not something
for some Middle Eastern or country nation over there. That was just
a tie to show us the true, broader fulfillment of all of God's elect. Listen, what does that mean?
Christ isn't just bound to the United States or to Israel or
to this part. No, He stretches and has His
elect in every corner of the world. One of these days, they're
all going to be gathered up from every corner of the world. But
praise God that we have the minister of the new covenant dwelling
among His people now. It's not some way time thing
way down the road. Is it going to be great whenever
we physically get to see Jesus Christ and we physically get
to be in His presence with those physical new bodies that we have?
Spiritual bodies, but they will be real, literal spiritual bodies. Is it going to be great? Yes,
but listen, let's not overlook the fact that He has promised
His presence here. Right now, where we are gathered
together, two or three, gathered in His name, under His authority,
as His church, He has promised His presence with us. I pray
He's been here. I pray He's been ministering
to your heart. I pray He's been ministering to mine. I hope that
He has worked in us and ministered in this sanctuary today. Not
this sanctuary, this building, but the sanctuary of who we are
as His elect, as His gathered people, as the lively stones
that make up this building, that makes up this city, that makes
up this bride. I pray that He's ministered among
us. All right, does anybody have
anything you'd like to add or any questions, comments or corrections
or views? It may have a different look
on that. Maybe I have it off a little bit. Everything. I hope that I've been in accordance
with the scripture and the meaning of it. Anybody? All right. Let's have a word
break. Our gracious heavenly Father,
we come to you once again and we thank you for the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord, we never can say enough about him. We never can
preach enough about him. We thank you for the word of
God that has revealed him to us. We thank you for the new
covenant, which is in Christ Jesus. We thank you for the minister
of that new covenant, which is Christ Jesus. Father, we just
are needy people. And not only do we need revelation
of what you have written to us, but Father, we need you in us
to lift our hearts, to worship, to honor, to magnify, to glorify
you for who you are. We need you to show us the things
of these passages that you've not revealed to the world, but
you have revealed under babes, under your people. And Father,
we need the Holy Spirit to continually be with us, to comfort us, to
give us peace, especially in the times that we our living
that you have us in now, Lord. May you keep your people. May
you comfort them. May you give them peace. Again,
we want to lift up and pray for Sister Rosette and her family
and Brother Larry and all them and all their relatives and the
passing of their relatives and for Brother Bradley and the passing
of his son and everything. We want to remember them. and
the family, Lord, that you would give them peace and that you
would give them comfort. Father, we pray that if any of
them be your children, Lord, that you receive them unto yourself.
Lord, we just also pray that you just might continue to minister
among us as we leave this place. Be with us this week. Again,
we thank you for all that you've given us. We thank you for this
opportunity to be together once again today. And thank you for
it. And it's all in Christ's name
that we pray.