Let's go ahead and get back into
our study here. I just want to clarify in case
anybody didn't catch it. The Bible teaches that Holy Spirit
baptism is not the one baptism. Remember the Bible talks about
there's one faith, one baptism, Okay, it's not talking about
Holy Spirit baptism. It's talking about water baptism. We are not baptized by, with
the Holy, the Holy Spirit is not the one who does any baptizing,
okay? So I don't know if I was not
making myself clear a while ago, any kind of questions that might
have come up, but the one who does the baptizing is Jesus,
and he does it with the Holy Ghost, and it was on those specific
people. And you'll see the reason why
it was on those specific people here in just a minute. But I
do wanna clarify that the Protestant view of this baptism into Christ
is not taught anywhere in scripture. Okay, this Holy Spirit baptizing
people into Christ is not taught anywhere in scripture. And I
know there may be some that may be out there that say, well,
yeah, there is, here are some verses. We're gonna address those
verses, Lord willing, next week. But you'll find that if you'll
take, especially the law of first occurrence, where Holy Spirit
baptism is talked about, you'll find out that it was talking
about this specific instance at Pentecost. And that that specific
instance at Pentecost is not people being baptized into Christ.
People were already united to Christ as far as this spiritual
union was already in spiritual union with Christ before that. because they'd already repented
of their sins and been baptized. So we already know that that
had taken place. The Old Testament saints had
already believed upon Christ. So they had been born again.
So it can't be talking about a spiritual union with Christ
Jesus. The spiritual union with Jesus
Christ came before the foundation of the world. The quickening
came before the gospel was heard and believed. All these people
that experienced this had already had that. Spiritual union doesn't
take place in time. Spiritual union took place before
the foundation of the world, whenever the father gives to
the son a people. And the son took upon himself
that people. And the Bible says that in him is life. That life
is your life. That life didn't become your
life until you were born again. But that life was hid with Christ
in God before the foundation of the world. And so the spiritual
union has always been there before the foundation of the world.
Now there is a union to Christ in a physical sense whenever
one is united with a local church by baptism of water, there is
a coming into and becoming a member of a local body, which is a gathered
assembly. That's what the body of Christ
is, is a gathered assembly. And again, for anybody watching
that disagrees and go back and begin from the beginning on our
teaching on the church. And you'll find nowhere in scripture
does the Bible teach the church is a mystical body of all the
elect of God. It is a localized gathered assembly
of people gathered together that hold the doctrines, hold the
ordinances of Jesus Christ. That is the body of Christ. Wherever
it's gathered, that's the body of Christ. And so we've got to
get our misconceptions, you know, if we start with our presupposition,
then we're not going to be able to understand what the scripture
is saying because we're going to let that presupposition mold
us. What does the Bible say? The
Bible said that the baptism with the Holy Spirit was a thing that
had not yet happened, that was about to happen. It says where
it was going to happen, upon whom it was going to happen,
by Jesus, and the agent was the Holy Spirit. Not flipped around. It wasn't the Holy Spirit baptizing
into Jesus. It was Jesus baptizing these
group of people with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the
immersing substance. The people were the ones immersed
and Jesus was the one who immersed them with that agent, Holy Spirit. And that's what happened at Pentecost.
Now, I told you that this happened three times in the Old Testament.
This has happened three times in the Old Testament. And if
you remember back in our early teachings on the church, I told
you that we see that a lot of the things that went on with
the people of Israel and with the Levitical priesthood and
the tabernacle was all types and foreshadows not only of Jesus,
which it truly is, but it also was a type and foreshadow of
the New Testament church. If you remember, I made mention
several times that just like in the Old Testament, there is
the people of Israel who are all the people of God, right?
But out of those people, God elected some people out of the
elect to form a group of people that would do service to God
specifically. So even though all of Israel
was the elect, of God being Israel. Out of the Israelites, God chose
the Levites to be a ministering people unto himself. God chose
a people for himself, and out of that group of everyone, God
chose a certain group of people to be the ministering body him. So the Levites were the ones
who God had elected or had given to exercise the ministry of the
oracles and ordinances of God to the elect of God. And that was the only place where
that could be done, right? The tabernacle and by the Levites
they were the only ones who was able to offer up that service
to God, anything outside of that was not ordained of God, it was not
elected of God, it was not prescribed by God, and it was an offense
by God. That's why anytime anybody outside
of that tried to do that, God judged them for that. That's
why Uzzah died. That's why the twin boys, when
they offered up strange fire, they died. That's why all them
judgments happen whenever things were not done correctly, the
way God had prescribed. And so we see that there is a
type of the church there. We see that out of all the elect
of God, that is the family of God. But out of the family of
God, God has called the church. It is a called out assembly.
Not called out of the world. Yes, they were called out of
the world and they become a member of the family. When they were born again, they
were called out of the world, but that's not the called out
that he's talking about. To be called out, they are called
out of the general population. To govern over the general population,
the service of the things of God. I know people will say,
well, that's popish. It's popish if you take it to
the extreme. It's popish if you look at it
the wrong way. It's popish if you don't follow
the prescribed way that Christ has set up his church. Yes, it
does become popish. That's why the Catholic Church
exists today. That's why the Methodist Church.
That's why the Presbyterian Church. That's why all these churches
that have these governing bodies or governing men that govern
the church exist. But the Lord's churches, they
only have one who governs over them. It's Christ. The pastor
is not the one who governs. The pastor's the one who has
been ordained of God to preach the word of God and to lead the
people by example and by preaching and teaching, okay? So in the Old Testament, see,
this is where the pharisaical order came in the wrong way. If you look in the Old Testament,
those Old Testament priests, they had a job to do. They were
the ones who serviced in the tabernacle according to the way
that God had prescribed. And that's as far as they could
go. Same thing with the pastor. Same thing with the deacon. They
have certain roles that God has given them in governing the church,
or leading the church, but not lording it over the church. The
church is the governing body. who has been by Christ given
certain things to follow. He is the head of the church. The Word of God is their only
rule of faith and order. And God has prescribed the way
that it is to function and given it a doctrine and given it ordinances
that they are to carry out. And they and they alone are the
ones that are to be doing this. And so we've seen that that is
a pattern, not only in the Old Testament, but now in the New
Testament. But let's look back at a few
things. Turn with me, if you would, to
Psalms 26 and verse 8. Psalms 26 and verse 8. It says, Lord, I have loved the
habitation of thy house, the place where thine honor dwelleth." So the psalmist here, this particularly
is David, says, Lord, I love the habitation of thy house and
the place where thine honor dwelleth. So God in the Old Testament had
a house and a place where His honor dwelled." Does anybody know where that was? In the Old Testament? It was in the tabernacle. Temple,
right? That was His house. That was
the place where His honor dwelled. What was His honor? Well, the
honor was that service and sacrificial system that was being shown in
the tabernacle. The work of the priest in the
tabernacle serving God with the oracles and the ordinances that
God had given them to do, the work in that church was the honor
of God there. But we're gonna see something
different here in just a minute. We're gonna see that it was more
than just that. Look if you would at Deuteronomy
chapter 12. Deuteronomy chapter 12. Look with me, if you would, down
to verse 5. It says, But unto the place which the Lord your
God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name, there
even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt
come. So unto the place which the Lord
your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name
even into his habitation shall you seek and thither thou shalt
come. There's a lot of people says
that it isn't important to seek out and find one of the Lord's
churches and to be a part of one of the Lord's churches. They
think that they can just continue to do what they do at their house. Now I'm not saying that there's
no such thing as house church. Our church is started in a house.
There's nothing wrong with that. And if we were still in a house
today, there's nothing wrong with that. Okay? Brick and mortar
buildings have nothing to do with a church. Okay? It's just
a comfortable place where we can come and gather. Okay? It
has nothing to do with establishment. Okay? The habitation of God is in His
church. when it gathers. Now we've already
seen that in our study. Jesus promised that. He promised
that in the commission. He said, and lo, I am with you.
Who was he talking to? He was talking to the church
at that time. And lo, I am with you always, even until the end
of the age. Jesus said that upon this rock, I will build my church
and the gate shall not prevail against it. The church, the local
church, those institutions that have gathered under the prescription
of God, those institutions that are holding the doctrine of Christ,
the ordinances of Christ, those are the ones that Christ has
promised His presence, that has promised this baptism and the
effects of that one-time baptism. This is the place where Christ
has given to be the pillar and the ground of Truth. I can tell you from my own experience.
Now, there hasn't been a long time that we were out from underneath
biblical teaching, okay? There was, for a long time, we
were in erroneous teaching under an Arminian system, okay? But studying on my own, I learned
a lot of things. The Holy Spirit taught me a lot
of things. But it wasn't until I got into one of the Lord's
churches where one of God's ordained men that was preaching the gospel
rightly, dividing God's word, and the people of God who had
grown and understood and began to learn these things as well,
that were there and seeing the church function the way the church
is supposed to function as a loving, united body, that that had more
of an impact and I actually could learn more in that type of environment
than I could on my own. Could I learn on my own? Absolutely.
It's the Holy Spirit who is our teacher. Of course He teaches
us individually on our own, but God has set up, Christ has built
the church as a place for us to come to be built up. We are here to edify one another,
to be built up, And that is why we come together. And so we have
been built up a house unto God. We are a tabernacle unto God. We are the place of his dwelling,
the place where his name is. Matter of fact, if you go back
to the Great Commission, you'll see it again. Jesus said, all authority
has been given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, the whole name
of God, the whole name of Christ, His authority is behind him commissioning,
building and commissioning that church to be the place of service
for him. Just like this Old Testament
system of the tabernacle, of the Levites being called out
of the crowd to be the ones to serve God. And it says here in Deuteronomy
12, 5, that those who are Christ, those who are gods, shall seek
and thither shall come. Their desire should be and will
be to seek out the fellowship and assembly in a New Testament
church. Deuteronomy 12, look at verse
11. Then there shall be a place which
the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. Thither shall ye bring all that
I command you, your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes,
and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows,
which ye vow unto the Lord." So here again we see that God
has designed a place where His name will be put, and it is there
that they are to come out of to to offer those sacrifices. They
weren't to offer the sacrifices in their tents or in their homes,
wherever they were. They were to come out from their
places of residence and they were to gather to a centralized
place where God had put his name. And at that place, determined
by God, that they were to bring their sacrifices and offerings.
Now today, we don't bring bulls and goats and tithes and things
like that, okay? We're not underneath that old
law system to do that. But what do we do? We still come
here together to give our sacrifices and offering, the sacrifices
of praise, the sacrifices of worship, the sacrifices of time,
to come here to spend to worship God, to exalt Jesus Christ in
our preaching and in our singing and our praying and in our fellowship,
we come and take that time to exalt Him. But we also come and
exalt Him in our offerings, whether it be giving to the work of the
ministry, whether it be coming and giving of ourselves one to
another and serving one another in love, helping one another,
building one another up in the most holy faith, helping each
other physically, Praying with those who pray. Weeping with
those who weep. Cheering with those who cheer
and have joy. Being there for one another in
a congregation of people and not being secluded and saying,
just me, mine, mine. That's it. It's coming together
into this body and in this body, working together and being the
habitation of God where His name is. It says here that there shall
be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his
name to dwell there. Thither shall ye bring. You shall
bring. That means that you take something
and you come to something. Okay. That's why, again, the
local church is a called out gathered assembly. It's when
God has put His name in that centralized location and He has
said, you out there, bring what you've been given in here. Now,
we learn in Corinthians that the Holy Spirit has given to
each person a gift, right? Each person is to bring their
gift to the place where God has placed His name. and offer that
sacrifice and that offering at the place where God has placed
His name. Now, what about the church down
the street? Can we go down there, take our
gift there? Well, we surely can go with our gift, and I can go
down and preach at this church down here, but what is their
doctrine? What is their practice? Are they
a New Testament church of God? That's not the same as gathering
with the assembly where God has placed his name. Can I preach
out there? Absolutely. I can preach out
there. I can share. I can minister God's word out
there and that we are to do. But listen, it's not the same
as what is happening here. This is the gathered assembly.
The church gathers for worship of God and edifying of the saints. That's why we gather. Even now, even though we are
transmitting via live stream and audio and things like that.
Listen, the purpose of this is not for global outreach. The
purpose for why we're meeting here today is because God has
placed his name here and we have brought our gifts and sacrifices
here. And that within here, we as one
body are edifying one another, lifting each other up. by the
gift of preaching and teaching and prayer, and whatever your
gift is that the Lord has given you to give. So we see that even in the Old
Testament, there were things pointing to this New Testament
church. But let's start looking at the
examples of how does that tie in, preacher, with the Holy Spirit
baptism that you've been talking about? You said that there were
three times in the Old Testament that this took place, just like
at Pentecost. What is that? Well, turn with
me, if you would, to Exodus chapter 40. Exodus chapter 40. This is the
first occurrence that we see. Exodus chapter 40. There are probably many by now wondering where I'm coming from
or going to. And here it is. Exodus chapter
40. And look with me at verse 33. Speaking of Moses, and he reared
up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and
set up the hanging of the court gate, so Moses finished the work. Then, verse 34, then a cloud
covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter
into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So here we see an instance when
the finishing of the tabernacle in the wilderness was done. Moses
had built that exactly to the design that God had given him. according to the pattern of that
which was in heaven. Remember that. The tabernacle
in heaven existed before any tabernacle on earth was ever
built. There is an earthly, or excuse me, there is a heavenly
tabernacle and there is an earthly tabernacle. And a lot of people
think this was the first tabernacle and that the heavenly tabernacle
or the later tabernacles is designed after this one. No, no, no, no. Just because this is a type and
foreshadow doesn't mean that it was a type built off of another
blueprint, okay? We know that the Bible teaches
in Hebrews that the tabernacle that Moses built was after that
heavenly tabernacle that already was there, okay? So there was
some specifics that God gave Moses. You build it this way,
this is how it needs to be done. Don't deviate from it. There's
a certain way that a church should be built. There's a certain way
that a church should come together. And there's a certain way that
a church should operate. Why? Because Jesus has built
it. And it's His church, under His
design, and it's to function the way He has prescribed for
it to teach. And so if it doesn't look like
His church, if it doesn't start like His church, if it doesn't
act like His church, or have the Doctrines and ordinances
of his church. It's not his church. It's something
else. Some other monstrosity. But notice if you would, there's
a designated builder here. There's a designated builder.
Who was the designated builder of this tabernacle? It was Moses. It was built to a divine pattern. Keep your finger there in chapter
40, but turn with me Back to Exodus chapter 25. Look at verse
9. Or excuse me, verse 8. This is the Lord speaking. He
says, And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. according to all that I show
thee, okay, according to the way that God shows them, after
the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments
thereof, even so shall ye make it. Okay, so God give them a
divine pattern. Same chapter, look at
verse 40. Exodus 25, verse 40. and look that thou make them
after their pattern which was shown thee in the mount." Okay,
so there was a specific pattern. Okay, so there was a divine pattern
that was given to a designated builder. Now, whenever this was
completed, whenever it was finished, when all the building was put
together, okay, and it came together, It was dedicated one time. It was dedicated one
time. It was only covered or immersed
once in that glory of the Spirit. That's what we see there in verse
40. It said, Then a cloud covered
the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter
the tent of congregation because the cloud abode thereon and the
glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So it was only once
covered at the very beginning that that tabernacle was built. And we see starting from here
forward, and I'm counting all the other tabernacles that came
afterward, okay, from this point forward, we find that this place
is called the habitation of God. It's called the house of God.
David called it that. In fact, Psalms 26, eight, that
we just read a minute ago, called it the habitation and a house
of God. Notice another thing about this
tabernacle. It is designated as the place
of his name. It is designated as the place
of his name. See, it was the authorized institution
for public worship where God revealed His will and His ordinances,
where they were administered through the qualified ministry.
Now, when I say qualified ministry, I don't mean seminary taught.
When I say qualified ministry, I don't mean years of service
done, okay? just because somebody's been
in a church for 25 years doesn't qualify them to be a pastor or
a teacher. I'm talking about someone who
has been given the gift, called by God, recognized by the church,
and ordained by the church under the command of Christ to do so. And just because, and on the
other hand, I don't want to go to the other extreme, just because
somebody is ordained by a church doesn't also make them a minister of God, right? There
are a lot of people that have been ordained because daddy was
the preacher, grandpa was the preacher, great grandpa was the
preacher, and so obviously young Johnny here, he's got to be the
preacher too. And so the church may ordain
them. There's a lot of churches that ordain people that should
not be ordained, okay? We already went through it in
our studies before this. The officers of the church, Christ
has prescribed certain officers and give them qualifications,
and they have to meet those qualifications. And if they don't meet those
qualifications, then they cannot be officers of the church. They
cannot be called to that ministry. Doesn't mean that they're not
saved. It doesn't mean that they can't share the gospel, it means
that they cannot be officers of the church, pastor, teacher,
or deacon. Those are the officers of the
church. But anyway, we'll see here that in the Old Testament,
we see that this first tabernacle was the place where the ones
that God called, the Levites, were called out to be the people
of God. Look with me if you would at
Deuteronomy. Chapter 12. Starting in verse 1. Bear with
me as I read this. It says, These are the statutes
and judgment which ye shall observe to do in the land which the Lord
God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess in all the days that
ye live upon the earth. Ye shall utterly destroy all
the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess serve
their gods upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under
every green tree. Ye shall overthrow their altars
and break their pillars and burn their groves with fire and ye
shall hew down the graven images of their gods and destroy the
names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord
your God, but unto the place which the Lord your God shall
choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even into
his habitation, shall ye seek and thither thou shalt come.
That's what we read just a minute ago. And thither you shall bring
your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and
heave offerings of your hand and your vows and your freewill
offerings and the firstlings of your herds and of the flocks,
and there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall
rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your household,
wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed
thee. And ye shall not do after all
the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is
right in his own eyes." See, God was even instructing them. You're going into a place, and
there are going to be a lot of people out there worshipping, but they're
going to be worshipping different ways than you. You're to go in
and destroy those things. You're not to have anything to
do with that. You're not to follow them. You're not to worship the
way that they worship. You're not to teach the things
that they teach. That is not what it is. That's not where
I'm being worshipped, okay? This, I have built the place
and prescribed the way in which I am to be worshipped. And this
and this alone is the way that you're to follow that. And he
said, and then once you come into this place, and everything,
it's not every man doing what's right in his own eyes, okay?
You're to follow the prescription that God had given you. That's
why we're so, that's why we do the things that we do, brethren.
That's why we're adamant about baptism. That's why we're adamant
about the Lord's Supper. That's why we're adamant about
the doctrines of grace, the doctrine of Jesus Christ. That's why we're
adamant about the Bible. about the church, about membership. That's why we're adamant about
these things. Why? Because we've been entrusted
as the place where God has placed his name, and to carry out his
service, and to just think on those things flippantly, just
to do whatever we think's right, do it the way that we want to
do it, or do it the way others who are religious do it. We can't
do that. Even for the sake of adding people
to our numbers, we can't do that. we have to be faithful to the
head of the church, who is Christ. He says, For ye are not as yet
come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth
you. But when ye go over Jordan, dwell in the land which the Lord
your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from
all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety, then
there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose
to cause his name to dwell there. Thither shall ye bring all that
I command you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes,
and the heave offering of your own hand, and all your choice
vows which ye vow unto the Lord. And ye shall rejoice before the
Lord your God, ye and your sons, and your daughters, and your
men's servants, and your maid's servants, and the Levite that
is within your gates for as much as he hath no part nor inheritance
with you. take heed to thyself that thou
offer not thy burnt offering in every place that thou seest."
You notice that? He's saying, don't offer these
offerings in every place that you see it. That's one of the
reasons why now whenever like if we go on vacation or go somewhere
else and we're not here, you know, I'm not just going to go
to a church just to go to church. I'm not going to go down the
street and just find the local place that's there and go to church. If they're not at the Lord's
Church preaching the doctrine of Christ and observing the ordinances
the way that He does, I'm not going there to offer up my offerings
of praise and worship. Why? Because they're worshiping
and praising another God under another Jesus, which is no Jesus
and God at all. He says, take heed to thyself
that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that
thou seeth, but in the place which the Lord shall choose in
one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings,
and there thou shalt do all that I command thee. So see, even
here in the type, God is saying there is a specific place that
he has appointed for his worship, and it is to be carried out the
way that he has commanded it, and it is not to be forsaken.
Verse 15, notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in
all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after according
to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee,
the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck
and of the heart. Only ye shall not eat the blood.
Ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. Thou mayest not eat
within thy gates, the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or
of thy oil, or of the first things of thy herd or of thy flock,
nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings
or heave offering of thy hand, but thou must eat them before
the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall
choose. Thou and thy son and thy daughter
and thy manservant and thy maidservant And the Levite that is within
thy gates, and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all
that thou puttest thine hands to. Take heed to thyself that
thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou liveth upon the
earth. So we see that there is an importance
here. There's a man of God, that is
called to offer up the service in the house of God? The people
are to come to the house of God and be ministered to and to bring
their offerings and sacrifices there? Verse 20, when the Lord
thy God shall enlarge thy border as he hath promised thee, and
thou shalt say, I will eat flesh because thou so longest to eat
flesh, thou mayest eat flesh whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his name
there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and
of thy flock of the Lord that the Lord hath given thee as I
have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever
thy soul lusteth after. Even as the roebuck and the hard
has eaten, so thou shalt eat them, the unclean and the clean
shall eat of them alive. Only be sure that thou eat not
the blood, for the blood is the life, and thou mayest not eat
the life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it, thou shalt
pour it upon the earth as water. Thou shalt not eat it, that it
may go well with thee and with thy children after thee, when
thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. Only
thy holy things which thou hast and thy vows thou shalt take,
and go unto the place which the Lord shall choose. And thou shalt
offer Thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood upon the
altar of the Lord thy God, and the blood of thy sacrifices shall
be poured upon the altar of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt
eat the flesh. Observe and hear all these words
which I command thee, that it may go well with thee and with
thy children after thee forever, when thou doest that which is
good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God. When the Lord
thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou
goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest
in their land. Take heed to thyself, that thou
beest not snared by following them. After that, they be destroyed
from before thee, and that thou inquire not after their gods,
saying, how did these nations serve their gods? Even so will
I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the
Lord thy God, for every abomination to the Lord, which he hated,
have they done unto their gods. For even their sons and their
daughters, they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What
thing soever I command you, observe to do it, thou shalt not add
thereto, nor diminish from it. Now here we see in the Old Testament
pattern for the New Testament church, we see the seriousness
of what God has said. He has designated this place
as a place unto His name. and it should be honored that
way. Now, we see that whenever this
was done in Exodus chapter 40, we see that whenever this was
done, there was a dedication of the house of God. Look with
me now to the account of that, and it's found over in 2 Chronicles. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2
Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles. So turn
to 2nd Chronicles. Chapter 5. Or 7, I'm sorry. 2nd Chronicles. Chapter 7. Start reading to verse
1. Now when Solomon had made an
end of praying, The fire came down from heaven and consumed
the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled
the house. And the priest could not enter
into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled
the Lord's house. And when all the children of
Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord
upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground
upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying,
for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Then the king
and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. And King Solomon
offered a sacrifice of 20 and 2,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people
dedicated the house of God. And the priests waited on their
offices, the Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord,
which David the king had made to praise the Lord because his
mercy endured forever. When David praised by their ministry,
and the priests sounded their trumpets before them, and all
Israel stood." So, now this account here was after Solomon, or after
the temple was made under King Solomon, but you see that there
was a public display of divine accreditation there. They publicly showed forth that
this was the place that God had placed his name. In Deuteronomy
chapter 20, verse five, the Bible says, and the officer shall speak
into the people saying, what man is there that hath built
a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to
his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate
it. So you'll find the practice among
a lot of churches that whenever they come together and constitute
as a church, they will at some point have a dedication. Have
you ever attended a church dedication, brother? I've attended a couple
of them, but I think a lot of times the dedication that we
see today kind of go a little more flamboyant and a little
beyond maybe what the Bible prescribes. However, I know what the intent
of their dedication are, and that is basically what they see
here, and also following the pattern of what Pentecost was.
And if you haven't guessed so far, Pentecost was the day of
accreditation of that institution of their house being made desolate
in Israel, and this new house, the New Testament church, being
the new house of God, okay? That's what I'm getting at if
you haven't kind of We're not caught on to that yet, but eventually
we'll get there. But anyway, the day of Pentecost
was that accreditation or that dedication, that day that God
came down and dedicated, this is the house of God. Who? The
120. Those whose names were 120. Those who already were the church,
the New Testament church that had been given the oracles and
the ordinances of Christ. and had been commissioned to
be the service of that. And those to whom, those who
repented and baptized were then joined to afterwards. Okay? So, we see that that took
place. Look with me now in 2 Chronicles
chapter 7. You'll see the same thing. 2
Chronicles chapter 7 verse 1. we see that Solomon dedicated
this same thing. This was the second time. The
first time was with Moses, and that was in that tabernacle in
the wilderness. And then eventually David was
tasked with the building of the temple. And so he began to build
that, and Solomon was the one who dedicated it. So, or excuse
me, built it. The vision was given to David,
but Solomon was the one that built it. And so we find in 1
Chronicles, I won't read all these to you, you can go back
and read them. But we find that Solomon, there was a dedicated
builder who was Solomon. We see that it was built according
to the divine pattern. That's 1 Chronicles 28, verses
11 through 12, and verse 19. That it was only immersed one
time at the very beginning, a time whenever Christ or whenever God dedicated it. And it was dedicated
as a place where His name was to be. Now, where's the third place?
Well, look with me at Ezra chapter 6. Ezra chapter 6, starting in verse
14. It says, And the elders of the
Jews builded, and they prospered. Now, remember, the temple was
destroyed. And then they went into Babylonian
captivity. And then whenever they came out
of that, remember that Darius allowed them to go
back and to rebuild. Anyway, starting verse 14. And
the elders of the Jews built it and they prospered through
the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, the son
of Iddo. And they built it and finished
it according to the commandment of God of Israel and according
to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Exertes, king of Persia. And this house was finished on
the third day of the month, Adar, which was in the sixth year of
the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the
priests and the Levites and the rest of the children of the captivity
kept the dedication of this house of God with joy and offered at
the dedication of this house of God, a hundred bullocks, 200
rams, 400 lambs and a sin offering for sin offering for all Israel
12 he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
And they set the priest in their divisions and the Levites in
their courses for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem,
as it is written in the book of Moses." So again, even at
this third dedication, they are going back to following the pattern
that Moses was given. Following the pattern that Moses
had been given. for the children of the captivity
kept the Passover upon the 14th day of the first month. For the
priests and the Levites were purified together. All of them
were pure and killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity
and for the brethren, the priests, and for themselves and the children
of Israel, which were come again out of captivity and all such
as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the
heathen of the land to seek the Lord of God of Israel did eat
and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy for
the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king
of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands and work in the house
of the Lord. And if you look right before
that in chapter 12, it said, God had caused his name to dwell
there. God had caused his place, his
name to dwell there. So we see again here, even under
this first one, and matter of fact, we can go to Zachariah,
the rest of the account, Zechariah. Live with me in chapter
4. Zechariah 4, go down to verse
6. He says, Then He answered and
spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel, saying, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit,
saith the Lord of hosts, who art thou, O great mountain? Before
Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth
the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, grace, grace, unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house. His hands shall also finish it.
And thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent men to
you. For who hath despised the day of small things? For they
shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel
with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord,
which run to and fro through the whole earth. Then answered
I and said unto him, what are these two olive trees upon the
right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
And I answered again and said unto him, What be these two olive
branches which through the two golden pipes emptied the golden
oil out unto themselves? And he answered me and said,
knowest thou not what these be? And I said, no, my Lord. Then
said he, these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of
the whole earth. So here again, we see that it
was given to Zerubbabel to build this tabernacle. And so again, we see a divine
builder there in this. We see that the building according
to the divine pattern was given. That's also in Zechariah 4, that's
in 1 Chronicles 28. And it was also identified with
the second chronicle dedication. Back in 2 Chronicles 7, verse
5, it identified with that event. And we also see that it was dedicated
as the place of his name, or his name would be placed. So
we see three times in the work of the building of the temple
that there was a designated builder, that it was built according to divine
pattern, and that it identified with the first dedication when
the Lord came down and blessed that house and showed forth that
it was His. And we see now in Acts chapter
2 the exact same thing. We find in Matthew chapter 16
and verse 18 that Jesus Christ is the designed or designated
builder. He said, this is my church. He
said, I will build my church. He is the one who is building
that, built that church. It was built according to a divine
and authorized pattern. You find that in Matthew chapter
28. Look again at Matthew. You've read these now several
times, but let's read them again. Matthew chapter 28. Verse 19 or 18, Jesus came and
spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son
of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. OK, so again, this church was
given commands and it was built after a divine pattern, his commands.
his pattern, and that it was once historically
covered at the very beginning. Remember now, everything pointing
to Pentecost showed that it had not happened prior to Pentecost. It was all points moving forward.
Remember, I'll quote the verses again. Matthew 3.11, Mark 1.8,
Luke 3.16, John 1.33, Acts 1-5, all four of those were
saying that the Holy Spirit baptism was something that had not yet
happened. So it couldn't be anything that happened in the past as
far as a quickening or regeneration. All
Scripture previous to Pentecost points forward All Scripture
after Pentecost points backward, Acts 11, Chapter 15. Remember,
they said, hey, this fell on the Gentiles just as it did on
us at the beginning, okay? So that meant that what happened
with the New Testament church was a beginning of something
different, right? It was the beginning of something
different. Let me, I'll look real quick. I forgot my passage here. Let me look on my note here. Matthew Chapter 23. Look with
me if you would, Matthew Chapter 23. I forgot to read that earlier.
Matthew Chapter 23. Okay, look if you would at verse 25. Now, there's a lot of woes that's
been going on. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and giving him
them all the woes about how they've been misleading the Israelites. But starting in verse 25, woe
unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye may clean
the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they
are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which is in the cup and platter that the outside
of them may be clean. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones and of all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and
garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, and say, if we had
been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore, ye be witnesses
unto yourself that ye are the children of them which killed
the prophets, Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers,
ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the
damnation of hell? Now remember, Jesus knew that
these men were going to send him up to be killed. And they
had already talked about him being a prophet, okay? And so
basically what Jesus is saying is, you're saying that you wouldn't
do the same as your forefathers, but you're doing just exactly
what your forefathers did to us. He said, matter of fact,
you're about to fill up the measure of your fathers by coming and
killing me. Verse 34, wherefore, behold,
I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some
of them you shall kill and crucify. And some of them shall you scourge
in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city. He's
foretelling exactly what Paul was going to do, right? Jesus
was prophesying what Paul was going to do. that upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous
Abel into the blood of Zacharias, son of Barcaus, whom ye slew
between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these
things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto
thee, How often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not." Now, I'm going to make a quick side note here. I know
this is long, but quick side note. Here is the famous passage,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. And you've seen the painting,
Jesus looking down over Jerusalem and weeping over Jerusalem and
saying, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets
and stoneth them that are sent unto thee. how I would have gathered
you under my wing, but you wouldn't let me. And people come to this
verse all the time talking about free will and how Jesus wants
everybody to be saved. Jesus wants everybody. He said
right there that if it would have been up to Him, He would
have gathered all of them. But it's not. It's up to them.
They're not willing. Look at the context. Jesus is
in the middle. of chastising the leaders of
Jerusalem, the leaders of the people of God. Jesus is chastising
them for not doing what they were supposed to do according
to the pattern, point them to Christ. They were to point them
to Christ, but yet they were pointing them to the law. They
were pointing them to Moses and not to Christ. And so, oh Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, is Jesus scolding the religious leaders and saying,
instead of listening to the prophets and pointing people to Christ,
me, you killed the prophets. You stoned them, which I sent
to you. If I were in your shoes, I would
have been gathering, not scattering people away from the Messiah. But he said, but ye would not.
He said, you weren't doing what you were supposed to be doing.
You, as the Pharisees, you as the religious leaders, were supposed
to be gathering the chickens, but you're scattering the chickens.
Isn't that what Jesus says? That the shepherd shepherds the
sheep, but the wolf Whenever the wolf comes, what happens
to the sheep? The sheep is scattered, right?
These men were scattering people from the Messiah and not drawing
people to the Messiah. It says, for I say unto you,
oh, excuse me, verse 38. Now look what he says here, and
pay close attention because he's not only talking to the people
of Israel under their leaders, but he's talking to the whole
religious System. Remember, we just read it three
times in the Old Testament. What was the house of God? The
house of God was the designated place that God had prescribed
for worship to be taking place. Underneath a designated system,
with designated rules, with designated commands, And that was what God
had set up and put his name there and dwelled there. And now what
is Jesus saying? Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate. So now there is this turning
period from what was in the Old Testament. There was a pattern
set up for a short time Why? Because it was a foreshadow,
a type of that which was to come. Just as the sacrifices and the
altar work were types of Christ showing the work of Christ, Christ
was the fulfillment of it. The church, the local gathered
assembly, the body of Jesus Christ, wherever it is gathered together,
this body, Mate, we are here are the body of Jesus Christ,
one body built together, all members each equally having its
importance here. We are the body of Christ. And
this is what that Old Testament was pointing to. And so now this
is the habitation of Jesus Christ. This is the place where he has
placed his name. Nowhere else. That's why we don't
believe in parachurch organizations. That's why we're not ecumenical
with everything that calls its name Christian. That's why we
don't go with other religions and other churches. Why? Because
only those who exemplify, who show forth the designated design
are the ones that have the name of God there, the name of Christ
there. It is there that He has designated
worship. And it's only there that we should
be worshiping and carrying out the service of the things of
Christ. And He said, your house is left
to you desolate. That means no more. It's done. It's finished. For I will say
unto you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say, blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And so whenever the Holy Spirit
came down upon that first church, that Holy Spirit came down and
showed that this was now the place of God's choosing. This is the place where God's
name has been placed. The church is now the pillar
and the ground of truth. There is a there is a transition
from the previous temple to the church as the new house of God. Matthew 27, 51. And behold, the
veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. The house was made desolate.
Acts 1, 5, you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many
days hence. And in Acts chapter two, that happened. They were
all in one accord in one place. And the Holy Spirit came down
in power to empower them. For what? For works of service.
That's what Jesus said. So that you will be my witnesses. And what happened exactly? They're
added unto them, the church. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse
3 through 15, the Bible says this, But if I tarry long, that
thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, the church. You say, well, wait a minute.
It's not talking about the local church. He's talking about all the elect
everywhere. No, he's not. No, he's not, brethren. He is
talking about the local gathered assembly. You cannot prove an
ethereal, mystical elect body that is just not found in scripture.
Every place that the Bible talks about a body, talks about a church,
is talking about a gathered assembly. It says, which is the church
of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth. Think about, it's not important
to be in a local church. Brethren, the local church, if
it's the Lord's church, if it was built by a designated builder,
Christ, If it follows after the divine pattern Christ commands,
if it's carrying out the work that was designated for it to
do, the way Christ commanded it and is doing what Christ commanded,
then that's the church of the living God. That's the pillar
and the ground of truth. 1 Corinthians 3.16, the Bible
says, ye, again, speaking of the church, ye are the temple
of the spirit. 1 Corinthians 12.27, ye are the
body of Christ. Speaking of the plurality, not
of the single person, okay, he's not talking to you individual,
he used the term ye. That is a singular collective,
remember? It's plural, ye is plural, but
it speaks of a unified plurality, a gathered plurality, a specific
group of people. So he said ye are the body of
Christ. The house of God is always characterized
as a public institution, a public place of worship, a public qualified
ministry, a public administration of ordinances. The house of God always has a
designated builder. The house of God is built according
to the divine pattern. The accreditation always occurs
at the beginning. And it did for the church. Are
we a New Testament church? Well, I think we are. I think
we are. We hold to the doctrine of Christ
and to His ordinances as the Lord has given us ability to
do so. And every church that does so
is a house of God built after a divine pattern. And its accreditation goes back to where he goes back
to Pentecost. The house of God is
not an individual or two or three individuals in less than church
capacity. The house of God are they that
are baptized believers that are in church capacity, as demonstrated
by noting the plural ye and the plural you. who were promised
baptism in the Spirit in Acts 1-5. They're the very same baptized
believers in Acts 1, called the church in Acts 2. The baptized believers who are
the ye that was gonna be baptized with the Holy Spirit in Acts
1 are the same you who the Bible said, and they added unto the
church daily. The Lord added unto the church
daily, such it should be said. Brethren, the church of Jesus
Christ is that house of God and is that divine place of worship. And the baptism with the Holy
Spirit was a one-time event that took place at Pentecost. to dedicate
the Lord's New Testament church as putting away the old and taking
up the new. Putting away the old and taking
up the new. The Lord now does not reside
in houses made with hands, but he resides in gathered assemblies.
That's why we say this brick and mortar around us is only
here for convenience. It is not the church. The church
is the gathered assembly. It's not you individually out
there on your own. It's the gathered assembly. We
have been joined to a body. We have been joined to a church. Why do we talk about joining
the church? Because there is a divine pattern.
Why do we talk about baptism being specific immersion by an
authorized administrator? under specific doctrines because
it's after a divine pattern? Why do we have the Lord's Supper
with unleavened bread and wine because it's after a divine pattern?
Why is the Lord's Supper only done in church capacity because
it's after a divine pattern? See, we're following the divine
pattern. Otherwise, if we don't follow the divine pattern, then
we cease to be the Lord's church, and his name will not be there,
and that will not be the pillar and the ground of truth. And
so it's important for us to continue to follow those things. Now,
Lord willing, I'll finish up with a few more comments about
this next week, and then I will start dealing with the passages
in 1 Corinthians 12 and in Romans and in other places where the
Bible talks about um, uh, being baptized with Christ and, and,
and, uh, where a lot of people think that it's talking about
regeneration or quickening. And so, uh, tune in next week
for that or be here next week for that. And, uh, I will show
through scripture that that could only be talking about water baptism
and not spiritual baptism. Right. Anybody got any questions,
comments? All right. Let's bow and have
a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to you
this morning. We thank you so much for the
Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, for the
Word of God that we have. We thank you for the teaching
that is found within the Word of God that guides us and directs
us. And Lord, how often we lean upon
our own understanding and we see things in just a secluded
way that we don't look at the whole. And we often find ourselves
in mistakes, thinking wrongly about the Word of God. And in
doing so, we find ourselves in error. But we thank you that
the Holy Spirit is given to us to teach us, to lead us into
all truth. Father, we thank you for the
Lord's churches, wherever they may be found, Lord. They might
continue to preach, teach the doctrine of Christ, follow the
ordinances of Christ. Is it all about Jesus? Yes, it
is. And the church is very much at the center of what Jesus teaches. So we definitely do not want
to belittle the church in any way. Father, Lord, we thank you
that you've given us these things to hear and to understand. We
pray, Lord, that you keep us faithful in these things. We
know that by our own power, by our own strength, that we can
never stay faithful in these things, that we need you. We
need your presence among us. So Father, we ask that you might
continue to keep your presence among us. Lord, we pray for all
those that are sick out there with this coronavirus, Lord.
We pray for them that you might touch and minister to that, Lord,
as far as the physical. But Lord, we also, for all those
that are out there on a spiritual level that have lost sight of
the fact that you're in control of all things and that that you
are nothing is spiraling out of control and that our hope
is not found in the president or the Congress or within the
CDC or within any other organization. Although those are places and
people that you have set up for your purpose. And that we look
and as much as we know, we follow and we obey and do the things
that you've called us to do. Lord, we just are thankful that
above all these things, we have a sovereign God that is in control
of all things. We pray for Sister Louetta, who's
not here with us today because of this lockdown upon nursing homes and assisted living
areas. We pray, Lord, that you just
might minister to her during this time that she's not able
to meet with us. We pray, Lord, for all those
around that are in these same circumstances, we ask for that
you might be with them. We pray for our membership here
and others that we love and know, Lord, that you might keep them
healthy, that you might keep them safe. But Lord, we also
pray that you'd help keep people from hysteria and that they might
look to you and trust in you and all that's going on in this
day. Father, we thank you again for this time together and we
ask you to bless the food that we're about to eat. In Jesus'
name we pray.