We'll be jockeying back and forth between verses. We're gonna be jumping back and forth from Old Testament to New Testament. Keep your, get your warming, your page turning finger warmed up.

Hebrews chapter 12. I got to thinking in my studies for last week's message, talking about Jesus being the true witness, and especially in the passages last week and the week before last, talking about Jesus being the testimony, that him being the word of God, things such as that, kind of got me thinking in one of the passages that I was looking at whenever I was looking up some of the verses dealing with Christ speaking and being the word, And and things like that brought me here into Hebrews, and I thought I would return there this week Maybe not necessarily talk about the exact same thing. I might if you know as the Lord leads Maybe bring some of that out when we get there, but I would like to look at here this passage from 18 all the way down to the end of the chapter and I just want to bring your recollection back to the fact that this letter that was written to the Hebrews, and of course, I believe that it was the Apostle Paul that wrote this letter. I know there's a lot of debate around there, but I'm pretty convinced at least that it was the Apostle Paul that wrote this letter, writing this to the Hebrews, to believing Jews of the time, And if you remember, during this period of time, there was a lot of attacks, a lot of persecution, a lot of upheaval that was going on, not only in Jerusalem, but in the surrounding areas. The Jews had been scattered.

Christ had already died. He had resurrected. He had ascended back to God and into heaven. had established the church. The church was established during his time that he was here. The, excuse me, the apostles were laid first, then the rest were beginning to be built upon their, excuse me, his doctrine had been delivered once to those people and now they were being scattered. And so they were going from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaritan and then to the other most parts of the world, wherever God would send them. With that doctrine that Jesus had given them, the apostles being laid as the foundation of the church, that building, the apostles were given, and that's why they had special time with Christ during that period that Jesus was here, as he trained them, as he taught them, as he delivered this message to them. And then subsequently, I believe, as he gave them the supernatural gifts that they had for not only speaking in tongues, but healing and a lot of other things that we've seen with the apostles, that he gave that to them to verify, to confirm what was going on.

There was a transitional period during the time of Christ and after, up until AD 70, there was this transitory period where we're coming from the old covenant into the new covenant. Even though the new covenant is spanned from everlasting to everlasting, the manifesting of that, the coming down of that to be seen and to be known and to be fully understood through the New Testament teachings of Jesus and the apostles, has now opened up what was a shadow in the Old Testament. what was typological in the Old Testament, what was just signified in the Old Testament is now being opened up to us in the New Testament. And we're beginning to see what all this stuff in the Old Testament was actually pointing to. A lot of the verbiage that we hear in the Old Testament now is being used in the New Testament, but God is now defining those things so that we now know what they were meaning in the Old Testament.

And so you got to remember for these Jews during this time period, It was, now I don't want to say that the spiritual things of God, because it would negate everything that I've preached the last however many years. I don't want to say that these are up for man's just understanding and learning and being able to dig in and find out and research and all that kind of stuff. But what I mean is, is you got to remember, these Jews are coming from a system that was for thousands of years ingrained to them. And listen, brethren, whenever I mean ingrained to them, I'm not talking about how our children should go to school and learn things or how you teach them something at home or anything like that. We're talking about this was a verbal thing that was passed down from generation to generation to generation. And these children were raised to learn these things under this old covenant.

They had to learn these things because they didn't have Facebook that brought back memories for them. They didn't have electronics to write everything down. They didn't have typewriters. They didn't have, really, they didn't have pencil and paper to take notes. Brother Larry over here taking notes every Sunday. They didn't really even have that, you know. They had to go out and skin animals and, you know, paste tree things together to make all kinds of writing utensil stuff. So they didn't even have just the convenience of pulling out a diary and dear diary today. Moses did this, they didn't have that.

So God has brought us into this time of the new covenant and has given us all these things through his word, through Christ Jesus' teaching, has given us these things to teach us what the old covenant said. And these Jews during this time, something that was so delivered in their mind and they had to memorize it because it was being passed from generation. The father passed it down to their children. Their children grew up, passed it down to their children who grew up and passed it to their children. And they did that by memory. And so it was stuck in their mind, the things of the old covenant.

They retold these stories every year during the feast and the festivals, all those things you see in the Old Testament of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover and all those other feasts and ordinances of the Old Testament. God gave that to them, not only as a symbolical thing pointing towards Christ, not only as a thing to point to their inability because they had to do those because they kept breaking the law, but he gave that to them to celebrate every year so that it would constantly be remembered, to be remembered, to be remembered. He always did those things as a remembrance. Matter of fact, if you do a little word study, you'll find that phrase pops up quite a bit in the Old Testament as a remembrance, even in the New Testament as a remembrance, as a remembrance, as a remembrance.

Okay, they would build altars whenever a big event would happen. What would they do? God would tell them to build an altar to something and they would build an altar to that. make a sacrifice there, and that altar would be an altar to this or to that for remembrance of what God had done. So God gave them all these symbological things, symbolical things. I meant to say typological, and then I said I was going to say symbology. Put them together, made my own words. Just call me George Bush. Anyway, so God gave that to us to remember, right? Well, now in the New Testament, when all this stuff is taking place, these Jews have been riddled with that old covenant system. And just like today, how I would find a hard way of getting this out.

I would equate this like how coming to the doctrines of grace, being under years and years of teaching that Jesus loves everybody and that Jesus died for everybody to come out and then to declare that. See, even though I first come and begin to see that's what the scriptures say, it still was hard for me to preach it. It was hard for me to say that, actually say that to somebody. If someone would say, so are you saying that God doesn't love everybody?

I'd almost wanna, well, I mean, I'm not really saying It was hard, even though up here, I knew that. And here, I was still struggling with that. And here, I surely wasn't saying that. Why? Because I still was ingrained with the teaching that I'd learned from indoctrination my whole entire life of one thing. And so it was hard for me to get that out of my head. I was still trying to look at what was being said.

Okay, I'm seeing that and understanding that that's what the Bible is saying, but how does that work with this? Well, how does that work with this? Well, how does that work with this? My whole life I've been taught this is what's gonna happen down the road here. This is what's gonna happen here. This is what happened way back here.

And now all of a sudden everything has been shifted around and now all of a sudden with clarity I'm seeing oh, wait a minute the bible was taking a pattern and using a pattern to describe an eternal reality And now all of a sudden All these things that I had patched out like this one goes out here. Well, this goes out here and this goes out here Well, this is for end times. This is for now times.

That's for way days gone by Now all of a sudden the Bible opens up and shows, hey, this is one big panoply of what Christ has done and is doing with his people. And so these people, when Paul is writing to them, whether it's here in Hebrews or in any of the other letters, these are a people that are given the spirit of God, as we've talked about over the last few weeks, you have to have the spirit of God in you to understand spiritual things. You have to have the Holy Spirit teaching you the symbolical things and their eternal realities. We have to understand by the Spirit's Word. that all these things that we see in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament, whenever that verbiage is used in that symbolical way, that it is speaking of the ultimate reality, not the temporal reality.

Because the temporal is going to go away. The only thing that's going to stand is the eternal. And so these temporal realities, or types and shadows, always are going to give way to that which is eternal and real, okay? And sometimes that which is real is not seen with these eyes. They're seen with the eyes of the spirit. They're seen with the eyes of the heart. They're seen with the eyes of the mind, and not necessarily these eyes.

That's what faith says, right? That's what Hebrew says faith is. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, okay? So faith is looking to things that are not seen. Faith is standing upon the substance of things hoped for, the evidences of things not seen.

And so whenever we are looking into scripture and we're seeing all these pictures of Christ, pictures of his salvation, pictures of his people, pictures of their gathering, pictures of their worship, all these things that the Bible gives us in type, They give way, ultimately, to the reality of the eternal part of that, the spiritual part of that, the unseen things of that. But it's hard to talk about unseen things. It's hard to talk about invisible things, spiritual things, without using physical things. That's how we as people grasp spiritual realities by applying physical things.

Like I just was trying to do a while ago. It was hard for me to explain what I was trying to say in a spiritual way. So what did I do? I dropped back and grabbed something in my past that was physical. Me struggling coming into the doctrines of grace with what I was learning all growing up. as I studied my scriptures and sat under the preachers that I've sat under and the teaching that I had in my family and things like that, that taught me one thing and ingrained that in me. Then whenever God began to show me something else here, so these brethren were struggling with some things.

So Paul is writing to a people during a period of time where If you remember, the old covenant had not yet been completely done away with. AD 70 hadn't come. The destruction of Jerusalem had not yet happened yet. Okay. So we're in this transitory period of the old covenant and the new covenant being manifested and being shown and being preached.

However, the old covenant still being intact as far as and very loosely and waning away, we see the old covenant still being in the hearts and the minds of people. Even the believers in Christ Jesus still struggling with that, and if you don't believe that, go to Galatians. Go to the Corinthians. You know, go to these places and see where the people of God were still struggling with these spiritual realities because of the temporal things that they were attached to.

And that's where we find ourselves here in Hebrews. And we see that Paul, in preaching through Hebrews, and I don't think I know anybody in the world that would profess to be a believer who knows anything about the Bible, and especially any preacher, And I would say Arminian or grace person can look at Hebrews and not say that the book of Hebrews is about Jesus. No matter what your interpretation of Hebrews is and how you interpret Hebrews, I don't think anybody would go without saying that the book of Hebrews is to bring forth and show forth the greatness of Jesus, the high priest. With that being in our minds and going into the scriptures here, let's look at some things.

And remember, we're transitioning in this book, we're transitioning from the old covenant into the new covenant. And let's look and see, is this just something that was preached in the New Testament? No. It was preached all over the Old Testament. That's why I said we're gonna be looking at a lot of verses and we're gonna be bouncing back and forth in a few places. But listen, the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Old Covenant was prophesied all through the Old Testament and was told it wasn't a secret.

God had told that this people, this physical people, there's gonna come a day that this is gonna be the end. This covenant, there's gonna be an end. This typological system, there's gonna be a cutoff, an ending of that. And then there will be a judgment of that. And then once that takes place, we're gonna begin to see and feel and realize and to be able to enjoy and rejoice in that new covenant.

Now, all those brethren in the Old Testament, don't let this get by you. All those brethren in the Old Testament was under that new covenant. They was a part of that new covenant. and they were saved just like we are in this revelatory time of the new covenant. They were saved just like we are. There was no, I grew up believing, teaching, preaching that the Old Testament saints were saved different than we were. The Old Testament was saved through that sacrificial old covenantal system, that that was God's temporary way of saving them until Jesus came. But brethren, they were not saved any other way than we were.

They were saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. That was the grounds of their salvation. Abraham was justified before God. His standing before God was holy and righteous because of the work of Jesus Christ alone. His righteousness worked out by his obedience to God His work of going to the cross and bearing the sins of all of his people, his work of dying and rising from the dead, that work was credited for Abraham. That's how Abraham was saved.

So there isn't any difference. Now, the reason why most people think that there's a difference in the Old Testament and the New Testament is because how do you get saved in the New Testament churches? Well, you got to make a decision for Jesus Christ. You got to accept him as your Lord and Savior. You got to come down the aisle. You got to confess your sins before the congregation. You got to receive Jesus into your heart, and you got to be baptized. Some places, you know, you got to join the church, and then you got to do other things, whatever, you know. And so our mentality is, is in the New Testament, we do all these things to get saved. Get saved, right?

In the Old Testament, they never was commanded to do any of that stuff, but yet they were saved. So obviously they must have been saved under a different system because the gospel wasn't preached to them. Church wasn't there for them. The invitation system wasn't open to them. Baptism wasn't there for them. Church membership wasn't there for them. The sacraments weren't there for them.

Lord's Supper and such, okay? So they were saved differently than us. Well, brethren, that's not true. They were saved exactly like we were, and that's because whether you're Old Testament saint or whether you're a New Testament saint, you are saved outside of yourself by the finished work of Jesus Christ. Him alone has saved you, and the manifestation of that saving comes out in your repentance and your faith, comes out in your coming, and obedience to him in baptism comes in your desire to become a member of a local New Testament church where your service now to the Lord is through the New Testament church. That's evidence that comes from being saved, not to get you saved. So let's read here verse 18 down through verse 29 as we see the transition from the old covenant into the new covenant and its manifestation in history. And see how that helps us nowadays.

It says in verse 18, it says, for ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that the words should not be spoken to them any more, For they could not endure that which was commanded.

And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." Now, what mountain are we talking about here? Y'all remember? Mount Sinai. Anybody that speaks up might speak up a little bit louder than you normally do, especially because my ear is dead today. Mount Sinai, okay? So Paul here, writing to these Jewish believers, has said, ye are not come unto the mount. And he goes into describing Mount Sinai. You are not come to the mount.

Now, on the outset here, let me just kind of lay forth a few definitions or a few illustrations maybe of what all these things are talking about. We're gonna look at two different mountains, right? Mount Sinai, and as we start reading here in verse 22, we're gonna see that there is another mountain that God is talking about, that's Mount Zion. So you have Sinai, juxtaposed against Zion, right?

We're gonna see two different, how do I wanna put this, economies, the old economy and the new economy, okay? And what we're gonna see is that Paul is writing here that there is a coming judgment against that old economy. And he's warning these new believers get out, stay away, don't involve yourself with the old economy, because as in the Old Testament, we were warned to stay away from that old economy. As we were in the intertestamental period of time, God was silent towards us, and during that time, our religious leaders fell headlong into idolatry, not only of Moses, but Babylonian idolatry, and bringing all the things of the heathen cultures into worship of God, as do a lot of New Testament, quote unquote, New Testament churches do. But here we have warnings that, listen, this is going to be judged. Jesus warned about it, the apostles warned about it, every apostle in this in the book warned of a coming judgment that was about to take place where the old covenant was headquartered in jerusalem and paul is warning about this he's and he's telling these new believers listen you have changed economies you are no longer under the old covenant you are in the new covenant you are not an old covenant people the old covenant part of you has no merit, speaking of their ethnicity.

Jew of the flesh, Israel of the flesh is not the children of God, is not the children of promise, is not the inheritors of the kingdom. The children of the flesh are natural Israel, national Israel, ethnic Israel, is not the center point of God's redemptive plan. It is his elect people from every nation, every tribe, every tongue who makes up the Israel of God. It is not those who are the children of the flesh, but those who are the children of the promise.

Those who are the children of Abraham by faith, they are the children. Faith is given to every child of grace as we have seen over the last few weeks, Faith is what God gives to His children so that they, His children, can relate to Him, their Father. And so that the Father can love and relate to them, and they'd be able to receive that love. And they do that through faith. Faith is where we are able to commune with God, believe on Christ, and persevere through this time period.

And Paul is saying, listen, you're that people. And it doesn't matter whether you're Jew or whether you're Gentile. If you're this people, you are not going to that mountain. You are not under that system. You have now, verse 22, but ye are come. And notice the present tense there. It's not ye will come. This isn't something that's happened in the future. They're already there.

But ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God. In the old covenant, what was the city of the living God? Jerusalem. What was the Mount? Sinai. So you have one mountain, which is Sinai, that speaks of the law, that speaks of the old covenant system, and it speaks of the old covenant people. But now you're seeing another mountain. This is not a physical mountain. This is not a physical people. This is a spiritual mountain and a spiritual people.

And it says that you are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God. There we had Jerusalem, an actual physical city. We had physical people that indwelt that physical city. And there was a physical temple or tabernacle that was there where God came down in his presence, met in that physical temple with those physical people in that physical city under that old covenantal system. but all that is going away and now God is using still symbolic language to describe a spiritual reality for us. No longer is physical Jerusalem the city of the living God.

We are now come to the city of the living God whenever we come together as the people of God. Look at here, it says, but ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. So we are come already to the heavenly Jerusalem and unto an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven and to God, the judge of all and the spirits of just men made perfect This is those people whose names that were written before the foundation of the world. These are the people of God.

They make up this city and this tabernacle that God dwells in now. And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Verse 25, see that you refuse not him that speaketh. Meaning Jesus, don't refuse Christ.

This is where I kind of got into looking at this because I was looking at what Christ was, the testimony of Christ, right? What's Christ's testimony? What was Christ testifying of, right? We talked about that the last few weeks, that he is the voice piece of God. He is the mouth of God. He is the word of God. Okay, and so here Paul's saying, listen, listen to Christ.

What did Christ say? What did Christ say about this ending of the old covenant and the beginning of the new covenant? Don't refuse what he speaketh, for if they escape not who refused him that spake on the earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." So heaven and earth will shake, not just the mountain and the earth, but heaven and earth. It says, and this word, yet once more signifieth, here it is, the New Testament is defining its own term. And this word, the word spoken by Jesus, the word spoken by Christ himself about this transition from the old covenant to the new covenant, the Bible says, yet once more, this shaking of heaven and earth is signifying the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. So Christ is taking the speaking of heaven and earth being shaken and destroyed.

Just as in the Old Testament, heaven and earth being destroyed was a sign of judgment upon a nation or upon a system. Now Christ is using that same language to describe what's fixing to happen to Jerusalem, physical, to Israel, physical, to their system, physical, to their covenant, which was temporal.

He is fixing to warn them here and Paul is saying, listen, get out of that system. Don't go back to that system. The Galatians, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Are you now made perfect by going back to Sinai, to the city of Jerusalem, under that old covenant?

We have a new covenant, and this covenant is about to go away. It's about to vanish. It's about to be destroyed, and everything about it is fixing to end. There's gonna be a desolation that comes upon this, and that desolation is not gonna be rebuilt. Jesus himself warned, your house will be left to you desolate. There will be no more. So don't go back into it. Don't cling to it. Don't hold to it.

What's that saying for us? I mean, let's just stop for a minute and kind of get together what we're talking about. Brethren, we don't go back to the law. We are children of the new covenant. We have been saved by grace. We are under the covenant of Christ Jesus, our elder brother who has kept all things for us.

He goes on to say this. And this word yet once more signify the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. So he equates that which cannot move with the kingdom of God. Okay. So that which cannot be shaken is talking about a kingdom. So heaven and earth that was shaken was a kingdom, but it was a physical kingdom. That physical kingdom is going away. There is a spiritual kingdom, and that is the kingdom of God, where there is a tabernacle not made with hands.

There is a city that the lively stones are the children of God, who God himself are building up, whose foundation himself is Christ Jesus. And it is that place that now Christ, or God by Christ, inhabits and dwells and the worship of God and the service of God is no longer in the physical tabernacle, no more in the physical city, no more under the physical system that God gave them to adhere to, but now is a spiritual thing that is done in a spiritual building with a spiritual group of people and God dwells within him.

That's why Christ said that when two or three are gathered in my name, there I am also. Why? Because you make up when you gather together a spiritual house of God. Why did Jesus say that I will build my church? and the gates of hell will not prevail over, because Christ is the one who is bringing in his people as they gather and where they gather. He's the one that brings us in here. It's not by happenstance. It's not by chance.

Listen, we quit advertising that we are here a long time ago, and all of a sudden, people find us. The Phillips found us. I don't know how they found us, but they found us. Here they are 10 years later, still here. Daniel, I don't know, I really have no clue how Daniel found us. They were living down in Pineville too. So I don't have any clue. His mama called me out of nowhere asking about him coming here. Don't know how all that came about. It ain't by chance.

Why is everybody here? Because Jesus is building it. Jesus is doing that. We didn't have to go out and scour the land and start bringing people in. No, God brings his people to where he wants them to be. And they make a spiritual house under God. God said that he would dwell with them and they would be my people. I will be their God. They will be my people. I will dwell with them. I will be in them. and dwell with them.

And the spiritual service is a spiritual service where we worship God. Remember Paul said, I will worship God with my mind, but with my flesh, I will serve the law of sin. How do we serve God? Whenever we come together and our hearts and minds are lifted in joy and worship before God, we become a spiritual tabernacle, a spiritual house, if you would, of the living God. Why? Because the old has gone away and the new has come. He says, wherefore we receive in a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire.

Now, let's look at a few things here. Going back to the beginning, it says, For ye are not come to the mount that might be burnt, touched with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of trumpet." All that's going back to Mount Sinai. Look if you would, I just want you to see the correlation here that I'm not just kind of making this up. Exodus chapter 19, if you would.

It says, it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the Mount and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether part of the Mount and Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke.

That's kind of a weird way of working it. It's like, hey man, I'll be right back. I'm going out to take a smoke. Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly.

And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake and God answered him by a voice. Now look over into chapter 20. starting in verse 18. And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking.

And when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. Now there's a lot I could probably break down to a sermon altogether, brethren. You know, we're gonna be okay.

In Hebrews, look, if you would, over in Deuteronomy chapter four, and starting in verse 10. It says, especially the day that stood before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

And ye came near and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire under the midst of heaven with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire. Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant. which he commanded you to perform even 10 commandments. And he wrote them upon two tablets of stone." So here we see they have approached to the mountain and they've been given the commandments.

They heard the voice. Now, remember we spoke last week. Anytime you hear the voice of God, you're hearing Christ. because he's the word of the Lord, right? So that was Christ that was speaking to them. They didn't see him, but they spoke, heard him speak. Now, jump over into chapter five there and look at verse 22.

These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire of the cloud and of the thick darkness with a great voice, and he added no more, and he wrote them into two tables of stone and delivered them unto me. And it came to pass, when he heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, for the mountain did burn with fire, that he came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes and your elders.

And he said, behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire, we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, and we have and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it. A little presumptuous of them, right? Now let's look at the picture here. These people seeing the greatness, the glory, the power, the divineness of God, said, whoa.

We don't want to hear and go and listen to him talk. Moses, you be the mediator between him and us. You be the one who delivers the message to us. You go to him, listen to what he says, then you come back and talk to us so we can live. Now, doesn't that sound like a lot what Jesus has done for us?

Jesus has heard the testimony. Remember last week we read the verse that I testified the things that I have seen and what I've heard. I don't speak my own words. I only speak the things that I have seen and have received of my father. Moses go off to the mountain, go to the mountain and listen to God and come back and tell us what God has said. And whenever God tells us to do something, we will listen to you and we will do it.

Now, Christ has come to his people. And what did the Bible say last week? He brought that testimony and no one received his testimony. The Bible says that he came unto his people and his people received him not. So something had to take place between there and here. Something had to take place between the testimony coming forth and the testimony being received.

These people here said, Moses, you go there and come back because if we approach unto God, We will die. And that's true, brother. We can't approach unto God and not live and live. We will die. But we had a mediator who bears the testimony and he came to the test, came to us. And what did he do? He didn't come like Moses did and say, here's the commandments of God. Do this and live. Right. So Moses was the mediator between God and the people and then he brought back the Ten Commandments, that old covenant system. We see the same picture with Christ.

He has come on behalf of his people who has heard from God and came back and delivered the message of God to his people and the people have heard and the people will listen. and will do what he has commanded. Why? Because it's a, as the Hebrews puts it, it's a covenant built on better promises. See, the promises of the old covenant was do this and live, yet no man could do it. Here, the promises is this, Christ has done it and you will receive it. Christ has done this and it is yours as a free gift. And so Christ has come just like Moses.

He's come with the testimony. However, the testimony isn't a tablet of commands to keep. It is a record of accomplishment that he has already done. And then by his spirit, He comes into us to give us faith, to receive that testimony, to believe that testimony, to not only hear it, we do it. How do we do that testimony? We believe on Him.

What is walking in the light? What is walking according to grace? What is all those admonitions that we receive in Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians, all those admonitions about us walking righteously and all that thing. What does that mean in the New Testament language? It means walking by faith, walking, resting, trusting in what God has done on our behalf.

In the old covenant, It was do this and live. If you break these commands, here is your resolve. Take this animal, bring it to the priest, the priest will kill it, offer its blood, and that way God will not kill you. If you don't do this, God will kill you. If you break his commands, death. Right? The wages of sin is death.

But Christ has come and said, I give unto you life. I don't bring you a testimony of death. I bring you a testimony of life. And that life came through my death. So we see here that the people stood and they feared God, but they needed a mediator. They needed someone to relay to them, not straight from the mouth of God, they needed someone to come to them and tell them what God had said. And Christ has come, brethren, to tell us what God has said. Now, let's just stop here for a minute.

If Christ came to be the testimony, as we looked the last two weeks and we saw Perfectly that he is the testimony of God not only in his person but in the delivering of the testimony He's the one who came and delivered that testimony that God had To relate to the people. He's the one that came and delivered it But brethren, he is also the subject of the testimony the testimony from God is about Jesus Christ Okay, but let's think about this If Jesus came down out of heaven with a testimony, then that bears to say that that testimony not only existed before Christ came down, but it also was fully intact before it came down. It was fully observed and it was fully credited before it came down. If Jesus came to give us the testimony, that means that testimony was something that God had already spoken. And if the testimony is already spoken, then that means that it is already settled in God's mind what will be. And if it's already settled in God's mind, what will be the spiritual reality of it is it already is.

The physical reality is it has not yet been made manifest, but now it's being made manifest. The spiritual reality is still as real as it could ever be and real as it ever will be. The issue is, is our mortal eyes and our mortal flesh has not yet experienced the full reality of that spiritual reality. Our minds have not yet been able to comprehend what is the length and the breadth and the depth of God's love for us.

Our mind cannot perceive, cannot conceive, cannot deal with all the greatness that is God's work in Christ Jesus, not only as revealing himself in Christ, not only as Christ representing us, but in the fact that Christ is bringing it all to be. Moses, go to the mountain, come back and tell us, and we'll believe anything that you tell us to do. Jesus came unto his own, but his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God who believe on him.

Right? Those people under the old covenant were in bondage. The people under the new covenant are not in bondage. Go with me to Galatians. Galatians chapter four. Look with me at verse 24 and 25 here. It says, well, let's back up so that we can get the context of what Christ is saying here. Verse 21.

Tell me ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by the bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise." Remember, Jesus said it's not those who are the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but those who are the children of the promise. He was saying there's two mountains. There is the mountain of Sinai. There's the mountain of Zion. There is the city of Jerusalem. There's the heavenly city of Jerusalem. There's the woman Hagar. There's the woman Sarah. There is Isaac. There is Ishmael. There was Abel, there was Cain.

There's the seed of the man, or excuse me, the seed of the woman, there's the seed of the serpent. There's the old covenant, there is the new covenant. There is the flesh, there is the spirit. There is the things that are of the earth, there's the things that are from heaven. The duality is always there throughout scripture. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise.

Which things are an allegory. They were true, right? They were real. There was really a Hagar. There was really a Sarah. There was really a Mount Sinai. Okay, that was real. But he says, these are an allegory. God constructed a whole era of people. God built a mountain on a continent on this earth. And God brought together a people out of nothing and brought them into slavery for 400 years. And their numbers grew to the millions.

And then he brought them out by raising up a people to show his power and destroying that people. bringing those people out with signs and wonders brought him to that mountain that he had formed however long ago and then that mountain itself and those people who had been in bondage and those people who now were free were all results of an allegory that also happened hundreds of years before whenever Abraham was told, your wife's gonna have a son.

And Abraham decided to take things into his own hands, him and Sarah, and had Abraham lay with Sarah's handmaid, Hagar. That really happened. That was really a scandalous event. Well, I guess it was scandalous. It may not have been scandalous back in those days, but nevertheless, God had said, Sarah is gonna have a child. Abraham is saying, we're old. Sarah is laughing and saying, I'm old. Both of them are saying, nothing has happened yet. Nothing has happened yet. Nothing has happened yet. And then all of a sudden they get the idea.

Well, I tell you what, maybe God meant that if you'll just lay with my handmaid, that will be the son that will be from us. And as was a custom in the Jewish time, Abraham laid with the handmaid of his wife. The handmaid was made pregnant. Whenever the baby was come, I've read, I don't know this for a fact, but I read this somewhere, that whenever the handmaid goes to give birth, that she sits on the lap of the wife, and whenever the baby is delivered out between her legs, it goes through the legs of the wife, and that in and of itself is her, as if Sarah was having the baby herself, and that baby was now considered to be her son in legality, because that handmaid was owned by Sarah. So that became her child, not by flesh and blood, but by legality, it became her son.

But here we see that the bond woman and the son of the bond woman is not counted for the seed, is not counted for the promise. The bond woman is not counted for the promise. The bond son is not counted as the seed. Israel of the flesh is not counted for the seed. And the city of Jerusalem is not counted as the mother.

That will be done away with, it will be judged, it will be desolate, and it will remain that way. What does it say here? Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar or Hagar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, listen, which now is. Whenever this was written, we're talking about the physical city of Jerusalem over in the Middle East, where it was. So the physical city of Jerusalem, is connected to the physical woman, Agar, and the physical mountain, Sinai. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. Everybody that's under that is in bondage.

Paul, why are you telling us these things? Say the Galatians. Paul, why are you telling us these things, said the Hebrews? Because this is about to be judged. This is about to be destroyed. This is about to be laid desolate. And second of all, it was all pictorial of the true and real kingdom where your life, your service, your king resides. It's not about physical nature. It's not about temporal. It's about spiritual things.

But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Who is us all? The elect of God. For it is written, rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth the scripture? Cast out the bond woman and her son. Cast out the bond woman and her son. For the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free.

Look if you would at Isaiah chapter 60. You're probably going to keep trucking with this next week. Well, yeah, next week. Because there's still a lot to look at in this, brethren. Isaiah chapter 60, if you would. I've got a whole lot of verses on my mind that I want to get to, but I ain't going to be able to get to them today. We're almost at an hour now, so. Isaiah chapter 60.

Look with me, if you would, at verse 14. Hang on, let me back up, because I just noticed this in verse 13, and I want to draw something out of that that I've preached on before. It's been a long time ago, but I have preached on this. Look at verse 13.

It says, the glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. Jesus said that he came and that he made all of his enemies his footstool.

The footstool in those days was the place of service. We always think of whenever I would make my enemies, we're talking about the wicked. We're gonna make the wicked come down and bow down at my feet. But the footstool was a place of service. And where his feet was, was the place of service.

And so he was gonna make his enemies, those who were, and you who were enemies of God, we're no longer enemies, we've been reconciled, right? We're no longer enemies of God. He has made his enemies his footstool, his place of service. The people themselves are the place where his service is now done.

Not in tabernacles made with hands, not in cities built with rocks and stone, not a physical place within another physical place as the tabernacle in Jerusalem was. but a tabernacle not made with hands that is spiritual from heaven that has come down and revealed itself to us in spiritual eyes has become the sanctuary, has become the place of worship. We, brethren, have become the place of worship. What we are doing here today as we have built up this holy tabernacle God bringing us in together and has brought his presence in here just as he did in the old covenant. Whenever he came down in that tabernacle or that tent of meeting, he came down and his presence was there.

He comes down, he promised. In the commission, he said, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to serve everything that I have commanded thee, and lo, I am with thee. always, even until the end of the age. So here we see he's going to make the place of his feet glorious.

What's that? What's another verse that we talk about the feet being glorious? Blessed are the feet of them who bring what? Good news. Who's the one who has brought good news to us with the testimony? Christ Jesus. His feet are glorious. It's another reason why I think we see that picture in the New Testament whenever the lady brought the alabaster box and broke it and anointed the feet of Jesus. Why? Because his feet are glorious. He's brought us the good news. He's the testimony of God. And the testimony of God is not you do this and live. The testimony of God is I have done it for you. Here's your free gift.

But anyway, that's just a side note. I just seen it as I was reading verse 13, verse 14. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come, bending unto thee, and all they that despise thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee. Here it is. Here's the physical. But remember, we're looking at the typology. This is the typology. This is the shadow. What's the substance? Here's the shadow.

They shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. They shall call thee the city of the Lord and the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Brethren, who's the Holy One of Israel? This is back in the Old Testament. But who's that speaking of? The Holy One of Israel is Jesus Christ. You shall be the city of God and you shall be the Zion of Christ. You know what the word Zion meant? Anybody know what the word Zion means? High and holy place. While you're there in Isaiah, turn over to chapter 67. I'm sorry, not 67. I can't read my own writing. Isaiah 57, look with me if you would, verse 15.

For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabited eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Where does the high and holy one, the holy one of Israel reside? He dwells where? In the high and holy place. Well, that's a reference to Jerusalem. That's a reference to the tabernacle in Jerusalem. But yet he equates that to who?

Those who are contrite and humble in heart. Do you remember? Do you remember in the scriptures, the Bible says that that he loves those who are of contrite and humble spirit? In the New Testament, whenever he gave the Sermon on the Mount, he said, Blessed are they. Blessed are the meek. blood of goats and bulls and stuff. God doesn't desire, but what does he love? A broken and contrite heart. Those are the people that he has made for himself to be his inhabitation, his habitation.

See, so we have the old covenant with the old commands, with the old covenant people, but we see that that is a picture of the New Covenant with the New Covenant people and the New Covenant command, which is to believe. The New Covenant command is to trust on Christ, to believe on Christ, to have faith in what Jesus has done. And we are the people and the only people who can believe that, receive that, Rest in that rejoice in that Because we're the only ones who are brought in to the gathering place where that living God comes down and gives that testimony to Psalms chapter 46 if you would Psalms 46, look at verse seven.

It says, the heathen rage, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease under the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge."

But notice there, brethren, that the kingdoms were moved He uttered his voice and the earth melted. He's equating the kingdoms of this earth with the earth. And whenever he speaks or brings judgment, they shake and they melt, they disintegrate, they move away, they roll up, they go away. They're destroyed. The kingdoms of the world are nothing to him.

We remember last week we looked at the voice and it said that his voice is louder than all the floods. His voice is louder than all of the sea, of all of the oceans. In Revelation it says that his voice was the sound of many waters. It just means that God, whenever He declares something, whenever He says something, whenever He determines something to be, His voice is the final authority and all other voices, no matter what they say, no matter what they think, no matter how much they rage or come up, they will not, will not overcome Him. They will not change what He has said.

Now, brethren, we looked last week, Christ has come with the testimony. And if that testimony has been given, that means the testimony was already declared. It can't be given unless it is already declared. He came with the testimony of God, meaning God has already declared the testimony. So that means if God has declared the testimony, known unto God were all his works, the end from the beginning. And if known unto God, all of his works, the Bible says, his works cannot be thwarted. I heard Larry say that. I can't remember if it was this morning's devotional or yesterday's. It can't be thwarted. No one's going to stop it.

Why is the new covenant a better covenant? Because it's not a covenant made with man. It's not in a conditional covenant. It's not a covenant that depends on something that you have to perform, upkeep, understand or know even. It's a covenant built on better promises. It was the promises of God in Christ. Amen. So what does Sinai represent? Represents the covenant works that was administered under that mosaic economy. Second Corinthians, we'll see this here. Second Corinthians chapter three, look with me down to verse seven.

But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stone, was glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away? How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. So the covenant of works was a ministration of condemnation and death to everybody that's outside of Christ Jesus.

So why go back to it? Why try to stay under it? Why try to revive it? The Judaizers were trying to hold on to it. The Pharisees couldn't let loose of it. Didn't wanna let loose of it. Worshiped it. Brethren, do you see? I'm gonna take this little sidetrack here and make some people mad. Do you see why we don't stand with the nation Israel? We don't stand with the nation of Israel because they are deniers of Christ.

They are haters of Christ. They are anti-Christ. Now, all other non-believers are too. But what I'm saying, as a nation, as a religious system, they are not equated with us as Christians. It is not Judaism and us being Judaic Christians. No, Christians are not Judaic at all, period. And their God is not our God. Their covenant is not our covenant. They are haters of God. Their whole system and political system are all based upon anti-Christ things.

So no, I would not put any faith and put any stock and put any work into backing them, not to mention all the egregious things that they have done throughout the centuries. But here, we see that it is not the children of the flesh that are the children of the cross. I don't have to bow to national Israel like we just seen in that verse. He wasn't talking about national Israel.

It was a type and a foreshadow to point to us. One of these days, their whole world is gonna come and bow before Christ and we will be there with Christ as his inheritance. We will be there with him and every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that he is Lord and his people who were saved by his grace will be right there by his side. And everyone who hated us, who despised us, who rejected our gospel, everyone who disobeyed us, fellowship with us over the gospel, everyone who thought we were crazy and cultic and lunatics and off our rocker, every one of those people will see that the doctrine that we have preached, the doctrine that we have held, the doctrine that we love, the doctrine that we proclaim is the doctrine that came from him. He will vindicate his people before the nations of the world. They're gonna rise up and they're gonna say, we hate you, we hate you, we hate you, like they are right now. They've done it through every generation.

We hate that man. We hate that testimony. We don't want that God. Moses, you go and tell us what to do. You come and tell us what to do and we'll do it. But we don't want that testimony. We don't want that testimony. Why? The darkness doesn't like the light because it reveals that its deeds are evil. We don't like that testimony because what does that testimony say about you?

That testimony says, number one, your eternal destiny is not in your hands. Number two, that says that salvation is fully in the hands of God and not in you. Third, it says that you do not have any ability to please that God, so nothing that you do is worth anything in that realm. Fourthly, it says you are at the sheer and utter mercy and grace of God alone.

And that testimony, brethren, is a stumbling block to the religious world. It was back then, it still is today, and it will continue to be until the day that we die or Christ comes again. It is a stumbling block. They will hate it. Why? Because we, like our forefathers, like our forefathers before that, like our forefathers before that, and like old Adam. As God said, I can really be as God. I can make the decisions. I have free will. I can choose to do whatever I want to do. I can ascend the throne?

See, who was the one that told them that? The father of all lives, Satan himself. Nobody wants to be at the foot of the throne. They want to be on the throne. But those who the Lord has saved, he makes them a contrite and broken heart. He makes them a meek and lowly people. He gives them reverence for himself. That's why it says that I will be their God and they will be my people.

Whenever God saves us and the spirit of God comes in us, it transforms our mind to realize our inability and causes us to worship at the feet, giving all praise and all glory to Christ, who is the only one who could please. and who did it on our behalf, and that God accepted it on our behalf, and that we are not expected to uphold that going forward.

The old is gone, the new has come. There was a destruction within our heart and the old covenant was made desolate. There was a period of time, brethren, and I think every one of us, if you're a child of grace and you've come to rest in the imputed righteousness of Christ alone as your surety, as your righteousness, as your holiness, as your standing before God, there came a time where you dabbled with these things, but you were torn on one side and then torn on the other side. Oh, I see the law of God and the holiness and righteousness and how I ought to obey everything and walk this way and keep myself straight and righteous. But then I see over here that Christ has done it all and that I can't even do this over here. And even in my attempts to do this over here, my attempts at righteousness are unrighteousness because the Bible says that all of my righteousnesses are unrighteous. And there came a point where that tug from this side to this side to this side to this side, all of a sudden there was a desolation where it died and this went away and was destroyed because God judged it in your heart that that is not the promise of God. And you came alive to this, the new covenant. This became your food. This became your water. This became your sustenance, your joy, your happiness, your rest. This now becomes the words of your mouth. These are the things that God has said.

There came a time in the physical where there had to be a physical death to Israel, a physical death to Jerusalem, a physical death to the old covenant, and an entrance to the new. And brethren, there is a time in each and every one of us as children of God where there comes a death to Moses, a death to the old covenant system, a death to that old Hagar, death to Ishmael. That old covenant system is seen for what it was. It was a message of death.

But here we have a message of life. And he is the life. We don't have life of ourselves. We have life that has been given to us in grace. So we see that inability. Matter of fact, we hear about it. A couple more verses, let's be done. Romans 8 chapter 3.

For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." Did you see that? Not that we might keep the righteous fulfillment of the law. Not that we are to do that, no. Jesus came and in the flesh, condemned sin in the flesh and his condemning sin in the flesh, that's his dying, by the way, on the cross. His dying on the cross is the fulfillment of the law in us.

To walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. What does it mean, preacher, to walk in the Spirit? Oh, you don't walk after those sinful things. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't chew, I don't go with the girls that do. Okay? Don't walk in the flesh. Don't do all these sinful things, all these wicked things, all these things that might not be palatable to all the Pharisees of the world. No. Walk in the Spirit. Obey the law. Keep the law. Do the law. Repent of all your sins and don't turn back to them.

No, that's not what walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh. Walking in the flesh is walking in dependence of me as the bringer of righteousness before God. Self-righteousness. Walking in the Spirit is me walking in faith as Christ the righteousness. accounting for me. My righteousness is him. Walking in the flesh is walking after the arm of the flesh, which is walking after me trying to gain God's favor. Walking after the spirit is me resting, knowing that I have favor with God because Christ Jesus has been my surety and representative.

So brethren, back in the Hebrews we see Hebrews chapter 8, verse 13. In that he saith, a new covenant he hath made, the first old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Now this, remember, Paul is writing during this transitional time between the old covenant and the new covenant, and he's telling him, listen, this old covenant is about to, hadn't yet, but was about to vanish away.

When did it vanish away? AD 70, whenever God destroyed Jerusalem, destroyed the tabernacle, destroyed the people. left their house desolate. That's whenever it ended. That old covenant was gone. The land was taken away. No more to be brought back. The place of their inhabitants, gone. The worship, gone. The tabernacle system, gone. The old things of the tabernacle system, gone. Everything about the old system and its types and its foreshadows in its physical nature, gone. Done. And whenever Jesus said that the house would be left to us desolate, all of dispensational and modern Christian people are trying to resurrect it over there.

Now, you know who you're trying to resurrect it against? You know who you're trying to resurrect an antichrist system with? Guess who you're going against? The very person that you think that you're doing. Just like Paul, the very one that I thought I was serving, I was persecuting. The very one that they think that they are upholding and trying to help is the very one who is spitting the face of Christ Jesus daily, is the very one who hates the God of this Bible, the Jesus of this Bible, who hates the gospel of this Bible, and listen, they hate you if you're a child of God. Go over there and preach this message, and I guarantee you, you're probably gonna end up in the infirmary.

I know several men who have. They've gone over there and been beat to death almost twice. All their belongings taken from them, trashed, all their, Books and stuff set on fire. They're not. That system, this old covenant system and the perversion of that old covenant system, which we see now, is not Christ and his message.

All right, anybody got any questions or comments? I got a few more things to say in that passage in Hebrews chapter 12. and everything, a lot more verses that I'd like to look at, but we'll maybe pick up that Lord willing next week. All right, anybody got anything you'd like to share?

All right, don't forget, this coming Saturday, February 28th, we're gonna be fellowshipping with First Baptist Church of Delaware, Oklahoma for a Fifth Saturday Fellowship. Don't know all the churches that are gonna be there, but the church that is hosting it, Mighty Fine Church, we love those brethren over there. Love the pastor that's there, Brother Steve Raines.

So we're gonna go over and fellowship with them. Starts at 10 o'clock in the morning and there'll be a lunch and then we'll go till sometime in the afternoon and then have a good time and fellowship. So you guys wanna follow us over there, you're welcome to follow us over there.

We'll probably leave here from the house. It's about nine or 20 minutes. So we probably ought to leave 10, nine, about 8.15 to 8.30 from here. That'll give us time to drive over there and either plenty of time to get a seat and shake some hands before we sit down. So, all right.

So 8.15, 8.30 at the very latest, we'll leave from here, okay? All right, so be gassed up, coffeed up and all like that. All right, let's bow.

Father, we thank you once again for your word and we thank you for the testimony of Christ Jesus. Lord, we thank you for the new covenant. We thank you for the better promises. Thank you for the salvation that comes because of what Christ has done on our behalf. And we thank you for your grace and your mercy that you have bestowed upon us from the foundation of the world.

Lord, we know that we don't deserve that. We know that we are wicked and unholy people. and that we are enemies of you and that without you, Father, we know that we, do not deserve to be saved, much less deserve to be in your presence. But Father, we are grateful that you have given us these promises, that you've given us all these gifts through your son, Jesus Christ.

And Lord, we just ask now that you just might bless this time that we've had together. May it have been an encouragement to those that are here, those who are listening. Father, and that you might be with us as we gather next week. We pray for the fellowship with the other brethren. And on Saturday, Lord, we pray for each man that will be preaching. We ask, Lord, that you would begin to prepare their heart and that they might bring us a word that you have for us to hear. We pray for the fellowship, Lord, that you just might be with each one of us as we sit around and visit, not only on temporal things, but as we visit on eternal things. And so, Lord, may you be with us next week. And as we gather here again on Sunday, Lord, may you be with us. Thank you again for all that you are and all that you've done for us. For it's Christ's name that we pray, amen.