Deuteronomy chapter 12. We've been looking at this from
the standpoint of, I think maybe our first study in this was dogmatic
religion. I do want to say one more thing
about that. We found here in verses 2 and
verse 3 that they were to utterly destroy, and this is some powerful
language. When you look here and he tells
them to utterly destroy the places, in verse 3, overthrow their altars,
break down their pillars, burn their groves, hew down their
graven images, destroy the name. Now that was radical, wasn't
it? And one thing more I want to
say about this though, I think here in verse 4 we see somewhat
of a Maybe some instructions. I don't
want to call maybe a warning. Maybe a warning is the right
word to use. But you and I love passion. We love zeal. We need more of it. We want to
see others have more of it. But he seems to give us a warning
here that as they were so passionate and full of zeal to destroy these
alders and burn the groves, he says here in verse 4, you shall
not do so unto the Lord your God." And what he seems like
he's saying there, be careful that in your zeal and in all
your passion fighting against the evil, you don't begin to
fight against the Lord's work. And be careful that you don't
tear down the Lord's altar. See what I'm saying? Most of
the time, the instructions, the distinction was so clear You
know, here's a grove up on top of the hill. Well, what's it
doing there? Well, that ain't of the commandment of the Lord.
Well, let's go burn it down. That's plain. Here's a graven
image. It's not of God. Let's carry
it down. Most of the time, you could distinguish between what
was the true worship of God and what was false worship. But they
were to be careful. What if they saw a family who
packed them a picnic lunch, went up on Hill someplace, asked the
Lord to bless the food. They were sitting around and
eating their picnic lunch. And you said, Why? What are they
doing up there? And you run up there and you
said, Don't you guys realize there's a grove over here we
haven't got to yet? What are you doing up here next
to this grove? Well, we have nothing to do with that grove.
We're just eating our lunch. We're too close to it. Well,
I'm sorry I'm too close to it, but I have nothing to do with
it. See what could happen? See what could happen? And when
we come over to the New Testament, how many of us in our zeal, in
our passion, have done some harm? And we're not alone. There are
some wise apostles got mixed up in this too. Remember when
John came to the Lord Jesus one day and he said, we saw a fellow
casting out devils in your name and we told him, you follow us.
I can follow you guys. I've got work to do." And we
told him, well, don't you cast out any more devils then. Remember
when John came and told the Lord that? What did the Lord tell
him? When he said, Lord, we forbid him. And the Lord Jesus said,
forbid him not. Forbid him not. If he's casting
out devils in my name, then he's for me. And He that's not against
us is for us. And here's where we have the
problem in our day, isn't it? Who is for Christ and who is
against Him? And sometimes we can't distinguish,
can we? We look at someone who professes
to be a brother or a sister and we say, are they a true brother
or not? Are they weak in the faith? Or
do they even have any faith? Do they need understanding? Is
that all they need? That we can understand it? Or
they're in darkness. And that's what we can't distinguish
sometimes. So we have to be careful, don't
we? I'll give you a good example. There's a young preacher, not
too young. He's almost probably 50 or so.
But you and I know him. Most of us know him. Joe and
I were talking about it the other night. And he had written an
article concerning Charles Spurgeon. This was the title of his article
concerning Charles Spurgeon. Now, you didn't know Charles
Spurgeon. I loved Charles Spurgeon. I can understand why they called
him the Prince of Preachers. But here's what this young preacher
said about Spurgeon. He is confused and confusing. And I thought, how in the world?
Why did he say that in his ignorant zeal and passion? So here's what
I'm saying. Be careful. Be careful. As we
fight against that which is wrong, be careful that it doesn't spill
over to that which is good. I want to say that. Now last
week, as we finished this study, we did so in 2 Chronicles chapter
6, and we saw there about the fulfilling of this place that
God had chosen. Eight times here in chapter 12,
He mentions this place. He says here in verse 5, 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 you seek, and thither shall
you come. And He mentions this place eight
times in this chapter. This place. And we saw last week
over in 2 Chronicles chapter 6 about that place. That place is Jerusalem. And
we're told many things here in verse 5. Let's look at verse
5 for just a minute about this place. And this is wonderful. And no wonder they were so interested
in it. But look what he says in verse
5. Look at some things about this place. He said there in
verse 5, But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose
out of all your tribes, Now here's the first thing about this place.
It's a place of God's own choosing. It's a distinguishing place.
He chose it out of all His tribes. Now some might say, Bruce, what
in the world does it matter? Why does it matter where we go
up to to worship? Why did it matter to them? Why
go up to Jerusalem? Isn't the tribe of Dan just as
good as the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Neptulon, and ain't
just as good? Well, it's not about good or
more good or bad, is it? It's about the place that God
has chosen. God is God, and it's He that
sets the standard that has the prerogative to say when we can
come into His presence and how we can come into He sets that
prerogative. You and I are creatures. He's
the Creator. And He says when He'll be worshipped,
how He'll be worshipped, and why He's worshipped. And that's
what we find here. He chose the place. God is the
Spirit. And they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. He chose the place, didn't
He? He chose the place. Something
else that is important here, is given also in verse 5, is
this, "...and put his name there." He put his name there. That's
why this was so important. He put his name there. Of all
the tribes, the twelve tribes, he never put his name but in
one tribe. He put his name in one house.
Here he's talking about Jerusalem. You know what Jerusalem is called?
The city of the great King. He's not talking about David.
There's one greater than David and one greater than Solomon.
He's speaking of the King of kings and Lord of lords. This was the city of God, the
city of the Lord. And this house that was to be
there, you know what it was called? The house of the Lord. That's
what they called it. A city that had God's name? It
was the city of the great King. The house that was to be built
there, the temple, it was the house of the Lord. Two times
when our Master was here, He cleansed the temple. One time
in John chapter 2, remember when He had turned the water to wine?
He went into the temple and He saw them with all their money
changers, selling animals for sacrifices, and He planted them
a little whip. And He drove them out of the
temple. And remember what He said about the temple? This is
My Father's house. You've made it a house of merchandise. My Father's house. The second
time in Matthew chapter 21, before He went to the cross, He cleansed
the temple again. He went in it and saw the same
thing going on again. And this time He threw them out. You talk about strong. I hear
Greg Ampless say one time when he raised that whip up and that
loose sleeve went back over that muscle, and him lifting those
logs and working with Joseph and Carpenter. He was a strong
man, wasn't he? And he went in the temple. The
Scripture says he threw them out. He threw them out. And here's
what he said. This is my house. Isn't that
what he said? This is my house. And you've made it the den of
thieves. So this was Jerusalem and it had the Lord's name there.
And the temple was the Father's house. It was the house of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The name. I want to put my name
there. And something else that's wonderful
here in the last portion of verse 5 is this. He will put His name there Even
unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt
come." It was a place where God was going to dwell. He chose
it, a very peculiar, distinguishing choice out of all the tribes,
he chose Judah. He put his name there, and now
he says here that he's going to abide there. It's a place
of his habitation. Now somebody say, Bruce, I thought
God was everywhere. Well, He is. He's everywhere. He said, I feel the heaven and
earth, didn't He? But you know, He can be at a special place. He can give His presence at a
special place and at a special time. And this is what He did
with this temple. When Solomon and Israel dedicated
this temple, the fire of God fell and consumed the sacrifices
And from that day forward, God occupied that temple. He was there in His satanic glory
and in His secret presence. That's why they always wanted
to go up to Jerusalem. They'd lay aside everything they
had to do and tended to the crops and remodeling their houses.
They'd lay it all aside when it'd come to feast day and they'd
go up to Jerusalem. Why? Because the Lord was there. The Lord was there. That was
His special habitation. And He was no place else like
He was there in His gracious presence. That's why we often
quote this verse, I was glad when they said unto me, let us
go up into the house of the Lord. Now we know why, don't we? The
Lord was there. His habitation, that's where
He dwelled. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
Where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, they go up to give
thanks unto the Lord God. Peace be within thy walls and
prosperity within thy palace. A blessed place, wasn't it? That's where God was going to
dwell. And then he tells us here in verse 6 something else that
was very important about this. And thither you shall bring your
burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, Heave offerings
of your land and your vows and your free will offerings and
the first lends of your herds and of your flock." This was
a place where they were to take their burnt offerings, their
sacrifices, their free will offerings. This is where they celebrated
the feast. No place else could you celebrate
the feast but here at Jerusalem in this temple. And you know
once a year, remember what they did once a year? They offered
that atonement for sin. No place else could that atonement
be offered but here at this place, in this temple. I wouldn't want
to miss that, would you? For nothing. If I had to miss
a feast, I don't want to miss that one. I want to see that
animal killed. I want to see the priest come
out, lay his head on that goat and kill him. Lay his head on
that other one and send him off into a far country. There goes
my sin. Never to return again. The Day
of Atonement. See the priest collect the blood
and go into the Most Holy Place. Your sins are gone. The Day of
Atonement. But it took place here at Jerusalem. Here at Jerusalem. Everybody
that had any regard for God and love for His worship, boy, they
rejoiced to go up to Jerusalem. To this place. To this temple. Now, I want you to just leave
that and let's go over to 2 Chronicles chapter 3. And I've chosen this
verse because it tells us so much about what we've been studying
on here in the past two weeks and tonight. It suggests many
things to our minds. I want us to look at this and
look at it really from a natural standpoint. That's what we're
looking at. All of these things were physical. They were natural
things. But look here in 2 Chronicles
3 and look here in verse 1. This verse suggests so many things
to our mind. This is where David had died.
He left Solomon in charge. And now Solomon is getting ready
to build the temple. And look what some things were
told about this place. Now, keep this in your mind.
This is that place. Eight times in chapter 12 of
Deuteronomy, that place. And no other place, he said.
No other place. Every place else is excluded.
So I want us to think of this in the light of that. Then Solomon
began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah
where the Lord appeared unto David his father in the place
that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Arnon, the
Jebusite. Now there we see it. The house
of the Lord. The house of the Lord. That's
what we've been studying. This is the place. This is the
house of the Lord. That's His name. I'm going to
put my name there. Well, this is it. And Solomon
is going to build this house and he's going to call it by
the Lord's name. The house of the Lord. There's no doubt where
it is either. Look here. It's at Jerusalem.
The house of the Lord which is at Jerusalem. Now, if you've
studied the Scriptures, the history of this place. It was occupied
by the Jebusites. They were Canaanites. They lived
in the land of Canaan. They occupied Jerusalem. It belonged to Judah. God gave
it to them. And they never could take it.
They took it one time, burned it with fire. The Jebusites come
back in and took it over. And Judah never could take it
again until the days of David. David came up against it. He
took the city of Zion. All of this was one city there
at Jerusalem, but one part of it was the city of Zion. It was
called the Castle of Zion. David took that, and that's where
he lived at. Zion, the castle in Zion. The
Jebusites took the blind and the lame and set them on the
walls. And they said, you can't come in here. You can't come
in here. And David said, the man that
takes this city, he's going to be first. He's going to be captain.
He's going to be the chief. Well, Joab took the city. David
did go in. He went in and he took the city.
And that became what we know as Jerusalem. That's where David
lived. He lived there. And he fortified
the place, and here comes Solomon along his son, and this is where
he builds the temple. At Jerusalem, the house of the
Lord is built. I'm stressing this because we
weren't told that in our text, were we? Moses mentions nothing
about it, and we looked at why. I mean, as much trouble as they
had taking it anyway, they'd have never took it if the heathen
had known about it. So there's Jerusalem. There's
Jerusalem. Here's another name. Look here where it was. And Solomon
began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. In Mount Moriah. Now, if you've
read about Mount Moriah, you've just read about it probably one
time. It's just mentioned two times
in the scripture. The first time it's mentioned,
You and I are very familiar with it. It's in Genesis chapter 22.
Remember when God spoke to Abraham and tried him, tested him, and
said, take your son, your only son, up into a mountain that
I will show you at? And he made mention of the place.
Moriah. Moriah. And it was a mountain
that Abraham knew nothing about because the Lord said, one of
the mountains that I will tell you of And then, as they were
traveling three days, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw
the place aforeall. And he told his servants, We'll
go yonder and worship, and come again unto you. They worshiped,
and Abraham said to Isaac, when he said, Where's the sacrifice?
He said, God will provide himself a lamb. They went up. bound Isaac, put him on the altar,
drew back his knife to stab him, and the Lord stopped him and
said, Now I know that you fear God. And he named the name of
the place Jehovah-Jireh. Remember what that meant? In
the mouth of the Lord it shall be seen. And Abraham explains
it just a little bit better. God shall provide. In the mouth
of the Lord it shall be seen. So the whole definition means
God shall provide and in the mouth of the Lord it shall be
seen. So Abraham takes his son off
the altar and he looks around and there's a ram caught in the
thicket. Now what does that tell us about
Mount Moriah? That's a rough place. That's
a rough place. It's not being cleared out. And
here's a ram that's got his horns caught in his stick and he can't
get loose. Abraham hits him and offers him for a burnt offering
instead of Isaac, his son. And then we're told something
here in this verse 1, something else about Mount Moriah. And
look what it says here. In Mount Moriah, where the Lord
appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared,
in the threshing floor of Ornon, the Jebusite. Now this is very
important. Two things were told about Mount
Moriah. First is about Abraham offering
Isaac there. And then, secondly, about the
Lord appearing to David there in Mount Moriah. Now this is
found in 1 Chronicles. Look back over here in 1 Chronicles
Chapter 21 with me. This is so amazing. Mount Moriah. Look here in Chapter 21. This is where David had sinned
by numbering the children of Israel. Here in verse 14, the
Lord asked him, What do you want me to do? Do you want me to send
you fleeing before the enemies? Do you want me to chasten you?
He said, Lord, I'll fall into your hands. Man will have mercy
upon me, but you will. So the Lord chastens him sore
because David numbered the people. He didn't trust the Lord. It
was unbelief. First Chronicles 21 and 14, look at this, So the
Lord sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy
thousand men. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem
to destroy it. And as he was destroyed, the
Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said unto
the angel that destroyed it, It is enough. Stay now by hand. And the angel of the Lord stood
in the threshing floor of Ornon the Jebusite. See, this was still
in the hands at this time. At least he lived there. This
Gentile lived there with his son. And David lifted up his
eyes and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth
and the heavens, having a drawn sword in his hand, stretched
over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of
Israel who were clothed in sackcloth fell upon their faces. And David
said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered?
Even I it is that I have sinned and done this evil indeed. But
as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I
pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, on my father's house,
but not on thy people, that they should be plagued." Just like
Christ ain't it? That's why we call him a beautiful
picture of Christ. Then the angel of the Lord commanded
Gad to say to David that David should go up and set up an altar
unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And he goes on, he buys this place from Ornan, buys the oxen
and some wood. And verse 26, And David built
therein an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and
peace offerings, and called upon the name of the Lord, And he
answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offerings.
And the Lord commanded the angel, and he put up his sword again
to the sheath thereof. At that time when David saw that
the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan,
the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there." And look in verse 22. Then David said, This is the
house of the Lord God. This is the altar of the burnt
offering for Israel. This is the first time that God
had revealed where the house of the Lord was to be built.
He revealed it to David. In this threshing floor of Ornon. So he tells his son Solomon,
and now Solomon begins to build this house in Mount Moriah. Isn't that a wonderful act? And
here's why it's wonderful. We read here this is Jerusalem.
It's Jerusalem. But we found out a little history
behind it. It's Jerusalem that the tribe of Judah owned. But before, it was in the hands
of the enemy. It was called the city of strangers. Strangers occupied it. It was
a strong city. And they said, you're not going
to come in here. But David the king went in and took it. It
become one of the most fortified cities, not only in the whole
Israel, but in all the world. And the most beautiful and the
most sought out city. Now isn't that amazing because
of this? This beginning. It's beginning. Occupied by strangers. Taken
by king. Fortified and beautified. And become one of the most sought
out cities. in all the world. That makes it amazing, doesn't
it? And this house of the Lord, this house here in Mount Moriah,
man, look at the place it was when the Lord chose it. The Lord
had already chosen this place. That's why He told Abraham, you
go up there to offer. But look what a desolate place
it was. Look what a thicket. Then here
Ornon was, him and his son, they got up in the high place and
they were threshing wheat because the wind could blow the husk
away. This is the place where Solomon built the temple. And
my goodness, look what a magnificent temple was built on this side,
where the ram had his horns in the thicket. It was so magnificent,
it was so beautiful that this great Queen of the South come
here and when she saw it, her breath was taken away and she
says, the half has never been told. That's this place. That's
this place that God chose and distinguished and put His name
there. A place that He dwelt and where
the sacrifices were offered and the atonement was made. It went
from little beginnings to a wonderful place to live and a wonderful
place to wash. Now I've got to finish this right
quickly. When we come to the New Testament, when we come to
the New Testament, now we bring all of this over into the New
Testament, we still have a Jerusalem in the New Testament. We still
have a Mount Zion in the New Testament. We still have the
city of the living God. We have the house of the Lord.
We have the temple of God that was chosen of God. His name is
in it. He dwells there. And it's the
place where an atonement was made. Now, I want to look at
this right quick. I want to look at it from two
different aspects. Let's look at it as it concerns Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. Jesus in His humanity, He is
the tabernacle. He is the temple of God where
the redeeming glory of God is seen in its fullness. The redeeming glory and presence
of God abides in Jesus Christ in His fullness. Let me read
two scriptures. Let me quote two scriptures to
you. And these are two of the most amazing scriptures. We find
the first one in John chapter 1 and verse 1 and 14. In the
beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was
God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory. Whose glory was it? The glory
as of the only begotten of the Father. Jesus Christ was the
temple of God. That's why he said, destroy this
temple, in three days I'll raise it up again. They said, it took
us 42 years to build this temple. You going to tear it down and
raise it up? But he said, I speak of the temple of my prophet.
He's the temple of God, first and foremost. God dwelt in the
old temple only in part. His Shekinah glory dwelt there. Sometimes in the tabernacle you
could see the fire there. Sometimes you could see it in
a cloud. That was God's Shekinah glory. His secret presence dwelt
there. But in Jesus Christ, it's not
a secret presence. It's not a Shekinah glory. But
in Jesus Christ dwells the essential presence and deity of God Almighty. Listen to Colossians 2 verse
9. dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, the Deity bodily."
Now, what in the world does he mean? He means in the body of
Jesus Christ, or in the humanity of Jesus Christ, dwells all that
God is. There is no God apart from and
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwells the fullness of
the Deity of God. Isn't that amazing? No wonder
Thomas said, my Lord and my God. Jesus Christ is God. And in Him, God's fullness dwells. The fullness of God's essential
glory dwells in Him. Somebody asked me one day, will
we see the Father in Heaven? I said, yes, in Jesus Christ. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. All the fullness of God dwells in Him. And God
said, when you build this temple, I'm going to come down and I'm
going to dwell in this temple. And when Jesus Christ came down
from heaven and was born of a virgin, the fullness of God came down
with Him. In that body He dwells. He dwells
in that body. And in Jesus Christ and by Jesus
Christ was redemption accomplished. and the atonement for sin was
made, and access to the Father's favor was opened up. And it's
in Him and by Him that we bring our spiritual sacrifices and
offer them to God. There's just one place to come
to God and bring your sacrifices in the Old Testament. Where was
that? The temple. The temple. That's where you
came to celebrate the feast. and to bring your offerings.
There's but one place that God will accept our offerings, and
you know where that is? Jesus Christ. Look over here
in Hebrews chapter 13 right quick. I won't keep you much longer.
Look in Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
9. We're looking now as this concerns
Jesus Christ. This temple that Solomon built
first and foremost where God's glory was and where the offerings
were offered and accepted, that's Christ. First and foremost, it's
Christ. Look what he says here in verse
9, Hebrews chapter 13. Be not carried about with divers,
that is with various doctrines and strange doctrines. It's a
good thing that the heart be established with grace. Not with
meats, with foods which have not profited them which have
been occupied therein, for we have an altar." We have an altar,
don't we? We have an altar. What is our
altar? It's Christ, isn't it? It's Christ. He's our altar.
He's our temple. He's our priest. He's our offering. He's our access. He's everything. Christ is all and in all. We have an offering. For of they
have no right to eat who serve the taverner. For the bodies
of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by
the high priest for sin are burned without the count. Wherefore
Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood
suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the count bearing his reproach. For here we have
no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By Him, therefore,
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to His name." He is the temple of God. He is the
temple. And we come to Him, and by Him,
everything we are. Everything we do, everything
we offer to God is accepted by Him. Those who are out there
in a foreign country, away from Christ, they don't look to Him. You know, when Solomon prayed
that prayer at the dedication of the temple, he kept saying
these two things. Keep your eye on this temple.
Remember that? That's what he prayed to God.
Keep your eye on this temple. And everybody that looks to this
temple, you forgive them and be gracious to them. Everybody
was looking to the temple. Why? Because that's Christ. It's
Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly,
let's consider this as it concerns the church of Jesus Christ. In
the New Testament, we still have a Jerusalem. We have a Mount
Zion. We have the City of the Living
God. But they're not natural anymore. They're not carnal or
physical anymore. But now, Jerusalem. It's spiritual. Now Jerusalem is heaven. Now
Jerusalem is from above. That one Jerusalem is still over
there. Boy, it's a mess. It's a mess. Poor things, it's
a mess. But you know there's another
Jerusalem? And it's not a mess. It's a spiritual Jerusalem. It's
from above. Let me show you a couple of scriptures.
Look here in Galatians chapter 4. I don't want to just quote
this. I want you to see these two places. There's a lot of discussion today. Galatians
chapter 4. A lot of discussion today about
two gospels, two churches, and all of this. But there's just
one church. There's just one gospel. It's a Jerusalem. It's called
Jerusalem. But it's not the natural Jerusalem.
You can't see it. It's a spiritual Jerusalem. Look
at what Paul says about it. In Galatians chapter 4, look
in verse 21. These people want to go back
under the law, seeking to be saved of the law. Galatians 4.21,
page 1269. Tell me, you that desire to be
under the law, don't you hear the law? For it is written that
Abraham had two sons, the one by a 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. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants." The one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. Well, this Agar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, earthly Jerusalem,
which now is, and is in bondage with her children. They still
are, aren't they? They're gathering back over there,
and I hope God's got a purpose for them, but they're still in
bondage. They're dying in bondage, just like they were in Paul's
day. Look in verse 26. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all, all believers. For
it is written, Rejoice thou barren that beareth not, break forth
and cry thou that trevellest not, for the desolate has many
more children than she which hath none husband. Now we, brethren,
as Isaac were, are the children of promise. There is a heavenly
Jerusalem. And she is free. Look in one
more place. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Look in Hebrews chapter 12. Look in verse 18. Well, this tells it all here.
Hebrews chapter 12. In verse 18, We here are not
coming to the mount that might be touched, Mount Sinai, that
burned with fire 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 word 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 threshed through with the
dark. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. But look at this, but you are
come unto Mount Zion. What is that? The city of the
living God. What is that? The heavenly Jerusalem. And to an innumerable company
of angels, and he explains it in verse 23, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, the spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant to the blood
of Spranklin, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Are
you a new believer? You're in a new Jerusalem. Everything
changed, didn't it? When the New Testament came on,
all these carnal things were laid aside, the carnal ordinances,
the carnal places, and they took on an entirely new meaning, a
spiritual meaning. Circumcision meant a lot in the
Old Testament. It took on a new meaning in the
New Testament. Being a Jew had a great meaning in the Old Testament.
It means little in the New Testament. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
But he's a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is not that
which is circumcision in the flesh, but of the heart and of
the spirit. And now the church. What's the
church? You may be Gentile, you may be
Jew, but there's one church, and that church is the New Jerusalem. It's the Mount Zion. It's the
City of the Living God. And you know something? It's
where God dwells. It's where God dwells. He dwells
in heaven. The fullness of God is in Jesus
Christ. And you know something? He dwells
in the church. where two or three are gathered
in my name, there am I in the midst." But it gets more personal
than that, doesn't it? He dwells in. God has sent forth
the Spirit of His Son, where? In your hearts. Know you not
that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? I will dwell
in them, I'll be their God, I'll walk in them, and they shall
be my people, saith the Lord. He dwells. You know why one reason
I love Together With You folks? Because God's here. He's here. Some people say, I'm seeking
the Lord. Well, I'll tell you a good place to seek Him, where
He dwells. And if He dwells in His church,
then seek Him out there. Seek Him out there. That's where
He dwells. He's made this place His habitation,
hasn't He? He says, I desired it. I desired
it. And I'm telling you, He's in
His church like He is no place else. He's still everywhere in
this world. You can't go outside of His presence.
No matter where you go, there's God. But I tell you, He has a
special habitation, and that's in His church. That's in His
church. Two more places I want to show
you. Look here in this whole Hebrews 12, and look in Ephesians. Look in Ephesians right quickly.
Ephesians chapter 2 and look in verse 19. I love these passages
in Paul because he's speaking of the Jews as well as the Gentiles.
They're one now in Christ. And that's what he's teaching
in Ephesians chapter 2. But look in verse 19 of Ephesians
2. Now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of
God. In our bill to form the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth into
an holy temple in the Lord." A temple? That's what we've been
studying about, hasn't we? A temple in the Lord, and look
at this, "...in whom you also are builted together for an habitation
of God through the Spirit." The church is a habitation of God. And look in 1 Peter, and we'll
close with this one. Look in 1 Peter. Look in chapter
2. Look in verse 3. 1 Peter 2, verse 3. Lay these things
aside, all this lying and guile and malice, and receive the word
as newborn babes. Verse 3. If so be that ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom common as unto a living
stone, disallowed in deed of men, but chosen of God and precious,
ye also as lively stones." You're lively stones. You're stones,
but you're lively stones. You built up a spiritual house
than holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. So see how everything has changed
now? It was all natural and physical in the Old Testament. But now
it's all took on a different nature in the New Testament.
And you know it started out just like it did in the Old Testament,
so little. What was the Lord Jesus when He was here? Well,
He was the eternal God. But I tell you, you couldn't
see that in Him hardly, could you? He veiled that glory in
His humanity. He was a man of sorrow and acquainted
with grief. They hung Him on a cross and
spit at Him. They didn't know who He was.
They saw no beauty in Him. But look at Him now. Look at
Him now. Look, you saints. The sight is
glorious. See the man of sorrows now. From the fight return victorious. Every knee to Him shall bow. Look at Him now. He's glorious,
ain't He? He's not a man of sorrows now.
Now He reigns upon His throne. Look at the poor church and all
of its members. Remember when you were a stranger? Remember before the King of kings
came and conquered you like David of old conquered Jerusalem? And
what did you say? Just like those blind and lame
said. You ain't coming in here. Ain't that what you said? You
ain't coming in here. Well, He showed you didn't He? He came in, didn't He? He came
in. He made you willing in the day
of His power. A fellow said the other day,
you're saying the Lord saves people contrary to the will of
Him. Well, no. But I am saying this. He makes you willing. Thy people
shall be willing. And He has them on their face
begging Him, Come in, Lord, please come in. Oh, please come in.
And He comes in because He has redeemed you. And He takes possession
of you. And He dwells there. And boy,
I tell you, when he's finished with the church, you'd think
Solomon's temple was glorious. Oh, look at the church in Revelation
21. She's the new Jerusalem coming
down from heaven as a bride. prepared and adorned for her
husband? And the Scripture says this.
This shows how wonderfully and gloriously she'll be. She has
the glory of God. It doesn't say the glory of God
is upon her. But it says she has the glory
of God. That glory that God gave His
Son, that's what she's going to have. She's going to be glorified. Boy, I tell you, from little
beginnings, from humble beginnings, she's going to be a glorious
church in heaven. And that's going to be Mount Zion, the city
of the living God. And I tell you, those devout
Jews that loved God and loved His worship, man, they knew what
these things meant. And some of you do too, don't
you? Some of you know. We'll pick up our Lord's Will
the next week and probably go to chapter