{"id":18470,"date":"2018-01-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-21T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-011\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:16:55","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:16:55","slug":"ecclesiology-011","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-011\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 011"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[64],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18470","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-psalms","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 011","sermon_date":"20180121","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":20027,"sermon_slides":20028,"sermon_mp3":20029,"sermon_id":"121181040509","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":64,"chapter_and_verse":"147:19-20","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 11\n\n1-21-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 11\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for another day, and we\u2019re reminded of the early church in the Book of Acts once the Spirit began His baptizing work they gave themselves to apostolic teaching.\u00a0 So what\u2019s what we\u2019re doing this morning, Father, so I ask that You\u2019ll be with us in that endeavor and I ask that you will change the way we think and more importantly than that, Father, I pray \u00a0the process of renewal, mental renewal wouldn\u2019t stop there but it would translate into changing the way we live.\u00a0 I know You change the way we think first as a prerequisite for changing the way we live but we just ask that you would do that work in Your people today.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name and God\u2019s people said , Amen.\n\nLet\u2019s open our Bibles, if we could, to the Book of Revelation, which is easy to find, it\u2019s under R, The Book of Revelation, chapter 21 and take a look, if you could at verse 12.\u00a0 If you need a handout just put your hand up.\u00a0 As you know in this class we\u2019ve been studying the doctrine of Ecclesiology which is the study of the church, what does God reveal about the church?\u00a0 And we\u2019re basically at a part in our outline here, Roman numeral V where we\u2019re talking about key differences between Israel and the church.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to appreciate the church until you distinguish it from Israel.\u00a0 And it\u2019s hard to appreciate Israel unless you distinguish it from the church.\u00a0 We\u2019re really living in a special time where God is doing something unique today in what is called the church.\u00a0 It\u2019s not Israel but it\u2019s something unique.\n\nAnd those are eight or so differences that we\u2019ve gone over.\u00a0 Here are another six or so differences that we\u2019ve gone over and we\u2019re right down on that list to the New Jerusalem.\u00a0 So notice, if you will, Revelation 21.\u00a0 Take a look at verse 12, it says: \u201cIt had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.\u201d \u00a0Verse 14 says, \u201cAnd the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.\u201d\n\nSo this is\u00a0 yet another distinction between Israel and the church and it has to do with the end.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that cool, isn\u2019t that neat?\u00a0 That\u2019s the New Jerusalem descending from heaven.\u00a0 I know you want to see that again don\u2019t you.\u00a0 There\u2019s the New Jerusalem, I actually think the New Jerusalem is currently in existence and the reason I think it\u2019s in existence in heaven is it\u2019s described with the present tense verb in Galatians 4:26.\u00a0 [Galatians 4:26, \u201cBut the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.\u201d]\n\nBut we know from the Book of Revelation that when God creates the new heaven and the new earth that New Jerusalem which is in heaven, which is not fit to descend now upon a corrupted earth, will descend one day on a brand new earth because the New Jerusalem is in heaven and heaven is holy so the New Jerusalem will come to the earth one day and I think\u00a0 you have a description of it in Revelation 21 and really chapter 22.\u00a0 If you look at Revelation 21:16-17 it describes this New Jerusalem, \u201cThe city is laid out like a square as long as it was wide, He measured the city with a rod and found it to be fifteen hundred miles in length and as wide and as high as it is long.\u00a0 He measured its walls and it was 144 cubits thick by man\u2019s measurements which the angel was using.\u201d\n\nSo if\u00a0 you take these dimensions literally, and I don\u2019t have any reason why I can\u2019t take it literally, the city that is being described here that\u2019s going to descend to the new heavens and the new earth in the last two chapters of the Bible is about the size of half of the United States of America, roughly.\u00a0 So we\u2019re talking about a huge, huge city.\n\nAnd it says very specifically that it\u2019s laid out like a cube, as long as it was wide, so I would see it as a giant cube, and what Revelation 21:12-14 talks about is around this cube towards the bottom are three gates on each side, twelve gates total.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:12-14, \u201cIt had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were<\/em> written on them, which are the names<\/em> of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. [13]<\/a> There were<\/em> three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. [14] And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were<\/em> the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.\u201d]\n\nSo three gates on one side, three gates on another side, three gates on another side, three gates on the fourth side towards the bottom.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that the gates are always portrayed here as being open so people can come in and go at will.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very different than Eden where, you recall, after the fall of man cherubim were stationed at the entrance of Eden to prevent man from reentering.\u00a0 So unlike \u201clest you\u00a0 eat from the tree of knowledge and live forever,\u201d and you see a description of that in Genesis 3:22-24.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:22-24, \u201cThen the LORD God said, \u2018Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever\u2019\u2014[23] therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. [24] So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.\u201d]\n\nBut unlike Eden, which is barred entrance to man this city gates are opened perpetually and people just come and go at will.\u00a0 And one of the things that\u2019s very interesting to note is when you look at these two verses, Revelation 21:12, each gate of the city is named after one of the tribes.\u00a0 Now the tribes are the foundation of God\u2019s work with Israel; if it wasn\u2019t for the twelve tribes we wouldn\u2019t have Israel or God\u2019s work through Israel.\u00a0 So every time you go in and out of this city gate you\u2019re going to look up and\u00a0 you\u2019re going to see a name inscribed there of one of the twelve tribes.\n\nAnd it goes in Revelation 21:14 and it talks about the foundation so I would assume that there\u2019s twelve foundations, three foundations on each side, and the foundations are named after the apostles. [Revelation 21:14, \u201cAnd the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.\u201d]\u00a0 Now the apostles represent God\u2019s work through who?\u00a0 Israel or the church?\u00a0 The church.\u00a0 In fact, in Ephesians 2:20 we learn that the Lord built the church on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:20, \u201chaving been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.\u201d]\n\nAnd by the way, how many times to you lay a foundation?\u00a0 Anybody in construction would tell you that you lay a foundation one time.\u00a0 So the Lord had these special instruments that he used to begin the church and Jesus, of course, is the cornerstone in the metaphorical temple.\u00a0 So He\u2019s the stone that goes in first and if you understand the cornerstone, and Ephesians 2 talks about Jesus as the cornerstone, as does 1 Peter.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:20, \u201chaving been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.\u201d\u00a0 1 Peter 2:6, \u201cFor this is contained in Scripture: BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 ]\n\nAnd the corner stone is what you measure all the other stones by and you determine if everything is in correct alignment based on the cornerstone.\u00a0 So Christ is the cornerstone and then the foundation stones are the apostles.\u00a0 So had it not been for God\u2019s work through the apostles we wouldn\u2019t have a foundation for the church.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting to me that throughout eternity you can go in and out of this eternal city and you look at the gate and you\u2019re reminded of a tribe which reminds you of Israel and you look at the foundation and you\u2019re reminded of an apostle, which would remind you of who?\u00a0 The church.\u00a0 So Israel and the church are so special to God that God, to my mind, is bringing a perpetual reminder \u00a0to them throughout the ages and you\u2019re reminded of those two great works of God representing different parts of the entrance and exit, the gates and the foundation every time you go in and out \u00a0\u00a0of the city.\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of people that just deny that Israel and the church are different and they like to support their argument and go over to Revelation 21 and 22 because it talks about all of us being in one place and at one time, but it\u2019s interesting to me that God, even though that\u2019s all true, even though we\u2019re all in our resurrected state we\u2019re called to perpetually remember what He did through Israel and the church.\u00a0 And Israel and the church are so distinct in the mind of God that they weren\u2019t separate gate names versus separate foundation stones.\u00a0 So that would be another kind of key difference between Israel and the church. \u00a0In the New Jerusalem the gates represent Israel, the foundations represent the church.\n\nAnother difference between Israel and the church is how do you become a member?\u00a0 And I\u2019m not talking about Sugar Land Bible Church where you fill out a membership application; I\u2019m talking about in God\u2019s universal program how do you become a member?\u00a0 How exactly do you become a member of the Jewish nation, the Hebrew nation, Israel?\u00a0 Well, the reality of the situation is to be Jewish, to be a Hebrew you have to be physically born into it.\u00a0 So you have to be a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 Being a descendent of Abraham is not enough because, remember Abraham impregnated Hagar, Genesis 16, and from Hagar came the Ishmael line and don\u2019t call Ishmael\u2019s descendants a Jew or they\u2019ll probably kill you if you do that.\u00a0 You can\u2019t just be a physical descendant of Abraham because Ishmael\u2019s line is a descendant of Abraham; you have to be a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\n\nSo the word Israel, or Israelite in the Bible is a word that we would call a technical word.\u00a0 A technical word is a word that always means the same thing everywhere it\u2019s used.\u00a0 So every time you see the word Israel, Old Testament or New Testament, it\u2019s mentioned about 2500 times, something like that, in the Old Testament; it\u2019s mentioned 73 times in the New Testament.\u00a0 It always refers to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of people today that want to be Jewish, they want to be Hebrew, but the reality of the situation is unless you\u2019re from the line of those three patriarchs you don\u2019t qualify.\u00a0 So you get into Israel through physical birth only.\n\nHow do you become a member of the church?\u00a0 You become a member of the church only through spiritual birth.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus in John 3 said unless the man is born from above or born again he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God.\u00a0 [John 3:3, \u201cJesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u2019\u201d]\n\nNow 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us that we have all been baptized into Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 12:13, \u201cFor by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.\u201d]\u00a0 So it doesn\u2019t matter what denomination they are, it doesn\u2019t matter if their Metho Catha Bapterian or a Bapticostal Fundamatic or whatever they are, the fact of the matter is if you\u2019ve never been spiritually born you\u2019re not a member of God\u2019s church.\n\nSo this is a very interesting point to make because if you understand this it will shape your whole eschatology, the study of the end.\u00a0 It was John Walvoord (who was a great eschatologist) who said your eschatology has more to do with your ecclesiology than anything else.\u00a0 So this becomes a key difference between Israel and the church.\u00a0 You can be an Israeli but not be born again.\u00a0 So within Judaism there are two kinds of people; unbelieving Jews and believing Jews.\u00a0 So within Judaism you can have believers and you can have unbelievers.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how it is with the church.\u00a0 In the church you have to be a believer or\u00a0 you were never baptized in the Holy Spirit and brought into the body of Christ.\n\nYou say well what does that have to do with eschatology?\u00a0 Well, if you believe what I just said there your whole pretrib rapture is built.\u00a0 What is God doing in the tribulation period.\u00a0 He is bringing unbelieving Israel to faith.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of His goals, probably His primary goal.\u00a0 And He is going to purge off, Zechariah 13:8-9, He\u2019s going to purge off unbelieving Jews.\u00a0 You see that in Zechariah 13:8-9, you see it in Ezekiel 20:33-44, that\u2019s one of the great purposes of the tribulation period is God is separating believing Jews from unbelieving Jews.\n\n[Zechariah 13:8-9, \u201cIt will come about in all the land,\" Declares the LORD, \"That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it.\n\nEzekiel 20:33-44, \u201c\u201cAs I live,\u201d declares the Lord GOD, \u201csurely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you. [34] I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; [35] and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. [37] As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,\u201d declares the Lord GOD. \u00a0[37] I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; [38] and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am the LORD.\u00a0 [39] \u201cAs for you, O house of Israel,\u201d thus says the Lord GOD, \u2018Go, serve everyone his idols; but later you will surely listen to Me, and My holy name you will profane no longer with your gifts and with your idols. [40] For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel,\u201d declares the Lord GOD, \u201cthere the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land; there I will accept them and there I will seek your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things. [41] As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered; and I will prove Myself holy among you in the sight of the nations. [42] And you will know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land which I swore to give to your forefathers. [43] There you will remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you have done. [44]Then you will know that I am the LORD when I have dealt with you for My name\u2019s sake, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel,\u2019 declares the Lord GOD.\u2019\u201d]\n\nWhy does God have to have a time in history where He separates believing Jews from unbelieving Jews?\u00a0 It has to do with the nature of the nation of Israel where you can be a believing physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or an unbelieving physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because within Israel you can have believers and unbelievers. So God in the tribulation period is purging off the rebels and He, after He brings the remnant to faith He\u2019s purifying them.\u00a0 See that?\n\nSo Israel has to go into the tribulation period because of its nature, whereby God has to purge believers from unbelievers.\u00a0 And just dot down Zechariah 13:8-9 you\u2019ll see it and then Ezekiel 20:33-44, you\u2019ll see it there as well.\n\nNow compare that to the church; can you have an unbelieving member of the church?\u00a0 You cannot!\u00a0 You can have an unbelieving member in a local church and that\u2019s not what we\u2019re talking about here; we\u2019re talking about the spiritual church, the new man.\u00a0 So since it\u2019s impossible to be an unbelieving member of the church there is no need\u2026 watch this very carefully, to put the church into the tribulation period to purge off the rebels, to separate believer from unbeliever, because if you\u2019re a member of the church you already are a believer.\n\nBut that\u2019s not how it works with Israel.\u00a0 With Israel\u00a0 you can be a believing Jew or an unbelieving Jew so this time of distress is necessary for God to separate believing believer from unbeliever.\u00a0 That\u2019s why there are so many statements that Paul makes, like in Romans 9:6 where he says not all Israel is Israel.\u00a0 [Romans 9:6, \u201cBut it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;\u201d] \u00a0And he\u2019s drawing a distinction there between a believing Jews and an unbelieving Jew and the purpose of the tribulation period is to purge off the rebels and purify the believing remnant.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to do that with the church because everybody that\u2019s a believer is already a member of the church.\u00a0 Are you with me on that?\n\nSo people that want to push the church into the tribulation period, and there are many out there trying to do this, they misunderstand a foundational fundamental ecclesiological truth and a reason why Israel and the church are different.\u00a0 It has to do with entrance, and I\u2019ll say a little bit more about that on my final point on this list; maybe we\u2019ll get to it but maybe we won\u2019t, at least today.\n\nSo another difference related to the New Jerusalem, Israel is the gates and the church is the foundation.\u00a0 Another difference relates to entrance; you get into Israel through physical birth; you get into the church through spiritual birth.\n\nNow here\u2019s another list and we\u2019ll see how far we get on this list, I doubt we\u2019ll finish it today, but this point has to do with the governing principle.\u00a0 How was the nation of Israel governed?\u00a0 Through what body of truth?\u00a0 And how is the church governed?\u00a0 Through what body of truth?\u00a0 Well, Israel is primarily governed through the Old Testament Law.\u00a0 You say what\u2019s the Old Testament Law? It\u2019s the Sinai revelation, it\u2019s the Mosaic Code that God gave to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 So it would include the books of Exodus and Leviticus and then about forty years later Moses, around the ripe old age of 120, repeats the same information, mostly found in Exodus and Leviticus, for the benefit of the new generation about to enter Canaan because remember their parents had all died off in the wilderness because of the disciplinary hand of God.\n\nSo Deuteronomy is\u2026 and that\u2019s what the name Deuteronomy means, Deutero<\/em> means second, nomos<\/em> means law, so we call it the book of Deuteronomy second law, not because God gave the Law a second time but Moses is restating the information in the book of Exodus and the book of Leviticus for the next generation.\u00a0 I like talking about Deuteronomy because that\u2019s really what ministry is; ministry is not inventing new truth, it is taking ancient truths and applying them in a fresh way for a new generation.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what Deuteronomy is and the original source of the Law is the book of Exodus and the book of Leviticus.\n\nThe whole nation of Israel was governed by that legal system, so when prophets showed up and called wayward Israel back to obedience they filed what\u2019s called a rib, that\u2019s a Hebrew word and it is a covenant lawsuit and I think you\u2019ll see references to this, if memory serves, around Hosea chapter 6, if I\u2019m not mistaken, but it\u2019s in the Book of Hosea where God says to his people through Hosea, I have a case, a rib, a lawsuit against you.\u00a0 And what the prophet does then is spell out all the ways Israel is violating the legal system that they have been given, because the nation of Israel was governed by a legal code.\u00a0 Do you see that?\n\nNow how about the church; what legal code, if any, are we governed by?\u00a0 Well, the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:14, \u201cyou are not under law but under\u201d what? \u201cunder grace.\u201d\u00a0 So we are under a legal code that looks similar to the Mosaic Law at certain points but it\u2019s not the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 The technical names for the legal code we\u2019re under would be the law of Christ, you\u2019ll see a reference to that in Galatians 6:2.\u00a0 [Galatians 6:2, \u201cBear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.\u201d]\u00a0 Sometimes it is called the law of the spirit, you see a reference to that in Romans 8:2.\u00a0 [Romans 8:2, \u201cFor the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.\u201d]\n\nAnd\u00a0 it\u2019s primarily revealed in the epistles, you read through\u2026 and there\u2019s hints of it that Jesus indicates are coming in the Upper Room Discourse, which I\u2019ll talk about in just a second, but you read through our legal code and you say wow, that sounds a lot like Israel\u2019s legal code.\u00a0 We have ten command\u00ad\u00ad\u00adments in Israel\u2019s legal code and what do we have in ours?\u00a0 We have nine command\u00ad\u00adments.\u00a0 So don\u2019t murder, don\u2019t steal, the only thing that\u2019s left out from ours that Israel didn\u2019t have \u00a0is which commandment?\u00a0 The commandment about the sabbath.\u00a0 So you can look at our system and then\u00a0 you can look at Israel\u2019s system and you can see a lot of similarities and so people think aha, we\u2019re still under the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 But Paul very clearly tells us that we\u2019re not under the Mosaic Law, we\u2019re under grace, not law.\u00a0 So what system exactly are we under?\u00a0 We\u2019re under the law of the Spirit, we\u2019re\u00a0 under the law of Christ which looks similar to Israel\u2019s system but it\u2019s an entirely different system.\n\nMy home state, I don\u2019t know how proud I am to admit this any more, is the great state of California, out there on the West Coast, and I moved, my wife and myself moved to the Promised Land, Texas, around the end of 1999 so our residency changed.\u00a0 Now if I commit a crime, like theft, I can look back at the California legal system and say you know what, thievery or stealing is illegal in California; thievery or stealing is also illegal in the state of Texas.\u00a0 But if I steal something in Texas where am I going to be tried?\u00a0 California?\u00a0 NO, I\u2019m going to be tried in the state of Texas.\u00a0 I probably wish I were tried in California because they\u2019re a little bit more lax than Texas is, but the reality of the situation is if you break a law in Texas you\u2019re not going to be tried in California even though California has similar laws on the books.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 Because California and Texas are legal systems which look the same at some junctures but they\u2019re totally different systems.\n\nAnd that\u2019s basically what we\u2019re under related to the law of the Spirit, the law of Christ, New Testament revelation.\u00a0 And it\u2019s kind of funny when you talk like this, there\u2019s a lot of people that will call you antinomian; anti <\/em>means against, and nomos<\/em> means the law.\u00a0 And so if you tell people we\u2019re not under the Mosaic Law they throw a word at you, called antinomian, and they try to create a strongman argument that you don\u2019t care about morals, you don\u2019t care about the Ten Command\u00adments, and the reality is that\u2019s just a silly accusation to make against our view because we do care about morals, we do care about ethics.\u00a0 We just go to the right parts of the Bible to define what\u2019s normative for the Christian in the present age.\u00a0 I don\u2019t wander back to the Law of Moses and try to find things that I want to bind Christians by.\n\nSo our governing principle, the governing principle for Israel was the Law, the governing principle for the church is\u2026 I have New Testament there but that may be a little too broad, it\u2019s primarily the epistolary literature revealing the law of the Spirit or the law of Christ.\u00a0 Now this if you understand this it\u2019s going to clear up a lot of confusion because every once in a while you hear a pretty good sermon on tithing.\u00a0 You guys ever heard one of those?\u00a0 And they will quote Malachi 3:8--11, which says, \u201cBring the whole tithe into the storehouse,\u201d and God says \u201ctest Me now in this\u201d and\u00a0 see if I will not pour out so great a blessing upon you that you do not have room to receive it.\n\n[Malachi 3:8-11, \u201cWill a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, \u2018How have we robbed You?\u2019 In tithes and offerings. [9] \u201cYou are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!<\/em> [10] \u201cBring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,\u201d says the LORD of hosts, \u201cif I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. [11] \u201cThen I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,<\/em>\u201d says the LORD of hosts.\u201d]\n\nSo the preacher gets up and he talks about Malachi 3 and it\u2019s a pretty good fund raising device actually.\u00a0 The problem is the Christian is not today bound by what Malachi is emphasizing regarding the Law of Moses.\u00a0 The Law of Moses was a covenant that God gave to Israel and part of that covenant is blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.\u00a0 So if Israel obeyed her covenant God, through covenant obligation was materially obligated to bless Israel.\u00a0 So their crops would be bountiful, they would lend and not borrow, they would go out and fight their wars and they would win.\u00a0 And that\u2019s Deuteronomy 28:1-14.\u00a0 Then the opposite is true, verse 15-68, if the nation of Israel disobeyed the covenant, and this is what the prophets were all worked up about under God, if the nation of Israel disobeyed the covenant then the opposite would be true, their crops would be cursed, they would basically borrow instead of lend, they would go out and fight and they would lose because that\u2019s the type of system that the nation of Israel was\u00a0 under.\n\nSo when the prophet Malachi, who some call the only Italian prophet in the Bible, Mah-lah-che, Malachi actually means my messenger, so when Malachi is talking about \u201cbring your whole tithe to the storehouse\u201d what he\u2019s saying is go back to the Mosaic Law and if you back to the Mosaic Law in terms of obedience, in terms of your finances, then God under the Mosaic Covenant is covenantally obligated to bless you materially.\n\nSo for a pastor or a teacher or a fund raiser to directly apply that verse in terms of governing the church is to put the church back under the Law and here I\u2019m talking about the Mosaic Law, and when you hear people doing that it should raise some red flags because Paul tells us very clearly, Romans 6:14, we\u2019re not under Law, we\u2019re under grace.\u00a0 [Romans 6:14, \u201cFor sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.\u201d]\n\nI love the Book of Malachi, I love the Book of Deuteronomy, I love all of those books and all of those concepts and all of those ideas but here\u2019s the thing to remember: all Scripture is for us but not all is Scripture is about us.\u00a0 And this is sort of the mistake that people make when they use these verses that apply to the Mosaic Law and dangle them out to people as if God is somehow covenantally obligated to do those things today.\u00a0 That same law that tells you to bring your tithe to the store house, first of all where is the store house?\u00a0 It\u2019s not First Baptist Church of Houston.\u00a0 It\u2019s your \u201ctithe to the storehouse\u201d is the temple.\u00a0\u00a0 Now that\u2019s kind of hard for us to follow today because Israel has no what?\u00a0 No temple.\n\nAnd beyond that, when he says bring the whole \u201ctithe to the storehouse\u201d he\u2019s not even talking about ten percent of your money; he\u2019s talking about twenty-three and a third percent of your money because the nation of Israel had three tithes.\u00a0 It\u2019s like a tax system that you would expect in an government.\u00a0 The first two are annual and the last one was collected every three years.\u00a0 So basically when he says bring the whole tithe to the storehouse he\u2019s saying don\u2019t bring ten percent, bring twenty-three and a third percent.\u00a0 And by the way, you don\u2019t show up on Sunday because under the Mosaic Law what was the Sabbath?\u00a0 Saturday.\u00a0 So it\u2019s interesting when people quote Malachi 3 they quote parts of it but they don\u2019t, for some reason, put the church under all of it.\u00a0 See that?\n\nAnd you cannot do that with the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 You cannot pick what parts govern and what parts don\u2019t because the Book of James, chapter 2 and verse 10 says if you\u2019re guilty of part of the Law you\u2019ve stumbled over what?\u00a0 stumbled over the whole thing.\u00a0 [James 2:10, \u201cFor whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.\u201d]\n\nThe moment I put one little pinky under the Law I\u2019m obligated to do all of it, which means show up on Saturday, and by the way, if you don\u2019t show up on Saturday, Numbers, I think it\u2019s 15, says I have to take rocks and throw them at you, to the point where you\u2019re a corpse, you\u2019re dead.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[Numbers 15:32-36., \u201cNow while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. [33] Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; [34] and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him.\u00a0 [35] \u201cThen the LORD said to Moses, \u2018The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.\u2019 [36] So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.\u201d]\n\nSo why aren\u2019t following that part of it.\u00a0 And this is the maize you get into when you put the church under part of the Law, yet people tell you that if you don\u2019t do this you\u2019re antinomian.\u00a0 Well, they\u2019re antinomian because they\u2019re leaving out parts of it and including others.\u00a0 And we are not antinomian because we believe very strongly in the New Testament Law of Christ.\n\nHere is another example of confusion that takes over when you put the church under any part of the Law, and I love patriotic preaching, by the way; I\u2019ve given some patriotic sermons myself.\u00a0 I love giving patriotic sermons, I love listening to patriotic sermons but around the 4th<\/sup> of July someone is going to crack open 2 Chronicles 7:14.\u00a0 You guys know that verse.\u00a0 You probably know it by heart, we don\u2019t even have to read it, it might even be on your refrigerator at home.\u00a0 Does anybody know it by heart, I don\u2019t have to turn there.\u00a0 Pat knows it, go ahead Pat, \u201cand My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.\u201d\n\nNow I\u2019ve heard politicians quote this and the politician that I was listening to quoting this and I won\u2019t mention his name, you\u2019d all know who I was talking about\u2026 nobody that goes here by the way.\u00a0 But they quoted the verse perfectly but unlike Pat they left out this little clause, \u201cturn from their wicked ways.\u201d\u00a0 Gee\u2026 just a minor omission?\n\nSo what people do on 4th<\/sup> of July is they grab this verse and they preach it and they make it sound as if America is the covenanted nation and we need to get back to God in America.\u00a0 And believe me, you know me well enough that I believe all these things about America and America\u2019s Christian heritage and the need for us to get back to our basics, fundamentals and all of that stuff.\u00a0 But what I\u2019m against is people misusing the Bible to accomplish whatever agenda they\u2019re trying to accomp\u00adlish.\u00a0 And what they\u2019re saying is if we do X, Y and Z then God is obligated to heal their land and they defined the land as what?\u00a0 The United States of America.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 The problem is the only nation in the history of mankind that has a covenant with God is Israel.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Psalm 147:19-20 very clearly says, \u201cHe declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.\u00a0 [20] He has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for His ordinances, they have not known them.\u201d\n\nSo the Law through the Mosaic Covenant was only given to one nation, the nation of Israel.\u00a0 The nation of Israel is the only nation that has ever existed in the history of the world that has a covenant with God.\u00a0 People say well, the United States of America has a covenant with God.\u00a0 Well, to determine whether that is true I would have to have some kind of extra biblical revelation, wouldn\u2019t I?\u00a0 Which I don\u2019t have, because the Bible doesn\u2019t mention the United States of America, saying we have a covenant with God.\u00a0 Now people quote the Mayflower Compact where our forbearers came here very early on and they said this land that we\u2019re entering exists for the propagation of the Christian faith, the Mayflower Compact, a famous legal doctrine in American history.\u00a0 Well you see, that is America\u2019s covenant to God and America\u2019s covenant obligations to each other.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 That is a manmade covenant.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what Israel has, Israel has no manmade covenant, they didn\u2019t make a commitment to God.\u00a0 God spelled out the conditions of the covenant to them.\n\nSo Israel\u2019s covenant goes from God to Israel; our covenant here in America (assuming we even have one) goes from man back to God.\u00a0 See the difference there.\u00a0 2 Chronicles 7:14 says if My people will honor the terms of the Mosaic Covenant then I will\u2026 Malachi says I will pour out a blessing so great that they don\u2019t have room to contain it.\u00a0 2 Chronicles 7:14 says I \u201cwill heal their land.\u201d\u00a0 [Malachi 3:10, \u201c\u2019 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,\u2019 says the LORD of hosts, \u2018if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 2 Chronicles 7:14, \u201cIf \u00a0My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.\u201d]\n\nThe land there is the land of Israel and the healing is not gosh, we need to get out of this recession here in America, gosh we need to get rid of abortion here in America, gosh, we need to need to get rid of pornography here in America, that\u2019s not what it\u2019s talking about at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s talking about Israel going back into obedience and God being now obligated to bless Israel in terms of her crops, in terms of her being the person that loans rather than the person that goes into debt and in terms of winning rewards.\n\nSo you take a passage like Malachi 3 and 2 Chronicles 7 and you have to be thinking of Israel\u2019s legal system and you have to be thinking really of the Mosaic Law and you have to be thinking of Deuteronomy 28.\u00a0 So America is NOT Israel.\u00a0 The closest I could ever come to arguing that America is Israel is the letters USA appear in the word Jerusalem in a row; other than that I don\u2019t have any biblical authority for putting the United States or any other Gentile nation under the Mosaic Law because Psalm 147:19-20 are very clear that the Law was only given to the nation of Israel.\n\nSo what then are we under? \u00a0We are under a system that is entirely different but it looks similar to Israel\u2019s system at certain points.\u00a0 To find out what\u2019s normative for the church you don\u2019t go to the Mosaic Law, or the Old Testament Prophets to discover it; you go into the New Testament, primarily the epistolary literature.\n\nNow here is how the Reformed camp, and by Reformed camp I mean people that say we\u2019re still under the Mosaic Law, here\u2019s basically how they argue.\u00a0 They say well, the Mosaic Law had three parts to it: number 1, there was a ceremonial part of it that had to do with the animal sacrifices.\u00a0 Number 2, there was the punitive part of it, that had to do with stoning to death, sabbath breakers, homosexuals, people that practice witchcraft, kids that smart off to their parents, (now that last one might be worth bringing back\u2026 no, just kidding!)\u00a0 But they take the ceremonial and then they say well here\u2019s the punitive section of it.\u00a0 And you say well what about the Ten Commandments, don\u2019t murder, don\u2019t steal, don\u2019t commit adultery; they say that\u2019s the moral section.\n\nAnd this is what John Calvin argued; John Calvin said well the first two parts of it are gone and the only part that remains is the moral section.\u00a0 What is the problem with that? \u00a0\u00a0The Law is a take it or leave it enterprise; if you go under any part of the Law, even the Ten Commandments as they\u2019re revealed in the Old Testament, not the New Testament, the epistles, but the Old Testament, you have to come back under all of it.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have the privilege of carving out the third of it that you like and chucking the two-thirds that you don\u2019t like.\n\nBeyond that, when you read the law of God, and I would encourage you to read it, I mean, God gave it, all Scripture is for us although not all Scripture is directly about us.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 When you read through the Mosaic Law Moses never says okay you all, here comes the moral part, ready?\u00a0 Boom, boom, boom, boom.\u00a0 Okay you all, here comes the civil or punitive part of it, boom, boom, boom, boom.\u00a0 Oh, and here comes the sacrificial part of it, boom, boom, boom, boom.\u00a0 That is an artificial division of God\u2019s Law.\u00a0 God\u2019s Law is never set up in that three part categorization that John Calvin came\u00a0 up with.\n\nSo all of that to say you can\u2019t go under any part of the Mosaic Law in terms of something being directly binding on a Christian today because we\u2019re under a different system that looks similar at some points but it\u2019s different.\u00a0 So we are under the law of Christ in the New Testament primarily the epistles.\u00a0 So Israel and the church are governed by different foundations.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 They\u2019re governed by different sources.\u00a0 And so that becomes a really key issue to keep in mind because it will save\u00a0 you from a lot of mistakes of putting yourself under 2 Chronicles 7:14 and putting yourself under Malachi 3:8-11, etc.\n\nHere is another difference; what is our relationship to the Holy Spirit today versus what the nation of Israel had in Old Testament times, primarily.\u00a0 And by the way, the dispensation of Law goes right through the Gospels and ends, really I would argue in Acts 2; that\u2019s when God started something new through the church.\u00a0 So Jesus was born under Law, Galatians 4:4.\u00a0 He hints many times of a new age that\u2019s coming.\u00a0 I think He\u2019s doing that in the Upper Room Discourse, John 13-17.\u00a0 But if you study the life of Christ what you have to understand is Jesus is the end of that system.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Why does it have to work that way?\u00a0 Because He\u2019s the only one that could ever keep the Law.\u00a0 Right!\u00a0 So God has to show that the only one that could ever keep this perfectly was Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why the dispensation, or the age of the Law has to continue through the life of Christ.\n\nBut what is our relationship to the Holy Spirit versus what happened in the prior age?\u00a0 There are three major differences and I have them listed here.\u00a0 Number 1 relates to when do we receive the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Number 2 relates to how long is the Holy Spirit inside of us for?\u00a0 And the third is who exactly is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 So we can go through these one by one.\n\nWhen did people receive the Holy Spirit in the Gospels during the ministry of Christ and in Old Testament times?\u00a0 Well, frequently what happened is the Spirit of God came upon people after they were already believers.\u00a0 For example, in the Book of Exodus, chapter 31 and verse 3 it talks about how the Spirit of God came upon the tabernacle workers giving them special abilities with carpentry and things like that, to build the tabernacle.\u00a0 [Exodus 31:3, \u201cI have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship,\u201d]\n\nNow obviously these people were already believers in the Lord because these are the people that had put the blood of the Passover Lamb on the doorpost and consequently had gotten out of Egypt.\u00a0 This was the generation that is mentioned in the hall of faith, Hebrews 11.\u00a0 And there\u2019s no doubt in my mind these people are all saved, but what you see is the Holy Spirit comes upon people subsequent to personal salvation, oftentimes to equip them for a certain task, like being a king, or building the tabernacle.\n\nNow compare that to today.\u00a0 What\u2019s normative today?\u00a0 When exactly does the church age believer receive the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 They receive the Holy Spirit at the point of faith. \u00a0So there is no subsequent giving of the Spirit as normative after a person is already a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Romans 8:9 is very clear on this; it says, \u201cIf anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him.\u201d\n\nNow maybe you guys could ask me this in Q and A or maybe I could just answer it now; there is a temporary delay in the giving of the Spirit in Acts 8 with the Samaritans, but that is a situation that we would call a transitional problem in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 There are certain things happening in the Book of Acts that are not normative in the age of the church.\u00a0 For example, how many of you own homes?\u00a0 I think most people here are home owners or close.\u00a0 If you own a home then\u00a0 you\u2019ve violated the Book of Acts, right?\u00a0 Because the early church sold all their homes in Jerusalem and gave the proceeds to people that wanted to stay in Jerusalem to learn apostolic doctrine.\n\nSo obviously there are things happening in the Book of Acts that we don\u2019t say is normative today.\u00a0 One of the things that happened in Acts 8 is the Spirit of God did not come upon the Samaritan believers until the Jerusalem apostles came from Jerusalem to lay hands on the Samaritan believers.\u00a0 And you say well why did God delay the giving of the Holy Spirit at that point?\u00a0 You have to understand the Hebrew Samaritan conflict; these were two people that hated each other\u2019s guts.\u00a0 The Samaritans had their own religious system on Mount Gerizim, they wouldn\u2019t even go down to Jerusalem to worship.\n\nThere was religious hatred, there was racial\u2026 talk about racial tension today, I mean, I think we\u2019ve got the best book on how to fix racial problems, it\u2019s called Acts 8.\u00a0 You have religious tension and that\u2019s why when Jesus goes into a Samaritan village, James and John, John the love apostle, says Lord, shall we not call down fire from heaven and consume these people?\u00a0 [Luke 9:54, \u201cWhen His disciples James and John saw this, they said, \u2018Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?\u201d\u2019] That\u2019s not exactly a very loving thing to say.\u00a0 Why did he say that?\u00a0 Because he hated the Samaritans and the Samaritans hated the Jews.\n\nAnd that\u2019s why when Jesus is ministering in John 4, not just to a woman, because women were treated very low on the social structure in Christ\u2019s day, but a Samaritan\u2026 I mean, Jesus, what are You doing?\u00a0 You\u2019re ministering to the wrong gender and the wrong race.\u00a0 Why did the disciples say that?\u00a0 Because of the Samaritan Jewish conflict.\n\nSo in that instance once those in Samaria believed and became part of the church the apostles had to come from Jerusalem to lay hands on these people so the Spirit could be given to them.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because if the Lord had not done it that way you know what you would have had in the age of the church, right out of the gate?\u00a0 You would have had two churches.\u00a0 You would have had a Jerusalem church, which was already functioning, and you would have had a Samaritan church.\u00a0 And that same rivalry and racial and religious hatred would have continued right on into the age of the church, and that\u2019s contrary to God\u2019s plan for the church because Galatians 3:28 says, \u201cThere is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all\u201d what? \u201cone in Christ Jesus.\u201d\n\nSo in that instance the Lord delayed the giving of the Holy Spirit, in that case, but it\u2019s not normative throughout the age of the church.\u00a0 Romans 8:9 says if you do not have the Spirit you do not belong to Christ.\u00a0 [Romans 8:9, \u201cHowever, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.\u201d]\u00a0 The moment you trust in Christ is the moment your body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit.\n\nSo in Old Testament age people received the Holy Spirit many times after they were saved.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how it works today.\u00a0 Even with the Samaritan example that\u2019s not what\u2019s normative; that was a single occurrence for a specific reason.\u00a0 And the Book of Acts is filled with those kind of things.\u00a0 This is why\u00a0 you cannot define what is normative today from the Book of Acts.\u00a0 And this is our difference of opinion with the charismatic movement because they anchor everything in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 Now we love the Book of Acts but we see the Book of Acts as a historical book where all kind of things are happening that aren\u2019t normative today.\n\nIf you want to identify something as normative today you can\u2019t just find it in the Book of Acts, you\u2019ve got to also find it where?\u00a0 In the epistolary literature.\u00a0 The second difference is how long is the Holy Spirit in people for?\u00a0 In the prior age the Holy Spirit could come upon someone for a task and then the Holy Spirit could leave.\u00a0 1 Samuel 16:14, that\u2019s what happened to Saul.\u00a0 [1 Samuel 16:14, \u201cNow the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.\u201d]\u00a0 And please don\u2019t get caught up in this mindset that Saul was not a believer. He was disobedient but he was a believer; he was the first king of the united kingdom, and in certain parts of his life God used him greatly.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t end well.\n\nPsalm 54:11, what does David pray?\u00a0 Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. [Psalm 54:11, \u201cDo not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why would David pray that?\u00a0 Because in the prior age the Holy Spirit could come upon people temporarily for a certain task.\n\nNow is that how it works today?\u00a0 Does the Holy Spirit come and go?\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 Jesus hinting at our age said this in the Upper Room, John 14:16-17, He says, \u201cI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you\u201d for how long? \u201cforever;\u201d that blew their minds, I mean, the Spirit of God is in me forever as a Christian?\u00a0 That\u2019s true.\u00a0 And then He defines who this helper is, [17] \u201cthat is<\/em> the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but<\/em> you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you forever.\u201d\u00a0 The Holy Spirit in our age does not come upon people temporarily, He\u2019s in people forever.\n\nThe worst thing that you could to, therefore, as a Christian related to the Holy Spirit is not to get rid of the Spirit, you can\u2019t do that, but you can stifle His influence in you through unconfessed sin.\u00a0 You can quench the Spirit, you can grieve the Spirit, but since the Holy Spirit is a permanent possession you cannot lose the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s different than in the prior dispensation, the Spirit could come and the Spirit could go.\u00a0 And I was in a youth group where used to sing Psalm 51:11 as a song, \u201ctake not Thy Holy Spirit from me\u201d we would sing.\u00a0 And then you start to kind of grow in your Bible knowledge and you say well why were we singing that?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t we sing\u2026 I don\u2019t have any musical ability but why don\u2019t we\u2026 you could do this Chris, you could work on this in\u00a0 your spare time, why don\u2019t we turn John 14:16-17 into a song and sing that.\u00a0 And people that don\u2019t understand the Israel\/church distinction frequently go to the wrong parts of the Bible to define what is normative today.\n\nThe third difference relates to who is indwelt exactly.\u00a0 In the prior age not every believer was indwelt by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 You say well, where are you getting this from?\u00a0 I\u2019m getting it from Joel 2:28 where a prophecy is made that the Spirit one day is going to be poured out on all flesh.\u00a0 [Joel 2:28, \u201cIt will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.\u201d]\n\nIn other words, all of God\u2019s people are going to receive the Holy Spirit and if that was already happening at the time Joel made this particular prophecy everyone would be saying so what?\u00a0 What\u2019s the front page news\u00a0 in that?\u00a0 So the fact that Joel announced such a monumental change indicates that at the time Joel spoke those words not everyone was indwelt by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 Now compare that to today.\u00a0 Every child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit for how long?\u00a0 Forever.\u00a0 At the point of what?\u00a0 Faith.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, \u201cFor by one Spirit we were\u201d what\u2019s the next word, \u201call<\/u> baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 It mentions \u201call\u201d twice.\u00a0 So in the age of the church every child of God receives the Holy Spirit and that\u2019s not how it worked in the prior age; not every believer was indwelt by the Holy Spirit.\n\nAnd we take the Holy Spirit for granted.\u00a0 We assume that what the Holy Spirit is doing today has always been.\u00a0 But when you actually study this in the totality of God\u2019s Word what you start to see is we are very privileged.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit is doing things in our lives today that He has never done in redemptive history.\u00a0 What are those things?\u00a0 Receiving Him at the point of faith, indwelling us forever and indwelling every single child of God.\u00a0 Do you see that?\n\nSo therefore you cannot determine the pattern of the Spirit\u2019s work today from the Old Testament and even the Gospels themselves.\u00a0 The only places in the Gospels that give you what\u2019s normative for the Spirit of God today is hints that Jesus makes of the coming age.\u00a0 So John and the Gospel of John is filled with this transition that\u2019s\u00a0 yet coming.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t operative during the life of Christ but it would be operative beginning in Acts 2.\u00a0 John 7:39 says this: \u201cBut this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.\u201d\u00a0 When was Jesus glorified?\u00a0 At the ascension, after His ascension He re-entered glory and His first order of business was to permanently give to the church, to every child of God, the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit.\n\nBack to John 14:16-17, \u201cI will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; [17] that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you\u201d forever.\u00a0 That verse right there says there\u2019s a change coming.\u00a0 The time is coming when every believer will be indwelt by the Spirit of God forever.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very interesting in verse 17 when Jesus says this to the eleven huddled in the Upper Room, He says, \u201cbut you know Him.\u201d\u00a0 So just because there\u2019s a change coming you should not get the idea that the Holy Spirit was doing nothing in the Old Testament.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit is very active in the Old Testament, right there in Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God was hovering on the waters.\u00a0 [Genesis 1:2, \u201cThe earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.\u201d]\n\nThen the Spirit of God equipped the tabernacle workers for their function.\u00a0 [Exodus 31:3, \u201cI have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of<\/em> craftsmanship,\u201d]\u00a0 The Spirit came on Saul.\u00a0 [I Samuel 11:16, \u201cThen the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words\u2026.\u201d]\u00a0 And you can go right through the Old Testament and\u00a0 you can see the activity of the Spirit.\u00a0 Jesus says you know Him.\n\nBut beginning in Acts 2 He\u2019s going to start doing something different, He\u2019s going to be \u201cwith you and in you\u201d forever.\u00a0 So Charles Fienberg, one of the great scholars of the prior generation, was asked at a Bible conference during a question and answer session, is the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Old Testament.\u00a0 He\u2019s an Old Testament scholar.\u00a0 So he stood up to answer the question and he started with Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God hovering on the waters,\u00a0 and from there he went to the Exodus, how the Spirit of God equipped the tabernacle works.\u00a0 And from memory\u2026 FROM MEMORY on the spot he went through every single reference to the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.\u00a0 And this was before the days of internet and live streaming so the only way I know it happened is people that were there have talked about it.\u00a0 And the more Charles Fienberg talked, and it took him about an hour or two to answer this, the longer he talked the more spellbound the audience became because they were astonished that first of all he could commit all of this to memory, and secondly, they were astonished to learn how frequent the Holy Spirit is in the Old Testament.\n\nSo don\u2019t get the idea that the Spirit of God is not in the Old Testament; He\u2019s clearly there, but He begins to do something very significantly different beginning in Acts 2.\u00a0 So therefore I cannot determine what is normative for the Spirit today based on my reading of the Gospels alone in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Acts 1:5 says, \u201cfor John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.\u201d\u00a0 So you get into early Acts and the Sermon on the Mount and you see big differences.\n\nSo are Israel and the church different?\u00a0 Yes, in terms of how the new Jerusalem is described, foundation stones versus gates?\u00a0 Are Israel and the church different?\u00a0 Yes, in terms of who is admitted, who enters.\u00a0 Are Israel and the church different?\u00a0 Yes, in terms of governing authority and governing principles.\u00a0 Are Israel and the church different?\u00a0 Very different in terms of how the Spirit worked with Israel and how the Spirit works with us?\n\nSo I hope you leave today feeling privileged!\u00a0 And by the way that\u2019s Paul\u2019s whole appeal to telling the Corinthians to avoid sin, when they were shacking up (if I can use that expression) or sneaking out at night and joining with the temple prostitutes in the pagan temple, Paul says, \u201cDo you now know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 6:19, \u201cOr do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?\u201d]\n\nAnd since you\u2019re privileged and the Holy Spirit is within you forever you\u2019re dragging the Holy Spirit into that sin.\u00a0 See?\u00a0 That sort of command universally applied to all of God\u2019s people could not function or could not make any sense in the old covenant dispensation.\u00a0 I talked too long, but I feel badly, I should answer at least one question.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Tape ends]","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t