{"id":19208,"date":"2017-11-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-028\/"},"modified":"2017-11-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T06:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-028","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-028\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 028"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[94],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19208","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-ephesians","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 028","sermon_date":"20171129","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5208,"sermon_slides":5210,"sermon_mp3":5211,"sermon_id":"1129171851498","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":94,"chapter_and_verse":"1:3","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n11-29-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ephesians 1:3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 28\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 3.\u00a0 Just looking at my calendar, we are meeting next week, the 6th<\/sup>, and that is the last Bible study of 2017, at least on Wednesday night here at the church.\u00a0 And then the 13th<\/sup> is the gingerbread houses.\u00a0 And then the 20th<\/sup>, on the 27th<\/sup> I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any Wednesday activities, and so then we\u2019ll reconvene on January 3rd<\/sup>. \u00a0\u00a0So we have tonight and then we have next week and those of you that may be visiting intermittently, which is good, I just want to let you know what we\u2019re studying on Wednesday nights. We\u2019re in the doctrine of the kingdom and what we\u2019ve done in the study thus far, just to kind of summarize, is we\u2019ve traced the doctrine of the kingdom all the way through the Old Testament and right up into the life of Christ.\u00a0 And so what we saw is that the kingdom was offered to first century Israel on a silver platter and they could have had the king and the kingdom had they responded nationally the right way, but they did not.\u00a0 They rejected their Messiah, as we know.\n\nSo the kingdom, at that point was postponed and because God does not leave the earth without a witness of Himself what He began to do, while the kingdom is absent, is He began to disclose in the New Testament an interim period of time where the kingdom is not present but God is still at work.\u00a0 And I\u2019m hoping we\u2019re going to finish this interim period of time tonight and next week so when we get together on January 3rd<\/sup> I\u2019ll tell you the rest of the story on how the kingdom comes to the earth.\n\nBut to understand this interim age you have to understand the Matthew 13 parables (which we\u2019ve looked at) and you also have to understand something else that\u2019s very significant, what God is doing in and through the church.\u00a0 God is doing some wonderful things today in and through the church!\u00a0 But the church should not be confused with the kingdom.\u00a0 So to help us understand the church we\u2019ve looked at, for the last several weeks, the definition of the church, the church consists of all people, all nations who have trusted in the Messiah, rejected by national Israel.\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at the beginning of the church.\u00a0 When did the church start?\u00a0 Acts 2 and I gave you six reasons why that\u2019s so.\u00a0 Number 3, we\u2019ve looked at the purposes of the church, why does the church exist?\u00a0 And we saw three primary purposes.\u00a0 And then number 4, we spent a lot of time on this, the church is not the kingdom.\u00a0 I gave you about 13 reasons why the church is not the kingdom.\n\nSo we\u2019re here on number 5 and here I\u2019m trying to look at the idea that the church is not Israel.\u00a0 And one of the most basic things you could ever learn in the Bible concerning how to interpret the Bible is to understand that Israel is NOT the church and the church is NOT Israel.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a lot of errors that go on today because people don\u2019t distinguish God\u2019s program for Israel and God\u2019s program for the church.\u00a0 And the reason we\u2019re bringing this up is when we study all of the passages we\u2019ve looked at the kingdom of God is going to come through who?\u00a0 Israel!\u00a0 So if the church is not Israel then the church can\u2019t be the kingdom.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m bringing all of this up.\n\nSo what we\u2019ve been looking at are twenty-four differences between Israel and the church.\u00a0 There\u2019s the first eight we looked at.\u00a0 There\u2019s the next eight we looked at, that takes us to number 16.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve looked at number 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, we just have three more left which we\u2019re going to try to cover tonight.\u00a0 Three more differences why Israel and the church are separate programs of God.\n\nSo the 21st<\/sup> difference has to do with the evangelistic strategy.\u00a0 God, when He created Israel, wanted to bless the world through Israel.\u00a0 So Israel, from its beginning, had an evangelistic calling.\u00a0 And it\u2019s the exact same way with the church.\u00a0 God wants the church to spread the gospel all over the world.\u00a0 So both Israel and the church had a missional calling, BUT a key difference is God gave each different strategies to reach the world.\n\nIsrael\u2019s strategy was a come and see strategy; the church\u2019s strategy is a go and proclaim strategy.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see if we can flush that out.\u00a0 The nation of Israel begins in which chapter of the Bible?\u00a0 Genesis 12; and Genesis 12:3 is Israel\u2019s birthday.\u00a0 God called the patriarch Abraham \u00a0and He began to give to Abraham\u00a0 certain promises.\u00a0 And God specifically said to Abraham, \u201cin you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 12:3, \u201cAnd I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.\u201d]\n\nSo God\u2019s intention for Israel from the beginning was to pour out all these blessings on Israel and yet the blessings were not for Israel alone but they were for the whole world.\u00a0 So God intended to use Israel as His vessel or His vehicle to bless planet earth and to spread the message of the good news about the Messiah.\u00a0 And you see that, not just at the beginning of God\u2019s dealings with Israel, Genesis 12:3, the prophet Isaiah all the way up until almost 1500 years later says the same thing.\u00a0 Notice Isaiah 42:6, \u201cGod says, \u201cI am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the\u201d what? \u201cto the nations,\u201d so God always intended that the nations would see the light of Yahweh through Israel.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of a reaffirmation, if you will, of what God said to Abraham 1000, 1500 years or more earlier.\n\nAnd then notice Isaiah 49:6, it says basically the same thing, He says, \u201cIt is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob\u201d now Jacob is a synonym for Israel, \u201cIs it too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light\u201d to the what? \u201cof the nations, so that My salvation may reach\u201d where, just the land of Israel?\u00a0 No, \u201cto the end of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 So Israel had a missional emphasis and a missional calling.\n\nThe church has a missional emphasis and a missional calling yet the strategy that God uses for the two different groups, Israel and the church is a different strategy, common goal, different strategy.\u00a0 Israel\u2019s strategy is a come and see strategy.\u00a0 So God\u2019s intention for Israel was to build a beautiful temple and the nations would flock to the temple and they would, in the process of flocking to the temple they would see in the temple the temple structure, the temple building, the temple arch\u00aditecture.\u00a0 They would see a knowledge of God.\u00a0 And this is why when you study passages like \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01 Chronicles 9:1-12, you learn that the Queen of Sheba, now the Queen of Sheba was 1,200 miles removed from the land of Israel.\u00a0 The Queen of Sheba, before there was airplanes and helicopters\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and luxury liners and things like that, cruise liners, you could how arduous such a journey would be for here, she traveled 1200 miles to go to Israel to sit at Solomon\u2019s feet and learn of his wisdom.\n\nSo it wasn\u2019t a strategy where the Jewish nation was to go out to the Queen of Sheba; the Queen of Sheba was to come to the land of Israel.\u00a0 So it was really what we call a \u201ccome and see\u201d strategy.\u00a0 And in fact, when you go through the Old Testament and you study the prophets God never sent out a single prophet to a foreign land with the exception of which prophet?\u00a0 Jonah, who was to go to preach to Nineveh and he didn\u2019t really want to go.\u00a0 Other than Jonah being sent out in that one circumstance the prophets never functioned that way; they always ministered in and around the land of Israel.\u00a0 So you didn\u2019t have in the land of Israel \u201cmission Sunday\u201d or \u201cmission moment\u201d where the missionary would come in and come back from their removed part of the world and give an update to the land of Israel concerning what their missionary activity is about because that wasn\u2019t the strategy that God gave to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 It was never a \u201cgo out\u201d kind of strategy; it was a \u201ccome and see\u201d strategy.\n\nAnd when you understand this you start to understand why Jesus was so upset with the money-changers in the temple.\u00a0 Jesus, not once but twice, drove out the money-changers out of the temple.\u00a0 He did it at the beginning of His ministry and when you put all the chronological pieces of the life of Christ together you discover He did it at the end of His ministry.\u00a0 You know the story, how he went in with a whip and he overturned the tables and it was like an act of almost\u2026 well, it was physical violence, I don\u2019t know if He hurt anybody but He physically\u2026 and Mark particularly describes His emotions, He was angry at this because they had taken the temple, which was supposed to be a light to the nations, who were supposed to come and see what God was all about, they had turned it into just a money-making operation.\u00a0 And so what are the nations supposed to conclude when they come and see this?\u00a0 Well, God is a God of greed, all He cares about is money, and so when you understand the strategy evangelistically that God gave to the nation of Israel you begin to understand why Christ overturned the money changers in the temple, not once but twice.\n\nAnd when the kingdom is going to be established one day, through which city?\u00a0 The city of Jerusalem, that same strategy will be in effect during the kingdom also.\u00a0 So notice Isaiah 2:1-4, it says: \u201cThe word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.\u00a0 [2] Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains,\u201d and look at this it \u201cwill be raised above the hills;\u201d so Jerusalem in the coming kingdom is going to be in a place of preeminence over the nations by the design of God.\u00a0 And notice what it says, \u201cAnd all the nations will stream to it.\u201d\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 That\u2019s the \u201ccome and see\u201d strategy that was going on with Solomon and it\u2019s what\u2019s going to be happening in the thousand\u00a0 year kingdom.\u00a0 So you don\u2019t have missionaries, you have people going to Israel.\n\nIsaiah 2:3, \u201cAnd many peoples will come and say, \u201cCome, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.\u2019\u00a0 For the law will go forth from\u201d where?\u00a0 \u201cZion\u201d which is a synonym for Jerusalem, \u201cand the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.\u201d\u00a0 And then it says, [4] And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.\u00a0 Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.\u201d\u00a0 Notice here in the kingdom you don\u2019t have missionaries coming from the remote parts of the earth; you have the people all going to Jerusalem to learn of God.\n\nThe Book of Zechariah, chapter 14, verses 16-18, in the kingdom it talks again about this come and see strategy.\u00a0 Zechariah 14:16-18 says, \u201cAnd then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up\u201d why is it called \u201cup\u201d?\u00a0 Because Jerusalem is on a higher elevation, that\u2019s why there\u2019s a section in the Psalter, the Book of Psalms, 150 Psalms, there\u2019s a section of them called the Psalms of Ascent.\u00a0 Why are they called the Psalms of Ascent?\u00a0 Because those were the psalms that were sung by the Jews when they went up to Jerusalem, a higher elevation, the celebrate various feasts.\u00a0 So when you go to Jerusalem, and I say when, not if, because you\u2019re going to get there one way or another, you\u2019re either going to be there during the kingdom or you can go there early and get kind of the lay of the land; I recommend you do take a trip to Jerusalem.\u00a0 If you\u2019re on a good trip the bus driver will put that bus into high gear and you\u2019ll start your ascent up to Jerusalem and the tour guides or the teachers will start making you aware of the Psalms of ascent and reading some of those psalms in the psalter.\u00a0 It\u2019s all a come and see, come and see strategy.\u00a0 And this is how it is in the kingdom.\n\nIt says, \u201cAnd then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u201d\u00a0 Now some people won\u2019t want to go and that\u2019s not a good thing, because verse 17 says, \u201cAnd it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.\u201d\u00a0 So God deals with them immediately in judgment if they won\u2019t follow the play book and go to Jerusalem to learn of God.\n\nVerse 18, \u201cIf the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall<\/em> on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.\u201d\u00a0 So what am I getting at here?\u00a0 I\u2019m getting at the whole missionary mindset of Israel was a come and see strategy.\u00a0 That\u2019s how it was in the Old Testament, that explains the anger of Jesus in the temple structure and that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to be in the kingdom.\u00a0 Israel always had that missionary calling but the strategy was come and see.\n\nNow let\u2019s compare that to the church, which started on the Day of Pentecost.\u00a0 The church is also evangelistic; the church is also missional but the whole strategy for the church is completely different than Israel.\u00a0 It\u2019s a go and proclaim strategy. \u00a0\u00a0See that?\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s why, remember we studied the Matthew 13 parables, that\u2019s why there\u2019s a great shock\u2026 see, if you\u2019re a careful Bible student up to this point,\u00a0 you read Matthew 13 where Jesus is disclosing new truths of the coming church age and He starts to say things that were completely foreign to what you find in the Old Testament.\u00a0 He spoke many things to them in parables and said, \u2018Behold the sower went\u201d what? \u201cout to sow.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 13:3]\n\nNow to us in the 21st<\/sup> century that are used to missionary activity, we say so what?\u00a0 But if you were an Old Testament Jew and all you knew was a come and see strategy this was completely radical.\u00a0 I mean, Jesus radically changed the playbook right here.\u00a0 So I\u2019ve been quoting a lot from Arthur Pink and I like how he treats the Matthew 13 parables.\u00a0 I don\u2019t agree with everything Arthur Pink has said but I think he did a good job early in his ministry dealing with these Matthew 13 parables.\u00a0 Remember when we were in the Matthew 13 parables I read you this citation from Arthur Pink.\n\nPink says, \u201cThe words \u2018went forth to sow,\u2019 <\/em>or as Mark\u2019s Gospel puts it \u2018went out\u2019 <\/em>were indicative of the great dispensational change\u201d now there\u2019s the big scare world, \u201cdispensational,\u201d oooohhh, what does that mean, and it\u2019s a big sounding scare word but it has a very easy definition; the word translated dispensation in, I think the King James Bible, from Ephesians 1:10 and Ephesians 3:2 is oikonomeo<\/em>, which is a compound word, meaning two words making up a single word, oikos<\/em> means house, and nomos<\/em> means rules, or law.\u00a0 So a dispensation is a system of house rules.\u00a0 In other words, what happened in Matthew 13 is Jesus just changed the rules.\u00a0 The rules used to be, under Israel, come and see to accomplish evangelism; then it became, with the parable of the sower, go and proclaim.\u00a0 So there\u2019s similarity in the sense that God always wants to reach the world but He\u2019s given a completely different strategy to Israel than He\u2019s given to us, the church.\n\nSo \u201cThe words \u2018went forth to sow\u201d <\/em>or as Mark\u2019s Gospel puts it \u2018went out\u2019 <\/em>were indicative of the great dispensational change which was soon to be introduced.\u00a0 There was no longer to be a planting of vines or fig-trees in Israel, but a going out of the mercy of God unto the Gentiles; therefore what we have here is the broadcast<\/em> sowing of the Seed in the field at large, for as verse 38 tells us \u2018the field is the world<\/em>.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So now it\u2019s go to the world; the world is not going to come to\u00a0 you to see your beautiful temple; now you are the temple, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, now\u00a0 you go out.\n\nAnd you see this in the great commission; right?\u00a0 The great commission is Christ\u2019s instructions to the church.\u00a0 The end of the Gospels, whether it\u2019s Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, has an accounting of the great commission, what the church is supposed to be doing in terms of evangelism and missionary work.\u00a0 Matthew\u2019s Gospel puts it this way: \u00a0[Matthew 28:18-20]\u00a0 \u201cAnd Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, \u201cAll authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.\u201d Look at verse 19, what\u2019s the first word, \u201cGo<\/u> therefore and make disciples of all the nations\u2026. <\/strong>So the idea that they\u2019re all going to come to Jerusalem in those days were over in the church age, now it\u2019s \u201cGo\u201d and proclaim, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, [20] \u00a0<\/sup>teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u201d\n\nSo the rules changed; that\u2019s what Pink means by a dispensational change.\u00a0 Mark\u2019s rendition of the great commission is \u201cGo into\u201d where? \u201call the world and preach the gospel\u201d to people that love the United States of America\u2026 NO, it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cGo into all the world and preach the gospel to\u201d people that agree with you on everything?\u00a0 No, it doesn\u2019t say that either, does it?\u00a0 \u201cGo into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.\u201d\u00a0 [Mark 16:15]\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s the church\u2019s function, world\u00adwide evangelization.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the reasons why we here at Sugar Land Bible Church, in terms of budget, I think we give 20% of our budget, if I\u2019m not mistaken, to missionary work.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why missionaries that we support come to the church pretty frequently, and give reports on what it is they do because not all of us are called to be missionaries but all of us are called to at least financially support and pray for missionaries because that\u2019s why God has us on the earth.\n\nActs 1:8, as Jesus is instructing His disciples, He says, \u201cbut you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,\u201d here\u2019s Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria\u2026 I could put it this way, Jerusalem is a city, and putting this in 21at century terms, Judea and Samaria would be counties that that city is located in, so you notice how Jesus just expanded the reach there.\u00a0 The strategy of come to Jerusalem and see the temple, those days are over for now; now you\u2019ve got to get out in the surrounding counties.\n\nAnd by the way, when He said Samaria that blew their minds because if you study in the Scripture the Jewish\/Samaritan conflict you will discover two races of people that hated each other\u2019s guts.\u00a0 The Samaritans were a half-breed race that were put into the land of Israel by an Assyrian king after this Assyrian king kicked out the northern kingdom.\u00a0 So to repopulate it he brought in this kind of Babylonian group and they intermarried with some Jews in the land and so they were a different race, a half breed race and they didn\u2019t go to Jerusalem like they were supposed to.\u00a0 They said we\u2019re going to start our own religion on Mt. Gerizim.\u00a0 Remember when Moses died, prior to entering into the land he was told about the two mountains, Ebal and Gerizim?\u00a0 Ebal, where the curses of the Law would be read and Gerizim, where the blessings of the Law would be read.\n\nSo the Samaritans said we\u2019re not going to Jerusalem, we\u2019re going to start our own religious system on Mount Gerizim.\u00a0 For over 700 years you have to understand that the Jews hated the Samaritans and the Samaritans hated the Jews, on racial grounds, on ethnic grounds and on religious grounds.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why in Luke 19, when Jesus goes into a Samaritan village that would not respond to His message the \u201csons of thunder,\u201d James and John, John the love apostle, get this, he became known as the love apostles. What did they say? \u201cLord, shall we not call down fire from heaven and destroy these people?\u201d\u00a0 I mean, what\u2019s the root of that\u2026 it\u2019s I hate the Samaritans.\n\nAnd this gives us hope, right, if God could change John into the love apostle from a racist He can change any of us.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 And this is why when Jesus is talking in John 4 to not just a woman but a what kind of woman?\u00a0 A Samaritan woman what are His disciples saying?\u00a0 What\u2019s He talking to her for?\u00a0 First of all, she\u2019s the wrong gender.\u00a0 Now the gender issue is not something that God\u2026 God does not hate women, the hatred of women is part of fallen culture.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 Just like racism is not something God created; the racial issue is part of fallen culture.\u00a0 So this is a woman who\u2019s the wrong gender, the was immoral and beyond that she was the wrong race, and beyond that she was the wrong religion.\n\nAnd when you study John 4 carefully what you discover is Jesus went out of His way to find where she was\u2026 the woman at the well.\u00a0 So what is Jesus saying?\u00a0 I\u2019m transcending gender barriers created by man.\u00a0 I\u2019m transcending racial barriers created by man and religious barriers created by man because I have come into the world for everybody.\u00a0 Right!\u00a0 So when He says, \u201cyou shall be my witnesses, not just in Judea but in Samaria\u201d that totally blew their minds.\n\nAnd by the way, that\u2019s the reason why the Holy Spirit was delayed in Acts 8, because some Samaritans got saved and the Holy Spirit didn\u2019t come upon them right away.\u00a0 What\u2019s normative in the church age is you receive Christ and you receive the Spirit of God immediately.\u00a0 So what happened in Acts 8 is the Jerusalem apostles had to travel to Samaria to lay hands on the Samaritans.\u00a0 And Simon the Sorcerer saw this transfer of power and lusted after it.\u00a0 Remember?\u00a0 Acts chapter 8 he wanted this power for himself, he wanted to buy it.\n\nBut why did the Holy Spirit not come immediately on the Samaritans? It\u2019s very simple; because of the 700 year hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans.\u00a0 If the Holy Spirit had not been delayed in the age of the church you would have had two churches; you would have had a Samaritan church and a Jerusalem church.\u00a0 But now that we\u2019re in the age and we\u2019re in the body of Christ, and there\u2019s neither Jew nor Greek nor slave nor free, we all are one in Christ Jesus, the Samaritans had to understand, as the apostles from Jerusalem laid hands on them, that you belong to Jerusalem now.\u00a0 And the folks at Jerusalem that hated the Samaritans had to understand through that process, through that transaction that they belong to Samaria.\n\nWe read over these words, \u201cyou\u2019ll be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria\u201d and we don\u2019t really understand what we\u2019re reading but that statement there is overcoming in a tense racial issue.\u00a0 I think this is very significant because we\u2019re living in a society that\u2019s talking about race all the time now, racial reconciliation.\u00a0 The fact of the matter, we\u2019ve got the greatest book in the world on racial reconciliation and I think we need to get our perspective in there, that God is not the author of racial hatred at all.\n\nSo, \u201cyou\u2019ll be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria and even to\u201d where? \u201cthe remotest parts of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 He just changed the instruction that they all knew; it\u2019s not a come and see strategy anymore; it\u2019s a go and proclaim strategy.\u00a0\u00a0 So when we talk about the differences between Israel and the church, both are called to reach the world with the truth but Israel\u2019s strategy was come and see, the church\u2019s strategy is go and proclaim.\n\nAnd that\u2019s sort of important for us as a Bible church to recognize because a lot of people think that the sum total of spiritual is to come to a church like ours, Sugar Land Bible Church, and learn the Bible.\u00a0 And we believe that that\u2019s important but that\u2019s not the end product.\u00a0 The end product is to equip you so you can be a minister and a missionary in your work place, where you\u2019re working with unbelievers. Or in your family, if you have unbelievers in your family.\u00a0 So our goal here is not just to sit, soak and sour; we\u2019re supposed to be equipped in the church to go and proclaim.\u00a0 And what I\u2019m discovering is a lot of the mega churches are confused on this because when you get into mega church literature and a mega church mentality they\u2019re going back to the come and see strategy; we\u2019ve got to build this beautiful edifice of some kind with this massive budget and we\u2019ve got to have all of these attractions, almost like an amusement park situation.\u00a0 Well, why are you doing that?\u00a0 Well, they quote the movie, The Field of Dreams<\/em>, right? \u201cIf we build it they will come.\u201d\n\nAnd you see, there is no New Testament authority for the idea that \u201cIf we build it they will come.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s not the strategy God gave to the church.\u00a0 I\u2019m not against church buildings and budgets and things like that but we\u2019ve got to understand that God gave us these things not to get all these unsaved people in here, although if an unsaved person comes here we are delighted and we share the gospel the primary focus of the New Testament church is an equipping model where the pastor-teacher equips the saints and the saints, in their spheres of influence then become minsters and missionaries.\u00a0 In other words it\u2019s not an \u201cus four and no more\u201d mindset.\u00a0 And in Bible churches it\u2019s easy to forget that because we think that the whole purpose of the Bible church is to come here and learn the Bible.\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s part of the process but that\u2019s not the final product.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very easy to lose our missionary emphasis and calling.\u00a0 So Israel \u201ccome and see,\u201d church \u201cgo and proclaim.\u201d\n\nLet me give you another category.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I had you open up to Ephesians 1:3 and you might want to keep your finger in Ephesians 1:3 and go back to Deuteronomy 28 just for a minute.\u00a0 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 28.\u00a0 Both Israel and the church are blessed but the blessings are different.\u00a0 The blessings for Israel are primarily earthly material blessings.\u00a0 And notice what Deuteronomy 28 says; notice how earthly these things are.\n\nIt says, \u201cNow it shall be if you diligently,\u201d speaking to Israel, \u201cobey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD, your God will set you high above all of the nations of the\u201d what? \u201cthe earth.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019re going to have a place of preeminence, Israel, over the earthly nations.\u00a0 \u201cAll these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God:\u00a0 [3] Blessed shall you be in the city,\u201d that\u2019s earthly, isn\u2019t it, \u201cand blessed shall you be in the country.\u00a0 [4] Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.\u00a0 [5] \u201cBlessed shall be your\u201d see how earthly this is, and how economic this is, \u201cBlessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. [6] Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.\u00a0 [7] The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you;\u201d talking about earthly military victory here, \u201cthey will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways.\u201d\u00a0 And it talks about the barns and other things, the crops, and\u00a0 you get the idea as you go through the Old Testament that Israel was blessed but it was always earthly, earthly, earthly, earthly, material, material, material, material.\n\nNow let\u2019s look at Ephesians 1:3, how has God blessed the church?\u00a0 In a completely different way.\u00a0 Ephesians 1:3 in the New Testament to the church says, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us<\/u> with every\u201d what\u2019s the next word, \u201cspiritual blessing\u201d look at that, in the earthly places\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that does it, \u201cin the heavenly places in Christ.\u201d\u00a0 So there\u2019s some important words here.\u00a0 Number 1, \u201cblessed\u201d is in the past tense, in other words, it\u2019s already happened to you the moment you trusted Christ so you don\u2019t have to go before God crawling on broken glass saying Lord, please, please bless me and grovel before God.\u00a0 If we knew the Bible we\u2019d understand we\u2019ve already been blessed.\n\nAnd by the way, when we give money, I hope when you give money to this church or any other ministry you\u2019re not doing it to get blessed.\u00a0 That is a wrong New Testament motivation.\u00a0 You give because you have been blessed.\u00a0 See the difference.\u00a0 A lot of people are giving because they think if I just give God will bless me and that\u2019s not the right motivation.\u00a0 The motivation is\u00a0 you give because you\u2019ve already been blessed.\n\nSo you have been blessed with how many blessings? 99% blessings, \u201cevery\u201d blessing.\u00a0 There is no blessing in the heavenly places that God hasn\u2019t already given you.\u00a0 And then\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice that these blessings are spiritual; it\u2019s very different than what I just read in Deuteronomy 28 about crops and body and wars and debt.\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice that God has blessed both Israel and the church but Israel\u2019s blessings are primarily earthly; the church\u2019s blessings are primarily spiritual\n\nBy the way, I\u2019m not against people (neither is God for that matter) people that are blessed financially in this life as a Christian.\u00a0 The Bible never condemns that.\u00a0 What it says is be careful who your God is, don\u2019t let your possessions own you, you own them, don\u2019t let them own\u00a0 you because \u201cno man can serve both God and mammon.\u201d\u00a0 Right?\u00a0\u00a0 [Matthew 6:24, \u201cNo one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.\u201d]\n\nAnd it also says in 1 Timothy 6 not to put your hope in earthly blessings which are so uncertain.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1 Timothy 6:17, \u201cInstruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.\u201d]\u00a0 So there is no great condemnation of a New Testament Christian that is blessed financially in this life.\u00a0 What I\u2019m saying is not guaranteed.\u00a0 Do you follow that?\n\nBecause I could take you to Mexico, not just Mexico but any country that\u2019s not as prosperous as the United States and I could show you people that are living in what we, as Americans, would be pitiful conditions and yet they\u2019re on fire for Jesus Christ.\u00a0 I saw this in the Philippines when I did a missionary trip there in 1988; it was amazing, the church there and their love for God, their love for the things of God and\u00a0 yet there was no cable TV and homes and air conditioning and all the things that we\u2019re accustomed to here.\n\nSo if God has blessed you financially praise the Lord.\u00a0 There are some instructions for you in 1 Timothy 6, but material blessings are not guaranteed for the church age believer.\u00a0 Spiritual blessings are guaranteed; in fact, they\u2019ve already been accomplished for you.\u00a0 That\u2019s why when the Lord spoke to the church at Smyrna, Revelation 2:9, he says, \u201c'I know your tribulation and your poverty\u201d now the Greek word for \u201cpoverty\u201d there is the lowest level financially you can descend to, there was nowhere else for these people to descend to financially in Smyrna, \u201cI know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), [and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.]\u00a0 Why could he say that?\u00a0 Because they\u2019ve already been what?\u00a0 Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:3, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.\u201d]\n\nSo another key difference between Israel and the church is the Israel\u2019s blessings are earthly, the church\u2019s blessings are heavenly.\u00a0 Now when\u00a0 you turn on \u201cChristian\u201d television (and I put the word \u201cChristian\u201d in quotation marks) what you will see nine times out of ten is what is called prosperity gospel.\u00a0 There will be teacher after teacher after teacher on so-called Christian television telling people that God is obligated to bless your pocketbook, to bless your wallet.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is, Philippians 4:19 says, \u201cMy God shall supply my greeds according to the\u2026\u201d NO, \u201cneeds\u201d that\u2019s what\u2019s guaranteed, is needs are met.\u00a0 The so-called Christian televangelist will make it sound like God is obligated to bless you financially, materially, if you send money, interestingly enough, to that person\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 They never say help the orphanage down the street and God will bless you; it\u2019s always send it in my direction and God will bless you.\n\nNow why do people believe this doctrine?\u00a0 Well, partly is they want to believe it but the other part of it is when the Christian TV minister preaches the doctrine he uses the Bible; they have all kinds of Bible verses that they use.\u00a0 The problem is they\u2019re getting their verses from what part of the Bible?\u00a0 New Testament or Old Testament?\u00a0 Old Testament!\u00a0 They\u2019re going into God\u2019s program for Israel which was earthly and material and presenting it to people in the church age as if that\u2019s how God is working today.\n\nSo what you have to understand about false teaching is every false teaching you run into has a veneer of truth to it.\u00a0 The Mormons, not if but when they come to your door, along with the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, will give you so many Bible verses and if you\u2019re not equipped for it your head will just be swimming, and that\u2019s why people believe the doctrines of Mormonism and Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, because they use the Bible\u2014they just rip it out of context!\u00a0 So they will show up and they will talk about the two sticks in Ezekiel 37, the stick of Ephraim and the stick of Joseph, and Ezekiel 37 talks about those two sticks coming together and they will say look, right here, it\u2019s in your own Bible, the stick of Joseph, do you know who Joseph is?\u00a0 Joseph Smith!\u00a0 I\u2019m not kidding, ask them about it, they\u2019ll tell you all about it.\n\nJoseph Smith, as you know, is the guy that, a very young child really, that allegedly had a vision from God here in North America and Jesus made a North American visit. So they believe the Bible but they also add to the Bible The Book of Mormon<\/em> and The Doctrine of Covenants<\/em> and The Pearl of Great Price<\/em>.\u00a0 And when you question them about the closed Canon and Joseph Smith and all this stuff they\u2019ll go right to Ezekiel 37 and they\u2019ll talk about the stick of Joseph united with God\u2019s revelation.\u00a0 And your average person in the body of Christ has never studied the Book of Ezekiel, because most pastors won\u2019t teach the Book of Ezekiel for whatever reason, they will be pulled in by that kind of argument.\u00a0 The cults thrive on people who believe the Bible but don\u2019t know the Bible very well.\u00a0 That\u2019s who their target audience is; that\u2019s who they\u2019re picking off.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they love to come to the (quote) \u201cBible belt\u201d and areas like ours to do their evangelism, because they know they\u2019re going to get some converts.\n\nSo cults use the Bible.\u00a0 The prosperity gospel uses the Bible.\u00a0 They will make it sound as if God has promised you material wealth but you see, they\u2019re not respecting the Israel\/church distinction; they\u2019re going over here, they\u2019re grabbing passages from God\u2019s earthly program for Israel that your average Christian has never head of that because the shepherds aren\u2019t talking to their people about these kinds of things so they\u2019re left to their own devices.\u00a0 See that.\n\nSo the prosperity gospel makes sense biblically and it appeals to greed at the same time unless you understand some of these nuances that we are going over.\u00a0 And I communicate this to tell you that we\u2019re not just going over theology just to have a theology lesson.\u00a0 These things are supposed to be equipping you for what you\u2019re being hit with outside the four walls of Sugar Land Bible Church.\n\nLet me give you one more distinction between Israel and the church and that has to do with the composition of Israel and the church.\u00a0 Israel consists of believers and unbelievers.\u00a0 To be a member of Israel you had to be a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 If a person is not a physical, in the physical lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob I don\u2019t care how many messianic congregations they go to every week they\u2019re not Jewish.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 The only way you can be a Jew biblically is you have to be a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\n\nHowever, within Israel, physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you could be a believing Jew or an unbelieving Jew.\u00a0 Do you see that?\u00a0 So the commonwealth of Israel or the nation of Israel consisted of believing Jews who believed in Yeshua or Yahweh, or Jesus, and there were also unbelieving Jews.\u00a0 So this is why Jesus makes the statement that He does in the Gospels.\u00a0 Actually this is not Jesus this is John the Baptist I think.\u00a0 \u201cDo not suppose you can say to yourselves, \u2018We have Abraham for our father\u2019; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.\u201d\n\nIn other words, God is unimpressed with somebody just because they\u2019re Jewish.\u00a0 God is not going to fulfill His covenants with a group of people just because they\u2019re Jewish.\u00a0 Do you follow me?\u00a0 They have to be what kind of Jew?\u00a0 A believing Jew!\u00a0 Paul, in Romans 2:28-29 says, \u201cFor he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.\u00a0 [29] But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.\u201d\n\nRomans 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 in other words, what God is impressed with is not just a Jew for the sake of being a Jew but a believing Jew.\u00a0 And that\u2019s who He\u2019s going to fulfill His end time program through, not just the Jews, believing Jews.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Christ, back to the church at Smyrna, we read this earlier, \u201cSmyrna, \u201cI know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not,\u201d see that, \u201cthe blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue\u201d a Jewish gathering, \u201ca synagogue of\u201d who? \u201cSatan.\n\nSee, if you\u2019re just a Jew in unbelief then you are actually in Satan\u2019s synagogue because God is not impressed with a Jew just because they\u2019re a Jew.\u00a0 What He\u2019s impressed with is believing Jews.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Christ was so distressed when He went to His hometown and nobody believed Him.\u00a0 I mean, if Christ was impressed with people just because they were Jewish He would have said oh, you all are okay, you\u2019re Jewish, that\u2019s enough.\u00a0 But the story of the Bible is you have to be a believing <\/u>Jew.\u00a0 No one gets to heaven just because they\u2019re Jewish.\u00a0 And when the kingdom comes and God fulfills His covenants to Israel it\u2019s not going to be with a bunch of people just because they\u2019re Jewish; it\u2019s because they are Jews in faith.\u00a0 That\u2019s the distinction.\n\nWhen you understand this then you understand what the tribulation period is for.\u00a0 Why is God sending the nation of Israel through the tribulation period?\u00a0 To purge off unbelieving Israel from believing Israel?\u00a0 Zechariah 13:8-9, of the tribulation says, \u201c\u2018It will come about in all the land,\u2019 Declares the LORD, \u2018That two parts in it will be cut off and<\/em> perish; but the third will be left in it.\u00a0 [9] \u201cAnd I will bring the third part through the fire,\u201d that\u2019s the fire of the tribulation period, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.\u00a0 They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, \u2018They are My people,\u2019 and they will say, \u2018The LORD is my God.\u2019\u201d\n\nSo what is God doing in the tribulation period?\u00a0 Israel is going into it.\u00a0 For what purpose?\u00a0 To purge off unbelieving Israel from believing Israel.\u00a0 And sadly what we observe here, according to this prophecy, is two-thirds of Israel will be purged off in the tribulation.\u00a0 Two-thirds of Israel will be killed in the tribulation period and God, through that, will preserve a third of Israel in faith, who say the Lord is my God and through that third He\u2019s going to fulfill His covenants.\n\nAnd you might want to jot down, we don\u2019t have time to read it all, Ezekiel 20:33-44, it\u2019s talking about the separation between unbelieving and believing Israel at the end of the tribulation period.\u00a0 Believing Israel will go into the kingdom passing under the Shepherd\u2019s rod; unbelieving Israel will be purged off the earth and taken to Hades.\n\nSo do you see what\u2019s going on here with Israel.\u00a0 You can be within Israel, believing Israel and unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 Now is that true with the church.\u00a0 Can you be an unbelieving member of Christ\u2019s universal church. You can\u2019t. If you\u2019re a believer in Jesus Christ you\u2019re part of His universal church; if you\u2019re not a believer in Jesus Christ you\u2019re not a member of His church.\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about local gatherings, I\u2019m talking about His universal church.\n\n1 Corinthians 12:13 says, \u201cFor by one Spirit we were\u201d what\u201d two-thirds of us?\u00a0 NO! One-third of us?\u00a0 NO!\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 all baptized into one body, whether it Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all <\/u>made to drink of one spirit.\u201d\u00a0 If a person is not a believer in Jesus Christ it doesn\u2019t matter how denominational they may be, they\u2019re not part of His universal church.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how pious they are.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter where they live.\u00a0 If they\u2019re not \u201cin Christ\u201d by faith they\u2019re not part of the church.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s totally different than Israel, as I just tried to explain.\u00a0 Israel could have believing and unbelieving.\n\nSo then what\u2019s the main distinction in the church?\u00a0 It\u2019s not like Israel where you had believer and unbelieving Jews.\u00a0 The main distinction within the church is not believer versus unbeliever; it\u2019s levels of maturity.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 This is why Paul says, 1 Corinthians 3:1, \u00a0\u201cAnd I, brethren,\u201d speaking to Christians, \u201ccould not speak to you as spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.\u201d\u00a0 So you can be a carnal Christian in Christ and a babe in Christ.\u00a0 [2] \u201cI fed you with milk, but not with solid food for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able, [3] for you are still carnal.\u00a0 For where there is envy, strife and divisions among you,\u201d boy, I\u2019m glad we don\u2019t have those problems in the 21st<\/sup> century church\u2026 I\u2019m being a little facetious, \u201cFor where there is envy, strife and divisions among you are you not carnal, are you not behaving like mere men.\u201d\n\nWhat is Paul doing here with the church?\u00a0 He\u2019s not doing a distinction between believing church and unbelieving church, the way God deals with Israel.\u00a0 He\u2019s dealing with the distinctions between babes, carnal, infants and spiritual within his church, all believers!\u00a0 Are you with me on this?\u00a0 So Paul divides humanity into two groups; unbelievers and believers, but within believers you have three groups, the spiritual, that\u2019s the growing Christian, the infant Christian, that\u2019s the new Christian, and they\u2019re kind of doing things that are age appropriate so it\u2019s cute to watch a two year old or less suck their thumb, right?\u00a0 That\u2019s cute, but when the child is sixteen and sucking his thumb that\u2019s not cute any more.\u00a0 So the carnal are people that should have grown up a long time ago but have stayed in a state of carnality, living constantly for the sin nature.\n\nSo you see the distinction here?\u00a0 Within the church world there\u2019s no distinction between believers and unbelievers.\u00a0 That\u2019s all Israel.\u00a0 The main distinction within the church is different levels of growth and different levels of maturity.\u00a0 Now when you understand this you understand why the church cannot be in the tribulation.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the tribulation period, and I showed you the passages, is designed to separate believing Israel from unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 That was Zechariah\u2019s prophecy about the two-thirds cut off and the one-third preserved.\n\nThat can\u2019t work for the church because within the church there is no difference between believer and\u00a0 unbeliever.\u00a0 Do you follow?\u00a0 So God\u2019s whole program for Israel is to separate belief from unbelief within Israel.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t work for the church because if you\u2019re not a believer in Christ you\u2019re not a part of the church.\u00a0 As J. Vernon McGee said, \u201cYou\u2019re either a saint or you\u2019re an ain\u2019t.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Are you with me on this?\u00a0 Because what you believe about the rapture and the end times and is the church going into the tribulation period, there\u2019s a lot of people out there promoting that idea, it\u2019s related to your understanding of the nature of the church.\u00a0 The more you understand the nature of the church the more you start understanding why the church can\u2019t be in the tribulation period.\n\nSo I hope that helps a little bit.\u00a0 I just wanted to go over the final three differences between Israel and the church; the evangelistic strategy is different, Israel come and see, church go and proclaim, the blessings are different, Israel\u2019s blessings are earthly, the church\u2019s are heavenly.\u00a0 And the composition is different; within Israel you can have believers and unbelievers but within the church you only have believers.\u00a0 The distinction is related to maturity levels that Paul draws.\n\nSo the next time we come together, in our final Bible study Wednesday night for the year 2017, I\u2019ll briefly review all twenty-four and then, oh my goodness, ready for this: we\u2019re going to spend our time looking at Galatians 6:16.\u00a0 Have\u00a0 you read that lately.\u00a0 That calls the church, at least the way it reads, \u201cthe Israel of God.\u00a0 [Galatians 6:16, \u201cAnd those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.\u201d]\u00a0 And people that believe in replacement theology, that the church has taken over Israel\u2019s place, will quote that verse, Galatians 6:16. So we\u2019ll conclude Wednesday night, 2017, by talking about how to rightly understand Galatians 6:16.\u00a0 Watch this now, even Muslims who don\u2019t like the belief that we have, that God has a future for Israel and God has cut off Israel, when you get into a discussion with well-informed Muslims and you start explaining our pro-Israel mindset do you know what they\u2019re going to quote?\u00a0 Galatians 6:16. The Muslims know the Bible better than most Christians do and your average Christian is caught totally flatfooted by that. So we\u2019ll do that next time.\u00a0 All right, I\u2019m finished talking.","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