Major Bible Themes

Today we're going to talk about the church, her purpose and commission. Last week we talked about the members. And probably the most important thing, and we talk about this a lot, is to recognize that the church and Israel are two distinct entities. There's nothing that's promised to Israel, anything about Israel, that lines up with the church and we'll talk about probably the basic thing that changes everything when we get to it. We're going to talk about what the composition of the church is, what the purpose of the church is, and how the church is unique. You'll find in contemporary theology that I don't think they'd even address these. You would see that the church and Israel are similar the purpose of the church and the purpose of Israel would be pretty much the same and the church is not unique.

That's what you see in most places today. So let's start with the timeline and here's how I want you to look at this. We're going to look at this from the issue of Israel and the church separate. I want to look first of all at this line and then we'll plug this line in over the top of it and then the third one here. This line starts with creation the flood, the Tower of Babel and in that environment God first dealt with mankind via families, the heads of families and then from there after the Tower of Babel he went to nations because everybody kind of spoke the same language and then when he confused them I would imagine that all the guys that could speak Spanish ended up on this side of the room and the Italians were over here and the Chinese were down there.

And so they spread out over the earth and created nations. And they were all what? We talked last week about there are three people groups on the planet. What are they? Gentiles. Gentiles is one. Who's the other two? Jews and the church. These are all Gentiles. There isn't any Israel yet. And Gentiles carries through all the way through the cross into the rapture, the tribulation, the millennial kingdom, they're still Gentiles.

Now, let's overlay this box on top of that box. In this time frame, God came to Abraham and made promises to him and a covenant with him, a unilateral covenant. He said, I'm going to do X, Y, and Z, and I'm going to make you a great nation. And so now from that God's, I would say, injection into the human race, he called out a people for himself, the nation of Israel. So they, right about here, you put them over and now God begins to deal with the earth through the nation of Israel only. Within that you have covenants and promises that go into eternity. They're all designed the same thing with the Gentiles to glorify God and the earth.

Through this creation of the nation of Israel you have the beginning of the Word of God and Moses begins to write the first five books of the Bible. and you have the law given by Moses and you have the prophets and then at the time of the cross here when the church comes in what happens to Israel because if you study the book of Romans closely you have to arrive at a question at some point that says well if God has put this thing called the church under such gracious provisions Does that mean that he just has changed his mind about Israel and turned his back on them? Right? Wouldn't you think that? Because isn't Israel have all these incredible promises? Did they just make God angry enough that he said, I've had enough, you're done.

No. What happens is, is that when the church comes along, oops, oh, hey, it worked. When the church comes along, what happens to Israel? They're set aside and they're blinded as a nation. And that's at the time of the cross and that goes until the rapture. Now, superimpose the third group which is the church and it begins, when did the church begin?

Last Thursday. When did it start? Pentecost. And how long is it going to be I was going to say be in existence, but that's not the right question. How long will it be on the earth and calling out members? Till the rapture. So here's this time frame right here. Now, notice something.

Both Gentiles and Israel, everything about what they're about is to glorify God in the earth. Right? How about the church? If their purpose is to glorify God, what are they going to do? They're heavenly. The church is a heavenly organism. It's really important to understand that. We talked a lot about that last week. That's the main difference between the church and Israel. They're heavenly or were heavenly. The other thing that is different, that's drastically different, is that the operating system or principle under which Israel functioned for most of its existence was law system.

The church operates under a new system called grace and God only deals with mankind through Christ in the church today on the principle of grace. So if you approach God from a legal basis it's like trying to approach somebody on channel 7 and you got your TV turned to 9.

They're not going to get it. I said I was looking for the CUCSU games because I couldn't find the right channel. that they were on. So I didn't get to see the game. I missed it. So if you want to deal with God on a legal basis, you're on the wrong channel. Why didn't you click? Why didn't you click? Why didn't I click? Well, I was. I was finding all these other games that were kind of interesting. Notre Dame game was good. Florida game was good. Anyway, so the church is on the earth until Pentecost. I'm sorry, until the rapture.

Then it leaves, goes to be with the Lord. Then what happens with the relationship with Israel? It's rekindled again. You go through the seven years of the tribulation, and I don't want to get sidetracked about what goes on there, but it's an awful time. And then Christ comes to rule and reign on the earth right here. And what happens to the church? at that point. We come and we rule and reign with him.

Okay? We're still not earthly people. We're heavenly people. Our configurations are different. Our makeup is different. There's lots of differences. Now, we rule and reign with him for a thousand years. And so that brings us all the way over here with Jews, Gentiles, and the church. and we go into eternity to glorify God.

By the way, in eternity does all of this just get thrown into the blender and we all become the same? No. You sure? What happens? What happens to the church in eternity? Are there any changes with the church in eternity? From what they have had for a thousand years? I don't think there's any change at all. We're the bride of Christ. We've been functioning for a thousand years with this incredible intimacy with the Godhead and none of that changes.

So you'll be teaching? No, you won't have to. You won't have to teach. You'll know, as you know. You won't have to do any of that kind of stuff that we do now. In the Millennial Kingdom, the Jews aren't going to have any universities. You know why? going to have it all written in their hearts. Is Israel separate from the Gentiles? Yes. Is the church separate from Israel? Yes.

1 Corinthians 10.32 is where the three people groups are identified. Paul says, give none offense neither to the Jews, which are Israel, one group of human beings, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God. Okay, there's the identity. Alright, better not do that, I'll do it there. Now, for purpose and commission, what's the composition of the Church? Who makes up the Church? Where do they come from? Are they Kleons? Anybody know what a Klingon is? Anybody a Star Trek fan? Which people? Where'd they come from? What people group did they come from? Huh? Two. The church is made up of Jews and Gentiles. Okay?

Now, in Ephesians 2.14 and 2.16, let's go look at that. You guys with the electronic media? What's it called? Huh? What did you want to see? Ephesians 2, 14 through 16.

Whoever gets there first can go ahead. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. By abolishing in his flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and that might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. I'm going to go at it backwards. He preached peace to those who were near. Who were they? Jews. And the far away ones? Gentiles. Gentiles, right.

Now, what he didn't do is he didn't say, okay, you guys all line up and you're just going to join a new fraternity, you know, or you're going to now become Republicans and you all used to be Democrats and Independents. He said he's creating one new man. What the heck does that mean? What is a new man?

Transformed. Kind of new clothes? Transformed? Believing? Explain what this new man, what is he? He's totally new and kind. A totally new and kind man. Totally new and kind. That means he may look the same here, but they are brand new in makeup and kind and quality. So we as believers and those members of the body of Christ, whether you came out of Judaism or you come out of Gentiledom, have to understand that by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, you became a brand new kind of human being that never was before. And that brand new kind of human being is the resurrected glorified Christ.

He's the head of the new race of men. He's the representative. So he is, let's talk about him for a minute. He was crucified, buried, resurrected. This new man now shows up from the dead. and he goes to heaven and he's glorified, he's got a glorified body, his substance and his makeup are totally different than anybody who comes from Adam's line.

That's who you are. Is it important to know who you are? If you say yes, you have to explain. If you say no, you have to explain. Yeah, it is important. Why is it important for you and I as believers? Who you are and who you're not. Who you're not is as important as, well, probably not as important as who you are, but initially it is. Initially it is.

So we have a reference to one new man, the oneness of Jews and Gentiles in Christ. So we have contemporarily these messianic Jews who are Christians. What's the problem with that kind of a title? They're no longer Jews. That's right. They're no longer Jews anymore. Okay, wait a minute. I'm waiting. All the Jews are now not Jews? No. Because they believe in... No, good question. The Jews that believe in Christ, as they can start at believing that's the Messiah, they cease being Jews. Oh my God. Okay, but... Well, let me put it another way.

When you believed in Christ, You're not a German anymore. Of course I am. No, you're not. There is no German in Christ. Oh, you lose everything then. In Christ Jesus there's... How about this one? Neither male nor female. Remember my buddy Roland Hendrick? He hated that. He didn't want to be a girl. In Christ Jesus there's neither Jew or Gentile, bond or free, barbarian, Scythian, male or female. So the identity in Christ is a whole new kind of existence. That all of the distinctions we have on the earth don't count anymore.

See? Once you kind of get that down in your mind, like my sister called me up and said, let's go to Ireland. I said, why? I'm not from there. I'm Irish, in case you didn't know. Why would I go to Ireland? I mean, it'd be cool to go there, but I wouldn't go there to look up my ancestry. What is my ancestry? Christ is my ancestor. I'm born of Him. See?

At the end of that, in Galatians 3.28, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free man, there's neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ. There you go. See? Is that important to know? Boy, is it ever. Because now you're a member of the body of Christ.

And all of those earthly distinctions have gone away. Would it make sense to be crucified with Christ and be separated from sin, from law, from the devil, from your sin nature, and not have those distinctions be true of you? Wouldn't make any sense. If you're a new creature in kind and quality, then everything has to be new about you. And by doing that God has created peace and enmity that now exists between Jew and Gentile because their oneness in Christ are the same. So I don't necessarily like this line.

Has the law been abolished? Did we do away with it? fulfilled in Christ. It's been fulfilled, and how was it fulfilled? How did Taddeo fulfill the law? Which he did. How did he do it? By believing. By being placed into Christ who fulfilled the law. Okay, and how was the fulfillment done? Just because he accomplished all the tenets of the law while he lived? How was it fulfilled? Dying to the law. That's exactly right. Christ was made sin for us, Tadeo and me and all of you, and we were placed into Christ and the law caught up with us. And what did it do to us? But doesn't the law still exist for non-believers to be used as a tutor to bring them to Christ?

Are you talking about the mosaic law? Yeah. You know those people that live in that village you were in in China? Did they have the mosaic law written up on their public buildings? I wouldn't know, I can't reach anything. You get my point? If you're in, what was the name of your town? Jianying. Jianying. Those people under the law, the mosaic law? Heck no they're not. They never knew anything about it. Right? So law principle, It says in Romans 2 and 3 that if you are not a Jew under the Mosaic Law, you've got your own little law system going. And what does God say? Okay, I'll judge you based on your system. Because you can't live up to it.

So we all have this sense of understanding of right and wrong, or I'd like to look at it as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's the tree we originally came from in Adam, but now we're in the tree of life, so none of those other good and evil is not the standard anymore. Life is the standard. And law fits under the standard of good and evil.

See that? So the law hasn't been done away with. You've been separated from the law by dying. Right? So it was used as a tutor. to bring me to see the foolishness of the law. Was the law a tutor for you to bring you to Christ? I saw it as total foolishness. The law?

Yeah. Because you couldn't keep it? Yeah. And you had to make a decision. Either, well, I'm going to suffer the consequences because I really like what's going on now. Amen. Or at some point God's going to come and rescue my sorry person. And he did. He provided a solution. Right.

And if you come out of Catholicism like we did, there are more laws in Catholicism than there are in Judaism. It's like living under the United States government. So, totally new in quality, newness in the resurrected and glorified Christ, not the continuation or the remaking of Israel. I'm sure you hear all the time that we are really just an extension of Israel. And we are beneficiaries of the new covenant.

The problem is I've never met a Christian who had the law written on his heart because he was sinning. New creation. When we talk about a new creation, are we talking about what? What's the new creation? I have been a fan of Star Trek all my life, and you know what's interesting about that? Gene Roddenberry, who created Star Trek, must have known something about the Bible.

The problem is that whenever they went to one of these worlds and discovered these new people, guess what they all had in common? They all had sin natures. The whole premise of every place they went was good and evil. Because there were always bad guys, always good guys, there was never, I mean there were some subtle cool kind of changes, they looked different, their frame of reference were different, they spoke different, but good and evil was the basis.

So in a new creation, are we just now Klingons? And good and evil is still the issue? What does it mean to be a new creation? No, because you believe. Okay, you believe and now you're a new creation. What's that? Well, I didn't believe before, now I do. So that's the only difference? No, it changes your outlook, it changes everything. Okay.

A new creation would be, how do I describe this? new operating system, which is grace. It's a whole new being. It's a whole new line of, like their genus and species, you know, dogs, cats, humans. This is now a whole new race of people, a whole new strain or line of... A whole new race. You see that? You're a member of a brand new race of human beings. Okay, is this when we're all the same? You're talking about believers in the body of Christ, the church? We are all the same because we're all brand new creations. And that's a hard concept, don't you think?

Yet, everything that's written in the New Testament, in Paul's epistles and so forth, is written to this new man in Christ. And the principles that he functions and operates by are totally different than anything the most godly Jew ever lived under. Nunas resurrected and glorified the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 6.4, let's look at that for a second.

Somebody read Romans 6.4. I'll read it. Therefore we have been buried with them through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Newness of life. Newness is the optimal word. Brand new. Did. Maybe put it this way. Did Moses have this newness? How about Abraham? How about Adam before the fall? Did he have this newness? Christ died. War was resurrected. That's right. New creation. It is. It's brand new. So now, rather than having the law as a measure of the believer's life, death, burial and resurrection, resurrection is now the standard. It sort of changes the equation.

So, each member of the body of Christ is called, God called us in Christ with a holy calling to be vessels in fulfilling God's eternal purpose. Now if you can look down, what is God's purpose, eternal purpose? What does he do everything for? Yeah, it's right there.

To declare his glory, to share his glory, and to reveal his glory, and to be glorified. And we've talked about that, how from the viewpoint of being in the old creation that looks selfish. But as a new creation in Christ, For God to reveal himself to his creation as to exactly who he is is amazing and he's going to use all of us in this room who are new creation creatures to do that. In all eternity and at best anybody here has just barely reflectively observed the glory of Christ, right? Now think about this. Christ is a man, a glorified man, and there's going to come a time, pretty soon hopefully, where he's going to be revealed to all creation in all of his godly glory. All of it. Right? And God has determined that there are two entities through which he's going to manifest his glory to the creation. The first one is Christ, who's the other one? Satan. How would Satan manifest the glory of God? He's not going to manifest it, but he will reflect what the glory of God is by his evil.

You need to go fishing. Who's the other entity? The body of Christ. Now think about what God has done. He has specifically now called out a people for himself recreated us in Christ for the express purpose of manifesting his glory using you as one of the vehicles. The Lord Jesus Christ is one and you're the other one.

How cool is that? It's better than getting a job at Walmart. So, God's eternal purpose is fulfilled through individual believers rather than through the local church body. Do you understand what he means by that? Each one of us individually is to manifest the glory of God and then corporately as members of the body of Christ. But the thing about being a member of the body of Christ is it's an individual thing. You know, we didn't come over to the Luna House and say, we need all of you in Christ so you all have to, and we're going to save your whole family. No. It's each individual believer.

Where if you're a member, if you're a Jew, It's corporate, it's the nation of Israel that goes up or down, not just individuals. Every believer is in vital union with the resurrected glorified Lord and he or she is in union with God's eternal purpose, which is.

Can you frustrate this purpose? Or maybe ask it another way. At the end of the day, Is everybody in this room going to be intimately and intricately involved in this process? You can't change your mind? How about if you just decide to be a big time sinner? Or go south? Or go to Florida and fish?

No, you cannot change any of this. and God has determined as you and I as members of this new creation as the body of Christ, these things are what are going to happen through us. Not a bad deal if you can get it. Now, each member in his body, how God uses you in his eternal purpose to declare his glory, I don't know, but we probably should look up a couple of these verses. Let's go around and do it.

Colossians 1.26-28 1 Corinthians 15.1-4 2 Corinthians 3.11-18 Romans 5.1-5.

John 17.22. 1 Corinthians 1.31. 1 Corinthians 6.20. Okay, now listen to these verses in terms of when we're talking about glory. Okay, Colossians 1 26-28 Even the mystery of which hath been hid for ages and generations, but now hath been manifested to the saints, to whom God was pleased to make known Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.

Wow. Number one, it was a mystery. A mystery means that it just wasn't known before. Christ in you, the hope of glory. How neat is that? Not a bad gig if you can get it. By the way, to maybe help you understand if you have an inkling this week, read the first two chapters of Colossians. They are magnificent. Okay. Romans 3, 25 and 6. Yes? Oh, I had a break. Did I? Oh, did I? Okay. Alright. That's fine. 1 Corinthians 15, 1-4.

Let me remind you that Moses insisted that the good news I preached to you before You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this good news that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you. Unless, of course, you believe something that was never true in the first place. I pass on to you what was most important, and what had also been passed on to me. He was buried and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as scripture says. Okay, the gospel message, by belief in that gospel message, all of these overwhelmingly wonderful things are true of you.

Okay, next one was, what, 2 Corinthians 3, 3. 11 and 18, I think, we don't need to read 3 through 11, do you think you need to go that far? Let's do 3-3, just that verse. I'm going to back up to 3-2. That's fine. You are our letter written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on the tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Awesome. So if you're ever worried about whether you're doing a good enough job being an evangelist or manifesting the life of Christ in you, Paul says that you already are an epistle or a letter of Christ.

Did I tell you guys about the young lady that came over to our house because my son, she asked my son about the gospel and he said he exhausted his knowledge and so he wanted to talk to mom and dad. And so I asked the girl, I said, what caused you to be interested? Here's what she said, and this fits right there. I see something in John that I've never seen in anybody else. I said, what is it? She said, I don't know, it's a rest or something in his heart. What do you think that is? It's exactly what he's talking about. And John, if you all know John, you know, he's, you know, he dominates it. Our John? But we all have that, whether you know it or not, when you're walking around in your life and you're bouncing off of people, they see that. They see it.

So, okay, um, 18, what's verse 18 say? But we all with unveiled face beholding us in America, glory of the Lord, being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, justice from the Lord. What am I thinking? So beholding the glory of the Lord in the word of God, the Holy Spirit reveals the glory of Christ to you and because you are resurrected in Christ positionally, the Spirit of God begins to transform and conform you into his very image. So you begin to manifest what you already are.

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exalt in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exalt in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Interesting thing, we have access to God, we have peace that we stand in, and we function in the hope of the glory of God. And hope, from a biblical standpoint, is an absolute certainty, you just don't have it yet. In other words, we do not full on manifest the glory of the Lord Jesus, but it's a thing of hope with us as believers. It's going to be there, it's going to happen, and there's nothing to deter it.

That's very cool. John 17, 22. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one. That they may be one as we are one. What's he talking about? Who are the one guys here? This is the Lord Jesus praying to the Father, saying to him, we're one. You and I, Father, are one, right? Now, you gave me glory as a man. I gave it to them. Who are them?

Us. Us. Okay. Us. So we're one. As a group, the one side, the other side. No, no, no. You individually are one in Christ. You're united to him in life. Okay. See? And, you're right. That unity is all of us in Christ. Right. One. One. Very cool. Alright, is that all? No. Oh, go ahead.

I have 1 Corinthians 1.31. Okay. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. Okay. If you're going to brag, make sure you're bragging the Lord, because you've got nothing to brag about when it comes to glorifying God. Did I give you one?

Yeah, 1 Corinthians 6.20.

For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. When the word of God says to you, therefore glorify God in your bodies, what does it mean? Take a shower, buy new clothes, act like a Christian? What does it mean? Give him the credit? Back up a little bit.

We've just quickly gone through the fact that God intends to glorify himself through us. We also looked at the fact that we were epistles of Christ and we can behold his glory and as we do in the word, we are transformed into his very image, which is the image of glory. So when he encourages us or says glorify God in your bodies, what's he telling us? He's given us the road map, right? To believe and to behold his glory. It's personal. Intimacy with a person who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not when you die. Not when you die. And when he says glorify God in your bodies, the focus is on Christ and not on how you're doing. You know John 15, the vine and the branches? The vine's over here, I'm the branch and the fruit's out here. My focus is to be on the vine. The problem with most Christians is they're peaking. And when you peek, the fruit goes...

Alright. Truth concerning who you are in Christ. Five minutes, awesome. You're born of God, right? Brand new creature. You're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. So you and I walk around since the day we believe with this Holy Spirit of God right in here. Right in here.

We are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the person, the death, the bearer of the resurrection of Christ. He took us and put us in Christ at the time that he died so that we would die. Death means separation. We would be separated from all of our identity in Adam. And when we are resurrected, we have a brand new identity in the resurrected Christ. In the new identity with the resurrected Christ, having been crucified, no male, no female, no bond, no free, barbarian, no male, no female, no nothing. I'm a brand new creature in Christ and the Spirit of God did that through the cross. I'm a new creation, I share His glory, I share His life, and I share His eternal purpose.

Quickly, 2 Timothy 1.9. First one that gets there, read it. not according to our work, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. Purpose. No, you are intimately integrated and involved in God's purpose to glorify Himself. Thank you. Okay. You share in the oneness that the Father and Son are.

The best way to describe that is that before God created, the three persons were I don't know, say in a triangle plugged into each other and they were giving life and love and receiving life and love from each other and they're totally satisfied with who they are, right? They didn't have to create to add anything to them. We're going to get plugged into that triangle and we're the only creatures that will be there. We'll have everything that Christ is except deity and the really neat thing about it is this intimacy that the three of them have, we're going to share in it.

That's really cool, I think. Really cool. We are Christ's body as believers on the earth. We're heavenly people and not an earthly one. Christ is in you. You are not in this world. What do you think about that? Those of you who went to the football game yesterday beg to differ, right? Well, we're not in this world without thinking, but we still live here. My feet are on the ground. Your feet are on the ground. Your body's here. But one, you're not from here. In thought. In thought and purpose and focus. Right. Yeah.

How long did it take you to think in your mind that you were an American and not a German? Still doesn't. I mean, really, is that the truth? No. Have you always thought of yourself as an American? Not in the beginning. I didn't think about it, actually. I'll tell you the truth. I was happy to be here. And I'm truly a patriot. But you view yourself as being from Germany, right? Yeah.

Okay, now you can view yourself as being from the earth and you're in heaven. That's the only reason we can be ambassadors, is because that's where our citizenship is. Sure, an ambassador comes from? the home, office, and only says what the king says to say. A temple and a building of God, you individually and I individually have the very Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God in us wherever we go and corporately we do too. God is as much on this earth today in you in Christ as he was when he was here.

You are loved and cherished by Christ. Boy, I wish we knew that better. What an incredible, what an incredible value you are to Christ. It's just over the top. He's more interested in you than you're interested in yourself. And so when you grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus and you become a servant, you get interested in the body of Christ. You know why? Because that's what he's interested in. And when you recognize that there's nothing for you to be worried about for yourself because all of these things are true of you, it frees you up to be interested in what he's doing, which is the body.

And we are going to be Christ's bride. The coolest thing about that is when you got married, you just assumed that Monique was qualified to be your wife by the fact that she was a human being. and that she was a female, right? What qualifies you to be married to the son of God? His work in the cross. Sure, your involvement in him, you were crucified, buried, and when you're resurrected in newness of life, it now qualifies you on a life level to be the bride of Christ.

Kind of cool, huh? Alright, we're done. I hope we're done. We're done because I messed up the thing anyway. Dear Father, we thank you for your grace and mercy and the overwhelming understanding of who we are in your son, which leads us to understand just who he is and his character and towards us that he would do such a thing as to recreate us in him. We thank you, Father. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.