The Book of Hebrews 3:1-6 God, Moses, Christ, Gentiles Israel & Church

Good morning. We're going to continue our study of Hebrews 3, 1 through 6. This is now the third week we've been studying this passage, but we're going to take a rather different approach to most of the passage than we have been, and that is we're going to focus on this chart that you see here and in your handouts, the first page. So we're going to be making repeated reference to that. There are also slides on the back of your handout that we'll be referring to as well, and we'll look at that initially.

What we're going to be doing here is looking at highlights in the book of Hebrews, and especially in Hebrews 1 through 6, that look at a distinction between three people groups. that we're seeing is an important thing to recognize as we read the Bible and as we see what God has revealed in scripture. And that's the distinction between the Gentiles, Israel, and the church. The difficulty that these Jews who are the recipients of this letter to the Hebrews, the difficulty that they're having is this.

They are a part of the church. They are those who have a heavenly calling, right? Yet what they're doing is wanting to slip back into Judaism and the part they're particularly attracted to The part they're particularly drawn to is getting into the whole sacrificial system, right?

Now they were confused and so the author of Hebrews is trying to give them an understanding of wait a minute You're now a part of the church You're now a part of the church. I realize you're of Jewish background. You're now a part of the church. Your identity as a part of Israel is now secondary. Now secondary, now that you're a part of the church.

Those in the church frequently get confused on this point too, which is why we want to get things clear here and go through this passage. So some might think we're being puzzlingly picky. Why make all this emphasis on the distinction between the Gentiles, Israel, and the church? And some might think that that's rather peculiar or odd. But are there reasons for our trying to make these distinctions?

So the answer, of course, is yes. In seeking to be really clear, we're wanting to have a good understanding of the answers to questions like, who am I? Am I an Israelite? Or am I part of the church, the body of Christ? Where did I come from? Well, not only does that deal with creation, but it has to do with our new creation in Christ. Where am I going? I have a heavenly calling, right? A heavenly seating. That is where I'm going. And what's God doing? God's doing something different in Israel than He is in the church. Quite different.

Some other questions, too, come to mind. Other questions, too. Why is the Gospel of the Kingdom not the same as the Gospel regarding salvation that we seek to present to unbelievers now? That's something that I've talked to some folks, and they find initially this is shocking. There are two Gospels that get presented. Two. And we want to look at the distinction between those two Gospels. Why is there more than one meaning in the Bible for the word kingdom, depending on the context in which it is used?

Doesn't God just treat everybody the same throughout all time and beyond? If I believe I'm saved and that's it? Well, if you believe you're saved, yes, but that's not it. That's not the end. You mean all salvations aren't the same? No, is the answer. The words salvation and saved don't have the same meaning throughout all of Scripture. What it means for us to be saved in the church is different from what it means for Israel to be saved. And blessing and blessed don't have the same meaning throughout the Bible.

Here we see in Deuteronomy 28, shown there on the screen, here is Moses speaking to Israel. If you diligently obey the Lord, and that's by the way following all 613 laws, If you diligently obey all 613 laws, all these blessings will come upon you. If.

Paul writes to the church, however, at Ephesus, Ephesians 1.3, and says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has, no if, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

To be saved is not the same for Israel as for us. To be blessed is not the same as for for Israel as for us. Though Christ died for the sins of all humans for all time, not everyone who believes and is saved of all time is made to be in Christ. Noah is not in Christ. Not Abraham, nor Moses, nor David. Isaiah wrote scripture. He was not made to be in Christ. The thief on the cross was not made to be in Christ. That's only for those of the church, the body of Christ.

So, we have these three different people groups. The three different groups of people in the Bible are the Gentiles, Israel, and the church. And you see those column headings on the top of your chart there. The Gentiles are all those who are ethnically not Jewish. They're all those who are ethnically not Jewish, a people begun in Adam. The Gentiles were begun in Adam. The Jews are all those who trace their lineage through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's an ethnic Jew, Hebrew, or Israelite.

The Church is all those regardless of ethnic distinction. It doesn't matter whether you're Jew or Gentile. are saved by faith from Acts 2 until the rapture, the time when the Lord comes to take his church home. And Jew, Gentile, doesn't matter. That's not the distinction.

There's a supplement on the cabinet to the right as you exit this room that actually talks about these three groups on into eternity. This distinction is important because this identity will continue on forever. Forever. It's going to matter forever. Here are the Gentiles and Israel and the church in this chart you have on page one of your handout. And let's take a look at here.

First we have the The Gentiles, which is an ethnic distinction, that's all non-Jews, are Gentiles. Israel, an ethnic distinction, all those descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that's an ethnic distinction. And in terms of location on the planet, in terms of location on the planet, Israel's place is right here in the eastern Mediterranean. Right there, that little plot of land. is what they're about. So it's not just ethnic distinction. See, the Gentiles, they go all over the earth. Israel, that's the land and none other. Their land is specific.

For us in the church, where's our place? It's in heaven. We have a heavenly seating. We have a heavenly citizenship. We have a heavenly calling. That's Hebrews 3, 1-6. We're called to set our minds on things above, Colossians 3, 1-4. Heaven's our place. Heaven's home. We're just here temporarily. We're here just temporarily.

Now, there's another row there, also called, the Gentiles are also called in the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, nations and peoples. And you'll sometimes even see those together. in the same passage or the same verse. The Israel, on the other hand, is called Hebrews, Jews, and Israel, or Israelites. The nation, it's the singular, the nation and the people. Singular.

So it's very interesting, the pattern, nations, peoples, is for the Gentiles, the nation, the people. for the Jews, and that's both Old Testament and New Testament, but particularly in the Old Testament. The church only spoken of in the New Testament, and in the Gospels, only in the latter part of the Gospels, is the Body and Bride of Christ, the Church of God. There are also some other titles, things like the Flock of God, things of that sort. But the Body and Bride of Christ, the Church of God, is what the church is referred to here.

Now, so here is Israel's place among the peoples. There's all these nations all around, and Israel, they have this one land. That's it. That's their place. But for us in the church, we're identified not by a location here on the planet, but by our relationship to Christ. That's our identification. That's who we are, is always in relationship to Christ. The church is the body of Christ, the church is the bride of Christ.

Alright, began in, and we see the description here in different parts of the Bible, the Gentiles are begun in Genesis 1-11, that's the account that describes the beginning of, not all of, but the beginning of the Gentiles. Israel on the other hand begins in Genesis chapter 12 where Abraham is given promises given promises by God and it continues all the way through the end of the book of Genesis as Jacob and Jacob's sons and their families are all in Egypt and Jacob in chapter 49 there blesses his sons just before the close of the book. The church is not described historically as existing. Jesus talks about it towards the end of the Gospels. It's not described historically as existing until Acts chapter 2.

That's the beginning of the church. That description of the growth of the church continues on for about three decades of time until Acts 28 When finally Paul is there in Rome, so that's where the church has begun and where it's described Now, we've talked last time we looked at this about stewards, and each of these groups has a primary or initiating steward. Someone who is entrusted with something. That's what a stewardship is. Adam and Noah are the primary stewards. Here's Adam.

He's put in this garden, and there's nothing about it you could critique. He's put in this beautiful garden. Everything he needs is there. Even his wife Eve who was created from him is in place there. He has been given a stewardship. He has been entrusted with this garden.

Noah then is another primary steward who's given a stewardship basically to sustain the human race through eight people, himself, his wife, three sons, and their wives, and to have animals go on the ark to sustain them as well. So here is a steward, another one, Noah, being a primary steward there among the Gentiles. In Israel, Moses is a steward and specifically spelled out in Hebrews 3, 1 through 6, he is called a servant. He's called a servant. And then in Hebrews 3, 1-6, the identification of Christ, who is called a Son. Capital S-O-N.

So those are the primary stewards for each of those groups here on this planet. Now, there's a reigning principle, and one of the things we want to spell out when we say principle, this has nothing to do with the guy at school, right? This principle that we say is either the way things work or a fundamental truth. And in this case, primarily the way things work is the meaning that we're drawing from here.

The Gentiles are primarily under the law of conscience, and you see that described in Romans chapter 2. They don't have the law of Moses, but they're given the law of being judged by their own sense of conscience. The Jews, on the other hand, are given the 613 laws of the law of Moses. 613 laws that are designed to be carried out in the land. 365 of those are things not to do. and the other things being positive statements. Do this, do this, do this.

For us in the church, however, the reigning principle is the grace in which we stand. Romans chapter 5, verse 21 actually says that grace is the reigning principle for us in the church. And the next chapter, chapter 6, verses 14 and 15, twice, we're not under law, we're under Grace. Grace is the reigning principle.

So a distinction between these three groups. Now the next question here, the next column, Christ died for who? All three columns, we now have them the same. Christ died for The Gentiles. Christ died for Israel. Christ died for the Church. Everyone. Christ died for every person on the planet from Adam until the last person born on this earth in the Millennial Kingdom.

We'll talk about that shortly here. Now, then, how is one saved? Among the Gentiles, some are saved, and all who are saved are saved by faith. Some are saved, but all who are saved are saved by faith. We read early in Genesis, here's Enoch, who walked with God, and God took him after 365 years. Noah was saved by faith. He also walked with God. So some of the Gentiles are saved by faith. Among Israel, some are saved by faith.

And one of the important distinctions we want to make, the law doesn't save anybody. The law is there to determine who is blessed and who is cursed. But the law doesn't save anybody. All Israel has available to them salvation by faith. Not by the law. The law never saved anybody. So it was possible for a Jew to be saved by faith and then violate the law and be killed. So the law doesn't save anyone. Oh, but it can kill you. That's the character of the law.

The church is also saved by faith, but there's a distinction here. Among Gentiles, an ethnic distinction, some are saved by faith. Among Israelites, an ethnic distinction, some are saved by faith. In the church, it doesn't matter if you come into this building, you're only saved by faith. You can come here and spend hours and Sundays, the only way you're saved is by faith. It's not coming into the church building. Saved by faith. But everyone in the church is saved by faith. Everyone. No exceptions. So, all who are saved by faith are then saved until they go to be with the Lord. And there will come a day when the Lord will call His church home.

And so we jokingly have some left behind clothing. Now, Next one, identification, baptism, and the phrasing in scripture. You see, everybody on the planet is identified. But who or what you're identified with is a different matter. What we find in the Old Testament is in Adam, and even in the New Testament, with Noah, among the nations and among the peoples. Remember I said nations and peoples is another way of referring to the Gentiles. So we find among the nations and among the peoples, that's the identification we see of the Gentiles.

Now, for Israel and the church, we see this word baptized. So we've got to talk about baptized here. Galatians 3.27 says, for all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. Romans chapter 6 also makes reference to being baptized into Christ. So is there any water in this verse? Or is it just bone dry?

Well, let's take a look here. When we think of baptism, we typically think of having a baptism where someone's immersed in water, and that's what comes to mind for us. We tend to jump to that definition. But the people who were reading this had a use for the word baptism that's helpful for us to know. They didn't automatically jump to the idea of being baptized in water as a ceremony like we tend to do. It has the idea of immersing something so as to change its character by the immersion. But let's explain what we mean by that. cloth that was ordinarily starting off as something off-white was baptized into the vat of dye to color it purple or red.

And they used some shells, and by the way, it took lots of shells, thousands of shells, to make an ounce of dye. Or they would actually have a crimson worm that they would also collect, lots of them, and they would make a dye out of that. The cost of the dye for either case was more expensive per ounce than gold. Very painstaking to collect this. But you would dip the cloth into the dye and it would come out permanently changed and different.

That was the use of the word baptized. Here's another one. A heat treated sword was baptized into water to heat treat it and make it harder. They would take the sword, they would heat it up until it was very, very hot, even white hot in the fire. Get it very hot once you had it into shape. And then they would suddenly immerse it in a vat of cold water where it would case harden the blade so that you wouldn't end up getting this blade that just nicks and dulls easily.

It would change the character, like the dipping of the cloth in the dye, it would change the character by baptism. So when we're baptized into Christ, it's not just we're dipping you in water, it's you have been placed into Christ so as to be permanently and radically changed in character. That's what it means. So, baptized into Christ when they would think of it, oh, I'm going to be immersed into Christ and I'm going to, by that immersion, be permanently and radically changed. That's the meaning here. Those who have believed in Christ and are therefore saved have been spiritually immersed into Christ and are permanently and most substantially changed by that one single immersion into Christ. is one event that changes us forever. All of you who are baptized into Christ have a new history now, because you were baptized into His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension, and seeding. When you believed, you began a new spiritual history, different from the history that you once had.

Okay. So now, when we talk about baptized into Moses, that's 1 Corinthians 10, verse 2. Okay? Baptized into Moses, that's the characteristic of all the Jews who went through the water and under the cloud. They were baptized into Moses. Okay? What does baptism mean? It means that they were identified with Moses in these things. We in the church, however, have been baptized into Christ, permanently changed by that baptism, by that immersion, never to be the same again, just like the cloth was never to go back to being white, just like the sword was never to go back to being a soft metal.

Now, the nature of the blessings and calling is different for the Gentiles, Israel, and the church. Initial blessings for Adam there in the garden. The Bible says he was God-blessed Adam. And even for Noah, once he had gone through the flood and survived that. Both of them were told about earthly reproduction as being high priority. Be fruitful and multiply. Adam was told that. Noah was told that. So they had blessings and orders to reproduce. For Israel, the blessings are conditional. If you obey, you'll be blessed. If you don't, you'll be cursed. If you obey, you'll be blessed. If you don't, you'll be cursed. And there is an earthly calling. It has to do with that land. That land that I'm giving you. For the church, the blessings are unconditional.

Paul writes to the Ephesians, and he said, you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He waits until the middle of chapter 4 to say, now let's talk about your lying and stealing problem. See the difference there? Whereas for Moses, your lying and stealing, that's going to get you stoned to death. But in the church, he says, let me tell you about your blessings first. We'll get to your lying and stealing problem.

Now, the meaning of earthly difficulties is different for these three groups. The meaning of earthly difficulties is different for these three groups. For Gentiles, the fall was certainly a big problem, right? For Adam and for Eve, and those descended from him. The limitations were told, and this is from Paul talking to the Gentiles, The limitations of mankind, geographical and otherwise, are to cause mankind to seek God. That's the situation for the Gentiles.

For Israel, however, curses for disobedience with earthly impact. What's going to happen if you disobey the law? You're going to have a hard time, I guarantee it, says God. If the Jews are having a hard time, then it's because they're disobedient. And Christians frequently make that mistaken conclusion that that applies to them. You may not be going through a difficult time because you're disobedient.

God has another purpose for it. And it's important that we do not think like Israel when we encounter difficulties. It's important we don't think like Israel when we encounter difficulties. If you're a believer, God's not punishing you. You're going through trials either to be conformed to Christ or for discipline, to get you back on a path of fellowship with Him. Trials have a different purpose for us in the church. We mustn't think like the Israelites.

We mustn't think like the Israelites, God's not punishing us, and we're not being cursed for disobedience to the law. For conformity to Christ, in which a person may be walking with the Lord when they go into a trial, might well happen. or for discipline. We're going to see in Hebrews chapter 12 about discipline.

We're going to get into that. And by the way, we're also going to include in that biblical teaching on parenting, because that's going to be an important thing. Now, the next, here we see grace. How big an issue is grace for the Gentiles? Grace went along with conscience. There was grace in what God offered. As a matter of fact, here's this boat that Noah is building. Were other people welcome to get on it? Yes. They could have. Did they? No. But grace was offered even if it was refused.

Now, for Israel, The law was actually gracious. Do you realize that several times in the law it says God is gracious? Several times in the law God is gracious. So there is grace in the law. Which also tells us something else. If Christians, as they often do, go looking for mixtures of law and grace to live by, that's already been done. Israel had that.

For us, it's pure, unadulterated grace, full on, full out, pedal to the metal grace all the time. As we made the analogy, we drink from Niagara Falls of grace. We in the church. Pure grace, nothing but grace all the time. It is the reigning principle, which as we'll see in Hebrews, Two applications of grace. It helps and strengthens. Grace helps and strengthens.

Those are going to be key things as we go through the book of Hebrews. And then the Holy Spirit's role. Very interesting. The Holy Spirit's role. For Gentiles, the Spirit will be poured out on all of mankind in the coming kingdom. We're going to talk shortly about what that kingdom means. for Israel during that coming kingdom there will be a new covenant promise for all of Israel all of Israel in the coming kingdom which could start as soon as seven years from now all of Israel will be given the Holy Spirit differently than for us given the Holy Spirit so that they know the law don't need a rabbi they know the law and they are empowered to live it out They know the law and are empowered to live it out. That's the new covenant promise for the Jews during the coming kingdom. For us in the church, however, the Spirit indwells all Christian believers all the time.

If you're a believer here this morning, you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who, by the way, doesn't come and go. Nancy and I have a friend, back in Nevada who you know had been a Christian for a while before she learned, oh you mean the Holy Spirit doesn't come and go? Because she had been in church experience where you're always pleading for the Holy Spirit again, right? And how do you know you have the Holy Spirit? You feel it.

Instead of seeing no, I believe it because God's Word says I always If I'm a believer in Christ, I always have the Holy Spirit in dwelling So there is there is a present or future role for the Holy Spirit for all three groups, but it's not the same You are given the Holy Spirit to live Life apart from the law the Jews will be in the kingdom given the Holy Spirit to live life by the law. Same spirit, different purpose entirely.

Christ's kingdom title, and one that we'll see here in the book of Hebrews, King of Kings and Lord of Lords is specifically a title of Christ's reign over the Gentile nations. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, you see that in the book of Revelation. It is specifically a title over the Gentile nations. The King of Israel and the Messiah is his title over the nation of Israel, the people. King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations, the peoples, the nations. And here for Israel, the King of Israel and the Messiah. But for us, The bridegroom will reign. This is, according to the Bible, Genesis 15, 18-21 and Ezekiel 48, this is the map of Israel in the coming millennial kingdom. It goes all the way to the river Euphrates. And it breaks it down by tribe. The Bible spells that out.

That could be the case as soon as seven years from now. Wouldn't that be a surprise? By the way, that's the year 2020, right? If that were to happen. Okay, for us in the church, we are the bridegroom who will reign with Christ and will be an island of grace in a world ruled otherwise by law.

Okay, you have this, I want to explain because I've used the word kingdom here. You have this in your handout and I'm specifically referring to the millennial kingdom. I'm going to just show this briefly and we'll come back to it. But this millennial kingdom on the right hand side, the millennium means a thousand, a thousand years of Christ reigning following the tribulation which will be a seven year period of time. So that's why I say if the Tribulation were to begin this year, it would be the year 2020 when the Millennial Kingdom would begin. Christ's reign on earth would begin. Okay, so let's take a look at the last part of it.

Temple and sacrifices. The Gentiles early on were In use of an altar, Cain and Abel, remember Cain killed Abel because of the jealousy, because Abel's sacrifice was acceptable. Even what's pictured here is with Noah. After Noah got off the ark, what did he do? He sacrificed. Later on, the Gentiles, in order to have sacrifices, they had to approach Israel and approach God and approach the sacrificial system through Israel Israel had a temple with Moses sacrifices which was a shadow and copy of the heavenly and we're going to see that Here and as we study through the book of Hebrews a shadow and copy of the heavenly temple but us Us, here in the church. The church is a temple. This isn't a temple, this building.

I'm glad we have it. It's a great convenience and a great place to meet. Especially when it's like zero degrees outside. It's really nice. It's a great place to have. But this isn't a temple. You are. You are. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 says you're a temple. So Israel had a temple. It was a building. We are a temple. We are a temple. That's the difference. There is also sacrifice. We're going to see this as we go through Hebrews. There's sacrifice of our bodies, Romans 12, 1 and 2, but in chapter 13, a sacrifice of praise. In chapter 13 of Hebrews, a sacrifice of praise. So we are a temple and we do sacrifices.

The sacrifice is a sacrifice of praise. or as Romans 12.1 puts it, a sacrifice of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Now, going through this chart, anybody's circuit panel burning up here? It's been a lot, but let's take a look at some things. These are some slides on page 2. Because Christians haven't always understood these truths very clearly, they haven't known what God intends. They have confused and mixed up Israel and the church. Some have fought themselves under some or all of the Law of Moses. Ever know any Christians who go around saying, boy, I follow the Ten Commandments. I'm for God's top ten, right? And no, none of the Law of Moses is directly applicable to you. Are there things to learn from it? Yes. But it doesn't directly apply to us.

Some have seen themselves as an earthly people with conditional earthly blessings. Ever have somebody say, God bless you? There was one time some years back, a friend and I saw some guy who was pushing his motorcycle along the freeway. And we say, hey, need some help with that? And he said, yeah, I'm out of gas. So we said, well, we can help you with that. So we picked him up and took him to a gas station, got some gas, and then brought him back to his motorcycle so he wasn't pushing it several miles. And when we were all done, he said, God bless you. And we turned to each other, and we looked at him, and we said, he already has. He already has.

Some have seen Christ as their King, not understanding that, no, Christ is Israel's king, not ours. They've seen the church as the kingdom. Here's somebody talking about, well, we've got to get them into the kingdom. Well, the church isn't the kingdom, right?

That teaching, by the way, historically goes along with seeing the Jews as the Christ killers, not understanding that Christ intended to die. He wasn't a victim. And it wasn't that the Jews betrayed him. He was supposed to die. That was his intent. He loved and he gave.

Galatians 2.20 Ephesians 5.2, he loved and he gave.

Ephesians 5.25, he loved and he gave. I think he loved and I'm sure he gave. Intentionally. But wait, there's more.

And this is not a 2am advertisement for a class B movie. Some Christians mistakenly see it as their godly responsibility to take dominion over the earth politically and economically and militarily for Christ. You'll see on Christian things, if my people who are called by my name will pray, see that? That's for Israel. My people, remember it's people, not peoples. Some have not understood what took place on the cross for all mankind and what also took place on the cross that only involved those of the church. Not everyone was identified with Christ's death, only those in the church, from Acts 2 until the rapture, the time when the Lord comes again.

We have motive, we have means, we have opportunity. And the prosecutor is happy, right? No. In the body of Christ, our motive of how we live is distinct. We have a distinct motive. Grace and mercy are to be our motives. Ephesians 4.32, Forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. Grace. Grace. By the mercies of God is the appeal that Paul uses.

We have means of living that is from the life of Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit. That is unique. Israel never had that. Israel never had that. Our opportunity is not to be blessed or cursed, as Israel was, in earthly ways, but to walk as children of light, as instruments of the Lord Jesus Christ here, while having a citizenship there. while being seated there, while setting our minds on things above there, while having a heavenly calling there. So we're not mixing up the church and Israel.

Now we'll come to this chart here, take a more detailed look at it. Christ's first coming is recorded there in the Gospels and spoken of in the New Testament. That was Christ's first coming. About ten years ago or so, I was talking to an Orthodox rabbi, and he was saying, you know, when the Messiah comes, we'll ask him, is this your first or your second time, right? Well, I have news for the rabbi. This is the second time, but Christ's first coming is recorded in the Gospels.

Following that, beginning at Acts 2, is the church age, the age that we are in now, and could close at any time. could close at any time because the rapture, the taking up of the church, and by the way, ever hear anybody say the rapture is not in the Bible? Ever hear that? The Greek word is harpazo. So yes it is. It's under that Greek word. Taken up. That will end the church age. The age where every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It will end the church age where Christ living in you and living through you is God's intended means.

Then will be a seven-year tribulation period, the most difficult time on the planet, followed by the second coming when you will come with Him, having been taken up in the rapture. You and I will come with Him to rule and reign with Him at His second coming. Which, because of the length of the tribulation period and because the rapture could happen at any time, could be as soon as seven years from now. Can you imagine seven years from now coming back with Christ?

Already having new bodies. Next is the millennial kingdom, the thousand year reign of Christ. That's the kingdom that we've been referring to. It's a time yet to come, possibly as soon as seven years from now. And finally, eternity in a new heavens and a new earth.

So just so we make that clear. In Hebrews 3, 1 through 6, there is one verse we haven't talked about yet. That's why we want to do that. Verse 5, now Moses was faithful in all of his house as a servant. We have talked about that. But the next part, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later.

The first five books of the Bible, that's also known as the Pentateuch, also known as the Torah, that's the term that the Jews would give it, or the books of Moses, those five books contain 613 laws, including specific instruction on how to build a temple and how to build a tabernacle and what that includes. Those five books pointed in multiple ways, many ways to Christ, who would come at the right time. There was not only the sacrificial system, there's not only that, but there was also the Passover lamb, which Paul says specifically in 1 Corinthians, is representing Christ. Christ is our Passover, right?

Christ would come at the right time, To die, Romans 5.6 and Galatians 4.4, in the fullness of time he would come. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus was speaking with two disciples. This is Luke 24.

He said to them, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? And then in verse 27, then beginning with Moses, So the five books of Moses had things in it which talked about Christ and things to come. And with all the prophets he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. The books of Moses are there to point to Christ. That's why the Jews went through what they went through as examples for us to learn from. But it points to Christ.

Do we stay by the sign that points or do we go where the sign is pointing to? You see the difference there? If there's a sign that says fire exit and there's a fire, do you want to stand by the fire exit sign? No. Not a good idea. Okay? You want to go where it's pointing and get out.

Same thing with the law. If the law of Moses is a sign to point us to Jesus, Do we stay by the sign, the law, or do we go where the sign points us to Christ? And this is a key thing, getting the distinction between the law and grace. The law is to point us to Christ, just like the fire exit sign. The fire comes, you don't just stand by the fire exit sign.

That's not the place to stay. That won't work out well for you. The same thing, if the Law of Moses is to point us to Christ, then what we ought to do is to go to Christ, and not go holding on to the Law of Moses. And by the way, some mixture of the two isn't the answer either. When the fire exit sign is there, and there's a fire, you don't want to stand by the sign. As a matter of fact, you don't want to just stand five feet away from it. You want to get out of that building, right? If the law of Moses is pointing us to Christ, we want to go completely to Him, and not to the pointing thing, which is the law. Let's go to Christ now.

Lord, we thank you as we look at this passage here, as we look at the truths that we've seen. You intended to make us a very special people. And you intended to accomplish very special things in us and through us. And we thank you for that. You have given us your Holy Spirit to point us to Christ continuously and to empower us and enable us so that we think of all the things that are being taught in the class downstairs and the person and worker of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for that uniqueness and a part of that is that we are under this reigning principle entirely of grace and none of the law because the law itself was only to point to Christ. Thank you for what you've made clear to us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.