Good morning, brothers and sisters. Our first speaker this morning is Pastor Mo Bergeron. His message is Ezekiel's Temple, Literal or Spiritual. Pastor Mo is a lithographer, website developer, and missionary who has worked for decades to freely communicate the gospel via the internet to impact the world for Christ. He pastors Sovereign Grace Fellowship Church in Bosco in New Hampshire. I hope I pronounced it Pronounce that correctly. Please welcome Pastor Mo Bergeron. If you don't put the audio on, you stream, YouTube don't mean a thing. They just have to look at my sorry face and be happy. Well, I'd like you to stand so for the reading of God's word from Ezekiel chapter 47. Our brother, I believe, is going to put it up on the overhead. But if not, that's OK. I'll read it. A reading from the NASB. Water from the temple. Ezekiel speaking about the vision that God had given him. He says, then he brought me back to the door of the house and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, while the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. He brought me out by the way of the north gate and he led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, I guess you would say it down here, look here. Behold, water was trickling from the south side. When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again, he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again, he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again, he measured 1,000, it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen and enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. And he said to me, he said, oh man, have you seen this? And then he brought me back to the bank of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then he said to me, these waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into Araba. Then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea became fresh. It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes will live. and there will be very many fish for these waters go there, and the other waters, excuse me, the others become fresh, so everything will live where the river goes. It will come about that the fishermen will stand, that fishermen will stand beside it, from Engle to Engleham, however you understand that in your language. There will be a place for the spreading of nets, Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the great sea, very many. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh. They will be left for salt. By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. Heavenly Father, we go before your God because you're a great and merciful God, and you have a picture for us here in Ezekiel 47, Lord, of that great and wonderful and beautiful temple. But the temple, Lord, we know this picture is pointing to is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And Father, you place it upon my heart to relate these things and explain these things to your people, to be an encouragement to their hearts, oh God. Help us to see Christ this morning, as you have been so kind to us in the previous messages, to reveal more and more of our precious Savior to us. And Father, we need to first confess our understanding of new covenant theology, or progressive covenant theology, or biblical theology, or whatever it may be. Lord, it's all to take us to your foot. to stand before you, to kneel before you, and give you all the worship and all the praise that is your due. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Please be seated. Those of you that know John Riesinger, he used to give us a text when he was at Seaside Heights, and he says, We're gonna read the text, this is where we're gonna be, right? It sounds good, and you get all excited about it, and then you realize that John has gone that bypass and that bypass, but ultimately, John gets across what he wanted to get across. And we always left wonderfully encouraged because we saw Christ's placard before us. Much of today's preaching and teaching, including some of my own, sometimes I have felt that, did I bring him to the throne? that I bring them to the foot of Jesus, where their hearts warmed with the things of Christ. That's the challenge of every preacher and teacher. If we're just gonna teach a head knowledge that never reaches your heart, we have failed. And I don't blame the Holy Spirit for not reaching your heart. I blame you and me. Years ago, By the way, before I begin, I want to say what an honor it is to be here at the Invitation of Providence. And I just thank you, Brother Sasser, for opening up the church home to all of us here. But it's so good to meet up with Bill and to meet up with Linda, friends for many a year. It's so good to meet with Ron McKinney, and we never really got to fellowship one another, but our ships used to go like this here at the same conferences, and what a delight it was to be with Bill and Ron last night at that chop house. And man, we were chopping away. I felt like, I don't know, I thought it was just me, but Ron was resonating it and Bill was resonating it. Something about God was there in even our conversation. And even though it was a lighthearted moment, more often than not, it was a delightful moment just to rehash some of the things we've seen and we've experienced and what we've heard and who we have seen over and over, but yet, you know, we look forward to these conferences because we get to see each other again. We get to talk to one another about our favorite subject, our God, our Savior, and our King. And if we don't come to a conference like this expecting to get a meal, don't come at all. If you come here just to do theology, don't waste your time. Our theology is not perfect. We're imperfect people. You know, I was telling my brother, Joshua, over there, I says, you know, my favorite heroes in Christianity are not scholars, sorry, Joshua, and I sort of apologetically, I really do appreciate them when they have something to say. But the real heroes in my book are guys like David Sitton, who's with us. Those who are willing to put their life on the line to reach the fallen souls of men. with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Those are my heroes. I say missionary, and you picked up an old bio actually because I've been retired for a couple years. I've always been impressed with men and women and children who have deep affections for Christ. And I've always been affected by people who are preaching and teaching or whatever it may be, who love the souls of those that they address. They move you to prayer and worship. And I'm so thrilled to be here with those that can preach and teach, as my brothers have. Rennie, I love you. It was a good message. All of yous were great. Let me get off my subject here and go on to my real subject. In God's providence, it was during a warehouse sale at Christian book distributors up in Massachusetts. By the way, if you don't understand me, there's an international translator you can attach. At this warehouse sale at Christian book distributors, they had tables all over the place. The place is a monstrous place. And they had used books and torn books and books you could just pick up real cheap. And I would go there and I would scour the tables and there was a book laying there with the title, All Things New. The Significance of Newness for Biblical Theology by the late Carl B. Hotch. It was published in 1996. When you see a book like that with that kind of a title and you have an interest in new covenant things, it grabs your attention. Come to find out, he was what some would describe as a progressive dispensationalist. But something was going on in his mind and God was moving him. All he was doing was asking questions. What is this new thing? What is this new covenant thing? And I wanted to know what he had to say, because he was asking all the right questions. In the preface of his book, he emphasized that he was not speaking merely of something new in time, but of something new in kind. something of a different order, of a new creation. Now, does that sound like a dispensationalist? He lamented the lack of attention given to this rich biblical theme. I have also lamented, even after many years in this new covenant circle in which God has placed me. Why do I say that? Because we're more caught up about what we are not We're not Sabbatarians, we're not under the law, we're not under a covenant of the works, a covenant of grace, but who are we? Who are we as the new covenant community of God's saints? And the Word of God is rich with information telling us just that. If only we could look beyond what we are not to what we are in Christ. When you hear mature preachers say, as myself and Gary, by the way, Gary's my best friend in the world here. When you hear preachers say from the pulpit, Ed Moore, his daughter gave him a book around Christmas time on union with Christ. He picked it up, he thought he knew the subject as a pastor for many years. And finally he did pick it up and he began to read it. And God hit him. He didn't really see the depth and the meaning and the power of being united to Christ through his Holy Spirit. Your identity is now in Jesus Christ. And that has immense reasons to shake us up a little bit and bring joy to us. We said, and we have said it here, God doesn't call us sinners anymore. We are saints who sin. But our identity is in Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ alone. My identity is not even in myself, it's in him. And that's where a new covenant theology, progressive covenant, whatever it is, we have to be focusing upon who we are in Christ. Why? Because there's nothing that warms the hearts of God's people knowing that they're safe and secure. And performance is out of the question. Put aside, it is because Christ has performed perfectly in his Father's sight that we stand acceptable to our Father in heaven. That's my biggest encouragement to pursue holiness. There's this idea, you know, of progressive sanctification. I've always had a problem with that expression, theological term. Why? Because it's almost like, you gotta do this, and you gotta do that, and you gotta do that, and if you don't do that, man, you've fallen short. But if you study Colossians and other portions of God's word, like Colossians chapter three, you have died with Christ, you have been raised with Jesus. I'll give you a shorthand. Be who you are in Christ. Be who you are in Christ already. Well, that gets you off of that hamster wheel, doesn't it? Okay, how does transformation happen? 2 Corinthians chapter three. I'm not even using my notes, this is really bad. 2 Corinthians chapter three. Paul says towards the close of the chapter about transformation. He says, it's by beholding him. that would transform. So I don't want to bring people necessarily to the Ten Commandments alone. They're all well and good, or anywhere else for that matter of Scripture. If we're not going to go and look for Jesus, we're going to be in trouble. Remember the two in a row to Emmaus? Okay? They thought they knew the Word of God. They were—by the way, they had a little interpretation of the Scriptures. You didn't get that? They're in some ways not much better than the Torah teachers of the day. They were looking for all the wrong things when Jesus, who was the Son of God, was walking in the midst for three years, they still didn't know who he was. How could that be? Well, that's like a lot of us today. We read about Jesus, we hear preachers preach about him, but do you actually spend time with him? Have you ever said, this is gonna be my chief subject in life. I'm going to study Christ. I'm gonna learn him. And when you learn him, you image him. You can't help it, it just comes out. If you're born of God, it's just gonna come out. And you're gonna, You know, we say someone who eats garlic stuff, you know, they smell like garlic. I didn't realize that pineapple has the same effect, but you will never know it. But when you feed on Christ, when you feed on the Lord Jesus Christ, when you eat his flesh and drink his blood, you look more and more like him. But guess what? I'll tell you the other side of the coin. His father sees you like he sees his son, Jesus. All you're trying to do is line up with he sees. Speaking of the two when he wrote to Emmaus, in Luke 24, verses 25 through 27, Jesus says to these two men who were walking away discouraged after Calvary, after the death of this one they loved so dearly. And Jesus said to these, These two brothers. I love this. If somebody say a brother or sister, I don't know. But what he says next is true of myself and all of us at one time or another. He describes them as foolish ones. He said to them, oh, foolish ones. And here comes a really tough, you know, no one wants to hear this as a Christian. And slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that Christ, our Jesus, should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and the prophets, he gave them the best Bible study ever known to man. Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And after he departed, after they broke bread, they say, weren't our hearts warmed within? When we leave a conference, when we leave a Sunday morning service, when we leave a Bible study time, when we spend time with other Christians in the world that God has placed us to be fellow travelers with, you walk away with your heart warmed with the things of Christ. I'm talking to you. In a personal study, Sometimes the problem for a preacher in preparing, whether it be a Sunday morning message, conference talk, or Bible study, is that we get into the Word, and sometimes we just, it's just words on a page, and we're gonna be good clinicians, and we're gonna go through it and say, okay, this is this and this is that, this is what we're gonna bring in, these are the main points, and we lose sight of Christ. I don't want to be a foolish one. I don't want to be slow of understanding. I want to be dependent upon the Lord God, the Holy Spirit who is left with us, the Spirit of Christ even. I want to be able to hear what He has to say to us in His Word. I want to see Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures so I can more fully understand what He's accomplished on my behalf. Well, to that end, Let's look to God's word. What time am I supposed to finish? Say again? Ten minutes to go. Thank you. Amen. Oh boy, there's one in every crowd, right? Well, when I read Ezekiel 47, I'm going to prove a point with various proofs from Scripture. And I hope and pray I don't have to run through it and just pause and think now and then. What we find in Ezekiel 47 is a glorious temple that God's establishing, God has established, God is still building. It's also, not only is Christ the building, at the threshold, I would say, at the cross and at Pentecost begins the outflowing of the waters from Christ. He's immersing us in the Spirit. And through this immersion we experience in the spirit, he equips us to bring the gospel to other nations and other peoples. In a sense, we're gathering precious and living stones to become part of that great edifice that we'll read about in Ephesians and Peter and other places of scripture. From Eden, let's begin with Eden. Before Christ, every dwelling place of God, every place where heaven touched earth was limited, it was symbolic, and ultimately temporary, okay? Adam was commissioned to work and keep the garden in Genesis 2, verse 15, and the same Hebrew word used later is used later to describe the duties of the priest, ministering in the tabernacle and the temple. And although Eden was not called a temple by name, and I know some people kick and scream about this, it functioned like one. You know, I was saying to Randy, he says, what about the Temple of the God, and something to that effect, because the Temple of the God, and you're looking for furniture, you wanna walk around kicking furniture. No, a temple is simply this. A temple is where God meets with man. That's all it is. God meeting with his subjects. God meeting in this age with his children. The father inviting his children to come in. We see that when the veil is torn. Jesus Christ has made a way to sit in the presence of our heavenly father. To be frank, I'm always bewildered by those who go looking for evidence that the patent God gave Moses began only at Sinai. as though Eden has no bearing whatsoever, but the signs were all there. And I'm gonna say this, I know this is recorded, I had a lot to do with getting Facebook, progressive covenantalism online on Facebook. May I divert just for a moment? In theological circles, both NCT and PC, I've grown tired and weary of people saying, what does so-and-so say about this? The first resource is the scriptures, the word of God. I love Steve Wellum, I love Kurt Wellum, I love John Riesinger, I love Bill Sasser, I love Gary George, but I'll tell you something, they are not my authority. God's word is my authority. When the Spirit brings the authority of his word to my heart and to my mind, it changes me, it transforms me. But I'm tired of the theological football that goes back and forth between the scholars. I want to sit with believers, whether they have titles or not, letters behind their name, and just know about Jesus. Is that too much to ask? When people ask questions and say, what does he say about this or that, I just turn it off right there. I have to be honest, I've been sorely disappointed. But if you understand, going back to the text here, if you understand that the temple is simply the place where God meets with people, then Eden was a prototype. The tabernacle and temple were patented after the original sanctuary, the heavenly, not the other way around. Now ultimately, all of these find their fulfillment in Emmanuel, God with us. From Eden to the tabernacle, from the temple to Christ himself, the theme is consistent. God makes a way to dwell, to live with his people, amongst his people. The temple isn't first and foremost architecture, it's about presence, it's about fellowship, it's about restoration. Eden, I say, and I would agree with, is a first temple in a real sense. It was not a man-made structure, it was a garden filled with the presence of God. Every later dwelling place, the tabernacle, the temple, and finally Jesus follows that original pattern, a place where God and humanity meet. God's dwelling in the wilderness, our brothers talked about this, by the way, we do trample over each other in our talks. It's okay, it's been good. In Exodus 25, verse 8, God says to Moses, let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Wow. You know who the Hebrews were? They're hothots. In Hebrews 8, verse 5, the writing Hebrew says, which was Luke, by the way, the priests are a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. It was a copy. You know, we have pictures by us here. You know, DJ. Anybody know DJ in person? You know, hallelujah. What a sweet brother, okay? And then we have over here, Dr. J. Dr. J. Wembley. You know Dr. J. Once you meet Dr. J., you'll never forget him. You'll never ever forget him. And then we have Bill Sasser. Anybody know Bill Sasser here? He's quite the guy. I'll tell you right now. Dear Saint. And the guy down here. I'll tell you a little bit about that guy here. I was up here checking out the pulpit, like most preachers do when you gotta go speak at a certain venue, and I was up here, I knocked John flat on his face. He's not happy. But they're copies of the real thing, even though they were done in humor, they were copies of the real thing. But I know the real thing, I've met the real thing. I've met Jesus. And already he's tabernacling within me and within you who love him. Where is house? Where is home? Where the temple walls made up of living stones, lively stones, just like Aaron's breastplate. You know what I mean? That didn't seem very lively on his breastplate, did they? But there are pictures of those that God had loved. And you can even go back to Joseph and his coat of many colors. I know the scholars, this is where they're helpful. Some will say it was precious stones, like Aaron's breastplate, breast piece, whatever. And others say, no, it was just a colored thing. But I do know this here, he served as a media between his brothers and his father. That's why he was despised. Because you brothers have trampled over my stuff, I can skip a few things. At Sinai, God initiated covenant fellowship and then gave Moses the precise patent to build the temple. Every item, every current, and every priestly duty symbolized deeper truths. Yet the presence of God remained veiled. Only one man, the high priest, could enter the most holy place once a year and not without blood. Hebrews 9, 7. The veil that separated the people from God's presence testified that the way into a holy place was not yet open. And the two cherubs that took their place to keep Adam and Eve from going back into tasting of the tree, they were pitched upon the veil on each curtain, echoing the garden. Stay out. You have no right to come in. But you know, we often think about Aaron there and how he went in once a year and his descendants as well. But you know, it just seemed like Moses had to wait till that one day in a year to go into the presence of God. He spoke with God face to face. And then we hear about young Joshua, okay? He's in there too. And he's, you know, I say, hiding in the shadows of God talking with Moses. I love that boldness, that brazenness, okay? God loves people like that too. Then we have Solomon's Temple. It's called the House of Glory. It was defiled. It was forsaken. In 1 Kings 8-10-11, we see this. It reads, the cloud filled the house of the Lord. The glory of the Lord filled the house. Years ago, I remember being at Seaside Heights, and I hope you never listen to this. The guy named Ferguson happened to be a Scottish guy who was preaching at Seaside. You know, we get enamored with Scottish, British accents. Not so much French Canadians, sorry. And not so much the Wengland accent without interpretation. There's a place for tongues. Sinclair was preaching on Isaiah 6. about the smoke that filled the temple. The fiery tongue that was placed upon his lips. And everybody at Seaside Heights was sitting there at the edge of the pew. Wow. We felt like we were like that, the way that brother was preaching. He brought us right into the presence of God and Isaiah. Well, let me tell you something. Someone greater than the temple has come, and he set up residence in you. And we told him not to smoke. He took up his residence in you. And I'm always saying, why is it the Reformed in particular, they love those Old Testament pitches, but they never really relish the fact that Jesus amongst us, tabernacle amongst humanity, okay, is far greater than anything Isaiah ever could dream about. So the temple itself failed. In Ezekiel 10, verses 18 through 19, it says, then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple. What a sad day that was in the history of Israel. This is why I don't bring in Herod's temple or any other temple where the glory of the Lord did not find a presence and establish a home. It's meaningless as a future temple. If the spirit of God isn't there, it's useless. It's an affront to God. And then we see the revelation in scripture where Ezekiel's temple shows up. The previous dwelling places of Eden, the tabernacle, the temple, they were provisional. They were never meant to be ends in themselves. They were merely signposts or copies of the real thing in the heavens. The ultimate temple, the ultimate temple is the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 10, verse one says, the law is only a shadow, the law and all that are contained within it, temple worship, the priesthood, the law was only a shadow of the good things to come. Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ has come and he's coming again. The reality is ours to walk in, to appreciate. In Christ, God's presence is no longer hidden behind a veil or limited to a building. He is Emmanuel, God with us, both a true high priest and a true temple. Through his death and resurrection, the veil was torn, Matthew 27, 51, opening access to God for all men who are in Christ. The two cherubs on the curtains had to find another job. Jesus Christ is not merely a replacement of the old system, he is its fulfillment. Don't be scared by picture-fulfillment language. It's true. Shadows and types, it's true. God used all of that. I mean, Carson's book and Beal and all of the Old Testament prophecies that are found in the New Testament, it's all about shadows and types and echoes. If you don't have it, get it. Don Carson told me it was a doorstop. It really isn't. It's a precious work. Jesus has replaced the temple. He is the temple. In John 1, verse 14, we're told that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The term dwelt literally means tabernacled. But ever consider the word, or just the word. In the Old Testament, the Jews recognized that Torah was the word of God. And here is the word of God, the new living Torah. The Jews were onto something because they actually would, if a Torah got damaged or something like that, they would bury it like a corpse. In John chapter two, verses 19 through 21, that is abbreviated here, Jesus said, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Interesting, he's gonna raise up his own body. But he was speaking about the temple of his body. What an insight there. His resurrection established a new eternal meeting place between God and man. By shifting from building to body, Jesus reframes worship. Let me repeat that. By shifting from building to body, His body, Jesus reframes worship and how we ought to think about worship and the place of worship. God's presence is not found in the location. It is found in Him. Okay, Moe, prove that. We will. Just wait. Matthew 12, verse 6, Jesus said, something greater than the temple is here. Imagine that, something greater than the temple. I say to all these dispensationalist friends, what are you looking for? He's already here. They're like the two on the road to Emmaus. You haven't seen him while he's here. Jesus declares that he's greater than the temple because he embodies God's presence in its fullness. Hebrews 9, verses 11 and 12, the writer of Hebrews, John Mark, tells us, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves. What are you looking for a red heifer for? Those are the basic elements of the world. The Apostle Paul says, you go back to that, it's demonic. He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Wow. Hebrews chapter eight, verse five. The role of the high priest, they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. The earthly tabernacle and temple were never the final reality, were never intended by God to be the final reality. You know what the final reality is then? It's Jesus Christ. I'll scare you now, okay? It's Jesus Christ and you who love him. It says in Ephesians chapter 2, I hate to go here right now, but I will, verses 9 through 22, in him, in Jesus Christ, the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple. And here's the prepositional phrase, in the Lord, in him. You also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. In Him, never apart from Him. Believers united to Christ are being built into a spiritual temple where God now dwells. What is your encouragement? To be holy as God is holy. You're part of His house. You tried bringing an old dirty rag into the tabernacle of the temple, which is nothing but shadows and coffees. You tried to go in there as a high priest with still sin on your conscience, okay? And you didn't bring a sacrifice. You're gonna be a dead man. Why? Because God's presence dwells there. God's presence dwells in you. Put off that which is earthy. Put off sin. Why? Because you already constituted the house of God. 1 Peter 2, another verse I'm probably stealing, I don't know. Verses 4 and 5, abbreviated. Peter's encouraging the saints who are in a pilgrimage and they're exiles, strangers and foreigners. He says, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. Interesting. Every believer is a living stone. There's something about the building of the Temple Mount at the Temple Mount. And I may be wrong, I'm just throwing this out there, okay? None of the noise in the building of the temple, Solomon's temple, was on the Temple Mount. It was all on the outside, the chiseling of the stone, the plating of the metals, the wood, whatever it was. All the noise was on the outside, and everything was dead silent on the Temple Mount itself. All of the noise of God building the temple is in this creation. He's grabbing, he's taking out of this creation precious stones so that he can build this house, a spiritual house radically transformed by the power of God. So, He can take us there, and all the violence that has happened here on planet Earth as the gospel is advancing throughout this creation. But it's quiet up there. Just peace up in our heavenly home. So, enjoy the violence while you have it. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16, Paul writes, Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you? Think about that. Do you not know that you are God's temple and God's spirit dwells within you? Now this is interesting. You say the Corinthians. I know, I think we're very unkind to Corinthians. They came out of a pagan world. I was sharing this last evening with Brother Ron and Bill Sashley. Where did the early church get their self-awareness if they didn't come from the Jewish world? That they were God's people? They received it from God himself by his Holy Spirit when he took up residence in them. They had a self-awareness, just like we do here this morning, that because we can hear it, we hear it from each other's voice that we are the people of God. Why do we know we're the people of God? Because God's Holy Spirit indwells us. John 4, verses 21 and then 23, 24. Woman, this is the most amazing passage to talk about these things. Woman, the Samaritan woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain, where the Jews worship, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. But the hour is coming, and it now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. You understand, you get the import here? You Samaritans and the Jews over there are gonna be worshiping in the same manner of worship in the same place. He redefines worship for the new covenant. It's no longer tied to geography, neither Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem is central. What matters now is worship that flows from the Spirit and is grounded in truth for the nations, all of the nations, including the Jews. With this transformation of worship, the barriers that stood between Jews and Samaritans would be torn down. It has been torn down. This is a pivotal moment in redemptive history. Jesus is not merely correcting a Samaritan misunderstanding. He's ushering in a new era. True worship now arises from hearts made alive by the Spirit. John 3, Romans 8, 9, 8. Romans 8 verse 9, and it's shaped by the revealed truth of the gospel centered in Jesus Christ. No longer do we worship in the shadows of old rituals, we worship the true temple, Jesus Christ, wherever we are as those who are dwelt by the Holy Spirit. Do you long for that, Heavenly City? That true temple? Revelation 21. Again, I'm trying to give you proofs about what I'm saying about Ezekiel 47. Revelation 21, verses 22, 23. John writes in this vision that he had, I saw no temple in the city. Why? For its temple is the Lord God Almighty, the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God gives its light. In the new creation, there'll be no temple building, because God's presence will be fully and eternally manifested in the lamb. Christ is not merely the center of worship, he is the dwelling of God with his people, his precious stones. In Revelation 21, verse three, John is told to look, again, that word, behold. I wish Christians would do that. I wish each and every one of us would look and behold. Behold, that's a command. You like commands, laws, instructions? There it is, behold. The dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. That's the goal of redemptive history, unbroken, eternal communion between God and his redeemed people. The longing for Eden is fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, where there is no more curse, no more distance, no more brick structure, stone structure, because God is fully present. Looking back now at Ezekiel 47 temporarily, the first 12 verses as a whole, it reads, wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live. And then, and on the banks, there will grow all kinds of trees for food, their leaves for healing. And in a vision, Ezekiel saw a river flowing from the temple, bringing life and healing wherever it went. This was a prophetic picture of the life-giving spirit. who would flow from Christ, the true temple. Christ, the rock. Christ, the foundation stone, the cornerstone. Christ, the one who's bleeding on the cross, not just blood, but water. And then comes Pentecost, and the waters just gush out slowly but surely, as a trickle at first, and eventually begins making its way down a river, a brook, or whatever it is, and before you know it, it's encompassing the whole creation. Now, if you're gonna have a little interpretation, you might as well say we're having Noah's flood all over again. But it's not that. Jesus said, in John 7, verses 37, 38, 39, excuse me, I'm re-reading it again. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now, this he said about the Spirit. In Revelations 22, verses one and two, again, reading it, the river of the water of life, brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. That's Ezekiel's picture. This is his fulfillment. The final vision in scripture echoes Ezekiel's river. The river now flows from the throne of God and the Lamb, bringing unending life to this new creation. Not the old creation, the new creation. How then should we live? John 4, verse 14. Whoever drinks, Jesus speaking, whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Woo! Have you drank from that water? I could take a little sip of water right now, I could use it. But this is only a shadow on type of what's coming. Ezekiel 47, 12 we read where on the banks on both sides of the river, they'll grow all kinds of trees and food and their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fall fail, but they will bear fruit, fresh fruit every month because the water from them for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. And like the trees on the river banks in Ezekiel's vision, we're called to bear fruit and bring healing through Christ. In Revelations 22, we see evidence of this in the first five verses. I'll read it entirely. Then the angel showed me, John says, the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, through the middle of the streets of the city. By the way, don't think about city as landscape. A city is a body politic, it's citizens. On either side of the river, the tree of life, with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything of curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face." Oh! Show me a face! Show me a face! Oh, but Jesus shows up, we see the face of the Father in the Son. The best is yet to come. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. And I have a big forehead. I mean, if you don't read his name there, we're in trouble. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. and the night will be no more. They will need no light or lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. They will reign. The final dwelling of God with man will be full, direct, and everlasting, with no need of a temple or sun, just the Lamb's presence. Whoo! Okay, Hebrews 11. What time did you say? Okay, 10 minutes. You better hold, keep up, okay? If you lose something, it's not my fault. You can walk out of here ashamed. I love Hebrews 11, it's one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. My greatest favorite chapter is Ephesians chapter two, because I was a raving mad dispensationalist in my early years, okay? And a classical dispensationalist, okay? The Schofield Bible, Clarence Larkin's greatest book on dispensational truth. Anybody have a copy? I used to go scaring people to heaven. Anyway, Hebrews 11 is often called the Hall of Faith, and recounts the lives of Old Testament saints who lived by faith in God's promises, even though they did not receive the fullness of those promises in their lifetimes. Hebrews 11, 13. Yet they hope for something greater, something lasting, heavenly, and eternal. And before I continue, In years past, when I was a young Christian, we were trying to get a conversation going so we could present the gospel to somebody else. And I'd go up to Brother Gary, if he was not converted, I would say, Gary, are you going to heaven when you die? And Gary said, I hope so. Okay, now I asked Gary if he's introducing Christ to others and using the same approach, perhaps. Gary's gonna say to somebody else, do you know if you're going to heaven when you die? And it opens a door for him. But I have a question for Gary. I'm only being funny here. Describe to me, heaven, most of you's God may be ashamed of. Because this picture drawn for us of the heavenly hope of the Old Testament saints, we don't share that hope. We don't. Oh, we do, but we don't really think about it. We don't really teach it. We don't really embrace it. We don't walk in this truth that we're going to see here. Let's get on, Mo. I'll skip through a little bit, verse 10. For he, Abraham, was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. The saints of old, like Abraham, were not ultimately satisfied with earthly land or temporary buildings. Though they received promises of physical blessing, like Canaan, they knew that these were only shadows of something more glorious, a heavenly city built by God himself. How do we know? The Holy Spirit tells us in Hebrews 11. The city is not defined by geography, but by God's presence, a theme consistent with the idea of temple, but a temple not made with hands. In verses 14, 15, 16, it says of the Old Testament saints, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one, therefore, listen closely, God is not ashamed to be called their God. We has prepared for them a city. You get it? God is not ashamed to be called their God. Why? Because they had a heavenly hope. They were waiting for the city that he prepared. Their hope was not for a restored earthly kingdom or a renovated earth, as some of my mill friends believe in. Their hope was for something new, Eternal and filled with the glory of God. A place where God would dwell with his people forever. Now, I say some of our male people get it wrong. You can argue about this to your stone-cold dead, I don't care. Revelations 21, the first three verses. Don't forget, he's seeing a vision. John says, then I saw, he must have been told, behold, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. You see the problem? This creation's already gone. He's in a high and lofty place, but he's not on an earthen mountain. He's having a vision. I saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. That's you. If you're being Christ, that's you. Every young lady, we're talking about finding a husband, right? One of our dear sisters here. Find a Christian man, a husband. Oh man, do we have that great expectation to see Jesus as a husband in the real us adorned as his bride? Do you look forward to that day of the marriage wedding feast of the lamb? We've lost this dispensationalist, has snatched these thoughts from us with their schemes. And to be perfectly honest, our neglect. So he says, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. We've been washed, we've been cleansed by the blood of Christ, and indwelt by the spirit of God. You're looking good, babe. But this is the point where I really get a kick out of it. He says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, behold, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. Verses 39, 40, Hebrews 11. In all these, The word these is pregnant with meaning, I hope you get it. All these though commended through the faith, the heroes of the Old Testament, commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. You tell that to a dispensationalist. They didn't receive what was promised. Oh, no, no, God has to give it to them. Yeah, because he promised them a Volkswagen and they keep on banging up and wrecking it. You know, God didn't wreck it, they wrecked it. They ruined everything that God ever gave them. But God has something better for us. He's going to give us, instead of a Volkswagen, He's going to give us a Rolls Royce. Together, not one without the other. Jews taken out of this world. Unbelieving Jews who had to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Unbelieving pagans who had to come to faith in Jesus Christ. We're gonna be given something far greater than any dispensationalist can imagine. Okay? Since God had provided something better for us, apart from us, now here's key text here. Apart from us, these Old Testament Jews, these Old Testament saints, apart from us, they should not be made perfect. This passage is stunning. The faithful of the Old Covenant are waiting for us. Their reward was delayed so that it might be fulfilled with us in Christ. They long for the true temple, not one built by Solomon, but the one embodied in Jesus Christ, John 2, verses 19 to 21. They long for the city of God. All these metaphors go together. They long for the city of God, not Jerusalem below, but the new Jerusalem above. They hope for a country, not an earthly Canaan, but a new creation where God resides, where he dwells. Jesus said in John chapter 14, I go now to prepare a place for you. You read it at funerals, don't you? You preachers, you read it at funerals. Read it after the living. Tell them, tell the living, this is your hope. This is what God is doing in Jesus Christ. He's building a house for his glory, for your residence. But again, it's not wood, hay, and stubble. It's not brick and mortar. Our home is in the bosom of our Savior. Our home is in our God. Adam could never envision what God has done and is doing for his people. Hebrews 11 is not merely a tribute to ancient heroes, it's a witness to our shared hope. These saints believe in God's future dwelling with his people and that vision now finds its fulfillment in Christ the true temple and will be culminated in the city of God where the Lamb is the light and the Lord himself is the temple. The greater temple has come. Walk in it, breathe in it, drink its waters. So, I cut it short because I've only got a minute more. That was the hope of the Old Testament saints, and that's what Ezekiel was pointing to. Is God ashamed of you? If you've been looking forward to those glorious things that is prepared for you, I go now to prepare a place for you. Don't let the dispensation steal your blessed hope. And I'll say this to those who hold to the theology of the new covenant. Study the Upper Room Discourse and look for all the temple language used by Jesus in describing what is to come. Oneness with God. I will no longer call you servants or slaves. I call you my friends. We're his companions. He loves us as a bride. Is he ashamed of you? I know there's one person in this room waiting for me to spring this little thing on you I did many years, throughout the years, at the end of my message. My brothers and sisters, do you love him? Do you love him? Do you love him with all of your heart, with all of your being? Do you love him? Is he precious to you? Because you're certainly precious to him. The great liberating passage from Zephaniah that I heard John Pipers preach and on, and actually he wasn't focused, but he said, God rejoices over us. He sings over us. And I say, who me? He's rejoicing over me? Then I look at you and I say, Gary is rejoicing over you too. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, don't walk with, oh, we're under law, we're doom and gloom all the time, we're in theology. Be who you are in Christ. Walk as His children, the children of the King, a victorious people. Don't look defeated. God is winning. And He will win. And you're gonna be on the winning side. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for the poor preacher, that preacher that you equipped me with, I can't believe it. And Father, we just thank you, Lord, for the warmth of the fellowship here. Certainly you are here. Your presence is with us in your spirit, through your spirit. And Lord, we pray that you would continue to encourage our hearts and our dear and beloved Savior, your dear son. In his name we pray, amen.