History of Israel Part 8 with Pastor Jeff Shipley

Chapter 24.

How am I going to recap 4 ,000 years of history

and then culminate in this action right here?

We're on this very last section, the life of Christ.

Now this whole thing has been about the history of the Jews and why that's important for

the church to understand.

So I read Matthew 24 verse 2 and I decided for the next few

weeks we're going to focus on the temple because the temple was the center

of Jewish life.

It was the center of Jewish life and so that's what we're going to do.

Now I'm going to recap everything.

Now here's where we are right here guys.

Here's the life of Jesus right here.

Now remember this itty -bitty black line right here is the total history of the United States

of America.

That's it.

We have been talking all this time.

See guys I hate to tell you all this but this is life is a lot bigger than Bartlett, Tennessee

or Memphis, Tennessee.

It's definitely bigger than you know where are you from Jeff?

Brighton.

It's definitely bigger than Brighton.

Jennifer is bigger than Mississippi.

I mean you know you want to date farm animals but Guys, for 4 ,000 years

God has been at work.

Now why is this so important?

Because if God made a promise way back here to his people and no matter who did what,

no matter what nation was in power, no matter how bad they failed, God decided

that this was still going to happen.

And if God decided this was still going to happen, he also is going to make it where he says come unto me Jeff,

come unto me all you that are heavy laden.

Those that do, he promises you that he will give you rest.

I had a text from one of our members last night that said why is life so hard?

And I said because we're sinful, godless, heathens living in a fallen world.

But take hope in this.

There is, this is not our home.

There is going to be a time when all of this is over.

You with me?

So let's read Matthew 24 starting in verse 1 and we'll read

verse 1 and 2.

As Jesus left and was going out of the temple complex, remember that term,

his disciples came up and called his attention to the temple buildings.

Verse 2, then he replied to them, do you see all these things?

I assure you not one stone will be left on here on another that

will not be thrown down.

Go to the first slot.

All the way back here, God made a covenant with Abraham and he said

this, oh I'm sorry I do have the laser, no Mike you're right,

I'm wrong.

Hold on, let me do my little, boom!

Huh?

Thank you young lady.

Huh?

God told Abraham, hey man I want you to take, I want you to understand this, y 'all listen,

I want you to understand this, I know you're 70 years old, I know you don't have any children,

but I'm telling you this right now, you're gonna have a son and through that bloodline all the peoples of the

earth will be blessed.

That was all the way back here, covenant with Abraham, 2100 BC.

And then God told him to do this, take, once Abraham actually had a son, his name was

Isaac, right?

He said now I want you to take that only son, yeah that one I promised you, and I want you to

take him up to a place called Moriah and I want you to kill him

to death.

There is no way that's Genesis 2.

Yeah I'm sorry, that that's a wrong reference.

It's probably brighter on your sheet.

Yeah Genesis 22.

It's supposed to be 22, not 2.

And then he said this, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land

of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, I will tell you.

And that's what it looked like about, you know?

It was a barren, rocky mountain.

And so God took his only son Isaac, the one that God had said through him all things are

blessed.

You see God promised Abraham that Isaac would be that head of that

family.

He promised him that through Isaac all the peoples the earth would be blessed.

And then he said now sacrifice.

And Abraham was like, but see if when you trust in the Lord with all of your

heart and lean not on your understanding, and if you follow the Lord with everything you do, regardless of

your feelings, your thoughts, your opinions, and your ideals, things turn out good.

So Abraham took him up to a place called Mount Moriah.

And when he got up there, Abraham took Isaac up, he built an altar, and when he got up there he was about

to sacrifice Isaac, and God said stop.

Stop, stop, stop.

And he provided a propitionary sacrifice for Isaac.

And he there was a little ram sitting there, and Abraham killed the ram in place of his son.

That's why Jesus is called what?

The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.

Alright, right?

So next thing.

So you get from Abraham right here where God took him up on Mount Moriah.

Y 'all should be able to remember that real easy.

Mount Moriah.

And then all of this happened.

And Jacob happened, and blah blah blah, and Joseph.

Then the children of Israel get locked up in Egypt, and they're in slavery for 430

years.

God said, hey man, I'm gonna bring you out of that place.

And so God brought him out of Egypt.

You remember the story.

Sisselville, DeMille, you know, Charlton Heston.

Brought him out of Egypt, right?

And they're wandering around in the desert, right?

And God said, look, it's time for you people to start becoming a nation.

And he gave it because they were just a bunch of slaves for 400 years.

And so God gave them the law, which gave them an identity.

And then God told them to build a tabernacle.

And all the Jews said, what?

He said a tabernacle.

Here's what I want you to do.

I want you to make a big tent, and I want you to put it in the middle, the middle of

your camp.

And in that little tabernacle, that's where you're gonna offer sacrifices.

And the Jews said, oi, okay.

And so they built the tabernacle.

And the tabernacle, how many of y 'all have ever seen MASH?

You younger kids probably haven't.

It was a mobile army surgical hospital.

It was basically a hospital in tents.

Think of the tabernacle as a church in a tent.

When the children of God moved, they packed up the tabernacle and moved it with them.

And then they would put it right back out, and they would surround their camp with the different tribes.

They would surround that tabernacle, okay?

And so he said to them, watch this, in Exodus 15, Moses is

singing.

And he's praising God for deliverance.

And he says, you will bring them.

Now remember, this is before anything.

But Moses knew that God had promised them, and he said, you will bring them and

plant them in the mountain of your possession, Lord.

You have prepared the place for your dwelling, Lord.

Your hands have established the sanctuary.

The Lord will reign forever and ever.

Now you got to remember, there was no one living on Mount Moriah at this time.

There was no one living anywhere at this time.

But God had planned that this was going to be the center of everything that

he's going to do in history.

The next thing, there's a little tabernacle, and there are all the little tribes around it.

And it says, you got to do everything I'm telling you to do, and this is how you're gonna do it.

And God told him to do that.

Then, so we had Abram, we had Moses, and then the judges and all that, and

God made, and then David kills Goliath, yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And then David becomes king.

Now you got to remember, at this point, when David becomes king, there was now a little town,

a village, right there.

And it was called Salem.

That's what it was called.

It was the village, the town of Salem.

And it was located very strategically on this hill called Mount

Zion.

Mount Zion.

And then there was a hill right above it where tradition had said, man, this is where

Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac.

This is where God had said he would provide a temple.

This is where God would said he would build a church.

This is where all that's going to happen.

And so David, when he became king, he marched up and he went into this little town

and he took this town over.

It was held by the people called the Jebusites, and they were the people of Salem.

Now you're sitting there going, this is great history, but this is so boring.

Okay, follow me.

Guys, what's important for you to understand is that everything that we know

right now that has happened in history has been exactly as God's Word

said it would be.

Okay?

Now hang with me.

God said thousands of years before that this little hill right up here

was going to be a place where he would build this temple.

There was nothing there.

Yet time and time again throughout history, through all this line, God kept saying this is going

to become the center point.

And the Jews were like, what?

That's out in Fraser somewhere.

God, how are we going to do that?

I mean, we need to be, you know, we need to follow the white flight

out into the suburbs because that's where God dwells.

Right?

You know?

Praise God.

You know what?

I really have a vision from God right now that we need to sell this place and move to Collierville because I

believe with all of my heart that that's where God is leading us.

You backwards, godless, heathen pigs.

All you trying to do is follow white money is what you're trying to do.

You ain't trying to follow God's will.

David took this place over.

Now, if he took this city over, obviously he could take Mount Moriah over.

He got Mount Zion.

Why can't he just take Mount Moriah?

Now watch this.

Hold on.

Let me go back.

Yeah.

Let me go forward.

All right.

Watch this.

So David is now king of Mount Zion.

He's king of Jerusalem.

And he does something silly.

He takes a census when God told him not to.

We're not going to get into that today.

But he does something to try to repent and return to God.

He walks back up on that little hill, Mount Moriah, and there's a guy up there who is grinding

wheat.

He lives up there.

And David walks up there as the king who has defeated everybody and he says,

I want to buy this plot of land right here.

And the guy says, you're the king, man.

I'll just give it to you.

And this is what David said.

Anything worth having must be attributed with sacrifice.

There is no such thing as free if it's to be worth anything.

And so David paid Christian lives.

Just real quick, a little side sermon for you.

How many of y 'all Christians in here could you ask Jesus Christ your heart and Lord and Savior?

But you ain't sacrificing anything.

In fact, you'll sacrifice Christ and His Word before you'll sacrifice the world and it's accepted.

But you're going to still call yourself a Christian.

Have fun with that in hell.

Let that sink in a second.

Some of you still in this room think your little prayer to Jesus when you were seven years

old and walked down the aisle, but nothing has ever changed in your life.

You have no conviction and no desire, but somehow you're a child of God.

Things that make you go, hmm.

Now that got your attention.

So God told him in 1 Kings, hey man, I want you, or God told

Solomon, hey man, I want you to build a temple.

Your father David, his hands were covered in blood.

He ain't going to build my temple.

You're going to build my temple.

So Solomon took that land that his father David bought up there on Mount Moriah and

built a temple.

Man, he spent much guap on that temple.

I ain't capping him, I'm rapping.

He spent a bunch of money.

He dropped mad fierce guap on that temple.

And that temple lasted from the time of Solomon right here.

Where is Solomon?

In 970 BC, that temple lasted all the way, remember us talking about this,

to 586 BC.

But God had told him when Solomon built that temple, he said if your sons turn away from following

me and do not keep my commands, my statutes that I have set before you, and if you go and

serve other gods and bow and worship to them, I will cut off Israel from the land I

gave them and I will reject the temple I have sanctified for my name.

Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

And if that little bald priest were running around going, Israel, we need to repent.

Israel, we need to get right.

Israel, you need to wake up.

Israel, you need to quit playing with the world.

Israel, you need to stop looking, smelling, acting, talking, and walking like the world.

Or God's going to remove his hands.

And you know what Israel did?

They legalized abortion, took prayers out of school, destroyed the family unit, mocked and openly

discarded God's Word, and then they sit around and wonder, what happened?

What happened?

And then the very Word of God that's still coming to them today saying, you need to repent.

You know the difference between salvation and church people?

It's one word.

Repentance.

People want to ask Jesus Christ in their heart to get fire insurance, but they never want to walk in

obedient repentance.

And faith without works is?

And that's why some of your spiritual lives feel like that today.

See, this is real, guys.

This isn't a church service.

This ain't a sermon.

This is God's plan from Adam and Eve being played out.

And you're not going to change or stop God's plan.

And God's plan is to restore you, but that restoration happens because of

your repentance and the grace of Almighty God.

And if you don't repent, if you don't repent, guys, the Spirit of

God will go bye, bye, and there won't be

nothing at the levee.

Yeah, some of y 'all get that later.

All right, so here we go.

Here we go.

Babylon destroys the temple.

And all the Jews said, but I thought we were the chosen people of Israel.

See, we've come all this way to right here.

I thought we were the chosen people of God.

How is it that all this bad stuff has happened to us?

And so now Babylon destroys that temple.

But God said, and this is so awesome about God.

Listen to me.

This is so awesome about God.

No matter how bad you mess up, no matter how far you run away from God, repentance is

never longer or further than a prayer away.

It don't matter who you are.

Don't matter who you are.

Well, pastor, I've had an abortion.

I've been divorced.

I've had adultery.

I've smoked crack.

You know what?

Guess what?

God can still save you today.

I don't care who or what you are.

Break free from the religious legalism that is causing you not to understand the pure grace of

Almighty God.

Guys, don't embrace a church.

Don't embrace the words of a preacher.

Embrace the blood of Jesus and you will know the freedom that you're so desperately looking for.

All right.

So the little Jews were in captivity in Babylon and then they became the

return of the Judei.

I just that's so funny.

Can I get at least a courtesy laugh?

Return of the Jedi.

Anyways.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Burnett's explained to the blondes.

All right.

So God sent Esther, Nehemiah and Ezra.

Right.

They rebuilt the temple.

But it really wasn't like Solomon's temple.

You know, the one that got destroyed by the Babylonians.

And that lasted.

Listen, that lasted.

That kept going all the way up to about 10 years before Jesus was born.

It was kind of like this compared to like Bellevue.

Solomon's temple was like Bellevue.

What Ezra and Nehemiah rebuilt was kind of like this.

You know, it had stains in the ceiling tiles and didn't have plush carpet and that pastor was

fat and all that stuff.

So that's kind of where they were at.

And then Rome came in and Rome was like, no, man, this ain't happening because we need to keep these dudes

peaceful.

We need to keep this area nice and peaceful because see, just like God had said, Israel was the center

of everything and all the trade routes and spice routes went through there.

Isn't it funny how most of the oil.

Anyways, so God said this was going to be the center.

This is where everything's going to happen.

This is where everything's going to rotate around.

By the way, did y 'all see the news this week?

You can't make this up.

Right.

Yemen, a Muslim, predominantly hostile country, just signed a peace

treaty with Israel.

But more on that in a couple of weeks.

OK.

Oh, and by the way, for those of you that are Internet warriors and Jesus and God in the Bible, all a big conspiracy to

try to control you socially and your freedoms, just do whatever you want.

Right.

All these nations, countries, the U .N., the United States, Yemen and Israel all in a big conspiracy

to control your mind.

You're that important.

You self -centered, narcissistic idiot.

OK.

So.

We're right about here.

OK.

Right before Jesus is coming, we're right about here.

Now, we talked about this last week.

First, you know, Assyria, but we remember A, B, P, G, Assyria, Babylon, Greek and Persia.

Right.

Persia and Greece.

Right.

And then the kingdom was divided into four and this group came in and they were the.

Jake's not in here, the Seleucids, I think that's right.

Is that right, Bill?

I said it right.

It's like cerebral.

I can never say it.

Seleucids came in.

Well, the Seleucids were a kingdom that were coming from Alexander the Great.

They took over.

Guys, it's going to get interesting in a second.

Just hold on.

They took over.

Right.

And they hated the Jewish people.

Well, the Jews were sitting there going, hey, man, we don't want to take this anymore.

Teachers, leave us alone.

And so they were telling people to leave them because they wanted to reestablish worship.

Well, this guy named Antiochus Epiphanes, who was one of those Seleucid guys who was the king, walked

into the Jews and were like, I'm here to take over.

All right.

I'm here to take over.

You people are going to follow me.

And the Jews said, no, we're not.

We're going to follow God.

And this is what he did.

He walked into the temple and he took a statue of Zeus and he put it up

there.

And then he took a pig, slit his throat, and sprayed the Holy of Holies.

You know, pigs, an unclean animal, with the blood of the pig.

And he said, now worship.

And he walked out.

The Jews went nuts.

And this family called the Maccabeans said, we're not going to take this anymore.

And the daddy and his five sons rose up.

People rose up with him.

And they started killing Romans like they were going out of style.

They walked up and they said, they walked in the temple and said, we're going to clean this place up and rededicate it to the Lord.

And they named that place the Feast of Dedication, also known as Hanukkah.

Have you ever heard of Hanukkah?

Yeah.

Every year they still celebrate what I'm talking about.

By the way, it's a big conspiracy.

But anyways, that's the Feast of Dedication.

They rededicated temple after they cleaned it up and they celebrated every year called Hanukkah.

Right.

All right.

So now, right before Jesus is born in

6364 BC, Rome takes over Jerusalem.

Are y 'all with me?

Rome takes over Jerusalem.

And when they take over, they sit there and go, y 'all do what you want to do.

But oh, see, look at my little Hanukkah candle.

Isn't that cute?

They said, y 'all do what you want to do.

All you got to keep doing is paying us taxes.

You pay us taxes, you can worship whatever God you want.

All right.

And they said, I'll tell you what we'll do.

You pay your taxes.

We're going to put this guy called Herod in charge and he's going to rebuild your temple.

So it looks like Solomon's temple because you people are so wound up about what the

temple looks like.

You know, the seats have got to be clean.

They've got to be gold faucets in the bathroom, because only then can you really worship God if, you know, you

have a certain type of reverence in your worship and religion.

And so that's what he did.

Let me go back.

So that's what he did.

And so he rebuilt the temple, bigger, better, and faster.

This is the temple that Jesus hung out.

This is the temple, the one that Herod built, that Jesus walked in and said, you people have

turned this place into a den of thieves.

Remember that?

That's that temple.

All right.

That's the end of my sermon.

Good luck.

I just want to point you to one thing.

John chapter 10.

It says this.

John chapter 10.

Then the festival of dedication took place in Jerusalem.

That's Hanukkah.

Okay.

That's Hanukkah.

The feast of dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was wintertime.

Jesus was walking in the temple of Solomon's colonnade.

We'll get to that in a second.

And the Jews surrounded him and asked, how long are you going to keep us in suspense?

If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.

All right, I'll sum up with this.

Guys, look at me.

Look right here.

In real life, in real life, how many of y 'all have ever traveled the world?

I have been all over, all over the place.

It's amazing.

One of the things I love to do is look at history.

Love it.

I've been to Rome.

It's really cool.

There's a statue there with a picture of Titus when he sacked

this temple.

We'll get to that next week.

But it's amazing to me how history dictates this.

God said this was going to happen, and it happened.

Assyria said, oh, no, we're going to take that land over.

God said, nope.

And the Assyrians got whipped.

Then the Babylonians, right?

Then the Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans.

Listen to me for a second.

Tell me where the empire of Assyria is today.

Where is it?

Where's the empire of Persia?

Where's the empire of Greece?

It's amazing to me how people just sit there and go, oh, they're so great and awesome.

Guys, where's the empire of America going to be?

Bye.

You know why?

Because the only thing left standing when the dust settles is God's plan and God's will.

It's amazing to me that in the time of Jesus, most of the time

a Jewish person got up in the morning, they had to obey all these rules.

They had to dress a certain way, walk a certain way, eat certain things, talk certain

ways.

And God didn't make any of them rules.

Pharisees did.

Here, they're sitting there asking, are you the Messiah?

Guys, the most important question and the most important thing in your little brains

today is this.

Listen to me, is this.

Who is Messiah?

How many of you do not know what the word Messiah means?

Y 'all, some of y 'all are liars.

You have no idea.

Basically, it's Messiah means the anointed one.

It's the one that God promised would take away your sin.

Okay, that's what Messiah means.

Who is Messiah to you?

How many of you in this room?

Let's take a poll.

It's okay, guys.

How many of you in this room pray Jesus in your heart as your Lord and Savior?

Y 'all are so what guys, this is not Bellevue.

Okay, wake up and start being truthful.

How many y 'all pray Jesus Christ in your heart, your Lord and Savior?

All right, come on.

Yeah, come on.

We all know.

Yeah, that's right.

Oh, sorry.

Sorry.

You're not Starburst head anymore.

I thought you were supposed to be under a bridge.

All right, guys, that's where trolls live.

No, I guys, listen, listen.

And how many of you, your life did not change after you prayed that prayer?

How many of you realize that you weren't saved after you prayed that prayer?

All of you people have put your hope and just raised your hand.

The problem was not that you were stupid.

The problem is not that you didn't mean at that moment what you prayed.

It's just you didn't know Scripture.

You had been preached to about the blood of Calvary.

Well, the Bible is a lot bigger than Calvary, guys.

Okay, you will never understand Calvary until you understand the Old Testament.

You will never understand the grace of God until you understand how sinful you are.

You never will.

You see, to Messiah, to you, it's just a Bible word.

But I'm telling you more in real life.

Me standing here is a figment of your imagination compared to the eternal reality of God Almighty.

Some of you have put your trust in your good works and your church and your preacher.

You put, listen to me.

I had a lady ask me the other day, can I still go to heaven even if I did something bad?

Guys, you can't go to heaven by doing anything good.

You're incapable of it.

Your morals and ethics from your culture here in America do not save you.

You can be a good old boy.

You can be a really good person and you're still going to go straight to hell.

Now, you're sitting there going, yeah, I've heard this all before.

You're the one I'm talking to because you're trusting in the religion rather than the relationship of

Almighty God.

If God has kept his history alive for 6 ,500 years, if his

truth and his word had been real for 6 ,500 years, what chance do

you think you have with your morals to getting into heaven?

Guys, the same God that spoke to Abraham is the same God that's speaking to your heart right now.

Now, for those of you that are just waiting for this to be over, cool.

But for those of you right now, in your heart, in your mind, something

has been sparked and you realize that you're not a Christian.

You realize that you're not where you need to be.

Do not put off tomorrow what you need to take care of today, okay?

Some of you, your lives are a wreck and you think I need to get back into church.

Getting back into church will do nothing for you.

Nothing.

You need to come to a place of repentance in Jesus Christ.

Men, are your wife nagging you?

It's okay to say yes, we all know.

Those of us that are married, we know, okay?

That's not your problem.

Your problem is that you're failing to be the leader God called you to be, okay?

And it's unfortunately not your fault because you weren't taught right.

Because churches all the world today are just teaching their men, love God, Jesus loves you,

just love your neighbor and everything will be fine.

But that's not what the Word of God calls us to.

It calls us to obedience.

Ladies, are you feeling insecure?

It's not your husband's fault.

They're stupid.

Remember, all men are idiots, okay?

All women are crazy, but all women are idiots.

All men are idiots.

Listen, you want to have security and non -rebellious children in your home?

It's real simple.

Mom, dad, repent of your religious and or your lazy

appetite of God and turn towards God and find the security that can only be found in

Jesus Christ.

Stop looking to a person to bring that security to you.

It can only be found in Christ.