Let us turn in God's word briefly to 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 15. The Apostle Paul wrote unto Timothy, Minister of God, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I've said that I'm hoping to deal in a number of sermons with the error of dispensationalism, which is very prevalent today in the wider church. want to begin and beginning looking at the interpretation of scripture that this system brings. We considered last week briefly this verse which is misused by many dispensationalists, particularly the last six words, rightly dividing the word of truth, wherein they suggest that the way that we must understand the scriptures is by having all these divisions and there's a set series of divisions that many would hold to, which were considered last time. But I said, and we saw what this verse is teaching us, is not as regards any divisions in the Word of God, but that we must have a right understanding of the Word of God. especially as ministers, those who are to be ambassadors of Christ, preaching his word truly, not twisting or distorting or misusing the word of God, but teaching it straightly, correctly. That's the meaning here. So we want to understand And with the backdrop of the error, we want to understand something more of how we should understand the entire Word of God. So last week we considered something of the difference, the key difference between dispensational thinking and a covenantal understanding of the Bible in considering whether we should see division or unity as the key factor to understand the Bible. The dispensationalists say division and they would have all these divisions that we must understand. Basically God has different plans for different periods of history in the Bible and we saw errors and problems with this and saw rather that the scriptures hold out, particularly in Romans 5, also 1 Corinthians 15, that the overall structure of the Scriptures we should see as being divided into two, and not even the Old and New Testament, but rather being under two men, Adam, on the one hand, Christ on the other, two men who were two representatives. They represent two groups of people. They were the heads of two covenants. Adam, the head of a covenant of works, wherein two we are all born. Christ, the head of a covenant of grace, whereby we are saved by faith in him. So that is how, and with that starting point, then to understand how the scriptures hold together. Today, I want to consider, and us to consider together, concerning the understanding of the Old Testament The dispensationalists claim, or their way of interpretation that they would claim to be holding and seek to be consistent with, is a literal understanding of the Old Testament prophecy. And especially this is seen in them denying that Christ and the New Testament Church fulfil the Old Testament prophecies. They make the true fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies and covenants as to be only in the nation of Israel and not in Christ and the Church. I believe is this. Is the Old Testament our rule for interpreting the New, or is the New Testament our rule for interpreting the Old? Which will have the precedence? I have three headings this morning. Firstly, that Distensationalism makes the literal interpretation of the Old Testament to govern the new. Secondly, however, the Old Testament itself shows that it must be understood spiritually and of Christ. And then thirdly, the New Testament shows and teaches that the Old Testament must be understood spiritually and of Christ. So dispensationalism makes the literal interpretation of the Old Testament govern the New, as well as the distinction between Israel and the Church, which we'll touch on somewhat today, but particularly next week, God willing, and also these various dispensations, which they make much of. Having a literal interpretation is one of the key things that they will claim for this system. They will say, everyone else spiritualizes away or allegorizes away what the Bible is really saying. But they say, no, we understand the Bible literally. And so one of their teachers from the last century, Charles Ryrie, in a book, Dispensationalism, Dispensationalists claim that their principle of hermeneutics is that of literal interpretation. This means interpretation that gives to every word the same meaning that it would have in normal usage, whether employed in writing, speaking or thinking. He does allow for figures of speech, for symbols, and he says for types as well. He continues a little further on in the book, classic dispensationalism is a result of consistent application of the basic hermeneutical principle of literal, normal or plain interpretation. We as well want to understand the plain meaning of scripture. We would not argue with seeking to understand what the words themselves of scripture mean in the sentences that they are a part of, in those paragraphs, in that whole context. In that sense, we also want a literal understanding of the scriptures. We want to understand. We don't believe in just reading into the scriptures whatever we want it to say, allegorising, as it were, just reading in whether present-day events or reading in our own feelings or our own situations so that we get out of it what we want. We must rightly divide the word of God. We must rightly understand it. But the problem is how this is applied by the dispensationalists. And that is in relation to how the Old and New Testaments fit together and how they are to be interpreted. There was an internet article, I couldn't find the author, called Dispensationalism, yesterday, today and forever. And this person says this, since all the Old Testament prophecies that centered on the first coming of Messiah were fulfilled literally, it logically follows that the remaining prophecies that center on the second coming of Messiah will likewise be fulfilled literally. There is no scriptural indication or vindication for shifting to a non-literal approach just because something is prophetic. The literal fulfilment of all prophecy thus far is strong evidence for the literal method. wrong. Certainly there were prophecies that were literally fulfilled as to where was Christ born and born of a virgin and many aspects of his suffering, of his life. entering Jerusalem on the donkey and so forth, many things that were literally fulfilled. But we only have to go to the very first prophecy really of the Scriptures, the very first promise of Christ who would come and see that even this understanding is simplistic. In Genesis 3 verse 15, there is a promise of God to Adam and Eve, the first promise of the gospel I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel this prophecy was not literally and will not be literally fulfilled we understand this in the light of further revelation, particularly in the New Testament, as fulfilled in Christ, in his death on the cross, crushing, defeating Satan, that Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. And that's what we understand by this. Satan has appeared in the form of a serpent, and he's called the great and ancient serpent, but Christ heel was not literally bruised, he died on the cross and Satan's head was not literally bruised. He was vanquished, Christ has the victory over him and he will be destroyed entirely one day. But we understand even just the falsehood of this statement from the beginning as regards this literal interpretation. But further, to some other dispensationalists, in the way the New Testament and the Old Testament would relate. So Mr. Schofield, who he's put his notes all over the Bible and sold, actually I read, I think it was The New Testament in no way abrogates or modifies either the Davidic Covenant or its prophetic interpretation. So what he's saying is, we have our understanding of what the Old Testament says as to the promises to David, and the New Testament does not, indeed cannot, change that, doesn't change that understanding. And so what another man, Mr. Brooks, J.H. Brooks, says, the New Testament cannot be in conflict with the Old Testament. Do we agree with that in some way? Do we believe the scriptures cannot be broken? There can be no contradiction between them. But what he is saying, he's giving the pre-eminence to the Old Testament. He's saying the New Testament can't conflict with the Old Testament. That is what governs the meaning. in the language they use, they allow for applications of prophecies, but they say the only true meaning, the one true meaning, is the literal meaning. We'll consider later, as a particular example, the promises to Abraham in Genesis 12, and we'll see what the scriptural understanding of this is, but to understand that the The dispensationalists won't deny what the New Testament says about these passages, but they'll say, that's just an application. The actual meaning must be the literal meaning. And so in the name of plainness, Dispensationalism prefers a literal interpretation of the Old Testament over the spiritual realities of the Old Testament, which are brought out clearly in the New. And that leads to their view, which we'll deal with, God willing, next week in more detail, but as regards Israel and the Church, so Charles Ryrie, His book, Dispensationalism, says, A dispensationalist keeps Israel and the Church distinct. Distinct. And another, one of their teachers, Lewis Schaeffer, the dispensationalist believes that throughout the ages, God is pursuing two distinct purposes. One related to the earth, with earthly people. earthly objectives involve Judaism, while the other is related to heaven, with heavenly people and heavenly objectives involved, which is Christianity. Thus they see the New Testament Church as not the end, the goal of those promises in the Old Testament, but rather as a parenthesis, as a detour, as a by-path from the main purpose of God, which is, as regards, according to them, the nation of Israel. They say because the Jews rejected Christ, God went without Plan B, as it were, until he would take up his original plan. So again, from Mr Schofield, especially it is necessary to exclude the notion that the Church is the true Israel and that the Old Testament foreview looking forward, of the kingdom is fulfilled in the church. This is what they deny. They deny any fulfillment in the church of the Old Testament prophecies as regards the kingdom of God. And from another one of their teachers, Mr. Ironside, from a book, The Mysteries of God, page 50, the prophetic clock stopped at Calvary. Not one tick has been heard since. From the moment Christ bowed his head and yielded up his spirit to the Father, all the glories of the kingdom spoken of by the Old Testament seers and prophets have been howled in obeyance. And now it's just a bypass, a detour, until, according to them, God would take up those things again. This view is in clear contrast to the Old Testament's view of itself. What the Old Testament itself shows concerning ultimate reality, and how the New Testament interprets the Old Testament. As I said, we're not dealing with the particular matter of Israel and the Church, but that is clearly involved, but rather as to whether the Old Testament will govern our understanding of the New and nullify what the New Testament says about the Old, or whether we will learn from what Christ and the Apostles teach us as regards the Old Testament. So secondly, the Old Testament itself shows that it must be understood spiritually and of Christ. Firstly, we should see under this that the Old Testament shows that God's plan is for the world, not just Israel. God's plan has always been for the world, not just Israel. The very first promise there in Genesis 3.15 that we read, God had in view the salvation of the world, that is of the seed of the woman, that is all who would believe on this Saviour who is to come. But it was wide, it was all men who were to come were being addressed in being represented by Adam who is standing there. We see God's grace continue through Noah again. In Noah we have, we're all there. Every single person living or has ever lived since the time of Noah is contained there in those promises given to Noah. We are all in view. There is no, Israel's not there yet. And then when we come to Abraham, There is this narrowing of focus, but the end is still the same. The salvation of the world is what God has in mind. And we should see, rather than the New Testament church, the worldwide church, being a parenthesis, rather if we have a biblical view of things, Israel as a nation is a parenthesis. I'm not saying that not important or a plan B at all, but they were a means to an end. Let us read Genesis chapter 12 in verse 1 to 3. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." God's not taking up a different plan, He is accomplishing His same plan from the beginning, that eternal purpose. which Ephesians 3 tells us is in Christ Jesus. And so even in God coming to focus on Abraham and then his seed, he has in view the purposes, the salvation of the world. It was never just about Israel. It was never just about Abraham's physical descendants. And we should understand, particularly between now and the New Testament, all that follows is subordinate to this, to this purpose that in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. This is what Israel was for. So they called it Kingdom of Priests. They were to be representing God in the world. We see this taken up in the Psalms, in the Prophets, the calling of all the nations to worship God, that Israel were to be a light to the nations, a light to the Gentiles, and so on. So God's plan in the Old Testament is seen to be not just about Israel, but for the world. Secondly under this, the Old Testament shows that spiritual realities are more important than the external religious or moral conformity. So outside the garden, when we have a record of the sacrifice of Abel and the sacrifice of Cain brought, we're told in Genesis 4 that the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. He was giving right worship and showing a right heart. But, in verse 5, unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. He was bringing wrong worship, it wasn't authorised, but he had a wrong heart, a sinful heart. And God is concerned for the heart. He addresses Cain as to the sin in him, and to dealing with that. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted. And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." So he addresses the heart. We see as regards Abraham and his seed that there was the command, the sign of circumcision given for Abraham and his seed. and which was something they were commanded to do as a sign of a covenant between God and them. A token of the covenant, Genesis 17, but the New Testament is clear that circumcision is not enough. It's not enough to be externally in this covenant, to have a piece of your flesh, or of your husband's flesh, or of your son's flesh cut off, you need your heart to be circumcised. The Old Testament, this is brought out in Deuteronomy 10, 16, 30, verse 6, and also in Jeremiah 4, 4, 9, 26. Just look there at Jeremiah 9, verse 26. We see that it is the spiritual reality that is most pertinent, which God has most concern for. 9 Behold, the day is come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised, Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the outmost corners that dwell in the wilderness. 10 For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. So they were circumcised, they claimed Abraham for their father, but they were not the children of God. They were yet in their sins. Also we see, as regards the Old Testament, showing us that there is more than just the external, being part of the nation of Israel, going through the external rites and and keeping those external laws, that though the sacrifices were commanded by God, and this was how God was to be worshipped in that dispensation at that time, in the Old Covenant, that yet heart contrition, repentance, true repentance, brokenness over sin was more pleasing and more important. 1 Samuel 15 verse 22, Have the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rattles. Hosea 6 verse 6, For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Psalm 51 verse 16, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. hearts that were broken over sin, not just a formal or a ritual going through the motions, offering the sacrifices. There needed to be a looking to God and a looking to something greater than these animals being killed. as Paul would say in Hebrews, but that the people knew the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away our sins. That's why we have to keep offering them again and again. They were looking to something else. And also the prophets. The prophets foretold of times of blessing that would come, and it was not just prosperity as a nation or all these nations of Israel and these other nations being subject to them and having vast real estate and prosperity. There were times of spiritual blessing that God promised, and God would give new hearts when He would pour out His Spirit upon them, when He would enable them to love and obey Him, to obey His law. We can think of Jeremiah 31 verse 32, also Ezekiel 36 verse 26 and 27. a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." The Old Testament shows that the spiritual realities were always in view. behind and beyond the external rituals that God had given for them to do. Thirdly, under this, the Old Testament uses language in type and prophecy that points to a spiritual, not a literal, fulfilment. Jeremiah 3 verse 16, And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord, neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it. neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it. To the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem, neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their heart." So Jeremiah is pointing them to a time of blessing, but the ark which was the symbol of God's presence in the temple, and hence the temple was no longer to be important. So that thing which really defined Israel as a nation would be gone, which points not to a literal fulfillment, particularly a rebuilding of the temple as many of the dispensationalists would want, but rather to the temple being fulfilled. Particularly here we see the Lord dwelling among his people. Jerusalem being called the throne of the Lord. There's something more than literal here. Malachi 1 and verse 11. Malachi 1 verse 11. for from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. This verse does not admit of a literal fulfilment. because there would only ever be one temple of God, one place where incense could be offered. It was unauthorized. It was an abomination for God for sacrifices to be offered elsewhere. For incense to be offered was only by the priests in the temple. And so this description of incense being offered in every place and a pure offering has to be pointed to something greater, to a worship that wasn't bound to the temple, that was in all the world. Not many temples. It's not a picture of many temples, but of no temple. A spiritual fulfillment. We can think also of those many prophecies of The king who would come, the one who would rule, the descendant of David who would rule, not just over Israel and not just over the nations around, but over the whole world. We can think of those prophecies throughout the Psalms. also in the prophets, but say Psalm 72 verse 8 and 17. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. It's not just talking about from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea or from the Euphrates River down to the River of Egypt. The language there is the whole world. It's far greater than anything that David or the people of Israel ever imagined. At the end of that Psalm, verse 17, His name, this King, His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun. And all men shall be blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him blessed. We've pointed beyond a limited, literal, literalistic term. One other place we see in Isaiah chapter 60 is wonderful promises as to the people of God in the time following the death of the servant of the Lord, described in Isaiah 53, the atoning death, the death of the shepherd for the sheep. And there we have this description in Isaiah 60 of times of great blessing and there's much in there that would be very really be stretching the bounds of language, whether in English or in Hebrew, to make them literally fulfilled, but particularly there in verse 19. The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Now perhaps the dispensationalists would admit that this is a language which is meant to not be taken literally, but that only really makes my point that we are not to be taking all this language literally. This is speaking to something, speaking of spiritual reality, speaking of the blessing of the Lord, the presence of the Lord, the Lord shining his light upon us, giving understanding and his blessing and changing us from glory to glory. We come thirdly to the New Testament. The New Testament teaches that the Old Testament must be understood spiritually and of Christ. When I say this, I'm not saying that we allegorise everything. We understand God's given us his word. He's given us the history of the world, or that which we need to know from the beginning. It's not that we don't understand all that is contained in his truth, or when such a man is described and the things that he did. that we are to understand that literally, as to the places he went and what he did and what he said. But that as we're considering the prophecies that are given, the predictions of what will come, and to how that will be understood. What were they speaking of? Where do they end up? That is what I'm speaking of here. And the New Testament shows that we must understand the Old Testament. promises, the prophecies, is fulfilled in Christ. Fully fulfilled in Christ. And therefore, because they're fulfilled in Christ, because Christ answers to all that they're speaking of, they're fulfilled in those who are in Christ, those who trust in Christ. That is His Church. There was a Reformed minister, The doctrine of the Christian Church as generally accepted has always been that the New Testament takes precedence over the Old, that Christ and His Apostles are the authoritative interpreters of the Old Testament, that its types and shadows are to be interpreted in the light of the clearer gospel revelation. It goes on, as Augustine expressed it so aptly, in the Old Testament the new is concealed, in the New Testament the old is revealed. So I'll say that again. Something I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but that I might say from time to time. As we're reading the Scriptures, we would read the Old Testament and we would see in the Old Testament the truths of the New Testament concealed, as it were. They're in shadows, they're in types, in the promises, but they're there. There is Christ. When we come to the New Testament, the Old Testament is revealed. We understand what the Old Testament was saying. It is a question of how should we interpret the Bible and who will teach us how to interpret the Bible. There are many people who will give their interpretation and will say, well, here is how you must, this system, this scheme, this hermeneutic. As the Westminster Confession says, the scriptures themselves are our infallible interpretation of the scriptures, to compare the scriptures with the scriptures that we might understand, and to go from the clearer to the less clear. If we find a difficult passage, we leave it there. We don't make that the rule for understanding all the rest of the scripture. We start with the clear teaching portions and then seek to understand the rest. And so, do we seek to understand the body as it were, which the Colossians says Christ is the body and the Old Testament is the shadows. Do we seek to understand the full body in light of the shadow? It's as if we were trying to find out what someone looked like. and we try and distinguish their features from their shadow, or from an image of their shadow. We want to look at the body, we want to look at their face and look at their features, then we understand what they're like. And so, in the New Testament we have more light, we have clearer teaching. That is where we're to start. And we have particularly Christ and the Apostles referring to the Old Testament and telling us what it means. We must learn from them. So the New Testament shows that the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ and therefore in the Church. Turn to Luke 24. After Christ rose again from the dead and appeared to His disciples at different times, to His followers at different times, and to the 11 who remained, we have this account when He met with two of them as they were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. And as He instructed them, we are much instructed as to these things, as to the interpretation of the Old Testament. If we look there in verse 21, 20 and 21 we see what these disciples were saying. I'll read from verse 19. And he said unto them, what things? So Christ is saying, what are you concerned about? What's been happening? And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed in word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day. I mean, since these things were done. Do you see, in a sense, we see here something of even the misunderstanding of the disciples. Not even, it wasn't only that they were not, they hadn't listened to what Christ said that three days after that he would be crucified and that he would rise again on the third day. But they've seen these things that seem to indicate that Christ was fulfilling the promises, but they didn't think that the death was really part of it, this crucifixion. Well, Christ speaks to them in verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." I'm not sure quite how long He was speaking with them and Christ gave them that wonderful hermeneutics lesson to hear Christ explaining His various scriptures. But what we see here is that whereas the dispensationalists, while they admit that Christ had to suffer and die, their view of the plan as it should have gone is that Israel would have received not crucified the Messiah and then there would have been glory that there would be glory but without a cross how they then deal with the need for an atonement and the necessity of Christ's death I don't think they try and reconcile those things for they would yet believe in the necessity of the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, but nevertheless they believe that if God's plan had have gone according to plan in that sense, the Jews would have accepted Christ, established Him as King, and then there would have been this time of glory. But Christ says that the disciples weren't listening, that Christ had to suffer and then enter His glory. These things that had happened were exactly according to plan. And it was all there in the prophets. The prophets had spoken of these things. This was not a plan B, it was not something that was to be a surprise for them. It caused them fools. Further on in this chapter we see that as he would continue to explain to the rest of the disciples as these things, how this is connected with the church. In verse 44, And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. So he's saying, he's showing them from the scriptures how they are speaking of him. He's not a detour, he is certainly not a detour, but also he says, This is what was told, this is what was written, that the Christ would suffer, that he would rise again, and then that the gospel would be preached in the world. Repentance, remission of sins being preached through all nations. This was the intention of his death and resurrection. It is not a detour, not a parenthesis. That is what the prophets were speaking of and when the prophets, the law and the prophets and the Psalms, the whole Old Testament looking to Christ and to the glory that would follow in the church in the world. Also in 1st Peter, 1st Peter in chapter 1, 10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you? Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us. They did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into." So there again, Peter says, the prophets of old, they were speaking of Christ. And they knew that they were speaking things that they didn't understand all of what they were saying but they knew also they were speaking of the glories that were to come and what were they speaking of? The sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow and he says too that this what the prophets spoke that, verse 12, is what is now reported unto you, these Christians by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." Now we do, we've seen that the letter of Peter was to mainly Jewish Christians scattered throughout these parts of the world in Pontus and Galatia and so on, as it says in verse 1. But nonetheless, what Peter says is that these prophets prophesied of the grace that would come unto you. The grace was not something that was unknown to them or that was going to be a surprise, but that was what was prophesied of, the grace which was seen particularly in the sufferings of the Christ and the glory that would follow. And so there were other places we could go to, but second, What Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1 verse 20, is what I am saying, what we must be believing. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him are men, unto the glory of God by us. So the promises are fulfilled in Christ. He answers to all those promises and it is under the glory of God by us. We are part of the answer to those promises, to God's glory. And unless we understand the Old Testament, promises and prophecies in the light of the new, in this way, speaking of Christ and those glories that would follow, in the preaching of the gospel in the nations, in the building of His Church, then Christ would call us fools, slow of heart to understand. He, to summarise what many scriptures would speak of Christ as a fulfilment of, He is the true and final prophet and priest and king. There are no more needed. There is no room for any more priests to be raised up, any more sacrifices to be offered as the dispensationalists would have, as I'd deal with in weeks to come as well. He has no more authority to receive. It's not as if now he has some authority and then later on he'll be given a kingdom. All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Christ is our circumcision, Colossians 2.11. He is our Passover, 1 Corinthians 5.7. He is our atonement, the end of all the sacrifices. He is, as we Read in John 15, He is the vine. Who was the vine in the Old Testament? Israel. Israel was the vine of God, meant to bear fruit to the glory of God. They failed. Christ is the vine. He is the true Israel. He is the purpose Israel existed. Why were they there? So that blessing would come to the world. that leads me back to Genesis 12, 1 to 3, which we read before, and to consider just at the end how the New Testament would have us to understand that verse, those verses. The dispensationalists would say, yes, there is some application of those verses in the New Testament, but we're to understand it as regards what was the land promised. It was the land of Canaan for the physical descendants of Abraham and that the way that the nations treat those descendants of Abraham will depend on whether those nations receive God's blessing or not. is to deny what the New Testament says about the fulfilment of these verses. So we would consider there are three parts to that promise. There is the land, there is the seed, and there is the blessing. I'll give you a land, I'll make you a great nation, and you'll be a blessing to the world. In the land, yes, we see God gave to the people, to the descendants of Abraham, to Israel, a land. He gave them a foothold in the land of Canaan. But was this the end of that promise? Well, in Hebrews 11, verse 16, we're told that even Abraham, although he didn't have any of that land, he was looking past the real estate. He was looking to a better country. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 15 and 16. Is this speaking of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob? It says, And truly, if they had been mindful of their country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city. Yes, there was this promise for his descendants of a foothold in the land of Canaan. He was looking to a heavenly country. He was looking to an inheritance that would not perish or fade away. Jesus says, John 8, 50 something, that Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Abraham looked past the literal fulfillment to Christ. Also in Romans 4.13 we're told that the promise to Abraham was that he would inherit the world. Yes, Canaan is part of the world but it wasn't just about some descendants in a particular country or slice of land. It was about the world which we see fulfilled again in Christ. All power in heaven and on earth. The promise of the land was never meant to be taken literally. Abraham did not take it literally. We are told in the New Testament, authoritatively, that it is fulfilled elsewhere than Palestine. What about the promise of a seed? Was Abraham given a seed? He was given a seed. He was given a son, Isaac, and then Isaac, Jacob, and Esau. Jacob particularly. Jacob had the 12 sons. And then, as God had said to Abraham, literally, his seed were like the sand of the seashore, like the dust, like the stars of the heavens. But is that where the promise stops, and is that where now we might not see the fulfillment of this great nation, but one day, according to the dispensationalists, that promise will be fulfilled, and we'll see the fulfillment of that. Well, in Galatians 3, we're told the full meaning of what God said to Abraham, and who the seed was. Galatians 3, 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. Again and again God came to Abraham and gave promise to him and his seed. He saith not unto seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ. The promise was made of Christ, to Christ. Christ is the heir of Abraham. Christ is the one who inherits the promises of Abraham. He obeyed the law of God. He kept the covenant perfectly when Abraham would break it, when Isaac would break it, when all the Israelites would break it. They were sinful. They broke God's law and God cast them out of the land. God cast them off. They're under the curse as we read here. Christ kept it. He is the seed. He is the heir. Who then? But further than that, not only Christ, but all in Christ. That's where Paul continues in applying this part of the scripture, showing us how we to understand that Abraham's seed as the sand of the seashore, as the stars of the heaven, as the dust of the earth, wasn't just about a literal nation of those descended from him. It was those who would walk in faith as he walked in faith. We read there at the end of the chapter in verse 26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So who is the promise for? for Christians, whether they be Jews or Greeks, whichever nation they be from, whether they be male or female, bond or free, if you believe in Jesus, what God promised Abraham is for you. not to be understood literally as to a real estate in the Middle East, but as regards the world which is ours in Christ, as regards our inheritance in the heavens which cannot perish or fade away, our hope of the resurrection, all these things. That is what we inherit. The New Testament shows us that physical descent from Abraham of itself is worthless. The Jews said to John the Baptist, they said to Christ, we are the sons of Abraham, we are the children of Abraham. John said in Matthew chapter 3 in verse 10 sorry verse 8, bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance. Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Christ said to them in John 8 that they claimed Abraham as their father but they did not do his deeds. They didn't obey God, they weren't trusting in the promises of God. And so according to the New Testament, according to the Apostles of Christ, we are the true Israel. We are, Paul says, Philippians 3.3, we are the circumcision. Not a circumcision made with hands, the circumcision of the heart. We are the temple of God. We are His peculiar people. We who trust in Christ. Christ gave Himself for us to purchase for himself a peculiar people. We are a kingdom of priests, which Israel was called in the Old Testament. We are the citizens of Jerusalem and Zion wherever we live. We who trust in Christ offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ. The promise of the seed is fulfilled in Christ and His Church, and also the promise of blessing. It was a blessing for those in the Old Testament who had regard to Israel, had regard to Abraham, had regard to his descendants. But it was because of the relation that they had to God. The relation that Abraham had to the promises of God. And again, the New Testament tells us how to understand the ultimate fulfilment of this promise. Again, earlier in Galatians 3 verse 8, And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. So that promise that Abraham and in him would be blessing to the world, to the nations, to the families of the earth, was a prophecy of Christ, of the gospel of justification by faith in Christ. That is what was being preached to Abraham, Paul says, and that is what it means. So if we read Genesis 12 and we ignore the teaching of Christ and his apostles regarding it, and we just think it's about Israel and particular piece of land, a piece of real estate, and as regards that nation and how they're treated in the world. We are misunderstanding the Old Testament. We're not taking the Bible seriously. We might claim to be literal and to be plain and all the rest. We are ignoring the testimony of the Scriptures as regards itself. will come to the world not by the way that they treat Israel today as a nation, but by what they do with Christ. Who is Christ to you is the question, not what is Israel to you. Because Christ, right and understood, is the Israel of God. So if If all the Old Testament promises and prophecies end in Christ, and if that was their intended end, His sufferings and His glory, then we should see that they also end in His Church. The Church is not a detour, it's not a by-path, not a parenthesis. In Christ, these promises are ours. I hope this sermon and the last will give us some understanding of not only the basic problems with dispensationalism and its understanding of scripture, but something of the right understanding of the scriptures and how we are to understand the Bible holding together as the Word of God, the one purpose of God being worked out and revealed to us in the Old and New Testament, all so that we would see and learn to read, that we would sit at the feet of Christ and the apostles, as it were, and learn from them how to read the Old Testament, that we would see it as speaking of Christ and in Christ of His Church. Amen. Let us stand up and pray together. Our Father in Heaven, we do thank Thee for Thy Word. We ask that also Thou would help us to give understanding of these things, that we would have a right discernment of truth and of error, that Thou would be teaching us of Christ, teaching us of His fulfillment, of the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament in particular, which prophesied not only of glory that would come but of his sufferings beforehand and of the intended end of those sufferings. That is the glory to his name and the proclamation of his word and the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. We do seek indeed that also this day the gospel of Christ would go out with great power, a demonstration of the spirit and of power to the building up of the most holy faith of thy children, and the gathering in of thine elect. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.