Shadows to Substance: God’s People - Israel & the Church - DJ Dickerson

You'll never guess what our next

lesson's going to be today.

It is our shadows to substance series.

And uh I can tell you uh as as I had

mentioned in I believe the last lesson

at the end of last year that I was

thinking about bringing it to a close,

but um with encouragement from others uh

I could squeeze out some several more

sermons actually on this. I do have

several more in line. Uh so uh looking

forward to our continued study in this

series. as we've noted, so many shadows

that

are astonishing

when you, again, as I stated before in

this series, you have the pieces of the

puzzle

and we're putting them all together

because what the central problem that we

talked about last Sunday that the Bible

addresses, it's not political and it's

not social. It's not even economic. It's

spiritual.

That how can sinful

people dwell in fellowship with a holy

God.

As we consider the priesthood last

Sunday morning and how such even relates

to us today. And I was dwelling on this

past week thinking what's my next lesson

going to be? And well, one of the most

important questions that any person can

ask is

who belongs to God? Who belongs to God?

From the beginning of scripture,

we have noted God has always had a

people,

not merely individuals scattered

randomly throughout history, but a

community called and shaped and

sustained by his will.

Yet, when we read the Bible carefully,

we discover that God reveals his people

in stages. You ever notice that? We're

going to see some of that uh this this

morning because he begins with a

physical nation and then brings forth a

spiritual people that fulfills

everything the physical nation

foreshadowed.

And Paul explains really this divine

method when he writes that the events of

the Old Testament were written for our

learning. Y'all know Romans 15 and

verse4, right? Romans 15:4 again, prove

Romans 15:4

all things according to God's word, not

DJs. For whatever things were written

before were written for our learning,

that we through the patience and comfort

of the scriptures might have hope. See,

that's the same thought that's being

given in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

verse 11. Now all these things happened

to them as examples and they were

written for our admonition upon whom the

ends of the ages have come. So we see

those words examples

that even we look back we see Israel the

Old Testament they were chosen they were

real and they were precious

but Israel was also a shadow that's

pointing to something greater

and the greater reality is the church

that belongs to Jesus Christ. So this

morning we will walk through the

unfolding

plan and see how Israel prepares the way

and the church completes the picture and

it's all through Jesus Christ.

So this portion of lesson is about God's

people, the Israelites, a type and

shadow of the church.

So let's start with Israel. Obviously

the people called by God a shadow of the

church.

Understanding that when you go through

and you read from the Old Testament, you

see that Israel did not develop or or

form by political ambition, not even

military conquest. Okay? Uh Israel

existed because God called them into

existence.

Look at Genesis chapter 12. This this

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

gives us right here the opening part in

Genesis 12:es 1 through3.

Now the Lord had said to Abram, "Get out

of your country, from your family, and

from your father's house to a land that

I will show you. I will make you, look

at this part, a great nation. I will

bless you and make and and make your

name great, and you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and I

will curse him who curses you and in you

all the families of the earth shall be

blessed. Now we've read this passage I'm

sure numerous times in our lives right

and that we have noted that God calls

Abram and he's making a promise to him

promises actually that shape the rest of

the scriptures. And y'all notice that

really if you outline from these three

verses that what he's saying is here's

the promise. A great nation, a land, a

covenant relationship, and a blessing

that would reach

all nations,

right? All nations.

Now, this tells us something critical.

What this tells us, if we're looking at

this and we're not getting lost, you

know, we say missing the force for the

trees. If we're noticing what's

happening is that

the critical point is Israel was never

an end

in itself. From the beginning, God had

the nations in view. So when Israel is

delivered from Egypt and brought to

Mount Si, God declares something. What

was it that God declared? Look at Exodus

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19 and verse 6 and you'll see

it. Exodus 19 and verse 6. And you shall

be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy

nation. These are the words which you

shall speak to the children of Israel.

What does that tell you? Israel was

chosen not because they were righteous,

not because they were numerous, but

because God loved them. And what did he

do? He kept his promise. How do I know

that? Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7. I'm

Deuteronomy 7 · chapter mention

kind of fast forwarding a lot through a

lot of scriptures here because like I

said then if I was to give you

everything that I have here

this would be a series in of itself.

Right? So Deuteronomy chapter 7 verses 6

Deuteronomy 7:6–8

through8 look at this. For you are a

holy people to the Lord your God. The

Lord your God has chosen you to be a

people for himself a special treasure

above all the peoples on the face of the

earth. The Lord did not send his love on

you, did not set his love on you, nor

choose you because you were more in

number than any other people. For you

were the least of all peoples. See,

that's that point that I was just

making. Look at verse eight. But because

the Lord loves you and because he would

keep the oath which he swore to your

fathers, we just read that from Genesis

12, right? The Lord has brought you out

with a mighty hand and redeemed you from

the house of bondage, from the hand of

Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

God kept his promise,

that relationship that was that was that

covenant relationship. They were

separated. They were marked by covenant

signs. They were entrusted with God's

law and privileged with God's presence.

We've talked a lot about that throughout

this series as well.

So when you stop and you think about

summarizing even what Israel taught the

world

that through Israel God revealed his

holiness.

God revealed his hatred of sin. God

revealed his mercy and he also revealed

his faithfulness.

Israel showed what it meant to belong to

God.

But really outline, it's kind of outline

form that we see this through the

scriptures because really when you get

down to it, what was Israel? Well,

Israel was defined by the flesh,

the limitation that we're going to find

of this shadow.

Because

it's quite clear that when you're

reading about the Israelites

that being a part of Israel or an

Israelite was largely determined by

what? Physical birth.

One was born into Abraham's lineage, his

family line, and they were marked by

circumcision.

And that was a system that served an

important purpose, but it also carried

limitations, didn't it? Over time, many

Israelites came to believe that heritage

alone guaranteed favor with God. We that

that's something that you find over and

over again Paul addressing in the New

Testament.

The prophets even would repeatedly

correct

that just because you are born an

Israelite doesn't mean

that well I can just do whatever I want

to do.

That's that's not the point because what

did Israel do? They rebelled against

God. And when they rebelled against God,

what happened? There's punishment.

They go into captivity. Babylonian, we

could go on through those.

So Paul, as I mentioned, he addresses

this in Romans chapter 9. Go to Romans

Romans 9 · chapter mention

chapter nine. And I want you to notice

[clears throat] here in this particular

passage, Romans nine,

he he covers a lot of ground in Romans

nine for that matter. U even chapter 10,

11. Well, there's a lot uh there. We

won't read all of those passages this

morning, but uh make sure to make note

of those because it it's it's feeds into

what we're talking about here. But

specifically in Romans nine, you you

find that Paul is speaking on Israel's

rejection and God's purpose. Uh look at

verses 6 through8. Look at verses 6

through8 of Romans 9.

But it is not that the word of God has

taken no effect. For they are not all

Israel who are of Israel, nor are they

all children, because they are the seed

of Abraham. But in Isaac your seed shall

be called, that is those who are the

children of the flesh. These are not the

children of God, but the children of the

promise are counted as the seed.

It's very interesting the words that

Paul is using in describing this. And

again, if you go through Romans chapter

nine, you're going to find more about

Israel's rejection, God's justice, and

so forth throughout there. And and even

chapter 10, how Israel needs what? They

needed the gospel. and and uh a lot lot

that I I really wanted to go off into,

but I'm I'm going to digress.

But from the beginning, God made

something abundantly clear. And you know

what that was? Faith mattered more than

flesh.

That's what you that's what you see

unfolding in the scriptures. and that

obedience mattered more than ancestry

because that's what we see with Israel's

history is demonstrating something so

true the nation rebelled continuously

over and over again

as soon as they got out of Egypt really

what were they doing I mean you think

about Moses going up on on Mount Si and

and getting the commandments what were

they doing down there. Oh, he forgot

about us. And they start talking amongst

themselves. And what did they do? How

did how did how did how was it? How did

Aaron say? You know, those those that

golden calf just popped right out. I'm

summarizing, but that was the excuse

that he gave. They turned to idols and

they would murmur and complain. Oh,

we're out here and we're going to die in

this wilderness. We we had it better off

in our bondage, and our captivity in

Egypt. They would constantly turn to

idolatry and they would break the

covenant and they trusted the lineage

instead of faith.

You see, that's the thing about the old

law. The the the law could expose sin.

It could do that,

but it could not transform the heart.

The shadow showed, yay, I would say

revealed

the problem. What was the issue?

It could do that but it could not

provide the final and ultimate solution.

That's the importance as we see in the

scriptures

that you know sometimes people say

[clears throat] where do I start reading

Genesis chapter 1. [laughter]

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Okay. Uh some people I want to start

with Revelation. Nope don't start there.

Okay. Uh we just had that Bible class,

didn't we? Uh but think about how all of

this unfolds. All of this the Old

Testament the it's it's a school master.

It's a tutor that leads us to Christ.

That's what it was showing Israel.

It's beautiful.

What we find is that God was teaching

that being near God's blessings

is not the same as belonging to God.

And that's why as you see this unfold

throughout the scriptures and then you

get to the New Testament,

we start talking about the prophetic

bridge.

And that's the promise of a new people.

Because what we certainly find

throughout the scriptures is that God

did not abandon his people. Sometimes

you might look at it like, well, that's

what that's what he's doing. He abandon

his people. No, he didn't abandon his

people.

He prepared them

through the prophets. God announced a

future transformation.

And again, we got to be we we we don't

want to miss the forest for the trees.

We've got to look at what the prophets

were saying. Now, Jeremiah 31, there's a

lot that's mentioned. You might remember

this from the prophecy series. Even

remember that Jeremiah 31:es 31-34. Look

at that verse. Look what it's saying.

And I I kind of highlighted here a

little bit for you.

Behold, the days are coming, says the

Lord, when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel and with the

house of Judah, not according to the

covenant that I made with their fathers

in the day that I took them by the hand

to lead them out of the land of Egypt,

my covenant which they broke, though I

was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will

make with the house of Israel after

those days, says the Lord. I will put my

law in their minds and write it on their

hearts, and I will be their God, and

they shall be my people. No more shall

every man teach his neighbor and every

man his brother saying know the Lord for

they all shall know me from the least of

them to the greatest of them says the

Lord for I will forgive their iniquity

and their sin I will remember no more

see this is the announcement that's

being made from the prophet Jeremiah

that this new covenant would be external

or be internal not external

that's what he's saying that God's law

will be written on their minds, on their

hearts. And what would they have? The

full forgiveness of sins.

See, the prophets also spoke of

repeatedly of Gentiles. Even how often

is that missed when you're reading

through the Old Testament? The prophets

Isaiah chapter 2, Hosea chapter 2, and

Isaiah 2 · chapter mention Hosea 2 · chapter mention

Amos chapter 9. All of those right there

Amos 9 · chapter mention

start talks about Gentiles. It's

reaching forward.

So the point that's made is is Israel

was never meant to be exclusive forever.

They were chosen to carry the promises,

not to contain them.

I I think a good way to consider this in

kind of putting in it how this planting

was going, you know, this this was

happening here in my mind is that Israel

was the seedbed.

They were the seedbed

and what would result would be the

church. That's the harvest.

Again, when you're looking at the

shadow, it is so powerful.

It is so overwhelming to me. It leaves

us in awe that all of this was a

culmination that leads us to the church.

The church

that this is a substance of God's people

fully revealed.

You remember Matthew 16 and verse 18?

Jesus made a a a very firm statement.

And what was that? He told Peter, "On

this rock, I will build my church and

the gates of Hades shall not prevail

against it."

I want you to note something about this

scripture.

This was not a lastm minute adjustment.

All right? It was the unveiling of God's

eternal purpose. eternal purpose. We are

just reading in Acts chapter 2 in our

Acts 2 · chapter mention

adult Bible class. We're studying the

book of Acts. In Acts chapter 2, the

Acts 2 · chapter mention

church is what comes to fruition. Seeing

the very establishment on the day of

Pentecost.

How was it established? How was the

church established? What Jesus had said

was going to be established, his church,

it was established through the preaching

of Christ crucified and risen.

It was established through faith in

Christ. It was established through

repentant hearts. It was established

through baptism for the remission of

sins.

You see, unlike Israel,

entry into the church is not by birth,

right? It's not by birth, but rather

it's by new birth.

Remember that in John chapter 3, Jesus

John 3 · chapter mention

having a a discussion with Nicodemus,

right? Nicodemus came to him by night.

I' I've said this before. I have a

sermon that I did years and years ago

entitled Nick at Night, right? This is

what it was. So he comes at night,

right? And Jesus answered and said to

him, "Most assurely I say to you, unless

one is born again, he cannot see the

kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him,

"How how can a man be born when he is

old? Can he enter a second time into his

mother's womb and be born?" Jesus

answered, "Look at this."

Most assuredly I say to you, unless one

is born of water and the spirit, he

cannot enter the kingdom of God. What do

you think he's talking about? Well, we

know what he's talking about. We saw

this in the series. He's talking about

being baptized, being buried with

baptism to rise and walk in this of

life. It's the same thing you see in

Acts 2:38 when he said, "Repent and be

Acts 2:38

baptized every one of you in the name

Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

You shall receive the gift of the Holy

Spirit." And that's how verse 47 comes

into play. And what's it say in Acts

Acts 2:47

2:47? And the Lord added to the church

daily those being saved. How do we get

in the church? Well, there it is.

Paul explained this if you are noting in

the the scripture reading this morning

that brother Aiden Mosley read for us.

Did y'all see it? Galatians 3:26-29.

Galatians 3:26–29

How are we children of God? How are we?

Through faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of of you as were what was

that? Baptized into Christ have done

what? put on Christ.

Now, here's the part we're talking

about. Verse 28. There's neither Jew nor

Greek. There's neither slave nor free.

There's neither male nor female. For

you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if

you are Christ, then you are Abraham's

seed and hes according to the promise.

It made the connection to where we just

came from.

Wow.

This ain't no socioeconomic status. This

ain't what lineage are you born to.

It's nothing like that. That's why when

you go through the scripture, you see

that the Gentiles are being well

Cornelius is a prime example. We ain't

got to that part in our Bible class and

[laughter] on our Sunday mornings and

Wednesday in our adult Bible class, but

that's coming. Right. It's interesting.

It is so interesting.

What what I'm saying in this lesson is

friends, the church is not an

afterthought.

That's that's not what it is. The church

as stated even in Galatians chapter 3

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

and verse 29,

it's the fulfillment of the promise to

Abraham.

It reached all the way back to the

shadow

and it's showing the substance even

today.

Friends, Israel and the church when you

unfold the shadow and substance,

you sit back in awe

because what we have just done briefly

is taken this picture and look how clear

we have been putting the pieces of the

puzzle together.

We have it. It's right here. It's all

right here and it becomes

perfectly clear.

Think about a lot of these shadows even

that's used in the in the scriptures. 1

Corinthians 10, we covered some of that

as well in in part of this series

already. Israel was redeemed from Egypt.

They were in captivity, right? They were

in bondage. Romans talks about this also

in chapter six.

How's the church redeemed from

captivity?

How are we redeemed from sin?

Through deliverance. through the water.

That's brought up in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 that they all pass through

the sea. Remember that. There's your

foreshadow. There's your substance

again. Because Israel passed through the

Red Sea, the church, how do we become a

member of the Lord's body? Is we pass

through baptism. We're buried with

Christ to arise and walk in newness of

life. That's Romans 6 3 and 4. Prove it

according to the scriptures, not DJ.

Israel received the law. Remember that

they received the law at Sinai.

What do we have? We have the new

covenant. That is the perfect law of

liberty and that's the law of Christ.

Israel, they worshiped at a physical

temple. The church,

this building is not the church, right?

We've made that abundantly clear. It's

the people.

Israel offered animal sacrifices. What

do we offer? Spiritual sacrifices. 1

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 2, Romans 12 1 and two.

Israel inherited a physical land.

Remember the land of Canaan. That's

going to be another we're going to see

that one coming up in the series as

well.

And what are we seeking? A heavenly one.

And we're on a journey through a

wilderness.

You see all these connections?

the shadow pointed forward and the

substance has arrived. And friends,

that's the church. The church is the

Israel of God. Have you ever seen that

in the scriptures? Have you ever noticed

that?

I'm going to share I'm going to share

with you just a just a few. I mean, I

got I got just a little bit here I want

to give you on this, but if you ever

notice the way that Paul refers to the

church, he'll use this kind of

terminology.

Galatians chapter 6:15 and 16. Look what

he says.

For in Christ Jesus, neither

circumcision nor uncircumcision avails

anything, but a new creation. And as

many as walk according to this rule,

peace and mercy be upon them and upon

the Israel of God.

I want you to understand and you look at

this context, he's not referring to

ethnicity. That's not what he's doing.

He's referring to those who walk

according to the rule of Christ.

And that's what Peter does. Peter

applies the Old Testament passage that

we looked at, the promise to Abraham

that there would be a holy nation,

a special people. And what did Peter do

with that? Look at First Peter 2:9 and

1 Peter 2:9

10 right here. We talked about

priesthood last Sunday. Here we have it

again. But you are a chosen generation,

a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his

own special people, that you may

proclaim the praise of him who called

you out of darkness into his marvelous

light, who once were not a people, but

are now the people of God who had not

obtained mercy, but now have obtained

mercy. You see, he's not specifically

saying, "This is only for the Jews. It's

only for the Israelites." No,

this is for all. Specifically, he's

speaking Gentiles, right?

So I I want you to understand what we

see in this shadow here in the substance

part of this series. This is not

replacement theology.

It's fulfillment theology. God had not

failed Israel. He has completed his

promise through Christ. That's where the

direction was going all along. That's

what all the prophecies point to. And

there's always been one people of God

that's saved by faith, that's defined by

obedience, and they're united in Christ.

And that's scriptures that makes it

clear. So before I close, let me make

this point here. I know it's a lot that

I'm I'm I'm giving you this morning,

but the practical lessons I want us to

take for us today, our takeaways

is understand this. Heritage does not

save.

Now you might say, what what are you

saying? Just as being born an Israelite

did not guarantee salvation.

And friends, being raised in the church

does not either.

Make sure we have that in our minds

because salvation is not inherited. It's

not transferred. Parents, spouses,

preachers cannot believe or obey on

someone else's behalf. It doesn't work

that way.

Salvation is personal and it requires

obedience to the gospel because guess

what? Judgment and accountability is

personal. My mother and my father are

not going to be standing on judgment day

pleading for me. Not happen.

Not happen.

Because Romans 14:12 makes it clear.

Romans 14:12

Each one of us shall give account of

himself to God. Each one of us.

As much as I would like to stand and be

able to plead for my children, right, we

always have for my children, they have

to have their own faith

and they got to make the right choices

and they got to make the right decision.

They got to follow the rule of Christ if

they want

eternal life as well.

We have to let that set in because

that's something Israel struggled with.

2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10 says, "For

we must all appear before the judgment

seat of Christ that each one may receive

the things done in the body."

Something else I think we take from this

is that God's people are one. 1

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 12, there's a lot

there that speaks about unity and

diversity that all all members are one

body or in that one body that is Christ.

That the point that he say is in Christ

all barriers fall. They all fail because

there is one body. There's one kingdom.

There's one people.

We are one. And that's what Jesus prayed

for in John chapter 17. That we all

John 17 · chapter mention

would be one in him as he is in as he is

one with God.

And I'd also submit to you that God's

people must be holy.

God's people must be holy. that has that

has resounded from the very beginning

that this set apart the sanctified these

are words that we see throughout the

scriptures but in 1 Peter 1:15-16 it

1 Peter 1:15–16

says but as he who called you as holy

you also be holy in all your conduct

because it is written be holy for I am

holy

you see the calling of Israel to

holiness now belongs to the church

God's people are called to live

distinctly, faithfully, obediently.

That's what we see in 1 Peter 2 and

verse 9. As a chosen generation, a

chosen people through his word.

So friends, Israel was chosen to prepare

the way. The church is chosen to

proclaim the way. Salvation

that is in Christ, the way, the truth,

and life. John 14 and verse 6. You think

about how Israel, they carried the

promises. The church enjoys their

fulfillment.

Israel was the shadow. The church is the

substance. And again, as I have

throughout this series, I have provided

a handout. There's still I'm looking

back there. My vision's not as good as

it used to be, but I see paper back

there. I believe that's that's they're

still on the stand. If you're looking

for that handout, it's back there in the

bag. Uh of all the the what we've talked

about, there's even more that's in

there. Okay, there's a lot uh about

Israel being the shadow and the church

being the substance. And again, look at

all the scripture references. There's

and I only have a few of them here just

to make those points, but dive into that

and look look at it

because what it shows us is that God has

always had one plan. He's has always one

people. He's always had one savior,

Jesus Christ. It pointed straight to it.

And what I submit to you this this

morning is when you look at just these

things,

it's all right there. Physical nation,

Israel, substance, spiritual people,

temporary covenant with Israel. And yet

today, the church is eternal covenant.

The shadow of Israel based on physical

birth, substance based on new birth

shadow. They prepared the way. And look

what happened with the substance. The

promise was fulfilled.

If you're not a part of God's people

today, as I have mentioned already in in

in the lesson, you can be

through faith, repentance, confession,

and baptism. The Lord will add you to

his church. I mentioned these verses

earlier. Acts 2 38 39. They asked, "What

shall we do? Repent and let everyone be

baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for

the remission of sins, and you shall

receive to get the Holy Spirit." Look at

verse 39.

for you. The promise is to you and to

your children and to all who are far

off, as many as the Lord our God will

call. The barrier broke straight

through, didn't it? He's saying Gentiles

are include all mankind.

It pointed straight to it. Verse 47,

praising God and having favor with all

the people and the Lord added to the

church, not churches and all the church,

the one that Jesus promised in Matthew

Matthew 16:18

16:18 daily those who are being saved.

And again, you can do that this morning.

All things stand ready.

If you'd like to study more about this,

you get with me. As I've said many

times, don't leave here without saying,

"I need to talk with you about this."

We have we have correspondence courses

online. We have we have all sorts of

things. If you want to do it that way

and study study at your own pace there,

get with me. We'd love to get you set up

on on a study.

But realize how important it is to be in

him

because the scriptures make that

abundantly clear as to

who will actually enter the promised

land. We'll talk about that Lord will

next Sunday.

And friends, if you have wandered away

again, the Israelites, they rebelled.

Remember, they were children of God.

They rebelled.

The same God who called Israel back

through the prophets calls you back

through Jesus Christ today. Again, all

stands ready and whatever your spiritual

need is, the invitation is being given.

God's plan of salvation as mentioned

earlier, won't you respond to this

invitation call? Won't you seize this

opportunity

to be a member of his body, his church,

your sub invitation, call whatever your

spiritual name. Won't you come as we

stand and we sing the song that's been

selected for