Jason Robinson - Toward Jerusalem - Class 1 - Toward Jerusalem

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   All right, so as mentioned before, we’re going to be looking at this week is the final journey of Christ into Jerusalem. It’s a, it’s a massive theme in the Gospels of Christ getting to Jerusalem, especially that last and final journey. He knew something awaited for him and he knew exactly what it was.

2. 0:19

   But it seemed the rest of the entire world was confused as to why Jesus is going and journeying toward Jerusalem. And So what we’re going to be doing is we’re going to be taking a look at that this week. And what I’m passing out for you guys is a handout for the week. What we’re going to do is we are going to kind of capture the spiritual high that we all get after a Bible school. We all leave here.

3. 0:43

   We’re we’re motivated, we’re pumped up about things, the truth. And it’s a good time to capitalize on that. And it’s a good time to set some goals for us. So what we’re going to do is we are going to work together this week and see if we can get a little bit closer to to a goal that we’d like to set for ourselves spiritually. So what you’re going to be getting is a little handout here.

4. 1:08

   There’s a page for each class, each day that we have together. And in the back you’re going to see there’s actually a map. And what this is is totally just for fun. If you guys would like, you can kind of color in where his route actually goes from the galley area up north and he actually travels into Jerusalem. And if you guys would like you guys can put some pieces together as we move through the classes this week and really kind of track where he’s going.

5. 1:35

   More importantly though, if you guys would like to, we can work together on these day by day goals. And so you can see on today’s, when you guys get your handout, it’s just a very easy bullet point list of a few things, a couple easy questions. And then by the end of the class today, by the end of our Sunday school, it would be great if you guys could all come up with a spiritual goal during this Bible school. You’ll see it as a last question on session one. All right, so with that being said, when these get passed out, we’ll jump right into it.

6. 2:13

   If you guys have any questions on these as we’re going through, feel free to come up and ask me. And it was a complicated fold for the print company to do this weird 4 fold thing. So it was a very last minute thing. So if you find typos, it won’t shock you. You’d think I was a teacher or something, but so just ignore typos or grammar mistakes or any sort of mistakes at all.

7. 2:41

   All right, so with that being said, let’s jump into really the importance of why this journey matters to us. Why does Scriptures play such a relevant role on Christ’s journey toward Jerusalem? All right, because it’s our journey. As Jesus led his disciples to the great city, he leaves for us these crumbs, dozens of principles that we can pull up in our own lives.

8. 3:04

   We can read from the word and we can say this will make me a, a better person on my journey towards Jerusalem. We’re all in the journey together. Here we are, wonderfully gathered at a Bible school. We’re all on the same path, aren’t we? We’re all walking the same path to the same place, following the same person. We’re in harmony.

9. 3:24

   And so our goal now is to find out what exactly we’re doing on that walk. All right. Does anybody not have a flyer or handout part of me? We’re good. Well done, people. Very well done. Those of you who volunteered, 100%. All right, so let’s jump into our journey together. Hopefully we have these things now. Again, they’re not mandatory to use. It’s not like we’re going to be grading you guys on your answers by the end of the week, but maybe we can capitalize on that spiritual motivation that we get at the end of a Bible school. All right, great.

10. 4:02

    So let’s start by looking at the importance of the literal textual structure that the text of the Scriptures places on the journey of Jesus toward Jerusalem. The New Testament has 27 books. Now of these 27 books we have Luke is our largest book in the New Testament. Now, even though Paul wrote more books than Luke did, Luke actually wrote more. As far as volume goes, Luke actually turns out wrote over 1/4 of the New Testament.

11. 4:36

    Luke alone in his two volumes, Luke and Acts, you know, only Moses wrote more of the Bible than Luke did. So if we’re going to take these two books and we’re going to look at Luke’s series for our sessions this week, what we find is in these two volumes, Luke talks about Christ’s journey toward Jerusalem. That’s Luke’s purpose.

12. 5:00

    I have to get the story of Christ’s journey towards Jerusalem, the cross. And then in the book of Acts, he says, but it’s not done yet. Now the message has to be preached to the world, to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth, he says. So he’s going to use two volumes to get this across to his readers.

13. 5:22

    I’m going to get Christ to Jerusalem and Luke, and I’m going to show you how Christ is going to get his message to the world in Acts. We’re going to be looking at this first section this week Together, Class 7. We’ll dip into Acts, I promise. But this first few sessions that we have this week, we’ll be talking about this journey toward Jerusalem. We’re going to see how we can find a pattern to follow on our journey there as well.

14. 5:48

    Now, Matthew, Matthew has a steady pace through his gospel. He bounces back between parables, miracles, teachings, parables, miracles, teachings. It’s a very steady, even flow. Mark, we know keyword to Mark immediately. Mark moves him. Mark says there’s a mission to be accomplished. We’re going to get that done. Luke slows the journey down. In Luke’s gospel, he places an emphasis on this idea of getting him there.

15. 6:16

    It takes 10 chapters for Christ to get to Jerusalem. The phrase, and it came to pass is Luke’s key phrase Matthew. It comes up six times, Mark, four times, John 0, Luke 40. It’s about getting him there. It’s a journey and it he slugs it in, but he gets there eventually. Luke wants his readers to focus on the journey because this journey, after all, brothers and sisters, it’s the centerpiece of time, isn’t it? Everything that happened before was meant to get Jesus there. Everything that happens after is because he got there. And so Christ gets to Jerusalem and what we’re going to refer to it as, and what a lot of experts refer to it as is the journey narrative, the journey toward Jerusalem. What you’re going to see is it it occurs in 10 and 11 chapters. And hint a couple answers on this sheet here for your handout.

16. 7:19

    The journey narrative starts in Luke 951. Memorize that reference. Luke 951, Luke 951, Luke 951. We’re going to bring it over and over and over again. This is going to be our home base. Luke 9:51. That’s when the mindset of Christ changes and he says he sets his face to go to Jerusalem. That’s the key and he’s going to wrap it up somewhere in Luke 19. It’s ironic because as as far as he’s going, he’s travelling to Jerusalem.

17. 7:48

    It never really says and he’s stepped foot in Jerusalem just as he walks into the temple. There’s no mighty entrance. He rides in on on a donkey. In Luke’s gospel and in this journey narrative, 25% of what you’re going to read is unique to Luke. It’s Luke’s story and in that 25%, there are actually 82 distinct, what we call story units. Just a little little could be 1/2 a verse, it could be multiple verses.

18. 8:21

    There’s 82 unique things, little things that you’re going to read in Luke’s gospel in this journey narrative. So if I was going to put Luke up there for you, this is the Gospel according to Luke chapters one and two. We have the birth of Jesus Christ chapters 3 to 9. We have his ministry around Galilee.

19. 8:43

    Now this is when he is starting his ministry, He is starting his work and he’s teaching everybody around his hometown area. Chapters 9 through 19 is really when this journey begins and he’s travelling to Jerusalem. The the book ends up with four chapters, 20 to 24, talking about his death and resurrection. Now I’m going to show you guys that Jerusalem is such a important part of Luke’s gospel because looking at some of the unique things outside of this block of 11 to 10 chapters, in the middle we have some unique stories to Luke. Unique to Luke is the fact that he was an infant at the temple. Guess where the temple is?

20. 9:28

    It’s in Jerusalem. He was a 12 year old boy unique to Luke at the temple. Guess where the temple is? It’s Jerusalem and at the end after there’s not a lot of Jerusalem talk around his ministry in Galilee. Shockingly, at the end 2024, he unique to Luke weeps over Jerusalem, his trial before Herod, who was specifically it says in Luke’s gospel visiting Jerusalem, the repentant thief on the cross Jerusalem. Jesus appears to the two disciples in the way to Emmaus who are leaving Jerusalem and return to Jerusalem. Jesus appears to the disciples after his resurrection and he says remain in Jerusalem.

21. 10:15

    And finally the details of the ascension to heaven. These are unique things to Luke’s gospel. We’ll see many of these. You see the importance that Luke places on the city of Jerusalem. We have to get Christ to Jerusalem. History centers around this event in Luke’s Gospel, in the journey narrative. We’re going to take a look now, as is Jerusalem in the four gospels, Matthew, the word occurs 13 times, Mark 11, John 13. And in Luke, the word Jerusalem occurs 33 times. You guys see how this, this is the point. Luke says we’re going to get him there. It is going to be a grind, but we’ll get them to Jerusalem. So let’s take a look at the net, how the journey narrative compares to the other gospels.

22. 11:15

    We’ve seen already the block of 425 verses in Luke’s Gospel. How do the other gospels compare? Well, Matthew has 65 verses that it dedicates towards Christ getting to Jerusalem. Mark 52 verses it dedicates to getting Christ to Jerusalem. John 122. It actually has 2 little blips that it talks about Christ getting to Jerusalem. You can see there just the percentage of each book that it focuses on getting Christ to Jerusalem. So Needless to say, Luke places a massive priority in his gospel on the journey towards Jerusalem. So brothers and sisters, Are you ready to start? Are you ready to follow Christ on the journey? Let’s get started, shall we?

23. 12:06

    Key verse was what Brave Volunteer shouted out. Excellent. Luke 951, That is the key verse. Turn there if you’re not already there in your Bibles, please. Luke Chapter 9 and at verse 51. I’m going to have up on the screen about a billion times this week, but it’s good to kind of keep it in mind. We’re going to focus a lot in Luke 9 for the first couple days as we kind of really start to lay the foundation of this journey.

24. 12:35

    But it says Luke 951 and when the time was come, he should be received up. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. That’s your theme verse for the week for Toward Jerusalem series.

25. 12:57

    It’s the start of the journey. It’s a change and shift in mindset for Christ. He’s going to continue on his journey as he tries to prepare his disciples, but now it’s about getting to the city. There was a lot to be accomplished at the city of Jerusalem, a lot of pain, shame, but ultimately, but ultimately to manifest his Heavenly Father.

26. 13:22

    Now we have to ask ourselves one big question. Why Jerusalem? Why Jerusalem? There were certainly cities more righteous at that time than Jerusalem. Jerusalem was full of corrupt. Its religious leaders were a joke. Why Jerusalem? Well, he says to us in Luke chapter 13, you don’t need to turn it up. But he, he tells us in Luke 13, he says on the third day, on the third day, I shall be perfected. Nevertheless, he says, I must walk. I must walk today, I must walk tomorrow, and I must walk the day following, because it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

27. 14:13

    That’s why we’re walking, he says. That’s why we’re going now. It’s an interesting little word he uses. A prophet. Why a prophet? Why not use a prophecies that says the prophet must perish in Jerusalem? He says a prophet perish in Jerusalem. What he’s doing is he’s quoting a verse for us. He’s quoting for from Deuteronomy chapter 18.

28. 14:40

    If you’d like you could turn up, but I will read it for you. Deuteronomy chapter 18. It might be worth just scribbling this down. Deuteromy 18 verses 15 through 19. It says, Yahweh, thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me, unto him you shall hearken according to all, thou desirous of Yahweh thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, neither let me see this great fire anymore, that I die not. And Yahweh said unto me, They have well spoken. That which they have spoken, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him, and shall come to pass it. Whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. So what Deuteronomy is telling us is God says he’s going to raise up a new prophet from among the people. I’m going to put my words in his mouth and you’re going to listen to everything he says.

29. 15:56

    So what’s Christ doing here in Luke 13? That’s me. A prophet can’t perish out of Jerusalem. I’m that new prophet. He’s putting himself in the place of this new prophet. He’s pulling a prophecy of Moses and he’s saying that he was the greater than Moses. God has put his words in my mouth. He’s saying listen to me, hearken to me. That’s the key.

30. 16:25

    So he has to get to Jerusalem. This new prophet is going to die in Jerusalem. He knew that. Countless prophecies talk about this. Well, back in Luke Chapter 9, if you’re not there already, Christ goes through an amazing encouragement in Luke Chapter 9. He talks to a couple people, and a couple people tell him in verses 30 and 31, behold, they’re talked with him, two men. We know the story very well, Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, and they spake of his decease, which he should accomplish where?

31. 17:11

    At Jerusalem, this new prophet would die in Jerusalem and right before he leaves for Jerusalem, remember that’s verse 51 of this chapter. Right before he leaves, he speaks to the masters of exoduses. He speaks to Moses and Elijah. Well, he speaks of his decease in the Greek. It’s the word exodus. Many of us probably have that marked.

32. 17:35

    He spoke of the exodus which he should accomplish at Jerusalem, none other than Moses and Elias. And they said it’s got to be done in Jerusalem. And he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, knowing full well would have waited in there.

33. 17:57

    He’s going to perish at Jerusalem. But brothers and sisters, this was his exodus. He needed to be taken up when the time had come for him to ascend, He said fast. He set his face to go to Jerusalem. Something else awaited him there in Jerusalem. And he said fast. He set his face to go there because Christ, brothers and sisters, was also going to lead an exodus.

34. 18:21

    We, we, we were familiar with this. Ephesians 4, quoting Psalm 68, says you’ve ascended on high. You’ve LED captivity captive. Notice the call outs to Elijah and Moses Chariots, Sinai. The Chariots of God are 20,000. Even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them. As in Sinai, in the holy place, you’ve ascended on high.

35. 18:49

    You’ve LED captivity captive. This next exodus was leading captivity captive. So we, we find ourselves constantly serving sin, don’t we, brothers and sisters? It’s the curse we bear. It’s horrible, it’s terrible. We hate it, but we feel captivated by it.

36. 19:08

    But we don’t need to be. Christ made it to Jerusalem. He led captivity captive because he sent it on high. So Christ journeyed toward Jerusalem. He knew death awaited him. He knew shame awaited him. He knew torture and pain awaited him. He knew betrayal awaited him. But he knew, more importantly, that getting to his father also waited him.

37. 19:33

    But the Stevens spoke this last night briefly. Imagine that being your motivation. He knew his father was He prayed to him, he read from his word, he talked to him. But he never sat next to him. He never got to sit next to his father.

38. 19:52

    Imagine that being your motivation to get to Jerusalem. That would get you there, wouldn’t it? Sit next to your Father, the God of the world.

39. 20:03

    And it gave him a steadfast vision to get there. This was his motivation to begin working on a new city. So Christ, a new prophet, says Deuteronomy 18. This was this message of the ministry in Galilee. This is what he preached through Luke 9, through Luke 8. I’m a new prophet. Listen to me.

40. 20:25

    That was the ministry. And he’s going to carry that same example and that same message to Jerusalem. This new prophet was going to create a new city. This is Isaiah and we’ll look at this and throughout the week, a new city from a new prophet. So ultimately, says 2nd Corinthians 5, he could create a new creation.

41. 20:41

    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The olds passed away, but the new has come. So he’s going to bring about all things new. This was Christ’s goal. This was his journey to Jerusalem to create a new city for the new creation. But brothers and sisters, it’s also where we’re headed.

42. 21:04

    So we can take this path in Luke 9 to 19. We can say, yes, I can learn from this. I can pull things out of this because it’s our goal as well. It’s a new city. Galatians 4 verses 24 to 27. Again, you don’t need to turn it up. I’ll have a little bit on the screen here.

43. 21:24

    It brings up this phrase, but the Jerusalem which is from above is free, says the ESV. See the word the not in the King James is very much in the original. It’s a different Jerusalem. The Jerusalem above is free.

44. 21:48

    This is a new Jerusalem when he ascended, says Ephesians and Psalms. When he ascended, he freed the captive. New Jerusalem, which is from above, is the city of the free, but it’s a different Jerusalem. If you looked at New Jerusalem and you looked at old natural Jerusalem, you’d see no similarities.

45. 22:26

    They’re two cities. When he set it up on high, he led captivity captive. That was Ephesians 4. Up on high, the city is from above. He led captivity captive. He freed. We’re talking about the same city, the same thing, brothers and sisters, but it’s a new city. Now the New Jerusalem phrase occurs in Revelation, and you’ll never guess the language. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. New Jerusalem began in heaven.

46. 23:06

    It was built in heaven, it was prepared in heaven. And God will send it down because it’s a free, it’s built from above. Christ went up there to build a city, to create a new Jerusalem. He marched to the Old so we could build the new further on in Revelation 21 and he showed me that great city, holy Jerusalem, Holy Jerusalem.

47. 23:36

    You won’t find holy describing Jerusalem very often. This is the new one. It’s descending out of heaven from God. The city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. The Lamb is the light thereof. Brothers and sisters, it’s an important exercise, but do you visualize what the Kingdom will look like?

48. 24:05

    Do you put yourself there? Do you imagine what it would be like to be in a city where the Lamb is the light thereof?

49. 24:15

    Those are eyes of faith. But the holy Jerusalem came down from God. Isaiah 65 Revelation Quotes from Isaiah 65 For Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. The former things, they won’t be remembered, they won’t come into mind. For behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy. Enter people to be gladness.

50. 24:43

    To understand the ingredients of New Jerusalem, you need to combine all of these passages, Isaiah and Revelations and Galatians. The concluding section of this chapter speaks of all the things necessary to recreate Jerusalem to be a new city, all the things that old Jerusalem didn’t possess, and the city’s being prepared right now.

51. 25:07

    Brothers and sisters, Christ is in heaven right now, preparing it right now. He’s building a new city. He’s setting everything in place for the final steps for it to descend out of heaven. He will call all those who are meant to be part of this new creation to be part of his new Jerusalem, new heavens, new earth, new Moses, the the bride prepared from heaven, the children of the freed.

52. 25:38

    So if we’re going to take all these little pieces that we’ve looked at, brothers and sisters, Revelation 21, a bride prepared Ephesians, four children of the freed, Isaiah 65, God’s joyous people, What is new Jerusalem? It’s actually just people.

53. 26:03

    It’s us. Brothers and sisters. Bible School 2024. We can be part of a new city, a new Jerusalem. Christ went to the old to create a new and invited us. He says, do you want to be part of a new Jerusalem, a greater city?

54. 26:22

    Do you want to get there? Do you want to follow my footsteps to make it to Jerusalem? I’ll leave you some clues and he’s going to leave us wonderful clues in this block between 9 and 19 of Luke. So new Jerusalem is people. How do you get there?

55. 26:45

    How do you become part of this outstanding city? John 3. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God, Jesus tells Nicodemus. And the word again means from above. You see the same language Your Bible’s margin probably says from above. In there many translations translated as from above.

56. 27:21

    Christ explains to Nicodemus, a Pharisee, that in order to be part of the Kingdom that he speaks of, a person needs to be born from above, which makes total sense. To be part of a city which is from above, we must be born from above. Where is Jerusalem being prepared from above? Where is Jerusalem going to be sent from? From above?

57. 27:46

    It’s the same language. It’s the same vocabulary. So New Jerusalem is a people, isn’t it? But it’s not just any people. You and I, brother And scissors. We’re not New Jerusalem, are we? We better hope not, because if I was in New Jerusalem, it’d be a pretty gross place. Because the Jason that Jason is now doesn’t deserve anything close to being a New Jerusalem. New Jerusalem is not mortal, gross, yucky, disgusting people. It’s perfect, immortal people.

58. 28:21

    It’s the bride of Christ, says Revelation, the pillars in God’s temple name written on the redeemed. It’s a, it’s a new ecclesia. It’s a, it’s a new body of people in Christ. That’s New Jerusalem.

59. 28:36

    We’re all members of Christ’s body, his blood, his his body, his flesh and his bones. It’s a relationship of the bride to the the old first born. Eve’s relationship to Adam. So is the new ecclesias relation to the new first born Christ.

60. 28:56

    Ephesians 5 tells us we could be part of that. And so we journeyed toward Jerusalem. It says in Hebrews just a another little verse, but you’re coming to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the General Assembly and Ecclesia of the first born, which are written in heaven.

61. 29:24

    Do you see the language? It’s everywhere. When you start to see it, it’s all over. It’s a different Jerusalem. It’s a Jerusalem made-up of people who want to be it in part of New Jerusalem.

62. 29:37

    And so Christ had to travel to Jerusalem. He had to get there. It wasn’t just death, it wasn’t just pain, it wasn’t just sorrow, it wasn’t just betrayal.

63. 29:51

    Who’s to begin putting in order something brand new, A city not of bricks, but a city of people. This is what He wanted the entire journey, the pain, the disciples not understanding why they’re walking, the trial of pilot, the death on the cross, they’re all just events that lead to this great ascension into heaven, to become a builder of a new city.

64. 30:16

    This was his mission. Now why 2 Jerusalem’s? Why can’t he take the old one, wipe it clean, restart with a city Why created new Jerusalem? Why is there this reason for two Jerusalem’s? Well, Isaiah tells us Isaiah is a is a great book to look at if you’re trying to figure out what God’s plan for all of these these these cities are.

65. 30:44

    So if you would like, I’d like you to come to Isaiah chapter 1. If you’d like to listen, that’s fine. But Isaiah chapter 1 is going to give us a lot of clues to help us understand why there needs to be a second Jerusalem in Christ’s plan. So Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah chapter one, we’re going to start at verse one, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. All right, so we’re reading about Jerusalem. It’s clear.

66. 31:22

    And from Isaiah, this is a prophecy concerning Jerusalem. Look at verse 21. How is the faithful city become an harlot? It was full of judgement. Righteousness used to lodge in it, but now murderers.

67. 31:48

    Thy silvers become dross, thy wine mixed with water, thy Princess are rebellious, and their companions of thieves. Everyone loveth gifts and followeth after rewards. They judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Therefore saith the Lord Yahweh of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.

68. 32:14

    Verse 25. A new thought, and I will turn my hand upon thee purely, purge away thy dross, take away all thy tin, and I will restore thy judges as at the 1st, and the councillors as at the beginning. So this old Jerusalem, the faithful city that’s become in harlot, that’s your old Jerusalem. You can’t work with that city.

69. 32:50

    It’s becoming harlot. But he says in verses 26 and 27 afterwards, he says the city will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city that was nothing like the Jerusalem Jesus walked into Zion shall be redeemed with judgement and to converts with righteousness. This is the city that they looked for. This is the city that Christ went to create, a city of righteousness, a faithful city, a joyful city, a pure city, a perfect city, a new city. So Christ can stand on the sermon. Christ can stand on the mount in his sermon and say, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. They’ll be filled, He says,

70. 33:54

    because the city will be full of it. It’ll be a faithful city, a righteous city. The prophecy of Isaiah chapter 2. Who is this prophecy written to? The word of that Isaiah, the son of Amos. Ah, concerning first one, Judah and Jerusalem, same prophecy, same audience. Come, let us go to the mountain of Yahweh, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, the Torah, and the Word of Yahweh.

71. 34:31

    From Jerusalem, O House of Jacob, come let us walk in the light of Yahweh, the word of Yahweh. From Jerusalem, brothers and sisters, the city has never been like this. People wouldn’t go to Jerusalem to learn about God’s word except for a blippin time during David, Hezekiah, some great kings. But when Christ walked onto the scene, it was filthy. But the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. Where have we heard about the word of Yahweh before? Deuteronomy 18, verse 18.

72. 35:07

    I will put my words in His mouth. The words of God would come forth from Jerusalem, from Christ Himself. And so, brothers and sisters, these were all the ingredients needed for new Jerusalem. It was all there. The prophets laid everything out for us, didn’t they? They told us what we needed. A city of people up there on a mountain showing everyone God’s light. That’s what we look for.

73. 35:42

    That’s New Jerusalem. These are the ingredients. This is the recipe. Old Jerusalem didn’t fit this mold, didn’t have all those things. So when Christ walked into that city, it didn’t work. He couldn’t use that, so God sends a new prophet to build a new Jerusalem to house his new creation.

74. 36:06

    Now further on in Matthew 5 after the Sermon on the Mount, Christ gives us an amazing glimpse into His plan to begin this city rolling. I’ll read it for you and it’ll be up on the screen. Matthew 5 verse 14, he says you are the light of the world. He tells his disciples you’re the light of the world. You are a city set on a hill that can’t be hidden. Matthew 514 he tells his disciples you’re everything that’s needed.

75. 36:51

    All those ingredients spoken of, we can work with you. That city disciples there on a mountain in view for everything and everyone. It’s all there, it’s everything. It’s all there. And he starts with his 12. He says we’re going to Jerusalem, we’re going to get this rolling, let’s go. And he brings the 12 with them, and they travel to Jerusalem to begin work on a new city.

76. 37:26

    And the disciples the whole time have no idea what’s going on. They have zero clue what’s happening. They’re confused in the beginning and they’re confused steps away from entering the city. They’re confused before the resurrection. They’re confused after the resurrection.

77. 37:47

    But he chooses them. He chooses 12 flawed, confused people. Brothers, sisters. How comforting is that, that he dealt with those 12 the whole time? I’m going to start something great with you. I’m going to build a new city with you. And here we are more lost, more confused than they were. He says, I’ll work with you too.

78. 38:20

    You could be a part of that city. You can come follow me to Jerusalem. And so he starts with these 12 Now this shouldn’t surprise us. We, we know Revelation, come, I will show you the brides as Revelation 21. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And it says, and he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, same language, the mountain, the holiness of the city as compared to the old coming down out of heaven from God. It’s the same language.

79. 39:00

    But look what else he uses to describe the city. He says further on in Revelation 21, verses 9 and 10, that the city has 12 gates, it’s 12 angels, 12 tribes, 12 foundations. The wall of the city has, as the verse says, 12 foundations. But not only that, for the sisters, look what else the city has.

80. 39:18

    There were 12 names of the 12 apostles. The chapter continues to talk about the measurements, the 12 Stones that adorn these foundations. Everything has to do with 12 because the 12 names of the 12 apostles. This is the new city of Jerusalem. And so he brings those apostles

81. 39:45

    in their confusion, in their lack of attention, in their falling asleep. And he says, I’ll use you. And it’s where it all started. It was the beginning of a city. He’s going to spend that journey to the old Jerusalem trying and trying and trying and trying to get those 12 to see that it is so much more than the Old City they should be worried about.

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    We’re not looking at this city of bricks and stones. Look past it. Look through the city. Look at the prophets. What are they Speaking of? Something far greater. And he needed to prove to them, brothers and sisters, in this journey before he was brought into heaven, that a new Jerusalem was far greater than the old Jerusalem. That’s what he needed to prove to them. And he spent that whole time journeying toward Jerusalem, trying to get them to see that,

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    to create a living Jerusalem. The interesting thing is, is that if they were really paying attention, they should have caught this many, many, many times. We’re going to look at just a couple verses purely in Luke’s gospel. You can look at other gospels to prove this as well, but we’ll just stick to Luke.

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    Luke 1334 to 35. He’s talking about the city of Jerusalem. He says it’s the city that kills the prophets. Luke 19 He’s almost there in Luke 19. He’s just steps away and he sees the city and does it bring him jubilance? He cries over it. He knows what the future of the city holds. Luke 19 He says to the people, You’ve made a den of robbers. The temple of God is now a den of robbers, he says. Luke 20 His prophecy Jerusalem will be trampled under foot. This is the language he uses on his journey. Can you believe this?

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    And the disciples you can understand? We’re so confused. Why are we going? What is this journey about? Why are we going to a city? Why are you crying over the city? Why are you saying it’s going to be ruined? I don’t. I don’t understand what we’re doing. And he says, just come on, it all makes sense. Just follow me toward Jerusalem.

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    Jeremiah 32. I’m just going to put up a few verses here on the screen. Jeremiah 32 goes over a prophecy that shows that it was never really God’s intention to use that old city. It says the city has aroused my anger and wrath from the day it was built to this day. From the day the city was built until this day.

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    I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah. They did provoke me to anger. They’re kings, they’re officials, they’re priests, they’re prophets. The men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, They have turned to me. They’re back, he says, not their face. So God through the prophet Jeremiah says the day it was built it was a wicked city.

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    But this follows the ingredients of all the cities we saw you last night. The city of Cain, the city of Babel. This is what cities are until God can create a new city. Revelation 21.

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    I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed, says the NIV for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them, says Revelation 21.

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    God can dwell with people, it can happen, and by the sisters it will happen. And he who was seated on the throne said, I’m making everything new.

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    And even though God promised that he would destroy the wickedness of the city of Jerusalem, he promised that he would bring about a new Jerusalem, a perfect city of immortal Saints who only desire is to serve God. And Christ, sitting on His throne in the heavens, declared through John that He’s making everything new, the new creation. And so he gathers his swelled disciples in Luke 9 to begin a brand new mission, to be lifted up, to begin working on a new Jerusalem.

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    And brothers and sisters, This is why he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He was going to be received up to begin that work. He was hoisted first onto a cross which would result in the new creation, and then he would ascend to his Father’s side and to begin work on a new city.

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    And so, brothers and sisters, we follow Christ to Jerusalem. We only have a couple minutes left, but what I’d like us to do before the end of our time is to just see if we can fill out in our handout session one. We just have a couple more minutes, right? Presider got the thumbs up.

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    We just have a couple more minutes. So is everybody comfortable with where the journey begins and the journey ends? We, we might have missed the journey’s purpose because I didn’t actually talk about it, but it’ll come up soon. So if you wrote something down, well done. Journey begins where good Luke 951, it ends in Luke 19, New Jerusalem where the city start.

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    But I would like you guys to focus on is just in the last couple minutes of silence here. See if you guys can just come up with some sort of goal spiritually for yourself so that when you get home Sunday, Monday, Saturday, you could say, OK, I know what, I need to work on this one little thing.

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    I can tackle this. I can do this. Just a little spiritual goal. It could be something as small as I haven’t spoken to this brother in months. I’m going to go out for a cup of coffee. It could be something as great as I haven’t seen this family in years. I’m going to call them up.

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    I’m going to tell them something encouraging spiritually and see if I can bring them back, whatever it can be, brothers and sisters in your in your mind spiritually. Hopefully we will all leave this Bible school pumped up, excited about the spiritual future we all have. And let’s see if we can come up with just a spiritual goal during our Bible school together.

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    So I’m going to leave you guys with with that. And if you guys can make sure that that section at least tomorrow for our sessions is filled out the spiritual goal. Because what you guys are going to see is that throughout the the coming days, we will actually see if we can build on that goal. And we’ll apply some things.

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    And these are going to be very flexible to whatever your goal happens to be and see if we can kind of start adding things onto it, buckling and snapping things together. OK. And if you guys would like to, you guys can kind of cruise around, you’ll see that we’ve got some critical thinking questions throughout here.

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     But again, I do encourage you guys to see if you guys can find an application for this throughout the week. If you don’t want to, it’s completely fine. It’s got a nice little coloring map on the back. OK. Thank you guys very much.