The Apple of God's Eye

The title of the apple of God's eye is you. That's not very good grammar. Or you could say, I am the apple of God's eye. Do you really know who you profess to be? I think sometimes we sell ourselves short in the church, and we focus on verses like, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But you see your calling, brethren. We have been called to the greatest calling that you can possibly be called to. We say that we are the church of God. We say that we are God's people.

But do we really understand what that means? Do we really understand how precious we are in the sight of God? Do you know that you are the apple of God's eye? Let's notice Zechariah 2, verse 7. Zechariah. You remember the backdrop of Zechariah. Judah had been taken into captivity circa 576 BC. It started in roughly 604 BC to 576, and the temple was destroyed. They were there in captivity for some 70 years. Then a decree was made by Cyrus that they should return to the Promised Land and rebuild the temple.

They fumbled around with that from 538 BC to 520 BC, and not much had been done. Then God raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, and they were there encouraging the people working alongside with them to build God's temple. There was all kind of opposition to the building of that temple. Even some of the Jews said it's not time. Samaritans were against it. Many in the Persian Empire were against it. But despite all of the odds, God, through his might and power and spirit, worked through Zechariah and Haggai to rebuild what is called the Restoration or the Second Temple. That's a bit of the backdrop to the book of Zechariah. In chapter 2, verse 7, deliver yourself, O Zion, that dwells with the daughter of Babylon. We talk about prophecy being dual. As I have noted many times to you, Hebrews 12 and verse 22, that Zion is symbolic of the Church. Deliver yourself, O Zion, you that dwell with the daughter of Babylon. We dwell in a Babylonian kind of society. For thus says the Lord of hosts, After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoil you, For he that touches you touches the apple of his eye. The people of God, the Church of God, you are the apple of his eye. For behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me, Seeing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, For lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Eternal. And obviously, this pushes us forward into a millennial setting. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, And shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of you. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, And shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Eternal, For he is raised up out of his holy habitation. Now, let's turn to Hebrews 12, and see what the Apostle Paul writes with regard to Zion. Brethren, we need to realize who we are and to carry ourselves in such a way that we understand who we are. The apple of God's eye, God's chosen people, people who have been purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. No greater price could have possibly been paid.

And sometimes we behave as if we don't understand what we're really involved in. This is the calling of the ages. We have had revealed to us the mystery of the ages. Some of those mysteries we'll talk about a little later. In Hebrews 12, notice what Paul writes here. Hebrews 12 and verse 22. But you were coming to Mount Zion to the city of the living God. Now, Mount Zion was a geographical location in the environs of Jerusalem. And there's controversy as to exactly where Mount Zion was, is. I believe it's just southwest of the Temple Mount, but anyhow into the city of Zion, into the city of the living God. Now, that's the heavenly... Once again, there's a physical location of an earthly Zion. But notice what this says. You are coming to Mount Zion into the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Now, the heavenly Jerusalem, as Paul writes in Galatians 4.26, is what? The heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above, is the mother of us all. So we are in the womb of our mother, the Church of God, where we are nurtured and nourished in preparation for our birth into the kingdom of God. You've come to the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels, thousands upon thousands and ten thousands upon ten thousands, as it talks about in Revelation 5, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. God loves the gates of Zion more than anything else.

Let's go now to Psalm 87. I was glad to hear that we sang this hymn as we began here today, or at some point in the song service. In Psalm 87, glorious things of these are spoken, Zion, O City of our God! Do you know what you're singing about when you sing that song? You're singing about the Church of God. You're singing about you. In Psalm 87, his foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. See, Jacob means supplantered. Jacob has to do with the physical, with the flesh. Remember, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, which means ruling with God or prince with God. So when you see Jacob basically in the Old Testament, it has to do with the physical side of Israel. And Israel, the name Israel more, has to do with the spiritual side of Israel. So that's why it says he loves the gates of Zion, the city of the living God, more than the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things of thee are spoken, O City of God! I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia, this man was born there. Where? Zion, Church of God.

You know, no matter where you are buried, some people are burned alive. Some people are lost at sea.

The bones and ashes of God's people are scattered all over the earth. If they die in the faith, they die in the spiritual sense, Zion.

As I've mentioned to you before, the Jews want to be buried on the Mount of Olives because of what it says in Zechariah 14, where it says, in that day his foot shall stand on the Mount of Olives. They think they'll get a head start on the resurrection. They're buried there.

And of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her.

And the highest himself shall establish her, and the Lord shall count when he writes up the people, that this man was born there in Zion. Glorious things of thee are spoken, O Zion city of our God.

As well as the singers, as the players on instruments shall be there, all my springs, water symbolic of God's presence, His Spirit, all my springs are in you, in Zion. God has chosen to dwell in Zion. Brethren, do we remotely understand what this is all about?

Sometimes it's difficult to grasp, to comprehend, even if we just sit and meditate on it. And especially our young people, do they really understand what we profess to be? And do we really represent the Kingdom of God as ambassadors of Christ, as we really should?

And understand, we are not playing church.

The church is the most important institution on earth, and for that matter in the whole universe. The church is the body of Christ. What do you mean when you say the body of Christ? Because Christ and God the Father dwells in that body. The church is a temple of God. Once again, the church is where God dwells. He dwells in buildings not made by hands. He dwells in each one of us. The church belongs to God and not to man. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. In so many of Paul's epistles, he identifies the true name of the church. The true name of the church is the Church of God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, in verse 2, under the Church of God, which is at Corinth, and so these churches of God were scattered all over the Roman Empire during the apostolic era of the church, under the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified, set apart in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours, grace be unto you in peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we go to chapter 6 verses 19 and 20. The church belongs to God and Christ not to man. And as we shall see from these verses, 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20, you don't belong to yourself if you are of Christ and if you are of God. Why? 1 Corinthians 6, 19. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which we have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price. That price was the precious life of the Son of God. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend. He gave all he had. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So, brethren, how do we view the church of God? This apple of God's eye, this city of the living God, this place where God dwells. Do you view the church in light of men? And what men who claim to be leaders in the church do or don't do?

Is that the criteria of the church? Judging the church of God in light of what men do or don't do is just about the most effective weapon Satan uses to divide the body of Christ. Do you see what they're doing there? And then the next thing is, how can this be the church of God? Even though you might have been there for 15, 20-some, 50 years! Because a certain man or woman or whomever does whatever. And some say, well, this can't be the church of God. Now, teaching heresy and false doctrine is another matter. What man does or doesn't do will not stop the church of God. Jesus Christ made the promise. Upon this rock, well, He said to Peter, you are Petros, little rock, but upon this rock, big rock, I will build my church. And the gates of hell, which hell there is Hades, the grave shall not prevail against it. No one is going to stop the church of God, but we can surely divide the church of God. We can surely cause great havoc. And Satan has had a field day in the church of God, and I believe to a large degree it has to do with us not really realizing what we are playing around with. It is not a game of monopoly, of moving from park place to some other place to the boardwalk or whatever it may be. This is the church of God. When you touch the church, you are touching the apple of God's eye. Turn forward, if you would, to 2 Corinthians 10. You are touching the apple of God's eye, and you are touching God's espoused bride. How would you feel if someone wrongly treats your wife or your fiancée? 2 Corinthians 10, too. But I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present with a confidence wherein I think to be bold against some, which think of us as though we walked after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God through the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. See, that's the power that we can have. You look across the page in chapter 11, verse 2. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. See, God and Jesus Christ view the church as His espoused wife, chaste version.

As I said, you would be furious if someone came along, began to mistreat your wife or your fiancée. Note what the Apostle Peter writes about the church. 1 Peter 2, verse 9. So once again, trying to give us a wake-up call as to who we are and what we are dealing with when we say that we are in the church of God. In 1 Peter 2, verse 9. But you are a chosen generation. No greater calling can be given to humankind. No greater understanding can be given. No greater knowledge is available. A royal priesthood, you're going to be kings and priests in the Kingdom of God. A holy nation. God's presence will pervade and prevail. A purchased people that you should show forth the praises of Him that called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Which in times past were not a people. There was a time even, I don't know if you remember two or three years ago, I gave this sermon called, titled, The Israel of God. God gave Israel a bill of divorcement and put them away and they became lo ami, not my people. And they became lo ruhamah, not having obtained mercy. But now through Jesus Christ, all people can become my people and obtain mercy. And that's what Peter's bringing out here. Which in times past were not a people, lo ami. And of course for a long time the Gentiles did not have this access in the same way that the Jews did or Israel had until Jesus Christ came on the scene. And broke down the middle wall of partition. Which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God, ami. Which had not obtained mercy, lo ruhamah. But now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers pilgrims abstained from fleshly lust which wore against the soul.

Having your conduct honest among the nations that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they shall be whole glorify God in the day of visitation. The people are watching. This funeral that I did this past Wednesday was quite the scene in many ways. 178 people there, they range from evangelists, former evangelists in the Church of God, that are in different organizations at the present time, to ministers who stayed with the worldwide Church of God, to brethren who stayed with the worldwide Church of God, to brethren who were in various splinter groups, and just about any kind of mixture that you want to name. And here we are at this funeral. And I proclaim the truth of the resurrection, as you have heard so many times. And you wonder, what are they thinking? What happened? What happened to their understanding? How did their minds become confused and darkened, so that they would be willing to give up the pearl of great price for what? To plunge back into this world? What was the purchase price? Let's look at 1 Peter 1, verse 18, back of page 1 Peter 1, 18. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed, not bought back, see, we were bought back. Bought back from what? We were bought back from sin and death, and the wages of sin is death. And if Jesus Christ had not come and redeemed us, bought us back, we would have to die, and not just the physical death, eternal death, second death. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conduct, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, he was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory that your faith and your hope might be in God. That's the price that was paid. What happens to people who defile the apple of God's eye? Back now to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Remember, I refer to 1 Corinthians 3 with regard to the reward of the ministry of every man's work is going to be tried by fire. Of course, that can be individually. We are laboring in God's vineyard. We are trying to help each person enter into the kingdom of God. Paul comes to verse 16, 1 Corinthians 3. Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. It's God's dwelling place. It's the apple of his eye. It says, his spouse, bride. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. When you read that, if you really understand the gravity of it, we should hear and fear the right kind of fear, reverence, and awe for Him who has the power over life and death. Once again, I think at times we tend to forget how precious our calling really is, how important we are to God and Jesus Christ, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I think we tend to forget how desperately God and Christ earnestly desires for us to love one another as Christ gave commandment. Christ gave love. He gave love as the identifying sign. Or you could say He identified love as the identifying sign of His disciples. Let's go to 1 John 2.7. 1 John 2.7, we know that John 13.35 says, By this all men shall know that you are my disciples and that you love one another. In 1 John 2 and verse 7.

1 John 2 verse 7. Brother and I write, no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. You could go to Deuteronomy and it talks about, you shall love the Lord your God with all your mind, all your heart, all your soul, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But an old commandment which you have had from the beginning, the old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you? The new part of the commandment is to love God and one another as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is past, the true light now shines, He that says He is in the light and hates His brother is in darkness even until now. He that loves His brother abides in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in Him. But He that hates His brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and knows not where He goes because that darkness has blinded His eyes. According to this, you can be walking in darkness and apparently not know it because your eyes have been blinded. You get so filled with a certain obsession of your own and certain things against other people and thinking other people maybe have certain things against you that you become blinded. This happens when people think they are justified in smiting their fellow servants. I have not found any justification in the Bible for smiting our fellow servants. Peter writes about those who are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Jude writes about the fact that when Michael was disputing with the devil over the body of Moses, he dared not bring a railing accusation against the devil, against the devil, but merely said the Lord rebuke you.

Let's go to Matthew 24. In Matthew 24, the Olivet prophecy that goes from Matthew 24 through 25. In Matthew 24 and verse 46, Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delays his coming, how does he do it? Through his actions. Not necessarily by his words, not necessarily by saying, Well, I don't think the Lord is coming for a hundred years. And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then, when that is happening, the kingdom of God shall be likened unto you, ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. At this time, when this has happened, we have this 50-50, five wise and five foolish.

And what happens to the five foolish when the bridegroom knocks on their door, and there is no oil, and they go out to try to buy oil all of a sudden?

Notice verse 11. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us, the foolish virgins. But he answered and said, Verily, I said to you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man comes.

Then the rest of this chapter is taken up with three main ways, whereby you can be ready all the time. You can read the rest of the chapter of making the best use of your talents and serving others. Much time has been spent in past even several decades in the Church of God. Accusation, slander, devouring one another, divisions. Satan must be rejoicing. God must be grieving. We even begin to comprehend how grieved God must be with what has transpired in His body, the Church of God, over the past several years. How do you think God feels when He sees people backbiting, filled with anger and vengeance? And yet, on the other hand, they want to be treated as if they never did anything wrong. The Apostle Peter warned that some would try to make merchandise of the brethren. Notice 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. Just about every tactic that you can possibly use is being used by different people to try to draw out a following for themselves. Will you become a victim? We recently had wanted to become a victim in this congregation. I'm not saying anyone has denied the faith that they're not here. People will use just about anything they can think of. Some say, well, the United Church of God has an open-door policy. You're welcome to fellowship with us as long as you do it in peace.

Some say, well, this is wrong. We should interview people. We should spend a lot of time with them, make sure that this and that are the other before we ever let them in the door. And yet, Jesus Christ, one of the accusations brought against Him by the Pharisees was that you company with sinners and publicans. Jesus said, I came to call the sinners to repentance, not the righteous. You could go on and on, but for some, it's like they're judging the church by men. For some, okay, that's right. I need to find a church in which before you can enter the door, you're practically perfect. And then they set up their various standards of what they consider perfection, which are usually physical, outward signs. See, but conversion and true circumcision is of the heart and not of the flesh, according to what Paul writes in Romans 2, 26, 27. 2 Peter 2, but there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves with destruction.

See, there are many different ways to bring in heresies and divisions. It's not just through false doctrine.

And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, and through covetousness shall they with feign words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their judgment slumbers not.

For God's fair, not the angels. Then he shows how that, of course, God is going to bring everything and everyone into judgment. So, brethren, is this who we are? Or are we nobler and more converted than what's contained here in 2 Peter 2? I submit to you that we are nobler and we are more converted than that.

We want to really be ambassadors for Christ and ministers of reconciliation. Some say, well, how can you reconcile if you're going to point out what others have done wrong? Well, how are you ever going to repent and change if you don't come to understand what you've done?

I don't know.

Look at Jude. Jude is almost a carbon copy of 2 Peter 2.

Verse 21, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and of some have compassion making a difference.

Now, how to make that difference in exactly how to judge.

And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Say, are we willing? Are we courageous enough? Bold enough? Now is the time for boldness in the Church of God. It's not a time for the faint of heart and the weak.

It's time for those who are strong to stand up and be counted.

Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you, faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and forever.

So, brethren, it is high time that we wake out of slumber, that we lift our eyes to the hills from which comes our strength. We all need to get our eyes on God and Christ. We all need to turn our affection and attention to God and Christ and fulfill the two great commandments.

Some think that you fulfill the two great commandments through compromise, through tolerating evil.

Notice James back a few pages, the last two verses of James, James 5, 19, and 20.

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one epistrefo him, epistrefo is the word that is translated convert, it means turnabout.

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one turns him about, let him know that he who turns about the center from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. See, love hides a multitude of sins. And some people just think, well, I'll just go pray for that person, and that's it. No, you have to be able to stand in the arena of life, and you have to be able and willing to confront. When Jesus Christ confronted the money changers in the temple, he didn't just say, oh, I'll go pray for these money changers.

He got a cord, he got a little whip, and he drove the money changers out of the temple.

Jesus Christ confronted the fire seas in Matthew 23. Well, unto you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites.

Some people write in and say, you know, we are starving here for meat, for spiritual food. When are the ministers going to really stand up and teach and preach the truth of God?

Brother, in our short tenure here, Juan and I have tried to teach you and word and deed how we should live our lives. Of course, I know our example is far from perfect, but I will assure you that we have made many sacrifices, and I know you have too, in bringing us to the point that we are now. So I want to remind you in the time left of some of the things that we have emphasized. Sort of giving you a picture, I think it is more than sort of, of how God views the church and anyone who would defile the church, and some of the things that defile the church. Now let's be reminded of some very important things. We've been given the most precious knowledge in the universe, the pearl of great price. We've been given the truth. Jesus said, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. What will you be set free from? You will be set free from fear, ignorance, superstition, and the dogmas of man. You will know and know that you know. You won't be tempted to delve into the deminearical world of witchcraft and black magic. You won't trust in the astrologers. You won't desire to visit the horoscopes. You will not be intrigued by the writings or the movies of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series, which is nothing more than popularized demonology. You popularize demonology, and you make a fortune. Last week, I guess it was, when this last Harry Potter film was released, it broke all the box office records for an opening of film. There's something inherent in human nature that causes people to try to look behind the scenes as if God is hiding something from Him. Notice Deuteronomy 29, verse 29. Do we understand and know all that we need to know to be in the kingdom of God? Of course we do. They understood it in the first century. We are 2,000 years down the line. Has knowledge been increased greatly? Yes. Do we have more understanding in some things than many of those who were converted during the apostolic years? I'm sure we do. We read about the great men and women of the Bible, but somehow we think we can't be there. Christ said greater things than I have done, you shall do. James wrote that Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. He prayed and it didn't rain for three years. It is like we don't believe that God can work through us in the same powerful way. Deuteronomy 29 and 29, the secret things belonging to the Lord are God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us, to our children, and our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law. God has revealed unto us the greatest mysteries of the ages. It is revealed knowledge. We read about that in 1 Corinthians 2. Because of God's revelation, you know the answers to the seven most important questions of the ages. What are the seven most important questions of the ages? Number one, does God exist? The memory scripture for next week, Hebrews 11.6, He who would come to God must first of all believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. You know that God exists.

Six other important questions. Who is God? God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. What is God? I'm sorry, who is God? God is our Father. He is our Creator. What is God? He is Spirit. We must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. What is His purpose? To bring sons and daughters to glory in His family. And the next three great questions are corollary to those three.

Who is man? Man is made in the image of God with faculties of mind akin to God. What is man? Man is physical, made from the dust to the ground with the potential of being in the kingdom of God, which leads to what is His purpose? His purpose is to be a glorious, radiant Spirit being in the kingdom of God. So you know the answers to the seven greatest questions of life. You will realize how awesome that really is.

The leaders of this present evil world talk about the roadmap to peace, but the way of peace they know not, because they have rejected the Prince of Peace. By mastering the book of Romans, I gave two or three sermons on mastering the book of Romans. By mastering the book of Romans, you know the roadmap to world peace, and you have made peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. You have been bought back as we have read, and the price has been paid. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 12, where Paul introduces mysteries that he revealed.

See, making peace with God through Jesus Christ. Let's go to Romans 5 before we go there. I don't want to just gloss over Romans 5. In Romans 5, verse 6, For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for adventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commends his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, much more than being now justified by His blood.

We shall be saved from wrath through Him. For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. So we have now had peace made with God. In view of what we have just read, note this. 1 Corinthians 1, who had delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us in the kingdom of His dear Son. So we are to live under the rules of the kingdom even now, because spiritually, we have been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

Verse 18, and He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullest dwell, and having made peace through the blood of the cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.

And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now had He reconciled. In the body of His flesh through death present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight. You know, there are just some things we cannot do ourselves, even if we could perfect obedience. There are some things that we just can't do. But it says clearly that Jesus Christ ever lives to make intercession for us, and He's able to save us to the uttermost. If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister, who now rejoiced in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for His body's sake, which is the church, whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which is given to you to fulfill the Word of God.

Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, that now is made manifest to His saints, to whom God would have make known, would be the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. See, through the writings of the Apostle Paul, we can understand several great mysteries. Mysteries that the world does not understand. How spirit can be joined to flesh, and at the resurrection be on the same plain, born in the family of God as we see here. That Jew and Gentile could be joined together in one body in the church.

And we can see what a true Jew is, one that's been circumcised in heart and not in flesh. Of course, this greatest mystery is finished at the resurrection when this fleshly body puts on immortality. Brother, you understand all these mysteries and much more. Are we sobered by it? Do we understand how precious it is? We understand the nature of God and Christ, that there are two divine beings in the Godhead now, and that we are going to be heirs of God and join heirs with Jesus Christ at the resurrection. By the same spirit that He raised Jesus from the dead, He will quicken our mortal bodies and give us eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

You understand that we have this treasure, this spirit in earthen vessels now. We have this great house now, our vessels of honor and some of dishonor. So we come to this time. This time in the church, are we going to be, as I'm talking here, if you would turn to 2 Timothy 2, verse 19. Here we come to this time in the church.

What are we going to be? Are we going to be a vessel of honor or dishonor? What are we going to do? We have all of these precious promises. We have the pearl of great price. And yet I ask, do we really know who we are? Do we understand that we are the apple of God's eye? Do we understand the price that was paid? Do we understand how much God loves us? Do we understand that God can be grieved by our actions?

Do we understand how God wants us to have the same love, care and concern, one for another? There are so many things that intellectually we could all say we understand. But do we really have that which goes beyond intellectual assent to the truth? Satan has certain intellectual assent to the truth. The demons recognized and called Jesus the Son of God. They knew that.

But will you know, vain man, that faith without works is dead? In 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, Nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure having this seal, the Lord knows them that are His. And let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Brethren, we want to continue to seek after honor, glory and immortality in the kingdom of God. And to never let these things slip, and to keep the big picture burning bright in our minds and hearts of what this life is all about. If a man therefore purged himself from these, he should be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and fitting for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work. So brethren, let's make that our goal. Let's understand that we are the apple of God's eye.