Lessons From Holy Places (Hebrews 9:1-5 Jeff Kliewer)

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March 7, 2021

Lessons From Holy Places Hebrews 9:1-5 Jeff Kliewer

08:38: The song just has a simple statement that God is the only one that can save us from our sinful lives.
08:45: The song starts out with a question, who, oh Lord, could save themselves? Which we know the answer is we can't.
08:53: God is the only one that can save. And further in the song, we have you, oh
08:59: Lord, have made a way, which goes to John 14 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
09:05: No one comes to the Father, but through me. Essentially, the song is a great reminder and allows us to sing our faith and give thanks for saving us from our shameful ways.
09:20: Let's start this morning with, You Alone Can Rescue. You, oh
09:34: Lord, could save themselves. Their own soul could hear.
09:46: Our shame was deeper than the sea.
09:54: Your grace is deep still.
10:01: You alone can rescue. You alone can save.
10:09: You alone can lift us from the grave.
10:14: You came down to find us. Let us be further still.
11:10: You alone can rescue. You alone can save.
11:17: You alone can lift us from the grave.
11:23: You went down too far. You alone belong.
11:40: Lift up our eyes. Lift up our eyes. You're the giver of life.
11:50: Lift up our eyes. Lift up our eyes. You're the giver of life.
11:57: We lift up our eyes. Lift up our eyes. You're the giver of life.
12:03: We lift up our eyes. Lift up our eyes. You're the giver of life.
12:10: You alone can rescue. You alone can save.
12:16: You alone can lift. You came down to find.
12:37: You belong to Jesus.
13:11: Jesus. He's my rock.
13:17: He's my fortress. He's my deliverer in need.
13:24: Will I trust? Praise the name of Jesus.
13:37: Praise the name of Jesus. He's my rock.
13:54: He's my fortress. He's my deliverer in need.
14:01: Will I trust? Praise the name of Jesus.
14:11: You're here this morning. We stand before you with humble hearts.
14:20: Our redeemer and our savior. We praise the name of the
14:27: Lord, our God. We praise the name of you forever. I cast my mind
14:41: Calvary Where Jesus bled And died for me
14:49: I see his wounds His hands, his feet
14:56: My savior on That cursed tree
15:06: His body bound And drenched in tears
15:13: They laid him down In justice too
15:20: The entrance here By heavy stone
15:27: Messiah's tear Oh praise
15:52: We will sing your praise The break of dawn again
16:19: Oh trampled death Where is your sting?
16:26: The angels sing Oh praise the name of the
16:38: Lord I praise his name
16:45: Forevermore For endless days We will sing your praise
16:54: He shall return
17:06: In loaves of wine The blazing sun
17:12: Shall pierce the night They shall sing
17:29: Oh praise the name Praise his name
17:39: Forevermore For endless days
17:46: We will sing your praise Oh praise the name of the
18:00: Lord Praise his name
18:06: For endless days
18:12: We will sing your praise So Lord, you have exhorted us to have our powers of discernment trained
18:56: By constant practice to distinguish good from evil You have taught us to live by Not just milk, but by Bread and solid meat for food,
19:08: Lord, that we would be mature And not mere infants in Christ So this morning,
19:14: Lord, as we open your word to look at some of the deep things of God Lord, to look into the Holy of Holies, to look into the tabernacle
19:21: That our eyes would look there and see Christ And see a Savior who is perfect That we would fall more in love with Jesus and That we would go forth from this place
19:31: With a great passion to tell the world about our great High Priest In Jesus' name,
19:37: Amen So I've had the opportunity to travel the world a little bit and see some interesting sights
19:45: One of them was in Istanbul Where I went into a mosque and I saw what their mosque looks like there
19:51: They had this giant chandelier And of course, every mosque faces towards Mecca Where they have what's called the
19:58: Kayaba Which is a big black stone with a building built around it And the
20:04: Muslims of the world will go and walk in circles seven times around this thing
20:09: That's like their most holy place They think it's where Isaac, well, actually
20:14: Ishmael was offered according to them Another time, about three years ago
20:20: There was the opening of a temple in Philadelphia A so -called holy place of the
20:27: Latter -day Saints, the Mormon Church So before they opened it, they spent about a month allowing the public to go in and look at it
20:34: So of course I went and tried to evangelize there But they had this baptismal thing with like oxen on the bottom, carved oxen
20:43: Where they would baptize people for the dead Meaning like do ancestral research to find out who they should do baptisms for But then as you go throughout the temple, it's just one little room after another
20:54: And as you do research on what happens there It's more to do with Freemasonry than it is to do with the
21:02: Bible They have secret handshakes They have passwords And they have these eternal sealing ceremonies for marriage
21:10: Of course, Joseph Smith married about 33 women So you needed a lot of rooms for that And it's just a totally unbiblical, quote -unquote, holy place
21:22: If you were to go to India or parts of China You would find, of course, Buddhist temples
21:27: And it's filled with idols and various things that they call holy These things are a danger to people
21:35: Because going there, or even let's say the Roman Catholic Church in New York City Anybody been there?
21:44: It's got all of the big open cathedral And it has images to different saints
21:50: And there's all the smells and bells And people go and they feel like, ah, I'm holy now
21:56: Because I've gone to this holy place It can be a danger to people Because thinking that they're entering a holy place
22:03: They think that they have approached God And God has cleaned them
22:08: And they're now acceptable to God Those are a particular danger But in New Jersey in the 21st century
22:16: There is a greater danger related to these holy places And that is the religion of New Jersey Which is that all of these particularities
22:29: Whether it's a Muslim synagogue or whatever Or a
22:35: Buddhist or a Mormon temple All of these are fine and good
22:40: Because that's just somebody's private doctrinal beliefs And the only thing that really matters is your ethical life
22:48: So, husbands, how do you treat your wives? How do you raise your kids? How do you live as a good neighbor and citizen?
22:57: In New Jersey, the religion of the land is very postmodern The idea is that all of these various things are good for a person
23:07: Everybody has their own truth And whatever works for them is well and good
23:14: The holy places don't actually matter What matters is how a person lives their life
23:19: I would say that's a much greater danger in New Jersey And we're going to see why in the text today
23:27: How many of you have ever set out to read through the Bible? Cover to cover Many of you have tried that?
23:34: Now, don't raise your hand for this one Because this might be embarrassing How many of you have tried but failed?
23:41: And you stopped reading somewhere around Exodus chapter 20? Exodus 20 when all the laws come into play
23:49: And then in 25 with the tabernacle And all the particularities of curtains and furniture
23:55: And various things that are in the temple or in the tabernacle Many people set out to read through the
24:02: Bible But they get bogged down in the particularities And it seems like why am I reading this? What does this have to do with me in modern day
24:10: America? Well, we're going to find out Today I would like to give you a tour inside the tabernacle
24:20: And here's how we're going to do it I'm going to call on the guys in the back To play a three -minute video Which is a walkthrough of a replica of the tabernacle
24:31: Built to the precise prescriptions The very particular descriptions of Exodus 25 to 40
24:39: Sounds like a roaring good time, right? If you're a Bible nerd, you're like, yes, come on But most people are thinking, alright, alright,
24:46: I'll watch that But no, this actually matters a lot This points us to Jesus Christ And we're going to see how
24:54: So roll it, guys Now the tabernacle measures 75 feet wide
25:00: By 150 feet long The courtyard has 60 posts with linen curtains all around it
25:07: The courtyard posts were 7 .5 feet high And that's exactly what these are here
25:12: Each post had a bronze base with silver hooks and rings on the top
25:18: Acacia wood was used for the tabernacle And you can see in this area We'll show you some of these acacia trees here
25:25: The eastern gate, which was the entrance Had four posts and a colored curtain
25:30: Now interestingly, when Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem The eastern gate also faced the entrance to the temple
25:37: The bronze altar measured 7 .5 feet wide and was square And was about 4 .5
25:44: feet high And had four horns on each corner And they were called the horns of the altar The bronze labor, or wash basin, was made from brass
25:54: The holy chamber measured 45 feet long by 15 feet wide by 15 feet high
26:02: It was made of 10 curtains of fine linen of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn
26:08: Each with an embroidered cherubim Inside was the holy place, which measured 15 feet wide by 35 feet long
26:18: And it contained the menorah, made from a single piece of gold The table of showbread, representing the unleavened bread of the first Passover And it measures 36 inches wide by 18 inches deep by 27 inches tall
26:36: There were 12 loaves of bread, which represented the 12 tribes of Israel There was the altar of incense, which measured 18 inches square by 3 feet tall
26:46: Only a special kind of incense was to be used The priest wore white linen robes with a colorful sash
26:54: The high priest wore special garments, a turban, ephod, breastplate, and robe
27:01: The breastplate contained 12 stones, each representing the 12 tribes of Israel There were bells and pomegranates at the bottom of the robe
27:12: So that when the high priest went in once a year The bells were to help the people outside to hear
27:18: That the high priest was still alive while inside So now we go inside the
27:23: Holy of Holies Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year
27:29: He had to be purified from all sin before entering Inside the
27:34: Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant Which measured 45 inches wide by 27 inches deep by 27 inches tall
27:43: On top of the Ark of the Covenant was the Mercy Seat Which measured 27 inches high
27:50: Molded to it were two winged cherubim angel figures Made from one piece of gold
27:56: Inside the Ark of the Covenant was the stone tablets Which had written on them the
28:01: Ten Commandments by the literal finger of God It had Aaron's rod that budded and a jar of manna
28:09: So turn with me to Hebrews chapter 9 verses 1 to 5
28:20: Even this little glance inside the tabernacle Belies any vain human notion of being worthy to approach the thrice holy
28:32: God In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah sees the very throne room of God The angels cry, holy, holy, holy day and night
28:42: And Isaiah says, I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips And I live among a people of unclean lips
28:49: And my eyes have seen the king A glance inside the tabernacle is not meant to make you feel good about yourself
28:59: The tabernacle indicates the holiness of God That he is other, that he is greater, that he is pure light
29:07: And that we sinners cannot approach him But God makes a way
29:14: A way of salvation, a way for sinners like us to come to him And the tabernacle in a beautiful, amazing way
29:22: Pictures that salvation And it's very much centered on the person of Christ So let's read it, Hebrews 9, 1 to 5
29:29: Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship And an earthly place of holiness
29:36: For a tent, that word tent is tabernacle A tent was prepared The first section in which were the lamp stand
29:44: And the table and the bread of the presence It is called the holy place
29:51: Having, sorry, behind the second curtain was a second section called The most holy place
29:58: Having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant Covered on all sides with gold In which was a golden urn
30:05: Holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded And the tablets of the covenant Above it were the cherubim of glory
30:13: Overshadowing the mercy seat Of these things we cannot now speak in detail
30:20: Okay, we'll stop there for today We can speak in detail now As the author was writing, he's saying
30:27: This is the particular revelation that I have to give And he's going to stay on point But we then as Christians have thousands of years
30:35: So far more than 2 ,000 years To exposit these things To go back to Exodus, to look here
30:41: And to take a deep dive To see what these things actually mean And how they point us to Christ So in verse 1 it says
30:50: Now even the first covenant had Regulations for worship
30:55: And an earthly place of holiness That word holiness is very important The word holy means set apart
31:04: It means otherness So God is holy
31:10: He is set apart from sinful men and women and children He's other, he is pure God is holy
31:21: And so there's an earthly place that indicates his holiness Now this is quite the opposite Of the man -made holy places of earth
31:30: The man -made holy places, so -called holy places Of earth all assume that you can come
31:37: Because you're good enough to come You're worthy to be there But a place of holiness actually keeps people out
31:44: That's very important Nobody can come Except for the high priest and to the holy of holies
31:50: We'll talk about that in a minute Which pictures Christ The idea of holiness is that he is unapproachable
31:57: And that we're not good We're not worthy to come to his presence
32:02: That's the starting point Then it says it has regulations Notice, regulations are very particular
32:12: In fact, chapter 8 told us See to it that you make everything precisely
32:17: According to the pattern that you were given Moses, you're to make things very particular
32:23: You can't miss a detail Everything has to be precise Now our world would say don't worry about the details
32:30: All that matters is love All we need is love But particularity is implied by the word regulations
32:38: It has to be very much a certain way So, let's take a look at 12 things within the tabernacle
32:44: And I'll say to you, all of them point to how We're not worthy to come But that God is the savior who makes a way for us
32:52: And it's in the person of Christ All of the tabernacle points to the son of God And to look here will be to see him
33:02: So, in verse 2 it says A tent was prepared, the first section This place we learn is called the holy place
33:11: Now, the Levites were allowed to go there But nobody else
33:18: Only a Levite could go there However, the Levites were chosen to serve in the physical temple
33:26: God lives in heaven And there is a priest who is greater than the
33:32: Levites How do I know that? Because I've been reading chapter 7 That priest who is greater than the
33:39: Levites is Jesus He comes from a higher order And that order is the order of Melchizedek When Levi was just a little twinkle in his father's eye
33:50: When Abraham encountered Melchizedek Abraham tithed up to Melchizedek So, Melchizedek is greater than Abraham Meaning, there's a greater priesthood
34:02: Than the one of Levi So, the Levites can go But Christ comes into the holy place by a greater priesthood
34:10: When he gets there When you go into the holy place What's the first thing you see? Look in the text
34:18: Verse 2 In which were the lampstand Why was
34:25: God so particular to say that you must have a lampstand in the holy place? Well, the first thing it communicates is that none can see
34:36: It's dark in there It's very dark in the holy place It's behind a thick curtain
34:42: Overlaid with other curtains And then the interior is overlaid with gold Not a lot of light in there
34:47: But when you light up the lampstand And it reflects off the gold The place is lit up What does this indicate?
34:55: That God is the one who opens eyes to see Brothers and sisters
35:01: You were blind Like the one that Jesus healed Until the
35:07: Lord opened your eyes That you would see There was a veil A thick curtain over your face
35:14: Blinding your eyes So that you cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ Who is the image of God But supernaturally
35:21: God lifts that veil And you see When Jesus came
35:27: He appeared in the temple But before he went there He was visiting with his disciples
35:33: There was a festival going on in the city The festival of tabernacles
35:40: Feast of booths Where the Jewish people would come and build little tents To remember how when they came out
35:46: They didn't have homes They were wanderers Hebrew Sojourner Wanderer They would go to the temple and build little tabernacles
35:55: And the disciples said to Jesus Are you going up? And he said no So they went on ahead
36:00: But he came up privately And he arrived in Jerusalem In the temple
36:08: Which is kind of the permanent form of the tabernacle Just before the crack of dawn
36:15: And there In the court of the women Were four giant menorahs
36:21: Historians say these things were massive The priest would feed that those fires And it would light up the entire temple
36:28: And much of the city of Jerusalem In John chapter 8 verse 12 We're told what happens when
36:34: Jesus gets there He proclaims in the temple In front of everybody Remember these words
36:41: John 8 12 I am the light of the world He proclaimed himself to be the light
36:49: At the feast of tabernacles Under the lights Of the menorahs
36:55: In the temple Indicating that that lampstand in the tabernacle
37:00: Had a lot more meaning than the Jewish people realized It was pointing to him So then look to the left in the tabernacle
37:08: Across from the lampstand Was a table A table
37:14: And again This indicates That no one has rights But God invites
37:22: We don't have a right to go eat at the table of God In Matthew 22 Jesus tells a parable
37:28: Of how he invites people to the wedding feast To come and eat with him And turn with me now to Matthew 26
37:35: You'll recognize the parallel here Right away In Matthew 26 verse 20
37:41: And following I want us to read this because at the end of my sermon today
37:48: We're going to take the bread and the cup If you don't have one one of the deacons will bring it to you
37:54: At the end And this represents The body and blood of Christ Matthew chapter 26 verse 20
38:02: It was evening He reclined at table With the twelve
38:09: Verses 21 to 25 You see the betrayal of Judas But look at verse 26 Now as they were eating
38:16: Jesus took bread And after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples And said take eat
38:21: This is my body And he took a cup And when he had given thanks
38:27: He gave it to them saying drink of it All of you For this is my blood of the covenant
38:32: Which is poured out for many For the forgiveness of sin So the table of the
38:39: Lord We are invited to come And we learned from Matthew 22
38:44: That many are called but few are chosen The table of the Lord is an open invitation
38:50: For those who are willing to come But he must work in our hearts that we would will to come
38:57: It says in Hebrews 9 verse 2 There was a table and the bread of the presence
39:02: This table was for holding the bread In John chapter 6
39:10: Jesus took bread That was brought to him by a little boy And he multiplied that bread
39:17: So much so that he fed 5000 people And the people were excited about that and said
39:23: Well Jesus Moses kept giving them this bread every day Giving them manna in the wilderness
39:32: Implying hey you want to just keep feeding us We can deal with this, this works We can live with this arrangement
39:38: But Jesus said to them I am the bread of life He claimed to be the bread that came from heaven
39:48: In John 6 35 You see in that holy place
39:55: The symbols of the table and the bread The lamp stand was ultimately to point us to Christ But we haven't yet gone into the most holy place
40:06: Look at verse 3 Hebrews 9 3 Behind the second curtain
40:12: Was a second section called The most holy place
40:20: Now even the Levites were unwelcome there Only one person could go in He was the great high priest
40:30: The high priest could go in only once a year On the day of atonement He could go behind the curtain
40:37: And minister To make an offering And sprinkle blood on the mercy seat
40:44: Behind the second curtain was the most holy place Flip back a couple pages to Hebrews 6
40:53: Verses 19 to 20 Hebrews 6 19 to 20 says
41:00: We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul A hope that enters into the inner place
41:08: Behind the curtain Where Jesus has gone as a forerunner
41:14: On our behalf Having become a high priest Forever after the order of Melchizedek You see
41:23: Jesus is a high priest Who went into the holy place
41:28: To anchor a place for us there He is the great high priest That is allowed to go in In Leviticus 16 we learn that When the great high priest would go in once a year
41:39: He first of all had to take blood From the sacrifice And go in and sprinkle that On the mercy seat
41:47: Then he could come and take blood From the sacrifice And offer it for the sins of the people The first time was for his own sin
41:55: Because he is not worthy To be the great high priest The second time was for the sins of the people
42:03: Jesus went into the holy place once Into heaven itself And offered a one time sacrifice
42:09: We'll see that in a minute But notice a couple things in the holy place Verse 4
42:16: Having the golden altar of incense None are pleasing
42:25: But God delights When Jesus appeared
42:32: John the Baptist was baptizing in the wilderness John said To Jesus I can't baptize you
42:40: I need you to baptize me But Jesus said it is necessary Why? To fulfill all righteousness
42:47: To identify him as the son of God And so when he was brought under the water
42:52: And came up from his baptism A dove descended And landed on his shoulder
42:58: And light shone from heaven And the voice of the father said This is my son
43:04: In whom I am well Pleased In John 8, 29
43:11: Jesus says He always does what pleases the father The picture of The altar of incense
43:20: Speaks to what pleases God And we assume
43:26: That we are pleasing to God But the truth of the Bible Is that we're not
43:33: No one pleases God According to Romans 3 We all fall short of his glory
43:40: In fact We have a stench about us We have an odor
43:45: Now don't look at your neighbor and say That's true That would not be very nice right now
43:50: But we have a stench spiritually speaking Of sin And what is required
43:57: Is that God would have A pleasing aroma And here's how his plan of salvation works
44:04: He is pleased With his son The father
44:10: Sees the son that he sent Walking in perfect Obedience Obeying the law at every point
44:18: And willingly laying down His life For his friends
44:24: The father sees that sacrifice And finds pleasure In what God has done
44:30: What Christ has done on our behalf So the altar of incense Points to the fact that God is
44:36: Pleased in the son, he's not pleased With me in my own works However religious
44:42: I might be Whatever rituals I might perform Cannot please him
44:50: Apart from the perfect righteousness of Christ Next look At verse 4
44:56: Having the golden altar of incense And the ark Of the covenant
45:01: Covered on all sides with gold I think that's why Indiana Jones Wanted to find it right
45:06: He wanted to get that gold Or the thing itself would be worth something Maybe that's the only knowledge we have
45:13: Of the ark of the covenant But what is the meaning Of the ark of the covenant
45:20: The meaning Is that nothing can contain God But he comes
45:25: To meet with us When Solomon built the temple He prayed this way
45:32: He said The world and all the universe Cannot contain you How much less this temple
45:38: I have built Solomon recognized God cannot be contained
45:44: But the ark of the covenant Was God condescending To dwell with us To meet with us
45:50: Even though we don't deserve it So the ark of the covenant Represented the presence of God Among the people
45:56: When they went into battle The ark went before them And they won victories One time
46:03: Hophni and Phinehas Were wicked Levitical priests Sinning at the altar
46:10: Sexually and stealing And so When the ark led the people into battle
46:16: What happened against the Philistines The Philistines conquered Israel And they stole the ark
46:23: So now The people of God Retreated back to Israel And the ark was left
46:30: Alone with the enemy The Philistines took the ark And they put it in the temple
46:36: Of Dagon This false temple This man made temple of unholy religion
46:43: And Dagon Presided over this temple And overnight they left the ark of the covenant
46:50: In the morning They came And opened the door And discovered something That Dagon Was bowing down before the ark
47:00: Dagon had toppled from his place And was laying prostrate Face down before the tabernacle
47:06: Well the priests were very Unnerved by this So they propped him back up again After all he's made of stone
47:12: They can prop him up And they went their way The next morning they came And not only did they discover
47:17: That Dagon had bowed before the ark Of the covenant again But this time when he fell
47:24: His face got smashed and his head popped off And his stone hands Were crumbled into pieces
47:31: He was destroyed on the threshold And that's why by the way People won't step on the threshold of a door
47:37: You know that superstition Because Dagon fell on the threshold Of Dagon's temple
47:43: He was bowing to the ark Of the covenant The Philistines began to suffer
47:49: Many plagues and so they sent back The ark of the covenant It found its way back to Israel Riding on an oxen
47:55: And then was returned to the temple But all of this is to picture
48:00: The true holy one The presence of God in our midst When Jesus was crucified
48:09: The centurion Who stood guard over him Who represents you and I Like Dagon Crucifying the son of God Evil Rejecting the truth of God Yet Jesus Died the death that we deserve
48:27: And the centurion bowed Before the son He said
48:32: Surely this is the son of God When he saw the earthquake and the temple veil Torn in two
48:39: The centurion bowed Before the son of God Jesus is
48:44: That ultimate presence of God The ark of the covenant We shouldn't be looking for the old one
48:50: It's time has run it's course Now Jesus alone is that ark
48:57: Next what else is in there You guys remember what came next The Urn A golden urn
49:06: Holding manna Now what's so interesting about the manna Is that when the
49:12: Israelites Would gather the manna on a daily basis It would be enough to feed them But what would happen if they tried to hold on to it
49:18: For an extra day It would be rancid The next day It wouldn't be able to be preserved
49:25: So how is it that there was manna In the ark of the covenant The message here
49:32: Is that it's God who preserves In fact Think about it
49:37: In the holy of holies The priest went once a year to sprinkle blood So who was cleaning it
49:44: Who was Cleaning the tabernacle all year long God himself Kept it pure and clean
49:52: God himself Preserved that manna in that jar It was supernatural That the manna did not go rancid
49:59: And it pictures that God Preserves us He's the one keeping us
50:06: If it weren't for his Keeping preserving power We would go rancid
50:12: When that hard thing Happens in your life The death of a loved one Or physical pain
50:20: We would turn away Our faith would fail But Jesus tells Peter what
50:25: I have prayed for you that your faith Will not fail See God has a preserving power
50:31: He keeps his children He preserves us So that we will endure
50:36: The perseverance of the saints Next There was the staff that Budded this is interesting
50:44: Why is Aaron's staff that Budded kept inside the Tabernacle inside the ark of the covenant
50:51: Well you'd have to know the Story right So what happened there Was a guy named
50:57: Korah Led a rebellion And he thought he Could be a priest
51:03: And do what he wanted to do But God judged between Korah and Aaron And he judged so severely
51:11: That the ground itself opened up And swallowed Korah and those Who followed him And the next day he said listen
51:19: Moses told all of the people of Israel send a Staff from each
51:25: Of the tribes of Israel And Aaron You bring your staff to represent
51:30: The Levites and put all Twelve of these in the tabernacle and In the morning whichever one buds
51:38: No It's an old piece of wood a Dead stick none of them should Bud But the next morning
51:46: They discovered that Aaron's Staff had budded What is the meaning
51:52: Of this It Means that God himself has Appointed Aaron God has chosen the one to be
52:01: His high priest and all contenders Like Korah and the rebels And any other tribe or anybody
52:07: Else who comes every contender to The throne Will be put down God appoints his high priest
52:15: In the same way God has spoken and declared Who his high priest will be Where is that to be found in the bible
52:25: Psalm 110 some of you know it Verse 4 You are a priest forever
52:32: According to the order of Melchizedek And in that very psalm He's called the
52:37: Lord seated at the Right hand of God Psalm 110 verse 2 says he has A staff in his hand
52:43: The ruling staff rule in the Midst of your enemies you see Jesus is the one designated
52:50: Appointed chosen By God to be that high Priest and there are
52:56: Many contenders in the world False prophets
53:02: That go out among us False teachers All of the
53:08: Contenders come but Jesus Alone has the staff that God Has made to bud
53:14: The one that God has chosen that's the meaning Of Aaron's staff that budded Next the tablets of The covenant what are those
53:22: The ten commandments right When Moses went up on the mountain he got the ten Commandments on two tablets
53:28: And one day I want to preach A sermon or a couple of sermons on The ten commandments because I think it's so important For our culture
53:36: The ten commandments give Us the basic Understanding of morality
53:44: Four laws that are vertical Relating To protecting the
53:50: Honor of God that we Would not make idols that we would not take his Name in vain that we would worship no other
53:56: God beside him Things of this nature they're they're God Word Very important but the next
54:04: Six are man word Horizontal in how we Treat one another the ten
54:10: Commandments give us the ethics Of life And so the commandment
54:16: Honor your father and mother Creates The authority structures of this
54:22: World that there is a Difference between father and son There is a hierarchy
54:29: The commandment Thou shalt not commit adultery Protects marriage
54:35: That God Has defined marriage to be between man And woman and anything Else is a profaning of God's design
54:44: God is the one who wrote These laws with his finger In stone so when people break
54:50: Those laws they're truly breaking Themselves against the rock He's the one who wrote these
54:56: Things The ten commandments God protects
55:01: Private property thou shalt not steal Which is really the basis Of a capitalistic system
55:08: That a government can't Just steal and take the resources Of a people and redistribute them
55:14: As they please But God says thou shalt not Steal The ethics of life
55:21: Human life is protected and thou shalt not Murder And so the life of babies
55:27: Is protected in the womb By the law of God But it goes beyond the external
55:34: To the internal Thou shalt not Covet That protects purity of heart
55:42: Coveting is not Something that we do outwardly It's something that happens in our mind In our heart
55:50: So in Romans Chapter 7 Paul says this is what slew Him he felt like he was doing great with The other ten commandments but when it got
55:57: To the tenth commandment thou shalt not covet It cut him to the heart because he Realized that in his heart
56:04: He's wicked He commits adultery in his lustful Thinking he commits murder in His rageful ideas
56:11: Even if he never outwardly does them So the law to not covet is A protection of purity of heart
56:17: But here's the big idea The commandments Slay us
56:26: We break Ourselves against them Everybody in this room breaks them all At some point in our lives
56:34: We're guilty Of it but there's one who has Kept the law perfectly One His name is
56:40: Jesus The perfect law keeper Who never sinned
56:47: Even at the level of His heart absolute pure Light The law points us
56:54: To the one who keeps it and he Imputes that righteousness to us Next we're almost done
57:00: The cherubim says in verse 5 Above it were the cherubim Of glory
57:06: Overshadowing The mercy seat Cherubim are angels These were carved
57:13: Angels with their wings Touching Hovering over the mercy seat
57:19: Why did God choose so particularly To have angels Because none can
57:25: Worship But God inspires Angels Are able to worship
57:32: In spirit and in truth They've never fallen They have no sin
57:39: They can dwell In the presence of God In Isaiah 6 in Revelation 5
57:45: We see the angels Proclaiming the glory of God They're worshipping in spirit and they're
57:50: Delighting to do it They never grow tired Some of you grow tired with my long winded sermons
57:56: I can't blame you It's kind of hot in here too I can't blame you But they don't grow tired
58:02: Worshipping for all ages They teach us
58:10: What it is to worship We see them doing it But if you look with me
58:16: To John chapter 20 Real quick Look at John chapter 20 verse 12
58:23: When Jesus our Lord Rose from the dead And the women Came to find him
58:31: Looking at the place Where he lay What does it say in John chapter 20
58:38: Verse 12 She saw two angels Cherubim In white
58:47: Sitting where the body Of Jesus had lain One at the head And one at the feet
58:56: Isn't that an amazing picture That of all the things that God could have Put inside of his tabernacle
59:01: He had carved Angels With wings touching from head to foot
59:07: Across the mercy seat I think it pictures here the resurrection of Jesus From the dead
59:12: When the women came to the tomb there were angels Probably wings touching from head to toe Over that place
59:18: Where our justification was accomplished In the resurrection of Jesus from the dead Risen that we would be justified
59:27: Lastly In Hebrews 9 It says in verse 5 The mercy seat
59:34: Now the rest of chapter 9 and 10 We will spend time discussing this
59:39: It is so important The mercy seat Speaks to The forgiveness
59:48: That we Receive Through the blood of Christ Remember That the priest could only go in Once per year
59:59: He had to bring blood For his own sin He would have a handful of blood That he would then sprinkle on the mercy seat
01:00:07: To indicate The forgiveness of his own sin And then
01:00:12: He would go and get the blood For the sins of the people The unintentional sins of the people
01:00:19: And the Holy Spirit Was indicating with this That the forgiveness
01:00:24: Of sin requires the shedding of blood I know you guys Probably got lost in Leviticus 17 right
01:00:30: But what does Leviticus 17 11 say Without the shedding of blood There is no forgiveness
01:00:35: For God has given the blood on the altar To make atonement for sin Because life is in the blood
01:00:44: So The life Is in the blood A living human has blood
01:00:51: The life of Jesus Was in the human body And blood And this was what was required
01:00:59: To make atonement for sin There had to be a sprinkling Of blood on the mercy seat
01:01:07: And everything that was happening in that tabernacle Was pointing to this The mercy seat in the tabernacle
01:01:16: Was only a shadow A picture The animal blood couldn't really do it
01:01:21: The priest couldn't really do it It was all pointing to Jesus the great high priest Whose blood
01:01:27: Would drip over his eyes And mingle with his sweat And drop to the ground
01:01:33: And pour from his side as the centurion Speared him And drip from his wrists where the nails went
01:01:41: That blood That precious blood of the lamb This blood Sprinkled on the mercy seat
01:01:48: Is the only thing that atones for sin When Cain killed Abel Abel's blood was poured out
01:01:54: Into the ground And the bible tells us that that blood cried out to God For vengeance
01:02:01: God I was wronged My brother killed me Bring vengeance against him
01:02:07: Justice But the blood of Jesus Speaks a better message Than the blood of Abel The blood of Jesus cries mercy
01:02:18: The pure lamb of God Laid down his life willingly And that blood as it poured out to the ground
01:02:24: Cries to God Have mercy on them They know not what they do
01:02:30: No one takes my life I give it willingly The blood poured out for sinners like me
01:02:36: This is precious And holy and divine blood Nothing like it in the history of the world
01:02:43: There's been none like him The sinless son of God His blood alone
01:02:49: Atones for our sin There's nothing else There's no other way No other way to be forgiven
01:02:55: The mercy seat of God Is the cross of Jesus Christ That's the sacrifice
01:03:03: It's a place where we must go To find mercy And when we go there
01:03:08: We find him to be a perfect savior A merciful savior He doesn't crush you
01:03:14: When you come confessing your sins You come humbly You say I don't deserve it
01:03:21: God I don't deserve to come into your temple I deserve to be outside I can't come into the holy place
01:03:26: He says no come I've anchored a place for you there I went within the veil, I tore the veil
01:03:32: I made a way and the blood Welcomes you in Have you ever done that?
01:03:39: Have you ever asked Jesus To forgive you of your sin Have you ever come to the living God trembling
01:03:46: He's holy You say I don't deserve to come But you say But I believe in Jesus His blood was shed for me
01:03:54: I trust it Forgive me Lord on account of The blood
01:04:01: Beat your chest say Have mercy on me the sinner That's the way to God He makes the way
01:04:10: The tabernacle says no one can come No one on their own Being rich in mercy
01:04:20: He made the way So in closing let's do this Let's go right now to communion
01:04:27: Because this represents that table That bread That blood Poured out for the forgiveness of sins
01:04:35: If you don't have that I could ask Deacons to just carry around And distribute anybody who just lift your hand
01:04:41: And they'll get one to you How blessed we are that we could come to the living
01:04:53: God Through the precious blood of the lamb For I Received from the
01:05:00: Lord what I also Delivered to you That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was Betrayed took bread
01:05:07: So believers in Christ This is for you if you believe that Jesus Died for your sins he rose from the dead
01:05:13: You've been born again by faith In him Take the bread And let's take a moment to confess our sins
01:05:21: First John 1 9 says If you confess your sins He is faithful and just to forgive
01:05:27: Your sins and cleanse you From all unrighteousness Let's take a moment to pause
01:05:33: And just between you and God Confess to your high priest Through Jesus Christ Talk to the father
01:05:41: And tell him about your sin Turn away from it Ask for forgiveness
01:05:47: You don't have to say anything out loud Just confess your sins And when he had given thanks
01:06:16: He broke it and said This is my body Which is for you do this
01:06:22: In remembrance of me In the same way
01:06:34: Also he took the cup After supper saying this cup Is the new covenant in my blood
01:06:40: Do this As often as you drink it In remembrance of me
01:06:46: Let me pray and then we'll drink together So Lord God thank you so much For the blood of Jesus Sprinkled on that mercy seat
01:06:54: Which is the cross Thank you for atoning for our sins Paying the price
01:07:01: That we would be forgiven Thank you Thank you for the blood In Jesus name amen
01:07:07: Do this in remembrance of him Let's close in prayer and then worship team
01:07:15: Lead us in a song So God we do thank you so much For this amazing gift
01:07:22: We've seen it in the tabernacle All of it points to you Lord God What you have done for us
01:07:28: Not what we can do for ourselves We thank you For Jesus the light of the world
01:07:34: The bread of life Who's invited us to this table Who's gone into the
01:07:40: Holy of holies The one appointed The one who is pleasing
01:07:48: To you A sweet aroma to you The one who keeps
01:07:53: The law without fail The one that Angels worship
01:08:00: The one who sprinkled Precious divine blood on the mercy seat Jesus Jesus it's you
01:08:10: This morning we are so thankful We give you all the worship Praise for you are worthy
01:08:16: You alone are worthy It's in your name we pray amen Let's stand and sing
01:08:40: Facing a task Unfinished That drives us
01:08:46: To our knees A need that Undiminished Rebuke Our slothful ease
01:08:57: We who Rejoice to know Thee Renew before Thy throne
01:09:06: The solemn Pledge we owe You in full
01:09:12: And forth beside Thee All their unhindered
01:09:29: Sway Where forces that Defy thee
01:09:35: Defy thee Still today With none to Heed their crying
01:09:43: For life And love and life Unnumbered Souls are dying
01:09:52: Can't pass Into the light We go
01:09:58: To all The world With King of all
01:10:03: The world No other name As loudly say
01:10:10: Jesus Christ The torch
01:10:23: That flamed They'll find The hands of those
01:10:29: Who gave Their lives When Jesus died
01:10:36: And rose Ours is the same Commitment Our same
01:10:48: Ambition We go
01:10:57: To all The world With King of all
01:11:02: The world No other name As loudly say
01:11:08: Jesus Christ Who sustained them
01:11:31: Constrained them To toil with Zeal and Energy We go
01:11:55: To all The world With King of all
01:12:01: The world We go
01:12:13: To all With King of all
01:12:18: The world No other name As loudly say
01:12:25: Jesus Christ And we have seen his glory
01:13:12: Glory as of the only son from the father Full of grace and truth