Christmas 2021 - The Reason for the Season #2 - The Gift of a Representative (Selected Scriptures)

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sermon series that we've entitled The Reason for the Season. If you need a

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Bible or a study guide, please feel free to pop your hand up. Eddie, the wonderful guy at the back, will pass one out to you.

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If you have a Bible already, I invite you to turn to Hebrews chapter 9 with me. Hebrews and the ninth chapter.

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Hebrews chapter 9 is kind of, it's going to more or less be our base camp for this message. We're going to spend most of our time in the letter to the

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Hebrews, but we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 9 for the majority of our time. So Hebrews chapter 9, beginning in verse 1 and reading through to verse 14.

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We have a custom here at Redeemer, we read responsibly for our sermon text. And so I will read verse 1 and all the odd numbered verses.

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I'll invite you to read the even numbered verses with me. Hebrews chapter 9 and verses 1 through 14.

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If you're able to do so, would you stand with me out of respect for God's word as we read it? Hebrews chapter 9, beginning in verse 1.

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Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was set up and in the first room, which is called the holy place, where the lamp stand, the table, and the presentation loaves.

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Behind the second curtain was a tent called the most holy place. It had the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna,

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Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. The cherubim of glory were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat.

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It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now. With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly performing their ministry.

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But the high priest alone enters the second room and he does that only once a year and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

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Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.

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This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshippers conscience.

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They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

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But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

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For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkling those who are defiled sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living

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God. Once again, pray that God will bless that reading of his word and grant us understanding. I'll pray, ask for the spirit's help, and we'll get to work in God's word this morning, afternoon.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this time. We pray that as we open up the scriptures and we think especially about your work on our behalf, your priesthood that is eternal, that is perpetual, that is perfect, that meets our every need, may we grow in our appreciation of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And Fathers, I pray that for us, I pray for Cornerstone Christian Church here in town who's going to have an evening service in just over an hour or so, pray that their time together as they open up God's word will be a blessing.

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May they be strengthened, pray for Pastor Quentin and the elders there, thankful for their friendship in the gospel, and also pray for their

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Christmas Eve service this week, that it would be used by your spirit to comfort your people and even bring those who don't know you to come to know you.

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May the word be blessed as it's preached, and we pray that that would be the case here now. We ask you in Jesus' name, for his sake, amen.

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Please be seated. Well, we are once again back to our sermon series that we've entitled

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The Reason for the Season. We started it last week, and we said that what we're doing in this series is we're really looking at the three great aspects of Jesus' work for us.

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Remember from my introduction last week, I said that when you read the Old Testament, you see this three set, the set of three offices,

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I should say, the office of the prophet, the office of the priest, and the office of the king, and those were mediators who functioned in God's stead for his people.

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And what we see is that the Old Testament points us to these three offices in preparation for the coming of Jesus.

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And so what we're doing in this series is we're asking the question, what is it that Jesus does for us as his people, and why is it as a result then that this season that we call

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Christmas really can be a season of good news? Last week, we talked about the gift of knowing

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God and the fact that Jesus, the Bible tells us, is God's great and final prophet. Yes, he is

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God, and yes, he is eternal man, but he is also a prophet. He is the one who reveals the will of God to us and then opens our minds to understand that will as it's revealed in the of God.

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So that's what we looked at last week, and this afternoon we're going to pick up with that second office that Christ occupies for us as his people, his office as a priest.

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I've tagged our text or our message, I should say, this afternoon as the gift of a representative, the gift of a representative.

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God gave us a priest. I had us read from Hebrews chapter 9 because the letter to the

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Hebrews has some of the most concentrated teaching anywhere when it comes to Christ and his priesthood.

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To give you some background to the letter to the Hebrews, it's a letter that is written to an undisclosed set of Christians by an undisclosed author.

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There's some speculation as to who's the author and who's the audience. I don't think that really matters too much, but what's important is what he says in this letter.

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It's very apparent as you read the letter to the Hebrews that these Christians were tempted to turn their back on Jesus and to go back to Judaism.

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It's clear that they were Hebrew Christians who were used to being under the law. Well, something has changed. Now they're

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Christians, but there's this temptation to kind of leave that behind and go back to Judaism.

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You get the sense as you read the letter to the Hebrews that there is a persecution that's happening, that's trying to essentially force them back under Judaism.

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And so the writer to the Hebrews, who we don't know who the author is, but what he does is he takes chapter after chapter to, as it were, function as a coach on the sidelines encouraging these

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Christians not to give up their faith in Jesus, but to keep following him because he is better than the old covenant.

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And so through a number of comparisons, he's better than the angels, he's better than Moses, he's better than Joshua, he's better than all of these things under the old covenant.

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Through all these comparisons, the author to the Hebrews tries to orient the vision of his readers and thus our vision towards the

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Lord Jesus. Hebrews without question is my favorite book in the New Testament. I love the book of Hebrews. But I have to admit that it's also one of the most complex books in your

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New Testament to get your head around. If you've ever read the book of Hebrews, it requires a lot of work. And part of the reason why it requires so much work is it assumes a intimate working knowledge of the

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Old Testament. It assumes you've read everything that came before in the

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Old Testament. And so it will mention things and kind of just, in fact, we even in our text, he starts talking about the tabernacle and says, listen, we don't have time to get into detail.

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He assumes that you know your Old Testament. Now, for the benefit of those of you who don't, we'll actually fill in some of that work in a moment.

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But as we come to chapter nine, the author to the Hebrews seeks to help us by comparing the priesthood in the old covenant with Christ's priesthood in the new.

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And as he compares the two, his point, in fact, he says it explicitly, is that we have a better priesthood in Christ than the people under the old covenant did.

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The old covenant was good for what it did, but for those of us who were in Jesus, we have far better representation.

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My big idea is, you know, every sermon I try to have a big idea that summarizes what we're doing. This week is not original to me.

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Last week I quoted the Westminster Larger Catechism and its definition of Christ as a prophet. For those of you who don't know what that is, the

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Westminster Larger is just a question and answer set of explanations of key doctrines of the Christian faith.

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It's a great resource to have on hand. And they talk about Christ's priesthood. And then as I was putting this together this week,

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I found that I couldn't improve on what they said. So rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm just going to borrow it for this Sunday.

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Here's what they said about Christ's priesthood. It's there in your study guide this morning, afternoon. Christ carries out the office of a priest in offering himself as a sacrifice to God one time without spot to be the reconciliation for the sins of his people and in making continual intercession for them.

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Let me read that again. Christ carries out the office of a priest in offering himself as a sacrifice to God one time without spot to be the reconciliation for the sins of his people and in making continual intercession for them.

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Well, that's the summary. That's kind of the big picture of what we're going to talk about. And now as the late, great

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Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story, for the rest of our time, I want to kind of take that apart a little bit and help us to orient ourselves around this idea of Jesus as our priest, as our representative before God.

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Let's begin, first of all, just with the concept of priesthood. Let's start there. What do we mean when we talk about Christ as a priest?

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Let's just kind of figure that one out. Well, like I said, chapter 9 of Hebrews lays out a simple contrast between two different priesthoods.

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In verses 1 through 10, you have the priesthood as it existed under the old covenant. Some people call it the

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Levitical priesthood. Some people call it the old covenant priesthood. Whatever you call it, it's the priesthood that took place prior to the coming of Christ.

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That priesthood begins in Exodus chapter 28. In Exodus chapter 28,

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God establishes this priestly line through Aaron and his sons. In fact, earlier in Hebrews, if you want to turn to Hebrews chapter 5, the writers of Hebrews explains what it is that a priest is supposed to do.

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So Hebrews chapter 5, I'll give you a minute to get there. Hebrews chapter 5, and verses 1 through 4.

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Hebrews chapter 5 and verses 1 through 4. He says, for every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people.

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Okay, so that's what they do. Now he's going to give us some specifics. To offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

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So the priest job was that he was the one who offered gifts for Thanksgiving and sacrifices for when the people sinned.

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Verse 2, he's able to deal gently and with those who are ignorant and are going astray since he is also clothed with weakness.

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So he's a human being. He has all the frailties of humanity as well. And so the hope is that he is somewhat sympathetic to the weaknesses of those he serves.

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Verse 3, because of this, because he is clothed with weakness, he's human, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people.

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Verse 4, no one takes his honor on himself. So you couldn't just appoint yourself a priest. Instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.

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So it's really simple. You had the priest. He offered gifts and sacrifices. He dealt gently with those who were ignorant and going astray.

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He could do this because he himself was weak. Because he was weak and human, he needed to offer sacrifices for himself as well as those who came to him.

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Like we saw last week with the prophet, no priest took this role to themselves. Rather, it was

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God who appointed them. Well, come back to Hebrews chapter 9 with me for a moment.

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And in Hebrews chapter 9, the author gives us a few more details about the priesthood. First of all, he gives us the location of that priesthood.

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So in verses 1 through 5, he goes through this description of the tabernacle. If you're taking notes, Exodus chapters 25 all the way through to 40.

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Basically, the second half of Exodus is devoted to this place called the tabernacle.

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Now, we often hear that, and we think it's this very interesting structure. I mean, it was in a sense, but essentially it was a tent.

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The rest, think about this, the rest of the nation who had left Egypt didn't live in permanent homes at this point.

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They all lived in the tent. And God says, basically, I'm going to live in a tent too. My tent will be a little more elaborate than yours, but I'm going to live among my people.

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And so for 15 chapters, you have a bunch of explanations how everything is to be built. In fact,

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God explicitly says multiple times, see that you built everything exactly according to the pattern that I showed you,

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Moses, on the mountain. And so the author gives us a brief description of the tabernacle.

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You have this first section, think of this kind of two -part tent, if you will. The first section of this tent, you had a lampstand that had seven branches that looked more like a tree than a typical candlestick.

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You had an altar that constantly burned incense, and you had a table with some consecrated bread.

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This section was called the holy place. You then had a second section. The second section was called the most holy place, and really there was one object in that place.

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There was the Ark of the Covenant. This unusual structure, basically a box, doesn't look all impressive in and of itself.

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Sure, it's overlaid with gold and what have you, but it's basically a box, and it contains various items relating to Israel as God's covenant people.

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The Ark of the Covenant was basically God's throne. It was literally a seat, a visible seat of God, who was the shepherd king of his people.

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But the author of St. Hebrews doesn't just tell us about the location of this priesthood, he also tells us about the central work that took place in it, in verses 6 through 10.

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So, the priest went into this first room, the holy place, all the time, because that's where the bulk of his work was done.

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But this most holy place, this place where this Ark of the Covenant sat, this visible seat of God's presence among his people, he only went there once a year.

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In fact, if you're taking those Leviticus chapter 16, this interesting event called the

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Day of Atonement, the one time a year where the priest could go in with a sacrifice and basically atone for the sins of the nation.

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In fact, the author of Hebrews tells us that he would atone for the sins that were done. Do you see that there in verse 7? The sins the people had committed in ignorance.

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That background that he gives in verses 1 through 10 is important for two reasons. First of all, it demonstrated that the way into God's presence was paved on the back of sacrifice.

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The priest didn't just go into God's presence willy -nilly, as it were. He went into God's presence for one reason, to offer sacrifices.

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But the author of Hebrews also tells us that the very setup of the tabernacle was designed to be temporary in its duration.

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It wasn't supposed to last forever. It was temporary in its duration, and it was limited in its power.

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That's why he had to go back after a year, do it again. After a year, do it again.

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After a year, do it again. If that high priest died, well, whoever was high priest had to go back and do it again.

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Just imagine being a high priest for a moment. Just go there with me, in your mind's eye. Imagine being a high priest for a moment, and it's your first day on the job, and your job on your first day is to go into this most holy place.

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You have one job. It is to go and to offer the sacrifice, not just any sacrifice, the sacrifice that atones for the sin of the nation.

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You get, as far as we know, you get one shot at this. Imagine how you had to feel for a moment.

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Imagine the weightiness of that, that you are basically offering a sacrifice that atones for the sins of the entire nation, and that's what this high priest did.

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Year on year, high priest after high priest, you can just imagine it. I heard this picture years ago.

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Imagine him going into that place, and he can see his job was to go in, take the blood from the sacrifice, and basically sprinkle it on this gold box, but he can see it.

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Oh, Patrick might be dying. He can see the blood of previous years offerings offered right there.

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He can see it. That visible reminder that when this blood is supplied, yes,

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God's anger against sin is atoned for. Our sins are dealt with. Foul both of those away.

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The fact that the way into God's presence is paid on the back of sacrifice, that this was temporary in its time and limited in its power.

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Foul both of those away because we're going to come back to them in a moment. The contention of verses 11 to 14 that we'll come back to in just a moment is that Christ's priesthood is way better.

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It trumps and it trounces that priesthood by far. Now, before we come back to Hebrews 9, 11 to 14,

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I promise you we will, let's zoom out and fill in some of that detail that the author to the

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Hebrews assumes you already know. So, we've talked about the concept of priesthood. Well, let's talk about, secondly,

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Christ and the office of priesthood. Let's start to fill some of this out. Thankfully, that big idea statement

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I borrowed from the Westminster Bible teachers gives us some helpful pointers as we think about Christ's work as a priest.

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First of all, Christ offered himself as a sacrifice to God.

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Christ offered himself as a sacrifice to God. That's the heart of Jesus' work as our high priest.

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He doesn't just make a sacrifice like the priests of the old covenant did. He actually offers himself on the cross on our behalf.

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Unfortunately, in recent years, this doctrine has come under attack. I was talking with some of the guys this morning and I was lamenting the fact that so many people think they're theologians because they have a

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TikTok account. YouTube has a habit of, like, recommending these videos.

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I think it just wants to torment me half the time. Did you know that no

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Christian believed that Jesus died for people's sins before AD blah blah blah? In fact, if you, it's like, I'm in seminary, so I have to take church history classes.

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And I'm saying that as someone who takes very basic church history classes. I am not an expert in church history.

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And I hear this stuff, I'm like, you have no earthly idea what you are talking about. Seriously, someone should take your phone away from you.

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You have no idea of what you speak. But this idea of Jesus offering himself as a sacrifice has come under such attack in our day and age.

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Some people argue that it's just plainly unbiblical. The Bible never said this. Well, I'll show you in a moment, it actually does.

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Others will tell you that it just doesn't communicate in today's culture. People just don't feel the kind of emotional tug that makes something like that necessary.

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Others will tell you that, well, if you believe in this doctrine, it provides you a cover for not dealing with issues of justice.

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I mean, justice is kind of hot right now. Everyone wants to talk about that. So heaven forbid you should believe something that gives you a cover to not talk about it.

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Others yet have said that this doctrine, if you take it to its logical conclusion, provides a cover for child abuse and domestic abuse, because that's basically what

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God does to Jesus in your understanding, allegedly. I think those are frankly nonsense.

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Because when you allow this Bible to speak free from bias and just speak for itself, it's very clear that the predominant way, not the only way, but the predominant way the

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Bible refers to Christ's sacrifice is as a sacrifice for other people.

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And the language it uses primarily is the language of his blood, not the physical red liquid that was coursing through his veins.

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It's more reference to the fact that he dies this violent death, his blood is shed for other people.

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You don't have to tell me about it, I'll read these to you. So Romans chapter 3, verses 23 to 25, the author to the

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Romans, Paul says, excuse me, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

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God presented him as the mercy seat. Oh, pulling right from that language of the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the blood was applied and sins were atoned for.

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But Paul says, Jesus didn't just offer a sacrifice on a mercy seat, he says, no,

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God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his restraint,

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God had passed over the sins previously committed. Romans chapter 8 will tell us,

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Romans 5, excuse me, Romans chapter 5, verse 9 will say, how much more than if Christ died for us while we were sinners, how much more than since we have been justified by his blood, you, if you're sitting here today and you're a

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Christian, you've been declared righteous by God, not because you did something to merit righteousness, but because Jesus died and the merits of his death are applied to you by faith.

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How much more than since you've been justified now by faith, by his blood, excuse me, we will be saved through him from wrath.

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In 1 Corinthians, we read it every time we have the Lord's table. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in the same way also he took the cup after and said, quoting

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Matthew chapter 26, so this is Jesus' own words, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

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Jesus recognizes that his death that he was about to go to would open up this new covenant.

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Ephesians 1 .7, Paul says that we have redemption, we've been purchased out of slavery through his blood.

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Ephesians 2 .13 says, but now in Christ Jesus, far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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That language picks up on a theme that runs through the entirety of the Bible. So back in Genesis chapter 3,

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Adam and Eve sin, they're expelled from the garden. You read this narrative, it's one of those, I call them blink and you'll miss it moments.

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This kind of happens in passing. The text tells us that, you know, God clothed them with the skins of an animal, but pause there for a second.

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If God skinned an animal to clothe them, what took place for an animal to be skinned? It's inferred that the animal died to clothe them.

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The next chapter, chapter 4, Cain and Abel, we recognize that as the chapter with the first murder, but before you get to the first murder, remember what happens at the time that was appointed?

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It's interesting, they recognize there's a time where they're supposed to come and offer sacrifices to God. Cain brings the fruit of the ground to offer,

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Abel brings the best of the firstborn of his flock, and that's what God accepts. Genesis chapter 8, you have

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Noah offering clean animals to God, and when he offers these clean animals to God, the text tells us that God is pleased when he smells the aroma.

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Genesis chapter 22, the story of Isaac, the ram that's caught in the bush. Again, you have this idea of a sacrifice that's offered as a substitute for Isaac.

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Isaac was about to die, God stops him and says, no Abraham, I see that you're a righteous person, but then there's this ram that's caught in the thicket, and God provides a substitute.

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Fast forward to Exodus chapter 12, you have the final plague and the sacrifice, oh it's a sacrifice of a lamb whose blood is applied to the homes.

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Remember Exodus 12 -13, the blood will be for you for a token on the houses where you live, and it will come to pass that if I see the blood,

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I will pass over you. Leviticus chapter 1 -7, you have seven chapters of Leviticus, you know where people's

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Bible reading plans go to die. Leviticus 1 -7, all these sacrifices, lots of, as one of my friends back home used to say, blood, guts, and the holiness of God.

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Seven chapters. But what is God doing in Leviticus 1 -7?

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He's teaching his people, because he says it multiple times. If you read it, I encourage you to read it, persevere through it,

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I'm sure, but read it. God says multiple times, do this so that you may be accepted before Yahweh, you may be accepted before the

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Lord. The sacrificial system was how a holy God could live with a not -so -holy people.

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We already talked about Leviticus 16 and the day of atonement, that's referenced in Hebrews 9. And so all through the

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Old Testament, it's almost as though there are these pictures that are building up, they're pointing us to something while we cross over into the

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New Testament. And Hebrews chapter 1 tells us that Jesus is the ultimate one who makes purification for sins.

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The cross was not a plan B in the mind of God. It's not as though, okay, this thing has gotten really out of hand now.

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Do we have a contingency plan? Oh yes, the contingency plan is Jesus has to go die. No, from the beginning of redemptive history, the

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Bible has been pointing us in that direction. And so as you read the

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Bible as a whole, it's very clear that Christ offers himself as a sacrifice to God.

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But not only does he offer himself as a sacrifice to God, secondly, he offers himself as a perfect, sufficient sacrifice.

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So whereas under the old covenant, you have to constantly be offering sacrifices,

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Jesus' sacrifice is a once for all sacrifice. It's perfect and it's sufficient.

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Turn me to Hebrews 1, I want to point something out to you. Hebrews chapter 1, this you may want to see in your own Bible. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3,

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Hebrews 1, 3, the author to the Hebrew says, the

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Son, Jesus, is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

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After making purifications for sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

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Now that phrase, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty of God after making purification, that might mean nothing to you, but to a first century

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Jew, what you just read is mind -blowing. This is grabbing your attention right out the gate.

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I wish I'd put a diagram of the tabernacle up on screen so you could see it. You look at the tabernacle, you have all kinds of furniture in there.

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You've got altars, you've got a massive labor where people washed themselves prior to offering their sacrifices or wash their animals.

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You had all kinds of things. You know the one thing that's missing in the tabernacle in the Old Testament? A chair.

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You don't see a seat anywhere. The only person who sits is God. He has a mercy seat. Why? Because a priest's work was never done.

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The author to the Hebrew says that Jesus makes purifications for sin.

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He does it and once he does it, he sits down, he's done. Priests never sat because priests were never done, but this priest offers the sacrifice one time and is able to sit down and be done.

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That's why you don't need to tell me, I'll read it to you. Hebrews 7 .27 says that he, referring to Jesus, doesn't need to offer sacrifices every day as high priests do.

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First for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once and for all time when he offered himself.

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He did it and he was done. Hebrews 9 .25

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and 26, he did not do this to offer himself many times as the priests enter the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.

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Otherwise he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared one time at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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So not only does Christ offer himself as a sacrifice to God, he offers himself as a perfect, sufficient sacrifice, but thirdly, he also intercedes for us before the

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Father. Not only does he offer himself as a sacrifice, but just like a priest did where he has to deal with the ignorant and those who are going astray, well

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Jesus intercedes for us before the Father. Have you ever wondered, have you ever asked yourself the question, what is

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Jesus doing in heaven right now? I was like 11 when I first asked myself that question.

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Okay, I grew up in a tradition where they were always talking about Jesus coming back, which he is coming back. But no one could ever tell you what he was doing up there.

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I mean he's been gone a while. You keep saying he's coming back and that the tradition

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I grew up in is that he can come back at any moment. Okay, but what was he doing all this time? Well as you read the lessons of the

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Hebrews, the author to the Hebrews is very clear in saying that among many things Jesus is doing, one thing he's doing is that he's interceding for us.

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One of my favorite writers, John Owen, the Puritan pastor and scholar said that the actual intercession of Christ in heaven is a fundamental article of our faith.

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It's a principal foundation of the church's comfort. What do we mean when we say that, there we go, what do we mean when we say that Jesus is interceding for us?

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Well once again we need to take a quick trip back into the Old Testament. In Exodus chapter 28 when

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God establishes the priesthood, he commands that every high priest is supposed to wear an interesting piece of jewelry.

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It was called a breastplate. That's literally what it was. It was a plate that sat over the chest and in this breastplate he had all 12 tribes.

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The tribes of Israel, all 12, each had their own stone with their name on it and he wore that over his chest.

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On his shoulders this breastplate had six tribes on one shoulder on another stone, six on the other.

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As one writer explains it, with these names on him all times when leading worship, the high priest carried with him symbolically in prayer and total ministry all of his people.

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But here's the thing, what the high priest did for Israel in a physical sense, Jesus does for his people spiritually.

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Matthew Henry says that the high priest had the names of the tribes both on his shoulders and on his breast intimating both the power and the love with which our

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Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for those that are his. He not only bears them upon his heart as the expression here is, but he carries them in his bosom with the most tender affection.

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The priest in the old covenant went in and out with his intercession but Jesus intercedes for us before the father perpetually.

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He's right at the father's right hand. That's why Paul could say in Romans 8 34 that nobody can condemn the

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Christian because Jesus sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.

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1 John chapter 2, I quote it often, my little children I'm writing to you so that you may not sin but if anyone does and it's if anyone doesn't and they will, we have an advocate with the father,

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Jesus Christ the righteous one. Because he's a man, his intercession is intelligent.

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He knows exactly what it is to be a man and to struggle like men do. That's why Hebrews 4 15 can say that we don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.

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Because he's a man, his intercession is intelligent. But because he's God, his intercession is eternal.

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It lasts forever. Every Christmas we celebrate the fact that the eternal son of God united to his divine nature, a human nature, he entered into our creation.

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I mean usually we think about that at Easter as well. That's kind of time we focus on the cross and rightfully so. But the

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Bible doesn't end with the cross. You see in answering that question, what is Jesus doing now?

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Simply put, he's representing us before the father. So Christ is a priest because he offers himself as a sacrifice to God.

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He offers up a perfect and sufficient sacrifice and he intercedes for us before the father.

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Well I promised you I'd get back to Hebrews 9 didn't I? Let's go ahead and do that, Hebrews 9. Now let's think about the glory of Christ's priesthood.

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The glory of Christ's priesthood. So I've come back to Hebrews chapter 9. I'm going to finish off, look at those last four verses.

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Because as you migrate back there, may I point out to you four ways in which Christ's priesthood is more glorious than the old covenant priesthood?

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Four ways. First of all the order to the Hebrews makes us to understand that Christ's priesthood is a priesthood in heaven, not on earth.

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It's a priesthood in heaven, not on earth. So look at verse 11 with me. But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come and the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation.

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The priest of the old covenant served on earth but Christ's work as priest is not conducted on earth.

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Yes he died on earth but his intercession happens in heaven. If you're here today and you're a believer, you have a representative before the father right now.

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Right now in glory there is a man. He sits at the right hand of the father and he doesn't just sit at the right hand of the father doing nothing.

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He sits at the right hand of the father pleading your case. Can I put it to you that every time you think as a

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Christian, oh I failed or he actually did, every time you think you've messed up or actually did, every time you think you've blown it and you did, that there is a man named

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Jesus who is advocating on your behalf. I mean we read it in first John too.

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Christian you're going to sin but isn't it good to know that when we sin heaven already has it in hand.

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That heaven isn't sitting there thinking oh seriously we were just here.

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Can we do like clear up on aisle three? Can we do something about this here? No heaven's not sitting there thinking oh for peace sake.

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No heaven already has it in hand. We confess it. Confession simply means we say the same thing that God says about it.

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We repent. We change our mind about our sins into a desire to change our actions. We believe in God's promise of a savior and we rest in that promise.

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That's why Christ needs to be preached to saints and sinner alike. For the sinner there is the promise of full and free salvation from the penalty power and one day even the very presence of sin.

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For the saints there is ongoing grace provision for when we fail as well as power to keep pursuing holiness.

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All of that flows from Jesus as our mediator in heaven. But not only do we have a priesthood in heaven or on earth, secondly it's a priesthood that is based on a perfect sacrifice not temporary ones.

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It's a priesthood based on a perfect sacrifice not temporary ones. So verse 12 it says he referring to Jesus entered the most holy place once for all time.

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Not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood having obtained eternal redemption.

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You read about the priesthood, you don't read

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Leviticus 1 through 7. You've got offerings for everything. You've got sacrifices for intentional sin.

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You've got sacrifices for unintentional sins. You had a morning offering. You had an evening offering.

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You of course had the big one, the day of atonement. You had so much blood, so much guts.

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But the sacrifice of Jesus wasn't like those sacrifices that need to be offered over and over and over again.

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This was a perfect sacrifice done once for all time. Side note real quick, anyone here grew up Roman Catholic or with Roman Catholic family members?

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Okay, anyone been to a mass before? Okay, usually the case that more people have been to a mass than are

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Roman Catholic. Do you know why the mass is so central to Catholicism?

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Why it is that, think about it, what's the nearest Catholic church to here? Sacred Heart? Is that probably the nearest one to here?

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I looked on the website just to be sure and like every other Catholic church I've ever known, I grew up across the street from a Catholic church.

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Had a mass. They have a mass every day. On top of Sunday when they have their usual services, every day there's a mass.

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Do you know why the mass is so central to Catholicism? Because Christ is being sacrificed.

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The mass is not just communion on steroids, which is what I used to think growing up. I thought it was like a really elaborate communion.

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No, it's not. In Catholic theology, when the priest holds up that little wafer, the host as they call it, and he says, this is my body, they believe that that little wafer literally becomes

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Christ's body. Sure, it looks like bread. If you were to eat it, which you're not, well actually, which one is the one you're not supposed to have?

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Is it the cup you can't have or the bread? I always forget. It's the cup, thank you. But that little bread, sure it tastes like bread, it looks like bread, but it's not bread.

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It's Jesus' literal body that is ready for sacrificing on the altar. That's why they call that table an altar.

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Our Protestant forefathers hated the mass. You read church history, they couldn't stand the mass. They were willing to die, literally.

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Some of them were killed for refusing to have a mass. Why? Because they recognized, hold on, you're saying

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Christ is being sacrificed over and over and over again. But we read this thing called the Bible and it says Jesus was sacrificed one time.

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Christ's sacrifice is based on a perfect sacrifice, not a temporary one. Thirdly, it provides true inward cleansing, not just outward cleansing.

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So verse 13 and 14, he says, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkling those who are defiled sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living

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God. The sacrifices of the old covenant, they did ensure that a holy

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God could live with his not -so -holy people. They provided ceremonial cleansing for God. Verse 13 mentions this interesting ritual involving the ashes of a young cow.

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That's a reference back to Numbers 19. A perfectly red heifer, couldn't have one white spot on it, had to be perfectly red, would be burned, the ashes mixed with water, and then it would be sprinkled on a person to make them ceremonially clean.

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Ceremonial cleansing was a good thing. But here's the thing about ceremonial cleansing. It didn't deal with the soul.

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All it did was say, okay, you can live among the people, you can be here, but it didn't, there was no transformative power on the soul.

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But the author to the Hebrews says that if the sacrifice in the old covenant could do that, how much more will

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Christ's great sacrifice cleanse our consciences, not just your body?

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And it's interesting, he doesn't say it will just cleanse your conscience, he says it will cleanse your conscience from dead works.

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Did you catch that there in verse 14? You see, brother, Jesus doesn't just save us from sin.

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He does do that. But can I put it to you that Jesus saves us even from our own self -righteousness, from our own attempts to try and strive to have favor with God?

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Jesus, yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and just, we're gonna end that right here. Why, he cleanses the conscience completely.

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Kind of leads to my final point. It empowers heart righteousness, not just external righteousness.

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So in verse 14, he says, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living

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God? See, Jesus's work doesn't just, as it were, punch our ticket for heaven and then we're just kind of sat here waiting to get evacuated out of here one of these days.

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No, Jesus's work cleanses our consciences so that instead of dead works that are stained with sin, we can truly serve the living

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God. What are the benefits of this priesthood?

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That's my fourth point this afternoon. What's the benefits of this priesthood?

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Like a good preacher, I like my alliteration. So I have one, two, three, four, five Ps. First of all, we have a pure high priest.

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We have a pure high priest. Hebrews 7 26 tells us that this is the kind of high priest we need. Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

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Jesus isn't beset with weakness the way the priests in the old covenant were. We have a pure high priest.

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Not only do we have a pure high priest, we have a perpetual high priest. The priesthood of the old covenant constantly changes.

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Priests died and need to be replaced. But because Jesus lives forevermore, his priesthood is forevermore.

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That's why all the Hebrews again in Hebrews 7 can say that Jesus didn't become a priest based on a legal regulation of physical descent, but based on the power of an indestructible life.

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We have a pure high priest. You have perpetual high priest. Thirdly, you have a powerful high priest. See, our high priest doesn't just make salvation possible.

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He doesn't get us part of the way over, waiting for us to get over the line. Hebrews 7 25 says that therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him.

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We have a pure high priest. We have a perpetual high priest. We have a powerful high priest. We have a particular high priest.

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Okay, Kofi, where are you forcing it now, particular? What does that mean? I promised you I wasn't forcing it. Simply put,

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Jesus' work is for a particular people that he saves perfectly.

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He doesn't just make salvation possible for everybody, the vast majority who will reject it.

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No, he actually procures salvation for a particular people. You talk to most evangelicals, the perception that they have is that, well, of course

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Jesus died for everybody. It's just available. Sure, not everyone's going to believe it, but you know what? Yeah, he died for everyone. You know, kind of like a vending machine.

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I travel a lot, so I'm always in the Medford airport. If you've ever been to the

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Medford airport, they've got vending machines, because I'm always there at some seemingly early hour of the morning. I'm always buying an energy drink in there.

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The drinks are all there. They're available to everybody, but if I don't have any money,

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I'm not getting one, and so often we think of salvation in that way. Well, Jesus makes it possible to everybody, but your—how much is it?

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Airports always rip off, like, what, a dollar something on a good day?

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I don't know. You know, I put my few coins of faith in, and then

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I can procure it. But actually, when you read the Bible, the Bible teaches you something very different.

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This salvation isn't like drinks in a vending machine, available to everybody, just waiting for you to do something.

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Jesus's work of priesthood is for a particular people. Just like the priest bore the names of the 12 tribes on his heart and his shoulders, and only those 12,

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Jesus bears the name of his people on his shoulders and on his heart before the

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Father. Don't—I mean, it's Christmas time. It would be bad if I didn't read from one of the

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Christmas narratives. So Matthew 121, the angel comes to Mary and says, oh, by the way, you're gonna—to

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Joseph, excuse me—says, Joseph, don't put her away. Go ahead and get married. She'll give birth to a son.

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You're to name him Jesus. Why was he supposed to name him Jesus? Because he will save his people from their sins.

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Save his people. Later in Jesus' ministry, John chapter 6,

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Jesus said, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

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This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose none of those he has given me, but should raise them up on the last day.

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I'd like to go deeper into this subject, but I don't have time. If you do have questions, come see me afterwards. We can chop it up some. I need to keep pressing on.

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This is—I think I had five. Well, I had five. I didn't put five on the slides. I added one. We have a powerful high priest.

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Every one of the people that Christ represents are upheld by his powerful hand. That's why

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Paul could say that end section of Romans chapter 8, what will separate us from the love of Christ?

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Affliction, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword. I mean, that's quite the laundry list.

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And he says, no. In all these things, verse 37, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

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For I am persuaded, okay, more lists that neither death nor life, angels nor rulers, nothing's present, nothing's to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth.

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And just in case you think, okay, something can sneak in the list, nor any other created thing. Just in case you thought something could sneak in the list.

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No, Paul's got you covered. All of it, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our

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Lord. That's why I believe the Bible teaches salvation can't be lost. That if you are a believer, if you've been truly saved, you will persevere in faith to the end.

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I don't mean to be rude to those who maybe hold a different perspective, but if I can be blunt for a moment, I refuse to serve a wimpy

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Jesus who can't get the job done. Powerful enough to save but can't keep.

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Actually, I read the Bible and I see Jesus say to Simon, Luke chapter 22, 31 and 32, Simon, Simon, look out,

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Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail. I mean, we sing that song often, when

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I fear my faith will fail. You all know the song, finish it for me. Christ will hold me fast.

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We have a high priest who is powerful enough to keep every one of the people that he intercedes for. Real quick,

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I know this sermon is getting a little long. I thank you for your patience. I'm almost done. Let's talk for a moment about Christ the priest and the church as a priestly people, because Christ's priesthood actually affects all of us who are

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Christians in more ways than we realize. First of all, the church is a priestly community.

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So, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 5. In fact, you might want to turn there for this for a moment. I want you to see this. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 5.

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1 Peter 2, 5. Peter says, you yourselves as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

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Chapter 9, verse 9. Familiar verse for some of you, I'm sure. 1 Peter 2, 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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Because we're united to Christ by faith, we become a community of priests who announce his glorious priestly work to others.

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So, the church is a priestly community, but what does this priestly community do? Well, this priestly community offers up, it should be up, not us, offers up sacrifices of spiritual worship.

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New covenant worship is very different to old covenant worship. I appreciate that I may be stating the obvious when

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I say that, but I'm convinced that for most Christians that's not so obvious. I wish

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I had more time to get into this. I'm trying to edit as I go here. There are so many old covenant assumptions that at times we bring to the subject of worship, but if you read the

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New Testament, the New Testament is very clear that worship under the new covenant, worship under Christ's priesthood, is intensely spiritual.

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So, we bring to God the, again, I don't have time to read all these references, but they're there in your study guide actually. We bring to God the sacrifices of repentant hearts,

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Psalm 51, devoted lives, Romans 12, heartfelt praise, Hebrews 13, sacrificial care for one another, verse 16.

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New covenant worship is not about lights, smoke machines, and overproduced shows.

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That's not the heart of new covenant worship. Don't encourage me.

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I need to behave myself. I'm almost done. Let me calm down. I was about to go off and I said, you know what?

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Behave yourself. Self -control is a good thing. Thank you. The heart of new covenant worship is what happens in the heart, not an external event.

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Thirdly and finally, the church proclaims the forgiveness of sins found in Jesus.

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It's not that the church has the power to forgive sins. It's that the church proclaims the forgiveness of sins that is found in Jesus alone.

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That's why Jesus could tell the disciples after his resurrection, Luke 24, 47, that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, that if you repent, if you believe, you will be forgiven of your sins.

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John 20, 23, after it says that he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit, he said, if you forgive the sins of any, and I would argue that the forgiveness of sins there is referring to the proclamation of forgiveness found in Jesus.

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If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

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If they choose to not repent and not believe, well guess what?

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Their sin remains with them. If they repent and they believe, their sins are forgiven them. You see, faith family,

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I'm done. The church is tasked with the proclamation of the only message by which men are forgiven of sin.

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The message of forgiveness found in the work of the eternal God who united to himself a human nature.

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He entered into his creation. He satisfied all the demands of God's revealed will.

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He suffered the penalty that divine justice asked for. He rose from the dead and he offers his righteousness to all who will simply believe on him.

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It's Christmas this week. We're going to get together and celebrate and exchange gifts and those are all wonderful things, but this is what we celebrate when we come to Christmas.

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The message of a divine representative who has stood in our place and he champions us before the

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Father for all of eternity and that's why we will never, if we come to know

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Jesus, never be lost. And Father in heaven, we are thankful that we have a salvation that is eternal, a salvation that is secure because it's not resting on our work, but it's resting on Christ's work for us.

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Oh Father, would you help us that we would with joy and with gladness give of our lives to proclaim that message to others that we would find rest and joy and hope, not in our efforts, but in Jesus's efforts for us.

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Thank you so much for him. It's in his name that we pray and for his sake. Amen. Well, family, would you stand with me as we sing in conclusion?