Cleansing Needed (part 2) - [Hebrews 9:1-10]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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I have some true and false questions to start the sermon this morning. True or false, you don't have to say it out loud, although some people in the front may be tempted to.

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True or false, Jesus died for sinners. True or false,

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Jesus died for the ungodly. True or false, Jesus died for the helpless.

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True or false, Jesus died for the unjust. True or false,

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Jesus died for his enemies. True or false,

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Jesus died for the sins of Christians too. We regularly hear that Jesus died for sinners, and that's exactly true.

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First Corinthians chapter 15, Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

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But sometimes we forget that Jesus died for Christian sins as well.

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You say, Pastor, what do you mean by that? Melanchthon was a man who was fairly weak compared to Luther, and he was always writing

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Luther questions about his salvation. He struggled with assurance. And Melanchthon wrote a letter to Luther, and he started off by saying,

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I woke up this morning wondering if I trust Christ enough. Is that a good thing to think about?

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Do I trust Christ enough? Now, Melanchthon, he loved to look at himself.

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He had his eyes toward his navel all too often. And his assurance, when he wasn't thinking rightly, when

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Luther didn't jar him into thinking properly, was based on his performance, was based on what he did.

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Certainly Jesus died for his sins, and he believed in the resurrected Savior. But in terms of keeping his standing with God, his legal standing, he thought that was by his own merit, his own obedience.

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And Luther said, your salvation, Melanchthon, is outside of you. Not just for justification, but also for sanctification.

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Christians, we are very prone to put the death, burial, and resurrection aside for when we first got saved, versus keeping the object of our faith, the resurrected

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Savior, before us all the time, even as Christians. Lots of times people say, well,

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I want to live the victorious Christian life. Luther would say to Melanchthon, that's wonderful, but do it in the light of focusing on Jesus, who will live the victorious life.

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One man said, quote, the most important thing to remember is that the death of Christ was, in fact, a death even for Christian failure.

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Christ's death saves even Christians. There's always room at the cross for unbelievers, it seems.

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But we ought also to be telling people that there's room at the cross for Christians, too.

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Turn your Bibles, please, to the book of Hebrews, as we look at the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus, to remind you again this

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Sunday, that while it is important that you live for Jesus, it's more important that he lived for you.

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That it's important that you want to sacrifice for Jesus and deny yourself for Jesus, but he, most importantly, did that for you.

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I'm not denying our life of obedience for Jesus, but that's in light of his obedience to the

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Father in your place. We don't primarily need moral exhortations in life.

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We need to be reminded of the Lord Jesus and what he did, and that will spur us on by grace and by Scripture's law to live for him.

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And the book of Hebrews is a sermon, as you know, and he just keeps extolling who Jesus is over and over and over.

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Every possible camera angle, every facet of the diamond, he has another message, and that is the

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Lord Jesus Christ. In spite of what the world says, in spite of what Hollywood says, in spite of what your neighbor says, he reigns and he's coming back.

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You can trust in him, you can believe in him. You might have an old system, like Judaism, and you might have great faith in that system, loved ones might be in that system.

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You've seen that system pragmatically help people, but that's just at best a shadow and a flicker.

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And why run back to the sign when you have the reality? And I'm trying to think of a place you might drive or something, you know, and you're driving across country, and my mom died, we drove from Omaha here to Massachusetts, and we're getting home, we're getting closer, and you see the sign in the middle of Pennsylvania.

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I don't think there's such a sign, but if you were to see it. Worcester, 300 miles, we're longing to get home.

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So we all get out of the car and we run over and we begin to hug the sign. Oh, I'm so glad for this sign.

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You don't do that. The sign's not the thing, and when it comes to the old covenant system, it was pointing to something, it was pointing to someone, especially when that sign can't give you cleansing.

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It can't really cleanse you, it can't really cleanse your conscience, it can't cleanse your sin, it might cover them, but it can't cleanse.

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Why go back to that sign when that sign doesn't give you access to God? It just gives the high priest access to God once a year.

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Don't you want real cleansing, real access? Why go back to the sign? And he just compares old covenant, new covenant.

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You've got many priests, one priest, the Lord Jesus. You've got a tabernacle, a tent that you put up with hands, and now you've got

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Jesus, the perfect tabernacle made by God. You've got blood of animals, you've got the blood of Christ.

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You've got annual ceremonies and cleansing, you've got Jesus. And if you look at chapter 9, verse 11, it's driving to this point.

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He, the Holy Spirit, through whoever wrote Hebrews, Paul or whoever it was, is driving to this in verse 11.

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But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

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He's talking about the Lord Jesus' incarnation. He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

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For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more, and that's the theme really of Hebrews compared to Judaism of the

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Old Covenant, how much more, how much better, how greater will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal

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Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living

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God. And He launches, it's like a Cape Canaveral launching pad in the book of Hebrews to extol who

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Jesus is. Now, every time you just look at this passage and look at this text,

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I kind of think to myself, Hebrews is like a good reboot. Every Saturday night before I use my iPad,

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I reboot it because I want to make sure there's no glitches on my iPad when I preach.

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Maybe you have to reset your phone once in a while. Hebrews kind of resets your whole focus because we live looking in on ourselves and now we have to be looking outwardly.

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We have to be looking upwardly. Yesterday, I went on a long bike ride and I love to listen to Chris Gordon, a pastor in California, Abounding Grace Radio.

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And guess what he talks about all the time? The abounding grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I listened to, it makes sense, doesn't it?

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I listened to about seven of his messages. And I was, I wasn't in a bad mood before I rode, but I just got on the bike.

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I was in a fine mood and I was riding on the bicycle and just listening message after message. Here's who

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Jesus is. Here's how he loves you with an everlasting love. No matter how great your sins are, he still has loved you and died for your sins.

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He's coming back again, refreshment and reprogramming and rebooting. And I'm like, this is the best ever.

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And then all of a sudden I'm one block from home and I hear this yell, auto, auto, auto, auto.

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Not with an A -U -T -O, but an O -T -T -O. And it was this big black dog running full blast toward me.

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Lady got out of the car. She had it on a leash. It saw me and it saw lunch and off it goes. And out of nowhere,

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I'm jarred back into reality. I'm on a bike. I'm just not kind of like in this ethereal heavenly place with Abounding Grace Radio.

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And the thing just ran. I thought I could beat it. I could beat it. I think I can. I think I can. My kids said, by the way, you're going to talk about that in the sermon tomorrow, aren't you?

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And I go, no way. And it slammed to the back of my wheel and then just kind of ricocheted off.

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And I thought, you know what? That's a good reboot. Pay attention when you're driving.

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Pay attention to the road. Be careful of the gravel on the road. Don't you love the book of Hebrews?

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Because every week while we live in our own little world, we have our own problems that we create or other people create for us.

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Now, this is reminded, reminds us the object of your faith is what matters.

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The question is not, have you trusted Christ enough? But do you trust in Christ even with weak faith?

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Because I want to show you again from the book of Hebrews, he's a strong savior. That's the central theme of the book of Hebrews.

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So we're working through chapter 9, verses 1 through 5. And last week was part 1 as we see some flickers and we see some shadows of things that were in the tabernacle that should make us think of Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of these things.

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If these were shadows, Jesus is the reality. If these were the prefigurements of Jesus, we now have

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Jesus. Things that reminded these readers of the Lord Jesus. And I think what we'll do for an outline, if you look at verse 11 again, it talks about the tent, the greater and more perfect tent.

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Right? There's the tent, the tabernacle that God dwelled in, but there's the greater tent, Jesus.

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And so that's really going to be the function of our outline, is that these things show us who

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Jesus is because they're lesser and he's greater. One writer said it this way, There's no doubt, of course, that each of these objects in the

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Holy of Holies was a type that is a symbolic prefigurement of the coming of Christ.

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The apostle does not explain all that here because his purpose is not to give a detailed exposition of everything that the tabernacle signified, but rather to contrast the ministry of the tabernacle with that of the

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Lord Jesus and what he has done and is still doing. You can kind of get the drift of this writer in verse 5, can you not?

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As it were, the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things, we cannot now speak in detail.

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And so we started in some detail to talk about those last week and there are eight Old Testament things that show

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Jesus is greater. Each one of these things you look at and you say, but the greater is Jesus. The first one, remember, last week was the tent.

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Verse 2, for a tent was prepared in the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of presents.

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It is called the holy place. So what was God trying to show the Israelites?

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That there was a tent where God would meet in that tent. And then he, Jesus, arrives.

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And remember John 1 .14 from last week? And the word of God became flesh and put up his tent among us, dwelt among us.

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And so when you look at the old tabernacle tent, where you think not very hard to figure out the ultimate tent, the greater tent is the

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Lord Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. It says, what does the text say here with the first room called the holy place?

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So just think you've got a big tent and there's two sections and there's a veil or a curtain in between the holy place and the holy of holy places.

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And so the next thing we find in that tent is the lampstand. And remember last week, we looked for a long time at John chapter 8.

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And if the lampstand certainly gave light in the tabernacle, but it was supposed to point to something greater, then it should not shock us when

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Jesus said, I'm the what? I'm the light of the world. Here's this great lampstand, this great menorah, but there's someone greater.

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We talked about the show bread a little bit. Do you see the show bread found in verse 2? And again, this is all in review, called the bread of the presents.

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You think about how God is signified as dwelling there and among the people, those 12 breads signifying the 12 tribes of Israel and God is there.

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God is dwelling among his people. Number 4, we looked at the curtain, did we not?

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Verse 3, behind the second curtain was a section called the most holy place.

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And that veil, of course, was Jesus Christ himself. And as that veil was ripped when Jesus died, open access.

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In the tent, you've got closed access, veils ripped, open access, lesser to the greater.

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Verse 4, it says, treading new ground now, having the golden altar of incense. The golden altar of incense.

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Now, you can study this on your own if you'd like, and I just want to tell you so those scholars that are here that want to dive into it more.

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We're moving from the first room to the second room. The Old Testament said this golden altar of incense was in the first room.

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But to get in the second room, you have to have this, I don't know why I'm holding it like this, it reminds me of my acolyte days in the

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Lutheran Church. Were you an acolyte ever? I was an acolyte and they always told me to have this elbow up when

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I'm lighting the lights. It's more holy that way, I guess. The guy at the 830 service one time snuffed the candle out too hard.

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So now it's the 11 o 'clock service and I walk up as a 14 -year -old acolyte and I can't light that thing.

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I thought, now what do you do? How long do you stand there like that? Thinking, pastor, come and rescue me. Pastor, come and rescue me.

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Never rescued, obviously. You've got this incense.

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It's in the first part of the room, the Old Testament says. But here it sounds like it's in the second part, it's in the second area.

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Well, it's because you had to get it in the first room and now he's talking more liturgical. Go into the second room with all the incense and all the smoke so that the glory of God doesn't radiate you and eradicate you.

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Number five, we've got, and now where we pick up the new information, manna, in which, inside this

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Ark of the Covenant, which is covered on all sides with gold, there was a golden urn holding the manna.

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Now, we're not going to talk about the Ark for a second because we're going to get to that a little bit later because it ties in in verse 5.

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So I want to talk about the manna now. Think, okay, symbolism, pictures, manna, is that going to tell me anything about Jesus?

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Is there greater manna? Bread, is there greater bread? And I think you all know the answer.

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Well, this particular manna was in a golden urn. Now, I think it would be interesting to do, so keep your finger in Hebrews 9.

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Let's go to Exodus chapter 16 and take a look at the manna. Manna just means, what is this?

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And so if you go down the street and have lunch at the manor after church and they feed you something really bad, you just say, what is this?

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The manna, I go to eat at the manna. Okay, I've wondered why they have never sent me a gift certificate all these years.

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Bread from heaven, Exodus 16. The writer is simply preparing you for the greater.

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So he's talking about lesser things in the tabernacle that all the Jews would know about that we might be less familiar with.

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So to make ourselves very familiar with what they automatically knew, I read from Exodus 16, what is manna?

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They sent out from Elim, Exodus 16 verse 1, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Zin or Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

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And the whole congregation, remember you've got probably 2 million people, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron in that wilderness.

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And the people of Israel said, Would that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

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I mean, literally the idiom is, we were at the all -you -can -eat buffet, and now you took us out here.

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The Lord said to Moses, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you, verse 4, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether they will walk in My law or not.

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On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

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Of course, that's because on the Sabbath day you're not to work, so you get twice as much on the day before the Sabbath, and it's going to last.

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So Moses and Aaron said to the people, this is what you're going to do, verse 9.

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Then Moses said to Aaron, say to the whole congregation, Come near before the Lord, He's heard your grumbling. They want meat.

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It says in verse 13, an evening quail came and covered the camp. What about this manna that's going to come down from heaven?

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Verse 14, And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake -like thing, fine as frost on the ground.

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When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was.

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And Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord, or Yahweh, has given you to eat. This is from heaven, bread from heaven.

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Now, of course, the liberal scholars don't want it to be bread from heaven, so what do they make it? Well, one person said it's the honeydew excretion of two types of aphids.

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That takes more faith. People are like, Well, Jesus didn't walk on water,

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He walked on a sandbar. Really? Other people say it's a leachon that grows on rocks about the size of a pea and it's light enough to be blown around by the wind.

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This is bread from heaven. God is giving them nourishment. There's no food out there. And they've never seen it before, so they say,

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What is this? Verse 16, Gather of it each one of you as much as he can eat.

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You shall take an omer according to the number of persons that each of you has in his tent. People of Israel did so.

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They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack.

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Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.

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But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it until the morning and it bred worms and stank.

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And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning, they gathered it each as much as he could eat.

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But when the sun grew hot, it melted. Very fascinating.

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Verse 31, Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white.

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And the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Moses said, This is what the

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Lord has commanded. Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations so that they may see the bread.

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Here's the point, congregation, with which I fed you, the provision that I gave to you. You need to be reminded of when

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I brought you out of the land of Egypt. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a jar, put an omer of manna in it and place it before the

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Lord in the Holy of Holies, in the Ark of the Covenant to be kept throughout your generations.

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The bread from heaven, sustenance, nourishment, care, fatherly concern bred from heaven.

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Now, if you turn to John chapter 6, there's someone who said,

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I'm the bread of life. And it should not surprise us that the Lord Jesus is playing off this manna issue.

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There's manna in the wilderness that feeds you physically. There's another greater bread coming down out of heaven that's not necessarily bread and coriander and fine flakes and all that, but it's the

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Lord Jesus. There's a tabernacle, there's the greater tabernacle.

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There's manna, but there's greater manna. And here we have in John 6, one of those passages again, that if the world with all its lurching and longing for significance and of course,

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I could use pop culture songs if I wanted to back in the day, it was, I can't get no what? Satisfaction.

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I still haven't found what I'm what? Looking for? Why do I look over at Charlie when I'm quoting songs?

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What really satisfies at the spiritual level? Well, let's find out.

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And I don't have to make many comments because I'm just blown away by the passage itself. And for people that say, well, the

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Bible is boring. I have news for them. That's more an indictment on them than it is the

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Bible. John 6, 8, we're thinking about manna. Remember, all these people would know about Exodus 16.

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One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon's Peter brother said to him, there's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish.

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But what are these for so many people? You'd have the bread and you'd have a little fish and the fish was kind of like a little relish that you would put on.

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We have so many needs, but with inadequate resources. Have the people set down.

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Now, if you read the Bible too fast, you might miss this. Now, there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down in the number of about 5 ,000.

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Now you lay down on those green pastures right over there and the shepherd will take care of you. I see that echo.

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Some people say Jesus made them all sit down so the people wouldn't rush up to get the food. Jesus then took loaves and having giving thanks, he distributed to those who were seated likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.

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You don't know how many commentators wax eloquently about how Jesus first thanked God for food and prayer.

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You ought to as well. That's fine if you'd like to give thanks, but this is not what this passage is talking about.

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Now, when they were filled, verse 12, he said to the disciples, gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost. So they gathered them up and filled the twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

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A true miracle. This is the prophet. What should you be saying to yourself? The same thing they were saying, verse 14.

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This is the prophet who is to come into the world. When you see those signs, only God could do that.

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How can you serve 5 ,000 men including women and children who might be up to 20 ,000, 15 ,000, 10 ,000 people with a couple little snacks?

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There's no possible way. Only God could do that. And by the way, since some of them are not thinking rightly, we're out in the middle of the wilderness and we have a vending machine that gives out food at will.

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Why don't we capture that vending machine, verse 15, perceiving they were intending to take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone.

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Not for a minute should you be thinking anything less than only Jesus could do such a supernatural miracle.

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And that's why I should believe in him. Some people say Jesus really had them sit down because he had a bunch of bread hidden in the wilderness and he went to go get it.

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Others said Jesus was at the secret cave, I guess like a bat cave or something, and he's got all the food stacked up in the cave.

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Other people said, you know what? Everybody had a lunch. They were all selfish. And Jesus had this little boy be generous.

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So everybody else was generous too. And they got out their lunches. And one man even had the nerve to say there was only five little loaves and some fish.

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So every one of the 10 ,000 people got like a little speck of it on their tongue, kind of like a little sacramental meal.

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This is the compassionate shepherd feeding 10 ,000, 15 ,000 people.

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This is the Messiah who's coming to the world. We've been waiting for him year after year, decade after decade, century after century.

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There's another miracle. They're in the boat. Verse 21, they were willing to receive him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

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More miracles showing that Jesus is in fact the Messiah, the prophet. Verse 25, when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him,

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Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered them and said, truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

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I know what you want. You want more temporal bread. Verse 27, now here's the transition.

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Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the

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Son of Man will give to you, for on him the Father has set his seal.

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Setting seals, this is true. Remember back in John chapter 4, the woman at the well? You know what?

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You've got some water that I'll never have to, if I drink, I'll never have to be thirsty again. I want some of that water.

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She was thinking H2O. The same thing is applying here. And they said, verse 28, what should we do so that we may work the works of God?

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Hey, we'd like to get on this as well. Now, Jesus is continuing to turn it to a spiritual direction.

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This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

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Oh, but that's going to set them off. So they said to him, what do you do for a sign so that we may see and believe you?

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What do you perform? Friends, what did he just do? But you know what?

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If you think signs are the only thing, you're not ever impressed by signs, it's just, I want a better sign, a better sign, a better sign.

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Now here, they get it. Bread from heaven, background that they have,

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Jesus making bread out of nothing. Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, he shall give them out of heaven to eat.

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Jesus, you gave us one meal. They in the wilderness were there for, if you calculate it rightly, and I don't know about leap years like Wes might try to do, 14 ,600 days

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God fed the Israelites manna in the wilderness, and you fed us one time.

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If I was teaching the fifth grade class, I'd put my finger in my mouth now and make a popping sound. But I'm almost 60.

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My wife said, you're not almost 60, you're almost 59. I said, well, I do what kids do. When you're older, you do what kids do.

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Kids always round up, so do adults when they're old. By the way, today marks my 22nd year finished at Bethlehem Bible Church.

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Thank you for putting up with me. Been the longest four decades of my life, believe me. Just kidding, just kidding.

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We won't believe you unless you outdo Moses. You're talking about prophet?

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Oh, he's the prophet, he's the prophet, Deuteronomy 18. What does Jesus say?

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Truly, truly, I say to you, verse 32, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my

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Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. He is the real bread from heaven.

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The other bread was temporary. The other bread spoiled if you left it out. This is bread that doesn't spoil, for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world, verse 33.

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Lord, always give us this bread. I mean, they couldn't be more spiritually deaf, dumb and blind.

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Verse 35, Jesus makes it perfectly, explicitly clear. I am the bread of life.

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He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.

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Jesus did not say, I have bread. I know where the bread is. Here's what you do in order to work for the bread.

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He says, I am the bread of life. As bread can suppress hunger and give you all the nourishment you need, this is spiritual nourishment.

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Satisfaction not just physically, but spiritually. Verse 36, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

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All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out.

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I mean, left to verse 36, we're all in the same boat. Nobody believes. We don't have the capacity to believe.

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But God's going to make sure he gets his people into heaven because the Father gives those people to the Son. And if you come by faith, he certainly will not ever, ever, ever, the

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Greek says, cast you out. I've come down from heaven, verse 38, 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 of all that he has given me, verse 39, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

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This is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life.

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And I myself will raise him up on that last day. Now, take yourself out of the narrative for just a second.

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Anybody who reads this, the author wants them to say, the reader, you, the listener, I believe,

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I'm trusting. I might not have strong faith, but this is a strong Savior.

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I'm not trusting in myself for salvation. I'm not trusting in my own righteousness. I'm not trusting that I'm a good person.

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I'm not trusting that I got baptized and circumcised and other kind of religious things. And I go to church and I'm a member and I'm a good neighbor.

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No, it's trust in Jesus. You know about him, you affirm that, and you trust in him.

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Everyone who believes, including you, will have eternal life and be raised up on that last day. Leon Morris said, this thought is the greatest comfort to believers.

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Their assurance is based not on their feeble hold of Christ, but on his sure grip on them.

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And by the way, Christian, true or false, Jesus is embarrassed by divine sovereignty and election.

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He's not embarrassed. He states it as a fact. The Holy Spirit did not make a mistake putting that in the scriptures.

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So what do you do if you don't like what someone says? We know the answer to that.

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Here comes the denigration. Here comes ad hominem. Here comes the minimization of this.

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Therefore, the Jews were grumbling about him because he said, I'm the bread that came down out of heaven. Is this not

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Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down out of heaven?

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You don't think the incarnation of Jesus is the greatest stumbling block in the universe? Well, it was to them.

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Jesus is just right back on it. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

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You will never see Jesus say, well, you know what? Doubt is good. Lack of clarity is good. I'm glad you have these kind of doubts.

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And how can you have real faith without these doubts? He keeps pressing them. I just did it. I've told you who

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I am. You must believe. He who believes has eternal life.

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And then he says it again in verse 48. I mean, man from heaven's good, but he says, I am the bread of life.

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Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not.

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Now, some people say, you know what? Manna represents Jesus because manna was small. That shows

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Jesus humility. Manna was round. That shows how he's eternal. And manna was white.

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That shows he's pure. Manna is sweet to taste. And when you meet the

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Lord Jesus, you're very happy about it. Do you think that's what the connection is?

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Who makes those things up? The connection is verse 51. I'm the living bread that came down out of heaven.

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If anyone eats this bread, he's not talking about actually eating. It's a figure of speech, believing he will live forever.

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And the bread also which I give for the life of the world is my flesh. That's what he's talking about.

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Believing in the Lord Jesus. Verse 58. This is the bread which came down out of heaven. Not as the fathers ate and died, he who eats this bread will live forever.

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What a great section of our Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, do you know the Bible also talks about manna in Revelation 2 .17?

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Just listen to this as a side note, but I find it wonderful and fascinating. To him who overcomes, to him

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I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.

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To every Christian, every overcomer, you get hidden manna, a white stone, and a new name written on the stone.

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By the way, don't ask me what that new name is because I don't know that new name, but it's a special name between you and the

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Lord. Well, let's turn back to Hebrews chapter 9. I think we see now, if you'll use the language of 9 .11

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greater, these Jews would know manna in the

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Ark, in the Holy of Holies, sustenance, protection, provision in the wilderness.

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That's pointing to a greater protector, sustainer, provider, and father type person, and that is the

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Lord Jesus. Is there anything else in there that's interesting that would point us to the greater?

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Yes, there is. This is also quite enlightening. And Aaron's staff that budded.

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Why is that in there? Aaron's staff that budded. Now, you can think of staves and how shepherds use staves and what they use them for.

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Remember when Korah tried to take over the priesthood? Who's really the right priest?

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And number 17 says, and get from them staffs, one for each father's house and from their chiefs according to their father's houses, 12 staffs.

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Write each man's name on his staff and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each of the father's house.

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You shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony where I meet with you. And the staff of the man whom

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I choose will sprout. So we're going to put the 12 staffs in there.

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And there's this uprising, who's really the high priest? Whichever one buds, that's the high priest.

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Guess who's budded? Aaron's. And it bore ripe almonds. What's the significance of Aaron's rod and it budding?

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Some people say it's significant because it shows the virgin birth. Some say it's significant because it shows the incarnation.

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Some say it's significant because it shows the annunciation of Mary. What's the significance?

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You'll know the right high priest not by their own choice, not by popular opinion, not by what they can do or who they are, but God chooses the high priest.

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Does that make you think of something? I hope it does. I hope it makes you think of Hebrews 5. Look at 5, verse 4.

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The reason why the budded rod is in the ark is because God chooses the high priest.

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And if you think of lesser to greater, the greater is the Lord Jesus. 5, verse 4. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

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So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest. He's not like Korah. But was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son, today

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I have begotten you. He also says in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

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Don't you see it? Don't you love it? What's in the ark? Manna. There's going to be a greater sustainer.

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What's in the ark? The staff that buds. God chooses. What else is in there?

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Verse 4 of chapter 9. Tablets of the covenant. The Ten Commandments were in there.

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Wow, this is fascinating. Why are the Ten Commandments in there? And how should that make me think of Jesus the greater?

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Well, I think it's simple, is it not? The commandments were in the Ark of the Covenant because this was

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God's law for the people. He was the great king. He was the great suzerain. They were the vassals.

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They were the people that he had conquered. I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Now here are the

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Ten Commandments. The problem is the people broke the commandments, although they said all that is written in the law, we will what?

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Do. But they broke the commandments. So the priest will learn next week, will come in, slay animals, put the blood on top of the mercy seat and cover it so that the picture is this.

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While God is omniscient, the picture is this. God sees the broken laws through the blood.

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Laws have been broken. We have broken them, but he's forgiven them because the blood is on the top of the mercy seat, hence the word mercy.

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And he gives mercy to people who have broken those laws. Now, how does that make me think of the Lord Jesus?

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Didn't we sing about it? His righteousness exchanged for what? Our sin. When you think of the

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Ten Commandments, which of the Ten Commandments did Jesus break? How often did He break them? Out of the 613 commandments in the

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Old Testament that the Jewish rabbis would add up, how many of the 613 did He kind of hedge on?

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And we know the answer is He perfectly obeyed the law. Just like Adam, do this and live,

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Jesus did that very thing. Listen how J. Gresham Machen describes it. It's a beautiful dialogue.

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Man says the law of God, have you obeyed my commands? No, says the sinner saved by grace,

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I have disobeyed them. Not only in the person of my representative Adam in his first sin, but also in that which

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I myself have sinned and thought were indeed. Well then, sinner, says the law of God, have you paid the penalty which

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I pronounced upon disobedience? No, says the sinner, I have not paid the penalty myself, but Christ has paid it for me.

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He was my representative when He died there on the cross. Hence, so far as the penalty is concerned,

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I'm clear. Well then, sinner, says the law of God, how about the conditions which God has pronounced for the attainment of eternal blessedness?

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Have you stood the test? Have you merited eternal life by perfect obedience during the period of probation?

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No, says the sinner, I have not merited eternal life by my own perfect obedience. God knows.

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And my own conscience knows that even after I became a Christian, I have sinned and thought were indeed.

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But although I have not merited eternal life by any obedience of my own, Christ has merited it for me by His perfect obedience.

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He was not for Himself subject to the law. No obedience was required of Him for Himself since He was

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Lord of all. That obedience then which He rendered to the law when He was on the earth was rendered by Him as my representative.

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I have no righteousness of my own, but I'm clad in Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to me, received by faith alone, and I can glory in the fact that so far as I am concerned, the probation has been kept, and God is true, and there

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He awaits for me with the glorious reward which Christ has earned. Don't you love it?

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Has Jesus just died for the ungodly? Or has He died for sinners' sins too? How much do

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I have to trust in Jesus to stay firm in my legal standing? That's the wrong question, dear friend.

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And if you have had a horrible week of disobedience, knowing such a gracious, kind, loving

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God at the expense of the Lord Jesus and what He's done for you, shouldn't that make you want to respond with repentance and gratitude to live this week a life of holiness commensurate with your calling?

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This doesn't spur us on to lawlessness. This spurs us on to a grateful response.

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His righteousness for my sins, for my shame. Oh, what a

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Savior. Let's pray. I thank you, Father, for this word. I thank you that the

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Lord Jesus is the greater tent, He's the greater lampstand, He's the greater manna,

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He's the greater staff, and He is the greater lawkeeper. No one could keep the law, only the

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Lord Jesus. And we're thankful for that. We're thankful that you do not see one of our sins. Not just up to salvation, but even now as your children.

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And Father, we would confess that it seems like our sins as Christians are probably worse than when we were unbelievers.

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Because we have the ability to obey, we have the Holy Spirit to help us. We know what you've done for us.

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And yet, in your gracious, merciful, compassionate, sovereign plan, even those sins as Christians are covered.

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I pray, Father, that we would live in light of this. And if there are those here today that still will not bow when they see such a

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Savior who provides and cares and comforts and at His own cost, dies on behalf of sinners like them, triumphing over the cross and grave, would you grant them repentance,

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Father, like you did us, and purify their consciences so that they might serve you, only by the blood of Christ.