Legendarily Wicked

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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All right, we're gonna pray and we are going to get started We will be wrapping up exodus 40 and getting into the book of Leviticus today

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So let us pray Well Lord our God how blessed we are Not only have you given us your word which offers and imparts to us all the fruits of redemption of your dear son

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Jesus Christ You've also opened our eyes so that we may know your grace and in firm confidence receive it

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Through the world though the world and the law and our hearts and our own consciences condemn us What do we care your word declares us free of all guilt

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Oh Keep us in such faith unto our end and grant that all the members of our congregation may appreciate the great treasure

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Which they possess help them and us to triumph over all attacks of the devil the world our own sinful flesh and Finally to depart this life in peace and to receive be received into your eternal kingdom

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Hear us for the sake of our risen and victorious champion Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen All right any questions pop up as a result of the sermon

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I Always want to make sure that if somebody has a question as it relates to the sermon They don't not feel like they don't they don't have the ability to ask a question

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You'll you'll notice I didn't use the Beatitudes as a ladder that you climb to somehow Get into heaven, you know and earn brownie points from God that way that's not how they're to be used

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All right, seeing no. Oh, wait. There's a question Sure, yes

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Yeah No, we don't No, we don't we think if somebody

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Writes, you know a disapproval comment on Facebook that we're being persecuted So social media is a fascinating thing altogether, and I'm not saying that social media can't be used to persecute

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Christians it's just that oftentimes what we consider persecution and what is true persecution are two totally different things and Asia, you know,

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I it was it was as I was taught seeing the news stories coming across the wire this week

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I mean there was a whole Crowd of Pakistani men, you know

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It looked like they were trying to figure out where the pitchforks and the torches were because you know had they found this woman

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They would have killed her on the spot Because the Pakistani Supreme Court let her go because she was on charges of blasphemy, you know

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And all she basically said is yeah Well, you know Jesus is way better than Allah and Allah has done nothing for me, you know, so Yep, yep

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So fascinating that they're so threatened by this little Christian woman's faith But the the blessing that we have in persecution what's really fascinating is that this is modeled for us in Scripture and let me explain what

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I mean by that In the book of Acts and I think this is the chapter

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The Peter and John were They were put in prison they were arrested for preaching

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Christ and Before they were Before they were released they

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Let me find this passage rejoicing and I think I probably should look for the

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Yeah, here it is Acts chapter 5 Acts chapter 5 is what we're looking for and you know, so Peter and John were arrested and Then they were not released before being scourged

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And so it's very fascinating how the story works out Let me let me read this to you

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And I'd love the resolve on this the high priest rose up and all who were with him That is the party of the Sadducees and filled with jealousy.

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They arrested the Apostles put them in the public prison during the night an angel of the

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Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said go and stand in the temple and Speak to the people all the words of this life and when they heard this they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach

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Now when the high priest came and those who were with him, by the way worst prison break ever You know, I remember preaching on this a few years ago like normally when somebody breaks out of prison, you know

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It's like they're they're on the run. They're skedaddling, you know And you the the helicopters and and the bloodhounds are hunting for them

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These guys after breaking out of prison an angel breaking them out of prison sends them right back to where they were and that was preaching

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The gospel in the temple complex So when the high priest came and those who were with him They called together the council all the

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Senate of the people of Israel sent them to the prison to have them brought But when the officers came they did not find them in the prison

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So they returned and reported we found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors But when we opened them, we found no one inside now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words they were greatly perplexed about them wondering what this would come to and Someone came and told them look the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people

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So the captain with the officers went and brought them but but not by force for they were afraid of being stoned by the people

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So when they had brought them they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them saying we

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Strictly charged you not to teach in this name yet here You have filled

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Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us Which is right where it belongs by the way

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And all of us are guilty when it comes to the death of Christ So Peter and the Apostles answered well

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We must obey God rather than men the God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging on a tree

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God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior interesting word leader is

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I I don't really like the translation of archaegon there as leader Yeah that but it's a tough word to pull over in English is the best way

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I can put it To give repentance to Israel forgiveness of sins and we are witnesses to these things

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And so is the Holy Spirit whom God has put given to those who obey him And so when they heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them but a

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Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel a teacher of the law held an honor by all the people stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while and He said to the men of Israel take care what you were about to do with these men for before these days

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Thutis rose up claiming to be somebody in a number of men about 400 joined him and he was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing

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And after him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of those of the people after him

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He too perished and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case

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I tell you keep away from these men let them alone for if this plan this undertaking is of man

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It'll fail if it's of God You'll not be able to overthrow them that you might even be found to be opposing

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God So they took his advice and when they had called in the Apostles They beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go

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So here here we get a good thrashing a good beating, you know, all the the Apostles you're gonna be beaten

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I'm sure this was just loads of fun and they left the presence of the council and here's the fun words rejoicing

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What? You know, so these guys got a good beating and I actually want to see the word here.

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They beat them Yeah, yeah, okay, so this is an interesting word in the

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Greek Every time it comes up this small my apologies.

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So listen to the word it's Daryl in the Greek and it means in to beat to whip

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You know, that's kind of the idea. So They received a whipping is probably a better way of putting it now.

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This wasn't a full scourging But this is gonna leave a mark is the best way I can put it and so, you know each of these guys had their shirts opened and they received a

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Lashing or two or a few on the back and rather than sitting there and saying oh poor me poor me poor me

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They're sitting there going. Whoo Yeah It's the best thing ever

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Right, and so and the reason why they they were rejoicing that they were counted worthy

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To suffer dishonor for the name now that just seems totally backwards

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However in light of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount blessed are you

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When people revile you and hate you and speak all kinds of evil and false things against you and persecute you for my name's sake

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You're blessed. So with the words of Jesus ringing in their ears that they were blessed each of those lashes rather than seen as Something as a curse they considered each time that they were they received the whip cracking on their back

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They received that as a blessing How many times were you blessed

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Peter? I got five lashes. Oh, man. I only got four Yeah, it's totally different way of thinking

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Totally different way of thinking and so we look at Asia in Pakistan She's one of the most blessed

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Christians in all the world right now Truly blessed She has been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ different way of thinking

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Totally different. Oh, no, she might be able she might be counted worthy to suffer even more for Jesus To suffer even more.

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Oh If only we were that worthy Careful pastor careful careful.

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What are you saying? Yeah. Yeah All right Let's take a look at Exodus 40 we're wrapping up the book of Exodus and we noted that the presence of the

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Lord descends on the tabernacle Once it is completed once it is ordained once it is purified by the anointing oil once everything is consecrated and set in place then the glory of the

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Lord descends and rests on the tabernacle and We noted last week as we were winding up that this same exact and I mean almost perfectly exact manifestation of the presence of God shows up at the completion of and the dedication of the temple of Solomon and So you'll note that you know

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The the tabernacle and then the temple that these are in reality types and shadows of Christ Now so that you don't think

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I'm a nut The the text that really kind of begins to bear this out for us is found in the gospel of John chapter 2 gospel of John chapter 2 and Jesus Takes the money changers and cast them out of the temple which everybody knows this about Jesus, you know

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Have you ever stopped to think that? Scripture says when regarding anger do not sin in your anger

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The scripture does not say do not be angry So you'll note that Jesus gives us an example of righteous anger and even pastors these pastors are permitted to be angry

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They're just not allowed to be quick -tempered, you know, so that's that's kind of the idea and we you Christians by the way righteous anger

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Dangerous thing But it's not condemned in Scripture So Jesus gives us an example of righteous anger in John 2 13 the

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Passover the Jews was at hand Jesus went up to Jerusalem in the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords

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He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the ox and he poured out the coins of the money changers

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Overturned the tables and those who sold pigeons take these things away Do not make my father's house a house of trade and we know from other passages of the

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Gospel of John That by Jesus claiming that God is his father. He is actually claiming that he is equal with God This is this is an equal standing type of thing

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And the fact that you got to remember that the temple is the house of God Jesus is running these guys out as if he well, this is his house as If he has the authority to do these things

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Which would make him have more authority even than the Levitical priests who are serving there so Take these things away.

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Do not make my father's house a house of trade. So some guys are licking their wounds having received Thrashing by Jesus other people are trying to figure out how to get up their coins and they've suffered financial loss because of Jesus's Stuff so his actions so Jesus his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house will consume me so The Jew said to him what sign?

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Some a on here literally means miraculous. What miracle can you perform? What sign do you show us for doing these things?

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You're gonna act like you run the temple and that this is your house. All right Give us a miracle give us a sign to prove that you have the authority to do this you remember when

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Moses was commissioned by God at the burning bush and Moses is all

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What if they don't believe me, you know that you sent me? What am I supposed to do if they don't believe me and God gave

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Moses signs the ability to turn water to blood the ability to take his staff have it turn into a serpent and then turn back into a staff again and as I remember the third

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His hand he put his hand in his cloak. It would come out leprous Put it back in and it would come out clean

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Those are the three signs given to Moses and so here the Jews are rightly demanding if this if just Jesus fell is gonna act

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Like he runs the place you better be able to perform a sign to prove that you can do this So Jesus doesn't say no,

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I'm not going to give you a sign. Here's the sign that Jesus said Destroy this temple and In three days,

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I will raise it up now note here. Jesus is at the temple and he says destroy this temple

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So this is kind of a hermeneutical cue that the temple has something to do with Jesus I mean, this is a place of sacrifice

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This is a place where sins are atoned for that's kind of the idea when we get into Leviticus. You'll see this even more and so Jesus said destroy this temple tear down this temple and in three days,

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I'm gonna raise it up and now the Jews are like Right. It's taken 46 years to build this temple 46 and you're gonna raise it up in three days now.

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No, Jesus said he was gonna give him a sign So here's the sign So but he was speaking about the temple of his

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Body Right, and these words are not throwaway words temple of his body.

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There's the temple At the temple and see that's kind of the point and you can see how this works

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And so we noted then that in the gospel of John in the opening chapter of John an important word shows up in the

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Greek But the ESV doesn't quite capture it. I think it's verse 14 the word became flesh and Skena Oh the word became flesh and You can say tabernacled among us you see it

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So the presence of God comes on to the tabernacle. God is now tabernacling with his people

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Jesus He comes and he tabernacles with us so you can see the crossover between the the

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Old Testament tabernacle and Jesus Christ who is the tabernacle made flesh?

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Who is the God who has tabernacled with us See, you see that's the idea

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All right. So there's the you know, kind of your your data points where you pull it all together So wrapping up then

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Exodus Throughout their journey throughout all their journeys verse 36 of chapter 40 whenever the cloud was taken up From over the tabernacle the people of Israel would set out

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But if the cloud was not taken up Then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up for the cloud of the

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Lord was on the tabernacle by day Fire was in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all of their journeys

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And so, you know that God's visible manifestation of his presence is present with the children of Israel The whole time they're in the wilderness which would make a lot of sense

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Okay, and and it would be a necessary thing too because this God Yahweh has received fame

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Throughout the local region and but the news of what this God has done to Egypt has made the rounds already by now and the fact that he's visibly present with them is

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One of the reasons why the nation's didn't just rise up and attack them and overcome them while they were wandering in the wilderness

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You know that God is still with him his visible manifestation of his presence is a good guard if you would so This then wraps up the book of Exodus This wraps up the book of Exodus children of Israel is still at Mount Sinai And now we're gonna get into the book of Leviticus and oddly enough

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This is a book that is not well read today however, when you read the writings of the church fathers

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Leviticus was a vital part of Christian catechesis in ancient

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Christianity Because the church fathers saw in the book of Leviticus the hermeneutical keys to understanding how to understand the

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Old Testament, but also then the connections back to Jesus Christ and so Leviticus was was a very valued book

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For the for the ancient church and I as difficult as the book is because it gets a little bloody

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Gets a little gory It gets a little bit awkwardly blunt in some of its commandments

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There's a whole section in here as it relates to the requirements of a priest

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The Levitical priests were not only required to sacrifice all of these animals one of the things that was required by the

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Levitical priests was that they were to examine skin diseases and rashes and determined whether or not somebody was clean or unclean and I Will note that I'm very thankful that this is not one of the requirements of the pastoral office

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My my parents were both Medical professionals my dad an

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ER doctor my mom and nurse and I was the only kid in seventh grade who could pronounce cricoid thyrotomy and actually knew what the procedure was but So let's just say that my stepdad he when

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I was younger really wanted to inspire me to become a physician like he was and Him showing me the graphic photographs in his medical journals trying to convince me isn't this interesting

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I Has scarred me for life. I'm still in therapy So You kind of get the idea, you know,

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I still get really queasy at the sight of blood and things like that But as we look at the book of Leviticus What we're gonna do is we're gonna spend a little bit of time in the

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New Testament in the book of Hebrews Which takes the Levitical sacrifices that we're going to be reading about and we're going to see how the book of Hebrews then

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Take points them to the fulfillment that's in Christ So we can see then how the type and shadows in Leviticus works

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And so that'll be an interesting piece along the way and so let's let's do that work first so we can lay our foundation if you would and we're gonna be in the book of Hebrews and And we're gonna start in chapter 7 we're gonna start in chapter 7

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And the reason we're gonna start there is because Jesus is prophet Jesus is priest

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Jesus is King These are his These are his offices for us if you would so Jesus Christ as King He sits on the throne of his father

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David forever and ever and ever Amen, and so he is a descendant of David and so we can talk about Christ in his kingly office

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We could talk about Christ in his prophetic office Christ as a prophet has given us the

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Word of God and has even told us what's coming in the future and the fun part for the next few weeks

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Here as part of the preaching the lectionary readings take us into the eschatology

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So we'll be talking about the end of the world. It's always fun to do that Yeah, and you'll note that as part of the church here

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We always set aside a couple of weeks to talk about the end of the world and then we move on You know and then we get me and said the fact the church year ends with the end of the world

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Jesus showing up in glory to Judge the living and the dead and then the following week we begin Advent as we prepare for the birth of Christ and so the cycle begins all over again

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There's a wonderful rhythm to the church, but all of that being said What tribe is

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Jesus from Judah are the men of the tribe of Judah permitted to do priestly functions in them in the

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Levitical priesthood. No, not at all. In fact, there is a fellow in Scripture Let me find him real quick.

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I want to give you just a Little bit of a rundown that we do have an account in the

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Old Testament of a man of the tribe of Judah Who decided he was going to take it upon himself to do priestly functions and does anyone remember who he is?

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You get like two extra Sunday school brownie points if you can remember All right, let me find him all right, what was that?

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No, they're not they're not that you can't use them that way. All right, we're gonna take a look at 2nd

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Chronicles 26 2 Chronicles 26 and Specifically, we're going to take a look at some of the details of the reign of King Uzziah Remember that the

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Prophet Isaiah is commissioned to be a prophet in the year that King Uzziah died

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And he reigned for a long time now as King of Israel King Uzziah is going to be a descendant of David and That means he's of the tribe of Judah So, let's take a look at what happens to when somebody in the tribe of Judah tries to do the

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Levitical functions But let's read a little bit about him All the people of Judah took Uzziah who was 16 years old made him

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King instead of his father Amaziah He built Eloth Restored it to Judah after the king slept with his father's

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Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem.

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Could you imagine if Trump reigned as president for 52 years here? Just saying certain parts of our population who'd lose their minds.

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Anyway, they can't even bear what's happening right now. And Yeah, Elizabeth right she's been around for a while herself, yeah, so His mother's name was

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Jekyll. Ayah of Jerusalem He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father

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Amaziah had done He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah Who instructed him in the fear of God and as long as he sought the

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Lord God made him prosper so we learn about this fellow he's off to a good start and I mean talk about a

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Mentor in the faith, I mean he's got Zechariah as his mentor teaching him and so I mean as far as his

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Orthodoxy his impeccability is is just amazing And so what happens then in the chapter is is that we're given a list of all of the exploits that he accomplished

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Or we should say God accomplished through him because God is the one who gave him all of these victories

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But then we get to 16 verse 16. It says this regarding Uzziah When he was strong he grew proud

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To his destruction and we know what scripture says we know how the principle works

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God humbles those who exalt themselves Pride comes before a fall He was unfaithful to the

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Lord his God and listen to what he did He entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense

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Now on the surface this sounds like it should be no big deal, right?

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He loves God He's been instructed by Zechariah. This is a guy who just yearns to worship

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God and in a sense covets the work that the

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Levites are doing and he too. All he wants to do is burn incense before God.

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It's a small act of worship however According to what

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God established for the tabernacle and then the temple that followed is Anyone allowed to perform this duty who hasn't been ordained into that office to do it

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Nope, so he's king He's from Judah and he's not a

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Levite and we'll watch what happens So he wanted to burn incense on the altar

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But as a Raya the priest went in after him with 80 priests of Yahweh Who were men of valor?

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I love how scripture here says this because I mean I want you to recognize here at this point

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This is what we're gonna call an awkward situation Kings They've got armies

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They've got bodyguards. They have the sword for punishing evildoers and throughout human history men who have opposed

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Kings end up a little shorter, you know by about a head and so the high priest in that moment

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Rather than say you go right ahead and do what you want to do King He decided to do what he was supposed to do he opposed the king and that he had with him 80 other priests who were serving that day who they all joined and to resist and to stop the king from doing this and They're listening to scripture as men of valor so They withstood

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King Uzziah and they said to him it is not for you Uzziah To burn incense to Yahweh, but for the priests the sons of Aaron who are

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Consecrated to burn incense go out of the sanctuary for you have done wrong

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It will it will bring you no honor from Yahweh Elohim from the

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Lord God So Uzziah was angry Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense and when he became angry with the priests

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Leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the

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Lord by the altar of incense and Azariah the chief priests and all the priests looked at him and Behold, he was leprous in his forehead and they rushed him out quickly and he himself hurried to go out because the

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Lord had struck him and King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death and being a leper he lived in a separate house where he was excluded from the house of the

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Lord and Jotham his son was over the king's household governing the people of the land that's a severe blow and So you'll note then he reigned for 52 years but how many of those years were as a leper through an intermediary and the only thing he wanted to do was to worship

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God and To offer incense in the temple, but it was not permitted for him to do so So you'll note that the idea of a man of the tribe of Judah serving in the

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Levitical temple and No way But Jesus is our priest

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Which then begs the question in whose priesthood has he been consecrated has he been ordained into?

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That's where it's going to be very important that we pay attention because if you remember when we were working through Exodus God gave

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Moses very explicit directions. You are to build the tabernacle

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This way it is to be this length this width It is to have these things and they are to be crafted to the minute detail because why?

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because they were copies of the real thing The tabernacle on earth was a copy of the real tabernacle or the real temple

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And where's that thing? And we're gonna find out so Hebrews chapter 7

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For this Melchizedek, let me back up into six so we can grab the context on that one just a little bit six through seven

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Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. All right, we're gonna start in verse 13 of chapter 6 when

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God made a promise to Abraham Since he had no one greater by whom to swear. I love that.

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I swear by myself Yeah, when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by whom to swear he swore by himself

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Saying surely I will bless you and multiply you and thus Abraham having patiently waited

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Obtained the promise for people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is final for Confirmation.

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So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose

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He guaranteed it with an oath. God is the one who gave it made an oath So that by two unchangeable things in which is impossible for God to lie, by the way, this is not a throwaway statement

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It is impossible for God to lie in possible

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Hang on to those words because when you hear words like Take eat.

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This is the body of Christ given for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Whose words are those? Christ's he's

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God. It's impossible for him to lie So when you receive the Lord's Supper and you sit there and go yes

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My sins are forgiven you can sit there and say you can sit there and say

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God's not a liar It's not difficult for him to lie It's impossible

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Totally impossible and I love how that concept then kind of plays out in some of the writings of Luther Where Luther would say that if you were to stand before Christ on the judgment seat, you know

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There you are in the last day and Jesus says to you away from me into the fires of hell

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You stand your ground and Luther's advice and you tell him you can't send me to hell. Otherwise, you're a liar

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And if Jesus says well, what do you mean? You said I was forgiven you said that the body and blood

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That is your body and blood that I ate and drank that was for the forgiveness of my sins if you forgave my sins

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I'm saved you can't send me to hell. You pardoned me faith argues with God in this way, by the way

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Although it seems kind of impertinent Talk back to the judge on the judgment day. The whole point is is that he's he would never lie

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So when you hear the words that you are forgiven that you are pardoned that you are absolved you hang on to those by faith and faith

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Points those right those same words that God spoke right back at him and that's kind of the point So it's impossible for God to lie

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We who have fled for refuge so that we might have a strong Encouragement then to hold fast to the hope that is set before us so we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul a

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Hope that enters in to the inner place behind the curtain now note how

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The inspired author of Hebrews is talking. Is he talking about the curtain that was in Jerusalem?

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The Jesus enter in to that Holy of Holies behind that curtain

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Answer no way what happened to that to it happened? What happened to the earthly curtain when Jesus died? Torn torn from which direction by the way top to bottom

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Which is impossible for a human to do and that thing was thick Super thick so there's the inside the temple

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Christ bleeding dying the Sun darkened you can't it's practically night outside and Then Jesus cries out.

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It is finished into your hands. Oh Lord. I commend my spirit and he dies to tell us

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I it's finished and Then that curtain is torn.

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So behind which curtain did Jesus go and that's kind of the important part So we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor the soul a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain

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Where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf Having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek Melchizedek Hmm.

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What an interesting name. Does anyone remember? Melchizedek, where does he show up?

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We're gonna have to put Red Bull in the communion wine Okay All right so in the account of Of Abraham in the book of Genesis, we do have a story of the kings of Sodom and the and Gomorrah and other kings coming into conflict with Kedalaomer and an account where these kings rose up against the kings of Sodom and then lot was taken captive and then after that Abraham is told and Then we get this interesting account in Genesis 14.

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Let's take a look at it And this chapter by the way is just like verbal gymnastics in the days of Amra fell king of Shinar Ariac the king of Elisar Kedalaomer the king of Elam and Tydal the king of Goyim These kings made war with Bera the king of Sodom Bersha the king of Gomorrah Shibna the king of Adma Shemember the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bella That is

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Zohar and all these joined forces in the valley of Siddim. That is the

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Salt Sea Twelve years they had served Kedalaomer in the thirteenth year

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They rebelled and in the fourteenth year Kedalaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated ref ref

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I am in Ashtoreth and Karnaim the Zuzim in Ham Emeen in Sheva Karathim and the

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Horites in the hill country of Seir as far as El Paran on the border of the wilderness

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And they turned back and came to end Mishpat That is Kadesh and defeated all the country of the

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Malachites and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazan Tamar Everyone got an idea what's going on here, right?

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Yeah, I mean it's like reading a newspaper story of a bunch of weird tribal people having a fight with each other, right?

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So then the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Adma and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bella that is

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Zohar went out and they joined battle in the valley of Siddim with Kedalaomer the king of Elam entitled the king of Amraphel king of Shinar Ereach the king of Elessar four kings against five

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Sounds like chess now the valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits and the kings of Sodom and the Gomorrah fell

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Some fell into them and the rest fled into the hill country so the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah all their provisions and Went their way and they also took

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Lot the son of Abram's brother who was dwelling in Sodom and his possessions and they went their way

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And then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew who was living by the oaks of Mamre The Amorite brother of Eshcol and the

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Anar These were allies of Abram and when Abram heard that his kinsmen had been taken captive He led forth his trained men born in his house 318 of them and went in pursuit as far as Dan and he divided his forces against them by night

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He and his servants and he defeated them and pursued them to Hobah north of Damascus and then he brought back all the possessions and also brought back his kinsmen lot with his possessions and the

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Women and the people now a little bit of a note here. We already know that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are wicked beyond belief really like the

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Legendary for just how wicked these people are and you'll note they were taken captive and they were set free by God's grace through the man of God Abram And yet they didn't repent of their sin and all of this because of one righteous fellow and that would have been lot

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Right. So after his return from the defeat of Had the law omer the

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Kings who were with him the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Sheba That is in the

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Kings Valley. And then here is are you ready? and Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine and he was priest of God Most High He'd sit there and go what?

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Where'd this guy come from? This is like a cameo appearance So and that's all we know about him out of nowhere out of the blue Shows up a fellow whose name is

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Melchizedek The king of Salem the king of peace It's weird name right

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Melchizedek Okay, or the king of righteousness really, you know and He brought out bread and wine, of course he did

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Right, of course he did It's just very fascinating. By the way, this bread and wine thing shows up like all over the

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Old Testament, right? You know in the story of Ruth and Boaz So there you have the story of Ruth.

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So there's Boaz Making sure that Ruth is being taken care of and what does

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Boaz make sure that she has? bread and wine Of course, he does.

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He's a type in shadow of Christ. So I don't know where comes Melchizedek and it says this that He blessed

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Abram and said blessed be Abraham by God Most High possessor of heaven and earth and he blessed him

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And blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand So Abram gave him a tenth of everything and the king of Sodom said

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Ammon give me the persons But take the goods for yourself, but Abram said to the king of Sodom I've lifted up my hands to Yahweh God Most High possessor of heaven and earth

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That I would not take a thread or a sandal strap of anything that is yours. Lest you say

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I have made Abram rich I'll take nothing But what the young men have eaten and the share of the men who went with me that Aner Ashkel and Mamre take their share the end

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Cameo appearance of Melchizedek There it is So watch what the inspired author of Hebrews does with this

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Okay so we've noted that Jesus is a forerunner on our behalf and that he having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek interesting so Jesus is not part of the

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Levitical priesthood. He cannot perform any of the duties of the Levitical priests He's of the tribe of Judah.

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Uzziah tried that and it went very poorly for him But Jesus is not a

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Levite He's a Jew. He's from Judah. And now we learn that his priesthood is in the priesthood of Melchizedek Chapter 7 for this

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Melchizedek the king of Salem priest of God Most High Met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the

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Kings and he blessed him and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything He is first by translation of his name

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So you'll know we're talking about Who's the author talking about Melchizedek or Jesus?

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The answer is kind of like yes Right. Yeah, I'm convinced if you could go back to the appearance of Melchizedek there in Genesis 14

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And you had a camera crew and you filmed it that guy would look Just so ridiculously like Jesus you see what

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I'm saying here, so so we first translate his name Melchizedek, which means king of righteousness and Then he's also king of Salem Which by the way would have been the early place of where Jerusalem would have been

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He's the king of Salem. That is he's the king of peace and Salem you can translate images

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Just take that Hebrew word and just translate it into Shalom because it's a version of the of Shalom the king of Shalom peace

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He's without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning a days nor end of life, but Resembling the

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Son of God. He continues a priest for ever Huh? Okay.

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So now we're starting to figure out that whole idea of there being a temple The original and it's and what was on earth was a copy now

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We're starting to learn something about the priesthood of that original the the thing itself now see how great this man was to whom

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Abraham the Patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils and Those descendants of Levi who received the priestly office

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Have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people that is from their brothers

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Though these also are descended from Abraham but this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and Blessed him who had the promises it is beyond dispute that the inferior is

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Blessed by the superior in the one case tithes are received by mortal men

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But in the other case by one of whom it is testified that he lives One might even say that Levi himself who receives tithes

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Paid tithes through Abraham for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when

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Melchizedek met him So now you can kind of see it here. Yeah. So how do you get around this idea?

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Jesus can't be a priest because he's of Judah well, see there's a thing is that he's a priest in the order of Melchizedek and Melchizedek is superior to Levi and the proof is that Abram paid tithes to Melchizedek and Aaron and all the

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Levites were there Unborn in the loins of Abraham. That's the point now if Perfection had been attainable through the

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Levitical priesthood. Are you starting to get the idea that maybe it's not

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Right if perfection had been attainable through the little Levitical priesthood for under it the people received the

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Torah What further need would there have been for another priest to arise?

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after the order of Melchizedek Rather than one named after the order of Aaron for when there is a change in the priesthood

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There is necessarily a change in the law as well. And that's a vital piece of this

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Mosaic Covenant, is it in effect today? No, it's totally defunct

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There's been a change and we have a priest Who perpetually lives forever and ever who serves in a priestly office?

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doing his priestly duties for us and That because there's been a change in the priesthood it

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Necessitates a change in the law for the one of whom these things are spoken belong to another tribe from which no one has ever served at the altar and I Can point to one man who tried it and it didn't go well for him, right?

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For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah and in connection with that tribe

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Moses said nothing Nothing about priests So this becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek Who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement?

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Concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life for it is witnessed of him

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You are a priest forever After the order of Melchizedek this by the way is a messianic prophecy found in Psalm 110 verse 4 a

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Prophecy regarding the Messiah that the Messiah would be a priest forever Forever in the order of Melchizedek For on the one hand a former commandment is set aside

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Because of its weakness and uselessness That's talking about the Mosaic Covenant for the

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Torah made nothing perfect How many things were made perfect by the the

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Torah? Zero nada, but on the other hand a better hope is introduced

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Through which we draw near to God and it was not without an oath

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For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath But this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him the

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Lord has sworn and will not change his mind You are a priest forever again quoting

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Psalm 110 So God gave an oath regarding the

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Messiah You are a priest forever forever in the order of Melchizedek, so this makes

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Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office just like in human history from the time of Christ's Ascension until now the number of pastors there have been a whole lot of them a

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Just a lot and the reason why is because we're all sinners and we're all dying including this one and It's just a matter of time before The next guy comes here, right and then he'll die and then the next guy will come see

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So the same thing with the priests of old They were prevented by death from continuing in the office, but he

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Jesus he holds a priesthood permanently because he continues forever

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Consequently he is able to save to the uttermost. I love that word here because he's not saving just barely

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He's saving to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him Since he always lives to make intercession for him and now we see one of the priestly functions

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One of the functions of a priest is to make intercession on behalf of other people So we as Christians we are a kingdom of priests

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Well, you could talk about in one sense where Christians are well, there's a priesthood of all believers

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Well, if you're a priest What's your job then as a priest to make intercession?

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So you pray for yourself you pray for other people You pray for people to repent you pray for people to be forgiven you preach the gospel to someone you pray that God causes their

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Hearts to open up and that they would believe and receive Jesus You see this is what you do as a priest you intercede on behalf of other people, but who intercedes for us?

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One Christ himself. He is your priest in other words

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To make this personal Michael Rose Jesus has had your name on his lips interceding on your behalf

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Your name has been spoken by Jesus your priest and Lifted up to God the

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Father. He's interceding for you by name Marilyn same with you

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Cliff you as well Don Eileen Dwayne all of you

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Your names have been on Jesus's lips in his prayers for you get it

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It's amazing when you consider the implications For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest holy innocent unstained

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Separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens he has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily first for his own sins and Then for those of the people since he did this once and for all when he offered up himself

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For the law points men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath which came later than the law

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Appoints a son who has been made perfect forever chapter 8

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Now the point in what we are saying is this we have such a high priest One who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the

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Lord set up not man and there it is So Moses all the way back in Exodus is told that what you're making.

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These are copies of the original Follow the plan so that these look like what the real things are and now we learned that talking about the true

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Tabernacle is exactly the way scripture speaks That the true tent that the

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Lord set up and not on earth Moses didn't set this up, but God set it up in heaven

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For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Thus it is necessary for the priest also to have something to offer

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Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all since there are priests who offer gifts according to the

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Torah They serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things

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I love it because Hebrews tells us how to understand the

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Old Testament You see every time you hear pastor Rose, we're talking about types and shadows or copies and shadows.

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Where did he get that from? here this text Right. They serve a copy a shadow of the heavenly things for when

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Moses was about to erect the tent He was instructed by God saying see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain

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But as it is Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as As the covenant that he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises

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First for if that first covenant had been faultless There would have been no occasion to look for a second for he finds fault with them when he says

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Behold the days are coming declares the Lord When I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when

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I took them by the hand To bring them out of the land of Egypt for they did not continue in my covenant

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And so I showed no concern for them declares the Lord For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the

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Lord I'll put my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts and I will be their

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God They shall be my people and they shall not teach each one his neighbor in each one his brother saying know the

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Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the Greatest and I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins.

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No more Let me say that again. I will remember their sins. No more to which we all say

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Napoleon dynamite style. Yes Exactly, right

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So in speaking of a new covenant He makes the first one Obsolete kind of like Windows 98 and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away chapter 9

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Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness

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For a tent was prepared the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence hmm, what an interesting name for bread the bread of the presence and It's it is called the holy place behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place

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Having the golden altar of incense the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold in which was a

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Golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the

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Covenant above it were the cherubim of glory Overshadowing the mercy seat of these things

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We cannot now speak in detail and the nice thing is is that having just read out all of the book of Exodus over several

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Months, this is all fresh in our minds. We know exactly what this author is referring to So these preparations having thus been made the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties but into the second only the high priest goes and he but once a year and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people

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By this the Holy Spirit Indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing

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Which is symbolic for the present age you sit there and go Oh, so that whole first section of the tabernacle was a symbolic representation of the present age

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Got it. Now according to this arrangement gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper

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Okay They cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper quick question if they built the temple again in Jerusalem today

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Would you be traveling there to offer animal sacrifices? No way No way

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Because they are type and shadow So they cannot perfect so It cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper

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But they deal only with food and drinkings and various washings and regulations of the body imposed until the time of the

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Reformation But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have already come

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Then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation

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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 for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctified for the

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Purification of the flesh how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God Purify our conscience from dead works to serve the

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Living God Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant So that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since the death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions

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Committed under the first covenant for where where will is invoked the death of the one who made it must be established

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Now you get the idea of what's going on here this text clearly teaches us everything we're gonna read in Leviticus type and shadow pointing to Jesus and That Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of it and the book of Hebrews reveals

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Something that no human being actually saw but God the Holy Spirit revealed to the author of Hebrews and that is is that after Christ?

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Died he took his own blood into the real temple and put it on the real

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Mercy seat on the real Ark of the Covenant so that he is our once -for -all sacrifice for all of our sins and we are made perfect and our consciences are

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Comforted then through the once -for -all sacrifice of Christ and when we get into Leviticus in two weeks

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When I come back you'll see then how all of that is when you run it through Hebrews Now listen the whole book of Leviticus just comes crackling to life

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Everything is anchored in Christ. All right, any questions before we wrap up? Yeah Yes, yes we are

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Mm -hmm. Yeah Yeah, oh they here's the thing the whole grain of the

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Old Testament is running right to Christ and you now are

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Well on your way to being well -versed in Torah Having been through Genesis and Exodus You are well -versed in Torah and you can already see the connection.

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It's like how can you guys not see this? It's as plain as the nose on your face And the pimple on the end of it

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Exactly exactly All right. We'll pick this up again in two weeks next next week, by the way, no

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Sunday school But you guys will be playing Jeopardy Yes, the Jeopardy game that was supposed to be

01:02:54

On you know on the rally day that due to all kinds of bizarre circumstances didn't happen you will be playing