back to index2020-6-21 Christ, Our Fitting High Priest
00:00:06.840 |
In case some of you guys did not know, it is Father's Day today, so hopefully you guys 00:00:15.120 |
Normally obviously we have lunches and things like that prepared for Mother's Day and Father's 00:00:21.040 |
So again, we just want to thank you for the Father's Day. 00:00:23.360 |
Pastor Mark actually put up a little poem that somebody wrote for the father, so if 00:00:29.960 |
If you can turn to Hebrews 7, verse 26-28, and we're going to be really spending most 00:00:42.840 |
But I want to read that within that whole context, verse 26-28. 00:00:49.480 |
For it is fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated 00:00:54.220 |
from sinners and exalted above the heavens, who do not need daily like those high priests 00:00:58.920 |
who offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. 00:01:03.860 |
Because this he did once for all when he offered up himself. 00:01:06.520 |
For the law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath which came 00:01:11.760 |
after the law appoints a son made perfect forever. 00:01:20.160 |
We pray for your Holy Spirit to help us, guide us, keep us sober and anchored in Christ. 00:01:26.520 |
May your word go forth, convict our hearts and sanctify your church. 00:01:35.440 |
You know, at church, we've been doing inductive Bible study. 00:01:39.800 |
I mean, that's kind of like the backbone of our church since the beginning of the church 00:01:45.840 |
And that's where we get our name because the Bereans were considered more noble because 00:01:49.080 |
they tested to see if everything was biblical. 00:01:52.840 |
If there's any time in my, in the years that I've been in ministry where the church needs 00:01:58.200 |
to be absolutely grounded and committed to the word of God, it is now. 00:02:04.300 |
Because there are so many voices and so many different people, even within the church, 00:02:08.920 |
demanding that we follow one direction or the other. 00:02:13.560 |
And if we're not careful, we may be, we may find ourselves drifting with good intentions. 00:02:20.040 |
So if there's any time where we need to examine the scriptures carefully, that we may be anchored 00:02:26.360 |
Remember, I talked about how the Bible warns us about the second coming of Christ and he 00:02:32.520 |
gave us little things that we ought to be looking for so that we are not caught off 00:02:37.000 |
guard like thieves coming in the middle of the night. 00:02:39.560 |
And the reason why the Bible uses that illustration is when a thief comes into your house, you're 00:02:46.200 |
Because it's not a positive thing for a thief to come. 00:02:50.160 |
So he tells the church not to be caught off guard, to stay sober and to be watchful. 00:02:55.520 |
Well, Jesus tells us this in Matthew chapter 24 about the end times and these are some 00:03:01.560 |
of the things that we ought to be sober and pay attention to. 00:03:04.800 |
So if you look at that, it says, "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'See to it that 00:03:10.280 |
One of the primary things that characterize the end times before he comes is misleading. 00:03:17.920 |
There's going to be people in the name of Christ who are saying, "This is right and 00:03:22.700 |
For many will come in my name saying, 'I am Christ' and will mislead many." 00:03:27.240 |
The reason why he says, "I am Christ," at that time, they didn't have access to scripture 00:03:32.580 |
They're not able to run to their scroll and then examine to see if what these people were 00:03:38.140 |
If you believe that he was Christ, you just assume that he was speaking for God. 00:03:44.160 |
So the modern day translation for that is when people say, "I am Christ," they're basically 00:03:52.240 |
So the deception is going to come within the church to mislead. 00:03:57.160 |
Verse 6, "You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. 00:04:00.760 |
See that you are not frightened for those things must take place. 00:04:07.920 |
For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. 00:04:11.840 |
And in various places there will be famines and earthquakes." 00:04:16.160 |
So if you notice, when he says that nation will rise against nation, the powerful countries, 00:04:22.560 |
the countries that have something to gain or something to lose, they will be in conflict, 00:04:29.280 |
They will experience famine and all kinds of earthly disasters. 00:04:39.880 |
And if you've been paying attention to what's going on, you and I will admit that there 00:04:47.760 |
Maybe some of you guys who are younger may think that this is part of history, and it 00:04:52.800 |
But I can tell you that during my lifetime I've never seen this, to this degree. 00:04:57.320 |
I remember the last time there was a lot of talk about the second coming of Christ was 00:05:03.520 |
And simply because it was turning into a new millennium. 00:05:06.080 |
And so there was a lot of talk about the coming of Christ and be watchful, and they were saying 00:05:11.960 |
But that was purely because we were heading into a new millennium. 00:05:17.180 |
What we see now, it may or may not be, but it does have indicators that resemble what 00:05:27.280 |
Verse 9, he says, "Then they will deliver you to tribulation." 00:05:32.480 |
So after this rumbling happens, the next stage is going to be a target toward genuine Christians. 00:05:39.000 |
And they will kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations. 00:05:43.800 |
That this persecution is not going to be coming from one group of people. 00:05:48.000 |
It's not going to be coming from one area or one political party. 00:05:56.120 |
He said all the nations, they will hate you because of my name. 00:06:02.360 |
The church will be tested, and those who are hanging around and have never really counted 00:06:07.600 |
the cost, that it was very easy, and all the effort that the church has made to bring as 00:06:13.360 |
many people into the church are going to fall out when that happens. 00:06:19.680 |
He says, "And we'll betray one another and hate one another." 00:06:25.200 |
There's going to be division that is so intense in the church that it's not simply going to 00:06:28.280 |
be division where we're going to be going to different churches and saying different 00:06:35.960 |
It's the church within the church are going to be throwing insults and hatred, and both 00:06:41.040 |
sides are going to think that they are right. 00:06:46.380 |
Many false prophets will arise and mislead many, that this is not isolated with a few 00:07:03.520 |
If you've been paying attention to what's going on right now, I think you and I will 00:07:07.200 |
agree that lawlessness is increasing, and it is not isolated. 00:07:14.260 |
Most people love will grow cold because of lawlessness. 00:07:20.960 |
But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 00:07:23.160 |
The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached, that in the midst of this, there will be greater 00:07:28.760 |
division, greater hatred, greater misleading, greater rumblings, greater trials, but there 00:07:34.600 |
will be also greater preaching of the gospel. 00:07:38.400 |
And he said when the gospel reaches the remotest part of the world, he says, then I will come. 00:07:43.280 |
And he said these things will happen, and he says watch for it. 00:07:48.040 |
For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, 00:07:56.160 |
This misleading is so intense and so deep and so wide, he says if possible, even the 00:08:03.160 |
Now, when he says that, he's saying that of course the elect cannot be deceived. 00:08:09.040 |
But what he is saying that many people who we thought were elect, by their falling out, 00:08:18.880 |
It means that this division, this rumbling, this hatred is going to be intense. 00:08:30.480 |
If there's any time right now where Christians need to ground themselves in the word of God, 00:08:38.720 |
I've been telling you that as long as you've been here. 00:08:42.660 |
Because I could have the best intention and be wrong. 00:08:48.280 |
And that's why I keep telling you, examine the word of God. 00:08:54.840 |
So that your confidence doesn't come from this pulpit. 00:08:57.480 |
In fact, the greatest way to deceive you in this room is to deceive you from this pulpit. 00:09:04.560 |
So pay attention to what the word of God says. 00:09:09.620 |
If there's any time where you need to be grounded in God's word, it is now. 00:09:13.840 |
If you are not, if you're not daily walking with a God, if your mind is not daily being 00:09:28.600 |
Because you may be being influenced by misleading thoughts and not know it. 00:09:35.440 |
So at best, it's best if you're not walking right with God and the word of God is not 00:09:39.500 |
affecting you on a daily basis, to stay quiet. 00:09:43.140 |
Even if you are walking right with God, it is not the best time to be speaking. 00:09:53.200 |
Ground yourself with the word of God and cling to him. 00:09:57.260 |
Now what does that have to do with the book of Hebrews? 00:10:00.820 |
The whole letter is written to people who are in similar situation that you and I are 00:10:08.720 |
They at one point, when the early start of the movement of Christianity, they jumped 00:10:12.960 |
on board and they were high-fiving each other, visiting each other in prison, but it didn't 00:10:20.640 |
So after about 20, 30 years passed by, their leaders, their early Christian leaders were 00:10:28.960 |
So it was no longer just this movement of, "God is doing something great. 00:10:34.460 |
The Jews and the Gentiles are sitting together and sharing meals. 00:10:40.400 |
Well the initial honeymoon of that has waned. 00:10:44.920 |
And when Jesus said to pick up your cross, they are starting to realize that that is 00:10:51.600 |
And when he said to count the cost, they are really starting to have to count the cost. 00:10:56.480 |
So some of them were beginning to drift back into their old life, which happened to be 00:11:03.440 |
Because that is where the persecution was coming from. 00:11:05.560 |
That is where the difficulty was coming from. 00:11:09.440 |
They didn't deny Christ, nor did they deny the world that they came from, and they were 00:11:16.040 |
And that is why he says, "You must not drift." 00:11:20.080 |
And over and over again, he says, "You must not drift. 00:11:22.480 |
You have to be anchored in Christ, because when you drift, you won't even know that you 00:11:27.680 |
So the situation that Paul, or the author of Hebrews, is speaking to is very similar 00:11:37.200 |
to the danger that you and I are in right now. 00:11:40.080 |
Because there is so much confusion with so much voices, with so much passion being spoken 00:11:50.640 |
I have my opinions, but I am not asking you to trust my opinions. 00:11:56.000 |
I am asking you to be grounded in God's Word. 00:12:01.400 |
See Hebrews chapter 7, verse 26, starts out by saying, "For it was fitting for us to have 00:12:09.400 |
That language in English is very peculiar, because fitting seems so casual. 00:12:17.120 |
The word fitting means suitable, or proper, or right. 00:12:21.880 |
For Jesus to be our high priest, that it was simply fitting. 00:12:25.320 |
I don't know about you, but when I look at that, that's the furthest thing that I can 00:12:55.760 |
When will you ever see in our justice system a just person taking the punishment of an 00:13:10.560 |
Well, the word fitting, and I think in English, at least in the way that we understand it, 00:13:21.440 |
I think the better way for us to understand what he means by fitting, that it was necessary. 00:13:28.200 |
That only Christ could fulfill that role as our mediator. 00:13:32.840 |
It was necessary because he's the only one who qualifies. 00:13:41.000 |
There's only one mediator between us and God, Jesus Christ. 00:13:46.200 |
And so when he says it was fitting, a better way for you and I to understand it is, it 00:13:55.200 |
There was no other way that you and I would have had access to this holy God other than 00:14:05.280 |
In the very Lex 9, he actually describes what qualified him. 00:14:10.520 |
And so as we look at the meaning behind these words, what I want you to pay attention to 00:14:15.160 |
is as much as he's describing the qualification of Christ, he's also describing what disqualifies 00:14:24.760 |
And that's why it says he is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners. 00:14:31.180 |
He is unlike any other priest that came before him. 00:14:34.040 |
He is unlike any other priest that may come after him. 00:14:37.120 |
He is unlike any other human being that has ever lived. 00:14:41.200 |
And that's why it was necessary for him to be high priest. 00:14:45.640 |
So as we study these words, these three words, holy, innocent, and undefiled, remember as 00:14:54.000 |
much as Christ is being separated from the other high priest, remember that these are 00:14:58.960 |
descriptions that disqualify every single one of us. 00:15:03.440 |
He starts out by saying the reason why it was necessary was that Jesus was holy. 00:15:11.040 |
So if you read this casually, what you may get from that is Jesus is holy, holy, holy. 00:15:19.360 |
All three words basically means that he is perfect. 00:15:23.720 |
And you may just move on without really thinking more than that. 00:15:29.480 |
All these words on the surface is saying the same thing, that Jesus is perfect. 00:15:42.000 |
Now whenever we read scripture, we have to read scripture understanding that this was 00:15:55.320 |
I remember back in school, you know, basically, you know, I was a Bible major undergrad and 00:16:00.000 |
then I studied, you know, obviously theology and seminary. 00:16:03.720 |
And I took six, seven years just studying the Bible. 00:16:08.160 |
And so most of what we do is just study the text and write papers. 00:16:16.000 |
I just pump out papers for seven, eight years. 00:16:18.800 |
But I remember one of my professors would always say to us, if he didn't like your paper, 00:16:25.040 |
he would write on the top, stop pumping sunshine in your paper. 00:16:30.920 |
And what basically that means, if it was a 10-page project, that you have three pages 00:16:38.760 |
Meaning you could have said that in three pages, but the seven pages was because you're 00:16:43.900 |
And I'm sure you, some of you know exactly what I'm talking about, right? 00:16:54.420 |
You and I could put all our energy, everything that we've studied, you can Google it and 00:16:59.200 |
spend the rest of our lives writing a letter to make it as perfect as we can, using the 00:17:04.800 |
perfect vocabulary to gain all the wisdom that you and I can research and ask people 00:17:10.600 |
and write this paper, and we cannot come close to the depth of meaning of what the word of 00:17:18.540 |
Because this is an omniscient, omnipotent God who knows all things. 00:17:23.280 |
Everything that Google, that you can search, is only a drop in the bucket with what he 00:17:28.440 |
And his wisdom, he used certain words, he used certain people, he used certain contexts, 00:17:34.800 |
he used certain cultures to communicate with us his deep ideas, eternal thoughts. 00:17:44.280 |
My point is we should never read the scripture just casually, just skim through it and read 00:17:56.840 |
That's why in the inductive Bible study, one of the first things that we learn, we teach 00:18:02.420 |
Even if just one word, ask questions, ask 10 questions, even if it sounds ridiculous 00:18:07.120 |
because the asking of the questions will uncover deep treasures in the Bible. 00:18:13.280 |
Now I say all of this is set up, holy, innocent, undefiled on the surface may look the same, 00:18:23.320 |
As much as it describes the holiness of Christ, it also describes in depth the sins that disqualify 00:18:34.500 |
If you look at the Old Testament, especially in the book of Leviticus, when God says to 00:18:38.040 |
give offerings and sacrifices, he doesn't simply say, "You've missed the mark and so 00:18:43.840 |
He was so specific of what that sin looks like. 00:18:51.280 |
Your heart, your intention in the ceremony, at home, medically, things that you did on 00:18:57.840 |
purpose, things that you did by accident, about the animals, about children, about families, 00:19:07.760 |
He doesn't simply say, "You're guilty of sin." 00:19:13.960 |
The purpose of all of that is that we recognize where we are in our relationship with this 00:19:26.320 |
The typical word that you and I think of holy is the word "agios." 00:19:30.600 |
So when, oftentimes, when we talk about the word "holy," it says "agios." 00:19:36.400 |
"Agios" basically means, literally means to be set apart. 00:19:43.040 |
So an animal could be agios, holy, because it's set apart for God's use. 00:20:00.400 |
The items that are offered up that was used at the temple are holy. 00:20:06.320 |
Anything that has been set apart for God's use is holy. 00:20:13.200 |
It's a very general term to talk about something that has been set apart for God's use. 00:20:20.360 |
So you and I are holy because we have been set apart. 00:20:36.000 |
That you and I, or whoever, obeyed God's command perfectly. 00:20:51.700 |
And so when He says He is asios, then not only was He set apart, but He was the only 00:21:05.860 |
A good example of that is we see it in the book of Leviticus, chapter 10. 00:21:10.780 |
Peter and Aaron's two sons are anointed and cleansed, sprinkled with water, and they were 00:21:18.700 |
considered holy because they were set apart to be the first priests to offer sacrifices. 00:21:25.860 |
But they disobeyed God by offering strange fire. 00:21:32.060 |
These are the things that you need to do in order for you to be able to come before me. 00:21:44.460 |
And as a result, they see the capital punishment. 00:21:49.860 |
Romans 15.4 says, "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? 00:22:00.020 |
We all together are agios because we have been set apart. 00:22:07.140 |
You know, if you're a Jew, the word "without defect" would have been ringing in your ears 00:22:12.600 |
Because over and over again in the book of Leviticus, you will see the term "without 00:22:42.940 |
But out of all of them, the priests had to be without defect. 00:22:49.060 |
"No man among the descendants of Aaron, the priest who has a defect, is to come near to 00:22:53.780 |
offer the Lord's offering by fire, since he has a defect. 00:22:57.220 |
He shall not come near to offer the food of his God." 00:23:03.140 |
If you believe that this is the way to get to God, what a tremendous burden. 00:23:16.220 |
You know people joke about having Asian parents that A is not enough. 00:23:21.340 |
And if you get A plus, you have to A plus plus. 00:23:23.340 |
And you get A plus plus, you have to get A plus plus plus. 00:23:31.740 |
I don't think Asians are the only ones guilty of that, but that's where typically the joke 00:23:36.420 |
I mean, it makes Asian parents look like the gracious people in the world. 00:23:45.380 |
You have to use the right pen, the right paper, the right ruler, the right seat, at the right 00:23:57.840 |
And you can't get 99.9% right, because the moment that you get that 1% wrong, you're 00:24:09.220 |
If this was the way to get to God, who can worship this God? 00:24:16.940 |
The whole point of all of this was the point to somebody who was going to fulfill all of 00:24:22.660 |
And that's why he says it was necessary, because no man could fulfill this. 00:24:37.140 |
That's why it was necessary for Christ to be our mediator. 00:24:42.320 |
Now we can stop right there, because that alone disqualifies every human being that 00:24:48.760 |
has ever been born on this earth, past, present, and future. 00:24:53.120 |
And we can move on just from that and say, OK, we're done. 00:24:58.920 |
But the Bible is much more accurate than that. 00:25:03.120 |
And then he says, not only is he asias, he is innocent. 00:25:09.720 |
The King James is translated harmless or blameless. 00:25:16.440 |
Whenever you see in the Greek the word ah in front of a word, the ah basically means 00:25:26.520 |
You know what's really interesting about this word is that the theologians believe the application 00:25:31.200 |
of this word literally means to not be duplicitous. 00:25:37.360 |
That in your doing good, somebody who is akakas always has some evil in it. 00:25:47.880 |
Meaning every human being in every good endeavor, because of our fallen nature, there is some 00:26:04.040 |
There is some pride that always taints every good thing that we do. 00:26:09.160 |
And only Christ is completely akakas, without evil. 00:26:15.280 |
And that's what it means that he is separated from all the other human beings. 00:26:23.180 |
Even at our best attempt, it is with our fallen nature that we do what we do. 00:26:29.580 |
You know the perfect example of that is found in Matthew chapter 16, 22 to 23. 00:26:34.000 |
This is right after Jesus tells Peter, "Who do men say that I am?" 00:26:40.840 |
And then Jesus says, "Upon this rock I will build my church." 00:26:44.640 |
And then in the very next passage, Jesus says, "I'm going to go to the cross." 00:26:51.400 |
And Jesus and Peter, with his good intention, and you have to remember that Peter loved 00:27:09.200 |
And that's what he was doing at the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:27:14.320 |
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Jesus and saying, "God forbid it, Lord. 00:27:27.720 |
Not only does he say that, he says, "It's not going to happen to you. 00:27:32.480 |
I'm going to stay loyal to you and I'll fight till death. 00:27:36.560 |
And I think Peter meant it with all his heart. 00:27:52.880 |
There's self-confidence, self-glory that all the other disciples were wrestling with. 00:27:58.240 |
And Jesus rebukes him, says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan." 00:28:05.280 |
Even in his loyalty, even in his attempt to do good, Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan." 00:28:19.040 |
Can you imagine how shocking this must have been for Peter? 00:28:26.000 |
I said this because I'm literally willing to die for you. 00:28:31.040 |
I can't speak for the other disciples, but I will go to death with you, for you. 00:28:42.480 |
He doesn't just say, "Peter, you missed the point. 00:28:51.600 |
"You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interest, 00:28:59.520 |
What is the man's interest that he's talking about? 00:29:12.320 |
And he said, "It's satanic because you're concerned about my flesh." 00:29:23.440 |
God came for the spiritual redemption of mankind. 00:29:29.680 |
That in your attempt to do good, you deny the cause of Christ. 00:29:36.320 |
So that's what he means, "Cacas," without evil. 00:29:41.040 |
That even in our best endeavors, we have been tainted by sin. 00:29:46.720 |
So if Christ is the only one that is without defect, there is no hidden motive behind him, 00:29:55.280 |
that all that, even when it seems to be no good, that only Christ is good. 00:29:59.840 |
The best and the safest place for you and I to be is to be where he is. 00:30:11.320 |
That we do not make our own cause and then cry out to God to join us. 00:30:17.800 |
That we see what his cause is and we join him. 00:30:21.480 |
That even in our very causes, we are tainted with "Cacas." 00:30:32.800 |
People come to Christ with a friend that they have who is lame. 00:30:42.320 |
I mean, they took a risk messing up someone's house. 00:30:45.560 |
They cut the line with many people who are there because they're desperate. 00:30:50.560 |
So you can imagine the pain of the paralytic. 00:31:00.600 |
That even if we get yelled at, even if we get put to jail, even if we get stoned, I'm 00:31:08.280 |
So you can imagine the suffering of that individual and the friends who are coming alongside to 00:31:33.400 |
In response to that, he says in verse 5, which is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven," 00:31:40.440 |
"But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." 00:31:47.000 |
Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, pick up your bed, and go home." 00:31:57.200 |
And he raised paralytics, all for this purpose. 00:32:03.000 |
So that mankind may know that he came to forgive sins. 00:32:08.160 |
Because man's problem is not being paralytic. 00:32:41.880 |
That even in the context of doing good, that we have cacos in us. 00:33:00.000 |
That same word is being used in Hebrews 13.5, saying that do not defile the marriage bed. 00:33:07.800 |
The word basically means Christ, that he is obedient externally. 00:33:16.200 |
Internally, he is without defect, without sin. 00:33:21.240 |
And then the third word, undefiled, means that he continues to remain in that position 00:33:31.320 |
It covers your external obedience, it covers your internal obedience, and it covers the 00:33:42.920 |
The guilt offering in the Old Testament, of the five major offerings, was when somebody 00:33:50.320 |
dedicated, let's say an animal to be dedicated and to be given as a sacrifice, it became 00:33:59.480 |
But an individual inadvertently defiles that animal, that person who gave the offering 00:34:07.640 |
So the guilt offering basically called the man to basically give sacrifice to atone for 00:34:13.560 |
his sin, but also to compensate for the damage that he's done by giving an extra 20%. 00:34:25.280 |
So the whole offering was, if you defile someone else's offering, you have to give them and 00:34:30.440 |
compensate them, along with repenting for your own sins. 00:34:40.160 |
Obviously the animal was without defect when they brought it to the temple, but what would 00:34:47.400 |
Because if it was already defiled, he wouldn't be able to bring it to the temple to begin 00:34:55.960 |
The animal gets defiled when he is declared without defect, and he is dedicated to the 00:35:03.160 |
Lord and another defiled human being touches it. 00:35:12.800 |
And so they can no longer use that animal for sacrifice. 00:35:16.980 |
It was the human touch that defiled that animal. 00:35:22.520 |
You know, one of the best explanations of this is found in the book of the holiness 00:35:29.640 |
There's a section on that that describes about the punishment that Uzzah got. 00:35:34.920 |
After David gets anointed as king, the Ark of the Covenant is with the Philistines, and 00:35:44.680 |
And as they are bringing the cart back, the Ark of the Covenant slips, and Uzzah reaches 00:35:49.900 |
over and he touches it to keep it balanced so that it doesn't fall to the ground. 00:35:54.960 |
Uzzah's anger is burned, and as a result, Uzzah dies. 00:36:03.920 |
I remember reading that for the first time thinking, how is this fair? 00:36:13.360 |
Uzzah was trying to straighten this out so that the Ark of the Covenant would not get 00:36:19.920 |
And he went all the way over there to get it. 00:36:26.280 |
Sproul does the best job describing this because I remember years ago when I read holiness 00:36:29.960 |
for the first time, it was paradigm shifting. 00:36:36.080 |
Because by that time, I was already several years as a pastor, and I've given sermons 00:36:43.760 |
He would evangelize by saying that we've offended a holy God, so I've been talking about this. 00:36:48.940 |
But it didn't hit me the way that it hit me when I realized to the depth of my sins and 00:36:59.440 |
If you've been at a church and you kind of read it, you skim through it, but you don't 00:37:04.600 |
really understand the gravity of this, I think R.J. 00:37:09.760 |
He says in his book on that chapter about that event, we must ask the question, what 00:37:15.200 |
was the Ark doing on an ox cart in the first place? 00:37:18.760 |
God was so strict about the holy things of the temple that the Kohothites were not even 00:37:26.960 |
God had decreed that if a Kohothite merely glanced at the Ark in the Holy of Holies for 00:37:34.320 |
Not only was Uzzah forbidden to touch the Ark, he was forbidden even to look at it. 00:37:40.640 |
He stretched out his hand and put it squarely on the Ark, steadying it in place lest it 00:37:50.440 |
It was an act of arrogance, a sin of presumption. 00:37:53.360 |
Uzzah assumed that his hand was less polluted than the Earth, but it wasn't the ground or 00:38:08.640 |
It obeys the laws of nature which God has established. 00:38:11.200 |
When the temperature falls to a certain point, the ground freezes. 00:38:14.380 |
When water is added to dust, it becomes mud, just as God decided. 00:38:23.560 |
God did not want his holy throne to be touched by that which was contaminated by evil, that 00:38:29.120 |
which was in rebellion to him, that which by its ungodly revolt had brought the whole 00:38:34.240 |
of creation to ruin and caused the ground and the sky and the waters of the sea to groan 00:38:39.480 |
together in travail waiting for the day of redemption. 00:38:57.820 |
No human being can stand before a holy God and live. 00:39:02.360 |
In Jeremiah 6, 14-15, before the Assyrians come and take Israel to captivity, Jeremiah 00:39:08.400 |
pleads with the nation of Israel, and one of the constant themes of the book of Jeremiah 00:39:15.040 |
is that they have taken the sins of my people lightly. 00:39:20.400 |
And you see that phrase repeated over and over again. 00:39:23.360 |
They have healed the brokenness of my people superficially saying, "Peace, peace," but 00:39:30.640 |
And then he describes, were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? 00:39:39.640 |
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. 00:39:42.960 |
See, they're crying out for peace, but God says there is no peace. 00:39:50.160 |
There will be no peace until there is an answer for sin. 00:40:00.700 |
People today are shocked because they've seen racism on videos. 00:40:13.760 |
Racism has always been, but the problem with mankind goes much deeper than what you have 00:40:28.040 |
What you are seeing on video that is different than maybe 10, 15 years ago, it's being blasted 00:40:33.240 |
on video everywhere, but mankind has not changed. 00:40:38.800 |
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:40:45.580 |
The problem that we see now is much deeper than what you have seen. 00:40:52.560 |
People ask me, "Why did you stop doing homeless ministry?" 00:40:58.320 |
I mean, you thought, you and your wife Esther thought that you were going to do that full 00:41:03.560 |
time and that you hated the church and all that was true, but why did you stop? 00:41:10.200 |
I remember years ago, I was out on the street and I saw this lady, a middle-aged lady, and 00:41:20.280 |
she had two young kids, one girl, one boy, and what I remember about those two kids were 00:41:27.880 |
like this bright brown eyes, so cute, so intelligent, but they were living out of their mom's truck. 00:41:38.440 |
This wasn't a truck that had the camping thing in the background. 00:41:46.440 |
The mom was in the driver's seat and the other two kids on that, and that's where they were 00:42:00.440 |
We'll buy you food, and then send your kids to school. 00:42:04.640 |
Send your kids to school and then maybe hopefully we can help you get on your feet and then 00:42:13.800 |
She came with us, put her in a hotel near where we were living at that time, and I would 00:42:18.800 |
come and check up on her every once in a while, and about a week to a week and a half passed, 00:42:24.440 |
and I get a phone call from the motel and she said, "You need to come here because the 00:42:31.440 |
So I go and I knock on the door and when she hears my voice, she finally opens, and I opened 00:42:47.840 |
So it was at the height of the bed, and I was shocked because there's no way they could 00:42:55.540 |
She must have brought it in from outside, so something was not well with her. 00:42:59.880 |
So I convinced her, "Let the ladies come in and clean up. 00:43:03.440 |
Just leave for 10 minutes and let them clean up." 00:43:05.600 |
She agreed, cleaned it up, and I asked her, "Just let them come in and do their... 00:43:12.560 |
Another week goes by and I get a phone call and he said, "The lady hasn't let us into 00:43:19.520 |
I go back to check up on her and I open the door, same thing, and I asked her to do that 00:43:27.840 |
And then the very next day she packed up her bags and she disappeared. 00:43:39.320 |
I've seen plenty of ladies like her out on the street during that time, but these two 00:43:43.560 |
kids were bright young kids who were just following the mom around, just sleeping in 00:43:57.680 |
He was a Cuban-African-American guy that I met out on the street. 00:44:01.680 |
He was funny, he was charismatic, but he was an alcoholic. 00:44:08.280 |
I invited him to come and he felt bad, so he said, "Can I stay at the church?" 00:44:12.160 |
And not at this church, but the previous church I was serving at in Irvine. 00:44:21.000 |
And so our church guys would take him out to eat, buy him stuff, but after a few months 00:44:27.040 |
we would see him disappear and then find him in bars, completely drunk, out of control. 00:44:33.680 |
Then I'd have to reprimand him and then the next week or so he'd be fine and then after 00:44:40.320 |
And after about two, three months of that, he ended up leaving and I couldn't help him. 00:44:46.880 |
Remember I told you that I was out on the street for a few days because I wanted to 00:44:50.680 |
If I'm going to work with the homeless, I need to know what it's like. 00:44:59.680 |
He was an ex-gang member, a drug addict that I met out on the street. 00:45:05.160 |
He became a Christian while he was in prison. 00:45:07.960 |
So he came out and I met him and I befriended him. 00:45:12.080 |
And we were good enough friends where I would invite him to church and he would come on 00:45:16.480 |
I would go pick him up, hit up church, and then I would take him back to his housing 00:45:23.720 |
And so when I was out on the street, he was the one who took care of me. 00:45:28.560 |
And that's why I was able to go out because him and another friend basically stuck with 00:45:34.200 |
He's the one who took me to the shelter, to the food lines, and showed me what was going 00:45:39.680 |
But after a while, Angel couldn't kick his crack at it. 00:45:47.920 |
So he would disappear for two, three months, and then he would show back up at Santa Ana. 00:45:56.280 |
And he was embarrassed, but he told me, "I was in jail." 00:46:08.440 |
He went through that for about a year, year and a half before he disappeared. 00:46:14.080 |
I just assumed that he did something more serious and he got sentenced to jail. 00:46:24.200 |
I can tell you story after story after story of frustration after frustration after frustration. 00:46:31.440 |
The story that to me stands out the most, I remember I shared with you, I had a guy 00:46:43.440 |
He has an Asian name, but he was an African American guy. 00:46:47.280 |
So I met him out on the street, and you would never know he's homeless. 00:46:52.840 |
He was another guy who went to prison because of drugs, came out, he cleaned himself up. 00:46:58.840 |
And Esther and I were just talking about him just a few days ago. 00:47:02.640 |
And the thing that we remember the most about Michael is he smelled like soap. 00:47:13.200 |
I never really put it together that maybe I, you know, if I was to psychoanalyze him, 00:47:19.440 |
that he constantly felt dirty because he couldn't kick the cocaine out of it. 00:47:26.320 |
But he was at our church, and I was with him for almost a year and a half, two years. 00:47:34.480 |
Some of our old, old Korean members, no, again, I'm not talking about our church members. 00:47:43.360 |
They loved him because, you know, we used to play so much basketball, and he was good 00:47:50.880 |
You know, he was the trash guy who picked up everything. 00:47:54.120 |
He hustled like crazy, and he would give it to the shooters. 00:47:59.640 |
So our church guys bought him basketball shoes because it was his birthday. 00:48:04.440 |
He was about two, three years older than I was. 00:48:08.640 |
You know, this is a guy who was struggling with crack, and they bought him Michael Jordan's. 00:48:15.520 |
It was like $160, $170 they bought him because they loved him. 00:48:19.000 |
They loved the fact that he's there, and he's getting off of drugs. 00:48:26.400 |
And I was so frustrated with him because I was doing discipleship, and he'd be doing 00:48:33.800 |
Remember I told you I got pulled over by a cop with an African-American friend? 00:48:42.720 |
So in order to help him, I told him to come into my house so that we can watch him, keep 00:48:53.560 |
Well they gave him that shoe, and a few days later he disappeared for two weeks. 00:49:01.200 |
After two weeks, I said, "Man, what's going on with Michael?" 00:49:03.720 |
You know, and I went out to Santa Ana looking for him. 00:49:06.760 |
And I knew it had to be something with drugs because he was constantly struggling with 00:49:10.480 |
Two weeks later, he showed up at my house barefoot. 00:49:15.520 |
And he was older than me, but he was crying like a baby. 00:49:24.760 |
He was crying because he couldn't kick his habit. 00:49:34.600 |
I wanted to just lay hands and just cast that out of him. 00:49:50.760 |
So every time he did that, it was like a good friend that I couldn't bring out of the mud. 00:50:00.520 |
Eventually I had to send him home, which was in Virginia. 00:50:08.640 |
And again, this is before the internet, this is before cell phones. 00:50:12.080 |
So I would get letters every once in a while, and he told me he found a job. 00:50:15.860 |
And the job had some sort of a drug program where they would move him from place to place 00:50:21.200 |
so that he doesn't get comfortable and find drugs. 00:50:24.180 |
And he would send me every time, saying, "Hey, I'm doing well. 00:50:28.400 |
And this was going on for maybe about a year or so. 00:50:31.900 |
Then he just started disappearing, and I stopped hearing from him. 00:50:35.380 |
And I just assumed that he started struggling with drugs again. 00:50:38.380 |
The problem of mankind is not something you and I can fix. 00:50:52.940 |
It is the arrogance of man to think that if we just work harder, if we are better united, 00:51:00.740 |
if we put better policy, that we can fix this problem. 00:51:04.900 |
You know, so many people say, "Oh, we've got to stop the sex trafficking." 00:51:07.860 |
Yeah, I mean, if that doesn't burn your heart and bring you to tears, there's something 00:51:19.860 |
But the way that we go about helping is, "Oh, we're going to go and we're going to deliver 00:51:26.660 |
What they don't realize is that the majority of these young girls are coming out of their 00:51:36.660 |
They walk into where these Westerners are and offering up their bodies because that's 00:51:46.900 |
And we think that if we just eradicate these bad men, that that will take care of the problem. 00:51:56.700 |
The fallenness of where you and I are is much deeper and greater than you and I could possibly 00:52:05.780 |
So when the Bible says that it was necessary for Christ to come, it means He is the only 00:52:14.660 |
He is the only way that we can even make a dent on what you and I see. 00:52:23.900 |
The years of frustration of trying to help people, I realize I don't have the power. 00:52:32.220 |
What is foolishness to man is the power of God, Christ crucified. 00:52:42.900 |
They seek for signs and the other look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. 00:52:51.020 |
Foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God for those who are being saved. 00:52:56.500 |
So as we are stirred by what's going on around us, do not run to the same hope that the world 00:53:05.020 |
Do not run to the same things that they think are going to fix this. 00:53:09.260 |
It should remind us even further to get back to what God called us to begin with, to go 00:53:15.140 |
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son 00:53:20.360 |
and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo, I am 00:53:27.860 |
We speak of coming to Christ so casually because the church has in the last three, four decades 00:53:34.560 |
have tried so hard to make God so accessible to as many people as possible and they have 00:53:45.660 |
Exodus 32 verse 33 verse 20 says, "But he said, 'You cannot see my face, for no man 00:53:52.160 |
Deuteronomy 5.25, "Now when they should, why should we die? 00:53:57.880 |
If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die." 00:54:02.860 |
They didn't see God's presence as something to be welcomed because they knew who he was. 00:54:09.960 |
They were trembling in fear when God told them to come. 00:54:15.720 |
Even when Moses came up and just glory, a reflection of his glory brought fear to the 00:54:20.520 |
nation of Israel and they begged him to stay in the tent because the reflection of God's 00:54:30.720 |
First Samuel chapter 5 verse 10, the Philistines wanted the ark to be gone because everywhere 00:54:36.720 |
the ark went, people broke out in cancer and tumors. 00:54:44.560 |
David, not knowing as a young king, thought, "We're going to bring this presence of God 00:54:51.240 |
And he learned through the death of Uzzah not to take lightly. 00:54:56.920 |
And that's why in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 5, when Isaiah is confronted with God's holiness, 00:55:01.680 |
he doesn't say, "Thank you for showing me your glory." 00:55:06.700 |
He broke down and he says, "Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean 00:55:14.120 |
lips and I live among people of unclean lips. 00:55:17.280 |
For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts." 00:55:29.660 |
That's what he means when he says it was necessary. 00:55:44.880 |
If there's any time that we need to be reminded of this is right now. 00:55:55.240 |
It is against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, the 00:56:00.840 |
spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 00:56:05.920 |
You're not going to go into battle to conquer demons simply by yelling and by organizing 00:56:21.200 |
If there's anything that we are sure to do now more than ever is to be the light. 00:56:33.320 |
Let the world where it's hurting know there's hope in the name of Jesus Christ and Jesus 00:57:00.120 |
Lord, so many people are hurting, crying out. 00:57:09.680 |
I know, Father God, that you saw the hurting world and you had compassion and that's why 00:57:18.720 |
Help us to show that compassion by deed and by words. 00:57:26.920 |
Help us, Lord God, not to be indifferent to the suffering of sinners. 00:57:32.920 |
But in the midst of that, help us never forget why you came. 00:57:42.120 |
Help us to be your ambassadors and be a light, especially now that we would not turn from 00:57:50.880 |
With all the confusing voices, Lord God, even coming from within the church, help us to 00:57:56.440 |
hear your son's voice and only his voice that we may follow him.