back to index2020-6-28 True Tabernacle
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 8, we're going to continue our studies 00:00:18.720 |
Hebrews chapter 8, verses 1 through 8, reading out of the book of Hebrews, NASB. 00:00:27.760 |
Now the main point in what has been said is this, we have such a high priest who has taken 00:00:32.600 |
his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heavens, a minister in the 00:00:36.800 |
sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man. 00:00:41.840 |
Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it is necessary that 00:00:46.440 |
this high priest also have something to offer. 00:00:49.880 |
Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer 00:00:55.080 |
the gifts according to the law, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, 00:00:58.920 |
just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle. 00:01:03.560 |
For see he says that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. 00:01:08.740 |
But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the mediator of a 00:01:13.520 |
better covenant which has been enacted on better promises. 00:01:22.320 |
We pray for your Holy Spirit to continue to guide and lead us and your word Lord God would 00:01:29.120 |
cause us to be anchored in Christ and Christ alone. 00:01:33.540 |
If our hearts and our mind Lord has been distracted in anything else but you, we pray Father that 00:01:38.040 |
this morning you would teach us that we may hear from you and that we may follow your 00:01:49.440 |
You know as we study the Bible one of the most important things in understanding what 00:02:02.200 |
You have to understand everything in context. 00:02:04.200 |
So you have to understand the verse in the context of the passage. 00:02:10.760 |
You have to understand the passage in the context of the letter. 00:02:14.480 |
And you have to understand the letter in the context of the covenant, the New Testament 00:02:20.040 |
And you have to understand everything in the context of the redemptive history, meaning 00:02:23.960 |
the meta narrative, the large narrative that God is giving. 00:02:27.400 |
So when we study the details obviously we're studying the author, we're studying the recipients, 00:02:35.240 |
But at the same time there is a larger picture that we have to learn how to connect to which 00:02:43.960 |
And if we don't connect it, we don't know how it belongs to God's redemptive history, 00:02:47.560 |
you're going to miss the whole point because the true author of the Bible is the Holy Spirit. 00:02:54.840 |
Even though he used different people at different times to deal with certain specific things, 00:03:01.720 |
the Bible was never meant to be read in sections. 00:03:05.880 |
The sections need to be understood in the context of the larger book, the Old Testament 00:03:11.680 |
The reason why I say that, without understanding the meta narrative, the book of Jonah becomes 00:03:18.880 |
a story about a man who decides not to obey God and then he gets swallowed up by a whale. 00:03:32.320 |
The book of Hosea is about how we need to be gracious to prostitutes. 00:03:37.680 |
Homer is going to keep prostituting herself, but we should love people like we love prostitutes. 00:03:44.080 |
If we don't understand how this fits into the larger narrative. 00:03:47.440 |
The book of Jonah was written as a rebuke to the nation of Israel in the context of 00:03:52.560 |
God calling the nation of Israel to be a blessing to the rest of the nation. 00:03:56.560 |
His intent was always, in Genesis chapter 12, to bless them and that they would be a 00:04:03.840 |
So God's purpose was the world, was always the world. 00:04:07.400 |
But by the time of Jonah being written, they didn't care about the rest of the world, only 00:04:13.080 |
And that's why the letter ends with rebuke to Jonah. 00:04:16.380 |
What is it to you that I show mercy to these people? 00:04:21.640 |
So if you don't connect that to the meta narrative, it just becomes a good story to tell in Sunday 00:04:29.440 |
Or stay away from whales if you're disobedient, right? 00:04:34.920 |
Book of Hosea is, again, a rebuke to the nation of Israel. 00:04:38.960 |
And the way that God calls Hosea to love this prostitute, Gomer, is the way that God continues 00:04:44.320 |
to love the nation of Israel and God's people. 00:04:47.560 |
And he's warning them at some point, this grace is going to run out. 00:04:52.200 |
So he's trying to bring them back to repentance. 00:04:56.280 |
Now I say all of this is because not only book of Jonah or Hosea, every part of scripture 00:05:02.120 |
we have to keep asking what is the main point. 00:05:05.840 |
We've been studying the Melchizedek, the priesthood of Jesus, of Melchizedek, which Jesus came 00:05:15.000 |
We took a long break and then we picked it back up in chapter seven. 00:05:19.760 |
He's going to lead to a better ministry, better covenant, and then we're going to get into 00:05:26.800 |
And so we're going to be on this subject, even if we don't mention Melchizedek every 00:05:31.800 |
We're going to be on this subject for a while. 00:05:35.160 |
But the goal of this study isn't simply so that you can say, you know what, Melchizedek 00:05:38.760 |
is a hard, hard to understand, but good thing we went through it. 00:05:45.320 |
If you, if that's your point, you missed the whole point, right? 00:05:49.360 |
In fact, some, anybody who studied the book of Hebrews may be eager to jump to chapter 00:05:59.360 |
Chapter seven, eight, and nine is the core of the book of Hebrews. 00:06:03.560 |
Because if you don't fully grasp who Jesus is, whatever it is that you do is going to 00:06:09.400 |
be founded upon whatever you think he is, not who he is. 00:06:15.160 |
And that's the common mistake that churches make. 00:06:18.660 |
When we get riled up into action without having a good foundation of who Jesus is and what 00:06:24.480 |
he calls us to do, we can be well-meaning and give all our efforts and pour all our 00:06:29.440 |
energy into things that in the end may have nothing to do with God. 00:06:34.520 |
So we need to make sure that we are completely anchored in Christ, that no matter what it 00:06:40.400 |
is that we endeavor to do, that it is because this is what Christ would do. 00:06:47.240 |
So to make it easy, chapter eight actually begins by telling us now the main point. 00:06:57.400 |
Sometimes you study the Bible and you really have to search for it, because the main point 00:07:02.240 |
And then after you study, you say, "Oh, this is the main point." 00:07:06.680 |
Verse one, he says, "Now the main point in what has been said is this." 00:07:11.480 |
So what he has to say, basically we need to pay attention. 00:07:19.640 |
This is what he wants us to get, the main point. 00:07:22.200 |
And so the next phrase that comes really is a summary of what he's going to say in the 00:07:31.680 |
We have such a high priest, meaning Christ, who has taken his seat, number one. 00:07:40.560 |
And so we're going to be talking about what does that mean for him to take his seat. 00:07:45.080 |
Second, he's taken his seat at the right hand of the throne. 00:07:49.720 |
What does it mean for his seat to be at the right hand? 00:07:53.000 |
And then third, that this throne is the majesty in heaven. 00:07:59.160 |
So that kind of summarizes everything that he really wants to say. 00:08:02.800 |
And then the conclusion of that, because this is who he is and this is what he has done, 00:08:08.060 |
he concludes in verse six by saying, "But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, 00:08:13.320 |
by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on 00:08:21.400 |
Because remember, he's talking to a group of people who are drifting back into their 00:08:26.800 |
old system, the Judaistic system, because it was easier and it was much more tangible. 00:08:35.000 |
So in order to avoid hardship in life, they were trying to blend the old life and the 00:08:41.760 |
And so the point of all of this is, you either don't understand who Christ is, or you've 00:08:53.720 |
Whatever the case is, and whatever the reason you have drifted, it is important for us to 00:09:02.120 |
I think, you know, either there are people in the church who really don't care. 00:09:07.200 |
Just tell me that I believe Jesus and I'm going to go to heaven, and everything in between 00:09:10.320 |
really doesn't matter because all I really want from Christ is to go to heaven, not to 00:09:17.640 |
And there's a lot of people in the church who really believe very little, if any, of 00:09:23.320 |
Christ and it is enough that they've been baptized and that they're going to go to heaven. 00:09:28.360 |
And everything in between is just not that important. 00:09:31.240 |
They'll never say it because in the church culture you'll be rebuked for that, but in 00:09:36.120 |
everything in their life, every thought, what they're interested in, what makes them happy, 00:09:39.720 |
what they get excited about, really has nothing to do with Christ. 00:09:44.720 |
It's just a minimum thing that I need to do so that I can feel safe about not going to 00:09:52.040 |
And we may find that at the end of all of this, that they never had faith to begin with. 00:09:57.520 |
And then there are Christians who genuinely are just entangled with things in life and 00:10:02.040 |
they are constantly just being tempted back and forth. 00:10:06.480 |
And all the more why we need to constantly focus our attention on Christ so that we may 00:10:12.680 |
Or we have such a superficial understanding of the Savior that we sing about, that we 00:10:17.760 |
say is the most important thing in our life, but we've never invested any time really searching, 00:10:24.520 |
And it is enough to read little articles and hear sermons once a week and that's enough. 00:10:29.240 |
And as a result of that, as a superficial understanding of who Christ is, it's caused 00:10:36.200 |
So whenever there is a wind of doctrine, any cultural change, anything that's going on 00:10:41.800 |
around us, we get tossed back and forth, back and forth because we're not anchored in Christ. 00:10:46.400 |
All the more why we need to be anchored in Christ. 00:10:52.000 |
If this is the main point of all things, and we have such a high priest, the first thing 00:10:58.560 |
Again, if you understand that without context, what's the big deal? 00:11:04.320 |
You're sitting down, so Jesus is sitting down. 00:11:08.440 |
Well, the way that, again, a Jew would have heard this, it's very significant because 00:11:14.080 |
in Hebrews 10-11, this is how priests are described. 00:11:18.360 |
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices 00:11:26.920 |
But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of 00:11:34.200 |
So he makes a distinction that all other priests were standing, but Jesus sat down. 00:11:40.340 |
And there's huge significance in that because at the tabernacle, there was no seat. 00:11:46.320 |
It was not like a place like, "Oh, I'm so tired. 00:11:48.880 |
I'm going to go into the tent and rest for a while." 00:11:54.400 |
You came in, you did the job, whether you were a priest or whether you were the one 00:11:58.840 |
who brought the sacrifice, it was a sacred place. 00:12:09.320 |
Some of you guys who were alive when we were doing the book of Leviticus, right? 00:12:24.260 |
If you remember the mercy seat, it's described as the two wings of seraphim, and at the middle, 00:12:33.680 |
The high priest could only go into the holy of holies, the inner chamber, and he would 00:12:40.200 |
He would sprinkle the blood of the animals, representing cleansing of the sins. 00:12:47.040 |
And so the mercy seat was the place where the holy God came and met the sinners. 00:12:55.840 |
And the high priest, representing the nation of Israel, God's people, met God at that mercy 00:13:10.280 |
In fact, it was such a scary, terrifying thing to enter the holy of holies, God told Aaron 00:13:17.880 |
to put a bell on him so that when he went in, people outside could hear that possibly, 00:13:29.160 |
Remember the very first gift that is offered up, Neideb and Nebihu? 00:13:37.960 |
The high priest was to enter into the most sacred place. 00:13:42.640 |
So if these two offerers died giving a regular sacrifice, how much more would a high priest 00:13:50.040 |
be in danger if he went in there nonchalantly and didn't follow the prescription that God 00:14:00.760 |
So the significance behind when he says, "We have such a high priest who has taken his 00:14:08.680 |
It has huge theological implication because the only seat that existed at the tabernacle 00:14:14.840 |
was at the mercy seat, meaning Christ came and he sat on that seat. 00:14:22.580 |
That he was the only one who was going to mediate between sinners and God. 00:14:30.520 |
If he wasn't a God, he wouldn't be able to enter. 00:14:36.780 |
He was the perfect mediator between God and man. 00:14:41.720 |
In other words, he came and he never came back out. 00:14:46.560 |
Just like every other priest, they went and did their work, they stood up and then they 00:14:50.960 |
But Jesus came in, he sat on his throne, and he never came out. 00:14:54.560 |
In other words, his work of mediation was finished. 00:15:01.640 |
That only Christ, who came in the order of Melchizedek, King of righteousness, King of 00:15:12.980 |
Now again, when we read this not understanding the context, it's like, "Oh, he sat down. 00:15:19.360 |
No, it means that he was the only one who was qualified. 00:15:25.380 |
It meant that he sat down and never came back out. 00:15:29.360 |
He sat down on the throne that even the most holiest of man, the high priest, could only 00:15:40.860 |
Secondly, it says he sat down at the right hand of the throne. 00:15:45.400 |
Now the term right hand, we use that all the time too. 00:15:51.800 |
What we mean by that is, I have full confidence in him. 00:15:56.600 |
I've given, he's my ambassador, so he's my right hand man. 00:16:00.040 |
Whatever I need to do, he's the guy that I rely on to get it done. 00:16:05.640 |
The term right hand in the Bible is a very significant term because it is used at the 00:16:14.080 |
Psalm chapter 110, Matthew 22, Ephesians 1, Romans 8, Mark 16, Acts chapter 2, and chapter 00:16:23.140 |
Over and over again, there's a reason why the throne of God, throne of Christ, the mercy 00:16:34.700 |
We can get into the deep theological meaning behind that, but I just want to highlight 00:16:38.660 |
for the sake of time this morning, that basically means it is a place of power and authority. 00:16:46.740 |
Typically when we think of sitting down, we think of resting. 00:16:53.020 |
But that term means something different when we're referring to the king. 00:16:56.620 |
When we say the king is on his throne, what do we mean by that? 00:17:05.060 |
Usually when we say the king is on his throne, it means that he is ruling. 00:17:16.000 |
So, a regular person sitting simply just means we're sitting. 00:17:19.920 |
But for him to sit at the right hand of God, meaning that he is sitting as the king. 00:17:25.240 |
That's why he is described as a king of righteousness and king of mercy. 00:17:32.300 |
He is sitting on the throne at the right hand because he is continuing to rule. 00:17:37.100 |
In Psalm chapter 118, verse 16, the right hand of the Lord is exalted. 00:17:44.000 |
Meaning, his position at the right hand is being exalted for God's purpose, his work. 00:17:51.680 |
Psalm 110, verse 1, the Lord says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies 00:17:58.320 |
In other words, he's not sitting on his throne just resting. 00:18:02.680 |
He's not exalted and just kind of receiving the glory. 00:18:05.920 |
He's sitting on his throne at the right hand of God to continue the work of conquering 00:18:18.960 |
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 00:18:22.440 |
The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 00:18:28.600 |
Now let me stop right here to make sure that we understand. 00:18:31.640 |
So that this doesn't just kind of go all over your head and then it's just theological mumbo-jumbo. 00:18:37.760 |
The point that he's trying to make is the primary work of our King, who's sitting at 00:18:45.280 |
the right hand of the throne of God, is to conquer our sins. 00:18:55.720 |
Now the reason why this is so important is first of all, we recognize that we are at war. 00:19:06.840 |
One of the primary problems that Christians get into is especially because we live in 00:19:13.000 |
a country where we're not threatened with violence, at least not right now. 00:19:17.880 |
We live in peace and so we have the blessing of worrying about the future of our children 00:19:22.080 |
where many, many people around the world, that's not even on their thought. 00:19:27.520 |
You know, mention garage sale when you travel. 00:19:33.800 |
Garage sale is for rich people who have extra stuff that they bought they don't need that 00:19:41.840 |
Majority of the people around the world, that's not a thing. 00:19:47.600 |
And even in their faith, just to get together is a big deal. 00:19:52.720 |
You know, I think about, you know, us because of pandemic and everybody just went and we 00:20:07.040 |
Majority of the people in the world don't have that option. 00:20:09.720 |
If they don't get together, they don't get together. 00:20:12.040 |
See, because you and I live in such comfort, we have a hard time understanding that there 00:20:17.560 |
is a spiritual battle going on until something happens around us. 00:20:21.160 |
All of a sudden we get shocked like, oh my gosh, this is going on. 00:20:26.600 |
It's just that you and I live in a place where we constantly forget. 00:20:33.320 |
And that's why he called his disciples to go to the remotest part of the world to make 00:20:41.440 |
In other words, to join him in his endeavor to get the gospel out. 00:20:46.520 |
So every Christian, every church, its primary mission is to preach the gospel. 00:20:52.720 |
It is the character of the church to care about the poor. 00:20:57.000 |
It is the character of the church to be concerned about injustice. 00:21:02.920 |
The mission is not different than the mission of Christ. 00:21:07.360 |
It is to preach the gospel and bring the lost into his kingdom. 00:21:10.960 |
And then when they are in the kingdom, the character of the church is to get involved 00:21:18.120 |
See, he's sitting on the right throne, and that's why we have confidence to do what we 00:21:29.760 |
Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, 00:21:44.600 |
That's the significance behind he sitting at the right hand. 00:21:53.400 |
This is when Stephen is being stoned, first martyr in the early church, and we see Christ 00:22:01.000 |
But the way he is described is interesting in verse 55. 00:22:03.400 |
"But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven." 00:22:06.760 |
This is talking about Stephen as he is dying, he's looking into heaven. 00:22:10.480 |
"And saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 00:22:15.960 |
And he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right 00:22:21.520 |
Now, first, there's two things I want you to observe here. 00:22:30.240 |
If he was standing, he was so concerned, why didn't he save him? 00:22:34.400 |
Why didn't he get down there and crush his enemies? 00:22:46.160 |
And his standing shows his compassion, that though he is the king, it is also the mercy 00:22:55.180 |
So his throne is where he represents the righteousness and justice of God, and where sinners come 00:23:04.940 |
And only Christ and Christ alone can carry out perfect justice and perfect mercy. 00:23:10.940 |
See, when sinners try to carry out justice, we end up carrying out vengeance because of 00:23:19.500 |
the sin in our hearts, because of bitterness and anger and coveting. 00:23:26.020 |
So when we seek justice, we usually don't stop with justice. 00:23:34.960 |
You killed one of ours, we killed two of yours. 00:23:38.780 |
That's why Jesus says the kingdom, the character of the kingdom is not to fight and destroy 00:23:47.460 |
He says turn the other cheek and represent him. 00:23:51.660 |
We have to be careful that we do not seek justice as the world seeks justice. 00:23:57.480 |
Because if we seek justice as the world seeks justice, all it's going to do is to create 00:24:09.220 |
That's why if there's any time where we need to come to his throne of righteousness, his 00:24:35.340 |
Right now you're hearing voices from all over, extreme voices from opposite ends. 00:24:41.580 |
And the voices that you are hearing on both sides are confident that they are representing 00:24:49.620 |
Which makes it very confusing for an average person. 00:24:54.640 |
This guy loves Christ and yet he's saying one thing. 00:24:57.540 |
I respect this guy and he loves Christ and he's saying the other thing. 00:25:02.540 |
There's a reason why the Bible says at the end time that delusion is going to be so great. 00:25:08.380 |
That even if the elect can be deceived, if it was possible, in other words, obviously 00:25:15.660 |
it's not possible, but he's saying that delusion is going to be that strong. 00:25:21.720 |
Because our enemy is going to come as an angel of light. 00:25:27.600 |
If there's any time that you need to be sober and pay very close attention to what is going 00:25:39.200 |
Before you fight for any cause, ask yourself, where are you with Christ? 00:25:46.040 |
If you're not in the word and you're not praying, if you've never fought for souls, if you've 00:25:54.840 |
never shared the gospel, don't make the first obedience in your life fighting for injustice. 00:26:03.860 |
The first thing that we need to make sure is that we are obedient to what he has called 00:26:11.720 |
So that does not mean that if we're Christians and if we study the Bible and we're sharing 00:26:17.700 |
the gospel with our neighbors, that we shouldn't care about injustice. 00:26:23.480 |
In the book of James, it says faith without deeds is death. 00:26:26.640 |
If you see the suffering of the people around you and it is clear what needs to be done 00:26:38.220 |
But again, the caution is, whatever it is that we endeavor to do, we need to be sober. 00:26:43.520 |
We need to be careful that we need to make sure that it's the word of God and his spirit 00:26:50.840 |
So I want to say what I have always said and I'm going to say it again, be skeptical. 00:27:06.080 |
Examine who it's coming from, why it's coming, what the verses that they're quoting, where 00:27:12.800 |
That makes sure that you, your eyes are fixed upon Christ because right now, if you are 00:27:19.120 |
not, you may have strong passions but be very deceived if you're not anchored in Christ. 00:27:28.960 |
Our Savior is sitting on the throne and he's actively working. 00:27:34.460 |
But the spirit of delusion and divisiveness in the church is more powerful than I've ever 00:27:41.880 |
It's more powerful now than I've ever seen it. 00:27:46.680 |
Third point that he makes is not only is he at the seat and he's at the right hand of 00:27:51.760 |
God, he says he's sitting on the throne of majesty in heaven. 00:27:57.280 |
Hebrews 8, 2-3, "A minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord 00:28:04.080 |
Again, Hebrews 9, 24, "For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere 00:28:08.840 |
copy of the true one, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us." 00:28:15.800 |
In other words, all this stuff that people are drifting back into, your old way of life, 00:28:20.640 |
the old things that you were thinking, they were only to prepare you for the reality that's 00:28:31.240 |
All of it was simply to prepare you for the coming of Christ. 00:28:34.600 |
In Hebrews 9, 11, "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, 00:28:41.160 |
he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to 00:28:52.680 |
Again, if you just read this like if you're reading any other book, it's just like, "Okay, 00:28:59.200 |
Jesus, that's a true, it's a shadow in the reality that's coming." 00:29:04.080 |
But I see so many Christians who completely miss this. 00:29:08.840 |
Even though it is very plain and obvious that Christ's kingdom and his tabernacle that he 00:29:23.800 |
And that's why he says in verse 4 of chapter 8, "If he were on earth, he would not be a 00:29:29.740 |
priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law." 00:29:33.480 |
In other words, if Jesus came to reestablish his kingdom on earth, he would be disqualified 00:29:44.960 |
Not only is he not a priest, he's the worst person to pick. 00:29:50.360 |
If the goal was to have a better country, to have better laws, to have a better economy, 00:29:58.680 |
so that if we invest and fight for justice, that we're going to have a better country 00:30:02.480 |
next five years, Jesus is not the man to lead us in that. 00:30:18.800 |
So if his fight was to establish, reestablish his kingdom on earth, Jesus would have been 00:30:27.160 |
He would have been disqualified just by his birth. 00:30:32.960 |
Look at the way he's described in Isaiah 53, 2-3. 00:30:42.180 |
And like a root out of a parched ground where you wouldn't find any fruit. 00:30:46.520 |
He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that 00:30:57.080 |
That's pretty offensive and it's written in his, you know, his inerrant word. 00:31:10.600 |
You rate him as, you rate him seven, I rate him 36. 00:31:19.840 |
None of his, nothing in his state, his appearance, none of it would attract a human being to 00:31:25.760 |
If his goal was to be this dynamic leader to unite the world under his leadership to 00:31:33.640 |
reestablish his kingdom, Jesus was not the man. 00:31:38.800 |
He would have been disqualified right off the bat. 00:31:40.520 |
He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. 00:31:46.480 |
You know, whenever we see pictures of Jesus, we see him with, you know, like a glow on 00:31:51.280 |
his face and he's got children sitting on his lap and he's just a happy-go-lucky guy, 00:31:58.040 |
It's like, oh, if you see a man like that, man, I want to be beneath that guy because 00:32:06.320 |
He says he was despised and forsaken, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. 00:32:10.960 |
You ever see anybody who is sorrowful and acquainted with grief? 00:32:15.480 |
Like I mean, we're not just talking about they just experienced something. 00:32:18.440 |
We're talking about their life is filled with grief. 00:32:20.720 |
You ever see somebody whose life was just that difficult? 00:32:32.360 |
You know, I remember years ago I went to Romania and a lot of these guys work on the farm literally 00:32:37.600 |
10, 15, 16, 17 hours a day and they would come for some medical advice and so we had 00:32:46.200 |
a different camp coming and we were sitting and interviewed them and I would ask them, 00:32:53.040 |
And they would tell me their age and I was shocked because in my mind they were 70, 75 00:32:59.680 |
years old and some of these guys were my age. 00:33:04.280 |
And obviously, you know, I didn't say what happened to you? 00:33:15.240 |
So he said in every way, a human leader, whether political, Jesus would have been disqualified. 00:33:29.760 |
You would think maybe God, you know, made a mistake. 00:33:39.280 |
He could have easily, with no effort, made him an attractive man, made him an inviting 00:33:48.960 |
How hard would it have been for Jesus to be born in the household of Caesar? 00:33:56.240 |
How hard would it have been for Jesus to be a muscular, tall, handsome, articulate, where 00:34:09.840 |
For the same reason why God was angry with Israel when they asked and demanded a king. 00:34:18.680 |
You want to follow a man, but I am your king. 00:34:25.280 |
The whole sinfulness of man is they'd rather worship a creation in their image. 00:34:32.760 |
So they want to follow a man, a better version of themself. 00:34:54.120 |
The very desire that you have, even when you think it's good, is in the context of rebellion 00:35:01.320 |
And that's why he says his kingdom, his tabernacle is not of this earth. 00:35:08.320 |
That's why in Colossians chapter 3, 2-4, it says, "Set your mind on things above, not 00:35:13.920 |
on the things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in 00:35:19.520 |
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in 00:35:24.320 |
The first step of eternal life is dying to ourselves. 00:35:30.440 |
The first step of meeting Christ and living a new life is dying to ourselves. 00:35:36.440 |
That's why when we get baptized, we say, "You are being buried with Christ." 00:35:48.440 |
The first act of repentance is repentance over who I am. 00:35:53.440 |
My very nature is tainted, so my mind is tainted. 00:36:07.440 |
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:36:09.440 |
So the first thing that he tells us in eternal life is that we recognize the deepest part 00:36:23.440 |
And that's what he is trying to deliver us from. 00:36:27.440 |
Not simply the consequence of sin, but the power of sin. 00:36:31.440 |
And that's why he says the last enemy is death. 00:36:35.440 |
That's why he says, "He who finds his life shall lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it." 00:36:42.440 |
In our pursuit of justice, are we trying to find life on our own terms? 00:36:51.440 |
And then he says, Hebrews chapter 8, 5, "Who serve a copy in the shadow of the heavenly things, 00:36:58.440 |
just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle." 00:37:02.440 |
See how he says, "That you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain." 00:37:08.440 |
So he says, not only is it heaven, the whole point of the tabernacle is to reflect what Moses saw at the mountain. 00:37:16.440 |
When he says the tabernacle was made in the pattern of what Moses saw, 00:37:21.440 |
did Moses see a miniature version of the tabernacle? Is that what he saw? 00:37:29.440 |
You know how, like, you meet architect students who are studying, 00:37:33.440 |
and they would make a little architectural building. You ever see that? 00:37:37.440 |
Right? And it looks like, or maybe you are an architect, and you make a physical building 00:37:43.440 |
to present to your client so that they can physically see, this is what we are going to build. 00:37:51.440 |
That Moses saw a miniature version of the tabernacle to go back and build it exactly? 00:37:58.440 |
I mean, Moses must have had some fantastic memory. 00:38:02.440 |
Because he had, you know, he had the measurements to the T. 00:38:06.440 |
Is that what he saw? Is that what he means by pattern? 00:38:10.440 |
I don't think so. I don't think he saw a miniature version of the tabernacle 00:38:14.440 |
and God said, "Make sure you make it perfectly or you die." 00:38:20.440 |
In fact, when he goes up to the mountain, there's only one thing that the Bible records that he saw. 00:38:36.440 |
So, God's glory made such an impression on him, 00:38:41.440 |
that even just a reflection of that, people saw that you saw God's glory. 00:38:49.440 |
So, it doesn't spell it out, but when you put two and two together, 00:38:54.440 |
he's not making a copy of a miniature version of the tabernacle that he saw and then making it. 00:39:00.440 |
What he saw was an impression of his glory, what made such an impact on him. 00:39:17.440 |
And that sinful man cannot approach him in his natural state. That's the first thing. 00:39:21.440 |
And this is the thing that people don't understand. 00:39:24.440 |
The tabernacle existed at the center of the Israelite community. 00:39:31.440 |
And people may think, "Oh, it would have been great to have the tabernacle there." 00:39:35.440 |
Wouldn't it have been awesome if the Ark of the Covenant was in the middle of the camp? 00:39:43.440 |
Aaron had to wear a bell, just in case he died, going into the Holy of Holies. 00:39:52.440 |
The first offering that was given, the two of his sons are consumed by fire. 00:40:00.440 |
Do you think having that tabernacle in the middle of the camp had warm, fuzzy feelings? 00:40:14.440 |
Can you imagine a mother with a small child and the child not understanding what's going on, 00:40:23.440 |
You think the mother would have been, "Ah, you know, let him play a little bit." 00:40:26.440 |
You know, free babysitting. Maybe the priest will watch him. 00:40:30.440 |
My guess is they were more terrified of a child wandering into the tabernacle 00:40:36.440 |
than a mother would be afraid of a toddler walking on the freeway. 00:40:42.440 |
The tabernacle was terrifying because it was constantly taught, "You cannot come. 00:40:53.440 |
There were reasons why these animals were being slaughtered all day long. 00:40:57.440 |
Every time they saw a barbecue, they didn't smell the barbecue and say, "Oh, that smells good." 00:41:04.440 |
That barbecue reminded them that there is no atonement for sin until there is death, 00:41:10.440 |
until there's shedding of blood. It was a very bloody scene. 00:41:14.440 |
There was constantly blood flowing from the tabernacle. 00:41:19.440 |
So the first thing that Moses recognized when he saw God's glory was terror. 00:41:28.440 |
You cannot come to this holy God nonchalantly. 00:41:36.440 |
That you cannot appease God by your strength. 00:41:46.440 |
Perfection. It wasn't enough to say, "Oh, that's not what I meant. 00:41:50.440 |
Oh, I did 99 percent." No, He required perfection. 00:41:57.440 |
So imagine that if you're an Israelite, that at the center of your camp. 00:42:03.440 |
And God told Moses to build this in the pattern that you saw, 00:42:07.440 |
with the impression that you got when you saw my glory, build that in that pattern. 00:42:17.440 |
As he was terrified, as he was terrified by the glory of God, 00:42:24.440 |
the people of God were terrified by God's presence. 00:42:29.440 |
And it was necessary for them to be terrified. 00:42:36.440 |
and the danger that they were in if they didn't take this seriously. 00:42:43.440 |
That no matter how great, no matter how well-meaning, 00:42:46.440 |
no matter how much sacrifice you made on Monday, 00:42:49.440 |
you had to sacrifice again on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday. 00:42:52.440 |
No matter how great a celebration of Day of Atonement, 00:42:57.440 |
So the constant nature for the need of sacrifices reminded the people, 00:43:02.440 |
no matter how much you sacrifice, you will continue to need sacrifices. 00:43:12.440 |
Tomorrow you will have to do it again, and the next day you will have to do it again. 00:43:15.440 |
And even the ones who were making the sacrifices were limited by their own sin, 00:43:21.440 |
Which pointed to the fact that none of this was going to get them to God. 00:43:36.440 |
And it is that tabernacle, the heavenly tabernacle, that all of that pointed to, 00:43:41.440 |
the end conclusion of all of this was, only one man can sit on that throne. 00:43:47.440 |
Only one man, and only one sacrifice, is perfect enough to satisfy the wrath of God. 00:44:02.440 |
And it is that tabernacle, it is that heavenly throne, where he says he sat down 00:44:07.440 |
at the right hand of the throne of majesty in heaven. 00:44:12.440 |
And because of that, he says, he has a more excellent minister. 00:44:17.440 |
He has a better mediator, a better covenant, with a better promise. 00:44:23.440 |
Now what is the application of all of this for Christians today? 00:44:32.440 |
Anything that you and I endeavor, anything, getting married, having children, 00:44:45.440 |
starting a business, getting a college degree, getting a job, 00:44:55.440 |
anything that we endeavor in that doesn't exalt Christ first is under the judgment of God. 00:45:05.440 |
It's under the judgment of God, no matter how wildly you succeed. 00:45:11.440 |
No matter how wildly you succeed in the eyes of the world, 00:45:17.440 |
at the end of the day, it is under the judgment of God. 00:45:22.440 |
You cannot appease the wrath of God by human effort. 00:45:37.440 |
And that's why, first and foremost, we must come to Christ. 00:45:47.440 |
It doesn't matter if you create a perfect government. 00:45:51.440 |
It doesn't matter if we have the greatest economy. 00:45:53.440 |
It doesn't matter if we have the greatest leader, the greatest laws, the greatest movement. 00:46:00.440 |
At the end of the day, if Christ isn't exalted, all of that is still under the judgment of God. 00:46:09.440 |
That's why the end conclusion of all of this is to fix our eyes upon Christ, to be anchored in Christ. 00:46:17.440 |
No matter how well-meaning we are, no matter how well-intended we are, is Christ first. 00:46:24.440 |
So let me conclude with this, with practical application, with what's going on around us. 00:46:29.440 |
And I know there's a lot of conversations right now. 00:47:01.440 |
And you and I live in a free country where we have the ability to speak, ability to vote. 00:47:07.440 |
We're not living in suppression from the government for the most part. 00:47:12.440 |
So the call to the gospel ministry is not a call to be passive. 00:47:18.440 |
Because the indicatives of what the gospel teaches always leads to "therefore." 00:47:26.440 |
If we believe in all of this, therefore our life should reflect that love. 00:47:50.440 |
If you've never shared the gospel, and you're complaining, "All we're going to do is share the gospel." 00:47:56.440 |
No. We're not only going to share the gospel. 00:48:00.440 |
But if you've never shared the gospel, that's the first thing that the churches need to start. 00:48:04.440 |
If you have a church filled with people who've never shared the gospel, and then you say, "All we're going to share is the gospel." 00:48:12.440 |
And in my opinion, that's our biggest problem right now. 00:48:15.440 |
It's not that we're not getting involved, or we're not doing this, or we're not doing that. 00:48:19.440 |
For the most part, most churches are sick. They're not healthy. 00:48:24.440 |
They're not living up to what the Bible has already plainly stated in the scripture. 00:48:30.440 |
And you can't organize a sick church to make the society healthy. 00:48:38.440 |
So our priority is to make the church healthy. 00:48:42.440 |
But the reason why we need to make the church healthy is when you have a healthy church, 00:48:52.440 |
But you don't recruit sick people to help sick people. 00:49:03.440 |
Because until people are regenerated and meet Christ, 00:49:07.440 |
until the work of God is working powerfully in our hearts, 00:49:10.440 |
anything else we do in our power, in our own might, is always going to end in frustration and failure. 00:49:19.440 |
So let me, again, if our praise team is here, if I can ask you guys to come back up. 00:49:25.440 |
We're going to take just a minute as we prepare to pray. 00:49:31.440 |
And I'm going to ask you to take just a few minutes to pray before they lead us into our next worship. 00:49:40.440 |
I'm really asking you guys, because there are so many voices, 00:49:44.440 |
and maybe some of you guys just haven't been paying attention. 00:49:52.440 |
But if that's not you, and you're hearing all these voices, 00:49:55.440 |
you're being pulled left and right, and you don't know where to stand, 00:49:58.440 |
and you have compassion, which is great, you want to do something, 00:50:02.440 |
but at the same time the voices are so strong on either side, you're confused. 00:50:09.440 |
Don't go from that confusion and just make a leap. 00:50:13.440 |
The Bible says if you lack wisdom to come to God, right, 00:50:18.440 |
He will give you without finding fault, meaning first and foremost He invites us to himself. 00:50:23.440 |
So right now, again, like I said, if there's any time where the church needs to fix our eyes upon Christ, 00:50:32.440 |
So I want to invite you to take a few minutes to pray. 00:50:37.440 |
Before the society, before the injustice and all this, start with you. 00:50:45.440 |
And I know the pandemic has caused us to kind of -- a lot of people have drifted in their faith. 00:50:50.440 |
Maybe that's you, that you haven't really been paying attention, 00:50:53.440 |
and the first emotions that you felt with, like, I've got to do something, 00:50:58.440 |
well, I want to invite you first and foremost to come before the Lord. 00:51:04.440 |
If you're not walking right with God, it's been a long time since you spent meaningful time in prayer. 00:51:09.440 |
It's been a while since you really diligently searched the Scriptures. 00:51:12.440 |
Before you worry about anything else, first come before God. 00:51:21.440 |
And so let's take some time to pray again, and after we do that, our worship team will lead us. 00:51:25.440 |
So let me pray for us, and then I'm going to ask you guys to continue to be in that prayer as they lead us. 00:51:32.440 |
Heavenly Father, we want to lift up our church, lift up ourselves first and foremost, Lord God, 00:51:41.440 |
Especially now, Lord, as we live in very volatile and confusing times, 00:51:47.440 |
help us, Lord, to truly be anchored in Christ. 00:51:52.440 |
That before we listen to any voices around us, teach us, Lord God, to search your word, 00:51:59.440 |
to examine if anything that has been said even this morning, that if this truly is from you. 00:52:07.440 |
I pray, Father God, that your grace would be sufficient, that your children would hear your voice