back to index2020-8-9 Forgiveness in the New Covenant
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Hebrews 9, verse 18 and forward, "Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated 00:00:10.760 |
For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the 00:00:14.120 |
law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop 00:00:18.600 |
and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, 'This is the blood of 00:00:24.920 |
And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry 00:00:29.800 |
And according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with the blood. 00:00:34.440 |
And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 00:00:37.960 |
Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in heavens to be cleansed with 00:00:42.160 |
these, but the heavenly things themselves were better sacrifices than these. 00:00:45.960 |
For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but 00:00:50.200 |
into heaven itself, not to appear in the presence of God for us. 00:00:54.120 |
Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year 00:01:02.160 |
Otherwise he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. 00:01:06.440 |
But now once at the consummation of the ages he has been manifested to put away sin by 00:01:13.720 |
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, after this comes judgment. 00:01:17.920 |
So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second 00:01:22.320 |
time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him." 00:01:28.880 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace. 00:01:30.760 |
We thank you, Father God, that you've given us the privilege and the ability to be able 00:01:37.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to not to take for granted what you have given us. 00:01:45.280 |
All right, what if this morning I told you that I got a letter from the city of Irvine 00:01:51.240 |
saying that what we are doing is illegal and that every single one of you who are here 00:01:57.080 |
this morning has broken the law and after the service is over there is going to be Irvine 00:02:03.120 |
PD waiting for us and every single one of us is going to go to jail. 00:02:07.480 |
And there is no bail and you're just going to have to wait for your sentencing. 00:02:15.040 |
First of all, what we're doing is not illegal because we're outside, right? 00:02:21.080 |
What if that was true and that there is going to be consequence for the behavior and afterwards 00:02:30.880 |
No matter what I say from that moment on, my guess is most of you are going to be thinking 00:02:43.440 |
Whatever responsibilities that you have coming, that's coming, that thought is going to consume 00:02:48.920 |
your mind because of the indictment that's coming after the service. 00:02:55.080 |
For whatever the reason, we hear the passage in Hebrews 9, 27, it says, "Inasmuch as it 00:03:01.360 |
is appointed for a man to die once, after this comes judgment." 00:03:07.480 |
The beginning of understanding of the gospel is recognizing that God's anger is burning 00:03:18.960 |
And so, when the gospel is presented, that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for 00:03:24.520 |
your life, and that's all you understand about the gospel, even though, whether you believe 00:03:31.840 |
The next question that's going to be coming is, "If God loves me, why would he judge me?" 00:03:38.960 |
If God loves the world, why would he allow famine? 00:03:42.960 |
If God loves the world, why would he allow war and sex trafficking? 00:03:49.160 |
My guess is, you've either asked that question before, or you have many friends around you 00:03:54.920 |
who ask you and say, "You know, I can't believe in your God for that reason." 00:03:58.280 |
You say he's loving, you say he's gracious, but why would he allow these things to happen? 00:04:06.440 |
It is not that that statement is false, but there's a reason why the whole purpose of 00:04:14.880 |
the tabernacle was to prepare and to teach the nation of Israel that they are not to 00:04:21.600 |
enter into God's presence just willy-nilly, that you can't just walk in and say, "Here, 00:04:28.920 |
The whole point of the tabernacle was to teach the nation of Israel that a sinful man cannot 00:04:37.520 |
And so this elaborate ritual of setting up the tabernacle, what animals to use, who to 00:04:43.760 |
what, what tribes are supposed to touch what part, that there's this elaborate explanation 00:04:49.120 |
of what they are to do, what they are not to do, and the punishment for not obeying 00:04:53.360 |
that and coming into the tabernacle just willy-nilly was capital punishment, that you would die. 00:05:00.240 |
He says that everything that happened at the tabernacle was simply a copy of the reality 00:05:06.960 |
If you have a false understanding of the gospel, you will live the rest of your life saying, 00:05:11.160 |
"God is not fair because he didn't make me this way. 00:05:14.620 |
God is not fair because he didn't give me this. 00:05:17.300 |
God is not fair because he didn't give them that." 00:05:20.040 |
Because the gospel has been presented in a self-centered manner, as if God actually owes 00:05:28.160 |
The beginning of the gospel is we've offended a holy God. 00:05:31.920 |
That if we die in our natural state, it says, "As it is appointed for all men to die once, 00:05:46.200 |
They're freaking out because maybe, many people for the first time in their life, death has 00:05:53.540 |
Because of this virus, because of what's being spread in the news and some percentage of 00:05:57.800 |
people who have certain risks, and if they get this virus, they're going to die. 00:06:02.080 |
And although we all know 100% of the people who were born into this world will die. 00:06:09.260 |
Whether you die from a virus, whether you die from an accident, whether you die of a 00:06:14.040 |
heart attack, whether you die of diabetes, whatever you die from, at some point, 100% 00:06:27.380 |
But the focus for people who death is not a reality, will focus on, "Oh, we're going 00:06:39.720 |
Because whether you're good, whether you're bad, we will all die. 00:06:43.480 |
But the second part when it says, "After this comes judgment." 00:06:47.360 |
It's the second death that the purpose of the gospel helps us to deal with. 00:06:54.080 |
It's the wrong or incomplete understanding of the gospel causes people to live their 00:07:05.760 |
But if you understood, if you read the Bible carefully, the starting point of the gospel 00:07:10.440 |
is understanding that we've offended a holy God. 00:07:15.560 |
And if we die in this natural state, there is judgment waiting. 00:07:20.360 |
And the judgment is described all over scripture, and particularly in Jesus' parable, where 00:07:25.200 |
he talks about gnashing of teeth, where there's a hellfire that will burn and will not be 00:07:32.440 |
And he says that judgment is waiting for all who die in their natural state. 00:07:38.680 |
So why is it, if that is the beginning of the gospel message, where so many people who 00:07:43.720 |
have supposedly heard the gospel, live the rest of their lives wondering why God is not 00:07:50.720 |
Instead our focus ought to be, if that is the state that mankind is in, in his natural 00:08:01.760 |
How do we guarantee that when we die that we are not going to face a God who's going 00:08:11.200 |
The whole point of the tabernacle is to appease the wrath of a holy God. 00:08:16.880 |
It wasn't to get into the tabernacle and say, "Well, if God is pleased, maybe I'll have 00:08:21.440 |
Maybe he'll give me, you know, maybe he'll bless my business, or maybe this will happen, 00:08:28.400 |
Tabernacle was not a place for them to come and build a community. 00:08:33.200 |
Tabernacle was not a place where they came and strategized how they can do away with 00:08:40.280 |
The church was not a place, the tabernacle was not a place where they can come together 00:08:43.760 |
and see all the suffering in the world and how do we strategize to meet the needs of 00:08:51.640 |
The tabernacle's primary purpose was to appease the anger of God. 00:09:00.680 |
So the whole point of the tabernacle, as he says in verse 22, "Without the shedding of 00:09:04.800 |
blood there is no forgiveness, and without forgiveness we remain under God's wrath." 00:09:13.160 |
There's nothing that any human being who believes this truth that needs to answer and have this 00:09:30.160 |
In the copy that pointed to the reality that was going to come in Christ, what specifically 00:09:40.520 |
If the whole point of the sacrifice, the whole point of the tabernacle was to appease the 00:09:44.520 |
anger of God, how did they receive forgiveness? 00:09:48.240 |
What was the tabernacle that was established, taught the nation of Israel? 00:09:52.480 |
Number one, there's four things I want to highlight this morning. 00:09:54.840 |
Number one, forgiveness requires active repentance and not just passive acceptance. 00:10:02.480 |
Forgiveness requires active repentance and not just passive acceptance. 00:10:06.080 |
You know, even in the way that we present the gospel, and after the gospel is presented, 00:10:10.400 |
we typically will say, "Anyone want to accept Jesus Christ? 00:10:15.480 |
And if we're not careful, and I'm not saying that that language in and of itself is wrong, 00:10:20.380 |
but if we're not careful, we can give the impression that God has offended us and he's 00:10:26.840 |
the one coming and apologizing to us if we're not careful. 00:10:31.780 |
The way that the gospel is sometimes presented is, "Give Jesus a chance." 00:10:37.100 |
He did not come, he did not come to give us purpose. 00:10:42.820 |
You know, I don't know, I don't know what my purpose is. 00:10:47.180 |
You don't have purpose because you don't know who God is. 00:10:52.100 |
God did not send his only begotten son so that we can live our best lives now. 00:10:58.380 |
Our best lives is meant to be lived in eternity with Christ, not here. 00:11:03.060 |
You see, sometimes if we're not careful, the way that the gospel is presented is man-centered, 00:11:09.420 |
and so even after people accept Jesus, they live man-centered using Christ to pursue their 00:11:23.920 |
If you read verse 19 and 22, and I'm not going to read all of this, but if you read 19 and 00:11:30.780 |
Remember when we were studying the book of Leviticus, how tedious every part of this 00:11:37.920 |
God gave instructions on what animal to sacrifice for what sin. 00:11:42.060 |
He gave instructions on where it needed to be sacrificed, who can touch the sacrifices, 00:11:47.920 |
even the priest, what outfit that they were to wear when they're in the tabernacle versus 00:11:54.700 |
Even when they had to pack up the tent, he said only this tribe of the Levites can touch 00:11:58.540 |
these poles, and only this tribe of the Levites can touch the ark of the covenant. 00:12:03.980 |
He said the animals had to be without defect. 00:12:08.180 |
Certain animals needed to be slaughtered this way, certain animals needed to be slaughtered 00:12:11.700 |
that way, and then with the blood to sprinkle this, sprinkle that, on what day to do what. 00:12:16.980 |
I mean, it is an elaborate description of what was required for them to appease God's 00:12:24.660 |
And think about it, if you were a Jew, you didn't just casually walk into the tabernacle 00:12:29.860 |
and say, "Ah, you know, last night I sinned, and I'm so sorry," and then it's like, "Forgive 00:12:38.420 |
Imagine the tabernacle served over a million people. 00:12:45.860 |
The DMV is a place where people serve, and you know, we have to renew our license, and 00:12:51.820 |
if now, I mean, I think it was a lot better when I was younger, but now if you want to 00:12:55.460 |
go to the DMV, it almost takes three months of appointment, right, because they're so 00:12:59.860 |
backed up, and if you just show up without an appointment, you might be there for five, 00:13:03.460 |
six, seven hours, depending on what day you go. 00:13:07.220 |
Imagine the tabernacle was serving over a million people, and it was only one tabernacle, 00:13:14.420 |
And so imagine all of those people, when they sinned, had to come to the tabernacle and 00:13:22.140 |
So not only were there tedious instructions on what they were to do, the fact that even 00:13:29.140 |
going to the tabernacle required much planning. 00:13:31.860 |
My guess is they probably had to make reservations. 00:13:35.060 |
If it takes three months to get to the DMV to deal with our license, right, imagine how 00:13:42.780 |
backed up the tabernacle must have been every single day. 00:13:47.380 |
See, all of that taught the nation of Israel that when they wanted to repent, when they 00:13:53.700 |
wanted to appease the anger of God, there was this ritual that they had to go through, 00:14:08.620 |
That's why in Matthew 3, 7-8, "But when he saw many Pharisees, Jesus, and Sadducees coming 00:14:14.260 |
for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the 00:14:20.220 |
Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.'" 00:14:25.340 |
Repentance wasn't simply acknowledging, "You know what, I agree with you, this is wrong." 00:14:30.660 |
And if we're not careful, repentance becomes nothing more than acknowledging that it's 00:14:37.900 |
Repentance means to turn away from whatever it is. 00:14:41.700 |
It's not repentance just to say, "You know what, I agree with you God, I agree that's 00:14:47.500 |
The word for repentance means metanoia, to change your mind. 00:14:51.820 |
But it doesn't simply mean that you thought it was right and all of a sudden now you believe 00:14:58.460 |
It is a call to turn away from whatever it is that we believe is wrong. 00:15:04.580 |
In 1 Thessalonians 1.9, when the Thessalonians met Christ, they became the model church in 00:15:13.860 |
And this is how Paul describes them, "For they themselves report about us what kind 00:15:17.860 |
of reception we had with you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true 00:15:25.980 |
They turned from their idols to serve the living God. 00:15:30.180 |
As I mentioned several weeks ago about the Hindu lady who wanted to accept Jesus Christ 00:15:36.340 |
but had no intentions of ever turning away from their idols. 00:15:41.180 |
And our idols in our secular, humanistic, materialistic society is the pursuit of money 00:15:47.540 |
for our hope, for our security, for our refuge. 00:15:51.500 |
So that pursuit for many Christians has never been put away. 00:15:57.360 |
And so we pursue the world while we accept Jesus Christ. 00:16:02.300 |
And for some reason that has become normal in our culture. 00:16:07.100 |
In fact, if you don't do that, what do they say? 00:16:16.220 |
And then if you pursue Christ passionately, you say, "Oh man, you shouldn't just be a 00:16:23.100 |
Or maybe you shouldn't be a missionary because you're passionate about pursuing Christ." 00:16:29.360 |
But for whatever the reason, we've delineated between a natural repentance and following 00:16:36.240 |
Christ which is a call to every single person. 00:16:40.280 |
We made it a unique thing for a few Christians. 00:16:44.300 |
And those people who are leaders should model that. 00:16:46.740 |
For the rest of us, God is okay with us continuing to have our idols and just casually and passively 00:16:58.600 |
Ephesians 2, 1-2 it says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, which you formerly 00:17:04.200 |
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the 00:17:08.200 |
air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." 00:17:12.840 |
Repentance means to turn away from our idols and to turn to the living God. 00:17:20.780 |
And so first thing, imagine if you were a Jew living at that time, again, it was no 00:17:28.100 |
casual event for you to go to the tabernacle. 00:17:31.800 |
You didn't just wake up and say, "Oh, I feel bad. 00:17:33.300 |
I'm going to go to the tabernacle, take care of this, and then I'm going to just get back 00:17:40.700 |
It required probably an atonement, clearing of your schedule, and all of that because 00:17:47.400 |
you were convicted that you needed to atone for your sins. 00:17:56.480 |
You can't separate the tabernacle with the priest. 00:17:59.480 |
When you think of priest, you think, "Well, where's the tabernacle?" 00:18:01.920 |
You think of the tabernacle, it's like, "Where's the priest?" 00:18:08.420 |
Now we know that these priests were not holier than other people. 00:18:12.120 |
God didn't survey the nation of Israel and say, "Well, these guys are holier, so they're 00:18:22.240 |
If you study the history of Israel, you'll find that the Levites were just as guilty 00:18:29.900 |
But the reason why God established a mediator, again, it was a copy of the reality that was 00:18:36.880 |
This was to teach the nation of Israel, again, that they were not to casually walk into the 00:18:42.920 |
They needed to consider carefully which path that they were going to go through. 00:18:48.280 |
They needed somebody to mediate for their sins, and obviously this ultimately pointed 00:18:54.640 |
Hebrews chapter 9, verses 24 to 25, "For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, 00:19:00.880 |
a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God 00:19:08.000 |
The tabernacle only represented the presence of God. 00:19:11.800 |
What Jesus did was he mediated into the actual presence of God. 00:19:16.560 |
And so now he says he is a mediator between us and God, not only for now, but for eternity. 00:19:23.220 |
And that's why we have eternal security, because he stands between us for eternity. 00:19:29.280 |
And it was, again, to teach them that the desperate need for Jesus Christ. 00:19:34.560 |
You know, years ago, the term "evangelical Christian" had to be placed, instead of saying 00:19:40.840 |
that they're just Christians because Jehovah's Witnesses were calling themselves Christian. 00:19:45.480 |
The false gospel teachers were calling themselves Christians. 00:19:48.540 |
The Mormons were calling themselves Christians. 00:19:51.200 |
And so they needed to identify, no, we're evangelical Christians. 00:19:56.440 |
And evangelical Christians meant that in the core doctrine, we believe the same thing about 00:20:01.040 |
the identity of Christ and the gospel message. 00:20:04.240 |
Today, that term "evangelical" has been so watered down. 00:20:09.360 |
There are people who call themselves evangelicals who will say openly and publicly that Jesus 00:20:19.160 |
And you have these televangelists who are coming on television when they are asked, 00:20:22.800 |
"Do you believe that Jesus is the only way, that the Hindus and the Buddhists, that they 00:20:26.700 |
will not, when they die, they're not going to go to heaven?" 00:20:29.780 |
And the response that they give is, "Well, who am I to judge? 00:20:37.720 |
Only God can judge, and I'm not in a position to judge." 00:20:40.520 |
If you're not in the position to make that clear, you're not in the position to speak 00:20:46.680 |
Because the Bible says, "He who preaches a different gospel other than what I have preached 00:20:53.120 |
And the fundamental need for the atonement of Christ was because that was the only way, 00:21:02.540 |
If there was another way for a sinful man to appease the anger of God, it would be the 00:21:09.500 |
greatest injustice that God would send his only begotten Son and crucify him, allow him 00:21:16.580 |
to suffer what he has suffered, as just a way. 00:21:21.680 |
If there was any other way, if there was even one other way to give his only begotten Son 00:21:28.420 |
to suffer and absorb our sins and to present him as just a good way, just as a way. 00:21:38.540 |
You think if there was another way I would have sent my Son? 00:21:41.900 |
You think if somebody else could mediate, if there was another path to get to me, that 00:21:45.460 |
I would have ever allowed that to happen to my Son? 00:21:51.620 |
As these televangelists are more concerned about what the non-Christians would say and 00:21:55.980 |
how they would be offended, than to consider how God would be offended. 00:22:02.860 |
If anybody is in doubt that there is only one mediator between us and God, the man Christ 00:22:08.900 |
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and no one comes to the Father but through me." 00:22:24.420 |
In 923, "Therefore it was necessary for copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed 00:22:28.300 |
with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." 00:22:38.020 |
Imagine if you spent all your life investing a good chunk of your paycheck for your retirement, 00:22:44.580 |
and at the point of your retirement you realized you went to the banker or whoever was managing 00:22:49.580 |
money and they said you have nothing in the bank account. 00:22:55.940 |
Especially the more, the harder you work to invest in that portfolio, the more disillusioned, 00:23:03.940 |
Because it was a lot of money that you've invested in that. 00:23:10.140 |
Let's say 50%, 60% of your money went to that. 00:23:14.420 |
Now think about it as a Jew, a good faithful Jew in the old covenant. 00:23:20.380 |
You know in the new covenant there's a lot of people who say, "Oh you know 10% that's 00:23:26.060 |
And I remember somebody years ago who talked, you know, talked about like they were having 00:23:30.740 |
a hard time giving their 10% or tie and they realized that every, every tenth that they 00:23:36.940 |
give that this is a payment for a good Mercedes, right? 00:23:41.980 |
It's like Mercedes, I mean I know, you know, Mercedes is not considered the best car, maybe 00:23:46.980 |
the best Tesla out there, whatever car is good, right? 00:23:54.460 |
They say, "Oh man, if I don't pay this money then I can literally get, drive the 00:24:04.380 |
An Old Testament saint, if they're a faithful Jew, if you added up all the things that God 00:24:16.440 |
If you added all the things that God mandated of a faithful Jew, they say it comes out to 00:24:28.920 |
On top of that, you gave sacrifices and you have the free will offerings. 00:24:33.380 |
When God gave you a great harvest, you would give a thank offering to him or something 00:24:37.600 |
good would happen and you would give an offering on top of that. 00:24:40.480 |
And then on top of all of that, you gave these sacrifices. 00:24:45.900 |
A lamb or a goat for a farmer at that time would have been somewhere around three to 00:24:56.800 |
One lamb would have been five days, three to five days of his wages. 00:25:00.180 |
So on top of the 35%, on top of whatever else you gave to God, you had all these sacrifices 00:25:06.640 |
So let's say if you were a good Jew, a good Jew, a conservative estimate is somewhere 00:25:12.920 |
around 40 to 50% of your income was placed into the sacrifices to give to God. 00:25:21.040 |
Now imagine at the end of that, Jesus comes and says, you've added nothing. 00:25:30.280 |
The point of all of that was the point of the reality that was going to come in Christ. 00:25:35.860 |
What was God trying to teach the nation of Israel? 00:25:45.220 |
The one that is coming, the sacrifice that's going to be given to you, whatever it is that 00:25:49.860 |
you have placed in order to come to God is going to pale in comparison to the cost that 00:25:59.840 |
And so that's what the tabernacle taught the nation of Israel. 00:26:03.580 |
He said Christ's sacrifice in verse 28, having been offered once to bear the sins of many. 00:26:12.460 |
No matter how costly these lambs were to the farmer or to the individual, he had to do 00:26:17.340 |
it again because it would only appease the sin of that person for that event. 00:26:23.160 |
But only Christ's sacrifice could be offered up once for all for many sins. 00:26:31.140 |
And there's a reason why Christ, his sacrifice, why he had to be the son of God. 00:26:36.300 |
Only the son of God's sacrifice could have appeased the sins of many once for all. 00:26:42.940 |
That's what it says in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 17 and on. 00:26:46.340 |
It says, "If you address father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's 00:26:50.980 |
work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth, knowing that you 00:26:55.340 |
are not redeemed with the perishable things like silver or gold or from your futile way 00:27:00.100 |
of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished 00:27:10.980 |
When we recognize what it is that we have in Christ, the first thing that it does in 00:27:20.900 |
When we live week to week, focus on the things that God hasn't given us. 00:27:29.140 |
It says, "Yeah, I believe that Jesus died for me, but why did he make me this way? 00:27:36.940 |
And you live the rest of your lives kind of like, "Yeah, yeah, thank you. 00:27:39.340 |
Thank you Jesus for dying for me on the cross. 00:27:46.540 |
The first thing that it says, it kills your, you're not worshiping. 00:27:53.140 |
You can come to church, you can serve, you can give, but you're not worshiping. 00:27:57.940 |
Because the fundamental foundation of worship is an overflowing gratitude of what God has 00:28:07.220 |
If we do not mature, you know, maybe you've heard the gospel and you didn't fully understand 00:28:11.980 |
the cost, but then because we've never pursued, we've never understood, we've never matured 00:28:16.740 |
in our faith, there is never a growing gratitude for Christ. 00:28:23.020 |
And so we just kind of like what Christ did for us, justification is a long history behind, 00:28:28.180 |
something that happened years ago, but today, what have you done for me lately? 00:28:33.700 |
You know, when we're young, we don't think twice about the house that we lived in, the 00:28:39.620 |
food that we ate, you know, the shoes that we wore. 00:28:43.460 |
We don't think about that because it's just a given, you know. 00:28:53.780 |
You know the food you ate, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that didn't just pop out of nowhere, 00:29:00.540 |
You didn't just wake up one morning and then poof, food just appeared on your table, you 00:29:07.580 |
You know the clothes that you wore when you were a kid? 00:29:22.180 |
It didn't cost you anything, but it wasn't free. 00:29:26.280 |
You know, it isn't until we have children and we start raising kids and we start realizing, 00:29:37.740 |
When we're younger, we're always comparing with the other guy who has a better car and 00:29:41.620 |
better shoes and better clothes and better this and better that. 00:29:46.420 |
Until you raise your own kids, you know, I mean you know it mentally, but you don't fully 00:29:57.980 |
So you have to work, especially if you come from immigrant parents, right, they had to 00:30:05.300 |
You know, people always ask like, "Oh, is your church doing okay?" 00:30:08.460 |
You know, because all these churches are having problems because people are laid off, they're 00:30:13.660 |
But for the most part, our church is okay because most of us are, you know, white collar 00:30:19.620 |
White collar jobs are, it's not completely safe, but it's much safer. 00:30:25.660 |
And so we live in a neighborhood where I think majority of the people are doing okay. 00:30:30.880 |
If you come from an immigrant family, you know, it doesn't matter what kind of education 00:30:36.240 |
they had, wherever country they came from, when they came here, they had to do physical 00:30:44.220 |
It's like, yeah, you know, the food that I ate, the thing that I complained about, it's 00:30:50.820 |
My dad had to empty trash cans so that we can have food. 00:30:54.780 |
My mom had to work in a, you know, dry cleaners and 105 degree heat in Burbank so that they 00:31:02.300 |
You don't think about that when we're young, you know. 00:31:08.220 |
And part of maturing in life is recognizing that what we have was given to us. 00:31:14.900 |
See, even as Christians, sometimes we just take for granted. 00:31:19.980 |
And how come the church isn't giving me this and this and that?" 00:31:24.300 |
The very fact that you are here even understanding anything that I'm saying is because it was 00:31:32.820 |
It was his blood that caused you to open your ears that you can see and hear who he is. 00:31:39.500 |
If it wasn't by the grace of God, if it wasn't for the sacrifice of the Son of God, we wouldn't 00:31:51.500 |
See, part of maturing is recognizing the costliness of what it is that he has given us. 00:31:59.820 |
And our natural response when we recognize the cost of God the Father giving his only 00:32:05.460 |
begotten Son, and Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, did not consider equality 00:32:11.440 |
with God something to be grasped, but he emptied himself and he became nothing. 00:32:25.020 |
And recognizing that and growing appreciation of that is what causes true worship. 00:32:32.940 |
Fourth and finally, forgiveness is the basis of our hope. 00:32:37.740 |
Hebrews 9, 27, "As much as it is appointed for men to die once, you will die, Christian, 00:32:48.740 |
You know, part of the problem of living in a rich world is that we marginalize death. 00:32:58.620 |
And even then, the dead body is dressed up nice, put makeup on, and so to make them look 00:33:05.280 |
like they're alive, as close to being alive as possible. 00:33:09.460 |
And so for a brief period, we think of death. 00:33:13.980 |
But for the rest of our lives, we marginalize that. 00:33:17.060 |
We know it's real and it's theoretically real, but it's not real. 00:33:22.140 |
And that's why so many people are freaking out because of this virus. 00:33:33.540 |
"In as much as it is appointed for all men to die once, you will die." 00:33:39.420 |
Whether you die as a young person or old person. 00:33:41.540 |
Whether you die violently or you die peacefully. 00:33:51.420 |
See, but he says in verse 28, "So because of that, because of the state of mankind, 00:34:01.540 |
Just like Caleb was describing, you know, that rice that's molded is disgusting. 00:34:14.940 |
If you see, if you walked into a bathroom and somebody barfed in there, right? 00:34:29.400 |
If you go into, you know, a public transportation and somebody defecated, you don't walk in 00:34:34.340 |
there and say, "Hey, give me a trash can, trash bag." 00:34:39.500 |
God saw the filth in us and he didn't turn away. 00:34:46.100 |
He said, "Because it is appointed for man to die once, after this comes judgment, and 00:34:50.180 |
so because of that, Christ also having been offered once to bear sins for many, will appear 00:34:57.060 |
a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him." 00:35:04.140 |
He says, "Christ will come in his full glory." 00:35:07.900 |
For those who have been forgiven, whose sins have been atoned for, his glory means salvation. 00:35:13.060 |
His glory means consummation of our marriage that he started here. 00:35:20.740 |
But you know, again, because of a superficial and partial understanding of the gospel, most 00:35:27.460 |
people when we talk about glory, we only think of heaven. 00:35:32.380 |
And I've heard people say that heaven is the presence of God and hell is the absence of 00:35:39.180 |
There is nothing in the scripture that says that. 00:35:49.580 |
And typically, if you see Hollywood, heaven is where Satan is God, right? 00:35:57.060 |
And so people have this image, and a lot of Christians even have this image of, you know, 00:36:01.860 |
Christ is present in heaven, but in hell he's not there. 00:36:05.020 |
And that's why it's so horrible, because the goodness of God is not there. 00:36:14.380 |
When we talk about glory, glory basically means to take the essence of who he is and 00:36:21.940 |
When Jesus was going to the cross, he said, "It is time for me to glorify you and for 00:36:28.340 |
And so when we think about heaven as Christians, we think of his mercy, his compassion, his 00:36:36.100 |
But at the same time, the cross wouldn't make sense if that's all it was. 00:36:41.460 |
The cross is the cross because where the wrath of God was placed upon his son. 00:36:47.780 |
His greatest anger, all the sins of the elect were placed upon his son. 00:36:55.220 |
And so the only way the wrath of God could have been appeased was by the cross. 00:37:01.620 |
So the glory of Christ does not only mean the goodness of God. 00:37:06.860 |
The glory of Christ also means the judgment of God. 00:37:12.420 |
Hell was created by God for Satan and his angels. 00:37:16.780 |
And those who continue to follow him will also be judged. 00:37:24.340 |
When Christ comes in his glory, for those whose sins have been atoned for, we'll see 00:37:30.500 |
the glory of Christ in his magnificence and his compassion and our love for him and his 00:37:38.020 |
But for those who do not know him, where the wrath of God remains on him, his glory means 00:37:46.460 |
And it is more terrible than anything that you and I could possibly imagine. 00:37:50.660 |
More terrible than this disease, more terrible than an atomic bomb, more terrible than anything 00:37:57.220 |
What we see in the book of Revelation, as terrible as Revelation is, Revelation is warning 00:38:05.580 |
You ever wonder why the book of Revelation, the judgment of God comes in intervals? 00:38:10.140 |
Why it doesn't just come all at once and judge at the end? 00:38:15.100 |
Through all of his judgments, through the seal judgments, through the trumpet judgments, 00:38:20.980 |
Why does he go through this elaborate drama of judgment after judgment after judgment? 00:38:26.540 |
Because each stage of judgment is an opportunity for sinners to repent. 00:38:31.820 |
So even the book of Revelation is a revelation of the kindness of God. 00:38:37.220 |
Because once the final white throne judgment comes, it is the end. 00:38:41.940 |
And there's a reason why there isn't an elaborate description of the final judgment. 00:38:48.260 |
Because it is going to be more terrible than anything that you and I can imagine. 00:38:53.020 |
Knowing, knowing this, shouldn't our primary concern be about the second judgment? 00:39:04.540 |
We are so tangled up right now, worried about how to make this world a better place. 00:39:12.460 |
And sometimes by people who have never shared the gospel, all of a sudden is so concerned 00:39:18.580 |
about making sure that the boat that is headed for judgment is a nice, comfortable boat. 00:39:39.100 |
The Bible says it ought to be the character of a Christian. 00:39:42.740 |
But the mission of the church is to spread the gospel. 00:39:49.300 |
Because you can make this place the best place to live, and at the end, there's still judgment. 00:39:56.140 |
The hope, only hope for mankind is the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. 00:40:02.500 |
So I pray again with all my heart, with all the chaos that's going on around us, at least 00:40:07.500 |
for you and I, that we would give our energy to things that's not going to change. 00:40:13.740 |
People ask me, "Hey, Pastor Peter, how come you don't talk about the political stuff that's 00:40:31.660 |
If you really want me to know, you don't want to know, I'll tell you. 00:40:34.860 |
If you really want to know, you don't want to know, right? 00:40:37.900 |
Because if you ask me my opinion, I'll give you my opinion. 00:40:40.980 |
I don't like giving false compliments because then it doesn't mean anything, right? 00:40:47.940 |
If I don't like it, I'll tell you I don't like it. 00:40:49.900 |
So don't ask me if you really don't want my opinion. 00:40:52.020 |
If you want like a puff piece, you don't want me, right? 00:40:56.620 |
But the reason why I don't give my opinions up on the pulpit is because it's my opinion. 00:41:14.260 |
But I don't make that my primary talk on the pulpit because that's my opinion. 00:41:20.740 |
Our churches should not be divided because of our opinions. 00:41:23.940 |
We should not be fighting each other because of our opinions. 00:41:30.780 |
What you and I need to stand for is a truth that 10 years later we don't look back and 00:41:46.620 |
We stand for truth and truth does not change. 00:41:54.580 |
So we need to stand for the truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:41:58.340 |
And we have to make sure that we are anchored in that and don't move no matter what's happening 00:42:03.500 |
around us as Christians so that the world will know that there is hope only in the name 00:42:12.140 |
Gracious and loving Father, we thank you so much for your continued grace and love toward 00:42:24.940 |
I pray for the drama of the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the priesthood, the cost. 00:42:33.980 |
May it all make deep impressions in our hearts, Lord God, that we may recalibrate our mind 00:42:38.500 |
and our heart according to the gospel that you've given us. 00:42:41.820 |
Help us to live for the things that are eternal, not just temporal. 00:42:47.140 |
Help us to be united, Lord God, in our voices to honor and glorify you in all things. 00:42:52.260 |
So we pray, Father, that as a church that you would keep us grounded. 00:42:56.800 |
And as the world is desperately seeking for answers, I pray, Father God, that we would 00:43:02.380 |
be ready in season and out of season to give the reason why we are so stubbornly attached