Jesus Is Our Way To God
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Enter the Holy Place Through Christ
Enter the Holy Place Through Christ
Enter the presence of God through the blood of Jesus
Enter the presence of God through the blood of Jesus
The holy place is the presence of God. In the Old Testament only the High Priest could enter the Holy place once a year. It was in the furthest place of the temple. It was separated by a veil. The high priest would have to take the blood sacrifice with him into the holy of holies. This was to cover the sins of his people and his own sins. He could not enter the holy of holies without the sacrifice or he would be struck dead. The veil represented the separation of man to God because of man’s sin. This isolated everyone else from entering the presence of God. They depended on the priest to be the representative between them and God.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He opened the way for all people to enter the presence of God. The temple veil was torn from top to bottom.
51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.
The fact that it was torn from top to bottom shows that God removed the veil. If it were torn from bottom to top then man could have done this.
The veil in the temple was a constant reminder that sin renders humanity unfit for the presence of God. The fact that the sin offering was offered annually and countless other sacrifices repeated daily showed graphically that sin could not truly be atoned for or erased by mere animal sacrifices. Jesus Christ, through His death, has removed the barriers between God and man, and now we may approach Him with confidence and boldness ().
God was finished with the sacrificial system, because His son is the ultimate sacrifice. The old sacrifice would just cover sins for a year. They could never remove sin. Jesus sacrifice removes sin from our lives. Give the onion in the refrigerator example.
We now enter the presence of God through the “new” way. The greek word here is prophatos. The meaning of this word is freshly sacrificed. How appropriate is this word as Christ was freshly sacrificed on the cross, God removed the veil.
Jesus is our High Priest
Jesus is our High Priest
Jesus stands before God on our behalf. We can approach God through Jesus Christ.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the [b]propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
Just as the high priest would make sacrifice for the people of Israel, Jesus is our sacrifice. What He did on the cross of Calvary satisfies the wrath of God. When a christian sins they don’t have to continue to offer a sacrifice or go to a priest to confess. Christ intercedes with the Father. He is our advocate. He is a constant testimony to the Father of the price that was paid for our sins.
Draw Near To God With A Sincere Heart
Draw Near To God With A Sincere Heart
Be honest with God
Be honest with God
God desires us to approach his throne with honesty and sincerity. He desires for us to come to him just as we are, so He can move us to where He wants us to be. We cannot get where He desires for us to be until we recognize and confess where we are. This is one of the most difficult things to do as a Christian. Those sins, struggles, and temptations that we don’t share with God in prayer are the very things He wants us to share. We don’t want to share them with God because we don’t like to talk about them.
Why will God not move us to where He wants us to be without coming to Him with a sincere heart? If we cannot share with Him the darkest parts of our lives, we have a trust issue. It is when we trust God to forgive us of our sins that we will share our sins with him! He already knows, but wants us to love Him and trust Him enough to confess to Him. It is then that God forgives us and draws near to us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
There is no sin that can’t be forgiven except the rejection of Jesus Christ. This is known as the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin and reveals Jesus as the Savior and a person rejects this, this is the unpardonable sin. Every other sin one commits is forgivable. This will be hard for you to hear but Murder, Rape, Abortion, Divorce, and Abuse can all be forgiven if one confesses repents and puts their faith in Jesus Christ.
The question is are we willing to trust the sacrifice of Jesus Christ enough to cover the heinousness of our sin?
Recognize your cleansing in Christ
Recognize your cleansing in Christ
Your sin does not define you as a christian. You are made a new creature in Christ.
16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one [a]according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ [b]according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [c]he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
If you were an alcoholic and the world labeled you as a drunk and you have been delivered you are a child!
If you took someone’s life and the world labels you as a murderer and you have been delivered you are a child!
If you have acquired wealth by dishonest gain and the world labels you as a thief and you have been delivered you are a child!
In Christ you are a new person!
The believer has been cleansed from the inside out. When a person enters a relationship with Jesus they become His child. He changes the very personhood of the believer. He changes their will, mind and body. Christianity is not behavior modification, but radical transformation.
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
There are a lot of religious people that look good on the outside, but on the inside they are void of a relationship with Jesus Christ. They are full of sin on the inside. As a matter of fact, their outward appearance of righteousness is a means of pride!
A person that belongs to Jesus Christ doesn’t have to “try” to be good. It becomes natural for them because they follow Him and not themselves!
Remain Faithful
Remain Faithful
Life is hard and their will be times where God seems to be silent. Don’t give up on God because His silence will grow your faith. There are times when it doesn’t make sense that God seems silent in difficult times. Although He is silent, it doesn’t mean that He is unaware of what’s going on. He is in complete control of what is going on. Let me share with you an illustration of Paul & Silas:
22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
God could have delivered Paul and Silas from the beating and the imprisonment, but He chose not to. While God was silent and Paul and Silas were in Jail, Paul & Silas began to pray, sing and praise the Lord. They remained faithful. God sent an earthquake to deliver them. Maybe you feel imprisoned and don’t feel or see the presence of God in your life. Let me encourage you to pray, sing and praise the Lord. For the earthquake is coming!
Encourage One Anther
Encourage One Anther
Love one another
Love one another
One way that you know you walk with Jesus is the way you love one another.
10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The way you love people is to follow Jesus. When you have relationship with Him, you learn how to love. We learn this by seeing how much He loves us in spite of all our flaws and inadequacies. We learn to love like Jesus does to others.
Stimulate one another to good deeds
Stimulate one another to good deeds
The best way to stimulate one another to good deeds is to do them yourself. The Lord provides many opportunities to engage in good works. We just have to adjust our schedules to walk in them.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
I love to see people do kind things. It makes me want to do the same thing. Perhaps you have seen the commercial where one person starts by doing a good thing and someone else sees it and does something nice for someone else and the cycle goes on and on.
We are inspired by the good works of others.
Don’t forsake the assembling
Don’t forsake the assembling
There is value in coming to church. Just being around like-hearted people is refreshing to the soul. Out in the world we are around people that have a natural tendency to be against one another.
10 Good Reasons to Come to Church (Crosswalk Ministries)
1. To Hear the Preaching of the Word
2. To Participate in Corporate Worship
3. Because Iron Sharpens Iron
4. To Exercise Your Gift
5. To Encourage Your Pastor
6. To Find Godly Mentors
7. To Teach Your Kids to Love the Church
8. To be a Light to Your Community
9. To Bear Each Other's Burdens
10. Because God Says To