The Greater Tent (2)
The Greater Jesus (Study in Hebrews) • Sermon • Submitted
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The Old Tent
NOTE: The tour guide paints a vivid picture of the Sanctuary.
"Getting In" on God's Goodness
There are two ways the Bible says you can get to heaven. Plan hypothetically plan “A” is to earn it. That's the performance plan. And to earn it you only have to do this: never sin and always do what's right for the entire time that you live. Just be perfect. This was the picture we get under the First Covenant, an impossible task to achieve.
Since none of us qualify for Plan A, God had from the very beginning another plan which is this:
You trust Jesus Christ when he says, "I am the way, the truth and the life." He was the only perfect person who ever lived, because he was God. He came so that we could know what God is like. And by trusting and establishing a relationship with him, you get in on his goodness.
FIRST COVENANT - EARTHLY PLACE
Regulated Worship: The priest would meticulously go about the same bloody process of securing the redemption of the people day after day like clock work.
First Section of the Tent (Holy Place)
Lampstand
Table with the bread of the Presence
This is where daily the priest would come to the Holy Place and carry out the ministry of the sacrifices. They lighted the lamps daily, replaced the loaves of bread every Sabath, and burned incense on the golden altar. The daily repetition did not result in access to God for the people. Under the old law the High priest was the only one who could atone for the sins of the people that had been committed in ignorance. Notice that there was no atonement given for sins committed willfully. The fact that these sacrifices were needed daily showed that it never fully removed the stain of guilt from peoples lives.
NOTE: Shows the gravity of our sin. I think we tend to take sin too lightly and do not see the stench of our sin in the nostrils of God.
SECOND COVENANT - HEAVENLY PLACE
Second section of the Tent (Most Holy Place)
Golden Alter of Incense
The Ark of the Covenant
The Urn Holding the manna
Aaron’s staff
The tablets of stone
The Cherubim of glory (covering the mercy seat of God)
Note: The mercy room of God is not entered into without Blood
1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
The Lord made it very clear that if Aaron or his son’s entered the Most holy place any other time and without the blood sacrifice they would die.
Many of us may be familiar with Martin Luther’s heroic statement at the Diet of Worms when called upon to recant his teaching.
“Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture, or by evident reason, I cannot recant, for my conscience is held captive by the word of God, and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe.”
Today, we rarely hear any reference to the conscience. Yet throughout church history, the best Christian thinkers spoke about the conscience regularly. Thomas Aquinas said the conscience is the God-given inner voice that either accuses or excuses us in terms of what we do. John Calvin spoke of the “divine sense” that God puts into every person, and part of that divine sense is the conscience. And when we turn to Scripture, we find that our consciences are a significant aspect of God’s revelation to us.
9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
BIG IDEA: YOU ARE MORE SINFUL THAN YOU WANT TO BELIEVE, AND MORE LOVED THAN YOU DARE TO HOPE.
BIG IDEA: YOU ARE MORE SINFUL THAN YOU WANT TO BELIEVE, AND MORE LOVED THAN YOU DARE TO HOPE.
The Better Tent compels us to ask two Questions of ourselves?
Has your conscience been purified from death to life?
Has your life been sealed by the full effects of His blood.
1. Has your conscience been purified from death to life?
1. Has your conscience been purified from death to life?
The Old Tent could not purify the conscience of humanity.
The new better tent purifies us from the old way of thinking to the new way of redemption.
Conscience -
Basically the conscience operates as an individuals own sense of right conduct. It can hold the position of ones moral monitor or guide, bearing witness to our actions.
OLD TESTAMENT CONCEPT
The feeling of regret, remorse, and self-condemnation that are basically a part of our human condition.
Our culture plays a role of developing our individual moral conscience, where for the Christian God should play the vital role of developing our conscience. The Old Testament does not have a word for Conscience but uses the word heart as it’s equivalent. The concept of moral reflection does not appear.
NEW TESTAMENT
The New Testament uses the word conscience over 30 times.
The New Testament word could refer to:
A basic notion of self-understanding or self-awareness.
A bad feeling.
A moral sense of right and wrong, that continually asses our actions and behaviors.
None of the synoptic gospels use the word conscience however, it might be used in the Parable of the Prodigal son, where the son came to himself seeing things from a different perspective and being convicted of our sin.
More than two thirds of Paul’s writings talk about the conscience. Paul calls believers to maintain a pure conscience. According to Paul, peoples behavior should not be contrary to their conscience. Paul also applies our conscience as an internal moral compass that we should follow. However our conscience does not, nor should it act as the ultimate standard for moral goodness. Paul speaks of the conscience in connection with God and the Holy Spirit. Those with a weak conscience must have them strengthened and renewed daily.
HEBREWS
Hebrews speaks of the conscience in relation to our standing before God.
The writer speaks of the New Covenant law that is written on the heart of man which results in an awareness of our sinfulness and His holiness.
The writer of Hebrews argues that a believers conscience has now been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. The writer is talking about having a good conscience that is no longer under the law of sin and death but has been washed clean and made holy.
NOTE: We will read next week at the end of chapter 9 that man is destined to die once and stand in judgement before God.
Here is the problem in our modern age - the age of the internet, smartphones, space travel, and heart transplants - and the primary problem of humanity is the same: Our consciences condemn us and make us feel unacceptable to God. We are alienated from God. And our conscience constantly reminds us of this fact.
We can cut ourselves, throw our children into a sacred river, or give millions of dollars to charity and the same fact remains: the stain remains and death terrifies us.
We know that our conscience is defiled.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
R.C. Sproul
Talks about the Dark Ages that we experienced that that are coming again for the Church. I tell you it is already here for the church that has become futile in it’s way of thinking.
Our Conscience is an internal window that bears witness to what we value the most.
Our Conscience is an internal window that bears witness to what we value the most.
Years ago the comedy in cartoons portrayed the shoulder angel/devil scenario. Basically a persons internal turmoil was personified by having an angel on one shoulder representing our conscience to do good, and the devil on the other shoulder representing our conscience to do bad.
This type of illustration has given people a false picture that our conscience is like an inner listening room in which a person could hear the voice of God (a good conscience) and the voice of the devil (a bad conscience).
The better picture is to view the angel/devil as representing the witness to our inner value system.
Basically our conscience is a part of our God-given system of critical awareness that bears witness to the norms and values we recognize when determined to be right or wrong.
Many times our conscience will induce an inner dialogue that tells you things that you already know to be true. When we conform to the values of our conscience we feel a sense of pleasure and relief. But when we violate the values of our conscience we feel a deep anguish in our soul leading to guilt and shame.
John MacArthur - describes our conscience as “a built-in warning system that signals when something we have done is wrong. The conscience is our souls what pain sensors are to our bodies: it inflicts distress, in the form of guilt, whenever we violate what our hearts tell us is right.
Our conscience is a beneficial adversary when it is informed and ruled by God.
Our conscience is a beneficial adversary when it is informed and ruled by God.
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
R.C. Sproul
Our conscience is only trustworthy when it does not lead us to choose our will over God’s.
“We have to remember that acting according to conscience may sometimes be sin as well. If the conscience is misinformed, then we seek the reasons for this misinformation. Is it misinformed because the person has been negligent in studying the Word of God?
One of the prime examples of the way our conscience may lead both Christians and non-Christians into sin is when we violate, or advocate for the violations, of creation ordinances.
Among the Creation Ordinances are the clear instructions to preserve the sanctity of the marriage bond between one man and one woman. Our conscience bears witness to the reality and truth of these ordinances, and we are guilty of sin when we deny, minimize, or break them.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
R.C. Sproul
Talks about the Dark Ages that we experienced that that are coming again for the Church. I tell you it is already here for the church that has become futile in it’s way of thinking.
Professing Christians will continue to swerve from the truth (2 Tim. 2:18) until Christ returns.
Once traditional orthodox Christian Churches hold up signs in support of abortion, ordain practicing homosexual ministers, deny the divinity of Christ and the inerrancy of scripture, and a myriad of other demands that the darkened world is making of the Church today.
Our conscience does not trump what is found in the revealed word of God.
Our conscience does not trump what is found in the revealed word of God.
We must remember that our conscience is not the final ethical authority in our lives, because unlike God’s revealed word it is changeable and fallible.
Too often Christians try to reverse the order and go with their conscience as the final authority in order to judge God and his Word.
For Example: Many Christians would claim,
“I could not worship a God who would say"[a clear statement from scripture]” or
“I couldn’t believe in a God who would do [something the Bible claims God clearly told someone to do].
In making such a statement they may be appealing to their conscience. But in such cases, their consciences are being informed by Satan, not by God.
Someone’s conscience may lead them to question a particular interpretation of Scripture. But our conscience can never judge a holy God or his holy Word. Remember what the deceiver does........
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
Our Conscience can be suppressed or subverted by sin.
Our Conscience can be suppressed or subverted by sin.
THE CONSCIENCE THAT HAS BEEN SEARED
2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
NOTE: This kind of conscience has ceased to work properly. It is as if spiritual scar tissue has built up over time and dulled the senses of right and wrong.
For anyone to form a new positive habit, it must be performed repeatedly, over time, until it becomes an automatic reflex.
The same process occurs when we fall into sin. When we sin, we reject God’s authority. If we repeat our sin, over time, the rejection of God’s authority in our life becomes an automatic reflex. The more we repeat our sins, the greater the guilt we incur, but the less sensitive we become to the pangs of guilt in our consciences.
Paul tells us that people store up for themselves wrath on the day of judgement
5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
Paul reminds us that because of our unrighteousness we suppress the truth. They think they are wise in their own eyes but their sin makes them foolish. Eventually God gives them over to a debased mind. Romans 1:24 Sometimes our sin can lead us to doubt the very existence of God.
Some people have so destroyed their consciences that they believe it really doesn’t matter what they do as long as it is consensual and they can see no harm. Their subjective guilt - their feeling or sense of guilt that accompanies wrongdoing-diminishes over time.
We find new ways to accept sinful behavior, both as individuals and as a culture. As of 2017, we have killed almost sixty million babies, tearing them limb from limb. People use social media to boast of this reality, saying how proud they are that they have maintained the freedom of a woman to abort her child. We now boast about a marriage between a man and a man, and a woman and a woman (Olympic diver from Great Briton). Their is not much of a collective conscience left in this country or world for that matter.
The worst part of Paul’s indictment on humanity in Romans 1 is not simply that we practice such things deserving death, despite knowing the righteous judgement of God - it is that we approve of others who practice them as well. When people destroy their own conscience, they do everything in their power to destroy the consciences of others.
We then quiet our conscience by finding allies and making proclamations like, we are only crusading for liberty here, for the freedom of choice. “I’m not pro-murder; I’m pro choice.”
Our purpose in discussing this at length this morning is not to lament how bad the world out there, but to be reminded how bad we are when we do the same thing.
NOTE: We know that in one way or another we adjust our conscience to fit our culture. As Humans we try everything in our power to excuse sin in our lives.
This is why it is all important that we allow our conscience to be formed by the Holy Word of God and it’s testimony.
At the diet of Worms Martin Luther did not say, “My conscience is being held captive by my culture, or by what the latest Gallup poll, is telling me that everyone else is doing, nor did he say, “My conscience is influenced by the word of God.”
He did say in essence, “I am in captivity to the scripture.” That is what I cannot recant.
Our Conscience must learn the Mind of Christ
Our Conscience must learn the Mind of Christ
We don’t want to hear the judgement of our conscience, we want to destroy the judgement of conscience that is our human nature. The only antidote is knowing the mind of christ. We need men and women whose conscience has been captured by the word of God. (This is why you need to know His word)
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
NOTE: We are not going to be judged on the last day not on whether we feel guilty, but on whether we are guilty.
The taste of that kind of judgement we experience now here on earth is through a guilty conscience which is a gift from God to signal that their is probably something wrong.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and with that conviction comes a certain tender mercy that leads us to repentance and forgiveness so that we might walk boldly into the presence of God.
In his book Written in Blood, Robert Coleman
Tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor had explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked.
Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister."
Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when they met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost over, his voice slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I die?" Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He'd thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great decision.
Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Each of us however, has a condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give not just his blood, but his life.
2. Has your life been sealed by the full effects of His Blood?
2. Has your life been sealed by the full effects of His Blood?
The picture we have in Leviticus of the sacrifice was like a murder scene of blood once the alter was covered, the tent was splattered, and the levitical priest had the blood sprayed on his long white robe.
When the Israelites were traveling in the desert they would have to tear down and set up the tent. There were no laundromats in the desert. The animals were disemboweled leaving the smell and flies buzzing around over the bloody scene. This gives us a picture of the repulsiveness and stench of sin in the nostrils of God.
12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
Jesus redemptive work consisted of offering his own blood, not the blood of goats and calves. Jesus had to give himself.
Dead Men Bleed?
For one family in Venezuela, the space between death and life was filled with more shock than usual. After a serious car accident, Carlos Camejo was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials released the body to the morgue and a routine autopsy was ordered. But as soon as examiners began the autopsy, they realized something was gravely amiss: the body was bleeding. They quickly stitched up the wounds to stop the bleeding, a procedure without anesthesia which, in turn, jarred the man to consciousness. "I woke up because the pain was unbearable," said Camejo. Equally jarred awake was Camejo's wife, who came to the morgue to identify her husband's body and instead found him in the hallway—alive.
Sure, blood is present with work in a morgue; but the dead do not bleed. This is a sign of the living. Thought and practice in Old Testament times revolved around a similar understanding—namely, the life is in the blood. Christ is the Lamb whose blood cries out with enough life and power to reach every person, every sorrow, every shortfall, and every evil. There is life in the blood of Christ, whose entire life is self-giving love
Blood -was identified in scripture as the primary source of ones life. The proof of whether they were alive or dead. Blood as our primary life source was observed through the slaying of animals and other human beings and seeing the blood flow our of them until they were dead.
Atonement
The means of reconciliation between God and people. Emerges in the OT Sacrificial system but is brought to reality through the person and work of Jesus Christ. A payment had to be given, and the payment was the very best of the flock, without blemish.
Atonement is the process by which two parties are made at one with each other. The Old Testament mentions atonement usually in context of the Temple sacrifices. While the word atonement does not appear in the New Testament the concept is definitely felt and seen.
What do the full effects of His blood do for you?
What do the full effects of His blood do for you?
Only One Antidote Will Cure Sin
It's difficult for many people to accept that there can be only one way to rescue us from sin and judgement. But a Christian apologist uses the following analogies to show how the cross of Christ is the one and only solution we need:
Most ailments need particular antidotes. Increasing the air pressure in your tires will not fix a troubled carburetor. Aspirin will not dissolve a tumor. Cutting up credit cards will not wipe out debt that is already owed. If your water pipes are leaking, you call a plumber, not an oncologist, but a plumber will not cure a cancer. Any adequate solution must solve the problem that needs to be solved, and singular problems need singular solutions. Some antidotes are one-of-a-kind cures for one-of-a-kind ailments.
Sometimes only one medicine will do the job, as much as we may like it to be otherwise. Mankind faces a singular problem. People are broken and the world is broken because our friendship with God has been broken, ruined by human rebellion. Humans, you and I—are guilty, enslaved, lost, dead. All of us. Everyone. Everywhere. The guilt must be punished, the debt must be paid, the slave must be purchased. Promising better conduct in the future will not mend the crimes of the past. No, a rescuer must ransom the slaves, a kindred brother must pay the family debt, a substitute must shoulder the guilt. There is no other way of escape.
1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
Look at the end of verse 12 “by means of His own blood thus securing and eternal redemption”.
a. His blood bought you back from the beast.
a. His blood bought you back from the beast.
7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
NOTE: Everyone whose name is not written in His book are worshiping the Beast.
The Blood ransomed people back from the pit of utter despair to utter complete worship and Joy! ‘
1) He paid the price of the penalty of their sins, so that they would not be condemned for their guilt.
1) He paid the price of the penalty of their sins, so that they would not be condemned for their guilt.
2) He secured the effect of his blood on their hearts, so that they would not worship the beast.
2) He secured the effect of his blood on their hearts, so that they would not worship the beast.
b. His blood rescued you from the lake of Fire
b. His blood rescued you from the lake of Fire
If anyone worships the beast . . . he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night . . . (Revelation 14:9–11)
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)
This is what Jesus had said in John 3:36:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
And it’s what Paul had said in Romans 5:9:
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
So, John gives at least three answers to the question, What does the blood of the Lamb purchase his people from?
1) From condemnation under the penalty of sin.
1) From condemnation under the penalty of sin.
(your sentence of death has just been repealed)
2) From a heart of unbelief to a heart of worship.
2) From a heart of unbelief to a heart of worship.
3) From eternal torment under the wrath of God.
3) From eternal torment under the wrath of God.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
c. His blood purchased you as a Kingdom of Priests and Rulers.
c. His blood purchased you as a Kingdom of Priests and Rulers.
Note a Kingdom one people, one race, one nation, for himself.
People were purchased to belong to God as His treasured possessions. We are a royal priesthood purchased by the most precious substance the world has ever known, more costly than all the gold, silver, and precious jewels in the world, and that is the blood of Christ.
NOTE: His blood ransoms “a people for God” from every tribe, language, people and nation.
9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
NOTE: He ransomed a people for Himself. All over the world, people feel superior about their tribe, their people, their language, their ethnicity. Or they feel inferior about their tribe, their people, their language, their ethnicity.
Their sense of ethnic superiority makes them feel more worthy of God’s favor. Or their ethnic inferiority makes them feel less worthy and favor with God.
There are people who fee more worthy because of their socio-economic upbringing or less worthy because of the poverty.
God has purchased universally a single people from all of them. The effectiveness of His blood purchase cannot be stopped by ethic pride or ethic fear. His blood will break the back of ethnic superiority and will lift up the ethnic inferior. He has purchased with His blood people from every tribe, every nation, every ethic group from the world.
John Piper
The God who made and rules the heavens and the earth and the seas is a great, holy, sovereign, righteous God of truth and justice who holds every human being accountable for the wrongs we have done against each other and all the dishonor we have shown to him.
But in his mercy God chose a people for himself — a people from all the tribes and languages and peoples and nations of the world, including yours. He sent his only, eternal, divine Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to accomplish a great salvation by his death and resurrection. He never sinned. But he died and rose again, and reigns in heaven, and will come again to justify the world.
“He is a great Savior, a great Friend, a great Guide, and a great Treasure.”
And when he shed his blood — the infinitely valuable blood of the Son of God — he purchased his people. He paid the penalty for all their sins. He freed them from the wrath of God. He secured for them new hearts of faith and hope. He took them from slavery, and made them his own family and treasure. They will be his kingdom, his priests, his magistrates over the world. It is finished.
CLOSING
Receive Him today, the blood that cries from eternity past to eternity future will not be denied. All of your sins are forgiven, all God’s wrath has been removed, bringing everlasting joy, turning your cries of mourning to tears of joy, your darkest night is now being turned to eternal light.
He is a great Redeemer whose blood has purchased your freedom. I am urging you on his behalf. Do not turn Him away today. He has sent me to you. Welcome him as your new life. i WANT YOU TO BELIEVE WITH EVER FIBER OF MY BEING.