Spring Camp Meeting 2017

Why do You Claim There's a Sanctuary in Heaven?

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Mark Howard

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Series Code: 17SCM

Program Code: 17SCM000012A


00:14 Welcome to 3ABN Spring Camp Meeting 2017,
00:18 Exposing The Counterfeit.
00:24 Hello, and welcome to 3ABN Spring Camp Meeting 2017,
00:29 Exposing The Counterfeit.
00:32 We're so glad that you have joined us at home,
00:34 whether you're listening on the radio,
00:36 watching on 3ABN anywhere all around the world,
00:39 we're so glad that you have tuned in
00:42 for the special messages this weekend,
00:44 and we're so glad that
00:45 each one of you are here as well,
00:47 traveled from all over the United States
00:49 and from different parts of the world
00:51 come together to seek the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:55 Our special message today will be brought to us
00:58 by Pastor Mark Howard.
01:01 He is the senior pastor of the Cedar Lake
01:04 Seventh-day Adventist Church in Michigan.
01:06 He's also the director of the Emmanuel Institute,
01:10 that's the lay missionary evangelism training school
01:14 in the Michigan Conference and they do a wonderful work
01:18 and train and equip people for evangelism.
01:21 His precious wife, Stephanie, is a fabulous cook.
01:26 And they have two children, Caleb and Anna,
01:30 and we are going to be so blessed
01:31 by the message he will be bringing today.
01:33 It's entitled "Why do you claim
01:36 there is a sanctuary in heaven?"
01:39 So we'll be talking about the importance
01:41 and the relevance of the sanctuary message for us
01:45 at this time.
01:46 Before Pastor Howard speaks,
01:47 we'll be blessed by music by our own pastor, C.A. Murray.
01:52 He's a general manager of 3ABN Proclaim.
01:54 And he and his wife, Irma are such a blessing.
01:57 And the song he will be ministering
01:59 is one of my favorites.
02:01 I think it's my all-time favorite that he does.
02:04 It's called, "He lifts me".
02:07 After Pastor CA Murray, the next voice you will hear
02:11 will be that of Pastor Mark Howard.
02:34 He lifts my burdens
02:39 Whenever I'm down
02:43 He gives me joy
02:48 When I'm wearing a frown
02:53 He is my hope
02:57 In the midst of despair
03:01 And He, He is my comfort
03:06 For He's always there
03:17 So I sing
03:20 Not because I feel like singing
03:26 And I praise Him
03:29 Though the end I may not see
03:36 For whenever I lift the name of Jesus
03:43 Jesus reaches down
03:48 And He lifts me
04:00 He is the music
04:04 That makes my heart glad
04:09 He whispers peace
04:14 Whenever I am sad
04:18 He is the sunshine
04:23 That brightens my day
04:27 And He, He is the lighthouse
04:32 To show me the way
04:37 So I sing
04:41 Not because I feel like singing
04:47 And I praise Him
04:50 Though the end I may not see
04:57 For whenever I lift the name of Jesus
05:04 Jesus reaches down
05:09 And He lifts me
05:14 So I sing
05:18 Not because I just like singing
05:24 And I praise Him
05:27 Though the end I may not see
05:34 For whenever I lift the name of Jesus
05:41 Jesus reached down
05:46 Turns me around
05:48 And He plants my feet on a higher ground
05:55 He reaches down
05:59 And He lifts me
06:23 Amen.
06:25 Reaches down and lifts me.
06:27 Hallelujah.
06:28 Good morning, everyone.
06:30 How are you doing today?
06:31 Well, it's a beautiful day outside, the sun shining.
06:34 I'm from Michigan,
06:35 the sun's out maybe one day out of 365.
06:39 Okay, it's a little bit of an exaggeration
06:41 a little bit but,
06:43 and the Son of righteousness
06:44 is shining in here this morning,
06:46 Jesus Christ, and I'm so glad.
06:47 Are your brains full yet? No.
06:49 Oh, good, you got room for more because we've got more now.
06:54 We are going to be talking about the heavenly sanctuary
06:58 but before we do,
07:00 I want to kneel and ask God to bless our time in His Word.
07:03 So I'm going to do that.
07:04 I'm going to invite you to bow your heads with me as I do so.
07:10 Heavenly Father, we thank You so much
07:12 for Your love for us,
07:14 for the gift of your Son Jesus Christ
07:18 who lifts us up.
07:20 Father we ask now that Your Spirit would be present
07:23 to give us understanding in Your Word.
07:26 Bless us to that end, we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.
07:33 Now the theme, I was thinking about the theme,
07:35 Exposing The Counterfeit.
07:38 What is it that makes a counterfeit effective?
07:43 You've probably heard it said before
07:44 that you've never seen a three dollar bill
07:48 unless it was some kind of plaything.
07:49 Nobody's ever tried to pass one off.
07:51 Well, I shouldn't say nobody,
07:52 I shouldn't say nobody and here's why?
07:54 I read a story in the news
07:56 about a woman in Covington, Georgia,
08:00 who went to Walmart,
08:02 totaled up her merchandise purchase of about $1600
08:07 and attempted to pay for it with a million dollar bill.
08:13 Now, there's one real big problem with that.
08:16 The U.S. Treasury doesn't print million dollar bills,
08:21 and so that didn't make for a good counterfeit, right?
08:24 What makes a counterfeit good is it is so close to the true.
08:28 And the reason I bring that up is that there's one way,
08:31 you know, Jesus said, in the last days
08:32 the counterfeit would be so crafty
08:35 that the elect would be deceived if possible.
08:38 You know why it's not possible?
08:41 Because we have the Word of God.
08:42 Yeah.
08:44 That verse is in Matthew 24...
08:46 Sorry, 24:24 in the very next verse
08:48 he says, "The very elect will be deceived
08:50 if it were possible..."
08:51 And then he says, "But I have told you beforehand."
08:54 It's what the Lord has told us.
08:56 It's our safeguard against the counterfeit.
08:59 So it really doesn't matter
09:01 what I have to say this morning
09:02 or any other speaker here throughout this camp meeting.
09:04 What really matters is what the Word of God says.
09:06 Amen? Amen.
09:08 Now the question that I am going to be addressing
09:10 is the question,
09:11 why do you claim there's a sanctuary in heaven?
09:17 And the short answer is because there is one.
09:20 How about that? Let's pray.
09:22 No, we are not going to...
09:23 We'll go to the Word.
09:25 I don't want you to go with my opinion on it
09:26 but I'm going to tell you that if you haven't studied this,
09:29 there is an abundance of evidence in scripture
09:33 for a heavenly sanctuary,
09:36 and more than just evidence
09:37 of the existence of a heavenly sanctuary,
09:40 it's something that deeply affects
09:43 the experience of every Christian
09:45 living in these last days.
09:47 So I'm going to address this from four areas of thought,
09:49 okay?
09:50 The first is eyewitness testimony.
09:52 Bible gives us some eyewitness testimony
09:54 of the existence of the heavenly sanctuary.
09:56 The second area is what we call Typology.
09:58 I'll explain that when we get into it.
10:00 The third area is Christology.
10:02 Christology is a theological word
10:04 for the study related to the person
10:07 and the work of Jesus Christ.
10:09 And then the last area is Prophecy.
10:11 All of these different areas give us understanding
10:15 about the existence
10:16 and the work of the heavenly sanctuary.
10:20 So let's start with eyewitness testimony.
10:22 Now, I'm hoping you have your Bibles with you, right,
10:25 because if we're running to expose the counterfeit,
10:28 you don't want to go with my say-so
10:30 or anybody else's say-so,
10:31 I want you to open your Bibles with me.
10:33 We're going to go to 2 Corinthians 13.
10:36 In the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans,
10:39 1 Corinthians,
10:41 2 Corinthians 13:1.
10:47 I just want you to see
10:49 what the scripture admonishes us here.
10:53 2 Corinthians 13:1.
10:55 The apostle says, "This will be the third time
10:57 I am coming to you..."
10:59 And then he quotes from the Book of Deuteronomy
11:01 and says, "By the mouth of" what?
11:04 "Two or three witnesses
11:06 every word shall be established."
11:08 Now, this is a Bible principle
11:10 that tells us don't just take one person say-so,
11:11 get a number of witnesses.
11:13 Well, that makes sense,
11:14 so we're going to look at four witnesses,
11:16 how about that?
11:17 We're going to look at four witnesses in scripture
11:18 who saw the heavenly sanctuary.
11:21 The first we're going to look at is Moses.
11:22 We're going to the Book of Exodus.
11:25 Old Testament Book of Exodus
11:26 is the second book in the Bible.
11:27 We're going to Exodus 25.
11:29 Now, I should probably interject here
11:31 that when you're talking about
11:34 and studying about the sanctuary,
11:36 this is something that was the entire foundation
11:41 of the Hebrew economy in the Old Testament.
11:44 And there is much about it in the New Testament,
11:46 so one sermon is not going to exhaust the subject
11:49 of the heavenly sanctuary and that's not my intention.
11:51 I wish we could read all through Exodus
11:53 and pick up different things,
11:54 but we're going to zero in
11:56 on Moses' testimony in Exodus 25:40.
12:03 Now this is in the midst of instruction
12:05 that God is giving him
12:07 regarding the sanctuary and its furnishings,
12:10 the earthly sanctuary or the tent
12:13 out in the wilderness,
12:14 and in Exodus 25:40, it says,
12:17 "And see to it
12:19 that you make them according to the" what?
12:22 "Pattern which was shown you on the mountain."
12:26 So in other words,
12:27 Moses directed the building of the earthly tabernacle
12:31 or temple or sanctuary based on a pattern
12:34 that God showed him.
12:35 And that pattern that he saw was the heavenly sanctuary.
12:38 It's not defined that clearly right here,
12:42 but it will be in a moment, we'll get to that,
12:44 but right now take my word for it,
12:46 we will verify that in scripture,
12:48 but the first eye witness testimony
12:49 we have is that of Moses.
12:51 Now David also saw the heavenly sanctuary.
12:55 We're going to the Book of Psalms,
12:56 actually going to the 102 Psalm.
13:00 Psalm 102...
13:07 and we are looking at verse 19.
13:15 Psalm 102:19.
13:19 And this is what David says.
13:25 Let's start in verse 18 says,
13:27 "This will be written for the generation to come
13:30 that a people yet to be created may praise" who?
13:34 "The Lord, for He, the Lord, looked down from the height"
13:38 of what?
13:39 "His sanctuary from heaven the Lord viewed the earth."
13:43 So David here sees the Lord,
13:44 looking down from His sanctuary in heaven.
13:47 He's an eyewitness and saw it.
13:49 Let's look at another place where David tells us
13:51 something similar back in Psalm 11.
13:55 Psalm 11.
13:57 And we're going to look at verse 4.
14:00 Psalm 11:4.
14:09 The Bible says in Psalm 11:4.
14:11 "The Lord is in His Holy Temple."
14:16 The Lord's throne is in heaven.
14:19 "His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men."
14:22 So here again, David sees the Lord on His throne,
14:26 in His temple, in heaven.
14:28 Do you see that?
14:29 Okay, now, so we've got Moses' eye witness testimony,
14:32 we've got David's eyewitness testimony.
14:35 Let's go to the well-known and oft-read Book of Habakkuk.
14:42 Okay, if you find your way to Ezekiel then Daniel, Hosea,
14:45 Joe, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
14:50 and then if you get to Zephaniah,
14:52 you went a little too far,
14:53 you could just work your way from Matthew
14:54 and work back just a few books
14:56 and you'll find the Book of Habakkuk
15:01 who also gives us an eye witness testimony.
15:05 In fact, you might not know the book very well.
15:08 How many of you know the hymn,
15:10 "The Lord is in His holy temple."
15:12 Okay, that comes from Habakkuk 2:20.
15:17 And that kind of gives it away, right?
15:18 Habakkuk 2:20 says, "The Lord is in His holy temple.
15:23 Let all the" what?
15:24 "Earth keep silent before him."
15:26 The implication is, He's not on the earth,
15:28 He's in heaven, in His temple in heaven,
15:31 but all the earth keep silent
15:32 in the sense of reverent silence
15:35 before the Lord.
15:37 So Habakkuk saw the holy temple in heaven,
15:41 the heavenly sanctuary.
15:42 And the last testimony we're going to take is
15:45 that of John the Revelator in the Book of Revelation.
15:49 Now I don't know if you have really done much study on this
15:52 or paid a lot of attention on this
15:53 but the setting of the Book of Revelation
15:56 is the temple in heaven.
15:58 And it's fascinating.
16:00 I'll just show you that in a few different places.
16:01 Now in Revelation 1, if you read in Revelation 1,
16:03 you see Jesus dressed in priestly garments,
16:07 He's walking among the lampstands,
16:09 but a lot of scholars say that those images are used there
16:12 but were not actually in the temple itself.
16:14 Well, that's kind of...
16:15 There is divided thought on that,
16:16 but when we come to Revelation 4,
16:18 look at Revelation 4 with me right there in verse 1.
16:22 Revelation 4:1.
16:24 And this is what John saw.
16:26 He says, "After these things I looked, and behold,
16:30 a door standing open," where?
16:33 "In heaven, and the first voice which I heard was
16:35 like a trumpet speaking with me saying," what?
16:39 "Come up here."
16:41 So John sees in the heaven, "Hey, come up,
16:42 I'm gonna show you something" where?
16:43 "In heaven.
16:45 Come up here and I will show you things
16:47 which must take place after this.
16:50 Immediately I was in the spirit and behold," a what?
16:54 "Throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne."
16:57 So he goes into heaven, he sees the throne of God.
17:00 Notice the setting of the throne of God.
17:02 Look at verse 5.
17:03 Verse 5 says,
17:04 "And from the throne proceeded lightnings,
17:06 thunderings, and voices.
17:07 Seven lamps of fire were burning
17:10 before the throne,"
17:11 which are the seven Spirits of God.
17:14 Okay, now if you go through 4 and 5
17:16 are kind of a picture together.
17:17 Jump to chapter 5 with me because we're still
17:20 in the same setting of chapter 4.
17:25 And in chapter 5:8 notice what it says.
17:29 "Now when he had taken the scroll
17:31 the four living creatures
17:32 and the 24 elders fell down before the lamp,
17:35 each having a harp
17:37 and golden bowls full of incense
17:40 which are prayers of the saints."
17:41 Now if you study the earthly temple,
17:43 you will recognize that the lampstands
17:46 and the incense are two pieces or articles of furniture
17:49 that are in the holy place of the sanctuary.
17:54 Okay, now if we jump ahead from there to chapter 8,
17:57 and I'm just skimming through this quickly.
18:00 Chapter 8 and notice verse 3.
18:06 Revelation 8:3 says,
18:08 "Then another angel having a golden censer..."
18:11 A censer was a dish that they would put the incense in,
18:14 and you see in chapter 8:3
18:16 it says, "He had a golden censer
18:17 and he came and stood at what?
18:20 The altar, and he was given much incense,
18:23 so specifically the Bible spelling out here
18:26 the altar of incense in heaven where John is looking.
18:30 Now jump to Revelation 11 with me.
18:33 Revelation 11 and look at verse 19.
18:39 Revelation 11:19.
18:40 You don't get clearer than this.
18:44 Revelation 11:19.
18:46 John says, "Then," the what?
18:48 "The temple of God was opened," where?
18:51 "In heaven."
18:52 That kind of settles it, doesn't it?
18:53 Is there a temple in heaven? Apparently so. Right?
18:56 The temple of God, John sees it is opened in heaven
19:00 and I beheld, I saw, I got to find my place again,
19:05 is open in heaven in the Ark of his Covenant was seen
19:09 in His temple.
19:12 So here we have a piece of furniture
19:14 that is known in the earthly temple
19:15 as part of the most holy place
19:17 but John sees it in heaven's temple.
19:19 So we've got eyewitness testimony from Moses,
19:21 and from David, and from Habakkuk,
19:23 and from John.
19:24 Okay, in the mouth of four witnesses,
19:26 we've established it.
19:28 We're going to see a fifth witness
19:29 as we move from eyewitness testimony to
19:32 what we call typology.
19:34 Now, how many of you here are familiar
19:36 with the terms type and anti-type.
19:39 Okay, in the event that you're not,
19:42 a type is like a model that is pointing forward
19:46 to a greater reality
19:49 whereas the anti-type is a reality
19:51 that's pointing forward too.
19:52 So oftentimes we talk about the temple for example,
19:56 the temple itself
19:59 and the things that happened in the temple
20:01 were pointing forward to something
20:05 to a greater reality that would come.
20:08 For example, the sacrifice that
20:10 we often talk about Jesus being the Lamb of God.
20:12 The Bible talks about Jesus being the Lamb of God.
20:14 That when that animal was slain,
20:16 we know that it wasn't about the animal,
20:18 it was pointing forward to Jesus,
20:20 we would call the slaying of the Lamb the type,
20:23 we would call the crucifixion of Jesus the anti-type.
20:25 That's where the reality comes in
20:27 and the other was just pointing forward.
20:30 Okay, now the reason this is important
20:31 when we're talking about the heavenly sanctuary is that
20:34 all of that earthly system
20:36 and we'll see this in scripture,
20:38 the earthly tabernacle, the furniture,
20:41 and the work of the priests was all a type
20:44 that was pointing forward to a greater reality,
20:49 the reality that's in heaven.
20:52 What was happening in the earthly temple was
20:55 not where it was all at.
20:57 It was what was going to come later
20:59 and we'll see again,
21:01 as I said, we're going to see this in scripture.
21:04 So go with me to the Book of Hebrews,
21:05 we're going to spend a good bit of our time in Hebrews
21:08 because Hebrews addresses this whole concept of type
21:14 and anti-type.
21:15 In fact, I probably ought to interject here.
21:17 There are some people that get confused with Hebrews
21:19 and I'll tell you why in a minute,
21:21 you'll see why in a minute maybe you'd be one of them,
21:23 where they look at Hebrews
21:24 and they think Hebrews is trying
21:25 to compare the work of the holy place
21:28 with the most holy place.
21:30 But the whole Book of Hebrews is
21:32 actually comparing the type with the anti-type,
21:35 the earthly with the heavenly.
21:36 The earthly sanctuary with the heavenly sanctuary,
21:38 the earthly priesthood with the heavenly priesthood,
21:41 and we're going to see that
21:42 as we look at some passages here.
21:44 Hebrews 8:1.
21:47 Hebrews 8:1, now notice what the apostle says here.
21:52 Now you can catch me saying Paul,
21:53 I believe Paul wrote Hebrews, but there are some people
21:55 who contest that, that's fine,
21:56 but the author of Hebrews I assume that
21:58 it's the Apostle Paul.
22:00 Starts out in verse 1, it says,
22:02 "This is the main point of the things
22:04 we are saying, "We have such a" what?
22:07 "A high priest who is seated
22:09 at the right hand of the throne of the majesty," where?
22:13 "In the heavens."
22:14 A minister of the sanctuary and of the..."
22:18 Now the New King James says the true tabernacle.
22:22 A tabernacle is another word for tent.
22:23 So he's using the imagery of the Old Testament tent
22:26 that was set up in the wilderness,
22:28 the sanctuary, a minister of the true tabernacle
22:32 which the Lord erected and not man,
22:35 for every high priest is appointed to offer
22:38 both gifts and sacrifices,
22:39 therefore, it is necessary that this one,
22:41 he is speaking of Jesus, our heavenly high priest,
22:43 also had something to offer.
22:46 Notice verse 4, "For if he were on earth,
22:49 he would not be a priest.
22:51 Since there are priests to offer the gifts
22:54 according to the law..."
22:55 And I'm going to come back to that later, who served the,
22:58 he is speaking of the earthly priests
23:00 who offered these gifts, "who serve the" what?
23:03 "The copy and the shadow of the heavenly things."
23:07 So what's he telling us here?
23:09 The apostle is telling us that there is a sanctuary in heaven
23:12 and what was on the earth was merely a copy.
23:16 Okay, it was a shadow or shadowing forth,
23:18 you know, a shadow if you see a shadow,
23:20 if I see I'm looking for my shadow here,
23:22 this floor is reflective, I see my shadow going out here.
23:24 If you follow, then my head is right at your feet
23:26 over there if you see and if you follow the shadow,
23:28 you're going to come up to the substance of the thing
23:30 casting the shadow.
23:32 And the Bible uses this language to say
23:34 when it talks about a shadow,
23:36 it's something that isn't the original substance.
23:38 The earthly temple was a shadow,
23:39 but it was pointing forward to what was casting the shadow,
23:43 that is the heavenly sanctuary,
23:44 it was a type of the heavenly sanctuary.
23:49 Verse 5 again, who serve the copy
23:51 and shadow of heavenly things.
23:52 Notice as Moses was divinely instructed
23:56 when he was about to make the tabernacle,
23:58 for he said, "See that you make all things
24:02 according to the pattern shown you in the mountain".
24:04 So there's the clarification
24:06 that when Moses saw that pattern,
24:08 Paul says the pattern he saw was the temple in heaven.
24:11 Are you with me so far?
24:13 Okay, so you have the type
24:14 and then it's pointing forward very clearly
24:16 to something greater to come the anti-type in heaven.
24:20 Now I want to move on to talk...
24:23 Well, the apostle is actually going to move on here
24:25 in chapter 9 to...
24:28 He's going to begin to describe the earthly temple
24:31 and he's going to make a comparison with that
24:33 and the heavenly.
24:35 Hebrews 9:1.
24:37 The Bible says, "Then, indeed, even the first covenant
24:39 had ordinances of divine service,
24:41 and the" what?
24:43 The earthly sanctuary, for a tabernacle was prepared,
24:47 the first part in which was the lampstand,
24:50 the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary."
24:56 Now your Bibles will all...
24:58 If you're using different versions
24:59 in the New King James,
25:00 you know, they all read a little differently here.
25:02 So I want to flush that out in a moment
25:04 but just follow along.
25:06 He says, "The tabernacle was prepared the first part
25:08 in which were these pieces of furniture
25:10 and it was called the sanctuary."
25:12 Some Bibles will say it was called "the holy place"
25:14 or the "holy" or whatever.
25:18 Verse 3 says, "And behind the" what?
25:21 "The second veil, there were two veils,
25:23 the part of the tabernacle, which is called" what?
25:28 Mine says the holiest of all,
25:29 yours might say the most holy place.
25:31 Okay, so all Paul's doing is saying,
25:33 there was an earthly temple
25:35 and in that earthly temple there were two rooms.
25:37 The first room was called the holy place,
25:38 the second room was called the most holy place.
25:40 In the first room or the holy place
25:42 there were these pieces of furniture.
25:43 And the second room or the most holy place,
25:45 there was this, okay?
25:47 Are you following that?
25:49 Now, here's what I want you to really grab on to.
25:52 In verse 3, now, again,
25:54 this is the way my Bible reads this,
25:56 The New King James version,
25:58 it says, the part of the tabernacle,
26:00 the second apartment is called the holiest of all
26:03 or the most holy place.
26:05 In the Greek language of the New Testament,
26:07 the term that's used
26:09 and translated is the term "Hagia Hagion."
26:13 It means holy of holies. Now listen to me carefully.
26:16 This is the only place
26:20 in the entire New Testament
26:22 that that word is used.
26:24 Now, the reason that's important is
26:25 you're going to see as we go through the passages,
26:27 you're going to find us
26:29 in and out of the most holy place all over.
26:31 You're going to find this text and that text
26:33 and that verse all talking about the most holy place
26:34 but in the Greek we're not in the most holy place,
26:36 we're in the holy place, or the holy places.
26:40 And I'll tell you what I mean by that.
26:41 It's important right now just to note
26:43 that the only time Paul specifically talks about
26:45 or any New Testament writer talks about the most holy place
26:48 is right there in verse 3.
26:51 In the rest of the places,
26:52 it uses the term Hagia or Ta Hagia
26:55 which is plural holy place or holy places.
26:58 It's not defining the most holy place.
27:00 And you'll see how significant that is as we go.
27:04 So he talks about these two apartments of the temple.
27:08 Something else we're going to look at
27:10 in just a moment is that
27:11 the two different rooms in the temple
27:14 were pointing to two different phases
27:17 of the ministry that Christ would do.
27:22 Two different phases of the ministry.
27:24 Now, in Hebrews 9:6,
27:29 he moves from the temple itself to what happens in the temple.
27:32 These two phases of ministry, I'm telling you about,
27:34 verse 6 says now
27:35 when these things had been thus prepared,
27:38 the temple and its compartments and the furniture inside,
27:42 when these things had been prepared, the priests,
27:45 notice the word, the priest always went
27:48 into the first part of the tabernacle
27:50 performing the services.
27:51 The first part was the holy place.
27:54 It says a priest always on a regular basis
27:56 went into that first apartment
27:58 but verse 7, into the second part,
28:02 the second part was called what?
28:04 "The most holy place,"
28:05 into the second part the high priest went alone
28:09 once a year not without blood which he offered for himself
28:12 and for the people's sins committed in ignorance.
28:15 And so Paul's just reviewing, you have to understand too,
28:19 he is writing to the Hebrews, they understood this.
28:21 They grew up with this service. Oh, yeah, the temple service.
28:24 Yeah, throughout the year
28:25 you have the service in the holy place,
28:27 but at the conclusion of that year,
28:31 you have the service in the most holy place,
28:33 it was one day
28:34 and it was called The Day of Atonement.
28:36 You might have heard it called Yom Kippur.
28:37 That's just Hebrew Yom means day
28:39 and Kippur means atonement.
28:41 And it's still celebrated by the Hebrews.
28:43 They view it as a very solemn day of judgment
28:46 and also a very joyous day of judgment,
28:48 which is interesting.
28:50 That I'm not going to get into at the moment,
28:52 but these two apartments
28:54 had two different kinds of services.
28:56 Now, I'm going to just give you a quick rundown of
28:58 how it worked.
29:00 In a typical year,
29:02 that daily service throughout the year
29:04 you would have sinners coming to the sanctuary
29:07 with their sacrifices.
29:09 You'd bring, now there are also other offerings.
29:11 There were the peace offerings and thank offerings.
29:13 But when you would bring a sin offering,
29:14 a trespass offering,
29:15 the sinner would be directed by the priest
29:18 to put their hands on the head of the animal
29:20 and actually bear down with their body weight
29:23 on to the animal and confess their sins.
29:27 And this was figurative of transferring the sin
29:30 from yourself the sinner to the innocent victim
29:34 which represented Christ.
29:36 He was taking your sin
29:39 and this is what it was trying to impress.
29:40 Now what would happen is
29:41 the sinner would confess the sin
29:43 and then the priest would give the sinner the knife
29:45 and then the sinner had to cut the throat
29:48 of the sacrificial animal and take its life
29:51 because it's your sin that cost the life of that victim.
29:55 You understand?
29:57 That was the imagery that was being conveyed.
29:59 Now what would happen next was interesting.
30:02 You as a sinner who came to the sanctuary,
30:04 you would go away forgiven.
30:07 You would go away with the burden of that sin gone
30:10 because you had confessed it on the lamb.
30:14 But you knew at the same time, and don't miss this,
30:17 you knew at the same time that the work wasn't done yet
30:20 because the priest then would take the blood
30:24 and sometimes the flesh of that victim
30:26 and take it into the sanctuary in figure,
30:30 and don't miss that term in figure
30:33 transferring your sin to the sanctuary.
30:34 The sanctuary became this kind of holding place
30:37 for the sins of the people.
30:40 And what it was conveying was this,
30:42 in real practical terms:
30:45 When you confess your sin and accept Jesus,
30:48 let's say, I get into a fight with my wife
30:50 and I say some mean words,
30:52 and I confess those sins to Jesus,
30:55 that doesn't guarantee that I'm not going to get
30:57 into a fight with my wife tonight.
30:59 You understand what I'm saying?
31:01 Although I wish that it would.
31:02 Although I wish that because I confessed my sins
31:05 once to Jesus
31:06 that I would never say the wrong thing again
31:08 or do the wrong thing or lose my temper.
31:09 You understand what I'm saying?
31:11 And so I could go away forgiven.
31:15 But I knew there was still work yet for the priest to do.
31:19 And that was that second apartment work,
31:22 that's what...
31:23 When a worshipper would come
31:24 and they would confess their sin
31:26 and offer that lamb, or whatever that animal was,
31:28 and they go away forgiven.
31:30 They would look forward to that Day of Atonement
31:33 because on the Day of Atonement that was the day
31:36 where the sin was cleansed.
31:40 And it was communicating to the worshipper
31:44 that Jesus will not only forgive your sin
31:47 but He is going to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
31:50 That's where John gets that from in 1 John 1:9,
31:53 if we confess our sins,
31:54 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
31:56 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
31:59 And so the hope in the heart of the sinner was
32:01 that cleansing that would come down the line.
32:04 Not to say that the forgiveness,
32:05 of course, there's the joy of sins forgiven,
32:07 but inherent in that was looking forward
32:10 to that other phase of ministry
32:12 that was outlined in the sanctuary.
32:14 These two apartments
32:16 and these two aspects of ministry
32:19 made up the services of the sanctuary.
32:20 Now, the Apostle Paul,
32:22 this is what he is reminding his reader of there
32:24 in Hebrews 9,
32:26 and then he connects his point in verse 8.
32:30 Look at verse 8.
32:32 Hebrews 9:8.
32:34 Bible says here,
32:38 "The Holy Spirit indicating this."
32:41 In other words, this earthly service,
32:44 the Holy Spirit had set this whole thing up.
32:46 He gave the pattern and everything else
32:48 because he was trying to teach this lesson.
32:50 The Holy Spirit indicating this that the way into the...
32:55 Now my Bible says holiest of all.
32:58 You know what the original Greek says?
33:00 Holy places. Doesn't say holiest of all.
33:02 This is what I meant earlier, people get all tripped up like,
33:04 "Hey, this is in the most holy..."
33:05 That's not what he's talking about the most holy place.
33:08 And you'll see that in a minute.
33:10 It's not, that the original says,
33:12 and some of your translations will have it this way
33:13 like the New American Standard of the ESV that
33:16 "The way into the holy places
33:18 or the sanctuary was not yet made manifest
33:22 while the first tabernacle," not the first apartment,
33:26 "While the first tabernacle was still standing.
33:30 Paul's telling us that the Holy Spirit was
33:32 trying to teach this lesson that the way
33:35 into the heavenly sanctuary was not clear
33:38 while the first tabernacle was still standing,
33:40 the Holy Spirit was using it as a teaching tool.
33:42 He was indicating this
33:44 that there was a heavenly sanctuary
33:46 that was going to fulfill the reality.
33:48 This is what he says in the next verse, in verse 9.
33:52 Its speaking
33:54 of the earthly temple was symbolic.
33:58 Some of your Bibles use the word, a figure.
34:02 The Greek word here is interesting,
34:04 it's the word parabole.
34:06 I'll give you one guess
34:07 how the New Testament usually translates that word,
34:11 it's parable.
34:12 And that's the word Paul chose to talk about
34:14 this earthly to say this,
34:16 "The Holy Spirit was trying to teach a lesson
34:17 and that earthly sanctuary was a parable
34:21 and what happened in the earthly sanctuary
34:22 was a parable.
34:25 For the present time in which both gifts
34:27 and sacrifices are offered
34:29 which cannot make him to perform the service perfect
34:32 in regard to the conscience concerned
34:34 with only foods and drinks, various washings
34:37 and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
34:43 So Paul says, this whole earthly system
34:45 we're talking type and anti-type was
34:47 pointing forward to a greater reality
34:50 and he interjects there that one of the big problems is
34:53 that this couldn't cleanse the people.
34:55 Blood of bulls and goats doesn't cleanse people,
34:58 doesn't take away sin.
35:00 And so our hope shouldn't be in that,
35:02 our hope should be in and that's what Paul is saying,
35:04 in something greater to come
35:06 and he tells us what that greater is
35:07 if you keep reading in verse 11.
35:10 He contrasts the earthly,
35:12 the Holy Spirit is pointing the way to the heavenly,
35:14 and he says in verse 11,
35:15 "But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come.
35:21 With a greater and more perfect" what?
35:25 "Tabernacle not made with hands,
35:28 that is not of this creation,
35:29 not with the blood of goats and calves,
35:33 but with his own blood he entered the..."
35:37 My Bible says, "Most holy place."
35:38 What do you think the Hebrews, the Greek says here?
35:41 Holy places.
35:44 The point that the apostle is trying to make is
35:46 what the earthly couldn't do and was never intended to do,
35:49 that's what the heavenly does.
35:50 What the earthly priest could not accomplish,
35:53 the heavenly high priest, Jesus Christ, can accomplish.
35:56 What the earthly sacrifices couldn't do,
35:58 the heavenly does do, then and then some.
36:02 And so his whole point here in this passage is
36:06 comparing the type and the anti-type
36:08 and helping trying to help his readers
36:10 to fix their hope on the heavenly high priest
36:14 and the heavenly sanctuary.
36:16 And the work of Jesus that he has accomplished
36:20 and continues to do by virtue of his own sacrifice.
36:26 He's entered with his own blood into the holy places
36:31 having obtained eternal redemption.
36:34 And I want to keep reading, there's some more,
36:36 much more there but you get the gist
36:38 of the type and anti-type,
36:40 and I want to move into our third area
36:42 and that is Christology because Paul just did it.
36:46 In other words,
36:47 here's the heart of what we're talking about
36:49 and we're talking about the heavenly sanctuary.
36:51 Folks, there's a lot of people today
36:53 that talk a lot about Jesus.
36:55 Oh, when you talk about Jesus, when you focus on Jesus,
36:57 when you talk about what Jesus is doing and yet...
37:02 Rarely, if ever do you hear any talk of
37:05 where Jesus actually is according to scripture,
37:08 and what He's actually doing according to scripture.
37:12 Like let's talk about Jesus but let's not talk about
37:14 where He is and what He is doing.
37:16 The Bible says, He is in at this moment
37:19 that we're sitting here now
37:20 He is in the temple in heaven mediating
37:23 for His people to obtain that eternal redemption.
37:27 And I'm going to talk about the significance of that
37:29 a little bit more as we go
37:30 but when we come to talking about Christology,
37:34 when we are talking about the sanctuary,
37:35 talking about the very center of Christ's work
37:39 not 2000 years ago, folks, we don't have crucifixes
37:43 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church
37:45 because Christ isn't on the cross anymore.
37:47 He came off the cross.
37:49 He's not in Joseph's new tomb anymore.
37:51 He's risen from the grave,
37:52 He's ascended to be our high priest,
37:54 whoever lives to make intercession for His people.
37:57 And so the hope...
37:58 God wants the hope of His people directed
38:00 to where Jesus is now.
38:03 And it's hard to be Christ centered
38:06 when you exclude the place, the very place of His work,
38:09 the heavenly sanctuary.
38:11 Now I'm not going to go back to Hebrews 8.
38:13 But we just read it in Hebrews 8:4,
38:15 the Apostle Paul said, if Jesus were on earth,
38:18 He could not be a priest.
38:21 Because he said there are priests
38:22 who offer gifts according to the law.
38:24 Now, if you spend a little bit more time reading Hebrew 7, 8.
38:27 You'll find that his point is this:
38:29 The priests had to be from the tribe of Levi.
38:33 What tribe is Jesus from? Judah.
38:36 And Paul simply makes the point,
38:38 that's why he goes into the idea of Jesus
38:40 being after the order of Melchizedek
38:42 to qualify as priesthood,
38:43 but he said if He was on the earth,
38:45 He couldn't be a priest
38:46 because He wasn't from the right tribe.
38:48 Now you've got to put a couple of things together.
38:51 First of all, He's from the wrong tribe
38:52 to be a priest on the earth, so His priestly ministry
38:55 couldn't have been on the earth.
38:56 I have Christians who tell me,
38:57 "Well, Jesus did His priestly work on the earth?"
38:59 No, He didn't. No, He didn't.
39:01 Because the Bible is clear if He were on earth,
39:03 He could not be a priest.
39:05 There was another big problem
39:06 with doing His priestly work while He was on the earth.
39:09 He didn't have a sacrifice yet.
39:12 He had to go to the cross before He could be a priest.
39:14 It was by virtue of that sacrifice.
39:17 And so the scripture limits the priestly work of Christ
39:21 to the sanctuary in heaven.
39:22 I want you to see something here,
39:23 I'm in Hebrew still, we're in Hebrews 3.
39:30 Hebrews 3.
39:31 We're just going to look at the first verse here.
39:34 And I want you to...
39:37 Consider it.
39:38 Yes, it's a little play on word,
39:40 you'll see in just a moment, Hebrews 3:1,
39:43 the Apostle says, "Therefore, holy brethren,
39:44 partakers of the heavenly calling."
39:48 What's the next word?
39:50 "Consider the apostle
39:51 and high priest of our confession,
39:53 Christ Jesus."
39:55 Now notice what he said there. First of all consider.
39:58 This is not a...
40:00 Consider is not a word like hey, consider the red barn
40:03 you just passed on the road."
40:05 This is not a passing thought.
40:07 The idea implied here
40:09 is something you're going to think about
40:10 and meditate on.
40:12 And Paul says, he wants us to meditate on Jesus
40:15 in two roles,
40:16 one as the apostle of our confession,
40:20 and the other as the what?
40:23 High priest.
40:24 Now, that may confuse you a little bit
40:25 if you haven't heard this term used with Jesus
40:27 before, hadn't thought about it.
40:28 An apostle literally means one who is sent. Okay.
40:31 And so what Paul saying is, consider Jesus as the one
40:34 who was sent to this earth from His Father
40:37 to live a perfect life, to take our sins,
40:39 to die on Calvary's Cross, to rise again, right?
40:41 Consider Him as the apostle.
40:43 Listen, folks, the life, the death, the burial,
40:47 the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation
40:49 of the Christian faith.
40:51 It is the foundation of our faith
40:53 and it's been said by one author
40:55 that to remove the cross from the Christian
40:59 would be like blotting the sun from the sky.
41:02 Okay.
41:04 So the Apostle Paul says, I want you to consider Him,
41:07 His life, His death, His resurrection.
41:10 I want you to consider Him as the apostle.
41:13 But any Hebrew knew that to consider Him
41:20 as the sacrifice,
41:21 to consider Him on the cross included considering Him
41:25 as the high priest.
41:27 The sanctuary service was not completed
41:29 with the sacrifice alone.
41:31 They knew that, and the apostle knew that
41:32 and so he says, look, I want you to consider
41:34 not only Jesus as the apostle of our faith,
41:38 but I want you to consider Him as the high priest.
41:43 There are a lot of Christians who are not thinking through
41:46 what it means to have Jesus as the high priest.
41:55 Now, one thing that Paul tied in here
42:00 in the beginning of Hebrews 9
42:04 that we looked at briefly, I'm going to read it again.
42:06 Chapter 9:1 says, then indeed, even the first covenant,
42:12 what's another word for that?
42:14 First covenant. Old Covenant, right?
42:18 Don't miss this, even the first covenant
42:21 or the old covenant had ordinances of divine service
42:24 and the earthly sanctuary.
42:27 What's he trying to say?
42:29 He's making the point that the covenants are
42:33 both associated with sanctuaries.
42:36 The old covenant is associated with the earthly sanctuary
42:40 and the new covenant is associated
42:42 with the heavenly sanctuary,
42:44 yet how many new covenant Christians,
42:47 I mean, how know nothing about the heavenly sanctuary.
42:50 Okay. The scripture is full of these kinds of things, why?
42:53 Because this is the focal point,
42:55 the center of Christ's work,
42:57 and the Lord wants to direct our minds
42:58 and our attention to what Jesus is doing for us
43:02 as our great high priest.
43:05 Now, there's a lot that could be said,
43:07 but what I want to highlight is I want to draw,
43:09 connect some dots,
43:10 when we looked at the earthly service
43:12 and we talked about that two apartment ministry,
43:16 the holy place and the most holy place.
43:18 The daily service and the yearly service
43:20 called the Day of Atonement,
43:23 all of those were pointing forward to the reality
43:26 that Jesus' ministry also includes two phases.
43:30 One dealing primarily with forgiveness
43:33 but Jesus is not stopping short at forgiveness.
43:37 Jesus has promised to cleanse us from sin.
43:41 A key part of the priestly work of Christ
43:46 is to cleanse His people from their sin.
43:49 He's not going to save us only from the penalty of sin,
43:53 He promises to save us from the power of sin
43:56 and this is sadly lacking in Christianity today.
44:00 So much so, I'm going to tell you, I read this,
44:02 this doesn't have to do with some Christian book
44:04 or something I was reading,
44:06 but I read, how many of you know the name Robin Williams.
44:09 He was a comedian who committed suicide in 2014.
44:15 And when he committed suicide,
44:16 I read this article in MSNBC News.
44:22 Now, Robin Williams had suffered with alcoholism.
44:26 And he had tried, and he had tried,
44:28 and he'd not been able to shake it.
44:29 It ruined the marriage of his and it made his life miserable.
44:33 And this is what he said in an interview
44:36 that they quoted from
44:38 in this MSNBC News article of August 12, 2014.
44:41 This was Robin Williams talking about his alcoholism,
44:44 his addiction and he said, you know, I was shameful
44:50 and you do stuff that causes disgust
44:54 and that's hard to recover from.
44:57 You ever do something that just you loathe your sin
45:01 from the sin that's within you as Paul says.
45:03 You say something or you do thing,
45:05 you act a certain way
45:07 and you long for something different,
45:10 you want transformation in your life.
45:11 You wished you weren't so selfish
45:13 or self-centered or whatever else it is.
45:18 How many of you know what I'm talking about?
45:21 And you long for that transforming power,
45:24 you want release, you want victory.
45:26 Now this is what he says.
45:28 You do stuff that causes disgust
45:30 and that's hard to recover from.
45:32 You can say, I forgive you
45:34 and all that stuff
45:36 but it's not the same as recovering from it.
45:40 Folks listen to me.
45:42 A lot of people are selling Christianity today as simply,
45:47 "Hey, God forgives you."
45:49 You know that works if you don't hate your sin.
45:53 That works if sin is fashionable for you.
45:55 But if you long to be delivered from sin,
45:58 forgiveness is good, but you want cleansing.
46:00 Here's a man who took his own life
46:02 and I think to myself God forbid,
46:04 he may have been a victim of modern Christianity
46:09 where you got Christians who act no different
46:11 from the world around us.
46:13 You're just as likely to get that your number one sign
46:16 when you're driving from a Christian is
46:17 from somebody else, right?
46:20 You're just as likely,
46:21 we got a divorce rate just like the world does.
46:25 We're no different
46:26 and then we say cute little things like,
46:28 "Well, Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven."
46:30 What does that mean?
46:32 Hey, praise the Lord for forgiveness.
46:34 But Jesus promised more.
46:37 He's going to save to the uttermost all
46:39 who come to God through Him.
46:41 That heavenly sanctuary was intended
46:43 to draw the minds of humanity to the fact
46:46 that we have a priest, an advocate right now
46:50 who is working for our success in the Christian life.
47:00 Look what Paul says in Hebrews 9,
47:02 I'm starting in verse 23.
47:10 He's contrasting again and he says in Hebrews 9:23,
47:13 "Therefore, it was necessary
47:15 that the copies of the things in the heavens
47:18 should be purified with these..."
47:21 Speaking of earthly animal sacrifices.
47:23 "But the heavenly things themselves
47:25 with better sacrifices than these,
47:27 for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands
47:31 which are copies of the true but into heaven itself
47:34 now to appear in the presence of God for us."
47:37 So he's again just drawing out
47:39 that Jesus is into the presence of His father
47:44 on behalf of His people,
47:45 that's what the priest did in the earthly sanctuary.
47:47 He was a representative of the people.
47:51 When the priest would come before God,
47:53 God saw in the priest the rest of His people.
47:58 I think God that Jesus is the one in the presence of God
48:01 and when He sees Jesus,
48:02 He sees everybody who depends on Jesus.
48:04 You look just like Him.
48:06 He's standing there in the presence of His Father.
48:08 This is what the Apostle's saying,
48:09 appearing in the presence of God for us on our behalf.
48:13 Verse 25, "Not that He should offer Himself often
48:16 as a high priest enters the most holy place,
48:19 literally the holy places again,
48:22 every year with the blood of another.
48:24 He then would have had to suffer often
48:26 since the foundation of the world,
48:27 but now, once at the end of the ages."
48:29 Don't miss a language here.
48:31 Speaking of Christ as our Heavenly High Priest.
48:35 "Now once at the end of the ages,
48:36 He has appeared to do" what?
48:40 "Put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."
48:45 Folks, the reason Jesus hasn't come back yet.
48:48 I've asked Christian friends like,
48:50 so what's Jesus doing,
48:51 "Oh yeah, it was all done back at the cross and he's been...
48:53 What?
48:54 Is He playing checkers with His Father up there
48:56 or something, I mean what?
48:57 You don't know, look folks,
48:59 and I'm not trying to be facetious here,
49:01 I'm saying the Bible tells us what Jesus is doing.
49:05 He is in the work of putting away sin.
49:07 While He could force it, but He actually can't force it.
49:10 He can't force us to be obedient to God.
49:13 It's got to be your choice so He works with us
49:15 as our high priest,
49:16 helping us to learn how to trust in Him completely.
49:21 He had manifested Himself.
49:22 He appeared, the Bible says,
49:23 he is talking about His earthly ministry
49:25 to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
49:29 Do you think He can do it? Yes.
49:31 Folks, I'm gonna tell you, that's where our hope is.
49:33 There's not going to be any sin in the new earth.
49:35 Sin is going to be gone. Sin is going to be gone.
49:38 There's not going to be no more
49:39 that plaguing of the sinful nature.
49:40 There's no more the traces of the curse.
49:46 He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,
49:49 verse 27, and as it is appointed for men
49:52 to die once but after this the Judgment,
49:54 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many
49:57 to those who eagerly wait for Him,
50:00 He will appear a second time, notice the language,
50:03 apart from sin unto salvation.
50:08 Anybody have a different reading?
50:09 There's some Bible that say it this way,
50:11 without reference to sin.
50:14 Not to deal with sin.
50:15 Now, I don't want you to miss this.
50:17 The point the apostle is making is this,
50:18 Jesus came once to put away sin.
50:21 He sacrificed Himself on the cross.
50:23 By virtue of that sacrifice,
50:25 He went to the sanctuary in heaven.
50:26 Right now, He works on our behalf
50:27 to put away sin out of this entire universe.
50:29 Out of your life, and my life, and out of the universe.
50:32 When He comes again,
50:34 He is not coming to deal with sin.
50:37 He will have done that.
50:38 He is not coming back according to scripture as a priest.
50:42 He is coming back as the King of kings
50:43 and Lord of lords.
50:45 And the King deals with the execution of judgment.
50:46 Now is the time that we have a high priest.
50:51 In the presence of the Father in heaven,
50:53 who will save you and me to the uttermost.
50:59 Are you availing yourself of the grace of Christ?
51:04 I don't know what you struggle with,
51:06 but I'm going to tell you there's nothing you struggle
51:08 with that is greater than the power of Christ
51:09 to save you from it.
51:11 Amen.
51:12 I tell you it makes me think of...
51:15 You know saints.
51:19 I want you to look at one of the passage in Hebrews 6.
51:22 Hebrews 6:19 and 20. Hebrews 6:19 and 20.
51:30 The Bible says here,
51:32 "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul
51:37 both sure and steadfast..."
51:40 I mean, look at all those words that give us confidence,
51:43 this hope we have,
51:44 this hope of Jesus as our high priest.
51:46 "Both sure and steadfast,
51:48 and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
51:50 where the forerunner has entered for us,
51:52 even Jesus having become High Priest forever
51:55 according to the order of Melchizedek.
51:58 God wants us to have hope in Christ,
52:01 wants our eyes to be directed to Christ,
52:04 and what He is doing now for you and me,
52:06 and we should have no misgivings
52:08 that Jesus won't be able to finish the work
52:10 He started in us.
52:12 It reminds me of one of my favorite stories
52:14 actually of a young man, he wasn't so young,
52:17 he'd actually had a failed marriage.
52:20 And it was really hard on him.
52:23 And after a period of,
52:25 you know, there was a period of time
52:26 where he just didn't feel like doing anything
52:27 and after some time he thought to himself,
52:29 you know, I need to shake this off,
52:30 I need to get on with my life, but one of the things
52:32 he always wanted to do was go on a cruise.
52:34 He thought it would be great to go on a cruise.
52:36 This would be fantastic
52:37 and maybe I can find the girl of my dreams on a cruise,
52:39 who knows.
52:40 I have some money in my savings account,
52:41 I'm going to go ahead,
52:43 I'm going to get that, I'm going to spend,
52:44 empty up my savings account and I'm going to buy a ticket.
52:47 That's just what he did.
52:49 In fact, he emptied out his account to the point...
52:51 Now, he wanted to have a little bitty,
52:52 he had a little bit of money left
52:54 where he could use for souvenirs
52:55 and what have you,
52:56 and so in order to save money he got this bright idea that,
52:59 you know, because he was sure that those elaborate meals
53:03 in the dining hall were going to be too expensive.
53:06 And if he would just skip that...
53:08 I mean, yeah, it was a sacrifice
53:10 but that way he can, you know, go on the cruise.
53:13 And so he decided
53:14 I'll take the easiest thing I can pack.
53:16 I'll take some peanut butter
53:17 and I'll take some crackers, okay.
53:18 Peanut butter keeps,
53:20 you don't have to have a refrigerator, crackers,
53:21 I mean, look it's not the greatest but I'll get by
53:24 and I'll have all the other enjoyment of the cruise.
53:27 And he wasn't disappointed.
53:28 I mean, he got out on this cruise
53:30 and it was beautiful.
53:31 I mean, the beautiful, the water was perfect,
53:33 beautiful sunshine every day, beautiful scenic places
53:36 and there was a lovely young lady
53:38 he met on that boat.
53:41 The second day that he struck up a conversation
53:45 and they seem to just hit it off so well.
53:48 And he met her one day, the next day, she said,
53:50 hey, let's eat dinner tonight in the dining hall.
53:54 Well, he thought to himself,
53:55 you know, I don't want to be embarrassing to tell her
53:57 I don't have the tickets.
53:59 So he put it off and he made an excuse.
54:03 Well, this happened every day
54:04 until the last day of the cruise,
54:05 well they've been really hitting it off,
54:07 and he thought something may come of this,
54:08 and I really need to tell her, and she asked again,
54:11 "This is the last day,
54:12 can't you eat with me in the dining hall."
54:14 And he said, "Well, here's the thing,
54:15 I spent all my money on the ticket
54:20 and I just didn't, I wanted to save some money
54:22 for souvenirs and stuff,
54:23 so I didn't get the meal ticket.
54:26 And she says, "Aha, that's what I love about you,
54:29 your sense of humor.
54:30 Silly, you know, the meals come with the ticket."
54:40 And this guy thought to himself,
54:43 "I have been eating peanut butter and crackers
54:45 in my room every day
54:47 and I could have been feasting with this beautiful lady
54:49 in a wonderful dining hall.
54:54 And brothers and sisters, I want to tell you something.
54:57 I fear that too many of us who name the name of Christ
55:00 to call ourselves Christians are living a peanut butter
55:03 and cracker Christianity,
55:06 because we don't focus on our Heavenly High Priest,
55:11 because we don't understand that Jesus is there,
55:14 and He has all power and all authority.
55:17 Not only for our own spiritual experience,
55:20 we're out sharing our faith with others
55:21 and we say, I don't know if I can say it right now.
55:23 How can I lead somebody?
55:25 Because you've got a heavenly high priest
55:26 who is going to put the words in your mouth.
55:29 When you're seeking victory in your own life,
55:32 you've got Jesus, Who is ministering for you.
55:36 Oh, and we're eating peanut butter
55:38 and crackers in the little room.
55:42 Again, I don't know
55:44 what struggles you came here with
55:46 but I know this.
55:48 Jesus Christ came to give you victory.
55:51 He has a place for you in His kingdom.
55:53 And right now, He ministers in your behalf.
55:56 And He wants you to look to Him and trust in Him
55:59 and they hold of His priestly ministry.
56:01 How many of you want to do that today?
56:02 Amen. Amen.
56:04 Let's pray together.
56:06 Father in heaven.
56:09 Oh, Father, Father forgive us for where we've fallen short.
56:13 Lord, sometimes we expect so little out of You
56:16 when You've promised us so much.
56:20 It's almost a mockery, Lord.
56:23 It makes it look like we don't think our God is
56:25 as great as we often say that He is.
56:28 So again, Father, forgive us.
56:31 Oh, direct our minds, direct our eyes,
56:34 redirect our eyes to Jesus, our Heavenly High Priest.
56:39 Lord, we're so grateful for the sacrifice on the cross.
56:43 And now by virtue of that sacrifice,
56:45 Jesus has ascended into heaven to work as our High Priest,
56:51 to give us victory, to cleanse us from sin,
56:53 to give us hope, bright hope for the future.
56:58 Oh, Father.
57:00 Father, you know the hearts of each one here.
57:02 You know what we have come here with.
57:04 There are people here today
57:09 who have been longing for release from some habit,
57:14 from some character trait,
57:16 from something that has just bogged them down.
57:21 Lord, perhaps...
57:25 Perhaps it's some besetting sin
57:27 that they've wrestled with for a long time but today.


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Revised 2023-04-25