Participants: Mark Howard
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. |
Revised 2023-04-25