Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] You.
[00:00:04] All right, are we ready for the word of God this morning? Yeah.
[00:00:08] I have actually changed the sermon because I just feel like God is wanting to take us down a road and over the last couple of weeks we have been looking at the song of salvation. Yeah. Right from the beginning of time god has written this most beautiful story and and from it requires a response from our lives. How are we going to respond to this wonderful good news of Jesus Christ with our lives? And we looked at the Israelites and the way that they kept going in and out of relationship with God. And if we're really honest, we are not very different ourselves. If you have journeyed with God for any period of time over the years, you know yourself, there have been times when you've been quite red hot and there have been times when you've been cold. Yeah. Or is that just me? Okay? Right. So this morning I want to talk about the most holy place and I want to talk about the most holy place because I believe that God, although we love opening scriptures, all right? And we love revelation and we love knowledge. It's so important this morning that with all the knowledge and all the revelation, all the reading of God's word, that we may do it's. Actually we do it because of Him. It is his presence that we're longing for. Okay, so can you get your Bibles? And I really want to encourage you to bring your paper Bibles to church. Bring your paper Bibles. If you're a new Christian, especially finding chapters and books in the Bible and verses is a great way of understanding the structure of the Bible. It is a great part of discipleship because that's what we are right now. Yeah, we are disciples. All right, so if I can encourage you to bring your Bibles, do we're going to read Hebrews chapter ten?
[00:02:01] For the sake of time, I can't go into too much detail, but I will explain some of this and put it into context in a moment. Shall we just pray? Come on, let's just pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you that in the pages that we are about to read, Lord, it is all about Jesus.
[00:02:20] We thank you for Jesus, Lord, we thank you for the life that he gave, for the sins of the world. Lord, we thank you that we now live in his life, Lord, and we just so love, Lord, all that you are. Father, we're thankful, we're truly grateful for this fellowship, for this local church, for all that you're doing. And now Lord, I pray that you would reach each and every one of us this morning. You'd bring clarity to our minds and our hearts, Lord, and you would instruct us. And I pray that when we leave this place, Lord, we will be desiring more of Your presence in our lives we ask in Your precious name. Okay, here we go. Hebrews Ten the Law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly, year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
[00:03:24] Otherwise would they not have stopped being offered. For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
[00:03:49] Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, here I am. It is written about me in the scroll I have come to do Your will, my God. First he said, sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them, though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, Here I am. I have come to do Your will. He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will we will have made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ. Once for all, day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. You see where the writer's getting at?
[00:05:00] But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. And since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit testifies to us about this. First he says, this is the covenant I will make with them. After that time, says the Lord, I will put My laws in their hearts. Everyone say hearts, and I will write them on their minds. Then he adds their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain that is his body. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings. Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching. Hang in on there. I know it's a long passage. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished? Who was trampled the Son of God underfoot? Who was treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the spirit of grace?
[00:07:36] For we know Him who said, it is mine to avenge, I will repay. And again the Lord will judge his people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Remember those early days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering? Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution. At other times, you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison, and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a little while, he who is coming will come. Jesus is coming.
[00:08:31] You don't sound excited at all. I know you do. It's a Sunday morning. Jesus is coming and will not delay.
[00:08:40] But My righteous one will live by faith, and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back. But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. What an incredible can we just applaud God's word this morning?
[00:09:01] We thank you for your word, Lord. Such amazing passages of scripture this morning. And I want to just open up this morning by going to do communion together in a few moments just after this. But I want to talk about the blood of Jesus this morning, because although I want to talk about a call to persevere in our faith, there's only one thing that is going to keep us persevering through life. It's not our bank accounts. It's not our relationship statuses. It's not our feelings on whether we wake up feeling good or bad that day. It is the blood of Jesus Christ. That is the only thing that is going to enable us to persevere through every every day that we live until we see Him face to face is the blood of Jesus. Okay, now let me go back. If you'll grace me a few moments, I'm going to keep this really simple, because I would have to look back in the Old Testament to go through the intricate details of the most holy place. But in the Old Testament, as the worshipers came together in the desert region, god's plan was that he would have a people for himself, right? We've seen that over the last couple of weeks because God loves us.
[00:10:17] His plan was right from the start, is that he would gather a people that would belong to Him, and he would father those people. Do we allow God to father us today? Do we know we have a heavenly father? Allow him to father you. Church doesn't matter whether you've had a bad experience of an earthly father. Your heavenly Father is so reliable, he's trustworthy.
[00:10:42] Allow him to father you. And so God's plan was that on the face of the earth, he would have a people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation chosen generation on the face of the earth. And so God instructed Moses. This is the Old Testament. Now, I want you to create a place of worship, and it was known as a tabernacle or a sanctuary, that place of worship. And if you can imagine it for young people, if you've been to Limitless, you imagine in the center of a huge, huge mounted region, there'd be a tent in the middle, and everybody else would camp around this big tent, okay? And this tent was called the Tent of Meeting. It was the tabernacle. And in the tabernacle there was an outer court, an outer room. But as you went through, there would be the most holy place, the holy of holies. And in that place, it was through a curtain. Through the curtain. Into that place is where God's presence met with individuals.
[00:11:42] People like you and I were not allowed into the tabernacle because of our sin.
[00:11:50] We were too stinky. We would have been this is Old Testament, remember? We would have been too stinky. Our sin would have been such a stench for a holy God.
[00:12:04] And so only the Levites, a special tribe, were allowed to minister. But only the high priest was able to go in to that most holy place. And he would go in once a year on the day of Atonement and sprinkle blood, okay? And the blood of animals, usually goats or sheep, lambs, all that kind of stuff, would atone for the sins of the people, would make it right. And of course, this earthly tabernacle under Moses, it was portable. So wherever they traveled, they'd have to pack up this huge, really, tent with the Ark of the Covenant. Remember, the Ark of the Covenant had the Ten Commandments. It was a wooden box, a golden wooden box with cherubim over the top. I don't really want to go into too much detail because that's not what I want to preach about this morning, but it had the Ten Commandments. It had Moses's staff and some bread in their manner, and they would have to pack this tabernacle up and travel through the desert with it. Okay? And they would keep going until God said, stop and they'd unpack the tabernacle.
[00:13:15] The people would gather around it, and when the cloud, the Glory cloud came over it, people would know that God was with them, an incredible and of course, this was just a shadow of the reality. I want you to get this. This morning, God was telling the people that to come in the future, he was going to send his one and only son, Jesus, who would be that high priest, and he would go into the holy of holies. He would go on behalf of us in front of a holy God, and he would not offer the blood of goats or the blood of sheep. He would offer his own blood. He would go and place his life on the altar church for you and I so that we can be forgiven fully, completely of all the wrongdoing we have ever done and will do.
[00:14:21] Incredible. And let me tell you, that is the only thing that is going to keep us persevering in the faith. It is the cross of Jesus Christ.
[00:14:34] You know, the blood is important because if you don't have blood in your body, there's no life.
[00:14:45] Nurses, you need like, yeah, no blood, no life.
[00:14:51] That's why the blood was so important, because it represents life.
[00:14:57] A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the very start of Genesis where Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden. Where do you think they got their covering from?
[00:15:08] Their animal fur. God had to slaughter an animal.
[00:15:15] The blood was shed.
[00:15:19] Not only did God cover them and cover them spiritually with the blood of an animal, but he covered them physically.
[00:15:30] That's what God does. He's so kind.
[00:15:34] If you've tripped up this week, can I the Bible encourages to go and confess our sins to one another. You don't have to stand here and confess it to everybody.
[00:15:43] Just go and confess it to somebody that you love and admire and to say, I just want to get this off my chest.
[00:15:51] And let me tell you, when we repent and we come back, god covers us with his love. He takes away our shame. That's what the blood of Jesus does. And so this old order was a reflection of what was to come through the know. I still can't get over Joseph's bones. Can I just go on about Joseph's bones again?
[00:16:17] Because Joseph's bones, I mean, don't you think he saw the promise?
[00:16:25] He saw the promise, not just the physical getting into the promised land. He saw the ultimate promised land. And he says, I don't want any part of my body left in this God forsaken place called Egypt. I want everything that I am, whether I'm dead in life or death, to be going. That is my life's testimony that I am heading to the promised land. He saw the eternal promised land. He says I am getting there. The only thing that's going to get us there is the blood of Jesus church. When we come to break bread as a family this morning and take the wine, I want us to do it differently. Not just physically differently, we will do it physically differently, practically differently. But I want something to change in our hearts this morning. I want the reality to grip us today.
[00:17:23] And the most amazing revelation that I've had over the last couple of weeks is this is all back to worship.
[00:17:35] It's all back to worship.
[00:17:39] And the enemy hates the church that worships. I'm sorry if you find me over the top in my worship. Do you know, with all respect, I don't care. True. Because I have been bound for too long in my twenty s.
[00:17:57] And there is something that shifts when the body of Christ gather together.
[00:18:01] I don't judge you. If you just want to stand there, fine. Because things happen internally. God's doing things internally, so no one's judging anybody.
[00:18:12] I love the fact that we're a church that you want to lie flat prostate in front of the Lord, you do that. If you want to kneel, do you want to get on a chair and just hoot? I love hearing somebody was just shouting some hallelujahs out this morning. My spirit was like hallelujah with you, whoever it was.
[00:18:31] The blood of Jesus.
[00:18:34] The blood of Jesus. And this is a new and living way. The life is in the blood.
[00:18:42] The other thing as well, turn to Matthew 27. I get so excited with this.
[00:18:52] This is just I want you to get really excited over this.
[00:18:59] Matthew 27. Jesus was at the cross.
[00:19:08] He's a champion, isn't he? Jesus, is he a champion? Yes.
[00:19:16] He's at the cross and it says this.
[00:19:22] I think it's Matthew 27. Where am I?
[00:19:25] Oh, hang on.
[00:19:29] Matthew 27.
[00:19:31] Yeah. And it said from verse 30, jesus at the cross says and when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. That was that moment. He died on the cross.
[00:19:46] At that moment, the curtain of the temple. Remember I spoke to you about the curtain, that most holy place that no one was allowed in.
[00:19:58] The curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.
[00:20:05] And we're talking thick drapes, not just little curtains we have up at our kitchen windows talking. The whole veil curtain tore from top to bottom. Now get this the earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
[00:20:35] Can I just say that again?
[00:20:40] The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. I'd love to know where those holy people were. Anybody have any ideas?
[00:20:51] Like were they people who had been dead for a couple of centuries.
[00:20:59] Who were these dead people? We know they were holy and they were going, they were raised to life and going back talking to people.
[00:21:11] Incredible.
[00:21:13] They came out of the tombs after Jesus'resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
[00:21:23] That's just the blood of Jesus.
[00:21:30] We have got to persevere church because if we don't yeah, we might make it into heaven. Scraping, scraping it in. I don't want to just scrape it in, do you?
[00:21:45] But if we are going to persevere as a church and really persevere and run this race in faith oh, and also think about this chapter. It precedes chapter eleven, doesn't it? It paves the way for chapter eleven, people of faith. So it's not only telling us to persevere in faith, it's actually saying this is how you live by faith. Look at these people.
[00:22:12] Go this week and read chapter eleven. Dive into chapter eleven of Hebrews, this is how you live by faith. But I think if we're going to persevere really by faith, enter in the most holy place every single day because we can now we can enter that most holy place. We don't have to go through a levi to high priest. Jesus is our high priest.
[00:22:34] I believe we're going to see outrageous things happen.
[00:22:40] I have seen outrageous things happen in my life.
[00:22:43] I've had glimpses of glorious things happening from healings to other things happening where God's glory has come upon people.
[00:22:59] Do we want to live supernaturally normal again?
[00:23:06] We've got to come back to the blood of Jesus, the blood of Jesus that was shed for us once and for all. He doesn't have to keep doing it.
[00:23:20] And then here's the second thing. And then we're going to come into a time of breaking bread.
[00:23:24] In fact, I've got three things. Let me just rush through these really quickly. Sincere heart he says, let us draw near back to Hebrews ten with a sincere heart.
[00:23:34] You know, if we don't come with sincere hearts, we simply go through the motions.
[00:23:40] In my 20s, let me tell you, I was involved. I'm part of a very, very large church on my dad's team serving. I was on the worship team, I was on the youth ministry.
[00:23:50] And things were great, right? But there was a five year window and I was going through the motions and I was bored.
[00:23:58] People were, things were happening and I was just watching go, I'm bored.
[00:24:04] I'm just here because if I didn't well, what would people say going through the motions? And then one day I sat down in church and I said, Lord, I'm not getting up to sing. I told my worship leader, I'm not getting up so I can't do it. And I sat there, I said, Lord, I have to either be genuine or I'm walking out of this place and I'm not coming back. Otherwise I'm not doing this. I'm not just turning up. Going through the motions. And God, powerfully by his spirit, heard a very sincere, broken young woman that had been brought up in the church all her life and desperately needed the water of the Holy Spirit to drench her heart and soul because she was dry. I had knowledge, I had theology. I needed the presence of God. I needed an encounter over my life. And I said, Lord, I want to draw near with a sincere heart. Otherwise I can't do this.
[00:25:00] When you come and gather like this, there is nothing like the gathering. I love Sundays. We know church is more than Sundays. Don't mishear my heart. But there is something about the church camping out in the presence of God, camping around the central message of the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[00:25:23] Come near when we gather like this. Come near and say, Lord, I don't want to just sing these. Lawson, thank you for leading us this morning. We so love you and appreciate you and Matt as well.
[00:25:34] I was showing off a bit to Exeter last week in my conversations when I was there. Is that all right?
[00:25:42] Just so, just so. Love you as a church family. What God's doing?
[00:25:49] And I've lost my train of thought. But, yeah, let's draw near, say, God, don't let me just sing songs this morning. Let me draw near with a sincere heart.
[00:25:57] Let me not just go, hey, I don't like this song.
[00:26:02] Lord, I'm drawing near with a sincere heart oh, I'm not really feeling it in the preach.
[00:26:08] Awaken my heart, Lord, to hear what you've got to say to me this morning.
[00:26:13] Third thing, last thing, it's a bit challenging. Is that all right?
[00:26:17] If we deliberately keep on sinning whoa. If we deliberately keep on sinning let me just yeah.
[00:26:32] We are in danger of insulting the spirit of grace. And I get emotional over this because the Holy Spirit, he is the most wonderful person in my life.
[00:26:44] And we in our grumbling, complaining, in our moaning, in our wrong spirits, are in danger of insulting the spirit of grace in our lives.
[00:26:56] An evangelist said this lovely guy followed the last couple of years. I want you to get this because there is a spirit and culture of the day that is creeping into the church.
[00:27:08] And he said this. He said, I spoke to a lady today at the airport about Jesus. She believed in Him, but said she lived with her boyfriend and they lived as though they are fully married, but they go to church and still believe in God. I asked her about following God, and she seemed very uncomfortable about actually following what the Bible said. And she said, Well, Jesus forgives me and loves me as I am, so it's okay. I tried to encourage her, although he did die for them. He doesn't forgive. If we willfully keep sinning even when we believe it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of God.
[00:28:01] I'm not here to talk know like Phil. You were saying last week about once saved, always saved.
[00:28:08] I never want to put God to the test.
[00:28:14] And the idea is that if we cannot follow if we can't follow this, we're not following God.
[00:28:30] You hearing me this morning?
[00:28:35] We can't just follow either some doctrine and not follow in our walk.
[00:28:45] The perseverance of faith are people that are saying, lord, I'm putting this into practice.
[00:28:57] I want to say to you this morning as a pastor, as a friend, as somebody who has been one of the guilty ones and I'm thankful for Jesus, for the access that we have.
[00:29:10] Don't carry on sinning if you willfully. Know that this is wrong and it's out of Scripture, do something about it.
[00:29:21] Put things right in your life. Because we are in a day and age where people believe in God, but they're choosing to live their own way.
[00:29:32] That can't be happening, brothers and sisters. The writer of Hebrew said it can't be happening. And I know that's a harsh message because some of us are going to have to go back and we're going to have to get rid of some things on our iPhone that we've been looking at that we shouldn't be looking at. Some of us have got to get out of relationships because they're not yoked equally in the spirit, especially younger people.
[00:30:03] If you're not married and you're living together, get married.
[00:30:09] It's not my heart. It is the word of God. Because that's what perseverance means. If we keep on sinning when we know we shouldn't be, do you want to leave it chance?
[00:30:25] Tell you what, when we put things right, God will bless your life. Oh, he will. He will bless your life. He returns things to you.
[00:30:34] He absolutely does. You might have to wait a little bit.
[00:30:38] But I do not regret waiting ten years for Phil.
[00:30:50] Think I could wait another ten? No, I want to joking.
[00:30:54] And that's what I want to say this morning. Oh, God is so good can't follow this and claim to follow God. We follow it all in making our lives remember worship, worship, worship in making it all about Him.
[00:31:14] Let me tell you, he will make it all about you.
[00:31:19] I don't know why he does, but he does every single time.
[00:31:23] When we make it all about Him, I'm worshipping you. Oh, and the enemy hates it. The enemy hates it that's when you're at your most vulnerable, he will come in with a load of lies. You're never going to find that husband or wife of your dreams. You're never going to get that. You're never going to pursue that.
[00:31:41] That's what will happen when you're in worship.
[00:31:45] But you see, when we make much about Him, when it becomes everything to do with Him, the spotlight from heaven comes on you and it comes on me. And in God's kindness and his love and his mercy, he comes through. He does. You know, one of my exciting seasons as I look back were the most difficult seasons of my life.
[00:32:12] I can now testify they were actually some of the best days of my life at the time. You don't think that, but you see those dark times of persevering even when you don't want to. I don't want to do good anymore. I don't want to follow it anymore. Anybody had those conversations? I'm fed up of doing good. It's not really working out for me.
[00:32:36] Keep persevering in faith, keep worshipping, keep loving, and God is faithful. Put your hands up. Especially you who are over 40 can testify. Come on. Put your hands right up now. Come on. Wave them, wave them. Wave them. Wave them. Absolutely. Look around the room, young people. Stories and stories and stories. Should we have a story morning? We need a story morning in a couple of weeks. Yes. Of God's faithfulness.
[00:33:06] We do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
[00:33:16] The curtain tore in two.
[00:33:20] I was like Jesus's body broken for you and I.
[00:33:26] Let's go out and live for Him this week.
[00:33:29] Let's go out and pursue his presence.
[00:33:33] We can go into the most holy of holies this week.
[00:33:38] Don't need a dog collar.
[00:33:43] You can go in and you can be driving your car to work. And enter the most holy place. You can be on your way to work at a train station and enter the most holy place. You can be sat in a classroom, the doctor's surgery. And enter the most holy place. You can be fixing the car at the mechanics place and enter the most holy place. You can be doing your schoolwork and enter the most holy place. That's what he has done for you and me.
[00:34:08] The blood of Jesus.
[00:34:13] This morning we're going to break bread together.
[00:34:17] We just bow your heads and this is how we're actually going to do it, practically. Phil, will you come out?
[00:34:23] Phil and I you'll take your piece of bread and you just pop it in the juice and take it this morning. But what we're going to do? Yeah, let's get us get some music. Let's set the scene.
[00:34:38] Yeah. The sermon was called Devoted, by the way. That's what I meant to say.
[00:34:44] Devoted.
[00:34:52] The church, his body.
[00:34:56] His body.
[00:35:01] This week we get to represent him.
[00:35:04] Wow. Come on.
[00:35:06] We are living letters, church living letters.
[00:35:13] Not a letter written on ink on a page, but letters written on our hearts by the spirit of God.
[00:35:27] Live in letters.
[00:35:29] We are the aroma of Christ. We're not a stench anymore. If you're in Christ, you no longer stink. Okay? You might not feel clean, but the truth is you are. If you're in Christ.
[00:35:45] We are the aroma.
[00:35:48] That's why you'll hear us talking about careful what comes out your mouth, careful what you're thinking about, careful what you see.
[00:35:56] Because we are reflection of Him.
[00:35:59] And this morning, Lord, as this beautiful, precious body of Christ, as we come together around Your life, your death, Your burial, Your resurrection, Lord, we think about the lambs going in to be slaughtered, Lord. They would never, ever be able to cleanse our consciences.
[00:36:25] They couldn't.
[00:36:28] It had to be someone who was human and perfect and sinless.
[00:36:36] And Jesus, when in on our behalf, his body absolutely battered, how dare they spit on Him? How dare they get that sword, that spear, and just absolutely ram it through his side?
[00:36:58] How dare they get those nails and whack them into his hands and feet?
[00:37:06] How dare they laugh at the Savior of the world?
[00:37:13] And this morning, Lord, we come round and remember the great sacrifice.
[00:37:23] Jesus, jesus. Jesus.
[00:37:28] We love you. We adore you, Lord. In these moments now, as we come, may something happen in our hearts. Let your presence come this morning, lord. Let Your presence come over us. We can't live without Your presence. We need your presence, Lord.
[00:37:50] Close.
