Hello, a big welcome to the Via Zayan Sermon podcast.
We are a church based out of Chennai, India.
We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will
be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.
Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of
purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.
The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess
our promise. As we walk through the Lent
season, a time of preparation before Easter, we hope to see
Jesus clearer than before. We desire that you would make it
your life's goal and purpose to seek His face and know His
heart. Hi Church, this is a joy and a
privilege to bring God's Word to you today.
For those of you who are watching and listening, I just
want to say that even as we are in this season of Lent, I pray
that we'll be able to see God clearly, move towards Him, and
experience Him personally. We're starting a brand new
series. In fact, we are in Part 2.
Last week we had a guest speaker come in and the entire series is
around the theme of finding Jesus in Leviticus.
And the reason why we've chosen this is because many times we
overlook what's been spoken about Jesus in the Old
Testament. But the more when we start
reading the Old Testament with the observance of what Jesus
came and did, we see there are traces of him everywhere
throughout. And so the reason is as we look
into this specifically today, I just wanted to kind of highlight
some of the things we heard last week.
We don't have online service because he spoke here in person,
but we do have the sermon podcast and would ask probably
after this if you can listen to it sometime in your free course.
Pastor was had spoken specifically with regard to the
intimacy of God and why it has to be so real in our lives.
And he talked about four hindrances.
And I want us to kind of just go through those four because those
kind of help us understand what holds us back so that we are
unable to see Jesus clearly. It becomes fuzzy, it's unclear.
And many times we're just grappling with ourselves.
The four things which he mentioned are one is childhood
hurt and drama, will, you know, move us to a place of not being
intimate with Jesus. The second thing is he mentioned
is our thought patterns and our negative thinking will prevent
us. Many times we are unable to
handle the good that's happening for us.
We feel deserving, but the more we have to, but the more we move
closer to Jesus, we will soon realize that with Jesus, he
means good for us. And so those thought patterns
will need to change if we really need to have that intimacy with
him. The third thing we see is
darkness that comes because of disobedience from our life says
blatantly certain areas where we don't want to give control.
And I love that with the length, that's the area where we move
towards because this is where we tell Jesus, Jesus, these are
somethings which I really like, but I'm willing to give it up so
that you would speak to me more. You would show me what I'm doing
wrong. You would show me what I need to
change. You will tell me what I need to
do. And the fourth thing is our ego
and pride. And I pray that we will never
allow our ego and pride to get in the way of knowing Jesus.
And the reason why I wanted to start off with this is because
being intimate with God, you know, wanting to see him every
day is the base in which we'll be able to draw closer.
You know, when you are intimate with our spouse, we, we are
literally breathing so close to each other.
We are there's there's this oneness that we experience being
close to 1 and I pray that we will all come to that place
where we are past the things that we've gone through won't
dictate because we can easily blame Jesus and say, you know
what, you were not there when something like this happened.
But Jesus will reveal when we start looking to him, when we
start seeking to him that he was present during those times.
Even in our struggles to say I was there.
It's just many a times our ego and pride get the better of us.
So even as we go into the first part of finding Jesus in
Leviticus, I wanted to kind of I go through this court, which I
came across it. In fact, as I was, I think a
couple of weeks back, someone had talked about beholding, you
know, and so the more I've been thinking about that we had a
guest speaker and as she was talking about beholding God and
I, I that's been resonating and I came across this entire
section that John Piper did. And even as it comes up on the
screen, I want us to read that it says beholding glory becoming
gold. My point is that praising the
glory of God's grace is the apex of human wholeness, not the
pursuit of it. Praising the glory of God's
grace is the all satisfying goal of human existence, not how you
get there. And seeing that glory in the
person and work of Jesus the way this grace, this grace upon
grace, this grace of wholeness comes into our broken lives.
Beholding glory, we are becoming whole.
And I want to keep this as the baseline that the phrase
beholding glory becoming whole. Because when we look at Jesus
through Leviticus, what we see is we see a group of people who
are set apart by God, who were in slavery, where we see
Abraham. We've seen all this while who
pursued after God. In fact, he took those steps to
move towards the promises of God.
And then later on we see his generations, 4 generations, 5
generations later, they became captives in Egypt.
They were slaves there. God moved miraculously after 400
years through Moses takes them out and he takes them on this
journey of the people getting to know their God better.
But the heart of the people was so broken, was so torn apart.
And when we see what happens in Leviticals time and again is
they, they always went back to what they enjoyed and forgetting
that there's a God now who desires to be with them, desires
to worship them. And you know, so he gave them
this command to build a temple. And there's this all these
requirements that are built around that where only a
particular tribe is appointed to serve him.
And I think these are all things when we see our glimpses where
Jesus was pointing everything to him coming so that he will be
the ultimate redemption for mankind.
And So what happens here is there were only few who beheld
his glory. There were many who are not
wanting to become whole because they their desires were
different. Their urges were different,
being that they what they saw and wanted was entirely
different in a desert. And I pray that as we observe
Lent, why are we observing Lent? It's a time we set apart each
year just to turn our focus to Jesus.
Jesus who was God, came down as man, died on the cross for you
and me, was able to let go of certain things, his in all
humility. He came so that you and I can be
redeemed once for all. So you and I will be set free
once for all so that you and I will have a relationship with
God. You and I will be able to
commune with God and be with intimate with him on a daily
basis. And the end objective is where
we'll spend eternity with them so that we'll have eternal life.
And so as we look through the Bible, what we see is this day
of atonement is what we're going to be looking at from Leviticus
chapter 16. And the Day of Atonement is this
one event that happened every year.
Roughly it around happened around the 10th month, which is
October in our calendar if you have to take.
And so in that 10th month of every year, there was a day when
people went to the temple and they observed it.
It was a day of rest. No one had to do any work.
The high priest was to get into that place to meet with God.
The high priest, the chief high priest used to go into that
place. And there's this entire
description of a bull of being offered, of two goats being
chosen, one being selected to for the sacrifice, one being,
you know, cast out of the camp. It's being sent out and we see
all these things happening, and what happens in this is this
culminates entirely in the New Testament when Jesus comes.
This was a lasting ordinance, but the problem was before it
can just be something. People started making this just
another ritualistic thing. What happened here is what we're
going to see because something tangible happens.
And today we all get to experiences.
We are not today going there sacrificing a bull.
We are not going to the place where we're waiting outside.
No, the, the when you see the chief priest go in from his
garments, which had to be changed.
Everything outward, you see, there's so much of outward
things that happened towards repentance, whereas when you
look at the New Testament, everything happens internally.
And so that's why living out a Christian faith is even more
harder because we are not defined by what we do as works,
but we are more defined by what God's going to do internally in
and through us. Our motives matter with what
heart posture are becoming. Why are we coming in here?
And so there are a couple of things which I wanted to
highlight specifically from Leviticus chapter 16 as we look
at the Day of Atonement. The first thing is when we look
in comparison with the New Testament with Jesus being
present in Leviticus is the fact that we don't approach him
yearly. We approach him daily.
This is not a one day event in
our lives. It's an everyday communing with
Jesus. Leviticus chapter 16 verses one
to five. This is what it says.
The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of
Aaron who died when they approached the Lord.
The Lord said to Moses, Tell your brother Aaron that he is
not to come whenever he chooses, into the Most Holy Place behind
the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or
else he will die, for I will appear in the cloud over the
atonement cover. This is how Aaron is to enter
the Most Holy Place. He must first bring a young bull
for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
He used to put on sacred linen tunic with linen undergarments
next to his body. He used to tie the linen sash
around him and put on the linen turman.
These are sacred garments, so he must bathe himself with water
before he puts them on. From the Israelite community, he
used to take 2 male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a
burnt offering. God set the tone for holiness.
He said.
You don't just get to approach me like however you think you
want because when you're entering, you're entering into
holiness. And the reason why God did that
is because God wanted people to know the cost that it counted.
Imagine here you need to have the sacred garments is 1 aspect.
You have to have a bull, you have to have a ram, you have to
have two goats and all these things when you have to have
with you what what happens? There's cost involved.
There is a, there's, there's this, there's this taking of
time and effort being done just to enter into his holy presence.
And mind you, he says that you can't enter in whenever you feel
like. This is not, I can do it on my
whims and fancy. It's more of an appointed time
when I get to meet with God. It's a divine appointment.
Literally it was never, you know, in our Tamil culture, we
have certain slangs that we use. You know, when, when you're
bargaining, when you're, when you're in that place of wanting
something And you know when they say, when, when a person you're
getting a service done and then they want that tip or they want
something, they'd say path panning, Sir, you know, please
Sir, or they say Chuma panning Sir.
They, they kind of like bargained here.
God was being definite. He was saying this is how you
approach, else you'll die. If you read in Leviticus chapter
10 verses one to three, Aaron's own sons went and you know, put
incense and when you read it, it's scary.
It says this is what it says In Leviticus 10 verses one to
three, Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, took their senses, put
fire in them and added incense and they offered unauthorized
fire before the Lord, contrary to his command.
So fire came out of the presence of the Lord and consumed them
and they died before the Lord. Moses then said to Aaron, This
is what the Lord spoke of when he said among those who
approached me, I will be proved holy, the sight of all people,
I'll be honored. Aaron remained silent,
approaching God back in that day, in the time of Leviticus
was on an appointed day, was by an appointed tribe, was done in
an appointed method. And today the consuming fire
that consumed Aron's sons is still alive and active today.
And so I want us to come to a place of realizing that if we do
not take what God is doing seriously, it'll consume us.
We read when we read this, the consuming fire moved and just
went over Aron's sons. Just imagine as a dad, you're
standing there, your sons do this, which should not be done
and it happens right in from blatant disobedience.
And I pray that that won't be our heart attitude or posture
when we come, especially when we approach him daily.
The problem with approaching him daily is we approach it in our
convenience. But God delights when we say,
you know what, God, I'm here, speak to me.
He has got to have work. But this time that I've given,
I'll make sure that I'll only listen to you.
This time that I'm taking off is to hear from you.
This time I've taken is to approach your throne room.
This time I've taken it so that I can draw close to you.
God is wanting us to remember. Because of Jesus, the consuming
fire is all the more active today, and we must acknowledge
it today. What are we consumed by?
If you're not consumed by Jesus, you're consumed by something
else. It's evident today.
You know, when you're talking to certain people, you will realize
they're either consumed by hope that comes from Jesus or they're
consumed by their selfishness and by, you know, their own
ideas of struggles. The reason why I'm saying idea
of struggles is we need to come to a place that everyone has 24
hours, everyone has the same time, everyone.
How we view with the lens of Jesus matters.
Today we can view Jesus and say, you know what, this doesn't make
sense. It won't be consuming at all.
But when we move towards Jesus, we understand he's all
consuming. Why?
There's always a deep fire that burns for something more.
There's a longing for something more.
You suddenly look at the altar, and the altar is a place where
you commune because that's where you hear God the closest.
The altar is where you suddenly are like God.
This is where I see your presence.
This is where I want to be. A lot of us are wanting to go do
greater exploits outside, but we are failing to spend time at the
altar. What is God literally cutting
off you that you've relinquished to say God do as you will,
because the consuming fire has to take away all the
disobedience from us? Romans chapter 6 verses 10:50
talks about this. It says for the death that he
died, He died to sin, ending its power and playing the sinner's
death once and for all. And the sin that he lives, he
lives to glorify God in unbroken fellowship with Him.
Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, and your
relationship to it broken, but alive to God in unbroken
fellowship with him. In Christ Jesus, the curse of
sin is broken. When the curse of sin is broken,
we have an unbroken fellowship with God and I pray that that
will be our daily output where we go say God, break the yoke of
sin over my life, break the consequences of the sin that I'm
going through. Lord Jesus, God, break the sin
pattern of my life. When we have this unbroken
fellowship with him, sin will break.
It will. It may happen.
No, it will, because when unbroken fellowship is there
with God, he won't allow it to really stem up because we'll be
like God. Sure.
You take the reins, you take control.
Lent is also a reminder that the veil was torn, what was set for
only once a year. In Matthew chapter 27, we read
when Jesus died, the whale tore right from top to bottom, giving
all of us access. You and me have access to the
throne room of God. You know, when you look at the
throne room of God, there's this thing called the mercy seat.
When he goes in, Aaron goes in. He applies these, the blood of
the animal over there and all that.
As we see, we will see that that mercy seat is where we move to
receive forgiveness, but you also go there to receive
direction. We receive power over there.
And so today all of us, all of us get to participate in it.
Today I pray that all of us will have this unbroken fellowship
with Jesus, not moving away from him or moving in a place and
saying, no, this is how I want my unbroken fellowship is so
that he will be able to break those sin patterns in our life.
He'll be able to cleanse us so that we are clean inside out.
Clean inside out. The second thing we see is we
leave eternally redeemed by submission and not having to
transfer our sins yearly. What happens in Leviticus
chapter 20/20/22? He shall then slaughter the goat
for the sin offering for the people, and take its blood
behind the curtain and do with it as He did with the bull's
blood. He shall sprinkle it on the
atonement cover and in front of it.
In this way He will make atonement for the most holy
place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites,
whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same to the tent
of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their
uncleanness. When Aaron was finished making
atonement for the most holy place, the tent of meeting and
the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat.
He used to lay both hands on the head of the live goat, and
confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of His,
relates all their sins, and put them on the goat's head.
He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of
someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself
all the sins to a remote place and a man shall release it in
the wilderness. There was a process for the Day
of Atonement for the transference of sin of the
entirety of Israel, one the goat.
When 2 goats were there, one was cast a lot, 1 was selected, one
was killed, and that blood was applied inside the Holy of
Holies, was applied in the atonement cover.
And it was literally like God, us taking the blood, saying God,
we are here, we are saying sorry, forgive us.
We plead with the blood, and then we go to the tent of
meeting where all are gathered. And that's why he lays both his
hands and confesses the entire nation's sin over that goat.
And the goat is set into the wilderness, never to return.
And as we look at this, Jesus came into the world to replace
entirely. He said, I'll take the entirety
of mankind. It was no longer a nation.
It no longer was a selected few. He took the entirety of mankind.
So today, whatever sin you're being captivated by two,
whatever sin you're feeling like, no, this is I can't do
without. You can say I can beautifully
give it into the hands of Jesus because he came down for you and
me. He came down for entirety,
entirety of mankind. And this is what always blows my
mind. God in human form, who knew no
sin, who did no sin, came and willfully gave his life.
Here they are selected, but here He, in all humility, he came
down. That's why I mentioned that we
leave eternally redeemed by submission as Jesus came to the
cross, as Jesus came and gave himself holy to the will of the
Father so that the that connection will be restored.
And as he rose back and as he's seated on the right hand of the
Father to intercede for us, I believe it's through submission.
He came through submission, holy to the will of the Father.
We holy go to the cross, submission to say, God, here I
am, this is me, this is me. I pray that I'll receive your
blood. I pray I'll receive your your
forgiveness. I pray I'll be redeemed.
He redeems us once for all. No longer is this going to be a
yearly task of going and having this transfer done?
No, you're going there. No one is going to lay hands,
you know. So what happens is I'm not
waiting just for a year. I'm here.
Who can say go Lord, I'm really stuck.
I need your help now. I want to be redeemed from this.
And God say every sin is broken. The power of sin is broken, the
power of what you think you, you, you're struggling with.
If you say, Lord, I submitted you, it'll break and it'll yield
to Jesus. When you look at the whole
instance, you know, animals don't have free bill.
So they're forced. In fact, it's they're they're
they're, they're the bread. And then as they are offered, it
was not out of free will. But here we have Jesus who came
down to earth out of his own will to say, I'll come and
redeem and be the Redeemer. He came down.
He, he set the score straight. So today we are redeemed
eternally. You don't.
I and I don't have to go and search for anything or anyone to
redeem us. And this is what we read in
Hebrews. And he talks about the chief
high priest of what Jesus did when we read this, I want you to
come to a place of saying, Lord, I want to be eternally redeemed
by you. I'm sorry.
I just, I come once a week or I come once a while and I think
about what I've done. But here I want to walk away
knowing I'm eternally redeemed. I'll walk away.
I'll come and submit it. I'll walk away confident,
knowing that you're working in and through me.
A lot of us come in submitted. We, we, we get that forgiveness
and we go back thinking, you know what, I can always do this.
There's always this room for me to go because it, it, we feel
like it it and we end up taking Jesus for granted.
And I want us to come to a place where we're like, no, Jesus
Christ was precious. That's why I love when it's said
that consuming fire. We need to be consumed to know
like God, this ends with me, this ends with my generation,
this ends right here. I want to live a life wholly
dedicated for you, you know and let's and as we read Hebrews and
I pray that God will reveal that to us.
It says here but when the Messiah write High Priest of the
superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old
tent and it's trappings and it's created world and went straight
into heaven tent, the true holy place once and for all.
He also bypasses sacrifices consisting of one goat and calf
blood, instead using his own blood as a price to set us free
once and for all. If that animal blood and the
other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up
certain matters of our religion and behaviour, think how much
more the blood of Christ cleanses up our whole lives
inside and out through the Spirit.
Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing
us from all those dead end efforts to make ourselves
respectable so that we can live all out for God.
You know one of the things when I read in this is inside out.
We are cleansed inside out no longer isn't an outward.
We are not just talking about the sins of what we have done
that we put there. We're also talking about Lord
these these longings, these earthly longings, these desires
that see drive me to sin. We even comment that that's why
the inside out is is no longer what we're doing, but also the
intentions, the heart behind it. We go back to things that are
passed down generationally, things that have been we've been
confined to within spaces and the things that we've been grown
up, we see they no longer have a hold.
Lord set us free because he was this unblemished sacrifice
because he willingly came. No one willingly goes to die,
but He did because He loved you and me.
And we need to give up on any pursuits that take us away from
Jesus. We need to give up any pursuits
that take us away because once we know we're eternally
redeemed, it's not a green card or a golden card for us to
realize, OK, my ticket to heaven is confirmed.
Because our actions will always be questionable if we don't live
out how Christ is wanting us to live out.
The minute we are redeemed, we are saying, Lord, I submit to
your will. Jesus submitted to the will of
the Father. We have free will.
And so in our free will, when we say, Lord, we accept your
redemption, we are redeemed eternally.
My will submits to His will. And suddenly I'm not being
governed by my free will. I'm in submission to his free
will to say, Lord, what do you want me to do?
Is this what you want me to pursue?
Is this relationship worth it in my life?
Is this coming out of a place of a selfish desire where I just
need my needs being met? Or is this a God oriented
relationship for me? God, is this something I need to
pursue or is this outside of your will for me?
That's what happens with Inside Out and the Day of Atonement,
when we look over here is an important feature in that
Israelites life because this is where they met with God.
And I was just reading through spoken gospel and they said this
beautifully. They said in the entire Torah,
the Day of Atonement sits right in the center.
And what sits at the center of the Torah is the book of
Leviticus. And right at the center is the
Day of Atonement. And it's this beautiful picture
of where we meet with God. And today God recites right
inside of us. We don't go to meet with he is
right there with you. So today, even as you're
watching it online, He's right there with you at in your home,
in your office, in your paying guest, in the place that you're
travelling. He's right there and he wants to
meet with you. He wants to change you inside
or, and I pray that we will move to this understanding.
They're called to live this life that has been eternally redeemed
for us once and for all. When we participate with Jesus,
we're saying, God, I am yours, you are mine.
I'll do what you say because I, as you submitted out of your own
free will, you submit to the will of the Father.
I, out of my free will submit to you, and I follow the will that
you have for me. Let's read 1 Peter chapter 2
verse 21 to 25. This is what it says.
To this you are called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving
you an example that you should follow.
In His steps. He committed no sin and no
deceit was found in His mouth. When they hurled their insults
at Him. He did not retaliate when he
suffered. He made no threats.
Instead, He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we
might die to sin and live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed, for you were like sheep
going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and
overseer of your souls. What a beautiful way.
We were once astray, but now we've returned to the Shepherd
who overseas us. So it's all when they're
eternally redeemed. We are keeping eternity in
focus. We are moving, We are caring for
our souls. We are caring not just for a
body. We are caring for our souls.
And I pray that our eyes would be open to see Jesus this way.
He paid the price and so no longer do we have to go on a
wild goose chase. The cross becomes a focal point.
Jesus's act and the way he did it becomes our life of how we
have to live here on this earth. We are redeemed.
We need to live from the place of being redeemed.
We don't live from the place of being a Sinner.
And the problem of a lot of us is we go back always.
You know what? I accepted Jesus Christ.
And why are you living under the bondage of sin?
No, I'm unable to hear Jesus. I, I, I feel like the only
person who's moved from the cross is us.
And I pray that we will move to that place because the closer we
are, we will always know that we are redeemed.
We are eternally redeemed and so there won't be this unnecessary
striving. There will be a deep longing to
go deeper into His word, and I pray that we will see Jesus more
clearly now. They had to offer and transfer
their sins, but Jesus paid it all.
Jesus paid it all. It's interesting that as you
journey with Jesus, He'll remind you of certain aspects of sins
that you've committed. And every time he reminds you,
it's for you to go back and say, Lord, I'm sorry I was so foolish
that time. I was so foolish.
I, I repent of those ways. Lord, do in me something.
And I pray that each of us will take this time, this season to
repent of things that are plaguing us.
Some of us have hidden it. He knows everything.
I pray we'll come clean so that he can do his work inside so
that will be revealed in the outside.
The third thing which I want to take from this Leviticus chapter
16 is the price is paid once for all and it's not recurring.
The price is paid once. All.
The reason I put this in the eternally redeemed, but the
price is paid once for all is we most often think we need to.
We, we always are. We are always in cinema mode.
We are redeemed, the price is paid, so we have access.
You really don't have to have that intermediate and the and
the, and the thing with Leviticus when you read is there
was always a physical cost that was involved.
The cost of an ox today is around probably ₹80,000.
The cost of a ram should be a little less than that.
The cost of a goat is roughly around 40.
And so yearly when you come to meet with God as a nation and
there was a cost involved, but today, as we individually go,
you might think there's no cost. There is a cost involved.
We all have to pay a price. And the price is often times our
time. The price is our retention.
The price is our will. The price is our open hearts.
Jesus has paid his price, but today are we paying our price?
He paid the price once for all. It's not a reckoning.
So what happens is every year they have to know today when we
go into God's throne room, everyday, however you call that
throne room yours because each of us have ways of listening to
what the Spirit has to say. But I pray that we move to a
place of saying, Lord, I'm here do your will, I'm here do your
will. I'm here do your will.
Because what He wants to do is far bigger than what we can
imagine. What he wants to do in and
through US, what he wants to set us up is far bigger.
The reason why Jesus came and he wanted to put an end to this is
because what happens generationally when something is
done ritualistically is lot of add-ons happen, lot of add-ons
happen. And so this basically became a
ritualistic thing. It became of it became it became
everything it had had to be because economically there was
something there was an economy that was running around it.
There were so many other businesses that were probably
running around it. Jesus saw these guys have made a
mockery of what I have called them to do the very presence
that they they put the price so big.
So of the only those who afford could feel like they are
redeemed. No, God, Jesus broke everything.
He came for every tribe, for every nation, for every color,
for every cast, for every skin color, for anyone who's out
there, whether you're with, with, with certain kind of
physical disabilities or whatever you have, He came for
everything. It's paid once for all.
It's not a recurring thing. You don't have to go back again
and try doing something to win his love.
He's done it and I pray that we are pursuits will never be about
the doing. It'll come down to the being.
It'll come down to the being being with Jesus.
Reading from Leviticus chapter 16 verses 31 onwards, it says
it's a day of Sabbath rest and you must deny yourselves.
It's a lasting ordinance. A priest who is appointed,
anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to
make atonement. He is to put on the sacred
living garments and make atonement for the most Holy
place, for the tent of meeting in the altar and for the priest
and all the members of the community.
This is to be a lasting ordinance for you.
Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of
Israelites and it was done as the Lord commanded Moses.
So even as we read, I pray that the price is paid once for all.
It was a command for them. Even as they moved into building
the temple it was the same command.
Even in Jesus time it was the same thing that was being
followed. But when Jesus died on the
cross, he who knew no sin, when he took the unblemished one,
took the sin of the world. It was done once for all.
And so today I pray we would find moments where we will be so
comfortable with being in His presence.
So I pray that today we will move to a place of realizing
there's not anything that I can do that can actually be done.
What Jesus has not done. Jesus has done everything.
It's finished. So what we need to do is go and
be in His presence more. Be at His footstool mode, be at
His mercy seat mode, be at the altar where we meet with Him.
And the reason why I'm emphasizing the altar is because
that's where we lay everything down.
And that's where when we lay, He speaks.
He might be like, but that, that is the sacrifice that he's
calling us to because he's done everything here.
I'm willingly laying everything saying, Lord, everything I have
is yours. My money is yours.
My family is yours. My whatever I've built so far,
whatever I thought I have in mind is all yours.
And I lay it at your feet. I lay it at your feet even as I
come, come, come to a conclusion.
I want to conclude with this, conclude that we'll be consumed
so that we are not shaken. And this comes from a passage
which I was reading in the New Testament where it talks about
in Hebrews where we'll be consumed by him and we won't be
shaken. The problem is, a lot of times
the world shakes us up. The world shakes us up, and then
we realize we are also shaken in the presence of God, shaken
because a lot of our stubbornness, a lot of the areas
where we are unwilling to let go, God shakes us up.
His word shakes us up. His Spirit shakes us up.
His move shakes us up. The anointing which rests on us
starts shaking. And a lot of us are not being,
are not wanting to be consumed by that.
But I pray even as those men, as Adam's sons went into the altar
there, even as they did it when they shouldn't have done it, but
they got consumed by the fire, I pray we will move to the altar
waiting to be consumed. Why is this important?
Because we can either move and look at the entire thing.
One of the things when you look at Leviticus is we can look at
it from a perspective of work, or we can look at it from a
perspective of worship. When you look at it from work,
there's so much to follow. But the bottom line, the base
time for all of that was worship.
And somewhere that got messed him.
When Jesus came, he turned the table.
He said worship me. And because you worship me,
you'll start doing so many other things.
And I pray that turnover, when the tables turn over is
something we'll move towards. We will be there so that we'll
be able to witness it. We'll be able to see certain
things move in our own lives. We need to worship, which means
we need to behold Him as I started.
When we behold him, we become whole.
The altar should be a place which is common to us is a place
which we don't take it for granted, common that we're
excited every time we meet there.
Anything that's become common, we after a point, we take it for
granted. But I pray it should amaze us.
You know, for me and Tina, one of the things that has become
common is this place. But every time we enter and we
are in this place of thinking, we don't deserve this God.
Why did we? We are marvelled at His grace.
We are marvelled at His provision.
We are marvelled in the way He's LED us.
And I pray that every time you move to the altar, to the places
where we meet with Him, we will be marvelled.
God will do when we lay our issues and our heart idols at
His feet. His feet is the altars when we
laid it there. I pray that all that will become
a sweet incense and God will consume us.
The consuming fire did something to Aaron's sons because they
were not. They blatantly disobeyed.
But I pray our obedience will cause us to be consumed so that
we'll be doing what we have to do.
You know, even before we read Hebrews chapter 12, the title of
that is Mountain of Fear, Mountain of Joy.
Do we approach God with fear, or do we approach Him with joy?
So let's read this particular passage.
Hebrews 12, as I conclude, was the 18 to 29.
You have not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is
burning with fire, to darkness, gloom and storm, to a trumpet
blast, or to a such a voice speaking words that those who
heard it begged that no further word to be spoken to them
because they could not bear what was commanded.
If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to
death. The sight was so terrifying that
Moses said, I'm trembling with fear.
But you have come to the Mount Zion, to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon
thousands upon angels in joyful assembly, to the Church of the
first born whose names are written in heaven.
You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the
righteous made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant,
and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the
blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse
Him who speaks. If they do not escape when they
refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we if
we turn away from Him who warned us from heaven at that time?
His voice shook the earth, but now he has promised once more I
will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken
that has created things, so that what cannot be shaken may
remain. Therefore, since we are
receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, that is, be thankful
and so worship God acceptably with the reverence and awe.
For our God is a consuming fire. God is a consuming fire.
The reason why I'm reading this is because the the way God dealt
with Israel in that entire journey in the wilderness was to
instill His Holiness in them. His Holiness will.
One of the outworkings is fear, but it wasn't a fear of wanting
to meet. In fact, they said they just
sent Moses up saying you go, you go be them.
God wanted everyone, but they just sent him.
Fear settled in because they thought what God would do to
them, but they they missed out on the aspect of worship.
And even as we read this, when I read it in the message, it says
it even more beautifully talks about it in verse 28 to 29.
Do you see what we've got an unshakeable Kingdom.
And do you see how thankful we must be?
Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent
before God. For God is not an indifferent
bystander. He's actively cleaning house,
torching all the needs to burn, and he won't quit until it all
is cleansed out. God himself is fire.
The mountain had a physical representation of God, His
Holiness, because they didn't want to meet.
God made that entire mountain structure so holy that He told
no one can approach the mountain.
But then when he came down to earth, he wanted to recite with
each and every one of us today, as His Holy Spirit who's been
commissioned to be with us is in US.
He is the consuming fight who's within us.
So today, the day of Atonement is not that one day that one
moment is rather than every day is another and every breathing
moment that we have. But he's wanting to consume us
inside out. It says here, he torches what is
torches? It literally burns up
everything. And I pray that will be a stance
to say, Lord, torch me. Lord, today I'm here.
What do you want me to do, Lord, what is my worship to you?
What? What do you want to deposit in
me that I need to let go of certain things.
The Day of atonement was to find mercy and to see God yearly.
But today when he touches us, we are clean inside out.
We're like God. I'm coming expected.
God, I'm coming here for you to move.
I'm coming here to see something greater.
I'm coming here to see something beautiful.
I'm coming here to see something marvelous.
I'm coming here to see something magnificent.
I have to be in awe and in wonder of what you're going to
do because that's the God that we serve, beholding His glory
and becoming whole. And so I pray that none of us
will go on this pilgrimage to search, but wherever we are,
we'll accept Jesus as a Lord and personal Savior.
I don't want to extend this option because you've not
accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior.
You can he's he came down to die for you and me.
And so if you want to accept him, I would be honored to lead
you into this prayer of confession.
And we say, Lord, you're all I need.
And if that's you, if you're not, you're all this well,
you've probably heard the name of Jesus and you're like, you
know what? But today you're like, God.
This really convicted me. I don't want it to be a one off
thing. I want to be an everyday thing.
We can accept Jesus as a person and he's willing to come and
live inside of us. So you can repeat this prayer
after me Loving Heavenly Father. Thank you for your word.
I know I'm a Sinner. I need to be saved.
I call on you Jesus to be my Lord, God and Saviour.
I believe you died on the cross for my sins.
You rose up on the third day and today you're seated with the
Father and you're going to come back.
And because of you I'll have eternity to spend with you.
I invite you into my heart. I pray and ask that you will be
God over my life. Sin no longer will be will have
any rule over my life. I commit to you.
Holy be, Lord and Savior, in your most holy name I pray,
Amen. Amen.
I pray that those of you who made that prayer will be able to
start this journey afresh. For those of you who would love
to know how to become a disciple, get in touch with us.
You would love to journey with you.
But even As for those of you who probably have been seasoned
Christians, I pray that we'll move into a place of realizing
that. Lord, I want to meet with you.
I want to behold your glory so that I can become whole, so that
I can become whole. This, this, this portion that
we're seeing is for us to draw closer to Jesus, to find his
presence more deeper. Not shallow, but you're going to
dig deep. You're going to say, Lord, I
need you. I need your understanding.
I need that. If this is a season of weight, I
will wait. Well, if this is a season of
doing exploits, I will rely on your strength and do great
exploits. So can I pray?
And as we start this week, let's comment to him.
Lord, I thank you, Lord, for this word that we heard.
I pray, Lord, that it will fall into the good portions of our
soil. I pray that for those who've
been scared by your presence, who've been having a lot of
cultural teams running around this, I pray we killed all of
that. The way you came willfully in
submission to the Father, we come willfully and submit to
you. You be Lord and Savior of our
lives. You do everything that you have
to do for us, Lord Jesus, so that we'll be able to bring
glory and honour to your name. Be glorified and honoured.
I pray You'll bless each and everyone.
Bless the food and water of their home.
Bless their going out and coming in.
Bless everything that they undertake so that you will be
glorified. Take charge.
Be with us, Lord, Your most holy name we pray, Amen, Amen.
Amen. I pray that even as you heard
this, that you'll be able to behold His glory and you'll
become whole. And even as I read in that last
thing, that He will be the consuming fire in your life,
that He will be the consumer. And even as you go in to those
meeting moments with Him, as you sit in that altar as Jesus
submitted, you will submit everything and God will reveal
Himself to you. Pray that you have a blessed
week. God bless you all.
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