1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges and courages and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,160 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,320 If you on your way in, hopefully you grabbed some communion 6 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:19,960 elements here. If you did not we will have some 7 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,360 some ushers here before the end of the service go around and and 8 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:26,280 a hand some other. You could just step out one of 9 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,160 these side doors. There's some at the welcome desk 10 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:34,640 and right in the back there in front of the offering box back 11 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:36,720 there. But So what I want to do is I 12 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,880 want to teach on this concept to communion. 13 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,920 So what what I want to do over the next few months is we take 14 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:47,120 receive communion once a month. I want to, I want to begin to 15 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,240 teach on this because we can just go through this formality 16 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:55,200 and the danger is, is that we don't really get what we need to 17 00:00:55,200 --> 00:01:01,740 get out of the Lord's Supper. And I have been guilty of not 18 00:01:02,260 --> 00:01:06,860 not serving the Lord's Supper, not not serving Communion 19 00:01:07,140 --> 00:01:10,580 enough, precisely because I don't want people to take it for 20 00:01:10,580 --> 00:01:14,100 granted, which means that we need to teach on it more. 21 00:01:14,100 --> 00:01:16,980 And so usually what I want to do is I want to teach on it when we 22 00:01:16,980 --> 00:01:18,980 do it. And there's always other things 23 00:01:18,980 --> 00:01:20,620 we want to teach on. So we're going to be making some 24 00:01:20,620 --> 00:01:24,460 deposits over the next few months about the Lord's Supper. 25 00:01:24,460 --> 00:01:27,780 This is such a crucial thing. And So what I really want to 26 00:01:27,780 --> 00:01:30,300 focus on this morning is the cup. 27 00:01:30,300 --> 00:01:34,260 I want to focus on the blood of Jesus and what that means to us. 28 00:01:34,900 --> 00:01:38,420 If we don't understand the blood, we will. 29 00:01:38,820 --> 00:01:42,340 We're forced to come down to a lower level in our Christian 30 00:01:42,340 --> 00:01:45,540 life. The blood of Jesus will 31 00:01:45,580 --> 00:01:49,620 actually, when you understand the significance of the blood, 32 00:01:50,060 --> 00:01:53,380 it'll provide stability and a foundation in your life to go 33 00:01:53,380 --> 00:01:57,600 deeper in the things of God. It'll enable you to stand in the 34 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,040 onslaught of the enemy. So what we're going to look at, 35 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:02,560 we're going to look at the blood of Jesus. 36 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,120 There is an application for heaven, earth, and how there's 37 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,160 an application where we offer it to God. 38 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,280 There's an application where we apply it to our own hearts, and 39 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,040 there's an application when we use it against the enemy and 40 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,320 when we really understand. Those are progressive if you 41 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:22,320 don't understand the significance of the blood before 42 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,180 the Father. You'll never be able to use it 43 00:02:25,180 --> 00:02:27,740 in your own heart. And then it's interesting if you 44 00:02:27,820 --> 00:02:30,740 get into the New Testament. There is a even in the Old 45 00:02:30,740 --> 00:02:33,740 Testament, but it it comes in the New Testament. 46 00:02:33,740 --> 00:02:36,020 We begin to see this very, very clearly. 47 00:02:36,220 --> 00:02:40,060 There's a difference between the shed blood and the sprinkled 48 00:02:40,060 --> 00:02:42,180 blood. Same blood but different 49 00:02:42,540 --> 00:02:46,700 utilization of the blood. The shed blood is for the 50 00:02:46,700 --> 00:02:50,020 Father. We offer the shed blood of 51 00:02:50,020 --> 00:02:55,270 Christ to the Father. But we sprinkle the blood of 52 00:02:55,270 --> 00:02:59,110 Christ on our hearts, and, and this is the phrase, it's in the 53 00:02:59,110 --> 00:03:01,630 New Testament. In the book of Hebrews, we we 54 00:03:01,910 --> 00:03:08,390 cleanse our hearts of a guilty, or a ESV even calls it an evil 55 00:03:08,390 --> 00:03:11,830 conscience. We cleanse our hearts of an evil 56 00:03:11,830 --> 00:03:14,670 conscience by the blood. But if you don't understand why 57 00:03:14,670 --> 00:03:17,270 it's significant to the Father, if you don't have a grid work 58 00:03:17,270 --> 00:03:19,910 for that, you're not going to be able to use it in your own 59 00:03:19,910 --> 00:03:21,940 heart. And if you can't use it in your 60 00:03:21,940 --> 00:03:26,380 own heart, you are susceptible to the primary weapon of the 61 00:03:26,380 --> 00:03:28,620 enemy. The enemy is known as the 62 00:03:28,620 --> 00:03:34,460 accuser of the brethren, and the accusation of the enemy were 63 00:03:34,460 --> 00:03:38,180 made susceptible to accusation. If we don't understand how to 64 00:03:38,180 --> 00:03:40,940 apply the blood to our heart, and we don't understand how to 65 00:03:40,940 --> 00:03:43,340 apply the blood to our heart unless we understand why it's 66 00:03:43,340 --> 00:03:46,260 valuable to the Father. So there's a progression. 67 00:03:46,500 --> 00:03:49,860 We first understand why heaven values it, then we can. 68 00:03:50,390 --> 00:03:52,830 Apply it to our own hearts, and then we can stand against the 69 00:03:52,830 --> 00:03:53,670 enemy. Makes sense. 70 00:03:53,910 --> 00:03:56,030 All right. So, Father, we thank you for 71 00:03:56,030 --> 00:03:57,910 your word this morning. And, Lord, I ask that your 72 00:03:57,910 --> 00:04:02,030 teaching would fall like rain. Lord, I'm asking God that the 73 00:04:02,030 --> 00:04:05,310 very heir would be pregnant with Revelation this morning. 74 00:04:05,630 --> 00:04:08,870 Lord, that you, the great Teacher, would enter the room by 75 00:04:08,870 --> 00:04:12,950 your spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of wisdom and 76 00:04:12,950 --> 00:04:14,830 revelation. And Lord, that you would 77 00:04:14,830 --> 00:04:18,350 permeate the atmosphere, and Lord, that people would catch 78 00:04:18,350 --> 00:04:19,750 things. I'm not saying. 79 00:04:20,459 --> 00:04:23,220 Lord that they would. They would catch what you're 80 00:04:23,220 --> 00:04:26,740 saying this morning and I would simply be an aid in that 81 00:04:26,740 --> 00:04:29,500 endeavor. In Jesus name. 82 00:04:30,020 --> 00:04:33,060 Amen. I really do believe that there's 83 00:04:33,060 --> 00:04:37,300 a place in God, a place where there's a spirit of wisdom and 84 00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:39,420 revelation that can permeate the atmosphere. 85 00:04:39,820 --> 00:04:43,300 I've been in meetings where there's been people that that 86 00:04:43,300 --> 00:04:47,100 carry that on their life and I would be taking notes on the 87 00:04:47,100 --> 00:04:48,460 next thing they were going to say. 88 00:04:48,980 --> 00:04:52,940 And it's not because I'm a smart guy, but it's because there was 89 00:04:52,940 --> 00:04:55,260 such a spirit of wisdom and revelation. 90 00:04:55,500 --> 00:04:58,620 They were just giving words to what was already in the air. 91 00:04:58,900 --> 00:05:01,180 And I would write things down and then they would say him and 92 00:05:01,180 --> 00:05:03,460 it freaked me out. But it's it's a matter of a 93 00:05:03,460 --> 00:05:07,580 spirit of wisdom and revelation. So that's why John says you have 94 00:05:07,580 --> 00:05:09,820 not need of a teacher. Do you know that? 95 00:05:10,740 --> 00:05:13,580 Because there's an anointing within you that teaches you. 96 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,880 Now I'm here to give words to what God is saying, but every 97 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,800 one of us can tap into what the Spirit is saying. 98 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,480 So let he who has ears hear what the Spirit would say to the 99 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,240 church. The church is. 100 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:32,560 And so, oh man, I just pulled up some notes about something else 101 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,120 I want to teach you on some day. Oh man, I've been. 102 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,040 I've been. I got immersed in this study the 103 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,080 last few days, and I'm going to move it aside. 104 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:49,270 Okay. In handling the word, we want to 105 00:05:49,270 --> 00:05:55,350 be able to think Biblically. It's not just that we compare it 106 00:05:55,350 --> 00:05:58,550 what the Bible says. I remember when I was in Bible 107 00:05:58,550 --> 00:06:01,430 school, there'd be guys that memorized toll passages, and 108 00:06:01,430 --> 00:06:04,150 there's some real value to that, but they would say. 109 00:06:04,500 --> 00:06:06,620 You know, they would paired out these verses and I'd say what 110 00:06:06,620 --> 00:06:08,260 does that mean? And they just requote it. 111 00:06:08,340 --> 00:06:09,980 But what does that mean? They'd requote it. 112 00:06:10,220 --> 00:06:13,300 They had no idea what it said, what it meant. 113 00:06:13,300 --> 00:06:16,260 They just knew what it said. And hey, you got to know what it 114 00:06:16,260 --> 00:06:17,860 says before you know what it meant. 115 00:06:18,460 --> 00:06:21,900 But we don't want to stop there. We want to drill down and 116 00:06:21,900 --> 00:06:25,900 there's there's some grid work or some maybe you could say 117 00:06:26,020 --> 00:06:30,260 lenses or paradigms through which we need to to look at the 118 00:06:30,260 --> 00:06:32,980 word. And one of them is this that. 119 00:06:33,370 --> 00:06:38,410 In order to really understand any subject in scripture, you 120 00:06:38,410 --> 00:06:42,290 need to understand it through three, if not four lenses. 121 00:06:42,530 --> 00:06:46,450 Okay any subject matter. You've got to look at it through 122 00:06:46,450 --> 00:06:50,010 three and even 4 lenses. What I mean by that is it's the 123 00:06:50,010 --> 00:06:52,650 first lenses. What was God's original 124 00:06:52,650 --> 00:06:55,970 intention? You want to start with where God 125 00:06:55,970 --> 00:07:00,250 started? I was asking my my 17 year old 126 00:07:00,250 --> 00:07:02,170 on the way to church more. I said what does this mean? 127 00:07:02,530 --> 00:07:07,250 Nathaniel Origin determines destiny and he was giving me his 128 00:07:07,490 --> 00:07:10,890 He had some good stuff. Origin determines destiny. 129 00:07:10,890 --> 00:07:13,810 And what I was talking to him about is this principle that 130 00:07:14,570 --> 00:07:18,010 your where you begin will determine where you end. 131 00:07:18,730 --> 00:07:22,810 You where if you are an atheist and you begin as a biological 132 00:07:22,810 --> 00:07:26,650 accident, the trajectory of your life will crash very early. 133 00:07:27,690 --> 00:07:31,410 Where you will end is you will be a biological accident. 134 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:38,200 But if you began in the heart of God as a Creator who created you 135 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,240 with great purpose, all of a sudden, that changes your 136 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:45,480 destination. Too much of theology, too much 137 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,400 of our cosmology and our theology and our view of 138 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:52,360 everything starts with the fall A lot of people start their 139 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:56,840 theological thinking. From the perspective of the 140 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,160 Fall, and if you start with the Fall, then the ultimate 141 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:05,960 destination is salvation and God is exalted primarily as the 142 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,440 Savior. And although those are great 143 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,880 things, you better get that one down and none of the others 144 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,040 matter. There's something greater than 145 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:20,240 knowing him as Savior and simply breaking into the new birth and 146 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,780 being saved. And so origins determine 147 00:08:24,780 --> 00:08:26,460 destiny. So we want to, we want to go 148 00:08:26,460 --> 00:08:28,140 back. You could say, oh, let's start 149 00:08:28,140 --> 00:08:31,540 back in the garden, Okay, Let's start with God as creator. 150 00:08:31,820 --> 00:08:36,900 And then the trajectory becomes this, the the reconciliation of 151 00:08:36,900 --> 00:08:40,659 all things, that God's going to reconcile all things to himself. 152 00:08:40,659 --> 00:08:43,740 That's a grand theme. That's an amazing theme. 153 00:08:44,700 --> 00:08:46,380 But there's something greater than that. 154 00:08:48,620 --> 00:08:51,580 What we want to do is we want to start way back. 155 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:57,640 And the eternal heart of God that had a dream for many sons. 156 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:05,200 Scripture says that God wanted many sons and daughters. 157 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:08,400 And so that was his original dream. 158 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,920 And he put it this way. He said let us make man in our 159 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:17,880 own image. God dreamt of a human creation, 160 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:21,200 someone he would make that would represent him well. 161 00:09:22,030 --> 00:09:24,990 And if we don't understand that if we reduce everything to 162 00:09:24,990 --> 00:09:28,310 salvation, as if the Great Commission is go out and make 163 00:09:28,310 --> 00:09:30,710 converts, it's not what it says. It says go out and make 164 00:09:30,710 --> 00:09:33,590 disciples. We want to raise up people that 165 00:09:33,590 --> 00:09:37,950 look like him, that act like him and think like him and operate 166 00:09:37,950 --> 00:09:39,910 like him. So that if people wonder what is 167 00:09:39,910 --> 00:09:42,150 God like, you can say, hey, just go check out his children. 168 00:09:42,470 --> 00:09:45,150 They're a lot like him. They'll they'll be a great 169 00:09:45,350 --> 00:09:49,350 representation, a great representation of who he is. 170 00:09:50,180 --> 00:09:55,020 And so any study that we study, anything that we try to grasp, 171 00:09:55,020 --> 00:09:57,540 we want to start with original intention. 172 00:09:58,540 --> 00:10:02,140 The second lens through which we need to study any subject we 173 00:10:02,140 --> 00:10:05,500 really want to know from a biblical perspective is not just 174 00:10:05,500 --> 00:10:08,620 what it got originally intend, but how did sin affected? 175 00:10:09,620 --> 00:10:12,340 How did the fall reshape that subject? 176 00:10:12,500 --> 00:10:14,140 That's where a lot of people start. 177 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:17,160 We want to start with the original intention, but we've 178 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:20,960 got to take into consideration how did the fall affected then 179 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,520 third, how does the cross affect it? 180 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,960 What does redemption do to that? What does the redemption of 181 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,960 original intention look like? And the 4th lens, I I alluded to 182 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,040 a possible 4th lens and that is the process of redemption 183 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,160 because there is the the event and then there's the process of 184 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,770 redemption. And when we really want to 185 00:10:44,770 --> 00:10:48,890 understand the subject, we want to begin to think through all 186 00:10:48,890 --> 00:10:54,330 three to four of those those elements what what was God's 187 00:10:54,330 --> 00:10:59,530 original intention for mankind? Because unless we understand 188 00:10:59,530 --> 00:11:02,490 that, we're never really going to understand redemption and 189 00:11:02,490 --> 00:11:04,490 we're never going to really understand where this thing is 190 00:11:04,490 --> 00:11:08,210 going. And I would propose to you, out 191 00:11:08,210 --> 00:11:12,010 of that understanding comes a clear understanding of the value 192 00:11:12,010 --> 00:11:15,520 of the blood of Jesus. When we don't deal with things 193 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,360 at that level, we we end up with a very shallow theology and we 194 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:22,040 don't understand the value of the blood. 195 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:27,640 The reason the blood is valuable to the Father was because of his 196 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:34,160 original intention for man. God says my word will not return 197 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,800 void and when God said let us make man in our own image. 198 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:43,680 And the image of God, He created him, male and female. 199 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:49,560 He created them. When he said that, I would 200 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:54,760 propose that that image was potential and that making was a 201 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,600 process. What do I mean by that? 202 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,000 Adam and Eve in the garden were not the finished product. 203 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:02,200 That wasn't the ultimate gods at home. 204 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:03,760 Now we've reached the ultimate goal. 205 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:05,400 Adam and Eve in the garden. No. 206 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,800 What God was going to do is he stamped his image on these human 207 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:13,190 beings he created. And then through testing and 208 00:12:13,190 --> 00:12:17,310 through opportunity, they would unfold the image of God within 209 00:12:17,310 --> 00:12:18,870 them and they would become mature. 210 00:12:19,230 --> 00:12:23,350 The New Testament calls that discipleship or maturity or 211 00:12:23,630 --> 00:12:27,310 moving towards holiness or perfection. 212 00:12:27,310 --> 00:12:29,670 Even that word sums up that idea. 213 00:12:29,670 --> 00:12:32,590 Perfection is not being flawless, but it's being 214 00:12:32,590 --> 00:12:38,030 complete in the New Testament. And so all of these these ideas 215 00:12:38,030 --> 00:12:40,590 have to do with what was God's original intention. 216 00:12:41,370 --> 00:12:45,810 Jesus becoming a man. Jesus taking on human flesh was 217 00:12:45,810 --> 00:12:49,090 God stubbornly pursuing that original word. 218 00:12:49,850 --> 00:12:54,330 God bound himself to that thing and he said I will have a man in 219 00:12:54,330 --> 00:12:58,490 my own image. He created Adam and Eve and they 220 00:12:58,490 --> 00:13:00,890 derailed this thing. So what did God do? 221 00:13:01,530 --> 00:13:04,370 He said I'm going to have to take it over and do it myself. 222 00:13:04,610 --> 00:13:08,570 And Jesus put on an earth suit, stepped into human history. 223 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,480 And fulfilled his own plan to have a man in his own image. 224 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,880 Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter two. 225 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:22,440 Really the book of Hebrews itself is the book to study if 226 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:30,400 you want to understand the blood and Hebrews chapter 2. 227 00:13:30,740 --> 00:13:35,580 Provides the foundation, really the theological foundation of 228 00:13:35,580 --> 00:13:42,260 those lenses we want to look at. Look at Hebrews chapter 2, Lego 229 00:13:42,260 --> 00:13:46,540 verse 5. For it was not to angels that 230 00:13:46,540 --> 00:13:50,380 God subjected the world to come of which we are speaking. 231 00:13:51,020 --> 00:13:54,540 It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful 232 00:13:54,540 --> 00:13:57,220 of him or the Son of man that you care for him? 233 00:13:57,790 --> 00:14:01,430 So the Psalmist is he's quoting Psalm Chapter 8, and he's he's 234 00:14:01,430 --> 00:14:04,030 asking God, what's the deal with humankind? 235 00:14:04,430 --> 00:14:09,910 What is your obsession with us? We're so puny down here. 236 00:14:09,910 --> 00:14:16,070 We're we're these weak, puny, you know, making these puny 237 00:14:16,070 --> 00:14:19,790 attempts at serving you, and yet you're obsessed with us. 238 00:14:20,110 --> 00:14:22,630 You, you're, you're fixated on humanity. 239 00:14:22,630 --> 00:14:26,110 What's the deal with that? You made him a a little for a 240 00:14:26,110 --> 00:14:30,190 little while lower than the angels and have crowned him with 241 00:14:30,190 --> 00:14:33,710 glory and honor, putting everything under his feet. 242 00:14:33,950 --> 00:14:37,550 What he's dealing with here is original intention. 243 00:14:37,790 --> 00:14:42,630 Psalm Chapter 8 frames that first scenario, that first lens. 244 00:14:42,830 --> 00:14:44,230 He's saying what's man? What is man? 245 00:14:44,230 --> 00:14:47,230 That you are mindful of him that that you would visit him. 246 00:14:47,230 --> 00:14:49,590 You made him a little lower the angels and put everything under 247 00:14:49,590 --> 00:14:52,670 his feet. You gave him dominion over over 248 00:14:52,790 --> 00:14:55,450 the earth. That's original intention. 249 00:14:55,810 --> 00:14:59,570 And then he veers off of the text in Psalm chapter 8 and he 250 00:14:59,570 --> 00:15:03,730 introduces the second lens. He says, now putting everything 251 00:15:04,050 --> 00:15:06,210 subject to him. He left nothing outside of his 252 00:15:06,210 --> 00:15:07,810 control. Halfway. 253 00:15:08,050 --> 00:15:10,810 Right at the end of verse eight, he introduces the second one. 254 00:15:10,970 --> 00:15:14,410 At present we do not see everything subject to him. 255 00:15:14,410 --> 00:15:17,730 Why? Because he's now introducing the 256 00:15:17,730 --> 00:15:22,930 effects of the fall. God delegated the earth to man. 257 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,320 And man abdicated that delegation. 258 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:30,520 Man abdicated that God-given authority and gave it to the 259 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,920 enemy through his disobedience to whom you obey. 260 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:38,240 To him you were a slave. And man essentially gave the 261 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:42,760 deed to the enemy, and he became a slave of the enemy. 262 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:49,690 So it goes on, he says. Verse 9. 263 00:15:49,690 --> 00:15:52,890 Now he's going to introduce the third lens, that of redemption. 264 00:15:53,130 --> 00:15:57,970 But we see him who was for a little while made lower than the 265 00:15:57,970 --> 00:16:02,810 angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of 266 00:16:02,810 --> 00:16:05,530 the suffering of death. So by the grace of God he might 267 00:16:05,530 --> 00:16:09,450 taste death for everyone. So God delegated the earth to 268 00:16:09,450 --> 00:16:10,810 man, put everything under his feet. 269 00:16:10,890 --> 00:16:14,330 Man abdicated that through sin became a prisoner in his own 270 00:16:14,330 --> 00:16:16,950 house. And then Jesus took on human 271 00:16:16,950 --> 00:16:21,430 flesh to seize control back and to win back that authority. 272 00:16:21,590 --> 00:16:26,190 Now this passage, we we've looked at this passage in years 273 00:16:26,190 --> 00:16:29,870 past as a outline to understand prayer. 274 00:16:30,070 --> 00:16:33,190 And I'm telling you this. You cannot understand the 275 00:16:33,190 --> 00:16:35,830 subject of prayer without looking through these lenses. 276 00:16:37,510 --> 00:16:41,230 The authority that you have as a believer, the authority that you 277 00:16:41,230 --> 00:16:45,060 have as a human being. The warfare that goes on in the 278 00:16:45,060 --> 00:16:50,060 heavenlies and the necessity of us having to pray, not just 279 00:16:50,780 --> 00:16:54,980 understanding why we pray, but why we have to continue to pray. 280 00:16:54,980 --> 00:16:58,980 All is within this, this little outline that the writer of 281 00:16:58,980 --> 00:17:02,740 Hebrews gives to us. But it also gives us insight 282 00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:06,060 into why the blood of Jesus is valuable. 283 00:17:08,020 --> 00:17:12,220 God's dream was to have a man made in his own image. 284 00:17:12,730 --> 00:17:16,770 That's what God longed for. He had He was a father with an 285 00:17:16,770 --> 00:17:20,089 only begotten son, but he wanted many begottens. 286 00:17:20,089 --> 00:17:24,369 You cannot understand God without understanding his 287 00:17:24,369 --> 00:17:28,530 fatherhood. The lens of fatherhood is the 288 00:17:28,569 --> 00:17:31,170 ultimate lens to understand who he is. 289 00:17:31,370 --> 00:17:36,890 It is the essence of his nature. The Triune God is a father and a 290 00:17:36,890 --> 00:17:41,980 son and a spirit. Who have a relationship within 291 00:17:41,980 --> 00:17:46,620 the Godhead and it's the pattern by which God operates and he 292 00:17:46,620 --> 00:17:50,260 wants to bring many sons to glory, Romans 8 says. 293 00:17:50,580 --> 00:17:53,940 And so you can't understand God. And like we were talking a few 294 00:17:53,940 --> 00:17:58,100 weeks ago, if you have father issues that make you stumble 295 00:17:58,100 --> 00:18:02,340 over interacting with God as a father, you need to deal with 296 00:18:02,340 --> 00:18:06,220 that because that will keep you from your destiny because your 297 00:18:06,220 --> 00:18:09,100 ultimate identity is as a son and a daughter. 298 00:18:10,860 --> 00:18:16,140 It's not apostleship. It's not a bunch of other ships. 299 00:18:16,380 --> 00:18:21,260 It's son ship. Your ultimate identity is. 300 00:18:21,460 --> 00:18:23,540 It's not. It's not your assignment or your 301 00:18:23,540 --> 00:18:27,620 fivefold title or whatever. It's not whether you're an elder 302 00:18:27,620 --> 00:18:31,140 or you're a teacher or whatever, your ultimate identity is being 303 00:18:31,140 --> 00:18:36,140 a son and a daughter of God. But if we can't relate with him 304 00:18:36,140 --> 00:18:40,350 as father, we're kept from our. Identity and therefore our 305 00:18:40,350 --> 00:18:42,870 destiny. And if we don't understand that 306 00:18:42,870 --> 00:18:45,870 God is ultimate, he's, it's not just that he's savior. 307 00:18:46,030 --> 00:18:49,830 He became savior out of necessity because of our the 308 00:18:49,830 --> 00:18:52,270 Fall. But he was originally a father 309 00:18:52,270 --> 00:18:56,270 wanting many sons and we need to get back to the beginning and 310 00:18:56,270 --> 00:19:00,550 see that the hit him being savior was a necessity. 311 00:19:00,830 --> 00:19:07,150 But his identity is he's a father and so the father wanted 312 00:19:07,150 --> 00:19:11,860 many sons. But Adam and Eve, So what? 313 00:19:12,300 --> 00:19:16,220 You can put it this way, what God's desire was, is he was 314 00:19:16,220 --> 00:19:20,460 going to call out the image, the potential within them. 315 00:19:21,820 --> 00:19:25,420 God breathed into Adam and Eve the breath. 316 00:19:25,540 --> 00:19:28,380 The Hebrew is the breath of lives, plural. 317 00:19:28,940 --> 00:19:33,420 There was the natural life, the souke, the soul, and then there 318 00:19:33,420 --> 00:19:36,920 was the higher life that the. The life of the spirit, that 319 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,240 breath of life. So they became living souls, 320 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:43,000 with living spirits that could interact with their Creator, 321 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,000 their Father. When God told them the day that 322 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,280 you eat of that fruit, you shall surely die, there was a twofold 323 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:52,640 death that came. There was. 324 00:19:52,980 --> 00:19:58,180 Their physical death, this slow expiration that began to set in. 325 00:19:58,340 --> 00:20:00,820 But there was the immediate death of their spirit. 326 00:20:00,980 --> 00:20:03,980 Their spirit died. And they they were cut off from 327 00:20:03,980 --> 00:20:09,780 that communication and that relationship with God and got 328 00:20:09,780 --> 00:20:13,460 what God's plan was. And in this passage in Hebrews, 329 00:20:13,460 --> 00:20:17,860 it says, well, well, let's read it here, see, look at look at 330 00:20:17,860 --> 00:20:20,020 verse 10. For it was fitting that he for 331 00:20:20,020 --> 00:20:21,540 whom and through whom everything exists. 332 00:20:21,850 --> 00:20:24,770 In bringing many sons to glory, that's what we're talking about. 333 00:20:24,770 --> 00:20:29,450 Let me read it again, verse 10. For it was fitting that he 334 00:20:29,450 --> 00:20:35,090 Speaking of Jesus, for whom and by whom everything exists in 335 00:20:35,090 --> 00:20:39,890 bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their 336 00:20:39,890 --> 00:20:42,890 salvation perfect through suffering. 337 00:20:43,890 --> 00:20:46,130 That word founder is an interesting word. 338 00:20:46,330 --> 00:20:49,170 It's translated captain of their salvation. 339 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,800 The author of their salvation, the Nas, that New American 340 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,920 Standard Translation translates that word, The pioneer of their 341 00:20:57,920 --> 00:20:59,560 salvation. That's the one I prefer. 342 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,520 I like the picture of that because what God did is God 343 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:06,800 created them with potential. The image of God was stamped 344 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,480 upon their nature, but Adam and Eve were not the finished 345 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,200 product. So how was God going to draw 346 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:16,040 this nature out of them and unfold them so they could become 347 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,260 all that God intended? He was going to do it through 348 00:21:20,260 --> 00:21:24,660 choices. That's why he put the forbidden 349 00:21:24,660 --> 00:21:29,140 fruit that hung on the tree in the middle of the garden. 350 00:21:29,740 --> 00:21:31,460 He didn't put it on the edge of the garden. 351 00:21:31,620 --> 00:21:33,420 He didn't put it where it was inaccessible. 352 00:21:33,540 --> 00:21:35,380 He didn't put razor wire around it. 353 00:21:35,380 --> 00:21:39,540 And you know, angels with AK-40 sevens, He put it right smack 354 00:21:39,540 --> 00:21:43,100 dab in the middle of the garden so that they could access it. 355 00:21:43,300 --> 00:21:46,020 And he said don't eat of it. You're going to have to trust 356 00:21:46,020 --> 00:21:49,710 me. Because only by trusting him, 357 00:21:51,590 --> 00:21:54,430 only through testing can you grow. 358 00:21:56,270 --> 00:21:58,670 I know this is not a good news sermon, yet it's going to get 359 00:21:58,670 --> 00:22:02,950 good, OK? The reason the author says it 360 00:22:02,950 --> 00:22:06,510 was fitting that he, for whom and through whom everything 361 00:22:06,510 --> 00:22:08,830 exists should be made perfect through suffering. 362 00:22:09,110 --> 00:22:11,630 The reason it was fitting that he is made perfect through 363 00:22:11,630 --> 00:22:14,910 suffering because that's how you're going to be perfected. 364 00:22:15,390 --> 00:22:18,650 So what he's saying. I mean it's all over the word 365 00:22:18,690 --> 00:22:21,970 Romans chapter 5. Suffering produces perseverance 366 00:22:22,130 --> 00:22:25,170 and perseverance. Character and that passage is 367 00:22:25,170 --> 00:22:27,850 framed as character. James chapter one. 368 00:22:27,850 --> 00:22:30,010 Think it not strange my brothers, when you go through 369 00:22:30,010 --> 00:22:35,730 trials of many kind, for if you patiently endure you will become 370 00:22:35,730 --> 00:22:40,410 mature, not lacking anything. And where Roman says character, 371 00:22:40,810 --> 00:22:44,690 James says maturity. Hebrews chapter 12. 372 00:22:45,350 --> 00:22:51,110 Think it not strange, brother. When you go through trials, the 373 00:22:51,110 --> 00:22:56,990 Lord disciplines those He loves and disciplines everybody he 374 00:22:56,990 --> 00:23:02,190 treats as a son endure hardship as discipline. 375 00:23:03,070 --> 00:23:07,110 Therefore you may be sharers in His Holiness. 376 00:23:07,550 --> 00:23:10,430 Do you see an equation here? You see a pattern throughout 377 00:23:10,430 --> 00:23:14,870 Scripture. Romans 5 Suffering character. 378 00:23:15,990 --> 00:23:21,550 James Trials, Maturity, Hebrews 12. 379 00:23:21,750 --> 00:23:24,950 Hardship, holiness. They're saying the same thing, 380 00:23:24,950 --> 00:23:27,550 different terminology. I know there's there's no 381 00:23:27,550 --> 00:23:32,190 shouting going on in here this morning, but what we need to do 382 00:23:32,190 --> 00:23:35,270 is we need to have a lens for this because what God is doing 383 00:23:35,470 --> 00:23:37,750 is he's inviting us to come higher. 384 00:23:37,910 --> 00:23:40,150 He's saying I've got so much more for you. 385 00:23:40,450 --> 00:23:44,370 You don't realize what I put in you as potential that I want to 386 00:23:44,370 --> 00:23:48,130 bring out of you as character, holiness and maturity. 387 00:23:48,890 --> 00:23:52,330 And so if we begin to understand that, then when we go through 388 00:23:52,330 --> 00:23:54,970 these trials, we cooperate with him. 389 00:23:55,810 --> 00:23:58,650 This is, this is not. It's not that God is the 390 00:23:58,650 --> 00:24:00,890 killjoy. He's not saying what if you're 391 00:24:00,890 --> 00:24:03,690 going to. A lot of us see God as this 392 00:24:03,690 --> 00:24:06,650 demented little boy up. You know, we're like an insect, 393 00:24:06,650 --> 00:24:08,890 and he's pulling our wings off. I wonder if they can fly without 394 00:24:08,890 --> 00:24:11,010 this one. Now try. 395 00:24:11,050 --> 00:24:13,530 You know? And there people have that view 396 00:24:13,530 --> 00:24:15,250 of God. That's not God. 397 00:24:15,770 --> 00:24:19,570 He's a good father. He's got good things for you. 398 00:24:19,810 --> 00:24:24,970 But because he's a good father, he will not allow you to step 399 00:24:24,970 --> 00:24:27,090 into things before you can handle him. 400 00:24:27,650 --> 00:24:31,770 The enemy is just the opposite. He loves to get you promoted 401 00:24:31,770 --> 00:24:34,610 beyond your maturity and watch you crash and burn. 402 00:24:35,330 --> 00:24:39,130 He loves to give you under knowledge of things that you 403 00:24:39,130 --> 00:24:43,650 can't yet handle. You think about how the the 404 00:24:43,650 --> 00:24:49,090 world operates, trying to expose children to things they don't 405 00:24:49,090 --> 00:24:52,730 have the capacity, emotional capacity to handle and it 406 00:24:52,730 --> 00:24:55,330 shipwrecks them. But a good father says no, not 407 00:24:55,330 --> 00:24:58,770 my children, not on my watch. I'm going to protect my God's 408 00:24:58,770 --> 00:25:02,970 the same way I was talking to a an old friend that got got it. 409 00:25:03,730 --> 00:25:06,010 Guy reached out to me, hadn't talked to him in years. 410 00:25:06,010 --> 00:25:09,450 Good friend of mine from Teen Challenge, and we just were 411 00:25:09,450 --> 00:25:12,410 visiting on the phone and got to talking about this principle. 412 00:25:12,410 --> 00:25:14,970 I remember sitting with some guys in Teen Challenge one time 413 00:25:15,530 --> 00:25:19,850 and I was telling them that principle, no pain, no gain. 414 00:25:19,850 --> 00:25:21,930 We just saw it in scripture. That's scriptural. 415 00:25:22,130 --> 00:25:25,850 No pain, no gain. But as I'm telling him that the 416 00:25:25,850 --> 00:25:30,490 Lord spoke to me and he told me to tell him this, there's a flip 417 00:25:30,490 --> 00:25:33,290 side that's just as true. No gain, no pain. 418 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:38,760 God is a good father. He is only he is only willing to 419 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,520 introduce you to the pain the Max the the, the minimum pain 420 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,360 necessary to get you where you need to go. 421 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,720 Now, that's not to say we can't bring it on ourself. 422 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,960 Believe me, I've been through enough trials. 423 00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:55,040 I've been through hardship, trials and you know, the 424 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,440 hardship, those those kind of things in my life that I brought 425 00:25:58,440 --> 00:25:59,880 on myself, had nothing to do with God. 426 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:01,920 Now, God's very practical. He'll still use that. 427 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,770 He'll redeem it. Thank you Jesus, but God will 428 00:26:05,810 --> 00:26:09,690 only allow the suffering that is absolutely necessary to get you 429 00:26:09,690 --> 00:26:18,290 where you need to go. Kathy and I have a daughter, 31, 430 00:26:19,450 --> 00:26:23,850 she mouthed it. 31 year old daughter and Lisa's had a lot of 431 00:26:23,850 --> 00:26:27,850 surgeries and there have been surgeries we put off until the 432 00:26:27,850 --> 00:26:31,450 pain of not having it outweighed the pain of having it because we 433 00:26:31,450 --> 00:26:35,630 love our daughter. God loves us so far beyond our 434 00:26:35,630 --> 00:26:37,950 human capacity to love our own children. 435 00:26:38,870 --> 00:26:42,670 And so he's going to guard you and you can trust him. 436 00:26:43,470 --> 00:26:47,030 So when you're going through things you need to look at every 437 00:26:47,030 --> 00:26:51,710 heart what it what is, Hebrews say it said consider hardship, 438 00:26:52,030 --> 00:26:56,110 discipline, endure hardship as discipline you going through a 439 00:26:56,110 --> 00:26:58,670 hard time consider it's discipline from the Lord. 440 00:26:59,410 --> 00:27:03,370 And the discipline of the Lord, we think a discipline from a 441 00:27:03,370 --> 00:27:06,010 parental perspective that we're going to discipline our kids 442 00:27:06,010 --> 00:27:09,130 when they do wrong. No, it's more of the the 443 00:27:09,130 --> 00:27:13,970 military mindset. The military doesn't put their 444 00:27:13,970 --> 00:27:16,810 soldiers under discipline because they've been bad. 445 00:27:17,220 --> 00:27:20,460 They put them under discipline precisely because they see more 446 00:27:20,460 --> 00:27:23,180 good in them than that soldier season himself. 447 00:27:23,380 --> 00:27:26,940 And so they know the only way to draw that man or that woman out 448 00:27:26,940 --> 00:27:30,220 of herself is to brick create a discipline environment to call 449 00:27:30,220 --> 00:27:33,980 that greatness out. And that's the type that's the 450 00:27:33,980 --> 00:27:35,980 idea behind the discipline of the Lord. 451 00:27:36,100 --> 00:27:39,980 So if you're going through a hard time, don't waste your 452 00:27:39,980 --> 00:27:43,500 sorrows. Milk it, grab the udders and 453 00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:44,740 milk it. Get it all. 454 00:27:44,740 --> 00:27:48,480 You can get a bucket full. If you're going to go through 455 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:53,080 it, get something out of it and surrender to the Lord and say 456 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:56,960 God, Lord, help me to learn something by this. 457 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,360 Lord, I want to know you better through this hardship, Lord, 458 00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:02,720 this deprivation. I'm going through this, this 459 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,000 heartbreak, I'm going through this hardship, whatever it is, 460 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:10,760 Lord, I want to see you through this and teach me and milk it 461 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,840 for all it's worth. Don't waste your sorrows. 462 00:28:15,350 --> 00:28:20,230 So God took Adam and Eve, and he formed them in his image, and 463 00:28:20,230 --> 00:28:25,390 they were full of potential. And then he allowed their will 464 00:28:25,390 --> 00:28:28,990 to be confronted. Because you cannot grow morally. 465 00:28:29,670 --> 00:28:36,190 You can never grow in character without being faced with moral 466 00:28:36,190 --> 00:28:39,350 choices. You've got to be able to choose, 467 00:28:42,550 --> 00:28:45,390 and we've got to choose. The higher good. 468 00:28:45,910 --> 00:28:48,430 And that's what creates character. 469 00:28:50,270 --> 00:28:53,350 And our human nature wants to take the easy route. 470 00:28:53,830 --> 00:28:56,270 I want. I want the goods now and I'll 471 00:28:56,270 --> 00:28:59,750 pay later. That's why in scripture, again 472 00:28:59,750 --> 00:29:04,990 and again, sin is framed as debt, because debt is. 473 00:29:04,990 --> 00:29:07,710 I want the enjoyment of the purchase now and I'll pay later. 474 00:29:08,030 --> 00:29:09,630 And you know what? You always pay more than you 475 00:29:09,630 --> 00:29:13,020 intended to pay. But in Scripture, God, God 476 00:29:13,020 --> 00:29:15,660 doesn't seduce you by some pleasure. 477 00:29:15,660 --> 00:29:19,100 And then there's paid a Later on, God comes to you and says, 478 00:29:19,580 --> 00:29:21,860 count the cost. Here's the contract. 479 00:29:21,860 --> 00:29:25,940 Read through, understand, Don't sign, don't commit until you've 480 00:29:25,940 --> 00:29:30,060 counted the cost. And we surrendered him out of 481 00:29:30,060 --> 00:29:32,460 trust and God grows us up into him. 482 00:29:33,180 --> 00:29:35,660 That that was the plan. That's why it was fitting that 483 00:29:35,660 --> 00:29:37,500 God for whom and through whom everything exists. 484 00:29:37,870 --> 00:29:40,030 Jesus, for whom and through whom everything exists, should be 485 00:29:40,030 --> 00:29:41,990 made perfect to suffer, because that's how we're going to be 486 00:29:41,990 --> 00:29:43,430 made perfect. So what happened? 487 00:29:43,430 --> 00:29:47,550 Adam and Eve. They blew it and they derailed 488 00:29:47,550 --> 00:29:51,070 the plan of God. So what did Jesus do? 489 00:29:51,350 --> 00:29:57,350 He came on, and he was the first Adam derailed the plan, the last 490 00:29:57,350 --> 00:30:02,870 Adam got it back on track. He came in and as the pioneer of 491 00:30:02,870 --> 00:30:07,310 our salvation, forged away back for humanity. 492 00:30:08,450 --> 00:30:13,130 But even Jesus in the Manger was not the finished product. 493 00:30:14,250 --> 00:30:17,050 You understand that. It says in Hebrews chapter 2. 494 00:30:17,050 --> 00:30:21,130 It says once made perfect he became the source of eternal 495 00:30:21,130 --> 00:30:25,250 salvation. I used to read that thing. 496 00:30:25,250 --> 00:30:29,370 What does that mean? That Jesus wasn't born perfect? 497 00:30:32,370 --> 00:30:35,930 Hebrews 5 says that Jesus was perfected. 498 00:30:36,410 --> 00:30:40,170 By the things he suffered, I, I, I. 499 00:30:40,210 --> 00:30:46,650 What does that mean? Years ago I picked up a book by 500 00:30:46,650 --> 00:30:49,210 Oswald Chambers. He's the one that wrote my 501 00:30:49,210 --> 00:30:51,370 utmost for his highest great, great author. 502 00:30:51,370 --> 00:30:55,850 He had some tremendous revelation, and he talked about 503 00:30:55,850 --> 00:30:58,130 this principle. And he he said something to this 504 00:30:58,130 --> 00:31:01,090 effect. The innocence of Jesus was not 505 00:31:01,090 --> 00:31:03,050 the innocence of our order of things. 506 00:31:07,180 --> 00:31:12,300 He said our innocence. He went on to say this. 507 00:31:13,260 --> 00:31:16,740 He said innocence is nothing to be bragged about. 508 00:31:16,940 --> 00:31:19,140 It's never been confronted with an opportunity. 509 00:31:19,140 --> 00:31:24,260 I mean, it's something to be guarded when it when a child 510 00:31:24,260 --> 00:31:27,860 doesn't have the capacity to deal with the choice. 511 00:31:28,420 --> 00:31:31,900 But innocence is not something to be bragged about, he said. 512 00:31:31,900 --> 00:31:34,300 Purity. Innocence has never been 513 00:31:34,300 --> 00:31:37,340 confronted with the opportunity. It's it's just been shielded. 514 00:31:37,340 --> 00:31:41,100 But Purity has been confronted, gone through the fire of 515 00:31:41,100 --> 00:31:43,820 temptation and coming out the other side, holding to its 516 00:31:43,820 --> 00:31:46,300 integrity. It did the right thing. 517 00:31:46,540 --> 00:31:49,220 That's what God is after in our lives, Purity. 518 00:31:50,100 --> 00:31:54,580 He's not just meaning to keep us innocent, He wants to make us 519 00:31:54,580 --> 00:31:57,260 pure. And so when he allowed the 520 00:31:57,260 --> 00:32:00,570 enemy. To to come and confront Adam and 521 00:32:00,570 --> 00:32:02,570 Eve. And they made the wrong choice. 522 00:32:02,570 --> 00:32:04,130 They fell. So what did God do? 523 00:32:04,290 --> 00:32:06,010 Did he say I wash my hands of humanity? 524 00:32:06,010 --> 00:32:09,210 He said no, I will have a man in my own image. 525 00:32:09,650 --> 00:32:12,810 And he sent Jesus. But Jesus came as an innocent 526 00:32:12,810 --> 00:32:14,770 child. He wasn't born perfect. 527 00:32:14,810 --> 00:32:16,450 In other words, he wasn't born completed. 528 00:32:16,690 --> 00:32:18,690 He had to. What did he say to his cousin 529 00:32:18,690 --> 00:32:23,450 John the Southern baptizer? He said I must fulfill all of 530 00:32:23,450 --> 00:32:25,130 righteousness. Why? 531 00:32:25,570 --> 00:32:29,810 Because that was God's plan. God had a plan for man. 532 00:32:29,970 --> 00:32:33,130 His heart had a dream. I want to see a man that will go 533 00:32:33,130 --> 00:32:36,650 through everything and out of trust for me will unfold that 534 00:32:36,650 --> 00:32:39,570 character I put within him. So I can say, if you want to 535 00:32:39,570 --> 00:32:41,490 know what I'm like, look at my son. 536 00:32:43,330 --> 00:32:48,610 And that's what how Jesus lived. So Jesus fulfilled all of 537 00:32:48,610 --> 00:32:53,450 righteousness every time he was confronted with the temptation 538 00:32:53,610 --> 00:32:57,010 he chose, right? It wouldn't have been good 539 00:32:57,010 --> 00:32:59,650 enough had. Remember when Herod tried to 540 00:32:59,650 --> 00:33:01,970 have Jesus killed while he was in the Manger? 541 00:33:02,570 --> 00:33:06,290 It would not. He could not have purchased OK, 542 00:33:06,530 --> 00:33:11,130 Theologically he may have been able to purchase part of your 543 00:33:11,130 --> 00:33:17,450 salvation, but not the fullness. One of the things we need to 544 00:33:17,450 --> 00:33:22,050 understand is that what we needed for salvation is not just 545 00:33:22,050 --> 00:33:25,370 a sinless life. I mean that. 546 00:33:26,410 --> 00:33:29,890 We must have said God. But God desired more than 547 00:33:30,010 --> 00:33:34,410 innocence, sinlessness. He wanted perfection. 548 00:33:34,610 --> 00:33:38,890 Somebody who not only didn't do the wrong things, but someone 549 00:33:38,890 --> 00:33:42,050 who fulfilled all of righteousness, did all the right 550 00:33:42,050 --> 00:33:46,010 things. So this is not just something 551 00:33:46,010 --> 00:33:48,330 we're we're passive. I'm just not going to sin, not 552 00:33:48,330 --> 00:33:49,930 going to do anything, not going to sin. 553 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:53,640 No. God wants you to engage and do 554 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,200 the things of the Father. Do His work, do what you see the 555 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,560 Father doing, say what you hear the Father saying, walk and 556 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,600 unfold that character and become all that he intended you to be. 557 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,840 That's God's plan. And so that was the the 558 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,520 objective of Jesus, even to the point where, hanging on the 559 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:16,080 cross, it says he was obedient, Philippians too, He was obedient 560 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:18,800 unto death, even the death of the cross. 561 00:34:19,159 --> 00:34:21,679 He had to fulfill all of righteousness. 562 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,120 And then what did he say? Hanging on the cross. 563 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:29,360 It is finished. What was finished? 564 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:34,320 I personally believe that what was finished was God's dream for 565 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:38,600 man, that God could finally say, I have a man made in my own 566 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,560 image. He has fulfilled every purpose. 567 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:44,000 He has fulfilled all of righteousness. 568 00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:46,520 My heart is satisfied with that man. 569 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:51,280 It's such an amazing thing. Hebrews Chapter 9. 570 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:56,000 It says that OK, so Jesus dies, gives his life, he resurrects. 571 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:01,960 And it says that he went into the holy, the holiest place, not 572 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:07,120 by the blood of goats and not by the blood of bulls and lambs, 573 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:14,040 but he entered the most holy place by his own precious blood. 574 00:35:14,990 --> 00:35:18,310 Now you need to catch this. What he was saying is that Jesus 575 00:35:18,630 --> 00:35:24,190 earned the right to walk in. He could come in, He was holy, 576 00:35:24,790 --> 00:35:28,550 and he could step into the Father boldly and say I'm here 577 00:35:29,190 --> 00:35:31,430 and there could be there was nothing between them. 578 00:35:31,710 --> 00:35:34,310 He had fulfilled all of righteousness. 579 00:35:34,830 --> 00:35:38,790 He entered by his own righteous life. 580 00:35:39,750 --> 00:35:43,930 That's what God was longing for. And when God had that, God could 581 00:35:43,930 --> 00:35:47,810 say, I'm satisfied, rent the veil, come in. 582 00:35:48,890 --> 00:35:51,370 So what does all that have to do with you and I? 583 00:35:52,250 --> 00:35:56,290 Well, that's the back story. When you and I use the phrase, 584 00:35:56,290 --> 00:36:00,290 we enter by the blood, we come before him out of the blood, I 585 00:36:00,290 --> 00:36:03,450 plead the blood. What do we really mean by that? 586 00:36:03,530 --> 00:36:09,290 By these Christian phrases, when God began to teach me about 587 00:36:09,290 --> 00:36:11,570 this, I was a young believer. I got saved. 588 00:36:11,910 --> 00:36:14,310 At 18 years old, I've been living on the streets for a 589 00:36:14,310 --> 00:36:16,550 couple years. Some people hear my testimony 590 00:36:16,550 --> 00:36:18,710 and think I was in my 30s when I would God say I was. 591 00:36:18,750 --> 00:36:21,870 I was 18. I've been an alcoholic for a 592 00:36:21,870 --> 00:36:25,510 number of years, living on the streets for two years, and I was 593 00:36:25,510 --> 00:36:28,830 a demonized young man. And when I got saved, I got 594 00:36:28,830 --> 00:36:34,790 saved. I mean, God, I was broken and I 595 00:36:34,790 --> 00:36:37,350 knew God. I don't want to touch my life. 596 00:36:37,350 --> 00:36:39,390 It's yours. You you tell me to jump. 597 00:36:39,430 --> 00:36:43,210 I'm just saying how high. You and And when I had authority 598 00:36:43,210 --> 00:36:44,650 figures in my life, they say jump. 599 00:36:44,650 --> 00:36:46,250 I'd say how high. I mean. 600 00:36:46,250 --> 00:36:50,770 I was a broken person. I was sincere. 601 00:36:52,050 --> 00:36:55,250 The problem is my sincerity was uninformed. 602 00:36:56,770 --> 00:37:05,850 I did not understand the gospel when you are very sincere, but 603 00:37:05,850 --> 00:37:08,170 you have a misunderstanding of the gospel. 604 00:37:09,510 --> 00:37:12,710 You will burn up like a crispy critter and trying to please 605 00:37:12,710 --> 00:37:19,150 God, the enemy will leverage your own sincerity against you. 606 00:37:21,710 --> 00:37:25,070 Now there are other people who they don't understand the 607 00:37:25,070 --> 00:37:28,550 gospel, but they're not sincere. Their failures won't bother 608 00:37:28,550 --> 00:37:30,710 them. The enemy can't leverage them 609 00:37:30,710 --> 00:37:34,990 because they don't really care. But if you're sincere and you 610 00:37:34,990 --> 00:37:37,670 don't have an accurate understanding of the gospel, the 611 00:37:37,670 --> 00:37:42,000 enemy will use his. His primary weapon of accusation 612 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,120 and condemnation? To drive you into the ground and 613 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,440 to cause you to just work and work, to please God, to purchase 614 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:52,320 something you already have for free. 615 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,080 So as a young man, I I got saved and I went off to Bible school 616 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,200 and I was about five years into my walk with God. 617 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:04,880 I was in Bible school and I remember just crashing and 618 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:08,680 burning I was, I was in my my Bible school dorm room. 619 00:38:09,020 --> 00:38:12,100 Laying on the floor for a couple hours, just weeping and saying, 620 00:38:12,100 --> 00:38:13,740 God, I'm done, I can't serve you. 621 00:38:13,780 --> 00:38:17,900 I I can't do this thing. I don't have it in me. 622 00:38:17,900 --> 00:38:21,020 And I I remember telling Lord this, this is an indication that 623 00:38:21,020 --> 00:38:22,700 I did not understand Christianity. 624 00:38:22,940 --> 00:38:25,260 I said I guess I only had five years in me. 625 00:38:26,340 --> 00:38:27,980 Other people, I don't know how they have 20 years of 626 00:38:27,980 --> 00:38:32,940 Christianity in them. That was telling. 627 00:38:34,300 --> 00:38:36,860 And I was laying there crying, just saying, God, I can't do 628 00:38:36,860 --> 00:38:39,820 this thing. And I heard an audible voice say 629 00:38:40,260 --> 00:38:43,060 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who in 630 00:38:43,060 --> 00:38:44,740 Christ Jesus. It wasn't God. 631 00:38:44,740 --> 00:38:47,740 It was my My best friend had snuck in through the bathroom. 632 00:38:48,620 --> 00:38:50,540 Seriously, I didn't know he was there. 633 00:38:50,540 --> 00:38:53,060 It freaked me out. And I don't know. 634 00:38:54,220 --> 00:38:55,580 Yeah, I know I had you for there, you guys. 635 00:38:57,380 --> 00:39:00,860 It was my friend Richard Green. Some of you made rich pastors 636 00:39:00,860 --> 00:39:03,220 over in Coralville, got a great church life church over there, 637 00:39:03,660 --> 00:39:08,160 and it rocked me. But that one word began to be 638 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:11,120 the foundation through which God began to build something in my 639 00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:13,080 life. And over the next three years, 640 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:15,760 God began to teach me about the blood of Jesus. 641 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,560 And everything I've told you this morning and everything I'm 642 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:21,600 about to tell you came out of that three years. 643 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:28,120 But God began to set me free, and I began to understand. 644 00:39:29,450 --> 00:39:33,090 That the Father is satisfied with Jesus life. 645 00:39:33,250 --> 00:39:36,370 What God wanted was a perfect life. 646 00:39:36,610 --> 00:39:41,090 One person, a man made in his own image, A man who would 647 00:39:41,090 --> 00:39:44,770 cooperate with him and out of faith in his character, yield to 648 00:39:44,770 --> 00:39:47,290 him and allow him to develop him. 649 00:39:48,410 --> 00:39:52,010 And he had that in Jesus. What does that have to do with 650 00:39:52,010 --> 00:39:53,650 the blood? Leviticus. 651 00:39:53,650 --> 00:39:55,810 I want to say it's chapter 16. Don't quote me. 652 00:39:55,810 --> 00:40:01,200 Ask Bill Culver. It but Leviticus says the life 653 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:07,720 is in the blood. That's a very, very important 654 00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:13,000 principle because the life that is in Jesus blood is a life that 655 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,800 has fulfilled every righteous requirement the Father ever had 656 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,600 for man. He fulfilled all of 657 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:23,080 righteousness. It's a perfected life. 658 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,440 And so when Jesus offered that to the Father. 659 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:28,920 The Father could say, I'm satisfied. 660 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:32,680 I received, He received. Jesus was not only the Lamb that 661 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:36,440 was slain, he was the priest who carried his own blood, the high 662 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:38,920 priest. And he came not in a tent made 663 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:43,760 by men, not in a holy of holies made by men, but in the the true 664 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:45,920 holy of Holies in heaven, the throne room of God. 665 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,520 And he walked in and He said, Father, I want to present to you 666 00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:53,200 your dream, what you've longed for a man. 667 00:40:53,540 --> 00:40:56,860 That perfectly exemplifies you. And the Father said, I am 668 00:40:56,860 --> 00:41:02,140 satisfied. That is why the blood of Jesus 669 00:41:02,140 --> 00:41:06,140 is so valuable to God. It's not a sentimentality that 670 00:41:06,140 --> 00:41:07,980 oh, he's my he's, he's close to me. 671 00:41:07,980 --> 00:41:09,780 He's my boy. And that's why it makes, you 672 00:41:09,780 --> 00:41:12,940 know, I'm I'm have an affinity for his blood knowing it's that 673 00:41:12,940 --> 00:41:15,380 his blood fulfilled all of righteousness. 674 00:41:16,180 --> 00:41:19,340 And when we really begin to understand that, it gives us 675 00:41:19,340 --> 00:41:22,740 confidence before God. First John has it says this. 676 00:41:23,180 --> 00:41:27,620 If your heart condemns you, you do not have confidence before 677 00:41:27,620 --> 00:41:30,460 God. There are a lot of believers 678 00:41:30,460 --> 00:41:33,700 that do not have confidence to go into the presence of God. 679 00:41:34,380 --> 00:41:38,580 They they dwell on the outside at best in the holy place, not 680 00:41:38,580 --> 00:41:41,180 the holy of holies. They stand on the outside as 681 00:41:41,180 --> 00:41:46,020 kind of a they they feel like they're a kind of a second class 682 00:41:46,020 --> 00:41:50,580 citizen that God, God's disappointed Jesus bought you, 683 00:41:50,900 --> 00:41:53,720 you know, and. Man, Jesus, every time you go 684 00:41:53,720 --> 00:41:56,760 out, you bring back something. And now I'm stuck with him, you 685 00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:59,240 know, and okay, he's mine and you bought them and I'll, I'll 686 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,080 put up with them. But it's more toleration than 687 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:04,320 celebration. It's a lot of people have that 688 00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:08,320 view of God because they're so in tune with their own failures, 689 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,720 and the precise reason they're so in tune is because of their 690 00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:15,240 sincerity. They want to please God, and 691 00:42:15,240 --> 00:42:18,080 they are painfully aware of their own failings and their own 692 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:21,340 weaknesses. And the more sincere you are, 693 00:42:21,340 --> 00:42:24,780 the more susceptible you are to condemnation until you 694 00:42:24,820 --> 00:42:28,940 understand the blood. And so we've got to understand 695 00:42:28,940 --> 00:42:30,860 how the blood satisfies the Father. 696 00:42:31,020 --> 00:42:33,740 And when God began to teach me this, I remember I was standing. 697 00:42:33,940 --> 00:42:37,300 I was, I went, went to Berean Assembly of God over on 698 00:42:37,300 --> 00:42:42,140 university, we were in worship. Those mob chairs, it those pink 699 00:42:42,140 --> 00:42:46,900 mob chairs, we were in worship. And those were the days. 700 00:42:47,250 --> 00:42:50,690 And I was, I was worshiping all of a sudden I I saw this picture 701 00:42:50,690 --> 00:42:52,810 and I didn't know it was a vision. 702 00:42:52,810 --> 00:42:58,010 I just saw this picture of this huge gymnasium like room but it 703 00:42:58,010 --> 00:43:01,410 had this polished glass floor and I was looking in and it was 704 00:43:01,410 --> 00:43:04,250 like the floor went on forever. I couldn't see the full expanse 705 00:43:04,490 --> 00:43:07,770 but I knew it was the throne room and my heart I wanted to go 706 00:43:07,770 --> 00:43:10,490 in and I'm like, Lord, I want to come in but I knew I'm not 707 00:43:10,490 --> 00:43:13,010 worthy. I Lord, you don't want me in 708 00:43:13,010 --> 00:43:15,370 there. I I, I I'm not worried to go in 709 00:43:15,370 --> 00:43:19,080 there. And the Lord called my attention 710 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:22,720 to the threshold of that big huge room, which was the throne 711 00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:24,840 room. And there was blood all over the 712 00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:27,880 threshold. And he simply said to me, you 713 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,840 have to enter through the blood, the only way in. 714 00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:37,560 God loves you enough that He will never allow you to rest in 715 00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:41,560 your own works, because if you have confidence. 716 00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:45,120 To approach him based on your own works, You are living 717 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:49,280 deceived. You can never be good enough. 718 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:54,120 You can never earn the right. You're made good enough through 719 00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:58,320 the blood of Christ. During that season of my life, I 720 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:02,080 would picture myself standing outside the throne and I'd want 721 00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:05,320 to go in and worship. And I would picture this big 722 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:07,960 Angel like he's the bouncer, you know, like he's carding 723 00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:09,520 everybody. You got what you need, buddy. 724 00:44:10,030 --> 00:44:12,390 And I'd, I'd, he'd say, do you have a perfect life? 725 00:44:12,390 --> 00:44:15,110 And I would say, no, not enough of myself. 726 00:44:15,270 --> 00:44:18,350 I know who I am and what I've done in the past. 727 00:44:18,870 --> 00:44:22,990 But I do have this, and I would pull out the blood. 728 00:44:23,310 --> 00:44:25,910 I have the perfect life of Jesus. 729 00:44:26,150 --> 00:44:29,430 I have a life that is fulfilled every righteous requirement. 730 00:44:29,630 --> 00:44:32,230 I present this blood to you, this life to you. 731 00:44:32,390 --> 00:44:34,750 And the Angel would grin and say, go on in and worship. 732 00:44:35,130 --> 00:44:38,090 And I would go and I had to do those mental gymnastics. 733 00:44:38,090 --> 00:44:44,930 I had to retrain my mind. Hebrews, there's, there's a 734 00:44:44,930 --> 00:44:47,050 number of passages. Let me, let me read a couple 735 00:44:47,050 --> 00:44:48,930 verses to you and we're going to land this. 736 00:44:48,930 --> 00:44:51,810 We'll have to get into this again later because I want to 737 00:44:51,810 --> 00:44:54,050 teach you how to use this against the enemy. 738 00:45:02,660 --> 00:45:06,340 Hebrews 10 verse one you have the worship team could come up 739 00:45:06,340 --> 00:45:09,260 here and you guys, if you guys could come on up, we're going to 740 00:45:09,260 --> 00:45:12,520 receive communion. For since the law was but a, 741 00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:15,240 this is 10/1. For since the law was but a 742 00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:18,400 shadow of good things to come, instead of a true form of these 743 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:21,440 realities, it can never by the same sacrifices that are 744 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:24,520 continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw 745 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:27,080 near. Otherwise would they not have 746 00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:31,160 ceased to be offered, since worshippers have once been 747 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:36,120 cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin but 748 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:39,100 these sacrifices? In these sacrifices, all the 749 00:45:39,100 --> 00:45:42,620 reminder of sin every year, he said. 750 00:45:42,660 --> 00:45:46,780 If you're really cleansed, you don't have the consciousness of 751 00:45:46,780 --> 00:45:50,420 sin. He goes on to say Hebrews 10, 752 00:45:50,420 --> 00:45:55,700 verse nine. So being cleansed a racist sin 753 00:45:55,700 --> 00:45:58,780 consciousness. If you're living in sin 754 00:45:58,780 --> 00:46:02,540 consciousness, it's because you're not yet cleansed. 755 00:46:02,540 --> 00:46:06,960 Now pause there. Cleanse Cleansing your heart is 756 00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:10,680 not the same as being forgiven. Being forgiven is the Ledger in 757 00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:13,840 heaven that's taken care of. The shed blood of Jesus has 758 00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:17,960 already been presented to the Father on your behalf and as a 759 00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:20,760 born again believer, God opens the books and says forgiven. 760 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:25,400 You're righteous. But if in your mind your heart 761 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:28,360 is not cleansed, you don't take advantage of that. 762 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:30,720 You've got a check you won't cash. 763 00:46:31,020 --> 00:46:34,540 You stand on the outside because you have a defiled identity, 764 00:46:34,700 --> 00:46:37,580 because you've never learned to apply the blood to the doorposts 765 00:46:37,580 --> 00:46:40,700 of your own heart. Thanks for listening to our 766 00:46:40,700 --> 00:46:42,420 podcast. If you'd like to help more 767 00:46:42,420 --> 00:46:45,020 people hear this message, you can get the word out by 768 00:46:45,020 --> 00:46:47,340 subscribing and sharing it on social media. 769 00:46:47,860 --> 00:46:50,220 If you'd like to support the ministries of Heartland Church, 770 00:46:50,420 --> 00:46:53,980 you can do so at Heartland Church online.com/give.