1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:06,360 I'm excited to be continuing this series through the Book of 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,920 Hebrews. As we've been looking at our 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,440 series, Jesus is Greater. Over the past few weeks we've 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,840 been tracing the argument of the Book of Hebrews. 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,040 Jesus is greater than the angels, and because he's the 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,680 perfect representation of God, we we know what God is like and 7 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:29,080 we can have hope. Jesus is greater than Moses and 8 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,960 so we can persevere and enter the rest, not get stuck in the 9 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:35,000 wilderness. Jesus is greater than the 10 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,840 Levitical priests we Caleb talked about last week, and so 11 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,560 we can boldly enter into God's own presence. 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,720 But all of this raises an important question for us, a 13 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:51,800 question that we finally get to this week, which is how does 14 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,520 Jesus actually make access to God's presence possible? 15 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,920 How does Jesus make access to God's presence possible? 16 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,440 And in Hebrews Chapter 9, we find the answer to this 17 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:06,840 question. Our text this morning explains 18 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:12,760 why Jesus sacrifice matters, what it accomplishes for you and 19 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,640 for me today. We read here in Hebrews Chapter 20 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,960 9 and verse 12 that Jesus did not enter by means of the blood 21 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:25,080 of goats and calves, but he entered the most holy place once 22 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:30,360 for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 23 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:37,160 All right, well, I want to offer a bit of a content warning this 24 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:41,880 morning before we dive in guys. We are talking about sacrifice 25 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,480 today, we're going to talk about blood. 26 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,920 And I think that your internal disgust sensors may get 27 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,840 triggered a few times. So if you're a little squeamish, 28 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,160 I don't know what to do. I'm sorry. 29 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,440 But I just wanted to prepare us because one of the challenges 30 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,800 that we face here in Hebrews Chapter 9 is, is honestly a 31 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,560 challenge that we face throughout this series, which is 32 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:10,680 navigating the, the enormous gap culturally between the text of 33 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,240 Hebrews, the assumptions, the problems, the solutions that are 34 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:16,840 offered in our life and world today. 35 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,760 There are some very big differences between how they 36 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,280 imagined the world and how they navigated things and what's also 37 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,400 true for us. But I believe that bridging this 38 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:32,480 gap is going to be so helpful if we can understand it. 39 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,640 All right, to dive in and get us started. 40 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:38,440 Like I said, we're talking about, we're talking about dead 41 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,840 animals today. All right, by show of hands, how 42 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,480 many of you, this is not a there's it's not a gotcha 43 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:47,400 question. How many of you have consumed 44 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:52,480 meat products in your lifetime? OK, the vast majority of us, 45 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,360 some people have not, no problem. 46 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:59,600 All right, how many of you have not only consumed meat products, 47 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,160 but whether you have or not have actually witnessed physically 48 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,640 impersonate animal being slaughtered? 49 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,040 OK, we have a few hands. Some people grew up on farms. 50 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,120 I knew this to be true. But it's a there's a big gap 51 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,520 between those two numbers. And the first one, it's the vast 52 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,840 majority of the auditorium. And the second one, it's only a 53 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,320 few people. And this speaks to the distance 54 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,040 that we have today between kind of the food that we eat, the 55 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:31,040 animals that we interact with as food and what actually happens 56 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:35,080 to get them to our plates. I think my daughter understands 57 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:37,840 chicken to come from the grocery store, right? 58 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,720 It's like it's not very clear how how that delivery mechanism 59 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:45,040 happens for us. And, and to think of an animal 60 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:49,040 being killed for many of us, for me, in my fragile little 61 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,200 stomach, it kicks out. I'm like, oh, that's, that's 62 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:53,320 terrible. That's awful. 63 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,320 There's a lack of familiarity. But this lack of familiarity 64 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:01,240 would not be true for the 1st century recipients of the letter 65 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,600 to the Hebrews. These people grew up in an 66 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,040 agricultural setting. Food preparation and delivery 67 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,880 was part of their life. If they had been asked for a 68 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:11,720 show of hands, every hand would have gone up. 69 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:16,000 They were all familiar with animal slaughter, not just as 70 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:21,040 part of the sacrificial system. But even beyond the the lack of 71 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,720 familiarity with the death of animals, there's another thing 72 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,200 that makes this text this morning especially foreign, 73 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:29,680 especially difficult for us to inhabit. 74 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,520 Like what is going on? Why sacrifice? 75 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:36,120 Sacrifice is such a weird concept to us. 76 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:41,320 And I think it's not just that blood is gross, although most of 77 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,200 us probably feel that way. Unless you, like, work in an 78 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,480 operating room or something. It's also the idea, which is 79 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,880 latent in this text, that blood could actually be an agent of 80 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:54,680 cleansing. That blood could the application 81 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,520 of blood could make things cleaner rather than more dirty 82 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:03,080 and even under that the fact that there is a pollution that 83 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:09,040 is moral in nature and needs to be solved for the the the Hebrew 84 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,880 audience of this letter had an entirely different mental map of 85 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:14,040 the world. We see this here, though, 86 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,800 clearly in Hebrews Chapter 9 and verse 13. 87 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:22,400 Looking back, the writer here says the blood of goats and 88 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:25,640 bulls, the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are 89 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:30,160 ceremonially unclean, sanctify them so that they are outwardly 90 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,640 clean. All right, I'm not going to do 91 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:37,160 this, but if I were to take a bowl of blood and sprinkle it on 92 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,760 everybody this morning, right, I don't think that would go over 93 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,200 well. You guys would be super freaked 94 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:44,600 out. Most of you would leave and 95 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,880 never ever come back, right? We would not intuit or 96 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,120 experience that as an act of cleansing in any way. 97 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,160 But for the 1st century audience, that made perfect 98 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,120 sense. And, and it was not only because 99 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,840 of a different intuition around blood, it was actually also a 100 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:06,680 moral imagination that differed from ours around sanctity. 101 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,280 See, the original audience of this letter thought about 102 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:16,240 morality very significantly in terms of purity and pollution. 103 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,200 In terms of purity and pollution categories that do not function 104 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:24,000 for us in the West, at least largely. 105 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,760 Although we do have some trace intuitions of these things, even 106 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,080 if we often don't have the lens or the language to help make 107 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:34,040 sense of our intuition. More content warning, we're 108 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:38,720 going to be gross for a second. All right, How do you feel about 109 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:42,560 the following ideas? I want you to name what comes up 110 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:47,000 for you. The idea of going out in the 111 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,200 lobby and just snacking on the communion elements. 112 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,840 What kind of idea comes up? What kind of feeling is 113 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:57,400 generated? Not cool, not cool. 114 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,120 Anybody else? All right, we have a little bit, 115 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,280 we have a little sanctity imagination around communion 116 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:06,760 elements. How about how about having sex 117 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:11,960 on somebody's grave? Not cool. 118 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:13,040 No, no, no. Not cool. 119 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:14,400 As as a judgement. I agree. 120 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:15,760 Not cool. But what's the feeling that 121 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,080 comes up for us? Gross. 122 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:21,600 Disrespectful. Yeah, like Dick, Right. 123 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:27,120 How about how about sorry, guys? How about eating a pet that has 124 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,920 died from natural causes? Yeah, You feel it right here. 125 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,720 That's awful, right? It's it's gross, it's 126 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,000 disgusting. It generates in us this, this 127 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:42,640 like, but often we struggle to explain where that is coming 128 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,280 from. See, for us in the West, we are 129 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,920 what Jonathan Height called weird. 130 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,440 We are weird, which means we are western, we are educated, we are 131 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,960 industrialized, we are rich and we are democratic. 132 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,200 And, and within the moral framework that we live, we think 133 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:02,520 mostly about like care and harm and fairness. 134 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:05,200 We like, well, did it hurt someone else? 135 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,440 Nope, no one was hurt. Was it unjust or unfair? 136 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,320 Did it like distribute things unequally between people? 137 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,840 Nope, I guess not. These are the categories that 138 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,240 our our moral intuitions have been trained to think of. 139 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,680 And these are good categories. But what height in an 140 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,840 anthropological study of different kinds of moral 141 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,920 intuitions determined is there's actually 6 moral foundation, 6 142 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:34,960 different almost like taste receptors for morality and and 143 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,080 weird folk. Western industrialized, 144 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,919 educated, rich democratic people tend to focus very heavily on a 145 00:08:41,919 --> 00:08:44,560 couple of them and almost not have the others at all. 146 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,600 So although we do have traces of this, like disgust that comes up 147 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,960 when we think about something, often times we lack the language 148 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:53,480 to make sense of what's happening. 149 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:55,920 We don't understand it. And that's a real limitation. 150 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,320 We're going to get to why it's a limitation that the text 151 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:02,480 addresses in a minute, but this, this foundation is what height 152 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,040 would describe as the Sanctity Foundation. 153 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,440 The Sanctity Foundation imagines the world it imagines, spaces it 154 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,600 around, imagines things on a scale from pollution to purity. 155 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:17,960 The higher something is, the more the more righteous it is, 156 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:20,360 the more spiritual it is, the more beautiful it is, the more 157 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:24,280 good and holy it is. The lower on the scale something 158 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,480 is, the more corrupt, the more base, the more carnal, the more 159 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:31,200 defiled. And when you pollute sacred 160 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,920 things, when there's something that should be up here and you 161 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,840 defile it, you contaminate it, right? 162 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:41,400 We get this Ugg feeling, this disgust feeling This is that's 163 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,440 not, that's not how you're not supposed to do that. 164 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,360 We only have a few traces of this moral intuition for most of 165 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,520 us here in the West of this, the Sanctity Foundation that are 166 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:55,360 really operative examples like I just named, which I will not 167 00:09:55,640 --> 00:10:00,720 belabor because they're gross. But for the 1st century people 168 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,320 reading this letter, this was a primary way in which they 169 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:07,080 thought about the world. As we look at and approach the 170 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,280 Hebrew Bible, we see everywhere they wouldn't have had the the 171 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,040 the sociological language for this, but we see this intuition 172 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,840 about the sacred, the pure and the impure, about keeping things 173 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:22,680 separate and segregated, about avoiding contact with things 174 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:28,920 that are impure. This was a central logic for how 175 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:33,240 they made sense of the world. This is how the Scripture talks 176 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,400 about the world very often. One of the ways throughout the 177 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,880 Old Testament, it wasn't simply that sin was unfair. 178 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:42,480 It wasn't simply that it harmed other people. 179 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:48,000 It was also perceived as a moral pollution, a kind of stain that 180 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:52,280 could be generated and it could contaminate people and places 181 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:56,240 and things, right, even things that weren't morally culpable. 182 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:01,080 And this pollution meant that purity or holiness could not be 183 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,120 present. So, so God, who is the ultimate 184 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:09,240 pure, could not be contaminated, could not be defiled by the 185 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:16,040 impurity generated by sin and generated by, in sin, by sinful 186 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:20,080 polluted people in the logic of Scripture. 187 00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:24,480 There was, however, a way to decontaminate things that had 188 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:29,520 become polluted, and this way of decontaminating things, which we 189 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:34,080 see here in the text this morning was by way of blood, was 190 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,280 by way of blood. In my research for the sermon 191 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,120 this morning, I learned something new, something I did 192 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:42,560 not know, which was I don't know why there's so many things that 193 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:46,200 are distressing. In the sermon today I learned 194 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,120 that that that we are within one mile of Ebola right now. 195 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,200 Did you know that? I did not know that a Boston 196 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:58,400 University here in the South End operates what's called a BSL 4 197 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,600 laboratory. OK, Now, I didn't know anything 198 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:04,320 about laboratories before I did a deep, deep dive on this. 199 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:08,640 But, but a BSL 4 laboratory, if you work in scientific space, 200 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,400 you know, is like a big deal. There's like 15 of them in the 201 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,400 whole country. And we have one right here in 202 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:15,600 the South End, like a mile from here. 203 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:20,200 And so if the scale goes from 1:00 to 4:00, OK. 204 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,320 And if one is like your high school biology classroom where 205 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,360 you're supposed to like wash your hands and wear gloves, 206 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,400 right? A4 means Ebola. 207 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:32,000 It means like if contamination gets out, it is catastrophic, 208 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:34,800 right? Things are very seriously 209 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:36,080 contained. So. 210 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,520 So if you go to the national emerging infectious disease 211 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:42,280 laboratories here in the South End, but what you're not allowed 212 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:45,200 to do, right? Because obvious. 213 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:50,480 But what you would be met with is a very stringent set of 214 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:54,040 security. There are barriers upon barriers 215 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:55,760 upon barriers. Like the first thing you go when 216 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:59,000 you go on the website is a video describing all of the security 217 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,720 protocols. There are a lot and even beyond 218 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:03,960 the security protocols to make sure that like you are the 219 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:09,160 clearance trained, vetted, verified iris scan person who is 220 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,320 allowed into this space. There are also all kinds of 221 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:17,720 purification measures, right, to make sure that that that things 222 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,200 don't become contaminated that aren't supposed to, right? 223 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,520 You have to go through airlocks. You put on this this suit that I 224 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,080 didn't understand the name of, but it's basically like a space 225 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:30,320 suit that attaches you to like air from the building instead of 226 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:32,400 your own breath or the oxygen around you. 227 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,960 You have to shower like there's a chemical shower on the way 228 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:37,760 out. There's like all of these 229 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:42,040 different processes and procedures to make sure that 230 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,720 that which is pure cannot be contaminated by that which is 231 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,480 unpure, right? That there can't be cross 232 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:50,200 contamination across these things. 233 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,440 And I think that's actually a really good image of what we see 234 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:58,520 here in Hebrews Chapter 9 in the Tabernacle. 235 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,480 The Tabernacle was basically a B SL4 lab. 236 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,680 It was a place with many barriers and restrictions to 237 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:12,080 make sure that that was, which was impure did not come in 238 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,720 contact with that which was pure, because there would be 239 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,320 devastating consequences if it did. 240 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:24,080 If you were an Israelite man or woman in the back when the 241 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,680 Tabernacle was around, I don't remember which century, right, 242 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:30,640 and you sinned, you would come to the Tabernacle at the center 243 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:35,440 of the camp for purification. You might bring with you a goat 244 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:40,160 or a lamb as an offering. And and as you came to the 245 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:42,880 center of the camp, you'd find this, this structural wall, 246 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,280 something unusual in a tent encampment, right? 247 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,680 A wall with gates guarded by priests. 248 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,480 You know, you'd report what your business was and enter in and, 249 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,680 and probably even before you passed through the gates, man, 250 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:02,440 you would be like hit in the face with the smell, blood and 251 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:03,760 smoke. It would smell like a cookout. 252 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:05,600 That best, probably worse than that. 253 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:11,440 Rotting flesh, burning coals, smoke going up. 254 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:16,600 See, because many times every day as soon as you got through 255 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,600 this gate, you would encounter this massive 7 1/2 foot square, 256 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:26,000 chest high bronze altar had a coal fire that was burning 257 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:30,400 continuously. And day after day, lamb after 258 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:34,920 lamb, goat after goat, cow after cow would be sacrificed on this 259 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:39,880 altar, burned up and consumed. And if you had brought an 260 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:42,000 offering on that day, you would bring it in. 261 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:44,760 You would come up, you'd approach a priest. 262 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,320 When it was your turn, they would ask you to, to place your 263 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:53,640 hands on the head of the animal. This was a sign or a symbol that 264 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:58,160 the contamination, the pollution which was now present in your 265 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:04,160 body, was being passed into, was being delegated to this animal. 266 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,120 And then the priest in a, in a, in a swift motion with a sharp 267 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:09,640 knife, would slit the animal's throat. 268 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,320 Blood would gush out and be caught in a bucket just 269 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:16,480 underneath the animal's jugular vein. 270 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:19,960 The blood would be taken. The priest would take that 271 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,960 blood, would stick his fingers in it and wipe it on one of the 272 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,880 horns protruding from each corner of the altar. 273 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,560 The rest of the blood would be spilled out at the base. 274 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:34,920 This happened every time you committed some kind of a 275 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:39,000 transgression. Like regularly all the time, 276 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:42,080 every day. This was happening at the center 277 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,520 of the camp. Like you maybe have seen that 278 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:48,000 model of a Tabernacle somewhere in like your old study Bible 279 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:49,640 that has the pictures of the back. 280 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,080 But this was not like some pristine place. 281 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:54,560 It was more like a slaughterhouse. 282 00:16:55,800 --> 00:17:02,200 Every day, animal after animal was killed and burned and burned 283 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,040 on the altar. And sometimes if it wasn't an 284 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,440 individual, the the, the purification right went even 285 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,160 further right. If a leader in the community 286 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:16,560 send a priest or, or the, the, the community as a whole, the 287 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:20,800 purification, the sprinkling of blood would extend not just to 288 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:25,839 the altar surface there, but inside the actual tent of 289 00:17:25,839 --> 00:17:29,480 meeting the, the, the central space where the presence of God 290 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,160 dwelt. Within that tent there were two 291 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,760 chambers, an outer chamber which hosted the menorah, the altar of 292 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,160 incense, the table of showbread. And then there was an inner 293 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,440 chamber with the ark of the covenant, the place where the 294 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:46,720 manifest presence of God would dwell for a big sin, essentially 295 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,480 for a big contamination, a big pollution, they would go and 296 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,680 actually sprinkle inside the outer chamber. 297 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:59,360 And then once a year, only once a year, there would be a special 298 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:03,360 ceremony on the Day of Atonement when the high priest himself, 299 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:07,960 having bathed and cleaned, offered a sacrifice for himself 300 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:13,720 wearing these these white robes denoting purity, would take that 301 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:18,400 blood and enter into, push back the heavy curtain and pass 302 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,280 through into the holiest place where the priest would would 303 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,320 sprinkle that blood on the mercy seat, the place where God's 304 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:31,320 manifest presence dwelt. Why do you go to all these 305 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:33,440 lengths to explain everything that's happening in the 306 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:35,920 Tabernacle, Josh? Well, here's the deal. 307 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,200 I think this is what this passage is trying to point us 308 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,880 towards, that the weight that was felt by the original 309 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:45,680 audience of Hebrews that would not be felt by most of us today. 310 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:50,920 See, what they got on an intuitive level was that sin was 311 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:55,480 a big deal, Like that pollution, that offense against God. 312 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,200 Was it a serious thing? It wasn't to be trifled with. 313 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,560 It wasn't trivial. It was costly. 314 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:06,800 It was economically painful, it was morally painful, and there 315 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:12,040 was a heavy high cost to creating purification for 316 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:16,120 allowing the presence of God to stay with his people. 317 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:22,880 It took a lot, dozens of animals a day on on the the high holy 318 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:28,400 days, Josephus records thousands of animals in multiple rotations 319 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:33,160 being slaughtered in the Tabernacle or in the temple, all 320 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,080 so that God could be with his people. 321 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,760 And this wasn't just about cleansing the people are 322 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,280 forgiving sin. It was about purifying the space 323 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,560 that allowed for this external contact between God and humans. 324 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:57,120 And then we get to Jesus. Then we get to Jesus because 325 00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:03,440 despite all of the cost, the gravity of this situation, it 326 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,160 was, according to Hebrews Chapter 9, not all that 327 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,440 effective. It didn't do everything that was 328 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:16,040 really wanted and needed. This was demonstrated by the 329 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,320 fact that the the the purification achieved was always 330 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,680 tenuous, like the fire of God's presence, just like Ebola was. 331 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:28,200 Like if you accidentally missed a step, you could get wiped out. 332 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:32,040 Aaron's sons. We see Nadab and ABBA who bring 333 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:36,560 unauthorized incense to the altar at one point and are 334 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,960 consumed by fire from the altar. Right. 335 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,120 Aza reaches out to steady the Ark of the Covenant and touch 336 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:47,320 that place that represents the Holy Manifest Presence of God, 337 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:52,560 and is struck dead on the spot. This gap was so severe that any 338 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:57,760 breach, just like at the lab here in the South end, like any 339 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,600 breach, incidental or not, was treated with deathly 340 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:04,800 seriousness. It had to be perfectly 341 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,240 maintained, and it had to be constantly maintained because 342 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,640 the people were always adding more pollution. 343 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,400 There was always more sin. The purification was always 344 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,720 incomplete. The daily sacrifices were 345 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,400 actually a confession of the system's limits. 346 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,160 This is what Hebrews 1011 says. It says that all these 347 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:25,720 sacrifices can never take away sin. 348 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:30,320 Hebrews 10/3 says the sacrifices actually became an annual 349 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:35,520 reminder of sin. They didn't permanently fix the 350 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,000 problem. They just made us all really, 351 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,880 really aware of the problem. They were a Band-Aid. 352 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:46,320 They were a stopgap at best. This whole continuously running, 353 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:52,080 elaborate, expensive system still didn't do what was wanted 354 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,360 and needed. Enter Jesus. 355 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,680 We read here in Hebrews Chapter 9 and verse 11 that Jesus comes 356 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,280 as high priest to offer a sacrifice. 357 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,200 And the writer compares what Jesus does to the work of the 358 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,320 ancient Tabernacle. Point by point and in every 359 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,920 step, he shows us that what Jesus accomplishes is an 360 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,240 upgrade. Jesus is better. 361 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,840 Jesus is greater. First off, Jesus enters a better 362 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,000 Tabernacle. In verse 11, we read that the 363 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,400 Tabernacle that Jesus enters at his death is not the physical 364 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,120 Tabernacle or temple in Palestine. 365 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:32,840 Instead, it is a Tabernacle not made with human hands. 366 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,040 Basically, what the writer of Hebrews is explaining to us is 367 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,920 that the Tabernacle and temple that his audience would be 368 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:41,880 familiar with was not the real one. 369 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,320 It was a replica. It was a model. 370 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:50,360 The real Tabernacle, the real temple, exists in the heavenlies 371 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,840 in a space in God's presence with his throne. 372 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:57,400 That is the real place of God's manifest presence, and it is to 373 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:02,280 that place the Jesus ascends. Not only that, but Jesus not 374 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,040 only ascends into a better Tabernacle, but he offers a 375 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:09,600 better sacrifice. In verse 14, the text explains 376 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,480 that the Jesus sacrifice isn't the blood of bulls and goats. 377 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:16,080 He's not just sacrificing animals. 378 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:20,480 Rather, he sacrifices himself, his own blood. 379 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,120 This was something that the Levitical priest could never 380 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,000 accomplished, like he couldn't offer himself. 381 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:30,960 Then sacrifices would be done. But Jesus offers Himself, and we 382 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:36,120 read it here in Hebrews 9 that it was once for all that He 383 00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:38,800 could do it permanently and eternally. 384 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,680 It went further than the Old Covenant sacrifices were able to 385 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:47,480 do because it was forever. Not only that, we see here in 386 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,840 Hebrews Chapter 9 that this sacrifice in the Old Covenant 387 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:56,000 was just an external cleansing, like it allowed for general 388 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,680 proximity, but there were still all of these airlocks. 389 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,120 There were still all of these barriers. 390 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,720 If you were a commoner, like the outer court was as close as you 391 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:10,000 were going to get. But Jesus comes and we read here 392 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:16,280 that He in verse 13 cleanses us inwardly in our conscience. 393 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:21,640 Hebrews 10/14 says by 1 sacrifice he is made perfect 394 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:25,000 forever. Those who are being made holy. 395 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:30,480 1010 says we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the 396 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,680 body of Jesus Christ. Once for all. 397 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,960 Jesus sacrifice accomplishes that which this elaborate 398 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:45,880 intensive system never could. The purity goes further and 399 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,440 lasts longer. I love this image that the 400 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,880 Gospels all give us through all the synoptics. 401 00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:54,720 This image of the curtain tearing. 402 00:24:54,720 --> 00:25:01,480 In Matthew 27, we see that as Jesus died, the curtain in the 403 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,120 temple, right? This place that separated the 404 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:07,680 holy place from the holy of holies, the place of God's 405 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:09,960 manifest presence. What happens? 406 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,360 It tears, and it tears from the top down. 407 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:18,360 It's ripped in two. What is God doing and saying? 408 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:23,840 He's saying that for the first time now and forever. 409 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,000 The airlock is done right. The distance is obliterated. 410 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,600 You don't have to go through a priest. 411 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,120 You don't have to go through a sacrifice that the cost has been 412 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:40,000 paid once for all. You have unfettered, direct 413 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:44,040 access to God. It's ripped in half. 414 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:48,440 It's ripped in half. Never to be re sewn, never to be 415 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,320 put back together. Not just for the priests, but 416 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,120 for all. God says I welcome you. 417 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:59,080 I invite you into my presence. Why? 418 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,640 Because the purification that always needed to happen over and 419 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:09,400 over and over again now is finished. 420 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:14,480 It's done once for all. We, through the blood of Jesus 421 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,840 are made pure. This is so powerful. 422 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,560 If you've done any gardening in the city of Boston, you know 423 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,600 that usually we plant in these raised beds, right? 424 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,760 Anybody familiar with that? We have these beds that protrude 425 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,920 out of the ground that, that we, you know, put a base on them and 426 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,600 pour some soil in them. And then we grow our tomato 427 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,360 plants or our basil or our cumin or whatever in these, in these 428 00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:43,320 raised beds, right? And probably, you know, but 429 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:45,200 maybe you don't. Why do we do that? 430 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,360 The reason is lead poisoning, right? 431 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:50,680 If you take your tomato plant and you just put it in the 432 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,480 ground, you're likely to be eating a good bit of poison with 433 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:56,920 those tomatoes, which you probably don't want to do, 434 00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,560 right? And the reason for that is like, 435 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,040 of course, everybody's houses were painted in lead paint. 436 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,720 And then that paint got scraped off over time, like chips came 437 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,400 off. I'm sorry if I'm triggering 438 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:09,680 somebody right now who's just realizing this for the first 439 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:10,840 time. This was not supposed to be a 440 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:18,000 public safety announcement. But the lead over time through 441 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,840 the paint, like leeches into the ground, right, becomes part of 442 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:22,880 the soil. You don't see it. 443 00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:24,800 You don't know it's there unless you take a test. 444 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:30,040 But if you go plant your plant in the ground and it grows that 445 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:34,800 the plant pulls and and those fruit are rotten, right? 446 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,320 They look good on the outside, but they're poisoned on the 447 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,240 inside. But there's something you can do 448 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,960 about this, right? You can do soil remediation and 449 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:49,040 soil remediation is, is planting a certain certain kinds of 450 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,240 plants. You know, sunflowers are in this 451 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:52,680 crop. Like, there's some others as 452 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:54,840 well. I'm not really a gardener, so 453 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:56,880 you should ask Google or somebody else about which crops 454 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:58,280 are best if you're trying to do this. 455 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:04,280 This is not a how to wiki. But the point is, is that those 456 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:07,400 those plants will actually suck up the lead poison from the 457 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,800 ground, right? They'll bring it in through 458 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:11,960 their root systems. They'll ingest it into 459 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,600 themselves and then the space will be made pure. 460 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,760 The pollution will be done away with. 461 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,560 Friends, this is what Jesus does for us. 462 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:27,680 He takes the pollution which has contaminated our lives and our 463 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,240 homes and our families and our relationships. 464 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,960 Not just the the moral injuries and the infractions that that 465 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,880 the actual direct sin, but but even the things that have been 466 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:43,720 done to us, Jesus brings them into himself and heals them. 467 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,520 And friends, this is, I think, so important for us because 468 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:54,160 we've been talking a lot of theology this morning, Old 469 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:59,120 Testament historical stuff. But here's what I know because 470 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,800 I'm a pastor and I have lots of conversations with you and a lot 471 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:05,000 of other people. I know shame is a problem for 472 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,880 us. I know that a lot of us walk 473 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:14,840 around in life feeling like we have a giant stain on our shirt 474 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,560 and everybody can see it. You ever been there? 475 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:22,160 I remember going to a wedding, having a great time, took my 476 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,040 jacket off and somebody's like, did you realize you have a 477 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,400 massive stain on your sleeve? I was like, I had no idea that 478 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,840 was there this whole time. I feel so embarrassed. 479 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:35,400 But some of us are walking through life this way, right? 480 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:39,400 We, you know, we, we've asked Jesus for forgiveness. 481 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,240 We've repaired some things in our relationships. 482 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:47,000 Maybe we're doing OK on the outside, but no matter what we 483 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:51,240 kind of tell ourselves, our self talk, we just feel like 484 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:56,560 something is rotten in us. There's a part of us that we 485 00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:01,840 hate and are disgusted by. And I'm not trying to to layer 486 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,760 on this for anybody here. This is not about putting this 487 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,880 on you. It's more about helping you to 488 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:09,960 notice if actually this is your experience right now. 489 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,280 Like, are you carrying something that you walk with as a stain, 490 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:19,280 right? Something that makes you 491 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:24,280 unworthy, that makes you undeserving of belonging, of 492 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:31,250 love? Maybe it's something you did 493 00:30:34,290 --> 00:30:41,210 this time in your life where you really hurt somebody that you 494 00:30:41,210 --> 00:30:44,850 loved. Maybe you had an abortion. 495 00:30:48,250 --> 00:30:51,250 Maybe this morning you are a victim of sexual assault. 496 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,240 Maybe you have a hidden addiction in your life that's 497 00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:02,960 eating at you, gnawing at you. Maybe you just grew up with 498 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,560 expectations from your parents, maybe from yourself that you 499 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:12,440 haven't lived up to, you haven't met and you know it inside. 500 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:16,440 And you carry around this deep sense of like, I am a disaster. 501 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:18,840 I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy. 502 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,280 There's something wrong with me. And, and you know, it's this is 503 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:26,160 not about making all of these things that I named the same. 504 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:30,880 They're not, it's not about like you doing something bad. 505 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,600 Maybe you did something bad. Maybe you did absolutely nothing 506 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,200 bad and you know that you did something nothing bad. 507 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:41,360 Like, you know, it wasn't your fault, but you still feel it, 508 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,320 like you still carry around that this feeling of stain, this 509 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,960 feeling of shame, this feeling of impurity. 510 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:54,040 There's a sense that lives in your body, that something that 511 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:56,520 was sacred, something that was beautiful, something that was 512 00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:00,920 good, something that deserves to be held in this way was was was 513 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:03,360 defiled, was corrupted, was polluted. 514 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,240 And you haven't even had the language for it because you keep 515 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:08,600 telling yourself, I didn't do anything bad. 516 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:10,480 I didn't hurt anybody. I wasn't unfair. 517 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:14,680 But you still feel off. You haven't been able to get 518 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:22,680 past it, friends. My point today is that Jesus 519 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:29,760 cleanses us, right? My point is not even whether 520 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,680 like, you should feel that way or should not feel that way, 521 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:34,480 right? Whether there was a moral 522 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:36,920 injury, was it was your fault? None of that. 523 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:44,360 My point is that even in the polluted spaces, even in the 524 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:48,240 spaces where we carry around that shame, that pain, that 525 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:55,480 hurt, that self judgment, that self hatred, that Jesus died to 526 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:57,640 purify those spaces. Exactly. 527 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:02,920 His blood is a cleansing agent that, if you will let it, will 528 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:09,520 heal the wounds that can free you and touch you and not just 529 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:15,240 reconcile you relationally, but actually make you holy, make you 530 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:19,720 pure. I love how the text here puts it 531 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,680 in this one verse that I'm not going to be able to find now. 532 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:31,560 It says that Jesus makes us holy and then we are becoming holy, 533 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,960 right? There's a tension there, like it 534 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,560 hasn't all the way manifest. Sometimes we look at ourselves 535 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:41,600 and we're like, yeah, I don't have it all cleaned up yet. 536 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:43,600 I'm still doing the polluting things. 537 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:46,320 I know that I am. I'm still hanging under the 538 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,480 cloud. But what this text guarantees us 539 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,000 is that the blood of Jesus is big enough, that the curtain has 540 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:59,120 been torn, that we are welcomed in, that we have access to the 541 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:04,440 very presence and love of the Father because of Jesus. 542 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:12,199 Friends, this is my invitation to you this morning as we move 543 00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:14,080 into a time of reflection and response. 544 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:23,480 What would it look like for you to allow the sacrifice of Jesus, 545 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:31,080 to allow the blood of Jesus to meet you, to heal you, to purify 546 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:35,960 you exactly in those places that you have deemed unforgivable, 547 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:46,760 polluted, defiled, untouchable? You don't need to continue to 548 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:50,199 perform a bunch of sacrifices like you don't need to keep 549 00:34:50,199 --> 00:34:52,639 trying to get it right, trying to figure it out, trying to 550 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:56,040 hustle your way or righteous your way or work your way into 551 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,800 the presence of God. Like you were never going to get 552 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,800 through OK? Like we were never going to be 553 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,320 good enough that we could access His presence. 554 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:10,800 All we have to do this morning is to receive the gift of His 555 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,960 sacrifice and look for you. Maybe this morning you're at a 556 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,960 point in your your faith walk where you've never really done 557 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:22,000 that, or at least never done it on that level, or you've had 558 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:26,000 awareness of Jesus. You know the gospel story, but 559 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,520 you haven't really ever said like, I want this for me 560 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:33,240 friends, the invitation stands before you. 561 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:37,560 The curtain stands rent, the pathway is open. 562 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:41,360 All you have to do is enter in.