1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,880 Welcome to the River City Church podcast and a message by our 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:07,960 lead pastor, Jason Powers. Our prayer is that this message 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,240 would inspire and encourage you, build your faith and point you 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:14,800 to the life changing love of Jesus. 5 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,640 May you enjoy the goodness of God as you follow Him today. 6 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:21,560 We begin with. We're continuing our journey 7 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:23,680 towards Easter. We've been looking. 8 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,080 We started in the garden, but we begin, like we do each week, 9 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:28,720 with our confession and our confession. 10 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,880 We say together as His churches that we are badly broken. 11 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:35,360 Yes, you are. Grace and peace to you. 12 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,400 Our story and our journey. The Easter began in the Garden 13 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,680 of Eden where we saw a world in chaos, a world in disorder, 14 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,200 which says it was formless and it was void. 15 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,440 And the first thing that we see God doing in that is bringing 16 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:51,480 structure. He forms and He. 17 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:54,200 Fills and what we find is that God in that space. 18 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:58,280 Is creating a home. He's creating a place where he 19 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,880 and we can dwell together. That's always been God's desire 20 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,000 to be with us. When we say that God is love, 21 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,680 that's what it means that our God desires to be with us. 22 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,280 And in order for the for the home to be what it is, he 23 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:16,160 created the garden as a partnership. 24 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,360 God and his sovereignty in his infinite, unlimited power and 25 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,960 authority, His ability to do whatever he wanted to do. 26 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,920 And he gave to us a measure of that authority. 27 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,000 So we have God's authority. He created something from 28 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,920 nothing. He brought order out of the 29 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,640 chaos and he gave us the authority. 30 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,560 Then he created a garden and he said be fruitful and multiply. 31 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,360 Now take the order that you've seen in this garden and expand 32 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,520 it to fill the earth. And so that system, what God 33 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,120 created was good. Over and over we see in Genesis 34 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,120 1, and God's telling that story is it was good. 35 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,920 There was order and it was good, and it was good and it was good. 36 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,680 That system of partnership, God's omnipotence, God's all 37 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,440 powerfulness, and our limited authority, our limited ability 38 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:08,520 to move in that a partnership is good. 39 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:10,960 It's how the world is supposed to work. 40 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,000 But into that garden, a serpent whispered. 41 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,720 Did God really say he said. And what he called into question 42 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:21,600 in our hearts, in mankind's heart, was the. 43 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,600 Character of God. What he caused us to question 44 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,640 was, is God's holiness really for your benefit? 45 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:33,800 Can you really trust a God that would put limits on what you can 46 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,120 do? And we see an E when we see she 47 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,120 reads for the fruit and the fruit gets the bad name right. 48 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:41,880 And fruit is delicious and it's healthy for your body. 49 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,000 But that specific fruit, the fruit of the tree of the 50 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,640 knowledge of good and evil. See up until that point, we had 51 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:54,840 seen everything is good. But what Adam and Eve said, we 52 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,240 want the ability to decide for ourselves. 53 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:03,480 We want to know for sure. And so in our distrust of God's 54 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,840 holiness, we grasp that sovereignty. 55 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,800 We didn't want to just experience the goodness of God. 56 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,440 We wanted to define what was good. 57 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,400 And that's been haunting US ever since. 58 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:21,160 And we've looked at all kinds of examples from our life work and 59 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,440 our sexuality and sex itself and money and our identity and all 60 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:30,560 of these things we desire to redefine as good for our own 61 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,560 self. We want to say what good is. 62 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,160 And what happened is when we distrusted God's holiness, when 63 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,840 we distrusted God's character, we backed out of the garden. 64 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:42,520 God sent us. He said, listen in. 65 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,600 His mercy says you can't eat from the tree of life because 66 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:47,960 then you'll live forever in this separated state. 67 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,160 So the separation that had already been born in Adam and 68 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,880 Eve's heart took physical shape as Adam and Eve walked out of 69 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,520 the garden and a gate was closed behind them. 70 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,120 And since then, mankind has lived, exiled from the presence 71 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,960 of God in the wilderness. But our God and his love and in 72 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,480 His Holiness wasn't content for us to be alone and separated. 73 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,279 So what God did is pursue us out into the wilderness. 74 00:04:16,399 --> 00:04:19,160 And we see this over and over and over again throughout the 75 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:21,399 biblical story. This is that what we've called 76 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:24,160 throughout the series, God's fatherly impulse. 77 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,600 Our God absolutely cannot stand to be away from us. 78 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:30,840 Go out into the wilderness. He chased us. 79 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:32,200 He came and followed us out there. 80 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,320 And he said, I want you to build a space where I can dwell with 81 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,040 you. And he called it the Tabernacle. 82 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,160 And he gave meticulous instructions for how to build 83 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,120 this space. How do we bring God's holiness 84 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:51,160 and our fallenness together into the same space and the 85 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:55,000 Tabernacle in the wilderness? Once Israel became the Hebrew 86 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,680 people, came, established in the nation, it became a temple right 87 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,000 in the center, in the very heart of their nation. 88 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,240 And right in the center of that temple, God dwelt with his 89 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,240 people just like He'd always wanted to do. 90 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,760 But what we saw last week is that same distrust that crept 91 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:15,960 into the garden, that same distrust that made us look at 92 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,400 God as his limited authority and say, God, I'm not sure that I 93 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,040 can believe you and I can trust you. 94 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,560 It crept into the temple as well. 95 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,680 What began in this holiness, this holy space and the presence 96 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,160 of God as a cloud that filled the space so tangibly that the 97 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:35,520 priests were literally knocked off their feet over time over 98 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,320 familiarity with the sacrifices, over familiarity with the space, 99 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:40,800 the people of Israel and the priest. 100 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,080 They face the same problems they did in the garden. 101 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,240 The atonement that came, the atonement, the holiness that God 102 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,360 had provided, became familiar to them. 103 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:55,400 And when it became familiar, they began to leverage for their 104 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:57,880 own resources. They'd say, why would we need to 105 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,280 obey God? Why would we need to walk in 106 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:02,080 holiness? Why would we need to submit our 107 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,040 job and our finances and and our desires? 108 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:08,200 Why would we need to submit those things to God when we can 109 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,560 just do whatever we want and then just go to the temple and 110 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,240 offer the sacrifice and everything will be fine? 111 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,720 That's what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls cheap grace. 112 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,120 It's grace that costs us nothing. 113 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,760 And so the last thing that we saw last week was this picture 114 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:26,960 of the temple where God's presence dwelt so fully that it 115 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,360 knocked people off their feet. And we saw it ascending out of 116 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:34,040 the temple. And for 600 years after that 117 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:36,640 spirit ascended, a rebuilding of the temple. 118 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:41,400 For 600 years, the sacrifices went on, the ritual went on, it 119 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:46,440 was destroyed and rebuilt again. For 600 years, the everything 120 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:52,400 continued, accept the Spirit, and nobody noticed. 121 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,680 So the question that's left hanging with us is the same 122 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,960 question that Israel was supposed to answer. 123 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,520 How is it? How do we who are desirous to 124 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,080 inhabit holy space? The reason that you're here this 125 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,800 morning is because we believe somehow in some way or someone 126 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,600 who invited you here believes that somehow in some way, it's 127 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:19,440 possible to have an experience with that kind of holiness. 128 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:23,080 The question that all of us since since we walked out of 129 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,920 that garden, the question for all of us is how do you live 130 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:31,360 near to a holy God without losing the awe? 131 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:38,320 How is it possible to have a present temple where the 132 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:43,000 presence of the living God dwells and to become so familiar 133 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,480 and comfortable? With it that you don't even know 134 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,720 when it leaves. I remember the first time that I 135 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:54,080 had a sense of the presence of God not listen. 136 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,400 I grew up in churches. My grandfather was a pastor like 137 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,760 I I was around all of the things like I did all of the things, 138 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:03,240 but I remember that there was a moment where I knew God is not 139 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,400 just a good idea, but God is real and God is not just real 140 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,080 out there, but God is real in here. 141 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,200 It knocked me off my I was laying down, but it knocked me 142 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,600 over. It changed my entire life is 143 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:20,000 marked as before. And after that moment, and it 144 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,120 wasn't loud and flashy. There were no trumpets. 145 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:25,320 There were other people in the house that didn't even know that 146 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,360 it was happening. It wasn't loud and boisterous. 147 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:30,760 It wasn't extravagant. And it was wasn't. 148 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,240 And it wasn't like all of a sudden all this information 149 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,000 flooded into my head and I knew all of the things. 150 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,320 It was quiet. It was deep. 151 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:45,640 It was real. There were a million things in 152 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,600 that moment that I didn't know about God, about Jesus, about 153 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:52,560 what? But what I did know is nothing 154 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:56,320 will ever be the same. And so my guess. 155 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,520 Is that many of you in here are sitting and like, well, of 156 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,120 course, like you're a pastor, Like you're like, you have to do 157 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:02,640 that. That's how it goes. 158 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:10,280 That was a long time ago, that moment, and I've had moments 159 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,280 since then again where the Spirit of God with the presence 160 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:17,320 of God seems real and tangible. But I do want to tell you often 161 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:23,880 it doesn't feel like that. Sometimes, even now, doesn't 162 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,520 feel like anything. Maybe you've had that 163 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,000 experience. You come here to church because 164 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:31,400 at one point in your life, church was alive. 165 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,240 Church was a place where you could go and you could know that 166 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,400 you were going to have an encounter of some kind. 167 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:40,920 You were going to meet something that was bigger than you. 168 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:43,200 You wanted a sense of that transcendent. 169 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:46,120 But now it's kind of just a place that you go. 170 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:51,120 Now church is kind of just a crowded room with pretty 171 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,600 uncomfortable chairs, but you remember. 172 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:57,760 So you keep coming back, and maybe it's just duty and 173 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,520 obligation and just a ritual that brings you back. 174 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,280 You do it because you've always done it or because Mom did or 175 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,760 because Grandpa did it. Maybe you used to open the 176 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,880 scripture and the scripture would just jump off the page at 177 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:10,880 you. It's like you could have 178 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,440 sometimes said about my wife, Like my wife could just drop her 179 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:15,640 Bible in the hallway and she gets a word from the Lord, 180 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:17,080 right? Like like she hears what's 181 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:18,920 what's going on. And maybe the scripture used to 182 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,800 be like that, but now it's just letters on a page and you read 183 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:26,440 it, thank God you want it to be real, like you wanted to speak 184 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:28,040 to you again, like it used to do that. 185 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,320 And we just come back again and back again and back again and 186 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:32,480 rope it. And you keep the ritual. 187 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:34,480 You keep the same. Maybe you wake up in the morning 188 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:36,920 and you do your quiet time and you read it, or you have your 189 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,160 devotional thing. And that's the question in your 190 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:43,280 mind is, did Jesus die so I could get up 30 minutes earlier 191 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,760 every morning and read a book that hasn't moved me in years. 192 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,600 Maybe we just do it because we feel like we're supposed to do 193 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:55,960 it. Maybe communion is one of those 194 00:10:55,960 --> 00:11:00,400 things. You read the words we hear that, 195 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:04,280 you know, when Jesus instituted it said do this in remembrance 196 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:05,400 of me. And you say what? 197 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:10,640 What am I remembering? It's mostly just stale bread and 198 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,880 kind of weird cracker and juice and cellophane for some reason. 199 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,560 Am I the only one? Maybe you used to worship and 200 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:24,480 you would come to worship and before a word was. 201 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,600 Said as soon as the music to your heart would start pounding 202 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,640 and beating and you just knew the Lord was present in your 203 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,240 worship and you would sing because you couldn't help but 204 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:35,240 singing. And or I grew up Baptist and so 205 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,880 right, any time that my hands came out of my pockets, I was 206 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:39,600 worried that I was getting charismatic right? 207 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:41,880 Like I was going to be a Pentecostal if I, I kind of, I 208 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:44,400 did that. But I've had moments in worship 209 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,360 where it's just like my eyes are closed and my hands are up and 210 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,960 I'm, and I'm just like, they're all laughing at you and you just 211 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,680 go. I don't even care because I just 212 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,160 because I know I can sense the presence of the Lord and 213 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,920 sometimes there's emotion and there's tears and it moves me 214 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:04,880 and sometimes I'm just. Mouthing the words and thinking 215 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:11,800 about lunch. How do we get so familiar with 216 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,840 holiness that it just becomes routine? 217 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:18,240 Well, the thing I want to say is like in a room like this, 218 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,000 there's people in all different places and maybe you're here and 219 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,560 you're like, and I want to say especially like if you've just 220 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:26,600 recently started following Jesus or if you've just recently had 221 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:29,520 kind of a conversion moment of coming back to the Jesus moment, 222 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:31,680 I think that the Father by his Spirit and his. 223 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:35,840 Grace often gives us big feelings and big experiences as 224 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,840 confirmation to remind us this is real, like this is a truth. 225 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,120 But eventually, over time, I believe that as we do that, 226 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:44,720 sometimes the feelings will diminish. 227 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,280 Or maybe they'll change and maybe we are left wondering 228 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:49,720 what's you know, what's that about? 229 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,480 The first thing I want to say is when you have an experience like 230 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,400 that, it is a gift from the Lord and you shouldn't take it 231 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:57,360 lightly. We should be grateful for that 232 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,600 every time. If you find yourself moved to 233 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,040 worship, thank you Lord, that you are reminding me how real 234 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:06,960 you are, not just out there somewhere, but in this face. 235 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:10,760 Thank You that when I sing to you, you respond to me. 236 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,680 And thank you for that. It is a gift that we should 237 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:16,000 cherish and treasure and thank God. 238 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:20,000 For. But those Amen is right. 239 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:21,680 Yes, that's valuable. That's right. 240 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:25,040 And that's good. But if I gave you a map to my 241 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,320 house and I wrote it out and draw lines on it and I gave it 242 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:30,840 to you and you said, Oh my God, thank you, I'm going to cherish 243 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,640 this forever and you put it in your pocket and went back to 244 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,240 your house, that's not the point. 245 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:41,760 Having the map is not the point. The map is a way to get to 246 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:44,360 another place. That is the. 247 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:49,920 Point and so maybe listen and I believe that the Lord moves our 248 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:51,840 hearts. I believe he wants us to 249 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,560 experience him. I believe that he wants us to 250 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:59,640 know him, but like the map is not the same thing as the place 251 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:03,480 that it points to. Our feelings aren't the point. 252 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:08,320 Jesus didn't die so that your heart would be moved in a 253 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:12,480 crowded room. That's a great benefit. 254 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,600 It's the same way with the temple and with the Tabernacle 255 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:22,080 that we've been studying. God gave Moses instructions, 256 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:26,840 obsessive and for 16 chapters in the book. 257 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,600 Of exodus, he told Moses to tell the people what kind of. 258 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:34,240 Wood to use. What kind of overlay, what the 259 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:37,640 stitching, what the inseam would be, how tall it would be, how 260 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:39,360 long it would be, what the poles were like. 261 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,440 God gave specific instructions, instructions to build the 262 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:47,160 Tabernacle and the temple, but the point of it always was to 263 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:52,160 point to something else, to point beyond it, to remind them 264 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,440 where they had come from and where God was calling them back 265 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,520 to. But instead, along the way, the 266 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:02,760 temple became the point. The temple became the thing that 267 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,640 the people of Israel put their hope in. 268 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:12,240 And we often, and by we I mean me and maybe you also, we trade 269 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,160 the presence of God for the pathway. 270 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:23,040 We have traded away what is real and what is deep for the 271 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:28,280 journey. But just like the temple, these 272 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,360 practices, these experiences can call us back. 273 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,680 That's the idea behind the Temple the whole time. 274 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:37,600 That's what Casey read in the book of Hebrews. 275 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,240 Now the book of Hebrews is a New Testament letter to. 276 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,080 The Hebrews and the Hebrew people when he's writing to this 277 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,320 letter to the Hebrews, they would have understood the 278 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:49,680 temple. These are people that were 279 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,240 steeped in the temple. They knew the law. 280 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,280 They knew what it was all about, but they had been familiar. 281 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,440 These were the people who had forgotten, who hadn't realized 282 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:01,720 that the Spirit had left. And So what the writer is doing 283 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:03,640 is reminding them from where they come. 284 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,640 Hebrews Chapter 9, verse one. Now the first covenant also had 285 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:10,440 regulations. The first covenant is the law. 286 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,160 That's what Moses got when he went up on Sinai and God gave 287 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:16,360 him the tablets, right? That said, you'll have no other 288 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,760 God before me. Honor your father and mother, 289 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,400 don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't covet your 290 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:23,800 neighbor's wife or his donkey, right? 291 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:27,240 And so that was the law, but it was also how to treat the 292 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:30,400 foreigner, how to treat your neighbor, how to conduct 293 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,960 business, all of these things about how to become the people 294 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:35,800 of God. That's the first. 295 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,120 Covenant. So it says the first covenant 296 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:41,240 had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary. 297 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:43,640 It was about the sacrifices, how to make atonement. 298 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:49,400 Verse 2 for a Tabernacle was set up and in the first room which 299 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,320 is called the holy place, where the lamp stand, the table and 300 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,600 the presentation loads. Inside the temple were rooms and 301 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,280 the rooms had stuff. In them these things he goes on. 302 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,640 Behind the second curtain was a tent called the Most Holy Place, 303 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:07,160 sometimes heard it called the Holy of Holies. 304 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,640 It had a gold altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant 305 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,359 covered with gold on all sides and which was a gold jar 306 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:16,960 containing the manna. So this is what's inside that 307 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:21,160 ark, Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the Covenant. 308 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,000 What's interesting in this ark is there was the tablets of 309 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,359 stone that Moses had received that had been carved by God that 310 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:30,000 had the law on them. The cherubim of glory were above 311 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,120 the ark overshadowing the mercy seat. 312 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,200 It is not possible to speak about these things in detail 313 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:37,480 right now. The reason it's not possible to 314 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:39,680 speak in detail about these things for the author is because 315 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,760 they were already spoken about in Exodus for 16 chapter. 316 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:44,800 And he's not going to like they didn't have cut and paste. 317 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,880 He's not going to transcribe all of that here, right? 318 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,720 But the idea. Here is what he's saying is this 319 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,360 passage. These 5 verses are basically 320 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:59,520 Exodus chapter 25 through 40. This is 16 chapter distilled 321 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:03,400 down into his description of the temple and what was inside of 322 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,240 that and the story of the temple begins in the outer courts and I 323 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:08,400 had. ChatGPT draw a picture. 324 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,640 This is not an actual photograph taken. 325 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,320 These are outside. You'll notice that this is the 326 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:23,960 courts and it's open right there, but you can see down down 327 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:25,240 the hallway. This is there would have been 328 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:26,680 people gathering. There would have been 329 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:31,440 conversation going on here this. Is this The temple was a center 330 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:35,480 and a hub of the community. Everybody wanted to go to the 331 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:36,840 temple. When they would come back for 332 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,800 the feast, they would go to the temple and they would gather 333 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:41,480 there. And what you see is up on this 334 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:43,960 raised stand would have been two things. 335 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:46,760 And again, this is all outside people walking in the courts. 336 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:48,880 They could have seen it. They would heard it, they would 337 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:51,200 have known what was going on. There were two pieces of 338 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,520 furniture here. There was 1 was the altar of 339 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:58,000 sacrifice and one was the bronze basin and it was filled with the 340 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,120 altar. So the idea is we walk through 341 00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:02,800 the through this the temple today and as we see it, what 342 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,680 we're going to see is these spaces, what they meant and what 343 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,960 they represented and what they looked like right what they were 344 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:12,160 for this outside gathering this outer court with the altar and 345 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:14,000 with the basin. This is a picture of what 346 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,200 closeness to God costs. This is that are people that are 347 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,800 outside and as they want to move into the presence of God that 348 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,600 resided in the holy of Holies, they had to stop here first. 349 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,920 They had to pass by this and this is a picture of what what 350 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:31,760 it looks like before you get the presence, you have to have the 351 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,160 altar and the basin. And the big idea in this outside 352 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:39,720 temple here is that no one gets to come home without sacrifice. 353 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:46,160 No one gets to barge into the presence of. 354 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:51,800 Holiness, it is costly. And you know, we have at 355 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:53,840 Christmas time, right? Like we have this tendency 356 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:56,280 inside of us to want to sanitize things, to make them palatable, 357 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:57,040 right? Like we sing. 358 00:19:57,120 --> 00:19:58,240 What do we sing in Christmas, right? 359 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:01,960 Silent night, Holy night. Listen, I've been around at 360 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,360 least three births. There's nothing silent about 361 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:06,160 them. I don't know who wrote that 362 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,120 song, but he had clearly never actually been in a birthing 363 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:11,640 room, right? We want to make it palatable so 364 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:13,840 then we can experience. We look at the altar and they 365 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,200 go, oh, yes, this is where the sacrifice of atonement would 366 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:17,760 make. I want you to think that since 367 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,760 the covenant was handed down to Moses, for thousands of years, 368 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,920 animals had been had given their lives on this altar. 369 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,960 It would have been caked with centuries and millennia of 370 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,200 blood. The stench of death would have 371 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:36,840 been almost unbearable. And it is hard for you to 372 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:41,800 overestimate the visual sight of the gore that was happening on 373 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:43,960 this altar it. Was. 374 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:50,760 Vile. And it was a picture of the 375 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:55,720 death that was required, the death in us to enter into the 376 00:20:55,720 --> 00:21:00,320 holy space. It has to be blood. 377 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:03,040 But it doesn't leave us in the gore. 378 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:04,560 And I know this is so hard, right? 379 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:06,440 Like, like, why would God do this? 380 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:09,000 Well, listen, part of the reason that we do this is because when 381 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,200 we read in Genesis 1 and 2 about the presence of God with 382 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:13,960 mankind, and it's all good, right? 383 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,640 And then we read about Genesis 3 where sin enters the human story 384 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:19,160 and mankind goes right out of that. 385 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,880 Right? After that, we read about Cain, 386 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,560 who kills Abel. See, the vile and the gore 387 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:26,120 doesn't begin in the heart of God. 388 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:27,680 It begins in the heart of mankind. 389 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,200 The picture on the altar is a picture of what we have to lay 390 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,040 down. It's a picture of what it costs 391 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,440 us. Something in us, the wilderness 392 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,680 in US, has to be put to death. We can't bring that into the 393 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:42,880 presence of holiness. Exile and holiness don't enter 394 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,200 together. So we have this sacrifice where 395 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,440 this part, the parts of us that keep us from God, are put down 396 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,480 and put to death. And from that, from the blood 397 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,120 and the mess and the gore, we move to the cleansing place 398 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:58,200 where we are washed away. We leave the gore behind us. 399 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:01,080 This is a picture of cleansing. This is the Brown Basin. 400 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:03,880 Filled with water. Water where the priest would 401 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:11,960 have offered the sacrifice and then cleansed blood and water, 402 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:20,200 sacrifice and purity. This is a picture of confession 403 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:27,520 where we come before God and we say we are badly broken, and 404 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,600 this is a picture of the brokenness. 405 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:36,800 We confess that when we stand at the threshold of holy space, we 406 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,560 bring wilderness with us. We bring the fear and the 407 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,920 anxiety and the anger and the distrust and all that distrust 408 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:46,120 of holiness. We bring it with us. 409 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,760 See, this part isn't about God. This part is about us. 410 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,800 And confession is telling the truth. 411 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:56,600 When we get together each week and we say we're badly broken, I 412 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:58,400 want to know. I understand that some of you 413 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,920 don't feel badly broken in that moment. 414 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:04,400 You don't feel? Sometimes, like you need to have 415 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,880 forgiveness. But if we look around and we 416 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,400 look closely and we look with honesty and integrity, there's a 417 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,520 wake of brokenness all around us. 418 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,680 So when we come to the table and we come to the altar, when we 419 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:19,640 bring our sacrifice and we set it down on the altar before the 420 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,000 priest. What we're saying is, Lord, we 421 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,080 want the broken. Parts put to death, we. 422 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,600 Want the broken parts taken away? 423 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,840 We want as much of wilderness as can be scraped off the bottom of 424 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:34,960 our shoes. We want it removed. 425 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:40,240 It's a picture of our heart longing for a reality beyond 426 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:46,960 brokenness when we come and when we acknowledge that standing 427 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,960 before the altar before God and saying, Lord, my identity is 428 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:55,160 shaped by who approves of me. And Lord, I'm willing to 429 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,720 compromise all kinds of things to make people like me, to make 430 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,240 people believe in me. Lord, I am more concerned about 431 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,640 having other people approve of me then you are. 432 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,840 That is a sacrifice. That is confession, the 433 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,200 acknowledgement that I will compromise my integrity for a 434 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:19,080 paycheck. I will compromise my integrity 435 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:21,840 for someone to tell me that they love me and. 436 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,760 When we come to the. Sacrifice. 437 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:28,560 When we come to the altar, the we want to approach holiness. 438 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,640 What we're saying is, Lord, I want you to kill that in me, and 439 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:35,200 I want you to put it to death, and I want you to wash all of 440 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,120 it. And I have to say this now as a 441 00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:39,760 pastor, it would be pastoral malpractice if I didn't say 442 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,120 that. But when we walk away from these 443 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:43,560 identity markers, are you listening? 444 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,120 This is important. When we walk away from those 445 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:49,760 things that have defined our identity, things like sex, 446 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:55,040 things like money, things like work, things like fear. 447 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,800 When we walk away from those things, it feels like death. 448 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,840 I was in my mid 20s when I walked away from the baseball 449 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:07,480 field at college for the last time In the next 10 years of my 450 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,760 life can't be described as anything other than chasing 451 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:15,600 death like it was my job. I didn't know who I was. 452 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:20,400 I didn't know what to find me. And before I could walk in 453 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,080 freedom, before I can walk in freedom, I have to be willing to 454 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,440 put those things down. And the reality is, it is death. 455 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,360 You are dying to the things that have marked you and have 456 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:33,840 identified, but what you're doing is you're setting down the 457 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:40,480 things in in blue of Him. You're choosing what He gives 458 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,400 you instead of what you can give yourself. 459 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,000 That's what repentance is. When you say I'll no longer let 460 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:51,440 myself be defined by that, whatever it means by my job, 461 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,320 whatever that means by my income, whatever that means, 462 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:58,360 I'll no longer be defined by those things. 463 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:01,440 We're putting that to death. Maybe today is the first time 464 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,200 that you've ever had that sense where you just go, Oh my gosh, I 465 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,120 don't need to just feel vaguely bad about this part of that or 466 00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:10,240 that part, but I need to have it removed like surgically, like I 467 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,600 need it gone from my life. If you do, let me just say that 468 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,240 is the only place where this journey can start. 469 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,680 We don't get the bulldoze into the holy of Holies. 470 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,720 It only begins begins at the altar and it only begins with 471 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,200 sacrifice, and it only is followed up with the cleansing. 472 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,360 If that's you today. The good news is it's available. 473 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,040 You can have it. And the other good news is it 474 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:37,880 doesn't stop there from the outer courts and with the crowd 475 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,400 and the conversation, all those things going on, you would pass 476 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,760 through a curtain and you would pass into what is the holy 477 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:45,680 place. This is another space. 478 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,880 The Holy Place reminds us that we were created to dwell with 479 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,120 God. So we can put the picture back 480 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:56,600 up and we see where the courtyard was loud and busy and 481 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:59,040 there were crowds inside the holy place. 482 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,280 It was quieter, it was more intimate. 483 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,240 The vibe is more living. Room. 484 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,600 And the idea is, it's a room already prepared for you. 485 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,520 You have to bring your, you have to bring your sacrifice to the 486 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:16,880 altar. But once you leave your 487 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,520 sacrifice and you walk into the holy place, the table's already 488 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,320 set. And there was this table with 489 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:25,720 the bread, and there was this candle, the table of the bread, 490 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:27,400 of the presents. And there was this candle. 491 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,600 Think soft light, not fluorescent overheads, even if 492 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:31,920 they'd had fluorescent. Overheads. 493 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,680 It would have still been candlelight. 494 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:37,360 That's not in the text. I just made that up. 495 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,760 But the lamp that was already burning, the bread that was 496 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,200 already baked, it's a picture of Eden. 497 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,520 God placed mankind in a garden already in bloom. 498 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,280 It is not our responsibility or Our Calling to provide for 499 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,960 ourselves by any means necessary. 500 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,520 The bread already baked here in the wilderness. 501 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:03,440 God setting a table for his people. 502 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:06,560 He's always done His best work around tables. 503 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,680 He's always done his best work over a meal, and one of the 504 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:15,440 coolest pieces, I think, was this altar of incense and 505 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:17,720 incense in the scriptures. Representative prayers. 506 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:19,000 It's the prayers of God's people. 507 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,960 Now behind this curtain was the holy of Holies, but before the, 508 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:25,520 but before the curtain, in front of that, before the holy of 509 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,640 Holies, was this incense. When we sing this, so we sing 510 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:30,160 the song worthy of it all, there's this. 511 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,040 Free the refrain, The bridge says day and night, night and 512 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:35,040 day. Let incense arise. 513 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:36,880 We read, we'll sing about incense before. 514 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:40,680 Incense is prayer, and so it's. And what's crazy, and this is 515 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,840 what's beautiful about this is, and again, this is a picture of 516 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:46,400 the movement, what's crazy about this is our prayers don't begin 517 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:50,520 in the holy presence of God. Our prayers begin when we're 518 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,080 surrounded by provision, when we are well cared for, when we 519 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,760 acknowledge and recognize God's presence. 520 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:02,200 That's when our prayers go up. This is what the presence of 521 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,800 holiness actually looks like. Not in our fears and not in our 522 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,680 anxieties. The space that holiness creates. 523 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,360 It's not loud, it's not dramatic, it's not scary. 524 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:22,560 It's warm, it's a meal, it is soft light, it is a sweet aroma 525 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:27,680 so that all of our senses are engaged friends. 526 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:32,880 This is what intimacy with holiness is like when the Father 527 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:37,120 calls you to set down your the idolatry of your work, or the 528 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,840 idolatry of your sexuality, or the idolatry of your income, or 529 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,800 the idolatry of your house, or the idolatry of your reputation. 530 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:46,800 This is what he's inviting you into. 531 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:49,320 He's inviting. Inviting you away from the noise 532 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:52,760 and the struggle and the blood and the gore of a world hell 533 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,840 bent on destruction for itself. Inviting to a place where the 534 00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:00,440 table's already set. The holy place was as far as 535 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:04,840 most people in Israel got to the actual presence of God. 536 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,200 They could come in here into this place. 537 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,560 And that's telling because this is as far as the temple system 538 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:16,680 could take them. Most ordinary people, The temple 539 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:20,600 system couldn't actually get most people into the presence of 540 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:22,360 God. Now don't get me wrong, this is 541 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,800 good. This is so good, the presence of 542 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:26,560 God, that reminder that it is so good. 543 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,440 But it's not all the way home. And Jesus didn't call us to lean 544 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,240 on the gate of Eden trying to jump and get a view. 545 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,760 He wants us inside. He wants to bring us back. 546 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:38,920 And that presence, Eden, the place. 547 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,640 Where he was, that's the most holy place, what we call the 548 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,840 Holy of Holies. Behind the altar of incense, 549 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,240 where the prayer was, there was another curtain, there was 550 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:53,440 another veil. And that veil was what separated 551 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,840 the people of Israel from the unmitigated presence of God's 552 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,640 holiness. And that temple kept every 553 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:07,760 single person out except one man, one time a year, hands 554 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:14,120 drenched in blood. Story of the Temple is the story 555 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:19,720 of the most holy place is both presence and distance. 556 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,320 You can almost get there. You can get close enough to feel 557 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:30,080 it if you hold your hands just right and if you sing the right 558 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:34,800 song, you can almost get there. If you meditate on the 559 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,880 scripture, you can. You can almost get there if you 560 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:43,160 submit, you can almost get there as you practice these things. 561 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:47,880 But it's always at a distance. It's always behind the veil. 562 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:52,640 This is the Garden and the gate, and inside the Most Holy Place 563 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:54,760 was a simple room with simple furnishings. 564 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,800 It was the Ark of the Covenant, and inside the Covenant were 565 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,040 these reminders of their journey through the wilderness. 566 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:01,360 There was. Aaron's staff. 567 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:03,880 That had butted It's a story of God's provision in his presence. 568 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,360 There was a manna, God's provision for them in the 569 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:07,680 wilderness that they couldn't provide. 570 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,240 But what's most interesting was the tablets of stone, the 571 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,040 tablets of the covenant. All of the rules that Israel had 572 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:14,880 been breaking were inside this box. 573 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,480 They're in the most holy place and all of the covenant that 574 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,080 they had, Israel had never been able to to withhold, never been 575 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,240 able to upkeep it right there in the presence of God, right there 576 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,120 for God to look at. But on top of this, that's kind 577 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,120 of cruel. You're like, man, that's I 578 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,280 wouldn't. Do that, but on top of the ark 579 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,520 of the Covenant was a, a golden lid that was called the mercy 580 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:35,960 seat, right? And there are these two 581 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:39,120 cherubim, these two angels, and they're out and their wings are 582 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,280 outstretched. And God's presence dwelt on the 583 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,640 holy seat, on the mercy seat. God's presence was there above 584 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:47,960 the ark and he could look down. But here's the good news. 585 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,080 Listen, check this out once a year. 586 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,120 The priest, the high priest would bring him with blood. 587 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:54,920 Then he would sprinkle blood on the holy seat. 588 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,000 Get this? So now you've got the broken 589 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,360 covenant underneath all of the sins and all the laws that we 590 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,360 haven't kept, all of our attempts to be righteousness, we 591 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,120 can't do it. We can't get there. 592 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,520 And God is above. And when he looks down on the 593 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,560 broken covenant, you know what he sees? 594 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,480 Atonement. The blood on the mercy seat, 595 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:17,240 sacrifice has been made. I look at atonement. 596 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,160 I look at brokenness. Through the blood. 597 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,360 It's a beautiful story. It's a beautiful picture. 598 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:29,520 God looks down at the brokenness and he sees forgiveness. 599 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,080 See that veil that kept people out of the Holy of Holies? 600 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:34,320 That wasn't. Cruelty. 601 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,600 That's not the God giving us the silent. 602 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,840 Treatment and standing. Far away, that is a God who is 603 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:43,440 inhabiting a temple that was meant to show us the reality of 604 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,680 wilderness and the reality of the invitation. 605 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:56,240 The story of the temple is almost home, almost there, but 606 00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:01,560 it couldn't get you there, not yet, not like this, not with the 607 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:06,240 priesthood and the blood and the goats and the gore and the basin 608 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:07,480 and all that. It could get you through the 609 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:09,679 sacrifice. It could get you into the Most 610 00:34:09,679 --> 00:34:12,360 Holy put into the Holy place, but it couldn't get you all the 611 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:13,480 way there. See, that's what it says in 612 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:18,000 verse 8. The Holy Spirit was making it 613 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,520 clear that the way into the mold holy place had not yet didn't 614 00:34:22,639 --> 00:34:25,960 been disclosed while the first Tabernacle was still standing. 615 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,280 What that means is that it still had every year a guy had to go 616 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:30,560 in. Every year he had to make 617 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:34,440 atonement, Every year sin. Keeps piling up every year. 618 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,280 Sacrifice basin. You could go back every day and 619 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,239 offer your sacrifice and it never works. 620 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:42,280 Have you ever felt like that? Why am I doing this again? 621 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:45,679 How did I end up here again? How does this keep happening to 622 00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:48,000 me again? I read my Bible, I put the money 623 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:49,760 in the offering place. I keep doing the things. 624 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,639 I'm doing the work. Lord over and over and over 625 00:34:53,639 --> 00:34:55,360 again. And the Holy Spirit was showing 626 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:58,880 that structure. Can't do it. 627 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:05,080 See, God didn't want access to one guy one time a year. 628 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:10,280 God didn't want one guy with a funny robe to enter in and just 629 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:12,480 tell everybody else about what he did. 630 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:17,320 The temple was. God's concession. 631 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:22,360 It's what the love of holiness is willing to concede in order 632 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,240 to have presence. It's a concession made to sin. 633 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:31,200 It's a concession it is costly. But his desire is that all 634 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:34,640 people would dwell with him. His desires at the Holy place 635 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:39,040 would be open to everyone. Everyone would be able to 636 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:44,280 experience him. And so each time a sacrifice was 637 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:48,800 alt was offered, each time the blood was sprinkled, the story 638 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,680 of the temple was this isn't the final answer. 639 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,080 There's something more that's needed. 640 00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:00,920 There's something, someone more that's needed. 641 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:05,840 This temple is a map that keeps pushing us forward. 642 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,760 Listen, the temple can't get it done. 643 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:15,400 If your hope for the end of the world, our kind of end time, the 644 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,120 eschatology tells us that there has to be another temple 645 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,880 rebuilt. Why the temple didn't work the 646 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,400 first time? It was a picture, it was a 647 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,680 painting, but it never finished the story. 648 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:29,240 It never completed the job. It never actually got it done. 649 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:33,000 It was a reminder of the exile. It was a reminder of wilderness. 650 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,640 It was a reminder that we're still outside in exile and God 651 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:38,880 is still there and we can get kind of close. 652 00:36:39,240 --> 00:36:42,960 But verse 11, the writer says this, but Christ has appeared as 653 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:46,160 a high priest of the good things that have come, and the greater 654 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,920 and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands. 655 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,400 He's talking about eternity. He's talking about the presence 656 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:56,640 of God in heaven. He entered the most holy place 657 00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:00,240 once and for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but 658 00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:04,600 by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 659 00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:08,920 It was never about the sacrifices. 660 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:13,680 Psalm 50 tells us I own the cattle on 1000 hills you're 661 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:15,880 going to bring me. One like oh thanks I lost that 662 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:18,760 one. It was never. 663 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:25,400 About the sacrifices, It's about holiness, It's about him. 664 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,240 It's Father, through architecture, teaching us about 665 00:37:30,240 --> 00:37:34,680 the journey from the wilderness and exile back into the presence 666 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:40,400 of God. It's about preparing people, us, 667 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:46,000 His people, to understand the reality of distance, to 668 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:51,480 understand the contamination of exile on our bones, how we get 669 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:56,560 familiar with holiness. It's to show us what it costs to 670 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:01,560 approach the Almighty and what a gift it is to dwell in that 671 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:08,560 presence. It's about Jesus, and Jesus sat 672 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,680 at the table with his friends that night and he said this cup 673 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:18,120 is the new covenant in my blood. He's talking about the cross. 674 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,080 We don't need a new altar on a table in Jerusalem. 675 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:25,600 Jesus didn't drag a bull up to the cross. 676 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:31,440 He went himself. Jesus is both the priest and the 677 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:35,160 sacrifice. Jesus is the one who offers the 678 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:38,520 sacrifice, and he is the sacrifice. 679 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:42,960 There's no atonement through ritual. 680 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,880 There's no atonement through ceremony. 681 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:52,400 There's just the sacrifice. This is why we insist there. 682 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:56,520 If we say Jesus was just the guy that Jesus had sin, If Jesus is 683 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,440 just a sin, he's got he needs the altar too. 684 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:01,120 He's got to go through the temple. 685 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:04,880 Jesus's sinlessness is the reason that he was he was able 686 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:06,440 to make the sacrifice in the 1st place. 687 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:08,960 This is why we insist on the virgin birth. 688 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:14,200 If if Joseph was Mary's dad, then Jesus just has the same 689 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:17,760 broken fallen genes that we do. We don't believe that we I 690 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:20,520 believe that He was fully God and fully man. 691 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,760 He's able to represent us before the Almighty and He's able to 692 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,800 forgive us for the sins that we committed against Him. 693 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:32,360 That's why your unforgiveness against your neighbor is unfit 694 00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:36,360 for the Kingdom. The God who has no beef with you 695 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:41,000 gave his life. For you, and we've been in power 696 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,680 struggles for all of eternity, and we're holding grudges 697 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,240 against people and insisting that they don't hold them 698 00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:52,000 against us. Jesus didn't just cleanse a 699 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:55,400 building one time a year. Jesus cleanses his people. 700 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:00,320 He changes our hearts as we follow him. 701 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,280 We say all the time that Jesus is what God has been saying. 702 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:06,160 You want to know how to read the Old Testament? 703 00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:07,760 You read it in the light of Jesus. 704 00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:11,040 You read Jesus the old. Jesus clarifies the Old 705 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:13,520 Testament, right? So what is Jesus been saying? 706 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:15,520 What is God saying through Jesus? 707 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:17,160 He's saying are you listening? He. 708 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:22,480 He's saying my Holiness can be trusted when he asks you to give 709 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,480 up your identity of yourself, when he asks you to work less so 710 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:28,600 you can be home more to raise your children. 711 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:34,080 He's saying trust me when he asks you to identify yourself by 712 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,440 him and not by any of these external things. 713 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:43,120 He's saying you can trust me when we're in communion with 714 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,240 him, when we're in fellowship with his people. 715 00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:52,600 What did Jesus say? Do this as often as you drink 716 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:56,320 it, as often as you eat this. What does he say? 717 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:57,800 I should remember this. Hold on. 718 00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:03,640 As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, he says you 719 00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:07,080 proclaim the Lord's death. Well, now we know what he's 720 00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:10,920 talking about. He's talking about the cross. 721 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:16,240 He's talking about sacrifice. He's talking about atonement. 722 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:21,480 It's not bulls and a building somewhere far away. 723 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:26,680 It's got himself and his son loving you. 724 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,640 There's nothing that you've said or done that's hidden from him 725 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,680 and there's nothing that you've said or done that you need to be 726 00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:38,200 ashamed of. He sees it and he knows now he's 727 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:40,080 going to fix it for sure. He's going to say, hey, that's 728 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,600 not what I created you for. But we don't need to be ashamed 729 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:44,800 in a sense of hiding and running and turning away. 730 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:46,800 Of course we're broken. You have sins. 731 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:49,160 We're going to stand before the Lord someday in heaven and he's 732 00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:51,480 not going to just be like, hey, you were like 90% there. 733 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:53,120 You said that cuss word on your way out. 734 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:56,000 So you've got some purgatory for that nonsense. 735 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,840 None of it. We're going to stand before the 736 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:01,640 Lord, and we're going to realize that we never had a pure motive 737 00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:04,880 in our life. We're going to stand before the 738 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:08,440 Lord, and we're going to realize that wilderness saturated us, 739 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,080 and we're going to realize that He's been staring at you through 740 00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:14,800 the blood of atonement since the day you were born, because He 741 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:19,000 loves you. We now have a choice whether 742 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,680 we're going to walk in that or not. 743 00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:26,080 And the thing that we've been saying forever is that proximity 744 00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:30,320 transforms us. That's what the church is is 745 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,160 about. It's not about, hey, we get to 746 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:33,600 do whatever we want because we're. 747 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:36,040 Forgiven. It's about there is a life that 748 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:38,720 is separated from wilderness, that he calls us into it. 749 00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:42,280 If we don't have to define ourselves, if we're no longer 750 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:46,520 defining what a good expression of financial management is, then 751 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:48,600 generosity is the easiest thing in the world. 752 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:51,720 It's not mine, it's his. I'm experiencing the Kingdom by 753 00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:53,960 being generous. And it's the same way with work. 754 00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:56,000 I'm going to prioritize eternal things. 755 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:59,520 My family, my children, my church, I'm going to live simply 756 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,320 so that I can live generously. I'm going to be, I'm single and 757 00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:05,800 I'm going to stay celibate even if I die that way, because he 758 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:09,440 defines what's good, not me. And so we, when we look 759 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:12,240 different, our marriages look different, our relations with 760 00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:14,840 our kids, with our neighbors look different because he's 761 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,640 transforming us. Through sacrifice and through 762 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,040 cleansing. And it's always all been about 763 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:24,280 Jesus. The garden, the gate, the 764 00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:27,520 wilderness, the Tabernacle, the cloud. 765 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:31,040 Temple. Every curtain, every stitch, 766 00:43:31,240 --> 00:43:36,080 every table, every gold overlay. It's all about Jesus and it 767 00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:41,560 always pointed. Here, now, we don't have the 768 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:45,760 full story in this series yet, the full story of atonement. 769 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:48,800 We don't have the full picture of what Jesus did. 770 00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:51,280 But over the next three weeks, we're going to get there. 771 00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:56,320 We're going to talk about that, but for right now, we know whose 772 00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,720 story this is. For now, we understand that this 773 00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:05,520 is about a God who calls us and His Holiness and his desire to 774 00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:11,400 make us that way too. So maybe you're in here today 775 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:14,520 and you have never said I'm following Jesus. 776 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,240 Maybe you've gone to church, maybe you've read the Bible, 777 00:44:17,240 --> 00:44:19,400 maybe you've done that. But you have never said I am 778 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:22,560 standing at the altar and I'm asking God to put to death every 779 00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:25,040 shred of wilderness. I mean, make no mistake, it 780 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:26,800 won't work today. It's not going to happen today. 781 00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:28,600 You're going to wake up tomorrow and there's still going to be 782 00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:30,440 wilderness. And for the next 100 years, as 783 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:32,800 you follow Lord, you're going to continue to stand before the 784 00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:35,160 Lord and go, Lord, cleanse me, Lord, wash me. 785 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:36,840 Lord, take these things away from me. 786 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:39,280 Cleanse me of wilderness. There's ongoing and it's 787 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:41,040 ongoing, but it begins by saying. 788 00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:42,920 Lord, I don't hold on to anything. 789 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,560 There's nothing that I'm protecting that I'm trying to 790 00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:48,520 take with you. Look carefully at this today. 791 00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:52,600 Our God is more holy than you can fathom. 792 00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,920 Our God is more righteous and pure. 793 00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:59,200 His purity would consume you if you stood in front of it 794 00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:04,000 unmitigated. There's no negotiating with the 795 00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:06,480 holiness of God. Well, God, I'm going to hold on 796 00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:08,440 to my money, but I'm going to give you this. 797 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:13,320 That holiness does not leave us unchanged. 798 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,520 God is more holy than we can fathom, but God is more good 799 00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:21,160 than we would dare to dream possible. 800 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:27,000 We could never imagine a holiness and a goodness resident 801 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:30,200 like that. God's desire is not to kill you, 802 00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:35,040 or to ruin you, or even to take from you the story of our God as 803 00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:38,120 it is prepared a holy place for you to enjoy him. 804 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:44,080 And the table is set and the candles are lit and the incense 805 00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:49,200 is in the air. And the only way in is our 806 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:55,640 confession of absolute need. The only way in is for him to 807 00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:58,160 cleanse us from the wilderness outside. 808 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:03,360 So the question is, will you? Now maybe you're in here and 809 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,640 you've been a follower, maybe even following Jesus for 5 810 00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:12,520 minutes or five years or 50 years or, but maybe of the 811 00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:15,560 journey just tastes like dust, dust of wilderness in your 812 00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:18,280 mouth. Maybe the practices that you 813 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,320 used to lean into, that used to give you life have just become 814 00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:24,400 dry and dull. What I would say again is those 815 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:27,400 aren't the thing. That's not the point. 816 00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:33,880 Scripture, communion, worship, prayer, those are the outer 817 00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:36,520 court and the holy place. Hear that? 818 00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:39,080 They're a necessary part of the process. 819 00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:42,400 They are vital. You cannot draw close without 820 00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,840 this. You cannot draw near to a God 821 00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:49,040 that you don't know who he is. You can't draw close to God 822 00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:51,240 without this. You cannot draw close without 823 00:46:51,240 --> 00:46:54,200 this, without being disclosed and without open. 824 00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,240 You don't get to go to the priest with your sacrifice and 825 00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:59,400 go, hey, as you're murdering this thing and behalf of my sin, 826 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:01,440 I just want you to know it's not really that bad. 827 00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:06,160 It is bad. It required a death only 828 00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:08,560 entrusted communion with other people and with other. 829 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:10,240 Believables will we experience that? 830 00:47:10,240 --> 00:47:17,600 You can't get there without it, but they're not home. 831 00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:21,400 Jesus didn't die on the cross, so you could do a 30 minute 832 00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:24,640 quiet time in the morning so that you can read through the 833 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:29,160 Bible once a year. He died so that you could come 834 00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:34,240 home, so that you could rest in the garden with him forever. 835 00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:39,120 And if you're dry in your spiritual practices, I want to 836 00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:43,120 tell you, are you listening? He hasn't left. 837 00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:47,720 He's not gone. Maybe. 838 00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:52,440 Maybe you've been treating the map like the destination. 839 00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:58,360 And maybe the point isn't to read more, but to read less, 840 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:05,600 more deeply with Him. The Temple asked a question. 841 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:09,920 Temple asked a question that Jesus finally answered. 842 00:48:10,720 --> 00:48:14,000 It's the same question that God's been asking since Genesis 843 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:17,560 3. Will you trust me enough to let 844 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:22,680 me bring you all the way home and partner with me again? 845 00:48:25,240 --> 00:48:27,400 System couldn't do it. Still can't. 846 00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:32,080 You can't be good enough. Your sacrifice is insufficient. 847 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:35,720 There's not enough of you to give up to earn the favor of 848 00:48:35,720 --> 00:48:38,160 God. Only Jesus can do that. 849 00:48:38,240 --> 00:48:42,880 The good news is he did that. So for the next three weeks, 850 00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:46,240 we're going to find out what that invitation costs and what 851 00:48:46,240 --> 00:48:47,800 it means that He's paid it for you. 852 00:48:48,240 --> 00:48:59,720 The very best news is coming. You pray with me, Jesus, Thank 853 00:48:59,720 --> 00:49:02,080 you that you confront us with the difficult reality of what it 854 00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:03,600 costs to enter into your presence. 855 00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:08,480 Thank you that you haven't softened that I asked Jesus that 856 00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:11,760 you would bring us all the way home. 857 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:15,600 I pray especially for those who are in here today that for the 858 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:18,200 first time they followed you. For the first time they prayed 859 00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:20,400 that they they said, I, I want to come all the way home and I 860 00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:22,400 want to let go of all of it. I stand at the altar and I'm 861 00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,560 ready to have that stuff put to death and I'm ready to have to 862 00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:28,560 be cleansed. Jesus, you'd actually do that. 863 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:30,240 And I pray that you would confirm it to them. 864 00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:34,960 And maybe for the rest of us who have been doing this for a 865 00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:36,920 while, that have been walking this for a while, I pray that 866 00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:42,720 you would forgive us when we make not the main thing the main 867 00:49:42,720 --> 00:49:48,440 thing. We want to come home. 868 00:49:51,240 --> 00:49:55,440 Thank you, Jesus, that you made the way and your presence. 869 00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:58,600 And I pray that your church, that this congregation of your 870 00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:04,200 church would walk in holiness. I pray that we would set aside 871 00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:07,360 every idol. I pray that everything that we 872 00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:09,280 have given our lives to that isn't you. 873 00:50:10,720 --> 00:50:15,800 Every sin that is rooted into our heart, every dark and evil 874 00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:21,000 spirit of fear and anger and and self righteousness that has 875 00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:23,360 whispered destruction into our ears. 876 00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:24,600 I pray that it would be cast out. 877 00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:27,000 I pray that it would be cast down and we would be walk in 878 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:31,320 your freedom. Or we want to be home and we 879 00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:34,160 want to be a picture of home to a world that is desperately 880 00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:40,960 searching everywhere. Let it be so, Jesus, in your 881 00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:45,760 name for your glory, Amen. Thank you for joining us today. 882 00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:49,160 River City Church is all about experiencing and expressing 883 00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:50,880 God's love in our lives and community. 884 00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:52,520 And we hope that you've been able to. 885 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:55,760 Experience that today. As grateful as I am that you've 886 00:50:55,760 --> 00:50:59,040 spent this time listening in this morning, this podcast is no 887 00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:01,920 substitute for participation in a local church. 888 00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:05,680 I love it when River City people listen to other pastors, but it 889 00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:08,760 is those who show up week after week faithfully giving their 890 00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:11,560 support and time and resources that make all of this possible. 891 00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:14,560 We can help you. Get connected to a local church, 892 00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:16,960 pray for you or support you in any way? 893 00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:19,880 Click the link in the description and let us know if 894 00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:21,960 you'd like to financially support the ministry of your 895 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:23,720 city. Click the give link on our 896 00:51:23,720 --> 00:51:26,920 website in the description. Don't forget to subscribe and 897 00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:28,600 don't forget. To share this with your friends. 898 00:51:28,880 --> 00:51:31,560 Thanks so much for listening. May the Lord bless and keep you 899 00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:33,200 in all grace and peace.