Sermon Transcription:
The last two weeks have been very miraculous, very Divine, very intentional. The Holy Spirit has been doing a very deep work in each and every single person that has been there. Some have testified they can't see. Some have testified, "I can't see what is being spoken about. It is not opened up to me, it is not revealed to me." But almost every single person I've talked with in the last two weeks has a testimony of how God is opening the eyes of their heart in significant ways, in ways that they never expected, they maybe even never asked for, but a divine move of God is happening in their life.
Two weeks ago, the Lord gave us a word about the cross of humility. It was titled "When God Gives In," and the Lord began to reveal to our hearts the humility, the meekness of Christ, in the way that He is willing to suffer whatever way is needed as long as He gets to be a part of your life. And then last week, we looked at the cross of our shame, freedom from shame, and the Lord began to open eyes and hearts to understand in a way that we hadn't understood. Not all of us had seen with open eyes what it is like and what it will be like when the heart has been set free completely from shame, what it looks like to not ever feel like you want to be a certain way but to be fully content with who you have been made to be because shame is no longer a part of your life. The Lord's love has been revealed to you.
Today, in still similar lines of what the Lord has been giving, we will look at the cross, but the sacrifice of the cross, the sacrifice, the Lord Jesus. As you've heard plenty of times in your life, He is often referred to as the Lamb of God and that comes from the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant, their lamb had a very specific signification. There was a very specific purpose to a lamb within that Covenant, the Covenant of Moses with God over the people of Israel at that time. We also see the lamb come back in the time that the people of God were stuck in Egypt. It was eventually, after every plague that the Lord had sent by His mighty hand to bring to nothing every single god the Egyptians were worshiping, in the end, He didn't set them free by a plague, He passed over the people of God by the blood of a little lamb that they had put on the doorposts of their houses. Those houses were made out of clay and mud that would come along the river, and they would clean that. It would be very much purified, it was very clean clay material, and they would use that to build their houses. But the door openings, they were made out of wood, they were made out of post, and then the rest of the house was kind of built around those places. And when that blood was put on those wooden beams, all of a sudden, the Passover of the plagues upon the people of God happened. Instead of that last and final plague of death, they received their freedom.
We see a lamb come back throughout the Old Testament but also in the Old Covenant of laws time and time again. I want to read some of it to you in Exodus 29: 38-43 "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. With the one lamb shall be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with 1/4 of a hin of pressed oil, and 1/4 of a hin of wine as a drink offering. And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and you shall offer it with a grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you. And there I will meet the children of Israel, and the Tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory."
A lamb is also mentioned once a year when the high priest would go into the holiest of all, the holiest place behind the veil, only once a year with the blood of a lamb to sprinkle the blood of the Lamb on the mercy seat that was covering the ark, which was containing a number of things, among which was the law, the stone tablets that Moses had received. The second portion of the stone tablets, because he broke the law when he was upset, some of us have done that. But he received a whole new set from the Lord, and that set was in the ark. But over that covering, it was the Mercy Seat. And on the Mercy Seat, once a year, the blood of a lamb would be sprinkled for the sins everybody had forgotten about, never confessed them, didn't repent of them, did not care, never gave it a second thought, just moved on with their life. Once a year, the blood of a lamb would be sprinkled right there on the Mercy Seat.
But the Word tells us that all this time, generation after generation, there's a lamb that is slain in the morning, there's a lamb that is slain in the evening, every single day, a continuous flow of blood for the sins of the people. The people didn't need to make this sacrifice themselves, they didn't have to show up in the temple, they didn't have to show up at service, they didn't have to show up at the time of praise or the time of prayer. There was a constant morning and evening sacrifice of a lamb made in the temple for the sins of the people because the people were in a constant state of a need of forgiveness. They constantly needed forgiveness. In the morning, when they'd wake up, there would be something. If they would stop for a moment and think their spiritual condition through, they would have a desire to be forgiven. By the time the evening would come around and they would stop and think about their day, they could come up with ways that they really need a lamb to be slain for them, because there would be a constant need for forgiveness in their life.
Every single man, every single woman that has not entered into the New Covenant still feels that heaviness and that pressure, church. Every person that is still under the time, if you will, the spiritual place, if you will, of the Tabernacle service or the temple service, that's not something they just did, that is a spiritual state of being. Every person that is still under that still feels that need in the morning, in the evening, if they stop and think about how they're doing spiritually, they would love to be forgiven. There's this constant sense that forgiveness needs to be a part of my life. I am not fully perfect, I'm not fully right with God. Many people in our churches today still live under the weight of the Old Covenant and the old Tabernacle. They are not under the sacrifice of the Cross, there's no mercy seat covering them, there's no blood covering them, the weight of that Old Covenant. You may not be able to memorize the Ten Commandments, you may come up with two, maybe three, and you may feel slightly embarrassed about that. You don't need to. If you are under the Old Covenant, you don't need to know any of the Ten Commandments, and yet your heart knows. If I would stand before God in all of His majesty right now, I'm not 100% sure exactly what would happen. I have good hope, I may be there like 85%. You know, I kind of live like a Christian, I've sang the songs, I've confessed the stuff, but I'm not 100% sure if my case would be the best case of all the cases that day before the throne. Not being under the sacrifice of the Cross, when you are not under the sacrifice of the Cross, there's still that awareness of sin, and there's still a feeling that a sacrifice is needed, a sacrifice is desired. And those people in our churches that I believe with all my heart have a measure that in their heart that loves the Lord, a desire to be free, I believe it with all my heart. I believe in great part that's why they show up in their churches, and they are still sacrificing. That is where you begin to see it. It may look the exact same as in your life, and you may say, "I am at total peace, I'm at total right standing with God." And at first glance, the life of your neighbor may look the exact same, except they're still sacrificing.
They're still bringing sacrifice. It doesn't look like a lamb, it doesn't look like something they bought in the temple court, but they are sacrificing their time. They are sacrificing their time to come to church. They hope it makes a difference. They're sacrificing their money, they're wanting to be giving people in the sight of God. They're hoping it makes a difference. They're sacrificing their fun. If you would give them a pass on sin and they could do some sin they would really enjoy, they'd know what they would do, they'd know what they would pick, but they are sacrificing some of that fun, because that may just mean something to God or make a difference to God. They come, and they sacrifice through prayer. They come before God in prayer, believing and hoping that maybe that will make a difference. They come before Him, they are driven to do all of these things to one day arrive in some kind of place where finally my sins have gone away, where finally my sins are washed away. They go to church so that maybe one day my sins will be fully gone, they will not be an essence of my sin anymore. I believe that's possible through Jesus, but I'm not there, so I'm going to church. I'm reading my Bible because I believe that maybe one day I may be fully forgiven, fully cleansed, fully loved by God, fully approved. I pray that way, I fast because I believe that somehow God will notice it, and it'll make a difference for him. Mankind has been driven to do these things ever since the commands of Moses came into existence, but God has a different sacrifice in mind, church. God has a sacrifice in mind that has a very different ending.
You're going to see it in the Word, and I pray that the Spirit reveals it to your heart. Let's see what Isaiah the prophet has to say about our Lord Jesus Christ in 53:10 "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him," that word "bruise" in Hebrew means "crush." We talked about that just recently, how the Father turned to the Son before the foundation of the world and said, "Son, if you desire for anyone that believes on you to no longer experience any shame without them doing anything for it, if that is your desire, son, there's one way I'm going to have to crush you," that's that word. "It pleased the Lord to bruise him, to crush him, he has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Right here it says, "When you make his soul an offering for sin," that sin offering word in the Greek can also mean this or in the Hebrew can mean this: trespass offering or guilt offering. Whatever trespass has been done by the people that would believe on Jesus, wherever they trespassed, if you will, on the law, on walking the standard of God, whatever that may mean in your life, wherever you missed the mark, wherever you weren't good enough, wherever you messed it up, wherever you have guilt, wherever you have been guilty before the law, guilty of cheating, guilty of lying, guilty of presenting yourself different than you are, guilty of bitterness, guilty of gossip, guilty of busyness. Wherever there's trespass, wherever there is guilt, the Word tells us that it pleased the Lord to crush him, not you. He has put him to grief, not you. When you make his soul, not your soul, an offering for sin, an offering for the guilt, an offering for the trespass.
Now you've got to understand, at this time, the Spirit of God is not poured out. No one that is seeking God, no one that is coming to the temple, no one knows what God has in His heart other than just what has been passed down from generation to generation in head knowledge. No one knows, but the prophets knew because the Spirit would come on his heart, and the Spirit of God is crying out through the prophet as if He's saying, "No one else is seeing it in the entire nation, no one else is seeing it, but I'm seeing it. God has a different sacrifice, God has a sacrifice that is going to bring peace for the guilty, God has a sacrifice that is going to bring peace for all the trespasses." He cries out because He's seeing something that no one in his circle is seeing, no one can understand, no one has open eyes. Yet we see the Spirit of God crying out to draw the people of God more and more to what God really has in store.
We see the same thing happen to John the Baptist when he sees the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 1: 19-29 "Now this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?' He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, 'I am not the Christ.' And they asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' And he answered, 'No.' Then they said to him, 'Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?' He said, 'I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the Lord," as the prophet Isaiah said.' Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, 'Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?' John answered them, saying, 'I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. There stands One among you, a different sacrifice, a sacrifice you have no idea about. You sacrifice in the morning, you long for a sacrifice in the evening, but there's One among you that you do not know, a different sacrifice. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.' These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing."
The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." The Spirit of God, that came upon Elijah and caused him to cry out and say, "When you make his soul an offering for sins," in other words, the Spirit that came upon Elijah and now he saw that a different sacrifice was coming, that same Spirit comes upon John the Baptist, and it causes him to say, "Behold, people, turn to this, look at this, God is giving a different sacrifice. Behold, the Lamb of God." You've been sacrificing lambs in the morning, you've been sacrificing lambs in the evening, but look now, there's a different sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Spirit of God has been moving from generation to generation to continue to bring the attention to this sacrifice, this lasting sacrifice, this sacrifice that said, "It is finished," this sacrifice that would be the very last thing that would ever be sacrificed in order for man to be right with God, in order for mankind to be forgiven before God.
The very last time blood would be shed, and the spirit is drawing attention to it. He's been yearning, learning to draw eyes and hearts of men to that new sacrifice that God already had in store before the foundation of the world. God desired over your life all of this time. The Holy Spirit always tries to draw the eyes of the heart to what God actually is doing over your life and what God actually desires over your life. And the spirit is still crying out today among us. The spirit is still working for the same goal to show you something that you have not seen before, to show others around you something through you that they have not seen before.
I'll show it to you in the book of Hebrews, in the time of the New Covenant, written in the time of the church under the New Covenant. Hebrews 9:8 "The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first Tabernacle was still standing." That word indicating in the Greek means to declare or to show. The Holy Spirit is declaring, the Holy Spirit is showing that the way into the holiest of all is not in existence until the first Tabernacle has been taken down. That way cannot be seen, church. When the Holy Spirit is trying to get something across right here in the word for you, for me, for anyone that lives in the age of the church, when the Holy Spirit is trying to get something across that you cannot get into the holiest place spiritually speaking until the way of the old Tabernacle has been done away with.
When the Holy Spirit is trying to get something across, don't harden your heart, let him lead you. You will arrive exactly where God wants you, what he has in store for you, what he seeks for you to receive. So let's look deeper into the sacrifice of the cross, that lamb that would come, that lamb that the Holy Spirit seeks to make you understand something that allows someone like you to live in the holiest place, meaning you'll never be void of the voice of God, meaning you'll never be void of the presence of God, meaning you'll never be void of the mercy seed and the blood sprinkled on it. You can not miss out on what takes place there. You understand that the people of God could never enter, never be in the presence of God, never hear the Lord's voice for themselves. That always had to happen through prophets. It always had to happen through the priest. The people could even the priest only once a year would they go into the holiest place with a rope around their waist in case they would drop dead because of the presence of God. The word tells us that the way for you into the holiest place is not made manifest until that old Tabernacle has been done away with. So let's look deeper into this thing.
Hebrews 9: 1-10 "Then indeed even the first Covenant had ordinances of divine service, an Earthly sanctuary." In other words, it had a shadow. There were truths to it. "There were good things about it. For a tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. And behind the second veil, the part of the Tabernacle which is called the holiest of all, the same picture we still have in our churches today. We often called it the sanctuary. Anybody can come here, not everybody's entering into the holiest place. It's a spiritual place the word is talking about. Verse four, which had the golden sensor and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the Mana, Aaron's Rod that budded, and the tables of the Covenant. And above it were the cherubim of Glory overshadowing The Mercy Seat. Of these things, we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priest always went into the first part of the Tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first Tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience, concerning only foods and drinks, various Washings, and fleshly ordinances or laws imposed until the time of reformation."
What is the word saying? Until that old Tabernacle, that spiritual place that every single person that has ever approached God has been in that place, whether you've only been there once or you're still there today, every person that is still under that old Tabernacle, when you're not, when your walk is not that great with the Lord, shame begins to build again, guilt begins to build again, the awareness of your trespasses begins to build again, and the need for a sacrifice somehow comes to the forefront of your experience, your feelings, your emotions, and eventually you run right back to God because you want to be forgiven. But you wouldn't be running to him in that way if you were already forgiven. As long as the old Tabernacle stands, there is no way for you that is everlasting into the holiest of all. You're not hearing from the Lord for yourself, you're not communicating with him for yourself, you're not in his presence by yourself. You are still in that old Tabernacle where someone else has to go in and come out of there and may have a word from God for you. And there is a divine aspect to it. It is real, and it is ordained by God. But you don't have a way into the holiest of all yet. That word Reformation at the end of that verse. Let me read to you the verse again concerning foods, drinks, various Washings, the fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation imposed on the people of God. If you've ever not been under the New Covenant, you know exactly that that is to the tea what that feels like. It is imposed on you. It is imposed on your life. You should, you can not, you better, that feeling when you think of God, God, his presence, and entering into his presence. I better, I shouldn't, and I should have. That word Reformation at the end means this. If you literally translate that from the Greek, it means Messianic restoration.
In other words, the people are going to be stuck under this old Covenant lifestyle. They're always going to feel like they are in need of a sacrifice that can cover them, where they're always in need of a mercy seed that can cover their sins, where they're always in need of being right again with God. There's going to come a time where the, where's, where there's going to be Messianic restoration. He's going to do a restoration as to what God once had with his people. He's going to restore unto the father the relationship that the father had with humankind. He's going to restore unto people the cleanliness of their conscience, not aware of sin, not aware of guilt, not aware of trespass. He's going to do a restoration unto the people of God.
Let me read to you Hebrews 9:11 "But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation." Jesus Christ came, and the Holy Spirit has been trying to get to our hearts about this. Jesus Christ came as a messenger of the good things to come. Everyone has been stuck under that old Covenant. Every single person alive can relate to what it feels like to honestly, if I stand before God today, I'm not 100% sure. But Jesus Christ is a priest. He came of the good things to come. He came with a Tabernacle that is not made with hands. It's not a physical place. It is a spiritual place, and he is the messenger that came to draw our attention to it. Hebrews 9:28 "So Christ was offered once to Bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." The next verse Hebrews 10: 1-2 "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshippers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins."
What is the word saying? Until that game that we've been playing with God, the game we've been playing of bringing sacrifices and trying to make up for the things we've done and trying to get close to God. I've heard it so many times, church. How are you doing with the Lord? Oh, I got to get closer to the Lord. What do you mean? He came from heaven into your world. The word says he drew near unto men. How are you going to get closer to God, you human in your flesh with no power, no holiness? How will you ever get closer to God? I'm going to read my word more. I'm going to pray more. I'm going to fast. Good luck. You're bringing sacrifices that will always run out in the evening you'll need one again. In the morning you'll need one again. There will never be a conscience that has been cleansed. If it had worked, then by now the worshippers would have been purified, and they, the offering, would have been stopped. There would have not been any consciousness of sins anymore. If there was any other way to cover those things that drove us to God in the beginning, church, when a person is still under the old Tabernacle, they don't run to God because they're full of joy. They don't run to God because they're full of pleasure and they can see his pleasure over their life. They can see it with the eyes of their heart. They don't run to God in peace. They run to God in desperation. God, my sin, my sin, I need to be forgiven. I need to be saved. Something's not right. Something is not good. If I stand before you today, I don't fully 100% know because I did not hear from you. I've heard it from men. I've heard it from songs. But you've never spoken it to my heart.
It's the person still conscious of their sins. The first Tabernacle still needs sacrifices. That's how you know which one you're in. The first Tabernacle still needs sacrifices is when you mess up, when you make a mistake, and you feel the need, somehow, this needs to be forgiven again. Somehow, I need forgiveness for this thing. When you still experience that, you're still in the first Tabernacle. There's still consciousness of sins. When God has told you personally to your heart, when he made a way for you into the holiest of all, and God showed you and spoke to you that you, you are forgiven, it's not your sins that are forgiven, you are forgiven. That's who you are. That's what your identity is. That's who I made you. When you have heard from God that you are forgiven, and you make a mistake or you commit sin again, you run to God in joy, saying, "God, thank you so much that I am forgiven, because if I was not, I would be in trouble again now. Thank you, Lord God, that I am forgiven, because if I had to come up with the sacrifices, I would run out of my abilities so soon, because I still make mistake. But thank you, Lord, that who I am is forgiven, that who I am has been changed by the blood of the cross. I am not conscious of sins anymore. I see that I still make mistakes, but somehow I'm not conscious of sins anymore. Are you conscious still of sin, or are you conscious of your forgiveness? Which one is speaking to you? Is the law still speaking to you, or has the Christ taken you into the holiest of all, and has God spoken to your heart and shown you your forgiveness, and all you're aware of, all you're conscious of right now, is the forgiveness that Christ brought upon your life? When you do wrong, you can only see the forgiveness Christ brought upon your life. When you wake up, you are full of joy because you shouldn't be, and yet there it is, and you run to God because of what he has done, not because of what you feel you still need. You've been moved from that Old Tabernacle relationship into the holiest place because the sacrifice of the Cross was for all of your sin, from the day you were born to the day you would come home, every sin you haven't walked in yet. And God knew you would. He already forgave you for it. He already paid for it. It's already washed away. When the spirit of God shows you that every mistake you make, the Lord already knew you were going to do it, he chose you anyways, he loved you anyways, he forgave you for those things long before you were born. The blood was shed by the son as the father sent him, and the spirit empowered him to walk out what God had put before him, that you may have a sacrifice that is different, a sacrifice that is final, a sacrifice that cried out, "Now it is finished. Now there will be no more sacrifices needed. Now there will be no more guilt. There will be no more trespasses pressing on my people. Now their mind will not be occupied anymore with the things they've done wrong. Now their mind is going to be occupied with what I've done for them. Now joy is going to be given up. Now finally, this journey of sin, finally, it is finished."
Are you under that sacrifice? Are you covered by that blood, or are you still waiting for something to change? Are you still hoping that somehow, if you keep bringing those small sacrifices, going to church, picking up your Bible, saying a prayer, you still hope that somehow, with those sacrifices, one day, something is going to change? One day, God may do this in my life kind of expectation. Hebrews 10: 8-10, "previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin, you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law." Then he said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second. By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all." You know what the Bible teaches, church? The law was never doing in your life what God wanted. The law never did what God had pleasure in in your life. God never wanted you to be guilty. God never wanted you to be condemned. God never wanted you to feel the need for sacrifice. The law wasn't doing the father's will. Jesus came to do the father's will, and when he did the father's will, you were forgiven, sanctified, and made perfect. Glory to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Hebrews 10: 14-18, "For by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." There, you say, "Well, I'm still being sanctified. I still make mistakes. I still choose wrong all the time." Here's what the word says: If year over year, you love the Lord just a little bit more, every year you're a little bit more dedicated to his kingdom, every year your priority system is changing, every year a little bit more to where the things of God are taking precedence in your life, you're not doing that. The Holy Spirit is doing that inside of you. The Holy Spirit is doing that because you belong to Christ. When you're seeing that work take place, year over year, this is what the word says: Yes, you're still going to make mistakes. You are being sanctified on the outside. It ain't perfect yet, but on the inside, you have already been made perfect. In other words, even though you still may make some mistakes and God is working on you, you will never have to doubt that you are perfect already in the eyes of God because you are changing, because the Holy Spirit lives in your heart. You are already made perfect. For by one offering, he has perfected forever. It doesn't change, church. I don't care what sin you struggle with. I don't care the mistakes you've made. I don't care what you plan to do tomorrow. Forever perfected, if you are changing because you have believed that Jesus Christ is the Lord. If you are changing, this is what the word says: You're perfect in the eyes of the Father. It doesn't matter what is going on. Do not let the law lie to you. Do not let Satan lie to you. You have been forever perfected.
Verse 15: "But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after he had said before, 'This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days,' says the Lord: 'I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,' then he adds, 'Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sins.' Where there's remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin." When there is no more consciousness of sins, God has taken it all away. The Holy Spirit has showed you the Father doesn't remember your lawless deeds. The Father doesn't remember your sins. When the Holy Spirit has showed it to your heart and there's no longer an offering needed for sin, that means I am forever forgiven, even when I do the wrong. There is no consciousness of sin when the Father has showed you that he doesn't remember them. All of a sudden, you've been brought into peace and joy and calmness. No more sacrifice is needed for me. I am forgiven. And then the word says this, "therefore or because of this, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching."
Only three times now after all of this does the writer of Hebrews mention you and I. Let us draw near with a true heart. Let us hold fast the confession. And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works. Now that we can enter the holiest place by the blood of Jesus, now that I will never need to be separated from the presence of God, now that I will never have to be separated from the mind of God, now that I will never have to be separated or mess up the approval of God, now that I will never be imperfect before him, no matter how difficult my journey may be, no matter how difficult I may be, now that we have entered the holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart. Let us hold fast the confession. And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works. What is he saying? Now we come to God because we are forgiven. Now we want to show up because we are forgiven. Now we seek him because we have been eternally forgiven. All things have been made new. No longer conscious that a sacrifice could ever be needed for my life. Never conscious of any sin, no matter the mistakes that you may make. Instead, finally access into the holiest place for me, who never deserved it. Why? Because the blood of Christ, the sacrifice of the Cross, satisfied the wrath of God and gave unto me a new way. The word says, a new way into the holiest of all. The presence of God will never be taken from you. You won't have to sing with David, "Renew unto me a new spirit." The spirit will never be taken away from you. The presence will never be taken away from you. The voice of God will never be taken away from you. You'll never be conscious of sin again. This is the place that the Holy Spirit is trying to take you and every single one of you, into the holiest place where your spiritual life looks like that. You're able to enter in. You're able to be in the presence of God continually. You're able to hear from him. You're able to be conscious of your forgiveness always. And you can no longer be conscious of sin, even when you make mistakes. God has done a miracle. It makes no sense. It can only be explained if you point to the cross. That is where the spirit wants to take you!
-Pastor Stan Mons