Who Can Approach God ?

[0:00] Well, we are continuing in Exodus. If you have a Bible, please turn it open to Exodus chapter 28. If not, there should be some in the pews.

[0:11] They'll be scattered about. These chapters are full of strange details, and it would be easy to skip over them.

[0:31] It would be easy to stop going studying a book at a certain place. But we truly believe that all Scripture is breathed out by God, and it's all profitable, and that indeed it all points towards Christ.

[0:48] And so we press on. And I love that we are a family. I love that we love one another, and you allow me to teach you in this way.

[1:01] But I would love to hear some of your own thoughts on your own time spent in these chapters or elsewhere in the Bible. I'd love to hear some of your observations and some of the ways that God's speaking to you through His Word.

[1:15] Please do share that. So I'm going to read from verse 20 of the previous chapter, 27. So 27 verse 20 to the end of chapter 28.

[1:36] Should I mispronounce anything? Please remember, I wasn't very good at English in school. Okay, Exodus. You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten oil, olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn.

[1:58] In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to be observed throughout their generations by the people of Israel.

[2:14] Then bring near to you Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the people of Israel to serve me as priests, Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nabad and Abihu, Eliezer and Ithamar.

[2:29] And you shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful whom I have filled with the spirit of skill that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood.

[2:48] These are the garments that they shall make, a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checkered work, a turban, and a sash.

[2:59] They shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, and his sons to serve me as priests. They shall receive gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twinned linen.

[3:11] And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and of fine twinned linen. Skillfully worked, it shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges that it may be joined together.

[3:27] And the skillfully woven band on it shall be made like it, and be of one piece with it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twinned linen.

[3:37] You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel. Six of their names on one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, and the order of their birth.

[3:51] As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the stones, the two stones, with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree, and you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel.

[4:12] And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance. You shall make settings of gold filigree, and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords, and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.

[4:30] You shall make a breastpiece of judgment and skilled work. In the style of the ephod, you shall make it of gold, blue, and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twinned linen you shall make it.

[4:41] It shall be square and doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth, and you shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, carbuncle shall be the first row, the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond, the third row, a jacinth, and a gati, and an amethyst, the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper.

[5:12] They shall be set in gold filigree. They shall be twelve stones with the twelve names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name for the twelve tribes.

[5:27] You shall make for the breastpiece twisted chains like cords of pure gold, and you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold. Put the two rings on the two edges, and you shall put the two cords of gold and the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece, and shall put the two cords of gold, two ends of the two cords.

[5:49] You shall attach it to the two settings of filigree, and attach it in the front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod. You shall make two rings of gold and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece.

[6:00] On its inside edge, you shall, next to the ephod, you shall make two rings of gold, attach them in the front to the lower part, the two shoulder pieces of the ephod.

[6:11] It seems above the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and they shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it may lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod.

[6:30] So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart. When he goes into the holy place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord.

[6:44] And in the breastpiece of judgment, you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. Thus, Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.

[6:59] You shall make the robe of the ephod of all blue, shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a garment, so that it may not tear.

[7:11] On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns around its hem, with bells of gold between them, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe.

[7:24] And it shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out so that he does not die. You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, holy to the Lord.

[7:43] And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue, and it shall be on the front of the turban. It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts.

[7:57] It shall regularly be on his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. You shall weave the coat and checkered work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen.

[8:09] You shall make a sash embroidered with needlework. For Aaron's sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps, and you shall make them for glory and beauty. And you shall put them on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them that they may serve me as priests.

[8:28] You shall make for them linen undergarments that cover their naked flesh, that they shall reach from the hips to the thighs, and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of the meeting, or when they come near the altar to the minister in the holy place, that lest they bear guilt and die, this shall be a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him.

[8:59] What a chapter. Well, this is God's Word, and He will bless it as it is read. And so we were introduced, all these details, the requirements for the tabernacle.

[9:12] We were introduced to this before, and while God was coming down to dwell with His people, it didn't mean that no one, that people could just casually approach God.

[9:27] And so when we learned of all these details, even just of the tabernacle, we saw that people couldn't just casually approach God. And so the tabernacle itself wasn't like Santa's grotto, where anyone could book a slot, queue, go in and see Him, and take a picture with the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

[9:47] Although God came down from the mountain to dwell with His people, it was still like Mount Sinai. There was still a perimeter. There was still a barrier. It wasn't for anyone to cross.

[10:00] And the closer you got to God's presence, the more dangerous it was. And so just like on Mount Sinai, like only Moses and a select few people could go up the mountain, so too only a select few people could enter the tabernacle.

[10:16] Not everyone. So last time we considered what these details tell us about how we approach God, today we will consider who can approach God.

[10:29] And so three main things that we will explore today, the role of the priest, we will explore prayer, and then we will explore how Jesus is fulfilling all of this.

[10:41] We started with the last part of chapter 27, the oil for the lamp, because it's at this point it singles out Aaron and his sons for this work.

[10:52] They are the ones that are to tend to the oil and the lamp every evening, from evening to morning. they get this scary privilege of tending to the lamp every night before Yahweh.

[11:08] Now I want you to think for a second, have you ever wondered at any point in your life what your career might be? You ever thought to yourself, I wonder what I'll do for the rest of my life?

[11:19] Have you ever wondered if you believe in God, perhaps, what does God want me to do for my life? How can I serve God for the rest of my life?

[11:31] Maybe you've thought this would be an awesome thing. God has got something great in store for me. And imagine you were told that you should spend just about every day for the rest of your life tending to a lamp.

[11:45] Keep it lit every day for the rest of your life. Maybe this passage was the motivation for Thomas Edison to make the light bulb.

[11:58] There's got to be a better way to keep it lit than tending it every evening. Goodness me. Can we just make an electric light bulb? Switch it on and that's you. How many, what's the lifetime of a light bulb these days?

[12:12] I don't know. More than just one evening. But on a more serious note, I wonder if we would begin to think, if we were in Aaron and his son's place, we would begin to think, there's got to be better ways to keep this lamp lit without having to tend it every single night.

[12:31] And you can apply this to many areas of your life, but I think there are actually lessons that God wants us to learn in doing everyday repeated things. God is trying to teach us something in the everyday repeated things.

[12:45] Like the manna in the wilderness. God gave them manna. He could have given them manna that would, you know, I don't know if you've ever seen Lord of the Rings and they get this elvish bread and you take one bite and it's like eating a full meal.

[12:59] But God made them gather it every single day. because you cannot rely on yesterday's provisions. You need to rely on God for today.

[13:10] And we need to learn how to rely on God for today. If He gives us everything that we need for life, we'll not see that we actually get our life from God. And so I think it's the same with the oil.

[13:24] The oil for the lamp teaches us that if we want to be light in the darkness, if we are like the wick and a candle and the lamp, then we need to tend ourselves every day.

[13:39] Can't expect that we're automatically going to shine bright and pure. We need to keep a watch of our lives. We can't expect that we will automatically be just pure and bright and burn in the same strength all the time for not keeping a check on our lives.

[13:58] Like the wick, think about this, the wick needs to draw oil for it to burn. If the wick does not draw oil for it to burn, the wick will burn out.

[14:11] And what is the oil? The oil is God's Spirit and does this not teach us that every single day we need to draw from God's Spirit if we want to live for Him.

[14:22] If the wick has no oil it will burn out. Anyway, that's just a side observation. This whole passage is not about us. The primary purpose of this whole passage is not primarily about us.

[14:38] This introduces to us the need for someone else. The people of Israel need someone to go before God because they can't. And so, why Aaron?

[14:52] We might ask, why Aaron? There are a few reasons. So, back in Exodus 4, if you've been following this series throughout the whole time, back in Exodus 4, Moses was reluctant to do what God was sending him to do.

[15:08] And if you go back and read, maybe this afternoon or whenever you get time, go back and read chapter 3 and 4 of Exodus and you'll see, actually, it wasn't that Moses was so reluctant to stand before the great Pharaoh.

[15:21] That wasn't where Moses' reluctance mainly was. It was actually he was reluctant to go before the people of Israel, fearing that they wouldn't believe him. Moses had this kind of reluctance to go before the people.

[15:36] And what does God say? God says, is there not Aaron, your brother? I know that he speaks well. He's among the people. Aaron is already among the people. Think about, Moses has lived for 40 years in the palace, away from the people.

[15:51] And then after that, he disappears to Midian for another 40 years, whereas the whole time, Aaron is with the people. And it explores this in the Jewish commentary, the Midrash, as well, that Aaron, who had been with the people, Aaron was closer to the people than Moses was.

[16:11] And so, it's appropriate that God appointed Aaron as a high priest, as a spokesperson for the people, because he's close to the people. He knows the people. He's lived with them. He's a bridge for the people between the people and God.

[16:25] Aaron is an appropriate bridge. Also, Moses and Aaron were of the tribe of Levi. And later, in the book of Exodus and elsewhere, we will see why the Levites were given the privilege of the priesthood.

[16:40] There's a reason they were given the privilege of the priesthood. But also, back in Egypt, and just before they come out of Egypt, in the last plague, the firstborn were spared because of the blood of the Lamb.

[16:55] And God told Moses, consecrate all the firstborn. They are mine. And so, again, it's fitting that Aaron is the firstborn of his family, not Moses.

[17:07] Aaron's the firstborn, and he's consecrated to God. He belongs to God. And so, there are a few reasons why it was fitting for Aaron. However, it should be noted that God chose him.

[17:20] Aaron didn't choose himself, nor was he voted as a high priest by the people God chose him. And so, let's look at the role of the high priest. We go through chapter 28.

[17:31] We've heard of all these strange and wonderful requirements that he would have this uniform. Why did the uniform have to be the way it had to be to serve in the tabernacle?

[17:42] In verse 2, it says that these clothes are holy. Holy clothes. Does that not just sound pious? Holy clothes. But what holy means is set apart.

[17:56] These clothes are set apart. Everyone here has probably got something you would consider holy in your house. Maybe it's fancy china for visitors, clothes, or maybe it's clothes for a nice day.

[18:09] Holy means to be set apart for a special purpose. And so, these holy clothes say that Aaron isn't to wear his everyday clothes into the tabernacle, and he's certainly not to wear these special clothes for everyday stuff.

[18:22] He's not to get paint on it or dirt on it. These are for a special purpose. So, Aaron isn't to go fishing. He isn't to go to the local Sinai superstore with his priestly garments on.

[18:36] What's the deal with these holy clothes? Well, when something was set apart, it meant it had a special purpose and function. And it says that these clothes were for glory and beauty.

[18:48] Phil Riken, the commentator, said, the priest, the high priest, was the best dressed man in Israel. But it's not about being better than everyone else.

[18:59] It's not about having designer clothes. It's not about status or vanity. The role was extremely serious, a matter of life and death. And so, Riken also says the high priest was the most dangerous job in Israel.

[19:15] The best dressed man, the most dangerous job. Back in chapter 19, we saw the whole nation were called to be a kingdom of priests. Do you remember that? Chapter 19, God says, they shall be a treasure possession, a kingdom of priests.

[19:30] But, when the people go, they're consecrated and they go to the foot of the mountain and they hear God speak, the people do not want it. It's too much.

[19:42] The people fear for their lives. And so, they were called to be a kingdom of priests, but they were terrified and nobody wanted to go anywhere near God's presence.

[19:55] They wanted a mediator. Let us not, you know, God's going to kill us if we go near him. You go near him, Moses. We don't want to go near him. You do it for us. And so, the people need a mediator.

[20:06] They want a mediator. And this role for Aaron is both serious and dangerous. And so, the word for glory, these clothes are for glory and beauty, the word for glory means weighty.

[20:19] This is a weighty responsibility. Just as the people were a treasured possession, the outfit of the priest who represented the people would be covered in precious stones, treasured possession, precious stones.

[20:34] Carved into these stones were the names of every tribe of Israel. We might think that priests are a thing of the past, but they're not.

[20:46] The outfit of the priest who represented the people brought the people before God in the form of these precious stones with carved names. His outfit was actually designed and colored the exact same way as the tabernacle.

[21:03] And so, Peter Enns observes, the priest looked like an embodied tabernacle. If the tabernacle were a person, it would look like the high priest.

[21:17] If the tabernacle were a person, folks were coming towards Christmas, the incarnation, the word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

[21:31] And so, remember I said earlier that Aaron was close to the people. He was like a bridge between them and God. This is what the outfit represented. The high priest, his outfit represented that he was a person going between heaven and earth to represent the people before God.

[21:48] and as such, much of what the high priest would do was actually out of sight of the people. We might think that priests are a thing of the past, but we still need a priest and we have one, such a great high priest who is currently out of our sight.

[22:09] You see, the more we know about this, the more that we will know much of the work that the high priest did was out of the sight of the people. He went into the tabernacle where nobody else could go to do work for the people.

[22:20] So, where is Jesus? Well, he's out of our sight for good reason, because he is our great high priest gone before us to do what we need him to do before God. Now, have you ever heard the phrase, he knows people in high places?

[22:36] You ever heard that phrase? Or, she has friends in high places? Have you ever at any point in your life had to ask somebody to put a good word in for you? Maybe you have for a job or something.

[22:50] I was thinking about how to illustrate this, okay? And you might not be interested in politics or your local MP might be a pain in the backside.

[23:01] However, bear with my illustration, right? I was thinking about this. Imagine there was a government provision where your mortgage would be cleared.

[23:13] I mean, how wonderful. you see where my thoughts are going. Just wishing that my mortgage would be cleared. Imagine there was this government provision where they were like, we will clear your mortgage and we will clear all of your debt, right?

[23:28] All you need to do is get your local MP, get a list of names, and come down to the House of Commons and present them before us. And so your local MP goes to the House of Commons with a list of all his constituents for this wonderful provision, and you're so excited.

[23:44] My mortgage is gone. My debt is gone. And then your local MP comes back, and for some reason you find out that you were not on that list.

[23:56] How dreadful would that be? All your neighbors' mortgages are cleared, and just because you weren't on that list, you still got this debt. How awful would that be?

[24:08] You see, one of the things that we see in the clothes of the high priest, as mentioned already, are these precious stones that are engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel.

[24:19] Every single tribe, everyone represented. And a major part of the priest's role, the high priest, was to bring the people before God, to literally carry them on his shoulders and on his heart, to carry them in the form of precious stones engraved before God.

[24:39] God's constant reminder that these people that the high priest represented are precious to God. Think about that in Jesus' name.

[24:49] If you know anything about the Gospels and what the high priests were doing and the people that were left out, the stuff that they were not doing for their people, the high priest was supposed to carry the people on his shoulders and on his heart before God.

[25:05] Everyone represented a constant reminder. I mentioned back in chapter 20 the commandment, you'll know the commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.

[25:19] Yeah, and over time that has come to be known as, well, don't say this phrase. But that commandment's not about speaking.

[25:31] The word take there is the same word in our passage. See, if you look at verse 12, Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord.

[25:43] Bear, take, what it means is he carries their names before the Lord. And so, back in chapter 20 about taking the name of the Lord, what it's actually saying is don't bear the name of the Lord in vain.

[25:57] Don't carry God's name on your life before the world in vain. That's what the commandment's about. And so, it's the same thing here. And so, the people of Israel were to carry the name of Yahweh, which we've got down here, before the world, and the high priest was to carry the name of the people before Yahweh.

[26:17] And this is what the Aaronic blessing is all about. Aaronic blessing, you'll probably have heard it, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you.

[26:30] I mean, the song became popularized. There's many versions of it. We did a Hebrew version of it in here. Joshua Aaron does a fantastic version. Anyway, that whole blessing is all about carrying the name of Yahweh.

[26:47] And so, you probably know the Aaronic blessing, but do you know the line that comes straight after it in number six? Can anyone think of the line that comes straight after the Aaronic blessing when it says, so shall the priests put my name upon the people of Israel.

[27:07] And so, the Aaronic blessing, so shall the priests put my name upon the people and I will bless them. Wonderful. Whenever you're doing that, you're putting God's name on someone.

[27:18] Whenever you're blessing someone in the name of Christ, you're putting, I mean, that's why we're called Christians. It was first, it was first not a term of endearment, but an insult.

[27:31] They are those from Christ, the Christians, just like the Thessalonians or Galatians. But anyway, to bear the name of the Lord. And so, verse 12, Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his shoulders for remembrance.

[27:52] Likewise, he would bear their names on his heart. It talks about bearing the names on his heart. Verse 15, to 30, on this breast piece of judgment.

[28:04] This is intended to be both the fact that it's just a location, just right here, but also that he would carry them on his shoulders and on his heart. Now, again, think about that whole thing about your MP going down and having this provision.

[28:19] Now, imagine, imagine the high priest didn't do this. Imagine he didn't bear your name before God. Because what was at stake was more than a mortgage.

[28:32] What was at stake was guilt of sin that was a matter of life and death. And so, Aaron, bearing your name before God really mattered. If you were one of the people of Israel, it really mattered.

[28:45] You didn't want to be missed out. Imagine you depended on him going before God and bearing your name and pleading forgiveness for you, and he didn't do it. sin is a greater debt than our mortgage.

[28:58] And it's not something that we can ever pay off ourselves if we were missed out. This role of the high priest was to go before God on your behalf, to bear you on his shoulders, to bear your name on his heart, and bring you before God for regular remembrance.

[29:18] And so, this uniform, all the designs of the tabernacle, were physical and visible reminders that were really helpful. David and I were speaking about how helpful it is to have physical and visible reminders.

[29:31] The stones to remind the priest. I mean, he couldn't go in there without being reminded of every person that he was supposed to bear before the Lord. Every time he put this outfit on, oh yeah, I've got to remember all these people.

[29:45] Oh yeah, I've got to have these people on my heart. The sensory experience of the tabernacle, the visuals, the smells, the sounds, the taste, the feel of it all, reminders of God's grace and provision, his holiness and his presence, and his intention to dwell with us and his involvement to make all of that possible, to forgive our sins and give us light and life and to lead us back to Eden, the pomegranates and the trees and all that stuff, to lead us back to Eden and dwell with God.

[30:18] Now, I'm learning in my own life how helpful physical and visible reminders are, something you can put your hand on, you can see or smell, and you're like, yeah, that reminds me. And so, secondly, you know, this represents prayer as well.

[30:35] The priest going before God was a form of prayer, speaking to God on behalf of the people, interceding for the people. Doesn't this language to bring before God in regular remembrance the people of Israel?

[30:48] If you've read any of the New Testament, you'll be suddenly thinking of very similar phrases. So, Ephesians chapter 1, Paul says, I don't cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

[31:05] Philippians 1, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you, making all my prayer with joy, because I hold you in my heart, says Paul.

[31:17] 1 Thessalonians, we give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering you before our God and Father, your work of faith and your labor of love, your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, for we know, brothers, loved by God that He has chosen you.

[31:41] I mean, that just, that's the language of Exodus, that's the language of the priest, that's the language of what God was doing. And this isn't to say that Paul or any one of us are now the high priest, but it is to say that our prayers should not just be generic prayers, wishing someone well, asking God to bless someone or help them with a health issue.

[32:06] Our prayers should be bearing the names before God. Our prayers are not just bearing them for God to be nice to them. Our prayers are bearing people's names for God to forgive them, for God to give them life, to forgive their sin and to remember them, to remember that He made them and to provide for them what He will.

[32:31] Sometimes we focus too much on our physical needs, don't we? Focus too much on our body, and I'm not saying that's wrong, we need that, but we mustn't neglect our greater spiritual need.

[32:42] When we pray, let us bear one another towards something greater than simply having a good and comfortable life, let us bear names before God that He might forgive them so that He can dwell with them.

[32:55] If we really, really realize what the consequence of not having our debt cleared and not being forgiven leads to, will we not be more fervent in prayer for people that God would forgive them, God would open their heart, God would lead them to Himself to represent people before God.

[33:17] What a wonderful thing it is that someone prayed for us. Think that, someone maybe said to us at some point, I've been praying for you for 20 years or something.

[33:29] You know, the people that pray for us, thank God for them, thank God for them, but it's not about people, it's not just about us. Let me finish by saying that this picture we get of the high priest and his clothes and his work, it's not about us, it's not about how we should imitate the high priest, it's not about how we can do all these things, it's pointing us towards a greater high priest.

[33:59] And if you know anything of the story of Exodus and the Old Testament, you'll know that the high priests failed spectacularly. They were not doing what they were called to do, and any one of us would fail likewise.

[34:15] This is about a greater high priest. This is about the one who was appointed by God, anointed. The term Christ means anointed, Jesus the Christ.

[34:28] He is the mediator we need. These clothes of the high priest were for glory and beauty, but Jesus himself doesn't need clothes, for he himself is the radiance of the glory of God.

[34:39] He doesn't need to wear clothes like the tabernacle, because he is the tabernacle of God. In him the whole fullness of God dwells bodily. As Rykin says, holiness is not something Jesus needs to put on like a robe or write on his forehead, it is who he is.

[34:58] It is who he is. There's no name that Jesus will ever forget to mention before God. He doesn't need precious stones to remind him. What he bore on his shoulders was a cross for you and me.

[35:13] He is not easily going to forget those he bore the cross for. He is the closest person to his people, because he is fully human. He is the fullest expression of humanity, because he was not marred by sin.

[35:28] He was not marred by sin. You see, sin makes us less than what we are. It makes us subhuman. Humans were made before sin came into the world, and therefore sin is not inherent to humanity.

[35:44] Jesus is fully human without having sin. In fact, he is more fully human than we are. We need brought back to our humanity, and Jesus is the one that redeems our humanity.

[35:55] He was not marred for sin. He knows our weaknesses, because he was tempted in every way, except he didn't give in.

[36:06] And you'll know that the point at which you give in to temptation, the temptation stops. Yeah, but Jesus experienced the full force of temptation, because he never gave in, yet without giving in.

[36:20] He knows our frame. He knows exactly about us, because he made us. For all things were made through him and for him. Who's closer to represent us before God?

[36:32] Who is closer to God, because he came from God, being God's only Son? Who better can represent us before God, since he alone can enter the true holy place in heaven?

[36:44] Only he can enter there. And we didn't mention it before, but the Urim and Thummim, these things people have debated about what they are, they were used to know the judgment of God on matters.

[36:58] They were likely two stones to determine yes or no to an inquiry of God. And it wasn't just any old question, like, what socks should I wear today?

[37:10] And you can read through out, you know, in different points in the Old Testament where somebody said, like in the book of Ezra, when they were inquiring something serious, and Ezra said, well, we need to wait until there's a priest who carries the Urim and Thummim until we can know what the will of God is.

[37:30] But we don't need these stones. Jesus doesn't need these stones because he knows perfectly the will of his Father. How wonderful that is. Who better to know God's will for us than God's own Son?

[37:44] Not only does he know the will of his Father, he demonstrated perfectly, perfect obedience to the will of his Father. He can show us how to do God's will because he did God's will even to the point of death on a cross.

[37:59] How much more should we trust the Word of Jesus on our life and follow Him to know God's will? He who was perfectly obedient bears our names before God this very moment.

[38:14] Now, this kind of freaks me out a bit, but can you just stop for a moment and think, what is Jesus doing right now? I mean, it blows my mind. We get some information in the Bible, but we can't peer into heaven and look at His activity.

[38:30] But all I can say is, He's not lazy. He's always working. For 2,000 years, for eternity. But today, right now, while we're doing this, Jesus is at work in a place we cannot imagine before a holy God in all His powerful glory.

[38:52] Jesus is alive, out of our sight, doing something we couldn't do for our sake. Amazing! Amazing! When it is Jesus who enters the holy place, the lamp does not need to be tended, for He Himself is the light of God.

[39:10] There's no impurities in Jesus that would ever affect His brightness. As James said, His light has no variance or shadow. John says in Him, there's no darkness at all.

[39:21] Never once, never once, has there ever been the slightest momentary flicker in His light. Neither morning nor evening nor since the foundation of the earth, nor will there ever be a dimming of His light.

[39:37] Though it may be veiled from our feeble eyes, one day, we need eyes that would see His glory. These eyes are not sufficient. One day, we will see Him in His glory.

[39:49] And while our personal holiness matters, it will never be on the basis of our holiness that we are accepted. It was a dangerous thing. The people relied on the priest being accepted for them to be accepted.

[40:04] Yet we do not need to worry whether we will be accepted or not because Jesus, God's Son, is perfect and righteous and holy. And so, no one in this room, none of us are as good or clean as we like to think we are.

[40:24] None of us are as perfect as we like to present ourselves this morning. No one in this room is as good as we have come this morning and presented ourselves to one another.

[40:37] If we could only see one another's deepest, darkest secrets, if we could only see the things that we have done and the things that we think, no one in here is as good as we have presented ourselves this morning.

[40:51] And that's okay. We're all in the same boat. I was thinking Wednesday night. We had this moment on Wednesday night. We were studying and praying together through the back.

[41:04] and this chap was struggling with his assurance and we were trying to help him with his assurance of his faith and we asked the question, do you trust Jesus?

[41:22] And he says, ah, yes, I do. I trust Jesus. I just don't trust myself. And we were like, well, that is the story of every one of us. Welcome to the family. You know, that is the basis of it all.

[41:35] We don't trust ourselves. We trust him. It's never on the basis of our own goodness or purity or holiness or our work. And like Aaron, if we were to be consecrated, if we were to be washed clean like the high priest, we would still have come from a place that needed washed and needed consecrated.

[41:56] Think about what Aaron, if you know the story, what he was doing at the bottom of the mountain while God was telling Moses about this special role that he had for Aaron.

[42:07] Moses, I've got this special role for your brother. It's a wonderful role. He's going to be washed and consecrated, set apart for this priestly work. All the while down the mountain, Aaron is leading a rebellion against God.

[42:22] And do you know what that made me think? It made me think, what things have we done or are we doing while God has a better and more holy plans for us? What things have we done and have we done with our lives while God has something better for us?

[42:37] We need a high priest who has no former sin. We need someone who does not need washed. We need someone who has always served God and the people and the way that we need.

[42:47] And only do we find that in Jesus, God's Son. And so, it's no longer our gifts. It's no longer our offerings that go before God. We need not worry whether He will accept it or not because the offering that He presents is in no danger of guilt since He offered Himself without blemish to God, says Hebrews 9.

[43:08] There's no danger of bearing guilt and dying since He has already bore our guilt and died. He offered Himself once to bear the sins of many, yet He Himself is clothed in perfect righteousness.

[43:21] Folks, what hope we have that we have such a great high priest is Jesus Christ. No one else is like Him. No one. No one is like Him. No one else bears your guilt and carries your name before God.

[43:36] No one else has bore your guilt on His shoulders and carried your name on His heart. No one else is able to enter the presence of God and remember us before His Father like the thief on the cross.

[43:49] We need not worry that He will forget us. Remember me, Lord. Lord, please. He's not going to forget us. And so, as we come to this table this morning, as we come to remember Him, let us remember His sacrifice.

[44:05] Let us remember that He will never forget us or fail us. Let us remember that He gave His life for us and has now entered God's presence to bear our names before God for our salvation because we cannot come to this table otherwise.

[44:19] what a great high priest we have. What a great high priest we have. More could be said, but let me pray. Lord, we take it on faith and trust that You are before Your Father in heaven interceding for our benefit.

[44:46] that though You could condemn us, You gave Your life for us. And we trust You. We trust that what You did on the cross was to bring us forgiveness of our sins.

[45:03] We trust that You are risen from the dead and that You have entered the most holy place before God. And we trust that as You have gone there, You have not forgotten us.

[45:13] We thank You that this morning we have Your sure word and Your promise. We thank You that these things point us to You and we thank You that in You we have no need to worry that You will ever fail.

[45:30] We thank You that we can trust You as our great high priest. Help us to see how amazing that is. Help us to see how life-changing that is and help us to see what that results in for our life and our future.

[45:49] Lord, we thank You in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.