My Way is a song that was popularised in 1969 by Frank Sinatra.
His version of My Way, in fact, spent 75 weeks in the UK Top 40,
a record which stands today.
And what is interesting about this song
is that it is the most frequently played song at British funeral services.
It beats songs like Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python
and Simply the Best by Tina Turner,
which are also quite popular funeral songs, by the way.
And although this particular song became Frank Sinatra's signature work,
his daughter Tina says that Sinatra came to, in fact, hate the song.
He thought the song was self-serving and self-indulgent,
and as it turns out, it wasn't played at his funeral.
It portrays a life that is lived by my own rules.
It's lived my way.
I live life my way, my agenda, my standards.
I want to do what I want without any sort of constraints by anyone else.
It pretty much sums up the attitude of the Western world
with its rampant individualism.
As it turns out, although Sinatra hated the song,
it was a favourite of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.
He used to play the song with increasing volume from his prison cell
while he stood on trial for crimes against humanity.
He too did it his way.
And as we look into Leviticus 8 to 10,
we'll see that God expects people to approach him his way, God's way.
But as we will find out, his way leads to joy.
To do it your way, our way, any other way, in fact, leads to death.
We're spending, as Sam has indicated,
six weeks in this strange world of Leviticus.
Last week we saw that Genesis introduces to a ruined race
because of disobedience to God's word.
Adam and Eve are thrown out of the Garden of Eden,
out of God's presence, a paradise which God had created,
was lost in Genesis 3.
Exodus introduces us to a redeemed people
who are miraculously rescued from slavery in Egypt by God.
God gathers them as his people
and makes a covenant agreement with them
to be his special people through Moses.
And this leads us to Leviticus,
where God reveals how his people are now to live in this new relationship
and how it works out in every detail of life.
They're to live as new people,
living distinct lives amongst the nations.
And the immediate background to Leviticus
is Exodus 25 to 40,
the last bit of the book of Exodus.
And it's all about the construction of the tabernacle.
And the word tabernacle means dwelling.
The tabernacle was meant to symbolize the paradise
that the human race had lost back in the Garden of Eden.
And we saw that many of the details of the tabernacle
reflected the details of the Garden of Eden.
And by the end of Exodus,
the tabernacle is built.
And God is again dwelling amongst his people.
But there's a problem.
As we saw last week,
Moses is standing outside the tabernacle.
God has taken up residence in his dwelling, the tabernacle,
but there is no way yet that he's open for humanity to approach him,
much less to have any relationship or fellowship with him.
And so how does one get inside?
How does one get back into paradise with God?
God, what's missing from this new creation,
this tabernacle which symbolized new creation,
what's missing from it is the pinnacle of the first creation.
People.
People aren't there.
And God intends to solve that problem.
And we saw that right at the beginning of Leviticus
when God speaks to Moses
and he says,
when an Adam among you brings an offering.
Now that's the crisis that sets up the beginning of Leviticus.
And the first ten chapters
addresses this crisis
of how the tabernacle,
the dwelling place of God,
the tabernacle as it's called in in Exodus,
becomes the tent of meeting,
which is what it's called at the beginning of Leviticus.
These chapters are about how the dwelling of God
becomes the tent where God meets
in fellowship with his people.
And this is crucial.
This is a crucial point.
Because the covenant relationship
that God established with his people
requires far more than just
an awe-inspiring reality of God's presence on earth.
Its chief purpose
is for humanity to fellowship
with its creator.
Last week we saw the various sacrifices
that were required of God.
Today we are going to focus
in chapters 8 to 10
and see that a mediator
needs to stand
between an infinitely holy God
and finite sinful human beings.
There needs to be someone in between.
Chapter 8.
It is Aaron who is set apart,
consecrated as a high priest.
He's ordained as a high priest.
Aaron and his descendants
are to play the role
of the new Adam
in this new creation,
in this tabernacle drama
of system of worship.
Aaron will be the mediator
between God and his people.
He is the link
that turns the tabernacle
into the tent of meeting.
The link that mediates
fellowship between Israel
and the God
of heaven and earth.
Now I think
as we think about the idea of mediator,
it's really important for us
to grapple with this.
You see,
one principle
of professional mediation
is the assumption
that the mediator
is an independent
individual
whose goal it is
to achieve
a mutually satisfying
outcome
for two
parties
which are having
biffo with one another.
And if we think
of Israel's priests
as a literal mediator
in the modern sense,
we will get
the wrong impression.
The chief role
of priestly mediation
was not between
two aggrieved persons
but with only
one
offended
party.
God alone
had the right
to be offended
by the disobedience
of his people.
God was faithful,
he was loyal
to his people
but they were not
loyal to him.
And what's more,
the priestly mediator
was himself
a sinner
and required
a resolution
to his own
offense
against God
before he could
represent the
Israelite individual
or in fact
the nation
before God.
And so this
priestly mediator
was not to
seek a compromise,
he was not to
enter into
negotiations
and try and
nudge God
a little bit this way
a little bit that way.
There's no
two way street here.
There was no
negotiations to be
sorted out.
As we say today,
it was God's way
or the highway.
Now at first glance
that might seem
a little bit tough,
a little bit strict,
you know,
God demanding
complete compliance.
I mean,
you know,
what if we,
you ought to have
a little bit of
negotiation here.
What if we just
negotiate a little bit
and maybe 90%
might do?
God says,
no,
it's his way
or the highway.
The most notable
phrase which is
attached to the
activities of
chapters 8 and 9
is the phrase,
just as the
Lord commanded.
God expected
his word
to be
obeyed
just as he did
in the Garden of Eden.
And yet,
from our modern
sense,
we approach that
and we go,
you know,
let's find a middle
ground here.
Wouldn't it be
a bit more reasonable,
maybe even loving
of God,
if God wasn't
so uptight
on complete
obedience?
Maybe a little,
he's a bit too
rigid here.
Maybe we could
just negotiate
with God.
I remember
many years ago
sitting,
talking to a person
about the Christian
faith and I said,
so,
you know,
what would happen
if God all of a
sudden appeared to
you and stuff like
that or you
died now,
went to front God
and he said,
well,
you know,
I'd take a six-pack
with me.
And he said,
we'd go out
back door of heaven
there somewhere,
sit on the step
and we'd have a few
beers and we'll
negotiate.
He said,
it'll all be fine.
It'll all be fine.
You see,
what we're going to see
is that the tabernacle,
its sacrifices,
the priests,
were in fact
God's gracious
bending
towards sinful
men and women.
You see,
without this provision,
the provision
that God initiated,
without this provision,
they would have
faced the consequences
of unforgiven sins,
permanently cut off
from God
and the blessing
of his presence
forever.
And so,
in chapter 8,
we have the ordination
of Aaron
and his sons
as priests.
These are the new
Adams in this
new paradise
sacrifice.
And what we see
here is this
elaborate process.
There's robes
and sacrifices.
And it lasted
about a week
while they camped
in the grounds,
the courts
of the tent
of meeting.
Back in 1997,
December 1997,
I think it was
December sometime
in 1997,
I got ordained
as a deacon
in the Anglican Church.
I was ordained,
I was set apart
for ministry
in the worldwide
Anglican Church.
And so,
it's an ordination
process.
My ordination
process took
about an hour
and a quarter,
something like that.
And I didn't
have elaborate robes.
I had these things
that I had to wear.
And they're nice,
aren't they?
And the most
significant thing
of this
is this thing here,
in my opinion.
This thing here.
This symbolizes,
this is called
a preaching scarf.
This symbolizes
my chief duty.
The thing that
I was set apart
for was to bring
the word of God
to God's people,
to his creation,
to continually proclaim
the gospel everywhere.
And so,
in my ordination,
I wore this thing.
Now,
in my ordination service,
and I'm pretty sure
this didn't happen to Aaron,
but it happened to me.
I was,
what I had to do was,
I wore this garb on,
and I'm not used
to wearing dresses,
not before and not since.
And I wasn't used
to wearing this.
And what happened was,
you had to kneel
before the bishop,
the bishop lays his hands
on you,
he prays for you,
and sets you apart
for ministry
within the Anglican Church.
And as I came
and knelt before the bishop,
what I didn't realize
was that I'd actually
stepped on the bottom
of these things,
and I knelt down.
And when I went
to get up,
I went bang,
and I went forward,
and I landed
in the bishop's lap.
He wasn't sure
whether to lay hands
on me again
at that point
or what to do.
I was terribly embarrassed
because I'm like,
I can't,
I sort of had to grab hold
of him in order
to get my feet
off these things.
And it was incredibly
embarrassing.
The bishop didn't know
what to do,
but the archdeacon
over the side here
who was leading the service
was killing himself laughing.
He thought it was
the funniest thing
he'd seen at ordination service.
Now that didn't happen,
Aaron,
from what I could tell
from the text here.
And he was being,
he had a slightly
different job
than I have here,
but he had a very,
very significant role.
He was,
as I said,
the new Adam
coming into this paradise.
And up until this point,
Moses had been the mediator
between God and his people.
And now the role
of the high priest
will become
the most significant
relationship
in God relating
to his people.
In chapter 10,
God,
for the first time,
starts speaking
directly to Aaron.
It is a significant honor.
And all the expectations
of the ordination service
in chapter 8
and the very first
worship service
in the tabernacle
in chapter 9
is expressed
in chapter 9,
verse 4.
It says,
For today,
the Lord will appear
to you.
You see,
they knew the cloud
had descended
on the tabernacle.
What they hadn't seen,
they hadn't seen
the glory of God.
They hadn't come
face to face
with God.
That's the expectation
here.
This is the opportunity
that God gives for,
this is the way forward
for people to come
into his paradise
sacrifice.
And the climax
of the ordination service
and the first worship service
is,
and in fact,
the climax
of the first
nine chapters
of Leviticus
is there
in verse 22
of chapter 9.
Aaron lifted his hands
towards the people
and blessed them.
And having sacrificed
the sin offering,
the burnt offering,
the fellowship offering,
that is,
he did all the offerings
he was required,
he stepped down.
Moses and Aaron
then went into
the tent of meeting
and when they came out,
they blessed the people
and the glory of the Lord
appeared to all the people.
Fire came out
from the presence
of the Lord
and consumed the burnt offering
and the fat portions
on the altar.
And when all the people
saw it,
they shouted for joy
and they fell
face down.
Let me tell you,
we read those verses
really quickly,
but it is very,
very difficult.
In fact,
I want to say
it's impossible for me
to overstate the wonder
of what's just happened there.
The crisis
which is there
at the end of Exodus
has now been resolved
as two human beings
are allowed
into the very presence
of God
for the first time
since the flood.
First time
since the flood.
Fellowship
has been restored.
And notice three things.
Firstly,
that entering
into the presence
of God
is allowed only
after the sacrifices
have been performed.
Sacrifices first.
Secondly,
notice that
this is a corporate experience.
The phrase
the people
occurs four times
from verse 22
to the end
of that chapter.
While Marozos and Aaron
are given entry
into God's presence,
the purpose
of them being given
entry into God's presence
is for the sake
of the people.
Their entrance
means that
all the people
get to see
the glory
of God.
And thirdly,
as a result
of approaching
God
in accordance
to His word,
God's glory
is revealed
and the response
of the people
is joy.
This is the moment
they've been waiting
for for so long
and it's met
with the most
fitting response.
They shout for joy
and they fell
on their faces.
That's the goal
of the tabernacle.
That's the goal
of the tent
of meeting.
God's glory
being revealed
and people
responding
in appropriate
joy,
praise
and humble
praise.
So,
it was difficult
for me to overstate
the,
this being,
just how much
euphoria and joy
there would be
at this moment.
And it's also
incredibly hard
for me to overstate
the crisis
that immediately
followed.
One crisis
is resolved
and another one
has begun.
they go
from ecstasy
to agony.
You see,
like their father
who was high priest,
Nadab and Abihu
were also priests.
And we read
in chapter 10,
the very first verse,
Aaron's sons,
Nadab and Abihu
took their senses,
put fire in them,
they added incense
and they offered
unauthorized fire
before the Lord
contrary to his
command.
God.
It's,
it's incredibly
puzzling to know
why these guys
did this.
These guys
had a privileged
upbringing.
They witnessed
God's revelation
of himself
to Israel
through,
if you like,
ringside seats,
front and center,
you know,
box seats,
A-grade box seats.
They had been
among the select
group that approached
Mount Sinai.
When Moses went up
to speak with God,
they had spent
a week communion
with God
and preparing
for his service
in the,
in the tabernacle
courts.
They had seen
the fire
come out
from the Holy of Holies,
the most holy place
with their very own eyes.
You see,
these guys are not
rookies.
They're not,
you know,
they're not,
teenagers,
you know,
in the service.
They're not brand new.
They're not just
straight out of college
kind of stuff.
Perhaps they were
carried away
by all the excitement.
They wanted the experience
to continue,
so they attempted
to duplicate
the experience
of duplicating
the glory of God
by revealing
God's fire,
which inevitably
they actually did.
perhaps they might
have been
a little bit tipsy.
The excitement
and the euphoria
of the moment
led them to
drink a little bit
too much communion wine.
I don't know.
I mean,
verse 8 of chapter 10,
so the very next time
that God speaks,
He says,
don't drink wine
when you come
into my presence,
so maybe they'd
had a bit too much.
Whatever they were thinking,
it seems that they believed
that the specific command
to present the offerings
in a precise way
that were prescribed
by the Lord
were not necessary
to follow
in this moment.
What they offered
was referred to
by Moses
as contrary
to God's command.
Nadab and Abihu
decided to approach
the Lord
on their terms,
their way.
And the Lord
even warns Aaron,
the high priest,
the holiest man
in the land,
that he cannot
enter God's presence
whenever he likes,
however he wants to.
A friend of mine
works,
in fact,
did work
for a large
multinational corporation.
He was the head
of a team.
One of his teams
was a bit of a problem
to deal with
that he led
and he discovered
that this team member
one day.
Instead of reporting
an issue
with him directly,
he went over him
and went over his report
and went over him
and knocked on the door
of the CEO
of this large,
we're talking thousands
of employees
in this company,
thousands of employees,
knocked on the door
of the CEO.
The CEO
opens the door,
says,
come on in,
and sat down.
This guy made
his complaint
and the CEO
took a bunch of notes,
who do you report to,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
wrote it all down
and then he said,
I'll stop you there.
He said,
we have a system
in place
that you haven't followed.
How dare you
knock on my door
and come to me
with a complaint
like this,
jumping over
all of our systems.
You have ignored
the way
to approach
the CEO,
if you like.
He was marched
out of the office.
My mate found out
about this
because he got
a phone call
from the CEO
immediately
and said,
this bloke
on your team?
Yep, he does.
I want him gone
in three months.
Out of here
in three months.
You cannot
approach God
any way you like.
So verse 2,
fire came out
for the presence
of the Lord
and consumed them
and they died
before the Lord.
You see,
the fire
that had generated
such joy
and such blessing
for the people
just moments ago
was now
a source
of death
and fear.
And the tragedy
of this whole affair
is in verse 4,
Moses summoned
Mishael
and Eliphaz,
that guy,
sons of Aaron's
uncle,
Uziel,
and said to them,
come here,
carry your cousins
outside the camp
away from the front
of the sanctuary.
And so they came
and carried them
still in their tunics
outside the camp
as Moses ordered.
Nadab and Abihu
were cut off
from God
in the most dramatic way
and now they're removed
from the presence
of God,
even removed
from the presence
of his people.
What we're meant
to see here
is that Nadab
and Abihu
are in fact
thrown out
of paradise
again
just as Adam
and Eve were
when they disobeyed
God's word.
And so what we're
left with here
is this is
a moment of euphoria
and so
has God's plans
of how people
will approach him,
has it failed?
Has this whole
sacrificial system,
the way that God
has constructed
for people
to have fellowship
with him,
that people might
see his glory,
that people might
be at one-ment
with him,
have atonement,
has it failed?
Is the human race
forever doomed
now from this moment
to be in a situation
that Nadab
and Abihu
are currently in,
dead,
out of the presence
of God,
forever?
We saw last week
that the sacrifices
were insufficient
and now the mediators
we see,
the priests themselves
are flawed.
I mentioned last week
that Leviticus
is a blueprint
of something
that's greater to come
and when you've got
something that's greater
you don't need
the blueprint anymore.
God's disclosure
of himself
to his people
has its fullest expression
in the person
of the Lord Jesus.
We see this
as the beginning
of the New Testament.
If you go to the beginning
of his biography
on the life of Jesus,
John makes an incredible claim.
He says,
in the beginning
was the Word.
That is,
this Word existed
before anything was made
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God
in the beginning
and through Him,
that's through the Word,
all things were made.
Without Him,
nothing was made
that has been made.
That is,
this Word
who existed before time
is God
and He is the Creator,
the Maker
of the heaven and earth.
And then down
in verse 14,
we see something
startling about
this Word of God
who is God,
who is the Creator
of heaven and earth.
It says,
this Word
became flesh
and made His dwelling
amongst us.
And the Word dwelling
there
is quite literally
the Word
tabernacled
amongst us.
God came
and tabernacled
amongst His people.
The God
who reveals Himself
decided to come
into His world
to reveal His glory
in all its splendor,
tabernacled amongst us,
dwelt amongst us.
He turned up.
And it says there,
a little bit further on,
we have seen His glory,
the glory of the one
and only
who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
And you ask yourself
the question,
who is this Word
who is God
who existed before creation,
who created everything,
who came and dwelled
amongst us
and is full of grace
and truth,
who reveals the majesty
and splendor of God?
And verse 16
of John 1 tells us,
from the fullness
of His grace,
we have all received
one blessing from another.
For the law
was given through Moses,
but grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ.
You see,
the big issue of Leviticus
is how is it possible
for a human being
to be in the presence of God?
And here we are told
that the Creator God
became a human being
to come into our presence,
to dwell amongst us.
And it says that
we see His glory,
which means that
when Jesus arrived,
God's character
was on full display
for the world to see.
That's what John 1 says.
He came to His own
to reveal the presence,
to reveal the character
and the glory of God,
but they rejected Him.
What John 1 says
is the transcendent God,
the one who dwells
in invisible light
has made Himself known,
become visible.
And then we see
in verse 12 of John 1
that those who believe
in His name,
that it's the name of Christ,
He gave the right
to become children of God.
You see,
not only does God come
and tabernacle,
not only does Jesus
become the tabernacle
with His people,
but He opens up the way
for intimate relations
that we might become
children of God.
And how does He do that?
Well, Leviticus,
sorry, Hebrews 7
explains it
in the language
of Leviticus.
It says,
Now there have been
many of those priests
and since death
prevented them
from continuing in office,
but because Jesus
lives forever,
He is a permanent priesthood.
Therefore,
He is able to save
completely
those who come
to God through Him
because He always lives
to intercede for them.
Such a high priest
truly meets our needs,
one who is holy,
blameless,
pure,
set apart from sinners,
exalted above the heavens.
So Jesus is the tabernacle,
the place where God dwells,
the place of meeting.
He is the perfect high priest.
He is not flawed
like the other priests.
He lived the life
of perfect obedience
to His Father.
And what's more,
it says there
that He's a high priest
who's still alive.
He's not dead like the rest.
He has a permanent priesthood
offering as a mediator
between us and God
forever.
And unlike,
it keeps going on
in Hebrews,
it says,
unlike the other high priest
who He does not need
to offer sacrifices
day after day,
first for His own sins
and then for the sins
of His people,
He sacrificed
for their sins
once and for all
when He offered Himself.
So He's the tabernacle
set up as the place
where the sacrifices
are met,
where the mediator
would go in.
He's the mediator
who offers the sacrifices
and He is the sacrifice Himself.
He offers the perfect sacrifices,
the perfect priest.
The contrast is significant.
Under the old covenant,
the priest would slaughter
an animal,
would sprinkle its blood,
he'd be required
to do it again
and again
and again.
In fact,
to symbolize
the never-ending nature
of the work
of the priest
in the old covenant,
if you look
at the construction blueprints
for the tabernacle,
there were no seats
in the tabernacle.
That is,
the priest was not meant
to sit down.
They were never
to have rest
from their work.
It was to happen
again and again
and bungee on
and bungee off
and fly in and fly out
and just again
and again
and again.
However,
Jesus offered Himself
as a sacrifice.
He took His own blood
in the very presence of God.
the heavenly sanctuary
and He did it
once for all
and then it says,
He sat down
at the right hand
of the throne
of the majesty
in heaven.
The job's done.
Nat and I
have just ended
a new phase of life.
For the first time
in nine years,
we get a day off together,
actually it's six hours,
with our kids.
All of our kids
are now at school
and so a lot has changed,
we've noticed,
since kids arrived
and one of the things,
it's not just sleeplessness,
that's one thing,
but one thing
that particularly notice
is the inability
for us to have
an ordered house
for any longer
than 20 minutes.
That's one thing
we've noticed.
With kids,
cleaning becomes
a meaningless,
repetitive task.
The house
never remains clean
for any length of time.
I'm astounded
that you get
how quickly
toothpaste ends up
on the vanity mirror,
even when teeth
haven't been cleaned.
I don't get it.
I really don't get it.
You wash everything
in the laundry pile
and you'll still discover
clothing on a shelf,
there'll be some
in the backyard,
even in the fridge.
I mean,
it's,
go figure.
And before those clothes
are even dry
and packed away,
there are more clothes
to wash.
That's,
that's what the sacrifice,
the Old Testament's like.
Never ending.
No time to sit down
and go,
oh, it's fine.
You read the newspaper.
Jesus appeared
once for all
to do away
with the sin
by the sacrifice
of himself.
We don't have to go
through meaningless
repetition
of ineffective sacrifices.
We can trust
in Christ's
effective sacrifice
once and for all,
a sacrifice
which does not
need repeating
because he did the job
first time.
And that's why
Jesus was able to say
a little later
in John's Gospel,
I am the way,
the truth,
and the life,
and no one comes
to the Father
except through me.
There is no basis
for acceptance
apart from the reality
of God
offering himself
in Christ
as the purging
and the reconciling
offering
for our sins.
It means that
all peoples,
different ethnicities,
languages,
and cultures
have a common place
at the foot of the cross.
There is no other way
to the God
than through Jesus.
Now you might be
sitting here
tonight thinking
this is all nice
but great way,
great connections
in terms of
how we get to God
but why would I
want to meet with God?
I think that
if you listen
to the secular press
that seems to be
a more popular option
nowadays.
It would be easy
to conclude
that our society,
that in our society
that unbelief
is on the march,
religion is
in significant decline
and yet
belief in God
still makes sense
for four out of five
people in this world.
And there's a whole
number of reasons
why that is the case.
And one of the
most significant reasons
is that deep down,
deep down in the core
of our beings,
there is this sense
of the transcendent.
There's more
to this world
than this world.
A Harvard professor,
James Wood,
in a New Yorker article
titled,
Is That All There Is?
tells of a friend
of his
who's an analytical
philosopher
and a convinced
atheist
who sometimes
wakes up
in the middle
of the night
haunted by questions
like this.
How could it be
that this world
is the result
of an accidental
big bang?
How could there be
no design,
no metaphysical
purpose?
How could it be
that every life,
beginning with my own,
my husband's
and my child's,
and spreading
outward
wood is
cosmically
irrelevant?
Wood himself
is a secular man,
an atheist,
and yet he admits
that as one gets
older
and parents and peers
begin to die
and the obituaries
in the newspaper
are no longer
missives from a
far away pace
but local letters
and one's own
projects seem
more pointless,
such moments
of terror
and incomprehension
seem more frequent
and more piercing.
I could give you
a long list
of names
of people saying
exactly the same thing,
people like Steve Jobs
battling
with his own death
saying,
surely this is not
it,
is it?
See,
in our secular culture
where science
and technology
trumps faith,
there is a growing
sense of science
and technology
while contributing
a whole lot
can't address
the big issues
of life.
If everything
has to be
scientific,
has to have
a scientific
explanation
and proof,
then this
not only
banishes
God
from the world
but it also
banishes things
like love,
hate,
meaning,
which is
a world
and can I
say
a world
self-evidently
not the world
that we live in.
There must be
something more
and Jesus
made the claim
that he is
the one
who connects
you
with the
something more,
with the
heavenly father,
with the maker
of heaven
and earth,
the one
who has
all of history,
as we just
had a brief
look at tonight,
all of history,
all time and
eternity
in his hands,
the one
who delights
to fellowship
with his creation.
And if you
are sitting here
tonight,
you have that
sense that
something's
missing,
I would
implore you
to investigate
Jesus.
You'll be
amazed at
all the
things he
said,
all the
things he
did,
and the
perfect life
he lived.
Try and
pick up.
Try and
pick holes
in his
life.
Now,
if you're
a Christian
then,
on the
other hand,
and I
want to
mention four
things of
application
here very
briefly.
First,
realize that
Jesus'
sacrifice
cleanses you
through and
through.
This is
not some
sort of
external
washing that
makes you
look okay
to the
naked eye.
It is an
internal
washing that
means that
you stand
up clean,
pure,
right under
the all
knowing eye
of God.
When God
himself comes
looking for
your sin,
for your
blemishes,
he can't
find anything.
It's all
being taken
away.
Secondly,
be thankful.
The best
way to
apply the
truth of
the passage
that we've
seen today
is to go
home,
to sit
down in a
quiet spot
and praise
God for
what he
has done
for you.
At the
end of
Hebrews,
again,
in the
context of
talking about
the sacrifice
of Jesus,
it says
this,
through
Jesus,
therefore,
let us
continually
offer to
God a
sacrifice of
praise,
the fruit of
lips that
openly confess
his name
and do not
forget to do
good and to
share with
others,
for with
such sacrifices
God is
pleased.
What are the
sacrifices God
is pleased with
his people?
The sacrifice of
thanksgiving for
what he's done.
thirdly,
please note
that if you're
in Christ,
you have a
new designation,
you've got a
new role.
It's alluded
to in
Hebrews 13,
but made
explicit in
1 Peter 2
verses 9 and
10,
it says,
but you are a
chosen people,
a royal
priesthood.
If you are
in Christ,
if you're
united to the
perfect priest,
the perfect
mediator,
you too
have become
a priest,
those who
put their
trust in
Jesus are
now designated
priests,
so that,
the reason
is,
going on in
1 Peter,
it says,
so that you
may declare
the praises
of him who
called you
out of darkness
into his
wonderful light.
You have
been redeployed
in Christ's
service as a
priest standing
in his presence,
giving praise
to him and
declaring to
the nations
the praise
worthiness of
Christ.
The Christian
church is a
kingdom of
priests.
with Jesus
as their
benevolent ruler
and they're
called to
mediate the
gospel of the
good news of
Christ to
the world
and to each
other.
That's your
role.
That's the
role of the
church, to
mediate this
gospel news to
the world and
to each other.
This is not
just a role
designated for
people like me
who have to
wear funny
dresses occasionally.
every Christian
is called
upon to be a
witness to the
gospel of Jesus
Christ to the
nations, to
declare his
praiseworthiness to
the nations.
Finally,
realize that you
have unlimited
access to the
Father's presence.
What a privilege
that is.
What a privilege
that is.
I mean, what
some of us
wouldn't give to
be able to get
on the end of
the phone to
the most powerful
person in the
world.
I'm not sure it's
Don Trump anymore.
But wouldn't it,
I mean, what we
would give in
order to swing
something our
way.
And what a
privilege it is to
be able to go in
the very presence of
God, the one who
made this world,
and to be able to
do it at any time
and to be able to
call him Father,
I'm your much
loved child,
Father, to be
able to speak to
him.
Now friends, can
I make, can you
make sure that you
that you use that
privilege?
Don't believe the
lie of the devil
that says that
you're not worthy
to go there and
you're not worthy
to call him
Father and he's
not interested in
hearing from you.
And in fact, he's
probably ignoring
your prayer request
anyway.
It's not on the
basis of your
worthiness that you
approach, but on
the basis of
Christ's
worthiness.
In Christ, God
sees you as
perfectly righteous,
as perfectly
obedient to the
covenant, and so
you're always worthy
to approach the
Father through the
Son.
Say, Father,
Father, what a
privilege.
Use it.
Father.
For sale.