As it Was 2 palm sunday

Jesus our High Priest (we were slaves, but now we’re free)

Whats the first thing that comes to mind to you guys when you hear the word slave?

most of us jump directly to human slavery.

its haunting to think back to realize that it wasn’t allllllll that long ago where one human could literally own another.

can YOU become a slave today?

heart breakingly even today in far distant corners of the world human slavery is still a thing.

can you become a slave to something rather than someone?

have you ever felt trapped by something way outside your control?

A lot of times our struggle with sin can become over whelming. and we allow it to. our flesh’s desire to have, hold, take whatever it wants is powerful.

But even as powerful as sin can be over our lives the blood of Jesus is stronger.

The bible tells us where sin abounds, Grace abounds more-so.

Romans 5:20–21 NLT

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

so I’m telling you guys this morning that there is freedom from that weight. that overwhelming weight that sin will put on you.

in the area’s of your life where you are dead there is life to be had.

there’s freedom through Jesus. It’s a gift, “a new covenant” that God gave freely when Jesus died on the cross.

So now the Question becomes, are you willing to take it.

The Old vs New Covenant.

to understand just how incredible this gift we call the “new covenant” we need to understand what a covenant is and how the “old one” worked.

In the Old testament. God made Abraham a promise that he would build a great nation out of him and his descendants (genesis ch 15)

In Exodus God formally introduces the Covenant to the Nation of Isreal along with the ten commandments the Israelites were instructed to adhere to many more rules that made up the “law”. Laws like tithing, and eating clean meat.

The simple take away is that the old covenant…the “law” was a series lifeless morale demands that no person could ever fulfill under their own power.

every body say “own power”

this is why the “new covenant” needed to be established. this is why we needed Jesus.

the old law was about works, and multiple sacrifices. it was a ministry of fear.

the new covenant is about the Blood of Christ spilled out for everyone. where the old law was written on stone the new law is written in our heart. so much so that with the power of the holy spirit we have the power, not just the power but the desire to be HOLY we have the power to fulfill those instructions and Grace for when we don’t.

the old law was all about condemnation, the new law is about sanctification.

The only way to attone for your sins was through the high priest and sacrifice. And only the priest were in communication with God.

the new covenant is eternal life because we are covered by the spotless high priest. and his name is JESUS.

Jesus our High Priest.

We see this theme all through the Gospel. The priest of the day being corrupt, sanctimonious, self righteous know it alls that spent more time concerning themselves with making sure the rules of tithes and offerings were kept, and making sure everyone looked to them to be the pillar of Gods people.

Jesus calls them out for this he calls the priest guides or fools (which in that day in age was a huge insult to them. calling them fools is accusing them of rebelling against God.

Matthew 23:24

Matthew 23:24 NLT

Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!

This means they were so quick to nit pick at the small things people were doing all while turning a blind eye to the massing sins they were committing . Jesus goes on to tell them they’re so worried about how they look on the outside but inside they’re dirty.

these were just more in a long line of high priest throughout history that acted in a same way. all more worried about themselves rather than God.

Can you imagine living in a world like that. LIke you have one person. one person in the entire world that can come before God to mediate your sins. One person and that person is so self absorbed, so corrupted by greed that they refuse unless you give your tithes down to the finest gram.

what if you got on their bad side? how many times have we gotten off on the wrong foot with someone?

what if this priest just flat out didn’t like you. How disconnected for God would we feel?

So for that thank God for the cross. Thank you jesus for coming to be the new high priest.

Hebrews 8:1–2 NLT

Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

Hebrews 8:6 NLT

But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

why is this important? because the old hight priest were just as much in need of a saviour as the rest of us.

but there was no works than could be done so sacrifice large enough to save the people living outside the covenant of God.

until Jesus came. The new High Priest. the one who as the bible says understands our weakness. understands them and doesn’t make a mockery of you in the midst of your struggle. because he faced every single one of them as us and did it all without sinning.

because of this the bible says this

Hebrews 4:16 NLT

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.