Greater Than (9)
Notes
Transcript
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
Good morning. It is good to be back home. We had an amazing week ministering to Navajo or Dine’ people and we appreciate all your prayers. We are going to set up a night in the next few weeks where you will be able to hear from everyone, but please ask them questions about their experiences.
Today also is Father’s Day. We wanted to give you a little trinket to remind you that as fathers you not only point the way for your family, you lead in the direction they are going.
Absent Fathers is an epidemic in our country. 1 in 4 children are growing up in homes with no father figure in the home. These homes have the highest rates of poverty, school drop outs, behavioral and crime issues, and homelessness. Fathers are important. So, thank you for waht you do.
Today we are continuing our journey through Hebrews so please turn in your Bibles or ask Goole to turn to Hebrews 9.
When you think about the greatest places you have ever been, which one is the best?
According to Google AI:
Machu Pichu, Peru -Rome, Italy - Banff National Park , Canada - Great Barrier Reef, Australia - The Maldives - Petra, Jordan - Paris, France - Bora Bora , French Polynesia - Great Pyramid of Giza , Egypt.
Interesting no one mentioned church?
For the Jews it was the Temple and before the Temple it was the Tabernacle.
That is the place they felt connected to God and each other.
For some today it is the church. We want it to be comfortable and inspiring.
For others it is that special vacation location or their home where they find peace.
All of these are great spaces, but today I want us to talk about the greater Sanctuary.
Please stand with me as we read the most important words you will hear today.
1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.
3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing
Let’s pray.
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
Leonard Ravenhill once said:
“The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural.”
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
We have always had sacred spaces.
For the Jews it was the Tabernacle then the Temple, for us it has varied form the church to our home.
No matter what we try or do, they always fall short.
The Jews eventually though more of he Temple than the God it was made for, like many do for the church today.
You know: no coffee or food, you can’t use the pews to build a fort for a nerf war.
These are just shadows of something far greater.
As followers of Christ, we are both citizens of of two worlds, the earthly and heaven ly.
As we walk through this broken world, we walk by faith and assurance of the things unseen.
For believers, seeing is not believing, but believing is seeing.
Our earthly sanctuaries always falls short of our heavenly one.
1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.
Our earthly sanctuaries always falls short of our heavenly one.
The earthly sanctuary is made by man - it would need repair, for the tabernacle it was limited geographically.
The tabernacle belonged to the Jews, as many churches today seek to designate who is welcome and who is not.
It was merely a model of something greater.
2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,
4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
Our earthly sanctuaries always falls short of our heavenly one.
It was separated from common to Holy place to holy of holies.
It was not accessible to everyone
6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
Our earthly sanctuaries always falls short of our heavenly one.
It is temporary
8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing
Our earthly sanctuaries always falls short of our heavenly one.
This will all go away
Even the ministry done in the tabernacle through sacrifice just covered up but never removed the sin.
The heavenly sanctuary is greater than anything we could dream of.
It’s eternal and does nit deteriorate.
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
The heavenly sanctuary is greater than anything we could dream of.
The ministry is effective.
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
The heavenly sanctuary is greater than anything we could dream of.
As we have said the animal sacrifices only covered, Christ’s sacrifice cleanses.
Nothing you and I do cleanses.
This is temporary versus eternal.
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
The heavenly sanctuary is greater than anything we could dream of.
The cost of entrance is so much more.
19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
But with Christ
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
The heavenly sanctuary proves Christ’s sacrifice is enough.
24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
The heavenly sanctuary proves Christ’s sacrifice is enough.
Jesus’ death is one and done.
Notice it says appears 3 times -
He appeared to put away our sin - vs 26
He is appearing in the presence of God on our behalf - vs 24
He will appear to take us Home
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
The heavenly sanctuary proves Christ’s sacrifice is enough.
This is all about His finished work - past present and future.
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
So what do we do with this?
Our sanctuary is in Heaven - our Father is in Heaven, our Savior is in Heaven, our citizenship is in Heaven, and our treasures should be in Heaven.
If this is all so, then we should live like it.
Men should lead their families with eternity in mind.
We should serve our neighbors with eternity in mind.
We should give of our time talent and treasure with eternity in mind.
Billy Graham once said:
“The Bible says that as long as we are here on Earth, we are strangers in a foreign land. There are enemies to be conquered before we return home. This world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven.”
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
Great Space /Greater Sanctuary
SO dad how are you leading?
Church how are we serving?
Everyone how are we giving?
This is not our home, and we should stop trying so hard to make it that.
Let’s pray
