Great Truths of the Reformation -2- Direct Access

Reading: 1Pet 2:4-12

— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:5 (NIV)

I. God’s New Address

   A.    The Tabernacle and the Temple

       1.    In Old Testament times God was primarily available to his people through the Tabernacle or the Temple

       2.    All of the rituals of forgiveness and cleansing had to be performed at just one place on earth.

   B.    The New Temple

       1.    After Jesus came things changed:

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”                                                                       John 4:19-24 (NIV)

       2.    We — the Church — We are the new temple (v.5)

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.                          Eph. 2:21-22 (NIV)

       3.    That’s why we’re the spiritual house.

II.    Set Apart for Special Service

   A.    Only Priests Allowed

       1.    In the Old Testament, only priests were allowed to perform certain tasks

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: ‘This is what the LORD has commanded: 3 Any Israelite who sacrifices an ox, a lamb or a goat in the camp or outside of it 4 instead of bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD in front of the tabernacle of the LORD—that man shall be considered guilty of bloodshed; he has shed blood and must be cut off from his people. 5 This is so the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices they are now making in the open fields. They must bring them to the priest, that is, to the LORD, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice them as fellowship offerings.                                                                    Lev. 17:1-5 (NIV)

       2.    Only priests were allowed into the part of the temple closest to the holy of holies.

           a.    Because priests were set apart, they were to remain holy.

           b.    God is holy and can only accept the worship and service of those who are holy.

   B.    The Priesthood of all Believers

       1.    Peter tells us here, that we are all priests.

       2.    In fact he calls us a holy priesthood. The fact that we are all priests doesn’t lower the priesthood to the common, but raises the common to the holy.

       3.    Our spiritual exercises are acceptable because of our union with Jesus Christ the great high priest. We could never be holy enough on our own, but that’s taken care of through Jesus Christ.

III.   Acceptable Sacrifices

   A.    Spiritual Sacrifices

       1.    Peter says we are a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices.

           a.    That’s because the ritual sacrificial system was done away with by the one time sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.      Hebrews 10:11-14 (NIV)

       2.    Spiritual sacrifices - or offerings, what are these?

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.                                                  Psalm 51:16-17 (NIV)

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.                                                 Hebrews 13:15 (NIV)

       3.    In other words the kind of sacrifice God wants from us is simply our hearts turned toward him in praise and loving surrender.

   B.    Through Jesus Christ

       1.    Our priestliness and our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

           a.    There are 2 ways to take this:

               (1)  Because of what Jesus did on the Cross to reconcile us (make us acceptable) to God

               (2)  Through our intimate relationship with Jesus — we are one with the One who is acceptable to God.

       2.    Because our priestliness and the acceptability of our sacrifices are dependent on Jesus, we can be sure that God accepts us!

           a.    So, we don’t need a special class of people, through whom we can approach God.

           b.    A certain group of people don’t have a more direct line to God than others (Just check out the average pastor’s golf scores!)

           c.    We can approach God’s throne with confidence, knowing that Jesus has done it all and has made us part of himself.

The Bottom Line:

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)