Jesus our final sacrifice
Notes
Transcript
Good morning
I hope you all have had a great week
I know I am enjoying the weather
Its warming up so lots of stuff to look forward to
Well today’s topic is kinda complicated
So we are going to jump right in
If you haven’t noticed
I love to tackle the complicated issues
Maybe the sermons that we don’t hear to often
Well today I wanted to go over a topic that I believe
Only one pastor preach on!
In 40 years of living
Only one person
So I thought, you know what
Why not
You only live once right
At the same time
God has placed a conviction on my heart
To teach
Maybe not preach
But to teach
I can’t seem to get away from that
So you’ll have to forgive me
But like i’ve always said
The more you understand
The more you know
The more you fall in love with Jesus
I remember I was taking a class on church management
Dr. Aubrey Malphurs mentioned just a
few statistics
Help you understand
Why I am the way I am
83% of Christians do not know the
basics of salvation.
That means 83%
No idea why Jesus died
83% no idea why he had to be resurrected
Because of this Dr. Malphurs says
The youth of today, don’t hate the church
They find it pointless and irrelevant to their lives
It does them no good and no harm
Its just there
This proves the point
as to why our pews are empty
Why it is a fact
Church services and attendance are in decline and
have been for the past two decades
One study in 2014 found that only
75% of Christians believe in the virgin birth
Same study three years later 2017 66%
It was found in another study
87% of Christians cannot accurately describe the
basics of our faith
It is estimated that only 11-15% of Americans
Hold to traditional evangelical beliefs
Evangelical meaning the Virgin Birth
Resurrection of Jesus
Deity of Christ
and even topics such as the rapture
Speaking of the resurrection
One study found
only 46% of surveyed Christians
Believe in the resurrection
Another found only 1/3 believed in life after death
Why?
Why is the church failing in
attendance,
literacy, and even the
very basics
We don’t teach anymore
People recognize this
Youth recognize this
Speaking of youth studies are showing
upwards of 90% of our youth
lose their faith upon leaving highschool
why?
When they enter
their first year of college
That academic tells them they are stupid
That they believe in fairly tails
They have no idea how to defend
They have no idea how to intelligently defend what they believe
why?
Because they don’t understand it themselves
Why?
We have got to get back to the basics
Thats why I chose today topic
Because it lays the foundation for what we believe
It gives us hope
It teaches us that we believe
In truth
Something Real
Something that cannot be disproved
So before I carry off on another tangent
and get lost in the weeds again
Please open your bibles to
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
Please let’s open up in prayer
So today we are going to go into a topic
that is deep
that hits at the very core of sin
That is very foundational to understanding the Bible
Because
There is theme
That I feel many of us just never catch
Or have never been taught
Or maybe have never even recognized
But once you get this theme
Once you get the focus
You begin to understand the entire Bible
The Gospel begins to makes sense
The point of scripture make sense
The cross makes sense
The sermon chaplain Schmitz preached makes sense
That theme folks is our
salvation from sin
We are doomed apart from the cross
In fact from the very beginning
From Genesis 3 on we are separated from God
Separated from His love
Separated from all of His goodness
and
For all eternity
That is
unless there is a solution to the problem
What amazes me
Is that immediately following the sin
Of Adam
God brings about a solution
A Gospel
The good news
A promise of an obedient ruler
That would come and correct the problem
That would unite us with God once again.
Ladies and gentleman
that person is Jesus
But In order to understand the
significance of the cross
The significance of His sacrifice
The significance of our
own depravity
And sin
We have to come to a reality that
we are war with God in our flesh
In our minds
Until we begin to
fully understand the
depths to which we need a savior
We will never understand the cross
I get it
I understand
No one wants to sit here
Think or dwell on how sinful they are
No one wants to look in the mirror
And in complete humility
Say thank you Lord
that I know I’m a sinner
apart from you I am nothing.
No one ever wants to say that naturally
But it’s a point you have to come to
It apart of your psychology
all of us must get to
Because if you never understand
your own depravity
If you never understand
your own sin
You will never understand
your need for a savior
Turn with me to
Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector
Luke 18:9-14
Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This man saw his need for a Savior
He knew he was a sinful man
And he pleaded with God
Begged God
This is where we all must Get
Because the reality
If we never understand our sin
Then we have missed the entire theme and focus of the Bible
I’ve been teaching my soldiers
Everything about this book
From beginning to end
Is about one person
God incarnate
God in the flesh
Its all about
Jesus
How He is going to bring us back to the Garden
How Jesus is going to save humanity from their sin to
rule and reign with Him in eternity as it says in Rev 22
But if we don’t understand the basics we will never grasp
We will never fall in love
We will never fully understand His sacrifice on that cross
So then let’s transition
Because
What was the point of sacrifice?
What did sin do?
What’s the purpose of the sacrificial system?
As we have already discussed Sin
Separates
Convicts
Makes us enemies of God
Why?
You see God is perfect
Holy
Righteous
Blameless
Everything we are not
The Bible says that because we are sinful
Because we are infected with this disease
We cannot be in the presence of God
Why?
To put it frankly
We would die
So then God brings about a method
To satisfy his wrath
To take away the punishment
and folks
I hate to say it
but that punishment is death
I know this topic is difficult to speak on
As a matter of fact I remember at the onset of my ministry
A pastor once told me
You can’t preach on this stuff
It’s too offensive
People don’t like to hear blood
and death
but folks you can’t get around this type of message
Whats unique is that from the beginning of the Bible
Animal sacrifice has always
Been used to gain forgiveness of sins
Just as in the Garden
Leaves were replaced by animal skin
as a type of Christ
So God’s judgment says
You sin, something has to die
What does that mean for you and I
Kind of puts it in perspective doesn’t it
I mean if we are sinners
and God’s judgment says something has to die
Then doesn’t that make you a little bit
More thankful today for Jesus?
Amen?
So
In the law of Moses
Sin is a very serious issues
In fact its so serious
that
Sacrifices are seen continually
Daily
As a matter of fact the more you study
There more you find this theme
This act of sacrifice
Josephus, an ancient historian
Recorded that during one passover
The Jews would sacrifice hundreds of thousands
But to better understand the system
You have to get that all of this fell on the priest
Now
Priests which stood as the mediator between God and the people
And this is important
Pay attention (Stomp the foot)*******
The priest who was the
negotiator the
mediator the
in between
Would offer these sacrifices on behalf of the people
So
Everything went through the priest
Whats interesting though
The Bible says
We never actually gained perfection
Or never met the standard
to be in the presence of God
Through animal sacrifice
As the Bible calls it
It never gained forgiveness of sin
Only satisfaction of God’s wrath
This is proven in
the continuous nature of the sacrifices
Every day these were offered
Man sins
Offers a sacrifice
Satisfies the wrath of God for the moment
and is once again at peace with God
But then man sins again
offers a sacrifice
and on and on and on
every day continuously.
But then once a year
A special sacrifice occured
This is on the day of Yom Kippur
Or the most Holy day
So on this one day the High priest would offer a sacrifice for the nation of Israel
So what would happen is the priest would first
Have to go through a ritual to prepare himself
to become ceremonially pure
He would change his clothes
5x in fact
Bathe
and even offer a sacrifice for his own personal sins
Now what was special about this sacrifice
The priest would enter into the Holy of Holies
or the very presence of God
Stick with me everyone ok?
So the temple or the tabernacle
Had three layers
Outer court
Inner court
and Holy of Holies
The normal every day sacrifices
Happened only in the outer and inner courts
Holy of Holies is where the ark of the covenant is
Anyone remember Raiders of the lost ark?
Indiana Jones
Or am I showing my age?
Anyways the High priest, not just any priest
The High priest would enter the Holy of Holies
on this one day only
He would first offer the sacrifice for himself
He would take the blood of the animal He killed for himself
Offer it as a sacrifice for his own sins
He would enter into the Holy of Holies
Take some of the blood from the sacrifice
Sprinkle it on the Mercy seat
The mercy seat is space on the lid of the Ark
Right between the two angels or cherubim
He would then go out
Kill another animal, this time a goat
Then go back into the Holy of Holies
Sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice
On the Mercy Seat again
This time for the people or the nation of Israel
But again, this would happen year after year
No matter how perfect or how pure
No matter how much preparation
These sacrifices happened every day
every year
and repeated to perfection
So lets go back to our passage of Scripture
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
So then we have a problem
Because if our sin can never be taken away
Then you and I can never be in the presence of God
We are doomed for all eternity
We will never get to heaven
We will never be with God
In fact all these sacrifices are doing is keeping God pouring out His wrath right now
And this is the importance of Jesus
Jesus steps in and becomes the sacrifice we need.
You see we are the violators of God’s law
We are the ones that sin
We are the ones that deserve his wrath
But the reality is
Because of our sin
A sacrifice is owed to God
And this sacrifice must come from the creature that violated the law
But heres the problem
We could never meet the standard required for a perfect sacrifice
I mean its all over the sacrificial system requirements
Leviticus 22 verse 19 A lamb without defect
Leviticus 22 verse 21 must be perfect in every way
Numbers 28 verse 19 A bull without blemish
And on and on,
It can’t just be any sacrifice
It has to be perfect
But if that sacrifice is to be perfect
Then whom among us is worthy
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
So then it becomes obvious
without Jesus we are doomed
He has to be the blameless
spotless
lamb of God
Because there is no one else
Who has lived a perfect
Sinless life
This is why John the Baptist screams out in
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Jesus Christ
Offers himself up as a sacrifice
The perfect sacrifice
As it says in
But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
and in
then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
Have I lost anyone?
Everyone still with me?
Now here is where it gets real interesting
Because in order for the sacrifice to be complete
The ceremony must take place
The blood of the sacrifice must be sprinkled on the mercy seat
Hebrews tell us that following Christs death on the cross
Jesus enters the tabernacle made by God in heaven
and Takes his own blood
And sprinkles it on the Mercy seat
Making the eternal and final sacrifice for our sin
Following this amazing act Jesus sits down at the right of God
as it says in
But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,
Whats even more amazing is the fact that he sat down
This is a symbol that it is over
There was a literal reason why there were no seats int he temple
It symbolized a continual work
a continual pursuit of perfection
a need for sacrifice
but jesus sacrifices himself for his church
then sits at the right hand of the father
And just as he said on that cross!
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
You see,
Without Jesus
We are doomed
There only ever one man
that was qualified
that could offer the sacrifice required
One man that could become the take away the wrath of God to all who believe
and only one man that could become
The high priest that we need
to offer such a sacrifice
One final passage and this I close
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 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.
He was tested
He was tried
And yet he was innocent
He took the punishment
rightfully owed you and I
and willingly offered himself up
as the sacrifice
for your sin
He then entered that heavenly tabernacle
That tabernacle in heaven not made with the hands of man
Sprinkled His own blood on the mercy seat
and sat down at the right hand of the father
and waits until the father says,
Go get your bride.
Like I said at the beginning
You’ll never get this
You’ll never understand his purpose
unless you understand you’re own position before God
That you are a sinner in need of a savior.
He did what we could never do,
By His sacrifice we look to Him in awe
In desperate thanks
Devoted entirely to living a life trying to repay His mercy
Not to achieve some standard
but to say thank you for all He has done.
If you have never made that choice to accept His forgiveness
If you have never made that commitment to our Lord and Savior
Don’t wait another day.
You may not have another day
Come to cross
and surrender your life over to Him.
Make Him your Lord and Savior.
Let’s pray
Before you leave I ask you all please stand for the benediction
‘May the Lord bless you
and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor
and give you his peace.’