Published: September 24, 2023 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Worship 1 - Part 3 | Scripture: Hebrews 10:1-24
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our discussion from last week and then just right now briefly summarizing we were talking about the regulative principle the idea that that which is not prescribed in
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scripture regarding the worship of God is thereby forbidden it is a safer path than the Lutheran path that says that that which is not
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prohibited by God In Worship Is thereby permitted that view that view leaves a lot open to the creativity of
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into what is called worship that if he were aware of it would cause Martin Luther to rethink his assessment of his position on the regular principle
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because in the 16th century the imagination was not that wild in terms of of what they might have thought was acceptable in worship I don't think Luther said that you know
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interpretive dance was okay in 16th century Wittenberg I doubt it but what goes for worship today all right one cannot imagine uh Martin
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Luther being lowered onto the podium by a zip line with with drums accompanying it just doesn't just doesn't comport so I think
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um conservative Christianity have moved toward the calvinist position of regulative principle regulative principle but every time we talk about the regular principle I point out that the New Testament especially
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is um is um empty of any specific instructions we're given guidelines or really we're not even sure we're given guidelines because what we're actually given is a
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historical account of what the early church did church did and that leads to the question that we looked at when we went through the book of Acts in Sunday morning and that is when we read something happening in the
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book of Acts a church doing a certain thing is it historical
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normative in other words Luke is reporting what happened in the early church with the intention that all generations of the church afterward would do the same thing okay so it's historical
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the classic example that's not from the book of Acts but from the Gospel of John is foot washing you know historically we know that during the Last Supper Jesus washed the disciples feet
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disciples feet that's historical that's historical is it normative I mean should the elders be setting up buckets of water at the entrances
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okay considering the job the cleaning crew does on our floors yes maybe we should we're working on that the deacons are working on that um so that's that's a challenge that we
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have as we read our Bible and that is is it are these things things that we are supposed to repeat and there are those who say no they simply are the cultural
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adaptation of Christianity in the first century and they're they're not to be repeated those those who say that are generally
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more on the lacks or side of the regular principle Spectrum in other words we kind of do what we think is best anyhow so we're not bound by what the New Testament did on the other side of the
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spectrum there's that concept that that kind of revived during the 1970s and that is the New Testament Church that we're we're all supposed to be New Testament churches which meant we're
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supposed to model our Gatherings and our liturgy after the New Testament model but that puts us back in the same position we were before and that is the
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New Testament is not terribly specific as to exactly what they did
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that is a very good example thank you uh the the move from the Sabbath The Jewish Sabbath to the Lord's day which is is clearly the first day of the week and we'll be talking about that
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because we also have the other guideline in Acts chapter 2 how often did the early Christians meet according to Luke in Acts chapter 2.
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um anybody for that you know we're going to talk about you know is that that's historical but is it normative are we to meet continually and that's actually a topic of what I'd like
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to do is to actually look at the passages during the series look at the passages that reflect clearly reflect Believers assembling
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and look at what was the purpose of their assembling and what did they do when assembled and how often did they Assemble and see if we can't find patterns
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that we can adapt to and and incorporate into our liturgy our worship um because I don't think we can say that everything that happened historically was intended to happen normatively
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through the church on the other hand I don't think we could say whatever happened historically was irrelevant to subsequent Generations
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subsequent Generations okay because we we know that all scripture has been given to us for our instruction right instruction right so that if something is given to us even foot washing
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foot washing it may not mean that we need to continue that particular that particular ceremony because it wasn't a ceremony it was a social necessity
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and it was a symbol of honor and of subservience but but it certainly it wasn't a ritual that was done for religious purposes it
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was done because your feet were dirty but when we enter into a building it's safe to assume that we have washed we are wearing clean socks
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and shoes and walking on concrete and asphalt most of the way in other words our feet aren't dirty but what about the principle
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yeah get that yeah right um so what what is the principle Behind These historic These historic circumstances and events uh that that's
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something that I think we can we can reach really yes that's exactly the principle is if I your lord do this essentially it's an
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argument from the greater to the Lesser if I do this how much more should you serve one another in other words and it's actually can be it's a positive way of saying another
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thing and that is I am your Lord and Master how dare you Lord it over one another you know the disciples had a problem with that remember
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that they wanted to sit at the right hand of the left hand and they were arguing as to who would be the greatest in the Kingdom they they had a problem with ambition with ambition and so in in a large respect what he's
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doing is is really attacking that pride and that ambition among his disciples saying I'm your Lord I'm your Rabbi and
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I'm washing your feet how much more should you serve one another uh so yeah that's that's exactly the principle the actual and you know there are churches who do foot washing
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the pope does it once a year he washes a few peasants feet you know it's good show makes for a good television uh but you know considering the the popes over
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the years and how they live the rest of the year that's it's patently hypocrisy patently hypocrisy yeah and then people who do it and there are those in Evangelical protestantism
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that that practice foot washing like whatever I don't think that there's anything that prohibits it but I don't see there anything that makes it normative that we do it so when
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we look at the things that um that the church was doing in this idea of a New Testament Church we can't just ignore it I think that's
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when you ignore any part of scripture you're denying the inerrancy of scripture because all things have been given and written for our instruction Maybe by
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example Maybe by precept we have to discern as best we can what stands as an example and what stands as a command okay but you can't just say oh well
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that's just what they did because that's that was their culture and we don't have to do that anymore we don't have to have bread and wine we can have pizza and Coke for communion and that's actually
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been done by the way so uh so but before we even get to that you know the question why do we assemble why do we meet
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you talked last week about the impact of modern individuality or individualism
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and that's a topic that comes up a lot on our Thursday night classes comes up in our sermons because it's it's really the the spirit of of modern Western society and that is
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um you know I am the master of my destiny I am the captain of my fate or the other way around however he said it
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Mark has commented about the T-shirt you know it's all about me that he saw it's all about me um you know we were joking last week about uh Josh's typo at that earlier Church uh brethren we have me to worship
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it's it's funny when things like that happen because they so capture the Zeitgeist you know the spirit of the age and then we have social media and selfies okay
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um but what does that do to our worship what does that do to our walk with the Lord in terms of what the scripture the New Testament especially in Paul's letters even more particularly what does it do
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regarding the nature of the church what is the church is it it's viewed today as a voluntary organization it's it is an institution that is
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entirely voluntary entirely voluntary there are no now no laws regarding mandatory attendance of services and there are no penalties for not attending that was not true in
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colonial America it was not true in Calvin's Geneva it was not true in Roman Catholic Paris there were penalties fines and even imprisonment for not
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attending services on a regular basis which was often more than just once a week so we've come into an age of tremendous personal freedom
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personal freedom and in the church we have used that personal freedom to make assembly purely voluntary and convenient maybe the pendulum has swung a bit too
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far the other way and I think one of the things that that impacts our attitude toward Church is our understanding of what we're
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actually doing when we go to church what are we doing when we go to church
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right but do we understand what that means we've looked last week at the Historical narratives of nadab and abihu who were
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just coming just coming to Worship the Lord right but they were coming with Strange Fire and the fire from the altar leapt out
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and consumed them and then we have ananias and Sapphira they were just coming to Worship the Lord right they were just going to
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church but they had lies in their hearts deception in their heart and they each died on the spot okay two events that I think are on I don't know
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does anybody disagree that those two events are intentionally parallel does anybody disagree with that that we're we're told of ananias and Sapphira
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with the intention that nadab and abihu would come to mind
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did did God continue to burn up Israelites who came before him falsely he did not that was not a regular Temple you know you come before the Lord boy I imagine
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how people would come before the Lord if he had he had okay but he didn't he did it once okay does God continue to strike dead immediately those who come before him in
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the church with lies and deception in their hearts no he is gracious or we would be much fewer
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not necessarily this week but he'll get you next week right if you know your own heart you would definitely come before the Lord with great fear one wonders if you never want to second
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guess God's wisdom but maybe a nadab and abihu or an ananias and Sapphira every now and then okay maybe once a generation okay or when when a new
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denomination starts or somebody plants a new church if a couple people just died on the spot that might help the you know the attitude of he those by those who come before me I
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will be treated as holy right or they will as we read in Acts um 5 verse 11 great fear Came Upon the
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congregation as well as those outside the congregation now that fear hopefully was of a different sort for the two groups okay for believers to fear that that
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should be a different fear than unbelievers because unbelievers abide under the wrath of God believers who abide in Grace nonetheless do we come
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before the Lord knowing him to be holy
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Hebrews Hebrews is an excellent book it's an excellent book a period you know full stop but it's it's an excellent book also book also in our new testament understanding of
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the Old Testament ceremonies because Hebrews is like a commentary on Leviticus Hebrews is looking at the Old Testament law through the lens of Jesus
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he's not doing away with it but giving the sense and the meaning um I mentioned last week that oftentimes when when Christians want to turn up the
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regular principle knob and actually and actually figure out what they can practically do that that is pleasing to God they often
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tend to go back to the Old Testament and try to repeat the things like the dietary laws and the festivals and whatnot they try to repeat the things
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that the Jews did in the church so they're not learning from the Old Testament they're they're trying to mimic it mimic it and we have much to learn
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although very little to imitate from the Old Testament and this is where the book of Hebrews is so wonderful because it teaches us what we need to learn I mean we still need to read the Old Testament
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but it helps us understand what we're reading when we're reading the Old Testament why why all this was going on but it keeps us in the New Testament it keeps us in the New Covenant the
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Covenant as the writer of Hebrew says in chapter 8 that God has written on our hearts so we learn from the Old Testament but we don't go back and repeat it Hebrews 4
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is where we're going to begin
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now each of these passages again there's three of them Hebrews 4 Hebrews 10 and Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. the whole book of Hebrews is is soaked in the Old Testament so many quotes from the Old Testament
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but even beyond the actual quotes from the Old Testament the terminology that the writer is using the the pictures of Aaron of Moses of
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Melchizedek the the of the levitical or the aaronic priests all these pictures these are these are portraits of the Old Testament and yet the writer of Hebrews sees the
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Old Testament as like the school book to teach New Testament Believers what it is we're doing so chapter four beginning in verse 14.
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verse 14. since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who
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cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted when all things just as we are yet without sin let us therefore draw near with a
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confidence to the throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and may find Grace to help in time of need of need what is this
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what is this a picture of what particular event in the Old Testament is being
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mirrored here day of atonement right but instead of the high priest simply passing through the Veil from the holy Place into the holy of
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holies we have a high priest who has passed through notice what he does here okay he he's not just one who every year is
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allowed to go in and offer sacrifices for the people the writer of Hebrew makes it clear throughout that Jesus sacrificed once for all he points out as we'll be talking
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um Thursday evening about the temple he points out that the temple was built according to the pattern of the Heavenly reality the Jews understood the temple to be
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a um an image a symbol of God's creation but also it was a symbol of God's Own
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Eternal dwelling Eternal dwelling and there were concentric levels of approach the center of which being the holy of holies where no man could approach except by
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Blood by appointment and once a year okay so the idea in the temple was was not just to appease the god of Israel so
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that the crops would grow and the calves would would have their babies and everything would go well in the coming year that wasn't the point the point was they were coming before
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the most holy God seeking atonement for their sins they weren't just looking for a good crop they weren't just trying to keep an
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Angry God happy they were coming before The God Who had graciously called them out of all the nations but he remained utterly unapproachably
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holy so the image of the temple was the image of God in heaven
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is a big one right there was a question it's a big money maker for cellos because we played the Brooklyn New Jersey okay so you can make
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in the past few years I just don't feel comfortable anymore to do it because I feel like it's bail worshiped and uh but some people around this reputation idea they think that shallows should actually
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play for free because of such a holy day and then we well definitely leave that to one's own conscience whether they should play for free but Yom Kippur was
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we think of Passover as being the most important Jewish holiday but really Yom Kippur was more important Passover was the Feast of their Deliverance it was a feast of memory but
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Yom Kippur was the ongoing Feast of atonement um and and that's the the Feast of covering Kippur which means the Feast of my my sins being covered by Blood and me
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being accepted by God so um what but the point is here in Hebrews 4 what does the writer of Hebrews have us doing he has us all
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following our high priest the Jews didn't do that in fact it came about and maybe this was just um apocryphal I'm not sure but
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apparently they would tie a rope to the ankle of the high priest that they might pull him back out if for some reason his offering was not acceptable to God now we have no
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historical example that I know of of a high priest actually dying in the holy of holies but at least that would be the image that it gives us is that you
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know only one man the high priest who was only allowed to be of not only the tribes of Levi but of Aaron he must be a physical descendant of Aaron to be a
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high priest and he could only go in once a year a year and that with the blood and everyone else stayed out like only Moses went up the mount the mount everyone else stayed and did not touch
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it so the the holies of God was was presented to Israel in a very real and graphic way we don't see that
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we don't have a burning altar we don't have a temple you know we don't have a curtain we used to have a curtain we used to call it the veil of the temple this big blue curtain I think
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someone took him down and used it for paint uh claws but drop claws but um we don't have anything like that because we don't need it anymore that's what he's saying our high priest has not
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only gone into the he never went into the physical Temple Jesus was of the tribe of Judah the writer of Hebrew makes that clear that if he had been a high priest here he wouldn't have been a high priest
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because he wasn't of the right tribe but he went into the real Temple so what we're getting from the the writer of Hebrews is that what was on the Earth the Earth was a pattern of what was in heaven
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and what once what was on Earth was fulfilled and taken into heaven and the person of Jesus Christ there is therefore no need for anything
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here on Earth so the writer of Hebrew says all of that stuff that's going on will become obsolete and of course in ad70 the temple was
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destroyed but over the past 150 years dispensationalism has been teaching us that the temple will be rebuilt in fact that it's God's plan that the
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temple be rebuilt in other words it's God's plan to go back to the Shadows and to the types and the symbols to re to re-erect the Veil
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between us and him this is not good if you read into what the dispensationalist is saying concerning the temple it's not only false biblically it is demeaning to the finished work of
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Jesus Christ and absolutely destructive of any understanding of what the church is and who we are as believers but that is what has pervaded Western
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especially American Christianity for the past three generations people still think of Israel as a Holy Land they still actually advocate
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for the temple to be rebuilt on the Dome of the Rock and the mo and the mosque be torn down that's actually considered in much of modern conservative Christianity as a necessary
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step in God's plan now he's already done all that and it's very significant that in John's Revelation in chapter 21 the New
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Jerusalem which is the church the bride of Christ guess what's not in the Jerusalem to come there's no Temple there it's like how many times you know you
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need to not get people on the side of the head to the temple has been fulfilled and we are it okay so that's that's Thursday night getting ahead of myself
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um but what what we're seeing here is we're now doing when we Assemble what the high priest alone was allowed to do on one day a year
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we do it whenever we Assemble we are coming before there's no Veil anymore that's elsewhere there's no Veil and now we're coming Before the Throne
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of God itself and why are we coming well he says to seek mercy and Grace in our time of need
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now that's an indirect Ariel where do you get that that's what what we do when we assemble because unfortunately verse 16 verse 16.
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in church he's commanding us to go and draw near I guess I'm asking how is that command let us verse six yeah that's going to come with the very next passage we're
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going to look at because the phrase draw near in verse 16 let us therefore draw near with confidence chapter 10 verse 22 let us draw near with a sincere
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heart in full Assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled clean okay let us hold fast let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and Good Deeds not forsaking our own assembling
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together now I would say that this is yeah he's he's speaking corporately actually throughout but that doesn't preclude the fact that we also draw near personally
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okay not nothing that is well I won't say that say that because I can't necessarily back that up we we do tend now to read passages
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individually that is not invalid that when we come before the Lord in prayer for example we are approaching the throne of grace seeking mercy and Grace in our time of need and we ought
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to do that continually that's the nature of prayer yes but the context of of Hebrews especially comparing chapter 4 with chapter 10 and
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the words being used draw near and that's also that drawn ear in the Greek is used in um the Greek Old Testament to Drawing
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Near to God in the Tabernacle or Drawing Near to God on Mount Sinai so the idea of drawing near is a corporate idea more than an individual one at least in
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in the biblical sense but it doesn't preclude that's a good point because it doesn't preclude the individual okay we when we come before the Lord in prayer we're coming before the same holy
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God The God Who is as the Hebrew writer of Hebrew says a consuming fire okay now that again brings up not only the image of the burnt offering but also
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of nadab and abihu
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yes several times and and but he also says in chapter 10 with sincere hearts okay but but it it it's yes it's incredibly important
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I think it's um it's one of the central themes of the book of Hebrews and of of Romans that we we are confident in Romans 1 8 1. there's therefore now no condemnation
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there is confidence now that's why I said the fear of the church in Acts 5 and the fear of those outside the church should not have been the same type of
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fear okay because even in confidence we have the it's a bad analogy but uh imagine me
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harnessed into a zip line uh being an engineer I might look at the harness and test it and read up on it and have confidence
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and fear at the same time and that's a bad analogy because but it is the sense in which in myself I have no confidence
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to stand before the Lord even in individual prayer individual prayer who can stand in your Holy Mountain okay the one who has no guile
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no iniquity whose hands have not been stained with sin now who Among Us can say that that characterizes our own life
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so what where's the harness where's the confidence in our great high priest okay in our great high priest who has gone before us that's where the
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confidence is but that confidence needs to be absolute it needs to be of the same degree as the dignity and honor of the high priest who grants us that confidence so in one respect we can be as as he
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says we can boldly approach the throne of grace of grace and yet we still do it in fear because God hasn't changed
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the god that we approach whether in personal prayer or worship or in corporate assembly is The God Who consumed nadab and abihu
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he's the God who struck ananias and Sapphira dead Sapphira dead his attitude toward hypocrisy and deception and lies hasn't changed
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and and I don't know the native weren't not believers not believers I don't know that that um ananias and savira we're not believers
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they may simply have been used as an example that others have the same attitude in their hearts when they come before the
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Lord so chapter 4 chapter 4 this passage the high priest again the image of the Old Testament chapter 10 we just looked at it since therefore verse 19 we have
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confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus by a New and Living Way which he inaugurated for us through the veil same image that is his flesh
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and since we have a great priest over the house of God let us draw near with a sincere heart and full Assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies
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washed with pure water oftentimes we have the opportunity to talk about talk about the value really the necessity of reading your Old Testament
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and uh and I've shared this story many times of the time years ago and Angela and I were newly married living in Oklahoma City and attending a church Sunday school one of the elders made the
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comment that that we have no need of the Old Testament anymore
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at we don't need the rituals the sacrifices the shedding of blood the high priests the intermediaries but frankly what I just read just read if you have not read your Old Testament
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what I just read makes no sense at all it's just words but if you've read your Old Testament even a few times you know that I am what the writer of
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Hebrews doing here is he is summering summarizing the whole levitical especially the day of atonement but again if you don't know that then very little of the New Testament is
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going to make the right sense to you the sense that you make of the New Testament will be 21st century since does that make sense
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you're going to read it and and you're good readers and you you know you you can understand what you're reading but you're going to create a picture an image uh an understanding that does not
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have the same content as the author had and and therefore you're going to create uh in a sense a false image as you read your Bible
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and you'll actually lead yourself astray by reading your Bible because you have no Foundation okay so he says you know it's all open
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so let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and Good Deeds now again that's that that's that touches to the idea that this is a corporate setting
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corporate setting not forsaking or assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day Drawing Near now I find that quite fascinating in in the letter to the
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Hebrews that in the book of Acts we read that they were assembling continually and meeting day by day later in Acts we see Paul meeting with the Ephesian Believers
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night and day but already and and I think it's safe to assume that this letter had to be written before ad70. because it wouldn't make much sense as
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he talks about the ongoing sacrificial rituals if he wrote this after the temple had been destroyed been destroyed so in other words we're essentially
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within a generation of Christ's death resurrection and Ascension and there are already people who are making it a habit of forsaking the assembling together
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in a way that's comforting that the more things change the more things stay the same okay that things really there's nothing new Under the Sun the fact that every every pastor of
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every Church of every age has lamented the lacks sedative daisical attitude of Believers toward assembling
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in our day of course we have no recourse nor should we I don't I don't want to go back to the day where somebody who missed Sunday would show up Monday on the Public
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Square in stocks okay don't need that what what does that do but legalizes or codifies hypocrisy right people are only
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coming to church why because if they don't they're going to have to pay a fine spend a day in prison or a day in the stocks they're not coming because they're hard they're not coming with
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sincere hearts sincere hearts but that doesn't take away the the Lament that so many professing believers are forsaking the assembling together so
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um chapter 10 entering the holy place every believer again that's that's really the point of these two passages in referring to the
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day of atonement is that our high priest has not only gone in for us and then come back out
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for another 363 days right he has gone before us open the Veil and we follow
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no we don't become the high priest we become priests now yes we are as the John reveals in Revelation we are priests to our God okay yeah we
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become priests become priests but we don't bring our own sacrifices anymore okay we become priests on the the Merit
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entirely of the one sacrifice of the high priest Jesus Christ okay the writer keeps saying that keep saying that our high priest his blood Jesus Christ but the key here is the
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image that that the writer the scriptures are trying to give to us is that we're not just coming to a building at 115 Buddhist Avenue that happens to be the physical location
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where we're assembling in the presence of God of God we're not just going from the Sunday School room upstairs but when we assemble we are coming
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Beyond the Veil on the virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ into the presence of the all-consuming fire God okay and one more image in chapter 12 he
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changes the image um from the temple
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to Sinai but in fact if anything it intensifies the sense of holiness the sense of all and really of holy fear
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that Believers should have and again he's not he's he's alluding to when Israel came before the mountain at Sinai but he's saying this is what we are
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doing in this passage starting in verse 18 for you have not come to a mountain that may be touched into a blazing fire Into Darkness and Gloom and Whirlwind and to the blast of a trumpet the sound
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of Words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word should be spoken to them for they could not bear the command if even a beast touches the mountain it will be stoned and so terrible was the
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sight that Moses said I am full of fear and trembling that's that's Mount Sinai he says but you have come to Mount Zion
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and to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem into myriads of angels to the assembly the general assembly and Church of the firstborn now there are some who verse 23 proves that
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all Christians are Presbyterians because they come to the general assembly um and Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge
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of all and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a New Covenant and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel
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that's what we're doing when we Assemble at least according to the writer of Hebrews we are passing Beyond the Veil that no Jew but one was allowed to go beyond
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but now it's open we're coming Before the Throne of God to receive mercy and Grace and not judgment we're coming not to a mountain that's
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burning with fire that's the mountain of the law the law but rather we're coming to Zion which is the mountain of Grace
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the blood of Abel Abel's blood is is metaphorical for innocence able of of of all the you know he's kind of considered the um
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uh the epitome of of innocent blood he did not he was the first martyr he died because his his sacrifice was
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acceptable to God now that doesn't mean that Abel was sinless in fact he's making the point here we're coming to the blood that is more precious much more precious than the blood of Abel the
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blood of Abel had been uh really in the vernacular to speak of innocent blood you know if somebody said that a child for example a child dying in a children dying in war
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there would be the blood of Abel because they were they were innocent uh of the crime that led to the war so these kind of images I guess I want to summarize
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very quickly here these images are all from the Old Testament which is why I said we have much to learn in many respects as being grafted into
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the one olive tree Israel's history and Heritage becomes ours as believers so when you read the Old Testament you're reading your your own Heritage
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your own history before the Lord but when you read the Old Testament and the of the temple and even Mount Sinai and and God is a holy God in the
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retribution that he often meets out but also the grace and the Gathering that we see there see there that is now fulfilled in Jesus Christ
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there is this concept among too many Christians even if it's not explicitly stated explicitly stated that somehow the Christian God is a kindly
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grandfather who Winks at his grandchildren's indiscretions and yet bids them come sit on his knee and bounce on his knee and there's it even goes to the point where where people have mistranslated
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Abba as Daddy you know and no he has not changed the writer of Hebrews is the one who calls him a consuming
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fire what has changed is our access
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oh he's a consuming fire
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it is anytime I mean that's not to say and this is the difficulty um and we'll we have occasion to talk about this
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we are to we are to approach with sincere Hearts we're also to give us with cheerful hearts does that mean that if we don't have a cheerful heart I'm excused from giving does that mean if I don't have a sincere heart I'm excused from assembling now if
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we know our own Hearts we know that if we only gave to the Lord when we felt like it it would be rare if we only were aware of our sincerity or of our joy and giving and that that's
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the only time we ever assembled or gave then we wouldn't assemble much and we wouldn't give much because we know our hearts so even those virtues we have in Jesus
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Christ he is the perfect sincere one he is he is the one who for the joy set before him laid down his life gave the Ultimate gift and so that's where faith and he
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mentions that we come in faith understand that to which we are approaching
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it's not just the sermon it's not just our Christian friends it's not just Fellowship all of these things are important but we are approaching a God who is a
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consuming fire consuming fire let's pray let's pray father we do pray that you would help us to understand and truly appropriate and apply to our lives
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what we're reading in the book of Hebrews and in the Old Testament help us to fear with confidence to know that
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a perfect way has been made and there is no danger to the believer that that Veil will be slammed shut that we would be excluded or somehow
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rejected from before your presence and help us to rejoice in that blood that has made the way through the Veil but father let us never forget that you
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are a consuming fire that you have not turned down the heat of your Holiness that we might approach but rather you have poured out that
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wrath on the sacrifice of your son our Lord Jesus Christ you have satisfied the judgment the judgment that is upon each one of us
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so that robed in the righteous garments of Jesus we can approach with confident fear and know that we will receive that for which we ask mercy and Grace to help in
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our time and need fill us with gratitude today as we sing songs of worship and Thanksgiving bind our hearts together
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as Believers as brothers and sisters all adopted freely into your family and help us to render the worship that
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is due you in spirit and Truth we ask in Jesus name