March 12, 2025 • 53 mins
As Christians we can easily take for granted the great privilege we have of having access to God through Christ. But when we consider the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and all that was involved in approaching God in the Old Testament, the saving work of Christ appears even more glorious. In this message from David Platt from Hebrews 10:19–39, we’re reminded of the infinitely gracious privilege we have as recipients of a new covenant. Those who have put their trust in Christ are invited to come boldly into the presence of God.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
Tonight we're going to talkabout two truths and we probably
won't even we may make it tothe second one, and I've been
praying all week long that God,by His grace, would enable me to
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do justice to these truths,that he would enable me to
communicate these truths for thewonder they contain.
And they revolve around beingrecipients of a new covenant.
What does that mean and why isthat significant?
Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 19.
We're just gonna get throughverse 22.
Let's read through there.
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Hebrews 10, 19.
Therefore, brothers, since wehave confidence to enter the
most holy place by the blood ofJesus, by a new and living way
open for us through the curtainthat is His body, and since we
have a great high priest overthe house of God, let us draw
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near to God with a sincere heartand full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled,cleanse us from a guilty
conscience and having our bodieswashed with pure water.
Those four verses are so packedfull of meaning.
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The only problem is we have ahard time seeing those verses
for the glorious life.
Transforming verses they arebecause we come to the book of
Hebrews with a little bit of adisadvantage we don't have some
of the Old Testament contextthat's necessary for
understanding these verses.
So what I want us to do is Iwant us to take Hebrews 10, 19
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through 22.
I want to show you these truetruths and we're going to unpack
how significant they are, basedon some study in the Old
Testament.
Truth number one we have accessto God.
Huh, if that truth does notastound you, you have no clue
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who God is.
We have access to God.
Now here's the picture Hebrews10, 19-22 is telling us we have
confidence to enter the mostholy place.
Some translations say boldness,access, authorization, freedom
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to enter the most holy place.
In order to understand how hugethat is, we've got to
understand the Old Testamentprecedent that leads up to this.
So turn with me back to theleft Exodus, chapter 19.
Second book in the Bible Exodus, chapter 19.
Second book in the Bible Exodus, chapter 19.
What we need to do in order tounderstand the gravity and
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significance of what it means tobe a recipient of a new
covenant, we've got to see thenew covenant next to the old
covenant.
So go with me to Exodus,chapter 19 and look with me at
this old covenant picture.
What happened here in Exoduschapter 19?
A little lead up here.
God delivered His people.
His people were slaves in Egypt.
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He delivered them to thePassover out of slavery in Egypt
, brought them to the Red Sea,sent them through the middle of
the sea on dry land.
He led them pillar of cloud andfire.
He sent bread from heaven tofeed them.
He gave them water from rocks.
And he leads them to this placein Exodus chapter 19 called
Mount Sinai.
And this is where God is goingto inaugurate His covenant
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relationship with His peoplethrough Moses, the Mosaic
covenant, the old covenant.
Moses was the leader of thepeople of Israel and so there at
Mount Sinai, god comes to Moses.
Look in verse 3.
He begins to speak to him onthe mountain.
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Verse 3 says so.
God is inaugurating thiscovenant with His people and
he's going to meet with them onMount Sinai to inaugurate this
covenant.
But I want you to listen to theregulations that are involved
with God meeting with His people.
Look down in verse 10.
God said to Moses Go to thepeople and consecrate them today
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and tomorrow, have them washtheir clothes and be ready by
the third day, because on thatday the Lord will come down on
Mount Sinai in the sight of allthe people.
But here's what you do Putlimits for the people around the
mountain and tell them Becareful that you do not go up
the mountain or touch the footof it.
Whoever touches the mountainshall surely be put to what
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Death?
He shall surely be stoned orshot with arrows.
Not a hand is to be laid on him.
Whether man or animal, he shallnot be permitted to live.
Only when the ram's horn soundsa long blast may they go up to
the mountain.
You get down to verse 16.
This is what happened On themorning of the third day.
There was thunder.
Just imagine this scene Thunderand lightning, with a thick
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cloud over the mountain and avery loud trumpet blast.
Everyone in the camp trembled.
Then Moses led the people outof the camp to meet with God and
they stood at the foot of themountain.
Mount Sinai was covered withsmoke because the Lord descended
on it in fire.
The smoke billowed up from itlike smoke from a furnace.
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The whole mountain trembledviolently.
Can you imagine that?
I mean this is not just likesnow on a Sunday morning.
This is coming to a mountainand the mountain is shaking.
That's intense.
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Can you imagine us as a peoplestanding before a mountain and
we're trembling before we evenget there?
And we get there and we seesmoke, like smoke from a furnace
, coming up from this mountain,because God himself is
descending on it like fire andthe mountain itself is shaking.
You don't want to get near thatmountain.
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I'm not touching, I'm not goingup, moses, you're going up, god
meeting with his people, andthey are trembling.
Don't miss the command here.
When God inaugurates thiscovenant and comes down among
his people, the command is stayback in fear.
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You will be struck down if youcome near the presence of God.
It's the picture here in Exodus19 and throughout the Old
Testament.
You don't play around with thepresence of God.
You don't take the presence ofGod casually.
So this is how God inauguratesthis covenant.
But in this covenant, this iswhat starts in Exodus 20, it's
the Ten Commandments.
God begins to promise peoplethat he's going to dwell with
them.
He's going to be with them.
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It begs the question well, ifthis is what's involved with the
presence of God in the middleof His people, then how can God,
a holy God, actually dwell withthe sinful people Turn to the
right and it'll come to Exodus25.
And this is what God sets upNow.
Obviously we know that God isomnipresent, god is present
everywhere.
But what we're about to see ishow God in his glory would dwell
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in a powerful way in thepresence of his people.
Look in Exodus 25, verse 8.
This is how it's going tohappen.
God says have them, make asanctuary for me and I will
dwell among them.
Make this tabernacle and allits furnishings exactly like the
pattern I will show you.
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And so what God says is I'mgoing to dwell among you in a
tabernacle.
The way this tabernacle is setup is you had an outer court to
the tabernacle, then you had aninner court and then you had the
inmost place, the holy ofholies.
If you could picture almost thestage and this will be
completely insufficient andthose of you who like drums will
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enjoy this analogy but thepicture is picture the outer
court.
Here you go, there's a passagethrough which you go to the
inner court and then you got themost holy place back here, all
right, and there's a veil,there's a curtain that separates
the most holy place, which iswhere the glory of God is going
to dwell and what's going to bein the most holy place.
Well, he starts talking aboutright after this, verse 10, have
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them make a chest of acaciawood.
This chest is literally an ark,not like Noah's ark, not like a
boat.
This is a chest of wood.
It's called in the scripturesthe ark of the covenant, because
what's going to go inside thatchest, in addition to a couple
of other things, is the covenant, the law of God that he gives
to Moses.
Here Moses is going to put thatin the covenant, his law before
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his people.
It's what he says in verse 16,the ark of the testimony.
The testimony is what you'regoing to put in there.
And then on top of it, listento this verse 17, make an
atonement cover of pure gold twoand a half cubits long and a
cubit and a half wide, and maketwo cherubim out of hammered
gold at the ends of the cover.
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Cherubim in Scripture aresymbolic of the presence of God.
If you remember back to Genesis, chapter 3, when God banished
Adam and Eve from the Garden ofEden, do you remember what he
put there at the Garden?
The gate cherubim, the flamingsword flashing back and forth,
showing that man had beenbanished from the presence of
God He'd enjoyed, in that sense,in Genesis, chapter 1 and 2.
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And so the picture here is thepresence of God symbolizing
these cherubim Verse 19,.
Make one cherub on one end andthe second cherub on the other.
Make the cherubim of one piecesorry, I lost my place.
Make the cherubim of one piecewith the cover at the two ends.
The cherubim are to have theirwings spread upward,
overshadowing the cover.
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With them, the cherubim are toface each other, looking toward
the cover.
Place the cover on top of theark and put in the ark the
testimony which I will give youthere, above the cover on top of
the ark, and put in the ark thetestimony which I will give you
there, above the cover, betweenthe two cherubim that are over
the ark of the testimony.
I will meet with you and giveyou all my commands for the
Israelites.
Try to simplify this.
What you've got is you've gotthis chest, the ark of the
covenant, covenant, the law ofGod.
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Inside the chest there is acover on the top.
It's called an atonement cover,and what you have on either
side of the atonement cover arethese cherubs one on this side,
one on this side, symbolic ofthe presence of God looking down
upon His law in the middle ofHis people, and this is the
picture that God says well,we'll show you my glory dwelling
among you in the tabernacle,and that's what's in the inmost
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place.
Now, here's the deal.
Not just anybody went prancinginto the inmost holy place.
Sinful man before a holy god,as we saw in exodus, chapter 19,
is a serious thing.
So how how can god and hisglory and his holy glory dwell
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in the middle of sinful people?
These are people who, whilemoses is getting these
instructions from god, they'vealready at the middle of sinful
people.
These are people who, whileMoses is getting these
instructions from God, they'vealready, at the base of the
mountain, erected a golden calfand they're worshiping an idol.
These are sinful people.
We see ourselves in them, so weknow this.
So how can God dwell among asinful people like this,
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interact with Him through Hispresence?
What God does is you flip overto the right and you come to
Exodus 28.
God calls out priests, priestswho will be intermediaries,
go-betweens between sinfulpeople and a holy God.
Exodus 28, verse 1, have Aaron,your brother, brought to you
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from among the Israelites, alongwith his sons Nadab and Abihu,
eleazar and Ithamar, so they mayserve me as priests.
And what God set up was thisgroup of people, the priests,
who would serve in thetabernacle, and they would be
the go-betweens between a sinfulpeople and a holy God.
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And the chapters that followstart talking about how the
priests have to be cleansed andpurified in order to be in the
presence of God.
And when you get to the book ofLeviticus, god outlines what
the priests will do, all kindsof different offerings and
sacrifices in light of thepeople's sin, before holy God.
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Turn over there to Leviticus,chapter 16.
Leviticus 16.
Now, while you're turning there, you might be tempted to think
well, that's kind of a cool job.
I mean, you're a priest, youget to go into the tabernacle,
maybe even the inmost place ifyou're the high priest.
Lest we think this is a reallycool job, we look at Leviticus,
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chapter 10, and we see Nadab andAbihu, aaron's sons that are
mentioned there, and one daythey get a little casual with
their priestly duties and theydo things not according to the
standards God had set, andimmediately they're consumed by
fire.
There's not a lot of jobsecurity in this one.
If you do things wrong.
This is serious stuff.
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For man to be in the presence ofa holy god, you've got to come
only when invited and on histerms, not any terms you create.
That's the picture that's setup here in the old testament.
And so there were all kinds ofdifferent offerings and
sacrifices that they would make.
But all of this sacrificialsystem revolved around one day,
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and this was God's provision forhow His holy presence could
dwell in the middle of a sinfulpeople.
His provision was an annualsacrifice on the Day of
Atonement, yom Kippur, the Dayof Atonement.
In Leviticus, chapter 16, tellsus what would happen on that
particular day.
Look at Leviticus, chapter 16,verse 29.
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This is the overall descriptionhere.
Now, atonement means toreconcile or be reconciled to
something.
You can kind of remember thiswhen you look at atone.
There's two words atone to bemade at, one with something, to
be reconciled to something.
You can kind of remember thiswhen you look at atone.
There's two words atone to bemade, atone with something, to
be reconciled with something.
And so how can sinful people bereconciled to a holy God?
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Day of atonement?
Here's how, verse 29.
This is to be a lastingordinance for you.
On the 10th day of the seventhmonth.
You must deny yourselves andnot do any work, whether native,
born or an alien living amongyou, because on this day
atonement will be made for youto cleanse you.
Then, before the Lord, you willbe clean from all your sins.
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It is a Sabbath of rest and youmust deny yourselves.
It is a lasting ordinance thepriest who is anointed and
ordained to succeed his fatheras high priest.
So the high priest is to makeatonement.
He is to put on the sacredlinen garments and make
atonement for the most holyplace, for the tent of meeting
and the altar, and for thepriests and all the people of
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the community.
This is to be a lastingordinance for you.
Atonement is to be made once ayear for all the sins of the
Israelites.
So here's what God set out Oncea year, one day a year, one man
, not everybody, not even everypriest one priest, the high
priest, one day a year, would gointo the inmost place where the
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Ark of the Covenant was, andoffer a sacrifice that would
atone for the people's sins.
Now, what was involved in thiswhole picture on the Day of
Atonement?
Three elements I want to showyou that are extremely important
.
One you have a priest enteringan earthly sanctuary.
A priest entering an earthlysanctuary.
(16:21):
When we come back, we'll beginto fill in the gaps in what
Leviticus, chapter 16 teaches.
Leviticus 16.4 talks about whatthe priest needs to wear, how
he needs to purify himself,cleanse himself, because he's
about to go into the presence ofGod.
You take a really good Saturdaynight bath on this one because
you've got something to do thenext morning that you've got to
be ready for.
You put on the right clothesthat God says to put on.
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You're clean and pure andcleansed before you go into the
presence of God.
This was an intense deal.
The priest is the only oneEverybody be standing outside
the tabernacle.
The priest is the only one whowould go in, and the priest
literally had bells sewn intothe hem of his garment.
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Why so?
That when he goes in to themost holy place, you can hear
him ringing around as he movesthroughout there and if the
bells stop ringing, you know thepriest has stopped breathing.
He's been struck down in thepresence of God.
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Tradition tells us they wouldtie a rope around his ankle and
leave the other end of the ropeoutside so that when he went in,
if he was struck down, whowants to go in after him was
struck down.
Who wants to go in after himAfter that?
Nobody.
You could pull them out.
There's a man who's going tomeet with God.
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Can you imagine the anxiety inthis scene?
You're standing there silent,not even daring to breathe, as
this man walks in.
You hear those bells and you'relistening for those bells.
When he goes in, he doesn'tstay around for a while, he
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doesn't have a seat and kickback and relax.
He doesn't take some pictures.
He's in and out and you sitthere listening for those bells
and then, when he comes out,community of faith breathes a
sigh of relief.
A man just met with God in hisglorious presence, intense.
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A priest entering an earthlysanctuary.
What would he do when he got inthere?
Second element the blood of aspotless animal.
The blood of a spotless animal.
The blood of a spotless animal.
Now, actually there's threeanimals involved in the Day of
Atonement.
Here.
Get to the end of verse five.
It says from the Israelitecommunity, the priest, high
priest, is to take two malegoats for a sin offering and a
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ram for a burnt offering.
So two goats and a ram.
And what the priest is to do ishe's to offer the ram as a
sacrifice to atone for his sins,because the priest wasn't
perfect, he wasn't pure on hisown accord, and so he had to
offer a sacrifice for his ownsins.
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And then he would take one ofthe goats.
One of the goats lives, we'llget to him in a minute, but the
other goat is sacrificed, one ofthe goats.
One of the goats lives, we'llget to him in a minute.
But the other goat issacrificed and the blood of that
goat serves to atone for allthe sins of the people of God,
the Israelites.
Now you might be thinking well,poor ram and goat, why do they
have to die?
Why does there have to be bloodinvolved in this thing?
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What's the point and the pointis twofold, and this is not in
your thing.
What's the point and the pointis twofold, and this is not in
your notes.
A little extra, no charge, butthe picture is twofold.
One blood is cleansing.
It's a picture that we see inScripture.
Even the very next chapter,leviticus 17, I think verse 11
and 14, talks about how theblood represents life, cleansing
.
So that's the picture we seeall throughout Scripture.
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But even deeper than that, theblood is a picture of a
substitute.
Take a step deeper into some OldTestament theology and we go
back to Genesis, chapter 2.
Do you remember what God toldAdam and Eve?
He said if you sin, you willsurely what Die.
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Ladies and gentlemen, from thevery beginning of this book and
from the very beginning ofhistory, the payment for sin has
been what?
Death Period, that is, thejudgment due sin, death.
You say.
Well, adam and Eve were stillalive by Genesis 4 after sin
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entered in Genesis 3.
Well, they didn't die, butdeath did enter into the picture
in Genesis 3.
Who died?
It was animals who sacrificedto provide a covering for Adam
and Eve and their sin.
So the picture is the priestwould take these animals and, in
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their death, their blood.
Look at this picture down inverse 11.
Here's what would happen Aaronwill bring the bull for his own
sin offering to make atonementfor himself and his household,
and he has to slaughter the bullfor his own sin offering.
He is to take a censer full ofburning coals from the altar
before the Lord and two handfulsof finely ground, fragrant
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incense and take them behind thecurtain.
He's going behind the curtain.
He's to put the incense on thefire before the Lord and the
smoke of the incense willconceal the atonement cover
above the testimony so that hewill not die.
He is to take some of thebull's blood and, with his
finger, sprinkle it on the frontof the atonement cover.
Then he shall sprinkle some ofit with his finger seven times
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before the atonement cover.
So that's what he does for hisown sins, and then he takes the
goat for the sins of theIsraelites.
He shall then slaughter thegoat for the sin offering for
the people, and take its bloodbehind the curtain and do with
it as he did with the bull'sblood.
He shall sprinkle it on theatonement cover and in front of
it, and this way he will makeatonement for the most holy
place, because of theuncleanness and rebellion of the
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Israelites, whatever their sinshave been.
So don't miss it.
This is huge, this picture here.
It's the whole setup Ark of theCovenant, cherubs, atonement
cover.
The priest goes in and takesthis blood of sacrifice, a
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substitute, and he sprinkles itover the atonement cover.
Why the picture is so that aholy God symbolized His presence
by these cherubs looking downupon His law, law that was
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broken by sinful people.
But looking down on that lawinstead of seeing a broken law,
he sees blood, the blood ofanother, and he sees that
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judgment towards sin has beensatisfied, wrath towards sin has
been satisfied, wrath towardsin has been satisfied and in
this way God is both just towardsin and gracious toward sinners
at the exact same time.
That's the picture that is setup here in the day of atonement
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with this blood, that when Godlooks down on a broken law,
instead of seeing the broken law, he sees this blood.
It's a substitute sacrifice ofanother and the sins of the
people are atoned for.
The priest would come out afterdoing this and he would take the
other goat, the goat who madeit through the first round.
Now look down in verse 20 whathe does with that goat.
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When Aaron had finished makingatonement for the most holy
place, the tent of meeting inthe altar, he shall bring
forward the live goat.
He is to lay both hands on thehead of the live goat and
confess over it all thewickedness and rebellion of the
Israelites, all their sins, andput them on the goat's head.
He shall send the goat awayinto the desert in the care of a
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man appointed for the task.
The goat will carry on itselfall their sins to a solitary
place and the man shall releaseit in the desert.
This is a picture scapegoat agoat that represented all the
sins of the people of Israelbeing taken into the wilderness
and let go in a solitary place.
It's a picture of God'sforgiveness for his people's sin
.
So that was the picture thatwas set up.
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You got a priest that enters anearthly sanctuary and offers
blood as an atonement for sins.
The only problem with this wholepicture was that it was a
sacrifice that needed repeating,needed to be repeated over and
over, repeated, over and overand, over and over again,
because they would do this oncea year, and the next year they
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would need to do it again, andthe next year they would need to
do it again, and their heartswere still sinful and unchanged
and they were still separatedfrom the presence of God.
So they would need to do thisover and over and over again.
That's what the effect of thiswhole picture was.
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This was a reminder of theirsins.
More than anything else, theDay of Atonement was a reminder
of the sin that plagued thepeople of God.
It was a once a year reminderthat they were still separated
from the presence of God, aonce-a-year reminder.
They still needed a priest, asinful priest at that, to
represent them before a holy God.
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This is when you come back toHebrews, chapter 10.
Come back with me, make theconnection here.
Hebrews 10, verse 1.
This is exactly what the authorof Hebrews says.
Hebrews 10, verse 1.
This is exactly what the authorof Hebrews says.
Hebrews 10, verse 1.
The law is only a shadow of thegood things that are coming,
not the realities themselves.
For this reason, it can never,by the same sacrifices, repeated
endlessly year after year, makeperfect those who draw near to
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worship.
If it could, would they nothave stopped being offered, for
the worshipers would have beencleansed once for all and would
no longer have felt guilty fortheir sins?
But those sacrifices listen,those sacrifices verse 3, are an
annual reminder of sins,because it is impossible for the
blood of bulls and goats totake away sins.
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The Day of Atonement served as areminder, year after year after
year after year, that they werea sinful people separated from
the presence of a holy God.
There was an incredible picturein the Old Testament, old
Covenant, but it was incompleteand ultimately ineffective,
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ultimately ineffective.
So, with that background,exodus 19,.
Stay back in fear, day ofAtonement.
One man, one man once a year,can go into the inmost place and
he gets in and gets out asquickly as he can, because
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sinful man and holy God do notmix.
Sinful man can't be in thepresence of, and holy God do not
mix.
Sinful man can't be in thepresence of a holy God.
So with that background the oldcovenant we come to Hebrews 10,
verse 19, and the author saysthis is new covenant here.
Therefore, brothers, since wehave confidence to enter the
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most holy place, stop rightthere.
What we, brothers, we as thepeople of God in the church,
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have confidence to enter whereFreedom to enter, where
Authorization to enter, whereAccess to go, where the most
holy place, where the presenceof God dwells, absolutely.
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Old Testament, old Covenantcommand stay back in fear.
New Covenant command draw nearin faith, Come near to the
presence of God with a sincereheart and full assurance of
faith.
This is boldness.
Think about it what only oneman could do once a year in the
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old covenant is now theprivilege that is enjoyed by
every man or woman who trusts inChrist.
This is what the author ofHebrews here just makes this
comparison so clear.
Go over a couple chapters tothe right Hebrews, chapter 12.
Look at verse 18.
He takes this picture fromExodus 19 and he brings it in.
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Catch the gravity here, thesignificance here.
Look at this comparison Hebrews12, verse 18.
The author says you have notcome to a mountain that can be
touched, that is burning withfire, to darkness, gloom and
storm he's describing in Exodus19, to a trumpet blast or to
such a voice speaking words thatthose who heard it begged that
no further word would be spokento them because they could not
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bear what was commanded.
If even an animal touches themountain, it must be stoned.
The sight was so terrifyingthat Moses said I am trembling
with fear.
No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the
city of the living God.
You have come to thousands uponthousands of angels in joyful
assembly, to the church of thefirstborn, whose names are
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written in heaven.
You have come to God, the judgeof all men, to the spirits of
righteous men made perfect.
Ha.
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Christian, you have a privilegethat Old Testament saints only
dreamed might be possibleUnlimited access to God,
authorization to go to thepresence of God at any moment of
(30:48):
any day.
How is this possible?
How can sinful people, you andI, people dirty in sin, how can
you and I enter into the mostholy place?
Look at Hebrews 19.
Since we have confidence toenter the most holy place by the
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fact that we are good people,by the fact that we attend
church, by how hard we try to begood and pure and holy.
No, we have confidence to enterthe most holy place by the
blood of Jesus.
Here was the provision, not oldcovenant, annual sacrifice on
the day of atonement, newcovenant, the abiding sacrifice
(31:32):
of the death of Jesus Christ.
His blood guarantees, provides,supplies, access to the
presence of God.
We know there was this curtain,this veil that separated even
in the Old Testament, separatedthe people of God, even the
priest, from the most holy place.
(31:52):
And we know the Gospels tell uswhen Jesus died on that cross,
what happened to that curtain?
Torn in two, rent asunder.
Some translations say Gone thepath, the access to God opened
up to the people of God by thedeath of Christ.
(32:12):
Now, how, how could the deathof Christ on a cross provide
access to you and me at thismoment to the presence of God?
How does the cross do that?
Three elements Number one not apriest entering an earthly
sanctuary, but a priest enteringa heavenly sanctuary.
Jesus is the priest here Now.
(32:34):
A priest in the Old Testamentwent into an earthly sanctuary,
an earthly tabernacle.
Go back to chapter 8, verse 5.
We're going to fill in some ofthe blanks in the book of
Hebrews here, chapter 8, verse 5.
Numerous times the author ofHebrews talks about how this
tabernacle, this earthlytabernacle, was a copy, a
man-made representation.
(32:55):
Look at verse 5.
They serve at a sanctuary.
That is a copy and a shadow ofwhat is in heaven.
This is why Moses was warnedwhen he was about to build the
tabernacle Seed to it that youmake everything according to the
pattern shown you on themountains.
It's a copy, it's arepresentation of that which is
heaven.
Look in chapter 9, verse 1.
The first covenant hadregulations for worship and also
(33:17):
an earthly sanctuary.
Get down to verse 11.
Earthly sanctuary is what theywent into, but Christ?
When Christ came as high priestof the good things that are
already here, he went throughthe greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not man-made,that is to say not a part of
His creation.
Get over to verse 24.
Listen to this.
(33:38):
Christ did not enter a man-madesanctuary.
That was only a copy of thetrue one.
He entered heaven itself now toappear for us in God's presence
.
Don't miss it.
When we talk about unlimitedaccess to God, we're not talking
about access to a room or aplace or a building.
(33:58):
We are talking about access tothe very presence of God in
heaven.
That's where our high priestwent and that's where you and I
have the privilege of dwellingin spiritual reality before the
very presence of God.
Not an earthly sanctuary, aheavenly sanctuary.
Now, how, how can you and I bein the very presence of God
(34:23):
where Christ is Not through theblood of a spotless animal, not
through the blood of a spotlessanimal, but through the blood of
a sinless man?
This is Hebrews chapter 4.
Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14through 16.
Really parallels the Hebrews 10, 19 through 22 that we're
studying.
But this picture here inHebrews chapter 4 is a picture
(34:43):
of the humanity and deity ofChrist.
Listen to this.
We have a great high priestHebrews 4.14, who has gone
through the heavens.
Jesus, the Son of God, let ushold firmly to the faith we
profess.
Here's his humanity.
We do not have a high priestwho is unable to sympathize with
our weaknesses, but one who hasbeen tempted in every way fully
, man, able to identify with us,sympathize with us, yet fully.
(35:10):
God, the Son of God, who isjust as we are, yet was without
sin.
Jesus did not need to take thesacrifice of another because
sacrifice of himself wassufficient.
He was sinless.
Now here's the picture Hebrews 9, I think 20, or 14, talks about
(35:32):
unblemished sacrifice.
The picture here, don't missthis.
Jesus had not sinned and, as aresult, the payment for sin.
Remember the payment for sin.
Remember what the payment forsin is, what Death he did not
warrant merit that.
(35:55):
And yet what we see in thegospel, the blood of Christ, is
Jesus taking the payment for sin, death as a substitute
sacrifice, so that when hisblood is sprinkled over your
(36:19):
heart and my heart, think aboutthe reality based on what we saw
in Leviticus 16.
Think about it as it pertainsto your life.
When God, in His holiness,looks down upon you and your sin
and me and my sin, and he seeshow you have broken His law and
he sees how I have broken Hislaw.
Praise God because our heartshave been sprinkled with the
(36:47):
blood of Jesus.
He looks down on our lives andhe does not see a broken law in
you.
He does not see a broken law inme.
He sees the blood of Christ inyou and the blood of Christ in
me, and he is our righteousnessand he is our righteousness and
we have access to God.
As a result, the atonementcover.
He has atoned for our sins.
With his blood Our hearts havebeen sprinkled to cleanse us
(37:11):
from a guilty conscience.
And this is not a sacrificethat he has to do again next
year, next month, next time wesin.
It is a sacrifice that willlast forever.
It'll last forever.
Hebrews 9, 24 to 26.
(37:32):
Christ did not enter a man-madesanctuary we just read a second
ago.
That was only a copy of thetrue one.
He entered heaven itself toappear for us in God's presence.
Nor did he enter heaven tooffer Himself again and again,
the way the high priest entersthe most holy place every year
with blood that is not His own.
Then Christ would have had tosuffer many times since the
creation of the world, but nowhe has appeared once for all, at
(37:53):
the end of the ages, to do awaywith sin by the sacrifice of
Himself.
Skip over to the next chapter,hebrews 10, verse 11.
Listen to this.
Day after day, every prieststands and performs his
religious duties.
Again and again he offers thesame sacrifices, which can never
take away sins.
But when this priest hadoffered for all time one
(38:15):
sacrifice for sins listen tothis.
He sat down at the right handof God, underline circle and put
stars everywhere around.
Sat down, priest.
Old covenant goes into theinmost place.
He doesn't sit down, hang outfor a while, he gets out as fast
(38:38):
as he can.
Jesus entered the most holyplace, the very throne room of
God, and he pulled up a chairand sat down.
And the picture here is thathis work on the cross was
complete, the wrath of God hadbeen satisfied and his reign
would be eternal.
(38:58):
He doesn't need to get up andoffer any more sacrifices
because that sacrifice is oncefor all and it is eternal.
Old Testament picture.
New Testament fulfillmentreality, glorious reality.
And the result of this NewTestament reality is not a
(39:20):
reminder of our sins.
The result of this NewTestament reality is not a
reminder of our sins.
The result of this NewTestament reality is the removal
of all our sin.
It is gone.
It's gone.
Your sin is gone, it's gone.
(39:44):
Hebrews 10, verse 17,.
He's quoting from Jeremiah whoprophesied the new covenant.
He says.
Then he adds their sins andlawless acts.
I will remember no more whenthese have been forgiven.
There is no longer anysacrifice for sin.
Remember the picture of thescapegoat sent off into the
(40:10):
wilderness.
New Testament reality.
Brothers and sisters, as far asthe east is from the west, as
Psalm told us 103, psalm 103,.
As far as the east is from thewest, so far as he removed our
transgressions from us Isaiah 43, 25.
I, even I, blot out yourtransgressions for my sake, and
(40:31):
I remember your sins no more.
They are cast out and gone.
He remembers them no more.
Do we realize what this means?
Do we realize the gravity ofthis?
Brothers and sisters, we arecleansed by His blood.
(40:54):
We're cleansed by His bloodHaving our hearts sprinkled to
cleanse us from a guiltyconscience.
Brothers and sisters, our guiltis gone.
It's gone.
(41:15):
You're not guilty anymore.
It's not because God looks atyour sin and just pretends like
it's not there or looks theother way.
Isaiah 53.
It was the Lord's will to crushhim.
Please the Lord, to crush himand to make his life a guilt
(41:35):
offering.
He took your guilt, all yourguilt.
He took your guilt.
Your guilt is gone and yourconscience is clean.
Your conscience is clean.
Think about that reality.
We know.
We know what it's like to havean unclean conscience.
You're a kid, you do somethingwrong, disobey mom and dad.
(41:56):
You know you're going to get itand you avoid their presence.
And when it comes time whereyou know you're going to get it
and you avoid their presence.
And when it comes time whereyou know you've got to come,
wherever they are and you kindof walk in the room if you've
done something that you knowdad's not going to be happy
about, you don't walk in with abig smile on your face and you
walk in kind of head low justlooking around.
(42:18):
You don't want to be in Hispresence.
Is this not what the adversarydoes?
Tries to convince us You're notworthy enough to be in His
presence.
You realize what you did lastnight, those thoughts that you
(42:45):
had, what you said, how youacted.
You've got to get some thingscleaned up before you go in the
presence of God.
Blasphemy.
You are clean Christian.
You are clean.
Your guilt is gone.
There is therefore now nocondemnation for those who are
(43:07):
in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation.
Your guilt is gone.
Your conscience is clean.
Go before him boldly, humbly,yes, and boldly yes, with
confidence.
Free access, unlimited access,go into His presence with head
held high, based on the shedblood of Jesus Christ To go
(43:28):
there Are cleansed by His bloodand we are washed by His Word,
having our bodies washed withpure water.
Most commentators see here areference to baptism, but even
that, this is so huge.
Baptism, outward washing thatreflects inward cleansing,
(43:56):
outward manifestation of innertransformation.
And the picture is we're notlike the priests.
We don't go, try to scrub oursin off, try to make ourselves
clean.
What happens is and this isexactly what he quoted from
Jeremiah in verse 16.
This is the covenant I willmake with him.
After that time, says the Lord,I will put my laws in their
hearts and I will write them ontheir minds.
(44:18):
He puts his law in our heartsand he changes us from the
inside out.
What the old covenant did nothave power to do, the new
covenant does.
Christ puts His law in ourhearts, and not just His law,
but His Spirit there.
He puts His Spirit in ourhearts so that he has made His
presence our home.
(44:39):
His dwelling place is not someroom that is separated from us
by a veil.
His Holy Spirit dwells in you,the very presence of God
dwelling in you and me this isso huge We've all been in
(45:07):
circumstances where we felt outof place.
We've all been in situations I'mguessing where we're looking
around and we're just thinking Idon't think I'm supposed to be
in this particular place rightnow, or this particular group
and I don't think I'm supposedto be in this particular place
right now, or this particulargroup and I don't think I'm
supposed to be in this area,whatever it may be, I've told
(45:27):
some of you a story about a fewyears ago, when I went to a
monastery for a weekend and Ihad some decisions that I was
making in my life.
I really just wanted to spendsome concentrated time in prayer
, and this monastery would allowyou to come and basically
follow the schedule of the monksget up at four and go to bed at
eight and pray, and pray, andpray, and read, and eat, and do
(45:53):
it all in silence, just nottalking.
It was a really powerfulweekend.
I got there late, though, and Imissed the orientation, during
which they described the partsof the monastery you were
allowed to go and the parts ofthe monastery you were not
allowed to go into, becausethere are some parts, apparently
, that are reserved only formonks, monks only.
(46:15):
So I was wandering aroundcommuning with God and I was in
this building and I opened thisdoor and it opens into this
beautiful open-air courtyard,surrounded on all four sides by
buildings with windows in it andin the middle this fountain and
these nice bushes.
And I start just kind ofwalking around the courtyard and
(46:37):
I look in one of the windowsand I see I think that's where
the monks eat.
That's kind of cool.
And I go to another window andI look in.
I think this is where the monksstudy.
It looks like a library and atthat point it hit me I think
this is one of those placesthat's monks only.
And at that very moment, on theother side of the courtyard a
(47:00):
door opens up and out in comes amonk into the courtyard.
I didn't know what to do.
Like, I don't want to getkicked out of a monastery, you
know?
I mean who gets kicked out of amonastery?
So I panicked and this willsound like a joke, but it's
exactly what I did.
I dove into the bushes.
I don't know what I wasthinking, but I did.
(47:25):
I couldn't talk to him andexplain what I was doing there,
so I just decided it would bebetter if we didn't interact.
And so I dove into the bushesand I kind of squatted down
behind.
It was between this one bushand a column.
I mean I remember this like itwas yesterday.
It was intense, I was justsweating profusely.
(47:48):
And then I start thinking, asI'm squatting down there, like
what if he sees me?
How do I explain that withouttalking?
Like this is just awkward.
And so I'm sitting there and Ijust start praying.
I'm like Lord just blind hiseyes so he doesn't see me.
Like I know he spends a lotmore time with you than I do,
(48:10):
but this is just anyway.
So I'm sitting there and I hearhis footsteps.
He's getting closer and closerand closer toward me and I'm
just sitting there thinking andI'll be honest, like it crossed
my mind, it'd be really funny tolike jump out and scare the guy
.
That would kind of ruin thatwhole vow of silence thing he's
(48:36):
had going for years.
But I didn't do that.
So I just squatted there.
I squatted there until he endedup.
He didn't see me.
He walked past me, behind me inthe bush and walked out of the
courtyard and as soon as he wasgone I bolted out of the
courtyard, back out the doorthat I had come in.
(49:00):
There is a tendency and I'mconvinced I'm convinced the
adversary has his way with us inthis area To convince us that
we don't belong in the presenceof God, that we are too dirty,
(49:21):
that we need to hide some thingsor not address some things in
our lives that are too unclean,that we're not worthy enough.
And I want to remind you,brothers and sisters, that you
(49:41):
have unlimited access to God.
He has invited you there on Histerms, and His terms are the
blood of Christ, and when Hisblood is on you this is an
earth-shaking truth,life-transforming truth.
When His blood is on you, hedoes not see the guilt from what
(50:03):
you did in the middle of thenight, this morning at 2 am, and
he doesn't see the guilt fromwhat you did last week or last
year or 10 years ago or 20 yearsago that you still carry around
with you.
He doesn't see your guilt.
He sees the blood of His Sonand he is your righteousness.
So stand boldly there, boldlythere in his presence.
(50:29):
We have access to God.
I'm going to give you thesecond truth just to make sure
we get it out there.
We're not going to have time todive in Access to God and an
advocate before God.
An advocate before God.
We need to realize that Jesusdidn't just go in, sit down, and
(50:53):
now he's taking a vacation.
And now he's just sitting therewatching the world.
I'm convinced we, as Christians, have little to no recognition
of the reality of what Christ isdoing right now at the right
hand of God.
Hebrews 7, verse 23.
(51:14):
There have been many of thosepriests, since death prevented
them from continuing in office.
But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood
Still a priest, still anintermediary, a go-between.
Listen to verse 25.
Therefore, he is able to savecompletely those who come to God
(51:35):
through Him, because he alwayslives to intercede for them.
Not only do you have access tothe very throne room of God, the
very presence of God, but youhave an advocate at His right
hand who right now stands readyto give you everything you need
(52:00):
Strength in the sins that youare struggling with, sustenance
in the trials that you arewalking through, confidence in
the temptations that you feellike you can't overcome.
He stands ready to pour out Hisresources on your behalf to
enable you to endure and livethe victorious Christian life.
(52:21):
You have an advocate.
At this very moment, you havean advocate and the Son of God
at the right hand of God theFather.
This changes everything,because now we find that we
don't need the popular secularcounseling, advice, psychology
(52:41):
that is devoid of the gospel,because in the gospel we
discover that Christ is ready topour out the resources of His
shed blood on you.
In every single thing you walkthrough, in every single
difficulty you face, in everysingle trial you endure, jesus
is ready to pour himself out onyour behalf.
(53:02):
He lives to intercede for you.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of Radical with
David Platt.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radicalnet.
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
Tonight we're going to talkabout two truths and we probably
won't even we may make it tothe second one, and I've been
praying all week long that God,by His grace, would enable me to
(00:20):
do justice to these truths,that he would enable me to
communicate these truths for thewonder they contain.
And they revolve around beingrecipients of a new covenant.
What does that mean and why isthat significant?
Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 19.
We're just gonna get throughverse 22.
Let's read through there.
(00:42):
Hebrews 10, 19.
Therefore, brothers, since wehave confidence to enter the
most holy place by the blood ofJesus, by a new and living way
open for us through the curtainthat is His body, and since we
have a great high priest overthe house of God, let us draw
(01:07):
near to God with a sincere heartand full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled,cleanse us from a guilty
conscience and having our bodieswashed with pure water.
Those four verses are so packedfull of meaning.
(01:34):
The only problem is we have ahard time seeing those verses
for the glorious life.
Transforming verses they arebecause we come to the book of
Hebrews with a little bit of adisadvantage we don't have some
of the Old Testament contextthat's necessary for
understanding these verses.
So what I want us to do is Iwant us to take Hebrews 10, 19
(01:57):
through 22.
I want to show you these truetruths and we're going to unpack
how significant they are, basedon some study in the Old
Testament.
Truth number one we have accessto God.
Huh, if that truth does notastound you, you have no clue
(02:24):
who God is.
We have access to God.
Now here's the picture Hebrews10, 19-22 is telling us we have
confidence to enter the mostholy place.
Some translations say boldness,access, authorization, freedom
(02:50):
to enter the most holy place.
In order to understand how hugethat is, we've got to
understand the Old Testamentprecedent that leads up to this.
So turn with me back to theleft Exodus, chapter 19.
Second book in the Bible Exodus, chapter 19.
Second book in the Bible Exodus, chapter 19.
What we need to do in order tounderstand the gravity and
(03:11):
significance of what it means tobe a recipient of a new
covenant, we've got to see thenew covenant next to the old
covenant.
So go with me to Exodus,chapter 19 and look with me at
this old covenant picture.
What happened here in Exoduschapter 19?
A little lead up here.
God delivered His people.
His people were slaves in Egypt.
(03:31):
He delivered them to thePassover out of slavery in Egypt
, brought them to the Red Sea,sent them through the middle of
the sea on dry land.
He led them pillar of cloud andfire.
He sent bread from heaven tofeed them.
He gave them water from rocks.
And he leads them to this placein Exodus chapter 19 called
Mount Sinai.
And this is where God is goingto inaugurate His covenant
(03:54):
relationship with His peoplethrough Moses, the Mosaic
covenant, the old covenant.
Moses was the leader of thepeople of Israel and so there at
Mount Sinai, god comes to Moses.
Look in verse 3.
He begins to speak to him onthe mountain.
(04:39):
Verse 3 says so.
God is inaugurating thiscovenant with His people and
he's going to meet with them onMount Sinai to inaugurate this
covenant.
But I want you to listen to theregulations that are involved
with God meeting with His people.
Look down in verse 10.
God said to Moses Go to thepeople and consecrate them today
(05:00):
and tomorrow, have them washtheir clothes and be ready by
the third day, because on thatday the Lord will come down on
Mount Sinai in the sight of allthe people.
But here's what you do Putlimits for the people around the
mountain and tell them Becareful that you do not go up
the mountain or touch the footof it.
Whoever touches the mountainshall surely be put to what
(05:24):
Death?
He shall surely be stoned orshot with arrows.
Not a hand is to be laid on him.
Whether man or animal, he shallnot be permitted to live.
Only when the ram's horn soundsa long blast may they go up to
the mountain.
You get down to verse 16.
This is what happened On themorning of the third day.
There was thunder.
Just imagine this scene Thunderand lightning, with a thick
(05:45):
cloud over the mountain and avery loud trumpet blast.
Everyone in the camp trembled.
Then Moses led the people outof the camp to meet with God and
they stood at the foot of themountain.
Mount Sinai was covered withsmoke because the Lord descended
on it in fire.
The smoke billowed up from itlike smoke from a furnace.
(06:06):
The whole mountain trembledviolently.
Can you imagine that?
I mean this is not just likesnow on a Sunday morning.
This is coming to a mountainand the mountain is shaking.
That's intense.
(06:27):
Can you imagine us as a peoplestanding before a mountain and
we're trembling before we evenget there?
And we get there and we seesmoke, like smoke from a furnace
, coming up from this mountain,because God himself is
descending on it like fire andthe mountain itself is shaking.
You don't want to get near thatmountain.
(06:49):
I'm not touching, I'm not goingup, moses, you're going up, god
meeting with his people, andthey are trembling.
Don't miss the command here.
When God inaugurates thiscovenant and comes down among
his people, the command is stayback in fear.
(07:14):
You will be struck down if youcome near the presence of God.
It's the picture here in Exodus19 and throughout the Old
Testament.
You don't play around with thepresence of God.
You don't take the presence ofGod casually.
So this is how God inauguratesthis covenant.
But in this covenant, this iswhat starts in Exodus 20, it's
the Ten Commandments.
God begins to promise peoplethat he's going to dwell with
them.
He's going to be with them.
(07:36):
It begs the question well, ifthis is what's involved with the
presence of God in the middleof His people, then how can God,
a holy God, actually dwell withthe sinful people Turn to the
right and it'll come to Exodus25.
And this is what God sets upNow.
Obviously we know that God isomnipresent, god is present
everywhere.
But what we're about to see ishow God in his glory would dwell
(07:59):
in a powerful way in thepresence of his people.
Look in Exodus 25, verse 8.
This is how it's going tohappen.
God says have them, make asanctuary for me and I will
dwell among them.
Make this tabernacle and allits furnishings exactly like the
pattern I will show you.
(08:22):
And so what God says is I'mgoing to dwell among you in a
tabernacle.
The way this tabernacle is setup is you had an outer court to
the tabernacle, then you had aninner court and then you had the
inmost place, the holy ofholies.
If you could picture almost thestage and this will be
completely insufficient andthose of you who like drums will
(08:44):
enjoy this analogy but thepicture is picture the outer
court.
Here you go, there's a passagethrough which you go to the
inner court and then you got themost holy place back here, all
right, and there's a veil,there's a curtain that separates
the most holy place, which iswhere the glory of God is going
to dwell and what's going to bein the most holy place.
Well, he starts talking aboutright after this, verse 10, have
(09:06):
them make a chest of acaciawood.
This chest is literally an ark,not like Noah's ark, not like a
boat.
This is a chest of wood.
It's called in the scripturesthe ark of the covenant, because
what's going to go inside thatchest, in addition to a couple
of other things, is the covenant, the law of God that he gives
to Moses.
Here Moses is going to put thatin the covenant, his law before
(09:30):
his people.
It's what he says in verse 16,the ark of the testimony.
The testimony is what you'regoing to put in there.
And then on top of it, listento this verse 17, make an
atonement cover of pure gold twoand a half cubits long and a
cubit and a half wide, and maketwo cherubim out of hammered
gold at the ends of the cover.
(09:51):
Cherubim in Scripture aresymbolic of the presence of God.
If you remember back to Genesis, chapter 3, when God banished
Adam and Eve from the Garden ofEden, do you remember what he
put there at the Garden?
The gate cherubim, the flamingsword flashing back and forth,
showing that man had beenbanished from the presence of
God He'd enjoyed, in that sense,in Genesis, chapter 1 and 2.
(10:15):
And so the picture here is thepresence of God symbolizing
these cherubim Verse 19,.
Make one cherub on one end andthe second cherub on the other.
Make the cherubim of one piecesorry, I lost my place.
Make the cherubim of one piecewith the cover at the two ends.
The cherubim are to have theirwings spread upward,
overshadowing the cover.
(10:35):
With them, the cherubim are toface each other, looking toward
the cover.
Place the cover on top of theark and put in the ark the
testimony which I will give youthere, above the cover on top of
the ark, and put in the ark thetestimony which I will give you
there, above the cover, betweenthe two cherubim that are over
the ark of the testimony.
I will meet with you and giveyou all my commands for the
Israelites.
Try to simplify this.
What you've got is you've gotthis chest, the ark of the
covenant, covenant, the law ofGod.
(10:59):
Inside the chest there is acover on the top.
It's called an atonement cover,and what you have on either
side of the atonement cover arethese cherubs one on this side,
one on this side, symbolic ofthe presence of God looking down
upon His law in the middle ofHis people, and this is the
picture that God says well,we'll show you my glory dwelling
among you in the tabernacle,and that's what's in the inmost
(11:19):
place.
Now, here's the deal.
Not just anybody went prancinginto the inmost holy place.
Sinful man before a holy god,as we saw in exodus, chapter 19,
is a serious thing.
So how how can god and hisglory and his holy glory dwell
(11:40):
in the middle of sinful people?
These are people who, whilemoses is getting these
instructions from god, they'vealready at the middle of sinful
people.
These are people who, whileMoses is getting these
instructions from God, they'vealready, at the base of the
mountain, erected a golden calfand they're worshiping an idol.
These are sinful people.
We see ourselves in them, so weknow this.
So how can God dwell among asinful people like this,
(12:00):
interact with Him through Hispresence?
What God does is you flip overto the right and you come to
Exodus 28.
God calls out priests, priestswho will be intermediaries,
go-betweens between sinfulpeople and a holy God.
Exodus 28, verse 1, have Aaron,your brother, brought to you
(12:22):
from among the Israelites, alongwith his sons Nadab and Abihu,
eleazar and Ithamar, so they mayserve me as priests.
And what God set up was thisgroup of people, the priests,
who would serve in thetabernacle, and they would be
the go-betweens between a sinfulpeople and a holy God.
(12:43):
And the chapters that followstart talking about how the
priests have to be cleansed andpurified in order to be in the
presence of God.
And when you get to the book ofLeviticus, god outlines what
the priests will do, all kindsof different offerings and
sacrifices in light of thepeople's sin, before holy God.
(13:03):
Turn over there to Leviticus,chapter 16.
Leviticus 16.
Now, while you're turning there, you might be tempted to think
well, that's kind of a cool job.
I mean, you're a priest, youget to go into the tabernacle,
maybe even the inmost place ifyou're the high priest.
Lest we think this is a reallycool job, we look at Leviticus,
(13:26):
chapter 10, and we see Nadab andAbihu, aaron's sons that are
mentioned there, and one daythey get a little casual with
their priestly duties and theydo things not according to the
standards God had set, andimmediately they're consumed by
fire.
There's not a lot of jobsecurity in this one.
If you do things wrong.
This is serious stuff.
(13:50):
For man to be in the presence ofa holy god, you've got to come
only when invited and on histerms, not any terms you create.
That's the picture that's setup here in the old testament.
And so there were all kinds ofdifferent offerings and
sacrifices that they would make.
But all of this sacrificialsystem revolved around one day,
(14:10):
and this was God's provision forhow His holy presence could
dwell in the middle of a sinfulpeople.
His provision was an annualsacrifice on the Day of
Atonement, yom Kippur, the Dayof Atonement.
In Leviticus, chapter 16, tellsus what would happen on that
particular day.
Look at Leviticus, chapter 16,verse 29.
(14:33):
This is the overall descriptionhere.
Now, atonement means toreconcile or be reconciled to
something.
You can kind of remember thiswhen you look at atone.
There's two words atone to bemade at, one with something, to
be reconciled to something.
You can kind of remember thiswhen you look at atone.
There's two words atone to bemade, atone with something, to
be reconciled with something.
And so how can sinful people bereconciled to a holy God?
(14:53):
Day of atonement?
Here's how, verse 29.
This is to be a lastingordinance for you.
On the 10th day of the seventhmonth.
You must deny yourselves andnot do any work, whether native,
born or an alien living amongyou, because on this day
atonement will be made for youto cleanse you.
Then, before the Lord, you willbe clean from all your sins.
(15:14):
It is a Sabbath of rest and youmust deny yourselves.
It is a lasting ordinance thepriest who is anointed and
ordained to succeed his fatheras high priest.
So the high priest is to makeatonement.
He is to put on the sacredlinen garments and make
atonement for the most holyplace, for the tent of meeting
and the altar, and for thepriests and all the people of
(15:35):
the community.
This is to be a lastingordinance for you.
Atonement is to be made once ayear for all the sins of the
Israelites.
So here's what God set out Oncea year, one day a year, one man
, not everybody, not even everypriest one priest, the high
priest, one day a year, would gointo the inmost place where the
(15:57):
Ark of the Covenant was, andoffer a sacrifice that would
atone for the people's sins.
Now, what was involved in thiswhole picture on the Day of
Atonement?
Three elements I want to showyou that are extremely important
.
One you have a priest enteringan earthly sanctuary.
A priest entering an earthlysanctuary.
(16:21):
When we come back, we'll beginto fill in the gaps in what
Leviticus, chapter 16 teaches.
Leviticus 16.4 talks about whatthe priest needs to wear, how
he needs to purify himself,cleanse himself, because he's
about to go into the presence ofGod.
You take a really good Saturdaynight bath on this one because
you've got something to do thenext morning that you've got to
be ready for.
You put on the right clothesthat God says to put on.
(16:47):
You're clean and pure andcleansed before you go into the
presence of God.
This was an intense deal.
The priest is the only oneEverybody be standing outside
the tabernacle.
The priest is the only one whowould go in, and the priest
literally had bells sewn intothe hem of his garment.
(17:08):
Why so?
That when he goes in to themost holy place, you can hear
him ringing around as he movesthroughout there and if the
bells stop ringing, you know thepriest has stopped breathing.
He's been struck down in thepresence of God.
(17:29):
Tradition tells us they wouldtie a rope around his ankle and
leave the other end of the ropeoutside so that when he went in,
if he was struck down, whowants to go in after him was
struck down.
Who wants to go in after himAfter that?
Nobody.
You could pull them out.
There's a man who's going tomeet with God.
(17:52):
Can you imagine the anxiety inthis scene?
You're standing there silent,not even daring to breathe, as
this man walks in.
You hear those bells and you'relistening for those bells.
When he goes in, he doesn'tstay around for a while, he
(18:14):
doesn't have a seat and kickback and relax.
He doesn't take some pictures.
He's in and out and you sitthere listening for those bells
and then, when he comes out,community of faith breathes a
sigh of relief.
A man just met with God in hisglorious presence, intense.
(18:36):
A priest entering an earthlysanctuary.
What would he do when he got inthere?
Second element the blood of aspotless animal.
The blood of a spotless animal.
The blood of a spotless animal.
Now, actually there's threeanimals involved in the Day of
Atonement.
Here.
Get to the end of verse five.
It says from the Israelitecommunity, the priest, high
priest, is to take two malegoats for a sin offering and a
(18:58):
ram for a burnt offering.
So two goats and a ram.
And what the priest is to do ishe's to offer the ram as a
sacrifice to atone for his sins,because the priest wasn't
perfect, he wasn't pure on hisown accord, and so he had to
offer a sacrifice for his ownsins.
(19:19):
And then he would take one ofthe goats.
One of the goats lives, we'llget to him in a minute, but the
other goat is sacrificed, one ofthe goats.
One of the goats lives, we'llget to him in a minute.
But the other goat issacrificed and the blood of that
goat serves to atone for allthe sins of the people of God,
the Israelites.
Now you might be thinking well,poor ram and goat, why do they
have to die?
Why does there have to be bloodinvolved in this thing?
(19:40):
What's the point and the pointis twofold, and this is not in
your thing.
What's the point and the pointis twofold, and this is not in
your notes.
A little extra, no charge, butthe picture is twofold.
One blood is cleansing.
It's a picture that we see inScripture.
Even the very next chapter,leviticus 17, I think verse 11
and 14, talks about how theblood represents life, cleansing
.
So that's the picture we seeall throughout Scripture.
(20:01):
But even deeper than that, theblood is a picture of a
substitute.
Take a step deeper into some OldTestament theology and we go
back to Genesis, chapter 2.
Do you remember what God toldAdam and Eve?
He said if you sin, you willsurely what Die.
(20:24):
Ladies and gentlemen, from thevery beginning of this book and
from the very beginning ofhistory, the payment for sin has
been what?
Death Period, that is, thejudgment due sin, death.
You say.
Well, adam and Eve were stillalive by Genesis 4 after sin
(20:47):
entered in Genesis 3.
Well, they didn't die, butdeath did enter into the picture
in Genesis 3.
Who died?
It was animals who sacrificedto provide a covering for Adam
and Eve and their sin.
So the picture is the priestwould take these animals and, in
(21:07):
their death, their blood.
Look at this picture down inverse 11.
Here's what would happen Aaronwill bring the bull for his own
sin offering to make atonementfor himself and his household,
and he has to slaughter the bullfor his own sin offering.
He is to take a censer full ofburning coals from the altar
before the Lord and two handfulsof finely ground, fragrant
(21:29):
incense and take them behind thecurtain.
He's going behind the curtain.
He's to put the incense on thefire before the Lord and the
smoke of the incense willconceal the atonement cover
above the testimony so that hewill not die.
He is to take some of thebull's blood and, with his
finger, sprinkle it on the frontof the atonement cover.
Then he shall sprinkle some ofit with his finger seven times
(21:51):
before the atonement cover.
So that's what he does for hisown sins, and then he takes the
goat for the sins of theIsraelites.
He shall then slaughter thegoat for the sin offering for
the people, and take its bloodbehind the curtain and do with
it as he did with the bull'sblood.
He shall sprinkle it on theatonement cover and in front of
it, and this way he will makeatonement for the most holy
place, because of theuncleanness and rebellion of the
(22:14):
Israelites, whatever their sinshave been.
So don't miss it.
This is huge, this picture here.
It's the whole setup Ark of theCovenant, cherubs, atonement
cover.
The priest goes in and takesthis blood of sacrifice, a
(22:42):
substitute, and he sprinkles itover the atonement cover.
Why the picture is so that aholy God symbolized His presence
by these cherubs looking downupon His law, law that was
(23:02):
broken by sinful people.
But looking down on that lawinstead of seeing a broken law,
he sees blood, the blood ofanother, and he sees that
(23:24):
judgment towards sin has beensatisfied, wrath towards sin has
been satisfied, wrath towardsin has been satisfied and in
this way God is both just towardsin and gracious toward sinners
at the exact same time.
That's the picture that is setup here in the day of atonement
(23:48):
with this blood, that when Godlooks down on a broken law,
instead of seeing the broken law, he sees this blood.
It's a substitute sacrifice ofanother and the sins of the
people are atoned for.
The priest would come out afterdoing this and he would take the
other goat, the goat who madeit through the first round.
Now look down in verse 20 whathe does with that goat.
(24:08):
When Aaron had finished makingatonement for the most holy
place, the tent of meeting inthe altar, he shall bring
forward the live goat.
He is to lay both hands on thehead of the live goat and
confess over it all thewickedness and rebellion of the
Israelites, all their sins, andput them on the goat's head.
He shall send the goat awayinto the desert in the care of a
(24:28):
man appointed for the task.
The goat will carry on itselfall their sins to a solitary
place and the man shall releaseit in the desert.
This is a picture scapegoat agoat that represented all the
sins of the people of Israelbeing taken into the wilderness
and let go in a solitary place.
It's a picture of God'sforgiveness for his people's sin
.
So that was the picture thatwas set up.
(24:51):
You got a priest that enters anearthly sanctuary and offers
blood as an atonement for sins.
The only problem with this wholepicture was that it was a
sacrifice that needed repeating,needed to be repeated over and
over, repeated, over and overand, over and over again,
because they would do this oncea year, and the next year they
(25:14):
would need to do it again, andthe next year they would need to
do it again, and their heartswere still sinful and unchanged
and they were still separatedfrom the presence of God.
So they would need to do thisover and over and over again.
That's what the effect of thiswhole picture was.
(25:36):
This was a reminder of theirsins.
More than anything else, theDay of Atonement was a reminder
of the sin that plagued thepeople of God.
It was a once a year reminderthat they were still separated
from the presence of God, aonce-a-year reminder.
They still needed a priest, asinful priest at that, to
represent them before a holy God.
(25:58):
This is when you come back toHebrews, chapter 10.
Come back with me, make theconnection here.
Hebrews 10, verse 1.
This is exactly what the authorof Hebrews says.
Hebrews 10, verse 1.
This is exactly what the authorof Hebrews says.
Hebrews 10, verse 1.
The law is only a shadow of thegood things that are coming,
not the realities themselves.
For this reason, it can never,by the same sacrifices, repeated
endlessly year after year, makeperfect those who draw near to
(26:21):
worship.
If it could, would they nothave stopped being offered, for
the worshipers would have beencleansed once for all and would
no longer have felt guilty fortheir sins?
But those sacrifices listen,those sacrifices verse 3, are an
annual reminder of sins,because it is impossible for the
blood of bulls and goats totake away sins.
(26:42):
The Day of Atonement served as areminder, year after year after
year after year, that they werea sinful people separated from
the presence of a holy God.
There was an incredible picturein the Old Testament, old
Covenant, but it was incompleteand ultimately ineffective,
(27:02):
ultimately ineffective.
So, with that background,exodus 19,.
Stay back in fear, day ofAtonement.
One man, one man once a year,can go into the inmost place and
he gets in and gets out asquickly as he can, because
(27:23):
sinful man and holy God do notmix.
Sinful man can't be in thepresence of, and holy God do not
mix.
Sinful man can't be in thepresence of a holy God.
So with that background the oldcovenant we come to Hebrews 10,
verse 19, and the author saysthis is new covenant here.
Therefore, brothers, since wehave confidence to enter the
(27:48):
most holy place, stop rightthere.
What we, brothers, we as thepeople of God in the church,
(28:11):
have confidence to enter whereFreedom to enter, where
Authorization to enter, whereAccess to go, where the most
holy place, where the presenceof God dwells, absolutely.
(28:31):
Old Testament, old Covenantcommand stay back in fear.
New Covenant command draw nearin faith, Come near to the
presence of God with a sincereheart and full assurance of
faith.
This is boldness.
Think about it what only oneman could do once a year in the
(28:53):
old covenant is now theprivilege that is enjoyed by
every man or woman who trusts inChrist.
This is what the author ofHebrews here just makes this
comparison so clear.
Go over a couple chapters tothe right Hebrews, chapter 12.
Look at verse 18.
He takes this picture fromExodus 19 and he brings it in.
(29:14):
Catch the gravity here, thesignificance here.
Look at this comparison Hebrews12, verse 18.
The author says you have notcome to a mountain that can be
touched, that is burning withfire, to darkness, gloom and
storm he's describing in Exodus19, to a trumpet blast or to
such a voice speaking words thatthose who heard it begged that
no further word would be spokento them because they could not
(29:36):
bear what was commanded.
If even an animal touches themountain, it must be stoned.
The sight was so terrifyingthat Moses said I am trembling
with fear.
No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the
city of the living God.
You have come to thousands uponthousands of angels in joyful
assembly, to the church of thefirstborn, whose names are
(30:00):
written in heaven.
You have come to God, the judgeof all men, to the spirits of
righteous men made perfect.
Ha.
(30:21):
Christian, you have a privilegethat Old Testament saints only
dreamed might be possibleUnlimited access to God,
authorization to go to thepresence of God at any moment of
(30:48):
any day.
How is this possible?
How can sinful people, you andI, people dirty in sin, how can
you and I enter into the mostholy place?
Look at Hebrews 19.
Since we have confidence toenter the most holy place by the
(31:08):
fact that we are good people,by the fact that we attend
church, by how hard we try to begood and pure and holy.
No, we have confidence to enterthe most holy place by the
blood of Jesus.
Here was the provision, not oldcovenant, annual sacrifice on
the day of atonement, newcovenant, the abiding sacrifice
(31:32):
of the death of Jesus Christ.
His blood guarantees, provides,supplies, access to the
presence of God.
We know there was this curtain,this veil that separated even
in the Old Testament, separatedthe people of God, even the
priest, from the most holy place.
(31:52):
And we know the Gospels tell uswhen Jesus died on that cross,
what happened to that curtain?
Torn in two, rent asunder.
Some translations say Gone thepath, the access to God opened
up to the people of God by thedeath of Christ.
(32:12):
Now, how, how could the deathof Christ on a cross provide
access to you and me at thismoment to the presence of God?
How does the cross do that?
Three elements Number one not apriest entering an earthly
sanctuary, but a priest enteringa heavenly sanctuary.
Jesus is the priest here Now.
(32:34):
A priest in the Old Testamentwent into an earthly sanctuary,
an earthly tabernacle.
Go back to chapter 8, verse 5.
We're going to fill in some ofthe blanks in the book of
Hebrews here, chapter 8, verse 5.
Numerous times the author ofHebrews talks about how this
tabernacle, this earthlytabernacle, was a copy, a
man-made representation.
(32:55):
Look at verse 5.
They serve at a sanctuary.
That is a copy and a shadow ofwhat is in heaven.
This is why Moses was warnedwhen he was about to build the
tabernacle Seed to it that youmake everything according to the
pattern shown you on themountains.
It's a copy, it's arepresentation of that which is
heaven.
Look in chapter 9, verse 1.
The first covenant hadregulations for worship and also
(33:17):
an earthly sanctuary.
Get down to verse 11.
Earthly sanctuary is what theywent into, but Christ?
When Christ came as high priestof the good things that are
already here, he went throughthe greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not man-made,that is to say not a part of
His creation.
Get over to verse 24.
Listen to this.
(33:38):
Christ did not enter a man-madesanctuary.
That was only a copy of thetrue one.
He entered heaven itself now toappear for us in God's presence
.
Don't miss it.
When we talk about unlimitedaccess to God, we're not talking
about access to a room or aplace or a building.
(33:58):
We are talking about access tothe very presence of God in
heaven.
That's where our high priestwent and that's where you and I
have the privilege of dwellingin spiritual reality before the
very presence of God.
Not an earthly sanctuary, aheavenly sanctuary.
Now, how, how can you and I bein the very presence of God
(34:23):
where Christ is Not through theblood of a spotless animal, not
through the blood of a spotlessanimal, but through the blood of
a sinless man?
This is Hebrews chapter 4.
Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14through 16.
Really parallels the Hebrews 10, 19 through 22 that we're
studying.
But this picture here inHebrews chapter 4 is a picture
(34:43):
of the humanity and deity ofChrist.
Listen to this.
We have a great high priestHebrews 4.14, who has gone
through the heavens.
Jesus, the Son of God, let ushold firmly to the faith we
profess.
Here's his humanity.
We do not have a high priestwho is unable to sympathize with
our weaknesses, but one who hasbeen tempted in every way fully
, man, able to identify with us,sympathize with us, yet fully.
(35:10):
God, the Son of God, who isjust as we are, yet was without
sin.
Jesus did not need to take thesacrifice of another because
sacrifice of himself wassufficient.
He was sinless.
Now here's the picture Hebrews 9, I think 20, or 14, talks about
(35:32):
unblemished sacrifice.
The picture here, don't missthis.
Jesus had not sinned and, as aresult, the payment for sin.
Remember the payment for sin.
Remember what the payment forsin is, what Death he did not
warrant merit that.
(35:55):
And yet what we see in thegospel, the blood of Christ, is
Jesus taking the payment for sin, death as a substitute
sacrifice, so that when hisblood is sprinkled over your
(36:19):
heart and my heart, think aboutthe reality based on what we saw
in Leviticus 16.
Think about it as it pertainsto your life.
When God, in His holiness,looks down upon you and your sin
and me and my sin, and he seeshow you have broken His law and
he sees how I have broken Hislaw.
Praise God because our heartshave been sprinkled with the
(36:47):
blood of Jesus.
He looks down on our lives andhe does not see a broken law in
you.
He does not see a broken law inme.
He sees the blood of Christ inyou and the blood of Christ in
me, and he is our righteousnessand he is our righteousness and
we have access to God.
As a result, the atonementcover.
He has atoned for our sins.
With his blood Our hearts havebeen sprinkled to cleanse us
(37:11):
from a guilty conscience.
And this is not a sacrificethat he has to do again next
year, next month, next time wesin.
It is a sacrifice that willlast forever.
It'll last forever.
Hebrews 9, 24 to 26.
(37:32):
Christ did not enter a man-madesanctuary we just read a second
ago.
That was only a copy of thetrue one.
He entered heaven itself toappear for us in God's presence.
Nor did he enter heaven tooffer Himself again and again,
the way the high priest entersthe most holy place every year
with blood that is not His own.
Then Christ would have had tosuffer many times since the
creation of the world, but nowhe has appeared once for all, at
(37:53):
the end of the ages, to do awaywith sin by the sacrifice of
Himself.
Skip over to the next chapter,hebrews 10, verse 11.
Listen to this.
Day after day, every prieststands and performs his
religious duties.
Again and again he offers thesame sacrifices, which can never
take away sins.
But when this priest hadoffered for all time one
(38:15):
sacrifice for sins listen tothis.
He sat down at the right handof God, underline circle and put
stars everywhere around.
Sat down, priest.
Old covenant goes into theinmost place.
He doesn't sit down, hang outfor a while, he gets out as fast
(38:38):
as he can.
Jesus entered the most holyplace, the very throne room of
God, and he pulled up a chairand sat down.
And the picture here is thathis work on the cross was
complete, the wrath of God hadbeen satisfied and his reign
would be eternal.
(38:58):
He doesn't need to get up andoffer any more sacrifices
because that sacrifice is oncefor all and it is eternal.
Old Testament picture.
New Testament fulfillmentreality, glorious reality.
And the result of this NewTestament reality is not a
(39:20):
reminder of our sins.
The result of this NewTestament reality is not a
reminder of our sins.
The result of this NewTestament reality is the removal
of all our sin.
It is gone.
It's gone.
Your sin is gone, it's gone.
(39:44):
Hebrews 10, verse 17,.
He's quoting from Jeremiah whoprophesied the new covenant.
He says.
Then he adds their sins andlawless acts.
I will remember no more whenthese have been forgiven.
There is no longer anysacrifice for sin.
Remember the picture of thescapegoat sent off into the
(40:10):
wilderness.
New Testament reality.
Brothers and sisters, as far asthe east is from the west, as
Psalm told us 103, psalm 103,.
As far as the east is from thewest, so far as he removed our
transgressions from us Isaiah 43, 25.
I, even I, blot out yourtransgressions for my sake, and
(40:31):
I remember your sins no more.
They are cast out and gone.
He remembers them no more.
Do we realize what this means?
Do we realize the gravity ofthis?
Brothers and sisters, we arecleansed by His blood.
(40:54):
We're cleansed by His bloodHaving our hearts sprinkled to
cleanse us from a guiltyconscience.
Brothers and sisters, our guiltis gone.
It's gone.
(41:15):
You're not guilty anymore.
It's not because God looks atyour sin and just pretends like
it's not there or looks theother way.
Isaiah 53.
It was the Lord's will to crushhim.
Please the Lord, to crush himand to make his life a guilt
(41:35):
offering.
He took your guilt, all yourguilt.
He took your guilt.
Your guilt is gone and yourconscience is clean.
Your conscience is clean.
Think about that reality.
We know.
We know what it's like to havean unclean conscience.
You're a kid, you do somethingwrong, disobey mom and dad.
(41:56):
You know you're going to get itand you avoid their presence.
And when it comes time whereyou know you're going to get it
and you avoid their presence.
And when it comes time whereyou know you've got to come,
wherever they are and you kindof walk in the room if you've
done something that you knowdad's not going to be happy
about, you don't walk in with abig smile on your face and you
walk in kind of head low justlooking around.
(42:18):
You don't want to be in Hispresence.
Is this not what the adversarydoes?
Tries to convince us You're notworthy enough to be in His
presence.
You realize what you did lastnight, those thoughts that you
(42:45):
had, what you said, how youacted.
You've got to get some thingscleaned up before you go in the
presence of God.
Blasphemy.
You are clean Christian.
You are clean.
Your guilt is gone.
There is therefore now nocondemnation for those who are
(43:07):
in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation.
Your guilt is gone.
Your conscience is clean.
Go before him boldly, humbly,yes, and boldly yes, with
confidence.
Free access, unlimited access,go into His presence with head
held high, based on the shedblood of Jesus Christ To go
(43:28):
there Are cleansed by His bloodand we are washed by His Word,
having our bodies washed withpure water.
Most commentators see here areference to baptism, but even
that, this is so huge.
Baptism, outward washing thatreflects inward cleansing,
(43:56):
outward manifestation of innertransformation.
And the picture is we're notlike the priests.
We don't go, try to scrub oursin off, try to make ourselves
clean.
What happens is and this isexactly what he quoted from
Jeremiah in verse 16.
This is the covenant I willmake with him.
After that time, says the Lord,I will put my laws in their
hearts and I will write them ontheir minds.
(44:18):
He puts his law in our heartsand he changes us from the
inside out.
What the old covenant did nothave power to do, the new
covenant does.
Christ puts His law in ourhearts, and not just His law,
but His Spirit there.
He puts His Spirit in ourhearts so that he has made His
presence our home.
(44:39):
His dwelling place is not someroom that is separated from us
by a veil.
His Holy Spirit dwells in you,the very presence of God
dwelling in you and me this isso huge We've all been in
(45:07):
circumstances where we felt outof place.
We've all been in situations I'mguessing where we're looking
around and we're just thinking Idon't think I'm supposed to be
in this particular place rightnow, or this particular group
and I don't think I'm supposedto be in this particular place
right now, or this particulargroup and I don't think I'm
supposed to be in this area,whatever it may be, I've told
(45:27):
some of you a story about a fewyears ago, when I went to a
monastery for a weekend and Ihad some decisions that I was
making in my life.
I really just wanted to spendsome concentrated time in prayer
, and this monastery would allowyou to come and basically
follow the schedule of the monksget up at four and go to bed at
eight and pray, and pray, andpray, and read, and eat, and do
(45:53):
it all in silence, just nottalking.
It was a really powerfulweekend.
I got there late, though, and Imissed the orientation, during
which they described the partsof the monastery you were
allowed to go and the parts ofthe monastery you were not
allowed to go into, becausethere are some parts, apparently
, that are reserved only formonks, monks only.
(46:15):
So I was wandering aroundcommuning with God and I was in
this building and I opened thisdoor and it opens into this
beautiful open-air courtyard,surrounded on all four sides by
buildings with windows in it andin the middle this fountain and
these nice bushes.
And I start just kind ofwalking around the courtyard and
(46:37):
I look in one of the windowsand I see I think that's where
the monks eat.
That's kind of cool.
And I go to another window andI look in.
I think this is where the monksstudy.
It looks like a library and atthat point it hit me I think
this is one of those placesthat's monks only.
And at that very moment, on theother side of the courtyard a
(47:00):
door opens up and out in comes amonk into the courtyard.
I didn't know what to do.
Like, I don't want to getkicked out of a monastery, you
know?
I mean who gets kicked out of amonastery?
So I panicked and this willsound like a joke, but it's
exactly what I did.
I dove into the bushes.
I don't know what I wasthinking, but I did.
(47:25):
I couldn't talk to him andexplain what I was doing there,
so I just decided it would bebetter if we didn't interact.
And so I dove into the bushesand I kind of squatted down
behind.
It was between this one bushand a column.
I mean I remember this like itwas yesterday.
It was intense, I was justsweating profusely.
(47:48):
And then I start thinking, asI'm squatting down there, like
what if he sees me?
How do I explain that withouttalking?
Like this is just awkward.
And so I'm sitting there and Ijust start praying.
I'm like Lord just blind hiseyes so he doesn't see me.
Like I know he spends a lotmore time with you than I do,
(48:10):
but this is just anyway.
So I'm sitting there and I hearhis footsteps.
He's getting closer and closerand closer toward me and I'm
just sitting there thinking andI'll be honest, like it crossed
my mind, it'd be really funny tolike jump out and scare the guy
.
That would kind of ruin thatwhole vow of silence thing he's
(48:36):
had going for years.
But I didn't do that.
So I just squatted there.
I squatted there until he endedup.
He didn't see me.
He walked past me, behind me inthe bush and walked out of the
courtyard and as soon as he wasgone I bolted out of the
courtyard, back out the doorthat I had come in.
(49:00):
There is a tendency and I'mconvinced I'm convinced the
adversary has his way with us inthis area To convince us that
we don't belong in the presenceof God, that we are too dirty,
(49:21):
that we need to hide some thingsor not address some things in
our lives that are too unclean,that we're not worthy enough.
And I want to remind you,brothers and sisters, that you
(49:41):
have unlimited access to God.
He has invited you there on Histerms, and His terms are the
blood of Christ, and when Hisblood is on you this is an
earth-shaking truth,life-transforming truth.
When His blood is on you, hedoes not see the guilt from what
(50:03):
you did in the middle of thenight, this morning at 2 am, and
he doesn't see the guilt fromwhat you did last week or last
year or 10 years ago or 20 yearsago that you still carry around
with you.
He doesn't see your guilt.
He sees the blood of His Sonand he is your righteousness.
So stand boldly there, boldlythere in his presence.
(50:29):
We have access to God.
I'm going to give you thesecond truth just to make sure
we get it out there.
We're not going to have time todive in Access to God and an
advocate before God.
An advocate before God.
We need to realize that Jesusdidn't just go in, sit down, and
(50:53):
now he's taking a vacation.
And now he's just sitting therewatching the world.
I'm convinced we, as Christians, have little to no recognition
of the reality of what Christ isdoing right now at the right
hand of God.
Hebrews 7, verse 23.
(51:14):
There have been many of thosepriests, since death prevented
them from continuing in office.
But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood
Still a priest, still anintermediary, a go-between.
Listen to verse 25.
Therefore, he is able to savecompletely those who come to God
(51:35):
through Him, because he alwayslives to intercede for them.
Not only do you have access tothe very throne room of God, the
very presence of God, but youhave an advocate at His right
hand who right now stands readyto give you everything you need
(52:00):
Strength in the sins that youare struggling with, sustenance
in the trials that you arewalking through, confidence in
the temptations that you feellike you can't overcome.
He stands ready to pour out Hisresources on your behalf to
enable you to endure and livethe victorious Christian life.
(52:21):
You have an advocate.
At this very moment, you havean advocate and the Son of God
at the right hand of God theFather.
This changes everything,because now we find that we
don't need the popular secularcounseling, advice, psychology
(52:41):
that is devoid of the gospel,because in the gospel we
discover that Christ is ready topour out the resources of His
shed blood on you.
In every single thing you walkthrough, in every single
difficulty you face, in everysingle trial you endure, jesus
is ready to pour himself out onyour behalf.
(53:02):
He lives to intercede for you.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of Radical with
David Platt.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radicalnet.
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