October 14, 2025 • 49 mins
The Mercy Seat Of Jesus
Hebrews 9:1-10
Pastor Chris Bonner
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
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So this message, the mercy seat of Jesus, and just really enjoyed really studying this and
marinating in it. And I know the Lord is going to speak to each one of us. We all need mercy,
don't we? His mercies are new every day. Praise the Lord for that. In fact, we're told to boldly
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approach the throne of grace where we will receive mercy and find grace. So we need mercies every
single day and the Lord provides it. And so let's pray and we're going to invite the Lord to really
speak to us today. And also we're going to have communion towards the end of the service, so just
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be prepared for that too. So Father God, we thank you Lord for what a great thing it is to be in the
house of the Lord with our brothers and sisters to be sharing you. You know, we're the same body,
Lord. God, we're the same family, Lord. We thank you for just a wonderful day yesterday where
those who were baptized and even others just shared things about their faith. It was wonderful,
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Lord. And Lord, we thank you for your mercy, Lord. And we ask you to speak to us today
in your spirit, Lord, that each one of us will glean something that isn't even
audibly said by me, but they've heard it in the depths of their soul from you in this spirit.
So Lord God, we ask you to speak to us through your word and your Holy Spirit. We invite you in,
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Lord God. We ask your Holy Spirit to really just hit this place, Lord God, and just set us free of
guilt and condemnation and any things from the past that we still hold on to because you have
released us from that, Lord God. And the sooner we grasp that, the more alive we will be in our
faith in you. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. So if you can recall last week, we talked about the new
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covenant, a better covenant with better promises and how, you know, the old covenant was about
you serve and earn, you know, you get what you earned through service to God. You know,
it's the, it was the covenant of law, but now we're in the covenant of grace, you know,
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we believe we receive God is giving to us, you know, in the, the old covenant,
the old Testament was all about doing for God. Now it's what God is doing through us, for us
and through us. So it's a great covenant. It's the new covenant, even as we eat the bread and drink
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the wine at the end of the service, we'll be remembering that. And it's a great covenant
because he does it all. Amen. In fact, we read this verse last week, Hebrews 810,
for this is the covenant, the new covenant says, Lord, I will put my laws in their mind
and I will write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
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Did you ever notice the longer you walk with God and just really embrace him,
the easier it is to do the right thing. Don't you believe that? You know, I've heard people say,
Oh, we're on the edge of just falling into depravity. I haven't found that. I really
haven't the longer I've fallen following with followed God, the more I've encountered it's,
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it's actually easier to do the right thing. If you can, you get an amen out there.
Are you with me? I mean, it is because you start to repulse the things of your old life.
And so we're going to dive in. And before we do, I wanted to show just one slide
of what we're going to be reading here about the tabernacle. It's a side view of the tabernacle.
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And it's interesting because the, the old covenant had so many symbols of physical things that were
all a picture of a heavenly truth. We won't go through every item article of the tabernacle today.
We don't have time, but I encourage you to listen back. Okay. And listen to, uh, when,
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when John Kratz and Jamie Allabach and Danny and Danny and Jesse, when they're teaching
through Wednesday nights, you can read during Exodus when the Lord set the stage with these,
the tabernacle and all the symbolism. It's just amazing what all these symbols mean.
And so we're going to be showing that. And Tammy, if you wouldn't mind just showing that one
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slide that you just showed back and, you know, we're going to see the, these articles mentioned
in what we're reading and the reason I'm showing you first, so you can kind of picture it as we
read. And so let's do it. You ready? I think I need some glasses. Okay. Chapter nine, verse one.
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Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and earthly sanctuary
for a tabernacle was prepared. The first part in which was the lampstand, the table,
and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. And behind the second veil,
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the part of the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, or the holy of holies,
which had the golden sensor and the arc of the covenant overlaid in all sides with gold,
in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded,
and the tablets of the covenant and above it were the cherubim of glory,
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overshadowing the mercy seat of these things. We cannot now speak in detail and verse six.
And now when these things had been thus prepared, the priest always went into the first part of the
tabernacle performing the services, but into the second part of the, into the second part,
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the high priest went alone once a year. It was the day of atonement, not without blood.
And that was of the sacrifices, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins,
committed in ignorance, the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all
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was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered,
which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience,
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concerned only with the foods and drinks, various washings and freshly ordinances,
fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
Now we're almost finished. Verse 11, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come
with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not
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of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood,
he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled the unclean,
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sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God,
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death
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for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant,
that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Amen. So I know that's a lot, but we got through it.
And now we're going to really look specifically at this tabernacle
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and some of the things that this all means.
If you know the story of the tabernacle, okay, it was a tent that again,
Moses was given the blueprints of on Mount Sinai.
And the pillar of fire by night led Israel, okay, through the wilderness.
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And by day, it was like a pillar of a cloud, a glory cloud.
And I picture it kind of more almost like a funnel cloud or some sort of like a twister,
although it wasn't spinning and causing destruction, of course.
But because the word also says that it was like a canopy.
So it was probably kind of like a pillar with a canopy during the day
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that shaded Israel from getting scorched by the sun.
So it was really God's provision.
And he led them and what he would do is come down upon the tabernacle of meeting,
the tabernacle, the house of the Lord and meet with Moses over the mercy seat.
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So he would come down in this pillar and meet with the Lord.
And actually all of Israel would look and say, look, look, look,
Moses is meeting with God, God's coming down.
And they were just amazed at this special relationship
that Moses had with the eternal one, God.
And so let's go into the tabernacle now.
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And Tammy, if you could show that next slide.
And this is a picture of inside, okay.
And again, we saw the sideways view, but this is going in.
And this is where the priests went daily, okay, to keep these lit,
to offer up incense, okay, the golden sensor.
And then also the showbread, they would replace this regularly.
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But only once a year would they go in here.
And this was the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, okay.
And you know, it's funny when I used to watch Indiana Jones,
I never even understood what the Raider of the Lost Ark was.
I was so Bible illiterate.
I never knew they're trying to say this was the Ark, you know.
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But anyway, and then we have another slide if we could show this.
And this is, I don't know why I found a toy here.
But anyway, but this is another picture.
And inside there again was the Ark, okay,
where he would go in just once a year, the day of atonement.
And also above this, you could see the cherubim.
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All of these things are symbolic.
In fact, the first time you see the cherubim,
do you remember when it was when Adam and Eve
were escorted out of the garden
when they already sinned?
And they're no longer going to have that relationship
because they ate from the tree of good and evil, knowledge of good and evil.
And as they left the cherubim,
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blocked their entrance into the garden from that point on.
And then cherubims are brought up again and again.
Ezekiel talks a lot in chapter 10,
he talks a lot about these cherubim,
these holy celestial beings in heaven.
And so the Lord wanted a picture of them here too,
because, and you'll see why in a few minutes.
So this is a whole picture of the tabernacle,
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the holy place, and then the holy of holies.
And if you ever want to just, you know, pique your interest on this,
that next slide shows you can find these things
on the internet all over the place
that really dissects what every single one of these things are for
and where they're located.
But we're not going to do that today.
You're saying thank God for that.
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But, and then the next thing, we have an overhead, okay.
You don't have to clap Jim, but you see the overhead.
And this is an overhead,
and there's a reason I'm showing you this, okay.
And this again is the tabernacle, okay.
This is the outer court and then you go in, okay.
And that's the holy of holies right there, okay.
But one thing I wanted to mention,
do you notice something where the holy of holies is positioned,
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is on the west end of the tabernacle.
And you say, so who cares?
What does that mean?
Well, think about this, the west end.
Now the holy of holies, okay.
And then the Ark of the covenant was positioned
facing east with its back to the west.
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And as I was thinking about what would that,
why would that be?
Does that even matter?
Is that just an incidental thing?
But the Bible mentions it.
But then I started thinking,
where is Egypt compared to where they were going,
which was the promised land.
Egypt was at the west, right.
Where they're going is to the east, right.
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And so they were leaving the past behind,
the land of bondage, the land of slavery, right.
They were leaving that to go to the promised land
of freedom, abundance, a land flowing with milk and honey.
So they were going somewhere good
and they're leaving somewhere bad.
In fact, we have a slide showing where Goshen,
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which was that lush land they lived in,
before they started serving like crazy, Pharaoh,
but they're heading here, okay.
So no wonder every time they would position
along the way, the tabernacle,
the mercy seat had its back to the past
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and its front to the land of promise.
Because you know what?
Every time Israel grumbled, complained,
and rebelled against God, you know what they did?
Even though the Lord was leading them somewhere amazing, okay.
They would complain and they would yearn for the past.
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If we could only go back to Egypt, the food was so good.
They probably hardly were allowed to eat anything,
but they had distorted memory, you know?
Oh, it was such a great land.
No, it wasn't.
You were serving and you were slaves there.
And so they would always grumble, say,
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we got to go back.
Forget this Moses guy.
He doesn't know where he's leading us.
Let's go back to Egypt.
And God's probably just scratched and said,
are you kidding me?
I just delivered you from there.
And as I was thinking about this,
how many times have perhaps we've done that
when the Lord delivered us out of our past
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and suddenly things aren't going exactly the way we wanted
and we start to long for the good old days.
You know, the good old days when we could do whatever we wanted
without any kind of conscience about what we were doing.
You know, I remember that first year I got saved.
It was so difficult because I was always saying,
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this seems like so much work.
I still didn't get it yet
until I finally was delivered from myself, you know?
Because I kept looking back and saying,
you know, I liked it before I had a guilty conscience.
You know, can you relate to that at all?
I hate this feeling of knowing I'm doing bad.
I wish I could just not know, you know?
But no, you don't.
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You want to continue forward.
And so every time that Israel was saying,
you know, we should go back,
Moses and Aaron, they would fall on their faces
and beg for Lord, you know, have mercy on them.
Because the only place mercy is found is if they continue on.
If you go back to the old place,
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there's no mercy in Pharaoh.
You know, there's no mercy in turning away from God.
We're just going to have more pain, suffering, bondage.
Isn't that right?
And I really believe that's the whole purpose
of this positioning of the mercy seat saying,
no, no, no, you're going the wrong way.
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Like stopping, you know, we're going this way.
And then what else is in here?
Well, we have the Ark of the Covenant, right?
And what did we just read that was in there?
If we could show that slide.
There's the Ark of the Covenant.
And inside the Ark of the Covenant
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were three things, okay?
It was the bowl of manna that the Lord fed them for 40 years.
Okay, imagine that.
Like they provided their nourishment for 40 years.
They didn't have to harvest anything.
They didn't have to kill anything.
They just were provided from heaven, the bread from heaven,
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that the Lord just continued to feed them.
This bread, these flakes that they said tasted like honey, okay?
And whatever coriander seed tastes like,
I don't know, you cooks might know what that means,
but I don't know what that is.
But it sounds tasty, kind of nutty, kind of almondy.
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You know, it was tasty, right?
And the Lord provided that again and again and again
throughout 40 years.
It wasn't supposed to be 40 years, but it was 40 years.
Okay, that would seem awesome.
Could you just imagine going outside your house
and you seeing an Instacart out there
and you're like, wow, look at this.
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This is awesome.
Yeah, it's so funny, Instacart.
Like back in the day,
Jill had to schlep four kids to the grocery store.
Morgan, like either in the pouch or on the hip
and Jake, you know, in the cart
and Jesse and Zach fighting each other,
getting into trouble, knocking things over, you know,
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and schlep them through the grocery store.
But now you parents just have it made.
You are just spoiled, Instacart, showing up at the door.
I don't know if y'all do that,
but a lot of parents do.
I don't blame them, you know, but, you know, Instacart.
And imagine every day you go out there and like,
wow, look at this, look at this.
It's great, but I'm getting tired of the same meal,
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but it's free, but I'm getting a little tired of it.
And that's what happened.
Israel started grumbling shortly into their trek
across the wilderness.
And remember when they said, you know what,
we need some meat.
We need something good.
And then the quail came and then the Lord, you know,
caused a plague to break out because of that.
And then even later on, they're almost in the promise.
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It's like the last year before they enter.
Okay.
And they start complaining about the manna again.
You know what manna means by the way?
Do you know that?
What is it?
That's what it means.
What is it?
Imagine the first time you go outside, you're like,
what is it?
What is that?
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And you know, it's funny, both Hebrew and Greek,
it both means what is it?
It's funny.
Anyway, God has a good sense of humor.
But anyway, they go out and they see this.
In the beginning, it was amazing.
They couldn't get enough of it, right?
But by the end, they're like, we're so tired of this.
And they grumbled and complained, okay.
And we have a slide in Numbers when they complained
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about the manna in Numbers 21, 5, 6.
And the people spoke against God and against Moses.
Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die
in the wilderness?
For there is no food and no water.
He provided water for them, right, from the rock, okay.
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And our soul loathes this worthless bread,
this worthless manna.
Imagine how God's feeling about this.
I just fed you for 39 and a half years
with this worthless stuff.
Obviously, there's some nutritional value in it, right?
You wouldn't still be here.
But they're complaining of this worthless bread.
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So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people
and they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died.
Do you remember what happened next?
And then Moses was told to get the fashion of bronze snake
and lift it up.
And anyone who looked upon the bronze snake
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was actually healed from the venom of these fiery serpents,
probably venomous serpents.
And Christ compares himself later in the Gospels
that he is like that bronze snake that was lifted up.
Such a beautiful picture, right?
So here we have manna in the Ark of the Covenant.
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Now, the manna is actually a wonderful thing
because it's God's provision,
but it also represents something else,
the rebellion of the people.
It represents their ungratefulness, you know?
It's like this worthless manna.
Do you have to keep feeding us with this stuff?
You know, many believers get bored with God.
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You know that?
I mean, maybe you've been in that place
that it's like the same old manna, Lord.
I mean, I want something more exciting, sizzly, different, you know?
Lord, it's my walk is becoming boring, Lord.
It's becoming stale.
There's nothing new and exciting about my walk in the Lord.
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I'm telling you, you're not really tasting
and seeing what the Lord has for you.
I mean, when you really live in faith,
Christianity is nothing like boring.
It's thrilling.
It's so exciting, you know?
It was so cool on first Friday.
I don't know if Leo Orlinski's in here,
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but we were walking along and it was so cool.
You could just pray and say,
Lord, what goodies do you have here tonight?
What kind of divine appointments are we going to have here tonight, you know?
And you're almost looking for that highlighter
that the Lord is just going to highlight somebody, you know?
And we're just praying.
And as we're walking along,
suddenly these five kids go walking by us, right?
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And we're like, hey, hey, hey, wait a minute.
Where are you going?
We start talking to them.
Where are you going when you die?
Okay.
Don't you want to know where you're going?
Don't you want to know the one who created you?
I'm paraphrasing because I don't recall what we said.
I don't know.
Maybe you do, Leo.
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But anyway, they ended up praying and receiving Jesus,
all five of them at once.
Is that amazing?
Praise the Lord.
I mean, is that stale manna?
No, that's exciting.
That's so tasty to taste what the Lord has for us.
It is a thrilling life, walking in faith.
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It really is.
And if somebody's getting bored with God,
they're not fully tasting everything
that the Lord has for them.
And so that manna was there to remind them,
don't be ungrateful for what I've already given you.
In fact, you know, Paul said to Timothy,
Godliness with contentment is great gain
because we brought nothing into the world
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and we can carry nothing out.
But with food and clothing, we should be content.
You know, a lot of times we aren't content
with what the Lord has already done for us, right?
And we want more and more.
Now there's nothing wrong with wanting more
of what God wants for us.
You know, I mean, when we want more
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at the expense of walking in faith,
or serving God, that's when we get into trouble.
It becomes an idol.
But if you could say, Lord, if I want to prosper,
if you want me to prosper, I want to thrive.
If you want me to thrive, you know,
I want what you want, Lord.
I believe that He will cause all of us to thrive.
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There may be times that we will be lacking a little bit,
but that season will end, you know?
Even Paul, who struggled so much, he said,
you know, I know what it means to abound,
and I know what it means to be abated.
In other words, lacking.
But you know what?
I thrive in all of it.
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I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I mean, that's the truth.
Like when you're thriving in the Lord,
it doesn't really matter what you have.
It's exciting.
It's wonderful to live in that kind of faith, you know?
And so that manner was in there to remind them,
but also to remind us,
don't be ungrateful for what you already have.
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Start walking.
You know, David says, you know,
the boundary lines for where you've assigned me are great,
and I can't outwalk them.
I mean, the boundary lines have been set for me
in brilliant places.
You know, you have not yet explored everything
that God has already worked out for you.
Like Dan shared earlier,
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we are our His workmanship created in Christ Jesus
for good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Why don't you test them out?
Say, Lord, I want to try everything
that you've put on that buffet table.
I want to do it all, Lord.
I want to explore you.
Where are you taking me?
What kind of things do you want for my life?
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Because I want all of it.
I want more, Lord.
I want more of you.
And then the next thing that was in there,
if you can recall,
was the budded staff of Aaron.
And Jesse just toiled on that, actually,
in Numbers recently.
And that's a picture.
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And this was just after Cora, Dothan, and Abram
rebelled against Moses and Aaron,
and the Lord swallowed them up in the ground.
You've read that.
And then the other 250, he torched with fire.
And if that wasn't bad enough,
the Israelites started complaining again
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and saying, you know,
I don't like the way this is going.
I'm paraphrasing, obviously.
I don't know if they walked that way either.
But anyway, but like, you know,
this isn't right.
You know, who are these guys?
They started complaining again
against Moses and Aaron
after you just saw 250 of your friends torched
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and the others fall into the ground forever.
And yet you're still going to complain.
But so they started complaining.
The Lord said, okay,
before I completely torch this whole nation,
bring a staff from each tribe
and I'll show you who's the leader of this people.
And you know the story.
You know, they all brought their staffs
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into the tabernacle.
And one came out,
butted like an almond branch,
which was Aaron's.
And the Lord said,
I want that staff in that arc,
in that box.
As a reminder to all of them,
never rebel against my leadership.
You know, this world is rebelling against God.
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I don't want what he wants for my life.
You're going to suffer.
You're not going to experience good things
if you don't want God's will in your life.
And this was the Lord saying,
look, you can't strive
if you don't want my leadership in your life.
Sometimes that's people.
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Sometimes that's even governors
and politicians,
but really it's the Lord in your life
through other people.
You know, it's so easy
to start rebelling against people with authority
because in a way, it's pride.
You know, I could do that better.
They don't know what they're doing.
They're, you know, they mess up.
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They're not doing the right thing.
I could do this way better.
That was the problem with Cora,
with Dothan and with Abram.
We could do it better than Aaron and Moses.
It's pride.
You know, Ezekiel captured this.
He captured this.
He said, behold the day, behold it has come.
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Doom has gone out.
And isn't it interesting?
Ezekiel, who lived hundreds and hundreds of years
after this whole event,
said the rod has blossomed.
Whose rod is he talking about?
Aaron's.
Pride has budded.
So he's saying, look,
this is all pride and arrogance.
You know, pride month.
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Pretty soon there's going to be a pride year.
Okay.
It's like pride.
It's not just one type of sin.
It's all sin.
It's pride saying, Lord,
I don't want your will for my life.
And the Lord wanted that budded staff
to remind them, look, look, look,
don't go back.
Continue on in freedom.
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Accept my rulership over you.
My leadership.
I am the Lord your God.
You want me to lead you.
And then the final thing, of course,
was the 10 commandments,
the two tablets of stone
that the Lord personally engraved
with his finger on Mount Sinai for Moses.
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He had to do it twice.
You know the story, unfortunately.
But the second time,
and this was the second set of tablets.
And he said, put them away, Moses,
before you drop them again.
No, he didn't see that.
But he said, put them in the box
as a reminder that you can never
accomplish my rules without my help.
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Okay.
And that's where we are now.
The Lord says that I will put my laws
in their mind and engrave them in our hearts.
That's a reminder to all of us
that we can have all these things.
Israel failed at all of them.
And so would any human nation.
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But a Godly nation,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
can accomplish all these things
in the power of Christ.
Amen.
Because he provides all of it for us.
He will do it for us.
So as Israel was remembering,
you know, it's in that box, okay?
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We don't want to go back there again, okay?
When, you know, the ungratefulness
for what he provides for us.
You know, I don't want to be ungrateful for God.
If I don't have enough in my mind,
it's probably because the Lord
doesn't want me to have it.
It would mess me up, perhaps, you know?
And perhaps he is showing me opportunities
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that I haven't actually gone after yet.
You know, a lot of times,
fear gets in the way,
and we just think,
oh, I don't deserve that.
I don't, you know,
I'm not good enough for that.
Well, how do you know?
Maybe the Lord wants you
to take a step of faith
and try it out, you know?
I mean, even look at Moses.
Oh, I can't do that.
I can't talk right.
(32:25):
I can't, you know.
He's like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I am talking to you.
I'm telling you, you can do it.
I think he's talking to all of us.
You can do it.
If it's something I want you to do,
I will provide a way.
I will equip you to accomplish
what I want to do
because you're my workmanship.
You're not yours.
(32:45):
You're mine.
And if I want you to do it,
I will follow through.
He who began a good work
and you will finish it,
will complete it in Jesus Christ, you know?
And so all these things
was a reminder to Israel,
but really it was a reminder
to all of us as well.
Is, you know, don't go back.
Don't go back to bondage.
(33:06):
Don't go back to ungratefulness.
Don't go back to pride and rebellion.
Don't go back to trying
to accomplish things
on your own strength.
You know, imagine that.
The 10 commandments are given, right?
And the Israelites said to Moses,
everything the Lord says we will do,
(33:28):
they broke all four
of the first commandments.
All four of them, you know,
they had another God
instead of Yahweh, okay?
They said Aaron crafts them
a molding image.
He said, don't craft anything
to represent me, okay?
Do not blaspheme my name,
use my name in vain.
They called this golden calf God, okay?
(33:50):
And then they made a special Sabbath
for this golden calf.
They broke all four of the commandments.
First ones, the most important ones,
boom, boom, boom.
Just like that, right?
Because no one can be righteous
on their own.
It's only God who can make us righteous.
We are the righteousness of Christ
(34:11):
because he is righteousness in us.
We brought nothing into the deal.
He brought everything.
When he saved us,
he got a raw end of the deal
in worldly contracts.
But it's because he wants
to spend eternity with us.
He gave it all
so he can have us.
He knew we brought nothing
(34:32):
to the table.
And he brings it all.
Isn't that amazing?
That's him.
And so, amen.
So this box is a representation to them,
but it's also a representation to us
to be grateful, be content
with what the Lord has given us.
And maybe he wants us
to enjoy even more in him, right?
(34:55):
His promises are always yes and amen
in Christ, right?
And maybe he's saying to us,
listen, stop rebelling against me.
Accept my rulership over you
and you will thrive.
And then finally,
stop trying to be righteous on your own.
Let me be your righteousness.
(35:16):
But what's amazing too
is on top of it all,
what went on top of the Ark?
The mercy seat.
In fact, I think we have a picture
of that, Tammy, do we?
It's hard to find good illustrations
on the internet, by the way,
but I'm doing my best here.
But so here's the mercy seat
(35:38):
covering over what we just talked about,
which was in here,
the mercy seat, you know?
We're all gonna fail in these areas,
being ungrateful, dissatisfied
with God from time to time.
We're all gonna be rebellious
and not want his will in our lives
and say, Lord, you know,
I could do better than you.
(35:58):
I could do better
than who you've assigned
a far-e over me.
Kids do this all the time.
I don't wanna accept
the authority of my parents, right?
And so people rebel
and we all do this from time to time
and we all think
we can accomplish righteousness
on our own.
(36:19):
We all think in some way
we provide what we need,
that we did God a favor.
I don't have the scripture up there,
but you know what Paul said,
none of you were very wise
when you came to the Lord.
None of you were exceptionally talented.
None of you were anything.
God made you everything.
And we brought nothing to the table.
Just like Paul said to Timothy,
(36:41):
we brought nothing into the world
and certainly we can carry nothing with us.
But Godliness with contentment
is great gain.
As the worship team comes up,
we're gonna have communion together.
And as we prepare for this
(37:06):
and hand it out,
you know, perhaps you're here now
and you know, there's some guilt
or condemnation.
In fact, we just read in the word
about a guilty conscience, you know.
(37:26):
A guilty conscience
and a guilty conscience is really even
fueled by the fear
that we're just gonna keep on doing it.
You know, it's like
I don't know that I have what I need
to get freed from this issue
that I have, this sin.
But God, he can accomplish everything
(37:49):
if we would just surrender to him.
Give it all to him.
And so perhaps as they hand out
the bread and juice,
let's just take a moment
to really consider this.
Is there something the Lord
wants you to repent from
(38:13):
and surrender to him?
You know, stop trying to fix yourself.
You're not gonna be able
to fix yourself,
but he can fix you.
Maybe there's something
that you can just consider
right now and say, Lord,
I keep falling into this pattern.
(38:36):
This pattern of
ungratefulness.
You know, why was I born
with this
lust nature?
Why was I born into a family
(38:58):
that was loaded with
dysfunctionality?
Lord, why was I
(39:23):
born not knowing my father?
Why was I born with this addictive nature?
This anger,
this envy,
this envy,
insecurity.
(39:44):
This isn't fair.
Life isn't fair, Lord.
I believe the Lord's saying,
will you just come to me
and receive mercy
and find grace.
(40:05):
Maybe you're here
and you're just feeling
like you've been so rebellious
for so long.
I wanna do my thing.
I know there's gonna be consequences,
but I've dealt with it in the past.
I'm gonna deal with it again.
Maybe it's time to really just give up
(40:29):
and just die.
Really just die with Jesus right now
and just say, Lord,
I wanna die with you on the cross.
I wanna surrender.
Yeah.
(40:49):
Maybe you're a perfectionist,
you know,
and you just think you can
do life
in your own strength
and yet you keep failing
because there is no one righteous,
no, not one.
(41:10):
We have all fallen short of the glory of God
and maybe you're just tired of trying.
There was a word shared at the beginning
of the service about rest.
Maybe it's time to come to Jesus
(41:35):
and receive rest
from your weary souls of trying,
trying to please God
because you can't.
Maybe it's time to just come to Him
because He said His burden is easy
(41:55):
and His yoke is light.
Maybe it's time to just come
and surrender.
It's all about surrendering.
Let's sing a measure or so of this song
before we take communion.
Let's just dedicate ourselves right now
(42:19):
and say, Lord, I want a new start.
God, I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small
(42:39):
Child of week,
miswatch and pray,
find me in,
I know and I know
because Jesus paid it all
and told to Him my own.
(43:02):
To sing, I left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Lord, now indeed I find
(43:25):
Thy power in Thine alone
Can't change the leper's spots
and melt my heart of stone.
Jesus, Jesus paid it all
(43:47):
and told to Him my own.
I sing, I left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Jesus paid it all
(44:08):
and told to Him my own.
I sing, I left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
If the Lord's speaking to you now
(44:29):
to just surrender,
surrender that thing that you've been wrestling with.
Just give it over to Him now.
I just picture it like Jacob wrestling with God
and finally it's like,
(44:50):
I'm not going to let you go until you bless me.
Maybe it's time to just ask the Lord
to bless you and let go.
Stop fighting Him and start receiving Him.
Maybe that's you right now.
Say to the Lord, I'm done fighting you.
(45:14):
Today, I just want to surrender it all
and just give it all to you.
I have no life apart from you.
You are my life.
You are my very life.
(45:36):
Lord God, we just,
we just surrender again to you, Lord.
We want a broken heart, Lord God,
a broken spirit so you could just fill us with yours, Lord.
We're just tired of wanting to live life our way.
(45:58):
We want to live life your way.
We want to go to where you're bringing us to
and not fight to go back from where we came from.
The Lord, you called us your friends.
I've been a bad friend from time to time, Lord,
(46:20):
but you still consider me your friend.
You consider all of us your friend.
We thank you for your faithfulness,
even when we are faithless.
You are faithful because you will not deny
yourself.
(46:43):
You see yourself in us, Lord God,
even when we don't see you in ourselves, you see us.
So, Lord, as we eat this bread
and remember your broken body on the cross,
becoming our very sin on the cross,
(47:04):
where we eat this with gratefulness, Lord God,
because you are the living bread
that came down from heaven
that isn't just some coriander seed.
It's the life, the very life come down from heaven.
You are the living bread.
We eat this bread remembering that you came down to die for us.
(47:30):
We thank you for this in Jesus' name.
Let's eat.
Lord, we thank you for this cup
(47:57):
which represents your precious blood
that not just covers over
but takes away sins, Lord God.
You shed your blood so that we can be sinless
someday with you in heaven.
So, Lord, we drink this cup, the cup of the new covenant,
(48:18):
the new blood, because it's your blood
that runs through our veins in righteousness.
Let's drink.
So, Lord, as we finish this song, Lord,
just thank you for our brothers and sisters,
(48:40):
Lord, thank you for a wonderful life that we have,
a destiny, Lord, that is perfect,
flowing with milk and honey.
Even when things are tough down here, Lord,
we know that you are taking us to a promised life
and we want to lay hold of that which you've laid hold of us for.
(49:03):
We want to lay hold of heaven right now, Lord God.
So, thank you.
We love you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Let's all stand up.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings
(49:24):
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!
Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
(00:35):
So this message, the mercy seat of Jesus, and just really enjoyed really studying this and
marinating in it. And I know the Lord is going to speak to each one of us. We all need mercy,
don't we? His mercies are new every day. Praise the Lord for that. In fact, we're told to boldly
(00:57):
approach the throne of grace where we will receive mercy and find grace. So we need mercies every
single day and the Lord provides it. And so let's pray and we're going to invite the Lord to really
speak to us today. And also we're going to have communion towards the end of the service, so just
(01:21):
be prepared for that too. So Father God, we thank you Lord for what a great thing it is to be in the
house of the Lord with our brothers and sisters to be sharing you. You know, we're the same body,
Lord. God, we're the same family, Lord. We thank you for just a wonderful day yesterday where
those who were baptized and even others just shared things about their faith. It was wonderful,
(01:44):
Lord. And Lord, we thank you for your mercy, Lord. And we ask you to speak to us today
in your spirit, Lord, that each one of us will glean something that isn't even
audibly said by me, but they've heard it in the depths of their soul from you in this spirit.
So Lord God, we ask you to speak to us through your word and your Holy Spirit. We invite you in,
(02:09):
Lord God. We ask your Holy Spirit to really just hit this place, Lord God, and just set us free of
guilt and condemnation and any things from the past that we still hold on to because you have
released us from that, Lord God. And the sooner we grasp that, the more alive we will be in our
faith in you. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. So if you can recall last week, we talked about the new
(02:37):
covenant, a better covenant with better promises and how, you know, the old covenant was about
you serve and earn, you know, you get what you earned through service to God. You know,
it's the, it was the covenant of law, but now we're in the covenant of grace, you know,
(03:00):
we believe we receive God is giving to us, you know, in the, the old covenant,
the old Testament was all about doing for God. Now it's what God is doing through us, for us
and through us. So it's a great covenant. It's the new covenant, even as we eat the bread and drink
(03:23):
the wine at the end of the service, we'll be remembering that. And it's a great covenant
because he does it all. Amen. In fact, we read this verse last week, Hebrews 810,
for this is the covenant, the new covenant says, Lord, I will put my laws in their mind
and I will write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
(03:49):
Did you ever notice the longer you walk with God and just really embrace him,
the easier it is to do the right thing. Don't you believe that? You know, I've heard people say,
Oh, we're on the edge of just falling into depravity. I haven't found that. I really
haven't the longer I've fallen following with followed God, the more I've encountered it's,
(04:14):
it's actually easier to do the right thing. If you can, you get an amen out there.
Are you with me? I mean, it is because you start to repulse the things of your old life.
And so we're going to dive in. And before we do, I wanted to show just one slide
of what we're going to be reading here about the tabernacle. It's a side view of the tabernacle.
(04:36):
And it's interesting because the, the old covenant had so many symbols of physical things that were
all a picture of a heavenly truth. We won't go through every item article of the tabernacle today.
We don't have time, but I encourage you to listen back. Okay. And listen to, uh, when,
(04:59):
when John Kratz and Jamie Allabach and Danny and Danny and Jesse, when they're teaching
through Wednesday nights, you can read during Exodus when the Lord set the stage with these,
the tabernacle and all the symbolism. It's just amazing what all these symbols mean.
And so we're going to be showing that. And Tammy, if you wouldn't mind just showing that one
(05:22):
slide that you just showed back and, you know, we're going to see the, these articles mentioned
in what we're reading and the reason I'm showing you first, so you can kind of picture it as we
read. And so let's do it. You ready? I think I need some glasses. Okay. Chapter nine, verse one.
(05:46):
Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and earthly sanctuary
for a tabernacle was prepared. The first part in which was the lampstand, the table,
and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. And behind the second veil,
(06:08):
the part of the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, or the holy of holies,
which had the golden sensor and the arc of the covenant overlaid in all sides with gold,
in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded,
and the tablets of the covenant and above it were the cherubim of glory,
(06:34):
overshadowing the mercy seat of these things. We cannot now speak in detail and verse six.
And now when these things had been thus prepared, the priest always went into the first part of the
tabernacle performing the services, but into the second part of the, into the second part,
(06:55):
the high priest went alone once a year. It was the day of atonement, not without blood.
And that was of the sacrifices, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins,
committed in ignorance, the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all
(07:17):
was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered,
which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience,
(07:38):
concerned only with the foods and drinks, various washings and freshly ordinances,
fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
Now we're almost finished. Verse 11, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come
with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not
(08:04):
of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood,
he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled the unclean,
(08:24):
sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God,
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death
(08:48):
for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant,
that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Amen. So I know that's a lot, but we got through it.
And now we're going to really look specifically at this tabernacle
(09:09):
and some of the things that this all means.
If you know the story of the tabernacle, okay, it was a tent that again,
Moses was given the blueprints of on Mount Sinai.
And the pillar of fire by night led Israel, okay, through the wilderness.
(09:30):
And by day, it was like a pillar of a cloud, a glory cloud.
And I picture it kind of more almost like a funnel cloud or some sort of like a twister,
although it wasn't spinning and causing destruction, of course.
But because the word also says that it was like a canopy.
So it was probably kind of like a pillar with a canopy during the day
(09:52):
that shaded Israel from getting scorched by the sun.
So it was really God's provision.
And he led them and what he would do is come down upon the tabernacle of meeting,
the tabernacle, the house of the Lord and meet with Moses over the mercy seat.
(10:12):
So he would come down in this pillar and meet with the Lord.
And actually all of Israel would look and say, look, look, look,
Moses is meeting with God, God's coming down.
And they were just amazed at this special relationship
that Moses had with the eternal one, God.
And so let's go into the tabernacle now.
(10:32):
And Tammy, if you could show that next slide.
And this is a picture of inside, okay.
And again, we saw the sideways view, but this is going in.
And this is where the priests went daily, okay, to keep these lit,
to offer up incense, okay, the golden sensor.
And then also the showbread, they would replace this regularly.
(10:53):
But only once a year would they go in here.
And this was the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, okay.
And you know, it's funny when I used to watch Indiana Jones,
I never even understood what the Raider of the Lost Ark was.
I was so Bible illiterate.
I never knew they're trying to say this was the Ark, you know.
(11:14):
But anyway, and then we have another slide if we could show this.
And this is, I don't know why I found a toy here.
But anyway, but this is another picture.
And inside there again was the Ark, okay,
where he would go in just once a year, the day of atonement.
And also above this, you could see the cherubim.
(11:38):
All of these things are symbolic.
In fact, the first time you see the cherubim,
do you remember when it was when Adam and Eve
were escorted out of the garden
when they already sinned?
And they're no longer going to have that relationship
because they ate from the tree of good and evil, knowledge of good and evil.
And as they left the cherubim,
(11:58):
blocked their entrance into the garden from that point on.
And then cherubims are brought up again and again.
Ezekiel talks a lot in chapter 10,
he talks a lot about these cherubim,
these holy celestial beings in heaven.
And so the Lord wanted a picture of them here too,
because, and you'll see why in a few minutes.
So this is a whole picture of the tabernacle,
(12:22):
the holy place, and then the holy of holies.
And if you ever want to just, you know, pique your interest on this,
that next slide shows you can find these things
on the internet all over the place
that really dissects what every single one of these things are for
and where they're located.
But we're not going to do that today.
You're saying thank God for that.
(12:43):
But, and then the next thing, we have an overhead, okay.
You don't have to clap Jim, but you see the overhead.
And this is an overhead,
and there's a reason I'm showing you this, okay.
And this again is the tabernacle, okay.
This is the outer court and then you go in, okay.
And that's the holy of holies right there, okay.
But one thing I wanted to mention,
do you notice something where the holy of holies is positioned,
(13:07):
is on the west end of the tabernacle.
And you say, so who cares?
What does that mean?
Well, think about this, the west end.
Now the holy of holies, okay.
And then the Ark of the covenant was positioned
facing east with its back to the west.
(13:31):
And as I was thinking about what would that,
why would that be?
Does that even matter?
Is that just an incidental thing?
But the Bible mentions it.
But then I started thinking,
where is Egypt compared to where they were going,
which was the promised land.
Egypt was at the west, right.
Where they're going is to the east, right.
(13:53):
And so they were leaving the past behind,
the land of bondage, the land of slavery, right.
They were leaving that to go to the promised land
of freedom, abundance, a land flowing with milk and honey.
So they were going somewhere good
and they're leaving somewhere bad.
In fact, we have a slide showing where Goshen,
(14:16):
which was that lush land they lived in,
before they started serving like crazy, Pharaoh,
but they're heading here, okay.
So no wonder every time they would position
along the way, the tabernacle,
the mercy seat had its back to the past
(14:36):
and its front to the land of promise.
Because you know what?
Every time Israel grumbled, complained,
and rebelled against God, you know what they did?
Even though the Lord was leading them somewhere amazing, okay.
They would complain and they would yearn for the past.
(15:00):
If we could only go back to Egypt, the food was so good.
They probably hardly were allowed to eat anything,
but they had distorted memory, you know?
Oh, it was such a great land.
No, it wasn't.
You were serving and you were slaves there.
And so they would always grumble, say,
(15:21):
we got to go back.
Forget this Moses guy.
He doesn't know where he's leading us.
Let's go back to Egypt.
And God's probably just scratched and said,
are you kidding me?
I just delivered you from there.
And as I was thinking about this,
how many times have perhaps we've done that
when the Lord delivered us out of our past
(15:44):
and suddenly things aren't going exactly the way we wanted
and we start to long for the good old days.
You know, the good old days when we could do whatever we wanted
without any kind of conscience about what we were doing.
You know, I remember that first year I got saved.
It was so difficult because I was always saying,
(16:05):
this seems like so much work.
I still didn't get it yet
until I finally was delivered from myself, you know?
Because I kept looking back and saying,
you know, I liked it before I had a guilty conscience.
You know, can you relate to that at all?
I hate this feeling of knowing I'm doing bad.
I wish I could just not know, you know?
But no, you don't.
(16:27):
You want to continue forward.
And so every time that Israel was saying,
you know, we should go back,
Moses and Aaron, they would fall on their faces
and beg for Lord, you know, have mercy on them.
Because the only place mercy is found is if they continue on.
If you go back to the old place,
(16:48):
there's no mercy in Pharaoh.
You know, there's no mercy in turning away from God.
We're just going to have more pain, suffering, bondage.
Isn't that right?
And I really believe that's the whole purpose
of this positioning of the mercy seat saying,
no, no, no, you're going the wrong way.
(17:09):
Like stopping, you know, we're going this way.
And then what else is in here?
Well, we have the Ark of the Covenant, right?
And what did we just read that was in there?
If we could show that slide.
There's the Ark of the Covenant.
And inside the Ark of the Covenant
(17:29):
were three things, okay?
It was the bowl of manna that the Lord fed them for 40 years.
Okay, imagine that.
Like they provided their nourishment for 40 years.
They didn't have to harvest anything.
They didn't have to kill anything.
They just were provided from heaven, the bread from heaven,
(17:53):
that the Lord just continued to feed them.
This bread, these flakes that they said tasted like honey, okay?
And whatever coriander seed tastes like,
I don't know, you cooks might know what that means,
but I don't know what that is.
But it sounds tasty, kind of nutty, kind of almondy.
(18:15):
You know, it was tasty, right?
And the Lord provided that again and again and again
throughout 40 years.
It wasn't supposed to be 40 years, but it was 40 years.
Okay, that would seem awesome.
Could you just imagine going outside your house
and you seeing an Instacart out there
and you're like, wow, look at this.
(18:37):
This is awesome.
Yeah, it's so funny, Instacart.
Like back in the day,
Jill had to schlep four kids to the grocery store.
Morgan, like either in the pouch or on the hip
and Jake, you know, in the cart
and Jesse and Zach fighting each other,
getting into trouble, knocking things over, you know,
(18:57):
and schlep them through the grocery store.
But now you parents just have it made.
You are just spoiled, Instacart, showing up at the door.
I don't know if y'all do that,
but a lot of parents do.
I don't blame them, you know, but, you know, Instacart.
And imagine every day you go out there and like,
wow, look at this, look at this.
It's great, but I'm getting tired of the same meal,
(19:21):
but it's free, but I'm getting a little tired of it.
And that's what happened.
Israel started grumbling shortly into their trek
across the wilderness.
And remember when they said, you know what,
we need some meat.
We need something good.
And then the quail came and then the Lord, you know,
caused a plague to break out because of that.
And then even later on, they're almost in the promise.
(19:44):
It's like the last year before they enter.
Okay.
And they start complaining about the manna again.
You know what manna means by the way?
Do you know that?
What is it?
That's what it means.
What is it?
Imagine the first time you go outside, you're like,
what is it?
What is that?
(20:05):
And you know, it's funny, both Hebrew and Greek,
it both means what is it?
It's funny.
Anyway, God has a good sense of humor.
But anyway, they go out and they see this.
In the beginning, it was amazing.
They couldn't get enough of it, right?
But by the end, they're like, we're so tired of this.
And they grumbled and complained, okay.
And we have a slide in Numbers when they complained
(20:28):
about the manna in Numbers 21, 5, 6.
And the people spoke against God and against Moses.
Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die
in the wilderness?
For there is no food and no water.
He provided water for them, right, from the rock, okay.
(20:50):
And our soul loathes this worthless bread,
this worthless manna.
Imagine how God's feeling about this.
I just fed you for 39 and a half years
with this worthless stuff.
Obviously, there's some nutritional value in it, right?
You wouldn't still be here.
But they're complaining of this worthless bread.
(21:10):
So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people
and they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died.
Do you remember what happened next?
And then Moses was told to get the fashion of bronze snake
and lift it up.
And anyone who looked upon the bronze snake
(21:31):
was actually healed from the venom of these fiery serpents,
probably venomous serpents.
And Christ compares himself later in the Gospels
that he is like that bronze snake that was lifted up.
Such a beautiful picture, right?
So here we have manna in the Ark of the Covenant.
(21:56):
Now, the manna is actually a wonderful thing
because it's God's provision,
but it also represents something else,
the rebellion of the people.
It represents their ungratefulness, you know?
It's like this worthless manna.
Do you have to keep feeding us with this stuff?
You know, many believers get bored with God.
(22:20):
You know that?
I mean, maybe you've been in that place
that it's like the same old manna, Lord.
I mean, I want something more exciting, sizzly, different, you know?
Lord, it's my walk is becoming boring, Lord.
It's becoming stale.
There's nothing new and exciting about my walk in the Lord.
(22:42):
I'm telling you, you're not really tasting
and seeing what the Lord has for you.
I mean, when you really live in faith,
Christianity is nothing like boring.
It's thrilling.
It's so exciting, you know?
It was so cool on first Friday.
I don't know if Leo Orlinski's in here,
(23:03):
but we were walking along and it was so cool.
You could just pray and say,
Lord, what goodies do you have here tonight?
What kind of divine appointments are we going to have here tonight, you know?
And you're almost looking for that highlighter
that the Lord is just going to highlight somebody, you know?
And we're just praying.
And as we're walking along,
suddenly these five kids go walking by us, right?
(23:26):
And we're like, hey, hey, hey, wait a minute.
Where are you going?
We start talking to them.
Where are you going when you die?
Okay.
Don't you want to know where you're going?
Don't you want to know the one who created you?
I'm paraphrasing because I don't recall what we said.
I don't know.
Maybe you do, Leo.
(23:46):
But anyway, they ended up praying and receiving Jesus,
all five of them at once.
Is that amazing?
Praise the Lord.
I mean, is that stale manna?
No, that's exciting.
That's so tasty to taste what the Lord has for us.
It is a thrilling life, walking in faith.
(24:09):
It really is.
And if somebody's getting bored with God,
they're not fully tasting everything
that the Lord has for them.
And so that manna was there to remind them,
don't be ungrateful for what I've already given you.
In fact, you know, Paul said to Timothy,
Godliness with contentment is great gain
because we brought nothing into the world
(24:30):
and we can carry nothing out.
But with food and clothing, we should be content.
You know, a lot of times we aren't content
with what the Lord has already done for us, right?
And we want more and more.
Now there's nothing wrong with wanting more
of what God wants for us.
You know, I mean, when we want more
(24:53):
at the expense of walking in faith,
or serving God, that's when we get into trouble.
It becomes an idol.
But if you could say, Lord, if I want to prosper,
if you want me to prosper, I want to thrive.
If you want me to thrive, you know,
I want what you want, Lord.
I believe that He will cause all of us to thrive.
(25:16):
There may be times that we will be lacking a little bit,
but that season will end, you know?
Even Paul, who struggled so much, he said,
you know, I know what it means to abound,
and I know what it means to be abated.
In other words, lacking.
But you know what?
I thrive in all of it.
(25:37):
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I mean, that's the truth.
Like when you're thriving in the Lord,
it doesn't really matter what you have.
It's exciting.
It's wonderful to live in that kind of faith, you know?
And so that manner was in there to remind them,
but also to remind us,
don't be ungrateful for what you already have.
(25:58):
Start walking.
You know, David says, you know,
the boundary lines for where you've assigned me are great,
and I can't outwalk them.
I mean, the boundary lines have been set for me
in brilliant places.
You know, you have not yet explored everything
that God has already worked out for you.
Like Dan shared earlier,
(26:19):
we are our His workmanship created in Christ Jesus
for good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Why don't you test them out?
Say, Lord, I want to try everything
that you've put on that buffet table.
I want to do it all, Lord.
I want to explore you.
Where are you taking me?
What kind of things do you want for my life?
(26:40):
Because I want all of it.
I want more, Lord.
I want more of you.
And then the next thing that was in there,
if you can recall,
was the budded staff of Aaron.
And Jesse just toiled on that, actually,
in Numbers recently.
And that's a picture.
(27:01):
And this was just after Cora, Dothan, and Abram
rebelled against Moses and Aaron,
and the Lord swallowed them up in the ground.
You've read that.
And then the other 250, he torched with fire.
And if that wasn't bad enough,
the Israelites started complaining again
(27:23):
and saying, you know,
I don't like the way this is going.
I'm paraphrasing, obviously.
I don't know if they walked that way either.
But anyway, but like, you know,
this isn't right.
You know, who are these guys?
They started complaining again
against Moses and Aaron
after you just saw 250 of your friends torched
(27:43):
and the others fall into the ground forever.
And yet you're still going to complain.
But so they started complaining.
The Lord said, okay,
before I completely torch this whole nation,
bring a staff from each tribe
and I'll show you who's the leader of this people.
And you know the story.
You know, they all brought their staffs
(28:04):
into the tabernacle.
And one came out,
butted like an almond branch,
which was Aaron's.
And the Lord said,
I want that staff in that arc,
in that box.
As a reminder to all of them,
never rebel against my leadership.
You know, this world is rebelling against God.
(28:27):
I don't want what he wants for my life.
You're going to suffer.
You're not going to experience good things
if you don't want God's will in your life.
And this was the Lord saying,
look, you can't strive
if you don't want my leadership in your life.
Sometimes that's people.
(28:49):
Sometimes that's even governors
and politicians,
but really it's the Lord in your life
through other people.
You know, it's so easy
to start rebelling against people with authority
because in a way, it's pride.
You know, I could do that better.
They don't know what they're doing.
They're, you know, they mess up.
(29:12):
They're not doing the right thing.
I could do this way better.
That was the problem with Cora,
with Dothan and with Abram.
We could do it better than Aaron and Moses.
It's pride.
You know, Ezekiel captured this.
He captured this.
He said, behold the day, behold it has come.
(29:33):
Doom has gone out.
And isn't it interesting?
Ezekiel, who lived hundreds and hundreds of years
after this whole event,
said the rod has blossomed.
Whose rod is he talking about?
Aaron's.
Pride has budded.
So he's saying, look,
this is all pride and arrogance.
You know, pride month.
(29:55):
Pretty soon there's going to be a pride year.
Okay.
It's like pride.
It's not just one type of sin.
It's all sin.
It's pride saying, Lord,
I don't want your will for my life.
And the Lord wanted that budded staff
to remind them, look, look, look,
don't go back.
Continue on in freedom.
(30:16):
Accept my rulership over you.
My leadership.
I am the Lord your God.
You want me to lead you.
And then the final thing, of course,
was the 10 commandments,
the two tablets of stone
that the Lord personally engraved
with his finger on Mount Sinai for Moses.
(30:37):
He had to do it twice.
You know the story, unfortunately.
But the second time,
and this was the second set of tablets.
And he said, put them away, Moses,
before you drop them again.
No, he didn't see that.
But he said, put them in the box
as a reminder that you can never
accomplish my rules without my help.
(30:58):
Okay.
And that's where we are now.
The Lord says that I will put my laws
in their mind and engrave them in our hearts.
That's a reminder to all of us
that we can have all these things.
Israel failed at all of them.
And so would any human nation.
(31:20):
But a Godly nation,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
can accomplish all these things
in the power of Christ.
Amen.
Because he provides all of it for us.
He will do it for us.
So as Israel was remembering,
you know, it's in that box, okay?
(31:41):
We don't want to go back there again, okay?
When, you know, the ungratefulness
for what he provides for us.
You know, I don't want to be ungrateful for God.
If I don't have enough in my mind,
it's probably because the Lord
doesn't want me to have it.
It would mess me up, perhaps, you know?
And perhaps he is showing me opportunities
(32:04):
that I haven't actually gone after yet.
You know, a lot of times,
fear gets in the way,
and we just think,
oh, I don't deserve that.
I don't, you know,
I'm not good enough for that.
Well, how do you know?
Maybe the Lord wants you
to take a step of faith
and try it out, you know?
I mean, even look at Moses.
Oh, I can't do that.
I can't talk right.
(32:25):
I can't, you know.
He's like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I am talking to you.
I'm telling you, you can do it.
I think he's talking to all of us.
You can do it.
If it's something I want you to do,
I will provide a way.
I will equip you to accomplish
what I want to do
because you're my workmanship.
You're not yours.
(32:45):
You're mine.
And if I want you to do it,
I will follow through.
He who began a good work
and you will finish it,
will complete it in Jesus Christ, you know?
And so all these things
was a reminder to Israel,
but really it was a reminder
to all of us as well.
Is, you know, don't go back.
Don't go back to bondage.
(33:06):
Don't go back to ungratefulness.
Don't go back to pride and rebellion.
Don't go back to trying
to accomplish things
on your own strength.
You know, imagine that.
The 10 commandments are given, right?
And the Israelites said to Moses,
everything the Lord says we will do,
(33:28):
they broke all four
of the first commandments.
All four of them, you know,
they had another God
instead of Yahweh, okay?
They said Aaron crafts them
a molding image.
He said, don't craft anything
to represent me, okay?
Do not blaspheme my name,
use my name in vain.
They called this golden calf God, okay?
(33:50):
And then they made a special Sabbath
for this golden calf.
They broke all four of the commandments.
First ones, the most important ones,
boom, boom, boom.
Just like that, right?
Because no one can be righteous
on their own.
It's only God who can make us righteous.
We are the righteousness of Christ
(34:11):
because he is righteousness in us.
We brought nothing into the deal.
He brought everything.
When he saved us,
he got a raw end of the deal
in worldly contracts.
But it's because he wants
to spend eternity with us.
He gave it all
so he can have us.
He knew we brought nothing
(34:32):
to the table.
And he brings it all.
Isn't that amazing?
That's him.
And so, amen.
So this box is a representation to them,
but it's also a representation to us
to be grateful, be content
with what the Lord has given us.
And maybe he wants us
to enjoy even more in him, right?
(34:55):
His promises are always yes and amen
in Christ, right?
And maybe he's saying to us,
listen, stop rebelling against me.
Accept my rulership over you
and you will thrive.
And then finally,
stop trying to be righteous on your own.
Let me be your righteousness.
(35:16):
But what's amazing too
is on top of it all,
what went on top of the Ark?
The mercy seat.
In fact, I think we have a picture
of that, Tammy, do we?
It's hard to find good illustrations
on the internet, by the way,
but I'm doing my best here.
But so here's the mercy seat
(35:38):
covering over what we just talked about,
which was in here,
the mercy seat, you know?
We're all gonna fail in these areas,
being ungrateful, dissatisfied
with God from time to time.
We're all gonna be rebellious
and not want his will in our lives
and say, Lord, you know,
I could do better than you.
(35:58):
I could do better
than who you've assigned
a far-e over me.
Kids do this all the time.
I don't wanna accept
the authority of my parents, right?
And so people rebel
and we all do this from time to time
and we all think
we can accomplish righteousness
on our own.
(36:19):
We all think in some way
we provide what we need,
that we did God a favor.
I don't have the scripture up there,
but you know what Paul said,
none of you were very wise
when you came to the Lord.
None of you were exceptionally talented.
None of you were anything.
God made you everything.
And we brought nothing to the table.
Just like Paul said to Timothy,
(36:41):
we brought nothing into the world
and certainly we can carry nothing with us.
But Godliness with contentment
is great gain.
As the worship team comes up,
we're gonna have communion together.
And as we prepare for this
(37:06):
and hand it out,
you know, perhaps you're here now
and you know, there's some guilt
or condemnation.
In fact, we just read in the word
about a guilty conscience, you know.
(37:26):
A guilty conscience
and a guilty conscience is really even
fueled by the fear
that we're just gonna keep on doing it.
You know, it's like
I don't know that I have what I need
to get freed from this issue
that I have, this sin.
But God, he can accomplish everything
(37:49):
if we would just surrender to him.
Give it all to him.
And so perhaps as they hand out
the bread and juice,
let's just take a moment
to really consider this.
Is there something the Lord
wants you to repent from
(38:13):
and surrender to him?
You know, stop trying to fix yourself.
You're not gonna be able
to fix yourself,
but he can fix you.
Maybe there's something
that you can just consider
right now and say, Lord,
I keep falling into this pattern.
(38:36):
This pattern of
ungratefulness.
You know, why was I born
with this
lust nature?
Why was I born into a family
(38:58):
that was loaded with
dysfunctionality?
Lord, why was I
(39:23):
born not knowing my father?
Why was I born with this addictive nature?
This anger,
this envy,
this envy,
insecurity.
(39:44):
This isn't fair.
Life isn't fair, Lord.
I believe the Lord's saying,
will you just come to me
and receive mercy
and find grace.
(40:05):
Maybe you're here
and you're just feeling
like you've been so rebellious
for so long.
I wanna do my thing.
I know there's gonna be consequences,
but I've dealt with it in the past.
I'm gonna deal with it again.
Maybe it's time to really just give up
(40:29):
and just die.
Really just die with Jesus right now
and just say, Lord,
I wanna die with you on the cross.
I wanna surrender.
Yeah.
(40:49):
Maybe you're a perfectionist,
you know,
and you just think you can
do life
in your own strength
and yet you keep failing
because there is no one righteous,
no, not one.
(41:10):
We have all fallen short of the glory of God
and maybe you're just tired of trying.
There was a word shared at the beginning
of the service about rest.
Maybe it's time to come to Jesus
(41:35):
and receive rest
from your weary souls of trying,
trying to please God
because you can't.
Maybe it's time to just come to Him
because He said His burden is easy
(41:55):
and His yoke is light.
Maybe it's time to just come
and surrender.
It's all about surrendering.
Let's sing a measure or so of this song
before we take communion.
Let's just dedicate ourselves right now
(42:19):
and say, Lord, I want a new start.
God, I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small
(42:39):
Child of week,
miswatch and pray,
find me in,
I know and I know
because Jesus paid it all
and told to Him my own.
(43:02):
To sing, I left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Lord, now indeed I find
(43:25):
Thy power in Thine alone
Can't change the leper's spots
and melt my heart of stone.
Jesus, Jesus paid it all
(43:47):
and told to Him my own.
I sing, I left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Jesus paid it all
(44:08):
and told to Him my own.
I sing, I left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
If the Lord's speaking to you now
(44:29):
to just surrender,
surrender that thing that you've been wrestling with.
Just give it over to Him now.
I just picture it like Jacob wrestling with God
and finally it's like,
(44:50):
I'm not going to let you go until you bless me.
Maybe it's time to just ask the Lord
to bless you and let go.
Stop fighting Him and start receiving Him.
Maybe that's you right now.
Say to the Lord, I'm done fighting you.
(45:14):
Today, I just want to surrender it all
and just give it all to you.
I have no life apart from you.
You are my life.
You are my very life.
(45:36):
Lord God, we just,
we just surrender again to you, Lord.
We want a broken heart, Lord God,
a broken spirit so you could just fill us with yours, Lord.
We're just tired of wanting to live life our way.
(45:58):
We want to live life your way.
We want to go to where you're bringing us to
and not fight to go back from where we came from.
The Lord, you called us your friends.
I've been a bad friend from time to time, Lord,
(46:20):
but you still consider me your friend.
You consider all of us your friend.
We thank you for your faithfulness,
even when we are faithless.
You are faithful because you will not deny
yourself.
(46:43):
You see yourself in us, Lord God,
even when we don't see you in ourselves, you see us.
So, Lord, as we eat this bread
and remember your broken body on the cross,
becoming our very sin on the cross,
(47:04):
where we eat this with gratefulness, Lord God,
because you are the living bread
that came down from heaven
that isn't just some coriander seed.
It's the life, the very life come down from heaven.
You are the living bread.
We eat this bread remembering that you came down to die for us.
(47:30):
We thank you for this in Jesus' name.
Let's eat.
Lord, we thank you for this cup
(47:57):
which represents your precious blood
that not just covers over
but takes away sins, Lord God.
You shed your blood so that we can be sinless
someday with you in heaven.
So, Lord, we drink this cup, the cup of the new covenant,
(48:18):
the new blood, because it's your blood
that runs through our veins in righteousness.
Let's drink.
So, Lord, as we finish this song, Lord,
just thank you for our brothers and sisters,
(48:40):
Lord, thank you for a wonderful life that we have,
a destiny, Lord, that is perfect,
flowing with milk and honey.
Even when things are tough down here, Lord,
we know that you are taking us to a promised life
and we want to lay hold of that which you've laid hold of us for.
(49:03):
We want to lay hold of heaven right now, Lord God.
So, thank you.
We love you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Let's all stand up.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings
(49:24):
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!
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