February 6, 2011
Morning Worship
Text: Hebrews 10:19-25
Subject: God’s Presence
Title: Where Can You Find God’s Presence?
Open your bibles to Hebrews 10. While you are turning there I want to share a personal story with you.
In May of 1988 on the last day of school, Charlotte and I had the car packed and ready to head out on vacation as soon as the girls got off the bus. We always liked to do that because Troy schools released for the summer earlier than many other school districts did. We avoided the vacation crowd. Just a few months before Charlotte and I had been on a life changing retreat where for the very first time we experienced God’s forgiveness, mercy and grace as we gave our lives to Him. That year we were headed to Chattanooga Tennessee and then into the Smokey Mountains. I shared with you last week about how, when we were up on Lookout Mountain just outside of Chattanooga we sensed the presence of the history that had played out there during the Civil War. When we left Chattanooga we were headed to Pigeon Forge. On the way we stopped at a place called Cades Cove. This is a mountain valley that was settled in the early 1800’s. Now I am telling you all this to get to this point. As we drove around the valley on a twelve mile long one way road, stopping to look at the cabins and other structures that had been restored, the temperature of the day began to climb higher and higher, and by late afternoon had reached the mid nineties. I’m talking today about experiencing God’s presence. After we left Cades Cove to go to Pigeon Forge we were descending the mountain, and as we descended the oppressive heat on top of the mountain was replaced by a refreshing coolness from the shadows and from the water dripping through the rocky cliffs along the highway and by the mountain stream flowing along the road. We literally went from oppression to refreshing in a matter of twenty minutes. At a place where the highway leveled off we found a place to stoop and park and enjoy the coolness. I have to tell you – at that point in my life, newly saved just months before and now experiencing the glory of God through His creation – the refreshing mountain stream and the cool temperatures – I thought that I could never get any closer to God. And many of you are sitting here thinking, “I know exactly what he is talking about. I get closer to God in the woods than I can anywhere else.” Many people even use that as an excuse not to come to church.
Keep your finger in Hebrews 10, but turn over to John Chapter 7. I’m talking about entering into God’s presence in a way that will refresh you like a mountain stream. John 7 beginning with verse 37, On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. I want to look specifically at one word in that whole passage – the word, “come”. That word in the original Greek does not reflect and invitation to come to Jesus and be saved, but is it an action that is to be repeated over and over. So believers are intended to come to Jesus and drink whenever they are thirsty. Everybody say, “I’m Thirsty – Jesus, I’m coming to You to be quenched.”
Read Hebrews 10:19-25
Lord we come to You today asking that you open our spiritual eyes to see and our spiritual ears to hear the words that we are receiving under the anointing or Your Holy Spirit.
You can enter into God’s presence in order to be refreshed with living water.
Do you want to be quenched today?
I. YOU CAN HAVE CONFIDENCE TO ENTER IN AND BE REFRESHED. Look at verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus… Look at the word “confidence” (KJV – boldness). What does that word mean to you? The word actually means “freedom to speak”. John McKay, of the NFL, tells a story illustrating the supreme confidence of University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant: "We were out shooting ducks, and finally, after about three hours, here comes one lonely duck. The Bear fires. And that duck is still flying today. But Bear watched the duck flap away, looked at me and said, 'John, you are witnessing a genuine miracle. There flies a dead duck!'" John McKay, A Coach's Story. That is the kind of confidence that we can have. So believers have confidence (freedom to speak) for what purpose? …to enter the Most Holy Place… I want to make sure you understand the significance of this. The Most Holy Place is the innermost part of the temple or the wilderness tabernacle. The only piece of furniture there was the ark of the covenant or the mercy seat. This is the very place where the Presence of God was to dwell among His people. Now, what the writer of Hebrews is saying is that there is now a vast difference between the Old Covenant and the New. In the Old Covenant the High Priest could enter in and only once a year. Now, under the New Covenant all believers can come before the throne of grace with confidence. We have this confidence because we know that our hearts are good. In fact Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3 that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God is dwelling in us so now there is no need to be afraid of our entering into His presence. Here is how we do it. 1) We can only enter in by the blood of Jesus. The sacrifice offered on the cross of Calvary opened the way. …20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body… The Old Covenant only provided covering for sin and it was through the death of a sacrificial lamb. But through the death of Jesus we now have a “Living” way. Death doesn’t reign in us any longer. 2) Jesus wasn’t just the sacrifice – He is also the high priest. 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God… Those two things – Jesus’ sacrificing His life for you and Jesus acting as high priest to present his blood before the Father has opened the way for us to enter in. Here is the confidence we have – God’s Spirit is in us. Would God ever deny himself? Would God ever try to keep you out of His presence? Now that the invitation is there for you look what the apostle John says I 1 John 5:14, This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
II. YOU HAVE THE CLEARENCE TO ENTER IN AND BE REFRESHED. I was reading an article about getting a security clearance for your job. Interesting stuff. The first thing I found was that an individual cannot apply for a security clearance – his employer must do it. Then there are three levels of clearance – the highest being – top secret. Those who are given that level of clearance are privy to information that other levels do not know. As a believer in Jesus Christ you have been given a security clearance to enter into the place where knowledge is gained and revelation is given. 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. You have been given clearance to draw near to God… and here is how you do it. 1) with a sincere heart. The word sincere means, “not concealing anything”. It refers to the attitude of your heart. Our heart is the innermost part of a man or the spirit man. If we are to draw near to God we must do so hiding nothing. 2) We must draw near with … full assurance of faith… Full assurance is “entire confidence”. Remember back in verse 19 it said that we have “confidence” to enter in? It must be entire confidence. Anything less creates doubt and James tells us in James 1, 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. 3) having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience… We can enter in because the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus in the holy of holies has satisfied the demand for cleansing. Your conscience is clear – you are no longer controlled by sin. 4) and having our bodies washed with pure water... An obvious reference to water baptism. Water baptism doesn’t cleanse, but it tells the rest of the church what has taken place in your inner man. In the early church people didn’t come to an altar and get saved. They didn’t have an avenue to testify to the rest of the church about what had just transpired in their lives. Their public confession was their water baptism. You have been given the highest security clearance in God’s kingdom. You may not realize it now but your place of authority in the kingdom is great. Mathew 11:11, I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. The clearance has been given by God. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
III. YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED TO ENTER IN AND BE REFRESHED. Acts 3:19, Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord (KJV says from the presence of the Lord)… Where do times of refreshing come from? Where have you been invited to boldly go? Into His presence! 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Everything that we have talked about up to this point about entering into God’s presence could be done alongside a mountain stream in the Smokey Mountains or in your deer stand or on a riverbank. But now Hebrews goes a step further. We need other Christians in our lives to spur us on, to encourage us, to stand with us. You can’t find that in your deer stand or on the river. The only place you can find that is in a church setting. Psalm 139:7-10, 7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
I suppose knowing that God’s Spirit is with you always should be enough were it not for the admonition found in verse 25, Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. What is your primary reason for coming to church? Is it for the fellowship? Is it for the music? Is it for the gifts of the Spirit? Is it for the preaching? The primary reason should be to come into His presence along with other believers to encourage and receive encouragement.
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit…
Today we have seen that we have confidence to enter… the clearance to enter… and the call to enter. Jesus says that we are to keep coming and being refreshed and the more you drink that same water will begin to flow out of you. Not only will you be refreshed, you will become a refresher. Not only will you be encouraged… you will become an encourager.
How often are you willing to come to Jesus for refreshing?
Where are you willing to go to find His presence?
You don’t have to look any further than the person standing right next to you.
