Living a life before Jesus. 04/2014 sermon
**Song Victory In Jesus***
How did we know about Jesus?...We heard an old old story…we heard about His healing
We hear about things in the world that can fulfill our life and most disappoint us…
……We think being a millionaire can fulfill us…… those who seem to do nothing but, have everything.…..but, most millionaires or those who have plenty of money are not happy or fulfilled in life because they want more money…so they worry about how to turn their million into 2 million and if they had 2 million…they would want 3 and so on.
We see ads on TV that promise a more rich and fulfilled life through some money making program or some super vitamin that will heal anything that’s wrong with you and live a happier life….but, in the end all those things will disappoint everyone who spends their money on them because …there is only one thing that can fulfill a human life and that is mending the relationship with their creator …mending the relationship with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Also the joy of life is maintained by keeping that fellowship with God free from sin by asking forgiveness ….what does the Bible say? 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
***The price has been paid in full but, …for all have sinned and come short of His glory…and will continue until we get home….but Jesus paid it all.
James also said …..
James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts
How do we draw near to God?........how do we purify our heart?...what can wash away our sins? What can make us whole again?...nothing but the blood of Jesus…..we are blessed beyond our thinking….because sometimes we take what Jesus did for us for granted….He made it so easy for us to mend that relationship with God by simple belief, asking forgiveness and confess our sins and ask Him into our heart and believe He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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Now with all that being said…How did the people draw near to God before Jesus?.....How did the
Old testament men and women wash away their sins?....they couldn’t sing “Nothing but the Blood” unless it was about the sacrifice they had taken to the altar. They couldn’t sing ..”At the Cross”
They couldn’t even sing Amazing Grace.
Their fulfillment in life came when they sacrificed an animal at the altar….. for some …their fulfillment came once a year when a High Priest went into a place in the Temple called the Holy of Holies and sprinkled animal blood on a box called the Mercy Seat.
*****We are so blessed….we are so blessed by God through Jesus.
There are hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament that tell the coming of our Lord the first time and even more in the New Testament about His next coming.
But, God did step out of eternity just as the Old Testament predicted and came to this earth as baby Jesus to grow into a man to become the last and finial sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
Think about this…the Apostles had a hard time convincing the Old Testament people to give up their sacrifices for their sins and believe that God paid the price of their sins through Jesus blood on the cross and no need to continue to shed the blood of animals for their sins…..their sins were paid in full.
Most missed the coming of Jesus the first time because of dull hearing and non-belief….most will miss the second coming of Jesus because of dull hearing and non-belief.
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I wanted us to look at just how much we are blessed above the people of the Old Testament and give you an idea of just what they went through….because there was no Easter to celebrate until Jesus.
Hebrews 7
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
Melchizedek was just one of the prophesies about Jesus in the Old Testament….he appeared in the book of Genesis chapter 14. 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
*****explain Lot being kidnapped*****************
Melchizedek was mentioned in Psalm 110 as a Priest, he was an illustration of Jesus who is now our High Priest….. Melchizedek had no beginning and had no end …nothing said about his ancestors or about his mother or father…he was the king of Salem which was then…the coming Jerusalem ….he blessed Abraham in which is the father of our faith….
Jesus has no beginning and no end ….He is the King Of kings..He bless us with bread and wine…illustration of His body and blood was God sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
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Bu, the closest way to God in the Old Testament was through a High Priest that was chosen out of the tribe of Levi….in the line of Arron…Moses brother
God chose the line of Levi for his High Priest according to the Old Testament…and Arron of course was the first….
The High Priest had to offer a sin offering not only for the sins of the whole congregation, but also for himself (Leviticus 4:3-21)…..
The most important duty of the high priest was to conduct the service on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month of every year.
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Only he was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place…. behind the veil to stand before God. Having made a sacrifice for himself and for the people, he brought the blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, God’s “throne” (Leviticus 16:14-15).
He did this to make atonement for himself and the people for all their sins committed during the year just ended (Exodus 30:10).
It was a huge responsibility of the High Priest to take that blood of a sacrificed animal and go behind a 4 inch thick curtain and into a perfect cube size room where God was to dwell for mankind and sprinkle that blood upon the Mercy Seat…
The mercy seat was a pure gold lid that covered the Arch of the Covenant.
The Arch of the Covenant is a box designed by God that held the Ten Commandants that Moses brought down from Mt Sinai.
When that High Priest entered that room called the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle…his life was in danger because if he had any sin at all in his life that he didn’t sacrifice for …God would kill him.
**Its recorded that they would tie a rope to the ankle of the priest and bells around his waist incase God would strike him so if they heard those bells they could pull him out of the sacred room.
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God forgave His people year after year because of the sacrifice of those animals and honored other sacrifices others made throughout the year in times of worship…like the Feast of the Tabernacle.
***But did God enjoy such a thing as to kill animals for the sins of man?....no
Isaiah 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
But, God made a way to forgive the sins of His people could be forgiven year after year….but He didn’t enjoy it.
It was a temporary fix …so to speak…. Gods people could only be fulfilled year by year and constant fear of God not excepting their sacrifice….because there was no promise.
*****You can see by the Old Testament that we are blessed beyond words because of what Jesus did for us.
**That room in the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies was a perfect cube….the Holy of Holies room in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was 10 x 10 x10 cubits …a cubit is 18 inches so that would be a 15x15x15 feet cube with a curtain 4 inches thick to enter.
**Solomon’s Temple, the room of the Holy of Holies was 20 cubits…which would be 30 feet by 30 feet cube…also with a 4 inch curtain or veil to enter.
**But, Herods temple which was present at Jesus death was 40x40x40 cubits which would be 60 feet
So the Holy of Holies veil or curtain was 60 feet high and 4 inches thick.
It’s recorded that it took 300 priests just to hang it in place
****The Bible says that when Jesus died on that cross and became the ultimate and final sacrifice for the sins of mankind …that Vail in the temple split from top to bottom…means that only God could have done that.
Matthew 27
50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
…Why did God split that veil …because now we all can have access to God by way of Jesus name….how can we be anymore blessed than that?...listen to what the Bible says in….
Hebrews 10
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water
Now let’s look at that verse again in
Hebrews 7
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
The verse is asking the question…..if the priest hood was a perfect solution for mankind’s sin to be forgiven….why would there come another one like Melchisedec that didn’t come from the line of Arron but, came from heaven anointed by God to die for our sins and become our High Priest forever…..because the priesthood was not a solution for our sins but was only making a way for Jesus who was.
Hebrews 7
22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
The past high priest all died but, Jesus lives forever and His priesthood last forever…his name is above all names ….. Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
We that ask Jesus into our life have fulfillment. Fulfillment that only comes from God. If you life seems empty and seems to be missing something ….if you don’t have Him in your life…that something missing is Jesus. Ask Him to come into your life today.
Heard a story about a pastor from a small town congregation who visited an old farmer from time to time in an attempt to share the gospel with him.
Each time the farmer would tell the pastor, "I believe in God. It is impossible not to when you look around at the beauty of this earth and the way in which life is created.
It’s just Jesus I don’t understand. Why would a perfect and all powerful God have to come down as a man, and then die, just to make things right."
The pastor was never able to come up with an answer that the pastor found satisfactory.
Then one night, as the farmer was sitting in his living room, he heard a thump on his window. He went to see what it was and outside he saw a group of birds floundering in the snow.
They were trying to get into the warmth but they couldn’t figure out how, and so they were dying in the snow.
So the farmer went outside and opened his barn doors, and turned on the lights, and tried to herd the birds into the warmth of the barn, because he realized it was their only hope for salvation.
But the more he tried to direct them the more they scattered.
At that point the farmer thought, if only I could become one of them then I could lead them into the warmth.
At that moment, he understood what Jesus did for him, and he fell to his knees and accepted Christ as his savior.
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We can talk to a person until we are blue in the face about Jesus…but it God who has to open their heart.
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