Priests (Exodus 28-29)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning grab your Baubles and head to Exodus chapter 28. we're going to be looking at Exodus 28 and 29 together today so we're going to go through two chapters we're going to be looking at God as he's giving the instructions to Moses about the garments for the priests and the consecration ceremony for the priest so they're going to do this later but they're going to give the instructions now we're going to study this now as we look at this and I know that as we start going through Exodus and we say hey we're going to work through a book of the Bible that some of y'all were like I'm really looking forward to kind.
Of hearing the the ten plagues and some of you were like I I'm kind of interested to see how we talk through what happens with the golden calf and I know that some of y'all are like I want to talk about those Priestly garments well today is your day we're talking about Priestly garments today so I hope that you are ready as we go through this one of the things that we see in the Bible is that God is preparing since eternity passed.
For what he's going to accomplish in Christ and he's working this out in the story of human history and he's got all of these things that he's putting in place that ultimately get fulfilled in Jesus and there are some movies that have been very popular where there's this kind of twist ending this surprise ending so um Planet of the Apes the original Planet of the Apes was like this it had a surprise ending that was startling for people or maybe the The Usual Suspects to the to the best ones that I've seen that I really appreciated were the sixth sense and Shutter Island had this twist ending and the twist in those what made it.
Particularly good was that you were like oh it made a lot of things make sense some things you were like I should I should have seen that coming I should have kind of known that was and when they went back and showed it and so if you watch the movie the second time it's a completely different movie you're seeing all this stuff that you didn't see the first time and that is a lot of how the New Testament treats the Old Testament the Old Testament informs the New Testament.
But the New Testament looks back at the Old Testament and says see it's like you're watching a friend who's just super geeked out about the sixth sense and they pause it every 30 seconds and go see did you see the way his eyes went that's because that's what the the New Testament does with the Old Testament they're constantly going do you see how God was doing this you see how he's accomplishing this and one of the main things that they point out is that.
Jesus is the Fulfillment of the priesthood that he is the high priest that's what Hebrews goes out of its way to clearly articulate repeatedly Jesus is our high priest he fulfills this so as we read this this morning we're going to pause it and we're going to stop and we're going to say do you see Jesus here do you see how this is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus because there's some interesting things that go into the Garment the clothing that the priests are going to wear.
So as we start this morning I want to read from Hebrews 3 before we get into Exodus 28 here's Hebrews 3 verse 1. therefore holy brothers that's Church family you who share in a Heavenly calling consider Jesus the Apostle and high priest of our confession and so we're going to do that this morning we're going to consider Jesus the high priest of our confession that as Christians he's our high priest so as we learn about the inauguration of the priesthood we're going to consider.
Jesus so let's pray and then we'll do that together father we thank you for your fulfillment of your promises and that what we have in Christ is infinitely eternally better than what you gifted to your people of Israel that you have accomplished what we're going to read today you've accomplished in Christ for us so may we Delight in the Fulfillment of these things and may we worship you as we study them together in Jesus name amen Exodus chapter 28. God's talking to Moses and he says.
Then bring near to you air in your brother and his sons with him from among the people of Israel to serve me as priests Aaron and Aaron's sons naidab by who eliasar and ithamar a priest is someone who stands in God and the people so to be a priest in this role at times the priests would stand representing God to the people and then at times the priest would stand representing the people to God but as a mediator is an intermediary.
And so that's what this role of a priest is is someone who's in between God and the people and so he says this is going to be given to Aaron and his sons ultimately it's going to be given to the whole tribe of Levi to be levitical priesthood which is where they're the tribe they're from but Aaron and his sons are going to be the line of high priests and it's given to them so we're going to talk first about as we.
Look at these garments we're going to see the representation of the priest representing God to the people as he stands in the middle and faces the people on behalf of God we're going to look at some of the indications of that in the way that the garments are made so verse 2. and you shall make holy garments for you air in your brother for Glory and for beauty now this is interesting because that word glory is used throughout the Book of Exodus and it is used to describe.
God and His glory and the glory that he's going to get from what he does and the glory that he has in his person and himself the glory that's displayed on the mountain and then it's used in two places to describe the clothing that will be given to the priests and so in a way God is sharing some of his glory with the priesthood that there to have a bit of Glory as they represent God to the people that the priesthood is going to stand in in a way to represent him and he's going to make them garments specifically.
For their Glory now if they had done this on their own it would have been bad if they were like you know what I want some glorious garments I'm going to elevate myself I'm going to be the fanciest person that would be bad that would be frowned upon but when God says no I'm intentionally doing this they're going to have special garments for Glory and for beauty as they stand in to represent him and it says this you shall verse 3 you shall speak to all the skillful whom I have filled with a spirit of skill that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him.
For my priesthood consecrate means to set aside to place him in this role these are the garments that they shall make a breast piece an ephed a robe a coat of Checker work a turban and a sash they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests now an effort is translating the word ephed much like our word taco means Taco ifad means if it it's this special garment given to the priesthood so if you were like I kind of understand some of these things I got an idea of what a turbine is what's an aphid an iFit is going to be explained to us.
Because it's a special garment that goes here with the high priest so it says verse five they shall receive gold blue and purple and Scarlet Yarns and fine-twined linens here are the Glorious garments they're going to make it's going to look something like that huh that thing in the middle there is the breast piece the iFit is the thing that is uh woven multi-colored around it um or that hangs underneath it but they're going to make this and it's intentionally designed with a bunch of imagery that I think.
Because because God knows what he's doing and ultimately Jesus is going to fulfill this there's a bunch of images that go into this that ultimately point to the finished work of Christ now he is dressed like a walking Tabernacle that phrase that we just read received gold blue and purple and Scarlet Yarns and find twindling and we're going to read that over and over again but we already read it over and over again when they were making the Tabernacle that this is how they made the covering of the Tabernacle and the inside veil in between the holy place and the most holy place.
And so he's dressed up to look like the Tabernacle and I don't think that's on accident that if the Tabernacle is the place where God meets Earth where he's going to put his footstool where he's going to be present in his particular specific way then the priesthood is also going to represent him so if the Tabernacle is the representation of him meeting with the Earth then the priesthood the high priest is a walking representation of that and those are some of the things that help us understand that he's intentionally set up to be leading and standing in between.
God and the people that's it's used in Exodus 21 verse 6 Exodus 26 verse 31 so he's dressed for Glory and for beauty in a way that looks like the Tabernacle but he's also giving a breast piece of judgment and so we're going to read about that look at verse 6. and they shall make the ephot of gold of blue and purple and Scarlet Yarns and find twine Linens skillfully worked and she'll have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges.
So that it may be joined together and the skillfully woven band on it shall be made like it and be of one piece with it of gold and blue and purple and Scarlet Yarns and fine twined Linens you shall take two Onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel six of their names on the one stone and the names of the remaining six on the other Stone in order of their birth as a jeweler engraves Signet.
So you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel you shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree and this is gold filigree well yeah there it is so they're going to have two stones with the names of the sons of Israel encased in that on his shoulders pretty verse 12 and you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel and Aaron shall bear their names before the.
Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance verse 13 and 14 will talk about how to attach it let's move to verse 15. you shall make a breast piece of judgment so he's going to have this breast piece of judgment that's that square thing you saw in skilled work in the style of the ephid you shall make it of gold and blue and purple and Scarlet Yarns and fine twine linen shall you make it it shall be square and doubled a span its length and a span its breath this is a span tip your thumb pinky a span cubits tip your fingy thingy finger that's a thingy twice that's awesome this is a finger elbow nailed.
It all right I didn't hear it till the second time I might have just moved on with my life and not knowing I did that all right all right shouldn't have told you what a span is okay verse 17 you shall set it in four rows of stones then it's going to talk about how the stones are what stones to use in verse 21 it says there shall be 12 Stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel they shall be like signets each engraved with its name.
For the Twelve Tribes so there's two stones six names on each shoulder and then there's a breast piece that has 12 Stones with engraved names of each tribe then it's going to take some time to tell you how to attach it so it doesn't fall off and then go down to verse 29. so Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breast piece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the holy place to bring them to regular remembrance before the.
Lord and we're going to talk about this bringing them to Remembrance in a minute and in the breast piece of judgment you shall put the urum and the thumbem and they shall be on Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord thus Aaron shall bear the Judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly and we'll talk about that again in a second that he's bearing their judgment but the urum and the thumbum are specifically given to the high priest to discern the will of.
God they consult urum and thumbem to understand God's will so this breast piece of judgment is not just bearing judgment but it's also making judgment that you would bring someone to the high priest so in Exodus 22 it says that if someone borrows some property and then it ends up gone that you then would bring them before God bring them near to God and whatever God decided would tell you whether or not they had stolen and there's just some questions there as to like how did they do that.
Well most likely they did that with yerman where the high priest would use yerman to understand God's will now we don't know worked we can outline we can trace out a few things and we'll walk through that but anything that tells you this is exactly how they worked is some speculation because we really don't know but what we do know is enough to know how they worked and we have enough to know what we need to know so they would use this to make judgments Ezra 2 we.
See this says the governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until they should be a priest to consult urem and thumbem that they would go before God and ask questions and the yerman thumb and would help them know a judgment from God as Moses is handing over the Reigns of leadership to Joshua in numbers 27 it says and he that's Joshua shall stand before Elias are the priest who shall inquire for him by the Judgment of urum before the.
Lord so even though Joshua is going to lead the nation he would still go to the priest to understand what they were supposed to do to answer questions about God's Will and God's desire for them this is still going when Saul's King in first Samuel 14. says therefore Saul said there's a dispute between him and his army and he says oh Lord God of Israel why have you not answered your servant this day if this guilt is in me that was answered in they lost the battle as.
If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son O Lord God of Israel give urum but if this guilt is in your People Israel give thumbem and Jonathan and Saul were taken but the people escaped so it's some way of casting lots of discerning truth of finding reality empowered by God it's not as simple as like flipping a coin because in first Samuel 26 it says when Saul inquired of the Lord the Lord did not answer him either by dreams or by urum or by prophets which means there's a way.
For you to use urum and thumbem and get no answer for God to not respond so it can't be flipping a coin just right or left yes or no because that always would give an answer so that's about all we have we know they used it we know that God specified it and that God empowered this for judgment now some of you as we were talking through that might have thought that's crazy they made decisions by like rolling some dice and some of you might have thought that sounds wonderful can we do that can I just get some dice and be like all right.
If it's a seven I take the job and the answer to the first person is that's not crazy because it was God's specific given way to discern his will that he empowered so he gave this as a gift to his people of Israel and specifically to the priesthood to make judgments on behalf of the People by God that God would make these judgments for them so it was an empowered gift given to them for them to be able to discern God's will and to the.
Second person no we can't make decisions like that first of all because this was only given to the high priest not as just the way that everybody got too many decisions and secondly that's not the means by which we are given to make decisions we are we have something so much better we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit and been given the Church that the Church collectively for Jesus says where two or more of you are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of you and whatever you bind on Earth is bound and whatever you lose is loose this this gift given to the Church that we might collectively make decisions.
So that you're empowered by the spirit and that you can walk under the guidance of the spirit but you also get your Church family to help make decisions to help discern the will of God and so that is how we are designed to make these decisions but we see in him having this judgment that God was empowering the high priest to stand in his stead and to render judgments based off of God's will and so the high priest stood representing God to the people.
Now pause Jesus fulfills this beautifully infinitely more because it's not a walking representation of the Tabernacle he's not just a representation of God he is God himself this is what Hebrews 1 says he is the radiance of the glory of God he's not just shared a little bit in the clothing he wears he's the display of God's glory is seen in Christ he's the radiance of the glory of God the exact imprint of his nature so that where he the uh the high priest would wear clothes made of the same stuff as the Tabernacle that.
Jesus is made of the same stuff he's the same exact imprint he is God not just a representation of God he is God who has come to redeem and to work on our behalf and so that our high priest is not a person who's a stand-in and we hope he does his best but he is God who has come to redeem and to work on our behalf it says he upholds the universe by the word of his power and so our high priest Christ is.
God he's not some sort of representation but he is fully and completely accomplished this but the high priest didn't just represent God to the people but he also represented the people to God and you'll see this we already read some of this but look back at verse 12. it says you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the epha the stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders.
For remembrance and then in verse 29 it says so Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breast piece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the holy place to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord so the high priest wears the names of the tribes of Israel before God to bring them to remembrance and to Bear their judgment so that if you were in the tribe of Reuben or if you were in the tribe of Simeon or.
If you were in The Tribe of Benjamin that you knew that knew the high priest when he went in before God took you with him that he represented you before God in his sacrifices and in his offerings that you were covered too and it doesn't tell us why the names are on him twice says he's going to have their names on their shoulders for remembrance and he's going to have the names on his heart for remembrance and for judgment but when I consider.
Jesus I think it's beautiful that he carries Us in the same way he carries Us in his heart that he loves us that he cares for us that he carries judgment for us but he also carries our weight he Bears our guilt that he carries the cross on his shoulders to Calvary that he takes with us takes our sin with him and takes us with him when he represents us before God so that we have a high priest who carries you.
If you belong to Jesus your name is written and it is carried before the Lord and you are atoned for and cared for as John says in first John that he wrote these things that we might not sin but if anyone does sin we have an advocate with a father we have someone who's standing before the father right now that bears our names before him to forgive us to be our propitiation for our sins so that our high priest does this as.
Well verse 31 you shall make the robe of the ephid olive blue it shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it with a woven binding around the opening like the opening in a garment so that it may not tear on its hymn you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and Scarlet Yarns around a Tim with bells of gold between them a golden Bell and a pomegranate a golden Bell and a pomegranate around the Hem of the robe and it shall be on Aaron.
When he ministers and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out so that he does not die now I think if I was Aaron and Moses was walking me through this and he was like Oh and around to him was going to be a pomegranate and then a bell and then a pomegranate and then a bell I'd be like all right cool and then he'd say and the bells are going to make noise.
When you walk right yeah yeah so that you don't die and now let me tell you about the turban I think I'd have been like wait go back to the bells part but you see Aaron and Moses understood that Aaron and all the high priests are doing dangerous holy work because they're sinners and sinners don't just get to be in the presence of God this would be a very real thing to consider that that you don't get to just uh presume to be in the presence of.
God but I think it's really interesting that woven into him of this garment is pomegranates and bells I want to show you all this is a pomegranate I had to look it up I didn't know what pomegranates look like that's the pomegranate it's red I think it's about the size of like an orange it's uh that's not to scale that's way bigger than they are in real life it is full of seeds just full of them and so a pomegranate is a promise of life and blessing and fruitfulness that it holds This Promise of.
God fulfilling his promises that he's going to bless them he's going to multiply them he's going to provide for them that there's something good to come it's got seeds it's all these promises that are held inside of it and so in His Garment he has promise of blessing and life and fruitfulness right next to a bell that clings reminding him of his sinfulness and the danger that he has when he approaches God and I think that's beautiful he walks around with the Garden of Eden a place of promise and beauty and God's desire to love humans and to bless them and also the place of our greatest failure where sin enters the world and we're.
Up for Destruction and y'all Jesus has that woven into his person blessing and life and fruitfulness and the Fulfillment of promises and he carries our sin and our guilt and our death in him when we get into eternity we will be unmarked by sin but Jesus won't Jesus carries in his resurrected body the scars on his hands and on his side that when John sees him in the Book of Revelation and they declare look it's the line of the tribe of Judah and John says I looked.
But what I saw was a lamb that looked like he'd been slain that our high priest carries life and death in himself as well blessing and fruitfulness and promise and Hope but also a reminder of the sinfulness that would separate us from God verse 36 you shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a Signet holy to the Lord and you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue it shall be on the front of the turban it should be on Aaron's forehead and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts it shall regularly.
Be on his forehead that he may be accepted before the Lord so the high priest is going to carry the people on his shoulders and on his heart he's going to carry the Judgment of God on his heart he's going to carry their guilt on his forehead and he's going to have pomegranates and bells around the Hem of His clothing and so when the author of Hebrews says he's our high priest we get to look and go yeah he's done that he Bears our guilt before the.
Lord that he carries Us in remembrance before the Lord that he carries in himself life and our death as he has conquered death so that we might be able to conquer death in him that he carries promise and hope and fulfillment and resurrection and that he brings us before the Lord in Hope just as the people of Israel would be able to look to their high priest and see the work that he was doing and trust that God was allowing it to work we get to.
Look to our heart our high priest and know that God has blessed and worked as well in verses 39 through 43 is going to talk about the clothes that will be made for Aaron's sons and the undergarments that they will have to wear all taking into consideration the unholiness of the priests which leads us to okay but how does this priest get to go be in the presence of God and that's where chapter 29 comes in he's going to be consecrated he's going to be set apart.
For it there's going to be sacrifices made on behalf of the priests and so God's going to tell Moses how to go about that so we're going to read the first part of Exodus 29 we're going to read the first part in the last part and I'll explain the middle chapter chapter 29 verse 1. now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them that they may serve me as priests take one Bull of the herd and two Rams without blemish.
If you're reading the Old Testament and animals are introduced do not get emotionally attached to them this is a pro tip and unleavened bread unleavened cakes mixed with oil and unleavened Wafers smeared with oil and you shall make them a fine wheat flour you shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket and bring the bull and the two Rams you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.
So the first thing they're going to do is be washed with water then you shall take the garments and put on air in the coat and the robe of the effort and the e-fit and the breast paste breast peace and gird him with the holy crown on the turban you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him and then they're going to bring the sons and do the same thing and it says the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever sorry they're going to dress them in their clothes they're not going to point anointing poor anointing oil on the on the sons.
So they don't do exactly the same thing but it says there the priesthood should be there is by a statute forever thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons they're going to set them apart and then they're going to lay their hands on the head of the bull and sacrifice the bull and they're going to place the blood of the bull on the corners of the altar the horns of the Altar and then they're going to put the blood against the altar to atone.
For the altar then they're going to burn up parts of the bull and burn up the rest of the bull outside the camp as a sin offering they're going to take the sin out and they're going to burn it up to help a tone for them and to Mark the altar is Holy then they're going to take the first Ram lay their hands on its head which is signifying that they're passing their sin over to it that this land is lamb this Ram is representing them.
And then that Ram will be sacrificed and burned as a burnt offering to the Lord and they'll see the smoke Ascend up to the Lord just as Jesus ascends up to the Lord the smoker sends up to the Lord in a pleasing fashion to him and then they're going to take the third Ram Place their hands on its head and it will atone for their sin as well some parts of it they will burn some parts of it they will cook and they will partake in a meal and it says they will eat of the ram that atoned from them and I'm reminded of something that we do quite often as we read through that.
That Jesus Christ dies for our sins and then he says if you don't partake in me then you have no part with me and he says that you will this is my body broken for you this is my bloodshed for you and one of the things that we do is we partake in Jesus our sacrificial lamb who atoned for us and we remind ourselves that we are welcome in by what he has done and that's what they do they kill this Ram.
Then they partake they eat a meal before the Lord then they go through a ceremony the last seven days with evening and morning sacrifices and then God says that these evening and morning sacrifices are going to continue forever that that's what they're going to do they're going to have an evening and morning sacrifice the evening and morning sacrifice go to verse 42. oh sorry the ram that they eat they put blood on their ears blood on their thumbs and blood on their uh big toe on their right side and they sprinkle blood all over them.
So they are covered in the blood of this Ram that has atoned for their sin and this is a picture of the fact that their sin deserves death they are covered in the blood this is why we sing songs about blood that were washed in the blood we're covered in the blood because this is what Jesus has done for us that he has washed us clean set us apart and paid for and atone for our sins by his blood and they did this with a ramp.
So they're covered in blood and then they eat a meal um together verse 42. it shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your Generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord where I will meet with you to speak to you there there I will meet with the people of Israel and it shall be Sanctified by my glory I will consecrate the tent of meeting in the altar Arrow Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their.
God and they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them I am the Lord their God if you were an Israelite at this time you could look to the Tabernacle you could look to the Smoke rising in the morning and the smoke rising in the evening and you could trust that there was a high priest there representing you before God and that your sins were being atoned.
For that you could see this and Trust but the sacrifice had to happen again the next day it had to continue to happen that he had to continue to to go before the Lord and receive this sacrifice and this hope that had to happen over and over and over again through all their Generations this had to happen but you could trust that the high priest was placed there by God that God was accepting the sacrifice that he was representing you before.
God bearing your guilt carrying your judgment bringing your name in remembrance and you could watch as this happened over and over and over and over again and Christians we get to look to Christ the Fulfillment of all these things who has perfectly accomplished our forgiveness I want you to see this this is Hebrews 10 and this is where we're going to end we're going to end in Hebrews 10 and we're going to take some of the conclusions that the author of the Hebrews draws from us having.
Jesus as our high priest and we're going to consider them as we finish up this morning Hebrews 10. 11 verse 11. and every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins so they can help pay for sin short term but they have to happen against tomorrow again tomorrow and they can never take it away they can't fix the problem so while this was a blessing to the people of Israel and a reminder of God's love and presence that he was doing all this.
So that he might dwell with them they never fix the problem when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet for buy a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified this is we talked about this earlier this year when we talked about the Ascension but that Jesus Christ dies on the cross he's buried on the.
Third day he rises and then he ascends into heaven and he takes a seat because he has perfected once for all time those who are being Sanctified he has fixed the problem of sin he has does not have a need to do this repeatedly and this is wonderful this is why Protestants when you look at a cross Jesus isn't on it because he's not there he's seated at the right hand of God the work is finished when you see an empty cross you get to be reminded that this isn't a work that has to be renewed.
For you but that it has been accomplished there is no smoke rising up daily it's been accomplished that we get to trust in the finished work of Jesus who has seated at the right hand of God who has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified we have a wonderful glorious high priest move down to verse 18. it says where there is forgiveness of these there is no longer any offering for sin verse 19 therefore brothers so because of this since we have a since we have.
First thing confidence to enter into the holy places by the blood of Jesus now the only person in the Old Testament who had confidence to enter into the holy places was the high priest the priest could go with him into the holy place but never could go into the most holy Place only the priest could do that but he says in the book of Hebrews the author of Hebrews says that we now because of the work of Jesus are welcomed in it's the.
First thing it says since we have confidence to enter into the holy places by the blood of Jesus by the New and Living Way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of God then he's going to tell us because of those two things because we get to walk in like a high priest and since we have a great high priest then he's going to give us some conclusions.
So I want to to try to help us what do we do with this other than see how glorious Jesus is and how much better he is as a high priest what do we do with this how do we respond and since the author of Hebrews says since we have a great high priest let's do these things I thought hey let's do those things so you're welcome we're going to read those three things quickly to see what we're supposed to do with the fact that.
Jesus is our high priest and that he's made a way for us to enter verse 22 let us draw near with a True Heart in full Assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water the consecration ceremony of the priests was that they would be washed and then they would be sprinkled with blood in our faith in Christ we've been covered by his blood and we walk that out in baptism and what he says is you've been consecrated to enter into the presence of.
God you've been set apart so that you might enter into the presence of God and so he says with confidence and full Assurance do that pray with confidence and full assurance not Pride because it's not based in you it's confidence because it's based in Christ so with confidence and full Assurance go walk in speak to the Lord relate to him love him that's the first thing that we should do we should have full Assurance because it's worked out in Christ and that we've been consecrated and set apart by the Gospel the.
Second thing he says is let us hold fast the confession of Our Hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful let us hold fast the confession of Our Hope what's the confession of Our Hope it's that Jesus has accomplished this Jesus has worked this out on our behalf our hope is in him and it says the reason we can hold fast to this is that he who promised is faithful I grew up in the Aitkin North Augusta Edgefield area of South Carolina and there's a drag strip in Jackson where buddies of mine would go drag race.
And if you went to the drag race and sat in the car and let's say I don't know if they let you have passengers but this is imaginary so imagine that you could be a passenger let's say I'm the passenger in one of my buddies cars and we're about to race somebody and the guy next to us is Rev in his car because he's cool and you're supposed to do that so he's doing that and I look at my friend he's about to drive and I say I just don't know I just don't know.
If I can do this he says we got this and I said I just don't know if I'm fast enough my friend would look at me like I was stupid because that has nothing to do with what we're doing I don't have to run I'm pretty sure we're disqualified if I get out of the car I don't even know if I'm allowed to be in the passenger seat we've already established that this isn't a foot race and I'm not driving it's based off the car and this person driving.
And when we as Christians at times say things like I just don't know as I'm in sin I just don't know because I'm struggling I just don't know I have these doubts what does that have to do with it he who promised is faithful we just get to sit in the passenger seat it's based off of our confession of Hope which is Christ and what he has accomplished if we were in the tribe of Reuben and I looked at you and just said I just don't know.
If I'm going to be a good high priest you'd say bro I don't think you have to worry about that you're you're not you're not gonna so we're good and so when we at times go I just don't know I just yo we have a great high priest who has opened the way we get to hold fast to our confession and we get to do this with full Assurance because it's not based off of us and when we walk with confidence.
And when we hold fast Our Hope and when we do it with full Assurance we give great glory to Christ because we magnify his work not ours and our trust and our hope is in him not us so because we have a great high priest sleep well at night repent of sin with delight that he forgives and walk in confidence that you're okay not because you're great that's not the point you don't walk in confidence because you're well behaved you're welcome confidence.
Because Jesus forgives Sinners and you have a great high priest who has perfected once for all those who are being sanctified the third thing he says and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works I find it so interesting he says because we have a great high priest and because we get to enter in let us consider how to stir one another out to love and good works it's not about our love and good works it's not accomplished by us.
But let us consider this and y'all do we do that do you give intentional thought and effort to how to stir up your brothers and sisters in Christ towards love and good works with your community group before you're going over there to spend time with them before your group meeting time before y'all going to go get dinner together do you think how can I stir them up to love Jesus more to to go about accomplishing good works If we're honest I think more often we give consideration not about what they're getting from us.
But what we're getting from them that we might more often think I just don't I mean I just don't know what I'm getting out of that I know we're to consider what they're getting from us we're to consider how we might encourage and build up and drive them on it says this not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day Drawing Near not neglecting to be together.
If we're going to consider and be give effort towards stirring one another up to love and good works you know what you have to do to stir one another up be around one another and so if you've gotten in the habit of being around on Sundays once a month or hanging out with your group every third time or every other time or when it's you've had a long day and it's tiring and you're frustrated you're just thinking I just don't know.
If I want to do that right now I don't think you're considering how to stir them up I think you're considering how it applies to you and I think we're forgetting and neglecting to make this a regular habit that we're around God's people because we have a great high priest who works on our behalf so that we might walk in love and good works behind him and he says all the more as you see the day Drawing Near we ought to outpace the New Testament Believers in stirring one another up and an encouragement.
Because the day is nearer to us than it was to them and there is a day there is a day when we stand before the king washed of our sins covered by his blood and welcomed eternally because we have a great high priest who's entered in before us and may we praise His name let's pray Lord Jesus thank you thank you for surprisingly shockingly fulfilling what you had intended to do since eternity passed to wreck to Res to rescue and to redeem sinners.
Lord may we walk with confidence because of your sacrifice and your glory and may we draw near in hope to the praise of your name amen