November 27, 2005
Scripture:
Scripture:
Ministry:
I’m sure we don’t need to, but I’d like to turn back to some scriptures we have had; John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We’ve been thinking of God’s willingness to give. It was an interesting verse our brother read II Corinthians 9: “the unspeakable gift”! We know that this gift is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. But in Him, we have other gifts. Here we read of the gift of eternal life. We know this life exists in God Himself and we have been “plugged into it.” We have this life of God. Marvellous indeed, to be able to be brought into this wondrous flow of life. God gave us His life at Calvary. We also read from I John 4:9 & 10: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This time, it is not eternal life, but another precious gift in Him: propitiation. Through this wonderful gift, God can be gracious to us. He has also given us forgiveness, justification, sanctification, atonement, yea, all abundant blessings. As our brother mentioned in prayer from John 4, “If thou knewest the gift of God”, or the “givingness” of God that comes from His heart that gives and gives and gives again. One day we will enter into that glorious hope to be with Him who died for us on Calvary’s cross.
EG Hymn 375, chorus– Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Prayer • II Corinthians 5:7– “Walk by faith” does not refer to physical walking, but spiritual walking. Our daily life can be called our walk. • Hebrews 11:1—Abraham and Noah are two examples of faith. Abraham was going to offer Isaac in obedience to God, even though God had promised him that Isaac would be his heir. It took much faith on Abraham’s part to believe that Isaac could still be his heir. Noah never gave up building the ark, even though many people laughed at him. He had the faith that it would really rain and flood, even though there had not ever been rain. His faith was “the evidence of things not seen.” • “Everyday faith” is the faith we use on an elevator; or on an airplane. The faith spoken of in Hebrews is spiritual faith, which we exercise when we do what the Lord wants, even if we can’t see what is ahead, having faith that God will lead us on. When Mr. G. Burgess was in high school, he worked as a machinist. Then he took an electronics course and worked at an electronics factory. But he didn’t really like working there, because many of the other workers swore and did other things that a Christian shouldn’t do. Then he met a chiropractor, who suggested he become a chiropractor. He said Mr. Burgess could have his own office and create his own environment. Mr. Burgess did become a chiropractor; he felt that God led him to meet that man to change his life.
Hebrews 9:1–23 • We have been seeing the difference between the old and new covenants. This book was written to Hebrew Christians; they probably had a harder time than the Gentile Christians, because they had to let go of the hundreds of years old fabric of Judaism for the new doctrines they were being taught. • Chapter 9 begins with the tabernacle. It says a bit about the sacrifices. It is important for us to understand all these things because, even though we are not Jews, we are the Lord’s people. The first thing to look at is why didn’t the writer go back to the temple instead of the tabernacle? The brightest days of Israel had to be during the reign of Solomon. He built the majestic temple. He made Jerusalem the center of the world. When the queen of Sheba came to see him, she was absolutely overwhelmed at what she saw. The temple was definitely a symbol of Israel in its highest glory. Why did God go back to that tent in the wilderness? Because Hebrews is a wilderness epistle. The point of Hebrews comes out perfectly in the tabernacle: God goes on with His people through the wilderness. He tabernacles among us. You can read in Exodus, not once but twice, all the details of that tabernacle. Here it says that it is only a “figure” (v. 9). It also says in verse 9 that it “could not make him that did the service perfect”; it was a system that could never give you a clear conscience, because you were always dealing with the past, not the present. We can have a clear conscience through Christ’s better sacrifice. But although this was only a picture, it was still a divine ordinance (v. 1); they had to do with God. If we didn’t have records of all the ritual sacrifices they preformed, we would miss many of the aspects of what the Lord did. The Lord Himself, on the road to Emmaus, started with Moses to tell of the things concerning Himself. • One of the things about the tabernacle is that it is a “pattern of the heavens” (v. 23). If you’re going to be in Heaven, you can learn a bit about it now from the tabernacle. • Vv. 1–7 are about the things which are “ready to vanish away” (ch. 8:13). In Hebrews 13, we are told to go without “the camp.” “The camp” is described here in chapter 9. It also describes our new and living way. This pattern has much to say to us about Christ, but if we copy it today, we are setting up “the camp”, which is wrong. Even though we do not follow their ordinances, we still do offer sacrifices (Heb. 13:15). EG Hymn 201–When we walk with Lord Prayer