December 25, 2005
Ministry:
Can we look at Genesis 7; here we have the story of that Great flood. V. 11 & 12: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” This was God’s judgement on a guilty World. Now turn to chapter 8:20 & 21: “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake;” Why? Because man had changed? Not a bit, “for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” The thought before me this morning is simple. The first reference to a sacrifice is in connection with Cain and Abel. Abel’s was acceptable to God. He knew he was from fallen stock, sin had come in. He desired to approach a Holy God and on that basis offered an acceptable sacrifice. Here it is different; here Noah had been saved from global, catastrophic judgement. He was brought through all the waves, billows, etc. His sacrifice was because he had been saved from judgement. The marvellous thing was that the sacrifice offered a sweet smelling savour to God; it affected His heart: He made a resolution at that very time. That is why we do not come to sacrifice for sin. We sacrifice because we have been saved. May it be a sweet smelling savour unto God our Father as we seek to honour His beloved Son in the simple things we have done this morning to make His heart glad as he has done ours.
EG Hymn 62–Behold the Lamb whose precious blood, Prayer Luke 2:25–35 • This passage speaks about two people: Simeon and Jesus. If someone asked you to describe Jesus, what would you say? He is
Hebrews 9:8–12 • Verse 8 begins by telling us that what went on in verse 7 was a sign of things to come. They didn’t know that while they were performing it. But as we get into the New Testament, we see that all changes from figure to fact at the “time of reformation” or “time of setting things right (D).” Throughout the history of Israel, we know that they were not always faithful to God; but let’s say some were. They would bring their sacrifice for their sins of ignorance, kill it, and turn it over to the priests. But then on the Great Day of Atonement, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies to atone for those sins; they were not forgotten. What if they were not sins of ignorance; there were no sacrifices for that. In David’s case, his sins led to murder, not sins of ignorance. In Psalm 51, he pleads for mercy. When you read it, it is amazing how much David knew about God apart from what he learned from the law. Back to our chapter, we see that the law is a figure. In the Old Testament, we can read from Exodus to Deuteronomy about the law. Then we can read in the rest of the Old Testament how Israel did not keep that law. But when we think the Lord, where do we turn? The law, offerings, and other things in the Old Testament are full of figures of the Lord that are worth spending time on. The figures are wonderful. However, living under that economy couldn’t make you perfect. All the “carnal ordinances” (or “ordinances of the flesh”) only worked on the outside; they couldn’t give you inward peace. The Lord has given us something more, something that gives us peace inside. But there are those today under the umbrella of Christianity who follow those carnal ordinances. What makes it worse is that the Lord has told us right here in Hebrews that those things are just figures. They were to be done away with at the time of reformation. When was that? It could be around the time of the Lord’s life. The Lord is our “High Priest of good things to come.” Those things are the blessings He brought us in the time of reformation. The tabernacle spoken of in v. 11 is Heaven. V. 24 says the tabernacle is the type of Heaven. The earthly tabernacle was only for the Jews and those who had embraced Judaism. Heaven is for “whosoever.” The earthly tabernacle was a special building on which special people had spent much time. Heaven was not made with hands, but by God alone. EG Hymn 304–How loving is Jesus, Prayer