Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000011
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00:13 Welcome to Anchors of Truth, live from the
00:16 3ABN Worship Center. The Sanctuary 00:18 series with John Bradshaw. 00:22 We're so happy that you could join for the 00:25 third of the Anchors of Truth series. The first 00:29 was with Ty Gibson, and the subject was love. 00:32 And last month John Lomacang gave the very 00:36 popular series on, on spirits, unclean spirits 00:40 and that was extremely well received and 00:43 a lot of people learned a whole lot about 00:46 that. I'm still getting letters on both of 00:49 these from the Ty Gibson series and from 00:51 John Lomacang series on how much it 00:54 meant to you the viewer, and that's what 00:57 this is all about. This series tonight is going 01:00 to be introducing the new speaker for 01:03 It Is Written. John Bradshaw recently was 01:07 called to take the place of Shawn Boonstra 01:09 who took a medical leave and we hope Shawn 01:14 is doing well, recovering and we look forward 01:16 to his being back in the pulpit before too long. 01:19 We would love to even have him here on 3ABN, 01:23 and this particular series we have one 01:25 open for him any time that he is ready 01:28 to do that. But tonight John Bradshaw 01:31 is gonna be our speaker and you're gonna 01:33 get better acquainted with him. As someone 01:35 today say who is John Bradshaw? Well 01:38 number one he is the speaker of It Is 01:42 Written, but he hasn't always been the speaker 01:44 of It Is Written, he grew up in New Zealand. 01:46 He accepted the Lord Jesus Christ at the age 01:49 of 23 from reading The Great Controversy 01:54 which was given to him by his brother 01:57 who had accepted Jesus Christ as his personal 02:00 Savior. John came to this country. He went 02:04 to Amazing Facts, the school of evangelism, 02:07 studied and became an evangelist for Amazing 02:11 Facts and he did that for a number of years. 02:14 Sixteen years he was holding evangelistic 02:17 crusade around the country. He became 02:19 Pastor of the Lexington, Kentucky Seventh-Day 02:23 Adventist Church. He served there for a 02:25 number of years before accepting 02:28 the call to College Place, Washington 02:31 where he pastored only for a short time 02:34 and then It Is Written called and said 02:38 we are asking you to come, and be the 02:40 fourth in the history of It Is Written 02:44 to serve as speaker. George Vandeman 02:47 the founder, Mark Finley was the second 02:49 speaker and then Shawn Boonstra and 02:52 now it's John Bradshaw. Tonight he's gonna 02:55 be studying with us on the Sanctuary 02:59 and the exciting place that the Sanctuary 03:03 has in our Salvation. The title of tonight's 03:06 subject is going to be reality, and I'm looking 03:11 forward to it. I know that the Lord has 03:14 blessed John, Has given him real insights 03:17 into the scripture and I believe that as you 03:21 become more acquainted with him, you're 03:24 going to appreciate the way that he studies the 03:27 Bible the way he presents those studies as he 03:31 comes to us by television. Tonight 03:34 before he does come as our speaker I'm going 03:38 to ask our good friend C.A. Murray to come 03:41 and sing for us and he is going to sing 03:44 that song, I will give all 03:46 my service to you, C.A. 04:11 I give all my service to You 04:19 I give all my service to You 04:27 No matter the cost or what others do 04:35 I give all my service to You 04:43 I give all my problems to You 04:51 I give all my problems to You 05:00 No matter the cost or what others do 05:08 I give all my problems to You 05:15 I give all my family to You 05:23 I give all my family to You 05:31 No matter the cost or what others do 05:38 I give all my family to You 05:52 I give all my future to You 05:59 I give all my future to You 06:08 No matter the cost or what others do 06:15 I give all my future to You 06:25 I give all my worship to You 06:32 I give all my worship to You 06:40 No matter the cost or what others do 06:48 I give all my worship to You 06:57 I give all my worship to You. 07:26 Thank you very much for that, good evening 07:27 everyone. Good evening. What a blessing 07:30 to be here at 3ABN with you and with you 07:32 this evening. And I'm excited that we can 07:36 get together here and gather around the Bible. 07:38 As we open the Bible tonight I believe God 07:41 is going to bless us. Do you know what I believe, 07:43 I believe that God does bless us when we 07:46 open the Bible. Now sometimes when we open 07:49 up the Bible together people are blessed with 07:51 45 minutes sleep. And if that's the blessing 07:53 you need as we open the Bible tonight then 07:56 by all means go ahead and receive that blessing. 07:59 Sometimes people are blessed as they leave 08:02 church, lets say they're blessed with the gift 08:05 of criticism and backbiting. You've 08:08 experienced that. I'm not saying you're 08:10 participating in the way that you've done 08:11 yourself, but you know of folks who they, 08:14 maybe they leave the Sanctuary or leave 08:16 church or maybe even leave camp meeting, 08:18 and they could spend hours telling you 08:21 exactly what was wrong with what they heard. 08:24 Well I hope tonight though that you gonna 08:26 give the blessing that we're all gonna get 08:28 the blessing that God wants us to have. 08:29 There are blessings in the word of God 08:32 when we come keen to be blessed and eager 08:37 for God to fill us up with His spirit and 08:40 anxious for God to impact our lives in a powerful 08:44 then I think maybe, maybe that I'm trying 08:48 to get out of something here, but what I 08:49 want to say is even irrespective of the 08:51 preacher if we're keen to be blessed and 08:55 expecting to be blessed by God, when we 08:58 encounter the Lord in the Bible we'll we 09:00 blessed. Now we're beginning a series of 09:04 messages based on the Sanctuary. This simply 09:12 and extraordinarily complex, this very 09:17 basic, yet this very advanced, this very 09:23 ancient, but very modern and relevant today. 09:29 This, this thing, this Sanctuary. I don't 09:33 propose over the next few messages to, 09:35 to tell you a whole lot of things that you never 09:37 heard before. You know what I've told 09:40 many congregations is this. If I'm telling 09:42 you things that you've never heard before then, 09:44 then either there is something wrong with 09:46 what I'm saying or there is something wrong 09:47 with you. Here is what I like. I like to tell 09:51 people the old, old story whenever I 09:54 preach I don't try to be creative and inventive. 09:57 I'm not looking to be on the, on the cutting 09:59 edge of new and marvelous. I think if 10:01 we come to the Bible, to the pillars of truth, 10:06 to the tried and tested, to the known and then 10:10 we take out of that story of how some things 10:13 old and some things new of we let God breathe 10:15 his spirit into us through the word of God 10:18 we're going to be okay. Now in case you're 10:21 wondering. We aren't over the next few messages 10:25 gonna be talking about the decorations around 10:31 the altar of incense or the carvings around 10:36 the Altar of Burnt-Offering. 10:39 That's not really where I wanna go with this. 10:41 We would busy ourselves with the minutiae 10:44 and I don't say that disrespectfully of 10:47 the Sanctuary or we could come to this and 10:51 look at the bigger picture. The aspects 10:55 of the Sanctuary that really impact us most 10:59 powerfully and most prominently today. 11:02 So in case you're thinking when is he 11:04 gonna talk about the blue edge around 11:06 the priest garment. You know you might 11:09 have to listen for a while to hear me talk 11:10 about that over these next few days, but 11:13 I think as we study the Bible together and 11:15 talk about this wonderful, wonderful 11:18 subject, this present truth subject of the 11:21 Sanctuary. Then there's no question that 11:23 we're going to be blessed. Well that 11:25 having being said. It's probably time we open 11:27 up our Bible. Before we do that, lets pray 11:30 together and ask God, now let's do different. 11:34 And expect God to bless us wonderfully 11:38 right now. Can we pray together? Lets pray. 11:42 Our Father in heaven, we thank you 11:44 that we can come to you tonight in the name 11:46 Jesus Your Son. We are grateful tonight 11:51 that You've given us Your word, the Holy Bible. 11:57 Somewhere in the Bible I believe it was 11:59 in the 8th division of the book of Psalms. 12:03 Man who had much to repent have said. 12:06 What is man that thou art mindful of him. 12:11 The son of man that you visit him. Lord, 12:15 we've forfeited every right to your blessing, 12:20 but we thank You that You don't treat us as 12:23 we deserve to be treated. We thank You 12:27 that you're merciful and gracious. So rather 12:31 than ask you presence tonight, this is your 12:34 place we thank you for your presence. We 12:38 expect to be blessed, not selfishly, but 12:40 because we believe you wish to manifest 12:43 yourself in us that you be glorified. We ask 12:47 that we would take away from our meditations. 12:50 Even something that would draw us closer 12:55 to you, that would weld us immovably to you. 13:00 I pray tonight that we would collide with your 13:04 grace and your goodness. And so bless us please 13:08 as you wish for us to be blessed. We pray and 13:12 we thank you in Jesus name, 13:15 please join me and say amen. 13:21 Just today talked to a fellow who told me that 13:26 he had done some traveling, he and his 13:28 wife lot of traveling. He said every year. 13:30 We try to go somewhere different make us think. 13:36 He doesn't like taking the package to a 13:38 vacations, he likes to take these vacations 13:41 where you go to a place and maybe have 13:42 to drive through the wilderness and do it 13:45 just a little bit tough. He told me, that some 13:49 years ago, he had been to Cambodia. 13:51 I said oh you went to Angkor Wat. He said yes 13:54 I did. Now I, I, I know I came off sounding 13:59 all educated, but I just read about Angkor Wat 14:02 recently so I could converse with some 14:04 knowledge on this subject. In Cambodia 14:08 from what I understand it's kind of in Central 14:10 Cambodia they're in Asia, South East Asia. 14:14 There is, there is an ancient city of Angkor. 14:18 It's about 800 years old that what this fellow 14:21 Dave told me today about 800 years old. 14:25 It's an incredible thing. A couple of hundreds 14:28 years ago a Frenchman explorer named Henri 14:31 Mouhot, I think that's his name, was traveling 14:34 in Asia looking for old sites and he, 14:38 we can't say he discovered, because 14:39 it had never really been lost. But, but, but 14:42 most of the world had forgotten or had never 14:45 got to know about Angkor this city. Henri Mouhot 14:50 the Frenchman found this city and then told the 14:53 world about it. The city itself is as large as 14:57 the city of Paris. It's big, it's a very big city 15:00 and it's filled up with old temples. The 15:06 magnificent stone structures. How they 15:09 were built to say I don't know is true but you 15:13 could probably find out pretty easily. The, 15:16 the magnificent center piece of this old city of 15:18 Angkor is Angkor Wat a fabulous temple. Now 15:24 people who worry about these things say 15:25 that the holds of tourists who go there to 15:28 visit, they're gonna destroy the place. My 15:30 friend say there is no security guards anyway, 15:32 you can climb over the top of anything. Stand 15:34 on top of anything, he said if you wanna climb 15:36 up to the top, the pinnacle of the temple 15:37 and fall off that's up to you. I'm not sure that 15:41 many tourists want to do that, but he was saying 15:43 there is nothing to stop a person from doing 15:45 that. It is just across the street is with 15:47 the airport is and maybe this wasn't great 15:49 planning. Now the sound of the planes coming 15:51 and taking off and all the, is it shock waves 15:54 or whatever it is threatens just 15:56 that to do irreparable damage to this fabulous 16:00 place. If you go there today, it's a site of 16:03 some importance to some people. It's true. 16:08 But for the most part it's an old city that 16:12 was overgrown, swallowed up by the jungle, 16:15 left abandoned for hundreds and hundreds 16:20 of years. I've never been to Athens, Greece 16:24 but what I understand in the center of Athens, 16:26 Greece is an enormous temple originally 16:30 it was dedicated to Zeus, King of the Olympian 16:34 Gods. When it was built it was magnificent. 16:38 It took 680 years to build. Can you imagine 16:43 something taking that long to build. You've to 16:46 be patient. I mean I've been aware of church 16:52 building projects and that saints get a little 16:55 bothered when it takes a while for things to 16:57 really get happening and imagine if your 16:59 church built something it took 680 years to 17:01 get completed that be something. But about 17:04 a 100 years after it was completed it 17:06 began to fall into ruin following a barbarian 17:09 invasion, then years later the materials used 17:14 to build this beautiful thing were taken to be 17:18 used in the building of other temples and 17:21 other construction projects. If you 17:22 go there today there is not much left. 17:24 Ten pillars, ten, ten complete pillars still 17:27 standing if you see it, you say what pillars, 17:30 just pillars. Three of them some disrepair, 17:34 one of them is on the ground, fell over in 17:35 1852 it's just laying there. A once proud 17:41 temple, magnificent, but now dilapidated, ruined, 17:48 forgotten, appreciated sure, but only for 17:52 historical and archeological purposes. 17:57 It is said that the oldest manmade 17:59 place of worship is in Turkey. I don't know 18:01 the name of place in Turkish, but in English 18:03 it translates to Potbelly Hill. I believe 18:06 this thing was in existence long before 18:09 the pyramids of Egypt were in existence. 18:11 Long before Stonehenge. Again fascinating ruins 18:17 and that's about it. It's nothing more now 18:20 then something that was a foot note in history. 18:24 An archeological fascination. You know 18:27 I've been to Stonehenge in, in England and 18:31 looked at that, that complex with 18:34 fascination. You ask yourselves all sorts of 18:36 questions, how do they do that put those stones 18:38 up there. What in the world was it for? 18:41 Most people think it was a worship site. 18:43 Not a very savory worship site, but a 18:45 worship site most people will tell you. 18:49 I'm going to be in London and seeing part 18:51 of the wall of the city of London built by 18:57 the Romans. They say about 400 BC it's still 19:02 there. You could, you could, well you can't 19:05 really touch it. You know suppose to I guess 19:06 you could if you really wanted to. Old, good 19:10 for nothing but looking at. You can search 19:13 the world my point is that you find all 19:15 temples fascinating temples, architectural 19:17 master pieces, once they were really something, 19:20 today they are really curiosities and that's 19:23 about it. But when we come to the Bible. 19:25 We read about a temple that's truly old, 19:30 truly ancient in fact the Bible tells us 19:35 that God has a temple and you'll find 19:38 it in heaven when it was constructed? 19:41 I don't know. The Bible doesn't really give us 19:43 many clues about its construction date, 19:46 but we can know that it is ancient, ancient, 19:50 way older than any old temple here on 19:53 the earth. Now unlike earthly temples, unlike 19:59 the ruins that you'll find in Greece and 20:02 in Turkey and in Cambodia and in Israel 20:05 and other places, unlike those things. 20:09 This ancient temple of God constructed, 20:13 I don't know how long ago, is still being 20:17 used and in fact the Bible makes clear 20:19 that today it is so relevant to us that 20:23 this temple of God in heaven is the nerve 20:26 center of the plan of Salvation. In fact 20:29 whether we realize it or not, the Sanctuary, 20:33 the temple of God in heaven is absolutely 20:37 vital to our daily lives and to our eternal 20:42 destinies. If you have your Bible with you 20:44 turn with me in Bible the Revelation chapter 20:46 11. Revelation chapter 11 lets pick up what 20:50 the Bible says about this temple. Revelation 20:52 chapter 11 and I read from verse 19. 20:55 Revelation chapter 11 and verse 19 the Bible says, 20:58 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, 21:00 and there was seen in His temple the ark 21:03 of His Testament and there were lightning 21:06 and voices and thundering and an earthquake 21:11 and great hail. God's own temple, God's dwelling 21:18 place. Now it's true this one little verse buried 21:21 in about the heart of the book of Revelation 21:23 doesn't tell us a lot in terms of details, but 21:28 it tells us a lot. Let's look, this verse tells 21:32 us that one, God has a temple in heaven. 21:34 Now that's significant, just that alone. It 21:37 tells us that too in heaven is the ark of the 21:41 covenant and we know that in the ark of the 21:43 covenant among other things is that what? 21:46 Ten Commandments. So we get a little picture 21:49 developing here and we know therefore 21:51 that the Ten Commandments of God are in the 21:55 heavenly temple. A temple in heaven God's temple 21:59 not in ruins but still very much in use. 22:04 Now to try to ascertain the relevance of this 22:10 heavenly temple lets go back all the way 22:16 back to the beginning. The Bible tells us 22:20 that in the beginning God created the heaven 22:22 and the earth. Now it had to been an amazing 22:26 time to be alive. There was Adam and Eve 22:30 and you can think there was no sin, there 22:34 was no death, they were no taxes to pay, 22:37 there was no smell to breathe, there were 22:39 no noisy neighbors. It was just like you wish 22:43 it would be. In fact better than all of that, 22:48 way better than all of that it's very clear 22:51 from the word of God that God would come down 22:53 to the Garden of Eden and talk with Adam and Eve 22:56 face to face. Now can you even imagine what 23:00 that would be like? God showing up at your house 23:04 and sitting down to spend sometime. That's how 23:07 good Adam and Eve had it. In fact if you go 23:10 into the book of John. You read in John 1 23:13 and verse 1. In the beginning was 23:14 the word. The word was with God and the word 23:17 was God and then in verse 14 the Bible says, 23:21 the word was made flesh and dwelt or tabernacle 23:25 among us. What this tells us is something 23:29 phenomenal. It is God's wish, God's will to 23:34 spend time in the presence of His people. 23:37 God is not aloof, God is not hard to get 23:41 through to, God has not turned His back on 23:45 the world, on the human family. God is not 23:47 hard to catch up to get some time with, God 23:50 wants to spend time with His people and I don't 23:55 mean that in just some metaphysical and 23:58 metaphorical sense. God really wants to spend 24:01 time with us. In fact if we can get to the end of 24:04 the story. I mean the very end of the story. 24:07 We would find in Revelation chapter 22 24:10 where the Bible says this. And I'm gonna 24:14 read from verse 3, And there shall be no 24:16 more curse. But the throne of God and of 24:19 the Lamb shall be in it. And his servants 24:23 shalt serve him. And shall see his face. 24:28 That's what God wants, to spend time with His 24:32 people. We know from reading the end of the 24:35 story that God gets His wish throughout 24:37 the ceaseless ages of eternity, we know that. 24:40 God had His wish with Adam and Eve in the 24:43 Garden of Eden before sin. But then sin came. 24:47 What does Isaiah tell us about sin. 24:49 Isaiah 59 and verse 2, sin has a habit 24:52 of doing what? Separating between us and God. 24:57 So God said what am I gonna do? 25:00 I wanna dwell with my people. 25:02 I wanna be in their midst 25:04 and when He saw the way the human race 25:06 was going, He knew they certainly needed help. 25:08 If ever there was a time God needed to be 25:10 in the midst of His people that was the time. 25:13 So God said to Moses in Exodus chapter 25 25:17 and verse 8 and let them make me a sanctuary 25:22 that I may dwell among them. 25:26 Let them build me a dwelling place, 25:29 have them make me a house, 25:32 I want to be in their midst. 25:36 Build me a dwelling and they did. 25:39 And Israel being a nomadic people built a, 25:42 a portable dwelling, when they moved throughout 25:46 the wilderness the sanctuary that 25:49 they construct it could be taken apart 25:51 and transported, dismantled, 25:54 moved throughout the wilderness and setup 25:56 in another place. Let them make Me a sanctuary. 26:01 Now if it was up to me and you what kind 26:03 of a sanctuary would we make God? 26:05 Granite countertops, brass fittings everywhere 26:10 I mean what would you put in the house for God. 26:13 God didn't leave it up to Moses just to guess 26:15 or wonder or think or, or, or plan all on his own. 26:20 Exodus 25 and verse 9 says, 26:23 According to all that I show thee, 26:25 after the pattern of the tabernacle, 26:26 and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, 26:29 even so shall ye make it. God said I want 26:33 to dwell in the midst of my people. 26:35 So here's what's gonna happen. 26:37 You make me a dwelling place, but I will show 26:40 you the plans. I'll draw out the plans, 26:42 you take that and you build that, 26:44 build it out what I've showed you to make 26:46 it out of it, build it according to the plans 26:48 that I show you, make it according to my 26:50 specifications. And this sanctuary was gorgeous. 26:54 Two rooms, the first room the one that priests 26:59 went into on a daily basis that was called 27:01 the Holy Place and a smaller room beyond 27:06 the first room was the one called the 27:09 Most Holy Place. Around that structure 27:12 was a courtyard, and around that courtyard 27:16 or edging the courtyard were linen curtains 27:19 suspended by silver hooks from pillars of brass 27:23 that were trimmed with silver. 27:25 The sanctuary itself was exquisite. 27:29 The walls were gold plated, the curtains 27:33 beautifully made and God gave Moses plans, 27:38 clear directions build it the way I show you 27:42 that's important it needs to be the my 27:44 specifications Moses. You know it would even 27:50 if we try it, even if we took time we figured 27:53 we needed to. It'd be hard to get our minds 27:55 wrapped around just what the sanctuary 27:57 of God it was really like. The one in heaven 28:00 or the one here on earth, so we're gonna take 28:03 some time over the next few meetings. 28:06 We'll talk about not just what it was like, 28:07 but what the functions of the sanctuary were? 28:10 How they are relevant to us in our daily 28:13 lives today? And how the beautiful plan 28:15 of Salvation was demonstrated through 28:18 the sanctuary services? What could an ancient 28:22 sanctuary possibly have to do with life down 28:26 here in this fast paced world. 28:28 Now you have your Bible, lets turn to Hebrews 28:30 chapter 8 and we'll, you know it's no surprises 28:34 that the writer to the Hebrews wrote about 28:37 the sanctuary a whole lot. 28:39 To the Hebrews the sanctuary was 28:41 tremendously important and do you know how 28:43 the Jews were? The sanctuary was, 28:46 it was a veritable symbol of their 28:49 national greatness. You wanted to know 28:52 how they were the people of God. 28:54 Look we've got the temple here. 28:56 We've got the temple, man here is the evidence 28:59 that we're God's people, but the writer 29:01 to the Hebrews knew inspired by, 29:04 he wrote this book and they tell me 66 AD 29:07 and do you know what was gonna happen 29:08 in just four years later in 70 AD you write. 29:11 Sanctuary the temple was gonna be what? 29:14 Devastated. The writer was saying instead 29:19 of being overly concerned with the earthly temple 29:25 I want you to look up because there is a 29:28 heavenly temple that is so much more important 29:33 now than the earthly temple, 29:35 and so we're looking at Hebrews chapter 8 29:37 and we'll pick it in verse 1. 29:39 Word of God says, Now of the things 29:41 which we have spoken this is the sum. 29:44 We have such an high priest, 29:47 who is set on the right hand of the throne 29:50 of the Majesty in the heavens. 29:52 A minister of the what? Sanctuary, 29:57 and of the true tabernacle, 29:59 which the Lord pitched, and not man. 30:03 Hey you know what we're reading here? 30:06 Firstly, there is a sanctuary in heaven. 30:10 Lets understand that, lets be certain 30:12 about that, lets be sure about that. 30:14 Do you know what I've noticed over the years 30:16 of being a Christian? I've noticed that 30:18 when the devils wants to get at God's people. 30:20 When the devil wants to make trouble 30:22 in the church. When the devil wants to 30:24 shake somebody's faith. When the devil 30:26 wants to take somebody and make them doubt 30:29 the entire end time message. 30:31 Do you know he so often starts? 30:32 Right there in the sanctuary. 30:34 Right there in the sanctuary. 30:36 Lets doubt that, lets doubt these time 30:38 prophecies. Lets argue about holy place 30:41 and most holy place. Lets argue about where 30:43 Jesus went when He had send to heaven? 30:45 Oh you have got to be wrong and 30:47 I got to be right. just the fact of the 30:51 devil loves to make trouble on the subject 30:53 of the sanctuary suggests to me that 30:55 the sanctuary is an important subject. 30:57 If it wasn't he wouldn't be wasting his time 30:59 shaking up God's people when it comes 31:01 to the sanctuary. There is a sanctuary in heaven. 31:05 Point number two, it is the true tabernacle 31:09 erected by God and not erected by humans. 31:15 And thirdly, now maybe you're too holy 31:19 for this to even matter to you, 31:21 but if like me you grew up on a wrong side 31:23 of the tracks this might mean something to you. 31:26 Thirdly, there is in the sanctuary in heaven 31:33 a high priest who ministers for us. 31:37 Now that just sets me alive. 31:39 You know some of us are aware that we need 31:41 a whole lot of mercy and a whole lot of grace 31:43 and a lot of help. And there is a high priest 31:46 who ministers for us in the sanctuary 31:49 of God in heaven. And that high priest 31:53 as we learn and revisit over the next few 31:56 times way together is our Lord 31:58 and Savior Jesus Christ and I say praise the Lord. 32:03 For now lets take an overview look at the 32:05 sanctuary. The Bible is very clear that 32:08 there is a temple of God in heaven. 32:10 I'll read a couple of little notes I've made here. 32:12 Solomon in second Chronicle 6 and verse 39 32:16 referred to God's dwelling place. 32:20 David called it a palace in Psalm 48:3 32:23 his holy temple in Psalm 11 and verse 4 32:27 and the place of his habitation. In Psalm 33 32:30 and verse 14. We've already seen John 32:33 in the book of Revelation talks about 32:35 the temple of God. Isaiah talked about 32:38 the habitation of his holiness. 32:40 Isaiah 63 and verse 15, Paul referenced 32:43 the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched 32:46 Jesus referred to My Father's house. 32:50 And Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 25 and verse 30 32:55 talked about God's holy habitation. 32:58 You might have your Bible still open in the book 32:59 of Hebrews and if you do Hebrews chapter 8 33:02 that would be good, but we look in the verse 5 33:05 before we look in verse 5. It says here that 33:08 the priests who ministered in the 33:10 sanctuary served unto the example 33:13 and shadow of heavenly things as Moses 33:18 was admonished of God when he was about 33:20 to make the tabernacle. This is what it says, 33:22 See, saith he, that you make all things 33:24 according to the pattern shown to you in the mount. 33:29 So there was a sanctuary on earth 33:31 and priests ministered in the sanctuary 33:35 on earth, but what took place in the 33:37 sanctuary on earth was just a shadow 33:41 of the reality of what took place in heaven. 33:44 Let's think about what happened back here 33:46 in the earthly sanctuary? 33:48 God had Moses construct a sanctuary. 33:52 And the services of the sanctuary helped us 33:55 understand the plan of Salvation. 33:57 The sinner would bring his lamb 34:01 to the sanctuary. Sometimes bring a goat. 34:08 This would happen also later at the temple. 34:11 Lambs would be brought, animals would be 34:14 brought and sacrificed. The penitent sinner 34:18 would come and lean his weight on the 34:20 head of that little lamb. Now, I don't how much 34:24 you all know about lambs? I come from New Zealand, 34:27 when I was a kid we had three million people 34:29 and 65 million sheep. We were just as scared 34:33 as anything that revolting and takeover 34:35 the place. It was difficult once upon time, 34:40 at least when I was kid to not know 34:42 a lot about lambs or sheep. 34:45 You just had to, in fact we had a reasonably 34:48 large backyard and so there were times 34:50 that we, we were raising lambs in our backyard, 34:53 and you know it was a curious thing. 34:57 I think we had two or three pet lambs along 34:59 the way when I was a kid, and we get these 35:02 little lambs just days old you know. 35:05 And we bottle feed them and we nurse them 35:07 or we love them and we call out, 35:09 they come running and that was, 35:11 you know Mary had a little lamb that followed 35:12 her everywhere it was a lot like that. 35:15 The lamb got to a certain size 35:19 and disappeared and I, I couldn't never get 35:23 a straight from my father about 35:24 where the lamb went. When I got little older, 35:30 it struck me as this massive co-incidence 35:33 that we would raise a little lamb, 35:36 the lamb would disappear and then the freezer 35:38 was miraculously full of, full of mutton. 35:44 I think I found out what my dad was up to. 35:48 The little lamb, they're cute man, 35:49 they are innocent, they're sweet as anything 35:52 and it hurt me one, but somebody will have 35:54 to bring his best lamb down to the sanctuary 35:56 and lean his weight on the head of the thing 35:59 and confess his sins. Now in figure 36:04 his sins within transferred from him to the lamb. 36:09 So if you like, if you like he had a land that 36:12 was now bearing a whole lot of sin. 36:15 Now the lamb would then be killed. 36:18 Very sharp knife would be taken 36:20 and the lamb's throat would be slit from 36:21 ear to ear. If you've ever witnessed that? 36:24 Maybe you have, I have if you've ever 36:26 witnessed that, that's a, that's a bloody thing. 36:29 It's nothing pretty about it. 36:30 I don't think it was meant to be pretty. 36:32 I think it was suppose to be ghastly 36:34 to impress us. The way God wanted us 36:36 to be impressed. Now you had a dead lamb. 36:39 The priest would take some of that blood 36:41 and now it was sin layered blood. 36:43 Remember the lamb had sin on it transferred 36:46 from a sinner. Now you had the blood 36:48 of the lamb and the blood now as 36:50 it was contained or carried the sin 36:53 of the people. And the blood was taken 36:55 inside the sanctuary and put in one 36:58 or two or three different places. 37:01 What this meant symbolically was that the, 37:04 the sin of the sinner was transferred from him 37:09 and was taken inside the sanctuary. 37:14 Where it went on record. We'll talk about the day 37:17 of the turn that another time when they took 37:19 care of the sin record. So this sanctuary 37:22 was tremendously important and when the sin, 37:27 sorry when the lamb was being slain, 37:29 when the offering was being made. 37:32 The priest acted as a go between or as an 37:37 intermediary between the people, 37:40 the repentant people and a Holy God 37:43 whose law had been broken. So if the earthly 37:48 sanctuary was patterned after the heavenly 37:51 and if the earthly priest served unto the shadow 37:55 of heavenly things, then what they did down 37:58 here on the earth is a symbol of what takes 38:00 place up there in heaven. The sinner comes to God 38:04 and brings a lamb. The lamb, not a woolly lamb, 38:08 the lamb is obvious question who? 38:11 Jesus that's right. The lamb is brought, 38:14 but Jesus was a slain, we'll sacrifice him every 38:18 week or everyday or ever again after 38:21 the one sacrifice. Jesus died on the old 38:23 rugged cross shed His blood, 38:25 now bringing faith in the sacrifice of the great 38:29 lamb back there on Calvary. 38:30 We come to God and we confess our sins 38:32 and Christ's blood in heaven is pleaded 38:37 on our behalf as an offering, 38:39 as an expiation for, as a sacrifice for our sins, 38:43 thank the Lord. It's the temple of God in heaven. 38:46 The location where Jesus ministers for us 38:50 as our mediator, as our great High Priest. 38:55 Now what I'm telling you is most likely not 38:57 new to you. If it's new to you well great, 39:01 it's probably not. But discovering it can be 39:04 a lot like a man who in England recently 39:07 dug out a small shiny cup from under a bed 39:10 in his house. It had been there for years. 39:13 His dad has been in the scrap metal business, 39:16 and before he died he gave his son John. 39:19 The man's name was John several things. 39:21 John said I put it in a box and I just forgot 39:25 all about it. Decades later John says what 39:31 about that little cup. He thought the cup 39:35 was brass, probably wasn't worth 39:39 anything at all. So he decided that 39:44 he haven't looked at. Took it down to the 39:48 British museum in London and had the experts 39:51 there look it over. I don't pose this thing's 39:53 worth anything but dad said it was real old 39:56 and it was in the family for a few years. 39:58 Can you take a look? You know they found out 40:00 that this thing was dated from before 40:02 the time of Christ and was worth a $100,000. 40:06 He knew it was there. He was very aware 40:10 that he owned it, that he possessed it, 40:11 but he just didn't know what it's true value was. 40:17 And sometimes that can be true for 40:18 the people of God. Oh the sanctuary, 40:21 I remember hearing about that when 40:22 I was a child. Oh the sanctuary, 40:24 yeah I've heard some people discussing 40:25 that or debating that. Oh the sanctuary, 40:27 when I was in academy we had a class on that. 40:32 But if, if we go back to this subject dusted off, 40:36 get it out from under our bed, open up the Bible, 40:39 bring it to the Lord in the light of day 40:41 and say Lord what about this? 40:43 It might be that we can rediscover the great 40:47 value of knowing that there is an 40:50 High Priest in heaven Jesus who ministers 40:54 his blood for us in the presence of 40:57 Almighty God. We might just say what a 41:01 wonderful God we serve, what a great savior 41:03 we have, what a fantastic and perfect 41:05 plan of salvation God has given to us. 41:08 I'm going back to the book of Hebrews. 41:09 Hebrews 4 and verse 14, 41:13 lets read Hebrews 4 and verse 14, 41:17 maybe a little bit more than that. 41:19 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest. 41:21 Lets stop right there. Here is what we know. 41:23 We're covering some very elementary things 41:27 this time around before we go a little 41:28 deeper later. We read the Bible that there was 41:31 a sanctuary on earth and there were priests 41:34 that ministered for God's people there, 41:36 and we read in the Bible that there is a sanctuary 41:39 in heaven and there is a priest, 41:43 actually an High Priest who ministers 41:47 for us there. Now here is what the writer 41:49 to the book, to the Hebrews. 41:50 The writer of the book of Hebrews saying 41:52 you know, mea culpa, you know what 41:54 I really wanna do? I really just wanna 41:56 come out and say here's what Paul said. 41:58 But if I do that some people gonna think 42:00 I'm ignorant. And I just wanna satisfy 42:02 everybody on that point rather than pick a fight, 42:04 so if you want I keep calling this guy 42:06 the writer to the Hebrews I'm just trying 42:09 to cover myself from the person who is right 42:12 now having a cow thinking that I'm a ignorant 42:15 person for believing it was Paul. 42:17 Just being honest with you. 42:19 So the writer to the Hebrews said this, 42:22 in Hebrews 4 and verse 14. 42:24 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, 42:28 that is passed into the heavens, 42:30 Jesus the Son of righteous, have you got that? 42:32 because Jesus is our high priest in heaven. 42:35 Because of that, seeing as Christ represents us 42:39 before the throne of God Paul writes let us 42:43 hold fast our profession. 42:47 We'll comeback to that point. For we do not 42:49 have an high priest which cannot be touched 42:51 with the feeling of our infirmities; 42:53 but he was in all points tempted like as we are, 42:57 yet without sin. Verse 16, Let us on the 43:01 strength of that, let us because of this, 43:04 let us therefore come boldly unto the 43:07 throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, 43:10 and find grace to help in time of need. 43:15 There we have it. The Bible says because 43:18 we have a great high priest in heaven, 43:21 we can hold fast our profession. 43:26 Because Christ is there as your advocate. 43:29 Because Christ is there as your lawyer, 43:32 because Christ is there as your intercessor, 43:34 because Christ is there as your mediator. 43:37 We can come boldly to the throne of grace 43:41 and hold fast to the profession 43:44 we have then Christ is our Savior and 43:46 God as the one true God. 43:49 I looked up this thing. There is a Greek word 43:51 that used here of course the New Testament 43:53 was written in Greek which is hold fast 43:56 the word is Katecho. It means cling 43:59 tenaciously to. Now I don't know what it does 44:03 in your mind, but it reminds me maybe 44:05 of a barnacle clinging to the hull of a ship. 44:08 You can't pry those things off hardly, 44:11 because they cling tenaciously to the side 44:15 of the boat. The writer says here's 44:18 what you want to do, because there is a high 44:22 priest representing you in heaven. 44:24 You need to come to God and hang on tight 44:29 and don't let go. God says you've got Christ 44:35 representing you in heaven and because you do, 44:39 you can have confidence. Jesus knows what 44:43 we're going through by experience. 44:50 Alright. I'll pick another fight here. 44:53 I don't mean to, I'm just gonna do it anyway. 44:58 Some people I know and they have come to me 45:00 and they have said, now what that means 45:04 is that when Jesus was tempted there 45:06 in the wilderness. Those temptations 45:09 represented everything. And He want really 45:13 tempted in every way that you and I, 45:15 but He was tempted to use His divinity 45:20 or He was tempt, whatever, okay fine. 45:22 I believe He was, but I also believe that 45:25 the Bible is right when it says He was 45:27 tempted in all points like as we are. 45:29 No, no, no was He tempted to smoke a joint? 45:31 Probably not. I don't know if they had 45:34 marijuana back then. I mean it was Nazareth 45:37 after all and they might have had worse 45:38 than that, but whatever the equivalent 45:41 was back there. You know Jesus was tempted 45:43 with that stuff. Was Jesus tempted? 45:46 Well careful now, was Jesus tempted 45:48 to be immoral? Was He tempted? 45:50 Absolutely He was. Tempted, did He cave? 45:53 Of course not, not even by a thought, 45:57 was Jesus tempted to go down there with 45:58 the rough crowd and drink liquor with them? 46:00 Of course He was tempted. 46:03 But was there any answering court? 46:05 No, He was converted. Was there a yearning? 46:09 Oh if only my mother would let me go out 46:11 and get drink. No, of course there wasn't, 46:14 but was He tempted? Yes He was. 46:18 Was He tempted to lose his school when 46:20 He was having a difficult day with the 46:21 building project? Sure He was. 46:27 I hate to admit this. But a few weeks ago 46:30 I left my Bible on a airplane. 46:34 It just killed me. I knew I'm not going to 46:36 get it back. I called up the airplane, 46:38 I left my Bible on the plane. 46:40 They said I've never seen it. 46:42 I would never see that Bible. 46:44 You know what happened? 46:45 I replaced it in fact someone else replaced it. 46:51 The most beautiful Bible I've ever had, 46:54 in fact the most beautiful Bible 46:56 I've ever seen. Guess what I did today? 47:05 Oh I'm not gonna tell you. 47:06 I'll let you figure it out. 47:09 No, no, no, I just sent another one to join up 47:12 with that Bible out there and lost property land. 47:21 I was discouraged, was Jesus tempted to be 47:29 as discouraged as I was, 47:31 if ever He lost something? 47:34 Come on now, Jesus was made like unto 47:38 his brethren. Temptation was real to Jesus 47:43 and the reason I'm, I say this is not to try 47:45 to make Jesus more of a human than He was. 47:47 I don't mean to go there. I'm not trying 47:49 to make a sinner of that man. 47:50 I'm not trying to tell you that Jesus was 47:51 crass or crude or rough and was struggling 47:54 to keep it straight. I don't mean that. 47:56 But what I mean to say is we can come to Jesus 48:00 pouring out our hearts to him knowing that 48:02 he's been where we are. Knowing that Jesus 48:04 has been through the ringer of temptation. 48:06 Knowing that Christ had the devil on his tail. 48:10 There where people dogging his steps during 48:13 his ministry. Waiting for him to say something. 48:15 Dragging him out of town to throw him off a hill. 48:18 Trying to trip him up with his word. 48:20 Devil telling him make these stones in the bread, 48:22 every time Jesus turned around there was 48:24 temptation and trying to take him out. 48:26 We can come to Jesus Christ today 48:28 and know that Jesus doesn't look down on us. 48:32 We can know that Jesus doesn't say 48:34 you miserable thing. We can know that 48:38 the heart of Jesus is towards us 48:40 and not against us. He knows where we are. 48:43 He knows what we're going through, 48:45 because in a real sense Christ has stood 48:49 in the same place that we have. 48:50 Now again carry on, I'm not saying that Jesus 48:53 went through exactly like we went through. 48:55 But He was tempted in all points like as we are, 48:59 yet without sin. If we start giving Jesus some 49:04 sort of advantage against temptation 49:05 that we don't have. We destroy the completeness 49:08 of his humanity. I only reason that I can say 49:10 that is because I read that in a book. 49:12 And it was a good book. 49:13 A book that I've trust and I expect 49:14 you would as well. Jesus walked where we walked. 49:17 And that's so significant that the book of Hebrews 49:21 takes time to point that out. 49:25 Jesus was tempted by the devil and when He was, 49:29 He was able to say it is written. 49:32 And I like that phrase a lot you know. 49:33 It is written, man shalt not live by bread alone. 49:37 It is written, you're not gonna tempt 49:39 the Lord thy God. It is written, 49:41 Jesus met him with the word of God. 49:43 He relied on His Father in His humanity. 49:46 He relied on the Holy Spirit power. 49:50 And you know something when the Bible says 49:52 that we're tempted like Christ was, 49:54 we know that we can be victorious like Christ 49:56 was as we rely on the power written 49:59 in the word of God, amen. 50:03 Christ is acquainted with the vicissitudes 50:05 of daily life. We're instruct to become 50:08 with confidence to us throne of grace. 50:10 Come boldly to the throne of grace. 50:14 Come with confidence to where the high priest is. 50:21 Where is the place for doubting God's mercy 50:25 and God's grace. There is no place for that. 50:28 None, the, the saints of God have the 50:33 faith of Jesus. We read in Revelation 4:12, 50:36 they believe it, they accept it, 50:38 they are confident that God will give mercy 50:42 and grace to help in time of need. 50:45 You know there is, there is a verse 50:46 in the Psalms that I just love. 50:50 I guess the older I get the more I realize, 50:52 the more I realize I need God more in my life. 50:56 And there's a wonderful verse that says 50:59 he knoweth our frame and remembers 51:03 that we are dust. 51:09 Where are you? If you find yourself in a heap 51:16 and you're down and you hardly even know 51:19 which way to turn. One thing that I would 51:22 encourage you to remember is, 51:24 He knoweth your frame and He remembers 51:28 that you're dust. Now be careful how you hear 51:32 what I'm about to say. There are some people 51:34 who get tremendously discouraged about 51:37 their dirt. In fact we all should to a 51:41 certain degree. It says in the Bible blessed 51:44 that mourn and it's talking about folks 51:45 who mourn their spiritual lack. 51:49 But one thing that we can afford to 51:50 remember is that out granddaddy 51:53 Adam was made out of dirt. 51:56 God isn't surprised that there is dirt in our lives. 51:59 God's not, God, God doesn't turn 52:01 and run the other way when He sees dirt 52:03 in our lives, in fact He waits for us 52:05 to run to Him. He knows the dirt is there 52:09 and so He says if you come to Me I can 52:13 take care of the dirt and make you cleaner 52:16 then you'll ever be able to make yourself. 52:18 This is why John wrote and he said 52:19 my little children. I'm writing these things 52:21 to you, so that you don't sin. 52:23 Plan A don't sin. But if you do, you can know 52:28 that you have an advocate with the Father, 52:31 Jesus Christ the righteous. 52:33 I'm not talking about cheap grace, 52:35 I'm talking about powerful grace. 52:38 Grace that can reach down into the gutter 52:40 and lift you up and set your feet on solid rock. 52:44 That's the kind of grace I'm talking about tonight. 52:47 The kind of grace that is able to forgive 52:49 you and cleanse you from your sin. 52:53 Some years ago I was back in New Zealand 52:56 and a friend of mine came to me 52:58 and he said oh brother, he said to me 53:07 the kids are watching. 53:10 He said to me there's a guy who is here 53:15 that I want you to meet. I've been studying 53:16 the Bible with him. He told me his name. 53:21 I think I've heard that guy. 53:23 I've heard of that guy. You don't mean, 53:28 he took me to meet him. My friend Dave said, 53:31 John this is, I'm gonna call him Joe Smith. 53:34 This is Joe Smith. I said Joe Smith. 53:37 Joe, you owe me money. 53:38 Well, he didn't like that. 53:41 I said, he said why do I owe you money? 53:44 I said you used to own all the nightclubs 53:46 in town right? Yeah, that was me. 53:49 I left some money behind in the nightclubs. 53:51 I like some of it back? He said I don't have 53:54 any money to give you John and I knew he didn't. 53:56 This guy had been the man around town. 54:01 This guy owned a couple of big nightclubs 54:02 in the city near where I lived 54:03 and he was the man. It's funny how being 54:07 a nightclub owner makes you the man, 54:08 but he was the man. And when he arrived 54:10 in his nightclubs there will be a buzz in the 54:13 nightclubs they tell me. Little buzz, Joe was, 54:16 Joe was in the house. 54:17 Joe is here and Joe was moved, 54:19 drove a fancy car, and he hung around 54:21 with fancy people. Joe later told me 54:24 there were 20 years that he wasn't sober 54:28 one day out of 20 years. 54:30 Not even if that an exaggeration. 54:32 I don't know if that's, I don't know. 54:34 Even if it's an exaggeration you get 54:36 the point. Drunk for 20 years. 54:38 I believe him frankly. Joe was the man 54:42 and I knew people. We used to 54:45 go to the nightclubs. 54:49 Well economies do funny things, 54:52 people make strange business decisions. 54:55 Joe ended up losing everything 54:56 and that's when my friend Dave 54:58 got right beside him. Dave had known 55:01 Joe all way back, way back, way back 55:04 when Dave was just a miserable rotten 55:08 low down wretch of a sinner. 55:10 Dave had come to Jesus, so Dave and 55:13 Joe didn't run in the same direction anymore, 55:15 but now the Joe was down, 55:16 he needed a friend and Dave got beside 55:18 him Dave said, maybe we can talk 55:21 about the Bible. What do you know God? 55:22 Oh God don't have anything to do with me. 55:25 I'm way too bad for God. 55:26 I don't know about that. They started to study 55:29 the Bible together. Joe started getting so 55:33 interested he attended church several times 55:36 and that was just as God had worked it out 55:41 that was when I came to town to hold 55:43 a prophecy seminar. By now Joe had some 55:49 real faith in God. I said Joe you're gonna 55:50 come to these meeting right. oh sure. 55:54 First night Joe was there, 55:57 second night Joe was there, tenth night, 56:00 15th night, we made an appeal for baptism. 56:02 Joe was there, he filled out that card, 56:04 yes, I want to be baptized. Amen. 56:10 Last night of the meeting was one of the 56:13 most remarkable night of my lives. 56:15 The formal nightclub attendee had the 56:20 privilege of baptizing the former nightclub 56:23 owner who came out of that water 56:27 clean in Jesus, in fact when he came out 56:29 of that water he put his hands up above 56:31 his head like this and shuck his head. 56:34 It was like he just kicked the game winning 56:37 field goal in the super bowl or something. 56:38 He was triumphed because what Joe had 56:42 discovered was he could come boldly 56:45 to the throne of Grace. 56:47 My friend there is a sanctuary in heaven. 56:49 It exists tonight Jesus is there tonight 56:52 as your high priest and he says come, 56:57 just like the lamb we'll be slain to take care 57:00 of the dirt and sin of the sinner back then, 57:03 Christ's death can take care of 57:05 your dirt right now. Let me pray with you briefly, 57:07 let us pray. Oh Father, we thank you that 57:11 we have an high priest in heaven, 57:13 teach us to have implicit faith trust 57:17 and confidence in the one who ministers for us 57:19 now in the sanctuary. We pray in Jesus name, amen. 57:24 I'm glad you joined us, thank you, 57:27 God bless you. We'll see you next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17