Seeking Gods Face – Obedience

Speaker: Welcome to the Crofton Park Baptist Church podcast.

Speaker: You are listening to obedience, part of our sermon series,

Speaker: Seeking God's Face.

Speaker: In this message, Clement O. K, deacon and lay preacher at

Speaker: Crofton Park Baptist Church, reflects on First Samuel chapter

Speaker: fifteen, verses one to nine and verses fifteen to twenty three.

Speaker: Drawing on this passage, Clement explores the serious consequence

Speaker: of disobedience in our walk with God through Saul's failure to

Speaker: fully obey the Lord's command.

Speaker: We are reminded that

Speaker: disobedience creates separation

Speaker: from God and leaves us unable to

Speaker: truly seek his face as we

Speaker: should.

Speaker: As you listen, may this message

Speaker: challenge and encourage you to

Speaker: pursue a life of wholehearted

Speaker: obedience, surrendering fully to

Speaker: God so that nothing stands in

Speaker: the way of deeper fellowship

Speaker: with him.

Speaker: Here is Clement okay with obedience?

Speaker: Good morning church.

Speaker: Good morning.

Speaker: Hello.

Speaker: Hi.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: I just wanted to say the title of that movie.

Speaker: That's all.

Speaker: Um.

Speaker: So.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: Can you hear?

Speaker: I heard you whisper on your shirt.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: All right, so we put it in the

Speaker: middle, and I don't have to do

Speaker: that.

Speaker: Every day.

Speaker: So good morning, church.

Speaker: It's great to see you all.

Speaker: Um, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to you all.

Speaker: Um, especially watching online.

Speaker: I can't outdo what Pastor Christopher did because he's a

Speaker: pro at this welcoming stuff.

Speaker: But once again, welcome.

Speaker: Um, my name is Clement.

Speaker: Oké.

Speaker: For those of you who don't know me.

Speaker: I'm sorry.

Speaker: Siri thinks I'm talking to him.

Speaker: Um, my name is Clement Oké.

Speaker: And I'm one of the leaders on the leadership team here at

Speaker: Crofton Park Baptist Church.

Speaker: I've been coming to this church

Speaker: on and off for the past thirty

Speaker: years.

Speaker: Um, that might sound impressive, but back then I would come maybe

Speaker: once a month, maybe if that.

Speaker: And when I did show up, I'd be at the back over there.

Speaker: Beat boxing with Phil Yates and James Haley and just trying to

Speaker: make the service interesting.

Speaker: Uh, for those of those who don't know about beat boxing, it's.

Speaker: So add my flavor to the service.

Speaker: Um, and we do that together and that's how we enjoy church.

Speaker: So if I could be that person doing all that mischief thirty

Speaker: years ago, and now I'm up here talking, being God's vessel,

Speaker: then there's hope for us all.

Speaker: It is a privilege and it's a

Speaker: blessing to be here to share

Speaker: God's Word with you this

Speaker: morning.

Speaker: I'm directly quoting my brother Rob, because he says it's when

Speaker: he comes up.

Speaker: And those words are true.

Speaker: So I say in all sincerity, it is a privilege.

Speaker: It's not something that anyone should take lightly.

Speaker: The fact that we can actually be

Speaker: in this place and speak about

Speaker: God freely without being

Speaker: persecuted as a Nigerian, I

Speaker: understand exactly what that

Speaker: means.

Speaker: Um, over the past five weeks, we've been exploring the theme

Speaker: of seeking God's face.

Speaker: And, uh, Pastor Christopher must not be Chris.

Speaker: Pastor Christopher has said he started us off with prayer.

Speaker: And then we had a look at the template for prayer.

Speaker: We looked at the Lord's Prayer, then we looked at fasting.

Speaker: We heard that well, about discernment.

Speaker: My brother Lovejoy brought us that message.

Speaker: And last week we spoke about vision.

Speaker: So this week, um, I've been

Speaker: given the task of talking to you

Speaker: about obedience and all of these

Speaker: things together.

Speaker: So I hope you've been taking notes over the past five weeks.

Speaker: And those of you who haven't.

Speaker: Thank God we have a YouTube channel.

Speaker: You can go back there and do your revision.

Speaker: All of these things actually do come together, because what

Speaker: we're trying to do is we want to be in God's presence.

Speaker: The elements of the service you saw here today.

Speaker: Sorry for ambushing you, Rob.

Speaker: Um, communion is about being in God's presence.

Speaker: It might feel like a strange ritual.

Speaker: And when we get to the word today, you will be discovering

Speaker: the strange way we were talking about strange rituals.

Speaker: But the theme of all of these

Speaker: things are all about being with

Speaker: God.

Speaker: Because that's what we desire.

Speaker: That's what our spirit desires.

Speaker: Because the opposite of that would be that.

Speaker: So these things that we're

Speaker: talking about, they're actually

Speaker: meant to shape us and transform

Speaker: us.

Speaker: I'm not sure how many people

Speaker: here, um, have over the past

Speaker: four or five weeks notice the

Speaker: transformation in their lives

Speaker: from the words we've heard, from

Speaker: the practices.

Speaker: We're starting to see some notes.

Speaker: Did anybody here take part in the fasting?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Could I ask if you want to share?

Speaker: When you were going into the fast, what were you hoping to

Speaker: get out of it?

Speaker: You can shout it out if you want to share it.

Speaker: Anybody?

Speaker: Breakthrough hearing from God.

Speaker: A change in your life.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: How did it work out for you?

Speaker: Well, what happened was I get scriptures.

Speaker: So scriptures to me.

Speaker: Hallelujah.

Speaker: So what is it again?

Speaker: So I've been giving you scriptures through the fasting.

Speaker: How about you, my dear?

Speaker: Have you seen a change?

Speaker: I feel, I feel a change.

Speaker: I'm more calmer You're calmer than you used to be, bro.

Speaker: Breakthrough.

Speaker: Um.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Um, I've been sharing people in

Speaker: the church that I'm a lot

Speaker: faster.

Speaker: Rosemary's a faster in the family.

Speaker: And I think one of the notices I

Speaker: did mention as well that, um,

Speaker: this thing can be a generational

Speaker: thing because if you didn't grow

Speaker: up in a fasting household, which

Speaker: I didn't, I grew up in poverty,

Speaker: but we were fasting already by

Speaker: default.

Speaker: If you grew up in a fast.

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker: Sorry, Colin.

Speaker: Sorry to confine your

Speaker: convictions, but how did that

Speaker: work out?

Speaker: Well.

Speaker: If you live by your convictions.

Speaker: Yes, you need to know what they really are.

Speaker: So some of the things you said actually reflected in my

Speaker: experience, because like I said, I'm not a pastor.

Speaker: Um, and normally when I fast, I fast in symphony.

Speaker: So if Rosemary says she's going too fast, then I say, said,

Speaker: okay, well, I'll join you.

Speaker: And I'm there and watching the clock.

Speaker: And as soon as it's like seventeen fifty nine, I'm ready.

Speaker: I'm making the food.

Speaker: I'm just getting ready.

Speaker: It's like six o'clock on the dot.

Speaker: I start at this time actually Wednesday.

Speaker: So all of you mature fasters.

Speaker: I went in intentionally because I wanted to hear from God.

Speaker: I wasn't looking for a transformation.

Speaker: I wasn't looking for a breakthrough.

Speaker: But funnily enough, those three things happened.

Speaker: So when I was fasting, I fasted intentionally.

Speaker: I wasn't, and I was taking some of the tips that Pastor

Speaker: Christopher gave me.

Speaker: Um, when I felt hungry, I'd read

Speaker: the scripture and in the

Speaker: background I had ECB two playing

Speaker: all day.

Speaker: So I was just replacing the flesh with the spirit and that

Speaker: prepared me for today.

Speaker: As far as I'm aware, the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me

Speaker: through that time and has given me a message.

Speaker: Um, Transformation.

Speaker: My driving has kind of calmed down a bit.

Speaker: Uh, you can ask Chris when he comes in.

Speaker: He will tell you that the school

Speaker: run is not as hair raising as it

Speaker: usually is.

Speaker: So, and, um, I noticed that kind of transformation.

Speaker: So for anyone who is thinking

Speaker: about dipping their toe into

Speaker: some of these practices, whether

Speaker: it's prayer, whether it's

Speaker: fasting, whether it's coming to

Speaker: the Bible study, whether it's

Speaker: studying the word, I encourage

Speaker: you to take it with all

Speaker: seriousness, but go into it

Speaker: intentionally.

Speaker: Don't be a sympathetic foster like me do, because you want to

Speaker: meet with God.

Speaker: Because the whole purpose of what we're talking about is

Speaker: seeking God's face.

Speaker: So we need to be a transformed church.

Speaker: And the only way we can do that is if we are transformed.

Speaker: So today we're talking about obedience.

Speaker: And I'm going to start with what the consequences, because we

Speaker: know all the stories.

Speaker: The Old Testament is full of

Speaker: stories about what happens when

Speaker: we disobey.

Speaker: It starts with it.

Speaker: Um, so let's look at the consequences of disobedience.

Speaker: We're going to look at Genesis chapter two verses four to nine.

Speaker: I'm going to be reading the NIV now.

Speaker: Um, the funny thing about the

Speaker: Bible, especially the Old

Speaker: Testament, is you might think

Speaker: there's a lot of repetition

Speaker: because these verses come after

Speaker: we've already heard about the

Speaker: whole creation in seven days and

Speaker: the rest.

Speaker: But here he goes into a bit more detail.

Speaker: This is the account of the

Speaker: heavens and the earth when they

Speaker: were created, when the Lord God

Speaker: made the heaven, the earth, and

Speaker: the heavens.

Speaker: Now no shrub had yet appeared on

Speaker: the earth, and no plant had yet

Speaker: sprung up.

Speaker: For the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was

Speaker: no one to work the ground.

Speaker: But streams came up from the earth and watered the whole

Speaker: surface of the ground.

Speaker: Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and

Speaker: breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man

Speaker: became a living being.

Speaker: Now the Lord God had planted a

Speaker: garden in the east in Eden, and

Speaker: there he put the man he had

Speaker: formed.

Speaker: The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground,

Speaker: trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.

Speaker: In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of

Speaker: the knowledge of good and evil.

Speaker: So in these few verses, we see God as an architect.

Speaker: Um, if you watch the matrix, you might actually see the parallels

Speaker: in that reference.

Speaker: Does anyone watch the Matrix here?

Speaker: Matrix trilogy?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Some nods.

Speaker: For those of you who don't know,

Speaker: it's Keanu Reeves and Laurence

Speaker: Fishburne.

Speaker: And it came out in the nineties.

Speaker: So before some of you were born.

Speaker: Um, and it just talks about a parallel, parallel kind of

Speaker: universe where we're not really here, we're just batteries being

Speaker: run by alien forces and but it talks about a. And it talks

Speaker: about an architect.

Speaker: And it was it was developed by

Speaker: the brothers who had a Roman

Speaker: Catholic upbringing.

Speaker: So there's lots of biblical references and stuff like that.

Speaker: The architects, the person who built it.

Speaker: But he needs someone to look after it.

Speaker: So in and this is something we read as well, when we were going

Speaker: through some of the things that Pastor Christopher was sharing

Speaker: with us last month, that God wants to partner with us.

Speaker: The Garden of Eden wasn't just a

Speaker: Paradise that you just go in

Speaker: there and it's a spa every day,

Speaker: he said.

Speaker: The verse there said there was no one to work the ground, so

Speaker: God formed man.

Speaker: So our purpose was to work the ground.

Speaker: Our purpose was to look after

Speaker: creation in partnership with

Speaker: God.

Speaker: So we are joint partners with him in that we're bringing his

Speaker: vision to life.

Speaker: We're the landscape designers.

Speaker: He's the architect.

Speaker: So if you listen back to Christopher's preach on the

Speaker: purpose of prayer.

Speaker: That was, um, where he mentioned this.

Speaker: If you scroll up to about one hour, four minutes into the

Speaker: video, that's where I started looking for it.

Speaker: So we know how the story ends, don't we?

Speaker: There's no spoilers.

Speaker: Disobedience led to the fall of man.

Speaker: Or to put it better, separation

Speaker: from God to the consequences of

Speaker: disobedience.

Speaker: Separation from God.

Speaker: Um, when you think of that

Speaker: story, when you think of that

Speaker: passage, that verse in

Speaker: particular, what tree pops up at

Speaker: you?

Speaker: What tree do you think about?

Speaker: Well, you think about apples.

Speaker: What's the name of the tree that comes to your mind?

Speaker: Tree of life.

Speaker: Knowledge of evil.

Speaker: How many people.

Speaker: How many people remember the knowledge of good and evil?

Speaker: First off.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Tree of life.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: I've read that passage so many times, and the Tree of life

Speaker: always seemed to miss that one.

Speaker: My mind always goes to the tree of knowledge of good and evil,

Speaker: because that's how we felt.

Speaker: I was like, I just dropped me.

Speaker: Actually, there were two main trees in the garden.

Speaker: I've been reading this over and over and over again.

Speaker: It never occurred to me.

Speaker: So for those of you who said Tree of Life, thumbs up.

Speaker: Yeah, my brain kind of put the tree of life in my blind spot.

Speaker: So being cast out of Eden meant

Speaker: no further access to the tree of

Speaker: Life.

Speaker: It wasn't the tree of the

Speaker: knowledge of good and evil that

Speaker: God said.

Speaker: You know, I'm going to put a guard on this and they can't

Speaker: come here anymore.

Speaker: If we go to Genesis three twenty two to twenty four, you will

Speaker: read it there.

Speaker: It says, and the Lord God said, the man has now become like one

Speaker: of us, knowing good and evil.

Speaker: He must not be allowed to reach

Speaker: out his hand and also take from

Speaker: the tree of life and eat and

Speaker: live forever.

Speaker: Separation from God meant separation from life.

Speaker: Consequences of disobedience.

Speaker: Just keep that one in there.

Speaker: Um, let's look at another example.

Speaker: Let's look at another example of disobedience in the Bible.

Speaker: Yes, it's another passage.

Speaker: It's a long one.

Speaker: Buckle up.

Speaker: Those of you who have been going to Bible study, you're going to

Speaker: get everything today.

Speaker: We're going to go to one Samuel chapter fifteen.

Speaker: I'm going to read verses one through nine for context, and

Speaker: then we'll look at fifteen to twenty three for the fallout.

Speaker: Samuel said to Saul, I am the one the Lord has sent to anoint

Speaker: you king over his people Israel.

Speaker: So listen now to the message from the Lord.

Speaker: This is what the Lord Almighty says.

Speaker: I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when

Speaker: they way laid them as they came up from Egypt.

Speaker: Now go attack the Amalekites and

Speaker: totally destroy all that belongs

Speaker: to them.

Speaker: Do not spare them.

Speaker: Put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and

Speaker: sheep, camels and donkeys.

Speaker: So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Tulane.

Speaker: Two hundred thousand foot

Speaker: soldiers, ten thousand from

Speaker: Judah.

Speaker: Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine.

Speaker: Then he said to the Kenites, go away!

Speaker: Leave the Amalekites, so that I

Speaker: do not destroy you along with

Speaker: them.

Speaker: For you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up

Speaker: out of Egypt.

Speaker: So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

Speaker: Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from

Speaker: Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt.

Speaker: He took Agag, king of the

Speaker: Amalekites, alive and all his

Speaker: people he totally destroyed with

Speaker: the sword.

Speaker: But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep

Speaker: and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, everything that was good.

Speaker: These they were unwilling to destroy completely.

Speaker: But everything that was despised and weak.

Speaker: Totally destroyed.

Speaker: Let's go on now to the fallout.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: There might be a little bit of context here.

Speaker: So this is, um, so this is when he'd done that.

Speaker: And Samuel Allen now heard that

Speaker: he didn't follow his

Speaker: instructions.

Speaker: So I'm going to start from fifteen.

Speaker: I've got here.

Speaker: When Samuel reached him, Saul said, the Lord bless you.

Speaker: I have carried out the Lord's instructions.

Speaker: But Samuel said, what then is

Speaker: this bleating of sheep in my

Speaker: ears?

Speaker: What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?

Speaker: Saul answered, the soldiers

Speaker: brought them from the

Speaker: Amalekites.

Speaker: They spared the best of the

Speaker: sheep and the cattle to

Speaker: sacrifice to the Lord your God,

Speaker: but would totally destroy the

Speaker: rest.

Speaker: Enough, Samuel said to Saul, let me tell you what the Lord said

Speaker: to me last night.

Speaker: Tell me, Aurelied Samuel said,

Speaker: although you were once small in

Speaker: your own eyes, did you not

Speaker: become the head of the tribes of

Speaker: Israel?

Speaker: The Lord anointed you king over

Speaker: Israel, and he sent you on you

Speaker: on a mission, saying, go and

Speaker: completely destroy those wicked

Speaker: people.

Speaker: The Amalekites wage war against

Speaker: them until you have wiped them

Speaker: out.

Speaker: Why did you not obey the Lord?

Speaker: Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes

Speaker: of the Lord?

Speaker: But I did obey the Lord, Saul said.

Speaker: I went on a mission, the Lord's IP.

Speaker: I completely destroyed the

Speaker: Amalekites and brought back Agag

Speaker: the king.

Speaker: The soldiers took the sheep and cattle from the plunder, the

Speaker: best of what was devoted to God in order to sacrifice them to

Speaker: the Lord your God at Gilgal.

Speaker: But Samuel replied, does the Lord delight in burnt offerings

Speaker: and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?

Speaker: To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better

Speaker: than the fat of rams.

Speaker: For rebellion is like the sin of

Speaker: divination and arrogance, like

Speaker: the evil of idolatry, because

Speaker: you have rejected the word of

Speaker: the Lord, he has rejected you as

Speaker: king.

Speaker: I love that passage because.

Speaker: It just it just you can

Speaker: sometimes see yourself in here

Speaker: when you've done something

Speaker: wrong, but you don't want to

Speaker: admit you've done something

Speaker: wrong.

Speaker: I find it interesting.

Speaker: They said, the Lord your God, not the Lord our God.

Speaker: First of all, that jumped out at me.

Speaker: I also found it interesting that it wasn't him that brought back

Speaker: the fat of the land.

Speaker: It was the soldiers.

Speaker: He did everything he was supposed to do apart from

Speaker: bringing back the king.

Speaker: But the fact of the matter was, he was disobedient.

Speaker: And the consequence of

Speaker: disobedience is separation from

Speaker: God.

Speaker: So yeah, a bit of a long read there, but we do need to get

Speaker: into the word to make sense of the world around us.

Speaker: So the bit that links these two cautionary tales, as I've just

Speaker: said, is separation from God.

Speaker: And our theme is about seeking God's face.

Speaker: So that means it makes sense to

Speaker: say that if we're looking to

Speaker: seek God's face, we have to be

Speaker: obedient.

Speaker: And being obedient to God

Speaker: sometimes might not be what you

Speaker: consider wise or what you

Speaker: consider sensible.

Speaker: These guys were told to go and slaughter men, women, infants.

Speaker: That's a hard ask.

Speaker: That's genocide.

Speaker: That's the Old Testament.

Speaker: And that was probably necessary in those days because God

Speaker: doesn't make mistakes.

Speaker: We'll go into a bit more of that later.

Speaker: Think about treatments.

Speaker: What treatments were like in the Victorian times.

Speaker: Most of the times it's cutting

Speaker: things off because back then

Speaker: That was what was needed to save

Speaker: your life.

Speaker: For leeches to drain your blood.

Speaker: Not sure if that actually did work.

Speaker: That was what was needed.

Speaker: Even recently, cancer treatments

Speaker: cut things out, but now they can

Speaker: go in there with robots and tiny

Speaker: little microscopic blades to

Speaker: pull things out of need to pull

Speaker: out now.

Speaker: They even use shock waves, sound waves to break up cancer.

Speaker: But back then, to save your life, this is what was needed

Speaker: because these people were called to be separate from God.

Speaker: So. What we need to understand

Speaker: is, first of all, the nature of

Speaker: God.

Speaker: God is holy, right?

Speaker: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: God is holy.

Speaker: Garden of Eden was a place where man walked in step with God.

Speaker: God had been walking around in the noonday sun, and Adam and

Speaker: Eve were there with him.

Speaker: They could be in his presence.

Speaker: Until man fell.

Speaker: So if you think about it, before they were exiled from Eden.

Speaker: Adam was created from God's breath.

Speaker: Dust breathed life into him, and he became man.

Speaker: God's presence was in him.

Speaker: What polluted that was sin was rebellion, was disobedience.

Speaker: Remember what Helen read last week in Exodus?

Speaker: Do not come any closer.

Speaker: God says, take off your sandals, for the place where you are

Speaker: standing is holy ground.

Speaker: You all know that verse Exodus, right?

Speaker: Why did God have to say that to Moses?

Speaker: Let's make a bit more interactive.

Speaker: I'll make sure nobody's falling asleep here.

Speaker: Why did God has to say that to Moses?

Speaker: Why didn't he tell him to take off his sandals?

Speaker: Okay, it's holy ground.

Speaker: But why take off your sandals?

Speaker: There's been a bit about taking

Speaker: it off, but God doesn't just

Speaker: tell you to do things for no

Speaker: good reason.

Speaker: Because having a celebration,

Speaker: recognizing the sanctity of this

Speaker: place.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Was it to kill somebody?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Oh, no. No, no. That's David.

Speaker: That was David that killed Goliath.

Speaker: Um.

Speaker: Connection.

Speaker: Connection.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah, I see, this is why we need to read the Bible.

Speaker: We need to read the boring parts

Speaker: because I haven't got the

Speaker: answers.

Speaker: I wasn't reading theology, but I've got ideas as well.

Speaker: Thinking in the Middle East is disrespectful to show your feet.

Speaker: It's disrespectful to throw your sandals at people.

Speaker: Remember George Bush?

Speaker: They threw their sandals.

Speaker: These things have calmed down from tradition, from time.

Speaker: It's like, okay.

Speaker: My thought was, okay, was there something in that letter in the

Speaker: sentence that was making him unclean, that he couldn't come

Speaker: into God's presence?

Speaker: It's just a thought.

Speaker: Could it be that?

Speaker: And then again, what if it being disobedient and he just walked

Speaker: onto that land with his sandals?

Speaker: God is a refiner, so he would have purified him.

Speaker: Maybe he'd have burned the sandals off his feet.

Speaker: Or maybe they'd gone up in flame with the sandals.

Speaker: Who knows?

Speaker: Imagine that if your, um.

Speaker: Your mum tells you to take off your muddy boots when you come

Speaker: into the house.

Speaker: I'm not talking about molecular ones.

Speaker: I'm talking about generation X baby boomer moms.

Speaker: You come into the house, you've got muddy feet.

Speaker: She'll purify you there, there, and then you won't even go past.

Speaker: Whatever.

Speaker: I'll take off your boots because the land you are walking on has

Speaker: just been walked.

Speaker: To purify you.

Speaker: So obedience is good.

Speaker: Obedience is good.

Speaker: I think in my what I, what I was thinking is there is something

Speaker: unclean about that.

Speaker: And when I went read on into Leviticus and all the other

Speaker: things that were necessary for people to come into God's

Speaker: presence, some of these things started to make sense.

Speaker: Leviticus is a part of the Bible

Speaker: where you just like, can't deal

Speaker: with this.

Speaker: I can't see this.

Speaker: If you, um, look at this verse

Speaker: because this is these are in

Speaker: Psalms.

Speaker: When God wanted to be with the Israelites in the wilderness, he

Speaker: gave them specific instructions on the structures that needed to

Speaker: be built to contain his presence, and what must be done

Speaker: to enter that presence.

Speaker: So the materials to be used in

Speaker: the construction, the priest's

Speaker: attire, what the priests have to

Speaker: go through before they can offer

Speaker: sacrifices, the type of

Speaker: sacrifices, the purification

Speaker: rites, a lot of stuff that

Speaker: needed to be done to come into

Speaker: God's presence or required

Speaker: obedience.

Speaker: Does anyone know before we go into this verse, anyone know

Speaker: like the metals that were used in, uh, construction,

Speaker: constructing the tabernacle?

Speaker: No, it was wood.

Speaker: What about the metals?

Speaker: Was it still in tabernacle?

Speaker: Oh, gold.

Speaker: Silver, bronze.

Speaker: Thank you.

Speaker: It was mine as well.

Speaker: The ones that kind of jumped out

Speaker: to me were those three, not just

Speaker: because of their properties, but

Speaker: because of where they were in

Speaker: the construction of the

Speaker: tabernacle.

Speaker: So if you read Leviticus, if you

Speaker: read the instructions that Moses

Speaker: was given on how to build this

Speaker: tent, how to build this

Speaker: tabernacle, the bronze was the

Speaker: outer rim.

Speaker: Then came the silver and the Holy of Holies covering the ark.

Speaker: And all the things that were used was pure gold.

Speaker: I don't know my chemical engineering and stuff like that

Speaker: for any chemical engineers in house, help me out.

Speaker: But bronze, because it's an

Speaker: alloy, it's difficult to

Speaker: corrode.

Speaker: So bronze is used for the, um, uh, the bases of the courtyard.

Speaker: They had silver rings for the tent pegs.

Speaker: They had the tent itself inside the courtyard.

Speaker: The bases are made of silver.

Speaker: Bronze is something that, um, is hard to corrode.

Speaker: So it's going to be it's going

Speaker: to be dealing with whatever

Speaker: pollution is coming from the

Speaker: outside.

Speaker: Silver is almost like an antiseptic or disinfectant just

Speaker: on the properties of it.

Speaker: Um, I think it was probably used in medicines in Victorian times.

Speaker: We advise it now.

Speaker: Gold is almost incorruptible.

Speaker: So they're kind of layers that you have to get through before

Speaker: you can get into the purity of being in God's holy presence.

Speaker: So as we said, though, it's not by accident that God instructed

Speaker: Moses on what materials to use.

Speaker: Um, and even after the tabernacle was built, if you

Speaker: read about it, Moses himself couldn't enter into the presence

Speaker: as friend of God.

Speaker: Talking to God, ten

Speaker: Commandments, all that kind of

Speaker: stuff.

Speaker: He wasn't pure enough to enter into God's presence.

Speaker: God had given that job to Aaron and his sons and had to go

Speaker: through the purification rites.

Speaker: This might seem like a lot of old history and stuff.

Speaker: It can really be like, oh, God,

Speaker: do we need to really know about

Speaker: all this?

Speaker: But it can help you when you kind of template this and get to

Speaker: that over your life.

Speaker: When you want to be in God's presence, when you want God to

Speaker: be in you.

Speaker: So let's read that.

Speaker: Leviticus ten one to three.

Speaker: Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu

Speaker: took their senses, put fire in

Speaker: them, and added incense, and

Speaker: they offered unauthorized fire

Speaker: before the Lord, contrary to his

Speaker: command.

Speaker: So fire came up from the presence of the Lord and

Speaker: consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

Speaker: Moses then said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke of.

Speaker: And he said, among those who

Speaker: approach me, I will be proved

Speaker: holy in the sight of all the

Speaker: people.

Speaker: I will be honored.

Speaker: Aaron remained Silence.

Speaker: There was nothing much he could say about that.

Speaker: You can't answer that back.

Speaker: God is just simply saying, if you're going to approach me, I

Speaker: will be proved holy.

Speaker: Nothing can come near me and corrupt me.

Speaker: Anything that comes near me interrupts me will be consumed.

Speaker: According to that angry, fire breathing dragon.

Speaker: He's simply saying nothing unholy could be in his presence

Speaker: without being consumed.

Speaker: He is a refiner.

Speaker: So it follows that if we that we

Speaker: need to be obedient to his will,

Speaker: we need to be obedient to his

Speaker: instructions.

Speaker: So yes, Leviticus might feel like a difficult read, but it's

Speaker: an insight into his holy nature.

Speaker: Like so many practices that

Speaker: cause controversy today where

Speaker: necessary back then, and why

Speaker: it's also important to read

Speaker: these things because sometimes

Speaker: when you go out into the world

Speaker: and you start talking about

Speaker: this, people will approach you

Speaker: with, you know, that's Old

Speaker: Testament or that was back in

Speaker: the day, back in the days right

Speaker: now.

Speaker: There's nothing that was happening in Ephesus, in

Speaker: Antioch, in Mesopotamia.

Speaker: That doesn't happen today.

Speaker: You can think of them as depraved things.

Speaker: Trust me, they'll do you.

Speaker: All God was asking is that you be set apart if you want to be

Speaker: in my presence.

Speaker: You can't be in the world.

Speaker: You can't do all the world's doing.

Speaker: You have to be set apart.

Speaker: First thing he told Abraham to do was leave his home.

Speaker: It's the first thing he said.

Speaker: I'm going to show you a land.

Speaker: You need to pull yourself out of

Speaker: your environment to be set apart

Speaker: with me.

Speaker: If you want to hang with me, that's how it works.

Speaker: So let's look at some of those weird things.

Speaker: Why were women on their period

Speaker: not allowed to mix with the

Speaker: general population?

Speaker: Why was eating mushrooms, fungi, or pork a bad thing?

Speaker: And for Jews today, still a bad thing because they are governed

Speaker: by the law.

Speaker: Why couldn't they meet with blood in it?

Speaker: Why were seen as unclean?

Speaker: What connects these things better, faster?

Speaker: Can I make that clearer to me?

Speaker: A lot of these things are connected by the two things

Speaker: death and life.

Speaker: When women go through that period.

Speaker: And I'm not mansplaining here.

Speaker: Sorry, ladies.

Speaker: The the body breaks down the

Speaker: lining of the uterus, and it

Speaker: contains dead cells or dying

Speaker: cells that no longer needed

Speaker: because there's no egg being

Speaker: fertilised.

Speaker: There's no child coming, right?

Speaker: Natural physical occurrence.

Speaker: But in God's eyes, it's impure.

Speaker: And take note, guys, if you read

Speaker: Leviticus, it wasn't just the

Speaker: women.

Speaker: God was saying, don't approach me.

Speaker: When you got discharged, it was men as well.

Speaker: They don't talk about that

Speaker: because probably men find it too

Speaker: ick.

Speaker: As far as I'm concerned, these things are impurities.

Speaker: Impurities can't be where I am.

Speaker: What about fungi?

Speaker: What do they feed on?

Speaker: And one O level biology, GCSE biology.

Speaker: I don't know what fungi feed on.

Speaker: Dead wood, dead leaves, dead stuff.

Speaker: And oh, God was saying was like, don't eat this stuff because you

Speaker: are what you eat.

Speaker: You've heard that phrase, right?

Speaker: You consume dead stuff.

Speaker: It's unclean.

Speaker: And it did give instructions as

Speaker: to when you are unclean or

Speaker: declared ceremony unclean by the

Speaker: priests.

Speaker: These are the things that need to happen.

Speaker: And then after seven days, when

Speaker: they examine you again and they

Speaker: say, okay, there's no discharge,

Speaker: there's no this, there's no

Speaker: that.

Speaker: You're clean, you're your sacrifices, then you can come

Speaker: into my presence.

Speaker: So yeah, long lecture about

Speaker: what's going on in the Old

Speaker: Testament, but pork and East End

Speaker: gangster will tell you the pigs

Speaker: are the best waste disposal

Speaker: system.

Speaker: If you watch those movies, Least they will eat anything.

Speaker: And that was why I got to say, stay away from them shrimp.

Speaker: The bottom feeders.

Speaker: So they pick up all the stuff,

Speaker: all the muck off the of the of

Speaker: the river beds, off the sea

Speaker: beds.

Speaker: So it's making sense.

Speaker: But luckily for us, we don't have to do that now.

Speaker: Because if we look at what happened, the new priesthood.

Speaker: So seeking God's face back then.

Speaker: Yes, was requires strict instructions and high priests to

Speaker: get into his presence, because God is pure and holy, and only

Speaker: that which is pure and holy can come into his presence.

Speaker: So you had to have priests

Speaker: offering sacrifices daily to

Speaker: atone for sin and for theirs

Speaker: too.

Speaker: And if you're still following the law, it still applies.

Speaker: If you're not following Jesus, you have to live by that.

Speaker: God help you literally.

Speaker: God help you.

Speaker: It might be why you walk.

Speaker: You walk in or down the streets

Speaker: and you might just move out of

Speaker: your way so it doesn't touch

Speaker: you.

Speaker: It's not being rude.

Speaker: it's following the practices because he wants to be pure and

Speaker: in touch with God according to what they believe.

Speaker: We know what we believe because

Speaker: it's important to understand

Speaker: that that old way explains the

Speaker: new way.

Speaker: Same principle applies.

Speaker: We cannot see God, space or entrance to his presence unless

Speaker: we are holy set apart for him.

Speaker: If you look at Hebrews chapter seven, verses twenty three to

Speaker: twenty eight, a lot of verses going on here.

Speaker: Jesus shows his holiness through his healing.

Speaker: So, um, what happens when the

Speaker: unclean or impure comes in

Speaker: contact with this great high

Speaker: priests?

Speaker: Let's let's read this now.

Speaker: There have been many of those priests since death prevented

Speaker: them from continuing in office.

Speaker: But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.

Speaker: Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God

Speaker: through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Speaker: Such a high priest truly meets our need.

Speaker: One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners,

Speaker: exalted above the heavens.

Speaker: Unlike the other high priests

Speaker: that we've been talking about

Speaker: all morning, he does not need to

Speaker: offer sacrifices day after day,

Speaker: first for his own sins and then

Speaker: for the sins of the people,

Speaker: because he sacrificed for their

Speaker: sins once and for all when he

Speaker: offered himself.

Speaker: For the law appoints as high

Speaker: priests men in all their

Speaker: weakness.

Speaker: For the oath the new covenant

Speaker: which came to law, which came

Speaker: after the law, appointed the son

Speaker: who has been made perfect

Speaker: forever.

Speaker: This is the explanation.

Speaker: This is the difference.

Speaker: This is why.

Speaker: I mushrooms, I love a bacon sandwich.

Speaker: It's not to say that that still doesn't corrupt me.

Speaker: Because you still what you eat, you still what you eat.

Speaker: The more you eat stuff, the more

Speaker: you feed the flesh, the when you

Speaker: start experience.

Speaker: We heard that some weeks ago.

Speaker: Yeah, but the difference here is through the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: God is in us.

Speaker: So we have a direct channel through Jesus to God.

Speaker: That is how it works now.

Speaker: But we can still be corrupted.

Speaker: What is now is our bodies are temple.

Speaker: You know, that's another phrase we hear.

Speaker: So this is this is the tabernacle.

Speaker: Look at how Jesus healed in the

Speaker: woman who touched the hem of his

Speaker: garment.

Speaker: What happened?

Speaker: Through her faith, she was healed.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: When I was looking at that, because Jesus didn't go around

Speaker: and say, you're healed.

Speaker: She touched purity.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And in the presence of God in purity cannot be there.

Speaker: And an issue of blood stored.

Speaker: There was a leper.

Speaker: They touched.

Speaker: Leprosy is bacteria that kind of invades, destroys your skin,

Speaker: destroys your nerves.

Speaker: Sorry.

Speaker: And then things start to die off because you don't feel pain.

Speaker: Touch the leper.

Speaker: Instantly healed, refined the lepers flesh.

Speaker: But everything that Jesus always does, he always tells you your

Speaker: sins are forgiven.

Speaker: And then you have the ten lepers where he didn't even touch them.

Speaker: They were like, we get it.

Speaker: We're unclean.

Speaker: We can't come near you.

Speaker: So please, Lord, have mercy on us, all ten of us over here.

Speaker: And all he said was, go show yourselves to the priests.

Speaker: Obedience.

Speaker: As they started walking off, they were cleansed.

Speaker: It's in the Bible.

Speaker: As they started walking off, they were cleansed.

Speaker: That's the power of obedience, because in the presence of the

Speaker: Almighty who is pure and holy, your sicknesses, your illnesses.

Speaker: They can't abide.

Speaker: They can't be in the same place.

Speaker: Something has to give.

Speaker: And I know it's a struggle

Speaker: because we're in a world right

Speaker: now where we have sickness, we

Speaker: have pain.

Speaker: Even in this church, we have all sorts happening to us.

Speaker: But we have hope that we can be

Speaker: healed through the presence of

Speaker: Jesus Christ.

Speaker: For him interceding with us.

Speaker: AM I doing for time?

Speaker: AM I over?

Speaker: Yeah, but I can't watch.

Speaker: Five minutes.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Run through this now.

Speaker: It was interesting that actually, out of those ten

Speaker: lepers, only one came back.

Speaker: So, as I was saying, having

Speaker: received the Holy Spirit, our

Speaker: bodies are like God's

Speaker: tabernacle.

Speaker: We have the choice to keep it

Speaker: holy by being obedient to God,

Speaker: or we can divide it by

Speaker: contaminating it through

Speaker: disobedience to God, which is a

Speaker: sin.

Speaker: We've seen the examples.

Speaker: So let's go over them again.

Speaker: All right.

Speaker: So we have the courtyard.

Speaker: The courtyard is the environment around us.

Speaker: And our first layer of defense is that bronze that comes up

Speaker: against all of the elements, all of the things that corrode us

Speaker: and break us down.

Speaker: So our body is that bronze layer.

Speaker: Next we've got our tentative meeting.

Speaker: Go back to Leviticus or Exodus.

Speaker: Read how the tabernacle is constructed.

Speaker: That's your homework.

Speaker: We have our tentative meeting.

Speaker: That's our thoughts, our actions.

Speaker: Let that be your silver.

Speaker: Let that disinfect what's coming in to your that you're taking in

Speaker: from the world.

Speaker: If it's obscenities, if it's

Speaker: immoral morality, if it's

Speaker: rebellion, if it's not having

Speaker: time for God, let your thoughts

Speaker: and your actions disinfect what

Speaker: you're receiving.

Speaker: So when you get to the Holy of Holies, your heart.

Speaker: I mean, how many songs are the heart of God?

Speaker: Have you heard?

Speaker: Let your heart be made of gold.

Speaker: Incorruptible.

Speaker: That's what you need to guard.

Speaker: Guard your heart.

Speaker: So many verses talk about it.

Speaker: And how do you do that?

Speaker: I believe that's my last.

Speaker: Um, it's about obeying God.

Speaker: And the greatest commandment is church.

Speaker: Let's say all together.

Speaker: So I know you're awake again.

Speaker: I said.

Speaker: Feel simple and it is simple.

Speaker: If you abide in God.

Speaker: It gets difficult when you're serving two masters.

Speaker: So you need to follow that.

Speaker: If it goes on to say, love your neighbor as yourself, which is

Speaker: great for that.

Speaker: If you love God, you will do the rest.

Speaker: And if you love God with all your heart, the gold case part,

Speaker: the Holy of Holies, with your soul and your mind.

Speaker: You're being obedient to God.

Speaker: You will be in his presence and he will protect you.

Speaker: Like he protected the Israelites in the wilderness, the pillar of

Speaker: fire and the cloud.

Speaker: And then we can be the priests that we need to be for those who

Speaker: don't yet know God.

Speaker: For those of you who want to put in three seats.

Speaker: So we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Speaker: We need to renew our mind in

Speaker: prayer, fasting, and studying

Speaker: the Word of God, meditating on

Speaker: it daily.

Speaker: And if it feels like it's a boring thing, that's like going

Speaker: to the gym and trying to lose weight, eventually you'll get

Speaker: there, but you won't get there if you don't start a bit of a

Speaker: word of warning, right?

Speaker: When you're coming up against

Speaker: the world one Thessalonians, I

Speaker: think it is fifteen or something

Speaker: like that.

Speaker: I need to figure that one out.

Speaker: It says you should avoid the appearance of evil.

Speaker: This is just my sidebar warning to you avoid the appearance of

Speaker: evil because there are practices which we consider harmless.

Speaker: Where it's okay.

Speaker: I'm doing this to fit in.

Speaker: I'm doing this so I can be open, approachable, and accessible.

Speaker: But we want to be in God's

Speaker: presence, so we do need to be

Speaker: set apart.

Speaker: It might sound weird or whatever it is, but that's it.

Speaker: So we're not going to go into the basics today about Halloween

Speaker: or tattoos or whatever it is.

Speaker: The Holy Spirit will tell you

Speaker: what to do in those kind of

Speaker: things.

Speaker: But trust me, the appearance of evil is not a harmless pursuit.

Speaker: If you want to be set apart.

Speaker: So Let's pray.

Speaker: Father God, we thank you for

Speaker: finding a way where there is no

Speaker: way.

Speaker: The way back into your presence, through your desire to be in

Speaker: constant contact with us.

Speaker: For giving us a route back to Eden through the precious blood

Speaker: of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Speaker: Even when we are in constant

Speaker: rebellion, you patiently break

Speaker: us down so we can experience

Speaker: you.

Speaker: Lord, we are sorry for being a rebellious nut, for defiling our

Speaker: Holy of Holies and making our hearts an inhospitable place for

Speaker: you to stay.

Speaker: Please forgive us, refine us with Your Holy Spirit, fire and

Speaker: renew our minds through Your Word so we can carry out our

Speaker: priestly duties here on earth, interceding for those who don't

Speaker: yet know you so they can enter your holiness too.

Speaker: In Jesus Christ's name we pray.

Speaker: Amen.