Sermon
Christ the True and Better - Hebrews 6:13-20 - The True and Better High Priest - Christ Our Promised Forever High Priest - pt.6
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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would please turn to Hebrews chapter 6 as we finish up this chapter. This is this is
Hebrews 6 chapter mention
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an amazing ending to this chapter and it's going to be important that we pay attention
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to why why Christ has to be our high priest forever. It is quite remarkable when you look
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at just the details and then this necessary requirements in order for us to be saved.
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There were this work that Christ has done when when the scripture says it's complete
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is complete in every way. Okay. So we're going to start off in verse 9 and read through.
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So I want you to pay attention to what's being said here. Though we speak in this way yet
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in your case beloved we feel sure of better things things that belong to salvation for
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God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name
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and serving the saints as you still do and we desire each one of you to show the same
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earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be
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sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises for
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when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by whom to swear he swore
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by himself saying surely I will bless you and multiply you and thus Abraham having patiently
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waited obtained the promise for people swear by something greater than themselves and in
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order and in all their disputes and oath is a final is final for confirmation. So when
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God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character
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of its purpose he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which
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it is impossible for God to lie we have fled for refuge we who have fled for refuge might
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have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a
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sure and steady steadfast anger anchor of the soul a hope that enters into the inner
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place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having become
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a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Interesting there is the order of Melchizedek
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again. So we're going to dig right in you guys ready? All right Father want to thank
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you for the opportunity to come to you in prayer and I pray that we have prepared our
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hearts for your word and there's so much here Lord we praise you and thank you that you
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are our high priest forever the promise fulfilled to you be honor and glory forever in Jesus
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name amen. Principle number one all of God's promises are guaranteed due to who he is he
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is his greatest witness. Okay in 2nd Corinthians 1 20 it says this for all the promises of
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God find their yes in him that is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God
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for his glory. So we know that every promise is guaranteed in Christ because of who he
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is and we'll clarify this in verse 13 and 14 when God made a promise upon Gelomai this
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word upon Gelomai or epon Gelomai means to engage when God engaged Abraham when he came
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to Abraham and said Abraham I will do this for you or to you it was a promise an engagement
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to Abraham that he will keep his word since here it is for when God made or engaged Abraham
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since he had no one greater by whom to swear he swore by himself this word swear omnuo
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is to swear to call a person as a witness. So what God is saying here is Abraham when
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I engaged you and I said I will do this I am my own witness he is his witness he doesn't
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need anyone else to prove as a witness that he will keep his promises look what it says
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in verse 14 surely I will bless you and multiply you I will do this that's the engagement I
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will promise by my own witness I will do this so there it is the two very things that we
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see is God's promise or engagement and the witness the omnuo person who is the witness
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himself he doesn't need anyone else okay that's number one I want you to understand that God
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needs nothing or anyone else to guarantee his promises he alone is the guarantee principle
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number two know with full confidence that God will fulfill his promise he guarantees
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it and here is another Bible verse numbers 23 19 I'm going to say this verse twice for
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you because this verse fits in both areas concerning this principle here it is God is
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not human that he should lie not a human being that he should change his mind does he speak
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and not act does he promise and not fulfill absolutely what God says he'll do he does
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and when he makes a promise he fulfills it God is not human that he changes his mind
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like us okay people make promises all the time and they never follow through and you're
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going to find out in the next verse why they don't follow through and if they do follow
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through there is a reason why they follow through okay now let's look at the verse here
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verse 15 and thus Abraham having patiently waited obtained the promise here's the person
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the person is Abraham the reason why the writer here uses Abraham is because if there is one
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person that the promise started with it was with Abraham the promise of the Jewish people
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the lineage of the people the promise of the eternal kingdom started with Abraham the promise
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of the Savior came as a result of a promise given as part of the curse I will put in enmity
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the promise that God would not destroy earth by flood given to Noah but the promise that
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there will be an eternal kingdom a people of God Abraham and so that's what we see here
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look at this word patiently waiting or patiently waited this word patiently waited means to
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persevere patiently and bravely and enduring misfortunes and troubles so here God makes
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a promise and Abraham persevered patiently and bravely through his misfortunes and troubles
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knowing that God has promised what kept Abraham persevering through his through his misfortunes
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and bravely walking through them the promise that God would do this I will bless you and
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multiply you why else would Abraham leave a country that he grew up in to go to a country
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he does not know a land that is foreign to him and so next principle you can fully rely
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on his promises he has made an oath his word is bond now if you guys grew up in the urban
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areas like I have or cities or if you grew up listening to you know breakdance music
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I know I did all right that's old school hip-hop stuff you know when you go word is bond you
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all know what I'm talking about right you guys get it well that's the idea here his
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word is his bond he is his bond because he has said it a man is only as good as his see
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there you go well what God says here is I am my own bond I guarantee what I say by an
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oath see that's the difference between a promise a promise when you make promises you break
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them when you make an oath by your word you keep it all right get that fathers when you
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make a promise you keep your promise man that's important for us to model okay now here we
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go here's the Bible verse God is not man that he should lie or the son of man that he should
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change his mind he as he said and will he not do it or as he spoken will he not fulfill
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it of course he will now here's the verse for people swear by something greater than
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themselves and in all their disputes an oath is a final confirmation so men they will I
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swear I keep my promise guarantee it with your word make an oath because if you make
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an oath that confirms that you're going to keep it right that mean that's what it used
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to be back in the day you know verbal commitments or verbal promises or oaths are legal if you
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say you're going to do something you keep that something right very important that's
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what it means here now what's interesting is the reality of that confirmation is only
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as good as the person look what it says in verse 17 so when God desired to show more
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convincingly to the heirs of the promise the in changeable character of his purpose he
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guaranteed it with an oath now look at this word here so when God desired Boulamie Boulamie
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is to will deliberately have a purpose or be minded isn't that a cool word God deliberately
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did it he he gave his word deliberately why the reason why he gave his word deliberately
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is because he wanted to show us right the promises that the of the promise us who are
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of the promise his immutable the word in unchangeable their immutable character of his purpose in
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other words that his immutable unchangeable divine perfection will not change you cannot
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change him you cannot change his character he is who he says he is and because of that
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alone because of God's immutability he guarantees that word there guaranteed it keys is mess
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to oh messy to oh messy to oh is to act as mediator to mediate or to act as surety by
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pledging one's self okay very important so when we understand God's immutability and
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that he has guaranteed it the guarantee is he is the surety of pledging himself he's
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a surety of the guarantee how do we know this how many guys like own your car you like straight
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out on it paid it off well when you when you was po right what you do you take your car
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down to the thief and you walk in you go hey I'd like to I'd like to give my car as collateral
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for for a loan that's a surety right and be like how much do you need well my car is worth
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ten thousand so I like five thousand dollars and they go okay you're gonna pay forty eight
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percent interest thievery right but in order for you to get the money you got to give a
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surety well guess who the surety is here God is the surety he is the surety he is the one
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who has pledged himself and as a result his oath is true so not only does he give a promise
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he gives a promise with an oath and he backs that oath up with two immutable things you
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know what they are his his promise and his oath during mutable unchangeable guaranteed
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and as a result of this immutable unchangeable guarantee we can know how do we know because
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it's impossible for God to lie if God was a liar then his promise wouldn't be true if
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God was a liar then the oath wouldn't stand so he gives these immutable things the promise
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and the oath now the pragma this word things pragma is that which has been done isn't that
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isn't that interesting it also is a deed that which has that has been completed a deed or
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an accomplished act what did he accomplish how did he guarantee this promise Christ he
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is the guarantee okay now all of these things promise oath immutable character immutable
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is a mutable word his oath and his promises okay these are done in Christ he has accomplished
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it in Christ and then it says this in which it is impossible for God to lie so not only
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do you have these truths but God's not a liar so if God says that we are in Christ and that
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Christ is in the Father then we can absolutely know that all these things are true too right
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I mean not only he gives us double lockdown he locks us down in the promise look what
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it says here watch this we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to
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hold fast to the hope he set before us watch here it is we who have fled for refuge you
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know what it means to flee for refuge all right when when there's a war happening where
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do people go they try to find refuge safety they run they're looking to get away they
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don't want to they don't want to die well that's what this word that's what this word
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hold fast means but look at this it says this this word encouragement is parakelis or parakelis
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this means a consolation a comfort or a soul or a solace a solace it's a place that we
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know we can be consoled comforted and have solace solace for what why should we have
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solace we need solace we need comfort we need consolation so that we can hold fast or keep
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carefully and faithfully the hope that was given to us I mean when you think about it
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when you're not in the place of comfort you're not and you're not being consoled you're not
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you're not really finding your refuge isn't it hard to hold fast to something but when
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you're in Christ and you're in the refuge you can hold fast to anything he gives and
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it's our responsibility to keep carefully and faithfully the hope that was set before
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us it's your responsibility what is the hope that was set before us Christ last one here
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we go the reason why we hold fast or keep carefully and faithfully the hope that was
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set before us is because he is our anchor he is our stable and firm safeguard look at
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what it says here Christ has fulfilled the righteous requirements of the high priest
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for his people he alone is our high priest forever chapter 6 verse 19 and 20 this is
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what it says we here's the hope we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor this word this
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statement this phrase sure and steadfast anchor means stable and firm safeguard of the soul
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he is our stable and firm safeguard why because we have taken refuge in the safeguard nothing
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can move him nothing can cause him to lose to forget to fail to hold on to you that's
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why when Jesus says all that the father has given me I will not lose he is your stable
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and firm safeguard he guards your soul for eternity now so if we have this sure and steady
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steadfast anchor this stable and firm safeguard of the soul a hope he is a hope that enters
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into the inner place behind the curtain now if you know anything about the curtain in
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the temple there are two curtains there's the one curtain to enter into the holy of
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holies right where the food and where the bread and everything is that and then you
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got into the holy place that's the second curtain that's the curtain he's talking about
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here that Christ our hope has entered into the holy place where the ark is where Jesus
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has gone as a forerunner on our behalf he has given us the way in this word forerunner
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means he has left us a way to follow he is the one we should be following that's why
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Paul when he writes that we can boldly go before the throne he has paved the way for
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us to go in he is our high priest look what it says here and this clarifies it having
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become a high priest forever after the order the character the lifestyle of Melchizedek
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he is the exact copy he and Melchizedek are part of the Godhead I'll show that next month
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next week I'm sorry not next month next week okay now there's some very important things
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here that to understand concerning the high priest and there's a reason why I'm going
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to go through this because when we read about these promises when we read about all the
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things that he had to accomplish the requirements that had to be done for us this is why okay
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now I want you to get this this is going to blow your mind so when we read all about what
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the writer is saying here in verses 13 through 20 really the whole book of Hebrews at this
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point we're going to understand some very important things turn to numbers 28 turn the
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numbers 28 you got your Bibles little pitter-patters alright here we go numbers 28 this is this
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is mind-boggling so when God had set in order the requirements of the high priests for them
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to come in and take care of the needs of the people and the issue of their sin it wasn't
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because he was just doing it for the Jews it wasn't just for show okay God does everything
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for a purpose it wasn't just an earthly thing here what he was setting was precedent you're
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talking about a holy God who lives in a holy place who must have a holy people who he must
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keep holy and will be with him holy eternally that's not something that we just that God
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just goes hey the work of Christ on the cross did far more than you can even imagine far
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more and it's important okay here we go numbers 28 verse 1 through 4 and then verse 6 the
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Lord spoke to Moses saying command the people of Israel and say to them my offering my food
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for my food offerings my pleasing aroma you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed
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time so I want you to understand something God's saying here the offering it's my offering
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the food my food the aroma my aroma you will do it as I have told you to do it and I will
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not accept any change or any slight deviation you would do it exactly as I say you're going
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to do it because it is holy it is mine that's what he's saying here now look what it says
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in verse 3 and you shall say to them this is the food offering that you shall offer
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to the Lord two male lambs a year old without blemish day by day every day two male lambs
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had to be sacrificed every day as a regular offering every day the one lamb you shall
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offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight isn't that interesting
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God had to cover their sins all day and covered their sins all night every single day without
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the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness of sin isn't that interesting day by day that's
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crazy there was a daily offering day by day for the sins of God's people look what it
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says the one lamb you shall offer in the morning why does it say it in the morning do you guys
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know when was Jesus crucified what time in the morning nine o'clock in the morning the
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one lamb offered in the morning isn't that interesting he took care of the daily offering
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the daily sacrifice required the once for all the reason why he didn't need to be crucified
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in the evenings because he is the final sacrifice he is the once for all daily sacrifice for
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us forever never to be sacrificed again that's what it means once for all okay daily sacrifice
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that requirement as we read in verses one and two fulfilled here in the morning the
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daily sacrifice in the morning Christ is the sacrifice in the morning isn't that amazing
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what a detail have you ever heard that have you been taught that of course not because
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people don't look at the details of what God does and why he does it and why it's once
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for all always never again to be sacrificed it gets more detailed than that watch this
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and then he says verse five also a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering
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mixed with a quarter of hen of beaten of beaten oil it is a regular burnt offering which was
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ordained at Mount Sinai for a pleasing aroma a food offering of the Lord isn't Jesus the
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pleasing aroma the beautiful aroma of sacrifice before our God absolutely there's nothing
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more pleasant than him interesting enough the scripture says that the high priest was
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also to bring a gift food offerings are gifts so that's taken care of so not only is he
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the pleasing aroma which is required in verses one and two he's also the the gift giver to
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the father which he's what you see here he is the one lamb that shall be sacrificed in
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the morning now watch this okay look at verse 13 16 through 23 verse 16 through 23 now this
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is the Passover now this is important because remember when we talked about that Jesus's
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crucifixion was at the perfect time on the perfect day and that there is no other time
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in world history that we could find that the Passover landed on this particular Friday
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that starting sundown on Thursday night to sundown on Friday is the beginning of the
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Passover the 14th day of the first month remember that well watch this so not only do we see
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the daily offering offered we now see the Passover lamb offered on the 14th day of the
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month is the Lord's Passover actually you know what wait a minute I'm gonna go back
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a little bit before we get here this is an important statement I want you to look at
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look at verse I want to make sure I have this right yep look at verse 3 so you have the
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two the two lambs okay you have the two lambs one lamb shall be offered in the morning one
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lamb shall be offered at twilight a tenth of offering oh no we'll move on from that
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let's go to back verse 16 because it's important alright here we go verse 16 on the 14th day
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of the first month in the Lord's Passover on the 15th day of the month is a feast seven
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days shall unleavened bread be eaten on the first day there should be a holy convocation
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a holy convocation is a celebration in which there is no work okay and you shall not do
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any ordinary work but offer a food offering there it is same thing this is Passover a
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burnt offering to the Lord two bulls from the herd if she if she needs if she needs
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to take them out you guys can go out there with the baby okay one ram now I want you
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to see this so not only do you get two bulls but you get one ram now what you think about
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that what happened when Abraham took Isaac up to the mountain he raised the knife to
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kill him right what was stuck in the thicket a ram isn't that what happened here not only
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do you take two bulls but you'll take one ram so Jesus is the ram offering of the Passover
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so not only is he the daily sacrifice of the lamb he is also the ram that is sacrificed
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on the Passover and seven male lambs a year old see that they are without blemish also
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their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil three-tenths of an ifa shall you offer
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for a bull and two-tenths for a ram a tenth shall you offer for each of the seven lambs
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verse 22 and also one male goat for sin offering to make atonement you know what the goat is
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the scapegoat that's the requirement of a high priest so not only is he our daily lamb
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once for all for our for every day of our lives he is also the ram required in the same
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picture you see with Isaac he is also the goat who takes away our sin the atonement
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of our sin have you ever heard of that of course not because we don't look at Jesus
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as our real high priest we look at Jesus as a guy who just saves us if anything this should
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make you see him as the living God he has taken care of every required detail for you
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to enter his heaven he has made the way for you not only has he made the way for you he
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then has given you full access these are the promises wow what an amazing thought so that's
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part of what a high priest does on the time of offering but there's one more thing he
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does turn to Psalm 5 Psalm 5 just so that you are able to see the details of what God
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has done for us the requirement of a high priest verse 5 verse chapter Psalm 5 verses
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1 through 3 I want you to hear the words give ear to my words oh Lord consider my groaning
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give attention to the sound of my cry my King and my God for to you do I pray oh Lord in
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the morning you hear my voice and in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch that's
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prophecy did he not groan and cry did he not in the morning lift his voice early in the
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morning John 17 did he not also in the morning before noon or around noon say my God my God
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why have you forsaken me forgive them for they know not what they do that's a priest
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making intercession for you isn't that interesting so not only is the high priest supposed to
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do all these all these works that are required to deal with the reality of our entering into
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the holy place and taking away our sin and being our representative our advocate he also
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is our intercessor that's what it says in Hebrews 4 he intercedes for us he gives gifts
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of offering for us he is our burnt offering our sin offering for us only God can do this
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so when we look at the reality of the requirement of the high priest he did all that was absolutely
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required for you to enter into his kingdom it wasn't just for any reason he did those
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things it wasn't to show off it had a purpose now understanding this stuff how important
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is it that we hold on to that we don't walk away from that we keep carefully and faithfully
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what was given to us all of this is so important that what you read in the beginning of chapter
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six concerning those who have quote unquote once in light were enlightened and tasted
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the goodness of God if God had done all this would he repeat all this again because that's
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what would be required if you could lose your salvation if you weren't eternally secure
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in Christ every single one of these details has to be done all over again because that's
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what's required it's either once for all or it's not it's either good enough for eternity
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or it's not he's either strong enough to keep or he can't it's not both you are his forever
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and the work that he has done and the oath that he has given and the promise he has made
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guarantees that so we're gonna pick up in chapter seven on Melchizedek and I will share
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with you a little that Melchizedek is not who you think he is I'll say that well sort
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of not really okay so have fun reading that for next week chapter seven we're gonna start
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off and I pray that you have enjoyed this if I'm gonna pray and then if the men would
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come forward for the for the Lord's Supper be really appreciated father I want to thank
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you so much for your faithfulness and goodness thank you Lord for your word you are faithful
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good and true to you be honor and glory forever in Jesus name amen