Well, we're continuing in the
first book of Samuel. Never intended this to be a series,
but here we are. So we'll continue in chapter
13 of 1 Samuel, which is an odd passage in many ways. Israel's
now got its king, but we see continued conflict with the Philistines. What does it teach us? Now some
commentaries as you know there are lots of commentaries on the
scriptures and some are just plain error they're just plain
wrong because they're just the thoughts of man the erroneous
thoughts of man. Others are useful in shining
light none of them are the scripture but some of them are useful in
shining light on obscure passages. But you know what the best commentary
on this passage of the Old Testament is? It's the rest of the Bible.
The rest of the Bible is the best commentary. This is a good
example of that. Israel had rejected God. How
had they rejected God? They said, give us a king. That's
what they did. You think, that's not rejecting.
Yes, it was. God said, they're not rejecting
you, Samuel, they're rejecting me. They said, give us a king.
We want a king. We want to be like the others.
I want to be like my friends. I don't want to have to do that.
I want to go and be like my friends. Give us a king like everybody
around us. And so Saul is picked out. Everything
that you would think you would want in a king. They say he was
head and shoulders above everybody else in Israel. He was physically
fit. And he was a modest man as well. He said, I'm just of the tribe
of Benjamin. Why me? You know, just, just, you know,
I don't qualify for this. And he was courageous. He'd done
some courageous things and he started well. But in chapter
12, Samuel reminds the people. He reminds them in chapter 12
that what they'd really done was that they'd rejected God.
And in verse seven of chapter 12, there's another standstill. We had a standstill recently,
didn't we? Now therefore stand still. that I may reason with
you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord."
Stand still, think about this. I'm going to tell you what God
has done for you before the Lord of all his righteous acts. Now,
you have a king like all of the nations You're just like all
of the other nations, but no, you're not. You're different.
You're still different because you are the people of the living
God. Both you and your king follow
God. Look down in verse 24. This is
how he summarizes it. Only fear the Lord and serve
him in truth with all your heart for consider how great things
he has done for you. i.e. seek to obey God's precepts,
seek to worship him aright. How do you worship God aright? You do it in the way he has specified. You don't make it up for yourself
as you go along. You don't think like, you go
around the churches, so-called churches today. Honestly, those
of you who are only used to this format, if you went to the typical
Anglican or Evangelical church, of which there must be dozens
within a ten mile radius of us, and you sat in there, you would
be horrified at what you heard going on. You'd be absolutely
horrified. Because you'd see things that
you'd say, well that's not the worship of God. That's the entertainment
of man. That's just using trickery and
gimmicks to try and keep people interested. No, the worship of
God is the declaration of the gospel of God. It's the reading
of the word of God, the declaration of the gospel of God, the singing
of the praise of God, and praying, bringing your prayers and supplication.
That's the worship of God. That's what God has said. And
so Samuel is saying, you're still the people of God. You've now
got yourselves a king, but you're still the people of God. Approach
him in the right way. What's the right way to approach
God? Think about it. God is, you'll know this verse,
God is angry with the wicked every day. What are you? By nature,
in his sight, you're wicked. How are you going to approach
God? How are you going to approach God? You can only do it under
cover. What's the cover? The cover of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Under the propitiation that he
has made. That's the way. Now then, when
we get to chapter 13, let's see where we are in the historical
account. this is two years after Saul had become king, he says
he reigned for a year and then when he'd reigned two years over
Israel and look what he's doing in verse two do you remember
what Samuel warned the people a king would do for them to them
he said he'll take your sons make himself an army he'll take
your daughters and they'll be cleaning his palaces and cooking
his meals Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel whereof
two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the Mount Bethel
and a thousand were with Jonathan. So he's gathering an army. And
they've got false military confidence. Why do I say false military confidence? You know, they sort of think
that they can do okay. Look down at verse 19 of this
chapter. There was no Smith. That doesn't
mean nobody called Smith. Lots of people call Smith in
our day. No, it doesn't mean that. It means there was no blacksmith. Do you know what a blacksmith
does? Boys, do you know what a blacksmith does? Makes shoes
for horses, doesn't just do that. Makes anything of iron and steel,
makes sharp knives, makes swords, makes all that sort of thing.
There was nobody to make the weapons of war. Israel didn't
have any swords or spears. They're in a very vulnerable
position militarily. And they start to fear, because
the Philistines are gathering, verse 5, the Philistines are
gathering to fight with Israel. 30,000 chariots, and they've
got a smith or two, and they've got swords and spears, and the
people are terrified. The people hid themselves, verse
6, in caves and in thickets and in rocks. Where's Samuel? Where's Samuel? We need Samuel
to be here. Where's Samuel? Because if Samuel
comes, we'll have a sacrifice. you know this is what we're all
about the children of Israel we're all about these sacrifices
we'll have a sacrifice and then God will be on our side because
we'll offer him some sheep and goats and other things and then
God will be on our side so we'll do our part of the bargain and
God will do his. Where is God to help us is what
they were saying let's have this sacrifice let's have Samuel come
and we'll get God on our side. My first point is that there
was a DIY sacrifice, a do-it-yourself sacrifice, a make-it-up-as-you-go-along
sacrifice, a sacrifice that wasn't according to the pattern that
God had specified. You know, back a few chapters
ago, at Mizpah, which became Ebenezer, where the Philistines
were lined up against them, and they took the Ark of God, and
remember, it was like having a lucky charm. It was like a
lucky charm that they were taking with them. Ah, if we've got this
with us, this will keep us safe. No, things don't keep us safe.
You know, I do, you just see the weakness of human reasoning.
The presenters on the television, anything that's happening, is
something going to happen? How are we going to get some
gold medals, some more gold medals? Oh, let's all keep our fingers
crossed. How on earth can you doing that make the slightest
difference to the outcome of anything whatsoever? No, it's
just superstition. It's just superstition and it's
evil because it doesn't acknowledge the one who alone rules this
universe. Anyway, if you look down at verse
8, they waited seven days, waiting for the time, Samuel said I'll
be here within seven days and it seemed like he hadn't come.
And the people were scattered. So verse nine, look what Saul
does. Look, we're done for without this sacrifice. And Samuel's
not coming, so, tell you what, we're just gonna have to do it
ourselves, aren't we? We just need this animal to be sacrificed.
Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And
he offered the burnt offering. He did that which only the priest
should do. And it came to pass that as soon
as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel
came. And Saul went out to meet him, that he might, hello Samuel,
it's all fine, we've done the burnt offering, it's absolutely
fine, I know you must have been delayed, must have been some
bad traffic on the way, never mind, we've done the burnt offering.
And Samuel says, what have you done? What have you done? And
Saul said, well, you know, you didn't come, and the Philistines
were getting ready to come, and we just needed to do this. And
so I made supplication to the Lord, I prayed to God, and I
forced myself, I just couldn't avoid it. I had to force myself
and offer a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou
hast done foolishly. The title of this message is
Saul's Deadly Foolishness. Saul's Deadly Foolishness. What
did Saul do that was wrong? Why was what he did such deadly
foolishness? What does it say to us? Which
is always what we must ask. Romans 15.4 Whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. The Old Testament
sacrifices were prescribed by God. they were a strict pattern
you read the books of moses you read the pattern there you know
from the exodus the giving of the law and the seraphim and
it was a pattern prescribed by god and it had sanctifying benefit
you're going to need to turn to hebrews because we're going
to spend most of the time now in the epistle to the hebrews
but if i while you're looking it up and keep your finger there
turn to the epistle to the hebrews now turn to the epistle to the
Hebrews and in chapter 9 and verse 13 I believe this is Paul
writing I know lots of people try to make out that it's not
but I think it's Paul He says, if the blood of bulls and of
goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth
to the purifying of the flesh, and then he goes on to make an
argument, but what he's saying is this, those Old Testament
sacrifices, the blood of bulls and of goats, it had a certain
sanctifying benefit. on those that participated. How
did it have that benefit? It had that benefit in that the
sacrifices pictured the one sacrifice for sin forever that truly made
propitiation for God's people. What's propitiation? It's the
thing above all else that you need. All of us face eternity. It's appointed to man to die
once and then the judgment. What do we need? Propitiation.
We need the just anger of a holy God turned away. We need the
just anger turned away, and there's only one thing that does it,
only one thing. And these sacrifices pointed
to, and talked about, and showed in picture and in type, before
it had happened in reality, they showed what would achieve that
propitiation for God's people. But the pattern had to be exactly
as God had said via Moses. You see, Would you say Saul was
sincere when he sacrificed? Yes! He was sincere. They were
under threat. He was the new king. Somebody
must do something. Samuel's not here. He was sincere. We need the ritual. We need the
religious ritual because we know that God blesses his people when
there's religious ritual. We'll do that. But sincerity
was not enough. And ritual achieved nothing.
Ritual achieved nothing. Saul, as a mere king, was not
qualified. Why was Saul not qualified? If
you've got your finger in Hebrews, I'll be getting you to jump around
a lot, this is going to be more like a Bible study from Hebrews
than a sermon. But in Hebrews chapter 5 and
verse 4, why was Saul not qualified? He was a mere king. No man taketh
this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as
was Aaron. They had to be Levites. They
had to be of the Aaronic priesthood. They had to be sons of Aaron. It was not enough to be the king
of Israel, you had to be God's appointed priest. You need a
priest for this sacrifice, for this ritual to have any true
meaning. He corrupted the picture. He
corrupted it because he wasn't a priest. It needed Samuel alone. Only God's appointed priest could
represent the believer's Great High Priest. Only, only, only
God's appointed priest could represent our Great High Priest.
Whatever detail was missing or distorted In any way, if you
were doing this and you were missing out details, or distorting
details, to sacrifice expecting God's favour was, as it says
elsewhere in the scripture, it's like offering swine's blood,
which you know in the Old Testament was a despicable thing, an unclean
thing. Whereas what was meant was the
blood of an acceptable sacrifice, the blood of a lamb. Where can
we find a scriptural commentary on that first Samuel 13 passage,
it's in the epistle of Hebrews, where you should have your finger
already. The New Testament makes explicit, makes crystal clear,
that which is implicit in the Old Testament types. In the epistle
to the Hebrews, we see the contrast between the Old Testament priest
and sacrifice with the New Testament priest and sacrifice. In Hebrews
we see the character that's required of the priest that's acceptable.
We see the consequences, what it achieved, what it accomplished
in terms of Christ's sacrifice and the Old Testament ones and
we see the covenant that Christ completed. That's what we're
going to look at this morning. The contrast between the Old
Testament and the New Testament, priest and sacrifice. This is
the contrast. The Old Testament, one, was a
picture. It was just a picture. Christ
was the real thing. Saul didn't even pass the test
as a picture. He didn't even pass the test
as a picture. Now, turn to Hebrews chapter
5 and verse 1. Let's look at these verses together.
Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 1. Every priest taken from among
men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may
offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. You see, he has to
be ordained for men in things pertaining to God. Saul couldn't
do it. He was a king, he wasn't a priest.
He had to be as God's appointed priest before he could offer
gifts and sacrifices for sins. Who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way? for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity and by reason hereof he ought
as for the people also for himself to offer for sin. So those Old
Testament priests before they could do anything they had to
offer a bullock for their own sins. Before the priest on the
day of atonement could go into the Holy of Holies with the blood
of an acceptable sacrifice first of all there had to be an offering
for his own sin. And no man takes this honour
to himself. You can't just breeze up there
and do it, no. He's got to be called of God.
So also, now look at the contrast, so also Christ glorified not
himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, this
is God the Father, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee,
as he saith also in another place, thou, Christ, art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek, not after the order of Aaron,
after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death
and was heard in that he feared, though he, still talking about
Christ, were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered. And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him,
called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. You see in verse 9, he, our high
priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, unlike all of those pictures,
he is the reality He became the author of eternal salvation unto
all them that obey Him. What is it to obey Him? It's
simply to believe Him. It's simply to believe His gospel. That's what it is. Now turn to
chapter 10 of Hebrews. Chapter 10 and verse 1. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, picture, just a picture, just a picture. If you go into our kitchen and
you look on the end wall you'll see a big picture on the wall
and it's a picture of Mousel Harbour down in Cornwall and
it's a beautiful place and it's buzzing with atmosphere is Mousel
Harbour and there's the lovely sounds of the little fishing
boats bobbing in the harbour and when I go into the kitchen
and I look at that I'm just taken back to the place where we've
sat and spent so many happy hours down in Cornwall at Mousel. But
it's not the reality, is it? It's a picture. I can't smell
the sea when I go into the kitchen. It's just a picture hanging on
the wall. It's not the reality. I can't feel the sun on my face
when I sit in the kitchen and look at that picture of Mousel
Harbour. I can't go down and climb into one of the boats or
paddle my feet in the water. I can't watch the kids diving
off the end of the harbour jetty into the deep water. it's a picture
it's not reality the law having a shadow of good things the law
of the old testament was a picture of the good thing but it wasn't
the reality not the very image of the things it can never with
those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually make
the comers there unto perfect for then if they could if the
old testament sacrifices could have made the comers there to
perfect wouldn't they have ceased to keep offering it? But they
had to offer it year by year. You see, if they truly purge
sin, verse 2, the worshippers once purged should have no more
conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there
is a remembrance, again, made of sins every year. For it is
not possible It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats, just a picture, should really take away anybody's sin. No. It doesn't work. Only the
real thing makes propitiation. Pictures don't make propitiation. And it was ever thus. Think about
Abel. Think about Abel. Right back
at the beginning of Genesis. And there are different types
of worship. Cain, his brother, brought the things he had done.
He was a farmer, he was a grower of vegetables, he brought his
produce. Look what I've done! No, God didn't accept it. Abel
brought a lamb. Did his lamb save him from his
sins? No. But it pictured what did
save him from his sins, because it pictured Christ, right back
then. Abel worshipped God. through
Christ, by faith. And his lamb was just a reminder,
it was just a picture. What do we learn from 1 Samuel
13? Remember, we must always ask
this question. This is a very, this is a milestone
passage for me in getting to where we are now. I remember,
now let me think, let me think, 27 years ago, 27 years ago, and Bill Clark wanted me to go
and work for Evangelical Times, commissioning articles and evangelical
press. And we got to the point where
we went for a meeting with the board of that group of people. And they were grilling Bill particularly
about what he meant by a Christ-centered, what do you mean by a Christ-centered?
Are you saying that we don't have a Christ-centered ministry?
It was an aggressive meeting. And Bill and I were on the spot
that day from all these men, Evelyn will remember this, I'm
sure. And I said, I'll give you an example, it's 1st Samuel 13.
1st Samuel 13, what Saul did was denying the necessity, the
absolute necessity for the things of Christ. A Christ-centered
ministry interprets that passage as being to do with Christ and
an acceptable sacrifice. They said no it doesn't. They
said it's this. Saul was disobedient. You know
if God had just said go and do handstands down the street and
Saul hadn't gone and done handstands down the street he was disobedient.
It wouldn't matter what the handstands meant but he just had to obey.
That completely misses the point. It's not about obedience, pure
and simple. What we learn is that it doesn't
matter how much sincerity and ritualism there is, and how obedient
you are to that thing, there's only one thing that is necessary.
Do you have the one thing that's necessary? Do you have a knowledge
of the one thing that is necessary? It's propitiation. It's really
knowing that the anger of God for your sin, the justice of
God for your sin is turned away you know I say it every time
we have communion as we did last week In communion, the key thing,
the key qualification is discerning the Lord's body. They're just
symbols, they're just pictures of the broken body and the shed
blood of Christ. What really matters is faith,
to discern what those things mean in terms of propitiation.
Because whoever eats and drinks them without that discernment
of faith, eats and drinks, what does it say? Damnation to himself. No, look at verses 11 and 12.
Verses 11 and 12. You see, the Old Testament sacrifices
were mere pictures. Saul corrupted even the picture. But look, every priest standeth
daily ministering and offering, oftentimes, the same sacrifices
which can never take away sins. But this man, which man is he
talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. our great
high priest. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, what was the one sacrifice he offered? It
was his own blood. It was his own lifeblood. He
sat down at the right hand of God from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool. Do you notice the
key thing in there? Those Old Testament priests had
to stand daily. Why were they standing? Their
work wasn't finished. Their work was never finished.
But Christ sat down. He sat down at the right hand
of God. Why did he sit down? It was finished
once for all. And how do we know it was finished?
It was proven. He was raised for our justification. Delivered up for our transgressions
and raised for our justification. His resurrection was the vindication. that the sacrifice was accepted.
All of the animals were dead sacrifices. Christ was raised from the dead,
a living sacrifice. What then is the character of
the true priest versus the pictures? And I'm gonna have to speed up,
I know that. What's the character? Well, the Old Testament priests
had deficiencies. If I turn you to Hebrews 7, Hebrews
7 and verse 27, who needeth not daily, this is
Christ, as those high priests, those Old Testament high priests,
to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, because he wasn't
without sin himself, the Old Testament priest, and then for
the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself. Christ, his sacrifice was once. The Old Testament priests were
constantly repeated. Back to verse 11 of chapter 7. If therefore perfection were
by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received
the law what further need was there for another priest that
should arise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called
after the order of Aaron the fact was perfection wasn't in
that way verse 23 and they truly were many priests because they
were not suffered to continue why could they not continue because
they suffered from the same flaw that we all suffer from they
grew old and they died because of death they couldn't continue
but verse 24 but this man the Lord Jesus Christ because he
continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood wherefore He is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest
became us. This is what we needed, one who
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. Chapter 8, verse 1. Now, of the
things which we have spoken, This is the sum, this is the
summary. We have, believer, we have such a high priest, such
a perfect high priest, who is set on the right hand of the
throne of the majesty in the heavens. What did Saul do wrong? What was his deadly foolishness?
He took it upon himself to represent, to picture the necessary perfection
which is Christ, who alone can make propitiation. Only Levi,
only Aaron, the Levitical, the Aaronic priesthood, despite their
human imperfections, they were what God prescribed. You know
all of the clothing that they had to wear and the washing that
they had to do, and the sacrament was to say, look, they're never
anything other than sinners, but this is what's necessary
to make them a representative picture of the true priest of
the people of God. Then next, what are the consequences
of Christ's sacrifice versus the Old Testament ones? Chapter
10, again, back in chapter 10. Chapter 10 and verse 4. What were the consequences of
the Old Testament sacrifices? It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sin. The consequences
of the Old Testament sacrifices was that nobody's sin was taken
away. But look at verse 5, wherefore,
when he, he's talking about Christ, cometh into the world, he saith,
sacrifice and offering, Old Testament sacrifice and offering, thou
wouldest not, you didn't want them. But a body, a human body,
a body of flesh and blood, hast thou prepared me. Christ, the
Son of God, has a human body prepared for him. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.
Verse 6. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hadst no pleasure. Why did God have no pleasure
in those Old Testament sacrifices? Because they only pictured. They
only pictured. The pleasure is when sin that
the debt of sin is paid to the full. Yes, there was a sanctifying
effect, as we saw earlier in the animal sacrifices, but only
as the people looked by faith to the thing that the picture
portrayed, to the reality that it portrayed. There's no propitiation. Look, above, verse 8, verse 8
of chapter 10, when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt
offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst
pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. Christ came. to do the will of
God. What is the will of God? That of all that the Father has
given Him, He should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day.
How is He going to do that? They're sinners. They must be
saved from their sins. Justice must be satisfied. They
must be a justified people. He taketh away the first, the
picture, that He may establish the second, the reality, by the
witch will. we are sanctified. We, his people,
are truly cleansed, truly, literally, spiritually sanctified, made
holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all his people, for all his people. And verse 11, every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, not
daily, not repeatedly, once for all, sat down on the right hand
of God from henceforth, expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. What's the consequence? of Christ's
sacrifice versus the Old Testament ones, for by one offering, this
is the consequence, listen to it, he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. By faith in Christ we are sanctified,
we know it, we appreciate it, we experience it, we apprehend
it. and by his one offering he has
perfected, made perfect, forever. So Paul writes to the Colossians,
you are complete in him, there is nothing lacking, he's perfected
you forever in what he's done. Yes the Old Testament sacrifices
had a sanctifying effect When in the hearts of believers they
looked by faith to the promised Christ of God, they were physical
reminders of that which is only truly perceived by faith. Just
like communion, eating that bread and drinking that wine has no
spiritual benefit for you whatsoever. You only eat and drink damnation
to yourself if it is not by faith. looking to what Christ has accomplished
for you in terms of making propitiation in his sacrifice. All of these
things that we do, thinking that they're religious, if we're not
careful they completely undo the thing which they're picturing.
So, in Galatians 5 and verse 2, Paul writes to the Galatians
about them trying to add law to that which Christ has already
done. He says, if ye be circumcised, if you try and add law works
to it, he says, Christ shall profit you nothing. In what Saul
did, what did he do? He corrupted the picture. He
wasn't a priest, he was only a In what Saul did, he corrupted
the picture, he treated the ritual as a lucky charm, he didn't discern
by faith the reality pictured when it was done properly as
God had prescribed, and in doing that, Christ profited him nothing. God give us faith to rightly
discern Christ and his sacrifice and know that we're amongst those
who are sanctified and perfected as it says in verse 14. Well
then just briefly to finish, the covenant which Christ completed. There was an Old Testament covenant
which said do this and live. In chapter 7 of Hebrews, don't
you turn to it, I'll just turn there, verse 22, by so much was
Jesus made a surety of a better testament, a better covenant.
His covenant is a better covenant. The Old Testament Mosaic law
covenant said do this and live. But then it also said, Cursed
is everyone that does not continue in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But Christ has redeemed
us, bought us back, paid the price from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us, for cursed is everyone that hangs
on a tree. His blood was shed there. Why
was the Old Testament law not up to standard it was weak through
the flesh the law is good the purposes of God are good but
it was weak through the flesh but chapter 10 verse 16 of Hebrews
this is quoting Jeremiah 31 again as he quoted it in chapter 8
if you want to turn there but don't do it now but in verse
16 and 17 this is what God says through Jeremiah this is the
covenant that I will make with them with my people after those
days says the Lord I will put my laws into their hearts and
in their minds will I write them and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more that's the accomplishment of the covenant
that Christ completed their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more and having sins and iniquities no more remembered before the
judgment seat of Christ. How do we approach God? Is it
with the fear and trepidation that the people came on the day
of atonement wondering was the high priest going to be struck
dead? Uzzah had been struck dead, others were struck dead, the
sons of Korah offered strange fire and they were swallowed
up by the earth, sorry, they were the sons of Aaron weren't
they? can't remember their names now but they they were consumed
by fire the sons of Korah were swallowed by the earth Uzzah
reached out in sincerity to touch the ark of God and God struck
him dead what is it to come and have your sins and iniquities
remembered no more you are able to come verse nineteen with boldness
with confidence with certainty into the holiest only the high
priest could Now in Christ, on the basis of his covenant, all
of his people can come boldly to enter the holiest, that holy
place where only the high priest could go, where all made kings
and priests with Christ, by a new and living way. which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh
he's done it through his flesh and having an high priest over
the house of God our Lord Jesus Christ verse 22 let us draw near
with a true heart in the full assurance of faith having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with pure water With this high priest we're able to enter the
holiest by his propitiating blood. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. We come then with the full assurance
of faith. Will I be accepted? I know I'm
accepted. I know I'm accepted because his
sacrifice is accepted. You see, this is the spiritual
reality. which all the Old Testament sacrifices
and priesthood pictured. They merely pictured it. But
the benefit of it, which there was, was always and only received
by faith looking to Christ. Saul, in his deadly foolishness,
disrespected and defiled the picture, and he defiled the covenant
to which it pointed. And that was his deadly foolishness. what deadly foolishness for us
let me just read this one last verse from Hebrews chapter 2
and verse 3 what deadly foolishness for us if we neglect so great
salvation how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation
which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard him Let us not neglect so great salvation
that Christ, the reality, has accomplished for his people.
Amen.