Back in your Bibles to Hebrews
9. Hebrews 9, if you will, you can
follow me in your pastor's commentary. My proposition to you is actually
taken from the 24th verse of our text, Hebrews 9. The title of our message is,
In the Presence of God for Us. In the Presence of God for Us. That phrase might evade you if
you are not dead earnest about your relationship with God. But
if you're serious about seeing God face to face, this statement
gives us a lot of hope. The Hebrew writer says, For Christ
is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to
appear in the presence of God. If he had stopped right there,
that wouldn't mean much for me. He gave those last two words
for us, and that makes all the difference in the world. Will
you think it through with me today? As we are going through
the book of Hebrews, the Hebrew writer is helping us move away
from those typical and shadowy pictures of the Old Testament
system called the Old Covenant, wherein we're major redemptive
promises that had tangible and factual benefits for the people
of God then, but they were shrouded in a system that God had always
intended to fade away, to wax obsolete, to get old, and to
disappear. The externalities of the religious
system of Israel's day was a struggle for them, and it's a struggle
for us as well. But ladies and gentlemen, might
I say to you that God has always had an eternal purpose of grace
wherein the substance of his will, the substance of his purpose,
the substance of his covenant was really a relationship with
his people for all eternity. It was the substance of God's
purpose before he made this world that he would have a people for
himself with whom he would enjoy fellowship for all eternity. So the Hebrew writer is telling
us that we have received the token of that blessing we have
received the earnest of that new Covenant blessing we have
entered into the blessing of what God had always intended
Before he made this world that he would have a people for whom
it could be said according to Revelation and the tabernacle
of God is with me He shall dwell with them They will be His people
and He shall be their God. I don't know if you understand
all that, but that's God's purpose. And as far as I am concerned,
God's purpose is the most important thing to me in the universe.
What I want God to do is to tune my ear and tune my heart to sing
His praise and to extol His grace and to understand His will and
understand His purpose. than to take every fiber of my
being and make me an object of His glory, so that men everywhere
will know what God is up to. so that they might be drawn to
enter into the blessings of those things that God has for his people. As we've been working our way
through the book, we have learned how arduous a labor the writer
to the book of Hebrews has engaged in to draw his people away from
the superficiality of external things to the substance and reality
of those things that are eternal. It's hard work to get religious
folk to understand that the eternal God does not dwell in tabernacles
made with hands. It's hard to get people to understand
that God is not impressed by externalities. He does not move
from His eternal will or purpose because we manifest certain external
zeals for God or accomplish things that might be impressive on the
part of men. I have said it long ago, God
is great whether He is by Himself or the whole world joins Him.
And it's hard sometimes to get people to understand that what
God is really and truly calling for is an internal relationship
as the anchor and source of that which you and I are called to
be. But we are so consumer-oriented, we're so superficial, we're so
fleshly that you and I, just like the apostles and just like
the early church, we can get wrapped up and enamored in the
things seen. Isn't that true? For Israel,
long ago in the days of Jeremiah the prophet, they would cry out
in the seventh chapter, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord are these. What were they doing? Boasting
to the whole world of that solonomic temple because of its external
beauty, its glitter, its glory, its fame. And they're telling
the world, we are the people of God. Can't you see? And God
had already begun to abandon that edifice. that temple, that
external structure. And he was already preparing
his wrath for the Levitical priesthood in that Aaronic system because
they had abandoned the substance of those things that were only
typical. And the Hebrew writer has taught us, as we learned
last week, that that typology of the Old Testament system,
the whole shadowy, typical, symbolic system of the Old Testament must
give way to a reformation. It must give way to a reformation. So we read in chapter 9, verse
9 and 10, these words. Mark it now. The Holy Ghost thus
signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet
made. What was he talking about, ladies
and gentlemen? The veil of the temple that separated the holy
of holies from the holy place. that veil was a message in itself.
We learned last week that the whole of the tabernacle and the
whole of the temple is a picture of the gospel of the grace of
God in Christ. And when you understand those
articles carefully, what you understand is, is that God is
holy, man is sinful, and the only mediator between God and
man is the man Christ Jesus. And that that veil was saying
to us that we don't have access in yet. And that the priest that
was to go in once a year had to go in the right way or he
wouldn't come out. And that God was saying it's
not through works of righteousness which we have done. It's not
through the blood of bulls and goats as it were in that Old
Testament system. The tabernacle was telling us
that we're near but we're not in. And the Hebrew writers telling
us to understand that the veil that was then at that time present
was teaching us that we had not yet obtained what was necessary
to bring the people into the presence of God. Israel should
have understood that. Israel should have understood
that. The whole Old Testament system was saying we're getting
there, but we're not there yet. And so they had to Offer blood
sacrifices and they had to go through this rigid system of
which the Hebrew writer says was there to tell us that the
way Into the holiest of all see we've got to actually come into
the presence of God This whole business of the gospel this whole
business of religion this whole business of salvation is about
adequately and appropriately Finding ourselves in the presence
of God. In fact, we all have to stand
before him one day. We're getting ready to deal with
that What the writer is saying that even his own people, his
own set apart people, his own covenant people were under an
Old Testament model that said the way into the holiest of all
was not yet manifest while the what? First tabernacle was standing. And we've been battling over
the weeks and months to understand that the Hebrew writer has clearly
affirmed and established in his argument that there was both
a first and a second that God had always purposed. That there
was an old and a new that God had always purposed. That until
you and I get a handle on God moving from the first to the
last and from the old to the new, you and I are going to struggle
with that which used to be. Because we're so used to old
things. Remember what Jesus said in his
ministry for three and a half years. No one really enjoys new
wine at the first. They always initially say the
old is better. And these are the endemic traps
of our fallen nature that are inclined to earthly things. And
remember the way the Hebrew writer described it was that that earthly
sanctuary, that earthly sanctuary, the earthly sanctuary accommodating
our earthly weaknesses and our earthly infirmities. We fall
prey to the comfort zone of the things that are seen and the
things that are made. And all of the empirical senses
that we possess give us a great deal of comfort. But I would
remind you that the people of God are called to walk by what
and not by what. And so that which you see doesn't
necessarily correspond with what really is. And once you and I
are estimating the presence of God, the power of God, the approval
of God, the goodness of God, the kindness of God, the grace
of God based upon things seen, now you are using a wrong system
of judgment when you are asserting that God is blessing because
we can see it with our eyes. Once you start asserting that
the concrete evidence of God's blessing are the empirical things
that are made, you and I fall in prey to the same thing that
the Israelites did. The disciples, right before our
Lord was headed to Calvary, was boasting in Herod's temple. Remember that? Herod's temple
had been the rebuilt temple of Solomon after it was destroyed
in 587 BC, built in 967 BC. And they were lauding how Herod
had spent over 50 years building that system, the Heronian dynasty. And they were glorying in the
temple. Well, carnal men glory in material
things. Natural-minded man glories in
the things that are seen. And the Lord Jesus Christ plainly
said, did he not? You guys get a very good look
at this edifice. Because it's coming down in a
short order. And you will never see this edifice
ever again. Because as part of the old, it
must start to dissipate. Become obsolete and fade away. And as a principle of spiritual
reality, there are things in your life and mind that have
to disappear. If you're coming to Christ and trusting Christ
and obeying Christ, a lot of old ideas, old concepts, old
paradigms, old thinking has to die out. If any man be in Christ
Jesus, he's what? And that's a process of transformation
and renewal and rearranging of your priorities and your thought
processes by which you start to think like God. And it's tough,
isn't it? Because all things have to die.
And so as the apostle Paul puts it, my my outer man, my carnal
man, my external man must die daily while the inner man is
being renewed. There's a paradox, isn't it?
That's the struggle of the believer's life. And so the writer to the
Hebrews is using a larger illustration of that with the tabernacle only
to say this when we get to verse nine. Here's what he says. the
tabernacle or the temple that first temple was a figure for
the time then present in which were offered both sacrifices
that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscious which only stood in meats and drinks and divers
washings and coronal ordinances all of the Fastidious rules and
regulations they followed now watch this and it was imposed
on them You know what? That means God plot the whole
Levitical system the whole priesthood upon the people of God to bear
on their shoulders the weight and reality of sin and its abhorrence
to God and The means are the cause for which God must separate
himself for us the Levitical priesthood was a mediating system
between a holy God and a sinful people and The Levitical priesthood
was the mediating system between a holy God and a sinful people. and the Levites and the Aaronites,
the priests, had to bear the weight of the gospel inherent
in that arduous system every day, wherein God told them they
must do this this way, they must do that that way, they must continue
this, never let this cease, never let that cease. It was imposed
upon them so that they could understand that they had not
yet obtained what was necessary to be in the presence of God.
This was what Peter called a great yoke upon the people of God.
Paul called it a yoke as well in Galatians chapter 5. It was
the yoke of the law covenant. Now it wasn't what we call a
friendly adversary, but it was an adversary nonetheless. I am
amazed at professing Christians who would frame their words to
say that they can have a cordial relationship with the law of
God while legit they are still a sinner. not understanding that
the nature of the law is to reveal sin, expose sin, show you for
your guilt, and if it could, it would kill you. The purpose
of that friendly adversary is to run you away from the law
as fast as you can go to the only source of hope that a corrupt
sinner can find, and that's Jesus Christ himself. Now the law is
good, isn't it? Because he is telling you, you
will find no life here, sinner. You can find no life here. And
inherent in the gospel promise in that Old Testament system
was to point us away from the legal system that was imposed
upon them. Now mark the language, ladies
and gentlemen, until the time of what? Reformation, point number
one. Typology gives way to Reformation
now, what is Reformation? What do we mean by Reformation?
I don't want to get too Abstract or even historical with it. The
basic term here means a process of correction The basic term
here means a process of correction to be Reformed is to be in a
process of being straightened out being corrected our root
word there is orthodoxy from which we get that which is correct
and Paul said it all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine correction correction Correct,
you know when you're out of the way, you got to get corrected,
you know when you're wrong, you got to get straightened out You
know when you're upside down God has to invert you see and
so what God is saying is there was a Reformation that would
take place when once everything that that old shadowy system
pointed to would arrive And that Old Testament shadowy system
pointed to whom? Christ. So that when Christ showed
up, the Reformation began. May I assert to you the Reformation
began when his cousin John the Baptist showed up. See, a reformation
is taking place when an old system is about to die and a new institution
is being implemented and the implementation of that new system
is running up over against and counter to the old system in
order to expose the old system of its fallacies. So as long as you don't have
the antithesis, you can't really see whether or not the system
you are under is flawed. And so when john came john came
not telling the people the temple of the lord the temple of the
lord of these He came saying make straight your path Make
straight your path Straighten out your ways because the lord
is coming make straight his path clean it up get ready for his
coming He was calling them to repentance and faith. And do
you know john the baptist was a priest? Do you know his father
was Zachariah? Do you know he had a line in
the priesthood, but he never ever once went to the temple?
His whole ministry was outside of the temple. He was calling
sinners away from the temple to the Jordan. And guess what? Sinners came. Because sinners
intuitively knew that there was a problem here. That this old
external system, this outward veneer, this gaudy appearance,
did not have what was necessary to clear the conscience, as we
learned last week. And so, when John the Baptist
comes in the spirit and power of Elijah, as Luke says it, he
was calling the fathers back to the sons, and the sons back
to the fathers, and the whole of Israel back to God through
Jordan. Humbling, but that was the way.
For Jordan spoke of the fact that God's covenant people were
so radically sinful that they were essentially no different
than the Gentiles. And the only people that would
come to the water of John were people who knew that they were
real sinners, even though they had been in the church all their
life. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Matthew chapter 17 verse
11 calls this the restoration. And the restoration is connected
to the reformation. John was reforming. And when
Jesus came along, Jesus took up where John was left off at
and continued what? Reforming. Jesus was doing things
that the priests didn't do, that the Pharisees didn't do, that
the rulers didn't do. What was He doing? Reforming.
He was correcting doctrine. He was correcting practice. He
was demonstrating new things even while old things were yet
existing. I talked to you frequently about
how he was establishing the new doctrine of the gospel in the
midst of that old system which was also causing the apostles
to struggle. How is it that Jesus is hanging
out with Gentiles, with women, with sinners, with pagans, with
all sorts of people of whom the Jews had no dealings because
he was operating in a new paradigm under an old system because he
was the foundation of the new. He was getting the people to
understand Reformation is coming. Reformation is coming. So there
are four words in your outline that are cognate terms. They are not all the same. They're
not synonyms, but reformation means to thoroughly correct. De or theos is the term, and
it means to thoroughly correct. Our preposition dia means to
go through. It's a transient preposition. Whenever it's tied
to a noun or a verb, it underscores the thoroughness of what's taking
place. When we use the term diameter,
We're talking about piercing all the way through a circle.
And whenever that preposition dia is used, it's talking about
being thorough in what you do and what reformation is a thorough
process of correction. You need that and I need that.
So reformation is what God had called the people of God to.
Restoration is what was taking place during that time. I'll
tell you what else was taking place too. And we learned this
on Friday, restitution. The apostle Peter was saying
to the Jewish brethren, you can come to Christ now because we
are in the presence of God's pouring out of his spirit by
which men and women can experience the refreshing, refreshing grace
of God that revives the soul and cause men and women to fall
in love with Christ because the heavens must receive him until
the time of restitution of all things. You guys know what restitution
is? We talked about it on Friday.
Only criminals know what restitution is. So if you haven't been to
jail, we understand. So you're cool. So we'll help
you with this. This comes out of the law. It
has its promises in the gospel and it's fulfilled in Christ.
According to the law, if a man borrowed a person's goods or
took a person's goods and those goods were lost, he had to restore
that person's goods. Under the law system, restitution
was a necessary principle. It underscored the character
of the individual that is borrowing something from someone else.
You have to respect that. In other words, you and I can't
be like folks today, take people's stuff and never give it back.
Do you get that? The wicked borrow it and never
pay it back. And the law says, now, if you
steal a man's goods or if you take a man's goods unlawfully,
you must pay him restitution. Fourfold remember Levi when the
Lord saved Levi, you know what he said Lord I listen for the
longest I've been giving people they money back He was a tax
collector and he knew in his conscience. The taxes was way
too high like in our country today And he was said Lord, you
know what I do, you know I give people their money back because
I know what the law says what was happening was God was already
working in Levi's heart even before Jesus showed up because
he knew he was defrauding the people And restitution means
that something precious has been taken, it has been stolen, it
has been removed, and it has been placed somewhere that it
doesn't belong. I am an object of restitution. If you're a believer
in Christ, you're an object of restitution. If you're part of
the Church of the Living God, you're an object of restitution.
Like we learned on Friday, I'm under restitution. I was lost. I was stolen. Sin got me. The curse of the law got me.
The devil got a hold of me. I was in the dark kingdom and
Christ snatched me out of that kingdom, brought me into his
kingdom by the Spirit of God, according to the will of God.
And so I'm under restitution. What does that mean? I'm being
restored. I'm being reformed. I'm being,
here's the next word, according to Matthew 19's gospel, I'm being
regenerated. Jesus said to the disciples as
my father the point of the kingdom to me I appointed unto you and
you will sit on the twelve tribes of Israel judging them twelve
thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel in the regeneration
you and are presently in the regeneration in Fact ladies and
gentlemen, the regeneration is the heart of the new covenant
It's the real work What do we mean you remember what he said
in chapter 8 verses 10 through 12? Hebrews chapter 8 verses
10 through 12. Remember? For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said
the Lord. I will what? Put my laws into their mind.
Where was it before? On two tables of stone. And I
will write them in their hearts. Where was it? It was on tablets.
It was in the Decalogue. It was in the Tanakh. It was
in the Pentateuch. It was in the writings. It was
on paprika. It was on sheepskin and goatskin
and other forms of external material by which the law is written.
But didn't we learn, according to Paul, that the law's real
designated and appointed place of termination is the heart of
man? Because the law is spiritual.
So what is the law going to do for me in a Bible as thick as
mine with 66 books if it doesn't enter into my heart? This is
just like those two stone tables that Israel had to deal with
for 1,500 years. If this doesn't enter into my
heart, I am not reformed. If this doesn't enter into my
heart, I am not under restitution. If this doesn't enter into my
heart, I am not experiencing regeneration. Are you hearing
me? The heart then of the new covenant is an internal work,
not an external work. The heart of the new covenant
is a penetrating work that's spiritual in nature. It's not
existential. It's not carnal. It's not material. It's not the numbers of people.
It's the reality of God in the person of Christ, penetrating
the soul, bringing about a renewal. If I may say, it's God on the
inside. where God always wanted to be.
Are you hearing me? This is the reformation that
he's talking about. And according to Hebrews 8, 10 through 12,
regeneration, illumination, and justification are the heart of
this great work of the covenant by which people are brought into
a safe and comfortable and consistent and secure relationship with
God. In other words, might I say what God is doing in the New
Testament is making living tabernacles. a living temple, a vital temple,
a divine temple, where men and women are the temple of God,
not stones and wood. People, this is the Reformation. It is a transition away from
external things. This is why the Hebrew writer
said in Hebrews chapter 6, let us therefore leave the first
principles of the oracles of Christ and go on to what? Perfection. Am I making some sense, ladies
and gentlemen? You know what that means then? Wherever the
gospel goes, it's not first and foremost primarily concerned
with whether or not it's going to be able to buy some land and
build a temple or build a church. Wherever the gospel goes, it's
not concerned about whether we can get a building and a sound
system and a Hammond keyboard. Wherever the gospel goes, it's
not wrapped up in whether or not we can get singers and musicians
and music going on. Where the gospel goes, it's looking
for souls, eternity-bound souls to reach souls. Because I can
tell you something, that when once the Spirit of God gets a
hold of a soul through the power of the gospel, you will sing
the Lord's song. You will sing from the heart.
You will sing a new song unto the Lord. And that God will hear. He's not impressed with our music.
Read Isaiah chapter one. He's not impressed with our waving
of our hands and all of the laudiness of the aggregate whole. He's
concerned whether or not his truth, according to his son,
has landed on the heart. Am I making some sense? So Jesus
had to tell that sister, listen, that Samarian sister, Samaritan
sister, listen, the time is coming when they will neither worship
in this mountain nor Jerusalem. Are you hearing me? Jesus says
in that time is now my father is seeking those that worship
me to worship me in spirit and in truth. For such my father
seeks to worship. The first point then is to move
away from typology for you and I to stop being secular. to stop
being carnal, to stop being caught up in the value system of this
world, to stop assessing what God is doing by material things. It has nothing to do with the
glory of God. This is why Israel missed Christ.
They had flawed assumptions about who He is, who He was. And when
He came, He came and went, and they didn't even know it. The
glory of God showed up to His own people and they missed Him.
See but the new covenant says my people will not miss me Because
as I said, it's a work of regeneration. It's a work of illumination and
it's a work of justification It's a work on the inside. This
is why jesus constantly talked about the kingdom of god being
a mystery The kingdom of god is not perceived with the eye
So when people are giving numbers about how big the church is around
the world, that's those are completely superfluous terms God knows the
number of his elect God knows the true number. God knows his
sheep. Am I making some sense? I'm trying
to draw out a very clear principle as we are called to move away
from the mere typology of the Old Testament system into the
substance and reality of the new covenant. I will be their
God. They will be my people. I will
dwell with them. And according to our New Year's
theme, what is it? Ye are the temple of God. That's what you
want to think about this year. You want to think about the grand
dignity of being the temple of God and what all that means. And I can tell you as we're working
through the text today, it does not mean that you and I are preoccupying
ourselves with whether or not God is going to bless us in an
external way. For whether or not the world
prospers or perishes, if I am the temple of God, I'm good to
go. And if God's dwelling in me,
the primary work that I want to do this year is to get to
know the God who has made me the habitation of Himself through
the Spirit. I want to know Him. I want to know Him in the fullness
of His presence, in the fullness of His power, in the fullness
of His grace, in the fullness of His covenant. I want to be
the tabernacle that He not only dwells in, but walks through.
You know what that makes me? A mobile tabernacle. He dwells
with me and He walks in me. I want to know what that's like
for God to walk in me. I understand I am using anthropomorphical
terms for this glorious being called God of whom the heavens
cannot contain. Can you get with that? But he
lists this, doesn't he? He comes down to accommodate
us in terminology that simply speaks to the intimacy of fellowship
with people who are willing to humble themselves before the
mighty hand of God. Typology, moving away from typology
to the reformation. This is a critical, critical
point. Let me move on to point number two because I want us
to get this. As we are understanding the Hebrew writer telling us
that we have entered into a reformation, we've entered into a reformation,
this reformation was affected by his entering into heaven. In other words, if Jesus had
not accomplished his work, if he had not returned to his father,
This reformation would not be universal or worldwide. Do you
believe that ladies and gentlemen? As he told the disciples if I
go not away I will not send the comforter to you and the third
person is that very immediate presence of God by which you
and I are brought into the covenant blessings and those covenant
promises are made a reality to us. It's all because he's in
heaven. Are you hearing me? It's all because he's in heaven.
From heaven at the right hand of God almighty is the son of
God who is the king of the universe executing the covenant blessings
of which the writer is talking to us. I want you to get a vision
of this. If you will hear me and capture what the text is
saying, in heaven there's a representative. In heaven's a representative.
And I'm on earth, I'm on earth. I'm not in heaven, but I am.
I'm in heaven in my representative. I'm in heaven at the right hand
of God in my representative. He is there in the presence of
God for us Now what this allows me to do is contemplate heaven
accurately for as he is in the very presence of God having dispatched
the third third person the third person is able to adequately
allow me to comprehend heavenly things and I have a great deal
of joy and satisfaction in my soul to be able to contemplate
heaven and because I am attached to the one man in the universe
who is qualified to go there? Are you hearing me, ladies and
gentlemen? In other words, I don't have to physically be there to
be there. See, God spans heaven and earth, and with one hand
the Holy Spirit can touch me, and with the other hand He can
affirm the work of God's Son, and by it I can see clearly into
glory. This is what the Hebrew writer
said in Hebrews 7.19, but the bringing in of a better hope
did. by which we enter in. That's why I was saying in our
opening text, you've got to think it through in the presence of
God, what for us in the presence of God, for us, the reformation
was affected by us entering in. Listen to verse 14 and 15 of
our text. How much more then shall the
blood of Christ. Who, through the eternal spirit,
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscious
from dead works to serve the true and the living God, do you
see? We talked about this yesterday, the triune work of God in Christ
by the Spirit to bring the representative of all God's people into his
presence and effectively through that final work of atonement,
purge our conscience from dead works that we might serve the
living God. The power and efficacy of Christ's atonement is what
allows men and women to be able to approach God without fear. We learned last week that if
you and I are trying to get in by the blood of bulls and goats,
or by our own works, our conscience will not affirm that. And the
law system kept saying, shed blood, shed blood, shed blood,
shed blood, shed blood, shed blood. Because while there was
much blood being shed, it meant that the way in was not yet made.
And see, here's how God did it, just to give you sort of a historical
excursion. When Adam and Eve sinned in the
garden, God shed the first blood. He slew the first sacrifice.
He clothed them with coats of skin and established a mediatorial
work between him and them that he could adequately dwell with
them by covering them with coats of skin, representing the righteousness
of Christ. And the blood was shed. From
that point on, guess what men had to do in order to worship
God? Shed blood. Shed blood. So in Genesis chapter
3, the blood is shed. And in Genesis chapter 4, verse
25 and 26, men began to call upon the name of the Lord. You
know what that means? Sacrifices were being offered. Because they
understood the necessity of the blood atoning work of Christ
as the justification of their souls by faith alone. The shedding
of blood. The shedding of blood. And that
shedding of blood, ladies and gentlemen, abounded. By the time
we get to the children of Israel in the wilderness, God set up
that full Levitical system where blood is shed in the morning
and blood is shed in the evening. And if you really looked at that
Levitical priesthood, it was a butcher house. Blood was running
everywhere. So you go from Genesis to Exodus,
you have blood abounding. More blood was being shed the
closer we get to Messiah. Why? Because sin was abounding. the more sinners The more sin
abounding, the more blood that has to be shed. And so the blood
was being shed over and over and over and over again. And
remarkably, if we were to now park on the Passover night where
our Lord was taken to be offered up as our Passover lamb, they
were shedding blood that day too. It was a bloody mess. And it was blood everywhere until
finally the blood stopped. Did it stop because there was
enough blood? No! It stopped because there
was finally the right blood. It stopped because there was
finally the right blood. The blood of God's darling Son. The God-Man who now is able to
take away our sin. It stopped because of the shedding
of His blood. Are you guys hearing me? The
shedding of the blood of the Son of God. As the Hebrew writer
puts it over in Hebrews chapter 8, He makes it very clear. Hebrews chapter 10, rather. Listen
to what he says. It's absolutely phenomenal. Verses 8 through 10. Hebrews
10. Above, when he said sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings
for sin, you would not. See, even David knew in the Old
Testament that those blood sacrifices were not adequate nor sufficient
to take away sin. Neither had you pleasure therein,
which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy what? God he takes away the first that
he may establish the other watch this by the which will we are
what? Through the offering of the body
of Christ once for all and every priest standing daily ministering
offering sometimes the same sacrifice which could never take away sin
But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sin ever sat
down at the right hand hand of God. And the Hebrew writer tells
us in verse 18, now where remission of these is, there is no more
sacrifice for sins. Our Savior entered in by the
shedding of His blood to appear for us, as Hebrews 9 24 says,
as our mediator, and as our surety, and as our representative, and
as our high priest. And I want you to mark this now.
He appears in the presence of God. This is the quintessential
pinuel. You remember Jacob, he met God
and he was terrified because he said, I have seen God face
to face. That's what pinuel means, the
face of God. He was terrified for being in
the presence of God. Now he really wasn't in the presence
of God, but he had seen that mediatorial glory of God and
it shocked him because he understood this. You and I are not adequate
to stand in the presence of God. No man can see God and live.
And yet there's a man in glory right now in the presence of
God. Christ is our penuel. He is in
the presence. Can you imagine that in the presence
of God? I'm talking about the man from Nazareth of Galilee.
According to what the Hebrew writer said, he's in the presence
of God. Now ladies and gentlemen, our text is in verse 24, now
to appear in the presence of God for us. This was an Old Testament
system too that you need to understand. God had told Israel three times
a year, your mails must appear before me. Remember that? Exodus Deuteronomy Deuteronomy
16 verse 16, by the way, if you want one text to affirm your
men must appear before me Representing the whole nation of Israel and
when they appear before me they better not appear empty-handed
What was God teaching we all shall appear before the judgment
seat of Christ we all have to face our God we all have to stand
before God and we have to give an account for the things that
are done in this body whether good or bad and we were being
taught by that Old Testament system that there was of necessity
someone to appear before God who would adequately stand before
God to serve as the mediator and representative of the rest
of us who must appear before God. But I guarantee you, you
do not want to appear before God by yourself. The Hebrew writer says he stands
in the presence of God appearing there. What's the two words?
For us. Hallelujah. Thank God for it. I think it feels what we call
him the forerunner Lord Jesus ran out way ahead of me 2,000
years ago My surety ran out in front of me and entered into
heaven to stand in God's presence to represent me. That's why I'm
secure I'm not securing myself. I'm securing him. I'm not secure
about what I'm what I do. I'm secure about what he did
Are you hearing me? This is the joyful jubilation
of the phrase, in the presence of God for us. Ladies and gentlemen,
do you understand that you can't stand in the presence of God?
But you must. So Job chapter 1 says, in the
days when the sons of God came into the presence of God. Remember
that? See, all through the Old Testament system, God's people
were taught, you have to stand before God. Now, there's a sense
in which today we are standing before God. If we're not standing
before God today, Coram Deo, our worship is a farce. It's
a scam. If we are not presently in the
presence of God through the mediating work of the Spirit of God and
through the mediating work of our Lord Jesus Christ, our worship
is a scam. If God does not accept me through
Christ by the Holy Ghost, as we learned last week, we all
have access by one Spirit through Christ to God the Father. If
God doesn't accept me in Christ, I'm done. And you're done too. Thank God for a man in glory
who is presently dead. You know what the Hebrew writer
says about this? He alone, I'm sorry, this is 1 Timothy 6, 16.
He alone hath immortality. Who are we talking about? Christ.
This man alone has immortality. He will never die. He alone dwells
in the presence of the blistering light. the blistering light of
which, watch this now, no man can approach unto, no man can
see or has ever seen. Christ is in the presence of
God, in the presence of that blistering light. Isn't that
remarkable? As you and I can't dwell in that
presence, we need a mediator. This is the doctrine we teach
everywhere. Stop telling people you've seen
God. And you know, it's quite remarkable
in 1st Timothy chapter 6, Paul is the one explaining that our
master, the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Theophobus man, is
in the presence of the ineffable bliss, in the presence of that
light of which no man can approach. But remember with Paul, he met
that light on the Damascus road. Now, albeit it was diminished
enough to not destroy him, But it was the true light that lights
every man that comes into the world. Paul knew that God was
light and in him was no darkness at all. And one day the light's
going to get cut on in this universe. You know all the darkness that
sinners do? One day the light's going to flee at the command
of God and everything is going to be open and naked with him
with whom we have to do. God's going to see it all. And
you and I are going to be standing before God as Revelation chapter
20 verse 11 through 15 says. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before the great white throne judgment, and there
was no place to hide. You couldn't hide in religion
like folks do today. Most folks hide in religion from
God. They hide in church from God.
They hide behind all kinds of notions about God from God, rather
than coming to God through the truth of his word. God's going
to strip all that away. stripping all that away. So the
Reformation, ladies and gentlemen, is a net consequence of the mediatorial
work of Christ, is it not? It's a net consequence of a high
priest who ever lives to make intercession for us. According
to Hebrews 9.14 again, here's what it affected, and you need
to be able to appreciate this. The fact that Christ, through
the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God as a perfect
spotless lamb, And the net effect of it was to purge our conscious
from dead works that we might serve the true and the living
God is that he accomplished the work of eternal redemption for
us. And the result is we can now serve God. You guys got that? Christ brought us back by his
death. He dispatched the spirit of the living God by which you
and I are brought into a saving relationship with God. This was
the Abrahamic promise, by the way. And by the blood of Christ,
that quintessential price, he clears the conscience of guilty
sinners so that without fear, now we can adhere to the admonition
of the Hebrew writer in chapter 10, verse 22. Let us draw nigh
to God. Look at verse 22 of chapter 10. You scared of God? You ought
to be. Listen to verse 19 through 22.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter in. To the holiest of
all, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he
consecrated for us. Do you see that? Doesn't he love
his people? Having boldness, having confidence
to enter into the holiest. This is what we're talking about,
isn't it? Entering into the holiest. By what? The blood of Jesus Christ. I'm going to explain that in
a minute. By a new and living way, which he had. What's the
word? I love it because what the writer
is simply saying is the assumption of Christ's human nature, his
incarnation, the life that he lived for us is what consecrated
a pathway by which we could get to God. His wife said in John
chapter 17 around verse 7 15. He said it like 7 verse 19 John
17 19 He says for their sake father. I sanctify myself that
they might be sanctified in the truth What that means? the work
of Christ in his incarnation and atonement Affected the outpouring
of the Holy Ghost so that the Word of God could actually have
an impact in our lives Many women who are converted born again
renew regenerated. That's the consequence of the
successful work of Christ on Calvary Street This is not just
sort of an arbitrary thing. Y'all folks. I'm born again.
I'm born again Listen, you are only born again If in fact the
Word of God has penetrated your mind and giving you clarity on
the person and work of Jesus Christ in a way of renewal To
where the wheel now is volitionally driven to serve this guy because
he's so glorious And if you've experienced the regeneration,
which is a new coveted promise, I'll take out that stony heart,
put in a heart of flesh so you can perceive, you can discern,
you can sense, you can respond to my word. Whereas before, remember,
it went in one ear and out the other. You knew it intellectually,
but it did not grip your will. It did not get a hold of your
soul. It didn't move you. The truth moves God's elect.
It gets a hold of us. It illuminates our mind and brings
us into places we could never go. And now we say, metaphorically,
we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and
it means everything to us. I am moved by the glory of God. But that's a net effect of Christ's
atoning work. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that all that seeth, seeth, seeth the Son, Shall have
everlasting life and I'll raise him up at the last day. Do you
see the son? Do you see him? Does the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ move you? To leave this old system
and come to God by faith is your soul drawing near to God See
that's the meditation that we're dealing with see the Hebrew writer
saying what draw near to God And he's removing every obstacle
out of the way so you can come. And he's stripping all the arguments. He's getting away all of the
refuge, all of the debris. He's saying, I'm making straight
your path. You can come to God because we have a mediator that's
standing there who has made a new and living way by his own blood
so that we can come into the presence of God. Christ consecrated
himself for me that I might successfully enter into the presence of God. Pastor what do you mean by entering
to the presence of God another long lengthy study? But what
it does not mean is for you to move physically anywhere. You
can enter into the presence of God right where you're sitting
You don't come from the pew to the altar That's just too short
of a distance. I'm, sorry Yeah, you people go
come to god Come to god Come on up and come to no, i'm sorry.
That's the distance is way too far between you and god to come
by your physical efforts You come to God by faith. You come to God with the mind,
with the heart, with the soul, in the inner man, by saying,
Lord, show me your glory. You understand what I'm saying?
Now watch this. If you come to God, God has already
come to you. The only way you can get a trip
to heaven is by the only shuttle that can get you there. And that's
God himself. and you don't have to move. There
are some people right now drawing nigh to God as I'm preaching.
As the Holy Ghost is leading you by the Spirit of God into
the revelations of God's glory as they are made manifest in
God's Word and you are finding that there is a relationship
between you and God established by his great mediator Jesus Christ
and you are loving it. You are loving it. This is what
Jesus told the disciples in John chapter 3. Hereafter shall you
see the angels of God ascending and descending, ascending and
descending, ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Who is the
Son of Man? Jesus Christ. Heaven is brought
down to sinners through Christ. Sinners are taken to heaven by
Christ. I get to go and I get to come by Christ by the power
of his spirit I get to understand heaven by Christ, even though
I'm living down here That's why my brother could be caught up
to the third heavens and see things that were unspeakable
Such a man 14 years ago whether in the body or out of the body.
I cannot tell but I can tell you this I beheld glorious things
God brought him back. He said that step was so glorious
I couldn't even tell people about it. God had to give me a thorn
in my side. I was so puffed up, Paul said,
with the revelations. Now he wasn't caught up in his
physical body. He didn't need to be. Are you hearing what I'm
saying? I'm talking about revelation.
This is what we love about gospel preaching. You are not going
to see heaven apart from Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Heaven's doors do not open up except through the vehicle
of God's darling Son. You can't see the Father apart
from the Son. You can't see heaven without
Christ. He's the door to it. And the Holy Ghost is the porter.
And the word of God is the pathway. Am I making some sense? And the
soul is satisfied when Christ is preached that way. The writer
is making it very plain then. He has affected this reformation.
And I'm getting ready to go to my third point on this, but I
want you to just embrace reformation. And not in the historic sense,
because we've got a lot of struggles with explaining that on the historic
level. Because whenever God gives us truth as human beings in our
sinfulness and our weakness, we have a tendency to mar the
very truth that God gives us. And so some folk have a hard
time with it. But Reformation simply means that God is working
from the inside out. You embrace the principle of
the new. You embrace the principle of
the new. Revelation chapter 21, verse 5 says, Behold, I make
all things new. When are you going to do that,
Lord? I've been doing it, he says. Ever since my son came
into the world, he is the beginning of the creation of God. He is
the new man. And if any man being Christ Jesus,
he too, she too, they too are a new creature. The work is radically
internal. You know what that means? I'm
under restitution. You know what that means? The
building on the outside might still look the same. You know
what that means? If you get too close, you might
get hit by debris. That's the truth. See, those of us who have had
some time in the construction field, you're building a new
house or rebuilding the house, and the process is pretty nasty,
pretty nails everywhere, glass everywhere, broken stuff. You
better put your hard hat on, put your goggles on, your face
mask on, put some gloves on, and some steel-toed boots, right? If you're going to come in my
house, because I'm under restitution. See you better tell him tell
him cuz see people think that you are a finished product when
you play church But the reality is you're not a finished product,
but you're in process Now it all it all depends on how long
the Lord been working on you Some folks house is real jacked
up on the inside But he didn't laid a new foundation and the
superstructure is going up and it doesn't look promising yet,
but give it time every piece of purchased possession for which
Christ died will stand gloriously After all the smoke clears as
a brand new temple in the Lord You believe that? This is what
he's saying. I'm trying to help you get it
now. Embrace reformation. Embrace restitution. Let him
know I'm under restitution. There's a construction going
on here. You better understand what that is. I want to talk
to you about the last will and testament. Point number three
in our outline, the last will and testament. So the Hebrew
writer now begins to penetrate the blood atoning work of Christ
with regards to of the nature of the New Covenant under this
term, diathekis, is the literal term, and it is translated in
the New Testament both covenant and testament. So in your Bibles,
some of your Bibles will say covenant. Some of your Bibles
will say testament. Now, in the grammatical sense,
there is no difference. In the historical usage and application
of the word, it's slightly different, and I've taught it this way.
A covenant is a contract between two parties or more. Julian's
between two parties with the benefits of that covenant. Are
that contract being able to be poured out on others in some
covenant contracts? There's no blood virtually in
every Testament contract. There has to be blood in most
covenant contracts in the old Testament. There were blood.
That's why we are constantly at this present talking about
the blood, right? Generally covenants are with blood in the old Testament.
The concept of a covenant Barrett is the Hebrew term for covenant
and it literally means to cut an agreement. to cut an agreement. And this is why in the Old Testament
when God made covenants with people, there was always the
sacrifice. Because to cut the agreement means that we are taking
the proposal as serious as death. We're taking the proposal as
serious as death. But the Hebrew writer is constructing his argument
on another level. Listen to what he says. The folks
that are able to serve God in a clear conscious because of
the spotless Lamb of God, Verse 15, and for this cause he is
the mediator of the New Testament. Who's the mediator? Christ. That
by means of death, notice now, he's the mediator of the New
Covenant or the New Testament by means of his what? Death.
For the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant,
our first testament, that's the Old Testament system. What Paul,
the writer to the Hebrews, is doing right now, he is calling
attention to the Old Testament saints, of which we'll get to
in chapter 11. And he's saying those Old Testament saints were
under that old covenant. But they were sinners just like
we are under the new covenant. And the sins of those Old Testament
saints were retained by that old system. The old system never
promised taking away of sins. You can read nowhere in the old
covenant that I will take away your sins. I will change your
heart. I will renew your heart. That's all new covenant terminology.
Do you understand then that the Old Testament saints, if they
were believers in Christ, they were believers by faith in Christ,
looking for a work that would take place down the line by which
their sins would be put away. And so by the death of Jesus
Christ, who here is said to be the mediator, he both puts away
the old thereby putting away the sins of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Adam, Eve, everyone who believed, and he establishes the new. And
when the new is established, it's established upon better
principles, because under the new covenant, not one of my sins
is ever retained. This is what makes the new covenant
better. There is no retaining of my sins
under the new covenant, because I am just as my mediator is,
sinless. What a glorious covenant! A covenant
wherein God not only retains sins, He remembers them no more. The new covenant is a post-sin
covenant because of my mediate toward Jesus Christ. That's something
for you to work on. Because again, in the construction
process, you see sin everywhere in your life, don't you? Everywhere!
Down here, sin everywhere! There's no sin in Christ. There's
no sin in the New Covenant. The New Covenant is full of grace
and full of mercy and full of kindness. And I will remember
their sins no more. Isn't that good? See, because
God is looking forward to the renewal process. He's not stuck
on my sin because my sins have been put away in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ by that death. Can you embrace that?
See, you've got to work with it now. You've got to work with
it. I'm just simply saying. The Last Will and Testament,
verses 16 through 20, the Hebrew writer begins to explain this
New Testament covenant by which, or testament by which the people
of God enter into the blessing. For this cause, he's the mediator,
verse 15, of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are what? Might receive the promise of
eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the what? This is absolutely
remarkable. For where a testament is, there
must also be the death of the testator. For a testament is
of force after man or what? Otherwise, it is of no strength
at all while the testator what? And so what the writer to the
Hebrews is saying is, Christ's death is what affected and brought
into force the New Testament. And this is why it's called a
testament. And we are here being told by implication that Christ
is the testator of this covenant. Let me expand on that and be
a little bit more sensitive. Because what the Hebrew writer
is really talking about is the will of God. And the will of
God is the will of God, our heavenly father. Remember what Jesus said
constantly over and over and over again, I came not to do
my own will, but the will of him that what? And to finish
his what? And when he finished his work,
didn't he say, it is finished? This is what the Hebrew writer
is saying in chapter 10. And lo, I come in the volume
of the book to do thy will, O God. A body have you given me to do
the will. And so really, the testator,
if we're gonna be technical, is God the Father. The mediator
is God the Son. Are you hearing me? The testator
is God the Father. It's the will of God the Father
that God the Son is doing. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
It's the will of God the Father that God the Son came to do.
He did not come to do His own will, but the will of Him that
sent Him. This here, really, I want you to understand the
nature of the covenant is a relationship between two parties, primarily.
This is why people gotta understand the gospel. The gospel is not
about you. It's about God the Father and
God the Son. And this is remarkable because
God the Son is taking up the mediatorial role of the testator
and saying, I will die for the testator. Who is the testator? God. It's amazing. The nature of that covenant is
of such that the two divine beings, persons, Father and Son, have
agreed to die in order for men to be beneficiaries of that testament. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Let me see if I can make that good by the Old Testament analogy.
The great patriarch, the great, great patriarch of whom we must
comprehend the idea of a father and son principle is Abraham. Remember Abraham? And this is
where folks get it all messed up. When God came to Abraham
and blessed Abraham with promises, that was a promise between God
and Abraham. It wasn't a promise between God
and Abraham and all of those 12 knucklehead boys that created
all that problem in the Middle East. This was between God and
Abraham. God told Abraham that I will bless you and I will make
you great and I will make your seed great and I will bless them
that bless him. You know what Paul said in Galatians
chapter 3? That seed was Christ. Are you hearing me? That seed
was Christ. And God gave that promise to
Abraham when Abraham had no children. God does stuff like that. He
give you promises and you have no external evidence of the blessing
of that promise Do you know why because everything that God gives
us we must receive by what faith is the substance of what things
hope for? So God had placed Abraham and
Sarah on a journey of hope They had to walk it out. Didn't we
learn that last night brothers? They had to walk this thing out. It
was tough. I Sarah and Abraham got in some trouble, like we
have a tendency to do, but it never stops God from doing what
he's going to do. Like Abraham and Sarah wasn't going to force
God's hand to make Ishmael the heir. God said, no, no. Boy, don't you understand? I
already have my heir. You're just a vehicle. Abraham
means father of nations, father of many nations. Abraham is a
great type of God the father. The son that God always had in
view was Isaac, not Ishmael. Are you with me? Abraham said,
Lord, I know your promises are right and good, but I need some
assurance. Don't we get that way sometimes?
Because I'm getting old. Sarah's getting old. You know
how that goes when we get old. I mean, you know, it is what
it is. And all I got in my house is this servant Eliezer. What,
am I going to give it to him? Is this spiritual? God said,
no. The seed that's in your loins,
is going to enter into her womb, and you're going to name him
Isaac. And he's going to be born at the right time. Why? Because
God can't lie, change, or fail. And this is a father-son paradigm.
You know what God told Abraham to do? Offer a sacrifice, lay
out the sacrifices. Genesis 15, remember that? Lay
out the sacrifices. Take the turtle doves, take the
pigeons, take all the sacrifices, divide them in half. You and
I are going to enter into a blood covenant, you and me, Abraham.
I'm going to show you that I am serious about you being the father
of a multitude of nations. Are you ready? Abraham, lay him
out. Abraham laid him out and guess what? He fell asleep. Did
he fall asleep? Abraham fell asleep. When Abraham
woke up, guess what was happening? God was already walking through
the divided pieces. He was walking through. Now,
if I was Abraham, I'd have said, God, why you didn't wait on me?
And you know what God would have said? Because this ain't about
you, Abraham. Are you hearing me? See, the divided sacrifices
was an oath, a blood oath made between two equal parties. two
equal parties to agree to fulfill the terms of the covenant, two
equal parties to agree to fulfill the terms of the covenant. That
means Abraham had to sit on the sideline because Abraham is not
equal to God. Are you understanding? Do you
know who went through those pieces? The father and the son. God the
Father in God the Son this is why Paul can say in Galatians
3 19 and the covenant which was spoken 400 years before the law
was fulfilled by God to Abraham in Christ. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? Abraham woke up to God saying,
don't worry about it, Abraham. All the promises of God are not
yes and amen in Abraham, nor in the 12 tribes, but in Christ. All the promises of God are yes
and amen in him. That was the assurance that Abraham
was given. Let me see if I can make it a little bit better.
So seven chapters later, when Abraham finally gets his boy,
Isaac, after making all that mess between him and Sarah, with
Ishmael and all that Hagar fighting and going on like we do today.
You know, you know how we do it. God finally says to Abraham
in Genesis chapter 22 around verse 2, Abraham, offer up your
only son, Isaac, whom you love. Do you see the picture? And do
you know what he said in Genesis chapter 22 to the servants that
were with him? You two servants stay here while
me and the boy go up yonder and worship God. Me, God the Father,
and the boy, God the Son, shall go to the top of Mount Moriah
and do what? Do sacrifice to God. Are y'all
hearing what I'm saying? What the Hebrew writer is saying
is the testator is the Father. He wrote this will up. The mediator
is the Son. And the beneficiary of this covenant
is the Son. I know that made you feel bad.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But am I telling the truth? Will
you hear me? Revelation chapter 21 verse 7,
God says, and he that overcometh shall inherit all things and
he shall be my son and I will be his father. I want you to
get it, ladies and gentlemen. Only Christ has overcome all
things. Only Jesus has overcome all things. Only Jesus, God's son, is the
one who has inherited all things. God the Father has given to God
the Son the inheritance. Are you guys hearing me? Well,
where's my portion at, Lord? Co-inheritors. Co-inheritors. We are joint heirs with Christ. Did you get that? Joint heirs. I don't care if I'm down on the
last line of the contract. I don't care if I'm down there
with the jot and the tittle of the contract. I won't end. Let me share something else with
you that's essentially true before I drop you off. The gospel is a will. The gospel
is a will. It's the last will and testament
of God the Father through God the Son. And that will has in
it folks from every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue. Are you hearing
me? But it doesn't have everyone
in it. Not everyone is in this will. You better get that straight
now. Not everyone is in this will.
Hebrews chapter 9, 26 and 27. We'll touch on it. Listen to
what it says. Let me go ahead and work this and call it a wrap.
In Hebrews chapter 9, verse 26. Let me start at verse 25. nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest and enter into the holy place
year after year with the blood of others. For then he must often
have offered since the foundation of the world. That is Christ.
But now, once in the end of the world, hath he, who Jesus, appeared
to do what? Put away sin by what? The sacrifice
of himself. Now watch this. and as it is
appointed unto men once to die. But after this, what? So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of what? Not all. Not all. Did you get that? Let me help you now with the
will of God. The will of God is between God the Father and
God the Son. And in that will, that covenant,
there are many beneficiaries all over the world. Pastor, how
do I know I'm a beneficiary? Are you interested in the will? Are you interested in the will?
Do you have an interest in the last will and testament of God? Are you willing to hear the reading
of the will? Does the will interest you? Does
the blessings of the will interest you? Do you have an interest
whether or not your name is in the will? This is how you can
know. Are you interested in the terms
of the will? The testator of the will. The
mediator of the will. The blessings of the will. Are
you in the hearing of the will? Because the will is read every
time the gospel is preached. Every time the Word of God is
opened up. Every time it's explained. Every time it's expounded. Every
time it's preached. The will of God is being made
known. And all you have to ask yourself
is, do I have an interest in this will? God is my name in
this will. Did Christ die for me? Did he
put away my sins? Did he stand in my place? Is
he my mediator? Is he my high priest? Is he my
representative? Did he die for me? Are you hearing
what I'm saying? He didn't die for everybody.
He died for those who believe on his name, who have an interest
in the will. Do you have an interest in the
will? See, this is, listen, listen, listen. If Warren Buffett or
Bill Gage sent the notice out talking about having a will that
he's going to disclose on a certain day at a certain time, wherein
there are certain recipients who will be beneficiaries of
that will. You get all Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, everybody
going to the reading of that will. How much more The will
of a glorious God who from before the world began chose men and
women in Christ to bless them with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenly places according to the will of God. Which will
is opened up and disclosed publicly in the preaching and teaching
of the word of God every day. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. The question is, do you have
an interest in the will? Amen.