Derek Thomas: The Inner Place

good morning turn with me to the book of Hebrews the book of Hebrews and we are going to read the sixth chapter the book of Hebrews chapter six and we will be focusing on the closing verses of the chapter but we need some kind of context therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of instruction about washings the laying on of hands the resurrection of the Dead and eternal judgment and this we will do if God permits for it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt for land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God but if it bears thorns and thistles it is worthless and near to being cursed and its end is to be burned though we speak in this way yet in your case beloved we feel sure of better things things that belong to salvation for God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the Saints as you still do and we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises for when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by whom to swear he swore by himself saying surely I will bless you and multiply you and thus Abraham having patiently waited obtained the promise for people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation so when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul a hope that enters into the inner place behind the where Jesus has gone as a foreigner on our behalf having become a high priest forever after the order of melchizedek well thus far God's holy and inerrant word and may he had his blessing to it and where we are going today is to the inner place the theme of this conference is the holiness of God our holiness that unless we are clothed with the beautiful and spotless righteous robe of Jesus Christ unless our sins are covered and atoned for unless we are in Union and communion with the Lord Jesus our great high priests that holiness will consume us that holiness will judge us that holiness of God will banish us to hell forever and the author of Hebrews is desiring to encourage these Hebrew Christians to see no one in the picture but Jesus I was a young pastor I was probably 28 or so and in my first congregation there were two sisters there had originally been three sisters and they all lived together I didn't ever meet the older sister she had passed before I came there but Miss Anna and Miss Madge were still alive they were in their 80s when I first met them both of them lived until a hundred we think one might have cheated and said she was a hundred before she really was a hundred and the Queen sends a telegram to those of her citizens who reach the triple digit number but I remember being in their home one afternoon and complaining about how difficult the ministry was as a 28 year old can and miss Madge who only had one eye and she'd had cancer and I and she had shared a prosthetic eye that wasn't terribly good and she stared at me with that prosthetic eye and she said to me in a very stern voice see no one in the picture but Jesus and I I remember thinking at the time how sentimental that was I was 28 and knew everything and I have never forgotten it it comes back to me I'm sure at least once a week and sometimes twice a week that when we find ourselves wondering when we find ourselves drifting from our moorings as the author of Hebrews warns his readers not to slip the moorings of the boat and find ourselves drifting out to sea we need to see no one in the picture but Jesus this is a very difficult passage at least in the opening section of it and I do not want to dwell on that this morning but it's a passage along with another part of Hebrews in chapter 10 that deals very sternly and and very matter-of-factly about the issue of apostasy the possibility that you may be influenced in some way outwardly and externally by the gospel but that the root of the matter is not in you and your heart is still unregenerate and that you can commit apostasy and he wants to warn these Hebrew Christians he wants to say to particular things to these Hebrew Christians and they seem eternally significant in the sense that they are equally as important for us to hear today he wants first of all to state his confidence about them having warned them about apostasy he says but I'm confident about you some of them were spiritually immature some were thinking perhaps of returning to Judaism in some form or fashion and once again beginning to obey some of the peculiarly Jewish laws but he was convinced that the root of the matter was in them he noticed the change in their lives the desire that they had to aid one another and provoke one another to good works he can see the fruit of the Spirit and the self-sacrificing nature and character of the Christian lives he's confident about them and he also wants to say to them in words let me paraphrase them from something that dr. Martin lloyd-jones I would often say to keep on keeping on not to look back but to persevere to put one foot in front of another there's a story I'm not sure if it's apocryphal or not takes place in the tail-end of Winston Churchill's life he I think was at a graduation ceremony and he was to give a little speech to the graduates and he stood up and he said never never never never never give up and then he sat down and that was his speech I don't know whether that's true or not I read it somewhere well that's partly what the author of Hebrews is saying never never never never never give up however difficult the trials may be however difficult the obstacles may be however daunting the temptations might be to drift away never never never never never give up he tells us here in verse 12 that there was a proclivity among these Hebrew Christians to be somewhat lazy in the manner of their discipleship not wanting to go the extra mile not content well maybe to content with too little not not wanting to go forward always walking as it were on the edge doing just enough to convince others and perhaps to convince themselves that they were born-again Christians just enough to encourage but shy of full unmitigated assurance and he wants them to understand this and he makes no bones about it if you go back you will be lost if you go back if you deny the Lord Jesus if you give up on this path there is only lost in us and it's a stern warning but he's encouraged about them and he wants them he wants them to move on from the lethargy of their discipleship into something more viable and the way he does that is not by addressing it in a legalistic fashion but addressing it in a redemptive and christological fashion see no one in the picture but Jesus he gives two illustrations to help them and encourage them and the first one comes from Abraham and he deals with it in verses 13 through 18 he reminds them and he goes to Abraham of course because these are Hebrew Christians and Abraham is the father of the faithful and God gave to Abraham a promise and he reinforced that promised with an oath in his own name he's referring of course to Genesis 22 and verse 17 that in Abraham there would be blessing and his descendants would be multiplied the problem of course was that Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was a hundred and Ishmael had already been rejected by God and and when Isaac was born according to the promise that had added to it the oath and confirmation of God his trials were not over and God told him to sacrifice Isaac and Abraham kept trusting he kept trusting in the promise of God and in the Word of God believing that even if Isaac died God would raise him up again he went on believing this despite the problems and despite the obstacles and despite the moments and temptations to this believe despite experience despite logical reasoning he believed the Word of God he believed the promise of God and that's what these Hebrew Christians need to do they need to believe the promise that whosoever believes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved now and forever and then he turns to a second example and it comes from their everyday life and in the form of ports in the Mediterranean Sea and perhaps a common sight in certain ports that would be in in the port a pillar of some kind where boats were tied to to secure them and ensure that they did not drift out to sea when storms and gales came and that they could be be confident and assured that that rope to which that that was tied to the to the pillar was was an anchor for their for their for their boats and and and and ships and he wants to say to them we have an anchor that's sure and firm and certain and that anchor is Jesus that anchor is the god man that anchor is the one who died and was buried and rose again and is now sitting at the right hand of God he is sure and stedfast a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain he's using temple Tabernacle imagery we have a promise an old whoever trusts in Jesus whoever rests completely in Jesus and Jesus only we have this sure and stedfast hope that brings us into the inner place where he is we're brought into the very presence of the holiness of God clothed inside and out with the Blessed beautiful righteousness of Jesus Christ and then he he goes on to stretch the metaphor and beyond the veil is a great high priest after the order of melchizedek Jewish Christians perhaps to whom is writing seriously thinking of returning to Judaism and for 1,500 years they have looked to the descendants of Levi to represent them and sacrifice for them and atone for them and and when they became Christians when they trusted in Jesus as a great high priest even even though he wasn't of the tribe of Levi but he was of the tribe the kingly tribe of of Judah Jesus priesthood he wants to tell them is superior to Levi it's after the order of Melchizedek this strange figure that appears in the book of Genesis who appears not to have a genealogy nor is there a record of his death and he becomes therefore a type of the high priestly status of Jesus so we have a promise and an oath of God who cannot and we have an anchor that is a great high priest after the order of melchizedek and and and he he lives his life is older than any other priest because this great high priest is eternal and who was and is and is to come and he's superior in character and nature not not a not a mere man but the son of God and heir of all things by whom also he made the world through being in the brightness of God's glory and the Express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his power see no one in the picture but the great high priest who has passed through the heavens into the Holy of Holies the curtain that separated the holy place from the most holy place has been has been rent asunder only the great high priest and then only on once a year taking the blood of atonement could enter into this place and whether the narrative of tying ropes to his feet lest if he should collapse they could pull him out because they couldn't go in there and retrieve him whether that's true or not is a matter of dispute but what is not a matter of dispute is that only the high priest not even the the great Levitical priests but only the great high priest could enter in to the inner place but now now by faith alone through grace alone apart from any works on our part just laying hold of Christ and calling him mine believing in him trusting in him we are in union with him and where he is there we are also and he has gone to the inner place to the very presence of the of the burning holiness of God that cannot look upon sin and cannot be in the presence of sin and can only react with the reflex of holy unmitigated anger and banished sin from his presence and fallen sons of Adam like we are in union with this great High Priest brought into the very residence of God to be in the very presence of God to be so close to him that you can reach out and touch him what a what an extraordinary thing that is this high priest and do you see him with your eye of faith after the order of melchizedek without beginning or end of days the the god man two natures one person and and he's sitting there on a throne actually the high priest in Old Testament never sat on the throne he just went and wrinkled the blood on the throne but this high priest sits and he sits because his work is finished he sits because all that is required to save us and bring us all the way home to glory has been accomplished he is uttered the words it is finished Ted alas die everything to bring you into the very presence and not to be burnt and not to be consumed but to come before Almighty God Father Son and Holy Spirit and bow down and worship Him and to be called not just a believer but a child of God a son of God adopted into the household and family of God an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ Jesus my my great High Priest Isaac Watts throat offered his blood and died my guilty conscience seeks no sacrifice beside his powerful blood did once atone and now it pleads before the throne or Charles Wesley v bleeding wounds he bore v bleeding wounds he bore they pour effectual prayers they strongly plead for me forgive him all forgive they cry nor let the ransomed sinner die so what does a great Thai priest do what does he do and he does two things but perhaps perhaps three first of all he sympathizes with us we do not have an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin what kind of great high priest do we have and and we have one who knows our frame we have one who knows what it is to shed tears at a grave site we have a high priest who knows what it is to be to be hungry and thirsty and in the middle of a storm so so worn out physically and mentally and perhaps emotionally that he he falls asleep and the disciples have to shake him and they say do you remember what they said to him don't you care that we perish of course he cares his entire life and ministry is a single act of his care and love and compassion toward us he knows what it is to encounter Satan when Satan comes in powerful temptations gets you at your weakest point knows the sensitive areas of your life in what the Apostle Paul calls in Ephesians 6 the evil day and he mocks you and taunts you and threatens you and you feel weak and you're tossed to and fro and you're fumbling to try and put on the pieces of gospel armor to withstand him in the evil day and you have a great high priest who says to you I've been there I've stood there I've looked him in the eye I've faced his powerful taunts and I was victorious for you I won for you I conquered him for you who sometimes we say don't we when we think about sympathy and and you're in a bad place and there's something instinctive about us that we often say I don't want your sympathy and that's hardly ever true we don't want to admit that we need sympathy but sympathy is a healing balm to know that you're not alone to know that there is another who is beside you a Holy Spirit the representative agent of the great high priest who who also sympathizes with you and and encourages you and motivates you we have a sympathizing high priest who has never sinned he's perfect he's absolutely perfect and this morning wherever you might be whatever condition you might be and this this chapter this Epistle to the Hebrews is perhaps addressing you and perhaps addressing me to persevere to keep on going the trial has been difficult and you're tempted to give up and in the distance you you hear him saying never never never never never give up he loves you with an everlasting love he stood in your place to bear the wrath of God that your sins deserved he's brought you now into the inner place ropes tied around that that that anchor he's gone there as a four-runner because he intends to bring all of his chosen all of his people all for whom he died he intends to bring each and every one to his Heavenly Father so what does the great high priest do he sympathizes with you with with your weakness with your frailty with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with the taunts of the evil one and he says to you see no one in the picture but Jesus and then again the book of Hebrews says he does something else he intercedes for us he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities but he also intercedes for us and the author of Hebrews will address that in the next chapter in Chapter seven as Paul addressed it in the Magnificent chapter of Romans who is he that condemns it is Christ who died more than that was raised who is at the right hand of God who ever lives to intercede for us I wonder what that looks like what does that what does that intercession look like and Calvin when he talks about this in his commentary on Hebrews says that we shouldn't we shouldn't think of this of Jesus on his knees arms outstretched pleading with the father please father as though as though he was trying to win over some kind of reluctance on the part of the father and that that reluctance would be overcome by the sight of his son pleading and asking nor Calvin says nor should we think of this in a manner that undermines another office that he has not simply his priestly office but his kingly office he he is king he he owns the cattle on a Thousand Hills everything belongs to him he is in charge of all things and nothing happens without Jesus being involved in it from beginning to end so how are we to think of this intercession and perhaps we should think of it in in this way that he's sitting and he's sitting on a throne and he's and he's sitting with bearing the five marks of his crucifixion in his ascended body and everything about him says all that was necessary to redeem my people I have accomplished and Holy Spirit apply now everything that I have done everything that I have accomplished go forth now and apply what I have accomplished so that none will be lost and within the Covenant that exists between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit there is a mutual agreement as to the veracity of what Jesus is saying and the appropriateness the absolute appropriateness of what Jesus is asking and there is complete Concord and complete unanimity within the Trinity as the Holy Spirit applies what Jesus has accomplished we have an intercessor in heaven and he is our great High Priest the Lord Jesus Christ and we also have an intercessor within Jesus his personal representative agent two witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God and if children heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ we have the luxury of two intercessors I don't know whether you've experienced I'm sure you have at some point in your life that when you pray sometimes words don't come the situation is so complex your emotions are so fraught that all that comes out is a sigh and a groan and an ache sometimes when you read the Psalms the psalmist says hear the sound of my words as though the words themselves can make little sense but just hear the sound of them hear the depths of emotion and hurts and fragility that lies underneath these words and as those groans and sighs emerge and ascend to heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit and they come before Jesus and there they are cleansed and made perfect on the way up so that by the time those prayers come before our holy God they are perfect prayers and he's interceding for you he's upholding you to ensure that you will persevere to the very end that having begun a good work in you he will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ so that Jesus words will become true for you weak and frail and tempted to give up that you may be that in my father's house are many mansions and if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also dear Christian we have a great high priest who has made a promise and sealed that promised with an oath that by two immutable things we may have confidence confidence in all that he has accomplished for us and confidence that he will get us home through his sympathy and through his intercession and there's one more thought here this great High Priest is holy he's holy holy holy holy as dr. Ferguson so wonderfully expounded from the fourth chapter of Revelation and I'm thinking of how the Bible sometimes thinks of holiness as something beautiful the beauty of holiness that there's something extraordinarily beautiful about this site in all of his wondrous purity in all of his wondrous holiness there is still something attractive about it and in one sense it holiness because of sin drives us away but holiness when you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ actually does the opposite and it attracts you and draws you to see this wondrous sight of the god man the Incarnate glorified Savior who was and is and is to come and the most blessed thought of all is that he is for me and if he is for me in the most ultimate sense if he is for me what have I got to be worried about what a what cares can hinder my pathway to glory what trials who is this that condemns and my beautiful holy Savior has conquered Satan and will cast him into outer darkness and with you my dear Christian friend he can have nothing ultimately to do dr. Ferguson when he was in First Presbyterian Church in Columbia often ended his sermons when he had painted a portrait of the beauty of Christ in his person and work he would often say what a wonderful thing it is to be a Christian what a wonderful thing it is to be a Christian father we thank you thank you for the confidence a confidence that's not in ourselves it's a confidence that is in Jesus and in his finished work and in the role of the Holy Spirit to apply all that Jesus has accomplished and to bring us all the way home Father we pray this morning that you would set boundaries and hedges about us in your Providence and keep us ever persevering and ever going on and to keep on keeping on until at last we find ourselves in your very immediate presence by your grace and mercy and we ask it in Jesus name Amen [Applause]

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

Views: 5,069

Rating: 4.7979798 out of 5

Keywords: Ligonier, Ligonier Conference, orlando conference, ligcon, most holy place, holy of holies, inner sanctum, Hebrews 16:19-20, high priest, Derek Thomas

Id: SwbMHM10PK8

Length: 44min 44sec (2684 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 21 2019