Longing For More - Sabbath School | Pastor Gary Jensen, Gerald Reynolds, and David Giangrande

us to be in the house of the lord and for those of you that are viewing from online we welcome you this beautiful sabbath day we're going to begin our service with singing number three 22 nothing between number three 22 nothing between we'll sing all three verses [Music] do you jesus is [Music] is [Music] my heart [Music] is [Music] so is keeper [Music] we [Music] so [Music] and may that be our prayer and our life that nothing would between our soul and the savior our next song will be number 330 take my life and let it be number 330 take my life and let it be we will sing all five verses and the reason why i love to sing these verses is because it's not only usually a prayer but it's also a beautiful message so that's number 330 take my life and let it be [Music] take my life [Music] oh [Music] swift [Music] oh [Music] filled with i oh [Music] is [Music] take myself [Music] amen our next song will be number 334 come now fount of every blessing number 334 come thou fount of every blessing and we'll sing the three verses [Music] streams of mercy never cease [Music] is i've [Music] jesus [Music] he will rescue me from dangers his precious blood [Music] oh [Music] amen number 340 will be our next song and that is jesus saves we are so thankful and grateful for the life and sacrifice of jesus that's number 340 jesus saves and will sing all four verses [Music] jesus says [Music] says [Music] jesus says [Music] jesus says [Music] jesus [Music] says a mighty voice jesus says [Music] is jesus says and this is the message that we need to be getting out to the world jesus saves before they go to their potential death we need to make sure that this is the message that we get to people we're going to begin our next song which is our closing song by having you stand and we will sing number 539 i will early seek the savior so if you would like to stand for our closing song number 539 i will early seek the savior and will sing all three verses [Music] steps i will walk [Music] jesus loves me he died to save me this is [Music] not too young jesus loves me died to save [Music] he is [Music] he loves me as he loves me jesus loves me this i know jesus [Music] and you may be seated and remember all day long that jesus loves you and share it with those around you god bless you so good morning and welcome to the savage school study hour at the fresno central seventh-day adventist church i want to welcome those of you that are watching us online today as well we've we're all pinch-hitting this morning up in front the one who was to be leading out has been in surgery all night and he's still in surgery dr concepcion so we're all going to do our best to lead out in this discussion you know they used to say that the sabbath school time was a church at study and we're going to have the lesson study but i want to just say that i wanted to encourage all of you to study during the week you know in recent years as i've visited various churches i found that most of our members said how many studied all seven times how many only studied twice or how many never studied just as an example of that when i pastored in in the bay area we would have a choir practice on friday evenings and our choir director would ask how many of you know what this week's lesson is about he didn't ask him how many times they studied he said can anybody tell me what the lesson is about today and you know there's only out of about 30 people there's only my wife and i and a couple of others that could even even knew what the topic was so folks whether you're here in the sanctuary or watching online i want to encourage you to get into your bible every day and study study study the times that we're living in really demand that we have a firm foundation for our faith so that's just my little appeal to you today so uh for those that are watching online let introduce to our panel i'm pastor gary jensen a retired pastor and with me is gerald reynolds a long time friend and a fellow classmate from pacific union college former formerly a missionary in pakistan i believe and then dave g grandy over here who is one of the elders of our church and also a good student of god's word so these men i'm glad to have them with me this morning because they're really good students so we've been studying this quarter on a topic of rest in christ and we've had several different illustrations by the way just to give a plug for next week's lesson it's going to talk about jonah who was the opposite of experiencing rust he and so we're going to be looking at today the examples of israel and what we can learn from israel's experience and why they fail to enter into christ's rest which is a theme of our lessons this quarter rest in christ and so our lessons have looked at various examples and so before we begin i'd like to have a word of prayer david would you offer prayers we'll begin yeah dear father in heaven we again thank you for giving us an opportunity to open up your word and to see those things that are written there and for us today so we ask that your spirit would speak to our hearts open our hearts that we might understand and that as we understand that we would say to you yes lord and do that which is right we pray in jesus name amen thank you so it's going to take us a little while we've got to set the table as the saying goes before we get into how this lesson relates to the subject of rest which we get into a little later in this week's lesson but we want to start with reading first corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 to 11 and gentlemen i want you to leave your bibles open because after we read this passage we're going to explore it in more detail so carol if you would read that for us and those of you are watching and knows in the audience please follow along in your bibles we want you to participate as best you can first corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 through 11. i'm reading from the new american standard translation for i do not want you to be unaware brethren that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into moses in the cloud and in the sea i'm just going to interject something here the the word into is the greek ice e-i-s and it implies uh that uh the the baptism confers an identification with in this case moses and and jesus in the cloud now continuing and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was christ nevertheless with most of them god was not well pleased for they were laid low in the wilderness now these things happened as examples for us that we should not crave evil things as they also craved and do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play nor let us act immorally as some of them did and 23 000 fell in one day nor let us try the lord as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer now these things happened to them as an example and they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come so here i want to ask a couple of questions paul is writing to the corinthians uh what was their background religiously the corinthians were pagans they they had no concept of christianity and so when paul writes in verse one he's talking about our fathers he's talking about the jewish ancestors he's i'm sure there were some jewish believers in corinth but as you say the bulk of them were were non-christians they were pagans they were gentiles and so he's using the illustration of his ancestors because paul was a jew to teach these corinthians some lessons well i'm thinking as we're discussing it right now and paul's speaking to corinthians he's speaking to them as a jew but as they have become partakers of jesus christ they identify with paul and they identify with the history of god's people if you think about it very good so we can all say our ancestors were in the in the desert and we can see the mistakes they made those are all part of the human race exactly the same family of god there's only one family of god so two times in this passage we read in verse six and again in verse 11 this word example now geralt's a good greek student in the lesson that brings out the greek word for example or either you or david types yeah the greek word is actually typos from which we get the english word type now what would be another word for a type well first of all let's explain what a type is what does the type do it represents something beyond itself it's not the actual thing right it's simply an illustration of something else years ago there was a book written by taylor bunch an adventist pastor called the exodus in type and anti-type yeah good tremendous book in fact there have been many prayer meeting series in our church over the years dealing with the many different lessons and i think pastor bohr is doing a series or is going to do a series on that with secrets unsealed so a type is an illustration it's it's intended to be a lesson for us i like the way if i can find my notes here you know when i studied the bible i just like geralt he read out of another translation today and i'm looking at the new english new king james bible when i study and i'm puzzled about something i often read several other versions of the bible now i'm going to share verse 11 in the living bible paraphrase and we know that living bible is kind of a loose translation i'm not recommending that as a good study bible but sometimes it captures the idea very well and so let me read verse 11 from the living bible paraphrase all these things happen to them that is their jewish ancestors as examples and then it says to warn us against doing the same things things they were written down so we could read about them and learn from them in these last days as the world nears its end in fact we could say not just what we have here in first corinthians chapter 10 but all the bible the things that were written down all those stories of the great heroes of the bible moses david samuel you name it and next week jonah why were these things recorded for us so we can learn from them and hopefully not make the same mistakes that they did or also learn from the good things that they did yeah go ahead you wanted to say something no i'm just saying it i agree with you because as old as it is you know that we have in the scripture it's talking about human beings and human beings haven't changed in 6 000 years we're still the same scoundrel as we were at the very beginning once once we cut ourselves off from god that's it so human nature has been pretty much the same as you said down through the ages now let's let's look at this passage a little more carefully especially the first four verses in which paul is alluding to several experiences and let's try to see what the application is to us in fact um david if you'd read verses 1-4 again and let's unpack those verses sure moreover brethren i would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto moses in the cloud and in the sea and all did eat the same spiritual meat and all did drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock which followed them or actually it says which went with them and that rock was christ very good so let's look at these things and see how they apply to us you know here's a key point as we read this passage when we study the bible we will don't want to say well that's interesting we want to always ask ourselves first of all what did it mean to the original audience to whom the bible writer was right into and then secondly what does it mean to us today yes yeah we need the the key thing that's missing and for many of us is making the application to our personal lines so we want to make the application to what paul is saying he talks about what happened to israel of old but how do we relate it to us today what's what's the parallels what are the types and the handoffs so it says talking about the children of israel they were all under the cloud and what does the cloud represent in the scripture the cloud that accompanied the children of israel in the wilderness and the cloud that was in the sanctuary in the most holy place the cloud was a symbol of what well it actually covered jesus personal presence so that they were shielded from the the glory that would have been destructive to them actually but it was for them it was an evidence that he was with them it was a symbol of god's presence exactly and then it's so this clouded company then that means the presence of christ went with him as he will go with us and then it talks about they were all baptized in the cloud in the presence of jesus and in the sea and what what does that refer to what experience of israel baptizing in the sea going through the red sea so it's interesting that that the preposition there and you pointed out earlier east translated in the bible in they were baptized in the city so the parallel is that true baptism is immersion or going into something they went into the red sea and when a person is baptized he goes into the waters not just as little water sprinkled or poured on him so the experience of going through the red sea is parallel to the christians being baptized in water and so they're going through the red sea was a type of the christian's baptism but then it talks it says they ain't the same spiritual food what was the food that god provided for them in the wilderness pastor jensen i was just thinking about going through the red sea and it's a symbol of baptism when a person is baptized they're telling the world that they have left their old life which is sinful which was disconnected from god now they are followers of jesus so there was the old life in the past and now they're living a new life and when they went across that red sea on dry land they were leaving behind egypt they were leaving all that slavery behind they were leaving all the bad habits that they had built up and they were now living a new life and i think that is an important point to to see that they were supposed to have been living a new life once they got on the other shore unfortunately as we're going to see a little later in today's lesson they didn't do a very good job of that they went back to some of their old practices when they're in egypt and and that's a lesson for us today i often tell a new christmas just before they're baptized they say just remember that when you're baptized you didn't drown the devil [Laughter] in other words the devil's not going to leave you alone you know when you turn the new page in fact you may experience for the first several weeks or even months more challenges and temptations from satan because you've angered him so just be on just be aware that just because you made the decision for following christ is not going to be smooth sailing from that point on can i say one other thing too that just crossed my mind and that is a lot of times when we're living our life we think to ourselves you know i wish i wish i could hear the voice of jesus tell me what should i do right now with this decision i have what am i going to do if he was right here and could talk to me i would feel so much better i i probably would do a lot better in my behavior and that sort and we think to ourselves that if jesus was around we would be doing better and then i think to myself just now it's like they had the pillar of fire at night they had the cloud by day they had the shekinah in the sanctuary the presence of god was right there with them they had moses if they had a question they could ask him and he could talk to god and god could give them the answer through moses and yet in spite of that they were rebellious and it makes me think to myself you know how many people think that when they get to heaven and they hang around with jesus up there that now they're going to be okay and i think to myself that can't be true because if if the children of israel was were messing up in the presence of of jesus himself in the cloud why would we think that we wouldn't mess up in the presence of jesus in heaven if we haven't gotten the work done in our characters here on this earth first but that's the key it's not going to happen it happened because of what you just said because we've learned our lessons and that's the whole purpose of this example in first corinthians we need to learn our lessons so we don't keep on making the same mistakes the servant of the lord says you know the lord will often have to bring us back over the same territory until we learn we could all save ourselves a lot of grief and heartache if we just get it together the first time and and learn what god is trying to teach us yeah because if we don't learn we're gonna we're gonna keep on batting our heads against the wall and experiencing the same trials and difficulties and the purpose of going through these trials is of course to develop our faith and trust in god that he knows what's best for us rather than following our own will so it says they ate the same spiritual food which was men in the desert i shared in a sabbath school class a few weeks ago that there's an interesting video on youtube that you should look up it's called manna in angola years ago when when robert h pearson was the president of the general conference of seventh-day adventists in one of his devotional books he mentioned that manna was falling in angola in the 1940s 1947 48 and i thought wow that's amazing but this video explains that manna has been falling in angola in africa for the last almost 50 years and it falls it's presently falling on wednesdays and fridays now why i don't know why those days but anyway it shows at the adventist mission compound where the man is falling uh they're going out and gathering this this little white stuff fluffy stuff on the ground and it shows them eating it and they're trying to describe what it is like they say oh this is very sweet i can't explain it it can't compare to anything else it's just wonderful they say so anyway what is the manner as we're making the application to ourselves they hate manna so what is our manner either one of you i wish i liked that i wish i could ask the audience but they don't have a microphone but anyway what is the manner for us today what do we eat to get our spiritual nourishment one of the one of the applications is this is the word of god exactly matthew 4 4 man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god and ultimately jesus christ is the manna amen and his word is also the manner we can feed upon christ and we can feed upon his word and that's the only way we can be spiritually strong and not keep on making these mistakes that we're talking about so that's a man and then it talks about the spiritual drink remember several times in the wilderness they they were without lack of water i've traveled through the sinai in the sahara desert on a couple of occasions when i visited israel and went into egypt and boy let me tell you it's very barren in trying to find water in that environment is very difficult thing and remember on more than one occasion they complained that there was no water and how did god provide water for them in the desert it was a miraculous thing what did he do well he instructed moses to in the first instance strike a rock in the second instance to speak to it and in response to that then jesus caused water to flow out from that rock there's actually a picture of a rock that looks like it has been split and water has flowed out from it in that area in the desert yes i've seen that picture very interesting time ago i i read somebody did some calculation about how much water would be required to satisfy the needs of all the israelites there were if you the bible tells us how many left egypt but when that's just the male jews but when you add the wise and the children and the cattle and the donkeys and the sheep and all that boy i mean you're talking about thousands and thousands of people and animals and the amount of water that would be required to satisfy the thirst of that large crowd would is incredible that reminds me of the the scripture in ephesians 3 where god is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think god is not only does a miraculous but he also does things in abundance so god provided water for them in the wilderness so what is what is the what is the application to us or the the symbol for us what is the water that we drink of today not just the water that comes out of our faucet jesus provided the water for them in the desert what does he provide for us what is our spiritual water it would be the presence of the spirit of god it would be jesus christ whom the bible refers to as the living water yes you remember the the encounter with jesus at the woman at the well yes it was noon when jesus came to the well and in the middle eastern sun it was very hot and he had been traveling for quite some time and he was thirsty and she had come to the well at noonday the hottest part of the day to draw water both of them were thirsty and wanted water and you remember jesus said i have water to give you of what you know not if you'll take the water that i want to give you'll never thirst again and she you know that really caught her attention and then jesus went on to say i'm the living water and elsewhere in john i think it's in john 7 he talks about i'm living water and if you receive me out of your belly will flow rivers of living water so we're trying to make the application of the experience of israel to us and how we can first of all learn in a positive way about eating the spiritual food and nourishing our lives on jesus christ the living water and following jesus who is a rock of our salvation in fact over and over again in the book of psalms jesus is referred to as a rock capital r which is a firm foundation in a place of refuge and safety which by the way just an interesting side point you know some of our catholic friends say that peter is a rock upon which jesus built his church but that's just a small r just a little pebble jesus is the firm foundation of solid rock in fact there's a hymn that says on crisis solid rock i stand that's that's what we want to build our foundation on so all of these were examples to us so sunday's lesson brings out there's some other types that the scripture refers to types and anatypes in in the book of hebrews in particular as a point out in the second paragraph as we're just kind of living here and catching you by surprise so what do we read of in the book of hebrews that's a type there's several things let me ask you gentlemen a question what doctrine is unique to seventh-day adventists that no other denomination talks about we talk about the something message what is that well the three angels messages but what else the sanctuary sanctuary message so explain to me brethren uh how the sanctuary is a type of something else represents something else what are the things that we learn about this sanctuary that are types what specifically were the types the sanctuary the entire sanctuary service was a type every detail of it was a type and it was very carefully specified to moses exactly how every little thing should be done so there were the sacrifices and much detail involved with the sacrifices there was the tabernacle and all the furniture in the tabernacle all of those were typological there was the work of the priest his duties his robe everything it all was a type exactly and so not only the services we'll get into that in just a minute but the building the earthly sanctuary was a type of what and the answer is obvious what did it represent the earthly sanctuary was supposed to be a representation of the sanctuary in heaven where you see on the walls in the earthly sanctuary there were engraved the depiction of angels in god's presence in the sanctuary in heaven he's surrounded by angels who are waiting to do his bidding so coming back to this sanctuary the ministry of jesus this is one of the unique contributions that 70 adventists make to our biblical understanding most christians believe that jesus work of salvation or the process of atonement was finished at the cross and every in other words everything that was necessary for our salvation ended at the cross but the work that jesus is doing now in the heavenly sanctuary is is also essential for our salvation we'll get into that in just a little little bit so the building itself was a type or a pattern in fact when moses in exodus was told to build the earthly sanctuary he said see that you build it according to the pattern that that i will show that represents the reality that's in heaven yes so the building of the sanctuary and every article of furniture as geralt has brought out i once did a sermon going through each item of the earthly sanctuary the curtains even the pegs even the nails the curtains in the courtyard they were all made of white and that i'll just talk about that for a moment that because we don't usually talk about that we talk about the other parts of the sanctuary that the articles of furniture but the curtains were white and when the sinner came into the courtyard to offer his sacrifice he's guilty of sin that's why he's bringing the animal but he's surrounded by white curtains which represents what what were they a type of the purity of christ the purity and righteousness of jesus christ so he was going to be covered by by the righteousness of jesus christ so he's coming he's aware of his sins he's feeling guilty but he's reminded that jesus righteousness is going to atone for his sins so every article of furniture in the sanctuary and every the curtains the different colors of the curtains and the silver and the gold were all representative of jesus christ and also the work of the priest which represents jesus our high priest yes so we're talking about types so in in monday's lesson it it mentions that even the old testament sacrificial system was also a type foreshadowing the death of jesus christ monday's lesson refers us to a passage in leviticus 4 and i'm just going to spend some time talking about that i want to explore the whole chapter of leviticus 4 and in just a moment i'll ask you guys to read a few verses because what i'm going to share with you now i didn't really fully understand until i studied it this week i've studied this sanctuary many many times in my life and i'm sure most of you have but let me unpack this whole chapter of leviticus 4 as we as we're talking about the types and the anatypes in this chapter it talks about the sin offerings that were to be brought by four different classes of people and how the blood was to be administered in each case and all of these we'll see are types of of jesus ministry for example when the high priest or the entire congregation sinned they were to bring a young cow it could be either a male or a female and that was to be sacrificed we're going to see that for the different classes of people there were different animals that were specified and we'll see the reason for that in just a moment the high priest when he sinned he would offer his own sacrifice because there was nobody higher in the spiritual hierarchy than that of the high priest which represents and the high priest represented jesus our high priest jesus offered himself as a sacrifice he wasn't forced by god the father to come and offer himself he volunteered to come and in fact in the psalms it says i delight to do thy will i have come in response to your invitation so the high priest offered the sacrifice for himself in the case of when the whole congregation sinned the elders of the congregation were to offer the sacrifice why because the elders were the spiritual leaders of the entire congregation so we can see the different ways that these were offered and in both of those cases the sins of the high priest or the sins of the congregation the blood was taken into the sanctuary and put on the horns of the altar there was a four corners on each corner of the altar just before the veil separating the holy from the most holy place we'll talk about the horns of the altar in just a moment now that was the sins that were committed and the offerings that were offered when the ruler when the high priest or the entire congregation sinned but chapter 4 goes on to say that there was a difference when either ruler of the people it could be either a civil or religious ruler or the individual israelites sinned in that case they were to bring in the case of the ruler he was to bring a male goat and in the case of of the individual sinner he was to bring a female goat we'll explain the reason why for the different animals in just a minute you see the female goat was lower in value than the male goat and so it would be more easily and readily acquired by the individual person the the the lamb was the was an offering that was intended to be for the poor person and so significant that christ is repeatedly referred to as the lamb of god he is a poor man's sacrifice as it were now the blood of these animals that were slain for for both the rulers and for the individual israelite that blood was not brought into the sanctuary but instead was put on the horns of the altar of burnt offering in the courtyard so notice the the application of the blood and where it was put was different for the different individuals that were guilty of sin now these various animals that were prescribed for the sin offering reveal both the justice and the mercy of god god's justice by the fact that the value of the sacrificial animal was determined by the degree of influence that this sinner had on others for example the sin of a prominent individual affects not just himself but a whole bunch of people that's why god holds leaders accountable for their actions to a greater degree than this average person because of the influence that they have so the sacrifice required of a leader was a greater sacrifice or more costly sacrifice god's mercy was also revealed by the fact that he made provision for those who could not bring a costly sacrifice like a bull or a male goat they could bring a little lamb a female lamb which was less costly so in this whole system of the sacrifices god's justice as well as his mercy was portrayed now i want to ask you gentlemen we talked about the differences of the different sacrifices and where the blood was applied but all these sacrifices had several things in common let's think about this for a moment i came up with at least three ideas of how every sacrifice had several things in common uh can you think of what first of all thinking about the animals that were brought even though they're different animals what was the specification about the animals they had to be what without blemish and that means without defect or disease of any kind they could not be lame they could not be crippled they could not have a disease they could not be blind and why did they have to be perfect or without blemish they were a type of what type of jesus jesus christ who was sinless a spotless son of god yes so that was one thing that all the sacrifices the animals regardless of what animal was brought they all had to be without blemish and leviticus 4 emphasized that again and again without blemish so then what happened to the animal that was brought what was the next thing that either the individual or the ruler or the priest did with that animal before it was sacrificed what it what did what did the person do with that animal before it was killed they placed their hand they did one they placed their hands on the head of the sacrificial victim and why they did it at the same time they were confessing their sins so by that process the sinner was symbolically transferring his sins to this innocent animal that was going to die on his behalf because the wages of sin is death now this animal had to die so what are this placing the hands on the head of the sacrificial individual animal what did it represent or typify what's the lesson for us today what's the counterpart what did it represent what's the type of the sins being placed on the animal the battery is dying for if we they're going to bring you a new new bat a new new microphone so obviously represented jesus christ he our sins were transferred to jesus christ he did not die because of anything that he did so the sins were transferred from the individual to the lamb in the old testament representing that our sins are transferred not to an animal today because we still don't offer animal sacrifices because they pointed forward to jesus christ the true lamb of god who would offer himself as a sacrifice so our sins were placed upon jesus christ as our substitute so we're looking at the types and the anotypes the illustrations are parallels between the two and so the third thing uh parallel or the type the illustration is that after the sins were symbolically transferred by the laying on of hands the next thing that would happen the animal had to be slain it had to be killed and his blood shed and then who was the one that applied the blood as we're thinking of the anode type so did the individual take the blood and and go into the sanctuary or did he apply it on the horns of the altar in the courtyard no who applied the blood this is a very significant point it wasn't the individual sinner it was the who well it was the priest that had to deal with what came after the death of the animal and that's a vitally important point because the death of the animal is not the end of the process exactly there is a ministering of the blood in the sanctuary and it gets into the sanctuary by various means it depends on who it was that did the sin and where the priest was in his two weeks of service but eventually the blood that represented the sins of all those people eventually gets brought into the sanctuary and is the blood is sprinkled on the curtain between the holy place and the most holy place and there is a record of sin that stays there until the day of atonement very good we're going to explore this this thing about the difference of the applications of the blood in just a moment but right now uh gerald if you would read the text that was mentioned in sunday's lesson leviticus 4 verses 32 to 35. verses 32 to 35 deal with the individual sinner and earlier verses said he could bring a female goat but here it talks about bringing a lamb but if he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering he shall bring it a female without defect and he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they slay the burnt offering and the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar then he shall remove all its fat just as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offerings and the priests shall offer them up in smoke on the altar on the offerings by fire to the lord thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin which he has committed and he shall be forgiven so here we have a good summary of this chapter even though it's referring to a specific sacrifice of an individual there were several things that we just mentioned that they had in common and it said the the administration of the blood by the priest was made for the purpose of making an atonement so let's let's simplify that word atonement that means somebody's broken it down by syllables at one meant to bring into harmony with god and another what's another word for bringing to a right relationship with god reconciliation the problem is that a lot of people in the theological world actually understand atonement to mean propitiation which is a different action exactly so the key point here is the atonement could not be made by the individual it could only be made by the high priest and only jesus can make an atonement for our sins so there was another let me ask you another question thinking about the sacrificial system there were two things that were necessary and this is going to lead into a major point that i want to make in just a moment there were two things that were necessary to get rid of sin or to eradicate sin what were they blood first of all there had to be a sacrifice that had been animal and it's blood shed and in addition to the sacrifice what else was needed we just talked about this a priest to me to be a priest i would administer the blood of the sacrifice so you see on the and jesus fulfilled both of these types on the cross he became our sacrificial lamb and in heaven he serves as our high priest why is this important because without the priestly ministry of jesus christ in the heavenly sanctuary his death on the cross would not have been sufficient to remove our sins and i'm i'm going to explain why in just a moment i think of a statement that ellen white made in the book the great controversy says that the intercession of christ in the heavenly sanctuary is just as essential to the plan of salvation as was his death on the cross and so why why is that true because remember there had to be they had to be the sacrificial victim but if it had just stopped there and the blood hadn't been applied anywhere it wasn't just the spring it wasn't just the shedding of the blood it was the sprinkling of the blood and that word is used several times in here in leviticus 4 the blood in addition to being shed or spilt also had to be sprinkled so let me explain the difference between the shedding of the blood and the sprinkling of the blood as it relates to the ministry of jesus christ it was a sprinkled blood that was applied by the priest that made the atonement for sin you know most christians emphasize the fact that jesus shed his blood on the cross i was just thinking of a song yesterday by ah andre crouch a modern singer that said the blood will never lose its power and in that song it talks about the blood that was shed for me on calvary will never lose its power and and that's true we appreciate the fact that jesus gave his life that's what's symbolized by the setting of his blood that is important i'm not trying to minimize that but there's more that's necessary than simply the setting of the blood the setting of the blood paid the penalty for our sins but in heaven as our high priest jesus applies the sprinkled blood to the individual account which cleanses us from sin and blots out the record of sins in heaven's books talking about the important ministry of the sprinkled blood david if you read hebrews chapter 12 and verse 24 this is not in your lesson but i'm bringing out additional points today trying to differentiate the difference between the shed blood of jesus christ and the sprinkled blood hebrews chapter 12 and verse 24 if you're in the audience 12 here in the sanctuary or at home turn to that verse hebrews 12 and verse 24. okay and to jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of abel so jesus as the mediator of the new covenant as our high priest in the heavenly sanctuary of which the earthly was simply a type referring to the anatype the reality in heaven it says that jesus as our mediator as our high priest applies the blood of sprinkling now i can think of another illustration that helped to clarify this the passover service you remember on the evening that the children of israel were to leave egypt they were to kill a lamb and of course when the lamb was killed its blood was shed was that all that was necessary to do was just to shed the blood of the animal no no after the animal was killed what did they have to do they had to apply the blood to the take the blood and sprinkle it on the lintel and on the two side door posts yes so it wasn't it wasn't enough just to shed the blood of the animal the blood had to be applied it had to be a sprinkle so this illustrates the fact that jesus not only shed his blood on calvary's cross but in heaven he's applying this the shed blood or the sprinkled blood he's applying it to the sinner's individual account which also answers another important question so let me ask you this question when jesus died on the cross did he die for everybody yes yes yeah so does that mean then that everybody's going to be saved no no who only is going to be saved now jesus shed his blood for everybody yes but who only is going to be saved those who allow that blood to be effective in their lives exactly those who accept the shed blood of jesus christ as an atonement for their sins who allows jesus to apply the blood that he said on calvary to their record books to their account in heaven so we see that there's this an important difference between the shed and the sprinkled blood now monday's lesson asked we're not going to get very far in today's lesson but that's fine i just want as as as long as we're learning something that we didn't know before i think that's important i i'm hoping that in a few minutes we can actually get to hebrews 4 which deals with the last three parts of our lesson monday's lesson brings out another point that i had to stop and think about it says what role did the blood play in the sacrificial service and what did it have why did it have to be put on the horns of the altar so what was the significance of the blood why the setting of the blood well by putting the blood on the horn of the altar there's a record of the sin there exactly but what does the blood represent the death for the sin yes it's a payment for this and we're familiar with what paul says in the hebrews without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin no remission in leviticus i think at 17 11 it says the life of the flesh is in the blood in the blood and so the shedding of blood represents this the the sacrificing of a life but the blood not only represents life but as a the setting of the blood first john 1 7 says for the blood of jesus christ cleanses us from all sin so the blood of jesus christ not only pays a penalty for our sins but it brings about cleansing so that's a key word so the blood in scripture represents cleansing when it's used in a sacrificial way but why was the blood applied to the horns of the altar there are two um the horns of the altar if not brought out in the lesson are symbolic of two different things so um i would like uh both of you to turn to first kings chapter one david you turn to first kings chapter one and geralt if you'll turn to first kings chapter two we want to find out the significance of the horns of the altar and why the blood whether was in the horns of the altar in the most holy place or in the courtyard at the altar burn offering why was the blood applied there specifically by the priest we'll find the significance of that in just a moment first kings 1. so yeah david first kings are 1 verses 50 and 51. and okay and adonijah feared because of solomon and arose and went and caught hold on the horns of the altar and it was told solomon saying behold adonijah feareth king solomon for lo he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar saying let king solomon swear unto me today that he will not slay his servant with the sword all right and before i make a comment geralt if you read uh first kings chapter 2 and verse 28 a similar situation now the news came to joab for joab had followed adonijah although he had not followed absalom and joab fled to the tent of the lord and took hold of the horns of the altar so why did they both of them why did they grab hold of the horns of the altar they thought it was a safe place because their life was in danger and so by grabbing hold of the horns of the altar they found refuge and protection and safety so number one the horns of the altar as we make that's the type now we're thinking about the anode type what it represents represent the fact that jesus is our place of safety he's our refuge in the storms of life we can flee to him for safety when the devil is attacking us so i read somewhere that you know when people had accidentally killed somebody they could flee to the city of refuge and and there they would find safety from the avenger you know a blood relative of of a victim had the right to take the life of the one that killed their relative but he could flee to the city of refuge and there be safe but he had to remain there as long as a high priest was living once a high priest died then he could leave and why was in this city of refuge nobody could enter into that city and harm him so grabbing hold of the horns of the altar represented a refuge a place of safety and jesus is our ark of safety so there's another symbolism which is a little more deeper theologically represented by the horns of the altar geralt if you would read habakkuk jonah mike and name habakkuk for those of you that are trying to find it in your bible you probably haven't read that book in a while habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 4. his radiance is like the sunlight he has rays flashing from his hand and there is the hiding of his power and this is the new american standard i think the king james is more explicit yeah exactly so yours is like mine and i'll come back to that in the new king james i forgot that you had the modern translation david do you have the king james habakkuk what three uh-huh three what and verse four it's going to use the word horns there and the brightness was as the light he had horns coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power oh very interesting verse i remember when i read this several years ago i was really puzzled by this it says there were horns proceeding from christ's hands and and what does the horns represent in the last part of that verse it says bright beams out the bright beams were shining forth from his hand and it and there and there in those bright beams are those horns proceeding from his hands and there was the what of his power power the hiding of his project the hiding of his power bright beams out of his side and also from his his hands great ellen white in the great controversy page 674 made this comment she said when the savior appears the wounds of calvary the tokens of his humiliation will appear as his highest honor there will be his glory the hiding of his power so the horns on the altar in this in the sanctuary and in the courtyard not only represented a place of safety and refuge representing christ but also the power that jesus has to give us victory over sin amen amen yes and that reminds us of another song the blood will never lose its power yep so the power and by the way that's a re that's the main reason why sin will not rise up again in heaven uh zephaniah or it's either zephaniah or zechariah says that that the wounds of jesus christ will remain in his hands and feet inside throughout all eternity i think the reference is 3 17 but i forget if it's zechariah or zephaniah but anyway as jesus raises his hands to speak to us and bless us every time we see those nail-scarred hands we're reminded that sin brought about the death of our savior and so that will be the greatest deterrent to sin it's not that jesus is going to take away our freedom of choice in heaven and make us robots no no we'll love to obey him we will love to obey we'll want to obey because we've ex we know what happens when we disobey god it brings all kinds of trouble not only to us but to other people but ultimately to jesus because it was our sins that caused the death of jesus and we don't want that to happen again that's because he taught us to love to obey him here yes so there's power in looking at the crucified hands of jesus christ so in the last few moments that we have i don't know if we're going to 10 30 or 10 40 if we're going to 10 40 we might be able to 10 40. okay we might be able to get into hebrews 4 which is the last three parts of today's lesson before we do that i'm going to have you gentlemen read these this extended passage and then i want to unpack it david if you'd read hebrews 3 verses 7 through 11 and then i'm going to have geralt read hebrews 4 verses 1 to 10. i invite invite you to follow along those of you that are listening here in the sanctuary at home or wherever you are and and keep your bibles open to this passage because we're going to unpack it in just a moment we're going to focus on this word rest which is the theme of this lessons this quarter's lessons seven to 11. and and the word is mentioned many times in these two passages hebrews 3 verses 7 to 11. okay wherefore as the holy ghost saith today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works forty years wherefore i was grieved with that generation and said they do always err in their hearts and they have not known my ways so i swore in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest there we have in the last verse there they shall not enter into my arrest in case we don't have time to get to it in in just a moment before i forget why didn't they enter into the rest that god had for them we'll explain the different kinds of rest in just a moment but what was we're talking about examples and the things that we can learn from the experience of israel why didn't they experience god's arrest in the last verse it says because of unbelief because of unbelief in the hardness of their heart disobedience disobedience i was going to say in in the first place when when they came to the borders of canaan the first time they rebelled and god sent them back into the wilderness and they all died there they didn't get in exactly so geralt if you'd read the next passage chapter 4 unfortunately as as occurs many times in scripture the chapter divisions are rather artificial and many times the subject matter flows right naturally and carries over into the next chapter and this is certainly true hebrews 4 expands on hebrews 3. it's just a continuation so carol if you'd read verses 1 to 10 i know the lesson says 1-11 but if you read 1-10 and then i want us to look at that word rest as it's used in these two passages therefore let us fear lest while a promise remains of entering his rest any one of you should seem to have come short of it for indeed we have had good news preached to us just as they also but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard for we who have believed enter that rest just as he has said as i swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest although his works were finished from the foundation of the world for he has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day and god rested on the seventh day from all his works and again in this passage they shall not enter my rest since therefore it remains for some to enter it and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience he again fixes a certain day today saying through david after so long a time justice has been said before today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts for if joshua had given them rest he would not have spoken of another day after that there remains therefore a sabbath rest for the people of god for the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works as god did from his amen so just before we get into the different kinds of rust that we referred to here in this passage some of you as you were following along your bibles didn't say joshua said jesus but you see the reason for this confusion is in the hebrew jesus and joshua both come from the same root word and so the context here very clearly is talking about inner in in entering into the promised land or canaan it's referring to joshua so joshua is a better translation than the word jesus in this case so here's one case i like the king james as a good study bible but it's not the perfect bible it's not the bible that jesus read it's not the bible that the apostles had many people say well that's the bible that jesus used and so i'm going to use a good king james it's a very good bible that's my study bible i always use that as my reference point but i also refer to many other translations and here's one example where the translation in the king james is not the best but let's look at this word rest it's used in at least four different ways and one of the things about the apostle paul he is such a tremendous theologian i mean this guy was a brilliant mind and to try to follow his arguments you really have to put on your thinking cap and and and pay very close attention because he's using this word in different ways it doesn't mean the same thing he uses the word rest but it means at least four different things in this passage i want to explain the different usages and then make the main lesson from these two passages how they relate to us first of all the word rest refers to entering the promised land the land of canaan and that refers primarily to physical rest rest from their enemies and we see that if you want to just write in your notes we see this first kind of rest referred to in hebrews 3 and verse 7 and also in chapter 4 and verse 8. this physical rest that was symbolized by entering the land of canaan but that was only one type of rest referring to a greater rest that god had in store for his people and that was the spiritual rest that god wants us to experience and the spiritual rest is emphasized in chapter four verses one and three and then in chapter four verses four and in verse nine we'll come back to verse nine in just a moment there's another kind of rest the sabbath rest which is illustrative of of the both physical rest and spiritual rest trusting in christ and then there's the fourth kind of rest that's mentioned in the last part of verse nine and that is rest from trying to achieve salvation by our own efforts by own works so let's think of these four types of rest rest as symbolized by entering the land of canaan spiritual rest sabbath rest and rest from trying to earn our salvation so uh in tuesday's lesson there's a reference made to hebrews 4 and verse 3 i'm just going to read it here it says hebrews 4 3 points to the close relationship between faith and rest we can enter into god's rest only when we believe and trust the one who promised rest and who can deliver on this promise and that is of course jesus christ now i want you know many people use this passage in hebrews 4 i wish we had more time to explain it that the ringing of the bell means that we're we've got five minutes so we've got to bring this to a close and we're coming to the really the critical part of hebrews 4. many christians use this passage to say well jesus is our rest and therefore we don't have to keep the sabbath but i want us to look more carefully i wish i could explain that in detail but but let's look at hebrews 4 and i'm just turning there to myself verse verse 10 and then we'll go back to verse 9. just because jesus is our rest from earning salvation doesn't mean we're off the hook as far as keeping the sabbath rest because notice the wording of verse 10 for he who has entered into his rest that is god's rest his spiritual rest has also ceased from his works as god did from from his and then verse nine is really the the key verse in this whole passage there remains therefore a rest for the people of god just because jesus is our ultimate rest that doesn't mean we're off the hook for resting in christ and resting on his special day that he created it's interesting that the word rest that's used as it's used here in verse 9 is a unique word that was coined by the apostle paul it's the only time it's used in all of scripture it's the greek word sabbatismos which literally means there remains therefore a keeping of the sabbath for the people of god circle this verse in your bibles why is that significant because people will say all 10 commandments are repeated in the new testament except the sabbath commandment was not repeated well that's not true i can think of many instances i've just mentioned a couple matthew 22 verses 36 to 40 where jesus was asked which were the greatest commandments and you remember he mentioned too he said love god with all your heart soul and might and love your neighbor as yourself and then he caps it off in verse 40 by saying on these two hang all the law in the prophets which includes the fourth commandment i heard an illustration once and then i want to make my final point the ten commandments are built on two great principles love to god and love to our fellow men they summarized all the commandments the illustrations my two arms represent these two great principles love to god and love to man on these two arms hang and that's the word in in matthew 22 40. hang all the law and the prophets these ten fingers represent the ten commandments without these two arms the ten command these ten fingers would mean nothing but these ten fingers are supported or backed up on the principle of love to god and love to man so the sabbath is included all the law and the prophets there but here in hebrews 4 in verse 9 we have a specific reference to keeping the sabbath there remains therefore a keeping of the sabbath for the people of god so ultimately in today's lesson just to quickly try to summarize we were reminded that the experience of the children of israel both in their wilderness wanderings and in the sanctuary service were an illustration or a type or an example for us to follow about how we can enter into true rest in jesus christ so with that we're going to have to close and thank you for paying close attention let's close with the word of prayer harold would you mind having our closing prayer father we thank you for the sabbath day and the rest that it provides and for the promise that it foreshadows rest in heaven we look forward to that day with you and may it be soon in jesus name amen amen may god bless all of you and give you a special sabbath day as you rest in him and trust in him for your salvation

Channel: Fresno Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 84min 20sec (5060 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021