Sunday AM LIVE (12:30PM | 9/12/21)

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh is god that is who you are [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] that is [Music] his name is above his name is above depression [Music] his name is above loneliness oh his name is above disease his name is above cancer his name is above every other name he [Music] is says you are jesus and that [Music] that is who you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] our phrase becomes your house your place our praise becomes your house you're placing it out our praise becomes your house your place that's it our praise becomes your house your place here we go [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] your place that's it our praise [Applause] [Music] oh god [Applause] here we go [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey i praise our praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let it become your place yes it [Music] [Applause] [Music] does your place [Music] [Applause] [Music] give you praise [Music] good afternoon church let's stand to our feet let's put our hands together like this we're here to worship the lord and lift his name up so let's do that together one two three [Music] for us [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] you lift us up up upon is [Music] you're [Music] you lift us up [Music] i sing our god [Music] [Music] i [Music] you are [Music] [Music] the [Music] like [Music] oh [Music] amen well church we want to teach you a new song this afternoon we want to teach you this song called christ be magnified where we join with all of creation to declare that jesus is amazing that he should be the one that's magnified so as you catch on sing along sing it out with passion and make it your prayer [Music] creation suddenly articulated with a thousand tongues to lift one cry [Music] then from north [Music] we'd hear christ be magnified [Music] echoing his eminence [Music] [Music] [Music] and here's the chorus [Music] christ be magnified give me [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] and if it puts me in the fire i'll rejoice cause you're there too i won't be more feelings i hold fast to what is [Music] if i join [Music] glory with all the angels and says [Music] let us [Music] christmas [Music] christmas [Music] me [Music] you [Music] for the lord god almighty reigns [Music] for the lord god [Music] what is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] for the lord god [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] amen jesus you are worthy of all of our praise you are worthy of all of our lives you are worthy of all of our time and talent and energy and treasure lord we give it to you lord because everything we have our entire existence is a gift from you and so all we're really doing in these moments is just offering back um everything that you've already given to us and so we pray that we would live our lives that way lord that our lives would be just set apart for you ready to bring you honor in every situation and circumstance that we find ourselves in and that we would just live lives of worship that the world would look at us and say man these people are are different they're they're not bitter they're not angry they're not unkind they're loving they're caring they're serving they're giving and so help us to be those people help us to be your children and we just pray you change us even through this service and we ask this in jesus name amen amen amen well uh before you sit down why do you take a second turn to someone and say hello actually ask them their name and then you tell them your name all right and if you're watching online let us know where you're watching from and who you're watching with and once you've met someone new you can sit down but if you didn't meet someone new you can't sit down you have to stay standing for the whole service just kidding well we have a few video announcements to show you guys so let's look at the screens and see what's been going on [Music] socal harvest is back for one night only sunday october 3rd at angel stadium in anaheim [Music] pastor greg laurie will be bringing the hope of the gospel of jesus christ to southern california with music from for king and country bill wickham [Applause] don't miss the return of the socal harvest with the same gospel message but in a new life experience in angel stadium for one night only sunday october 3rd invite someone out who needs to hear the gospel find out how you can be part of the event by serving for more information go to harvest.org forward slash socal today hey pastor pat i'm making some burgers for the marriage couples potluck try one but look at this nice looking burger and stuff oh i think i'm finished airplane this thing right in my head that bite was massive bro [Music] bro you are killing that burger just please don't die me pat mary would kill me god is good all the time pastor pat so good handle it bro um gonna be awesome gonna be lots of food fellowship see you there brother [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] it was a great time how many of you actually were there anyone oh a lot of you in third service awesome that's rad so those of you who weren't there next year it'll be around the same time so plan on being there you'll have a lot of fun just like we had a lot of fun and uh yeah it's great we're gonna move into a time of giving now to god's work in the world and you can see some ways on the screen to give to god's work all over the world if you did come prepared to give physically like a check or cash you can also you can give after service out the back or you'll see those kind of little tithe stands around the church you can put them in there as well but thank you guys for supporting god's work through this church and all over the world through missionaries and orphanages and amazing what god's doing through you guys so thank you let's sing one more song together before we get into god's word [Music] peace bring it all the peace the storm surrounding me let it break at your name still call the sea [Music] jesus [Applause] you make the darkness triple jesus jesus silence here jesus jesus you make the darkness triple jesus jesus [Music] call these [Music] jesus [Music] you make the darkness [Music] you make the darkness [Music] and your name is [Applause] is jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus you silence fear jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus [Music] and lord we thank you that your great great name your powerful name lord makes the darkness flee lord that no matter what we may be going through no matter how shameful we may feel afraid lord that you are in control that you are sovereign and you are with us through it all lord and so i pray that we would remember to just call on your great name that we would just turn to you and to see your light and allow it to guide us lord we thank you for who you are we thank you for your love for us and for calling each and every one of us your child all of this we pray in your holy holy name amen good morning uh this morning we have a presentation from operation christian child recognizing our 15 years in participating in the shoebox ministry so we're going to have a video right now so let's uh turn our eyes to the screen hello pastor jeff pastor lester and members of calvary chapel south bay my name is vladimir and i am a shoebox recipient from kiev ukraine i received one of these beautiful and colorful shoeboxes from samaritan's purse operation christmas child when i was only nine years old and what a blessing this gift was not only for myself but also for the whole family and for me was extra special because this was my first christmas gift ever and the gospel came with it but it wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the wonderful hard-working people like you and speaking of wonderful hard-working people i hear that you've been a central drop-off for the last 15 years and also i heard that some of you have been packing shoe boxes for over 25 years let me tell you your hard work does not go unnoticed and today i would just like to share my testimony with you in hopes that perhaps it would encourage you to continue packing these shoe boxes because the gospel comes with these shoe boxes so i come from a family of nine children my father was an underground pastor in kiev ukraine my father risked his life preaching the gospel in the streets of kiev at the time when it wasn't popular or allowed and because my father was a believer living in a communist country was hindered from advancing in our society so my father had to settle for low paying jobs and every time he was captured and written up it greatly affected his pay even more so it got to the point where we had to take turns to go outside to play because we didn't have enough shoes for everybody we also had to share our toothbrushes and we didn't have access to a lot of toys especially new toys but it didn't stop us from being creative we would make yo-yos out of coca-cola caps and we would play with our shoes pretending there were cars and as for food we pretty much grew up on rice and potatoes which i often jokingly say that we were vegetarians before it was even cool and we grew up in a tiny three-bedroom apartment with barely any heating cooling we didn't have a washer and a dryer so my mom she had to do all the laundry by hand and because the amount of laundry room i had to do her skin would often crack and bleed and my mom she would stay up all night and she would make socks and underwear for us out of old clothes or donated materials so we grew up very poor on the inside of the apartment heavily persecuted on the outside but in the middle of all that we were invited to come to a christmas celebration and this was in the middle of cold ukrainian winter we had to hop on the bus and then on a tram just to get to this place and when we walked into this place it's like we transitioned from this black and white ukrainian winter to a colorful room of joy and laughter there was so much happy music beautiful welcoming smiles but most importantly they presented the gospel to us in so many different and unique ways through singing dancing cartoons movies animations flannel boards it's like the gospel came alive and then at the very end they write out these beautiful and colorful shoe boxes and when i open my shoe box it's like everything that i imagined playing with growing up as a child is like a manifest from real life inside of a box i had my own yo-yo i didn't have to make yo-yos out of coca-cola caps anymore i had my own toothbrush and you had to share toothbrush with anybody anymore i had my own hot water cars i have to play with my shoes pretending there were cars i had this gentle floss that i thought was candy but most importantly i felt loved and i always say that god is love when you show love to people you show god to people when people experience love they experience god and once you experience that god's unconditional love you will not walk away unchanged and that's what you get to be a part of when you pack a shoe box with samaritan's purse operation christmas child and i'm just so honored and blessed to serve alongside of you calgary chapel may god bless you all bye-bye please just welcome diane and gina to the stage [Applause] good afternoon it's a pleasure to be here and what a blessing to be able to present on behalf of samaritan's spurs operation christmas child this award to calvary chapel south bay to pastor lester for leading the efforts as well and the inscription on the award on the plaque reads calvary chapel south bay in appreciation for 15 years of partnership with operation christmas child franklin graham president of samaritan's purse and a bible verse whomever receives one of these little children in my name receives me mark 9 37. thank you thank you you know we were trying to figure out earlier how many shoe boxes this actually represent but we believe it's in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million shoe boxes over the years of pass through calvary chapel south bay lester thank you you're a blessing that's pastor lester's ministry so when that comes up here in november uh make sure and show up we usually have at least one packing event here where we supply everything all you have to do is come and help us pack shoe boxes and they go all over the world some 50 countries have received shoe boxes that have come directly from calvary chapel south bay so that's a whole lot of people have had the gospel shared with them and that's part of that gospel outreach that we do because we believe in that great commission that we're to take it to the uttermost parts of the earth and preach the gospel to every living breathing soul that's on this planet until the king comes amen would you join me we're going to pray for what we call patriots today so if you'd stand and i know for some this is controversial and i'm not personally quite sure why that is but it is and i think some of it is just the environment that we live in politically but it shouldn't be because jesus actually said greater love had no one than this no man than this no woman than this and that they would lay down their life for their friend i come from a very highly military family i have two nephews that serve to combine combined seven tours in afghanistan two of them actually of the four two of them were blown up in their bradley fighting vehicles and they have purple hearts so i come from a family that knows what it's like to to suffer through what we suffer through to enjoy the freedoms that we have those freedoms include the ability for us to disagree for us to have the ability to carry on dialogues where we may not see eye to eye but the freedoms that we enjoy are not freedoms to be selfish they're freedoms to be shared their freedoms that should be what i believe is the very mark of christ which is that we would use our freedoms to bless others jesus was other centered and so as we pray for those that gave their life on 9 11 and then in the subsequent actions that were undertaken in the middle east with all the controversy that's going on right now i do believe that it is very appropriate that we are thankful for those that have sacrificed so we can be here today father thank you for the heroes heroes that were police uniforms and heroes that were firefighters uniforms and heroes that were in hospitals and heroes on the battlefield heroes whose names will never be known by most of us but lord we call this weekend patriot weekend or patriot day and patriots come in all shapes and sizes of every color and tribe we would pray god that you would bind us together we are grateful for the freedom that we have in this country and though we may not necessarily agree with one another line by line and what that means we can be thankful that we live in the one place where we don't have to worry about someone breaking through these doors to shut this service down or arresting us or worse yet taking our lives and so we thank you father for those that secure even today the freedoms that we have bless us as we study your word now god thank you for being kind and gentle and generous to us in jesus name amen amen you take your seats and as you do take out your bibles because we've come to study god's word and very specifically to find out what is so superior about jesus you may have remembered that we left off last time with this interesting figure wouldn't be high on everyone's list probably of your great figures of the bible but melchizedek this one who's a picture of what we now know would be messiah who would come and so we now find here in verses 11 to 19 here in chapter 17 of the book of hebrews this incredible explanation of what is different and why jesus is actually superior as a high priest than any high priest that ever existed in all of judaism and for the jewish people this was a big deal and it really is a big deal for us and here's where it ties into our lives because many people many christians many people who say that they are followers of christ really are leaning more on religion than they are on relationship and so they look at what they do as how they have a right relationship with god and now the writer of hebrews is going to deconstruct that idea and really bring us this place to where we have in view judaism which was the world's most sophisticated detailed god-centered definitely believed in the one true god and pointed people towards the one true god but it shows us the failure of even judaism and this may be the only message where you will ever hear me teach or preach where i agree with pope francis who actually got in trouble this week for saying these very things and so here we go verse 11 and the superiority of jesus here in hebrews chapter 7 and therefore if perfection were through the levitical priesthood for under it people received the law so there was a beautiful thing to the levitical priesthood in other words this long line of priests that began with aaron who served in the temple and really when you break this down this was to take the law the decalogue the ten commandments and then the levitical law which would include 613 various commands and things that people needed to do and sacrifices they were were imposed upon them as jewish people along with all the feast days and the high holy days all these things that represented the way that god gave the jewish people to worship and to have a relationship with to some degree the one true and living god they were the only monotheistic religion at the time that was through the law and it was through the priesthood but if perfection were through the levitical priesthood and here it is because in order to go to heaven what do you have to be perfect amen you can't be kind of sorta close you can't have you know 97 good stuff and 3 bad stuff you need to be 100 free from your sin all of it has to be forgiven in that sense you need to be perfect to go to heaven can i tell you and remind you the levitical law never made anyone ever perfect in fact it never purported to make people perfect it made people okay with god for a time for a season and for a reason and that happened on the day of atonement so one high priest one guy one day a year went and secured a temporary in essence annulment of the penalties that were going to come upon all sinful jewish people through the things that were done inside of the holy of holies one day a year what further need was there for that another priest that should arise according the order of melchizedek in other words if the priesthood under aaron could have actually perfected anyone you wouldn't need jesus you wouldn't need a savior religion could have done in other words there actually would have been a way for you to work your way to heaven judaism if it could have worked fully which theoretically with the way the lord laid it out just like it's possible for christians to lead to live perfectly sinless lives by the power of the holy spirit but what happens in dwelling sin we fall short through religion such as judaism same thing is true you might be going the right way you might get almost all the way there you may get right to the door you might get to the veil but the bottom line is not one of us all of us have sinned all of us have fallen short of the glory of god the wages of sin is death one sin two sins ten sins five sins a hundred and fifty thousand sins the wages of sin is death it is the free gift of god to this life eternal there was no way even through judaism for you to be perfect you wouldn't need jesus if there was and not be called according to aaron in other words that whole priesthood that god established for the priesthood being changed of necessity there's also a change in the law you see the law had two aspects to it one is the moral character in other words it represented god in that sense god's perfection god's holiness how god would handle the situation if you were in a situation where there was somebody else's goods and you had an opportunity to take them god's moral character shine through and thou shalt not steal god would never take somebody's stuff god would not actually covet somebody's things in other words if god were involved in the situation the decalogue the ten commandments would say to you you shouldn't take someone else's stuff you actually shouldn't overly desire someone else's stuff you shouldn't desire someone else's spouse thou shalt not commit adultery these things that god said and codified in the ten commandments and then also the rest of the levitical law were basically god's character being passed along to mankind look here's how you would look if i was doing these things for you if your neighbor had a cow and you caused the cow you would give him another cow if you killed your neighbor sheep you would give them another sheep if you wounded your brother you'd take care of your brother those are character issues but the people also had to relate to god some way and so god gives them the ceremonial part of the law that's how the jewish people then related to god so what was that well it's the high holy days it's the feast days it's the various sacrifices it was everything that occurred in the temple so if you had some sin problems you had to have a sin offering if you were joyous you gave a thanks offering or a wave offering if you wanted blessing you would go and ask the priest to bless you so the people related through these things that god had given them so they at least knew the direction to go towards god so you would be fleeing sin and seeking righteousness here's the problem the whole thing ended at the veil in the temple up to that point in time every human being even though you needed to be a priest to get to that place theoretically an average person could have gone into the holy place that's the place where the bread of the showbread was the altar of incense and the giant menorah that shone the light on the court that was in there but that veil that stay out absolutely nobody could go beyond that veil except for one day a year and that day was yom kippur so in essence the whole system got stopped at the holiness of god because on the other side of that was god god's holiness because of who he is says you can't come see me right now and so the high priest cleanses himself prays for his family then prays for all of israel then he goes in with fear and trembling one day a year and when he got in there what did he get he didn't actually get forgiveness of the sins he got atonement for the sense two totally different words they can mean roughly the same thing but the day of atonement wasn't forgiveness it was putting it away to be dealt with later and so here comes this atonement being made the high priest turns around goes back out the other side of the veil he's already in trouble and so is all of the rest of israel so in that sense there was no perfection under this very exquisitely beautiful highly organized and very god-centered religion this just goes to show you how far our religiousness can carry us we love religion we like to check boxes it's like oh i did that i went you know i i went to rosh hashanah and i went to yom kippur i went to the feast of trumpets i went to passover i did all these things and god says yeah but you still have sin you're not perfect sorry you can't come in notice where this goes for he of whom these things was spoken belongs to another tribe from which no man is officiated at the altar you see all the priests came from the tribe of levi aaron's tribe but that isn't where the one who will be after melchizedek is going to come from he's going to come from here it comes for it is evident that our lord arose from judah that's the kingly tribe so now you've got a different priest of whom we spoke last time that is both priest and king he's actually going to be the high priest but he's going to come from the kingly tribe of which the tribe of moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood the priesthood was so strange and if you look at your old testament if you go through the book of leviticus here's what you're going to find there are about a hundred qualifications either in rabbinical writings or in the old testament themselves for a high priest there's only one that's actually in a sense tied to the tribe and that you had to be of the tribe of levi the rest of them are all physical attributes there's not a single character issue in being a high priest in fact the bible actually records that some of the high priest not only were not godly they were ungodly the high priest had an office into which he was born couldn't do anything about that amen and qualifications that he met because of his physical condition can't do anything about that in other words the high priest didn't have to have any moral moral character or any what we would call biblical qualifications of holiness or righteousness now it's not saying they weren't holy not saying they weren't righteous i'm sure they worked very hard at that but the bible doesn't give any qualifications for holiness for the high priest you just have to be of the right tribe be the right height have no blemishes you can't have any physical disfigurements because those things were seen as curses from god hmm and yet as far it's far more evident that in the likeness of melchizedek there arises another priest who has come not according to the law of fleshly commandment you see the fleshly commandment says be of levi and not have these fleshly disfigurements basically but according to the power of an endless life they're starting to show some very definite differences between the priests that would come after the order of melchizedek the one whom we know is jesus the messiah and those that would fall in the lineage of aaron for he testifies you were a priest forever how long was a priest a priest under the old testament law exactly their lifetime and no longer and it usually wasn't that they normally actually retired they stepped away from the priesthood and someone else would take their place sometimes it was years sometimes decades but it surely was not forever but this new one who would be from judah would be a priest forever that's why jesus said i am the resurrection life and he who believes in me though he or she die yet he or she shall live eternal according to the order of melchizedek well now gizette came on the scene and disappeared we don't know where he goes we don't know where he came from don't know but he didn't die for on the one hand there's an annoying of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness in other words old testament judaism was ultimately weak and unprofitable because it didn't fix the problem what was the problem here it comes for the law made nothing perfect nothing not a thing no one ever was made right because of the law it still can't make anyone right so no matter how much law keeping you do no matter how much legalism you lay hold of no matter how many things you do to go to church no matter how big your bible is if you can read hebrew and greek none of those things actually make you perfect not going to change your eternal destiny isn't going to happen why on the other hand there is the bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to god now here's where this goes check this out the law couldn't save you never perfected anyone but what was the whole goal actually of the law the whole goal of the law was to get you near to god that's what the high priest did but it never actually accomplished the goal got you real close got you kind of sort of in the general vicinity one day a year and then it basically got worse the whole rest of the next year god wants you near to him god actually wants to spend eternity with you god has a desire for you to be with him that's why jesus said i am going away but where i go i go to prepare a place for you that where i am you might be there also why because god loves you he actually wants you to have free access that's why that veil that kept the high priest out was torn through christ jesus our lord before what said stay out now has been ripped and it says come in by grace through faith the old testament law said you can't come in grace says welcome home hallelujah why because the old testament law didn't save anybody all that religion for all of its beauty and i want to be very careful here for all of its beauty all of its symbolism all of its typology everything that you could look at the old testament law and go man passover that sure sounds like jesus to me it does why does it sound like jesus because it was pointing to the one who would be like melchizedek who came from nowhere didn't know where he was who'd be an eternal high priest forever not like the former high priest that some of them weren't even good guys imagine putting your hope in somebody that you find at the local bar think about it that was kind of the situation with the old high priest system it's like i go in i do my duties i do my thing i go in and do my religion i come back out and it's like well i'm on vacation i'm not high priesting right now and by the way just so you know they actually took a break from working in the temple they normally had homes in jericho and they would literally go live in jericho and then come to jerusalem when it was their turn to serve in the temple imagine seeing some of those guys when they weren't on duty you see the design of who we are in christ is to draw you all the way into the lord's presence to take you all the way to the king of kings and the lord of lords to provide what the law never could which is forgiveness of your sin not atonement not a putting away but literal forgiveness if you confess your sin he is faithful and just to forgive it and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness the veil is torn abba father wants you to come in i have an office up on the second floor the front part of the building and that's kind of our admin section and so our pastors all have offices up there but it's got some locked doors now you all can come see me and we open those you know you can come and go but you gotta have an appointment and if you were to actually come up the stairs you're going to get to a one lock door before you even get to my door why well because sometimes we have some people that come in they don't have really great motivation so we kind of keep that all blocked off but you know something strange doesn't matter whenever my sons want to come see their dad they can walk right past all the security they can walk right past the cameras they can walk right through the locked doors they can come to my door they can open that door and they can walk in and they can say hi dad why because i'm their father and that is a superior relationship that's the one that supersedes everything else and in the same way through christ jesus your lord you can walk past all the security of the law and all of the commandments of the doors of the law and all of the veil that's used to say stay out you can't come in those doors are permanently and forever opened and kicked open so that you can walk into dad's office in the time amen under the high priest you needed to wait for somebody to lead you up the stairs and open the door for you and then open the next door that's not what god wants he actually wants you to come in and say hi he wants you to come in and love him and he will love you he desires to have you in his presence and so this passage opens this up to us so the jews had a shadow of things that would come that they could never actually attain this guy this high priest was a singular man one who one day a year could get where you can now go 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year you can now walk right into the presence of the living god through christ jesus your lord the jewish people are going ah i wish i could do that it's what i'm hoping to gain and so they believed waiting by faith that's why when we get to chapter 11 it is going to be accounted unto abraham as righteousness because he believed by faith in something he did not ever see matter of fact he didn't actually see formal judaism that would come later you see sometimes people share there what they think are useful little tips on how you should be a a christian and a jew at the same time we call them judaizers people who believe that you know every christian should also be wearing a yamaka and or a kippah if you prefer an italic a prayer shawl we should all get out our phylacteries the bible says that stuff's all been put away it was for the jewish people and jewish people alone it was to draw them to the place where they saw the hopelessness of all of that because it never perfected any of them it pointed in the right direction and in that it was good but there was an imperfection in that in that old testament priesthood and there's another one that is coming a new one this is so important for us because the shadow of what judaism was caused us to really see how wonderful the light of the world actually is when i compare everything that i would have needed to do to be a faithful jewish person going to temple making sure that i celebrated the sabbath shabbat correctly that i did no work from friday at sundown to saturday at sundown that i portioned out my meals that i made sure i didn't take a journey that would take me too far to where my shadow would be cast in the late afternoon if i did all those things supposedly that was going to get me close to god and the problem was it didn't so what did they do they started doing workarounds they would store food at different distances because they didn't want to do any work so instead of taking the prescribed journey they would go out and do it two or three or four times because the day before they stocked food or they would have someone who is a non-jewish person a gentile would come and do work at their home that they themselves couldn't do so the work would be going on anyway on the sabbath why because it was hopeless it just made them desire the wonderful news that would come through the gospel that's why paul called the law a tutor a school master showed me exactly the distance i needed to go you see the truth of the matter is i i'm and i forgive me if you're here and you're a world-class marathoner but if i were to tell you that in order to come to this church you needed to run a two-hour and 15-second 15-minute marathon um probably nobody's going to be here myself included right why because giving you a goal and then you not being able to attain it still leaves you not able to attain it right so it doesn't matter that you know how far it is it doesn't matter that you know how fast you go you need to have some way to actually run that marathon in 2 hours and 15 minutes if you can't do it you still fall short and in the same way the law could tell you how long the race is it could tell you which direction you needed to go can tell you how fast you ought to run but it gave you no capacity to actually run the race because you were not empowered by the holy spirit the holy spirit was in the world affecting the world but the holy spirit was not indwelling believers to christ so they always came up short they would go to those wonderful things that pictured christ and the following day they'd be in the same exact position that they were in previously you see when we think of the word perfect we need to keep god's perspective on perfection now it is true that it means maturity it means completion it can mean something that you understand as i just gave you an analogy i understand that to run a marathon and to do it in world class time it's a certain set of standards they need to keep that type of perfection it can mean full grown in that sense but in this case it's actually the aim it's actually the goal it's what god intends through the law the law was intended to get you to dwell in the presence of god the problem is we couldn't do it and so jesus comes into the world and gives us a way where there was no way he took your sin he took my sin he died on calvary's cross so that we could be close to god that's why jesus actually said there in john 14 6 that he is the way and the truth and the life and no one there is not another way there's not another system there's not another religion there is all roads do not lead to heaven there is one way his name is jesus why it says that because if there was another way let me tell you this it would have been judaism if there was another religion whereby you could actually get into the presence of god it would have been judaism why god created it but he created it to give the jewish people a sense of longing for messiah a sense of desire to to be freed from this bondage that judaism ultimately would become for most of them they're going man i can't do this this temporary covering of my sin actually doesn't forgive my sin the old testament actually helps us understand the new testament and the new covenant in that sense and here's why actually jeremiah the prophet had a picture of exactly what jesus would do if you want to turn there jeremiah 31 verses 31 to 34 and here's what it says behold the days are coming declares the lord when i will make a new covenant what kind of a covenant a new one a new covenant this is jeremiah so he's writing contemporaneously with isaiah the prophet so this is six to seven hundred years before jesus sets foot on the earth i will make a new covenant who gave the old one god actually there were three of them there was a covenant made with no noah a covenant made with abraham and a covenant made with david but the main one is the covenant with abraham i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and with the house of judah so that's the north and the south the northern kingdom the southern kingdom all 12 tribes not like the covenant which i made with their fathers and the day that i took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of egypt that's where that covenant came from moses records it but this is the covenant which i will make with the house of israel after those days declares the lord i will put my law within them you see the law was external to the jewish people it remains external one of the things that you see when you travel to israel is the external law it's literally bound on their wrists and on their foreheads it's external it's kind of supposed to bleed through this is a little box called a phylactery inside of it or passages of scripture the shema's in there hear o israel the lord thy god the lord is one they would literally have it on their person and god said that's really not getting it it's not actually working all that well it could but it's not i will put my law within them and on their heart i will write it and i will be their god and they will be my people and they shall not teach again each man to his neighbor each man is brother saying know the lord for they shall all know me so it's obviously talking about the time after the tribulation when israel comes paul said it all israel will be saved ultimately from the least of them to the greatest of them declares the lord for i will here it comes forgive their iniquity and their sin i will remember no more you see that was the problem by the law it was simply a tone for it was never completely forgiven they kind of carried around we'll take care of this later sign and jeremiah said that one day that would go internal that law would be on their hearts it wouldn't be something external to them any longer and the lord would literally forgive their sin that's my problem that's your problem and so this whole relationship was changed the priesthood has changed out of necessity they're in verse 12. so there has to be a change in the law now is there a change in the law itself that would be the question that most people would ask and the answer to that is short answer yes long answer not exactly there is a change in how we relate to the law hence what i said as we began in our introduction the law itself comes out of god's holiness it comes out of his character it comes out of his nature it expresses who he is so all of that's contained in the law actually expresses the moral character of god if you want to look at it that way the problem is what's being spoken of here is not the moral character that part still remains it's the ceremonial part of it how do you relate to it you see the jewish people kept the sabbath the jewish people went to temple the jewish people offered sacrifices the jewish people did the things that god told them to do as a way to relate to god we no longer relate to god that way you don't need to start raising sheep in your backyard so that you make sure that you have a passover lamb you don't need to celebrate passover or rosh hashanah you don't need to celebrate the feast of trumpets those were ceremonial this was the way god told the jewish people this is how you will relate to me jesus changed that part of it because now we relate to cr to god by grace through faith in christ jesus is lord and so those old ceremonies those old ways of doing church have passed away but god's moral law has not passed away that's why it's still not okay with god if you steal that's why it's not okay with god if you're a fornicator that's why you shouldn't be bitter that's why you shouldn't be unforgiving that's why you shouldn't be unmerciful that's why we should be people who love that's why we should be forgiving you see that's all attached to god's character because god is always forgiving god is merciful god is kind god would never steal someone else's goods those things are his character so the judaic system is gone so in that sense the way we relate to god is very different but the god we relate to is not one iota different he is still the same yesterday today and forever so what god hated in the old testament he still hates i mean people want to debate the issue of specifically homosexuality with me it's like god didn't change his moral character that is a sexual sin as far as god is concerned that's why he condemned it in the old testament and he still condemns it in the new it's not a debatable issue for me so when somebody comes to me well you know i just think things have changed well not in god's view that may be what you think but that's not what god's word says well grace man god's grace doesn't cover cover your open rebellion and sin when you choose to do what god tells you not to do that's rebellion that's that's not you deciding that well i just want to live in grace in other words god's moral law still stands so what about wearing you know keep us in prayer shawls and all those kind of things god gave those things to the jewish people they were very specific to them they don't have any bearing whatsoever on the church today you look around this sanctuary right now we have people in shorts there are people with ball caps and i'm not saying any of these things are mandatory attire look i grew up a very conservative southern baptist church okay boys and girls did not swim in the same pool okay that type of legalism i grew up you put on your sunday go to meet and close you should shine your shoes so that if god looks down on you he can see himself okay i grew up in that environment going to church then all of a sudden i realized that god could see through my shoes that he didn't actually care i i went to a church my entire youth okay i was on a baseball team we're going we're we're in a championship game i'm going after church i'm in my uniform i was told i could not sit in my own church because i had a ball cap on i came back i was a child of the 60s and 70s yes i had hair down to here and there are pictures to prove it may not seem real today but back then it was here okay i'm not saying it was good not saying it was bad i had one of the elders of the church walk up to me thou shalt not be effeminate i go i'm a rock climber backpacker a five sport lettered athlete and you're telling me i look like a woman i'm gonna deck you right here i was not in the spirit i was told i could not sit in my own church because of my hair do you think god cared about my hair nah i don't think so because i wanted to be there i actually wanted to worship god i love god with all my heart soul mind and strength god doesn't care about the outside he cares about the inside now it doesn't mean that you should do anything you want you should honor god with everything we should attempt to be holy he is holy we we should do our very best in every circumstance for the lord but just like the jewish people made up all these rules and regulations of when the prayer shawl went over your head and when it was often when the kippah was on and how the phylactery was tied and how many twists it all became work that never got them where they needed to go which was close to god it actually kept them from god because it became about how they did everything church you don't want to live your life like that notice a couple of things as we close this is clearer still it says there in verses 15 to 17 if another priest arises the word another there is is very useful for us because there are two greek words that are used to express the concept of another the first of which is alos and it means another one of exactly the same kind so as an example i drive a toyota tundra it is a full-size pickup truck if i were to buy an f-150 and i trade in my tundra i bought an alos another one of exactly the same kind it's another full-size pickup but if i bought a prius i would be buying another vehicle that is heteros it is completely different than my toyota tundra i can put the prius in the bed drive away with it they're completely different vehicles they're still vehicles but completely different kind in the same way this another priest that's going to come is still god incarnate in human flesh he's still human he's still man but he's not like us he's one of one he's what colossians declares he's the one way the one truth the one life he he is in that sense heteros he's qualitatively different he's holy he's perfect he's just the old high priest were not holy not perfect not just the new high priest is absolutely perfect absolutely just and the only way anyone can be saved he's one of one the perfect priest and in that way he can rule eternally why that's why he said i am the resurrection of life and he that believes in me though he shall die he shall die she dies we all die eventually if you die in christ jesus you shall live because he has a different kingdom a different priesthood and a different way for you to relate to him and that's why this passage ends this way that ceremonial law was replaced it was replaced by jesus he said that was good for its time but you can't get near to god through it you can have some temporary cessation of hostilities but you're still going to have the same problem at the end of every day that your sins aren't going to be forgiven if your sins aren't forgiven you can't go to heaven and if you can't go to heaven that's where god is you can't be near to god so it says the point is for us to draw near so the old law is set aside it's done away with it it's completely annulled in that sense if you have a marriage license and you have it annulled it's made null and void it no longer is of any consequence whatsoever in the same way the old testament law is now null and void it's of no consequence whatsoever to the believer you don't have to keep the various attributes of the old testament law you don't have to wander around wearing a kippah you don't have to wear a prayer shawl if you're a man you don't have to cover your head if you're a woman you can cover your head if you're a guy which you couldn't do as a man it's all these things that were placed on us that never got us next to where we want to go never got us near to god just told us how far away we were so that whole sacrificial system jesus said i have an idea if you live and believe in me you'll have eternal life different kind of priest different kind of priesthood and definitely a different destination and that destination is heaven and it's heaven forever it's not some temporary thing that you could get through some guy who got you access it's you can walk in and you can say i want to know you lord and he'll receive you if you invite him in he will receive you because of what jesus did as your high priest amen let's stand and we'll close in prayer if you're here today and you need to make that decision i want to encourage you we do have a prayer team in our prayer room they would love to share the basic gospel with you we'll run a little long because of all the other things we have going on today but i want to make sure that you have the opportunity to receive christ because he is the one way the one truth and the one life and you can't get to heaven in the other way including through judaism being a buddhist will not get you there being a faithful hindu will not get you there being an animist will not get you there being a mormon will not get you there there is only one way to heaven and it's the man christ jesus father we thank you that you sent the one high priest to cover it all the one who instead of just simply going in and meeting with you and coming back out toward the veil so that that veil is now torn to those who believe lord we believe as your church and we thank you that we can now enter into your presence every day lord all we need to do is pray in jesus name and we have an advocate with the father and so lord we just thank you for that free relationship we have we thank you that you jesus are superior to everything that judaism ever taught we bless your name we thank you for our salvation in you jesus it's in your name we pray amen [Applause] let's sing this together singing oh christ be magnified we'll let his praise arise christ be magnified in me oh christ be magnified from the altar of my life christ we magnify [Music] amen make that your prayer we'll see you out on thursday night as we continue through the book of james remember you can go into the father's office in the time you can call him abba which means daddy in aramaic what a great thing amen you don't need me you got jesus god bless you [Music] [Applause] rain on me [Music] [Applause] rain on me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] overflow [Music] [Applause] [Music] refreshing [Applause] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] the windows of hair [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] i hear the sound i come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] refreshing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] rain on me [Music] [Applause] [Music] let your voice [Applause] [Music] god of creation they're at the start before the beginning of time [Music] with no point of reference you spoke to the dark and fleshed out the wonder of life and as you speak a hundred billion galaxies are born in the vapor [Music] i can see your heart and everything you make every burning star signal fire grace if creation sings your praise is [Music] [Music] your insides follow the sound of your voice [Music] your breath evolving in pursuit of what you said [Applause] and if it all reveals [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] every [Music] [Applause] this you

Channel: Calvary Chapel South Bay

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Id: 3DbXfAfDi50

Length: 92min 10sec (5530 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021