Title: Living in the Shadows
Purpose: To encourage Christians not to pre-occupy themselves with worldy things
Intro:
- This morning we will be talking about shadows
- Shadows were a neat thing when we used to make them on the wall at the end of a film reel
- The shadow while it has the same shape as my hand, looks quite different than the hand
- Last week say how Jesus entered into Heaven as a High Priest after orfder of Mel.
- In so doing, became mediator of a better covenant.
- Chapter 9 & 10 describes this covenant
- Text: Chapter 9
- How is this covenant better?
I. It is based on an inner cleansing, not an outer one
- Under the new covenant, our "conscience" is cleansed
- I often think of Jimminy Cricket in Pinnochio
- Let you conscience be your guide
- Think of the conscience as a little voice that tells you what decisions to make
- However, that is not quite what the Biblical idea of conscience is
- A conscience is "inner thoughts" or "awareness of sins"
- This can cause guilt
- In this text, it stands in contrast to the physical "body"
- What is contrasted is an inner verses outer cleansing
- Notice what the text says about the old system
- The old system could not make the worshipper perfect in conscience
- To be made perfect in conscience is to have the hinderances removed that prevent us from entering into God's presence
- While the tabernacle stood, there was not way into the "inner sanctuary"
- That is where God "dwelt" (in the Mercy Seat)
- Only the High Priest could enter, and only once a year to make atonement
- Numbers 16:1-3; 17:12-13 - People could not approach
- It was laid down "let him not remain long lest he put Israel in terror"
- People literally held their breath when High Priest went in
- Breathed a sigh of relief when he returned from God's presence still alive because God accepted the offer
- The "heavenlies" needed to be cleansed with Christ's blood
- Does not mean things in Heaven, but spiritual things
- Same thought in Eph 6:12 talking about wicked forces in the "heavenlies", meaning the spiritual realm
- The Copies (furniture, articles, even people) needed to be cleansed before they could serve God in his house
- The church is now God's house
- But God does not dwell in the building or furniture
- God dwells IN US as his church
- Therefore, we need to be cleansed inwardly before God can dwell in us
- This is the cleansing of the conscience
- Putting on the new man
- Being transformed by the renewing of our mind
- Under the new covenant, we have free access to God at any time
- It is because we have been cleansed inwardly
- The old system was powerless to cleanse our conscience
- The reason was because of the content of the sacrifice, the blood of animals
II. It is based on the blood of Jesus, not of animals
- Jesus shed his blood only once in contrast to animals who were sacrificed time after time
- What is the significance of the blood of Jesus as opposed to animal blood?
- Could Jesus go to the blood bank and donate some?
- No! It wasn't the red matter
- It was the fact that Jesus shed his LIFE for us
- Jesus with his sacrifice became a "will maker"
- A will does not go into effect until the one who made it dies
- Jesus had to die so that we could be under a last will and testament of grace
- Jesus was the son of God
- Animal blood made ceremonially clean
- Blood of Jesus makes truly clean
- Therefore only one sacrifice of Jesus for all time
- I used to Drive a brown Gremlin
- Had blue primered door and side view mirror hanging by the cable
- Used to take it fishing, so it smelled of fish
- Maybe that is why I could never get a date
- Took all kinds of carpet fresheners to try and get rid of smell
- At first the results were disasterous, smelled both like carpet fresh AND fish
- After I used enough the smell was gone
- However, when it got hot or humid, the smell came back
- The smell never really left, it was just covered up only to resurface
- I kept a supply of air fresheners on hand in case I had guests in my car
- That is how it was under the old system
- The sacrifices were an "atonement" for sins
- Atonement means something like "covering"
- They were covered by the animal sacrifices
- However, the text says that Jesus appeared to "put away" sins once for all
- He appears in the presence of God on our behalf
- He will appear again after being in the true tabernacle
- So we have a better mediator under the new covenant
III. It is based on reality, not shadows
- The idea of the old being a shadow already introduced in Chapter 8
- Now the same idea comes up again
- The Old System is a "symbol"
- Grk: parabole - or "parable"
- Earthly story with a heavenly meaning
- What were they supposed to learn from the parable?
- - (Lev. 10:10) Holiness, separation, sinfulness
- Jesus is the fulfillment of the parable/symbol/shadow (v.23-28)
- The copies were cleansed with animal blood (the "parable" or "shadow")
- The heavenly things (our conscience) is cleanse with Christ's clood (the "reality")
- The real ministry took place in Heaven, the true tabernacle
- Jesus entered into the TRUE tabernacle with his own blood
- What happened in earthly tabernacle only a shadow of what happen in heaven
- Reality cannot be seen on this earth
- Before dishes can be used, we clean them
- Reading a story to the kids about washing dishes doesn't get them clean
- However, that story tells how they really get cleaned
- The earthly tabernacle tells how our sins are truly cleansed by Jesus
- We have a much better system under the New Covenant of Christ
- The Old System is just a story pointing to a greater reality
- The New System is not just a story, but reality
Concl:
- This has been a very theological lesson
- What was the purpose of all this information
- Remember who this was written to:
- A people who had been waiting for Christ to return in their life time
- A people being persecuted for their faith in Jesus
- A people slipping back to the old ways a Judaism
- Those old ways of Judaism are inferior, and the way of Jesus is superior
- The new is based on an inner cleansing, the old on an outer one
- The new is based on the blood of Jesus, not animals
- The new is based on reality, not shadows
- The old system was just a shadow, it only pointed the the reality of the work of Jesus in Heaven
- they were going back to what was not reality
- WE AS CHRISTIANS DON'T LIVE ACCORDING TO THE SHADOWS
- We live according to reality
- We walk by faith, not by sight
- We focus not on what is seen, but on what is unseen
- Our citizenship is in Heaven
- Our bank account is in Heaven
- Even though we live by faith, we can see evidence of God all around us
- "The Heavens declare the glory of God..."
- "God's invisible attributes can be understood from his creation"
- But these things only point to God, THEY ARE A SHADOW OF TRUE REALITY
- Don't concentrate on the shadow! (We are often so wrapped up in things of this earth)
- Song: "Beyond the sunset's radiant glow, there is a brighter world I know"
- Focus on the hand, not on the shadow it casts on the screen
- It may be easier to
- Stay at home and not come
- Not read your Bible
- Keep mouth shut about faith
- Not go over your Children's Bible school homework
- All to have more time for self, or to make life easier ON EARTH
- Don't slip into the shadows, look beyond the sunsets radiant glow