Welcome friends
to books of the book
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The program that explores
the bible one book at a time
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I'm Ty Gibson and with me today
is my co-Host James Rafferty.
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And we are in the midst of a
study in the book of Hebrews.
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And James we are about in
chapter 6, the latter part,
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Let's just launch right in.
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Yes grab your bible, a
listening ear and let's look
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At Hebrews chapter 6, so
far Paul has admonished the
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believers in Hebrews to not
be slothful, be diligent, to
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get back into the Word of God,
he's couched this with assurance
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with encouragement, he said
I am sure I have faith that you
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guys can do better than
you have been doing, of course
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that's very important
whenever we are seeking
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to encourage
others, to be more diligent.
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Then he goes
into, verse 13, promises
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that God is making to us.
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He says here, "for when
God made promises to Abraham,
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because He could swear by no
greater, He swear by Himself,
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saying, surely blessing I
will bless thee, verse 14,
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and multiplying I
will multiply thee. "
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This is really vital James,
because according to scripture,
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God has admonished us, not
to make oaths, I mean we as
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human beings are very,
very likely to have an expanded
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or an inflated idea of
what we are capable of.
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God is the one Who's
making the promises here.
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God is the promise-Keeper.
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Many times our
promises are like ropes of sand.
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it's almost impossible to climb
up on anything when you are
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holding on to a rope of sand.
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That's right!
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And so it's not wrong for
us, in a sense, it's not wrong
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for us to make promises,
perhaps to one another,
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I make promises to my children
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all the time and
I try to keep them.
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but when it comes to
spiritual things, we cannot
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make promises to God because
we are not promise-Keepers.
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when it comes to
our relationship on a
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spiritual level, with God.
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Very strong language is used
here, in which God is describing
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how He is approaching us.
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God is saying I am going
to swear an oath and that oath
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is immutable, that oath is
unchangeable, it absolutely
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will be brought to pass,
what I say, the words that go
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out of my mouth will
not return void, they will
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accomplish the purpose for
which I have sent them forth.
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And that is why God can swear.
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In the Bible, old and new
testament, we find that God does
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make these types of
oaths because He can be trusted
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to accomplish what He says,
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where as we, we are told
by Jesus in Matthew, chapter 5
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for example, 33-37,
swear not at all, neither by
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heaven nor by earth.
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Why? Because we cannot make
one of our hairs white or black.
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but God is able to
bring to past what He says.
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So God can be
trusted, man cannot.
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The Bible brings this
out in many different ways.
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But one of the themes of
scripture is the weakness of
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human beings to accomplish
their own salvation, to
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deal affectively with
sin, but God's effectual power,
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to deal with the sin problem,
we have already noticed in the
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book of Hebrews, in chapter
1, that Jesus Christ, and I love
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this language, by
HIMSELF, purged our sins.
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And then later on in Hebrews,
leading up through Chapter 4,
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we're simply called upon,
by faith, to put ourselves in
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Christ, to put ourselves
in a position of confidence,
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a position of
trust and a position,
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Paul says in Hebrews 4, of rest.
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Absolutely and I really
like this, because the word
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immutable means unchangeable.
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And you can only rest when you
have that kind of environment,
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an environment that is trust-
worthy, an environment that is
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stable, an environment
that is unchangeable.
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Whenever you are in an
environment that is, Oh, uneasy,
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we find
ourselves unable to rest.
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I find myself not sure
about what the future holds,
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and that makes me restless.
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So God establishes, by His word,
by His promises, oath, on these
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two immutable things, these
unchangeable things, His word
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in an oath, He establish
us in a stable environment.
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James, Paul is laying ground
work here for later comments
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he's going to make on the new
covenant, and one of the themes
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of the Book of Hebrews is that
the essence of the new covenant
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is that it is based on
God's promises and God's power,
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God's better promises,
better than our promises to God,
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And that the Lord is able to
bring to pass exactly what it is
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that He has
established as a purpose for us.
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We see the Old Testament
experience of Israel for example
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that the old covenant
was characterized in the
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Book of Exodus, by their promise
to God were they said, all
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the Lord has said we will do
and obey all His commandments
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Well we know from the Biblical
record that they in fact did not
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fulfill that very
grandiose promise to God.
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Absolutely!
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So we move forward in Scripture
and we see God turning the
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tables and saying now, I will
forgive your sins and iniquities
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I will cast them into
the depths of the sea,
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I will remember them no more,
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and I will give you a new
heart, and I will write my law
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in your heart, that is a
promise from God, that He
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intends to bring to pass.
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And that's why Paul, in
verse 18, calls these immutable
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things a strong constellation.
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A strong constellation and a
refuge that we are to lay hold
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on as a hope
that is set before us.
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I love this terminology here,
we have strong constellation
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we have a refuge, we
have a hope in Jesus Christ,
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all of this is centered around
the promises of God, the oath
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of God that is immutable,
unchangeable that is given to
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us today, in His word.
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Then Paul launches into a
very powerful statement in
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verses 19 and 20,
that we want to explore.
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He says in verse 19, "This
hope we have as an anchor of
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the soul, both sure and
steadfast," there's that
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confidence language again,
" in God's immutable oath,
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sure and steadfast, and
which enters the presence
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behind the veil;"
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and then verse 20,
"Where the forerunner
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has entered for us, even
Jesus, having become high priest
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for ever according to
the order of Melchisedec. "
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So right here James, in verse
19, He's telling us that our
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hope is a hope that
reaches in through the veil
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into the very presence of God
where Jesus has entered for us.
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Now this is where we are making
a transition, now, we are taking
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the Word of God, we are taking
the oath of God, we are taking
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strong constellation God
has given us in Jesus, and now
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we are taking it somewhere.
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We are taking it into a phase
of ministry, a phase of the
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gospel, an understanding
of truth, that has to do with
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Christ in heaven, Christ
in the presence of God for us
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as our high priest.
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We need to explore a little
bit, the language that is being
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used here, because we have
a Presence, Capital P this is
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obviously the Shikina presence
of God, and we have this
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Presence behind the veil.
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This is sanctuary language.
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This is temple language and
it is bringing to our attention
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the old Testament sanctuary
service as a symbolic type
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In which the Christian
experience, the spiritual
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experience of God's people,
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was represented, or symbolized,
by kind of a journey, a path,
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or a way, and the believer
is called upon by faith,
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to follow the priest, in
a series of moves, beyond or
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through a series of
three veils or curtains.
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First into the courtyard,
then into the holy place,
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and finally into the
Most holy place to the Shikina
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presence of God.
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This is exactly what
Paul is seeking to do friends.
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Paul is seeking to lead
us from the earthly sanctuary
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from the earthly priesthood,
from that type to the heavenly
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reality, he is seeking to
lead us from everything that
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was typified in the Levitical
priesthood in the earthly
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sanctuary to the reality that
we have in Jesus Christ, through
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these veils in the
heavenly sanctuary.
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This raises the question James,
Why is it that we are separated
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from God, by a veil?
What's the meaning of this veil
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and why is it that we
as human beings have to be
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in this separated state
from God and then make some kind
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of journey back
to where we belong?
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We have separated ourselves
our sins have separated
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ourselves from God.
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We have pulled away from
Him, and God is laying this out
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in a type so that we can
see how it is that we can make
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this journey back to Him.
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God is not very far from anyone
of us, but He sees that sin
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has affected us and
broken that relationship that we
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once had with Him.
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What is it, is it
Isaiah 59:2 I believe it is?
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Were it says your sins have
separated between you and your
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God, your iniquity, has
caused you to, what does it say?
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Be blind to Him, you
don't see Him, I can't remember
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the exact language but
the idea is separation.
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What is so powerful about Isaiah
59:2 is the context verse 1
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says "the Lords hand is not
shorten that He cannot save,
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neither is His ear
heavy that He cannot hear. "
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In other words, God isn't far
from us, He is very close to us.
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He isn't distant from
us, He can hear us, He knows
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what we are going through,
but our iniquities, our sins
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have separated us from
Him, have hid His face from us.
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So that we do not hear.
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This idea of the veil
is brought up other places
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in Scripture, and I'm thinking
specifically of 2 Corinthians,
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Chapter 3 and Chapter 4
were the Apostle Paul develops
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this idea and he says that there
is a veil that has been erected
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in our minds, and he uses
this language, he says, that our
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minds have been blinded
to the glory of God by the
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activity of Satan, the
enemy of God, who is imposing on
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on our minds, on our perception,
lies about the character of God,
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and then at that point, with
that veil over our minds were
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we are blinded to the
truth about God, Jesus enters.
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In Chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians,
verse 6, it says very clearly
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that Jesus is the one Who comes
and just as God said let light
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shine out of darkness, in
Genesis, He has caused light
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to shine in our hearts, by the
glory of Jesus to reveal to us
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the truth about God.
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So the veil of our mind is
penetrated and that is somehow
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represented by this veil
in the sanctuary service.
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There is a sense James, in
which as you read this veiling
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language in Scripture, in which
we are separated by God by our
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sins, in a very real external
sense, and we are all so
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separated by God, in a
mental, perceptual faith sense.
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And so the veil needs to be
penetrated literally, there is
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an literal sanctuary, in
which God is to be worshipped
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and ultimately we are moving
back into immediate fellowship
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with God within the
throne room of the Universe,
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the Most holy
place, at the same time,
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there is a veil in
our minds that need to be
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penetrated, prepatory
to us being able to feel
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comfortable returning to God.
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And we see this all through the
book of Hebrews, Hebrews has a
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lot of symbolism that points
to reality, Melchisedec was a
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literal priest, king,
Melchisedec was a person that
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was in the Old Testament and
yet here he symbolizes Christ.
00:11:57.46\00:12:01.10
He symbolizes a ministry that
Christ has accomplishing for us.
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A ministry that points to
a type of priest hood that is
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different than
Levitical priesthood.
00:12:08.11\00:12:09.80
And now the reason why Jesus is
brought to our attention here as
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our high priest is because Paul
says that He is our fore-runner.
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This is an exciting idea
James, the word fore-runner
00:12:20.31\00:12:25.10
can be translated scout.
00:12:25.13\00:12:27.48
Now we know what a scout is, a
scout is someone who goes ahead
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of a traveling party, to
scope out what's in the distance
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ahead and to come back
with a report as to whether
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or not there
are friendly forces,
00:12:38.87\00:12:40.43
or hostile forces up ahead.
00:12:40.46\00:12:42.31
And so Jesus is our fore-runner,
that is He has run before us
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into the presence of
God, through the veil, into
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fellowship with God and He is
giving a report, He is speaking
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back the good news of
gospel to us as human beings and
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saying, listen I know
that in your experience
00:12:59.34\00:13:01.96
referring back t Genesis,
that you became afraid of God,
00:13:01.99\00:13:05.83
in a very negative
sense, you hid from God,
00:13:05.86\00:13:09.23
you are in a condition in which
you are separated from God,
00:13:09.26\00:13:12.22
and you perceive Him
with a veil on your mind,
00:13:12.25\00:13:14.85
as a hostile force, as
someone who is against you,
00:13:14.88\00:13:17.90
but Jesus says
God is not hostile,
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He is for us, the Father
Himself, in John 16, loves you
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Jesus says, so the scout, the
fore-runner who's gone before us
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it's as He has traversed the
whole path of human experience,
00:13:30.62\00:13:34.37
as a human being, and He is
shouting back and speaking back
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to us and He is saying, come on
move forward, come boldly into
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the presence of God,
before the throne of grace,
00:13:42.89\00:13:45.21
He'll give you mercy and
He'll give you grace to help.
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You don't need to be shy about
this, come boldly before God.
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Amen, and we see that in
this context, verses 19 and 20.
00:13:52.34\00:13:55.83
Pointing to the fore-runner,
pointing to the sanctuary in
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heaven, calling us
to come within the veil,
00:13:58.61\00:14:00.38
and by the way that word veil,
can stand for the veil, the
00:14:00.41\00:14:03.33
curtain that was before the
holy place, the Most holy place,
00:14:03.37\00:14:06.25
The point that Paul is making
here is we want to go from
00:14:06.29\00:14:08.99
the earthly to the heavenly,
we want to go from the types
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to the anti-type, the
fulfillment to the reality I
00:14:11.72\00:14:14.41
should say, we want to
enter into the veil, and we
00:14:14.45\00:14:17.07
want to see Christ in there
as an Melchisedec priest hood
00:14:17.11\00:14:20.52
a Royal priest for us before the
Father, He scouted it out and
00:14:20.56\00:14:24.63
he's telling us that it is a
friendly place, a place where
00:14:24.67\00:14:28.31
we can find acceptance, we
can find mercy, grace and power.
00:14:28.35\00:14:31.78
Were we can find the joy and
happiness God wants us to have.
00:14:31.82\00:14:34.99
We are going to explore Hebrews
Chapter 7 further in just a
00:14:35.02\00:14:37.62
moment James, but we are going
to take a break and encourage
00:14:37.65\00:14:40.42
our viewers to stay with us,
as we continue moving through
00:14:40.45\00:14:43.18
Hebrews Chapter 7.
00:14:43.22\00:14:44.87