On that first Easter Sunday morning, some women went 00:00:08.00\00:00:10.57 to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body for burial. 00:00:10.57\00:00:13.74 An angel met them and told the women Jesus 00:00:13.74\00:00:16.61 was risen from the dead, so they hurried off 00:00:16.61\00:00:18.58 to tell the eleven remaining disciples. 00:00:18.58\00:00:22.18 Luke 24:11 reveals the disciples surprising reaction. 00:00:22.18\00:00:24.69 In their disappointment, they forgot some 00:00:31.13\00:00:32.79 of the plainest statements Jesus had made to them. 00:00:32.79\00:00:35.43 Jesus had said, "I'm going up to Jerusalem, 00:00:35.43\00:00:37.97 and I'm going to die." He said that He would 00:00:37.97\00:00:40.34 be rejected by the elders and the chief priests 00:00:40.34\00:00:42.60 and the scribes, and that He'd be killed, 00:00:42.60\00:00:45.14 and He said He would rise again - 00:00:45.14\00:00:47.28 but the disciples didn't quite get it. 00:00:47.28\00:00:49.91 And now that the women were there telling the disciples 00:00:49.91\00:00:51.91 that Jesus' prophecies had been fulfilled, 00:00:51.91\00:00:54.22 they refused to believe. Such is the power 00:00:54.22\00:00:57.22 of preconceived ideas, and such is the power 00:00:57.22\00:00:59.89 of crushing disappointment. The disciples were foolish 00:00:59.89\00:01:02.89 to refuse to believe - they had let what they saw 00:01:02.89\00:01:05.93 totally destroy their faith in what they couldn't see 00:01:05.93\00:01:10.37 Maybe we make that mistake. Because we don't see the 00:01:10.37\00:01:13.00 big picture we might jump to a wrong conclusion 00:01:13.00\00:01:14.97 that doesn't involve hope. The cross of Jesus tells us 00:01:14.97\00:01:17.81 that victory often comes out of defeat, and it reminds 00:01:17.81\00:01:21.04 us that what we see is often not the whole picture. 00:01:21.04\00:01:24.21 Trust God today, even if it seems your hopes have 00:01:24.21\00:01:26.92 been dashed, even if something just doesn't make sense. 00:01:26.92\00:01:29.62 The resurrection had taken place and yet the disciples 00:01:29.62\00:01:32.15 were all doom and gloom. That resurrection says 00:01:32.15\00:01:36.29 there's a God who is alive - and He's working 00:01:36.29\00:01:37.93 in your life right now. Have faith to know that God 00:01:37.93\00:01:42.40 isn't simply the God of what you can see, He's also the God 00:01:42.40\00:01:46.23 of what you cannot see. I'm John Bradshaw 00:01:46.23\00:01:50.01 for It is Written. Follow us on Facebook 00:01:50.01\00:01:52.11 and Twitter and let's live today by Every Word. 00:01:52.11\00:01:59.15 [bluegrass music] ["Were You There"] 00:02:01.88\00:02:55.97 It has stood the test of time. 00:03:03.38\00:03:08.38 God's book, the bible. Still relevant in 00:03:08.38\00:03:14.22 today's complex world. It Is Written sharing hope 00:03:14.22\00:03:21.86 around the globe. 00:03:21.86\00:03:25.37 [mysterious music] Kim Philby was destined to 00:03:34.34\00:03:47.99 make his mark in the world. The son of a rather brilliant 00:03:47.99\00:03:51.06 father, he was educated at the best schools in England, 00:03:51.06\00:03:53.93 including Trinity College in Cambridge. 00:03:53.93\00:03:56.60 For 30 years Philby worked for British intelligence, rising 00:03:56.60\00:04:00.37 to a very high rank in the British Secret Intelligence 00:04:00.37\00:04:03.41 Service, M.I.6: he ran its entire counterespionage 00:04:03.41\00:04:07.84 programme - that is, he was in charge of stopping spies 00:04:07.84\00:04:11.55 collecting information on Britain - and set up the 00:04:11.55\00:04:14.42 section that spied on the Soviet Union. 00:04:14.42\00:04:23.73 [Music in the background] But what nobody knew was that 00:04:23.73\00:04:31.57 while Kim Philby was in charge of an important part of Great 00:04:31.57\00:04:35.34 Britain's spy programme, he himself was in fact a DOUBLE 00:04:35.34\00:04:38.91 AGENT: while supposedly protecting Britain from spies, 00:04:38.91\00:04:45.15 Philby was a spy himself, working for the Soviet Union. 00:04:45.15\00:04:50.79 He provided a lot of information to the Soviets 00:04:50.79\00:04:53.32 that led to the deaths of a large number of agents, 00:04:53.32\00:04:55.96 and he inflicted real damage on both American 00:04:55.96\00:04:58.86 and British intelligence. 00:04:58.86\00:05:02.66 Kim Philby died in Moscow in 1988. 00:05:14.48\00:05:17.45 A brilliant man, a capable man, but a double agent. 00:05:17.45\00:05:22.45 Nobody really knew just whose side he was on. 00:05:22.45\00:05:28.96 I've wondered often just how many people know 00:05:28.96\00:05:33.46 whose side GOD is on. I'm not suggesting for a 00:05:33.46\00:05:36.30 second that God is a double agent, but that many people 00:05:36.30\00:05:39.33 aren't entirely sure just whose side He is on, as life plays 00:05:39.33\00:05:42.87 out here on Planet Earth. God gets blamed for an 00:05:42.87\00:05:46.44 enormous amount of bad things: in 2005, not long after 00:05:46.44\00:05:50.21 Hurricane Katrina, Time Magazine featured 00:05:50.21\00:05:53.08 an article titled, "Where Was God?" 00:05:53.08\00:05:56.22 It investigated the myriad responses from people about 00:05:56.22\00:05:59.45 the cause of the calamity - masses felt that it was God's 00:05:59.45\00:06:03.43 judgment for just about everything. 00:06:03.43\00:06:06.09 After the Asian tsunami, the Archbishop of Canterbury 00:06:06.09\00:06:08.63 said, "Of course, this makes us doubt 00:06:08.63\00:06:11.13 God's existence." So very often when personal 00:06:11.13\00:06:15.30 tragedy strikes, the question asked is 00:06:15.30\00:06:17.44 "Why did God allow this?" That's not always a bad 00:06:17.44\00:06:21.34 question - even Jesus cried out, My God, My God, 00:06:21.34\00:06:25.71 Why hast thou forsaken me? But all too often present in 00:06:25.71\00:06:29.78 the question is the suggestion that God is the villain. 00:06:29.78\00:06:34.12 And the question gets murky for some when we start to 00:06:34.12\00:06:37.19 wrestle with matters of personal sin - "Does God still 00:06:37.19\00:06:40.43 care for me, does God still love me, is God still with me 00:06:40.43\00:06:43.80 after what I've done?" How far does the love and patience 00:06:43.80\00:06:48.20 and acceptance of God stretch in the case 00:06:48.20\00:06:51.44 of sinners committing sin? Serious questions. 00:06:51.44\00:06:55.24 And the Bible provides us with serious answers. 00:06:55.24\00:06:59.08 You don't really have to go far in the Bible to 00:06:59.08\00:07:01.38 figure this thing out. John chapter 8 describes how 00:07:01.38\00:07:04.75 Jesus handled a broken life. We find Jesus in the temple 00:07:04.75\00:07:09.59 where you'd expect it to be very reverent, very quiet, 00:07:09.59\00:07:14.46 when something strange happens. 00:07:14.46\00:07:17.37 A group of apparently upstanding men bring to Jesus 00:07:17.37\00:07:20.17 a woman who had just been caught in an act of immorality. 00:07:20.17\00:07:24.67 Angry men, a cowering, perhaps a weeping woman, there's 00:07:24.67\00:07:29.38 tension in the air as justice is being demanded. 00:07:29.38\00:07:33.58 Here's how John describes the scene. 00:07:33.58\00:07:36.28 John Chapter eight 00:07:36.28\00:07:38.19 Well, what could He say? If she's guilty, she's guilty. 00:07:58.57\00:08:01.64 Really, that settles it. But aren't you glad that it 00:08:01.64\00:08:06.05 doesn't actually settle it in the mind of God? 00:08:06.05\00:08:10.05 Not right away. If guilt "settled it", our 00:08:10.05\00:08:13.46 collective goose would have been well and truly cooked 00:08:13.46\00:08:14.56 a long time ago. And according to the Bible, 00:08:14.56\00:08:17.26 we're all in the same situation. 00:08:17.26\00:08:19.86 Romans 3:23 says, 00:08:19.86\00:08:21.63 If our misdeeds settled it, if our sins settled it, 00:08:24.57\00:08:29.27 none of us would ever have the slightest hope 00:08:29.27\00:08:32.61 of going to heaven. We'd be done! 00:08:32.61\00:08:35.38 So how did Jesus respond? John 8, we pick it up in verse 6 00:08:35.38\00:08:39.81 Now, they were right. She was a sinful woman, 00:08:58.50\00:09:02.40 and she had done wrong. But Jesus challenges these 00:09:02.40\00:09:06.68 individuals and tells them to go right ahead and stone this 00:09:06.68\00:09:10.75 poor creature as long as they themselves were without sin. 00:09:10.75\00:09:16.58 You know, when the woman heard Jesus say that, she no doubt 00:09:16.58\00:09:20.09 thought she was dead. These holy, righteous men, 00:09:20.09\00:09:24.43 she thought. They come off as being so 00:09:24.43\00:09:27.10 holy they'll probably all be throwing rocks at me. 00:09:27.10\00:09:30.07 It'll be a blizzard! But instead, they drop their 00:09:30.07\00:09:33.94 rocks and walk away, leaving Jesus, the perfect, holy, 00:09:33.94\00:09:39.47 righteous Son of God - God in the flesh - alone with this 00:09:39.47\00:09:44.41 miserable, wicked, corrupt individual, who really did 00:09:44.41\00:09:49.12 deserve to have the book thrown at her. 00:09:49.12\00:09:52.32 Now let's see how this story ends. 00:09:52.32\00:09:54.06 John 8, again we pick it up in verse 10. 00:09:54.06\00:09:56.62 Can you imagine how she felt?! You know how good you felt 00:10:16.44\00:10:19.78 when you got pulled up for speeding and the police 00:10:19.78\00:10:22.18 officer let you off with just a warning, right? 00:10:22.18\00:10:24.69 And all you avoided was a $100 fine. 00:10:24.69\00:10:27.42 This woman escaped with her life. 00:10:27.42\00:10:30.76 Now why did Jesus do that? Because that's whose side 00:10:30.76\00:10:35.43 Jesus is on. Do you remember the famous 00:10:35.43\00:10:38.63 verse in John 3:16, but what about John 3:17? It says this: 00:10:38.63\00:10:44.64 God is in the business of SAVING people. 00:10:53.88\00:10:57.35 In fact, God gives us an incredible illustration to 00:10:57.35\00:11:01.19 help us understand just whose side He is on today. 00:11:01.19\00:11:04.56 God had Israel build Him a dwelling place, a sanctuary. 00:11:04.56\00:11:09.93 In Exodus 25:8 it says: 00:11:09.93\00:11:14.47 God wanted to spend time with His people. 00:11:20.74\00:11:24.55 The sanctuary was mobile - it traveled with the Israelites 00:11:24.55\00:11:28.78 through the wilderness. And it was magnificent - 00:11:28.78\00:11:31.85 gold plated boards set in sockets of silver, 00:11:31.85\00:11:35.69 fine linen, beautiful curtains, a golden candlestick 00:11:35.69\00:11:39.96 with seven lamps giving light day and night, 00:11:39.96\00:11:42.56 gold-plated furniture and items of pure gold. 00:11:42.56\00:11:54.51 And most magnificently, the Shekinah Glory was in there 00:11:54.51\00:11:59.61 the presence of God Himself. Of course, in time the 00:11:59.61\00:12:04.62 mobile sanctuary was superseded by the temple. 00:12:04.62\00:12:08.42 Yet you'll remember that when Jesus died the veil in that 00:12:08.42\00:12:12.43 temple was torn in two by an act of God. 00:12:12.43\00:12:16.83 God was signifying that the temple services were now 00:12:16.83\00:12:19.93 obsolete - the True Lamb had come and died. 00:12:19.93\00:12:24.14 As such, it was redundant for God's people to offer animal 00:12:24.14\00:12:26.74 sacrifices anymore. In fact, you could say it was 00:12:26.74\00:12:29.54 offensive - to have faith in a lamb sacrifice would be to 00:12:29.54\00:12:33.21 fail to recognize the True Lamb had died. 00:12:33.21\00:12:36.62 The temple had really served its purpose. 00:12:36.62\00:12:39.72 So what is the Bible talking about when it talks about 00:12:39.72\00:12:42.52 a sanctuary that is still important to us today? 00:12:42.52\00:12:46.43 In the book of Hebrews we discover a sanctuary 00:12:46.43\00:12:50.23 in heaven. And according the book of 00:12:50.23\00:12:53.10 Exodus, Moses was told to by God to build the earthly 00:12:53.10\00:12:56.71 sanctuary and pattern it after the heavenly. 00:12:56.71\00:13:01.88 Now why is that important? The simple existence of the 00:13:01.88\00:13:05.48 building itself isn't the item of most major importance. 00:13:05.48\00:13:09.98 What is most important is what is going on in that sanctuary. 00:13:09.98\00:13:14.59 What is going on there shows us where God's mind is towards 00:13:14.59\00:13:19.09 the sinners of this world. I4ll tell you in a moment 00:13:19.09\00:13:23.06 where Jesus is and what he is doing. 00:13:23.06\00:13:26.17 And the answer will bless you incredibly. 00:13:26.17\00:13:29.94 In the wilderness, the children of Israel 00:13:33.11\00:13:35.54 followed God's instructions to build a beautiful temple. 00:13:35.54\00:13:39.55 The sanctuary services represented God's plan 00:13:39.55\00:13:42.28 of salvation through Jesus. It foreshadowed wonderful things 00:13:42.28\00:13:45.95 to come, and provides for us, even today, a rich 00:13:45.95\00:13:48.86 representation of the work of Jesus on our behalf. 00:13:48.86\00:13:52.33 To see and understand the beauty of God's way, as revealed in 00:13:52.33\00:13:55.30 the sanctuary, request our FREE booklet, 00:13:55.30\00:13:58.33 "Rebuilding the Temple" All you need to do is call 00:13:58.33\00:14:01.54 (800) 253-3000 and ask for your copy of 00:14:01.54\00:14:05.14 "Rebuilding the Temple." If the line's busy, 00:14:05.14\00:14:07.71 please try again. You can write to It Is Written, 00:14:07.71\00:14:10.45 P.O. Box 6, Chattanooga, TN 37401. 00:14:10.45\00:14:15.42 We'll mail a free copy to you in North America. 00:14:15.42\00:14:18.95 It Is Written is a faith-based ministry and your support makes 00:14:18.95\00:14:22.36 it possible for us to share God's good news 00:14:22.36\00:14:24.89 with the world. Thank you for your continued 00:14:24.89\00:14:27.36 prayerful support. Again, that toll-free number is, 00:14:27.36\00:14:30.17 (800) 253-3000, and our website address is 00:14:30.17\00:14:34.14 ItIsWritten.com. 00:14:34.14\00:14:36.71 After Jesus died on the cross, we know where He went. 00:14:37.31\00:14:40.38 He went to the grave. I know it says in the 00:14:40.38\00:14:42.91 Apostles' Creed - "He descended into hell, on the third day 00:14:42.91\00:14:45.78 He rose again..." - but that is true in the 00:14:45.78\00:14:48.02 Biblical sense where the word 'hell' is often used 00:14:48.02\00:14:50.45 to mean the grave. Jesus descended 00:14:50.45\00:14:53.02 into the grave. When he died, he didn4t go to 00:14:53.02\00:14:55.32 a hot place in the center of the earth. 00:14:55.32\00:14:57.49 That is just fantasy with no biblical basis at all. 00:14:57.49\00:15:00.30 The wonderful news is, though, that the grave could 00:15:00.30\00:15:03.16 not hold Jesus! He came forth triumphant. 00:15:03.16\00:15:06.23 Then where did He go? He went to heaven. 00:15:06.23\00:15:09.57 And what did He go to heaven for? 00:15:09.57\00:15:12.04 Was it just to bide His time as He waited for 00:15:12.04\00:15:14.61 the Second Coming? No, Jesus went to heaven 00:15:14.61\00:15:17.05 to do far more than that. According to the book of 00:15:17.05\00:15:20.65 Hebrews, Jesus is performing a specific role in heaven. 00:15:20.65\00:15:25.09 Hebrews 4:14 says, 00:15:25.09\00:15:27.96 Jesus went to heaven to be our High Priest. 00:15:37.77\00:15:40.80 Now let's look at Hebrews 8, verses 1 and 2. 00:15:40.80\00:15:45.24 Jesus has gone to heaven, to the heavenly sanctuary 00:16:01.66\00:16:05.06 that God made, so that He can be 00:16:05.06\00:16:07.13 our High Priest. Now think about what that 00:16:07.13\00:16:10.67 means for us. The old sanctuary service was 00:16:10.67\00:16:13.54 essentially the gospel in types and shadows. 00:16:13.54\00:16:17.27 How could God help Israel understand what the plan of 00:16:17.27\00:16:20.01 salvation was really all about? He taught them - it's like 00:16:20.01\00:16:24.28 this, He said. Sin causes death. 00:16:24.28\00:16:27.02 I want to show you how it will cause the death of my Son, 00:16:27.02\00:16:30.15 so I'll put that in the figure of 00:16:30.15\00:16:32.22 the death of a lamb. Because of your 00:16:32.22\00:16:34.89 sin the lamb dies. Here's what they'd do. 00:16:34.89\00:16:37.93 The sinner would take a lamb to this sanctuary. 00:16:37.93\00:16:40.60 He'd confess his sins over the lamb, and his sins would 00:16:40.60\00:16:44.20 be transferred - figuratively, obviously 00:16:44.20\00:16:47.40 - to the lamb. The Lamb would be killed, 00:16:47.40\00:16:50.54 and the blood would be taken inside the sanctuary, 00:16:50.54\00:16:54.84 some of the blood. In that way, the sin 00:16:54.84\00:16:57.81 was transferred into the sanctuary. 00:16:57.81\00:17:01.48 At the end of the year the entire sin record would 00:17:01.48\00:17:03.95 be dealt with, on the Day of Atonement. 00:17:03.95\00:17:06.79 The sanctuary would be cleansed, and the people would 00:17:06.79\00:17:09.49 rejoice that they stood before God absolutely pure and clean. 00:17:09.49\00:17:14.20 Does this relate to our salvation today? 00:17:14.20\00:17:17.00 You bet it does. When we need cleansing 00:17:17.00\00:17:19.60 from sin, we come to Jesus. The Holy Spirit convicts us of 00:17:19.60\00:17:23.41 our sin, and then prompts us to come to God. 00:17:23.41\00:17:26.51 We come - we are drawn to Him by God Himself. 00:17:26.51\00:17:30.28 We confess our sins. Who takes our sins? 00:17:30.28\00:17:33.18 Jesus, the Lamb. He died on the cross to pay 00:17:33.18\00:17:36.48 the penalty for our sins once and for all. 00:17:36.48\00:17:39.75 So we come to Christ, we profess faith 00:17:39.75\00:17:42.56 in the sacrifice of the Lamb when Jesus died on the cross, 00:17:42.56\00:17:46.19 and God takes our sins away. Now, back in the OT time, 00:17:46.19\00:17:50.20 when the sinner confessed, there was a middle man 00:17:50.20\00:17:53.37 - a priest, or a high priest. 00:17:53.37\00:17:55.94 Today, there's a Middle Man - our High Priest, Jesus. 00:17:55.94\00:18:00.51 Look at what we read in 1 John 2:1 - The Bible says, 00:18:00.51\00:18:05.38 As our High Priest in heaven, Jesus intercedes for us. 00:18:16.26\00:18:20.10 We come to Him with our sins, repentant. 00:18:20.10\00:18:22.83 He takes our sins from us, appeals to God in our behalf, 00:18:22.83\00:18:27.14 and gives His own perfect righteousness in place 00:18:27.14\00:18:31.61 of our sins. What this tells us is that in 00:18:31.61\00:18:34.74 heaven there is a Saviour who invites us to come to Him, 00:18:34.74\00:18:38.95 just as we are, knowing that He will have mercy on us. 00:18:38.95\00:18:44.05 Remember what it said back in Hebrews 4:14? 00:18:44.05\00:18:48.26 If you're a sinner who has faith in Jesus 00:18:58.27\00:19:00.64 and you've got your struggles, the answer is not to let go! 00:19:00.64\00:19:05.27 The knowledge that a holy, righteous Jesus is your High 00:19:05.27\00:19:08.54 Priest in heaven absolutely must inspire you 00:19:08.54\00:19:11.78 to hang on tight! The Greek word that is 00:19:11.78\00:19:14.98 translated into "hold fast" means "to cling to 00:19:14.98\00:19:19.12 tenaciously." That's like a barnacle clinging 00:19:19.12\00:19:22.36 to the side of a ship. You can hardly pry 00:19:22.36\00:19:25.19 those things off! And when you know that Jesus 00:19:25.19\00:19:29.13 is on your side in heaven, that ought to give you 00:19:29.13\00:19:32.60 confidence to live on in on such a way that nothing 00:19:32.60\00:19:35.87 can pry you off. Continuing in Heb 4:16 00:19:35.87\00:19:40.84 We are to come with confidence, because Jesus is our High 00:19:51.05\00:19:54.12 Priest, and our intercessor. I spoke to someone recently 00:19:54.12\00:19:57.93 who said to me, I hope I'm good enough 00:19:57.93\00:20:00.53 to go to heaven. And you know what 00:20:00.53\00:20:02.93 I told this person? I said, You'll never 00:20:02.93\00:20:05.57 be good enough. That's why we need Jesus! 00:20:05.57\00:20:08.77 And in fact, if you're hoping to ever be good enough for God 00:20:08.77\00:20:10.81 to save you, you need to stop hoping that right now. 00:20:10.81\00:20:14.28 Now, if what you mean is that you hope to be ready, 00:20:14.28\00:20:17.75 or you hope to see Jesus, well that's fine. 00:20:17.75\00:20:20.62 But if you're hoping to be good enough to go to heaven, 00:20:20.62\00:20:23.12 you've got another thing coming. 00:20:23.12\00:20:25.29 Now this might surprise you, but I've taught my children to 00:20:25.29\00:20:28.66 never pray that God will help them to be good. 00:20:28.66\00:20:31.86 Now why would I say that? I'll tell you why in a moment. 00:20:31.86\00:20:36.56 Planning for your financial future is a vital aspect 00:20:38.27\00:20:42.34 of Christian stewardship. For this reason, It Is Written 00:20:42.34\00:20:45.67 is pleased to offer free planned giving 00:20:45.67\00:20:48.11 and estate services. For information on how we can 00:20:48.11\00:20:50.91 help you please call 1.800.992.2219. 00:20:50.91\00:20:55.02 To receive additional material on the advantages of life 00:20:55.02\00:20:58.22 income planstages of life such as a Charitable Gift 00:20:58.22\00:21:00.86 Annuity, which can provide you with tax benefits and income 00:21:00.86\00:21:03.96 for life, call today or visit our special website: 00:21:03.96\00:21:07.96 www.hislegacy.com. You can also write to 00:21:07.96\00:21:13.67 It Is Written, Planned Giving and Trust Services, 00:21:13.67\00:21:16.54 P.O. Box 6, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37401. 00:21:16.54\00:21:21.84 Our toll free number again is 1.800.992.2219 and our web 00:21:21.84\00:21:26.38 address www.hislegacy.com. 00:21:26.38\00:21:31.95 You know, I4ve taught my children to never 00:21:37.33\00:21:39.36 pray to be good. I remember my little boy 00:21:39.36\00:21:42.33 praying that - "Dear Jesus, help me to be good." 00:21:42.33\00:21:45.13 And I said, No, we are not going to pray that way. 00:21:45.13\00:21:48.64 Not that I want my children to pray to be bad, 00:21:48.64\00:21:51.27 you understand! But what happens 00:21:51.27\00:21:53.34 if you pray to be good? You're doomed to fail. 00:21:53.34\00:21:56.98 In Romans chapter 3, Paul is quoting the Psalms when he 00:21:56.98\00:22:00.28 writes these words: 00:22:00.28\00:22:02.92 And then verse 12 adds. 00:22:08.42\00:22:09.99 So you're going to try to be good, 00:22:14.40\00:22:16.60 or pray to be good? All you can do is FAIL! 00:22:16.60\00:22:20.14 The person who prays to be good is sooner or later going 00:22:20.14\00:22:22.74 to figure out that such an approach cannot work, 00:22:22.74\00:22:25.77 and before long one of a couple of things 00:22:25.77\00:22:28.28 is going to happen: they're either going to give 00:22:28.28\00:22:30.51 up on God, or just as bad, they're going to stay in the 00:22:30.51\00:22:33.65 church and be miserable and feel condemned. 00:22:33.65\00:22:36.99 But God didn't ever ask us to be good. 00:22:36.99\00:22:39.39 He asked us to be HOLY! And where are you going to get 00:22:39.39\00:22:43.12 holiness from? Not from yourself, 00:22:43.12\00:22:45.83 that's for sure! I've encouraged my children to 00:22:45.83\00:22:48.56 pray instead that Christ will live in their hearts; that God 00:22:48.56\00:22:53.03 would forgive them and give them new hearts. 00:22:53.03\00:22:55.54 See, if you are praying to be good, it'll never work. 00:22:55.54\00:22:58.64 If you pray for Jesus to live in your heart, 00:22:58.64\00:23:01.38 it'll never fail! When Jesus comes into your 00:23:01.38\00:23:04.25 life He brings His goodness, His righteousness, 00:23:04.25\00:23:07.05 and His holiness. And that's what we need. 00:23:07.05\00:23:10.99 And we can get that - sinners like us! 00:23:10.99\00:23:14.32 We can receive Christ's holiness freely when we come 00:23:14.32\00:23:18.73 confidently to the throne of grace. 00:23:18.73\00:23:21.40 So what's the worst thing that can happen if you admit to God 00:23:21.40\00:23:23.80 that you are a sinner? Do you think God is going 00:23:23.80\00:23:26.30 to be shocked to find that out? I don't think so! 00:23:26.30\00:23:29.70 When Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, 00:23:29.70\00:23:31.84 He wasn't referring to just the holy folks! 00:23:36.31\00:23:38.91 If you are burdened, if you are weary, if you are feeling 00:23:38.91\00:23:42.82 crushed by the weight of the mess in your life, Come to 00:23:42.82\00:23:46.09 Jesus, just as you are!!! Hebrews 9:24 00:23:46.09\00:23:51.49 is a powerful text. It tells us that Jesus 00:23:51.49\00:23:54.50 has gone... 00:23:54.50\00:23:58.97 Now I'm not attempting to minimize the seriousness 00:24:07.24\00:24:09.51 of the spiritual mess we find ourselves in, 00:24:09.51\00:24:12.31 but I'm telling you it4s impossible to overstate@ 00:24:12.31\00:24:15.72 the importance of the wonderful truth that Jesus is in heaven, 00:24:15.72\00:24:20.09 as our High Priest, FOR US! Not against us, but FOR us! 00:24:20.09\00:24:28.20 That means He will give you spiritual help. 00:24:28.20\00:24:31.17 He will provide emotional help. 00:24:31.17\00:24:33.67 He will not cast you off the moment you make a mess. 00:24:33.67\00:24:37.27 Hebrews 7:25 says this 00:24:37.27\00:24:40.51 Jesus lives "to make intercession" for us. 00:24:52.09\00:24:55.16 You can know where Jesus is - He4s in heaven. 00:24:55.16\00:24:58.46 You can know what He is doing - He4s acting as your 00:24:58.46\00:25:00.93 High Priest. And you can know that 00:25:00.93\00:25:03.10 He is for you, and not against you. 00:25:03.10\00:25:06.80 And that's good news. I want to thank him for 00:25:06.80\00:25:10.51 that right now. Why don't as we pray, we 00:25:10.51\00:25:14.41 commit ourselves to accepting Christ, his ministry as our 00:25:14.41\00:25:19.41 High Priest, and why don't we ask God for help to trust that 00:25:19.41\00:25:23.79 Jesus, through His ministry, will do with our lives 00:25:23.79\00:25:26.22 everything He wants to do. Let's pray together. 00:25:26.22\00:25:29.89 Our Father in heaven, we thank you today that we have a High 00:25:29.89\00:25:32.39 Priest in heaven. Jesus isn't AWOL. 00:25:32.39\00:25:35.40 He isn't missing. We know where He is - in 00:25:35.40\00:25:38.10 heaven's temple, heaven's sanctuary. 00:25:38.10\00:25:41.94 And we know what he is doing. He is not sitting around on a 00:25:41.94\00:25:45.17 fluffy cloud eating grapes, hanging out with angels, 00:25:45.17\00:25:48.54 just waiting to return to this earth. No. 00:25:48.54\00:25:51.01 He is actively engaged in our salvation, interceding for us 00:25:51.01\00:25:53.95 in Your presence and so we thank you. 00:25:53.95\00:25:56.65 We thank you for his blood, shed that we might be cleansed 00:25:56.65\00:26:01.19 from all of our sins. Lord, give us grace to have 00:26:01.19\00:26:04.93 faith in you. Give us confidence knowing 00:26:04.93\00:26:07.73 Jesus is in heaven for us and not against us! 00:26:07.73\00:26:13.67 And we pray with thanks today, in Jesus' name, amen. 00:26:13.67\00:26:18.24 [Prayer Music] 00:26:18.24\00:26:40.93 In the wilderness, the children of Israel 00:26:42.43\00:26:44.60 followed God's instructions to build a beautiful temple. 00:26:44.60\00:26:48.64 The sanctuary services represented God's plan 00:26:48.64\00:26:51.14 of salvation through Jesus. It foreshadowed wonderful things 00:26:51.14\00:26:54.88 to come, and provides for us, even today, a rich 00:26:54.88\00:26:57.85 representation of the work of Jesus on our behalf. 00:26:57.85\00:27:01.38 To see and understand the beauty of God's way, as revealed in 00:27:01.38\00:27:04.25 the sanctuary, request our FREE booklet, 00:27:04.25\00:27:07.39 "Rebuilding the Temple" All you need to do is call 00:27:07.39\00:27:10.53 (800) 253-3000 and ask for your copy of 00:27:10.53\00:27:13.90 "Rebuilding the Temple." If the line's busy, 00:27:13.90\00:27:16.60 please try again. You can write to It Is Written, 00:27:16.60\00:27:19.33 P.O. Box 6, Chattanooga, TN 37401. 00:27:19.33\00:27:24.34 We'll mail a free copy to you in North America. 00:27:24.34\00:27:28.04 It Is Written is a faith-based ministry. 00:27:28.04\00:27:30.75 Thank you for your continued prayerful support. 00:27:30.75\00:27:33.28 Again, that toll-free number is, (800) 253-3000, 00:27:33.28\00:27:37.12 and our website address is ItIsWritten.com. 00:27:37.12\00:27:41.19 Thanks for joining me today. Look forward to seeing you 00:27:42.56\00:27:45.19 next time. And until then, be sure to 00:27:45.19\00:27:47.86 remember: It Is Written: man shall not live 00:27:47.86\00:27:52.17 by bread alone, but by every word that 00:27:52.17\00:27:55.57 proceeds from the mouth of God [dramatic music] 00:27:55.57\00:28:23.73