How Will God Solve the Greatest Problem in the Universe pt. 2

Guest (Male): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, "How will God solve the greatest problem in the universe? Part 2." Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: Two things about the burnt offering. Number one, the burnt offering goes 24 hours a day. Number two about the burnt offering is this: the burnt offering takes place when the Holy Spirit convicted people of sin. They would then come here to the altar and bring that burnt offering. There was also a grain offering. The grain offering could be used as a thank offering where people praise God when they brought it, but it could be used for something else. What if a person was too poor to bring a lamb? What if they were too poor to bring a bullock? They could bring grain and scrape that together. What if they didn't have any grain? You know what the Bible says? They could bring a pigeon. What if they were too poor and couldn't find a pigeon? The Bible says go out and catch a turtledove and bring that. In other words, God says, "Bring what you have." When you bring what you have, God says, "I'm there for you to receive you." There was the peace offering, Leviticus chapter 3. The peace offering was more when I'd commit an intentional sin, I know I've done it, I bring a peace offering. The sin offering. There are times we sin and it's unintentional, but yet the Spirit convicts us. I didn't mean to do that, but I did it anyway. So you had the unintentional offering. There's the trespass offering. That was like if a person broke a contract with God, like if they weren't faithful to their tithes. If they broke that contract, they ate some of the first fruits of the land, that was the trespass offering. Now you ask, "Why are there so many offerings?" Here's why. Because there is no sin that can't be atoned for. There's no sin too great for God to forgive. All may come and receive His gracious forgiveness, His abundant mercy, and His redeeming grace. See, there are so many offerings for God to say to you and me tonight: whatever your past, whatever guilt afflicts your soul, whatever condemnation fills your heart, God says, "I am there for you. Come not to some earthly sanctuary, but come and kneel before the great heavenly sanctuary because the earthly sanctuary was simply a scale model of the great original." Now, what's the process in the court? What happens as the sinner comes with their sanctuary? What's that process? Leviticus 1:4 and 5: "Then shall he lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted in his behalf to make atonement for him, and he shall kill the bull." Notice this: the sinner comes with the sacrifice. He brings that sacrifice to the sanctuary. He places his hand over the head of the offering of the sacrifice, and the sacrifice is accepted in his behalf. What happens when he lays his hand above the head of the sacrifice? It says in Leviticus 1:4 and 5: "It shall be when he is guilty in any of these matters, he shall confess in that thing." So confession was very, very specific. If a person lost his temper, he didn't come to the sanctuary and say, "Oh Lord, if I did anything wrong, please forgive me." Has anybody ever really wronged you, I mean really bad? They've defamed your name, they've criticized you, they've gossiped about you, or they've done something, they've defrauded you, they've stolen something from you, and they feel a little bit guilty about it. I mean just a little bit. They really want things to get better for themselves, so they come and say, "If I have done anything wrong, please forgive me." Is that any kind of confession at all? What do you think? No, that didn't take place in the sanctuary. They didn't come and say, "You know, Lord, if I did anything wrong, please forgive me." Rather, they came, placed their hands over the head of the lamb or the animal, and began to confess their sin. They said, "Jesus, I got angry with my brother, and that anger is eating away my heart and I'm filled with guilt. Jesus, forgive me. Lord, I defrauded somebody else. I stole from them. Jesus, forgive me." And there in that sanctuary, sin was transferred from the sinner to the substitute. When the sin was transferred from the sinner to the substitute, the sinner had to take the knife. Can you imagine that individual taking that lamb? The lamb has its head on that knee, and the person takes out the knife and slits the throat of the lamb and blood runs down that person's leg. He sees that lamb quiver and he watches that lamb die. You say, "That was terrible. The lamb didn't do anything." Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Every lamb that died represented the Christ that would hang on the cross with nails through His hands, and blood running down His wrists, and a crown of thorns upon His head. So that Romans 8:1 would be true. Read it together with me, please: "There is then now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus." You see, at the altar of burnt offering, the guilt of our sin is transferred to Jesus. Who had the sin when the sinner came to the sanctuary? Who had it? You know. The sinner had it. He's burdened down with guilt. He's burdened down with shame. He's burdened down with condemnation. He is burdened down. Guilt is destroying many a person's joy in life. Who had the guilt after the sinner confessed his sin? Who had it then? The lamb. Sin was transferred, the guilt to the lamb, and the lamb died. The blood was then taken into the sanctuary and was sprinkled before the veil. How many times was the blood sprinkled before the veil? How many times? Seven times. Why was the blood sprinkled seven times? Jesus was wounded seven times. They whipped His back once. They put a crown of thorns upon His head twice, that's the second wound. They put nails in each of His hands, that's three and four. They nailed both of His feet to the cross, that's five and six. They put a spear in His side, so the blood is sprinkled seven times because the blood of Christ is perfect to redeem you and me from the guilt and shame of sin. There is no sin too great for Jesus to reach out. He is the dying lamb. As it says in Second Peter 1:22 to 24, who bore our own sins on the tree. Now here's the reality: either you are going to bear your own guilt or Jesus is going to bear it for you. Either you're going to carry that guilt, and that shame, and that worry, and that condemnation. Many people feel guilty not because of what they've done, but because what they haven't done. They look back over their life and they say, "I should have done this. I should have done that." We come with all of our guilt to the sanctuary and we say, "Jesus, you take that. You take it for me." Now, although grace is free, the cost of sin is enormous. Although grace is free, the cost of sin is enormous. The cost of sin is the cost of the blood of Christ. When the sinner slew the lamb, he could see the blood of that lamb being poured out and he sensed the cost of sin to God. When we come in our imagination to the cross and we sense Christ dying for us, Zechariah 12:10. Let's read it together: "They shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son." So coming to the sanctuary, coming with our lamb in our imagination, we see Christ dying for us on the cross of Calvary. There as we see Jesus dying, we sense what our sins have done to Christ. That is the greatest remedy to overcome sin in your life. The greatest remedy to overcome sin is not the fear of hell. Because if you only fear hell, you're going to want to have sin more than you want hell. See, if the greatest motivation to overcome any bad habit or any sinful habit in your life, if that motivation is simply the joy of heaven, the joy of doing the temporary thing that you want to do is going to become greater. So what's the greatest motivation? The greatest motivation is to know that Christ wants me in heaven more than anything else. And that His love is so great for me that every time I turn my back on Him in sin, it breaks His heart and He weeps. Because He knows that sin is self-destructive and He knows it's going to destroy me and He's weeping over that. There's a statement in a book called Education that really impressed me when I read it. It says, "Those who think of the result of hastening or hindering the gospel, think of it in relationship to themselves and to the world." Few think of its relationship to God. Few give thought to the suffering that God has caused our Creator. All heaven suffered in Christ's agony. But that suffering did not begin or end with His manifestation in humanity. The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that sin from its very inception has brought to the heart of God. Every departure from right, every deed of cruelty, every failure of humanity to reach His ideal brings grief to Him. So as we look at the cross and we see Christ bearing the sins and the condemnations of the world, we see Christ hanging there filled with guilt and shame, to our guilt, our shame. As we see His life, the life of the divine Son of God, being snuffed out on the cross, we see the agony of it all. As we see that, it brings sorrow to our hearts. You know, let's suppose that here's a child and he goes over and touches a very hot stove, burns his hand. But then five minutes later, he goes over and touches it again. Goes over five minutes later, touches it again. What would you know? It didn't hurt him enough. Right? Because if it hurt that kid enough, what would he do? He wouldn't touch the stove anymore. Right? When sin hurts us enough, we get on our knees and in brokenhearted repentance, we say, "God, I know what I've done brings you pain. The reason it brings you pain is because you cannot love without pain. Your love for me is so great that it breaks my heart when I break yours." And that's the very nature of our love with God.
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Mark Finley: Now, there are two ways that sin was transferred to the sanctuary, that got from the court into the sanctuary. Eventually, it got into the sanctuary this way. It entered either through the blood of the sacrifice, so the sacrifice is offered here in the court and then the blood of that sacrifice is brought into the sanctuary by the priest. Secondly, it could get into the sanctuary in some offerings the priest would eat the sacrifice and that he would go in and in his body. So Jesus died on earth's cross. He died in the court of this world. He then ascended as our High Priest, and the sin through His blood is brought into heaven's sanctuary. There in heaven's sanctuary, Jesus Himself stands before the very throne of God. Now as the priest enters the sanctuary, he first washes in the bronze laver. What's bronze a symbol of, everybody? What's bronze a symbol of? Salvation. Water is a symbol of cleansing. So as the priest enters the sanctuary, the tabernacle, Christ loved the church, Ephesians 5:26 to 28, and gave Himself for it that He might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. So the water in the laver represents cleansing. We come to Christ. He forgives our sin. He transforms us. But we ask Him to cleanse us by His word because we're going to enter into the sanctuary. The Shekinah presence of God is in the Most Holy place, but that shines over into the Holy place of the sanctuary. Why? What's this laver represent? That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it might be holy without blemish. God's great desire is to bring a people into the sanctuary who are in His presence. There in His presence, He works a work in our life that transforms us. So let's tonight go past the laver. The laver, the bronze laver speaks of royal priests. It speaks of representatives of the living God. It speaks of being redeemed by His grace. It speaks about being justified by His death. It speaks about being washed clean through His word. Every element of the sanctuary is an element that speaks to you and me about the glory, the grace of our God. Now let's go together into this Holy place and journey there tonight. In the Holy place of this tabernacle, there were two parts. One was called the Most Holy, behind the veil, and one is called the Holy place. In this Holy place, there are three elements of furniture: there is the golden branch candlestick, the seven-branch candlestick; there is the Table of Shewbread; and there is the Altar of Incense. What significance do these have to our Christian lives and how, as looking at them, they can be transformational to us? The seven-branch candlestick represents the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God to uplift the living Christ. The only light in the sanctuary is that light that comes from the candlestick. The scripture says God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. The candlestick represents the God that wants to light up your life. When you are have difficulty making a decision and you look to the future in darkness, the Holy Spirit through the Word wants to lighten your life. The Spirit of God illuminates the dark mind of man to the knowledge of God in spiritual life. So you remember where scripture says in Psalm 119, verse 105: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." See, that's sanctuary language. And so the sanctuary message is saying: fill your mind with the Word of God. Where you are confused about truth, fill your mind with the Word of God. Where things seem dark and unclear, fill your mind with the Word of God. It is that Word of God that illuminates our lives. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," John 8, verse 12. Psalm 119, verse 105 says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." We come from the candlestick to the Table of Shewbread. Now, the Table of Shewbread, the only light that was cast upon it was the light that came from the candlestick. So God's light shines upon that table. God's Word illuminates the entire Holy place. Now the Table of Shewbread was called also the Table of the Presence. Let's look a little bit at how that Table of Shewbread was built. Exodus 25, verse 23 to 30: "You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length; a cubit its width; and a cubit and a half its height; and you shall overlay it with pure gold." Now what is the table made out of? What kind of wood? Acacia wood. Now acacia wood was a common wood in Israel. When you look at acacia wood, it is nothing special. Jesus is the root out of dry ground. But here's something interesting about acacia wood: it would never rot. It was extremely light, easily to be carried. One other thing: if you look at botanists and if you look at naturalists, they will tell you that acacia wood is almost indestructible. So Jesus comes, that root out of dry ground. He comes as that one who has no appearance of greatness. He tabernacles in human flesh. The acacia wood would represent the humanity of Christ. But notice what the scripture says: that this is overlaid with pure gold, representing the divinity of Christ. Christ is fully God, Christ is fully man, and Jesus left heaven and here He is, the divine Son of God, the King of the universe. So in the very architecture, the acacia wood, we have Jesus who's fully man who understands us. Jesus is fully God who ascends to heaven in our behalf. Jesus is the King and the High Priest. There were 12 loaves, one for the tribes of Israel. They were placed on this table representing Christ. Christ supports us. He holds us up. 12 loaves, He holds up and supports all of Israel, all of His people. The acacia wood table overlaid with gold, two cubits long, one cubit wide, one and a half cubits high, the gold molding. All of this represents the beauty, the glory, the majesty of Christ. Now every Sabbath, according to Leviticus 24:5 and 9, every Sabbath, the priest comes into this Holy place. He puts new bread upon that table and there he establishes an everlasting covenant. So every Sabbath, God's people are to come to worship, to praise, to feast on the bread of life. Fresh loaves were placed there every seventh day, every Sabbath. What is God saying to us in the sanctuary? He's saying: come to worship, come to worship, and as you worship, feast on the Word of God. The frankincense was removed so that there would be fresh bread, fresh worship every week. All loaves were the same material, the same size, the same weight. There's no partiality with God's people. They come black, and white, and Asian. They come rich, and poor. They come literate, and illiterate. But they come. And as we come to the sanctuary, we come to worship the living Christ. Now according to tradition, eight priests held hands as they passed the bread in fellowship. So we come and we share God's grace and His love with others every Sabbath. It's the table of the presence. We come to eat and digest that very bread. Our Table of Shewbread points to Christ who's made a covenant built on better promises and provided a blood covenant meal for us to participate that we might all be one in the Spirit. So what's the Table of Shewbread all about? It's about a covenant that God makes with His people. He said, "Come, come every day and feast on the bread of life in my Word. Come every week on the Sabbath and enjoy the marvels of grace as you worship me." Jesus says in John 6, verse 51 to 58: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I'll give for the life of the world. As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me." Jesus said, "Just as the priests ate of that bread on the Table of Shewbread, Jesus said, 'I want to nourish your heart. I want to strengthen your life.' It's the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit, they are life." Jesus says, "I'm the bread of life. Come feast on my Word. And as you do, I'm going to fill your heart with satisfaction just like good whole wheat bread satisfies the body." Jesus says, "Come." Is your heart longing for something you don't have? Jesus says, "Come and I will satisfy that inner longing of your heart." We come now to that third element: the Altar of Incense. As the incense ascends, the incense represents the prayers of believers mingled with the righteousness of Christ. Our prayers are defiled, but they're purified by His righteousness. You know, the golden Altar of Incense again was two cubits tall, one cubit square. It had a crown of gold on the top and it had four golden horns. Again it was made of acacia wood, the human Christ; again overlaid with gold, the divine Christ. Again two rods here, indicating that Christ will carry you when you cannot carry yourself. Four horns indicating universality, that as your prayers ascend to heaven from wherever you are in the world, Christ is there to hear those prayers. Christ is there to take the selfishness of our hearts. We at times don't even know how to pray, but Christ is there with His righteousness, with His graciousness, with His goodness. But most of all, as those prayers ascend to heaven, they represent Christ's prayers for you and for me in the heavenly sanctuary. Do you feel weak tonight? Do you feel at times that you just can't go on, that you can't take another step? Do you feel at times in your life overcome by discouragement, disappointment? Do you feel that there's a weakness and that you feel that you're failing on the same sin again and again and again? I've got incredibly good news for you tonight: look to the sanctuary.
Guest (Male): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: There in the lamb, you find forgiveness. Look to the sanctuary: there in the laver, you'll find the Christ that washes you clean. Look to the sanctuary: there in the light of the candlestick, you'll find the light of God illuminating your heart. Look to the sanctuary: there you will find the bread of life to satisfy your soul. Look to the sanctuary: there you will find in the altar, as your prayers ascend, Christ's prayers join with yours. And Christ is praying for you. And because Christ is praying for you, you're going to make it, my brother. Because Christ is praying for you, you're going to make it, my sister. Because Christ is praying for you, you will not fail. He will take you by the hand and He will lead you from here to eternity. I want to serve Him forever, don't you? Could heaven have done anything more to save you? Could God have done anything more? A world lost, a world in rebellion against Him. He could have pushed it out into the illimitable realms of space, destroyed it, and said, "I'm going to start all over again." But His love wouldn't allow Him to do that.