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00:03 read. Many of us will probably think, "What in the world is he talking about?"
00:09 That's kind of a strange text, isn't it? With words that we don't use in our everyday vocabulary, talking about a
00:16 tent of meeting or a tabernacle. It tells Moses to build an ark. And you
00:24 know that God also told Noah to build an ark. But the ark that Noah built was a
00:30 boat that you float on water. And this ark, it's not for water. Just a chest
00:36 where you put something in. Some of us may have been familiar with the ark from Indiana Jones movie. If
00:44 you've seen the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, you at least get some kind of an idea that it's a religious
00:51 thing that had some special significance. I wouldn't base my theology on that movie, but it was a
00:58 somewhat interesting movie. But apart from that movie, some of us may not
01:03 really know much about this ark where we see things talking about
01:09 related to worship that are so totally foreign to our worship as believers today. a golden altar with incense
01:18 or a large brazen altar with fire on it that never goes out for burning
01:23 sacrifices or a basin in front that you have to wash your hands and feet before you come
01:30 in. Imagine if every Sunday before you came into church, you had to take off your shoes and socks and wash your feet
01:36 out there before you came in. We don't even take our shoes off when we come in.
01:42 What's going on in this text? Well, we know that the Bible is the inspired word of God. And so God is
01:50 wanting to communicate something to us through this text. Well, to understand
01:55 this text in chapter 40, you really need to go back to chapter 25 because that's
02:01 where he begins talking about the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant. And
02:07 so to really understand the text today, we would need to read chapters 25 through 40.
02:13 But we didn't think we would make him do that today. And we also thought we'd want to be out before the second service
02:20 started. So I'll just try to hit a few highlights from that earlier text. But
02:26 we need to realize that approximately onethird of the entire book of Exodus
02:31 deals with the tabernacle. Plus there are many other chapters in the Bible talking about the tabernacle. So from
02:38 God's point of view, this must be quite important.
02:43 We know the tabernacle was extremely important for the people back then. The people of Israel had been freed from
02:50 slavery. They were on their way to the promised land and they had set up camp at the base of Mount Si. And there God
02:57 gave them the law. But then he also gave them these detailed instructions on how
03:02 to build the tabernacle. And this was going to become the center of their worship, the center of their religious
03:09 life. And since they didn't separate sacred from secular like we sometimes
03:15 do, it was really going to be the center of their existence
03:20 and literally the center because when they were set up in camp, the tabernacle was right in the middle and all of the
03:27 different tribes camped out around was not only important for the ancient
03:32 Israelites, but the tabernacle is also a very important part in God's salvation
03:38 history. Now, by salvation history, we're talking about the things that God has done throughout human history as he
03:46 has worked progressively over time to bring his plan of salvation to fruition.
03:53 So, this tabernacle was an important historical event that had great significance to the revelation of God's
04:02 plan of salvation. And we'll be able to see how this tabernacle is pointing us
04:07 to the ultimate reality of God's salvation plan, Jesus Christ. We will
04:13 see how the tabernacle then was replaced by the temple. But both of these were
04:18 pointing to the ministry of Jesus, especially his crucifixion and resurrection.
04:26 Well, it was important to the ancient Israelites. It's important in God's plan of salvation. And therefore, it's
04:33 important to us too because when we understand the tabernacle, it will help us to
04:39 understand better who God is and to know him better. It will help us to
04:44 understand who he is, how he works, what he desires. And it will help us to see
04:51 that God wants to have a relationship with us, and that we can have personal
04:57 access to the almighty God. God has come to dwell with his people.
05:06 God with us. Well, let's go back to Exodus chapter 25 to get the beginning of when he's
05:12 talking about the tabernacle. The Lord said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to
05:18 take an offering from me, and you two are accept my offering from every person whose heart moves him to give."
05:26 So they did that. They took up gold and silver, fine linen, many things,
05:32 valuable things that were needed for the tabernacle. God continues, "And then let them make a
05:39 sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
05:46 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."
05:53 So we can see why God was commanding the tabernacle to build.
05:58 He says,"I will dwell among them." God
06:03 desires to dwell with his people. He wants to live in the midst of them.
06:11 Exodus 25 continues and God gives instructions about building an ark. Not a boat, but a chest about 110 cm long,
06:20 about 70 cm wide. tells him to fix a cover for the chest, the atonement cover
06:26 or the mercy seat. And then this is what God says about that. He says, "There in
06:32 the holy of holies, above the ark of the covenant, I will meet with you.
06:41 and from above the mercy seat and from between the two cherubam that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with
06:47 you about all that I will give you and commandment for the people of Israel. So
06:53 God wants to live in the midst of his people. He wants to communicate with his
06:59 people. This is an astounding fact that the
07:05 almighty God, creator of the universe, wants to live with his people.
07:11 Now try to imagine the prime minister calls you and says, "Hey, let's have lunch together tomorrow."
07:19 Or what if the president of the United States said, "Hey," he calls you, not an aid, not a secretary, but he calls you
07:26 personally and says, "I'm coming to Malaysia because I want to meet with you."
07:31 Or what if the queen of England calls you personally and says, "Hey, I'm coming to Malaysia to stay with you. I
07:38 want to stay with you." And you think, "My goodness, she has Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral up in Scotland.
07:45 She could stay any place in the world she wants. Why would she want to come and stay with me?"
07:52 The holy God, eternal immortal, wants to live with us finite mortal creatures.
08:00 The all powerful creator wants to live with one small part of his creation.
08:08 A God who cannot tolerate sin wants to be among people who are sinful.
08:17 So God comes to dwell with his people in the tabernacle.
08:24 And through the tabernacle, we see that God then revealed himself more fully.
08:31 He provided a way for forgiveness of sin. He made a way to have access into his
08:38 presence. And then he gave the needed leadership and direction that his people needed.
08:45 So, let's look at the tabernacle to see what it was that God wanted his people to build, to see where and how God was
08:53 going to let his presence dwell among the midst of his people. Now, the tabernacle is just a fancy name
08:59 for a tent. Now, it was a large tent, not just a normal tent. It was a tent
09:06 fit for a king to live in. You've possibly seen some movies where
09:11 there is a Middle Eastern Sultan or an Arabian king who lives in the desert and
09:17 his palace is a tent. But it's not just a normal tent. It's a very ornate tent
09:24 with great in great furnishings inside very valuable ornate furnishings. a
09:32 palace. Although it's a tent, the tabernacle can be seen as a palace
09:38 that God was going to live in with his people. As a king, God dwells with his
09:44 people in the palace. And we'll see later that this tabernacle, this tent
09:51 had such elaborate and ornate furnishings within. Yet, the palace was
09:57 portable. You can also see this tent as a temple.
10:03 Not a temple that is permanent, but a portable temple because here was going
10:08 to be the religious center of the life of the people and the place where the people would be able to meet God and
10:15 have access to him. Now, why was it portable? Well, you
10:20 remember in the story of Exodus, the people were in slavery in Egypt. They've been freed. They're on their way to the
10:27 promised land, but they're not there yet. They're still on a journey. And as they're on their journey, moving from
10:33 place to place, God is going with them. So when they take up camp to move, they
10:40 take down the tabernacle. When they arrive at the new place, they
10:45 establish that they build it back up. Here's a diagram of what the tabernacle
10:52 would have looked like. On the outside, there's a big court, a big enclosure
10:57 around a courtyard. On the left side in this picture, now that is east. This is backwards from
11:03 what we normally see with a map. South at the top, east at the left. But on the
11:08 east side, there was a gate. Inside the courtyard, we see an altar and a bronze
11:15 labor. And then the actual tabernacle itself to the right of your picture, the
11:20 large tent that's divided into two rooms. And here's a closeup of those two rooms. On the left side would be the
11:28 holy place with the furnishings. And on the right hand side, the most holy place with the
11:36 ark of the covenant. And the holy place was separated by the veil
11:41 from the most holy place. So here is an artist conception of what
11:48 the tab tabernacle would look like. Once again you see the enclosure with the
11:54 entrance or the gate there on the left. Then you come to the altar, the bronze
11:59 labor and then the tent, the tabernacle with the two rooms.
12:05 Well, here are a few more details. You see the court fence was an enclosure around the tabernacle
12:13 made of linen clothing, linen cloth.
12:19 The measurements of the court would have been 100 cubits or 46 m,
12:24 the width 23 m, and then the height 2.3 meters, tall
12:30 enough that nobody could see inside. On the east side was the gate and the
12:37 gate was made out of brightly embroidered cloth, very expensive dyed
12:44 and the gate separated people from the magnificent and holy God.
12:51 God could only be approached with repentance and sacrifice when the people came inside the gate. And there was only
12:58 one gate, only one way in the way God said to come in.
13:04 Once you come inside, then you'll see the bronze altar.
13:09 This altar, there was a fire on it, burning constantly.
13:15 It was made of wood and covered with bronze. The fire burned day and night. They were
13:22 commanded to never let this fire go out. And people brought sacrifices that were then sacrificed killed. Blood was
13:30 sprinkled on the altar and then the sacrifice was burned. We see that the
13:36 sacrifice was necessary for forgiveness. And the sacrifice had to be a perfect
13:43 animal. You brought your best to the Lord. The sacrifice also shows us that God
13:51 takes sin very seriously. Sin brings death and only shed blood
13:58 standing for life could pay for sin. And when a person sacrificed the animal,
14:04 he would lay his hands on the head of the animal identifying with that animal
14:10 and showing that the sin was now being transferred from him to that animal.
14:18 Next, we come to the bronze labor or a big wash bas wash basin. And here's
14:24 where the priests were involved where they would wash themselves before doing a sacrifice or before going into the
14:31 holy place because we see that God is a holy God and nothing unclean can come
14:37 into his presence. This labor was used for ceremonial washing. When a priest
14:43 was ordained, he would bathe his entire body there. But then every time that
14:48 they ministered doing sacrifices or before they went into the holy place,
14:54 they had to wash their hands and their feet. And if they did not follow God's
14:59 instructions, they would die. God is holy. Nothing unclean will come
15:05 into his presence. Now let's go to the tabernacle itself.
15:15 The actual tent, the entire thing would have been 13.8 m long for both rooms.
15:22 The width 4.6. And then the holy place itself, the first room would have been 2/3 of the
15:30 length, 9.2 m. And then the most holy place, half the size of the holy place,
15:37 4.6 six meters and it was a perfect cube. Same distance for the length, the
15:42 breadth and also the height. It was made of fine linen, very
15:47 expensive dyes and then covered with animal skins. Also much silver and gold was used.
15:55 Well, when you enter into the holy place, you come on the left, you'd see the golden lampstand,
16:02 the golden manora, the seven armed manora that is a familiar symbol of the Jewish faith.
16:10 This was made entirely of pure gold. And it was a priest's duty to trim the wicks and to keep the lamps lit. The lampstand
16:18 was to provide light for the tabernacle. They were to keep the lamps burning before the Lord from dusk until daylight
16:27 because there was never to be any darkness in the tabernacle. The tabernacle, the lampstand served as
16:35 a reminder of God's glory, his holiness, and his light.
16:42 On the right when you went into the tabernacle was the table of showbread or the table of the presence.
16:52 The table of the showbread or the showbread of the presence. This was made
16:58 of a very fine wood overlaid with pure gold. And then on the table the priest
17:03 placed 12 loaves of bread made from fine flour. Wine was placed on the altar with the
17:09 bread. And these loaves represented the 12 tribes of Israel.
17:16 The loaves were a continual reminder of the everlasting covenant between God and
17:22 the children of Israel. And they were a reminder of the presence of God with his people.
17:31 Fresh bread was placed there every Sabbath as a memorial of God's provision
17:37 for his people. Next, you would see the altar of
17:42 incense. The altar of incense was made from fine
17:48 wood and was overlaid with gold. It stood in front of the veil that concealed the most holy place.
17:57 The high priest would burn incense upon it every day, morning and evening. All day, all night long, incense would be
18:04 burning. Fire for the incense came from the bronze altar in the courtyard. And the
18:10 Lord required a special incense to be used. No foreign incense could be used because
18:17 if it was, the priest was in danger of death. You only approach a holy God the
18:23 way God tells you you can. And then once a year on the day of
18:29 atonement, the horns of the altar were sprinkled with the blood of the sin offering.
18:35 The incense rising with smoke is a picture of prayers rising continuously
18:41 to heaven on behalf of God's people. And then you see the veil. And the veil
18:48 is then this beautiful cloth made of expensive cloth, expensive dye, this
18:54 curtain that separates the holy place from the most holy place.
19:01 It was a barrier between God and man. sinful man cannot come into the presence
19:07 of holy God. But once a year on the day of atonement,
19:13 the high priest could enter the most holy place through this veil.
19:21 And on that one day of the year, he would go into the holy place. And the most holy place or the holy of holies is
19:28 the small room at the far end of the tent.
19:35 Inside the most holy place was the ark of the covenant or sometimes called the
19:41 ark of the testimony. The ark of the covenant was made of accassia wood and overlaid with pure
19:48 gold. And inside the ark were the tablets with the ten commandments.
19:56 And the mercy seat was set on top of the ark as a covering, as a lid for the ark.
20:03 The mercy seat was made of pure gold, had wing cherubam on each side facing
20:09 each other. The wings were outstretched, wings towards each other,
20:14 and it was placed on top of the ark. And annually on the day of the atonement, the priest would then sprinkle blood
20:21 from the sacrifice on the mercy seat to atone for the sins of all the people.
20:30 God offered mercy here so that sinful people would be able to approach him and
20:37 receive forgiveness. So this is the tabernacle, the tent of
20:44 meeting. When the tabernacle was finished, it was
20:50 dedicated and the presence of God then filled the temple.
20:59 Just a note about the completion of the temple. We see that earlier God had said, "Take
21:08 a contribution from among the people. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him
21:14 bring the Lord's contribution. Kind of like Peter said, don't give if you don't want to. That's what God was saying. If
21:20 you have a generous heart, if you're willing to give, give.
21:26 And this is what happened. They came. Everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him and
21:32 brought the Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting. And in
21:38 fact, so much was given each morning that finally everyone stopped working
21:43 and said, "Moses, there's already more than we need for what the Lord has assigned us to do." So Moses sent word
21:51 for the people to stop giving. And they did. Now imagine that. We take up an
21:58 offering and so much money comes in, the leaders have to say, "Stop. Don't give anymore." This is probably the only time
22:05 in history this has ever happened. But the people had a willing heart and they
22:10 gave more than was needed. They were so overjoyed that God was going to come and
22:16 dwell among them. Well, when the temple was completed, it
22:23 was dedicated and we see that the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the
22:31 Lord filled the tabernacle so that Moses was not even able to enter
22:38 the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it. The glory of the Lord
22:43 filled the temple. The cloud filled the temple by day and
22:50 it was fire at night. This is the way the Lord manifested his presence.
22:56 It would rest above the tabernacle directly above the mercy seat. But then
23:02 when God wanted the people to move, he guided them by the fire and the cloud lifting up and moving, showing them the
23:09 way to go. And then wherever it stopped, they would set up camp.
23:17 So just as God had promised, he came to dwell among his people. The Lord said,
23:25 "I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will dwell among
23:30 the people of Israel, and I will be their God." His
23:35 presence was symbolized then by the cloud in the fire. The shikina glory of
23:40 God not only resting on the mercy seat but rising up above filling the temple
23:47 and everybody could see the glory of God. So God came to dwell among his people
23:54 allowing them to see his glory allowing them to get to know him better. God came
24:01 to dwell among his people providing forgiveness of sin. He came to dwell
24:08 among his people providing access into his presence. And he came giving them guidance for
24:15 living. He came to live among them as God and as
24:20 king. God said, "They shall know that I am the
24:27 Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell
24:33 among them. I am the Lord their God."
24:41 Today, we don't have a tabernacle. The tabernacle was obvious obviously very
24:48 important. Then God commanded it to be built. So, why don't we have a
24:53 tabernacle today? Or should we have a tabernacle? Should we get these instructions out and follow
24:60 them and build one? Well, we're New Testament Christians, not Old Testament Jews. And as I
25:07 mentioned, the tabernacle is very significant in God's salvation history. But there have been some very important
25:14 things in salvation history that have happened since the construction of the tabernacle.
25:19 So, what has happened in salvation history since the time of the tabernacle that has made it and its furnishings
25:27 obsolete? Why does God not require us today to build a tabernacle in order for him to
25:34 dwell with us? How do we have access into God's
25:40 presence today with no priests, no altar,
25:45 no mercy seat? A few years ago, my wife and I were
25:50 traveling in northern India and we were leading a seminar with a group of Christian leaders near the Bangladesh
25:57 border. All of these people were leading small groups at home or pastoring house
26:03 churches and most of them were relatively new Christians. None had a Christian
26:10 background. All of them had come from another one of the world's major religions.
26:16 And one of the main reasons they had come to faith in Christ was because they had wanted to have assurance that they
26:23 could come into God's presence. And not only that they would be in his presence in this world, but after this world
26:30 that's after this life is over, that they would be in God's presence for eternity.
26:35 And in their former religion, there is no assurance. So they had come to faith in Christ
26:42 because they were attracted to the idea that God will be with us. We will be with God. Well, we were teaching the
26:49 book of Exodus. And when we got to the end of Exodus, we briefly summarized the last several chapters like I'm doing
26:56 today and we talked about the tabernacle. And then after I explained the tabernacle, I asked them, "Why don't we
27:04 need a tabernacle today?" Now, it was fun to watch these people because they were relatively new
27:10 Christians, even though they were already in positions of leadership because they had been leading their friends and family to faith in Christ.
27:17 But I would ask a question such as, "Why don't we need a tabernacle?" or "Why don't we need the Ark of the Covenant?
27:23 Why don't we need the mercy seat?" And you could just see them thinking and then their face would light up and
27:29 they'd raise their hand and they'd want to give an answer because they knew personally they had experienced
27:36 personally God's presence in their life without the tabernacle, without the ark.
27:42 They were talking about reality they had experienced. So, I'd kind of like to do that today like I did with the class
27:48 then ask you why don't we need all of these things that we've seen in the pictures.
27:55 Why don't we need a tabernacle? Why don't we need a temple?
28:00 Where does God dwell today? What would you say?
28:09 I see somebody giving the answer. Well, he said Christ is living in our heart.
28:15 God still does dwell with his people, but he dwells within us. Do you not know
28:21 that you are God's temple? You are God's temple. God's spirit is living within
28:27 you. Each one who is a believer has God's spirit in him. But don't just be self-centered in that
28:34 because it's not just you individually. It's the entire church. We as God's
28:41 children, all believers, the church, we're growing together into a holy
28:47 temple of the Lord. Why don't we need the ark of the covenant?
28:53 What about the Ten Commandments? Don't we need a place where we can come and see the Ten Commandments? Where would we
28:60 find that today?
29:05 Why don't we need the ark? Why don't we need the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments?
29:14 Well, we have the scripture, so we don't need the stone tablets. We also see that Jesus came to fulfill
29:22 the law. But even more than that,
29:28 the prophet Jeremiah said, and then the author of the book of Hebrews said, "It has been fulfilled that under the new
29:36 covenant, which we are under, God is going to put his law into our hearts,
29:42 not on stone tablets, but he will take our heart of stone and turn it into a
29:48 heart of flesh and write his law on our heart. and he will be our God and we
29:54 will be his people. What about the mercy seat?
29:59 Why don't we need these wing figures where God gives his mercy?
30:07 In Hebrews, we see that we have a great high priest, Jesus, who has passed through the heavens. Let us hold fast
30:15 our confession. And then with confidence we can draw near to the throne of grace that we may
30:22 receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. We can go directly to
30:29 the throne of God. We can go directly to the mercy seat through what Jesus has
30:36 done. What about the veil? Now, this is something that Sunday
30:42 school kids can answer too because they have heard this story at the Easter time. You'll remember that when Jesus
30:48 was crucified, as he died and he cried out with a loud voice, then the veil of the temple was
30:56 torn in two and it was torn from the top to the bottom
31:02 15t high. That's over that's close to five meters high. that showing when it's from the top to the bottom that it was
31:09 God reaching down and tearing that veil apart. God was the one opening up access to
31:16 where we could come directly into the Holy of Holies and we come into the Holy of Holies
31:23 through Jesus. Hebrews tells us that Jesus his flesh is the veil and through
31:30 him we can enter the holy of holies. But what about the incense altar
31:37 symbolizing prayers rising continuously on behalf of God's people?
31:45 Jesus is living to make intercession for us continuously.
31:52 The Holy Spirit is also praying for us. What about the candlestick? What about
31:58 the table of showbread? Both of these things were to remind us of God's glory
32:03 and God's presence. Well, Jesus is the light of the world.
32:09 Jesus is the bread of life. God's presence is with us through his
32:16 spirit. We don't need the intangible. We don't need the tangible things. We have
32:21 his spirit within us. What about the bronze labor, the basin for washing?
32:28 How do we become clean today? Well, it's not through ceremonial washing with water.
32:35 But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the
32:42 spirit of our God. Says we can now draw near to God with
32:48 true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an
32:53 evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Because of Jesus blood, we have been
33:00 washed in the blood as the old hymn tells us.
33:07 What about the brazen altar of sacrifice? Why don't we need that today?
33:14 Well, it was really impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
33:21 But Jesus has no need like the high priest back then to offer a sacrifice daily. He doesn't have to make a
33:28 sacrifice for his own sin. He made the sacrifice once for all when he
33:35 sacrificed himself. No need for an altar. No need for sacrifices.
33:41 Once for all. One sacrifice good for all people who accept it. One time good for
33:48 all time. Just recently I was speaking with a man from another one of the world's great
33:53 religions living here in Malaysia and he understood something about Jesus
33:59 sacrifice and he asked me well I understand that Jesus died for his followers
34:06 and so that was good for them but what about us today and I was able to explain to him
34:13 sacrifice was once for all. Yes, he died. His followers, those who
34:19 believed in him, received forgiveness. Then the same can happen for us today.
34:28 What about the tabernacle, the place where God would live?
34:35 We see in the Christmas story John chapter 1 verse14 that the word
34:43 Jesus became flesh and he dwelt among us and we have seen his glory
34:50 the glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth. Now
34:57 notice I've got the word dwelt highlighted because when you look at the original language, the word for dwell is
35:04 the verb form of the word tabernacle.
35:10 Jesus came and he tabernacled among us.
35:15 God came to dwell among his people when Jesus came to earth and his body then is
35:21 the tabernacle. So God is dwelling in us through Jesus who tabernacled here on
35:28 earth. The tabernacle was a very important part in salvation history. It teaches us much
35:35 about God and how we approach him and it was a center of the Hebrew history for a
35:41 few hundred years. The tabernacle during the time of Solomon was replaced by the temple. But
35:48 it was basically the same thing as the tabernacle just in a permanent location. But everything else was the same.
35:56 But roughly a thousand years after the time of Solomon, then both the tabernacle and the temple
36:03 became obsolete because Jesus fulfilled everything that the tabernacle and the
36:09 temple were pointing to. So we now live in the time of salvation history after
36:15 Christ's greatest work, his crucifixion, paying the penalty for our sin,
36:21 reconciling us with God, providing access to God.
36:26 We live after the time of the resurrection where we can have access to God's presence through the spirit of
36:33 Christ living within us. So God has come down to us through
36:39 Jesus. Today God is saying to each one of us, I want to dwell with you.
36:47 I want to be your God. I want to be in a close personal
36:53 relationship with you. How might I enter into that relationship, you might ask? Well,
36:60 there's only one way. Just like there was only one entrance to the tabernacle,
37:05 we can approach holy God only the way God allows us. But the good news is this
37:11 one way is open to all people. And this one way is through Jesus Christ. When we
37:18 confess our sin, repent, ask his forgiveness,
37:23 knowing that his blood covers our sin, we turn in faith to him
37:29 and he takes away our sin and he becomes the middle part point of our life as we
37:35 allow him to be our Lord and King. So you can have unlimited access now to the
37:41 presence of God. I heard somebody talking, someone from the States talking about that they had
37:47 been invited to a big rock concert in America. Several different bands were
37:53 playing and they were given a pass, an all access pass. That meant they could
37:60 go where most people could not go. They could go backstage. They could talk to the performers. They could even get on
38:06 some of the tour buses with the performers. They could visit with all the celebrities.
38:12 They had this all access pass and they thoroughly enjoyed being able to be with
38:18 all of these celebrities. Where would you like to have an all
38:23 access pass to have an all access pass to the throne
38:30 room of God? We can come into his presence, worship
38:36 him, spend time with him, receive forgiveness from him,
38:44 receive power, receive direction. He wants to be part of your life. He
38:51 wants to be the central part of your life during good times, but also during bad times. during your successes, but
38:59 also during your failures, including the times you know you failed him. He wants
39:05 to be part of your dreams and your doubts, part of your hopes, part of your
39:10 fears. He's always with you if you have accepted him. And he wants you to get to
39:19 know him better. When he comes into your life and you're in his presence, then he will change
39:24 your life and he will give you the direction that you need for living.
39:31 Yes, God is with us today. Through Jesus, we can experience his presence
39:36 personally, not having to go through a high priest, not just once a year, but
39:42 constantly we can have access into the presence of God. Every day we can go
39:49 into the Holy of Holies. God is with us. Therefore, we can
39:56 receive forgiveness of sin. We can have access into God's presence.
40:03 We can get to know God better. And we can receive guidance for our
40:08 lives. This is greater than having the Queen of England to come.
40:15 greater than the president or the prime minister calling us up for an appointment. God himself is calling us
40:21 today personally asking, "Hey, let's have lunch today.
40:28 Let's visit this afternoon. I want to go home with you. I want to be with you."
40:35 Let's pray. Father, I thank you that you do love us,
40:42 that you're interested in our well-being, that you want to have a relationship
40:47 with us. And father, for some people, this is a totally new truth to imagine that the
40:55 creator of the universe wants relationship with us.
41:00 But also for many of us who have a Christian background, sometimes we just take this for granted. Forgive us when
41:07 we take it for granted and don't realize how great a privilege it really is to be able to spend time with you, listen to
41:15 you, talk with you, be empowered by you. So, Father, I pray for those this
41:21 morning who are in need of your forgiveness that today they would come through the blood of the lamb, through
41:27 the blood of Jesus Christ, repenting of sin, placing their faith in you, letting you come into their life to
41:34 live with them. And father, for those of us who have already accepted you as our Lord and as
41:41 our Savior, I pray that we will take advantage of this great opportunity and
41:46 this great privilege. Enjoy being in your presence. Let you through your presence change our
41:53 lives. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
