Keith Battle - Potpourri 13 - Part 3

If you have a Bible app, turn to Hebrews chapter 13. We’re finishing up this series called «Potpourri.» It’s been an exploration of Hebrews chapter 13. We’re going to pick up at verse 7 today, and I’m going to try to connect this stuff. I never know what you all are going to say, and I don’t know how I’m connecting this. We’re going to figure it out. Hebrews 13, beginning at verse 7, New Living Translation: «Remember your leaders who taught you the Word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives and follow the example of their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange new ideas; your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them. We have an altar from which the priests in the tabernacle have no right to eat.» Under the old system, everybody said, «The old system.» Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also, Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. So let us go out to him outside the camp and bear the disgrace he bore, for this world is not our permanent home. We are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to His name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need; these are the sacrifices that please God. Verse 17: «Obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy, and that would certainly not be for your benefit. Pray for us, for our conscience is clear; we want to live honorably in everything we do. And especially pray that I will be able to come back to you soon.» Back to verse 11, where I want to focus: Under the old system, everybody said «the old system.» Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. Under the old system, I want to talk to you today from the subject «System Shifts and Leader Shifts.» One of the more difficult things for some of us to do in life is to make adjustments. Many of us become married to ways of doing things that we are uncomfortable adjusting to. We get a new phone, and we’re frustrated because of all the changes in the technology. We get a new laptop, and we say, «I like the old one better; it was slow, but I knew what I was doing on it.» Some of us get challenged by new things—new systems. Everybody say «systems.» One of the things that the believers in the book of Hebrews were dealing with was, for centuries, they had a system by which they reconnected with God when they fell away from Him because of sin. The system was called the sacrificial system, and the way it worked was that when someone sinned, sin would cause a breach between them and God. Isaiah 59:1 and 2 says our sins have separated us from God. The way that breach was closed was when these individuals would bring an animal to what was called the tabernacle. They would walk into the tent of meeting with their animal, but they wouldn’t return with the animal because the animal was given as a sacrifice. That animal sacrifice was used as an atonement for their sins. Atonement means covering. It means once you presented the animal, the priest would cut up the animal, burn its flesh, and take its blood into the Holy Place. When that blood would hit the mercy seat, it would enact the grace of God that would restore communion in the relationship. This was done over and over again for centuries. That’s how they closed the gap in their relationship with God; they had to keep making a sacrifice, keep paying money, and all those sacrifices made atonement for their sins. It was to cover the sins until Jesus came. When Jesus came, the great thing about Him in the book of Hebrews is that He is the perfect sacrifice. He’s the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. God had already put in place that Jesus was going to be the perfect sacrifice, and this system would be brought to an end because Jesus came and died once and for all as the perfect sacrifice. When He shed His blood, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom so that what separated man from God was no longer separating them. Now we have access to the Father, and the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 4 that we can come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find help in time of need. The Bible says once Jesus ascended into heaven, after His sacrifice, He sat down at the right hand of the Father, where He always lives to make intercession for us in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25. An interesting thing about Jesus sitting down after His sacrifice is that there was no chair in the temple, in the tabernacle—I’m sorry—in the tabernacle where there were sacrifices. The priest had nowhere to sit because they worked around the clock. All priestly shifts were done on their feet; nobody ever sat down because there was…