Darren Tappouras – The Power of His Presence – Class 1

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OK, by way of introduction for
Brother Darren’s talk, we’re

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just going to take a short
reading, but a very exciting

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reading from Revelation 21 and
verses one to seven.

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So Revelation verses chapter 21,
verses one to seven.

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Then I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the 1st heaven

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and the first earth had passed
away, and the sea was no more.

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And I saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down out of

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heaven from God, prepared as a
bride at dawn for her husband.

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And I heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, Behold, the

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dwelling place of God is with
man.

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He will dwell with them, and
they will be his people, and God

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himself will be with them as
their God.

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He will wipe away every tear
from their eyes, and death shall

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be no more.
Neither shall there be mourning,

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nor crying, nor pain anymore.
For the former things have

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passed away.
And he who was seated on the

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throne said, Behold, I am making
all things new.

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Also he said, write this down,
for these words are trustworthy

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and true.
And he said to me, it is done.

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I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end To the

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thirsty I will give from the
spring of the water of life

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without payment.
The one who conquers will have

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his heritage, and I will be his
God, and he will be my son.

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Thanks, Darren.
Thanks, Brother Anthony, and

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good evening, my dear brothers
and sisters and the Lord Jesus

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Christ, dear young people.
It’s really, really lovely to be

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with you again.
I was just thinking, I haven’t

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been here for a few years with
with COVID interrupting, So it’s

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nice to be back among you again
and particularly nice tonight to

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be able to share with you some
thoughts from God’s Word.

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Just get my slides organised.
In our community we have a very

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strong and a very good and a
very powerful future focus and

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we’re looking forward a lot in
our vocabulary in a in the

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sentiments we express.
Even in Anthony’s beautiful

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prayer, we are pushing into the
future as it were.

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We’re we’re leaning into the
future and and those that that

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comprises of a number of
different objectives in the

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future that we’re looking
forward to.

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So we’re looking forward of
course to the Kingdom, to the

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return of Christ and the Kingdom
being established.

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We’re also looking at current
events in the world and we’re

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looking at the movement of
nations and some of the big

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geopolitical issues that are
happening, trying to see if they

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are working towards what we
expect will happen in the

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future.
So we do have a very, very

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strong, very, very powerful
future focus and we do that I

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think quite well.
You know, if you look at Chris

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Adelphian videos online, you’ll
literally see hundreds of of

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videos and talks about the
future, the future of this

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world, the future of this
planet, what God has in store,

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in store for the future.
And we’ve got a very keen

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interest in that.
I know at Gosford, when we’ve

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got a couple of very, very good
prophecy brethren at Gosford,

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brother Andrew Dangerfield and
brother Matt Norton, and

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whenever they do, one of their
current event.

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You know year in review sort of
sessions everyone turns up.

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It’s a big night and people who
haven’t even been at the meeting

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for a long time or turn up out
of the woodwork and it’s it’s a

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big event and these young people
and babies and it’s great.

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I’m just a bit jealous because
when I do it that’s the

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opposite.
So but but you know they’re

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good.
They’re OK guys they’re all

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right.
So we we do have that sort of

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passion that that sort of future
focus.

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We also have a very past focus
as well.

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We’re very, very interested,
very keen to look at

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particularly the history of the
Old Testament, the what we might

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call the old covenant era, the
the time of David for example

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and Solomon and the the Kings of
Israel and the prophets.

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We’re very, very interested in
the Old Testament as such and we

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we are very familiar with those
characters.

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And that’s another little thing
where I when I usually give a

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meeting a list of subjects.
For a potential Bible class or

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weekend or something.
And there’s, you know, I can

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almost guess they’re going to
pick out the the life of David

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or the Jihu or the sort of the
character study that says it

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seems to be something that that
people are very, very interested

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in.
So I think we have a very good

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and a very strong future focus
and a very good interest and

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focus on the past where I’m
going to suggest in our series

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and this is just a bit of a
background to sort of introduce

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where we want to go with this.
If I might say from my own

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experience, which I’ve been
baptized nearly 40 years now and

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have been actively involved in
the brotherhood from a Sunday

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school teacher to Bible mission
field worker and everything in

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between, My my take is we don’t
have a really good articulated

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position about what’s happening
now as far as God is concerned

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in our own lives, that that
could just be me and my own

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circle.
But I find that as something in

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the brotherhood.
Wherever I’ve sort of interacted

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and and been involved in
discussions.

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What is going on now?
What is God doing now?

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Now is hard to define.
What is now?

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It’s is it dead time between the
past and the future.

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God did all his good work in the
Bible era, in the time of David

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and the prophets, and of course
the Lord Jesus Christ and the

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Apostles.
All that was full of God’s

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activity and we love it and we
know about it and read it and

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teach it in Sunday school, which
is all excellent and good.

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And we’re also looking forward
to the prophecies being

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fulfilled in the future and the
return of Christ.

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And we’re in this sort of static
era.

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Remember static when you used to
turn the telly on and there was

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nothing on?
That’s that’s something from the

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old days you guys wouldn’t
remember.

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But there used to be nothing in
the middle of the day and it’s

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just static on the box.
Is that, is that sort of what’s

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happening now?
We’re sort of caught in this

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mid.
Period.

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We’re in a in a sort of a
holding pattern, as it were.

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God’s had his future involvement
and that culminated in the

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death, resurrection of Jesus and
he’s got this future plan and

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this time now is a bit dead.
There’s not a lot happening and

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it’s sort of a holding pattern
and we are a little bit confused

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about what we’re doing.
We sort of are talking about

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watching and waiting, and we’re
hunkering down.

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And we’re living our life of
course according to godly

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principles.
But what what’s happening now

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and what really is now all
about.

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And that’s really what we want
to focus on in this particular

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series and try and try and
define now and and also try and

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elevate now in our thinking as
well without in any way

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diminishing our future, our
future vision and and and our

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past interest and and passion.
Elevating the now is is really

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the objective of what I’m trying
to achieve in these studies.

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And so hopefully, hopefully that
will be helpful and beneficial

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for you as it has been for me.
There are a lot of verses in the

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New Testament that talk about
the now and they’re very

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powerful verses, full of
emotion, full of potential.

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And I have found in my life that
I’ve read over these verses, not

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just read over them, I’ve.
Acted as Chairman at my Ecclesia

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and read them and they’re
beautiful sounding verses.

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But how much reality and how
much have I lived these out in

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in my own life.
And and I’m asking the question

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tonight in our introductory
session.

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Do the do these words resonate
with you?

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Are they true?
Are they real?

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Are they something that you can
feel the power of, or are they

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just maybe nice words?
And they’re relating to now

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words that we haven’t felt or or
or felt the power of so famous

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words like Philippians 4 verse
seven talks about the the peace

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of God that we can experience
now.

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The New Testaments, the Irene
and the Shalom in the old this

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peace of God That and I’ve used
the NIV rendition here that

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transcends human understanding.
There’s something very powerful

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and lofty and.
Phenomenal about that.

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Isn’t there this, this peace of
God?

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What is it, the peace of God
that transcends human

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experience?
At some level, there’s many of

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these verses.
Ephesians 3 is another one.

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To know, to experience, to be
aware of and interact with the

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love of Christ that surpasses.
And again, another transcendent

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type word that surpasses
knowledge.

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Something beyond just knowing
stuff.

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Something.
Experiential in a sense that we

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we feel that we can know the
love of Christ, that actually

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there’s there’s sort of a
paradox here to know something

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that is beyond knowing and being
filled with this fullness of God

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is that just this, is that just
nice words that we just rattle

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off and read as a chairman or
put on a on our occlusial

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program or on our hall or
whatever.

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Nothing wrong with any of that
in any anything I say is not

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belittling anything.
I’m just trying to flesh out.

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Do we really feel the power of
these things?

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That’s really what I’m trying to
say.

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There’s exhortations from Jesus
himself.

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Matthew 6, the famous, this
famous reference from the Sermon

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on the Mount.
Don’t be anxious.

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Jesus is saying that.
Don’t be anxious.

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It’s a command, you know, We
talk about obeying the

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commandments of doing what God
says and following Jesus.

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Words.
Well, here he says don’t be

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anxious.
And I I know for a fact I get

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anxious.
So what?

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What’s going on here?
How?

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How is that all?
How is that working?

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And is there something about
being connected to our Lord

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Jesus Christ, being in God’s,
being one of God’s people that

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should reduce the anxiety?
That should have some impact on

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that.
Hebrews 2’s got this interesting

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reference.
Those that are in Christ have

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been delivered.
From something that affects all

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mankind that have been delivered
from a fear or a phobia of

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death.
So they’re not even afraid of

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death and how real is that for
you?

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And I don’t know how I for
myself, I don’t know if that’s

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that true.
You know, even the turbulence on

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the plane a few days ago, I was
got a little bit fearful of

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death.
So.

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So here’s this.
Something in the gospel helps

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you transcend the fear of death.
And it was literally lived out

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by the early Christians.
They they would walk into an

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arena and be ripped apart by
lions after being given the

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opportunity to recant.
But they they didn’t Something

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about death.
The fear of death was reduced

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dramatically in their life
because then there now was

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powerful.
They they they felt something.

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These sentiments expressed, that
I’ve just picked a few samples

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out here.
They they really felt this peace

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of God and the and this.
Transcendent love of Christ,

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etcetera and and it’s it’s quite
powerful.

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First Peter one Peter encourages
his readers to rejoice with and

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look at look at these words.
They’re like over the top words

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aren’t they when you think of
it.

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Joy, unspeakable and full of
glory.

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As he goes on to say.
Is it just a nice word we can

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you know or is there something
real here Joy.

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Unspeakable.
I think the closest you could

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probably get is when you looked
at your programs tonight and saw

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that I was doing the talks.
That’s probably the closest

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you’ll experience in this human
life.

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But joy?
Unspeakable.

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How?
When’s the last time you’ve

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experienced joy, unspeakable and
full of glory?

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You know it’s it’s not.
It may not be on your agenda to

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ever experience that, or to
think about it, or to be aware

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of it, or to know that it even
exists or it’s a thing.

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But here it is in the inspired
word of God, where it’s

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imperative.
So I’m.

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You know you got to get judgy on
you if you haven’t experienced

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joy.
Unspeakable because it’s

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imperative as a commandment of
God to rejoice with joy

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00:12:29,600 –> 00:12:32,320
unspeakable.
And if it’s not something you

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prioritize, well, whose fault’s
that contentment?

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Here’s another one, and this is
there’s a whole, whole raft of

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verses that repeat this concept.
And this is so hard to make

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real, isn’t it?
There’s this whole raft of

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00:12:48,480 –> 00:12:55,400
verses that say counting or joy.
When you’re experiencing trials

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and problems in your life, when
you’re going through horrible

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00:13:00,520 –> 00:13:03,320
situations physically or
emotionally or mentally,

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00:13:03,720 –> 00:13:09,120
relationally, to count those
things as joy, that’s that’s

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really hard, isn’t it?
That’s, that’s that’s that seems

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theoretical to me.
And yet there is something in

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the New Testament that empowers
us.

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There is something about being
in Christ that can make that

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real, if it’s on your agenda to
make it real.

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00:13:22,720 –> 00:13:27,680
If you were identified as a
something, a target that you can

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achieve in your life, then it’s
something that is that can be

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real.
We know famous example of Paul

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in Philippi and he’s just had
his back smashed to smithereens.

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He’s obviously in agony and
pain.

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He’s locked into in stocks and
him and Silas are singing,

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00:13:40,360 –> 00:13:42,880
they’re in the jail singing
hymns and songs of praise,

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etcetera.
So it was something that was

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lived out by the early
believers, something that they

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experienced.
It wasn’t just theory and just

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nice sounding words.
So we want to think about how

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that how those sort of
sentiments can actually be part

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00:13:58,880 –> 00:14:02,960
of our our life in Christ today.
There’s something about the now.

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There’s a power available for
the now.

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00:14:05,440 –> 00:14:09,440
There’s something incredible and
phenomenal about the now that

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maybe if you’re like me, we’re
not, we’re not tapping into,

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00:14:13,440 –> 00:14:18,240
we’re not experiencing, and it
may not even be ever on your

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00:14:18,240 –> 00:14:20,680
agenda to even think about or to
be aware of.

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00:14:21,160 –> 00:14:23,600
We may have adopted the holding
patent idea that we’re just

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00:14:23,600 –> 00:14:26,680
hunkering down, putting up with
whatever we have to put up with,

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just waiting for Christ to
return.

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00:14:30,040 –> 00:14:32,920
I was, I had a I’m an arranging
brother at my meeting.

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00:14:32,920 –> 00:14:35,200
I had a sister and she was going
through.

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It was a significant problem.
Probably not.

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00:14:38,280 –> 00:14:40,600
You know, out of 1 to 10 it was
probably a four, but it was a

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00:14:40,600 –> 00:14:43,320
significant problem.
And I’m trying to help her work

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00:14:43,320 –> 00:14:45,480
her way through it.
And she just kept saying, I just

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want Christ to return.
I just want Christ to return.

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I I just woke up this morning
and Christ hadn’t returned.

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00:14:49,680 –> 00:14:51,920
And it’s like there was
something unhealthy about that

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00:14:51,920 –> 00:14:53,600
whole approach.
There was something wrong there.

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00:14:54,160 –> 00:14:56,840
Although the sentiment is
something, you know community’s

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00:14:56,840 –> 00:14:59,720
value system that we would we
would all go, that’s wonderful

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00:14:59,720 –> 00:15:04,160
that she thinks that way.
There was I I I detected

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00:15:04,160 –> 00:15:07,000
something wrong with that.
That didn’t seem to resonate

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00:15:07,000 –> 00:15:10,120
with the New Testament way of
looking at problems to count

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00:15:10,120 –> 00:15:10,800
them all.
Joy.

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00:15:11,400 –> 00:15:15,280
And yet to experience the moment
to experience the now still

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being within the presence of of
God.

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00:15:17,040 –> 00:15:19,760
So that’s that’s sort of what we
want to look at that that’s not

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00:15:19,760 –> 00:15:21,680
sort of that is what we’re going
to look at Phoebe.

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00:15:21,680 –> 00:15:24,240
No sort of it’s going to this is
what we’re going to cover and

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00:15:24,640 –> 00:15:28,640
hopefully God willing consider
in our series it’s anchored by

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00:15:28,640 –> 00:15:33,280
this concept of God’s presence
and this is a really you know

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00:15:33,600 –> 00:15:36,720
it’s it’s a pretty deep subject
So I’m letting you know now it’s

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00:15:36,720 –> 00:15:39,240
going to you’re going to have to
like put your thinking caps on

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00:15:39,240 –> 00:15:42,800
it’s there’s a there’s a bit of.
Breaking things down, a bit of

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00:15:42,800 –> 00:15:45,880
analysis that we need to do
because I know when I did it at

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00:15:45,880 –> 00:15:47,840
Gosford and everyone thought,
oh, it’s about the presence of

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00:15:47,840 –> 00:15:49,120
God.
It’s going to be a nice light,

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00:15:49,120 –> 00:15:54,400
nice devotional night and it
wasn’t quite that way it it’s

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00:15:54,400 –> 00:15:57,920
got a it’s got practical
implications as we move through

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00:15:57,920 –> 00:16:00,200
it but to get there we’re going
to have to do a little bit of

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00:16:00,200 –> 00:16:03,280
work.
So the presence of God, it’s a

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00:16:03,280 –> 00:16:06,760
Bible wide theme.
It’s, and arguably it’s the.

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00:16:07,640 –> 00:16:09,720
Theme of the Bible.
I know everyone says that about

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whatever theme they’re looking
at, but this is really, really

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00:16:13,120 –> 00:16:15,880
pivotal.
It’s really important right at

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00:16:15,880 –> 00:16:18,880
the very start of the Bible
narrative, the Bible story,

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00:16:18,880 –> 00:16:23,400
we’ve got Adam and Eve
experiencing this interaction

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00:16:23,400 –> 00:16:30,080
with God, his presence and the
the way the scripture uses this

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00:16:30,120 –> 00:16:34,760
domestic style language to to to
describe that interaction, you

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00:16:34,840 –> 00:16:37,240
know, it says.
That Adam and Eve heard the

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00:16:37,240 –> 00:16:42,160
sound of of Yahweh walking in
the garden in the cool of the

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00:16:42,160 –> 00:16:45,400
day.
It’s got this beautiful serene

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00:16:45,720 –> 00:16:49,560
feel about it hasn’t walk in the
garden, the cool of the day, the

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00:16:49,560 –> 00:16:54,200
beautiful trees and the paradise
like circumstances which they’re

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00:16:54,200 –> 00:16:55,680
in.
And that’s how they would

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00:16:55,680 –> 00:16:57,800
interact with God and they would
interact direct with His

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00:16:57,800 –> 00:17:00,040
presence, something called His
presence.

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00:17:01,360 –> 00:17:04,760
And because of sin we know in
Genesis 3 they couldn’t.

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00:17:05,079 –> 00:17:07,960
Do that anymore.
So we’ve got a clue there about

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00:17:09,079 –> 00:17:12,839
about what is holding that
interaction back.

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00:17:12,839 –> 00:17:17,160
So they they they feel shame,
they feel embarrassed, they feel

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00:17:17,160 –> 00:17:20,400
guilty and they’re unable to
bring themselves into the

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00:17:20,400 –> 00:17:24,560
presence of God and they hide
themselves, as Genesis 3 verse 8

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00:17:24,560 –> 00:17:26,040
says, from the presence of the
Lord God.

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00:17:26,720 –> 00:17:30,040
So we lose presence in this in
the Bible narrative right at the

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00:17:30,040 –> 00:17:32,360
very start, right at the
beginning of men’s.

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00:17:33,080 –> 00:17:34,600
Adventure.
If you want to use that term,

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00:17:34,600 –> 00:17:39,280
man’s sordid adventure from from
the fall onwards, it is lost.

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00:17:39,280 –> 00:17:42,280
The presence of God is something
that is lost, something valuable

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00:17:42,440 –> 00:17:46,000
and beautiful and and cool.
That’s not a hip word.

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00:17:46,000 –> 00:17:49,600
That’s from the Bible, Something
cool that is lost.

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00:17:50,200 –> 00:17:54,680
And then the whole Bible story
is tracking towards the

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00:17:54,680 –> 00:18:00,200
restoration of that interaction.
And so you get to Revelation 21.

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00:18:00,960 –> 00:18:03,080
Right at the other end of the
Bible, of course, the last

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00:18:03,520 –> 00:18:06,640
couple of chapters, and you’ve
got this concept about God

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00:18:06,640 –> 00:18:11,520
dwelling with men, which is like
the opposite of what’s happening

326
00:18:11,520 –> 00:18:17,440
there in Eden is God and man are
pushed apart and separated, and

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00:18:17,440 –> 00:18:21,840
now God is dwelling with men.
And there’s this in chapter 22.

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00:18:21,840 –> 00:18:24,880
There’s this little enigmatic
little phrase there that they

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00:18:24,880 –> 00:18:29,800
shall see his face.
It’s like everything has been

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00:18:29,840 –> 00:18:32,720
brought back to the purpose that
God originally had.

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00:18:33,720 –> 00:18:38,720
So just for just for a bit of
word knowledge, when you see the

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00:18:38,720 –> 00:18:42,400
word Presence panayim in the Old
Testament, it can be translated

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00:18:42,400 –> 00:18:47,000
face or faces, or countenance.
They’re all words that all are

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00:18:47,000 –> 00:18:48,520
referring to the presence of
God.

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00:18:48,800 –> 00:18:53,520
And now God’s face is available
to men, unmediated,

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00:18:53,560 –> 00:18:57,280
uninterrupted, which is the end
of the story, if you like.

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00:18:57,920 –> 00:19:00,920
And so the whole Bible has been
repairing that that particular

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00:19:00,920 –> 00:19:04,760
problem.
And so we need to then start at

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00:19:04,760 –> 00:19:07,920
the beginning and work our way
through how God has

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00:19:08,640 –> 00:19:12,280
progressively dealt with this,
this separation, if you like, in

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00:19:12,280 –> 00:19:18,480
this, this desire for FaceTime,
with his creation, with those

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00:19:18,480 –> 00:19:22,440
made in his image and likeness
that he had lost because of sin.

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00:19:23,240 –> 00:19:25,600
And so of course we know in the
story the full.

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00:19:26,160 –> 00:19:29,680
Man, he’s exiled from God’s
presence, from that beautiful,

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00:19:29,920 –> 00:19:35,040
serene, peaceful paradise like
situation, without any fear,

346
00:19:35,040 –> 00:19:36,760
without anxiety, without fear of
death.

347
00:19:36,760 –> 00:19:40,920
All those things we looked at,
joy, unspeakable peace and and

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00:19:40,920 –> 00:19:43,480
serenity and all these beautiful
things that were there in the

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00:19:43,480 –> 00:19:46,400
garden.
No doubt now that is lost and

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00:19:46,400 –> 00:19:51,480
there’s thorns and thistles and
stress and sweat and and the

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00:19:51,480 –> 00:19:54,480
whole situation has changed.
And as we move through

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00:19:54,480 –> 00:19:57,040
Scripture, God uses this
mechanism called a covenant.

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00:19:57,040 –> 00:20:00,280
We’re going to spend a whole
night on that looking at the

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00:20:00,280 –> 00:20:04,400
concept of covenant and how
covenant was God’s method of

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00:20:04,400 –> 00:20:07,480
restoring that relationship,
restoring the FaceTime with his

356
00:20:07,480 –> 00:20:10,840
people and those covenants.
Of course, there’s a covenant

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00:20:10,840 –> 00:20:13,320
built into Genesis, into
creation itself.

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00:20:13,320 –> 00:20:16,520
There’s the covenant to nowhere
and then right through to the

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00:20:16,520 –> 00:20:19,720
new covenant, which we’ll spend
a bit of time looking at and

360
00:20:19,720 –> 00:20:22,320
then throughout the Old
Testament particularly and of

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00:20:22,320 –> 00:20:23,600
course it finds its way into
the.

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00:20:23,880 –> 00:20:26,480
Story of Jesus life as well and
his interactions.

363
00:20:26,480 –> 00:20:28,880
And then right through to
Revelation 21 we’ve got these

364
00:20:29,320 –> 00:20:31,680
dwelling place concepts whether
it’s the Tabernacle or the

365
00:20:31,680 –> 00:20:36,000
temple.
God is placing his presence in a

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00:20:36,000 –> 00:20:40,640
mediated way, restricted way.
His presence is dwelling amongst

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00:20:40,640 –> 00:20:43,600
his people and there’s access,
very restricted access, but

368
00:20:43,600 –> 00:20:46,000
there’s access nonetheless.
And God is is dwelling there in

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00:20:46,000 –> 00:20:48,480
His presence, is with them in a
particular way.

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00:20:48,480 –> 00:20:51,160
So we want to we’ll spend the
night trying to flesh out the

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00:20:51,160 –> 00:20:53,960
whole temple idea and how that
is relevant today as well.

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00:20:54,640 –> 00:20:57,440
And then we get further into the
Bible and we get to Jesus.

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00:20:58,440 –> 00:21:01,000
We get to the living temple of
God.

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And here we’ve now where it’s
really the pointy end sort of

375
00:21:05,200 –> 00:21:07,560
starting to really gather
momentum.

376
00:21:08,160 –> 00:21:13,440
We’re now seeing the presence of
God exhibited in a human.

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00:21:13,920 –> 00:21:16,240
God’s presence is there.
God dwells in him.

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00:21:16,960 –> 00:21:19,360
In him the Godhead dwells
bodily, if you like.

379
00:21:19,360 –> 00:21:24,200
He was the presence of God.
And in a in a in a very real

380
00:21:24,200 –> 00:21:25,960
sense, the presence of God
dwelled among us.

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00:21:25,960 –> 00:21:29,040
You know that famous verse in
John, one that says the Word

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00:21:29,040 –> 00:21:31,240
became flesh and tabernacled
amongst us?

383
00:21:31,240 –> 00:21:34,680
God’s Shekinah glory lived in a
person, not in a tent, not in

384
00:21:34,680 –> 00:21:36,960
the most holy place, and we
beheld his glory.

385
00:21:36,960 –> 00:21:38,480
It wasn’t hidden away that you
can only see.

386
00:21:38,480 –> 00:21:39,560
Once a year on the Day of
Atonement.

387
00:21:39,720 –> 00:21:43,480
We beheld the glory of the only
begotten of the of the Father,

388
00:21:43,480 –> 00:21:46,840
full of grace and truth.
And so he’s a walking, talking

389
00:21:46,840 –> 00:21:49,440
temple, the presence of God
shining from him and revealed

390
00:21:49,440 –> 00:21:52,560
through him.
So we’ve seen the presence being

391
00:21:52,560 –> 00:21:56,240
heavily mediated now, lived out
in an open expression.

392
00:21:56,760 –> 00:22:00,680
And that’s not the end of the
story for us, because that that

393
00:22:01,320 –> 00:22:06,400
presence of God then is
transferred into God’s people.

394
00:22:06,560 –> 00:22:11,200
As the Lord is taken to heaven,
He leaves behind something we

395
00:22:11,200 –> 00:22:14,160
call the Ecclesia, and the
presence of God now dwells

396
00:22:14,720 –> 00:22:17,520
amongst them.
And that is this flow of God’s

397
00:22:17,520 –> 00:22:21,520
presence as it works its way
through and and the new covenant

398
00:22:21,520 –> 00:22:24,200
is something that we are now the
recipients of.

399
00:22:24,200 –> 00:22:29,120
This new connection, this new
profound connection to God that

400
00:22:29,120 –> 00:22:33,080
is again I feel unappreciated in
some of our circles.

401
00:22:33,680 –> 00:22:36,680
This new creation as God is
working in US and doing

402
00:22:36,680 –> 00:22:41,480
something akin to the original
creation back in Genesis and we

403
00:22:41,480 –> 00:22:44,440
are the temple of God as it says
over and over again in Ephesians

404
00:22:44,440 –> 00:22:47,640
2 and First Peter one and 1st
Corinthians 6 and 2nd

405
00:22:47,640 –> 00:22:50,560
Corinthians 6 and right, right
through the the the New

406
00:22:50,560 –> 00:22:53,200
Testament, that’s an undeniable
concept.

407
00:22:53,680 –> 00:22:57,200
Then of course we’re revelation
back to Revelation 21 and 22.

408
00:22:57,200 –> 00:23:00,760
So we need to track through that
that story to some degree.

409
00:23:00,760 –> 00:23:04,960
So we’re going to have to move
through that as we consider this

410
00:23:05,520 –> 00:23:10,840
very profound subject.
To try and illustrate what I’m

411
00:23:11,120 –> 00:23:15,480
trying to achieve in these
sessions, I’m going to use a

412
00:23:15,480 –> 00:23:18,920
little, a little parable.
It’s it’s not a Bible one, it’s

413
00:23:18,920 –> 00:23:20,280
a parable.
You may have heard it using

414
00:23:20,280 –> 00:23:23,560
other training courses or
something, but I’m using it for

415
00:23:23,560 –> 00:23:25,760
my purposes tonight to
illustrate where we’re going

416
00:23:25,760 –> 00:23:29,320
with this.
So in this little parable it’s a

417
00:23:29,320 –> 00:23:35,240
story about a beggar and he’s
sitting there in a in a city in

418
00:23:35,400 –> 00:23:37,920
ancient times.
He’s there sitting there in this

419
00:23:38,400 –> 00:23:42,680
on on the cold stones of a a
cobble St. and he’s trying to

420
00:23:42,680 –> 00:23:45,960
eke out an existence in this
city and he’s begging everyone

421
00:23:45,960 –> 00:23:48,760
that walks by for for scraps of
food and people.

422
00:23:48,880 –> 00:23:51,680
He might get the odd coin if
he’s lucky but most of the time

423
00:23:51,680 –> 00:23:54,880
someone might throw him some
food or some leftover meat or

424
00:23:54,880 –> 00:23:58,880
something from a handful of
grain that was gathered by some

425
00:23:58,880 –> 00:24:01,840
of the workers in the field.
Might throw something at him and

426
00:24:01,840 –> 00:24:05,760
he eats it up and he’s he’s so,
so happy to have a little bit of

427
00:24:05,760 –> 00:24:09,560
food and he’s he’s peeking out
this very miserable existence in

428
00:24:09,560 –> 00:24:14,320
this in this city.
One day a Prince, some noble man

429
00:24:14,320 –> 00:24:16,680
comes through the city and sees
him sitting there on the stones

430
00:24:17,160 –> 00:24:20,440
and gives him this box and he’s
very thankful to get this box

431
00:24:20,440 –> 00:24:22,440
and he now sits.
Instead of sitting on the cold

432
00:24:22,440 –> 00:24:25,640
stones, he sits on this box and
it elevates him a little bit

433
00:24:25,640 –> 00:24:28,720
higher off the floor.
It’s it’s much more comfortable

434
00:24:28,720 –> 00:24:29,720
and he can sit there and he
begs.

435
00:24:29,720 –> 00:24:31,640
But still his life’s pretty
miserable.

436
00:24:31,640 –> 00:24:36,760
He’s begging just to stay alive,
and there’s no purpose to his

437
00:24:36,760 –> 00:24:39,640
life.
There’s no sense of fulfilment

438
00:24:39,640 –> 00:24:44,320
or achievement or nothing,
nothing that elevates his human

439
00:24:44,320 –> 00:24:48,240
existence because he’s just in
this very low level of

440
00:24:48,240 –> 00:24:51,000
subsistence, just trying to stay
alive, just eating a little

441
00:24:51,000 –> 00:24:53,720
scrap here and there.
There’s an anxiety, there’s

442
00:24:53,720 –> 00:24:57,720
stress, there’s not knowing what
what life holds for him.

443
00:24:58,600 –> 00:25:04,640
Then, of course, this poor man,
this man’s very, very truncated

444
00:25:04,640 –> 00:25:09,280
and and and very sad.
Life ends and he dies and the

445
00:25:09,280 –> 00:25:12,040
city cleaners, the street
cleaners come around to clean up

446
00:25:12,720 –> 00:25:16,920
his mess.
There’s some old utensils there

447
00:25:16,920 –> 00:25:18,720
and there’s a little bit of his
mess.

448
00:25:18,720 –> 00:25:22,000
There’s some linen that he used
to sleep under, etcetera.

449
00:25:22,000 –> 00:25:23,320
There’s not much there and
they’re cleaning it up.

450
00:25:23,600 –> 00:25:25,680
And there’s the box that he’d
been given all those years

451
00:25:25,680 –> 00:25:28,120
before and I got to move the
box.

452
00:25:28,120 –> 00:25:32,640
One of the one of the tradesmen
lifts the the top of the box off

453
00:25:32,640 –> 00:25:38,480
and looks inside.
Behold, the box is full of gold

454
00:25:38,480 –> 00:25:43,120
bars, pure gold bars.
There’s many millions of dollars

455
00:25:43,120 –> 00:25:48,240
worth of gold in this box.
And this beggar and he’s lived

456
00:25:48,240 –> 00:25:53,560
this horrible life, was sitting
on this treasure, this

457
00:25:53,560 –> 00:25:59,080
inestable, this incredible.
You couldn’t even imagine the

458
00:25:59,080 –> 00:26:02,560
value of it, this treasure.
He was sitting on the whole time

459
00:26:02,560 –> 00:26:05,800
and as he, Dave Wade, begs for
food and he’s living this very,

460
00:26:07,040 –> 00:26:09,840
very Hanford life and very
unfulfilling life.

461
00:26:10,640 –> 00:26:12,600
All the while there was this
treasure that he could have

462
00:26:12,600 –> 00:26:14,800
accessed and and imagine his
life how it would have been

463
00:26:14,800 –> 00:26:16,840
different had he known about
this treasure.

464
00:26:17,200 –> 00:26:20,000
He could have contributed to the
life of the city.

465
00:26:20,000 –> 00:26:21,920
He could have built buildings
for people.

466
00:26:21,920 –> 00:26:25,400
He could have, he would have
been respected and loved by

467
00:26:25,400 –> 00:26:26,520
people.
He would have been able to help

468
00:26:26,520 –> 00:26:28,920
people.
He would have had fulfilment and

469
00:26:28,920 –> 00:26:31,760
purpose and he would have been
able to be integrated into the

470
00:26:31,760 –> 00:26:35,280
workings of the city and felt
the the power of all those sorts

471
00:26:35,280 –> 00:26:37,120
of experiences.
But he never got that.

472
00:26:37,120 –> 00:26:40,200
But it was there.
He just never looked in the box

473
00:26:40,200 –> 00:26:42,440
the whole time throughout his
life.

474
00:26:42,440 –> 00:26:45,640
And I’m going to suggest
brothers and sisters that in

475
00:26:45,640 –> 00:26:49,560
some way that could be what’s
happening in my life and maybe

476
00:26:49,560 –> 00:26:54,720
yours, that we have this this
treasure and and this is the way

477
00:26:55,120 –> 00:26:57,880
particularly poor.
But New Testament talks about

478
00:26:57,880 –> 00:26:59,720
and even Jesus talks about what
we have.

479
00:26:59,720 –> 00:27:03,680
We’ve got this treasure and
we’ve got the treasure now this

480
00:27:03,680 –> 00:27:06,720
this incredible treasure, these
riches in Christ that we have

481
00:27:07,080 –> 00:27:11,720
available now and we want to
just see are we really, do we

482
00:27:11,720 –> 00:27:13,560
really appreciate them?
Have we identified them?

483
00:27:13,560 –> 00:27:16,000
What are they?
And and can they change our

484
00:27:16,000 –> 00:27:20,440
lives from just being hunkering
down, eking out an existence,

485
00:27:20,440 –> 00:27:22,600
waiting for this time when
Christ is going to return and

486
00:27:22,600 –> 00:27:23,920
hopefully everything we made
better.

487
00:27:25,560 –> 00:27:28,960
As well as that, though, there
could be the power of something

488
00:27:28,960 –> 00:27:31,280
now that we can have an
experience in Christ.

489
00:27:32,280 –> 00:27:36,480
So I want to just maybe
recalibrate some of our thinking

490
00:27:36,480 –> 00:27:40,240
a little bit in this regard.
One way to recalibrate is to

491
00:27:40,240 –> 00:27:44,160
think about how we view
particularly the Old Testament

492
00:27:44,160 –> 00:27:46,960
and the Old Covenant times.
Because many of us, we’ve grown

493
00:27:46,960 –> 00:27:50,080
up from Sunday School, going
through the five stages of our

494
00:27:50,080 –> 00:27:51,920
Sunday School books, which is
awesome and great.

495
00:27:51,920 –> 00:27:55,520
And I love all that knowledge
that I’ve accumulated from being

496
00:27:55,520 –> 00:27:59,040
a young student, of course.
But by learning all that, we

497
00:27:59,040 –> 00:28:01,600
sort of get the impression that
that was the real thing.

498
00:28:01,600 –> 00:28:03,840
You know, that’s when God really
was active in the world.

499
00:28:03,840 –> 00:28:07,280
That’s when God did stuff.
That’s when God was visible.

500
00:28:07,280 –> 00:28:09,840
That’s when God was doing his
work.

501
00:28:10,320 –> 00:28:14,040
And if I could only live then
and see David and be one of

502
00:28:14,040 –> 00:28:18,080
David’s mighty men, or or see
the prophets, or be be part of

503
00:28:18,080 –> 00:28:21,600
Israel’s victory at Jericho
River.

504
00:28:21,600 –> 00:28:26,040
And and to feel the power of
that, only I could experience

505
00:28:26,040 –> 00:28:28,600
that old, that Old Testament
history myself, because that

506
00:28:28,600 –> 00:28:31,960
seems to be the real thing.
And we look back at the, you

507
00:28:31,960 –> 00:28:35,640
know, the Shekinah glory that
was there in the Most Holy Place

508
00:28:35,640 –> 00:28:37,960
and the pillar of fire and the
pillar of cloud and these

509
00:28:38,280 –> 00:28:42,600
phenomena, these these physical
manifestations of God’s

510
00:28:42,600 –> 00:28:45,280
presence, and we go, wow, that’s
the real thing.

511
00:28:45,280 –> 00:28:48,040
That’s that’s awesome.
And yet we’re going to see

512
00:28:48,040 –> 00:28:50,320
brothers and sisters, as we go
through our sessions.

513
00:28:51,040 –> 00:28:53,240
None of that was actually the
real thing.

514
00:28:54,600 –> 00:28:57,600
None of that was the real thing.
And the book of Hebrews is going

515
00:28:57,600 –> 00:28:59,240
to make that really, really
clear.

516
00:28:59,240 –> 00:29:04,720
None of that was the real thing.
What we have far surpasses any

517
00:29:04,720 –> 00:29:06,680
of that.
That’s not even comparable to

518
00:29:06,680 –> 00:29:10,240
what we have in Christ today.
And in fact, what we are and

519
00:29:10,240 –> 00:29:16,280
what we have and what we can
experience today is amazing and

520
00:29:16,280 –> 00:29:20,200
beyond anything that those old
covenant believers could ever

521
00:29:20,200 –> 00:29:23,200
have imagined.
So what I’m going to do in the

522
00:29:23,200 –> 00:29:27,040
next 15 minutes or so, in that
time remaining, just going to

523
00:29:27,040 –> 00:29:31,360
give you some samples of these,
if you like.

524
00:29:31,360 –> 00:29:34,320
To use the analogy, gold bars
from this box that we might be

525
00:29:34,320 –> 00:29:36,640
sitting on and not using, We
just want to look at these gold

526
00:29:36,640 –> 00:29:39,800
bars very quickly.
We’ll come back and look at them

527
00:29:39,800 –> 00:29:42,760
in more detail and do a whole
night on some of these things.

528
00:29:43,240 –> 00:29:49,440
But I just want to show you the
transcendent riches that we have

529
00:29:49,440 –> 00:29:53,760
in Christ, particularly when
compared to what maybe Israel

530
00:29:53,760 –> 00:29:56,880
under the old covenant had.
And I’ve just got on our little

531
00:29:56,880 –> 00:29:59,240
banner head here some quotes
from Hebrews.

532
00:29:59,240 –> 00:30:01,400
You know, Hebrews has this
little theme that runs through

533
00:30:01,400 –> 00:30:04,000
it.
The the word better that what we

534
00:30:04,000 –> 00:30:07,040
have in Christ is better.
And sometimes we approach

535
00:30:07,040 –> 00:30:13,640
Hebrews and we look at the the,
the target of the original

536
00:30:13,640 –> 00:30:16,960
writing, we go, OK, that’s
because they’re Jewish believers

537
00:30:16,960 –> 00:30:20,000
going back to Judaism.
And so the writer of Hebrews is

538
00:30:20,000 –> 00:30:23,560
in tell telling him how Christ
is far superior and the benefits

539
00:30:23,560 –> 00:30:28,120
in Christ are far better than
than than what they had in

540
00:30:28,120 –> 00:30:29,560
Judaism, what they had under the
law.

541
00:30:30,880 –> 00:30:34,240
If we stay at that level,
looking at the historical sort

542
00:30:34,240 –> 00:30:37,280
of context, I don’t think we’re
going to get the power of this

543
00:30:37,280 –> 00:30:40,560
book.
None of us attempted to go to

544
00:30:40,640 –> 00:30:42,760
join the local synagogue in
Hurstville are we?

545
00:30:42,760 –> 00:30:46,840
So, so we’re not really looking
at this to say is the is Christ

546
00:30:46,840 –> 00:30:50,720
better than the law?
The power of Hebrews is for us

547
00:30:50,720 –> 00:30:53,600
to extract the power of what it
means to be part of the new

548
00:30:53,600 –> 00:30:56,480
covenant, what it means to be in
Christ, what it means to have

549
00:30:56,720 –> 00:30:59,600
access to the most Holy Place.
These are the these are things

550
00:30:59,600 –> 00:31:02,880
we want to really extract from
Hebrews the reality of it and

551
00:31:02,880 –> 00:31:06,400
not just get lost in the the
historical immediate readership

552
00:31:06,400 –> 00:31:08,200
that’s there because we’ve
missed the power.

553
00:31:08,200 –> 00:31:14,280
If we just do that, OK, example,
better example one, what do we

554
00:31:14,280 –> 00:31:16,600
have that’s better in our life
now?

555
00:31:17,800 –> 00:31:19,920
Well, there’s something called
boldness.

556
00:31:20,400 –> 00:31:28,240
Not just access, but boldness to
draw near to the most holy place

557
00:31:28,240 –> 00:31:32,560
or the very presence of God.
Something we might take for

558
00:31:32,560 –> 00:31:35,560
granted or something we think
everyone’s always had the

559
00:31:35,560 –> 00:31:37,480
ability to draw into the
presence of God.

560
00:31:37,480 –> 00:31:42,040
Do you know in under the old
covenant the presence of God was

561
00:31:42,040 –> 00:31:44,480
actually an Angel?
Do you know that it’s actually a

562
00:31:44,480 –> 00:31:47,360
person personage?
The angel’s called the presence

563
00:31:47,360 –> 00:31:49,120
of God the Angel of his
presence.

564
00:31:49,120 –> 00:31:51,880
And Isaiah 63 talks about how
the Angel of his presence

565
00:31:51,880 –> 00:31:53,600
brought them through the
wilderness.

566
00:31:53,600 –> 00:31:55,680
And of course the Angel, his
presence was going to be

567
00:31:55,800 –> 00:31:57,960
extracted by God at one point
because of the golden calf

568
00:31:57,960 –> 00:32:00,960
incident until Moses interceded
for the people.

569
00:32:00,960 –> 00:32:03,920
So the presence of God has been
heavily mediated in under the

570
00:32:03,920 –> 00:32:06,920
Old covenant.
It’s not what we have today,

571
00:32:06,920 –> 00:32:10,680
which is just so amazing.
So to try and quickly move

572
00:32:10,680 –> 00:32:13,120
through these things, I’m just
going to do a little before and

573
00:32:13,120 –> 00:32:14,880
after Schemer, and we’re just
going to run through some of

574
00:32:14,880 –> 00:32:18,840
these things and just have them
in our mind to think about and

575
00:32:18,840 –> 00:32:22,400
then we will look at them in a
bit more detailed subsequent

576
00:32:22,400 –> 00:32:25,240
classes.
So here’s a famous verse from

577
00:32:25,240 –> 00:32:29,320
Hebrews 9 that says very, very
categorically and very clear the

578
00:32:29,320 –> 00:32:33,200
way into the holiest, which is
the Most holy place where the

579
00:32:33,200 –> 00:32:38,040
Shekinah, the dwelling glory of
God was, was not yet made

580
00:32:38,040 –> 00:32:41,440
manifest while the first
Tabernacle was standing.

581
00:32:42,160 –> 00:32:44,720
Some commentators meant to say
think that that means it still

582
00:32:44,720 –> 00:32:49,520
had standing while it was, while
it was actually valid and was

583
00:32:50,000 –> 00:32:52,640
functioning in a way that it
was.

584
00:32:54,080 –> 00:32:56,240
The situation changes
dramatically later on in

585
00:32:56,240 –> 00:32:58,520
Hebrews.
And we get to Hebrews 10 and we

586
00:32:58,520 –> 00:33:01,440
say and and because of the new
covenant, because of the blood

587
00:33:01,440 –> 00:33:03,760
of Christ.
The writer of Hebrews says,

588
00:33:03,760 –> 00:33:09,520
Therefore, brethren, we have
boldness to enter the holiest,

589
00:33:09,520 –> 00:33:13,040
which you couldn’t enter before
except on the Day of Atonement

590
00:33:13,040 –> 00:33:15,280
there was only one man the high
priest could enter.

591
00:33:15,840 –> 00:33:21,200
Now we all have boldness or
confidence to enter the holiest

592
00:33:21,200 –> 00:33:25,040
by the blood of Jesus, by a new
that’s new.

593
00:33:25,040 –> 00:33:30,120
This wasn’t available before.
And living Zoe, it’s alive.

594
00:33:30,120 –> 00:33:35,360
Something’s alive something’s.
It’s not just a an apparatus or

595
00:33:35,640 –> 00:33:38,160
a ritual.
There’s a new and living way

596
00:33:38,760 –> 00:33:41,440
which he has consecrated for us
through the veil.

597
00:33:42,200 –> 00:33:46,120
There’s something very, very
different between the old

598
00:33:46,120 –> 00:33:50,320
covenant believers experience of
God and the interaction with God

599
00:33:50,800 –> 00:33:54,080
and what we have available to us
today.

600
00:33:55,200 –> 00:33:59,440
And it’s like in a sense the to
use a figure of the Tabernacle

601
00:33:59,440 –> 00:34:02,760
and temple that the that vale’s
now gone and those two

602
00:34:02,760 –> 00:34:05,680
compartments are now one.
And God’s glory, as it were,

603
00:34:05,680 –> 00:34:09,400
spills out and his presence is
spills out to his kings and

604
00:34:09,400 –> 00:34:14,560
priests who are in his presence
in a in a much more direct and

605
00:34:14,560 –> 00:34:15,840
constant way.
There’s something quite

606
00:34:15,840 –> 00:34:18,880
differently.
You know, some commentators and

607
00:34:19,520 –> 00:34:20,960
some study notes that I looked
at.

608
00:34:22,000 –> 00:34:25,040
They try they relate this to
prayer and they say, well now

609
00:34:25,040 –> 00:34:29,199
that Christ has opened up the
veil, we can pray directly to

610
00:34:29,199 –> 00:34:32,000
God.
Really.

611
00:34:32,000 –> 00:34:35,239
Is that what it is?
Because there was a lot of

612
00:34:35,239 –> 00:34:36,800
prayers being given in the old
covenant.

613
00:34:36,800 –> 00:34:39,480
In fact, their prayers under the
old covenant seem to have more

614
00:34:41,159 –> 00:34:44,159
effectiveness than even ours.
And the example James gives in

615
00:34:44,159 –> 00:34:46,840
James 5 is of Elijah under the
old covenant who prayed and

616
00:34:47,280 –> 00:34:50,639
stopped the stop the rain and
caused the famine because of his

617
00:34:50,639 –> 00:34:53,360
prayer.
So it can’t be prayer.

618
00:34:54,760 –> 00:34:56,280
It’s something more profound
than prayer.

619
00:34:56,280 –> 00:34:58,800
There’s something that has
changed in the universe.

620
00:34:58,800 –> 00:35:01,000
Something has changed,
profoundly changed.

621
00:35:01,160 –> 00:35:04,480
That involves you and me.
That is represented by this

622
00:35:04,720 –> 00:35:07,360
access boldness to the very
presence of God.

623
00:35:07,640 –> 00:35:09,040
What is that?
What has changed?

624
00:35:09,040 –> 00:35:11,200
Something has dramatically
changed.

625
00:35:12,640 –> 00:35:15,000
It’s not just being able to say
through the Lord Jesus Christ

626
00:35:15,000 –> 00:35:18,480
the end of a prayer.
Example two.

627
00:35:18,480 –> 00:35:21,480
Well, that’s that’s part of it.
But that of course cannot be the

628
00:35:21,520 –> 00:35:25,960
whole picture.
Hebrews talks about this concept

629
00:35:25,960 –> 00:35:30,640
of being made perfect.
We under the new covenant can be

630
00:35:30,640 –> 00:35:33,040
made perfect.
Now perfection.

631
00:35:33,160 –> 00:35:34,840
And we’re not going to touch on
that too much tonight.

632
00:35:34,840 –> 00:35:36,600
Perfection or being without
blemish.

633
00:35:36,600 –> 00:35:42,160
Being perfect, being holy, being
sanctified is a precondition for

634
00:35:42,440 –> 00:35:44,680
being in God’s presence,
interacting with God.

635
00:35:44,680 –> 00:35:47,280
Adam and Eve couldn’t and didn’t
have that.

636
00:35:47,280 –> 00:35:50,200
Once they sinned, they lost that
perfection, if you like.

637
00:35:52,040 –> 00:35:55,680
Perfection is not necessarily
sinlessness either.

638
00:35:56,120 –> 00:35:58,920
You know a little baby could be
sinless in a sense that hasn’t

639
00:35:58,920 –> 00:36:01,440
ever sinned.
Someone in a coma may be sinless

640
00:36:01,440 –> 00:36:03,600
at that time.
Perfection is something else,

641
00:36:03,600 –> 00:36:04,800
isn’t it?
There’s some, there’s something

642
00:36:04,800 –> 00:36:08,440
that makes us relatable to to
Yahweh, to God.

643
00:36:08,440 –> 00:36:12,240
There’s there’s a the ability to
be connected to God in a in a

644
00:36:12,240 –> 00:36:16,360
again, a profound way.
Now the Old Covenant could not

645
00:36:16,360 –> 00:36:21,360
make those as faithful as they
were, as faithful as they were,

646
00:36:21,360 –> 00:36:23,560
and we’re not in any way
diminishing their faith.

647
00:36:24,200 –> 00:36:28,000
But those under the Old Covenant
were never made perfect, Hebrews

648
00:36:28,000 –> 00:36:30,120
10 says.
For the law, having a shadow of

649
00:36:30,120 –> 00:36:32,760
good things to come, and not the
very image of the things, can

650
00:36:32,760 –> 00:36:35,560
never with those sacrifices
which they offer continually,

651
00:36:35,560 –> 00:36:38,080
year by year, make those who
approach perfect.

652
00:36:38,080 –> 00:36:41,680
They never got that perfection,
whatever it is, whatever this

653
00:36:41,680 –> 00:36:46,480
perfection is this precondition,
as I said, to stand to be

654
00:36:46,480 –> 00:36:49,040
interact with God and to be at
one with him.

655
00:36:49,040 –> 00:36:51,320
They never ever received that.
They never got that.

656
00:36:52,080 –> 00:36:54,960
And that’s why their presence is
always mediated, highly mediated

657
00:36:54,960 –> 00:36:57,040
and restricted.
They never were made perfect.

658
00:36:57,520 –> 00:37:03,080
However few verses down in
Hebrews 10 it is very different

659
00:37:03,080 –> 00:37:05,040
for us.
Look at the difference for by

660
00:37:05,040 –> 00:37:11,160
one offering he has perfected
forever the tense.

661
00:37:11,160 –> 00:37:13,520
The Greek there is he’s he’s
done something which

662
00:37:13,720 –> 00:37:15,640
reverberates through through all
time.

663
00:37:15,640 –> 00:37:19,160
It’s it’s happened in the past,
completely and utterly For you

664
00:37:19,160 –> 00:37:23,600
and me, we have been perfected
forever, while at the same time

665
00:37:23,600 –> 00:37:26,080
he’s still sanctifying us.
That word sanctified is an

666
00:37:26,080 –> 00:37:28,200
ongoing verb.
It’s it’s continuous.

667
00:37:28,200 –> 00:37:33,200
So at one level, we’re perfected
for something.

668
00:37:33,480 –> 00:37:37,840
God has perfected us to allow us
into His presence, while at the

669
00:37:37,840 –> 00:37:40,200
same time he’s still sanctifying
us.

670
00:37:40,200 –> 00:37:41,920
And we’ll touch on this.
I’m jumping ahead.

671
00:37:41,920 –> 00:37:43,320
We’ll get to this a bit later
on.

672
00:37:44,840 –> 00:37:47,040
And being perfected is not
necessarily being forgiven.

673
00:37:47,840 –> 00:37:50,440
That’s that’s as I said, that’s
a negative thing in a way.

674
00:37:50,440 –> 00:37:54,760
Forgiveness is just having a a
sin removed in a sense or or not

675
00:37:54,760 –> 00:37:57,680
counted against us.
But you know even under the laws

676
00:37:57,680 –> 00:38:00,160
there was forgiveness, sins
could be forgiven.

677
00:38:00,440 –> 00:38:02,440
Now there’s many quotes in
Leviticus talking about God

678
00:38:02,440 –> 00:38:05,840
forgiving is the sins and there
was even sacrifices for

679
00:38:05,840 –> 00:38:07,320
transgressions and sins
etcetera.

680
00:38:07,320 –> 00:38:09,960
But the law could not make
perfect that’s that’s the

681
00:38:09,960 –> 00:38:12,200
positive side of the of the
coin.

682
00:38:12,200 –> 00:38:15,240
If you like, it could.
It could forgive their

683
00:38:15,240 –> 00:38:20,160
trespasses, but it could not
make them perfect.

684
00:38:20,160 –> 00:38:24,440
It could not make them be in a
situation, a position where they

685
00:38:24,440 –> 00:38:27,080
could interact with God in that,
in that Adam and Eve way.

686
00:38:28,520 –> 00:38:30,240
Here’s an interesting one you
may not have thought about

687
00:38:30,240 –> 00:38:34,320
before you and I.
We think we’re just, you know,

688
00:38:34,360 –> 00:38:37,600
in this dead period of time.
Nothing’s much happening.

689
00:38:37,600 –> 00:38:39,840
It’s just static.
God’s done all the work in the

690
00:38:39,840 –> 00:38:41,440
past and we’ll do it in the
future.

691
00:38:42,400 –> 00:38:45,400
Is this really interesting
statement by the Lord Jesus

692
00:38:45,400 –> 00:38:49,640
Christ in Matthew 11 where he
says, I say to you among those

693
00:38:49,640 –> 00:38:52,160
born of women, Now keep that,
that’s a little clue here.

694
00:38:52,160 –> 00:38:56,280
Those born of women there has
not risen one greater than John

695
00:38:56,280 –> 00:39:00,120
the Baptist.
So right up until he says from

696
00:39:00,120 –> 00:39:04,480
John the Baptist, sorry, from
from creation, right up into

697
00:39:04,480 –> 00:39:07,160
John the Baptist, he was the
greatest person who’ve ever

698
00:39:07,160 –> 00:39:09,760
lived.
And then Jesus goes on to say,

699
00:39:10,560 –> 00:39:16,720
but he who is least in the
Kingdom of heaven is now.

700
00:39:16,760 –> 00:39:23,440
That’s in the tense.
There is now is greater than he.

701
00:39:23,920 –> 00:39:26,520
What does that mean?
That’s a that’s a little bit a

702
00:39:26,520 –> 00:39:28,560
little bit enigmatic, isn’t it?
What’s going on here?

703
00:39:29,400 –> 00:39:32,520
What is the Kingdom of heaven?
We sometimes jump when we read

704
00:39:33,120 –> 00:39:34,360
phrase like we jump to the
future.

705
00:39:34,360 –> 00:39:37,320
I think that’s the the actual
Kingdom when Jesus returns and

706
00:39:37,320 –> 00:39:39,520
sets up the Kingdom.
But the context here, the next

707
00:39:39,520 –> 00:39:42,640
verse tells us it’s not talking
about the future Kingdom.

708
00:39:43,680 –> 00:39:46,120
He says from the days of John
the Baptist until now, the

709
00:39:46,120 –> 00:39:49,120
Kingdom of heaven suffers
violence and the violence take

710
00:39:49,120 –> 00:39:51,560
it by force.
It’s talking about God’s people

711
00:39:51,560 –> 00:39:54,840
since since the baptism of John,
since the teaching of Jesus who

712
00:39:54,840 –> 00:39:57,080
embodied the Kingdom.
Whoops, sorry, who embodied the

713
00:39:57,080 –> 00:40:00,400
Kingdom.
He said the King of God is among

714
00:40:00,400 –> 00:40:02,520
you.
The King of God came in a sense

715
00:40:02,520 –> 00:40:08,680
with with Jesus teaching and he
and he bought that to man’s

716
00:40:08,680 –> 00:40:11,320
attention and man interacted
then in a sense with God’s

717
00:40:11,320 –> 00:40:14,720
Kingdom.
And those who received that,

718
00:40:14,760 –> 00:40:16,760
even though they suffered
violence, even though there was

719
00:40:16,800 –> 00:40:22,560
problems, he says they are, even
the least of them is greater

720
00:40:22,920 –> 00:40:25,960
than John the Baptist, who was
the greater, the greatest.

721
00:40:26,000 –> 00:40:31,760
Rather under the Old Covenant,
Brother Carter says in parables

722
00:40:31,760 –> 00:40:35,800
of the Messiah, Jesus is now
speaking when he refers to the

723
00:40:35,800 –> 00:40:37,720
Kingdom of God.
He’s speaking not of the future

724
00:40:37,720 –> 00:40:40,400
Kingdom, brother, Carter says.
He’s Speaking of a new order, a

725
00:40:40,440 –> 00:40:43,840
whole new world order, and I’ll
get to that in a minute.

726
00:40:44,960 –> 00:40:47,600
John says Jesus is the last of
the prophets.

727
00:40:47,600 –> 00:40:51,440
He is the last link in the chain
up to this new order.

728
00:40:52,200 –> 00:40:55,320
And in that case, the days of
the Kingdom had actually come in

729
00:40:55,320 –> 00:40:58,640
that sense, in the sense that
the king was in their midst and

730
00:40:58,640 –> 00:41:01,280
the gospel of the Kingdom was
pressed upon men’s attention.

731
00:41:02,320 –> 00:41:05,920
So those who responded to the
Kingdom message that were

732
00:41:05,920 –> 00:41:08,800
greater, it’s in some sense
whatever that means.

733
00:41:08,800 –> 00:41:13,240
Then the incredible John the
Baptist who he wasn’t, he didn’t

734
00:41:13,240 –> 00:41:17,000
feel worthy to tie Jesus
Shoelachitz and we wouldn’t, we

735
00:41:17,000 –> 00:41:19,040
would feel unworthy.
We even tie untie John’s

736
00:41:19,040 –> 00:41:21,720
Shoelachitz.
And yet this scripture is saying

737
00:41:22,000 –> 00:41:26,080
because of the status we have,
the perfection we have the

738
00:41:26,200 –> 00:41:28,720
access and boldness to God’s
presence that we have something

739
00:41:28,720 –> 00:41:32,360
we have is even greater than
anything that John the John the

740
00:41:32,360 –> 00:41:35,280
Baptist experienced as well.
Of course he died before the

741
00:41:35,280 –> 00:41:38,200
resurrection, which when all
these things became inaugurated.

742
00:41:40,240 –> 00:41:44,240
Example 4 this is an interesting
one and I I when I when I

743
00:41:44,240 –> 00:41:48,280
presented this at Gosford, it it
it was there was push back and

744
00:41:48,280 –> 00:41:51,200
we we had to really look at this
in some detail.

745
00:41:51,200 –> 00:41:57,960
So it’s quite interesting.
The idea that we are sons of God

746
00:41:59,400 –> 00:42:03,080
is something that relates to us
today.

747
00:42:04,600 –> 00:42:07,920
Under the old covenant, they
weren’t called sons of God,

748
00:42:09,240 –> 00:42:12,240
particularly after the flood,
that phrase is not there.

749
00:42:12,240 –> 00:42:17,320
Israel was a son in a in a
corporate sense, but Israel were

750
00:42:17,320 –> 00:42:20,240
not individually sons of God.
This is something that has come

751
00:42:20,240 –> 00:42:22,240
into force.
Remember we saw that quote from

752
00:42:22,800 –> 00:42:26,680
Matthew 11, those born of women.
John the Baptist was a greater,

753
00:42:26,680 –> 00:42:30,640
but something has happened since
the resurrection of Jesus where

754
00:42:30,640 –> 00:42:34,200
we’re born again.
We’re born not of flesh and

755
00:42:34,200 –> 00:42:36,000
blood as John one says, we’re
born of spirit.

756
00:42:36,000 –> 00:42:38,360
There’s a whole, there’s
something quite different now

757
00:42:39,440 –> 00:42:44,000
that relates to us in this
unique period of time.

758
00:42:44,000 –> 00:42:46,120
It’s not an in between dead time
at all.

759
00:42:46,120 –> 00:42:49,040
It’s a very powerful time and
our interaction with God is

760
00:42:49,040 –> 00:42:52,480
extremely powerful.
So under the old covenant

761
00:42:52,480 –> 00:42:55,480
there’s no real emphasis on God
as the Father, which some people

762
00:42:55,480 –> 00:42:58,080
are shocked by.
It’s a little bit shocking in

763
00:42:58,080 –> 00:43:01,160
the New Testament, in under the
New covenant, it’s Father all

764
00:43:01,160 –> 00:43:04,640
the way, isn’t it?
Jesus comes on the scene and

765
00:43:04,640 –> 00:43:06,800
it’s father, Father, Father,
Father, Father, my father,

766
00:43:06,800 –> 00:43:08,120
Father, Father, your father,
Father, Father.

767
00:43:08,120 –> 00:43:11,120
It’s it punctuates every second
verse in the gospel records.

768
00:43:11,120 –> 00:43:15,160
It’s Father everywhere.
There’s you can colouring Father

769
00:43:15,160 –> 00:43:17,360
and it hits you in the eyes
everywhere in the in the in the

770
00:43:17,360 –> 00:43:19,960
gospel records.
And yet it’s hard to find

771
00:43:19,960 –> 00:43:23,840
anything in the Old Testament in
that, in that, anything like

772
00:43:23,840 –> 00:43:27,320
that in the Old Testament.
There are a few references to

773
00:43:27,320 –> 00:43:31,360
God being a father in the Old
Testament and most of them are

774
00:43:31,360 –> 00:43:35,560
are metaphors so God’s like his
or they’re they’re figures of

775
00:43:35,560 –> 00:43:39,920
speech so the famous one is
Psalm 103 as a father pities

776
00:43:39,920 –> 00:43:42,640
their child so God pities us
it’s as a father.

777
00:43:42,640 –> 00:43:46,520
It’s it’s not God depicted in
that same way and where God is

778
00:43:46,520 –> 00:43:49,400
depicted as a father it’s a it’s
again as I said before it’s a

779
00:43:49,560 –> 00:43:53,800
it’s a corporate father over his
son out of Egypt.

780
00:43:53,800 –> 00:43:57,000
Have I called my son as a as a
corporate body?

781
00:43:57,200 –> 00:43:58,600
It’s it’s significantly
different.

782
00:43:59,960 –> 00:44:04,080
There’s about 15 references in
the whole, you know, whole of

783
00:44:04,080 –> 00:44:06,360
the Old Testament, the big chunk
of our Bible to to the

784
00:44:06,360 –> 00:44:09,200
fatherhood of God.
And we went through all those at

785
00:44:09,200 –> 00:44:11,880
Gosford individually and looked
at them to to just anchor this

786
00:44:11,880 –> 00:44:14,680
concept.
And yet it explodes in the new.

787
00:44:14,920 –> 00:44:16,880
New Testament explodes on the
page.

788
00:44:19,680 –> 00:44:22,840
Won’t look at all these now, but
there’s that famous concept of

789
00:44:22,840 –> 00:44:25,160
Paul’s that runs through his
epistles, which is picked up

790
00:44:25,160 –> 00:44:27,720
from the cross, isn’t it?
The ABBA father concept?

791
00:44:27,720 –> 00:44:31,760
ABBA being this intimate, you
know, dad if you like, and

792
00:44:31,760 –> 00:44:34,400
father ABBA father this
relationship to God.

793
00:44:34,400 –> 00:44:37,920
And by thinking about this and
making this real, we start to

794
00:44:37,920 –> 00:44:42,840
get a clue as to how the
presence of God works.

795
00:44:43,520 –> 00:44:47,640
It’s all starting to change once
we appreciate this unique status

796
00:44:47,640 –> 00:44:51,040
that we have as sons of God.
You know, to get to see the

797
00:44:51,040 –> 00:44:54,400
President of the United States,
I imagine it takes years to get

798
00:44:54,400 –> 00:44:56,040
an appointment.
And you’d have to know the right

799
00:44:56,040 –> 00:44:57,400
people and go through the right
channels.

800
00:44:57,400 –> 00:45:00,440
And you may never, ever get to
visit, have an appointment with

801
00:45:00,440 –> 00:45:02,680
the President of the United
States.

802
00:45:03,320 –> 00:45:08,720
And yet his little child is in
his presence every night and can

803
00:45:08,720 –> 00:45:10,240
run into his room and see him
all the time.

804
00:45:10,240 –> 00:45:12,760
So a child has access to
presence that.

805
00:45:13,920 –> 00:45:16,280
That is quite unique, isn’t it?
And quite profound.

806
00:45:17,280 –> 00:45:19,920
And you know no one in the Old
Testament ever calls God my

807
00:45:19,920 –> 00:45:24,320
Father, no one.
So it is something that really

808
00:45:24,320 –> 00:45:28,480
is developed and really comes
into force from Jesus onwards.

809
00:45:29,320 –> 00:45:32,880
And there’s this famous verse
hearing John One, yeah, John

810
00:45:32,880 –> 00:45:35,680
one’s a very profound chapter in
the beginning was the word was

811
00:45:35,680 –> 00:45:39,680
God’s mind and his his wisdom.
And the beginning was that Word

812
00:45:39,680 –> 00:45:44,440
and that Word becomes flesh and
it’s dwell dwells amongst it’s

813
00:45:44,920 –> 00:45:47,800
it it interacts with human
experience and and human

814
00:45:49,960 –> 00:45:53,080
feebleness and human sin and
human life and and it interacts

815
00:45:53,080 –> 00:45:56,480
with God with it’s God
interacting with humanity and we

816
00:45:56,480 –> 00:45:59,640
see the glory of God lived out
in that man and as a result of

817
00:45:59,640 –> 00:46:05,160
that that incredible events and
and all the things that

818
00:46:05,160 –> 00:46:11,040
transpired those who believe in
him have a right or some

819
00:46:11,040 –> 00:46:14,640
translations have privileged.
Either way is fine, but you can

820
00:46:14,640 –> 00:46:16,240
see it’s a change of status,
isn’t it?

821
00:46:16,240 –> 00:46:19,240
That didn’t exist before.
It now exists in Christ.

822
00:46:19,240 –> 00:46:23,000
We have the right to become the
children of God or the sons of

823
00:46:23,000 –> 00:46:25,240
God by belief, by faith in his
name.

824
00:46:26,080 –> 00:46:28,840
We’ve not been born of blood or
the will of flesh.

825
00:46:28,840 –> 00:46:33,720
This is a divine, profound
miracle that we’ve been born

826
00:46:33,720 –> 00:46:36,720
again into.
Sorry, I’m trying to wreck your

827
00:46:37,160 –> 00:46:39,600
equipment.
We’re born into something that’s

828
00:46:39,640 –> 00:46:46,400
that’s that is just hard to hard
to for me to even articulate and

829
00:46:46,400 –> 00:46:48,240
to put into words what, what
that means.

830
00:46:48,240 –> 00:46:52,200
We are the children of the
creator of the universe, of the

831
00:46:52,200 –> 00:46:55,800
power of the universe and and
all the implications that that

832
00:46:55,800 –> 00:46:58,360
brings.
We have this right, that comes

833
00:46:58,360 –> 00:47:05,320
this this privilege, this
capacity this this thing that

834
00:47:05,320 –> 00:47:09,000
we’ve been elevated to to be the
sons and daughters of God and

835
00:47:09,000 –> 00:47:12,600
that that came to existence.
Now that’s something that longs

836
00:47:12,600 –> 00:47:14,360
to us.
Now you know, first John three,

837
00:47:14,560 –> 00:47:17,160
now are we the sons of God?
You know, this is something

838
00:47:17,160 –> 00:47:20,080
that’s, you know, ability to
appreciate.

839
00:47:20,080 –> 00:47:23,480
Now example five, we are really
running out of time.

840
00:47:23,640 –> 00:47:26,160
But I’ve got a whole night on
this, so I’ll just quickly run

841
00:47:26,160 –> 00:47:29,120
through it.
There’s another profound verse

842
00:47:29,120 –> 00:47:33,280
here in John 7 where Jesus just
jumps up in John seven.

843
00:47:33,280 –> 00:47:34,960
It’s like he does it out of the
blue.

844
00:47:34,960 –> 00:47:37,640
And if it wasn’t for Josephus,
we probably wouldn’t know what

845
00:47:37,640 –> 00:47:41,000
he was actually doing.
But he jumps up on it’s the it’s

846
00:47:41,000 –> 00:47:44,040
the the feast of Tabernacles.
And he just screams out.

847
00:47:44,200 –> 00:47:46,400
There’s no, there’s no lead up
to it.

848
00:47:46,400 –> 00:47:47,520
We don’t quite know why he does
it.

849
00:47:47,520 –> 00:47:48,760
But he just jumps up and he
yells out.

850
00:47:48,760 –> 00:47:53,120
He that believes on me as the
scripture says out of his heart

851
00:47:53,120 –> 00:47:54,680
will flow rivers of living
water.

852
00:47:56,360 –> 00:47:57,600
I’m not going to go down this
rabbit hole.

853
00:47:57,600 –> 00:47:59,640
But there’s nowhere in the
scripture that says that by the

854
00:47:59,640 –> 00:48:01,400
way.
So that’s keep keep that in the

855
00:48:01,400 –> 00:48:03,160
back of your mind.
We’ll touch on that later on.

856
00:48:04,480 –> 00:48:09,840
But this he spoke, the narrator
says, concerning the Spirit who

857
00:48:09,840 –> 00:48:11,720
those believing in him would
receive.

858
00:48:11,720 –> 00:48:15,840
For the Holy Spirit was not yet
because Jesus was not yet

859
00:48:15,840 –> 00:48:18,920
glorified.
There’s something about the

860
00:48:18,920 –> 00:48:23,600
Spirit that is going to be
significantly different after

861
00:48:23,600 –> 00:48:26,160
the glorification of the Lord
Jesus Christ.

862
00:48:27,400 –> 00:48:31,400
Now this is one of those
subjects that can be

863
00:48:31,400 –> 00:48:34,680
controversial because we are
very suspicious of people

864
00:48:34,680 –> 00:48:36,840
claiming to have the Holy Spirit
gifts or people claiming that

865
00:48:36,840 –> 00:48:39,360
the Spirit’s giving them
guidance and telling them how to

866
00:48:39,360 –> 00:48:42,640
live their lives etcetera.
And we rightfully suspect that

867
00:48:42,640 –> 00:48:45,720
and and we don’t believe it’s
compatible with free will and

868
00:48:45,720 –> 00:48:47,520
personal responsibility and all
those sorts of things.

869
00:48:48,960 –> 00:48:52,680
But there’s a there’s some
change here from the Spirit

870
00:48:52,680 –> 00:48:55,040
being given, the Spirit’s going
to be given.

871
00:48:56,200 –> 00:48:58,840
Now we can, we can think of that
in terms of the Holy Spirit

872
00:48:58,840 –> 00:49:02,880
gifts that was given in
Pentecost to a very small,

873
00:49:03,720 –> 00:49:07,320
ultimately a very small subset
of believers that would ever

874
00:49:07,320 –> 00:49:10,040
receive the Holy Spirit, those
miraculous gifts, if you like,

875
00:49:10,040 –> 00:49:13,200
of tongues and and healing.
But there’s something more

876
00:49:13,200 –> 00:49:15,960
profound happening here.
The Spirit’s been given to to

877
00:49:15,960 –> 00:49:19,240
the Ecclesia, and it’s not just
referring to the gifts.

878
00:49:19,240 –> 00:49:24,080
Now if you we’re going to spend
a night on this and if you

879
00:49:24,080 –> 00:49:27,040
really want to prep up on it,
there’s you cannot beat this

880
00:49:27,040 –> 00:49:30,440
book here called The Spirit of
God by Brother Alfred Nichols.

881
00:49:30,920 –> 00:49:33,440
It’s a pretty tough book.
I have to say I’ve got a

882
00:49:33,440 –> 00:49:37,120
reasonable reasonably good
comprehension when it comes to

883
00:49:37,120 –> 00:49:38,600
reading.
But this is a really tough book

884
00:49:38,600 –> 00:49:43,520
to read, but it’s worth it.
And Brother Nichols is pushing

885
00:49:43,520 –> 00:49:47,440
back against the idea that God
only works today through the

886
00:49:47,440 –> 00:49:49,200
Bible.
He he’s sort of saying that’s

887
00:49:49,200 –> 00:49:53,640
not the full picture and and
it’s quite profound what he

888
00:49:53,640 –> 00:49:55,920
says.
He’s not some, you know, young

889
00:49:55,920 –> 00:49:58,240
person I have to say.
Brother Nichols was the editor

890
00:49:58,240 –> 00:50:01,240
of the Christadelphy magazine
for 15 years, and he wrote some

891
00:50:01,240 –> 00:50:04,360
of our most Seminole books, you
know, Revelation, which

892
00:50:04,360 –> 00:50:06,240
Interpretation and other books
like that.

893
00:50:06,240 –> 00:50:10,200
So he’s a very deep scholar and
it’s really worth looking at

894
00:50:10,200 –> 00:50:13,240
this, but I’ll give you a quick
hint now in the context of our

895
00:50:13,240 –> 00:50:17,600
before and afters, he says.
He says when we talk about the

896
00:50:17,600 –> 00:50:22,080
gift, when God gives the Spirit
and it’s a gift, it’s not the

897
00:50:22,080 –> 00:50:24,640
word that we usually associate
with the Holy Spirit gifts.

898
00:50:24,640 –> 00:50:28,160
So when you look in look at
Corinthians, the word there

899
00:50:28,160 –> 00:50:31,200
that’s used to describe the
gifts is this word charisma,

900
00:50:31,200 –> 00:50:33,640
which you’ve probably heard.
That’s the gift of tongues and

901
00:50:33,640 –> 00:50:36,360
the gift of healing, a gift of
interpretation.

902
00:50:37,400 –> 00:50:39,840
The New Testament, the word
using the New Testament describe

903
00:50:40,080 –> 00:50:43,200
the gift of the Holy Spirit is a
different word.

904
00:50:43,200 –> 00:50:45,480
It’s the word doria, or
derivations of that.

905
00:50:46,280 –> 00:50:48,280
And he says derivation.
Derivation.

906
00:50:48,560 –> 00:50:53,080
Doria is the broad term that
encompasses all God’s spiritual

907
00:50:53,080 –> 00:50:57,520
gifts and charisma.
The gifts was just a subset of

908
00:50:57,520 –> 00:51:00,520
that which is no longer
available to to believers.

909
00:51:01,760 –> 00:51:04,080
And of course we have the Bible,
which is one of the one of the

910
00:51:04,640 –> 00:51:06,080
gifts of God that has been
given.

911
00:51:06,080 –> 00:51:09,280
So, so the the gifts, when you
think of the miraculous gifts,

912
00:51:09,280 –> 00:51:11,920
they’re charisma.
When you think of the gift of

913
00:51:11,920 –> 00:51:14,560
the Holy Spirit, it’s doria.
It’s a different word.

914
00:51:15,080 –> 00:51:16,840
It’s not Doritos.
That sounds like it, but it’s

915
00:51:16,840 –> 00:51:19,080
not.
That’s just where my mind goes

916
00:51:19,080 –> 00:51:22,560
with it.
OK, so charisma is a subset of

917
00:51:22,560 –> 00:51:23,680
doria.
Keep that in mind.

918
00:51:23,680 –> 00:51:26,520
So when you see these verses in
Ephesians and other places,

919
00:51:27,480 –> 00:51:30,800
don’t just we could
automatically just replace them

920
00:51:30,800 –> 00:51:32,000
and say, well that’s all about
the Bible.

921
00:51:32,000 –> 00:51:35,680
Now we don’t have the gifts.
When he says the gift of grace

922
00:51:35,680 –> 00:51:38,520
that we have in Ephesians or
this indescribable gift that we

923
00:51:38,520 –> 00:51:41,320
have in 2nd Corinthians 9,
there’s some gift which is Holy

924
00:51:41,320 –> 00:51:45,960
Spirit inspired gift.
It’s not the miraculous gifts,

925
00:51:46,640 –> 00:51:48,920
it’s not the indwelling gift
that the, you know, the

926
00:51:49,080 –> 00:51:53,200
Anglicans talk about.
It’s this gift of God through

927
00:51:53,200 –> 00:51:55,360
the Holy Spirit that comes to us
when we’re baptized.

928
00:51:55,360 –> 00:51:58,520
We’re baptized into the name of
the Father and into the Son and

929
00:51:58,520 –> 00:52:01,480
also the Holy Spirit.
So it’s it’s a big part and it

930
00:52:01,480 –> 00:52:04,960
probably needs more thinking
about maybe to make in, in my

931
00:52:04,960 –> 00:52:09,040
experience anyway, the gift of
righteousness as Romans 5 says,

932
00:52:09,040 –> 00:52:11,280
the doria, this is a spirit
gift.

933
00:52:11,640 –> 00:52:14,520
Every good and perfect doria,
every good and perfect gift that

934
00:52:14,520 –> 00:52:17,080
comes from above.
The gift of living water that

935
00:52:17,120 –> 00:52:19,440
Jesus talks about to the woman
of Samaria and John four.

936
00:52:19,960 –> 00:52:22,640
He has doria us.
All things pertain to life and

937
00:52:22,640 –> 00:52:25,240
godliness.
These are gifts from God, of

938
00:52:25,240 –> 00:52:27,000
course.
The Bible is a beautiful gift

939
00:52:27,000 –> 00:52:32,200
from God.
But Brother Nichols says we

940
00:52:32,200 –> 00:52:35,200
can’t just swap out everywhere.
We read the Spirit with with the

941
00:52:35,200 –> 00:52:38,480
Bible and we use this term.
He says there’s nothing wrong

942
00:52:38,480 –> 00:52:40,680
with using the term Spirit word,
but it’s not a biblical.

943
00:52:40,680 –> 00:52:42,680
There’s nowhere in the Bible
does it say spirit word.

944
00:52:42,680 –> 00:52:45,240
That’s something we’ve made-up.
So we’ve got to be careful about

945
00:52:45,240 –> 00:52:48,680
just superimposing Bible on top
of Spirit every, every time.

946
00:52:48,680 –> 00:52:52,400
We see that God is everywhere
present by spirit.

947
00:52:52,520 –> 00:52:55,360
God interacts with us even
today.

948
00:52:55,360 –> 00:52:57,480
And these are things we need to
sort of think about.

949
00:52:57,480 –> 00:53:00,720
So when you, when you swap out
Bible against Spirit, you’re

950
00:53:00,720 –> 00:53:03,520
swapping out against the Spirit
gifts at the lower level in that

951
00:53:03,520 –> 00:53:06,800
hierarchy, not swap it out
against Doria.

952
00:53:07,000 –> 00:53:09,880
Doria.
The gift of the Spirit is still

953
00:53:09,880 –> 00:53:12,800
valid today, not the Holy Spirit
gifts.

954
00:53:12,800 –> 00:53:14,840
They’re they’re charisma,
They’re below that.

955
00:53:15,120 –> 00:53:17,200
Anyway, if you didn’t understand
anything I said, don’t worry,

956
00:53:17,200 –> 00:53:20,280
we’ll cover that a bit later on.
The point is, something changed

957
00:53:20,280 –> 00:53:23,080
with the resurrection.
Something significantly

958
00:53:23,280 –> 00:53:26,800
different changed.
Something massively changed.

959
00:53:29,120 –> 00:53:32,120
And so there’s something called
a whole new world order that

960
00:53:32,120 –> 00:53:35,520
came into being.
It was inaugurated by the

961
00:53:35,520 –> 00:53:39,440
resurrection of Christ, and
Hebrews 9 says it talks about

962
00:53:40,240 –> 00:53:43,160
the rituals under the law of
Moses as food and drinks and

963
00:53:43,160 –> 00:53:47,920
washings and ordinances.
He says these would exist until

964
00:53:47,920 –> 00:53:53,040
a time of reformation, which the
NIV picks up the meaning of that

965
00:53:53,040 –> 00:53:55,920
word really, really more
profoundly.

966
00:53:55,920 –> 00:54:01,720
I think more accurately, it’s a
time, it’s a new order.

967
00:54:02,360 –> 00:54:07,120
These gifts of washing and
sacrifices would would continue

968
00:54:07,120 –> 00:54:11,280
until not the Kingdom.
That would continue until this

969
00:54:11,280 –> 00:54:15,400
new order was brought into
effect and that new order was

970
00:54:15,400 –> 00:54:17,560
brought into effect at the
resurrection.

971
00:54:18,040 –> 00:54:21,880
It’s already started.
And so this is something we’re

972
00:54:21,880 –> 00:54:24,360
going to look at as well.
We are living in a very

973
00:54:24,360 –> 00:54:28,280
significant period of time.
The new creation is at work

974
00:54:28,280 –> 00:54:32,160
right now and we are part of
that new creation.

975
00:54:32,160 –> 00:54:36,000
And without this period of new
creation, the Millennium cannot

976
00:54:36,000 –> 00:54:39,200
happen and will not happen.
So it’s not dead time, it’s not

977
00:54:39,440 –> 00:54:41,160
hunker down time, This is God
time.

978
00:54:42,240 –> 00:54:44,480
And so Hebrews 10 says,
therefore brethren having

979
00:54:44,480 –> 00:54:46,840
boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus,

980
00:54:46,840 –> 00:54:50,960
by this new Zoe way which he has
consecrated for us.

981
00:54:50,960 –> 00:54:53,760
That word consecrated is better
translated as Strong’s has

982
00:54:54,320 –> 00:54:56,920
inaugurated.
Now we know what an inauguration

983
00:54:56,920 –> 00:54:59,480
is.
And inauguration is when a

984
00:55:00,120 –> 00:55:04,200
powerful figure is inaugurated
as president or I think, I think

985
00:55:04,440 –> 00:55:06,040
Charles’s tomorrow is it or
today?

986
00:55:06,040 –> 00:55:07,040
I don’t know.
I lost track of that.

987
00:55:07,040 –> 00:55:11,160
But Susan will know that one.
There’s inauguration happening

988
00:55:12,720 –> 00:55:16,120
happens in our world now, when a
new king comes into into being,

989
00:55:16,720 –> 00:55:19,360
Christ inaugurated this new and
living way, this, this

990
00:55:19,360 –> 00:55:23,080
connection to God, this entrance
into the most holy place, this

991
00:55:23,080 –> 00:55:28,200
profound interaction with God’s
presence has been inaugurated

992
00:55:28,200 –> 00:55:31,040
already.
There’s a new order, a new, a

993
00:55:31,040 –> 00:55:33,280
new and living way that exists
right now.

994
00:55:34,520 –> 00:55:38,600
And there’s a lot of news that’s
a little pun on the good news.

995
00:55:38,600 –> 00:55:41,320
So the good news had lots of new
stuff about it.

996
00:55:41,880 –> 00:55:44,760
There was a new covenant that
came into force with the blood

997
00:55:44,760 –> 00:55:46,760
of Christ.
We’ll look at the whole.

998
00:55:46,760 –> 00:55:47,760
We’ll spend a whole night on
that.

999
00:55:48,000 –> 00:55:50,400
A new creation that’s taking
place right now.

1000
00:55:50,400 –> 00:55:55,200
A new man or a new being being
developed by God within us, a

1001
00:55:55,200 –> 00:55:58,640
new and living way that dictates
this interaction with God.

1002
00:55:58,920 –> 00:56:01,920
A new commandment.
This is a fascinating, a new

1003
00:56:01,920 –> 00:56:04,280
commandment.
So we’re going to be very

1004
00:56:04,280 –> 00:56:07,520
careful when we take examples
from the Old Covenant and try

1005
00:56:07,520 –> 00:56:08,760
and bring them through into our
world.

1006
00:56:08,760 –> 00:56:10,920
We’ve got to.
They’ve got to be funneled, if

1007
00:56:10,920 –> 00:56:14,120
you like or or or filtered
through the New Covenant prism.

1008
00:56:14,640 –> 00:56:16,800
Just because you could kill an
enemy under the Old Covenant

1009
00:56:16,800 –> 00:56:19,480
doesn’t mean you do that now.
The New Covenant is love and

1010
00:56:19,480 –> 00:56:21,320
loving your neighbours and
turning the other cheek.

1011
00:56:21,320 –> 00:56:25,200
It’s A and by this New Covenant,
if we live by it properly or

1012
00:56:25,200 –> 00:56:28,200
everyone will see that we’re
Jesus disciples because it’s so

1013
00:56:28,560 –> 00:56:30,120
counterintuitive.
It’s so different.

1014
00:56:30,120 –> 00:56:35,560
It’s so, so opposite of anything
else that has been experienced

1015
00:56:35,560 –> 00:56:37,920
by humans before.
So there’s this new everything

1016
00:56:37,920 –> 00:56:42,000
that’s coming to being since the
resurrection.

1017
00:56:43,720 –> 00:56:47,440
So here’s a famous verse that we
we, we refer to a fair bit in

1018
00:56:47,440 –> 00:56:49,240
our particularly first
principles and other places.

1019
00:56:49,240 –> 00:56:51,920
But let’s in the in the in the
context of tonight’s talk.

1020
00:56:51,920 –> 00:56:54,960
Let’s just read it slowly and
just feel the power of what we

1021
00:56:54,960 –> 00:56:58,160
have.
Not in a not in a proud way but

1022
00:56:58,160 –> 00:57:03,120
just in a in a way of gratitude
to God and and and feeling what

1023
00:57:03,120 –> 00:57:06,040
the potential there is in in
this spiritual life in Christ

1024
00:57:06,040 –> 00:57:09,920
that we have and first Peter one
says concerning this salvation.

1025
00:57:10,800 –> 00:57:12,960
The prophets you know you know
the prophets, those people you

1026
00:57:12,960 –> 00:57:14,840
learn about in Sunday school and
read about all the time and

1027
00:57:14,840 –> 00:57:19,400
study and love those prophets
prophesied about what the

1028
00:57:19,400 –> 00:57:22,920
prophets were about the grace
whatever else they prophet about

1029
00:57:22,920 –> 00:57:24,800
Russia and and all this sort of
stuff.

1030
00:57:25,320 –> 00:57:28,720
That’s all true.
But ultimately Peter is saying

1031
00:57:28,720 –> 00:57:38,000
they prophesied about the grace
that was to be yours.

1032
00:57:40,440 –> 00:57:43,600
It’s not my words, is it?
And that grace it was to be

1033
00:57:43,600 –> 00:57:47,120
yours.
They they really wanted to know

1034
00:57:47,120 –> 00:57:49,080
about it.
They searched and inquired

1035
00:57:49,080 –> 00:57:50,240
diligently.
It just was.

1036
00:57:50,240 –> 00:57:52,080
It was.
You know, Paul talks about as

1037
00:57:52,080 –> 00:57:56,400
being this, this secret or this
mystery hidden throughout all

1038
00:57:56,400 –> 00:57:59,880
time until until the
resurrection, this incredible

1039
00:58:00,160 –> 00:58:03,320
thing that would change the
universe itself, that grace that

1040
00:58:03,320 –> 00:58:08,200
was to be yours, Inquiring what
personal time the Spirit of

1041
00:58:08,200 –> 00:58:13,120
Christ, all those Old Testament
types and stories and parables

1042
00:58:13,120 –> 00:58:18,760
and prophets, and are all
converging onto this Christ.

1043
00:58:19,240 –> 00:58:21,480
And the Spirit of Christ is
bringing all these things

1044
00:58:21,480 –> 00:58:24,600
together.
The Spirit of Christ was in

1045
00:58:24,600 –> 00:58:28,760
them, indicating when he when he
predicted the sufferings of

1046
00:58:28,760 –> 00:58:32,440
Christ and the subsequent
glories, it was revealed to them

1047
00:58:34,360 –> 00:58:36,920
and they were serving, not
themselves actually wasn’t.

1048
00:58:37,640 –> 00:58:41,480
It didn’t benefit them a huge
amount really.

1049
00:58:43,160 –> 00:58:45,120
It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?
It’s hard that these prophets

1050
00:58:45,120 –> 00:58:48,520
are inspired by God and they’re
talking about these things they

1051
00:58:48,520 –> 00:58:55,240
were serving, not themselves but
you, in the things that have now

1052
00:58:55,680 –> 00:58:59,400
been announced to you through
those who preach the gospel, the

1053
00:58:59,400 –> 00:59:03,160
good news to you by the Holy
Spirit sent from heaven, which

1054
00:59:03,160 –> 00:59:05,720
things the angels themselves
desire to look into.

1055
00:59:06,960 –> 00:59:09,480
That’s you now, brothers and
sisters, That’s us Now.

1056
00:59:10,240 –> 00:59:13,280
All the stuff the prophets were
saying, Ezekiel going through

1057
00:59:13,280 –> 00:59:18,560
all these parables and Jeremiah
being up to his neck in mud, and

1058
00:59:19,040 –> 00:59:22,040
Daniel and all these people,
they were prophesying about the

1059
00:59:22,040 –> 00:59:28,080
grace that was sorry, the grace
that was to be yours, which

1060
00:59:28,080 –> 00:59:30,480
things the angels desire to look
into.

1061
00:59:31,560 –> 00:59:35,440
So tonight we’ve identified some
of these gold bars been made

1062
00:59:35,440 –> 00:59:39,200
perfect, something which we’re
going to try and make some

1063
00:59:39,200 –> 00:59:40,600
reality about.
What does it mean to be made

1064
00:59:40,600 –> 00:59:43,400
perfect?
Even though even the most

1065
00:59:43,400 –> 00:59:46,280
faithful men and women that
we’ve ever heard of that are in

1066
00:59:46,280 –> 00:59:50,360
the catalogue of the faithful in
Hebrews 11, What does it say at

1067
00:59:50,360 –> 00:59:52,840
the very end of that chapter?
These all died in faith.

1068
00:59:52,840 –> 00:59:56,480
They did incredible things, but
they were not made perfect.

1069
00:59:56,960 –> 00:59:58,960
They without us will not be made
perfect.

1070
01:00:00,120 –> 01:00:02,600
We are made perfect now in our
living lifetime.

1071
01:00:03,640 –> 01:00:06,920
We live in the presence of God.
In a very real way.

1072
01:00:07,400 –> 01:00:10,160
We’ve got the right, the
privilege to call ourselves the

1073
01:00:10,160 –> 01:00:12,960
sons of God and to call God our
Father, greater than John the

1074
01:00:12,960 –> 01:00:18,040
Baptist in our status, receiving
this incredible gift of God’s

1075
01:00:18,040 –> 01:00:20,120
Holy Spirit.
And we’ll talk about how that

1076
01:00:20,120 –> 01:00:24,080
out works a bit later on.
So let’s finish really quickly.

1077
01:00:24,080 –> 01:00:26,320
Hebrews, Hebrews 12.
Let’s go to Hebrews 12.

1078
01:00:26,320 –> 01:00:28,800
Brothers and sisters, We’ll
finish up here, our last

1079
01:00:28,800 –> 01:00:37,120
reference for tonight, Hebrews
12.

1080
01:00:39,720 –> 01:00:43,080
There’s a contrast here between
two mountains.

1081
01:00:43,080 –> 01:00:47,840
So it’s got Mount Sinai, and you
can see the sort of language

1082
01:00:47,840 –> 01:00:56,320
that’s used to describe Sinai.
It says verse 18 for you have

1083
01:00:56,320 –> 01:00:58,960
not come.
So that’s this is not our

1084
01:00:58,960 –> 01:01:01,400
experience.
You have not come to a mountain

1085
01:01:01,400 –> 01:01:04,320
that can be touched.
So there’s something interesting

1086
01:01:04,320 –> 01:01:06,120
at the start.
There’s something physical and

1087
01:01:06,120 –> 01:01:09,080
tangible.
Whatever we have is not physical

1088
01:01:09,080 –> 01:01:12,720
in that three-dimensional sense.
Which means you got to.

1089
01:01:12,720 –> 01:01:15,280
We got to work harder to
appreciate and to make it real.

1090
01:01:15,560 –> 01:01:19,120
It can’t be touched.
This mountain that burnt with

1091
01:01:19,120 –> 01:01:24,080
fire and the to the blackness in
the darkest darkness, rather in

1092
01:01:24,080 –> 01:01:26,480
The Tempest and the sound of a
trumpet.

1093
01:01:26,480 –> 01:01:30,800
Look at the the visceral and the
noise and the feelings and all

1094
01:01:30,800 –> 01:01:34,080
these physical tangible things.
The sound of trumpet and the

1095
01:01:34,080 –> 01:01:36,920
voice of words.
So those who heard begged that

1096
01:01:36,920 –> 01:01:39,840
it should stop, and they
couldn’t even endure it.

1097
01:01:40,160 –> 01:01:42,320
And if a beast even touched the
mountain, it was stoned to

1098
01:01:42,320 –> 01:01:44,720
death, or thrust through with a
with a with an arrow or a dart.

1099
01:01:45,320 –> 01:01:49,560
So terrifying, verse 21 says.
So terrifying was the sight that

1100
01:01:49,560 –> 01:01:52,640
Moses said, I am exceedingly
afraid and trembling.

1101
01:01:53,880 –> 01:01:57,680
So that was the Old Covenant.
God’s presence is mediated,

1102
01:01:57,680 –> 01:02:00,040
strongly mediated.
The mountain itself is

1103
01:02:00,040 –> 01:02:01,920
restricted.
Even animals couldn’t get near

1104
01:02:02,080 –> 01:02:03,600
it.
The people are kept at the

1105
01:02:03,600 –> 01:02:06,280
bottom.
God’s presence is represented by

1106
01:02:06,280 –> 01:02:08,600
the Angel of the presence.
It’s very mediated, very

1107
01:02:08,600 –> 01:02:11,880
restricted.
Look at our situation though,

1108
01:02:11,880 –> 01:02:19,880
verse 22.
But you are come, let’s not push

1109
01:02:19,880 –> 01:02:21,800
this into the future because
that’s not what it’s saying.

1110
01:02:21,800 –> 01:02:25,120
It’s not saying we’re going to
go to Mount Zion in sometime in

1111
01:02:25,120 –> 01:02:27,760
the future.
You are.

1112
01:02:27,920 –> 01:02:29,760
The English tense agrees with
the Greek tense.

1113
01:02:29,760 –> 01:02:36,920
Here in these verbs, you are
come unto Mount Zion under the

1114
01:02:36,920 –> 01:02:39,680
city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem.

1115
01:02:39,840 –> 01:02:42,640
Wherever you read about that
before, Anthony read about that

1116
01:02:42,640 –> 01:02:45,000
in our open reading.
That’s Revelation 21.

1117
01:02:45,000 –> 01:02:47,960
That’s beyond the Millennium.
There’s a link, there’s a direct

1118
01:02:47,960 –> 01:02:51,880
link between what we experience
in Christ and that ideal

1119
01:02:51,880 –> 01:02:55,600
recreation that happens, that
that total consummation of God’s

1120
01:02:55,600 –> 01:02:58,400
purpose in the future, the New
Jerusalem coming down from

1121
01:02:58,400 –> 01:03:00,200
heaven.
We are there now.

1122
01:03:00,240 –> 01:03:02,160
Not in a physical sense, but
we’re there.

1123
01:03:02,840 –> 01:03:06,120
You are, you are.
Come not to Mount Zion, under

1124
01:03:06,120 –> 01:03:09,000
the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, to an

1125
01:03:09,000 –> 01:03:11,680
innumerable company of angels,
to the General Assembly and

1126
01:03:11,680 –> 01:03:14,320
ecclesia of the first born,
which are written in heaven to

1127
01:03:14,320 –> 01:03:19,760
God the judge of all, into the
spirits of just men made

1128
01:03:19,760 –> 01:03:23,080
perfect.
This is, this is our experience

1129
01:03:23,080 –> 01:03:26,880
now, brothers and sisters, to
the spirit of just men made

1130
01:03:26,880 –> 01:03:35,880
perfect in this relationship
with God that is a billion times

1131
01:03:35,880 –> 01:03:39,280
greater and more intense and
more real than anything that

1132
01:03:39,280 –> 01:03:42,560
Mount Zion, Mount Sinai could
offer the people of Israel.

1133
01:03:43,160 –> 01:03:45,560
And it’s not written there in
Hebrews, as I said, just to say,

1134
01:03:45,640 –> 01:03:47,080
show the Jews going back were
wrong.

1135
01:03:47,080 –> 01:03:51,560
It’s written for us to to take
into our emotions and our heart.

1136
01:03:51,560 –> 01:03:55,920
To say this is incredible.
We are recipients of this box of

1137
01:03:55,920 –> 01:03:59,040
gold brothers and sisters and
hopefully over our studies.

1138
01:03:59,040 –> 01:04:02,240
We want to take each bar of gold
out and try and make it real and

1139
01:04:02,240 –> 01:04:05,960
try and feel the power of the
now that we are living in Mount

1140
01:04:05,960 –> 01:04:07,040
Zion right now.