Getting To The Intimate Place

We often read about the old way and the new way and with our reasoning intellectual mind we think we understand this concept and embrace the new way of Jesus but do we really? 

Hebrews 9 &10 speaks of the first covenant with Israel, which had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on this earth.

The priest regularly entered the first room (the holy place) as they performed their religious duties. But only the High Priest ever entered the Most Holy Place (where the presence of God dwelt) and he always offered blood for his sins…and the sins the people had committed in ignorance. By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely accessible.

The gifts and sacrifices… offered were not able to cleanse the conscience… for that old way dealt with physical regulations Now though, Christ has become the High Priest-He has entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

So we can come in and out of this Most Holy Place and find green pastures (see John 10:9) 

Christ has entered the greater more perfect Tabernacle in heaven. Think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds (sins of the heart attitude done or thought in ignorance) so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them.

Listen, You do not call on God.  God calls you and has enabled you to receive this inheritance, which is the same inheritance God promised Christ.

What is the inheritance promised to Christ?

God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance (Heb 1:1)

What is the THE EVERYTHING?

The bible says “The Son being the brightness of His Glory-the very character of God (Heb 1:3)”

Jesus got the very character and presence of God.  You get no less when you receive the inheritance.  You get THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD…THE EVERYTHING!

And…He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command and has cleansed us from our sin (Heb 1:3)

Listen THE EVERYTHING is God’s glory-the fullness of the measure of Christ in us which is the very image or character of God and we can enter into this Glory because of the very high price of the blood of Jesus who allowed God to tear the veil between mankind and Himself.

Christ did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again…but now once for all time he has appeared…to remove sin by his own sacrifice. The old system was only a shadow of the good things to come The sacrifices of the old system were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.

If they could have provided perfect cleansing worshippers would have been purified…and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared but instead those sacrifices (those things we do to try to please God) actually reminded them of thier sins year after year (just like the doing and trying and not hitting the mark just reminds us of our sins and Satan loves to pour on the guilt for that. Satan wants to remind us remember when…you did this or that…remember when it didn’t turn out ok…remember when you were abused…remember when God did not come through for you.  Satan is the greatest liar of all time and he wants us to remember his lies because it renders us useless.  Stop the lies, rebuke them and remember the truth, you have all authority over the devil)

God is not pleased with sacrifices and burnt offering but a body to offer to do His will.

We are to yield ourselves to Christ who offers us up as perfect to our God…NO GUILT!

For God’s will was for us to be made Holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus…once for all time…taking away our feelings of guilt (and shame)…setting us free to live by the Holy Spirit now in us.

Do you let the Holy Spirit have His way with you?  Do you let Him free? Or does your “outerman” that shell that says you need to logically reason how to please God with your good Christian works have his way, leading you to guilt for not getting it quite right?

We are to offer our bodies, to get in stride with God, to offer our members to the full control of the Holy Spirit…our minds, our thoughts, our bodies, our hands ,feet, mouth, our hearts, ours souls to God for Him to do as He pleases.

Jesus cane to divide soul and spirit, bone and marrow, to divide the dead spirit from our soul-so we may have new life giving Spirit

Much like life giving blood, really sick people need a bone marrow blood transfusion to give them life.

Our dry bones going through religious motions or good moral deeds in life just like the old priests  did,  our dry bones full of dead blood need a transfusion.  We need life breathed into them by a new Spirit…Our soul needs a new Spirit, a blood transfusion.  Ezekiel prophesied to the valley of dry bones and said come from the four winds oh breath and breath life into these bones that they may live (Ezek 39)

May we pray the same thing…

A blood transfusion frees us from the feelings of guilt

For by that one offering Jesus forever made perfect those who are being made holy (those God has chosen and called)

And the Holy Spirit also testifies to this for He says: This is the new covenant I will make with m people.  

            I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds.  

           Then He says:

            I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds…

And when sins have been forgiven there is now need to offer anymore sacrifices…good works., obligatory good duties performed in the church in hopes that God will hear your prayers because you have hit the mark.

Listen performing or trying to work at intellectually doing good deeds that might please God or behaving according to the Moral law-this is good but it only causes you to enter the Holy Place just as the priests of the old covenant did…a place you enter that is filled with good works and feeling of guilt because you never seem to get it right…a place where you never hit the mark …many people are stuck in this place

But God calls us up out of this place, up to a higher standard, the standard of His Son. 

Are you willing to set the Holy Spirit free and let Him take you to this place…a place Jesus has prepared for us (John 14:1-4)

Can YOU believe every moment of every day God’s Spirit guides your thoughts, your actions, and your ways.

The new covenant has been made.  How long will you go on living in the old covenant ways striving to be better, being diligent to do good work in the church but not really believing Jesus’ blood has given you entrance into the Most Holy Place, God’s very presence and His thoughts toward you are always good and His power sustains all things and is working through you to effect other people.

God wants to bless us, wants to heal, wants to cast out demons.  Are we going to believe He will even for us.

Can we pray boldly, taking our authority over satan, not because we repented and did it right but simply because Jesus blood gives us that authority, can we pray like that for our children, our family, our neighbors, others souls.

Or do our prayers sound like the father who could not believe; sounding something like this…O Lord have mercy on us if it is your will please Lord do something.  WE come begging; hoping against all hope that maybe Jesus will do something for us.

To this Jesus says as He did to that father:

            What do you mean if I can, if YOU can believe anything is possible.

            And again to the question:

            If you are willing can you?

Jesus did.

He willingly reached out His hand and touched us ON THE CROSS

And said:

I AM WILLING.  Can YOU believe?

I AM Willing has already reached out, has already touched you, has already made you clean, healed you, made you whole

Can YOU pray with confidence?

Can YOU come into the Most Holy Place, the intimate place, into the new way?

Can YOU sit awhile in the presence of God?

BELIEVING HE HEARS AND IS WILLING

This is to be in the Most Intimate Place.  For prayer is THE WORK of God, not good works we do for God.