"PAST YOUR FEARS"

Jesus carried His own blood into the holiest of Heaven.

• When we read of His discussion with Mary at the tomb, we hear Him explain that she cannot touch Him for He had not yet ascended to the Father.
• This was a direct reference to the fact that the high Priest could not be touched by people while he entered the tabernacle to make atonement with the blood.
• Leviticus 16:17 tells us that no person could be inside the tabernacle.
• Jesus was going into the actual temple of Heaven when He stopped to speak to Mary.
• He would present the blood in order to make atonement and to deal with our sins that barred us away from God.
• And barred God from working for us.
• There were three instances of rendings in the biblical text.

1. Jordan River was rent.
2. The veil was rent when Jesus died.
3. Jesus body was rent in death.

The veil represents the flesh (Hebrews 10:20).

• When Jesus died and the veil was rent, we see a picture of fleshliness rending.
• Fleshliness is a barrier when it makes us fear due to condemnation.

• The Conscience is deep inside.
• It is a special place in God's concern.

• So Jordan can be seen as a barrier of fears.
• Our fearful flesh will keep us out from what we fear.

A battered wife hates herself.

• Abused children come to feel useless.
• Condemnation attacks these victims and they become fearful.
• Such people that try to be christians cannot pray.
• Condemnation is the worst enemy of mankind!

• We have an unhappy world because of condemnation.

A world full of "if only's"

• "If only" things were different.
• "If only" I enjoyed life.

• Satan attacked the concept of God's love for Christ when He tempted Christ, saying, "If you are the Son of God then command stones to be made bread."
• And He did the same with the woman in the Garden
• "If God loved you, and you were indeed a child of His, woman, he would let you become as wise as Him, by telling you of this opportunity to become wise by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil"

• When someone errs, they are in the midst of condemnation.
• And to tell them they are shameful is to heap that much more condemnation on top of them.

• There is a message here.
• When we suffer condemnation it is in our consciences.
• There is only one way to stop the condemnation in the conscience.

• It still says, "No! You are wrong, and therefore useless!"
• You try another way.
• "NO!"

• If you take the same blood Jesus took you can go past your fears and touch your conscience with the truth that Jesus FORGIVES!

• The only way into this place of rest is with the BLOOD.
• Try to overcome your fears and you will fail.
• You will only run hiding again.
• But if you have the blood of Jesus, and the truth of His atoning sacrifice, and you truly BELIEVE in its power to forgive your sins in God's eyes, then your conscience can be purged and cleansed of CONDEMNATION.

• Joshua 3:14-17
• "Joshua" is the Hebrew counterpart for "Jesus".
• He was told to have the ark of the covenant held up high.
• Upon the ark of the covenant was a mercy seat COVERED WITH BLOOD, since the High Priest made atonement every year to remove Israel's sins by sprinkling the mercy seat with the blood of the sacrifice.
• Blood of forgiving power was held up high.
• This represents FAITH.
• Hold your faith up high for God's eyes to look down upon and you can cross your borderline.
• The barrier that keeps you out, the fears that gather together as a barricade to keep you out of God's will, can be breached as you step right into your fears trusting in the blood to move God to help you.

• You will not fail because God will come on the scene.

• And we will always be grasshoppers.
• Giants will always be bigger than we are.
• But giants fall before grasshoppers who trust in God.

• Faith:
• You will have faith if you believe you needed Jesus to die for you so that God's influence would work for you.
• When you admit you are a sinner outside of God and need forgiveness only by Jesus' blood, then God will work for you!
• This is grace working for you.
• You have connections only by the blood of Jesus.
• Sin stops him from helping you, so the blood removes those sins.
• And He can help now.

You must have this faith: Jesus took His blood and splashed the mercy seat.

• He went into Heaven's holiest and that blood is still there today.
• It is there right now for you!
• Figuratively, I hold up that blood and God's MERCY (blood on the mercy seat held high by the Levites) will work for me now!

And step into your fears, and as the water of the Jordan was flooding its banks and your feet step into the swelling waters, and may stay there momentarily, remain standing and do not "drop" your faith. The fears will remove themselves and instead of fearing, YOU WILL ENTER REST.

The book of Hebrews tells us to hold our confidence fast.

Picture the Levites holding up the ark, but dropping it in fear and running as the waves hit their legs. They left no chance for God to work!

God will take over and fight our battles if we stand by faith.

• Gideon broke the 300 jars containing the fire and the enemy Midianites were defeated.
• David ran at Goliath and slew the giant.

We return back into Eden's Garden.

• Our consciences have been stirred horribly since we left when Adam was cast out.
• Condemnation struck our lives due to all the sins we committed.
• But there is a way to pass the gate of cherubim and flaming sword.
• There is no condemnation in Christ -- Romans 8:1.

• Christ is our door!
• His blood shed on the cross for us is our ticket past our fears.
• Only Faith removes the veil.
• Hebrews 10:19-23

Those who have fear will never be saved.

• "When gloom and sadness whisper,
• "You've sinned, no use to pray,
• I look away to Jesus,
• And he tells me to say,
• 'I see a crimson stream of blood.'"