LETTING GOD GET ON WITH HIS ORIGINAL PLAN
(Dealing with Our Consciences)
MF Blume
September 11, 2011
Hebrews 3:6-12 MKJV But Christ was faithful as a Son over his own
house; whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the
rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (7) Therefore, as
the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear His voice,
(8) do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day
of temptation in the wilderness, (9) when your fathers
tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. (10)
Therefore I was grieved with that generation and said, They always err
in their heart, and they have not known My ways. (11) So I
swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest." (12)
Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Recall we preached about satan using our heads and
how they need to be cut off from his use, just as the Ark of the
covenant for three days and nights in Dagon’s temple broke off
his head and hands.
- I want to give some TEACHINGS of the cross
that are intended to help you KNOW the truths that will CUT OFF your
head from satan’s use.
- KNOWING THE TRUTH makes you free.
- The bible speaks much about KNOWING, just as
there are many pictures in the Bible referring to the HEAD where
Goliath’s HEAD was struck, and the cross was on the place of the
SKULL.
Jael struck a NAIL into the temple of the enemy
warrior.
Knowing these truths will stop the devil from using your mind.
God had a plan for mankind before Adam sinned.
- He has accomplished 4000 years of work to
bring about salvation of the cross to get us back to that prefall
status of Adam.
- It has been 2000 years since that cross
occurred.
- And here we are today often hindered by so
many distractions that keep us from the original plan God had for man
to which we have been returned by salvation.
- God wants to get on with His original plan,
but we have to get our minds aligned with His will.
- What we think about affects whether or not
God can use us.
- And, oh, we sometimes waste SO MUCH TIME
when we could be accomplishing His will.
- Look at how the book of HEBREWS deals with
this issue.
Hebrews 3 tells us that we are the House of Jesus Christ but this is
only true for us under a certain condition.
- It is true if we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope FIRM UNTO THE END.
- Then the writer appeals to PSALM 95, where
David wrote thousands of years ago, and hundreds of years before Jesus,
for Israel to NOT HARDEN THEIR HEARTS as their ancestors did in the
Exodus.
- The need to hold the hope firm to the end
requires a soft and teachable heart.
- A hard heart will hinder that from happening.
God is trying to return us to the Garden status of Adam, and the END he
is trying to bring us to is that place where we can do his will and HE
CAN GET ON WITH HIS PLAN WITH US.
Keep your bible open to Hebrews 3 and compare it with Psalm 95 now.
Psalms 95:1-11 MKJV Oh come, let us sing to Jehovah; let us make
a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. (2) Let us
come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise to
Him with psalms. (3) For Jehovah is a great God, and a
great King above all gods. (4) In His hand are the deep
places of the earth; the strength of the hills is also His.
(5) The sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry
land. (6) Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us
kneel before Jehovah our maker. (7) For He is our God, and
we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if
you will hear His voice, (8) harden not your heart, as in
the day of strife, as in the day of testing in the wilderness;
(9) when your fathers tempted Me, tested Me, and saw My
work. (10) For forty years I was grieved with this
generation, and said, It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and
they have not known My ways; (11) to whom I swore in My
wrath that they should not enter into My rest.
Notice halfway through verse 7 begins the quotation Hebrews 3 makes
from this Psalm.
The writer of Hebrews uses this Psalm as if it is talking to us today
in the Church IN Hebrews 3:7.
- Although it was written, almost one thousand
years before Jesus even came, Hebrews treats it like it is written to
us in the church!
- That makes sense, because David spoke a lot
of what was unavailable to them in their day that was actually written
for us.
Hebrews 3:6 says we have a CONFIDENCE TO HOLD FIRM TO UNTIL THE END.
- Unbelief destroys that confidence, and stops
us from ENTERING.
- And after chapter 3, Hebrews picks up on the
idea of Israel NOT ENTERING Canaan and applies the concept of ENTRANCE
to Christians.
Hebrews 4:1-2 MKJV Therefore, a promise being left to enter into
His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of
it. (2) For also we have had the gospel preached, as well
as them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in those who heard it.
And then something other than the ENTRANCE INTO CANAAN is mentioned.
Hebrews 4:3 MKJV For we who have believed do enter into the rest,
as He said, "I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into
My rest;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the
world.
He mentions works finished from the foundation of the world.
- THE SEVENTH DAY.
- Verse 4 verifies this fact that the works
referred to the seventh day in Genesis because we read…
Hebrews 4:4 MKJV For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh
day in this way: "And God rested the seventh day from all His works."
So he said there is a rest David spoke about FOR US
“TODAY”, EVEN THOUGH there was a day of rest God entered
into on the seventh day, and the REST of the land of Canaan.
- Some might say there is no further rest for
mankind, since God gave a rest in the form of the Sabbath day way back
in Genesis, and then another one in the form of entering Canaan.
- But Hebrews insists there is a further rest.
- It teaches Psalm 95 is speaking of a REST
FOR US TODAY.
Then he goes back to Psalm 95:
Hebrews 4:5 MKJV And in this place again, "They shall not enter
into My rest."
This means Hebrews referred to Canaan and the seventh day BOTH as a
former rest, but they are not the rest Hebrews is interested in, and
not the rests we need to be concerned with.
- Verse 4:6 begins by saying that we read of a
rest in Psalm 95, and that this means there are obviously some people
who are meant to enter such a rest.
- The next thing verse 6 mentions is the
Exodus.
- Then verse 7 points to a certain word in
Psalm 95 – “TODAY”.
- And it is a CERTAIN DAY.
- But it is not the Exodus rest where JOSHUA
finally led Israel in.
Hebrews 4:6-8 MKJV Since then it remains that some must enter
into it, and since they to whom it was first preached did not enter in
because of unbelief, (7) He again marks out a certain day,
saying in David, "Today," (after so long a time). Even as it is said,
"Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."
(8) For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not
afterward have spoken of another day.
Some might say that if they did not enter rest, and died in the
wilderness, then when Joshua finally took them in 40 years later, they
finally entered this rest.
- Not so.
- Verse 8 says if that were the case, David
would never have spoken of an additional rest so many centuries after
Joshua.
GOD WANTS US TO GET ON WITH SOMETHING!
He has a purpose for us ONCE WE GET IN THE GARDEN like we are meant to
enter.
- What did God have for Adam if Adam never
sinned?
- Would he look forward to dying and going to
heaven?
- No, since death would never come if he had
not sinned.
- Did he look forward to winning souls?
- No, since no souls would be lost who needed
winning if he never sinned.
This REST we are speaking about is a return to GARDEN STATUS.
- God finished the work of creation and RESTED.
- He put Adam in a finished Garden.
- He planted the Garden and made the trees to
grow.
- A river even watered the Garden so Adam
would not have to.
BUT THE REST of the Garden was a state of being so man could get on
with what he was created to do.
Do you know WHY God made man in His image?
- And WHY did God have LIFE in the tree of
life for man to eat?
- Man was already going to live forever, since
again, death only came due to sin.
- If man never sinned, he would not die, and
would not need something to make him live forever.
- So why was that LIFE for Him to eat?
- IT WAS TO GET GOD INSIDE HIM.
- Adam was like a GLOVE TO A HAND when He was
made in God’s image.
- Like one old preacher said, there is an
empty place inside us in the shape of GOD’S SPIRIT.
- And you have THE IMAGE OF GOD in the
physical realm, ready to be filled with the LIFE OF GOD ITSELF, and you
have a glove ready to be filled with a HAND in order for the one who
owns the hand to start working THROUGH THAT GLOVE.
We need to get into this rest, because it is getting back to the place
Adam had before he sinned, so we could get on with what God originally
intended us to do.
GOD GAVE ADAM DOMINION OVER THE CREEPING THINGS… the devil!
- Let us get ON WITH THAT DOMINION!
This is why Hebrews focuses on a REST so much.
- It is getting back to GARDEN STATUS with
God, so GOD CAN GET ON WITH HIS ORIGINAL PURPOSE FOR US.
- Hebrews says that since David said there is
a rest still available, and noted that Israel did not enter it when
they came to Canaan, the promise is repeated every since the time of
David.
- MSG says it very clearly.
Hebrews 4:6-8 MSG So this promise has not yet been fulfilled.
Those earlier ones never did get to the place of rest because they were
disobedient. (7) God keeps renewing the promise and setting
the date as today, just as he did in David's psalm, centuries later
than the original invitation: Today, please listen, don't turn a deaf
ear . . . (8) And so this is still a live promise. It
wasn't canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn't keep
renewing the appointment for "today."
The writer was saying this is the reason the emphasis is being put upon
the word TODAY.
Hebrews 4:9 MSG The promise of "arrival" and "rest" is still
there for God's people.
And we read of the SWORD in association with this entrance just
as GENESIS, that mentioned the seventh day, had a GARDEN with the sword
at the entrance.
Hebrews 4:10-12 MKJV For he who has entered into his rest, he
also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
(11) Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone
fall after the same example of unbelief. (12) For the Word
of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart.
Hebrews was written to Jews who were having problems with going back
into Judaism and salvation BY WORKS.
- This rest is concerned with ceasing from our
own works.
- Abandoning all the works we can think of
that allegedly convinces God we are holy.
- WE CEASE FROM IT ALL and REST IN HIS
FINISHED WORK.
- The only labour we exert IS BELIEF.
- This agrees with Jesus’ words.
John 6:27-29 MKJV Do not labor for the food that perishes, but
for that food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man
will give you. For God the Father sealed Him. (28) Then
they said to Him, What shall we do that we might work the works of
God? (29) Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work
of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent.
Last week we showed how the SWORD of the WORD needs to go to work to
CUT OUT THE UNBELIEF in our lives.
- When 4:9 mentions a LABOUR to enter rest, it
said that AFTER TELLING US TO MIX THE WORD WITH FAITH.
- ANY GRAIN OF THOUGHT that says we have to do
certain good deeds in this world to be saved is enough to KEEP US OUT.
- The problem is that OUR CONSCIENCE needs to
be convinced we are PURGED COMPLETELY, or it will not let us enter.
- Hebrews begins speaking about the
CONSCIENCE, and how this must be dealt with in order to enter the REST.
- We will begin to realize that the problem is
that our conscience might not be educated enough, since we never
properly learned about everything the work of the cross accomplished
for us.
- Learning about truth concerning salvation is
so important in order for us to see the blood of Jesus deal with our
very CONSCIENCES.
- If your conscience is unsettled, you could
have all you need for rest and victory, but you will be defeated and
unable to REST.
- As in Romans 6 where Paul asked the readers
if they never KNEW baptism into Jesus was baptism INTO HIS DEATH.
- All this glorious position in Jesus can be
true of a person, yet if they are not TAUGHT it, they can remain
defeated.
- And when you study Romans 6, the WORD slices
into your heart and CUTS AWAY UNBELIEF.
- It endows you with FAITH!
- When you learn you were crucified with
Jesus, so you can say you died, and that ANYONE WHO IS DEAD IS FREED
FROM SIN, you explode in faith and THAT PUTS YOU IN THE FRAME OF MIND
AND REST where you should be.
Now, Romans 6:3 says this is only true for as many of us who have been
baptized into Jesus.
Romans 6:3 MKJV Do you not know that as many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?
The picture in Hebrews is that the book taught all these
legalistically-tempted Jews in the Church that they need to cease from
their own works of ceremonies and good efforts, and ENTER THE REST.
- These Jews were fresh out of Judaism and
were legalists.
- They felt to go to be ready to meet God
required doing the works of the Law of Moses.
- But our good works can never cut it with God.
- Law was full of works encouraging people to
please God so that people would realize works do not work.
- God actually gave them works and encouraged
them to please Him by them, in order to show that works DO NOT WORK.
Here are the scriptures that teach this:
Romans 3:20 MKJV because by the works of the Law none of all
flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law is the
knowledge of sin.
Galatians 2:16 MKJV knowing that a man is not justified by works
of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ; even we believed in
Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith in Christ, and
not by works of the Law. For all flesh will not be justified by works
of law.
Galatians 3:10-13 MKJV For as many as are out of works of the
Law, these are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all things which are written in the Book of
the Law, to do them." (11) But that no one is justified by
the Law in the sight of God is clear, for, "The just shall live by
faith." (12) But the Law is not of faith; but, "The man who
does these things shall live in them." (13) Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us (for it is
written, "Cursed is everyone having been hanged on a tree");
Galatians 5:4 MKJV you who are justified by Law are deprived of
all effect from Christ; you fell from grace.
The Hebrew believers had to know that through law and doing good works
to please God they will never be good enough.
- So, once you get on the grist mill of good
works, it is futile effort that will never purge your conscience and
give you the confidence YOU CAN ENTER THE REST NOW.
Skip ahead to Hebrews 9, and catch the drift of how OLD COVENANT
CEREMONIES only ever touched the FLESH – the OUTWARD – and
could never PURGE THE CONSCIENCE.
Hebrews 9:8-14 MKJV the Holy Spirit signifying by this that the
way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first
tabernacle was still standing. (9) For it was a figure for
the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him who did the service perfect as regards the
conscience, (10) which stood only in meats and drinks, and
different kinds of washings and fleshly ordinances, imposed on them
until the time of reformation. (NEVER FORGET THIS. SOME
WILL TELL YOU TO KEEP KEEPING ORDINANCES, BUT THEY ARE FLESHLY AND THEY
WERE ONLY IMPOSED UNTIL THE TIME OF REFORMATION) (11) But when
Christ had become a high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building (12) nor by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood He entered once for all into the Holies, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. (13) For if the blood
of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, (14) how much
more shall the blood of Christ (who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God) purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?
Hebrews 9:8-10 MSG This was the Holy Spirit's way of showing with
a visible parable that as long as the large tent stands, people can't
just walk in on God. (9) Under this system, the gifts and
sacrifices can't really get to the heart of the matter, can't assuage
the conscience of the people, (10) but are limited to
matters of ritual and behavior. It's essentially a temporary
arrangement until a complete overhaul could be made.
The truth of the blood of Jesus will knock out your ideas and concerns
for good works to please God.
- You will serve the LIVING GOD.
- DEAD WORKS are sinful actions.
- VERSE 13: The blood of beasts could
not remove the guilt of committing sinful acts.
- It never removed guilt.
- It only allowed for ceremonial involvement.
- But Jesus’ blood GOES ALL THE WAY.
- You are baptized into HIS DEATH, so that YOU
DIED and are therefore FREED FROM SIN! (Rom 6:6-7).
- People’s CONSCIENCES SUFFER GUILT.
- Guilt because they know they have to face
God due to sinning.
- But the blood of bulls and goats cannot
remove that guilt.
- The blood of beasts could not bring peace to
a troubled conscience.
- They only purified their fleshliness, so
they could outwardly get involved with ceremonies.
- But the things that trouble us because we
violated a holy law could not be dealt with.
- You think of death and judgment and get
troubled, since the blood of animals from old testament sacrifices
cannot remove that guilt.
Hebrews 9:22 MKJV And almost all things are by the law purged
with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission.
ALMOST ALL… BUT NOT THE CONSCIENCE.
We are talking about ENTRANCE INTO REST.
You cannot rest if you feel guilty before God.
The confidence we need to hold firm to until the end comes when OUR
CONSCIENCES ARE PURGED.
- We need to grasp what it means to be freed
from sin by our deaths with Christ.
- If we don’t, our consciences will not
be purged either, and we will hesitate and never get into the
holiest -- the Garden status – the REST – where God
can GET ON WITH HIS ORIGINAL PLAN WITH US.
Hebrews 6:18-20 MKJV so that by two immutable things, in which it
was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who
have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us,
(19) which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil, (20)
where the Forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become a
high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews tells us that we need to enter into the most holy presence of
God.
- You know very well that guilt and a feeling
of not being good enough is not going to allow you to enter.
- It’s too holy for guilty people to let
themselves enter.
Hebrews 10:16-22 MKJV "This is the covenant that I will make with
them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My Laws into their
hearts, and in their minds I will write them," (17) also He
adds, "their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more."
(18) Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering
for sin. (19) Therefore, brothers, having boldness to enter
into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, (20) by a
new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil,
that is to say, His flesh; (21) and having a High Priest
over the house of God, (22) let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies having been washed with pure water.
It is in dealing with cutting off all the sins of our lives and
REMITTING THEM.
- When Jeremiah 31 said that our sins and
iniquities would be remembered no more by God, that means they are
REMITTED.
Notice verse 21 adds the idea that we have a high priest as another
reason for us to enter boldly.
- This takes us back to chapter 4.
Hebrews 4:12-16 MKJV For the Word of God is living and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (13)
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but
all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to
do. (14) Since then we have a great High Priest who has
passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession. (15) For we do not have a high priest who
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all
points tempted just as we are, yet without sin. (16)
Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
It says the same thing as chapter 10.
- COME BOLDLY to the holiest – to the
throne.
- The high priest is touched by our weaknesses.
- He knows what hurts and how it feels because
he suffered temptation.
- So when he cuts with HIS WORD-SWORD,
he really wants to remove that misery out of our lives.
- HE ANOINTS US TO PREACH JUST THE RIGHT THING
to slice out and remove whatever unbelief torments you with guilt.
- He knows JUST WHAT WORD to give.
- Just how to use the sword the right way.
- Using the sword at the right angle and the
proper force is like knowing WHAT PART OF THE BIBLE WE NEED TO HEAR AT
THE RIGHT MOMENT FOR IT TO remove the guilt we are troubled by.
When you are not getting the revelation of the cross, you feel
inadequate, and may not even know what is your problem but you’re
convinced you cannot be good enough.
- Hebrews teaches us to depend upon what Jesus
did – and not the good works we instinctively think we need to do
when we feel unworthy.
- We need to REST FROM THOSE WORKS.
- Get educated by the word and have it cut out
of our hearts the unbelief and instinct that makes us think we HAVE TO
BE BETTER PEOPLE.
If there is ANYTHING you think you need to do in order to solve the
nagging problem that God is not quite pleased with you, other than the
plan of salvation itself that gets us into this life, THEN YOU ARE
LEGALISTIC and YOUR CONSCIENCE IS DEFILED.
- We have to be made aware of the COMPLETE
WORK OF THE CROSS to such an extent that we have utmost confidence and
boldness that it made us fit to enter the GARDEN THRONEROOM, the
holiest of holies.
- SO WE CAN STOP DEALING WITH SIN
CONSCIOUSNESS, AND LET GOD GET ON WITH HIS ORIGINAL PURPOSE FOR US.