LETTING GOD GET ON WITH HIS ORIGINAL PLAN
(Dealing with Our Consciences)
MF Blume
September 18, 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.
Last week we started this message and veered off into the details of
how mankind was placed in the Garden to rule the world.
- We explained how God’s eternal purpose
was to have a FAMILY.
- We showed Adam and Eve’s creation as a
precursor of how God would get His bride, the Church.
- We showed how God purposely paraded the
animals before Adam after saying Adam needed a help suitable for him,
and WATCHED TO SEE WHAT ADAM WOULD NAME THEM.
- This was because SOMETHING would come out of
Adam’s mouth later that is a key to the whole plan of God, and it
would be about EVE.
- Then after Adam named them we read THERE WAS
NOT FOUND A HELP FOR ADAM.
- This tells us why God assembled the animals
before Adam to see what he would name them.
- He wanted Adam to check if that help he
needed was from the animals.
- And when Adam NAMES the woman after she
comes from his side, WHAT CAME FROM HIS MOUTH was the key to what would
truly help him.
- SOMEONE FROM WITHIN HIMSELF.
Genesis 2:18-20 MKJV And Jehovah God said, It is not good that
the man should be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.
(19) And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every animal of the
field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what
he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that
was its name. (20) And Adam gave names to all the cattle,
and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field. But
there was not found a suitable helper for Adam.
Why would we read there was not found a suitable help for Adam
amongst the animals if the purpose was not to see if amongst the
animals Adam might find a help?
Genesis 2:22-23 MKJV And Jehovah God made the rib (which He had
taken from the man) into a woman. And He brought her to the man.
(23) And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of
man. Genesis 2:24 MKJV Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be
one flesh.
Notice the reason a man leaves parents to UNITE with his wife…
- Because originally WOMAN CAME OUT OF MAN,
and man is not COMPLETE when he is alone.
Paul picked up on this.
Ephesians 5:25-32 MKJV Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church and gave Himself for it, (26) that He
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
Word, (27) that He might present it to Himself as the
glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that
it should be holy and without blemish. (28) So men ought to
love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves
himself. (29) For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but
nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord loves the church.
(30) For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His
bones. (31) "For this cause a man shall leave his father
and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two of them shall
be one flesh." (32) This is a great mystery, but I speak
concerning Christ and the church.
Notice verse 32.
- Paul is saying all of this man and woman and
husband and wife talk, and the words from Genesis 2 about why a man
leaves his parents to marry a wife, is ACTUALLY ABOUT JESUS AND THE
CHURCH.
- IOW, all that Adam experienced in getting
EVE was patterned after how GOD WOULD GET HIS CHURCH THROUGH
CHRIST’S DEATH.
Romans 5:14 MKJV But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
those who had not sinned in the likeness of the transgression of Adam,
who is the type of Him who was to come;
Jesus was not the COPY of Adam, but Paul said ADAM WAS A COPY OF JESUS.
- He typified or prefigured what CHRIST WOULD
BE AND DO.
In order for us to ENTER THIS Garden status again, let us understand
that this same state is what is also called THE REST.
- Recall that GOD did all the work and man
entered the KINGDOM in order to be occupied with DOMINATING THE EARTH.
- Just as the serpent’s lies entered the
mind of the woman, and threw a wrench into the fray, to this day the
MIND is the battlefield of the believer when it comes to entering the
rest.
- And there are so many adversaries that are
here to resist us from entering this REST by attacking the way we think.
If we really get to know and believe the WORD OF GOD, we will learn the
things that totally defeat the devil’s lies against us.
- When he tries to make us feel like
we’re no good, we know the word teaches us that we are more than
conquerors.
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 (verse 7
onward), 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.
The writer of Hebrews uses this Psalm as if it is talking to us today
in the Church IN Hebrews 3:7.
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 even though there was 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 us that Psalm 95:7 is speaking of
a REST FOR US TODAY.
Then he goes back to Psalm 95:11
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.
- THEY ARE SHADOWS OF THIS REST.
- 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.
- David would not say TODAY we must enter the
rest of the keeping of Sabbath for centuries or the entrance to Canaan
were the only rests.
- Those two things already occurred long ago
and people were already involved with them.
- The next thing verse 6 mentions is the
Exodus.
- Then verse 7 points to a certain word in
Psalm 95:7 – “TODAY”.
- And it is a CERTAIN DAY.
- 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 of Canaan due to doubt,
and died in the wilderness, then when Joshua finally took them in 40
years later, they finally entered this rest.
- No, that is still not the rest David in
Psalm 95 nor Hebrews 4 was interested in.
- 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.
This REST we are speaking about is a return to GARDEN STATUS.
- 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.
Why was HEBREWS called the BOOK OF HEBREWS?
His aim is to show the superiority of
Christianity over Judaism, in that it was introduced by one far higher
than the angels or Moses, through whom the Jews received the law, and
in that its priesthood and sacrifices are far less perfecting as to
salvation than those of Christ; that He is the substance of which the
former are but the shadow, and that the type necessarily gives place to
the antitype; and that now we no longer are kept at a comparative
distance as under the law, but have freedom of access through the
opened veil, that is, Christ’s flesh; hence he warns them of the
danger of apostasy, to which Jewish converts were tempted, when they
saw Christians persecuted, while Judaism was tolerated by the Roman
authorities.
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.
- When we completely understand the world of
the CROSS, we will have such a boldness and confidence, that we will
never be stopped from entering this GARDEN STATUS WITH GOD.
- The book of 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 consciences 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 they will never be good enough
through law and doing good works to please God.
- 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.
- ONE THING WILL GIVE YOU THE CONFIDENCE YOU
NEED TO HOLD ONTO TO UNTIL THE END…. REVELATION OF THE
CROSS’ FINISHED WORK.
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.
- This is why entrance to the HOLIEST was not
allowable when these ordinances were imposed.
- The things that trouble us because we
violated a holy law could not YET AT THAT TIME 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.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 MKJV Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that
I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house
of Judah, (32) not according to the covenant that I cut
with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out
of the land of Egypt; which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was
a husband to them, says Jehovah; (33) but this shall be the
covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days,
says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in
their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My
people. (34) And they shall no more teach each man his
neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall
all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says
Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their
sins no more.
Notice Hebrews 10:21 adds the idea that we have a high priest as
another reason for us to enter boldly.
- First we’re told that OUR INIQUITIES
ARE REMITTED, so no further need for sacrifice is required.
- THEN we are told WE HAVE A HIGH PRIEST named
JESUS.
- 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 PREACHERS TO PREACH JUST THE
RIGHT THING at the right moment in order 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 the
unbelief and instinct that makes us think we HAVE TO BE BETTER PEOPLE
out of our hearts.
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
and DOMINION-CONSCIOUSNESS.