Episode Transcript
SPEAKER A00:00:12 - 00:40:44
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach All Nations. Bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Pastor Geoff Youlden. I want to ask you another question. Did Jesus become a human being because we requested it? Did he? Did Jesus die on the cross because we requested it? No. No. In other words, it was the initiative of God, wasn't it? It wasn't our initiative at all. And in the series so far, we have learned that Jesus lived his perfect life and for every single person on this earth, he provided that freely. And then we noticed in our last session that Jesus today Is ministering in the heavenly sanctuary on our behalf, as our advocate, as our lawyer. And now we want to talk about the benefits and what Jesus is doing for us in the Most Holy Place. Now, in the Old Testament sanctuary, you'll remember that they were to bring a lamb along, confess their sin over the lamb's head, And then the blood of that sacrifice, that is, the blood of this animal that was sacrificed, was then taken by the priest via the laver into the Holy Place, and it was sprinkled before the veil that led into the Most Holy Place. And that ritual went on throughout the year. So the blood that went into the sanctuary recorded confessed sin, or did it record unconfessed sin? Confessed. The blood that was taken into the sanctuary, confessed or unconfessed? Confessed. Confessed sin, because the only record of sin, of the, of confessing Was what was taking place in the sanctuary. That happened day after day after day. So unconfessed sin never went into the sanctuary, only confessed sin. And so the sanctuary became defiled, as it were, as, as we talk, because of all the blood that was taken into the sanctuary. It was defiled throughout the year. Get the idea? With the confessed sin. Yes. Does that make sense? Yes. You know, God is dependent upon our language in describing this. So whenever we try to describe these very deep theological points, we've got to use human language, and the human language that the Bible uses is the fact that the sanctuary became defiled. And the defiling was caused by the confessed sin that continually was taken into the sanctuary. And then once every year on the Day of Atonement, that defilement was cleansed. It was taken out of the sanctuary, and you'll remember that there were 2 goats and that accumulation, if you could, once again, we've got to use human language in this. This, this cumulative matter of confessed sin for all the year then was taken out of the sanctuary and placed on the head of the scapegoat. Remember, there were 2 goats. The scapegoat was never killed because most Christians have been brought up to believe that the scapegoat was Christ too. Yes. That's what they teach. That's what they believe. But the problem is, the scapegoat never died. It was led out into the wilderness by a fit man, the Bible says, and just left, and eventually, of course, it died, but it wasn't killed. It wasn't sacrificed, whereas the Lord's Goat was. And so Christians often accuse us as Adventists of believing that Satan is our savior. Yeah, that's what they say. If you read books against Adventists, you'll read that. And once again, they completely misunderstand what took place. So with that in mind of the defiling of the sanctuary taking place through the daily, because there are 2 particular aspects of the sanctuary. One is called the daily. Why is it called the daily? Because it's daily. Daily. Because the sacrifice was taken every day. You get the idea? Then there's the yearly, and that's called the yearly because once a year the goat was slain and the defiled sanctuary was cleansed. And I'm going to give you some references for that in just a moment and show you that the Bible teaches that very clearly. All right, well, let's have a look. First of all, let's deal with the daily service, and then we'll talk about the yearly service. So come over to 1 John chapter 1. We've read some of these verses before today, but we're going to read them in a different context now. This is 1 John chapter 1 and verse 7. 1 John, near Revelation, chapter 1, verse 7 says, but if we walk in the light, As He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. And then verse 9, the, the verse that we all know by heart: If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, In the daily, who was cleansed? Through the daily sac— the daily, uh, ritual that went on, who was being cleansed in the daily? Who? The sinner. The sinner, yes, us. All right, now when we talk about the yearly, we're going to notice that it was the sanctuary that was cleansed. But in the daily, it was the individual, you and me, as we, as we confess our sins. And by the way, when a person comes to God, the sincerity of that individual is not tested in the work of the daily. What I mean by that is, a person may not necessarily be really confessing when he or she confesses. You know, in other words, they could be crocodile tears and not necessarily genuine confession. That's possible, isn't it? Yes. Now what we're saying is any person could come along, whether they had crocodile tears or real tears and real sorrow or make-believe sorrow, and that confession was not tested in In the daily work of Jesus in the holy place, everybody was accepted and everybody's confession was taken at face value. Are you with me? One or two of you are looking at me as if what on earth are you saying? Let me just go over it again so that. We're clear. In the work that Jesus is doing in the Holy Place and you confess your sins, you may not be genuine. Is that possible? Yes. Well, what did Jesus say? The wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, the 10 virgins, 5 wise, 5 foolish. Their, their sincerity is not being tested then. That's going to be tested at a later time. At the moment, Jesus' work in the first department, God is not testing whether a person is genuine or not genuine. He— that confession is taken at face value. It's not until the judgment starts that a person's sincerity is going to be tested. And, um, so that's once again a very important point for us to understand. Now, the sinner was cleansed when they confessed their sins and the blood was taken into the sanctuary, as we've been saying. So the sanctuary became defiled on a daily basis as the blood of those confessed sins. That blood recorded confessed sins in the sanctuary. So when we repent and confess our sins, Jesus takes our confession through His blood, not through the blood of animals now, but as a result of His blood, He takes that into the Heavenly Sanctuary. So in that way, the Heavenly Sanctuary becomes defiled. Now people suddenly say, oh, wait a moment, you can't, you can't say heavens are defiled. Well, I think the Bible is going to support in what we've just said that the heavenly needs to be cleansed because it is defiled once again by your confessed sins mine. And it's Jesus' blood, not the animal's blood this time. It's Jesus' blood that takes my confessed sin into the heavenly sanctuary. So the— just as the earthly sanctuary has to be cleansed, so the heavenly sanctuary has to be cleansed. And as we noted before, in the daily it was the sinner that was cleansed. In the yearly, it is the sanctuary that is cleansed. So when a sinner repents and confesses and trusts in Jesus and is baptized, his sins are forgiven and his name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's how the Bible presents it, and a person's repentance and profession is taken at face value. You see, one of the major reasons for the judgment is so that the whole universe Can become aware of what is going on in a person's heart because only God can read a person's heart. Is that right? Only God knows what's going on in your life. Even the devil doesn't know that. That's why we are told that we should never express our doubts and never express negative things because the then the devil hears that. And do you think he's got a good memory? Yes. He's got a very good memory, and he will bring those things up to you over and over again. But he doesn't know it until you mouth it, whereas on the other hand, God knows it all. He knows what's going on in your mind right now, and He knows what's going on in my mind right now. So, The, uh, one of, as I said, one of the major reasons for the judgment is so that the universe can be assured that those who are being saved are fit to be saved. Um, come over to Revelation 22, the last chapter in the Bible, almost the last verse, not quite, verse 12. Revelation 22 and verse 12. It says, and behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Now God tells us that there is a record kept of everything that we do. Even our words, Jesus said, are recorded. And you remember Jesus said that's why He wanted us in our wording to be simple and not to embellish what we say, because we'll face those words again in the judgment. Now after Jesus went into the first apartment and His work of forgiveness and intercession at 1844, and I'm— this afternoon we're not going to spend time proving 1844, that's another subject altogether. I'm taking for granted that we will accept that at the moment. But 1844, Jesus added another work to His work of intercession. Now in 1844, He didn't cease doing His work of intercession, But now He adds another aspect to the plan of salvation, and that is the judgment. And the judgment or the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary began. And just like His life has significance today, just like His death has significance today, just like the resurrection, His— Christ's resurrection has significance for me today, So the work in the Holy Place has significance today and the work in the Most Holy Place has significance for me today. We're not just talking about arbitrary actions. All of these things have to do with me as a person because God wants me to enter into an experience. The sanctuary is not just a lot of facts. There are facts, But it's not just facts. The facts are there to help us to experience what the sanctuary's teaching, and we must remember that when we study the sanctuary, we are not just studying facts, because I can be wise about the sanctuary and still not be saved. Is that right? Yes. That doesn't save me. Um, so that's, that's very important. And some say, well, how can the— how can the sanctuary in heaven be defiled? Some people would say that's absurd. Well, what defiles the heavenly sanctuary? The sins that go into the sanctuary do not belong to the sanctuary. Does that make sense? Yes. The sins that defile the heavenly sanctuary do not belong to the sanctuary. It's not the sanctuary that's sinned. Just like when Jesus bore our sins. Let's have a look at this verse. 2 Corinthians 5:21. This explains now about the sanctuary, but the Bible here is dealing with Jesus and his death. 2 Corinthians 5:21, and you know this verse. It says, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Now how can that be? The text is saying Jesus knew no sin but He's made sin for us. So what is actually happening here? Sin is being imputed to Christ. Is that right? Yes. Because Jesus didn't sin, did He? But He is bearing my sins, even though the sins don't make Him sinful. And when we say the sanctuary bears— is defiled, it's not saying that the sanctuary is actually defiled by itself. It is imputed to the sanctuary. Does that make sense? Yes. Just like Jesus bore us and bore our sin but didn't sin, so the sanctuary is defiled without being defiled in itself. Because that's another very important point for us to remember. And when Jesus, after his death, went Into heaven, into the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, and His work of forgiveness and intercession started. After 1844, He adds another work to that, and that is the work of judgment. And that is the work that has a lot to do with us today in our discussion. Those sins were given to Christ, but they did not belong to Him. The sins are given to the sanctuary but do not belong to the sanctuary. It bears our sins. Now in the Bible, the serpent represents who usually? In 99% of cases, the serpent represents who? Satan. Satan. But I'm going to give you an instance now when that's not true. And you all know it. What, what instance am I thinking of? When the snake was on the pole. Did the snake on the pole represent Satan? No! Who did it represent? Jesus! Well, you say, how can that be? Wait a moment. How can a serpent, which is representing sin, how can that represent— how be Christ? Well, it's based on this verse in 2 Corinthians 5:21. He was made to be sin for us. Get the idea? He, he never sinned, but sin was imputed to him. We all understand the word impute. Those of you whose English is not your number one language, you understand the word impute? If you don't, write it down, and that'll be a new word that you learn today. Look it up in your dictionary. Because it's it's a it's an important word to learn. It means it was accounted to, credited to. Yes, that's another good word. Hmm. Put in. Yes. Yeah, accounted for. Yes. Well, you you use whatever word you find helpful. To make you understand it, but make sure that it means accounted to. And we all understand leading, you know, accounting and so forth, yes. When you say, where does the Bible teach that the sanctuary has to be cleansed? All right, I'll give you 2 verses, one from the Old and the other from the New Testament. Come back to Daniel chapter 8 and verse 14. which should be pretty familiar to most of us. Daniel chapter 8 and verse 14. Daniel 8, verse 14: And he said to me, for 2,300 days, then the sanctuary shall be— Cleansed. Cleansed. So there's a reference in the Old Testament to the cleansing of the sanctuary. Now what about the New Testament? Come over this time now to the book of Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 23. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 23, and this is talking about the heavenly sanctuary. Hebrews 9 and verse 23. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens Should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. So there the Bible is saying that the heavenly sanctuary has to be cleansed too, because it has been accounted, it has been reckoned as being defiled, when in actual fact, as we noticed before. Sin is not in the Heavenly Sanctuary, but it is accounted as, and it has to be cleansed. And if you can think of it in those terms, it'll help you not to get all tangled up and say, well, how can sin get into the Heavenly Sanctuary? Well, it's not really, it's accounted as, because you see, God is a problem to us, God has a major problem. How is He going to communicate these things to our minds that are pretty, very small? And so God has to use symbolism, and we've got to be careful with symbolism that we don't go too far. For example, if we say Jesus is the Lamb, well, if you went too far with that, you could say, well, He hasn't got 4 legs. That's right. And He hasn't got woolly wool. You could be ridiculous, couldn't you, if you wanted to be? Because that's going too far. And so in any symbolism, we've got to be careful we don't drive it too far. But He was accounted when it, when it's not due to Him, as Brendan has helped us with that very Now, I have people say to me this: if God has forgiven our sins, why is it that they go into the sanctuary? Why does God now judge us when He's already forgiven us? Well, that's a very good question. Now this is important. This is where the attacks come in. They say, well, God has removed, and they quote some verses. What do you think of the verses that these people might quote to support the idea that God has forgiven me my sin? Why is it going to come up in the judgment? What are some of the sin— the texts? Not by works. What about the text that says, as far as the east Is from the west, like a thick cloud into the depths of the ocean. They say, what are you saying? God has forgiven me and He's covered it like a thick cloud, and what are you saying? You're saying that Christ hasn't forgiven us really. Can you see their argument? When it's— when you say it's coming up in the judgment, Christ has removed that as far as the east is from the west. Now the facts are that He has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. Is that true? Those texts are not wrong. They're wonderful texts, but those texts are talking about me as an individual. God has removed the sins from me as far as the east is from the west, like a thick cloud, they're blotted out. But there still has to be a judgment because— How would you feel if you went into the court and this particular day there were 20 people that were arrayed before the judge, the magistrate, and the magistrate who was a very, very good man, he had a very wonderful reputation being honest and fair in all that he did, and this is what the judge— the court started like this: Guilty, guilty, Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, not guilty, not guilty, guilty, court dismissed. How would you feel about that? Would you be really happy with that type of a court case? Why not? Why wouldn't you be happy? Why would you feel ill at ease with that type of court? It's not right. Wouldn't you say to yourself, How did he come to that conclusion? Wouldn't you say that? Yes. I would. He might be a very good man, but I want to know how he got to that conclusion. And God is very, very transparent in all that He does because God has a vested interest in this to make sure that sin never arises again. He wants to make sure that there's no devil in the future who will come back and say, well, you mucked it up the first time and we can't trust you again. God is going to make sure that every person in the universe understands that God has been fair and just in all that he does, and there's only one way to do that. For God, He doesn't need the books. Does God need books? Has He got a bad memory? No, God doesn't need the books. Then if there are books, and the Bible says there are books, if there are books, who would the books be for then? Everybody else. Everybody else in the universe who do not have the ability that God has of knowing everything about everything. Because God wants to make sure that even the devil— this is how far God is willing to go in this— even the devil, he wants to confess that God has acted fairly in all that he's done. And it's very, very important to God that he just doesn't do the guilty, guilty, not guilty, not guilty, even though it may be right, and if God said it, it would be right. Amen. But he understands that we don't have that ability. We must be carried along. Every person in the universe, including the devil, all the unfallen worlds, all the angels, both the good and the bad, need to be sure in their heart that God is acting fairly in doing what He's doing. Because you can hear the devil, why are you taking, taking David into heaven? When he committed adultery and killed a man, it's true, but there are plenty of people that you're not taking into heaven who have never done anything like what King David did, and you're not taking them in, but you're taking him in. Can you hear the accusation that the devil is using? And what about that wretch Moses? He killed that man. And there are plenty of people who have never killed anybody, and there you're keeping them out and taking him in. Where's the fairness, God? Well, that's why God has to have a judgment in which everyone sees that the persons that are being saved are fit to be saved. And have every right to be saved because God is going to demonstrate that they have accepted the blood of Christ. They have been forgiven. They've been dreadful sinners. There's no question about that. No one's arguing against that. But what we are arguing, devil, is that these people have had my robe of righteousness to cover their life. They have asked for forgiveness. They are sorry. They have repented. and I have accepted that repentance. Therefore, I'm willing to take those people into heaven regardless of what they've done and keep others out who may have lived perhaps on the surface a better life but have never accepted Me and never asked for forgiveness. Can you see? That's why there must be a judgment in which God forgives me the moment I confess my sins. I'm forgiven and will not have to face those sins again. As long as I remain in Jesus, I will never have to face them again. But those sins can't be blotted out from the final record until the end of the judgment. Otherwise, it would be like having a trial in which someone is accused and some of the evidence is kept back behind closed doors. How would you feel about a court case in which some of the evidence is kept under wraps? Yes. And the jury never hears about it. We would say that's a kangaroo court. You've got to bring all the evidence out. I want to see all the evidence laid on the, on the table. And that's why God in the judgment is going to lay all the evidence on the table. And you must have the books then. And Satan can accuse you and he can accuse me, but God is then able to show it is true that they have done what you're saying, but also, look, Mr. Devil, and have a look at the other side. What does it say there? Which he has refused to look at. And what does it say on the other side? Forgiven, forgiven, forgiven, forgiven. Get the thought? And the evidence must remain there until the end of the judgment because you can't have a fair judgment if some of the evidence is not available. And the very fact that the evidence is there does not mitigate against God's gracious forgiveness. Let me give you an illustration. King David. Do we believe that he was absolutely forgiven when he confessed his sin that we read before in Psalm? Do you believe that God forgave him? Yes. Did that immediately expunge his sins from the records? How do you know? It's in the Bible. It's in the Bible. David's sins are still in the Bible, is that right? Does that, does that mean that there's been a discount with his forgiveness? That he hasn't really received forgiveness? This is what the Christian world is accusing us of, so this is why it's important. The very fact that we know what David did long after he asked for forgiveness shows that the record does not discount his absolute forgiveness. That makes sense, doesn't it? Are you not sure? Does that make sense? Yes. We know about David's sin. We know about everybody else's sins. that are recorded in the Bible, but we don't believe that that in any shape or form discounts the forgiveness that God gave to those individuals. If he was forgiven for his sins? Yes, well, there are sometimes consequences of our sins, and David suffered a lot because of his moment of indiscretion. Well, yeah, well, that's, that's the point that we're making. You cannot have a fair judgment in which some of the evidence is not presented. Yes. As I said, that's a kangaroo court, and God is not involved with any kangaroo court. He's bringing the whole thing out and everybody can see it. But the devil is very selective in what he does when he accuses you and he accuses me. He only selects the things that are against you. But Jesus, our lawyer, remember we spoke about Him before, Jesus as our lawyer is there to make sure that the devil doesn't get away with that. That's His purpose. He is standing on my side to plead my case. And when we say plead, we don't mean getting, you know, we use the word plead in a very different sense to the way the Bible uses in this. in this way. The pleading is, is the— is a word for court language. Pleading means putting the case for. So if you can understand what we've been saying, then that will help you in understanding we can be absolutely positive As sure as the sun rises tomorrow morning that when we confess our sins, He forgives us absolutely. Do you believe that? Amen. We must. That gives us absolute assurance in our hearts because otherwise we're going to go through life never quite sure whether we're forgiven or not. That would be a dreadful situation to be in. We can be as sure, as sure, as sure that our sins are forgiven once we confess them. But they are not blotted— while they're blotted out against me the moment I confess them, they're not blotted out from the record books until the end of the judgment, in which Jesus is able to use that against the accusations of the devil when the devil says, it's not fair. They have been a dreadful sinner. Jesus says, yes, but look, they're hid with me in God. They have accepted the robe of Christ's righteousness, and once we understand that, then that makes all the difference in the world. Now Jesus, by the way, spoke of this matter because remember the Bible says that we are all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. You see, our dear Christian friends, our evangelical friends, they don't believe that Christians come into judgment because of what I've been saying, that you're forgiven, never face them again. And so they teach their people that the judgment is not on, not for Christians. The trouble is the Bible says it is. Let me give you a couple of verses. 2 Corinthians over here in chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10. 2 Corinthians 5:10, it says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. When he was talking about we must all appear, who is the all that Paul is talking about here? First of all, Christians in this context. Yeah, who— when he's writing to the Corinthians, He's writing to the Christians, the members of the church at Corinth, and he says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So he's primarily talking to Christians, which is the opposite to what the evangelical churches teach. Let me give you perhaps another verse because 1 Peter 4:12, tells us who is going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. 1 Peter chapter 4, and this time verse 17. Chapter 4, verse 17. 1 Peter— 2 Peter. Did I say 2 Peter? 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 17: For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. Who's the house of God? The believers. Yes, that's where it's going to begin with, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? That's a logical question, isn't it? Why, if it's going to start with us, what about those who make no profession? Peter's saying it's not going to be good for them. So the Bible is very clear that Christians, those who love the Lord, those who've committed their life to God like us, we have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. There's no question about that. And it's because people don't understand the judgment and the things that we've been talking about, it's because they don't understand that, that they think the judgment, in the majority of cases, when you talk to people about the judgment, they have the concept that as long as your good deeds Outweigh your bad deeds, then you're in. Is that right? If it's the other way around, you're out. Now that's the concept. Now I hope that no one here thinks that because that's a dreadful concept of the judgment. That's not what the Bible teaches about the judgment. The Bible teaches what we've been saying, that we, we have a court session going on in heaven. To be continued. This message was made available by the Victoria Park Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page, Vic Park SDA Church. This program has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio. Missed part of an Australian program? Listen anytime on demand at 3abnaustralia.org.au and click on the listen button.
