Services/Sermon in Alaska 13.08.2017

In the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and always.

Let us begin our service with opening prayer and thanksgiving. Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this moment, this evening, that we can assemble around your holy word. We thank you for your many blessings. But above all, we thank you for the greatest of all blessings, for your Son, Jesus Christ, who has prepared the gift of salvation and opened the door to heaven. And this we can own by faith through the merits of your Son here in your kingdom.

So we ask for your presence this evening. Bless our gathering together here this evening. Feed us and guide us and also encourage us on our walk of life. Bring us all one day to our eternal home there in the glory of heaven. One day. This we ask in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

First of all, greetings from Minnesota. I came with my wife and children. My wife is on the plane going back as she has work tomorrow morning. And me and the children will depart sometime tomorrow. It's a pleasure and a joy to again be in your midst.

Today is the tenth Sunday after Pentecost. And the theme for today is being faithful to the gifts that God has given us. And the gospel text for today tells about the story of the talents of the one person who was given five talents, another three, and the third person, one. And they were asked to put their talents on the exchange table until the Lord returns. And then those that had five had doubled to ten. The one that had three doubled to six. But the one who only had one was ashamed of his one talent and he hid it in the ground. And then the Lord didn't speak very kindly to him for what he had done. So that is the gospel text for today and probably the background for the theme for today.

But I thought I'd read an epistle text, which is from Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 through 25. And we will hear these words as follows:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Amen.

So this is a letter written to the Hebrews. We don't know who was the author of this letter. There has been much speculation. And in fact, in this pulpit Bible, it says the epistle of Paul, the apostle, to the Hebrews. This is only an assumption by some editor of the Bible. And research has shown that apparently, most likely, the apostle Paul was not the author of this letter. As one old church father said, who was the author of this letter? He asked rhetorically. And then he responds to that question: Only God himself knows that answer.

So, for us, it's immaterial. It's unimportant. But this, we do know that the word of God has been written by saints in previous times, earlier times, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

A second question is, to whom was this letter addressed? Who were these Hebrews? There was no such congregation as the Hebrew congregation. So again, nobody knows exactly who was the recipient of this letter. Some assume maybe it's a group of believers gathered in Rome. But that's only an assumption and speculation.

But apparently, the Hebrews were, for the most part, those individuals of Jewish background who had been scattered in diaspora. Those that had left Israel and scattered around the known world at that time. And they had this custom that they had this wish, this desire to come back to Jerusalem maybe once a year, and if not once a year, at least once in their lifetime, to one of the major festivals, religious festivals in the year. Be it Pentecost, Old Testament Pentecost, whether it be Passover, or whether it be the Feast of the Tabernacles. These were the three major, we would call them, church holidays. They didn't use the word church, so it would be their religious celebrations.

And so, on the day of Pentecost, which would have been the Old Testament Pentecost, those from diaspora had gathered together in Jerusalem. And then we remember the miracle that occurred on that first Pentecost. When the disciples were gathered together in a room like this, and the windows were open, and it seemed like the breeze was blowing through the room. And then suddenly, flames of fire came out of heaven and began to land on the people's heads. And then Peter began to speak in the Hebrew language. And those that had come from foreign countries no longer knew the Hebrew language.

I would assume that every person in this room today is of Finnish origin. Your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents have come from Finland. I would say 95 to 99% of you. How many of you here today speak the Finnish language? I'm sure not very many.

So this was the situation for the Jews who had been living in Rome and in Greece and as far away as Spain and maybe China and maybe Africa for one generation, two generations. But yet they wanted to come back to Jerusalem for a major church holiday. And now Peter began to speak. And he began to speak in the Hebrew language. It's just as if I would begin to preach in the Finnish language, it would be of no benefit to basically all of you, I'm assuming. Some of you have been to the Opisto. You've got maybe a basic understanding of the Finnish language. But for the majority, you wouldn't understand what I was saying.

But a miracle occurred. It occurred one time. And it never will repeat again. Peter spoke in the Hebrew language. And the audience out there who did not understand the Hebrew language, not one word, without an interpreter sitting beside the speaker, beside Peter, was able to understand what Peter said in their own language. So it's just like I would speak Finnish and you would understand every word in your own English language, without anyone translating.

How is that possible? For us today, it's impossible. But God allowed that to happen one time. And as a result of that sermon, at those services, there were 3,000 souls, as it's written in the Acts of the Apostles, the second chapter, who received the grace of repentance.

And when the festivities, the eight days of festivities were over, then those who had arrived for these festivities then returned back to their homeland. To Rome and to Spain and to Greece and to Northern Africa and maybe China and wherever they came from. Now as believers and as new converts, then they began to tell those people back home of what happened to them at those Pentecost services in Jerusalem. And in this way, the word of God spread.

Jesus said in his mission command, "Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel, repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all nations and all tongues."

So, this mission command, suddenly, at that one moment, that short period of time, began to quickly be fulfilled in a fast way. And so, the assumption is that most of those people who were at those Pentecost services and who received the grace of repentance and now returned back to their various homes throughout the world as believers, were the so-called Hebrew people, who were the people who were called to the temple, to whom this author of this letter is now writing, who are scattered throughout Asia Minor and Europe and wherever they may have lived and settled.

So, now, these new converts return back home and the times of persecution began. They were very difficult times. There were several hundred years of persecution. Several hundred years of martyrdom. And there are estimates that millions of believers died a martyr's death. Some were burned at the stake. Some were charred to death. Some were cast into the arenas with angry, hungry lions. And they met their death. And the only way they would have been spared from this is if they would have said, "I give up my faith. I relinquish my faith. I no longer want to be a believer."

And if that would have happened, they would have said, "Okay, you're not going to be cast into the arena of lions."

But those who said that, "I cannot give up my faith," okay, "you're going to be tarred and feathered. You're going to be burned at the stake or given to a pack of angry lions."

So, as a result of these many hundred years of martyrdom that were now beginning, many believers began to give up their faith, go back to their former way of life, go back to Judaism. And so the author of this letter was trying to encourage them, support them, embolden them. Keep what you have. Don't give up your faith. For it has a great reward, one day in heaven.

So that is the main purpose, that is the main message of this letter to the Hebrews.

Now, the recipients of this letter were well versed in the Old Testament because they were of Jewish background. And they knew the Old Testament history and the practices and so on and so forth. And so much of this letter of the Hebrews then compares the Old Testament to the New Testament and how the New Testament was a fulfillment of the Old Testament in many ways. But how the New Covenant or the New Testament was superior, it was better, it was more perfect than the Old Testament.

So the Old Testament was a shadow and the New Testament was the real object. If you have the sun shining and the sun shines against the tree, the tree is the real object. And the sun shining against the tree will then cast a shadow. The shadow is not the real object. So the Old Testament and all the pictures and things in the Old Testament are like the shadow. If you follow the shadow back to the tree, the tree is the real object. So the real object is the New Testament and the message in the New Testament.

So that's kind of what this writer of this letter to the Hebrews is doing. Comparing the Old Testament, the shadows, to the New Testament, which is the real object, which was making the shadow. And how the New Testament was more superior in many, many different ways.

And so here this writer of this letter begins in the first verse of our text: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

So then he has two more pictures when he's addressing the recipients of this letter to the Hebrews, whoever the Hebrews were. And he's got a picture that he's using throughout this letter to the Hebrews of the wilderness journey.

We remember that the people of Israel were in Egypt for 430 years and they were experiencing times of trial and tribulation and they began to cry and pray unto God the Heavenly Father that release us from this bondage, this land of sin and death.

So Egypt is a picture of sin, bondage and slavery. And we remember when God gave those ten plagues to the people of Egypt and especially to the Pharaoh because they wouldn't allow Moses to take the people of Israel out of Egypt. One of the plagues was darkness that fell upon the land. And it was said that the darkness was so thick that a person could actually lean and rest up against the darkness.

So Egypt was a place of prayer. Egypt is a picture of the land of darkness and the world of unbelief, the world of sin and bondage which is around us is this picture of Egypt. And we, the people of God, which Moses is a picture of, physically leading the people out of Egypt, we have been saved, we have been called forth from the world of sin and death and darkness. Even though we live in the world, we are not of the world. And we are now on a journey, we are on this wilderness journey and we are traveling toward the Promised Land, the land of Canaan.

And the Promised Land is a picture of our home that waits for us in heaven. That's our destination, that is our goal of faith.

So that's one big picture that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews has in mind when he is writing this letter.

But then another picture that he has, which now he begins to address piece by piece here in our text, is of the tabernacle.

So when the people of Israel were traveling those 40 years in the wilderness, they wanted to set up a church. You here in Alaska have this beautiful new church of yours which is a permanent physical structure. But the nation of Israel, when they were traveling through the wilderness, they were nomadic people. Every day they would set up camp in a different spot. And when they wanted to have services, they needed to have what we would call a church. There is no such thing as a church in the Old Testament. That's a New Testament word and concept. But they would want to have a sanctuary where they could worship God.

And so they would set up a church. They would set up a tent. And this tent was called a tabernacle. And when Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai, and God gave him the law of the Ten Commandments, but then he also gave precise instructions on how to build this tabernacle. What is the blueprint? What is the size? What is the shape? What are the materials it is to be made out of? And so on and so forth.

So it was God was the architect and prescribed very detailed instructions for construction.

So then later when the people of Israel reached the Promised Land and settled in and around Jerusalem, they built a permanent structure which they called the temple. But here is a picture which is of the tabernacle which was used during the 40 years while wandering in the desert, while wandering in the wilderness.

So having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

So in order to understand what the writer of the Hebrews is talking about, we need to understand the structure of the tabernacle. There was the outer courtyard. And then when you go more toward the inside of the tent, then there is the area called the holy. And as you go more inside the tent, then in the back corner, or we could say, you are coming in the front door, out there would be the courtyard. This would be where you are sitting, would be called the holy. And then here where the pulpit is, would be called the most holy.

And the most holy was a room that was shut off by a curtain, and no one could enter into the most holy. Only the high priest could go once a year on the great day of atonement. And on that day, he had to have the blood of the sacrifice of a sacrifice animal with him.

But throughout the year, daily the people would come to bring various types of sacrifices into the holy area, or into the sanctuaries of the holy, or into the sanctuary, we would call it today. And they would give them to the priest, and the priest would then offer these sacrifices on the altar. And in these sacrifices was symbolic of maybe confessing their sins unto God, the heavenly father. And then the sprinkling of the blood was a picture of being released, or the picture of the forgiveness of sins through the sprinkling of the blood.

But these were all pictures and metaphors which were, they believed in faith that one day Christ will be that perfect sacrifice who will once be offered, and never another sacrifice after that would have to be offered again. Because he was so perfect and blameless that it was sufficient to cover all other sacrifices.

So here is what the author is saying: Having therefore brethren, or brothers and sisters, we have boldness to enter into the holy by the blood of Jesus.

So whenever they would come into the sanctuary, they would come with a blood of a sacrifice. The sacrifice would be given to the priest, the priest would then slay that sacrificial animal, blood would be drained from that animal into a basin, and then blood would be cast onto an eternal flame which was somewhere located in the sanctuary area which was called the holy.

So this happened year after year after year during the Old Covenant time, during the Old Testament time. And so there would be priests that would come, and priests that would go. They would get old, and then new priests would need to be selected from a certain tribe, and priests only came from a certain tribe which was the tribe of Levi. And therefore they were called the Levitical priesthood.

But then there was one priest, there may be like a hundred priests at one time, but there was only one high priest, and that one high priest is the only one who could come into the pulpit area or into the most holy area once a year on the great day of atonement with the blood of a sacrifice.

So it wasn't permissible for the congregation members in general to come into the pulpit area, or the most holy area. That was only for that one high priest, not even the other priests, only the one high priest who was in office at that time.

But there in this room, if you could imagine where I'm sitting, there was a chest, which they called the Ark of the Covenant, which was a holy piece of furniture. So it was like a chest, and it had a lid on top of it, which was called the mercy seat. And then on each side there was an angel here, and an angel here, a statue of two different angels, and their wings would kind of be reaching over this lid, or the covering of this chest.

And inside of that chest there would be the two tablets of the law that were given to Moses. Then there would be a rod that was given to Aaron. Remember that one rod that began to, in a miraculous way, begin to spring forth leaves and budded almonds. And then also there were some bits of manna that hadn't decayed.

And so they had this understanding and belief that if a person wanted to have communication with God, they would come to the priest, and the priest then would be the mediator who would then communicate with God. And that would occur at the Ark of the Covenant, and the lid of the Ark of the Covenant was called the mercy seat.

So the general congregation, the general congregation member, could not have access to this holy piece of furniture.

But now this is very important, because Christ is now the priest of all priests. So in the Old Testament, high priests would come, and high priests would go as they would die. Then a new generation would come, and another one would be selected.

So Jesus was now the everlasting priest. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We will never need another high priest who is Christ himself. He is that object which was cast in the shadow. And then he himself was the priest. He offered a sacrifice. He didn't have to bring another sacrifice like a lamb or a goat, but he offered himself.

So he was a priest who was offering a sacrifice, himself, on the middle cross of Golgotha. And when he offered himself, or God offered him, allowed himself to be offered on Good Friday, on the middle cross of Golgotha, something happened. He made a new and a living way which he consecrated, or brought, or blazed a trail for us, or made it holy for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.

Remember this inner sanctuary, innermost sanctuary called the most holy, in order to get into it, there was a curtain, a veil. And no one could pass through that curtain, through that door, which was a curtain. Only the high priest, one day a year. Of the 365 days of the year, only one of those 365 days did he have access to this inner room.

But now, Jesus blazed a trail. If we go back to the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve were there in paradise, God said, you can eat of all of the trees here in paradise. But there's one tree that I'm going to set aside, and I'm going to call it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't touch that tree. Just leave it alone. If you touch it, on that day you eat of that tree, if you do, you will surely die.

Well, we remember the enemy of the souls in the form of a snake or a serpent came into the garden and came to tempt Adam and Eve. "Did God really say so? Do you believe it? Or do you think he was pulling your leg?" No, he couldn't have really meant it, said the serpent. "Just eat it. Nothing will happen. In fact, your eyes will be opened. You'll become wise. You'll become as wise as God."

If you do it.

So eventually Eve reached out and she took that fruit. Imagine it was an apple from that forbidden tree, the tree that was off limits. She ate it. And she gave it to her husband. And he ate.

And God said, I promised what I promised. No longer can you live in this garden. You have to go out.

And as they left the garden, there was a gate that shut with a bang. We can imagine behind. And an angel came with a sword that was on fire and was standing in front of the door or the gate into paradise, the Garden of Eden, and said, no access. God has shut you out and you can't come back in.

But that was symbolic of this, that now the door to heaven was also shut. We can imagine that a curtain now came down from heaven, blocking all roads to heaven. And you can try to drill a hole through that curtain. Impossible. You can try to dig a hole underneath that curtain. No luck. You can try to climb over that curtain. Impossible. You can try to go around that curtain on either side. It won't work. The road, all roads to heaven were shut. And the only road that was open was the road into hell.

But God said, well, I'm not going to leave you in such a dire situation. I'm going to give you a promise that one day I'm going to send my son and he's going to blaze a new trail. He's going to make a hole right through that curtain, which no human being could get through. Couldn't climb over, couldn't dig under, and couldn't go around. But I'm going to make a new road. And he calls it a new and a living way.

And as Jesus later said in his life, that I am that way, that pathway. I am the truth, and I am the life. So whoever believes, whoever believes in Christ Jesus will have access to be able to penetrate through that curtain and one day reach it, the goal of the glory of heaven.

So when Jesus was, if we go to Good Friday, we remember Jesus was captured and put to hang on the cross. He was hanging on the cross, which is the symbol of Christianity and behind the pulpit. And there he was hanging. And then he gave up his life, or he lost his life, or he died. And when he died, he said, "Father, all is finished. I've completed your work of salvation. And now into your hands I give my life."

And at that moment, a mile away, Jesus was hanging on the cross outside of the city of Jerusalem. And inside of the walls of the city of Jerusalem and inside of the temple, we can imagine this curtain here, which was blocking access into the pulpit area where this Ark of the Covenant was. Suddenly, that curtain, which was right here, split in two, from top to bottom, wide open.

And all the congregation members for the first time in their life could see this chest called the Ark of the Covenant, and the cover of it was called the Mercy Seat, or the Throne of Grace.

And now, the writer of this letter says, having therefore, brethren, brothers and sisters, or believers, we have boldness to enter into the holiest, into that, where that Ark of the Covenant is, where the Mercy Seat is, the Throne of Grace is, with the blood of Jesus.

Because He, Christ Jesus, has made a new way. He's the one who caused that curtain to split and give us access. So we don't have to wait for one day out of the year, say, Good Friday every year, before we go to the one minister.

In Christianity here in America, we've probably got maybe 115, maybe 120 ministers now. And so if you use that as an analogy, that one day out of the year, you can go to one of those 115 ministers, and only he would have access to come to the Mercy Seat, or the Throne of Grace, and to get your sins forgiven for you.

So that's a long time to wait. Only one day, every day on Good Friday. Imagine. You could have your sins forgiven. And only one of the hundred ministers, or even some ministers, was capable or allowable to do it.

And suddenly, there's access for anyone and everyone to come whenever they want to that Throne of Grace.

When we talk about Throne of Grace, where we get it from this picture of this lid of this chest, we talk about the Throne of Grace, we can go to Mother, we can go to Father, we can go to any other believer, our brothers and sisters, our Sunday School teacher, our Bible class teacher, or any believer we choose.

And when we ask that, "Can I have my sins forgiven?" And they say, "You can believe your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood."

We have come to the Throne of Grace, we say, to the Mercy Seat. They, at that moment, when they're preaching the Gospel, are the Mercy Seat, the Throne of Grace.

And who is able to do it? Does it have to be a male? Does it have to be an old male? Over maybe 35 years of age? No. It can be male or female. It can be grandmother or grandfather, or it could be boy or girl, or little child, or mother or father. Anyone of any age, the only thing you need to be is a believer.

And by and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can offer that gift of the Gospel to one another. Son and daughter, brother and sister, fellow believer, believe your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

So now, in the New Testament era, from the time of Christ onward to the end of time, onward to the end of the world, every believer is a priest or is a pastor in this way, in the general sense of the priesthood, general priesthood.

That doesn't mean every one of you would be coming to be on the pulpit to preach the Gospel or deliver a sermon. That's altogether a different issue.

But every child of God is a priest in the general sense, meaning that we have the power, we have the authority, we have the ability to offer the Gospel, to preach the forgiveness of sins to another believer or to anyone who asks. Even to an unbeliever, if they would ask, "Can I believe my sins forgiven?" I would want to believe, just like you, it would happen at school or happen at work, we can offer that Gospel and preach forgiveness of sins and if they believe it and accept it, they would become a child.

And that's why this writer here in this letter is saying we have a high priest over the house of God. Jesus is the high priest. But he has ordained us. He has given us the authority by faith through the power of the Holy Spirit, so we have that power as well.

So let us then draw near with a true heart full of assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

And so here he's taking another picture from the Old Testament and whenever they ordained a priest, that priest would come and there would be a ritual. And that person would have to be washed with water before he was placed into the office of being a priest.

And that washing of water is symbolic of a person receiving the grace of repentance from the world and coming into faith, becoming a believer. So we talked about the washing of regeneration. So this is repentance and conversion from unbelief into faith, which is a picture which is being portrayed here in this one verse.

But then, now we as believers we own living faith and we own the forgiveness of sins. But then as we are on our journey, imagine being, wearing shoes and walking outside on a dusty pathway, your boots are going to get dusty and dirty. And if you go into someone's house, if you don't either take off your shoes or wash those shoes or boots, you're going to cause footprints or make footprints and bring dust into that person's house.

So you would want to either take off your shoes or wash your shoes. But the picture of washing your feet or washing your shoes is also being used, which is a picture of on our way and on our journey we feel and experience and we've noticed time and time again how sin attached, and often makes the journey slow and we want to and we need to turn to another believer, whether it be mother or father, another brother or sister in living faith and ask that, "Can I have my sins forgiven?"

And when they preach the forgiveness of sins, it's symbolically as if they were taking a basin of water with a towel and washing your feet and making them clean again.

So this is what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews is saying, and have your heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

And so then he exhorts, let us hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering, for He, God, Christ Jesus, is faithful that has promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together.

So he's given that exhortation that remember, gather together and Christian fellowship is important and as much as possible we want to have fellowship whether in our own homes or whether as a group of believers here at church or wherever the believers may be gathered.

That don't forsake the assembly together as the manner of some was who had received this letter or who was being written to. But exhort one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

So these are very important nice words of encouragement and instruction for us today and as always that be of good cheer as you are and just as you find yourself you can believe sins forgiven in Jesus name in blood and the power of the gospel will support us and it will give us strength to journey and will lift us and carry us and one day bring us to our eternal home in the glory of heaven.

Just as the people of Israel were traveling during the wilderness journey their goal was to reach the promised land. And here another picture here by the writer of this letter says that our goal is to get into the most holy that is a picture of the glory of heaven.

And we will make it there one day when we keep faith even though it's many times like a flickering candle but it's important that even though it's a small flickering flame just as long as it's burning it's sufficient.

We want to prevent that flame from going out. So if the flame goes out it's a picture that faith has been smothered and lost.

So, so see how it may seem and feel how it may feel we want to cling to the grace promises of God and even now be of good cheer and believe sins forgiven in Jesus name in blood.

Can I also hear the gospel for myself? In Jesus name, Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen.