Knowing Jesus

We have a lot to talk about today. I mentioned this earlier when I opened up in worship, but we’ve been going through the Book of Hebrews. That’s the series that we’re in. We’ve been reading all through Hebrews.

And I used to make fun — this sounds really bad, I understand that, I’ve repented for it and everything — but when I first got into figuring out how to write sermons, I used to make fun of pastors that couldn’t get through the whole Bible in one year. I’m like, just read through it, it’s fine. In fact, in the schooling that I did here, I remember I took Old Testament Survey, and the very first week, the first assignment — my teacher wrote, “Genesis is your homework for the week. Read Genesis.” And I raised my hand and I was like, “What chapters of Genesis?” He said, “Genesis. The whole book. All 50 chapters.” And I was like, oh my goodness. That was a rude awakening for me into college, figuring out how much I had to read.

But where I’m going with all this is, I used to make fun of pastors that couldn’t get through the whole Bible in a year. Well, how many of you guys know there is a lot to unpack in Scripture? There is a lot to read. There’s a lot to open yourself up to. There’s a lot to meditate on. And just this week alone — we’ll talk about it — I spent most of my time, I’m talking hours, in just the second part of one chapter. So like ten verses. I spent hours on it, just letting it marinate and resonate within me.

That’s kind of what we’ve been doing in the Book of Hebrews, the series that we’ve been in the last few weeks. We are currently at Hebrews 6. At the start of the series we encouraged you guys to be reading Hebrews along with us. I was on a walk the other day — I’ll talk about this too — and I popped my AirPods in and hit play on the Bible app, starting from Hebrews chapter 1, and I let it play through the whole Book of Hebrews. And I can just tell you guys, it is not too late to start listening or start reading through Hebrews while we’re in this series — letting this book go through you, through your ears, through your heart, and have it be something that is planted inside. It really is something that will help you understand and give you a better perception of what we’re talking about with Jesus being the ultimate High Priest for us.

So that’s a small recap of what we’ve been talking about: how Jesus now is that High Priest for us. He is somebody that intercedes for us, and He goes before us on our behalf.

Take advantage of this time

Leading up to today, probably three weeks ago, Pastor Jay and Pastor Suzie mentioned, “Hey, we’ll be out of town. We’d like you to speak. You can speak on whatever you want, or you can stay in Hebrews.” And I prayed about it for really no time at all until I immediately felt in my spirit that the Lord wanted me to stay in Hebrews. It just so happens we’re in Hebrews 6, so that is where we’re going to be staying today.

I don’t know how many of you guys were here last week. Pastor Jay actually didn’t get all the way through Hebrews 6. This is what I mean — Scripture can take a lot of time to process through. He didn’t even get all the way through that one chapter. So we’re going to be starting in Hebrews 6 today. You can mark that in your Bible.

Before we get started on that, though, I’ll share what I was referring to earlier with the video. Three weeks ago, when Pastor Jay and Suzie asked me to speak and I was trying to figure out what I was going to speak on — usually I wait until I’m at a time where I can be alone with the Lord, and a lot of times you have to be intentional to schedule that in. Well, before I even got to that time, I had asked a friend to go disc golfing with me. For those who don’t play disc golf, you’ve probably heard it called Frisbee golf. Don’t say Frisbee golf. Just say disc golf. I promise you that’s the right way to say it.

Anyways, I was planning on going disc golfing with a friend of mine that I always go with, and he actually backed out, so I went alone. I was alone at Elver Park, and it was nighttime, and I had my glow-in-the-dark discs, and it was cold, and I was like, that’s all right, this is going to be fun. So I’m going through, I’m listening to podcasts, and then I get to hole 10 — you don’t have to know where that is — but I’m in the middle of the course, kind of in the woods of this park, and all of a sudden I hear this howl. It’s pitch black, and I’m like, whatever, it’s probably a coyote, it’s fine. It was kind of far away, so I wasn’t worried about it.

And then I get to literally the next hole, and all of a sudden I hear it again, and it’s way louder this time. And I’m like, I don’t think that’s a coyote. In fact, I painstakingly went through a ton of different coyote and wolf videos to hear how the howl sounded, because I kept telling people. I told my friend who was supposed to come with me, “Why didn’t you come with me? This happened to me.” And he was like, “It was probably a husky in somebody’s backyard.” I’m like, I guarantee you this is not a husky.

So I actually have the video. It’s really short. You’ll see somebody’s backyard, but there’s nothing to actually see on this video. It’s really just the sound. Can you guys bring that video up? That’s the exact sound I heard. Okay. And I listened to coyotes — they’re way higher pitched, a lot more yelpy. I listened to timber wolves, big scary wolves — they’re way deeper than that. And I’m like, they’re not in Elver Park in Madison. So I had no clue what it was.

I kept going, and at this point I was a little freaked out. So I check my pockets — I don’t have my knife on me. I normally carry my knife when I’m alone in the woods, just in case. I can’t fight. I need all the help I can get. I’m skinny-mini. I cannot put up a fight. So I don’t have my knife on me, and I’m like, I’m just going to pray.

So I pray that the Lord would protect me. And as soon as I started praying, I didn’t hear the Lord say, “You are safe, I got you, you’re protected.” The Lord told me very specifically, “Take advantage of this time.” And I knew without a shadow of a doubt what He was talking about: take advantage of this time where you are alone, undistracted. I know that sounds crazy, but in this time where you are alone, away from people, you’re not on your phone scrolling social media — take advantage of this time that you have with Me.

I can’t really explain it, and that’s the beautiful part about it, but I had this peace that came over me. I heard this wolf, apparently, and I didn’t know what it was, and it was getting closer, but I had this peace that I was good, and I was supposed to take advantage of this time that I was with the Lord. So I was praying, and I kept going.

And I realized, since I’ll be speaking, I should ask the Lord, “What is it that You want to start working in my heart for this sermon?” And I heard the Lord start to speak to me. And as I was going, I kept hearing that stupid howl. It was getting closer and closer. And it kept bringing me back to the Lord. Anytime I would get distracted by my glow-in-the-dark discs, or throw something bad, or get cold, or worry about the wolf, every time I would hear that howl it anchored me to come back to the Lord and just ask for that protection. So I really took advantage of this time — like two hours with the Lord — praying about what I was supposed to be preparing for this sermon.

Knowing Him is glorifying Him

And after “take advantage of this time,” I specifically heard, “In order to glorify Me, you need to know Me.” That’s what I heard Jesus say: “In order to glorify Me, you need to know Me.”

That’s something that I’ve been going back and forth with all year. I said this in a message earlier, but I think a good question that all of us can ask ourselves in our Christian walk is, how can I be glorifying Jesus in my life today? I think every time you journal or pray or whatever, end with that question: how can I be glorifying Jesus in my life today? That’s something I’ve been walking through all year. Sometimes it’s really easy, and sometimes it’s extremely hard to do.

So I was like, okay, good to know. I’m working the sermon in my head, wondering what else I need to gather, what kind of information. I hear the Lord say, “In order to glorify Me, you need to know Me.” So now I feel all of this immense pressure. Because if we’re supposed to glorify Jesus, and in order to glorify Him we need to know Him, in my mind that means we need to gather up all the information about Jesus. We need to know everything there is to know about Jesus. And instead of just Googling it or YouTubing it, it’s all right here — but we don’t have time to sit here and go through the entire Bible. And I don’t have time to sit here and tell you guys every testimony in my life that I know about the Lord. Those are the two things I have to inform people of who Jesus is: His Word and my testimony.

So now I’m panicking about preparing this sermon, because I don’t know how I’m going to fit all of that into a Sunday morning. And I’m praying and I’m praying, and that stupid wolf keeps howling, and I can’t figure it out. And then all of a sudden I hear this revelation. It clicks.

At first He said, “In order to glorify Me, you need to know Me.” And then I heard that knowing Me is glorifying Me. So the process of knowing Jesus — what you do to actually get to know Him — that in itself is glorifying Him. It’s not an if-this-then-that. It’s not “you have to learn about Him, and then you can glorify Him.” You don’t have to do this in order to qualify yourself to glorify Him. You don’t have to have a degree in anything in order to glorify Him. The process of being with Him — opening up your Word, praying, literally just having that fellowship with Him — that in itself is glorifying Him. The things that we did this morning, like worshiping, that in itself is glorifying Him.

And I realized in that moment that what I was doing at Elver Park, when I was walking and just being with Him, that was glorifying Him as well. That’s why, when we look back in Genesis and we see His whole intent with Adam and Eve before the fall of man, He was simply being with them. They did have work to do, and He had assignments for them, but He was simply being with them. And by being with them He was glorified. Why? Because they were His creation. Does that make sense at all? Knowing Him is glorifying Him.

So when you ask yourself, how can I be glorifying Jesus today? — start by getting at His feet. I feel like that really is what we’ve been doing all year. We’ve been in a process where we’ve stripped away a lot of the community events and all these things that we were doing, all this effort, and replaced it with being intentional about just being with the Lord in worship and in prayer.

Cool. Now, we are in the Book of Hebrews, and this does all connect, by the way. I left Elver Park. I never got mauled by a wolf or anything — I’m here today. In fact, after I left, I called the only person I knew who would know what that possibly was, who happens to be here today. I called him and I’m like, “I know there’s not a crazy timber wolf in Elver Park, but I’m telling you it wasn’t a coyote.” And he informed me that there’s something called a coywolf. It’s basically a hybrid — if you think of a mule, donkey and horse, thank you — this is kind of the same thing. It’s a coyote and wolf hybrid. So it’s called a coywolf. That just clicked for me — it’s a fusion of the name: coyote, wolf. Got it. So it’s smaller than a wolf but bigger than a coyote. So anybody that says it was just a coyote and I was totally fine — it wasn’t. It was a coywolf, and it was scary. And then I looked it up, and there are sightings all over Madison.

It is impossible

Okay, now we’re getting into the Word, and this is why I asked for a chair, because I wanted to stay anchored and stay focused today.

Last week, if you guys were here, we talked about Jesus being the only way. The title of Jay’s message was “Jesus, the Only Way.” And he actually highlighted Hebrews 6, which is typically not the scripture or the book that I go to in my head when we talk about Jesus being the only way. I think of Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” But Jay really did highlight something in Hebrews 6 that’s important, that I think still applies today. So I want to refresh us. Audio-visual asked me what scriptures we have, and I’m like, the entire chapter of Hebrews 6, just put it in there, and we’ll jump around.

So we are going to start at verse 1. This is kind of a refresher of last week, but it’s important for today. I’ve got to make sure I have my clock so I don’t go over here.

Hebrews 6, verse 1 says: “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible” — everybody say, “Impossible” — “it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”

So what is this talking about? This was a very big emphasis of Pastor Jay’s message. He was talking about how this is a tough part of the Bible to be reading and accepting in your heart. Why? Because for so long now — I feel like you don’t even have to necessarily open your Bible to hear people talk about the goodness and the forgiveness of God. No matter how much we sin, no matter how much we mess up, no matter how imperfect we are, we can come back to God. We can repent, and He can wash us clean again. The blood of Jesus is the only thing to wash away our sins. We hear that all the time.

And yet we open up Hebrews 6, a part of the Bible that we know to be truth, unwavering truth, and we read right in verse 4, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened” — in other words, those that are Christians, that know God — it’s impossible for those who have fallen away to be brought back to repentance toward God. So what does this mean? That’s a really hard thing to listen to.

And Pastor Jay actually did such a good job of explaining this. I was starting to get worried when I heard it. I’m like, does that mean that anytime I’ve fallen away from Jesus, according to the Word, it’s actually impossible for me to be brought back into the presence of God? It’s impossible for me to have that kind of repentance and be brought back to God?

What this is actually saying, though, is for those that have once tasted the goodness of God, those who were once in a relationship with Him and then have completely fallen away, the reason that it’s impossible for them to seek repentance through God is because they will seek repentance through something else. They’ll want to get good with God through things like good behavior, or church attendance, or doing something good for charity, for example, and think, okay, now I’m good with God. I did all of these good things. That’s my repentance toward God.

But how many of you know the truth tells us otherwise? The Bible tells us that Jesus is the only way to God. I just referenced it earlier: He said Himself that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except — what? Through Him. Not through good works, not through anything else, but through Him. Therefore it is impossible for those who have once fallen away to come to repentance, because they go through a different form of repentance, the one they’re familiar with.

Okay, moving on. He even ties it up with this analogy in verse 7: “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.”

And then verse 9 talks about what I think we think of ourselves as Christians, and this is an encouragement. Verse 9: “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things — things that belong to salvation.” Verse 10: “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” Verse 11: “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

I’m going to stop right there at verse 12. When I listened to Pastor Jay’s message — I had to listen to it multiple times — I don’t think he ever got past verse 11. He talked about what it’s like now to live in a time where people are so set in their ways and their theology on things, and those people that aren’t seeking repentance to God through Jesus won’t be able to actually access God. They’re going to seek Him through the wrong things.

I remember specifically, in college, maybe my freshman year, I was talking to one of my friend’s girlfriends. We were waiting for him to get ready to come and hang out with me, so I’m just sitting in the living room. And she was like, “So you’re a Christian, right?” And at the time I was not really on fire for the Lord. I would say that I believed in Jesus — that’s where my faith was — but I wasn’t in a relationship with Jesus. So I was like, I don’t know where this is going, but, “Yep, I am a Christian. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus.”

And she was like, “I just think that it’s messed up to say that the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. That’s so closed-minded — only one way.” And for whatever reason — I don’t know if it was just me or the Holy Spirit — I remember asking, “Well, what do you believe?” And she said, “Well, I just think that if you’re a really good person, through good works, God will see that and be happy with it, and then you can access God.” And I remember thinking, that’s not founded in anything, though. That’s just founded in your logic. That’s just founded in what sounds good to you. And everything that we are founded in is the Bible. And I remember her saying, “But if you base everything off the Bible, then you have to go by everything it says.” How many of you guys know that’s true?

So it can be seen as closed-minded. And I’ve actually stopped telling people, “I’m not closed-minded, I’m open-minded, I’m a Christian.” I’ve stopped saying that, because it actually says in His Word that narrow is the way. Jesus is the only way to God. So I’ve actually claimed it. I’m like, it is closed-minded, I admit that. But that’s because I know it’s the only way.

Anyways, we’re going to move on. Starting at verse 12 — this is where we didn’t get to last week. We just read this, but I want to break it down for context. It says, “So that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Everybody say, “Faith and patience.” Faith and patience.

Now, it tells us that we need to be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherited the promises. In other words, there are people we look to who have inherited promises, specifically through faith and patience. So who is it speaking of? The hint is in the very next verse. It continues to explain it. I love when the Bible gives you layups and you don’t have to go on a goose chase for it. I love it.

Verse 13 says — this is who it’s talking about: “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, ‘Surely I will bless you and multiply you.’ And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.”

So it tells us right there who we are to be imitators of. We’re supposed to be imitators of those who inherit the promise through faith and patience, like Abraham. Abraham was old — I mean older than me, and I feel old when I wake up in the morning and my back hurts. And I know we have some wiser people in this church than me, is the way I’ll say it. Abraham was much older than you, even. And there he stood, and still had a promise of God that he would bear a son, that he would have Isaac. And not only that, but that the inheritance would be something where they would actually experience blessings from God. He would be a father of many nations, and they would experience blessing. Just as we just read, through faith and patience Abraham inherited this promise. Having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

Verse 16: “For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.” I want you guys to stay with me, because once we get to verse 19, that’s really when we need to unpack this. Verse 17: “So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose” — everybody say, “Unchangeable” — “the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.” Verse 18: “So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie” — remember that, it is impossible for God to lie — “we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”

Behind the curtain

And then we get to the last two verses of this chapter. This is where we’re going to spend the majority of our time today. We don’t have that much more time left, but we have enough time for this. I got to the last two verses of this chapter, and it took me hours to unpack. I played this over and over and over again, and it was those two scriptures that led me almost on a wild goose chase. Instead of explaining it, I guess we’ll just get into it.

Verse 19 says this: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” — everybody say, “Anchor” — “a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,” verse 20, “where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

That’s only two verses in the Bible, and it is packed with things that I felt I had to go on a journey about. I was like, okay, I think I get this. We’ve talked about Jesus as a High Priest. I’ve been through Bible school, for lack of a better term. I know about the tabernacle. I know about the temple. But I really want to know what it’s talking about when it says in verse 19 that we have a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.

So for those who don’t know, what is this talking about? This is talking about an inner place, otherwise known as the Holy of Holies. I’m not including a lot of scripture because I don’t want us to jump around a lot. We are staying in Hebrews for this series, and especially today we’re going to stay and wrap up in Hebrews 6. But I’ll give you kind of the CliffsNotes of it.

Before Jesus came, before He did His thing, before we knew God to be accessible anywhere we are — we know that God doesn’t live in this building. You don’t have to come to church to access God, because of what Jesus has done. But before any of that, the way that you were supposed to access God was actually going to a specific place. His presence lived in something called the Ark of the Covenant, which was in the tabernacle, and after that it was in a place called the temple, the Temple of Solomon.

You know King David — that struck a chord, the song “Hallelujah,” or whatever. He had a son named Solomon. King David had in his head that he was going to build this temple to house the presence of God. He had these plans in his head, and he didn’t see the day for it to be fully brought to fruition, but Solomon did build this temple. And this temple was grandiose. I can’t even begin to explain it. I am obsessed with getting obsessed with one little topic and then going on YouTube and finding six-hour-long videos. I did that for this temple. It is absolutely wild, all the details. And if YouTube’s not your thing, guess what — it’s in the Word. It shows you all the details right there in the Bible. This temple was phenomenal.

But the specific thing we’re highlighting today is the inner curtain. In this temple you had the holy place when you walk in, but not just anybody could go all the way to the back of this temple. The back of this temple was a place called the Holy of Holies, or the inner place, as we read it in Scripture in this instance. And the thing about the inner place is it was actually sectioned off, parted from people, with a giant curtain.

In this six-hour-long YouTube video that I watched, I think there are debates about exact measurements and everything. But the short of it is, this curtain was basically about the size of this room, wall to wall, and then as high as the sanctuary. That’s kind of what I fathomed it out to be when I heard it. And it wasn’t just some thin curtain. I know some of you guys might have been in a musical or something in high school, and you were trying to hide behind a curtain, and people could hear you laughing. This was a thick curtain. I think it says it was at least six inches thick. In fact, it says it took 300 men to hoist this curtain up. There aren’t even 300 people in this room, and I’m pretty sure we could lift any curtain you go buy at Home Depot. This was a really large, heavy curtain.

And it was intentional. It was supposed to be the thing that you go through to access the presence of God — that’s of course part of it. It was supposed to be this beautiful curtain — that’s of course part of it. But really, if you read in Scripture, a lot of times it references that it was supposed to actually block or protect people from the glory of God. Because the glory of God is so great, it’s so vast, that being in His presence when you are imperfect and you have any sin with you, you can’t survive being in the presence of God. His glory is way too grandiose.

That’s still the same God that we serve right now, by the way. He is still just as glorious. But because of what Jesus has done, we can now come forth and not be worried about being obliterated in His presence. We have an atonement, a forgiveness, that Jesus has paid for.

But anyways, this curtain blocked the glory and the presence of God, and the only person that was allowed beyond this curtain was the high priest. And in fact, this high priest couldn’t just go and chill whenever he wanted. This was something that the high priest could actually only access once a year. And the whole reason he went was basically to confess the sins — to be a mediator, an intercessor — for all of Israel. Once a year, only one priest. That’s where this curtain was.

But as we read in verse 19, that’s not the time that we live in, and that’s not the covenant that we live by anymore. That is no longer how you access God. He’s not housed in this temple behind this curtain. In fact, we read verse 19 again: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” That’s basically a title — we’re not going to get into that today. But Jesus has gone before us as a forerunner. That whole curtain thing — it is now something that we can access.

Now, I’m going to be very careful how I do this, but it works in my head as an analogy, so I’m going to do it anyway. I went to Lambeau Field yesterday, the Packers stadium. I’ve done paid tours before, but those paid tours wouldn’t let you into the locker room. They wouldn’t let you into the training facilities. This time, the tour was with a family member who actually works for the Packers — I just discovered they work for the Packers. They took us on a tour where we could go to the places where they don’t normally take you. They took us into the locker room. I saw all of my favorite players’ lockers. It was pretty phenomenal. I saw their training facilities. I saw their hydrotherapy pool, all this kind of stuff. And it felt amazing to go to this place that’s normally roped off from people. I even saw the players’ lounge. By the way, they have a PlayStation 5 in the players’ lounge, so the next time you watch the Packers and they drop a ball, you can blame it on the fact that they play video games instead of practicing, because that’s kind of true.

Anyways, I saw all of these places you’re not supposed to see, and it felt like this kind of VIP, exclusive access to what’s normally roped off. I only bring that up to say that that curtain that actually stopped people from coming into the presence of God — it’s not just lifted so we can be in some cool club and access new things we’ve never seen before. It’s that God knew the redemption of humanity had to happen, and He wanted it to happen so badly that He sent His only Son as a sacrifice for us.

And so now we get to access the presence of God that at one time would actually be dangerous and detrimental to us. I feel like we don’t always realize that the glory of God is something so great that it can actually be hard to stand in the presence of. But because of what Jesus has done for us, it is now attainable for us. And He wants us to be with Him. In fact, He wants us to know Him.

So when I’m walking around at Elver Park in my time disc golfing and I’m just trying to hear Him speak, that’s something that’s actually doable for me now. That’s something that wasn’t attainable at one time. But He wants to be with you where you’re at — that’s my point. The presence of God is no longer in one section or one house that is unattainable. It is actually something you can access at any time, and He wants to be with you in every moment.

An anchor for the soul

So when you guys are going through life and you’re hitting points where you’re experiencing very real things — things like depression, things like addiction, things like being crippled financially — when you’re going through these things, He’s not caught off guard by that. This is why I had you guys repeat “anchor of the soul.” In verse 19 it says that we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.

If you think about an anchor — I don’t know why I’m mansplaining this to you, for lack of a better term — but you guys know that you use an anchor so that you don’t get drifted away. And an anchor of the soul — I literally think about our soul as something filled with our emotions, things that we are fueled by, and the circumstances that we deal with every day. I used to work at Starbucks, and somebody getting mad at me for making their drink wrong would ruin my entire day. That’s the dumbest thing ever. You should just move on. But it’s those emotions that you have and the things that you deal with in your soul that can take you off course.

So when you do get taken off course by things more serious than somebody getting mad at you for making the wrong drink — things like being stuck in addiction, or going through marriage troubles, financial troubles, mental health issues, whatever it may be — when you’re going through those things that can take you adrift and do affect your soul, the anchor of your soul is found in His Word here. It’s found in what He has already paid for. It’s found in the hope that we are supposed to have as imitators of those who obtained God’s promises through faith and patience.

Through faith and patience. It says we’re supposed to be imitators of those who obtain His promise through faith and patience, and then immediately it references Abraham. I read through what it’s talking about, and when Abraham was told that he was going to have the son, Isaac, it wasn’t like two years later he all of a sudden had Isaac. It wasn’t like God’s promise came immediately. It wasn’t really convenient for him. It took 25 years. Abraham was 75, and then at 100 years old Isaac was born.

What do you think was going on through those 25 years in Abraham’s heart and in his head? I would think he’d have at least a shadow of doubt that maybe this promise isn’t coming. But according to the Word, through faith and patience he obtained his promise. So when you guys are going through the things where you know God has told you, “This is promised for you,” and you have yet to experience it, and all of a sudden you’re starting to waver — maybe God’s really not — maybe He’s not real, maybe He’s not for me, maybe His promises aren’t for me, maybe His promises aren’t even for today — when all of those things start spiraling, I would encourage you guys to remember this verse that says no, there is a hope, and there’s a faith that we hold on to. Just like Abraham did, through faith and patience we can obtain God’s promises.

So not only does He want to be with us, not only are we supposed to be in His presence — that curtain that is torn in two, by the way, we’ll talk about that in a second — not only are we supposed to go into that Holy of Holies, that inner place, and be with God, and that be glorifying to Him, but through faith and patience, and being with Him, and knowing that that’s good enough, we get to experience His promises. We experience His blessings. He doesn’t want us to just wait until the end and suffer, and then all of a sudden be with Him because we did the right thing. He wants to be with us now, in this time, and for us to experience promises. Does that make sense? Good. I’m glad you guys are with me.

The curtain torn in two

Now, this is what’s interesting. If we look back at that curtain that used to actually protect us — I really like putting it that way, because it changes my perspective on it — protect us from the glory of God. We can now go past that curtain. But more importantly, that curtain in real life was torn in two.

Matthew 27:50 says this. We are talking about the actual crucifixion of Jesus. This is towards the end of His story here on earth — until, obviously, He was risen again — towards the end of His time and His ministry, doing all His miracles and teaching. Matthew 27:50: “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.” This is Jesus on the cross. In other words, He had passed. “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”

Now, remember what I said. This was not just some little Home Depot curtain. This is a big curtain that was intentionally put up, and it was torn in two from top to bottom. And that’s not the only thing that happened. Verse 51: it was torn in two from top to bottom, “and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” Verse 52: “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Verse 54: “When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’”

So there we see eyewitnesses to how grandiose of an event this was. When Jesus was put to death on the cross, He paid for our sins, and the entire wrath of God was poured out on Him. That curtain that kept us away from the glory of God was literally torn in two. And it was this seismic event, to the point where the earth shook, and people knew. The centurions that were on duty — they knew. They saw, and they said, “That was the Son of God.” In other words, we are in trouble. That’s how I picture it.

But it was this grandiose event to recognize that the curtain that kept us away from the glory of God is actually torn in two, to the point where we are now able to access God because of what Jesus paid for for us. That’s where we live, and that’s the promise we live in today.

So when you guys are coming into church with whatever you’re coming in with, know that you have the promise of what God has done for you as that anchor of your soul. Things may not be looking the way that you thought they would, but God is still with you right now, here in this moment. He hasn’t forgotten about you. He hasn’t forgotten that you are expecting to experience His promises through faith and patience. He’s right here with you.

Inviting Him in

I talk to a lot of people, and when they’re talking about the big picture of things, the purpose or meaning of life, usually it boils down to something that I think is kind of surface level. They just say, “I’m just trying to be the best version of myself. I’m just trying to be the best that I can be.” And I’ve gotten to the point where I’m like, I don’t want to be the best version that I can be, because I’ve realized that means nothing to me anymore. I just want to be the best that God created me to be. And the only way that you can be any of the versions that God created you to be is to know Him, to be with Him.

So if you guys are in this place and you’re like, I don’t even know the first step of how to be with Him, I don’t even know the first step of how to know Him — it really is simple. It’s inviting Him into your times where you open your Word. If you don’t have a Bible, let me know. We can get you a Bible today. It’s in those times where you’re reading His truth, where you’re reading His Word to you. It’s in those times before bed where you’re praying that He would help you with all the different things on your wish list. But instead of accessing Him and asking for things, for Him to intervene in your life, I would encourage you instead to invite Him into your life now, to invite Him into what you’re experiencing. Instead of “Lord, would You take me out of these situations,” say, “Lord, would You come into these situations?”

I don’t know how to explain it, but in preparation for this sermon I was writing my notes, and I’m like, all I really need is Hebrews 6, and I’m just going to read through it. Because this whole time that I’ve been preparing this sermon, it’s been founded in these times where I’ve just been with the Lord. I’ve just invited Him in and fellowshipped with Him. And I’ve realized that’s how He wants life to be at all times.

There have been times like when I went to Lambeau Field in Green Bay and I was busy with family and everything, and by the end of the night I was excited. It was late at night, I was preparing for Sunday morning today, but I was excited for that nighttime where I got to be alone, because I got to invite the Lord into it. And it was like we were just going through His Word, and He was pointing out new things to me. That’s what it’s supposed to be like when we are with the Lord.

In all those times where you are stressed out about whatever it is that is actually real and affecting your life, bringing the Lord into it will give you peace. Why? Because He is in control. And it says in His Word that it’s His peace that surpasses all understanding that we get to experience when we are in Christ Jesus. That is quite literally the meaning of it: that you are in Christ Jesus. When you invite Him into the room and you are in that presence, that Holy of Holies, that inner place, you experience a peace that surpasses all understanding. People look at your situation and say, “How can you possibly be okay with what’s going on right now? Your life is chaotic.” And you get to say, “Because Jesus is with me.” And once you know Him, that becomes real not only in your head, but it will become real in your heart.

So I would encourage you guys, as we wrap up here, to actually enter into a time or an environment or an opportunity where you do get to know Him. I’m going to have the worship team come up, and we’re going to finish up with worship. But I feel like we’re not just wrapping up service. Anybody watching online, I apologize for going off camera here. This is a time where, as I’ve experienced this week, we just get to invite the Lord into regular life. We are here literally to glorify Him. We are here to get into His Word. We are here to hear Him speak to us. It really is all for Him. But this is supposed to be almost a model, or a stepping stone, into what you can experience this week of just bringing Him into what is currently in front of you.

You guys are all currently at church right now, trying to hear a word that comes specifically from His Scripture. You good? Okay. So after this, in your week, whether you’re watching the game or whatever it may be, or you start work, you can still invite Him into that moment and just be with Him. And know that when you are with Him, when you’re in that inner place, the Holy of Holies, you actually get to know Him. And knowing Him — that process of inviting Him into whatever you’re doing — is glorifying Him.

Once you invite Him in, I feel like you start to experience times where you are all of a sudden getting filled with His Word. You’re getting filled with His promises. And those situations you’re dealing with that are weighing hard on your heart or on your mind — all of a sudden now you have almost ammunition to speak to those. You’re dealing with financial stress or debt, but you get to say, “No, I know that God is my provider. I know that because I’m with Him right now. I can hear Him speak it, and He’s providing for me. He’s providing an answer. He’s providing resources for me.”

In those times where you’re maybe stressed out and you’re experiencing things like a craving from addiction, you get to say, “No, Jesus is enough. His grace is enough.” Why? “Because I’m sitting with Him, and He’s reminding me of what He’s done.” And that will consume your head. That’ll consume your heart. And when that happens, you have that kind of revelation or realization: no, His grace, what He did for me, it’s enough. I’m sitting with Him right now, and I’m experiencing His love for me. That craving will just fall off. Why? Because you are now operating in the identity He created you to be, rather than being ruled by your flesh. Does that make sense? That’s the kind of thing that’s available to us at all times, but it’s most definitely available to us right now.

So I would encourage you guys to stand with me and give Him praise with me, that you would just enter into this time of worship. If you’ve never heard God speak to you, the first step really is speaking to Him. I think that’s more true than a lot of the things that I’ve said in the past about worship. If you’ve never heard God speak to you, the first step really is speaking to Him.

So we’re going to enter in. It sounds like we’re singing “You’re Beautiful.” I asked for this song to be included because verse four talks about us, the church, being presented as the bride of Christ to Him. It talks about the veil being lifted — in other words, that curtain being lifted — where that glory of God that we get to experience is all of a sudden completely unveiled. We read in Hebrews, and we read in 2 Corinthians last week, even 2 Corinthians 3, about how we are transformed by being face to face with His glory, that veil being lifted, from glory to glory. We sang about it in worship this morning.

So as we sing to Him, as we say that He is beautiful, I would just encourage you guys to lift up your own song. In those times where maybe you’re reflecting on what you’ve been through this week, reflect instead on the things that He’s done for you in your life. Maybe you’re in a spot where you feel like you don’t know anything that He’s done for you. Well, He’s brought you here. I feel He’s brought you here to speak to you — not through me. I’m nothing special. I think Pastor Jay and Suzie would even be okay with saying that this church isn’t the only special thing about God. This is just a facility that He operates through, and we allow God to move through it. That’s really where our heart is at.

So as we enter into this time, and we’re going to be singing worship, I would encourage you guys just to lift up your own voice of worship, even if it’s not with any of the words on the screen. Just say things like, “Lord, You are holy. Lord, You are faithful. You are beautiful.” In fact, we’re just going to start our prayer there. Would you pray with me and just bow your head?

Father God, we just say that You are holy, that You are faithful, that You are merciful. I thank You that Your mercies are new every single morning. Lord, I thank You that You have invited us into a time and an opportunity where we get to be transformed literally just by facing You face to face, and having Your glory be something that transforms us from the inside out — that we are being transformed into Your image.

God, I thank You for being our great High Priest. It says in Your Word, in Hebrews, as we’ve read, that You are a great High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, because You’ve been here. Lord, You’ve been tempted, but You never fell into sin. And it’s that holy, perfect sacrifice that You were on the cross that allows us to come into the presence of God and experience Him for all that He is.

God, we just thank You for being a loving God. We thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus. We recognize You as the Lord, and the King above kings, and the name above names. Lord, I thank You for being a God that transforms us from the inside out. I thank You that You don’t just want to remove problems from our life, but You instead want to come into our life with those problems and transform us, and all of a sudden those things just begin to fall off. Lord, I thank You that that’s the transformation we get to experience.

Lord, I thank You that it says in Your Word that we are supposed to be that light that is going to people and bringing life — that the law brings death, Lord, but that You bring life, that the Spirit brings life. We read in Your Word that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And that’s really just what I pray: that people that are stuck in bondage right now get to experience that. They may not know how to hear Your voice. They may not know how to be in Your presence. But I just pray that You would encourage them.

And in fact, I encourage you right now, if that’s you, to just step forward into His presence and receive prayer this morning. Come to this stage after worship and just receive prayer, and just say, “I need healing. I need that kind of freedom from whatever kind of bondage I’m stuck in.” Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and we are inviting the Spirit of the Lord into this place right now, and we just stand on that truth: that there is freedom in this place. So Jesus, I just pray that You would take full advantage of this time as we sing out worship to Your name. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Lord, we just thank You for Your grace. Father God, I thank You that You are a mighty God, that You are worthy of our praise, but that You invite us in. You tell us that we can boldly approach the throne of grace. God, I thank You for what You have done and the ways that You have paid for our sin and made a way for us to access You — that it was Your heart’s intent to be with us from the very beginning, and You’ve made a way for that to be happening now.

So Lord, I pray that You would just show us Yourself. God, that You would show us Yourself in a new way, that we would have a revelation of who You are, that we would be filled with more words that are just so genuine, paired with our faith, that we can lift up in praise to You in these times of worship, lift up in praise to You in our times of just entering into work, or whatever it may be. God, that we would just be filled with those things that come from You, and that we would declare out the truth of who You are. Transform us from the inside out. In Jesus’ name, amen.

He never changes, but we do

We’re going to stay in this moment for those that are receiving prayer. I would just encourage you to come up for prayer if you feel like you need prayer in general. But also, specifically, in those last couple of words in that ending time of worship, I really felt like there was somebody that God was saying hasn’t experienced what it means to know that His grace is enough for you. And if you feel like that’s you, I feel like He just wants to give you a revelation of what that means. Because when you discover that, and when it sinks into your heart, I feel like that’s really where transformation comes. Transformation comes from your heart being changed.

I had this in my notes, and the last thing I’ll say is that I think a lot of people can be tempted not to want to go deeper with God or know Him on a deeper level, because it says in His Word, Hebrews 13:8, that He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore God never changes. So what’s the harm in going about life the way that you want, and then coming back to Him whenever you need Him, because He doesn’t change, right? He’s the same.

But that’s a temptation I would encourage you guys not to fall into, because the thing is, He may never change, but our situations do. Our lives do. Our hearts do. Our thoughts and opinions do. We change as people. And when we’ve allowed things to go our own way, not being with Him, then when we do come back to Him — He may have never changed, but all of a sudden He becomes unfamiliar to us.

Pastor Jay said last week that in the end He will say to those that have said, “We’ve prophesied, we’ve cast out demons in Your name,” — the Lord will still say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Would we be people that would not fall into the temptation of not knowing the Lord. He never changes, but with our situations in our life, we need that kind of anchor to be with us always — not something we try to come back to and all of a sudden are unfamiliar with. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.