Jesus asked his disciples to wrap their minds around a lot of new concepts… one of which was a new understanding about the presence of God in the world and the God family’s desire to once more make their dwelling place among mankind. They were going to move from the idea of “God in the temple”, “God in the Land” etc., to something much more intimate, personal and life-changing… God within them.

In John 14:15-23 Jesus told the disciples the Holy Spirit would “dwell within them” acting as a guide, teaching them to love God and keep His commandments thereby preparing them/us so that the God family may “make their home with them/us” in a very real an very literal way. Romans 8:11/Rev 21

John 16:7 Why did Jesus have to go away in order for the Holy Spirit to come?

Jesus’ going away was just a veiled way of saying He had to be killed as the atoning sacrifice.

In biblical teaching, a sacrifice accomplished multiple things. Two very important ones are:

1. the life of the sacrifice pays the penalty of death incurred by the sinner
2. the blood of the sacrifice acts as a cleansing agent Hebrews 9:12-22

Jesus had to go (be sacrificed) so His blood could cleanse us to make us a fit dwelling place for the Holy Spirit of God. To clean you up… because as we will see that which is holy and that which is unclean can never meet (or be present together) without bad consequences.

Why do things have to be cleansed? Because they have become dirty! CHART

Common/Clean

Cleanness is the normal state of most things and persons. God created all things and he created them clean & good. Common things that are clean have the potential to move away from their original or normal state. They can be either:

1. elevated to holiness through sanctification OR
2. degraded to uncleanness through pollution both physical and spiritual

Holiness & Uncleanness

1. Holiness is characteristic of God himself and is therefore impossible to completely explain but when applied to things, places, time, people holiness conveys the sense of being set apart and pure, Leviticus 20:26. The call to holiness encompassed the entire nation of Israel but even within the nation, there were particular things specially dedicated to God (or sanctified) such as, the priests, the tabernacle including all the furniture and utensils, the sacrificial animals, the Sabbath day and the festivals.
2. Common/Clean things can become unclean when they are polluted by disease, death, disfigurement, when they touch another thing that is itself unclean, and most important for our purposes here today through SIN which we will discuss more thoroughly little later. Leviticus 11:31-34, 39…43-47 … covers food, kitchen, diseases, rot, mildew, bodily discharges, the tabernacle, sex… all aspects of life.

Sin & Sacrifice

1. People, places, things move down the ladder through sin. A holy person, place or thing can be profaned which means treating it as a common thing. Leviticus 19:12, Ezekiel 22:26-31,  That which is common can become unclean when it is polluted either by sin or a variety of physical abnormalities, disease, death, disfigurement etc.
2. People places, things move up the ladder through sacrifice. A person or thing that has become unclean through sin can be cleansed through the blood of a sacrifice being sprinkled or smeared on it. A common person or thing can likewise be dedicated or set apart for holy service through the blood of sacrifice being sprinkled or smeared on it.

An example of this would be the “purification from sin” offering described in Leviticus 4.

Could be translated Purification Offering, Purification from sin offering

The sin or “purification” offering differs from the other sacrifices in that instead of pouring all the blood out on the altar some of the blood is reserved for cleansing the tabernacle were God’s presence was.

Lev 4:2-7 For the Priest’s sins the blood cleansed the actual tent of meeting where the priest would come into the presence of God with only the veil between them. The same procedure is followed for sins committed by the entire nation.

Lev 4:13, 22, 27 for sins of individuals the blood was not taken into the Tent of meeting but rather was used to cleanse the altar in the outer court. Where they would come before God with their various sacrifices throughout the year.

Lev 8:14 this same purification offering was made as part of the dedication of the priests, where they are set apart or sanctified for special service towards God.

Key Concept:

That which is or has been made Holy and that which is unclean must never meet. This gives us insight into why the Holy Spirit would not come and be present in the disciples, or us, until Jesus sacrificial blood was available to cleanse us from the pollution and uncleanness of our sins. This same key concept of Holy and unclean never meeting helps us understand why the presence of God in the camp in the wilderness and later in the nation of Israel was governed by so many rules and regulations.

To prevent this fatal meeting of the holy and the unclean God created sort of buffer zone between himself and the people using priests, the tabernacle, veils, washings etc. so that their uncleanness through sin, defilement or disrespect (profaneness) would never come into his presence. Because if and when it did BAD things happen like banishment, or even immediate destruction.

Leviticus 7:19-21 meat is destroyed, person is banished

Leviticus 10:1-3 The sons of Aaron violated the holiness of God because they brought something profane into the actual presence of YHWH they were immediately destroyed. Elaborate on the likely scenario verses 8-10

Coming Before God’s Presence

Pastor Fred and the Connections dress code

God is my buddy – we have lost our sense of having a healthy fear of God’s Power, God’s Holiness, God’s Righteous judgment, and His awesome power to destroy permanently

Taking God’s forgiveness for granted – He has to forgive me that’s his job!

No Fear No Respect No Obedience

Do We Have A Healthy Fear Of God?

Do we believe that God is present when we gather to worship?

Do we really believe that God’s Holy Spirit is present in us?

Do we really fear God and the consequences of His presence among us and within us?

If so, how do we respond?

Stay Clean + Stay Worshipful + Stay Obedient  James 4:5-8

Fear is actually a major motivator in our lives, fear of death keeps you driving in the right lane on the road, fear of failure keeps you focused on your studies in school or your tasks at work, it motivates you to try to eat a better diet, fear of losing your children motivates you to work to keep you marriage together…etc.

We may want to deny that scripture actually tells us to fear God… but we would be dead wrong. Matthew 10:28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell”

Exodus 3:1-6 Once He became aware he was standing before the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses showed the appropriate response… he was afraid

Exodus 19:3-8 God was calling the people of Israel into a special relationship unlike any of the other nations. Where God’s presence would dwell among them. Through His initiative they were to become holy, which meant He would cleanse them, He would set them apart and sanctify them, and in turn, they were to fear and obey Him… to stay clean physically and spiritually.

Exodus 19:9-15 Because the people were unclean God gave them instructions on how they could properly and safely approach Him. This was actually a potentially dangerous situation for the people of Israel and God did not want anyone to get hurt unnecessarily.

Exodus 19:16-19 Awesome display of his glory and power

Exodus 19:20-25 God repeats the warning so no one gets hurt

Exodus 20:18-21 The people’s response was fear, which was the desired effect… so their fear would lead to obedience.

This was a good thing in God’s eyes Deut 18:15-19

The next time God would speak directly to the people would be through the Son of Man Jesus Christ… and Jesus’ sacrificial blood would open the way for the Holy Spirit of God to dwell in you and speak to you directly… John 16:13-15

Exodus 24:1-11 After giving them an outline of the basic laws God (through Moses) seals His covenant with them by sprinkled them with the blood of purification. After this purification, the representatives of the people go up the mountain with Moses to come into the presence of God. Note that it says “God did not raise His hand against these elders of the Israelites”. God’s Holiness did not break out to destroy them because they had been made clean by the sprinkling of blood and sanctified dedicated to God’s service by the covenant of Holiness.

God continues to call people to become holy and He has called you to become Holy so that He might dwell in you through the Holy Spirit.

…To make this possible he has made you clean through the blood of Jesus Christ which is better than the blood of bulls because it is permanent,

…And He has sanctified you through a new covenant with better promises than the old

AND like the people of Israel your part is to come before Him in worship, to offer yourself as living sacrifices clean and pleasing to Him, to fear Him and keep His commandments!

I Peter 1:1-2

I Peter 1:13-23

I Peter 2:1-3, 9… God’s forgiveness and mercy which clean you up

Your calling to be part of a Holy nation is similar to Israel but not the same. Not only are the promises better… now God does not separate himself from you by washings, animal sacrifice, Priests, a Tabernacle with walls and veils to protect you. Today you have Gods’ own Holy Spirit dwelling in you… a down payment of your future which is to dwell with God in his full presence as part of his eternal family.

Hebrews 12:18-29