Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100627.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
K. God's Directive Of The Tabernacle To Fellowship With His People
7. The High Priest's Attire, Exodus 28:1-39
c. The Blue Robe: The Effectiveness Of Christ's Intercession
(Exodus 28:31-35)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    We learned from our last message in this series that Christ's intercessory work before our Heavenly Father in our behalf as believers gives us victory over temptation and sin.

    However, such a claim can seem hard to believe in terms of our experience, for the effect of sin is always harmful, if not devastating:

    (1) One problem we can face is that of habitual sins or vile sins we ourselves don't seem to be able to handle. Substance abuse, lusts for unwholesome foods, ungodly thoughts, etc. plague many Christians who struggle in constant guilt and spiritual defeat.

    (2) Another difficulty is that of suffering the abuse of others. Start Wilde's book, Weight Loss For The Mind suggests that "letting go" of gross injustices done to us is possibly one of the most difficult tasks in the human experience. It seems impossible for many not to hold a grudge for having been terribly mistreated, but holding a grudge violates Scripture and is sin! (Ephesians 4:31a NIV)

    However, the Apostle Paul warned that in the latter days of Church History, many folk would be self-centered, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, loveless, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, treacherous, rash, lovers of pleasure rather than loving God and have an artificial form of spirituality, 2 Timothy 3:2-5a NIV. The presence of such people in today's world increasingly leads to more and more devastated victims!

    (3) The reality of these challenges has recently hit us as a Church body, and I illustrate some of them as follows:

    (a) Three people in our Church in recent weeks have told of painful injustices they suffered from other professing believers.

    (b) Last week, two believers in our body asked about claims they found on the Internet that trouble many, claims that (1) the antichrist will be a Muslim, or (2) that he is President Obama! [Both claims err: the antichrist will be from Europe (Daniel 9:26-27), he will reject all religion and all belief in a coming messiah but the worship of himself and the god of forces (Daniel 11:36-37 NIV) and he will not be revealed until after the rapture of the Church (2 Thessalonians 2:6-9).

    [Such claims, though unbiblical, trouble many folk today, so I wanted to address them briefly while using them as illustrations here!]

    So, we ask, "In view of the power and harm of sin, how effective can Christ's intercessory work be for me?!"

    Need: "In view of sin's great power and destructiveness in my experience, how effective can Jesus' intercession be for me?!"

  1. God had Israel build a tabernacle to typify how He as a holy God could fellowship with sinful man and meet his needs, Ex. 25:1-9.
  2. In Exodus 28:1-4, God gave the high priest's attire, and the book of Hebrews shows it depicts Christ's work as our Great High Priest.
  3. The blue robe depicts the vast effectiveness of Christ's intercession available for temptation and sin in the believer's life, Ex. 28:31-35:
    1. Worn under the ephod, the robe was a solid blue garment with a hole cut out of its center so it could be fit over the high priests' head, and this neckline was reinforced to keep it from tearing, Exodus 28:31-32.
    2. All around the robe's bottom hem ran blue, purple and scarlet tassels of pomegranates that alternated with gold, ringing bells, Ex. 28:33-34.
    3. Hearing these bells assured worshipers God accepted the high priest's work for them as God let him live, Ex. 28:35; B. K. C., O. T., p. 152.
    4. This all depicts the great effectiveness of Christ's intercessory work:
      1. We before learned that Jesus' intercession results in His "tying" the believer's walk (breastpiece bottom) to align with his salvation stance (ephod) by the "blue cords" at the base of the breastpiece.
      2. Being the same color as those cords, the robe fully explains them:
        1. Down on the hem where needy believers can figuratively reach hung pomegranate tassels of Jesus' "fruitful" aid. Christ is very WILLING to EMPATHIZE with us at our level, Heb. 4:14-15.
        2. These blue, purple and scarlet tassels lacked the gold and white strands of the ephod and breastpiece, Ex. 28:6, 15, 33. As Gold depicts deity, and white God's righteousness, these tassels minus any gold and white strands show Christ's ABILITY by His experience in His earthly life's human temptations to EMPATHIZE with our temptations to sin, Heb. 5:5-9; 2:16-18.
        3. Ringing gold bells were set among these tassels to assure us of Christ's acceptability to the Father in our behalf: thus, God calls us (via the gold ringing bells) to USE Christ's ACCEPTABLE (pomegranate fruit) intercession for our needs of temptation and sin, Matthew 17:5; Hebrews 4:14, 15-16.
        4. Around the hem and between every "fruit" tassel was a ringing bell, so, though the needy uses one "fruit" of Christ's help, the bell next to it rings to beckon him to use the next "fruit" if he needs help again, so he can end up going all around the hem and using up all the tassels! Yet, even then, one last bell between the last tassel used and the first one he used still rings, so he can BOLDLY keep going, or go around again as often as needed as Christ is always there to aid, Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:21-24!
        5. Then, as the pomegranate typifies, Jesus is GRACIOUSLY EFFECTIVE in HANDLING our temptations and sins: (1) pomegranates reportedly aid in (a) circulation, (b) impeding hardening of the arteries, (c) reducing the risk of stroke and (d) heart attack, (e) lessening plaque in the arteries, (f) reducing bad and (g) raising good cholesterol levels, (h) preventing cancer and (i) attacking cancer cells, (j) reducing the effects of aging and (k) Alzheimer's disease, (l) cartilage damage and (m) brain damage to newborns at birth (n) and in reducing inflammation, (o) keeping the skin clear and (p) soothing sore throats (healthymenumailer.com). This fruit acts as (q) an anti-viral and (r) helps retain good triglyceride levels (raysahelian.com). (s) Pomegranate rinds even greatly help combat MYRSA (emaxhealth.com [a Kingston Univ ersity study, London]). One had good health if he was righteous under the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 28), so the wide health benefits of pomegranates typify the great restorative effects of Christ's intercession for sin and its effects! (2) Also, pomegranates are "very low maintenance" to farm and do well in hot, dry climates, so in view of its rich benefits, it is like a gracious gift (pomegranates.com). Jesus is thus graciously able to help us with all of our sin and temptation issues! (Hebrews 7:25a)
        6. The neckline was reinforced against tearing so the priest could continue serving, so Jesus is always available to aid, He. 7:25b.
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as Savior to become a child of God, John 1:12-13. (2) If we THEN sin, may we (a) confess it to God for cleansing (1 John 1:9) (b) and (c) rely on our Great High Priest, Jesus, for victory over sin and temptation in our experience!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 In the Ideals book, Hymns of Faith & Inspiration, p. 80-82, Pamela J. Kennedy tells the story of a boy named John who was born in 1725 in London, England to a godly mother. John's father was a sailing ship captain who was often away at sea, but his mother taught him about the Lord, prayer and Scripture.

When John's mother died, he was sent to live with relatives in the absence of his father, but they mocked his mother's teachings about God and led John to abandon them. Eventually, John left England for the sea, and fell into a life of great sin. He became involved in the African slave trade and all of its horrible wickedness.

At one point, John became drunk, and fell overboard, so the ship captain harpooned him in the thigh and pulled him back onto the ship as he writhed in agony. Though in great discomfort, John was directed to stay down in the ships' hold until it reached England.

Along the way, a bad storm arose, and John with the other sailors on board were made to bail water from the troubled ship.

At this point of great crisis in his life, John trusted in Christ as his Savior, and God mercifully let the ship reach England.

John later met and married a godly woman named Mary Catlett, and became a pastor of a church.

We today know John as John Newton, the author of the famous hymn, "Amazing Grace," and its words tell his testimony as follows:



"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see."



God's grace was abundantly able to save, keep and minister so as to use John Newton effectively for Christ. In fact, according to my Church History professor in seminary, he helped influence the British Parliament to ban slavery in England without a civil war like we had in America. So, regardless of his past life of sin, or the wrongs done to him by his relatives, God's grace was greater, so we have been blessed.

May we trust in Christ as Savior from sin to gain eternal life. Then, like John Newton, may we look to God for help in even huge issues of sin or its effects in our lives, and see Christ bless us!