How Will God Solve the Greatest Problem in the Universe

Guest (Male): As you walk and make a move toward Christ, maybe somebody is here tonight and you think the past of my life is filled with guilt and shame. I don't know if God could ever accept me. Once you make one move toward God, you make one move toward God, His righteousness surrounds you.
Announcer: This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: How Will God Solve the Greatest Problem in the Universe, part one. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up on past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: I'm inviting you to come with me on a journey, a journey to the ancient sanctuary. Has anybody ever said to you in your life, "How's your day going?" and you've said to them, "Do you really want to know? I mean, like, sit down for an hour and I'll tell you. Man, have I got problems." Have you ever sensed, though, too that God has a problem? Have you ever said to God in those evening meetings as you've knelt before Him, "God, how's your day going?" And if you were careful enough to listen, God would say to you, "You know, you may have some problems, but I've got problems too." In fact, God's problem isn't crime, as challenging as crime is, as difficult as it is to feel insecure when somebody has broken into your home. When we lived in England in Saint Albans, we once had a robber break into our home when we were gone. And you really feel defiled by that; you feel that that is your private space. But yet God's greatest problem isn't crime. God's greatest problem isn't broken homes. As challenging as divorce is, and as much as that brings pain to the individual who's gone through that, that's not God's greatest problem. God's greatest problem isn't disease, although you can see the sorrow and the tears in a man's eyes as he senses his wife is dying of cancer, or as a woman sits by the side of her husband who's had a heart attack and is dying. That's not God's greatest problem; it's not disease. God's greatest problem isn't war, although war is such a horrible thing and often it's women and children that suffer in war. But you might be saying, "What indeed is God's greatest problem?" God's greatest problem certainly isn't hunger, although His heart bleeds and He weeps over every child that's crying out for food. But that's not God's greatest problem. God's greatest problem isn't even world terrorism. What is the problem that weighs greatest on God's heart, that if you could solve that one problem, you'd solve every other problem in the world? The greatest problem in the universe is the sin problem. Now you might think that is simplistic to say. You might think it's very obvious. But when you really consider it, and you consider the sin problem, until the problem of sin is finally and fully solved, all other human problems will continue. Would you agree with that tonight? That unless you solve that sin problem, the problem of crime, the problem of broken homes, the problem of disease, the problem of heartache, the problem of suffering and death, those problems are going to continue. So that leads us to a question: What is the ultimate solution to the sin problem? If you go back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned, immediately after they sinned, God said to them, "Offer a sacrifice." Why? Is that because God is bloodthirsty? Why did God have Adam and Eve offer a sacrifice at the gates of the garden? What was His purpose? The scripture says the wages of sin is death. And so sin brings forth death. And God wanted to reveal the horrible nature of sin to Adam and Eve. Since sin separates us from God, God must have a plan to deal with sin forever, to re-establish harmony, peace, and joy in the universe. As Israel was led out of Egypt, previous to that time, human beings offered sacrifices to God as they had sinned. Those sacrifices were to reveal the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ. But as Israel was led out of Egyptian bondage, God then said to Moses that he was to build a sanctuary. And only God can solve the sin problem, and He reveals His plan to deal with sin in the ancient sanctuary. So as we walk through the sanctuary together, as we travel together, we're going to see a God that's great, a God that's huge, a God that has one desire, and that God's desire is to solve the sin problem. In Psalm 77:13, can you read it with me please from the screen? "Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary. You are a God who does wonders. You have declared your strength among the peoples. You have with your arm redeemed your people." Now notice three things about the text. First, God's way is—where's God's way everybody? In the sanctuary. Second thing about the text: He's a God that does wonders. God is going to do wonders in your life. As you're watching around the world, you're going to sense in your life the spirit of God. You may be watching in a living room, you may be watching with a small group in a church, but God's going to do wonders in your life. God's going to touch you and He's going to move in your life in powerful ways. You'll sense freedom from anxiety and freedom from guilt. You'll sense a new power in your life and you'll sense how God is going to deal with the sin problem in the universe. So notice He's a God that does wonders. And it says you've declared your strength among the people, you have with your arm redeemed your people. So the whole purpose of the sanctuary is to reveal God's plan to get us out of this earth of sin, suffering, and sorrow. There must be something more than famine in this world. There must be something more than war. There must be something more than heartache and sorrow and tears and disappointment. There must be something more than a dark hole in the ground in the grave and a long night without a morning. And there is. And God's sanctuary reveals in very practical terms how God's going to end this problem of sin in the universe. Have you ever wondered why wickedness prevails at times? And have you ever thought, "Why is it at times that the righteous seem to suffer and the wicked seem to triumph?" If you've wondered about that, you are not alone. In Psalm 73:17, David talks about the suffering in the world and he talks about the wickedness that's in the world. And David says this: "When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me." It was too painful to think of children being killed in war. It was too painful for me to think about the famine in the world. It was too painful for me to think about the wickedness and the triumph of evil. David says, "When I thought about how to understand this—the wickedness, the sorrow, the heartache—it was too painful for me until..." I love the word "until," don't you? David says, "It was too painful to me until—until I went into the sanctuary of our God. Then I understood their end." When David by faith entered into the sanctuary, he found there refuge. He found there security. He found there peace in the sanctuary. When David entered into that sanctuary, he saw God's plan for dealing with sin and he saw the end of evil and the end of wickedness. That's why we're reading together Exodus 25:8. Let's read it together: "Let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them." You see, sin had separated human beings from God. And sin had brought that great chasm. And God said, "I want you to make me a sanctuary. And there I want to come and dwell among my people. I want to reveal my love to them in the sanctuary." Every aspect of the sanctuary reveals God's love. Every aspect of the sanctuary reveals God's care and God's goodness. Now, it was God that gave the workmen both the wisdom and skill to build the sanctuary. We're going to look at all those ornaments in the sanctuary. We're going to look at each aspect of the furniture in the sanctuary and its construction and see how that touches us in our personal lives. It was God that gave the workmen the wisdom and the skill to build the sanctuary. Now consider this: they had just come out of Egypt. They would not have the skill naturally to weave those fine linens. They would not have the skill to weave that multicolored tapestry of purple and gold. They would not have had the skill to make the magnificent, beautiful golden branched candlestick. In Exodus 35:35 it says, "He has filled them with the skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and designer and the tapestry maker." Let me give you one example that we'll look at a little later. Take the candlestick in the sanctuary. The candlestick in that sanctuary in today's terms would have been worth about 2.4 million dollars if you calculate it out. It was finely made. Where would they get the skill? The scripture says God has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and designer and the tapestry maker. Here's lesson number one in the sanctuary: when God calls you to do something, He gives you the skill to do it. If you are a single mother raising three children and you feel really stressed out about that, the God that gave them skill in the sanctuary will give you the skill to handle that. If indeed you are working as a father to make ends meet for your family and you're just struggling with that, He's the God who gives us skill and strength. If you're taking care of an elderly parent and your life now is somewhat circumscribed, you don't have the freedom you once had, God's going to give you the skill to handle that. The sanctuary reveals to us that when we are faithful to God, He gives us the skill and the ability to handle what comes before us. Now there's something else about the sanctuary that's really interesting in the building of the sanctuary. For the building of the sanctuary, great and expensive preparations were necessary. A large amount of the most precious and costly materials were required. Where did these Israelites who had been slaves in Egypt, where did they ever get the gold and where did they ever get all these ornaments to build the sanctuary? When they came out of Egypt, they came out with that gold. God provided for them. God's going to provide for you. The deepest needs of your life, we have the God of the sanctuary, the God that provides for us. But they could have hoarded this gold. They could have kept it to themselves. There is a law of life that says it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. When we give love to others, we receive love. When we serve in kindness and compassion, our hearts are filled with grace and goodness. You see, Exodus 35:21 and 22 says that everyone that came whose hearts were stirred and everyone whose spirit was willing, they both came, men and women, as many as had a willing heart. As you come to these meetings night after night, your heart's going to be stirred. God's going to move in your life and God's going to place within your heart a willing heart to do whatever God asks you to do. A willing spirit to do whatever God places before you in your life. The real question of Christianity is who has the heart? It's no problem if you have gold, but the problem is if gold has you. It's no problem to have money, but the problem is if money has you. And the whole lesson of the sanctuary, from the building of the sanctuary to every sacrifice that's offered, is the giving away of myself to the sovereign God of the universe. The recognition that this God created me, that this God fashioned me, that this God made me, that I'm not some kind of genetic accident, that I'm not merely skin-covered bones, but that I come acknowledging that God created me. I come to the sanctuary acknowledging that He redeemed me. I come to the sanctuary recognizing that He has a plan for my life and I say, "God, take my heart." You know, there's a wonderful statement in Signs of the Times, June 16, 1890. It says this: "We need not be discouraged. We need not be what everybody? Discouraged. Jesus came to our world to bring divine power to man, that through His grace we might be transformed into His likeness." "When it is in the heart to obey God, when efforts are put forth to this end, Jesus accepts this disposition and effort as man's best service and He makes up for the deficiency with His own divine merit." When it is in the heart to serve God, we come with all of the warts and boils of our life, but we come to Jesus. And when it is in the heart to serve God, with the divine righteousness of Christ, He makes up for our weakness with His own divine merit. What do you say? Praise His holy name. Come with me to this sanctuary. Let's walk through it tonight. Now we learn a great deal of how this sanctuary is made. The Bible says in Exodus 38:9 and 10, "Then he made the court 100 cubits." Now what's a cubit? It's the distance from the end of your elbow to the tip of your finger, about 18 inches. So that means that it's about a foot and a half. So 100 cubits, if a cubit's about a foot and a half, is about 150 feet here. Then he has also 50 cubits wide. It's about 75 feet. Now imagine that you have sinned. Now the Bible says the wages of sin is what everybody? Death. And it says that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. So let's suppose that you got in an argument with your neighbor and you just lost your temper and began to yell at your neighbor. But later you sensed, "You know what? That was bad news. I just lost my cool, lost my temper." You'd have to bring a sacrifice to the sanctuary. And as you're coming with your lamb, you come here to the gates of the sanctuary. Now the outer portion of that sanctuary is a white linen enclosure with bronze pillars. Why white linen panels and why bronze pillars? Throughout scripture, white represents the righteousness of Christ. It represents His perfect sacrifice for you and for me. Bronze in the Bible is a symbol of salvation. It's a symbol of the saving power of God. So as you come with the lamb, immediately entering in through this outer court veil made of purple and scarlet and so forth, as you enter in, you enter in through the royal entrance representing that you're entering into the presence of God. Immediately stepping into this courtroom, the white linen surrounds you. Within the court, when we make a decision to come to Christ, we are surrounded by a righteousness that is not our own and saved by a grace we did not deserve. We step into that court. We come with our weakness, we come with our frailties, but we step in and we're surrounded by this righteousness. White linen is a representation of the righteousness of Christ. That righteousness that covers our sin, but that righteousness that works in us to change us, to make us new. When you look at the bronze, there's a good example of bronze in Daniel chapter 4. If you're a student of the Bible, you recognize that in Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind. He had what we would call lycanthropic insanity. He lost his mind. He had disobeyed God. He had rebelled against God. And Nebuchadnezzar went out and wandered around like a beast and there with long hair and long nails, he grunted and groaned more like a beast than like a human being. But God said through Daniel, "Nebuchadnezzar, your life's going to be like a tree. But it's going to be chopped down." Thus he lost his kingdom and he wandered around like this beast. But he said there's going to be a stump, and on that stump there's going to be a band of brass and iron. Now iron always represents in the Bible the power of God, but brass represents the saving power of God, that He saves us. And so Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom would be preserved. So bronze in the sanctuary, why does God give that? For this reason: what God is saying as you walk and make a move toward Christ. Maybe somebody is here tonight and you think, "The past of my life is filled with guilt and shame. I don't know if God could ever accept me." Once you make one move toward God, one move toward God—because that desire to know Him has been placed in your heart by the Holy Spirit. You make one move toward God and His righteousness surrounds you. And that band of brass preserves you. He is the God who is committed to saving you. The Bible says that when we come to Christ—1 John 3:2, let's read it together: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." Now notice what the text says. When we come to Christ, immediately upon coming, we become the sons and daughters of God. Now are we the sons of God. Are you a son of God tonight? Are you a daughter of God tonight? Now are we the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be. We've come. And as we come, He begins a work in us to transform our lives, to make us all He wants us to be. We come with all of our weakness, we come with all of our deficiencies, but we come. We are accepted as His children when we come. We are transformed by His grace as we stay. Day by day we're justified by His blood. Day by day He gives us new power and we're sanctified by His power. This is the message of the sanctuary. As we come to Him, we proceed from the court into the holy place where He's moving in our life to sanctify us as we'll see tonight. But eventually, in that most holy place of heaven's sanctuary, He reveals His plan to do away with sin and we'll be glorified one day in His eternal presence at the last trumpet when He comes again. So the message of the sanctuary is how you can be redeemed by His grace, sanctified by His power, and transformed forever. So let's take a journey. Are you ready to walk through the sanctuary with me tonight? Are you ready? So let's go. Now as we enter the sanctuary, the door faces toward the east. Where does the door face? Toward the east. So here's the compass: north, south, west, east. So the door of the sanctuary is facing east. Now that's significant. Why? Because for an Israelite to enter the sanctuary, they would have to turn their backs to the east. Why was that significant? Because in Babylon they worshipped the sun. So there in the east, it was a symbol of falsehood. It was a symbol of sun worship. It was a symbol of idolatry. It was a symbol of human religion rather than divine revelation. It was a symbol of man's way rather than God's way. So as the Israelites walked through the eastern gate of the sanctuary, since it was facing east, they had to turn their backs to the east. They turned from idolatrous sun worship of eastern mysticism and Babylonian worship to the Christ who redeemed them and bids them to follow Him. Now let's look at some insights from the structure we've been looking at, but particularly from the offerings of the sanctuary tonight and see what we can gain from those offerings and then from the structure of the sanctuary, the furniture. There were a variety of offerings. First, there was the altar of burnt offering. Now the altar of burnt offering could have been a bullock, a sheep, a goat. The offering of burnt offering took place in two ways. First, every morning the priest took the offering of burnt offering and placed it on the altar. It would burn all day and then at night it would be put on there again, so 24 hours a day the offering of burnt offering was there. Why? Why? I thought our sins would not be confessed until we brought the animal sacrifice there as an ancient Israelite. Why the burnt offering? Have you remembered every sin you have ever committed? I get any honest people here? Have you remembered every time you have ever lost your temper? Have you remembered every selfish thought? Have you remembered every unkind act? Here is the incredible goodness: the burnt offering that burned 24 hours a day represents the living Christ who ministers for you 24 hours a day. And when we come to Him, we may have remembered our sins or we may not, but if we are His children, His sacrifice is for us. You say, "But Pastor, what sins do I then confess?" The ones you remember, because you can't confess the ones you don't remember. Right? See, some people always want to go fishing in their life. "What'd I do wrong here? What'd I do wrong there?" And they're filled with guilt. They do not live the joy of the Christian life. When the Holy Spirit impresses you that you did something wrong, confess the thing that He impresses you. But don't go fishing to find out and try to dredge up all the evil that you've ever done. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. And so the sanctuary message is saying, fill your mind with the word of God. Where you are confused about truth, fill your mind with the word of God. It is that word of God that illuminates our lives. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," John 8:12. Psalm 119:105 says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."