For our scripture reading tonight, let's turn together to Hebrews 9, reading Hebrews chapter 9, and then a few verses from Hebrews 13, verses 9 through 16. Beginning with Hebrews chapter 9, we read this in connection with article 25 of the Belgic Confession, which has the title, The Abolishing of the Ceremonial Law. Hebrews 9, beginning at verse 1, as we hear now the Word of God. Now the first covenant had regulations for worship, and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the most holy place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered Ark of the Covenant. This Ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the Covenant. Above the Ark were the cherubim of the glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now. When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings, external regulations applying until the time of the new order. When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean, sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God. For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died. It never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, He took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool, and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep. In the same way, He sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one. He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Chapter 13, beginning of verse 9 through 16. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the most holy place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Article 25 is found on page 81 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. If you would turn there for reference in just a few moments. Beloved in the Lord, you may have heard the saying, the new is in the old concealed, the old is in the new revealed. And that, of course, is talking about the Old and the New Testament of Scripture. The teaching of the New Testament is concealed. It's hidden in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament then is opened up. It's made clear. It's revealed in the New Testament. And in a sense, that saying as well is a simple way of saying they go together. They belong together. They cannot be separated. The two Testaments are united. Many, we know, want to separate the Old and the New Testaments and say that you can have one without the other, that we no longer today need to worry about the Old Testament, for example. It has nothing to say to us today, but that's simply not true. Together, these two testaments paint the whole picture of God's redeeming work. The focus of all of Scripture is the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving work, and His saving love, and that's because of man's sin and need for a Savior and for salvation. The truth of Jesus Christ is spread throughout the pages of the Old Testament, yet in shadowy form through promises. And those shadow promises of the Savior become clear in the New Testament with the coming and the work of Jesus. Now in a sense, we can point out three progressive stages in the Old Testament that lead up to the sufferings and glory of the Messiah. Stages in Revelation, we might say. In Genesis 3, verse 15, we find a general outline of the Messiah. There is a person in the seed of a woman, of the woman. His heel being bruised points to suffering. And the fact that he would crush the serpent's head means victory, a person suffering, victory. And later then, this person becomes known as the son of David. And vivid sketches of his suffering and victory are seen in detail in many of the Psalms. 2, 22, 35, 69, 72, 89, 102, 110, 118 to mention some. And then there is also then a vivid description of his substitution for his people in Isaiah chapter 53. And Jesus himself spoke in a general way. He applied all of this to himself as he spoke to the two men on the road to Emmaus. He said, did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And Luke continues, and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures concerning himself. But you see, beloved, it was more than just the prophecies that pointed forward. to christ israel's entire system of worship pointed to him really that's what article 25 deals with the worship of god now the belgian confession of faith after dealing with christ's work that satisfied god's justice and earned for us justification complete with the forgiveness of all of our sins and that precious gift of the righteousness of christ after dealing with all of that the Confession now considers the specific elements of Old Testament worship that pointed forward to Christ's work. And it deals with the question, well, what about us? What about the New Testament church and New Testament worship? Why do we worship on Sunday and not the Old Testament Sabbath, which is Saturday? Why do we eat pork? Why don't we observe the Passover and other Old Testament feasts? Why do we have ministers, preachers, and not priests? Why don't we offer animal sacrifices? Why do we insist on obeying the Ten Commandments, but not practicing the ceremonies of the Old Testament? Article 25 summarizes the teaching of Scripture with regard to the difference between Old Testament and New Testament worship and the continuity, the sameness of Old Testament and New Testament worship. And we're talking primarily about organized corporate worship, the gathering together of God's people, but this article, we must understand, also touches on the life of worship required of God's people. We might say this article teaches that our worship of God has gone from ceremonies to sermons. Follow along, if you would, Article 25. It's not very long. The abolishing of the ceremonial law. We believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the shadows are accomplished, so that the use of them must be abolished among Christians. yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion. In the meantime, we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel and to regulate our life in all honorableness to the glory of God according to His will. Now, of course, beloved, there is so much that we could consider, much more than we can say in one sermon, but remembering that the Belgic Confession is a summary of what the Bible, the entirety of Scripture teaches, and not necessarily just of what one particular passage teaches. We want to try to briefly yet clearly state what the Bible teaches us about the place of the ceremonial law of Moses, then and now. And really, Hebrews chapters 4 through 10, as well as a number of other New Testament passages, clearly answer the then and the now question, but the first thing we need to consider is the significance of Old Testament worship. What was it all about? What was included in it? But we cannot understand that significance outside of the context of the law of God, and we can speak of the law of God in God's law in a couple of ways. There is the moral law, which we know is the Ten Commandments. Through Moses, God gave Israel his Ten Commandments to regulate their life and their holiness to show them how they were to walk and live before the face of a holy God. You can also speak of the civil law, which was given by God, the king and head of the nation, given to regulate the life and the health, and we might say physical health, because there were dietary laws, there were sanitation laws, but given, again, to regulate the life and the health of the people. And we might say that with the moral and the civil law, there is the idea of separation. God's people were called to be separate from the other nations of the world, and He gave them clear instructions on how they were to be separate. But the moral law also served in another capacity. It served to remind the people, as it does still today, that they were sinners, that they were unholy, That they were not able to stand before a holy God. They were under the curse of the law. They were deserving of punishment. In their sin, they could not worship God rightly. You see, worship is a meeting between God and His covenant people. And in His grace, then, God gave them the ceremonial law. The ceremonies and symbols of the law that Article 25 speaks of included four categories, we might say. Holy persons, priesthood, high priest, holy places, the tabernacle and the temple, holy of holies, holy things, candles, showbread, oil, Ark of the Covenant, vestments, clothing, priestly clothing, sacrifices, and holy seasons, feasts, and feast days. But what was God saying with these ceremonies and symbols? In a broad sense, he was saying, if you're going to worship me, you will do it my way. He was showing how he wanted to be worshipped. These all had the purpose of showing the people what God was like and what he wanted from them. But the crowning instruction, the best and most important instruction the people needed and God provided through the sacrificial system was how can you guilty sinners, you lawbreakers, come and stand before Me? Boys and girls, through the ceremonies and symbols of Old Testament worship, God was telling His people, He was telling the boys and girls, He was telling the mothers and fathers, He was telling the servants, He was telling the men and women how they could stand before Him as sinners. And how they could be rid of their guilt. How they could be forgiven. How they could escape their lost condition. How they could come to Him and be right with Him. It can only happen if there is a substitution. It can only happen if something or somebody comes in your place. So that you don't pay the price of your life in eternal death. If you and I aren't going to pay that price, it has to be paid by another. And for hundreds of years in the history of Israel, God kept showing them the same thing over and over again that substitution had to be made. That was the point of the sacrifices. You see, all the ceremonies and symbols, it all pointed to the need for substitution. For example, in the offering of the first fruits, The first portion of the crop was given to God as a substitute for the whole crop. The Passover feast was a reminder of the lamb and its blood substituted for the people. And that substitution especially is seen in the Day of Atonement sacrifice. The scapegoat, that goat upon which the high priest laid his hands, representing the guilt of the people being transferred to the substitute. To this goat. That goat was then driven out into the wilderness to die in place of those that deserve to die, pointing to the taking away of sins, substitution. And the Lamb sacrificed. Its blood was taken by the high priest into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark to pay for sin. And in that Ark of the Covenant, you remember, as we read, was a copy of the moral law, the Ten Commandments. But you see, all of it said the same thing. You need somebody in your place. And gradually the Bible got clearer and clearer about the fact that this somebody was going to be the Messiah whom God himself would send to fulfill it all. It all points to Jesus Christ, as Hebrews 9, 12 says, who entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The significance of Old Testament worship with all the ceremonies and symbols is that it all pointed to Jesus Christ and the work that He would do. And through the sacrifices which pointed to Christ and covered the sins of the people before the sight of God, through those sacrifices, God was providing a way for guilty sinners, lawbreakers, to come and stand before Him. He Himself, through His Son, would provide the once-for-all sacrifice, which would provide the necessary payment and the forgiveness needed for sin. But then, of course, Christ's coming made real and made clear the meaning of the shadows and promises and also brought a major change in the worship of God's people. Again, we believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law ceased at the coming of Christ and that all the shadows are accomplished so that the use of them must be abolished among Christians. Yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ in whom they have their completion. The types and shadows of the Old Testament ceremonies were used by God to reveal the plan of redemption and prepare for the coming of Christ. But the Bible clearly teaches that Christ fulfills and completes them. They pointed to what needed to be done and would be done by Christ, and He has done it. Once you reach the sharp curve ahead, you no longer need the sign that says, Sharp curve ahead. It's done. The reality is here. Salvation is accomplished, so all of those Old Testament ceremonies and feasts and sacrifices and requirements are done. They're obsolete. we don't need them anymore. And we now enjoy the substance and the simplicity of New Testament worship. Again, how do we know that we don't need the Old Testament ceremonies and symbols any longer? Well, the Bible tells us so. Very simply, the Bible tells us so. And one of the most decisive announcements about this came when Jesus took his last breath. The curtain of the temple was torn in two. The Holy of Holies previously closed off. Do not enter! Was exposed, open to all. And beloved, what an announcement that the way into God's presence was no longer by way of old ceremonies and an earthly priest. In Galatians 3, verses 24 and 25, Paul speaks of the law that was put in charge to lead us to Christ, a tutor to bring us to Christ. that we might be justified by faith. He goes on, Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. And that law, as we have said, includes the prescribed symbols and ceremonies which also serve to lead us to Christ, to lead the Old Testament believers to Christ, as they pointed forward to Him. But by themselves, they were not enough to do the job that only Jesus could do. Hebrews 10, 1-4 says, the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. We read in verses 13 and 14 of chapter 9, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean, sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. Earlier, the writer says that it could not clean their conscience. But now he says, how much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so we may serve the living God. Colossians 2, 16 and 17 says, Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. And in chapter 9, we read, beginning at verse 26, the second part, but now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself, Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. And in chapter 10, verse 10, And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. See, beloved, God's teaching in the New Testament is clear. These passages and others, that the practice of the priesthood, sacrifices, the temple, circumcision, feast days, food laws, all of it no longer functions in the New Testament era. It's all accomplished and complete in Christ. Remember again that copy of the law in the Ark of the Covenant? That Ark upon which the blood of the Lamb was sprinkled? Why? For sin. What sin? A violation of the law of God. That law, you see, would still bring us to perdition if not for the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all of our sin. That law with its accusing finger is turned aside because our Savior has satisfied that law. And the same God who sees day after day how I break the law also sees the blood of His Son cleansing and covering me before His sight. Because of substitution, God sees us not as we are in sin, but as we are in Christ. And His blood has been shed once for all, and therefore there is no longer any need for more blood to be shed or for another sacrifice of Christ. He does not have to be sacrificed back to God in the sacrifice of the Roman Catholic Mass? Remember, beloved, the context of the writing of this confession was the time of the Reformation. In recent weeks, with the death of Pope John Paul and the election of a new pope, we've been reminded on our TVs and in our newspapers, whether we understood it or not, we have been reminded what the Reformers fought against. All the ceremonies, the priesthood, the special clothing, and the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church. It's been a New Testament age-old problem. You see, ancient church history teaches us that after Pentecost, the church more and more moved away from the elaborate ceremonies and rituals of the Jews. And the pattern of worship of God became simple, sober, reverent, from the heart, now surrounded by all kinds of elaborate ceremonies and practices. Yet throughout history, the visible church has struggled with worship so that at times new rites and ceremonies have been introduced. Especially at the time of Constantine. New forms were added into the order to make the Christian faith, and we're talking a thousand years ago or so, to make it more congenial and more attractive to those who entered the church. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And by the time of the Reformation, worship had become so elaborate in Roman churches that attention was directed away from Christ to the church as the gospel was buried under a mass of symbols and ceremonies. But the reformers, by God's grace, understood the truth of Scripture, that these things were made obsolete in Christ. And to continue with these things or to reintroduce them is to act as if Jesus never really paid for all of our sins. and that beloved is is a slap in the face of christ's work it's an offense to god but the reformers also did battle on the other extreme against the antinomians it means without law no law like the anabaptists who said sorry that we have nothing at all any longer to do with the old testament and the laws of the old testament some of them even going so far as to say we should go on ahead and sin all the more that grace might increase of course we know what paul said about that absolutely not but again understanding the truth of scripture the reformers knew that our worship of god is now simple but it also has substance and that substance is carried over from the truth preached by the by the old testament ceremonies and symbols the truth the truth of our substitute jesus christ and beloved the simplicity of worship is as jesus explained to the samaritan woman in john 4 when He said, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. It's not the place, you see. A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. As someone has said, spirit and truth were to be the characteristics of New Testament worship as much as the temple and sacrifices had been essential to Old Testament worship. New Testament worship is worship in the power of the Holy Spirit of God who works powerfully in the hearts and lives of God's elect, giving them a new life and bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit leads God's people to worship according to the truth of God's Word and the truth of Jesus Christ, that He is the fulfillment of all that pointed forward to Him. Worship in spirit and in truth, beloved, includes both continuity, sameness, and discontinuity, difference, with Old Testament worship. Again, the ceremonial practices have ended, but the substance of them, the truth that they taught, is still there. We still come to God today on the basis of a substitute. We come before God for Jesus, our great high priest's sake. We no longer have a need for an earthly holy of holies and altar because the one final sacrifice has been paid. In Christ, all believers are priests who bring a sacrifice of praise to Him. And when we gather together for worship in Christ's name, We enter confidently. We no longer stand outside with fear and trepidation. We enter confidently, as Hebrews 10 verse 19 says, the most holy place by the blood of Jesus. We no longer come as guilty sinners. As guilty as we may feel at times. But we come as saints. Sinners saved by grace to whom the way has been opened to the Father. Each and every one of us in Christ enters the Holy of Holies. Not a physical room, not a room of our own imagination, but spiritually we enter the throne room of heaven. That's what Christian worship is. When Christians gather for worship with Christ our mediator and head, we enter the heavenly holy of holies and that heavenly worship is spiritual worship because it is worship filled with and is dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit. And worship in spirit which is filled with the Holy Spirit isn't talking about emotionalism or sentimentalism or ecstatic utterances or actions or anything like that. Professor Daryl Hart, who used to be at the seminary here for a few years and with his wife, worshiped with us regularly, he wrote about this in a Christian Renewal article about a year ago. He said, If we were to examine a worship service to see if the Holy Spirit were active in it, what would we be looking for? In the current rage for expressive and spontaneous worship, most people look for the Spirit's presence in the style of song, the emotions or posture of worshipers, and whether people feel blessed upon leaving the service. And he goes on to say it's a radical misunderstanding of what Jesus was talking about in John chapter 4. He goes on, the Bible teaches that the principal work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the truth of God. This work involves the mind and the heart because the intellect and the will of a sinner both need to be changed in order for him or her to accept and believe the truths of the gospel. Still, the purpose of the revelatory work of the Spirit is to yield proper understanding, not warm feelings. This means that a Spirit-filled worship service, he says, will be one that conforms to the revelation of the Bible. It's not whether you and I feel moved when we leave this place. but whether the Word of God has been revealed. Beloved, New Testament worship, like Old Testament worship, remains a meeting between God and His covenant people. And in it, God still says, I will tell you how you are to come before me in worship. And the truth of Scripture for worship is that God no longer teaches us by means of symbols and ceremonies but by the living preaching of Christ crucified. The Gospel message preached which is foolishness to the world is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe. There's nothing flashy or visibly powerful about it but simply the preached message of Jesus Christ and blessed by the Holy Spirit. That's the power of God. That's what the Bible teaches, that preaching the Word is to be central in our worship. And then along with that, Christ has given the simple sacraments, which in and of themselves have a little appeal or majesty as we look at them. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, they become signs and seals of Christ's accomplished work. And they unite us more and more to Him. And the Bible teaches us how we are to respond. The Bible teaches that psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are used to praise God in singing. Prayers are to be offered to God in response to His speaking to us through His Word. An opportunity is to be given to give of our tithes and offerings of gratitude. We call this, in Reformed theology, a dialogue between God and His people. It's a dialogue in Christ. Not through an earthly priest on our behalf. But a dialogue between God and His people in the power of the Holy Spirit. God speaks. We respond. You can look at our order of worship. You pretty much see that back and forth. God speaks through His Word in the call to worship, in the greeting, in the law, in His assurance of pardon, in the Scripture reading, in the sermon, in the benediction. And God's people respond to His speaking to us through those different elements with our songs, our singing, our praise, our prayers, the giving of our gifts and offerings. We come before God in worship as well, beloved, as those who stand in a different relationship to God's moral law. No longer condemned. Indeed, we are still bound to the Ten Commandments as the New Testament teaches us. Once in a while we consider them from the New Testament. Jesus says, I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He kept it perfectly for us. He revealed to us the deeper meaning of that law. That law is written on our hearts. We come to worship as those justified before the sight of God for the sake of Christ's perfect obedience. And therefore, beloved, our worship is no longer coming in fear, standing outside the Holy of Holies. It's no longer coming in fear as those deserving death and longing for the One who would save us and make us right with God. But our worship is a rejoicing in the God of our salvation who has saved us in Christ and given us eternal life and teaches us how to come before Him and walk before Him on this path to glory. Indeed, we still sin every day, but our comfort is that we live from the perfect obedience of Him who perfectly obeyed God's law. and as we worship we are reminded over and over again until we reach glory we are reminded of what we have in Christ Jesus and we are also reminded of our call to strive to live in gratitude walking in good works which are done according to the law of God in a way that pleases Him good works which God prepared for us to do and therefore may we not seek to worship God the way we think is best. But may we strive to worship Him the way He says is best. God has revealed to us that there is only one way to come to Him. He's revealed that throughout the history of His church, Old Testament and New, through the perfect substitute, His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Nothing complicated, nothing flashy. simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And the focus of our spirit-led worship corporately as a congregation and in a life of obedience, the focus is to be Him who gave Himself in our place so that our worship as God prescribes it would be pleasing and acceptable to Him. Amen. Shall we pray? dear heavenly father we thank you for the gift of worship that you call us to come before you to come in confidence for the sake of Jesus Christ we thank you that we may do that we pray oh lord that as we grow in faith hope and love as we grow in sanctification that the worship of our hearts would indeed be more pleasing to you as we grow, that our worship as a congregation might be faithful according to your word and as well a way in which we praise and glorify your most holy name. Father, we do thank you for such a great salvation. We thank you that you regulate our lives by your word and your spirit. Hear our prayer, Father, for Jesus' sake and in his name, amen.