This morning, I invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 9, Hebrews chapters 9 and 10, actually, as we consider chapter 10, verses 3, 4, and 14. Hebrews 10, 3, 4, and 14, which serves as the text this morning. We begin our reading at chapter 9, verse 11, through chapter 10, verse 4, and then verses 11 through 14 of chapter 10. And in the first ten verses of chapter 9, the writer is talking about reminding his audience of the worship that took place in the earthly tabernacle, the earthly temple, complete with holy of holies and the work of the high priest and so forth. And that the high priest also offered the animal blood on behalf of his own sins. We begin reading about the blood of Christ in verse 11 as we now hear the word of God. Verse 11 of chapter 9. 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. But 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 in 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. 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. Then skipping to verse 11. Day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when this priest, speaking of Christ, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Beloved in Christ the Lord, the Lord's Supper form says, For by His death Christ has taken away the cause of our eternal death and misery, namely sin, and obtained for us the life-giving Spirit that we, by that Spirit who dwells in Christ as in the head and in us as His members, should have true communion with Him and be made partakers of all His riches of life, eternal righteousness and glory. Now, very simply, that means that as believers, we enjoy fellowship with God for the sake of Jesus Christ. And the Lord's table represents that fellowship. And that's a most wonderful truth, or at least it should be a most wonderful truth, because fellowship with God is what man lost because of sin. And we know that in order to have fellowship with God, you must be right with God. You must be, let's say, in agreement with God. And we know the same is true in our earthly, our human relationships, isn't it? In order to truly enjoy fellowship with someone, you've got to be in agreement with them. You've got to be on the same page. To enjoy fellowship with God, we must be right with God. And the logical question then is, how am I right with God? That's the question of question 60 of the Heidelberg Catechism, which speaks of justification. How am I justified in the sight of God? And that very question is answered many times in Scripture, and this includes the book of Hebrews. This is especially true with chapters 9 and 10. And those of you who may read Table Talk magazine and use that to help you in your devotional life, you've enjoyed over the past month or so a detailed study of Hebrews 9 and now moving into chapter 10, which compares the Old Testament priesthood and high priest with the perfect high priest, Jesus Christ. And those chapters also compare the Old Testament sacrifices and the blood of bulls and goats with Christ's perfect sacrifice of Himself and His shed blood. And the theme of those chapters, we might say, is that indeed, blood had to be shed as payment for sin, but a different sacrifice than the animal sacrifices was needed to permanently restore the relationship and fellowship between God and man. And those chapters, chapters 9 and 10, teach us about the effectiveness of Christ's blood. As you can tell, that's the theme of the sermon this morning. That's a broad theme, isn't it? But before we come to the Lord's table together, I want to consider that theme with you for a few moments in connection with the text. Verses 3, 4, and 14 of chapter 10. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. And then verse 14, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Now if you think about verses 3 and 4 for a moment, those verses are interesting. And I confess to you that the Lord drew me to those verses through the devotion on those verses in table talk. Which caused me to think about the sacrifice of Christ in a different way than I had ever thought about it before. And you notice that those verses are somewhat negative and they come from the perspective of the Old Testament sacrificial system. Then verse 14 is positive coming from the standpoint of Christ. But you see, in a simple way, beloved, as we consider the effectiveness of Christ's blood, these verses, summarizing chapters 9 and 10, we might say, these verses teach us about the sacrifice to remove the fact of sin and the sacrifice to remove the reminder of sin. Of course, we're talking about one and the same sacrifice. But first, we need to remember that the writer of Hebrews is preaching to believers who are being tempted to go backwards in their faith, backwards in their walk with the Lord instead of forward. The writer has been exalting Christ from the beginning of this book. In fact, he has been exalting the fact that Christ is superior to Moses. He's superior to the angels. He's even superior to the Old Testament high priests. But because of persecution for the faith by those who said, no, that's the way we ought to still be doing it, the original audience was tempted to abandon their confession of Jesus Christ. Life would be a whole lot simpler anyway. And go back to observing the old covenant and system of religion and old sacrificial system. And then the writer's burden here is to teach them that to do that would indeed be going backward in their walk with the Lord. Backward in the faith instead of forward. If they return to the old covenant and sacrificial system of offering bulls and goats, that would be returning to the age of shadows and promises and abandoning the day of reality and fulfillment. A much better day, you see. By going back, they would be treating Christ's work as ineffective and really non-existent. They would be returning to a day of hopelessness. Of course, we know that the Old Testament saints were saved. Their sins were forgiven the same way and for the same reason yours and mine are today, because of the blood of Jesus Christ. But when they lived, He had not yet come. It was a promise. It was shadowy. It wasn't clear. And in many respects, we live in a better day. It's been revealed. more reality. But the Old Testament sacrificial system, complete with priests and ceremonies and temple service, was commanded, and we might even say provided by God for the benefit of the people. You see, through those sacrifices, and especially the sacrifice of atonement which took place once a year, God provided that the sins of the people would be covered in His sight. Covered, boys and girls, as were the blanket. Covered so that God would not wipe His people off the face of the earth. But only covered. You see, those sacrifices could never remove their sin completely. Those sacrifices could not accomplish redemption. They could not pay for sin. They could not make the worshiper perfect in the sight of God. The writer makes it clear over and over again that neither the Old Testament sacrifices nor the high priests who offered those sacrifices on behalf of the people, none of that could accomplish what needed to be accomplished. Verse 4 says again, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Verse 11 of chapter 10, day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. Then back to chapter 9, verse 7. 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. In verses 1 and 2 of chapter 10 again, 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. You see, to go back to the Old Testament sacrificial system would mean to go back to a time before sin had been paid for by the effective blood of Christ. To go back to a time when the presence of God was still closed off to the people because the curtain that covered the Holy of Holies, the most holy place, had not yet been torn in two. To go back to a time before our Lord's beautiful exclamation on the cross, it is finished. And the point is, even though the audience of Hebrews was suffering persecution because of their confession of Christ, why would they want to go back to a time without Him? When His blood alone is the sacrifice to remove the fact of sin. Chapter 10, verses 12 through 14. But when this priest, Christ, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool. Because by one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. In chapter 9, verse 12, 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. You see, the writer encourages his audience against going back to the shadow, but instead cling, hang on to the real thing. Now, boys and girls, you know that if you see a shadow of a tree, that that's all it is. It's a shadow. It's not the real thing. You cannot climb the branches of that shadow. You can make believe, of course. You cannot build a treehouse in the branches of that shadow. A bird doesn't build a nest there. It's just a shadow. You can't even find shade from the shade of the shadow itself. You find shade in that shadow that's from the real thing, right? The Old Testament priests and sacrificial system were not the real thing. They were shadows of Christ's work, which pointed forward to Christ's work. Yet they represented the way of taking away sin. But again, the priests and the sacrifices could not actually take away our sin. The high priest, as Scripture says, one time each year on the Day of Atonement entered the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, but not without blood, which had to be offered for his own sin. In somewhat the same way, the great high priest, Jesus Christ, entered into the presence of His Father only with the sacrifice of His own blood, which didn't need to be sacrificed for His sin because He was sinless. And again, the priests did this over and over again because the blood of bulls and goats, as verse 4 says, was impossible to take away sins. Why? Because that blood is powerless. It is impotent. Animals are not fitting sacrifices. Yet, yet, They told the truth that we needed the blood of another to pay for our sins. Only the blood of Jesus removes the fact of our sin. And that means that He removes the offense of our sin in the sight of God and the guilt of sin is paid in full and we are freely given the righteousness of Christ and therefore, having been made right with God through Christ's blood, God accepts us into His presence. Believers are set apart from the world and seen as holy in God's sight for the sake of Jesus. And then also for the sake of the blood of Jesus, believers enjoy the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. And as verse 14 says, we are being made holy. Those who are justified in the sight of God are indeed sanctified, set apart, seen as holy, but then they are also being sanctified as they are being cleansed so that the inside, their actual nature, matches what God sees. Just as the blood was sprinkled half on the altar, half on the people, pointing to cleansing, to justification, and sanctification. And we might say that part of that sanctification process includes that Christ's blood is also the sacrifice to remove the reminder of sin. Verses 3 and 4 again. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Now, if you had asked me before, I would have said that offering sacrifices to God and especially the atonement sacrifice, complete with laying hands on the scapegoat, sending it out into the wilderness, which represented the taking away of sins, I would have said, well, all of that would have been comforting for God's people in the Old Testament. But according to Hebrews 10, verse 3, it was the opposite. It was the opposite. The Day of Atonement with all of the prescribed rituals with the high priest decked out in his ornamental garments as he entered into the most holy place of the temple was a visible reminder. All of that was a visible reminder of the fact that sin separated the congregation from God. The people were reminded over and over and over and over again of the reality of their sin and that their sin was an obstacle, a roadblock to fellowship with God. It stood in the way. And therefore the sacrificial system was to bring to mind and make them ever more conscious of their sin as they were confronted with the holiness of God. In other words, the Old Testament sacrifices produced a remembrance of sin but not a remission of sin. And through those sacrifices, God's people were reminded of their guilt of sin and that the blood of another had to be shed in their place because neither they nor the high priest could pay for their sins. Atonement had to be substitutionary. And therefore, those sacrifices pointed forward to the great substitute, Jesus Christ. And again, the writer of Hebrews has been extolling the superiority of Christ. That He's the One. And now all is well because the debt's been paid. And the writer quotes the prophet Jeremiah in Hebrews chapter 8 and says that the New Covenant includes this comfort from the Lord. Verse 12, where the Lord says in Jeremiah, For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. You see, the annual sacrifice reminded the people of their sins. But in Jesus Christ, God says, as far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your transgressions from you. The annual sacrifice reminded the people of their sin, yet the sacrifice of Christ reminded God, reminds God, that our sins have been paid for. And the Lord says in Isaiah 43, verse 25, I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more. And the Word of God, we know, is filled with the assurance of pardon over and over and over again from the very mouth of God. Verse 14 of chapter 9 says, How much more than 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. The inside is cleansed. New desires, a new way of walking before the face of the world and before God. You see, beloved, Christ's blood effectively cleanses the consciences of those who put their trust in Him. Not that we forget that we are sinners who can only be accepted in God's sight for Jesus' sake. But we come before Him with cleansed consciences because of the assurance of forgiveness we enjoy knowing that God does accept us in His sight for Jesus' sake. You see, the Old Testament sacrifices were to cause one to remember his sin and guilt and to stir within him a godly sorrow and repentance. But the Lord's table, of which our Lord said, do this in remembrance of Me. The Lord's table, beloved, is not a call to remember our sin, but it is a call to remember the remission of all of our sins because of Christ's sacrifice. The Lord's table is a call for you and me to remember that God remembers our sin no more. Now again, that doesn't mean that we don't ever think about our sins or that we are not sorry for our sin as we remember that Jesus took our punishment. Don't forget, we were called to examine ourselves. Why? If you remember from the reading of the preparatory form, to consider our sins and accursedness, to abhor and humble ourselves, because God's wrath against sin is indeed great, we are to be humbled that He did not take out His wrath against us, but instead He took it out against Christ. But also to examine our hearts to see if we then truly believe God's promise through Christ that for those who truly believe our sins are forgiven, and that we stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And also then to examine, do we desire, do we truly desire to live a godly life? We must know, beloved, how great are our sin and misery, yet we must also be comforted as those washed in the blood of Jesus that our daily sins do not keep us from being welcomed into God's presence. Because in Jesus Christ, we are justified before God. He Himself has declared us not guilty. And beloved, that declaration stands firm. No one can ever change it. We are forgiven both now and forevermore. Yet we are still called to acknowledge our daily sins before God. Confessing them and expressing our sorrow for them. showing dependence in God alone for forgiveness. Thanking God for His promise of pardon and cleansing for those who do confess as John says in 1 John 1 verse 9. And God through His Holy Spirit then gives us a sense and assurance of His continued forgiveness. Beloved, we are called to humbly confess our sins but not to dwell on sins that have already been confessed and forgiven. You see, that is sin itself. To dwell on that which God remembers no more. Indeed, unconfessed sin tears a believer apart inside, and it should. David says in Psalm 32, When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. But then David goes on to say that when he confessed his sin, the Lord forgave the guilt of my sin and the Lord restored to David the joy of the Lord's salvation for which David had prayed in Psalm 51. And you see, that's the joy we celebrate as we come together to the Lord's table. The writer of Hebrews had so much to teach his audience as well to teach us today. But the blood of Christ alone is necessary for our pardon and cleansing from sin. It alone is effective And therefore, this table is a table of fellowship, not fear. It's a table of joy, not sadness. It's a table for those who seek their salvation, not in themselves, but only in Christ Jesus. And therefore, as we come to the Lord's table this morning, we are called to remember Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. His blood is sufficient. It is effective. and He sits at the right hand of His Father where His name has been and forever will remain exalted. He sits because His work is perfect. It is complete, never again to be repeated. As well, this table reminds us that our sins are atoned for. Our sins are no longer a roadblock. They're no longer an obstacle between us and God, but instead we have access forevermore into His glorious presence. And as we come to the Lord's table, Oh, beloved, we are called to rejoice in the strengthening of that precious gift of faith by the Spirit through the sacrament that we might know and have the confidence that all of this is true for me too. And if that joy is not yours this morning, then you cannot come to this table. It's not for you. Yet as you look at this table, it too is to remind you of your greatest need And that is that salvation is found only in Jesus. No other blood will do. Not your own blood. Not the blood of a family member. Not the blood of a friend. Not the blood of bulls and goats. Only the blood of Jesus is powerful and effective to wash away your sins and mine. Now that describes you this morning. Turn to Him in repentance and faith and trust in Jesus alone for salvation from your sins. Yet for those who do believe, this table is a song of rejoicing that the one-time event of Christ's sacrifice has such eternal results that no one can take away. And therefore, may we praise God alone for His love so amazing, so divine, that it demands my soul, my life, my all.