Well, I invite you to turn tonight to Hebrews chapter 9. After some time, we are returning to our study in the book of Hebrews. This morning, we started the book of Joshua and concluding the Heidelberg. I thought it would be good to move through Hebrews 9 through 13, and then we'll figure out our next series after that. Somebody said this might take another year to get through, but I don't think so. So we'll see. Hebrews chapter 9 tonight, page 1192, and I'll be reading the first 10 verses of Hebrews chapter 9. This is the word of the Lord. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For its tent was prepared. The first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of presence, it is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties but into the second only the high priest goes and he but once a year and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people by this the holy spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing which is symbolic for the present age according to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. And there will end tonight the reading of God's Word. Well, it's always important to kind of pick up on the theme and the heart of what the author is doing in each particular text. We call that the pericope. And in this particular section that is before you, there is one little word that should have caught your attention and one emphasis that is being used tonight that is dominating what he is talking about and where he has moved to advance how the new covenant is different from the old covenant. And that is that little word, worship. You'll notice there, even the first covenant had regulations for worship. He mentions worship again going on that the conscience, the old way could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper. So he has on his mind now the issue, and he's transitioned to the issue of worship. Worship has been one of the great struggles for us in this present age. I would submit tonight that it's such a struggle that if people really knew what was happening right now and that people really understood this, you couldn't even fit them. This place would be packed. But a lot of our brethren still are struggling with that. And that's why there's patience in the ministry. We haven't fully grasped this. We struggle with this. Particularly in the United States because we primarily determine the value of worship based on how we feel. Sensory experience. We speak incessantly about encountering God. And the way we believe that is achieved comes with the rated quality of the experience that we have. Think of the questions we ask. Well, how did that make you feel today? How did you feel with the music? Were you inspired? Did it speak to me? Everything is the question surrounding number one. We're good at narcissism. That's how we came out of the womb. We struggle with that. And so that's how we evaluate worship. governed by the senses, we evaluate the success or the failure of it, and we struggle with what is really worship. I mean, seriously, we've tried everything now, and you would think, I was just talking to two of our brothers and two couples who went over to Scotland, and it all passed through there. You all know what happened in the Netherlands. It's dead. What trajectory do you think the United States is on. And we tried everything. Every sensual experience that we could do to try to make this something. We need a reformation. Did you notice that little word is used at the end of this? That's a good thing we see. There you go. We can be reformed because it's right there. Until the time of reformation, we're always in need of it. And particularly when it comes to this issue. So from our perception, the barrier is really the absence of seeing. That's what's been introduced in the book. Right now, we just don't see Jesus. And that's a big struggle for you, the author said. I know that's a big struggle for you. And now he's really going after the issue of worship. They're really struggling with the worship. There's nothing to this. I don't feel anything. I don't feel any deliverance. I don't feel any power. I feel dead at times. And that's a real problem. Where's Jesus? He's not here. He's ascended, isn't he? He's seated somewhere. And so we think we've got to do something to captivate our senses to really encounter God. Especially because we're consumers and it's just programmed in you. You go to the store, you decide dental floss. You're going to look at the packaging. You're going to decide what's the best dental floss for me. You're going to look at the price. This is how we're all trained when it comes to everything in life. And what's the biggest bang for the buck? This becomes challenging when times get hard. When really we don't feel like we're getting in worship, what we think we really need is a direct encounter. Or are we? Is Jesus far from us? Doesn't God seem far? Isn't that the real struggle? Doesn't God seem far? Really? Well, our context is not a lot different from the first century. That's why I pressed us a little bit with that. If we're feeling the same disorientation with this great struggle of the mighty claims of Christianity in an age where things are very difficult, that was exactly what was happening in the first century. Where is the risen Christ? Where is the power to this? And the worship just doesn't feel like it's accomplishing anything. And the thought went like this. Listen, we signed up for Christianity and where is the power because many of these people were raised in the temple worship. Remember, they're Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. And when you went to the worship, you saw things. You saw things. You could at least see with your eyes the priests baking bread. Wow, that's the holy bread. Come look at it, children. you could actually see the priest making atonement for sins. There was a big altar sitting up front. You could see it. You could touch it. You could handle it as much as the priest would do that for you. You would see them take the things in to trim the wicks for the lampstand. Just like anything, you look back and you look at your present situation and you look back to the past and everything is with rose-colored glasses. It all looks better, doesn't it? They were apostatizing back to Judaism. And the old way of worship all of a sudden became very attractive. The old structure, the tabernacle and the temple, later the temple, it was so embedded in their tradition. You understand, it's really difficult to remove that from your tradition when that's all you've known. And the author's been saying, having one great message the whole time in the book of Hebrews, don't go back. Don't do it. You're looking to the types and the shadows when you now have the reality. You think, you saw this morning, we looked at Joshua, we're in types and shadows. Joshua didn't give them the rest. Jesus gives us the rest. But it's teaching us something. And this was particularly true when it came to the act of worship. And the New Testament's pressing us on this point. That's where we now enter our study of Hebrews. He has labor to explain the difficult things about the differences between the Old and the New Covenant. That's where we were last time. And it came down to this. The Old Covenant was insufficient. The Old Covenant was designed to be temporary, and it didn't accomplish what you actually think it accomplished. It was testifying to certain things. And last time we looked at how the priesthood, the entire priesthood, was insufficient. The priest died. Jesus is your high priest and died once and now has risen and never dies again. The priest didn't actually bring in atonement for sin. The blood of bulls and goats could never actually do it. But remember the goal of what he said he's doing, and he said this last time right at the beginning of verse 8 and verse 1. Now, the point of what we're saying is this. Here's the whole point I'm really driving to. We have such a high priest, one who's seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. A minister in the holy places in the true tent that the Lord set up and not man. That's the heart of this tonight that he's developing. So he moves now to the tabernacle and he wants us to understand this. Who built what? What was the tabernacle? Who built that? and where is Jesus and who and what was set up by God. So let's talk about the sanctuary a little bit. This is what he's answering their concern about worship. Okay well let's talk about worship for a little bit and let's talk about the sanctuary since you feel something's lacking in the new covenant and you feel you're not getting enough in all this. Let's talk about that. Let's deal with that. So he moves to the tabernacle and he presents the design of the tabernacle to make the point that it too was insufficient and that it too was temporary and that it was testifying to something else, something greater, something in fulfillment that they would later see with the goal of a much better ministry. So he begins with a little history lesson. Now even, he says, now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. See, on his mind is the issue of worship, and he's saying, let's talk about going back to that for a minute. Let's look at that little understanding. Let's look at the understanding of the Old Testament and the development of the tabernacle and what you consider to be something that's much better. Let's talk about that. Have you considered the strict regulations for worshipers? What did the tabernacle and later the temple say to you? Well, he could have asked the question, boys and girls, how close do you think all the people really got to God? Isn't that the issue of our day? We want to get close to God. How close do you think they got with all that experience? And what did it actually accomplish? What was the purpose of it? He says, verse 2, For a tent was prepared in the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of presents. It's called the holy place. Behind the second curtain, so you had the first curtain door, had the holy place, and the second curtain. Behind the second curtain, you'll notice here, was a second section called the most holy place. Having the golden alder of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides in gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's rod that budded and the tablets of the covenant, the law. Now, I'm sure we remember the study in Exodus. Think about this for a minute. It captures for us something important. He is focused on two rooms. There's a lot to this structure. Two rooms. He wants you to see two rooms as representing ages, in a sense. You had the outside. That was where the Gentiles were. And then the wall. And then the courts, later known as the Gentile courts, where in Jesus's day, the Gentiles would mull around. But he has in mind these two rooms. The first section was called the holy place. And there was a lampstand and a table and the showbread. The priests ministered there. They would come in. They'd trim the wicks. Remember the big, beautiful candelabra? It had to always be lit and going and burning. And it was teaching them something very clearly, that the Lord was their light and their salvation. We've studied all of this. The bread of presence, that bread was freshly baked every week by the priests, and it was taken. It was set on that table as the holy bread. The altar of incense at one point sat in the first place, and there's discussion, you'll notice here, about where it sat in the second. But it was representative of the prayers of the saints. The incense went right up into the holy place, the most holy place, that God heard his people. Intercession was made. It was wonderful. But here's the first question. Did the people enter even the holy place, the first part? The priest ministered on their behalf. He likens the old covenant to the first room. Limited access to the first room. But then they're hung there, right before the entrance to the second room, A huge six-inch thick twisted curtain. Nobody could ever tear that thing except God. That sealed off the first room from the second room. That place was called the most holy place. There was the Ark of the Covenant. There were the cherubim stretched out, woven into all the fabric were cherubim, very intricately detailed. And there you had the golden pot full of manna, Aaron's rod that blossomed, the tablets, the law, and over the ark, the cherubim, wings stretched out over what we call the mercy seat. I want to talk a lot about that, he says, but I don't want you overly fixated on the types. What was that? That was the question. What was that? It was a little replica of heaven. It was a little model that God set up. God wasn't contained in a box. It taught them about the structure of heaven. We looked at that last time, heaven. Moses was handed building plans from God. God sketched out building plans, and he says, I want you to build this according to the pattern that I've shown you on the mountain. What did he see on the mountain? The reality somewhere else. So, remember what happened. Life in the old arrangement was life in the first part of the tent. One pastor said there, the priest had an indirect mediated relationship with God. Now listen to this statement. I think he's right. But they did not know him directly. What had to happen every year? Every year, over and over and over, the high priest would have to go alone. Some of the tradition says he had walked backward, couldn't look at the most holy place. He'd walk and he would take blood and he would sprinkle over the mercy seat blood for himself and for the sins of the people. Year after year after year, this had to happen. And that's saying it in a disparaging way. What did it accomplish? Here was the great problem, beloved. The holiest was never opened to the people. And here's what the author's saying. You want to go to something and back to something that kept you far from God. You didn't get the presence of God. Your sins were a huge barrier. Now, I think the most amazing statement in this text. Now, again, that doesn't mean that people didn't have the promises in the gospel. They looked by faith to Jesus. We're talking about what the structure taught. The most amazing statement in this text is something right in the middle of it. Did you catch it? Where it says, verse 8, By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened. As long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age. See how he's looking at the room is symbolic for something here. Now, verse 9 is crucial to this whole point where he says, to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that can't perfect the conscience of the worshiper. That's a big problem. But deal only with food and drink and various washings and regulations for the body imposed until when? The time of reformation. When is that? Can you imagine the scene, beloved, when it was about the sixth hour and darkness hit the whole land until the ninth hour and the sunlight failed? And then we read this in Luke 23, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And having said this, he breathed his last. As Jesus dies, God takes his finger and he splits from the top to the bottom. So you know no man did this. God split the temple and the Holy Spirit had not indicated yet until that time how entrance into the most holy place could happen. through the blood of Jesus. The Holy Spirit has proclaimed something to the ends of the earth to this day. What has he proclaimed by the ministry of the Spirit? Heaven's opened right now. Remember in John 1, you will see the angels ascending and descending. Heaven opened and you will see the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Jesus then rose from the dead. By the way, you know what happened when those priests saw, Josephus and these guys record it, when the priests saw the temple veil split in two, they screamed and panicked, and they ran and they tried to sew it back together. Jesus ascends. He goes up. We all, the disciples had watched him ascend into heaven. testimony as he was seated on the throne, he went back to the prototype. That's what it's saying. In heaven. He went back to the reality in heaven. He went back to the true tabernacle in heaven and has erased the barrier that separates us from God, which is sin, and has opened it to you. This doesn't get any better. His blood has brought us near. You who were far, he was brought near by his blood. Now, what's the struggle? First century. Oh, you'd think that if this had happened, worship would be just exhilarating for them, right? doesn't the mere fact that the first century Christians were struggling with this issue show why today, to this day, we're still struggling with worship and that we have new generations that don't understand and are just looking for a better sensory experience? They haven't got it yet. They haven't figured this out yet. This is where we've got to help the next generation. And to the older parents, you've got to show why it's so valuable to them. They need to see this. We think if we could create a more fulfilling experience to our senses, and we all could say, wow, I like the experience that I had today, it would be true. The New Testament comes to us and says, what do you think it is to live by faith in a struggling age where through much tribulation you enter the kingdom? What do you think the reward is held out for you? You have to be really careful about self-imposed worship, says Colossians. And you have to be really careful about trying to bring Jesus down to you your way, Romans 10. We've tried it all. What if you could have the greatest experience of God, as people say it, but never really approached Him? Do you know that's what's going on? Our battle's the same. We struggle because we don't see. We struggle because we want a better experience. You have no idea what's coming in the new heavens. You're going to get redeemed senses. You're going to get redeemed eyes. Your eyes are going to see the king. This is the beatific vision. So we're looking everywhere else rather than doing what? What is this passage calling us to? Listen to what the Holy Spirit has revealed. Do you know what's happening when you worship? There's a reason when Revelation opens after the series with the churches that the first vision of John is, I looked up and I saw a door opened in heaven. And I saw him seated on the throne with myriads of angels, cherubim, all around. Do you know how radical that vision is? He's looking into the most holy place. And what is he saying to us? I saw you there. Myriads of people worshiping God. The angels saying, holy, holy, holy. And a number no man can number worshiping. I saw you there. Jesus was seated in the heavenly temple. And it's open to you. In the next chapter, he's about to say, therefore, brothers, now listen to this. Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, what the Holy Spirit has revealed, that he's opened to us through the curtain that is through his flesh. When he shed his blood, that was the curtain. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, what does your attitude have to be to worship? It's got to change. It's got to totally change. You're wrong about this. You need to draw near in full assurance of faith. You need to have your heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. And you need to have your bodies washed with pure water. That's what's happening. Now, did you notice verse 9 to close this tonight? The entire Old Covenant arrangement in the tabernacle did not do what? Perfect the conscience of the worshipers. That's a really fascinating statement. The biggest barrier to truly worshiping God is right in your own hearts. Your consciences. And that's why we're restless, looking everywhere. there is a huge barrier to God because of sin and your conscience knows it. And why do you think you're always struggling with whether God really loves you, whether you're going to make it into heaven, whether you're doing enough to please him, whether he's really accepted you, and whether your continual sin in your life means that you're not really a believer? Why do you think you're struggling with that? The old covenant never purified the conscience of the worshiper. The old tabernacle never accomplished that because no one was ever actually brought near to God. What's he saying to you? That's what's happening when you're worshiping in spirit and in truth. You are coming right into the presence of God. He's washed you. He's cleansed your consciences. You are being joined right now with a heavenly host. The door is open. Heaven is open to you. And you're going to see that soon with resurrected eyes. I think that's why when everyone gathered for worship in the scriptures, it was always said, God is in his temple. Let all the world keep silence. There's such a reverence that comes with this that you can't cheapen by wanting to be entertained. The blood of Jesus has opened a way to you. And in trusting in him and through faith in him, you've been brought near to God. And if you've been brought here today, guess what? You're fully washed of all your sins. You're fully washed. Your conscience he has taken care of. As far as the east is from the west, He's cast your sins from you. And that's what he's about to say. I want you now to start coming with boldness. You're not coming really with boldness. Boldness means we have eager worshipers who find this the greatest privilege in life. God has opened a door to you. If you see worship this way and understand what the Holy Spirit has revealed, and by the way, the Holy Spirit has to reveal this, has to reveal it to you and to your children or else we'll continue this same worship struggle. When the Holy Spirit reveals this, it will change everything. You are surrounded right now by the mountain of God. You are in the presence of the Holy God of Israel. And you're about to conclude this service with him saying to you, I bless you and I keep you and my shining face is smiling down upon you. Do you understand where you are and who you're before and how we got here? Then you'll truly worship God in spirit and in truth. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us tonight. We need this. We need help with this because it's difficult for us in our age especially where everything is governed by a rated experience. Give us wisdom. Help us to understand what the Spirit has revealed. And let us see how special it is that we are before the face of God. Cleanse us. Wash us. Forgive us. And let us walk out renewed tonight. Looking forward, as Joshua taught us this morning, that we will soon enter our final rest and be before the face of God forever and ever. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.