Well, I invite you to turn tonight in the scriptures to Hebrews chapter 9, Hebrews chapter 9, and we will be looking at verses 11 through 14 to set the context again, I'll back up and read at 9 verse 1, where we looked at the first 10 verses last time, continuing our study and reflections through the book of Hebrews. Let's give our attention tonight, this is page 1192, let's give our attention tonight to the Holy Word of the Lord. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the 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 place 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 now our text but when christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation he entered once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood thus securing an eternal redemption for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh how much more will the blood of christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to god purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living god and there will end the reading of god's word well i read this particular passage the other night for family devotions and when i was done of that done with it one of my children said dad what language was that in um i laughed at that i said it's english uh believe it or not that's English, children. I think that was an interesting comment. There are a lot of big words in Hebrews. There are a lot of big themes tied together that are a little difficult for us. I think it makes it a bit of a challenge sometimes for preaching Hebrews to get to the heart of it and the things that are meant to be understood. We have a lot of history and language that goes with this that comes right out of the Old Testament to help us understand the realities that we now enjoy it dawned on me that that question though does kind of capture the entire struggle of christianity what language is that what language is that what are you talking about what are you reading about maybe i can capture it this way how do most people read the bible what do they think the bible is what do they think is being accomplished a teacher was once talking to children about what christianity is all about and he went through a series of things in the culture and he said when we have this in the culture this means this went back and forth but boys and girls when we have the bible what the bible is it's just about it is about being a better person how would you respond to that is that what the bible is all about you see why i raised the question up front what language is that dad the gospel is not natural to us it is not easily it's a simple message but it's not easy for our hearts and minds to not only accept but but but but sometimes to grasp we're going to look at that a little bit tonight um is the bible boys and girls about just being a better person is that what the bible is all about is that the the level of our christianity today when we talk about the bible is that why we're christians just to be better people is that the primary purpose of religion of course that's what the world religions say don't they and this is what all the common agendas are of the day. Listen, whatever we do, we just need to make the world a better place. That is the single great goal that drives people. Well, is that what God wants you to take away from this? That's sort of the larger question, isn't it? And I think it was captured somewhat. There's been a lot of surveys, and it may have been Ligonier or one of these outfits that surveyed Christians as to what the faith is all about, and the majority who answered the question, when the simple question came, what is the gospel, could not do it. Could not do it. What is the gospel? I suggest tonight that what is before us in the book of Hebrews, and not just Hebrews, let me just say, that what is before us tonight in those short verses that I read, in 11 verses 14, is the heart of the entire Bible. It's the heart of what everything is really the heart of the scriptures is all about when we talk about the gospel and the heart of the gospel the central message of the revelation of god comes down to this right here it's a big claim but it's an important claim hebrews has been saying certain things to us about the superiority of jesus he's superior to the angels he's superior he went through a whole series of things to say he's better, he's superior. The heart of why he is so much better and superior, tonight we get to the central aspect of that superiority that provides for us every benefit that we've ever enjoyed in Christianity. Everything that we have enjoyed in our faith comes down to this. This central theme of the blood of Christ. The central theme of the blood of Christ. And when we're talking about blood, we're talking about, boys and girls, the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. We're talking about what he did. So central to everything this is about Christianity that you really can't make any progress in Christianity until this is understood. And I suggest that a child can understand this. It's a very beautiful message. But it has to be something that's embraced. It has to be something that captivates our hearts. The author here has been laboring to explain this. He's been laboring because this really sad thing had happened. This first century group of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem wanted to go back to the Old Testament. They didn't feel the power of this. They didn't think worship was that exciting. they didn't see how they were being delivered from much of anything especially because they're being persecuted for their faith this just doesn't seem to be paying out where is jesus is this really what the kingdom of god looks like this is not success for us we didn't sign up for this well the author has been uh challenging their um tendency to go back really dealt with it calling it apostasy in strong terms but what he did in the verses preceding this because there was really a dissatisfaction as we looked at last time with it with worship we don't see anything i mean at least in the old covenant we could see things we could see an altar we could see the priest performing duties we could see blood shed this was tangible to us we could see bread being baked we we could see candle we could see the the the priest preparing the wicks this was a much more visual religion in the old testament and now this is all in the spirit there were two huge problems though that the author was challenging them with the first was the tabernacle itself he essentially said last time as we looked there was a huge limitation and problem with that whole arrangement the problem was a very serious problem that you haven't really thought about here was the problem you never got really close to god you never got there so which is a kind of interesting thing because you can have a great experience in religion and even christianity and not get close to god you understand that that's a really important point today people can talk about the experience of it all and never really get to him the second problem was the inability of the sacrifices themselves to actually purge sin that's another big problem they didn't really do it they had ritual cleansing he sees value in that and they were taught to look by faith ahead to christ but they didn't actually accomplish the forgiveness of sins how could the blood of bulls and goats ever do that so where he turns now is really the core point that he desires to make and he gives a serious consideration of the blood of christ what it means for us why it matters what it accomplishes and so i want to look at this passage tonight briefly with this theme i i thought maybe i should take a bigger section but you know some of you say one of you came up this morning said thank you for taking the whole chapter of joshua this morning i don't think anyone would thank me for taking the whole chapter of hebrews 9 would you that wouldn't happen this is thick so we've got to go a little slower through this uh he gives serious consideration to this tonight i want to start with uh this basic first point that his blood and these are the three points i'm working with redeems us his blood clears us and his blood consecrates us so notice this this first emphasis on redemption in verse 10 he says in verse 11 but when christ appeared as high priest of the good things that have come through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation he entered once for all into the holy places that's a really important point that he's making remember last time going back to the old sacrificial worship as they wanted to there was really a problem with worship the first problem was the tabernacle and the tabernacle itself remember what he said why do we spend so much time on the tabernacle boys and girls it's important to study the structure because that structure was intended to teach us something about heaven it was a copy or a replica of the reality that's above so moses was given building plans from god to construct this tabernacle i did that one year for the kids and linda and i built this little tabernacle model and everyone thought it was really neat but that it's not really where we want to stay focused is it um the tabernacle when moses built the tabernacle the author here is really thinking about the structure of it but he sees a big problem there were two rooms and then there was this barrier between the first room and the second room which was a huge six inch thick curtain no man could tear it was it had great instruction and how deep and how to weave this thing. The high priest had to go in there once a year and make atonement with blood of bulls and goats for his sins and then for the sins of the people. So this went on and on and on every year this had to happen. But the problem was, as I said a minute ago, nobody was really ever brought into the presence of God. And did God really dwell in a box? The first room signified, says the author, the entire age before the coming of Christ. He looks at it in ages here. As long as that first room stood, the new age has not come. The whole arrangement was designed to be temporary, he's telling them. and this is i think the great problem for humanity since the fall i think it's important to say that that remember when adam and eve were barred from the garden remember flaming swords were put up and it's no coincidence that in in woven all throughout this little structure if you were to see it there were glorious cherubim woven into the fabric of the tabernacle all around and even on the ark their wings went up there were cherubim surrounding the throne there was something being communicated that when adam and eve were barred from the garden the cherubim put up flaming swords and said you're barred from the presence of god it's a big problem and the imagery in genesis was soon after is that everyone was wandering and everyone was trying to find a way back i think that was what was the tower of babel was all about remember they built the giant ziggurat that went straight up into the heavens and they were they were trying to to solve the problem innate to them and that they knew intuitively of their alienation from god you know i've always said i think this should make us have some kind of compassion on the people in the pursuits of their life we laugh at them we laugh at the the gal i said who married the tree the environmentalists or the save the earth people or the woke agendas of our day whatever it might be i think we should see in this a wandering effort of people who are trying to find their way back to heaven and trying to create a perfect world as misguided as it all is that's what's happening and to this day the great reason so many people are confused and they're trying to find hope ultimately is because they're barred from heaven and they're without God and without hope in the world. So what do you expect them to fall into? This should lead us to some kind of compassion, you know? But what the author wants us captivated with is that Jesus, the eternal and true high priest, of which that whole priesthood testified, came down to us and fulfilled all righteousness and how significant was it when he endured the cross what did he do what did he really accomplish and then right after that he goes back up into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty and on high says the author and there he is and ministers in, notice that little language, the true holy places. This is what I referenced last time in Revelation 4. I don't know if we realize how sort of revolutionary a vision that was when John says, and I looked up and behold, I saw a door opened in heaven and I saw one sitting on the throne. They didn't do that in the Old Covenant. No one ever had that kind of access. And John was looking at everything that the tabernacle represented. And his point here, the author here is, is that the tabernacle that's in heaven, he says here, of which the earthly one was just a copy, was meant to come down. The earthly one was meant to come down until the time of reformation came. You might better translate that correction, but I like Reformation because we're a Reformed church, so we might as well keep it, right? The time of correction. A great correction needed to be made. The ends of the ages, when the most significant event of history had ever happened. I saw angels ascending and descending, said Jesus, on the Son of Man, and heaven was opened. realize how wonderful it is the message that's being said here what he's saying to you is heaven's open to you where the true tabernacle is who is jesus it's not closed the door right now is not closed our whole ministry is to get people to look to jesus to enter into heaven that's the ministry is and that's what jesus did i can't stress enough how momentous a moment it was when he breathed his last in that earthly temple in that earthly tabernacle temple structure and right then when he breathed his last the veil of the earthly temple was torn from top to bottom by the finger of god he ripped it he shattered it in half and what he was saying was the old order has passed the first room is done and jesus has opened heaven through his flesh that was the veil and then jesus went back up this is the marvel of the christian message is that there is beloved access and he drives us home tonight by saying when i get to the issue of when we address the issue of blood not by the means of the blood of of goats and calves but by the means of his own blood he has secured eternal redemption these are these phrases you can just go right over and they're phrases you should stop and ponder by means of his blood what did he do he didn't make it possible he secured eternal redemption now that's the point he's driving here i think what we're doing and it's important to note is that we're looking at the objective work of jesus you know what he accomplished everywhere in the um new testament the authors are driving this home to us you were were far away have been brought near by the blood of christ he bought you back redemption he brought us back into the presence of god he secured eternal redemption these are objective realities and why do i say that because we often talk about the subjective what i mean is is that we we've been programmed to talk about faith and and as resting on our response and that's absolutely true that our response is absolutely necessary but sometimes i don't think we talk enough about what objectively happened he's not talking here about our receiving of jesus he's talking about what he did what he accomplished he wants us to think about the greater heavenly realities that he accomplished for us There was blood. What I mean is, when we think about what Jesus did for us, his shedding of blood was the veil was torn open that through his life, heaven was open for us. And there's not a question about that. That's what's happened. He secured it. It's secured. And what is the consequence of that? This is why I love where he's going with this. It's cleared us. His blood. We are cleared. A second major problem with the Old Covenant was the blood of bulls and goats and the sprinkling of the defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctified for the purification of the flesh. Notice he says that. In other words, they only provided ritual cleansing. That was valuable. That was important. It was a teaching tool. But what it did not accomplish was this. Notice what he says. How much more will the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify your conscience from dead works. He moves from the external to the internal. He offered himself without blemish to God. Did you hear that? He offered himself in your place without blemish to God. I think you have to preach that to yourself every day. Every time we struggle with, and it's a challenge, you know. We struggle with this. Have we done enough? You need to preach this every day. Every time you think God doesn't love you because you're failing. Here you should tell yourself this little phrase every morning. He offered himself without blemish to the Father for me. It's a long pause. I'm trying, I don't pause, you know that. But this is a moment to really pause. He did that. How many pastors have been on the deathbed of very faithful saints who believe? And who in that last moment when the devil kicks and strikes and all their sins are held out in front of them begins to fall back on I'm not sure. That's a real experience for people. We've all as pastors helped struggling sheep with this. Pastor Kaminga told me he had to deal with this. I've dealt with this. He offered himself without blemish to God for you. Think of how precious it is to live in the peace of that. Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God, Romans 5. There is therefore, Romans 8 now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ. In his death, there is absolute certainty given to you. Because it's His blood. Whose? Who are we talking about? Not the blood of bulls and goats, beloved. The eternal Son of God who took on a humanity for you and in that humanity paid the price because He's able to do it because He's truly God. You are bought back. You are bought back. Period. by the blood of Jesus, your eternal high priest who became one of us. What a gospel. He's redeemed us. He's taken away. Notice the second benefit here. He's taken away the dread on your conscience. You realize that the gospel is intended to do that for you. By the way, let me just say, this doesn't create lazy or slothful Christians. This is what creates energized Christians. You want to know the power of this? The blood of Jesus, he says, purifies. It clears you. That's my second point. It cleanses your conscience. There's a constant struggle that you're never good enough. And you have this lingering thought of your past sins. Now, I don't want to know what they are. It's bad enough that I know my own. We all have past sins. We all have things that we've done. we've all have done things that we're ashamed of everywhere everywhere from the realm of our thoughts every day we fight this beloved our words our deeds these things are still present in our lives we're not perfectionists we're still going through this aren't we i still have sins in my life that deeply trouble me you have sins in your life that deeply trouble you. Of course you do. That's what sanctification is all about. And the confusion for us is that constantly it makes us feel that maybe we're not really Christians. Pollution. Guilt. I'm going to speak to some of the young adults here. The guilt and defilement you feel. It's your conscience working that's a good thing it's a good thing it's a bad thing when we don't care and maybe you've asked this little question of yourself maybe i'm the greatest hypocrite that's ever existed might i say that's also a good thing that you've struggled with that because god's showing you sin these things are present one pastor asked god is angry with the wicked every day How can I serve this terrible God? What are you experiencing? The conscience is at work. But hear what he's saying. The blood of Christ was sprinkled over your conscience inwardly. Now, this is what baptism signifies, you understand. When we sprinkle water, what do we say in our Heidelberg, boys and girls? What do we say? We're speaking of the inward reality of the washing away that needs to happen in our hearts, of our heart's impurity. What he's saying is the blood of Christ actually clears your conscience. And listen to what that means for you. The intention of the gospel is to remove your guilt. Because until God does this for you, you live in dread and fear. I'm not saying that never happens. But the intention of the gospel in the shedding of Christ's blood is to purify the inward conscience. That's what the blood of Christ is intended to accomplish for you. In your conscience you feel a dread, but since him who has shed his blood has presented himself without blemish to God for you, that blood is applied to you and sprinkled over you in the inward man, clearing your conscience, and what it is intended to do is remove the fear of condemnation from your conscience. Now let me ask this. Have you ever enjoyed that? Have you ever enjoyed that? Of course you have. You want to know where you enjoy it? Every Sunday in worship. When we read the law and confess our sins, and when you believe the promises, do you know what God does? He then announces to you in the scriptures, son and daughter, your sins are forgiven. He just cleansed your consciences and said, I love you. And he kind of stops. You guys wanted in worship to go back to the blood of bulls and goats? Do you know God delights to do that for you? That He loves you and that you are favored by Him because of unmerited grace. What a God. And He wants you to live in the enjoyment of that. Sure, when you sin, that conscience rises up against you and tells you it's wrong. That's a good thing. And you go to him and confess your sins. And what is his promise to you? Every time. If you confess your sins to me, I am faithful. And I am just. To do what? Cleanse. Cleanse you. This is what he's talking about. Cleanse you. Of all your sins. Now the final thing tonight, real briefly. Your conscience is purified from dead works to serve, notice what he says, the living God. That's consecration. It really means worship. And I think worship is important to maintain here because that's what they're struggling with. You have been given the greatest privilege now to come and worship God before His face knowing that you're accepted because of Christ. I mean, this is going to lead to chapter 10 where he says, Beloved, you get to come with boldness to the throne of grace come with boldness come you're consecrated to him as his special people who are his washed people i said at the beginning of the sermon one of the saddest realities i think and we apply this to today for the american church is the struggle to explain or understand the gospel the gospel is the shedding of blood for the remission of all of your sins that purifies your consciences from dead works he says when you understand that and when you believe that and when you receive that and you live in the enjoyment of that guess what that's going to have an effect on your worship now what does that say when worship is not valued what does that say when people don't think much of it what does that say if we you know if we get to the heart of the matter what it really says is that why we're so off on worship and it's been a big battle in the church it's because you have a lot of people who are struggling with whether they're right with God. And Christianity has been relegated to performance because there's a great pressure to perform in that model because really it's all about us and just being a better Christian. If the gospel's not understood, guess what's not happening in the conscience? You're struggling with being purified. And if the conscience is not being purified, if there is ultimate dissatisfaction with the whole thing, then you have to ask the question, are we really drawing near to God? When the conscience is purified, you begin to see how much you're loved and how much He's done for you in Christ and the privilege to be set apart to Him, to worship Him in the Spirit because you're in His face. You're before His face. I said before, we only could see right now. What you would see is what Elisha's servant saw. The mountain is all around us. The angels are all right here. And we're before the face of God because heaven's been opened to you by His blood. I said last time, if people really, really understood that, the church would be packed. And this extends to everything in life, beloved. As a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, what does he say? Now present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship. You are set apart and consecrated in service to Him. So, what has Christ's blood done for you? Well, it's redeemed you. His blood has redeemed you. He has cleared you. And He has consecrated you for worship so that your whole lives would be set apart for His praise and His glory. This is what the gospel accomplishes. You could not do that by keeping the law. You could not do that yourself. What you could not do, God did by sending His Son so that in Him you might become the righteousness of God. Beloved, the gospel is that not good so believe it believe it enjoy your access you know westminster what is your purpose in life not only to glorify him but to enjoy him enjoy your access when you worship him you're before his face anticipating the day very very soon where we will be in glory in the heavenly tent forever worshiping and praising him beholding his face in glory for him and his praise and that's what's held out to you so it gives us all the hope to enjoy what he has given us in our days under the sun here let's pray and thank him together tonight heavenly father thank you for the gospel thank you for this marvelous accomplishment that has been made on our behalf and we ask Lord that we would be captivated by it and that you Lord would take the dullness of our hearts and minds replace it with great clarity so that we Lord would worship you in the beauty of your holiness and live Lord as a people redeemed bought back a people who enjoy a clear conscience which will change how we will go out and live this week and a people who are consecrated for worship and service in your kingdom for your praise and glory thank you for being so wonderful to us in the gospel and thank you oh lord for the blood of your son on our behalf in jesus name we pray amen