Hebrews chapter 9. We've taken a little break from Hebrews in the last couple of
months. We had VBS and then we were getting ready for revival but we are
going to work our way back into the book of Hebrews this morning. Hebrews chapter
9. We'll start in verse 1, Lord willing. We will make it through verse 14 this
morning. We'll start off by praying and we'll kind of catch up on where we left
off and then we'll just begin to go through the text a few verses at a time.
So let's pray and then we'll get started. Father God we come to you and I thank
you for the freedom we have to come in here this morning and to hear your word. I
pray God that your Holy Spirit would be among us that you would hide me behind
the cross dear Lord. That every word that comes from my mouth today would be a
word that comes from you. Let your Holy Spirit take over this morning. I pray
that you help each of our ears to be open. Help our eyes to see your word and
our ears to hear your word and our hearts to respond to your word. I pray
that you would free us of the distractions of this world, the worries of
this world. Dear Lord I pray that in these few minutes that we have this
morning that we wouldn't miss your word, that we wouldn't miss the power of
Jesus Christ and that through these few minutes God you would strengthen us and
I ask all these things in Jesus name and pray that everything today is for the
glory of Jesus. Amen. We left off in the last couple of chapters in the book of
Hebrews really getting to the main point that the author had been building up
toward through the whole first few chapters. He had been making the point
with a variety of examples of how Jesus was better than everything that had come
before him. But the real point that he is building up to is the point of the New
Covenant that has been established through Jesus Christ and he really
begins to build this point up in chapter 7 and chapter 8 where he goes all the
way back to an Old Testament character called Melchizedek. We won't rehash that
since we talked about it in great detail. You can go back and listen to all that
online if you'd like to catch those past sermons. But he referred to Jesus and
compared him to Melchizedek. The main point being that the author of
Hebrews was establishing that Jesus was a high priest. He was a new high priest
who established a new priesthood. And so when there is a change of the priesthood
there is a change of the law he tells us. And then he goes on to say look that
means that the old is passing away and the new has come. And he's proceeding
here in chapter 9 to tell us about the New Covenant that has been established
through Jesus. Now you have to understand we'll talk about this for a second. I
know we have a lot but it's been a while so I'll refresh your memory. You have to
remember and understand what was going on here. These were Jewish people who
had come to faith in Christ but were in danger of turning from Jesus and turning
back to the Old Testament sacrificial system. That is they heard the gospel
they knew of Jesus they knew that Jesus had died for them and their sins. They
had trusted him and were living for him but in the midst of hard times and
difficulties and tribulations they were being tempted to turn back to the old
ways. There were certainly plenty of Jews who were still living under the old
system. The old tabernacle the old sacrificial system and that was the way
that God had established in what we would call the Old Testament. But what
God had told us in the Old Testament was that there was a Messiah who was coming
and indeed Jesus the Son of God was the Messiah who was coming. And so Jesus had
been sacrificed. He had given his life on the cross. He was crucified and
resurrected by God and so God had established this new covenant through
Jesus. And the author of Hebrews is reminding his audience of this important
and crucial fact. And so he says look don't go back to the old priesthood and
the old sacrifice because Jesus is our new high priest and he offered himself.
He sacrificed himself and he in fact is a better sacrifice therefore what is old
is passing away. That's what he tells us at the end of Hebrews chapter 8. Why?
Because the new has come and so the new covenant has been established in Jesus
and the old covenant is gone. And so you have to understand that anytime
something new comes around we have a tendency to like the old better. We
don't really like new things. Obviously the Jewish people when Jesus came onto
the scene some of the Jewish people followed him some did not. We don't
really like new things and so you got to imagine for these people it's a natural
tendency for them when times got difficult to go back to what they knew.
We like to go back to what we know. We don't like new things. Some of you
may remember back in 1985 Coca-Cola had this grand idea that they were going to
introduce new Coke. Now this was before my time. Some of you probably
remember it. They announced new Coke. We're not doing old Coke anymore. New
formula, new flavor, new Coke and they released it and what happened? Everybody
went berserk. The whole world went berserk, went crazy over this Coke and
people were just complaining and sending it. It was a huge thing and 79 days after
they released new Coke nobody wanted new Coke they wanted to go back to the old.
They announced we're doing away with with or they didn't do away with new Coke.
They said we're bringing back the old Coke and would you believe that in the
middle of the day in the middle of General Hospital on ABC News Peter
Jennings had a special report that broke in the General Hospital that says
breaking news Coca-Cola is going back to the old formula. So we understand that we
don't really like new things. We don't like change. We like to go back to the
old. We get we get used to the old and we don't like the new and so if we do that
about our Coca-Colas then maybe we can kind of in some way begin to understand
what was going on here. They had been living in this in this religious system
for so long and they kind of had tried this new system and and probably
genuinely so had trusted in Jesus but but now they're saying okay we want to
go back to the old but the author of Hebrew says don't go back to the old the
new system in this case is better. Now newer is not always better. New Coke was
probably not better than old Coke but but in this case newer was better. So out
with the old in with the new and so he's building his case now. Okay if Jesus is a
better high priest and a better sacrifice bringing in a better system
then the author of Hebrews says I need to deal with the old system and we need
to get over this hump from what happened in the old system and what's happening in
the new system and how the old system pointed to Jesus in the new system and
that's what we see in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 1. Now the first covenant also had
regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary for a tabernacle was set up
and in the first room which is called the holy place where the lampstand the
table in the presentation loaves behind the second curtain the tabernacle was
called the most holy place it contained the gold altar of incense and the Ark
of the Covenant covered with gold on all sides in which there was a gold jar
containing the manna, Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant
the cherubim of glory were above it overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not
possible to speak about these things in detail right now. Now he just sums up a
lot of stuff. Now if you want to go back and read in great detail and there is
great detail of how God wanted his people to make the tabernacle you can
find that starting in about Exodus 35-36 for a few chapters there he begins to
lay out a lot of detail about how the tabernacle is to be constructed. It was
kind of like a tent that they would construct and it would have an outer
wall and very specific. Oh look we got a picture of it right there. This is kind
of a picture to give you an idea. It wasn't terribly huge but this is what the
tabernacle would look like. Now here he says I'm not going to go into great
detail about this right now and maybe for two reasons. Maybe one time he didn't
have time to go and rehash all these chapters about the details and two his
audience was Jewish they probably had a pretty good idea about the tabernacle
and how it was built and how it worked. We however may not have quite as good an
idea as to how the tabernacle works so we will take a few minutes this morning
and go into the details. Now some of you may know what the tabernacle looked like
and how it functioned. If you do then this will be a refresher. If you don't
maybe you'll learn a little bit and understand it better when you read about
the tabernacle in the Old Testament. So we're going to have an overhead shot of
the tabernacle put up. This is if you're if you're in a drone looking down at the
top of the tabernacle. I know this is not the best picture but maybe it'll give
you an idea. This is what the tabernacle structure looked like that God's people
would have used before the temple was built but the temple followed a very
very similar structure very similar layout but nonetheless God's people as
they traveled through the wilderness they would they would build this when
they when they set up for camp they would build this structure and it would
move from place to place and and they would carry out the sacrificial system
and so the entrance of the temple would be to the east so we'll start going from
right to left or from east to west. This is where the entrance would be you can
see that red square maybe there on the side it says entrance and this is where
the people would enter into and once the people entered into that that area you
see that there's some livestock there. Well this would be a place where
sacrifice would take place and that sacrifice would take place on the bronze
altar. You'll see it right there after you come into the door. There was a
bronze altar there and there was a variety of sacrifices that would be
made and there were lots of priests who had helped make these sacrifices and so
you can imagine it was a it was a really bloody nasty place it wasn't it wasn't
like church when we talk about the tabernacle in the Old Testament it's not
like everybody went there every Sunday morning and went to church that's not
what the tabernacle was. The tabernacle was a place that that the normal folks
could go into the courtyard area but they would bring their their offerings
in and the priest would offer those offerings and then from there we move on
and we see the bronze laver. Now this would be simply a wash basin. This would
be somewhere that the priest would use because as you can imagine offering the
sacrifices getting bloody and dirty and nasty the priests would need to clean
themselves up that was important that they would be clean that they would be
pure that they would be ready to enter into the holy place and so this is this
wash basin this bronze laver that the priest would use. From there the priest
could go into what is called the holy place. Now this rectangle on the backside
is a part that's kind of like a covered tent area and it was about 45 foot long
by about 15 foot wide and so it was split up into two sections the first
rectangle here was about 15 by 30 and then the second rectangle was 15 by 15
the first area is called the holy place all the priests could go into the holy
place but the next area the holy of holies was only a place where the high
priest could go and there was only one high priest and the high priest could
only go there one day a year and that was called the day of atonement when the
sacrifice would be made and atonement would be made for the people sin day of
atonement you may have heard of it before yom kapur maybe you've heard of
that word maybe you've seen it on your calendar you say I don't know what yom
kapur is well yom kapur is the Hebrew word for day of atonement now Jewish
folks still celebrate that we as Christians don't celebrate yom kapur
because we know our atonement comes in Jesus Christ but nonetheless there's a
little bonus for you today so this is the holy of holies and the holy place
now we're gonna zoom in on those and see those a little closer now in this first
section in the holy place there were there were three items here that were of
significance that God wanted his people to place there one was the table of the
showbread and there was always to be bread there that was to be replaced
every week and the priest who went into this room would eat of this bread we
also see the golden lamp stand there at the bottom the golden lamp stand had an
obvious purpose it was to produce light this tent didn't have any windows it was
closed off it had a veil to the front entrance and so it would be dark in there
and so the lamp stand would provide light for the priest when they went into
the holy place and right at the back of the room in the center of the room was
the altar of incense and this incense was to be left burning all the time
before the Lord now all the priests could go into this holy place we see in
the front but between the holy place and the and the holy of holies or the most
holy place was the veil there was a big veil there and only that high priest
could go through that veil once a year and beyond the veil was the Ark of the
Covenant and that's what's being talked about here in this passage you talked
about the things that were in the Ark of the Covenant the jar of manna the staff
of Aaron that budded the stone tablets these were things that we see throughout
the Old Testament that were kept in the Ark of the Covenant but it was here in
this most holy place that God would bring his presence down among the people
and nobody else could go there only the high priest could go there and so when
we talk about the old sacrificial system when we talk about the Old Covenant when
we talk about the old priesthood this is what we're talking about we're talking
about these sacrifices we're talking about this structure we're talking about
this holy of holies we're talking about the necessity of a priesthood and most
importantly the necessity of a high priest who would atone for the sins of
the people okay so now we kind of get an idea we got a visual a we understand
what's going on now the author of Hebrew says I'm not going into detail about
this we went into a little bit of detail about it so he's he's making his point
he says okay here was the old system here was the old way things used to be
and now I'm gonna tell you why that old system was not sufficient but why Jesus
is let's continue on in verse 6 with these things set up this way the priest
enter the first room repeatedly performing their ministry but the high
priest alone enters the second room and he does that only once a year and never
without blood which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people
committed in ignorance the Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into
the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was
still standing this is a symbol for the present time during which gifts and
sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshippers conscience they
are physical regulations and only deal with food drink and various washings
and pose until the time of restoration okay so he goes over a little bit about
what would take place about what we talked about about the priest about the
sacrifices but he says that this system was never going to be sufficient it was
sufficient and what it was intended to do it's not like it was pointless it had
some purpose and it served its purpose but what does he say here he says that
it cannot perfect the worshippers conscience that is it could never fully
do away with the sins of the people it could never really offer a true eternal
peace for God's people why because people God's people continue to sin and
so there would continually have to be atonement made year after year for the
sins of the people the priests would sin even the high priests would sin God's
people would sin and so this was a process that was repeated and repeated
and repeated and repeated and animals were sacrificed and blood was shed
because there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood as we will
see as we continue on in the book of Hebrews and so this is the system that
God had put in place to give them some some some momentary atonement if we can
call it that it was atonement that was good in the moment but it was never the
true and real atonement that the people needed their real debt to sin had not
been paid this is a bad example but I'll use this anyway perhaps it's kind of like
when we when we when we charge up stuff on our credit card we got a big debt
well we get the bill every month and they say here's the minimum payment and
you can keep paying the minimum payment and you'll be up to date so to speak but
eventually you're gonna have to pay that minimum payment again and you're gonna
have to pay that minimum payment again but what happens if you only pay the
minimum payment you're never getting rid of the debt instead the debt is
building and building and building and maybe on some level that's that helps
us kind of understand what's going on here there was atonement that was made
in the Old Testament and this atonement continued to be made but the sins of the
people was great and the debt was building and building and building and
the blood of these animals was insufficient to pay the debt of the sin
of God's people so the author of Hebrews says look there's this old system here's
how the old system worked but the old system was never going to be sufficient
there needed to be a better system a more perfect system and that perfect
system comes in and through Jesus Christ so he tells about the old system he
talks about what's been going on but then listen to what he says in verse 11
but the Messiah has appeared here's the old system here's how the old system
worked here's how you used to do things this is the way that God had set it up
but the Messiah has appeared that is to say the new has come that is to say when
the new comes the old has passed away when there is a new priesthood there is
a change in the law this was the law that God had given this is the law that
God has established this is the priesthood that God established and this
is how that priesthood works but now the Messiah has appeared okay now the old
system is done because the new system has presented itself in Jesus Christ and
a new covenant has been established that's why Jesus told his disciples
there at the Last Supper he said look by this we're establishing I'm establishing
a new covenant this blood this this this wine represents the blood this this
bread represents my body that has been given for you and I am establishing a
new covenant the author of Hebrews is telling us the same thing that Jesus
had already told his disciples there was the old way this is how the old way was
done but he says the Messiah has appeared high priest of good things that have
come in the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is
not of this creation okay so Jesus is is greater than this tabernacle our earthly
high priest went into the Holy of Holies but Jesus has ascended into heaven Jesus
is not serving in an earthly tabernacle Jesus's ministry is greater than the
earthly tabernacle now these this audience here they want to go back to
the temple they want to go back to the old system the old sacrifices the old
priesthood but he says don't forget remember listen pay attention Jesus has
appeared the Messiah has appeared and therefore he has established a better
priesthood that is not of this world that is above this world and it is
greater than this world so don't turn back to what is lesser when you have
experienced what is greater that's a good good thing for us to remember today
there are too many times in our life that we know the Word of God and we've
trusted God and we walked with God and times in our life get difficult in the
same way that they did for the for the audience here and what do we do we turn
to the lesser instead of holding on to what is greater we turn to what is not
going to offer us peace and salvation that's only going to bring us down
that's only going to bring us into more sin what we need to do is when times get
tough is not turn to the lesser but refocus our attention on the greater
because the Messiah has appeared and he is our high priest and he is our
sacrifice verse 12 he entered the most holy place once and for all once and for
all that is no more what did the Jews here want they wanted to go back for
some priest to continue to go through the veil and continue to offer the
sacrifices but what does he say Jesus did this once and for all that is to say
there will never be a need for sacrifices again the sacrifices are done
God has done he is he has abolished this system it's done once and for all through
Jesus Christ not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood having
obtained eternal redemption for at the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes
of a young cow sprinkling those who are defiled sanctify the purification of the
flesh how much more will the blood of the Messiah who through the eternal
spirit offered himself without blemish to God cleans our consciences from dead
works to serve the living God he says if the blood of animals had some purpose
and they serve that purpose how much greater is the blood of the Son of God
Jesus Christ the Messiah and if the blood of the goats and the bulls and
the ashes of a young cow couldn't clear your consciousness well there's good
news he said because Jesus can clean your consciousness he clan can forgive
your sin he can give you a peace that surpasses understanding now sometimes we
try to we try to get through our sin we try to get through our struggle on our
own terms on our own ways and our guilty conscience it just eats away at us and
maybe even here today there's some of you and it eats away at you and it's
gonna eat out way at you tonight when you go to bed but I'll tell you it
doesn't have to eat away at you anymore because there is one who can clean your
conscious and that one is Jesus Christ it is through Jesus Christ and Christ
alone that you can find peace this morning boy isn't that a beautiful word
isn't that a beautiful thing that we need we need it in our life because our
lives are so hectic and our lives are so difficult and there's pain and there's
heartbreak and there's tragedy and there is stress and there is worry and there
is sickness and there are all these things that really really begin to to
kind of pull our peace away from us but we need to remember what our source of
peace is and maybe if we don't know peace today it's because we have pulled
ourselves away from the source maybe if we don't know peace today we've never
known the source but the author of Hebrews tells us that through Jesus
Christ we can have a clear conscious we can have a peace that comes through
Jesus Christ alone so everything in the Old Testament had a purpose everything
in the Old Testament was not like God said okay I'm gonna try this way well
this way didn't work so let me try another way no everything in the Old
Testament had a purpose and everything pointed to Jesus Christ Jesus tells us
and John that he is the door well there's no way to the Father except
through Jesus Christ it is Jesus Christ who has become the perfect sacrifice on
our behalf we don't go before a bronze altar and I'll offer up a cow today
because Jesus has become our sacrifice we don't have to cleanse ourselves in a
bronze basin today because it's Jesus who makes us clean as white as snow we
see that everything in the Old Testament system was pointing to Jesus even in the
holy place Jesus says I am the bread of life Jesus says I am the light of the
world it's Jesus himself who offers a prayers for the saints and John chapter
17 and it's through Jesus Christ that God tore the veil into the Holy of Holies
granting access to every one of us today and to the presence of God that was
something that was reserved for only one person once a year but when Jesus Christ
was crucified on the cross the scripture tells us that God tore the veil between
the holy place and the most holy place from top to bottom and do you know why
he tore the veil because now we have access to God through Jesus Christ so
even in the old tabernacle system everything that was established there
that had to be done Jesus has accomplished it and the most perfect way
that there is so why would we go to anything else why would we turn to
anything else there's only one who can forgive our sins today and that is Jesus
Christ there's only one who offered their life as a sacrifice for our sins so we
wouldn't suffer the wrath of God and that is Jesus Christ there's only one
who can make us as white as snow today and that is Jesus Christ there's only
one who can sustain us today with the bread of life and the living water and
that of Jesus Christ there's only one who can light your path today and that is
Jesus Christ the Son of God and there is only one who we can enter into the
kingdom of God that our sins may be forgiven and we may receive eternal life
and be with God in his presence for all of eternity and that is through Jesus
Christ so the author of Hebrews says look don't settle for anything else now
look we're not tempted this morning to go out there and build a tabernacle and
start sacrificing animals but there may be times on our life that we settle for
something less than the perfect Word of God and the perfect will of God and the
perfect Son of God and Jesus Christ and we need to repent of our sins we need to
repent of the times that we are living for the world that we are trusting in
the world that we're trying to find joy and peace and happiness in the world
because we will not find it but we will find it in Jesus Christ we'll find a
peace that surpasses understanding we'll find one who will give you a clear
conscience maybe you need that today maybe your conscious is eating you up
today maybe your sin is eating you up today well I've got good news for you the
Bible says that if we confess our sins that God will hear those prayers and
that God will forgive us of those sins but we must call on the name of Jesus
Christ we must confess our sins acknowledge that we are a sinner maybe
you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ today maybe you've been
living for yourself you've been thinking you've been good enough but you're not
good enough because your sin is ever before you and it's only washed away
through the blood of Jesus Christ and if you've never put your faith in Jesus I
pray this morning that you would pray and ask God to forgive you of your sins
that you would that you would go before God today that you would follow Jesus
Christ today to say no more will I live for myself no more am I living for me
but now God I want to live for Jesus the one who died for my sins if you've never
put your faith in Jesus we're about to have a time of invitation and as the
music plays this morning if God has spoken to you in some way if you need
prayer come down I'll be glad to pray for you maybe you want to come kneel
down here and pray or maybe you want to walk up this morning and you want to say
brother I've accepted Jesus today I have I have prayed I have asked God to
forgive me of my sins and I'm putting my faith and trust in Jesus and I want to
be baptized because that's what Jesus says that once we become Christians once
we've been forgiven of our sins that we need to follow through in baptism and
maybe you want to do that today so as we have our song of invitation now is your
chance to respond let's pray father God we come to you we thank you for your
good word I pray dear Lord that we won't settle for lesser things in our life
sometimes we do dear Lord sometimes we try to find our joy and we try to find
our peace we try to find our our our everything in life and and something
other than your word something other than your son and I pray that you'd
forgive us for that God I pray that today that we would refocus our lives
God maybe we're not so so different from from these folks in the book of Hebrews
dear Lord maybe there are some things in our life that's been pulling us away
from Jesus and maybe this is a good reminder today that we need to we need
to refocus our attention dear Lord we need to realize that Jesus is all that
matters and that there is no forgiveness there is no hope there is no peace there
is nothing apart from Jesus Christ God maybe if there are some in here today
that that do not know Jesus Christ I pray God that you would help them to put
their faith in Jesus Christ maybe even now your Holy Spirit's convicted them I
pray God that they would repent I pray that they would ask you to forgive them
I pray that they would live their life for Jesus Christ from this moment forward
I pray God that there any who have made that decision today that they would come
forward and let us know that that we can rejoice with them this morning God maybe
there are some here today and they're yours and they just got some things
going on and they need that peace and they're looking for it but dear Lord
maybe they've been looking for it in all the wrong places I pray today that they
had looked to the cross of Jesus Christ the one who gave his life for him dear
Lord that we would find peace and security and comfort whatever we may be
going through whether it's a difficulty in life or a sin that we struggle with
we would repent of that give it to you and that you'd let us leave with peace
today rejoice it in you and I ask these things in Jesus name amen