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We will be in Hebrews chapter 9 this morning. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15.

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Picking up right where we left off. We had taken a little break from Hebrews VBS

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revival but we're back. We'll be back in it for a few weeks. Hebrews chapter 9

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verse 15. The author of Hebrews had been building up to kind of his main point

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and really he had been there in the last three chapters 7, 8, and 9. And the main

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point being that Jesus has established the New Covenant. The New Covenant is in

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fact the perfect covenant, the better covenant. And that's what we talked about

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last week is the New Covenant has come through Jesus Christ. And in

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discussing that we talked about the Old Covenant, what the Old Covenant looked

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like. We talked about the old sacrificial system. We talked about the

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tabernacle and the symbolism of the Old Covenant. We talked about the blood of

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the animals that were sacrificed that were not sufficient. But Jesus has come

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and offered a better sacrifice. And if the blood of animals was at least

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somewhat sufficient for what it was there for, how much better the precious

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blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God who established the New Covenant through

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his blood. And so that's where we left off last week and so we'll continue on

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following that same line of thinking when we start here in verse 15. But before

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we start let us pray. Father God we come to you we thank you for your Word.

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Dear Lord I pray that your Word would speak to us today. Dear Lord there's no

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words that I can say that are worth anything. But dear Lord your Word is

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perfect in every way. God I pray that you would help me to speak, to preach, to

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teach in a way that brings glory to you. That you would hide me behind the cross

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dear Lord. That you take away any fear or any pride that is in me today. That

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everything that is said and done is for your glory. That your Holy Spirit would

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give us ears to hear that you'd free us of the distractions and the worries and

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the thoughts of the world. And that you would meet us where we are dear Lord. You

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know where we are today. You know what's going on in our life and in our heart.

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And I pray that your Holy Spirit would help us to learn and understand your

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Word. And that everything that is done here today will point us to Jesus. God

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maybe there is one in this room today that does not know Jesus. I pray today

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that if that is the case that they would realize it, that they would understand it.

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And they would know it this morning through your Word. And I ask these

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things in Jesus name, Amen. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15, Therefore, now with

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that in mind what did we just talk about? That Jesus had established the New

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Covenant by better blood than what you used in the Old Covenant. So therefore

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with that in mind that Jesus has established the New Covenant, therefore

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he is the mediator of a New Covenant. So that those who are called might receive

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the promise of the eternal inheritance. Because a death has taken place for a

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redemption from the transgressions committed under the First Covenant. So

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what does the author of Hebrews tell us here? Well the author of Hebrews begins

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to use a little bit of what we would call I suppose legal language. He uses

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some legal terminology here in these next few verses. And he tells us that

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Jesus is our mediator. Now he's already used this language earlier in the book

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but this is important language for us to understand. Jesus is our mediator. What is

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a mediator? A mediator is someone who is between two parties. Two parties

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who have a difference, who are trying to come to some some general

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understanding, who are trying to get on good terms. We see that a lot with

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lawyers today. We see you may hear people talk about mediation. A lot of times you

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may see a lawyer between two parties and they're trying to come to some kind of

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terms, some kind of agreement on some deal that's being made. And so the deal

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that's been made here, that's been established through Jesus Christ, is that

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God has established a new covenant and as such he has placed Jesus as the

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mediator of that covenant. Now why is that important to us? Why do we need

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Jesus? Is it go between between us and God? Well the reason why is because we

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have sinned and we have sinned greatly. And our sin has separated us from God.

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Now in the Old Testament at the very beginning of the Bible, God made Adam and

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Eve and God's Spirit would come down among them and and it seemed to be this

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beautiful relationship that they had with God and the presence of God but

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something occurred and that something that occurred was sin. And when Adam and

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Eve sinned, they lost that relationship that they had with God. That ability to

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be in the garden, in the presence of God, they lost that due to sin. And that's the

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problem that you and I still face today. Is our sin has separated us from God and

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it's not just a little ways. It's not that our sin is separated us a little

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ways. Our sin is not that big a deal. Sometimes we sin, we do things to other

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people, we say things we shouldn't do and we kind of, okay well we shouldn't have

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done that, we kind of get over it and we go on our way. But what we need to realize is

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that our sin against God is very serious and our sin has severed our our ability

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to be in the presence of God. And so there's a problem there. And God began

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to address that problem with the first covenant, with the old covenant. And while

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it had a purpose and it served its purpose, it was insufficient and that it

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can never really fully forgive the sins of people. Now when we read through the

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Old Testament and even sometimes maybe in the New Testament we see this

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language that the sacrifices of animals were for atonement, for the forgiveness

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of sins. Well they certainly were but in a limited sense. They could

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forgive the sinner momentarily. They could forgive the sinner just enough

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that they could bear to kind of be in God's sight, that God

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wouldn't just strike them down, that God would still have some grace and

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compassion on them in the moment. There was the old covenant system that God had

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established for atonement but it was never atonement that was sufficient to

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really forgive the people's sins. And that's why when Jesus comes as a

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mediator between God and man, he's there to bring that relationship back together.

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Now there's no negotiating on God's side. It's not like God says, okay what do you

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want for us to have a relationship? Well I want this. Okay well I want this and

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Jesus is going back and forth. Well here's what God wants and here's what you...

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That's not the way that Jesus mediates. Jesus says here is what God requires.

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Well the problem is is that we can't live up to what God requires. We can't

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live up to all the commands that God gives us. We fail repeatedly. We fail and

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that's why Jesus is our mediator is so significant. He's not just one who

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speaks on our behalf to God but he is one who has laid down his life by

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shedding his blood on the cross to fulfill all of God's demands. And so when

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Jesus is our mediator, what that is telling us is that Jesus has fulfilled

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everything that we have failed at fulfilling. And Jesus through his blood

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brings forgiveness of our sins. And we know that when Jesus did that it was

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sufficient and we'll see that more as we continue on. It's obvious that the Old

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Testament system, that the first covenant, that the Old Covenant was

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insufficient. Why? Because God's people had to continually repeat the commands of

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the Old Covenant. The high priest had to continually sacrifice the sacrifices. So

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it's clear that the blood that was shed through animals was not sufficient to

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cleanse sins eternally. There needed to be a better sacrifice. And so Jesus comes

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as our mediator between us and God because God still, even though we are

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sinners, desires a relationship with us. But that relationship has been broken

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because of our sinfulness. But the author of Hebrews says that look, God has

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established a new covenant, a better covenant, through Jesus Christ through

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which Jesus is the mediator. And when the new covenant comes, it comes with better

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promises. It comes with eternal promises. And it comes with promises that are

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brought forth only by Jesus Christ. And when the new covenant comes, it's even

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able to cover the sins of those who sin under the Old Covenant. That's what the

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author of Hebrews is saying here. Remember the audience here, they're

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wanting to go back to the Old Covenant system and the author's saying, look, nope,

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you need Jesus because the Old System wasn't good enough. It had to be

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repeated year after year. But what Jesus has done in establishing the New Covenant

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is he has done something better. He's made a better covenant. It comes with

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better promises, eternal promises. And that's what we see here in the first

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verse, verse 16. Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be

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established. For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in

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force while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first

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covenant is inaugurated with blood. All right, now we need to pause for a second

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because there's something that we miss in our English language that is

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important to the author of Hebrews in the Greek language. Now he's talking

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about this death of Jesus that has occurred, that's established this New

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Covenant, and then in our minds he shifts gears and he does to some extent. He

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begins to talk about a will, where a will exists or where a testament exists,

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some of your translations would say. Now we're familiar with that

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terminology, last will and testament, right? You get it ready because one day

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you're gonna die and doesn't matter if you're young or you're old at some point

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in time, you need to get your will together and your will is gonna say what

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you want to happen when you die. But there's one thing that is critical, it

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is of the utmost importance, it has to occur for a will to be carried out and

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that is the person who made the will has to die. Now you can will your children or

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your grandchildren or whoever you want, anything you want, but it's not theirs

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until you die. So he seems as though he's kind of shifting gears here, but here's

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where there's a disconnect in the English language. Now this is

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sometimes the case in Scripture, quite often we miss points because the

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original language is different than our English language. Now we've been talking

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about covenants. Now the Greek word for covenant is diathake. Diathake is the

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Greek word for covenant. Diathake is also the Greek word for will or testament.

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Now there's certainly a difference in those two things, in a covenant and in a

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will or a testament, but the reason why the author of Hebrews here begins to

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talk about wills and testaments is because the Greek word is the same. So

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what he's doing is he's bolstering his argument, he's trying to help them to

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understand the necessity of the death of Jesus in bringing about the new covenant.

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And so in doing so, he's making a connection with the Greek word there. The

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Greek word that means the same thing. You look it up in the Greek, same, where it

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says covenant, diathake, where it says will or testament, diathake. Your Bible,

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Old Testament, New Testament, old diathake, new diathake, or we could call it the old

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covenant, the new covenant. That's how we separate our Bible. And so he's trying to

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simply make just another way to make a connection for them about a will or

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about a testament here. And so he says, where a will exists, the death of the one

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who made it must be established for a will is only valid when people die since

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it is never enforced while the one who made it is living. That is why even the

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first covenant was inaugurated by blood. Now as with many illustrations,

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we don't want to try to find the connection in every way between a will

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and testament and a new covenant. But the point is simple. Jesus had to die for the

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new covenant to be carried out, for it to take place, for it to be

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established. And this is something that his audience would have understand by

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the use of the words will and testament. And it's something that we understand too.

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And so the point is, blood had to be shed. And that's what he's transitioning

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to at the end of this thought. Because even, he says, the old covenant was

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inaugurated by blood. Let's continue on.

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Verse 19, For when every covenant had been proclaimed by Moses to all the

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people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with

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water, scarlet, wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the

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people saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.

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In the same way he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the articles of

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worship with blood. According to the law, almost everything is purified with blood.

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And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Okay, so he

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says, Look, the old covenant was established by blood. God has established

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a new covenant. How does he establish this covenant? Through blood, through the

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blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells his disciples that in the Last Supper. I'm

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establishing a new covenant. This wine that we drank, it represents the

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blood of a new covenant or a New Testament, some of your translations will

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say. So Jesus has already began to tell before he died his disciples about this

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new covenant that was coming. The author of Hebrews is reminding his audience and

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us today that that new covenant has been established through blood and the same

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way that the old covenant was established through blood. But what did

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he say in that last verse that we read there at the end of verse 22? Without the

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shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Okay, without the shedding of

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blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Now, oftentimes we come together and we

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sing and you probably have noticed before that a lot of the songs we sing

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have to do with blood. There's nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can wash

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away my sins? There's all these songs that we sang that have to do with blood

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and there's lots of scripture that deal with blood, especially in the Old

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Testament. Now you go back and you read God's commands about what the priest

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had to do and how they had to kill the animals in a certain way and they had to

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sprinkle the blood in a certain way and all of this stuff is kind of strange to

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us. But without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Without

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the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Why is that? Because

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the wages of sin is death. Now the blood that runs through our veins, it is our

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life. It represents life. It represents that we are living. The Bible even tells

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us this in Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11, for the life of a creature is in the

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blood and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your

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lives since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement. Okay, so God had

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established this command that blood must be shed for the

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forgiveness of sins. It's very simple. The wages of sin is death. So death has to

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occur. Death has to occur. God can't go back on his word. He can't all of a

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sudden say, well the wages of sin is not death. Nope, those are the wages of sin

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that death has to occur. Now in the Old Testament, God came up with a system that

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would work for a little while. Now he could either kill all the people, just

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let the people die and they're sinned, or he could come up with a solution. Okay,

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now God desires relationship with his people. Even when Adam and Eve sinned, it

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says in the scripture that God covered them with a skin. Well, where does skin

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come from? Well, it comes from animal. So if an animal skin was given to Adam and

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Eve to cover them, then an animal will sacrifice. That's probably the first

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sacrifice that we see. That first idea that Adam and Eve sinned and God could

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have either struck them down right that moment, or he could have provided

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atonement for them, and he did through an animal sacrifice and through the Old

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Testament. That's how God continued to work. Okay, so instead of our lives being

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taken, there has to be sin that is covered in some way. A life has to be

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taken, and in the Old Testament, God took the lives of the animals. So our blood is

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diseased, it is rotten, and we're going to die. We need a blood transfusion, and so

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the blood of animals would cover our nasty old sinful blood. Now we understand

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the importance of blood even in a medical sense in our world today.

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You've probably heard of some people who are anemic. You may be anemic. There are a

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lot of people in the world who are anemic, and they need to get blood

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transfusions. We understand the importance of needing fresh blood. We

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need new blood. Well, that's kind of what it's like in a spiritual sense. Our

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spiritual blood is tainted by sin, and we will die if we do not receive better

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blood. Now in the Old Testament, God sent some blood to cover the people's sins,

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but only momentarily, and that was the blood of animals. It was never going to

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be sufficient, and so blood has to be shed. There has to be a penalty. There

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has to be a price that has to be paid for our sin. Our sin cannot go unpunished.

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You say, well, why can't God just give grace? Because God is not just a God of

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grace. He is also a just God, and justice has to be served. Therefore, our sin has

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to be dealt with. God's people's sin had to be dealt with, and in the Old Testament,

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God dealt with that sin through the blood of animals, but that was not blood

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that was good enough. There needed to be better blood that was shed, and that's

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why God sent Jesus Christ, His perfect Son, to shed His perfect blood

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for the forgiveness of our sins for all of eternity, and that's the only blood

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that is sufficient. There must be shedding of blood for the forgiveness of

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sins. Okay? The author of Hebrews wants his audience to know why is Jesus's death

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important? Because He has come as a better sacrifice. Now, we've seen all of

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these ways in which the author of Hebrews has talked about Jesus. He's

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talked about Jesus as the high priest. Well, the high priest was the one who

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carried out the sacrifice and who sprinkled the blood in the Old Testament,

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but not only does Jesus act as the high priest, but Jesus also acts as the

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sacrifice Himself, and so in the Old Testament, the blood was necessary. All

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the blood that was slain, all the blood that was shed, it is a reminder of just

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how bad our sinfulness is. Now, it didn't forgive the sins of the people. It only

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just briefly covered the sins of the people, and God gave the commands to the

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high priest and how everything was supposed to be done. We talked last week

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about the Day of Atonement, the one day of the year that the high priest would go

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into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood and carry out everything that God

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commanded him to do, and there were all these instructions about sprinkling

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blood and about offering sacrifices in this way and all of these things, and all

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of that was necessary, every bit of it, so that one man could go one day a year

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into the presence of God. That's how bad our sin was. That all the blood that was

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shed was only only good enough to allow one man one day a year to go and stand

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in the presence of God. Now, our sin is pretty bad. All that blood that was

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slain was not good enough to allow people to come in to the presence of God,

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and even the high priest, if he didn't do everything just right and he wasn't

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cleansed and he wasn't prepared, guess what would happen when he went before

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the Lord? He would die. We see the sons of Aaron. We see them in the Old

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Testament, that they died because they didn't do things the way they were

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supposed to do them, and so God's people sin was very serious, and God put all of

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these things into place, and all of the blood shed, all of the blood sprinkled,

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still not good enough to bring God's people into his presence. Yeah, the high

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priest could come there once a year, but God desired something better than that,

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and so God sent Jesus Christ to bring about a new covenant, to establish a new

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covenant by his blood. What did we talk about last week? We talked about that

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veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, and that is why it

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is so significant that when Jesus died that veil was torn. Why? Because now it

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opens things up. It opens it up for all who would come to Jesus Christ to have

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that relationship with God. Praise the Lord that there's not just one

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tabernacle in the world today, and not just one man who can go before God, but

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every one of us today can go before the Lord through Jesus Christ. Isn't that a

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beautiful thing? That we can pray before God today, that we can go before God

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today, that we can seek God today, that we can talk to God, and that God can talk

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to us, and that is all made possible through Jesus Christ. Because if we were

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still in the Old Testament system, we'd be doomed. But praise the Lord, the

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sacrifice of Jesus Christ was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins, and

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without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. If we want our

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sins covered today, it's only covered through Jesus Christ. 1st Peter chapter

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1 verses 18 and 19 says this, For you know that you were redeemed from your

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empty way of life, inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like

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silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb

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without defect or blemish. The precious blood of Christ is why we can come here

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today in the presence of God, and praise God. It's why we can come here today with

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assurance that our sins are forgiven, because the blood that was shed by Jesus

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Christ is far better and far more precious than all the sacrifices that

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came before. Continuing on, verse 23, Therefore it was necessary for the

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copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but

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the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than

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these. For the Messiah did not enter a sanctuary made with hands, only a model

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of the truant, but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence

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of God for us. So what does the author say? Okay, well the Old Testament way was

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necessary, okay? God had shown Moses a pattern of how to make the tabernacle, a

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pattern of things that he had seen in heaven, a pattern of the heavenly things,

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and what exactly that means, I'm not sure. But what he says here is that the

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earthly things, the earthly sanctuary, it was necessary for them to be covered

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with God. It was necessary for them to be purified, because God was going to

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descend and he was going to come down there in that tabernacle right on top of

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the Ark of the Covenant on the mercy seat. That's where God would descend in

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the Holy of Holies, and it was important that everything had to be cleansed,

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everything had to be purified by the blood, so that God would be able to come

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and descend in that one room for that one moment with that one person. So the

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Old Testament system had its reasons for doing things and they

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were necessary. So it says here that these things are copies of the heavenly

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things, that is the earthly things, the tabernacle, were copies of the heavenly

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things. And if it was necessary for the earthly things to be purified, then how

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much more so for the heavenly things to be purified and purified with a better

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sacrifice and purified with better blood that comes through Jesus Christ. Now

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there's a couple of ways we could look at this. Well there's probably a lot of

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ways we could look at it. One, we could assume maybe that there's some

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type of tabernacle setup that looks very similar to that of what we see here on

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earth, that Moses followed a pattern in that sense. That's possible. I don't

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think so though. I think that probably this is symbolic language. That is

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to say that in the same way that here on earth to be in God's presence, things had

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to be purified, that is we had to be purified, so it is in heaven. That if we

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are going to be in the presence of God, all of the things we see in the

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tabernacle we're pointing forward to Jesus Christ, we're pointing forward to

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what our relationship with God would look like, and if we're going to be in

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relationship with God, then the heavenly things need to be purified. We need to be

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purified. The way needs to be prepared for us so that we can stand in the

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presence of God, so that the eternal promises can be inherited through those

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who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And so just as the old things

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were purified in the Old Covenant, the author of Hebrews says there's better

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purification that comes through Jesus Christ. Continuing on, verse 25, he did

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not do this to offer himself many times as the high priest enters the sanctuary

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yearly with the blood of another. Otherwise, he would have had to have

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suffered many times since the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared one

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time at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of

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himself. Now the very the Old Covenant itself, the very methods that it had to

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be repeated yearly, speaks to the fact that it was insufficient. And that's what

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the author of Hebrews tells us, is that Jesus Christ has died once and for all.

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He does not continually offer himself. He has not continually sacrificed, but that

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when Jesus Christ gave his life on the cross, that it was sufficient to cover

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our sins, to cover the sins of those who come before us, and to cover the sins of

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those who will come after us. And so Jesus's priesthood is a better priesthood.

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It's one that's established both now and forevermore, and that's what the author

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of Hebrews has been telling us. And here he reminds us what Jesus has done is

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sufficient. Now these audience here, they're wanting to go back to the old

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system. They're wanting to go back to the old priesthood. He's reminding them that

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Jesus has offered the sacrifice once and for all, and there is no other sacrifice

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that can be offered for. What did the text there say? For the removal of sins.

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For the removal of sins by the sacrifice of himself. Now in the Old Testament our

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sins were covered in some way through the animal sacrifice, but they were

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never removed. Jesus has come to remove our sins, to cast them as far as east is

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to the west. The Old Testament system was a temporary fix, but what Jesus has done

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is an eternal fix, and our sins are forgiven. Just this week there's a

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there's a rotten spot at the bottom of one of the windows at Michelle's office,

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and it leaks when it rains, and it needs to be fixed. It needs to be

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repaired. And so I didn't have time to repair it. It's gonna be a big job. So what

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I did was I covered it. I made a cover to put over there. I put some silicone, and

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it covered it, but it didn't fix it. Eventually it's gonna have to be fixed.

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In the Old Testament system, the animal sacrifices, they covered the sins of the

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people momentarily, but they never completely took away the sins. There was

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ultimately gonna have to be a better fix that was gonna have to come. And when

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Jesus come, he took away the sins of the people. They're gone. They are done away

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with if we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Now we're no better off

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than the Old Testament folks here that we've been talking about. Our sin is bad.

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You may not realize how bad your sin is today, but I'm telling you your sin is

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bad, and it's probably worse than we could ever possibly imagine, and our sin

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has separated us from God, but our sin can be removed through Jesus Christ our

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mediator, who is the one who intercedes for us, as the author of Hebrews tells

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us. But the only way that our sins can be forgiven today is through Jesus Christ.

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Have your sins been forgiven today? Have your sins been removed? They have not

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been removed if you have not put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

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Continuing on in verse 27, and just as it is appointed for

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people to die once and after this judgment, so also the Messiah, having been

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offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear

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sins, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. Praise the Lord. The

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author of Hebrews says, look, everybody's gonna die once. That's what it says.

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Everybody's gonna die once. Jesus died once, and He only died once. Now a little

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clarification there. When he says that in verse 27, it is appointed once for men to

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die. We need to talk about that just for a second, because oftentimes that verse

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is kind of plucked out by itself, and it's used for a lot of things. A lot of

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people would argue everybody has to die at least one time. Usually this is

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brought up in regards to Elijah and Enoch. They were taken to heaven, they

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didn't die. They have to die at least one time, so at some point they'll have to

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come back so they can die. However, that's not the point at all that the author of

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Hebrews is making, and I don't even believe that that's a good point to make.

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After all, there are some we see in Scripture who die twice, so it's not

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appointed for everybody to die once. Some have died and they were raised from the

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dead only to presumably die again. There will also be others who will not die,

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along with Elijah and Enoch. That is, if you believe in a future rapture that's

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going to occur at some point. That is, Jesus will return, and when that return

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happens, that those who are still alive will be taken up with him. After all, Paul

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says not all will fall asleep. So we see some in Scripture who didn't die. We see

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some who died twice. We see some who died once, and if Jesus comes and we're all

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lifted up to be with him when we're alive, then there will be a whole host of

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Christians who will not die once. That's not the point of that verse, even though

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it's often used in that way. The point of that verse is this, is that Jesus'

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sacrifice was sufficient. That is, Jesus will not have to die repeatedly. Jesus

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has died once and for all for the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus came the

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first time, Jesus came to die so that our sins could be forgiven, so that his

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blood would be shed. And Jesus will return again, and when he returns it will

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not be to bear our sins, but to bring about salvation to those who have put

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their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The question is today, is have you done

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that? Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ this morning? Are you

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living under the new covenant, under the blood that was shed for you by Jesus

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Christ? If you do not turn to Jesus Christ, you have no mediator between you

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and God. If we do not turn to Jesus Christ, our sins are not covered, and

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the wages of our sin is death. But praise the Lord that the forgiveness of sin only

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comes through blood, and Jesus Christ has shed his blood for us. And after death

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comes the judgment. One day we will stand before the Lord in judgment. Maybe we

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take our last breath today and we die, and we go and be before the Lord. Maybe

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the Lord returns and carries us home. However we end up seeing Jesus, the next

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time we see Jesus, we're going to see Jesus and we're going to face judgment.

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But praise the Lord that if we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that our

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sins have been forgiven, that they have been canceled. Colossians chapter 2

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verses 13 and 14 says, when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of

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your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. Having

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canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and

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condemned us, he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. Now apart from

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Jesus, today we are dead in our sins. But praise the Lord, Jesus come to die on a

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cross. He came so that our sins could be forgiven, so that our debt could be

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canceled. And how did he do away with our debt? How did he do away with our sins?

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By nailing it to the cross. And so it is through the precious blood of Jesus

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Christ today that our sins are forgiven and it's only through Jesus Christ. If

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you've never put your faith in him, maybe today the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.

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If God is speaking to you today, if you've never been covered by the blood

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of Jesus, I pray that today that you would. Father God, we come to you. We thank

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you for your good word. I pray dear Lord that you would help us to understand

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just how rotten our sin is and just how important Jesus is dear Lord. That our

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sin is the ugliest thing that we have ever seen, but Jesus is the most

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beautiful thing that we have ever seen dear Lord. So I pray God that we would

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confess our sin to you today, that we would repent of our sin. God that we

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would know that there is no other way for our sinfulness to be forgiven other

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than through Jesus Christ. God I pray that if there are any this morning that

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do not know Jesus that they would know him today. I pray dear Lord that as we

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as we study your word that we would grow in it, that we would understand what

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Jesus has done for us, how he has fulfilled everything in your word.

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Everything that we see in the Old Testament was pointing us forward to

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Jesus dear Lord and I pray that everything that we have discussed today

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that we've seen in your word today has pointed us to who Jesus is dear Lord.

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That we understand today that the death of Jesus Christ was necessary God to

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cover our own sins dear Lord so that death would not get the final say in our

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life, but that we would have victory over death through Jesus's victory over death

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dear Lord. That we would have victory over our sins through Jesus's death on

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the cross dear Lord. That our sins would be forgiven dear Lord. That they would

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not determine who we are God. That we are not determined by our sin but God we are

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determined by the blood of Jesus Christ. I pray dear Lord that if there are any

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today that do not know who Jesus is that your Holy Spirit would speak to them

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and that they would respond in this time of invitation and I ask these things in

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Jesus name. Amen.