Four Ways Jesus Is Better - 41

Imagine that you have sincerely and faithfully practiced a religion inherited from your forefathers, one that you are confident was designed and delivered to you by God, and then somebody comes along and tells you that your religion is worthless and does not enjoy God's approval. Would you immediately accept this startling message?

Or would you question the validity of these strange to you words? That's pretty much the situation we find before us in the book of Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews is addressing a group of Jewish people who have come to embrace Jesus Christ as their Messiah and yet are wavering because they are being pulled back and forth between the old ways of their forefathers and the new ways of the new covenant. And they seem to be uncertain as to which side of the fence they need to come down on permanently and for the remainder of their lives. And so the Hebrew Christians were actually right that their religion delivered to them by their forefathers had indeed been designed by God and had for their forefathers met the approval of God, but they needed to understand that God had also promised in those Old Testament scriptures and to those old covenant people that the day would come that he would deliver his Messiah to the world.

And that would change everything. Yet the changes were hard to accept at times and the familiar patterns that they had known all of their lives seem to call them back that they might continue walking in those ways in their religious activities in the days to come. And so they were struggling with this new knowledge, this new information that just this Jesus of Nazareth, this lowly carpenter, this unknown teacher from northern Israel was really the Messiah that had been promised by God and that he was David's greater son and would rain on David's throne. In fact was even now raining on David's throne in heaven above exalted, having died on the cross and had been raised from the dead and that ascended back to heaven. And there he is now at the right hand of God the Father. And yet what about all of these elements of worship that we have known all of our lives?

What in the world has happened to them and how are we to view all of these things? And so the writer of Hebrews is very painstaking, very deliberate in showing them line by line and precept upon precept that Jesus Christ is superior to anything that they have known in their old covenant worship. It's as if he's saying, yes, I know this is tough.

This is hard for you to take. It's difficult for you to believe you are wrestling with these concepts. I understand that, but you need to understand that Jesus is better in every way to anything that you knew before Jesus came to this earth. So the title of my sermon today as we look at verses 23 through 28 of chapter 9 is four ways Jesus is better.

And much of this is reiteration but is expansion upon things that have been given before because these people definitely needed repetition and reinforcement to get these concepts firmly in their minds and hearts and we are very much like them and we therefore need the same. Four ways that Jesus is better. Number one, according to verse 23, Jesus provides a better cleansing. A better cleansing, a better purification from sins than was available under Moses and the animal sacrifices and the tabernacle and temple worship of the Old Testament. Verse 23 says, therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. He makes reference to the blood of animals that had been shed endlessly as described in the verses prior to verse 23. We read a good many of them earlier and how that under the Old Covenant, everything was purified with blood. Everything was cleansed with some kind of sacrifice, shedding blood and sprinkling that blood upon the altar, sprinkling that blood upon the tabernacle, sprinkling that blood upon the priest, the representatives of God endlessly on and on and on. And so when we come to that word, therefore, at the beginning of verse 23, therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, the blood of bulls and goats and the other sacrifices. The Old Testament cleansing was a cleansing with the blood of animals. The Old Testament cleansing, however, was a cleansing of copies, as the word is used here, or types, as we might say in a more theological terminology. It was a cleansing of things which were a model of something that was greater.

It had a purpose. It served a function at the time that it was given and until it was abrogated by the coming of Christ. It did provide a certain kind of cleansing, but it was not the cleansing that is most needed by sinful men. It was actually a cleansing from ceremonial defilement, but it was not cleansing from inward sinful rebellion against God. So Old Testament cleansing had its purpose in place, but the New Covenant cleansing, the last part of verse 23, is a better cleansing, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these, that is, those that pertain to the Mosaic covenant. The New Covenant cleansing is a cleansing of greater realities.

Moses cleansing, Aaron's cleansing, Old Covenant cleansing, whatever you want to call it, that pertained to the tabernacle, to the temple, to the altar, the brazen altar, the brazen laver. That pertained to the altar of incense. That pertained to the ark of the covenant and the holy of holies. All of these things had their place, but all of these things, as the writer of Hebrews has said several times before, are all earthly matters.

They are all elements that were made with hands, but they all pointed to a heavenly reality that is not made with hands. And therefore, Jesus provides a better cleansing because by his sacrifice, he has cleansed things in heaven, or in reference to heaven, in reference to things eternal, in reference to sins that are committed against a holy God. And so, New Covenant cleansing is a cleansing of greater realities, heavenly versus earthly. New Covenant cleansing is a cleansing with a more valuable blood. The Old Covenant cleansing, blood, blood, blood, blood.

No wonder that people who don't understand, who are skeptical, call it a bloody religion and turn up their nose against it, failing to understand the purpose of it. It was a bloody religion designed that way, purposefully that way, to keep reminding people that sin brings death. And the only way for sins to be removed is through the shedding of blood. But, as the Old Covenant made clear, the shedding of animal bloods could not really take away sin.

He was pointing to something greater. A New Covenant cleansing is a more valuable blood, namely Christ's blood, and it is the cleansing of a moral guilt of what we might call universal sins, which would be the sins that all men commit. You see, under the Old Covenant, there were a lot of sins that Jews committed that nobody else committed because Jews had laws that nobody else had. Was it a sin for an Old Testament Jew to eat pork?

Yes. Was that really a moral sin? Was that a universal sin if a Moabite next door to the Jews ate pork? Was he sinning?

No. So there is a distinction, isn't there, between moral commandments and ceremonial commandments and moral guilt and ceremonial guilt and sins that are moral in their nature against God and sins that are only superficial. They are genuinely a disobedience against the laws of God to those to whom it applies, but these were not universal laws that applied the same to everyone.

But there are universal commandments that do apply the same to everyone. If the world over, multiplied billions of people would not sin by eating pork, but everybody, all the billions of people in this world, sins when they steal, they sin when they lie, they sin when they commit adultery, they sin when they blaspheme the name of God, there are sins that are universal in their application. The blood of Christ dealt with those sins. The blood of sheep and goats, goats and bulls dealt with the ceremonial defilement, but they didn't deal with these moral sins of inward guilt against a holy God. You see, Jesus provided a better cleansing because his blood cleanses men from all sin, as the Bible tells us.

The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from all sin. What a better cleansing that is indeed. And so it's better because it provided an effective and acceptable sacrifice, effective to remove all guilt, acceptable to God for that very purpose.

It was better because it cleanses away the guilt of moral failures. Jesus provides a better cleansing. Number two, the second way that Jesus is better is that Jesus is a better mediator, verse 24. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, not to appear in the presence of God for us. A mediator is one who is appointed to bring men into the presence of God.

Because of our sinfulness, our sinful natures and our sinfulness, we do not have automatic access into the presence of this God who is a thrice holy God. There must be a mediator. Do you remember, Job, in the Old Testament, cried out for a mediator. He understood the need. I think the King James word there in the book of Job is daysman. I don't know what some of the other translations call it.

My mind always reverts to the King James because that's what I grew up with and I know that language better than any other version. But Job cried out, oh, that there would be a daysman betwixt us between me and God. Oh, that there would be a representative that God has appointed and would accept who was able to bring me into the presence of God. But alas, he felt very keenly the lack of such a mediator that he also desperately needed.

Where is that one? Where is that mediator that can bring me into the presence of God? And he didn't know of such a mediator.

And so he just cast himself upon the mercy of God and the promises of God, trusting God to provide that which would be needed for the salvation of his soul. But then came Moses bringing the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and God said, okay, now I'm going to provide you with a mediator. In fact, I'm going to provide you with a lot of mediators. I'm going to provide you with a priesthood, which eventually is going to number into the hundreds of priests who are all representatives between man and God. And in this priesthood, the chief priest, the high priest, will be your chief mediator and he will be your representative into the holy of holies on the day of atonement. And that will provide a mediator.

But again, this is not really the mediator that we ultimately need. It's a mediator that shows us our need of a mediator and points us to one who's coming, who has been promised, who has now of course come to us, but had not yet come at the time that Moses established these things. So the old covenant mediators served, we read in verse 24, in an earthly location, again this reference, Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, the tabernacle constructed by human hands, which are copies of the true and copies plural because he has not only just the tabernacle itself, but all of the furnishings, all of the things that pertain to the tabernacle, and all of those are copies of something of greater significance that is in heaven. And Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true. In a manner of speaking, you must say that these things that were provided by Moses are not true, not in the sense that they were false, but they're not the authentic reality that Christ came to represent and to bring us into the presence of God through this reality. So Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true, but where has Christ gone? Into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. The old covenant mediator served in an earthly location and served a mere copy of greater realities, but Jesus Christ, the final and ultimate mediator, mediates in a heavenly location. He represents the true reality, and he became the ultimate representation.

He is now, the writer of Hebrews says, representing us in heaven in the presence of God, and he's there for us. You need a mediator? Yes, you do. Do you trust in Jesus Christ? I trust you do. If you do, you have a mediator who is more than sufficient to do the task of representing you effectively and eternally in the presence of the thrice holy God. What an amazing, amazing reality. So Jesus is a better mediator.

Why? Well, number one, because he's a perfect mediator, all the priests, all the high priests were themselves sinners, as we know. They were men just like ourselves, and before the high priest could even go to the Holy of Holies, he first had to offer a bowl and shed its blood for his own sins before he could take the blood of a slain goat to offer for the sins of the people. He was a sinner, but not Jesus Christ. He doesn't need an offering for his own sins.

He had none. He's the perfect mediator. And furthermore, he is in the, we might call it the undiminished presence of God. Aaron went into the Holy of Holies, which was into, what should I say, a partial presence of God. It was a brilliant presence of God. It was the Shekinah glory of God.

And as I told you in an earlier message when we dealt with that particular concept, the incense that had to be burned and the smoke filled the Holy of Holies before he went in there, the reason for that was to hide the shining glory of God in the Holy of Holies that otherwise Aaron and other high priests would not even be able to enter because of God's glory. But you remember when Moses asked God to show him his glory, it's almost like God said, Moses, you've asked for a wonderful thing, but you've asked for an impossible thing. I can't show you my glory.

It would kill you. I dwell in unapproachable light. I'm the God which no man has seen nor can see in his sinful condition, even when a sacrifice had been made on his behalf. What you have asked for is a wonderful desire, but it's an impossible desire, for you are a sinner. I can't show you my full glory, but I tell you what I'll do.

I'll put you in the cleft of a rock. I will cover that rock, cover the opening of that rock in a way that you'll only see just a little teeny bit of what the Bible calls my hinder glory, the least part of God's glory as he passes by. And just that little bit of God's glory was so great. When Moses saw it on that occasion and other occasions when he was up on Sinai, the reflection of that on his face was so great that when he came down in the presence of the people, they said, Moses, Moses, shield your face. Moses, Moses, put on a veil. Moses, Moses, we can't even stand the reflection of God's glory in your face.

So great is the glory of God. Can Moses be in the full presence of God's glory? No. Can Aaron be in the full presence of God's glory? No. Can any high priest be in the full presence of God's glory? No. Can Jesus Christ be in the full presence of God's glory?

Yes. On the one hand, he is God. But on the other hand, he is God robed in humanity.

And he is therefore the perfect man, the sinless man. And in that capacity, he can enter right into the very presence of the thrice holy God. And there he can represent us.

He does represent us who are trusting in him. And we have a representative with God in heaven that far exceeds the mediation that Aaron and the high priests and other priests gave to the people of God on earth. So why is Jesus a better mediator? Because he's a perfect mediator because he serves in the undiminished presence, or we might say the undiminished glory of God. And because he is making reconciliation with God. He is there for us. He's there to bring us into the presence of God.

We who have no right to be there because of our sinfulness. But in the great mercy and love of God, he said, I'm going to make a way to bring you into my presence, to reconcile sinners, believing sinners to myself. I'm going to provide the way that will bring sinners into union with their creator, into undiminished communion with the God who made them, but against whom they have sinned and forfeited all right to ever be in the presence of that God again. But Jesus Christ is the mediator who will bring us into the presence of Almighty God. If that doesn't make you bow in gratitude, I don't know what will. If that doesn't just overwhelm you with thanksgiving and awe at what the grace of God has done, I don't know what else will.

That is amazing. So Jesus provides a better cleansing. Jesus is a better mediator. But number three, Jesus is a better sacrifice.

And these things overlap a bit. But now look at it in verses 25 and 26. Verse 25, not that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with the blood of another.

He then, if he were operating on that schedule, in that condition, he then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now once, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus is a better sacrifice. That's shown by this emphasis upon his once for all death, his once for all sacrifice of himself. The old covenant sacrifices were endlessly repeated, and that demonstrated their inadequacy. The high priest gains covering for the sins of the people, but it only lasts for a year.

If he doesn't come back next year on the Day of Atonement, then everyone is now held guilty for their sins, and the judgment of God shall fall. And those sacrifices had to be endlessly repeated. There were daily sacrifices, and there were weekly Sabbath sacrifices, and there were first-day-of-the-month sacrifices, and on and on and on it went endlessly, endlessly, endlessly, shedding blood. And the high priest, even when he went into the holy place on the Day of Atonement, took a sacrifice of inferior value. He took the blood of another, because obviously he couldn't bring his own blood.

That would require his death. The blood that was shed was not shed apart from death. It was actually just a part of the death. It's really the death that is in view here, the death of the animal, the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

But the shedding of blood is a vivid, vivid picture of that. And the high priest couldn't go into the holy of holies with his own blood. Number one, that would require his death. And number two, he wasn't sinless. So, again, according to the pattern that God had given them, which was all typology to show them something more important, but he would go in with first the blood of the bull to cover his own sins, and then the blood of the goat to cover the sins of the people. And so he went into the holy place with the blood of another. But as we've pointed out before, that sacrifice, the bull, isn't really equal to the value of the man who sacrificed the bull. How could all these animal sacrifices truly atone for man's sins?

They can't, and they didn't. But Jesus is a better sacrifice. His sacrifice was never repeated because it was effective and final and finished when it was sacrificed one time.

One time. Not that he should offer himself often, we are told here. Because if that were the case, he would have had to suffer since the foundation of the world. If Christ would have to keep repeating his sacrifice, the shedding of his blood, the sacrifice of himself, then he would have had to start that clear back at the beginning of the world. When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, Christ would have had to sacrifice himself for Adam's sin. And all along the way, as men sinned throughout the ages of human history, Christ would have had to keep sacrificing himself for their sins and sacrifice again for more sins and sacrifice again for more sins.

But no, no, no. One time, because his sacrifice was of such great value that it was large enough, valuable enough, to atone for all the sins from the very beginning of the world until the consummation of the ages. It was infinitely effective. One completed act and it was done. One voluntary, sacrificial offering of himself upon the cross of Calvary and he could say, It is finished now and forevermore. It is finished. One historic fulfillment, we are told in this text, at the end of the ages.

Hmm. Most of us don't think of Christ's death upon the cross as being at the end of the ages. It's been 2000 years since then and time is still rolling on. And depending upon your eschatology, you may yet have some other periods to come, more ages yet in the future to come in your thinking. And yet the writer of Hebrews says Jesus Christ at his death suffered once for all at the end of the ages. In other words, his coming and his death upon the cross marked the beginning of the end.

It marked the beginning of the last stage is what it is saying here. It's interesting that I'm told that Jewish writers have divided the ages of the world into three. Different systems have different numbers of ages, but the Jewish writers, I'm told, divided the ages of the world into three different parts. Part number one, all of the history of the world up until the giving of the law. In other words, before law, age number one. From the giving of the Mosaic law until the conclusion of the Mosaic law is age number two in their thinking. And then the third age would be from the end of the law until whenever.

That's all. It goes on into eternity. Now, I don't know that they understood. I'm not sure that they understood that when the Messiah came, he was going to put an end to the Mosaic law. But they did understand that the Mosaic law did have a conclusion at some point.

They weren't sure when that point was. But to them, before law, age one, under law, age two, beyond law, age three. Well, one who is writing with a Hebrew mindset and writing to Hebrew people says, Jesus Christ has ushered in that final age. We have been through the period of before law. We have now been through quite a long period of being under law. But when Jesus came and died on the cross, he concluded the under law period and he ushered in the new and final period of beyond law. That is, beyond the Mosaic law. In other words, the old covenant was over and the new covenant was in effect. And the new covenant was the beginning. The beginning of the new covenant was the beginning of the final age.

It seems to me that that's what the writer of Hebrews is saying here. But his sacrifice was completed once, a once completed act. It was one historic fulfillment.

He did it at the end of the ages. It was one effective offering. He has put away sin, not covered sin like the old covenant animal sacrifices did. It was one superior sacrifice because it was the sacrifice of himself. And so Jesus is a better sacrifice. But number four, Jesus secures a better salvation, verses 27 and 28. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. Old Covenant salvation was salvation basically from separation from a national community. Participating in the Mosaic Covenant, cooperating with the Mosaic sacrifices, being obedient to the Mosaic dietary laws, and resisting the prohibitions against various things that would defile, such as touching a dead body and all of these various ceremonial things.

And if you did touch a dead body, seeking the prescribed remedy to be purified from that. All of that allowed an Old Covenant Jew to remain in good standing in the Old Covenant community. Because if he was put outside the Old Covenant community by his violation of Old Covenant laws and his refusal to do what was necessary to be qualified again, then there was no possibility of salvation for him. It was the Old Covenant community that was holding on to the promises of a future Messiah, and their submission to the Old Covenant requirements was evidence of their faith and God's promises of a future Messiah who would actually bring salvation. But Old Covenant salvation was not what we would call salvation at all.

It was just simply a way of keeping them qualified in the Old Covenant community. But Christ's death is so much more. Again, verse 27, as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

Kind of an interesting analogy, an interesting comparison that the writer of Hebrews is making here. But he says in the general stream of life, every person has a day of birth, and every person has a day of death. They have one birth, they have one death, not counting, of course, the new birth at this particular way of analyzing things. But they have one birth, they have one death, and after death what comes next?

Judgment. And Aaron and the priests and the Old Covenant sacrifices didn't have any way of dealing with those. They just cast themselves upon the mercy of God. God, we're thankful that you're willing to accept these sacrifices as a temporary covering until the Messiah comes.

We're so grateful for that, but we know that these animal sacrifices aren't really doing the job. But Christ's death did do the job. His salvation is a salvation from death, which is the penalty for sin. His salvation is a salvation from death, which is man's greatest enemy. His salvation is a salvation from death, which is the great leveler. I don't care how rich you are, when the day of your death comes you're going to die just like the poorest of the poor.

It's the great leveler. It is appointed unto men to die. And God knows what the appointed day of that death is, and you're not going to thwart that. You're not going to thwart God's plan. You're not going to escape God's appointed time of death. Rich people, though they have more access to medical care and so forth and so on, they still come to the place where there's no more remedy.

Sorry, we've done all we can do for you. There's no more we can do, and they die, just like poor people. But Christ's salvation is a salvation from death, which is separation of the soul from the body. That's what death is being talked about here, physical death. But Christ's salvation is not only a salvation from death, we're told, but it's a salvation from judgment. It's appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment. Judgment, that day of accountability to God, our Creator. Judgment, that day when God, the righteous judge, is going to evaluate our lives and our failures, our sins, our rebellions, our disobedience, and pronounce judgment upon us. Judgment, the time when God will bring about justice for the transgressions that we have committed against Him. Judgment, that day when sinners will receive the pronouncement of their deserved condemnation. That day is coming.

Have you prepared for that? But you see, Christ's death is a salvation from judgment. That's the only way to escape the just judgment from God.

Sometimes people who are wrestling with new thoughts that have come to them that they see in the Bible, but are not sure how to understand or to reconcile with other things in the Bible, and sometimes when it comes, for example, to the doctrine of election, some will say, well, that's not fair. From your limited and human and skewed understanding, that may not seem fair, but understand this. If you get what's fair, you go to hell. That's the only thing that's fair. That's what's fair.

That's what's just. That's what you deserve. That's what I deserve. That's what we all deserve. You want fairness? Eternal condemnation. But you want mercy?

I do. Mercy. I need mercy. If I don't have God's mercy, I'm doomed forever to eternal condemnation. And Jesus Christ's death saves those who trust in Him from God's right and just judgment. Now, those who trust in Jesus don't get justice. They don't get fairness. They get what is totally unfair, totally undeserved. To be acquitted of our sins and to be received into heaven is not fair.

Thank God it is gracious. It is merciful. It is the only way that sinners will ever make it to heaven. There's no other way for you to go to heaven except through the blood of Christ. Christ's death is a salvation by substitution. Christ is the only acceptable sacrifice for sins. Christ, we read in here, took the sins of many upon Himself.

Did you catch that? Verse 28, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. How many people did Christ bear the sins for?

I don't know. It was many. I guess someday when we get to heaven, we may find out how many. It was many.

A whole lot. But He bears the sins, bore the sins for many. Christ took the sins of many upon Himself. Christ paid the penalty. Christ satisfied divine justice. God doesn't let sinners go to heaven because He just decides He's going to be extra kind and He'll just wink at our sins and let us in anyway. Divine justice demands that every sin receive the penalty that is due unto it.

And if that penalty falls on me, as it surely should, I will be in hell for eternity. But if that penalty fell upon my substitute upon the cross of Calvary 2,000 years ago, then the penalty has been paid and I, the hell-deserving sinner, go free because Christ took my penalty upon Himself and He bore my judgment in my place. It's a salvation by substitution. And finally, it is a salvation by faith because verse 28 says, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. To those who eagerly wait for Him, now it strikes me, as I have wrestled with that for some time now, this strikes me that this is just a, we might say a novel, an unusual, but nevertheless another way to describe saving faith. In other words, everyone who has faith in Christ is eagerly awaiting for His coming. And so everyone who is eagerly looking for Him are those who have saving faith in Christ, which raises the question, how do you view the coming of Christ, with dread or with delight? Because if that strikes a bit of dread within you, oh, I hope He doesn't come today, I won't be quite ready for Him if He comes today, then you have some business you need to be doing with God. Because those who have faith in Christ, even though we know we are undeserving, nevertheless we know that Jesus paid it all.

All to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, unremovable by human means, but He washed it white as snow. I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready for His coming, and I'm looking for it because, oh, the final blessings of salvation will be culminated at His coming, and will not be consummated until He does come, and oh, I'm looking for His coming. In His first coming, He came to secure salvation from sin. In His second coming, He comes to consummate the redemption of His people. He comes apart from sin for salvation. He comes not to bear sin, as He did in the first coming, but to culminate all the benefits of His once for all sacrifice, now to be applied fully to all of His believing people. In the Old Testament, when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, it was a time of tension, because the people realized that if God didn't accept the blood of the sacrifice which that high priest brought, that that high priest would be struck dead in the Holy of Holies.

They tied a rope around him so they could pull his body out in case he couldn't walk out. And if he was struck dead in the Holy of Holies, then that was not only bad for him, but it was bad for the whole nation, because that means that the sacrificial blood that he carried in there was not accepted by God. So when he came out of the Holy of Holies, it was a joyful time. Hallelujah! God has accepted the sacrifice. Hallelujah!

We're covered for one more year. Hallelujah! The high priest would come out, and he would pronounce the Aaronic blessing upon the people coming out. And they would receive that blessing, that wonderful blessing one more time. And with great joy, they would welcome the return of the high priest for the Holy of Holies. And that's the way it'll be when Jesus Christ comes. His people will now know for sure that the work that the Bible describes Him doing for us in the presence of God in heaven above has been fully satisfied, fully satisfactory to God Almighty. And that Jesus Christ has come back now to bestow all of the blessings that He secured in heaven upon His believing and waiting people. It's a joyful time. It's a hallelujah time for those who are looking for His coming. I can see from the standpoint of time, I can only make one of the five applications that I considered making at the end of this message today.

So I'll make one. And that is to point out how an understanding of this text destroys some of the basic tenets of Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism, which purports to sacrifice a fresh Christ with every Mass, another sacrifice. They call it the eternal sacrifice that's going on every day. They call it the unbloody sacrifice because, of course, no blood is shed. But nevertheless, they keep making sacrifices, sacrifices of Christ again and again and again.

Why? The Bible says He was sacrificed once, once for all, never again. The Mass represents a repetition of Christ's death, but the Bible says there is no such thing. The Mass is called an unbloody sacrifice, but the Bible says without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. What does this so-called unbloody sacrifice accomplish anyway?

There's no blood. It can't remit sins, but it's a repetition of the death of Christ, which the Bible says is impossible. And that's just one of the areas where Roman Catholicism has strayed so far from biblical Christianity. No wonder there was a need, a great need for the Protestant Reformation. No wonder there is such a distinction between true Bible faith in the sacrifice of Christ and what is taught by the Roman Catholic system. But what disturbs me is how many people who call themselves evangelical Christians today are eager to accept Roman Catholicism as just another denomination. It's another form of Christianity just like the form of Christianity that I follow.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to tell you about me. The Christianity that I follow as taught by the Bible is so far from Roman Catholicism as if it were Islam or Buddhist or something else. It's totally foreign to biblical Christianity. It is a false religion. It is a foreign religion. It is not a Christian religion. It is opposed to the Bible on nearly every count. And the interesting thing is most people who are saved from a Roman Catholic background understand that.

It's only people who, I don't know, don't understand what it really teaches that seem to be confused about the nature of this heretical and dangerous and ungodly religion, which is no more Christian than Islam is Christian. I conclude on a warning note, but that's where time has caught us. Let's bow in prayer. Father, how grateful we are for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, how undeserving we are of such great mercies, how totally bankrupt we were and are, how totally dependent upon your loving mercy, how grateful we are for your saving grace in giving Christ Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins. Oh, Lord God, how much we owe to you. We owe everything to you. Help us, Lord, to live that way, to think that way, to talk that way, and to demonstrate our gratitude by the life that we show and the love that we portray as we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.