I will read that verse every chance I get. It is one of the most magnificent verses in all the Bible because of the truths behind it. There's a blood stained verse for me and you. John 14 to Jesus said in my father's house there are many places.
And then he goes on if it were not so I would not have told you I go to prepare a place for you. The place is cleansed for sinners by his blood because the sinners are cleansed by his blood. But for now, here's Pastor Rick in Hebrews chapter 9 with a brand new message called Christ's Finished Work.
Made with hands which are copies of the true but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another. 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.
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 those who eagerly wait for him he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. I hope you are enjoying this study through the Hebrews we have some quite potent points to make out of this last paragraph of this ninth chapter and for those of you not aware of what's going on with the Hebrew letter. There were Jews that had come to Christ and now they were thinking about going back to Judaism or mixing mingling in the two and the writer is addressing this and he is warning them and he is just getting warmed up. When we get to chapter 10 he is going to intensify his warnings with the great truths of the gospel and it is beneficial for all of us. For anyone who has a thought once they come to Christ of mixing him with something else with some sort of weird meditation or spiritualism or anything else you be running the risk of venturing waters of anathema and you are sternly warned not to do it. If you are thinking about going back to the world because your faith is faltering you need to know you are on the hook of Satan you are his catch of the day and he will take you out flay you and consume you unless you button up your act and remain true to Christ and faith.
You say I am too weak. Well God is not and he loves you and he doesn't want to see you play the fool for Satan so run to him and stay there and we will make some of these points hopefully if God can have his way with me this morning as we consider our text. Now first we have to get the academic side in place. The remaining verses show how our inheritance in Christ what he has done for us what we will receive from him because of his death and then upon our death how they are upheld by him. Now a human being makes a last will and testimony and there are times when clever lawyers and deceitful people and scoundrels get together and disregard the will of the deceased. Well that won't be the case with Christ.
No one is going to come along and meddle with what he has done. His will will be done and to enforce that point with his readers the writer is saying he stands at the throne of God and sits on the throne of God for he is God the son and he will enforce it. And this should encourage you to be strong at whatever comes your way and so let's look at verse twenty three because these things are real. They're not just Bible preaching and words from clever men who don't know what they're talking to spirit of God moving in the lives of human beings who are willing to receive him.
And every word of God is rich and powerful even in those times when we can't find it even when we are tempted to doubt. Well let's get to it verse twenty three 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. And he's first referring to the temple of Moses as verse nineteen for example of this chapter and throughout the ninth chapter and other places. The earthly temple was a symbol of spiritual truths behind those symbols and practices stood fact a point that God wanted to make for sinners. Symbols are weaker than the realities behind them they're supposed to be. So if you went to the Old Testament temple and you saw the bull being offered it was a symbol of the Messiah to come of what sin has done to humanity and creation. That there's blood on the hands of sinners but there's a greater offering than that bull or that sheep. There is Messiah God the Son and so again the symbols are weaker than the realities behind them.
Those religions or that religion and her rituals speak of the reality of God and that's what the Bible is when you are memorizing scripture verses you are in touch with a reality that is eternal in the heavens and is not a waste of time. And all of your prayers especially the unanswered ones are remembered by God forever and you will find out when you leave this life just how much your prayers mattered to God and because they were answered or not is not the point. The point is that you have a relationship with a God who listens and who waits takes you home. That is the point that's what we mean by eternal matters and the spiritual things we go beyond this life. So he says these things should be purified in verse 23 should be purified with these things because sin is not something to ignore ever. That's why these symbols are there God is saying I'm not ignoring this.
I'm building to a point because the scriptures building to a point. He continues in verse 23 but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. This does not imply that there's something in heaven that is unholy and needs to be purified not directly but indirectly it does. Because cleansed in this sense in anticipation of sinners arriving that's the point that's the message. Those who come to heaven from earth are sinners but they've been cleansed. You cannot come to God in heaven just as you are. You have to be cleansed. You can come to confession admission that is of your sin. You can admit I am a sinner and I need you Lord Jesus. You come just as you are but you don't stay that way whether you feel it or not. You have to be washed in the blood of the lamb.
You have to be bought. You have to be born again. Touched from God himself in that sense. This is a work that only he can do. So God he does not ignore sin. He's made a way to defeat it. He's made a way to overcome and defeat its power to damn souls to eternal separation from him. Christ died for us and his death purifies us in the temple on earth. It demanded purification and in that sense the place of God in heaven demands purification too. And so you could say that the blood of Jesus Christ decontaminates us because sin has contaminated humanity.
All of us are defective in that sense. And so he makes that clear to them. They understand this. They know about the temple.
They do not need a cultural class. They're right there with him. Verse 24, for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands which are copies of the true. But into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. For us. You could put for me.
For you. He did not enter behind the temple veil that was on earth. The Solomon's temple and then, well, any of them, Moses, Solomon's or the one that Herod had expanded.
Christ did not serve as a priest there from the tribe of Judah. He's covered that already in this Hebrew letter. He says which are copies of the true. Again, all the blood spilled, the years, the many gallons and gallons of blood spilled from the offerings at the temple. They were Old Testament sketches.
A faint illustration of the shed blood of Christ Jesus for sinners. They were sermons. They were living and dying sermons. Before his resurrection, no sinner after death could enter heaven. All resided in the abode of the dead. There were two places.
One for the wicked, which there still is. And there was a compartment for the righteous, which there no longer is. Because those that were righteous and died are now taken to heaven in Christ after his resurrection. After his crucifixion. When he said to the thief, today you will be with me.
He meant it. Ephesians 4 tells us about this a little bit. He says, therefore, he says, Ephesians 4, 8, when he descended on high, he led captivity free. He freed those that were separated from God. Though they were righteous and the abode of the dead, they were not in heaven.
But they are now. Sin first occurred in heaven, not on earth. The first sin that we know about was not committed by a human being.
It was not Adam and Eve. It was Satan. It was Lucifer. It was an archangel.
It was one entrusted in the presence, the throne room of God. Lucifer, the son of the morning star. We now know him as the devil, the slanderer, the liar about God and man. We know him as the enemy, Satan himself. The great dragon of old. And yet, in heaven we need Christ to protect.
By getting us there. Cleansed from sin. No more sin in heaven. Revelation 21, 4, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
The ones that are blood bought. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. I will read that verse from the pulpit every chance I get. I will not fake it and force it into my text, but when it comes up in my prep time, I will read that verse every chance I get. It is one of the most magnificent verses in all the Bible because of the truths behind it. It is a blood-stained verse for me and you. John 14, 2, Jesus said, In my Father's house there are many places. And then he goes on, If it were not so, I would not have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you. That place is cleansed for sinners by his blood. Because the sinners are cleansed by his blood. And so what the writer is doing here in Hebrews is he's contrasting the value of the earthly religion with the glorious work of Christ. He says, yes, we had these sketches that illustrated these truths, but now we have the truth.
And don't go back to the sketch. You stay with the person of Christ by faith. As one of their own prophets, Habakkuk, said, The just shall live by faith.
Faith is a working relationship, birth based on fact that you cannot dismiss, that has convinced you, that has been so real to you that you know it's true and it's what matters. That is what belongs to faith. And anyone who says that they are too sinful to be accepted by God is saying half of a truth. If there were no cross of Christ, if there were no resurrection, it would be the whole truth. But it is not. And therefore anyone who dies without receiving the forgiveness of Christ nonetheless is doomed.
Yes, we're not good enough for God, but he has accepted us, washed us in the blood of the lamb, and made us acceptable to Christ. And that is our message. And it is not an easy message to preach so often to lost souls because of the jungle that is surrounding them of lies and things they've made up in their heads that they hold dearly to. They have built walls and behind the walls they have built fortifications.
And Satan has been supplying them with as many resources as he can. And it is up to us to storm the walls, to break through the gates with truth and love and patience and prayer and endurance. While all the time strengthening our own faith, forging our own faith in the Spirit of Christ by participating in the faith. You cannot be a bystander in Christ and expect to be effective for Christ. You've got to be in it. You've got to talk to him, read his word, be around his people, be around those who aren't his people.
Be a moving target. He says, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Think of it. The writer who has got this great relationship with Christ so great that he is allowed to pen scripture.
And he is saying it is for us. How a holy God can make room for unholy sin laden men. Only God has the answer and it's right here. Look Hebrew, don't look there.
I'll beat you to it. Hebrews 725. He is also able to save to the other most those who come to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. It's what he's all about. He always lives to make intercession. This is what God has occupied himself with. Sinners who will come.
A.W. Tozier writes this profound thing about the person of God and his work at the throne. He says we are quick to assert that when he walked the earth he was God with men. But we overlook a truth equally as important that where he sits now on his mediatorial throne he is man with God.
We're not left out. There's a bridge and he is hit. Without a bridge you can't cross.
You can't get to the other side. With a bridge you've made it and he is that bridge. How far does his atonement go? How far does his salvation go? There's a very easy answer. Far enough.
That's all I need. He is the one that decides what enough is and he has done it and I'm good with it. So is every born again believer in verse 25 we're still building up to greater points I hope. Not that he should offer himself often. As the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another. Well Christ Jesus suffered crucifixion once. It says once not often. It's very clear. He will say it again in verse 28 and other verses 26 he will drive this point home.
Only the sinister don't want it and we'll get to that. But he will never again be the dead Christ of Calvary. Never again. He says I am alive forevermore amen. That's what he says. I am alive forevermore amen. I am alive forevermore it is true.
That's what he says. It's not what people think it's what God says. And what people think concerning God apart from God has gotten in the way of everything. And the only thing that will set us free is truth and that is the truth of the word. He says in verse 25 the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another.
In contrast to a holy God offering holy blood his own. You cannot bring a clean thing out of a dirty thing. If you have a dish rag and it is filthy you cannot clean anything with it.
You can only contaminate other things with it. The laver at the temple spoke of that. Things must be cleansed. And Christ is the one that is clean enough. He's not the dirty rag. That's why Isaiah made it very clear one reason why. All man's righteousness are like filthy rags.
It can't clean the soul. It takes God to do that. And there are a lot of folks strutting around as they sit. Telling people how good they are because of their deeds. Why God has to accept them. They are blind. And the only way they'll ever see is if the light can shine through with some Christian getting to them.
Not with hysteria but with truth. And so our high priest enters the most holy place every year of their high priest. Our high priest has done it for once. And he's referencing the day of atonement for the Jewish people. We've discussed this.
I won't spend too much time on it. But once a year Yom Kippur the high priest would go into the temple on behalf of the nation. And he would go behind the second veil into the holy place and stand before Yahweh and make peace for the nation. The writer is saying to the Jews who understand that our Jesus does not have to do this once a year. He's done it once. That was enough.
It was that potent. If you want to go back and still have your sins covered supposedly now once a year, you're making a grave mistake when you have a Christ that has done away with your sin. In verse 26, 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. So he's almost shouting out, what part of the sacrifice on the cross do you not get?
How could you even think of this? God knew from creation that he would have to act in redemption. He knew forever. God does not learn new things.
He's got it all. He knew that he would have to suffer as Isaiah 53 told because he told Isaiah to write Isaiah 53 and everything else in it. That he would suffer once.
Now we're starting to get towards our points. 1 Peter chapter 3, for Christ also suffered once for sins. The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the spirit. An act of God Jesus was no mere man. The lamb of God to remove sin. What Judaism could not do, cannot do, is not doing. But Christ has done.
He says here in verse 26, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So to cover man's sin. Innocent animals had to die in Eden.
Who told you you were naked? It was the consciousness, the awareness of sin. Everything was broken now. And animals were slain. Animals who did nothing. But there was also going to be the son of God.
Who did nothing wrong and was slain. So again sin did not begin with Adam and Eve though. Before the mystery of evil in the universe raised its ugly head. In the dateless past in the universe. Before sin and evil showed up in Satan.
The Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. They were ready. They were ready with the solution. It was not something that surprised them. It was not sprung upon them.
They were not ambushed. They would bring evil in the universe to a head. They were determined to do so.
They will settle this once and for all. Of all the orbs in the universe. Of all the orbs in out of space. The battlefield was chosen by God to be planet earth. And that's where Satan was thrown to. Jesus said, I saw him fall like lightning. This is the battleground right here.
Like it or not. Calvary has finalized it for God. The living have to go through phase one.
And make it through to phase two which is glory. Bunyan, John Bunyan. And writing his pilgrims progress. This is not scripture. But it is a man of scripture whom God no question uses. Illustrating much of his own experiences. See we have a scripture that is sacred. And not to be messed with.
It is entirely trustworthy. But God has allowed other things of his people to surface. Even by his spirit.
Not on the level with scripture. But sort of to say to us, I know you see Paul. You see Jeremiah. You see the saints of scripture. And you get a feeling like they're just too far ahead of you to be like them.
So to help you with that a little bit. I'm going to also highlight some servants of mine. Who though not Paul and Jeremiah.
Still faced the dragon and made it through. Bunyan is one of those men. Those who have a testimony all through the ages.
These are the men, the women. That we admire because of the work of the Holy Spirit. It is to God's glory not theirs. Well Bunyan is writing his pilgrims progress. He's in prison for preaching the word.
He's in prison for years. I'm not going into details of what he suffered during that time. His great sorrow and grief. But he illustrates what the Christian goes through from earth to heaven.
To that celestial city. And at one point he talks about Christian the character facing Apollyon Satan. Satan starts off by challenging the faith of Christian.
Talking about the sins that he has committed. You've been listening to Cross Reference Radio. The daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast.
Today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply log on to CrossReferenceRadio.com. That's CrossReferenceRadio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at CrossReferenceRadio.com. Or simply search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Hebrews. Right here on Cross Reference Radio.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-05-26 15:35:28 / 2023-05-26 15:44:35 / 9