Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. Now today I'm going to preach
from the book of Hebrews chapter nine, beginning at verse one.
If you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, Hebrews nine,
the title of the message today is the time of reformation, the
time of reformation. When you hear the term reformation,
what do you think of? Well, there are a couple of things
most people think of. Some people think of church history, And
they think about men like Martin Luther and John Calvin and Ulrich
Zwingli and people like that who were instrumental in when
the church broke away from the Catholic church, the darkness
of the Catholic church and reformed, it's called the Reformation.
But now that's not what I'm going to talk about today. Other people
when they think of Reformation, They think about a person who
is living or has lived a life of immorality, irresponsibility,
unconcern, joining a church, becoming religious, becoming
sincere, and reforming their character and conduct. Well,
I'm not going to talk about that today either. What I'm going
to talk about is the time of reformation, the time of change,
reform, that's what that means, the time of change, that came
by the Lord Jesus Christ in the providence of God in the process
of time. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 1 starts
talking about the old covenant law and the ceremonial services
that revolved around the tabernacle, the temple, the priesthood, the
sacrifices. And listen to what he says. He
says in verse 1, Then verily the first covenant That is the
old covenant first in time. It really wasn't the first covenant
of all. The first covenant is the everlasting
covenant of grace made before time, before the world ever began. But in the process of time, before
Jesus Christ came into the world, God established the law at Mount
Sinai between himself and the nation Israel. And that was a
conditional covenant that they broke. But it had its ordinances. In other words, it had its ceremonies. He said, of divine service. Divine
service because this is what God had ordained and commanded. And a worldly sanctuary. Now
the worldly sanctuary refers to the tabernacle. Verse 2, For
there was a tabernacle made, The first we're in was the candlestick
and the table and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.
In that tabernacle, you see, when they built the walls of
the tabernacle, there was an outer court. When you went into
the first court, there was the altar of sacrifice. And then
there was a wall built within it where you went into that,
and that's where all the Levitical priests went and served. There
was the candlestick, and there was a table of showbread, there
was a golden labor there, and that was called the holy place,
the sanctuary. And he says in verse three, after
the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of
all, there was a big curtain inside that holy place that separated
it out, and behind that curtain was called the holy of holies.
And in the holy of holies, you had the Ark of the Covenant.
Remember, in the mercy seat, that was the lid on the ark,
and that contained the law. And only one man could go into
the holiest of all. Now, all the priests could go
into the holy place, but when that curtain divided, behind
that curtain, only one man could go in behind that curtain, and
that was the high priest of Israel at that time. And he could only
go in there one day a year, on the Day of Atonement. and he
had to have the blood of the lamb that came off the altar
of sacrifice. Now, all of that was a picture
of Jesus Christ, the great high priest of the people of God,
the elect of God, going into the holiest of all, the very
presence of God, by the merits of his own blood, which is his
righteousness imputed to them. After he had satisfied justice,
see, he was on the altar of sacrifice himself. So here's the holiest
of all, verse four. It says in the holiest of all
it had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid
round about with gold. All of this was symbolic. All
of this was a type and a picture. Wherein was the golden pot that
had manna, Christ the bread of life, and Aaron's rod that budded,
symbolizing life that came from Christ. and the tables of the
covenant, that's the Ten Commandments, inside the Ark of the Covenant,
covered over with the mercy seat. He says over the mercy seat,
verse 5, over it, the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy
seat, their shadow fell on the mercy seat, of which we cannot
now speak particularly. What he's talking about, he's
not going into all of the teachings of this right now. He's making
a point here. Verse 6, now when these things
were thus ordained, the priest, plural, went always into the
first tabernacle, accomplishing the services of God. Now, the
Levitical priest, the priest of Levi, they could go into the
outer court, they could go into the holy place. But verse seven
says, but into the second went the high priest alone, once every
year, the day of atonement, not without blood. You see, the blood
symbolizes God's justice against sin. The soul that sinneth must
surely die. God will by no means clear the
guilty. The priest who went in there
without blood was dead. God must be just when he justifies. That's the lesson there. And
it says this high priest, he offered the blood for himself
and for the errors of the people. You see, the high priest was
a sinner himself. And so when he went in there
as the representative, you remember even the priest garments, he
had a breastplate that had 12 names on it, the names of the
tribes of Israel. And he had an ambulance on his
shoulder, six names here and six names there, the 12 tribes
of Israel. That's who he went into the holy
place for. But he went in for his own sins. He had to atone
for his own sins as well as the people. And that's why Christ,
the great high priest of the people of God, the true people
of God, true spiritual Israel, is much better and more glorious
than that. Because when he went in, he went in only as the surety
and substitute for his people. He didn't have to atone for his
own sins because he had none. The only way Christ had sin was
by imputation. Second Corinthians 521, for God
made him sin. How does that, what does that
mean? That means God charged Christ with the debt of the sins
of his people. So that when he suffered and
bled and died, he died not for his own sins that he had committed
or sins that corrupted him, he was incorruptible, but for the
sins of his people charged to him. By the same token, The people
of God are justified and accepted before God based upon His righteousness
imputed to them. We're made the righteousness
of God in Him, the scripture says there in 2 Corinthians 5.21.
So you see, Christ died for sins imputed. God's people are justified
by righteousness imputed. And that imputed righteousness
is the ground of their justification and it's the source of spiritual
life in the new birth to bring them to faith. So in verse seven
again of Hebrews nine, into the second went the high priest alone
once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself
for the heirs of the people. Now, verse eight is significant
here. He says, the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way
into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the
first tabernacle was yet standing. Now while that old covenant and
all of its laws and ceremonies and practices was in force, he
says the Holy Spirit signified by that fact that Christ Jesus,
the Messiah, had not yet come. But when Christ come, now look
here in verse nine, he says, while that first tabernacle was
standing, he says, verse nine, which was a figure, a shadow,
a type for the time then present, for that time, in which were
offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that
did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Now, what
is he talking about? Those sacrifices, animal sacrifices,
human priesthood, that physical tabernacle, all of its ceremonies,
could not make the person who did that service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. What is the conscience? Well,
the conscience is the seat of judgment in the mind, in the
heart. The conscience is like the courtroom. of your mind, the courtroom of
your heart. The Bible says in Romans chapter
2 that God has given everybody a conscience. That's innate. The problem with man is that
the conscience is a condemned, guilty conscience. It's a defiled
conscience. It's fallen just like his heart. A dead heart. The heart's deceitful,
desperately wicked. Who can know it? A guilty conscience. Now what's going to take away
the guilt? Well, man thinks his good works can do it. Or his
religion can do it. His sacrifices, his ceremonies,
his sincerity. He thinks he can make up for
it. Back then they had animal sacrifices to atone. But those
things could not cleanse the guilty conscience. They might
temporarily cleanse it, but the guilt would come back. And that's
why they had to do it every year, every year. Those sacrifices
could not cleanse the conscience. They could not soothe the conscience
permanently and before God, all right? Now keep that in mind.
Now he says in verse 10, Which stood only in meats and
drinks, the meats there's referring to the sacrifices, the drinks
there's referring to the offerings. Diverse or various washings,
ceremonial washings. All right, they washed their
hands, washed their feet. And carnal, that means fleshly,
ordinances imposed on them until when? The time of reformation. In other words, those things
were all enforced and they were commanded of the nation Israel
until a particular time called the time of reformation. Now,
what is that time of reformation, that time of change? Well, look
at verse 11. Here it is. But Christ, being
come and high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, not of the temple, not of the
tabernacle. Verse 12, neither by the blood
of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once
into the holy place. Now let me think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus
of Nazareth, never entered the Holy of Holies in that physical
temple. He never did. He didn't have
a right to. That right was only reserved
for the high priest in the line of Aaron and the Levites. And that point has already been
made back in Hebrews chapter 5 concerning the priesthood of
Christ. It says that Christ could never
have been a priest according to the line of Aaron. He was
a priest after the order of another priest named Melchizedek who
was outside that line and who had no record of mother and father. You see, in order to be a high
priest under the Old Covenant in Israel, you had to prove you
were from the line, the genealogy of Aaron. Christ was not from
that genealogy according to the flesh. In fact, He wasn't even
a Levite. He was born of the tribe of Judah.
So what's the issue here? The issue here is that the Old
Covenant is gone. That's already been done away
with in this time of Reformation because Christ is the High Priest
of His people and He entered in once, verse 12, into the Holy
Place. What's the Holy Place? That's
the very presence of Almighty God. Christ, as the representative,
as the surety, as the substitute, and as the advocate and mediator
of His people, entered into the presence of God, verse 12, having
obtained eternal redemption. And it says for us, and the us
there is believers. It's not for all without exception.
Christ didn't go into the earthly temple. into the holy place,
holy of holies. He went into the very presence
of God after having done what? Shedding his blood in the full
payment for all the sins of his people and establishing the only
righteousness whereby God could be just and justify the ungodly. That's where he went. So he says
in verse 13, For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the
ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctify to the
purifying of the flesh." You see, those ceremonies and sacrifices
set the Jewish nation apart from other nations, but in the flesh,
not in the spirit. In other words, there was no
eternal spiritual salvation there, but it did set them apart. That's
what it means, sanctify. to the purifying of the flesh.
That tabernacle, that temple, it set Israel apart from all
the Gentile nations according to the flesh. And if that animal,
if those animal sacrifices accomplish that kind of setting apart, look
at verse 14, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal spirit, not temporal now, the eternal spirit offered
himself, not an animal, but himself without spot, without blemish
to God. And then he says, how much more
shall his blood purge your conscience, cleanse your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God. The dead works that he's
referring to there is the animal sacrifices, dead works. But you can also equate those
dead works with any sinner's attempts to be saved, to be right
with God, to be righteous based upon their efforts, their deeds
to keep the law. Those are dead works. Why? Because
they lead to death. The only thing that's gonna wash
away my sins, the blood of Christ. The only thing that's going to
pay my debt to God's justice, the blood of Christ. The only
thing that's going to make me right with God is His blood,
His righteousness imputed to me. Now this time of Reformation
is referring to the cross. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ went to that cross,
He suffered He bled, He died to satisfy the justice of God
for all the sin debt of all God's elect, His chosen people. And when He satisfied the justice
of God, in the book of John in chapter 19 and verse 30, He made
this statement. He says, it is finished. and he died and he gave up the
ghost, the scripture says, and then the veil in the temple was
torn into from top to bottom. That's the time of reformation,
the time of change. There's a change now. It's not
a change in God's way of salvation because God had always saved
his chosen people, Jew and Gentile, by grace through the blood, the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the Old Testament
believers looked forward by promise to the coming of Christ. All
the New Covenant believers looked backward to the cross as a historical
event whereby Christ satisfied justice and brought in everlasting
righteousness. That's the time of Reformation.
And he equates that with the cleansing of the conscience.
Because why? Well, if I'm condemned in my
conscience, what can take away that condemnation? My efforts? My sincerity? My faith? My repentance? My obedience?
My worship? My giving? Absolutely not. There's only one thing that can
purge, cleanse, purify the condemned conscience, the guilty conscience.
That's the blood of Jesus Christ. plead His blood, plead His righteousness. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again, who is seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living, to make intercession for His people. Christ died,
was buried. He arose from the dead and he
ascended unto the Father. He went into the holy place,
the very presence of God, as the one who established righteousness,
the one who paid the debt, the one who brought condemnation
upon himself and not upon his people. And that's how the conscience
is purged. That's how the heart is purified.
It's not by our works. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, are trying to do, will do, promise to do.
It's only by Jesus Christ. You see grace, that's what it's
all about. That's what he's talking about.
The law couldn't save anybody. The law could not purge away
their sins. The law could not purge their
conscience. The law could never do for them
what was necessary to cleanse the conscience. It took a great
change in time to do that. And that great change, that Reformation,
this time of Reformation, was the coming of the God-man, Jesus
Christ, and His work of salvation, His work of redemption on the
cross to purge away my sins. How many times have you heard
me quote it? What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. See, that's how a sinner is saved. That's how a sinner walks. That's
how a sinner lives who is saved by grace. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and the completer, the finisher, the fulfiller of
our peace. Romans 10, verse 4 says, Christ
is the end of the law, the fulfilling, the perfection, the completion
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Do
you believe in Him? Are you resting in Him or are
you looking elsewhere? Many people, you know, when you
talk about salvation, they always go back to an experience they
had. Don't do that. Look to Christ. I'll pray for
a time of reformation in your own life, a reformation that
brings you to faith in Christ. and repentance of dead works
and idolatry that'll bring you to know Him whom to know is life
eternal and to be submitted to Him as the Lord your righteousness.
There's the only purification, cleansing of the heart, the conscience,
the mind, the affections, the will that brings a sinner to
be reformed. That's reformed. It's not just
stopping this or quitting this and starting this. You may have
incidents in your life where you do that, but that's not what
makes you righteous. That's not what washes away your
sins. The waters of baptism cannot
do it. Joining a church cannot do it. Praying through cannot
do it. Only looking to Christ, resting
in Him, following Him, only believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and
forsaking everything else. That's repentance. When you come
to Christ by faith, you repent, you forsake everything and everyone
else as for me in any part of the ground or the cause or anything
of salvation, but Him. He's your all in all. He's your
hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
Think about that time of Reformation. Think about that great change
that the Bible speaks of in the new birth of a sinner. When God
gives him a new heart, a new mind, a new will, a new desire,
all of these things, it's all founded upon and empowered by
what Christ did on that cross. to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness
as Daniel said. This is the hope. This is what
faith is all about. This is what repentance is all
about. And this is what obedience is all about because it's only
that from the purged conscience looking to that great time of
reformation in Christ. that the motives of love and
grace and gratitude are established in the heart. The heart established
with grace, the conscience cleansed by grace through the blood of
Jesus Christ. There is no other way. To go
back to the law is deadly. If righteousness come by the
law, Paul wrote, then Christ is dead in vain. Christ died
in vain. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us
free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. He
said, if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
What was he talking about? He's saying that if you think
anything other than Christ's blood, Christ's righteousness
can recommend you unto God or make you righteous or cleanse
your conscience. Christ will profit you nothing. Stand fast. Stand firm in Christ who is my
life, who is my hope, who is my goal. We want to be like Christ. We want to follow Him. How do
you do that? Only from that time of reformation
through the cleansed conscience, cleansed by His blood. There's
no other way. There's only one way. Christ
said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man
cometh to the Father but by me. So look to that time of Reformation.
Look to the cross. Look to the righteousness that
Christ worked out and freely imputed to all of his people
which they receive by faith. Plead Him. Plead His merits. Plead His blood. Plead His righteousness. No other way. Hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.