The last phrase of verse 10 speaks of the time of reformation. The time of reformation. I've entitled this message, The
True Reformation. Now probably most of us have
heard of what is known as the Protestant Reformation that took
place in the 15th and the 16th century under Luther and Calvin
and Zwingli and Huss and Knox and so many men, men that I admire,
men that many of which died for the gospel. Some trace the Protestant Reformation's
beginning to Luther's coming to the church at Wittenberg and
nailing the 95 thesis on the church door. That happened in
1517. And his big complaint with the
church, and this is what some people think began the Protestant
Reformation, is what was called the selling of indulgences. Now at this time, the Catholic
church still does as far as that goes, believed in what is called
purgatory. Purgatory. After you died, you
would go to purgatory, and I guess how long you'd spend there would
be dependent upon how good or how bad you'd been. Some people
had to be in purgatory a really long time, and some, not that
long, dependent upon how good or how bad they were. Now, that
alone lets you know they weren't looking to the blood of Christ. as complete, sufficient payment. Like we just heard, my sin, oh,
the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear them no more. There's no purgatory
for a believer, but at any rate, the Catholic Church had come
up with what is called indulgences, selling indulgences. Now, what
that meant was there were some believers, some saints who had
an excess of good works and an excess of merits. And they had
such goodness while they were here on life, they went over
and above and there was extra merit that you could sell and
it would get your loved ones out of purgatory quicker. That really is what was believed
at that time. And Luther nailed the 95 thesis. Now, Protestant Reformation. I do not want, God forbid, that
I should be critical of somebody who had given their life for
the cause of Christ. I don't want to do that, but
I do want to say this. Was a religious institution that
was selling indulgences a church in the first place? No, no. The call in the scripture is
not to reform a corrupt institution. Come out from among them and
be ye separate. That is the message. You know, when we hear even today
of the reformed faith, taken from the faith of the Protestant
Reformation and it's called the reformed faith. My dear friends,
the faith never needed reformed. And I feel so uncomfortable with
somebody talking about the reformed faith, like we've improved it
and brought it back to where it ought to be. No, the faith
never needed reformed. Uh, the Protestant reformation,
that's not what I'm talking about tonight. I'm talking about the
true reformation that we read of here in scriptures. In verse eight of Hebrews chapter
nine, the Holy ghost, this signifying
that the way into the holiest of all. was not yet made manifest,
was not yet revealed or clear while as this first tabernacle
was still standing. Now this is the tabernacle that
God gave Moses instructions of making and erecting. And he says,
as long as that physical tabernacle was still standing, the true
way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. Verse nine, which was a figure, an outline. for the time then
present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that
could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
unto the conscience. Now, if you followed every rule
in the scripture meticulously and did exactly what it said
in bringing the blood sacrifice and everything, your conscience
would never truly be satisfied by that. You see, the only way
your conscience will ever be satisfied, the only way my conscience
will ever be satisfied is if I stand perfect before God. There can be no sin. If I have
any sin at all, my conscience finds no satisfaction. It is
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that tells me how I can
be without. sin before God. And I don't mean
figuratively. I mean literally. I mean really,
really without sin, ready to be accepted by God. If I died,
it is well with my soul. And that's the kind of satisfaction
the conscience wants, where we can say through the blood of
Christ, it is well with my soul. Verse 10. which stood only the
physical tabernacle, the ceremonies, the sacrifices, which stood only
in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances. Now here he calls these things
that God told Moses to enforce, he calls them carnal. ordinances,
fleshly ordinances, material ordinances imposed on them until
the time of reformation. Now here is the true reformation,
but Christ being come and high priest of good things to come.
Here is the true reformation when the Props of physical religion
are done away with that which appeals to the senses. Done away
with. Turn to John chapter four. We
looked at this a few weeks ago. John chapter four. Verse 19, the woman said unto
him, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped
in this mountain, this physical mountain. And they did. They
thought it was the place where the sacrifice was to be made,
the Samaritans. And you say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. And while the first
tabernacle was standing, it was the place men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, woman,
believe me. The hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain
nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father. Now he's talking
about this time of reformation. You worship, you know, not what
we know, what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. And
he's talking about spiritual Jews. He's not talking about
people that were born in Israel. He is not Jew, which is one outwardly.
Neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but he's a Jew which is one inwardly. Here is spiritual worship. The
hour cometh, verse 23, and now is when the true worshipers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. Now, Christ, Rather than a Levitical
high priest being come as high priest of good things to come. The things of salvation being justified, standing before
God without sin, without guilt, perfect before the law of God.
Being given a new heart that was not there before. A heart
that believes. A heart that loves God. Good
things to come. Christ in you. You in Christ. Good things to come. Being loved
by God. Loving God. Good things to come. being redeemed, being preserved
all the way to the end, being perfectly conformed to the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, the great high priest
of good things to come. This physical religion could
never accomplish that. It couldn't do it. It's just
carnal ordinances, nothing more. Picturing the good things to
come. We do not have enough time to
adequately bring out and consider the good things to come, but
let me just go to this one scripture. First Corinthians one 30 of him. Are you in Christ Jesus who of
God is made unto us wisdom. and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, good things to come. Now verse 11, 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, Now, Christ Jesus is the greater
and more perfect tabernacle. He is the tabernacle. I love
what John said when he said the word was made flesh and tabernacled
among us. He said in Revelation 21, three,
the tabernacle of God is with men. And he will tabernacle,
the word dwell, but it's the same word, tabernacle. He will
tabernacle with them. Now I'd love to think of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the tabernacle. He's the altar. His body is the
altar. He's the priest. He's the sacrifice. He brings
his own blood as the priest from the altar of his own body that
God can accept. He is the greater and more perfect
tabernacle. All this, anything that is physical
about religion, the robes and the crosses and all the religious
trinkets, they're just flesh, flesh. Oh, our gospel is a spiritual
religion. God is spirit. He's not confined
by space or time. God is spirit. And they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And this is the true reformation. 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. There's nothing created in this
at all. Verse 12, neither by the blood
of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once
into the holy place. having obtained eternal redemption
for us." Now, in the physical tabernacle, the Levitical priests
would come with the blood of bulls and goats. And look what
Hebrews 10 verse 4 says, for it's not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins. It's not possible.
It's not going to happen. But Christ entered into the holy
place with His own blood. HE DIED, SHED HIS BLOOD, WAS
RAISED FROM THE DEAD, AND HE ENTERS INTO GOD'S PRESENCE WITH
HIS OWN BLOOD. SOMEBODY SAYS, IS THIS LITERAL
OR FIGURATIVE? I don't know, but I think it's
His own blood. Do I understand that? No, but
do I believe it? Yes. He actually came into the
very Holy of Holies, not some 12-foot cubicle. Remember the
Levitical high priest, he would come in once a year into the
Holy of Holies, not without blood, but he would leave, and the next
year he would have to come in. And he would leave, and the next
year he would have to come in. And this happened for centuries,
for centuries, millions of animals slain. Why? Because those animal
sacrifices never did anything about sin. But the Lord Jesus
Christ comes with His own blood. And the scripture points out
that He entered in once. Look at verse 24 of chapter 9. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet, verse 25, that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy
place every year with the blood of others. For then he must have
often suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once, once in the end of the world,
have he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it's appointed unto men
once to die after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him, shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Look in chapter 10, verse 10.
Let's look at verse nine first. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. This is Christ speaking in Psalm
40. He taketh away the first, that first covenant, that he
may establish the second by the which will. Remember he said,
I come to do thy will, by the which will, God's will. We are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Sanctification. Once for all
sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Once
for all look at verse 14 of the same chapter four by one offering. He has perfected forever. Them that are sanctified. Now let's don't miss this back
to our text in Hebrews chapter nine, verse 12, neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal, don't
miss that word, eternal redemption for us. Now something that is
eternal never had a beginning, it never had a starting point,
and it will never have an end. Now that boggles our mind, I
realize that, because we're creatures of time. We're confined to space. We have now, but we also have
yesterday, and we have tomorrow, and we can't escape it as long
as we're here. But God is not like that. God
is eternal. He's called the eternal God,
and everything he does is eternal. It never had a beginning. It
never has an ending. It is eternal in just the book
of Hebrews. We read of eternal salvation,
a salvation that never had a beginning and it'll never have an end.
We read of eternal judgment, a judgment that never has a beginning
and never has an end. You know, I love to think that
my justification is eternal. It's eternal. There was never
a time when I was not justified in the purpose of God. Somebody
says, explain that to me. I just believe it because God
is eternal. Everything, God, God's eternal. Everything he does is eternal.
That's why Hebrews 4.3 says, all the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. Here we read of eternal redemption
in Christ called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
What is eternal is of necessity immutable. It can't change, it
can't be altered, it can't be improved. By his own blood, by his death,
but he's no longer dead, he said of himself, behold, I am he that
liveth and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore and have
the keys of hell and death. He who ever lives presents his
own blood Having obtained. That means he did it. Having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Now, who's the us? This is an issue. It's a very important issue.
And I hope I can explain why. The us is the elect. those he died for, those who
were given him before the foundation of the world. Now this is called
particular redemption, successful redemption, definite atonement.
Some even call it limited atonement, which by that, they mean it was
limited to the elect. That was the intention. And the
Lord did say, I laid down my life for the sheep. He didn't
die for goats. He died for the sheep. But listen
real carefully. The issue is not so much Who'd
he die for? The issue is who died. That's
the issue, who died. Feed the church of God which
he purchased with his own blood. Now, if he died for you because
of who he is, you must be saved. That is the hope of every believer. I love it in Luke 9, verse 31,
when it says, Moses and Elijah were with the Lord on the Mount
of Triton's figuration, and they spake of the decease which he
should accomplish. Now turn with me for a moment
to Romans 8. Romans 8. Verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? Can you see the boldness of his
speech at this time? Saying, bring it on. Who is he
that condemneth? It's Todd that died. It's blasphemous. It couldn't
do anybody any good. If I died for you, what good
would it do for you? It wouldn't do any good for me either. It's
Christ that died. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Now that's the one who obtained
eternal redemption for us. Now in closing, I wanna consider
what his blood actually obtained. This is the Reformation. when the physical is done away
with, and the spiritual, the Lord Jesus Christ coming in with
His own blood. Now, He was physical, He was
a man, and He still is a man. This is not saying everything's
spiritual and there's no material. I'm not saying that at all. Christ
Jesus is a man and He brings His own blood into the very Holy
of Holies in the presence of God. And this Word says He obtained
eternal redemption for us. Now, if I would pick out the
Word in the Bible that I believe most completely describes God's
salvation. I would use the word sanctification. What's it mean? It means to take
something common and ordinary and set it apart for holy purposes. Sanctification. Those vessels
in the temple, you know what God said? They're holy. Now,
they weren't holy in and of themselves, But when God said they were holy,
they were holy. Now that's not saying they now
have the holiness of God, but it is saying they were separated
by God. Now, sanctification. I'm sanctified, set apart by
God, the father in eternal election. There's no salvation apart from
that. I'm sanctified by God the Son, declared to be holy when
He obtained my redemption, my eternal redemption, and put away
my sin. At that time, God says with regard to me, He's holy!
When David said, I'm holy, he wasn't speaking figuratively.
He is. That's true of every believer.
And then there's the sanctifying work of God, the Holy Spirit,
the sanctification of the spirit. When he gives a holy nature,
he puts a new heart that was not there before. Now we're in
turn back to Hebrews, Hebrews 13. Verse 12, wherefore Jesus also
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood. With his own blood. He suffered
without the gate just as they would take the beasts that were
slain and take them outside of Jerusalem, but he sanctified
the people with his own blood. That's what the blood of Christ
has accomplished, the sanctification of His people. Romans chapter 5 verse 9 says,
being now justified by His blood. Now, justification is not a legal
term. Justification means I am declared
by God to be without sin because I am without sin in the blood. Now, do I know that by my own
experience? Of course I don't. As a matter
of fact, every second I breathe, I'm aware of sinfulness. I'm
aware of my own sin. But before God, I stand holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight, and the reason
being is because I am in his sight. And how he sees things
is how it is. I'm holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. Paul said in Romans chapter six,
verse 11, to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if God says
to me to reckon myself to be dead to sin, you know what? Because
I am dead to sin. That's what the Lord accomplished
on Calvary's tree when he obtained eternal redemption. I am justified
by his blood. Here's something his blood attained,
forgiveness. Forgiveness, the forgiveness of sin, Ephesians
1, 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin. Now understand this about forgiveness.
I love saying this. Love hearing it. Forgiveness
is not the end of salvation. When I do this, this, and this,
and that, and the other, and now I'm forgiven. No, my salvation
begins. It begins with the complete forgiveness,
the blotting out, the canceling of all my sins. Now that's what
his blood obtained. Peace. Having made peace through the
blood. of his cross. He made peace. Now what does
it mean that he made peace? It means that God is at peace
with me. He has nothing to be mad at. He's only pleased. And the ground of my peace is
the blood of Christ making my peace with God. And the peace
that I feel, and I do feel peace, right now I do. The peace that
I feel is because I know that God is satisfied with Jesus Christ,
and He's satisfied with me and Him, and I'm satisfied with that.
Are you? I mean, I'm at peace. I'm at
peace. because of the peace he worked
out by the blood of his cross. Ephesians 2, 17 says, we're made
nigh by the blood of Christ. There's no separation. There
is no separation. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God. Dearer, I cannot be, for in the
person of His dear Son, I'm as dear to God as He. Made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Continual cleansing. Now, what do I mean by that continual
cleansing? Well, do you remember when the Lord was washing the
disciples' feet and He said, He said, now are you clean every
whit? You're plum clean, but your feet
need to be washed. Now I know people have made an
ordinance of that where they get together and wash each other's
feet and church services. And I'm not gonna say not to do that,
but that's not the teaching there. That's not what, I get my feet
dirty, Every day, don't you I'm clean every wit but I get my
feet dirty in my walk through this world every Single day and
in first John chapter 1 verse 7 we read the blood of Jesus
Christ God's Son cleanseth us present tense Presidents presently
I need continual cleansing You know, in the sacrifices, for
instance, when you have the altar, you also have the labor to wash
in, which is to tell us that the blood of Jesus Christ is
our cleansing. It's not separating. There's the blood for justification
and the water you wash yourself up for sanctification. It's the
water that cleanses. When the sacrifice was made for
the leper, there was a bird that was killed, a live bird, and
you took the You took the blood of the bird that was killed and
running water and poured it on the live bird, which signifies
the continual cleansing of the blood. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's son, cleanseth us all the time from all sin. And then the writer to the Hebrews
said, we have boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood
of Jesus. I have boldness to come into
God's presence through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know
I'm accepted through the blood. I know I'm clean through the
blood and we have boldness. That's a strong word, isn't it?
But it's scriptural. We have boldness, freedom of
entrance through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with
me to Revelation 12. Verse 10, And I heard a loud voice saying,
In heaven now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of
our God and the power of His Christ. For the accuser of our
brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God,
Day and night. Now, if Satan just had your last
24 hours to accuse you to God, would he have any information?
Would he have anything he could use? Plenty. And he wouldn't have
to exaggerate. He would just state the facts. Verse 11, and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb. Every
accusation is seen to be false. They overcame him by the blood
of the lamb. Now, when have I personally experienced
this reformation spoken of in scripture? Do I know personally anything
about this glorious reformation? Turn with me to Romans chapter
three. Verse 19, now we know that what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there's
no difference for all have sinned. and come short of the glory of
God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth for ordained
to be a propitiation, a sin removing sacrifice. Now look at this next
phrase, through faith in His blood. Question, do you have faith in
his blood? Now, the emphasis is his blood,
his blood. We're not talking about any other
blood, but the blood of, and I say this fearfully, the blood
of God. Feed the church of God, which
he purchased with his own blood. Do you have faith in his blood? If you do, you're in on this thing called
the reformation. And your song is, stand and sing
with me, 212. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow. wide as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, 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. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other count I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.