Our passage this morning for
our lesson is Hebrews 9, verse 15, down through verse 18. And for this cause, He is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a
testament is of force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of
no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither
the first testament was dedicated without blood." The title of
the lesson this morning is, For This Cause. For This Cause. Now, let's start and let's look
at a few terms that are used in this passage and get a little
better understanding of them. First, we see a term here that's
used a couple of times, and that term is testament. In this passage,
the manner in which God's promised salvation is given is compared
to what we would call a last will and testament, a last will
and testament. In a last will and testament, it's an arrangement that a man
makes to ensure that his will is carried out in freely giving
his earthly possessions to those he chooses to give them to after
his death. And the one who makes his will
and makes his will known in his testament is a testator We see
that term here. He's a testator. He's the one
that makes the will, the testament. And then that which he gives
is called an inheritance. It's an inheritance. And then
we see here the words New Testament and the word First Testament. Let me just give you a little
word on this. The first testament is called the first because it
was the first testament that God revealed to man. It was the
first one in man's estimation that was given, in our estimation.
And the first testament stretched from Adam's day until it reached
its end in Christ. And God gave the first testament
to teach His people our need of a new testament. of the New
Covenant. Now, there's a word here called
the New Testament. And it's called new because this
covenant really came before. It came before the First Testament
did. The Testament here that is called
the New Testament is an everlasting testament. It's as everlasting
and eternal as God is, as the great I Am is. And when God reveals
this testament within His people, He makes all things new. Everything
becomes new. The God that we behold, that
we once imagined, is not the same God anymore. We behold a
new God, the God, the true and living God. And we understand
His Word with new meaning. It makes, it becomes clear to
us what this means. And he writes this, he gives
this new heart and he writes this new testament, his law upon
this heart and it's what we delight in. This is the testament of
God that we delight in. Now, and it's called new also
because that first one is old. It's been made old because Christ
put an end to it. All right, now let's look here
at a few problems with that First Testament. There was a few problems
with it. The First Testament was made,
as we're looking here at the services and the tabernacle in
the wilderness, that First Testament was made from God to men through
Moses as a go-between. God called Moses up to Mount
Sinai. And God gave Moses the first
testament. And then Moses came down and
he revealed God's will in his testament to the people. But
Moses was a sinful man. Moses was a sinner. And Moses
himself needed a mediator between him and God. Moses couldn't be
the mediator. And therefore Moses couldn't
be the one that God would use to join himself with his people. And for this cause, Christ is
the mediator of the New Testament. He's the mediator of the New
Testament. Well, there's another problem. Under the First Testament,
God promised that man would live based on conditions, based on
a condition. Men would live as long as they
offered God perfect obedience in thought, word, and deed. And
if men obeyed every last jot and tittle of his law, every
precept that he gave in his law, men would live. And he gave a
set of ceremonies also by which men were to worship God, by which
men could be cleansed before God when they broke his precepts.
But no man could fulfill the requirements of this law under
that first covenant, because all are sinners, all are born
in trespasses and sins. There in verse 7, Hebrews 9,
7, it says, Into the second, the holiest of holies, went the
high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the errors of the people. He
was a sinner too. And the Holy Ghost signified
by this that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made
manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. And for this
cause, Christ is the mediator of the New Testament. He has
to be the mediator of the New Testament. Well, there's another
problem. Under that first testament, God's
promises were only temporal blessings. That's all they ever promised.
An earthly inheritance in Canaan. They promised blessings of plenty
and prosperity. Temporal blessings is all they
promised. It's all they ever promised.
So if a man could have lived honorably before God's law, if
a man could obey God's law totally, completely, as holy as God is
holy, the best we could ever gain for ourselves would be temporal
life. That's it. Temporal life. No
eternal life. Look here at verse 14. It says,
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God? He's God and man. He's eternal. And His offering
is eternal. And therefore, He obtained eternal
redemption by that offer. And for this cause, Christ is
the mediator of the New Testament. Now there's another problem.
The ceremonies for cleansing under that First Testament only
dealt with outward cleansing. That's all it dealt with. Sinners
must be justified and made righteous legally before God. And sinners
must also be purged inwardly and given a new spirit joined
with Christ or else we won't be able to worship Christ. And
look here at Hebrews 8. Back up there. For finding fault
with them, not with the law, not with the testament that He
gave, not with the covenant, but with the people. There's
where the problem lies. For finding fault with them,
he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the land of Egypt, because they continue not in my covenant,
and I regard them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their
minds, I'll write them in their hearts, and I'll be to them a
God, and they shall be to me a people." Hebrews 9, verse 9. It says that this was a figure
for the time then present. And it says that the gifts and
the sacrifices that were offered could not make him that did the
service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Couldn't be
any inward cleansing. Verse 14. How much more shall
the blood of Christ skip over there, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. For this cause, Christ
is the mediator of the New Testament. So, you see, there's nothing
wrong with the covenant. There was nothing wrong with
the testament. The fault was with us. The first testament
was given to show us our need of Christ, the mediator of the
new testament. That's what it says back there
in Hebrews 8, 6. Now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry
by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises. Now, there's a necessary means
that has to be accomplished for a testament to go into effect,
for a will and testament to go into effect. Look here at Hebrews
9 with me. The testator must die. He got
to die before a testament goes into effect. Look at verse 16,
Hebrews 9, 16. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a
testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of
no strength at all while the testator liveth. For this cause,
he's the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death,
that by means of death, he might accomplish something. The reason
blood is vital in scripture, the reason that blood is vital
in scripture, we can't take blood out of the gospel. We take blood
out of the gospel, we got no gospel. Because blood is vital
in understanding the work of redemption because life is in
the blood. We lose our blood, we lose our
life. As our blood drains from our bodies, our life drains from
our bodies. Life's in the blood. Christ had
to die in order for those which are called to receive the promise
of eternal inheritance. If they're going to receive this
inheritance promised by Him, He's going to have to die before
they can receive it. Hebrews 9.18, look here, Whereupon
neither the first testament was dedicated without blood, That's
what was being shown when that first testament was given. For
when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to
the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats with water
and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all
the people, saying, this is the blood of the testament which
God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry and almost
all things are by the law purged with blood. purified, cleansed
with blood, and without shedding of blood, no remission. There's
no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, blood of bulls and goats, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these. If you look back up there in
Hebrews 9.12, It wasn't by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood. Christ's own blood. He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Look down at verse 14. Christ, through the eternal Spirit,
offered Himself without spot to God. That's what we're talking
about. There has to be the death of
the testator before this testament can be enforced. And He is the
testator. He's the one in whom this testament
is guaranteed. He's the one in whom this testament
is made. Now, what did His death accomplish?
What did it accomplish? Well, through death, Christ paid
for the transgressions under the first testament. Alright,
look here at Hebrews 9.15. And for this cause, he's the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant.
The transgressions that were under the first testament are
the sins of God's elect people from Adam until Christ personally
came into this world. And Christ, when it says here,
the redemption of the transgressions, by laying down his life, By giving
his blood, by offering himself to God, he paid the sin debt. Redemption is a purchase. You
redeem something, you purchase it. And he purchased, he paid
the debt. The wages of sin is death. He paid that debt. He died so
that his people don't have to die. He did it for them. And He bought His people out
of bondage. It's a purchase. Redemption is
a purchase. By paying that price, He bought
them out of death's grip. He bought them out from under
sin's chains. He bought His people. And it
says here that this was for the transgressions under the 1st
Testament. You have to remember here that
the Hebrew writer is writing to to those who were of the physical
nation of Israel. They had seen the Old Covenant.
They had seen that Old Testament. And they had heard of their fathers,
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Well, if Christ is the one who
purged sins by His death, what about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? And He's saying here, That's
how they were purged. That's how they were made accepted
with God. It wasn't through these carnal
offerings. It wasn't through the blood of
bulls and goats and calves. Those things were just types
and shadows. They were brought into this eternal
inheritance by Jesus Christ, by the Lord Jesus Christ, the
testator, the one who is the testator, whose will it is that
His people be with Him in glory. And it's through Him. Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, he said, and he saw it and was glad. Sinners
have always been saved the same way. And it says in 1 Corinthians
10.4, they did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they
drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that
rock was Christ. It's talking about the saints
in the wilderness, those who were the ones that he would give
this inheritance to. to Him give all the prophets
witness. He's the one that all the prophets
spoke about, that through His name, whosoever, before His death
or after His death, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive
remission of sins. Because He bought us out from
under Him. Now, the second thing, through
death, Christ ensures that His people shall receive the eternal
inheritance He promised by His will and testament. He ensures
that His people shall receive the eternal inheritance promised. It's a promise. Look at verse
15, Hebrews 9, 15. And for this cause He's the mediator
of the New Testament, that by means of death for the redemption
of the transgressions under the First Testament, they which are
called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." God's
Testament is sure. God's Testament is unbreakable.
God's Testament is unchangeable. God's promise of life eternal
with Him Shall be given to everyone for whom Christ died For this
cause he's the mediator of the New Testament Now Christ being
both God and man in one body He before the foundation of the
world in Mount Zion not in Mount Zion and not in Mount Sinai in
Mount Zion when there was nothing but God. God, and we have to
understand these things in terms we can understand them. But like
we saw with Moses as a kind of a type there, God gave His will,
His purpose. He blessed His people with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He chose us in Him. He chose who was going to receive
his inheritance. He chose who would receive his
inheritance. And he told his son, here they
are, here's their names. And their names were written
down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And he agreed in that covenant
to be made a man, to come in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and to give his life through death and die by his people out
from under the transgression the bondage of sin and bring
in an everlasting righteousness for them and he agreed the Holy
Spirit agreed that he would Take the blood of Christ and purge
the conscience purge the inner man create a new spirit within
God said I'll write my law on the new heart that I've given. I'll write my law on the inner
man Christ being God and being man Perfect God perfect man he's
able to receive God's will and testament and through death meet
all the requirements of it as the testator and come and give
it in his spirit by the Spirit to his people and So you see
this covenant, this testament, it's made between God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The ones that receive
the inheritance. I guarantee you, men sitting
in here right now, if you have a will, if you've made a will
out, you didn't ask your children what they wanted. You decided
who would get what. And you wrote it down. And that's
how it's gonna come to pass. That's what God did. This covenant
is sure. This new covenant is sure. And
this is that New Testament. This is what, this is the law
he writes on our heart. To see that it's not based on
a condition. It's not based on, it's not about
temporal blessings. It's about eternity. It's about
eternal life. It's an eternal inheritance.
And it's based on promise. It's based on promise, not based
on works, based on promise. Jacob's ladder is an example. Jacob's ladder. It reaches from
heaven, and it reached down to earth. And Jacob saw angels ascending
and descending upon it. Christ is that ladder. He is
the mediator between God and men. There's only one, and he
is that one. And only He could accomplish
this. That First Testament was temporary and typical. It's gone. It's over with. It's done. Don't go to it trying to gain
acceptance with God, gain favor with God. Before or after conversion,
go to Christ. He's our lawgiver. He's the one
in whom the law is also. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. The First Testament was shrouded
in ceremonies and carnal ordinances of law. Christ is the full and
clear revelation of mercy and truth. The full and clear revelation
of mercy and truth. The First Testament was conditional
on obedience or disobedience of the people. The covenant of
grace is by grace through faith. And for this cause, He's the
mediator of the New Testament. You understand that? He's the
mediator of the new testament. All right. I hope that's a lesson.