If you would, and you wanna follow
along, turn to Hebrews nine again. Hebrews nine, beginning in verse
22. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is
no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places 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 that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. For then must he have
suffered, excuse me, for then must he often have suffered since
the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. I'm just gonna stop right there,
because I'm not gonna get that far. Last week is a way of a bit of
introduction to Hebrews. I don't want to leave a false
impression. The book of Hebrews is not anti-Catholicism. The book of Hebrews is the truth
of God. Now, sometimes I suspect there may be a bit of anti-Hebrew,
book of Hebrew in Catholicism, but that's a whole nother story.
You understand, the book of Hebrew is just laying out the truth
of God about those Old Testament priests and high priests. And
I say high priests plural, because there were many in the Old Testament.
And we are told they are done away with, along with all the
sacrifices and offerings that they had. You know, there was a movie some
years ago, decades ago now, called Raiders of the Lost Ark, and
they were looking for the Ark of the Covenant. I can tell you
this, even if they found it, it wouldn't mean a thing now.
because we have the mercy seat sitting at the right hand of
the Father right now. That box right now with that
lid is just a box with a lid. And there was, you can look all
through Hebrews you want, there was no set up. There was a telling
us of the doing away of the Old Testament priest and the Old
Testament high priest and there was no replacement on the earth. The only replacement for the
priesthood and for the high priest is our Lord Jesus Christ and
his one sacrifice. There are no other sacrifices
for sin forever. And that's kind of what I want
to get into today. Because Christ Jesus is He is all power, he is all might,
he has all right, he is all just. And his sacrifice is all we need. It was therefore necessary, verse
23, that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified
with these. Talking about the blood shed
in the Old Testament. Everything was purified with
blood. The vessels, the temple, the tabernacle before it, it
was all sprinkled with blood. The patterns of things in the
heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices than these. The heavenly things. The heavenly
things are just as real, if not actually more real, than the
old things that were on the earth. What? They were patterns of the heavenly
things. This plan that was given in the
Old Testament of the tabernacle, of the sacrifices, of the vessels,
the altar, the labor, the candlestick, The ark and the mercy seat and
everything that went around it, the garb that the high priest
wore, all of that was given to Moses by God. This is not something somebody
made up. God gave the instructions and
guided their hands in the construction of these tabernacles and in the
instructions for all of the sacrifices And all of the offerings, you
can read in the first five books of the Bible, it's all throughout
there. And they are explicit, and they
are detailed, and they, you know, we've got them right now. But here, what the writer of
Hebrews says here, very plainly, the heavenly things are purified
in like manner, but with different blood. with different blood. Not with
the blood of bulls and goats. Because Jesus Christ is the better
sacrifice. Now, don't be distracted or worried
about, and I looked it up, but it says the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices. It says it plural. Well, don't
be worried about that. Just as I said last week, there's
not one word you can use to describe the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You can't say atonement, you can't say remission, you can't
say reconciliation, justification, sanctification. You've gotta
have it. We need a plethora of words, a whole book full of words,
to describe the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Guess what? There's no way in the Old Testament
that one sacrifice showed it all either. There were sin offerings, there
were burnt offerings. There was what? Sheave offering,
wave offering, a meat offering. So don't worry about that word
sacrifices, because the writer goes on in Hebrews, and actually
before, to tell you that there is only one sacrifice and offering
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that sacrifice and that offering
was toward God, not toward man. He's plain. And here he's telling
us it's a better sacrifice. And yes it was. The better sacrifice
of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all of the pictures and the
figures and the illustrations of all of the Old Testament sacrifices. because his blood is said in
the scriptures to be the blood of God. You understand? This is a fascinating,
wondrous, glorious thing. God became a man to shed his
blood for us. Now if that don't make your heart
kind of swell up, You might not know what's going on. It's the
truth of God. God shed his blood for us. And God made this sacrifice and
offering to the Father. And we'll see later on. He said
for us, for us. Jesus Christ had no need to shed
his blood for himself. He was perfection personified.
God spoke from heaven while he walked around on this earth and
said, this is my beloved son in whom I am what? Well pleased. You won't find that anywhere
else said about anyone else. And then he says this, hear ye
him. Oh well, you know. Man's very
good at hearing, but they're not very good at hearing him.
They'll hear anyone else except him. They'll hear everyone else
except him. But his blood is said to be the
blood of God. He himself is the better sacrifice
and his precious blood was shed, I'm gonna say it now, for many. That's what the scriptures say,
for many. Christ's sacrifice is singular. He is the perfect offering and
the perfect sacrifice. It's the same thing, the same
time. To God the Father, he is the
fulfillment of the burnt offering, the sin offering, the meat offering,
and the atonement sacrifice all rolled into one. It all pointed
to him and to this offering that he made to the Father. He fulfilled
all of the daily sacrifices, the weekly, the monthly, and
the yearly. And his sacrifice, singular,
his sacrifice, singular, purified, cleansed heavenly things. Heavenly things. To the Father,
to the Father. What do I mean by that? I mean
that everything that our Lord Jesus Christ touches is cleansed. And even better than that, as
far as I'm concerned, everyone that our Lord Jesus Christ touches
is cleansed, purified. Our freedom, our remission, by
his shed effusive blood, it's in the Son. Our freedom
is in him, in a person. Why? Because of his better sacrifice. Infinitely better sacrifice.
And then in the next verse, we see one of the results of his
offering. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself now to
appear in the presence of God. for us, for us. Now, did you ever think it's
strange, I must admit that I did, but did you ever think it's strange
that Jesus did not enter the holy places on earth? Now, he
did go to the temple. He ran some people off with a
whip he made and told them to get out and don't come back.
you're making my father's house a house of merchandise. But he
never entered the holy place. He never entered the holiest
of holies. Never, not on this earth. You
know why? He himself is the walking holy
place. He himself is the holiest of
holy. He himself It's the mercy seat. He himself is the ark. And he
himself is that law, that rod that budded, and that pot of
manna that was inside the ark. He's the bread that came down
from heaven. He's the righteous branch. And he is our mercy seat. But here's the reason why he
never entered them. They weren't nothing but figures.
And I don't mean to denigrate them at all, but that's what
they were. At this time, and while our Lord
Jesus Christ was walking on this earth, the presence of God was
no longer in the tabernacle. The presence of God was walking
around outside the tabernacle. You understand, that's what,
they talk about it in the Old Testament. There was the Shekinah glory
of God. They like that word. And I kind
of like that word. But what it meant was that was the place
where God showed himself. Manifested himself. And he did.
As a pillar of fire and as a cloud. God was there with the people
of Israel in the wilderness. And they moved when he said move
and they stayed where he said stay. And if they didn't listen
and they murmured and complained, God killed them. A lot of people
like to leave that part out. But here it is right now. They
were just figures because the true had arrived. The true was here. Christ Jesus did not come to
be a figure. And he did not come to endorse
those figures. He came to supplant them because
he's the true. They were figures, yes, they
were figures of him. Now he has arrived. That's the problem I have with
the Pope calling himself the vicar of Christ. Because Christ
don't need no vicar. He is in every one of his children.
He is in every one that he has brought in to the family of God. He is inside the Holy Spirit
of God. Know ye not that ye are a temple
of the Holy Ghost? Unless you're not. Unless you're
not. Christ doesn't need a vicar.
He's our vicar. He's our reality. There's no
more time now, no more use for figures. except for educational
purposes We can talk about them because we're going to talk about
the one who came and fulfilled all the figures We can talk about
the types because we're going to talk about the anti type the
one who the type was a type of I Don't know that's good English
or not He did not come to be a figure.
He did not come to endorse the figures because he himself is
the truth and the true that the figure was made of. He was the true that the figures
and types and illustrations and examples all pointed toward him. He didn't come to enter the figures. He came to save sinners. And here it says that he entered
heaven itself. Christ has not entered into the
holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself. Now, this actually should come
as no surprise. because Jesus Christ is God.
He came down from heaven. In the beginning was the word,
John says. He wrote in John one. And the
word was with God and the word was God. So it should be no surprise
that Jesus Christ returned to heaven after his resurrection
from the dead. That's where he came from. He came here with an express
purpose. The angel told Joseph, call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. He made his sacrifice and his
offering. He lived. He died and he was
resurrected, and never forget this part, bodily, and he ascended. He ascended. Where'd he go? He ascended into
heaven itself. It's no surprise. Heaven was
his home. the son returned to his father.
And the father was well pleased. Jesus Christ came from heaven,
he became a man, he lived, died, and was resurrected as a man,
bodily. And right now, at the right hand
of God, seated, seated on the right hand of the majesty
on high, there's a man, the God man, Jesus Christ. Why? Because the father was explicitly
and completely satisfied with the work and the offering of
his son. He Appears in the presence of
God This same Jesus that the Apostle
saw a sin is still the same Jesus People have a tendency to kind
of walk over that And he's gonna come back and like manners you've
seen him go why because it's still the same Jesus It's still
the same Jesus and He appears He exhibits himself,
manifests himself in the presence of God. Like I said, this doesn't seem
strange or unnatural if you know Jesus Christ is God. A lot of people don't seem to know
that Jesus Christ is God. He's appearing in the presence
of God his father, but here those last two words of this verse
really get me. He's appeared now. What's it
say? Now to appear in the presence
of God, and these last two words, for us. For us. Understand the scripture doesn't
state that he appeared in the presence of God for himself.
That's as natural as normal place. In the beginning was the word.
And the word was with God. The word was God. All things
were made by him. What's that mean? Well, nothing
was made without him. Period. That's what it says.
He was God before he came, he was God while he lived among
us, and he was God when he ascended into heaven. But he went into heaven itself
now to appear in the presence of God for us. For us! The perfect, holy, well-beloved
Son of God is where he belongs. But then the writer of Hebrews
puts it in these two words, for us. Jesus Christ doesn't need representation. He's the representative. He's our representative. That's what this means. Who's
the us? Well, Hebrews one and verse two
says that God in sundry times and in diverse manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things. Chapter two and verse one says,
therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things
which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
Chapter three and verse one says this. Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. One thing we know, for us, is
believers. Is believers. But I wanna tell you something
else. Because when this happened, when
our Lord ascended, 2,000 years ago, that, where he appeared in the
presence of God for us, includes every believer alive today. Because I wanna tell you, The
good shepherd appeared in the presence of God for his sheep. And here's the thing, he appeared
in the presence of God, because you understand, this is a one-time
thing. It's one offering, one sacrifice,
one time. 2,000 years ago or thereabouts, So I'm saying that the good shepherd
appeared there for his sheep, and I'm gonna tell you, that
was found sheep and that was lost sheep. Now how can I say
that? Well, John chapter 17 gives us
a really good place to look at. And John chapter 17 is what we
call our Lord's high priestly prayer. He talks about his disciples
while I was with them in the world. I kept them in thy name.
That's John 17 verse 12 Those that thou gavest me I have kept
and none of them is lost but the son of perdition That the
scripture might be fulfilled Verse 16, it says, they are not
of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world. And for their sakes I sanctify
myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Then verse 20, John 17. Neither pray I for these alone. but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. That they may, that they all
may be as one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that
they all may, also may be one in us. That the world may believe
that thou hast sent and the glory which thou gavest me, I have
given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. Amen. There is only one sacrifice and
one offering for sin forever. And that offering, that sacrifice,
is our Lord Jesus Christ and his precious blood to the Father,
and that was for us. For all of the saints of God,
past, present, and future. Yes, we are brought in in time. Yes, he gives life. The son gives
life just as a father gives life. And yes, he paid the price for
us. Here, right now, if you believe,
you can say he paid the price for you 2,000 years ago. He made
the offering to God. Chapter nine of Hebrews, verse
12, it says, neither by the blood and goats the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption. Now somebody interpolated
the for us in there. That's okay, you can have it
there, you can leave it out. But here's the thing, this redemption
was obtained, eternal redemption was obtained 2,000 years ago
by our Lord and his blood. Now turn the page, if you would,
to Hebrews chapter 10. He says, verse 10. By the witch
will, we are sanctified. How? Through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once. And there it's interpolated for
all. And I will leave that off. You wanna put for us, I would
okay with that. But here, this is the only point. We were sanctified
once by his offering. Then verse 14, for by one offering
hath he perfected forever them that are sanctified. So by the one offering we are
sanctified, set apart, and by that one offering we are perfected
forever. How? in him. I'm not perfect in myself, and
neither is any other human that's ever walked on this earth other
than Jesus Christ. Whereof the Holy Ghost is also
a witness to us, for after he had said before, this is the
covenant that I will make with them in those days, saith the
Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. How is that possible? With the shedding of blood, there
is remission. With Christ's offering to the
Father of his blood, there is freedom. There is remission. There's no way a sinner can stand before God except
in Jesus Christ because he paid the price. He purchased us, redeemed
us with his own blood. He offered his own blood and
by his offering We are both sanctified and perfected forever. Well they
say, now where remission of these is, there is no more offering
of sin. Where freedom, and that's the
word, of these is. What are we freed from? By his
blood. Our sins and iniquity, he's gonna
remember no more. He's not saying it didn't happen.
He's not saying you might suffer the consequences of your sin.
But what he's saying is that God will remember your sins no
more. They were real, they existed,
but our Lord Jesus Christ paid the price. He Appeared in the presence of
God for us Fallen rotten Sinners who were without strength and
without hope and in the world He appeared before God and Said
God I've paid the price for I took their penalty. I took
their punishment and here's my blood. And Jesus Christ now ever liveth
to make intercession for us, for us. He appeared for us. This is just
something that just struck me. He appeared for us before God,
before we were ever born. Before we ever were conceived. We didn't exist except in his
divine thoughts. Our Lord knew exactly what he
was doing. Our Lord always knows exactly
what he's doing. We don't know. All we know is
what he has revealed to us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as a high priest enters into the holy place every
year with the blood of others. Understand, this was a one-time
act which has eternal, I don't know, repercussions, eternal
results, eternal life because of the blood of Christ and his
offering to the Father. He entered into heaven itself
now to appear in the presence of God for us. For us. Rejoice, sinners. Jesus Christ came to save that
which was lost. And he has. And he is. He will And now he is appearing in the
presence of God for us So this now that was written
in this book was around 2,000 years ago and guess what is still
true He's not making any more offerings There was only the
one offering but he ever liveth to make intercession
for us. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this place, this time, but most of all thankful for your
Son, who has given us all things, done all of our salvation, and bringing us to know about
it. Love him and to love you Because of the great love you
had for us and all you've done Thank you Lord be with Walter
as he comes to preach your word In Christ's name we pray amen