I'm going to be looking in Hebrews
again, chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. The man that
wrote that song, Philip Bliss, was quite a prolific hymn writer. Wrote quite a few hymns and died
in a train wreck when he was 38 years old. The Lord gives His people a number
of days in the earth, and we know not how many days that is. Another hymn writer that we sing
his hymns, one of the ones that's the greatest blessing to me is
When This Passing World Is Done, and that was written by Robert
Murray McShane. The Lord took him from this world
when he was 30 years old. The Lord doesn't need to have
someone here for a long time to perform mighty works through. And yet some of his messengers,
he's left here for a long time. You know, as we look at the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ, quite short by men's standards, approximately
33 years old, when He was crucified. And yet no man, speaking humanly,
ever accomplished as much in his lifetime as He did. And He
is that one who is the subject of this book, this letter to
the Hebrews. It starts off with a declaration
that the Lord has spoken through him in these days. He has no other messenger but
Christ. And when men come claiming to
have revelations from God, that do not point to and culminate
in the glory of Christ, you can be sure that such prophecies
and such declarations are not of God. Because God, who at sundry
times, in divers manners, in times past, spake unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son. So any other message is a lie. Any other message that purports
that men have some manner in which they can approach unto
the Father except through Him is a lie. Christ alone is the
Great High Priest over the household of God. Now we read last week,
the first verse of the chapter was, Now of the things which
we have spoken, this is the sum This is the sum. This is the
sum total. This is it. This is the full,
complete message. This is what he's trying to get
the point across. We have such a high priest, who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens. And it is this great high priest,
which when we come to the 9th chapter where we're looking today, And this is the description of his
high priestly work. He is our high priest. He is
the spokesman of God. He's the great high priest of
God. We don't need anything else. And here we have the glorious
description of that priestly work. So we'll read the ninth
chapter. and has in it one of my most
favorite verses, verse 12, chapter 9, says, then verily the first
covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first wherein was the candlestick, and the table, the showbread,
which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the
golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about
with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's
rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. and over it
the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat, of which we cannot
now speak particularly. Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. But into the second went the
high priest alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the errors of the people, or
for the sins of the people. 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, which was a
figure 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 to the conscience. which stood only
in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances,
imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ, being
come an 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, 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. 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, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? 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. 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, and without
shedding of blood is no remission or forgiveness. It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with these, but the heavenly things with better sacrifices
than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are 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 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, and as it is appointed unto men once
to die, but 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. Now, the priestly work of Christ is
the very purpose for which Christ came into the world. He is a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, as we have already
looked at. He is a priest who has neither
beginning of days nor ending of life. He is that one who is
ministers heavenly things, whereas all priests on earth, all priests
of men, all they can do is minister of earthly things. And there
is no priest upon the earth who is a mortal individual who can
expiate the sins of another man, either by word or by deed. But Jesus Christ being a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek has the power of an endless life
and therefore when he came as that priest he was able to offer
a sacrifice that it would endure forever. And so it is that we
look at him and of course Paul begins here speaking about the
first covenant. And he said the first covenant,
which being the covenant of Moses, when the Lord gave the law to
Moses. And the Hebrews, they would be
very much aware of all of these things. He speaks about what
there was there in the tabernacle. All these different things, the
candlestick and the table to show bread. uh which is called
the sanctuary that is the first outer part of the tabernacle
into which all any of the priests would go and offer these daily
sacrifices but there was a curtain in there a veil that separated
between the outer tabernacle and the inner tabernacle. And
that inner tabernacle was where the Ark of the Covenant was,
and that was the place where the high priest alone went once
every year to make sacrifice. And so he says here that, and
he speaks about in the second tabernacle, which is called the
holiest of all, which had the golden censer, the Ark of the
Covenant laid round about with gold, and had the golden pot
of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant,
or the law. were inside of that ark, which
Brother Al was speaking about this morning as the Philistines
took that ark. And these items were in that
ark. Now, as in their case, they were superstitious in this. Now,
they figured that wherever this ark was, that was where God was. The Lord plainly said that he
dwelt not in temples made with hands, but so pleased him to
give them the understanding that this ark of the covenant was
that place, that holy place, where the Lord was, the manifestation
of the Lord's presence would be with them, but not in a superstitious
manner, as men always do. It's just like men have superstitions
about churches. You know, a lot of people, they
will do all sorts of things outside the walls of a church building,
but they wouldn't do it inside because they have a superstitious
idea of what this building is. Well, this building's nothing.
It's made by men. It's just a structure. It has
no power. It has no significance. It's
not holy. The only thing that makes it
holy is the presence of God. Just like when the Lord told
Moses when he met with him on the plains there and Moses saw
that burning bush, and the Lord said, take off your shoes off
your feet for the ground whereon you stand is holy ground. Well,
it wasn't holy because it was a particular piece of ground,
but it was holy because the Lord was speaking to Moses in that
place. And so it is that that was the
only thing that made these things have power was the presence of
God in them. They had no power of themselves
as the Philistines found out or as the Hebrews found out when
the Philistines overcame them in battle. This was not a good
luck charm for them. And so it is, it was funny that
you mentioned about the fellow with the, putting the Bible on
the, The dash of his car, I remember one time I broke down, and a
fella came along and asked me if I wanted to ride, and I got
in the car with him, and he had a Bible up on his dash, and I
got to talking to him, and I asked him, you know, well, I say, you
got a Bible up there? I says, you read the Bible? He
says, oh, no. He said, no, he says, I just
carry that with me. you know, in case, you know,
it brings me good luck. And that's how people often look. You hear people say, oh, well,
you know, I need to go to church, because I'm, you know, feeling
a little down, or I'm starting to get sick, or this, that, or
the other. So I'll go to church, you know, and that'll be good.
And it's superstition is all that is. It's just empty. There's nothing in that. So what
the Lord is showing here is not that there was no significance
in the tabernacle and the things in the tabernacle, because for
the time that the Lord gave them, they were meant for what they
were meant for. But we have to know what they
were meant for. It's like Brother Barnard said about the Scriptures. The Scriptures don't mean what
they say. He said the Scriptures mean what
they mean. Now, you've got to think on that
for a little bit, but that's what the tabernacle was. The
tabernacle was not the tabernacle and all of these, the Ark of
the Covenant and the mercy seat and all those things, they were
not the thing itself. They were just meant for that
which the Lord would teach them. And so it is that he's giving
this lesson here. And he said, in that second place
over it were the cherubims of glory. Now this was a, the Ark
of the Covenant was quite a glorious piece of furniture to look at.
It was overlaid with gold, about six feet long. And overlaid,
or not six feet, about four feet long. And it was overlaid with
gold, and on each end were these huge cherubim, statues of these
angels, and they had wings. That's where people get the idea
that angels have wings. Now, you know, we speak about
coming on angels' wings and things like that, and that's how angels
are always pictured. And indeed, these cherubims were
shown to have wings, but these wings covered The Scripture says,
the mercy seat. The mercy seat was on top of
the Ark of the Covenant. And it was overlaid with gold.
And it says here, overshadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot
now speak particularly. Now I don't know exactly if Paul
is saying here that he doesn't have time to go into this or
this is such a great mystery that he could not speak of it.
But in any event, This is a wondrous thing how the Lord designed the
tabernacle and all of these things, but where would you go today
to see that? It doesn't exist anymore. It's
gone. You know, people, of course,
they have supposedly, what was the movie they made about the
Right, and so supposedly they found this. Well, let me tell
you, you can't find it. Because it's gone. Because it
was temporary. Just like everything in this
world is temporary. There's not going to be a finding
of the Ark and everybody's going to come and there's going to
be some power in it or whatever. But it's gone. It's evaporated. It's gone back to the dust, just
like all things in this world, and just like the Lord meant.
For he says here, these things were thus ordained by the priest,
and let's see, the Holy Ghost, once every year without the blood,
the Holy Ghost is signifying that the way into the holiest
was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing. Because they couldn't go in there.
And so it is, the way into the holies was not made, but every
year the Lord allowed the priest to go in there. And he had bells
sewn in the bottom of his garment. And he went in there with a rope
around his foot. Because he wasn't supposed to
stop ministering while he was in there. And if those bells
stopped ringing, they figured, well, the Lord had killed him
and they had to drag him out because he couldn't go in there
and get him. And so the Lord was serious with this business
here. But it was only temporary. It was glorious. It was a great
thing. And when we look at the Jewish
culture and the religion and all of these things, there was
a glorious thing that God did in the earth. And He chose the
people in Israel, in the earth, and He favored them. And He gave
to them the Word of God. But it was temporary. Because
what he was doing was showing that which was to come, which
was perfect. And that's what he's talking
about here. He said, which was a figure for time then present
in which were offered both gifts and sacrifice. Now listen to
this. That could not make him that did the service perfect
as pertaining to the conscience. Now, The high priest, every year
he went into the holy place to make an atonement for sin. But
you know what? He went in there a sinner, and
he came out a sinner. Because he could not take away
anybody's sin, even his own, by the service that he did. If
he couldn't take away his own sin, how could he possibly take
away the sin of others? That's the folly of thinking
that there are men in the world who could somehow take away a
man's sin or pronounce that a man's sin is taken away because it
can't be done. Which stood only in meats and
drinks and divers washings, carnal ordinances imposed on them until
until the time of the Reformation. Now, this is not talking about
what's called the Protestant Reformation that took place back
in Martin Luther's day, or that was the beginning of those things.
But it's speaking about the time of the Reformation, the times
of the restitution of all things, which is the coming of Jesus
Christ. That's the time of the Reformation.
Because God, who at sundry times in divers manners spake in time
past by the prophets and in these signs and the tabernacles, now
has spoken unto us by His Son. This is the reformation that
has taken place. But Christ, and I say that carnal
high priest, he couldn't take away sins as pertaining to the
conscience. He couldn't give a man a clear
conscience. Why not? Because he knew tomorrow he had
to offer another offering. I mean, if sin's taken away,
there's not another offering to be made, is there? I mean,
if an offering's good and that offering does the job, there
doesn't need to be another offering. But see, every year they had
to make another offering. What did that tell them? Sin's
not done away with. just as true and real as it was. And it was just as true and real
when the high priest left the Holy of Holies as it was when
he went in there. He couldn't take away sin. But
then he says, but Christ, being come and high priest of good
things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, that
is not made with hands, that is to say not of this building. See, Christ entered into a holy
of holies that was not made with hands. Now you remember whenever
he said it is finished, that the scripture says that the veil
of the temple was read in twain. That curtain which separated
the outer tabernacle from that place of the holy of holies,
that was torn open. I'm sure that must have been
quite a shock to those priests when they went in there and they
saw that, the Lord would signify that the way into the Holy of
Holies is now made plain. It is now made open by the blood
of Christ, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made
with hands. And then it says here, neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered
in to the holy place. He entered in once. He went in
there to the holy place, not the holy place made with hands.
He never went in there. Jesus Christ never set foot inside
the holy place. But he did enter the holy of
holies, not made with hands. Yes, he did. 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, I believe
that if you want to boil down the essence of what Christ did
into one verse in the scripture, here it would be. This tells you what he did. Now,
if you obtain something, that means you get it. Does it not? I mean, if you go into the grocery
store and you buy some groceries and you put them in your buggy
and you carry it up there to the cashier and you put it on
the thing and the cashier takes it and she wrings it up on the
thing and you Pay the money for it. When they put it in that
basket, whose is it? It doesn't belong to publics
anymore. It belongs to you. Why? Because you paid the price for
it. Now that's what Jesus Christ
did. He went into the Holy of Holies
with his own blood and he paid the price. for that which He
chose. Now see, you don't go down to
the grocery store and just throw some money on the counter and
say, I want some groceries. And just I'll take whatever I
can get. But that's what a lot of folks
think the Gospel is, is it not? They say Jesus Christ died for
everybody in the world. He doesn't know who they are
yet. No, he knew who his people were.
He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that cometh to me, I'll know why is cast out. He said, my sheep hear my voice.
I know them and they follow me. He came into the world to save
his people. That's what the angel told Joseph. He shall save his people from
their sins. And that's exactly what he did.
That's what this verse tells us right here. He hath obtained
eternal redemption. He got it. He said, this is my
possession and I'm taking it with me. They belong to me. He hath obtained it. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctify
to the purifying of the flesh, in the same way in which all
these things were outward sanctifiers. Now they didn't really sanctify
anybody, but in their mind and thinking of these things as they
obediently followed the Lord, it was the purifying of the flesh.
It was outward. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? How is it that men can be made
to serve God? Can they do it by threats? Well, the law is pretty threatening,
is it not? It said if you do this, you'll
live, and if you don't, you'll die. How good did that work out?
It didn't work out at all because All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Because it's in the nature of
man. It's the way that he is. And so a man cannot be caused
to serve God through threats or through promises even. Well,
if you'll serve the Lord and be faithful, He'll bring you
into heaven. How'd that work out? Wouldn't
work out at all, would it? Because you won't be faithful.
You might say I won't be faithful. You might even mean it. But you
won't be. So what can cause a man to serve the living God? Only one thing. To be given by
the grace of God And I to behold the payment of his sin in Jesus
Christ. And by faith to look unto him
for salvation. And a man can't work that up.
He can't cause himself to desire it. But the Lord gives it to
him. And who are those that He gives
it to? Those that hunger and thirst
after it. Those that desire it. Don't you see, when a man desires
cleansing from the hand of the Lord, he also desires to follow
the Lord. Now there's plenty of people
that don't want to go to hell. You know, you can get up a busload
in a moment. If you said, if you'll get on
this bus, you ain't going to go to hell. I mean, anybody with
their right mind would get on the bus, wouldn't he? Yeah, people
will load up, because people don't want to go to hell, and
you can scare people bad enough, but that's not going to do any
good. Because when you get on down
the road a little bit, some of them are going to get off of
the bus. Well, when the Lord teaches a
man that he's a sinner, and that Christ is the Savior, then that
man will want to follow Him. I can't explain how it happens.
I don't know how it happens. I don't know how it is that a
man who one day has no thought or regard into the way of the
Lord all of a sudden starts thinking about the Lord. He starts desiring
to walk with the Lord. Because it's that which the Lord
has done for him. That will purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. As a man believes. How does a man believe? By the
grace of God. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." Oh, what a glorious thing. Dear brethren, it's not in the
works of men, but it's in what Christ did. See, to believe in
Christ is not an activity. It's a resting. To believe in
Christ is to cast oneself upon His mercy. It's just to lay there before
Him. Lord, Thou hast the words of
eternal life. Oh, don't tell us to leave You, Lord.
Let us follow You. Let us walk with You. Let us
be obedient to all those things You have taught us. See, that's
the work of God. And it's only the work of God.
It's that which Christ did. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works? How can it be? Except He performs it. And for
this cause, He is the Mediator of the New Testament. He is that
Great High Priest. that by means of death or the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
See, even the work that he has done even covers those who were
under this First Covenant of carnal washings and all of these
things and going through all these motions. Who are they? that they which
are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Is that not what Peter said on the day of Pentecost? He said,
And the promise is unto you and as many as the Lord our God shall
call. See, the Lord calls His people. He calls them. He says, Come
unto Me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden, come. and I'll give you rest. Come
and dine. Come." And they're drawn like
a moth drawn to a light. Like we got that thing back there
in the back that kills the flies that fly into it. They can't
help it. Can they? I mean, they just fly right into
that thing. That's because of the drawing
power of the Spirit of God. And for this cause, He is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of those transgressions, for where a testament is, there
must also a 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. And so Jesus
Christ is the testator He's that one who testified and gave a
promise that he would bring his people unto himself. He says,
I will be their God and they shall be my people. That was
his testament. You know, when you have a will,
that will's not in effect until you die. And then it's up to
the executor of that will to see that it's carried out. Because,
you know, when a man's dead, he can't do anything about it.
I mean, you can will to leave this one, that, and this, that,
and the other. But when you're dead, you've
got no more power at all. And if the executor of that Will
isn't faithful to the will, it won't be of any use. But you
see Christ, because He ever lives to make intercession for them
that belong to God. He not only is the testator who
has died, but He is the executor of that will who lives. And He
applies that will just exactly as He sees fit. It's not one
thing. that's going to be not done according
to the will of the Father, which is the will of the Son. And so
we'll stop there. We've got a lot more to go. This
is a glorious chapter. But it does set forth the priestly
work of Christ and what He did. Now, if one thing, I believe,
could be set forth before the multitude, for the religious
multitudes, it is to see what Christ has done. Oh, to know and understand that
what Christ has done in purchasing the redemption of His people.
It's not in all the things that men set out to do and all the
things that men work to earn His favor and blessings and all
of these things, but it's in what Christ did. And I don't
believe there's any other thing, message in the world that will
cause God's people to follow Him more closely than the blood
of Christ set forth before them that He shed His blood for them.
May the Lord help us.