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. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to continue a message that I began
last week, and the title of it is The Greatest Reformation.
This is part two. the greatest reformation, and
it's from Hebrews chapter 9 where God the Holy Spirit, through
the writer of Hebrews, shows us how Christ, who is the salvation
of his people, is better and infinitely better greater than
anything that the old covenant, the law of Moses, in all of its
types and its pictures, as glorious as that was, all the miracles
that took place in Israel at that time, Christ is so much
better in the glory of his person and the power of his finished
work and it speaks of a time of reformation. He opened up
this chapter speaking of the elements of the tabernacle. and
the priesthood, where you had the tabernacle with all of its
elements, the various compartments, the outer court, where you had
the brazen altar where the animals were slain and the blood was
collected in a basin. And then you had the other tent
inside, which was the holy place where the priest of Levi went
in and out, accomplishing the service of God. And then you
had the veil, which separated the inner chamber of the tabernacle,
which is called the holiest of all, the Holy of Holies, where
you had the Ark of the Covenant and other elements, and the high
priest once a year. on the Day of Atonement, entered
there behind the veil, not without blood, he says, because that
blood is the salvation. That's a picture of Christ's
blood. The blood of animals could not accomplish the perfection
that a sinner needs. the satisfaction that a sinner
needs in order to be righteous in God's sight. And he says this,
these things, this high priest who represented Christ, our great
high priest, the other priest who represent the people of God,
the church, the blood of the lambs, which represents the blood
of Christ. It was a type, it was a picture
of all of that. It says that while that tabernacle
stood, look at verse eight of Hebrews nine, while that physical
tabernacle and later became the temple, while that stood in verse
eight, the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest
of all which is the very presence of God Almighty, was not yet
made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.
Now what he's simply saying there is this, while that tabernacle
was in force according to God's commandment, that was a signification
of the Holy Spirit that Christ had not yet come. So that when
Christ came, Everything changed. Look at what he says in verse
9, that tabernacle, that holy stone, it was a figure, a type,
a picture for the time then present. Not today, not for today now.
We don't slay animals today. We look to Christ, the Lamb of
God. And he says, for that time present
in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, this is verse
9, that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. Now the conscience is the seat
of judgment in the mind, in the heart, whereby we understand
what's right and what's wrong. And what he's saying here, now
what we read in the Bible is that in order for a sinner to
be saved, that sinner must be justified before God. And it's
impossible for any sinner to be saved based on their works. And certainly impossible for
a sinner to be saved based upon the blood of animals, or an earthly
priesthood, or an earthly tabernacle, a physical. For that, we need
the blood of Jesus Christ, which is His righteousness. And so
the gospel of God's grace which is the everlasting gospel, shows
us that Christ coming into the world and doing his great work
as God manifest in the flesh, the establishment of the new
covenant, last week I told you, the new covenant is the establishment
in time of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. You
see, God has always saved his people by grace, never by works. The old covenant was given to
show them the impossibility of salvation by works. It was a
bilateral covenant conditioned on them and they failed. So would
we. That's why any message that places
salvation or any part of it conditioned on sinners is a false gospel. And so Christ met all the conditions
for his people. And so the blood of animals The
services of the tabernacle, the washings and the baptisms, all
that they went through could never make those who participated
in it perfect, righteous, justified. forgiven as pertaining to the
conscience. Verse 10 says, which stood only
in meats and drinks, that's the dietary laws, diverse various
washings, carnal ordinances, ceremonies imposed on them until
the time of reformation, until the time of change. Now what
is that time of reformation, that time of change? It's when
Christ came into the world And as God manifests in the flesh,
we're talking about the tabernacle here. John 1.14 says this, the
word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That word dwelt is
tabernacle. Christ, the son of God, The second
person of the Trinity was made flesh and tabernacled among us. He is our tabernacle. That means
he is the way to God. He said that I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. If you want to get to God and
be accepted, you must come through Christ. And so it says in verse
11 of Hebrews 9, but Christ being come and high priest of good
things to come, during that time of the old covenant, Christ being
come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and
more perfect tabernacle himself, His humanity and His deity, God-man,
all right, not made with hands. See, that physical tabernacle
was made with hands, physical hands. It was a physical tabernacle.
But Christ, the tabernacle, His being the way to God, was not
made with men's hands. His humanity was conceived in
the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit. And His deity was
never created or made anyway. He's always has been, always
will be. So He's God and man, perfect
God and man. So greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say not of this building,
not of that physical tabernacle. And look at verse 12. Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, the blood
of Christ, He entered in once, not year after year after year
like under, I said last week, that old covenant, the law of
Moses lasted about 1500 years from Sinai to the cross. And every year on the day of
atonement, that high priest or the various high priests, there
was more than one because one came and then he died and then
somebody else took over who was a descendant of Aaron. That high
priest every year on the day of atonement would go in behind
the veil into the holiest of all, not with the blood of the
lamb from off the brazen altar. And so what he's saying here,
Christ, not of this building, but it wasn't by the blood of
goats and calves, verse 12, but by his own blood, he entered
in once, one time. into the holy place having obtained
what eternal redemption not a ceremonial one not a temporary one not an
earthly one but an eternal redemption all right for his people for
us that is not all without exception now but for his sheep he said
the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep he redeemed us
christ is the Great High Priest of His people. Christ is the
altar. He is my altar. What was an altar
used for? It was to set apart the sacrifice. What sets Christ apart from all
other sacrifices? His deity, His sinless humanity. Christ is our great hope. If
you're a believer now, a sinner saved by grace, justified by
His blood, which is the same as being justified, that is,
forgiven and declared righteous by His righteousness imputed
All right, if you're justified and sanctified, set apart by
Christ, He's your great High Priest, and you don't need another. The Pope is not our High Priest,
and these Cardinals are not our High Priest. They're false. He's
our High Priest, and there's one High Priest, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He is our altar. He is our sacrifice who gave
Himself one time for the sins of his people. And it's stated
over in Hebrews chapter 10, in verse 14, it says, for by one
offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. All
of the blood, animal blood slain on Jewish altars through that
1500 year period, all of the high priest could not attain
that perfection. could not cleanse the conscience
because it had to be done over and over again. And it was only
a temporary reprieve. It was only a ceremonial thing.
It wasn't eternal. It wasn't spiritual. It applied
to everybody in that nation, even unbelievers. But Christ
is a high priest, a better high priest, a better altar, a better
sacrifice. And it says in Hebrews 10, look
at verse 19, It says, having therefore, brethren, boldness,
liberty to enter into the holiest, that is a sinner has boldness,
liberty to enter into the holy place, the holiest of holy. How? By the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way, not
that old ceremonial dead way. but a new and living way, which
Christ hath consecrated, or made new, for us through the veil,
that is to say, His flesh, His humanity, sacrificed upon the
altar of His deity, And having a high priest over the house
of God, verse 21, let us draw near, verse 22, with a true heart,
a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Now, the sprinkling of the heart is the application of the truth
of the blood of Jesus Christ as our whole salvation as applied
to the heart, our mind, our affections, our will, our conscience. And
that conscience sprinkled from an evil conscience. An evil conscience
is a legal conscience. a condemned conscience that tells
me that I've got to get right with God by my works. That's
an evil, legal, condemned conscience. But the conscience is purified,
cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now go back to Hebrews
chapter 9. Christ obtained by His sacrifice of Himself, the
spotless Lamb of God, as the surety, the substitute, the Redeemer
of His people, He had to obtain eternal redemption for His people. And He has one sacrifice to accomplish
that. When He finished, He sat down
at the right hand of the Majesty on high. You know those priests
of Aaron, they never sat down because their work was never
finished. But Christ finished the work. He finished it. Christ Romans chapter 10 and
verse 4 tells us Christ is the end of the law, the finishing,
the perfection of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believe it. So we don't slay animal blood,
we don't have earthly tabernacles and physical, we have Christ
and He's everything to us. So he says in verse 13, now this
is Hebrews 9 verse 13, see that's that greatest reformation. Oh,
what a change. It had been set up before time
began. And that salvation was given
to God's people as it pertained to Christ. And so when Christ
come into the world to die for God's elect, to die for His sheep,
His church, He accomplished redemption for them and secured their salvation. There'll be no one who perishes
in hell for whom Christ died. because he obtained eternal redemption. 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, in other words,
that animal blood did set them apart in a ceremonial way, a
temporal way as pertaining to the flesh, not to the spirit,
the heart, but only ceremonially, How much more, verse 14, how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
spirit offered himself without spot to God, how much more shall
his blood purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? Now, the dead works that he's
talking about here is all those services of the tabernacle which
could not accomplish eternal redemption, eternal spiritual
salvation. It could picture and typify and
foreshadow Christ, the Lamb of God, the High Priest of God,
but it could not bring about the eternal spiritual forgiveness
of sins. Only the blood of Christ could
do that. That's why His coming into the world and doing His
great work by keeping the law and obeying it unto death, the
death of the cross, that's the greatest reformation of all.
That animal blood could not make you righteous in God's sight. Only Christ, the merits of His
obedience unto death, could make a sinner righteous in God's sight,
and that by the imputation, the charging of the merits of His
obedience unto death, His righteousness to me and to His people. Romans
4, 6 speaks of that, the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. You see, it's not conditioned
on me. It's not conditioned on you.
The new covenant, which is the accomplishment in time of the
eternal everlasting covenant of grace made before time, all
conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ and on Him alone. And there's no other way of eternal
redemption. And so it says in verse 15 of
Hebrews 9, and for this cause, he, Christ, is the mediator of
the New Testament, the new covenant, which that by means of death,
his death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, What's he talking about there? Well,
he says, they which are called might receive the promise of
eternal inheritance. Even the Old Testament saints,
believers, sinners saved by grace, even Abel, even Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, keep on going all the way up through, Even they were
saved by the grace of God based upon the blood, the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. And God saved them and gave them
life from the dead because it was so sure and certain that
Christ would come and do that work that God gave them the benefits
and the blessings of it even before He actually came. And
that's what King David said on his deathbed. God has made a
covenant with me that is ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my hope and all
my salvation, all my desire. He said, how could it be ordered
in all things? God ordered it and nothing's
out of order. And how could it be sure? Because
Christ is the surety of it. You know what a surety does?
A surety takes responsibility to pay the debt of those who
cannot pay their debt. And that's what Christ did before
the foundation of the world. He was appointed by the Father
to be the surety of His people. And He willingly took upon Himself
that task and said, their sin debt, the debt that they would
owe, even before Adam fell. put it up on my account, I'll
repay it. And it was so sure and certain
that he would come and repay that debt. There was no stopping
him. No stopping him at all. And so those who receive the
eternal inheritance are those for whom he died, and for whom
he was buried, and for whom he arose again. And verse 16 says,
for where a testament is, there must also be of necessity be
the death of the testator. Now the testament here is the
covenant, and it's set up like a will, a will and testament
here. He's using this as an illustration. Somebody goes out, works all
their life to attain their money and their possessions, and then
they make a will, and they bequeath it to their heirs. That will
and testament only comes into force upon the death of the testator,
the one who willed it and bequeathed it to him. And that's what God
in the covenant of grace, that's what happened. He chose a people
and bequeathed all of the blessings and the benefits of salvation
and eternal glory to them. And it was all conditioned on
Christ, who is their savior. He did all the work. He accumulated
all the wealth. He had all the power. And upon
His death, you see, that's the foundation and the ground of
the salvation of every sinner for whom He died and arose. And
they received this eternal inheritance. Look at verse 17. For a testament
is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength
at all while the testator liveth. Now again, God applied the benefits
and the blessings of salvation even to the Old Testament saints
in their lifetime, even before Christ actually came and died,
because a promise of God is sure and certain. There's no possibility
of failure. If it were based upon us promising
something to God, there would at least be a possibility of
failure, but I'll say it this way, because we are sinners,
it would be a sure failure. Because I'm telling you, if you
think salvation's conditioned on you, what conditions do you
think you've met? You say, well, I believe. Well,
the Bible tells us that men by nature will not believe. The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned,
1 Corinthians 2 14. We fell in Adam into a state of spiritual
death and sin and depravity. God said in John 6, 44, no man
can come to me, or Christ said, no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. Salvation is not by the works
or the wills of men. God said is, he said, I'll have
mercy on whom I will, I'll be gracious to whom I will, or be
compassionate to whom I will, so that it is not of him that
runneth, nor of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy.
And those who are born again, it's not by the will of man that
you're born again, it's by the will of God. So in other words,
he says in verse 18, whereupon neither the first testament was
dedicated without blood. The old covenant was dedicated
with the blood of animals, but that did not bring about eternal
salvation. And he says in verse 19, 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. That old covenant was dedicated
with the blood of animals. But again, the blood of animals
could never take away sin. They could only picture of Christ
whose blood takes away sins. And so he says in verse 21, 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 the shedding of blood, there is no remission,
no forgiveness. Now, the forgiveness and the
remission that was brought about in the old covenant was only
ceremonial, Temporal, temporary and physical. It was not eternal. It was not spiritual. But the
blood of Christ accomplishes what that blood of animals could
not accomplish. Christ is better. Over in Hebrews
chapter 8, he talked about Christ being the mediator, the surety
of a better covenant that had better sacrifices and better
promises. That sacrifice, that better sacrifice
is Christ. And so here is the greatest reformation. We ought to be so glad, if we're
believers now, we ought to be so glad that we're not under
that old covenant law, which was an imposition. Some scholars
have counted over 600 and some different laws. Think about the
laws of the Sabbath. and how they could only walk
so far. And if you walk so far, you couldn't walk back because
you'd overstep your bounds. You couldn't do this, you couldn't
do that. And some of it was on the penalty of death, capital
punishment. That's why he said here that
almost all things by the law purged with blood. There were
some sins that they committed under that old covenant law that
even the blood of sacrifice would not cover, like murder. But my
friend, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. His righteousness justifies sinners
eternally. That greatest reformation, thank
God for it. And we hope, we believe in, we
have our assurance in Christ. the blood that he shed, the righteousness
that he established for his people. That came out of that great reformation. I 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.