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. like to welcome you to our program
today today i'm going to be preaching from the book of hebrews chapter
nine if you'd like to follow along in your bibles and the
title of the message is taken from verse twenty the blood of
the testament the blood of the testament and we're going to
be talking about something that i believe is so precious to a
believer and i hope and pray that the Lord will use it to
bring lost people to a saving knowledge of Christ. And it's
like the reading of a will. I often tell people that the
preaching of the gospel is much like the reading of the last
will and testament to the children of God in which they are hearing
of an inheritance that is indescribable. In fact, Peter called it an incorruptible. inheritance that cannot be defiled. And that's what this is talking
about today. In beginning at verse 15 of Hebrews chapter 9,
it's talking about the coming of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
into the world as the surety and the substitute of God's elect
people, God's chosen people. And I mentioned this last week
that God's elect are identified in the Scripture as those who
are brought by God to faith in Christ and true repentance. In other words, a believer, a
true believer, one who believes in Christ as Christ is identified
and distinguished in the Word. And that's important. Don't let
that slip by you. It's not just say, well, I believe
in Jesus. There's a lot of people who say that. Like the guy who
wrote the song, Me and Jesus Got a Good Thing Going. He didn't
know Jesus. You see, Christ, Jesus Christ
has to be identified and distinguished by the doctrine of Christ, the
teaching of Christ. For example, I'll give you one
blatant example. Any denomination who claims to
be Christian, but does not believe that Jesus Christ is God in human
flesh, They do not believe in the Jesus of the Bible. You see,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of His people, is God-man, God
in human flesh. And though that's a mind-boggling
truth that we just flat cannot wrap our minds around, it's an
amazing thing, it's a mind-boggling thing, it's still true. And anyone
less than God-man cannot be the Savior of His people. And then
when we talk about His finished work of redemption, do you believe
that Jesus Christ came to die to make salvation possible if
you would do your part? Or do you believe He came and
died to secure the salvation of all whom He represented, all
for whom He died? You see, if you believe He just
made salvation possible, it's not the Christ of the Bible.
No, he secured the salvation of his people. Now you believe
in him, rest in him. And that's the Christ of the
Bible. So he's talking about how Christ came and established
on earth the new covenant, the New Testament by his blood, by
his death on the cross and the establishment of righteousness
that enables God to be both a just God and a savior, the imputed
righteousness of Christ. And it says in verse 15 of Hebrews
9, and for this cause, Christ, that's who he's talking about,
is the mediator of the New Testament. Now Moses was the mediator of
the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. That word testament and covenant,
they're interchangeable. Moses was the mediator of the
Old Covenant. That Old Covenant law was given
to the nation Israel. as a way of showing them their
sin and the impossibility of being saved based upon their
obedience, their works, their deeds. But Christ is the mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God in human flesh without sin, the
Redeemer, the surety, the substitute, the Lord of glory. He's the mediator
of the new covenant. Now the New Testament, the new
covenant, Always remember this, is the establishment in time
of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. You see,
before the world ever began, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, covenanted within themselves as the one
God in three persons, Trinity, to save a people of God's choice,
conditioned on Christ. the Son of God, the second person
of the Trinity. And in order for him to save
his people, he had to fulfill those conditions. He had to meet
every requirement, every stipulation to establish righteousness by
his death on the cross. That's what he was doing. He
was fulfilling all the conditions of the salvation of his people.
And as the result of that, he was raised from the dead. the
death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. You see, sin demands
death. Sin was imputed, charged, accounted
to Christ, and He died for the sins of His sheep. In dying,
He established righteousness, which was imputed to God's elect,
so that I stand before God, not based on any righteousness of
my own, by my works, but in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he's my surety, he's my hope. And he's the mediator of the
New Testament. Verse 15 now, that by means of
death, his death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the First Testament, who's he talking about there? He's
talking about God's elect believers who lived under the old covenant.
He says, they which are called might receive the promise of
eternal inheritance. The point he's making here is
this. Under the Old Covenant, the majority of the nation Israel
perished in unbelief. The Bible teaches that. It's
a sad thing. But there was always a remnant
according to the election of grace, a few believers. How were
they saved? By their works of the law? No.
They were saved by Christ who was to come. They looked forward
by promise to the Messiah who was to come and they received
the promise of eternal inheritance just like New Testament believers
because Christ came and died and redeemed them. He redeemed
them. That redemption. He paid the
sin debt. He paid the price. He satisfied
God's justice, even for the believers, God's elect under the old covenant,
just like he did for those under the new covenant. And here's
the proof of it. Now look at verse 16. For where
a testament is, like a last will and testament, there must also
of necessity be the death of the testator. The testator is
the one who has gained all the possessions and willed them to
his beneficiaries. And that will is not in force
until that testator dies. Verse 17 of Hebrews 9. For a testament is a force after
men are dead. You know a father. He works hard
and he has his possessions and he makes a will to his children. They're his beneficiaries. Now,
he can give them gifts while he's alive, but that's not the
result of the last will and testament. The will, the last will and testament
can only be enforced when that man dies. If He gives them anything
before that, it's just a gift. But salvation and all the blessings
of salvation that God freely gives to His elect, His chosen
people, is the result of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
like a last one testament. So he says in verse 17, for a
testament is a force after men are dead, otherwise it is of
no strength at all while the testator liveth. That is that
will and testament. That will has absolutely no legal
force while the testator, while that person lives. Now again,
as I said, he can give gifts all he wants. If he wants to
give it all away, he can. But the will that he's made legally
has no force. until he's dead and that's the
point he's making here that everything the Bible says in Ephesians 1
and verse 3 it says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Christ in heavenly places in Christ So all the blessings
of salvation, all the blessings of being justified before God,
of being sanctified, set apart, of being regenerated and converted,
born again, all the blessings of preservation, all the blessings
of glory, they all go back to the legal force of the last will
and testament put in force by what? The death of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ. So
he says in verse 18, whereupon neither the first Testament was
dedicated without blood, even the old covenant. How was the old covenant set
in force and dedicated? Through the blood of bulls and
goats. Death. What's the teaching of that?
My friend, here's the teaching of it. Salvation. And listen to me, God's love
God's mercy, God's grace is all based upon justice satisfied
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no salvation
without justice. There's no love from God without
justice. There's no mercy, no grace from
God without justice. Romans 5 21. As sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. That's justice. Unto eternal
life, how? By Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, God is a God of mercy. Oh,
He's a merciful God. I can't tell you how much. He's
a loving God. And it's not that He loves everybody,
no. The Bible doesn't teach that.
He's a gracious God. You say, but I want to be a recipient
of God's mercy, God's love, and God's grace. Well, there's only
one place to find that, sinner. And I'm poking to myself now.
And the only place to find God's love and mercy and grace is in
the Lord Jesus Christ who died on that cross to satisfy justice. God must be a just God as well
as a savior. He must be a righteous judge
as well as a loving father. He cannot deny either attribute. His righteousness, his truth,
his justice must be satisfied. It's not because he's a bloodthirsty
God. It's because he's a just God.
And so yes, we'll talk about his love. and His mercy and His
grace, but not outside or in denial of His justice satisfied. And that's what he's talking
about here. Verse 19, look at Hebrews 9 and verse 19, for when
Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to
the law, what did he do after he read the law to the people?
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,
blood sprinkled. Somebody said it's a bloody religion.
It was. Verse 20 saying, this is the
blood of the Testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Verse
21, moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and
all the vessels of the ministry. Everything had to be sprinkled
with blood. And he says in verse 22, and
almost all things are by the law purged with blood. And without
shedding of blood, there is no remission. When he says almost
all things are by law purged with blood, what he was talking
about is the sins of the people under the old covenant, which
were civilly, ceremonially and temporarily passed over by the
blood. But there were certain crimes
that had the death penalty. There was no sacrifice for murder,
for example, willful murder, for example. So how much greater
is the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God? Well, if you're
in Christ, the Bible tells us the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin, past sin, present sin, future sin. Somebody might
look at that and they might say, well, that's great, I'll just
go sin all I want to. Well, go ahead, go ahead. But that's not what a child of
God does. You see, child of God is given
a new heart. That's part of the inheritance,
the new birth, a new heart to obey God, to fight sin. But listen
to this statement again, verse 22, without shedding of blood
is no remission. What is remission? It means to
be pardoned, forgiven, cleansed. How can I be forgiven? I'll never
forget, years ago I was listening to a popular preacher on television
and he was talking about the conditions of forgiveness. What conditions need to be met
for a sinner to be forgiven? And you know what he said it
was? He said repentance is the condition for forgiveness. My
friend, that's not right. Repentance is not a condition
that you and I must meet in order to be forgiven. If that's the
case, we'll never be forgiven because we will never on our
own repent or believe. What is the condition for forgiveness? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. There's only one, the blood of Jesus Christ. And here's the
point. If you ever see that by the power
of the spirit and brought to faith in Christ, then you will
repent. You'll repent. You'll repent
of ever thinking that your dead works or anything that comes
from you or in you could have earned God's forgiveness. No,
sir. It's all the blood of Christ. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. Without justice satisfied, without
righteousness established. Look at verse 23. It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heaven should be
purified with these but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these. Now we're talking about the blood
of the Testament. What is the blood of the Testament? Well,
the blood of the Old Testament was animal blood, which could
never take away sin. But the blood of the New Testament,
the blood of the everlasting covenant is the blood of the
Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read you this passage
over in Hebrews chapter 13, the last chapter. In verse 20 of Hebrews 13, listen
to this. He writes, now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Testament, make you perfect, complete, righteous in every
good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. The blood of the Testament. And
look at it again, verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place, made with hands. He didn't go into the old covenant
tabernacle. You know, he had no right to
go into the old covenant tabernacle because he was not of the tribe
of Levi. He's the tribe of Judah. So he did not enter into the
holy places made with hands, which are the figures, the types,
the symbols of the true, but he entered into heaven itself
now to appear in the presence of God for us. Christ, having
died on the cross, established righteousness by which sinners
are justified before God, that through His blood they're forgiven,
they're accepted. And He was buried, He arose again
the third day, and then what? He ascended unto the Father to
be seated at His Father's right hand, ever living to make intercession
for them. And what is the basis of His
intercessory work? His blood. his righteousness
imputed. Verse 25, nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entereth in the holy place
every year with blood of others. In other words, he didn't have
to keep doing this. His intercessory work is not
him dying over and over again. It's not like the heretical Catholic
mass that crucifies him again and again and again. Verse 26,
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. Isn't that special? And if you
look over in Hebrews 10 and verse 14, it says, for by one offering,
he, Christ, hath perfected, completed forever them that are sanctified.
Now, look at these last two verses of Hebrews 9, verse 27. He says,
and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this,
the judgment. Now he's talking about physical
death here. How do you know that? Because he says after this, the
judgment, the judgment, standing before God at the judgment. Verse
28, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. How
many? all of God's elect, everyone
whom God brings through the new birth under the gospel to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. He bore the sins of many. How did he bear them? By imputation. What is imputation? That's God
legally accounting, charging him with the debt of the sins
of his elect. You know, and those sins were
charged to him and he suffered under the penalty. So he bore
them. He bore up under the sufferings.
He suffered, he bled, he died. He had to pay the price. But
you know, it's just like a debt. If you run up a debt that you
can't pay, then you're legally liable for that debt. But if
somebody steps in and pays the debt for you complete, What they're
doing is they put it on my account, I'll repay it. And in return
for the death of Christ and paying the debt of the sins of his people,
they receive his righteousness to be right with God. So Christ,
verse 28, 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 who are those that look for
Him? Now let me be clear on this. There are a lot of people today
who are looking for the second coming of Christ and that's what
this is talking about. They're looking for it, but they're
not looking for Him. The Christ of the Bible. The
Christ who is identified and distinguished in this book. as
the God-man who satisfied justice, brought forth righteousness,
and secured the salvation of His people. Just like the Jews
today, they don't believe the Messiah has come. Many of them
believe that when He comes, for the first time, He's coming in
the clouds with a white horse to conquer their enemies and
pat them on the back. But that's not the Messiah of
the Bible. That's why the book of Isaiah 53 is so special, speaking
of the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We esteemed him not,
smitten of men. The unbelieving Jews could not
stomach the thoughts of that kind of a Messiah, suffering
servant. Well, when he comes the second
time, as we read here in Hebrews 9, 28, He'll appear the second
time without sin unto salvation. He'll appear without sin because
he's already paid the price. There's no sin imputed to him
now. It's all been paid for. It's all been satisfied. He's
coming in glory in the clouds to conquer this world, to gather
his people unto himself and to conquer his enemies, to bring
them to judgment. But here's the key. Are you looking
for him Not just for his second coming, but for him, whom to
know is life eternal. Are you looking for a counterfeit?
Another Jesus, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11. One who is
either not God or not man, or even he is God-man, but he didn't
secure the salvation of his people through righteousness. Who are
you looking for? The Bible teaches us in the doctrine
of Christ, who he is, what he did, why he did it, where he
is now. And these are the things you
and I need to study. This is the thing. You know,
when the Bible talks, and I've talked about this a lot on this
program, about self-examination and how I've written these books
to guide you through scriptures in exercises of self-examination. I had a fellow tell me one time
he was reading one of the books and he said, it's not an easy
book to go through. And I said, well, it's not intended
to be. You see, this is not a fireside reading. It's not an easy read.
It's a study. It's an effort. And what I wrote
them for is for you to use these books to go through the scripture
in an exercise of self-examination if you claim to be a Christian. And that's what we need to do.
We need to study the Bible. What does the Bible say concerning
who God is? Concerning who I am? Concerning
who Christ is in the way of salvation? Are my thoughts on this subject,
do they line up with scripture? Or are they just my denominational
belief or the majority opinion? Am I truly trusting Christ for
salvation? Am I truly submitted to His righteousness
as my only hope and ground, right and title, to enter the holiest
of all? Am I looking for the one whom
God sent? Or am I looking for a God, a
Messiah of my own imagination? That's what we need to do. Because
let me tell you something, as he said here in verse 27, it's
appointed unto men once to die. And after this, the judgment.
How will you stand at the judgment? Will you stand in Christ? As Paul wrote, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, or will you stand on your own, pleading
your own works, your own experiences, your own will? Because if you
do, all you'll hear is depart from me, you that work iniquity,
I never knew you. My friend, look for him. first
in His Word, who He is, what He did, why He did it, where
is He now, and then look for Him to come the second time. Could be any day now. We don't
know when, but we know He is coming. 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
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.