Now let's go to Hebrews chapter
9. Now what I want to speak to you this morning on is the issue
of reformation. Reformation. That's a word that
you'll find in verse 10 of Hebrews chapter 9. It speaks of the time
of reformation. And you know what reformation
means. It means change. There's a change that's taken
place here. When we think of the word Reformation,
a lot of people, when they go back into history, they think
about people like Martin Luther and John Calvin, the Reformers,
they call them. And they were Reformers. They
were in a time of historical change. And we see, sometimes
we'll see churches that name themselves Reform Baptists or
Reform Presbyterians. And many times, you know, we
don't know what they mean by that. I want to talk to you about
biblical reformation. And over here in Hebrews chapter
9, now I don't have time, I won't have time to go through the whole
chapter, but the context tells us that what he's talking about
in this time of reformation, this time of change, what has
changed, is the time of the Old Covenant is ended. The Old Covenant
is the Law of Moses given to the nation Israel on Mount Sinai. It's symbolized and sort of covered
under the umbrella of the Ten Commandments, but it was much
more than the Ten Commandments. It was the ceremonial law. In
fact, we're going to see the word ceremony here, and it's
in another word, but that's what it means, ceremony. So you have
the law, the moral law, the moral code of the Ten Commandments,
and then you have the ceremonial law. And all of that together
formed what we call the Old Covenant. He says back in verse 13 of chapter
8, he says, in that he saith, a new, now the word covenant
there is in italics in the King James Version, which means the
translator supplied that word. It wasn't in the original. But
it could just as well be there because that's what he's talking
about. You know, the theme of the book of Hebrews is Christ
is superior. Christ is better. And this new
has to do with the new covenant or the new testament. That we
have what, 27 books of the Bible we call the New Testament. And
when we look into these, we see that this is the time, the first
four books being the Gospels, you know, that's the time of
Christ's historical presence here on earth as God-man. That
he walked this earth in obedience to the law, being the representative
and substitute and surety of all his sheep, his people. That's
why he said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And so that new
covenant was instituted at the cross. That's when he said it's
finished. And you remember symbolically
and also physically, God tore the veil in the temple in two,
from top to bottom. That was the veil of the temple. It wasn't the exact same veil
that was in the tabernacle of old, but that was the same veil
in what it meant. And so when he says in verse
13 of chapter 8, he says in that he sayeth a new covenant, he
hath made the first old, the first there being the old covenant.
That means first in time. And he says, now that which decayeth
and waxeth old. Anytime you say that word waxeth,
it means grow. Somebody grows, they wax old,
you know, they grow old. And something decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Now, he had just finished speaking
of the issues of the new covenant here in chapter 8. Now he says,
now the old has vanished away. Now what this book of Hebrews
is trying to show is that the old covenant has vanished away
with all of its earthly sacrifices and ceremonies and priesthood,
and it's been replaced in time by something better. It's been
replaced by the priesthood of Christ, which is eternal. It's
not temporary. It's been replaced by the blood
of Christ. We're going to see that here
in Hebrews 9. It's not in the blood of animals. They only typified
and foreshadowed the greater satisfaction that Christ would
make spiritually and eternally. That's why we don't sacrifice
animals today. We're under the new covenant.
Christ has already come. That's been fulfilled. There's
been a change, you see. There's been a reformation. So
we don't have an earthly priesthood and an earthly tabernacle. Now
look at verse 1 of chapter 9. He says, Then verily, or then,
back then, verily, the first covenant, that's the old covenant,
had also ordinances. Now that word of ordinances can
be translated ceremonies. It had ceremonies of divine service. That is, God's the one who instituted
these. God's the one who commanded these.
These weren't the laws of man. But they were the laws of God
and a worldly sanctuary. Now, the worldly sanctuary is
the tabernacle. Look at verse two. You remember
the tabernacle in the wilderness, which later under Solomon became
the stationary temple. And that was destroyed, and then
there was a second temple that was made under a man named Zerubbabel,
who came out of the Babylonian captivity. And then that one
sometime was destroyed, and then you had the temple of Herod later
on. That's what was being built when Christ was doing his public
ministry. It wasn't even finished then. But there was a tabernacle back
there in the wilderness when the children of Israel were wandering
through the wilderness for those 40 years. And it was set up in
Israel when they entered into the promised land. And it was
a tabernacle that was made. The first wherein was the candlestick. That refers to the golden candlestick
or lampstand. that they have which was that
all these things in the tabernacle were worse object lessons. Spiritual they taught spiritual
truth and of course the candlestick obviously. Typified and symbolized
Christ the light of the world the light of the gospel there
was the table and the showbread Christ is the bread of life and
I have time to go in all these but just the thing which is called
the sanctuary. That is, it's called the place
that is holy. Now, when it says this place
was holy, you know, when we think of the term holy, we always think
about moral perfection. But that's not what it means.
It means that it was holy in that it was set apart for God. It was distinguished, you see.
This place was for a particular purpose, and it wasn't to be
used for any other purpose. That's what holy means set apart. OK, I'll give you an example
of that when when King Nebuchadnezzar many, many years later came and
destroyed the Temple of Solomon. He took some of the vessel, the
cups and the tool that were used in that holy place. And he stole
them, and he took them to Babylon. And later on, there was another
king named Belshazzar who had a wild party, and they got so
drunk and so messed up in their minds that he decided to go get
those vessels, which were set apart for the use of God, and
use them in his party. In other words, he desecrated
them. And if you read that in Daniel chapter 5, that's where
the handwriting on the wall, where he'd come in down and found
weight in the balances and found wanting. And that's when the
Babylonian Empire was totally destroyed in one day by Cyrus,
king of Persia. So you see, this holy place was
to be used for this purpose and this purpose alone because it
typified and it foreshadowed how God is to be served, how
God is to be appeased, how God is to be worshipped. Look at
verse 3, he says, and after the second veil, now there were two
veils, there was one into the holy place where the candlestick
and the table of showbread was, and then there was another veil. And it says in verse 3, and after
the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of
all. Now that's the holiest of all. That's the holy of holies. Now in there was the Ark of the
Covenant and the mercy seat and only the high priest could go
in there one time a year with the blood of the sacrifice that
came off the altar on the outer court and it says and of course
that that's the mercy seat we get the word in the New Testament
that is equivalent to the Hebrew word mercy seat is propitiation
and occurs what three or four times in the New Testament. And
that word propitiation means satisfaction. And it's satisfaction
by blood, by death, without the shedding of blood, there's no
satisfaction, there's no forgiveness, no remission, Hebrews 10 says.
And so he says in verse 4, he says, 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. This was only in the holiest
of all. And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy
seat of which we cannot now speak particularly." Now, Paul was
dealing with some people here who were very stubborn, very
slow in their growth, and apparently there were things that he wanted
to tell them that they weren't ready to hear yet. And he says
in verse 6, Now, when these things were thus ordained, what that
means is, now, when these things were in force, At the time that
these things were commanded by God to be used, he says the priest,
now notice the priest is plural here, went always into the first
tabernacle. Now there was more than one high
priest, there was only one at a time, but throughout the generations
there were more. When one died, Aaron was the
first one. And when he died, then one of his, and they were
always from the tribe of Levi. That's what Aaron and Moses,
both were from the tribe of Levi. That was the Levitic, that's
where we get the name Leviticus, it's the priestly book. And so
when one died, another one took over. But you only had one high
priest at a time, so they went in accomplishing the service. And he says the service of God
there, and that's right. What were they doing? Well, you
remember the priest, everything about him represented Christ.
He had 12 names on his breastplate. That was the 12 names of the
tribes of Israel. He had 12 names, six on one of
his shoulders and six on the other. And that's who he went
in to the holiest of all four with blood, representing Christ,
the high priest of spiritual Israel, who went into the presence
of God himself because he shed his blood as the complete, total
payment for all our sins. And Christ went into the, as
God-man, you see, and that's what it typifies. I believe that
what, on his breastplate, that means that he had us on his heart,
and on his shoulders, he had us, he carried the weight of
our sins. All the responsibility of our
entire salvation was placed upon the shoulders of Christ. And
so he says in verse 7, 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." Now, the high priest of Israel
was a sinner himself. He was a man, a mere man. And so when he went into the
holiest of all with the blood, he went in there also for his
own sins. And that's what that was symbolically
and ceremonially taken care of in that service. Not eternally,
not spiritually. And one of the main points of
the book of Hebrews is showing that Christ is superior to that
service and to that high priest is that Christ, he didn't have
to go in there for his own sins. He only went in for the sins
of his people. Back over in verse chapter 7,
look at Hebrews 7. He says in verse 24, He said,
but this man or this person, because he continueth ever, hath
an unchangeable priesthood. That's talking about Christ.
Wherefore he is able, or for this reason he is able, to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. seen he ever
liveth to make intercession for them, for such an high priest
became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
and made higher than the heavens, who need if not daily as those
high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the people's, for this he did once when he offered up himself."
So he didn't have to offer up sacrifices for his own sins,
he wasn't a sinner. Our Lord never was a sinner.
He never became a sinner. He was never made a sinner. He
was always sinlessly perfect within himself. But, but, he
was made sin. 2 Corinthians 5.21. How? By imputation. What does that
mean? The sins of his sheep were accounted, credited to him, laid
to his charge. He became legally responsible
for the sins of his sheep. And that's what that means. Now
go back to Hebrews 9. So he says here in verse 8, the
Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest. In other words, as long as that
Old Testament system and tabernacle stood, it was a signification
that Christ, the ultimate high priest, had not yet come. Not
yet been made manifest. It doesn't mean that believers
back then didn't know the gospel, the good news of how God saved
sinners by His grace through the promised Messiah who would
come and pay their debt and satisfy law and justice and work out
a perfect righteousness. They knew that. Abraham knew
that even before the Old Covenant. That's what Christ said Himself
in John chapter 8. Abraham rejoiced to see My day. All the Old Testament saints
looked forward. to that day of manifestation,
this time of reformation, when the Messiah would actually come
in time and do his work and finish the transgression, as Daniel
said, and make an end of sin and bring in everlasting righteousness.
That's what they depended on. I believe God gave it to them
by credit even before, but the debt had to be paid. And that's
what we're talking about in this time of Reformation. Look at
verse 8 again. 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. So while that
tabernacle stood, while that priesthood was in force, then
the time of Reformation had not yet come. The new covenant had
not yet been established. And he says in verse 9, Which
was a figure that word figure is a word we use for type. A
shadow. That figure for the time then
present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that
could not make him that did the service perfect. In other words
it wasn't the blood of animals. That makes a sinner perfect made
a sinner perfect complete that's what that means. It wasn't the
earthly priesthood that did that. They couldn't do that, you see.
And look at what he says. How? Look at verse 9. As pertaining
to the conscience. Now, what is the conscience?
That's the seed of judgment in your mind. That's the way you
look at yourself and look at others, and you either accuse
or you excuse. Usually, sinful man, here's the
way we do it. In our conscience, we excuse
ourselves and accuse everybody else. Yeah, right, that's the
way we normally do. That's what Paul was dealing
with in Romans chapter 2 when he was dealing with the Jews
who perverted the law. They would look at all kinds
of people and say, well, they're sinners. And what Paul essentially
tells them in Romans chapter 2, well, you are too. What makes
you think you have any other claim on God's favor? Because of your works. The law,
listen, the law shows us one thing. We deserve death. You say, well, what about me?
You too. What about the best ones? Them
too. Man at his best state. What?
Altogether vanity. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight. And that's the important sight.
You say, I may not look like much to you, but the issue is
how does God see me? How does God think on me? We
were talking about that yesterday, about the doctrine of imputation.
Sometimes the word that's used for impute or an imputation in
the Bible is translated think. There's a verse in Philippians
that says, think on these things. The same word impute. In other
words, that has to do with when you talk about God imputing something,
you're talking about how does God think? How does he account? What's his assessment? What's
his evaluation, you say? That's what that means. So this
is in God's sight, you see, that no flesh shall be justified.
So what he's saying here is, looking to the blood of animals,
a person could not be absolved of guilt in their own conscience.
Now, how are we absolved of guilt in our own conscience if we follow
the Scriptures by looking to Christ and Him crucified? and his blood shed on that cross
and the righteousness that he established on that cross. That's
how I'm absolved of guilt in my conscience now. And if I'm
absolved of guilt in any other way, then what am I? An unbeliever. So if I see that the law brings
me in deserving of death, and I'm looking for a way out, I'm
looking to absolve my conscience, you see, I want peace in my mind. And if I look at that law and
see that that law said, Bill, you deserve death and condemnation,
you deserve nothing but hell. How am I going to clear that
conscience? Well, what does the scripture
say? Well, some people look to their works. If your works clear
your conscience, what are you? You're an unbeliever. You're
a child of darkness. Some people look to their religion.
We're going to be baptizing today. Some people look to baptism.
Somebody says, well, I was baptized when I was 12 years old. Well,
now that absolves your conscience. You're not looking to Christ.
There's only one way to absolve the guilty conscience, and that's
looking unto Jesus, Jehovah, our Savior, the author and finisher
of our faith, who finished, who began it and completed it on
the cross. And that's it. Now look, look
back at verse 10. He says, he says, which stood
only in meats and drinks. That's talking about the old
covenant, uh, what they ate and what they couldn't eat and what
they could drink. Diverse washing. That's various washing. That
was the ceremonial washing that the priest went through. Carnal
ordinances. That's earthly ordinances imposed
on them until the time of reformation. until the time of change. In
other words, that was imposed upon them, commanded of them,
until Christ came. So look at verse 11. He says,
The Christ being come in 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. Now the tabernacle he's speaking
of here, I believe, in the context, is the humanity of Christ. That
tabernacle was a picture of Christ. It spoke both of his deity and
his humanity. Every piece of furniture in that
tabernacle, every material, had something to say about some aspect
of the person and finished work of Christ. And this tabernacle,
for example, in John chapter 1 and verse 14, it says this,
it says, The Word was made flesh, the Word being Christ, the Son
of God, who has no beginning and no end, the Word, which was
in the beginning, was made flesh and dwelt among us. That word
dwelt is the same word for, it's a verb form of tabernacled. So
in other words, what was the tabernacle? Well, it was the
dwelling place of God in the Old Testament. Now, you can't
contain God in a building. What does that mean, the dwelling
place of God? Well, the old writers used to say that's where the
Shekinah glory dwelt. What is your kind of glory? It's
just a way of saying it's the greatest revelation of God's
glory that can be found at any given time. He was in that tabernacle. Right there, mainly in the holiest
of all, where the priest, the high priest, went in with the
blood. Now, where is the greatest manifestation of the glory of
God today? In Christ, in the God-man. The Word was made flesh and tabernacled
among us. And over in Hebrews chapter 10,
he makes a statement. Look at verse 4. He says, For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sin. The animal blood didn't accomplish that. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. That's
his human body. That's his sinless humanity created
for him in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit without
the aid of man. He united with humanity. He identified
with his people. Now go back over to Hebrews 9.
So he says, it's not made with hands, that is to say, not of
this building, verse 12, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood. See, blood had to be shed. There
is no salvation. There is no justification. There
is no Reformation, there is no glorification without blood being
shed. When God justified Abraham, it
was right here by this blood that was going to be shed. Abraham
had it by credit. But you see, when God credits
righteousness to anybody, He cannot do it in a way that denies
His holiness and His justice. When He credits it to anybody,
imputes it to anybody, accounts it, charges it to anybody, He
must do it in a way that honors His justice as well as His mercy. So why did Christ have to come?
Because God must be just to justify sinners. And that's what He's
talking about. He had to have blood. He had
to have a human body. He had to die. And it says He
entered in once into the holy place. He entered in one time.
Christ only had to die one time. And he says, having obtained
eternal redemption. Now you see the for us there's
an italics. And that's another addition by the translator. But
that's okay. That's good. Who did he redeem? He redeemed
his people. Now what is redemption? Redemption
is the payment of the price. That's what redemption is. When
you go redeem something, you have to pay the money. Or you
have to pay the price to redeem it out of hock or whatever it's
in. And that's what redemption is. So God justifies the ungodly
because of the redemption that Christ made on earth. This is
the Reformation. This is the time of change. This
is a historical date, you see. And He paid that price. And He
goes on, He says in verse 13, "...for if the blood of bulls
and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh." In other words,
it set the nation Israel apart in a ceremonial way for a time.
He says in verse 14, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit. It wasn't in fleshly, carnal,
temporary ordinances, but it was eternal. And he says, offered
himself without spot to God, without fault. He himself was
without fault, but our sins were laid to his charge. And he says,
purge your conscience. Now, remember, the blood of bulls
and goats couldn't cleanse the conscience. But how much more
shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God? Dead works being any work that's
aimed at saving ourselves or justifying ourselves or recommending
us unto God. What saves me? The blood of Christ. What justifies me? The blood
of Christ. What recommends me unto God?
The blood of Christ. And that's his righteousness,
his blood, all that. And he says in verse 15, "...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." Who's that talking about? That's talking
about the Old Testament believers, the Old Testament saints. When
were their sins paid for? They were redeemed at the cross.
Their sins were paid for at the cross. God justified them, credited
it to them before. But there it is they were redeemed
for the redemption that were of the transgressions that were
under the first testament that which that which God thought
in his own mind had its accomplishment in time right here they he says
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 test. You see death. Had to be given
a death that is beyond anything we can imagine. It was the death
of the son of God incarnate. And so he says in verse 74 Testament
is a force after men are dead. Otherwise it is of no strength
at all while the testator living. Now everything in salvation. Eternity everything in time centers
right there on the death of the test. And without that death,
there is no salvation. There is no eternity as far as
we're concerned. You see, it's all centered right
there. There's this testament that he's
speaking of. It's still the New Testament, and that's the accomplishment
in time of the terms of the everlasting covenant of grace that God made
before time. And he says in verse 18, he says,
Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
And then he goes on with Moses, and I'm running out of time.
But this, this is the reformation. This is the change that takes
place of which the book of Hebrews talks about. He's talking about
the accomplishment in time of the death of the testator, the
shedding of his blood, which brought in a new era here on
earth because now we don't, we don't worship with an earthly
tabernacle and earthly priesthood. We're made priest under God.
What does that mean? That means each and every one
of us who know Christ and look to Him, we have free access into
the holiest of all, the very presence of God. How? By the
blood of Christ.