Seeking for the help of the Lord I direct your prayerful attention to Hebrews chapter 9 and reading for our text verses 11 and 12. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 and 12. But Christ being come and 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. Hebrews 9 verses 11 and 12.

A way through Christ and on to, just notice before we come to some main points, two holy things that are set forth in this passage. The first is the holy place. The tabernacle that was made, it had an outer court, then it had the inner, the holiest of all. And that holy place was a place that was only visited once a year. And that, not without blood, visited by the high priest.

And we are told clearly in this passage that that holy place equates unto heaven itself, that where Christ is now. And just to think of this point alone, it is a good thing to remember the reality of heaven. There are those that actually deny heaven. They say, well, there's paradise, or there's soul sleep, and you'll be amazed at what circles come up with that sort of teaching. But the Word of God is very clear that heaven is that holy place where the Lord Jesus Christ is now. This passage sets forth clearly.

He entered into heaven itself in verse 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself. And we know that the Lord has the plans for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

But where he is now, there he has said, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. And though there is used the term paradise for the dying thief, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise. It's this illustration of the tabernacle and the holy place and of heaven itself that clearly sets before us. where our Lord is and where his people are, absent from the body, present with the Lord. The holy place, the holiest of all.

It may be to us that heaven is very, very real to us and a very real desire to be there, to be with Christ and to see him. in that holy place that He Himself has made a way into. If you and I are brought to heaven it is through this way, through the Lord Jesus Christ. The second thing I want to draw your attention to is the Holy Ghost. We have in verse 8 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. Now, of course we know the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, but the Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity.

He always existed. He always had a work and an office, the whole of the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. They are God breathed, they are the work of the Holy Ghost. And here we have then the very figures and all of the sacrifices, the types and the shadows, these are all by the Holy Ghost given. So whereas in the New Testament The apostles had a tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. It is the Holy Ghost that blesses the ministry, that applies it with power. The word came to the Thessalonians, not in word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. And it's the same Holy Spirit that gave all of the types and all of the shadows, who now seals the blessings of the fulfillment in Christ of those same things.

When our Lord says that though I'm with you all the way even to the end of the world, our Lord's personal presence is in heaven, but by His Holy Spirit and by His grace is with His people and a great mystery to us that God is everywhere and We can only understand the presence of God by the scriptures themselves. Great is the mystery of Godliness, God manifest in the flesh and with the Lord's presence, special presence with his people, not just his omnipresence where God is everywhere, but his special felt presence with his people and often the presence of the Lord is spoken of is in a way as helping them, blessing them, doing things for them. It's not just a passive presence, it's a presence to bless and to apply the Word.

Then we have, going down to verse 14, again we have the work through the Spirit. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purged your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Again, it is emphasized through the Spirit. And if we look at who was it that raised Christ from the dead, the Scriptures bear testimony it was the Father who quickeneth the dead, it's the Spirit that quickeneth the dead, and our Lord who says, I have power to lay down my life, I have power to take it again. Every single person of the Trinity was involved in raising up Christ from the dead. The unity of the Spirit, the Father, the Son, they are all united in the salvation of a soul.

And it is the work of the Spirit that we are dependent upon as we gather tonight to have that word blessed. and applied to us, he shall not speak of himself as our Lord, he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. That is how we know we have the Spirit, when Christ is precious, when he is opened up, we can see him, that is the Spirit's work, not like he is falsely set forth in the charismatic churches, where Christ is precious, there is the Holy Spirit And so on to then look this evening at the way, a way through Christ, undivided into three parts.

Firstly, a way pointed to by figures. Our text begins, but Christ, and it is in contrast to what goes before. And of course, Paul, he goes backwards and forwards to the types and to bringing to the fulfilment, the anti-times. And then secondly, a way now made clear in Christ, but Christ being come and high priest, the good things to come.

And then lastly, a way of blessing for those called. Throughout these verses, there are specific blessings that are set forth, and it's set forth to those that are called. We have in the middle of verse 15, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. So we set forth that those receiving these are those that are called. Our calling, our election is known by our calling.

Firstly, a way that is pointed to by the figures. In verse 7 we have set forth a yearly sacrifice and service. The verse reads, but into the second, that is the holiest of all, when the high priest alone once every year. Every year there was this offering a sacrifice and entering into the holiest of all. Year after year after year, it was needed to be repeated each time, a sacrifice and a service.

There must have been those that thought what means this? Why is this to occur only this time? And why is it to be so often offered in that way? It's a good reminder, it's one of those passages that reminds us of a continuing in the way that the Lord has set, waiting for Him to open it, expound, and to do what He will do in that situation.

I've often thought of Hannah, childless, and going up year by year, up to Shiloh to worship. Each time she went, it highlighted her position. The other wife, Ina, she had children, she had not. And whereas it should have been a time of blessing, a time of worship, it was a time that aggravated what she had not got.

Many of the Lord's people Though it may not be year by year, it may be service by service. They come up to the house of God, they want to, they love to, but it highlights what they have not got yet, what they're seeking for, what they're looking for. And each time is a reminder that there's one service more, one less. And there's that aching void, there's that desire. But with Anna, There came a year that was a different year, a time that was a different time.

A time when she was brought to cry unto the Lord and the Lord heard her. And then she comes up with her Samuel. And I've often been encouraged by that. We can be discouraged when you say, well, I can look back several years and I haven't changed. I haven't the blessing I wanted and still remain the same. We have those times in scriptures like here, like Hannah, where it is year on year. The Lord had a purpose for it. There's a teaching in it. There's a lesson for it. It wasn't wasted. It was a purpose for it. And so this way is one of the figures that was pointed to a yearly sacrifice.

Then we have in verse 8, it is a way that was to signify that the way was not yet manifest. While that tabernacle is there, and I don't believe it just refers to the tabernacle in the wilderness, it is speaking of the first temple, the second temple, while those figures were there, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest or clearly visible or evident. That is what manifest means. So this figure, we are told in verse 8 that it was signifying something. It was setting something forth that there was to be a way into the holiest. The High Priest was going into that. There was to be a way, but it was not yet manifest, it was not yet clearly seen. So it was an intimating of what was to come.

And so as it is repeated year by year, and we think of, that's why we read from the next chapter, and the sacrifices that could never with those sacrifices they offered year by year continually made the comers there unto perfect for then would they not have ceased to be offered because that the worshippers once perjured have no more sacrifice for sins. So is a pointing to that which was repeated again and again which in its being repeated was saying This is not finished yet.

This is not put away since forever. It needs to be remembered year by year. And this is to be the background of Christ's sacrifice when it comes, to be really contrasted to it. And I want to convey that very much this evening, to emphasize the Think of how many years these sacrifices offering and each time it is said, sin is not put away yet. It's pointing to it, but it's not put away yet. This is but a type and a figure. Something is coming that is very different. Something is coming that shall be the anti-type is what this is pointing to.

We also told, and we could go back to verse 7 here, that it is not without blood. It must be by blood. So this way into the holiest of all, that is one thing that was emphasised. When it comes, when it happens, when the figure changes to the reality, it will be through blood.

You wonder how with those two in the way to Emmaus, they couldn't see that at first at all. We trusted that it should have been he that should have redeemed Israel. They'd seen his blood shed, but it was not until Christ goes back to these passages, back to what Paul is writing from Exodus and Leviticus, and opens up that this is what was foretold, it was pointing to blood, pointing to Christ's blood. And of course in the New Testament we have the Lord's Supper that points back to the blood as well, not the blood of bulls and of goats, but the blood of Christ.

So a way that was not without blood. Then it also is a way that is through the high priest, It was the high priest that was the one who was to go in. One that bore on his shoulders the names of the children of Israel. One that had on his breast the names of the children of Israel. One who went in not for himself, but for the people.

And so we have this time. And we gradually are getting this picture, we need blood, we need a high priest, we need one sacrifice that takes away the need for year by year by year. And this is the figure that they had. So, it then comes to a way that was made clear.

And I believe, of course, those Old Testament saints They knew enough, we are told in Hebrews 11, that they saw Christ's day. They saw Christ's day far off. Abraham did. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced at it. And those that were of faith in the Old Testament, that was the gospel to them.

The ceremonial law, these offerings, they were able to look past those and see our Lord Jesus Christ well on to look then secondly at a way now made clear in Christ and so in this one in this point our text begins but Christ being come And immediately he says, and High Priest, I High Priest of good things to come, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Apostle in Bring the High Priest often speaks of him at the end of chapter four. He says concerning the Lord, seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And it also says forth, Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the high priest, appearing in the presence of God for us, bearing the names of his people, entering into the holiest for them. Then we have also in verse 11, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands."

What he's pointing to is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. A body has thou prepared me. God manifest in the flesh taking into union with his divine person a real human body and human soul so that he had somewhat to offer. or makes it clear that if a high priest is to offer an offering, he must have something to offer, that the Lord Jesus Christ was not only offerer, but the offering as well. It was like with Abraham, my son, God will provide himself a lamb. He shall be the lamb.

And how wonderfully John the Baptist, behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. putting the seal upon our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But what a picture of His body being this tabernacle. He says, destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up again. They thought He meant the literal, but He was speaking of the tabernacle of His body.

And the Lord Jesus Christ then, He comes, Emmanuel, God with us, made flesh, dwells among us, fulfills this figure, shows what it was all pointing to, our Lord Jesus Christ, the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Solomon's temple, and then the second temple, that temple which was going to be greater than the first because the Lord Jesus Christ was to walk in it. but the temple of His body.

And then we have in verse 12 that it is His own blood, just those words, neither by the blood of goats and of cows, but by His own blood. Here we have what is pointed to all the time, and it is Christ's blood. That's why in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, is the New Testament in my blood, and setting forth Christ's blood, not our blood, not the blood of calves and of goats, but Christ's blood, not the blood of His people, but the blood of the Lamb of God, the substitute, not Isaac's blood, but the Lamb's blood, the substitutionary offering of our Lord Jesus Christ. But then in verse 12, we have this once, neither by the blood of Ghost, but by His own blood, He entered in once.

Once unto the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And immediately contrasted by all of these years and all of these offerings, you have one offering. One offering. This is where our faith must rest, that it is in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't need to be offered again and again. It is a once offering. We come to blessings in a moment, but to see this contrast, this is what the Holy Spirit is pointing to, and in these Gospel days, that is to be the real comfort of the people of Not like the blasphemous mass, where they think, well, he is to be offered again and again. In the mass, no. The Lord's Supper, it looks back to what he has done. And in the present, we show forth his death. And it is done until he comes, so we're looking forward. In the Lord's Supper, it is past, it is present, it is future.

And it is remembering that one work of our Lord that is typified and then set forth here, that everyone in the Church of God has a part of exactly the same. All of God's people may be called at a different time, a different age, in a different way, in a different experience, but every one of them had their sins put away at Calvary. by the same dear man, by the same precious blood, at the same time, and once forever put away. In that way, a church is completely one. Not one member is above another. All are redeemed and washed in the same precious blood in the same way. It truly is a communion, a uniting together in what Christ has done for each one.

And then in verse 24, we had our Lord Jesus Christ and the disciples, they saw Him taken from them, raised up into heaven. The angel came, wide standing, gazing up into heaven. He that has seen sin shall come in like manner with power and great glory. And they believed it, they went. Instead of in sorrow, they were in the temple rejoicing and with great joy. They understood what had happened.

When our Lord died, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to the bottom, the way to the holiest was then opened up, it was no longer shielded, and the Lord comes into heaven, the firstfruits, the firstfruits which ensure there shall be others follow.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the first begotten from the dead, the first resurrection, a blessing is pronounced on all those that have a part in the first resurrection, and everyone that is called and quickened by grace has a part in that first resurrection. They are, as baptism sets forth, buried with him by baptism into death, risen again by newness of spirit. united with Christ in his death and in his resurrection. Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ in me. And so our Lord then ascends up into heaven.

Those times they pointed to Christ, must have been very, very dark to those Old Testament saints. But when Christ comes we can look back to those types and shadows and it makes it even more clear of how that the Lord by one offering put away sin. How he fulfilled God's plan, it always was God's plan. Christ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and we see how it then is unfolded The Old Testament tithe is designed to reinforce the blessing of Christ's sacrifice. Then we think of one way of reinforcing it, how many thousands, you might say even millions, of bulls and of goats and of bloodshed, and yet not one of them put away sin.

Not one of them resulted in a life from the dead. but with our Lord Jesus Christ. We have Him rising from the dead, and then when the Spirit is given at Pentecost, we have 3,000 quickened from spiritual death to spiritual life, and then another 5,000 later on, and the Lord adding to the Church daily such as should be saved, the fruit and effect of what Christ did.

And I want to look at our last point, that way of blessing for those called. I want to emphasize again the calling. How do we know that Christ died for us? How do we know that His blood was shed for us? Our Lord says, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. We have the calling put forth here.

My sheep, they hear my voice, they follow me. No man can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. The calling is God's Word. We spoke of the Holy Spirit, the author of the Scripture, the author of the types and the shadows, the one that had to be waited for before they went forth to preach. Every soul that is quickened is quickened by the Spirit of God.

And it is by that calling that these blessings that Christ has accomplished and what He has done are for that soul that is called. That's how we know. Our Lord rejoiced in spirit, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. The Lord said, when he asked of Peter, whom say thou that I am, and he confessed that he was the Christ, the Son of God, he said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. That is calling, that our eyes are opened, they shall all be taught of God, they shall all know me from the least unto the greatest of them.

The Lord himself is the executor of his own will. We read here that a will or a testament is of no use while someone lives. Some of you here may have a will, but that will sits there in the bank or solicitors, useless, it can't be exacted upon because you're not dead yet. But as soon as you die then the executors will look at that will and they will judge as to who gets the benefits and the blessings from that will. With the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the executor of His own will.

He knows for whom He died. He knows for whom He shed His blood. He knows who is to receive the benefits and the blessings from that will. Their names are written in heaven. Their names were born upon His heart when He suffered upon Calvary. That is the great blessing of particular redemption.

Those who speak of a general redemption take away the personal, specific, individual love that the Lord had to all of His dear people as He suffered on Calvary for them. He laid down His life for His people. He felt their sins, He lovingly took their sins, and He bore their sins away. And so it is a very particular redemption, a particular love, having loved his own, he loved them unto the end, each individual, each single one of his sheep, single one of his people. And they each in the Lord's appointed time will be called from nature's darkness into his marvelous light. They will be given spiritual life, They will be shown these things, and Christ will be precious unto you which believe He is precious." That will be the one mark.

However much we might see the Lord's work in Providence and in our lives, it's good to be able to see it. But one mark that must not be missing is that Christ is precious, and that He is the altogether lovely to our souls. That is a vital thing. What Christ is our hymn writer is the test. And that will try where we are and what we are. And so Christ is set forth again and again here. So what are the blessings of calling?

In verse 12 we read at the end of that verse having obtained eternal redemption for us. You think of those words. Not obtaining eternal redemption or not part obtained it and we're waiting for the rest to be done during that person's life. Having obtained it, everyone that is called and quickened and given eternal life I give unto them eternal life, He has already obtained that redemption, and it is eternal redemption. It doesn't need to be renewed and renewed. You say, but what about my sins after I was called? Eternal redemption. Our sins original sin, and our sins in unregeneracy, and our sins after we've been called, all put away, every one of them.

You think of the Lord and those that died under the Old Testament, the Lord knew all of their sins. He brought them to heaven, the accuser of the brethren, He accused them night and day, no doubt because the blood yet hadn't been shed. But when God promises a thing, He will most certainly do it. And when Christ died, the accuser of the brethren was cast down. Here is the blood. You've nothing to accuse now. That's fully satisfied.

Sometimes I like to have a verse and you take out a word when it reads the same. So you have in verse 12 at the end there, having obtained redemption for us. If you read that, you wouldn't realize that I just left out eternal, but that's put in there.

It's put in there for a purpose. It is eternal. God has given eternal life and he's given eternal redemption. that is set free by the payment of a price, not just for a certain time, not just for certain sins, but for all the sins of his people for eternity. That is the blessing that is in calling. And that's emphasized if you go down to verse 26, that it is a sacrifice once. 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, or redeemed by the sacrifice of himself." One sacrifice, eternal redemption. The second thing in verse 15 is an eternal inheritance. It's one thing to have a price paid and to be set free and to be redeemed, but where do we go? Where do we spend eternity?

Peter, he beautifully sets forth that inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. For you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time and this beautiful inheritance I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also an inheritance with the Lord with his presence Himrata says, Partner of my throne shall be the Lord taking sinners and bringing them to be with Himself, to see His glory, to be with Him forever and ever. How, why do they get there?

Not by their merits, not by their works, not by their deeds, but by inheritance, by His death, and they're the beneficiaries of His will. Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. Then we have in verse 14 another blessing, through the blood of Christ, through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. The Lord says, from me is thy fruit found. And those that are called will reflect the glory and honour of God. Their salvation does not depend upon their works, upon their fruits even, but where the Lord calls there will be those fruits, because the same spirit that quickens is the same one. that purges from dead works to serve the living God. It's a blessed thing to be one that serves the Lord.

Sometimes people think with the Apostle Paul, well the one thing that marked his conversion, behold he prayeth. But the other thing that he said, straight away, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Not what I am going to do, but thy will for me. And sometimes it is a real help for us when in God's purposes and providences it seems so strange. We may have afflictions, we may have a call of service in a situation, a church or arrangement that seems so odd and so different that we thought it would be. But as soon as you realize this is God's appointment, I'm where the Lord would have me to be. I have the infirmities and weaknesses He has appointed for me, that this is the path that I am to walk." And then you realize that in our lives we serve our Lord in the way that He has decreed.

What would an employer think if they said to the employees, look I want you to do this you to do that, and you to be over there, but each of the employers said, no, I want this job, I want to do that, not what you've told me. It would be chaos. But with the Lord, he appoints his people where he would have them to be, and what he would have them to be. They're not all the Apostle Peters or Pauls.

Most of them are the nothings in this world, and yet each one of them They serve the Lord where He has appointed them to be. Then we have this other blessing that is the Lord's position and place where He is now. He is appearing in the presence of God for us. A voice that speaks for me in heaven's high court for good. and advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. That's a wonderful thing, a friend at court, one that takes our part and that speaks for us. We might feel our poor prayers, we might feel how weak we are, how sinful we are, how ineffectual we are, but when we have this high priest, that makes intercession for us, that speaks for us. And we have a beautiful testimony of that. Our Lord, when He ascended, He said, I will pray the Father and He will give you another comforter which shall abide with you forever, tarry in the city of Jerusalem until... The effect of that intercession was the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Every blessing we receive comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. All the promises of God are yea and amen in Him. They are all purchased blessings, every one of them. Every deliverance is a purchased blessing.

Have at the end of Psalm 25, redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. You and I have troubles. The only way we get out is by redemption. But the Lord has for His people already redeemed them. And if the way the Lord brings us out of them is through death and brings us to glory, that is to His honour and glory.

And a fulfilling of these times in the Lord Jesus Christ, a way, a way that was foretold a way that was shown in types and shadows, a way in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then the blessings of those called, a way of blessing. I hope some of us will prove that, that through the way, and I often think of David, he says, my cup runneth over, and I picture this cup, and into that cup is poured all of God's appointments, his blessings, and all that he's done for us in our lives, and sometimes I have a little picture of that, and the things that I would put, or God has put into my cup, where David says, my cup runneth over, the Lord has filled, filled his cup with those things that I dear Joseph at the end, he could see God had done all things well, and may we be able to say the same. he hath done all things well. May the Lord bless us with a clear view of our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling these times and what he has done for us and the blessings that we have, they are eternal blessings. Assurance of eternal