Alright, if you would, let's
open our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 8. We'll read the first six verses
of Hebrews chapter 8. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices. Wherefore, it is of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth,
he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer
gifts according to the law, who serve unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things. As Moses was admonished of God
when he was about to make the tabernacle, foresee, saith he,
that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in
the mount. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant, which was established upon better promises. And we'll
end our reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we've gathered here
this morning to bow in your presence in worship and to hear word from
thee. And Father, I pray you would
enable us to do that this morning. Give us a word from thee. Let us hear a message from you
for your people. And I pray you'd give us a heart
of worship. That as one more time we hear
of Christ the Savior, that you'd give us a heart of faith and
enable us to believe him that we hear preached. Enable us to
look to him. Enable us to come to him. Enable
us to rest in him. Father, we pray that the name
of Christ our Savior be exalted magnified in our surface this
morning. Father, let us forget about our
preconceived notions of religion, the things that the world has
just put in our minds and the minds of the flesh is so easily
latched on to. Enable us to forget about those
things. Enable us to forget about the cares responsibilities of
this life. Enable us, Father, to not just
be here to play church, to try to impress folks with our religion,
but, Father, enable us to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how
I pray that you would grant everyone here the heart to believe Him.
Father, this is a work that only you can do. We're totally dependent
upon you. And, Father, I pray that you
would bear your mighty arm of grace. Show your power in grace
and mercy, your life-giving power to your people. And Father, forgive
us for our much asking. How often we ask so much. The only thing we can say in
our defense is to whom else have we to go but Thee. Father, we
thank you for your many, many blessings and mercies to this
congregation and to each of us individually, how richly that
you've blessed us, enabling us to live in this country, a free
country, enabling us to have a place where
we can come and worship. And then how you blessed your
people with everything that you require to make us accepted in
the Father, how we thank you. Your mercy is overwhelming. And
we pray your continued mercy be on this congregation, that
your continued blessing be upon the word as it's preached here. Father, we thank you for our
homes and our families and our children, this family of believers
that you've called together. Father, how we pray your saving
grace be upon our children. I pray you'd make this congregation
faithful. to teach them Christ, to point
them to Christ, to give them example of faithful men and women
who faithfully serve and follow and worship you. Father, that
in your time you'd bless your word to the hearts of our little
ones that you reveal to them who and what they are and cause
them to run, flee to Christ the Savior. And Father, we pray for
those who are hurting and who are sick and need you especially.
Thankful for a good report we've had on so many of our brethren.
You brought Judy and Cecil back to us to worship together, and
Father, we're thankful. For others who are still in the
midst of trouble and trial and pain and uncertainty and sorrow, Father,
we pray for them. We pray that you'd heal, that
you'd comfort their hearts, that you'd lead and guide as only
you can. Father, all these things we ask, and we give thanks in
that name which is above every name. In the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. Songs entitled, There is Forgiveness
with Our God. Written by our brother Don Horton. Come weary helpless, guilty one,
Lost and condemned in sin. Rape, hate, believe, and trust
God's Son. His blood can make you clean. There is forgiveness with our
God. There is forgiveness through
the blood, forgiveness with the Lord. Behold God's Son, the Substitute,
God made Him to be sin. that he might righteousness impute
to all believing men. Complete atonement Christ has
made, Redemption's work is done. The ransom prize was fully paid
By Christ and Christ alone. There is forgiveness with our
God, O sinner, hear His word. There is forgiveness through
the blood, forgiveness with the Lord. Would you be righteous
in God's sight, Forgiven all of sin? Then trust the Savior
crucified, Who was for sinners slain. There is forgiveness through
the blood, forgiveness with the Lord. Alright, let's open our Bibles
now to Hebrews chapter 8. I titled the message this morning,
The Sum and Substance. The Sum and the Substance. The
writer here, Hebrews 8 verse 1 says, Now of the things which
we have spoken, this is the sum. This is the summary. That word
sum, I looked it up, it means the most important thing. This
is the sum, it means the main thing. This is the main thing
the writer says that I've been saying. Of everything that I've
been saying, he tells us here, everything I've spoken about
that Old Testament high priest, this is the main thing. This
is the most important thing that I've been saying. Christ is a
better high priest. Now, look away from the picture
and look to the person. Look away from the inferior and
look to the better. Look to the best. Look away from
that picture that can never save and look to the person who does
save. The writer here is going to give
us a brief review of what he's been saying. You know, we should
pay attention in this review. I remember being a student and
the teacher would be getting ready to have a chapter test
and they would often review the important points in this chapter
since we've had the last test. And I was so overconfident. Such
a smart aleck. I would think, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. We've heard that before. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. We know that. We know that. You kids, be a better
student than I was. Have a better attitude than I
did. When you have a review, pay attention. Because you know
what? The teacher knows what's going
to be on the test. The teacher's already written
the test, and they're giving you a review of what's been on
there. Well, this is a review of something highly, highly important. It's a review of Christ, the
better high priest. And in this review, I want us
to see that, that Christ is the better high priest. But I also
want us to see this. What does this mean to our souls? What does it mean that Christ
is a better high priest to our souls? Now, pay attention to
this review, because our souls hang upon it. I do remember there
were times that I did pay attention to review when I was a student
because I knew I would figure out my grade. I've got to have
100 on this test. 99 won't do. I've got to have
100 on it. Buddy, I would. I'd pay attention. On this test,
we need 100%. 99%, 99.9% won't do. We must
have 100. And the test is this. Do we believe
Christ? Do we believe him? Do we rest
in him as he are all and in all? So in this review, you want to
give you four really good reasons to believe on Christ. Trust the
salvation of our souls to him. Now in Old Testament Israel,
the high priest was probably the most important man in Israel. And I say that for two reasons.
First of all, You can't worship God without the high priest. God cannot be worshiped without
a blood sacrifice. And the high priest is the one
who offered it. And secondly, the high priest must have been
the most important man in Israel because you could not be accepted
by God without the high priest making intercession. See, he
had to offer the sacrifice and then he had to make intercession
for the people and you couldn't be accepted without him. You
cannot come to God apart from a high priest. Now that was true
in Old Testament Israel, and it's still true today. I hope
to show you that it's still true today. We cannot come to God
apart from this mediator, Christ our great High Priest. Now Israel
had thousands and thousands of high priests. They all descended
from Aaron, and they were just pictures. They were weak, sinful
men. But this is the theme, remember,
of the whole book of Hebrews. Christ is better. Christ is better. Christ is better. And here we're
seeing that Christ is a better high priest. And I hesitate to
use the word better. He is a better high priest than
the sons of Aaron. But now Christ is the best high
priest. He's the best high priest because
he is the only high priest who can save. He's the only high
priest that God will accept. He's the only high priest who
ever offered a sacrifice to please God. So I want us to look here
at the most important thing about Christ our high priest. And number
one is this, Christ our high priest is set. He's set. Verse one says, now the things
which we have spoken, this is the sum, we have such an high
priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. Now the writer says here, we
have such a high priest. He's saying that Christ is exactly
like I've been telling you that he is. Christ is the better high
priest than Aaron. Better than the sons of Aaron,
because they were many priests. Christ is one. That's all it
took, just one. He got the job done. All those
priests, they had a temporary priesthood, because they died. Christ has an eternal priesthood.
He lives forever. Aaron and his sons were sinful
men. Christ has no sin. Aaron and his son could not save,
but Christ saves. Christ is such. and high priest. He is exactly the high priest
that sinners like us need. He just fits the bill to a tee.
Remember, he told us that back in chapter 7, verse 26. For such
a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Now
that's just the high priest that you and I need. And we can have
such a high priest, just like what the writer's been telling
us, We can have strong consolation, strong comfort and assurance
of salvation in Christ. He's told us that and now he
tells us that again in this review by using the word set. Christ
is set upon the throne of heaven. And that means two things. First,
it means that Christ has sat down. He sat down on the right
hand of God. He sat down the right hand is
the place of acceptance. Christ, the great high priest,
did something that the sons of Aaron never did. Christ sat down
in the holy place. In the holy place, he sat down.
In the tabernacle and the temple, there was never a chair in there.
You know why there was never a chair? It would never be used. The high priest would never use
it. He could never sit down because his work was never finished.
I don't care how many sacrifices he offered. There was another
one. I don't care how many times he trimmed the lamps and put
the oil in the lamps to keep the lamps burning, he always
had to put more in. I don't care how many of the
different ceremonies he went through, how many times he washed,
he had to wash again. His work was never finished.
And his work was never finished because he never accomplished
anything. He never put sin away. There always had to be another
sacrifice to offer. There always had to be another
ceremony to complete until Christ came. And when Christ came, And
after he suffered and died, all that was done away with. Because
Christ finished the work he came to do. Those other high priests
never finished the work. But Christ did. And he made sure
you and I knew it too. Because before he gave up the
ghost on the cross, what did he cry? It is finished. Now there's a lot in that statement.
It is finished. It is finished means that the
work of redemption It is finished. God's purpose of the salvation
for His people is done. The sacrifice is done. The sacrifices
are all over because the sacrifice has been made. The sin of God's
elect has been paid in full. It's finished. The law is finished. Christ is the end of the law.
Every commandment of the law has been obeyed. It's finished.
Quit looking to the law and look to Christ who kept it. It's finished.
It's finished. All the ceremonies, all the types
and pictures of the Old Testament are finished because Christ fulfilled
every one of them. We don't have a high priest in
robes anymore. Christ is our high priest. Christ
is our high priest. We don't have an altar down front
here. You know why? Christ is our altar. We have
an altar. We don't have to sacrifice anything
in order to be saved. You don't have to give up stuff
you enjoy doing. You don't have to give up, sacrifice something
for Lent or sacrifice something because Christ is our sacrifice.
We don't have to observe a Christian Sabbath. I think it's going to
be a pretty day today. Some of y'all want to play golf
this afternoon, have at it. You don't have to worry. That's
not violating the Christian Sabbath. Oh, we have a Sabbath, don't
we? We have a rest. Yonder he sits. See, He's resting. He's sitting, isn't He? He is
our rest. He is our Sabbath. It's all Christ.
Christ came and fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy of the
Messiah. He came and finished all the
work that the Father gave Him to do. And when it was all finished,
He sat down. He sat down in satisfaction. The job is done. It's finished.
He sat down on the right hand of God because the Father accepted
him. He didn't just accept his work,
he accepted him and accepted everybody in him. I'm telling
you, that's a mighty good reason to trust your salvation in him.
He is set, completely set. The work is finished and we're
accepted in him. I like this second meaning, the
word set. It means set. And the best example I can think
of is concrete. Concrete once it's set, it's
settled. And you got a hard time blasting
it out of there. Christ is set upon the throne
of glory. He's set there like concrete,
always doing His will. He's sovereign over everything
and nothing can stop the will of the King of Kings. Nothing
can make Him abdicate His throne because He's set there like concrete. He's not giving up the authority.
He's not giving up the throne. He'll never quit ruling over
everything that happens in His creation to ensure the salvation
of His people. He's sat there. He's not leaving.
I'm telling you that's a pretty good reason to trust Him. Isn't
it? The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
the salvation of His people and then He sat down glorified in
heaven and everyone for whom He died is going to follow Him
there right soon. Right soon. You know why? Because He's set there. He's
set like concrete. So there's no doubt everyone
in Him is going to follow Him there. You see, if Christ is
all of our salvation, He's set like concrete in glory. If He's
all of our salvation, then our salvation can't ever be lost,
can it? We can't fail to be saved if our Savior is the one who
sat in heaven, never allowing His people to perish. That's
a mighty good reason to trust Him. You can just trust Him,
cast it all on Him and never worry. One thing about it, because
He sat in heaven. Now when we say that Christ is
sat on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens, that
doesn't mean that in glory someday we're going to see the Father
sitting here and then the Son sitting here. to his right. No,
that's not the case because the father and the son are one. Now,
all we will ever see of God, even in glory, is the Lord Jesus
Christ. The majesty in the heavens is
a person. That's his name. See, it's capitalized,
isn't it? The majesty in the heavens is describing a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Majesty is his name. Well, then
that must be his character, too. Oh, the one whose name is majesty
is majestic. Oh, he's majestic. He's so majestic. He is the glory and the light
of heaven. The apostle John told us he saw
heaven. It doesn't need a sun to shine in it because the lamb
is the light thereof. Oh, he's so majestic. He just
lights heaven, just fills it with his light. He's so majestic
that when the apostle John got a glimpse of him on the Isle
of Patmos, John said, I fell at his feet as dead. Oh, he's
so majestic. Isaiah saw him. Old Isaiah thought he was something,
didn't he? He's the prophet in Israel. Y'all better listen to
me. I'm the prophet in Israel. I'm telling you what for. Me
and Isaiah said, I saw the Lord. I lifted up. And he's majestic. His train filled the temple.
I saw the glory of God and I said, woe is me, I'm undone. Now I
know I'm nothing because I've seen everything. I've seen him
who's everything. Daniel saw him. He saw Christ
and he said he's so majestic. When I saw him, there remained
no strength in me for my comeliness was turning me into corruption
because I saw incorruption. See, now I saw the corruption
that I am because I saw incorruption. And we preach Christ for this
reason. If God ever lets us see the majesty
and the sufficiency of Christ sitting upon the throne, the
majesty of His person, we'll run to Him and beg Him for mercy,
beg Him to be our Savior. And if our salvation is the majesty
in heaven, not only is our salvation secure, this thing of salvation
is so much greater and so much glorious than we can even imagine. I mean, I think it's wonderful.
I'm so thankful for it. I love to read about it. I love
to talk about it. I love to preach it. I love to
hear it preached. But if the name of our Savior
is Majesty, salvation in Him is far more majestic than we
can even imagine. We can't fully understand that.
I can't fully explain it. But I do know this. That's a
mighty good reason to trust Him. Oh, He's so majestic. Right,
number two in our review is this. Now remember, the only point,
the only thing that matters in the test is this. Do we believe
Christ? Do you believe Him? Here's the
second reason in our review to believe Him. Christ, our high
priest, ministers in holy things. The holy things. Verse two says,
a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched to not man. Now that word sanctuary means
holy things. He's a minister of holy things.
Now, those Old Testament priests, they ministered in carnal things,
didn't they? Fleshly things. And they were
carnal, fleshly, sinful. The high priest continually had
to sprinkle everything in the tabernacle with blood to purify
it because it was just surrounded by the filth of the sin of the
people. They ministered in carnal things.
That's why everything they did could never save. All it could
be was a picture. But then Christ, the great high
priest, And He ministers in holy things. And that's what enables
Him to save the souls of His people. Christ doesn't minister
in types and shadows and just examples. He ministers in truth. He ministers in true righteousness. He doesn't just give a picture
of it. He makes His people righteous. He doesn't just give a picture
of the forgiveness of the sins of His people. He forgives the
sins of His people. He doesn't just give a picture
of cleansing his people from their sins. He actually cleanses
them from their sins. He doesn't just give a picture
of propitiation that nobody can see except the high priest because
he's making propitiation behind the veil, sprinkling the blood
on the mercy seat. Christ actually makes propitiation for the sins
of his people. So the father says, I don't see
him anymore. He actually puts away the sin of his people. He
ministers in holy And he is the minister who's effectual and
truly helpful. He's truly helpful. He saves
in truth. He comforts the hearts of his
people in truth. Now this thing of salvation is
spiritual. It's a spiritual matter. Salvation
doesn't have anything to do with the state of the flesh. Salvation
is spiritual. It's in the heart. And a man
can never reach there. A man can never reach there. I love preaching the gospel. I love being the pastor of this
congregation. And I love you. I care for you. I pray for you every single day. And most of Sunday afternoon
and Wednesday evening, Jan says, what's wrong? I said,
you reckon anybody heard? You reckon the Lord for anything?
Oh, it's the most frustrating thing in this world. You can't
put it in your heart. You call and say, my husband's
died. My wife died. My baby's sick. And my heart's broken and I tell
you, I'm sorry, and I can't affect it one bit. But Christ can. Oh, he reaches
the heart. He reaches the spirit. He gives
a heart. He gives a spirit that loves
him, that trusts him, that believes in him. And Christ accomplished
this salvation spiritually in the hearts of his people in the
true tabernacle. Now what's the writer talking
about there? The true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not
man. Well, I can show you in John chapter one. John chapter one, speaking of
his body, the body of flesh by which in which he accomplished
the salvation of his people. John one verse 14. And the word was made flesh.
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Now
that word dwelt there comes from the word for tabernacle or for
tent. And this is what John's saying,
Christ tabernacled among us. He lived among us in a body of
flesh. Christ, the great high priest,
accomplished the salvation of his people by ministering in
the true tabernacle in his body of the flesh. In order to save
his people, he had to become what we are. He had to become
flesh. So he took on him a body of flesh. And in that body, he
accomplished the salvation of his people. In that body, he
obeyed God's law and brought in everlasting righteousness.
And in that body, he sacrificed himself. He sacrificed all that
he is to accomplish the redemption of his people. Now that Old Testament
high priest, he just ministered in a tabernacle. which was a
picture of Christ. But nothing about that ever saved
anybody. All it did was describe to us
the one who's coming. Well, Christ, the great high
priest came, ministering in his body, fulfilling every picture
of the tabernacle. And the writer mentions that
in verse five, Hebrews eight, who serve unto the example and
shadow of heavenly things. As Moses was admonished of God
when he was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith he,
that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee
in the mount. Now, why was God so insistent
that Moses make everything just exactly like the pattern God
showed him? Moses didn't have the option
to say, you know, I think this would be better. We, you know, we need
to make this a little longer. We need to make this a little
shorter. We need to make this a little bit different color.
You know, it goes better together. He didn't have that option. God
was insistent that he make everything just exactly like God told him
to make it. because every stitch of the tabernacle,
every most minute detail of the tabernacle was a picture of Christ
and a picture of how he would save his people in a body of
flesh. The Lord Jesus looked just like
an ordinary man. Those shepherds and those wise
men, when they came to see the baby and they came to see that
child, he didn't have a glow around his head. He looked just
like every other baby. That was the tabernacle. If you
looked at the cave of Israel and you saw the tabernacle there
in the middle of it, you'd think that's a tent just like all the
other tents. From looking at it from over here, it's covered
with badger skin and just ugly looking, looks like every other
tent. Oh, but y'all see inside. If
they pull back those veils and you go in there, you see the
riches. You see the gold and the silver.
You see the mercy seat. You see the presence of God.
You see the glory, all that hidden under that badger skin. Well,
that's the Lord Jesus. He looked just like every other
ordinary man. He wasn't six foot four and,
you know, just those handsome fella ever was walking head and
shoulders above everybody. No, he wasn't. He looked just
like every other ordinary Jewish man. And he lived a rough life. When he was just 30 years old,
those scribes and Pharisees thought he was in his 50s or about 50s.
You ain't 50 years old yet. They didn't say you're just in
your early 30s. I mean, he must have looked rough. I mean, he
had a hard, hard life in his flesh. Oh, but y'all see inside. Y'all see the riches of God's
glory, the riches of God's grace to his people that are hidden
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gave us just a glimpse
of that. Remember on the Mount of Transfiguration? He pulled
back the veil of that flesh just a little bit in the glory. was
overwhelming. He shined. His glory shined forth
as the sun. He, the fulfillment, is a whole
lot better than the tabernacle. The Lord Jesus Christ is holy. That's what all the white linen
and white thread in the tabernacle pictured. It pictured Christ's
holiness, which makes His sacrifice effectual. The writer told us
about this in chapter 7, verse 27. Who needeth 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. See, he's holy. He's undefiled
and that's what enabled him to make a sacrifice that would put
away the sin of his people. All that white linen wasn't there
just because it looked good with all the other colors. It's picturing
his holiness. So much of the tabernacle was
made with incorruptible wood covered with gold. Now, why was
that? Was the incorruptible wood just
a filler so it makes it look like solid gold? No, no. That's
a picture of the God-man, his incorruptible flesh united with
his deity. He's the God-man come to accomplish
the salvation of his people. The tabernacle was the place
where the sacrifice was offered. Well, Christ came and offered
himself. The tabernacle was the place God said, here I'll meet
with men. where God will meet with men in peace and acceptance
in one place, in one person, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
person of Christ. And when Christ went to offer
the blood of his sacrifice, he didn't go to a little room hidden
off from view in the earth. You know, the high priest would
do that. He'd take the blood of the bullock and the blood
of the sin offering and all this blood. And he'd go off into a
little room by himself, the Holy of Holies, where nobody could
see him. He's only there by himself. And he'd sprinkle the blood on
the mercy seat, just on those fleshly, carnal elements. But
when it came time to in truth, accomplish the salvation of his
people, Christ, the great high priest ministered in holy things
and spiritual things. He took his blood into heaven
itself before the father and the father saw that blood and
he said, it's enough. I'm satisfied. I'm well pleased. And that's the only way the salvation
of sinful men and women like you and me could ever be accomplished,
is in heaven itself. Christ is our salvation if we
trust Him. This is the point of this whole
review. Now trusting, trust, believing. If He is all of our
salvation, we can rest easy, can't we? Because He accomplished
the salvation of His people, not in picture, not in pretend,
but in spirit and in truth. All right, thirdly, Christ, our
high priest, has an effectual sacrifice. Verse four. For if
he were on earth, he should not be a priest. Priests were from
the tribe of Levi. Christ came from the tribe of
Judah. If he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing
that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law. Now,
remember, if God's going to be worshiped, there had to be a
blood sacrifice, and it had to be offered by the high priest.
As God told us, without the shedding of blood is no remission. had
to be sprinkled on the mercy seat. That's the only way atonement
could be made. If that high priest came into
the Holy of Holies without blood, God's going to kill him. You
better bring blood that you die not. And blood had to be offered
upon the horns of the altar of incense. God said that you die
not. Now, why is that? Well, the altar
of incense is where that high priest took the correct recipe,
mixture of the spices, beaten small, put on those hot coals,
and the smoke went up. The picture of sweet smoke, which
pictures the intercession of Christ. But blood had to be applied
to the horns. Now what's that? Well, the horns
represent power. The power of Christ's sacrifice
is the blood. It's the blood of the sacrifice.
He pleads his blood. That's the power of his intercession.
And you can't die if Christ is making intercession for you through
the blood of his sacrifice. If he's saying, I shed my blood
for that poor sinner, there's power in that intercession. That
sinner is going to be saved. But in order for that to take
place, there has to be a sacrifice. A high priest has to have a sacrifice.
Well, then Christ, if he's going to be the great high priest,
he's got to have a sacrifice too, doesn't he? Well, what will
Christ offer? What sacrifice will he offer?
Will he go find a bullet or a ram or a sheep? What will he offer?
He'll offer himself. This goes back to him being the
God-man. That incorruptible wood is his sinless flesh, and the
gold surrounding it is his deity. He's got to be the God-man, and
he's got to be both. In order to offer a sacrifice
that will be accepted. See, God has nothing to offer,
does he? Because he's spirit. Man has
nothing to offer because he's sinful. But the God-man... He's got something to offer.
He can offer himself. And that's exactly what he did.
And this is why Christ didn't come in the line of Aaron, the
high priest, because we need a better high priest, don't we?
We need a high priest to offer better sacrifices than animal
sacrifices. So Christ came as a high priest,
not after the order of Aaron, because they didn't do any good.
He came after the order of Melchizedek. We looked at him a couple of
chapters ago. And Christ didn't come offering animal sacrifices,
which could never take away sin. Abraham, when he met Melchizedek,
brought bread and wine, a picture of Christ's broken body. That's
what he offered. He offered his body and that
sacrifice put away sin. The sons of Aaron never could
do that. No, they offered sacrifices continually, didn't they? But
when they offered sacrifices, particularly we're talking about
the day of atonement, He went through ceremonies and sacrifices
that lasted all day long. And what did that tell the people?
The only thing it told the people was sin's still here. It just
reminded them sin's still here. They remembered, you know, I
remember last year we did this. Why are we doing it again? Because
last year it didn't put away any sin. And this year it's not
going to put away any sin, so we're going to have to do the
same thing next year. Just kept reminding the people sin's not
been put away. And we do that year after year
after year after year. You'd think we'd finally learn. I'm looking for something else.
I'm looking for someone else to come and put my sin away. And then finally, Christ came
and he offered himself. He offered the Lamb of God and
his pure, sinless blood saved his people from their sins. Now
this is good news. This is good news to me anyway.
Salvation is not in religious ceremonies. You don't have to
have a pen where you attended 52 weeks out of the year. If
you're not here, as long as you bring a note from a pastor or
a place you visited, then we'll still count that and give you
your pen. It's not in ceremonies. It's not going through whatever
ceremonies we make up. It's not in that. It's not in
the ceremony of baptism even. Now, believers will be baptized,
but not in order to be saved, confessing that Christ has already
saved them. Salvation is not in all these
things that we do. Salvation is in Christ. It's so simple. It's so simple. It's all in Him. Now, trust your
soul to Him. You believe He's enough. You believe He's all it takes
to save you, and you come to Him trusting Him. To do what
he said he'd do could save sinners. Trust him. All right, then lastly,
here's the fourth thing. Christ is the mediator. Now this
is the reason to trust him. This is our review. Our review
has one point. The test has one question. Do
you trust him? Here's the fourth reason to trust
him. Christ is the mediator of a better covenant. Verse six. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much more also he is the mediator
of a better covenant. Now, Lord willing, we'll spend
some more time on this next time, but let's see a little bit of
it now. It'd be a blessing. Christ is the mediator of a better
covenant. And if you've ever tried to keep
the law, this is awful good news. This is good news. Now, the Old
Testament high priest, he had a ministry. He had things he
was supposed to do and they had to be done. But he ministered
under the covenant of the law and the law said, Do or die. You've got to obey this or you're
going to die. So the high priest had to do
everything just right. Especially on the day of atonement.
God said you do this just the way that you die not. Do it this
way, exactly this way that you die not. Do it this way or that
you die not. The law just kept talking about
death, didn't it? Do this or die. You come into the holy of
holies but you better bring blood that you die not. And even then,
when he came in with the blood of an animal, sprinkled it on
the mercy seat, it didn't put his sin away, did it? The only
thing that covenant of the law can provide to sinners like you
and me is death. It can never put any sin away.
It can never give us life. So we need better. We need better. So Christ came to do just that,
to be the better. He came as the mediator of a
better covenant. And the covenant he ministers
is grace, not law. Oh, that's good news. So much
grace is so much better than law because the law demands death. But grace demands life in Christ. The law says you better do. You
better get busy and do. Grace says it's already been
done by Christ. The law says work. You better
get to work. I don't care if you're tired.
You better keep working. You better keep it up that you die not.
And grace says rest in Christ. The law says do. You've got to
do, you've got to do, you've got to do, you've got to do.
And grace says believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Believe on him and you'll have
rest for your soul. Now the law has been abolished.
One of the things that Christ meant when he said it's finished
is the law is abolished. Now why anybody wants to go back
to it, I was going to say I do not know, but I do know. Somebody
wants to go back to the law because they're dead. That's the only
reason. The law has been abolished, friend. But grace will never
be abolished. God's grace will never be abolished. Now come to Him and believe Him.
Come to Him for grace. The covenant of grace is far
better than the covenant of works. The covenant of works depends
upon our sinful works. Now what can sinful works produce? Is there any answer to death?
There isn't, is there? All our sinful works can produce
is death. So don't bring them to God. Come
to God seeking grace. God has a covenant of grace. God has a promise of grace for
his people. Frank is not promising that.
John Gill is not promising that. Matthew, Henry, Charles Spurgeon,
read all the great writers that you want. It's not them that's
promising that. Almighty God has promised grace. Can you think of a better reason
for a sinner to come to him? He's promised grace. And this
grace is established upon something. It's not just, well, I'm going
to be gracious and ignore your sin and pretend it's not there.
This grace is based, it's established on something better. It's the
promise of God fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. The promise
Grace in Christ is life. Eternal, spiritual life. Now
you don't have to be right bright to know that life is better than
death. There's life in Christ because
of God's grace. Now come to Him. Believe Him.
Christ has a more excellent ministry. He's more excellent in every
way because grace is the message in Him. Now this is the son. This is the most important thing. Please pay attention. This is
the most important thing. Christ is better. He's better
because he's the best. He's your only hope. Now trust
him. He ministers in a better place,
in a better tabernacle, with a better sacrifice, under a better
covenant. That's a mighty good reason to
trust him. God, help us to do it. Help's not a good word. If I
say, God, help us to do it, it makes it sound like I can do
some of it. God, help me. God, cause us to do it. God,
cause us to do it. Make me believe, and I will.
Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for the opportunity to hear this most important thing. that Christ
is all. Father, I pray that you would
bless your word as it's been preached to your glory, to the
hearts of your people. You promised that your word will
never return unto you void. It'll always accomplish the purpose
where unto you send it. And Father, we beg of thee that
you'd send your word forth in power with a purpose to give
life to your people, to call your people to Christ, comfort
and strengthen the hearts of your people, to strengthen our
faith and our rest and our joy in Christ our Savior. Bless your
word to your glory. Enable us to see the glory of
Christ our Savior and to truly worship him and rejoice in him. It's in his blessed name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Now, I told you just a
minute ago, I love y'all. And I really do. And one of the
highlights of my week is greeting you all at the door here. But
Janet and I have a very long drive today. So as we are singing,
we're going to leave on vacation because it's just going to be
late when we get there. And as Janet will tell you, I
am a big fan of making good time. And we kind of need to make good
time. So I love you. And Lord willing, I'll see you
when we get back. All right.