Well I know we're spending quite
some time in Hebrews chapter 9 and I suspect that next week
likewise we will still be in Hebrews chapter 9 and the reason
is because it is so important, it is so crucial, it is so powerful
in assuring us of our situation as believers saved by the grace
of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, made right with God,
having a hope of eternity in the frailty of this flesh, in
the feebleness of this flesh, of the sinfulness of this flesh,
to know that if we're in Christ, as he said repeatedly, we have
eternal life in him, believe in him and have eternal life. It's what's called, as I've referred
before, in chapter 10 of Hebrews, verse 22, the full assurance
of faith, the full assurance. Let us draw near to God with
a true heart in full assurance of faith. How are we able to
come? We've got our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience with
the blood of Christ, metaphorically is what that's saying, sprinkled
by what Christ has done with his blood. from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water, made clean for the presence
of God. And what this does is it gives
us confidence of eternal peace with God. In Colossians chapter
1 and verse 20, we read that Christ has made peace, peace
between sinful men and women like we are. He has made peace
between us as we are the enemies of God and with God who is offended. He's made peace. How has he done
it? Through the blood of his cross and by him to reconcile
where there was enmity, where there was animosity between the
two parties of God and a sinful people. He's reconciled those
two alien parties and made them one. And so the result of that
is that the fear of death is removed, as it says in Hebrews
chapter two and verse 15, as we were thinking many weeks ago
now, talking about those who through fear of death, through
all their life are subject to bondage, but Christ came in a
body prepared for him, to release his people from that bondage
of the fear of death, knowing that we have to die, and then
what happens, and having no confidence, but that is removed, that fear
of death is removed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and all that he
has completed. So that this is the blessing,
we read, we hear so much in these days, like we never used to,
I have to say, When Kristin and I were children growing up, you
hardly ever heard of this. I'm not saying there was no such
thing as mental illness, but there seems to be an absolute
plague of it now, because nobody has any peace. And people are
still mortal and conscious of their mortality. And yet, the
child of God, knowing what he knows about salvation in Christ,
says in Psalm 4, verse 8, I will both lay me down in peace and
sleep. For thou, Lord, only makest me
to dwell in safety. In the Lord Jesus Christ, and
all he has completed, there is no dread of death, of judgment,
of condemnation. If I am taken from this life
during this day, and who knows? None of us have any advance warning. None of us know for sure. If
I am taken from this life, There is no dread of that if you're
in the Lord Jesus Christ, because there is eternal life in God,
in this life of all the things that you might discover and you
might grasp and you might seek after and oh you're always hearing
on the radio an advertisement to join in some lottery or other
and just think what a life-changing event it would be if you won
fifty thousand five hundred thousand a million countless millions
of pounds what a life-changing event it would be I fear that
it would be very life-changing and not for very much good either
but if you found Christ and the salvation that is in him, you
have found the pearl of greatest price and everything else, the
riches of the world, the riches, the experiences of the world,
all of those things pale into insignificance. They pale into
insignificance compared to the possession of the pearl of greatest
price. The thing that is of the most
value to you is the treasure that you have stored up in heaven
by faith in Christ. It's the loving embrace, not
just things, but it's the loving embrace of my God and Savior. My love for him and his love
for me. That loving embrace, that relationship
with God, to know God and enjoy him forever. How rich you are
if this is yours. It says in Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 3 that we are blessed. If you're trusting in Christ,
you are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. What more do you need in your
existence, in your life, in your consciousness, than to know that
you are right with the living God? So Paul in Hebrews, because
I believe it is Paul, with legal precision, with legal precision,
shows the certainty of God's salvation of his elect multitude. And I want to focus on some verses,
well basically I suppose yet again from verse 15, but down
to verse 22. I know I've said a lot about
verse 15 already over the last three weeks, but there's more
to say. And so I want to remind us of the everlasting covenant
the will and testament, the covenant which is sealed in blood. In verse 15, let's read it again
together. 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, the
law that says, do this and live, but if you
fail to do it, if you do not keep it perfectly, then you shall
surely die, that for those transgressions, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. The New Testament, the New Testament,
the mediator of the New Testament, the New Covenant, the new covenant,
newly revealed, that is, newly revealed afresh, the covenant
which talks about redemption, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions, redemption is the sin debt payment. We have a sin debt that we owe
to the justice and holiness of God. We have a sin debt. That sin is basically rebellion
against the living God, the one true God. And we have a debt
because we are all sinners, for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. But for the redemption of that
sin debt, the redemption is the sin debt payment. Redemption
is payment. You redeem something that is
yours by paying a price for it. the sins shown up by the law. The law of God was given to show
up the fact that we are sinners. In Romans 7 and verse 9, Paul
writes this, for I was alive without the law once, but when
the law, the commandment came, I was aware of sin. Sin revived
and I died, for it convicted me and killed me. But how did
Christ redeem? How did Christ pay the price
of release from the bondage of sin? He did it by means of death. It says there, right in the middle
of that verse 15, that by means of death, by means of death,
by the shedding of his blood, for the life is in the blood. The life is in the blood. And
whom was it that Christ redeemed? Whom was it that he redeemed?
That they which are called. They which are called. They which
are the people of God. The ones, as Romans 8, 29 and
30 says, the ones whom he foreknew. That wasn't he looked into his
crystal ball and saw that we would be good people and believe
him. No, the ones that he knew in a kind of a a marriage relationship. He predestinated, it says. He called with his name. He justified
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, for the purpose of glorification. There it is,
that we might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. This
is the Israel of God, Galatians 6.16, the Israel of God. Israel
is not that piece of political conflict land in the Middle East
as it is still today. It isn't the Jews of old. The Israel of God is the elect
of God. The elect of God is that innumerable
multitude. It's that name that religion,
Christian religion as it calls itself, hates. The idea that
God would elect some. and passed by others. They don't
know God, for that is the God of Scripture. He is a God of
electing grace. His elect, an innumerable multitude,
known by him from before the beginning of time. He calls them
his sheep. In John chapter 10, Christ Jesus
speaks about my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I lay
down my life. Who for? Everybody? No. He doesn't
lay down his life for everybody that ever lived. He lays down
his life for his sheep he says to the pharisees you are not
of my sheep therefore you don't believe if you were of my sheep
you would believe my sheep hear my voice and follow me these
people are his bride a people, a multitude that no man can number,
from every tribe and tongue and kindred, who were betrothed to
Christ before the beginning of time, and called out during time,
and redeemed on the basis of him coming in time, in a body,
to redeem his people from the curse of the law. They are his
body, of whom he is the head. We are the members of that body,
and he is the head. It's called his church. For what
purpose? What was the ultimate purpose?
There it is, I've already said it, but there it is again at
the end of verse 15, that his elect might receive the promise
of eternal inheritance. This covenant, this testament
is powerful, and it's certain, it's certain. You know, in this
world of business and transactions, Governments that try to abide
by the rule of law, like the traditional government of this
country in which we live here, have always tried to maintain
the rule of law. And they put all sorts of checks
in place to make sure that insurance is properly covered by the ability
to pay in a disaster, that banks don't run off with your money
when you put your money with a bank, that you are protected. But they're very limited in what
they can do in truth. They're very limited. It's all
very fragile in truth, but this is based on the determined will
of God. And that cannot change, for he
is the one who cannot lie. It was sealed in eternity, in
the unchanging purpose of the triune God. You know, 2 Timothy
chapter one and verse nine, some of these verses, you know, we
sometimes feel assailed by the pseudo-Christian world, the religious
world that thinks it knows the truth, but we know it doesn't
really. Get these texts in your mind. It says at the end of verse
eight, God, Then going on into verse nine, God has saved us. God has saved his people and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, the
things that we do. How? Why? For what purpose? According to his own purpose
and grace. Oh, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. not when we decided to follow
Jesus, no, given us before the world began, but now is made
manifest, is shown, is obvious by the appearing of our savior,
Jesus Christ, who has, listen to this, mortal men and women,
men and women destined to die once and then the judgment, mortal
men and women, our Saviour Jesus Christ who has abolished death
and has brought life and immortality to light. Where? Through the
Gospel. The Gospel. The Gospel. The Gospel
of how the Holy God in strict justice, which it must be, if
we understand even a smidgen of the truth of who God is and
what he's revealed. The holy God in strict justice
must exact payment for sin, that his justice might be satisfied. His justice screams out that
the soul that sins, it shall die. His justice is screaming
out, here's a sinner, he must die. But in love from eternity,
from before the foundation of the world, in love, which led
to grace, great riches at Christ's expense, electing grace to choose
a people for whom Christ would come as the substitute and the
surety. He who is God would adopt a body
like our body. He would adopt a nature like
our fallen nature, yet without sin. And that body, that person,
that divine being would be the ransom. so that Job says, deliver
him from going down to the pit for I have found a ransom. He
is that ransom to redeem by blood, to redeem the soul that sins. The soul that sins it shall die
but he has redeemed by his blood, to pour out his lifeblood. The sinner can never provides
satisfaction in his death, in his blood, it's only the infinite,
holy Son of God that can do that. Think about it. How deep must
be the crime of sin against the holiness and justice of God if
it took the blood of the beloved Son of God to pay redemption's
price? Nothing less would do. It was
the blood of the Son of God. It was the blood of God made
man. For it says in Acts chapter 20,
verse 21, that God has redeemed his church with his own blood,
with his own blood. How necessary the death of God's
Son, because nothing else, nothing else was good enough, nothing
else would pay redemption's price than the death of God's own Son,
the blood of God's own Son. How agonizing the pain of separation. We barely scratch the surface
of understanding when we read in Psalm 22 what he said on the
cross, prophetically foretold a thousand years before he came
and died, my God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? We cannot
get our heads remotely around what is tied up in those words,
the separation that my sin caused God incarnate to be separated
from his father in heaven. It is beyond our comprehension,
yet we believe it. God commends his love to us. Romans 5 verse 8, God commends,
God shows us how much he loved us. Who? His people, his elect,
his betrothed people. In that, when? While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Not when we'd made ourselves
a bit better. Not when we'd resolved to be
good and he helped us with a leg up, as it were. No, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For us, his people, not
for everyone. just those who have heard his
call and called upon his name, which is what this passage is
telling us. What about you? What about you? As he died on
the cross of Calvary, all sorts of people passed by, and the
text from Lamentations, Jeremiah's Lamentations, echoes out. Is it nothing to you? All ye
that pass by, is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you that
have heard this gospel many, many, many times? Is it nothing
to you that God, your creator, that God, your judge, should
become man and die, that you might be redeemed from the curse
of the law, that you might be saved from your sins, that you
might have life eternal, that pearl of greatest price, This
is the monumental declaration. This covenant that we're reading
this morning, we've got together, the family of God, to read the
will of the one that died. This monumental declaration of
peace with God is the gospel. It's a covenant sealed from everlasting
in the precious lifeblood of the Son of God. And that leads
to great confidence, doesn't it? Paul overflows with it. In
Romans chapter 8 and verse 32, he says, he who spared not his
only son, but delivered him up for us all, all his people, how
shall he not with him freely give us all things? Child of
God, you have many things you need in this life and in your
challenge with mortality and the things of this life. But
listen to this, God didn't spare his only son, but delivered him
up that he might save you. If he went to that cost, how
shall he not with him freely give us all things that we need
for life and godliness? Do you believe God's promises?
Because that's what it is here. So second point. It's a testament,
this testament, this will, this covenant, is a testament effected
by death. What I mean by that is, you know
the difference between affected, effected, etc. Effected means
put into effect. A testament put into effect by
death. Look at verses 16 and 17. For
where a testament is, where a will is, where a covenant is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. When you
make a will, there must be the death of the one that made the
will before the terms of the will come into force. A testament
is of force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength
at all while the testator liveth. Last will and testament. If you
make a will, it will say on it, this is your last will and testament. It's the same idea. Your heirs,
those who will inherit the things that are yours and you specified
in your will, your heirs only inherit your estate, your wealth,
your possessions, after you have died. The will is worthless. It has no legal force before
death. It is put into effect on the
death of the testator. But Christ has died. Christ has
died. The older brother of his people
has died. The benefits of the covenant
flow freely from it. The beneficiaries of the will
inherit the promise of internal inheritance. I've said it again,
I like this piece, I don't know where I got it from, it just
came to me when I was preparing the other day. I remembered it,
and somebody no doubt will know who it was that found this thing,
I don't know if it's in the writings about the Scottish Covenanters,
but we're meeting as believers, and you could say that this is
a meeting, this is a gathering of God's family to hear a reading. You know, the family gathers
together. When somebody's died, When the patriarch of the family
has died, they want to know what did he put in his will? Did he
leave anything to me? So the family gets together and the
lawyer reads the will and reads, this will go to you and this
will go to you and so on. We get together Sunday by Sunday
and whenever else we meet to hear a reading of the will of
God. What is the will of God? Jesus
said, didn't he? In John chapter six, this is
the will of him that sent me. that of all that he has given
me, of all the people he has given me, of that innumerable
multitude, his body, the church, that he should lose nothing,
that he should save every one of them, that he should take
them all safe to glory. And so I'll say it again for
the sake of those that are only listening to the audio of the
sermon. I said this right at the start, but the Scottish covenanters
in the 1600s were banned from public worship. by the authorities,
the religious authorities, the state authorities. But they carried
on meeting undercover. And the young lady was caught
by the authorities, dressed as if she was going to worship,
to a meeting. And they asked her, what did
she think she was doing? They thought, here, we've got her
now, we've caught one. And they were very cruel. The authorities
were cruel to the Scottish covenanters. There was one pair of women,
a younger woman and an older woman, who were tied to a post
in the estuary of the Solway up near Carlisle. They were tied
to a post and told, recant your religion and conform to the state
religion or else you're going to drown. And they wouldn't,
they wouldn't. And tied to that post, the freezing
cold tide of the Solway Firth came in and drowned them. and
they went home to eternal glory. They were very cruel, but she
came up with some very good words, this young woman going to worship
secretly. She said, they said, where are
you going? She said, oh, my older brother has died. And I am going
to a gathering of the family to hear a reading of his will
and testament. So here, believer, is your eternal
confidence. We've come to a reading of his
will and testament. It's a preaching of the gospel.
That's why, that's why, that's why, every time we get together,
our purpose and our objective is to preach the gospel of grace. I was determined, said Paul,
to know nothing else among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We hear of churches who've been
to them in the past where they stand up and they will give you
this moral lesson and that moral lesson and this thing that you
should be doing and that thing that you shouldn't be doing and
so on and so forth and you don't hear the gospel there. This is
the gospel of God's grace. And this is our confidence. This
is our confidence. Not that we've done well, but
this, Romans 8, 34. Who is he that condemneth? Who's
going to condemn you when you appear before that judgment seat
of Christ? Christ has died. If he's died for you, yea, rather
that he's risen again, because this older brother didn't stay
dead. He rose from the dead. That covenant is in force. It's
reality. We can have confidence in it.
We can have the full assurance of faith. It is a covenant that
cleanses us from all sin. Cleansing power of the blood,
verses 18 to 22, whereupon neither the first testament, that's the
old covenant, the Mosaic covenant of the law, it was dedicated
with blood. For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, this is Exodus 24
that we read earlier on, He took the blood of calves and of goats
with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the
book in which he'd written down the terms of the covenant from
God, and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the testament
with which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled
with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry,
and almost all things are by the law purged, cleaned, with
blood, and without shedding of blood, there is no remission. Purged with blood. Cleansed,
the idea is scrubbed clean. In Leviticus chapter 14, for
the sake of time, we won't read it now, but Leviticus 14, because
we read something similar last week, there is the ceremonial
cleansing from leprosy. Remember there was the red heifer
last week from Numbers, wherever it was, I can't remember. Ceremonial
cleansing from leprosy. was in the blood of a bird that
was killed and flowing water. Then it was the ashes of a heifer
for ceremonial cleansing. In 1 John, John's first epistle,
chapter one and verse seven. What do we read? Let's just turn
over there. 1 John, chapter one and verse
seven. If we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. This is it. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son, cleanseth us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's son, cleanses us from all sin. In Hebrews 13 and verse
12, Hebrews 13 and verse 12, we read this. Jesus also, that
he might sanctify, make holy the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate. He sanctified the people with
his own blood. It washes the stain and the guilt
from the debt record of the books of God. The books of God is the
debt record of sin. The books will be open on that
day of judgment. But that blood of Christ for
his people washes the record away. It washes the stain away. It washes the guilt away. It
washes the debt away. It cleanses the heart from the
dominating love of sin. What do I mean by that? Think
of this. We're always in this flesh, as
long as we're in this flesh, before we die. We're always tempted
by sinful desires in the flesh. But how will look, by faith,
at Christ? You know, you're tempted to do
something that you inherently know is wrong. Look by faith
to the Lord Jesus Christ, shedding his precious blood to pay your
sin debt, your sin debt to the justice of God. and see how that,
that look by faith, pours cold water on that sinful desire in
the heart. That sinful desire which would
have led to selfishness, to covetousness, to unforgiving of your brethren,
to spitefulness, to gratification seeking. Look to Christ and see
how it pours cold water on those sinful desires. The animal blood
has got power. to sanctify, as we saw last week.
Verse 13, the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of
a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of
the flesh. It has a sanctifying power as
the birds cleansing for leprosy. That's in Leviticus 14. But how
much more, it says in verse 14, how much more Christ's blood? Because in verse 22, without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission. There is no
forgiveness. There is no cleansing from sin.
There is no redemption. There is no atonement between
sinners and their offended God. There is no propitiation. There
is no mercy seat. But Christ has shed his blood,
and that blood has great sanctifying power. There is sanctifying power. There is a power to make holy
in the blood. Again, verses 18 to 22, read
them again for yourself. But everything was dedicated
for holy service by the sprinkling of blood. Moses took that blood
of the sacrifices and he sprinkled the people and the book and the
tabernacle and all the things. to sanctify them, to make them
holy, to make them separated for holy use. Look at chapter
10 of Hebrews and verse 14. For by one offering he, he's
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, for by one offering he
hath, look what it's done, look what it's done. Believer, look
what it's done. He hath perfected forever. them that are sanctified. What
must you be to enter the kingdom of God in eternity? There must
be nothing that defiles. There must be no imperfection.
We must be without spot. We must be perfect. He, by that
one offering, has perfected forever them that are sanctified. So
the people for whom Christ shed his precious blood, are sanctified,
are made holy, are dedicated for holy use, are called, are
called. Verse 15, they which are called,
they're called for holy service. They're called of the Holy Spirit.
They're shown the receipt of their purchase in the covenant
of grace. They're assured that Christ is
of God made unto them. To each of us who believe, you
and me, Christ is made of God. 1 Corinthians 1.30, he is made
of God unto us, wisdom from God, because in him dwell all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And he's righteous. He's our
righteousness. He's made unto us righteousness.
We need righteousness to be accepted in the presence of God. And his
name is the Lord, our righteousness. Do you remember Jeremiah? I can't
remember which way around it is, but there's the verse that
says, he is the Lord our righteousness, and then it talks about, 10 chapters
later, it talks about the church, his bride, and it says, this
is the name by which she is called the Lord our righteousness. She,
the church, his people, are, if I can use this colloquial
expression, but I hope it fixes it in your mind, she is Mrs. the Lord our righteousness. She's
the wife of Christ. He's made unto us wisdom from
God, and righteousness, and sanctification. He is our holiness, not the things
that we do. that we try to get better and
better at. He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. What
could be clearer than that? He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. This religious world, this so-called
Christian religious world, does not believe that. They want to
keep their people under the bondage of the law, according to that. No. And he's made redemption. He's made redemption unto us.
He's made the purchase price to free us from the bondage of
the law and the fear of death. Everything that is needful, Peter
the apostle says, he's given us everything that is needful
for life and godliness. Christ's shed blood makes his
people holy. I'll just make one more reference,
Ephesians chapter five. Talking about husbands loving
your wives as Christ loved the church. Verse 25 of Ephesians
5, husbands. Love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that he should be holy and
without blemish. That's what Christ has done for
his church. That's what he's done for his
church. It's not their own filthy rags righteousness that sanctifies
them. And speaking to the Hebrews,
these Hebrew, these Jewish Christians who were yearning to go back
to the Old Testament rites, nothing that the Hebrews could do by
returning to the Old Testament pictures of salvation would make
them any better before God because look how Complete is their position. It's like I've said before. If
it's a rainy day, you don't get the plans of the house out and
stand outside in the pouring rain. reveling in what a lovely
plan of a house you've got, you get inside the real house and
so by faith we come into the real house, the real tabernacle
of God. So believer, this is the message
of this testament, this new testament put into practice by our older
brother who has died for us and risen again. Rest confident,
rest assured, looking by faith to Jesus that God's strict justice
is perfectly satisfied and can no longer hold you accountable
and bar you from entry to heaven.