I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Hebrews chapter 9. I want to talk to you today about
access to God. The Hebrew writer is moving us
toward the sufferings of our Mediator, and I really mean that,
the sufferings of our Mediator, and the doctrine of his atonement
by which he will effect, that is Christ, the new covenant for
his people, that's what verse 15 says, by means of his death.
And there's a term that the writer to the Hebrews has avoided to
use throughout all of these 8, 9 chapters that we are dealing
with. We're in the 9th chapter now.
He's used the term one time. But when you come to chapter
9, he uses this term 12 times in chapter 9, 3 times in chapter
10, once in the 11th chapter of faith, twice in the 12th chapter,
and three times in the final chapter of his epistle. That means from the ninth chapter
forward, he is using this term 21 times. What is the term that he is using? The answer to this question is
the difference between the old could not do and would not do
covenant of works and the new and everlasting covenant of redemption
in grace which is in Christ Jesus. What is the difference between
the old covenant and the new covenant? What's the answer?
The blood. The blood. The difference between
that old covenant of words, which could never put away sin, which
could never clear the guilty conscious, which could never
satisfy God's justice and holiness, His high standard. The difference
between that old covenant And the new covenant of redemption
and grace in Jesus Christ is the blood of the Lamb of God. That's the big difference. And
it makes all the difference in the world for you and me. The
question we might ask then is, what blood are you trusting in?
What blood are you trusting in to put away your sins? To give
you a right standing with God? to bless you with an inheritance
indescribable in terms of the covenant terms. What blood are
you trusting in? Are you relying upon the blood
of bulls and goats, the sacrifices of a heifer, and all of those
Old Testament emblems of which we now have to regard? Or are
you trusting in the blood of the God-man, Jesus Christ, which
indeed puts away our sin? What can wash Away my sin. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nine. times throughout this chapter,
he expresses the term, the blood, the blood, the blood of the Lamb
of God. He sets forth to let us know
that Christ has become the end of the law, the fulfillment of
the law, the completion of the law, the conclusion of the law
covenant for righteousness to everyone that believes. You see
the blood is the seal. It's the price paid for The purchase
of the souls that could never ever be affected by the blood
of bulls and goats and our savior entered in once Into that holy
place with his own blood verse 14 how much more shall the blood
of christ see it who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works. This
is what the Hebrew writer wants us to begin to contemplate. The
penetrating nature of the work of Christ to make all things
well for the people of God in the area of their salvation and
redemption. Remember, we've been saying that the high priest is
the key to the covenant, right? He's the key to the covenant.
But the blood of this high priest is the seal and efficacious nature
of the covenant. The covenant only takes virtue
in my life through the blood. And the Hebrew writer wants us
to now contemplate from this chapter all the way through the
end the benefits of the blood. That's why I said from chapter
9 all the way through chapter 12 we're going to hear about
the blood 21 times. That means there's a lot of doctrine
inherent in the subject of the blood, right? More than the crude
sort of antiquated idea of pagans who want to sprinkle blood everywhere
to run evil off. No, we want to understand the
rich theology of the blood. We want to understand the doctrine
of the blood, the symbol of the blood, the benefits of the blood,
the nature of the blood as it pertains to the God-man Jesus
Christ. We want to understand how it relates to the covenant,
because for God the blood is important. It closes out the
Bible with the blood of the Lamb of God. But before we get into
that rich theology, he wants us to contemplate what we had
been considering, ladies and gentlemen, in the eighth chapter,
and that is that old covenant system, that old temple, that
old priesthood, that old sacerdotal system of which he said in the
end of the eighth chapter, remember? In that, verse 13, he said, a
new covenant. He hath made the first, what?
Old. Now that which decayeth and waxes
old is ready to vanish away. As we move into the ninth chapter,
and if you are sensitive to your Bibles, we really don't have
chapter divisions in the original language, so there is still a
continuity of thought taking place here. Just the translators
or those who have put the Bible together thought it would be
good to make breaks so that we can get a breath pause and then
begin the subject matter. Simply because it is advancing
a doctrine, but it's not really changing the subject So verse
1 of chapter 9 still is really connected to verse 13 of chapter
8 of which he says that old covenant system That old temple system
That old sacerdotal system, that old priesthood, that old law
system is fading away. Remember we closed out last week
by me calling your attention to the term there for fading
away means to disfigure, to begin to fall apart. to disintegrate,
to become obsolete because it's old. And I share the implications
of that with us who are getting older. We understand that you
and I are part of the old paradigm physically, right? And yet we
have a new man, don't we? And that new man is being renewed
daily by the Spirit of God. But the old man is disfiguring.
Can we tell the truth today? Is it disfiguring? It's getting
old, it's falling apart. And see, when you are liberated,
it's because you believe the truth. Now, there are some folks
who don't believe they're getting old. But that's because they
don't have any hope for the future. Now, this old, disintegrating,
obsolete, disfiguring tabernacle that you're looking at, it's
going to be renewed. But not right now. And so my
emphasis of life cannot be to the physical body. And the emphasis
of our life cannot be to this present carnal paradigm. Our
emphasis of life cannot be to the external things of this world,
because they are under a disintegration process. The Hebrew writer is
saying, get out from up under that system, enter into the perfections
that are in Christ, and experience that growth that comes along
with the lively vigorous promises of the New Testament. So we see
that thing disintegrating before our eyes, but before it completely
disappears, before it completely vanishes away, which the writer
says it will vanish away, and it has vanished away by and large
from the first century to the present century for everyone
who has put their trust fully and completely in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? It has vanished away for thousands of years for men
and women who are living according to the reality of grace, the
reality of the New Testament, the reality of the kingdom of
God. But before we allow the picture to fully dissolve, the
writer wants us to learn some things. One is that old system
had a purpose. Don't think that it didn't. But
that purpose would terminate at a particular time. Upon its
termination, all we can do is reflect upon the purpose of that
Old Covenant system because there are inherent in the purpose of
that Old Testament system redemptive truths that bless our soul. Point
number one, the shadowy nature of the tabernacle slash temple
system. The shadowy nature of the tabernacle
slash temple system. This is a question that we might
ask with regards to the whole of study of scripture. When you
come to the New Testament, which becomes the more relevant portions
of scripture, more clear portions of scripture that apply to our
life, often people ask, what's the purpose of the Old Testament
now that I have the New? Well, one major purpose of the
Old Testament is to learn about the intricacies of those things
that are real in the New by the typology of them in the Old Testament. They serve to benefit us as we
look back at their purpose and design to point us to the present. So I have taught as we work through
the Old Testament for years that we need to have both Naomi and
Ruth in order to understand Boaz and Jesus. Did you get that? We've got to understand Naomi,
who is the Old Testament, and Ruth, who is the New Testament,
to understand Boaz and Jesus. For it was a combined work of
both that Jew and that Gentile woman. whom God used to put together
a plan by which Boaz was brought into the picture, and thus Jesse,
and thus David, and thus Jesus. So we have the contributions
of the New Testament church represented by Ruth, and we have the wisdom
of the Old Testament church represented by Naomi, and I have the liberty
to make them covenant patterns just as Paul did making Sarah
and Hagar covenant patterns. Am I making some sense? And when
you watch those two sisters work, you know what they work? They
work a grace in the midst of their lives of which according
to the law could never have occurred. And God showed us through them
the mystery of redemption hidden in that Old Testament system
to our blessing and to our edification. And so it is here. What was that
old tabernacle? What was that old temple all
about? And the Hebrew writer tells us
in chapter 9, verse 9, it says this, and I'll start at verse
8, the Holy Ghost thus signifying that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was
yet standing, verse 9, which was a what? Figure, figure, for
the time then present in the which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him which did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience. The first line, they
were a figure. The word here is parable. Parable
is the Greek term. Now a parable is an illustration
of something that seeks to represent the thing you are illustrating.
Christ used parables, he gave us stories to convey, as it were,
spiritual realities through those parables. Literally, and I've
told you this before, a parable is something you throw alongside
of the truth to aid and abet its clarity. The word bole is
the Greek verb for to throw. Para is a preposition, which
means to come over against. So when you tell a parable, you
are throwing alongside the reality of a spiritual truth a storyline
or an illustration or an analogy by which that truth can be understood. Am I making some sense? And this
is how God taught all through the Old Testament scriptures.
The Hebrew writer is saying the whole of the tabernacle was a
figure. It was a parable. It was a parable. realities to come it was a figure
it was a show in fact over in verse 24 here's what he says
about it as well listen to what he says for Christ is not entered
into the holy place made with hands there is that tabernacle
get watch this which are a what of the true so if it's a figure
it's not the true Now the word here, figure, is a different
Greek term than the word figure in verse 9. In this text, it's
the Greek term antitupos, or what we say in the English, a
typology. A type. And types are not realities,
they are only representations. Now what the Hebrew writer is
hinting at is the necessity of the people of God to understand
that our job is not to be enamored by, gripped by, or taken into
that which only serves as a shadow, only serves as a type, only serves
as a parable. To get caught up in the parable,
in the typology, in the symbol, in the shadow, in the metaphor,
in the analogy, is to miss the reality. And he wants to drive
that point home. So there are some things I want
us to be blessed with as we think it through. So when you read
your Old Testament Bible, you can indeed see Jesus. You can
see the work of God the Father. You can see the ministry of the
Spirit of God working through those symbols and typologies
there. Point number one, the shadowy nature of the tabernacle
can be understood as typology, as symbolic. as shadowy representations
of things to come. Now, let me do some nuance explaining
here. A metaphor is like an example. When in the New Testament Jesus
says, I am the door, by me, if a man goes in and out, he will
find pasture and he'll find life. A metaphor speaks to something
being like something else. But it's not exactly the same.
So while Christ is the door, he's access into something. He's
not a literal door, but he functions like a door. You guys got that?
He functions like a door. Symbols, again, on the other
hand, and the Bible deals with symbols as well. Symbols are
figures or representations of something in a symbolic form,
a pictorial form that point to other substantive realities. For instance, in our culture,
we like wearing crosses, don't we? Because we want people to
think we are religious. And that somehow we're protected
by God from Dracula and the werewolf and all that other stuff. So
we wear big old crosses and stuff. Those are symbols. So when people
look at the symbol of the cross, they think about a number of
things. They think about God's wrath, because he poured out
his wrath on Christ. They think about the sufferings
of the Son of God. They think about God's justice. Or they think about the life
of Christ, because he laid down his life. Symbols actually in
pictorial forms point to an underlying meaning. You guys got that? Typology
is that way too. They are examples, types, and
shadows. Like the Lamb of God is a type
of Christ, right? Lambs are types. And so you have
many types in the Old Testament. Typology is a critical component
to biblical interpretation. So you have to slow down and
be careful to understand the nature of typology and symbolism
in the scripture. The book of Revelation is filled
with it. When we come out of Hebrews, out of the book of Hebrews,
we're going to deal with the seven chapters, the seven churches
of Revelation 2 and 3. In it, you're going to have so
much symbolism that unless you understand the symbolism, you'll
miss the substance. Are you hearing me? And the book
of Revelation is congested with overlapping symbolisms that unless
you understand the rules, you'll get caught up by a flawed human
logic because the symbols will clash in terms of their appearance. like the living creatures in
Revelation chapter 4, the image of a lion, the image of an eagle,
the image of an ox, and the image of a man being called the four
living creatures. How do you have those kinds of
four faces in one body? That begins to be, for us, incongruent,
doesn't it? But now you have to detach each
one of those images, understand them independently, and then
understand them collectively to get the message. We'll enjoy
it because it's all about one person. Who is that? And it's
the same thing when you deal with Revelation chapter 13, where
John says, I see another beast coming up out of the sea, having
seven heads and ten horns and crowns upon his head. And he
had the head of this and he had the body of that. And he had
to tell of this, this composite of strange imagery of which if
you don't take your time learning typology and symbolism, it'll
just blow your mind. You're going to have to be careful
to do a sound exegesis of scripture and understand it. Am I making
some sense? So the tabernacle is that same
way. But Paul, the writer to the Hebrews, says in Hebrews
chapter 10, verse 1, that these things were a shadow. I want to make one more comment
about typology as we deal with that, and particularly in this
area. He says, for the law, having a what? Having a scion of good
things to come, and not the very image of those things, not the
very Substance of those things. I want you to hear how he explains
shadows. Are you ready? He says for the
law He's talking about the whole law covenant of which we've been
discussing the whole law covenant of the Old Testament system having
a shadow of good things to come and not the very what image of
those things so now what is the shadow a shadow is a reflection
of of something that really does exist. A shadow is a reflection
of something that really does exist. And a shadow, which is
different than a metaphor and different than an analogy or
a typology or a symbol, is connected to the reality. Whereas a type
or a metaphor may have no ontological connection at all to the reality
to which it is pointing. I am the door has no ontological
connection to who Christ is really, but it serves as a signification
of some aspect of his attribute characteristic or work. Am I
making some sense? Now watch this. When the writer
uses the term shadow, as we read it in Colossians chapter two,
verse 14, he is saying, All those things that God had set up in
the Old Testament had a reality behind them. That reality behind
the tabernacle is a person and his name is whom? And inherent
in Christ, inherent in Christ will be all the counsel of God
with regards to his saving revelation to mankind. If what I am saying
is true, when I go back to the Old Testament tabernacle in the
wilderness, context matters, and I understand how that tabernacle
was erected. Didn't we learn this many years
ago? And we understand that each part of the tabernacle had a
symbolic and shadowy purpose. Didn't we learn that years ago?
That when you put the whole thing together, it speaks to us about
the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? Now,
that being the case, still when the writer of Hebrews uses the
term shadow, you know what he's saying? There is a reality represented
in this that's coming. There is a reality behind the
shadow that's coming. Now when a person casts a shadow,
what they are doing is demonstrating that they are real and exist
substantively in the context of a time reference. For when
the person whose shadow is cast comes into full contact with
its shadow, it has come to that point in time where now the shadow
has ceased to serve its purpose and the reality is there. See,
the Old Testament was a shadow of things to come. And when the thing that was to
come comes, the shadow, disappears. So when Jesus Christ came into
the world 2,000 years ago, he was the reality of those Old
Testament types and shadows. When he showed up, the shadow
disappeared because he was the noonday star shining brightly
in the world of Judaism to let the world of Judaism know the
reality of those things that you are trusting in is here now.
This is the day of the Lord. I'm here now, and the sun is
shining bright and clear over the person so that no shadow
has to be cast again. Am I making some sense? And here's
the tragedy of our present generation. The present generation, much
like our Lord Jesus' generation, were enamored with, caught up
in, trapped by, snared by the ignorance of the shadow. They
were more in love with the shadow than they were the substance.
They were trapped by the image and the symbolism and the typology,
and the external structure, and missed the reality when it came.
See, now that can happen to you if you are not properly informed
as to what you should be looking for. He came unto His own, and
His own received Him not. The world was made by Him, and
the world knew Him not. The Son of Righteousness, with
healing in His wings, showed up, and the Jewish people, by
and large, with the exception of the elect, missed Him. Am
I making some sense? They utterly missed him. The
shadow tells us that there is a reality. What we're waiting
for is the reality to emerge up out of time and come to the
point where it makes itself visible to us. And when it makes itself
visible to us, we can no longer depend upon or have to depend
upon the what? The shadow. But I tell you what,
ladies and gentlemen, the writer to the Hebrews understands what
I am sharing with you now. There are folks who are always
tied up in the shadow. Who do you love, the picture
or the person? Who are you enamored with, the
symbol or the substance? What gets you going, the metaphor
or the reality? Where is your confidence in the
type or the substance. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And this really speaks to religious folks, because religious folks
miss the reality, getting caught up in the ceremonialism of external
things, thinking that the external things are an end in themselves.
They got caught up in the fact that they were physically Jewish. They got caught up in the fact
that they had an ornate temple. They got caught up in the imagery
and ornate sort of elaborate system of the Levitical priesthood
and the high priest. Just as religious folks get caught
up today in the appearance of religion. But I'm here to tell
you when the truth came, you know who the truth is, right?
When the truth showed up, you know what he says? I am the truth.
I am the way and I am the life. I'm everything that all those
things talked about. And if you don't come to me,
you can't get to the father. Now, this is a reality that people
have to get a hold of because we are naturally by nature inclined
to religion. We will embrace religion and
not the reality of that which truly religion points to. And
our master had told a woman at the well who had her theology
halfway right. being a Samaritan. Remember,
we know that when Messiah comes, he will tell us everything. She
was informed by the shadow, but the reality was right there.
And he let her know, I'm the reality. If you drink of me,
woman, you will never thirst again. Out of your belly will
flow rivers of living water. There will be a whale gushing
up and you'll never have to drink out of these temporary, could
not do, would not do whales of religion. Am I making some sense? I'm pressing home a point before
I go on and our master said it like this because she says we
know that you you Jews y'all worship over in Jerusalem and
we Samaritans we worship on the mountain of Jacob and Jesus says
listen the hour is coming When you will no longer worship in
Jerusalem nor on this mountain ladies and gentlemen, is that
our here? It's been here for 2,000 years It's been here for
2,000 years. What was our master doing? He
was prophesying and declaring the disfiguring, the dismantling,
the obsolete nature of that Old Testament system as it was already
starting to fade away because the reality had come. Who is
the reality? He says, I am the temple of the
living God. Remember last week's message?
Destroy this temple for the last time. And when I raise it up,
it'll be perfectly raised up. That's our verb form. I will
raise it up permanently. You know what that means? The
old system was designated to fall away. The struggle that
we have in this present generation are people who want to embrace
that old system. And to the degree that you are
inclined to want to embrace that old system, impressed by temples
is what he told his disciples in Matthew 24 when they said,
master, look at all these buildings. Remember that? Look at all these
buildings that Herod had almost doubled the temple from Solomon.
And the disciples were so confident that this temple played a major
role in their ministry in the new Testament. What did our master
say? Get a good look. this thing coming down, there
won't be one stone left upon another in a short little while
because Christ had known that they would perpetually reject
the revelation of what I'm getting ready to get into. He knew that. Not only was the temple a shadowy
type, the temple also was a testimony. But before I get there, point
number two, because it was a type and because it was a shadow,
because it was a representation, of realities, the insufficiency
of the temple ministry to clear the guilty conscious is evident
by the Hebrew writer's statement in verse 9. Listen to what he
says. Which was a figure for the time
then present in which were offered both sacrifices that could not
make him that did the service, what? That is mature. That is righteous. That is blameless.
As pertaining to the what? as pertaining to the conscious.
What are we talking about, preacher? We are talking about really the
aim of the law of God in relationship to God's purpose with humanity.
The aim of God's word, the aim of God's law is to penetrate
the heart. God's objective with humanity
is speaking to the inner man, the conscious, the heart. And
what the writer is saying, when you go through religion, through
externalism, through ceremonial forms of repentance and washings
and cleansing, it can never thoroughly purge the conscience. Because
there's nothing efficacious in those things that we bring to
satisfy our guilt over against God's righteousness. So the Holy
Ghost does not bear record with those things as a legitimate
means of removing the guilt of sin. That is in our conscious
against god. Am I making some sense? What
he said in hebrews chapter 10 as well that the offerer that
brought sacrifices would constantly bring sacrifices to the priest
To offer in his behalf whenever he transgressed against god's
law But the offerer also knew in his conscious shortly after
that sacrifice was done this reality. Are you ready? It did
not do enough to put away the guilt of my sins I still feel
the guilt. This is why they continue to
offer sacrifices over and over and over and over and over again. Because the blood of bulls and
goats could never put away the guilt of the conscience. Am I
making some sense? and nor can good works do it,
nor can your penance do it, nor can your sorrowful forms of repentance
towards God cause you to find in your soul a legitimate grounds
of rest or peace so long as you're seeking to come to God by something
you do. Your conscience will never find
peace so long as you are offering God an inadequate sacrifice for
your sins. The Spirit of God will never
give us liberty to know that we are perfect, which is the
term that the Hebrew writer uses constantly, and it means that
we have a right standing with God. on the basis of a perfect
righteousness that has now been given to God on our behalf so
that God views us as spotless, as blameless, as perfect as his
darling son. Nothing in terms of human works
could bring that about. Nothing in terms of what you
and I could do to bring that about. And the Hebrew writer
wants us to understand, therefore, that that old tabernacle structure
was shadowy, it was symbolic, but it had no substance. and
therefore the conscience of the worshipper was still beholding
to looking towards another day, another sacrifice, another time
when sin could really be put away. And you know what we tell
them? Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Romans chapter 10 verse 4. Christ
becomes the fulfillment of the law. He becomes the conclusion
of the law. He becomes the termination of
the law. He becomes the satisfaction of the law. He becomes the fulfillment
of all that God demands for you so that when you obtain Christ
by faith, guess what? You are liberated from guilt.
Liberated from guilt because you have embraced the reality.
This is what the Hebrew writer is saying to those who are contemplating,
ladies and gentlemen, watch this now, going back to the old legal
structure. Here they have heard the gospel.
Here Christ has been clearly preached to them as the Lamb
of God without spot and blemish, 1 Peter 1, verse 19. For as much
as you know, you have not been redeemed with silver and gold,
nor the vain traditions of your parents or fathers, but by the
precious blood of the Lamb of God without spot and without
blemish. Are you hearing me? They had
heard the gospel and now they are contemplating leaving God's
soul lamb and going back to the typical lambs that they eat. Do you understand that that's
depravity of the mind? Do you understand that that is
an apostate predisposition? When you are ready to leave the
full, free, perfect gospel of grace and go back to a legalistic
system? And this is what he is warning
against here. He said it never worked for them
then and it won't work for you now. And then he goes on to say,
not only is there an insufficiency to the clear guilt of the conscious
under those old things, it can never be resolved. And there's
a greater indictment that we need to be careful of. For those
who, as I said, are inclined to that external ceremonialism
have committed at least three errors, one for sure, they have
a great, great deficiency in their knowledge of the gospel.
They have an utter deficiency in their knowledge of the gospel.
When a person has failed to comprehend the claims of the gospel, all
you have left is legalism and works religion. And to the degree
that you fail to comprehend the gospel, you're going to have
a low view of Christ. And if your view of Christ is
low enough, Christ will avail you nothing. If you have him
as a kind of small demigod that basically has made it possible
for you along with the cooperation of your own good works, which
is Catholicism and many other religious systems, are you hearing
me? If you have made Christ just a mere helper of your salvation
to help you save yourself, that low view of Christ will cause
you to miss Christ altogether. But listen, if Christ is not
all, Christ is nothing at all. If you don't see Christ as your
total sufficiency, where you abandon yourself to him by faith,
understanding that if God accepts him, he accepts me, and that
liberates you and me from a worse religion or compelling to get
right with God or pleasing God merely by what we do. If you
don't understand that a low view of Christ is what keeps you itchy
and edgy and troubled in your soul as to why you don't feel
like you measure up, you can never measure up in yourself.
Will you hear me? You are a mess. All by yourself. You by yourself. can keep hell burning forever. This person right here can keep
hell burning forever all by myself. My situation is way too bad for
me to simply ask for help. I need somebody to do it for
me. I don't want God to give me a helper to help me help myself. And the gospel has never come
to men and women saying we will help those who help themselves.
That's a fallacy of proposition. God only helps those who know
they cannot help themselves. Grace is the work of a sovereign
God who chooses the sinner, hunts the sinner down, brings the sinner
into the blessings of Jesus Christ, and let the sinner know nothing
in your hands you bring, simply to the cross you cling. Otherwise,
you'll perish under the wrath of God. Am I making some sense? This is absolutely essential
for us to grasp. And so if the gospel is flawed,
your view of God is going to be low. If it's low, you will
never have any peace in your conscience. And then you are
in danger of erecting, follow this now, which is going on in
our present generation, an anti-Christ system. Those who would have
a system of religion filled with externalism, filled with outward
works, filled with images, filled with incense, filled with sacerdotal
religions, filled with priesthood, filled with Levites, filled with
high priests, filled with sacrifices, filled with heifers. And we hear
that all advocated. And it can be comprehended both
literally Figuratively in terms of what
people do all that is works religion and it is an adaptation and adaptation
of the Antichrist system See either you're gonna trust in
Christ as your high priest. Are you gonna wait for the Antichrist?
There's no two ways about it. So second Thessalonians chapter
1 second Thessalonians chapter 2 rather verses 4 through 9 tells
us the Antichrist which is a system and who sits in the temple of
God. What temple? It's not the temple
the elect believe in. It's not the temple the elect
trust in. It's not the temple that the
elect go to. It must be another temple. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? Showing himself as God so that
people worship him, missing the true Christ. He's called the
Antichrist. So when a man or woman is ready
to embrace or adopt the raising up of that old covenant system,
you are advocating the antichrist system. That's the warning of
the Hebrew writer, isn't it? Then he warning about these things.
And I think it was Paul who said in the book of Galatians chapter
two, if I rebuild that which I tear down, I make myself a
transgressor. If I rebuild the temple, after
having torn it down because it's fulfilled its purpose, I make
myself a transgressor against the gospel. That's Galatians
chapter 2. Are you guys hearing me? Ye who will be saved by the
works of the law have fallen from grace. That's Galatians
chapter 5. And the writer to the Hebrews
is warning against that. Are you guys following me so far?
It's very important for you to know this. God has shut the whole
human race up to the gospel and a rejection of the gospel only
leaves you to your own words. And so the Hebrew writer tells
us our conscience cannot be resolved that way. Then point number three,
the Christology of the tabernacle. Explain. I want to share with
you the beauty inherent in the symbolism and typology of the
Old Testament. You do believe, as we state,
that the Old Testament tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple
in Solomon's day were a picture and type of Christ. Do you guys
believe that? So now here's a New Testament
reference to it as many, but I'm going to give you one. John
chapter 1 verse 14. And the word was made flesh and
tabernacled among us. That's what our word dwelt means.
Are you staying with me for a moment? You know what that means? The
tabernacle in the wilderness, 1400 years before Christ, which
was erected by Moses and Aaron at the instruction of God. Moses
received a pattern that was already prepared in the heavens, right?
And he constructed what we call a duplicate, a figure. That was a representation of
the reality in heaven, right? That's what our text is saying.
A figure of the time then present. That shadowy symbol, that shadowy
tabernacle of the Old Testament would teach us about realities
in Christ. I'm going to give you three principles
of which the tabernacle serves as a tutoring tool to us. It first teaches us about the
holiness of God. That's in your outline. The tabernacle
teaches us about the holiness of God. When you read how it
was that God had instructed the children of Israel to approach
him, he told them, you are to approach me through blood. And
that's because you are guilty of sin. God is so holy that he
can't even dwell with his people. apart from blood. So what they
did as they were worshiping in the tabernacle in the wilderness
was learning about the character of God. Now, ladies and gentlemen,
is God holy? He's high and holy. God is holy,
holy, holy, holy. Are you hearing me? He is transcendently
holy. He is impeccably holy. He is
indescribably holy. Holy is the Lord God Almighty. holy God separate from all that
he made separate from all that he created in terms of his purity
and his essence in his nature God's holy and no one approaches
God except the manner in which God says approach him and the
people of God had to learn that they were here's the next principle
sinners the people of God had to learn that they were sinners
and so they had to bring a sacrifice to to the mediatorial system
of the priesthood which was set up as a separation between God
and them. Remember, the mediator is the
priest. What that means is I am not adequate
in myself to come to God because I'm a sinner. That's the other
sound theological truth that's inherent in what was taking place
in the tabernacle. Here's the third reality that
really now begins to build into what we call the gospel in the
tabernacle. The only way that you and I could
be right with God is through the mediatorial work of Christ
That old tabernacle witnessed to Christ Listen to what the
Hebrew writer says in verses 1 through 5 of our text chapter
9 verse 1 then verily The first covenant had also ordinances
of a divine service and a worldly sanctuary see that word worldly
means earthly It was an earthly sanctuary for there was a tabernacle
made the first wherein was the candlestick and the table and
the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. And after the
second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of
all, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid
roundabout would go where in was the golden pot that had the
manna, Aaron's rod that budded and the table of covenants over
it. the cherubim of glory shadowing
the mercy seat of which we cannot speak in particular now. Now
watch what he says in verses. Now when these things were thus
set up or ordained, what was set up? We have in these five
verses a picture of the redemption of sinners in Jesus Christ. When we carefully go through
the articles here, and there were many other articles, because
the author is not describing the whole temple proper, that
is the court of the tabernacle, but rather the holy place, which
was about, in this expression of Hebrews 10, it was about 25
feet long and about 20 feet wide and about 10 feet high, because
he's dealing with the holy place and then the holy of holies,
okay? was a small area. In this holy place, he describes
in the holy place, first and foremost, a candlestick. Verse 2, For there was a tabernacle
made, the first wherein was what? Now you know why God placed the
candlestick in the holy place? Because there was no light. The
candlestick represents Christ. He is the light of the what? And then, those of us who are
in Christ are made to be the light with Him. For the church
is the candlestick of God, as we will learn in Revelation 2
and 3, and we become lightbearers to God in this dark world. Remember,
everything that Christ is, we are in Him, and we are an extension
of this Christ. so that the church is the light
of the world. You take the church out, the true church out, and
the world is filled with what? So we have a description of Jesus
Christ, who is the light that lights every man that comes into
the world, and the blessing of us being in him. And then the
next thing they say was, and then you have the table and the
showbread, which is called the sanctuary. What was in that larger
tabernacle? The light. And then a table over
on the right-hand side, upon which on the table was two rows
of loaves of bread, six loaves of bread. Are you guys following
me? Twelve loaves, six for one side, six for the other. Six
and six. Why? The twelve tribes of Israel. Remember, the twelve is the number
for spiritual government. That's why we have twelve months
of the year. Spiritual government is the idea
that God nourishes the spiritual government of his leadership.
We feed on the bread. That bread is whom? Christ. I
am the bread of life. If a man feed a meal, never hunger
again. I am the true bread which comes down from heaven. Am I
making some sense? And therefore, we who are the true Levites and
the true priest of God with Christ, we feed on the word of God. We
understand that word of God pointing to Christ and the gospel of the
grace of God in Christ is our food. In other words, people
who are completely devoted to the service of the gospel live
on that bread. We walk in that light. We dwell in that place. We have no other food. We have
no other light. We have no other place. Am I
making some sense? We have no other bread. We have
no other light. We have no other dwelling place.
This is the magnificence of the love of God drawing you and me
into fellowship with him through his son That we would be made
partakers of eternal our elder said it where shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life now when a man or woman is gripped
By the reality of the sufficiency of Christ in all these things
you are probably in because If anything in the world can get
you, it will. See, God had set the priesthood
apart to himself, and he said that every believer is a priest.
You know what that means? My service towards God is an
exclusive service, wherein I am totally dependent upon him to
get me through this wilderness while I serve him. Am I making
some sense, ladies and gentlemen? And so the tabernacle here is
a great picture of the sufficiency of the grace of God in Christ
for the people of God. Notice what it goes on to say.
And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the
what? Holy of Holies. Now he talks about the second
veil. He's talking about that veil in Hebrews 10, of which
the gospel writers have spoken about, was rent from top to bottom,
which was about 30 feet high. in the tabernacle of Solomon
and therefore in the tabernacle or a temple of Herod, the veil
was 30 feet high. It was about maybe about a foot
thick in its dimension. It was a very thick veil twined
together. We talked about this years ago.
The twining of the veil was so thick that it could only be rent
from the top by God himself. From the top down, by God himself. Are you hearing me? That veil
will be spoken about in the 10th chapter as the human nature of
our Savior. The separation between us and
God is a veil. What keeps us from God right
now is our sinfulness. The veil that allows us in is
our Savior. Am I making some sense? But behind
the veil, the writer is saying, was the altar of incense. And
that altar of incense speaks to the prayer Not of the people
of God, not of the Levitical priesthood, but of the high priest
himself. For the high priest himself had
to come into the Holy of Holies with the incense burning so massively
and so profusely that the whole room was darkened by this incense. Because God, who is represented
as dwelling between the cherubim, must Hear, see, and experience
the outpouring of prevailing prayer as the mediator who is
a man approaches this holy God. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? As the mediator who is a man approaches this holy God
in utter reverence, in utter awe, in utter fear, in utter
diligence. Y'all are hearing me? Of which
I'll talk about toward the end of our message. Verse 15 tells
us, He entered in. He entered in. But what's in
the holy place of significance to us? The ark of the covenant. That mercy seat where upon stood
two cherubim, each on one end of the ark with their wings spread
over the top of the ark. Are you guys following me? Covering
themselves with their faces, looking upon the ark. What are
those cherubim? They are God's glory. They are
God's protective glory. They are God's regent to watch
over anything that would attempt to mar the holiness of God. These cherubim, as the writer
says, can be much spoken about. And we can start in Genesis chapter
3 and go all the way to the book of Revelation talking about them.
Are you hearing me? These are the ones we saw in
Isaiah chapter 6. flying and hovering over the
true throne of God, as Jehovah was sitting high and lifted up
on his throne, crying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
holy is your name. These are the cherubim, and lots
to be said about them, but they're hovering over the ark. Do you
know why? Because the whole host of angels at the top of the ranks
are the cherubim, then the seraphims, and then the rest. They're wondering
why God is so mindful of man. What is man that you are so mindful
of him? Or the son of man that you should
visit him? What is this creature that you
would be so pleased to assume his nature, take on his humanity,
and enter into a covenant with him? I want to know what this
is about. But Peter tells us they can't
comprehend this. Redemption is not a category
for the angels to experience. All they can do is give God glory
for him being so gracious to sinners like you and me. Am I
making some sense? We're not done. Because the arc of the covenant
being overlaid with gold. A picture of the deity of God
points to the person of Jesus Christ. He's my ark. I don't
know if he's your ark, but he's my ark. He's my mercy seat. He's
my propitiation. He is my grounds of hope before
God. If I'm going to ever get to God,
I better have an ark named Christ that stands between me and God.
Are you hearing me? He had to deal with everything
that God is about to now declare in that ark. And when you go
back to the Old Testament, here's a word that accompanies the whole
old tabernacle system. Are you ready? The word is witness. Witness and testimony. Am I boring you? Witness and
testimony. Witness and testimony. The tabernacle
was called the tabernacle of witness. The Tabernacle of Testimony. Are you hearing me? Witness to
what? God. Witness to what? Man. The Tabernacle becomes God's
witness in the world to humanity of who God is, what man is, and
what man needs. It's a witness. God has always
been bearing witness of himself. It's called the Tabernacle of
Testimony. And in the Tabernacle of Testimony, every article in
the Tabernacle is a witness. The candlestick is a witness.
You know what it witnesses? Christ is the light of the world.
You know what it also witnesses? You and I are darkness. And there's
no light in us unless God gives us his light. Am I making some
sense? In that tabernacle, that table
and showbread tells us there's no life in us. Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds out of the
mouth of God shall he live. That's a testimony. When you
get into the Ark of the Covenant, and that veil is called a veil
of testimony too, I can spend time talking about the nature
of that veil, the material by which that veil was made, the
color of the veil, the dimensions of the veil, the tassels at the
end of the veil, the cherubim that covered the whole bottom
of the veil, because they speak to great redemptive realities.
This is why we call the whole of the Old Testament tabernacle
the gospel. because it preaches Christ to
us in every article. So now I'm behind the Holy of
Holies only by virtue of my union with my high priest. Because
you and I can't get there unless we are there in our representative.
Am I making some sense? My high priest allows me behind
the veil because he has told me what's back there. Just like
right now I am in glory with my great high priest Jesus Christ
seated at the right hand of God, though I have never been there.
I am there representatively. Am I making some sense? So God
allows us behind the veil so we can learn something about
God's testimony. You know what God's testimony
is? He has given men a revelation
of His glory in sequential fashion throughout time, showing them
that they need Him, and that God is a God of grace, and a
God of kindness, and a God of patience, and a God of goodness.
Let me just deal with the articles that are in the ark of the covenant
of which God says No one can meet me except they meet me right
here at the ark and they can't meet me without a mediator that
mediator is home and He can't meet me without what blood Now
watch this when you open the lid There are three testimonies
in the ark. Are you ready? I The first is
a golden pot of manna. Remember the manna in the wilderness? The manna in the wilderness is
a witness to us of God's provision for us who trust in Christ. Christ is my bread. The manna
that came down was typical of the bread of life, right? It
shows us that God is willing to take care of His people as
they make their wilderness sojourn through this world. Isn't that
right? God's gracious, isn't He? He bears record that He's
gracious. But here's our problem. We always
mess up God's grace. So while on the one hand it's
a witness of God's grace to us, the golden pot of manna is a
condemnation of our rebellion against God. Remember what they
did? God told them how they were to
eat the manna. Every day, portion by portion,
don't store up anything. Ain't no starting no businesses
here. You're not going to get your warehouse and store up a
bunch of manna, fry, bake it, cook it, saute it, and sell it. You're not going to make any
money off this gospel. Are you hearing me? No prosperity gospel
here. You're going to depend upon Christ
daily. Give us this day our daily bread. Daily. because the children
of God walk by faith and we don't live on yesterday's manner because
it warms in order that we might trust the living God day by day
by day. Am I making some sense? That
way you won't presume upon God like some folk do. I know you're
going to eat physically every day, but some folk won't talk
to God for a month. We talked about that on Friday,
didn't we? Now, how are you going to go
a whole month without feeding on God? presumptuous. So the
children of Israel had to be taught that you don't store it
up. What did they do? They tried to start a business.
And what did God say? This is a judgment against them.
Take a portion of the manna, put it in the pot and put it
in the ark as a testimony against them. The gospel is a testimony
for God and it's a testimony against man. You and I violate
that too. Guess what else is in the ark?
It's the law of God. The two stone tables of which
our text speak. You know what those two stone
tables are called? The stone tables of witness. The book of
witness. The law of God is written on
those stone tables and it testifies to the holiness of God. And it
testifies to the sinfulness of man. Remember what happened when
God gave the law on Mount Sinai? His holy covenant that was given
from the king to the servants to keep so that they could be
blessed, the people down the bottom of the hill committing
idolatry, fornication, and just paganism built a golden calf
to get them back to Egypt, right? Apostasy as rank as anything
could be. What did Moses do? He broke the
law of God, shattered it into pieces, threw it in the river,
and made them drink. Now that which was supposed to
be a blessing to them was a curse. It was a testimony of God's holiness
and it was a testimony of man's sinfulness. That's why by the
works of the law, no flesh shall be justified in God's sight.
That's why by the law is the knowledge of sin. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? In the arc of the testimony is
a witness for God's holiness and it was a testimony of man's
sinfulness. So man rejects God's provision
in the bread. Man rejects God's rule by the
law. Guess what else is in the art?
The rod that used to be for Aaron, the high priest. That was a rod
of election, a rod of election, which people hate today. The
God of electing grace, the God of electing love, the God of
sovereign choice. Remember those Democrats in the
wilderness? Numbers 15, who came to Moses
and said, listen, who told you you can rule over us? They wanted to start a democratic
process and vote who would be the next ruler. Remember that?
And Moses trembled in his boots because he said, now y'all have
been with me for several years now. You saw where you were and
you see where you are. And you see how you got here?
And you're asking me the inane question, who made me ruler over
you? They were utterly blinded by
the history of a sovereign God who came into Egypt when they
were slaves and tore up the greatest nation in the world and let their
people go free, dry shod. with their head high and lifted
up through the Red Sea. And you're going to ask me who
did it? You're going to challenge my authority when the same God
that brought you out of Egypt led you through the wilderness
this many years by a pillar of fire by night and a cloudy pillar
by day and gave you hot biscuits in the morning and fresh chicken
in the evening and kept your shoes from wearing out and your
clothes from wearing out and provided everything you needed.
And you're going to wake up one day and have a democratic process
by which you want to get rid of me and get somebody else.
Now, while Moses is talking like I'm talking, he didn't say it
like this, but I'm saying it like this. God said, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, stop. Moses, quit talking to these
dudes, man. I got this. They're getting ready to learn
a lesson here. So Moses, just simply tell them this. If this
thing be of you, then God won't do something real unusual. But
if God's in this, you're going to see something brand new take
place tomorrow. So simply ask the folks to choose
which side they want to be on, and we'll meet tomorrow. Y'all
go home, go to sleep. Get your rest, right? Eat all
you want to. Gather together, talk bad about
the leadership. Just talk bad about Moses and
Aaron and talk bad about Miriam. Talk bad about the people whom
God chose. Because I know Moses spending enough time with them
would have easily told them, hey, look, I was on the backside
of horror, minding my own business. had a good sheep business going
on, a great woman, nice father-in-law. I was cool because I had already
been presumptuous about being God's leader 40 years ago. And
God tore my butt up and I realized that it's not he who exalts himself,
it's he whom God exalts. And I was cool with just being
a keeper of the sheep. But one day, God manifested his
glory in a wonder of wonders. a bush burning, but did not consume. And that's where Moses met the
God of his calling. And from that day on, Moses has
been troubled with the people that God had called him to lead.
So Moses goes home, Aaron goes home. See, now Moses and Aaron
had fallen on their faces in front of the people, trembling
because they knew that the people had been blinded by their own
lust. and walking in unbelief and fear, they didn't believe
that God would lead them to the promised land. So they're ready
to have a democratic vote process and vote them out. We be the
people of God too. We be leaders too. Isn't that
what they said? So I'm sharing with you, I'm sharing with you
this struggle. Tell these folks, first of all, bring every man,
let every man bring his rod. Who wants to be in leadership?
Isn't that what he said? Bring your rod. And Aaron, you
bring your rod. This is back in the days when God was using
pictorial things, like the casting of lots. And the rod, the man
whose rod buds, he's the high priest that I chose. Whose rod
budded? Aaron's. They still didn't get
the picture. Rose up in rebellion against
God. Clear and explicit choice of Aaron as the high priest.
Now, Aaron, the high priest, ladies and gentlemen, points
to whom? Now, will you hear me? They rejected God's provision.
They rejected God's rule and they rejected God's high priest.
This is the testimony in the art. Are you hearing me? God
has a high priest. God has a rule and God has a
provision and they are all wrapped up in one person and his name
is Jesus. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That is the typical picture that's taking place here and it's a
magnificent picture. Let me close here. Let me close
in our fourth point. Christ, the reality, enters into
the Holy of Holies permanently. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 and
12. But Christ being a 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 bulls and cows
But by what his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place Having obtained eternal redemption for us. Do you see
that he's a reality, isn't he? now watch what point number five
says and our redemption your redemption in mind and Those
who believe the gospel, those who are part of God's covenant
of redemption, our redemption is a triune work that accomplishes
these things for us. Here's the beauty of verse 14.
Let me start at verse 13. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies
to the purifying of the what? External cleansing. How much
more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works that you and I might what? Rich, rich, rich. So I'll give you three points
here and we'll close. Three things that can be developed
and can be built up. The text tells us Christ himself
came into the temple, entered into the Holy of Holies through
his blood. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, do you see it? Shall the blood of Christ, what
do we mean by the blood of Christ? That's what I was saying earlier,
by his humanity, by his assuming a human nature. For without a
human nature, there is no blood, a body you have prepared me.
He, through His incarnation, He, through His suffering, He,
through His death, entered into glory. He, through His incarnation,
in order to be the High Priest and Mediator of His people, through
His death, entered into the Holy of Holies. That's a rich truth
that, as I said, now is going to be unpacked for the next three
chapters. He entered in through blood.
He entered in through blood because He entered in through His humanity.
You guys get that? He was a real man. He's a real
high priest, but he was a sacrifice also. But he also entered in
by the Spirit. Listen to what the text says.
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the, what? Eternal Spirit, offered himself
without spot to God. Do you see the accompanying work
of the Spirit of God hovering over and protecting and watching
the God-man Jesus Christ? from His incarnation all the
way up through His childhood, even into His adulthood and throughout
His ministry, keeping Him, sanctifying Him, consecrating Him, assisting
Him in maintaining His walk. Remember what we learned last
week? He was holy and harmless and without blame and spotless
before God. Here He is. He is the one now
coming into the holiest of all through His own blood, but it
was by the accompanying work of the Spirit. Now watch this.
He offered himself. That's a voluntary sacrifice,
ladies and gentlemen. He did not do it reluctantly. He did not do it with any kind
of equivocation. He did it willingly. And he offered
himself without spot to God. He was the perfect sacrifice. He was the spotless sacrifice. He was the spotless perfect lamb
of God. This is a triune work. For Jesus
Christ is very God of very God, is he not? Whose work was assisted
by the spirit of the living God, was it not? And whose work as
a whole combined was to bring Christ to God the Father, was
it not? And in so doing, watch this,
that work is able to purge our conscience from dead works in
order that we might serve the true. the living God liberated in your conscience
liberated in your soul by the work of a glorious God Father
Son and Holy Spirit free to serve God free to obey God free to
walk in God's righteousness God's sanctification God's grace free
child of God purged of your sin. Isn't that good? Purged of your
sin. And Paul says it in Ephesians
chapter two. This is my last verse. That as
a consequence of Christ's work, we have access to God. Take advantage
of it. We have access to God. Listen
to it. Ephesians chapter two. Are you there? Listen to what
he says. Listen to what he says in verse
16. and that he might reconcile both unto God, that is Jew and
Gentile, in one body by the what? Having slain the enmity thereby. And he came and preached peace
to you which were far off. That's the Gentiles. And to them
that were near. That's the Jews. Look at this. For through him, who? Christ. We both, who? Jew and Gentile. have access by one spirit. Who? The Holy Ghost. Unto the
Father. Do you see that? That's the blessing
of the triune God. See, salvation is to bring us
back to God and child of God. If you're in Christ, you're there. You're there. Rejoice. Amen.