Turn your Bibles with me this
morning to Hebrews chapter 9, the ninth chapter of the book
of Hebrews. Let's read the first 10 verses. Then verily the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine or religious service and a worldly
sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first, wherein was both, literally, the candlestick and
the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary,
or more literally, the holy place. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all." That's the Holy
of Holies. "...which had the golden censer
and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein
was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded,
and the tables of the covenant. And over it the cherubims of
glory, overshadowing the mercy seat of which We cannot now speak
particularly. Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priests went indeed always into the first tabernacle,
accomplishing the religious service of God. But into the second went
the high priest alone. Once every year, not without
blood, that he offered for himself and for the errors of the people. The Holy Ghost thus signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest,
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a
figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only
in meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being
come, and high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, or not of this creation. I had
to read that 11th verse to take us a little bit further than
verse 10. Didn't want to leave you hanging
there. We've been discussing the types of time. that reflect
the realities of eternity. And this study has undergone
many parts and most of them now have culminated in and from out
of the epistle of Hebrews. Let's try to summarize what we
have thus far discovered and declared. We have noted that
there is a scriptural difference between what is referred to as
the Law of Moses, that has been declared and delivered by God
from Mount Sinai, and the Law of the Lord, which is that Law
that is declared and delivered by God from Mount Zion. There's
two mountains, Mount Sinai and there's Mount Zion. David moved
the Ark of the Covenant up to that special place and it for
a long time just was dwelled in a tent and anyone had access
to it. That was a strange period of
time. That is where Mount Zion was
declared to be. The one of the two laws that are mentioned
in scripture that is known as the law of Moses is known that
way because God appointed Moses to be the mediator of the covenant
that contained it. The law of Moses is the law of
the Mosaic covenant. Which covenant God made with
the children of Israel. That's whom he cut it with. the
children of Israel whom he chose as a nation and through whom
also he set in motion the temporary sacrificial system of ceremonies
and rituals that typified through Israel the only way that a fallen
and sinful human being could be eternally saved and made acceptable
to holy God so that they could successfully come to God and
eternally abide in his presence. Because the law of Moses, written
in stone without exception, demanded perfect obedience from the children
of Israel in order for them to be able to approach Holy God,
the law therefore revealed, declared, and condemned all of Israel to
be hopelessly lost sinners. Therefore, all the sacrifices that were part of the sacrificial
system, that's a part of this temporary covenant and sacrificial
system that God had historically made with the nation of Israel,
all of the sacrifices represented a much-needed substitute before
God for chosen, fallen, sinful beings. This mandate for a substitute
had been laid down by God right from the fall of Adam in the
Garden of Eden. God declared in His cursing the
serpent that there would come through the woman a singular
seed who would triumph over Satan and all of his seed, plural. This special Savior's seed would
bruise his heel while crushing the serpent Satan's head. The
representation of this special seed, who would come and be the
Savior's substitute, was first given by God when He provided
to Adam and Eve the adequate covering for their nakedness
with the skins of animals. Indeed, He had to have killed
them to get their skins. Instead of what Adam and Eve
had contrived on their own as a covering out of fig leaves. That was not adequate before
God. He had to provide that which
is adequate. Now as a system of ceremonies
and rituals, the Mosaic Covenant with its law And with this system
of sacrifices, as far as human history is concerned, it was
divinely designed to only be temporary. It wasn't to be eternal. Not
this system of ceremonies and rituals around the sacrificial
system. It was designed to only be temporary
until the arrival of the promised seed. Its covenantal law, which
is the law of Moses, has been actively in force overruling
all of fallen humanity since the first man, Adam, plunged
all of humanity into sin. When the Law of Moses was first
articulated in history at Mount Sinai, it revealed the foreboding
presence of sin in all of mankind. What became vividly clear as
far as the Israelites is concerned, milks over and into every nation,
kindred, person on the earth. and in all of their generations. Hence, death reigned from Adam
unto Moses and then beyond, where all of mankind is concerned. The full knowledge of the fact
that we are all sinners, without exception, is explicitly declared
by the sovereign rule and present authority of the Law of Moses. If you want a scripture text
to substantiate this, it's Romans 3.20. For by the law is the epigonoska,
the full knowledge of sin. This makes the law of Moses to
indeed be what the scripture has named it to be, the law of
sin and death. According to the promise of God, I'll say it this way, according
to the promise of God, and His own faithfulness to perform His
promise, the law of the Lord from Mount Zion, which is the
law of a new and eternal covenant, is declared. I believe there
is typified in the fact that the ark of the covenant was outside
of the temple, or the tabernacle setting, and by itself on that
hill where David had placed it, which is Mount Zion, is a proof
of what I've just said here. Because the Ark itself represents
Christ. And the blood that was sprinkled
on the mercy seat from the Lamb without blemish is Christ. Cherubim hiding their face with
their wings, hovering over the mercy seat, depicts the holiness
of Christ. The things contained in the ark
being the law of ordinances against us that really reveal we're nothing
but sinners, the blood of Christ covers it. The rod Aaron's rod
that budded, Christ was raised from the dead. The manna, the
golden pot, the manna. He is the bread of life. That
was a picture of the law of the Lord. Out of the sectioned off
place of the tabernacle where only one person, the high priest,
was allowed to go and approach it, no one saw the Ark of the
Covenant. They could approach, they could
go in and out of this presence while it was there for that time.
It was an amazing time and I think it was to typify what the law
of the Lord is that supersedes the law of Moses that condemns
us. It is the promise that God would one day in the history
of fallen humanity provide the seed who would become the one
sacrifice, the one substitute that would bring eternal salvation
upon all of elect mankind. This promised seed was destined
to be fulfilled in none other than the eternal Son of God,
that person. And it's important that you don't
ever divorce Christ from being that divine person of God. According to the law of the Lord,
the Son of God would actually come from heaven and invade by
incarnation fallen human history as the eternal Son of Man. He
would be holy. That means that he could not
ever even be able to violate the law
of Moses. Holiness, you recall, is not
just not sinful, but the impossibility to be sinful. God is holy. It's impossible for him to lie
or sin at all. And the eternal Son of God, incarnate, was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He couldn't break the Law of
Moses. And He would, in turn, be for
God's chosen individuals, from every kindred, every nationality,
and every generation of fallen humanity, the eternal Lamb of
God. Men were to find lambs out of
their flock that fit the specifications that could only be represented
at the altar that represents Christ's deity. And the priest
who represents Christ would slay the lamb who represents Christ. And the blood of the lamb would
be treated with such respect and honor would not allow a drop
to fall to the ground, but it might be trampled underfoot. It would be sprinkled on all
four horns of the altar, showing the power of the blood. And Christ in His sacrifice as
the Lamb of God is typified. And the eternal Lamb of God would
procure for His elect For those whom he represented as their
substitute, this is the definition of propitiation. He would procure
for them eternal redemption and remission from all their sins. This is that which constitutes
the historic person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Hebrews 9 turns yet another
page in revealing unto us that which is included in the law
of the Lord. That in turn makes it to be what
Psalm 1 and verse 2 says the law of the Lord is to the blessed
man. That verse declares the law of
the Lord to be his delight, the most valuable thing in his life. And it declares that in His law
does He meditate day and night. It constantly revolves through
His thoughts. This is true of every single
blessed saved one there is, without exception. As they traverse through
this fallen world especially, you're constantly reminded of
the law of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ being all
these things for you and for those that are His elect in the
world. In Hebrews 9, the line of diversity
and distinction that separates the old and the new covenants,
which has been vividly drawn in the first eight chapters of
Hebrews, brings us to an even further explicit revelation of
truth that purely proves this. And from this chapter we'll see
this line of distinction more graphically portrayed. For Hebrews
9 gives unto us even more detail of the earthly, in time, constructed,
tabernacle, and its constituent parts. Which parts are additional
types and shadows of the Savior Christ of God Almighty. These particular biblical types
of Christ are pointed out specifically to emphasize the reality of their
heavenly eternal counterpart in regards to the person and
work of the eternal Son of God and His being the eternal Christ
of God, the Lord Jesus, the God-Man. What we have With Hebrews 9,
therefore, is an expanded focus on the tabernacle types in time
that reflect the accomplished realities of Christ the Sovereign
Savior's substitute in eternity. So let's take a look now and
see how this unfolds before us from Hebrews 9. Verse 1 says,
Then verily, the first covenant had also ordinances of divine
service and a worldly sanctuary. This first verse of the chapter
literally tells us from the original something like this. The first
tabernacle had therefore also indeed ordinances of religious
service. and the sanctuary or the holy
place. And then it gives a description
of the holy place in these words, a worldly one. There's only two
places in the New Testament where this term worldly is used. And
both of them is it's means corrupt. That's what it means. It's corrupt. what this first verse and along
with that which the first eight chapters of Hebrews points out
to us is that the whole Old Covenant was a covenant that contained
among its commandments legally mandated ordinances of divine
service that were to be observed by the Levitical priesthood religiously
on a regular daily basis. These ordinances were to be performed
by them in a worldly or a corrupt sanctuary. The sanctuary was to be called
holy because it was an earthly and therefore a corrupt type
in time of the real heavenly truly holy sanctuary already
pitched by God in eternity. Remember that's exactly what
Hebrews 8 Verse 2 says that Christ became our high priest and he
was a minister of the holy place, the holy sanctuary of the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. So it was to be
regarded as a holy place but it was in reality only a corrupt
type of the true thing. The worldly sanctuary was corrupt
simply because it was constructed by fallen and corrupt men in
a fallen and corrupt world. Once again, it was an end-time
type that reflected an in-eternity reality. It's as simple as that. And then we have verses 2 through
5, which say, For there was a tabernacle made, the first, wherein was
literally both the candlestick, and the table, and the showbrick,
which is called the Holy Sanctuary." His way is from the literal.
Verse 3, "...and after the second veil," within, there is the tabernacle
that's called tabernacle in total, but what's being referred to
here in Hebrews 9, The term tabernacle is used of the respective rooms. Each one of these rooms in the
tabernacle have a significant part to play. This is a tabernacle in itself. This is the holy sanctuary. This
is where Christ is depicted as the light, as the bread of life. as the unceasing intercessory
prayers. He's the light to the elect.
He's provision for the elect. He's interceding for the elect
constantly. This whole room was filled with
the aroma of the special incense that God had mandated only be
burned on this altar. It was lit, the golden censer,
which is in here with the Ark of the Covenant, was used to
go out and they would take coal from the offering. Christ is depicted here in His
death. And from that atoning death,
there is a coal that's brought in here to light the incense.
There's a direct connection between these two things. But it can't
approach these things, it can't approach this room without going
through the cleansing of the representation of the Word and
the Spirit that the labor provides. Reflecting upon the sinfulness
of the person. The priest is a substitute and
he makes a substitute journey all the way to the Ark of the
Covenant where God meets the sinner. It is here at the brazen
altar and again at the Ark of the Covenant. Here he meets the
sinner and judges him for his sins. It's brass. Here he meets the sinner. It's
gold. Grace and life and mercy. And this is what the book of
Hebrews is bringing out here in these verses 2 through 5. Verse 4 says, "...which had the
golden censer," no, let's read verse 3, "...and after the second
veil," that's this veil, "...after the second veil, The tabernacle,
which is called the holiest of all, or the Holy of Holies, which
had the golden censer, the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round
about with gold, wherein inside the Ark was the golden pot that
had the manna, errands, rod that budded, and the tables of the
Covenant, and over it the cherubims of glory, overshadowing the mercy
seat. of which it says we cannot now
speak, or literally concerning which it is not now time to speak
in detail. That's what literally is being
conveyed from that last phrase of verse 5. Once again, verse
2 from the original translation would read something like, For
a tabernacle was prepared, or a tabernacle was constructed,
the first, in which there were both the lampstand, and it's
talking about this room here first. Before we get to mercy, it's going to take us, like Jesus
said, He is the way, the truth, and the life. And this was in
a day when these particular portions of the temple were labeled, the
way, the truth, and the life. Jesus declared himself, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father
but by me. And we don't get there, we can't
get to mercy without going through the truths. And this is why it
says, the first tabernacle was constructed, the first, in which
were both the lampstand and the table and the presentation of
the loaves, which is called holy. Then verses, therefore, verses
2 through 5 conclude, they draw a conclusion from that which
verse 1 has said, that there was a worldly tabernacle constructed
by fallen men, and in it there were man-made items and altars
around which religious rituals and ceremonies were to be obediently
observed. There's all these items, and
they had to perform religious service around it, the Levitical
priesthood. The 18th chapter of Numbers tells
you how God appointed the Levitical priesthood to do these things.
He didn't declare them to be a priest like He did His Son.
He swore His Son. And for God to swear something,
to swear an oath in something, thou art a priest forever, after
the order of Mephthah-Ezodek. That's what He declared of His
Son, making Him the eternal reality of what the Levitical priesthood
represented in type, in a temporary basis. We have the object lesson
already laid out and played out in history. Way back before Christ,
this was all done. There's been an attempt to declare
that it's still in force in the New Testament. There's no temple.
There's no place for a priest to reside. This is exactly where
Ezekiel had to come to grips with the fact. He was trained
to be a priest in the temple. Nebuchadnezzar, historically,
that was his time. He came in and took him captive
and dragged him off to Babylon. He's enslaved to the Babylonians. His whole world's turned upside
down. And while he's over there, Nebuchadnezzar goes back in for
a second wave and destroys the temple. Raises it to the ground. Now, any hope at all that he's
going to be a priest in the temple is absolutely destroyed. His
whole life, his whole purpose for living is chucked in the
trash. But what's Ezekiel called to
do? God tells him to preach the message that the temple, or the
tabernacle, represented. And we have one of the most graphic
portrayals of the law of the Lord from the prophecy of Ezekiel. And that's what we have today.
There is no temple. There won't be another one. The
Jews of this era turned it into an idol. And that's all that the Jews
of this era would want to build it, rebuild the temple again,
and reconstruct this sacrificial system, reimpose it, reenact
it. It all be for idol worship. From
verses 2 through 5, our attention is then directed to actually
entering into the tabernacle. The pre-substitute would then
come to where there was both the lampstand and the table of
showbread, and the lampstand or the golden candlestick was
a type in time of the reality of the promised eternal Christ
of God coming and being unto his people the light of the truth,
the light of the world, of the elect. Whereas the table of showbread
with this presentation of the loaves was also a type and time
of the reality of the promised Christ of God coming and being
unto his people, the bread of life that is daily showered upon
us from heaven, not unlike the mysterious manna that God provided
for the children of Israel in the wilderness. And the sanctuary
wherein both of these items were placed is called the holy place. And here from not only verse
2, but also verses 3 through 5, we have the fulfillment of
the promised eternal Christ, obedience to the law of the Lord
being typically proclaimed. Jesus, for Jesus, the law that
He was sent by God the Father to obey as His bond slave and
as our eternal pre-substitute, was the law that determined that
he live exactly as he lived, that he say exactly what he said,
and that he do exactly what he did, being our propitiation,
being our kinsman, redeemer, and sovereign savior and substitute. That law was typified by his
being who the lampstand and the table of showbread typically
represented, and also the priest that used the golden censer,
who alone was allowed to enter into the holiest of all, and
that which the Ark of the Covenant represented, that contained in
it the testimonies of the person and work of the Savior. The golden pot of manna, Aaron's
rod that budded, and even the two tables of stone upon which
were written the Ten Commandments. Jesus, the Eternal Son of God
and the Eternal Son of Man was represented by all these things. See, we can't forget that He
is the Eternal Son of Man. We want Him to be that, don't
we? We need Him to be that. Because He eternally is representing
us before the pristine holiness of the great triumvirate God,
whose justice cannot be compromised. And for us entering into God's
presence in our present condition, that's why no man has seen God
and lived. His justice, it's holy. It cannot
sin. It cannot sin. We need the substitute
between us and God to save us from God's judgment. Even the
mercy seat that was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant that
overshadowed the figure of the two cherubims, overshadowed by
the figure of the two cherubims of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ
was himself typified. He's the mercy seat. by each
one of these things. And His living the life and walk
that proves His being worthy and acceptable before God is
the proclamation of the law of the Lord. That He has obeyed,
that He has eternally kept on behalf of all those whom God
the Father has given to Him to eternally say. The Gospel
of John proves this to be true from its pure proclamation of
the eternal Son of God becoming the person and work of Christ
as being the eternal Son of Man. John 1.14 plainly says, And the
word became flesh, and dwelt, or literally tabernacled. That's
the word that John used from the original. tabernacled among
us. John says, and we beheld his
glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. So then we see that
the living Word of God, who is the Son of God Himself, came
and became a Holy Spirit of God Almighty, conceived and created
Mobile tabernacle among chosen men. Jesus is the tabernacle. As He moved and went out throughout
every single course and moment of His ministry. The tabernacle
is moving among chosen men, wherein there resided nothing inside
that tabernacle, nothing but the glory of God's grace and
pure gospel truth. He came to prove to be, He came
to prove to be the eternal fulfillment of the law of the Lord. That
even before Adam was created, that was all worked out. The
father said, son, go. The son said, I will. Now it's
all played out. He's the eternal fulfillment
of the law of the Lord that has become the delight and continual
meditation of every one of his blessed saved ones. If you don't
find your mind, and I believe that you do, if you're honest
with yourself, I'm not saying anything to you that you don't
realize is already happening with you. And this is what the Scripture
declares when it says, Blessed is the man who walketh not in
the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night." That's not the Ten Commandments. Because if you
meditate on that, you're going to be chronic depressive. you're going
to have to go on medication. But it is the delight, when you
understand the law of the Lord, is everything that Christ has
done, what God has planned, the whole scenario, to save you,
to place you, accepted in the Beloved, forever. And from John chapter 3 through
John chapter 20, That's why I put all these scripture references
up there. If you want to write them down, go and reflect on
this. I've just hit the mountain peaks.
It's hard not to get intimate, involved in each one of these
passages of scripture. There are sermons in each one
of them. But they typify Christ being everything in the tabernacle
that Hebrews is pointing out right here in chapter 9. touches on these very things
that pertain to the ritual and ceremony of the Old Covenant
Levitical priesthood types that in turn declares unto us the
law of the Lord. Now this brings us to verses
6 through 10, which explains the temporary significance, the
temporary significance of all these types. Hebrews 6 through
10. Verse 6, now when these things
were thus ordained, or literally, now when these things having
been prepared, the priests went indeed always
into the first tabernacle, we know that to be the holy place,
the first room, or the priests always went into that which is
called the holy place of the tabernacle, and they went in,
and it says, accomplishing the religious service, the divine
service of God, or accomplishing the ministration. This is what
constituted the priest's worship of God, by going through the
motions of this ritual, this ceremony. That's why fallen men
being told, you go through the motions of this ceremony and
you're worshiping God. That gets corrupted by fallenness
and fallen thinking. And then you think, well, I'll
go to church and worship by, you know, doing, I'll go through
the motions. The Roman Catholic system has
a lot of motions that the congregation would go through. They say something,
then you reply back. You have time when you kneel,
when you rise up. They have turned all of that
into, this is what defines worship. Jesus says, the Father seeks
such that worship Him in spirit and in truth. That's understanding. from a different perspective,
a new covenant perspective, if you will. But all of these things are what
has turned religion into the enemy of the soul. It's the bondage of the soul
and the will. Verse 7, But into the second
went the high priest alone, You weren't allowed in there. There's
only one person allowed, the high priest. That is into the
Holy of Holies. And it says that he went into
the second one once every year, not without blood, which he offered
for himself and for the errors of his people. Well, that shows
the corruption of this whole system anyway, because he himself
needs to offer make an offering for himself before he can even
then be qualified to make an offering on behalf of the people,
total. But the high priest offered a
substitute sacrifice then for himself. And then he offered
another substitute sacrifice, the errors, it says errors there,
and that literally means the sins of ignorance that were committed
by the people. And what's that pointing to?
Your general fallenness. Your general fallenness. You
don't realize how depraved sin has made you. Caleb, even on
your best behavior, when you do what your mama says exactly
and obediently, you're still a sinner. Because you're a man. Because you're related. to this
guy, like we all are. He lived 930 years, and he saw
much of the population of his world come into being in that
time frame. All the sons and daughters that
he had, and then all their sons, and all his grandsons, and granddaughters,
and great-grandsons, great-granddaughters. And he's looking for Jehovah,
and he never saw it. What weeping prayers full of
repentance he and Eve must have had over their sinning at the
tree, because it turned all their children into sinners. And we're
a part of that progeny, and we can't escape it. Even if all
we're doing is walking down the street and singing Amazing Grace,
it's corrupt. We're sinful. And we're bearing
the consequences of it. And we need a substitute. We
need a substitute Savior. And even the high priest had
to make a sacrifice for himself. And then it was another sacrifice
that was to be for the sins of ignorance. You're ignorant of
the fact that you're sinning. You don't even think You're a
sinner, and you're sinning. And then verse 8 says this, the
Holy Ghost, the signifying, or literally the Holy Spirit making
this clear and plain, the word signifying means He makes this
clear and plain, that the way into the holiest of all was not
yet made manifest. And what's it referring to here?
Well, I'll tell you what it's referring to. It's talking about
into the very presence of God, the holiest of all, the holy
of holies. That vision that Isaiah had of
the Son of Man seated on the throne, and the cherubim round
about Him, covering their eyes, and saying constantly day and
night, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Holy, Holy,
Holy is the Lord God Almighty. And each time that they said
it, it gets fresher. It doesn't become old. It doesn't
become redundant. It becomes fresher and with fresh
meaning. That's why they say it over and
over and over again. He is so holy we can't even comprehend
that kind of holiness. But that's the kind of holiness
that you and I need in order to enter into that presence.
We need that kind of holiness. That's why the scripture says,
you shall be holy for I am holy. God said that. You shall be holy. for I am holy." And all of the
time that the Old Covenant system was in force and the sacrificial system and
the tabernacle rooms were there, the Spirit of God through the
writer of the Hebrews is telling us here in Hebrews 9.8 He is
making it clear and plain that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest at this time frame. That is, the
way into the real heavenly and eternal holy of holies had not
yet been rendered apparent, had not yet been revealed. And then
it says, while as the first tabernacle was yet still standing. having
a standing among men in fallen human history. Verse 9, which,
that is, the first tabernacle, was a figure. Now this word figure means it's
a type. It's a simile. And simile is an expression that
you use when you're trying to explain what something else is.
You use a simile. It's not the real thing, but
it's to help explain what the real thing is, or what it's like. And the Holy Spirit says, the
Holy of Holies of this period, And the fact that the priest
alone, once a year, going in, that's making it clear and plain,
the way into the real Holy of Holies is not yet rendered apparent,
not yet revealed. It's a figure, it's a simile. For the time then present. Now that puts it back there,
before the cross. That puts it back to the time
of Moses. For the time then present. while the first tabernacle was
still in existence, in which there were offered both gifts
and sacrifices, it says. Gifts and sacrifices, and here's
the crux of it. Here's the proof that it wasn't
yet the time. Revelation had not yet unfolded
to reveal the Christ of God. Yet. because it was not able
to perfect the conscience of the priest. The pre-substitute
was a visual, physical representation of what the eternal Christ of
God, the eternal Son of Man, the eternal Lamb of God would
be for us in reality, But they knew that that reality had not
yet really unfolded in human history, in fallen human history,
because the conscience was not affected by the cleansing. The guilt of
sin still reigned in the conscience. You see, the blood of Christ You know that it's been shed
for you. You know you're a sinner. I look back on my history as
a man, a young man, and I look with great regret at the things
that I have done. But my conscience doesn't bother
me. And I don't understand that. I can only explain it this way.
Christ is cleansed. Christ has cleansed him. I can say confidently that I
can understand how the Apostle Paul can say, forgetting those
things which are behind, I press toward the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. I don't have the heinous things
of murder and death that he had in his conscience. He was a participant
in real murder. I can relate to that because
I know what Jesus says, if you have hatred in your heart, you
murdered your brother. In that sense, I've killed many
a people, especially when I'm out on the highway and somebody
cuts me off. They get killed. I've thought
that in my heart. My conscience has been cleaned.
by the blood of Christ, my Savior. And that's an important phrase
of scripture that we're reading here. And the difference between
the Old and the New Covenants of being a part of the Old and
New Covenant periods. If you're in the Old Covenant
period, the high priest is talking about.
The high priest, the most sanctified physically of the priesthood,
offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make Him that
did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Why? Because they only stood,
they only consisted in meats and drinks, diverse washings,
and that word is actually baptisms, They're talking about, see, the
priest had to go through all these mundane activities. They
had to wash the dishes. And this was a holy thing. They called it baptism because
all these things were immersed in the water. That draws a perfect
picture of what real baptism is. It's not sprinkling. It's
not pouring. It's immersion. And yet, here in the process
of fulfilling the mandated menial acts, the tasks, the chores of
the priests, these diverse washings, and carnal, it says, carnal ordinances
imposed on them, imposed on them, but it's only for a temporary
period of time. imposed on them until it says
the time of reformation, which the word literally means rectification
or reconstitution. That's a good word that's a synonym
of what this word is pointing to. And that's like recreation,
the new creation. That's going to occur here. But now they're talking about
the Old Covenant. And it's going to be reconstituted
and it's going to be declared now under a new covenant after
the period in history that Christ comes on the scene, which we're
going to look at in subsequent lessons. And that's where verse
11 transits us into. In closing, I want you to just
turn quickly back to the third chapter of Acts and look at one
verse with me, but I want you to understand the setting of
the context. It's verse 18. Now this comes
out of a sermon that Peter preaches. This is when he and John were
approaching the tabernacle, or the temple, to pray. The tabernacle
became a wonderful place for them to go and pray. The setting
set their mind on the things that their mind needed to be
set upon, and they could pray. And Jesus even says, it's a house
of prayer. And Peter and John are using
it for just that. They didn't have to pray there,
but it was a house of prayer. And while they're going there,
A lame man begs from them something, and he's expecting to get some
money, hopefully, and Peter says, I don't have any money, but what
I have I'll give to you. And there's this wonderful healing
experience, and the lame man is now leaping and rejoicing
and hanging on to Peter and John, and a whole crowd gathers. It's
on Solomon's porch, it's right there at the entryway into the
temple, and this huge mob shows up, and Peter uses the occasion
in your own time, you should read this from verse 14 down
through 26, he goes through and he declares Christ to be, and
their involvement, these people together are the very ones that
were in the crowd hollering, crucify him, not too many days
hence. And Peter says, I know without
a shadow of a doubt, the verse says, I want that you did not
know what you were doing. And that little word, what, that
old English word, is the Greek word eido. It's the same word
that Jesus used when he told Nicodemus, except the man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. It's knowing
without a shadow of a doubt what it is that you're referring to. But verse 18 says this, those
things which God before had showed, had revealed, by the mouth of
all his prophets, that Christ should suffer he hath so fulfilled." See, this
is the law of the Lord that he's referring to. It has a direct
reference to the person and work and accomplishment of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything that he did was a
fulfillment of what was written in the Old Testament. And Peter's
conclusion is, since he's just pointed this out to them, is
repent, yea, therefore, and be converted. That your sins may be blotted
out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send
Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven
must receive until the times of restitution of all things."
There is a word again for reconstitution, which God has spoken by the mouth
of all the holy prophets since the world began." Now Peter is
referring to the consummation of the age at that juncture. So I pray the Lord has blessed
you this morning with these particular thoughts and this
particular message out of the ninth chapter. the first part
of the ninth chapter of Hebrews. Jeremy, would you lead us in
prayer?