The ninth chapter of Hebrews,
and let's begin reading in verse 6. Read down through verse 14. I'm not for sure how many of
those verses we'll cover, but let's begin there. In Hebrews
chapter 9 and verse 6. Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priests went always unto the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. But unto the second went the
high priest alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. The
Holy Ghost this signifying that the way unto 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, and 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
divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them unto the time
of reformation. But Christ being come in high
priest of good things to come, by greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
goats, and the ashes of Nun Heffer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, 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 to serve the
living God. Now, in these first verses that
you and I have been looking at, Paul has been describing what
was taking place in the inward part of the tabernacle. He calls
it a tabernacle because that's what it was, a huge tent. He mentions here in our text
that there was, he says a tabernacle, and then he reduces it down to
two tabernacles. He said there was a first tabernacle,
and it was separated by a thick cloth veil, about four inches
thick, and then there was the second tabernacle. He calls them the second tabernacle. The first here he calls the holy
place, and then the second is the most holy place. The mere
priest went into the first tabernacle. They had services that they were
required to do. They kept the lamps going. They
put bread there on the table. Incense was there next to the
veil. They had to keep the incense
on the table. But the second veil that you go in and you pull
back that thick veil and went into where the mercy seat was,
and only the high priest went in there once every year. And
he went in there with blood. to accomplish atonement for the
children of Israel. And the Holy Ghost here in verse
8, it was said, is teaching us something by this. By this service
He is teaching us something that the way unto the holiest of all
was not made manifest while that first tabernacle, the holy place,
was yet standing. Now, what is the most holy place? And we'll get to that, but we
looked at that before, but he tells us plainly here in verse
24. Look in verse 24 of this same chapter. This is the holiest
of all. The Holy Spirit signifying that
the way into the holiest of all was not manifested. Well, the
holiest of all is here in verse 24. Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us." What is the most holy place? That's heaven, and
more specifically, in God's presence, and that's where Jesus Christ
has gone to. And He says that way to heaven,
the way to God, was not manifested. while that first place, the holy
place, was still standing. Now, he's not saying that the
saints in the Old Testament didn't know the way to God and that
they didn't go to heaven. They did. They had the gospel. It was revealed to them, and
they believed it. They lived and died in the faith
of it, and they went to heaven when they died. The gospel in
the Old Testament is plain to us. because we can look back
now and interpret the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament.
But they had the Gospel back there. Remember Abel when he
offered unto God a blood sacrifice by faith? He went right into
God's presence and worshiped God and he obtained witness from
God that he was righteous. Enoch, remember Enoch? He walked
with God and the Bible says that he pleased God. and the Lord
took him up to heaven. So Enoch went to heaven. All
the old saints in the Old Testament, they had the gospel, they believed
the gospel and they died in the faith of the gospel and went
to heaven. The last verse of chapter 11 of this book says
this. He is talking about all the Old
Testament saints and here is what is said about every believer
in the Old Testament. These all died haven't obtained
a good report through faith. So they all died in the faith
of the gospel, in the faith of the coming Messiah in Christ. And when they died, they went
to heaven. You remember Moses and Elijah
upon the Mount of Transfiguration? They came down from heaven, didn't
they? And they talked to the Lord Jesus and the apostles heard
them. So they did know the way, but the way to heaven And the
way to God was not as plain to the Old Testament saints as it
is in the New Testament. And that's what he's meaning.
He doesn't mean that it wasn't manifested at all, that they
didn't know God or the way to God. But it's not manifested
in the Old Testament to them as it's now revealed in the New
Testament. In the Old Testament, the way
to God and the way to heaven was somewhat dim, wasn't it?
It was set forth in prophecies. You've seen it in promises. You've
seen it in the shadows and figures and types. It wasn't as clearly
manifest as it came to be in the New Testament. Now, hold
that and look over it, and I'll give you one example. In John
chapter 14, a very good example, and it's a good example because It was a recent example. It was
when Christ was upon this earth and we even see in His own apostles
how the way wasn't as clearly manifest as it was going to be.
Here's where the Lord Jesus is speaking to them in John chapter
14. Look in verse 1. Let not your
heart be troubled. John 14, 1. You believe in God,
believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I
am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and
the way you know. They did know the way, they just
didn't know it. And look what Thomas says, Thomas
said unto him, Lord, we know not where you go, and how can
we know the way? Thomas is saying, Lord, I really
don't know. Peter and John might know, but
I don't know. What is the way? And the Lord says in verse 6,
I am the way, the truth and the lie. No man comes to the Father
but by me. They knew the way because they
knew Him. And that's the thing about the
Old Testament saints. They knew the Lord. But you know,
they just didn't know much else about how this was going to be
accomplished. They knew it was going to be
by sacrifice, but they never had seen Him. You know, if you
could have took King David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, took
him right out of his set in the Old Testament, and brought him
here and set him down with these apostles, you know something?
Without Revelation, he wouldn't have known who Christ was either.
You couldn't know him apart from Revelation. And that was the
thing. That's why the Old Testament
was so dim. He's coming. He's coming. But
he hadn't gotten here yet, had he? And they had to see him through
these shadows and types and these figures. And when Christ came,
and when he suffered and when he died and when he rose again.
And he breathed on these same apostles and said, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost. And then he opened their understandings. And then the way became plain.
The way was manifested then. And then they saw what they couldn't
see before. Now we see the way. Now it's
manifested to us. Here's how much clearer the way
had become. Under that obscure symbol that
we just read about in our text, only the priest could enter the
Most Holy Place. But now, now, Thomas saw he could
enter, and now you see that you can
enter, and I can And secondly, under this symbol,
the high priest could only enter once a year. But now it's more
manifest, isn't it? Now we can go all the time. Now
the way into the Holiest of Holies is open continually. We can go
there without ceasing, can't we? That's why we're to pray
without ceasing. Under these old symbols in the
Old Testament, the Jewish nation was the only one that was represented. When the priest went in, he had
these 12 stones on his breast, and that's who he represented,
the children of Israel. But we see more clearly now,
don't we? The way is open for us poor Gentiles, us dead dog
Gentiles, going to all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. The way is now manifested. It's thrown open. Now when was
it manifested? When was the way manifested?
The text tells us here, the Holy Spirit tells us here. The Holy
Spirit, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all
was not made manifest. It wasn't revealed. While the
first tabernacle was yet standing. As long as that first tabernacle,
as long as the holy place was yet standing, the way was not
manifested as it was going to be. I like what the Amplified
said about this. Men Wayne reads the Amplified
a lot, don't they? I read it as a commentary. He
may read it as a version. I read it as a commentary. It's
the best commentary I think they've ever written. I don't look so
much up on it as a version, but I like it as a commentary. It's excellent. And here's what
it says. By this the Holy Spirit points out that the way unto
the true of holies, was not yet thrown open as long as the former,
that is, the outer portion of the tabernacle, the holy place,
remained a recognized institution and was yet standing. As long
as the holy place remained a recognized institution by God. You know, God recognized that,
didn't He? He's the one that ordained it. That's why they
had kept the holy place. When did God cease to recognize
that as an institution? When did these two rooms, when
did the holy place and the most holy place become one? When was
the wall that separated them torn down? That's what He's saying
right there. When that happened, Then the
way was thrown open. It was manifest. Well, we know
exactly when this petition was torn down, don't we? When that
first tabernacle ceased to be one little room by itself and
it was opened up into the holiest of all. And that's when the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary said, Father, into your
hands I commend my spirit. It's finished. And he gave up
the ghost, and the Bible said in Mark 15, the veil of the temple
was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. That's when God
says, I don't recognize that holy place anymore. It's not
an institution anymore. It means nothing anymore. I can
almost see this happening, and you probably can too. The Lord
died, it said, in the evening, about the time that they offered
the evening sacrifice. And it was the time that probably
the priest was going in to the holy place to do the evening
service, to put oil in the lamps or something. You can almost
see this happening. This is my own opinion, but I can just see
this happening. And he's in there, and the Lord Jesus cries, it's
finished. And there that veil begins to
tear at the top and just keeps on tearing, keeps on tearing.
And it just folds back. And there that priest is standing
there looking right in to the holiest of all. And from then on, the way unto
God's presence, the way to be accepted, the way to heaven was
manifest. as it never was manifest before.
Now the Bible says we have a new and living way which He hath
consecrated for us. He's made for us through the
veil, that is to say, His flesh. So now what can happen? We approach
now all the time, don't we? We go in all the time through
the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have access unto God's presence. And you know something? We don't
need any of these figures. We don't need any of these figures.
We don't need holy days. We don't need these Sabbath days. We don't need the new moon. We
don't need the priesthood. We don't need a temple. We don't
need any of that. Christ is enough, isn't He? Christ
is enough. Now look back at our text again.
Who's teaching these truths? This is so important, and I thought
when I saw this, I thought, boy, how confident and reassuring
this is. Who is it that's teaching us these truths? Who taught these
truths to Moses? And who taught them to these
apostles? And who's teaching them to me
and to you? And this is so important because
these Jewish leaders, one of the reasons they hated these
apostles is because they thought that these things were going
to be done away with. And when they come beginning to preach
these things, they threatened them. They said, don't you even
speak in His name anymore. If you do, we're going to whip
you. And they did. They stoned Stephen because of
what he preached about these things. But who taught these
apostles this? Who taught Paul this? Well, he
says here, look in verse 8 again. The Holy Ghost, this signified
that the way into the holiest of all was not manifest while
the first tabernacle was yet teaching. The Holy Ghost taught
this. Isn't that amazing? The Holy
Spirit. He taught Moses this, didn't
he? He's the one that gave it to Moses. He existed in the Old
Testament. He's not just an influence. He's
a person. He's a divine person. He's a
teacher. He does things. The book of Hebrews
teaches that the Holy Spirit is God. He's a distinct person,
but He is God. He said there in our text, the
Holy Spirit signifies by these things. He's teaching us by these
things. And look back in chapter 8 and look in verse 5. who serve unto the example and
shadow of heavenly things." All these figures and things. As
Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle.
For see, said he, that you make all things according to the pattern
that I've showed to thee in the map. He says he was admonished,
warned of God. Was it God or was it the Holy
Spirit? They're the same one, aren't they? There are two distinct
persons in the Godhead, but they are one, the Holy Spirit thus
signifying. He taught. He taught Moses, and
He taught the apostles. He interpreted this to them,
and He teaches you and I. And this book of Hebrews teaches
very plainly, and it implies very strongly in other places
in this book, the Trinity. It teaches all through it, God
the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is the
way, let me remind you how this book begins. God who at sundry
times in his diverse manners, spake in time past into the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son. There's the Father and the Son.
Then he said in verse 5, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. So there we have The first and
second person of the blessed Trinity. I used to have a friend
of mine, he worked with Clarence and Steve, Dick Webster. You
remember Dick Webster, he was a Jehovah's Witness and he came
to my house several times and he would keep saying on Scripture,
see there's the Son. There's the Son of God. He said,
Bruce, you don't believe in the Son of God? I said, sure I believe
in the Son of God. He said, okay then, okay, believe
in the Son of God. And I said, Do you believe in
God the Son? Sure, they're distinct persons,
and yet they're one. They're one. And Hebrews teaches
that very strongly. Listen to Hebrews chapter 1 verse
8, Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever. There's the Son, isn't it? God
the Son. Here in chapter 9 and verse 14,
look back here, we see this. Here's the entire trinity. In
this one verse, we see the entire trinity. Three distinct persons
right in this one verse, and yet they're one God. Look how
Paul says in verse 14 of chapter 9, How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purged your conscience from dead works, to serve the
living God. See the three persons? There
is Christ, the man Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself
without spot to God the Father. There we have the Trinity taught
in the book of Hebrews. And it is implied all through
this book. So we have the Holy Spirit, that
said He gave us these patterns, He gave them to Moses, these
figures, and we could say God did it, and we could even say
Christ did it. Sometimes we read about the words
of Christ, we read about the words of God, and now we read
about the Holy Spirit giving these words. So there's one God
and three distinct persons in that Godhead. And you know you
can't have a gospel without three persons. You cannot have a Gospel
without three persons. So there's what he tells us in
the first portion of our text. And here in verse 9, he's going
to mention something else for the very first time in this book
that he's said nothing about before. And he mentions it, I
think, quite often in the remainder of this book. But look here in
verse 9 now. Which was a figure for the time
then present, and which were offered both gifts and sacrifices,
that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience." That's the first time he mentions conscience.
Now, you can look up the definition of conscience. We all know what
it is. We may not be able to define
it very well, but we know what a conscience is, don't we? We
have it and we've experienced it, what it is. Here's one definition
that I sort of like. He said conscience is the knowledge
of our own thoughts and actions, and the judgment passed upon
them as to their being right or wrong. We have these thoughts
in our hearts. We have actions that we do. Our conscience bears witness
either those thoughts are right, those actions are right, or they're
wrong. That's the conscience that does
that. Scripture, I think, proves out that definition. Listen to
Romans 2, 15. The Gentiles, which have not
the written law, show the works of the law written in their heart,
their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Well, conscience
is a powerful thing, isn't it? It can excuse you. and give you
peace or He can accuse you and make you tormented. It's one
of the most powerful faculties in our souls without a doubt.
It can excuse you. It can clear you and make you
stand before your enemies as bold as a lion. Paul stood before
the Sanhedrin council looking on their faces and they hated
him and here's what he said. I have lived in all good conscience
before God until this day." Boy, if you've got a clear conscience,
you can face your enemy without any fear. If a man's conscience
is clear with God, you don't have to fear your enemy, do you?
That's all that matters. Peter said this, having a good
conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as of an evildoer,
they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation
in Christ. I've lived without having a clear
conscience towards God. I know by experience, and you
do too, the most desirable thing that we can have as we walk in
this world is to have a clear conscience, is to have a pure
conscience, a clean conscience with God, because there's also
a guilty conscience. There is a guilty conscience.
And man, when the conscience is guilty, you've got no peace.
Day or night, you've got no peace. Remember Adam, there in the garden,
when he hid from the presence of the Lord behind a tree and
had his fig leaves on? And the Lord said, Where are
you, Adam? And boy, his conscience started screaming at him. And
he said, Where are you? And he was hid. He was scared
to death and he told the Lord he was scared. He said, have
you eaten of the tree that I told you not to eat of? And he said,
I was afraid. Yeah, I was afraid. My conscience
was screaming and I hid myself. I've ate of the tree and my conscience
is defiled and it's screaming at me. And I cannot face you.
I cannot face your voice. when the Lord Jesus was standing
with that woman and her accusers in John chapter 8, and they wanted
her stoned. And He made this statement to
them, He that is without sin among you, let Him first cast
the stone. And remember what happened to
those guys. They, being convicted of their own conscience, went
out from the least to the greatest. Now, those were proud men. But
you didn't get the better of them. They were bold. They were hard-hearted. But a
guilty conscience drove them from the presence of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember Judas? Here it tells
you about the power of a guilty conscience. He was so guilty
that he couldn't live with himself. And he took the money and threw
it down and went out and hanged himself. He couldn't live with
himself. A conscience is the most powerful
thing, isn't it? My dad was telling me when he
was a young boy that an old man in the community was dying, and
they'd call the sheriff. He'd ask them to call the sheriff,
said, I've got to confess something to the sheriff. And my dad said
there'd been a man pushed over a cliff. They thought at first
that he fell over, and they didn't know what else to think, but
it killed him. And this man, years before that, had killed
that guy. He had pushed him over the cliff.
And he told the sheriff, I cannot die with this on my conscience. So that shows you the power,
doesn't it, of a guilty conscience. And here's what Paul is saying
here in our text, that these gifts and sacrifices that these
priests offered could not reach the conscience. to cleanse it,
to purify the conscience of its guilt. That was the weakness
of these figures and types. They could not reach the conscience.
They offered the gifts that God commanded them to offer, but
they could not reach the conscience. They could not purge the guilty
conscience. You were just as guilty, really,
as when you took the gifts and sacrifices, when you left as
you were when you went. And you know there's people today
still trying by gifts and sacrifices to put away sin, to put away,
to have a clear conscience with God. I was reading about J.C. Penney, the man that started
that big line of stores, and they said that he gave 90% of
his wages to the poor, to charity. That's a lot of money, isn't
it? That's a big gift, isn't it? But you know Paul said, if
I gave all my goods to feed the poor, that won't profit me at
all. Ain't that what he's saying,
if I don't have blood? That won't reach the conscience, will it?
And a sacrifice, though I give my body to be burned. I mean,
that's the ultimate sacrifice. We think of our soldiers giving
the ultimate sacrifice. But you know, these gifts and
sacrifices that we offer today won't reach the conscience. It
will not clear the conscience of its guilt before God. You know, if these sacrifices
that these priests offered and these gifts that the priests
offered, that God told them to offer, if those gifts and sacrifices
wouldn't reach their conscience, then the gifts and sacrifices
that we offer can't reach our conscience today. But thank God
there is something that will. There is something that will
reach a man's conscience and clear it of its guilt before
God. And that's what he tells us down
here in verse 14. Look at it again. How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience. Purify your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God. Isn't that wonderful? The blood
of Christ. How will that do it? Because
that's the perfect gift. That's the perfect sacrifice.
Until the conscience finds out that God has been satisfied.
And until the conscience finds out what satisfied God, Remy,
it can never be satisfied. When the conscience finds out
that God has accepted a sacrifice for sins and the conscience believes
it, immediately the conscience has peace. The conscience is
cleared of its guilt. It takes the same thing to satisfy
our conscience as it takes to satisfy God. And what satisfied
Him? Well, that's what the Holy Spirit
is talking about in this passage, in this chapter. What did it
take to satisfy God for sin? What was it that removes our
guilt and what is it that will stop a screaming conscience?
The same thing that satisfied God. The blood. the death of
His own dear Son. That'll do it. Aren't you glad
He's taught you that? And if He's taught you that,
the Holy Spirit has taught you that. And He's taught you that
in His Word. And that's why it's so comforting
to come here and see that it's the Holy Spirit, the One that's
teaching us these things. And it's comforting to come here
and find out that you find this written in the Bible. I don't
trust my feelings anymore. I've been on the way long enough
to I just quit looking at my feelings. When the Lord first
saved me, it seemed like I lived off my feelings and I felt so
good. I felt so saved. But then I started
getting in these trials and these dark valleys and I realized I
couldn't live off my feelings. And I had to come here to the
Word. And here's where the Holy Spirit begins to teach us, isn't
it? Here is where He bears witness to us from the Word. And He signified
that these figures can never reach our conscience, but they
are only figures of Him who came and died and shed His blood. And that blood satisfied God. God saw of the travail of His
soul and was satisfied. And when I read the Bible, I
believe what He said. If this has satisfied God, then
it satisfied me. I don't want anything else. That's
all I want. And now, it don't matter how
I feel, it don't matter what trial I'm going through, it doesn't
defile my conscience. My conscience doesn't depend
upon how I feel. My acceptance with God doesn't
depend on how I feel. It's through a means altogether
outside of myself, through the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son. There's where I have a clear, good, clean conscience with God. Here, upon the mercy seat, where
we see the blood of Spranklin. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us,
cleanse the conscience. And we can live there every day.
We just come here to the Word and believe it and live there
every day. The sacrifice has been offered,
it's been accepted of God, and we just come right here and read
it and believe it. The blood of Jesus Christ purges the conscience
from dead work. And who can live in this world
very long without having a conscience that's got dirty? There's just
something about this world I don't care if you could stay in your
house and never get out and go to the grocery store. This world's
got a way of dirtying the conscience, doesn't it? And that's why we have the fountain
that's always open for sin and uncleanness, to purify the conscience. How confident and reassuring
it is to come here and read that the Holy Spirit Himself is the
one that has given us these truths. and bears witness to them in
our hearts that we have a salvation that reaches our conscience and
clears our conscience with God, and we need nothing else. The
Father has borne witness in chapter 7 and verse 21. It says, ìThe
Lord swore and will not repent. Youíre a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek.î Thatís what the Father said to the Son.
ìMy son, Iím making you a priest. I swear that I am making you
a priest. In chapter 10, the son said, here is what he bore
witness to, Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. He taketh
away the first, that he may establish the second. The old covenant
with its types and shadows is gone. And now we have a new and
living one. And then in chapter 10, look
in chapter 10, here is another place where the Holy Spirit bears
witness to us. in verse 15 of chapter 10, whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that He said
before, how does He witness? Right here in His Word. Look,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts. In their minds will I write them.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now
where remission of these is, there is no more offering for
sins. Why? Why don't we need somebody
to come and die for us again? Sin's already been put away.
Don't need another offering, does it? Been atoned for once
and for all. Who said that? The Holy Spirit
said that. Who'd he say it to? I hope he
says it to you. I hope you believe it. I hope
he's witnessed it to your heart. And the next time you feel doubts
and fears and guilt, I hope you come and go right back to here
where he's teaching you. A sacrifice has been offered.
It's been accepted. Believe it. Live in the faith
of it. There are sins and iniquities.
Well, I remember it no more. having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way, which he hath made for us, consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having an high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, And our body is washed in pure water. Don't go around
trying to clear your conscience with God by doing a bunch of
things. It just don't work that way.
Go to the fountain. And when He's purged your conscience,
then live in the joy of that. And don't do anything to defile
your conscience. But when you do, go right back
to the fountain. And you'll probably be there
almost every day at this fountain. But keep on coming. Keep on coming.