This morning we're going to be
in the book of Hebrews chapter 9 for both hours, if you would
like to turn there. Hebrews chapter 9. Everything we looked at In the
previous verses, describing the priesthood, describing the sacrifices,
describing the ordinances, everything that we've been looking at is
going to be summed up in our text. It's gonna be summed up,
and it begins by saying these three words, which is also our
title, for this cause, for this cause. Now let's read Hebrews
9, 13 through 15. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctifyeth 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? And for this cause, He is the
mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. What was the redemption to all
those in the Old Testament? And what is the redemption to
those in the New Testament? What is the purchase price for
redemption in the Old Testament and the New? What is it that
the Lord looks for? It's the blood. It's the blood. It's not sacrifice. It's not
burnt offering. It's the sacrifice of Christ,
it's the offering of Christ, but it's the blood, it's the
blood alone. All those other sacrifices pointed to the Lord
Jesus Christ. They were types, they were pictures,
they were shadows, pointing to a hope, a true hope, the Lord
Jesus Christ. All that was done was to testify
that Christ is, to the Old Testament saints, and to the New Testament
saints, all in all. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Was Noah looking for grace? No. Abraham believed God. Was Abraham
looking for God when God came to him? No. Matter of fact, Abraham
was an idolater. He was a pagan. And God came
to him and said, I'm gonna make you a great and mighty nation. I'm gonna make a covenant with
you, Abraham. If God doesn't come to where we are and reveal
to us that he's looking for one thing, the blood, and you and
I cannot apply it, he must apply it, then we'll have no hope.
But for this cause, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. How did he do it? By his own
blood. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down. You remember last week we saw
the verses in chapter nine where it says, neither by the blood
of bulls and of goats, but by his own blood, he entered once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for his people. So many times you hear preachers,
especially in false religion, talking about Old Testament and
New Testament as if there was, a great deal of difference, a
great deal of difference between Old Testament and New Testament.
The Old Testament saints were saved looking to the cross, but
they were saved looking to Christ. They were saved looking to Christ.
And it was the same sacrifice they were saved by that we're
saved by. They were given faith. And you know that faith only
comes whenever the Lord gives life and repentance as well.
They were born again. The Old Testament saints were
born again. Abraham believed God because he was given faith
to believe God. They were born again. There's
not a difference where, because we were given to Christ before
the foundation of the world, in time, it doesn't matter what
part of time, the Lord's gonna come to his people and say, believe.
And they're gonna believe. Abraham believed God. It's not by works of righteousness
which we or they have done, but by the sacrificial death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the substitutionary work on the cross, that's where
salvation is. salvation came by. It is the
surety sacrifice of the Lamb, nothing more, nothing less. When
the Lord passed through Egypt, you hear me talk about this usually
when we take the Lord's Table because it is such a glorious
picture. Everything in the Old Testament is a type and a shadow
that can only be revealed by faith. Only the Lord can cause
us to see that it is a type of Christ. It is a picture of His
glory and His purpose in redeeming His people. When the death angel
came through Egypt, what was he looking for? He was looking
for the blood. And if the blood was not on the
doorpost and the lintel, then the household, the firstborn
died. The firstborn died. But if he saw the blood, he said,
when I see the blood, I will pass by you. I will pass by you. So for this cause, we have to
have the blood applied. And for this cause, Christ is
the mediator of the New Testament. He's the mediator of the new
covenant. What amount of works can equal life? I wrote this
down because of a comparison, but can any amount, what can
a corpse do? And you've heard me say this
before. What can a corpse do? A corpse can only rot and it
can stink. Just lay there, right? How much,
what amount of decaying can bring life. Well, that sounds silly.
Well, it is silly. It's not possible. No amount
of decaying, because that's what we are in the flesh, we are,
if we're not called of the Lord yet, if the Lord hasn't revealed
the truth, if we're not born again, then we're dead men walking. We're dead men walking. And so
what amount of decaying can cause me to have life? What amount
of stinking can make me believe, it can. The Lord has to give
life first, doesn't he? He has to give life. How can
a dead man obey? I remember in religion, they
would say something along the lines of, well, you have an opportunity
right now for salvation and you have to make a choice, but it
may only come by one time. You better make that choice now.
And it was always some kind of pressure to put on people to
get a response. And it would scare people. People would, it
would be an emotional stirring. Everyone was afraid. You know
what the Lord says? Come unto me, all you that are labored
and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. If you have a need, you're
gonna come to Christ, but the only way you can is if he's enabled
you to. Ezekiel was asked of the Lord,
can these bones live? That's the question, isn't it?
Can our dead bones live? What did Ezekiel said? Lord,
thou knowest. If they're gonna live, you're gonna have to do
it. You're gonna have to speak the word. You're gonna have to do it by
your power alone, because I can't make them live. And that's it
right there, isn't it? We can't make ourself live. Can't make ourself be born again.
Can't make ourself alive in Christ. But he can and he does for his
people. This is why he came, for this
cause, to save his people their sin. When the Lord said, Lazarus
come forth that wasn't an invitation was it? That was not an invitation. And I love that He specifically
said, Lazarus come forth because you know if He said come forth
every grave in that whole cemetery would have popped open. That's
exactly what would have happened. He said, Lazarus, come forth.
Why? Because it's an effectual call towards his people, particularly
towards his people. Lazarus, come forth. That's the
word of his power. It takes no less power for you
and I to be born again, for you and I to be resurrected from
the dead state that we're born in, than it did resurrecting
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same power. It's the
same power to resurrect us, to save us, to call us. It's the power of the Lord, not
our power. It's the same infinite power
displayed when Christ was raised because of our justification. The Lord was resurrected because
salvation was secured. The Lord wasn't resurrected to
secure salvation. He was resurrected because of
our justification. We'd already been justified.
We'd already been sanctified in him. And the Lord was well
pleased with that sacrifice and resurrected his son. The blood
is enough. That's what that typifies. The Lord was the only one who
could be obedient, obedient unto the Father. You and I cannot
be obedient in a manner that pleases Him. Somebody will tell
you, you'll hear people say, well, you need to live right,
or you need to do this, or you need to do that. No one can live
an obedient life unto God and Him be pleased with their life.
The only thing He's pleased with is His Son. If the Lord enables
you to look to Christ, live looking to him, the Lord's pleased with
the faith that he's given you to look to Christ. Everything
he requires, he must provide. He doesn't look to you, he's
not looking to you and say, you better do your part or else.
You won't find that in scripture. There's a lot of rest in that
for a believer, a lot of rest. You mean the work is finished?
Yes. Yes, well, why am I so motivated
then to come to service? Why am I so motivated to hear
about this? Because this is life eternal. This is the manna that
we need. This is, we love him because
he first loved us. This is why we come in here. Understand that the obedience
offered by men under the old covenant did not remove every
or any ground of accusation from the law. everything that was
done under the old covenant that men would do, they were still
accused by the law, weren't they? They were still accused by the
law. Because without the shedding of blood, and that's here in
the same chapter actually, Well, I'm not gonna look for
it. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
The Lord demanded blood. The Lord demanded the blood.
This is why Christ had to come. The lambs that were offered up,
they were not enough to put away sin. They were enough for a year
to appease the wrath of God and obedience, and it was a type
of worship, but it was pointing to the real lamb, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thousands and thousands of sacrifices didn't put away
sin. That's why the Lord came for
this cause. He was the only one that had the ability, that had
the substance, the blood. He's the only one that had the
blood that could put away sin, and he did for his people. Not only did keeping the law
never remove any of the guilt, But the law still condemned the
keeper thereof. There's no rest because doing cannot put away
sin. Therefore, the sin of the doer remains. And that's true
today. If a man tries to keep the law today, he's just, well,
he's committing iniquity is what he's doing now. But under this
old covenant, they would do it in obedience, but it never could
clear the conscience. It never could make them guiltless
before the law. They were still sinners because
the Lord Jesus Christ had not put away that sin. And the lambs
that were being sacrificed could never put away that sin. The
doing or keeping of the law is called iniquity because it takes
the place of the lamb. It's to say, well, he did his
part, I'm gonna do my part. It's to say, his sacrifice was
good enough, but I have to do my sacrifice too. His blood is
enough, but I need my will to be involved, or I need my works
to be involved. And all of that is not true.
No, His blood alone, His life alone, His sacrifice alone, not
mine and not yours, not the life that we're living now, not the
life that we used to live that don't live anymore, not the life
we're gonna live whenever we feel like we're getting better.
No, we look to the life of Christ. We don't look to our life. For this cause, because everything
that we could do can only end in death, Christ is the mediator
of the New Covenant. Now you know what that word mediator
means? That word mediator means the one who intervenes between
two, either to restore peace or for ratifying a covenant.
A mediator is the one who intervenes between two, either to restore
peace or for ratifying a covenant. For this cause, the Lord Jesus
Christ came. to ratify the covenant, to establish
the covenant of grace, to make peace between us and God. That's what he came to do for
this cause. There's no other way we could have had peace before
God, but the Lord Jesus Christ came and established peace between
his people and God. He said, before time, I will
be surety for them whom the Father loves. He said, Father, I'll
be surety for them, for whom you love, for whom you've elected.
And here's what he accomplished with his love. Look at verse
14 again. 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. And for
this cause, he's the mediator of the New Testament. that by
means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the First Testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal life. That is what he accomplished. That is what he accomplished.
Because his blood cleansed the deepest stain, it's the only
substance that actually could put away sin, as I've already
said, but because his blood successfully redeemed, we now have peace with
God. Now the scripture talks very
clearly about the Lord hating the workers of iniquity and how
he's angry with the wicked daily. But his people, we have peace
with God. The law has nothing to say against
the Lord's people anymore. There's now therefore no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. We've been justified. We've been
sanctified, made holy. Not the flesh, the new man. And
in the Lord we have peace. We can, you know what that means?
That means if you stand before the Lord in the righteousness
of Christ, you'll be accepted. You won't be rejected. You'll
be welcomed. Peace, what a word. I mean, there's
so much conflict in the world happening right now. You can
look and it's, the Bible spoke of it. In the end times, there'll
be wars and rumors of war. We know that that's gonna happen.
But to have, everybody talks about world peace, don't they?
What about peace with God? you lay your head on your pillow
at night, do you have peace with God? Has your conscience been
cleared of dead works? What does that mean? You're not
going to the law anymore, trying to work out your salvation by
doing, but you're looking to Christ and you have peace with
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only place you can
have peace. Christ was the only one worthy
to open the book and loose the seal thereof. Because. Because he. Was God because he
chose. To redeem his people, you and
I have peace with God for this cause for this cause. And the
fullness of time has come. God sent forth his son born of
a woman born under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. We have peace with God. For this cause, when he had by
himself purged our sin, he sat down. The reason he sat down
was because he had purged our sin. Well, that means they're
gone. They've been cast into the sea
of forgetfulness, never be remembered again. Depths. Far as the east
is from the west. That's how we have peace with
God. For this cause, he is the one
who made peace with God for his people. He's the only one that
fulfilled the old covenant. We could not fulfill it. He ratified.
He ratified and established the eternal covenant of grace, and
for this cause, by grace, you are saved through faith, in that
not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. For this cause, because of what
Christ done, we have peace with God. Why was Christ made flesh
for this cause, the cause of redemption? Why was Christ made
flesh? Whenever you're talking to someone, When you're talking
to someone, and don't get into a debate if you can help it,
but if you are in a conversation, you can ask them, why did Christ
come as a man? Why was Christ made flesh? And
some may say this, and some may say that. It was for this cause,
to save his people from their sin. That's why Christ was made
flesh, for this cause. It's that simple. To honor the
Father in the covenant of grace, honor the word that was given
to save his people from their sin. Did he accomplish that? He said it is finished. And if
he said it is finished, it's finished. He's God. Why did Christ die? That's another
question. What was the cause or the means
necessary of his death? Well, it's because of what his
death accomplished. That's why he died. Because of
what his death accomplished. He fulfilled the law. He satisfied
justice. He appeased the wrath of God.
He did it all for the sin of his elect. What does the scripture
say? When this man had made one sacrifice
for sin forever, he sat down. That was the reason he died.
To put away the sin of his people. For this cause, there is now
therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Understand this, the Old Testament saints, they received the same
life we do. They were given faith. They were given the ability to
look forward to the cross, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. I've already said this, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord because God had saved him
before God even said, let there be light. That's what he did
for his people. In eternity, the covenant of
grace took place. You see, God cannot lie. And
when Christ said, I'll be the surety of the people, the elect,
when he said that, They were given, they were in Christ before
time ever began. That's in Ephesians 1, that's
in 2 Timothy 1. It's several places, scripture
talks about that. But for this cause, he had to
come and he had to die. He had to be the sacrifice he
promised he would be. He had to shed his blood that
he promised he would shed. That's the purchase price for
his people, the blood. All throughout scripture, everyone
that believed God had the same, we have the same testimony, don't
we? Do you see yourself as being, and think about all the Pharisees
and things looking to Abraham and said, we're of our father
Abraham, we do like him, we're keeping the law like he did,
we're good men is what they were saying, and the Lord said, you're
not of your father Abraham. You're father Abraham, you'd
rejoice, he saw my day and rejoiced. That's what he said, wasn't it?
Abraham believed God. Why? Because God gave him faith
to believe God. That's what we need. We need
faith to believe God. God appeared to him. Gave him
life and light by the gospel. The same gospel that you and
I have. The promise of a savior. The Lord Jesus Christ who successfully
redeemed his people. the promise. And Abraham believed
God. As a matter of fact he believed
Him so much that he moved his family. They packed up and moved
didn't they? I'm not sure how far the journey
was, but he believed God. He believed him so much that
the Lord said, I want you to go up to Mount Moriah and offer
up your only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. He believed God. He took his
son, Isaac, up on Mount Moriah. He has the fire in one hand and
the knife in the other, and Isaac has the wood. And Isaac says,
Father, here's the wood, here's the fire, but where's the sacrifice? What did he say? God will provide
himself a sacrifice. And is that not what he did on
the cross of Calvary? He provided himself, God-pleasing
God, on the cross. He provided what was required
himself. God-pleased God on the cross. You see Isaac as a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ carrying the cross up Calvary's hill. Isaac was carrying the wood.
Father's a picture of the Father, Heavenly Father, having the sword
of justice and the fire of his wrath that had to be quenched
for you and I to be redeemed. And just as the knife was about
to fall on Isaac, what happened? The Lord, by His grace, stopped
him and said, harm not the lad. Harm not the lad. And they looked
up, and what did they see? A ram caught in a thicket. A ram caught in a thicket. That's
the substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I deserve
to die by the wrath of God. You and I deserve to die the
fiery wrath falling upon us, the sword of justice piercing
us, but instead there was a ram caught by thorns. Those thorns
represent the curse found in Genesis chapter three. The Lord
Jesus Christ was made a curse for his people that you and I
might be made the righteousness of God in him. For this cause,
he had to die to redeem his people. You imagine how happy Isaac was
to jump off that altar. Go get the ram and you can only
imagine the relief he had. I mean, and the obedience. Think
about the obedience for him to just lay upon the altar like
that. That's a picture of Christ being
obedient unto death. That's exactly what that is.
Abraham only believed God because God gave him faith to believe
him. We don't need to be more like Abraham. We need to look
to Christ. We don't need to be more like Daniel or Noah. We
need to look to Christ. Lord, give me faith to believe
you. Give me faith to believe you. You wanna be more like David?
David, a man after God's own heart. I would love to know that
I was a man after God's own heart, but let me remind you, David
was a murderer. David was an adulterer. David's household
was in warfare because of all of his unbelief. David wasn't
a good man, David was found in Christ. There was his goodness,
there's his righteousness, and that is our goodness and righteousness,
or we have none. And because of what we are by
nature, being sinners, for this cause, Christ Jesus came into
the world to save his people from their sin. Now a ransom
has been found, the substitute ram was found that you and I
might be set free. The way has been established. Christ our Lord, his soul was
outpoured as the ultimate offering unto God. What are you going
to offer God in the place of Christ's soul being outpoured?
Ask yourself that. I better not offer anything.
If that's been offered and God was satisfied, what can I offer
that would not be the just absolute insult? Maybe the The life that
I live, no, that's an insult. Maybe the things I say or don't
say, no, that's an insult. We don't add anything to the
finished work of Christ. Look to Christ alone. Isaiah 53 says, when thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, thou shalt be satisfied.
God's satisfied with Christ. He's not satisfied with you and
me, but he's satisfied with Christ. And if we are in Christ, here's
the good news. He's satisfied with us if we're
in Christ. He sees the blood. Sees the purchase price, he sees
the necessary substance to wash our sin away. And he said, when
I see the blood, I will pass by you. For this cause is why
Christ came. Satisfied to look on him and
pardon you and pardon me. All of his elect, whether it's
past, present, or future, from all time and eternity, from everlasting
to everlasting, for this cause, salvation was secure on the cross
of Calvary. Rejemption is complete. Now,
you know this is true. We no longer feel guilt and run
to the law, do we? We know better than that. When
you feel guilty, you don't run to the law and try to fix it
by doing something. No, we don't do that anymore.
And that's what he's talking about. He's purged your conscience of
dead works, because that's what that is, is dead works. No, who
do we flee to? We flee to the law? Do we flee to Mount Sinai? No, we flee to Calvary. We flee
to Christ. We flee to the one who put away
our sin. We run to the throne of grace
to obtain mercy and find plenteous grace, even the forgiveness of
sin. That's what it says in verse
12. Look, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood, he entered once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us, for this cause, because he had attained
eternal redemption for us, for this cause. When we come to him
begging for forgiveness, he says, what sin? What sin? Well, the sin that I am, the
sin that I do, what sin? It's gone. It's gone. I've made it. I've took it all
away. There is no sin. Now, therefore,
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. What sin? He doesn't see it. That's what
he tells us in Jeremiah 31, 34. They shall all know me from the
least of them and to the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for
I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin
no more. How can the eternal, immutable, all-knowing God not
remember our sin anymore? Because it's gone. because it's
gone. That's what Christ accomplished.
For this cause, Christ died to take the sin away. Gone. Not a little bit of it. Not 99%,
you gotta do the 1%. No, every bit of it. Every spot,
every blemish, gone. Every wrinkle, every hole of
our righteous rags that we have, righteous, filthy rags. Scripture
says your righteousness is filthy rags. Every bit of that, he took
that away. and he robed us in his righteousness. And now we
have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. The Lord said,
what sin? I remember it no more. Christ
Jesus by himself put them away, purged them one time for every
elect child of God from creation one time. Isaiah 40 verse two
says this, speak you comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her,
tell her that her warfare is accomplished and that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received at that
Lord's hand double for all her sins. For this cause we're unable
to rest. We are unable to rest. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust none else for salvation. Don't trust yourself. Don't trust
your family. Don't trust anybody but Christ
for salvation. He's the only one that can save
and he saves to the uttermost. His arm is not short nor is he
heavy that he cannot hear. Let's read our text one more
time in closing. Hebrews 9 verse 13. For if the blood of bulls
and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctify 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? And for this cause, he is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, For the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For this call, as we have peace
with God, that's what a mediator does, is he establishes peace
between two. He is our mediator. He is our advocate. He's the
one that established the covenant of grace. We have a clear record
before the throne of God. Imagine going to a court. You're
found guilty. Officer says you were doing this,
and you were doing this, and you're accused of this and that.
And you go into the courtroom, and the judge gets up, and they're
going to start reading your charges, all your charges. And it's a
mountain of charges. You have a whole life worth of charges.
And you get up before the judge, and there's one that stands your
representative. Your lawyer, your representative
stands up, and as they begin to read, actually says, no charges. No charges. The record's clean.
Why is the record clean? Because our advocate, our mediator,
took that record himself, in his own body, bore it on the
tree, and put it all away. Actually, he gave us his record.
That's the glorious substitution work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He gave us his record, perfect, perfect obedience, perfect faith,
honoring the Lord at all times, the life we lived, it's in Christ. And the Lord says, perfectly
righteous. Enter in, thou good and faithful servant. You're
innocent. You're guiltless before the law. You're guiltless before
my throne. Because of what? The blood of Christ. The blood of Christ. Oh, the
depths of mercy. The unsearchable riches of his
grace. Because he is our mediator. For this cause we have hope.
We have joy, we have rest, and we have peace with God now and
forever. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful
for your accomplished work. What a glorious gospel you have
given us and revealed to us. Lord, continue to call us and
draw us unto yourself. In Christ's name, amen. Let's
take a break.