If you'd like to turn in your
Bibles, it'll be in Hebrews chapter eight. Hebrews chapter eight. Now the sum of the total of the
first seven verses Here in Hebrews is the sum and total of all scripture.
It's the sum and total of all scripture. Everything that we've
heard from the Lord purging our sins and sitting down, from the
high priest and how that office he fulfilled completely. Everything
that we've heard in the first seven chapters is a sum. of all
of scripture. So the writer here is not writing
something new. He is merely giving us simplicity
of the same thing, simplifying it. He's specifying, expounding
upon it of everything written throughout of all God's word.
Now let's read just these two verses here in Hebrews chapter
eight. He said, now the things which we have spoken, this is
the sum. We have such an high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched and not man. When all is added up, this is
the sum. This is the totality of what
is added up in the volume of the book. It is written of me.
When the Lord told the Pharisee, search the scriptures for in
them you think you have eternal life. He was not telling them
to search the scriptures because they have eternal life. He was
telling them to search the scriptures because they don't have eternal
life. And you can't get eternal life through searching the scriptures. And that's the point. But Christ
said these words, they are they, which they speak of me. They're
written of me. Not some of them, all of them. Not part of them, all of them. Now I've titled this message,
The Sum of the Matter. The Sum of the Matter. What a glorious grace is bestowed
upon the Lord's people to be enabled, to be caused to see
Christ in the scripture. You remember being, if you were
ever religious in any form or fashion, you were taught stories
from the Bible. You were taught maybe David and
Goliath, or maybe Daniel in the Lion's Den, or Moses parting
the, Moses didn't part the Red Sea, God did. But that's what
it's called, Moses parting the Red Sea. That's the story title
of the book. Those are all types, those are all shadows of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Are those stories bad to tell
your children? No, certainly not, tell them. That way when
the Lord calls us a gospel preacher to declare the truth through
that, that's why we have the Bible study for the children.
They'll be able to say, oh, I know this story. That's why we do
it. There's nothing wrong with teaching
the children those stories, but the problem became as I became
older from those stories is men would say, Well, you need to
have more faith like Daniel. You need to really pray more
like Daniel. You need to have the courage
of David. You need to have the wisdom of
Solomon. And the gospel says that Christ
was the strength of David. And Daniel prayed because God
gave him grace and faith to pray. And the wisdom of Solomon is
Christ. That's who we look to. That's
who we cling to. It's all pointing to him. Search
the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life,
but they are they which are written of me. Now, what a glorious blessing. What a glorious grace it is for
the Lord to allow us to see Christ in the scriptures and to see
him here as he's spoken of. where he says, we have such,
let's look at that in verse one. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have such, we have such a
high priest. Not just that he is a high priest,
not just that he's done all of these things, but we, have a
high priest. That's possessive. He's mine
and I am his. Why am I his? Because he bought
me. Not because of my choice, but
because of his. Not because of works of righteousness, which
we have done, but according to his mercy. We have such an high
priest. He who has such a high priest
should never fear. He who has such a high priest
should never doubt. He who has such a high priest
should never be afraid, never worry, for we have such a high
priest who ever liveth to make an intercession for his people.
What a hope, what a hope, a sure hope. What is this hope? Well, it's the sum of the matter.
The sum of the matter is the hope. Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. What's the sum of the matter?
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Did he? Did he? Yes. All of them? No. He saved his people from their
sin. Call his name Jesus for he shall
save his people from their sin. He successfully redeemed his
people. Therefore, that's the sum of the matter, isn't it? We have a high priest who is
the only priest who has ever sat down because his work is
finished. That's our high priest. The only
one ever ordained of God. He's the only one that was ever
ordained of God that could finish his work. The rest of them, they
lived, they sacrificed, they worked, and that's a picture
of false religion, never being able to do enough in order to
be saved or to satisfy God's law or to really atone for sin
because they had to continually do it. But this man, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, what did he do?
He sat down. He sat down, didn't he? Every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which never can take away sins. And do you know that's
what people are doing in this day and time in every church?
They're sacrificing and they're making offerings that can never
take away sin. They do it by their lifestyle.
They do it by their choices. They do it by taste, not touch,
not handle, not. Not only can they never sit down,
they'll worry until they die, have I done enough? Those priests
could never sit down because their work was not finished.
They could never take away sin. This is so important. The sum
of the matter is, and what we're being told by this, I have a
mathematical mind. I'm a one plus one equals two
kind of guy. And if it doesn't add up, it
doesn't make sense to me. What we're saying here is, is
if the priest offering the sacrifice, this could never put away sin.
And you and I, no matter what we do, can never put away sin.
What does that mean? Nobody can put, we can't, we
can't put away our sin. Nobody can. No matter what we
do, no matter what we perform, we can actually never take away
one sin. And the problem isn't that we
have a little bit of sin that we need to help with. Problem
is we have a mountain of sin and we heard it for the first
hour. We have an ocean of sin that's too deep. We can't even
see the bottom of it. We can't take away our sin. We
can't take away each other's sin. You got priests that dress
up and they tell you what to do to get rid of your sin, don't
they? It's taking the place of the high priest is what they're
doing. It's blasphemous. But they're working iniquity
is all that they're doing. Trying to take away your sin
is sinful. Did you know that? Trying to
take away your sin is sinful. Trying to, well, if I do a little
better, maybe the Lord will be pleased with my life. Maybe if
I try harder, maybe he'll accept me. That's sinful, that's iniquity.
No, no, the Lord's people, we look to Christ. And looking to
him, he teaches us how we live and move and have our being in
him. Our high priest didn't try to
take away sin. The surety of his people did
not try to take away sin. He says this, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. And he says, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he had by himself purged our sin, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. That's the sum of the matter.
That's the sum of the matter. The Lord Jesus Christ, everything
that he purposed to do, he accomplished. That's the sum. Once, don't you love that verse
that says he hath once, once for all, once forever, perfected
them that are sanctified. Once for all, perfected. forever. Them that are sanctified. See, we can't add to what the
high priest did. We can't take away from what the high priest
did. That's the sum of the matter. That's the sum of the matter.
Did this by the blood, his own blood, he purged our sin, then
he sat down. He sat down. Where did he sit
down? Did he sit down in an earthly temple made with hands? Did he
sit down in a where men can praise him? No, he sat on the right
hand of God. And what's he doing now? He's
making intercession for his people. He hears us when we pray. I love what it says here about
the throne that's made. It's not made with hands. It's
set in the heavens. It's set in the heavens. It's
made the minister of the sanctuary, verse two, and of the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched. The Lord did that. No, the tabernacle,
that's what they use in the desert. Whenever they left Egypt, their
purpose of leaving Egypt, some of them, not all of them, not
everybody that came out of Egypt were believers. Not all the people
that came out of Egypt were God's chosen people. Some of them,
that's evident because the Lord sent some of them to hell with
their boots on, opened up the earth, and he wouldn't do that
to his people. But the ones that wanted to worship God, they came
out of Egypt with the intention of worshiping God. Let us go
that we may worship God in the wilderness. Well, they didn't
know how to worship God the way that, so God told them, you wanna
worship me, this is how you're gonna worship me. And they were
able to erect a tabernacle. And it was very detailed. We've talked a little bit about
it when we were going through each book of the Bible, we mentioned
the tabernacle and how it had to be overlaid. And you had the
inner court and the outer court, and then you had the veil that
separated the holiest of holies from the inner court. The Lord's
very specific in his worship. He said, that's where the mercy
seat is and that's where I'll meet with you. And it's going
to take blood. It's going to take blood to do
that. But what Israel missed and what so many misses is that
the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the tabernacle. He came down
and tabernacled among us and we beheld his glory. That's what
that word means when it says, uh, he, uh, or he was when he
became a man, when he was born in the flesh, made in the likeness
of sinful flesh. In the beginning was the word,
the word was with God and the word was God. And then what does
it say? And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. That's the verse I was trying
to remember. That word dwelt means tabernacled, dwelt among
us and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of
the father, full of grace and truth. He was the tabernacle,
not made with hands. Lord said, that's where I'll
meet with you, that tabernacle, that mercy seat. He's the mercy
seat. He's the veil. His flesh is the
veil. Everything about it was him.
And the Jews missed it. The Hebrews missed it. And people
today will miss it. They won't see that it's all
about him. That's the sum of the matter.
That's the sum of the matter. When he successfully redeemed,
he sat down as the priest, successful priest, the seat that was reserved
for the lion of the tribe of Judah, wasn't it? The successful
one as our surety substitute. And I've gotten ahead of myself
a little bit. Verse two, again, a minister, he's a minister of
the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched
and not man. Tabernacle had to be moved. I
didn't get too far ahead of myself. Tabernacle had to be moved. What
does that mean? Well, that means every time they
would pitch their tents and they would camp for a little while,
and the scripture's not clear how long they would camp, but
it would be a time of rest. They would camp, they had time
to worship, they would have to pitch that tabernacle in order
to be able to worship God again. And it had to be uplifted, it
had to be moved again. And they kept doing that. They
kept doing that until the Lord laid on David's heart to build
the Lord a temple. not a tabernacle that's able
to be moved, but a temple. And I love the Lord's response.
Lord tells David, he says, you're going to build me a house. You're
going to build me a house. We think so often we have good
intentions. It just made David, his brain
did a backflips. What happened? He thought, well,
you got a point there. I want to, but What do I know
about building God a house? And the Lord said, if you're
going to build me a house, it's going to be like this. And he gives him all
these instructions and details. But then he says, but you can't
build it. You're a bloody man. You're a
man of war. Your son, Solomon, he'll be the
one that has to build it. And Solomon was a picture of
Christ, wasn't he? And that's the whole point is
that picture of Christ is the one that had to build the temple.
He is the temple. He is the sanctuary. You can imagine the tedious and
time consuming frustration of moving that tabernacle around
the Old Testament made with hands, but the tabernacle here referring
to Christ. Oh, it ain't never moving. It's
seated. It's permanent, permanent tabernacle. All the other ones had to be
moved, but this one's seated. This one is seated. Now I did
mention just a second ago a sanctuary. Now the sanctuary was the inner
part. That's the holiest of holies.
It's called the holy place. This is where the highest priest
would enter once per year and offer up sin sacrifice for the
people. The blood atonement would go
on the mercy seat. Now the word sanctuary means
a place of refuge or safety. A place of refuge or safety.
And that's the holiest of holies, but understand something. You
couldn't go in there, and I couldn't go in there. Only the high priest
that was ordained could go in there, and he could only go in
there one time. So in the sanctuary, in the place
of refuge, or the place of safety, only the high priest could enter
in. Why is that? Because the Lord was holy, and
that's where his holiness resided, in the mercy seat. It's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In order to approach, you had
to approach with blood. And they would fasten bells to these priests
as they entered in, and they would tie a rope to them, and
just in case they hadn't, they didn't have atonement for their
sin. If they didn't, they went in, they would die. That's, God's
serious about his worship. Can't approach God with sin,
not one. The bell stopped ringing, they would pull him back out.
They couldn't go in after him. You remember Uzzah touching the
ark? Uzzah thought I would help the ark when Israel lost the
ark to the Philistines and it was coming back on the cart.
Uzzah wanted to help. He said, I'm gonna touch, I'm
gonna help because it's about to fall. That's the mercy seat. And what happened to him? He
touched it and the Lord killed him on the spot. The Lord's very
serious about his worship. You and I could not enter to
that which is in the veil without certain death. Only those who were the high
priest, only those who were ordained had the right, had the ability,
and were able to enter in once per year. See, the sum and substance
of the matter is that you and I have no ability, no right,
and no way to enter God's sanctuary. We don't have it. We're disqualified. Number one, we're not of Israel,
as far as Jewish bloodline, we're not Levites, but number two,
we're born in sin, we're shaped into iniquity, and that's the
whole picture here, is that no one can approach God without
Christ. No one can approach God without
Christ. We need a surety. Heard that the first hour, didn't
we? We need a substitute. We need a high priest. We need
a savior. a redeemer, a high priest that's
touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and that is exactly
who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and that is exactly what he done
on the cross of Calvary when he hung his head and he gave
up the ghost. You know what the scripture says?
The veil in the temple was rent in twain. When he said, it is
finished. Father, I commit my spirit unto
you. The veil in the temple was rent
in twain from top to bottom. What did that signify? Come. Whosoever will, let him come.
It's finished. You can now approach, because
of the blood of Christ, you can now approach the holy throne
of God, having obtained mercy, to find grace to help in the
time of need. He calls it the full assurance
of faith. Come boldly with the full assurance of faith into
the sanctuary of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the sanctuary
not made with hands. The sum of the matter is everything,
and you can just take that as far as you want to, everything's
about him. Everything exists because of
him. Everything consists because of
him. Everything declares his gospel
and his word, and by his blood, we have access to his hiding
place, his resting place, the only place of worship, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to hold your
place here in Hebrews and turn over with me to Rome. Actually,
we're just going over a couple pages. Hebrews 10. Hold your
place in Hebrews 8. Turn over to Hebrews 10. And we've spent
a lot of time in Hebrews 10, and I've often thought that I've
preached out of it so many times that I don't know exactly what
we're gonna do when we get to Hebrews 10, but that's okay.
We're gonna do it again this morning. Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 11. Here's the sum of the matter,
brethren. Here's the sum. Hebrews 10, 11. through 14, and
every priest ended daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifice, which could never take away sins. But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified." One offering he perfected. That's the sum of the matter.
One offering, He perfected them who are sanctified. Not gonna
be. He sanctified them as well. He perfected them and made them
holy. We can't get any less complicated than that, can we? That's one
plus one equals two. He did it, we're sanctified. He did it,
we're made holy. He did it, we're perfect. That's
it, that's what he did. Now look, let's read on, verse
15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is witness to us, for after that
he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with
them after those days, and saith the Lord, I will put my laws
in their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. Here's
our hope, brethren, their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now where the remission of these is, there is no more
offering for sin. See, sin has been remitted. There's
no more need for a sacrifice. So if a man tries to sacrifice
something in order to obtain salvation or to remit sin, it's
blasphemous because it takes the place of the blood offering
of Christ. There's no more need to remit, it's gone. There's
no more need for the sacrifice. Not from your hand or ours. And
the Lord will never require payment twice, he was satisfied with
his son. Now, if we try to make sacrifice, we're dishonoring
the Lord's lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, the high priest of God.
Look at verse 19 through 23. Having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful
that promised. What's the sum of the matter?
He's faithful, that promised it. He performed it. We have
boldness to enter to the holiest because of our high priest. Because
he is seated, we can approach with full assurance of faith
because he is faithful. Knowing this sanctuary, this
sanctuary, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's not built with hands. He's
not controlled with hands. He's seated higher than the heavens
on his throne. The Lord pitched it. It's his
finished work. This is who we worship. This is our sanctuary.
This is our tabernacle. Within the veil of his flesh,
God wrought it. I'm coming to a close. I want
to go back to Hebrews 8, but in closing, I want to tell you
this. God wrought it and nothing can change it. God wrought it,
nothing can change it. Not powers, not principalities,
not politics, nothing can change it, nothing can change it. It's
not subject to change by man nor any thought of man, not environmental,
not social, not religious, nothing can disrupt it, nothing can thwart
it, not even threaten the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's read Hebrews 8, one and two. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens,
a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which
the Lord pitched and not man. We have a high priest who ministers
his finished work to his people. He don't have to make sacrifice
every day, the sacrifice is done. What does he point to you and
I when we approach? Shows us the blood, doesn't he?
Our covering, our atonement. Shows us his finished work, not
what we've done, what he's done. And is he seated there? The sum of the matter is, our
priest says, He doesn't say do, he says done. He doesn't say
work, he says it is finished. He is the tabernacle. He is the
veil. He is the sanctuary. He is the
mercy seat. He is the sacrifice offered upon
the altar of God, on the cross of God's wrath for his people,
successfully redeeming them back to him. His blood, His blood
is the blood of atonement. And He is our seated, great high
priest that is unchangeable, that is everlasting. Therefore,
if you can say all that about your high priest, it is well
with your soul. It is well with your soul. If you can say, His
blood, is my only hope. Him being my
priest is my only hope. If you see him as the tabernacle,
if you see him as the sanctuary, if you see him as the sacrifice,
if you see him as the priest, if you see him as the veil, if
you see him as the mercy seat, where are you in all that? It's
all about him. There's nothing more to be done. If you see all that, it is well
with your soul. He had to reveal that to you.
This is the sum of the matter. Let's pray. Father, we trust
you will bless your word according to your will and bless it to
our understanding in Christ's name. Amen. Let's sing that song. It is well with my soul. That's
number 256.