I'd never live up to it. I know
everything he could say about me. There's water under the bridge. I have to tell you, I am a little
overwhelmed tonight to be around this many people. It's been a
long time. Last time was when I was here in June of 19. And it's been a while. But I'm glad to be here. When
I come, usually I'm asked two questions, and I'm not sure which
order. These questions are asking, but one is, did you bring Claudia? I did. And the second question is, did
you bring your guitar? I didn't. For several reasons. First of
all, I'm running out of air. I just can't find enough air
to sing anymore. And then I fell out of the attic
of the church the other day onto a concrete floor. And I think
I tore a rotator cuff. I don't go to the doctor unless
you have to, you know, because they find something wrong. But
I can't get my arm over that guitar. And then arthritis is
bad. I can't hardly hold a pick anymore.
So, you know, there's reasons. But I did bring Claudia. That ought to count for something,
you know. But I'm glad to be here, glad to see y'all. And
I do bring you regards from the congregation there. My sons all
send their regards, Stephen, Nathan, Andrew. And Nathan told me Thursday,
that was supposed to be National Coaches Day. And he wanted me
to be sure and tell David. David was Nathan's coach. And
I don't know in what, but he coached him in something in school.
So he doesn't forget that. And the Lord's been good to us. I look at you. I see what I see
when I look in the mirror. Age is taking its toll on us.
But my, it's just so good to still be able to get up here.
And that's what I try to do. I tell them I have two obligations. My first obligation is to Kitchens
Creek Baptist Church. My second obligation is to Claudia
and my family in that order. I want to take care of myself
and just keep preaching just as long as the Lord gives me
a mind and gives me the breath to preach. I invite you to join
me tonight in Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Now Drew, Brother Drew and I kind
of had an agreement yesterday and it wasn't accepted, but we
wanted to just sit here and let David preach. We'd just listen,
but the pastor wouldn't go for that. My desire hasn't changed. Is yours? Not a bit. I tell you, it's a whole lot more comfortable
sitting there. We get to see y'all on Sunday night. Not every
week, but when we can, we do. I see David, and I see David,
and I see the top of Sally's head when she leaves the piano,
but I know she's still here. But it's good to see y'all. Here
in Hebrews chapter 9, why Christ died. And I hope tonight and
again Sunday morning, that's not set in stone. They got to
talking yesterday and it made me real nervous. They said if
I'm preaching twice, only take two messages with me. Well, I
didn't. I brought five. I still think
I'm gonna go with the first thought for Sunday morning, but we'll
see. For here in chapter nine of Hebrews, then, now, this word
then is continuation of what he started saying back in chapter
eight, when he said, now, of the things which we've spoken,
this is the sum. He's wrapping it up, bringing
it back to our attendance, and he, Paul repeats it over and
over and over again. Then he summed it all up. This
is kind of like the lawyer giving his, you know, his final statements,
addressing the jury, and giving his closing arguments. This is
what we've, this is what we said. This is what the evidence will
prove. And he tells these Hebrew believers,
then, verily the first covenant, he said, had also ordinances
of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle
made, a portable tabernacle, a tent. The first wherein was
the candlestick, that is, in the first part of that tabernacle
was the candlestick and the table and the showbread, which is called
the sanctuary. And he said after the second
veil, now we know in the building of the temple there was only
one veil. It divided the sanctuary from the holiest of all, the
holy of holies. But Paul is referring to this
final temple that was rebuilt with which these Jews were most
familiar. And he talks inside that second
veil. He says, after the second veil,
the tabernacles, which is called the holiest of all, which had
the golden censer, the Ark of the Covenant, overlaid round
about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had the manna,
and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant.
And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat,
the propitiatory, of which we cannot now speak particularly.
Now, when these things were ordained, The priest went always into the
first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second went the high priest alone, once every year, not without
blood. Now if you followed the calendar,
that's Yom Kippur. It was just this past week. Started
Tuesday afternoon at sunset, and it continued on until Wednesday
afternoon at sunset. That was Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah
is the Jewish New Year. This is when that high priest
went in, the only one, the only one that could ever go in. Can
you see the Lord Jesus Christ? The only one that had access
to God. He went along once every year,
not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors
of the people. The Holy Ghost, this signifying,
showing us that the way into the holiest of all was not yet
made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing,
which was the figure, the blueprint 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 divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on
them until the time of reformation. But Christ, being coming high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that body, that tabernacle, not
made with hands, That is to say, not of this building, not built
like this worldly one that we have, he mentions in the first
verse, 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. Now, you know, as Paul is is
speaking these words to these Hebrew believers. In my mind,
I just, I have a mental picture. I can just see them sitting there
listening to them with their mouth hanging open. But these
are things that they've not heard before. They've not understood
before, but Paul is explaining it to them through the power
of the Spirit of God. This is the way it is. Not by
the blood of goats and calves, this is what they saw, but by
his own blood. His own blood, he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. Having found, that's what that
word, it's been read that way, obtained, he found it. Found
a ransom. set him free, I found a ransom.
He found the redemption in himself. For us, it's understood, that's
who he did it for. That's my message tonight, for
us, for us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of a 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 a new covenant, 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. Amen. You know, one time I was
with Brother Henry Mahan. We were down on the coast of
Florida, out of Panama City Beach. We were sitting out on the beach,
fishing like I like to fish. Just throw it out there and sit
down, you know. And we were talking. And I was
coming back to Louisiana for the service that weekend, and
he said, he said, what are you teaching on in Sunday school?
Sunday, I said, Hebrews, then it was Hebrews chapter six. Well,
he said, you don't even have to say anything about that, just
read it. Well, that's the way I feel about what I just said.
What can I say? You just read it. My, what a
message is here. Now we know that the Old Testament
scriptures In those scriptures, salvation is promised, it's prophesied,
it's pictured, it's typified, it's set forth in every sacrifice,
every ceremony, every ritual Christ had presented. Those believers,
those who believed this, those who believed God, those who believed
in redemption, they built a tabernacle, a temple, ordained priests, and
offered blood sacrifices. But none of these things that
they did, none of these things could take away sin. These people
were saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer
who would come and fulfill all these prophecies, all these promises,
all these pictures by his life and by his death. And that's
what Paul tells us in Acts chapter 15. They were all saved and we're
all saved just like them. They just like us. There's no
difference. They look to Christ. All this
stuff, what's it for? to point us to Christ. Everything
we do, every song we sing, every message that we present to the
people is a message of Christ. Here in chapter 10, Paul mentions
to these, in verse 2, he said, He said, would they not have
ceased to be offered? If these things made everybody
perfect, if they took away sin, would they have not ceased to
be offered? Because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins. And then
in verse four, he said, it's not possible. It is not possible. that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins. Just cannot do it. They've been
taught all their lives. It's what they saw. It could.
It's what some believed. Some didn't believe it. They
knew it could not. It was the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament ceremonies, ordinances, sacrifices, priesthood,
all those laws, they could not put away sin. They pointed us
to Christ who could. They weren't saved by offering
these sacrifices. They were saved by looking to
the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the shepherd, the coming
of our sacrifice, who would fulfill all these sacrifices. You know,
I know I've told you before, but working there at the prison,
one time I had this man that would come see me every week,
came see me every week for two years, had a session on Wednesday
mornings. He was a Jew, but he'd come talk
to me. And you know, I would read to
him from the scriptures, and I'd talk to him about where our
hope was, you know, and he wasn't interested, but he'd come back
the next week. Well, we'd finish every session,
and I'd ask him, I said, where's your sacrifice? And he'd respond,
maybe next year in Jerusalem. And you know, I didn't think
that much about it. I heard it the other day. A Jew
said, maybe next year in Jerusalem. Oh, we have it. He's here. Our sacrifice is here. You know,
now when you look at the Old Testament, there were three things
necessary for acceptance before God. There had to be that tabernacle,
that place of worship, that place of sacrifice. This is where God
met me in. and men met with God in that
tabernacle. And there were two parts of this
tabernacle, a holy place and the holiest of all. They two
separated by a veil. Now in that holy of holies, that
holiest of all, were the mercy seat and ark. That's where the
Shekinah glory of God was on that mercy seat between the cherubims,
and there God met men. and men met God. Each one individually? No. And that high priest. And
that high priest alone. That's where the atonement was
offered. That's where the sacrifices were made. And that's where the
glory of God was revealed. The second thing that's necessary
was that high priest. Had to be. Now, I read there were over
300 high priests that officiated in Israel. during the times,
one would die and another would take his place. The priesthood
would change, things would change. But there were over 300 of them,
many priests who took care of these sacrifices every day. Now every how many days the Jewish
calendar had, 353, 354, 355, go all the way to 362 I think
it is, something like that, depending on which calendar you looked
at. But morning, noon, and evening
sacrifices they made. But there was just one high priest. He wore a mitre, and he had inscribed
on that mitre, holiness to the Lord. And he wore a breastplate. And upon that breastplate were
engraved the names of the children of Israel, those different tribes
of Israel. And this high priest was ordained
by God from among men. Now no man took this office on
himself, but the one God chose. And this priest was the only
one allowed to enter under the veil into the holiest of all
before that hour. And I've read this and a lot
of it is just handed down by tradition. But they said that
the Jews would take a rope and tie it around that high priest
in case he died. And so they could drag him out,
because nobody would go in. They'd die. But they kept up. Was he still alive? Well, around
the border of his garment were little bales, so sensitive. Just the slightest movement and
those bells would ring. And they listened for that sound. They knew as long as those bells
were ringing, God was accepting that sacrifice. He wasn't dead,
he was still alive. And then after that sacrifice
was offered, then he would come forth and he'd bless the people. Lord bless thee, keep thee. The
Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. My, you know, I just had to stop
and think about how they must have felt. God didn't kill him. God didn't kill him. He accepted
that sacrifice. That was called the atonement. He went in before the ark, before
that mercy seat, And there he sprinkled that blood on behalf
of the people whose names he wore on that breastplate. Well,
we have to understand this. The Lord God was never saved. He never saved people but one
way, and that is through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those of the Old Testament, they
had Christ in promise, in prophecy, and in picture. Now, the third
thing that's necessary, got the tabernacle. We have that high
priest. There has to be a sacrifice.
There must be a sacrifice. That high priest went into that
of holies once a year with a blood sacrifice and not without the
blood to offer atonement for the sins of the people and for
his own sins for without the shedding of blood there is no
remission. Sacrifices. If I were to ask
you what was the greatest I don't know how to phrase this, economic
foundation, that's probably not the right word, of Israel. You
know what it would be? The buying and selling of these
sacrifices. They bought and sacrificed, they
bought these animals from all over the world. They've run DNA
tests. They tell where they came from.
not burial grounds, but garbage piles, but they find these animals.
They came from all over the world. 1.2 million sacrifices a day. That's what the Talmud says.
1.2 million sacrifices a day were offered. It just, it blows
my mind to even think of it. They said so many that the priest,
times would be up to their knees in blood from these animals that
were sacrificed. Oh, but it was necessary. And
they did it day in and day out, every day. And in the fullness
of time, all that blood of the bulls and goats and the ashes
of the heifers sprinkling the unclean, You know, if they could
just do the flesh for that time, how much more? The blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God. Purge your conscience from dead
work to serve the living God. Oh, in the fullness of time,
the Lord Jesus Christ came. He tabernacled among us. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, not telling
us where He was, telling us who He is. He was, just like I am,
He was with God. And the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. And that Word, that Logos, that
living Word, was made flesh and dwelt, tabernacled among us. God was in Christ. And in Christ,
it's in him that God meets with men, and men meet with God in
Christ. He's our tabernacle. He tabernacled
among us. He's our high priest. He offered
that sacrifice for us. He is our sacrifice. And we're justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God, as he said here, has set forth. whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. In that holiest of all, that
high priest once a year offered that sacrifice. He sprinkled
the book, he sprinkled the tabernacle, he sprinkled the people, and
he sprinkled the mercy seat, for without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And these people, who did these
things faithfully, they looked to Christ, who had tabernacle
among us, and be our great high priest. He said in neither, verse
12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
not like those priests who took the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place. once, having obtained eternal
redemption for us, not into that temple in Jerusalem, not into
that tabernacle in the wilderness, but into heaven itself. And he
says here, verse 24, Christ is not entered into the holy places
made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into
heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. That's
how we come to God. Abel came to God by the blood.
Abraham came to God by the blood. Aaron came to God by the blood. You'll come to God the same way,
by the blood. The blood of the Lamb. Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Years ago,
I think it was back in the early 80s, 82, 83, we were preaching in a meeting
in Virginia. Brother Scott Richards was there.
He stood up before the congregation. He was talking about Cain and
Abel. And he said, now Cain, he was a farmer. He said, and
I can tell you what he raised. He's a turnip farmer. Because
you can't get blood out of a turnip. I thought I'd croak, you know.
But it's true. It's the blood. It's the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a great high priest.
It's Christ. And seeing that we have a great
high priest, let us come boldly before the throne of grace. In
ourselves? No. In Christ. In Christ. By his own blood. That's what
he said. By his own blood he entered in
once. once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. There weren't many sacrifices,
there were just one. There weren't a lot of atonements,
there's just one. You know, that word atonement,
it's a word I think it's a little difficult to understand in English,
but I know what it means in Spanish, expiación, take it away. Take
it away. That's what happened, this atonement
is taken away, our sins are taken away. There were many in the
Old Testament because they could never put away sin. They did
it over and over and over and over again. And there was a remembrance
made of sin every year because the sacrifices were made over
and over and over again. He tells us in chapter 10 verse
14 for about one offering, one. And the apostle continues to
insist on this one offering. he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. For he said, Christ entered into
the holy place, made with hands which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
made in the likeness of sinful flesh and taken upon himself
the form of a servant, obedient unto the death of the cross,
shedding his blood as a sacrifice for sin, he fulfilled every promise. Every promise. Every type, every
pattern, every picture, the Passover, the rock, the manna, the Sabbath,
the priesthood, everything. When he died, he satisfied every
law. He honored God's justice. He
fulfilled every requirement. He paid for every sin of every
believer. He honored God's justice and
he could triumphantly say, it's finished. All over, all over. No more Passover. No more high
priesthood. No more uniforms and robes. No more sacrifices. It's finished. It's finished. I watched a bishop
put on his robe one time. It was funny just trying to watch
him get all old buttons. In real life, trying to get all
old buttons. And he'd mess up and he'd have
to start over again. Then he got to talking how that
so impressed people. Well, I wasn't people. I wasn't
impressed by it. But he thought that that was
really something. He said, when they see my purple
shirt of a bishop, he said, their chin drops. I didn't know that. I didn't know that my chin was
supposed to drop when I saw a man with one of these purple shirts
on like that. I think I might get me one. Maybe
they'd get me a little respect. I don't know. Oh, but he said
back in chapter one, when he had by himself purged our sins,
what'd he do? He sat down. He sat down. And again, in chapter 10, verse
12, he said when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
he sat down. I know your pastor's pointed
this out to you a million times, but it's my turn tonight. When
you go back and you look at that tabernacle, there's one piece
of furniture that's not there, a chair. You know, that priest
work was never done. Oh, but the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he had finished that work, he sat down on the right hand,
that place of honor. The work was finished. He doesn't
do it again. Do you know, do you know how
significant that is? What a blessing just when you
finished your day and you come home and you just sit down. Oh
What a joy it is what a rest it is He entered into his rest
having finished what the father gave him to do Let me tell you
something quickly Why'd he die? Why'd he die? Well, he died that
he might be Lord both of the dead and the living and He did
it to show this world that He's King of kings, Lord of lords. Lord of His people and Lord of
the rebels. Lord of the dead, Lord of the living. Because the
Lord God gave Him authority over all flesh. Why'd He die? To redeem them that were under
the law. That's what Galatians 4 tells us. He died to redeem
us. Died to redeem His people. In
Adam we died, in Christ we're made alive. Why did he die? He died to deliver us from this
present evil world according to the will of God our Father. You know, when you think about
it, if the Lord should mark iniquities, who should stand? Who shall stand?
You know, the how, it's not found in the law, how he does it. It's
not found in the church, not found in our works. It's found
in that person, that one mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ who died
for us, who fulfilled all that God requires of us, demands of
us, commands of us, that he might bring us to God. When that high
priest entered that holy place under that veil, he entered into
the presence of the Shekinah glory of God. He entered in with
the blood and he sprinkled it on that mercy seat. You know
what he's doing? He's bringing all those people
to God. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He brings
all those that are in him from all eternity, chosen in him,
redeemed in him. He brings them before God. Why
did he die? He died that He might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. He died that we should not henceforth
live to ourselves, but unto Him who died for us. Why did He die? Oh, I tell you, He died and redeemed
us that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Oh, that's why we have a hope
today. We need that tabernacle. We need
that place. We need that priest. Oh, and we need that sacrifice.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is all this to us. You know, I love
that hymn we just sang. One of my favorites. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. Is that where you stand? Not
yesterday, not tomorrow, but right now. Every right now there
is. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all of the ground. is sinking sand. I'll never forget
that. Oh, I pray the Lord to bless
these thoughts to our hearts tonight. Thank you, David.