That question on the Course,
who from his love can sever? We know that no one can sever
any of God's children from his love. If you will, let's turn
now to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9, and beginning
in verse 6, reading through verse 14. Now when these things were thus
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, which
he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people. The
Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing, which was a figure for the time then present in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience. which stood only in meats and
drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on
them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come by 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
of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify
through 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? It has been two weeks, but we
looked the last time at the first five verses in this chapter. And those five verses and the
ones that I've just finished reading concern the ordinances
of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. If you notice in verse
one, all of these verses, they concern ordinances of divine
service and a worldly sanctuary. These things were revealed as
part of the first covenant, the old covenant. And they served
as, if you notice in verse nine, these things, these ordinances
of divine service and a worldly sanctuary, they served as a figure
for the time then present. They were shadows, or as we like
to say, they were types of truths which concern the new covenant,
the covenant that the Lord Jesus Christ ratified by the shedding
of His blood. And we know that it was in this
way, through those ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary, it was in this way that the gospel was revealed
in that old dispensation. Now, it's important always for
us to remember that there's only one gospel. There never has been
but one gospel. The Apostle Paul said, for I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. There's only one gospel,
never been but one, and every person who's ever been saved
from the beginning of the world till now and until the Lord returns
again will all be saved in the same way, and that is by believing
the gospel of Jesus Christ, believing in Christ. Now, there are three
phrases in these verses I've just read, three phrases upon
which I want to build the message tonight. The three phrases are
two negatives and one positive. The two negatives not without
blood. And the second is, not yet made
manifest. And then the third phrase, positive,
having obtained eternal redemption. So the first phrase, not without
blood, you notice that in verse seven. Verse six, now when these
things were thus ordained, The priest went always into the first
tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God, but into the
second with the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. Now we know that concerning the
tabernacle, there was a courtyard. And when you entered into the
courtyard, the first thing that you would see would be the brazen
altar. And it was upon that brazen altar
that the sacrifices were offered. And then next you would see a
laver, a laver in which water was always kept for the priests
to use in washing. Now the priests were in that
court every day. Every day of the year, they were
in that outward court, and they were serving. They were working. Remember, upon that altar, I
said that the first thing you would see would be that brazen
altar. That fire on that altar was never to go out. It was never
to go out. So they had to continually feed
the altar for the fire with the wood. And there was a morning
and evening sacrifice that was to be offered every day of the
year. A lamb of one year old without
blemish was sacrificed every morning and every evening. Then in the tabernacle, if you
went in the tabernacle, in the holy place, the priests were
in there every day. They were in there every day
because there was always work to be done inside that first
compartment. And that was the lamps had to
be trimmed, oil had to be put into the lamps, and once a week
the bread on the table of showbread had to be changed. And so there
was always priests working in that first compartment. But into the most holy place,
as this verse of scripture tells us. Ah, into the most holy place. Here it is referred to as the
second. In other words, when you went
into the tabernacle, the first would have been that first compartment
where the lamp stand, the table of showbread, and the golden
altar were there, and the priests were in there working. But into
the second, That is the part which is called the holiest of
all. The high priest, we're told,
he went in there alone once every year. And the writer here emphasizes
the fact that when he went into this, it was never without blood. Not without blood. You know, we read a very important
truth concerning blood in Leviticus chapter 17 and verse 11. We read there, For the life of
the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the
altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood
that maketh an atonement for the soul. That verse of scripture
tells us what we know. Blood signifies life. Years ago, I read that book,
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Many of you, I'm sure, have read
that by Dr. Yancy. And he told how it was
that he first worked in a hospital, and they brought a patient in
and started giving that patient, a patient had been hurt in an
accident, started giving that patient infusion of blood. And that's where he said he realized
for the first time what this really meant. Because the life
of the flesh, the life of this body is in the blood. It's the
blood that circulates through the body, taking oxygen to the
various cells and organs and parts of the body. The life of
the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls. Blood signifies
life, life. And shed blood signifies life
laid down. When blood is shed, then the
life is laid down. An animal had to die before the
priest could take that blood into that most holy place. Or if that animal didn't die,
the priest, he himself would die if he dared to enter into
that most holy place without blood. What does this teach us? Well, it teaches us substitution.
Substitution. How many times have I said this
in a message when the gospel is preached, there's two things
you will always hear. substitution and satisfaction. That is the gospel. Substitution. The innocent substituted in the
place of the guilty and that innocent satisfies Almighty God. We see that in this place. Substitution. The innocent life. The animal that had to die. The blood had to be spilled.
The blood had to be poured out. in place of the guilty, the innocent
in the place of the guilty. Now we read here that the high
priest went alone. No one went in with him. No one
went in with him. And of course, this reminds us
that the Lord Jesus Christ alone, without the help of any man,
any woman, the Lord Jesus Christ alone, by the shedding of His
blood, by Him laying down His life as the innocent in the place
of the guilty, and satisfying God's justice, that atonement
is made. Now one big difference, and this
is a big difference too. One big difference that we see
between the type, as it's given to us here, and the anti-type,
the truth of the type, one big difference is that all the high
priests, I don't know how many there were from Aaron until the
days of our Lord Jesus Christ, but every one of them who actually
did this, they had to take blood into that most holy place, blood
of a bullock, for their own sins. That's a big difference, isn't
it? The Lord Jesus Christ, he alone satisfied God, but he had
no sins of his own. Our high priest had no sins of
his own that he might be an acceptable priest and sacrifice. Now the
high priest went into the holiest park four times on this day. You can read Leviticus 16, and
if you have a good commentary to read along with it, it will
help you to see the work. It looks to me that that was
the busiest day in the life of a high priest, the great day
of atonement. That was his busiest day. You
know those beautiful garments that he had with the beautiful
jewels? Ah, he didn't wear that on this
day. Not at first, at least. That had to come off. And he
had to put on linen breeches, linen, that he might do this
work. And that, too, no doubt pictures
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't it? Because
in the book of Revelation, we know The righteousness of the
saints is pictured by the white linen. And the high priest, he
wore white linen on this day. And there were several things
he had to do. Read that in Leviticus 16 sometime
at your pleasure. But he went in four times on
this day. The first time, he pulled that
veil up and there was no one in the tabernacle with him on
this day. I said that the priests were
in that first compartment every day working, but when he went
into the most holy place, there was no one in that first compartment. And he pulls up that veil and
goes behind it. The first time he goes in there,
he has that golden censer. And with that incense, he burns
the incense upon the censer that he takes in there with him. And
then he comes back out. And there's a bullock, a bullock
that is killed and his blood is taken in there. Now the blood
of the bullock is for the high priest's sin. It's to atone for
his sins. And that's what I said, a big
difference. Our great high priest, he had
no sin of his own. But the high priest under this
law, this old dispensation, they had to take blood in there and
they sprinkled it towards the mercy seat. And above the mercy seat, it
says, or toward the mercy seat and towards the ground, the floor,
rather. And then he came back out. And
then he took the blood of a goat. And it's strange that this goat
is called the Lord's goat, the Lord's goat. You know why he's
called the Lord's goat? They brought two goats that day,
and they cast lots. I think of dice, you know, they
cast lots. And the whole disposing thereof,
remember this, is of the Lord in the casting of lots. And the
lot fell upon this particular goat, and he is now the Lord's
goat. And he is slain and his blood,
now the high priest takes in and once again, toward the mercy
seat and on the floor, it is sprinkled seven times. He comes
back out and he lays his hands upon the goat, which is the other,
the scapegoat and confesses. And have you ever noticed how
it says the sins and the transgressions and the iniquities? of the children
of Israel. Now he wasn't making atonement
for the whole world. There were nations all around
Israel. He went in there to make atonement
for the nation of Israel, for their sin. He confessed their
sins upon the head of that live goat, that scapegoat. How anyone
ever came to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for the
whole world without exception, it's hard to understand because
the types clearly revealed that His blood would be shed for a
particular people, a people which had been given Him by the Father
in that old eternity. as his sheep, as his bride, as
members of his body. But anyway, that priest would
confess on the head of that other goat, and then by a man, he would
lead that goat off, and the goat was never to be seen again. What
is that picture? Our sins are gone. They're gone. It wasn't possible, was it, that
one goat could show the complete picture of the atoning work of
Jesus Christ. Takes two. One had to die, but
there had to be some way to show that he's alive and he's carried
our sins away. Look down in verse 22 here in
Hebrews chapter 9. and almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, washed with blood, cleansed with blood,
and without shedding of blood is no remission. Is no remission. Not without
blood. Once a year, alone, but not without
blood. Did the high priest go into that
most holy place? All right, the second phrase
is in verse 8. Not yet made manifest. The Holy Ghost, this signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest,
while the first tabernacle was yet standing. which was a figure
for the time then present in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only
in meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation. We worship a
triune God. Someone said, well, the word
Trinity's never in the Bible. That's true. Neither is the word
missionary. But the scriptures clearly reveal
that there are three persons in the Godhead, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. And we read here that the Holy
Spirit, the Holy Ghost, this or thus signifying. Some people
act and talk as though the Holy Spirit was not present here in
this world until the day of Pentecost. But we read of Him in the very
beginning, Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2, the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. And we know that He is a person. He moved. He spoke. And we read here that he signified. What did he signify? And how
did he signify it? He signified that the way into
the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. Now notice what he didn't say,
what the writer here did not say. It's easy to read along
and just assume that he said, no, Notice what he did not say. He doesn't say that there was
no way into the holiest of all. He doesn't say that. It doesn't
say that none had entered the holiest of all by that way. There has never been but one
way, the one way. And all the saints of that old
dispensation who had entered heaven when the letter of Hebrews
was written, they had all gone the same way. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man
cometh unto the Father but by me. Abraham, he went. the same way. Enoch went the
same way. Sarah went the same way. Jacob
all went the same way. And even Elijah, I thought about
this, even Elijah carried in a chariot of fire, but yet he
entered heaven the same way. There's never been but one way
to enter into the holiest of all, which is heaven itself that
we're talking about here, that we're reading about. But now, by the coming and the
obedience and the dying and the rising and ascension of our great
high priest, Jesus Christ, it is made manifest. He didn't say that none had entered
by that way, but he says that it had not been made manifest
until now. The Holy Spirit now, the scripture
says, has made manifest. You know, when you make something
manifest, you bring it to the light, don't you? You reveal
it, you show it. In 2 Timothy 1 and verse 10,
the Apostle Paul said, but it's now made manifest by the appearing. How is it made manifest? By the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death. Now it made manifest that death
has been conquered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's now been
made manifest. Read about it in the Old Testament,
but now it has been made manifest. And hath brought life, that is
eternal life, and immortality to light through the gospel. But notice this, I asked the
question, what did he signify, but how
did he signify? Well, the scripture here says,
it was not yet made manifest until the first tabernacle. As long as that first tabernacle,
that covenant was standing, are remaining in place. It was not yet made manifest. And what the writer is showing
these Jews who had believed and maybe were under pressure to
turn back, to go back to these ceremonies is that all of that
has come to an end. It served its purpose and it's
now brought to an end. It's been fulfilled. All the
types and the shadows have been fulfilled. A few years ago, I met someone, they were telling
me that they were going to have the Passover. And I said, the
Passover? Yeah, we're going to have the
Passover. We're going to do it just like the scripture said.
Well, that's an insult, my friends. They thought they were doing
something spiritual, something religious, absolutely. But that's
an insult to God. The Passover, Christ is our Passover. The Lamb of God that was shed,
or that was crucified, rather, and shed His blood, He's already
come. The truth has been made manifest. We don't want to go back We want to go back to those old
types and those old shadows when we've got the reality. Be like
a man who has a picture of his wife and he's off on the battlefield
somewhere and he's got that picture of his wife and he carries it
with him and he gets it out and looks at it and thinks about
his wife and how much he loves her and he's going to be home.
Well, when he comes home, he's not going to be too interested
in that pitcher anymore, is he? Not when he's home and here she
is. And those pitchers, those types,
they serve, yes. And they're interesting, yes.
But if we don't see the end of those types, shame on us. If we're just more interested
in the And the types, and yes, as I said, they are interesting,
but if we don't see how they picture Christ and bring us to
Christ, lead us to Christ, we've missed the boat. We need to look
to Christ always and never to turn back. And the third phrase
is found in verse 12, having obtained eternal redemption. Verse 11 through 14, But Christ
being come, and 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. Obtained. Amazing. He got it. He obtained it. There's nothing left for men
to do but to look to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Both God
and man shed his own blood, and this he did but once, and he
obtained eternal redemption for us. With his blood, his substitution
in the place of his sheep, redeemed from sin, from the penalty of
sin, from the power of sin, and yes, one day we know from the
very presence of sin. having obtained eternal redemption,
redeemed from sin, redeemed from the bondage of Satan, redeemed
from the grave. He hath obtained eternal redemption. His redemption is eternal. It
reaches back to the first sinner who was saved. and it reaches
to the last sinner who will be saved, and each and every one
to us it gives eternal life. He said, I give unto them, that
is my sheep, eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Those people who
teach a person may be saved and then be lost, Maybe be saved
again, be lost again. That's not my Savior. My Savior, He saves. He's obtained eternal redemption
for us. I trust the Lord would bless
this word to all of us here this evening. I want to sing a verse
or two of a hymn and we'll be dismissed.