Old Covenant Ordinances of Divine Service

Q: What does the Bible say about the Old Covenant?

The Old Covenant is described in Hebrews 9 as temporary and ready to vanish away, replaced by the New Covenant through Christ's sacrifice. The Old Covenant, as presented in Hebrews 9, is described as having ordinances of divine service and was established with a worldly sanctuary. It was given to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai and was meant to be temporary, symbolizing the need for a more permanent solution that Christ provides. The author emphasizes that the Old Covenant began to decay and was ready to vanish away, particularly highlighted by the tearing of the temple veil at the moment of Christ's death, which symbolized the open access to God through the New Covenant, ratified by Christ's blood. This transition signifies the fulfillment of God’s promises in Jesus, who is the ultimate priest and sacrifice.

Q: How do we know the New Covenant is true?

The New Covenant is validated through Christ's sacrificial death and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. The New Covenant is affirmed as being true through multiple aspects of scripture and historical fulfillment. In Hebrews, the author discusses how the Old Covenant has faded because it was temporary, pointing to Christ's sacrificial death as the moment it was ratified. Mark 15:37-38 shows God’s testimony when the temple veil was torn, illustrating that access to the Holy of Holies was made possible through Christ. Additionally, the sacrifices and rituals of the Old Covenant prefigured Christ’s ultimate sacrifice for sin, indicating that the New Covenant is not merely a new set of rules but a fulfillment of God's redemptive plan in history. Furthermore, Romans 3:24 states that through Christ’s blood, God provides justification—showing that the New Covenant is associated with true redemption.

Q: Why is the sacrifice of Christ important for Christians?

Christ's sacrifice is crucial as it fulfills the requirements of the law and offers redemption to believers. The sacrifice of Christ is of paramount importance to Christians because it is the fulfillment of the entire sacrificial system presented in the Old Testament. According to Hebrews 9, the Old Covenant served as a temporary means of addressing sin, while Christ's death provides the once-for-all atonement that was symbolized by the animal sacrifices. His blood, which redeems believers, allows for a restored relationship with God. Furthermore, passages like Romans 3:24 emphasize that through Christ’s redemptive work, believers are justified and made righteous in the sight of God. This act of atonement not only fulfills the necessity for blood sacrifice established under the law but also demonstrates God's justice, allowing Him to be both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus.

Remember, next Wednesday, we
will not have our regular Wednesday evening service. We'll come together,
the Lord willing, on Friday next week. Friday and Saturday and
Sunday morning. Looking forward to Brother Clay
Curtis being here with us, preaching the gospel. And I trust that
the Lord will bless our time together, and everyone who is
able will be here. You know, Texas is Friday night
football, and some churches won't even try to have a meeting on
Friday night, but let's put Christ first. Let's come to worship
the Lord. If you will, turn in your Bibles
now with me to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9, looking tonight
at the first five verses. Then verily the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first wherein was the candlestick and the table and the showbread,
which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the
golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about
with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's
rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, and over it
the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat, of which we cannot
now speak particularly. Last week, I didn't say anything
about the last verse of chapter eight. The writer there declares
that the old covenant, notice he says, in that he saith a new
covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth
and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. The writer there described
the old covenant, the covenant that God made with the nation
of Israel at Mount Sinai. That covenant, he said, decayeth. waxeth old and is ready to vanish. The new covenant was ratified. The new covenant, the everlasting
covenant, the covenant of grace was ratified by the death of
Christ, by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross,
by the shedding of his blood. He said, this is my blood of
the New Testament or the new covenant. the new covenant was
ratified by the death of Christ and God testified, God testified
to the fact that the old covenant had passed away. Keep your places
here but look with me if you will to Mark chapter 15 verses
37 and 38. Mark chapter 15. God testifying here that the old covenant had passed
away. Mark chapter 15 and verse 37. And Jesus cried with a loud voice
and gave up the ghost. That is, he died. Notice the
next verse. And the veil of the temple was
rent and twain from the top to the bottom. Now what is Interesting
about this, or important about this, that the way into the holiest
was opened. When that veil was rent, the
way into the holiest, the most holy place, which was representative,
as we will see, of heaven itself, was opened just as soon as the
Lord Jesus Christ died. That veil in the temple was rent. Now John Gill, in his commentary,
He mentions the fact that the old covenant had been waxing
old. You know, when something decays,
I'm thinking about a piece of lumber or limb or something like
that. When it decays, it just begins
to crumble, but it's still there. Part of it's there and it takes
a while and eventually it's gone. And John Gill thought the old
covenant, and he said this, it began to vanish away. the gay
and vanish away when the Israelites were taken into Babylon, when
the Ark of the Covenant was captured and carried away. Because when
they came back and they rebuilt the temple, there was no Ark
of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant had been
stolen. It was gold, overlaid with gold.
It was taken. There was no Ark of the Covenant.
In the temples, as I'll mention in just a moment, there was the
veil, the two parts of what was in the tabernacle, yes. But the
old covenant had waxed old and began to vanish away for years. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
came and gave his life shed his blood, that old covenant, or
the new covenant, rather, was ratified, and God testified to
the fact by the veil being ramped from top to bottom. The way into
the most holy place was made open. Now, if you will, and it
says here that in our text tonight, then verily the first covenant,
When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, the temple was destroyed. And they could not continue to
carry on with the rites and the ceremonies that the law commanded
that was associated with that old covenant. They were gone.
I remember an article, I've mentioned it to you before, but where's
the blood? Where's the blood? An excellent article by a man
who was born in Palestine, a Jew. And he said growing up, he asked,
where's the blood? Because as he read the Old Testament,
he saw how important the blood is. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. And it was explained to him that
God was mad with their nation and had allowed the Islam to
build that mosque right there in that place where the temple
had been. And so they were no longer able to offer the animal
sacrifices. Where's the blood? He said that
just was in his heart growing up. That's the work of God, isn't
it? To put that in someone's heart.
And years later, he immigrated to the United States, and in
San Francisco, on the streets there in San Francisco, a mission,
he said he turned in And the first words that he heard was
1 John 1 and verse 7, that we are cleansed by the blood of
Jesus Christ. So where's the blood? But that's
kind of off the subject. Let's get back here to chapter
9. The old covenant, with all of its rites and ceremonies,
it waxeth old and is ready to vanish away when this when this
letter was written and many people believed for that reason that
this letter was written before A.D. 70, before the temple was
destroyed. Let's look at this tonight, these
verses. First, the worldly sanctuary. In verses one and two. Then verily the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the worldly sanctuary." You notice he skips over. The writer, he
just skips over the two temples, doesn't he? He skips over the
temple that was built when they came back out of captivity and
was remodeled during Herod's reign. And he skips over the
temple that Solomon built, which was magnificent. No doubt about
that. And he goes all the way back
to the tabernacle. He doesn't mention those two
temples. And I thought, why would he do
that? Why would he do that? And I can
think of two reasons. First, we know that the tabernacle,
now we know this. This is not, we don't doubt about
this. We know that the tabernacle was
made exactly according to the pattern that God showed Moses. You look in chapter eight, Hebrews
chapter eight and verse five, it says, who serve unto the example
and shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God
when he was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith he,
that is God speaking to Moses, that thou make all things according
to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. We know that the
tabernacle was made exactly as God had designed it. We know
that. The temples, we don't know that.
We don't know that. But when you think about the
tabernacle, I was thinking about this just a few minutes ago.
The Bible describes the creation in two chapters. Genesis chapter
1 and Genesis chapter 2. What great work in two chapters. When it comes to the tabernacle,
when God gave the word concerning the tabernacle, there's a number
of chapters there in Exodus where God gave the pattern. And why
was that? because everything in that tabernacle
somehow was going to shadow forth the Lord Jesus Christ and the
way of salvation. The Gospel was preached in the
Old Testament, the same Gospel. There's never been but one Gospel,
one Savior, one Gospel, one way to the Father, and only one way,
and that is Jesus Christ our Lord. And the Gospel was proclaimed
through the types and the shadows of that tabernacle. So why would
he skip over those temples and go straight back to the tabernacle? Because we know that the tabernacle
was constructed according to the pattern that God gave to
Moses. Exactly. Moses was faithful in
his house. The second thing is a tabernacle
speaks of something temporary, doesn't it? Temporary. And that's what that old covenant
always was designed to be, something that was temporary. When we think
of a tabernacle or tent compared to a stone building like the
temple was built of, the tabernacle is temporary. And we know that
the Apostle Paul uses that concerning our bodies, doesn't he? Look
with me in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Our bodies, we're living today,
tonight, in a tabernacle, in a tent. It's not a great building,
like a stone building, a cement building, a brick building. No,
no. It's just a tent. That's what
we're living in, for we know that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle were dissolved, and it will be one day, it shall
be dissolved, and when it is, for every believer, we have a
building of God. Nothing temporary about this
building. This building, yes, but not that
building. When this tabernacle is taken
down, We have a building of God and house not made with hands
eternal in the heavens. So that's the first thing back
in our text tonight, the worldly sanctuary. It was a tabernacle. It was a tent to show no doubt
that that old covenant was only temporary. And also the fact
that it was made according to the pattern that God gave to
Moses. Now, second, Notice the furniture
and the service in the tabernacle. In verse two, it says the first,
you see that the first, what does it mean the first? It refers
to the first, as I would say, compartment or the first room. When you pass the first veil,
into the tabernacle. That's what he's talking about.
This is what you would find. This is what God commanded should
be put in there. And it was a small building,
a small, uh, tabernacle really went. The first compartment was
30 by 15. That's how large it was. 30 by 15. And then the second
was 15 by 15. But 30 by 15, when you pass that
first veil into the tabernacle, relatively small building. But there was the candlestick,
first of all. The first wherein was the candlestick. And I assume he mentions the
candlestick because the candlestick is what gave light. There was
no windows in this tabernacle. The only light was from the lampstand. And the lampstand, or the candlestick
as he calls it here, it had seven branches. It had seven branches. And it had to be filled with
oil, and the lamps had to be trimmed every day. This is the
reason the priests, they always went into this part of the tabernacle,
behind the first veil, every day. Every day, oil had to be
put into the bowls. It says bowls. They were made
like almonds. They were filled with awe, and
of course the lamps had to be trimmed. If you've ever been
around lamps, you know they have to be trimmed. But this served
as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only light in that tabernacle
was from the lampstand. And the only true light in this
world is the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the light of the
world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Oil, as I
said, these bowls, they had to be filled with oil. And oil is
often, most often, in the scriptures, is a type of the Holy Spirit. And His people, We are given
God, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. And we are then called
the light of the world. That's what he said to his disciples.
You are the light of the world. Look with me in Philippians. We are the light of the world. In Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 14, Philippians
2, beginning in verse 14, Paul admonishes the believers in the
church here. Do all things without murmurings
and disputings, that you may be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day
of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. How are we to shine? How are
we as believers to shine? We are to shine by holding forth,
as Paul says here, the word of life and living in this world
following the example of Christ. And every believer, every child
of God, when we hear that, we are to live in this world following
the example of Christ. When we hear that, every one
of us confess our inability to do that. I'm not able to do that. Well, don't you know that candlestick,
if it could have talked, it would have said the same thing if it
were not supplied with oil. I can't do it. I can't do it. No matter what else happens,
the candlestick, the lampstand without oil could not supply
light. And we, as God's children, cannot
shine as lights in this world apart from God the Holy Spirit
in us. God the Holy Spirit working in
us. The Lord Jesus Christ said, without
me, you can do nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. We must abide in Him to bear
fruit. We must abide in Him to shine. And I want you to turn back to
Exodus just a moment. This is beautiful here. Exodus
chapter 37, where Moses was given the instructions concerning this
lampstand. Exodus chapter 37 and verse 17. And he made the candlestick of
pure gold. Of beaten work made he the candlestick. His shaft and his branch, his
bowls, his knobs, and his fliers were of the same." You see that,
of the same. The lamps, the seven lamps, the
bowls, were of the same. And if you read on through this
passage, you will see that's repeated again, of the same. We are lights, but we are of
the same. We are one with Christ. We are in union with him. And
apart from him, we can do nothing. Now, let's go back. The second
piece of furniture was the table and the showbread. He mentions
both because they were always to be there. There was always
to be 12 loaves of bread with frankincense, I believe it was,
that was poured over them, the oil that was poured over them.
The table, the table was made of incorruptible wood covered
over with gold. And there was to be bread placed
upon that table every Sabbath day. They changed, they took
the 12 loaves of bread that had been placed there the week before
away and replaced them with 12 loaves of bread. And of course,
this served as a type of Christ. Only the priest could eat that
bread. Only the priest could eat that bread. And that makes
us remember that we, too, have been made kings and priests unto
God. The bread that we eat was a type,
or the bread, rather, was a type of Christ. In John 6, the Lord
Jesus confessed to be the bread of God, the true bread, the bread
of life. and the living bread. In that
passage of scripture, he said that he is the true bread, he's
the bread of God, he's the bread of life, he's the living bread. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever, and the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. He gave
himself. a ransom, he gave his life. And
how do we eat this bread? I know this is sometimes confusing
to people. They think, well, we've got to
take the Lord's Supper. He's not talking about the Lord's
Supper in John chapter six, not at all. Not at all. He's talking about himself, the
bread of life. And how do we eat the bread of
life? He tells us. He tells us, verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life. But eating the bread, we have
everlasting life. Absolutely. And how do we eat
the bread? He that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. Now notice back in our text here
in Hebrews 9, there was a golden altar of incense. The golden
altar of incense also pictured Christ. Because on that golden
altar, there was incense that was burned every day, and as
the incense would rise up, of course, it pictures to us our
prayers. That when we pray, Christ, he
delivers our prayers that go through Him to the Father. As it says in Ephesians 2 and
verse 18, for through Him, for through Him, through Christ,
we both have access, we both, Jew and Gentile, for through
Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. We may pray to the Lord Jesus
Christ, we may pray to God the Holy Spirit, but most often we
are taught in the Word of God to pray our Father, which art
in heaven. But we pray to the Father through
the Son by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Now, the golden altar's not mentioned
here, is it? If you read our passage here
tonight, the golden altar is not mentioned. He doesn't mention
it, but we know from Exodus, we know that the golden altar
was inside that first compartment before the second veil. He doesn't mention it here. What he goes on to say is the
Ark of the Covenant No, he mentions the first thing
he mentions is the golden censer. Now, don't confuse the golden
censer with the golden altar, because we're talking about two
different things. Why is it, do you wonder, why
is it that the writer didn't mention the golden altar? Notice
what he says in verse 3. And after the second veil, the
high priest, remember, he's the only one who ever went into this
second compartment. And he only did so one day out
of the year, on the day of atonement, after the second veil, the tabernacle,
which is called the holiest of all. Now notice he said, which
had the golden censer. Why did he not mention the golden
altar? I can only assume he didn't because
as he knows he's going in behind that second veil, the golden
censer is going to have have coals from off the golden altar. That's where the coals were taken
from off that golden altar placed in the golden censer and incense
in that that the high priest always had when he went behind
the second veil. But he goes on to mention the
Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat, verses four and five, which
had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid
round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna,
and Aaron's rod that budded, and the table of the Covenant,
and over it the cherubims of glory, shadowing the Mercy Seat,
of which we cannot now speak particularly. The Ark of the
Covenant, of course, was a type of Christ, beautiful type of
Christ. His person was pictured in the
two substances from which or of which it was made. It was
made of wood first, but incorruptible wood, a special kind of wood
to remind us that Lord Jesus Christ, his humanity was sinless. He had no sin. He did no sin. His humanity was sinless, incorruptible,
that wood was. But then it was overlaid with
gold because Christ is both man and God. And what a picture we
had as we read John chapter four just a little while ago, being
weary from his journey. That pictures his humanity, doesn't
it? Here He is who upholds all things
as the Son of God by the word of His power, and yet He's seated,
resting, because of the weariness. He was bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. The Ark of the Covenant, made
of the two substances, the wood pictured as sinless humanity,
the gold His deity, and then the writer mentions three things
that were in the Ark. Now, these three things were
placed in the ark when they were in the wilderness. The first
thing was the golden pot that had manna. Christ is the true
bread that came down from heaven. Remember that manna came down
from heaven, and Christ is the bread of God that came down from
the true bread, he said. And that was pictured in that,
and it sustained them The scripture is very clear to point out that
the 40 years they were in the wilderness, they were sustained
all that time by the manna. And then once they crossed over
Jordan, entered into the promised land, they ate the corn of that
land. But the manna continued to fall. And as we go through this world,
this wilderness world, Christ is our food day by day. He never
fails, he never fails. And the second thing was the
rod that budded, Aaron's rod that budded. Remember that rod,
can you just picture a rod, just a tree, a small tree that's been
cut and let it dry out, you know, I mean, it's just as dead as
it can be. Put it in there, next day, it's budded, has almonds
on it, blossomed, everything. What a picture, right, of the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's priest, our priest, who was dead. Yes, his body was laid in that
tomb, but on that third day, he came out alive forevermore. Death could not hold him. It's
not possible, the scripture says, that he could be held with death. And then, besides that, the mercy seat. The tables of the covenant was
inside the Ark too. The pot of manna, the rod of
Aaron, and the two tables. The two tables which had the
Ten Commandments written upon them, the Ark of the Covenant. And in his heart, the Lord Jesus
Christ had God's law. I come to do thy will, O God. And that will was in his heart. And he did it. And then we're
told there was a mercy seat with a cherubim of glory. It was there
between the cherubim, remember the slab of gold called the mercy
seat, and the cherubims were built on it, built part of it. And between the two cherubims,
that's where God dwelt, the Shekinah, the symbol, the presence of Almighty
God in that in that tabernacle. It's there where he rested. And
it was here that God promised Moses, he said, there, there,
I will meet with you and speak with you from above the mercy
seat. And it was there, of course,
on the Day of Atonement, that the propitiation was pictured
by the sprinkling of the blood. It was sprinkled upon the mercy
seat and before the mercy seat. Now in closing, think of these
three truths of how the mercy seat pictured Christ. First,
it is in Christ that the glory of God is manifested. Just as
on that mercy seat between the cherubim, that's where the Shekinah
was, a manifestation of God's presence. It is in Christ that
God His glory is manifested. The scripture says, for God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. Number two, it is in Christ that
God will meet and speak with us. Just like God told Moses
there at the mercy seat, I will meet with you, I will speak with
you. It's in Christ. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And number three, it is in Christ
that the propitiation for our sins was made. Let me turn to
Romans chapter three. In closing, Romans chapter three
that speaks to us of Christ is our propitiation. Romans 3 and verse 24, being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, that is for those Old Testament saints, through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. That verse, that thrills me,
doesn't it, Jim? That God, through that propitiation,
through that sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord, that allows
God to be both just and the justifier of everyone that believes in
Him, that believes in Christ. I trust the Lord will bless this
word to all of us here tonight.

Old Covenant Ordinances of Divine Service

What does the Bible say about the Old Covenant?

How do we know the New Covenant is true?

Why is the sacrifice of Christ important for Christians?

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Old Covenant Ordinances of Divine Service

What does the Bible say about the Old Covenant?

How do we know the New Covenant is true?

Why is the sacrifice of Christ important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About David Pledger

Comments

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