Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM - The Ministry of Christ pt 3 - Hebrews 9 - Pastor Ryan Nichols

Good morning, church family. I'm really glad you're here. I'm glad you guys can make it out on this morning. So if you guys want to stand with us, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Lord, we come before you this morning. We thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here. And for those that couldn't make it this morning, Lord, I pray that you'd be with them, Lord. Keep them safe, Lord, as I know there's a lot of flooding happening. And so, Lord, bless this time. Bless your word as it goes out. Lord, we love you. We praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Would you guys stand with me for the last one?

Oh, God of Jacob. Oh, Lord God, let us be that generation that seeks your face. Lord, give us clean hands and a pure heart this morning, God, so that we may enter your presence. So we may enter your courts with praise and thanksgiving, Lord God. Lord, purify us. Lord, give us a clean hand. Lord, if we're here this morning, Lord, if we have a heart of stone,

if we have hardness of heart, Lord God, remove that. Lord, give us a heart of flesh and give us a heart of flesh to receive the word that you have for us this morning. Lord, I just ask that you'd be with Pastor Ryan this morning. God, overflowing with your Holy Spirit, with your gift of teaching, and give us an ear to hear and a heart to receive it. We love you.

We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's have some fellowship.

All right, everybody, if you could make your way back to your seats. We got a couple announcements to go over. If you look at your bulletin, on the left-hand side is all the things that go on every week. And those things are going on this week, so come out. And then in the center is kind of the special things that are going on. And there is a baptism that's coming up.

And so if you're not signed up, you can sign up in the lobby. The sign-up sheet's actually out there. Last week, I told you to go out and sign up, and then the sign-up sheet wasn't there. And I looked like a fool. But this week, I checked, and it's out there. And that is July 15th. And if you're not getting baptized, you can still come, and you can watch, and there'll be praise, and it'll be awesome.

It's a great fellowship time. Other than that, next week is Promotion Sunday. So if you have little kids, and next week you check them in, you should see where their class is and see if they promote. Talk to the ladies at the desk, and they'll help you out. And then lastly, it is Father's Day. So congratulations, fathers. Happy Father's Day to everyone. And there's a little gift for you.

Out. The ushers have it. So pick it up as you leave. I think it's a Brahms gift card. So you can celebrate with ice cream and sitting down going, ah, grunting while you sit. Those are the Father's Day things you've got to do today. So I guess I'll invite Ryan to come up and do the responsive reading and Pastor Allen. Is he here?

All right. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Psalm 111. If you need a copy of a new American standard, there should be one around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 111, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

Are you there? Ready? Let's do this thing. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 111. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart. In the company. of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is his work

and his righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonders to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear him. He will remember his covenant forever. He has made known to his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are

sure. They are upheld forever and ever. They are performed in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments. His praise endures forever. And so Father we come before you when we do praise you this

morning for who you are. The greatness of your name and the greatness of your salvation. And so Father as we spend time looking into your word this morning I ask that you would move in our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. And Lord I just want to especially pray for all the dads in here this morning. Lord the task that you have given to us is great. And Lord

these fathers have no idea the impact that they have on this next generation. And so Lord I just pray that you would empower them by your Holy Spirit to be the men that you have called for them to be. And so Lord be with us as we spend time. In your word. In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 9.

Hebrews chapter 9. Well it's good to be back this week. Got to do a wedding last week. Weddings are always fun to do. And so but we're back. So we are jumping back into our series that we started a few weeks ago. And the series is entitled The Ministry of Christ. Originally it was going to be a four part series. It's now going to be a five part series. Because we

are not going to make it all the way through Hebrews chapter 9 today. But we started off by talking about that the ministry of Christ is a ministry that has a better sanctuary. And really we'll dovetail kind of into that today as we talk about the tabernacle. But the second thing that we talked about about the ministry of Christ is that the ministry of Christ is that of a better covenant.

And today we will look at the fact that the ministry of Christ has a better tabernacle. And so picking up in chapter 9. Verse 1. It says this. Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship in the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared. The outer one in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread. This was called the holy place.

Behind the second veil there is a tabernacle. Or behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the holy of holies. Having a golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold in which was a golden jar holding the manna. And Aaron's rod which budded in the tables of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the

mercy seat. But of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things have been so prepared the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship. But into the second only the high priest enters. Once a year. Not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

The Holy Spirit is signifying this. That the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing. Which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience. Since they relate only to food and drink. And various washings. Regulations for the body imposed

until a time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. That is to say not of his creation. And not through the blood of goats and calves. But through his own blood he entered the holy place once for all. Having obtained eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh. How much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. The ministry of Christ in a better tabernacle. So there's a couple of things he's going to do for us in this first half of this chapter in chapter 9 as he talks about this tabernacle. He's going to contrast

two different things. He's going to contrast the earthly sanctuary or the earthly tabernacle with the heavenly tabernacle and show that this heavenly tabernacle that he serves in is so much greater than the earthly tabernacle. And so we will begin by talking about this earthly tabernacle. And so in verse 1 it says this. Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine

worship and earthly sanctuary. That's sort of the hinge that brings us into this second chapter but it connects chapters 8 and 9 together. At the end of chapter 8 we talked about the old covenant and we compared and contrasted the old to the new. How the old covenant was temporary in nature and it had to do with man's faithfulness and was completely dependent upon what man can do.

In direct contrast to the new covenant which is permanent in nature and is completely dependent not upon the faithfulness of man but upon the faithfulness of God to keep his promises. And so as he begins to talk about this tabernacle he says now the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and we'll talk about those in just a little bit and it also had an earthly sanctuary. And so what he's going to do now is he's going to describe for us this earthly sanctuary and as he does so he's going to describe all of the implements in the holy place and all of the implements in the most holy place. This is what we refer to as the tabernacle. Now I've

tried to paint the picture as best I can by trying to pretend that I am the implements or point out the implements but I thought let's have a picture. We all like visual aids. Those of us in the 90s don't you remember the times when your teacher would roll the largest TV known to man into your classroom and she would say today kids we're going to look at some visual aids on the TV. And we were like yes! Best day ever. Well here we

are. Right? It's not a huge TV like that but here we are with the visual aids. So let's describe what all these things are in the tabernacle. So I'm going to read and then I'm going to point to some things up here. It says for there was a tabernacle, earthly sanctuary, there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one in which were the lampstand the table and the sacred bread

this is called the holy place. Alright pop that guy back up there. Alright so this front part of the sanctuary right here, this is the tabernacle. You can see that it's kind of laid back. It's just a tent. If you look at it on the outside, this tent's the most boring looking tent known to man. You're like wow what's with the ugly tent? It's what's on the inside that matters. And so as you

go into this first compartment, this large compartment you have this holy place. And in the holy place there's a handful of implements. The first thing on that side it points out is that the implement is the lampstand. Now the lampstand is really key because first of all that's the only source of light in all of the tabernacle. Inside there's a lot of gold overlaid

on a bunch of the boards. And so when that light shines it illuminates in an amazing way. But it's the only light in the tabernacle. And we are reminded that it points out the fact that Jesus is the light of the world. And so you have that lampstand that's in there. Then we're told about a second implement that's in there. On the other side of the lampstand you see this table and

it's called the table of show bread. And what they would do is once a week they would bring out 12 fresh loaves of bread that would be placed on that table. One loaf representing each of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. And of course in that we are reminded that Jesus is the bread of life. Now he puts it, the writer to the Hebrews puts it in the most holy

place but really it sits just on the outside of that veil. You can see one more implement on this side of the veil. That's called the altar of incense. And the altar of incense was established in there and it was to be kept continually burning. And interestingly enough there was a recipe for the making of the incense that was incredibly specific. And that incense was always to be kept burning. It was

kept burning for two reasons. Number one, because incense always represents the prayers of the saints. We're told in the book of Revelation that the burning of the incense coming up into the nostrils of the Lord is like the prayers of the saints. But there's really a second reason why that altar of incense was to be kept continually burning. Because not only

is it a representation of the prayers of the saints, but that altar of incense is also representative of the fact that our great high priest is always making intercession for us. That that burning of the incense is a representation of Jesus before the Father interceding, praying if you will, on our behalf. And so all of those things are in that holy place. Then he goes on to describe the most holy place. Notice what it says

in verse 3. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which was called the Holy of Holies. So the first thing he tells us about is this veil. You can see the veil right there sort of torn away but that veil would have separated the holy place from the most holy place. Now depending on what commentator you read, that veil was anywhere from 4 to 16 inches thick.

Either way you slice it, it's a really thick piece of cloth, right? And it represented the separation between God and man. It represented the separation that there was between God and humanity. He'll go into that in more detail in just a moment. And so you have this veil that's in front of there and then notice what it says. Behind the second veil there was

a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies having a golden altar of incense, which we just talked about, and it has the Ark of the Covenant. And then he describes the Ark of the Covenant. Now one thing he does not describe is what the Ark is actually made of. The Ark of the Covenant was to be constructed of acacia wood. Now the interesting thing about acacia wood is twofold.

Number one, acacia wood does not rot. So it's a really important piece of lumber that would be used to create this Ark of the Covenant. But the second thing that's really even more important than that is that the Ark is first of all created of acacia wood, which speaks, it speaks of its earthly nature. It's human nature, if you will. But then it tells us that the Ark is covered in

gold. It is covered on all sides, middle of verse 4, with gold. Now why is that significant? Well, because gold first of all speaks of deity and second of all speaks of glory. So if you will, you have this Ark of the Covenant that is both earthly in nature and divine in nature. Kind of interesting, isn't it? Because what is Jesus? Jesus is both fully man and he is fully

God. So both earthly and divine in nature. But then he goes on to describe what's in the Ark of the Covenant. Verse 4 again, having a golden altar of incense and an Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was first of all a golden jar holding the manna. What is manna exactly? The word manna means what is it? Sorry, it's a terrible joke.

The word manna means what is it? But that's the bread that came down from heaven in the wilderness. It's how God sustained the children of Israel for 40 years while they wandered in the wilderness. Every morning they would wake up and this stuff would be covering the ground and it was manna. And when they first saw it they said what is it? And they said that's a great name for it.

And so they called it manna. And so that was put in there because it's representative of something. If we were to jump all the way into the New Testament, into the Gospel of John chapter 6, what you would find is that Jesus had just fed the 5,000. And the next day they all showed up to find him again and he said, you're not here because you're seeking the truth from me. You're here

because I gave you bread. And they said Moses gave our fathers manna in the wilderness. And that was when Jesus said I am the bread of life. So inside of this box that is both earthly in nature and divine in nature you first of all have the manna which Jesus says he is, the very bread of life. The second thing that's in there, which I just love this. It's great.

It's fascinating. The second thing that's in there is Aaron's rod which budded. Why do I care about that, Ryan? Well if we were to go back into the book of Numbers, you would find that the children of Israel complained again. And the thing that they were complaining about is they didn't know why Aaron and Moses had all of the authority. Well who made you boss, right? Who died

and made you the boss of all of us? Well, God did, right? And so a bunch of people were like, well we think we have as much of the Holy Spirit as you do so why can't we be the ones in charge? And Aaron was probably like go ahead and take it, right? He's always questioning authority, right? It's going on in today's world today. And so God says here's what you need to do.

Everybody take your rod. And it was specific to a person. Like you made your rod. That was what supported you in the wilderness. Because you're walking through the wilderness. You're beating the sheep sometimes. Whatever you need to do. And so everybody had their rod. He said everybody take your rod and lay it inside of the tabernacle. And whosoever rod buds

that's going to be the one who has the authority from God. And so they put their rods in there and they come back the next morning and they come back the next morning and not only does Aaron's rod have buds on it but it has complete almond blossoms on it. God's like I got you boy. And so we see that this rod represents the authority of the high priest which is placed inside of the ark of the covenant. Why? Because Jesus

is our greater high priest. But then there's a third thing that's in there. It says and then there are the tables of the covenant. We call those the ten commandments, right? The tablets of the commandments which were actually written by the finger of God. It was kind of fascinating. I was listening to somebody teach on this. Small look into Ryan's world, okay?

Isn't that like a YouTube? Anyway, small look into Ryan's world. So I have to study for a little while and I can read and I can sit and I can write notes but then my ADHD kicks in and I've got to go move around a little bit. And so what I do at that point in time is I throw some headphones on and I listen to somebody teach while I find something random to do on the church, some little project that needs to be done, some such thing like that. So this

happened to me this week. So I throw my giant earmuff headphones on so that I can vacuum without it causing me any problems. And the project I chose at that point was to water the flowers. So I'm out front watering the flowers. And as I'm out front watering the flowers, I'm listening to Lloyd Pulley teach on this. And he said what would have been fascinating is to see those tablets

of the covenant, those tables of the covenants. Because it probably would have been written with more precision than any of the engineers' weird inscribing we can do on stones today. And in that moment, I'm looking at the stones on both sides of the door there in front of the flowers. One of them has a saying on it. The other one has a dove on it. And all I could do was look at those and go

what? Because when you think about the fact that God just took his finger and was like bzzz That's a laser pointer on his finger by the way. He's etching it all out. Bzzz And it would have been epically perfect in anything, better than anything we could ever imagine today. Why were the tablets of the covenant put in there because those tablets of the covenant represent the righteousness of God

as the righteous standard that is placed upon humanity. And so when we look at this ark of the covenant that is both earthly and divine in nature, it has the bread of life, the rod of authority, and the righteousness of God inside of it, we see that the ark of the covenant is the perfect picture of Jesus inside of this tabernacle that also is representative of Jesus. And so he describes this ark, but there's one more thing that we didn't cover that he describes, and it's in verse five. And he says, and above it were cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But of these things we cannot speak in detail. On top of that ark of the covenant, and

you can kind of see it from here, although I can't see it real well from here. Maybe you you all's vision is better than mine. You can kind of see something on top of that box that has like the smoke coming up out of it. Those are those two angels that are sitting there. If you will, their wings are faced this way. They're both facing each other. That was what's called the mercy seat.

And that was a pure piece of gold. And that was where when the high priest would come in, he would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice because that mercy seat is where they would meet with God. And so this entire thing is describing Jesus. But remember, this is an earthly picture. This is an earthly sanctuary, an earthly tabernacle that found its substance in Christ.

But he describes it because he wants to point out that Jesus is the minister in a better tabernacle. They don't just need all of the shadows anymore because they have the reality. He goes on to say this. He says, now, verse six, when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship. Now, I want to point something out to you.

Will you throw that bigger picture up for me, Lisa? So I want to point something out to you. The farther into the tabernacle you get, the more limited the access is, right? Okay, so first of all, you had to be one of the children of Israel to go past. You can see where it points on that side down there. There's one entrance into the courtyard of the tabernacle.

That's important because there's only one way. And that one entrance is what you have to go through. If you were one of the children of Israel, you could enter that part to go into this outer part of the gates of the tabernacle. Anybody could go in there as long as you were a child of Israel. The second thing that I'll point out to you is that you see the altar there.

That's where the burnt sacrifice would be made and then the bronze laver where the priests would wash. But once you got past that, the holy place that had the table of showbread, that had the altar of incense, and that had the lampstand, only the priests could go in there. See, the access starts getting limited. You had to be a part of the Levitical priesthood to get in there.

And they would go in and they would perform aspects of the service of God. We're given a small picture of that in the book of Luke with John the Baptist's father when he was told about the birth of John the Baptist. He was a part of the Levitical tribe inside of the holy place, tending to the altar of incense. That's what they would do. Switching out the showbread,

tending to the altar of incense, making sure that the lamps were all lit and filled with oil, the way that they were supposed to be. The priesthood could come in and do that. But then the access gets incredibly limited. Notice what it says in verse seven. But into the second, what we refer to as the holy of holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is, but into the second,

only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. All of a sudden, the access to the presence of God becomes incredibly limited. It's gone from the nation of Israel to the priesthood of Israel to the high priest of Israel. The only one that could go into the direct presence of God was the high priest.

One person out of a nation of millions, because all of a sudden, the access got incredibly limited. The second thing we take note of is that he could only go into that presence once a year. In the margin of your Bible, if you like to write verses in there, you might write Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16, because Leviticus 16 describes what he talks about in verse seven here in greater detail.

It's called the day of atonement. And so the high priest could only enter on this one day of the year. And then the third thing that's incredibly important about this one day of the year is that there had to be a blood sacrifice that he entered. He would actually enter twice on this one day. The first time he would enter was after he'd made a sacrifice for his own sins.

There were three animals that were sacrificed on this day. The first one was a bull, and the bull was sacrificed for himself. That bull was sacrificed, and he would take that blood in, and he would sprinkle it on that mercy seat. This is me sprinkling blood, but I don't know what it was. He would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat to cover his own sins so that now he is fit to be the one

who can make atonement for the rest of his life. For the rest of the nation. And then he would go back out, and he would take the two goats that had already been chosen, and they would essentially flip a coin. One goat would be the sacrificial goat, the other goat would be the scapegoat. So what he would do at that point in time is he would take the sacrificial goat,

and he would slit its throat, and he would take the blood that he had just removed from the throat of that goat, and he would go back into the most holy place, and he would sprinkle it on the mercy seat to make atonement for the nation of Israel so that he could make atonement for the nation of Israel. So that he could meet with God in that one moment. Now, if this doesn't sound like limited access, let me tell you one more thing. There were two specific things about the garments of the high priesthood that were really important.

Number one is that all around the base of the robe that he wore was alternating things. There was an almond blossom and a bell. And it was tied all around the base. Why did he have bells tied all around the base of his robe? Because they needed to hear him walking. If the bells stopped ringing, that meant that there was sin in the life of the high priest that hadn't been dealt with,

or there was sin with the people that they had not confessed, and therefore the high priest would be wiped out because he just came into the presence of God with sin. The second thing that was true, the second thing about his attire that was important is there would be a rope tied to his leg. The reason why there would be a rope tied to his leg is that if he was struck down because of sin, they could pull him out of the most holy place without ever getting hurt. They were never entering to be defiled themselves.

This access to God was incredibly limited. He now gives us commentary on why he just told us all of these things. Verse 8. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is standing. I think there's something theologically that we have to pay attention to and that we have to deal with as human beings.

Apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ, listen, we are rejected by God. We are separated from God. We have no access to God. The one who you were created to know, the one who you were created to follow, the one who you were created to serve, access has been denied by God apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite verses comes out of the book of Isaiah.

It says, Thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in a high and a holy hill. And I think before you get to the grace, we have to deal with the law. Before you get to the glory of the redemption, you have to deal with the curse of the law. And the curse of the law says this, you're separated from God because of your sins.

You're separated from God because of your sin nature. And there is no access. The way has not been opened apart from Jesus Christ. It's so vitally important that we deal with that because you don't know how amazing grace is until you first know how helpless you are. You don't know how amazing grace is until you realize that's the only hope that you have in your life.

It's not just one option for a good life. It's the only option for any life because the way has been blocked because of sin. He says the Holy Spirit signifies this, that the way, the way has not been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing. Now I think that that's important first of all for the theological statement that I just made. Brothers and sisters,

you have to know that Jesus is the only way. And if you're here this morning and you're still trying to find another way to God, you're still trying to find another way to joy and peace in your life, you're still trying to find another way to purpose in your life, I'm telling you there is no other way. The way is blocked. The way is closed. And you will have no hope.

You will have no purpose. You will have no freedom in your life until you find it in Jesus Christ because he is the only access that you have past the veil. But the second reason why this is important is I believe that this was written shortly before AD 70 when the temple is destroyed. Why did God allow his glorious temple to be destroyed in AD 70? Because he wanted to show that

as long as the tabernacle is still standing, there is no way to the Father. Therefore he obliterated the option so that they had really only had one choice. Jew and Gentile alike, we all have to say the same thing. My only hope is in Christ. That's the mystery of the church is that we all now, no matter what your social background is, no matter what your economic background is,

no matter what your spiritual background is, no matter what your ethnic background is, there is one way and it's through Jesus. And now we all come in together as family and it doesn't matter what color you are. I'm so tired of all this stuff because that stuff doesn't matter. You're either in Christ or you're not in Christ. Those are your two options. You're either born again or you're not born again.

Those are your two options. Other than that, we are one in Christ or you're one in death. Either way, you better find your hope in Jesus. He says, the Holy Spirit signifies that there's always a barrier between us and God. He says, this is a symbol for the present time. The tabernacle was an imperfect representation of Christ's purpose. He says, this is a symbol for the present time.

Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, listen, which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. It cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. And I have a question for you. Are you still trying to find another way to appease your conscience besides Jesus? Are you still trying to find another way to appease your conscience other than the saving work of Jesus Christ?

Because I'm here to tell you right now, if you are, you still aren't sure. Because you will never be able to do enough. You will never be able to be good enough. The works that you do will never be enough. Because there will always be one more opportunity for a mistake. There will always be one more opportunity to fail. Let me tell you a little story from my own life this morning.

So there I was. This is not the shirt I started with this morning. Let's just put it that way. Rolled into church this morning. Well, first of all, I left my house and it was still pouring down. It was pouring down rain. If you all arrived in the sunshine, praise God. Because when I left my house, it was pouring down rain. I looked like a soaked dog from the time I went from my garage to my truck.

And it's like from here to row four, right? It's not that far. And I get in and I'm just like, wow, that was a bummer. So I drive through, I get my coffee. I arrive here at church and I had an umbrella in my truck. Look at me go. I pop the umbrella open. I walk in feeling pretty good now, right? Ah, dry. Walk in, I'm running around, turning down air conditioners

and I'm like, oh my God, and unlocking doors. And while I'm doing so, I have a coffee in my hand and that's not uncommon. That's most of my life I have a coffee in my hand. This coffee had a lid on it. And as I turned the thing on the door, I don't know how I did it still. I've just, I've thought back through this, like all over a white shirt. And I was like, oh dear God, right?

And I got angry and God was like, hey. And I was like, oh, you're right. So I go home and I change my shirt. Now listen, you have to understand something. I'm perfect 99% of the time when holding a cup of coffee right now. I roll the streets of Arc City with no lid and an open cup of coffee because I'm a maverick like that. But I arrive at church with a coffee

with a lid on it, spill it on myself and I get really angry. Why? Because I will never be good enough. I will always have something in my life that says that kept me from being good enough. And Jesus says, that's okay. That's why I'm here. And brothers and sisters, I need you to know that this morning. Those of you that are here this morning, that are still trying to find a way to be good enough.

Well, I'm a pretty good man. You may be, but you're not a good enough man. Well, I'm a pretty good mom. You may be, but you're still not good enough because you'll never be good enough. That's why we need Jesus. And he says, those things cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. And as we look at the earthly sanctuary and its inadequacy, we now move directly

into the heavenly tabernacle. And the first thing he tells us is that Christ is a high priest of the good things to come. Notice what it says in verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is to say, not of this creation. So when Christ came,

he is a, he is a bringer of the good things that are to come. He is a high priest of the good things to come. Remember, we were just told that the access is limited and we don't have that access to the Father. The access is limited. We don't have that access. We can never be good enough. Our conscience can never be fully cleared through the law. So Christ is a high priest

of the good things to come. And he does so, first of all, by entering in through the greater and more perfect tabernacle. A tabernacle that is not made with hands. In other words, a tabernacle that is heavenly in nature. We're told in scripture that the tabernacle had to be built perfectly the way that it was because it was a picture of what heaven was supposed to look like.

And so when Jesus goes into the holy place, he doesn't go into the temple into the holy place. He goes into the heavenly holy place to make atonement for sin. Remember, we said that that veil was very thick, four to 16 inches, somewhere in that range, really, really thick. And we're told in the gospels, every single gospel account says this, is that when Jesus gave up the ghost, in other words, when he died, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Why? Because it was picturesque of what Jesus was doing in heaven and it was pictured for us down here on earth. Because he took that veil of the temple and he ripped it in half from top to bottom showing there is now access directly to the Father and I've gone in to make perfect atonement for sin that doesn't just cover it for another year but it wipes it out completely. When I was in high school, we had this group of people come.

I think I've shared this before. We had this group of people come. They were called Team Extreme. And it was fun. They ripped phone books and broke things and stuff like that. And it was very manly and I loved it. I remember when they ripped the phone book. This was like an Arc City phone book, right? I feel like you've got to qualify what phone book that was.

If you take the Arc City phone book, I'm like, listen, anybody can do that, right? You get a really good start at it, you can rip the Arc City phone book. But you take, like the Chicago phone book, that's a situation, right? For those of you under the age of 25, a phone book is this thing that we used to get. It's thicker than a Bible. And it had the phone numbers

of everyone in your town and every business in your town. And instead of going to the Google machine to figure out who the plumber was, you went to the phone book. And if you didn't know your friend's number, you better hope you knew their parents because that's who their number was listed under because everybody didn't have a cell phone. Anyway, it's neither here nor there.

So they take this phone book. And I imagine what that was like for Jesus ripping the veil in half. Well, he didn't have to try that hard because that work was done instantly because a veil to him is nothing. But what we saw physically in the tearing of that veil, he was doing spiritually in the heavens as he was rending the veil of his flesh, creating access for us to the Father.

It says, he entered into that tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and listen, he didn't enter, verse 12, through the blood of goats and calves, but he entered through his own blood, having entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Three things I want to point out in that verse. Number one, the thing that Jesus redeemed us with was his own precious blood. In other words, he gave his life for us.

The blood of bulls and goats could cover sin for another year. It could make you feel a little bit better for another year, but eventually, you were going to fail again. Eventually, that had to come to an end. And so Jesus spilled his own precious blood for us, and he carried it into the holy place. We are told that we are not redeemed with corruptible things.

Instead, we are redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Have you ever considered the fact that that's how much Jesus loves you? He loved you so much he was willing to give up everything for you. The second thing that I want to point out to you is that it says that the sacrifice is made once for all. If you're an underliner, a bracket, or a highlighter,

do all three of them because that phrase once for all is one of the most powerful phrases in all of Scripture because it indicates the perfect nature of the sacrifice, that it was one time for all. Listen, it's not a perpetual sacrifice. It's not a continual sacrifice. It's not a sacrifice that has to be made over and over again. It's the sacrifice that is made

once and then done. And it's made once for who? I want you all to shout it out. Once for all. Listen, not just for the elect. It's not just for a certain group of people. It's not just for a certain socioeconomic status. It's not just for a certain gender. It's not just for a certain sin. It's for all. Listen, because the beautiful thing is is that we are told

all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. We are told that this universal salvation is available to all because when he died it was once for all. I take real issue with the fact that people say Jesus died for the elect. Really? Because we've got to change some Greek words here then. Like we're going to have to take our black highlighter to the Bible

if we're going to just say that he only died for the elect. Because that says once for, shout it out again, once for all. Right? That means that there's nobody that's not included in this. And it's something that he did once meaning that it was a complete work. He did it once. Once. For all. The third thing I want to point out not only was it with his own precious blood

not only was it once for all but he obtained eternal redemption. Eternal redemption. I would like to borrow the words from Stan Lott in this moment. That means that redemption is forever. That's what it means. It means it's eternal. It is a forever thing. Do you know what you can rest in about something that's forever? Is the fact that nothing's ever going to change

about it. That's what eternal means. It means unchangeable in nature. That means that the salvation of Jesus Christ in your life is unchangeable. I have people show up that sometimes and they say, I don't know if I feel very saved right now. I'm like, well then you've got to get some control over that because you are. If you put your faith in Jesus you are eternally saved.

You are eternally born again and nothing's ever going to change that about you. Because once you're a child of God you are a child of God. Because the redemption that he purchased with you didn't have an end date. It was an end date. It was an eternal redemption. It didn't have qualifications other than you accepting it. It is an eternal redemption. And I want us to rest

in the eternal redemption of Christ. Having obtained an eternal redemption. He goes on in verse 13 to talk about Christ as the cleansing sacrifice. It's very interesting that Christ is not only the high priest who offered the sacrifice but Christ is also the cleansing sacrifice itself. He says this. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer

sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh how much more will the blood of Christ. He says listen remember you used to rest in the blood of bulls and goats. Those were all of the sacrifices that were made whether they be sacrifices for sin whether it be sacrifices of praise sacrifices sacrifices Passover you name it. You always trusted in the blood of bulls and goats to cleanse you externally.

But then he includes one more thing that I think most of us as Gentiles don't understand. Let me read it to you again. He says for if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are good for the cleansing of us externally. Well what's that all about? What are the ashes of a heifer he's talking about here? Well if we were to go back into the law we would find

that that , if you touched a dead body that meant that you were defiled by death and you had to be separated from the people in the camp because remember death is not what God intended death is as a result of the sin as a result of sin therefore if you touch death you are touching the defilement of death because it's the defilement of sin. Everybody following me here? So what God did is he made a way in the old covenant to be cleansed from the defilement of death. What they were to do is they were to choose a red heifer had to be spotless there couldn't be a single white hair on it and they were to take that and they were to sacrifice it and when they sacrificed it they were to burn it completely it was a whole burnt offering unto the Lord

and they would save all of the ashes from it and if you came in contact with a dead person they would take some of those ashes and they would mix it with water the priest would dip hyssop in it dip hyssop into that mixture and then he would sprinkle you after you had gone through your seven days of separation from the nation. Why? Because that was a picture of you being cleansed from the defilement of death. Now let's go with us right now okay?

We were told God told Adam he said in the day you eat of that fruit you will surely die and so Adam and Eve ultimately died in that moment. Physically they were still alive although physical death set in but spiritual death came into their lives therefore we are each defiled from a dead body that we wear around in ourselves. And so if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on you could cleanse you externally notice what he says how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God cleanse your consciences from dead works to serve the living God. If the blood of Christ the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer can can take away defilement

on the outside for you how much more will the blood of Christ how much more will Christ not do for you. First thing I want to point out to you is this is I want to point out to you that he says the much more work of Christ in our lives. The world wants to give us all kinds of band-aids to put on our problems. The world wants to give us psychological band-aids to put on our problems.

They want to give us self-help things to put on our problems. They want to give you ways to mask your problems but none of them can deal with the problems. Only Jesus can do that because he is greater than all of the things of this world to cover the issues that you have in your life. He is greater than all the things of this world to cure the issues that you have in your life and I have a question for you.

If Jesus is the greatest cure then why are you still using band-aids? If Jesus is your greatest cure for the problems that you have in your life, if the blood of Jesus Christ is so much better then why aren't you going to Jesus with your stuff? Why aren't you carrying all of your issues to Jesus? Why aren't you carrying all of your defilement, all of your past, all of your fears, all of your anxieties?

Why aren't you carrying all that to Jesus? Because if his blood ultimately cleanses us greater than anything that this world has to offer, why am I still looking for band-aids to cover amputations instead of going to the ultimate physician to heal me? Why am I still looking to things of the world instead of ultimately coming to Jesus and saying, Lord, I need your blood to cleanse the sin that I have in my life? Lord, I need the sacrifice of Jesus to be the greatest work in my life.

And I can tell you from experience, not only my own, but the experience of talking to lots and lots of people, they will tell you the exact same thing. Jesus was their greatest cure because the blood of Jesus Christ is so much more than the cures of the world. The second thing that I want to point out to you is this. Did you notice the Trinity in this verse?

Let me read it to you again. How much more will the blood of Christ, that's God the Son, who through the eternal spirit, that's God the Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, that's the Father, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Isn't it beautiful that in the work of redemption, the Trinity is written into it? We see that the Trinity is at work in that aspect of redemption in our lives.

But the last thing that I want to point out to you is this. Read the verse one more time. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, how much more will that not cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? That word cleanse, it means to make clean and pure from defilement.

To make clean and pure from defilement. And in the last few minutes that we have here this morning, I want to share something with you that I think is important. You see, I believe there's probably three groups of people in this room this morning. Some of you are those that have, you've never come to Jesus as your savior, and you've been trying to find lots of ways to cleanse what's going on on the inside of you.

You've been trying to find a way to be clean and pure from defilement. You've either done it by continuing to mask it with the parties of the world or continuing to mask it with the self-help of the world or continue to mask it maybe even with church attendance and reading your Bible, but you've never let Jesus deal with it. And you have all of these stains on the inside of you, and you're so tired of it, but it's all you know how to go back to. You're so tired of it, but it's what you keep going back to in every part of your life.

And every time you go back to it, you say, why did I go back to that again? Why do I think that's gonna help me? Because every time I go back to that, I feel more miserable than I did before. You know why? Because you're looking for something else to cleanse your conscience besides Jesus. And he's the only one that can cleanse your conscience. And I'm here to tell you right now,

today is your day to come to Jesus so that he can cleanse your conscience. And if that's you this morning, then I'm gonna ask you to deal with Jesus this morning. And we'll deal with that in just a moment. There's a second group of people in here this morning. The second group of people in here this morning are those who you've met Jesus, you've come to the Lord,

but you're still holding on to your past. You've never been able to forgive yourself. You've never been able to let go. You still have an old picture of yourself on your phone that has all of the stains all over it. You still have an old picture of your heart, and you keep saying, this is who I am. For a long time, there was a photo that would float around of me on Facebook,

and I'm holding a red Solo cup in this photo. And I remember being like, guys, I minister in this town. Could that please stop floating around Facebook? And I remember thinking, that's not who I am. I don't want that photo floating around anymore. And too many of us have that photo in our mind of ourselves. The photo you have in your mind of yourself is still who you were,

and you've not been able to let go of it. And God's saying, delete the photo, because that's not who you are anymore. Delete the photo because that's not who you are. You've been cleansed, and you're not that old person and you don't need to keep saying, I'm that old person. That's still the stuff that I deal with. No. Jesus dealt with that on the cross. Leave it there.

Jesus dealt with that through his blood. Let it be cleansed. You have been washed as white as snow. You are as clean and as pure as you could ever be. Those of you in here this morning, I'm especially going to talk to you young ladies, because you young ladies are the ones who get taken advantage of by moron men. Dads, we've got to start raising some better sons.

We've got to start raising those who are supposed to be treated. I hate that there are girls running around who have been taken advantage of by men, and now they feel stained because of it. And they've lost the purity that they were hoping for in their lives because of some moron that took advantage of them. And I want you to know, young lady, that's not who you are anymore.

If you've been taken advantage of by a man and you've come to Jesus, he has made you brand new and pure again. Because all of that has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Some of you have been abused in your lives, either sexually or physically or emotionally abused. And you feel like, man, that's who I am now. And you feel tainted in your life because of what's happened to you,

because of what somebody else has done to you. And I want you to know, that's not what you wear anymore. Jesus has made you brand new and he wants to heal you of that. Don't keep going back to how you feel because of the way that person made you feel because of the way they treated you. Let yourself be made brand new by the blood of Jesus. But then there's a third group of people

in here this morning. The third group of people in here are those who have been cleaned by the blood of Jesus, but you keep going back to the stains. Not because you are ashamed of what you've done in the past, but because you seem to keep running back to the sin. You seem to keep running back to the things that stained you. And I want to tell you this, if you've been made clean,

live like you're clean. If you're a brand new white shirt, don't spill coffee on yourself again. Right? Because you've been made clean, now live like you're clean. I always love Easter Sunday, right? Because all these kids come in in their brand new clothes and they all look very pretty. And you know what every mother tells them when they go down to Sunday school?

Don't you get those clothes dirty. Right? Listen, you're wearing some brand new clothes, believer. Don't you get those clothes dirty. Live like they're brand new clothes that you're wearing. Amen? I'd like to invite the worship team to come up. I don't know, I feel like the Holy Spirit wants to do some business with some folks in here this morning. So I'm gonna invite

them to come up. It's gonna take them one quick second to get set up here. But I want to just ask a question. What's God doing in your heart this morning? It's Father's Day, I know. You probably got plans you gotta get to. But listen, if your dad really loves Jesus, then he's gonna want this dealt with first. What's God doing in your heart this morning? Which of those

three people are you? Maybe you're not dealing with any of that stuff, but I bet, I bet there's some folks in here dealing with some things this morning. So here's what I want you to do. I want everybody to bow your heads, close your eyes, because this is between you and Jesus. So if you're here this morning, I'm just gonna go through those three groups and I want you to respond.

If you're here this morning and you've never given that heart to Jesus, and man, God is just, he will not leave you alone. He's a bloodhound of heaven right now and he won't leave you alone and he wants to deal with you. If that's you this morning and it's you, it's time for you to put your faith in Jesus. I just want you to put your hand in the air. I want you to put

that hand up because it's time. Amen. It's time to give that heart to Jesus because he does not want you to live in those stains anymore. Amen. Then I just wanna tell you during this song, do you just pour out your heart to the Lord, confess that sin and accept his salvation. Now I wanna talk to the second group of people in here this morning. Who in here this morning

still sees themselves according to that old picture? You still see your heart as stained. You still see yourself as tainted. Praise God because he wants to see you be cleansed. He wants to see you cleansed this morning. Now if you're struggling with going back to those things of the world and it's time to repent and it's time to live like you got brand new clothes on,

I want you to put your hand in the air. Praise God. I love when the Holy Spirit does this thing. I'm just gonna pray for all of us right now. Father, I lift up those that said they need to put their faith in you and God I just pray that as they sing this last song they would just cry out to you and accept who you are and what you've done for them. Lord, I lift up those

who still feel stained and tainted by this world and they need to begin to see themselves through your eyes. They need to begin to see themselves as you see them, as brand new in Christ. Lord, I just pray that you would give them the grace and the understanding to know that they have been set free, that they've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, that their conscience has been cleansed and that they would begin to believe on a daily basis that that's true. And Lord, I want to lift up those that are struggling with sin in their life.

They're struggling with living like they're brand new. And God, I just pray for that grace of your Holy Spirit to be on them, to move in their hearts and in their lives. Father, move as you see fit continually in this place. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, let's all stand. I was made to be tending a grave I was called to be tending a grave I was called by name by name

Born and raised Born and raised back to life back to life again again again I was made I was made from old from old So why would I make So why would I make a bed in my shame a bed in my shame when a fountain when a fountain of grace of grace is running my way is running my way I know why I was made I was made Cause I know Cause I know Salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven.

Just running my own. See that last part?

I've abetted my shame with a fountain of grace. Just running my own. Lord, God, we just give you praise for the day. Lord, thank you for your word. And I thank you that in you, Lord, I don't have to continue. Living like I still have sin that's not paid for. I don't have to continue. Lord, living that life that I once lived.

I've been set free. Help me to act like it. Help me to walk in that freedom.

We love you, Lord, God. We praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. Love you guys. Have a great week.