Once for All Time

November 3, 2019 · Hebrews

Series · Hebrews · Week 30 of 69

Scripture referenced 10 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Hebrews 9:1-10:20 the main passage read through as the body of the sermon

1 Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and an earthly sanctuary.
2 For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lamp stand, the table, and the show bread; which is called the Holy Place.
3 After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,
4 having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
5 and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can’t speak now in detail.
6 Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services,
7 but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself, and for the errors of the people.
8 The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place wasn’t yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing;
9 which is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect;
10 being only (with meats and drinks and various washings) fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.
11 But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,
12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh:
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
16 For where a last will and testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him who made it.
17 For a will is in force where there has been death, for it is never in force while he who made it lives.
18 Therefore even the first covenant has not been dedicated without blood.
19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”
21 Moreover he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry in the same way with the blood.
22 According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
23 It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
25 nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own,
26 or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.
1 For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?
3 But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins.
4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
5 Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire, but you prepared a body for me.
6 You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’”
8 Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law),
9 then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,
10 by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins,
12 but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.
14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them: ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;’” then he says,
17 “I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by the…

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Hebrews 8

noted as already establishing Jesus's blood as the better system and the new covenant

1 Now in the things which we are saying, the main point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

2 a servant of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.

4 For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, seeing there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;

5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.”

6 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

8 For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days come”, says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.

10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

11 They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest.

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

13 In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.

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Hebrews 12:24

listed as one of the passages to be covered on the subject of Jesus as high priest

24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.

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Hebrews 13:12

listed as one of the passages to be covered on the subject of Jesus as high priest

12 Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.

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Psalm 40:6-8

quoted as Christ speaking to God about not wanting animal sacrifices but a body to offer, cited as Psalm 46 through eight in the Septuagint version

6 Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll.

8 I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”

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Jeremiah 31

quoted as the Holy Spirit testifying to the new covenant, God's laws written on hearts and sins remembered no more

1 “At that time,” says Yahweh, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

2 Yahweh says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”

3 Yahweh appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.

4 I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.

5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.

6 For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.’”

7 For Yahweh says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’

8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company.

9 They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.

10 “Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’

11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

12 They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all.

13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says Yahweh.

15 Yahweh says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

16 Yahweh says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work will be rewarded,” says Yahweh. “They will come again from the land of the enemy.

17 There is hope for your latter end,” says Yahweh. “Your children will come again to their own territory.

18 “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.

19 Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.

21 “Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Israel. Turn again to these your cities.

22 How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”

23 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘Yahweh bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’

24 Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.

25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”

26 On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

27 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.

28 It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant,” says Yahweh.

29 “In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

31 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says Yahweh.

33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says Yahweh: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

35 Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is his name, says:

36 “If these ordinances depart from before me,” says Yahweh, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”

37 Yahweh says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they…

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1 Corinthians 1:18

quoted to show the message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved

18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.

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1 Timothy 1:15

quoted as a trustworthy saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

15 The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

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1 John 1:9

cited in the communion prayer as the basis for confessing sins and receiving forgiveness and cleansing

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Ephesians 2:8-10

paraphrased during the opening prayer on being saved by grace through faith and created for good works

8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

9 not of works, that no one would boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This sermon worked through a long stretch of Hebrews, tracing how the old covenant system of priests, tabernacle, and animal sacrifice was always a copy pointing toward something better. Pastor Nathan brought the congregation to the Lord's Supper by showing, passage by passage, that Christ fulfilled and replaced that entire system with a single, once-for-all sacrifice.

What was said

The starting point was the physical setup of the tabernacle: two rooms, a holy place and a most holy place, separated by a curtain. Ordinary priests worked in the outer room daily, but only the high priest entered the inner room, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement, always carrying blood, first for his own sins and then for sins the people had committed in ignorance. The system was elaborate and ongoing because it was never finished.

That repetition was the point. Because the sacrifices had to be made again and again, they could not actually cleanse the conscience. They could produce ceremonial purity and they reminded people of their sin, but the blood of bulls and goats was never able to take sin away. The old covenant was honest about its own limits: it was a shadow, a copy, a preview built to make people recognize what they needed.

Christ entered a different kind of holy place entirely, not one built by human hands. He brought his own blood, not an animal's, and he secured redemption once for all time. The contrast Pastor Nathan kept returning to was the posture of the old priests, standing and ministering day after day, against Christ, who after his single offering sat down at the right hand of God. The work was finished.

Hebrews backs this up with Old Testament voices. Psalm 40 was quoted as Christ speaking to the Father, saying that God did not want animal sacrifices but had given him a body to offer. Jeremiah 31 then appeared as the Holy Spirit's own testimony: the new covenant written on hearts and minds, with sins remembered no more. These were not new ideas invented after the cross; prophets had been forecasting this covenant while the old one was still in operation.

The sermon addressed the original audience of Hebrews directly. First-century Jewish believers in Jesus were under pressure, from Romans who called them atheists and from fellow Jews who told them to come back to the temple system and deal with their sins properly. The writer of Hebrews was telling them that going back would mean returning to a shadow when they already had the real thing. Pastor Nathan connected that to anyone who, facing difficulty, might be tempted to trust something other than Christ's finished work.

The communion service followed from all of this. Pastor Nathan was clear that the Lord's Supper is not a sacrifice and he is not a mediator offering a priestly service. It is a remembrance, a looking back at the one sacrifice that actually accomplished what every other sacrifice only pointed toward. He read the words of institution, noting that on the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and the cup and said, "This is the new covenant in my blood," the very covenant Jeremiah had promised centuries before.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Pastor Mark described the old covenant sacrifices as never being able to cleanse the conscience, only reminding people of their sins year after year. What do you think it would have felt like to live under that system, knowing the sacrifice you just made still could not fully deal with your guilt?
Pastor Mark said that even counterfeit religions involve the shedding of blood in some form, and that there is something intrinsic in us that knows we lack and that something needs to die. Do you agree with that? What does that tell us about human nature?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Find in this transcript

0:00 Speaker 3We're going to start off with I love to tell the story and I do

0:03 Speaker 1love to tell the story. I'll prove it in a little while. Okay. I

0:12 Speaker 2love to tell the story of unseen things above of Jesus and his glory of Jesus and his love I love to tell the story because I notice true it satisfies my longings as nothing else can do I love to tell the story my theme

3:30 Speaker 1Amen. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. That's part of the old old story right there. Hymn number five eighty one. If you're looking for your part.

3:44 Speaker 2Welcome.

5:38 Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat Got a few announcements this morning. The the first of those is that there is a junior high and high school girls study. If you fit that category or know somebody who does, that happens during the first service about 09:25 downstairs just as the younger kids are released for Sunday school that junior high and high school girls study starts. Youth group is tonight at 05:00, five to seven is the norm for youth group here Sunday nights.

6:06 Mike says it's gonna be about the subject of identity tonight, which is great. As a teenager, I think identity is a very, very important because you kinda figuring out who you are at that point. So youth group, five to seven tonight. We've got the Awana Kids Club is going on on Mondays, 05:45 to 07:30. It'll be in this room again this week.

6:28 There's a big Awana game circle you see on the floor here. And we'll clear all the chairs out, have the kids meet in this room, and then they will have scripture poured into their hearts, and through their minds. And it gets there every Monday night, 05:45 to 07:30. Also, I mentioned something else. This is for age groups two p two years old up through fifth grade and now we have people who've graduated from that in the sixth and seventh grade that are helping with the younger ones which is nice.

6:56 Biblical discipleship for two year olds up through fifth grade. Monday nights at first B is happening. Carl says that we are going forward. He's doing another Old Testament book and we're starting tomorrow in the book of Job. So the book of Job, he just did a short series on the book of Jonah and I really, really enjoyed Jonah and looking forward to Job.

7:18 That reminds me and I I I don't mean to make light of any of this situation. We have been doing a lot of funerals lately. Y'all know that, right? Some of those folks, Hugh Sowest, his funeral was Friday, and on the way to Hugh's funeral I heard that Mike Magar passed. Mike Magar usually sits right over there with his wife, Mike and Carolyn, and Kristen Wilson's father, Paul Wilson's father-in-law.

7:44 He passed on Thursday night later, Friday morning early before that and when when considering all the funerals lately, I actually have been thinking about, lord, you give and take away and my heart choosing to say blessed be the name of the Lord and I got here kind of in that vein and I went to print something out on the printer and it didn't print because that's what printers do, you know and when it didn't print, I looked on the computer, pull up the window, and it said, Job one And I thought, Job one? What does the printer have to do with the book of Job? Job, Job one. When you start reading the word Job as Job, you know you've done a lot of these lately. So, Job would be a really good thing for Monday nights.

8:28 I think that that's going be a blessing for everybody who attend. Bible study at the senior center of Jackson Hole. This has been going on since 2003. So, 2003, Roseanne took on this task and she has deputized several of y'all when she's out of town. She has other folks take over.

8:43 I actually did that when I was an intern here one time. This senior center Bible study happens Mondays at 12:45. That's immediately following lunch. If you are over 60, lunch is $4 You can go there and have lunch and then go to the Bible study after it's 12:45. They're looking for young blood.

9:01 So if you're 60, that's good. Alright? But if if you're yet less than 60, it's $8 for lunch, I think. But it's still a good time and that'll be a good study. Bible study, senior center Jackson Hole, Mondays at 12:45.

9:15 The precept study that's starting right now is on Lamentations and that starts this Thursday. We're building up. It's just a three part series on the book of Lamentations. It's a short book, Hope and Healing in the Aftermath of Rebellion against God. So I'm looking forward to that.

9:33 I'm gonna be a part of it this time. I think we've got a pretty good sized group. We'll gather around the horseshoe shaped table, watch a video, and then discuss and do an inductive Bible study on the book. We discuss first and then watch the video. Okay, that's good.

9:45 I've I've not done one of these in some time, so that's good. Looking forward to it. Jackson Hole Men's Alliance, formerly called Men's Fraternity, is at 6AM every Wednesday morning in this room right here. We start off here and eat breakfast together and then study the book of Ephesians around the table. So, that's going to be a good time.

10:04 It started a couple weeks ago but it's wide open if you want to join in. Jackson Hole Men's Alliance, six to 07:30 in this room. Operation Christmas Child, if you saw back there on the back table to my left, your right back in the back, there are shoe boxes that are red and green and kinda getting ready to be shipped all over the world. But if you would wanna be a part of it, Samaritan's Purse handles all the administration, but they are asking if you would pack those boxes for kids on all around the globe. Operation Christmas Child's underway, and we'll have a wrapping party on November 20, which believe it or not, is less than three weeks away.

10:43 It's coming. Here, Dave is demonstrating. He's our spokesmodel. Very good. So connect hour happens between services.

10:53 That is trying to keep a church that exists in three separate services, 09:00 Sunday, 11:00 Sunday, and 06:00 Monday, all one church by connecting in between these two Sunday morning services. There's coffee and donuts down the hall. And then, if there's anything else and I don't think I've forgotten anything but there's more stuff than this in the bulletin. So, if you're looking, want to know, look in your bulletin for prayer request or any other announcements. Is there anything that I've forgotten that needs to be mentioned?

11:25 Good. Would you all stand and greet one another and say howdy and we will bring you back together with a song.

12:55 Speaker 2Hymn number five seventeen, I will sing of my redeemer and his wondrous love to me on the cross he suffered

15:48 Speaker 1Amen. There are a lot of runs in that song. Lots and lots of em. As the deer, hymn number five forty eight, as the deer panneth for the water. Y'all can have a seat, but I will invite the frontline team to come forward and would y'all pray with me?

18:36 God, I'm thankful this morning, lord, for the, for the first service, for the second service right here that we have gathered in your name to worship you. We do long for you. Amen. And God, I pray that those who don't long for you, those who have to live in fear or neglect to honor you at all. Lord, I pray that they would be filled with an awesome and new understanding because of the witness of this little local body gathered right here.

19:07 I pray lord that you would use those who are gathered in your name to worship you, lord, that they would bring others into a right relationship with God through Jesus. May we truly act as the body of Christ and we truly act by walking in the steps that you've prepared ahead of time for us to walk in. It's by grace lord that we're saved through faith but we're your workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. Lord, would you show us what they are? And would you allow us the strength to walk in them?

19:40 In Jesus name, we pray that you would bless these offerings, these tithes that are put in these plates, lord, to do your kingdom's work, your will done in your way, lord, that it would never lack your supply. Use us as your obedience service to do your will in this world. Jesus, be lifted up and draw all Two, is it on now? Hit the lapel three back there. There it is.

23:07 Okay, good. Sorry. That's that's all on me. Sorry about that. Be a short sermon if this thing doesn't work.

23:13 Alright. Hebrews nine one through ten twenty is what we're covering today. Now, look at that chunk. That's a chapter and a half. That's a lot and I know that.

23:22 Before your eyes glaze over, this is a repetitive section of scripture, and it says the same thing about three or four different ways. And I'm gonna cover it as best I can by just reading through it. I changed versions that I'm using this week, and the translation is the New Living Translation, which is easier to read and easier to hear. I normally use New American Standard. I'm not apologizing for this, but it's a big chunk.

23:47 Yeah, nine one through 20. Ten ten twenty, really. That's what we're really going to do. It's it's a whole chapter and a half. It's a lot of material but it is an extended communion experience.

23:59 Usually, on the first Sunday of each month, we sometimes push it this way or that but usually, we do Lord's supper. This do in remembrance says me as often as you will and we do it about once a month. This is an extended communion service because we're pointing towards a new covenant. Every time I do this, I say and Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Imagine this, Jeremiah, the prophet, had forecast that there would be a new covenant.

24:29 Hosea, the prophet, had forecast that there would be a new covenant. Isaiah, the prophet, had forecast that there would be a new covenant. Malachi, all of these prophets were pointing towards the new covenant while they were going through the rights and the regulations of the Old Covenant. They were pointing to what the Old Covenant was pointing to which is the New Covenant. So, this section of scripture says that three or four different ways.

24:56 We're going to get just go through it. I'm gonna try not to stop and quibble over every word, but I want you to get the mass of what this is about. Okay? So here we go. Well, back to last week for now.

25:09 Now, the main point in what has been said is this, we have such a high priest. We have Jesus who is our high priest and the same subject I said last week was to be dealt with in nine one through 28, the whole chapter of nine. Ten one through 20, most of the chapter of 10, and then twelve twenty four and thirteen twelve after the great hall of faith, which Hebrews is probably best known for. So we're gonna cover these two sections today and actually two additional verses. I left in the chapter headings, which I don't usually do, or the the section headings.

25:43 I left those in. These are from the New Living Translation, not necessarily inspired, but it does summarize for those of you who like that old rules about worship. So this is old rules written in sixty seven AD about the rules that had been established during the Exodus in fourteen hundred a fourteen hundred BC. So fourteen hundred years, almost fifteen hundred years, they had been going by these old rules of worship, but then when Jesus burst onto the scene and his new covenant is the old covenant is fulfilled and the new covenant is established, then, the writer of Hebrews, thirty something years after the cross can say, the old rules are like so. That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on Earth.

26:34 For some reason, couple of letters are leaving off the screen this service. I don't know why. That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on Earth. There were two rooms. Actually, it says, there were two rooms in that tent, that tabernacle.

26:54 There were two rooms, there were regulations for how you should worship God that were established by the law. There were two rooms in that tabernacle and the first room was a lampstand and a table and sacred loaves of bread on that table and this room was called the holy place. That's the outer holy place and then, there was a curtain, a veil or curtain and behind that curtain was the second room called the most holy place, the holy of holies. In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant which were which was covered with gold on all of its sides. And inside that Ark, that's the Ark of the Covenant, maybe in this generation best known for the Raiders of the Lost Ark rather than the actual Ark of the Covenant because we're Americans.

27:44 In that room were a gold incense altar, a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. And inside that Ark were a gold jar that was containing manna. So, this is manna that was from the Exodus in fourteen hundred and something BC and the stone tablets of that covenant, the 10 commandments were inside of that ark of the covenant. It's just a ark to carry this. We know we saw the Israelites carrying this into battle or carrying it across a river or carrying it with the tabernacle whenever they moved.

28:23 I won't go into any greater thing and I could go to images, you know, but the images, if we were to come up with any from Hebrews, we're not going to because this is what the writer of Hebrews says, above the ark were the cherubim of divine glory. We know that was above it. Whose wings were stretched out over the ark's cover, the place of atonement, the mercy seat. That was the place of atonement. It's where God connected with humanity.

28:52 Inside of the holy of holies, there's this place. But we can't explain these things in detail now. That need to. The writer of Hebrews says that. Now, you can get greater explanations of em if you go back to the Old Testament but the people that this writer was originally writing to knew all of this.

29:07 They knew it very well. They knew everything about the lampstand and the incense and all of that stuff. They were familiar with it. Now, when these things were all in place, the priests, all of the priests, the Levites, right? The priests regularly entered the first room or the first tent as they performed their religious duties.

29:26 It was just normal. That's the way that that went. But only the high priest ever entered into the most holy place and he did that only on the day of atonement once a year and he, that high priest, there's only one of them at a time, right? You have lots of priest but you only have one high priest at a time. That high priest, he always offered blood, first of all, for his own sins because why?

29:51 He was sinful and he needed to offer something for his own shortfall and lack. He always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins that the people had committed in ignorance. I want you to stop right there for just a second. It doesn't say anything about sin that was outright rebellion against God. There was no way to make up for that in the old law.

30:18 Outright rebellion against God deserved death and immediate death at that. So, for the sins that were committed in ignorance and we are human beings and I showed a video a couple weeks ago of me bumping my head, right? We bump our head. We step in it every once in a while and we we sin unintentionally or not knowing this is in ignorance. And God had made a way so that we would know what sin is and so that we could do something that allowed us to remember our sins so that we might not walk in that again.

30:53 Now, the further we go in this passage, the less and less we see of that helping anything really. It reminded us of our sin which humbles us and if it humbles us to the place where we cast ourselves on the mercy of God, then that's what its intent was, okay? But the actual, let me just let the text speak, sorry. For the sins committed in ignorance. He had to offer blood for his own sins though because he was weak and human.

31:26 By these regulations, the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the most holy place was not freely open as long as the tabernacle, as long as that old tent system was in use. The most holy place was not freely open as the tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use. This, the writer of Hebrews says, is an illustration pointing to the present time for the gifts and the sacrifices that the priest offer. They're not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. Does that make sense?

32:03 There's something intrinsic about us that we do recognize that we fall short. I think that much of our society today is trying to tell us that now what your your problem is you think you're guilty. You're not really guilty. People are people. Go for whatever you feel.

32:18 It's crazy. You should not feel bad about that. That's the way you're wired. It's an illustration point to the present time for the gifts and sacrifices that the priest offer are not actually able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. They're they're in the law but this law was an old covenant.

32:40 It's temporary by its very nature and it was pointing towards the new covenant. I'll let the text speak for the that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies. They had food offerings. They had drink offerings and they had various washings that you were to do. They were ceremonies though and what they did was offer ceremonial cleanness but it was a copy, the text will say, and not the real thing.

33:09 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies, physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established and all of this old covenant was training us to see when that better system was established. In chapter eight, the new covenant, Jesus's blood was already established as that better system. Christ is the perfect sacrifice. It's the heading for this section. Verse 11 chapter nine says, so Christ, that is the anointed one.

33:43 Christ, the Messiah. So Christ has now become the high priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect tabernacle in heaven. This is not an earthly copy. This is the real deal.

34:01 So Christ has now become the high priest over all the good things that have come. He's entered that great, more perfect tabernacle in heaven which was not made by human hands and is not a part of this created world. What we see down here and all of that old covenant stuff was pointing to a true reality and Christ has now entered into that reality. But how? With his own blood.

34:24 Not by the blood of goats and of calves. We don't see Jesus sacrificing blood of goats and calves. Now, he had the old covenant system. When he was growing up, they went through that and he kept the law and he fulfilled that law and eventually, he was what that whole law had been pointing to. He entered the most holy place once for all time and he secured our redemption forever.

34:51 Under the old system, the blood of goats, bulls, and ashes of a heifer could cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial impurity. Now, there were a whole long list of things that would make you unclean or impure. Sin was obviously one of em but there were others that they were ceremonially unclean and an offering of a specific type would cleanse people's bodies from that ceremonial impurity but just think how much more than the blood of Christ. The lamb of God, the anointed one, the perfect and spotless one without blemish. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciousness, consciences from sinful deeds so that we can actually worship the living God.

35:40 For by the power of the eternal spirit, that's the Holy Spirit. For by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. I say, all of the old covenant is pointing towards the new covenant and all of that is pointing towards the sacrifice that Jesus would make. We don't do this as a sacrifice. We do this in remembrance of the sacrifice made once for all.

36:08 That's why he, by the way, the New Living Translation does not capitalize the pronouns for deity. So this would be Jesus right here. This that is why he, Jesus, is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people. So that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance that God has promised them. The gospel is a real and effective call and it's out there for all.

36:38 And for those who receive it, they will enter into the blessing of an inheritance that God has promised them. Christ is the mediator of that new covenant between God and people. Perfectly God, perfectly man. So that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them for Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins which they had committed under the first covenant. The way that we have to look back to the death of Christ as once for all was similar to the way that they had to look forward to it.

37:12 The blood of bulls and goats, this will go on to say, never could remove sin. But the fact that they were going by the law that God had given them was looking to him to be their provider. Even if you go back to Abraham and Isaac, God will provide a way, right? And he did. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

37:38 Now, when someone leaves a will, now, if you're reading along in your Bible and you hit covenant right there, it's the same word, covenant or will. This is a New Living Translation. I think it it probably helps set it off a little bit for those of us in this time frame. Now, now, when someone leaves a will, it's necessary to prove that the person who made it is actually dead, right? Yeah, the will that go into effect until they have died.

38:04 The will goes into effect only after the person's death while the person who made it is still alive. The the will cannot be put into effect. That's obvious but this is a covenant and it says that that's why even the first covenant, the first covenant that was put into effect, it was put in effect with the blood of an animal. Actually, if you look back through the covenants of God even in the garden, there was God killing to cover them, right? They were covered with the skins of an animal.

38:34 Before that, they were leaked. There is something that is necessary and it is the shedding of blood which sounds ridiculous to us and I'll go ahead and admit that but I think the reason it sounds ridiculous to us is because on this side of the cross, two thousand years and him having been once for all, we look back and we see other religions outside of Christianity that are still practicing these things. We think, how primitive? But just the fact that so many other copy, fake religions, things that are not real, There's something intrinsic and human about us that knows that we lack and that something needs to die. Chickens, goats The first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal.

39:25 Does that make sense to you all? That even even bad copies are still copies? That's why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal. For after Moses had read each of God's commandments to all of the people, he took the blood of calves and goats along with water and he sprinkled both the book of God's law and all the people using hyssop branches and scarlet wool. It sounds very bloody and pretty gory And then he said, this blood confirms the covenant that God has made with you.

39:56 It's on God to make this covenant. He put it out there but the covenant was, if you will be my people, I will be your God and it was really on the people to carry the weight of that. They had a law that told them where they sinned and he had made some arrangements for how they would go about it if they sinned in ignorance. Set up a priestly system that would point towards our eventual high priest in Jesus and set up the shedding of blood as what makes one. Acceptable.

40:29 Then he said, this blood confirms the covenant God has made with you and in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the tabernacle. That's that tent that they used to carry around and on everything else that was used for worship. In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. Nearly everything. Anything that was holy or consecrated or set apart was set apart with blood.

40:50 And then we have this landmark verse right here. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness for sin. A sacrifice is necessary. That that's why the tabernacle and everything in it which were copies of the things in heaven. Oh, here it is.

41:08 These earthly things, this tent had mass. It had weight. It had to be carried around. It wasn't the actual tabernacle of God. It was this earthly copy, a shadow of things that are actual in heaven and it had to be purified by the blood of animals but the real things in heaven really had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

41:35 For Christ did not enter into a holy place that was made with human hands which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. Are you with me still? I had somebody after the first service that I was with you up till verse 18. I said, chapter nine or chapter 10.

41:57 She said, chapter nine. I said, alright. You can go home and listen to the rest of it later. I'm just, I I know I'm just reading it and I don't normally do this. It is repetitive.

42:06 It's pointing out that the old covenant pointed to the new covenant and Jesus's covenant was the new one that was once for all. For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands which was a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf and he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again. Like the high priest here on earth who enters the most holy place on the day of atonement year after year with the blood of an animal. No.

42:36 If that had been necessary, then Christ would have had to die again and again and again but we know he died once for sins. If that have been necessary, Christ would've had to die again and again ever since the world began but now, once for all time, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice and just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes the judgment, So also then, Christ was offered once, just once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. It does not say all, okay? It's universalism is the heresy of our day. Where it's all the same.

43:25 All roads lead to heaven. Everybody's going to go in the end. Merciful God, loving God wouldn't do anything else. Nope. Sorry.

43:31 He says right here that it is for many but not for all. There are two paths you can go by. One is humility and the other is hubris quite honestly. It's either humility or pride and if you and your pride want to pay for your own sins, there is no way but if you in humility call out to God, everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. Just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgement, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people.

44:02 He will come again not to deal with our sins because he has already done that on the cross but he will come to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. Looking forward to the return of Christ is good for us. The old Christ sacrifices once for all. This is repetitive. I know he's already said this twice.

44:24 Now, we're going say it again. Christ sacrificed once for all. The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow and a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good thing themselves, the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. So, come in to worship God.

44:50 It was never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship God. If they could have been provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices then would have stopped For the worshipers would have been purified once for all time. And their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. At this time, these folks had been practicing this for fourteen fifty something years, more than almost fifteen hundred years. It had been in practice.

45:22 But it was repetitive all the time because it never ended. It was pointing towards what would end it and that was the death of Christ. So, can you imagine first century Jewish background believers when they trusted in the new covenant and the new and living way, the way, the truth, the life, and then they go to this and there's a feeling among them that the Greeks and the Romans at the time were saying, they don't worship the emperor, they don't worship our gods, they're atheists and the Jews were saying, you worship somebody that's not Elohim. You worship somebody that's not God in Jesus, right? That he's not a god.

46:04 You can't do that. We killed him for a reason, blasphemer. You need to come back to us and make sure that you're doing everything you can to deal with your sins. Well, they were doing everything that they could do to deal with their sins. They had turned over control to Christ, the way, the truth, the life but they're being tempted by persecution to go back to the old rites.

46:24 So, the writer of Hebrews is saying, don't go back to that old system that was just a shadow and a copy. Stick with this. Come what may no matter what because this is the way, the truth, the life. If they could've provided perfect cleansing sacrifices would have stopped for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. Now, do we still do sacrifices?

46:50 No. Because we have had the once for all. This is where this goes. Instead, those sacrifices actually just reminded them of their sins year after year. Now, that puts you in a position of either humility or hubris.

47:04 You can run from it and think I'm in my pride and this is just the way I am and come what may, I'll deal with the judgment on my own or you can say, I do have sin in my life. I missed it. I've missed the mark and I just trust you lord to be merciful however you want to do that. It's not possible for the blood of bull and goats to take away sins. That is why when Christ came into the world, he said to God, you did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings but you have given me a body to offer.

47:37 This is Psalm 46 through eight. The writer, writers of Hebrews always make Old Testament quotes to back up the point they're trying to make. You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings but you have given me a body to offer and you were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin and then I said, look, I have come to do your will, oh God, as it is written about me in the scriptures. Now, this is Jesus that is speaking this out to God. Psalm 46 through eight, Septuagint version, Greek version.

48:16 For Christ said, you did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin nor were you pleased with them. Though they were a part of the law of Moses. Then he said, look, I've come to do your will and he cancels that first covenant. In order to put in the second one into effect. For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

48:48 Everything else had been leading up to that and Jesus spoke it out. Psalm 40 spoke it out. Under the old covenant, the priest stands and he ministers before the altar day after day. Now, there's the holy place and there's the most holy place. So, day after day, they're in the holy place and they're going through their priestly duties standing and ministering, doing what it is they do.

49:08 The priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day offering the same sacrifices again and again. Yep. Today's bull and the goat. Bull and the goat. Whatever it is, it's the same after day after day after day until the day of atonement.

49:22 It gets to be the high priest going in with a rope around his leg just in case he doesn't purify himself. They can drag him back out there. Under the old kind of priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our high priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. And then he sat down.

49:50 You see the difference in that old priest standing and ministering day after day after day after day, and then Christ, when he had done what he alone could do, he sat down and where is he right now? He sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand. He's interceding for those who have placed their faith in him and there he waits until his enemies are humbled So, there are two paths you can go by. You can be a friend of God by the way of Jesus or you can be an enemy He waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet for by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. I like the progressive action of that verb because you can make a decision for Christ when you recognize the truth of the gospel and then you have to walk it out and you're not going to do it perfectly.

50:44 Message of the cross is, foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved, it's the very power of God. First Corinthians one eighteen. The message of the cross is foolish. What does the death of a first century Jew have to do with me? That's a common mock.

51:05 Like, I can't get why y'all even think that matters. Silly. It's foolishness to those who are perishing but to those of us who are being saved, it's the very power of God. The transformation offered and available to sinners in their sin is the death of Jesus on the cross and the spirit by which he lived, gifted to you. Upon your humbly asking.

51:32 Messages across also I might say from first Timothy one fifteen, this saying is trustworthy and it's deserving of full accept that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's why he came. Hebrews ten fifteen continues. More Old Testament quotes and the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so what Jesus has just said. He was going to offer his own body not bulls and goats.

51:56 The Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so for he says this and this is from Jeremiah 31. This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds and then he says and I will never again remember their sins and their lawless deeds. It's up to verse 17. Actually, 18 says this, and when sins have been forgiven, there's no need to offer any more sacrifices.

52:25 This communion we're about to go into right now is not a sacrifice. It's not something where I mediate this to you. I'm not standing up here on the platform and going, I have blessed this and now I'm your mediator and I'm offering a priestly service. No. I'm pointing towards and we are pointing towards the death of Christ as the only sacrifice that ever did anything to remove sin.

52:53 When the sins have been forgiven, there's no need to offer anymore sacrifices and I I love this. Next week, I'll go into verse 19 through 25. And so, because of all that, dear brothers and sisters, the whole last chapter and a half. And so, because of that, brothers and sisters, we can enter boldly into heaven's most holy place because of the blood of Jesus. When God looks at a believer's life, what he sees is the righteousness of Christ.

53:22 Amen. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life giving way through the veil, through the curtain into the most holy place. We'll go into nineteen through twenty five next week but we're going to go straight in at the time of communion. So, I'll invite up the frontline team right now. And Florian, would you come up play something pretty?

53:48 He called me over in the first service to sing something. You want me to sing something? Yeah. Okay. Alright.

53:55 Would you pray with me? Lord, considering that they had to look forward the way we have to look back at the only way that you would provide and Jesus being that only way. Lord, we see our lives and we are reminded of our own sin. I'm thankful for first John one nine that says, if we are confessing our sins, you're faithful and just to be forgiving us of our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. So, lord, for the the ways that we've bumped our head and we've stepped in a mess and we have ignorantly sinned against you.

54:29 We feel sorrow but godly sorrow that leads to repentance. We want to walk forward, lord and not keep on doing that but lord, right now, before we take communion and before we do this, it's a wide open table for anyone who believes in Jesus. Please do. Have us partake lord but you say don't partake unworthily. So, if we are knowledgeable about sin in our life and we recognize that and we're unwilling to give it up.

55:02 May we recognize that too. God, would you cleanse our consciences from these sins committed in error but for the things that we are outwardly, outwardly rebellious about and we're just going to do what we're going to do. Lord, would you recognize that that's not under the blood of Would you turn our hearts towards you? That we may in humility bow to me. And Lord from that place will you cleanse and purify us.

55:31 And sanctify us for your use. Will you consecrate us by the blood of Christ to be set apart for your use? In Jesus name, I ask you, Lord, to bless this cracker, this bread that we're distributing right now. And would you bless it lord for each one who would partake that they may sense a oneness with the whole body of Christ. All of Christendom, every believer throughout eternity who has put their faith in the one that God would provide.

56:01 The the perfect and holy spotless land and lord, for those of us who have to let it pass because we just don't believe that. I pray that you'd be at work even today in the lives of these other people in the words of this writer of Hebrews and then your own Holy Spirit urging them, convincing them of the goodness of God and conviction of their own sin. In Jesus name, I ask you to bless this as we distribute it. May we follow Jesus. Amen.

56:39 Speaker 2I can hear my savior calling

58:53 Speaker 1all of that. Imagine, I mean, we we all just spent the whole sermon. It's just been thirty minutes of build up to this, this new covenant But imagine that Hosea and Isaiah and Jeremiah all speaking of that time when it would come to pass and then on the night when Jesus was betrayed. He's sitting there after having washed his disciples' feet and gone through supper with them after supper. He took bread and he broke it and after he'd given thanks, he said to them, this is my body which is given for you.

59:25 This is my body which is given for you. They had seen him walk out this perfect life. They'd seen him withdraw in the wilderness. Pray they'd seen him cast out demons. They'd seen him in submission and mocking and scorn.

59:38 Flip out from among them and one of them at least knew of the betrayal that was to come. All of them had been warned about it. He said, this is my body which is given for you voluntarily. Take this and eat it. Do it as often as you will and remember it.

1:00:00 God, would you bless this cup without shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin and this is not a new shedding of blood. We're not killing animals, chicken, pigs, goats, nothing. You, lord, you. Tasked Jesus with coming to Earth and living out faith, perfect faith, and dying for that cause which was the remission of sins. Jesus blood is found the remission of sins.

1:00:29 Lord, would you bless this cup as a representation of it? May we celebrate the death of Jesus until he comes again. Specifically with the cup after supper after in the same manner that he had taken the bread, he said to his disciples, this is the new covenant in my blood. This is what ratifies this new covenant. It's my blood.

1:04:41 This is the testament. This is the new and living way. This is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. This is what draws us together with all other believers.

1:04:57 Put their faith.

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Communion Forgiveness Of Sin Hebrews High Priest New Covenant Old Covenant

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