Ep 438 | Hebrews 9 - Wade Branch 3/6/22

Good morning everyone. Good morning to you who are

familiar? Good morning to you, who maybe

we're still getting to know. We're glad to everyone who's

here today to share in the most important thing that we could

possibly do in our lives. The most important thing that we

could possibly do is to recognize the Creator who

brought us here, who designed us to formed us, who gave us hearts

that have eternity in them that we should gather together to

learn more about how to learn more about his word to study and

to sing Raise. And to remember the things that

we are alive for, what a wonderful day it is and we have

a beautiful day outside today. Spring is here, life is come and

I'm having a good day. I don't know about you, but it's

good to be here. This morning.

We're going to continue our study in the book of Hebrews.

Now there are several here who maybe weren't here as we've been

doing this study. So I'll try to kind of fill you

in as we go without going through, the whole Hebrew study

again but basically what we're studying is a book written by

This is unusual in the Bible but it's an unknown author.

We're not told who wrote this but we do know it comes from

God. God inspired the holy scriptures

to be written so that we could know his plan so that we can

know his will for us in our lives.

And so we know it came at least from God.

God designed the Bible and had it written through the Holy

Spirit and and We Know It Was Written who it was written to.

It was written to the Jews at the time who were transitioning

from this old I meant to the New Testament and you're like, what

in the world is that if you don't know, if you're not

familiar about this much of your Bible, the front half or front

will weigh more than half of your Bible, is the old Covenant,

that's where the Jews were under.

That's what the Old Testament. And the sacrificial system was

about before Jesus came, and this kind of division between

the two is where Jesus set up the New Covenant, what we live

under today, if you've seen movies, it's kind of like the

setup and the plot development and then Rising action.

The climax of the whole story and this is kind of where we're

studying in this climax where Jesus has come to fulfill the

setup that is the foundation of the world, the old Covenant,

that tells us God's will and his plan, this is what we're living

under today. This New Covenant and this

letter, we're studying is just a piece of that, but the the

unique part about this letter is, it's the transition point

between the two because there were people who were, who had to

make the switch. Now the A thing, I think we're

trying to relate to maybe the biggest with the Jews is they

had a lot of big changes to undergo and their religious

perspective and their life perspective.

And maybe that's the case for you.

Maybe you didn't grow up with this stuff, maybe this isn't

what you came from, you can relate to the Jews, the Hebrews

who are receiving this letter, because they have to learn about

this Messiah and accept this Messiah, whose come to save them

from their sins. Now, as will learn, hopefully,

they were waiting for it, and they should have been waiting.

But such as the case today, I guess we're not all waiting for

Jesus today but that's the goal. That's the goal is to always be

waiting for God's next step in his plan, both in our personal

lives and for the life and for the greater plan of God's will.

So we're reading in Hebrews chapter 9 up into this point and

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

the goal of the Hebrew writers to get these Jews to realize how

great and how much Divine Jesus is.

So we've talked about how in the early chapters Jesus has Other

than the, the prophets, he's greater than Angels, he's

greater than everything before in the Old Testament so that

they should listen to him. And now we're going to talk in

this in this chapter about the Tabernacle, and from the last

study, we talked about how in the Old Testament, that was

types of sacrifices that were made, there was a, an atonement

offering there was the the, the bread offering the peace

offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering.

So, the types of offerings In sacrifices to God, in the Old

Testament, we went over before and those themes will carry

through. And just to kind of bring us up

to speed and Hebrews chapter 8. The last couple verses before

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

chapter 9 that will read today, say this 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 in their mind

and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they

shall be my people. So this new law that God's going

to bring is going to be something that changes us from

the inside out. If you, if you've seen a lot of

religious activities, sometimes it can seem very rich.

Dualistic. The goal for God's people.

In this new covenant is to take it beyond the ritual to take you

in word to change us that way. Verse 11.

He said, none of them shall teach his neighbor and none of

them his brother saying know the Lord for everyone shall know.

Me from the least of them to the greatest of them.

From the poor man to the rich man from the from the lowly man

to the to the ruler. Everyone will know.

For I will be merciful to the unrighteousness and their sins

and their Lawless Deeds. I will remember no more.

He is going to forgive us in this new covenant.

Verse 13. The last verse of that chapter

in that he says a New Covenant, he has made the first obsolete.

So now what is becoming obsolete?

And growing old is ready to vanish away.

So that old Covenant that we talked about if the word

covenant is strange and unfamiliar just think the word

will someone who leaves behind a plan and a system that is their

will. And so this old law he said is

obsolete. It's now going away and ready to

vent a white van. Nashua and replaced by the new

law, okay? So Hebrews chapter 9 verse 1.

Hebrews 9:1

It says then indeed even the first Covenant had ordinances of

divine service and the Earthly Sanctuary.

Okay. So this Sanctuary is talking

about is going to be related to the physical presence that they

would set up for the religious people in Israel.

Okay, it might sound like a lot of terminology and things like

that for the people who are members here we've been studying

about this. We've studied several Times.

So, I hope not to belabor it too much because I think we've

gotten good practice in this area and study recently.

But this this Earthly Sanctuary, he's talking about the religious

setup that they used to have. And this is what was called The

Tabernacle. So this place was set apart.

So if you're thinking themes is a good thing to think for us New

Testament, Christians, what are the themes?

God had a place that was set apart.

There was a special place for God in the Old Testament.

It was first surrounded by specific dimensions of this.

These, this Veil, this Tabernacle is set up with an

outer area in which whereas the altar of sacrifice where we,

they would do those burnt offerings and they would have a

washing area and then this is where it got even closer and

closer to the presence of God you have this first area is

called the holy place and then right after After that, the

closest place to the presence of God for the Israelites was

called this, Most Holy place. And that's where the Ark of the

Covenant that we're going to talk about today.

That's where it was and that's where they would go to the

presence of God. So it was set apart.

It was, it was very specific and very designed to be intentional

with how they approached God. He wasn't someone who they would

just look up into the sky during that time and just go.

I know you're here somewhere. No.

There was a specific presence and they could pray to him and

things like that. But anyway, we'll get them.

So, this is what he's going to be talking about with this

Tabernacle, this Earthly Sanctuary verse 24.

A tabernacle was prepared the first part in which was the

lampstand. So this lampstand was the

candlesticks and it was what provided like for the holy

place. You know they don't have they

don't have light fixtures in there and so that Candlestick

was the plate was the thing that provided that In the light and

the table, and the showbread, which is called The Sanctuary.

So in this holy place, so we are talking about this area right

here. There are three main things.

There's a Candlestick, there's a table of showbread, and there's

an altar of incense three things.

Those three things had a special representation and to keep it

the beauty of God's word is, it's not just some religious

mumbo-jumbo. It's the showbread was had

twelve loaves of bread on it and those were to represent the 12

families or the 12 tribes of Israel.

So it was a symbol of God's fellowship with his people.

Then you have the altar of incense that was representation

of the prayers of the people going before, God.

And so as they would like that, incense it would float through

the curtains and into the room and even into the presence of

God. So you have something that

represents prayer. We do that today.

Very simple, the prayer we have fellowship with God and the

light that God provides to us represented in the Candlestick.

And it even looks like a tree. I think, is the idea is to

symbolize the tree of life that God brings to us Okay.

So we have the table. The showbread.

So this is the sanctuary. This is the setup of the Earthly

sanctuary in the Old Testament. We don't have this anymore.

Another picture of it. Verse 3 and behind the second

Veil, the part of the Tabernacle which is called the holiest of

all. So there's a first Veil to enter

the holy place and just kind of like a curtain, separating it?

And then the second Veil is, what goes to the holiest of all?

Where God's presence was verse 4, which had the golden censer

and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid on all sides with gold.

So, as we've been reading through the Old Testament, all

those did everything was so suspicious, so specific and So

precious, they had precious stones and precious materials to

cover, even the wood of these boxes.

Overlaid on all sides with gold and which were the golden pot

that had Manna. Now the Ark of the Covenant is a

symbol of God's presence with the people as you read through

the Old Testament. What happens with the ark really

determines, what's happening is with God's people, when the ark

is taken away from God's people and it's not in their hands,

they're, they're separate, they're losing battles.

But when the art comes with them, it's God's presence is

strengthening them and they win and they it's a symbol.

It's all themes that are carried even into what we can understand

today. The presence of God and this Ark

of the Covenant. So that was overlaid on all

sides with gold and which were the golden pot.

So inside there's a golden part pot that had the Manna and

Aaron's Rod that budded and had the tablets of the covenants.

Okay? So if three things inside of the

Ark of the Covenant, the the first thing was the Manna and in

case you're not familiar with that, and the Old Testament.

God did some incredible things. They're hard to Fathom, but when

his people needed food out in the middle of the desert, he

brought down food from the skies and it was like Dew on the

ground in the morning and they called that mana.

And what's interesting is that they kept Semana in this golden

pot as a memorial and as a symbol.

But we took we're told in the Old Testament if they kept it

for more than Than a day. Or if they kept too much, it

would grow worms and it would stink and rot immediately,

because God wanted them to have Manna every day.

And he would God wanted them to come to him for the food.

And from the bread from heaven. But what's interesting is, God

somehow, preserve that because that wasn't a bucket full of

worms. It was, it was Mana as symbol so

that they would remember. It had Aaron's Rod that budded

in the Old Testament. God's people started to go up

against Aaron and say, hey, why, why are you getting all the

power? Why you getting all the

authority? What's wrong with us?

Why can't we have some power? And Aaron was like, guys, this

is not me, this is not my deal, God set me up.

I'm not the one choosing it. I'm just serving in the way God

has asked me to And the way that the way that they settled this

is Aaron, God told Aaron to do this.

And so they all took their staffs up and they set them and

one area together, and Aaron's Rod was set apart to show that.

He was the leader and that his Rod a grew and blossomed out of

this stick. This dead chopped off, stick

started to grow and Blossom buds.

And I believe it said he, it even had almonds come off of,

it's fascinating. The detail in that the

confirmation of God's will and his plan and his leaders, and

the Old Testament and the tablets of the Covenant.

So, when this was originally written this whole Old

Testament, it was written on tablets of stone.

And so, those stone tablets were the third thing that were inside

of there. Now, really, when you think

about these things, these are all things that should symbolize

and carried a wait for them. That was - it reminded them a

lot of their failures if you think about Mana well, it

reminded them that God was there to provide for them but how much

they failed and complain against God to get that mana and how

much they complain about and when they got that man, are they

wanted Quail? They wanted something else.

There's a it was a reminder of their own failure, Aaron's Rod,

that budded that was a reminder of them going against God's plan

and God's leadership. And then the Covenant, there was

a time where those tablets were Split air Moses would got so

angry. He split them, he broke them.

And that was a covenant, they that they could not keep

perfectly. But it was in this it was in

this Covenant. That was God's presence in God's

will was surrounding it, verse 5 and above it.

So Above This Covenant on top kind of like a lid where the

cherubim of Glory overshadowing, The Mercy Seat of these things.

We cannot now speak in detail. Okay?

So these chair of them were like those, those winged creatures,

those angels. These are the same creatures

that were described in the, in the exit of Garden in Genesis

when when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, God

Place cherubim there to guard it and there was a flaming sword

twirling around to keep them out.

So it's fascinating. Now that that God is trying to

make a way for his people to come back to him and to be

reconciled. And to be taken to him that

there are cherubim they're showing where God's presence is

in the holiest of all. Verse 6.

Now, when these things have been thus prepared, so all of these

symbols in the Tabernacle, when these things have been prepared,

the priests always went into the first part of the Tabernacle

performing the services, okay? So in their system, you had the

levitical priesthood. So that was a family of Levi,

who were the priests one man was the, was the high priest, but

they had these priests who would go through and do these

services. So the services they did, they

would come put new bread. They put fresh bread every day.

On that table and they would they would like incense and

offer prayers. And they would add oil to the

lamps to keep it running because the oil was the fuel and the

lamp. That was keeping that Lit, that

light was supposed to never go out in the Tabernacle.

So they were every single day going in and Performing these,

these little services. Verse 7, but into the second

part, so the most holy place, the high priest went alone once

a year, just the high priest, not without blood, which he

offered for himself, and for the people's sins committed in

ignorance. So this holy place this Most

Holy Place, only the high priest went in, and he went in once a

year twice on that day, he went in the two reasons, it says

here, he had to go in first and offer atonement for himself.

Self. Then he went in afterward a

second time to offer atonement for the people of Israel and he

would take blood in there and sprinkle it on The Mercy Seat,

this place where the chairman and the lid are, this is called

The Mercy Seat. Now think about the presence of

God. God, I was hurt, I read it,

described God looking down. He might see those articles in

the in the Ark of the Covenant, the symbols of their failure in

their inability to keep the Old Law and their continual

Rebellion. But when that blood Sprinkled on

The Mercy, Seat God had mercy and he saw the blood of the

sacrifice, instead of just seeing those symbols of their

failure. And that was called atonement

day, one day a year was called atonement day, where there was

blood sprinkled. They're very, very intentionally

on The Mercy Seat, it was not without blood.

So, that's kind of the theme. We're going to get two of

connecting it to Jesus and Jesus is blood.

Is that there was even blood offered in the Old Testament on

The Mercy Seat. And it's interesting here that

it talks about it's offered for the sins committed in ignorance.

When I was kind of starting to become more aware of things in

our faith system and understanding the way God works.

It fascinated me. I remember asking my dad, you

know, how does God forgive us for our sins?

That we don't even know we're doing if you think about it, I

mean, that's probably the majority of our sins and in the

more we grow older and the more we grow up, we realized Our

faults more and more. And we start to peel back the

layers of our own selfishness. Our own Pride, our own Wrongs in

our hearts, there are so many layers of our individual wrong.

How in the world does God, forgive us for that.

And even the Old Testament, there was a way for them to have

to have those sins covered in to have those sins atone for its

beautiful that God understands, where we're at let's be real we

all have deep issues on some level or another And maybe we've

gotten some progress in those, maybe we have it but God is

concerned with taking care of us that he even understands and

takes care of the sins. We commit ignorance.

As long as we are trying to follow his plan, okay.

It's not like we can just be ignorance, is bliss?

Because we learned the New Testament that that Paul was

persecuting the church and Indian and going against the

Jesus, ignorantly. So it's not like you can just

live in ignorance obviously, but God understands when his people

Who are following him? That were not just going to be

there, right? When you start maturation helps

overcome sin and it makes send pop up less often, but we still

have issues to overcome and God understands us on that level

from the, from the beginning. Until now, Verse 8, the Holy

Spirit, indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all

was not yet made manifest. While the first Tabernacle was

still standing. Okay, so the fact that only one

man could go in once a year to do this.

It's showing us that there's not really a way in there, yet,

while this first Tabernacle this Earthly Tabernacle in the Old

Testament, and those ways had not given them a way to really

access the holiest of all, Just the fact that they had to do

that once a year, it's like we're waiting on something,

aren't we? Something else has to happen

because this can't be it and that's true.

And on top of that to kind of give a little more color to what

would happen with this. The priest had bells on the

bottom of his garments and he had a rope tied around his foot

as security, because if that priest came in there and he

wasn't ceremonial clean ceremonially ceremonially clean

He might be struck dead on the spot.

So if he hits the floor, nobody's going else is going in

there because only the high priest can go in there.

So if someone else were to go in there and get him, they would

die. And so they had a rope tied

around his foot so that if he happened to be killed in there

or for some reason died, they could pull him out.

So as we started to understand the gravity of the Old Law and

God's presence that will help us to understand the new law and

how great Jesus is to counteract.

The sin problem that we have and how it separates, what separates

us from God. God's presence was so great.

He didn't want them to take it lightly.

He had a way for them to be ceremonially clean and to the

where they could come into His presence and his Holiness and

not be defiled, and this seems like a crazy reality.

Why in the world would a good God?

Just strike somebody dead. He was coming to talk to him.

There are realities that we don't fully comprehend because

we don't fully live in it in a way that is aware of them all

the time. We don't talk to people who do

the kinds of things that God can do on a daily basis.

We talk to people who get tired and have to sleep every 16 hours

like we do. We get tired.

We have to interact with people who have failures in faults.

We're not dealing on a daily basis face to face with a God

who can literally raise people from the dead.

And who created the world. So when we try to understand

him, it's helpful to understand that we're not dealing with

someone who's like us. So that if he demands something

OS and ask something of us, we should seriously respect it and

take it for the gravity that holds.

And we'll talk about this more in a minute.

Verse 9, these things we've talked about it was symbolic for

the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are

offered, which cannot make him who perform the service.

Perfect in regard to the conscience concerned only with

foods and drinks various Washings and fleshly ordinances

imposed until the time of reformation, okay.

That was a lot of maybe words that might be hard to

understand. So it was symbolic the Old law

was symbols, that word in Greek is Parabola.

It's a parable of the things that would come.

It's not the real thing. The old, let the Old Testament

was full of symbols for the present time in which both gifts

and sacrifices that we've already talked about those are

offered, but they cannot make him and perform the service.

Perfect, it doesn't make him completely complete, it makes

him a toned for for a time. It makes him clean for a But it

doesn't make him perfect and regard to the conscience.

And as we strive to serve God, we have to be aware of the fact

that no kind of ritualistic thing.

We do by itself can make us clean and conscience.

We can all come to worship today and do what are really.

These are rituals a ritual isn't necessarily against God's will.

It's just something that you do have like on a regular basis as

part of your routine of Performing tasks.

We seen we commune around the Lord's table, we pray, those are

rituals. And so if we do those things and

we expect that alone to make us pure and perfect and clean in

our conscience. It's not going to be enough.

That is what Jesus calls only on the outside, a whitewash to,

that's what the Jews were called, in the New Testament by

Jesus. So, these things could not

perfectly take care of the sin problem of man.

They were only concerned with foods and drinks and various

Washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of

reformation It's interesting about those various Washings as

a side note. This is really the point, the

Riders getting out, but if you look into some of those

Washings, it's fascinating that God knew.

So God knew so much before any of our modern medicine did part

of the Washings that they would do.

And part of the cleansing process is.

If you were made unclean by let's say touching a dead body,

you are considered ceremonially unclean.

You couldn't come into the presence of God so you had to be

purified. Fide.

And so they have they would have this water that your purified

with. Okay ceremonially.

That's kind of the picture but practically speaking, the way

they made that water of purification is they would take

a burnt sacrifice. They would take its ashes and

they would run water through those ashes.

And that was your cleansing water and they would apply it

with hyssop, okay? Ashes and hyssop are both now

known today to be antibacterial and antiviral.

That's when you run water through ashes.

It collects the chemical lie and lie, is what many people in the

early settlement days we're using to make soap, it was a

modern or ancient version of soak, that really, they were

using. They might not have even known

in too much quantities. Like can be bad for you.

And it can be damaging, but in the right quantity, it is like

soap, God was having them be ceremonially cleanse with

something. They probably didn't even

understand to be antiviral and then it was applied with hyssop

will show you a picture of his up in a minute but it's just a

plant has thymol in it or time all however you pronounce it and

that is what we use in mouthwashes.

A lot of times today. On the leaves.

There were gross. A type of mold that produced

penicillin. So there were all these things

going into the process of the cleansing.

Ceremony that maybe it helped. Keep them healthy, I don't know,

but at least it was scientifically Way Beyond what

we can ever understand today. That can't be an accident.

That can't be just have happened.

God is behind Even things like this in the Old Testament where

man didn't know what was going on.

God knew The last verse said, these things.

We're insufficient. So they were, they were

insufficient by themselves, but they are a very important and we

learn from Romans 12:1. I, it tells us there.

Romans 12:1

Paul says, I beseech you therefore Brethren by the

mercies of God, that you present, your bodies, a Living

Sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable

service. So, all these things they were

doing alone. Weren't going to cleanse them

and conscience perfectly and nothing.

We do. today, when our works alone, can cleanse our

consciences but It is just our reasonable service.

It is what we should logically do.

If our God is this great and this merciful to us we should

just reasonably respond by wanting to serve him with

everything that we have verse 11.

But I but Christ came as high priest of the good things to

come with the greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with

hands. So he is not the high priest

according to the Earthly Tabernacle, he's got a high

priesthood that's going way beyond that.

To the good things to come things that we as the church are

just kind of participating in in Hope Of Heaven.

That's coming the good things to come with the greater and more

perfect Tabernacle not made with hands, God's Tabernacle head.

The Heavenly places that we are going to that.

We are heading for That's what Jesus came to prepare.

He came to prepare, not someplace that was 10 by forty,

five and Fifteen by fifteen with a certain amount of elements.

No, he came for a perfect and Heavenly Tabernacle that he

wants us to join him in one day, these things are not made with

men's hands. Like the Earthly Tabernacle was

The good things to come was even symbolized in the the lampstand.

It was meant to look like the tree of life and Jesus.

In the New Testament was crucified on a tree.

He came bringing good things even through his death and

through his suffering verse 12, not with the blood of goats and

calves but with his own blood, he entered the most holy Place

once for all having obtained. Eternal Redemption once for all

Jesus suffered And he saved us eternally to redeem, something

has to pay for it, and he bought our Eternal salvation and our

Eternal Redemption with his own blood.

For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer,

splink sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of

the flesh. How much more shall the blood of

Christ? Who through the eternal spirit

offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience

from dead Works to serve the Living God.

So, remember, he's writing this to people who were used to the

fact that you could perform a sacrifice and become clean.

So that they were, so the point of the writer is saying Is that

if those bulls and goats who were sacrificed made them

Sanctified, or set apart and purified to be able to be in

God's presence for the purifying, it's all language

that in the Old Testaments being clean before God, we don't want

to be dirty before God. We want to be clean because we

have to be clean to come into His presence. if all of that,

there was animals Made us pure how much more shall the blood of

Christ? The perfect sacrifice in every

way who through the eternal spirit both.

His spirit that is eternal and is aware of what he was doing,

eternally and the Holy Spirit, who planned this and and made

this plan into go into effect. He offered himself without spot.

He was a perfect sacrifice. Like in the Old Testament there

animals had to be a great animal.

It had to be the pick of the litter, it had to be the best of

their flock without spots that made an ugly animal.

Jesus was without spot in his character and his morality.

How much more selfish Jesus cleanse, your conscience from

dead Works to serve the Living God, those dead works.

I believe are kind of two fold. Any kind of dead work.

Any kind of sinful act that you might do.

Then I might do that. Should that should cleanse us?

His blood will cleanse us from those dead works and the sinful

lives that we've lived in the past.

But I think specifically to the context, he's talking more hear

about the dead Works associated with the Old Law, those old law

acts of sacrifice and ritual alone did not make them

eternally pure. So in that sense, they were dead

and when the New Covenant came they would be completely

irrelevant. God doesn't want people anymore

to sacrifice animals. He sacrificed Jesus, once for

all So that we could leave behind these dead works of just

killing an animal that poor animal day.

After day, after day, we can take comfort in that we have

freedom in conscience and then our Spirits from the Eternal

consequences of dead Works to serve the Living.

God, We already talked about. Here's a couple pictures of

that, lye soap, I was talking about.

They were use those ashes and sprinkling the unclean.

And here's a picture of hyssop that plant that they would use

to sprinkle with verse 15. And for this reason, he is the

mediator. Jesus is the mediator of a New

Covenant and new will by means of death for the Redemption of

the transgressions under the first Covenant.

Again, Redemption means paid for and transgressions means our

sins. What?

We've done to go against God under the first Covenant that

those who are called may receive the promise of the Eternal

inheritance. Now, some people think that,

that there's a limited calling, you know, God hasn't called

everyone and the reality is, in the New Testament, we see Jesus

talking about using language. Like, hey, if you want to hear

hear, if you can, if you will change your heart, if you will

have an open heart, you are called You are called if you

will accept God's will. So if you're wondering, am I one

of those called people? Like what you are today, you're

hearing it today. God is calling everyone.

Who will hear him? Jesus said, he who has ears to

hear, Let Him hear. That those who are called may

receive the promise of the internet of the Eternal

inheritance. Maybe you're not familiar with

what God's offered us. I don't have any pictures up

here to show you God's Eternal inheritance.

I think we experience God's and her intern Eternal inheritance

and glimpses. Here the moments that are pure

and joyful in the moments that are designed by God, to be

reflections of the light that he wants to bring to us.

The beauties of Life are just mere glimpses into the Eternal

peace satisfaction Joy. And life that we have in him.

I don't have any pictures of that. and so if you hear that

message, And you hear about eternal inheritance and you're

like, what in the world? How does something be eternal?

We don't know yet. We haven't seen it yet, but what

we do know is that It is the greatest thing we could ever

possibly imagine more. And if we are trying to count

the cost of being a Christian today, if you're one, who's

trying to decide, whether I should be a Christian, because

that's what the New Testament says.

Before you make a commitment like this, you need to count the

cost and see what it's worth. Being a Christian involves not

giving part of yourself. That's watered-down.

God wants you to give everything to him.

And he will take care of us. Abundantly if we are willing to

do that, In my business classes in college, we called it return

on investment. This is a no brainer.

If you, if you have an investment today that you see

can prospectively give you 30% return on investment, you will

run out of your shoes to go by that investment.

Because if you're making thirty percent of ten thousand dollars,

you making 3 Grand a year on an investment, that's good.

We understand temporal Investments.

Do, but do we understand how great our investment is here,

how great our investment should be of our effort, in our time,

in our life? But do we understand what we're

giving God? Do we understand?

We're giving God our whole lives to the point that he will give

us an eternal life. This Beyond any percentage

return we could ever imagine if we would ever be excited about

making 200,000 dollars in the stock market this year, We

should know that we logically would drop all of that, if it

meant, that we had to sacrifice for the return of Heaven, the

return of a neat having Eternal inheritance that we cannot even

fathom. If you're one of these young

people here today, who doesn't know what inheritance is?

It's with some, it's what someone leaves behind for you,

when they're gone. Jesus has left an eternal in

Eternal inheritance for us. For where is from?

Where there is a testament or a will, or a covenant.

There must also of necessity, be the death of the testator.

So the person who writes that Testament or the Covenant, the

parent in a situation where they're going to leave behind a

will they have to die before? Their will goes into effect for

a testament? Or will or a covenant is in

force after? Men are dead since it has no

power at all? While the testator lives.

Therefore, not even the first Covenant.

Was that was dedicated without blood.

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people.

So, no Moses delivering the Old Law.

He took the blood of calves and goats with water Scarlet, wool,

and hyssop and sprinkled, both the book itself and all the

people Verse 20 saying this is the blood of the Covenant, which

God has commanded you. Then likewise he sprinkled with

blood? Both the Tabernacle and all the

vessels of the ministry. Everything we've talked about

this morning, Moses went through and sprinkled all that with

blood, everything on blood. And according to the law, almost

all things are purified with blood.

And without shedding of blood, there is no remission.

So here's a pic kind of picture of what might look like with

Moses sprinkling, the book and all the people.

And we have a parallel of Jesus, pouring out his blood for the

forgiveness. And what we're going to partake

of today is the blood of the Covenant, the New Covenant saves

us. That's that part of the verse

that says and without shedding of blood, there is no remission.

This has been a theme that we just kind of need to understand

about God's the world of God runs that.

Even in the beginning, when Adam and Eve sinned in, they were

separated from God or they were in pure before God because of

their sin, he covered them with coats of fur.

The very beginning. Before the Old Law was even set

up an animal had to die, to be given fur to cover them for

their sins. And then obviously, in the Old

Testament, like we've already talked, about the sacrifices,

and in the New Testament, Jesus, is that shedding of blood verse

23. Therefore, it was necessary that

the copies of the things in the heavens, should be purified with

these, but the Heavenly things themselves with better

sacrifices than these. So the copies the lampstand and

and and the the Covenant, all these things that the Old

Testament, cleansed all those copies should be purified with

the blood of animals, but the Heavenly things the true,

Heavenly things need to be Need to be covered with a better

sacrifice, and that better sacrifices.

Jesus, because he is number one, perfect.

Because you is number two voluntary.

Because he was a rational sacrifice.

And because he was motivated by motivated by love.

He is the perfect sacrifice, he wasn't something, it was given

against his will. It was all within his will.

Verse 24 for Christ has not entered.

The holy places made with hands. He hasn't come to some Earthly

setup Tabernacle, which are copies of the true, but into

heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us, it's

not shocking to me that Jesus appears in the presence of God.

He is great. We've established through this

study that Jesus is greater than the angels.

He is one with God, but it's fascinating to me that he's

there to appear for us to me. That Jesus is in the presence of

God for us, Romans 8, verse 31 Echoes.

Romans 8:31

This thought. What then shall we say to these

things if God is for us? Who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us

all. How shall he not with him also

freely? Give us all things that Eternal

inheritance, he will freely give it to us, who shall bring a

charge against God's elect, is it?

It is God. Who justifies?

Who is he? Who condemns it is Christ who

died. And And furthermore is also

risen who is even at the right hand of God who also makes

intercession for us. Jesus, is there at the right

hand of God, pleading on our behalf who shall separate us

from the love of Christ, shall tribulation shall distress or

persecution or famine or nakedness or Peril or sword as

it is written for your sake. We are killed all day long.

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him

who loved us. Us for.

I am persuaded that. Neither death, nor life, nor

angels, nor principalities nor powers nor things present, nor

things to come nor height nor depth, nor any other created

thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which

is in Christ. Jesus, our lord.

If God is for us, then who can be against us, He is interceding

with God in the real, Heavenly places not in some copy.

Heavenly Tabernacle set up with these Dimensions but in a

Heavenly place for on our behalf, not that he should offer

himself often as the high priest, enters the most holy

place every year with the blood of another Jesus isn't going to

sacrifice multiple times because he then would have had to suffer

often since the foundation of the world.

That's not what happened though. But now once at the end or the

consummation, the the build-up of all the ages, he has appeared

to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And is appointed and as it is appointed for men to die once.

But after this, the judgment, Just like we're going to die

once and that's it, just like that.

So Christ was offered once to Bear the sins of many He's

trying to get them to see that the system is very different.

They're not going to have continual, sacrifice has Jesus

was so great. He was a one-time thing to

those. To those who eagerly wait for

him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for

salvation. So this the fact that Jesus is

going to come once there are some religions in the world.

Believe that believe that we are reincarnated year after year,

lifetime after Lifetime, and it's all based on how you were

in the previous life and some of those Eastern religions.

If you're a good person, you'll take a step up, maybe if you

were a grasshopper this year, you'll be a squirrel and it's It

sounds funny, but it's really what they believe.

You'll take a step up to then maybe being a gopher and then

maybe you're a rabbit and maybe a deer.

And then your person, if you're bad, you go down, maybe your

grasshopper next and then some kind of larvae That's really

what some people believe. You have multiple lifetimes and

never ends until you become you become a poor man and then you

become a rich man and he become a ruler.

And then you reach nirvana in your, and just part of the

existence of the world, you're part of the rocks and the trees,

you're no longer. A person or an animal, you are

just part of the the world's consciousness.

That sounds so stressful. I'm tired.

Just thinking about that. Can't imagine how some of you

who are a little bit older you're tired.

You want to wake up as a squirrel and have to do it all

over again. We have one shot.

But Jesus gave his only shot for us.

So that we can eagerly wait for him today.

We can eagerly wait today and it's almost sad to me that I

think of it like a foregone conclusion, Jesus probably isn't

going to come today, but he literally could come to that.

That's the world view that we're told.

He's going to come sometime and people are going to not be

expecting it. So I just want you to be ready

all the time. That's how when, you know,

somebody's devoted to you as if they're waiting for you all the

time when you're there. Jesus said we're told that to

those who eagerly wait, he's going to come back to us apart

from sin. The first time he was dealing

with the whole sin problem. He had a lot of that on his

shoulders and that was his whole mission to deal with this sin

mess. But he's coming apart from that.

He's not coming to deal with sin when he comes back.

He's coming to get those who are his For salvation.

And today, you can be one who eagerly Waits Sorry, one more

thing. I just thought we were done one

more thing. This is the last slide.

How in the world? Can Eternal salvation be so

eternal? Yoke is.

How can one sacrifice for all time?

Be enough for me to just enjoy, enjoy it.

Millions and millions of years. No, end of all those.

Good things in God's presence. The only answer that I can have

this morning is that? That's how great our sacrifices,

that's how great the payment is that Jesus bought for us, it's

hard to Fathom it because it paid for millions of years of

peace and God's presence. And on the flipside of that Y is

eternal suffering. So, Eternal, why can't it just

be like maybe five days and in punishment, or whatever?

Because that's, that's beyond me.

Why is it Eternal suffering? That will be for those who do

not want God in their lives? It's because Divine Justice is

just that way. Because if we are not going to

have Jesus cover our sins, we have to pay for it ourselves and

just like that sacrifice. We would have to be punished day

after day and year after year because we can never pay for our

sins. It is on an unending problem.

It's either an unending solution or an unending problem.

If we try to fix it on our own, if we try to solve our own

problems to the point that we think we're just good enough to

get into heaven, we cannot pay for it on our own, and we cannot

suffer enough in eternity to pay the price.

That was our sins, undealt with We if we do not pay for that.

Or if Jesus is not pain for that we have to do eternally.

Just like those animals who are sacrificed day after day year

after year. I can just imagine God pleading,

you cannot carry this burden on your own here and you cannot

carry the burden of your sin and Eternity.

He's pleading with us today. He's pleading with mankind.

You can't carry this. It's literally going to be your

eternity because you'll never pay for it.

But the good news is. Jesus did no booster needed note

10,000-year booster. Once we get to heaven, we need a

booster for this vaccine, probably to make it really what

it should be for us. You don't need that with Jesus.

He did it once and he can continually cleanse you.

So if you're not part of that, if you're not waiting eagerly

earnestly for that Eternal Redemption, why not today?

The Bible offers us a plan to join that.

First obviously to understand something, we have to hear it.

We have to believe it. We have to repent.

What? You just means.

You know what, I was living the way I wanted to live.

I want to live the way God wants me to live now, because I

believe in his plan and I believe all of the best life

because I could possibly, imagine we can repent of Our

Lives confess. That Jesus Christ is the Son of

God, we learned that no man can come to the father, but by

Jesus. And so we must confess Jesus

before men, and be baptized for the remission of our sins Acts

Acts 2:38

2:38 to contact Jesus's blood that it cleanses us, and makes

us eternally. Whole and forgiving, if you've

done that today and you've Fallen away, we're here.

That's why we have a church body at church family to get back on

the right track together to pray one for another.

But if you're in that position, if it's not a public thing, you

can take care of it, your seat. But today don't put it off any

longer. You want to join God's family

today, you can do that while we stand while we see.

We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the

Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you

would like any additional information or you would like to

receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.

Please email us at info at True Church of Christ

Bakersfield.com. Our service times are on Sundays

at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our

honored guest.