Hebrews 9

Hebrews chapter 9.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

We um have been going through Hebrews 7, all the book of Hebrews.

Now, the thing though about these chapters from like Hebrews 6, 7, 8, 9, very technical material, primarily communicating to a Jewish audience that Jesus is a better high priest.

In fact, the whole book of Hebrews is about how Jesus is better.

Can you say that?

Jesus is better?

Jesus is better.

Okay, good.

Let's move to the next book now that we got that.

No, now there's really important material that's here, and partly our appreciation for this material comes from being able to put ourselves into the shoes of the original reader.

These were Jews who came to understand that Jesus is their Messiah, that Jesus is the fulfillment of Judaism.

Now, if you were a Jew, a good practicing Jew, you were familiar with the Torah and all the instructions that God had given to your people about how to worship him.

That Moses had had this spectacular encounter on Mount Sinai where God had explained to these people look, this is how you can hear from God.

Here's how you can have your sins atoned for.

Here's how to live a clean and right life.

Here's how to do society well.

And this vision had been given to this group of people that they would be God's chosen people, a royal priesthood.

This is a fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob.

God did this incredible work to form this nation that would worship Yahweh in the midst of these pagan nations and had stood up a people called to himself.

And yet, through the story of Israel, we see that it wasn't God's fault that this failed, but because it rested upon human obedience, the old covenant, this message to Moses and everything that was instructed there, it ultimately failed because humans are not good at obeying.

We're utterly inconsistent at the end of the day.

Unable to be a consistent and obedient people.

So Hebrews is written to Christians who are kind of a little ways along in their walk and they're being coached and told listen, don't give up.

You need to persevere.

You need to submit to God.

You need to let Him work in your life.

So here's what we're going to do this morning.

We're going to do this flyover on chapter 9.

It's going to cover a lot of the same material that we've been looking at.

And here's what I want you to do: I want you to be listening for the Holy Spirit to speak to you as we go through this text.

We're going to cover 28 verses in the next few minutes.

That's a lot of material to cover.

That's a lot of material to cover.

And so here's what I here's what I want.

When we study the Bible together, we're not just, it's not like we're going to finish the Bible and then we're going to pick up Huckleberry Finn, right?

We're going to just keep studying the Bible together, right?

This is God's word to us.

And it's written by the Holy Spirit.

So God's Spirit is in you.

If you're a follower of Jesus, one of the gifts you receive is this gift of the Holy Spirit, and He will take and make His text alive to you and I.

So I'm going to give commentary as we're going along, but what I want you to be listening for this morning is what does the Holy Spirit, what phrase?

Maybe it's not even just a verse, but even shorter than one verse.

Maybe it's just a phrase that stands out.

And it's like a cold, refreshing drink of water on your lips, your parched lips.

You've done this whole week and you're spiritually hungry, and the Holy Spirit's just got this ordained moment where you're going to intersect with Scripture and God's going to speak to you something that you need to hear.

In the first ten verses, let's look at this.

This is going to be the old covenant ministry.

Now, look, if you're new to the Bible, you just need to know you got two parts to your Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The New Testament is the story of Jesus, and all the material leading up to that is just priming you and I as the reader about Jesus coming into the world.

And it's a long story, helping us see that no other human could have accomplished God's good purpose, and that we needed a perfect human that is God in the flesh that would come and rescue us and be our Messiah.

The story is told through the nation of Israel, and they are told by God, hey, here's the way to worship in anticipation of this Messiah.

Not everything was revealed, it is revealed in waves.

And so the reader, the writer, uh, this pastor who wrote Hebrews 2,000 years ago, he's saying, Hey, I want to explain to you for 10 verses, I want to explain to you the old covenant ministry and what it looked like.

Let's look at that.

Verse 1.

Now, the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary.

Okay, so there is a place where the children of Israel would worship.

That was in the sanctuary.

Another name for that is the tabernacle or the tent of meeting.

And the first covenant, this is the covenant that Moses got from God and gave to the children of Israel.

If you want to read more about that, not this morning, but when you're on your own with your Bible, this week you can read Exodus 19 through 24.

But it really kind of goes into the book of Leviticus.

That's the first covenant.

And it had regulations for how to do ministry, right?

There were rules of how these priests would lead people in worship.

For a tabernacle was set up, right?

So this tent of meeting was set up, and there was a first room.

In the first room, which is called the holy place, there in that room there was a lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves.

So you go over to Exodus and Leviticus and you begin to read about these different pieces of furniture that were put into the tabernacle.

So imagine that this was a tabernacle, okay?

And up till this point where the curtain goes across here, this would be the place that's called the holy place.

This would be the where the priests are serving, and there's some specific stuff that's in the holy place.

A lampstand.

Now, that lampstand, the light could never go out, right?

They were just supposed to keep the light burning.

And it was one of those things that symbolized the presence of God in the midst of his people.

And then you had the table, and on that table there would be these loaves of bread that were offered to God.

They and themselves had this symbol that God is there for a meal with his people.

Now, every day these people would eat bread.

Bread was a part of their diet, and yet God had his special bread that was there, symbolizing just the fact that God is there in your midst.

He wants to eat with you and dine with you.

That God is a God of that's created this whole idea of food to be a picture of fellowship.

Verse 3.

Behind the second curtain, so imagine we drew the curtain here to section off the room.

Behind the curtain, there was a tent that uh behind the curtain was a tent called the most holy place.

So in the front was called what?

The holy place.

Behind the curtain was called what?

The most holy place, also known as what?

The Holy of Holies, right?

That's what we call it.

So you're tracking with me.

You've hold these.

I mean, you've seen Indiana Jones, that's the third one, right?

So you know exactly what we're talking about.

Right.

Thank you, Danny.

Verse 4.

It had the gold altar.

Now, this is the most holy place.

The Holy of Holies had the gold altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant, right?

So this space would smell a particular way because of the incense that was burning there.

And the Ark of the Covenant, it was covered in gold.

So we have this wooden box that looked like a coffin or smaller coffin.

It's covered in gold, and the gold jar containing inside of it was the manna.

So they saved some of this miracle bread that God fed the children of Israel with.

That was inside of the ark.

And then there is also Aaron's staff that budded.

That's another crazy story from the children of Israel's history.

It established the Levitical priesthood and the authority of Aaron's family.

Hey, this is the family that's supposed to be the priests.

So they kept that crazy stick that budded.

And then you have the tablets of the covenant.

What's that?

That's Charlton Heston, right?

Coming down off the mountain with the Ten Commandments.

That's what he's talking about, right?

The Ten Commandments that went into this ark as well.

So the pastor here is drawing out this picture of what it looked like in Israel's day, this space for worship.

The cherubim of glory, the cherubim of glory were above the ark.

So there's kind of like this crown lid on top of the Ark of the Covenant, overshadowing the mercy seat.

It's not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.

In other words, we don't have enough time, right?

He's already spent a few chapters going through this material.

We can't go too much more detail into this.

He could be saying that.

He could also be saying we don't know the details of it because so much time has passed, other than we know that these two angel figures are overshadowing with their wings the mercy seat.

This is where the presence of God was.

This is represented like God's throne on earth.

That's what the mercy seat was, right?

God's presence literally came down there.

So the pastor, he's explaining what the building looked like.

Okay, do you have a visual image of it?

Good.

Now let's go to verses 6 through 10, and he's going to show you the limitations of this priesthood.

The limitations.

Can you say the word limitations?

Limitations.

That's right.

The limitations of this priesthood.

Now, this is a trip, okay?

With these things prepared like this, the priest entered the first room.

What's the first room called?

The holy place.

Entered the first room, repeatedly performing their ministry, right?

So these were just people that were born of Aaron's line, the descendants of Aaron, who was a Levite, that lineage, those priests would come in and they would serve in that space.

But the high priest alone enters the second room, the Holy of Holies.

He does that only once a year.

Do you see that?

So this space up here, that's only once a year that the only one person called the high priest could go into.

And he couldn't go into that space without blood.

Do you see that?

That's really important.

Okay?

That is a really, really important phrase as you go on and you track with what the pastor is saying.

This high priest couldn't enter into the holy place without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people, uh, sins the people had committed in ignorance.

So the blood is a part of the sacrifice for sin.

Let's look at the next verse, verse 8.

The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.

How?

Let me ask you this.

How was God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed?

What is he talking about there?

He's he is saying, listen, look at how infrequently, do you see all the limitations?

Only, first of all, we have only the priests entering the first room.

That means unless y'all here are of Aaron's line, is there anybody here in of Aaron's line that could qualify as a Jewish priest?

Okay, so all you are out, right?

You don't even get to end it, you don't even get in here.

None of us.

I wouldn't, I wouldn't be allowed into that space, right?

And so there's the first limitation.

Then you've got this holy place.

Only this one person could get in there once a year, never without blood.

I mean, there is a whole rigmarole.

We would use the word, it's a hassle, right?

It's a hassle.

It's like going to the DMV to worship God.

And I don't know anybody that wants to go to the DMV to worship God.

And I hear an amen?

Yeah?

Yeah, amen.

It's a hassle, right?

Let's stay away from the DMV.

We'll stay on track here with the with the text, okay?

The point is, is that what you're supposed to see as you read how this is laid out is the Holy Spirit is screaming at you and me, saying, the way to the most holy place has not yet been disclosed.

Because I don't know about you, but I want to be with God in his presence, like Adam and Eve in the garden.

I want to be there with him.

Don't you want to be close to God?

Or do you want to be like layers and layers and layers?

Because here's the thing that he's not even covering because he's writing to the Jews.

Here's the thing: you all are Gentiles.

Are there anybody that's Jewish in here?

There might be somebody.

Every once in a while, we get somebody who's like half Jewish, a little fraction, a little bit.

Okay, all right.

Okay, maybe Joe, out of all of us, could actually go into the courtyard.

Listen, yo, listen up.

None of us could even go in the courtyard.

Like, we're not even in the garden.

But do you see Genesis chapter one?

Like God's making humanity and he's like walking with them in the garden.

God's spending time with people, like he loves you.

You're created to be loved by God every day in the closest proximity to have the very God of God's living and dwelling in you.

Do you remember 1 Corinthians?

What does it say about you?

You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

You are this temple now under the new covenant.

Like I don't want to preach the end of the sermon yet, but let me preach for just a second.

You are now this.

The hassle was taken away by Jesus.

So that this rigmarole and being layers and layers and layers and layers away from the presence of God, it's all been taken away by Jesus so that you can be close to him and he can love you.

So the Holy Spirit, by writing this, is saying it's been made clear that the way into the most holy place has not been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.

This is a symbol for the present time during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshipper's conscience.

This is part of the issue that comes up is that you and I have a conscience.

We have this moral compass.

It's like a judge that's saying you're standing right, you're doing what is right before God, that you're accepted by God.

Now, even our conscience isn't always triggering accurately with God's moral law.

But we have this conscience that's functioning inside of us.

It's kind of like our personal rule maker, right?

Some of us have it more active than others.

Some of us are like have an over-hyperactive conscience where you feel guilty about everything.

And then others of you have like a conscience and we're like, does he really have a conscience?

I don't know.

But this is the problem.

Like our conscience gets into the way of our ability to feel close to God.

If you feel like you're doing something wrong, do you feel like, hey, God just totally loves me?

You should, if you know what Jesus has done on your behalf.

But our conscience, this is the thing, is like our conscience is oftentimes defiled.

And for these people, there was no answer for a defiled conscience.

There was no, you could go, you could offer your sacrifices with the priesthood and all that stuff, but it didn't deal with the there's nothing in Leviticus, there's nothing in Exodus, there's nothing in Numbers about how your conscience is going to be cleansed or perfected.

And so it's a symbol.

It's a symbol for the present time, showing you that and I that it has not yet been disclosed how you can be close to God.

Verse 10.

They are physical, physical regulations.

These these things in Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers, they're physical regulations.

They only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

Now listen, these are great, this is way better than paganism at the day at that time, right?

God has come down and he's got his special people.

Like God's there with a cloud, and God's there with fire at night, and he's providing manna during the day.

I mean, this is mind-blowing, and yet these people are far from the presence of God.

It's not, nobody reading Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers should have said, We've arrived.

This is heaven on earth.

No, what you should look at it and go is like, we need more heaven.

This isn't good enough.

One time a year by our designated high priest on my behalf isn't good enough.

I want to be in the God's presence.

I want to be there with him.

Let's look at verses 11 through 15.

11 through 15.

But Christ, but Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come in the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

So again, if you are new with us on Sunday mornings, we've covered all this material where we've seen that Jesus is a high priest in a heavenly tabernacle that God has set up, where Jesus is worshiping and being our high priest in that space right now on our behalf.

Verse 12.

He entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood.

There's the blood again.

It's not by the blood of goats and calves that Jesus is there, being our high priest in heaven.

No.

What was the blood that was offered?

It was his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

What's Jesus' own blood?

What are they, what's what does he want us to be thinking about there?

The cross, right?

The sacrifice on the cross when Jesus' blood was shed for you and I.

That is what this is referring to.

Verse 13.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, all of this old covenant, Levitical worship practice, the sprinkling of those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works so that we can serve the living God.

Listen, this may be your verse.

Listen, listen for the Holy Spirit.

This may be your verse.

Because you may feel like there's no way in the world that God would ever want you a part of his service.

That God no way would ever want to identify with you because of the things that you've done.

But here's what the Bible says that Jesus has come and he's offered himself through the Spirit.

His blood is shed, and he has offered himself without blemish to God, and he's cleansed your conscience and my conscience from our dead works.

Things that kill us.

All of our rebellion, He's cleansed us from, so that we can serve the living God.

Today, today, Jesus has done a work on your behalf and my behalf so that your conscience is cleansed.

A lot of people think of Christianity.

They think, well, you know, this that's that's that thing where people kind of they they clean up their act and they start going to church and they wear maybe nice clothes.

I obviously didn't get the memo, and uh they cut their hair.

I didn't get that memo either.

And uh and they're really kind of they're good people, right?

They're really like they're nice in traffic and they're they uh love their neighbor as themselves, right?

That's what a Christian is.

No, a Christian is not that, right?

That might be like some things that God leads you to do, but being a Christian is the being a follower of Jesus and letting this thing that Jesus did apply to your account, right?

That you're ready to let Jesus' work, his historic work 2,000 years ago, be applied to your account.

It's like you've got a bank account with God, it's got a deficit, you're in bank, you're morally bankrupt, you're totally guilty before God, and yet Jesus has done all this on your behalf, and he's like, hey, can I deposit this into your account?

And you're like, sure, absolutely, right?

I want that.

That is what it means to be a Christian.

It doesn't mean you're better, it means you're forgiven.

What distinguishes you from your friend that's not a follower of Jesus is not that you're a better person, but that you're a forgiven person.

Your conscience has been cleansed from the dead and dumb stuff that you've done.

That's what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Now, because he did that for us, it's like, wow, I want to live up to that.

Like, if he did all that for me, I'm ready to obey.

I'm ready to let him work in my life.

If that means I gotta cut my hair, I will.

Now, it's not gonna mean that.

But it means, look, if I've got to love my neighbor, the people that you know I wouldn't necessarily love, I'm ready to do that.

I'm ready to do that, right?

I'm ready to be a loving person, a forgiving person, a person that's uh looking for peace.

So he this is just obviously we've got a contrast here.

So we have Jesus in verse 11 and 12, and then we have a substantiation in 13 and 14.

Now, let's look at verse 15.

Verse 15 is a therefore, right?

So we've had a substantiation, therefore.

This is this is really central.

And it's a kind of a concluding uh statement on the material we've covered.

He is, meaning Jesus, is the mediator of a new covenant.

Just for the sake of people that might be new.

We don't relate to God according to the Ten Commandments.

We relate to God according to a new covenant that's not about rules, it's about a relationship with Jesus.

Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Well, we're getting good here.

I mean, this is technical, but this is sounding good because who doesn't want an inheritance, right?

Look, Jesus is mediating a new covenant.

Those who are called can receive.

Are you called?

Look, if you've decided I'm ready to follow Jesus, then you're responding to the call of God upon your life.

If your heart warms to these things, God's calling you, He's drawing you in.

If you're understanding the gospel, you are being called by God.

Not only called, but look what you get.

You get to receive a promised eternal inheritance.

That's incredible.

That's incredible.

I think God's calling somebody right now.

You better pick that up.

Receive the promised eternal inheritance.

This is not an inheritance that like your parents put together for you, and you know, maybe it's like a Ravaca filler inheritance, or maybe it's like$5,000.

It's not gonna he's still calling.

He's still calling.

You better answer it.

Okay, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgression committed under the first covenant.

Okay, so Jesus has come to do this work.

A death has taken place.

So now, moving forward, he's gonna rip on this whole theme of blood.

And we're gonna kind of cover it here in the next 11 minutes.

Let's look at verses 16 through 23.

16 through 23, keep in your mind this eternal inheritance.

He's gonna talk about how a new covenant is also like a will, right?

So when uh if you are gonna get an inheritance, it's going to be based upon your parents or your guardians, your guardian's inheritance.

Somebody's got a phone.

Do we got a phone?

Is it found?

Oh, Danny, they're calling you.

Sorry, Danny.

I know what that's like.

Okay, so keep in mind the eternal inheritance.

As we're going through this, keep that in mind.

Here's verse 16.

Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established.

So we have a will.

There is a will that exists, and it's like we're not talking about like I wish or I will.

We're talking about literally like a legal document.

Okay.

Where there is a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established.

So you don't, the the will doesn't get enacted until the person dies, right?

Verse 17.

For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is alive.

We're tracking, right?

You're tracking with this.

Now, this is how um this is so Hebrews, right?

Because principles, the writer of Hebrews, he always gives principles.

So here's the principle of how a will works.

We understand that.

We know how a will works.

It works once a person dies.

That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.

Okay, so go back to Moses' covenant, the law.

How was it inaugurated?

Well, when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of bulls and calves, or calves and goats, along with the water, scarlet, and wool and hyssop.

He sprinkled it.

He sprinkled the scroll itself in all the people, right?

So here's Moses.

He's killing an animal, dipping this like sponge uh material in the blood, and he's sprinkling it onto the covenant written document.

Then he's gonna sprinkle it onto the altar, the blood of the covenant that he's this is what Moses said.

This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.

Then verse 21.

In the same way, he sprinkled the tabernacle and the articles of worship with blood.

This is a bloody mess, right?

Blood's going all over the place.

Because Moses is, and what does it indicate?

Something died in order to inaugurate this space.

The blood is on the books and the furniture, and then it's gonna get on the people.

Here we go.

This is crazy.

According to the law, almost everything is purified with blood.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

The point is that this old covenant system anticipated the need for the shedding of blood, the sprinkling of blood.

Are you tracking?

I know that if you this is the first time in church, you're like, whoa, these people are really weird.

No.

I'm just quoted, this is Old Testament, all right?

The blood going all over the place.

It's it's not that's not happening anymore.

But wait till we have communion, then we're gonna weird you out again.

Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these.

Right?

So he's saying, here's the principle, and then let's apply this principle to the heavenly realm, right?

So it translates over.

This is the picture, this applies over to heaven, right?

So then after verse 23, we go into verses 24 through 28.

This is how this is, even though this is technical and kind of weird, I love the more I read Hebrews and study it, I love how this guy thinks.

Because he thinks in like principle, let's apply it to heaven, then let's apply it to Jesus.

So we did principle, we talked about heaven, now let's talk about Jesus, and that's what we get in verse 24.

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands, right?

He didn't go into the tabernacle that Moses made or the temple that David and Solomon built, only a model of the true one.

But Jesus went into heaven itself so that he might now appear in the presence of God.

Why?

Why for us, for you and for me.

Jesus appears in the presence of the Father for you and for me.

He's there on our behalf.

He did not do this to offer himself over and over again many times.

Do you remember when many times came up earlier?

You you might have just missed it, but there was something else that was happening many times.

It was the priest out here in the holy place.

They're in that holy place many times.

There's much activity, much going on out there.

And Jesus doesn't have to keep like offering himself and offering sacrifices on a daily basis out in that because why?

As a high priest that enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another, right?

So he doesn't have to do that.

And in 26 he says, otherwise he would have had to suffer many times.

In other words, Jesus would have had to go to the cross over and over and over again since the foundation of the world.

But now, look what it says about Jesus.

But now he has appeared one time at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus came into the world to take away the sins of the world.

Do you remember what John said when he saw Jesus coming and he's about to baptize him?

He says, Look, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world.

Look, if you're new to Christianity, if you're new to church, you're new to the things of the Bible, here's what you need to know.

The Bible makes it clear that God designed you, He loves you, He wants to have a relationship with you, but one thing stands in the way, and that is our rebellion against God.

That everyone who has been born, all of us have sinned, and we've fallen so short of the glorious calling of God.

That we've all inherited, we've all deserve to live in our brokenness and the suffering and the pain that self-inflicted wounds.

But to add to that, we have all these other people that are causing pain and suffering in our life.

He would have had to have suffered many times since the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared this one time at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus has done what was necessary to take away our sin.

Verse 27, and just as it is appointed for people to die once, there's principle.

He's saying, here's the principle about death.

Every one of us are appointed to die once, and after this to face a judgment, so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time.

Jesus died.

Not just of the 12 disciples, not just of the ones he really likes, not of one particular race or creed or socioeconomic status.

Jesus was sent into the world because God loved the whole world.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins, for the sins of many.

And he is going to appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Remember, there's that idea of salvation being this forward, anticipated thing that we're in the process of participating in now.

We talked about that a couple months ago.

That's this pastor's vision of salvation is that we're on that trajectory.

Let's keep going for the purpose for Jesus' calling upon our life.

So Jesus has grabbed a hold of our life.

Here's the thing.

This old covenant, this tabernacle, like you and I, we could go to the place.

We could go to the base of Mount Sinai now.

We we don't know the exact location, but like you and I, we could get on a plane, we could go to Saudi Arabia, we could see basically where this tent was pitched and get a visual on it.

And there was literally like bulls and goats that were killed.

There was real priest.

But the Bible says, listen, that's just a symbol of what is actually real on your and my behalf.

The new covenant is dealing in your reality and my reality.

There's nothing good that the Levitical priesthood can do for you today.

There's no sacrifice, there's no animal sacrifice that can be accomplished, that can accomplish anything on your behalf or my behalf.

But that's fine because Jesus offered himself, he is in heaven right now, dealing with our reality.

That's what's crazy, is that the thing that seems real was just a symbol of what's real, real.

Like really real for you and for me.

And so you live a very real life in your very real body, and you're gonna sit in very real traffic tomorrow.

And people who are gonna be really mean to you are very real.

And Jesus is in the midst of that with the new covenant.

He's ministering on your behalf, cleansing your conscience from dead works, and empowering you, calling you to serve with him.

You've been called and sanctified, and Jesus has done this incredible work on our behalf so that our reality, the normal life that we live in, can have this heavenly component, this heavenly factor, because you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit lives in you and makes all of this stuff real.

The very presence of God isn't going through a hassle and a rigmarole to be able to get in you.

It's not like he's got to squeeze down the chimney like Santa to give you presence.

No, like the Holy Spirit just comes in you.

You're naturally created to be the housing place for the presence of God.

The person of God lives in you if you follow him.

And God is near you.

You're in Christ.

It's this incredible reality that God invites you and I into.

So that's Hebrews 9, the quick flyover version.

You on your own, you can study it more, you can nerd out on the whole Levitical priesthood stuff.

But I want you to see that Jesus' blood was shed on your behalf 2,000 years ago, so that you could have the very real presence of God in your life this week.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for that gift that we can we can live a life closer in proximity and looking more like Adam and Eve than the children of Israel could.

We can be closer to you than all of those people out there in the wilderness could.

And there's sometimes we think like, wow, it'd be so cool if you like came and showed up with a cloud and fire at night.

But you've done so much more on our behalf, something so much more real, which is this indwelling of us by your spirit.

Lord, would you make that real in our experience this week?

Lord, would you come and meet with us this week?

Make your Bible alive to us.

Make the Bible alive to us.

Lord, make us a wise people.

Change the way that we think.

Help us sort through our emotions.

Lord, help us to have eyes to see in the spiritual realm, the spiritual battle that's going on.

God, we pray that you would work this week in our lives.

Thank you that we can come to the table and remember all that you did on our behalf.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.