Hebrews 9:1-14, Dean Delfosse

I wonder what you think you're doing here.

I wonder what you think you're doing here in this time, in this place.

You came to church.

Thank you.

You came because somebody invited you.

Maybe you're you sensed a compulsion to try to figure things out with God if He exists.

You came because you like music and you like to sing.

What are you doing here?

Why are we here?

And are there things that can make, are there truths, realities that can make what we're doing here even more weighty and wonderful?

So that we're not just doing an obligation on Sunday mornings.

But we're growing together in love and mercy and truth and knowledge of the one true God.

The fact that we are here and what we're doing here leads us into where we are in the book of Hebrews, chapter 9.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

So if you have a copy of God's word, would you locate the book of Hebrews towards the back half of your Bible, almost towards the end, Hebrews chapter 9.

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

And while it will be on screen, I trust, I trust that it will mean more to you if you're able to follow along with your own copy, whether on your phone or a physical Bible.

If you want one, just get one in the foyer, just call it your own, take it with you.

This is God's word.

And we've stood for Exodus.

Sit now and listen as I read together for you, starting in verse one of chapter nine.

God's Word says, Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.

For a tent was prepared, the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence, it is called the holy place.

Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tables of the covenant.

Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.

Of these things we cannot speak in detail.

These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without offering, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age.

According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshippers, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of Reformation.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats or calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer 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 purifying our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

This is the word of the Lord.

And we'll stop there for today.

Do you see it already?

Do you see the maybe three, four realities that were at work and now are at work that can refine our understanding of worship service?

Notice the first one.

Consider the settings of an earthly place, this earthly environment.

Verses one through five.

The writer of Hebrews calls our attention to verses, chapters that Craig started reading for us, and to spare you, or else we would be here over lunch and it would be great.

We didn't read, you know, all six or five, however many chapters.

I can't do math when I'm in front of people.

All those chapters in Exodus about take this, build it this way, cover it in gold, make it look like this, all the stipulations.

You heard Craig read about preparing artisan craft works for the curtain.

I want it to be made of this kind of color yarn, this color threading.

And the details go on and on and on to create this place of worship right in the middle of the camp of the people of God as they were coming out of slavery in Egypt.

And the details, the details are amazing.

It is very much like a blueprint.

And so the furnishings is what our writer deals with in verse, in this first paragraph.

He talks about God's first arrangement with his people called the first covenant, and how it had regulations for worship.

You see that in verse one?

Regulations for worship.

Indicating to us that God knows that we in our sin are not just free to worship any way I feel like it.

If you're newer with us, this is your first taste.

I hope it's decent.

It's awesome to me.

But something so important as worship of the living God, he didn't leave it just for sinners to figure out according to what seems best to them.

That's the book of Judges.

No, God set up regulations for worship.

And oddly enough, regulations for worship have nothing to do with how loud it is, whether we can have drums or not.

It has nothing to do with any of that.

Did you notice what's part of the regulations for worship?

Verse 2 a tent was prepared.

And the outer section or first section in which certain furnishings, lampstand.

Now, if you're if you're used to paying attention around Christmas time, you know that December season is not just Christmas for Christians, but it's Hanukkah for Jewish folks.

And they have the menorah, the lamp stand that has a seven, six arms coming out to the side and the seventh in the middle.

The golden lamp stand, very symbolic of our interaction with God.

And a table was prepared, and bread, the bread of God's presence.

This outer section, verse four, is called the holy place.

And behind which, verse three, sorry, that's that's verse two, behind which, verse three, a second curtain is a second place called the most holy place.

And it has a altar that's covered in gold of incense, and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides in gold.

Now inside, inside the inner room of that tent is a inside the tent is a 15 by 15 room called the Most Holy Place.

And even if you've never heard the details, if you like old movies with old actors when they were young, you may have watched Indiana Jones, like the first one.

Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In that movie, whether you want to go find it or not, it's up to you.

This lost Ark covered in gold.

And of course, big fat spoiler alert.

I mean, just close, stop your ears and go, no, no, no, no, no, if you don't want to hear it.

Look, some of you are doing it.

Um towards the end of the movie, not great guys decide to open said box because they don't think it's that special.

And something bad happens to them.

This box called the Ark of the Covenant, you're reading about in this paragraph.

Towards the end of this paragraph, it describes the angels on top with their wings spread towards the middle.

That middle section covered over by the angels' wings is called the mercy seat.

And when the high priest made his sacrifice, he would take the blood and put it on the mercy seat.

We'll talk about that more in a little while.

The writer of Hebrews details what's inside that box.

The details to that, I just want to give you as a teaser for reading Exodus on your own.

Moses' brother Aaron has a staff that he uses, like a walking stick.

And in God's great mercy, it starts to bud as if it's alive.

When this box is built, God tells Moses, put Aaron's staff in there.

Among other things that are in that box are these stone tablets.

Do you remember the last verse Craig read?

All these things that God told Moses on Mount Sinai were written with the finger of God on tablets of stone.

Those tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant.

Now, you know me.

I can get lost in the details and put you to sleep.

Give you a nice Sunday morning nap.

I'm not going to do that.

The writer of Hebrews doesn't.

Verse 5.

Of these things we cannot speak in detail.

I just want you to see the earthly arrangement.

Do you have another slide here, Christopher?

Yeah, there it is.

So this is a this is a the tabernacle set up here, this tent of meeting.

And so all that has to happen, these are the curtains that were made with the with the details and the artisans and their gifts.

And then the sacrifices go forward, and then the most holy place.

Listen to the second paragraph.

We considered the setting of the earthly place.

Now consider the limitations of the earthly priest or the earthly representatives.

Verses 6 through 10.

Verse 6.

These preparations having been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties.

But into the second only the high priest goes, but he and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

So first section, go into it regularly.

Second section, high priest, only once a year.

And it covers only the unintentional sins of the people.

Oops, I accidentally sinned.

What about oh no?

I chose that one.

I knew what I was doing when I lied.

Watch how the writer of Hebrews, when I say things like, consider this, consider this earthly setting, consider what happens with these earthly representatives.

I'm not making that up.

Look how the writer of Hebrews stops his explanation and talks about what the Holy Spirit is doing by setting things up this way.

The Holy Spirit of God set things up this way long before on purpose.

By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age.

According to this way of doing things, this arrangement, this old covenant, the gifts and sacrifices offered cannot perfect the conscience of the worshipers.

But deal only with food and drink and various washings and regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

There's such a limit on this.

The people want to worship.

But the regulations that were imposed limit.

Limit them.

It limits their access.

And that's on purpose.

Because sinners cannot worship a holy God rightly or with a pure heart.

We have fallen so far.

In the way we think, the way we treat one another, the way we treat Almighty God.

We treat him like Alfred, the butler.

We have fallen so far from the fellowship with God we were made for.

And God cannot just say, eh, take it on the chin.

We'll let bygones be like, who cares?

Come on in, it's all good.

He can't.

The point of all these verses that we've been reading and working through is that there must be a barrier to protect sinners from a holy God.

And God is not satisfied with leaving us wandering lost in darkness and sin.

God cares for his own and draws us into his presence even at a distance.

Limitations on how close we can get.

Limitations on how efficient the blood of the bulls and sacrifices are.

It just doesn't work very well.

It works on the outside.

It doesn't do anything for what keeps you up at night.

It doesn't do anything for the guilty conscious that you gotta stamp down to function win your day.

But the third component in the last paragraph is the point of this author.

So as we dig into verses eleven through fourteen, consider how Christ fulfills all that was set up by the Holy Spirit.

And the time of reformation has come.

And we are living in it, verse 11.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, the one not made with hands, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places by means, not by means of the blood of bulls or calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

So he didn't enter the copies on earth, he entered heaven itself.

Chapter seven, chapter eight, for us.

He had sinners in mind, he had particular sinners in mind for us.

And as we keep saying, he didn't carry secondary, insufficient sacrifices like animal sacrifices.

Ew, gross.

Because not only is that gross, but essential.

More importantly, he couldn't do what needs to be done.

When he offered up himself, when he cried from the cross, it is finished.

He took his own blood into heaven as it were and made an eternal sacrifice for us.

A sacrifice that secured our eternal redemption.

Talk about fighting a guilty conscience.

If you're neuter with us, like one of the things that I find myself doing when I'm just not thinking clearly is when I realize that I have sinned in a really big way, I'm just like, Lord, I promise I will do X, Y, and Z.

I start bartering with God.

I ask forgiveness with the blood of Christ, but just in case, I'm going to make some promises.

You ever done that?

Maybe you're not like that.

You ever done that with somebody you care about?

Dude, I'm so sorry that I called you that or did that to you or stood up that meeting or whatever.

I'm going to make it up to you.

I'm going to exwite, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Your conscience is rightly hot.

Now, if you can do stuff that's wrong and your conscience doesn't do anything for you, that's terrible.

So rather than drinking away your conscience, drugging away your conscience, Netflixing away your conference, conference, faceagramming your conscience away, whatever.

Here's a better one.

Knowledge that on that day in thirty-three AD, or what have you, Christ secured for us eternal redemption.

A better pillow for your head at night.

Look at the logic, verse 13.

Because if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, yes, that, yes, yes, it was gross because a death needed to occur.

If all of those things under the old system did sanctify or make holy for the purification of the outside, the body, the flesh, how much more, logic, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, how much more will his wonderful sacrifice purify our conscience from dead works.

Even our best religious duties were dead works because they have nothing to commend us to God.

You could promise to God to come to church now to the day you die.

Your best religious duties are dead works.

The blood of Christ, the person of who he is, he is the Christ, the chosen one, the great high priest, and all the others are pointing to, and his sacrifice, his crosswork, is the profound key to everything.

And by his work he purifies our conscience not only from the things we do wrong or the obvious sins, but even the religious ones.

I get that, not only because if it talks about dead works, but look how the verse finishes.

Purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

And provides temporary relief.

All of that good and bad cannot please the living God.

Not because he's bullheaded and mean, but because he's awesome.

He's just stuck being wonderful.

And he cannot skimp on that even though he loves you.

So see the personal application that the writer of Hebrews is making to the church of the first century.

This he did once for all for us, securing eternal redemption, eternal reconciliation to a holy God, who wants us and welcomes us into the presence of him who is the fountain of every blessing.

And it transforms our service.

Now, let me make one more connection for you and then we'll wrap up.

Notice the fourth reality.

The fourth reality is the way that the work of Christ transforms our worship service.

Look at verse one again.

This paragraph or this section is about regulations for worship.

And when he says even the first covenant had regulations for worship, the implication is that the second better new covenant that we live under also has guidelines, regulations for worship.

And when he talks about worship and ends this section with service to the living God.

That's the punchline.

Verse 14.

We are talking about worship service.

We are talking about worship service.

When we gather for worship, we can do so with a pure conscience, a clean heart, full assurance of faith.

Not because we have keys to the theater and we have access, but because Christ is the key to the throne of God and we have access.

So now we can come together by faith in Christ Jesus into the presence of the living God and serve him in worship.

Worship in song, worship in prayer, worship in word, worship in communion with one another and the risen Christ.

Worship in the Old Testament had the meaning not mainly of songs, but of service.

Number one, think for just a minute, the motivations that you have for serving.

We try to develop an atmosphere in this church family where the things that we receive on Sundays, we try to serve one another in love.

So we we sign up to do different things.

And even just being here and the fellowship with one another, greeting one another, the encouraging one another is a service to God.

And so I ask you just for a minute to think about your motivations for serving.

We just celebrated our third birthday as a church plant.

So some of you from the very beginning have been doing this for three plus years because of all the months leading up to opening up this church family.

And I have no stones to throw when you get up on Sunday and just go, okay, I gotta do this.

I gotta go here, I gotta do this, I gotta serve this way, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Doesn't like all the people there because they're hypocrites, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And whatever, whatever, whatever.

And his wife says, You're the pastor, you have to go.

It's just one of those things where everybody feels kind of crunchy at times.

Because we're all real.

And every now and then we can stop pretending that we're holy and awesome and like everything's good with our motivations, and do a gut check.

And just know.

And let it let yourself be encouraged and built up by the knowledge that one of the things Christ died for is that you would be able to serve from a pure conscience.

Not just people.

Even though we love one another in Christ, but we serve the living God.

Did you forget that?

Did you forget that setup and teardown is about service to the living God?

Did you forget that where you live is not just because you like that house, but because God has opened up an opportunity for you to serve Him there, serving the living God?

Did you forget that beyond the worship service of Sunday morning, the regular time to worship, this is an eternal covenant, an eternal redemption ushered into God's presence?

Did you forget that the living God with whom we live and breathe and have our being has you working where you work for his namesake?

In service to the living God?

That you serve your co-workers, customers, crazy cranky bosses, in service to the living God.

Did you forget that you serve your wife or your husband or your children or your parents, whether they're young or aged?

Did you forget that you serve them not only out of obligation and duty, and it's the right thing to do, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but in service to the living God?

Over and over, Paul says, Let everything be done in the name of God for the glory of God.

This is more than just the weekly gathering that is talked about in the New Covenant.

It is the life we now have been raised to live.

Whether guitars and songs are being played or not, our lives are worship, service to the living God.

Every moment has now been brought up from the grave in service to the living God.

Now, if you're like me, like one of the things that you're not looking forward to when you come to church is like a guilt trip.

Totally get it.

And I'm the pastor.

Response number two.

The motivation fix that's being called for in this text doesn't merely happen by just gritting your teeth and saying, I'm gonna do better next time.

Motivation is fixed by constant reminders that you have access to the living God.

There's no tent that keeps you on the outside.

There's no inner sanctuary that's blocked off from everybody except one person and once a year.

You have access all the way into the presence of the living God.

Chapter 4 calls it the throne of grace by which we find well-timed help.

When you have a hard time worshiping and there's this stuff going on buzzing around in your mind, just rest because Christ has done it all.

And one day you will know God face to face.

You'll experience the white, hot flames of passion in worship.

Even if your heart's a bit cold now and your mind's all over the place.

One day the true and living one will take center stage in all of your thoughts and affections.

One day, the wrestling match with your dead fleshly soul that won't get its carcass in gear and worship God the way he should.

One day you'll stop beating your own wicked flesh, making it move in worship.

One day it will happen naturally because you will see him face to face.

God has put you on a trajectory that is hardwired in, and you will know him, and we will know him together.

And you will never be bored for a moment in all eternity.

Now let the promise of that day radiate back into this time and transform the reason why you hold your tongue and don't say the things that you want to say to the people around you.

But I'm gonna hold that in and serve you in love.

All the self-control Paul talks about in his letters.

Let the promise of that day and the presence of the living God, even now, encourage you to worship him with your words to other people, with your attitudes to other people, with your labor to other people.

Christ died and sacrificed himself to clean your conscience and mind so that you can serve the living God in worship.

Would you stand and pray with me?

I'm gonna invite the musicians to come and join me here on the platform.

We're gonna give you a minute to process what we have said.

The implications from this text.

Thank you, Lord, for bringing all the fulfillment of what it means to have access to you by your son.

And to live in the presence of the living God and to serve you with gladness.

Please, Lord.

Please forgive our half my half-heartedness, and like if there's if that translates to anybody else in the room, Lord, please have mercy on our fickle obedience, fickle devotion to you.

And do more with our jaded souls that we can ask or imagine of ourselves.

And we ask these things in Christ's name.

Amen.