Christ as Mediator of the New Covenant

Transcript

GR 1699
07/21/13
Christ as the Mediator of the New Covenant
Hebrews 9:15-22
Gil Rugh

We're in the book of Hebrews chapter 9, Hebrews 9. Contrast is being drawn in the book of Hebrews between the Old Covenant and the priesthood that was associated with that covenant, the covenant given under Moses called the Mosaic Law and the New Covenant and the priestly ministry accomplished by Christ. These Jewish believers that the letter is written to, some of them are contemplating the possible return to Judaism. There is safety, there is security there. They grew up in that environment with that religious system. There is persecution that they face as believers in Jesus Christ. Remember we've talked about the fact that Judaism and anti-Semitism characterized the Roman Empire. Anti-Semitism has always been characteristic of the unbelieving world. But at least in the Roman Empire Judaism was recognized as an approved religion. Romans were open to all kinds of religions. And with Roman approval it was viewed as acceptable. Christianity was not an approved religion. That meant it was viewed as a threat to Rome. So that only multiplied persecution, let me put it that way, increased the antagonism. And so some of these Hebrew Christians are thinking, maybe it would be safer to go back to Judaism.

The writer to the Hebrews writes under the inspiration not just for the benefit of these Jewish readers, but for us 2000 years later. Sometimes we think, we're not Jews, we're not going through these things, we're not anticipating a return to the Mosaic Law so it's not as pertinent to me. But what the Spirit of God is unfolding for us is the fullest and clearest explanation of the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ that we have anywhere in Scripture. So this book becomes extremely important if we are going to understand the provision that Jesus Christ made to provide redemption and forgiveness of sins.

The book started out in Hebrews 1 by acknowledging that the superiority of the Son and the revelation given in and through Him, it was in the opening three verses of Hebrews 1. And in that His high priestly ministry was noted. Look at the end of Hebrews 1:3, when He made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And the two focal points of Hebrews are drawn to our attention here—the uniqueness of the Son of God and the high priestly ministry that He carried out. Now when we get to Hebrews 5 he's going to begin focusing on the high priestly ministry. He has alluded to it, referred to it, talked about the fact that Christ made propitiation for sins, that He was the high priest that provided access to God. But when you get to Hebrews 5:1 he begins to unfold the details, and he does this by drawing a contrast with the Old Testament priestly ministry. The Law given through Moses on Mt. Sinai, summarized in the Ten Commandments, has as its heart and foundation the Levitical priesthood. We call it the Levitical priesthood because the priests came from the tribe of Levi. They were led by the line of Aaron who formed the high priests in Israel.

So beginning in Hebrews 5 he began to draw the comparison between the two priesthoods to show that the priesthood of Christ is vastly superior to the priesthood of Aaron, both in the person of the high priest who is none other than the Son of God, and the sacrifice of the high priest which was the life of Christ Himself.

We're in Hebrews 9 and the first ten verses of Hebrews 9 review the instructions regarding the Old Testament worship system, first talking about the physical place of worship, the tabernacle, that tent which was divided into two major divisions where the focal point is. Outside of that there was an altar for sacrifice and a laver, remember we put up the diagrams of that tabernacle. But then in that inner tent there was an outer portion and an inner area. The outer portion had the candlestick, the altar of incense and the table of shewbread. Only the priests in Israel could enter into that area. The other Jews could bring their sacrifices to the brazen altar and be part of the sacrifice there in connection with the regular priest, but only the priest could go in and perform worship activities within the tent. Then in that back portion, we often divide it as the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, you have the Ark of the Covenant with the lid on it, called the mercy seat, covered with the two cherubim whose wings cover it. Only the high priest could go in there and only once a year.

So these items of worship associated with the tabernacle were covered in the first ten verses. And there were two severe limitations, remember, with the Levitical system. One, it only provided very limited access to God. Only the priest could go in to the first portion of the tent, and that was a daily thing for trimming the candlestick wicks and bringing new incense to the altar of incense and so on. Into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, only one day a year, the Day of Atonement, the high priest came. So access was very limited. The second limitation was it couldn't cleanse you on the inside. The sacrifices and offerings offered in that setting could not provide cleansing for the conscience. So you see at the end of verse 9, they cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. Verse 8 said, the way into the Holy Place has not been disclosed. So those two were the points. The way into the very presence of God has not been provided and the sacrifices that are being offered can't get to the heart. Remember we looked, that's the issue, the heart is what is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. As Jesus said, it is out of the heart that come all sinful activities and the Levitical system can't deal with those things.

What was the Levitical system? Back up to Hebrews 8:5, we noted, these things are a copy and a shadow of heavenly things. Hebrews 9:9, they are a symbol for the present time. They anticipated and prefigured what was required for access to God. A high priest who would offer an acceptable sacrifice, that was to help prepared the nation for the coming of the Son of God who would function as the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, who would offer the sacrifice of Himself which could indeed cleanse the hearts and thus provide for the implementation of the New Covenant, which provided for God's Word to be inscribed within on the heart and mind of the person.

Verses 11-14 which we looked at in our previous study showed the superiority of Christ's ministry as high priest. First it takes place not on earth in a tabernacle constructed by human beings, rather it takes place in heaven itself, in the very presence of the glory of God in heaven. That was the emphasis in verses 11-12. Verses 13-14 show that this high priestly sacrifice of Christ, offered in the very presence of God in heaven, is able to cleanse the conscience. Verse 14, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered Himself without blemish to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. How tragic, we still have people still today who think they are going to be saved by their works. I try to do my best, I try to do good things, I try to keep the Ten Commandments. You've never understood the cleansing that comes through the finished work of Christ and faith in that. It cleanses the conscience. Verse 9 told us, the sacrifices of the old system, the Levitical system cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. Can't get to the inner person, the cleansing that is needed.

We're ready to pick up with verse 15 and he's going to elaborate to show how Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant and its provisions. It provides redemption and he'll show how this is consistent with what was required in the Old Testament. Remember the Old Testament covenant, talking about the Mosaic Law when we talk about that, the Levitical system was a shadow, a type, a symbol of what had to take place as the reality in what Christ would accomplish. And we need a sacrifice that can provide redemption and thus establish what is promised in the New Covenant. And so he'll show that Christ has done that in verse 15 and he'll show this is consistent with the requirement that was demonstrated by symbol and type under the Mosaic Law with the Levitical sacrifices, all those animals and so on. What is required is death, a sacrificial death.

So verse 15 begins, for this reason. And he is building on what he said in verses 11-14, why Christ is the mediator of a New Covenant. He has carried out His ministry as priest in the very courts of heaven before the throne of God. He has offered a sacrifice, Himself, which is able to cleanse the conscience. For this reason He is the mediator of a New Covenant. Remember the priesthood and the covenant go together. The heart of the Mosaic Covenant, its heart and its foundation was the Levitical priesthood. We have emphasized this again and again. If you take the priesthood out of the Mosaic Covenant, what do you have? You just have a list of laws and regulations, but you have no provision for cleansing, you have no provision for being accepted by God, no provision for you to escape His judgment. If you're going to have a new priesthood, you have to have a new covenant.

Back up to Hebrews 7:12. We're told, for when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law, a change of covenant also. So Christ is the priest who has carried out His ministry in the courts of Heaven before the throne of God, He has offered the sacrifice of Himself. He's the mediator of a New Covenant.

Back up to Hebrews 8:1, now the main point in what has been said is this, we have such a high priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. He is a minister in the sanctuary in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, in heaven itself. These earthly things as we saw in verse 5 served as a shadow or a copy of the heavenly things. Verse 6, but now He has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as He is the mediator of a better covenant enacted upon better promises. Then he quotes from Jeremiah 31:31-34 where God gave through Jeremiah the promise of a new covenant. And this New Covenant would do what the old one could not do with its priesthood. It will change their hearts and minds, cleanse them within, as he mentions in verse 10 in quoting that.

So you have the New Covenant associated with the new priesthood. Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The purpose of the old system has been realized and fulfilled. The Mosaic Law and the Levitical priesthood associated with it are done, they served their purpose. They were added as we've seen in Galatians 3, 430 years after God gave the promises in the Abrahamic Covenant. They were added because of transgressions, they were added until the promised Redeemer would come.

Back up to Galatians 3, you have to see it again. There are people confused who think the Law, the Mosaic Law, there are parts of it that continue. I read one commentator who has some very fine comments and he wanted to make the point that the Mosaic Law is not over, it has just been incorporated into the New Covenant and now the Old Covenant is part of the New Covenant. That's just the opposite of what the Scripture is teaching. In Galatians 3:16, I realize this is review, now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed, referring to Christ in that particular aspect. What I am saying, verse 17, is this. The Law which came 430 years later, you remember Abraham about 2000 B.C., the Law given about 1450 B.C., so we have about 430 years. This came after the promise and the covenant given to Abraham. It does not invalidate the previous covenant to nullify the promise. Doesn't change it in any way. Important. We don't have time to go into all of this again, but we will come back to it at a future time. Nothing changes in the Abrahamic Covenant with the Mosaic Law. That's added on, is something different.

Why the Law then? Verse 19, it was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator. We just read Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant. Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant as God gave it through angels to Moses to the nation, he brought it to the nation. It was until the seed would come, referring according to verse 16 to Christ. So you ought to have noted in your Bible in verse 19, it was added until. That Mosaic Covenant had a temporary purpose, it was added over 400 years after God gave the foundational covenant, as we have seen the Abrahamic Covenant, and it had an ending point—when Christ would come. So the Mosaic Law is over.

If you are trying to get to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments, you are without hope in the world. There never was salvation through keeping the Ten Commandments. They served a purpose, but it was not to bring salvation. And they are over. The Mosaic Law, remember the Law, James says, is a unit. You cannot break it out and say, this portion of the Law is over, but this portion is not. James says, when you break one portion, you break the whole thing. So the Mosaic Law is over, it served its purpose.

Verse 24, for the Jews the Law became our tutor to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come we are no longer under a tutor. That doesn't mean that you preach the Law first, then you preach the Gospel as much of reform theology teaches. He is teaching that the Law was in existence until the Promised One, Christ, would come. Then the Law has served its purpose, it is done.

Come back to Hebrews. For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, covenant of promise in prophecy in Jeremiah. Remember we have the communion service. What do we do? We quote the words of Christ, this cup is the New Covenant in my blood. The blood being used refers to a sacrificial death, death offered as sacrifice for sin. That's the foundation for the establishing of the New Covenant which unfolds the salvation provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant. So He is the mediator of a New Covenant.

Back up to 1 Timothy 2, we're going to pick up with verse 3. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, that praying on behalf of all men in the first two verses, including those in authority. God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all. That really is a condensed statement of what we are unfolding in the book of Hebrews. And there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He offered the sacrifice necessary to provide access for us to the very presence of God. That's why we read in Hebrews 4, that we who have believed in Christ are invited to come with confidence before the very throne of God. That was not an invitation given through the Levitical system. The presence of God was closed off, you can't come in here. But now we have the mediator we need, He's the mediator of the New Covenant which provide the cleansing of the heart and being made new. As we've talked about as we've been in Hebrews, this is the heart of the Roman Catholic system. It's a disaster. It tries to reproduce the Levitical system. I noted and you read their catechism, they say that was the picture for us. So they have a human high priest and a priestly system laid out under them. And anyone who would come to God must come through these priests. That's the very thing God has done away with, that kind of system. That's not the system, because that system as the Roman Catholics practice it has no biblical foundation. Not even the Levitical system because these are not of the tribe of Levi. But it's a system built on the one that God abolished. So now you pray to Mary or you pray to this saint or whatever. What does that mean? There is only one mediator between God and men. Yes, but we've added these. On whose authority? The church's. The church doesn't overrule God. He has spoken, there is one mediator between God and men. He offered the acceptable ransom to set us free from our sin and its penalty. He is the mediator of the New Covenant which is founded on the offering that He gave so that the provisions of that covenant for our salvation could be implemented. It has not been fully implemented, we looked at the provisions of the New Covenant. Some of that awaits the salvation of the nation Israel, but the salvation provisions of that covenant are enforced. And that's why we say this is the New Covenant in My blood. We are participants in that through faith.

Come back to Hebrews 9. For this reason He is the mediator of a New Covenant. You'll note through all of this, there is a question that has not been resolved. Up to this point in Hebrews we have emphasized again and again the insufficiency and inability of the system under the Mosaic Covenant. It provided very, very limited access to God, only for one person representing the nation and only on one day a year. And it couldn't cleanse internally. There is something that has not been resolved. Then how did those people get saved? They couldn't get saved by bringing their animal sacrifice because we noted the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. These sacrifices, back in Hebrews 9:9, accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. How do they get saved? Verse 15, for this reason He is the mediator of a New Covenant so that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant. Do you know how Moses was saved? Do you know how David was saved? How Isaiah? Jeremiah? Ezekiel? Daniel? Do you know how anyone in the Old Testament was saved? They were saved by the sacrifice of Christ, His high priestly ministry. You say, it hadn't occurred. But God had ordained that it would. So on the basis of the fact He had ordained that His Son would come to this earth and as the God-Man sacrifice Himself to pay the penalty for our sin, God could forgive them, not on the basis of offering a sacrifice but on the basis of the fact they believed what God promised He would do. And remember the great example of this is Abraham, which we read in Galatians was 430 years before the Mosaic Covenant and the Levitical priesthood was implemented. But Genesis 15:6 says, Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness. How was Abraham saved? By faith. He is the example of saving faith in the New Testament, Romans 4. He was credited with righteousness by God because he believed God and God saved him on the basis of the fact that His Son would provide the perfect sacrifice so that God in righteousness could declare Abraham, Moses, David and so on righteous when they believed in Him.

The Old Testament saint did not understand that truth. We need to be careful, some think that must mean that back in those days Abraham understood that God was going to provide His Son and that's what he was believing. No, they weren't believing the fullness of the Gospel, but they were believing God. Peter made clear, he said the Old Testament prophets, when Peter wrote his letters in our New Testament, the Old Testament prophets could not understand how the prophesied Messiah would come and rule and reign in glory and suffer and die in rejection. God hadn't revealed that yet, but that was the foundation upon which He was forgiving those who believed in Him. They didn't have the fullness of understanding that you and I do. We sometimes fail to appreciate the greatness of our privileged position that we are now in a place to be able to look back and understand the significance of the coming of Christ to earth and His death and resurrection and ascension to heaven and how that fulfills all that was anticipated in the Old Testament. And we have the further explanation like we are studying in the book of Hebrews that we can understand it with a fullness and a clarity that Isaiah never had, in spite of the fact God used him to write such a spectacular book as the prophecy of Isaiah to record that awesome prophecy of Isaiah 53 and the suffering and death of the coming Messiah. But Isaiah couldn't put it all together. Well if he didn't understand it all, how could God save him? Because Isaiah believed what God had said. And on the basis of the fact God had ordained His Son would die to pay the penalty, God declares those men righteous and they experience redemption.

Back up to Romans 3. What we are really saying is there has always been only one way of salvation, only one provision for salvation from Adam to the end of time. And that is the sacrifice of Christ. And anyone ever saved has been saved on the same basis, by grace through faith, on the basis of the sacrifice that Christ made. They didn't have the full clarity of that, they just believed back to what God did for Adam. Adam and Eve tried to do their own provision once they sinned. We'll take care of it, we'll cover ourselves with leaves. What did God do? Provided the skins of animals. In the very beginning it would take death. Did they understand that this means at a point in time in the future God's Son will leave heaven and come to earth, live as man yet not cease to be God, and then be rejected, be crucified, be buried, be raised from the dead, ascend to heaven? No. But they did know what God promised He would do for those who believed in Him, loved Him with all their heart, soul and mind as Deuteronomy 6 said, and expressed this faith and love in obedience to Him. We turn it around and say, try to keep the Law, that's how you get saved. That's never how you got saved. There has never been any person at any time in all the history of mankind or the history of Israel that was ever saved by doing their best to keep the Law. There had never been provision for that.

All right, we're in Roman 3:21, but now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested. There has been a manifestation, a revelation with a clarity that did not occur before. We've talked about progressive revelation, God has progressively over time since the Scripture added to. Every time He added more. There is clarity. Now the righteousness of God has been manifested. It had been testified to by the Law and the prophets, but the full unfolding of it awaits the coming of Christ. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. And there are no exceptions, there are no outside alternatives. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace. And this is redundant, a gift is something you don't deserve, you don't earn; grace is something you don't earn, you don't work for. But he multiplies it here—it's a gift, a gift given by His grace. It's like we would say, it's a gift given as a gift. It's grace given as grace, it's a gift given by grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.

Faith doesn't save you, never did. We say, I have my faith; we talk about people of faith today. Is there anybody who doesn't have faith? People went to bed last night having faith they would wake up in the morning. Faith doesn't save you, the sacrifice of Christ is what saves. God displayed Him publicly as a propitiation, a word that means to turn away God's wrath from us. We are under condemnation but Christ in His body on the cross bore our sins so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. He bore the penalty, He absorbed the wrath of God, He became the propitiation. In His blood, applied to us through faith. If you believe the wrong thing, there is no salvation. If you believe you are saved by keeping the Ten Commandments, there is no salvation by that faith because you are believing a lie. If you believe you can fly and you jump off a ten-story building, you believed a lie. Your faith won't save you. Flap your arms on the way down, I believe, I believe, I believe. Crash. Faith doesn't save you, faith in the finished work of Christ, His blood. Again referring to a sacrifice, the sacrifice of Himself.

This was to demonstrate His righteousness. God is demonstrating His righteousness. You understand it didn't have that clarity through the Old Testament. How could God, a righteous God declare an unrighteous man righteous? He doesn't. Abraham believed God, God credited it to him as righteousness. Abraham was a man who lied, he lied about his wife, said she is not my wife but she is my sister. That was a lie, that was only a half-truth which really became a total lie. God declared him righteousness. For the demonstration I say of His righteousness for the present time. But, the middle of verse 25 is the point we want, to demonstrate His righteousness because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed. That's what we're talking about under the Levitical system. God passed over those sins in the sense He did not require the penalty for them, from them. On the basis of the fact He had ordained and decreed the death of His Son as payment, He forgave them on that basis. So even though in time that action had not occurred, where with God the future is as fixed as the past, He could forgive them on the basis of what He would do in Christ. Now that wasn't manifested until Christ came and did it.

I mean, if you would ask one of the Old Testament saints, how can righteous God forgive you on the basis of this animal sacrifice? Do you think the animal can take the place of a human being? Do you think an animal sacrifice can cleanse you from your sin? If they had been pressed on that point, they'd have to say, I don't know. I just believe that God will save me as He promised. That's all they could do. They had the promise of God. It's like we are. People say, you believe pie in the sky, you're going to heaven someday. When you leave this life, you will be in glory. Ha, ha, I don't believe it. But we're sure of it. Why? God has decreed it, it's as good as done. I have no more doubt that I am going to be in the glory of God's presence in heaven than I do that I'm looking you in the face. And your face will be better than, so will mine. We're sure, right? Why? Because God's Word is sure.

So that's what he is saying here. He was in forbearance passing over their sins committed for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time so that He would be just and the justifier. This is the issue. God cannot sacrifice His righteousness, the word just and justifier come from the Greek word to be righteous, righteousness. So He is both righteous and the One who declares righteous. People think, God understands, none of us are perfect, I don't believe God would send anyone to hell. We become sentimental. God is righteous, He will not sacrifice His righteousness, He cannot, He is God.

So this demonstrates how He could be righteous and the One who declares righteous the one who has faith in Jesus because that's the ultimate focus of faith. When they believed God under the Old Covenant, it was a faith that ultimately would have its foundation in the work that Christ would accomplish, because they were believing what God said. And everything God said and God promised about salvation was founded on what He would do in Christ because if it had not been for the sacrifice of Christ, everyone up to the time of Christ would have gone to an eternal hell because there is only one Savior. That's what we're having in the book of Hebrews.

So for these Jews to think, maybe I can go back to Judaism, maybe I'll go back to the Levitical system, you're going back to nothing. It was a shadow, it never did bring salvation, it never did bring cleansing from sin, it never did make you new on the inside. Well, they got saved, didn't they? Yes. You understand they were being saved on the basis of the reality that we have now had manifested to us. It wasn't those physical things that saved them, they simply manifested that they believed God would do what He promised and they followed through in obeying Him. Obedience is always the result of true faith and salvation. It doesn't bring it about.

Come back to Hebrews, we're going through verse 22 and we're going to go quickly over the rest because once we cover this the rest will just make the point in summary fashion from the Old Testament. Verse 15, for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant so that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, note, those who have been called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. The way of salvation for Old Testament saint or believer and New Testament saint or believer is the same. The way of salvation is the same though there is distinction between Israel and the church. But Israelites aren't saved on any different foundation than the church people are saved. All those who experience God's salvation, experience it on the basis of the fact there is a high priest who will offer, for the Old Testament saint, or has offered, from our perspective. But it all focuses on that. That's why Jesus Christ and His work on the cross is the focal point of all history, the focal point of everything. Everything before anticipated that, everything since looks back to it.

And He has provided an eternal inheritance. The superiority of Christ's ministry is in that you compare it, it provides access to God, it provides internal cleansing. And everything it does, it does eternally. Back up to Hebrews 5:9, and Christ after His perfect life made the perfect sacrifice. Verse 9, having been made perfect He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. You come over to Hebrews 9:12, not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood He entered the Holy Place once for all having obtained eternal redemption, eternal salvation, eternal redemption. And now at the end of verse 15, so that those who have been called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Everything associated with the high priestly ministry of Christ and the sacrifice that He made brings eternal benefits—eternal salvation, eternal redemption, eternal inheritance. This eternal inheritance, all the blessings that God promised in the salvation we have in Christ.

Let me just say something, I was reading a commentary that I read regularly and it's a good commentary on Hebrews by a man named Philip Hughes. And he is amillennial. And he is making the point in this that really you remember under the Abrahamic Covenant God promised the land to Abraham's physical descendants. That was their inheritance. Now we find out that it's no longer the land, it's an eternal inheritance for all the people of God. And it's another way of just pushing the Jews out of what was promised to them. No, this doesn't replace. Remember in the Abrahamic Covenant there were specific promises to Abraham himself, there were specific promised to the physical descendants of Abraham, particularly the Jews, the nation Israel. And then there were universal promises for all people, in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. One of those does not cancel out the others. We've talked about that when we talked about the covenants.

Back up to Matthew, Jesus talked about this heavenly inheritance. Matthew 6:19, we're in the Sermon on the Mount. Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy, thieves break in and steal. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Verse 21, where your treasure is there your heart will be also. You see, not earthly things but heavenly things for us. Doesn't mean there aren't earthly promises in the Abrahamic Covenant for the Jews, but our salvation includes heavenly things, including access to God in heaven. But do you know what? That includes for all believers. We get into the millennium and then we get into the eternal phase of the kingdom. And do you know what? Everyone is free to come before the very presence of God. All the heavenly blessings that God has provided.

Turn over to 1 Peter 1:3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation to be revealed in the last time. There are glories that God has provided for us in the glory of His presence and all that He will bestow upon us. That's the eternal inheritance, the fullness of the salvation and all that is included in that.

Come back to Hebrews 9:16-22. Verses 16-17, some take the word covenant here and connect it to a will or a testament, like a will we have where you make a will and after you die your will specifies how your possessions are divided up. The Greek word for covenant, diathaka, sometimes taken that way and some take it that way here. And that would be true, the death of Christ provides for us the inheritance. However it gives a little different twist to the word covenant. I think he's going to pick up on talking about covenant as he has talked about, that foundational agreement between God and man, if you will, mediated—the Old Covenant through Moses, the New Covenant through Christ. I tend to take it here just as a continuation. The point being made in verses 16-17, the establishing of a covenant requires the death of the person. Go back to the Abrahamic Covenant. What had to happen? The animals and birds were sacrificed, divided and a path made between. All the redemptive covenants of Scripture require sacrifice. And I think that's the point he is making here. And he's going to go on to elaborate on that with the Mosaic Covenant. Where you end up will be the same—the death of Christ is foundational. So I think he's really talking about how covenants are established. And they don't go into effect until death has occurred.

Moses didn't die, but the animals died; Abraham didn't die, but the animals had to die. But ultimately for the establishing of the covenant that would bring true salvation, Christ had to die. Moses could be the mediator of the Old Covenant and the animals could be the representative death, but for the New Covenant it took the reality of Christ's death. I think that's what is being made in verses 16-17.

Then verse 18 says, therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. That would be a redemptive covenant and provision made there for the priesthood. There were sacrifices involved, he'll tell us. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats with water and scarlet, wool and hyssop, sprinkled both the book itself and all the people. What was being pictured here, the animals are sacrificed, then the blood is taken. And we talk about the sponges, you have here the wool and the hyssop, they are using that to dip in and sprinkle the blood and the water, picturing the ceremonial cleansing. This sacrifice is cleansing from any ceremonial and external defilement here so it can be used in the service of God. That's back in Exodus 24, we won't go back there, you have a summary of it here.

So with the establishing of that covenant the animals had to be sacrificed and then the sprinkling of the blood indicates the sacrifice is effective and is being applied here. That's what Moses said in Exodus 24:8. This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you. And God is the authority and the basis for this covenant. He commanded it and in His plan it was a temporary covenant. This is the blood of the covenant. What did Jesus say at the Last Supper? This cup is the new covenant in My blood. The establishing of a covenant necessitated the blood. That was just symbolic, the blood of those animals, and Moses could be the mediator of that covenant and those animals were taken as the representative in the establishing of that covenant. But when you're going to get to the covenant that truly brings salvation, it takes the real thing, the sacrifice of Christ.

In the same way he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with blood. That occurs later because obviously the tabernacle wasn't constructed when the initial events took place in Exodus 24. But what he is saying is this process continues. So later when the tabernacle is constructed, and you can read, the priesthood is established with Aaron in Exodus 29. Then you go through the blood being applied. In Leviticus 8 and 16 you have the applying of the blood to the different items of the tabernacle.

The point is everything associated with that required sacrifice. So you have the summary. Verse 22, according to the Law one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood. Then he says, you may almost say all things are cleansed with blood. There was one exception. In a sin offering a person who was too poor to bring an animal could bring two doves; a person who was too poor to afford two doves could bring a certain amount of flour or meal. We say, there was no blood there. Well you can say, almost then there is an exception. But keep in mind on the Day of Atonement provision will be made for everything that wasn't specifically covered. So even though this is a non-bloody sacrifice, even the Day of Atonement covers that in one sense. But you say almost everything. And then the summary statement at the end of verse 22, without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. That is the foundational bottom line. Without a sacrificial death, and that's why he just doesn't say, without death, because the blood indicates a sacrificial death that has been accepted by God as the needed offering. Those other ones in the Old Testament could represent it and provide a ceremonial cleansing, but couldn't cleanse the heart. And the only ones really acceptable to God were those who truly believed in Him and experienced His cleansing, were credited by Him with righteousness because they believed. And they manifested and offered their sacrifices out of hearts of true faith. Those who went through the motions, they think I go through the motions. I go to church, I go through this ritual, I do that, I partake of this sacrament. I'm good to go until next time. That never did do anything.

Amazing, isn't it, what God has done. He provided salvation in His Son and His Son alone. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. We talk about the Roman Catholics and they've created their whole system and they say it is founded upon the sacrifice of Christ. But it's a whole system that denies what the Bible says about the sacrifice of Christ. But most Protestants aren't any better. They think they are getting by, by their good works, they think God is pleased because they do good things socially and otherwise. Try to keep the Ten Commandments. You understand without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. And it takes the sacrificial death offered by the high priest, appointed and accepted by God. There is only one such high priest, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. That is very narrow, it is very exclusive. That means all and everyone else are lost. People like to say, Jesus was love, but it was Jesus who said, the gate and way to life is very narrow and there are very few who find it. The gate and the way to destruction is very broad and most people are going that way. There is only one way to life, the beautiful thing of it is it is sufficient for everyone who will avail himself of it. Only Jesus is the one way? Yes, but how many ways do you need? How many sacrifices do you need? How many mediators do you need? It doesn't matter what your nationality, doesn't matter what your social status, doesn't matter what your wealth or your poverty, doesn't matter what your sin. Here is the One who can provide cleansing, forgiveness for all. It is so sad that here is a Savior and His salvation could be given as a gift to you if you would receive it by faith. You would think people would be breaking down the door and there would be a line through downtown Lincoln to get in and hear this. But people say, no. No. Well be sure. You can say no, but God has spoken, that's the way it will be. And we can thank Him for it.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Father, for the riches of your grace, your mercy, your kindness, your love. Lord, we deserve condemnation, we deserve an eternal hell. We are sinners by birth, we are sinners by choice, and our persistent rebellion against you is just a manifestation of heart that are deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Yet in the fact of our rebellion, the face of our rejection you sent your Son to suffer and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin so that you in love and mercy could offer to us the free gift, free to us because you paid the price of forgiveness, of life, of an eternal inheritance. We give you praise. In Christ's name, amen.