Sermon Cloud

The Time Of Reformation

Hebrews 9:15-26

Grace Fellowship Church

March 2, 2008

Series 3 Sermon 36

¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. ¹⁶ For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. ²³ Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Introduction

I wonder have you ever thought about how important your door is on your house? The door serves a very important purpose. One it keeps unwanted people and animals from just wondering into your house. It provides a barrier between the inside of your house and the outside world. You can put locks on a door and make it harder to get in. It secures your property on the inside. It also keeps water out of your house during a rainstorm. Think about the mess you would have to clean up every time it rained if you did not have doors.

Doors provide a seal against the weather outside. Imagine trying to keep your house cool in the summer and warm in the winter if you did not have doors. You can also open your doors when you want to and let the nice spring breezes flow through your house or close them off from the heat or cold.

Doors come in all kinds of styles and you can spend a little or a lot on a door for your home. As I understand it when you build a home, the front door is one of those items that is the most important to choose. I know of one couple who needed marriage counseling because the husband picked the front door of their new home without consulting his wife.

No matter how much you spend on doors a door is worthless without hinges. Those metal things with six holes that are notched together with a pin may not get the attention that the door gets but if they are not there then no matter how stunningly beautiful a door is it is not functional. The door gets all the attention but the hinges do all the work. No one ever comes to your home and complements you on your hinges. But without those hinges the door is practically worthless.

The promises of God are like a door. The door is beautiful and inviting. But God did not intend for us to forget about His hinges. The promises of God swing on the hinges of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is what the writer of Hebrews is getting across to us in this section. In chapter 8 the writer introduced us to the New Covenant in Christ and now is explaining to us all that the death of Christ has secured on behalf of those God has made a covenant with. During this explanation he does not let us lose sight of the security of all these wonderful promises in Christ. Over and over he will remind us that the promises of God are secured by the death, or in some instances he will refer to the blood of Christ.

Context

Two weeks ago when we began chapter 9 we saw the writer show how the earthly tabernacle and the regulations for worship pointed to the Heavenly Tabernacle and the New Covenant High Priest. By its very nature, God had intended for the Old Covenant to be replaced by a New and better Covenant with a perfect Great High Priest. The writer summarizes his argument in chapter 9:9-10. Look at those with me.

According to this arrangement (Old Covenant), gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, ¹⁰ but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Then last week we saw that Christ, as the New Covenant great High Priest, through His death had accomplished and secured some very important realities that the Old Covenant could merely be a picture of. Do you remember what they were?

1. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished eternal redemption.

2. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished purification of our conscience.

But there was a security for these. These are promises of God that swing on the hinges of Christ’s death. Go back to verses 11-14 and read those with me and see how both these promises are dependant upon the death of Christ.

¹¹ 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) ¹² he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

PNP

Last week I told you that over the next few weeks we would see nine accomplishments of the once for all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that is now revised to ten and subject to further revision. Last week we saw from Hebrews 9:11-14.

1. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished eternal redemption.

2. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished purification of our conscience.

Today I would like for you to see three more accomplishments of the once for all sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished the promise of our eternal inheritance. (15-17)
4. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished the promise of immediate access to God. (18-24)

5. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished the promise of putting away of sin. (25-26)

Purpose

My purpose in preaching this section of Hebrews is to show you what the writer says about the accomplishments of Christ as the priest and mediator of this New Covenant with the hopes that you will walk in freedom and joy in your salvation in Christ.

I want you to remember the people who are first reading this letter. They were under intense persecution to abandon the faith. They had already endured much and were staring straight down the barrel of more to come. Listen to Hebrews 10:32-35.

³² But remember the former days, when , after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, ³³ partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. ³⁴ For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. ³⁵ Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

And as we move through life with the various trials that come our way we need to heed the same words and understand that in Christ we are eternally secure. But we are only secure in Christ.

PNP

So look with me at the next three of ten accomplishments of the once for all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished the promise of our eternal inheritance.
Notice verses 15-17.

¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. ¹⁶ For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

The imagery in this verse is overwhelming. In the heavenly probate court the will is being read and those in the will are being given their inheritance. I want you to notice that these verses are chocked full of glorious, God glorifying doctrine that should cause each of us who are in this covenant of grace to not only be more gracious and thankful but also to be diligent in making our calling and election sure.

I want you to first notice the order of things. What the writer does in verse 16 is use the word Covenant that he has been using throughout the letter and uses it in its legal sense and that is of a will. A will and testament has been written. This will and testament is the will and purpose of God.

Now we understand what a will or testament is. These go back to the ancient world. You or I will draw up a document that will tell what we wish to happen with our earthly belongings when we die. That document is really meaningless while we are alive. I am not dividing the goods while I am alive because I may still need them. But a will tells who will get what when the one who has the will dies.

It’s like the little boy that went up to his grandpa and said, “Grandpa, make a sound like a frog.” Grandpa says, “Why?” The little boy says, “My dad said that when you croak we’re going to be rich.”

But we all understand what a will is and that it is not in effect while the one who made the will is alive. A death must occur for it to be in force. This is the argument to writer of Hebrews employs. Look at verses 16 and 17.

¹⁶ For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

I told you earlier that the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are the hinges upon which the door of the promises of God swing.

We have a will. Now we need a death to occur. Look at verse 15.

¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Whose death has occurred? Christ’s death has occurred thus putting the will or testament or covenant in force. But also having been raised from the dead, the one who died can also be the mediator of this will or testament. Look at the first part of verse 15.

¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant…

If you look at the very next two words in the text you will notice that we have a “so that” in the text. The Greek word, “Hopose” used here is a marker of purpose. Christ is the mediator of this New Covenant so that….

Look at verse 15 again.

¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance,…

I want you to notice something very important here in verse 15. Notice who is going to receive this inheritance. Look at verse 15. so that those who are called

I read a brief argument this week against the doctrine of particular redemption or as it is commonly called limited atonement. In that argument the author stated that at their seminary they neither believed in nor would hire a professor who held to this doctrine because they did not believe that the Bible taught it. The doctrine of limited atonement or particular redemption that this seminary professor was against states that although Christ’s perfect life and atoning death is sufficient for an infinite number of people, it is only efficacious for the elect.

And this is exactly what this verse is saying. The mediator of the New Covenant has died thus placing the will or testament into force and the ones who are going to receive the inheritance is not the world but those who are called.

In the original language of the New Testament the writer of Hebrews uses the Greek Participle κεκλημένοι.

It comes from the verb kalaw which means to call or to call out. This word the writer uses is a perfect passive participle. By now you should remember that the perfect tense in Greek tells of an action that was accomplished in the past and has results that carry on into the future.

I have previously used the example of the act of marriage to describe this. You marry someone and time moves on but the residual effects of that act of matrimony carry on as long as you both shall live. So this act of being called was done in the past and we need to notice that it is a passive verb. In a passive verb the subject of the verb is being acted upon. In our case the subjects of the verb are the ones who are the recipients of the will.

Are you getting this? This is particular redemption. Christ died for His people, those who have been called to salvation in Christ will be the recipients of this inheritance. That is why Paul can say with full confidence in Ephesians 1:3-6.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him . In love ⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

So the elect of God are the recipients of the benefits and accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ as the mediator and guarantor of this New Covenant.

Part of the problem in the modern church is that this truth is often overlooked or ignored or like the article I read flatly denied. So losing sight of this truth will drive people away from the Word of God as the authority for all that they do. So they begin to trust in the means of evangelism rather than the God of evangelism and so by our very sinful nature we take God completely out of the equation.

Which is why there are so many denominations and new models of church rather than the New Testament model that God has given us. Most look at church and evangelism as a sprint when in fact both are marathons. We want to see big results and see them now and in our culture if you don’t have large buildings and large numbers you don’t have the blessings of God. Faithfulness is set aside for flashiness.

Gary Lankford, the missionary whom we help support, and I talk about this quite often. Where he goes to church missionaries are often brought in who boast of huge numbers and everywhere they go people are converted. So these missionaries garner a lot of the church’s attention because of the showiness they exhibit. I have a friend who is from Mexico who told me while we were in seminary together that when he was growing up that American church group after church group would come in and have all these “salvations” and baptisms but when they left not one person was added to any of the churches. For a while he left the church because of all this. And what he told me was that most of the churches that came only came so that they could come back to the states and brag about their service and all that they had accomplished for the Kingdom.

Gary is not flashy, but he is faithful. He goes down to Mexico or Guatemala and spends a few weeks at a time with local pastors who are serving God’s people and he gives them material to help them rightly divide the Word of God for their flock. He helps assist them in doing what God has called them to do. That type of ministry will not get you a pat on the back in most churches. It will here but not too many other places.

Look at Grace Fellowship. We are not flashy but we are definitely trying to be faithful to the Word. Certainly we fall short as all men do but we rely on the Lord to lead us through His Word and His Spirit. We may not be flashy but we are a great danger to the modern church. Let me tell you why. We may be only 7 or 8 families right now, but in these 7 or 8 families there are twenty something children that will one day represent about that many families who will probably then have about one hundred children between them who will then have about five hundred children between them. And we are striving to train our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord so that they will train their children to train their children to train their children. You get my point. While the modern church is losing their children we are training an army of children who have sat under the exposition of God’s Word in church and at home and are prepared to face a world set in opposition to them.

And here is where we need to be careful. In training our children or grandchildren or our future children we must be careful not to overemphasize the means of teaching and evangelizing them over the fact that it is God who has elected people to salvation. In other words, in all your work don’t lose sight of the fact that God is the source of salvation and no matter how hard you try you can’t force a conversion on your child. Plus, don’t be too quick to tell your child that they are saved when in fact they may not be. Security of salvation is a wonderful thing but the Bible says that the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are indeed children of God. In salvation there is ultimate trust in the sovereignty, grace, and mercy of God.

So we have seen that a will is in force because of the death of Christ. The names written in that will, have been there since before the foundation of the world and these who are written in the book are going to receive an eternal inheritance.

So what do we get? That is what we want to know when a will is read. The writer of Hebrews has already told us what we are getting. Last week I told you that the first accomplishment of the sacrificial, once for all death of the Lord Jesus Christ was eternal redemption. Within this eternal redemption are all the promises of the New Covenant as found in Hebrews 8:10-12. Look back there with me.

¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹¹And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. ¹²For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Or as the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1:4.

⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

The inheritance is that we are the inheritance. Psalm 2:7-8 says:

⁷ "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You. ⁸ 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

God has chosen us to be His elect covenant people and in that is the glorious fact of our eternal redemption and complete forgiveness of sin.

We could stop here because this fact is so wonderful and glorious. But the good news is that God did not stop there and Christ’s once for all sacrifice has secured some other promises for us. The fourth accomplishment is this:

4. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished the promise of immediate access to God.

Look with me at verses 18-22.

¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

The writer first takes us back to the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant mediator had to appear before God on our behalf. He was the go between. In all the sacrifices that had to be offered he had to first offer a sacrifice for himself so that he could be a mediator. And remember that happened over and over again. Coming before God in the Old Covenant was a messy and bloody proposition. It always cost you something. There was an animal that had to be slaughtered on your behalf. But even then it was not full access. It was still only limited. Remember the tabernacle imagery where the two curtains were. If you were a Jewish man you could get into one section but if you were a Jewish woman you could not come that close. And if you were a Gentile then you had to stand even further back. But the place of the presence of God, the Most Holy Place was off limits to everyone except the High Priest who could only go in briefly once a year.

And all of this had to be purified with animal blood that could only serve as a temporary covering for sin. Even with this temporary covering the High Priest had to burn incense as he was entering the Holy of Holies. The smoke from this burning would serve as a veil inside the veil to shield the unworthiness of the Priest from the glory of the presence of God.

There is a difference though in the Heavenly Tabernacle that Christ is in as High Priest. There are no veils, no separating curtains. The way is open. Look at verses 23 and 24.

²³ Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Did you catch that last phrase? Our High Priest and mediator has appeared before God in the very presence of God, literally for us. For those who are recipients of this eternal inheritance in Christ we are already seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Literally we are still on earth, but positionally we are in the Holy of Holies in the very presence of almighty God. Christ has made the way and has also provided to us constant access to the throne of grace.

Hebrews 4:16 says, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And later we will see Hebrews 10:19-23 but lets take a glimpse at it early.

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

This is a truth I think that we believers really have the hardest time wrapping our minds around. I think we think often that we are not worthy to come before the throne of God because we are still so sinful. We fall short and we put ourselves on this guilt trip and it drives us away from where we actually need to go.

We act like debtors. Having worked in collections I can tell you from experience that people by their very nature dread getting a collection call. Now some people never intended to pay to start with but a lot of others just were overwhelmed by life and circumstances and it got the best of them financially. A medical condition these days can ruin you financially. And so people would just not answer their phone. They were intimidated when our company could offer them solutions.

The fact is that we are all debtors and the sin debt that we owe is something that we can never pay. So Christ paid it for us and bids us come to Him. The Lord Jesus made the public declaration that all who are weary and heavy laden should come to Him and He would give them rest. So when you are weary and worn down and you have come to the end of yourself you as a partaker of the New Covenant should run to and not away from the throne of grace. That is what verse 24 is telling us. Look at it again.

²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

And the fifth accomplishment is why the fourth accomplishment is true. Finally this morning I want you to see that:

5. Christ’s sacrifice accomplished the promise of putting away of sin.

Look at verses 25-26. Notice in verse 25 the comparison of the Old and the New regulations for worship.

²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. (In other words here, Christ’s once for all death secured the salvation of God’s elect from Adam to the very last person who will ever be saved.) In the rest of verse 26 we have the language of finality. Look at the rest of verse 26.

But as it is, he has appeared once for all(once and not again) at the end of the ages(at the consummation and fulfillment of all that the Old Covenant pointed to. This is the completion. The word end or consummation is the Greek word συντελείᾳ.

Those of you that have been with us from the beginning of this study of Hebrews will recognize the root word for this Greek word and it is the word telayos or perfect. Christ has appeared once and not again, at the perfect time to perfect all of those who are in the New Covenant and the proof of that is in the last part of verse 26 and the reason we can have full access to God and that is that Christ has appeared, look at the verse….

to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The word here for put away is the word annulment or abrogation. Christ has appeared once and in that appearing He has abrogated the power of sin. The writer uses this word in Hebrews 7:18.

¹⁸ On the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness…

The Old Covenant is put away precisely because Christ has done away with sin and its power. And he has done so as verse 26 says, … by the sacrifice of himself.

Christ’s sacrificial and atoning death are the hinges upon which the New Covenant promises of God swing.

We have seen this morning that Christ’s once for all atoning death accomplished for us the securing of our eternal inheritance, it has provided us immediate access to God, and has for all time put away or annulled the power of sin.

So let’s put the wheels on this car and drive. If as a believer I know that my eternal inheritance is secure, not by anything that I have done or will do or could even do, then I can walk in freedom in this life. I can face trials and trouble. I can even face death knowing that a better reward is waiting for me as death is swallowed up in victory and the grave is already a defeated foe.

But most of us do not face persecution and death on a daily basis. But we all have this in common. We are all faced with temptation on a daily basis from the least of us to the greatest. So how do we overcome this enemy of our soul. How can we use what the writer of Hebrews has told us to overcome temptation? First, by understanding that through the Lord Jesus Christ we have constant and complete access to the throne of Grace. And Hebrews 4:16 says that we are to run there in time of need. I don’t know about you but I need a lot of help a lot of the time. And why are we so afraid to run to the Lord when we are tempted? He is our spiritual 911. If a burglar comes in your house you are going to call the police for some help.

And if you are tempted then why not call on the Lord who has already promised to deliver you from temptation. We pray the Lord’s prayer corporately every Lord’s Day and we say the same thing. Sometimes we mean it more than we do at other times but we pray this, “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” If the Lord taught us to pray this way and the Bible tells us to come to the throne of grace for help in time of need and the Word says that we have constant access to the throne then I would say we need to take full advantage of all that has been given to us.

Plus, our mediator, the Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who has died so that we may live, has annulled the power of sin in our lives and has given us freedom now and ultimate freedom in eternity.

As the Apostle Paul told the Colossians in 1:9-12,

⁹ For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience ; joyously ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.