The Better Blood of the New Covenant

[0:00] And if you'd open up your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 9, I'm going to be preaching chapter 9, 15 through 28.! It's on page 1193 of your pew Bible.

[0:13] So if you would open up your Bibles and read with me, hear the word of the Lord. 15, 915. Therefore, He, Christ, is the mediator of a new covenant.

[0:30] 15, 1015. 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.

[0:42] For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

[0:57] Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 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 saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.

[1:18] And in the same way, He sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

[1:31] 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.

[1:44] 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.

[2:00] Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

[2:12] 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. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

[2:38] May God bless the hearing of His Word. May God bless the hearing of Jesus. May God bless the hearing of Jesus. We've all made promises and failed to keep them.

[2:51] God makes promises and always keeps them. At the heart of the new covenant are promises God has made to His new people, the church.

[3:04] Promises that I'm calling blood promises. Promises guaranteed to us by the blood of Jesus. The Old Testament covenant between God and Israel dealt with sin by repeatedly shedding the blood of animals.

[3:22] And so the Old Covenant was never meant to last forever. It was temporary. The new covenant between God and His church dealt with sin by the once for all shedding of Christ's blood.

[3:36] The better blood of the new covenant. Which guarantees better promises. In chapters 8 and 9 of the book of Hebrews, God through the author of Hebrews is seeking to convince us of something very important.

[3:54] Something obvious. The new covenant has been inaugurated by the blood of Christ. And it's far better than the old covenant inaugurated by the blood of animals.

[4:09] The new covenant is now in effect. How can you be sure that the penalty of all of your sin has been fully and finally put away?

[4:30] How can you be sure of that? Blood promise. How can you be confident that you have round-the-clock access to the throne room of God without fear?

[4:47] How can you be confident of that? Blood promise. How can you be assured that when Christ returns and judges all, you and me included, that He won't cast you out into outer darkness?

[5:04] Where there's weeping and gnashing teeth. How can you be assured that you won't be cast out? Blood promise.

[5:16] In Hebrews 9, 15 through 28, God is seeking to convince us that the new covenant is now in effect. So we must hold fast to these blood promises. There's going to be three steps to the sermon.

[5:31] Verses 15 through 17. The new covenant is now in effect. I want you to see that. Then I want you to see in verses 18 through 22, the blood of the old covenant.

[5:43] And then, in verses 23 through 28, the better blood of the new covenant. And when you see it, it should compel you to hold fast to these blood promises of the new covenant all the way to the end.

[6:02] So let's look at the new covenant, which is now in effect. This is verses 15 through 17, particularly verse 15. Christ's death, His shedding of His blood means that the new covenant is now, right now, in effect.

[6:24] Verse 15 starts with the word therefore. And whenever we come across a therefore in the Bible or any other reading, we are asking, what is the therefore therefore? And what the therefore does is connect what has gone before to what the author is saying in verse 15.

[6:40] And what He wants to show us is that all that has happened regarding the new covenant has been brought into effect. So let me just help you see some of that. In chapters 8 and 9, we see that this new covenant is better than the old.

[6:56] In chapter 8, verses 8 through 12, there's this extended quoting of Jeremiah 31. This was written to a people at a time who were living under the old covenant.

[7:10] And so during the old covenant, there is this prophetic utterance that there would be a new covenant. Which means that the old covenant was temporary.

[7:21] That's the point of chapter 8, verse 13. And speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. And so the old covenant, established under Moses with the shedding of animal blood, that's in the rearview mirror now.

[7:43] Because what we see in chapter 9, verses 11 through 14, it's the blood of Christ that has put into effect the new covenant. And so just bear with me.

[7:54] Look at verse 12 of chapter 9. He, Christ, 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.

[8:07] New covenant in effect. Look at verses 13 and 14. 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 the outer man, the outer person, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience, our inner beings, from dead works to serve the living God.

[8:32] So here's what this therefore is all about. In light of this prophecy of this new covenant, and in light of Christ shedding His blood, Christ is the mediator, verse 15, of a new and better covenant.

[8:50] It's in effect right now. That mediator language means He's a go-between. He's the author and perfecter of our new covenant faith.

[9:06] This new covenant secured an eternal redemption. This new covenant purified our consciences. And so this therefore is showing kind of what is going on here.

[9:19] We're being convinced that the new covenant is now in effect. And later in verse 15, we see why. So that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

[9:31] Christ, through His blood, established the new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

[9:42] Who are these called people? They're God's elect. They are those people that God set His love on before the foundation of the world who He would irresistibly call them to Himself through Christ.

[9:57] These are the ones later in this passage. We see in verse 24, it's, these are the ones who now Jesus appears in the presence of God on behalf of.

[10:09] The called. The church. These are the ones in verse 26 that He has sacrificed Himself for.

[10:19] Who put away their sin. These are the ones in verse 28. These are the sins of the many who Jesus bore their sins for. These are the ones in verse 28 who eagerly wait for Christ's return.

[10:35] These are the ones who are persevering to the end because God is preserving them to the end. Well, who we're talking about? When we're talking about the called are the grace of God.

[10:49] The church. The true church. The genuine church. So that they would receive this. All of the benefits of the new covenant. Christ has established the new covenant by His blood so that we would receive all of this inheritance.

[11:09] In the old covenant Israel well they inherited primarily a land.

[11:21] The land of Canaan. But when we come to the new covenant our inheritance is a heavenly homeland. If you would flip in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11 in verse 10 speaking of Abraham.

[11:39] For Abraham was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. That's not an earthly city. In 11 and 13 through 16 we read these all died in faith not having received the things promised but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

[12:01] For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out they would have had opportunity to return.

[12:12] But as it is they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for He has prepared for them a city.

[12:25] Our inheritance where God Himself dwells. And not only just this future inheritance of dwelling in God's place it means the inheritance now of full forgiveness of your sins.

[12:40] It means the inheritance now of full access to God and the throne of grace and your time of need. All of this all of these benefits are ours through what Christ has purchased now.

[12:51] The new covenant is a now covenant for us. And we see how that was accomplished in verse 15 with the word since. since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

[13:10] The word death that's used there's other things other words used for it in this passage. There's the word sacrifice in verse 26. We've already seen the word blood show up repeated times in chapter 9, 12, and 14.

[13:21] The shedding of blood represents death. Something had to die for sin. And Christ's death enacted the new covenant. So the point of all this chapter 9, verse 15 is to convince us that the new covenant is now in effect because Jesus has died and shed his blood.

[13:42] In verses 16 through 17 the author presses the point with an illustration. For where a will is involved the death of the one who made it must be established.

[13:55] For a will takes effect only at death. What he's doing is he's comparing a legal will to God's covenants.

[14:06] To putting a legal will in effect is similar to putting God's covenants into effect. When we're talking about a will we're talking about someone's last will and testament. I've been thinking about that.

[14:18] Like okay, when I die what are we going to leave to our kids? It's not much but it's an inheritance of something. But in order for our will to take effect both Jenny and I have to die.

[14:30] Okay. Sarah, that's outside of my control.

[14:44] And every day that I'm alive I'm getting more eager to be in the presence of my king. But what the author here is doing is saying just as a will only takes effect when the person who makes it dies, God's covenants take effect only when something dies.

[15:12] The old covenant took effect when animals died. Exodus 24, we'll see it in a second. The new covenant takes effect when Jesus died and it's in effect now.

[15:27] So this first point that I just want to make obvious is this. The new covenant is in effect now because the blood of Jesus has been shed and you need to hold fast to this.

[15:40] Not to neglect this great salvation but to cherish it. So we move from this first point now let's move to the second point the blood of the old covenant the blood of the first covenant.

[15:54] So coming off this illustration that just like a will is set up with a death so God's covenants are set up with a death now he goes into talking about how the old covenant was inaugurated with the death of animals.

[16:07] You see it in verse 18. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. Under Moses this first covenant this old covenant required the shedding of blood.

[16:24] In verses 19-21 the writer of Hebrews he hearkens back to Exodus 24 3-8 and in that passage Israel has been delivered out of Egypt they've been brought to Mount Sinai God has given them the law through Moses it's been written down and in verses 3-8 of Exodus 24 the old covenant goes into effect and it went into the effect when Moses splattered people with blood he took water and he took wool and hyssop and he was just splattering people with blood it was bloody you can see all the blood in this passage look at verse 18 not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood verse 19 he took the blood of calves and goats sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying verse 20 this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you verse 21 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 shutting of blood there is no forgiveness this is bloody something had to die in order for God to bring a people who are sinful into a relationship with him something had to pay for the people's sins and what we know about this first covenant is that it was temporary

[18:04] I mean that's the point of 813 we know that it was ineffective we know that from chapter 9 verse 9 we know it from chapter 10 verse 1 look at 10 1 for since the law has been a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near it's ineffective the first covenant was anticipatory though I think that's what's getting hinted at in verse 22 of chapter 9 under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins what the old covenant taught and taught well was this something's gotta die for sin blood needs to be shed over and over and over and over again because the wages of sin is death something had to die the old covenant and the new covenant they share some things in common both were initiated by

[19:17] God's grace and both deal with sin through the shedding of blood but the old covenant is made obsolete obsolete by the new covenant because of the better blood of the new covenant the better blood is the blood of Jesus promises and this better blood gives better promises and so now let's turn from the blood of the old covenant and let's turn to the blood promises of the new covenant the better blood of the new covenant in verses 23 through 28 28 we've seen the principle the will principle just as a will is enacted by death so God's covenants were enacted by death we see that in the old covenant and we also see it in the new covenant and that's what 23 through 28 is getting at what I want you to see here in verses 23 through 28 are three pairings three comparisons three contrasts that emphasize that the new covenant is far better than the old and these promises are promises that are guaranteed by the blood of Jesus and you

[20:48] Christian need to lay hold of you need to hold on to all the way to the end so let's look at these three promises blood promise number one it's verses 25 and 26 the blood promise of a better forgiveness nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world but as it is but now he Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself so the comparison is between the old covenant and the new covenant let me help you see it in the old covenant you had a high priest who would repeatedly offer animal blood blood not his own for sin to cover it temporarily until they sin again and they got to cover it again and again and again and again the key word is the word repeatedly nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest did in the new covenant in verse 26 you see the word but in the middle of it but now but as it is he

[22:11] Christ has appeared once for all that's in contrast to repeatedly not repeatedly once for all and once for all is better and he appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself the shedding of his own blood once for all it it's a better sacrifice it guarantees that all of your sin has been paid in full through the blood of Christ God's wrath was poured out on Christ in full so there's no more wrath over your head Christian you put away the penalty of sin not in part but the whole we sang a song just moments ago when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul why would we ever say that though

[23:22] Satan should buffet though trial should come let this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul well how many of my sins my sin oh the bless of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul blood promise nailed to the cross paid in full so when you this week are feeling condemned by your sin something specific comes to my mind and there's no debating that you did it what do you do you hold fast to this promise you you you got to learn to preach you got to learn to preach the blood to yourself you got to say things like this time out

[24:32] Christ's blood put all of my sin and that sin away the whole of it you know if you were following me around in the week and you would hear me say it from time to time literally you would hear me say this because I get buffeted from my past sins too and you'll hear me say that sin has been paid for in full real sin real blood real death now this new covenant is the now covenant you are living in that promise and you gotta claim it you gotta hold fast to it blessed promise the blood promise number one is a better forgiveness blood promise number two it's in verses 23 and 24 better access 23 thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these for

[25:51] 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 the contrast is between again the old covenant and the new covenant under the old covenant we're told that the Levitical priesthood that the tabernacle that these animal sacrifices they were just copies shadows of the heavenly realities you can see that in 8 5 they serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things we see that in 10 1 for since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities they're just copies it's temporary ineffective anticipatory of the new covenant

[26:52] Christ didn't enter a copy Christ didn't enter a shadow Christ entered after his death and his resurrection he ascended on high and he sat down at the right hand of God the very presence of God the very heavenly sanctuary of God that is where Christ is now do you know what he's doing he's interceding on our behalf he's seated at the throne of grace interceding for us for the called and and we have full access to him right now full access at any time anywhere you can approach the throne of grace because by his blood he has entered you can bank on it anytime any place you ever called up a help desk before sometimes they're not there

[28:06] I mean this is the ultimate help desk this is the throne of grace you can go in at any time anywhere any place because it's been opened through the blood of Jesus you have access by blood promise you don't you don't enter fearful or ashamed you enter confident on the blood of Jesus I can get into the presence of God because Christ made a way would you repeat after me Christ is my okay I'm going to tell you something don't lollygag it give it to me Christ is my that's what I'm talking about risen and reigning let it go yes priest and king we announce that to you the anchor of my soul you say it to him you are the anchor of my soul who is now interceding for me right now you don't have to repeat anymore it'll be a really long sermon if that's the case can you believe that your risen and reigning king blood access support desk interceding for you right now right now and you know what he's there interceding you know what a time 3.30 a.m.

[29:52] when you wake up and you have all these anxious thoughts and you don't know what to do with them you know who's also up interceding for you in the throne of grace that's been opened by his blood your risen and reigning king you're not alone you're never alone you don't have to figure it out your high priest is always interceding for you from the throne of grace and you just but go to him in your time of need at 3.30 a.m.

[30:30] it might take you 15-20 minutes to realize that the way has been made open by the blood but when you realize it you make a beeline to him and you know what you'll find grace in your time of need blood promise it's always open blood promise number three this is verses 27-28 we've seen better forgiveness we've seen better access and now better hope better hope verses 27-28 we have another comparison and just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him now this is a different kind of comparison verse 27 this comparison is set up by saying it's appointed for man men and women to die once we will all die if

[31:38] Jesus doesn't come back in our lifetime we will die by the way this rules out any form of reincarnation you live once you die once and then judgment and so it's setting up the comparison we men and women die once and then comes the judgment we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ when he returns that's the setup verse 28 is the parallel just as man dies once and then face judgment 28 so Christ having been offered once he too died but he died for a purpose to bear the sins of many that's Isaiah 53 12 that's the suffering servant that's your substitute so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many he tied to he will appear a second time and when he appears he's going to judge everybody that's the setup that's the parallel we die face judgment

[32:45] Jesus comes back a second time to judge check it out here comes the blood promise you ready for this when he appears a second time for those who are the called for the blood bought for those who being preserved to the end for us it's not to deal with sin he's already dealt with sin the first time so when he comes back the second time we don't have to be afraid of the judgment because of the blood promise no he's not going to deal with sin our sin he's already dealt with it but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him to save and what he's getting at is this not we've already been saved justified we are being saved sanctified what he's talking about is being saved in sense of being glorified full and final freedom in the presence of

[33:48] God in his place forever that's the save when he appears the second time the blood promise your hope at his second appearing is the shed blood of his first appearing do I have an amen so you hold fast to that you hold fast we're one day closer to his second appearing it may very well happen in our lifetimes it may happen this afternoon what I'm interested in is what effect that has on you if you're a non Christian in the room that may terrify you because right now you have not entered into a relationship with God through Christ and therefore your sins stand against you and at the judgment he will hold you accountable to them in full and you will be cast out into the outer darkness and so you can be terrified at the thought of his second appearing and so you just put it out of your mind well

[35:05] I get to tell you good news you don't need to fear sinner Christ offers you full pardon of all your sin on the basis of his shed blood today you can enter the new covenant now today and find salvation in full so you repent and believe there's another group of people in the room that you profess Christ but the prospect of Jesus coming back this afternoon your thought is something like this well you know what I'm just going to kind of sneak out of here because you know if he were to arrive today you would shrink back in embarrassment because you're up to doing things that grieve him you're doing things that he died for you're not living in integrity you don't have a clear conscience and this is kind of a kind of a warning to you

[36:13] Christian you don't need to be ashamed at his coming you repent of your sin now you turn your back on it Christ did not shed his blood so that you could sin all the more Christ shed his blood to free you from your sin all the more so you turn from what Christ died for and you turn to the Christ who is alive and you live for him you don't need to be ashamed when he comes the third group of people are Christians who when you think about the coming of Jesus you're like do a little dance your heart rises you're like I'm going to hear him say my name

[37:13] I'm going to embrace him I can't wait you're in the hard moments of your life you kind of hit the kind of come Lord Jesus come this stinks I'm having enough of this come Lord Jesus come that's your heart's desire that's good you eagerly are waiting for him keep holding fast to his promises especially the third promise that his blood is your hope at the judgment the better blood of the new covenant guarantees better promises yes yes you lay hold of them and you hold on to them all the way to the end it occurred to me this morning that there's some in the room who might not be afraid of the return of

[38:21] Christ you're afraid of dying there's another blood promise it's John 11 25 where Jesus says I'm the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live blood promise Christ died and was raised has gone before us let me land this plane the new covenant is the now covenant we're living in it and the blood of the old covenant temporary and ineffective it did point to the new covenant sin requires death and then there's the better blood of the new covenant guaranteed by the blood better forgiveness better access better hope and did you notice it's at all the appearing of

[39:25] Christ that first appearing well he accomplished our salvation through his blood he set in motion the new covenant and now he appears before God on our behalf and then we're one day closer to his second appearing all of the new covenant has Jesus as the controlling center of it how do we respond hold fast hold fast to the blood promises of the new covenant all all the way to the end because he's got to hold on you all the way to the end we all make promises but God will always keep his promise to you Christian in Christ his blood guarantees it let's pray God

[40:25] Lord Jesus thank you for interceding for us now thank you that all of these promises are ours not because of anything that we have done but because of what you have done our hope our hope our confidence that our sin has been put away is our confidence in the blood our assurance that we can enter the presence of a holy God is our confidence is in the blood our confidence on that day when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ is not in anything we've done but it's in the blood we claim the blood thank you for shedding your blood for us Jesus this cup is the new covenant in my blood all glory to your name amen and and and and and