If you'd open up your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 9, I'm going to be preaching on Hebrews
chapter 9.
A golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded in the tablets of the covenant.
Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.
Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section
performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes.
And he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for
the unintentional sins of the people, by this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into
the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing, which
is symbolic for the present age.
According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience
of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations of the body
imposed until the time of reformation.
Verse 11.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation,
he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood,
thus securing an eternal redemption.
For if the bloods of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of heifer sanctify for the purication of the flesh,
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.
Amen.
You know, when the check engine light appears on your car's dashboard, it means you've got to do something.
It usually means there's either a malfunction with your car, or you just need to get it regularly serviced.
And if you're like me, the temptation is to just to flat out ignore it, and here's why.
I don't want the inconvenience of having to schedule bringing the car into a mechanic,
and I definitely don't want to be confronted with what I've got to pay.
Maybe you can relate.
Anybody in the room with a check engine light on?
I see that hand.
Anybody else in the room with a check engine light on?
Your conscience is the check engine light of your soul.
Your conscience is your moral self-awareness.
When you do something wrong, your conscience lights up to tell you that your heart needs servicing.
You've got to address this sin, this wrong that you've done.
Guilt is knowing that you have sinned and that you're responsible for it.
A guilty verdict in a court of law is a declaration that someone has committed a crime and that they are responsible for it,
and there's a consequence that they must pay.
Real sin results in real guilt with real consequences.
Do you know what we're talking about this morning?
We're talking about a guilty conscience.
When the check engine light of your soul turns on after you've done something wrong.
What do you do?
When your conscience convicts you of real guilt for real sin.
Is there any real help?
Is it possible for a guilty conscience to be purified?
Or in the words of the writer of Hebrews, perfected?
Can a guilty conscience be made clean?
Well, that's what Hebrews 9, 1 through 14 answers.
Here's the answer.
Only the blood of Christ can cleanse your guilty conscience.
And so, this passage, we can divide it into two sections.
What cannot clean your conscience?
Verses 1 through 10.
And then 11 through 14.
What can clean your conscience?
When the check engine light of your soul turns on, don't turn to what can't clean your conscience.
Draw near to what can clean your conscience.
Only the blood of Christ can cleanse your guilty conscience.
So, what can't clean your conscience?
Let's look at verses 1 through 10.
Now, remember that the original audience of the book of Hebrews, this letter came into a church.
And they were Christians with a Jewish Hebrew background.
They had been suffering for Christ.
We're going to see that more as we get into the latter chapters of the book of Hebrews.
And they were being tempted to go back to the old covenant of Judaism.
With its earthly tabernacle.
And its Levitical priesthood.
And its animal sacrifices.
The problem was that by going back to these old covenant arrangements,
they would have to forsake Christ.
And the new covenant he had established in his blood.
Only the blood of Christ can cleanse a guilty conscience.
Not the blood of bulls and goats.
So, in verses 1 through 10, the writer of Hebrews shows us how the old covenant arrangements of the earthly tabernacle
and the Levitical priesthood and animal sacrifices fall short of cleansing a guilty conscience.
It's shown to be faulty.
Incomplete.
So, in verses 1 through 5, we see a description of the earthly tabernacle.
Maybe you haven't heard of the earthly tabernacle before.
It was a portable tent that God had the Jewish people design.
And he would come and dwell in that tent.
And he would kind of like go with his people in the wilderness and into the promised land.
If you want to take a deeper look at the tabernacle, look at Exodus chapter 25, verses chapter 25 through chapter 31.
In this passage, we learn that it's an earthly place of holiness.
It's a real dwelling place of God.
In 2 through 5, we learn that there's two sections of this tent.
The first is this outer section, the holy place with a lampstand and a table and the bread of presents.
And the second section is called the holy of holies.
It's the inner section.
You would have to go through the holy place to get into the holy of holies.
And in the holy of holies was the Ark of the Covenant.
And inside the Ark of the Covenant, you had an urn holding the manna, God's provision for his people in the wilderness.
You had the staff of Aaron that budded, showing that he was a priest from God.
And that you had the tablets of the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments.
And so the Ark was this kind of remembrance of the Old Covenant.
And on it, the top of the Ark was the mercy seat.
And it was believed, we see it throughout the Old Testament, God would dwell.
He would come in his cloud of presence, the Shekinah glory, and come within the holy of holies to dwell with his people.
It's quite a description.
It was a real way in which God was dwelling with his people.
But what the tabernacle, the earthly tabernacle, with these two sections make very clear is this.
Even though God was with his people, he was separate from his people.
Restricted access.
So we move from the earthly temple.
Now let's talk about the Levitical priests.
In verses 6 and 7, we have this description of priestly duties.
In verse 6, we have kind of the everyday priests who come in and out of that first section, the holy place.
And what they were doing, and they're coming in and going out.
They were tending to the oil in the lampstand.
They were placing the bread of presence.
They were making sure there was incense on the altar.
But what you need to understand is, it was only Levitical priests who were entering the holy place.
No other person from Israel could enter.
Restricted access.
And then we look at verse 7.
And in verse 7, it even gets more restricted.
Because the high priest, only the high priest, could enter the holy of holies only once a year.
And he would enter on what's called the Day of Atonement.
Yom Kippur.
Restricted access.
And now we move to the animal sacrifice.
Of the old covenant.
The former arrangement.
In verses 7 through 10, we see that the high priest, he had to sacrifice a bull.
The shedding of blood to cover his own sin.
Before he'd go into the holy of holies on Yom Kippur.
At which time he would bring in the blood of an unblemished goat.
And sprinkle it upon the mercy seat to cover the sins of Israel for the year.
This was repeated year after year after year.
Could you imagine a time lapse photography?
You know those time lapse photographies of like, of seasons in Yosemite?
Could you just imagine a time lapse photography over 15 or 20 years of the same high priest
entering into the holy of holies with the blood?
And over 10 to 15, 20 years you have this man who's getting more and more aged and decrepit.
Kind of entering into the holy of holies.
Bringing blood and then leaving.
Do you know what it means?
It's what we read later.
It's the blood of bulls in coats cannot take away sins.
Again and again and again.
And what God's people and us are being reminded of in this is that sin results,
real sin results in real guilt and requires real blood.
Something has to die.
We read in 10.4 that the blood of bulls and goats can, it's impossible to take away sins.
Excuse me, in 9 verses 9 and 10 we read this.
According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered
that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.
It cannot.
It comes up short.
The blood of bulls and goats, it's impossible for those to take away sins.
It's impossible for animal blood to take away, make clean our consciences, our inner beings.
It's impossible for us.
Animal sacrifice.
All part of the old covenant arrangement.
The seriousness of sin, but couldn't cleanse the heart of sinners.
And so that's why we read 8.7.
For if the first covenant had been faultless,
there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Or in verse 13 of chapter 8,
and speaking of a new covenant,
he makes the first one obsolete.
This arrangement has been made obsolete.
And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish, vanish away.
But did you notice verse 8 in chapter 9?
By this arrangement, the Holy Spirit indicates,
the Holy Spirit speaking a word,
that the way into the holy places is not yet opened,
as long as the first section is still standing,
which is symbolic for the present age.
That word in verse 9, symbolic,
we get the word parable from.
And so the Holy Spirit is pointing to the old covenant arrangement
and saying, hey, you in the present age,
this is a little parable for you.
Learn from it.
And what he's saying is,
as long as this system is up and operational,
it keeps closed,
the true way into
the heavenly tent,
God's heavenly dwelling place.
Don't go back.
Don't go back to the first covenant.
You can't cleanse your guilty conscience.
Only the blood of Christ can.
But I'm guessing the majority of us are like,
I don't care.
I'm not looking to go back to an earthly tabernacle.
I am not looking for a Levitical priest on Google.
I'm definitely not going to Meijer
to find an animal sacrifice.
But what you need to understand is that
though we're not tempted to go back to the old covenant,
we are tempted to look to arrangements
incapable of cleansing our consciences.
We try to mediate our own atonements.
When the check engine light of your soul turns on,
I'm guessing you turn to one of the following early on.
Here's the first one.
When you become aware of the guilt of your sin,
you try to outgood your guilt.
Your thinking is, I just need to do more good than wrong.
And if I do more good than wrong,
God will see that in the end,
and I'll be okay.
But the sad thing is, God doesn't settle accounts that way.
You can't outgood your guilt.
Your guilt for real sin stands against you.
It condemns you.
You can't cover it up with your own do-gooding.
That's not going to work.
Or maybe, instead of trying to outgood your guilt,
you make others pay for your guilt.
This is kind of a victim mentality or blame shifting.
It's a way to avoid taking responsibility for your real sin
and your real guilt and your real consequences that are due.
You're like, this person is the reason why I feel so guilty.
And maybe there's something to that,
but we must take responsibility for our own sin.
Another way that we try to,
another arrangement,
is to try to minimize our guilt.
And the way that we minimize our guilt is
by comparing ourselves to other people.
We're like, you know, I know I'm pretty bad,
but I'm not that bad.
Here's another way that we try to minimize our guilt.
We theologize it.
We say things like this.
God doesn't see that small stuff.
Or we say, God doesn't care about the details like that.
It's not a big deal to him.
He sees that's not significant.
Or the ultimate minimization of God is this.
The ultimate way to minimize your guilt
is by cutting God off.
You know, one of the easiest ways
to be relieved of your guilt
is to separate it from God.
You just say, God doesn't exist.
There is a way you can stop feeling guilty
about your wrongs.
It's just not true.
Other ways that people try to
kind of deal with their guilt,
they implode.
They are so aware.
They're so ashamed.
They're so guilt-ridden.
They can't sleep at night.
And we all know the stories of people
who have taken their own lives
because they're so guilty.
I happen to think
that the primary way
that people seek to deal with their own sin,
they find an arrangement,
is by numbing themselves to their guilt.
You find ways to distract yourself,
to numb yourself
by being busy,
by finding entertainment,
by drinking yourself numb to your guilt,
by smoking yourself numb to your guilt,
by sexing yourself numb to your guilt.
They're just different tactics
to numb yourself to your real guilt.
All these arrangements,
like the old covenant,
are incapable of cleansing,
of purifying,
of perfecting a guilty conscience.
Don't turn to that.
When your check engine light goes on,
don't turn to those things.
They can't cleanse you.
There's only one thing that can cleanse you,
to which we now turn.
What can cleanse your conscience?
Verses 11 through 14,
only Christ's blood
can cleanse your guilty conscience.
That's the point of verses 11 through 14.
And 11 through 14,
it's a contrast.
It's a contrast between
the new covenant arrangement in Christ
and the old covenant arrangement.
What we see in verses 11 through 14
is a better tabernacle,
a better priest,
and a better sacrifice.
Verse 11,
the second half in particular,
we see the better tent.
But when Christ appeared
as a high priest
of the good things that have come,
then through the greater
and more perfect tent,
not made with hands,
that is not of this creation,
he entered once for all
into the holy places.
If you turn back
in your Bible
to Hebrews chapter 8, verse 5,
we see that the earthly tabernacle
pointed to the heavenly tabernacle.
In verse 5 we read,
they served a copy
in shadow of the heavenly things.
For when Moses was about
to erect the tent,
Exodus 25 through 31,
when he was about
to erect the tent,
he was instructed by God saying,
see that you make everything
according to the pattern
that was shown you on the mountain.
In other words,
the earthly tabernacle
is patterned off
the heavenly tabernacle.
The heavenly dwelling place,
the heavenly sanctuary,
where God is.
It's not made with human hands.
It's not of this creation.
We're talking about
the actual, present,
permanent, dwelling place
of God.
8, 1, and 2.
Now the point in what
we are saying is this,
we have such a high priest,
one who is seated
at the right hand
of the throne
of the majesty in heaven,
a minister in the holy places,
in the true tent
that the Lord set up,
not man.
Better tent.
Look at 924.
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.
You see,
the new covenant,
what you learned
about last week,
has ushered in
a better tent,
better tabernacle.
And through the blood
of Christ,
we have unrestricted access
to the very presence
of God.
Better tent.
Better priest.
If you look back
at verse 11,
chapter 9,
but when Christ appeared
as a high priest
of the good things
that have come,
high priest
of the good things
that have come.
Remember,
Jesus Christ
is not a priest
in the order
of the Levitical priesthood.
He's a priest
in the order
of Melchizedek,
which means
he is a king priest,
which means
he is indestructible,
which means
he has a permanent priesthood.
Would you repeat
after me?
Christ is my
risen and reigning
priest and king
the anchor
of my soul
whose blood
cleanses
my conscience.
Unlike
the Levitical priests
who were sinners
and died,
Christ
is sinless
and lives
an indestructible
life.
In verse 11,
we read that
but when Christ
appeared
as a high priest.
Did anybody
notice I
didn't mention
verse 10?
If you look
back at verse 10,
but deal only,
speaking of the
old covenant
and its regulations,
they only deal
with food
and drink
and various
washings
outside,
kind of like
ceremonial
cleanness,
regulations
of the body,
external,
imposed until
the time
of reformation.
the time
of
reformation
in the
Greek language
in which the
New Testament
was written
in,
that word
reformation
means to
make straight.
It was used
in first century
medical terminology
in order to
set straight
a broken
arm,
to set
in place
a joint
out of place,
to make it
straight.
And so what
we're being told
here is that
the new covenant
makes straight
what the old
covenant
couldn't.
That time
of reformation
began
when Jesus
appeared.
He brought
the good
things of
the new
covenant
with him.
He came
to make
straight
what was
crooked.
He came
to inaugurate
a new
covenant
that made
the old
covenant
obsolete
and useless.
And notice
in verse 12
that it's
through his
blood
that he
entered
God's
dwelling
place.
And that
once for
all.
Unlike the
priests,
Levitical
priests who
came and
went in
and out
of the
early tent,
remember
that,
those kind
of like
15 to 20
year photos
of the
high
priest
coming in
and out,
Jesus
has
entered
the
heavenly
dwelling
place of
God
permanently.
If you look
back at
chapter 7
verses 24
and 25,
we read
this,
but he
holds his
priesthood
permanently
because he
continues
forever.
Consequently,
he's able
to save
to the
uttermost
those who
draw near
to God
through him
draw near
into the
heavenly
tent.
Since he
always lives
to make
intercession
for them,
he's a
better
priest
and he
has a
better
ministry.
Especially,
especially,
especially
when the
check engine
light of your
soul turns
on.
better
priest,
better
tent,
better
sacrifice.
What we
see in
verses 11
through 14
is that
this new
covenant
arrangement
is a
better
sacrifice
with better
blood.
Not the
blood of
goats,
bulls,
heifers,
but the
blood of
the unblemished
priest king,
the blood
of Christ.
In verses
13 and
14,
we have
what's
called a
lesser to
greater
argument.
It goes
like this.
The
lesser,
verse 13.
For if
the blood
of goats
and bulls
and the
sprinkling
of deviled
persons
with the
ashes of
a heifer
sanctify
for the
purification
of the
flesh,
in other
words,
hey,
the old
covenant
did some
purifying,
it was
of the
outer
person,
it was
good.
If the
blood of
bulls and
goats could
do that,
verse 14,
how much
more?
How much
more will
the blood
of Christ,
who through
the eternal
spirit,
that is the
Holy Spirit
working in
Jesus as
he lived
on this
planet to
live a
perfect
life,
he never,
there was
no,
not once,
a check
engine light
in his
soul,
but the
blood of
Christ who
threw the
eternal
spirit off
himself,
purify our
conscience from
dead works to
serve the
living God,
you see,
the blood of
Christ can
do what the
blood of
animals can't,
purify our
conscience from
dead works,
cleanse us
through and
through,
it's a
comparison
between the
blood of
animals and
the blood
of Christ's,
the blood
of animals,
hey,
can perfect
your body,
make you
clean on the
outside,
but it's
only the
blood of
Christ that
can clean
you in
the inside,
what makes
Christ's blood
better than
the blood of
animals?
why can't
the blood of
bulls and
goats take
away sin,
but the
blood of
Christ can?
Christ is
totally God
and totally
man,
totally,
completely,
utterly man,
sinless life,
perfect
conscience,
perfect
conscience,
and he's
totally God,
eternal,
indestructible,
and when
this totally
God,
totally man,
Jesus Christ
died on the
cross,
his blood
was the
perfect
unblemished
sacrifice,
his death
paid for
your sin
once and
for all
and in
full.
If your
sin provoked
God's eternal
wrath,
Christ's
blood
satisfies
that
eternal
wrath,
because he's
both totally
God and
totally man.
What this
means is that
his blood
secured in
eternal
redemption.
You see that
in verse
12?
Thus
securing in
eternal
redemption.
That word
redemption is
oftentimes a
kind of a
religious word,
but what it
means is just
another way of
talking about
salvation in
terms of a
transaction.
Redemption,
that language
was used in
the first
century to
describe buying
someone out
of slavery,
or buying
someone out
of prison,
or buying
someone out
of debt,
that you
would pay a
redemption price
called a
ransom,
and that would
free that
person from
prison or
slavery or
debt.
And so
this eternal
redemption that
has been
secured has
been secured
by the
blood of
Christ for
all who
believe.
All of
God's wrath
for all of
your sin was
poured out for
all and in
full on
Christ, which
means all of
your sin, the
penalty of it,
has been
forgiven.
Totally,
utterly,
completely,
really
forgiven.
Let me mix
my metaphors.
Let's say
you have a
fever.
Your fever
means you
have an
infection.
You can
manage your
fever, or
you can use
antibiotics, or
essential oils,
any fans?
to address
the infection.
And when you
address the
infection, the
fever goes
away.
God, through
Christ's blood,
paid the
penalty of
your sin so
that your guilt
fever goes
away.
Christ's blood
is so better
than the blood
of animals.
it does
only what
God can
do.
Remove the
penalty of
sin, and
therefore remove
the guilt of
your sin, and
therefore cleanse
your guilty
conscience.
The real
guilt for your
real sin has
been really
forgiven in
Christ.
It turns
off the
check engine
light.
It relieves
you of the
burden.
Once for
all, and
in full, Christ
shed his
blood for the
penalty of
your sin.
You know
what this
means?
Don't go
back to
to that
which can't
cleanse your
guilty conscience.
Draw near to
who can.
This is good
news.
This is gospel
news for a
guilty conscience.
It's a better
tent, a better
priest, and a
better sacrifice
with better
blood that
establishes a
better redemption
for eternity.
So you know
what we must do?
Here's what we
must do.
three ways to
apply this.
When you are
reminded of
past sins,
anybody in the
room reminded
of past sins?
I've got some
horrific past
sins.
And sometimes
the devil uses
a flaming arrow
to launch at
me.
When you are
reminded of
past sins,
do you know
what you need
to do?
You need
to preach.
You need
to preach
the gospel
to yourself.
You need
to say
things like
this,
Christian,
that sin,
not in
part,
but the
whole,
was paid
for by the
blood of
Christ.
I've been
cleansed.
No more
guilt.
Am I
grieved that
I did that?
Yes.
Am I
guilty that I
did that?
No more.
So the
first way
we draw
near is by
preaching
the blood
to ourselves.
Nothing but
the blood
of Jesus.
Okay,
second,
let's
just say,
hypothetically
speaking,
you have a
brother or
sister in
Christ,
and they
believe that
Christ's
blood can
cleanse them
of the
little to
moderate sized
sins,
but not the
big stuff.
Not rape,
too big.
Not if you
sold your body
for money,
that's too big.
Not if you
committed adultery,
that's too big.
not if you
extorted
somebody,
not if you
were part in
an abortion,
too big.
Jenny and I
recently brought
our grandson
Hudson
through the
quick trip
car wash.
I was
thrilled.
Hudson
didn't care.
But our
Honda CRV
fit perfect.
Could you
imagine our
Honda CRV
pulling out
and at the
other end of
the quick
trip car wash
is an
18-wheeler
tractor trailer
with a
53-foot
trailer.
You're like,
that doesn't
fit.
There's some
people in this
room right now
who think that
you have a
semi-tractor
trailer sized
sin that
can't fit
through the
guilt wash
of the
blood.
It's too
big.
It's too
big.
I can handle
my little
sins but
can't handle
the big
stuff.
You're
underestimating
the blood.
There is
no sin
too
big
for the
guilt wash
of the
blood.
No sin
too big.
He is
able.
Perhaps
you and
your shame
are thinking
too little
of the
blood.
Your sin
is not
too big
for the
blood.
In fact,
the blood
of Christ
is bigger
and better
than the
biggest sin
you've ever
made.
there is
forgiveness,
there is
cleansing
through the
blood.
So you
tell your
friend,
no,
that sin
isn't bigger
than Christ's
blood.
Christ's blood is
bigger than that.
The guilt of that
has been paid
for.
I've got plenty
of 18 wheelers
that have been
forgiven and
cleansed.
The third
area is
this.
You're like,
okay,
past sins,
I get it,
but what happens
if I sin
today?
What happens
if I sin
tomorrow or
later in
the week?
What do
I do?
Well,
this once
for all
and in
full
blood
payment,
that's
always
waiting.
It's
promised.
It's been
done.
He's
paid it.
He's
in the
heaven.
He's
interceding
for you.
So when
you sin,
you make
a beeline
to your
priest king.
You don't
avoid him.
You confess
your sin
to him.
Like,
oh,
Lord Jesus,
I did it
again.
Paid
in full
once
for all.
If we
confess
our sins,
he's
faithful
and just
to forgive
us our
sins
and to
cleanse
us
from all
unrighteousness.
1 John
1.
9.
And then
when you
confess
your sins,
you confess
his peace
cleansed
by the
blood.
Constantly
available.
Your guilt
has been
permanently
removed
because
the payment
has been
made.
what can
cleanse
your guilty
conscience?
Nothing
but the
blood
of
Jesus.
We've
looked at
what can't
cleanse
your guilty
conscience
and we've
looked at
what can
cleanse
your guilty
conscience.
So when
the
check
engine
light of
your soul
turns on
and you
are feeling
guilt,
don't
turn to
what can't
clean
your conscience.
Draw near
to who
has
cleaned
your
conscience
only by
the blood
of Christ.
The book
of Hebrews
is one
long
exhortation
warning
us
to
don't
drift,
to don't
go back
and
encouraging
us
to draw
near,
to hold
fast,
to press
on,
and to
convince
you
the blood
of Christ
has
covered
you
forever.
Makes you
want to say
thank you.
Let's pray
and sing.
Lord Jesus,
our
indestructible
priest and
king
who right
now you
are in
the very
presence
of God.
Thank you.
Thank you
for doing
what none
of us
can do
for no
blood
can cover
your
blood.
We thank
you for
giving
yourself
for us,
for cleansing
our
consciences.
it is
such
good
news.
Will
you
receive
our
praise
now
Lord?
In
your
name
we
pray.
Amen.