WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.280 Please turn up Hebrews chapter 9, page 1005 if you need it in the church. 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:05.759 If you need it in the church. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:14.599 Where do you look for meaning? 00:00:14.599 --> 00:00:18.359 In your desire to matter in the world or to be connected to reality, where do you look? 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:24.879 And what do you do with your weaknesses and your failings? 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:36.219 When you feel stuck in those patterns of behavior that you wish that you could change, but they just seem to have a hold over you and it doesn't feel like you can make any progress. 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:37.079 What do you do? 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:43.079 How do you cope with those feelings of guilt or shame? 00:00:44.120 --> 00:00:50.599 Those things that you've said or done in the past that you regret and you can't chase them from your memory. 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:59.880 We can easily drift along in life and we can pursue whatever vision of the good life that we're into without actually asking these questions. 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:01.640 Where do we look for meaning? 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:02.920 What do we do with our failures? 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:08.020 How do we deal with those feelings that seem to pull us back and make us struggle? 00:01:08.780 --> 00:01:14.920 We can chase after our vision of the good life without actually getting an answer. 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:23.560 But the problem with that is that they are the sorts of questions that one way or another nag us in the quiet moments. 00:01:24.939 --> 00:01:31.020 Those moments when it's just us and our thoughts and they come back to us and they make us uncomfortable. 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:34.420 Because if we're honest, we're not sure if there are answers, actually. 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:41.299 We're not sure if there are answers to these questions that affect how we live well in this world. 00:01:41.299 --> 00:01:51.399 And one way that our contemporary culture, certainly where we live here, one way that we've sought to address these questions or deal with them, 00:01:51.420 --> 00:01:55.239 we haven't addressed them actually, to deal with the fact that they keep coming up, 00:01:55.539 --> 00:02:03.500 is to fill our lives so full of distractions and busyness that we never actually have to address them. 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:06.500 You see, busyness keeps the deep thoughts at bay. 00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:11.819 But even so, you will look somewhere for meaning. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.740 You will do something with negative feelings. 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:20.280 Because those feelings are part of what it means to be human. 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:22.199 What do you do when you fail? 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:27.819 However busy you make yourself, you've got to be able to answer that question. 00:02:28.780 --> 00:02:31.939 Where do you take your feelings of guilt when you mess up? 00:02:31.939 --> 00:02:36.159 Our culture in this day prizes the virtue of authenticity. 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:38.979 We're told we need to be true to ourselves. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.939 Be true to ourselves no matter what. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:46.240 We should accept our failures as part of who we are. 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:47.159 They're no big deal. 00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:48.379 They're just part of who we are. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:51.759 They're part of the story, as it were, that we're in. 00:02:51.979 --> 00:02:55.479 And we should simply not allow, we're told, guilt to control us. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:00.039 When guilt comes up in our minds, when we feel it, when we feel that sense of shame, 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:02.259 we need to tell ourselves that it's nothing. 00:03:02.819 --> 00:03:04.000 And we should ignore it. 00:03:04.239 --> 00:03:05.879 And we should be true to ourselves. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.199 It's just part of who you are. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:07.799 Don't worry. 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:08.799 Keep going. 00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:10.859 But we know, don't we? 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:12.379 It's never that simple. 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:16.099 What if we've messed up really badly? 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:19.539 And we actually have a good reason to feel guilt. 00:03:20.519 --> 00:03:24.419 You should feel bad about that angry outburst with the children. 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:29.619 You should actually feel bad about the shameful stuff that you look at online. 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:35.699 That lie that you told about your colleague that destroyed their reputation in the office. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:37.259 What do we do with that? 00:03:38.959 --> 00:03:42.459 Well, the passage that we're looking at this evening gives us an answer. 00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:48.520 And the good news is that it's an answer that goes further and deeper than any of the questions, 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:51.480 any of the answers that our culture might offer. 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:56.300 Because it's an answer that doesn't simply tell us what to do in those situations, 00:03:56.580 --> 00:03:58.480 but it changes who we are. 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:05.480 And the answer, quite simply, is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:11.579 How is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ related to those very real, very everyday issues? 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:13.439 Hebrews chapter 9 tells us. 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:18.399 That's the point that our author is making as he develops what he said to us last time in chapter 8, 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:22.639 contrasting the old covenant and the new covenant that Christ brings in. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:28.639 Last week, if you were here, you remember we saw that Jesus was a better priest who mediates a better covenant. 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:33.800 And this week we see what that priestly work actually accomplishes. 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:35.500 Look back at chapter 8, verse 3. 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:42.079 We were told last time that it is necessary for priests to have something to offer. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.600 That was fundamental to their work of offering gifts and sacrifices. 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:51.939 Chapter 8, verse 12, the blood of goats and calves to carry out their duties. 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:57.900 Sorry, 9, verse 12, the blood of goats and calves to carry out their duties. 00:04:58.019 --> 00:05:00.139 And so that is with Christ. 00:05:00.139 --> 00:05:07.860 But again, going back another chapter even further in this letter, chapter 7, 27, we're told there, 00:05:08.219 --> 00:05:14.339 Jesus has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, 00:05:14.659 --> 00:05:17.680 since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 00:05:18.539 --> 00:05:22.919 Chapter 9 is dealing with the significance and the supremacy of his sacrifice. 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:29.819 And what we'll see is actually that it starts in a similar point to last week. 00:05:29.900 --> 00:05:35.800 So in contrast to the old covenant, Christ's sacrifice is better than anything under the old covenant. 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:38.319 It is better, first of all, because of where it happens. 00:05:38.939 --> 00:05:42.800 Point number one, it's better because of where it happens. 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:46.780 Old covenant worship, 9, verse 1, happened in the earthly sanctuary. 00:05:46.779 --> 00:05:52.359 Where 9, verses 1 to 5, there was a carefully constructed tent, tabernacle. 00:05:53.239 --> 00:05:57.219 This portable structure, it had the holy place where the priests ministered day after day, 00:05:57.739 --> 00:06:02.859 offering sacrifices for the sins of the people, following, verse 6, the ritual duties. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:08.199 And then once a year, the high point, the day of atonement, 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:12.739 when the high priest entered the most holy place where God symbolically dwelt. 00:06:12.740 --> 00:06:16.600 It was represented by the ark that had the Ten Commandments. 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:18.100 It was covered by the mercy seat. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.699 And in there, the high priest offered a blood sacrifice for himself and for the people. 00:06:23.960 --> 00:06:26.939 Daily, weekly, yearly sacrifices. 00:06:28.819 --> 00:06:33.439 And yet, God still remains separate from the people. 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:34.939 In fact, we're told, 9, verse 8, 00:06:35.259 --> 00:06:40.079 that the pattern of old covenant worship actively served to show precisely that point. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:43.560 The way to God was not yet open to everyone. 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:48.379 The tabernacle and the regulations, they had no lasting power. 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:51.680 As we saw last week, they were only a copy or a shadow. 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:52.219 Do you remember? 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:54.279 We said about the shadow and the reality. 00:06:54.719 --> 00:06:58.479 And they were just a shadow of the reality that is in heaven. 00:06:58.799 --> 00:06:59.979 But look at 9, verse 9. 00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:06.259 According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:14.279 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:17.159 That is, until the time of the new covenant. 00:07:19.500 --> 00:07:22.360 But now in the coming of Jesus, the new order has come. 00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:24.839 The time of reformation has come. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:26.860 The shadow has given way to reality. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.139 The copy is now obsolete. 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:30.099 Look at verse 11. 00:07:30.100 --> 00:07:34.820 But when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that have come, 00:07:35.760 --> 00:07:40.480 and through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, 00:07:40.939 --> 00:07:44.260 he entered once for all into the holy places. 00:07:44.540 --> 00:07:49.580 So, this sacrifice is of a different level of value. 00:07:50.900 --> 00:07:53.180 For the old covenant priests, it was goats and bulls. 00:07:53.220 --> 00:07:59.240 But Christ, the sinless Son of God, verse 14, offers himself unblemished to God. 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:03.680 He doesn't minister in an earthly tabernacle made with hands, 00:08:03.819 --> 00:08:09.680 but in the holy places, in the heaven of heavens, in the very presence of God. 00:08:11.900 --> 00:08:13.740 The whole earth belongs to God. 00:08:15.300 --> 00:08:20.060 But heaven is his dwelling place, his throne, his sanctuary. 00:08:21.180 --> 00:08:24.639 And this is where Christ has gone once for all. 00:08:25.540 --> 00:08:26.699 And here's the wonderful thing. 00:08:26.699 --> 00:08:34.840 He brings absolutely everyone who is united to him, with him, into that place. 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:42.200 As we said last week, the big issue for the Hebrews is the temptation to return to the old forms of worship, 00:08:42.580 --> 00:08:44.659 to the old sacrificial system. 00:08:44.659 --> 00:08:50.399 Back in the day, I was an estate agent for a time. 00:08:50.620 --> 00:08:54.219 And when I was doing that job, I would sell, sometimes I would sell land to people. 00:08:54.319 --> 00:08:56.419 I would sell a plot of land for them to come and build on. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:00.339 And often what they would do is they would come and they'd put a caravan on that land. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:02.639 And then they would build a house. 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:05.519 Living in the caravan, they'd build the house. 00:09:06.379 --> 00:09:08.199 The caravan was fine as far as it went. 00:09:08.259 --> 00:09:08.899 They could live there. 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:10.899 They could get on fine in the caravan. 00:09:11.699 --> 00:09:13.840 But it was always intended to be temporary. 00:09:15.899 --> 00:09:20.220 It was always intended to be something that they lived in for a time. 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:27.160 And once the house was built, the caravan was either demolished or taken away on a trailer. 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:31.600 There was certainly no question that the people would continue to live in the caravan 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.139 when this house that they'd built was now ready to be lived in. 00:09:35.560 --> 00:09:39.200 There was certainly no question that once they'd moved into the new house, 00:09:39.300 --> 00:09:40.379 they would then say, do you know what? 00:09:40.420 --> 00:09:41.600 Let's go back to the caravan. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:47.920 And the author here in Hebrews is telling this group, don't go back to the caravan. 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:50.060 It served its purpose. 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:51.779 And it's now obsolete. 00:09:52.540 --> 00:09:53.680 Take it away on a trailer. 00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:58.500 Go to and stay with Christ. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:04.700 Because He has offered Himself for you in the very presence of God. 00:10:05.420 --> 00:10:06.460 That's the reality. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:07.759 Don't stop with the shadow. 00:10:08.060 --> 00:10:09.399 That's the permanent thing. 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:10.980 Don't stop with the temporary. 00:10:11.800 --> 00:10:15.620 There is no power in the temporary now to do business with God. 00:10:18.620 --> 00:10:24.040 Of course, the same is true for anything that we might be tempted to pursue in our efforts 00:10:24.040 --> 00:10:27.360 to find answers to those questions that I mentioned at the beginning. 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:33.259 However hard you try, whether it's religion, whether it's church attendance, 00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:37.779 whether it's penance for sin or social projects or lifestyle gurus, 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:42.939 name your place that people go to look for answers to those questions, 00:10:43.419 --> 00:10:46.019 none of these have the power to bring you to God 00:10:46.019 --> 00:10:49.139 because none of them penetrate to that reality. 00:10:50.419 --> 00:10:52.519 Only the sacrifice of Christ can do that 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:55.179 because of where it happens. 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:58.879 In heaven, in the presence of God. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:03.080 Well, that's a bit more on what we talked about last week. 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:06.179 Christ's sacrifice is better because of where it happens. 00:11:06.700 --> 00:11:11.059 But then secondly, it is also better because of what it achieves. 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:13.320 Point number two, because of what it achieves. 00:11:13.740 --> 00:11:18.580 The point that the author is pressing in verse 11 and following is the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice. 00:11:18.580 --> 00:11:23.560 And he teases out what this actually means for those who trust him. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:25.020 And I'm going to walk us through a few of these. 00:11:25.100 --> 00:11:25.860 The first is this. 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:27.160 We have access. 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:28.980 We have access. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:31.560 One of the key things that the old covenant rituals taught 00:11:31.560 --> 00:11:36.460 was that access to the presence of the living God was restricted to a few special people. 00:11:38.780 --> 00:11:41.700 But remember, when Jesus died, 00:11:42.160 --> 00:11:45.140 the curtain in the temple, which was the tabernacle's successor, 00:11:45.140 --> 00:11:48.140 was torn in two from top to bottom. 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:50.160 This showed the world. 00:11:51.420 --> 00:11:52.040 Verse 8, 00:11:53.139 --> 00:11:57.040 the way into the most holy place where God dwells has now been disclosed. 00:11:57.300 --> 00:12:00.180 There is only one way to God, and that way is Jesus. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:03.520 But all who come to him are welcome there. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:10.600 When I was a boy, our family would often go and visit friends on the coast, 00:12:11.620 --> 00:12:13.740 a small town on the coast. 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:18.460 And near where we stayed, there was an impressive house up on the hill. 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:22.340 And it had big gates and lots of space around it. 00:12:22.340 --> 00:12:26.920 And it had a lovely, impressive view over the sea. 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:31.360 And sometimes I would be out walking, and I would pass by when the gates were open. 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:33.179 And I could see in. 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:35.360 And I could see this great house. 00:12:35.899 --> 00:12:39.639 And I could see the children's toys on the grass. 00:12:39.959 --> 00:12:41.240 And maybe the cars. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.439 And sometimes there were even people moving around, and you could see them. 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:47.360 And then the gates would close. 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:50.400 And I knew that I was on the outside. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:57.280 Several years later, many years later, 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:04.280 a friend that I'd got to know over the intervening years said to me and a few of his other friends, 00:13:04.420 --> 00:13:06.440 would you like to come to my holiday home on the coast? 00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:09.180 My family have a place up there. 00:13:09.220 --> 00:13:09.960 Would you like to come? 00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:12.340 And we all got in the car and headed off. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:17.520 And as we drove towards the coast, I realized where we were going. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:19.480 And I started saying, 00:13:19.540 --> 00:13:22.860 Oh, I used to go here when I was a boy with my family. 00:13:23.020 --> 00:13:24.860 And there's this beautiful house up on the hill. 00:13:25.380 --> 00:13:28.940 And when we were there, I would often look in the gates, but the gates would close. 00:13:29.040 --> 00:13:30.980 I was like, you know, it was one of those beautiful places. 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:31.980 Lovely, lovely house. 00:13:31.980 --> 00:13:35.759 And we turned around and into the street and drove right up to the gates. 00:13:36.940 --> 00:13:40.519 And I realized this was his holiday house. 00:13:42.139 --> 00:13:46.480 He reached behind the sun visor and pressed a button and the gates opened. 00:13:47.740 --> 00:13:48.899 And then we went. 00:13:49.539 --> 00:13:51.680 And I've stayed there many times since. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:58.560 This place that had once been off limits to me was somewhere that I now had access. 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:00.519 How was that the case? 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:04.019 Because I knew the son of the owner. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.939 And because I was with the son, I was welcome. 00:14:09.699 --> 00:14:11.279 When we went in, the gates opened. 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:17.500 We went straight in, in through the front door, into the living room, sat down, made ourselves at home. 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:21.980 Because Christ serves in heaven. 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:29.240 Because he, verse 24, entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:32.799 but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 00:14:33.860 --> 00:14:40.960 All who are united to him by faith have full access into the presence of God. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:47.500 Because you know the son and are connected to him, you have access. 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:53.340 This is a key aspect of Christ's high priestly work that our author keeps returning to. 00:14:53.480 --> 00:15:01.960 Through Christ's sacrifice, if you know the son, that relationship that was once out of our reach is off limits no more. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:04.419 We've been reconciled to God. 00:15:04.419 --> 00:15:12.259 So this evening, if you're in Christ, can I say God is not distant from you. 00:15:12.259 --> 00:15:18.659 However your experience of him in this particular moment might feel, 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:23.200 whether it's because life is tough or because things aren't going the way you want 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:25.879 or because it feels like your prayers aren't being answered, 00:15:27.319 --> 00:15:29.439 God is not far away. 00:15:31.779 --> 00:15:35.659 In Christ, the gates have opened and you're in his presence. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:39.240 So whatever you're going through at the minute, lean in. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:40.500 Don't walk back. 00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:41.559 Lean in. 00:15:42.259 --> 00:15:43.840 He is not far off. 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:47.779 So first of all, we have access. 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:51.000 Secondly, can you see we are redeemed? 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:52.179 We are redeemed. 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:52.759 Verse 12, 00:15:52.819 --> 00:15:54.879 He entered once for all into the holy places, 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.580 not by means of the blood of goats and calves, 00:15:57.720 --> 00:15:59.679 but by means of his own blood. 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:03.720 Thus, securing an eternal redemption. 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:08.519 Animal sacrifices, they could only make you ceremonially clean. 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:11.139 The old covenant couldn't reach any deeper than that. 00:16:11.139 --> 00:16:13.659 The blood of a thousand animals couldn't deal with sin, 00:16:13.659 --> 00:16:15.860 but Jesus' sacrifice goes deeper. 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:18.460 Through his blood, we are redeemed. 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:23.419 In his death, it's like he has gone to the slave market with an infinite means to pay, 00:16:23.779 --> 00:16:27.879 and he has paid every debt, purchasing us out of bondage to our sin, 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:31.399 out of bondage to our sin into eternal life. 00:16:31.399 --> 00:16:36.240 Do you understand that in Christ, you're no longer under Satan's control? 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:37.759 The chains have been broken. 00:16:37.959 --> 00:16:40.480 They no longer shackle you to your sin like before. 00:16:40.959 --> 00:16:45.360 Whatever marked your life before Christ, it no longer has a hold on you. 00:16:45.459 --> 00:16:48.240 Yes, it has a pull, but it doesn't have a hold. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:55.539 That shame, that guilt, the folly, the stupidness, the wickedness, all of it has lost its power. 00:16:57.259 --> 00:17:00.039 Now, you still may bear the scars of sin. 00:17:00.620 --> 00:17:04.240 That might be sin that you committed or sin that was committed against you, 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.859 but that no longer defines you. 00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:09.620 That is no longer who you truly are, 00:17:09.619 --> 00:17:12.519 because your sin has been removed, 00:17:12.719 --> 00:17:14.439 and you are free. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:19.219 Christ has purchased you. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:20.299 He has redeemed you. 00:17:21.579 --> 00:17:24.019 If you are in Christ, that is really true of you. 00:17:25.639 --> 00:17:28.759 I know some of you struggle with the past in very painful ways. 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:31.000 Because of the things that happen, 00:17:31.639 --> 00:17:34.219 you have come to view yourself perhaps as damaged goods. 00:17:36.339 --> 00:17:39.559 Perhaps even think of yourself as damaged beyond repair. 00:17:39.619 --> 00:17:43.219 You have sought help, 00:17:43.919 --> 00:17:46.979 and you have been told that you just need to take control of these negative emotions 00:17:46.979 --> 00:17:48.479 and not let them steal your joy. 00:17:49.439 --> 00:17:52.199 And so you have gone away, resolved to be as positive as you can. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:53.179 You have gritted your teeth. 00:17:53.259 --> 00:17:54.059 Try and be positive. 00:17:54.439 --> 00:17:55.959 Remind myself, I need to be positive. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:58.179 But it doesn't seem to work. 00:17:58.219 --> 00:18:00.359 It certainly doesn't seem to work in any lasting way. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:01.459 And you are right. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:02.459 It doesn't. 00:18:03.259 --> 00:18:04.599 Not in any lasting way. 00:18:06.419 --> 00:18:07.459 The problem is, 00:18:07.460 --> 00:18:08.779 you don't need, 00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:12.500 you don't actually need a better version of this life. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.200 You need a whole new life. 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:21.000 And that is precisely what Jesus' sacrifice has won for you. 00:18:21.900 --> 00:18:23.140 His body was broken. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:25.740 His blood was shed. 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:29.039 And it was offered up in the heavenly tabernacle 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.100 to purchase your freedom from sin, 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:35.360 to purchase your freedom from death, 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:38.039 and to liberate you for eternal life. 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:41.379 We're redeemed. 00:18:43.379 --> 00:18:44.619 Thirdly, we're cleansed. 00:18:45.579 --> 00:18:46.599 We're cleansed. 00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:49.940 The blood of goats and calves was effective for the ceremony. 00:18:50.139 --> 00:18:51.180 So look at verse 14. 00:18:52.159 --> 00:18:54.980 How much more will the blood of Christ, 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.240 who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:02.180 purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:03.079 Guilt. 00:19:04.139 --> 00:19:05.119 If you think about it, 00:19:05.159 --> 00:19:07.000 guilt is one of the currencies of our day. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.579 See, if I can make you feel guilty about something, 00:19:10.660 --> 00:19:11.700 I can control you. 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:16.359 So there are lots of things that we're being made to feel guilty about 00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:18.259 that we don't need to feel guilty about. 00:19:19.180 --> 00:19:20.680 It is fascinating to me 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:24.140 that at a time when our culture is so keen to tell us 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:26.359 that we're free to live whatever life we want to live, 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:29.759 if we fail to embrace a particular vision of life, 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:31.599 well, we are wicked people. 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:33.079 We're bad, 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:34.839 and we should feel bad, 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:35.700 and we should feel guilty. 00:19:35.700 --> 00:19:37.019 We should be ashamed of ourselves. 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:43.460 Christ liberates you from all of that false guilt kind of nonsense. 00:19:45.299 --> 00:19:46.779 You are where you are 00:19:46.779 --> 00:19:49.420 because the sovereign God of all the earth put you there. 00:19:50.059 --> 00:19:52.080 You were born into the family you were born into 00:19:52.080 --> 00:19:53.799 under the hand of a sovereign God. 00:19:54.420 --> 00:19:56.059 You shouldn't feel guilty about any of it. 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:58.580 You have what you have because God has given it to you. 00:19:59.080 --> 00:20:01.460 You don't have what you don't have because He's kept it back. 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:07.299 If He's given you a huge blessing, thank Him. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:09.319 If He hasn't, trust Him. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.640 But don't feel guilty about where He has you. 00:20:14.860 --> 00:20:18.360 Christ liberates us from all of this invented guilt, silliness. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:22.940 He liberates you from the crushing weight of cultural opinion. 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:28.360 But our culture is much less clear that there is also such a thing as legitimate guilt. 00:20:28.600 --> 00:20:29.519 I said that at the beginning. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:31.120 Verse 14, do you see? 00:20:31.580 --> 00:20:35.000 The author reminds us that our sin ensnares us in, it says, 00:20:35.120 --> 00:20:35.700 dead works. 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:37.779 It is literally acts that lead to death. 00:20:37.779 --> 00:20:40.379 So guilt is real. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:44.359 And we know this because our conscience tells us this day and night. 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:46.000 We can be ticking along fine. 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:47.759 It's not your experience. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:51.339 You're ticking along fine and then you remember something that you said or did in the past. 00:20:51.660 --> 00:20:54.440 It could be even a long time earlier and your heart sinks. 00:20:55.139 --> 00:20:55.980 You get agitated. 00:20:56.579 --> 00:20:57.440 You feel bad. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:01.460 The word that damaged another person's reputation. 00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:02.820 The comment that crushed someone. 00:21:03.120 --> 00:21:10.279 That hatred or lust or greed that led us to use that person rather than treat them as an image bearer of God. 00:21:10.620 --> 00:21:15.660 In all the ways that we've not loved God or our neighbor as we should, our conscience condemns us. 00:21:16.059 --> 00:21:17.080 That guilt is real. 00:21:18.320 --> 00:21:19.059 It is legitimate. 00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:20.480 We try to deal with it. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:25.980 But whatever we try, whether it's ignoring it or trying to be good or moral in some way, we can't. 00:21:25.980 --> 00:21:31.539 Like the old covenant worshiper, with all of the blood of bulls and goats, we can't remove the stain ourselves. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:34.819 Think of guilt. 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:37.740 Think of it like a tumor inside your body. 00:21:38.059 --> 00:21:41.960 If you pretend it's not there or you ignore it, you'll keep getting the symptoms. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:45.259 If you try to deal with it yourself, you'll not get anywhere. 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:46.880 Just ask Steve Jobs. 00:21:48.180 --> 00:21:53.319 It's only when you allow the doctor to insert the knife and open you up that you have any hope of getting better. 00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:58.039 Take your guilt to Jesus, the great physician. 00:21:59.139 --> 00:22:04.960 Allow him to open you up and cut out the sickness in order to cleanse you and make you well. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:14.819 The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only thing that goes deep enough to cleanse our conscience, to deal with our guilt. 00:22:15.460 --> 00:22:22.740 And if you put your faith in him, whatever your past, whatever it is that sticks when somebody talks about your past, 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:29.860 that thing that gets traction and makes you feel that way, whatever it is, on the basis of verse 26, have a look, verse 26. 00:22:29.859 --> 00:22:33.879 His once-for-all sacrifice, you can sing with confidence. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:36.359 His blood can make the farthest clean. 00:22:37.059 --> 00:22:38.079 His blood availed for me. 00:22:41.139 --> 00:22:43.919 Do you know what it feels like to be clean on the inside? 00:22:46.399 --> 00:22:48.259 Well, that is what Christ does for us. 00:22:48.259 --> 00:22:58.980 I say that knowing that those who have come to Christ for this cleansing can still struggle to get beyond the past. 00:22:59.059 --> 00:23:00.900 It's often one of the reasons that people give up. 00:23:02.980 --> 00:23:08.900 Hebrews found it too hard to persevere because of the pressure culturally to keep going and the drawback to all that was familiar. 00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:18.920 We sometimes feel that that sense of the past is too much for us and we just give up. 00:23:19.860 --> 00:23:20.960 But where else would you go? 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:26.320 Because this is actually the accuser doing his work and what he's telling you isn't true. 00:23:26.500 --> 00:23:27.120 It's not true. 00:23:29.460 --> 00:23:33.120 And you know that because you've been cleansed by the blood of Christ. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:39.699 That's an objective reality in history that stands over your life. 00:23:41.619 --> 00:23:46.459 Anyone who would come to the Lord Jesus can be saved. 00:23:47.379 --> 00:23:48.619 Whatever you've done. 00:23:50.699 --> 00:23:57.619 And if your faith is in Christ, and perhaps you feel that sense of guilt growing, 00:23:57.619 --> 00:24:03.979 sing to yourself another hymn when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within. 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:06.279 What do you do when you feel like that? 00:24:06.579 --> 00:24:11.399 Upward, I look and see him there who made an end of all my sin. 00:24:12.299 --> 00:24:14.379 Every single last one. 00:24:15.659 --> 00:24:18.000 It was all nailed to the cross. 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:22.239 Access, redemption, cleansing, and then briefly, 00:24:23.379 --> 00:24:24.979 what else does it achieve? 00:24:25.099 --> 00:24:27.239 Well, it achieves the fact that we have a certain future. 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:28.279 We have a certain future. 00:24:28.380 --> 00:24:29.019 Verse 15. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.339 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.839 so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance 00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:40.160 since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.660 committed under the first covenant. 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:45.900 Therefore, that is on the basis Christ's sacrifice, 00:24:46.019 --> 00:24:47.400 he now mediates a new covenant, 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:51.400 so that those who have come to him in faith might have an eternal inheritance. 00:24:52.019 --> 00:24:54.799 The author goes on to develop how Jesus' high priestly work 00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:57.599 fulfills Jeremiah's prophecy mentioned in chapter 8. 00:24:57.659 --> 00:25:00.559 But the big point is that, as one commentator puts it, 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:04.659 because Jesus is the first of many sons and is himself the heir of all things, 00:25:04.899 --> 00:25:06.200 chapter 1, verses 2 to 4, 00:25:06.399 --> 00:25:10.039 he opens the way for others to receive their promised inheritance. 00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:24.420 The death of Christ makes the inheritance intended for all of Christ's brothers effective. 00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:30.860 This is how you know that you can be sure of that inheritance in the future. 00:25:31.120 --> 00:25:35.720 In Christ, you receive life for eternity, and so your future is secure. 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:40.600 In the struggle of the Christian life, when trials come, 00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:44.140 when you're persecuted for following Jesus the way the Hebrews were, 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:46.800 it is tempting to think that you can't keep going, 00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:49.060 and so you give up and drift away. 00:25:49.059 --> 00:25:51.980 When you feel that sense of guilt from the past, you think, 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:55.220 I can't get beyond it, and you give up and drift away. 00:25:55.319 --> 00:25:58.779 But there is an inheritance that has been won for Christ's people 00:25:58.779 --> 00:26:03.000 that is worth enduring whatever it is in order to receive. 00:26:03.460 --> 00:26:06.099 It is the full experience of living in the presence of God. 00:26:06.500 --> 00:26:09.679 It is the unfettered joy of being redeemed from sin, 00:26:10.200 --> 00:26:14.119 the contentment and satisfaction of a clear conscience and a pure heart. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:18.139 The experience of this is what all who have come to Christ in faith will inherit. 00:26:18.140 --> 00:26:21.800 So wherever you are this evening, let me tell you, keep going. 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:24.800 Keep going. 00:26:26.259 --> 00:26:27.880 How do you connect with reality? 00:26:28.460 --> 00:26:31.680 How do you deal with weakness, failure, and guilt? 00:26:32.340 --> 00:26:35.640 How do you find security for the future in this uncertain world? 00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:41.259 Look to, trust in, hold fast to the sacrifice of Christ for you. 00:26:43.060 --> 00:26:43.820 Let's pray. 00:26:43.820 --> 00:26:43.820