In Hebrews 9, this evening we'll read verses 11 to 14, but just take the first portion of it and seek understand and apply it, verses 11 and 12. But here we come to the passage, let me remind you that Hebrews teaches us that everything before Christ was preparation for the coming of Christ. And he has come and he has died and he has risen and the writer of Hebrews says, and everything is better. Now, not yet perfectly gloriously better like in the New Heavens and the New Earth, but everything is better now that Christ has come than before his coming.
And verses 1 to 10, the writer was demonstrating that the old covenant was but a shadow and a foreshadowing and a prefiguring of the true Messiah and his work for us. And the old covenant was deficient, but now the superior reality has come in the new covenant reality with the coming of Christ. And we'll read of that in verses 11 to 14 and think about what Jesus has done for us in his coming. Let me invite you to give your attention to the reading of God's holy and inspired word.
Hebrews 9 beginning at 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 blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the vile persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification 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.
This is God's word, but he writes it on our hearts. Let's look at him in prayer. Father in heaven, we pray that you would teach us that by your spirit you would open your mind to us, help us to understand the things that you have done for us in Christ, our Savior. And so if you go to us and then help us to live in light of the truth, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Christ is better and the key word in these verses really is the word redemption. He saw it at the end of verse 12. Christ has obtained an eternal redemption. Redemption means to deliver by payment of a price.
It was especially applied to the ransoming of slaves or the ransoming of prisoners, but the idea of course is that one might go to the slave market in ancient days and purchase the freedom of a slave by the payment of the redemption price. And here we're taught that Christ has redeemed us and to set us free. And so we're going to think about these things. The passage outlines in four parts the way of our redemption in verses 11 and 12, and then the success of our redemption at the very end of verse 12, then the effect of our redemption in verses 13 to 14 and the ultimate aim of our redemption in verse 14.
But we'll take just those first two parts this evening. First, the way of our redemption. Notice verse 11 again. When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come.
So the writer is saying with the coming of Christ, good has come. And by comparison to the old covenant, as we said, which was just the shadow of the true reality. And now that Christ has come, the good things promised in the Messiah have come with Him. And notice that good things have come.
And then it says 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. What's the writer thinking of here? He has in mind the ritual ceremonial day of atonement in Leviticus chapter 16.
The writer has been speaking of God's tent, God's holy place. You remember within the holy place, there was the most holy place. And one time a year, the high priest had entered through the curtain before the Ark of the Covenant and was to put blood on the mercy seat. And so he's thinking of that one day a year, the day of atonement in Leviticus chapter 16.
And the priest in that whole chapter, if you were to go back and look at that, I commend it to you, the priest begins with himself. He is to offer a bull bought with his own money and sacrificed for his own sins. And after slaughtering the bull, he was to drain the blood of the bull and put it in a bull and carry it into the most holy place where he would sprinkle that blood with his finger on the mercy seat and make the writer says in Leviticus 16, God tells him, make atonement for himself and his household. And then he would leave the most holy place and go back out and two goats would be waiting there for him by the altar.
And by lots, the goats were chosen for two different activities, one for sacrifice, the other to be led into the wilderness. The one that was killed for sacrifice, well, it's blood, like the blood of the bull, was also brought into the most holy place. And the priest was to dip his finger in it and splatter that blood again on the mercy seat for the sins of the people to make atonement for the people. So he would make atonement for himself and his household, then he would make an atonement for the people, and then the priest would leave the most holy place and he would place his hands on the other goat, sometimes called the scapegoat.
And he would confess over the iniquities and transgressions and sins of the whole nation of the people symbolically placing upon the head of the goat their iniquity, transgression, and sin. And then somebody was charged with a task of taking that goat far out into the wilderness and turning it loose so far that it would be lost and never returned to camp. Now what was going on in the day of atonement ritual? Well, some people said what's happening is that the sacrifice that the worshiper made, well, the worshiper was sharing in the life of the animal that killing the animal and letting the blood out was to make the life of the animal available for himself in some way, some sort of a mystical spiritual way.
It's what some people think was happening and it's what some people do practice in certain pagan religions. Even today, they think that they can somehow gain the power of the animal or the life of the animal by slaughtering the animal and being transferred to them. I have a colleague who when he lived in Florida, his neighbor actually killed goats in their backyard for that purpose as a pagan religious practice seeking to gain the power and the life. But that's not what's going on here.
What's going on here is that the blood is actually taken into the most holy place where God dwells in the midst of his people above the mercy seat and the blood was placed upon the mercy seat and it was there not simply for the benefit of the priest or the people, but it actually forgot the benefits so to speak. That is, the blood didn't just make a difference for the worshiper or how the worshiper felt, but it made a difference to God to see the blood. That's well illustrated in the Passover meal and the Passover event in Exodus where the blood of the animal, the slaughtered animal, the blood was put on the door post and lentil of the house and then the angel that came through passed over the people who sheltered in the home where the blood was seen. The reason they were passed over for death is because the blood said a death has already occurred in substitution for these people and so God's wrath was averted from them and so God said, I will see the blood and I will pass over you.
That's the Passover event. That's what's going on in the day of a coment event. Some people say that the blood just makes a difference for us, the subjective view, it has an effect on us in some way, but it actually makes a difference for God. He wants to see the blood.
Now why is that? Well, because the priest confessed sin over the animal, the sins of the people over the animal and the animals stood in for the people as a substitute in their place for the death that they deserve for their sins. The wages of sin is death, judgment, damnation, even hell, the wrath of God. And so it was wonderful for the people then to see the priest pray over the animal as it were, transfer their sins to the animal and have that animal die in their place.
As Philip Hughes says, the shedding of blood is not about the release of life but the loss of life. And it was designed to show them the loss of life that was necessary for them to be released from their sin. And so the writer of Hebrews then reflecting on Leviticus 16 says, Jesus is, well, he's the true and perfect high priest. And he entered the true and better, the true reality, the perfect, most holy place, the heavenly sanctuary of God.
And he's the true and perfect sacrifice who offered himself without blemish. And so the first goat represented satisfaction. Christ's death was the death that satisfies God and averts the wrath of God from the people of God for all who trust in the Son of God. He bore, we might say, the fires of judgment, the curse of a broken law, the just desserts of a holy God against sinners.
And so he paid the penalty. And then what's that second goat all about? Well it represents then the removal of sin from the people. And that is it worth satisfies man and our conscience.
If the first goat so to speak satisfies God as a substitutionary sacrifice making propitiation for sin, burning away. The wrath of God the second goat, we spoke to the conscience of the people. My sins have gone where? They've gone into the wilderness and they've disappeared.
They've gone as the writer of the Psalmist. The Psalmist says they've gone as far as the east is from the west. So far as he removed our transgressions from us. And so those two goats were vital to the David Tonement.
Leviticus 16 verse 5 actually says the two are one offering, not two different offerings in a sense. It says he shall, this is Leviticus 16 5. He shall take two male goats for a sin offering. They are two parts of one sin offering.
And so there's propitiation and there's pardon and in both cases it was by substitution. And what that ritual was doing is pointing to of course the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It was pointing us to Jesus who the writer says made the true substitution in our place. And he made propitiation.
We saw that in Hebrews chapter 2. He turned away the just judgment and wrath of God due to us for our sin by taking it to himself and freeing us from it. He brought about the pardon of our sin. He loosed us from the chain that bound us to what we deserve so that we're free.
That's the ritual David Tonement fulfilled in Christ. And so good Friday is the David Tonement. The true altar of sacrifice is the cross. And the true blood of the atonement that redeems us is the blood of Christ.
And so that's the way of our redemption. And then the writer speaks to the success of our redemption. When he says at the end of verse 12, well notice that language, he Jesus 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 or having secured an eternal redemption for us. What's he saying?
Well, think of that Old Testament ritual. Did what the priest did ever obtain a lasting redemption for the people? No, it was temporary. It was repeated yearly because it was not finally effective.
It didn't finally accomplish what was truly necessary. It was designed that way to point forward to the one final true reality Christ himself. And Jesus then, well, his sacrifice needs no repetition. On the cross he cried, it is finished.
And it was finished. That is the work God gave him to do was done. It was accomplished. I finished the work you gave me to do.
And so then to give, we might say, evidence of that death. Well, the Old Testament, the earthly priest took with him the blood of another victim. But as Christ is both priest and sacrifice, he presented only himself in heaven. And the significance, of course, is that he entered heaven not with his own blood, but by his own blood or through his own blood.
The significance is what he accomplished on the cross in a moment of time. We're not to think of Jesus carrying like the Old Testament priest, his own blood in a bowl to take it into heaven. But Christ appears in heaven, the land who was slain for us by means of his own blood. And he presents himself in heaven and on our behalf as an adequate, sufficient Savior.
So it's just a wondrous thing here that the writer says he entered into the heavenly sanctuary after he secured eternal redemption. And so it occurred at the cross and it was followed by his entry into heaven. And what he did, we couldn't do for ourselves. We couldn't pay the price of our redemption.
We couldn't free ourselves from judgment. We couldn't buy our way out of our predicament. But Christ redeemed us. And he did what no imperfect priest offering an animal sacrifice could ever do.
And it was effective. This is what he means when he says he secured an eternal redemption. The sacrifice of Christ saves all who are included within the scope of his work. What he did is certainly effective for our redemption.
So John Murray puts it this way. He did not die to secure a mere possible redemption of all men, but he purposefully gave his life as a ransom for men. It was the effective payment of the price to free a particular people. And he really paid the price.
He really freed his people. So Murray goes on to say, Christ did not come to put men into a redeemable position, but to redeem to himself a people. He didn't really make it possible for us to be redeemed. If we add something to something he didn't do adequately, he didn't make it nearly possible for us to be redeemed if we complete the work by adding our own faith.
No, he completed the work that was necessary to redeem us and purchased for us even the gift of faith so that it all comes as a gift secured by him. He makes it certain. So in a major mistake, Newton used all tent meetings long ago and he was outside one day. He was pulling up the snakes to his tent as things were over.
It was a one man operation and a young man came up behind him and said to him, Mr. Woodensurk, can I ask you a question? And Mr. Woodens bending over and he said, yes, go right ahead.
And he said, what do I have to do to be safe? And Mr. Woodens turned around and said, sorry, it's too late. And the young man said, what?
Oh, no. And he said, yes, too late. And he said, do you mean it's too late because the service is over? And he said, no, it's too late because it's already been done.
That is, he proceeded to tell him that he didn't have to do anything. Jesus did it all. All you do is believe in him or receive from him as a gift what he did for you. And so he turned to the boys and only believed what Christ has done and what he did.
He did effectively. He made it secure. And so for this, by way of application, let me invite you to think about three things. For this, Jesus is worshiped.
For this success of redemption, he is worshiped and this is how we preach and this is our confidence in missions. Let me think about those three things for a moment. In Revelation chapter five, as we think about worship, Revelation five gives us a picture of worship. We see four living creatures and the 24 elders fall down before the lamb.
And if you want to turn there in Revelation chapter five, beginning at verse nine, in verse nine, it says, they fall before the lamb and it says, they sang a new song. Where are they arguing? Where are they arguing? Take the scroll and open it seals.
He's been handed the scroll of human history. And he's worthy for you were slain and by your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth. Do you see what he's saying?
It's not that he redeemed every single individual in the world without exception or else we'd have to say that Judas is redeemed, that Judas is a priest to God. Judas shall reign on the earth. But that's not the promise. No, it is the promise is that he redeemed many from every tribe and language and people and nation.
He ransomed some from among all the peoples of the earth, all kinds of people without distinction of grace or nationality or gender or social status. He redeemed people without distinction of things like whether they're a king or a slave, rich or poor, men or women, black or white, old or infant, Jew or Gentile. And the ones he redeemed the writer says and they only are made up kingdom and priests to God and they only shall reign on the earth because Jesus has successfully purchased them. And so then as we think about preaching well that's what he's worshipped for and this we proclaim, we preach the gospel with a conviction that it will bear fruit in God's timing because Jesus really ransomed people for God.
Jesus really redeemed people for God throughout all generations from among every tribe and tongue and nation and language. And so we preach this and we preach it with a conviction that it will bear fruit in God's time according to God's plan in God's wisdom. We don't know who will respond. I don't know if you're paying attention.
I don't know if you listen to what I'm saying and respond to the Savior. I don't know how many ever listen. I don't know how many ever pay attention. No preacher does.
None of us, when we talk to family and friends about the goodness of the gospel. No on the front end that they will believe or can have any confidence that they won't believe necessarily we don't then lose heart is the point. We don't lose heart when people don't listen nor do we need to give up when people don't listen. We don't need to say to ourselves well this is all in the hands of people.
This whole plan of God for the kingdom of God in the salvation of souls. It's really ultimately the hands of people and how stubborn people are. We might just get lucky if somebody's redeemed but I don't really know if it's ever going to really happen. No somebody is always interested in somebody somewhere at some time is always interested in responding because the Spirit takes what Jesus did and he brings it home to the heart and guarantees that people from every tribe and tongue and nation and language are redeemed and will reign on the earth as priests in the kingdom of God.
And so we keep talking about Jesus. We keep praying to Jesus asking him to do what only he can do. And so we don't lose heart. And then finally when you think about this is why Jesus is worshiped and then this is how Jesus is preached.
And finally we can say this is the confidence we can have in God's sovereignty in the task of world mission. Jesus' success in redemption guaranteeing eternal redemption is the backbone of missions. It's the confidence by which missionaries can go out and preach and be rejected and preach some more and wait on the Lord. John Newton once read a letter to Reverend Thomas Jones stating, if I were not a Calvinist I think I should have no more hope of success in preaching to men than in preaching to horses or cows.
If I didn't believe in the sovereignty of God the effective redemption of Christ and then the giving of the Spirit to make certain that what Christ did for people actually comes home to people. If I didn't have that confidence what would I do? I give up. But Paul in 2 Timothy 2, said he endured everything for the sake of the elect.
He endured everything for the sake of those who are and will be redeemed. He was willing to suffer for it. He was willing to be mocked, dismissed, beaten, stoned and left for dead at the side of the road for this Savior. And this is the confidence by which we can go out in mission and ourselves talk to family and friend and neighbor and colleague and the confidence we can have when we send missionaries out.
The confidence that the Moravian missionaries had. Some of you will know the name of the Moravians are the spiritual descendants of John Huss from the 1400s and then Counts Insindor from the 1700s and these were people that one of the early, we might even say pre-reformation Protestant responders to the good news of the gospel. And they were a tremendous missionary people and some of them would get on boats in Northern Europe to sail to far places. And as the boats were setting sail those missionaries were prepared to sell themselves into slavery in order to reach the slaves in the West Indies.
And so to never be released, to never come home. And as they were on those boats leaving the shores of Northern Europe, some of them shouted over the water to their relatives, made the land receive the reward of his suffering. And what they were doing is quoting Isaiah 53 verse 10, it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.
That is, God put the Messiah to grief. God crushed his son upon the cross. And when he makes an offering for sin, when the Messiah does, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, he will see the fruit of the agony of his soul, and he will be satisfied. In other words, it wasn't left up to the thickle whims of human hearts as to whether what he did on the cross would be successful.
But he was promised he would see the reward, the fruit of his agony, his agony for us. And he will not lose one of his people. The fruit of the agony of the soul of the Son of God will come home through missions, and in no other way, therefore the success of missions is certain, because redemption by Christ is certain. And so you see the way of our salvation and the success of our Savior.
Let's glory of him. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the gift of your Son and Lord Jesus. We praise you that you loved us and gave yourself for us.
And we thank you that you sent your Spirit to us and that you granted us the gift of trusting in you. Make it so for everyone in my hearing, even this evening. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Let's stand together and sing.