I've done that myself 20,000. Let me invite you to term it as a Hebrews, chapter 9. This week we continue as we began in one to five looking at what frankly the old covenant ministry, the tabernacle priesthood and sacrifices particularly the tabernacle and what went on in it. And we've been seeing as the writer points out, it's glory but it's fading glory and ultimately it's deficiencies, inadequacies to do what we really need doing.
And it did serve a good purpose by pointing to the better, by pointing to Jesus himself. And so what we see in chapter 9 and last week the first five verses is sort of the fading glory of the earthly tabernacle. Today in verses 6 to 8 we'll see the restricted access of that tabernacle as well as the limited effect of the tabernacle ritual on the conscience of the hearer verses 9 through 10. And then gloriously the next passage in 11 to 14 shows how Christ is much better.
And I think for our benefit we'll take the whole reading from verses 1 to 14 but we'll concentrate our study on just a few verses. Let me invite you to hear God's holy and inspired word, Hebrews chapter 9. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence.
It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place. Having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold in which was a golden urn holding the manate and errant staff that butted and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory over shadowing 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 constants of the worshiper but deal only with food and drink and various washes. Regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 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 and eternal redemption.
We'll pause there and let's pray. Father speak to us, help us, we have this treasure in jars of clay that the surpassing power might be from you and to be seen to be of you. So show yourself powerful by this word in our hearts and minds. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Amen. Well a quick review of last week the fading glory of the earthly tabernacle verses 1 to 5. People of God carried around this tent and they would set it up in a east place where they camped and once it was set up it served as the meeting place of God with his people.
We read Moses words in the next verse and God said there I will meet with you and from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubah that are on the Ark of the testimony I will speak with you. And so this is a good reminder that the the Mosaic covenant that the covenant God made with Israel in the Old Testament through Moses this first covenant he's been calling in was ultimately gracious. That is although it revealed God's holy law in greater specificity the tent to amens written on tablets of stone and though it called God's people to obedience it was not ultimately a covenant of works it was not ultimately salvation by obedience right we sometimes think of the Mosaic covenant given in Exodus 20 to 24 as being only about the giving of the law but it also included the giving of the whole tabernacle and the priesthood and the sacrificial system as part of the covenant promises to point the people who broke the law to the Lamb of God who takes away their sin. And so even that is gracious.
Here the writer speaks of what he calls the world of this world of this earth tabernacle and he points us to some of its outward glory just remember that the whole temple complex had three rooms in a matter of speaking it had a large outer courtyard surrounded by tents with a wall with an open doorway on the east side and then you came in and then there was the temple tabernacle structure itself the holy place first into which only the priest did go and then through a curtain into the most holy place where only the highest priest did go in once a year but it symbolized the presence of God and the provision of God for his people. Remember the furnishings just quickly in the holy place on the south side in this direction if we're moving through the holy of holy into the most holy place. That was the lamp stand or the menorah on the north side across from it the table of presence with the twelve loaves of bread symbolizing one loaves for each of the tribes of Israel and food for the priests while they met and did their work inside. There was an altar of incense before the curtain and we read last time in Revelation that incense rose up into as it were the nostrils of God even as the prayers of God's people mingled with that incense so to speak rose up into the very presence of God.
One encouragement God gave them that he hears the prayers of his people and especially the prayers of his priests on behalf of his people and then through the curtain into the most holy place was the ark of the covenant which remember was the symbol of God's throne and symbol of God's reign and rule over his people and then remember what was inside that ark of the covenant a golden urn filled with manna and the manna symbolized of course that when the children of Israel were in the wilderness and hungry and complaining God provided for them manna to eat bread from heaven as it were and then Aaron's rod was in there the dead stick that blossomed and it was a symbol of God's provision of a line of priests to serve them Aaron's rod but so his line would be the priestly tribe and then there were the tablets of the covenant the ten commandments written on stone also placed within the ark of the covenant and then over the top of that ark was the mercy seat it was the in the language of the scripture concerning it was the place of propitiation it was where God's wrath was turned away God looking down to his law and in between himself and his law so to speak was his mercy for his people and then on that seat you remember the priest the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the atoning sacrifice and attached to that seat on either side were these bold cherubim that leaned over and looked down at the mercy seat with their wings spread and they were the cherubim of glory so to speak and all these parts of this architecture beautifully symbolized God's presence with his provision for and the way of his favor to his people and so just as he's telling us all about this stuff and we did a whole sermon on the stuff you're wanting him to explain the meaning of each of the items but he doesn't tell you the meaning of each of the items I mean he moves right along verse five he says of these things we cannot now speak in detail it's sort of dismissive not disrespectful he's not being an appreciative or flip it but he's saying I mean y'all know about that stuff and you can read about it in Exodus another you know open the Old Testament but let's move on because my purpose is not to spend a great deal of time in those details my purpose is to contrast all of that with the greater glory of Christ and isn't it interesting that that he's chosen to explain the tabernacle as it was given in Exodus even though the readers of the book of Hebrews had never seen that tabernacle that is what stood in Jerusalem was the temple a temple made of cut stone not made of all these tent material and it's actually the second version of the temple after Solomon's temple had been destroyed this other temple was built and it was massive and it was incredibly expensive and the Jews were very proud of it and no Gentile not even King Herod could enter beyond the court of the Gentiles without being put to death but for all it's it's it's apparent permanency and indestructibility as a temple made of stone it wasn't even as impressive as this moveable tent of meeting and why because it didn't even have the Ark of the Covenant in it in the temple in Jerusalem it didn't even have the Ark of the Covenant in the most holy place by the time of Solomon's temple the pot of manna and Aaron's rod had disappeared and in 587 BC the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem destroyed that first temple and the Ark had not been seen since and so despite what the you know raiders of the lost Ark and Stephen Steelberg suggested you know it isn't lying box tops from where in the basement of warehouse in Washington DC and so what's actually happened here is that you've gone from the tabernacle made of tents to the first temple to the second temple and as another noted even as the shell became more expensive more elaborate seemingly more permanent you have a fading away of the objects of glory ultimately it's not the place where God dwells ultimately it's not the place where God meets with his people it's a shadow of the true reality and what's the true reality Jesus Jesus is where God and man meet Jesus is where heaven and earth meet as the Apostle Paul famously said of him the word became flesh and dwelt among us tabernacle among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only son from the Father full of grace and truth so it's he who tabernacle among us fully God fully man true God and true man the union of humanity and divinity and the place where we have union and communion with Lord God Almighty so by way of application look to Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you are united to him and you are united to God and you have access to God through him and just as a by the way application that this reminds us why the architecture of a church isn't vital to our spiritual health I mean I don't say that it's insignificant or something but you know in days of Christian prosperity we've built large cathedrals and yet in days of persecution Christians have worshipped even underground and in caves cathedrals can make you feel small and that can be humbling in a good way I don't know if you've experienced that but they can also leave you feeling cold or distant from God and from the people of God in a bad way and a cave alone of course is dark and cold but a cave packed with singing believers that could be an amazing experience what turns your crank may not be what turns the crank of someone else that's okay we're not supposed to see with the eyes in our head for the eyes of our hearts we're not supposed to walk by sight but walk by faith and that's why the architecture of even this building is not ultimately important we meet with God here in and through Jesus now second thing as we move on them notice in verses 6 to 8 as the author tells us what happens in the tent we see the restricted access of the tabernacle for the people notice this language beginning at verse 6 these preparations have 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 so you've got all these symbols of God's power and his glory and his provision and his mercy and his nearness and their where their where nobody but the priest gets to see them and then in the holy of holies only one priest one time a year gets to see them and so why is he saying this well on the one hand perhaps you know we can we can sense the sadness of God's people who couldn't see these things I mean there wasn't time when all of God's people could see the manna right they could see the tablets of stone that Moses came down off the mountain with they could see errands rod that butted but now they're all separated all hidden away in that most holy place and why is he telling us this because he wants us to see that even these symbols of God's nearness and God's present with his people were withheld from God's people under the old covenant and so he summarizes the common activities of the priest the only ones who got to go in in verse six and they went into the outer tabernacle to trim the lamps and to put fresh incense on the altar and once a week they would replace the sacred globes of bread and then when it came to the most holy place the chamber was visited as we said by the high priest once a year and he didn't dare enter without the blood of the atoning sacrifice to cover for his own sin and the sins of the whole nation once a year and it says that did you notice that language end of verse seven it dealt with sins and the word unintentional sins is mentioned there and you might ask what's that getting at well unintentional sins there does include the idea of sins that people committed deliberately with knowledge of forethought that category included sins of omission sins of co-mission it included all kinds of various sins except for a certain kind mentioned in the Old Testament called the sin of a high hand or that which was defiantly unknowingly rejecting God a sin that that despised God holds God in contempt turns its back upon God for that kind of sin there was no sacrifice available neither in the old nor in the new I mean if you look ahead as we saw in chapter six and if you look ahead to chapter 10 when the apostle says the writer says if you deliberately keep on sinning right that no sacrifice for sins remains that is if you continually reject the one satisfying atoning sacrifice of Christ and if you deliberately reject him turn your back down and refuse him where else are you going to go you have no other place of salvation you have no other way of forgiveness the way to be forgiven is forgiven is to go to him but so the larger point is this an injury but it this way the veil was the symbol of the separation between the holy god and sinful man they cannot dwell together the tabernacle thus expressed the union of two apparently contradict conflicting truths God called man to come and worship and serve him and yet he might not come too near the veil kept him at a distance love calls the sinner near righteousness keeps him back the holy one bids israel build him a house in which he will dwell but then forbids them entering his presence there because the way was not yet opened verse eight not yet and that's the whole testament ritual there's a way and yet the way is not yet been opened but now Jesus is the way into the most holy place and he has gone ahead of us and opened the way you remember that at his death upon the cross this curtain in the temple was super naturally torn from top to bottom symbolizing that the way into the most holy place is Jesus and through him and that he's gone before us so that we all man or woman boy or girl have unrestricted access to god the father through Jesus the Son by the help of the Holy Spirit you can use that access every time you pray and you don't have to get your words all right hey he knows what's in your heart but you're invited to come boldly as we've seen it time and again Ian by way of application once again we might say this is the reason that new testament worship has minimal symbolism with symbolism in the Old Testament worship was central because it was important for the Old Testament believer to understand that there was something yet to come greater that they had not yet experienced and the symbols pointed forward to the new the better but the new has come the reality has come and so if we reintroduce a whole bunch of symbols in our worship we actually undercut and undermine the newness and the glory and the freedom of access of the new covenant the authorized symbols in the new covenant are what baptism and the Lord supper these are the only Christ commanded symbols of Christ and the blessings we have in him their fewer number than the Old Testament they're much simpler they have less outward glory but they hold out Christ to us in greater fullness and spiritual power because they strengthen faith in the living Christ who gives us unrestricted access to God so there was a restricted access when that has faded away thankfully with the coming of Christ and notice in the last place in verses 9 and 10 there was a limited effect a limited effect of the tabernacle ritual to actually perfect the conscience of the worshiper middle of verse 9 according to this arrangement gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper but only deal with food and drink and various washings regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation he doesn't mean the Protestant reformation he means the time of coming of the Christ well what's he saying they couldn't perfect the conscience they only dealt with external regulations and external activities all these washing team mentions which by the way is the word baptism he's talking about Old Testament baptisms they were just external they were external washings and all those sacrifices offered endlessly year after year couldn't cleanse the conscience from a sense of sin and guilt and shame why well part because they had to be repeated every year and the repetition reminded you that there was no final forgiveness by the blood of bulls and goats that's the beauty of the once and for all sacrifice of Christ it needs no repetition and so the new covenant sets things right it makes a permanent and effective what was temporary in symbolic these old covenant sacrifice could picture Christ but they couldn't do the work of Christ but now that Christ has come his work is done and so what he's driving at is this your conscience alternately condemns you and acquits you your your internal sense of of the rightness of you being judged for your actions sometimes condemns you because your conscience sees that you have done wrong thought wrong said wrong love what's wrong and in that sense your conscience is functioning properly if you've done said thought loved evil but also sometimes your conscience acquits you it tells you you've done what God called you to do but but even your conscience of course is it perfect it could tell you you've done well when you really haven't and it could tell you you've done wrong when actually you haven't so we all have a slightly misformed conscience but our conscience is a big part of what keeps us from coming boldly to our Father in heaven because our conscience condemns us but what the gospel means is that the chief of sinner can come freely and boldly to God because the satisfactory and acceptable offering that cleanses you from sin that makes you right with God has come in Christ in a moment we're gonna sing a rise my soul arise shake off your guilty fears the bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears before the throne my surety stands before the throne my surety stands my name is written on his hands what's a surety surety is one who has who has offered to take up and pay the debts of another on their behalf and so you don't have to sit the wonder has my sin really been dealt with he's got really willing to have me does he really love me does he really continue to care about me now that he knows what I'm really like or now that I see what I'm really like and the answer is he does love me he does forgive me and so you don't have the outward glory in the old covenant worship that you think you do you don't have the access you really want you don't have the clean conscience you really be but we really have these in Jesus so Charles Simian clothes was a god the anchor pastor at holy trinity church in Cambridge and he described his own conversion in 1813 this way he says as I was reading Bishop Wilson on the Lord's Supper I met with an expression to this effect that the Jews knew what they did when they transferred their sin to the head of their offering and the thought came into mind what may I transfer all my guilt to another has God provided an offering for me that I may lay my sins on his head then God willing I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer and accordingly I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred head of Jesus have you done that have you forgotten that he was ready and willing and delighted to receive them for you because he's loved you and if you have him you have not if you have him you have access to God and by a clean conscience you can serve the living God that's pretty other father thank you for the gift of your son and you know every one of us is guilty of law breaking there are things we ought to have done that we haven't done and there are things we ought not have done and we've done them and so father we bow and and it confess and thank you for the mercy that is ours in Christ that Christ gave himself as a ransom for many that Christ loved us and gave himself for us and that in Christ we can come boldly to you and we do so that helps them to walk in the freedom that we have in him in Jesus name amen amen let's stand together and say