The Way

Welcome:

Announcements:

Sunday School and Lunch next week

Dance and Dine Night on Aug 8th @ 5:30-8p with dinner

†CALL TO WORSHIP Isaiah 57:15

Pastor Austin Prince

Congregation: For thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy,

Minister: “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit.”

Congregation: We gather to worship you, O Lord. Come, dwell with us, work in us that you may work through us. Amen.

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You are the Lord; Creator, Sustainer, and the Ruler of all things. You are our Lord, the God who gave His own Son for our salvation; who has called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. Come, O God, inhabit the praises of your people. Send the Spirit that we may worship you in spirit and in truth. Receive our worship, as you receive our prayer.

†OPENING PSALM OF PRAISE #100A

“Shout to the Lord, All Earth”

†CONFESSION OF SIN AND ASSURANCE OF PARDON

based upon Isaiah 64:1-9

“Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.” (Psalm 19:12–13, ESV)

Let us acknowledge our transgressions --

Minister: O that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence. Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.

Congregation: Restore us, we pray, through the coming of our Lord Jesus, in whom we place our hope and trust. Amen.

Minister: Sing aloud, O people of God, rejoice and exult with all your heart! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies.

Congregation: The Lord our God is in our midst. A warrior who gives victory! He will rejoice over us with gladness. He will renew us in his love. He will exult over us with singing.

Minister: Know that your sins are forgiven and be at peace.

Congregation: Thanks be to God!

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Numbers 23:13-24:1

Paul Mulner, Elder

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #226

“O the Deep, Unbounded Riches”

SERMON Hebrews 9:1-10 // The Way

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Your word, O God, is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as to the division of soul and spirit. Break us down with thy word so that by abandoning ourselves we might find Christ. Amen.

Read on through Heb 9:1-14

TEXT HEBREWS 9:1-14

Hebrews 9:1–14 ESV

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 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. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 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 manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 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. 8 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 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 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) 12 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. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 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.

AFTER SCRIPTURE

Every word of God is perfect, let his people bless his Holy name.

Intro

In a dark scene from Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 1), Lady Macbeth is consumed by guilt over the murders she and her husband have orchestrated.

And in a dimly lit room, Lady Macbeth moves mechanically through the night, her eyes open but unseeing as she sleepwalks, mumbling confessions through nightmares.

She is seen and followed in the castle by a doctor and a gentlewoman where she is found to be obsessively rubbing her hands, as if trying to wash away an invisible stain, murmuring, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”

Her dreams are a torment, as she remembers the murders of Duncan, Banquo, and Lady Macduff—Murders that she didn’t commit, but helped to plan.

Washing and scrubbing, plagued by an inescapable guilt that brings her to madness, she says again, though washing for a quarter of an hour, “Here's the smell of the blood still, all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!”

The doctor, watching from a distance, says: “This disease is beyond my practice.”

Lady Macbeth is trapped, haunted by a guilt that clings like a shadow, a weight we all know too well when our past sins replay in our minds, refusing to let go.”

Trying to comfort herself she finally says “What's done cannot be undone.--To bed, to bed, to bed!”

It’s a remarkable scene of someone trying to deal with the weight and burden of sin. Can it be washed off? Can it be left behind and forgotten? Can I sleep it off and leave the past behind me?

Or, as the hymn writer asks it: What can wash away my sins and make me whole again?

What can cleanse all the way to the inside? Where can I take my soul and the burdens it bears for rest when all this scrubbing won’t due?

Transition: 

Well, that is also the question that is before the mind of the writer of Hebrews. What can make us whole? What can totally free a man? Make a whole man?

Well, he has an answer, and it won’t surprise you that it is Jesus, but in telling us of this answer, the writer takes us back to the image of the tabernacle, and he takes us down this side road for a reason.

In our last verse of our last time together, we saw that the old covenant and the earthly symbol of that covenant, the tabernacle, was made obsolete. It’s no longer useful anymore.

And now in chapter nine, it is as if the writer is going down memory lane, walking the reader slowly through that old tabernacle, sort of as a parting reflection, remembering all of its furniture as he moves from the outer courts into the most holy place. He is doing this as a way to see more clearly just how marvelous Jesus’ ministry to us is.

Look at that ministry with me in three ways:

The Full Ministry of God (vv.1-5)

The Full Holiness of God (vv.6-10)

The Full Pardon of God (vv.11-14)

I. The Full Ministry of God

“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 manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and 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.” (Hebrews 9:1–5, ESV)

Our author is walking through the tabernacle, this tent, from the outer section to the inner one.

In many ways, this is what the entire book of Hebrews is doing on a large scale —showing us how we draw further up and further in to the presence of God through Christ.

But right now, He is recalling this rich imagery of the tabernacle itself, guiding us on a ministry of the senses and looking back at the record of God’s faithfulness.

Picture the tabernacle: a golden lampstand, shining like a tree of life; a table with bread for every tribe; manna, Aaron’s staff, and the law, reminding Israel of God’s faithfulness; and above the mercy seat, cherubim guarding God’s presence.

At first glance, you might see all of this as tedious and obscure, a completely alien and ritualistic way of encountering God. But step back for a minute and try to see what all of this would have meant to these people.

This was a ministry to them.

The lampstand is a reminder of God as their light. The one who showed them the way out of slavery and through the dark in the wilderness. It was shaped like a tree—a reminder of eden and how God was bringing that resting place back to them in their wandering.

The bread of the presence was a table with twelve loaves of bread upon it—sustenance for every tribe.

The jar of manna, Aaron’s staff, and the ten commandments were reminders of God’s faithfulness to them through their history. Faithfulness to provide for them, to give Aaron a true ministry as a priest, and to give the riches of the law.

There was also the cherubim angels that sat on top of the mercy seat (throne of grace).

When Adam and Eve were removed from Eden, the way back into that holy place was guarded by angels. They were fierce and held double-edged swords in their hands.

The way back to God was through blood. But the great marvel is whose blood it would actually be.

The writer wants you to see the ministry and beauty of it, but also the limitations of it.

These regulations for worship are a rich ministry, but they were a perpetual ministry.

It would simultaneously remind you of your need to be cleansed and remind you of God’s desire to draw you near.

But it never perfected the conscience. Like Lady Macbeth, you would come time and again to wash what you could not seem to get rid of.

The tabernacle was a remarkable ministry. It was God’s idea to pursue the wandering. It’s God’s plan to be near them and to dwell with them. But it was limited in its ministry. It’s like looking at a picture of someone that you love —it fills you with great joy, but its another thing entirely to get your hands on them and embrace.

But that fullness and that embrace is exactly what we have received in Christ.

The Full Ministry

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV)

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place (the tabernacle) of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new…”” (Revelation 21:2–5, ESV)

Application:

God’s desire that you approach Him

But we don’t come to Him frivolously or glibly. We approach Him in the manner in which He tells us to, and it is a great ministry to us.

Just as there were regulations for the tabernacle, so we follow what is called a regulative principle of worship. Not coming to God thoughtlessly or inconsiderately, but coming in the manner in which He teaches us in scripture. Our call to worship, the singing, the prayers, the confession of sin and pardon, the lifting up of our hearts, the Lord’s supper, and the benediction are ways that God presses into our hearts His glory and our history in Him.

Having seen the beauty of God’s ministry in the tabernacle, let’s now consider the holiness it reveals, a holiness that demands more than ritual cleansing.

II. The Full Holiness of God

“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 for the body imposed until the time of reformation.” (Hebrews 9:6–10, ESV)

The thing to see here is exclusion and holiness.

Very few people were ever allowed into the tabernacle itself. Only the priests would go regularly into the first court of the tabernacle. But behind the veil, where the mercy seat was, in that second and inner section, only one man could enter — The High Priest, and He could go only once a year, and not without blood.

Again, this may be hard for us to see because the imagery of the text is very foreign to us, but what we must see in these sacrifices is the holiness of God.

The wages of sin is death. We don’t understand that. We try to make God like us. We try to make Him see things our way. We try to make Him modern and approachable in a way that avoids His holiness. But that doesn’t happen when blood is on the scene. The sacrifices were not present because the people were cruel or that God was cruel. It wasn’t that they were unfeeling and deadened to the barbarity of it. It’s the opposite of that. The blood stops them in their tracks. It’s horrible and terrible. It’s the weight and nastiness of sin seen in a way that stops us in our tracks and shuts our mouths. It’s the end of sin. It’s the poison of our indulgence and where it leads.

We don’t see Him rightly because we don’t see ourselves rightly. We know only some of our sin but we give ourselves tolerance. He sees all of our sin and gives us justice. Our way ignores the curse. His way deals with it.

Here we see that the priest would offer sacrifices for the unintentional sins of the people. We think that if we didn’t realize that it happened that it’s the same as if it didn’t happen. But God is holy, and will by no means clear the guilty or overlook sins. He will rectify and deal with sin and He will deal with all of it.

And we should tremble at God’s good holiness.

And in His mercy, that weighty blood is paid by another.

There were instances in the the Old Testament where the priests didn’t approach God rightly and they died.

Can you imagine the High Priest as he prepared himself to enter into the holy of holies on that one day a year? Can you sense what that would have been like to reach a shaking hand up to that curtain and hope that you had done everything right to step in?

Our text is telling us that that holy veil needed to be crossed once and for all time.

The outer court is where you could wash yourself and make yourself clean, but you would need it over and over again. Like Lady Macbeth you would scrub and scrub and say “out damned spot”, but you can’t scrub away the inside. Our text says that these washings could never perfect the conscience of the worshipper.

That veil, that doorway to God, stood as a testimony to you that you were not allowed to come in, no matter how much you washed.

So how do you wash within? Where does our rest and the perfection of our conscience come?

The transition text in verse 11 is “but when Christ appeared”, get there right before we apply

III. The Full Pardon of God (read dynamically)

“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 defiled 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.” (Hebrews 9:11–14, ESV)

Unlike the doctor’s assessment in Macbeth, this disease is not beyond Christ!

God desired that we draw near and God made a way that we can draw near. He is, in fact, called The Way.

How much more, the writer says!

Not in a perpetual attempt year by year, but once and for all time through Christ.

Not with the blood of bulls and goats but in the blood of Jesus.

Not just the cleansing of the outside, but the perfecting of the conscience.

Christ has entered the inner court and torn the curtain in two. He has satisfied the grave cost of sin with His own blood. That outer court is gone, and we should live like it. There are no stops to be made, and no rituals that you need to find peace before the throne — you come right to the throne of grace through the Son.

How should we now live with full access and a clean conscience?

The Application: “purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

Sin Boldly Illustration:

Martin Luther has a famous phrase where he says to “sin boldly”.

He was an Augustinian Monk who felt an extreme weight of guilt about every sin and would go to confession about every small thing. Eventually, even his priest told him to go and do something that was actually worth confession.

But that guilt and plague of washing and scrubbing that Luther had was relieved when Martin saw the grace of God—that the righteous live by faith. Christ had freed Him from a life of works and had given Him mercy through Jesus.

And that changed the way he lived. Instead of being wracked with guilt, seeing sin and shame under even his most well intentioned actions, Luther began to live boldly and freely instead of feeling the need to clean himself up again.

Luther said that since nothing can be done purely without sin, you might as well go on and “sin boldly”.

What he meant by that was that we shouldn’t be overly bothered by trying to tiptoe through life. Yes, even our best actions are mixed with sins and impure motivations, but we have been covered by Christ and you have a job to do and duties to be done.

All of your sins, intentional and unintentional, are covered, so get to work and be faithful—Christ will take care of you. Don’t neglect your duty by trying to wash again in that outer court.

That is where Hebrews would minister to us today. To see that there is perfection for your conscience.

Do you see how that might move you to serve with joy and life and hope?

What are some things that you don’t do now because you are afraid?

What guilt are you carrying today that keeps you from serving God freely? Is it a past sin, a fear of failure, or a feeling that you’re not good enough?

Where are some places that you hide out because you’re troubled by guilt?

Perhaps you don’t lead your home because you feel that you have lost that right in your sin? Go on and sin boldly — you may not do it perfectly be you have been cleansed. You have a job to do.

Maybe you feel guilty for not being the parent you want to be, or for choices you made at work that don’t sit right.

Christ’s blood speaks a better word than your shame.

What sins do you continue to nurture because you are indulging in your guilt?

A common lie is that if you are already sinning, you might as well just stay there. If my hands are filthy, I might as well keep playing in the mud.

Do you see that you are cleansed in Christ? Do you see that there’s not a ritual or a process that you must go through to be cleansed but straight to the throne through the blood of Christ? Don’t delay — Come straight to the throne.

How quickly might you come?

When you feel the creeping sensation of guilt charges you to wash and scrub, do you fly quickly in prayer and see this reality in Christ?

Does it cause you to worship? Does it daily, almost hourly, or a minute by minute, fill you with hope and delight?

How are you capturing that boldness in your living and in your rest?

What testimonies do you tell your children and your neighbors who are growing in their daily anxieties?

What does it look like to live free and bold in this life? What does it look like to grow old as a parent or navigating teenagers through tough waters and their own growing sense of guilt?

What does it look like to finish well as an older saint?

Do you grow in more joy? Do you grow more free?

Have you laughed, louder and longer because you know and embrace the sense of freedom? 

Instead of “to bed, to bed, to bed” like lady Macbeth, just trying to conceal her guilt with the passing of time.

Because of Christ, you wake each morning not to guilt, but to grace. You rise and say, ‘This is the day the Lord has made—my slate is clean, my heart is free, and I will rejoice!’

Conclusion

Through His blood, we are cleansed—fully, finally, and forever. Christ’s sacrifice frees us from the need to scrub and strive. It invites us to approach the throne of grace with confidence, to live with joy, and to serve the living God without fear.

What Christ did one time, he did for all time. And now in time, serve Him boldly and freely.

†HYMN OF RESPONSE #470

“When This Passing World is Done”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH

The Nicene Creed p. 852

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

This table is for those who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church. You who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God and walking in his holy ways: draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to almighty God.

PRAYER

Minister: Let’s pray together.

Congregation: We do not presume to come to this thy holy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table: but you are the Lord, who is always able to have mercy.

Grant us therefore, by thy grace, so to eat the flesh of thy dear son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his most sacred Body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

“Eat and drink.”

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

†OUR RESPONSE #248

Let all things their Creator bless,

and worship him in humbleness,

O praise him, alleluia!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,

and praise the Spirit, three in one,

O praise him, O praise him,

alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

Christians, go in hope and His peace. “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24–25, ESV)

Grace Notes

Hebrews 9 reminds the Christian that Christ has perfected the conscience.

All charges of guilt are removed.

All barriers to the Father are eliminated.

All accusations against us are resolved.

All failures of holiness are fulfilled.

We don’t need to wash or scrub our sins away. While we may need to repent and turn from sin, we are never required to offer additional sacrifices to atone for them. Jesus paid that debt once and for all (v. 12).

How might a perfected conscience change your perspective?

Do accusations trouble you? Many accusations against us may be true, but they are set aside when we look to Christ. Our true record is met by a true Savior.

Do you delay obedience because you feel unworthy? Don’t wait until you believe you’ve earned the right to lead or be faithful. The gospel is not the good news that you’ve earned the right to serve. See what Christ had done and be faithful now.

Do you feel distant from God? What barriers do you think Christ has not broken down? Christ calls us to leave behind self-pity or hopelessness, recognizing the veil is torn, granting full access to the Father through Him.

What will it look like today to live in light of the gospel’s perfection of the conscience?