How Much More: The Greatness of the Blood of Jesus

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What’s the point of all of these rules and regulations and restrictions?

They’re trying to communicate something to us.

They are sending a message that they believe this virus is dangerous. That’s what all of this is about.

They have put these restrictions into place because they believe the virus is dangerous and these rules are meant to remind us of that and to keep us safe.

Well, the temple had rules and regulations as well.

There were sacrifices prescribed for certain circumstances at certain times of the year.

Beyond that, even the architecture of the temple was trying to communicate something to the Israelites.

All of these things, the layout of the temple, the sacrificial system and its calendar, were meant to remind the people that God is holy, separate, other, and their sin was a problem that needed a solution.

In the OT that solution was the blood of goats and bulls, the sacrifices.

These were symbolically offered to remind the people that sin demands death.

And as they were offered, God graciously accepted these acts of faith and atoned for the sins in question.

The problem for Israel was that they, like all of us, continued to sin.

So they continually needed to come before the Lord, to come to the temple where they were reminded by the holy of holies that they could never be in the presence of God, that they needed a mediator to intercede for them, they came to this temple over and over again to offer the sacrifices as God had commanded.

The word gospel means good news.

It’s the good news that all of our sins have been laid on Christ and we are now forgiven once and for all with no need any longer to go to the temple with our sacrifices over and over again. The problem magnified by the Temple itself has been addressed because Jesus is our better high priest, and His sacrifice was the better sacrifice.

Body:

Hebrews 9:1-5

Hebrews 9:1

The earthly place of holiness calls to mind the contrast with the heavenly tabernacle referenced earlier in Hebrews 8:2, 5

Hebrews 9:2

The designation of first and second was a common way of referring to the various parts of the temple.

Hebrews 9:3-4

The altar of incense was most likely located outside of this second section, but the author may have been following a Greek translation that placed it in the holy of holies.

The items listed as being inside the ark include two which were only said in the OT to have been placed before the ark. They would be the urn holding the manna and the staff of Aaron. Only the tablets were truly said to have been placed in the ark.

Hebrews 9:5

The mercy seat is where the blood of the sin-offering would be sprinkled on the Day of Atonement

Hebrews 9:5b

The author’s concern was less about the symbolism of all of this and more about the two-fold division of the tabernacle/temple.

Verses 6-7 set out some contrasts between the two sections to help drive this home even further.

Hebrews 9:6-7

The common priests enter the first section (6)

The high priest enters into the second section (7)

The common priests enter repeatedly (6)

The high priest enters once a year (7)

The common priests enter without requirement to discharge their duties (6)

Trimming the wicks of the oil lamps

Burning incense at morning and evening

Replacing the bread of the presence

The high priest enters only with the blood of the sin offering that is for him and the people (7)

This bifurcation of the temple sanctuary held significance for Israel, and it holds a significance for us today.

For the Israelites it was a continual reminder of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of men.

It was a constant reminder of the separation that sin had brought between God and man.

The average Israelite couldn’t even venture into the holy place as there was a wall of separation between the Israelite men and the place where the priests would offer the animals.

But beyond that only the high priest was allowed beyond this first section into the Most Holy Place, and that just once a year!

The whole temple layout was a huge reminder of the holiness of God.

For you and me it’s still a reminder of God’s holiness and the separation we experience from Him because of our sin, and like the Israelites, we need a high priest to go in and represent us before a holy God.

But unlike the Israelites, we have a high priest who has gone in once and for all to do away with this division, this separation.

P1: Trust Christ’s Work Not Yours (vv. 1-10)

God is holy.

RC Sproul: The human dilemma is this: God is holy, and we are not.

“Right now it is impossible for us to see God in His pure essence. Before that can ever happen, we must be purified. When Jesus taught the Beatitudes, He promised only a distinct group the vision of God: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God’ (Matt. 5:8). none of us in this world is pure in heart. It is our impurity that prevents us from seeing God. The problem is not with our eyes; it is with our hearts. Only after we are purified and totally sanctified in heaven will we have the capacity to gaze upon Him face-to-face.” (The Holiness of God, 28)

Thus the separation is still felt by you and me today, even after we have been saved!

There’s a very real sense in which we’re still in the first section, waiting access to that second section.

But, we have a High Priest who has gone into that second section, a High Priest who has gone behind the veil (Hebrews 6:19-20), a High Priest who holds His priesthood permanently (Hebrews 7:24), a High Priest who always lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25), a High Priest who is able to save to the uttermost.

Hebrews 9:8-10.

As our author was writing to a group tempted to go back, tempted to want the rituals and cultic system again, he reminded them once more of the futility now that Christ has come.

You may be thinking you’re good because you don’t live in the temple-age. You don’t bring any animals for sacrifice. But what are some of the rituals we can tend to trust instead of trusting in Jesus?

Your prayer journal, apart from Jesus, doesn’t accomplish anything.

Your worship playlist, apart from Jesus, doesn’t make you closer to God.

Your morning quiet time, apart from Jesus, won’t please God.

Your accountability groups, apart from Jesus, won’t make you more holy in the eyes of God.

“According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.”

Amos 5:21-27

Isaiah 1:10-15

Isaiah 29:13

Make sure your worship isn’t futile by ensuring that your trust is rooted in your High Priest and not your offerings.

2 Timothy 1:12 whom I have believed

App: What are some of the “rituals” you tend to use to measure your spiritual vitality? When utilized in the way God wants them to be used, how can those be helpful for your walk? How can they become dangerous to our walk if we were to use them to feel confident about our relationship with God?

END P1

Before Christ, an Israelite’s entire worship system centered around the temple and the sacrifices, the shadows of the substance that was yet to come. Their obligation was the same as ours, they were to trust God and not their worship, but they didn’t know anything remotely close to what you and I know today.

Hebrews 9:11

“of the good things that have come”

These good things are all of the benefits that we enjoy as Christians that the Jews could only view dimly through eyes of faith as they continued in the ritualistic practices of the temple system.

Christ is a High Priest now of these good things:

Complete access to the Father through the intercession of Jesus for us (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Complete confidence that we will be saved and delivered from our sins (Hebrews 7:25)

Complete confidence that our redemption is an eternal redemption because His sacrifice has paid for every sin (Hebrews 9:12)

Most of you in this room were born somewhere around the turn of the century, and none of you had anything to do with that. A lot of times we are challenged to think about the privilege of living in a time like this, and rightly so.

You can watch a baseball game on your phone.

If you have a question about something, you can google it and get an answer in seconds. It really is amazing.

But have you ever stopped to consider the enormous privilege of our position when it comes to God’s plan for salvation?

You and I know what the temple was designed to point to.

We know the cross and the empty tomb.

We know about salvation by grace alone through faith alone!

Be sure that this is indeed a privileged position which we enjoy as Christians living in the 21st century. And let’s not fail to respond rightly to that position.

P2: Praise God for Your Privileged Position (vv. 11-12)

Again: You and I know the gospel.

We know about the cross.

We know about Jesus taking our place and dying for our sins and rising from the dead.

We have heard about the doctrine of substitutionary atonement.

We have heard about the full wrath of God being satisfied by the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.

We have heard about propitiation.

We know about Hebrews 4:14-16.

We’ve never had to bring a lamb, or bull, or goat, or bird with us to sacrifice to the Lord before worshiping.

We’ve never had to have an earthly high priest intercede for us before the Father while we stand on the outside hoping it works.

We have a privileged position.

Hebrews 9:11b-12

The greater and more perfect tent is a metaphorical reference to the heavenly sanctuary similar to what we read in Hebrews 8:1-5.

Jesus has gained access to the Holiest of Holies where He currently resides

This access was gained not with the blood of bulls and goats and calves

The OT sacrifices weren’t propitiatory in and of themselves, but they stood as substitutes for the greater sacrifice.

They weren’t efficacious to remove sins once and for all.

A bull, a goat, a calf, can’t take your place and offer themselves for your sins.

These sacrifices were meant to remind the people that their sins demand death, the shedding of blood.

There was a constant mindfulness of the need for sacrifice, of the need for atonement.

Something that may have been lost on you and me even though we are just as much in need of those things

But Jesus’s death has done so much more for us because...

Jesus offered His own blood

Romans 3:25

Romans 5:9

Ephesians 1:7

Ephesians 2:13

Colossians 1:20

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because He was a qualified substitute.

He was no passive animal offered by another.

He was a moral agent who needed no sacrifice Himself

That is why He could take your place and suffer God’s wrath against your sins.

His blood was innocent blood, righteous blood, and it was applied to you and me to cover our sins.

The penalty of death was paid for your sins and my sins by Jesus on that cross.

Now we have confidence in an eternal redemption.

Jesus has secured for us an eternal redemption through offering Himself on our behalf.

Has that sunk in?

Is that old news?

Do you understand how much the Israelites would have loved to know what you know?

Think about Simeon from Luke 2:25-32 or Anna in Luke 2:36-28.

Think about David, Solomon, Isaiah, Daniel, Ruth, Esther, Ezekiel.

Think about Adam and Eve.

Think about how privileged your position is based on the knowledge you have been granted! Realize how precious is the gift of Jesus, the blood that He offered on your behalf to see God’s wrath satisfied against your sins and those sins forever removed from your account.

The salvation that you so cling to and hold on to was free but do not think for a moment that it was cheap. It cost the Father His Son, and it cost the Son His life.

Our familiarity with the good news of the gospel can be a huge blessing, but it can also be one of our greatest obstacles.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Let us be sure we never grow contemptuous over the privilege of our position in Christ.

Luke 12:48

App: What is something that you remember getting and being really excited about only to now look back at it as not really a big deal? What about something you were given a long time ago that you still consider one of the most valuable things you own? Where does Jesus and your salvation fall on that spectrum for you?

END P2

Hebrews 9:13

The OT sacrifices weren’t without purpose

They “sanctify for the purification of the flesh”

The “blood of goats and bulls”

Day of Atonement

Other sin offerings presented on behalf of the people

The “ashes of a heifer”

Num 19 ashes combined with water and used to purify anyone who came into contact with a dead body

These sacrifices had an external effect, a symbolic effect, that was accepted by Yahweh.

But they were powerless to do anything for the conscience of a person, for the true guilt of a person.

These sacrifices were effective for a time to atone for sins committed or to purify when a person had become defiled. They could momentarily restore a sinner to fellowship with God.

BUT, the next time that person sinned, or the next time they became defiled, they would need to return and offer again the blood of goats and bulls or to be sprinkled again with the ashes of a heifer.

There’s a parallel here with Catholicism’s practice of confession and the doctrine of purgatory.

The sinner must do penance for every sin, and if he dies with venial sins, he must work them off in purgatory.

But this is not the way of the gospel. If these bulls and goats were effective at all, how much more effective and powerful must be the blood of the Son of God.

P3: Rejoice in the Better Sacrifice (vv. 13-14)

I love getting new tech. I love opening a new box from Apple. I love the whole experience of powering on the new device for the first time. I love how clean and fast and good it is out of the box. But, I know in the back of my mind, even when I am turning it on for the first time, that this device has a shelf-life. In 6 months something newer, something better is going to come out, and this won’t be the latest and greatest anymore.

That’s intentional. Apple, Sony, Samsung, IBM, all work the same way.

They build their products to not be the final word. They build them to eventually fail and leave us needing another.

Not so with the sacrifice Jesus offered for us.

John 19:30 It is finished

Hebrews 9:14

“through the eternal Spirit offered himself”

Isaiah 42:1 I have put my Spirit upon him

Luke 4:18

Matthew 3:16

Isaiah 53:10b when his soul makes an offering for guilt (self-sacrifice)

“without blemish to God”

Isaiah 53:9

This was absolutely necessary for the absolution of our sin and guilt

“purify our conscience from dead works”

1 Peter 3:21-22 as an appeal to God for a good conscience...who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God

Mark 7:14-23 (What defiles a person)

There’s not a ritual or temple sacrifice in the world that can address the internal state of humanity. Not one. It’s only the cross of Christ that can cleanse us from our sin.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Titus 3:3-7

Isaiah 1:16-18

Now because of the cross John can write: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

How much more the blood of Christ.

More than your best efforts

More than your consistency

More than your good works

More than your faithful attendance

More than your passionate worship

More than completing the DBR

More than finishing Partners

More than being baptized

Isaac Watts: Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace, or wash away the stain: But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they.

You don’t need any more than what you have in Christ. He has secured for you an eternal redemption with His own blood. You are as acceptable to the Father as you will ever be because your worth is in Christ alone.

App: Read John 8:44 where Satan is called “the father of lies.” What are some of the lies we are tempted to believe that make us doubt the eternal redemption we have in Jesus? What happens when we believe those lies? What should we do if we find we have bought-in to these lies?

App: We don’t have to bring bulls and goats to a temple and have a priest sacrifice them for a sin offering in order to be forgiven. So how can we guard against becoming complacent about the forgiveness we have in Jesus? How can we feel the gravity of our sin as much today as the Jews must have felt it when they watched the animal killed by the priest?

END P3

Conclusion:

We’re still early in the DBR for this year, but eventually we will come to the rules and regulations for the sacrifices. This is right around the time that you’re tempted to bail because it gets tedious. But maybe this year you’ll read those sections through new eyes. Maybe this year you’ll read them mindful of Hebrews 9:1-14.

I wish I loved the good news of the gospel more than I do. I want to love the good news that I don’t have to bring bulls and goats to church with me each week more than I do. I want to feel more gratitude for the blood of Christ than I do. I’m praying that I will, I’m praying that we all will, and I’m asking that you’ll join me in praying for and pursuing that as well.

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