Hebrews 9:11-28

Jesus is Superior (Book of Hebrews)  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  54:28
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Introduction

Last week, we introduced the big theme to the book of Hebrews. All of this passage has come to the point that is made last week and this week.
The next two weeks begin to play out what that looks like
I said last week that the sermons are connected.
Hebrews offers a number of comparatives.
Jesus to the angels
Jesus to Abraham
Jesus to the priests
Jesus to the law
Last week we looked at the first part of the comparative of a few things, but these things all revolved around the Tabernacle
Last week
We looked at what the Tabernacle was
We saw the diagram of how the Tabernacle was laid out
Outer courts
Altar of sacrifice
Basin for purification
Holy Place
Lampstand
Consecrated bread
Altar of incense
Most Holy Place
Ark of the Covenant
Box
Aaron’s rod that had budded
Tablets of the law
Jar of manna
The world for all of this is “covenant”
A covenant is an agreement between two parties.
This covenant had to do with man’s approach to God.
God desired to be in relationship with mankind
This is a picture of God’s love
God made a way through the Tabernacle
God dwelled among the people in the Tabernacle
The approach to God was very specific and had to deal with mankind’s primary issue with God: sin
In order to approach God, the picture was clear. Your sin needed to be dealt with.
Sacrifice
Priests were set apart to go on your behalf
In this covenant, it was incomplete. It gave mankind a means by which to approach God
But it had limitations.
Limitations that mankind needed to understand.
In an agreement with God, man would always fail.
Hebrews 9:9–10 NIV
This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
There was a look ahead to the when this system would be made perfect.
The agreement between God and man would be done in a way that man could not fail and God would be available to man without the limitation of sin.
Something I found interesting in studying this week is this:
Old Covenant- Agreement with God and man about how they would approach God
System- Tabernacle, sacrifice, purification
Those who were engaged in this approach were called worshipers.
Worship is what our approach to God looks like
The approach to God was very specific
It had to do with dealing with our sin and approaching the presence of God.
This is a picture of what was.
Now, we will finish up this comparative

Main Verse

Hebrews 9:11–28 NIV
But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Pray

Sermon

There are three pieces that we will pull from last week that will be massive keys to understanding today’s text
Our covenant with God had three important parts:
Place
Sacrifice
Duration
Place
OT- Tabernacle
Sacrifice
Blood of animals
Duration
Yearly
Will see how that changes.
Hebrews 9:11 NIV
But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.
“But” is a contrast to the old ways and the old covenant. Something is different now.
Jesus came as a high priest
Remember, the author of Hebrews has established that Jesus is a high priest
He is not like the Levites who were human and sinful high priests.
He is a different kind of priest
He is like the OT priest Melchizedek who had no beginning, no end, and he is a priest not based on the law, but by appointment of God.
Jesus didn’t just go “to” the more perfect tabernacle. He went through it.
What does this imply? He didn’t just show up. He performed a function and entered through all of the requirements that God requires.
This Tabernacle is not made of human hands. The Old Covenant was made with human hands.
This one is different.
Hebrews 9:12 NIV
He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
The old way was through the blood of animals that sin was paid. Jesus entered the Most Holy Place, the presence of God by his own blood.
Something about this sacrifice earned eternal redemption
Eternal- Like Jesus as priest, no ending
Never ending
Redemption
Think of a coupon. They are redeemed for .25 off of your next order of dish soap.
You pay with the coupon and you get the benefit of .25 off of the cost.
Jesus paid His blood and earned us the benefit.
Unlike a coupon, that discount ends at the end of the transaction
Jesus sacrifice is eternal.
It was paid one time for all
He then again compares the old and the new.
Hebrews 9:13 NIV
The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
This process was external. They did external means of sacrifice, and external practices for purity.
It is what the author said at the end of last week:
Hebrews 9:10 NIV
They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
But what we said last week, external practices fail to address internal problems.
They did not cleanse the consciences of the worshiper.
Hebrews 9:14 NIV
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Sacrifice is always a means of cleansing and purification.
The blood of Jesus (sacrifice) met the requirement of an unblemished lamb.
This sacrifice is not external.
This sacrifice will cleanse us within.
It will cleanse our consciences from sin.
We are not condemned. We are not the result of our own sin.
We are the result of Jesus’ sacrifice
All this so we may serve the living God!
Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, our path is eternally paid for us to have access to God.
This brings us to what I believe is the key verse of the entire book of Hebrews. Underline this in your Bibles!
Hebrews 9:15 NIV
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Jesus Christ negotiated a new covenant with God! For us!
I want to diagram this out because sometimes we need pictures:
Old Covenant diagram 1 & 2
Old Covenant diagram 3 & 4
I want to share with you why we say “It is finished” at the end of this diagram.
When Jesus shed his blood, it became the perfect sacrifice in his mediation of a new agreement with God.
Think of it in terms of buying a house:
Here is the covenant:
I talk with my agent and we find a house
The agent goes to the buyer representing me.
The agent agrees to terms on the house I want
Now, I must come up with the money
They must provide the house.
Let’s say that the problem is that I don’t have enough money. And my agent really loves me as a person.
They put the money for the house on the negotiation table.
Every penny.
That was the asking price.
The seller would then put the keys to the house on the table.
The contract has been fulfilled. It is finished.
Do I have to keep paying? No. The price is paid in full.
What is our obligation under the new covenant?
Nothing. It is finished. It is complete in Jesus.
What is God’s obligation under the new covenant?
Provide access to Himself
Holy Spirit within us
Provide a path
Discipleship, follow Jesus
Eternal inheritance
An inheritance is something you give your child
We are His children. But can He pay an eternal inheritance all at once?
No, it will take an eternity.
God will be faithful with his end of the covenant. But ours is finished.
The word “ransom” in this text is massive. It shows that the way under the Old Covenant was bondage. But Jesus paid the ransom for what kept us in slavery and set us free.
That is another whole sermon. Explore this in your personal study this week!
Hebrews 9:16–17 NIV
In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
The author goes to a metaphor of a will.
Only when the death has occurred is the inheritance paid out.
Hebrews 9:18 NIV
This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
The wages of sin is death.
The covenant called for death. That is what the sacrificial system was all about.
But it was not simply a punitive process.
The blood of the sacrifice paid the sins of the past, but also opened the door to approaching God.
The sacrifice of blood was the central part of all of this.
It was what balanced out God’s love and His justice
We said last week, “God could have squashed the world when sin entered”
And surely, that is what the world deserved.
But God loved the world. He desired relationship and He wanted His creation to know Him.
The sacrifice of blood had to cover everything that was a part of the covenant.
This is what it looked like in the OT
Hebrews 9:19–22 NIV
When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
This points back to the OT reference in Exodus
Exodus 24:6–8 NIV
Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
This picture was painted. Everything involved in the covenant was sprinkled with blood
In a contract, there is a way of agreeing that everyone agrees to the terms of their contract.
We typically sign our name.
In this covenant, everyone agreed was sprinkled with the blood that would symbolize what would make them right with God.
The Tabernacle was sprinkled with blood.
God agreed to His part
The law was sprinkled
This is the agreement itself
The people were sprinkled
The people agreed to their part
They had an agreement
Their approach to God was sealed with the blood of a sacrifice.
The last line of this verse clarifies why this was important
Hebrews 9:22 NIV
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
This is the only means of forgiveness.
Only when there is forgiveness can the relationship between the two parties be reconciled.
This is a description of the Old Covenant.
As always, when the author talks about the OT, he then compares it to the NT
This is the last comparison for the day.
Hebrews 9:23 NIV
It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
He says, “What Jesus did was better than this whole system that Moses was a part of”
The sacrifice of the New Covenant is a better sacrifice than the Old Covenant
If the sacrifice is better, doesn’t it make the covenant better?
Diagram 1
Hebrews 9:24 NIV
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
Diagram 2
Christ did this on the actual level. Not in the copy of the Tabernacle, but in Heaven.
Which would you rather have your high priest go to?
Hebrews 9:25–26 NIV
Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Diagram 3
Hebrews 9:27–28 NIV
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Part of our eternal inheritance (mentioned earlier) is a promise of God’s continuing fulfillment of his part of the covenant.
Jesus came once.
This was to mediate a new covenant. He has done this.
But now we are reminded that Jesus will return again.
But he won’t mediate a new covenant. He has already perfectly done this. Nothing else needs to be done.
Rather, he is coming to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
This may bring into question, “I thought I was already saved.”
Yes you are. But there is a completion to that salvation.
This passage says, that man is appointed to die, then after that face judgment.
The reality is that we haven’t faced judgment yet, because we are still alive

Conclusion

Heaven is real- God is faithful to complete His part of the covenant.
2. We are waiting for Heaven. We aren’t getting Heaven here.
Revelation 21:1–8 NIV
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
3. We need the blood sprinkled on us if we are to be a part of the New Covenant
4. Ransom
Mark 10:45 NIV
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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