The New Covenant, Part 10

And if you have your Bible Hebrews chapter 9 and we're gonna finish this chapter this morning We're gonna look at the death of Christ.

In other words, why did Jesus die? So important Paul said we preach Christ and him crucified Everything about the death of Christ is central to Christianity and what is we believe and why we believe it We know that the Bible tells us that Jesus died To reveal his deity He died to reveal his deity Everything about the death of Christ Shows you that he is God in the flesh He is absolutely in control of everything. He holds the keys to death in Hades in John 10 He said no one takes my life from me. I lay it down on my own initiative No one can take Christ's life from him Because he's God He holds the keys He's in charge His death revealed his deity Now that's very important Because if I'm a Jew, I have a hard time understanding the death of my Messiah even though everything about the signs symbols Ceremonies rituals all pointed to the death of the Messiah The Jewish nation had trouble with a dead Messiah even though way back in the book of Genesis looking at Genesis chapter 22 and the death of a Substitute that would be provided for them Everything about the Exodus and the Passover How it all pictured the arrival of one perfect sacrifice even in the book of Isaiah that great 53rd chapter which speaks about this land that would come and die for the sins of many as it says in Isaiah 53 verse number 12 all pictured the death of the Messiah and Then you go to Zechariah 12 and Zechariah 13 Hosea 6 Psalm 16 Psalm 22 over and over and over again the Bible points to the death of the Messiah That's why Paul would say these words over in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 He would say verse 3 for I delivered to you as of first importance that I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures What Scripture?

There was no New Testament So, how did he die according to the Scriptures? That's everything under the Old Covenant. That's all the Old Testament books That's all the Pentateuch the law and the prophets the Psalms. It's all right there He died according to the Scriptures and then it says this And he was buried and that he was raised on the third day According to the Scriptures in other words, even the resurrection of the Messiah was written about Prophesied in the Old Testament.

It's all right there. So what I'm telling you has already been recorded So when Jesus comes to die, he comes to die to reveal his deity That he was a complete control of everything. Everything happened right on time right on course where he died when he died how he died Everything was prophesied and it was all fulfilled according to his perfect plan Nothing reveals the deity of Christ more than the cross of Christ So when he died He revealed his deity When he died he ravaged His enemy He ravaged his enemy 1st John chapter 3 verse number 8 says these words the Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of The devil he came to destroy the works of the devil Hebrews 2 Hebrews 2 Verse 14 therefore since the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise also partook of the same that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death That is the devil and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives in other words He ravaged his enemy.

He destroyed the works of the devil That's why he came to die way back in Genesis chapter 3 verse number 15 that very first prophecy concerning the death of the Messiah He would crush The serpents head even though his heel would be bruised the serpents head would be crushed Because when he died He ravaged his enemy And because he revealed his deity as the king of the universe he could do whatever he wanted But another reason he died is because he came to restore man's dignity to restore man's dignity You see we had we were fallen creatures we are fallen creatures And so how does God restore man?

back To a place where he can have fellowship with him Only if he dignifies man through his death on Calvary's cross Only if he can reconcile man back to himself And so because we are born with the same nature We are sons of our father The devil we are sons of disobedience not sons of obedience We are sons of darkness not sons of light And so when he died on Calvary's cross and purchased your sins and mine He bought us back and therefore restored man's dignity Now, you know why Jesus died in Hebrews 9 The writer of Hebrews gives us four more reasons why Jesus had to die It's all surrounding the Old Covenant Because everything in the Old Covenant pointed to the New Covenant And when you begin to understand what was happening under the Old Covenant You begin to see the beauty of the New Covenant and how Christ fulfilled it all beautifully because he came to die for your sins and mine So it begins this way verse 15 Hebrews Chapter 9 for this reason what reason he's talking about the death of the Messiah verse 14 How much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit?

Offered himself without blemish to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God. He's talking about the death of the Messiah So for this reason he the Messiah is the bridge builder of a new covenant so that since a death that is the death of the Messiah has taken place for the redemption of the Transgressions that were committed under the first covenant those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance So he's introduced to us the death of the Messiah and now he's going to give us four reasons why the Messiah had to die Outside the fact that he revealed his deity I said the fact that he ravaged the enemy outside the fact that he restored man's dignity He gets four reasons why a Messiah has to die number one Or number four in our outline, but number one in the text is simply this in order for him to ratify his legacy to ratify his legacy It says in verse number 16 these words For where a covenant is or whether is a testament or a will there must a necessity be the death of the one who made it For a covenant is valid only when a man and men are dead for it is never enforced while the one who made it lives In other words the reason Jesus died Is because he had to ratify had to confirm his legacy What was his legacy?

He was going to give an eternal inheritance to those who believe in his name Well, you can't obtain the inheritance Until the one who makes the will dies you understand that right? you know that if your parents make a will and you're in their inheritance, whatever it may be as Much or as little as it may be guess what you don't get it Until when They die, right? Once they die, guess what? It's yours. Well, the same thing was true with Christ He made this legacy and the legacy was around an eternal inheritance Peter says it's an inheritance.

That's undefiled That's incorruptible undefiled never fades away. It's reserved in heaven for you This reservation that God made in heaven for you This eternal inheritance can never be corrupted can never fade away It's reserved specifically for those of you who believe in his name Well, how is he going to ratify that legacy unless he dies? He has to die Why because there is this testament there is this will that's been given But listen if he dies How does he give it to you? Unless of course he lives That's why in Revelation 1.

He says I Am the living one. I Was dead Behold, I am alive forevermore Why because only the living God can bestow upon you the eternal inheritance So inherent in the text is the resurrection of the Messiah who lives But he had to die in order for you to receive the inheritance. You see that We understand this. This is normal the Jews. They would understand that as well but what the author is trying to do is help them understand there was a death and This death opened the door For all those Old Testament saints who believed to receive their eternal inheritance Because when Christ died he went down to the lower parts of the earth Ephesians 4 took those who were captive into paradise or from paradise into glory and they were able to enter into glory because Access was now there Remember Old Testament priests could not give you full access to God You always kept away from God But with Christ the ultimate priest now you have access into the presence of God And that's where the eternal inheritance is Unless he dies you don't get it Unless he lives he can't grant it But because he died and lives again you receive it and now you're able to obtain it So Christ came to earth to die When he did he revealed his deity Unquestionable what he did he ravaged the enemy he destroyed the works of the devil Through his death.

He would restore man's dignity But he had to ratify his legacy and then number five release our iniquity He had to release our iniquity. In other words. He had to release us from all of our slavery to sin and That's what verses 18 through verse number 26 state, let me read it to you it says Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law He took the blood of the calves and the goats With water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people Saying this is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you and in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood and According to the law one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood.

There is no forgiveness Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands a mere copy or shadow of the true one But into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us You understand this this is absolutely fabulous How is he going to release us? from our iniquity How is he going to release us from a destiny of separation from him forever How is he gonna do that?

It's through the shedding of his blood Now think about this We talked about blood the blood of Christ It's it's the power of the blood. There was nothing mystical or magical about the blood of Jesus The blood is just a symbol of death. That's all it is If it was just his blood he could have cut himself and bled on us and that would have been sufficient But the blood is symbolic of death So it talks about the blood of Christ. We're cleansed by the precious blood of the lamb Okay, it's all surrounding the death of the lamb It's the slaughter of the lamb who came to bear the sins of his people That's so important to understand this and so he talks about blood because the Old Covenant was inaugurated with blood The New Covenant is inaugurated with blood The Old Covenant was enamored with blood.

There was blood everywhere. We don't understand this because we're not Jewish But if you grew up in Judaism you understood the blood sacrifice you understood how bloody the priests were you understood how? Often they had to sacrifice for people's sins and blood was everywhere effect Let me give you an example because he refers to Moses.

So go back to the book of Exodus Exodus chapter 19 and Moses is on Sinai and it says in verse number five now when now that if if you will indeed obey my voice and keep My covenant then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words Which the Lord had commanded him all the people answered together and said all that the Lord has spoken we will do So here they are.

They're at the base of Mount Sinai Moses comes down telling this what God demands of you they say, you know what whatever God wants us to do we're gonna do ah But they couldn't and God knew that See God knew that so you go over to Exodus chapter 20 Next is chapter 20 gives the Ten Commandments He outlines all these commandments that he gives to them The people were afraid why because they knew they couldn't keep him They knew that Verse 18 and all the people perceive the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain storm Smoking and when the people saw it they trembled instead of the distance They said they didn't why because Israel was always kept at a far distance from their God Because everything in the old covenant kept you away from God So they had to learn to anticipate the presence of God Very important to understand that And so it says then they said to Moses speak to us yourselves and we will listen But let not God speak to us or we will die And Moses said to the people do not be afraid for God has come in order to test you in order that The fear of him may remain with you so that you may not sin God doesn't want you to sin But you're gonna sin why because you have a sin nature That's why you're gonna sin so verse 24 says God says you shall make an altar of earth for me and you should sacrifice on it your burnt offerings And your peace offerings your sheep and your oxen in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you if you make an altar of stone for me You should not build it of cut stone for if you wield your tool on it You will profane it in other words.

God says i'm going to make a provision for them I'm gonna make a provision for them where there can be sacrifices offered for them because you see blood Is the only way?

That will atone for their sins And so you come to exodus chapter 24 And listen to this exodus 24 Verse 1 then he said to moses Come up to the lord you and aaron nadab and abihu And 70 of the elders of israel and you shall worship at a distance again at a distance Moses alone however shall come near to the lord, but they shall not come near Nor shall the people come up with him. In other words. Moses had access into the presence of god only one Nobody else did In the levitical priesthood only the high priest did once a year in the holy of holies But nobody else could come because everything was kept at a distance Because it had to be in anticipation of the one sacrifice That would give them not distance but actual presence To the living god and so it says then moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the lord and all the Ordinances and all the people answered with one voice and said all the words which the lord has spoken we will do But they couldn't Moses wrote down all the words of the lord They arose early in the morning built an altar at the foot of the mountain with 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of israel He sent young men of the sons of israel and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the lord moses took half of the blood and put it on the basins and the other half of the blood He sprinkled on the altar Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people And they said all that the lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient So moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said behold the blood of the covenant Which the lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.

In other words, this was a very bloody day There was blood everywhere. He would sprinkle it on the people. He would sprinkle it on the altar He was sprinkling all the all the furniture. He sprinkled it everywhere. He sprinkled on the book of the law. He sprinkled it everywhere Why? Because there would always be a constant reminder before the people of two very important things one That Death Is a consequence of your sin and only Any blood that was shed will atone for your sin You have to understand this That's why it's that's why everything in judaism was just a bloody mess Because they were always reminded of their sin That the wages of sin is death the soul that sins it shall die God says this is a serious thing If you sin you're going to die And the only way the only way you're going to get any kind of recompense any kind of uh, Reconciliation any kind of temporary presence with me is through a sacrifice a blood sacrifice That's why it says without the shedding of blood.

There is no remission of sins Because you see all those things pictured something You see when someone sinned They were guilty Therefore something innocent had to die Because they were guilty And the blood that was shed by the innocent one would cover their sins But it wouldn't cure Their sins it would just cover Their sins until when they sinned again Then they had to go back in and offer another blood sacrifice Oh by the there was one exception And the writer of hebrews mentions that He says in verse number 22 and according to the law one may almost say All things are cleansed with blood Why does he say almost say?

Because there was another way Leviticus 5 verse number 11 Say that if you were so poor That you couldn't even afford a turtle dove or a pigeon You could offer one tenth of an ephah of fine flour four pints of fine flour That god would accept because you were so poor you could not offer any sacrifice That was the one exception, but that's okay Because the blood of bulls and goats never removed their sin anyway, did it? It never did They did it out of faith and obedience to what god said But they never removed their sin.

It only covered their sin for a while Because there was always an anticipation of the one perfect sacrifice that would come and cure them of their sin And they lived in anticipation of that And all the blood that was spilt and all the sacrifices that took place always reminded them the consequences of sin is death The way to forgiveness is through blood and the only way to get there is to kill an innocent individual or an innocent animal until the perfect sacrifice comes and when it comes There'll be complete forgiveness Let me illustrate it for you.

Luke 18. You got your bible turn to luke 18 You know this parable well Luke 18 verse number nine And he also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt Two men went up to the temple to pray one a pharisee the other tax collector The pharisee stood and was praying this to himself god I thank you that I am not like other people swindlers unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get but but the tax collector Standing some distance away Was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven But was beating his breast saying god Be merciful to me or literal translation god be propitious to me the sinner I tell you this man went to his house justified rather than the other For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted The lord compares two people One who is wretched And the other who is self-righteous And they would look at the pharisees as very righteous people because they did all the things that the guy says he does But he wants to compare them because there was one who understood old testament atonement and there was nothing Another one who did not understand old testament atonement There was the tax collector who understood Genesis chapter 22 substitutionary atonement Abraham and isaac Where god would provide a lamb?

as a sacrifice On where mount moriah on mount calvary? So genesis 22 becomes a very pivotal portion of scripture when it comes to jews understanding substitutionary atonement Because there was coming to one who would provide a perfect redemption And that would be the land that god would provide That's why when john the baptist came. What did he say? Behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world And no one ever dared question what that meant Because they all knew Don't think they didn't know They understood They understood isaiah 53.

They understood genesis chapter 22 Because it was read read in the synagogues. They understood they were taught this Their whole sacrificial system centered around this So when the lamb would come he would take away the sin of the world Very important to understand that So here is this tax collector who understood? The soul that sins it will die That's why he said he was wretched That's why he stood far Far away a far distance away Because he knew he was so unworthy to approach god He knew that He knew Romans 6 23 the wages of sin is death But the gift of god Is eternal life through jesus christ our lord He says I am a wretched sinner I am unworthy to stay near to you.

I'm unworthy even to look up and behold your face Now notice this There is nothing Christological In what he says or what he does In other words There's no mention of messiah There's no mention of the cross right There's no mention of the resurrection Right hadn't happened yet This is a classic old testament conversion We know that abraham was justified by faith, right?

How do we know that book of romans tells us that? We know that in genesis 15 verse number 6 abraham believed god and it was reckoned to him. It was counted in his righteousness Why because he believed everything that god said? Salvation is dependent upon believing what god has already said And abraham believed that Here was this this tax collector who believed in what god said And there were two times of sacrifices one at 9 a.m. And one at 3 p.m And so whether it was in the morning or in the afternoon, he would come in He would come into the temple area he'd recognize There was a sacrifice that had been offered For his sins And he asked and begs god to be propitious to him other word to be satisfied With the sacrifice that was offered On his behalf You see that?

He comes in great humility He comes begging for mercy He knew Of the millions of animals that have been slain Since the beginning of the levitical system millions of them And he knew that all the animals that were slain and all the blood that was spilled never satisfied god's wrath against sin It temporarily covered their sin, but never cured them from their sin. He knew that And so he is asking in a very significant way By understanding that It was the sacrifice of christ That was pictured That was pictured In the sacrifice that morning or in the sacrifice that afternoon Through the animal that was sacrificed Would be that which would satisfy god's wrath against his sin You see that He knew that that animal sacrifice Did not Remove his sin But he didn't know That there was a perfect sacrifice coming because he lived in anticipation of that one perfect sacrifice And so he could come and say lord be propitious to me Because he understood propitiation he understood satisfying the wrath of god he understood blood sacrifice He understood what it meant to come and have a broken and contrite spirit because that spirit god will never despise right?

Versus the the pharisee who comes with an arrogant attitude. Oh, i'm glad i'm not like that guy I don't do what he does. I don't do what others do Because there's only only two kinds of religions in the world, right? the one that's Comes because of human achievement or by divine accomplishment either you do it or god does it The pharisee believed he did it but the task collector believed Only god could do it And so he trusted In what god was going? to do Is that age-old question that job asked three times job four job nine job 25 How can a man be made righteous before god?

And job was the first book written in the old testament And that's always been the question. How does a man? become right before god answer You got to be as holy as he's holy, but nobody can be That's why the book of leviticus says be holy for I the lord your god. I'm holy That's why in matthew 5 48 says be perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect Well, you can't be perfect and you can't be holy But a holy one Who dies for the unholy ones can be declared righteous before god Because the messiah would satisfy god's wrath against your sin mind and that's what the Tax collector was saying.

So you have this illustration in luke 18 of hebrews chapter 9 that says I understand blood sacrifice I understand atonement. I understand propitiation. I understand the levitical system. I understand what everything Pictured in the old testament has now one day going to come to be through a perfect sacrifice It's going to come because he understood isaiah 53. He understood genesis chapter 22 He understood psalm 16 psalm 22. Hosea 6. He understood. Zachariah 12. Zachariah 13. He understood those verses He got it and he was a wretched wretched sinner So was the other guy But he refused to recognize it.

He didn't have a broken and contrite spirit And so if you go back to hebrews chapter 9 Look at this it says in verse number 23 Or 24 for christ did not enter a holy place made with hands a mere copy or shadow of the true one But into the heaven itself now to appear in the presence of god for us in other words Listen, when when when when christ died for your sins in mine, okay?

He wasn't the shadow the shadow's gone now You can build shadow upon shadow upon shadow upon shadow upon shadow, but guess what there's still no substance It's still nothing. It's just a shadow But christ is the reality christ is the substance If there had to be a sacrifice for the shadow There had to be a sacrifice that came with the substance And christ was the sacrifice see it was the reality And he appears in the presence of god for you and me. That's why the bible says that we're in christ and we're in god Second thessalonians 1 1 says that we're in god Colossians says we're in christ.

Why because we enter now into the presence of the living god. How do we get to the father? except through a mediator The lord jesus christ who grants us access into his presence That's the only way to get there. There is no other way Now listen to this He says verse 25 Nor was it that he offered Himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood. That is not his own Otherwise, he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world but now once at the consummation of the ages wow He wasn't like the high priest who had to go in once a year offer it over and over and over and over again He didn't go to heaven come back and offer himself again go to heaven come back and offer himself again Go back to go to heaven come back and offer himself again No, there was a one-time sacrifice.

Why? Because he tells us it's a consummation of the ages This is the finality of all sacrifices. We know that there are many ages There was the age and when satan fell there was the age when uh, um when man sinned and there was the age when When when god was so fed up with man's wickedness that he destroyed the world with a flood There was the age of the prophets and the apostles there was the age of the kings and the judges There were all these ages, but all the ages pointed to one age the consummation of the ages And that's why he says look there now is a one-time offering That takes all those ages and brings them into the consummation of the age And that was calvary the cross The cross brings all the old testament together into one Place into one mountain into one person the messiah himself It's the consummation of the ages Now we are in the eschatological age.

We are in the last days. The bible speaks of this is the last of the ages but all the ages Before the cross pointed to calvary Calvary pointed to that one sacrifice now listen to this He has been manifested to put away What's the next word you follow me? What's the next word? sin singular not sins Sin Because you see when they offered blood sacrifices it would atone for their sins right until they sinned again They never offer another sacrifice To cover their sins again And once they sinned again another sacrifice to cover their sins again But now the one sacrifice Deals with the principle of sin itself See that that's why it's singular Man's problem is that he's a sinner And god has to take care of that And he did through a sacrifice of his son on calvary's cross He took care of the sin principle.

Why? Because no longer is he going to cover your sins He's going to cure you from your sin And the results that come with it So here is christ why does he die Because he's going to reveal who he is his deity he's god in the flesh And because he is he's going to ravage the enemy he's going to destroy the works of the devil At the same time provide a way to restore man's dignity To do that. He's got to ratify his legacy So he can release you from your iniquity, right? So that he can remove your penalty.

That's number six It says in verse number 27 And in as much as it is appointed for men once to die And after this comes judgment So christ also having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time He says look, this is so important It's a point a man wants to die after that judgment when christ died he wasn't judged Why?

Because he was a sinless sacrifice If you die for your sins, guess what? You'll be judged But if christ died for your sins There is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus because we're in christ. We're in god Isn't this great? There is no condemnation for those who are in christ. Jesus It's appointed a man who wants to die after that the judgment if you die For your sins you pay the price but because christ died in your stead To bear the sins of many as it says in isaiah 53 verse number 12 Which is a quotation from that here in hebrew chapter 9 he says he took your place There is no condemnation for those in christ jesus Why?

Because he removes the penalty. What's the penalty of sin? death there was a substitutionary sacrifice that satisfied god's wrath against your sin in mind That's the beauty of the cross that's why we preach christ in him crucified So if someone says well, why did jesus die? You can tell him. I mean he revealed his deity He ravaged the enemy He restored man's dignity He ratified his legacy At the same time he released our iniquity. He removed our penalty Why? Number seven so he can return in glory That's what he says Verse number 27 He will appear a second time for salvation without reference of sin To those who eagerly await him Now remember if i'm a jew It's the day of atonement high priest goes in to offer sacrifices for the sins of the nation Guess what?

I sit there and I wait with anticipation I'm eagerly awaiting for the guy to come back out again Because there were strict orders in the old testament that if you do this you will die if you do this You're gonna die. Don't do this or you're gonna die So the high priest had to be very careful what he did So when he went into the presence of god, right? They had to wait and wait And wait to make sure that the sacrifice he offered Appeased their god and when he came out That's good I can wait and wait another year but he's out But now now because our lord entered into glory He takes us with him into glory, right?

He's going to appear a second time not for sin But for salvation the completion of our salvation The completed work of christ we are we were saved in the past from our sin.

We are being saved from our sin We ultimately will be saved from the presence of sin the power of sin we have been saved from the penalty of sin And so we're trusting we're eagerly anticipating his arrival Because he's going to come again And that's why it says over in revelation chapter one I love this it says Jesus christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead the ruler of the kings the earth To him who loves us And released us from our sins by his blood And he has made us to be a kingdom priests to his god and father To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever amen and behold He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him Even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him so it is To be this one who Who released us from our sins?

This one Who caused us to be a kingdom of priests in his kingdom? Is coming again He will return in glory and every eye will see him And thus we will ever be with the lord. Let's pray father We thank you for today a chance a brief opportunity to spend time in your word And our prayer lord is that you will continue to teach us and instruct us in the way that we should go Lord, we are thankful for the sacrifice on calvary We are thankful for the cross of christ We are thankful for the old covenant And how it clearly pointed to a new covenant Both inaugurated with blood So when you came you said This cup is the new covenant in my blood And you wanted us to know that through your death You would inaugurate the new covenant And because you would shed your blood for us We would not pay the price for our sin Because you died for us we are grateful may we live in accordance to that in jesus name.

Amen