Bible Study - January 13, 2021

Okay, so last week, you'll recall we talked about the covenants. We began in chapters 8 and 9, beginning to see the difference between the old and new covenants. And again, we came across the word better. Maybe a better word is superior as we've gone through the book of Hebrews and it's teaching us God's plan and teaching us and educating us on all the ways that Jesus Christ is our Savior. We should be so thankful and grateful to Him. We keep coming up with this word superior and better. You know, we could go back to the beginning that Jesus Christ is superior to the angels, superior to Moses, superior to the earthly high priest, superior to the ministry that was on earth at that time. The old new covenants is better or superior than the new covenants. Tonight we're going to see that word better show up again in the Bible as we progress in the discussion of the covenants and understand more about what God has planned and why He planned it the way He did. I think it's a lesson to us as we read in this book of Hebrews why God does things the way He does and His plan of salvation for mankind. Many times you've heard in sermons of 1 Corinthians 10 that all those things happened to people as examples for us upon whom the ends of the ages have come. They lived their lives in cases of the ancient Israelites at times doing exactly what God wanted them to do. Other times they departed from Him and they paid the price for departing from Him. They never really understood all of God's plan, but it's here for us today. As we read these things, as we understand these things, it should give us cause to even more glorify God and honor Him and Jesus Christ who literally did all this for us. So I want to, you know, last week we got through chapter 9 and verse 11 according to my notes here, but I want to go back to chapter 8 and verse 8 and just begin us with a thought because as we go through this discussion of the covenants, it's something that the world's churches just don't understand. They will make every sort of excuse as to why the old covenant wasn't good, why it was at fault.

They will try to do away with everything and eliminate it, you know, in many cases from even our understanding of God as if it was God's mistake and He had to just kind of throw it all away and start all over again. And that's not at all the case and not at all what the Bible says. You know, here in chapter 8 and verse 8, you know, it says exactly where the fault of the old covenant was. Verse 7, it says, if that first covenant had been faulted, there'd be no place for a second because finding fault with them. Again, the fault with the old covenant was not God.

It wasn't the laws that He gave Israel. It wasn't the temple. It wasn't any of the sacrifices or any of the systems or rituals that He gave Israel to do. The fault was none of that. The fault was the people. People couldn't live up to the covenant. God kept every single part of the covenant of His end. It was the people who failed in the covenant. They are the ones who said, everything you do, we will say, everything you say, we will do. But they didn't live up to it. But we learned why they couldn't. Why they couldn't live up to it as we progress in the discussions of the covenants and what it means for us today, what we're supposed to be, and how we're supposed to be living. So let's go to chapter 9 and just rehearse a few very briefly here. The verses leading up to where we'll start tonight. The last verse there in chapter 8 says that the first covenant is obsolete, and now there's a new covenant that we're living under. Verse 1 of chapter 9 says, indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. We talked about that last night, or not last night, last week. We talked about the physical tabernacle, how it was built exactly to the specifications that God had given Israel and Solomon. They built it exactly to the specifications. He's the one who said, here's what the instrument should be made of, here's how they should look, here's what the furnishing should be, etc., etc., etc. They did it all. They did it all exactly to his specifications. In verse 6, it begins to talk about the the earthly the priests. Verse 6 says, when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services. So we talked about the physical priests. In contrast to that to the earthly high priest, to the heavenly high priest, to the eternal high priest, the physical priests, what their jobs were. Verse 7 went into the second part of the into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year. And a key verse as to we're going here tonight. Three words, not without blood. As we talk, as we go through the rest of chapter 9 and get into chapter 10, there's an awful lot of talk about blood. And blood was one of the features, hallmark features of the old covenant, you will. And it really is a hallmark of the new covenant as well. So the priest says they did their jobs day in and day out in the tabernacle. We talked last week about how busy they were. Israel was bringing sacrifices. Israel was bringing offerings. The priests worked day and night in in in killing those animals, processing the sacrifices, gathering the blood. There was blood everywhere in that temple. You know, we we have seen pictures of Solomon's temple and how beautiful it is. But there was blood all over that temple during the day. Well, not all over it, but in the place where they were processing the sacrifices. And we see blood being used in so many cases because it has a it's it's a symbol of covering of sins and covering other people's weaknesses. Everyone's got their their okay. I think we got everyone muted then. Remember that if you have any comments along the way, you're more than welcome to just hit your microphone button and we can stop and discuss whatever you want to. Mr. Shabby, not everybody's muted. Not everyone's muted? Okay. No, there are a few here that I can see on the screen. They're not muted. Okay. Can I ask everyone to just mute? Because we're getting a little bit of feedback here. I don't see my up here. I'm going to mute everyone. Okay, but you're you're allowed to unmute yourself. So, okay.

Looking up at my waiting room here. So the the priests were processing this all the time. I mean, priests might sound like a glorious glamorous job, if you will, but think about what the priests back then were having to do. Well, once a year they went into this most holy place. You know, the temple there is the high priest went in there only one time of the year. He was the only person who could ever go in there. And of course, that was on the day of atonement as we as we spoke of. It was a very significant day as he went in there to atone for the sins of Israel. And in verse 8, you know, verse 7 says he went in there to atone for the people's sins committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all, was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. So when God entered into that first old covenant, as we call it, with Israel, he knew that wasn't going to be the last covenant. It was part of the process of mankind's time on this earth. It was the tabernacle, you know, we talked about last week was a copy of the tabernacle in heaven, but the true tabernacle, as I think it says in verse 2 or verse 4 or verse 8 of chapter 8, is where God dwells. And what was on earth was a copy of that. And so they were going through that process. That was a physical temple for a physical nation and a physical covenant that God had with his people. But it wasn't, it was symbolic of that high priest, oh you're the holiest of all, foreshadowing what Jesus Christ would do for us as he came to earth. It foreshadowed that time when he would enter into the holiest of all during his ministry as results of his sacrifice that would end everything that, all the sacrifices that were necessary under the old covenant. In verse 9 it says, it was symbolic. It was symbolic for the present time, the time that we live in now. When Hebrews was written, they were 30 years into the new covenant time. We're still in the new covenant time, the age of Christ, the age of the Holy Spirit, the age of the church, the time leading up to the return of Jesus Christ where the next age, the age of the kingdom of God begins. It was symbolic for the present time, the time that we live in now in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which can't make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience. It could cover their sins.

They were good reminders for ancient Israel to stay close to God, to acknowledge him when they committed a sin and ignorance, when they, you know, whatever they did, they could bring a sacrifice to God and it was a physical way of reconciling with him in the way that God had determined for that time that they live in. But we talked last week that all those sacrifices, all those animals that were sacrificed and were brought there for priests of sacrifice, it never affected the mind of the people. It was a physical thing that they did, a physical reminder. It was a symbol of what was going to come. It was foreshadowing what was going to be the greatest sacrifice that would replace, not replace, that would satisfy the need for all sacrifices. A sacrifice that was better than all the millions of animals or whatever that were sacrificed during that Old Covenant time.

And that sacrifice would actually then in the New Covenant be able to have people, you know, actually affect the way that they think and they act and they behave. In the Old Covenant, it was just a physical part, but it didn't ever hit. It never affected their conscience. And you'll remember that we turned last week to Deuteronomy 29 where Moses said as he was talking to Israel, you know, God didn't give you that heart. He didn't give you a heart to obey. He gave them his laws. He showed miracles to them. He set them apart and he blessed them when they obeyed, but it wasn't part of the Old Covenant to give them a heart to obey.

It was just a physical covenant for a physical people, one nation out of many that were on earth. In verse 10, you know, the Old Covenant was concerned with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation, until Jesus Christ came, until the time was designated for him to come and become the ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice that would end the need for all those sacrifices and be the supreme sacrifice.

So we finished last week in verse 11, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come. When he came, he was going to usher in an age where people would be different, that people would behave differently. They would have the ability, they would have the tools necessary to them through God's Holy Spirit, that they would be able to overcome self, overcome world, just as he did when he lived his flesh and blood on the earth and pioneered the way for us to be able to do the same thing. He came as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.

Now, you know, we've talked many times about there was a physical temple and tabernacle that God dwelt in back in Old Covenant times today. He's building his temple in UMA individually and in his church collectively. That's where he dwells today. You know, that's where his dwelling is, and he gives us the Holy Spirit that we can build that temple spiritually and physically as we look at our lives to the specifications that he has set for us.

A greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not of this creation. And you remember last week we talked a little bit about the temple in heaven and how in Revelation 11, as we went go through the seals and the trumpets, how John and his vision would see that temple in heaven. And it's the copy of that temple that was here on earth during the Old Covenant times that God had set for them right there. Well, before we get into verse 12, let's go back one more time to Jeremiah 31.

We were in Jeremiah 31, but I think it's important to go back there again and just have St. Vincent in our minds. If anyone ever challenges us or ever wants to talk about the Old Covenant and the problem was with the law, the problem was with God, and so he had to start all over, and Jesus Christ had to undo everything God did.

You know, none of that is, none of that's true. None of that is stated in the Bible. We've talked in the book of Hebrews about the Sabbath, for instance, that the Sabbath was in existence before Israel and that there was a physical command to keep the Sabbath of the Old Covenant. Today, it's a physical and spiritual command. We look forward to the rest that will come upon the earth, and there are people as part of God's plan that will enter into that rest.

We talked about tithing in chapter 7. Abraham tithes, Jacob tithes, Israel tithes. There is a tithe that's been an eternal law of God. There was nothing wrong with that law. It's something that God instituted for mankind. But in the Old Covenant, it never touched their conscience. It didn't affect their heart. It was just a physical law that they were obeying. So in verse 31 of Jeremiah 31, verses that we should have heard many, many times, you know, over the course of our lives, in the context of the Old Covenant, here God is saying to through Jeremiah, to the nation of Judah, that is still living under Old Covenant times at the time this was given to them, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with our fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, after the days of that Old Covenant, says the Lord, I will put my law this time, I'll say, but I will put my law this time in their minds and write it on their hearts. In the Old Covenant, it was written on tablets of stone, given to Moses, who passed it on to Israel, and taught them that.

That same law that God gave Israel is the same law today that he will write in our minds and our hearts as we are a spiritual people, not just a physical nation that is obeying God, but a physical and spiritual covenant that we're part of. Nothing wrong with the law.

God didn't do away with the law, and anyone that says that, you should be able to turn to verses in the Bible and let them know the law. There was nothing wrong with it. It was in place from the beginning, and instead of being written on tablets, as it was in the Old Covenant, today God writes that same law in our hearts. Okay, I'll write my, I'll put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

So we see that the New Covenant is a physical and spiritual covenant. The Old Covenant was for just the nation of Israel and any strangers that decided to join them, and it was the same law for the strangers as well as the native-born Israelites. But the New Covenant that Jesus Christ brought, it's for all of mankind. It's not just for one physical nation.

It's not just for physical Israel. It's for all of mankind. Jesus Christ didn't come to die. He didn't come to offer the ultimate sacrifice for just one group of people. He came to die for all of mankind. And so today, as God calls people from all backgrounds, all races, all ethnicity, all ethnicities, and every nation and tongue, these are the people that he's working with. Just like in the physical Old Covenant, he worked with just one physical nation. Today he works with all those who he calls and who respond to him. Just as we read back in Galatians 3.29, there is no difference.

There is no Jew nor Greek, no free nor slave, no male nor female. Everyone is equal in God's eyes when he calls and when we respond to him. So with that background, in understanding that our Savior Jesus Christ came and he offered his body, offered himself as a sacrifice for all of us, we move into verse 12 of chapter 9. And we see in verse 12 the subject of much of what we'll talk about tonight, blood.

Not with the blood, chapter 9 of Hebrews verse 12, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, Christ entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. In the Old Covenant, it was the blood of calves and lambs and goats and you name it that was all over that temple that was being sacrificed day and night.

And the people of Israel knew that blood was important. If they didn't get it, if they didn't get it, you know, in the temple, that's something to do with God. There is blood that's involved. All of us were sinners, you know. The blood even goes back to the time God was bringing Israel out of Egypt. At that Passover, how is it that they were saved from the death of the firstborn? They had to kill a lamb and they had to put its blood over their doorposts.

So the blood is significant in the Old Covenant. It's significant to us today. Today we don't take the blood of a lamb and put it over our doorposts, but every Passover, when we renew our commitment to God, we take of the wine that symbolizes his blood shed for us.

And that blood is always supposed to be in our minds that he shed that blood. His was the ultimate sacrifice, not the blood of ghosts, but with his own blood. And his blood was unique among human beings because he was the only human who ever lived that was absolutely perfect. Absolutely perfect. Sinless. He alone is the human who never earned or never earned the death penalty. You and I and every human being who has ever lived, we've earned the death penalty according to the law of God. We all have that hanging over our heads. Just like every man, woman, and child that has ever lived, that is his living today and ever will live, has that death penalty hanging over their heads, just like the children of Israel who had the law, but none of them were able to keep it.

None of them were able to keep it. They were never able to discipline themselves to overcome their own desires and wills or the allure of the world around them. But Jesus Christ was. He had the Holy Spirit and he was unique. He was perfect. And his blood, his blood and his willingness to shed that blood for us is monumental in a way that we really do need to spend time contemplating and meditating on, especially before we go to Passover and partake of those symbols that we do every year, to realize what Jesus Christ has done and the magnitude of it, because he is the only one, the absolute only one who could do what he has done for us.

Now, Jesus Christ, if we, you know, it talks there in verse 12 about the Most Holy Place. Well, Jesus Christ, when he was sacrificed, we know he didn't go into the physical temple and then go into that Holy of Holies that was reserved for just the high priest on just that one day here. But when he was resurrected, he did. God ascended into heaven, and he did go to the Most Holy Place, God's throne, in heaven in the true tabernacle, as we're told earlier in chapter 8 of Hebrews. That's where he ascended into, into the holiest of all. The Holy of Holies in the physical tabernacle was just a symbol, just a copy of what was in heaven.

Jesus Christ was there with God the Father in his Most Holy Place, and there God the Father accepted him as the sacrifice, as the propitiation for all of mankind, and accepted his sacrifice in payment, in payment for all of mankind. It was that significant what he, what he had done for us.

The notice that says he did it once for all, and it really means for all, not just Israel, all, all mankind. We'll see that a little bit more later on in chapter 9. All mankind, not just for people who were alive then, or people who would live after him, but for all of mankind that lived prior to Jesus Christ being a human. People who had never even heard the name of Jesus Christ, or never even heard that there was such a thing as God the Father, who had no idea who God is. You know, they were, they, that's who he died for. He died once for all. And it says, having obtained eternal redemption. We should spend just a minute, we should spend just a minute here.

We should get the, we should spend just a minute here on eternal redemption. Let's go back to Ephesians 1 and verse 7 and just spend a few minutes on that.

Ephesians 1 and verse 7, because redemption is spoken of throughout, you know, throughout the New Testament. Ephesians 1 verse 7 says, and this is Paul's writing, in him, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood.

That's how we have redemption. Blood was significant to the Old Covenant, blood even more significant to the New Covenant. In him, we have redemption through his blood. All the blood shed during Old Covenant times. It was symbolic and a shadow of the blood, the ultimate blood that was going to be shed for us that would end the necessity for all those other sacrifices, and that could do what all those other, the blood of all those other sacrifices could do. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

All those sacrifices, all that blood that was shed in Old Covenant times, they might be able to purify the people so they could go about their ceremonial duties at the temple or whatever they needed to do.

Then it might cover their sins and it might let God know they're acknowledging their sins, but it couldn't and never did forgive their sins. Only the blood of Christ, only the blood of Christ could forgive the sins. And until our sins are forgiven, until there was someone who could pay that penalty of death for us because no group of humans or no number of animals that we could ever sacrifice would ever be able to release us from the death penalty. Only Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ could do that. We go back just a book to here in Colations, Galatians 3.

Now verse 13. Paul again addresses this subject among the many, many other verses that I could speak of as well, but he brings up something else here that again, as you ever get in conversations or even think about what we're discussing, that you would be able to present to people and discount some of the arguments that they would bring back in Galatians 3 verse 13. It says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. So redemption is an issue. The curse of the law is an issue, and some people will tell you the curse of the law is the law, but the Bible doesn't say the curse is the law. It's the curse of the law. But let's look at redeemed for a minute. Paul here talks about Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. You know, redemption shows up with a couple of different Greek words when you're looking in the New Testament. And there's one in Hebrews where we were talking about, one in Ephesians where we were talking about, and this one in Galatians 3.13 is another one. And I'm going to pull up on my screen here something I pulled from Barnes' commentary that I think he did a good job nope that's not the one let me get rid of that one there it is Galatians 3.13. Let me just read through what the commentator Barnes has in his commentary about this Christ has redeemed us because I think he did a pretty good job of capturing what it means. He addresses in the first sentence there the two Greek words that are used for redeemed in the New Testament. The one in Galatians 3.13 is that first one that he has listed there. The one in Hebrews 9.12 is the second one, the lutroo. He says the difference between them mainly is that the word used here in Galatians 3.13 more usually relates to a purchase of any kind. The other one is used strictly with reference to a ransom. The word used here is more general in its meaning. The other is strictly appropriate to a ransom. The distinction is not observable here. What he says is they're really interchangeable as the same redemption, however, and the word used here is employed in the proper sense of redeem and he gives some other places where it's used. It properly means to purchase to buy up and then to purchase anyone to redeem to set free. Here it means that Christ had purchased or set us free from the curse of the law by his being made a curse for us. So if we pause for just a minute. Yes. We're not seeing the other screen. You're not seeing the other screen. You're not seeing Galatians 3.13? No, we're still at Hebrews 9.16.

Oh, okay. Well, let me see what I've got going on here then. Stop sharing that.

We're enjoying looking at Hebrews 9, though. Oh yeah, that's interesting too. So here, do you have Galatians 3.13 now? Yes. Okay, okay, okay. Well, I read it to you. Trust me, it's there. I read it verbatim. But I think he did a good job in explaining what redeemed is. I mean, Christ, when he paid for our sins with his life, he literally paid for our freedom, if you will. All of us were dead. All of us are dead without his stepping in and offering his body and spilling his blood to pay the price for our sins, and that is death. And so by doing that, when he stepped in and he literally bought our freedom is a way to look at it. You know, today we have people who go to jail, you know, and they have to wait in jail, and someone will come and pay their bail so they can have some freedom until their court date, until whatever, you know, whenever that is. So they might step in and buy their freedom. But it doesn't pay the penalty for what they've done. It doesn't exonerate them from what they've done. They've got to go back to court. They've got to go face the music, if you will. But Jesus Christ, he bought us by paying the penalty. He took the death penalty off of our heads when he sacrificed himself and allowed his blood to be shed for us. That he literally bought and paid us, and when he purchased us, he set us free. Fully paid in full. I have taken, I have paid for your sins. All we need to do then is accept his sacrifice. But then, as Paul so rightly says in Romans 12.12, we literally owe him everything. Everything. When Paul says it's our reasonable sacrifice to our reasonable service to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God, those are those are absolutely true and complete words. We owe everything to Jesus Christ. He paid for it. Those of us who have never been arrested or had to deal with any of the things of the physical law with some of the physical situations that are out there, we all are guilty.

Jesus Christ paid. He paid for us. When he redeemed us, that's something that the old covenant, no matter how many animals, could not do. No matter how many animals people brought for the priest to sacrifice, it couldn't buy that forgiveness and pay the penalty that Christ has paid for us. It was the ultimate and only sacrifice possible to set us free from the penalties that we have all brought upon ourselves through our actions. Now, if we go on, Goliath.

Yes, sir.

There are two verses that came to mind. One in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 47, where it tells us of the security of Christ again. It says, the first man Adam became a living soul.

And where is it? 47. No, sorry. The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is a Lord who came from heaven.

So that again shows you the sacrifice he made by emptying himself so he could come and shed his blood. And also he says of the Father, the Father loves him because he's going to do this, because he agreed to do it. He submitted himself to doing it. So again, it shows the awesome love that the Father has for us. Exactly. Very good. The other one that comes to mind, we probably won't get to it tonight, is in chapter 10 of Hebrews in verse 5, where Christ says, you've prepared a body for me. You've prepared a body for me. I mean, he was in that body specifically to sacrifice it for us. I mean, it was just part of the plan. You prepared a body for me to, you know, when you put it all together, it's just kind of an amazing thing that the plan of God is and what they have done for mankind, for us to have the opportunities, the eternal life, that all of mankind has. Anything else on that? Let's look at, you see down there at the bottom of the page, the curse of the law. That's one that the world's churches will play with quite a bit. You read some commentaries, and they'll have different takes on it. Again, I think Barnes did a good job in talking about what the curse of the law is. You know, the curse of the law is not the law. The curse of the law is that if we disobey it, we earn death. And he did a good job, I think, in showing that. He isn't in the church, but he was able to dissect the scriptures and see what the truth of this is. Let me just read through that as well. It says, the curse which the law threatens and which the execution of the law would inflict, which is the punishment due to sin. This must mean that Christ has rescued us from the consequences of transgression in the world of woe. He has saved us from the punishment which our sins have deserved. The word us here refers to all who are redeemed. That is, all who will accept Jesus Christ sacrifice and then live the lives that they need to do in service to him. That is, to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews. Again, his sacrifice was not just for one nation, it was for all of mankind.

The curse of the law is a curse which is due to sin and cannot be regarded as applied particularly to any one class of people. All who violate the law of God, however that law may be made known, and it's been made known to us, it was made known to Israel, it's in everyone's Bible that's ever opened the Bible there for people to clearly read and see, even though most just excuse it or want to reject it or say it's been done away. That law may be known, or exposed to its penalty. The word law here relates the law of God in general to all the laws of God made until it's known to man. So what he's saying is the curse of the law is death. That's the curse, and Jesus Christ was willing to empty himself, as Xavier said, and come down and offer that sacrifice for us to take that curse of the law upon himself. The last part of verse 13 says, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And that relates us back to Deuteronomy here. In Deuteronomy 21, I think it is, where God has that written in the Old Covenant statutes here. Deuteronomy 21.

And verse 22 says, if a man has committed a sin, deserving of death, you and I are all guilty.

If a man has committed a sin, deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day.

Now, Jesus Christ, we say that he was, you know, some will say he was crucified, some will call it a crucifix, some will call it a cross, some will call it a stake. The Bible says he was hung on a tree. Whatever it was, he was hung on wood, he was hung on a tree in accordance with the what was spoken here. His body shall not remain overnight, you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defy the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for he who is hanged is a cursed of God. So, you know, being hanged was not a good thing, if I could put it that way. He who is hanged is a cursed of God. And Jesus Christ was hung, if you will, he was hanged on that crucifix, on that stake, on that cross, on that tree, whatever we want to call it. He bore the curse of all mankind. He bore the curse of the law, the death penalty for all of us. And he did it in the most ignominious of ways. It wasn't a very, wasn't a quick death. It was a death where the person was a cursed of God. And he took that upon himself for us. He took that upon himself for us so that we wouldn't have to go through that.

Just think of the price he paid for you and me and all of mankind. When we look at God's law and see the exactness of it and the penalties of it, it's pretty daunting when we realize what we brought upon ourselves and that Jesus Christ was willing to pay that penalty and to take all that goes along with it to himself. He who had no sin, he was absolutely perfect and didn't deserve any of it, but he was willing to do it all for us. It's kind of an amazing thing. So when we read in the book of Hebrews, as we read about Jesus Christ being superior to this, being superior to this, being superior to this, we're coming to the point where we learn his blood was superior to all that blood of the old covenant. All that blood of the old covenant, it had its purpose for the physical nation of Israel as they came before God and used it for the purposes that God said, but it could never do what the blood of Christ has done, the shed blood of Christ has done for us, because the people of Israel, they failed miserably. The lesson that we know for us is even with all that blood and all those sacrifices and all the miracles that God showed them and the law that he gave them, and the fact that they saw and heard his voice and they were so fearful of him that he said, you don't speak to us, let Moses speak to us. Moses, you speak to God and then tell us what he has to say. They were in awe of him, but even then they simply could not do what God wanted him, what God wanted them to do. They didn't have the heart, and it's a lesson for us that there is no other way to God than without his Holy Spirit, and there is no other way to God the Father except through Jesus Christ. As we read, it's through his blood that we have access to the throne of God.

You know, Jesus Christ sits at God's right hand now, and when he died, when his blood was shed, and the veil in the temple was torn into, allowing the access into the holy of holies, the symbolism of all of that, you know, Jesus Christ is the reason that's there, but Jesus Christ is the door by which we enter that holy of holies. You know, John 10, we read that not too long ago in a sermon a couple weeks ago, and he says he's the door, he's the door of the sheep.

Well, he is the door, he's the door into the throne room of God. It's through his blood we're there, and even in the model prayer he gave us, he tells us, you pray to God the Father, you pray it in my name. You come to God in my name. It means we need to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and we need to be very cognizant of what the magnitude of that sacrifice is, and so committed, and so faithful to him, and so thankful to him, I guess, that we would do everything he said and follow him wherever he says to follow exactly as he asks us to do.

He's the door, he's the door to God. Now, what other religion on earth can say that? And there is no other religion. For all of mankind, no matter what they grew up with, no matter what area of the world, no matter what false God they did, the only door to eternal life is through Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ to God the Father. And that's what we're seeing here in Hebrews 9. So let's go back to Hebrews 9. And, you know, we spent some time here on verse 12, but verse 12 is a pretty significant verse in this whole book and in this whole section that we're talking about in here as we understand the Old Covenant and how its effect on the New Covenant, or not the fact of what the meaning of it is, and God's plan as he has brought mankind from the time of Adam and Eve until the time that Jesus Christ returns.

So if you go back to chapter 9 of verse 13, we talked about Jesus Christ's blood and the magnitude of it. Verse 13 says, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of the heifer, what he's doing here is listing some of those things that are the Old Covenant. You know, we could spend some time on the ashes of a heifer, but you know, you could go back and look that up again.

If you want me to send you something on or to commentary, I can kind of explain what that is. Of course, you remember that some of the sacrifices that there were ceremonial laws that the people had to, in order for them to perform their duties, if they were ceremonially unclean, you know, they had to offer sacrifices. The ashes of a heifer was a provision there that kind of fast-tracked that, if you will, if I can put it in that way.

But what the author of Hebrews talking about is listing those things that are elements of the Old Covenant. The blood of bulls, the ashes of a heifer, that sprinkled the unclean, if they sanctify for the purifying of the flesh, because that's what they were designed for, to purify the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, okay, the Spirit that's now made available to you and me that wasn't available to the nation of Israel, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God?

How much more then will that be able to cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And he goes right back up to verse 9 again that all those sacrifices, they didn't affect the heart and the mind of Israel at all. But Jesus Christ's sacrifice is better than those sacrifices of the old covenant. His sacrifice went right to God the Father and offered with his Holy Spirit, and through his Holy Spirit, that now opened the door for us to receive his Holy Spirit, that now the sacrifices that we make, they're not of calves and of lambs and in goats, but the sacrifices that we make that we'll, you know, learn later on, we get into Hebrews 13, it says, offers the sacrifice of praise, offers the sacrifice of love, offer the sacrifices that we do of thanksgiving to God.

The sacrifices that we give are of a nature that we can give those, and they come from the conscience. God works with our minds. Now his laws, his principles are written in our minds and direct what we do. So that when we accept Jesus Christ's sacrifice, when God opens our mind, when we decide to follow him, and we repent, when we repent of our old way of life and turn to him, the dead works that marked our old way of life, they're buried in baptism. But it doesn't mean that we do nothing. Ephesians 2, verse 10, I have marked down here in my Bible, you know, we are created to be people of good works.

Maybe, you know, you can look at that. We read that several times before. We are created for good works. God intends us to do the good things, you know, that his Holy Spirit leads us to. And as we develop those fruits of the Spirit, the love, joy, peace, long suffering, goodness, gentle kindnesses, kindness, faith, self-control, all those things, they will lead us to the good works that he's looking for us to do. And when we do that, we're serving God. Of course, as it says in verse 14 here. In verse 15, it says, And for this reason, what reason? What reason did that is he the mediator of the new covenant? For this reason, he offered himself, he shed his blood, that all these things could happen for us, that we could become like him, that we could become the people that God wants us to become. If we're going to have eternal life, and if we're going to serve him for eternity in his kingdom. For this reason, he, and he's the only one who could have done it. He is the mediator of the new covenant. He's, you know, as it says in Hebrews, back in Hebrews 8, 8, or verse 12 somewhere in there, where it says, he always lives for intercession for us. Again, it doesn't live to make excuses for us, but he always lives to make intercession. He knows our physical frame. He knows the temptations. He knows the trials. He knows the emotions. He knows what it feels like to be betrayed, and all these other things that go on with life that he experienced firsthand. He knows what it's like, and he's patient with us, and God the Father is patient with us, but we have to keep moving in the direction toward him, and not just staying in the same place like Israel did. You know, actually Israel didn't stay in the same place. They actually just usually moved further and further away from God. They never moved closer to him as a result of all those sacrifices. They always seem to move away. Our job is what God has given us now, and our calling is to move closer and closer and closer to God, and not to move away from him. For this reason, he is the mediator. Remember, he came to reconcile mankind to God. That's what he's interested in. He's interested that everyone will repent, that everyone will have eternal life. For this reason, he's the mediator of the New Covenant. By means of death, he had to give up his life. There was no other way, no other way to do it. For the redemption of the—let me read that again. For this reason, he is the mediator of the New Covenant. By means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. So I think in that verse, what he's saying there is, his sacrifice is for the people then, his sacrifice is, of course, for people going forward, but his sacrifice is for everyone under that old covenant and all of mankind that ever lived and died. His sacrifice was once for all, and it wasn't just for people going forward, but he came once to offer a sacrifice for all of mankind. Those who are called, those who are called are you and me today, and then anyone God's would call from here on out. But all of mankind, our time to be called is now, but the rest of mankind who doesn't, hasn't been called today, who doesn't understand the things that we talk about, that God hasn't opened their minds to the truth of the Bible. That would be all the people of the first covenant, the old covenant, all the people who never heard the name Jesus Christ, all the people who lived before the flood, all the people who have ever lived and died.

Everyone has their day of calling for the vast majority of mankind. It's not now. God has been very merciful and blessed us to be part of the first fruits. Jesus Christ was the first of the first fruits. We are the ones who are pioneering along in this life, as he has called us, with his help. With him is our older brother, and him is our intercessor and our guide who is with us every step of the way. So everyone will be called. It's just a matter of when does God determine to call them. Today is our day of calling, that those who are called may receive the promise of the internal inheritance. Well, our inheritance, we are coheirs with Jesus Christ. We were told back in the second chapter of Hebrews a tremendous calling. The rest who aren't first fruits, part of that group, still have a tremendous inheritance to have eternal life and to do whatever it is that God will have them do for eternity.

But repentance of every single mankind is necessary, and a turn to Jesus Christ, as we have done. Now, when we get into verse 16, there's some verbiage here in 16 and 17 that we have to pause a little bit and look at it. He says in verse 16, where there is a testament, and that's the same word that's translated covenant elsewhere, why they use testament there as opposed to covenant, I don't know, but where there is a covenant, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. Now, you have to pause and think about that verse a little bit, not to say, I thought about that verse a lot and tried to understand it. And then finally, I looked at some other translations and looked at a lot of things, and the Young's Literal Translation is actually not a bad translation to look at sometimes because it literally does take the, well, in this case, the Greek word and use it. Some of the later translations try to use different words where the word testator came from. I'm not really sure it's not something we use commonly. But in the Young's Literal Translation, it says, where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the covenant victim. The covenant victim. Now, we learned, you know, we read just here in verse 15 that, you know, Jesus Christ was the meteor of the new covenant by means of death. So where there's a covenant, something has to die. There's a victim in the covenant. So if we pause to think about that a little bit, we realize that the victims of the old covenant were not men. The victims of the old covenant were all the animals that were sacrificed.

Death had to be part of the covenant. And so those countless number of animals died. Those countless number of animals, their blood was shed. They were the covenant victims. There had to be death as part of the old covenant to foreshadow the coming of Jesus Christ who would die for our sins and shed his blood for the remission of our sins as well to foreshadow that. So there had to be death. So in the old covenant, there were the victims that were there. You know, we could take the time. If you can go back to Genesis 15 and see where Abraham, you know, the covenant that God made with him, there was also the covenant victim was there as they walked between this animal that had been sacrificed as a symbol, I guess as a promise, I guess, or commitment on each party's part to stay true to that covenant. And in the old, in the new covenant, it's obvious, should be obvious to us, who the covenant victim is. The covenant victim is Jesus Christ. The animals were the victims in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is the covenant victim, and we're using that word victim in not that they were wrongly accused. It's a very good and noble thing what Jesus Christ had done to give his life for us, but as a result of as the covenant had to be marked by death, he was the covenant victim. He gave his life as part of that covenant. So in verse 17, then, it says, for a testament or a covenant is enforced after men are dead. Now again, you know, that's an unfortunate, unfortunate translation. It could just say for a testament is enforced after the dead. Young's literal translation again says, for a testament is enforced after the death of the covenant victim. So in Old Covenant times, you know, I might want to bring God a sin offering, a burnt offering. And so I bring my animal, I bring my animal, my intentions are I'm going to give that, but that animal never dies if it's never sacrificed. It's meaningless. Good intentions mean nothing. Good intentions have to be met with action. That animal has to die. I have to give that animal as a sacrifice to fulfill what my part of that covenant was with God in the Old Testament. Okay, just like Jesus Christ, while he was alive, he was still living under Old Covenant. But when he died, when he gave his life, when that death, when the death of the covenant victim was complete, then the testament was enforced. Before his death, you know, there was no new covenant. It was his death that was required, his shed blood that was required for those curtain, those bales that gave us access into the Holy of Holies to, you know, to give us access to that, for him to be accepted as our king, our high priest, to sit at God's right hand and to be our intercessor forever. All those things were necessary, and that's what the author here is talking about, you know. We've talked about blood, and in 16 and 17, he's saying these things had to happen. The Old Covenant had its shadows of what was going to happen, looking toward the time when Jesus Christ would be there, and his death, which would supersede the need for any of the death of the rest of the sacrificial animals, he did it all. He, you know, he completed. He was the ultimate sacrifice. No longer a need for sacrificing animals, no longer the need for the blood of the Old Covenant. He shed his blood, and we commemorate that, you know, every, every, every Passover as well. Her testament is enforced after the death of the Covenant victim, since it has no power at all while the Covenant victim lives. Mr. Chabing? Yes, sir.

Yeah, I think there's also an example of that on Genesis 15, when God made a covenant with Abraham.

I guess the way that covenant was ratified was basically by killing some animals that, basically, those were the Covenant victims for that covenant between God and Abraham. Right. Yep. When you see the Covenant, you see those Covenant victims. Very good. Okay. Verse 18, therefore, again, there's that word therefore, when we, when we see the word therefore, we pause for a moment and think, what did we just talk about? We were talking about blood, we're talking about death. Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood, not even the first one. And it was just a physical covenant. For when Moses has spoken every precept to all the people, according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.

Even when he did that, again, when you think back to the old covenant, when you think of the temple, and you think of all the times when blood was sprinkled on this, and blood was sprinkled on the altar, and blood was sprinkled on the utensils, and here even Moses, you know, the book of the law that God gave him that he taught Israel, blood was sprinkled on that. Blood was everywhere as a symbol of what needed to have happen for mankind to be reconciled to God. I think it would be good for us to go back to Exodus 24 and just read that account there, and again put ourselves in the place of the Israelites who were there witnessing this, and who were living these things every day as they saw the blood, as they saw the sacrifices, as they saw the sprinkling of the blood.

You know, they didn't know. They didn't know what was going on that time. They knew it was something that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob required, and they knew that they had the blood of the Passover time. So they knew there was something. You know, when they're resurrected, when they're resurrected and they see the whole magnitude of mankind's history, like you and I have the capacity to do today because we're living in the last age, and we can look back at all the history and see how all these things add up together. When they had the opportunity to do that, I think they are going to be just absolutely in awe of God and so appreciate what they went through because they never understood it. But then when they understand what they were picturing and the whole plan of God, I think they're just going to be absolutely amazed. Okay, Exodus 24. I think we're done in verse 3.

Moses came and told the people all the words of the eternal and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Lord has said we will do.

There's their commitment. Everything God says to do will do. You have to believe their heart, or their intent at that point was we are going to do what God said. Again, they were missing the key element that would enable them to be able to do that. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and he rose early in the morning and he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in bases, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Now again, just picture us living in Old Covenant time. That was our job. Okay, we're going to sacrifice the animals, and we're going to gather the blood, and some of the blood is going to be over here in this bucket, and the other I'm going to sprinkle on all these things. I'm going to sprinkle wherever God says to sprinkle because blood is important in our relationship with God. Then he took the book of the covenant, verse 7, and read in the hearing of the people, and they said, again, all that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. It had to be something that, you know, had to sit in the minds of those Israelites. Moses, we said we would obey. Moses read us these laws. He sprinkled blood on us and said, this is the covenant that God has made with you according to all of these words.

Had to be a dramatic and, I don't know, significant thing that happened back then. It's mentioned here in Hebrews, you know, we're here in verse 9, that even the first covenant, the point that the author continually makes is blood was so important to that first covenant, but all that blood was leading for all those generations of Israel to the ultimate blood that would be shed that would satisfy, and I'm sure the right word here, satisfy all of those sacrifices that were there as part of the old covenant. So verse 21, if we're back in Hebrews 9, Then likewise he, Moses, sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

As you read through there, blood was everywhere. Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. So they learned that lesson in the Old Testament. Blood was everywhere, and we certainly learned it in spades, if you will, here in the new covenant. Without the shedding of Christ's blood, you know, nothing, we could never be purified. We could never have eternal life. We could never grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ. We could never do any of that. Just like the Israelites, as he's going to say here in a few verses, were never able to get beyond start. They never became better. You know, better people in heart as a result of all those sacrifices. Christ reserving something for us in new covenant times that we would live our lives physically, but also with the spiritual component, you know, that is part of our lives now as well. Therefore, verse 23, again there's that word therefore, okay, we read through a few verses. Old covenant had a lot of blood, nothing, nothing was, almost everything was purified with blood, nothing without the shedding of blood. Therefore, with everything that went on back then, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heaven should be purified with these. Remember the temple, there's the true tabernacle in heaven that we read about in chapter 8 where God's throne is, where the true holy of holies is, that Jesus Christ sits today, that Jesus Christ sat in or entered into when he was resurrected and ascended into heaven, and God accepted him as the sacrifice. Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these physical sacrifices, this physical blood that was shed that was sprinkled everywhere. That was God's plan. That was his law. That's what the message was for us. It was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavenly and the heaven should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. There's that word better again. We come across that word better so many times when we're looking or we're in the book of Hebrews. First, you know, Jesus Christ is better than this. He's superior to all these things, and now we see that his sacrifice is far superior to anything that was done in the old covenant. And the sacrifices too, probably that plural means there, the sacrifices that we offer to God by giving our lives in co-total submission to him. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. Let me look back at one thing here. Okay. For Christ, verse 24, has not entered the holy places made with hands. This said he didn't walk into the holy of holies where Aaron and his successors walked every atonement, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. That's the holy of holies, the true holy that the eternal high priest, the one after the order of Melchizedek, now serves in that capacity in the presence of God in the true holy of holies, where he sits and he is now in the presence of God for us. You know, those two words for us, should strike us as well, too. Nothing, you know, we know God has a plan. His will is that everyone repents. His wishes that his will would be that everyone will repent and have eternal life.

That would be what his will is. But you know everything Jesus Christ did, it was totally for us. It was totally unselfish in every way, shape, and form. Everything he did. And it even says there he's here appeared in heaven after all that he's been through for us. For us, not for himself, not because he was seeking the glory. Look how great I am. He did it so that you and I would have the opportunity. I mean, how grateful and how humble that should make us feel and how committed to him and how inspired it should make us be to follow him and to do his will with all our heart, mind, and soul.

Now to appear in the presence of God for us.

For Christ, verse 25, not that he should offer himself often as the Most High or as the High Priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another. I mean, year after year, after year, after year, Aaron and his successors as High Priests would go through the ritual that they go through in Leviticus 16. Animals would be sacrificed. They would go into the Holy of Holies year after year, after year, after year, day after day, after day, after day for centuries. Animals were sacrificed. You know, Jesus Christ doesn't do it often. He did it once. He only did it once for all.

We read back a few verses ago.

Verse 26, he then would have had to suffer often. If he was doing the same thing that they did in the Old Covenant times, he would have to suffer often since the foundation of the world.

But now, once, at the end of the ages. Well, you know, we talked a few years ago. I gave a sermon on the seven dispensations of God, the ages that we go through. Right now, we're in the, you know, the Christ era, the Christian era, the Holy Spirit era, the church era, whatever age, whatever you want to talk about, you know, the Jesus Christ when he started his church and the Holy Spirit was given to people. And we're now in the New Covenant. That extends until the time of Jesus Christ's return. And then the last age, the kingdom of God is the last age. But now we are here at the end of the ages of man. We're the same age now that they were back at the time this book of Hebrews was written. At the end of the ages here is Jesus Christ. Now he's offered himself, his blood has been shed for us to see. Now it's incumbent on us to follow his principles, to look back on the plan of God and be inspired by it and committed to him. We are the first fruits. Israel failed, as we heard earlier in the book. They did not enter into that rest. It is for us to enter into that rest. There remains therefore a rest and the keeping of the Sabbath for the people of God. But now once, and you can underline or at least keep in your mind, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Oh, he had the victory. He had the victory over sin. He had the victory over the world. He had the victory over self. He is our prime example, our only example of someone who lived his life perfectly. And we know that as a human tempted in all points like as we are with God's Holy Spirit, he did it. We can do it too. If we believe, if we follow his principles, if we grow close to God, and if we allow ourselves to be developed and purified by him, Jesus Christ was pure from day one. We have a process that we're going through to become like him and to become blameless, to become spiritually mature. He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. All those Old Covenant rituals and sacrifices, they didn't put away sin. They made man aware of sin, but it didn't put away sin. Only Jesus Christ could do that. Verse 27, you know, we're reminded of our physical bodies as it is appointed for men to die once. You know, we know that we all were all sitting here today in our physical bodies, and we know that as God the Father looks down on us, he sees us as physical human beings today, but he sees our eternal life too, as long as we keep following him and committing and yielding to him and allowing his spirit to lead and guide us. Now, he sees this as one part of our lives, but he's looking forward to the resurrection when we are born as spirit beings and have the rest of eternity with him. You know, we focus on where we are physically here today, but it's appointed for all men to die once. The physical ends. The physical ends just like the physical covenant, the old covenant ended, replaced by the new covenant that extends, you know, extends for all mankind from here on out. This Jeremiah 31 said, after those days, I will put my law, my, my, write my laws in their minds and hearts, and he would give the Holy Spirit to all of mankind.

So we will all die, you know, but after this, the judgment. And so he sets the pattern there. We will die when we die. We sleep until the return of Jesus Christ, or if we happen to be alive at the return of Jesus Christ, our physical body and our physical lives end at some point. We put off the body, the physical body that we have now, and God will give us the spirit body, that the incorruptible body that he talks about in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15. So this physical body will, will die. You know, it was only temporary. It's only the first part of our lives, and every single man, woman, and child, you know, so many have died before us, and so many will die from here until this return of Jesus Christ. That's it. That's it. But after this, the judgment. Of course, the judgment, everyone will be resurrected. Some in the first resurrection, and they'll be resurrected to a life and given an immoral, immortal body at that time. The rest of humankind, everyone who's ever lived that isn't called to this day and age at the second resurrection, as we're told in Revelation 20, that will be, that will be a resurrection, you know, to either life or condemnation, as Jesus says in John 5, 25. The first resurrection is a resurrection to life. Those are the ones who, you know, through the course of their physical lives, died in Christ with his Holy Spirit, that God will resurrect and give life to at that time. The resurrection after that, resurrections, if we want to use that term, are to life or condemnation, but the first resurrection is to life. But all mankind will go through the judgment as God judges it. You know, today, you know, today we know the judgment is on you and me, you know, the house of God as we live today. Okay, as is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment, or the resurrection, we could say, when the judgment will occur for mankind, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. And there's that word once again. You know, we need to pause there, and we need to go back to Hebrews 6 for just a second, because a few weeks ago we talked about, you know, something that God said it was impossible for mankind to do, and this was a good place to recount that, because it says here in chapter 9, Jesus Christ was offered once, once for our sins to bear the sins of many. And if you remember back in chapter 6, verse 6, the author is talking about people who were called, who did repent, who did receive God's Holy Spirit, who began to walk with him.

Well, for some reason, whether it be the cares of the world, whether it be their laxity, their apathy, whatever it was, they began to drift away from the truth, and they found themselves separated more and more and more, like that boat that we talk about that drifts a little further from the dock, and one day it's just out of sight, and there's no way for it to return back.

So he talks about those who drift and then fall away, and they no longer are walking with God, they've rejected, they've gone back to the ways of the world. And here in verse 6, well, let's begin in verse 4, verse 4 where the sentence begins, it says, it is impossible. Now we're told that all things are possible with Jesus Christ, but here is one thing that is impossible. This is the unpardonable sin. It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.

That they get it, they understand what they've been called to, that they've been walking with God. If they see all these things, verse 6, if they fall away, if they stop walking again, it's impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves, the Son of God, and put him to an open shame. He died once for our sins. We have one chance when God calls us, one opportunity to follow him, you know, and to follow him. Now there's some people, I've even heard it in the church, that the second resurrection is kind of a second chance. There is no second chance. There is one opportunity when we're called to follow God. The second resurrection is not a second chance. The second resurrection for all those who never had the calling of God, who never had the opportunity to know the gift of God, to know the truth of God, to know the plan of God. We are accountable for what we know. And if we fall away, and if we neglect it, as God is our judge, and we know he's merciful, and we count on that mercy, but there's only one time Jesus Christ died once for our sins. And if we fall away, if we allow ourselves to drift, if we allow ourselves to make excuses, if for whatever reason we do that we fall away and go back to our old way of life or separate ourselves from God, there is no second crucifixion. There isn't a second opportunity to come back. A daunting thing, but something that should be there in the back of our minds that we need to stay attached. Attached to the vine, attached to God, and even more so as we see the day approaching, as we often say, that we stay close to God and build that temple to his exact specifications exactly the way he wants us to, because he didn't call us to be people who would be static in our growth, but people who were becoming more and more like him as time went on. Okay, so verse 28. Christ was offered once, to bear the sins of many. To those who, and I love the adjectives that the Bible puts in here, we should pay attention to those, I guess this is an adverb, to those who eagerly wait for him.

You know, you hear me often say, you know, about diligently and carefully, when God tells us diligently and carefully keep his laws. Understand the detail of it. Learn, as we go through God's word, to pattern ourselves exactly after the specifications that he has recorded for us in the Bible as he opens our minds to understand them. You know, diligently and carefully obey, not just obey, but diligently and carefully obey. And here it is for those who wait for him. They're eagerly waiting for him. They're not hoping it's 25 and 50 and 500 and a thousand years off. They're eagerly waiting for him, not because they're eager for all the trials that are going to come between now and the return of Jesus Christ, but because they know how good it is for when Jesus Christ returns for mankind. To have his kingdom here and to, for every man, woman, and child, to have the opportunity to have eternal life and know God and know what the pleasures of life and what the meaning of life is and how what God had planned for it to be for us. Those who eagerly wait for him. But that means there's energy in it. And as we're waiting for him, we have to have ourselves be close to him and doing the things that he said. Not just sitting back by the wayside, twiddling our thumbs, but eagerly waiting for him and doing the things that he wants us to do. To those who eagerly wait for him, he'll appear a second time he's returning, apart from sin, for salvation. It became the first time to paper our sins. As he returns, he'll set up his kingdom and usher in his kingdom.

Let's do a couple more verses here in chapter 10 before we close for the night. So he stops at the same place we stopped this afternoon. Chapter 10, I wanted to get further than the verse two verses, but we'll stop both Bible studies here at the same point here tonight. For the law, just a continuation of the same theme and the same topic we've been discussing. For the law, you know, we could say for the instruction that God gives us for the way of life that he's opened our minds to see for the law, for his edicts to mankind. Live this way. Build your temple this way. It'll be good for you if you do it. If you build it exactly to my specifications, you will be happy, joyful, peaceful people. For the law, having a shadow of good things to come. Imagine when Jesus Christ returns that the whole world is living according to that law. Our minds can't even conceive it, but how good that will be for the law. Having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

So again, he's talking. He's going back to the Old Covenant. Remember the book of Hebrews was originally written to people in the 60s AD. That in 30 years, since Jesus Christ ascended, 30 years since the church began, 30 years that many of them were Christians, they were beginning to fall away. He's reminding them this is how important Jesus Christ is. Those old sacrifices, if they were looking to go back to the world or back to the Judaism or whatever their old lives were like, and trying to incorporate some of that into that, he's saying all those things that you're looking at, all those sacrifices, they could never make. They could never make anyone perfect. They could never make them spiritually mature. They never grew in the grace and knowledge of God by all those sacrifices. They were reminded of God. They were reminded of sins. They were reminded of those things, and that's a good thing, but they were never going to be perfect as a result of that. So he's telling the Jews, you know, in the Gentiles who might have been looking at that too, thinking, well, should we be doing some sacrifices? Should we be doing some of these things? Because the Temple of Remember in 60 AD was still standing. A few years later, the Temple was demolished, and none of these things could happen anymore. But he's saying no. None of those sacrifices, it wasn't meant. That wasn't designed. The purpose was to show us that without Christ's sacrifice, without the Holy Spirit, we couldn't grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, just like Israel never grew. They just grew away from God, and they fell for everything that every nation around them was doing. But for us, we shouldn't. We shouldn't. That's what he's saying here in verse 1. For then, wouldn't they have ceased to be offered? If that was the purpose of them, if that was going to work, well, certainly after decade after decade after decade after century, then you know what? The people, if that was really working to make them become spiritually mature and blameless, well, then we wouldn't need sacrifices anymore. Less and less and less. They would have put the priests out of business. There were no more sacrifices because they weren't sinning, less and less sinning, but it didn't work for that way. For wouldn't they have ceased to be offered? For the worshippers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. So what he's saying there, and as we go into verses 3 and the rest of the, you know, the next several verses here, he recounts some of what we've been talking about here in 9. But it's important for us to understand, because it was important for God to put all this in the book of Hebrews, so that we are continually looking at Jesus Christ following what he says. Not discounting the laws of the old covenant or the laws of the Bible, but understanding the plan of God, understanding how important it is for us to look at Jesus Christ and to do the things that the Bible says for us to do and to live our lives as those living sacrifices. Our calling is not to be in the status quo, but our calling is to be growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, to become those blameless spiritual, mature beings that God has called us to be, that he's given us our physical lifetimes to work on that and to accomplish that. So, okay, let me end there with verse 2, and we will begin in 10.3 next week, and you know, try to get through the rest of chapter 10 here next week, if we can. So, okay, let me end, but if there's any comments, questions, observations, anything that I have missed, anything that is not clear or that you'd like to talk about? Mr. Shady? Yes, sir, Frank. I can't remember where it is, but I read somebody not in the church who was talking about the sacrifice that you were just mentioning.

What they used to do, I guess, back in the really old days, when they were entering into our covenant, they'd take an animal and they cut it in half, you know, from the head to the tail, and then they walked between it. That, you know, signifies the acceptance of the... they didn't have written documents where you sign your name, but you walked between the animals, and that was the covenant. Exactly. Yep, that's Genesis. It's in the Bible. Yeah, Genesis, good thing.

Mentioned it, yeah. Yep, back in Genesis, when you look at what Abraham, the covenant between Abraham and God, that's exactly what happened back then, yes. Yeah, they called it a maledictory, both. I think that's what they called it. A what? A maledictory. Okay. I think that's what I was going to say.

As you can tell, the annunciation was bad, so the spelling would be worse.

I, yeah, some of those words you look at, you think, wow, okay, how do they ever pronounce that? Okay.

Mr. Shaby? Yes, sir. Yeah, this is something probably maybe to talk about at the beginning of the next Bible study, but going back to Hebrews 9, I guess the last part of verse 23, it seems to suggest that there were heavenly things that needed to be purified. So I was wondering if we can maybe think about that, if that could possibly, what that could possibly be, you know, a heavenly thing that would need to be purified by the sacrifice of Christ.

Um, yeah, you know, I guess as I read that, remember all the sprinkling of the blood on all of the altars and everything that Aaron and the high priest had to go through on Leviticus? You remember all the sprinkling of the blood? It was like all those things had to be purified with blood as well. I guess that was my take, or what I think of when I think about being purified, that those things had to be purified. They purified themselves with blood in old covenant terms, but that those altars and things like that had to be as well. Maybe someone else has another thought on that, but I'll mark that down here and I'll double check and see. So.

That's the Shavie. Yes, yes, ma'am. Did the people also sprinkle with blood?

People, remember we read that back in Exodus 24 when Moses did it? He says, sprinkle the people with blood. I don't know if he went through every person to put blood on him or how he did that, but yeah. We were talking about that when I was there because it was impossible for him to sprinkle all two or six million people. Maybe those 12 pillars, there were some people that got sprinkled, but 12 pillars that represented the tribes. Yeah. Also, he had people go through and they did that with blood, but it only talks about the bucket that he had and that would have been an awfully lot of animals to sacrifice to sprinkle all the people, but symbolically, the people were sprinkled as well. I definitely like the new cover because I don't think I would like blood sprinkle all the time. I mean, when we put ourselves back in the old covenant times, it's like, wow, that's interesting. You have all that blood around so many things.

But it was a reminder to them that there had to be bloodshed as part of our relationship with God. So be thankful to Jesus Christ, he was willing to shed his.