Hebrews 9 And The Death of Jesus (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio. My name is Mike Abendroth and I�m going to think I�m going to try a little Facebook Live. I�m just here on Saturday. Real time is September 14th, 1030 a .m. Eastern Standard Time, Boston time.

I don�t know what GMT time this is. It�s plus what? Minus six, plus six? I have no idea. Anyway, I am in the studio here in my study. Those are the commentaries back there. We have a church picnic today and we have EEE, triple E mosquitoes at the church picnic at the lake.

It�s kind of like church, you know what I mean? For worship service on Sunday, the parking lot is so bad, we dare you to attend. The picnics, we want to know if you really believe in the sovereignty of God because we have West Nile and triple E and we dare you to attend.

Actually, a few days ago, it was like 85 here and last night, I believe it was 45 degrees Fahrenheit here in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com or if you want some general information, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

Let�s see what�s going on. Israel in 2021, February with Omaha, Nebraska�s Patrick Abendroth. One time, somebody called Pat and I the sons of thunder, so I don�t know if that was good or bad, but you�ll love Pat and his ministry.

By the way, I�ve been listening to his sermons on Sunday morning. You can go to omahabiblechurch .com and listen, I think it�s .com, maybe it�s .org, omahabiblechurchpatabendroth .com. I think you�ll really be encouraged.

Excuse me, I�ve got a bunch of protein drinks here and other things. I went to a NutriShop this week and got tested, so now I�m upping my protein and upping the fat. I said to Kim, I was weighing myself every day, I said, �I think the weight�s supposed to be going down with this new system, not going up.

Why No Compromise Radio Rejects Compromise and Legalism

Well, what we try to do at No Compromise Radio, I think probably nine years ago when I started, I wanted to say that I was not going to compromise and maybe the rest of the world compromises, but I will not compromise.

And of course, that�s a good sentiment in the sense that we don�t want to compromise, we want to live a holy life and live in light of who the Lord Jesus is, but of course we end up compromising. So the show has morphed into this.

Why No Compromise Radio? Well, I think it�s simple. Number one, Jesus never compromised. Out of all the men that have ever been born and women that have ever been born, I guess they�re born babies, but out of everyone, they have sinned, right?

From Adam, our federal head, to Eve, to Cain, to Abel, everyone has sinned, David, Abraham. By the way, just as a side note, when people say you have to do more good than bad to get into heaven, that�s just kind of weird, right?

So let�s just kind of stop and let that sink in, kind of a Selah moment. So David, he was a man after God�s own heart, and he wrote a lot of scripture, and he honored God in many ways, and he was zealous for God�s glory, and that outweighs Bathsheba, Uriah, lying, killing, adultery.

No, no, you still have to pay for those things, right? If you commit those crimes against the state, in this particular case, you commit sins against God, those have to be paid for. What kind of justice, what kind of court of law, what kind of righteous standard would it be if you just, �Well, you know, I don�t speed, but I killed somebody, but for many years I never killed anybody.

I just only killed somebody today. It�s just really dumb. Same thing with Abraham, Father Abraham, we�ve got the situation going on where right from the very beginning, when you look at chapter 11, he�s married, and you see his genealogy at the Tower of Babel, and then all of a sudden here is the Abrahamic promise in chapter 12, and before you know it, I mean, it�s Hagar, and it�s all kinds of stuff going on.

She�s not my wife, Sarai, she�s my sister, please don�t kill me, and the list goes on. But he was a father of the faith, so he did more faithful things than unfaithful things, therefore he gets in. And the answer to that, of course, is have I ever said poppycock on this show?

I don�t know if I�ve ever said it, but of course that�s not right. On a different note, the book of Hebrews is tomorrow here at Bethlehem Bible Church, so if you�re a member, or an attender, or what we call an �adherent� you stick close to the church but you never want to commit I actually like that word.

I don�t like the idea of someone doing it, but it�s a good word. It makes me easily remember what it might be adherent, adhesive they�re like Band-Aids. I think every time I go to the dollar store, I have to buy more Band-Aids, or even CVS Band-Aids.

You can�t have enough Band-Aids. And as a matter of fact, the other day I had to go to the different drugstore, the EpiPens there out of EpiPens nationwide, I think there�s a recall, or backorder, or something.

Anyway, I finally got the allergy test done, and in fact, yeah, I�m allergic to hazelnuts. I knew that. It almost killed me. Here�s why I�m excited to get back into Hebrews. Because essentially, I could say it this way, it�s changed my life.

More specifically, the Lord has used His Word in the book of Hebrews to change my life. Truths about Jesus, to understand the difference between a performance-based I need to do more, achieve more, in order to keep my standing, in order to make sure God still loves me like He did Hebrews has obliterated that.

It has pulverized that. If you�d like to live a holy life and I hope you do, dear Christian in light of your standing, showing fruit, showing evidence, showing a response of gratitude, guilt-grace gratitude I�m all for that, and I want to make sure that continues.

You are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. There is holy living. We are not anti-law for the Christian. The focus here, though, is and I think in my own life how do I do things? And here�s how I do things, and I bet you do it as well.

We�re saved by the work of Christ. We�re saved by grace alone. We are given faith, and we respond with faith, and we�re trusting in Christ, not adding any works, and not adding anything but faith, and even that, we realize, is non-meritorious.

That�s how we get in, but we stay in by this gerbil on a treadmill. If you ever want to pull up funny videos of people falling on treadmills at gyms, that�s essentially the Christian life. When you�re trying to maintain your position by works, by sanctification, by doing good, by avoiding sin, by doing more, more, more, that�s not the right way.

Remember, legal standing, fruit or evidence. Your legal standing before God has to be based on perfection, and anything less than perfect means you couldn�t stand before God, because He�s a thrice-holy God, correct?

Therefore, you have to stand in light of a federal head, a representative, Jesus the mediator, Jesus the high priest, and we could list all Jesus� great names and accomplishments and titles and offices, but you stand in Jesus� stead, union with Christ, because now you are seen by the Father as being perfect, right?

The perfect righteousness of another, because you are in Him, and you have His righteousness credited to you. Therefore, that�s your standing. You will show evidence, you will show fruit, but that evidence and that fruit isn�t going to be perfect, because that will be tainted, but since it�s only evidence and fruit, it�s not legal standing, you�re going to be fine.

You can have a weak faith in a strong Savior and still be saved, and that�s really the book of Hebrews, and that�s why it changed my life. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, and the writer is doing what he wants his audience to do, and that is his readership, it�s a sermon epistle is what it is.

Keep looking to Jesus, and that�s not just for Christians, unbelievers, but that�s for Christians as well. If you think your faith saves you, you don�t think that�s shorthand for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ saves, then your faith better be perfect, because nothing can satisfy God except perfection.

That�s why perfect faith must be the requirement if faith, your own autonomous, something I did and I merited before God, my own faith saves. It better be perfect. That�s why a weak faith, a struggling faith, a faltering faith, a sometimes disobedient faith does that make sense, disobedient faith?

That means, somebody just texted me, my daughter did, she said, �I have Jetty. Okay, good. I�m glad to know that. And I have a Shekinah Glow, I have Shekinah Glory here. Weak faith in a strong object is exactly what the book of Hebrews is working with.

These people are struggling, they want to go back to Judaism, and he says Jesus is too great for you to go back to these types, these shadows, so rest in him, have trust in him. If you want a book on Christology, this is the book.

I could probably ask you this question, since it�s my show. When�s the last time you read a book on Christology? I know many of you like to read books, and I think our audience is probably different than the normal audience, and you probably don�t read as many how-to books as the typical fundamentalist, or evangelical, or charismatic, or Roman Catholic.

But I find it fascinating that not many people read books about Jesus. And I think it�s true when you ask Sinclair Ferguson about this, he�ll say, when I�m talking to young seminary students, or seminary students that are young in their studies, if I ask them what books of John Owen they�ve read, and or are reading, it�s mortification of sin.

It�s not the glory of Christ. Of course, that made me immediately think, guilty as charged, and I better go pick up the glory of Christ book and begin to read it. This book, here�s my point, this book, Hebrews, is about Christology.

Logos, a word, a word about Christ, the doctrine about Christ, this is about the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, it helps me, because maybe there are other books I don�t read about Jesus, but I want to make sure I read about Jesus in this inspired book that teaches me so much, why did Jesus become a man, right?

Because he had to be our representative so he could make propitiation for the sins of the people. Why is he better than angels? Angels seem to be better. How can a man be better than angels? And this book in chapter 2 explains that.

And that�s why I like the book of Hebrews, and it really has changed my life. I�m glad I waited until I was in my late 50s to begin to preach it, because there are so many things that I probably wasn�t ready for earlier in my ministry.

I additionally like the book of Hebrews because it talks about the Supreme One in a supreme fashion. That is to say, he writes well. He writes with excellence. He understands how to skillfully convey, as O�Brien states, his arguments.

And so when you have a great object, and then you write about that great object well, it is a double whammy. It�s not as if any other writer in the New Testament doesn�t write appropriately, right? We have the divine author and the human author, and inspired by God, these human authors moved by the Spirit, 2 Peter 1, verses 19 -21.

I get all that. But since it�s a different style, it�s a different genre in the sense that this sermonic epistle or epistlatory sermon, he uses key words often, there�s kind of bookends or inclusio, there�s linking words, there�s alliteration, there�s assonance, there�s chiasm, there�s all these things.

And so you�ve got the great object, and you want to talk about it well. And I talk about this to my seminary students very often, and I try to preach it to myself as well. Paul, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, evangelized the evangel.

He gospeled the gospel. There�s light and heat, right, when it comes to preaching, when it comes to evangelism, when it comes to teaching your children the Bible, when it comes to Sunday school teachers and moms sitting down with children teaching, dads, etc.

Not just for pastors, light and heat. And the light is, you want to make sure you show authorial intent, what does God say in His word, you put a light on the subject, right, you think about illumination, the Spirit�s work as He illuminates your mind to understand.

You want the understanding. And then the heat is how you deliver it, right, commensurate with what the subject is. And of course, if it�s narrative, then you convey it with drama, to echo, to resemble.

If it�s an imprecatory psalm, you�re not there yucking it up and hearty-har-har. If you are talking about the joys of heaven, let your face shine like the sun, Spurgeon said. And when you�re talking about hell, Spurgeon said, you�re normal, every face, everyday face will do.

He, the writer of Hebrews, talks about the best subject in the world in the best way, as he gives this sermon, as he gives this letter. And lastly, before we look at the text in particular in chapter 9 today, I love Hebrews because He, the writer, understands the Old Testament.

Matthew just said, �Hebrews is great at describing the perfection of Christ, atoning work and intercession for believers. And that�s exactly right. When you think about priests, I always ask the question to people, what do priests do in the Old Testament?

And of course, there�s a bad view of priests these days, and a sacerdotal system run by priests, because for most evangelicals, they realize the errors of Rome and the priesthood. And of course, when you�ve got the scandal of the Roman Catholic priest, and with the children, and all these other kind of deals of payoff and all that stuff, which is a whole other subject, the priesthood in people�s minds is negatively seen.

And with the book of Hebrews, that ought not be the case. We ought to think, yes, priests are good. And in the Old Testament, you think about the Aaronic priesthood, and what did they do? They essentially, I mean, they had many responsibilities, but if you had to boil it down, it was sacrifice and pray, sacrifice and intercession, atone and intercede.

Not that they could atone, but they�re making atonement, anticipating the death of Christ. So when Jesus comes, the book of Hebrews says, while he�s not an Aaronic priest, while he�s not a Levitical priest, while he�s not from the tribe of Levi, he is in fact from the tribe of Judah.

But remember, dear Hebrew listeners, as he�s writing this, there�s another kind of priesthood, and that is in the order of Melchizedek. And of course, if you go back into Genesis, you�ll see after Lot is taken, Abraham and his men, I think the 318 mighty men, go up and rescue Lot, and on the way back, they meet this high priest, Melchizedek.

And so the Jewish people would have to realize, yes, there�s a Levitical priesthood, but there�s another kind of priesthood as well, and that�s where Jesus comes from. And Jesus makes atonement, he, the high priest, is also the sacrifice, and then he lives to make intercession, chapter 7, verse 25.

So I love the book of Hebrews. It�s really changed my life, because the focus, instead of looking at myself and my own faithfulness, my standing before God is based on who Jesus is. So it�s the paradigm of faith in Jesus, taking priority over my faithfulness.

If you get that paradigm right, you�ll be fine. By faith, Abraham. By faith, David. By faith, Noah. By faith, whoever you want to have a by faith by. By faith, Samson. I mean, when you start reading, when we get to chapter 11, by faith, Jephthah.

By faith, Lithaniel? Is he in there?

I just had a moment, somebody�s making sounds out here, that�s why I�m having this kind of mental breakdown here. We have faith in the right object. So even Jephthah, or Samson, trusting in the right object, you�re going to see them in heaven.

I know that�s crazy, but you will. And I like the way Hebrews strings together the Old Testament, or lets me see the Old Testament in a very Christological way. You read chapter 1 and 2 of Hebrews, and there�s no possible way you can say to yourself, �I can�t read the Bible Christologically.

Because that, in fact, is what�s happening. Psalm 102, Psalm 45, Psalm 89, Psalm 8, Psalm 2, Psalm 22. The Psalms that are there, when you read in the Old Testament, some of them you think, �Oh yeah, Jesus, Psalm 2 and 22 and 110.

But others, like Psalm 102, you�d never think Christologically, but the writer of Hebrews, in fact, does. And so that�s why I really love this book, the book of Hebrews, because I realize that I can have an imperfect faith in a perfect Savior, and I can still have security, and I can still have assurance.

Vicki from Ohio. I have not been to Ohio for some time. Vicki, I was preaching for John Tucker in south of Cleveland, Beloit. Vicki, are you near Beloit? Did I meet you there, Beloit? I have no idea, but anyway, when I first saw Beloit, I didn�t know if it was Beloy, it was like some kind of Louisiana deal, Beloit.

I remember borrowing a bike, John�s bike, and it was a mountain bike, and just riding, you know, in Ohio, south of Cleveland, everything is just latitude and longitude, I mean, just straight lines, just riding, riding, riding.

Anyway, with the book of Hebrews, as Horatius Bonar said, �An earthenware pitcher can convey water to a traveler�s thirsty lips, as well as a gold one, nay, a broken vessel, even if there be but a shard to take water from the pit.

And what�s happened is you see the writer saying, you receive water from an earthenware pitcher or some gold, it doesn�t matter. So your faith, if it�s stumbling and it�s not perfect, it�s like earthenware vessel still the water, in this particular case, living water.

So I did. I can�t see your picture, it�s too far away, Vicki, but if I saw you in person, I�d probably recognize you, I hope. Hebrews is perfect for the people who are trying on the treadmill of evangelicalism, and you have to do more and try harder and go better, do faster.

I mean, think about it. When you struggle with sin, what do people tell you? Do more, read more, pray more. I want you to read the Bible more, because most of the time when people really struggle with sin, they�re not having the word of Christ richly dwell in them, Colossians 3 .16.

That�s true. But what I would tell them is, as you read the Bible more, why don�t we start with Matthew 8, 9, and 10 and look at the power of Jesus and his compassion. And this is the Savior as he physically saves these people and has power over the elements and the supernatural demons and all these other things.

This is your Savior. Take a look at him. Matthew 15, watch how Jesus deals with the Syrophoenician woman. That�s the type of thing. And so when you do that, and your focus is not on yourself with this morbid introspection, and I have to analyze how much am I loving Jesus and how well do I love Jesus, the answer is probably not as much as you should.

No, the answer is you�re not loving him like you should. You should be walking in a manner worthy of your calling, Ephesians 4, but you�re not. So does that change your legal standing? Of course it doesn�t, because if it does, then we�re all smoked.

Then why even write Romans 6, 1? When it comes to resting and trusting and relying on who Jesus is, then that does motivate you to do other things because you realize, you know, even though I know I�m not going to do these things perfectly, God accepts them.

God even, as Calvin writes wonderfully on this subject, God even accepts my less-than-perfect works as a Christian, as I offer them, those works to the Lord Jesus in light of who I am as a son. Hebrews makes you, the reader, realize done, done, done is the work of Christ, and therefore, for those trusting in Jesus, even with weak faith, their status before God is in Christ.

Their status is Jesus accomplished something on my behalf. You don�t have to keep getting the one-sided law only, you better do better, you better get over it, you better be progressing, you better be moving.

Here�s my point, and I know I haven�t even got to Hebrews 9 yet, here�s my point. Sanctification is slow, and there are some things when God saves you, and I think I�ve said this to you before on the radio, or maybe Facebook Live, I don�t know, when I got saved, I quit swearing, at least audibly, once in a while I would, in my mind would, and it doesn�t happen that often now, maybe occasionally, but sometimes if I�ll hit my finger with a hammer and I�ll just say �ouch� or something like that, I�m actually kind of glad I hit my finger with a hammer because then nothing bad came out like it used to come out.

And so, what else happened? I think I was a racist, and when I got saved, I just thought, �Wait a second, everybody�s the same. Adam, last Adam, one race, pigment, etc., etc. Grew up with busing in Nebraska and all these kind of conflicts and everything else, and all of a sudden I got saved, and I was like, I have no problem at all, I actually like diversity because it�s better for potlucks, better food, spicier food.

So some of those things happen right away, but other things I still struggle with. I struggle with self-righteousness, I struggle with pride, I struggle with, I mean the list could go on and on and on, this is not my divulging all my inner secrets here, but I struggle with these things all the time.

I�ve been a Christian for 30 years, I�ve been a pastor for 22 years, I�ve been the number one-rated radio host in all the world for three months. So we struggle, so here�s the good news, dear struggling Christian, where there�s slow-going sanctification, you will be glorified one day, that�s good news.

And God loves you anyway, because He sees you in Christ, and He knows, just like a father would know, how children slowly grow, but they�re growing, and the father loves them, or the mother loves them, in spite of their stumbling slow growth.

That�s the Lord Jesus. We�re going to come back on Facebook Live in just a moment. No Compromise Radio, with Pastor Mike Abendroth, is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church, firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God�s Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.