Hebrews 9 And The Death of Jesus (Part 3)

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.

The Passing Nature of Reputation and the Need to Live for Christ

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Michael Lee Abendroth, and sometimes if I go on a bike ride, I kind of get this wheezing kind of smoker�s cough thing. I don�t know if that�s because you just breathe in all the particles and particulates in the area, but why would bicycle riding give you wheezy smoker�s cough?

Anyway, you can write me info at nocompromiseradio .com. We have the R. Scott Clark Conference coming up here October 11th and 12th. He�ll be here Friday night at 7 to do a session at 8. I�ll give a little Q &A with him.

Then on Saturday, October 12th, he�s going to talk about law gospel stuff, a quest for illegitimate religious experiences, i .e. some charismatic stuff, some detractors against Sola Fide and other things.

Can�t wait for Scott to be here. If you�re in the area, October 11th and 12th, you can just go to bbchurch .org and sign up. If you want to listen to some of the sermons, it�s bbchurch .org. We probably have archives of, I don�t know, at least 15 years.

In the old days, I really thought to myself, �I can�t believe not all my sermons are online or all my sermons are not online. Now, thinking about how I preach some of those sermons, I�m glad they�re not.

I�m such an idiot so many times. The world�s basically got to hear my sermons and they need to be up online and people across the world want to download them to listen. The other day, I put together a little box, four boxes.

I have four kids. My kids are 26, 23, 20, and 18. None of them are married yet. When they get married, I want to give them one of these boxes. It�s going to have all kinds of things in them, but I put each of the six books that I wrote in those boxes.

So, six, six, six, six, six, six. You don�t want to laugh like that on the radio with the Shekinah. Glory. Anyway, when I die, the church will remember me. My wife will remember me. My kids will. They�ll probably give those books that I wrote maybe to the grandkids and they�ll have stories about grandpa, you know, what he was like.

And then those grandkids will have kids and maybe one of them might say, �Oh yeah, I had this great, there was a great grandfather and he had a radio show and he was a pastor and he wrote some books. Maybe they�ll try to find one.

And then their kids, nothing. It�s over. I mean, seriously. It is Ecclesiastes. You labor and you work and dogs die and you die and so does your reputation and so does everything else. It�s over within generations.

My father died of cancer in 1989 and he was 55 and sometimes I get sad and I want to cry even and do cry because I don�t remember his voice. When he was dying the last year, the lung cancer affected all kinds of other things including his voice box and he just would always just talk like that kind of thing.

It makes me cry thinking about it now. I just love to hear my dad�s voice. I don�t think I have any recordings. I mean, we were poor so we don�t have any kind of reel-to-reel or anything like that to know.

And I don�t think I saved any type of tape recording, you know, phone recording. This is Lee Ebendroth, you know. So anyway, a generation or two might know my voice in my family but then it�s over. So that�s why we have to make sure we think that whatever�s done for the Lord Jesus Christ will last.

And that�s why with Hebrews 9, verse 15, we�re not looking for land, we�re not looking for earthly things, we�re not looking for reputation and celebrity and how many people know us and what kind of effect we could have but simply walking by faith, simply doing things that would result in what 1 Timothy 2 talks about, living a quiet life and working with our hands, resting in Christ so that we don�t have to be known because He knows us.

The God of the universe knows you. Christian, He chose you and He sent His Son to die for you. He demonstrates His love towards you that while you were a sinner, Christ died for you and how much more then does He love you as a son if you�re not an enemy?

And therefore we don�t have to run. But it�s taken me, what, 55, 57, 59 years to figure this out and then when you get this old then there�s nothing you can do but maybe just influence the next generation.

Why Hebrews 9 Requires a Death

When it comes to the book of Hebrews, there�s an eternal redemption by the eternal Spirit because of Jesus the eternal Son who adds humanity, right, incarnation so He can be our representative. And there�s an eternal inheritance.

You get that inheritance, how? By a death, right? So what He�s going to say here in Hebrews 9, 16, and 17 is there�s going to have to be a death and Jesus can�t just live a life as a good example, emulate Jesus as an example, right?

This is like the old, people are trying to call me now, this is the old example of, well you know what, I like Jesus as an example. So how do you measure up to His example? If you�re a liberal and you think Jesus is just simply a good example, then measure up to that example because when you can�t, you�ll need Him as substitute, you�ll need Him as sin bearer, you�ll need Him as one who has died for the sins of those who can�t live up to His example.

Of course, He�s an example. And you see He�s an example of suffering in 1 Peter chapter 2, but that�s not it. That�s not primary. Substitutionary, penalty atonement at the hub of who Jesus is and what He did, right?

That�s essential. And that�s what Hebrews is trying to say. And He uses language that you�ll probably get. Now there�s two ways to go about it because the word for covenant in Hebrew could be covenant or will or testament.

Let me read it to you and it says, here�s ESV, �For where a will is involved, a death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

Now if that�s the right way to translate it, we get it. You don�t get money until the person dies. If you�re in someone�s will, that doesn�t matter as long as they�re alive. It matters that you�re in the will when the person dies and then you get the inheritance.

Self-explanatory, it can go this way. I don�t have any problem with this translation. Property goes to the inheritors but only after the death of the owner, therefore when it comes to the death of Jesus, we get that inheritance after He dies.

He�s going to have to die, in other words. Of course, He�s still alive and the writer recognizes that in the first chapter, the third verse. But there has to be a death. So why did Jesus have to die? The Jews thinking Jesus has to die, you mean the Messiah has to die?

How does that all work? But this word will could also be translated as covenant. And if I read it this way, let�s see, where did I put it? Where a covenant is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established for a covenant takes place only at death since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

Now what also could be happening here is if you think of Genesis 15 where the Lord puts Abraham to sleep and you�ve got the animals on each side, the slain animals cut in pieces and then the hot iron pot, the iron furnace, the fiery pot, I just almost snorted on No Compromise Radio.

People walk past the studio here and they hear me in here laughing and they think there�s a bunch of people. Well, what they don�t know is there�s eight FaceTimers and me. So now I have to, I think it�s an iron pot.

Is it? It�s an iron pot, fire pot. Let�s find out. Iron pot, fire pot, what�s the difference? Something fiery representing the Lord going through the two animals making a promise that if we break this promise, what�s done to the animals will be done to us.

Death, the animals are cut, they�re slain. But Abraham here is sleeping because God makes a promise by himself. Deep sleep fell on Abram, behold dreadful great darkness fell on him. Then the Lord said to Abram, know for certain that your offspring and sojourners in the land that is not theirs will be servants.

Sun goes down, uh-oh, uh-oh, I found out what it is, I found out, an iron pot. No here it is, Genesis 15, 17. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, two time designations, behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

Crazy. God making the covenant. That language of cutting a covenant, we still might understand some of that. So either way, if I say will or covenant, my guess is it�s going to be this covenant ratification in Genesis 15 type of language.

Jesus has to die and why does he have to die? So you�ve got going through the animals, let�s not use Genesis 15, just in general. I�m going to make a promise with you and we are going to hold hands and walk through these slain animals and we�re going to keep our promise and our promise is going to be if one of us, you know, doesn�t do part of the bargain, what�s done to the animals will be done to us, okay?

So now think about it here with this death. Jesus dies because the covenant has been broken. Who broke the covenant? That�s the point. The point is Jesus dies because you broke the covenant. Jesus dies because I broke the covenant.

Why is he dying? If he�s making a covenant, why is he dying? He didn�t do anything wrong. And so therefore, it�s more language so these folks can understand through the backdrop of the old covenant system.

Abraham, never walking through the pieces because he�s sleeping because God promises by himself. And Hebrews chapter 6 talks about that, swearing by himself. One writer said, �And when God went through those pieces symbolically, he was promising that he would give his Son in the place of all who believe in him.

And the author of Hebrews is saying that�s why Jesus had to die. You broke the covenant, he died in your place. And therefore, you get the benefits upon that death. So you can look at this on your own and you can see will, testament, covenant, diatheke is the word.

And it�s fairly complicated when you look at the original language. But the point is clear. You�re going to need a death for this covenant. You just don�t need Jesus as an example. What�s the text say?

Look at it. Necessity. There�s a necessity of death. Right? And this is back to what I said before, Satan and the theology of glory. And here we have Jesus having to die. There�s no other way to take away sin.

And when you think about it, somebody just texted me so my mind is elsewhere. When you think about it, who can make death into something good? I mean, death is the enemy. Death is awful. I don�t know about you, but I�ve seen quite a few dead bodies in my life and you don�t soon forget them.

And here we take the worst thing, seemingly, and it turns into the best thing. And that�s probably why we call Good Friday, Good Friday. Right? This is what Jesus did. He accomplished it for us. The writer goes on in chapter 9, verse 18, and he talks a lot about blood.

And there�s a lot of blood going on here. And of course, we as Christians have taken the hit that Christianity is a bloody religion. The Old Testament is bloody. And let�s take a look at that just for a moment as I read 18 to 22.

�Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of the calves and goats, and with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, �This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.

And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. That�s interesting, isn�t it? �Indeed, under the law there is an exception, but almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Blood, blood, blood, blood. Everywhere you go, there�s blood. And people don�t like it. I have read that some say Jesus� blood and his sacrifice in a substitutionary way for us makes Christianity a slaughterhouse religion.

It�s pretty amazing. It�s a slaughterhouse religion. George Bernard Shaw, he was against the Anglican Book of Prayer, Common Prayer, and against Christianity and against Jesus. He says, �It is saturated with the ancient and to me quite infernal superstition of atonement by blood sacrifice, which I believe Christianity must completely get rid of if it is to survive among thoughtful people.

I mean, we have etiquette, don�t we? We have propriety. We have a sense of norms, and the culture can�t stand this. You know, it�s interesting how Christians have been attacked lately in culture for lots of things, but this hasn�t been one of them.

But maybe deep down this is exactly what�s going on. The wages of sin is death. Something has to die when they sin, and God has provided a substitute. God has provided pictures in the Old Testament of lambs and goats, and ultimately we�ll see Jesus after Adam�s, the animals were slain for Adam and Eve, after Passover, after Day of Atonement, John the Baptist looks at Jesus and says, �Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

You think about the Old Testament, and specifically the Mosaic Covenant, and what should you see? Well, there�s lots of things, but let�s just boil it down. You should see a sermon illustration, �Blood for Sin.

And when I think of blood, I just don�t think of, you know, I could cut myself and a little could drain out, and that�ll do it. Some bloodletting. Blood is a theologically loaded term that means vicarious bloodshed unto death.

That�d be maybe a good way to say it. Blood, blood, blood. And here Moses in the Old Covenant, he�s sprinkling blood everywhere. And the writer wants you to know, verse 18, �Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

If you�re sitting there thinking, you know, this is way too bloody, way too gory, way too vicious, well, don�t forget about the Old Testament. Don�t forget about how this was ratified. Now, what the writer is doing is he�s referring to, alluding to Exodus 24.

And so Exodus 24, let me read you a little bit about Exodus 24, and you�re going to get it. Here�s the kicker. I know I�m getting tired. You�re probably getting tired of listening to me. Here�s the kicker.

So if you�re tired, what do you do? These things are pretty good. They keep things hot, but they�ve got bad colors. What is that? All right, let�s see if I can explain Exodus 24 within these moments. Oh man, oh, you know what?

Here, this is what we�re going to do. I can tell when radio�s bogging down, we�re going to open up this right here, okay? This is my prop, NavPress, NavDepressed. Can you think of anything that NavPress has published that�s any good outside of Jerry Bridges� books and maybe their Navigator 2 -7 series?

Back in the �80s and �90s, even in the 2000s, I mean, it�s not like everything they published was some kind of psych stuff, some kind of depression, some kind of this, some kind of that. I�m not saying that�s not real stuff to deal with, but it just, that was it.

Hebrews 9, let�s see what they say. I hope it�s really bad for radio. I hope it�s really good for the reader�s sake. Oh, all right, oh, here we go. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable so that we can live all out for God.

Okay, it actually has some good stuff, but it�s got some dumb stuff. So freeing us from the dead-end efforts, see that little wordplay there, dead-end, see? Now, that�s clever, but that�s not a translation.

And you�ll say, �He doesn�t say it�s a translation. I know, but people take it as if. But you want to do this so you can live all out for God, full throttle for God. I�m going to bore out the engine for God.

That�s pretty lame. All right, let�s see what else it says. Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus� death. Action Jackson. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one.

Okay, it�s true. Canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them, he brought together God and his people in this new way.

Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. All right, here�s where we are, Exodus 24 stuff. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law, God�s will, he took the blood of the sacrificed animals and in a solemn ritual sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries.

And then he attested its validity with the words, �This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God. He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, �This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.

Practically everything in a will hinges on death. That�s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins. Where is that? Where does that come from?

I don�t understand how he gets that. That�s crazy. All right, that�s as much as I can read now because I want to get to this point because then it shows over and I�ve got to go to the picnic to get some West Nile virus.

It�s such. Moses is sprinkling the people. And listen to what the text says. This is worth it. Moses came and told, Exodus 24, 3, all the words of the Lord and all the rules. So everybody, here�s what God expects.

And all the people answered with one voice. What do you think they said? All the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do. Verse 7, skipping down, the same echo is there. Then he took the book of the covenant, read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do.

And then they add something here. And we will be obedient. Verse 8, here it is. And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.

You're going to need the blood because you think you can obey all these things? You think you can do this and live? It's not going to happen. You're going to need a substitute. You're going to need bloodletting from another kind.

This is going to be impossible. This sounds just like people today, doesn't it? We will obey. We can do it. Whatever God requires, we will. But Moses knew, and you know, and I know, because the Bible teaches that if you want to get to heaven by being obedient, it better be perfect obedience, perpetual obedience, entire obedience, personal obedience, obedient obedience.

Maybe that's the new nomenclature of No Compromise Radio. You want to obey to get to heaven? It better be obedient obedience. Not a little bit of bad, but mostly good. Deuteronomy 27, cursed be anyone who does not conform or confirm the words of this law by doing them.

And all the people said, amen. But there's going to be blood sprinkled everywhere because God knows, and Moses knows, they're never going to do it. Everything about Exodus 24 is about God. He initiates, he invites the elders to come up to worship him, he invites, he initiates the covenant.

That's what I was going to try to say. So what do we take from all this? Well, there's going to have to be blood. And in this particular case, it's the blood that's finally sacrificed, and that's Lord Jesus Christ.

The good thing is he's alive and he's raised himself from the dead. Well, I've got to land this plane. If you've been watching today in this live deal, thank you for watching. I don't know if the shows are better or worse when I'm looking at the camera the whole time.

Probably worse, but there you go. Info at No Compromise Radio, October 11th and 12th, our Scott Clark Conference. He's helped me, maybe more than anyone else, think in a reformed fashion along historical theology as we do exegesis.

My name's Mike Abendroth. See you soon.

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.