Hebrews 9:1-14 | Covenant Reformation

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April 24, 2022 Tullahoma, TN Pastor Jeff Rice

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If you would, turn with me to Hebrews chapter nine. We will consider verses one through 14,
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Hebrews chapter nine, one through 14. Let's pray.
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Father, Lord, we gather here together to sing thy power to save.
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Please, in the name of your precious son, our beloved
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God and savior, speak to us today. We believe in the
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Holy Spirit. We rely on him in this moment to speak through me and for them to be vessels that hear, in Christ's name, amen.
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In our text, Hebrews chapter nine, verses one through 14, let's go ahead and read that.
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Now, even the first covenant had regulations for worship and earthly places, place of holiness.
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For a tent was prepared to the first section in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the presence.
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It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place.
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Having the golden altar of incense, the ark of the covenant over covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded in the tablets of the covenant.
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Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.
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Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties.
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But into the second only the high priest goes and he but once a year and not without taking blood, which he offered for himself and for the unattentional sins of the people.
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By this the Holy Spirit indicates the way into the holy places is not yet open as long as the first section's still standing, which is symbolic for the present age.
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According to the arrangements of gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drinks and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
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But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through a greater and more perfect hand not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
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For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the foul person with the ashes of a heifer sanctified and for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living
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God. So two weeks ago we looked at the announcement, the proclamation of the new covenant that was foretold by the prophet
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Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31, 31. And it announced to us in Hebrews chapter eight, verse eight, let's read verse eight real quick.
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It says, for he finds fault with them when he says, behold, the days are coming declares the
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Lord when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
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And we saw that this dividing took place between Jerusalem because of King Solomon was not following after the
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God of his father, was not following after the God of Israel. He fell into his lust and he started following the gods of his 700 wives.
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He let women lead him away from being obedient to the one and true
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God. So God pronounces that he was going to divide the kingdom, not in his lifetime, but to his son
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Rehoboam and that Rehoboam would receive
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Judah and Benjamin, two tribes and then the other 10 tribes would be given to Jeroboam.
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And so we saw that there was a division. So right here where it says the new covenant will be given to the house of Israel.
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This is the section that the 10 tribes given to Jeroboam and the house of Judah, which would have been given, the two tribes given to Rehoboam.
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And so he's talking about that he's gonna make a new covenant and these divided kingdoms will be united in this new covenant.
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Now we have to ask ourself, did God forsake the Jews? Right? Think about it.
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There is no temple. It was destroyed in 70 AD. They are unable to sacrifice.
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They're unable to go to the temple and perform these ritual duties. So did
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God forsake the Jews? Either he has turned his back on the
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Jewish people or Christianity is true. And that the reason that there is no temple, the reason that there's no place for sacrifice is because the new covenant has come.
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He has sent his son, Jesus Christ. The new covenant looks like this. We walked through it.
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We saw it in verse 10 of chapter eight. For this is the new covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the
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Lord. Remember, the law was given to them on tablets of stone. Here's the new covenant.
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I will put my law saying 10 words in their minds and write them on their hearts.
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And I will be their God and they shall be my people. So just off of that verse, we can understand that O covenant, two tablets of stone, 10 words, the 10 commandments, the
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Decalogue, on the back of it was the rules and regulations, the precepts given to them that they had to follow.
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That's no more. But those same 10 words, the
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Decalogue, the 10 commandments are now in our mind and written on our hearts of those that are in the new covenant.
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In order to enter that first covenant, you had to be born, just born.
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And in order to enter this new covenant, you had to be born again. You had to be given faith to believe.
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So either God has forsaken the Jews or Christianity is true. Both can't be true.
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It's one or the other. Our theme for this Lord's day is covenant reformation.
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Covenant reformation. The reformation that we see taking place in the text will always be the reformation that needs to take place in the church when the church strays from truth.
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By saying reformation, I am purposely not saying revival. They do not need a revival.
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We do not need a revival. Revival means to improve a condition or to strengthen something while reformation is an action or a process to reform an institution or practice.
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In our outline today, we will see the principle versus the purpose. Think about it.
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The principle, why these things are set up versus the purpose of why these things were set up.
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In the principle, we will see the first covenant pattern for worship and the first covenant regulation for worship.
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And in the purpose, we will see the new covenant redemption. If y 'all remember a couple weeks ago, my tablet kind of went out on me and kind of just did the same thing.
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Okay, here we go. Don't rely on electronics, people. Don't be like me.
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And as we transition, let us remember the earthly versus the heavenly that we've been going through, right?
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I've been kind of pressing this issue for over a year now. That there's an earthly and then there's a heavenly.
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So you have the earthly kingdom people, the Jews. All right, and then there's the heavenly kingdom people, the church.
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Old covenant, earthly. New covenant, heavenly. Earthly sanctuary, the temple.
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Heavenly sanctuary, the temple that's in heaven. Adam, earthly.
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Church, heavenly. Natural body, earthly. Resurrected body, heavenly.
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They're not the same. What goes into the ground is perishable, but what comes out of the ground is imperishable.
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We looked at that last week. Now, if you will look with me at our first heading, the first covenant pattern for worship.
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Hebrews 9, one through five. Now, even the first covenant had regulations for worship and a earthly place of holiness.
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For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table of the bread of the presence.
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It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place, having the golden altar of incense, the
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Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant.
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And above it was the turban of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat of these things we cannot speak in detail.
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Now, the reason I believe that these words were spoken of these things we cannot speak in detail is because the writer is trying to stay on topic.
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The listeners here would have been Jews, not Gentiles. They would have been Jews, so they would have known the details of the furniture.
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The topic that our writer is trying to set out is the supremacy over, the supremacy of Jesus Christ over the
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Old Covenant. So what I believe he's doing is he is just trying to stay on topic and then
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I do believe he kind of shadows back to some things and we'll touch that in detail, which is why
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I don't believe he's speaking of the furniture, but again, we'll go back and we'll touch on it.
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So we see that the First Covenant here is in fact the Mosaic Covenant.
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Just read verse one. Now, even the First Covenant had regulations for worship in an earthly place of holiness.
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So it's describing for us the tabernacle. Now, the tabernacle that was set up during, like if you read the book of Exodus, you read
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Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, you see the tabernacle and what takes place here, which is in fact, as Reformed Baptists, we believe that this covenant, like all the other covenants throughout the
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Old Testament are covenants of works. And you do these, you keep these things in order to live.
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So we believe that the covenant of grace is that Christ Jesus has kept the covenant of works so that you can live.
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Covenant of works, Old Covenant, do this and live, New Covenant, Jesus Christ has kept the covenant, believe in him and live.
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Now, if you go to your bulletin, there's a tabernacle diagram.
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If you will get that out and just kind of follow along with me the best as you can.
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I won't cover up my timer, I promise. Or maybe I should, right?
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So if you look at this, this tabernacle complex, and so there's so much more that I could bring to light here.
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And I'll just touch on it, I won't teach on it, I'll just touch on it. So as you see from like an overview, the way that the furniture is set out, it's shaped in a cross.
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Which is like, okay, that's pretty neat. But if you go through here, which
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I didn't just to save time, but if you go through here and if you number, like when it talks about the number of the people that were in certain crowds and the tribes that they put together, they had them sitting on, as you see, northwest, east and south.
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There was no southwest crowd or southeast crowd. They were put into four sections just like that.
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And if you was to have a plane and were able to fly over at the time, the way that it was numbered, you had three squares on the north, south and west, and the east was a rectangle.
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It was a cross. The people were shaped, gathered together as a cross. And this was, again, you have to get down some rabbit trails but this, a lot of people think that this is a foreshadowing of what was coming, of what this tabernacle represented.
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But when you look at the tabernacle, the first section, as you walk into the first section, this is what's called the holy place.
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One would enter from the east and as you walked in, the lampstand would be on your left.
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As you see, you walk in to your left, the lampstand to the south. And the table of the bread of the presence, which is also known as the table of showbread, would be to your right on your north.
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Now, if you turn with me, if you will, to Exodus chapter 26, verse 35.
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Exodus 26, verse 35. And you shall set the table outside the veil and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite to the table and you shall put the table on the north side.
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So as you see, it's this little thing I have right here, north, south, east, west.
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So you can kind of see what's going on here. So you would, the holy of holies was always pointed to the west.
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Whenever they set up the tent, the holy of holies had to be pointed to the west. But straight in front, so straight in front of you to the west was the second section, which is the holy of holies or the most holy place.
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Now, our writer in the text seems to put the golden altar of incense in the most holy place.
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He says behind the second curtain is the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant. So our writer, as you look in the thing, like it's not, right?
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It's in the holy place. But our writer clearly puts it, well, it seems to be clearly puts it, but scripture says differently.
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So let's look at what scripture says. Exodus chapter 30. And right here, you should be weighing down, like man, did the writer get it wrong?
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Something going on here? Exodus chapter 30, verse six. And you shall put it, now the it here, is speaking of the altar of incense, just notice that the title, the altar of incense.
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So we don't have time to read it all, so we'll just read verse six. And you shall put it, the altar of incense, in front of the veil that is above the
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Ark of the Testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the
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Testimony, where I will meet with you. So it's saying to put it in front of the veil.
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As you see, our picture shows that it is in front, it's not behind the veil.
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Now, to be fair, the Greek here, in Hebrews chapter nine, verse four, is probably the hardest to interpret.
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Like it's tough, the way that it's worded, it's really tough. Theologians believe that he is trying to say that there seems to be a togetherness with the golden altar of incense and the most holy place.
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Some traditions, Jewish traditions, say that when the high priest would enter into the most holy place, that he would take with him this altar of incense as he would sacrifice.
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Now, that cannot be proven, it's just a tradition. But what
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I think is fascinating is 1 Kings chapter six, verse 22.
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1 Kings chapter six, verse 22. Remember, theologians believe that there seems to be a togetherness with the two pieces of furniture.
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Verse 22 says, and he overlaid the whole house with gold. Now, this is speaking of the temple.
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So this tabernacle turned into a temple. Tabernacle, the whole house with gold until all the house was finished.
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Also, the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary, he overlaid it with gold.
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So the whole altar here is the altar of incense. And the writer says that it belonged to the inner sanctuary, the holy of holies.
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So there seems to be a togetherness. Like it's supposed to, it's confusing, right?
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Like when I first started Hebrews, this is that portion of scripture where I was like, man, I don't know what
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I'm gonna do, right? And I wasn't looking forward to getting here. But after studying it, it's pretty fascinating that although it's not inside the veil, there seems to be a togetherness and that it belongs to the inner side of the veil, but it's not.
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But as we transition, I do want, so if you look at our picture,
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I don't think it kind of gives a good translation of how it should be.
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So the altar of incense should be actually closer to the veil. So whenever you study the sacrifice and the altar of incense and how it takes place, that this altar of incense, whenever they would light it, it would fill the whole room with smoke.
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And it had to be close enough to where it can get behind the veil, where it can get up in behind the veil to fill the holy of holies with smoke.
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And so I think that this is where they're getting at is that the smoke that's coming from this altar fills the holy of holies.
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And so in that way, it belongs to the holy place. Now there's a lot of rabbit trails and things that I couldn't prove or disprove, and I'm just not gonna say them.
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But it's a study that will keep you from moving forward if you let it.
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So let's look into our next heading. The first covenant regulations, and we'll get back to it.
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The first covenant regulations of worship, Hebrews 6, 9 through 10.
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I can tell you that studying the furniture took two and a half nights of my study.
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It was tough. All right, verse six.
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And these preparations, speaking of this tabernacle, this temple, having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes.
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He but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
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By this, the Holy Spirit indicates the way into the holy places is not yet open as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age according to the arrangements, gifts, sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but only deal with food, drinks, and various washings, regulations for the body imposed to the time of reformation.
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All right, so again, if you look back at verse one, it says, now even the first covenant had regulations for worship.
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So where it's talking about these preparations, it's pointing back to this first covenant that had regulations for worship that what it's speaking on is this furniture.
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So the worship that took place had to deal with the furniture that was inside the holy place.
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So the question is, is what are the ritual duties? And I'm just going to read the text and let them answer it.
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I figure this is the way that I can be as true as possible. So Exodus chapter 27, we'll read verses 20 and 21.
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Exodus 27, 20 and 21.
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You shall command the people of Israel and they shall bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn in the tent of meetings outside the veil that is before the testimony.
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Aaron and his son shall tend it from evening to morning.
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Now, the Jewish days were evening and morning. It ain't daylight, it isn't like ours.
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So like whenever sun goes down tonight, that would be a new day. It was evening to morning.
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From evening to morning before the Lord and this shall be a statute forever to observe throughout their generation by the people of Israel.
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Now turn to Leviticus 24. We'll read verses five through nine.
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And you shall take fine flour and bake 12 loaves from it.
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Two tenths of ephod shall be in each loaf and you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile on the table of pure gold before the
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Lord. And you shall put frankincense on each pile that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as food offered to the
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Lord. Every Sabbath Aaron shall arrange it before the
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Lord regularly. Listen right here. It is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever.
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And it shall be for Aaron and his sons that they shall eat it as a holy place, eat it in a holy place, excuse me, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the
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Lord's food offering as a perpetual duty. So right here in verse eight where it says, every
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Sabbath Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly. And it says it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever.
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So the interpretation that's wide here is that this is saying that these 12 pieces of bread that stacked six high in two piles represents the people of Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel.
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So one loaf for each tribe. So when you walk into the tabernacle, the table of showbread, it represents
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Israel. Now, again, this is not my interpretation. Every commentary, even the
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Jewish commentary, everything, this represents Israel and they get it from this verse. Now go back to Exodus chapter 30.
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And this time, instead of reading just verse six, we'll read six through 10. And this will deal with the altar of incense.
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And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony where I will meet with you.
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And Aaron shall burn a fragrance incense on it every morning when he dresses the lamps.
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Notice that when he dresses the lamps, he has to burn the fragrant incense. He shall burn it.
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And when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the
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Lord throughout their generation. You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it or burnt offerings or grain offerings.
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You shall not pour a drink offering on it. Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of the atonement.
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He shall make atonement for it once a year throughout their generation.
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It is the most, it is most holy to the Lord. So most holy to the
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Lord would be that altar of incense. And that this is where, when it says that he offered blood for the sins of his own sins, this is where he would offer that, would be on the incense.
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All right, I know that's kind of tough and hard language to kind of work through, but the ritual duties were done by, were done in the holy place by the priesthood.
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And as we see in our text, it was daily. Go back to our main text, Hebrews chapter nine.
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And what I want us to understand is that this was worship. This was their worship. It was done daily.
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We gather here today on the Lord's day to worship God. This was their worship. What we just read off is what they were told to do as their worship.
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Look at verse six. Thus, these preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, have and perform the ritual duties.
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Now verse seven, but into the second section, only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offered for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
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All right, so the ritual duties done in verse seven were done only by the high priest, and he but once a year.
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This is what's called Yom Kippur, or if you want to get real Jewish, you can say Yom Kippur, but it means the day of atonement.
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The day of atonement means the end of sin. So when you hear the words the day of atonement, it means the end of sin.
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In the day of atonement, the work was done by the high priest alone, the people as well as the high priest priesthood had nothing to do with the atonement.
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Them being forgiven and having peace with God, they had nothing to do with it.
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Think about that in our day now. During Yom Kippur, Yom Kippurim, the day of atonement, the end of sin, the only person that had anything to do with the people and the priesthood and the people of Israel being forgiven was done by the high priest alone.
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They would perform the works in the holy place and as well as the work in the most holy place.
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Now here's what took place. They took the blood of a bull for his own sins and the blood of goats for the sins of the people.
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So at this time they were on the day of atonement, they would purchase two goats.
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They had to be the exact same, just alike from the cost, the weight and color.
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They had to be pure white, they had to weigh the exact same and they had to cost the exact amount of money.
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One of the goats were for God, this is the one that they would sacrifice and the other goat was called the escape goat.
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And so after the priest would, I'll go ahead and touch on it, but after the priest would make the sacrifice and he would come out of the holy of holies, the most holy place, he would pray, he would lay his hands on the escape goat.
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Well first he would tie a red cloth around his neck, he would lay his hands on it and he would pray his sins and the sins of all the people upon this goat and then they would chase this goat into the wilderness.
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They would let it go free and they would chase it away to where it would never come back. It's called the escape goat and we'll touch back again in a minute.
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Now look to that illustration, look into the holy place.
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So again we have the holy place, this would be on the south side.
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Now I want you to notice before the work can be done on the outside where you see the brazen altar and the brazen laver, before that work is done, the work inside the holy place has to be done first.
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So on the day of Yom Kippur, the high priest would begin his work by going to the lampstands.
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He would light the lamps. If it was a Sabbath, he would have to rearrange the bread and after he would do this then he would go and he would light the fragrant offerings on the golden altar of incense and then he would leave and to the whole temple, the whole tabernacle was filled with smoke.
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Picture Isaiah chapter six, the whole house was filled with smoke.
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So after he would leave, he would go to the bronze altar and he would take the blood, he would take the bull, he would sacrifice the bull and he would take his blood and he would sacrifice the goat given to God and he would take his blood and after the room was filled with smoke, he would come back in and he would place the blood of the bull on the altar of the incense and then he would enter into the holy place, he would enter into the holy place to put on the mercy seat, he would offer the blood of the goat.
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Now before this could take place, so you have the, I wanna get this right, so you would have the sacrifice and after he would sacrifice, he would put the blood in the containers, then he would go to the brazen labor, wash his hands, then he'd go back in and he would apply the blood and inside the
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Ark of the Covenant, we see that it had manna, it had the
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Aaron's staff that was budding and it had the 10 words. Now later on at lunch, if you wanna talk about the if you wanna get into the detail about the
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Ark of the Covenant, I definitely will, but we don't have time because there's a lot of miscommunications, you might have to put on your tinfoil hat when you talk about it, the finding the
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Ark and stuff like that. I really love those conversations and if you wanna have it, please let me know and we can have it, but we cannot,
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I cannot tell you what the Ark is, but inside the Ark was the manna and the manna at this time, as you know, when you look back at Exodus, God made it rain manna from heaven and then you had
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Aaron's staff and as you read the story, Aaron's staff that was, think about it, a staff, it's cut off from the tree and God proves something and we can't get into that either right now, but he caused it to bud and so, but at this time, people, a
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Jewish teaching is, is at this time, people would carve in on their stick the words of the
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Torah and so, they believe that Aaron's staff and that Moses' staff had the words of the
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Torah carved in on it and then that by it budding was to show that it was alive.
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Now, again, this is, you're digging into Jewish things, the reform commentaries really don't mention anything, a lot about this stuff, but when you dig into the
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Jewish side of it, they believe that Aaron's staff that was budding was actually, had the Torah written on it and that this
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Ark of the Covenant had the 10 words, the two tablets of stone, which also had the rules and regulations on the back.
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Now, verse eight and nine, let's read that again. It should start to move a little faster and flow a little better.
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It says, by this, by what we just read, these ritual duties that are being performed, by this, the
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Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet open as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age according to the arrangements of gifts, sacrifices offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper but only deal with food, drinks, and various washes, regulations for the body imposed into the day of reformation.
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Now, if you look back at verse eight, verse eight, by this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet open as long as the first section's still standing.
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So right here, the word holy places in our text is not speaking of the earthly sanctuary, but rather it is speaking of the sanctuary in heaven as we saw in chapter eight, verse two.
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I'll read verses one and two to give some context. Now, to, now the point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest, speaking of Jesus, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, and the true tent that the
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Lord has set up, not man. So right here, verse eight, by this, the scripture indicates that the way into the holy places, speaking of heaven, is not yet open as long as the first section is still standing.
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Now, this verse is not saying that heaven, I know it's weird, it's not saying that heaven isn't open, like people are not, when a
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Christian passes, it's not going to heaven as long as the first section is standing, but rather, as long as an individual is looking back at the temple, he is not positionally anchored in heaven behind the curtain.
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Remember, it says in chapter seven and eight, it talks about Jesus going in behind the veil, and this veil is the temple that's in heaven, and that we are a boat, and our anchor is
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Jesus, and we're tied to this anchor that's in behind the veil. But as long as you're looking to the temple, as long as you're looking to these first and second sections, and these preparations, and this furniture that's in the temple, as long as your hope is in this priesthood, that the holy places is not open for you.
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One cannot be in Christ and be in temple, relying on earthly priests.
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And although the writer would have definitely understand that the temple was about to come to an end, he writes that it is symbolic for the then present age.
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Look at it. He says, as long as, by this the
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Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places, heaven is not yet open as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age, this age of old covenant system.
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Now, the temple is down. The Jews have no place to sacrifice.
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Did God reject the Jews? Or is Christianity true? They both can't be true. But for us, this is not something that you and I have to deal with, right?
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You and I don't look back to the temple. We don't look back to this furniture. We don't look back to these ritual duties done by the priest and put our hope in them that, man,
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I hope the priest sprinkled the right amount of blood, right? Like, I hope he didn't authorize,
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I hope he didn't put unauthorized incense on the golden altar of incense.
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Like, we don't have to worry about any of these things. Our hope is not in the preparations that's taking place in the
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Jewish temple. Why? Because there is no temple.
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That age has ended. Old covenant has ended. The covenant of works has ended.
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So the question is, what was entailed in the regular principles of worship, the regular worship here?
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And the answer is, and of course, like, looking back at it now, some people might say it sounds silly, but the answer is, the arrangements of gifts, sacrifices to be offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper.
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And just look at verse 10. But this is what that old covenant dealt with, but only with food, drinks, and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
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That the old covenant could not, the worshipers of the old covenant could not have a perfected conscience because of the law, because of this system that was put into play, because the system did not make man right with God.
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All it did was sweep things under the rug. It was weak, it was useless, the writer of Hebrews says.
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That although it had a place, it was only a shadow pointing to something greater. But that the old covenant only dealt with food, drinks, and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.
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And as we transition since they, the Jews at that time, were given the promise of the new covenant, they were always looking for the reformation.
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And I believe the reformation is the new covenant, the covenant of grace. So we looked at the principle, let us look at the purpose.
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And so the purpose is what the principles were leading us to. Remember, it was the rules, it was the shadows, the purpose is the substance.
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And in our text, it's the new covenant redemption. We'll just read verses nine and 11 first.
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But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that hath come, then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once and for all into the holy places, which is heaven, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
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So what we have here is a covenant reformation. So the new covenant is the reformation, right?
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Like as reformed people, we think reformation has taken place in 1517.
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No, there was a greater reformation that took place, right? The coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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So again, revival means to improve a condition or to strengthen something that is not what the new covenant has done.
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It's not the old covenant repackaged. A reformation is an action, it's a process to reform an institution or a practice.
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The reformation here is saying that that was good for its time, but that was only a picture pointing to the substance.
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And now that the substance is here, you do not need the picture. Now that the anti -type here, you do not need the type.
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It's to do away with the earthly kingdom. And it's to establish the kingdom of heaven.
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It's to do away with Moses, right? Hebrews chapter three. And it's to establish the house of Jesus.
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He's saying that when Christ appeared, He appeared for good things, and the good things being
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Him as the greater and more perfect tent, not made with human hands, that is of this creation.
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And it pitches, this whole book of Hebrews it pitches Jesus versus Moses.
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Moses, great man, listen, great man, but just man.
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Jesus, God and man. The God man, truly
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God, truly man. He says that this Jesus, He entered the holy places that is heaven by the means of His own blood.
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Moses, sacrifice. Jesus is the sacrifice. And that by His blood, through His blood, you and I have eternal redemption.
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So the question is, is what is the reformation? The answer is, the reformation is the eternal redemption was never promised in the earthly kingdom covenant sacrifice.
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Now, I wanna be sensitive to this because I have a ton of Presbyterian friends.
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And so as Baptists, we don't believe that anyone was saved by the old covenant, but that they were saved by the new covenant looking forward to the promise.
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So we don't believe that the promise of Genesis 3 .15 was given to the Old Testament people as establishment, like that it was inaugurated in the old covenant, but that it gave a promise and it gave a fulfillment that it would be fulfilled when the serpent's head is bruised by the offspring of the woman.
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And so as Reformed Baptists, we believe that this redemption took place by the blood of Jesus.
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And all those that are in the old covenant, they're saved, not under the old covenant, but because of what
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Jesus Christ has did in the new covenant by believing in the promise.
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They believe in the promise. We believe in the promise, meaning that we're saved by the exact same thing, not by different covenants, but by the same covenant, the same promise, the same belief that one was coming to redeem us, and that is through the new covenant.
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So the earthly redemption was never promised in the new covenant, in the old covenant, old kingdom, but it was promised in a new covenant in the new kingdom that is the kingdom of heaven.
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If others want the law, and now I'm getting off my Presbyterian brother, but if others want the law, let them have it.
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We want Jesus. We want Jesus. Give me Jesus. You heard that song?
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Give me Jesus when I come to die. Oh, when I come to die, give me
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Jesus. Give me Jesus, that's all I want. Others who want the law, fine, give me
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Jesus. Give me the one who kept the law in my stead, the one who made the sacrifice for my eternal redemption.
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Look at verse 13 and 14, and we'll close with this. For the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled person with the ashes of a heifer, sanctified for the purification of the flesh, how much more would the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living
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God. And so if you look back at this illustration, we have the lamp stand.
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And real quick, I wanna take you to a verse to show you something. A lot of people, they just don't ever notice this.
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So in Book of Revelation, chapter one, beginning in verse 12, says this.
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Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning,
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I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands went like the son of man clothed with a long robe with a golden sash around his chest.
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The hair of his head was white like wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
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His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in the furnace, and his voice was like the roaring of many waters.
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And in his right hand held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two -edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
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And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me saying, fear not,
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I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I died, and behold,
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I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are, and those that are to take place after this.
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Right here, verse 20. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand in the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the seven churches.
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And the seven lampstands are the churches. The lampstand represents the church.
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And it tells us that God, that Jesus Christ walks amongst the lampstand. Right, we, the bread of the presence, you walked into it, the bread of the presence, this represents
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Israel. But this lampstand, it was always a prefigure, it was always a shadow representing the church.
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We were never not there, ladies and gentlemen, we were always there. And the golden altar of incense, it represented the prayers of the people.
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I'll read it real quick, you don't have to turn there, I know I'm pushing on time.
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Psalm 141, verses one and two. Oh Lord, I call upon you, hasten to me, give ear to my voice when
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I call to you, listen to my prayer be, let my prayer be counted as incense before you.
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That's kind of where it's pointing back to you. Let my prayer be counted as incense before you in the lifting of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
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So Moses, I mean, Aaron would walk in at evening, he would light the incense as a sacrifice.
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And this golden altar of incense represented the prayers of the people going up before God.
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Now let's not remember, let's not forget the day of atonement, it means the end of sin.
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If you read Daniel nine, Daniel nine tells you that when the Messiah comes, he would put an end to sin.
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Daniel nine, verses 24 through 27, I won't read it, but it says that he will put an end to sin.
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And it's all pointing to this day of atonement, to this Yom Kippur, when
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Jesus Christ goes into the holy place, right?
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He goes into the holy place, let me see, right here, this is, yeah.
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Jesus Christ goes into the holy place, he lights the lampstands, he sets the bread, and in John 17, he prays for his people.
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And because of what God has done for us in Christ, Jew and Gentile who are redeemed in Christ can come to God in prayer.
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So Jesus goes into the holy place, right?
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He predestined us according to the counsel of his own will. And then we have him going to the brazen altar, this is talking about his betrayal, his crucifixion.
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And then we go from his betrayal, his crucifixion to the brazen labor, this is where some people say that this is his baptism,
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I don't agree with it. I believe this is speaking about poshest
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Pilate washing his hands with everything that's going on. So we have the brazen altar, burial,
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I mean the betrayal and crucifixion, the brazen labor, the removing the filth from their hand.
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And then Jesus entering into the most holy place would be his ascension.
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So Jesus being the true ark of the covenant, meaning that he is the manna that came down from heaven, that he is the living word of God, not
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Aaron's rod that's budding, and that he is the one that gave the law. He is the one that the finger that wrote in on the tablets of stone that this was
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Jesus. He's the one that gave us the law. And that the gospel message is that it's through his blood that the end of sin has taken place.
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And so you do not need any more temple worship, you do not need to worship furnitures, you do not need to do these special food regulations, you do not need to sacrifice lambs, you do not need to sacrifice bulls, you do not need to wash your hands, you do not need to set the bread, you do not need to light the candles, you do not need to put the incense, you don't have to sprinkle the blood, why?
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Because Jesus Christ has put an end to sin. And listen, his blood would mean nothing if he wasn't a perfect spotless lamb, meaning that he kept all the law.
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So because he kept all the law, his blood is perfect, he becomes the spotless lamb, he becomes the lamb that sacrificed to God, and he becomes the scapegoat.
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Our sins were placed upon him. And our call to repentance and faith is simply this, it's for the believer and it's for the unbeliever.
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I think that this is important right here, because of temple worship, you and I are to look only to Jesus Christ, because he has put an end to sin.
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I'm available to anyone who wants to talk, let's pray. Father, Lord, I just come to you in his name of Jesus, and Lord, there's just a weight with this message that I felt all week, having to stand before people who, for the most part,
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I've probably heard that the old covenant has not ended, but not in those words, just in the fact that we're still under the burden of the law of Moses.
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When you have come to remove the old covenant, which is the law of Moses, and to put upon us a better covenant, same 10 words, but we don't have to look to something anymore, because it's in us.
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Christ has been revealed to us, and we are in him, and your word is in us, and that you have sent to us your spirit, to those who believe in you,
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Lord. So God, we just ask that your spirit, Lord, that you will use what's been spoken here today, even though it was tough to study, it was tough to speak, it was probably tough to receive.
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Lord, I just pray that you use it. That this will be a people that's overwhelmed by the glory of Jesus Christ and what he has done, and removing the old covenant system so that we can live in light of what he has done for us.
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We don't have to be burrowed down by the heavy weight, that burden, but we can know that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, and he's speaking of the new covenant.
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Forgive us where we fail you, prepare the people as they prepare themselves to take part in the
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Lord's Supper. Lord, we just pray that you bless these elements and that you will use them to grow us in holiness, in Jesus' name.