Hebrews 9 (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.

Hebrews as a Sermon Written Down

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, ministry, NCR, NoCo Radio, loco for noco, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. Jesus didn�t compromise. No attributes of God were ever compromised in light of those two things.

I don�t want to compromise. Sadly, I do, but there is forgiveness found. It�s our goal not to compromise. I�m sure if I look at my life, I can see certain things. Anyway, it started off to be a pretty nice day here in real time, May 3rd, Friday, but it looks kind of gloomy out right now.

Maybe tomorrow might be a good day to ride a bicycle. I just got a new bicycle not that long ago. I�ve been saving up. A Kenyan, a Kenyan bicycle. It's made out of something called carbon or is it chromoly?

One of my favorite things about the show is we talk and then ask questions and maybe we can�t think of something and then later I see on Twitter or social media one of you listeners supplying the answer and then I forgot what the real question was, but there�s such a lag time.

If I was paid a lot of money to do the show and this was my main job, I think we could be more hip, more relevant, more apropos, more practical, more pragmatic, more timely. I think it�s Fred who always tells me I�m not up to speed with what�s going on.

I am because I pay attention to evangelicalism, but I�m not really talking about it because I talk about it that day and then we don�t play the show for a couple of weeks. I�ve been studying the book of Hebrews and I think it�s really changed my life.

I think a lot about Christ-centered preaching now with the book of Hebrews. I think of law gospel. I think of faithfulness paradigms. I think of how to read the Old Testament in a Christ-centered way with the way it reads the Psalms.

I think about indicative imperative, which would be essentially law gospel. I think of Christological issues and I think about on the homiletic side, on the preaching side, trying to say things good. No, just kidding.

I knew better, trying to say things well. Of course, what you say is more important than how you say it. I understand that. I understand when J. Gresham Machen says correctly, or said correctly, vastly more important than all questions with regard to methods of preaching is the root question as to what it is that shall be preached.

I don�t have any argument with that, but the good news is that you don�t have to choose one over the other. Since what you say is important, how you say it matters. That�s what I tell my preaching classes whenever I have the opportunity to do that.

If hermeneutics is the science and art of biblical interpretation, then homiletics is the science and art of biblical proclamation. I think too often pastors, preachers, Bible teachers, dads, moms, Sunday school teachers, Iwana teachers, children teachers, spend all their time on the science of teaching the Bible and not the art, or the science of preaching the Bible if you�re a pastor, and not the art.

In Bruce Bickle�s book, Light and Heat, The Puritan View of the Pulpit, he states, �The Puritan�s concern was light and heat. Light from the pure word of God to penetrate the darkness of the heart and soul of the hearer.

Heat from the pathos and passion of the heart and soul of the preacher to bring about conviction. Light is what you say, it�s the text, and heat is how the text is proclaimed. Obviously both are important, obviously you could rank them, but when you look at the writer of Hebrews, I think you�re going to see in his sermon, in his epistle, because really it�s an exhortation as it�s called in chapter 13, verse 22, you really see that light and heat.

Lloyd-Jones defined preaching as �logic on fire �eloquent reason he called it. And I don�t think that�s a contradiction. You see a theology that takes fire, and Lloyd-Jones says if it doesn�t, it�s a defective theology, or at least the man�s understanding of it is defective.

Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. And that�s what you see in the book of Hebrews. He is excited, he is enthusiastic. We might say in our vernacular, he�s fired up and he realizes he�s been delivered from the wrath of God, and that he has been delivered unto the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he realizes that through Christ, God is not a terrible judge, and I don�t mean terrible like bad, I mean like awful, like awe-ful. He, this writer, realizes that whatever circumstances comes your way, the Lord Jesus entrusting in him is worth it, and therefore it even makes that suffering and trial worth it.

The writer of Hebrews essentially gives us a sermon written down. One man called it arguably the greatest Christian sermon ever written. I alluded to chapter 13, verse 22 in Hebrews a while ago, �I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.

Yes, in fact, he did write it. I know what you�re going to say, you�re going to say, �Well, see, he manuscripted it. But that�s a different show. And if you�re wondering why I�m laughing, I always tell people not to manuscript their sermons.

You can manuscript certain parts of them, but I would not. It�s hard to have the fire and the heat if you�re manuscripting. One man wrote, �This Hebrews is the only sermon in the entire New Testament which is preached to an established congregation.

So that gives us even more to think about. You�ve got these Jewish people who received this message, and while we have some of Paul�s sermons in Acts and Peter�s sermons, when you think about later on, not just right after Jesus died, but later on an established congregation, we don�t have that many sermons to them.

We have letters, of course, we have epistles. But this is a sermon reduced to writing. He says in chapter 2, verse 5, �Which we are speaking. 511, �We have much to say. 8 -1, �In what has been said.

9 -5, �We cannot now speak in detail. 11 -32, �And what more can I say This is the way we talk. This is the way we preach. He is writing this letter, this discourse, and he had prepared it, I think, for an oral delivery.

When you read it, here�s what�s happening. You think you�re reading a sermon, because you are. That�s the idea. That�s what he wants you to experience, and he does it in such a way that is really beautiful.

There�s so much substance, of course, it�s divinely inspired, but there�s so much style. It�s elegant, it�s sophisticated, and he develops this theological argument, and he does it in a doxological way.

He does it in a very even convicting way, and he has all kinds of rhetorical flair to it. I don�t know why when I say flair, I think of Ric Flair. I ought not to do that. I�ve got your mind thinking about something else now.

Maybe Lane summarizes it the best when he writes, �Rhetorical devices are present in Hebrews because of the need to provide oral assistance to the listeners. The written text was not crafted for the eye, but for the ear, to convey a sense of structure and development.

You�re going to see that in the book of Hebrews, up and through all 13 chapters. Today we�re looking again at chapter 9 in the book of Hebrews on No Compromise Radio. Slowly working our way through, and again, I just like to tell people what my plan is.

My plan is, I have a day job and I�m a pastor, and therefore I�m using this opportunity to talk about Hebrews in my sermon on Sunday. The sermon on Sunday will be Hebrews 9, 11 through 14, kind of part two, I think, technically.

But since I need to do two things at once, I�m practicing on you, right? So I�ve already told you that many times, and I�m just telling you one more time. Why am I so tired today? I could just yawn and yawn and yawn.

I think it�s kind of the gloomy, rainy outside that�s the problem. Let me read Hebrews 9, 11 through 14, and let�s talk about it a little bit, and I think it will be beneficial to you, the listener. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, 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 means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more, you can even hear preaching in that, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, capital S, offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

That's the section there, and the writer is wanting the listener and the reader and the recipients of this letter and all who would then receive the letter to realize that no matter what's going on when it comes to trials, and you can think of this specific persecution going on with the actual original recipients, that it's worth following Jesus.

Why go back to the old system? And remember, the old system was a biblical system. It was temporary. It was meant to be less than eternal. In other words, the old covenant was old knowing that the new was going to come, but the old covenant was in fact from God.

If that system is gone, then you should also be thinking whatever other man-made system that you used to be following, agreeing with, adhering to, that should be chucked out as well. If a God-ordained system is going to be obsolete, to use the language of Hebrews, then what about all the other systems that you've got?

Isn't it worth, isn't Jesus worth, isn't it worth a double take, a reconsideration so that you don't turn your back on Jesus because then there's going to be no hope? And the writer wants you to just work through that.

So let's just say today you're listening and you've got problems. I think it's probably true to say, at least generally true, that when you come to Christ, when you believe, when He, if you don't want to be technical about it, grants you faith and repentance, and you turn and trust in the Lord Jesus for your sins, for your reconciliation, for your standing before God, all kinds of things happen, of course, and there's language of redemption and justification and forgiveness and initial sanctification.

When that happens, that, I mean, happens to you, you probably are going to have more trials in life than you did before. Now there are some things that are going to be less in terms of problems. It's going to be not as problematic as what I was trying to say.

You're not going to be running around searching for truth. You'll know where it is. You don't have to spend any more time wondering, am I right with God? You don't have to wonder about a Damocles sword always over you that one day you're going to die and then what's going to happen to you when you die.

Those things have been taken care of. But the Lord Jesus suffered, the Lord Jesus had trials, the Lord Jesus was called in the Old Testament, suffering servant, and you're going to follow that suffering servant.

And if you live a godly life, you will suffer persecution and trials and tribulations. So what do you do? You mask your yawn. Is that what you do? That's what I'm trying to do. You have to say to yourself, I'm going to have more problems because there's going to be persecution.

There's going to be trials. And even this, this is interesting to me. If you have been saved, then you might be thinking all my troubles are gone, right? You might be thinking eschatologically the wrong way.

Already not yet doesn't come into your mind. You're thinking, I don't have any problems anymore because I have everything taken care of because Jesus is my Savior. But what this writer is trying to do, he's trying to get you to think, listen, no matter what's happening in your life, Jesus can be trusted.

You can rest in him and don't go backwards. Don't leave the Lord Jesus because it's going to be drastic, dreaded. What word do I want to use? It's going to be dreadful. Yeah, there we go. Dreadful. See, I should not be checking my email in the midst of my show.

That's what you do. That's amazing. Why would we do that? Remember yesterday we were playing? The translators. Yes, we have the translators, okay, into Espanol. Everything changes when the Lord Jesus, the high priest, shows up and you see language here.

He appeared and he entered chapter 9, verse 11 and verse 12. The old system is gone, pointed to something better, pointed to someone better, pointed to the things that Jesus, this someone, supplies. The Messiah has come.

The better system has been inaugurated. The new covenant is there. And that's why chapter 9, verse 11, many people think 11 and 12. This is the keystone, some have called it, or the heart of the entire epistle.

Here Jesus Christ shows up and what does he bring? He brings good things. The text doesn't tell us what those good things are, but that's probably a good summary statement, a comprehensive way of saying that Jesus has earned and merited all kinds of blessings for his people, all kinds of wonderful things, and he just calls those good things through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, of this creation.

You might think of tent, you might think of tabernacle, you might think of Jesus, John chapter 1, verse 14, that's not really a bad way to think about, but I don't think he's talking about that. He's talking about Jesus going into heaven for us.

That's all he's saying. He's saying something that might be parallel to 924, and 924 it says, if I could read far enough away, for Christ has entered into the holy places, not into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

In other words, it's not Jesus' body he's talking about. He's not talking about the church. He's talking about Jesus goes to heaven in the presence of God, and he's there for us in the Father's presence.

If you look at this passage, you might also think the great truth that Jesus has earned and secured eternal redemption for you. Do you see that in verse 12, thus securing an eternal redemption? Remember back in the 70s, I Found It was the campaign from Campus Crusade for Christ.

I found it. Remember that? And you put the bumper sticker on your car, and it says, I found it. People ask you, what'd you find? I found new life in Jesus. Do you want to find that life too? And we could talk about Crew and Campus Crusade, but the best thing here is Jesus secures the eternal redemption.

And that word secure there is where we get our word, Eureka. I found it. I discovered something. I secured something. I found the gold. Here, Jesus is the one finding. Jesus is the one securing. Jesus is the one achieving.

Jesus is the Savior. Why go back? You have eternal redemption. You have eternal forgiveness. It's just not yearly, the language here of holy places and blood of goats and calves. Even though in the day of atonement, you just have one goat and one bull.

This is the language of plurality that just happens all the time, over and over and over, year after year, year after year. And now Jesus, by virtue of his own blood, secures Eureka, an eternal redemption.

And if you could lose something, you would. But here, this is eternal redemption. This is something that cannot be lost. And this is an eternal what? Redemption, an eternal ransoming, an eternal releasing, because Christ's death was so magnificent that nothing else needed to be done.

Remember, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. If the life of the flesh is in the blood, Leviticus 17, if the wages of sin is death, sin is going to require bloodshed unto death, not just some bloodletting, but real vicarious sacrificial death.

And now Jesus obtains this great, eternal redemption. You don't have to repeat the death of Christ. You don't have to offer him up again, masses, every Sunday, every Saturday night, every day of the week.

This is not Aaron's blood, this is not the goat's blood, this is not the bull's blood. This is the Lord Jesus, who is holy and innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners. He takes our place. And Revelation 1, 5 says, "...to him who loves us and released us from our sins by his blood.".

Revelation 5, 9 says that he did purchase for God with his blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. When it comes to blood, supremacy. When it comes to blood, finality. When it comes to blood, an eternality.

And that blood that I'm referring to is the Lord Jesus' blood, and now you have access to God. Why would you want to go backwards? Why would you want to have something less? Why would you want to have the work never done?

Here Jesus enters once, isn't that great? One time he enters. And he redeems in a way that could never be lost, eternal redemption. Jesus dies, redemption is paid, he enters, and we don't have to think to ourselves, I wonder if it worked.

Jesus is the one. Did you know? Matter of fact, I'm just looking at my notes here. The state motto of California is homelessness? No, it is Eureka. I wonder if that's still true. Eternal redemption, forever and ever.

And that's what we've been looking at in Hebrews chapter 9, 11, and 12. Those are powerful. Now I know why people want to say this is the heart of the entire sermonic epistle, epislatory sermon. This is why it's so important, because you, sinner, you, me, all those who trust in Christ can have eternal redemption.

I don't know how people, I know they want to go to other verses, but I don't know how people can look at this and somehow think they can lose their salvation. You didn't earn your salvation. You didn't discover it.

It was something done to you. And Jesus secures eternal redemption. How long does eternal last, until you sin? If you can lose your salvation, how many sins does it take for you to sin before you lose them?

See, there's a lot of questions like that that people need to work through. And I think if you begin to think from a man-centered perspective or a God-centered perspective, that's going to be helpful.

Eternal Redemption and the Finality of Christ's Sacrifice

Well, my name is Mike Ebendroth, this is No Compromise Radio, and we're talking today about the book of Hebrews and why it's important to think through things in a biblical fashion. And in this particular case, thinking through things in a biblical fashion in a way that's written well.

I like that. I want to craft my messages in such a way to reflect the text. And in this particular text, it talks about, yes, light, but also heat. What is said is more important than how you say it. But since what you say is important, how you say it matters.

You can follow us on Twitter, at NoCoRadio. You can go to Facebook, just type in No Compromise Radio. Lots of YouTubes, man is helping us with those. No Compromise Radio on YouTube, and you can also, of course, go to iTunes.

I think the BBC Church iTunes account is now up if you want to follow us there.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth 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 10 .15 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.