Sermon for Lord's Day February 26, 2023 Passover

The Passover, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Reading of Luke 22

We'll turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 22. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. After we pray, I'd ask that you'd stand on with a reading of God's holy word. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our great God and Savior, we come before your throne.

One more time, again this day, Lord. As we ever stand in need of your help, we ever stand in need of your grace, and we always stand in need of your wisdom and power as we stand to preach the word today, God.

I pray, God, that in the text of Scripture that we will see you today. Lord, my prayer is that you would be lifted high, and in being lifted high, that you would draw all men unto you. Lord, that you would save the lost, that you would encourage the saint, that you would draw the backslider in heart, rekindle the fire of love and the passion that you gave them in the very first of their salvation.

And I pray, oh God, that today, as we go through the word, your word, we know, we trust, we believe, we hope in your word. Therefore, we commend this congregation to the power and the truth of your word today.

Do your mighty work as only you can do today, Lord Jesus, for it's in your name I pray, amen. Stand with us, if you would, to honor the reading of God's word. Luke chapter 22, we're gonna be reading, in your hearing, verses one through 20, actually, today.

One through 20. These are the words of the living God. Now the feast of the unleavened bread, which is called the Passover, was drawing near. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put him to death, for they were afraid of the people.

And Satan entered into Judas, who was called Iscariot, who belonged to the number of the 12. He went away and discussed with chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. They were glad and agreed to give him money.

So he consented and began seeking a good opportunity to betray him to them apart from the crowd. Then came the first day of unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, go and prepare the Passover for us so that we may eat it.

And they said to him, where do you want us to prepare it? He said to them, behold, after you have entered a city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house that he enters.

And you will say to the owner of the house, the teacher, the master says to you, where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large furnished upper room.

Prepare it there. They left and found everything just as he had told them. And they prepared the Passover. And when the hour had come, he reclined at the table. The apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

For I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he said, take this and share it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.

And when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and he gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way, he took the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Thus far as the reading of God's holy word, you may be seated. If you are taking notes this morning and you want to maybe put some bullet points down, it really, we're going to break this section of scripture into five particular pieces or sections.

The first section, we're going to look at the significance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover. So the Feast of the Unleavened Bread and the Passover. In the next section, which is verse two, the chief priests and scribes were plotting the death of Jesus instead of preparing for the Passover.

So there's very much there for us to consider within that. A way of note on the third section, which is going to be basically verse three through six, we read and we're going to see where Satan enters Judas and Judas makes the deal for Jesus with the scribes and the Pharisees in the Sanhedrin.

Next, in verse seven through 13, we'll look at Jesus giving the instructions to prepare for the Passover meal. That's going to be verse seven through 13. And in verse 14 through 20, we are going to see and hear and read how Jesus institutes what we know as the Lord's Supper and particularly and specially how he proclaims himself as the testator of the new covenant through his blood.

So we're going to try our best to go through this. If you want to, you might want to go ahead and thumb back over to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 12 and mark your spot there so that you can turn there here in just a moment because we want to understand the significance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover a lot in light of what the scripture teaches about it.

So scripture, we'll be interpreting scripture here. And then when we come down particularly to verse 20, we're going to be going back over into the New Testament to the other side of the New Testament, the Hebrews chapter nine and looking at the word of God there.

So as we do this, really three things we're going to see today, the plot, the Passover and the proclamation. The plot, the Passover and the proclamation. So the plot to kill Jesus, the Passover typified, exemplified, shown forth by Christ and the proclamation of Christ himself stating that he himself is the testator of the new covenant which was promised by God.

The Significance of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

So in the first verse here, now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover was drawing near. How often and how many times do we not take one verse like that and we just rush through it and we just to go ahead and say, we've checked that box and we've got to the next verse when we don't know a hill of beans about what that verse has said in truth and reality.

We need to understand today the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the significance, we need to understand and to know the significance and what the Passover was all about. Now, it would be easy for us to say, well, we've been in church for a good bit of time, everybody should understand this, but we should never take for granted that everybody knows everything about the scriptures because guess what?

Most of us don't know, amen? And myself included. So that's why we need to stick to the word of God as we consider this. Now, J .C. Rouse said this in his commentary on chapter 22 concerning this statement.

He said this, we cannot doubt that the time of our Lord's crucifixion was controlled by God. Keep in mind this church, it was no accident that what was taking place at this moment in time in history, it was no accident and it was not chance, but it was sovereignly and providentially ordained and orchestrated by our God, by our God.

He went on to say this, his perfect wisdom and his power arranged that the Lamb of God should die at the same time when the Passover lamb was sacrificed. Now, let me say this as a word of public thanks.

I thank each and every one of you who prayed for us. I was scared out of my mind going to that conference last week or week before last. And the prayers of God's people truly undergirded me and helped me in a great deal.

I wanna thank y 'all for that. But I am thankful to God again for his sovereign and providential working. That conference was on shadows to substance. And it was every man that stood and preached the gospel that week was took a type and a shadow from the Old Testament and demonstrated throughout the scriptures how that typified and pointed us to Jesus Christ.

The Passover is no different. The Passover points us to our Lord and to our Savior. Why? Because Christ is the true sacrifice to which every Passover lamb had been pointing for the last 1 ,500 years up to this day.

Every lamb that was slaughtered pointed to Christ. Ralph said this, what the death of the lamb had been to Israel and Egypt, his death was to be to sinners all over the world. It was to be a deliverance from the curse and the penalty of death.

It was salvation through blood. But the salvation that was typified in the Old Testament was a temporary covering for sin and was not an actual propitiation for sin for all time. We know this, we'll get to this in Hebrews.

I don't wanna run too far ahead there. But Ralph went on to say this, the safety which the blood of the Passover lamb had provided for Israel, his blood was to provide far more abundantly for all who believe in him.

Let us never forget, church, let us never forget the sacrificial character of Christ's death. Let us, in the 1900s, this is the terminology J .C. Ralph used. He said, let us reject with abhorrence the modern notion, in plain language, let us hate it with everything that's in us.

Hate this notion with everything that was within us that Christ's death was simply some form of example setting for us to live a good life. Christ did not come to live an example so we could be like him.

He came so that we could be saved from our sin. Bottom line. Let us reject with abhorrence the modern notion that it was nothing more than a great example of self-sacrifice and self-denial. But it was something much greater, it was something deeper, and it was more important than this.

It was, as I just stated, the propitiation of the sins of the world. It was an atonement for people's transgressions. It was the killing of the true Passover through whose death destruction is kept from sinners who believe in him.

My friend, there is very much a heaven to gain and a hell for us to shun. And the reality is that the wages of sin, the word of God hasn't changed. The wages of sin is still death. But good news, the word of God doesn't change.

The gift of God is still eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. How can I be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved according to the word of the living God. So let's turn back here to the book of Exodus chapter 12 for just a few minutes as we look at this to understand the significance, to understand the Feast of Unleavened Bread, to understand the Passover.

Now, in Exodus chapter 12, just to give us all a summary of what has taken place, right, the children of Israel are in Egypt's bondage, slavery in Egypt's bondage. The Lord calls Moses, speaks to him from the burning bush, says, Moses, I want you to go tell Pharaoh, let my people go.

Moses says, who am I to say sent me? The Lord tells him, you say, I am that I am has sent you and to let my people go. He goes, he obeys God. He does what the Lord commands. Short, long story short, the Pharaoh denies the Lord sent 10 plagues on Egypt, right?

We go through all these plagues, but the last plague is the greatest of all of those plagues. It is the death of the firstborn. It's the death of the firstborn of every household, not only of people, but of animals.

Of every living thing, the firstborn would die with the exception, as we're gonna read here in the text, with the exception of those who are brought underneath the blood. And the blood was to be shed of a lamb, a lamb that was to be separated, pulled out of the flock of the lambs and to be kept in the household for a period of time.

My friend, this typifies our Lord and Savior. This typifies what our Lord done, but let's read the text. Exodus chapter 12, verse one. Now Yahweh, now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be the beginning of months for you.

It is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel saying this, on the 10th day of this month, they are to each take one lamb for themselves according to their father's household, a lamb for each household.

Now, don't quit there, read verse four. If the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them. According to what each man should eat, you are to apportion to the lamb.

A point of significance here is very, very important. It wasn't a group of salvation that took place. Salvation is individual. My friend, if you are going to be saved, you're not gonna be saved as one of the bunch.

You're gonna be saved as an individual. Why is this? Because you cannot account for other people's sins. You do not give account for my sin and I do not give an account for your sin. You yourself are accountable for your sins.

And so this lamb was to be appropriated on an individual basis. Now, and keep in mind this, how beautiful this is if the household is too small for a lamb. Now, why is this statement there? Because we'll see a little bit further.

You see throughout the expanded texts in the Old Testament that God's command to them was to do this, to roast the lamb, we're gonna see that in a minute, and to eat, not some of it, but to eat every bit of it.

My friend, if you're gonna be saved today, it's gonna be because you take all of Christ and not part of Christ. There is no such thing as a part Christian. There is no such thing as a halfway believer.

You are saved or you are lost. You are in or you are out. You are heaven bound or you are hell bound. There is no in between today. So where do you stand? Are you saved today? Goes on, verse five, your lamb shall be a male without blemish.

How beautiful is this? A year old, you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

So keep in mind these dates, these numbers, these times. I'm not talking numerology here. I'm just talking about literal count here. On the 10th day, they were to take a lamb from amongst and to separate it from amongst the flock.

And they were to bring it into the house. Michael Schultz preached on this at the conference. And he talked about how awkward it would be to have a little lamb or a little goat running around your house for four days, jumping all over everything.

And you got the smell of animals in your house. Now, what was the significance of this? Why was this important? Because they had to make sure they were to do a careful examination of this lamb that they brought into their house.

A sacrifice would not be accepted if it was a sickly sacrifice. That was the problem that God had with his people throughout the Old Testament. They were trying to bring sick and vain oblations to him when they were supposed to be bringing the very best that they had to give it to the Lord.

So they kept this lamb in the house from the 10th day until the 14th day. This was the ordinance set forth. Now, verse seven, or verse six. You shall keep it until the 14th day. Then the whole assembly of congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

Twilight means between one evening and another evening. So on the 14th day, can you imagine what took place here? Can you imagine the sound that you would hear? Right? Everybody as close together as they could.

I know they didn't have digital watches synchronized, but as close together as they could began to slaughter their lamb. They began to slaughter their lamb. And then the word of God says, God said this, "'Moreover, they shall take some of the blood "'and put it on the two doorposts "'and on the little of the house in which they eat it.

"'And they shall eat the flesh that night, "'roasted with fire, and they shall eat it "'with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. "'Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, "'but rather roast it with fire, "'both its head and its legs, along with its entrails, "'the whole thing.

"'And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, "'but whatever is left, if there is anything left of it "'over into morning, you shall burn with fire.'. And then the Lord said in verse 11, "'Now, now you shall eat it in this manner.

"'You shall eat it in this way.'". This was a particular, for a particular purpose, because what was about to happen was the Lord was about to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt's bondage right here.

"'Eat it with your loins girt, eat it with your sandals on,' is what he says. And he says this, "'Because it is the Passover of the Lord. "'It is the Passover of the Lord. "'And I will go,' verse 12, "'I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, "'and I will strike down all the firstborn "'in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, "'and against all the gods, little g-gods of Egypt, "'I will execute judgments, for I am the Lord.

"'And the blood shall be assigned for you "'on the houses where you are, "'and I will see the blood, and I will pass over you. "'And there shall be no plague among you "'to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.'".

Specific instruction given here, specific significance, specific importance, because this, for the children of Israel, was a perpetual statute. It was something that they were to practice year in and year out without fail.

They understood it. They knew how to do it. They taught their children all about this. It was not something that was a gray area, but it was very clear. Now, going on, verse 14 there. "'Now, this day will be a memorial to you.

"'You shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh. "'Throughout your generations, you are to celebrate it "'as a perpetual statute. "'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.'". So from the 14th day to the 21st day, right?

You're to eat unleavened bread, remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. "'Now, on the first day, there shall be a holy convocation, "'and on the seventh day, "'there shall be a holy convocation for you.

"'No work at all shall be done on them, "'except what must be eaten by every person. "'That alone may be done by you.'". So you can eat on these days of holy convocation. He said this, "'You shall also keep the feast of unleavened bread "'for on this very day, "'I brought your host out of the land of Egypt.

"'Therefore, you shall keep this day "'throughout your generation as a perpetual statute. "'In the first month, on the 14th day,' this is a reiteration of what he has said, "'In the first month, "'on the 14th day of the month at evening, "'you shall eat unleavened bread "'until the 21st day of the month at evening.

"'Seven days, there shall be no leaven found in your houses "'for whoever eats what is leaven, "'that person shall be cut off "'from the congregation of Israel, "'whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.

"'You shall not eat anything leavened "'in all the places of your habitation. "'You shall not eat unleavened bread.'. "'Then Moses called for the elders of Israel "'and said to them, bring out.'". So Moses calls, he gives the instruction, he calls them to action.

He says, he called for the elders of Israel and he said to them, "'Bring out and take for yourselves lambs "'according to your families "'and slaughter the Passover lamb. "'And again, the repetition is made.

"'You shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in blood, "'touch them on the doorposts and the two doorposts. "'None of you shall go outside the doorway of his house "'until morning.'. "'And he said this, "'The Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians "'and he will see the blood on the lintel "'and on the two doorposts "'and Yahweh will pass over the door "'and he will not allow the destroyer "'to come into your houses to smite you.

"'And you shall keep this event as a statute for you "'and your children forever. "'And it will be when you enter the land, "'which the Lord will give you as he has promised, "'you shall keep this new service.

"'You shall keep this new statute.'". The LSB says, you shall keep this new slavery. My friend, we are called to be slaves of Jesus Christ. In our day and in our time, I know that language isn't popular, but my friends, when you get saved, you are no longer your own.

Why is this? You have been bought with a price. The apostle Paul said, "'Therefore,' or in respect to this fact, "'glorify God in your body "'because it's not your own anyway, "'it is from the Lord.'".

Right. Moving forward, just to finish out this section on Exodus, understanding the Feast of Unleavened Bread, understanding the Passover. Now at verse 29, "'It happened at midnight that Yahweh struck "'all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, "'from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne "'to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, "'and all the firstborn of cattle.

"'Then Pharaoh arose in the night, "'he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, "'and there was a great cry in Egypt, "'for there was no home "'where there was not someone dead. "'Then he called for Moses and Aaron that night, "'and said, rise up, get out from among my people, "'both you and the sons of Israel, "'go and serve the Lord, "'go and serve Yahweh as you have spoken, "'take both your flocks, your herds, "'as you have spoken, "'and go and bless me also.'".

And so the scripture says that they did that running down to verse 43 here. Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, this is the statute of the Passover. This is the law. This is the precept. This is not to have been something that was wavering, not to have been something that was added to or taken away from, but this was something to be observed for them throughout all generations.

He said this, "'Every man slave purchased with money "'after you have circumcised him, "'then he may eat of it. "'A foreign resident or a hired person shall not eat of it, "'it shall be eaten in a single house.

"'You shall not bring forth any of the flesh outside "'and you shall not break any bone of it. "'All the congregation of Israel shall celebrate this.'". And so we have there the practice given to us, the precept given to us, the idea of the Passover itself.

The Passover itself was the propitiation, the covering for the people's sin to be protected from death. The feast of unleavened bread was to be practiced the seven days remaining. And here, 1 ,500 years later, 1 ,500 years later, back in Luke, back to Luke 22, we're back to verse one.

Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the Passover, was drawing near. Providentially and sovereignly, here is the Lord. And verse two says this, "'The chief priests and the scribes were seeking "'how they might put him to death, "'for they were afraid of the people.'".

The Plot Against Jesus by the Chief Priests, Scribes, and Judas

What's important about this? This is the second point. The chief priests and scribes, what's important about this is that they were plotting to kill Jesus when they should have been planning to worship the Lord.

They were doing the exact opposite of what they claimed themselves to be, worshipers of God. They were haters of God. For God in the flesh stood before them, and they were plotting the death of the Savior.

So the chief priests were seeking how they might put him to death. Why? Because they were afraid of the people. Amen. Jesus said this, "'I'll tell you who you should fear. "'If you wanna know who you need to be afraid of him, "'who you need to be afraid of,' "'he said, don't be afraid of him who can kill your body.'".

Because that's all they can do. "'But Jesus said, I say unto you, fear him "'who after he has killed you "'has power to both cast your body and soul into hell.'". Our fear, we should have a fear, and our fear should be toward the Lord, our God, because he is our creator.

He is our maker. He is our sustainer. He gives life, and he takes life. Amen. He is the Lord. Ryle said this, "'We see first in these verses "'that high offices in the church "'do not stop the holders of them "'from being blind and sinful.'".

Oh, we put a lot of stock in preachers, don't we? Oh, that preacher's a good preacher. He must be a good man. Get to know the man before you say he's a good man. And then, if he's a good before man, even if you tell him he's a good, he'll say, I'm not, I'm nothing but a worm.

I'm a piece of garbage just like you. Amen? Because there's none of us good. No, not one. So even those high in office, a high office, being a preacher, being an elder, being a deacon, being a Sunday school teacher does not guarantee your salvation.

The thing that guarantees your salvation, and that is the blood that Jesus shed on the cross of Calvary, the atoning death in which he died, and the life which he was raised to. When we stand, and if the Lord were to say something like this, catch John.

And the Lord were to say, why should you be here? We can say nothing, but Jesus Christ is all my hope. Jesus Christ is all my stay. I have no place here. I do not belong. But Jesus Christ shed his blood for my sins.

And God, according to your word, he sits at the right hand of the throne of God, and he ever lives, and he ever makes intercession for me. Let that be your cry. Let that be your cry. Next, in verse three through six, we see Satan enter Judas.

The scripture says, Satan entered Judas, who was called Iscariot, who belonged to the number of the 12. He was numbered amongst the 12. He went away, and he discussed with the chief priests and the officers how he might betray him to them.

This is the plot. And they were glad. They all, meaning, when it says, the scripture says they were glad, it means they all came into agreement. The scribes, the Pharisees, Judas, they all came to agreeable terms.

And the scripture says, and he went away, discussed with the chief priests. They were glad. They agreed to give him money. So he consented. Judas consented to the agreement, and he began seeking a good opportunity to betray him to them.

Apart from the crowd. In a quiet manner. On the low down. Right, so nobody knows. We're gonna make this happen, and it's just gonna be swept under the rug. Can I say something here, just by way of observation?

That an inference that I'm gonna make right here is that because God, in his sovereigns, in his providence, and in his omniscience, worked these things according to the counsel of his own will, that Judas didn't know where he was gonna be until he was with them to know that they were gonna be in the garden.

That he might betray him to them in the garden. He could have, if he had known about this event that was about to take place, the eating of the Passover meal, he could have called them up to that upper room.

But the scripture so puts it here. So then came the first day of unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. First day of unleavened bread was what day? The 14th day, right? The 10th day is to be brought in.

The 14th day, at twilight, they were to prepare the lamb. So here's what's taking place. Jesus, the lamb of God, gives his disciples instruction on where they're gonna eat this Passover meal. And so the disciples meet in this upper room, they begin preparation of the lamb, they slaughter the lamb, they prepare it, roasted with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.

And here in the text of scripture, the Lord gives us with specific clarity how he instructs his disciples where to go. And then down in verse 14, the scripture says this, when the hour had come, the evening time to eat the meal, when the hour had come, he reclined at the table and the apostles with him, and he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you.

You know what, there was something unique about this Passover, because it would be, it would be the last of an ineffectual Passover. It would be the last time that an ineffective sacrifice would be made for the sins of the world.

For it would be after this Passover that Christ Jesus, the lamb of God, hangs upon the cross and takes upon himself the wrath of God and the sins of the world. I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffered.

For I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he said this, take this and share it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.

And when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and he gave it to them saying this, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way, he took the cup after they had eaten saying this, this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant.

In my blood, all they had known up until this time was the old covenant, the covenant of works. Do this and live, disobey and die. But here, Christ is instituting the new covenant. The covenant by which you could not enter into it by circumcision made by the hands of a man, but you can only come into the covenant with the circumcision made by God of the heart.

It is impossible for a man to get into the new covenant of the regenerating work of the Holy Ghost of God. You don't get yourself in and the good news church is this, you can't get yourself out. So according to the scripture, he said this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Christ Institutes the Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant

And let's finish by going to Hebrews chapter nine to understand this statement.

Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews chapter nine verse one.

Now, even the first covenant had requirements of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. This is a reference to the worship that God had set forth ordained to be practiced in the temple, in the tabernacle, which was an earthly picture of the heavenly things, right?

For there was a tabernacle prepared. The first part in which were the lamp stand, the table, the sacred bread, which is called the holy place. And behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle, which is called the holy of holies.

Also, let's keep in mind this, as we're reading this, as we're reading Hebrews, likely written somewhere between 50 and 60 AD, the temple is still standing, but Christ has already made the eternal sacrifice, the once and for all sacrifice.

So what's being spoken is to a people who kept wanting to go back to the old covenant. They wanted to go back to the law for their righteousness. They wanted to go back to the law for their goodness. And so what's being done here, it's being pointed out to them that the old covenant was done away with in Christ.

So he says this, behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle, which is called the holy of holies. Having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was the golden jar holding the manna and Aaron's rod, which budded and the tablets of the covenant.

And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. And he says of these things, we cannot now speak in detail. Now, when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the first part of the tabernacle, performing the divine worship.

But into the second, only the high priest enters once a year not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the holy places has not yet been manifested while the first part of the tabernacle is still standing.

And he says, he goes on, which is a symbol for the present time. It's a symbol. Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, requirements for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

So what's being explained here in this first section one through 10 is that once a year, this sacrifice was to be made. It was only by the priest. And even the priest himself, the high priest himself could not go into the tabernacle beyond the veil unless he first went through a routine where he made a sacrifice for himself, cleaned up, made a sacrifice for the people, went into the veil of the temple, right?

He did this. This was a cycle repeated year after year after year. Now there was a big problem with this system. The high priest died. The high priest was not perfect. The high priest was not good. The high priest was a sinful man.

So he had to make sacrifices for himself. But the scripture says this, we do not have a high priest like that. We have a high priest who is holy, who is harmless, and who is undefiled by sin. In the scripture states here in verse 11, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and the more perfect tabernacle, not the one made with hands.

That is not to say of this creation. And he entered not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy places. Once for all, having obtained eternal redemption, the price had been paid.

The writer here goes on, if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, how much more shall he not cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living and the true God.

Amen. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never enforced while the one who made it lives. Remember, we're talking about verse 20 here, where Jesus said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.