The Superiority of Christ – Hebrews 9:11-12

When you found your place, let's bow our heads and pray before we begin. Our gracious God, we have sung to you, we have spoken to you in song and in the meditation of our hearts to confess your greatness and your goodness and your majesty, your provision, your glory, your sovereignty, and your amazing grace.

And we pray now that you would speak to us in your word. Our hearts are always in need and your word always accomplishes what our hearts need.

Our hearts are always in need of sanctification and your word does that. Our hearts are always in need of encouragement and exhortation and your word accomplishes that.

We are always in need of being reminded again of the sufficiency of Christ and his work and the sufficiency of the gospel that you have provided for us.

And your word reveals all of that and accomplishes that and we pray that it would today. That you would open our eyes and our hearts to your word and help us to understand again afresh what

Christ has done and who he is and the superiority and the sufficiency of his work on behalf of all who believe.

Convince and convict and encourage our hearts together we pray today through your word in Christ's name. Amen. Have you ever noticed how often it is that we sing about blood as part of our worship services?

We sing about the blood of the covenant, the blood of the ark, the blood of the sacrifice, the blood of the offerings, and of course the blood of Christ.

We sing about blood a lot. On the surface that kind of seems like an odd thing to sing about as part of your worship doesn't it?

I mean to the outsider it must sound profoundly weird to have a group of people who get together and they sing so much about blood, sacrifice, a blood -stained cross, a bloody ground under the cross, being adopted by the blood, the blood of the savior, the blood of the sacrifice, the blood of the covenant.

Man we are a people that talk a lot about blood and we sing a lot about blood don't we? For instance Isaac Watts's hymn, no it's not

Isaac Watts it was the Wesley brothers that sang and can it be that I should gain an interest in my savior's blood.

Let me read to you and remind you of a few of the songs that we sing that mention blood. Jesus thy blood and righteousness by John Wesley.

Here are some of the lyrics. Jesus thy blood and righteousness, my beauty or my glorious dress.

Being dressed in blood is the analogy there. Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed with joy shall

I lift up my head. Lord I believe thy precious blood which at the mercy seat of God forever doth for sinners plead.

For me even for my soul was shed. Or the song gaze on Christ by Chris Anderson has these lyrics.

Behold the lamb the dying lamb who takes away just wrath. God saw the blood of his beloved and over us has passed.

Gaze on Christ our sacrifice on altar made of wood. Exalt the lamb the worthy lamb who bought us with his blood.

When I survey the wondrous cross by Isaac Watts. Forbid it Lord that I should boast save in the death of Christ my

God. All the vain things that charm me most I sacrifice them to his blood. The old rugged cross by George Bernard.

In the old rugged cross stained with blood so divine such a wonderful beauty I see. For it was on that old cross

Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me. Or this song what sacred fountain freely springs by David Hyde.

What sacred fountain freely springs up from the throne of God and all new covenant blessings brings.

It's Jesus precious blood. Oh precious blood it covers me it takes away the stain of sin. Such power there is contained within Jesus precious blood.

Oh fount of love by Matt Boswell. Oh fount of love divine that flows from my savior's bleeding side where sinners trade their filthy rags for his righteousness supplied.

Mercy cleansing every stain now rushing over us like a flood. There the wretch and vilest ones stand adopted through his blood.

Or there is a fountain by William Cowper. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath its flood lose all their guilty stains.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And by the way that's the answer to all of this series of questions if you want to join in.

What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.

No other fount I know nothing but the blood of Jesus. Are you washed in the blood? Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?

Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?

Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? And so it goes. We sing a lot about blood don't we?

It's got to sound weird to the outsider. I think it has to sound weird to the outsider. And it is offensive to the unbeliever because the unbeliever, the skeptic, the atheist, the agnostic would would listen to what we sing and listen to what

I just read to you. And they would say what a bloody religion that is Christianity. You guys seem fascinated with blood.

What kind of a deity is it that you worship that demands blood be spilt in order for him to show himself satisfied and gracious and benevolent toward you?

Isn't that the idea or the concept of God that would come from some tribalistic culture on the fringes of society out there somewhere where they pour out blood on top of some altar in hopes that the gods in heaven might be gracious to them and give them a good harvest or grant them some blessing or maybe allow them to have children or make them productive or prosperous?

What kind of a God is it that requires a blood sacrifice in order to be propitious or gracious toward people?

It does sound like a horribly bloody religion. But what the skeptic does not see is the weight and gravity of their own sin before a holy and righteous

God. Because those animal sacrifices of the Old Testament that were required, the blood sacrifices of those, pointed forward to another sacrifice that was to come.

A sacrifice which would actually pay the price for that sin. So the atheist who thinks that we serve a horrible bloodthirsty

God in the heavens does not appreciate the sinfulness of men or the righteousness of God or the idea of justice or the the fact that that there might need to be an offering for sin and the giving of a life in order to make atonement to make a payment for his own sin.

The atheist doesn't see that at all. So of course they cannot appreciate the bloodiness of our religion or the focus or fixation that we have with blood.

And in recent weeks we've been talking a lot about blood, almost uncomfortably so. It's not going to get any better in the weeks ahead because we're talking about the significance and the atonement of Christ himself and the focus of Hebrews 9 and 10 is really on the blood of Christ and what it has accomplished.

In recent weeks we've talked about the sacrifices and the day of atonement and the animals, the morning offering, the evening offering, the altar of incense, the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat which was covered with blood.

We've talked about the work of the priest and haven't, though I haven't described in any graphic detail and it's not my intention to do so, the the type of offerings that were made or how the offerings were made.

We have talked about the brazen altar upon which the offerings were made and what was done with the blood and what that pictured and portrayed.

And now we come to a section in Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 which is the heart of this book.

This is the heart of the book and it really deals with this subject of the blood of Christ.

It is as if the author has been planning and purposing all the way up until now to discuss this subject.

He has been preparing us by describing the high priesthood of Jesus back in chapter 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and by talking about the new covenant as opposed to the old covenant.

Now he's prepared the way by talking to us about the tabernacle and all the furniture of the tabernacle. The author has been leading up to this which is really the zenith.

It's the the crux of his whole argument in chapters 9 and 10. What is it that makes the new covenant superior?

It's that it is initiated not by the blood of bulls and goats which could never take away sin but by the blood of a high priest who gave himself as an offering, offering a better blood.

And that is really one of the main themes of the book of Hebrews. It is the sacrifice of Christ which is at the center of the argument of the book of Hebrews.

This is what makes a redemption and salvation and the work of Christ far better than anything the

Old Testament could have provided. It is the blood of Christ and his sacrifice and it really answers this question, what has his sacrifice accomplished if anything?

And for whom was the sacrifice made? And what has the sacrifice done? What is the power of that sacrifice?

Is it superior to the Old Testament animal sacrifices? And if so, in what way? That is really the argument of this central portion of the book of Hebrews.

So we pick it up in verse 11. I gave you an outline for the first 10 verses which we covered in recent weeks. I said in verses 1 to 5 the author describes the

Old Testament sanctuary. In verses 6 and 7 he talks about the services of the sanctuary and then in verses 8 to 10 which we looked at last week, he describes the significance of the sanctuary and the services.

So the sanctuary, the services, and then its significance. That was verses 1 to 10. Now verses 11 through 14 follows the exact same pattern.

We have in verses 11 the description of the new sanctuary or a better sanctuary. In verse 12 a better service is described and then in verse 13 and 14 an even greater significance.

Look at verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle.

There's the mention to the sanctuary again, the tabernacle. Not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation.

In verse 12 a superior service and not through the blood of goats and calves but through his own blood he entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption.

And then in verses 13 and 14 a greater significance than the Old Testament significance. Look at verse 13.

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 cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living

God. So all the way through here the comparison is between the work of Christ with the work of those

Old Testament sacrifices. And all the way through here his intention is to show that what Christ has done is superior.

It's better. It's higher. It's greater in every way. He has entered a greater sanctuary. He has provided a better service and has a better significance, namely cleansing and atonement and forgiveness and the cleansing of the conscience.

So that's verses 11 through 14. We're just going to look at 11 and 12 today and I want to give you an outline for verse 11 and 12.

There are four points of contrast here with Christ in the Old Testament and the old significance of the tabernacle and the services.

In verse 11 we see that he as a high priest has provided superior blessings and a superior sanctuary and entered a superior sanctuary.

Superior blessings and he has entered a superior sanctuary. In verse 12, Christ has offered superior blood and he has obtained a superior redemption.

That's verse 12. Superior blessings, a superior sanctuary, offering a superior blood and obtaining a superior redemption.

So let's look at verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come and he is the high priest of the new covenant and the good things to come here

I think is a description of the blessings of the new covenant. We'll get to in just a moment. But when it says that Christ has appeared, what appearance is he describing here?

Is he describing Christ's appearance here on earth in his incarnation when he was born as a baby and walked this earth among us?

Is that the appearance what we would call the first coming of Christ or the first appearance of Christ? Or is he talking about something else?

I don't think that the author has in mind here Christ's appearance on earth as in his incarnation.

I believe what the author is describing here is Christ's appearance in heaven before God in his presence.

And I'll make that case for you. I want to give you the argument for that. In the context, he's been describing the priest going behind the veil into the inner part of the sanctuary.

Remember that is all part of the service that was rendered. The high priest once a year walked behind the veil and there he applied the blood to the mercy seat.

On one day of the year that one high priest did that. So he has already talked about that. That's an illusion he has made and that is in the mind of the author.

And then later on he describes down in verse 24, look at chapter 9 verse 24. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands a mere copy of the true one but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Notice the language. He has entered into the presence of God to appear for us. So when the author says when

Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, I think he is describing here the act of Christ entering into heaven which is the greater tabernacle he describes in verse 12.

He has entered into that holy place once for all, there he appears in the presence of God on our behalf.

Where he applies the merits of his sacrifice, where he pleads for us, where he intercedes for us, where he stands as our representative, there

Christ is appearing in the presence of the Father on our behalf. So that's the appearance that he is talking about. Now when

Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, what are the good things to come?

Those are the new covenant blessings. Do you remember back in chapter 8 when we looked at there were three of them, really three categories of new testament blessings or new covenant blessings?

There was first of all an internal knowledge of the law, an internal law, not a law written on tablets of stone but a law written on the heart where God's spirit comes and dwells within us.

That was one of the promises of the new covenant. Second, a knowledge of God so that every person in the new covenant now has a personal intimate knowledge of God so that we no longer have to evangelize other members of the covenant because everybody who is included in that covenant is a believer, a genuine believer.

Only believers are in that covenant. So now we have an internal law, we all have a knowledge of God because we are all saved in this covenant, and third there was the forgiveness of sins.

These are just some of the promises of the new covenant blessings. And so many more we could add to that but Christ stands as our high priest in the presence of God where he mediates all those present blessings to us on behalf of the

Father and he grants them to us and he stands in God's presence. He has appeared in the heavens, in heaven, in the presence of the

Father where he stands there on our behalf as a high priest mediating to us all of the blessings of that new covenant.

When Christ has appeared as a high priest of the blessings to come. Now you might be reading a translation that does not translate it to come but might translate it as have come, past tense.

Let me take a moment to explain what's going on here. If you follow the NASB and the NASB follows the tradition of the

King James and the new King James, they translate it the good things to come. So the King James, the new King James, the

NASB, I'll translate that as if it's describing blessings that are yet to be bestowed upon us, future blessings, future realities.

Whereas the ESV translates it this way the good things that have come and the NIV translates it the good things that are already here.

Now why such a different translation? Is he talking about the future blessings or is he talking about the present blessings because there are both of those, right?

We do enjoy the present blessings of salvation and of the new covenant realities that we participate in now but there are also future blessings of the new covenant that are yet to come.

This comes down to a difference of different manuscript families have a different reading at this point and as one commentator said it is difficult to decide between the alternate readings because the manuscript evidence for both readings is of near equal quality which means that there are old manuscripts and there are reliable manuscripts on both sides that render it both ways.

And so what is it? Is he talking about Christ mediating to us the blessings that are present that have come or the blessings that are yet to come?

What is the answer to that? It is both, right? He is the mediator of both of those.

So ultimately the difference of translation does not affect the meaning or intention of the passage. One of those two readings is correct and I think that there are good arguments for both of those readings and I'll offer you a good argument for the first the

NASB which I'm going to tell you in a moment. I don't think that the NASB translates it right but I'll tell you why the

NASB translators translate it that way because there is a very similar language used in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1.

Look at chapter 10 verse 1. For the law since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of the things can never by the same sacrifices year after year make perfect those who draw near.

Notice that he describes the law being a shadow of the good things to come. And so because it is translated there because that phrase those words the good things to come it is probably likely that at some point in the manuscript transmission that there was a scribal gloss or something where a scribe wrote down the good things to come and not the good things that have come.

So that would be an argument for the good things to come. The argument would be that he uses that very same language in chapter 10 which is pretty close in this context.

But I would offer you another argument for the ESV translation of it the good things that have already come or that are here and this would be my argument for that.

That in the context here the author is focusing on present realities that the death of Christ has secured on our behalf.

What has he been talking about? Going behind the veil, applying blood to the mercy seat, and making atonement.

So he has in mind the cleansing of the conscience which he describes later in the same passage. That is a present blessing.

He has in mind salvation, the forgiveness of sins, applied righteousness. Those are all present realities.

Those are all things that we enjoy even right now. And so I think that the focus and emphasis of the author in the context is not on the blessings that are to come but the blessings that are actually present that are part of what we enjoy here and now as those who are in the new covenant.

Now just because he focuses here on the blessings that are present does not mean that there are no new covenant blessings to come.

Obviously there are. So just to focus on the present ones does not exclude the possibility that there are yet blessings that will come our way in the future.

Because we do believe and know that we kind of live currently in this in -between time when the best way to describe it is it's already but not yet.

Right? You are saved and redeemed and forgiven and yet you still sin, right? You are declared righteous in the presence of God and yet you still sin, you still struggle with sin.

You are positionally seated with Christ in the heavenly places but you don't exercise that kind of authority or dominion now, do you?

All of creation has been made subject to our Christ and we are in him and yet we don't exercise that kind of dominion here and now, do we?

We know that we're going to get a resurrected body and that these bodies will be made new but we don't enjoy those now, do we?

We're kind of in this in -between land where everything that we ever will receive and have received has already been secured in total for us completely.

Absolutely secured and yet how much of that do we actually enjoy here and now? There are present realities that we enjoy here and now.

Forgiveness and righteousness, a cleansed conscience, sanctification, the indwelling of the

Holy Spirit, a knowledge of God, the blessing of his word. All of these are our present realities. I think that that is what the author is describing.

Christ is the mediator of all of the New Testament blessings that we currently enjoy because he stands currently in heaven having entered behind that veil and he does so on our behalf.

So that leads us to the second thing that he serves in a superior sanctuary. Not only does he mediate to us superior blessings, blessings not enjoyed or known but only anticipated under the old covenant, he mediates those present blessings to us but he also has entered into a superior sanctuary.

Look at verse 11, the middle of verse 11. He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say not of this creation.

Some people when describing this tabernacle have had, well no I'll just say it, kind of wonky interpretations of what is meant by the word tabernacle there.

What does it mean that he entered through this more perfect tabernacle? Some have suggested throughout church history that what is being described here was actually the body of Christ, that in his body he has entered into heaven, that that's the idea, that he entered into heaven in his body, his body being the tabernacle.

Though that is a possible rendering of that phrase, it's not likely. A second option and this is also wonky is that the tabernacle refers to the heavenlies over us that Christ having ascended passed through the heavenlies or through the tabernacle which is space around our earth and entered into heaven.

I don't think any of it is near that complicated and I don't think that that's what the tabernacle is describing. Why? Because he specifically says it is not of this creation and it's not made with hands.

You can't describe the body of Christ or the heavens as being not of this creation and not made with hands.

Both were certainly of this creation so he can't be describing that. What he is describing is heaven itself, that's the greater tabernacle.

In fact he uses his analogy just like this in Hebrews chapter 8, remember verses 1 through 6 and you can look back there if you want that happens to be on the same page,

Hebrews 8, 1 through 6. Now the main point of what has been said is this, we have such a high priest who has taken a seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the

Lord pitched not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices so it was necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.

Now if he were on earth he would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law who serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things.

And there in chapter 8 those first six verses what the author is doing is saying the tabernacle that existed on earth for the children of Israel it was a picture of something greater.

The tabernacle was not an end in itself. The tabernacle pictured these two seemingly conflicting realities that God was to dwell with his people but that his people could not access him.

God would dwell with his people but his people could not enter into his presence. And so in the holy of holies where the mercy seat was at there the presence of God was there a priest only through a mediator only because of a sacrifice was allowed to enter in once and on one day a year and then he had to come right back out again.

He could not stay there. Well that was a picture of something that earthly tabernacle pictured something. It pictured a priest having made a sacrifice entering into heaven itself that was the picture and on every day of atonement that was the image that should have been being communicated.

A high priest one who represents others offers a sacrifice and then steps into the presence of God. But there's something different about our high priest he has done this not multiple times but one time and he has done it once and for all.

So verse 11 says he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this creation and now verse 12 that leads us to the third thing that Christ offered up a superior blood.

He did this not through the blood of goats and calves but through his own blood. And again the contrast here is with the old tabernacle.

The priest offered the blood that could never take away sin. The blood of goats, the blood of lambs, the blood of sheep, the blood of bulls and those could never make an atonement for sin.

They could never pay the price of sin. All they could do is picture or symbolize that which would eventually pay the price for sin.

It was a picture a living picture lived out amongst the children of Israel every day and every year, year after year symbolizing what was necessary to take away their sin.

But those animal sacrifices could never actually take away sin. But now Christ has entered heaven pleading not the merits of an animal or another person who has died on our behalf but he has entered into heaven and he presents the merits of his own sacrifice in the presence of the

Father. Not the sacrifice of an animal and not the sacrifice of any other human being who would dare to die in our stead but his own sacrifice.

It is his own merit and his own righteousness because it is by his own death that he has secured our salvation.

So under the new covenant the one who functions as our priest was also the sacrifice because our priest didn't offer up another sacrifice.

Christ never offered up an animal sacrifice and to pay for our sins he didn't offer up an animal sacrifice. But instead our

Lord offered up his own blood and that is a superior blood. It was the perfect sacrifice because he had no debt to pay before God's law.

The just demands of God's law made no demands upon him at all but the justice of God could fall on him on our behalf which is why

Isaiah 53 says he was bruised for our iniquities and he was chastened. The chastening that brought us peace fell upon him.

It was in our stead that he died. He was the substitute. So the justice of God's law could not fall upon him as an innocent person but it could fall upon him if he were to bear the sin of guilty sinners which is what he has done.

And because he is the God man he is infinitely righteous. And so he has in himself because he is

God and man he can stand before God as man, fully man, having represented us and shed his blood in our stead.

And because he is also God, the God man, he can do so to an infinite degree so that the righteousness that he provides to you and to you and to you and you and you is infinite righteousness.

If it were just another innocent man who had died in our stead without being God, he could exchange his righteousness for our sin and it would be a one -to -one transaction if an innocent man could die in our stead.

But if an innocent man dies in our stead who is also God, infinitely righteous and therefore infinitely perfect and infinitely able to bear our sin, then he can take the sin of an untold multitude as well as give to that same untold multitude all of the righteousness that they need to stand blameless before the throne of God.

That is what Christ has done. Infinite forgiveness and infinite righteousness in that one sacrifice.

It's a better blood. No number of bulls and goats could accomplish this. Not the bulls and goats of a thousand worlds could ever accomplish what the blood of Christ has done in that one sacrifice.

He is the substance of all the symbols of the Old Testament. A sacrifice of such infinite value and worth that if God had determined to save every last person who has ever lived, no further sacrifice would be necessary to do it.

No further sacrifice or suffering. Because in that one sacrifice, it was infinite and of such sufficient worth and value as to pay for all your sin and to give you all his righteousness.

And he could do that if the elect of God had included multiplied millions of more people.

That sacrifice would have been sufficient to atone for that if God had so willed or so intended. That is what the sacrifice of Christ has accomplished.

So it is a better blood. Being fully God, he can represent us. Being fully man, he can bear all of our sin and give us all of his righteousness.

It was a superior death, a superior sacrifice, achieving a superior merit. Now I want you to look at the fourth thing.

Also in verse 12, that he has accomplished to obtain a superior redemption. All the way through this passage, the parallels between the temple or the tabernacle and the work of Christ are intentional and they are striking.

We have two high priests, an earthly high priest and a heavenly high priest. We have two locations where this work was done, the earthly tabernacle and the heavenly tabernacle where Christ pleads for us.

We have the blood of bulls and goats on the one hand and the blood of the sinless Son of God on the other hand.

We have the holy place that Christ has entered to, which is heaven, and the holy place in which the priest entered once a year, and that is the holy of holies.

We have a contrast between the frequency with which that work was done. Under the old covenant, the priest had to do this morning and evening sacrifice every day, and then every year they had to do the day of atonement and offer a sacrifice of atonement.

But Christ having done this, he has accomplished this with one sacrifice. And so you see in verse 12, he did this through the blood of bulls, of goats and calves, but through his own, not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy place once for all.

This was unthinkable to the Jewish mind. To a Jew who understood anything about the tabernacle or the temple or any of its functions, it was unthinkable that the priest would step behind the veil and never come out, not come out from behind the veil.

You know what would happen? You know the only time that a priest would ever step behind the veil and not come out, something had happened.

You know what it was? He was dead because he went back there ceremonially unclean, or he did something profane behind there, or he didn't accomplish it, or he wasn't pure before God, or he hadn't offered a sacrifice for himself.

But our Savior has gone into heaven, pleading the merits of his own blood, and this he has done once for all.

He stepped behind the veil where he currently is as an anchor for our soul, sure and steadfast, a forerunner for us, behind the veil, and he has done this once for all.

He has never come back out. He never needs to come back out. Under the old covenant, the priest would step back behind that veil on that one day a year, only with the blood of the sacrifice and the incense in their hand from the altar of incense.

And they would step behind that veil, and the priest would quickly sprinkle the blood, and then he would get right out of there again. He hurried out.

He didn't linger. He didn't take in the sights and the sounds. He didn't count the squirrels on the ark.

He didn't sit down and meditate upon the significance of any of that. He walked in, he did his work, and he got back out again.

Our high priest has gone into heaven and taken a seat at the right hand of the majesty on high. Isn't that amazing?

That says something about the completeness of his work, the totality of his work, the sufficiency of his work, so that there is no longer anything that needs to be done.

What does it mean that he did this through his own blood? Again, there are some loopy interpretations of this.

Some people have suggested over the years that what this means is that Christ actually physically entered into heaven with a physical vial of his physical blood and applied that in the presence of the

Father to some sort of a mercy seat that is in the presence of heaven. That is not what it is describing.

It is not describing Christ resurrected from the dead, and he thanks Peter for collecting the blood and takes it in a vial back to heaven with him and applies it there.

That's not what's being described. The whole thing is connected to the analogy of the temple of the tabernacle. He has entered through the merits of his sacrifice, not to physically apply that blood to any kind of an altar or ark in the presence of God in heaven, but that sacrifice having been accomplished, he enters because of the merit of that sacrifice, just as a priest could enter behind the veil into the presence of God only on the merit of that sacrifice, bringing that blood with him.

So it is what is pictured there, not any kind of a hyper -literalistic presentation of the blood of Christ in heaven.

It is the analogy that is being drawn. What is being pictured there is him stepping into heaven because he has a right to enter heaven, having accomplished all the

Father's will and having been obedient unto the point of death, having resurrected from the grave, having done everything the

Father gave him to do, having made that one sacrifice once for all sin, taking it out of the way, making a path for his people.

He has now entered into the presence of God one time and one time only. He doesn't have to come back out and he can enter in the merits of his own sacrifice.

That is what is being pictured there. Christ has finished his work on the cross and has done once and for all.

And having done so, he has obtained, look at the meaning, look at the wording of the text, he has obtained eternal redemption, past tense, obtained.

Not he is obtaining eternal redemption, not that he is continually providing eternal redemption or continually working to accomplish eternal redemption by a series of sacrifices made in the presence of God in heaven.

That one work on the cross, that one sacrifice, past tense, has obtained eternal redemption.

It has been accomplished. So that we can say, and by the way, this is always connected to the blood of Christ, this redemption.

He has obtained it past tense and the word redemption there means to set free, to liberate, to deliver, to ransom, and it has the idea of being purchased out of a marketplace like a slave was purchased out of a marketplace.

And our redemption describes that very thing. We were in slavery to sin. We were in the marketplace of sin.

Satan was our master. We were chained and unable to liberate ourselves. We couldn't pay the redemption price because it was too steep.

We could do nothing to earn that redemption or to merit that redemption, but in stepped another, a kinsman redeemer who offered that purchase price, provided that sacrifice so that he could make the payment necessary to redeem and ransom us from the slave market of sin.

That's the analogy there. And that what has accomplished this is the blood of Christ. That's why we read in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

According to the riches of his grace, 1 Peter 1 18 says, you're not saved by perishable things like silver or gold, but by the precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

That is what has secured our redemption. Acts 20 verse 28 says that God purchased us with his own blood.

Paul said to the Ephesian elders, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

God purchased you with his own blood. God spilt the blood of the God man on the ground to pay the purchase price of your redemption, to buy you out of the marketplace of sin and to set you free so that we can say he has obtained eternal redemption, past tense, on behalf of every last one for whom he died, that that salvation has been obtained.

Not that he is working to obtain it. There's nothing that we can add to it. There's nothing that we can do to make it effective for us.

It has been accomplished. He said it is finished. So eternal redemption has completely been obtained.

Perfectly and infallibly he has saved forever, past tense, all those for whom he died.

A thousand years before you and I were born, Jesus Christ secured your salvation and obtained your redemption.

It was utterly impossible in the plan and foreknowledge of God for you to miss the salvation that he has obtained on your behalf.

Why? Because on the death, on the cross, in the death of Christ, your sin was laid on him.

So past tense, at that moment, he obtained eternal redemption. Up to that point, it was all anticipated.

In the plan and purposes of God, it was going to happen, but in point of time, it had not yet happened. But when Christ said it is finished, at that moment, he had obtained, past tense, eternal redemption on behalf of every last person for whom he died.

So I say to you, is it possible, is it possible that Christ would obtain eternal redemption, deliverance from the slave market of sin on behalf of millions of people who would never be delivered from their sin?

If he has obtained your salvation, you will be delivered from your sin and you will be brought safely into the presence of God.

It is impossible that it could be otherwise. He's not going to, he's not going to pay the price to sin to redeem millions of people who will then perish in their sins.

But his death for you was specific, it was particular, it was individual.

He didn't die to make salvation possible, he didn't die to make salvation probable, he didn't die to make salvation just available.

And then leave the completeness and the sufficiency and the actualization of his sacrifice up to your will or human decision or your intellect or your willingness to apply it to yourself.

He has obtained it and he has applied it to all those whom the Father has given to him. This is the argument that Jesus made in John 6, in John 10, and John 17.

All that the Father gives me will come to me and I will give all of them eternal life and I will raise all of them up on the last day because this is the full of the

Father who sent me that of all that he has given to them, I give them eternal life and none of them perish. No one shall snatch them out of my hand.

How has he accomplished that? How can the Lord Jesus say that he would do the will of the Father and accomplish all of that and save every last one whom the

Father had given to him? He can only say that if he knew that on his cross, in his suffering and the shedding of his blood, that he would obtain, past tense, the salvation of every last person that God intended to save.

Every last single person. So the standing before the throne of God, there will be none of his people missing and not a drop of the blood of Christ and not a moment of its merits will ever be wasted.

He didn't die to obtain eternal redemption for countless millions who will never be redeemed.

That would be a failure. He died to obtain eternal redemption and he actually redeemed all those for whom he died.

It is a perfect, it is a sufficient redemption. And if the price has been paid, then it must be an eternal redemption.

He doesn't obtain, he did not obtain a temporary redemption, a redemption that you can give back, a redemption that you can fall out of, a redemption that you can lose.

If he has paid that price and he delivered you from the marketplace of sin, Christian, herein lies your security and your confidence.

That if he has paid that price, you have been redeemed and it has been accomplished and it is an eternal accomplishment, not a temporary accomplishment.

And if the blood that he has spilled has purchased us, then it must be eternal redemption.

It cannot be temporary redemption. And if the sacrifice that he has made is sufficient to atone for all of our sins and he has actually done that, then it must be eternal redemption and not a temporary redemption.

In other words, this passage describes the redemption that you and I have in terms that we've talked about on multiple other occasions, that it is a salvation that is actual, it is accomplished, and it is secure.

And it is secure not because it's just you fell into it and now you can't get out.

It is secure because he has obtained eternal redemption. And if all of your salvation rests on him, then none of it, including the keeping of it, rests on you.

He will hold me fast. We're just saying that. Do you know what that word means? Because my love is often cold, because my heart is prone to wander, because if salvation depended upon me,

I would have fallen out of it. I would have failed. I would have lost it. I would have stumbled into perdition if it depended upon me.

But it doesn't depend on me. It depends on one who holds me fast through faith.

That is what it depends on. And if his blood is superior, and his sacrifice is superior, and if it has accomplished a superior redemption, then it must be eternal redemption.

There's no other kind of redemption. There's no other kind of redemption except for eternal redemption.

The Bible knows of no other kind of redemption. A non -eternal redemption would be you getting redeemed and then going back into the slave market of sin.

But how can you go back into the slave market of sin if your price has been paid? If your price has been paid, then God cannot exact that price from you.

That's the justice of salvation. All my sin was laid on him, so that I bear none of its weight, none of its burden, none of its cost, none of its guilt.

All my sin was laid on him, and I cannot lose that salvation, and I cannot fall out of that salvation, because for me to do so would require that the weight of my sin and the guilt of my sin then be punished on my head.

But that's not justice. God will not require justice at the hands of the Savior and then turn around and require justice at the hands of the sinner.

If the justice has been paid by the Savior, then justice has been satisfied. And if justice has been satisfied, it has been satisfied fully, and it has been satisfied completely, because he has obtained eternal redemption.

There is a whole sermon in those three words, eternal redemption. I didn't give you that whole sermon, though you might have felt like I did, but I gave you the main points of that whole sermon.

He has obtained eternal redemption. Christian, in this is your hope and stay, in this is your righteousness, in this is your salvation, in this is your security, that he has obtained eternal redemption.

That is what his death has done. And any doctrine that says that your salvation is not eternal, that you must work for it, that you must strive to keep it, that you must do something to continue meriting it, anything that teaches that is a slight, intentional or not, it is a slight against the sufficiency of the work of Christ on your behalf.

Because the only way you can argue for that is to in some way suggest that what he did on that cross was not enough.

He's obtained eternal redemption. He has purchased the salvation of all who will believe.

If you are in him, your sins are forgiven, past, present, and future for all of eternity.

He has entered behind the veil as an anchor and a forerunner for us, and he will take us to where he is.

That is our hope and our confidence because he has obtained eternal redemption. Let's pray. Father, we glory in the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ and because of what you have done.

We can rejoice in our salvation knowing that the securing of it and the keeping of it and the fulfillment of it rests not upon our work or our merit or anything that we can do but upon the trustworthiness and the faithfulness of Jesus Christ who died to obtain our eternal redemption.

So we thank you for it. We rejoice in it. We love you and our hearts are thrilled to know that because you have done this you will bring us into heaven itself where Christ is seated at your right hand and there we will worship and adore you, our blessed and triune

God, forever and ever. Grant that this may encourage our hearts together this morning by these truths in Christ's name.