Let's bow together in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, as we join together at this time, as we've heard the reading of the sacred text, we realize, Father, that this word that we have before us is to be treasured, that this is the means that you use, Father, as a primary means of grace to cause us to be everything that we would enjoy regard to the benefits of redemption. That your spirit, Father, speaks to us through this word, effectually working to call us unto salvation and to cause us to be those who confess and are crushed under the weight of sin. That you, Father, grant repentance in the heart and in the mind and engender faith in us. And that, Father, as Christians, You speak through this word to cause us to grow in grace, but also to know you more than just knowing about you, but to know you. That you, Father, have joined us to Christ in union with him. And through your word, you have performed this. We know, Lord, that you tell us in your scriptures, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But Father, we also find that after the fear has brought us to that point of seeing the commands and recognizing our own sinfulness and the shortfall that it certainly exists, it drives us to Christ. We see Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And Father, the one who bore your wrath in our place, who went to a grave that was not his own, having paid in full the debt that we owe. And that when you raised him from the dead father there, he was publicly proclaimed to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. And so as the redeemed of the Lord, we come now and ask that you would open your scriptures unto us, that you would enable the preaching of it. But that, Father, it may not be an empty exercise, an intellectual exercise alone, but that your Holy Spirit would work in such a way that we would be conformed more to the image of Christ, that we, Father, would have the mind of Christ. And as we see here, Father, the pattern of worship that you have placed in the old covenant and here superseded by the new and yet The profound meanings that are there in the temple or tabernacle worship are taken up and fulfilled in and enjoyed in great richness in Jesus Christ by your Spirit unto you, our Holy Father. And so, Father, you say, let him who speaks speak as it were the utterances that are yours. Whoever serves, let him do so by the strength which you supply. And so, Father, in all these things, we pray that you may be glorified through it all, that Christ may be preeminent in our minds and hearts in this worship, and that you, Father, might receive glory and dominion forever. In Jesus' name, amen. In Hebrews chapter 9, we find the great a great portion of Scripture that is showing us the work of the Holy Trinity in the atonement. It leads us to that, but it doesn't begin there. In the beginning of the chapter, it starts with, first of all, an earthly tabernacle and what it means, at least a little. And we didn't read that part. I will read it for you in verses one to five. It says, then, indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service in the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which the lampstand and the table of the showbread, which is called the sanctuary or holy place, and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all or the holy of holies, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. And of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Let us look at this for just a few moments with regard to what an earthly tabernacle was about. You see, we can't pass it up, can we? As we look at this earthly tabernacle, understand as it says there in or later on in verse 11 or 13 or something like that, it says, a tabernacle not made with hands. So that's the tabernacle into which Jesus entered, having made sacrifice for us. And when you think of the temple and you have there on the cover, or we've placed there on the cover of your bulletin, something of a pattern of what the temple or tabernacle looked like. And you'll notice the very first stop was actually the altar. Before one entered into worship, in the other parts, the very first stop was the altar of sacrifice. And it was there at that altar, as you see the priest making sacrifices. There were lots of sacrifices done, but daily sacrifices, morning and evening sacrifices on the altar. And when the sacrifices were done, you see, you would have this occasion, especially on the Day of Atonement, you'd have the priest go to that altar, and it was there that he would place his hands on the head of the animal and confess the sins. And people, when they would sin, would come to the priests, and they would come to that very altar. And there, with the priest mediating everything for them, there, the confession of sins would be made and the imputation or the accrediting of the sins to the sacrifice, whatever it may be. The poor people might have just a turtle dove. Or it might be a lamb, if you're thinking of certain other times. Or you think it could be something greater, like even for the priest there was a bullock. And when you look at all of these things, they have the same principle in mind. That the guilt, that is to say, not guilty feelings, but the actual legal guilt before God, that this was accredited or imputed, transferred, if you will, to that animal. It had to be an innocent animal, spotless, without blemish. Because as Peter says in 1 Peter 2, for example, that that was foreshadowing Jesus Christ himself. The spotlessness, that is to say, not just physical, although that too I would assume, but also the moral, the ethical, the legal righteousness and spotlessness of Christ. We'll come to that in a bit. But the altar, in other words, there was an earthly altar. There you had sacrifice of a substitute for the sinner. After that there was, of course, you'll see the next thing is a bronze laver, it was called, or a wash basin. And so there you would have the cleansing that would be done. And you see that this cleansing was something that was ritually done. And so as you washed blood off the hands or ashes or any dirt of any kind, as they were cleansed, you see, then the person was left clean. But the point it's making as you go through all of these things is the fact that this was superficial. It did not have the power to cleanse the soul, the mind, the heart. And so as these things were done, you have here the first step towards the holy place, the altar, and then the washing. And so sacrifice and cleansing were necessary for worship to even begin. We'll return to that. And so it says there that in verse two, the very next thing that would occur would be the entering into the holy place or the outer sanctuary, if you will, the outer part of the tent. And as you went into that part, remember there was a menorah on one side, and there was the altar of incense against the veil, and there was a table of showbread or table of presents, the bread of presents there as you entered in. And so it was into this place that Only the priests could come. All the priests, not just high priests, all of them could minister within the holy place. And so that outer part, they could enter in. You had a menorah, which was a light, you know, that it had seven stems on it, you know, and it had almond, it looked like an almond tree. And you had the seven branched menorah. I think most of you have seen a menorah, what they look like. And they were filled with oil, and so you kept the lights burning, and the priest had to keep the light going, you see, never letting the light go out. And so when you think of 1 John 1, verse 5, think of that menorah, and it says that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. And so when you think of that light, it was rich with meaning. And you could go on and talk about John 8, 12, for example, or John 1, where there it talks about Jesus Christ. And he said, I am the light of the world. And so when we think of God as light and Christ as light, you see. And of course, the Holy Spirit, also described in terms of light. It says there, the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians 4, remember in verse 6, it says, the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness is the one who is shown in our hearts to give us the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see Trinitarian description that's used there. And so when we think of the menorah, this light that would be there in the temple, that was meant to convey the light of truth, the light of holy presence, the light of God's glory, the light of all these things, that which illumines the heart and soul, being by God's power, not ours. Remember reading in Revelation 4, there we got a great description of the Lord's throne room and of heaven. And you see there in verse 5, I think it is, and it says you have these seven translations. Many of them say candlesticks. Now you probably think of, you know, the kind of wax candles you get and you have a little candle. That's not what it's talking about. It's like seven menorahs, in other words. And each of those was seven branches on them. And so seven menorahs, here you see the real meaning of it, and here's the Spirit of God, it says there, before the throne, like seven menorahs before God. And so the light of God sent through the Holy Spirit. So much could be said there, but our time is brief. When you and I are used of God to speak to others of the Word of God, the truth of Christ, Remember what it says, like Paul, when Paul was called, remember when Paul was giving his testimony in Acts chapter 26? He had all the crowd ready to stone him and that kind of thing. But they listened because he spoke to them in Aramaic. And he talked about the vision on the road to Damascus. And he said that the Lord called him to deliver them from the power of the devil and to deliver them from the power of darkness unto light. And so when we think here of the worship of God, here is the light, the true light, the only light, the light of the world. And then you think of that table of God's presence or bread of presence or show bread. Here he had 12 loaves. I've read so many commentators are divided. Twelve, because there's one for each tribe of Israel representing the people, okay? Twelve, because there are twelve months in the year, and so this is God's provision for the people. What was the point? The point is that God in His presence, He's the one who sustains us. He's the one that we depend upon for the bread of life. And so when we think of all things, it's his presence in him. He is the one in whom we find all provision. And then, of course, the altar of incense right before you go to the through the veil or the high priesthood once a year. There were the prayers were offered morning and evening. The incense would be put on the altar and the smoke, the sweet smelling savor, which says would waft into the Holy of Holies itself and into the holy presence of God. And there you would see, or you would know that the incense was there while the prayers of the saints was taking place outside. And while the priest was putting on the incense on the altar, just outside the Holy of Holies. knowing that the prayers of the people were being prayed there and going into the Holy of Holies to God's presence. The smoke of the incense representing that. Now in case you think I made that up, Revelation 5 and Revelation 8 both speak of the heavenly places and it talks about an altar of incense. I'm sure representing this, or this, of course, remember the earthly temple was a shadow of that. And so it says that there you have the incense wafting up into the presence of God, and it says, these are the prayers of the saints. Now get the picture. Our prayers, your prayers, my prayers, all of this going into the very presence of God, but not directly in the temple. The tabernacle was meant to teach us that you must have a mediator. There must be the sacrifice first. There must be the cleansing. There must be the light of God and the provision of God to sustain our life. And then there, the intercession takes place in our behalf. And it makes a point here that all of them could go, all the priests could go into this part. But then furthermore, in verses three to five, it says, the holy of holies are the holiest of all. Only one time a year was anyone allowed to go in there, and that was only the high priest. You all know about it. Read Leviticus 16, and there you see the Day of Atonement described. The priest would have to get up early. His clothes were washed. He would wash. He would have to have sacrifice for himself. He would have to make sacrifice for the tabernacle. Everything was cleansed with blood, and he alone would be able to go. He would go through the veil. the veil that had cherubim upon it, because they're in heaven. Who are the ones closest to God, closest to the throne? They have four faces. Read in the book of Ezekiel, one facing each way, different faces. You know, you got an ox, you got an eagle, you got a, oh, what's the other one? You got a lion, you got a man. And so you've got those, you got the six wings, you know, and you've got all of us taking place and they're the ones crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The point getting across access to God one way. And we'll come to that in a moment. The veil represented the barrier, the cherubim here and no further is the idea. And the golden censer in verse four, was that what you, the high priest, when he went in on the day of atonement, this is after he had done the sacrifices we've described so many times in the past with the goats. There were two goats. One was a scapegoat and both of those, he would put his hands on the head and he would confess the sins of the people. It took time. All of the adultery, all of the murder. All of the blasphemy, I'm sure all of the covetousness, the idolatry, all of the interpersonal relationships and anger and bitterness and resentment and everything else that you go on through. And after he confesses the sins, one of the goats is slain and the blood caught and he goes into the Holy of Holies and it's a great ordeal to do it and we're not going to go in detail. The other one led into the wilderness. To be let go, sin being led outside the camp that way, the whole point here being this, that you had access only by the sacrifice, the substitutionary atonement of that good. And so the high priest would go in once a year. You couldn't go in, and he had this censer with the incense, and he had to keep lots of incense burning. He didn't want to look up. He didn't want to see the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, which was called the mercy seat, because if he did, he'd die. The glory of God, which strike him. There's where God would reside among them. The Ark of the Covenant, you see described here in verse 4. You have this golden overlaid box, and in it there was, or at least in it was, or with it was the manna. Inside was also the Ten Commandments. And then you had furthermore Aaron's rod that budded. I don't have time to develop them all. But you read, remember it was a time in Numbers 16, I think it is, where you have this debate over who should be priest, who should be high priest. And all these other guys in the rebellion of Korah, they say, we can be priests just as well as Aaron can be. And so what happens is they make a test. And so they put the names of each of the tribes on a staff, on a rod, and they carry it into the, Moses carries them into the, rod into the Holy of Holies and lays them before the Ark of the Covenant. Aaron's rod budded, and not just budded, bore almonds all of us overnight. They bring it out the next day and he shows what had taken place. And what God says is this is a sign, I'm the one who chose who will be high priest. I'm the one and it's rebellion to go against the one I've chosen. And so when you look at Aaron's rod, the manna, remember the manna? There's so much that could be said there. Remember that it says, you have that testimony, it says to remind you that it's recorded in Deuteronomy chapter eight, to remind you, I led you through the wilderness. I fed you bread in the wilderness. I'm the one who was with you, present with you every step of the way in the wilderness. And it was during that Deuteronomy 8 passage that you read these words that God wrote about them in the wilderness. I gave you manna that you might know, listen, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ and the temptation in the wilderness. Quoting those to the devil, you will recall. And so anyway, you find there, as Psalm 78 would say, God gave you bread of heaven. It says there, men ate angels' food. I love the wording there. So as you look at all of these things in Jesus, we're all reminded in John 6 where Jesus said, you know, that he is the bread of life. He said, your fathers ate bread from heaven that Moses gave them in the wilderness, but he said, I am the bread that's come down out of heaven. for you. So you see, all of these things are pointing us to Jesus Christ and to the new covenant. And this is what it says. And so all of that was a type and a picture of this is a pattern God gave for a reason, not just to say, well, there's now there's old and we're going to make new. But it was to teach and to show, to demonstrate a holy God cannot be approached and worshiped it willy nilly. But he's the one who says how. And so as we see secondly in verses 6 through 10, God's worship, God's way. God's worship, God's way. Here in these verses you see that the priests were necessary to mediate between man and God, and God and man. In none of that that I went through can you find where a person themselves could just wander in and do any of these things and be killed. or God would kill them. There were two of the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, maybe some of you have heard of them, who were priests. And they were taking it lightly. They didn't think it was that important. So God was very specific where you're supposed to get the coals to use for the altar of incense, you see, of the prayers, remember, represented there. And they didn't do what they were supposed to do. They just took coals for what was convenient. And both of them were struck dead by God in the temple. And it was so serious before God that they would dare to do worship Him, not the way He said, but their own way. He struck them dead and He said, Moses, I forbid you to mourn the death of your own children. How hard that would be. But that's how serious it is before God. And so the holy place that they came into was a priest who represented you. The Holy of Holies, it was a high priest once a year. That was every day the priest went in the holy place. But once a year on the Day of Atonement, that was the high priest entering into the Holy of Holies. It was by the blood of sacrifice, always priests. Remember, the priest would do a bowl for himself, a bowl for the priest himself. And then the goats and the like for the people on the day of atonement. And so when you saw the priest, it says the priest had to make sacrifices, not just for the people, but first they had to make sacrifices for themselves. Why? They were sinners. That's why. And so the Holy Spirit, in other words, in these verses is teaching us in this temporary way that sinners mortal high priests, even they in that honored place were making sacrifice of animals repeated time and time again, that it was merely as verse nine says was symbolic, symbolic for the present time to show the way for salvation, to prepare for the worship of the new covenant in Christ by the spirit and to contrast how a holy God is to be set apart by sinful humans that would dare, by God's grace, as they're saved, to worship Him. In verse 10, it says that there's something that happens In the new that doesn't happen in the old, it said the old, that one of the problems, the big core of the problem, it says there in verses 10 and following is that the sacrifices that were done there, the worship that was done, it says it was only about things that were, let's not call them superficial, but fleshly. You know, what you ate and what you drank and what you wore and things of that nature, you see. but it could not, it was powerless to change internally the conscience. It was sufficient for the cleansing of the flesh but not for transforming the conscience, the heart, the mind. The conscience, you all are familiar with that. It's a conscience that would make a, that would excuse us or accuse us especially as a Christian who has a conscience informed, not by superstition, not by mere emotion, not by popular opinion, but a conscience that is molded and shaped by the truth of the revelation of the Word of God in Scripture. Yes, we have a remnant of that conscience in all of us, but the conscience can also be hardened, can it? The Scripture tells us. Any of you know what a sociopath is, or a psychopath? You know, some of you have studied that enough to know. One of the issues with these people is no conscience. Not there. No feelings of guilt, no remorse. They can't empathize with you and that sort of thing. And so when you're thinking of people like that, we say, boy, they have a psychological issue. No. Well, maybe. But a spiritual issue. A hardened conscience. and the fear of the Lord that I mentioned. You see, the guilt as it rises up and the conscience could not be quelled, there's that no final peace because they would constantly realize that they're sinning again and again and again. And so there's need to satisfy. And it's only in Jesus Christ's coming that it is. as you look here with me at the third point. Beginning in verse 11 and going through 15, Trinitarian atonement. You know, in Romans chapter 8, many of you know this verse by heart. How many of you can quote Romans chapter 8, the chapter? How many of you can quote one verse? Besides 28, what verse can you quote? One, what does it say? There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. That's what we're talking about, you see. Justification is a result. That's part of what we're talking about. But justification, there is now, therefore, no condemnation. Only the full and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ could make that kind of satisfaction. And as we look at all this pattern and symbolic view of what worship was, how a holy God could be reconciled with a sinful people. It said in chapter six, remember Christ is our anchor within the veil. That is to say into the arc of the covenant itself. And the arc of the covenant, by the way, that box with the cherubim on the top and the glory of God, why is the lid called the mercy seat? Remember, it was there on that lid that you had the blood. That's one of the places that blood was put on the Day of Atonement. But there's more. The Ark of the Covenant represented a throne. And so when you're thinking of the reign of mercy, there must be blood to atone for sin. And yet reign God on the throne. What's the problem we have apart from Jesus Christ? God is holy and just. What does just mean? We get justice. What is justice for sin? The curse. Ah, but you see, grace and justice meet in Jesus Christ. And that's what this is getting at. Let's look at these verses very quickly and simply. As we look at verse 11, It says there, but Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come with the greater, more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of his creation, and not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood. He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. So when you think of What has happened here? Jesus Christ came in the blood into the Holy of Holies. That's what the Day of Atonement recommended or showed for. Into the Holy of Holies. But the heavenly one, as we saw last week. And he brought eternal redemption. Notice it talks about animals, lambs, bulls and goats and all of that. And so what was the What were the ashes of a heifer about? Any of you know that one? That's also in Numbers, I think maybe 13. And there it talks about what it was for. Remember, you would have the heifer that was brought and you would have the sacrifice done and you'd have the heifer burned and the ashes you see were spread in water. And so that water with the ashes of a heifer was for cleansing, but for a specific thing. Death. having touched someone or something that was dead, could only be cleansed by the ashes of a heifer. And it said that was good enough for cleansing the flesh, but Jesus Christ cleanses also from the shadow of death. Remember the garden? Remember the warning by God to Adam, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely And that curse has gone through generation after generation after generation ever since. And the only one who can cleanse from the corruption of death and its power, remember we saw that in chapter two, Jesus came in flesh and blood that he might destroy the one who had power of death, even the devil. And here we talk about the corruption of death. Jesus Christ fulfills that too. And so as it mentions all these animals and we think of Jesus Christ, let me talk about this for just a moment. Some of you are theologians, so this should be simple. For some of you it may be tough. Stick with me. When you think of the superficiality or the lack of depth of the of what's going on with the sacrifices, just fleshly, just animals, remember. You see, the slaying of an animal, this is a brute beast. This is just an animal that has no rationality. It has no conscience, no soul, impossible to do anything good or bad. And a defiled offering could not cleanse a defiled people. Neither could an animal offering truly cleanse rational humans created in the image of God. Only the humans, Adam and Eve, were created in the image of God. I know you love your animals, some of you. I get this every time I say something like this. Someone will come up to me, but won't we have animals in heaven? In the new creation, I believe there will be animals, so that makes it better, but back to the point. Animals cannot really cleanse us humans from sin. And so what we needed was a man who could be offered to satisfy for sin. But here's the problem. Everyone descended from Adam by natural generation is a sinner, a sinner themselves needing salvation. And if they were to die, if any of us were to die, we would merely say, this is what I had coming because I'm under that curse. But there's one. Jesus Christ. And so the Son of God entered the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born and took on human flesh, a human soul, a reasonable soul, and here subjected himself to all these things that he as fully man and fully God might fully obey the righteousness of God and that he might be the one who would be suitable for a sacrifice for all his elect. And it says that Christ came. In chapter seven, you remember chapter seven, verse 16, it says that Christ came distinguishing him from Aaron and those sacrifices with the power of indestructible life. You remember that? some translations of endless life. And remember, he's like Melchizedek. He's someone who has without beginning of days, in other words, eternal. And the whole point here being that in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, remember we're talking God incarnate, that in his sacrifice, he could do what no temporal or finite creature's sacrifice could do. For you have the infinite, eternal God incarnate, the one who could say, I am, who was sacrificed in our place. So there's the first thing to remember. Most of you know that, but it's good to be reminded. But there's more. Let's look at what it says again in verses 14. It talks about the glory of the old and the satisfaction of the old for the flesh, and it says, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God. Cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And so as we think of this, we're thinking of an inner Trinitarian activity. Here is the blood of Jesus Christ. Now you can't have that. That's talking about Him and His humanity, isn't it? The blood of Jesus Christ. is being presented by the priest. It just so happens the priest is also the one who's presenting the blood, is offered by Jesus Christ, our great high priest. How does he do it? Through the eternal spirit, unto whom? God, God the Father. And so the only way, the only way for this to be done was for God to be the one to satisfy his own justice for his people. You know, back in Romans chapter three, It, in talking about some of these same things, but in a little different context, it comes to the point of where God is the one satisfying his own justice. And it says, God is both, as a judge would be, God is both just and justifier. And then he goes on to say something else. And there are a couple of questions. Where then is boasting? That's one question anyway. The answer, it is excluded. And so as we consider the character of Christ, remember Jesus as he was talking to his disciples, he offered himself. It was free, his own desire that he should go. And he set his face towards Jerusalem like Flint. Remember reading that? Remember Jesus in John chapter 10 where he says, I lay down my life for my sheep. He said, if I lay down my life for my sheep, I will take it up again. But he says three different times. I think it is. He says, I lay down my life for my sheep. In other words, this was his desire that he should be laying down his life for the sheep. over in chapter 13 of Hebrews, it gives a beautiful description of Christ. Where was the altar Christ died on? Not a trick question. Well, it wasn't exactly looking like an altar, but wood was there. And there was a fire of sorts. It was the cross. And the fire Well, that would be the wrath of God that burned against him for our sin. There's more. Question, how could the blood of Christ be poured out on the altar there on the earth at the cross? And that's certainly where the blood of sacrifice was poured out, at the cross. But I thought you needed blood in the holy sanctuary, or at least what it represented. in the Holy of Holies, and that's in heaven. So how does that work out? There have been all kinds of crazy things written where people say, well, you see, the blood was taken and the actual blood of Christ was taken up into heaven, and so the blood is actually there in this temple on this Ark of the Covenant there in heaven. I've heard that. You probably have, too, if you ever listen to J. Vernon McGee. No. Do you remember what the lid of the Ark of the Covenant was called? The mercy seat. Do you know what the word is? It's hilasterion. You don't care about that, but I mean what the word is, how it's translated also into English, propitiation. And so the mercy seat is propitiation. It says that Christ makes propitiation for us. Turn with me to chapter two. He's the one who made propitiation and so what's he doing on the basis of that propitiation, that satisfaction that he made for us in chapter 2 of Hebrews verse 17. Therefore in all things he had to be made like his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he's able to help those who are tempted. Where is the mercy seat? Remember, all of this was symbolic in the temple. Remember, it was a symbol of the mercy seat, the throne of grace of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the father on high. When we get to chapter 10, it gives the rest of the answer. I'll give it to you now. Is that okay? It says that Jesus Christ, having made sacrifice for sin, once for all, that would be at the cross, he said he entered into the holiest of all in the heavenly places, and instead of going into the heavenly places and coming back out, he went in and sat down. And on the basis, the foundation, the legal standing of that satisfaction of the law of God, the righteousness of God, the justice of God, in our behalf that we might receive the grace of God, He remains there interceding in our behalf. That's the picture. That's the lesson. And it says through the eternal spirit, as he was sacrificed on that cross, remember he was baptized by the spirit in the Jordan. Remember, you have the Father saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Here is the Son in the water being baptized by John the Baptist. And here is the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. And it says in fulfillment of Isaiah 61, and after that baptism in Luke 4, it says in temptation, Jesus Christ saying that this jubilee that God promised where the Spirit is upon me and I'm the one who's been sent to preach the gospel to the poor and to set the captives free, etc. That all of that arrived with Jesus Christ. And in the fullness of the Spirit, He cast out demons. The Spirit of the Kingdom of Heaven has come upon you if I cast out demons by the power of the Spirit, He said, Matthew 12. Jesus healed the blind. and the sick, and raise the dead. But it says here, as Jesus Christ suffered and died on that cross, God the Holy Spirit, the everlasting Spirit, was the one who brought this sacrifice to God, spiritually speaking, before Him. And there the satisfaction made by the Spirit, you see, that's what it's saying. And so Christ, through the Spirit, to the Father in our place. But Christ is also ascended to the right hand of the Father and sat down on the basis of this having been finished to intercede in our behalf. That's why in Hebrews 13, it says, you and I have an altar to partake of that those of the Old Testament knew nothing about. I didn't touch on the last verse of the last chapter for a reason, or the last couple of verses. It's that last point of the New Covenant. Let me mention it now. You remember what the New Covenant promised? Yeah, writing is law in our hearts and our minds and that sort of thing. But as you look at chapter 8, for example, it goes on to say, I will be merciful in verse 12. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. How can that be? Because Jesus Christ, God, the son, his blood through the eternal spirit was offered to the father by him in our place. worship. I really want to develop it more. I'll have to save it for next week. Let me say this much. The patterns we see here in approaching the holy, remember at the end there are the holy of holies. That's where God dwelt upon his throne. And all of this was symbolic, a picture of how they would approach God. But all of it through a mediator, all of that collapses. into one mediator, or really two. One mediator, Jesus Christ, the High Priest, and another mediator who connects us to Him, just like He connected Jesus Christ to the Father in that sacrifice, who connects us to Jesus Christ and the Father, and that would be the Holy Spirit. We are to worship in the mindset and in the heart, with the attitude and with the desire that was demonstrated at that temple. Let me leave you with this one element of worship, and then we'll develop these things as we go on later. And that is simply this. As they came to that altar, they came to that altar reverently. As they brought the sacrifice, they did so with a full understanding of the gravity of sin. As they came to, the priest mediated in their behalf. As they prayed, they prayed with great devotion and reverence and even fear before God. because they realize God is not to be trifled with. God is holy. Beloved, one of the greatest tragedies of our day, of that which tries to pass itself off as worship, is that which goes on that is irreverent, that does not come to God as holy in a full recognition of the gravity of what we're doing. May we learn from this that that should not be named among us. One last thing I'd like to leave you with. The last verse we found there in chapter 9 that we looked at, what about the Old Testament saints? All these guys and gals have missed out. I mean, they just utterly missed out on worship. I mean, think of it. They didn't have the New Covenant. They had the Old Covenant. And so what about them? Still unforgiven. Uh-uh. It talks about them in this text. And it says that here in Jesus Christ, all of those who were looking forward, their faith was in the sacrifice, the substitutionary atonement, all of those who depended upon the mediator to mediate in their behalf, all of those whose faith was in the true and living God, all of those resting in the promises of God that he gave in his covenant word, all of these, the yea and amen to their hopes and dreams and faith. was the sacrifice of Christ, and they were forgiven. We've said it Thursday, we were having a discussion of various aspects to it, but one of the things that we got very clear is whether you are an Old Testament saint or a New Testament saint, you're saved because you are in Christ that is in union with him. And so, beloved, as we look to this, One of the dangers of going through texts like this is familiarity. Because it sounds familiar, we can sometimes miss all the wonder that's encapsulated there. I hope that's not the case today. But you would do well to go back and study this and to think of all the mystery of within the persons of the Godhead, one essence, one God, one will, three persons, three modes of existence, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not modalism, I didn't say that. That here we have this inter, this Trinitarian relationship. There within the most intimate and the greatest existence at all, anywhere, anytime, that's where ultimately atonement was made for you and me. How precious that should be to us. What assurance we should have. What joy we should walk through the trials of this world in, saying, I'm in Him, and rejoice. May God grant us a grace to see it with eyes of faith, with hearts full of assurance. May God cause it to be so. Amen. Our Heavenly Father, as we have seen these verses together, have studied them however briefly. As we go through these things, Father, it can be something that is rather Difficult for us to take in all at once. It can be one of those things, Father, that's so weighty and so much we can lose sight of the wonder of it all. Forgetting, Father, that the privilege, the marvelous things that we enjoy on every day, every time we come to worship together, that we have the assurance that you hear us in Christ. That we have the gift of the Holy Spirit who abides within, who cries out, Abba, Father. That we, O Lord, are in Jesus Christ, in the new covenant promises as well, and know in all of his richness of worship, Father, that we have a mediator who ever lives to make intercession for us, not a sinner, not an animal who could not make atonement for us, but one indeed who knows our weaknesses, who knows our sins, who knows our being better than we know ourselves and still loves us. And the father, he gave himself for us. And so Lord, that the fact that we call you our father. May that cause our heart to swell with love and response. And gratitude for your great grace and the spirit who sanctifies us and causes our conscience to be renewed and causes us, Father, to desire that everything that we do would bring pleasure to you and glorify you. That in these things, Father, that you as a loving father would Communicate unto us by your Spirit, through Christ, by your Word, the depth and the breadth and the height and the length of these wonders, the fullness of Christ to our very soul. In Jesus' name, amen. I receive the benediction of the Lord. I made a piece of God, which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the blessing of God Almighty Father, Son and Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. Amen.