The following is a sermon preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi. This evening we're continuing our series titled, Our Coming Messiah, Prophet, Priest, and King. And so tonight we're going to be in the book of Hebrews chapter 9. We're going to look at how Christ Jesus is our true High Priest. And we're going to look at how His coming was to be the sacrifice for our sins that we so desperately need. Now, this is a long passage. It can kind of be a difficult passage to understand. And the reasons for that is because it winds in and out and back to and back from eras, different eras, the Old Testament era and then the New Testament era that we find ourselves in. It talks about the age before Christ came, and the age after Christ came, and it kind of winds back and forth through these different eras. But despite the complexity of the passage, the message is quite simple. It's a message about the perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus as our great High Priest. It demonstrates the beauty and the magnitude of Christ's high priestly sacrifice for us. And so my prayer for all of us this evening is that we will see more of the beauty of Christ Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf and that in doing so we'll fall more deeply in love with Jesus and we'll see that his grace is sufficient for us. So let me pray and we'll read Hebrews chapter 9. God, we are so grateful that you are here with us in this place, that you know us, you see us, you know exactly what we need. And Father, we know that there is no one in this room that is too far gone from the grip of your grace, and we know that because of the person and work of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. So as we dig into this passage, as your Word is proclaimed, would you give us ears that hear and hearts that understand the beauty and wonder of of redeeming love. We pray this all in the precious name of our Savior, Christ Jesus. Amen. Hebrews chapter 9, this is God's Word, starting in verse 1. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence. It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place. having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the Covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people." By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened, as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of Reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not enforced as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Thus, it was necessary for the copies of these heavenly things to be purified with these rites. but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. but as it is he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and just as is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment so christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him this is god's holy and inerrant word So I would venture to guess, excuse me. I would venture to guess that most of the very best movies, most of the very best stories, most of the very best books that you've read have had the theme of sacrifice in them. In fact, as I thought about it, it's hard to think of a story that doesn't involve in some way, shape, or form the theme of sacrifice. Most great stories have this theme. It's deeply meaningful to us, and tonight what we're going to consider, through God's Word, is this theme, this theme of sacrifice, and we're going to hear about the greatest sacrifice there ever was. It's not fictional, it's historical. It's the sacrifice of our Lord Christ Jesus on our behalf, and I hope that tonight you'll see some of the beauty and the wonder of his sacrifice for us. And there's three ways in particular I want you to see the wonder, the astounding beauty of Christ's sacrifice. First, it's full. Second, it's costly. And then third, it is lasting. It's full, it's costly, and it's lasting. So first, Christ's sacrifice for us is a full sacrifice. If you look at the first, most likely if your paragraphs are the same as mine, if you look at the first five verses, this first paragraph, what you see is that the author of Hebrews walks the reader through the items of the Old Testament sacrificial system, the lampstand, the Ten Commandments, the urn holding the manna, all these items in this old sacrificial system. And in verse 5 he says, of these things we cannot speak in detail. These were familiar items to the audience when the book of Hebrews was written. These are familiar items to God's people, anyone who's familiar with the Old Testament. And then quickly, the author of Hebrews moves on in the second paragraph, starting in verse 6, he moves on to the ritual procedures of this Old Testament sacrificial system. He walks us through some of the procedures, some of the ritual offerings of the high priest and the priest, what they did, but there's a point to it. There's a lesson to be taken from the author doing this, and the lesson is that he is showing the limitations of this old sacrificial system. He's showing that this system was limited. It couldn't do everything that now Christ has done for us. And there's at least four ways in this paragraph that this old sacrificial system that we see it as limited. first the priest had to go in and offer sacrifices repeatedly on a regular basis the high priest once a year and the the priest more often than that they had to go in over and over and over again and sacrifice animal after animal after animal It was limited in that it had to be done over and over again. Secondly, you'll see it in verse 7, but these sacrifices, they only covered what would be deemed as unintentional sins. Accidental sins. Sins done in ignorance. They were not able to purify high-handed sins. Sins that were done on purpose. It's very limited. Now as an aside, this does not mean that anyone who sinned on purpose in the Old Testament had no chance of redemption. David in Psalm 51, Psalm 51 tells the story of David's repentance after a very high-handed sin done on purpose, a grievous sin, and David says, to paraphrase, he says, I would give sacrifices, I would offer sacrifices, but those would do no good. Lord, what you require is a broken and contrite heart. It's the mercy of God that always saves. And yet verse 7 tells us these sacrifices only, they only covered unintentional sins of ignorance. It was a limited sacrificial system. Third, this sacrificial system, it depended on the use of intermediaries. There were barriers between God and man. Priests had to go into the holy places, and then the high priests had to go into the most holy places. There was not unfiltered access to God. If you remember the days of Zoom meetings or Zoom family gatherings during the holidays when COVID was at its peak, right? Think about that. Think about the barriers. The relationship was the same, and yet there was intermediaries, and it didn't feel the same. It was so different to sit on my couch and Zoom my family from another place and relate to one another than it is now to go sit in their home and fellowship with them. It's a small picture of the barriers that were in place in this old sacrificial system. And finally, verse 9 and 10, it tells us that the sacrificial system was only good to purify the flesh. It was unable, verse 10 says, it was unable to cleanse the heart. It only dealt with food and drink and various washings and regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. It could not deal with the conscience, verse 9 says, of the worshiper. This is the difference between makeover and heart surgery. What Christ gives us is heart surgery. What this sacrificial system gave was simply outward cleansing. It was limited. It was a limited sacrificial system, but it was not as though God all of a sudden just figured out a better way. God did not figure out a better way to do things. This was a time of preparation and anticipation by His design for the good of His people. It was a time of preparation and anticipation for the fullness of time. the fullness of time when the great high priest Christ Jesus would come into this world and live and die for us on behalf of his people, the one true God-man, Christ Jesus himself. Verse 11 tells us, he appeared as the great high priest of the good things that have come. And it was through his work, his offering of himself that he did for us with the blood of animals, the blood of many goats and calves, and all of those animals could never do. He secured for us eternal redemption. He secured for us eternal redemption by his life and his death and his blood spilled for us. His sacrifice is the full sacrifice for sin. The sacrifice that all of the items and the rituals of the Old Testament sacrificial system ultimately pointed to. It was all about Christ and it was only Christ's sacrifice that is able to purify our consciences from dead works, verse 14 says, from dead works to serve the living God. You see, Christ's sacrifice is a full sacrifice. In fact, commentators point out that every item in the Old Testament temple, the items in the Old Testament temple, they all pointed forward to this full sacrifice, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, the altar of incense, those point forward to the prayers of Christ on behalf of his people after he has lived and died and ascended into heaven. The bread in the temple points to Jesus Christ, the bread of life, whose body was broken for us. The Ten Commandments in the Ark of the Covenant, they were fulfilled perfectly by Christ's obedience. The mercy seat pointed to the Lamb of God. died for our sins, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, you see it has always been about Christ. His sacrifice is the full sacrifice for our sins, the fulfillment of everything that the Old Testament sacrificial system pointed to. I'll always remember sitting in church in college at Grace Presbyterian Church in Starkville, and I don't remember the details, the people in this illustration, but I certainly remember the point. And as an aside, this always reminds me of the blessings of going to church, just going to church. You may have an illustration that sticks with you your whole life about what Jesus has done. And I'll always remember the pastor talking about a famous painter who was so famous that an original piece of artwork from his hand would be a fortune. And he wanted to provide a fortune for someone he cared about dearly. And so what he did is he saw a boat out in the sea. And he was looking at this boat. And he quickly, in a matter of seconds, painted a boat and handed it to this person. And in this person's hand was an original painting from this famous painter worth a fortune. And then the pastor said this. In the same way, one drop of Christ's blood applied to a sinful soul provides an eternal inheritance, far beyond what anything a painter could give to a person here on this earth. One drop of Christ's blood applied to a sinful soul secures eternal redemption. It is a full sacrifice. So this evening, do you want certainty? Do you want assurance? Do you want to know that you belong to Christ? Do you want to know that your sins are forgiven? Look to Christ Jesus and cling to Christ Jesus. His sacrifice is the full sacrifice. Well, this evening, do you want sincerity? Do you want to serve God with a true heart? Do you want to obey with real, right motives? Well, this passage tells us that it's the work of Christ that is able to purify our consciences from dead works to serve the living God. So look to Christ, and it's as the Holy Spirit applies what he has done for us on our behalf, to our hearts, that we begin to replace duty with gratitude. We begin to replace guilt with love, and we begin to serve our King with grateful, sincere hearts. It's a full sacrifice, the work of Christ on our behalf. But secondly, it's a costly sacrifice. This fourth paragraph, starting in verse 15, it tells us that Christ is the mediator of a new covenant in which we receive an eternal inheritance. But it also says that this inheritance was only secured through death, through a death, specifically the death of Christ Jesus. And it uses an analogy. It says, like a will takes effect at the death of a benefactor, so the benefits of redemption are unleashed into the lives of believers when Christ died. Just like a will. But just like a will, death was required for all of the benefits of redemption to be unleashed. Even in the Old Testament, our text tells us, things had to be sprinkled with blood. There had to be the sprinkling of blood and the offering up of animals as a sacrifice because the truth is that the wages of sin is death. And as verse 22 says, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. The wages of sin is death. And this means it was astoundingly costly for Christ Jesus to be our high priest. It cost him his own life. The author of life, slain on our behalf, the Son of God who willingly spilled his own blood for our sins. Christ did not just enter into a holy place, spill someone else's blood, and walk out. He went to cavalry, he went to the cross, and he gave up his life and suffered and died for us, the author and sustainer of life, dying in our place, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So my question for us tonight is, have we forgotten? Have we forgotten the cost of cavalry? Have we forgotten the cost of what Christ has done for us? You know, the wages of sin is death, and it was us. We are the culprits. We are the ones who flung open the door to sin and ultimately flung open the door to death. We chose it. We welcome death. And despite Despite how kind we are, despite how emotionally intelligent we may be, despite how gifted or successful we may be, without the work of Christ on our behalf, death, eternal death, in hell is what we deserve. Have we forgotten the cost of sin? Because you see, in light of this reality, the wonder of the gospel comes into full view. It's when we actually understand what we have done and what we deserve that the wonder of the gospel comes into full view and we see our slain Savior for us. We see the wonder of redeeming love. We see the surprise of the cross. We see the magnitude of his death for us. We see the glory of God in the cross. It's when we see our sin and his death for us that the wonders of redeeming love come into full view. Tim Keller has a short book titled On Death, and in it he tells the story of Donald Gray Barnhouse. He was the former pastor of 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and he suffered a great tragedy. early in his life. When they were in their late 30s, his wife passed away from cancer and he was left with four children under 12. And Keller writes this, he tells this story. Driving to the funeral with his children, Barnhouse drove and a large truck pulled past them in the left lane, casting its shadow over them. Barnhouse turned and asked everyone in the car, would you rather be run over by the truck or by the shadow of the truck? His eleven-year-old answered, shadow, of course. Her father replied, well that is what happened to your mother. The shadow of death has passed over her because death itself ran over Jesus. For anyone tonight who is hidden in Christ Jesus, for anyone tonight who is looking to Christ as Savior, this is your reality. You will face the shadow of death because the reality of death ran over your Lord and your Savior, Christ Jesus. He faced the reality of death for you. If you're a Christian this evening, Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, should die for me? Is that the song of your heart this evening? Well, the death of Christ was costly. It cost him everything. But in that costly death, we receive everything. And it feels like we could end here. It feels like that could be enough said, the beauty of Christ's sacrifice for us. But the amazing thing is there is more. It gets better. There is another layer to the beauty of Christ's high priestly sacrifice for us. And it's this. It is a lasting sacrifice. Christ's sacrifice is not all that you need today. It is not just all that you need today. It is all that you will ever need. This last paragraph, it tells us that, again, that the Old Testament, the rituals and the items in the temple, those were copies. Those were shadows of things to come. But Christ Jesus, this text tells us, once and for all came, never again to die, Never again to suffer once and for all. And what did he come for? Well, he came to deal with sin once and for all. Verse 26 tells us he came to put away sin. He came to conquer it. He came to vanquish it. He came to release us from the penalty of it and one day release us from the power of sin. He came to conquer sin because his death for us, his sacrifice for us, is a lasting sacrifice. And so now, what is Christ doing? Well, this paragraph tells us. It says that he is in heaven, in the presence of God the Father, and he is there on our behalf. He is always pointing to the finished work, his finished work for us, always wearing the scars on his hands and side, pleading and pleading effectively for his people, saying, it is finished, proving again and again that it is finished. Salvation accomplished. Salvation lasts forever. We just sang about this. Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, the great high priest, whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands. My name is written on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart. Redemption for the believer is completely accomplished. Our sins have been trampled underfoot. They've been cast as far as the east is from the west. Christ did not come to offer you a clean slate. He came to grab hold of you and never let you go. It is a lasting sacrifice, a lasting salvation. It is the greatest sacrifice ever. And so maybe you feel unworthy this evening. If you've lived at all, you know what it feels like to feel unworthy. I know what it feels like to feel unworthy, especially when we consider that the beauty and the holiness of the God who made us Maybe you feel unworthy and maybe even that is the reason that you've never come to Christ and trusted in Christ because you feel unworthy. Well, this is an invitation to you. Your unworthiness, as real as it is, is no match for the sacrifice of Christ. It is a lasting, full, and costly sacrifice. Or maybe you came into this building this evening and you feel stuck. You feel in a spiral of shame and despair, and there are sins in your life that you keep running back to, and it breaks your heart, but you cannot bear to face God. You cannot bear to confess to God who you really are. Well, the reality of this passage and the reality of Christ's sacrifice for us is this, is that His grace is far more powerful the worst of our sin. And so rather than letting our shame compound and grow and going back to the same old things over and over again, what we can do is turn to Christ and taste the sweetness of repentance, the goodness of his grace. When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I'll look and see him there who made an end to all my sin." Who made an end to all my sin. This is the greatest sacrifice ever. It is one that is full, it is one that is costly, profoundly costly, and one that lasts forever. So this evening, the invitation to you is this. Come to Christ Jesus. See the beauty of his high priestly sacrifice for you. That is what he came to this earth for. And rest in him and love him for what he has done for you. Let me pray. God, what a joy it is to consider your great sacrifice for us. You're so good, far better than we could ever understand, but we do know that your sacrifice for us is enough. And so may we cling to Christ Jesus during this Christmas season and on throughout. Would we cling to his sacrifice for us? God, we love you, and we pray this all in the name of our great high priest, Christ Jesus, amen.