Good evening. It's a great joy for me to be here with you this evening. Our church sends their blessing from Sola Gracia in Tuxla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico. Many times I have followed the transmissions of this church from my house. It's been a great blessing in my life. I praise God for what he's given to this church. For the gifts that he's given each one of you. You should know that you're a very privileged people. And I worship the Lord for that. Simply, the Bible is a marvelous book. But if we're honest, the Bible has many difficult passages to understand. When we pass through books like Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, there's ceremonial laws and sacrifices. All of that seems far away from us. Sometimes we want to run through the pages, but we all must remember this is the Word of God. What does a preacher do grammatically when he comes to one of those texts? He doesn't choose them. He just passes over them lengthily. His mind says, we'll look for something more relevant. Something that's more relative to our actual, our present reality. It's what many preachers do. But what is correct is to explain to the people of God all the counsel of God. Because that's what the good preachers do. If you would have asked me, I would not have chose to preach Hebrews 9 this evening. But your pastor's a great preacher. He chose it for me. I couldn't do anything. So I'm gonna wait that he comes and preaches it to my church in Chiapas. The author of Hebrews is a great preacher as well. And he knows that God is the Lord of history. And he wanted to reveal in history in a progressive way. And in this progressive revelation, God has shown his holiness. And he has defined how he wants to be worshiped. In what way can a sinner be reconciled with his God? This writer does not make little of the Old Covenant. He utilizes it to show how glorious the New Covenant is. I know what I'm going to say now is weird for some of you. The author of Hebrews is in agreement with Paul of his closeness with the law. Paul wrote in Galatians that the law is a tutor that leads us to Christ. All of this is the same that Christ said with the law. I've not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Now go with me to chapter nine to the letter of Hebrews. We will look at four different headings here. First, the tabernacle and its worship. Then we will look at the explication of the spirit. And then we will see the superlative blood of Christ. And then we will look in closing at the superlative calling. In the previous chapter, the author has spoken of the new covenant. He wrote about it as a new covenant distinct from the covenant of the law. He quotes Jeremiah from chapter 31. Jeremiah 31 verses 33 and 34 reads like this. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, know the Lord. For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. He's making a contrast between the old and the new. And that's how we come to chapter 9. There's two things that we should understand very clearly. The earthly sanctuary and the ordinances of worship. Verse 2 in chapter 9 says, For a tent was prepared. The first section, in which there was a lampstand and a table and a bread of presents. It was called, the holy place behind the second curtain was the second section. Verse 4 says, having a golden altar of incense and the Ark of Covenant was covered in all sides with gold. In which the golden urn holding the manna, the Aaron's staff that budded. And the tablets of the covenant, above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. In the holy place there was the lampstand of gold, to light up the holy place. That light should be shining all the time. And it's beautiful to hear our Savior say, I am the light of the world. Whoever comes after me will not remain in darkness, but in light. It was the table with the bread. In the relationship of God and the covenant with his people, he had promised to be the provider for his people. And it's glorious in John 6 to hear Jesus said this, Jesus said to them, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Now in the holy place we have the incense of honor. In this we see its fulfillment in the complete intercession of Christ. We have the ark in the holy place. God had spoken through Moses that from that ark he would speak to the people. Think now in the preacher who wrote Hebrews. And how does Jesus fulfill the role of the ark? Because from chapter one, he presents Christ like this. God in these last days has spoken to us through his Son, the one whom he gave as an heir of all things, and through whom he also created the world. So Jesus is the message most clear, perfect, and glorious of God. Let's look at the ordinances of worship in verses 6 and 7. Verse 6. These preparations having thus been made, and 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. As you can see, the access to the sanctuary was restricted. Only the priests could enter the holy place. In the sanctuary, sorry. And only the high priest, and that once a year, could enter the holy of holies. And they must go in with blood that was offered for their own sins and for the sins of the people. If we could go back in time, and we could go into the sanctuary, we would be in horror in what we see. Because everything looks grotesque and ugly and nasty. In the tabernacle there was blood on every place. The color of blood and the smelling of the flesh of the animals was everywhere. We go through the only door that there were, and we find the altar of bronze. And on the foot of the altar was the basins filled with blood. If we go into the holy place, we see priests ministering. And they're sprinkled with blood from the head to the toes. The horns on the altar are covered in blood. The veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies was covered in blood. This tabernacle is not for sensible people. Spurgeon said this place, this tabernacle, was not for refined gentlemen. It's better made for sinners with a broken heart. God did not design the worship of the tabernacle to be a good sight. He didn't. He did. He did make it. He made it to impress. The ones who understood this reality were humbled. They learned about holiness. about wrath, about peace and reconciliation. There's two things that should be very clear about this tabernacle and this worship. Number one, the glorious holiness of God. Number two, the horrendous reality of our sin. We are culpable before God. We have sinned against His holiness. Our heart is inclined to evil. We are not good and for that we fear death. Because we do not feel worthy of coming to God. Our conscience is constantly fearful. Our conscience takes us to ways in which we can silence the voice. The tabernacle gives a very clear voice. God is holy and he demands holiness. But we are incapable of fulfilling his demand. Now we see in verses 8 through 10 the explanation of the Holy Spirit. Can you read 7, 8, 9 please? By this, the Holy Spirit indicates the way into the holy places is not yet open 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. These are books that are hard to read. The Holy Spirit uses this to explain to us beautiful realities. The message of the Spirit is this, that there has not been a way shown to the way of holiness. It's to say that the tabernacle and then the temple were used only in temporal use. They were shadows of a reality to come. They were not the reality of God that they would always be celebrated. These rituals and celebrations were symbols. Verse 9 says they were symbols for a present time. When the author writes this letter, they still celebrated these rituals. However, these rituals could not take away the sin of man. These rituals of food and drink and purification could not clean the conscience of the sinner. What the Spirit communicated through this was. He would show a way to go into the Holy of Holies. These sacrifices would end. The Spirit shows that the way is open through the blood of Christ. Now, there's a word that the author uses in verse 10 that's very interesting. It says these things were imposed until the time of reformation. It's a strange word. It's utilized only once in the New Testament. It means this. make straight, completely, to establish a distinct order, a complete new system in which we can come to God and be free. This new order is the reform on the part of God. In this reformation, common men can come to God. The sins are forgiven. And what is this new order that God established? Through which all of us can be worshipers of God. We come to our third point in verse 11. A superlative blood. The author of Hebrews has written of the supremacy of the priesthood of Christ. High Priest that is holy, without sin, according to Hebrews 7, 14. He is one that presents himself with his own blood. He is a High Priest with an indestructible life. He is an immutable priest that saves without end. He is a high priest who intercedes for all eternity as well. But in this passage we have more light of the priesthood of Christ. It says in verse 11, but he is a high priest of the good things that are to come. Because our high priest conquered greater promises. Forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace. A clean conscience. A security and access to God. In Christ we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. This high priest presented himself not in a tabernacle made with hands, but in a heavenly tabernacle. He did not present himself with the blood of animals. He presented himself with his own blood. Remember our Lord praying in Gethsemane. If there's any way to take away this cup, He said, but in the end he roses up and he says, let's go to the one who he was to be given over to. In John 10, he tells us, I give my life. No one can take it. I give it of myself. You remember Abraham and Isaac. Moses says they went together where the sacrifice would be. And that is a glorious image that should be marked in our mind. God the Father and God the Son went together. But not just them, verse 14, Christ offered himself through the eternal spirit. We have the Father, we have the Son, and we have the Holy Spirit going together to lay the foundation for our reconciliation. It's a marvelous grace. We did not have access. We're not worthy. Our conscience is contaminated. We're stained with sin in all parts. How can we go to the holiness of God? He went before. He set the base. The blood of his precious son was poured out. And through that blood, Our sin is taken away and now He has bought us eternal redemption for His people. In that way God fulfilled the justice of the new covenant. Remember? I will do this, I will do this, I will do this. But there was sin. How can God be just and bless a people who are stained with sin? The answer is in the superlative blood of Jesus. This covenant in His blood is superior. Because God determined from eternity to redeem a people. For eternity. In the New Covenant, His laws are not left before us. Through regeneration, His laws are written on our hearts. The blood of Jesus lays the foundation for the forgiveness of our sins. And that's the reason that God can say, I don't remember your sins. And in that he doesn't lack justice. He can forget sin because sin was paid for. This covenant is radically distinct. This covenant in this blood is absolutely superior. Those sacrifices didn't have power. They only pointed to a superior sacrifice. The author says, how much more the blood of Christ? That means a greater measure. There needs no more sacrifice. The sacrifice of Christ is sufficient to clean our conscience through faith in Christ now. God makes a legal declaration that's incredible. He says the sinner who believes in Christ is justified. And now God is sanctifying us. And He's forming us to the glorious image of His Son. Do you know what's even more marvelous of all this? God does it by all by grace. For Him to get all the glory. I want to finish with a small portion of verse 14. After the author speaks of the cleanness of a purification of our conscience, he speaks of a purpose so that you serve the living God. These words are given in the middle of a priestly discourse. We should understand the service here as a priestly service. So that we know that this speaks about giving worship to God. So what John says in Revelation 1, speaking of Christ. How many is five? Wait a second. I have five fives. Verse 5, it says, Revelation... Sorry. No, it's number... Yeah, 5, 5. Yeah, Revelation 1, 5. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. He loves us and He cleaned us with His blood. He made us priests. Now, we're not far from the worship of Him. We can worship Him freely. Same thing Peter says in 1 Peter 2.5. First Peter 2.5 says, And then he finished clarifying his point in verse 24 when he says, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds we have been healed. Brothers and sisters, our supreme calling, after being purified by the sins of Jesus, is to live a life of worship to God. Through the obedience of Christ, if my sin was cleaned by His blood, on my life He has all right. Why would we not humble ourselves to Him? Why would we not give our lives to Him? God has not made a covenant through the superlative blood of Jesus to prosper your life economically. God has not made a pact to covenant to free you of the sicknesses of this world. God has not made a covenant with you to give you a happy family. God has made a covenant with you to take away your sin. to free you from His holy wrath, to keep you in His presence for all eternity. The author of Hebrews says, how are we to escape if we deny, neglect such a great salvation? While we're in this life, we can't even understand the depths of this salvation. God has freed you and made a covenant especially with you so that you live in holiness and obedience. I want to say something else. Don't try to live as a Christian unless you have a conscience cleaned by the blood of Christ. You don't need to live in hypocrisy. Don't try to involve yourself in the service of God unless you have a clean conscience by the blood of Christ. Do not think that coming to church and doing a few things here or there will serve to clean your conscience. The great marvelous news to each one of us is that we can have a clean conscience. Our dead works can be abolished. It doesn't matter how dark your sins are. The blood of Christ is sufficient. And if I'm clean, I can present myself before God to worship. I can serve my God not because of fear. Not because I want to free myself from condemnation. but out of gratitude, but for love, for the joy that fills my soul. Brothers, we are greatly blessed in the superlative blood of Jesus, that the Lord help us to give him praise and glory through this life. God bless you.