Good evening. Some of you know me now. I'm Ben Pierce, and I was part of the theological fellowship that Pastor Ryan did this past fall. First, thank you for allowing me to come here today and preach from this pulpit. It has been a great amount of nourishment to me in my spiritual journey with our Lord. So if you've been here recently in the past for the evening service, you know that we teach systematic doctrines from a historic church catechism. If you're new, a catechism is basically a question and answer document that asks questions about the faith and provides an answer, a short answer. So the catechism we've been going through is the Heidelberg Catechism. And today is Lord's Day 21, so we will be addressing question 56. And that question is, what dost thou believe concerning the forgiveness of sins? With the catechism we answer that God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, neither the sinful nature with which I have to struggle all my life long. But graciously imputes to me the righteousness of Christ that I may never more come into condemnation. And so today, I'll be preaching from Hebrews chapter 9, verses 11 through 14, if you would like to turn there. For context, I will also be reading to you the preceding verses all the way from verse 1 through 14. Now, even the first covenant had regulation of divine worship in the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread. This is called the holy place. Behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle, which is called the holy of holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna and Aaron's rod, which budded. in the tables of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now, when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship. But into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 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. For 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. Let's pray. Almighty Lord, thank you for bringing us together as God's people that we would worship you and receive the ministry of your word. I pray, Father, that each of us is edified as we receive your word, knowing that faith comes from hearing the word of God. I pray that our faith is strengthened or created in each of us and that we are caused to be in reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray this in his name. Amen. So tonight, I wanted to preach to you two main truths about the catechetical question on the forgiveness of sins. One, that Jesus Christ is our high priest and our high priestly sacrifice. And as that, he acquired for us the forgiveness of sins. The second is that the Holy Spirit, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, has applied to your soul, if you truly are a Christian, the forgiveness of sins. First, though, let me give you some context on this passage. There might have sounded like there was a lot of confusing stuff in the first 10 verses, if you're not as familiar with the Old Testament. But as many of you know, before Christ came, God had a people, and they were the Jewish people. And they were chosen out from among other nations to be a holy people before God. And they were given a law to obey and ceremonies to practice. They were selected out of all the other nations in order that through them, specifically the Messiah, which we know as the Christ, would come to bring salvation to not only the Jews, but also the rest of the world. And that's why we as Gentiles can sit here today before a holy God and hear his word. This chapter of the letter to the Hebrews exemplifies how Old Testament ceremonies, sacrifices, and rituals were simply shadows and blurry glimpses at the true Christ who was to come. Many things that we see in the Old Testament exist to point and hint towards the coming of Jesus Christ. The high priest from the line of the Jew Aaron entered the innermost room of the Jewish temple, as you may remember from the text, and that was called the Holy of Holies. And they did that once a year on the Day of Atonement to present blood from a sacrifice before the altar. Now this place in the Jewish temple represented the throne of heaven, and the priest who entered represented Christ, who was still to come, bringing his sacrifice before the throne of God. And these sacrifices were presented because the Jews, God's own chosen people, were constantly breaking God's law. They would lie, they would covet their neighbor's goods, they would put other things ahead of God, idolizing them. They would be angry with their neighbors, which would be murder inside their hearts. They would lust after women who were not their wives, which would be adultery in their hearts. And these laws are summarized, if they sound familiar, from the Ten Commandments. If the Jews who had broken these laws had them written down for them, how much more did we Gentiles, who did not have the law written down, break these laws? Therefore, both the Jews and all mankind stood condemned before God. In the scriptures it's written, vengeance is mine declares the Lord and recompense for the time of their foot shall slip for the day of their calamity is at hand and their doom comes swiftly. Now this statement sounds strange to some, especially unbelievers. It sounds angry and sounds unjust, but this statement is actually an example of God's goodness and great justice because he must repay for sin what sin is owed and that's death. So the Jewish high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of a sacrificial animal, a bull offered for the atonement of the priest and his household, and a goat offered for the atonement of the people. And he would offer incense upon the Ark of the Covenant and on the mercy seat which sat on top of the Ark. These did not bring the forgiveness of Senso. They merely represented a picture and portal to Christ's one-time sacrifice which would occur about 2,000 years ago. Now this chapter, chapter 9 in verse 9 states that both gifts and sacrifices were offered which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience. Therefore, these were imperfect and temporary fixes. The scriptures say that God has taken no pleasure in the sacrifice of whole and burnt offerings. And so since the blood of these bulls and goats could not take permanently away the sins of these people, the high priest would enter continuously once a year and look upon the altar to see the left-behind sacrifice from last year, the blood stained upon the altar, and know that permanent forgiveness had not come yet, except through Jesus Christ. And so the old covenant was never intended as a way in which people could inherit salvation. That comes through the new covenant, which those people in the old covenant were saved by, by virtue of believing in the promise of the Messiah to come. But this law that God has in the old covenant does not perfect us because we are unable to keep it. What it does for us, as Romans 3 says, is it reveals to us our sins. And therefore, since we could not keep it, and because we all stood condemned, God prophesied that he would make a new covenant with Israel, one that's not conditional upon the obedience of his saints to bring blessings, but one that would be based only on God's actions. Now, what I'm not saying is that we disobey the law because Christ has come. Therefore, we can do whatever we want. Therefore, we can murder and commit adultery. We can't do that. It still stands for us to obey, but what it doesn't do is secure for us salvation. What it doesn't do, like it did for the Jews, is secure temporary blessings in a particular land for a particular people. And so, none of us, none of you, have obeyed it. And God's holy justice does come upon those who are disobedient because of the broken law. But God, in his great love, did not leave the Jews, or us, in that state of continuously offering sacrifices as a band-aid for the forgiveness of sins. Instead, he sent the fulfillment, which is his son, Jesus Christ. But now, as verse 11 says, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of his creation. And so now that Christ has come as high priest, we have found mercy. Christ has come as high priest and he's going to take away the sins of the world. He's the perfect one who has obeyed the fullness of these laws that we could never obey. and was fit to offer that sacrifice. If you remember, I believe a month ago or so, Ryan read from Hebrews 1. Recall back to that very quickly. Hebrews 1, 1 through 3 says, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. And he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And so Christ, being very truly God, came in flesh to be very truly man in order to be the final priest and the final word from God. That's why Ryan isn't a priest. It's because there's only one priesthood left. And that is after the order of Melchizedek. And the only one who is in that now is Jesus Christ. So he's both our great high priest and the only priest. So then what does the rest of our text say? Like I said in chapter 11, but when Christ appeared as a high priest for the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of his creation. And so if you have been made a child of God, then Christ is your representative. He's your high priest. He represents you before God, and by him and him only do you have access to the throne of God. By him, God hears and answers your prayers. And by him, God has in great love pardoned your sins. And so what the scriptures say is that there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And that is the role he takes as our great high priest. In Job 9, Job cries out and says, for God is not a man that I may answer him, that we may go to court together. There is no arbiter between us that may lay his hands upon us both. Let him remove this rod from me, and let not the dread of him terrify me. And so now that Christ has come, now that the great high priest has come, there is a man, the God-man, who can lay his hands upon us both, who can say he is fully God and fully man, and can therefore intercede. So Christ was born from the lineage of King David. He was born as a poor man. He was prepared by the preaching of John the Baptist. He was anointed by the Holy Spirit, betrayed by the hand of Judas Iscariot, He exited Jerusalem and there, as our representative and high priest, he made his high priestly sacrifice to God. So if you're here as a Christian, you know that this was not a normal sacrifice. It was not done with a bull or a goat like had been done previously by the high priest, but it was done with his own body. The only sinless man offered the only sinless sacrifice to atone for sins. And that's why our text next says, 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. So this was no sacrifice that we could have made ourselves. This is no sacrifice of anything that we could have done ourselves. You and I are helpless and wretchedly sinful. So only Christ who loved his people and gave himself for his people could make that sacrifice. And so on his body, he bore the sins of his people, all of them. And the scriptures say in Isaiah 53, but the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. And as a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities. And so in Christ Jesus, God has satisfied his own wrath. So we may say then, why could God not have just forgiven my sins? Why could he not have just forgotten them? I thought he was supposed to be merciful. And the answer to that is because God is good. because God does not at one time choose to be just and another time choose to be merciful. God is love, God is mercy, God is justice. He doesn't possess these things, he is these things. And so therefore, because we were haters of God through our sin, which we all were made haters of God through our sin, and because God has appointed those who hate him to die justly, one of two things needed to happen. Cyril of Jerusalem, a man from church history, Ryan knew I had to quote church history, had this to say about the issue. One of two things, therefore, needed to happen, either that God, in his truth, should destroy all men, or that in his loving kindness, he should cancel the sentence. But behold the wisdom of God, he preserved both the truth and the sentence, and the exercise of his loving kindness. Christ took away our sins in his body on the tree, that we by his death might die to sin and live to righteousness. And so just as well, a more familiar quote from the book of Romans chapter 3 says, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So therefore, because of these things, God is just and he justifies us. He has both justice and mercy, which without God we would receive only justice, which would be our death in hell. So because Christ was both our high priest and our high priestly sacrifice, the forgiveness of sins has been acquired. And so now the Spirit of God has been sent by God the Father and His Son to indwell those who repent and believe. So if you are a true believer here, then the Spirit of Grace has made you a new creation and applied to your soul the forgiveness of sins brought by Christ. That is why our text tonight ends with verse 14. Starting in verse 13, for 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? And so, he says, how much more can the blood of Christ cleanse your conscience? While only the Old Testament sacrifices cleanse the flesh separated for God a holy people, Christ's blood sacrifice on the cross both cleanses our flesh to separate us as a people before God as we are here and to cleanse our consciences in order that we would serve the living God. Therefore, your consciences are cleansed. So our Lord says, I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. And as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. So to the repentant man with little faith, I proclaim to you the forgiveness of sins that you have been both forgiven and redeemed by Jesus Christ to become a new creation. To the one who has murdered someone and has repented and put faith in Jesus Christ, he has been forgiven. To the one who has frequently committed adultery but has repented and put his faith in Jesus Christ, he has been forgiven. To the one who just lied and still deserved death and hell for a lie, because he has repented and put his faith in Christ and Christ has sent his spirit to him, he has been given the forgiveness of sins. And so Christ does not leave us here with just a blank ledger, with just the forgiveness of sins, with just our sin list expelled. Something that we might notice at the very end of this chapter here, of this verse here, what I'll explain in a minute, he has cleansed the whole man and given salvation to the whole man, not just salvation from the penalty of sin, but he has also cleansed our consciences and given us salvation from sin itself. And so notice what it says at the end of the verse here. And so that is a purpose clause. The purpose of the cleansing of our conscience was in order to bring about service to God. And so, to the man God saves, he saves, like I said, not only from the penalty of sin, but also from sin itself, from the desire to sin. He, in his great love, frees us from desire. And though we may still, as the catechetical answer says, struggle with sin all our life, our desires as we grow in Christ, as we receive his preached word, as we receive his sacraments, as we come together as a body and pray to God for grace, we'll find that it lessens and lessens throughout our lives. And so is that our desire above all else? Do we desire sin still? And that's a question that we all need to individually ask. So in conclusion, I want to look at the subject of each of these verbs in this section, verses 11 through 14. You'll notice that every single verb in these verses is something that God does. God appeared as high priest. God in the flesh of Jesus Christ shed his blood. God cleansed our consciences from dead works to serve himself. And so we confess this same thing in the catechism. Christ satisfies divine wrath. God remembers sins no more. God imputes righteousness to us. Our works that we deem to be good do not release judgment from us. Because even if our good works did outweigh our bad, which they don't, and I assure you they don't, we could not be saved because justice must still be served against every evil and every wrongdoing. So that is why we must see ourselves in no part of our salvation, but see it only as a miracle of divine love. But for the reason that sin still so easily entangles us, because we struggle all of our lives, and because the Christian life is one of repentance, one of renewal, one of getting back up again after you fall, Peter wrote to us. One of his epistles to say this, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling at election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. Now, notice what he says at the end there. We do this to confirm our calling in election. This isn't how we get saved. This isn't why God has chosen us, because we confess unconditional election. God has seen nothing in us that would make him want to save us. He has done so by his mercy. And so we do these things, one, because the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us, but also because they grow us in faith and grow us in love to Jesus Christ. And so when Satan brings in our heads, when he hangs our sins over our heads, and when he tells us how much we do deserve death and how much we don't deserve to be redeemed by grace, we need to recall the promise of God in Jeremiah 31 when he says, But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart, I will write it. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. Let's pray. Almighty Lord, thank you for the grace that you have given us through the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that as we listen to your words given through the ninth chapter of Hebrews, that we would remember that Christ has come before us in order that a sacrifice may be forgiven to satisfy your justice. That in love you sent Christ in order that justice would be satisfied. I pray, Father, that as we continue to fall, you give us the grace to repent and get up. I pray that as we desire to obey, we do it not because we want to look good, but because we want you. Father, I pray that as the spirit indwells us, he continually fuels us each day to remember the forgiveness of our sins. And I pray that we never forget and never become so nearsighted that we forget that we were already cleansed from our former sins. I pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.