Well good morning. I guess whoever's idea it was for churches to be scattered is starting to see he's losing that battle. And it's a joy to gather together in His name and to hear His Word. Well this morning we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 9, part 3 of series of sermons we've called The Mediator of a Better Covenant. But we're going to begin this morning in Leviticus chapter 16. Leviticus chapter 16. And if reading through this chapter wearies you, that's the purpose in large part. Leviticus 16, 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died. ... Remember they offered incense of their own recipe to the Lord. And He struck them. For the LORD said to Moses, Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. Aaron shall enter the holy place with this, with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body. He shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban. These are the holy garments. Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on. He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. And then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering, which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. He shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. And then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the LORD fell and make it a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his household. And he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself. He shall take a firepan full of coals, and fire from upon the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense. Bring it inside the veil. She'll put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony. Otherwise he will die. Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side. Also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. He shall make atonement for the holy place because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins. And thus he shall do for the tent of meeting, which abides with them in the midst of their impurities. When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it, and from impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it. When he finishes atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting in the altar, he shall offer the live goat. Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins. He shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land. He shall release the goat in the wilderness And then Aaron shall come into the tent of the meeting, and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. He shall bathe his body with water in a holy place, and put on his clothes, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. The one who released the goat as the scapegoat, he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water. Then afterward he shall come into the camp. But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. Then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. This shall be a permanent statute for you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work. Whether the native or the alien who sojourns among you, For it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you. You will be cleaned from all your sins before the Lord. It's to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls. It's a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father's place shall make atonement. He shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement for the holy sanctuary. And he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year. And just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so he did. And they did that year after year, century after century. And by doing those things, no one was reconciled to God. No one was then admitted into God's presence. Only by believing God can anyone be reconciled to Him. Now in Hebrews chapter 9, the writer's going to give us a summary of what we just read. and of other things about the old covenant worship. Hebrews 9, 1. Now even the first covenant, we were just reading about it, had regulations of divine worship. An earthly sanctuary. An 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. ... Or like the King James, the holiest of all. ...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 the tables of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seats. But of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things had 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, and 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 first tabernacle was 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 relayed only to food and drink and various washings and regulations for the body imposed until the 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's 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? O Lord, may we hear you this morning. May we rightly grasp your meaning. May we respond with the appreciation and gratitude that the blessings you describe here for us deserve. May we leave here this morning with changed hearts, with hearts bound. in love to you. For the last two Lord's Days, we've been looking at the priesthood of Christ and the inauguration of the new covenant. prophesied in Jeremiah, and now come in Christ. And the great majority of what's written on these two subjects is found here in the book of Hebrews. These two subjects, Christ's priesthood and the coming of the new covenant, are really the central teachings of Hebrews. The first part, we looked at the better priesthood of Christ. Comparison of the priesthood of Christ to that of the old covenant, Levitical priests. And last Lord's Day, we looked at the blessings of the new covenant themselves. And what wonderful blessings they are. So we know, we have assurance. We now have a great high priest who sits at the right hand of the Father. A king and a priest. He intercedes for us. He's our advocate before the Father. He was designated by the Father in both His divine and human natures as our eternal high priest. He represents believers before the Father in matters pertaining to God. And let us also remember, the writer's purpose in writing to first-century Jewish Christians was to encourage them to stay trusting in Christ, to not depart from Him, to not depart from His teaching, and to warn them against falling away from Him and back into Judaism. It's a fair question. Why does all of fallen humanity need a mediator with God? Well it's because all humanity has been separated from God by its sin. I woke up this morning thinking about what was going on in the streets of these cities. And wondering, is that what I should be talking about? But you know what? Riots will end. This virus will die out. And the people of God will still need a mediator. People of this world will still need a mediator. Fallen man will need a mediator. Foolish men will try to reach God by ways of their own devising. But Scripture shows us that Christ is the only way to God. He's the only way. And the author of Hebrews has demonstrated that. He's demonstrated the superiority of the priesthood of Christ to the Levitical priesthood of the Old Covenant. By the way, that Levitical priesthood was the only other priesthood ever established by God. But Christ's priesthood is better. He mediates for us with the Father, not on the earth, but in heaven. Not in a tabernacle pitched by men, but by God. So the writer has shown us that entire system of worship in Israel. including the tabernacle, including the priesthood, including the sacrifices. All of it was merely a copy of heavenly things. There were shadows of the reality that was to come in Christ. His ministry is a more excellent ministry than that of the old covenant. That's why we read from Leviticus 16, that's what they were doing. You okay, Don? So Christ is now the mediator of a new and better covenant than what we saw manifested in the Levitical system in Leviticus. And it's based on better promises. We're going to look at those in just a moment. Now, we've looked at the five covenants that God made in the Old Testament with men. With Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, and with David. And in particular, we've been looking at His covenant with Abraham. In you, all the people from every nation will be blessed. And His covenant with Moses. Pictured in Leviticus. Made at Mount Sinai. And now we learn, as we read through this letter to the Hebrews, that the old covenant of Mount Sinai has been set aside by the new covenant. The new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah around 600 B.C. and inaugurated in Christ. We're reminded that Christ alone is qualified to act as our mediator. Why? Because He's both God and man. In Adam and in Israel, we saw the weakness of any covenant of works. What is it? Nobody could keep it. Nobody could perfectly obey God. All of those covenants required men's perfect obedience to God. But what's Paul tell us? By the works of the law, no man will be justified. So the blessings of which God spoke in His covenant with Abraham, that through His seed people from every nation would be blessed, are revealed in greater detail in the new covenant. Now, why is the new covenant a better covenant? That's what the writer says. It's a new covenant because under it, a sinner can obtain that most precious thing that was unattainable under the old covenant. Or by any other means, by the way. He can be justified by God. Under the new covenant, sinners are justified by the grace of God through no merit of our own, through faith in our sinless High Priest and in His sacrifice. The sacrifices that we read about here this morning of the ceremonial law could not fully rectify violations of God's moral law. The ceremonial law could not accomplish the removal of sins. Could provide only a temporary covering for sins. So there was a limit to what could be accomplished under the old covenant. The new covenant is different. And we could spend weeks talking about the glories of the new covenant and why it's so much better. But the thing about it is, it depends entirely on God. And He will do all His good pleasure. He will do all His purpose. And His purpose is unchangeable. New covenant will not be broken as the old covenant was. Because it's unbreakable. It cannot be broken. It depends only on God. And so through this covenant, this new covenant, these eternal heavenly blessings, which lay beyond the reach of men under the old covenant, have come. We are so blessed to live in this time. It was enacted on better promises. Not just land and not just many earthly descendants, but eternal life and fellowship with God and forgiveness of all our sins. Here's what God said. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I will put my law into their minds. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. They shall be my people. All will know me from the least of the greatest of them to the greatest of them, and I will remember their sins no more. That's the blessings of the new covenant. Four parts of it. The illumination of the mind is to the knowledge of God. The inward renovation of the sinner's heart. God's gracious remission of our sins. And a relationship of eternal fellowship with God. What more could someone ask? I know I read this last week, but I like it so much I'm going to read it again from Matthew Henry. God once wrote His laws to His people on tablets of stone. Now He will write His laws in them. He'll give them understanding to know His law, hearts to love His law, a desire to obey His law, and the power to do it. To write the law into the heart. is the key blessing of the new covenant that unlocks all of the others. It means to reform our hearts, to change them so that the law rules not only in our minds but in our hearts. That there should be nothing in our hearts among our affections that doesn't conform to, that is not like that of what God says in His law. And no one can be changed in that way, to desire to obey God, except he be born again by the Spirit of God. In other words, we have no inclination in us to act in a godly way unless and until God prepares our heart by His grace. By the new birth, the Spirit of God, Calvin said, penetrates our heart and reforms the inner man so that obedience is rendered as the right response to His grace. And we have personal, direct fellowship with God. God in the midst of His people. This can only happen if our sin is removed. But we have that blessing as well. God promises to make Himself known to us. Preaching and the Word of God teach us to know God. He illuminates our minds and our hearts in a new way by His Spirit that we can know Him. And you know, this matter of forgiveness of sins is also a key that unlocks the other blessings. The New Covenant is superior to the Old Covenant and those ceremonies of Leviticus because it contains a promise and an assurance of forgiveness of our sins. When we sin, And all of us have. There's nothing any earthly priest or mediator can do or bring before God to cleanse us of our sin. There is not some other way. There's no other way to be reconciled to Him. But under the new covenant, our great high priest, by his offering of himself on the cross, has cleansed us of all our sin. Forgiveness of sins is possible only through that mediator who sits at the right hand of the Father. And you know, I said this last week, the blessing goes beyond forgiveness of sins. He says, I will remember your sins no more. He'll look upon us not as sinners who've received a pardon, but as righteous people who never sinned at all. So sins are forgiven, the hearts renewed, the law of God written upon our minds and our hearts, our minds illuminated by the knowledge of God, the new birth when God gives us ears to hear Him. And our will is no longer a slave to sin, but to obedience. The old covenant, it did not convey to people the inner transformation that was necessary. that was needed to fulfill the demands of the law. What was needed was a new nature, a heart that's liberated from bondage to sin. The new covenant is better than the old because it transforms the hearts of sinners. And so in Christ, God has fulfilled His promise. The new covenant has come. And in so doing, verse 13 of chapter 8 tells us the writer now focuses that he has rendered the first covenant, the covenant of Mount Sinai, obsolete. Not the moral law, but all those ceremonies that we just read about in Leviticus. All the sacrifices, the old covenant priesthood, the ceremonial law, all abolished. Dietary laws abolished. And the writer now turns to the tabernacle and the ceremonies of the old covenant. He's going to speak to us about those things here in chapter 9 this morning. Under the old covenant, God had established a priesthood. He ordained that priesthood. He established a system of worship. But under it, no one was cleansed of his sin. That's the important reality. regarding that old covenant system. That covenant, he says in chapter 9, verse 1, had regulations of divine worship. It had an earthly sanctuary. And while the passage in Leviticus 16 is a little confusing, the tabernacle had an outer court where the altar was and the laver. But the altar of burnt offering was in that outer court. And then it had a veil. And then it had an inner sanctuary, which is called the holy place, where we had the table of the showbread and the lampstand. And then there was another veil. And behind that veil was the Holy of Holies. There was the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat. And it was there that only the high priest could go and only once a year. So we have three sections in this temple, but he's going to speak primarily here of only two of them. But remember, behind that second veil is where the presence of God was manifested. Called the Holy of Holies, or the most holy place, or the holiest of all. Had a golden altar of incense in front of it. The Ark of the Covenant within the veil. It was covered on all sides with gold. And inside this ark was Aaron's rod, which had budded, a jar containing some manna from the wilderness, and the tables of the covenant given on Mount Sinai. Above it were these cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. He tells us these things and then the writer says, but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. All right, we've got a physical description of the earthly tabernacle and the things within it. Now that was replaced in the days of Solomon by a temple. And Solomon's temple had more lampstands. It was grander certainly than this tabernacle. But the point is this, though the sanctuary and the utensils shadowed forth and pointed to some spiritual truths, they were not in themselves spiritual or heavenly. Now verse 6, we have a description of the daily functions performed by the priests. He calls it here variously the outer tabernacle or the first section or the holy place. But this is the place where the showbread and the lampstand are. All of the priests could enter there. They, over time, came to do this in what they called courses. Each would have a turn, a term of duty. And there was a description of their duties were to attend to the lampstand and the showbread, etc. In verse 7 is a description of the duties of the high priest on the Day of Atonement. Only the high priest, only one priest could enter into that Holy of Holies. And he only once a year, and not without blood. So on the Day of Atonement, the high priest took the blood of the sin offering into that Holy of Holies, past the first veil, past the second veil, in front of the Ark of the Covenant, and he sprinkled his blood seven times on the Ark. He offered it for himself and for the sins of his people. Now the tabernacle, and in particular those veils, symbolized something. They carried a very important message. That message was this. They symbolized the separation of the people from God. They were denied access to Him. So the writers got here four aspects of that Old Covenant. The building where God was to be worshiped, the tabernacle. The utensils in the building, the priests, and the sacrifices. In verse 8, the writer begins to show us the meaning of these things of the old covenant. And here the writer's going to use two terms, the holy place and first tabernacle, in a different way than he had used them earlier. Here's what he says. He says the Holy Spirit is signifying this. Now this is the Holy Spirit is teaching us something. That the way into the holy place, which had been those tabernacles, he's now talking about heaven. He's talking about the holy place in heaven. Had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle, before he was talking about the tabernacle with the lampstands, that section, now he's talking about the whole tabernacle. So the way into the holy place, the heavenly tabernacle, had not yet been disclosed while the old covenant tabernacle was still standing. He says that that tabernacle was a symbol, a figure for the present time. It was a symbol. Of what? It was a symbol to help us understand the meaning of the life and death of Jesus Christ. That's what they were being shown. The old covenant tabernacle built by Moses. According to what? Did he just do it according to whatever he thought was the right way to build it? No, God showed him a pattern on Mount Sinai. He built the tabernacle according to a pattern specifically given to him by God. And it had these veils which precluded all but the priests from even entering into the holy place. And it precluded all but the high priest from entering into the most holy place. And then only one day a year, as we've seen. And only with blood. That time, if you ever think you wanted to live back in those days, at that time, the way into the true heavenly tabernacle, the way to God, was closed. Because they were all sinners. Stained with sin. Yes, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him with righteousness. But these were few as far as we can tell. God was showing them there had to be a sinless blood atonement for their sins. Bring an unblemished offering of the first year. There must be a sinless blood atonement if they were ever to enter into His presence. And they never did. Only that high priest. And in those animal sacrifices, he was showing them there would be a way. There was a way that was coming. But he says, he says it right here, while that first tabernacle was still standing, that way into the true heavenly tabernacle had not yet been disclosed. Think times are bad now? Suppose we lived in those times before the way was disclosed. We had symbols. The full revelation of Christ and the work that He would do wasn't fully revealed until He came. And while the old covenant animal sacrifices pointed to the sacrifice of Christ, they could not make the worshiper perfect in conscience. They could not cleanse anyone of the guilt of his sin. And now, praise be to God, the writer of Hebrews tells his readers, the way of reconciliation to God has been disclosed. If you ever think you're not blessed, think about this. He tells us that through the sacrificial atoning death of Jesus, the way into the true heavenly tabernacle has been opened. The way into God's presence could only be accomplished by the coming of Christ. Only He could reconcile men to God. Only He could reopen full eternal access to God. How did He do it? Well, the first thing He had to do was cleanse us of our sin. Had to get that sin off of us. And He had to cleanse us of the guilt of our sin. He had to pay the price for our sin. He took God's wrath upon Himself. Those sacrifices in Leviticus, they couldn't spiritually, inwardly cleanse anybody. And again, we look at that tabernacle and what do we see? We can't get to God. We've got these barricades up. They only reminded the Jews they must look for another way. Old Covenant Way could not cleanse sinners. Could not reconcile them to God because it dealt, the writer tells us, only with regulations for the body, not for the soul. Food and drink and various washings. The old covenant could not deal with that inner filth in every man. Could not bring about the inner transformation of the heart. Could not purge the stain of sin in every man. Could not make him spiritually clean. Could not make him acceptable to God. Sacrifices did not reach the soul. They could only make one ceremonially clean. The Washings could qualify a man to come into the assembly of Israel but not to come into the presence of God. So the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the priesthood, These were not a means unto eternal life. They were all symbols of the true way of reconciliation to God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what did He say about this? No one comes to the Father but through Me. And the writer of Hebrews tells us that tabernacle and those sacrifices were only for the time of the old covenant. They were imposed, he says, until the time of Reformation. That is, the time of the coming of Christ and the inauguration of the new covenant. Well, having explained the meaning and the purpose of the things of the old covenant, The writer now shows us the greater and more perfect tabernacle and the offering made by Christ. His own blood in the heavenly tabernacle. And the way in which He is the mediator of a better covenant. Verse 11, we're told He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle. Not made with hands. Not of this creation. After his death and resurrection, the Son of God returned to His Father in heaven. And He entered through the heavenly tabernacle. He approached the Father. And He didn't bring the blood of goats or calves. He brought His own blood. The only offering that could ever perfect, cleanse, sanctify the conscience of anyone. The only offering that could ever atone for the sins of men. And sinners are justified through genuine belief that this shed blood has brought the forgiveness of your sins, and that by His blood He's obtained for us eternal redemption. What a wonderful phrase. Freedom from the power of sin, deliverance from the wages of our sin, and eternal life in glory with Him. That's what He accomplished for us by His blood. Verse 13, the blood of goats and calves could never accomplish those eternal blessings for anyone. The writer recalls those animal sacrifices and the necessity of the ritual cleansings under the old covenant to show the great contrast between what they were able to accomplish for the sinner and what Christ accomplished. The blood of bulls and goats was offered under the old covenant as an act of worship or to seek forgiveness of sins. Ashes of a red heifer. The actual point of the red heifer, by the way, is they would get a red heifer. They got about four dozen of them on the way to Knox over there. They'd take this heifer and they had to burn it outside the camp, all of it. Put some hyssop on it and some cedar wood. And they would burn it down to the ashes. They'd take those ashes, mix them with water, and that was the water they sprinkled on the tabernacle and on people to cleanse them. If someone touched a corpse and was deemed unclean, they'd sprinkle them with a water that included these ashes. That's what the red heifer actually was about. So these ashes would make somebody ceremonially clean. They'd mean he could come into the assembly. But none of these things could ever permanently cleanse the worshiper or remove his sins. Now chapter 10, the writer's going to affirm that these things could only affect a temporary covering for sins. So here's what he says. Verse 14, he makes a point. If those things could make one ceremonially clean, those ritual washings, how much more, sounds like Paul here, how much more does the blood of the incarnate eternal Son cleanse the soul? The sacrifice of Christ was a spiritual sacrifice. It's spiritually applied to our heart. It actually restores us. to fellowship with God, who is Himself Spirit. You know, Jesus wouldn't have been qualified to minister under the terms of Leviticus 16. Wasn't qualified by His human ancestry to be a priest under that old covenant. Couldn't have served in the earthly tabernacle. But He was qualified by the appointment of the Father and by His obedience in His flesh, we're told, to be the high priest and mediator of our salvation. Only He could enter the true heavenly tabernacle in the presence of God and present an offering that forever cleansed us of our sins and removed the guilt of our sins. And so the writer asks here, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God? How much more? By these words the writer speaks of this spiritual inner cleansing of the sin of his people. This is what he accomplished in both his divine and human natures. I want you to look at these words because there's even more in them. Look who all is involved in just this verse. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God. We see this was much more than a human work. Here we see the involvement of all three persons of the Godhead in this cleansing. And there was a purpose to this cleansing. Sometimes we get lost thinking, okay, I've received the blessing, I'm all set. No, He cleansed us for a purpose, to serve the living God. There's a purpose, this cleansing of our conscience, this purifying of our conscience of its guilt. Virgin says this, our guilty conscience, our knowledge of past sins, our awareness of our sin nature with its thoughts and desires, our ongoing contact with evil in this world. Three aspects of the need for cleansing of the conscience. And he says, unless we're cleansed, all of these conspire to keep us from serving the Lord. And you know, that's why He created us. to worship Him, serve Him, and enjoy Him forever. But there's no greater burden in this world than the guilt of sin upon a man's soul. And nothing that we do can please God unless and until we are purified by this blood. Because we're all enemies of Christ before He reconciles us to Him. All that any man does in this life Whether it's in the hope of doing enough good to earn God's blessing. Or whether he's simply seeking to indulge himself and acquire earthly wealth and comfort for himself. All of it is dead works. All religious attempts at justification and all service of self. It's all dead works. They accomplish nothing from a heavenly perspective. Dead works lead only to death. To serve, Spurgeon again, to serve the living God is necessary to the happiness of every man. It's the chief end of man. This is the reason He made us. And we miss the design of our making if we do not honor our Maker. Well, we don't have a full understanding of this, but the writer tells us that Christ's blood possesses the power to cleanse this great sense of condemnation from our conscience. By His death, an atonement's been made for our sins. Our consciences, he says, have been cleansed of the guilt that separated us from God. And that with consciences now purified by His blood, we can now serve God. There's a really good example of this in Isaiah. Turn to Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah is called by God. He approaches God. He sees the glory of God. He also sees his own wickedness. Isaiah chapter 6, verse 5. As he was bathed in the glory, then I said, Woe is me! For I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. ... Well then something happens. One of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. This is what Christ's blood has done for us. And He doesn't wash us, cleanse us, just so we can plunge back into some old filth or some new filth, but to serve Him. This cleansing isn't the end of things. We don't do our victory lap and just wait around. No, it's the beginning of a life of gratitude and service to our Lord. The old covenant, the tabernacle itself, demonstrated the separation of the people from God. Couldn't gain them reconciliation with God. Couldn't gain them peace with God. That's the message. Even the priests couldn't approach God. Couldn't come into His presence. Only the high priest, only once a year. But now, folks, under the new covenant, we have access to God through our mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that, but through Him, we have joyful fellowship with God. That's why this is a much better covenant. The old covenant was just a picture of the real thing. The substance, the reality is God the Son incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ. In order for us to be redeemed, He came and He died so that we might live. And because of what He's done and what He's doing, He's the mediator of a better covenant. And there will be no need for any other mediator ever again. I don't know how much more evidence this world needs to see of its need for Christ. We certainly see it all around us. Today, we see this virus spreading all over the globe. We see riots in the streets. But here's the thing, if tomorrow the riots cease and the virus dies out, the world will still be lost. and under a sentence of condemnation and in desperate need of Jesus Christ. For those Jewish Christians who first received this letter, the question is pretty clear, isn't it? Why would they ever want to go back to those shadows which couldn't achieve, attain for them that which they so desperately needed? More to the point for us. Christians in 2020. Why would we ever want to depart from our Savior and retreat to some other life? A life of dead works that leads to death. So, I pray that we hear Him this morning. I pray that the blessings that He has poured out on us are received in our hearts. And that we have a grasp of what He's taught us. And that we respond in gratitude, worship, and obedience for His kingdom and for His glory. In Christ's name, Amen.