Hebrews 9:11-28 [NLTse]

¹¹ So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in Heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. ¹² With His Own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

¹³ Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. ¹⁴ Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. ¹⁵ That is why He is the One Who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

¹⁶ Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead. ¹⁷ The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.

¹⁸ That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal. ¹⁹ For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s Law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool. ²⁰ Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.” ²¹ And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. ²² In fact, according to the Law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

²³ That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in Heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in Heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

²⁴ For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in Heaven. He entered into Heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. ²⁵ And He did not enter Heaven to offer Himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. ²⁶ If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, He has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by His Own death as a sacrifice.

²⁷ And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him.

Sermon

I want to draw your attention to the “Hebrews In a Nutshell” insert in our Bulletins. Like some other biblical books, Hebrews can seem pretty scattered, especially with all of its Old Testament references. So, I put this together in the hopes of bringing some clarity to it all. Hebrews is a radical book making radical claims. We must understand what the Lord is saying to us and the hope He is bringing to us in its pages!

But, back to our reading for today…

Anyone here like watching baseball? I don’t tend to watch much baseball, because I’m more of a people-person and I only like watching sports when I can watch the game with others. So, when my son, Noah, was a Yankees fan I used to watch a lot of Yankees games. But since he’s been off to college, Eden and Caleb are into watching other things, so I’ve been watching their other things with them.

But this past week as I was visiting with my folks (who are avid Orioles fans!) I got the chance to watch a game with my mom. The O’s were playing the Yanks this past week. (Who smacked ‘em right out of first place!) It was the first game of the series, and A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez; Designated Hitter for the Yankees) hit this home run! It was one of those shots where A-Rod didn’t even track the ball out of the park: He hit it; felt it hit the “sweet spot” on the bat; and just started jogging around the bases before the ball had even cleared the outfield.

The “sweet spot”.

I used to play baseball when I was a kid: 3^rd Grade, 4^th Grade, up through 7^th or 8^th Grade, I think. And I remember the “sweet spot”. You just knew you’d hit it right. You just knew it was going to be flying forever. Thinking about our reading today and thinking about the “sweet spot”, it reminds me of a part from the 1981 movie, “Chariots of Fire”. “Chariots of Fire” was about the 1924 Olympic games and long distance runner and gold medal likely Eric Liddel. Liddel was a devout Christian, and says in one part of the flick, “I believe that God made me for a purpose. [And he’s talking about missionary work.] But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

The “sweet spot”…

This passage from Hebrews 9 that Elder Neil Frazer just read teaches us many things. One is that the Tabernacle Moses built, the Temple that Solomon built, and the Second Temple that Herod the Great made into one of the wonders of the ancient world were all based upon a Tabernacle that exists now, and has existed for all Time, in Heaven. Exodus speaks of this heavenly Tabernacle (25:40), and several of the prophets were given visions of it (Micaiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel), as was the apostle John while he was on the Roman prison island of Patmos.

Hebrews also teaches us that reincarnation is a lie: “Each person is destined to die once,” Hebrews says, “and after that comes judgment.” (9:27) So, the Hindu, Buddhist, and New Age teaching that people live many lifetimes – going up the karma-ladder closer to Nirvana if you’ve been good, or going down the karma-ladder farther away from Nirvana if you’ve been bad – that that’s not true.

No, reincarnation is the ultimate works-righteousness teaching, trying to convince folks they don’t need a Savior. “Don’t worry!” reincarnation teaches. “If you mess it up in this life, you’ll have other lives to get it right!” But the Bible consistently says and shows that each human being has one life to live, that today is the day of salvation, don’t put off deciding about how you’re going to respond to Jesus for some other time, you might not get another time, “each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment!” Choose Jesus today! Enjoy the Father today! Live in the “sweet spot” today! (But I’m getting ahead of myself…)

So, Hebrews teaches us many things, but what I want us to see in our passage for today is that God is looking for worshipers!

After talking about the Old Covenant’s system of repeated animal sacrifices for sin, Hebrews 9:14 says, “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.” Why did Christ purify our consciences from sin? So that we can worship God! And since life is a lot more than just Worship Services, the idea of worship must include a whole lot more than just Sunday mornings. We were made to worship. The “sweet spot” of human existence is worship! The Lord is looking for worshipers.

Notice the detail about Jesus’ sacrifice that Hebrews 9:14 focuses on here: “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds…” A whole lot more happened on the cross than just our consciences being purified from sin. A whole lot more. Our human natures – all that makes us human – our very souls themselves were put to death when the Lord Jesus died on the cross. A supernatural work across Time and space. Something we couldn’t do for ourselves, nor could any other but God the Son born into humanity do it for us. Every one who has ever put their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord has died and been born again! But Hebrews, here, is focusing us on a particular aspect of Christ’s work; a specific aspect of our renewal: Our consciences being purified from our sinful deeds.

To worship God a man, woman, boy, and girl must know that their sins have been forgiven. We must have confidence in Christ that we’ve been washed, cleansed, made new. We can’t worship the Lord in all the “sweet” ways He’s made us to worship Him in when we’re always beating ourselves up again and again, condemning ourselves for past evil (even if it was just that morning). Either God the Son took off His divinity, was born a man, took our sins upon Himself on the cross, and put them to death there – once-and-for-all – or He did not. If He did put our sins to death and wash us clean and make us new then every time we think we’re no good and every time we think that God must hate us or be so frustrated with us we are thinking evil thoughts, untrue thoughts, thoughts the devil has put into our heads. Because the Lord has said, “I will forgive their wickedness and never again remember their sins.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

We can’t worship God unless our consciences have been purified from all our sinful deeds. We need to trust that Christ has done what He says He has done: Taken our sins to the cross. “If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

When we can talk freely about our sins and our sinfulness, we know we’ve been forgiven, it shows that our consciences have been purified. And we can worship the Lord.

But clearly the kind of worship Hebrews is saying Jesus died for is more than just attending Worship Services. Turn to Hebrews 13 with me…

The letter To the Hebrews ends with this charge to its original Jewish readers, and to all those who read it today. It is a charge to Christian living. It is a charge to the “sweet” way of Jesus. It is a charge to worship, and a picture of what daily, moment-by-moment worship looks like. I’ll summarize it this way:

• Loving each other like family,
• Making strangers feel at home,
• Not forgetting those who are in prison and suffering for the faith,
• Honoring marriage and being faithful in our marriages,
• Not trusting in money,
• Not being attracted to new religions and new-fangled religious practices,
• Praising the Lord,
• Sharing with those in need, and,
• Obeying our spiritual leaders.

This is the supernatural life of worship we’ve been saved for, our consciences purified for, and called to. We can’t do these things on our own. We need the power of God. We need the Holy Spirit.

For instance, look around you at all the others here in the Sanctuary today. Do you love each one the same way you love your family? Would you respond to the person in front of you’s troubles the same way you would respond to your parents or kids’ troubles, or your brother’s or sister’s?

Another instance: In our culture it is hard to honor marriage and be faithful in our marriages when our society itself is redefining marriage and when so many powers and temptations are working to tear our marriages apart!

There’s so many distractions and activities competing for our time and attention. We can be drawn away from praising the Lord each day. We can be drawn away from meeting to praise Him together each Sunday.

No, it is clear that we cannot do these things on our own. We cannot live a life of worship on our own. We need God’s power, the power that raised Jesus from the dead. We need the Holy Spirit to live in such a way. And because He’s called us to live such “sweet” ways, we can trust Him to empower us to live it when we seek Him and ask.

When we live life our own way; when we give into those thoughts telling us, “I can’t live God’s way. It’s too much for me!” When we give into such thoughts we’re on our own. The Lord is not going to help us leave Him and forsake Him and pursue a life of doubt. He’s not going to help us because that would hurt us.

But when we seek Him and His Kingdom first, we can count on Him helping us every step of the Way.

As we’ve said, some days it may seem like too much. Of course it’s too much. This is a supernatural life of worship He’s called us to! It takes God the Holy Spirit and the power that raised Jesus from the dead to live these ways! But the Holy Spirit is ours for the asking (Luke 11:13) – the power that raised Jesus from the dead, ours for the asking – as we seek Him for His help to live in these “sweet” ways He’s called us to.

[Put the baseball bat over my shoulder.] And as we seek to worship Him these ways, as we seek Him and don’t give up, as we surrender and submit to Him and each other and don’t give up, as we seek to live His Way ourselves – not demanding that our spouses or our children or our parents or our leaders or whichever others around us start living this way and treating us in these ways first – as we trust Him, as we seek to worship Him in these ways: POW! [Swing the bat for a home run.] He meets us and helps us and joins with us and life comes together. So very “sweet”..!