This Far You May Come… But No Farther! (Hebrews Sermon 33)

In the summer of 2001, I had the privilege of going to China and visit some friends that were serving the Lord there. Then we had a little bit of time in Beijing, and like so many tens of thousands of tourists that visit Beijing, I also wanted to go to the Great Wall of China. So, we made that trek in a taxicab, and went up there with thousands of people to walk for a little stretch on the Great Wall of China. It’s really an impressive structure, an amazing feat of human engineering, 5,500 miles long. If you think about it, over 5,000 miles long built over three centuries, mostly over three centuries, in the 14th to the 17th century, built with the blood of slave labor of people just who are crushed by the effort under the lash of the whip of these emperors who had one desire, and that was to keep the Mongol warriors out. They wanted to keep the Mongols out. The problem with that was that there were gaps in the wall and it didn’t reach to the end. And so these folks just rode around it. But there it stands. No, it cannot be seen from the moon. They say it’s the only human built structure… It cannot be seen from the moon. It can barely be seen from a shallow orbit, but it’s still impressive.

And I got to thinking, as I was meditating on this text today, of the efforts that human beings have made to build walls to keep people from moving where they want to go. That’s the purpose of a lot of walls that are built. The Great Wall of China was built for that purpose. Hadrian’s Wall, in the northern part of England, built to keep the savage northern Scots warriors, the Picts and others, from coming down and made a line of demarcation, this is where the Roman Empire ends right here. Think about the Berlin Wall, built in 1961 by the East German authorities around the circumference of West Berlin to keep East Germans from fleeing to freedom. And what an incredible time that was, as I’m sure you remember, 1989, when the wall finally came down.

But all of those walls were really ineffective because as ingenious as the wall builders are, the people who want to get in are even more ingenious and more determined, and they’re just going to do it. Over 5,000 people escaped past that wall, the Berlin Wall, into West Berlin for freedom, relentless drive to get where they want to go. But I say to you, the most imposing wall that has ever been built was made of fabric and it enclosed the holy of holies, it was established by God, it was hanging from flimsy acacia wood poles, it was completely movable. And it was a message from Almighty God, saying to us, as a sinful human race, we are not welcome in His holy presence. This fabric could have been cut with a knife or moved aside with the motion of the hand, but the reality could not so easily be moved aside. We are not welcome in the presence of a holy God, apart from the ministry of Jesus Christ. We are not welcome.

And again, and again, in the Book of Exodus, the Lord was giving that message, an amazing kind of rhythm in some of these passages how the Lord will lay out some things. They were powerfully attractive to human beings, saying, “Come here, come here, come here, come here.” And then as soon as we start to move, saying, “No more, you can’t come any closer.” You look at the burning bush, God does that with Moses, he puts out that flame, and the bush is not consumed and it’s a miracle. And Moses, just wandering there, in the back side of the desert with his father-in-law’s sheep, just another day in the desert looking after daddy’s sheep, and there’s this bush as though God didn’t know what magnetic effect it would have on Moses. And Moses saw, and he said, “I will go over and see this strange sight, why the bush does not burn up.” And the text says, “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ Moses said, ‘here I am.’ [And then the next words were] ‘Do not come any closer.'”

Same thing in Exodus 19, where God put limits around the mountain, as we’ve talked about before, and then descends with such a display of divine presence and power and majesty that God knew very, very well that the people would be attracted to the mountain, not running away from it, they want to be near God. That’s in your heart. We are designed, we are built for God. We are built for fellowship with God. And so God, showing such a clear display of His majesty, of His greatness and His power, even though terrifying signs, still commanded that some limits, some wall of some sort, don’t know much about it, but be put at the base of the mountain and a command be given that the Israelites must not force their way up the mountain unless they be put to death.

Same thing in Exodus 24, when God commanded Moses with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, and the 70 elders of Israel, to come up the mountain now. Now they’re invited to come up, you can read about it in Exodus 24, but Aaron and the others must not come up, only Moses may approach. And the command to the rest of the elders of Israel was, “You are to worship at a distance.” “Worship at a distance,” that’s the old covenant. The attraction, the compulsion to get near God laid out there. And in Exodus 24, God showed those elders a vision of the God of Israel above an expanse, like sapphire, God showed Himself, He revealed Himself to them. But the command was still hanging over them, “Don’t come any closer.” “You must worship at a distance.”

And so in the fullness of time, God, in Exodus, commanded that this tabernacle be built. We’ve talked about it. We’ll go into some details again today to remind ourselves what we’re talking about. But there is this place, a focal point, a place of worship, where the Israelites were to worship, that’s where they were to go, that’s where they were to make their sacrifices. It was a focal point, a place of worship. And God graced that tabernacle, that simple tent, with a magnificent display of His presence. The glory of God filled that tabernacle. A glory cloud filled it, and right there at the end, in Exodus 40, the text says very plainly that Moses could not enter because of the glory of the Lord. It’s the same message, do you not see it? God is saying by the glory, “Come, come closer. You want to see this. This is very attractive to you, isn’t it?” Very attractive, very interesting, a passion to get near God. And then that command, “You must not get any closer. You may not come.”

Same thing happened when Solomon built the temple. You remember that, how he built the temple. And the Glory of God filled that temple, and the priest could not enter. It’s the same thing again and again. And so we have this attraction, this yearning to be near God, but we are told by this tabernacle, the lesson of the tabernacle in our text today, the Holy Spirit was teaching by this tabernacle, “You may not come into My presence.”

Now, the joy for me, as I preach this text, is to know that that’s old news, friends. It’s old. That’s what the Holy Spirit was teaching back then. He’s no longer saying that to us now. Now he’s saying, “Come near to me. I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” said Jesus. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” But if you turn it around, “you may absolutely come to the Father through Me.” Hebrews 10, we’ll get to it, maybe, but at any rate, eventually, that Jesus is for us a new and living way into the very presence of God.

So, as we come now to Hebrews 9 and 10, we’re looking at aspects of the covenant, the overall message of the Book of Hebrews, the superiority of Jesus Christ and of the new covenant that He brings. A specific focal point of this lesson was that these first century Jewish believers in Christ were going to have a very, very hard time giving up their traditions of worship. And so again, in our text, this lesson is for the present time, He says, to especially help first century Jewish believers in Christ to give up on the trappings the physical aspects of old covenant worship because their time is done now. And so the supremacy of Jesus Christ, the supremacy of the new covenant, all of these things.

But now as we come to be Hebrews, this section, Hebrews 7, 8, 9, 10, especially Hebrews 9 and 10, we’re looking at specific details of the old covenant sacrificial system that are now fulfilled, that are superseded by what Christ has done in a marvelous way.

And as I was trying to organize this in my mind this morning, I had this thought that came to me. Recently, we were on a mission trip to Nepal, and we had one very, very long day in which we were sitting on an unmoving bus for, on and off, a total of seven plus hours. That was tough. You just run out of things to do. I was sitting next to Jenny and we were playing 20 Questions, which I don’t actually love. It’s okay for a little while. And 20 Questions always begins the same way, you have to decide if it’s a person, a place, or a thing. Remember that game? And so that’s the first few questions that you ask, is to ascertain that. And I think that that’s a good kind of three-part summary of what we’re looking at here, superior person, superior place, superior thing. How is that? That came to me this morning. Isn’t that exciting, 20 questions used in homiletics. All right?

But Christ is superior as our great high priest. He is holy. He is the Son of God. He is sinless, pure, blameless, does not need to offer sacrifices for His own sins. He will never die, but the supremacy of Christ has been the unifying theme all the way through. We’ve begun to look at now this superior place, this tabernacle that Jesus ministers to the true genuine tabernacle in heaven, not merely an earthly one, looking at the details of that last time, we’ll look at it some more today, but again Christ ministering in a superior place. And then the actual blood that is offered is superior. The sacrifice itself is a superior sacrifice, once for all time the blood of Jesus, because the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins. And so that’s kind of a summary of what we’re looking at now.

I. Last Week: The Tabernacle—Established by God as Merely a Symbol

The last time, as we looked at the tabernacle, Hebrews 9:1 through 5, the actual tent, remember I mentioned the temple was never even mentioned in the Book of Hebrews. I think the author really wants to get at what God directly clearly established through the law of Moses, the old covenant, and the tabernacle was it. It was a tent, it was set up in a certain pattern, look at verses 1 and 2, Hebrews 9:1 and 2, “Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up.” A tabernacle is just a tent. And so this tabernacle, this is one of the key ideas in the Book of Hebrews, the things that are superseded were glorious. They weren’t bad. There was nothing wrong with them. We’re not going to denigrate them. We’re not going to talk down about them or insult them. They had a purpose. They were glorious in their own time and in their own way. God set up that tabernacle.

It was an earthly sanctuary, it was man-made and temporary, but it was made at the command of God. The Israelites didn’t do anything wrong in making it. They were obeying God and doing exactly what he wanted done. It was a divided sanctuary. There was the Holy Place and there was the Most Holy Place. The author gives us that two-part division of the tabernacle. There were three symbols in the holy place, as you remember, verse 2. “In the first room, the Holy Place, where the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread, this was called the Holy Place.” And so we talked about the symbolic aspects of those things.

And then in the Most Holy Place, the author gives us seven symbols, in verses 3 through 5. “Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense, the gold-covered ark of the covenant, and this ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded the stone tablets of the covenant. And above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.” So these are the seven symbols of the Most Holy Place, or what we have in the King James Version, the Holy of Holies. Holy of Holies was a 10 x 10 x 10 cube made up of fabric, as we’ve said, a symbol of God’s throne room, a symbol of God’s dwelling place. That’s what it signified.

II. The Priestly Ministry: Established by God But Ineffective

So, now we get into the actual priestly ministry. God intended that this tabernacle be used. It wasn’t to be a museum where you would walk through and look at artifacts and walk out, but it was to be a kind of a living parable, something that was going on day after day. And so when everything was arranged like this, when everything had been set up according to the commands that God had given Moses, the priests entered and got busy. They carried on their priestly ministry. And so in verse 6, “The priest entered regularly into the outer room to carry on this ministry.” And so there they were, and it was a busy place, day after day after day, these priests were offering up a variety of sacrifices and offerings, peace offerings, fellowship offerings, and there were sin offerings, and there were drink offerings and grain offerings, and all these kinds of things that the Lord had prescribed. And so it was a busy place, and the priests were constantly active and ministering.

But the focus of our text here is not that outer room, that busy place where the priests were carrying on that daily morning and evening-type ministry. The focus here, the weighty focus here is the inner room, the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, and the message of these verses is that no one was welcome there except the high priest, and that only once a year. This is all about restriction. Do you see it? It’s all about what was not permitted. Restricted access. Look at verse 7, “But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.” And so there was that restricted access.

Now, all of Israel was restricted. If you weren’t a Levite, you were even getting into the tabernacle, that part of the tabernacle at all. But I would have to say that no one but the Levites had such an intense, if we can even say, in-your-face reminder that they were not welcome in the presence of God because, there it was, that curtain, day after day after day, they got to look at it all the time and know that they were not allowed, on penalty of death, to go into that place. Constant reminder, “You are not welcome here. You are sinful and I am holy, and you may not come here.”

And so they carried on their ministry. But one day a year, one special day a year, one man, designated by the law of Moses, a descendant of Aaron, wearing magnificent priestly robes ordinarily, but then just, in Leviticus 16, a simple white garment, linen garment would go into the Most Holy Place. Leviticus 16 describes this very powerfully. It’s well worth reading, if you want to take some afternoon time and read about it. All of the strictures or requirements for that, very, very powerful. But he entered, and the first thing he did was offer the blood of a bull for his own sins, and then he went back out and offered a goat and brought the blood of the goat in for the sins of the people. And he offered this blood for, it says, sins which he and the people had committed in ignorance.

Now, some, in church history, the Socinians are their name and others have stated that this phrase in particular shows that in the old covenant there was no provision made for willful sins. None. Only provision made for sins committed in ignorance. Friends, that is completely false. In the old covenant, there is no provision made for the forgiveness of sins at all. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away any sin, willful or an un-willful. So, don’t go with the Socinians on this one. I know you were tempted in the Socinians direction. But the fact of the matter is that sins, whether willful or done in ignorance, is still sin. The ignorance mentioned here in verse 7 really has to do with the ignorance all of us have of Almighty God Himself. Isn’t that the problem? Righteous Father… John 17, in verse 25, “Righteous Father, though the world has not known you, I have known you.”

Earlier in that same priestly prayer, in John 17, “now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” All of us ignorant of God at some level. Oh, I’m yearning for a full education. Aren’t you? Yearning to know God and see Him face-to-face, and know Him as He has known us, as beautifully and completely as we have been known. But because we do not know God, because we do not know His holiness, because we do not know His word, that’s why we sin. Jesus said, “You’re an error because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.” So, these are sins that we commit in ignorance. And that was what was symbolically offered with the blood of animals in the Holy of Holies on that one day of atonement.

III. The Holy Spirit’s Lesson: The Way In Not Yet Revealed

But what is the lesson of all of this? Well, look at verse 8, the Holy Spirit had a very clear lesson in all of this. “The Holy Spirit was showing by this,” it says, “that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.” Now, first, it’s just beautiful, isn’t it, how the author in verse 8 ascribes the teaching ministry here to the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, all of the laws of Moses, the regulations for worship, all of that, according to this verse, were coming from the Holy Spirit. The Holy spirit communicated the will of God to man through the prophets, through Moses. And the Holy Spirit had a lesson with the tabernacle. The Holy Spirit was intending Israel to learn something. And what was the Holy Spirit teaching by the tabernacle? Well, the author tells us in verse 8, “that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed.” Very, very powerful.

What does this mean, “the way into the Most Holy Place”? Well, the tabernacle itself is just a symbol, an earthly symbol of the heavenly reality. The Most Holy Place represents the place where God dwells, where His throne is, where all of that hundred million angels are encircling Him, and worshipping Him, and praising Him. It’s the presence of Almighty God, the Most Holy Place, that’s what the tabernacle symbolizes. When God came down with that glory cloud, He was saying that “This is a symbol of My dwelling place. It’s where I live.” And what the Holy Spirit was teaching is that the way in had not yet been disclosed as long as we’re under the old covenant.

Now, if you knew what to look for, the lesson was still hopeful, wasn’t it? God wasn’t rubbing our face in it. God wasn’t saying, “I am holy, you’re wicked, and you will never be allowed into My presence.” Just by setting the tabernacle up, in effect, He’s saying, “Some day, dear friends, some day there will be a way into My presence, just not yet.” And so the words “yet,” “not yet disclosed,” imply that at some point the fulfillment would come and the restriction would end. But it didn’t come in the old covenant. The ministry of the tabernacle, the ministry of the sinful priests, the endless repetition of animal blood, all of it testified to the absolute ineffectiveness of the old covenant to deal with sin. We are not welcome under the ministrations of the old covenant into the presence of a Holy God. It’s not effective. It’s not good enough.

IV. Unable to Clear the Conscience of the Worshiper

And so the endless repetition testifies to this, the fact that the priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sins first testifies to all this, but for the average rank and file Israelite, there was a far deeper proof than that. Far deeper. It had to do with their own guilty conscience. Deep in their hearts, they knew that they were sinful. In their hearts, they knew that they could not come as they were. With the blood of bulls and goats, they could not come into the presence of such a terrifying and Holy God. These ministrations, the work of the old covenant was unable to clear the conscience of the worshipper.

Look at verses 9 and 10, “This is an illustration,” it says, “for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.” verse 10, “They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings, external regulations applying until the time of the new order.” And so the author says that the tabernacle was an illustration, really a living parable. It was a type, it was a symbol, it was teaching us something. So, the tabernacle is an illustration. And he says, it is “for this present time.”

I already touched on this a few moments ago, but let me reiterate what I said. I think these first century Jewish Christians had a tremendous burden that very few succeeding generations would ever have, the burden of letting go of all of their traditions and worshipping in a whole new way. And so this is an illustration for the present time, meaning the time when the author himself was writing in the days immediately after the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus. But I don’t think that’s enough. I think that’s true, but isn’t it for us, too, 20 centuries later? Aren’t we still in the final days? Aren’t we in the same era of redemptive history that our brothers and sisters of the first century where we are? So, it’s an illustration for us, too, for the present time, for us today. An illustration that the accusations of a guilty conscience cannot be dealt with any other way than by the blood of Jesus.

And we’re going to talk more, not today, but… Next time, preach on Hebrews 9, we’re going to talk about the power of Jesus to cleanse a guilty conscience. And how sweet is that? How many times, how often, how many days have you labored burdened under a guilty conscience even as a Christian? And so this is an illustration for now, for the present time, to know how you can escape a guilty conscience.

David knew all about that when he committed that terrible sin with Bathsheba. And then he had Uriah killed to cover up his sin, and how for a year, it seems, as you read between the lines in Psalm 32, the baby was born and all that, that he fought the convicting work of the Spirit, he fought, he hardened his heart. He had many sleepless nights, he had physical ramifications, physical illnesses perhaps. And at core, it was all about a guilty conscience. And in Psalm 51, he rejects forever, for the old covenant people, the effectiveness of animals in dealing with that. I would offer a thousand bulls if it could get rid of my guilt, but it can’t. Sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart, that’s what you will not despise, but it’s not going to be animals. David knew offering some sacrifices would not cleanse his guilty conscience.

And so the Holy Spirit was teaching that there is a different, a new and living way that does address a guilty conscience and addresses actual spiritual guilt before such a holy God, and welcomes us right into the presence of God, there is going to be a way. That’s what he was saying in the Old Covenant. And so these things were only set up temporarily, a matter of food and drink, and ceremonial washings, and external regulations. Temporary, just temporary. Until when? We look at verse 10, “until the time of the reformation.” Isn’t that beautiful?

Friends, we are living in that now. This is the real reformation. I’m not in any way denigrating church history and what Martin Luther did. Praise God for it. Keep calling it the reformation. I will. At any rate, this is the genuine reformation. The word here in the Greek implies something like a law that was established but did not achieve the end for which it was established, and you need to revoke it and write a new one. That’s how the word is used. Or of a building that’s ramshackle and falling down and needs to be renovated. That’s what the old covenant was. It wasn’t working, it was ineffective. It could not make us holy in the sight of God. And so God had to set it aside and establish a new order. And that new order, friends, is the new covenant in the blood of Jesus.

That’s the lesson of the tabernacle. And that’s the glorious good news for us today, the way in to the Holy of Holies has been revealed now in Jesus. Jesus has shown us the way, He’s proclaimed the way. He is the way in to the very presence of Almighty God. The old tabernacle has been replaced by the body of Christ, by the heavenly reality that it symbolized. The Most Holy Place is no longer a 10 x 10 x 10 cube of linen curtains and acacia wood polls. It’s not that anymore. It’s the actual presence of God in heaven. And there are spirits of righteous men and women made perfect in the presence of God now, that’s the effectiveness of the blood of Jesus.

The way in has been revealed. The blood of the sacrifice, the blood shed on the cross by Jesus Christ is sufficient for you and me to draw near to God. And that is the glorious good news that I have the privilege of proclaiming today. God isn’t saying what he used to say anymore. He’s not laying out all of these attractions, and then as we start to move toward Him puts up a wall and says, “Stop, this far you may come and no further.” He’s not doing that anymore.

Now, neither is he opening up 50 different ways into His presence. No, no, no. There is one and only one way. We just got to minister to Tibetan Buddhists. Tibetan Buddhism offers no way in to the presence of God. Just works religion, really like animism, it’s not much different than some of the things you see in tribal regions in other places. It’s no way in. Neither is Islam any way in to the presence of Almighty God. Neither is our good works or moralism, or Judaism. Christless Judaism is no way in to the presence of God. There is one way in and only one way, and His name is Jesus.

V. The Good News: The Way In Has Been Revealed in Christ!!

And so it says very plainly, and you can turn over if you want in Hebrews 10:19-22, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,” what does it say in verse 22, “let us draw near to God.” Now, the word of God is actually commanding you to come. He is actually commanding you to come into the very presence of Almighty God. Don’t stay distant anymore because of a guilty conscience. Talk more about that next time, because it says, “Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

VI. Applications

So, what applications can we take from these marvelous verses? First, just marvel at the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. Amen? What a great teacher the Holy Spirit is. And how majestic and how perfect it is that He set all of this up, all the old covenant regulation for worship, the tabernacle, all that, it was the Holy Spirit’s teaching ministry to us. And not only did he actually do it in space and time, but he moved Moses at the right time to write about it so that we can read centuries later what the Lord wanted us to learn. Marvel at the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. Friends, He’s still teaching you today, right now. Holy Spirit is active in this room, He’s moving through the ministry of the Word, and He is teaching us still. And so marvel at that.

Secondly, learn the various symbolic lessons of the tabernacle. If you didn’t hear the sermon that I preached on the symbolism of the outer and inner room and all that, go back and look at that. There are some things that the author doesn’t even cover, like the priestly vestments, the way that he carried the plate on his plate, the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, the way he had a gold plate that said “holy to the Lord” on his turban. All of these things, symbols and pictures of Christ, go and study and learn these things.

And why would we do it? It’s obsolete. Yes, it’s obsolete, but it’s a beautiful picture of Christ’s finished work on the cross, of His ongoing priestly ministry for us at the right hand of God. Study and learn so that your heart can be strengthened by these things. Celebrate the powerful fulfillment of Jesus Chris. Celebrate Jesus. It’s my deepest desire when we come here, that we would have an encounter with a holy and awesome God, and be moved deeply by the holiness and the power and majesty of God, and tremble at that. And along with that, joyfully celebrate what Jesus has done to bring us in and qualify us to be in the presence of such a holy God. Celebrate. I mean, smile. I mean, be joyful. I mean, go out of your field with energy and joy and serve the Lord. Let’s celebrate what Christ has done. And let’s, in an ongoing forever way, trust, trust, trust the finished work of Christ.

By faith, we are justified. By faith, we will be sanctified. And I’ve already prayed for you, but if you’re here today and you’ve never trusted in Christ, if you are in a Christless state but you don’t want to be anymore, you’re feeling a pull in your heart, it’s marvelous. We’re in the new covenant, gospel grace era now. That pull in your heart can be consummated, you can come all the way right in the presence of God. Trust in Jesus. Turn away from your sins, they’re killing you. And if you do not trust Christ, they will destroy you forever in hell. Turn away from them, I plea. Turn away from wickedness and sin, away from lust, away from idolatry, the idolatry of possessions and money and all those things, ambitions, worldly ambitions. They lead to nothing. Turn away from these things. And I plead with you, trust in Jesus, see Him in your minds crucified on the cross, His blood shed, He said the words, “It is finished,” the curtain in the temple torn in two from top to bottom, physical evidence that God is saying, “You’re welcome to come.” Picture him in your mind’s eye, go ahead three days, picture him resurrected, walking in a resurrected body, showing his wounds to Thomas, proving that He had risen from the dead, trust in Him, Jesus, for the salvation of your souls.

And I don’t want to talk anymore about a guilty conscience, but maybe you can’t wait until I preach on that, so let me say right now, if you came in here today as a Christian with a defiled conscience, the blood of Jesus is the only remedy. It’s the only one there’s ever been. It’s an ocean of grace for you. Receive forgiveness, full forgiveness, at the cross, and allow that grace to come and teach you the lesson of the cross, which is this is what it costs to save you from such sins as that, so you grow to hate those sins and turn away from them and do them no longer, walking in repentance and newness of life. Full forgiveness, full cleansing of a guilty conscience.

And finally, just draw near to God every day. What can hinder you? Cleanse from a guilty conscience, commanded by God to draw near, then let’s draw near. Amen? Let’s come right in the presence of God. Don’t stay distant anymore, but come right in to the presence of God. Close with me in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Significant Walls in History:

1)     Hadrian’s wall: Built in the years AD 122 by the Roman commander in Britain to mark the northernmost extent of the Roman Empire and “to separate Romans from barbarians”

2)     The Great Wall of China: Built in primarily during the Ming Dynasty (14-17th centuries) to keep the Mongol raiders out of China; one of the most astonishing structures in the history of mankind… 5500 miles long, generally 25 feet in height; but INEFFECTIVE because it was not continuous… the Mongels just rode around it!

3)     Berlin Wall: Built in 1961 during the Cold War after WWII, the struggle between the West and the Communist powers centered in the USSR; the wall surrounded West Berlin and sought to keep people from escaping to freedom; this wall was also ineffective for as many as 5000 people still managed to escape in the following years

All of these walls (and many others beside in history) were built for one purpose: to control the movement of people; to keep an unwanted people from moving too close to a goal they may desire but which the wall builder does not want them to have

The wall would be unnecessary if the no one wanted to go there! It is based on the strong desire a people MAY HAVE to getting somewhere, a desire which the wall prevents them from achieving

No barrier in human history, however, has been as significant and forbidding as the barrier God Himself erected between sinful humans and His own holy presence!!

The first indications of this barrier were found in the Garden of Eden, after Adam had sinned and eaten from the tree. God drove the man and his wife from the Garden:

Genesis 3:24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

The way into the tree of life and the presence of God is BLOCKED!!! THUS FAR YOU MAY COME AND NO FARTHER!!!

When God called Moses to go as His representative, He did so with an amazing sight: the burning bush… Moses was incredibly ATTRACTED to that sight and said “I will go over to see this amazing sight… why the bush is on fire but is not consumed!” God thus ATTRACTED Moses to Himself with His amazing holy power; but after calling Moses’ name, the first words God ever spoke to Moses on that mountain were these:

Exodus 3:5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

That in a nutshell is the mystery of the Old Covenant… COME HERE… BUT DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER!!!

The next significant wall was the barrier at the base of Mount Sinai

Exodus 19:12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

This is the exact same thing! God attracts the people to Him by His awesome display of supernatural power, descending on the Mountain in cloud and fire and darkness and earthquake… but then forbidding that sinful people to come close to Him by erecting a barrier… a wall of some sort… to keep the people away!

THUS FAR YOU MAY COME, AND NO FARTHER!!

This lesson was strengthened by this exchange:

Exodus 19:21-25 the LORD said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the LORD, must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them.” 23 Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.'” 24 The LORD replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the LORD, or he will break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.

Then God desired to appear to the leaders of Israel, to the seventy elders; but first He gave strict orders about this:

Exodus 24:1-2 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

That’s it!! “WORSHIP AT A DISTANCE!!!!” THUS FAR YOU MAY COME, AND NO FARTHER!!!” That’s the Old Covenant in a nutshell.

Then God set up the Tabernacle under Moses… it was made of flimsy curtains of linen on moveable stands of acacia wood poles and bases of silver… it set up a perimeter for the entire Tabernacle… the place where animal sacrifice would be made to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for the sins of the people

These linen curtains and acacia wood poles could be easily knocked over or destroyed by powerful warriors… but their lesson was clear enough:

THUS FAR YOU MAY COME, AND NO FARTHER!!

This principle is the central issue of today’s sermon: why God established this barrier, and how in Christ it is REMOVED!!

During the days of the Old Covenant, the laws of Moses surrounding the work of the Tabernacle had one central message:

Hebrews 9:8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.

It all pointed to a NEW DAY when at last the desires of our hearts would be consummated: the way for sinners to enter into the presence of the Holy God would at last be made

Our text calls it,

Hebrews 9:10 … the time of the new order.

Context:

1)     The Author’s overall purpose here: to prove that the Old Covenant the Lord God made with Israel at Sinai, with all of its ordinances for worship and all its responsibilities and privileges had been ABOLISHED FOREVER, superseded by the New Covenant, established in Christ’s blood

2)     This New Covenant which God had established was infinitely superior to the Old Covenant

3)     The chief obstacle for the Jews: their failure to perceive that the Old Covenant ceremonial law—the tabernacle, the priesthood, the animal sacrifices—were merely SYMBOLIC, types, shadows, analogies, living parables, waiting for the fulfillment of Christ; when Christ came, they were instantly OBSOLETE

The connecting link with Hebrews 8: the Old Covenant is OBSOLETE and will soon pass away:

Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear

Overview of Hebrews 9-10:

The Author has established Christ as a superior priest, and that He has established a superior covenant

He now turns to address the superior SACRIFICE the Son offers… he zeroes in on the actual activity of the Old Covenant priests—their work in the tabernacle offering animal blood for sins

In this chapter, the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice is established on the following grounds:

1)       The place of the offering was in heaven rather than earth

2)     The blood of the sacrifice was his own rather than that of animals

3)     His offering was ONCE FOR ALL rather than endlessly repeated

The author will begin (vss. 1-10) by reminding his hearers of the earthly sanctuary of the Levitical priests… he will just mention in a few verses some details that would have been very familiar to those Jews… he does not intend to go into a specific detailed discussion, but rather to set the general idea: the tabernacle was only established as a symbol of Christ

I.   Last Week: The Tabernacle—Established by God as Merely a Symbol

Hebrews 9:1-2 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up.

A.  The Tabernacle: Established by God for His Glory

B.  An Earthly Sanctuary, Man-Made and Temporary

C.  A Divided Sanctuary: Holy and Most Holy Place

D.  Three Symbols in the Holy Place

Hebrews 9:2 In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.

E.  Seven Symbols in the Most Holy Place

Hebrews 9:3-5 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.

F.  Detailed Discussion Unnecessary

Hebrews 9:5 But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

II.   The Priestly Ministry: Established by God But Ineffective

Hebrews 9:6-10 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings– external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

A.  The Physical Arrangements Were Achieved… Now the Time for Ministry

1.  The Tabernacle was established to be USED… it was not merely a physical museum

2.  Pilgrim’s Progress: Interpreter’s House has lots of elements designed to teach pilgrims spiritual lessons necessary for the journey; but they were as though a museum exhibit

3.  God set up in the Tabernacle a physical arrangement with actual artifacts which had symbolic meaning

4.  God meant for these things to be USED, active living and employed in an ongoing physical ministry by living priests

5.  BUT it was all meant for teaching… no real ministry occurred by means of the blood of animals that was the central issue of the Tabernacle!

B.  The Priests Entered Regularly

Vs. 6: “The priests entered regularly into the OUTER ROOM to carry on their ministry”

1.  There was incessant work to be done by these priests… the morning and evening sacrifices had to be offered

2.  The freewill offerings and sin offerings and grain offerings and thank offerings and fellowship offerings all had to be made

3.  It was a BEEHIVE of activity… and all of it was carried on DAY AFTER DAY… but the author’s point here is the LOCATION of these symbolic sacrifices… it was in the OUTER ROOM

C.  Outer Room and Inner Room: Restricted Access!

1.  The outer room was called the “Holy Place”… it was restricted only to the Levites and their priestly class

2.  Ordinary Israelites were not permitted to enter it on ANY DAY, not ever… or they would be put to death

3.  The flimsy linen curtain hanging by silver rings on acacia wood poles was effective to keep all but the priests away from close proximity to God!!

4.  But even the priests were forbidden to enter the Most Holy Place

5.  There it stood… a perfect cube of curtains: 10 cubits x 10 cubits x 10 cubits… the place where the Ark of the Covenant was, a place of DEATH, not of life for the ordinary priest

6.  Probably the priests as they carried on the daily offerings right in the presence of the Holy of Holies every moment of every day… so close they could see it and perhaps touch the curtains that made it up, were most constantly reminded than the ordinary Israelites of the PROHIBITION… the deadly law that forbade them from entering into the presence of Almighty God!!!

7.  Only the High Priest could ever enter the Holy of Holies… and that only happened one day a year

D.  The Day of Atonement (vs. 7)

Hebrews 9:7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

1.  The author’s point here is the LESSON OF RESTRICTION… the deadly distance our sins have put between us and the living God

2.  The common priests were AS EXCLUDED as any sinful Israelite… really, as excluded as any Gentile dog from the Most Holy Place for his whole life…

3.  AND EVEN THE HIGH PRIEST HIMSELF was excluded every single day of the year but one… on only one day a year was he permitted to enter

4.  That day was the Day of Atonement… described plainly and powerfully in Leviticus 16

5.  On that day alone, the High Priest was permitted to enter the Most Holy Place… but he could only come if brought the BLOOD OF THE SACRIFICE… in effect a clear reminder of the sins which he and the people had committed in ignorance

6.  Blood sacrifice

a.  Another key lesson here that the Tabernacle was teaching was the simple fact (stated later in this chapter)

Hebrews 9:22 without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

b.  The shedding of blood teaches the clear lesson: ALL SIN DESERVES THE DEATH PENALTY

c.  Not even the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies without a blood sacrifice for himself

d.  According to the Laws of Moses (Leviticus 16), on the Day of Atonement, the priest was required to sacrifice a bull for his own sins and those of his household… he then carried this blood into the Most Holy Place first and sprinkled it in front of the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant for his own sins

e.  Then the priest went back out to the altar in the Holy Place and sacrificed the goat for the sins of the people and carried that blood back into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat for the people

7.  The author specifies that the blood sacrifice was made for “sins the people had committed IN IGNORANCE”

a.  Some (the Socinians) have taught that this was clear evidence that there was NO FORGIVENESS for willful sins in the Old Covenant… only for sins committed in ignorance… you didn’t know what the law was and you violated it

b.  THIS IS FALSE…

i)  first, there was no ACTUAL FORGIVENESS for ANY SINS by the blood of animals anyway!!

ii)  Second, the word “ignorance” simply means that we do not know God or His laws as we should… it is because of our FAULTY MINDS, our IGNORANT THINKING that we sin in every case

iii)  Scripture calls all sins by this same name in other passages of the Old Testament

iv)  If we KNEW GOD as we should, we would not sin as we do

RSV John 17:25 O righteous Father, the world has not known you!!

v)  So the High Priest offers blood for himself and for the sins the people have committed in their IGNORANCE OF GOD

8.  So… even the High Priest was constantly reminded of this one fact: YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE as a sinner!!

9.  And yet, God was showing that there would SOMEDAY be a way into the very presence of God… why else would He have established something so elaborate that brings us so close and yet so far?

III.   The Holy Spirit’s Lesson: The Way In Not Yet Revealed

Hebrews 9:8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.

A.  The Holy Spirit’s Teaching Tool

1.  The Author ascribes the lessons of the Tabernacle to the people of that day

2.  During THOSE DAYS (note the past tense), the Holy Spirit was using the Tabernacle and the Priesthood to teach some important lessons

3.  The Spirit is constantly active as a teacher!!

4.  The Holy Spirit made it plain to King David the limitations of the animal sacrificial system

5.  So also the Holy Spirit made it plain to King Solomon that the Most High does not live in houses built by men

6.  Every time the High Priest went into the Most Holy Place, into a cubic tent made of linen, the Holy Spirit was speaking to sensitive hearts one clear lesson

The way into the Most Holy Place has not yet been disclosed

B.  The Way Into the Most Holy Place

1.  The “First Tabernacle” referred to the man-made tent built by Moses

2.  The TRUE TABERNACLE was God’s actual dwelling place… high and lifted up above the heavenly realms

3.  And that way had NOT YET BEEN DISCLOSED

4.  Now, the Tabernacle implied plainly that there IS ad way into the Most Holy Place… but it isn’t by means of endlessly repeated animal sacrifices that accomplish nothing

5.  There IS a way into the presence of the Thrice-Holy God… a way by which sinners like you and me can stand in the presence of such a God and not be destroyed

C.  BUT the Way Had NOT YET Been DISCLOSED

1.  The word “disclosed” speaks of a secret that is yet to be revealed

2.  Many of the most precious aspects of Christ’s ministry were secrets hidden for long ages past but then revealed at the right time when Jesus came

3.  Every time the High Priest sacrificed a bull or goat and brought it with fear and trembling into the Most Holy Place and poured it out on the Mercy Seat, he was acting out a drama orchestrated by the Holy Spirit

4.  THERE IS A WAY INTO GOD, BUT THIS IS NOT IT!!!

D.  There Was A DEEPER Proof of the Inadequacy of the Old Covenant

IV.   Unable to Clear the Conscience of the Worshiper

Hebrews 9:9-10 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings– external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

A.  The Tabernacle is an “Illustration”

1.  Other translations: “parable”, “symbolic”, “a figure”

2.  The tabernacle and the priestly ministry was a spiritual SYMBOL… an acted out parable… a living ILLUSTRATION

B.  The Lesson is for “THIS PRESENT TIME”

1.  The Author says now is exactly the time when we need to know this lesson the most

2.  During the first few years after Jesus died and rose and ascended, when the animal sacrifices were still going on, the first century Jewish Christians needed to know more than any other generation of Christians: the Old Covenant was INADEQUATE… it was OBSOLETE and AGING and would SOON DISAPPEAR

3.  SO ALSO, for us, two thousand years later… this illustration is for us as well, who still struggle with a guilty conscience

4.  The lessons of the Tabernacle are clear: only the blood of Jesus is effective in cleansing a guilty conscience

C.  The Accusations of a Guilty Conscience

1.  We’ll talk more next time about the plague of a guilty conscience

2.  However, there are few things as devastating as this… the accusations of conscience…

3.  The sinner has violated the commands of God

a.  Perhaps he has coveted his neighbor’s house or land or wife

b.  Perhaps he has stolen or lied or secretly been enticed toward some idolatrous affection

c.  Perhaps like David he has committed adultery and had a man murdered to cover it up

4.  The blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on some gold box cannot really cleanse a sinner’s conscience

D.  The Ineffectiveness of the Old Covenant

Vs. 9-10 the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings– external regulations

1.  The gifts and sacrifices of the Old Covenant were all symbolic

2.  They had no power to cleanse the guilty conscience

3.  The High Priest who offered them knew he was just as guilty after he offered them as he was before

E.  Until the Time of Reformation

Hebrews 9:10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings– external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

1.  The author mentions something called the “time of the reformation”… the time when God would establish a new order of things

2.  Until God should make the Old Covenant obsolete, these EXTERNAL REGULATIONS were in effect and had to be obeyed

3.  But with the “time of the reformation” God makes a New Covenant in the blood of Jesus

a.  The word “reformation” = a time of “correction”

b.  “Correction” is needed when a building is in disrepair, or when an account was in arrears or a law proved to be ineffective

c.  That is exactly the situation here: the LAW of MOSES was ineffective in making the people of God holy for heaven…

Hebrews 7:18-19 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

4.  The time of the New Order in Jesus Christ has come!!!

V.   The Good News: The Way In Has Been Revealed in Christ!!

A.  The Old Tent Has Been Replaced… by the Body of Christ

B.  The Most Holy Place is the Actual Dwelling Place of Almighty God

C.  The Blood of the Sacrifice is the True Blood of Jesus Christ

D.  It Has Been Offered Once for All for Sinners Like Us

E.  The “Way” into God’s Place is Now Open Forever!!

F.  God No Longer Says to Us “Thus far you may come and no farther”

Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

VI.   Applications

A.  Marvel at the Teaching Ministry of the Holy Spirit

B.  Learn the Various Symbolic Lessons of the Tabernacle

C.  Celebrate the Powerful Fulfillment in Christ

D.  Trust in the Finished Work of Christ

E.  Allow Your Conscience to be Cleansed

F.  Draw Near to God Every Day