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Hebrews 9:11-15
!
Introduction
Some of you won’t know what this is and some of you won’t ever have seen such a thing before.
It isn’t that old, but things have changed so rapidly in the last 20 years that it isn’t surprising that you don’t know.
This is a 5 ¼ floppy disc for computer memory storage.
Although they had different capacities most held about 740kb of memory.
This memory stick holds 8 gb.
If it was full and you wanted to put all the information that is in this memory stick on 5 ¼ floppies, you would need about 11377 of them.
In the area of computer memory things have certainly improved a lot in the last 15 or 20 years.
I would not want to go back to this method of storage.
It isn’t only in digital storage that things have improved.
There are ways in which many things have improved.
When I think of the first pair of cross country skis I owned and the ones I use now, I would not want to go back to the old ones.
Is religion better now than it used to be?
The background of what Christ did is rooted in the Old Testament.
Did Christ bring any improvements?
Listen to Hebrews 9:11-15.
This morning as we examine this passage, we will be encouraged by how much better things are since Jesus came.
As we think about these things, we continue on our journey of Lent in which we are preparing ourselves for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
!
I.                   Principles Established in the Old Covenant
In order to understand this passage well, we need to understand the Old Testament and its system.
What was Old Testament religion like?
What did it teach us?
How did it function?
!! A.                 Access…But Not Fully Open
Religion is about a relationship with God and the Old Testament taught us that God desires a relationship with people and that God is accessible.
Access to God happened in the Old Testament.
He showed Himself to individuals like Adam, Noah and Abraham.
God made Himself known to Moses and through Moses to the children of Israel.
When they left Egypt, God was present with the people in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire which accompanied them as they wandered through the wilderness.
While in the wilderness, God provided instructions for them to build a tent, which would be the place where they could meet with God.
Later when Jerusalem became the capital city of the nation, Solomon built a temple and the people could meet God there.
Our text speaks of some of these places where God was accessible when we read in verse 11 of the “tabernacle” and in verse 12 of the “Most Holy Place.”
So one of the important lessons of the Old Testament was that God desires a relationship with the people He has chosen and He has made Himself available to them.
This is a wonderful thing to realize that God wants to know us and wants us to know Him.
The creator of the universe who is so great and so far above is nevertheless approachable.
And yet, in the Old Testament there were limitations in regard to access to God.
God communicated only with certain people, whom He chose like Elijah and Isaiah.
After establishing a relationship with Israel God made it possible for the people of Israel to meet with Him, but only in one place and that was the temple.
It is always interesting to read the Psalms which speak of the beauty and glory of Jerusalem and of Zion.
We don’t understand these texts because we don’t understand that they speak of the only place where one could meet with God.
Even at those places the way to meet with God was met with limitations.
The place where God was present with His people was in the Holy of Holies.
There was only one person, the high priest, who could go into the Holy of Holies and he could only go once a year.
Listen to a few of the instructions regarding access as we find them in Leviticus 16:1-6, "The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord.”
This in itself demonstrates the limitations.
We read on, “The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
This is how Aaron is to enter the sanctuary area: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban.
These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on.
From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household."
So from the Old Testament we learn that access to God was possible, but it was very limited.
!! B.                 A Sacrifice for Sin…But Not Complete
The reason that access to God was limited was because of sin.
When the high priest went into the presence of God in the Most Holy Place, he could not do so before he had offered a sin offering for himself and for the nation.
It is sin that prevents us from meeting with God.
This is an important lesson which the Old Testament teaches us.
It also teaches us that in order to be able to go into God’s presence, there must be a sacrifice for that sin.
Because sin is so serious, blood must be shed to cover for sin.
In verse 12 we read about “the blood of goats and calves” and in verse 13 we read about “the blood of goats and bulls” and also about “the ashes of a heifer sprinkled.”
Sheep, goats and cattle were killed and burned on the altar as a sacrifice to cover for sin.
There were various rituals.
We read in Leviticus 16 about the Day of Atonement when the priest offered a sacrifice first for himself and then for the people in order to cover for the sins of the people.
But these were not the only sacrifices which were made.
Whenever a person had sinned, they were required to bring an animal to the temple and ask the priest to sacrifice that animal in order to cover for their sin.
First in the tent in the wilderness and later in the temple in Jerusalem sacrifices were constantly being made for sin.
This teaches us that the shedding of blood was necessary in order for sin to be covered.
That a death was required to cover sin helps us understand how terrible sin.
These are important lessons from the Old Testament.
But we also recognize that there were limitations to the effectiveness of the sacrifices offered in the Old Testament.
When it speaks of the blood of animals it is clear that an animal sacrifice cannot completely cover sin.
Hughes points out that the animal sacrifices were ineffective because “animals are not moral creatures.”
The effect of the animal sacrifices was that the people were made outwardly clean as we read in verse 13.
As a result they needed to offer continual sacrifices every time they sinned and every year because the cleansing did not deal with the root of sin in their hearts.
!! C.                 A Mediator…But With Limitations
A third thing we learn from the Old Testament was that a mediator was needed to stand between God and people.
Sin separated them from God and so they could not approach God directly.
They needed someone who would make it possible for them to approach God.
God’s grace was demonstrated in that He provided for this need through the priests whom God appointed.
We read in verse 11 of our text about the high priest.
The function of the priest was to be a mediator between God and the people.
He would represent God to the people and he would offer sacrifices so the people would be able to meet God and so he brought people to God.
Once again, however we see how the role of the mediator was limited.
The priest was to act as a mediator between sinful people and a holy God, but the priest was himself a sinner and so needed to have atonement made for his own sin.
That is why on the Day of Atonement the high priest needed to offer a sacrifice for his own sin before he could offer a sacrifice for the nation and before he could go to meet with God.
Another limitation was that the high priest could only be in one place at one time.
This meant that if you lived in Jerusalem, you were able to go to the priest to meet with God whenever you wanted, but what about if you lived in Galilee or across the Jordan River?
The other limitation was that the priests died and had to be replaced.
When a new person became high priest, he was not always a good representative of God.
For example, the sons of Eli were priests, but were so corrupt that God had to punish them for their sin.
So we learn these important lessons from the Old Testament.
There is access to God; the way is through the shedding of blood through animal sacrifices which were carried out by the priests who were mediators.
But we also learn that there were significant limitations to each of these aspects of religion.
!
II.
Jesus the Mediator of a New Covenant
The message of this passage is that Jesus brought a new and better way to God.
We see this in the text in a number of ways.
In verse 11we read about how Jesus gained access to “a greater and more perfect tabernacle.”
Verse 14 encourages us about “how much more” the work of Jesus accomplished than what happened in the Old Testament.
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