The Better Purification

Matthew LaMaster

Hebrews: The Life of Faith • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Transcript

Big Idea

Tension: Why is the purification that Christ offers better than the purification that the law provides?

Resolution: Because Christ purifies our hearts by his own blood, once for all, and in the heavenly places.

Exegetical Idea: Christ’s purification is better than the purification that the law provides because Christ’s purifies our own heart by his own blood, once for all, and in the heavenly places.

Theological Idea: Because Christ purifies our hearts by his own blood, once for all, and in the heavenly places, it is better than the purification of the Old Covenant.

Homiletical Idea: Nothing can make my heart clean except for Christ’s own blood shed once for all, in the heavenly places.

Outline

Introduction: Do you feel dirty?

Why is a purification necessary?

I think fundamentally, this is a matter of keeping the 3rd commandment, that we should not take the name of hte Lord our God in vain. And so what we see is that God is worthy of all reverence and fear and honor. ANd to treat his name like a common thing, to treat it as something which is not uniquely holy, is the essence of impurity. Because God is perfectly pure, he demands a people and a worship who are pure.

Purification biblically, is that state where we feel something is “clean” or appropriate for relationship with God. (Psalm 24:3-4; Matthew 5:8; Hebrews 12:14)

It is further only the pure who are in covenant with God. You will never get the benefits of salvation without purity. Here are some of the things that only come to the pure in this passage:

True purity gives us an eternal “redemption.” (vs. 12, 15)

True purity gives us an eternal inheritance (vs. 15).

It gives us a clean conscience - it gives us assurance of our salvation (vs. 14)

It enables us to serve God (vs. 14)

Only the pure can receive the forgiveness of sins (vs. 22)

It allows us to wait for Christ’s return (vs. 28)

Now, what we see then, is that sin makes someone impure. (Matthew 15:10-11)

What did purification look like in the Old Covenant?

Someone has to die to make someone pure according to the covenant (vs. 16-17)

“Not even teh first covenant was inaugurated without blood.” (vs. 18). Blood is necessary to estabish the first covenant.

Vs. 19-20 are referring to Exodus 24:3-8

And just as in 19-20, the covenant is established, so the temple and everything was dedicated to the covenant by means of the blood.

Every purification needs a sacrifice. And the “purification” comes when the blood from the sacrifice is put on the sinner.

This sprinkling with blood purifies someone, it reestablished them in the covenant.

But the problem is that the blood of bulls and goats don’t work (Hebrews 9:8-10, 10:4). The blood of bulls and goats can’t purify. It can’t bring that forgiveness of sins, it can’t really establish someone in the covenant. Why, it doesn’t go deep enough, it doesn’t get at the heart.

Why is the New Covenant’s purification better?

How it works: Christ offers himself as the purification in the place of sinners by the power of the Holy Spirit to God (vs. 14, 24, 26, 28). Christ is our substitute, our sacrifice. He stood in our place.

We can say two things about this. This is trinitarian. This is not divine cosmic abuse, but the Son is offering himself up to bear the sins of the world.

Second, it is penal substitutionary atonement. That is, this is not just a good example. This is not just about Christ conquering. All that is true. But it is about Christ becoming our substitute, taking our sin.

Just as this High priest would sprinkle the blood of the atonement on the sinner to purify them, to establish them in the covenant, so Christ puts his blood on us to establish us in the covenant. That is what purifies us.

This purification is superior to the purification of the Old Testament for four reasons.

First off, it is superior because it is Christ’s own blood. (vs. 12-14, 26)

Second, Christ sacrificed himself once for all. (vs. 12, 25-27) Whereas other priests suffered many times, Christ suffers once.

Third, Christ sanctifies the heavenly places. (vs. 11, 23-24)

But most importantly, he purifies our hearts. He doesn’t just sanctify the external body. He puts his blood on my heart, on my conscience (vs. 9-10, 13-14)

Application

Nothing can wash me except for the blood of Christ

Do you feel dirty this morning?

Not my good works, not my parents’ good works, not my job, nothing can make me clean except for the blood of Jesus

You can’t make yourself clean.

But it doesn’t matter how terrible you feel about things that you do. Christ can make you clean.

If I am made pure, I am made pure to serve the living God.

If Christ has purified me, then I've been purified for one reason, to serve the living God. If you think God has saved you for any other reason, then you are off. If Christ has washed you with his blood, then he has bought you and said over your life, “mine.”

So are you living for God? There could be two reasons why yoou’re not.

Because you are not a Christian. If you haven’t been purified, why would you serve the living God. So are you washed?

Because you have lost sight of your salvation. You have lost sight of the blood of Christ shed for you. You have lost sight of the hope of the cross.