INTRODUCTION:

1. Last week I interrupted our series in the book of Hebrews, and preached a special Thanksgiving message.
2. The week before that I preached about types, and pointed out that the book of Hebrews deals extensively with types and shadows.
3. Hebrews 8:5 says the Old Testament priests, along with their worship and the tabernacle and its furniture "serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount."
4. Hebrews 10:1 says, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect."
5. Note that phrase in Hebrews 10:1 -- "having a shadow of good things to come."  We see this same expression in Hebrews 9:11.
6. The tabernacle and temple were a shadow of good things to come.
7. They were patterned after the "greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands," that is, the temple in heaven (9:11).
8. The Levitical priesthood was a shadow of good things to come.
9. The animal sacrifices were a shadow of good things to come.
10. The feasts and dietary laws were a shadow of good things to come.
11. When Christ came, the shadows were replaced by reality.
12. Over and over again, the book of Hebrews teaches us that the Lord Jesus Christ is our High Priest and our mediator and our intercessor.
13. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only our priest, but He is also our sacrifice (cf. 7:27).
14. First Corinthians 5:7 says, "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."
15. But the Jews preferred the shadows for the reality.  They rejected Christ and ostensibly they are still waiting for their Messiah.
16. Unfortunately many of them will accept the antichrist, believing him to be their promised messiah.  In John 5:43, Jesus warned the Jews, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."
17. There are some important words in the book of Hebrews that we have already noted, such as "better" and "shadow" and "new testament (covenant -- 8:8, 13; 9:15; 12:24)."
18. My message tonight is entitled, "He is the Mediator of the New Testament" (9:15; cf. 8:6; 12:24).
19. What we see here in the book of Hebrews is that temporary things (such as the Mosaic law and Levitical priesthood) gave way to eternal things: eternal redemption (9:12), eternal Spirit (9:14), and eternal inheritance (9:15).

 

1. ETERNAL REDEMPTION (9:12).
2. ETERNAL SPIRIT (9:14).
3. ETERNAL INHERITANCE (9:15).

 

I. ETERNAL REDEMPTION (9:12).

1. This is the only time we find the term "eternal redemption" in the Bible (9:12).   The word "redemption" is found twenty times in the Bible.
2. And the term "eternal salvation" is found in Hebrews 5:9.
3. The term "everlasting salvation" is found in Isaiah 45:17, a verse by the way, which affirms the restoration of Israel.
4. "But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end."
5. Hebrews 9:12 says, "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."
6. Andrew Murray, in his book The Blood of the Cross, wrote: "The Spirit lived and worked in that blood, so that when it was shed it could not decay as a dead thing, but as a living reality, it could be taken up to heaven…"
7. Murray, also wrote (in Secrets of Authority), "The blood possesses its power to cleanse and to make us fit to serve the living God by the eternal Spirit who was in our Lord when He shed His blood. This does not mean merely that the Holy Spirit was in the Lord Jesus and bestowed on His person and His blood a divine worth. It is much more than that: it indicates that the shedding of His blood was brought about by the eternal Spirit, and that the Spirit lived and worked in that blood. As a result, when the blood was shed, it could not decay as a dead thing; but, as a living reality, it could be taken up to heaven, to exercise its divine power from there." 
8. Hebrews 9:12 does seem to indicate that the Lord Jesus Christ brought His shed blood to heaven (cf. Heb. 12:22-24).
9. Some argue that these Scriptures are figurative and symbolic.  For example, Revelation 1:5 says Christ "washed us from our sins in his own blood."  They say we are not literally washed; the washing refers to our pardon from sin.
10. By the way, the modern translations have removed "washed" and replaced it with "freed" (NIV and ESV), "released" (NASB).
11. There is an attack on the doctrine of the blood atonement by the devil, by false teachers, and by inaccurate Bible translations.  For example, Colossians 1:14 says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (King James Version).
12. But that same verse in the NIV reads, "In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" ("through his blood" is omitted).
13. The blood of Christ is the blood of God according to Acts 20:28.
14. The blood of Christ is incorruptible according to I Peter 1:18, 19.
15. The blood of Christ is the only thing that can wash away our sin.  First John 1:7 says, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
16. J Vernon McGee said this about Hebrews 9:12, "I believe this verse proves that Christ took His literal blood to heaven.  If that is not what the writer is talking about here, I do not know what he is saying" (Thru the Bible).

 

II. ETERNAL SPIRIT (9:14).

1. This is the only place in Scripture where the Holy Spirit is referred to as "the eternal Spirit."
2. This term brings out His eternality and deity.  Way back in Genesis 1:2 we read, " And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
3. "The Spirit of God moved..."  Thank God the Spirit of God is still moving, because He is "the eternal Spirit."
4. The red heifer was a type of the sacrifice of Christ (Hebrews 9:13; cf. Numbers 19).
5. The heifer was completely burned, and her ashes kept in a clean place.  When a man became ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, the priest would take the ashes, mingle them with water, and sprinkle the offender.
6. In this way, he was purified and restored to fellowship. Keeping with the theme of this epistle (Christ is better), Hebrews 9:14 says, "How much more shall the blood of Christ..."
7. The means of purging is the blood of Christ.  The Roman Catholic Church has invented a place called "purgatory," but their purgatory is an attack on the doctrine of blood atonement.
8. Animal sacrifices delivered the Old Testament sinner from outward guilt, but the blood of Christ cleanses inwardly -- "purge your conscience" (9:14).
9. The means of purging is the blood of Christ.  The basis of the purging is His voluntary death.  Animals are passive and dumb, insensible to the purpose for which they are being sacrificed.
10. But Christ willingly went to the cross.  He said, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:17, 18).
11. Our Lord's was a perfect sacrifice for sin because He was "without spot" (Heb. 9:14).  First Peter 1:19 says we have been redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."
12. The means of purging is the blood of Christ.  The basis of the purging is His voluntary death.  And the object of purging is the "conscience from dead works" (9:14), i.e., any attempt to earn salvation by good works.
13. If good works are performed in an attempt to earn favor with God then they are actually "dead works."
14. The means of purging is the blood of Christ.  The basis of the purging is His voluntary death.  The object of purging is the "conscience from dead works" (9:14).
15. And the goal of purging is service for God -- "to serve the living God" (9:14b).
16. "Would you do service for Jesus your King?
    There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
    Would you live daily His praises to sing?
    There’s wonderful power in the blood."

 

III. ETERNAL INHERITANCE (9:15).

1. The word "inheritance" is found 221 times in the Old Testament. It is found only 18 times in the New Testament.
2. The emphasis in the Old Testament is on an earthly inheritance.
3. The emphasis in the New Testament is on our heavenly inheritance.
4. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1:11, "In whom (Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance...."
5. Then in Ephesians 1:13 and 14, Paul goes on to say that the Holy Spirit is "the earnest of our inheritance."
6. First Peter 1:4 tells us our inheritance is "incorruptible, and undefiled," and that it "fadeth not away," and is "reserved in heaven" for us.
7. "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death,  (Heb. 9:15). The cross is the basis for the new testament (covenant).

 

CONCLUSION:

1. This epistle was written to Jewish believers.
2. The inheritance of Jewish believers had formerly been earthly -- the land of Israel, and the many promises of blessings in the millennial kingdom.
3. However, our "eternal inheritance" is far greater.