How Much More

Title: How much More? Hebrews 9:1-15

• • One time me and the wife we’re driving through Texas at night and needed a hotel
  • Pictures are perfect. Reviews are great. Everything looked polished. Pool pristine (swim am)
  • You get to room. Smoke. Bugs. Sounds. Regret immediately. I did this. Didn’t turn out well. 
  • It presented as perfect on the outside, but the inside told the truth. That’s how religion can be
  • It can present clean, sound right. Look polished. Follow process, but leave the inside untouched
  •  That’s  the Heb 9 argument. Old system of rituals, priests, blood, washings and process. 
  • It could clean the outside, but not clean the conscience. Manage outward sin, but never remove inward guilt. If you’ve ever sinned and carried the memory of it, you know exactly what I mean. 

• Forgiveness is one thing. A clean conscience is another. ///

• 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
• That’s the difference between religion and Christ. Not behavior modification. Inside transformation
• Your conscience, guilt,shame. Your standing before God. Not just cleaned up. Cleansed

• 1. The Old System Could Reach the Body, But Not the Conscience (v1–10)
  Read V 1-5. There was a process. 

• 9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—

• • Heb goes from covenant reality of chp 8 to the conscience reality of chp 9. Old covenant could expose sin, but not remove its stain. process wasn’t sufficient to cleanse the conscience either
  • inadequate in its process: rituals, washings, duties, external cleansing. internal guilt remained
  • Years ago the neighbor girl brought lice over. Crystal deep clean. Washed everything
  •  Woke me scared she had lice. Even tho it had been cleaned. Still thought about it. 
  • That’s the inadequacy of outward cleansing of sin w/ no internal. You still think about it. 
  • Ps 51:6 You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part ….

• God wants not only for there to be a cleansing of the outside but the inside as well. 

• • Yes, he established the OT system, but even God realized the limitations of it
  • Is29:13  “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men”
  • The prophet Isaiah said it from the Lord- People can do outward and it doesn’t mean inward 
  • God knows our tendency to look right outwardly while being wrong inwardly. He wants congruency. What we say to match up with the inside. 
  • And this old System couldn’t fix that. Given option for transformation or process, men will choose process time and time again. /// They’d rather fix the appearance instead of the root.// 
  • Jesus spoke this to the pharisees! He called them out- Matt 23:25-28  you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
  • Jesus identified and chastised the pharisees- this dead religion is outward only! its not cleansing
  • And maybe you identify with that. The attempt to change the outward as means to fix inward
  • you ever noticed in movies when someone commits murder or adultery? They take a shower
  • Hollywood and everyone else thinks that something external can cleanse the internal
  • You can shower. You can do a ritual. You can come to the altar and bow. But it doesn’t fix it. 

• This is the argument of Hebrews: The outward couldn’t clear the inner conscience!

• •  
  • 2. Christ Entered Where No One Else Could Go (v11–12) ACCESS
  • Not earthly tabernacle. Heavenly. Not borrowed blood. His own blood.
  • 11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all,
  • The perfect sacrifice of a sinless Savior secured a greater and better access
  • God Took it upon himself, in the likeness of man to bring his own blood to the mercy seat
  • This has been the cry of humanity from beginning of time. The need for access to God
  • Job 9:3333 Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both.
  • Job describes it and it’s a necessity of sinful man- I need someone to give me access to God!
  • God promised that he’d send a savior and the Savior came in Christ Jesus our Lord! 
  • Under the old system, access existed, but it was restricted Lev16:2the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
  • Then Jesus came and did what no priest could do. He opened the way.
  • Matt 27:50-5150 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, What was closed opened. What was restricted became available.
  • Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
  • He humbled Himself to do what no man could do
  • The promise fulfilled- Eph 2:18 through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
  • That’s the whole point. Access. Nearness. Relationship. Presence. The purpose is ACCESS
  • Church, God deeply desires relationship with you. To be your God and for you to be his. 
  • We know have wronged God. We know we have gone against him
  • And we long for the divine. To know our Creator. To experience His grace and mercy.

• We can only live in Jesus Christ. There is no other answer for weary souls. We need him

• When Christ went into that most holy place, he entered for you. 
• And he did. He went in and gave us access to God

• • 3. Christ Cleans What Religion Cannot Reach (v13–14)
  • There is no other way to be made right before God and be cleansed inside and out. 
  • When you’ve sinned, or you’ve done wrong it wrecks you. You don’t want to live that way
  • No one wants to live that way. We desire righteous living, but feel powerless to do so
  • And so we reach for outward things to calm inward guilt, but it doesn’t work. It cant work
  • Because we need holiness. Full cleansing. Not outward only. Inward too.
  • Remember the hotel room? What if I went and complained and they washed the door?
  • And when he went in, this is what he did- Conscience cleansed. Shame broken. Guilt answered.
  • His blood on the heavenly mercy seat cleanses all your guilt
  • It has always been a promise- Ezekiel 36:25-26 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; 
  • Pastor- But I still feeeel guilty. I still feel condemned by what I did
  • 2 Corinthians 10:5  casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
  • This is the most scandalous aspect of Christianity- We are forgiven for our past deeds
  • All of them. Your external deeds do not define you and your past is not who you are in Christ!
  • Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who[a] do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

• So when those past things come up in your mind- You cast down that argument. 

• • You think and declare- I have been redeemed. Christ entered for me. I am not bound by that. 
  • If you paid a bill and had the receipt, would you pay it twice?
  • No. No you wouldn’t. you’d show your receipt. This bill has been paid. I’m not paying again. 

• God doesn’t just forgive what you did. He cleans what it did to you.

• • The guilt. The shame. The embarrassment. The fear and worry that it will be held against you. 
  • You are delivered from the power of darkness-Sin no longer controls you or lives in you
  • You are in the kingdom of God. you receive love and affirmation- not condemnation and shame

• Do you know how you know you’ve been set free from  your past?

• Eph 4:22-24  you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
• That’s it right there- if you’re no longer doing that conduct, its proof that you’ve changed
• You renew your mind- I am no longer doing that, I no longer am that. I have been changed
• I’ve put on the new man. Christ made me new. He proved it at the cross.
• 1 Jn 3:20  For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
• The lingering memory of your past is not greater than the priesthood of Jesus!
• Ro 8:33-34 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
• Even though I USED to and I DID, God has justified me, cleansed me, and intercedes for me.
• Colossians 2:13-14 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
• Walk in that. Walk in that power of a clean conscience- not just before God, but IN YOU. 
• That’s Spirit-filled living. Walking in new life free from the guilt of your past.

• 4. Christ Secures Your Eternal Inheritance (v15) not sonship- reward
  15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
• Its not just that he’s the mediator of a new covenant. Our inheritance is secured!
• Jettison this idea that you’re working for an inheritance. You’re already named in the will! 
• Ephesians 1:11-14 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
• What is the inheritance?
• When you were saved- you received the Holy Spirit and the Spirit within you is the guarantee of your inheritance
• Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
• The pains of this current life are not the inheritance of the child of God. 
• Pain. Loss. Suffering. Conflict. That’s not your inheritance!
• We can’t lose sight of the fact that we’re waiting for an eternal existence with the father. 
• John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many [a]mansions; if it were not so, [b]I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
• What do we do? We constantly remind ourselves that we are going to heaven to be w him
• When plan vacation- look forward to it. There- loving it. Goes fast. Last day saddest day
• How much more so for heaven?
• We minimize the circumstances and maximize the benefits of future glory. 
• We worship him for his goodness. For what he’s forgiven us and what he’s given us
• We worship him for what we are going to inherit. 
• This is why worship is so central to our experience. It’s thankfulness for what He secured
• That he’s entered into that special place for us, guaranteeing us an inheritance
• 1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance [a]incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
• Its not on you. Its on him. Purchased by the blood, accessed by Christ and Kept by him
• And you can’t outlive this inheritance. Its reserved in heaven for you. 
• Your past has been cleansed, your present has access, and your future is secured. 
• It’s living hope. Walk in it.