About this sermon
Hebrews 9 says Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, the true presence of God. He entered once for all into the holy places, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, securing an eternal redemption. If animal blood purified the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Sermon transcript
Please remain standing and we’ll read from God’s Word. Our passage this evening is taken from Hebrews chapter 9. We’re looking at verses 11 through 14 this evening. Hebrews, the Word of God, Hebrews chapter 9, starting in verse 11, But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of their flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Amen. You may be seated. Let’s pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for sending your Spirit to inspire this very Word so many years ago. We thank you for your preserving it through the centuries that we might have it in our hands today and translate it into our own language. Lord, we ask that you would send to that same Spirit that he might open our ears, that we might hear and believe and obey this Word, that you might be with the preacher, that your Word might be faithfully proclaimed, and that you might be glorified, your people might be fed, and we might be transformed into the image of Christ. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. How do you make an entrance? Depending on the context, that could be a good thing or a bad thing.
In Peter Jackson’s film, The Return of the King, based on JR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series, there is a scene shortly before the most significant battle in which the heir to the throne, Aragorn, decides to make a detour through an ancient mountain tunnel on his way to the city of Gondor, which is the site of the final conflict. Despite being cautioned against it, Aragorn determines that the benefits outweigh the risks. On the doorway of the mountain tunnel is the warning that the way is shut. It was made by those who were dead, and the dead keep it. No previous travelers had escaped unharmed. Yet Aragorn, as the rightful heir to the throne, expects a different outcome. And while his companions, Legolas and Gimli, stand reading the inscription, Aragorn mutters, I do not fear death, and strides past them into the darkness.
What he finds within the underground cavern is a host of dead men who have been imprisoned under a curse for breaking the covenant that they made with Aragorn’s ancestor, who was king at the time. As they prepare to destroy Aragorn for entering their ghostly dwelling, he produces the reforged sword of his ancestor as irrefutable proof of his royal lineage. He reverses the situation and offers these cursed dead men a chance to be free from their imprisoning curse. He offers them a chance to end their meaningless ghostly existence and fight with him for a new purpose. In the end, they take him up on his offer, and after fighting for Aragorn in the battle, he releases them from their tormented and cursed existence to depart in peace. All this took place because Aragorn dared to enter where no one else could.
Aragorn approached the doorway to the mountain, which said that the way was shut, and he entered. In our passage this evening, Christ came to the place that was shut, and he entered. And my sermon title is, He Came, He Saw, He Entered. And this is, of course, an allusion to the famous saying attributed to Julius Caesar, I came, I saw, I conquered, which is even more poetic in the original Latin, veni, vidi, vici. While Christ certainly conquered in his work of atonement, the focus of our passage this evening is on his entering, which we see in verse 12. Now it stands out in stark contrast in Greek because of the verb tense, but you can see it in English as well. Right there, he entered. The focus of the action is right on that verb, he entered.
When Christ appeared, he entered. Now despite the title, we will deviate it slightly from it slightly in framing our points. We’ll follow the flow of the passage this evening and consider Christ’s actions described in this passage in three ways. Number one, Christ came in order to enter. Number two, Christ entered in order to secure. And by entering, number three, Christ secured our purification. Christ came, Christ entered, and Christ secured. Number one, Christ came. This comes from verse 11. But when Christ appeared, now this Greek word is translated appeared in our passage in the ESV, but almost everywhere else in the New Testament, it is translated as came up or approached, stand beside. Instead of thinking that he appeared out of nowhere, we should think of him coming near, to stand beside. But this subtle word choice is another reminder also from the author of Hebrews that Christ stands beside his people, that he came near.
He came near to us in his humanity. He is fully human, flesh and blood, able completely to identify in our weakness and able to be a suitable substitute. He also came near to God. He is fully divine. The mysterious union between God and man, two distinct natures in one person forever. But verse 11 continues, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. High priest of the good things that have come. But before we get to what Christ did, what he does, we want to take a moment to notice who he is. How is he described? A high priest of the good things that have come. Notice the tense, have come versus the good things to come. The Christ, the anointed high priest has come near and he brings his benefits here and now.
Of course he will come again and there will be more to come. But in the already, those in Christ have access to good things. I think the author of Hebrews is wanting his readers to realize that as much as we have to look forward to when Christ returns, there is much that we already have. Our passage in Hebrews 9 doesn’t spell out exactly what he means by the good things that have come. But the Westminster Shorter Catechism gives a Bible-based summary of some of those good things that become available in Christ in this life because of who he is and what he’s done. The big three that often come to mind each get their own question and answer, as we saw earlier. Justification, adoption, and sanctification. But then there’s that follow-up question and answer. What are the benefits?
What are the good things that do either accompany or flow from these three big benefits of salvation in this life? And of course those are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance in that grace to the end. I think these are worth a few moments of our consideration. Number one, assurance of God’s love. Assurance of God’s love is an invaluable treasure. To be absolutely confident that the creator of all, the judge of all the earth, the Almighty God loves you. This flows from justification, adoption, and sanctification, and is for those who have Christ as their high priest. Christ intends for you to have complete assurance of God’s love. Christ didn’t die to leave you wondering whether God loves you. Christians are meant to live in the absolutely freeing assurance God loves you now.
Of course the second is peace of conscience. Complete freedom from nagging guilt, constantly worrying if you’re good enough, if you measure up. Now that Christ has come near, entered, and secured purification for your conscience, you can have true peace. Christians are not meant to live in perpetual guilt. While it’s true that as Christians mature and see God better, they often grow more aware of their sin. But that guilt is never meant to be an ongoing reality for the Christian. Godly guilt over sin is meant to lead to repentance and confession of sin, which then brings that peace of conscience because of who Christ is and what he’s done. Of course the next is joy in the Holy Spirit. Happiness is something that all people seek in one way or another, but all other sources of happiness fail to deliver in one way or another.
Joy in the Holy Spirit transcends circumstances because no matter what happens, what you lose in this life, you still have the love of God in Christ, which is everything. So even if everything is taken away in this life, you still have everything left. A Christian’s joy is rooted in God and it reaches higher and deeper. Psalm 16, in God’s presence is fullness of joy. There’s nothing fuller than full. Christians are able to enjoy God and everything else in a way that others could only wish for. Increase of grace. This is not an increase of favor toward believers, since in Christ this is already full. This is an increase in the power to do what is right. The Christian doesn’t stay as he is when he first believes. There’s an increase of that grace which makes him more and more like Christ.
An increase in faith, in obedience, in wisdom, in patience, love, self-control, and all the rest. When you have Christ as your high priest, this is your reality. And an increase, not a decrease, or a plateau of grace. Finally, perseverance of grace, in grace to the end. Tied in with the increase of grace is the assurance that will never run out, or more like you will never run out. When Christ as your high priest, with Christ as your high priest, you continue in grace until the very end. When you’re starting a marathon, you might wonder, will I make it all the way? It’s a lot of miles. You want to know you’ll make it. You won’t quit halfway, or even almost all the way through. You want the assurance that this grace will carry us, carry you, all the way to your death and into glory.
So these are some of the good things that ought to come to mind when we see that Christ is a high priest of the good things that have come. But as we look at verse 11, we see that Christ came near in order to enter. Verses 11 and 12, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, He entered once for all into the holy places. Before we consider that He entered, we need to ask what it is that Christ is approaching. What is the author referring to by this greater and perfecter tent? If we were to flip back to chapter 8, verse 2, we see a reference to the true tent, which is where Christ ministers.
This is in contrast to the priests who minister on earth. So the author of Hebrews is returning to the point that he began in chapter 8. When we looked at that a few weeks ago, we saw a contrast between the heavenly and the earthly, which we saw was more of a reference to quality or origin than location. The author of Hebrews is returning that point by filling out his description of the place in which Christ entered. Christ entered the greater and perfecter tent, which is non-handmade, which means not part of this creation. Now the first phrase, greater and perfecter, parallels with the description in chapter 8, verse 2, the true tent. We considered previously how true didn’t mean that the other was false, but that this was the reality that the other was merely a sketch of.
The word more perfect or perfecter carries the connotation of more complete. This is the greater or more complete reality. A second phrase, not made with hands or not handmade, parallels the description in 8, verse 2, which the Lord set up, not man. In chapter 8, verse 2, it speaks of the setting up of the tent, but in chapter 9, verse 11, the greater tent wasn’t even made by hands. Now what is handmade in contrast with? Store-bought? Manufactured? Is a Costco tent better than a handmade one? No, in this case, it’s a reference to human-made. Humans make things with their hands. God makes things with his words. He doesn’t have to use his hands. So this is a tent not only set up by God, but created also by God. But the third descriptor is what’s really important for understanding what Hebrews is talking about here, not part of this creation.
The first two descriptors would have left room for this to be an actual tabernacle that might exist in one location or another. The final description makes it clear that this greater tent is instead meant to be understood not as a literal location, but a metaphorical one. It is described as not of this creation. In the biblical worldview, everything that exists falls into one of two categories, creator and creation. Pantheism and other religions blur these distinctions, but the Bible keeps them separate. Even invisible realities like angels, demons, and the rest, they’re all part of creation. So if the greater and perfecter tent were a literal tent in existence somewhere, it would have to be part of creation. Instead, the writer clarifies this tent is not part of this creation. If it’s not part of this creation, then it must be part of the creator.
It must be what the earthly tabernacle had been meant to represent from the beginning, the true presence of God. Christ came near to the presence of God. And then, as we’ll consider next, he entered that presence. Christ entered. Verse 12. He entered once for all into the holy places. In verse 8 of chapter 9, which we considered last time, it said that by this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened. Now this phrase the holy places is the same thing that Christ entered in verse 12. The tabernacle, which represents the presence of God to the people of Israel, also indicated that the presence of God was restricted. It was closed off. But when Christ came near, he entered. Christ was granted an entrance where others had been forbidden.
This was all based on the all-important reason that he brought different blood. He didn’t just force his way into God’s presence. He was invited in because he brought greater and perfecter blood, which alone was suitable to grant an entrance into God’s presence. The tabernacle, commissioned by God to be built by Moses to facilitate God’s presence with his people, made clear that the way to God was not open. It was shut. All the furnishings, sacrifices, rituals, and priests formed a barrier between God and his people. But as we noted last time, the problem wasn’t primarily within the procedures. It was with the people. Sinful people get incinerated in God’s presence. This is because the presence of God is either dangerous or blessed. One might say that the difference between heaven and hell is not the presence of God but the presence of sin.
Some people think that heaven is just the place where everyone goes when they die. But when I’m sharing the gospel with strangers who don’t understand this, I often explain that being with God is only a good thing if your sin is taken care of. While we can speak of hell as being away from God’s presence in one sense, there’s another sense in which that is not technically correct. In reality, the difference between heaven and hell is not whether God is there. The difference is whether sin is there, whether it is sinners in the presence of God or saints. Hell is God’s response to sin. So those who die in sin will experience the presence of God as excruciating wrath against them, what they’ve done, embraced, and indulged in. When sinners come into God’s presence, they experience his holiness as a burning raging fire because sin is antithetical to God.
Sin is the absolute epitome of everything that God hates with all of his being. It demeans, dishonors, devalues, and threatens everything that he loves with an everlasting love. A spouse’s greatest jealousy or a parent’s greatest protective instinct, they’re only hints and pictures. They don’t even come close to the white hot passion that God has for everything that he loves. The last thing that God ever is, is indifferent. So for those who have embraced, pursued, and indulged in all that God hates, the presence of God is the last thing that they would ever want to experience. It will be a living hell. In contrast, heaven is God’s response to cleansing from sin. When former sinners, turned saints, enter God’s presence, it will be absolute bliss and delight beyond what can be imagined. Heaven is the presence of God for those who are in Christ and have had their sins not only paid for, but completely washed away, making them saints, holy ones.
For the saint, the presence of God is the most blessed thing imaginable. True fellowship with the one who created you, who knows you better than you know yourself, who can give you glimpses of glory and experiences of ecstasy which truly surpass your present limited imagination. The true love of a husband for a wife, a parent for a child, a brother or a sister or a friend only provide the slightest teasers of the pure fellowship of God that awaits former sinners who enter the presence of God through Christ. Because Christ entered God’s presence with his own blood, the only offering potent enough to grant a favorable entrance into God’s presence, he secured an eternal permanent redemption. We might ask, when did Christ do this? When exactly did Christ enter God’s presence with his blood offering? Well, how do you bring your blood?
This isn’t a blood drive donation. Christ’s offering his blood is called a synecdoche, which speaks of one part of something, but means the whole thing. Christ’s blood, of course, means his life. He offered his blood by dying. There’s no need to try to pinpoint Christ’s offering to a time between his death and resurrection, and this is further reinforced by the phrase in verse 14 that says he offered his blood through the eternal spirit. See, not only did Christ offer a different sacrifice in a different tabernacle, he offered it by different means. Here we see a further distinction made between the earthly priests and Christ. Both eternal and spirit are in contrast to temporal or temporary and flesh. Now, this is not to say that Christ was anything less than flesh and blood. He was all that and infinitely more.
Christ’s sacrifice was greater and perfecter. It was once for all, and it was directly to God in a way that no other sacrifice could be. One commentator says this. An analogy may prove illustrative. From an earthly perspective, it looks as if the sun rises every morning and sets every evening. It would appear that the sun revolves around the earth. A more complete perspective reveals that it is the other way around. Similarly, the perspective of the eternal spirit reveals that the earthly perspective is limited. From a limited external point of view, the Mosaic regulations have their value as cleansing rituals. The value of Christ’s work, however, must be observed from God’s vantage point. It offers cleansing on a different level. Christ wasn’t finishing things up in heaven somewhere after he died, trying to make it back down in time for his resurrection.
He set it on the cross. It is finished. Matthew chapter 27 verses 50 and 53 describes some of the other unusual things that happened at that moment of Christ’s death. Matthew 27 verse 50, and Christ cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And the earth shook and the rocks were split and the tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of their tombs after his resurrection. They went into the holy city and appeared to many. The curtain was split at the moment of his death. The old covenant, which had been pointing to this moment and when it finally happened, was instantly obsolete. The Holy Spirit was indicating that the way into the presence of God was now open.
The old tabernacle was now a dead end. The way that was open was not the old covenant tabernacle, but instead through the man hanging outside Jerusalem on a cross outside the walls. As Christ suffered outside the city of Jerusalem, he was actually entering the true tent of God’s presence with his own blood. But that’s not the whole story. Christ didn’t just enter to enter. This was a means to an end. He entered the true holy places in order to offer a greater and perfecter sacrifice that would secure an eternal redemption. And so number three, Christ secured. Verse 12 says, thus securing an eternal redemption. And then verse 14 tells us what that redemption does. Purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Christ secured purification. The problem of sin is not just guilt.
The problem of guilt is real. The problem of guilt is real. Sin brings real guilt that must be dealt with. God’s justice demands that he punish law breaking. But what’s in view in this passage is the way that sin makes us unclean. The Old Testament included laws both for sacrifices of guilt of sin as well as required rituals for cleansing from defilement. And we see this in the example in verse 13 where it says, the ashes of a heifer. This comes from the passage that we read earlier in the service, Numbers chapter 19 verses one through 19. This was a ritual for cleansing. This was not a sacrifice for sins. It was a cleansing from defilement. Death, contact with the dead for an Israelite, defile. Verse 11 of Numbers chapter 19, whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.
Now this was different from being merely guilty. The Israelites were not being charged with a crime here, but they were defiled and they needed cleansing. The charge of guilt would come later if the person did not seek that cleansing. Numbers chapter 19 verse 13, whoever touches a dead person the body of anyone who has died and does not cleanse himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord and that person shall be cut off from Israel because the water for impurity was not thrown on him. He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. All kinds of things could make you unclean, but in Numbers 19 the particular uncleanness in view was that of contact with the dead. This was more than a concern over hygiene. It was a ritual on cleanness. Death is not part of this good creation.
It’s a part of God’s curse for man’s sin and in Numbers 19 God gives his people a method of becoming ritually clean after such contact with the dead. A heifer, a young female cow was burned up on the altar and its ashes were saved and mixed with water to provide a cleansing from defilement. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 13, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh. It says that this cleansing of the flesh was good as far as it went. It was suitable for the time that was given, but our defilement from sin runs much deeper than that. We need to be cleansed from dead works. What are dead works? Dead works are the only thing that the spiritually dead can do.
Romans chapter 8 verses 5 through 8 describes this same reality, but it uses different terms. It uses the words the flesh versus the spirit to speak about how the spiritually dead can only do dead works. Romans chapter 8 starting verse 5, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the spirit is hostile to God, for does not submit to God’s law. Indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Think of zombies. They can’t offer any helpful contributions to society.
They can only spread death and destruction. Everything they touch gets infected and defiled. This is a picture of unbelievers in the sight of God. Even the most outwardly upstanding citizens who hate God in their hearts are actually spiritually dripping with the filth of sin. Unbelievers, sinners who remain in their sin are like spiritual zombies. Now you need to understand this if you’re an unbeliever. You can’t please God in this state at all. Dress a zombie up in nice clothes all you want. You still can’t invite him into your house. Until you are cleansed from your sin you cannot please God. No matter how upstanding you appear to others on the inside in the sight of God you’re filthy. But as believers we need to be reminded about this about unbelievers. Not so that you can look down on them but so that you can properly pity them.
Properly understand what the end for them is. Many unbelievers live outwardly prosperous and successful lives but the Bible is full of warnings about not viewing people only in terms of this life because it’s such a strong temptation. In Psalm 73 Asaph a worship leader in Israel found himself thinking it’s unbelievers who have the good life and nothing to worry about while being a Christian is purely a burden. But then Asaph went into worship and he was reminded of the eternal perspective. These people don’t stand a chance in the end. Without Christ they’re doomed. Everything done without Christ is dead works. But eternal redemption through Christ secures permanent cleansing from dead works. There’s only one way to truly serve God in a way that pleases him. It’s with a purified conscience. Attempting to serve God with dead works is like a child vacuuming all the carpets in your home but with each step tracking the dog poop he just stepped in outside over every square inch he just vacuumed.
It’s difficult to even appreciate the effort and the filth that it leads behind negates anything initially beneficial. God’s not even tempted to give A’s for effort when the effort is done by filthy consciences that haven’t been cleansed from dead works. Conscience that hasn’t been purified from dead works thinks that it can somehow still make it up to God. It will keep trying to earn salvation apart from Christ. There’s people around us every day performing merely dead works. In the parable of the lost and found son the older brother kept up appearances but it turned out he’d been serving his father out of resentment not out of love. And ironically the son in the parable who was able to truly please his father was the son who admitted his sin humbled himself and then accepted his father’s forgiveness.
The older son didn’t think he needed to be forgiven so he stayed away only causing his father more grief not pleasing to his father. The Christian life isn’t about wishing our mistakes away telling ourselves we’ll do better next time. It isn’t even about swearing to obey God for the rest of your life. It’s built upon believing that Christ’s sacrifice can and does apply to you. That despite everything you’ve done you even you can be cleansed and brought into fellowship with God now. If you’re here this evening and you find yourself among those who are doing dead works you realize you’re not pleasing and cannot please God. That you don’t have all those good things that are in Christ. Do you want this? Do you want this cleansing? Those good things like assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace.
What is keeping you from asking for this cleansing and these good things from Christ now? If you’re here tonight and you are a believer you’ve tasted of these good things that have come in Christ. This assurance, peace, joy, increase of grace and perseverance in it. Don’t settle for a weak assurance of God’s love for a small increase of grace, a tepid joy in the Holy Spirit, an unstable peace of conscience. These things are yours in Christ to be apprehended by faith. If you’ve been settling for less lately start there and ask for a hunger for more. Christ came bringing near good things to us because he entered God’s presence. He secured an eternal redemption, purification from sin down to our very conscience so that we are freed to do that which genuinely pleases God. Amen.
Let’s pray. Father in heaven we thank you that you have sent your son Jesus Christ that he might come near, that he might approach, that he might enter the holy places with his own blood, that he might purify our consciences from dead works to serve the living God. Lord we ask that you would do that, you would purify our consciences, make us clean, make us able to serve you in a way that pleases you by trusting in the merits of Christ and relying on his work. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Let’s turn now to respond with a hymn 509, hymn 509 and let’s stand as we sing 509. The cross is near with its cheer and will never leave me. Make them fall to life’s mournful story. Make a way that we may enter their victory.
Lord, what I shall ever take me to be. How art mine, I was thine, even ere I knew thee. I am thine, for thou hast taught me. Thus I stood, but I walked, preach of eternity. How art mine.
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