Jesus - The Great High Priest of the New Covenant - Part 4

If you would, take your Bible and turn back to Hebrews chapter 9. We'll be in verses 15 to 28. Of course, we read quite a bit of Scripture earlier. And I do believe we can cover this much ground. We did last week. And I said this last week in our message, we're covering this much ground because all of this material goes together. Sometimes if we string it out in part ones and part twos too much, it's hard for us to keep our minds around these things. Now this morning we're going to be finishing up chapter 9. That's obvious. But also we're finishing up what we've been studying in chapter 7, chapter 8, and in chapter 9.

Now think back with me over all that we've studied in those three chapters. Now this is a very quick flyover. In chapter 7 verses 1 to 10, we learned that King Melchizedek of Genesis 14 was an actual king and a priest of the Most High God. And that his priesthood was superior to that of the Levitical priests and their priesthood. And then from the rest of chapter 7, we saw that Jesus and his priesthood was like that of Melchizedek's priesthood. But his ministry was even greater. We learned that the ministry and priesthood of Jesus was greater because he provided a guarantee of a new and a better covenant.

A covenant that was new and better than that of the old covenant. And that is because he is the eternal priest and savior of this new and this better covenant. Then in chapter 8, we learned of the superiority of Jesus as our great high priest. And we learned of the superiority of this new and better covenant. And we saw more in detail what the superiority of Jesus and the superiority of the new covenant looked like. And then last week in chapter 9 verses 1 to 14, we learned of the old covenant tabernacle and how the sacrifices and services performed in the old covenant tabernacle were unable to bring a man into the presence of God.

But not so with the new covenant tabernacle which is in heaven. We saw that the sacrifice and service performed by Jesus in the heavenly tabernacle is certainly able to bring a man into the presence of God. Now notice what these verses and these messages have been all about. The new covenant and the fact that the new covenant is better than the old covenant because the new covenant fulfilled the old. And the fact that in and under the new covenant we have a greater and a superior high priest in priesthood and that is Jesus. It's all about Jesus folks.

Now before we get into this morning's verses, we need to see how verses 15 to 28 are connected to last week's verses. That's verses 1 to 14. Last week we saw that the old covenant tabernacle and the services and sacrifices in the earthly tabernacle were unable to bring a man near to God. But not so with the new covenant heavenly tabernacle and the services and sacrifice there. The services and sacrifice associated with the heavenly tabernacle are certainly able to, verse 14, cleanse our conscience from dead religious works and lifeless observances to serve the ever living God. But how's that possible? How in the world is that possible?

Because the sacrifice of the new covenant provided complete and perfect redemption from man. Hebrews 10-12 says Christ, having been offered the one sacrifice, the all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself for sins for all time, He sat down, signifying the completion of atonement for sin at the right hand of God. That would be the position of honor. And the sacrifice of Christ enables men to draw near to God personally. Because of this sacrifice man is able to enter into a right relationship with God permanently and completely.

Hebrews 9-12 says He went once for all into the holy place, the holy of holies of heaven into the presence of God, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, having obtained and secured eternal redemption. That is the salvation of all who personally believe in Him as Savior. And here in these next verses that are before us, the author continues by showing the implications of Christ's sacrifices and where this leads and how the sacrifice relates to the development of the new covenant. Now notice how the author does something.

Notice that in verse 15 the English standard says therefore, now the new American says for this reason. Now what we have here, two things. The author was looking back to the sacrifice of Christ so that he provided his own blood in the new covenant, heavenly tabernacle, the single sacrifice for sin of all time, and the author was looking forward. He was looking forward to what this sacrifice and these services provide. That would be an internal inheritance, those who were called to Christ Jesus because of his mediation, his office and work of mediating for us.

Simply the author is showing more of what took place because Jesus is our great high priest of this new covenant. Now this leads us to the title of the message. Jesus, the great high priest of the new covenant, and this is a part four because this message, this title, is really summarized and encapsulated what we've been studying in chapter 8 and chapter 9. Now let's read our verses again because there's so much here. I want to make sure we get these verses in our minds. Then we will look at how we will divide the verses.

Verse 15, "Therefore, he," that's Jesus, "is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promise eternal inheritance since the death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed unto the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not enforced as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hissop and sprinkled both the book itself and the people. Same. This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent, that would be the tabernacle, and the vessels used in worship, that's there in the tabernacle. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness or remission for sins.

Thus, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with the blood not his own. For then, he, that's Christ, would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. For just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly awaiting for him. Now, as we will see, the author structures this sermon, this section of teaching, excuse me, much like he did with the previous section that we covered last week. And here we will see that he gives two major points of teaching.

First, he presents Jesus as the mediator of this new and better covenant. That's in verses 15 to 22. And then second, he shows how the sacrifice of Christ was the perfect sacrifice of the new covenant, and that's in verses 23 to 28. So let's get started with our first major point. Number one, the mediator of the new covenant. We see this in verses 15 to 22. The author gives us the mediator of the new covenant.

Now, right away in the first part of the verse, verse 15, we see that the author presents Jesus as the mediator of the new covenant, but we must make sure we know what this means, and then we can get into what takes place as a result of Christ being this mediator. But because of Christ's death on the cross and the fact that he offered the one and only all-sufficient sacrifice of himself on the cross for sin for all time, he became mediator of the new covenant. That means that he literally became the bridge. That means he literally became the go-between, the conduit between God and men, between men and God.

And he was able to do what the old covenant sacrificial system and those old covenant priests were unable to do, and what those things only promised and foreshadowed and foretold. I like what the Bible scholar Kenneth Wost explains here. He really unpacks this really well, and I'm quoting. He says the word mediator is the translation of the word in the original, which refers to the one who intervenes between two. To make or to restore peace and friendship, to form a compact or to ratify a covenant. He goes on to say, "Here the Messiah acts as a go-between or mediator between a holy God and sinful man.

By his death on the cross, he removes the obstacle of sin which caused an estrangement between man and God. When the sinner accepts the merits of the Messiah's sacrifice, the guilt and penalty of the sin is his no more. The power of sin in his life is broken. He becomes the recipient of the divine nature, and the estrangement between himself and God, both legal and personal, disappears.

So simply, because of all that we have seen and learned about Jesus from chapter seven until now, God has made Jesus the mediator of this new and of this better covenant." And from verses 15 to 22, the author goes on to explain the fruitfulness of this mediating work. He goes on to explain the effects of this mediating work, and he does this in three ways. First, he shows us the wide-ranging effects of the new covenant. Now notice what he says here. "Because Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant, those who are called," the text says, "those who are called receive the promised eternal inheritance." And this tells us four things.

"Those who receive this promised inheritance are called," meaning that it is God who calls those who are saved. This promised eternal inheritance was promised by God, meaning this was promised beforehand, promised before time and before human history. And this inheritance is eternal, meaning that salvation from men and man is not temporary. Salvation is permanent. It is eternal. And this inheritance of salvation is inherited, meaning it is passed down from another, and that another is God. Now before we move on, there is a very, very valuable spiritual lesson here in regards to the salvation of men and man.

Just in the middle portion of verse 15 here, we have two things that put God's initiative front and center in the salvation of men and man. Let me repeat that. Right here in the middle portion of verse 15, we have two things that put God's initiative front and center in the salvation of men and man. You see, no man is born again first because they repent and believe the gospel. Salvation begins in a person because first God promised he would send a Savior, and first God calls the person to Christ. You see? And look folks, even the repentance from sin and faith to believe, savingly, is a gift from God according to Ephesians 2, 8, to 9.

So the lesson here is this. God is the one who initiates this thing called salvation, and he's the one that brings it about by his grace. But there is more to the wide-ranging effects of the New Covenant. Not only does the New Covenant provide a promised eternal inheritance to those who have been called to Christ, this promise was extended to those Old Covenant saints as well. And this leads me to a question that we must ask, and the author answers, and this is a question that stumps a lot of people. How were the Old Testament Old Covenant saints saved? Think about two. Abraham and Moses.

I don't think any of us would say that those men were not saved, Christian men, using our kinds of language, New Covenant language. I don't think any of us would say that Abraham and Moses were not right with God. So how were those Old Covenant saints saved? Well, the author tells us here in verse 15. Look at verse 15 again. "Therefore he thus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant." He's the go between the conduit so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed noticed under the first covenant. That's those under the Old Covenant.

So here we see that one of the achievements of Christ's death was that he redeemed all those Old Covenant saints who had believed. You see, I like how John MacArthur applies what is taught here to that original audience. I've taken what he said and put it in in my words. He says that the point being made here to the original audience who were Jews, we know that, some were saved and some were not. This was the point. Christ's atoning work, his saving work on the cross was retroactive. It was retroactive.

Those Old Covenant sacrifices and especially the day of atonement pictured and foretold of Christ's actual atonement and what Christ's actual atonement actually did. Simply, he paid the sin debt of those who would believe in the future and those who would believe in the present and those who believed in the past. You see, in case you need some more explanation here, I like how William McDonald explains this and I'm quoting him. He says there is a sense in which God saved Old Testament people on credit. It's very accurate. They were justified by faith just as we are, but Christ had not died yet.

So one may ask the question, then how could God save them? How? McDonald says the answer is that he saved them on the basis of what he knew Christ would accomplish. They knew little or nothing of what Christ would do on Calvary, but God knew and he reckoned the value of that work to their account when they believed whatever revelation God gave them of himself. Now this reminds me of Romans 4.3 where Paul was quoting Genesis 15.6 and he explains how Abraham was saved. Paul says, "For what does the scripture say?" What scripture is he talking about?

Genesis 15.6, "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness." So the lesson for us here is this. When someone asks how were those Old Testament believers saved, do not say that it was from keeping the law. That is because Romans 3.20 tells us that no person can be saved by keeping the law. We tell them that the Old Testament saints were saved the same way we are. The Old Testament believers were saved by grace through faith, but the difference between them and us is this.

We are saved by looking back to the finished work of Christ on the cross and we have the Word of God that tells us that those events actually happen, but the Old Testament saints were saved by looking forward to Christ and the finished work of the cross and they had the Word of God, the Old Testament, that told them that those events would certainly happen. So Jesus is the mediator of this new covenant and we see the wide-ranging effects of the new covenant. But then second he shows us the demands of death in the new covenant, the demand of death in the new covenant. We see this in verse 16 and 17. Let's read those verses again.

"For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not enforced as long as the one who made it is alive." Now to understand what the author is teaching us here, we need to make sure we understand the earthly illustration that he is using. Notice that the English standard says "for where a will is involved." The King James is a little different. It says "for where a testament is involved." The new American standard in the legacy standard Bible use the word "covenant." Three different translations.

Now honestly we could get really really deep here into what this means and there are a lot of Bible scholars that do. But it is best to see that this is a last will and testament, a last will and testament. That's why the English standard says "for where a will is involved." And scholars tell us that the author was basically saying something like this. A last will and testament is not put into effect until the one who wrote it or wrote the will dies. Until the person wrote the will dies, the provisions in the will are simply promises that pertain to some future time.

This reminds me of when my mother and my father and others in my family were trying to help my grandfather put together a good and valid will. He owned property, he had a few other resources, not too many, but they knew that if he did not have a good binding will they would have problems. They were able to get him to a lawyer's office and they put together a good will. Well the provisions of that will were not made known until he died. We understand what that means. Now what is the author's point here? He's speaking comparatively. The Jews in the nation of Israel were a covenant people.

God had entered into covenant with the Jews in the nation of Israel and in a sense he had put into effect a will. So the old covenant was full of types, shadows, and promises. The old covenant was like a last will and testament and the provisions promised in the old could not be provided until death. So the new covenant was the provision of the promise of the last will and testament of the old covenant and the provisions of the old covenant came to be by the death of Jesus. So the provisions of the new covenant could only come about by death. And then third he shows us the requirement of blood in the new covenant.

We see this in verse 18 to 22. Let's read those verses again. "Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood for when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and he sprinkled both the book itself and all the people and all the people saying this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you and in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent" that would be the tabernacle and all the vessels used in the tabernacle worship "indeed under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin." Now here the author moves from what can be seen as a last will and testament to the to the old covenant given by God through Moses.

And basically he says that the old covenant was instituted with blood and that being the blood of animals. Then he goes on to name some specifics. In verse 19 he says that the serious and distinguished rituals given in the law through Moses those things were instituted inaugurated by blood. And then he goes on to name certain specific rituals. He says that they took the blood of calves and goats along with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled on the book itself and on the people. And then in verse 20 he gets to the point of these things.

Simply he was reminding these Jews that God through Moses ratified the covenant he made with the Jews their forefathers by and through blood. Simply the covenant that God made with their forefathers was inaugurated by blood. Then in verse 21 he goes on to explain that the earthly old covenant tabernacle once it was finished it was consecrated by blood as well. And the vessels used in the tabernacle they were consecrated by blood too. And then he concludes his point in verse 22 which is the main point of the teaching. Simply under the law the old covenant and old covenant worship was instituted and inaugurated by blood.

And under the law the tabernacle and everything used in worship in the tabernacle was instituted and inaugurated with blood. But then he gets to the main point. He gets to the main point at the end of verse 22 by saying under the new covenant there is no remission or forgiveness from sin except by the shedding of blood. But this blood was not the blood of animals that were killed there on the altar that we studied last week. This was and is the blood of Christ that was shed on the altar of Calvary. So he shows us the requirement of blood under the new covenant.

Now in summary notice what we see here and what we've been studying here in verses 15 to 22. Because Jesus is the great priest of the new covenant he has become the mediator of the new covenant. Listen to verse 15 in the Amplified. It reads, "For this reason he thus Jesus is the mediator and negotiator." I like that. "The negotiator of a new covenant that is an entirely new agreement uniting God and man.

And as a result all who are called of God, most saints who live under the old covenant and those under the new covenant all have received the eternal promised inheritance all because of the death of Christ and the blood of Christ which provided the forgiveness of sins." Now before we move into verses 23 to 28 I want to do two things here. First notice that the provisions of the new covenant demanded both death and blood. Let me repeat that. Notice that the provisions of the new covenant demanded both death and blood. And because Jesus willingly died and provided his life's blood we have the wide-ranging effects of the new covenant.

The wide-ranging effectiveness of the new covenant. Complete and permanent forgiveness for sin is provided. And an eternal inheritance is provided to all believers of all times. And this is something the old covenant could never do. I think about worship during old covenant times. I think about those Jews who were faithfully, faithfully, faithfully worshiping whether it was at the tabernacle in the days of the tabernacle or at the temple during the days of the temple. I think about as the Jews were faithfully worshiping the one true God. Imagine all those Gentiles watching. They were on the outside. They were on the outside.

They were not included. But look at the book of Acts. We will get there soon. As the new covenant is unfolded before our eyes in the book of Acts we will see that the Gentiles are coming in. They were coming in. They were coming in. Why? Because the new covenant has wide-ranging effectiveness to save both Jew and Gentile. But then second notice of the death of Christ and the blood of Christ did what the old covenant could never have done. The death of Christ in the blood of Christ brought a unity to all who are redeemed. You see, no sinner can have hope for the forgiveness of sin except by the death of Christ and the blood of Christ.

All sinners who have been saved are willing to trust in the merit of the death of Christ and the blood of Christ and all who have savingly accepted Jesus and been forgiven by his death and his blood are all on level ground. For all who have been forgiven are forgiven the exact same way and then all who are in heaven will sing one song and will have one praise only. That is the song of praise of the redeemed because they have all been forgiven by the death of Christ and the blood of Christ. So we see Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. And then number two, he gives us the perfect sacrifice of the new covenant.

We see that in verse 23 and 28. We have the perfect sacrifice of the new covenant. Now here the author is doing what he's done before. That is make an argument from what is done in the old covenant as symbolic to what is done in the new. And he is making more comparisons and contrasts between the new covenant and the old covenant. And the author did this in our verses last week and we've seen him do this often. But here I want us to see the perfect sacrifice of the new covenant by looking at the work of Christ. And I will point out two comparisons are several comparisons really along the way.

First notice we see the sacrificial work of Christ. We see this in verse 23. Look back at verse 23. The author says, "Thus it was necessary for the copies or the patterns of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites." That would be rituals. "But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." Now here the author tells us that it was necessary that certain things be purified but we need to see what needed purification. The English Standard that I just read from it says it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified.

The King James says it was necessary for the patterns of things in the heavens to be purified. But a question, what are these copies? What are these patterns? This was the tabernacle. We've seen this already. And all the services associated with worship there in the tabernacle. Remember what we learned? We learned that the earthly tabernacle was a copy or a pattern of the heavenly tabernacle. So here the author says it was necessary that the earthly tabernacle and all things associated with the tabernacle be purified. And this was done by the blood of animals and those animal sacrifices.

But notice that he continues to say that the heavenly things needed purification but with better sacrifices than the ones on earth. But notice this leads us to a question we must ask here. Why in the world would the heavenly tabernacle need purification? Why would the heavenly tabernacle need purification? I like an explanation that Leon Morris gives. Morris says it is not easy to see how heaven needs any kind of sacrifices and purification.

But we must remember that the New Testament speaks of the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms in Ephesians 6 12 and also with God as having reconciled to himself through Christ things in heaven as well as things on earth Colossians 1 20. Morris goes on to say whatever needed cleansing whether in heaven or on earth this cleansing only came with the blood of Christ the better sacrifice that is truly effective. And look at this comparison between the old covenant and the new covenant.

Under the old the earthly tabernacle was purified by the blood of animals but under the new the heavenly tabernacle was purified by a better sacrifice which was and is the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. So we see the sacrificial work of Christ. Then second we see the priestly work of Christ. We see the priestly work of Christ. We see this in verse 24 to 26. Let's look at those verses again.

For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands which are copies of the true things but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. For then he thus Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world but as it is he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Notice that the work he describes here is a priestly work. Entering into the holy places was what the old covenant priest did.

Offering blood in the holy places was what the old covenant priest did. We've seen this. Again we see a contrast and we will see that he was not writing about old covenant priestly work but notice how he describes the priestly work of Jesus. He points out that Jesus did not enter the earthly holy places which were the holy places of the earthly tabernacle. He points out that Jesus entered into the holy places in the heavenly tabernacle in the very presence of God. But notice what is at the heart of this priestly work. He entered into the holy places in heaven into the very presence of God on our behalf. On our behalf. Look back at verse 24.

For Christ has entered not into the holy places made with hands that's the earthly tabernacle which are copies of the true things but he entered into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Now right here we need to see what this tells us. When his sin atoning work was finished on the cross Jesus was risen and he ascended back into the presence of God. But not as before when he was in the presence of God before he left heaven. When he went into the holy places in heaven and into the presence of God he took us with him. The text says that he went on higher behalf so he took us with him.

As one writer said it we are not fit to stand before God and plead our case and in any event we are on earth and not in God's heaven. But Christ is there in our stead and in his capacity as the one who died as a better sacrifice for sin. And right here I want to ask us the question. What should this say to our hearts and minds and even our souls as believers? What should this say to our hearts minds and souls? Look brother look sister this should move us to great comfort and great security. This should move us to great comfort and great security because our Lord is in the presence of God on our behalf. We should have no worries. Why?

Because our Lord is in the is in the presence of God on our behalf. This should move us to great worship. This should move us to great praise because nothing more is needed. Do you see? Now think about it as born again believers what is needed more than to have Christ Jesus in the presence of God on our behalf. There's nothing more important. Now notice that in verses 25 to 26 the author continues to make comparisons. He says that unlike the old covenant priests who repeatedly entered into the holy places year after year with blood not his own, Jesus appeared once and for all to put away sins by the sacrifice to himself.

And he also shows us that if Jesus was like those old covenant priests he would have had to offer himself over and over over and over since before the foundation of the world that would have been before time in human history. So the point here is that Jesus was and is not like those old covenant priests and their repeated sacrifices year after year day after day when he appeared once and for all in the right time in God's time he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once and for all. Now before we move on think again about this original audience.

These were Jews some were going back to the old covenant some were not some were born again some were not the author was trying over and over over and over again and again to help them see there is no need to go back to those old earthly priests over and over over and over over and over day after day. He was hammering hold these things because he wanted them to see that Jesus has appeared once and for all in the right time at God's time and he put away sin by one sacrifice the sacrifice of himself once and for all. Listen to verse 25 and 26 in the Amplified it resonated with me I hope it does with you.

"Nor did he enter into the heavenly sanctuary to offer himself again and again as the high priest enters the holy place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise he would have needed to suffer over and over since the foundation of the world but now once and for all at the consummation of the ages he has appeared and been publicly manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." So we see the priestly work of Christ and then third we see the kingly work of Christ. We see the kingly work of Christ this is in verses 27 to 28 let's read those verses.

"And just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." Now here we see another comparison but this time really between man and Christ Jesus. But here in verse 27 the author tells us that because sin entered into the human race all men have an appointment with death and there are two key words we need to see here this word appointed here in the original it means to be laid away to be reserved.

I'll give you an example if you have a doctor's appointment you have a time reserved a time has been laid away for you. I got a text message this week that I have a dentist appointment coming up I have a time reserved time is laid away for me and then this word once and notice that this is the same word that has been used of Jesus in his sacrifice. We have seen over and over that Jesus provided a sacrifice for sin and once and for all sacrifice for sin but here the author is saying that man will die a once and for all physical death. So what this tells us is this all men have an appointment with the day of death.

There is a time laid away for all to die and all will die a physical death once. Once great and small and the lesson here is this there are no do-overs there there are no second chances and there is no reincarnation folks because we're going to see after death comes judgment. There are no do-overs and there are no second chances but he goes on to say that death is not the end he says that after death comes judgment but notice that he gives no details about the judgment no time is given no description is given no place is given. Now the point here is not the details of the judgment of man but the certainty of the judgment of man.

You see that the point here is not the details about the judgment of man but the certainty of the judgment of man. Now before I move into verse 28 and the kingly work of Christ there are a few things that we must see see here we must see that we are not invincible. You know what it means to be invincible? According to Webster's dictionary to be invincible means to be incapable of being conquered overcome or subdued and we must see that no person is invincible. We cannot conquer and overcome death and judgment there's no way and if you are here this morning and you are not born again you should be scared half to death.

You might say pastor you're reverting to scare tactics is this what the text says? You should be scared half to death because you are one heartbeat away one split second away from death that leads to judgment. Now I'm not going to call any names but we know that we have someone in our church that's in the funeral home business. You go talk to the one in our church that's in the funeral home business and you ask them how many people they deal with that truly believe they had another day coming and another day coming but death came calling death came calling.

But notice the transition here he moved from the once and for all appointment of death to all men and men and even from the once and for all sacrifice for sin to the second coming of Jesus. Look at verse 28. So Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who were eagerly awaiting him.

Now the point that the author is making here is this in the new covenant there is hope hope for the forgiveness of sin through death and the shed blood of Christ and there is the hope of his return and notice when Jesus returns he comes a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly awaiting his return but before we conclude notice that the author says that he comes to save those who are waiting but a question here what does this mean? I thought those who are waiting were already saved. This is easy. There is a sense in which salvation has already been provided.

Those who are in Christ Jesus are saved but there is a sense in which those who are saved are not saved they are still in their sinful bodies and in this sinful world so Jesus appears a second time to save the saved. He returns to bring the redeemed or the church to heaven to be with him. Leon Marr says here the saved do not enter into all that salvation means until Christ returned and in that sense salvation is future. Now church I want to ask you a question. Are we eagerly awaiting Christ's return? I'm speaking to believers and I'm especially speaking to Grace Life Church.

Are we eagerly awaiting Christ's return or are we so caught up in life on this earth that we are not eagerly awaiting Christ? Another question. Are you scared to death of Christ's return? Because you're not born again? Look folks you should be scared to death because death is one heartbeat away and you should also be scared to death that Christ may return and you're not born again. So we have the kingly work of Christ. You might say pastor I didn't see king in that verse. When he comes back he's not coming back as a savior he's coming back as a king. He's coming back as a king. So notice in summary what we see here in verses 23 to 28.

The complete the perfect sacrifice of the new covenant. We see the sacrificial work of Christ, the priestly work of Christ, and the kingly work of Christ. And just as it is appointed that men die once and face judgment, Jesus is coming back as king to save those who are saved. Those who are waiting for the culmination of their salvation. So the perfect sacrifice of the new covenant. Now as I close I want to make a simple comparison of the old covenant with the new covenant and this will finish out Jesus the great high priest of the new covenant part four.

We've learned over and over over and over that under the old covenant there was repeated sacrifices and those repeated sacrifices consisted of the blood of animals. And they provided the temporary covering of sin and this was for the nation of Israel only. Only for the covenant people of Israel. Also only the high priest could go into the holy of holies and he could not stay in the holy of holies and the priest came out of the holy of holies to bless the people. But we have learned over and over over and over that under the new covenant there is the once and for all sacrifice for sin.

Jesus offered his own blood and he did not simply cover over sin but he put away sin and as a result salvation was provided for any and all not just the Jews. And Jesus has entered into the holy of holies in heaven and he is right there right now on our behalf and one day he will come again for those who are waiting to provide for us the church the ultimate salvation and that is to be with him. Now I'll close with a question. You tell me which covenant do you want to be under? Which covenant do you want to be under? I'm thankful that I'm not under the old. I'm thankful that I'm under the new. Let's pray.