 Okay, wonderful. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Anyone who is comfortable to unmute your mics and pray, could please lead. Pray, ma'am. Yeah, sure. Father, we come before once again you're thrown and we want to just say thank you, Father God, thanking you, the new week, thanking you for your presence and your word, Father God. Thank you, Father God, submitting to your hand-ordered student, Father God, who is a student willing to join, help them to join the class, Father God. And give you wisdom and knowledge, Father God, that we can understand nicely and use to your kingdom. And bless to ma'am also, that ma'am received the revelation from you, Father God. Ma'am can say and we can understand nicely, Father God. Thank you, Father God, thank you. My tithi, just name, we pray, amen. Amen, amen. Thank you, Kiran. So we have been studying from the book of Hebrews. We've completed till chapter 8 in the last class and today we will start with chapter 9. There are a total of 13 chapters and I'm hoping that by next class, we are through with Hebrews. Then we will, you know, move on to James, there's 1st and 2nd Peter, then also Jude. So we have to complete a total of 5 books, which is definitely possible because in a matter of about 2 months, we have completed the book of Hebrews, which is actually the one which has many doctrinal foundations for us. So that's a good thing and we will definitely be able to complete all the books quite comfortably. My suggestion is that you can simply go to these books and read through them for an understanding, even if you don't study it, just read it. Take time to just go over it, chapter 1 through chapter 13, Hebrews, chapter 1 to 5, James. So just give it a read maybe even a couple of times and that will give you some perspective. And definitely when we discuss things in the class, your understanding will become clearer and deeper. So let's continue with Hebrews chapter 9. I'll see how best we can accommodate a couple of chapters today. Let's try. So far what we have seen is that the ministry of Jesus is a very unique ministry. It is a more excellent ministry. We saw that the new covenant has been established for us, which is better than the promises of the old covenant. We also saw that the Lord Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. And we have every reason to rejoice as God's people because now we are coming under grace by what Jesus has done. And that's what in chapter 8 we saw about the excellent ministry of the Lord Jesus. We had looked at chapter 7 before that where we had a good understanding of this high priest who is from the order of Melchizedek for us. And there was a comparison between the priests from the order of Aaron. And we saw how the Lord Jesus, though he's from the tribe of Judah and in the understanding of the Jews, he was not one who went and performed the priestly rituals that the Lord Jesus is a better high priest. Eventually we saw chapter 8. He began talking about the high priestly ministry of Jesus in chapter 7. And he continued to talk about why it is so good in chapter 8. So as you study the book of Hebrews, we're getting a really beautiful understanding about the person of the Lord Jesus. Yes, there is mention of the Godhead, there is mention of the Father and the Spirit and their work. However, you could say that about the Lord Jesus, his work on the cross of Calvary and the meaning of that work is coming through so powerfully in the book of Hebrews. If you recall, we studied John chapter 1 and we saw the description of the Son of God. We saw how he is the Word and we painted a picture of the Lord Jesus from that first chapter of John. Similarly, the book of Hebrews gives us a lot of insight on the person of the Lord Jesus and his better, more excellent ministry. And we are all recipients of that ministry. If you would look at the mountain that Moses went to, it brought in a lot of fear and trembling among the people. The old Zion that is talked about in Hebrews chapter 8. But as we look at the new Zion, which is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the picture is that of the grace of God being poured out on us because of what Jesus has done. Today, let us see a little more insight about this ministry of Jesus and how it is connected to the old covenant practices. See, God will not institute something that is meaningless. So we know that as you read the early books of the Bible, you have certain prescribed practices given by God over there and particularly in the tabernacle or the temple, which for us, the new believer, we live after the cross. So for us, those things might seem meaningless, but it's not so. God instituted those practices to help us understand something or to help everyone understand something and that is what we are going to see today. So in chapter 9, we begin where the scripture says that the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. So you understand the earlier covenant, it had certain practices, instructions that people engaged in as divine service or service unto God or ministry to God, as you would call it. And the earthly sanctuary. So if you recall, we said in Hebrews 8 and verse 5 that the true tabernacle is in the heavens. It was not built by human hands, but it is built by God and that is the place where Jesus is doing his current ministry from which is an intercessory ministry. Here in the earthly tabernacle, there is a description of all the things that were a part of that tabernacle. So the mention is that of the first part in which was the lampstand, the table, the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. And behind the veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded and the tablets of the covenant and above it were the cherubim of gold overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things, we cannot now speak in detail. So he's just giving an outline of what the old tabernacle contained. So he's not going into the details of the meaning of each one because obviously we know that there is spiritual meaning to everything. If we study each piece of the furniture, each portion of the tabernacle, we get a good understanding of the kind of worship that God desires. But having given an outline and a mention, he continues to say that these things they been thus prepared. The priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services. We are aware of that. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood which he offered for himself and for the people since committed in ignorance. So now he's talking about the ministry of the priest, but more so about the ministry of the high priest. So you had the priests who would enter the first part, they would perform their sacrifices. But when you talk about the holy of holies, that's a place where you would not have the regular priest going in. In the outer court, the priest would go and the priest would, there was a place where they could make a sacrifice. They could wash, there was a laver where they could wash up and then there was an altar where they could make sacrifices. These sacrifices were made to cover the sins of the people. And that was the regular duty of a priest. But a high priest could enter further into the tabernacle. And how often could he do? He could enter the holy of holies only once a year. And how could he enter it? You notice it says not without blood. So to enter the presence of God, in other words, we need a sign of redemption. We need the sign of something that covers the sins, you know, not just of the people but also of the priest. And you see here that the people of Israel, the children of Israel, they would make sacrifices for the known sins obviously. They are aware and they need to deal with it. So the priests in general in the outer portion of the tabernacle, they would make the offerings, make the sacrifices, shed the blood which covers the known sins of the people. But when they entered into the most holy place, that's also a place where you could say that, you know, the unknown sins of the people could also matter if they are not atoned for. So the high priest would not just make a sacrifice for himself but he would also make a sacrifice for the unknown sins of the people. And the sign or the, from the sacrifice you would have the blood, isn't it? So that blood is that symbol which you take into the holy of holies that shows that somebody has been made the sacrifice or somebody has taken on themselves the punishment for the sins. So the blood is talking about the fact that the sins are covered. So with that blood, the high priest would enter into the most holy place once in a year or if you want to call it the holy of holies and this once a year is known as the day of atonement. Atonement, going back to the Hebrew word is kofa where kofa means to cover the sins of the people. So you sacrifice something, blood is shed, that blood, the duty or the work of that blood is in the sight of God it covers the sin that the people have done. So sin is there, acknowledgement of sin is there, repentance is there and the blood sacrifices there. The blood now is covering. Has the sin gone? No, not really but God looks through the covering of that blood. So covering, atonement is covering, that's all. So the blood of animals was used to cover the sins of the people and the high priest, even the sins of ignorance, things that they were not aware of, he used to take the blood and through the blood he was allowed to enter the holy of holies. So you understand, holiness is so important. Without holiness, we can't enter the presence of God. So a high priest, you can never imagine a high priest to enter the presence, the mighty presence of God. Notice the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the holy of holies that hosted the presence of God. So the high priest would go in there with a lot of fear and trembling. It is said that the high priest would also fear going into the holy of holies. The reason is if there was, let's say a known sin which they have not dealt with, with sin, you cannot stand in the presence of God or sin will entail a punishment. So the high priest, when they enter into God's most holy presence, if their sins were not covered, the possibility is that they could even die. So it is said in the Jewish traditions that the high priest, when they went into the holy of holies, sometimes they would even tie a rope or something on the feet and the end of that rope would kind of be such that somebody from the outside can pull. So I mean these are all things that are said. The reason is suppose a high priest goes in and they are sinned in the high priest's life, he could even die in the holy of holies. And if he never came out for some time, then the people outside will understand, oh he died. And so they would pull him out with the help of that rope. So things like that, it was really a fearful thing to enter the holy presence of God. No sinful man, no, not even this much sin can enter into God's presence. Just think about Adam and Eve. A lot of people ask the question and sometimes little children also ask the question. Why is it that when Eve ate the fruit, the forbidden fruit, God had to send them out of the garden? Why couldn't God forgive? It's a small mistake, no? Just eating a fruit, how can that affect? But you see it's not just the action. We can sit and argue, this sin is bigger than that sin. This is more dangerous and God, this is unforgivable. We can argue and classify sins. But look at the flip side, the holiness of God. God is so holy that one act of disobedience, it threw us out of balance. That Adam and Eve now, the whole dynamics of the world changed because of one act of disobedience. So it simply goes to say that God is so holy that sin cannot be tolerated. Even if you say like, oh it's a small sin, no? Very, very tiny. No, cannot because God is so, so, so, so, so holy. And therefore, in order to enter the holy of holies, the high priests would be very scared. And it is also said in the Jewish traditions that when the high priest comes out, sometimes they would throw a big party to thank God and celebrate with their loved ones the fact that they did not die in the presence of God. So, such is the way priests and high priests would worship and minister in the tabernacle. Now, why are we talking about all these things? We will begin to understand. So, here he says, the Holy Spirit was it, the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way to the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. So, yes, this practice was there, but the fullness of what this meant was not manifested till now. And he adds, it was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who perform the service perfect in regard to the conscience and served only with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. So, the Holy Spirit is pointing to the rituals, the practices, things to do with ceremonies, foods, drinks, washings, certain fleshly ordinances. All of this was just symbolic. It was just symbolic meaning. It was talking about something greater that would take place in the future, the time of reformation. So, people were engaging in these things, but they were waiting for the fulfillment or the fullness of what? All this was pointing to. So, in verse 11, he says, Christ, 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. So, now is the fulfillment of these practices through whom? Through Jesus Christ. How he became the High Priest of the good things to come? And we are told that he is a minister of a more perfect tabernacle which was not made with hands, which we've already talked about. It's a heavenly tabernacle in the presence of God. And how did the Lord Jesus, we saw that he has entered the true tabernacle, the heavenly tabernacle, and he is in the presence of God. How did he enter? Now, let us look at the practice of peace using the blood of goats and animals to enter into the Holy of Holies. And through that, try to understand how Jesus has entered the true tabernacle. So, we are told in verse 12, not with blood of goats and calves. So, earlier, what blood did the High Priest use? Blood of animals. In this case, in the final, if you wanna say, you know, the culmination of all things, the fulfillment of all things, you notice that it is with his own blood he entered the most holy place. This is really something for us to be amazed about because so far we talked about the Lord Jesus being the High Priest. Even now we are talking about him being the High Priest. But what is special about this High Priest? I'll just ask you the question. What do you see as different or special about this High Priest? From the statement that we read was number 12. Can you see something different? It is one blood. Very good. Very good, Prince. So, the difference is with his own blood. Just think about it. No other High Priest was eligible to make that sacrifice, first of all, because nobody was sinless. Jesus, we saw, right? Hebrews 2, that he is able to aid those who are tempted because he has overcome temptation. Hebrews 4, we saw how he is a sympathetic High Priest. He understands us. He understands what we are going through because he has already been through those things and he is sinless. So, he was fully qualified as the Son of God, as God and as man to not only become the High Priest, you needed some qualification to be the High Priest. You should be from the line of Aaron, all of that. One is he qualified to be the High Priest. He represented humanity. All these things were needed. Now, he is also the only High Priest who has become the sacrifice. That is too much for us to grasp. A High Priest and a perfect sacrifice, both the same. So, which is why we read in verse 12 that he entered the most holy place with his own blood and no High Priest could enter the presence of God with his own blood because they never qualified. Jesus is the only one who qualified. Second, notice, these are all very important things. Once for all. Once for all is to say, if you just look at our journey as believers, born again, you believe in the Lord Jesus and with your heart and you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved. Now, if I ask all of us the question, can you get born again two times, three times, four times? All of you will correctly answer me and say, no, no, no. Once you have genuinely accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and you have understood about the work of Jesus, then you are born again. That's it. It has happened once and for all. Once for all. So, there is no question of us praying together year after year to be born again. Similarly, when you read the phrase here, once for all, it helps us understand he was a High Priest, he was a sacrifice and the sacrifice was good enough once for all. Meaning repetition is not required when Jesus has to die again and again and again to obtain our redemption. It was good enough. One shot. Yes, perfect. It was good enough. And we are told that he obtained eternal redemption. So, that's a very, you know, it's in a short line there, but it is a very deep truth. We have been redeemed. We have been brought out of bondage from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, when we talk about bondage or slavery, if you go back to the times of Moses, people being in Egypt, as part of bondage, they suffered many things. They did not have enough food. They were put under a lot of pressure to work. They did not have sufficient rights. Maybe, you know, no land rights. They were exploited, persecuted. So many struggles, isn't it, when they are under bondage. Now that Moses brought them out by the instruction of God, what happened to all that bondage, slavery, pressure, persecution, lack, poverty, everything changed because now they were free. So, when we talk about free redemption, remember freedom. So, we are told that through the sacrifice of Jesus, he has obtained eternal redemption. Meaning, now we have entered the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Jesus Christ for good. And that has many blessings for us. It has freedom for us. And, you know, it's a, till Jesus died, the people who were into all the rituals, they could never, ever get the fulfillment of this redemption. It was always just covering, you know, make a sacrifice, cover the sin. Okay, now you are sort of acceptable in God's presence. Move on, move on, you know, live your life. So, never really the fulfillment of what they were hoping for. Now, look at the next truth here. It says, for the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a hypha, these are animals, bulls, goats, hypha, they are the animals used based on the laws that God gave Moses. Sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 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. So, basically, what we see here is the work of the animals, it was for the covering of sins that we've already understood. But the work of the blood of Jesus is greater. It is not equal to the work of the blood of these animals because they were only covering. But we are told here, how much more shall the blood of Christ, what did it do? Cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. So, we are told that the blood of Jesus brings internal transformation. So, something within the heart of man, something about the cleansing of the inner person is possible by the blood of Jesus. This kind of internal transformation was not possible through the blood of animals, they were only covering and moving forward. But the power of sin, we talk about that from the book of Romans, you are all studying the book of Romans. And there we study, the power of sin is broken. Only the blood of Jesus can break the power of sin. So, you notice it says cleanse your conscience, your inner being, your conscience. That is our voice, isn't it? Our conscience is our voice. Even our conscience can be cleansed from dead works. Dead works have to do with sinful ways, sinful patterns of thinking, behaving, all that. Now, for a believer to say that, yes I am born again, but I don't have power over these fleshly patterns in me, in my thought life, in my emotions, in my behavior, in my actions. I don't have control. That would not be correct because in Romans, we already see that sin shall not have dominion over you. Here you see, the blood of Jesus has cleansed our conscience from dead works. So, useless things that don't help us have a relationship with God or which hinder our relationship with God. How can I say that by being born again, I have become a new person inside out because the blood of Jesus has cleansed my conscience from dead works. To do what? Now, our life, once we are born again, what does God want from us? We talk about this when we talk about fulfilling God's purpose for our lives, isn't it? We say that God has a general purpose for all of us and a more specific purpose as well. The general purpose is to worship God. The general purpose is to live for God. So, generally, all of us, if you are wondering, why am I living? What is the purpose of my life? God has called us to worship Him and God has called us to serve the living God. So, every child of God, our conscience is cleansed from dead works through the blood of Jesus to serve the living God. So, we must serve the living God because we have been transformed inside out. Was this possible for the people practicing the laws of Moses? No, it wasn't because, you see, again we will see in Hebrews chapter 10, a term called shadow. It was just to indicate that something greater is coming. But the greater came through Jesus and the fulfillment was done through His life and sacrifice. So, so much of truth here, isn't it? Jesus is the High Priest. Jesus is the sacrifice. The blood of Jesus is able to cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. So, we've understood all this and going further, we see that in order to bring this inner transformation, Jesus became what? The mediator of the new covenant. And how does a covenant, how is a covenant made? I know that you have studied about covenants in your previous courses and there we see that generally it would involve the shedding of blood. It would involve two parties signing up an agreement which can only be broken through death. So, there is that kind of a strong agreement made. So, covenant is not just a simple agreement but something that has to do with the life and death of individuals. So, we notice here that the Lord Jesus became the mediator of the new covenant and again by means of death. His own death was required to seal this covenant for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. So, were the people under the old covenant privileged enough to experience grace, forgiveness the way we do? Not really. They had somewhat of an experience of forgiveness but through our mediator. By means of his death, today redemption of the transgressions. Anything transgression is what? Transgression is we are told the law. We are told you can't do certain things and when you step beyond that, when you break the law, that is a transgression. But we notice here that there is redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. So, people could not keep the law. It was too difficult for them. And we understand that if one scripture says we will study this I think in another book also we will study. That if you break one law, it's like breaking the whole law. So it was very difficult for any human being to fulfill the law of God and to live a truly holy and a righteous life. But now through the death of the Lord Jesus, we have redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. That those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. In other words, you see, for a believer, you and me, we can be confident about the forgiveness of our sins. I remember when I was a young believer, I didn't know all these things. So when I used to go to church, I would think every Sunday I would think God I want to be a better person. I want to be a righteous person. And I still remember going to church then. And again, I never really, really went to church for a long time. It's only when I had permission from home later in my teenage years that I could actually go to church. And it was a privilege to go to church. And I would listen to the sermon at that time, come home and try to be a good person. And that whole week I will try and something will happen. I'll be disobedient to my parents. I'll fight with my friends in school. And then again, I'll go to church the next Sunday and I'll think, God, please forgive me. I was not perfect, but I will try to be perfect. And I had that guilt conscience and always feel guilty, guilty, guilty. Never felt that God had fully accepted me, even though I was born again. Because I did not understand about the sacrifice of Jesus. And you see here for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. So there is a deeper work that Jesus has done, which is broken. That sense of, yes, we were guilty. And I'm not saying that we are not guilty before the Lord, but as human beings we are. But when we are born again and we understand the work of Jesus Christ, the truth is that he has paid for that sin. And therefore, when we accept him with the understanding of what work he has done, our conscience also affirms it. And I don't know if each one of you has had that experience, but you can almost tell the freedom that you have within that. I know that God accepts me. Yes, I was a sinner. But something in what the Lord Jesus has done, it has set me free. And I can live free of sin, bold. I can be bold in the presence of God and God accepts me. And the second part of what we read, that we may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. One more privilege that we have that whatever the things that God has for us as inheritance. Just think about this. The people under the old covenant, even the high priest, I told us, isn't it? They go in with trembling. Oh, will God accept me? I don't know. Even the high priest. But notice the privilege that you and I have. Our conscience can be cleansed of dead works. From the inside out, we want to, we desire to serve the Lord. Then we have redemption from our transgressions, a true sense of forgiveness. We can walk with and also we can be excited because there is an inheritance for you and me. And God wants to give that inheritance and we are going to receive that inheritance. So all these things are a privilege which we as believers have who are born again. The Jewish people before the sacrifice of Jesus never had these things. So obviously, this is a call to wake up. Nobody in the past has enjoyed what you and I enjoyed today. And so as believers, if you're not living a victorious life, it could simply be because of ignorance. We don't understand what Jesus has done for us. Okay, let's move forward verse 16. It says whether there is a testament. There is a necessity for the death of the testator. So basically the way the testaments were made in those times. There would be the need for a person who makes that testament. For that person to die. Only then it will become active. It's like when there is a will. Those of us in the Indian context, we understand elderly parents. They write a will. They write who they want the inheritance to go to and all that. But as long as they are with us, they are alive. It's not applicable because everything still belongs to that person, that living individual. But when the person dies, that's when it comes into effect. It comes into action because now based on the will that they have written, things will need to be done. And in the same way, the testament of the Lord Jesus in the testament of God, what he wanted to do. It came alive through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. So it is like that promise that became all the more applicable to us after the Lord Jesus died. The testator or the one who made the promise, he died for us. And it was obviously dedicated for us how? Through his own blood. So we notice here that when Moses gave his laws, he also sprinkled both the book itself and all the people with the blood. And what blood did he use? He used the blood of the animals. But we now have the blood of Jesus through whom we have the remission of sins. So at the end of verse 22, we read there. And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood and without shedding of blood, there is no remission. So now there is a purification that is taking place because of the powerful blood of Jesus. And not just that, what I told us earlier, the redemption from our transgressions and more specifically, there is remission. Because of what Jesus has done, or the forgiveness of our sins. Now let's keep moving on. We are talking about the sacrifice of Jesus and the shedding of his blood and the work that the blood of Jesus has done for us. And also the way Jesus has entered the true tabernacle with his blood. So what we'll do is I just noticed we are running out of time. So let's go in for a small break and then we will continue. So let's take a break now and let's come back at 9.58 because it's 9.48 now. Alright classes, so see you soon.