 The writer writes, then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary, and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden altar of incense 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 butted, and the tablets of the covenant, and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat of these things we cannot now speak in detail. So as we begin now, we need to remember where we were here in the book of Hebrews, and we just got out of chapter 8 obviously, and in chapter 8 he had been speaking concerning what he referred to as a better covenant, or a better testament. Remember in verse 6 how he said in chapter 8, but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry in as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. And so he's been speaking concerning the fact that Jesus Christ has a more excellent ministry because he mediates a better covenant. Now what this is intended to do at this point is to encourage, it's to instruct, encourage and comfort the Hebrew believers because they were used to worshiping under a different system. They were used to worshiping under the law of Moses. And under the law of Moses God had given them commands, instructions concerning worship and where they were to worship. And so the fact is that neither the Old Covenant nor the Temple were ever presented as being permanent. And that's why he begins to speak concerning Jeremiah and the prophecy that Jeremiah gave when he picks up in verse 7 and begins to share some things about Jeremiah and the things that he had written. You see during the days of Jeremiah and he ministered from 627 to 580 B.C. During his days God had spoken through this prophet and had prophesied that he would restore the nation to a new relationship with himself, with God. And what would happen is he would do that or accomplish that through an inward knowledge of him. That's what he was speaking of when he said in verse 8, finding fault with them, he says, Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they did not continue in my covenant, I disregarded them, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. So God had made a statement and he said, I'm going to work with them. I'm going to bring them back together. I'm going to restore them and I'm going to take my law and I'm going to write it on the tablets of their heart. And there are blessings that are going to be the result of that. Notice verse 12, he says, I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds. God will remember no more. In that he says a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete. Now, what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. And so God had said, I've got a blessedness that I'm given to you. I'm going to give to you a new covenant and there is something about that covenant that is going to reveal something about me. It will reveal how merciful I am because I will provide forgiveness for your sins and I will not hold your sins against you. Now, you see this in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah in chapter 43 verse 25 when God says, I even I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins. Micah chapter 7 verse 19 where he says he will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. When he says he will cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea to the Hebrew mind that meant it would be past, it would be beyond anything so far away that you couldn't retrieve it. God is going to do a work in other words to cover our sins completely. That was a promise that God made in the Old Testament that God would show us mercy and God would give us forgiveness. That God would pour his Holy Spirit upon us that he would write his law on the tablets of our heart and he would do this because he was merciful to us. That's why in Ephesians in chapter 2 verses 4 and 5 when the Apostle Paul is speaking of this he says because of his great love for us God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. And so the writer of Hebrews is instructing Jewish believers and those who are in danger of walking away from the grace of God to return to the Jewish way of life, he is saying listen what God has given to us is something new and fresh. The Old Testament all of its ordinances and all was not intended to be permanent and neither was the tabernacle neither was the temple. Those were temporary. So you are used to worshiping in a certain way and perhaps even at this point may become uneasy at the concept of grace. But you need to remember he is saying that God had promised the Jeremiah that he would write his law on the tablets of your heart and that God would remember your sins no more and that he would bring to you a reconciliation with him. And so that is what we were looking at in chapter 8 and now we move on into chapter 9 and he continues what he has been saying. He is developing the theme of a new covenant and he begins in verse 1 here by speaking in this way he says indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. Now he speaks of divine service which is the official service to God and how it was conducted. You also notice speaks of the earthly tabernacle. The tabernacle was a tent and it was used prior to the building of the temple and it was where God would manifest his presence to the nation of Israel. If you take notes Exodus chapter 25 verse 8 says have them make a sanctuary for me I will dwell among them. And so this sanctuary this tabernacle was where God would manifest his presence on earth. Now there was a purpose in giving them divine service and the earthly tabernacle and that is so that he might be able to reveal to them through pictures what Messiah Jesus Christ was going to be all about. And that's what we're going to be looking at as we look at these verses before us. You're going to be seeing some of the things and I'm going to be very careful not to give too many details. I wanted to give to you just some very basic things so that you can see these things as they're presented to us. But he wants to give to us a description of the tabernacle and we're going to be seeing that and some of the things that were within that tabernacle and how those things pointed to Jesus Christ. And so in verse 2 notice he says a tabernacle was prepared the first part in which was the lamp stand the table and the showbread which is called the sanctuary. And so he's beginning to describe the ancient tabernacle in order to illustrate his point. The tabernacle was the place where God would meet with the Jewish people. Briefly 50 chapters of the Bible are dedicated to this tabernacle. You see a lot of information given in Exodus chapters 25 through 40 if you're interested in reading on the tabernacle that's where you would go. It had a courtyard that was 150 feet long 75 feet wide. It had a single gate on the east side that was 30 feet wide and 7.5 feet tall. A single gate where all the people would stream in. That gives to us a picture of Jesus Christ who's the door through whom all people can enter in to worship. It was divided into two compartments. It had what was called the holy place and it had the holy of holies. The holy place and the holy of holies was separated by a veil. It had a sanctuary. The sanctuary was 45 feet long, 15 feet wide and 15 feet high. And as he begins to speak concerning this sanctuary, this tabernacle, he begins to give a detailed description of the interior. And as we look at this you see a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ that is being presented. First notice how he speaks concerning a lamp stand. Now this lamp stand was constructed to hold seven oil burning lamps. When you see a menorah and you go to Israel, you'll see a menorah. It has seven bowls. And that's a picture of the lamp stand that was within this holy place. And this lamp stand is found in Exodus chapter 25 for those who take notes verses 31 through 39. And God had spoken there in this way. He said, make a lamp stand of pure gold and hammer it out. And so those who do a lot of studies concerning the picture of Christ in this particular chapter will point out to you that hammered gold speaks about the humanity of Jesus Christ. The fact that it was hammered out shows us his humiliation. It was a seven bowl lamp stand. Seven is the number of perfection and identifies Jesus Christ as Messiah. Now in the book of Isaiah chapter 11 verse 2 Isaiah said, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him to become a Messiah. The spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And so this lamp stand, this light was a demonstration of the light that Israel was to be to the nations. It also is a picture of God who is the light in their darkness. It also portrays Jesus Christ who is the light of the world. Seven being the number of perfection gives to us the insight that Jesus Christ is divine and perfect. Now the lamps were filled with oil. Oil in the old as well as the New Testament is the picture of the Holy Spirit. And so the oil would be poured out. The oil is that which is poured out on believers. After Jesus has been crushed in Gethsemane or the Christian press, they're on Golgotha. And because it is of hammered gold, that's a picture of deity. It's a picture of Jesus' humility, but it's also a picture of Jesus providing for us through his Holy Spirit. He also has the table and the showbread. This table is made of acacia wood and it was overlaid with gold. That's the humanity of Christ that is overlaid with his deity. That's the picture that you have there. And it also had on it showbread. The word showbread speaks of the bread of the presence. What they had really were 12 loaves of bread that were placed on this table. Those 12 loaves represented the 12 tribes of Israel. And every week they would be baked and fresh and they would be placed there. Then they would be taken off and some fresh bread would be put on there for a continual remembrance before the Lord. Those 12 tribes of Israel are being remembered by God, but it's also for them to remember that they don't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. It also is a reminder of Jesus Christ who is the true bread. And so as he's giving to us these pictures here, he's saying Jesus Christ is the light. Jesus Christ provides the spirit. Jesus Christ is the one who provides life through his body which is bread. And then he continues on into verse 3. He says behind the second veil the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all. Now this holiest of all or the holy of holies could only be entered in by the high priest. And according to verse 7, we'll see this in a moment, he would go in there on a yearly basis, but he had to come in and bring blood on the day of atonement. We'll look at that in a moment. He said in verse 4, which had the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold in which there were golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that butted, and the tablets of the covenant. So the ark itself that is there, the ark of the covenant contains three items. One is the golden pot holding manna. You remember when the children of Israel were wandering through the wilderness. God provided for them something called manna. And he would provide it for them so they could eat it daily. They were to gather manna every day to eat. And they got tired of it as we know the story. They got tired of it because that's all they had to eat. Now it was provided by God and they would pick it up in the morning. And for five days they would pick up enough for those days. On the sixth day they were to pick up twice as much as they normally do because on the seventh day they were just going to rest and therefore they had to bring twice as much. The manna is intended to remind them of God's provision for them. And so they would have that there in that place in order to remind them concerning God providing. He also speaks of Aaron's rod that butted. Aaron's rod was a symbol of his authority and is a remembrance that God had chosen Aaron to be the high priest. And then thirdly they had the tablets of the covenant which are the ten commandments. All of these are to remind the children of Israel of God's provision, authority and commands in their life. And all of this is there in that particular area. Now in verse five above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Cherubim A cherub is a covering angel. Cherubim is simply the plural. Instead of adding an s the im just makes it plural. And it speaks concerning an order of angels. When you see the cherubim in scripture their responsibility is to protect the holiness of God. And so the cherubim there have their wings out in front of them which is representing almost like a throne where the presence of God is to be. And so it's a picture there of God's presence with the children of Israel. They also have the golden altar of incense. Now actually this was in front of the veil in the holy place but it's mentioned this way to identify the method of entering into the holy of holies. The way that you come into the presence of God is always with a prayerful attitude and that's the picture that he has for us. And so these cherubim are there to guard the glory of God. The mercy seat is where the blood of the sacrifice would be sprinkled. That's where God's mercy is revealed to man. See one of the things that we as Christians have come to understand that the Hebrews needed to be reminded of is that God is a merciful God and God is a loving God and God is a forgiving God. And we have the ability to enter into his presence now because he mercifully has given to us opportunity and freedom to do so. We don't walk into the presence of God though with this attitude like we deserve to enter his presence. We enter into his presence because he has made it possible for us to do so. And because God is holy and God is righteous and God is awesome and God is to be feared, the children of Israel understood that the only way into his presence would be through blood and that's why God gave them sacrifice. When the sacrifices were offered they would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat which was to give them the evidence that to enter into the presence of God requires sacrifice. All of that was a picture of the fact that God ultimately, and we'll see this in just a moment and we see more of it in chapter 10, but all of that was to bring to them the understanding that the way into the presence of God requires sacrifice. Now man obviously doesn't have the ability to sacrifice the kinds of things perfectly that would be required by God and so God on our behalf has actually done something we couldn't do. He did that in the provision of his son Jesus Christ, Jesus who is the Lamb of God and when Jesus died on the cross and poured out his blood for us, that is a picture fulfilling what this mercy seat was all about because when Jesus' blood poured out from him and came off his body and some of it dripped down into that dirt that we have been created from, it is a picture for us to know that it's his blood that covers our sin that gives us access into his presence and so these cherubim are there to guard the glory of God but the mercy seat is there to remind us that access has been granted and that comes through the blood. First it was a picture that was given to the nation of Israel through the perpetual sacrifices that would occur but ultimately it was fulfilled through Jesus' perfect sacrifice and going on into verse 6 this is what he's going to begin to point to us. He says in verse 6, now when these things had been thus prepared the priest always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services 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's sins committed in ignorance the Holy Spirit indicating this that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience concerned only with foods and drinks, various grains and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation and so what he's speaking about here is that the priest would enter in but he would come in with the blood of the sacrifice and we're going to look at this in some practical ways in just a moment but as he would come in he would have a daily ministry as well as a yearly ministry on a daily basis he would come in and he would offer incense both morning and evening he would tend to the lamp stand he would change the showbread weekly but according to verse 7 into the second part the high priest went alone once a year he would go into the holy of holies yearly on the day of atonement and so he would enter in on God's terms he always brought blood of a sacrifice now the blood represented sacrifice for his personal sins and for the sins of the people and it also included forgiveness for sins that were committed ignorantly it's interesting to note that there are times I can sin and I don't even realize that I have it's possible to commit a sin and it is a sin it's regarded by a sin by God but we don't even understand or know that it is and in the Old Testament you actually had blood that would cover sins that were done in ignorance now when you become aware of those that it's a sin that's a different thing at that point then you regarded as a sin for what it is and you forsake it repent from it and turn to the Lord I can remember many years ago now when I was a young pastor I was an assistant actually at this time I had received a phone call from a young lady who said that you would like to meet with me she had some questions that you needed to ask and I asked her do you come to the fellowship she said no I said okay why were you asking to see me if you don't come to this church and she said one of my friends said that I could talk to you if I would ask and I just needed to talk to somebody and I thought that perhaps you could talk to me I said of course I will I'll meet with you and so I met with her I was a young man at that time I was probably about 28 29 years old I was an assistant pastor and this young lady came into the office and she sat down with me now she had called and said I want to speak to you about a relationship that I have with my boyfriend and I said fine can you bring your boyfriend in with you and I'll speak to both of you at the same time and she said of course well she showed up her boyfriend didn't show up with her and as I was there talking to her I said where's your boyfriend and she said well he's playing football right now I said he's playing football yes I said did you let him know that he was supposed to come in or that you had made arrangements for us to speak and she said well I let him know but he decided that playing football was more important I said well that's fine honey I'll speak to you then you know what can I do for you and she began to share with me about a relationship she said I have a relationship with this guy and and you know it's not going very well and we began to speak and so I said well what seems to be the problem and she's she started to share a few things to me and I said I said to her what do you think the main problem is and she says well we've been having a sexual intercourse and I said okay wait a minute for just a moment you want to get your relationship right before the Lord and she said yes I said may I ask you a question are you a Christian she says yes I am I said how do you know that you're a Christian and she begins to explain to me the plan of salvation I said is your boyfriend a Christian she said yes he is are you sure she says well not really I said does he does he have a church he goes to no he doesn't does he ever want to read the Bible with you no he doesn't do you guys ever pray together no we don't and so as I began to share with her and talk to her I discovered that she had a commitment to Christ but her boyfriend didn't and so as we continue talking I finally said listen do you realize that sexual sin that sexual intercourse prior to marriage is sin do you know that she says no I said do you have a church that you go to and she said yes I do I said how long have you been in this church she said I've been going there for several months I said you've been in church for several months and the pastor has never mentioned to you that sexual intercourse between single people is sinful and she said no I didn't have an idea that it is and I said honey it is and I started opening scripture to her and I said this is what the word of God has to say concerning it what she was as she was entering into sin in ignorance these she didn't realize and no because she'd never been taught and she was a relatively new believer though she's going to church did believe in Christ make a very long story short as we spoke I remember saying something like this to her I remember saying do you love your boyfriend and she said I think I do I said may I ask you does your boyfriend love you she says I'm not sure I said let me assure you that he doesn't and she said why would you say that I said because if he loved you he would respect and honor you and if he loved you and respected and honored you he wouldn't be pressuring you to do things that you're uncomfortable with because she was uncomfortable in that relationship it wasn't something she was pleased doing she just didn't know it was a sin make a very very long story short I said I'm going to give you some basic advice and the advice is this share with your boyfriend that he needs to get right with God because you just got right with God if he doesn't break up with him and she said okay and she left she comes back to the church and started attending the fellowship and then I lost contact with her she went off to school a few years later now I was a senior pastor of this church I hadn't heard from her in several years I received a letter and I'll never forget the letter because it began by her saying something like you probably won't remember me but I was a young girl who came into your office one day crying over a relationship that I had with a boyfriend she said I wanted to tell you what has happened to my life since then she said I broke up with him she said I got my life right with God I went to nursing school she said I joined the Christian club I became the president of the Christian club and I met a young Christian man at school and we're getting married and I wanted to send you an invitation if you could join us as we celebrate a relationship that we have now in Christ Jesus because God has changed both of our lives and so you can have sins that are in ignorance but when they're revealed to you then you can repent from them and watch what God will do in a person's life and so in the Old Testament they had blood the blood was poured out as an offering because sometimes you would knowingly do something and sometimes you would do things without knowing and so that would cover them because of that because they were innocent they were done in ignorance meaning there was no intent to it but all of this is pointing something out notice verse 8 he said the Holy Spirit indicating this that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing it was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience concerned only with foods and drinks various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation so it's very simply saying that perfect access to God was not yet possible because Jesus had yet to die to make access possible through him in the Old Testament seeing that Jesus had yet to come they would continue to have a remembrance of sins every time an offering was made but ultimately Jesus Christ comes and he's going to highlight this for us in just a moment and he's the one who now we can have access to God through Jesus said I am the way the truth in the life no man comes to the Father but by me and so in the Old Testament that's all foreshadowing Jesus who is to come and ultimately Jesus does come and he makes it possible for us to come into the presence of God and verse 11 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 not with the blood of goats and cows but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer 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 purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God and for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance Jesus Christ came as a high priest of good things to come he's the genuine high priest and ministers for us in heaven not simply in an earthly tent but the thing that I want to spend some time with and actually will point out a couple things and we're actually in a close with this in this passage here I want you to see verse 12 because it says here not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption one salvation is something that has been given to us on a one time basis in other words when Jesus Christ died on the cross he died one time for all time he doesn't have to return to die a second time there need there doesn't need to be any form of service that would recrucify him Jesus Christ came died one time for all time and so because he made that sacrifice for us that one time for all time sacrifice he ever lives to make intercession for me I can have a relationship with God based on the reality of the fact that one time for all time he died on that cross and he has obtained for me an eternal redemption Jesus Christ when he poured out his blood for me did that completely holy satisfied God in every way shape and form and because of that I can now come to him 2000 years after the fact and still have a relationship with God because of that you see the blood of angels and goats are not going to purify me they can't do that but the blood of Jesus Christ does it's a blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin not only does he cleanse us from all sin but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses our conscience if there's anything that I needed prior to coming to Christ it was a clean conscience my conscience was stained with sin I was aware of my failings a conscience is a moral barometer a conscience is that internal witness that speaks to you and says you have violated a set code of standards that you should live by now that conscience is not something that is necessarily always right because my conscience may be sometimes accusing me even though I haven't done anything wrong because I might simply have a guilty conscience and so I can't go buy my conscience alone I need something greater than that I need forgiveness and redemption I need a relationship that is for sure and eternal and so when I gave my heart to Christ one of the great things that I didn't even realize was going to take place was the cleansing of my conscience and I remember somebody one time was speaking and he was sharing this how that he was he was giving the gospel to somebody and as he was sharing the gospel with somebody the guy looked at him and said to him you know what are you and this guy said I'm born again I'm a born again Christian and the guy who was speaking to said born again he said what you are is brainwashed he said all of you born againers are a bunch of brainwashed people and this fellow said you know as a matter of fact I am brainwashed he said my brains were dirty and they needed to be washed by the blood of Jesus Christ he said so if you'd like to say that I'm brainwashed that's fine because dirty brains need to be washed by the blood of Jesus and you know I understand that I really do how many times have you ever before you were a Christian have you ever cried out to God and say to him something like God I can't take this anymore I need your help if you don't come and work somehow in my life do something I don't think I'm going to make it have you ever been awakened in the morning with such a nagging conscience of something you did that violated your own moral code or standards to the point that you feel like such a complete failure that you realize that there's you've got you've done something that you just can't get past and your sin is ever before you there's nothing you can do to get around it before you were saved it would be something that could drive you into depression it could drive you into drinking it drove you into doing a variety of things because it was there and it was inescapable when I gave my heart to Jesus Christ I began to realize that the blood of Christ cleanses my conscience it also cleanses me from the remembrance of sin that's why I can say that I once was lost but now I'm found that's why I can say I once was a drug abuser but I am no longer that I haven't been one for many years I once was an alcoholic that's true but I no longer am and I don't identify myself in that way I've shared with you before I was in a social psychology class in college and I was speaking to somebody just before class began he was seated next to me and we were just kind of talking as another student I really didn't know him we were just visiting and he said to me that he was an alcoholic he said and I've been going to a program and he said I've been sober now for you know such and such time and all and I looked at him and I said oh I understand that I said I used to be an alcoholic also oh yeah he says once an alcoholic always an alcoholic because that's a mantra you hear that all the time once an alcoholic always an alcoholic and I said no I said I was once an alcoholic but I am no longer an alcoholic he says no you're still an alcoholic I said no I'm not he says well what makes you think that you're not an alcoholic I said because I've been born again because the Bible says if any man be in Christ he's a new creation all things are passed away behold all things are become new I was once an alcoholic but I am no longer an alcoholic because I'm new in Jesus Christ and I'll never forget him looking at me and kind of rubbing his chin for a moment there in that pensive way and he says oh so you had a conversion experience I said yeah I call it what you want well I've been born again you see the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin not only does the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse you from the blood of from all sin but it also cleanses your conscience one of the great and wonderful things about being born again is you have a new identity that new identity is I'm a believer in Christ I am brand new all things have passed away so all things have become new and that means that that old jacket that people used to put on me can no longer fit me because I'm a brand new person that and that brand new person that I have have become has an impact on the lives of other people though I may understand where they're coming from because I've been there I can also now point to them a better place because that's where I am now and so I understand what it's like to wake up in the morning with your mouth dry because you've been drinking all night I understand what it's like to wake up and to wonder how did I get here and what did I do last night because I've been there but now because of Christ my conscience is clean my life is transformed and that's what took place with being regenerated you can have in other words a new life and that's what he's saying he's saying to the Hebrews listen you want to go back or you're being tempted to go back to an old system that was incomplete you want to go back to a system that had a holy place a holy of holies that you had to have a priest the priest who would enter in with blood once a year but every time an offering was made there was a remembrance of sin you want to have that kind of relationship again when in reality what you have in Christ is far better because Jesus Christ died one time for all time so that you could have a clean conscience so that you can have a great relationship with God so you don't have to go back to the ritual in the old way of life because you have a new life in Jesus Christ you have access to God the presence of God through prayer and fellowship with him something that only priests would have you can now have that and you want to go back to the old way you want to go back to the ritual and the legalism and the things that really didn't help your life at all but actually brought you under condemnation because you weren't successful in keeping all of the laws and the minutiae of it you need to understand what you have in Christ that's why I say in verse 15 for this reason he's the mediator of a new covenant by means of death in other words he died on the cross for you for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance Jesus cleanses us completely the bulls and goats their blood cannot do that he cleanses us from guilt he gives us joy he gives us the blessedness that no Old Testament saint ever had that's why Paul could say in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 12 this is our boast our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially in our relations with you in the holiness and sincerity that are from God we have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace grace the work of God is unmerited favor that he bestows on us God gives us his mercy and God gives us his grace and so because Jesus Christ is that perfect offering that perfect sacrifice I can have a great relationship with God through him and in him that only comes through faith in him and no other way and so as the writer of Hebrews is writing to the Hebrews we would also in the 21st century say the same thing don't return to the old way of life remain true to God in the new and watch what God will do in you as he washes you and cleanses you as he fills you with his spirit as he leads you as he blesses you as he works within you just trust in him and wake up in the morning tomorrow with an awareness that God is cleansing your conscience all things are passed away don't go back and dig them up don't go back and remember the old life don't go back and visit it you know I like something that Billy Graham's wife once said she said every cat knows that some things need to remain varied and I think that's true I think that I don't need to go back and look at the old life and wonder about it and even long for it because what God has done in my life and our lives through the blood of Christ is permanent he cleanses our conscience and gives us an ability to love and to serve pursue follow be blessed what is better than that and so the writer of Hebrews would remind us Jesus Christ in his covenant is much better