The BIG Question
Hebrews 9:6-14
Emmanuel Christian Church 8.10.25
INTRODUCTION: It’s the BIG question that has plagued humankind right
up to this very moment. You might even find yourself numbered among
those who are tormented by it. If you are- you’re in good company: King
Solomon was so tormented by the BIG question that he spent his life in
pursuit of the answer- even dedicating an entire book of the Old Testament
to document what he discovered!
PROPOSITION: So, what is the BIG question? Simply this: “Why am I
here?”. We’ll find the answer to the BIG question in our text from Hebrews
this morning as we continue to consider the superiority of Christ as our
Great High Priest. As we journey through the text, you might wonder
where the answer lies, but rest assured IT”S THERE!
TRANSITION: Two pictures of two priests are what we’ll see this morning.
The first is the High Priest of the earthly Tabernacle and Temple. The
second is Jesus, our Great High Priest whose superior ministry is in the
one TRUE HEAVENLY TEMPLE that exists in God’s own presence.
Hebrews 9:6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests
entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only
the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and
never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the
people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by
this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as
long as the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 This is an illustration for
the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were
not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a
matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings — external
regulations applying until the time of the new order.
The High Priest Of The Earthly Temple
- His ministry before the presence of God was limited to one day out of
the year.
- Can you imagine how people must have felt who, on the day after the
sacrifice, sinned against God?!
- They would have to wait another 364 days before the High Priest
could take the case before God!
- Can you imagine waking up each morning having to live with the
GUILT- counting down the days until the next Day of Atonement?
- And what about the FEAR? What if you were to die before the next
Day of Atonement? What THEN?
- His character was purely human- that its to say broken by sin, just like
the people he represented.
- So, think if it this way- if you need you appendix removed before it
ruptures and floods your body with deadly infection- who do you want
to do your surgery? Chances are, you DON’T want to go down to the
grocery store and ask the butcher to do the deed! NOOO, you go to
the hospital and ask for the surgeon with the most skill and
experience!
- Spiritually speaking, the earthly High Priest wasn’t ANY better than
the butcher. When He offered the yearly sacrifice for sin, he had to
offer sacrifice for his own sin too!
- His offering was that of the blood of an animal.
- There was no personal cost involved. (It wasn’t his blood, it wasn’t
even his personal animal!).
- There was no real forgiveness achieved.
Hebrews 10:4 “…it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take
away sins.
- Whatever effect the offering had, it was itself limited to only the sins of
the people “committed in ignorance”.
- Those sins are known as “sins of omission”. NOT a sin of knowing
right and wrong and choosing to do the very thing you know to be
wrong- those are sins of “commission”.
- Sins of omission are those that are the simple failure to do what
its right- even if you don’t know you should!
- “Ignorance of the law is NO excuse.” That’s what the State
Trooper tells you when he pulls you over for going 55 in a 35- and
in THAT case you’re dead to rights guilty of breaking the law!
- But a sin of “omission” - simply failing to do the “right thing”
because you don’t know any better?! Is that FAIR? Well, let me
ask YOU- are you GOD? What right do you have to judge His
fairness? The Apostle Paul answers that question:
Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all
the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them,
because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the
world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature —
have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so
that men are without excuse.
- Even after the offering was made, neither the High Priest, nor the
people felt any better at all- for it was “not able to clear the
conscience of the worshipper”!
APPLICATION: What a miserable system was the Law and the earthly
Temple worship! The High Priest was a moral failure. The sacrifice for sin
was only once a year. The sacrifice itself - the blood of a dumb animal-
had no power to forgive sin. Even after the sacrifice was offered, NOBODY
felt any better about the relationship with God. It couldn’t be any more
obvious- SOMETHING BETTER WAS NEEDED!
Jesus, Our Great High Priest
Hebrews 9:11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that
are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle
that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12 He did
not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the
Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal
redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that
they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may
serve the living God!
- Jesus ministers at The Perfect Tabernacle NOT the earth-bound replica!
- It’s the difference between pretending and actually DOING!
- It reminds me of Driver’s Ed in High School! We’d sit in a simulator
(like a kid’s pedal car without the pedals) and pretend to drive. BUT
that’s all it really was PRETENDING!
- When Jesus entered God’s presence on our behalf, as our Great High
Priest- He was there to DO the job! There was NOTHING pretend
about His ministry!
- Jesus’ sacrifice was an offering of His own blood!
- It came with the ULTIMATE personal cost- separation from His Father
as He bore the guilt of our sin!
- Having paid the ultimate price, Jesus ACCOMPLISHED the
ULTIMATE GOAL- our eternal redemption!
- “Eternal Redemption”? That’s hard to appreciate UNLESS you come
to grips with the reality of Eternal Condemnation:
Isaiah 1:31 The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both
will burn together, with no one to quench the fire.”
Isaiah 66:24 “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those
who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be
quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Daniel 12:2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some
to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Matthew 13:40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it
will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels,
and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all
who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Revelation 14:9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If
anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the
forehead or on the hand, 10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury,
which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be
tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the
Lamb.
Revelation 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a
loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the
great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals,
and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free
and slave, small and great.”
Revelation 21:6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink
without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will
inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But the
cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral,
those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will
be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
- Our great High Priest Jesus, not only obtained our ETERNAL
REDEMPTION from the hell we all deserve, He did what no earthly High
Priest could do- “cleanse our consciences”!
CONCLUSION: Now, at the beginning of this message, I said that we were
going to find the answer to life’s BIG QUESTION: “Why am I here?” At
this point, you might be wondering if I can deliver on that promise. But
here we go…
Jesus, our Great High Priest, having offered His own blood on our
behalf, in the REAL Tabernacle of God’s presence, having obtained our
eternal redemption and having cleansed our consciences, has freed us
“from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”
There you go! That’s the answer! “Serve the living God.”
Solomon discovered it late in life:
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the
matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole
[duty] of man.
The Apostle Paul learned it on the road to Damascus:
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to
offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is
your spiritual act of worship.
If you think that serving God is a burden, you have yet to know His grace
and the gift of Eternal Redemption.
Jesus put it on the line when He said: “If you love me, you will obey
what I command.” (John 14:15) To those still under condemnation, that IS
a burden. To those who have been eternally redeemed it’s called
OPPORTUNITY! (Hymn: “Give of your best to the Master #591)
