This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to Hebrews chapter 9. This is
day one of our look at this chapter. In just a minute we're going to look at
verses 1 to 5.

Let me just remind you as we begin where we are in our study of the book of
Hebrews, we're in this long section talking about the fact that Jesus is better.
Starting from the very first chapter, Jesus is better than we've looked at, He's
better than angels. Jesus is better than Moses.

Not that angels are bad or that Moses was bad, it's just that Jesus was the one
that we're all looking forward to or ministering towards the day that He was
going to come. We've been looking at the last several chapters at the fact that
Jesus is a better high priest. He comes from a better order, the order of
Melchizedek rather than the order of Aaron.

He has a better tabernacle that He serves from, that which is in heaven. He has
a better covenant. I told you last week that we looked at the better tabernacle
in more detail as we got to chapter 9 and that's exactly what we're going to do
in these first five verses.

Let me read for you these first five verses about the better tabernacle. Now the
first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A
tabernacle was set up in its first room where the lampstand, the table, and the
consecrated bread.

This was called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the
most holy place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold covered ark
of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that
had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

Above the ark were the cherubim of the glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.
But we cannot discuss these things in detail now. Now it's interesting as you
walk through this, this would have been very familiar to the readers in that
day.

It's like He's describing to you and I what a football field might look like.
Anybody who knows very well what it looks like, he's just going over it one more
time. This is what we're talking about.

This is what it looks like. This is what we're experiencing. We're experiencing
this place called the tabernacle.

He in essence just walks through it with them. He walks into the tabernacle,
this place, this tent of meeting, which later became a temple. It was designed
exactly the same way.

It had two rooms. So you walk in the door, you walk through the first curtain,
and you have the holy place. And he talks about what's in that holy place,
lampstand, bread on the table.

And then he says you walk in through the second curtain, you're in the holy of
holies. In the other room, the second room. And then he walks even closer and he
says then there is the ark, the ark of the covenant, the atonement cover.

Now as he's walking us through this tabernacle, he's giving us an expression of
God's presence. The holy of holies was the place of God's presence. The
atonement cover was the place of the sacrifice, recognizing God's presence.

This is all about experiencing God's presence. And as you walk through this, you
see very clearly that God's presence is all about Jesus Christ. All that was in
this tabernacle, all that would be in the temple, look forward to the fact that
Jesus was going to come into this world one day.

He has now come into this world. The holy place, he walked in and there was this
lampstand giving its light. And Jesus told us when he came into this world, he
is the light of the world.

You have the table and the bread that's on it, the bread of the presence. Jesus
told us when he came into this world that he is the bread of life. And then you
walk through the second curtain, which by the way, remember that second curtain
is the curtain that was torn in two from top to bottom the moment that Jesus
died.

Jesus is saying my presence is now with people. You walk into the Holy of Holies
and there you have the Ark, that extreme expression of God's presence. The altar
of incense, the fragrance going up before God, the fragrance of our prayers, the
Ark of the Covenant, it's got the commandments of God, it's got some manna, it's
got Aaron's rod that had miraculously put forth buds.

But even more importantly, at the very end of all of this, you come to the
cover, the atonement seat. This is the place where the sacrifice was made. This
was the place where once a year the blood was given, was sacrificed, was poured
to express the fact that forgiveness was being given.

Every year this would be done by the high priest. The expression here is that
Jesus fulfills in your life, in my life, all that the Holy of Holies meant, all
that the table meant, all that the lampstand meant, all that the curtains meant,
all that the Holy of Holies meant, all that the Ark and all that was in it
meant. And because of that, you and I are able to now come boldly into God's
presence.

This is not just a map of a tabernacle. This is an expression of God's presence.
And you and I are now able to come into God's presence because of what Jesus
did.

Listen to what verses 6 to 8 have to say to us about this. "When everything had
been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to
carry on their ministry. 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 of the people had committed in ignorance.

The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way to the Most Holy Place had not
yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. " Only
the high priest, only once a year, could go into this Most Holy Place. The
writer of Hebrews is saying this is not the ultimate plan of God.

The ultimate plan of God is not for one person to enter into God's presence once
a year in order to make a sacrifice for us. The ultimate plan of God is for you
and I to live in God's presence. So when does that happen?

How does that begin? Well, I want you to understand two things. Two things that
this tabernacle expresses, the temple was going to express, and that Jesus came
to fulfill.

I want you to understand that Jesus wants us to enter into his presence. God
wants us to enter into his presence, and God provides a way for us to enter into
his presence. He desires for us to be in his presence now and into all eternity.

It's not like we have to force our way into God's presence, not like we're
nagging God to say, "Could I just get closer to you? I know you don't want to be
close to me. I know you're not that interested in me, but if I nag you enough,"
no, from the beginning of time, God has wanted to live in presence with us.

He's wanted to live in relationship with us. Now, Jesus expressed this
personally to his disciples the night before he died when he said to them, "I'm
going to prepare a place for you in John 14. If I go and prepare a place, I'll
come and receive you to be with me where I am.

I want you," he was saying there, "to be with me where I am. " God wants you to
enter in. It's his desire.

And the other truth that we're going to talk about several times this week is he
has provided a way for you to enter into his presence. We don't invent the way
to enter into God's presence. God provides the way for you and I to enter into
his presence.

Notice he says very clearly here in verse 8, "The Holy Spirit was showing by
this," the fact that they had to go in every year. Remember, it was the Holy
Spirit that inspired the words of the law, so that's why he says the Holy Spirit
was showing. The Holy Spirit was showing by these words that he inspired, what
they were to do once a year, that the true way into God's presence had not been
finalized as long as that first tabernacle was still standing.

Now, people wonder, "If Jesus died, there was still a temple standing. What does
this mean? " The truth is, the moment Jesus died and that veil was torn in two,
it meant that whatever tabernacle, whatever temple man builds now, the temple,
the location, the address immediately changed.

God's now working a new way. It's the way that he's always decided to work, the
way through Jesus into God's presence. So the question we've been coming to
again and again as we've been walking through Hebrews is the question of you and
I in God's presence.

How am I going to walk through this day to day? Am I just going to see this as
some old history, as an old temple, an old tabernacle, or am I going to see that
from the very beginning, God has been expressing this truth that he wants us to
live in his presence? Now, when do you start living in his presence?

When you get to heaven? Well, you certainly will live in his presence when you
get to heaven, but you don't start then. You start living in his presence the
moment you become saved.

That moment, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell your life, and when he indwells
your life, that means you are living in God's presence. Sometimes I recognize
that, sometimes I do not, but whether I recognize it or not, I'm living in God's
presence right now. You're living in his presence right now.

So let's pray as those who live in his presence. Our Father, you've told us that
you want us to draw near to you, and we do so right now. Thank you that we live
in your presence in ways that we see and ways above and beyond what we see.

So help us to recognize today, in the midst of the routine of life, that we're
living in your presence, in the midst of the problems of life, in the midst of
the successes that we have today, that we're living in your presence. As our
emotions go up and down, we're living in your presence, because Lord, the
routine of life, the problems of life, the successes of life, our emotions don't
change the facts of life. That you've sent your spirit to indwell us, that we
live in your presence.

Thank you that you not only want us to enter in, but you made the way for us to
enter into your presence. Help us, help me to live in your presence today. In
Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Tomorrow we're going to look at what it means to have a clear conscience.