Auto-generated - may contain small errors. Always verify with the audio version.
You can open your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 9. We continue onward in our march through this great book of Hebrews.! I was gone last week.
Kishan filled in in my place, did a good job. I listened to him. And I was at Shepherds Conference last week in California at John MacArthur's church, if you know that name.
This was a pastor's conference. It was really good, learned a lot. But there were some funny moments. There was one guy preaching by the name of H.B. Charles. And he was preaching on prayer.
And there was this one guy behind me. Every time he said something good, he was like, my goodness, my goodness, over and over again. And there was this one guy, also during the same sermon, any time H.B. Charles would say something, well, one time H.B. Charles said something good, and in the middle of the auditorium he goes, hear, hear!
It's from Nebraska, I think. But it was a good week. I'm glad to be back here with you guys for this week before we leave for the Passion Trip. So in Hebrews 9, we're past the halfway point of this letter.
And this is quite a lengthy chapter, but we'll try to get through it all in two sections tonight. Before we do that, though, I want you to think about something with me.
A major holiday in the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. The Day of Atonement. Israel's calendar was really centered around this event, the day and the year in which atonement was made for the people.
The biggest, most important holiday in Israel. It's outlined in Leviticus 16, if you want to read about it later. And though it's a holiday, it's not a lighthearted affair.
So for us, Fourth of July is a holiday. If that's your favorite holiday, raise your hands. Okay, yeah, you're just shooting off fireworks and other redneck stuff. It's all celebration. We're thankful.
The Day of Atonement wasn't like that. If we had anything in our calendar that reflected this in terms of holidays, it would probably be closer to Memorial Day.
A day we have vacation, a day we have out of school, and we're thankful for it. But it's a day of kind of somber reflection. As we remember, the price paid for our freedoms.
On this day, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest was allowed to go into the presence of God. But he could not do it boldly.
He could not do it confidently, standing in his own strength or in his own righteousness. He could not do it however he wanted. He had to do it exactly as God commanded.
And on this day, the high priest would make atonement for Israel's sins from the previous year. If he did anything wrong, if he failed to be obedient to God's Word, he would die.
And Israel's sin would not be atoned for. This would either be one of the greatest days of the high priest's life, or it would be the day that he died.
He would enter the most holy place, the place where God's presence dwelt, carrying a bowl of blood to pour onto the mercy seat where God's presence dwelt, making atonement for the sins of his people.
And the people would wait eagerly to see if he would reappear from outside of the temple, to see if he would come back out. If he returned alive, God had accepted the sacrifice.
If he did not come back, he had sinned against the Lord, and their sin was not atoned for. And so they would wait with eager anticipation, hoping and praying that God would be merciful and receive this sacrifice, and they would continue on as a nation for another year through this payment for their sins.
This is the most important holiday that Israel celebrated, and it was central to their existence in the Old Testament. And it's this holiday, it's the Day of Atonement, that forms the background for Hebrews chapter 9.
And so we'll be thinking about these things quite a bit as we work through this chapter of 28 verses. We'll cover it in two portions. First, we'll see the earthly tent, and secondly, we'll see eternal redemption.
The earthly tent, and then eternal redemption. So we'll start with the early tent in verses 1 through 10. I'll read the first five verses for us, and we'll begin to work through them.
Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence.
It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place. Having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant.
Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Okay, so we start in verse 1.
It says, Now even the first covenant, that's the covenant made with Moses, had regulations for worship. And so the Jews could not just worship God in any way they pleased.
They couldn't make up their own religion. They couldn't make up their own way to worship God. He had revealed himself to them and they needed to abide by those commandments. And the same is true for us today.
But we can't just worship God in any way we choose. We need to worship him according to his word, according to what he has commanded of us. And it says that not only were there regulations for worship, but there was an earthly place of holiness.
This was the tabernacle, the tent that was so mobile, and it became the temple one day. It was an earthly place of holiness. And in the Old Testament, worship revolved around a place.
Worship revolved around a location. And for us in the New Covenant, it's not a place, but worship revolves around a person, Jesus Christ. And so you see in the New Testament, a shift away from one particular location where God must be worshiped to worship being in spirit and in truth wherever believers are gathered.
And so if our church, God forbid, were to burn down or to get hit by a tornado, on Sunday we wouldn't be like, man, how are we going to be able to worship God today? That wouldn't cross our minds.
But in the Old Covenant, if the temple was destroyed, worship was done. They could not worship God in the way that he had commanded them under that covenant. And in verse 2, for a tent was prepared, the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence.
It is called the holy place. So as you approach the tabernacle or the temple, there are varying levels of access that are granted to certain Israelites.
And so outside of the temple, anyone was allowed there. Outside the tabernacle, anyone was allowed to walk there, but only the priests were allowed to go into this first section into the holy place.
Only the priests could serve there. And there was another section beyond that, further in, called the most holy place. And there, only the high priest could go just once a year.
And so it's kind of like when you think about your house, anyone's allowed to go in the street, not everyone's just allowed to go in your garage, right? At least I hope that's the case at your house. And then not everyone's allowed to go into the living room.
And so there's, people can't just walk through your house. And so that's how it was with the tabernacle. There were varying levels of access depending on who the person was who was trying to get in.
Verse three, behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place. And literally the text says it was the holy of holies.
This was where God's presence dwelt in Israel, was in this room on top of the Ark of the Covenant. And the high priest could only enter once a year into the presence of God.
And we get a description of what is in the most holy place starting in verse four. It has the golden altar of incense, has the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold. The Ark of the Covenant was basically a golden box where God dwelt on top of it, where atonement was made, where he revealed himself to the high priest.
And inside the Ark of the Covenant was a golden urn holding the manna. Also had Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant.
The manna was a reminder of how God had provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. Throughout 40 years, they were wandering through the wilderness without a place to call home, and God provided bread for them from heaven every single day.
It was a reminder of his provision, him keeping them alive. Aaron's staff that budded reminds them that Aaron is his chosen priest. Aaron and his sons are to serve before him.
It was an interesting story, but all these guys were like, hey, Aaron's not so great. Like, we should be the priests. We should be the leaders. And God said, okay, take all your staffs, put them in the temple, in the tabernacle.
And Aaron's staff budded and just grew stuff out of it, which sounds disgusting. But that was God's way of showing Aaron was his chosen priest. And then also had the tablets of the covenant where God's ten commandments were written that he gave to Moses.
Now, we know this was probably the second set of tablets because the first ones, Moses like just yeeted on the ground after Israel sinned and committed idolatry.
He broke them. So this was the second set of tablets of the covenant that were placed in there to remind them what the covenant was, how they were to obey him, how they were to be faithful to him.
Verse five, and above it, were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. And so what you have here is two angels that are made of gold sitting on top of this box, covering it with their wings and the tips of their wings touching each other.
They were guarding the presence of God just like they were outside of Eden after Adam and Eve sinned. For Eugenesis 3, God put these types of angels there to guard the way back into his presence, back to the tree of life, and they're continuing here to guard his presence.
And then in verse five, of these things, we cannot now speak in detail. Much could be said about all of this furniture, but that's not the author's point here.
For all intents and purposes, men had no access to God. Men could not just walk into God's presence. Men could not just enter into the presence of God and speak with him.
God was off limits. His presence was in that sense. And in verse six, these preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties.
But into the second, only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
So the priests all served in this first section every single day. This is where they did their work, but no one dared go one step further. They did not dare go into the presence of God.
Only the high priest could go there in just once a year, and he would always go bringing blood to pay for his people's sins. And if you notice here, the end of verse seven, it says he offers this blood for himself, and for the unintentional sins of his people.
The sins committed in ignorance. And so what are these things? These are the sins they'd committed that they weren't aware of. They didn't know they had committed. And so throughout the year, sacrifice was taking place every day.
You sinned, you brought an animal to the priest. You sinned against the Lord, you rebelled against him, it would cost you, it would lead to the death of something you owned.
And every day, they would repeat this. But what about the sins they didn't confess? What about the sins they didn't know they had committed?
And as we think about it for ourselves, is it possible to confess all of our sins? Think about the sins you've committed that you don't even know are sins.
I'm not talking about anything obvious, but there are times in our life we look back and say, I used to be so foolish or so prideful, I couldn't see it. And so in this old covenant with Israel having to offer sacrifices for their sins, what did they do for those sins that they weren't aware of?
You see, we as people are so sinful that we don't even know the full extent of our sin. We don't even realize how sinful we actually are. And this is where the Day of Atonement is so crucial for Israel's life.
This is like a reset button for their entire nation. They would just turn their nation off and turn it back on again. They would try to fix it and atone for all of the sins they had committed unknowingly or in their ignorance as the text says.
And the sacrifices offered on this day paid for all these sins that were previously unpaid for. It was all inclusive. Verse 8, By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing which is symbolic for the present age.
According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper but deal only with food and drink and various washings regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
Through all of these symbols the Holy Spirit was testifying to them that these things could not take away sin. Every year they had to repeat this day of atonement which signified one thing.
This isn't taking away our sins permanently. This isn't getting rid of our sin. We have to repeat this every single year when it comes up in the calendar and the author of Hebrews is saying that was the Holy Spirit telling them that these things would one day pass away.
In order to fully take away sin there needs to be a greater sacrifice. There has to be a greater payment for sin. And as long as these things were standing, as long as there was these sections of the tabernacle, there was a barrier between the people and God.
As long as these curtains remained, as long as there was the Holy of Holies that was separated from even the priests themselves, men were not welcome in the presence of God.
They could not approach Him confidently or boldly. Without a better sacrifice, there was no access to God.
And so the author of Hebrews is saying while this curtain remained, there was no access to God. But do you know what happened when Jesus died? It's something incredible, something brilliant, something breathtaking, it's maybe something we can just read over very quickly without taking it in.
When Jesus died, He said, it is finished. And the Gospel of Matthew records that this curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. And in light of everything that took place that day, that may seem like an insignificant detail, but this is God's testimony to tell us that the way to God is opened through the death of Jesus.
Access to God is granted through the death of Jesus. Him paying for sin through His own blood being shed on the cross. and now through Jesus, we have direct access to God.
Jesus Himself says in John 14, 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. He is the door we must walk through to get to God, but His presence is open to sinners through the death of Jesus.
The sacrifices offered in the Old Testament could not actually take away sin. In verse 9, it says they could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper.
These sacrifices were necessary for turning away God's wrath temporarily. But in order to fully be forgiven, to fully be washed, they needed something to be done to them on the inside.
They needed a greater sacrifice that wouldn't just cleanse them temporarily on the outside. They needed to be changed from the inside and forever. And we see in verse 10, these sacrifices only dealt with things outside of the person.
They dealt with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body. But what we as sinners need is something that will change our hearts.
What we need is something that will perfect us and cleanse us on the inside. And so we see in verses 9 and 10 that even the most holy sacrifice on the most important day of the year in Israel's calendar could not save them permanently.
Even this sacrifice made by the high priest himself in the very presence of God could not permanently change them.
And so they had to do this year after year after year. But there would be a day when this would end. At the end of verse 10 it says, until the time of Reformation.
And Reformation is a strange word. This isn't talking about the Protestant Reformation that happened in the 1500s. This word literally means to straighten out or to set straight. So any of you that have braces your teeth are being reformed baby.
Just wait. They're being straightened. And so this that's what this word means is to straighten out. And so these sacrifices were set in place. They would only deal with a temporary cleansing of the body as ceremonial cleansing until things were set straight permanently between God and man.
Until a greater sacrifice would come. A sacrifice that could actually atone for sin. So in verses 1-10 we've seen the earthly tent and now for the rest of the chapter we'll see eternal redemption.
Eternal redemption. And so compared to just the temporary nature of these Old Testament sacrifices the author now turns us to Jesus.
In verse 11 he says but and that's a big but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation he entered once for all into the holy places.
Not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood thus securing an eternal redemption. Jesus' priesthood is totally different from the former priest.
His sacrifice is once for all. It's not repeated and it actually takes away sin. It actually accomplishes permanent atonement.
And it says that Christ is the high priest of the good things that have come. What are these good things? Well if you look into verse 12 it's an eternal redemption.
Verse 15 it's an eternal inheritance. Verse 14 it's a clean conscience from dead works to serve the living God. All of the promises that Christ brings are these good things that he is the high priest of.
And it says that he entered the greater and more perfect tent. Not one made by hands not one here on earth but he entered into heaven. He entered into the very presence of God after paying for the sins of his people.
He enters a better tent because his sacrifice involves better blood and it brings about better results. He did not sacrifice something to atone for sins he sacrificed himself.
He did not bring in the blood of an animal to the presence of God he shed his own blood for sinners. Our salvation cost Jesus his life.
And in order to fully appreciate Jesus in order to properly worship him we have to be aware of what it cost him.
We take our sin far too lightly. We don't take our sin near seriously enough. If you're a believer it was your sins that cost Jesus his life.
He redeemed you at the expense of the shedding of his own blood. And so if we kind of wink at sin and don't think it's a huge deal or it's just a little lie here we're just gossiping about one person there we're participating in the things that Jesus died for.
We as believers should want to please and honor Christ and we need to remember the sacrifice he made for our sins. And this sacrifice verse 12 was once for all.
The key phrase in Hebrews and it secured for us an eternal redemption in verse 12 through one sacrifice Jesus forever locked down our salvation.
The sacrificer was the sacrifice itself. So friends have you entered this redemption? have you repented of your sins and believed in Jesus?
Have you turned your back on sin and are seeking to follow Christ by faith? And if you've repented and believed in Christ how can you be sure that you're saved?
This is a question I get more than any other is how can I know if I'm truly saved? How can I know if I'm not deceived? And if you're a believer one way you can know that your salvation is secure is because Jesus is in heaven.
Jesus has taken your sins on himself. If you're a believer that is true. Jesus took your sins away from you and they fell on him. And so if anyone is going to be kept out of heaven for the sins of a believer it would have to be Jesus because in verse 13 it says for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to
God purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God and so what the author of Hebrews is saying here God and taking away sin temporarily and what they pointed to then how much better is the reality if the symbols were effective and served their purpose then how much greater is the reality that they pointed to how much greater is the power of Jesus blood to actually save us and in the old covenant someone had to perform these sacrifices just to make them ceremonially!
clean on the outside but now Christ has sacrificed himself and that sacrifice cleanses people on the inside and Jesus does not just cleanse us he recreates us 2 Corinthians 5 17 says if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come in verse 14 what we have here is a trinitarian verse it's the blood of Christ who through the spirit offered himself to God and this trinitarian work this work of salvation produces eternal redemption like we saw in verse 12 and it produces an eternal inheritance in verse 15 so verse 15 says therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance!
is the mediator of a new covenant and those who are called those whom he chooses for salvation receive this promise and in the new testament when you see that word called it's a reference to salvation a reference to God drawing you to himself to Christ bringing you to the father and those who are called everyone that God calls on does receive this promised eternal!
inheritance which is the forgiveness of sins and being called sons and daughters of God and Jesus through his death and resurrection forever secures this inheritance!
So when we think about salvation a question that often comes to mind is did Jesus have to die? Did Jesus have to die?
The Jews were expecting a Messiah to come but they were not expecting their Messiah to die? And even today atheists will say you know if God is so powerful and so good why can't he just snap his fingers and forgive sin?
Why did he have to crush his son? Why did Jesus have to die? Did Jesus have to die to bring us this inheritance? One author notes three reasons why Jesus had to die from this text?
Number one a will demands death we'll walk through these more slowly but a will demands death forgiveness demands blood and judgment demands a substitute for these three reasons in this text Jesus had to die and so we'll walk through them one at a time firstly a will demands death in verse 16 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 in force as long as the one who made it is alive so when Lacey and I were somewhat newly married we went to an attorney's office and made a will and so what a will is it's us saying that if both of us die what's going to happen to all of our junk so what's going to happen to our house what's going to happen to our money who's going to take care of things if you've got kids your kids are in your will who's going to take care of your kids the sitting there you know we already talked about it but who gets our kids in the event that we both die who gets our stuff you know when would our kids get this money when they're 18 or 21 or 25 and at that point it's like okay here's five dollars and you'll get another ten when you're 21 now we've got lots of money okay lots of it but a will is really just a promise it's really just a contract of what will take place and it's only going to go into effect in the event that we both die and so the author of
Hebrews is saying that where a will or the word he uses as covenant is involved the death of the one who made it must be established and this is how the covenants work as well in order for a covenant to take effect blood must be shed and that's where he goes next and secondly we see that forgiveness demands blood forgiveness demands blood verse 18 therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood so this first covenant referring back to the covenant made with Moses verse 19 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 sprinkled both the book itself 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 and the vessels used in worship indeed under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood this is in accordance with
God's righteousness and his justice and these old covenant rules and regulations were teaching the people that sin leads to death the wages of sin is death if you sin against God you deserve to die and you will die unless something dies in your place and if you've been paying!
attention the old covenant was bloody and messy blood is mentioned 12 times in chapter 9 there was blood everywhere in the old testament and they were reminded day after day that sin leads to death and if you're going to avoid death for your sin something has to die instead of you in verse 20 it's quoting Moses when he said this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you the making of a covenant the making of a promise depended on the shedding of blood and this is true in the new testament as well if you remember the last night of Jesus life he's with his disciples they're gathered there to observe really the first lord's supper!
which was the Passover meal as he passed out the wine to them he said this is my blood of the covenant shed for you the new covenant started when Christ shed his blood substituting his life for his people without the shedding of blood verse 22 there is no forgiveness of sin why why did God set it up like this why are these rules in place well in the Old Testament it says the life of a thing is in its blood so the life of an animal is in its blood our life is in our blood and so it's a life for a life shedding of blood meant the shedding of life and so we are not forgiven because we do things we are not forgiven because we are righteous!
we are not forgiven because we read our Bibles we are not forgiven because we go to church we are forgiven because Christ has shed his blood in our place and that leads to obedience but we are ultimately forgiven because Christ shed his blood forgiveness is a costly thing verse 25 well skipping down to verse 23 says 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 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 would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world but as it is he appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself
Christ did not need to be sacrificed over and over again Christ does not need to repeat! sacrifice his sacrifice was once the Hebrews is saying that if Jesus needed to constantly repeat this sacrifice if he needed to repeatedly offer himself then he would have needed to start a long time ago he would have needed to start from the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned so that he could keep up with the demands that sin required but as it is Christ has come at the end of the!
just dying wants to pay for the sins of his people and just to get off on a little bit of a rabbit trail this is one major disagreement we have with Roman Catholics if you've been to a Catholic church you come from a Catholic background they celebrate what's called the mass and in the mass it's kind of like the Lord's supper but heretical they believe that as the priest is presiding over the Lord's supper Christ is being re-crucified they believe that Christ again is shedding his blood as they observe the mass but what does the Bible say he was sacrificed once for all and that one time death was sufficient for any sinner who would come to him and so you know some of you wear crosses as jewelry on your necklace or cute little earrings and the cross is empty when we wear it the cross is empty because it's a sign of victory
Jesus is not still dead but he is risen if you've ever been in a catholic church or seen what catholics wear Jesus is always on the cross because he's constantly being re-sacrificced and here is one of the places we see that that is not biblical Christ died once for all never to be repeated again because his blood was sufficient to pay for the sins of his people then number three we see that judgment demands a substitute judgment a substitute verse 27 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 just as it is it appointed for man to die once why is it appointed by
God for us to die why if the Lord doesn't return will all of us in this room one day die because of Adam and Eve sin and because of our own sin because of our sin God has appointed us to face death we will die and we will face God there will be no reincarnation there will be no other lives lived on this earth there will be no nothingness as the atheists would want us to think that we just die and there's nothing when we as humans die we encounter the God who made us and so death is not just a natural process death isn't something that just naturally happens don't listen to your science teachers death is a judgment from God death is a message from God about our sin death is a message a declaration from God that we are accountable to him as creatures and while it is a judgment while it is a message from
God it is not the final word the good news of the gospel is 2 Corinthians 5 21 that God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God Jesus died this death that our judgment demanded Jesus also was appointed to die one time not because of his own sins but because of the sins of his people and now that he has died and risen he will return again to save his people fully he says he will he's been offered once to bear the sins of many and he'll appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him he's coming back to this earth not to make another payment for sin not to bring forgiveness of sin but he's coming to deliver his people he's coming to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him this won't be a good day for those who are outside of
Christ they'll be destroyed by his judgment but for those of us who are in Christ who are waiting for his return he will bring sweet salvation and so just like the Israelites would wait eagerly for the high priest to come back out of the most holy place just as they would be waiting to see his face again as he reemerges from the presence of God we must be waiting for Christ we are waiting to see our high priest returning again and so does waiting describe you are you waiting!
eagerly! for Christ to return do you think about his return do you think about life after death being with Christ as believers we don't need to fear death because it will escort us to our savior it will escort us to the one who has died in our place and the author of Hebrews is wanting his readers to stay faithful to the end he is wanting them to continue believing to the very end even if it leads to their death Jesus is the greater sacrifice and he has conquered death and so there is nothing to fear and if you remember on the day that Jesus was crucified he stood trial before Pilate and Pilate wasn't ready to worship Jesus but he knew enough about Jesus to know that Jesus was innocent innocent the Jews were wanting Jesus to be put to death on the cross and
Pilate knew that this man was innocent and so Pilate was trying to navigate this situation he was trying to get out of having to kill Jesus who he perceived was innocent and he said remember this is a holiday we have a tradition where I release a prisoner to you instead of putting them to death let me give Jesus back to you and the Jews cried out and said no don't give us Jesus do not set him free give us Barabbas and so Barabbas who was an actual criminal someone who had actually committed crimes was set free and walked out of jail and the man who hung on the middle cross that day Jesus was spotless and innocent while this criminal went free and that's a physical picture of what Jesus was accomplishing spiritually for his people he was dying on the cross for sins that he did not commit so that sinners like us could go free through faith in him and through trust in the sacrifice that he made have you experienced this freedom from sin's curse and the way you know that is are you walking in faithfulness with
Christ today are you obeying him will you endure to the end in that faith father we thank you for your word and we praise you for the revelation you've given to us in Hebrews 9 I pray that we would cling to Jesus as the greater sacrifice as the one who has laid down his life for our sins and that we would walk in obedience and holiness to your son I pray as we go to small groups now they be!
edifying! beneficial!