Now have your Bible open, please, to the ninth chapter of Hebrews, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 23 to the end of the chapter now. 

Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another. He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. 

The title of the message I want to bring today is, How Shall I Prepare? 

The old covenant prophet Amos called out to the people of Judah and Israel, and he said, prepare to meet your God. This was hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. His message to that nation, which was corrupt, had a culture very much like America has right now. A people who named the name of the Lord, but worshiped a false God, and he cried out to them to escape God's judgment this way, prepare to meet your God. 

Now if you did not know the saving new covenant gospel, as they did not know, how would you prepare to meet God? His message was, seek the Lord and live. How would you prepare? How would you seek the Lord if you didn't know the message of the new covenant of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Seek the Lord and live. 

In the new covenant, the message is this, the Lord is seeking you. Jesus the Savior came to seek and to save us when we were lost. He's a searching shepherd, searching for one lost sheep that's out in the mountains and in danger. 

But if you lived in the days of Amos the prophet, when he said, prepare to meet your Lord, in your mind and heart, how would you do that? The new covenant message is for guilty sinners, and it's not prepare, it's not a message to prepare to meet the Lord, it's the message, believe. Believe Jesus, God's son. Believe that he has prepared the way for us. He is the way, he's the truth. 

And in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul said, this is the message that you need to believe, that Jesus died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose again. And if you believe that message, you are prepared, you're ready for the future. 

And the first century appeal of the book of Hebrews to new covenant believers is, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Because we have Jesus Christ as our great high priest, and he's ready to give us mercy. He's willing to be merciful to our unrighteousness. I love that statement. All the unrighteous, the things that were not right in my life, his attitude is mercy. And my sins and iniquities, he'll remember no more. That's the new covenant message, rather than the message that was preached by Amos to Old Testament Jewish people. 

The ninth chapter of this new covenant document called the book of Hebrews continues to teach us how God's savior son prepared the way for us. He prepared the way for us. And when I believe that Jesus Christ put away the sins of my lifetime, once and forever, when he died upon the cross, as John tells us in first John chapter two, he's forgiven our sins, why? For his name's sake, he's forgiven all of our sins. That's the new covenant message. 

There are four paramount maxims that I want to bring to your attention today. I've studied this for a number of weeks. And I admit, as we look at Hebrews chapter nine, it's a complicated text to understand. But I've seen four major truths that I want for us to notice today in how we can be ready to meet the Lord. 

First of all, in the first 10 verses, the way into the holiest, into the presence of God was not yet manifest during the Old Testament times. The way into God's presence to receive forgiveness, eternal life, the gift of personal salvation was not yet manifest. That's what this paragraph tells us. 

And secondly, Christ came to obtain eternal salvation for us. We'll look at that in verses 11 to 16. Jesus Christ, God's son, came to obtain eternal salvation for all of us. 

And thirdly, without the shedding of his blood, there's no remission of sins. 

And fourthly, God's son has entered the presence of God for us. He's there as our great high priest, our advocate, our mediator. 

Let's look at these four points. And I want you to follow in your Bible. First of all, I'm going to read verses 1 to 10 again and have you notice this main truth, the main point. The way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. 

For the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. The Old Testament law, that system of priesthood and worship, could not make a man adequate, ready to meet the Lord. For then they would not have ceased, would they not have ceased to be offered. For the worshipers once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there's a reminder of sins every year. For it's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 

Therefore when he came into the world, he said, Sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God. Previously saying, Sacrifice an offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them which are offered according to the law. Then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 

Now the point he's making, in the old covenant system, it was not possible for men to have the assurance that he had been made perfect and that he was saved. And there are two main points I want to bring out from these ten verses I've just read. 

First of all, from the time Adam sinned, man has been banished from the presence of God. I want to read scriptures about that from the book of Genesis. Listen to these words, Genesis 3, 22. After Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, then the Lord said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand, and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever, therefore God sent him out of the garden. Now see this picture. God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Man was driven out of the place of God's blessing when he sinned. 

And the book of Ephesians makes that so clear. I'd like you to turn to Ephesians to chapter 2 and notice this point. Ephesians chapter 2, man could not come into the presence of God before the new covenant. Look at verse 1, And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once conducted our lives in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 

Now look also at verse 11 of this second chapter of Ephesians. Therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time, this was our plight before the new covenant. At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. That's how it was for us, friends. We could not enter into the presence of God prior to the time of the new covenant. We were separated from God, and this is the bottom line truism of scripture. Natural man, man without Jesus Christ, is separated from the presence of God. 

And I would imagine many and most people here today are believers. You know what it's mean to be saved and to be in Christ. But if you aren't a believer today, if you aren't sure that you have Christ as your savior, you are without God, you're without hope, you're separated from God. You cannot enter into the presence of God without Jesus as your personal savior. 

And so what the first 10 verses of Hebrews chapter 9 are saying to us is that the old covenant system of worship relentlessly taught that man cannot come back into the presence of God by religion. And one of the verses said man could not come into the presence of God until the time of reformation. And I want to read that verse to you from the Amplified Translation. Until the time of setting things straight, the complete new order when Christ the Messiah will establish the reality of what things foreshadow, until the better covenant. 

In all of the religious system of the Jewish people, and we're at a disadvantage because we're not familiar with that as individuals, but the Jewish people to whom he was writing were familiar with this system of worship. In all of that system, God was saying you're separated from me, you're lost, you cannot come into my presence until the time of the better and the new covenant. And the practical application of that, friend, is until Jesus announced the new covenant of his saving sacrifice for you and me, until he announced that, there was no way we could enter the loving, merciful presence of God. 

That's why I love Luke 22 verse 20, where Jesus at the time of the Lord's Supper said to his men, men, this cup I'm going to give to you now speaks of a new covenant. Until that time, it was impossible by religion, even by Judaism, for the Jewish people to come back into the presence of God. That's the first major point of Hebrews chapter 9. 

Now the second point that I see in this chapter is that Christ came to obtain eternal salvation for us. And I'd like for us to begin reading at verse 11 in Hebrews chapter 9. 

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. All of the animals, they couldn't do it. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. From that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. Look at this carefully. For by one offering, he's perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 

But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after he has said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds, I will write them. Then he says, their sins and lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Christ came to be the remedy and to be the open door and the way for us to enter into God's presence to be saved. 

And the purpose of the statements in verses 11 through 16 is it will grasp the powerful promise that Jesus Christ died to save us individually. When he died on the cross, one of the last words from his lips were, it is finished. The sacrifice had been complete and perfect. It was finished for us. And God had made Jesus to be the sin offering for us. 

Now, we read three things in verses 11 to 16 that I want you to notice. First of all, in verse 12, once for all, he obtained our eternal salvation. And I'm not trying to be very technical, but I want you to notice the word obtained. Once for all, Jesus obtained. We didn't obtain that. We didn't work for that. We didn't deserve that. But when God's son came to this world and took upon the form of a man and gave his life on the cross, he obtained salvation for us. And what can we do about it? The Bible says there's just one thing we can do. We receive what he obtained for us. We receive it. And by that, we become believers. We enter into the presence of God and we're saved forever. 

And another thing we just read in verses 11 to 16, in verse 14, his blood cleansed our conscience. The finished, completed accomplishment was the blood of Jesus Christ. I'd like for you just to listen to this statement. You don't need to turn to it, but just listen carefully. It's Revelation 1 5. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth, listen carefully, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. 

That can be our assurance today as we look at this great chapter, this new covenant chapter. Jesus washed me from all of my lifetime of sin and unrighteousness in his own precious blood. And therefore, I'm cleansed. I'm as white as snow, the Bible says. 

And then the third thing we read in verses 11 to 16 that we need to highlight is this. By means of Jesus' death, we have the promise of an eternal inheritance. And notice, this is a gift. This is a promise to be received from our merciful father and his savior son. What can we say? What can you say if you've received that gift? Just thank you. That's our continual worship. Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of eternal salvation. 

So we've noticed in verses 11 through 16 that Christ came to obtain our eternal salvation. In the first 10 verses, we notice it's impossible through religion to come back to God. It’s impossible. And then the second major thing that this writer is telling us is that Jesus Christ came to obtain salvation for us. 

And then the third major truism that I see in this chapter that I want to share with you this morning is in verses 17 through 22. Without the shedding of his blood, there is no remission of sins. That's a major part of this document. 

Let's start at verse 17 and read this, of chapter 9 in Hebrews. Then he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. 

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter in the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, here's the application. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water because of the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Now in those few verses, I see two strategic insights that we need to consider right now. And to grasp these gospel facts is the Holy Spirit's promise concerning our shame and our guilt. 

First of all, this author says the death of our Savior was necessary. I know sometimes I hear pastors talking maybe on television or in a service, and they talk about Jesus being our great example in the things that he taught, in the way that he lived, and the miracles that he performed. That's OK. That's all right. But that's not the solution. Jesus had to die. He had to shed his blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. 

And then also, all things, he says, all things are purified by his blood. And that means your conscience, my conscience. When we're troubled with guilt and disappointment and shame, what can we do to make things right with God? And this is the only answer in the Bible. Believe and hold fast to the fact that God's Son shed his blood for the remission of your sins. The only worthy attitude that we can have when we come to him is, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I have no other argument. I have no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me.

So the things we've noticed now are that before the new covenant, man could not enter into the presence of God. All people on this planet who've not come to a new covenant faith cannot enter into the presence of God. 

And secondly, we've noticed that Christ came to the world to obtain salvation for me, for you. 

And thirdly, without the shedding of his blood, there is now no possibility of remission of sins. 

And then the last part I want you to notice is in verse 23 through the end of the chapter. God's Son has entered the presence of God for us. 

Right now, at this moment, on this Sunday morning, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior, the High Priest, is at the right hand of the Father for you and for me. 

Now, let's read that starting in verse 23 through the end of this chapter. 

Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often as the High Priest enters the most holy place every year with the blood of another. He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once, at the end of the ages, he's appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. And we can put our name in that place of many. To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. 

God's son has entered into the presence of God for every person on this planet. And we can know, we can have that assurance in our hearts at all times. 

I'm thinking of that chapter 1 of Acts where Jesus met with his disciples after the resurrection. He talked with them. He said, you are now going into the world to preach the gospel to people. And then he ascended through the clouds and went back to the Father. 

Why did Jesus return to heaven? And the bottom line of our authentic faith is this. Am I willing to believe two words? For us. Why did he return to heaven on that day after his resurrection? He did that for us. 

We don't have to believe we have a seminary graduation diploma to come to Christ. We just need to believe this simplicity. Jesus died to save me. He shed his blood to save me. And he's gone back to heaven for us. He's gone back there for me as my great savior. 

I'd like to highlight three words that we've just read. The word better. The writer of Hebrews 9 is saying, the sacrifice of Jesus and the ministry of Jesus as my high priest is far better than an Old Testament system of worship, where the priest often offered lambs and bullocks and doves. And the high priest entered into the holy of holies once a year. What Jesus has done is so much better because it's permanent on our behalf. 

I want you to see this scene right now. Just listen carefully. Now, when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He did it for us, folks, so that we can be cleansed and we can enter the presence of God. 

Listen to these words from John. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there. And they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. 

That is the explanation of our personal salvation, that we've entered into the presence of God. We've experienced his grace, his mercy, his salvation. 

Think of this word, now. We just read he is now. Please listen again to this new covenant promise. Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more. I'll be merciful to all of your unrighteousness. And then think of the word, now. Right now, at any time, that's true, because Christ is in heaven on our behalf. 

And think of this word, once. Once for all. It's complete. It's finished. He gave his life once and for all, that you and I can live forever in the presence of God. 

I think of what the psalmist said, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his mercy toward us. As far as the east is from the west, so far he's removed our transgressions from us. 

I want to tell you an example, which I think will help to illustrate this message. It was a hot August day. I was a pastor of a church in Madison, Wisconsin. I drove to the church on that hot Saturday afternoon. There was a car sitting by the door. And the lady sitting in the car, and I got out and introduced myself. And she said, I've come here to ask if you'd visit my husband, who is in a veterans hospital with cancer. I said, yeah, I'll visit. I'll be glad to. And I know it was a really hot, humid day. And I got in my car and drove down to the hospital. I think it was on the seventh floor of the hospital. 

And there were two men in the room. And I went over and introduced myself to her husband. And he was very cold, very indifferent. He didn't want a preacher coming to visit him. It was only in his mid-40s. He had no interest. I read the scripture with him. And it was just something he didn't want to hear. And as I was walking out, I walked by the bed of the other man, who was a black man. And he said, thank you, pastor. That scripture means so much to me. 

A few days, a couple of weeks passed. And I again thought about that man, Pete, who was so indifferent. And it was another day I went down to visit him on a Saturday afternoon. And when I came into the room, he was sitting in a chair over by the window, looking over the town of Madison. And he got up out of his bed, got up out of that chair, and made his way over to the bed and lay down. 

And again, I thought I'm going to talk to him about the gospel. And when I talked to him this time, he seemed more interested. And he broke down. He said, pastor, this is a terrible disease. I've been struggling with this cancer for six years, and the tumors are all in my body. He knew that he was going to die. I said, Pete, let me ask you this. If God's son, Jesus Christ, came in here today, and he stood by your bed, and he made this offer, Pete, I'm willing to take that cancer that's in your body and take it into my body. And I'm willing to give you my good health, my eternal life. Would you be willing to make that trade with me? 

The tears ran down his face. He shook his head, and I led him in a prayer to receive Christ as his Savior. That's what this new covenant is all about. Pete told me he'd only been in church twice in his life. He wasn't interested in church. Once for a wedding and once for a funeral, but on that day, a man who's unrighteous, guilty of a lifetime of sins, 43 years old, made that transaction. He received the new covenant gift, and when he died a few weeks later, he was absent from the body and present with the Lord in the Father's house. 

That's what the book of Hebrews is about. God is offering every person on this planet the gift of eternal life because Jesus has died to shed his blood for us. And I don't know everyone here today. I would assume that many and most, maybe most people are believers, but if you're not a believer today, you can receive as a gift what Jesus obtained when he came to the world on our behalf. 

Let's bow in prayer, please. 

Father, we thank you so much for our Savior Jesus. We thank you for the book of Hebrews, the generous promise that you're making to us by this new covenant book. Thanks so much, Father. Thank you that you're always our Abba Father. Jesus is always our Savior, our merciful and faithful High Priest, and your Holy Spirit is always the one who witnesses to us and draws us to Christ. Thank you, Father. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.