Series: Jesus is Greater

Title:  Are you in the will?

Scripture:  Hebrews 9:15-23

Subject: Inheritance

Central Theme:  Confidence About our eternal inheritance

Objective Statement:  We can have confidence about our eternal, spiritual, and heavenly inheritance because of two features of the New Testament.

Keywords: Features

Points:

Feature #1- How the will is mediated.  (V. 15-17)

Feature #2- How the will is validated. (V.18-23)

Introduction:

Connection:

Tension:

• We have been studying the priesthood of Jesus. He is better in every way.
• Last week we began to study chapter 9 which started by saying, “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.”
• Three terms to understand in that passage that help set up everything we are learning today.
• Ordinances- the term used by everything in the sacrificial system that was prescribed for the priests to do to mediate between God and man.
• Sanctuary- The name ascribed to the inner and outer parts of the tabernacle. The holy place and the holy of holies.
• First Covenant- This refers to the Mosaic covenant.  It’s also called the old covenant which is affirmed within the pages of Hebrews  in the last verse of chapter 8.

Hebrews 8:13

[13] In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

• The preacher has been making the case that the Old Covenant which was mediated by sacrifices and ordinances made by the old priesthood. But now we have a new high priest in Jesus Christ.
• Last week we focused on the fact that the old sanctuary or tabernacle is a picture of a better sanctuary where Christ sits now.
• We also saw that the old covenant was mediated by the blood of bulls and goats, but that Christ’s blood is so much better to purge our consciences and make us clean.
• Now as we come to todays text in verse 15 we come to another term for covenant. It is the word testament.
• Because Jesus’s sacrifice is so much better than the sacrifice of bulls and goats verse 15 says, “…and for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament…”.  At the end of verse 15 he speaks of an “eternal inheritance.”
• In today’s text we see the preacher and author of Hebrews begin to expand our understanding of this incredible word “testament”.
• The word “testament” is a word we use in a legal use now. Have you ever heard anyone speak of a “last will and testament”.
• So today’s text deals with a will and testament. This subject continues at some level through Hebrews 10:10 which says, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
• I have entitled today’s message, “Are you in the will?”
• The USA Today reported about a man previously named Tony Chang in a headline that reads “Billionaire’s Lover Gets 12 Years for Fake Will” - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/05/hong-kong-billionaire/2492931/

HONG KONG (AP) — The former lover and fortune teller of quirky billionaire Nina Wang was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison after a Hong Kong court found him guilty of forging a will to claim her multibillion-dollar estate.

High Court Justice Andrew Macrae said Peter Chan's attempt to pass himself off as the beneficiary of Nina Wang's fortune, estimated by prosecutors at 83 billion Hong Kong dollars ($10.7 billion), was "shameless, wicked and born of unparalleled greed."

Wang, once Asia's richest woman, died in 2007 at age 69 after battling cancer.

Hong Kong police charged Chan after a 2011 court ruling that a will purportedly leaving Wang's Chinachem Group to him was forged.

• Later in the article it says,

Chan, a 53-year-old father of three, was convicted Thursday of forgery and using a false instrument. The judge sentenced him to 12 years on each count, to be served concurrently.

• People around a billionaire may have strong desires to be in their wills.
• In those circumstances people may go to extremes.
• But we know that it is a rude thing to ask to be in a will.
• I would never think to ask to be in your will. That is something someone probably ought never ask.
• Yet, God has made an offer to all of mankind. God has offered an inheritance to every man, woman, boy and girl.  “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
• You can be in the will.
• If you are in the will, then some amazing things are offered to you.

Objective Statement. We can have confidence about our eternal, spiritual, and heavenly inheritance because of two features of the New Testament.

Feature #1- How the Will is Mediated. (v.15-17)

• Verses 15-17 tell us about how this will is mediated.

A.    The Benefits. (v. 15)

Hebrews 9:15

[15] And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

• The new testament is mediated by Jesus Christ.
• How did he do it.
• It says here that it was by means of death.
• Jesus Christ offered his own body and blood as a sacrifice for our sins (v.14).
• Because of that sacrifice He is now the mediator of a New Covenant or a New Testament.
• Covenants were often made in the Bible with a sacrifice.
• The Abrahamic Covenant was made with a sacrifice…

Genesis 15:9-18

[9] And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. [10] And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

[18] In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

• When God made a covenant with Abraham, there was the sacrifice of animals, and then the promise that was made.
• The Mosaic Covenant- the old covenant was made with a sacrifice

Exodus 24:4-8

[4] And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. [5] And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. [6] And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. [7] And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. [8] And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

• Notice the blood sacrifice made when the covenant promises were made.
• God had set a standard that covenants were made with a sacrifice.
• Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross paid for the sins of those who placed their faith in God through obedience in following the first covenant.
• That’s what it means when he says,

for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

• Those who followed God before the new testament sacrifice of Jesus sacrificed animals and followed the law as best they knew.
• God planned for their redemption, and that plan was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for their sins.
• What was the result for them? That “they might receive the promise of eternal inheritance”.  What does this mean?  Salvation in the fullest sense.
• Notice the use of the word “inheritance”.
• As we have already stated, this is speaking of the testament like a will…a last will and testament.
• What is a testament? It’s the statement by a person as to what should happen with their possessions after they die.
• Our inheritance is already ours in on sense, and in another not yet ours.
• If you have placed your faith in Christ, you were saved. If you have placed your faith in Christ, you are saved.  If you have placed your faith in Christ, you will be saved.
• There is an inheritance. This isn’t the only place we have heard this.

Ephesians 1:10-14

[10] That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: [11] In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: [12] That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. [13] In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, [14] Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

• Paul tells me in Ephesians that the Holy Spirit is the earnest, or the down payment of our inheritance.
• That inheritance will be fully realized and fully experienced one day. That is called Glorification.
• Glorification- going to be with God, in a new body, on a new heaven and a new earth, forever free from sin, and rewarded for the things done in the body we have now is all a part of our inheritance.
• These verses are speaking of those Old Testament saints who needed their sins forgiven, who made sacrifices of bulls and goats, who are given forgiveness fully and finally because of Jesus christ.
• They have a salvation inheritance that was bought for them “by means of death”- the death of Jesus Christ.
• So what are the benefits of the will?
  • Redemption of the transgressions
  • Inheritance

B.    The Benefactor.

Hebrews 9:16-17

[16] For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

• Now in a will and testament, there is always a benefactor.
• What is a will and testament?
• It is a written down expression of the desires and promises of the deceased person for what happens with all of the resources that they stewarded when they were alive.
• This verse is simply saying that with a testament- the will- the full benefits of the inheritance are not activated until the one who is making the will and testament dies.
• The death is what sets in motion the execution of that will and testament.

[17] For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

• The will and testaments are just indications of what the person wants to happen after they decease.
• It is of no force, or is not implemented, until after the death of the benefactor.
• This is why in the story of the prodigal son it is so offensive for the prodigal to ask for the inheritance of his father. He was in essence saying to his father, “I don’t want to wait for you to die.  I wish you were dead.”
• The new testament bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus has put into force his will and our inheritance.
• The death of Jesus Christ has put this into play for those to whom it applies.
• It is sufficient for the whole world, and efficient to those who put their trust in Him.

Application

• The Death of Jesus Christ is God’s gift to me, and the event that initiated those benefits of His promises to those who believed under the Old Covenant.
• The benefits of this new testament are not just off on in the someday in the sweet by and by.
• The benefits of this inheritance are in the nasty now and now!
• Because of our salvation through the death of Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit.
• Because of God’s will and election to give everyone who believes in Him the Holy Spirit, we have the help we need to grow into everything he wants us to be.
• He can help us fight temptation.
• He can help us remember God’s Word.
• He can help us understand and apply God’s Word.
• The Holy Spirit which is just the down payment of this inheritance, can direct our steps if we let him.
• You can be in the will…
• Are you in the will?
• The benefits are incredible…
• Our benefactor is Jesus Christ through His substitutionary and atoning death.

Objective Statement. We can have confidence about our eternal, spiritual, and heavenly inheritance because of two features of the New Testament.

Feature #2- How the will is validated. (V.18-23)

• We’ve already been told in this text that the will is of force, or is implemented because of the death of the testator, or the benefactor, who is Jesus Christ.
• This new testament was made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ which is so much better than the blood of bulls and goats.
• But the preacher continues to talk about how the will is validated by the blood of Jesus by making the point that this new testament reality was pictured in the old testament.

A.    Pictured. (v.18-21)

Hebrews 9:18

[18] Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.

• This is expressed in the verses we read before about when God made the covenant with the children of Israel.
• It was dedicated or validated with blood.
• He goes on to say,

Hebrews 9:19-21

[19] For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, [20] Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. [21] Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.

• The first covenant was a promise.
• So is the second.
• The preacher here is telling us that the will or the testament that describes the inheritance is not in force until there is a death. This was pictured in the Old Testament which was dedicated with blood.
• Death is of necessity.
• He then goes back to when Moses received the law and gave it to the people.
• God made a promise. The people made a promise.  They promised to obey the law, and yet they did not.
• God made a provision for them knowing that they could not keep the law. That provision was pictured in the blood.
• The totality of things involved in the first covenant was sprinkled with blood.
  • The book…
  • The people…
  • The tabernacle…
  • The vessels of the ministry…
  • And even the priests in Leviticus 8:30, and Exodus 29:21.

Leviticus 8:30

[30] And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons' garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

Exodus 29:21

[21] And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

• This is the difference. Those priests needed to be sprinkled with blood.  Our priest is also the blood sacrifice that cleanses us.
• What a beautiful picture of the price that was paid for our sin.
• It shows the cost of my sin. IT should make me want to abandon my sin and run to Christ who provided so that I can be in the will.
• That price was paid by the blood of Christ, pictured in the old covenant.
• We see it provided by the new covenant…the new testament…the new will…

B.    Provided. (v.22-23)

Hebrews 9:22-23

[22] And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. [23] It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

• If the cost of entering into the picture of the place was the blood of animals, then certainly the cost of entering the real heavenly place took better sacrifices than those animals.
• And this is exactly the case, and the cost.
• Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself.
• He didn’t need sprinkling. His blood is what brings full and final remission of sins.
• He is now there, in that real, heavenly tabernacle, mediating our will and testament, our inheritance, which is of force because of the sacrificial death of our benefactor- our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9:24

[24] For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Conclusion:

Application:

Inspiration: