by Dr. Othello O. Caturan
THINGS TO KNOW IN OUR SERVICE TO THE LIVING GOD
by Dr. Othello O. Caturan______________
Text: Hebrews 9: 14-“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
a. Why do we serve God? It is very important question to confront with especially in these last days as we await for the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can not take things lightly and unimportantly when considering things in big picture of Eternity. As a New Testament Christian I have three honest reasons why I serve the true and living God of the Holy Scriptures.
First, my knowledge of salvation the Bible way is based on the absolutes of truth in the Holy Writ- this knowledge of Jesus Christ according to the apostle Paul in Philippians 3: 7-11–“But what things were gain to me, I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”This knowledge of Christ is the belief of the truth that sanctifies my life as a believer in Christ by the indwelling Christ in me. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 This knowledge of Christ is the light of the gospel of God that shines in my heart bringing salvation unto my soul. 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6 Thus, like the apostle Paul I can say: “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2
Second, the Lord loved me as manifested on Calvary’s tree when He died for all my transgressions and iniquities. Romans 5:8 Hence, His love for me compels me to love the Lord in return. 2 Corinthians 5:14–“ For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then we are all dead:”
Third, the prospect of His soon coming and the reality of the fact that I am going to face Him in the judgment seat of Christ for the evaluation and weighing of the balances whether my works done in the name of Christ will survive the test of acceptance or rejection in the light of the Lord’s righteous judgment. Romans 14:12; Matthew 12:36; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15
b. The apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews is pointing out the necessity of God establishing a new covenant- replacing the old covenant for a more excellent ministry.The problem with the old covenant of the fathers is that the people continued not in the covenant and the people did not give due regard to it. Hebrews 8:6-9 This was the fault mentioned by the apostle Paul in Hebrews 8: 8. In the previous chapter of Hebrews 7:18- he wrote; “for there is a verily a disannulling of the commandment going before the weakness and unprofitableness thereof” because: first, the law made nothing perfect Hebrews 7:19 ; second, there’s no oath done by God for the priests noted as well in Hebrews 7:21; third, the priests can not continue to become priests for us because of their going to die and therefore can not continue in the ministry. Hebrews 7:23
c. With finality concerning the old covenant Paul wrote: “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.” Hebrews 8:13 After all the weakness and unprofitable of the old covenant are manifest: the law stipulates that the sacrifices of animals can not render perfect the priest and the comers or people. Hebrews 9: 9; 10:10 The old covenant has to be discarded and be done away for good for the new covenant of God to usher in and be in the big picture of God’s plan.Listen to the apostle unmistakable declaration on the new covenant: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold , the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 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.” Hebrews 8: 7-13
d. To serve the living God according to Paul there is a need to understand the new covenant whereby God’s people will serve Him, and this a more excellent ministry. Hebrews 8:6 The Lord Jesus Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry; He is the mediator of a better covenant established upon better promises. Hebrews 8:6; 9:23 The Lord Jesus Christ becomes the only mediator of the new covenant between man and God as declared by the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 2:5-7–“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a teacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.”
DISCUSSION
THINGS TO KNOW IN THE SERVICE OF THE LORD:
1. The new covenant is under the “surety of a better testament” through Jesus Christ as the unchangeable priest consecrated forevermore. Hebrews 7: 22-24“By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.”a. The apostle Paul declared to the Hebrew believers that Jesus Christ was made a surety of a better testament because mainly God made an oath to the Lord as a priest forever. God’s oath made Christ as a consecrated priest forever: “For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec….For the law maketh men high priests which have an infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.” Hebrews 6: 18-20; 7: 17, 21, 28
b. The “surety of a better testament” speaks of an assurance or certainty that can not be lost or diminished because it is God who made an oath to establish His promise. And God can not lie, which is an impossibility, being against His character. Hebrews 6:18 God has the power to fulfill His promise coupled with God’s character, being faithful, to do or fulfill it. Paul declared this truth when he wrote: “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could sware by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will patiently multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God , willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:13-20
c. The two immutable things that can not be changed-altered, abrogated , abolished are : first, God can not lie with His oath; second, Christ Jesus our eternal refuge for dangers spiritually speaking- like cities of refuge in the Old Testament, has entered into the heaven, which is pictured as behind the veil in the temple of God on earth. As our God who can not lie and as our high Priest passed into the heavens, we have a strong consolation or hope; Jesus Christ is both our anchor of our soul- sure and steadfast. Praise the Lord our salvation through our God and High priest is guaranteed- a surety of a better testament noted by the apostle Paul again in Hebrews 7:22 -“ By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” Why? First, His unchangeable priesthood being consecrated forever more; Second, He is interceding for the true believers in heaven at the present moment; Third, the holy, undefiled, harmless, separate and heavenly High Priest; Fourth, He can save us to the uttermost to those who come to God by Him. PRAISE THE LORD! I am certain and sure of my salvation in Christ. SAVED, SAVED, SAVED TO THE UTTERMOST BY GOD THROUGH HIM- THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
2. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ for our redemption is done in the heavenly tabernacle pitched by the Lord not by men. Hebrews 8:1-2; 9:24
“Now of the things which we have spoken this the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the LORD pitched, and not man.” Hebrews 8: 1-2
“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.” Hebrews 9: 24
a. Our great High Priest is passed into the heavens. Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 9: 24 The basis of this is the resurrection of the Lord as noted in Hebrews 13: 20-21 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory fir ever and ever. Amen.”
The surpassing ministry of the Lord over earthly priests is beyond telling because of His ministry in heaven and not on earth. The earthly tabernacle, the temple, is not where Christ did His work for us as our High Priest but in the heavenly tabernacle not made with hands according to Paul in the book of Hebrews. “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 four us.” Hebrews 9:24
b. Our redemption is already done in His sacrifice for our sins by His death on the cross. Hebrews 9:26- “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Paul described this redemption as our eternal inheritance because the Lord had already “obtained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 9:12 Those in Christ have already the blessed hope of His appearing unto salvation the second time in His return. Hebrews 9:28c. Our need at present is to look unto Him for our salvation when He will come the second time. Hebrews 9:28-“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The focus of our looking is the person of the coming King the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what, even the midst of afflictions and tribulations.
3. The blood of Christ is the basis of an eternal redemption for God’s people. Hebrews 9: 11-12–“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”a. The true believer who trusts in the blood of Jesus has obtained eternal redemption from God through faith, for this pleases God. Hebrews 11: 6– “But without faith is impossible to please him: for he that believeth to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Paul made this teaching clear by stating again in Hebrews 10: 19-24– “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having a high priest over the house of God; 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. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.”b. Trusting in the blood of Jesus which was shed on Calvary guarantees the salvation of our soul so long as one’s trust will continue; to draw back, which means actually wavering and quitting leads to perdition of the soul. Hebrews 10:38-39 says, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Living by faith in the precious blood of Jesus is the only saving way nothing more and nothing less in God’s salvation plan.c. One’s faith is anchored on the blood of the everlasting covenant; God will enable us to have peace with God and to be established, preserved and protected by the Lord along the way and until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul declared at the end of the book of Hebrews this encouraging words: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13: 20-21
4. The Spirit of God offered the blood of Christ to the Father to purge our conscience from dead works. Hebrews 9: 14“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?a. Human wisdom boasts of good works as the basis of man’s salvation before God. Man’s conscience is toying with the idea that he can please God by his good works of self-righteousness for salvation. However, in God’s sight all our righteousness including our good works are as filthy rags absolutely unacceptable as payment to be qualified and deserving of God’s offer of salvation. Isaiah 64: 6-“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Man’s conscience is proud and boasting of his strivings to do good works for salvation; God consider this striving as futile because these good works are considered dead and useless in God’s evaluation.b. The only good work appreciated by God for our salvation is the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary as payment for our sins and iniquities. The work of Christ is done deal that is once offered and designated for all sinners but only effective among those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and His divine work on Calvary. This is the only guaranteed work that gives real salvation for sinners; truly, no one can do this, except the Lord Jesus Christ.c. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of grace in Hebrews 10:29-”Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hat trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an holy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace.” Evidently, this grace is no other than the grace of Christ the pure gospel of God as taught by the apostle Paul. Hebrews 12:28; 13: 9; Galatians 1:6-7; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:4-7
5. The end result of the ministry of Christ is the promise eternal inheritance received by faith. Hebrews 9:15–“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.”a. The Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator of God’s new testament among the true believers being promised eternal inheritance ; thus man’s response to the promise is no other than faith. Man has to stand by faith in the unfailing promises of God which abideth forever and be fulfilled in due time because He is the Almighty God, the Creator of man and the whole universe. Hebrews 8:6-13–“[6] But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.[7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.[8] For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:[9] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.[10] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:[11] And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.[12] For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.[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.”
b. The promise of eternal inheritance is guaranteed by the death of [the testator to deal with the sin problem of man being paid full by the precious blood of the Lamb of God. All of the true believers transgressions, sins, and iniquities are all cleansed by the blood shed on Calvary’s cross. Their sins are things of the past and unremembered no more by God as promised in Hebrews 10: 16-19–“[16] This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;[17] And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.[18] Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.[19] Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,[20] By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;[21] And having an high priest over the house of God;[22] 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.[23] Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)”c. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely trusting in His precious promises; this is absolutely required in the Biblical sense literally as gleaned from the teachings of the Lord. In John 14: 1-4, the Lord Jesus Christ promises His disciples this: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, ye may be also . And whether I go ye know, and the way ye know.” To Martha the Lord promised: “I am the resurrection , and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whatsoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” John 11:25-26 The end result of the power of believing in Jesus is noted in John 7:37-38–“…If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said , out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”Thus, in the book of Hebrews apostle Paul emphasized and singled out the importance of believing / faith/trust to receive the promise of of the eternal inheritance. Romans 9:15 He exhorted the New Testament believers this challenge: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith without wavering: (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:)” Hebrews 10:21-23 To Paul, the Christian faith is a life of certainty resting upon the promises of the Lord, and leading one to a life of provoking others to love and to good works all in the name of Christ for His glory and honor. Anything that is short of it is absolutely non-biblical and sham-plain hypocrisy and show and self-directed.
6. The sin problem is put away by the once offering of the body of Christ and His precious blood. Hebrew 9:24-26“[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:[25] Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;[26] For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
a. God has absolute issue against us and that is our sin. The animal sacrifices commanded by God in the Pentateuch were to deal with sin, iniquity and transgression or trespass so that men could approach a thrice holy God. The holiness of God is basic and fundamental teaching or doctrine that can not be done away or compromised. This is what Paul meant when he wrote to the Hebrew believers under persecution: “[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.[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:[25] Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;[26] For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.[27] And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:[28] So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:22-28
b. The purity of God is learned by us sinners knowing the necessity of purifying the tabernacle and all the vessels in the ministry in the designated holy places in the tabernacle or temple with the blood of the animal sacrifices, every time an offering for sin is done.. “[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.[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.” Hebrews 9:19-23
c. The holiness of God is absolutely established and satisfied by the precious blood of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, shed and offered to cleanse and purify us from all our sins-“to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Sin can only be done away and dealt with totality, to satisfy the holiness and justice of God, through the blood of Christ. Paul posed a very probing question on this matter: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:14 Praise the Lord the blood of Christ has the sole absolute power to deal once and for all with our sinners’ problem-“but now once in the end of the world hath her appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26b
7. The new covenant is all the time looking up to Jesus Christ who will appear second time unto salvation. Hebrews 9:28“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”a. The new covenant is God’s promise of man’s redemption from eternal condemnation in the lake of fire through the one offering of Christ on the cross of Calvary. This is “the once and for all deal of God” for the sin problem of man. God’s promise of eternal inheritance is through this covenant of grace through the death of Christ. This has to happen for the new testament to take effect as Paul said, “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is no strength at all while the testament liveth.” Hebrews 9: 16-17 b. The death of Christ means the shedding of His precious blood to purge our sins and to cleanse us from all our transgressions –“ And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Hebrews 9: 22 “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
c. The blessed hope of the new covenant is the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when He will changed our corruptible body “fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Philippians 3:21 With His saints, “the Lord shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified with his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
CONCLUSION
1.Let us draw near with true in full assurance of faith not wavering in the life of faith and service unto the Lord. Hebrews 10:22. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering but unfailing in serving Him unto the end. Hebrews 10:233.Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of the saints in His name. Hebrews 10: 24-25
Last modified: January 6, 2024