I want you to turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 9. This is a, this is not one of those passages that you can just read while you're falling asleep because you're going to fall asleep, right? Just like if you read this passage, it's going to sound like we got a text straight out of the book of Leviticus because it is, right?

It describes the tabernacle, the holies, the holy of holies and the articles that's in there and why it's in there. And so, you know, I think God did this on purpose in order to slow us down. There's certain things that we do that requires us to be careful, right?

If you are planning to get married and you're, you're kind of considering, is this the right person because you know the weight of this decision, right? This is not just something that you're going to do and then decide later. It's like, oh, I made a mistake. And this covenant is serious enough to where you will get counsel, you will seek advice, you know, even when people get married, you know, like whenever I officiate weddings and when you have parties who haven't participated in weddings, they want to know everything like what's right, what's wrong, you know, do we light the candle, who goes out first, who sits, who stands up, you know, is this okay, is this not okay?

Because there is a weight to what they are doing. They want to make sure that they get it right, right? The Bible talks about the creation in two chapters, as significant, as important as it is, it's only recorded in two chapters in the book of Genesis. There are over 50 chapters that talk about the details of the tabernacle.

And it's not easy reading. It's not something that you can just skim through. There's details about who should handle it, how long it should be, who can give sacrifice, who can't give sacrifice, they even have the details of what kind of clothes to wear while they're doing the sacrifice, what kind of clothes to wear when they go out to bury certain things.

And it's tedious to the point where we can be easily tempted to just kind of flip through and say, oh, the tabernacle is about Jesus and then that's it. But there's a reason behind why God does that. We are meant to slow down, right? We are meant to slow down and ask questions.

Why is this here? What is the significance behind this? Why is there 50 chapters of this in the Bible? Same thing with whenever you see genealogies, our natural tendency is like, I don't recognize any of these people, maybe two or three. I don't know who these people are. There's reason why the genealogy is there.

God didn't just put it there. It's like, you know, you guys, you guys did the hard work. So genealogy, go to sleep. And then you wake up at the other end. There's a reason why it's there and it is significant. So the tabernacle isn't just here, just willy nilly.

It's here for a reason. So the text that we're looking at in chapter chapter nine gives us the detailed information. Again, this was not the text that I would have wanted to preach out in the sun, you know, not knowing if we're going to be able to have a tent that works and it still may not work.

Right. So because this is this is one of those things that really requires your attention. So I know it may be a little bit hotter than normal, but I'm asking you guys to do your best to pay attention because because it is important. So I'm not going to read the text.

I'm just going to pray and then just jump in this morning. Heavenly Father, we pray for your blessing. We know all that is going on around us. We pray, Father, for soberness and power and authority that only you can give. We ask, Lord God, that you have been revival during our generation, that we would not drift, but be anchored in Christ.

May your word have its effect on us this morning. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Especially now, right, we've been talking about being anchored in Christ, but especially now there is a dire need for the church to be anchored in Christ. If you if you haven't been watching the news, you may not be aware, but China just recently, just a few days ago, passed a law saying it is mandated that every church who worships the Communist Party above Jesus, and it is required now by law.

They've been headed that direction for a while, but now they've made it official. So among the among the missionaries who've been in there, they've been slowly kicking them out. But now all the people who've been out temporarily thinking that maybe the door will open, go back in. Now it's uncertain because of of how hard the Chinese government has come, whether they will be able to go back in.

But this is not just happening in China. This is a worldwide phenomenon that all the years that I've been a Christian, I've never seen persecution at this level, where usually it was it was localized, whether it was in the Middle East or India or China or North Korea. If you watch the news, this is happening all over the world and even here in the United States.

Again, that's why I ask you to pay very close attention to what's happening, what's happening in the government, because there are there are slowly things that are slowly being passed in our government that is specifically targeting conservative Christianity, which is us. So when I say conservative Christian, we're talking about Bible believing Christians who believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, who believe that Christ is going to come and redeem his church.

And so we believe in the Bible. We preach the Bible and we practice the Bible. And so if you are a Bible believing believer at a Bible believing church, there are slowly laws being passed that are being specifically targeted toward us, not just our church, but everyone who falls under the category that we talked about.

We knew it was coming. We didn't know it was going to be a year or 10 years or maybe next generation. But we're not that far away. It could be months. It could be years. But we see it coming. And the Bible tells us in Matthew 24 at the end times, he says, because of the increase of wickedness, love of many will grow cold.

You notice here that he doesn't say that because of increased wickedness that churches are going to get into fights and divide and heresy is going to come in. All of that may be true. But basically, the way that the church dies is not with a fight. There's no clear line that says this is when the church closed.

Usually when the church is closed, it dies because of erosion, because people are not paying attention. They're not anchored in Christ. And as soon as the waves come, people just begin to drift. And they're OK with drifting because their heart has already left Christ a long time ago before they ever physically left the church.

And so any boat that is not anchored, especially now, the current is going to take you away from God. And that is what we're seeing right now. God is pruning the church. And if we've been attending church, if we've been kind of casually allowing our lives to drift toward Christ because of the friendships that we've had, because of the community that we belong to, encouragement of our brothers and sisters, eventually that will erode and will not be enough.

And I believe that that time has come. That lukewarm Christians will no longer be Christians. That lukewarm Christians will eventually fade away. They will not make a decision. There's no line being drawn saying that if you cross this line, you are a follower of Christ and if you don't, you won't be.

It will just gradually drift and nominal Christians will eventually leave the church, never to return. And so I believe that we are in the beginning of that right now. And so all the more why there is an urgency for us to pay attention. There's an urgency for us to examine.

Yes, the tabernacle. We need to pay close attention to the tabernacle because of the meaning behind what it says. The reason why the tabernacle is mentioned so much in the scripture is because the tabernacle was at the center of the Israelite community to constantly remind them of who they are and who God is.

In order for them to be able to know when Christ came that the true Redeemer has come. The tabernacle was not a side project that God had. There's a reason why God put the tabernacle right in the center of the Israelite community. Every tribe was at equal distance to this tabernacle.

The sacrifices, right? The smoke that they smelled. The slaughtering of the animals, the cry of sheep as they're being slaughtered was something that the whole Israelite community heard night and day. So Israelites did not need it to be to be reminded of the tabernacle because of the very presence of the tabernacle caused them to be sober.

What we want to do today is as we look in at chapter nine, the author has been warning and encouraging and challenging and rebuking the church not to drift away from Christ. And the central message that he's been trying to get to is that Christ is above all of these things and where this is the most dominant, where it is the clearest taught is at the tabernacle.

Where the need for Christ, the supremacy of Christ is clearly taught is at the tabernacle. That's why he takes all of his argument of the supremacy of Christ, brings us to chapter seven, Jesus Christ in the order of Melchizedek, the king priest, king of righteousness, king of priests. And then he's going to take us into this new covenant and specifically at this tabernacle, the old covenant and how it prepares us for the for the new covenant in Christ.

So in what he says here, there's three things that I want to I want to point out that he points out. What did the tabernacle teach the nation of Israel? First thing that we see is in verse six and seven. Now when these things have been so prepared, meaning the tabernacle, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship.

But into the second, only the high priest enters once a year. The first thing that it teaches is the utter helplessness of a sinful man. The utter helplessness of the sinful man. When he says here that the priests were entering to perform worship continually, the word for worship here is literal, which basically is referring to not just a gathering of people, you know, singing songs like what we are doing.

The word literal here is talking about the activity of the priests. The primary activity of the priest was to slaughter the animals in order to reconcile holy God to sinful people. But in saying that the priest had to do this continually over and over and over again, meaning that whatever sacrifice that was given, whatever worship was given, it could never satisfy this holy God.

And so even if you gave it a hundred times, you wake up the next day in need of another atonement. That's what he means, that they had to do this continually over and over and over again. Imagine how many animals were sacrificed because of this. For every sin that you are aware of, you are to take an animal without blemish and take it into the tabernacle to be slaughtered.

This tabernacle, the size of this tabernacle would have been a whole lot bigger than this tent right here. It would have been maybe about this wide and that long. It would not have been much bigger than this. This tabernacle where the sacrifices were taking place served over a million people's sins.

A million people. So can you imagine the line every morning that that priest woke up, the people waiting to slaughter the animal asking for forgiveness. And he said this had to be done week after week, month after month, year after year. If your daily sacrifices were not enough, the day of atonement was basically like spring cleaning that even if you cleaned your house every single week, there will be dust and filth that would accumulate in the house where you would require another major cleaning where everybody gets together just for the purpose of cleansing.

That was the day of atonement. So when he says that the priest had to enter this tabernacle to give these sacrifices continually, it means that no matter how many animals were sacrificed for our sins, it would have never satisfied the Holy God. So the first thing that the tabernacle taught was the utter helplessness of the sinner before a Holy God.

In fact, during the day of atonement, during the time of Christ, a secular Jewish historian writes that there was so much blood shed during that day that some of the priests in certain parts of the temple were over knee deep in the animal's blood. Some calculate as many as 1.2 million animals being sacrificed at the day of atonement on one day.

In fact, the sacrifice was so tremendous that the Jewish economy in Jerusalem was largely dependent upon these sacrifices. And this is the reason why we see the scene at the temple where people are doing business because that was their primary economy because so many animals were being sacrificed day after day, especially on the day of atonement.

So when the author here says that at the tabernacle, these priests had to enter and worship continually over and over and over, it was to teach the inefficiency and inability of these sacrifices to bring us to Christ. The sacrifice was given by the priest himself who needed sacrifice. He needed to sacrifice over and over and over again.

And then he needed to give sacrifice for the nation of Israel. He said for sins that they committed in ignorance in verse 7. Now in our generation, whenever we say, you know, we committed sin in ignorance, we automatically think that's not a big sin. How can I, how can it be a sin if I didn't know about it?

You know, we, we think that if we calculate and if we willfully acted, then that's a sin. But if I didn't know about it, how can that be sin? Why would God require us to make sacrifices for sins committed when we didn't know? See it's the very definition of sin means to miss the mark.

You don't need to be willfully doing something to miss the mark. You just need to miss the mark. You don't even have to know that there is a mark to hit. But as long as we don't hit the mark, we have sin. That's what the Bible says. Now you know what that teaches?

Some people may say, well, that's not fair. If I wasn't aware of it, how can he require a, an atonement for that? What that teaches us is that our very core of who we are is in rebellion against God. So the sin is not simply something that we just do.

We're not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. We are unable not to sin. That's what the, that's what that is teaching us. So even the sins that are committed in ignorance needed atonement. That's how deeply the sin affects, affects the sinner. So that tabernacle, the sacrifice that needed to be given continually, first and foremost, taught the sinners the utter helplessness before this Holy God.

And that's what they were reminded over and over again, that no matter how much you eat, maybe today after service, you're going to go grab a great buffet and you're going to eat a meal of five normal people. Well, tomorrow morning, you're going to wake up, you're going to be hungry.

And you may do that buffet over and over again, but the next day you're going to wake up, you're going to be hungry again. A sinful flesh has the same appetite. No matter how much we confess, as long as we are in this flesh, you and I are not able to work it off.

And that's what the tabernacle taught, that this physical sacrifice was not going to change anything about who we are inwardly, our utter helplessness. Secondly, the tabernacle taught that the entrance to God was closed. See the passage in verses two to five in verse eight describes the intricate details of what was in the outer room versus the inner room.

They call it the holy and then the holy of holies. The holy of holies and the holy room was separated by this curtain. I think the best way for us to understand this is if somebody invites you to the house, you know, obviously they want friendship, they want some sort of fellowship with you.

But when they invite you to the house, they're not inviting you to their bedroom. You don't go say, you know what, you know, somebody asked me to their house and they say, I went into their house, I walked into their bedroom, opened their closet and then opened their drawer and I examined all these things because they asked me to come to their house.

Of course not. When you go to somebody's house, you go to their living room until you are, for whatever the reason, you have to be invited to the inner room. You can't just enter in. I think the best way for us to describe this is in God's house where he came to meet mankind, the holy of holies was the master bedroom, which was permanently closed.

He allowed sinners represented by the priest to come into the outer part, the living room of the tabernacle where they had certain elements that remind them that they needed God to sustain them, but the actual presence of God was not open to the sinners. In fact, that room was so mysterious that even the holiest of men, the high priest, after sacrificing for his own sins, would go there for a brief period of time with the bell on him, with the rope tied and would do his business and come right out.

So even he was not a guest that can linger. There was no seat for him to rest. There was no place for him to casually stand. He was sprinkled with blood representing the cleansing of the sins of the nations, which he would have to do again and again and again and again.

The entrance was closed to him, and that's exactly what the tabernacle taught. Not only was there an utter helplessness of mankind, that because of this helplessness, the gap between God, the holy God, and a sinful man was something that they could not bridge by human work. That's what the tabernacle taught day in and day out.

Third and finally, the tabernacle taught that the sacrifices given was unable to cleanse us of our sins. It says in verse 9, "According to both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience." You know, this is an interesting word here, the word conscience. The definition of the word conscience means this.

It denotes either personal intuition, a knowledge of something, or more specifically, the moral awareness of good or evil. Did you catch that? I know it's a little bit hot, but did you catch that? Where did you hear that before? The definition of the word conscience is a self-awareness of the knowledge of good and evil.

Where did you hear that before? In Genesis. In Genesis, where God told Adam and Eve that you can eat of any tree but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which is a definition of conscience, you shall not eat for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die.

In other words, the tabernacle taught the nation of Israel that it is unable to reverse the curse of mankind. That no matter how many sacrifices were given, no matter how many outward activity, no matter how many times we gathered together, no matter how much money that you give to the church, no matter how many righteous acts that we participate in, it is unable to reverse the curse because our conscience has been tainted.

So a sinful man in whatever he does eventually will become sinful. In fact, the interesting passage in Haggai chapter 2, 13 to 14, Haggai writes to the nation of Israel during a period when they were very busy in the temple. They were very busy in the religious activity. But Haggai is sent to warn them that their religious activity does nothing to erase their sins.

It doesn't bring them any closer to God. That you cannot negate your sinful activity by having some good activity. Most religions today and sadly many Christians subconsciously believe that if my good things outweigh the bad things, even though we may not express it in doctrine, subconsciously we think that if we've done good enough, that somehow that wins some kind of favor before God.

If we've done good enough, somehow we don't deserve to be in the church and we tend to drift away from the church when we are in sin. Well that was the attitude of the Israelites during the time of Haggai. But listen to what Haggai says. Haggai chapter 2, 13 and 14, then Haggai said, "If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?" Do you understand the question?

Because in the book of Leviticus, if an individual who is considered unclean because of some sort of defect in his life, because of some sort of disease, maybe he was a leper, because he was considered unclean, if that unclean man touches a sacrifice that was set apart to be dedicated to God, does that animal, does he become clean or does the animal become unclean?

That's the question. Okay. But what is the answer? The animal becomes unclean. Because the unclean man touched what was clean, the unclean man doesn't become clean because of that animal. Now this is extremely important because this is the whole point that he's trying to get at. The religious activity of an unclean man does not make him clean.

It makes the religious activity unclean. That's what he means. Does it make it clean? The priest answered, "It will become unclean." Then Haggai said, "So is this people and so is this nation before me," declares the Lord, "and so is every work of their hands and what they offer there is unclean." Until a man is regenerated and he is cleansed by the blood of Christ, even the religious activity that he participates in, they become unclean.

Spirit becomes unclean. Giving becomes unclean. Even missions become unclean. Building churches, planting churches, even the preaching becomes unclean. Because an unclean man will pursue unclean end goals thinking that as long as he is doing what is clean. Do you understand the difference? And that is a deception of people who've been in the church for a long period of time.

Because we engage in religious activity. We engage in Christian activity that if we engage enough that we subconsciously believe that some of our sins are washed away. And he said that's what the tabernacle taught. No matter how much they sacrificed, until there is true atonement by the blood of Christ, even the good things that we do become unclean.

That's why when unclean people are leaders of the church, when unclean people are members of the church, it doesn't matter how many good deeds that we participate in, eventually that also becomes unclean. Because an unclean man cannot cleanse himself. Because it is inner being has been tainted. So his bitterness, his anger, his selfish motive, his desire to be recognized, his desire to be better than the next person, the coveting, the lying, the tainting that's inside our inner being cannot be cleansed by changing our outer activity.

And that's what he was saying. That all the activity, all the cleansing, all the sacrifices that were given at the tabernacle could not cause them to be clean. All of this was to simply point to Christ and his coming. Imagine if you were an Israelite during this time and the tabernacle constantly reminded you that you could not get to God.

You could not get to God. Imagine today, imagine today if the access to God was closed to you, how would that affect you? Would that cause you to just have extra time in the morning on Sundays? Hold on to your tithe and giving and use that to buy something that you'd like?

Maybe go on a nice vacation? How would the prohibition of you coming to God was blocked? You know, many Christians struggle with prayer, but imagine if you couldn't pray. Not because you were lazy, not because it was difficult, but because the access was closed. How would you feel? What would happen?

What if today was the last day that you and I are able to gather together for worship? That this was the last, this is the song that you saw was the last song that you could sing and that was it from this day forward. Once this service is over, you're gone into your own homes and you're going to live like rest of the world because the access to God has been closed.

What would happen to you? How would you feel? You see, the nation of Israel was constantly reminded through the tabernacle, the access to God is closed. The access to God is closed. So you can see why Jesus described a single sinner who repents and why the heavens rejoice. Because you had a nation filled with people who are eager.

What is in that Holy of Holies? How can I get to that? And every year and every sacrifice reminded them, you cannot get in. And so when he says earlier in the book of Hebrews, let us enter the throne of grace with confidence. Imagine how that would have struck a nation that was constantly reminded that they could not get to God.

This is what we have in the new covenant. The door has been opened. That something that we could not do by our own strength, Christ did. And the weight of what he has done is the reason why you and I are here. No amount of religious activity, no amount of giving, no amount of sacrificing, no amount of loving, no amount of preaching the gospel and singing songs can bring us any closer to Christ.

And in the end, ultimately, that's why the tabernacle was created. To show us how helpless we are. To show us that we are outside of the grace of God and his presence. And to show us a desperate need for a savior and atonement for the coming of Christ. See if the nation of Israel was paying attention when Jesus was being crucified, there the cheering and praising would have happened while he was hanging on the cross, not when he was entering into Jerusalem.

Our celebration of our faith isn't because we live in a comfortable world. It's not because we have a nice job. It's not because we have a comfortable place to worship. That's why Paul says he had found the secret of being content in every and all situation, whether he has plenty or has little.

Whether there's air conditioning or the heat of the sun. Whether it is permitted or not permitted. Whether it is safe or whether it is dangerous. Paul's secret of being content is he found his anchor in Christ. So the challenge for us as Christians who are trying to stay sober in this generation is to ask ourselves, are we constantly engaged in religious repetition without fruit?

Because your hearts have drifted far from God. You're going through the motion. You're doing what you're supposed to do. And you are constantly engaged and having a reputation, have a reputation of being godly, but never knowing any power because we are constantly engaged in religious activity when our hearts, we allow our hearts to covet everything else in the world.

And all of a sudden we say, you know, we're going to, we're going to engage in this and I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And then we wonder why it is so hard to worship God in spirit and in truth. Are we always learning, always learning about God, about who he is, about Leviticus, about the book of Ephesians, about revelation.

Yet our affection for God in the inner chamber is no deeper than it was when we first started. We just have more knowledge. We just know more about the regulations, know more about theology than affection for God. When he says to enter the throne of grace with confidence, we never enter.

We just observe and appreciate from a distance. The door has been opened. Come, come, all who are weary and heavy laden. If you've been drifting, if you see your heart's growing cold, becoming numb, maybe some of you here, maybe some of you even sitting at home can imagine yourself not coming to church ever again, or maybe even just drifting away permanently.

It's like, you know, I think I'm okay with that. All who are weary and heavy laden, he says, come to me for I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

Where do you find your rest? Where do you find your rest? If you believe Christ is your answer and he is your savior and he's the only one who can forgive you of your sins, come to Christ. Come to Christ today. Don't wait for our next event. Don't wait for a prayer time.

Don't wait for a revival or retreat today. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Don't appreciate him from a distance. You will always learn, but you will never know. You will hear other people's testimony and be warmed at heart, but you will never know. You will regurgitate information that you hear.

You will quote great quotes from other people. You will tell stories of other people, of things that they've seen, that they've experienced, affection that they have for Christ, but it's never yours. Come. The door has been opened. The curtain has been ripped. Come to Christ. And ultimately, where would you and I be if our sins weren't forgiven?

We hear that so many times, it's just a given in the church. Imagine if Christ didn't come. Imagine if he didn't suffer. Imagine if he wasn't crucified. Imagine if he didn't absorb our sins and you and I still remain in our sins. Imagine where you and I would be.

If we die, we meet a holy God, if you believe that. Where would we be? Where is our hope? How will you survive when your business fails? What will happen when your children fall sick and you lose your job? What will happen if you retire in tanks? Everything that you place your hope on and you are still in your sins.

The tabernacle teaches us all of these things that he embedded into the nation of Israel so that we may love Christ with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Church attendance does not save you. Being a teacher does not save you. Good Sunday school teacher doesn't save you. Good worship leader does not save you.

Good preaching does not save you. Being generous does not save you. Having a lot of experience does not save you. Bearing fruit when you're younger does not save you. Sacrificing does not save you. Going on missions does not save you. Discipling a lot of people does not save you.

All of these things are religious activity until there is genuine regeneration of our hearts that can only be accomplished by the atonement of Jesus that we believe in. So my prayer for all of us, if you are falling asleep, I'm not talking physically, if you're falling asleep spiritually and you're okay with it, even if you're offended, my guess is you're not saved.

That's my guess. Knowing all that is going on and you are not spiritually sober and you're okay with it, with all that I know of Scripture, all that I have experienced, all that I have seen, my educated, my professional guess is you're probably not saved. So my desire, my prayer is that God would use what is happening now, first and foremost, to cause people who are not believers to examine carefully to see where their faith is.

Secondly, for those who are believers, and you've caught yourself drifting, but all of a sudden you realize there is a spiritual battle going on. There's something more important that you need to be concerned about than your wedding. There's something more important that you need to be concerned about than your job.

There's something more important that you and I need to be concerned about than our health, than our children, than our families, than our future, is where do we stand with Christ? Are we still at the old tabernacle going through religious motion, which has no power over us, or have we genuinely met Christ?

I pray that that may be the case, that we endure the hot sun, we go in, we go back in when they tell us to go back out, you know, go back in, we do whatever we need to do, but in the midst of all of this, I pray that revival will break out.

I genuinely pray that revival will break out, that he would prune the church, and what will remain after this is genuine believers who will love the Lord and worship God in spirit and in truth. Let's pray. Father, you are deserving of all our attention, all our love, all our finances, all our youth, all of our retirement, all of our age, all of it, Lord God.

Help us not to be satisfied with a mediocre walk. Help us not be okay with just coasting and just making it to next year. Help us to be sober, Lord God, to know that we live in a fallen world, that we would not be shocked that the people who are fallen act in accordance to their fallen nature.

Help us, Lord, to be a light in this dark world, especially now, that our hope may be found in Christ and what he has done. Lord, please bring revival in our generation for our sake and for our children's sake. Bring revival. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.