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Lord, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Hebrews chapter number nine this evening, Hebrews chapter number nine, and look down at your Bibles at verse number eight. Hebrews chapter nine and verse number eight says, the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as yet the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats, drinks, and divers washings and cardinal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. And what I wanna preach on this evening is what the Holy Ghost signified, what the Holy Ghost signified. Now, a lot of what we're gonna be going over this evening is a lot of teaching of the Old Testament laws and what they really symbolize and what they were a pattern according to, but it's not gonna be necessarily a bombastic sermon, so it's gonna take some discipline on your end to pay attention and read through the scriptures with me in order for you to understand what the Bible's teaching here. Now, it goes without saying that the Bible is filled with a lot of symbolism, right? I mean, when you read the gospels, you run into parable after parable after parable after parable, and many of the parables are not to be taken literal. They're really just a symbolic representation of a spiritual truth, right? But they really manifest that truth in a great way. It's a great illustration to teach us a spiritual truth. You know, you read the book of Revelation, for example, and the book of Revelation's filled with symbology as well. And the reason for that is because the person writing it is living during the first century AD, and because of that, he's using what he sees in the illustrations that he's using in order to really try to explain future events, things that he's probably never seen before, right? And so a lot of symbology is used there to represent something else. So when you see that the Bible talking about in the book of Revelation, when it's referring to these four horsemen of the apocalypse, and you know, it's not necessarily literally four horsemen riding on four horses, going through the sky. They're a representation of something else, okay? Now, you see this throughout the Bible, but really, you see it a lot in the Old Testament, do you not? This matter of symbolism, and you see it used a lot when it comes to stories, events, and in particular, when it comes to Old Testament laws and ordinances. A lot of these ordinances that we see in the Old Testament were a symbolic representation of something else. And in fact, you know, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 that we see through a glass darkly. But you know what? The Old Testament saints also saw through a glass darkly as well. Now, why does it say that? Why does it say that they, and that we saw through a glass darkly? Well, if you think about it, glass in the Bible often is a representation of the Word of God. When the Bible talks about looking into the perfect law of liberty, you know, you're like a man who'll be holding his face in a glass, referring to a mirror, right? He go with his way, forget what manner of man he was. That's referring to the Word of God. So they're looking into the Word of God, but what is it? It's darkly. And when we think of something that is dark in the Bible, it's often associated or synonymous with dark sayings, parables, symbolism. And think about this, Daniel, as he's penning down the scriptures, he's writing about a lot of stuff that he just does not understand at all, right? There were dark sayings unto him. So he's looking into the Word of God, but it's darkly, he can't really see it. He knows what he's writing about in the sense of the overall picture, but he can't really distinguish what the Bible or what God is really trying to show him there. When like man, it's the same thing with us. So, but I'm really focusing on the Old Testament saints that when they were doing these Old Testament ordinances, it was a glass darkly. They didn't know that the name of the Lord was gonna be Jesus Christ in the New Testament. They were seeing through a glass darkly. They obviously understood that his name was the Lord at that point, but they were looking through a glass darkly. Now, why were symbols necessary? Why did they do that? Why did God allow a vast majority of the Bible to be the Old Testament? Then that Old Testament having or being filled with so much symbolism, analogies, et cetera, why is that? Well, number one is because symbolism was used as a way to remind Old Testament saints of that which is to come. So when they would do these animal sacrifices every single day, it's to remind them that one day Jesus Christ would come, their Messiah would come to sacrifice himself, okay, for the sins of the people. This is something that God did not want his people to forget. And therefore, they would constantly do these drink offerings, these meat offerings, these ordinances as a reminder of what was gonna take place in the future. Not only that, but number two, it was used to increase their faith, right? Because of the fact that they had to by faith do these things to believe that this is gonna happen one day. And number three really increases our faith. You know, when we look at parables and symbolism, what happens? We see the layers of the Bible being stacked upon one another. And we know what the Bible says regarding a specific doctrine, but when there's a layer of a parable of a dark saying that really expands the meaning of that spiritual truth, it increases our faith in the word of God. So we can see why it's important to have symbolism. Now, we obviously understand that God's moral law is not symbolic, right? I mean, that's pretty obvious. You know, thou shall not kill is not symbolic. You know, God really does not want you to kill, take someone's life, okay? Thou shall not steal is not symbolic. Thou shall not commit adultery is not symbolic. This is something that God literally wants you to keep. It's a real act that someone can partake of and transgress against the Lord if they commit this sin. Now, here's the thing is that God's moral law existed prior to the law of Moses being instituted. Murder has always been wrong. Stealing has always been wrong. Having other gods other than the one true God has always been wrong. It wasn't until that law was instituted by the hand of Moses, where they solidified it, started the first covenant, then they said, okay, now the law has been added because of transgressions, right? But it's always been that way. And in fact, even people who are not part of the children of Israel, who are not part of the nation of Israel, they were still held accountable for those moral laws. Because the Bible says that there were law unto themselves, they have the law of God written in their hearts, the Bible says. So even though they didn't have God's written word, it's okay, they have the law of God written in their hearts that said, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, et cetera, okay? So I just want to get that across there that this is not symbolic. Now, there are parts of the Old Testament that were symbolic, such as the tabernacle. Now, the tabernacle was a literal physical place, was it not, in the Old Testament? But it was symbolically representing an actual tabernacle that's actually in heaven. Now, look at verse number one of Hebrews chapter number nine it says, then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. What is he saying? This was actually a worldly, not a worldly as in, we would think as worldly, you know, like liberal or modern. It's just saying it's an earthly tabernacle, okay? For there was a tabernacle made, the first wherein was the candlestick and the table and the shewbread, which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's rod that budded in the tables of the covenant, referring to the 10 commandments and over at the cherry abyms of glory, shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak particularly. What is he saying? We don't really know how to necessarily make this today. We can't speak of these things particularly. We're not experts of what it physically looked like. We just know what it represented. Verse six says this. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second one, the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. So this is what we see taking place on a daily basis, on a yearly basis. This was basically the epicenter of spiritual worship was the tabernacle, doing the sacrifices, doing these ordinances that God told them to do. Now look what it says in verse number eight. The Holy Ghost, this signifying. What does it mean to signify? He's basically saying this is symbolic, right? So if it's symbolic, that means it's not the literal thing. Even though it's literally there, even though they literally built it, even though they're literally doing it, it represents something else. And look, the Holy Ghost, this signifying it says, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. Well, hold on a second. I thought the tabernacle was already there. What do you mean it's not made manifest? It's right there. People are doing it every single year. They're going there. They can touch it, they can feel it. They see the high priest. Well, here's the thing though. It was a representation of something else. And the literal thing that it's representing was not yet made manifest, the Bible says. Why? Because it's the real tabernacles in heaven. While as the first tabernacle was yet standing. Says in verse number nine, which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, look what it says, that could not make him that did the service perfect that's pertaining to the conscience. Now, can someone take this and explain it to these dispensationalists? No. These people who are like, oh, you know, no. In order to be saved in the Old Testament, they had to keep the animal sacrifices. Because Leviticus 16, Leviticus 17 and 11 states that sacrifices were made to make an atonement for sin, to make an atonement for the soul. Folks, this is nonsense. It's saying right here that these gifts and sacrifices, verse nine, that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience it could not save them. Why not? Because it's a symbol. That's why. It's not the real deal. God made it, ordained it, in order to represent something else. Look, David is a representation of who in the New Testament? Jesus Christ. Can David save anybody? No. But he obviously had attributes and characteristics that we can glean from and associate with Jesus Christ. But David can save no one. He says there in verse nine, which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect. Now what is he talking about? He's talking about the high priest. Because the high priest had to make sacrifices, first of all, for himself and then for the heirs of the people. Now make no mistake about it. Listen to this. The Old Testament sacrifices did cleanse them of their daily transgressions, just not of their eternal transgressions, the totality of their sins. Okay, and I'm gonna explain what I mean later on in this sermon. Because obviously they had to do this every single day and the reason why is because they sinned every single day. They transgressed against their brethren every single day therefore a sacrifice had to have been made to make an atonement for their soul which is synonymous with the body. Okay. Because people wanna use, well it says in Leviticus that they did these sacrifices to make an atonement for their soul. So therefore it's talking about salvation. No, soul is used synonymously with the physical body. Because in the same chapter, in Leviticus chapter number five, it talks about the soul touching an unclean animal. This is not talking about astral projection here, okay. Like your soul just comes out of your body and touches some unclean animal and then comes right back in or something. It's referring to the physical man touching an unclean animal, okay. Look at verse number 10, which stood only, I mean read that. It only, what does it mean to which stood only? It means it only stood. I'm just reading it backwards. Which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. So what is this telling us here? It's telling us that these ordinances that we see in the Old Testament, they were delegated to the nation of Israel for a specific, lauded amount of time. And they had an end. What was the end? The reformation. What is the reformation? Okay, this is not talking about Martin Luther, by the way. Reformation simply means when you make something better. Because you have two covenants folks. You have the Old Covenant, then you have the New Covenant. You have the Old Testament, New Testament. Old Covenant was established by Moses, okay, or by God through the hand of Moses, when he sprinkled the blood and he established the Old Covenant. But it ended at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, when Jesus shed his blood to create the New Testament or the New Covenant, you understand? So it says here, these things are imposed upon them until Jesus comes to make all things better. You understand what I'm saying? Or do you understand what the Bible's saying? Go back to Hebrews chapter eight. Now look folks, these people who want to teach, well, we still got to keep the Sabbath. We got to make sure we keep the dietary laws. Folks, they hate Jesus, because Jesus is better. Look, if I had to choose between your shadow and you, I'd choose you, right? I can't have a relationship with your shadow. I can't speak to your shadow. Your shadow is just signifying to me that you're around the corner. So in like manner, the ordinances of the Old Testament were foreshadowing Jesus Christ, letting us know who's coming around the corner. And let me just say this is that the New Testament, the Bible calls it a better Testament. Look what the Bible says in verse number six. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, referring to Jesus, by which how also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. So this is saying that the first covenant, oh no, we need to keep those Old Testament ordinances and laws, hold on a second. Then why is God saying here that there's place sought for a second? Right? And in fact, look at verse number 13. In that he sayeth the new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. This was written 2,000 years ago. Folks, the old covenant has vanished away. It's long gone by now. Long gone. But you have people today that want to resurrect that old covenant and say that it's better than the new covenant. It's better than the New Testament. And they try to Judaize churches to bring them back under the law, ultimately causing people to reject Jesus Christ. Right? It's nonsense and it's foolishness. Go to Galatians chapter number three. So I want you to notice first and foremost that these are figures. The Bible calls them patterns. It says that the Holy Ghost signifies, it symbolizes, it's an allegory. I mean, I don't know how many synonyms you want. And let me just say this. Hebrews eight, nine, and 10 is devastating to dispensationalists and the Hebrew roots movement. It's devastating to them. They can't use it. They don't know how to explain it. Why? Because you can do nothing against the truth before the truth. So we see that it's a better covenant. Why is it better? Well, first of all, because we don't have to do animal sacrifices anymore. Right? I mean, that's a lot of work. Sacrificing day and night. Every month, every year, just the meats, drinks, divers washings, carnal ordinances, this is a lot of things to do. Whereas Jesus Christ was a representation of that. So when he came, he just fulfilled all of that and did away with it. Now, what was the purpose of the law? Look what it says in Galatians chapter three, verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. Can you explain this to those who say you gotta keep the law in order to be saved? Amen. Folks, it says, if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. These people are like, well, you gotta keep God's commandments. You gotta keep the law. The law cannot bring you righteousness. It cannot give you life. The Bible says that it's administration of death in 2 Corinthians chapter three. The law is actually meant to slay you. It has a contract on your life. That's what the Bible says in Romans chapter number seven. Look at verse 22. But the scripture has concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now what is it telling us here? It's explaining to us that the law, whether that's the ordinances or even God's moral law, both of these were not meant to save us. They were meant to show us that we needed a savior to teach us you are not righteous. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He that keepeth the whole law, yet offended at one point is guilty of all. This is what it's teaching us. But you know, there's a lot of people who are failing at that teaching there. They're failing to understand and they think that they can keep the law and you know what? We just got to keep God's 10 commandments. Did you know there's more than 10 commandments in the Old Testament? There's a lot more. And I find it hypocritical of the seven-day Adventist that says, oh, we got to keep the Sabbath. We got to keep the Sabbath. Well, hold on a second. You're talking about the Old Covenant? Did you know that the Old Covenant is more than just the Sabbath? So the seven-day Adventist who says, we got to keep the Sabbath, I want to see your sacrifice. Where's your drink offering? Where's your animal sacrifices? Did you do one this morning? Did you do one in the evening? I mean, think about this. They say we cherry pick. But they're actually the ones who cherry pick. Oh, just take the Sabbath here. Everything else is done away with. What does it say that? It says that every, it says the Old Covenant has been done away with. We're not under the law, but under grace, the Bible says. And I'll get into the Sabbath in just a bit. But the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. How did the law teach us about Jesus Christ? Well, first and foremost, we can see it from the moral perspective that we are not righteous. Because we've sinned against God, we've broken those commandments. And in fact, even though the 10 commandments were written on tables of stone, Moses broke those commandments. He broke those tables, right? Out of anger. And that symbolically represents the fact that every human being has broken the commandments. Every human being, right? But, so that brings us unto Christ because we see we cannot save ourselves. We need someone who is sinless to save us, which is Jesus Christ. He has made them to be sinned, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, the Bible says. But another way that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ were the ordinances. Doing those sacrifices helped the people to recognize, hey, there's an ultimate sacrifice coming, the lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world, okay? Go to Exodus 34, if you would. Exodus 34. So we no longer have to partake of these cardinal ordinances, and let me just say this, including the Sabbath. This is so easily debunked. Especially when you, if we had nothing, if we just had Colossians 2, it'd be enough. And we're gonna go through Colossians 2, but it just plainly tells us. So there's people who are like, well, you know, I agree with you guys on a lot of things but we need to keep the Sabbath. We need to keep the Sabbath. I automatically write that person off as just being ignorant of the Bible or just wicked. One of the two. They're either Judaizing wicked people or they're just completely ignorant of the Bible because it's so clear in the New Testament that we don't have to keep the Sabbath. Very clear. You just need an elementary understanding of the New Testament to see that. The Book of Colossians is not even a very like deep doctrinal book, letter, right? But even there it shows us we don't have to keep the Sabbath, not to be judged in those days. Now, look at Exodus 34. By the way, this is the ace in the hole for a lot of people. Like, oh, I don't know, Pastor Mejia, the Sabbath is in the 10 Commandments. We gotta keep the 10 Commandments. Don't you believe thou shall not kill? Anytime someone brings that up, just know they're gonna talk about the Sabbath. Because obviously I believe thou shall not kill. Duh. Yeah, don't you believe thou shall not steal? So do you believe in the 10 Commandments? Okay, let's just cut to the chase. You're trying to see what I believe about the Sabbath. That's what you're trying to do, right? You know, they gotta use these cunning ways to ask you questions to try to trap you in your words. When someone says that and be like, do you believe in the 10 Commandments? Just say, we don't keep the Sabbath. Let's just cut to the chase. Cut the crap, this is what you wanna tell me. I don't believe in the Sabbath. We don't have to keep it. Look at Exodus 34, verse 28. Why? Verse 28 says, and he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights, referring to Moses, and he did neither eat bread nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables, the words of the covenant, the 10 Commandments. So another way of saying the 10 Commandments is the covenant, right? Now go to Deuteronomy chapter four. Deuteronomy chapter number four. Deuteronomy chapter number four. I can't believe, how can you say we can't, we're not supposed to keep the 10 Commandments? Because the Bible says it. And you are ignorant, or just completely wicked to say, well, we have to keep the 10 Commandments, when here's the thing, you haven't even kept the 10 Commandments. You've broken all those Commandments. All of them. Look at Deuteronomy 4.13, and he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even 10 Commandments, and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. Now folks, I challenge anybody to look for the phrase 10 Commandments in the New Testament. You won't find it, but you will find the covenant. Now go to 2 Corinthians chapter three. Gotta keep the 10 Commandments. Gotta keep the 10 Commandments. We gotta make sure that we keep the 10 Commandments. They can care less that it says thou shall not bear false witness. They can care less that it says thou shall not steal. What they wanna hone in on is the fourth commandment, which is to keep the Sabbath. Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. They're just obsessed with that holy day. Look at 2 Corinthians three verse six. Who hath also made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. So it's basically telling us that the Old Covenant is the spirit of the letter that kills, whereas the New Covenant is the spirit that gives life. So can the Old Covenant give life? Can keeping the Sabbath give life? Absolutely not. And in fact, we see that when Old Testament saints would not keep the Sabbath, it would create what? Death. They were put to death for that. Why is that? Because the Sabbath symbolically represented salvation. It represented the fact that we would rest from our works and someone else would take care of that for us. Jesus Christ, basically in a sense, kept the Sabbath for us. We rest in him, right? And in fact, when Jesus Christ was crucified, went to hell for three days and three nights, he actually did that on the Sabbath. Literally. During those days, it was literally the Sabbath during those days, because there's more than one Sabbath in the Bible. And when he was doing those things, you know what everyone had to do? Rest from their works. While he was what? In hell, paying for our sins. Doing the work for us. You understand? So now you can see how wicked this is. When someone says, oh no, you gotta keep the Sabbath. What are they really saying? You have to work out your own salvation. And no, don't try to use Philippians chapter two. Well, aren't we supposed to work out? No, salvation in Philippians chapter two is dealing with the salvation of the body. Okay? Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. This is referring to the salvation of the body, because Paul is writing this from jail, and he's talking about the salvation of his own body. Folks, anytime the Bible talks about salvation, it's not always in reference to the soul. Sometimes it's actually referring to the body. But when the people tell you, no, you gotta keep the Sabbath, what they're saying is you gotta save yourself. You gotta make sure that you keep the Sabbath. You can't depend on salvation by grace to faith alone. You need to make sure that you keep that commandment. And no, folks, every commandment in the Old Testament would kill you. It killed all of us, actually. Right? I mean, if you're saved today, that means that the law slew you, according to Romans chapter number seven. It slew us, the Bible says. And that's why the Bible says, you have to be quick in who are dead and trespasses in sin. So it goes on to say there in verse number seven, but if the ministration of death written and engraven in stone. So what is that which was written and engraven with stones? The 10 commandments. What's included in the 10 commandments? The fourth commandment, keep the Sabbath. But if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was done away with. By the way, what does that mean right there when it says that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses? What this is saying is this, is that no one can really withstand the holiness of God. Because the law represents his holiness, right? His standard. And no one can see the face of God because of the fact that the law, which is holy, would not allow us to. But how do we have access by faith, the Bible says, into the holiest of all? When we die and we go to heaven, of course. Through Jesus Christ. Says in verse number eight, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more that the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that exceleth. For if that which was done away with was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Now, notice what it says in verse 11. For if that which was, what? Still staying? Still here? Still supposed to be kept? That which is done away. Now, in context, what is that which is done away? That which is engraven with stones. And what is that referring to? The 10 commandments. And what does the 10 commandments have? The fourth commandment. And what is the fourth commandment? They keep the Sabbath. Well, what about thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal? Folks, we are not under the law, but under grace. We don't keep those laws of thou not killing and stealing to be saved. Right? We don't keep those things to be saved. Never have. No one can. We keep those commandments so that we don't suffer consequences here on this earth. You know, because if you kill someone, either you go to prison or someone takes vengeance upon you, but it's not for salvation. Now, go to Hebrews chapter number three, if you would. Hebrews chapter number three. Now, I already mentioned this, but let me just say this is the Sabbath represents us resting from our works for salvation. That's all it represents there. Okay? And I find it interesting that the individual who imposes that upon you to say, you got to keep the Sabbath, it's like, you need to work to keep the Sabbath. It's like, what are you talking about? My rest is in Jesus. Jesus is the one who said to us that in order for us to find rest for our souls, we need to come to him. My yoke is light, my burning is light. So we need to come to him in order to find rest, not in the Sabbath. Look at Hebrews chapter three, verse 16. For some, when they had heard did provoke, how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? But with whom was he grieved 40 years? Was it not with them that had sin, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. So who are the people who are not allowed to enter into the rest, the people who do not believe? Look at chapter four, verse number one. Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest. As he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all his works. What is this referring to, the Sabbath? So the individual that believes, not works, the individual that believes is actually the one who gets to keep the Sabbath, so to speak. But it's backwards with the Hebrew Scripture movement. They said no, no, no, you have to work to be able to keep the Sabbath on a Saturday. Cease from your works. And by the way, they always put their own stipulations to those rules, do they not? Don't the seventh day habits just do the same thing? It's just like, oh, we gotta meet in church on the Sabbath and they're working, they're driving there. They're doing all kinds of things that they, it's just like, you really don't know what the Sabbath really is then, huh? I mean, even according to your standard, that you think you should keep the Sabbath, you don't even know yourself. Have you read how people kept the Sabbath in the Old Testament? It's actually the opposite of what you're doing. Go to Hebrews chapter nine, if you would. And then we're gonna go to Colossians chapter two. And again, this is the hypocrisy of people. And anytime someone presents me with, you gotta keep the Sabbath, I always, like if I'm at a door and I knock and they're just like the Sabbath keeper, Hebrew rich person, and they say, you gotta keep the Sabbath, I say, where are your sacrifices at? Where's your drink offerings? Do you do those? Are you doing the diverse washings as well? You know, like, are you keeping any other Old Testament ordinances in tandem with the Sabbath? If not, then you're just a hypocrite. Look at Hebrews nine, verse nine, it says, which was a figure for the time then present, and which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service as perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats, drinks, and diverse washings and cardinal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and a more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. Now go to Colossians chapter two, Colossians chapter two. I love Colossians two, I love the way it just lays this out, it's very practical. And this is typically what I take people to when I'm out sowing and they confront me with this whole Sabbath keeping thing, I always take them to Colossians chapter two. What was that? I'm hearing voices. Maybe you should answer that. Sounded like someone was panicking or something. Look at verse 13, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. Let me just remind you, this is referring to the law of Moses. The law of Moses was against us, it wasn't for us. Which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. So when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, that also symbolically represented something else, which is what? That he nailed the ordinances to that cross with himself. Look what it says, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them, of what? Who are the them? It's referring to the ordinances. He made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. Now what is that referring to? Well, remember, the ordinances were a representation of Jesus Christ. There were a foreshadowing of things to come, right? So when he was crucified, he made a show of them, of those ordinances, openly. So people saw him crucified, it's like, this is the culmination of every ordinance that we used to keep. This is the animal sacrifice. This is the drink offering. These are the meads, drinks, divers, washings, cardinal ordinances that were imposed upon us until this very day right here. He is physically showing us the culmination of those ordinances. It's beautiful. Verse 16, so he says, look, all those things are done. They're nailed to the cross. Now because of that, verse 16, let no man therefore judge you in meat. Let's start with that. When people are saying, hey, you know, we try to preach the gospel to people and they're just like, but do you eat pork? And when people say that, I just say, yes, absolutely, yeah. Dog, pork, what you deem to be unclean, I would eat. Because the Bible says that if you're telling me to abstain from meats, you're actually teaching doctrine of devils, according to 1 Timothy 4. For there's nothing to be refused if we receive with thanksgiving, the Bible says. What God has cleansed, I call not thou common, or unclean. So these meats were imposed upon them until that time because they represented something. But once Jesus Christ was the culmination, he fulfilled those ordinances, eat the pork. And by the way, pork is good for you folks. These vegetarian, vegan, seven-day Adventist, cornflake-making people have told you, they're the ones who make cornflakes, by the way. Now I thought, this is what in my research, I thought it was because they wanted to do, they wanted to replace eating meat and bacon and eggs for breakfast. But I was just actually told before the service that the person who created, the Miller guy, who's part of the Millerites, the reason he created cornflakes was to lower the testosterone of men so they wouldn't have lustful thoughts. Sounds like a psychopath, doesn't he? Crazy, make cornflakes for that reason? Good night. Everyone's just like, I'm throwing out my cornflakes tonight. Or eat cornflakes and just like eat some hot dogs and pork thereafter or something. Cornflakes permeate the homes of Hispanics. Let me just tell you, okay? They get the cornflakes and they put like five tablespoons of sugar in there. They mix it up and then they slice bananas in there and everything. It's like, is there any cornflakes in there left? Hey, but don't let anybody judge you in meat. According to the Bible. They wanna say, well, you can't eat this, you can't eat that. Folks, the Bible tells us that no one should judge us in that regard. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink. Because in the Old Testament, you had Old Testament drink offerings that were done in tandem with the animal sacrifices, which was a representation of the blood of Jesus Christ that he shed at the establishment of the New Testament. So the drink offerings of the Old Testament were representation of when the first covenant was established, which Moses took the blood and sprinkled upon the book and upon the people. Jesus Christ's blood is the final drink offering. The Old Testament drink offerings were a representation of his blood being shed for the remission of sins and the establishment of the New Covenant. So it says, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the new moon. Blowing your, what is it called, the chauffeur? The horn and the new moon? Bible says don't do that. And look what it says, in case you're not convinced of the holy day, in case you're not convinced of the new moon or of the Sabbath days. Don't let anybody come to you and say, you need to keep the Sabbath. He's like, hey, don't judge. That's the only time that phrase should ever be used. Amen. Hey, don't judge me, man. The Bible says don't judge me when it comes to Sabbath days. I'm not keeping them. Jesus Christ has already done it for me. He is my Sabbath. Verse 17, which are a shadow of things to come. So he's referring to the meats, drinks, the respect of a holy day, the new moons, and the Sabbath days, all a shadow of things to come. Which is what? But the body is of Christ. So when you think of a shadow, a shadow is simply an outlining figure of a body. We're talking about people here. So you're walking around the corner, you see someone's shadow, you see a figure. It's like, okay, a person is on the other side of the corner here. That's the body's over there. This is simply the shadow. And what this is saying is that the meats, drinks, the respect of the holy days, the Sabbaths, the new moons, all of these were simply a figure for the time then present, which is the body of Jesus Christ. Pretty simple, okay? I know I had you leave Hebrews 9, but go back to Hebrews 9. So again, this is reiterating what Hebrews 9 is saying when it talks about the meats, drinks, diverse washings, carnal ordinances that were imposed upon them until the time of reformation. It's the same exact thing that we see in Colossians chapter number two. Colossians 2 simply expands for us what that really means, and that is that it was the body of Christ that they were representing. Now the meats, of course, as I mentioned, are the animal sacrifices and the dietary laws. Look at verse number 11, and this is a good verse for the dispensationalists to listen to here. Because I've heard Robert Breaker try to talk about the animal sacrifices, like they saved people in the Old Testament, and all these things, but he never touches this with a 10-fold pole. He uses all Old Testament things. Slutar, they all use Old Testament scriptures to try to prove that animal sacrifices save people, but they stay away from Hebrews 9. They stay away from Hebrews 10, of course. Look at Hebrews 9 and 11. But Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by a greater, more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands that is the saint out 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. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh, 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. So what is he saying here? He's telling us that the blood of bulls and of goats purified what, the soul, the spirit? No, the flesh. This is why people did animal sacrifices every single day in those days. Because we sin every single day. Now, obviously, now we don't do those animal sacrifices, but we still sin every single day. Because if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But remember this is the, in the Old Testament, when they would do those animal sacrifices, it wasn't like they'd just do it and walk away. What would Aaron do when he would offer the goat, when he would lay his hands on the goat and do that sacrifice, what would he do? He would confess the sins, his sins and the iniquities of the people, and then kill the goat. So confession of sins was always used in tandem with doing the animal sacrifices, okay? But since we're in the New Covenant, no more animal sacrifices, we don't have to do that, but we do have to confess our sins. And in fact, 1 John 1-9, what does it go on to say? If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we still have to confess our sins. What, to stay saved? No, for daily sins. To stay right with God, to keep fellowship with God, as first John puts it. Because if we sin, we say we have fellowship with Him, we lie and do not the truth. True fellowship is when we're walking in the light, we're walking with God, we're confessing our sins. You understand? And here's a good way to explain it. If you remember, I believe it's in John chapter 13, Jesus Christ is washing the feet of the disciples, right? And He's washing the feet and everyone's just going according to the program, but then you have this one guy named Peter. He's like, Lord, thou shall never wash my feet. He's very extreme, He swings on the extreme sides of the pendulum, right? And He's like, if I wash you not, thou has no part with me. He's like, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. At first He's like, don't wash my feet. He's just like, you're not gonna have any part with me if I don't. He's like, let me just take a bath then. And He says, they that are washed have no need that I wash everything. I'm kind of paraphrasing here. He's saying this, but I just need to wash your feet. So basically what He's stating here is this, is that an individual, in those days, they're walking through the desert, they're walking through the dirt. If they bathe themselves in the morning or at night, they're clean, except for their what? Feet, because their feet are walking in this world. And so as it walks in this world, it picks up the dirt of the world on a daily basis. Therefore, when they come back home or when they go to their neighbors, what do they do? They wash their feet. So they're washed every whit, right? Except for their feet. It's not like when they go to their neighbor's house, it's like, can I just take a full on bath? Can I just shower myself? I'm just filthy right now. No, the only thing they need to wash is their feet. Why, because they're already clean every whit. It's just that, as a Christian, because we live in this world, we're gonna pick up the dirt of this world on a daily basis. So what do we do? We confess our sins, He's faithful and just, they forgive us our sins, they cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He says, little children, I write these things unto you that you sin not. But if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous, is what He's saying. So here's the thing. In the Old Testament, animal sacrifices, confessing of sins was necessary in order to cleanse them of daily sins. New Testament, no sacrifices, but we still need to confess our sins in order to stay right with God. Because that's what they did in the Old Testament in order to keep fellowship with God. They needed to confess their sins and do the animal sacrifices, okay? So if that's not enough for you, look at Hebrews 10 and verse number one. No, they needed to do the sacrifices in order to atone for their sin. That's what saved them. Pastor Mejia, look at verse number one of Hebrews 10. For the law having a shadow, there goes that word again, of good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never, they read sometimes, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers they're unto perfect. They're saying this, the sacrifices couldn't save anybody. Verse two, for them, will they not have ceased to have been offered? I mean, think about this. If the animal sacrifices can save anybody, why do they keep doing it, right? If the animal sacrifices can save anyone, they just should have ceased to have been offered. It was like, well, I'm good. I did mine when I was like five or something. It was like, I'm good to go. Why should I offer any more sacrifices? It saved me already. Because that the worshipers, verse two, once purged, should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Now listen to this. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins, robber breaker. It's not possible. Oh, but you know what these dispensationalists, these hyper dipsticks, they just want to add to the word of God and say, well, it's not possible, but it is possible though. It's not possible according to Hebrews 10, but it was possible at one point. What are you talking about? It's not possible that it should take away sins. And when it's referring to, it's referring to the totality of sin. Couldn't save them. Go to Matthew 26. No, actually go to Hebrews 12, sorry. Let me read to you from Matthew 26. We're pretty much done. So one thing we can learn from this study here that we're doing on these Old Testament ordinances is the fact that there was simply an outlining, a foreshadowing, a representation of something else. Whether it's the meats, drinks, diverse washings, or it's the Sabbath, it's the cardinal ordinances that were done for thousands of years in order to help them to understand and to remind them of that which is to come. So it's kind of foolish for people to say, well, I'm just gonna completely disregard the very image and just go with the shadow. Wouldn't that be just stupid? I'm gonna reject Jesus Christ. I'm just gonna stick with the shadow of things to come. It's nonsense folks, it's backwards. Look what the Bible says in Hebrews 12. Let me read to you from Matthew 26, verse 28 says, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Let me read to you from Hebrews nine, verse number 19 says, 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 saying, this is the blood of the Testament, which God had been joined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood, both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry and almost all things by the law are purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. 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. Did you get that? He's saying, look, it's necessary that the patterns of what we see here that they're representing the things in heaven, you know, God's not taking an actual lamb and sacrificing that in heaven for the remission of our sins. That sucks. It's not gonna do anything. It's an animal. There has to be a better sacrifice. For Christ is not entering into the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Look at Hebrews 12, verse 24. This will be the last verse. It says in verse 24, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling, notice what it says, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Now that's a beautiful statement right there. Why? Because you know, the Bible talks about Abel was slain. God said to Cain, thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, right? Now what was it crying for? What was it asking for? Revenge. It wanted to be avenged because he was murdered. His life was taken unjustly, unrighteously. So the blood was crying revenge. Jesus' blood, on the other hand, speaks better things than that of Abel. What does his blood speak? Redemption. You know why it's better than what Abel's blood speaks? Because Abel could not save himself. When he shed his blood, he wanted revenge. When Jesus shed his blood, what did he say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And it was through his blood that he was able to redeem mankind to himself. It's way better. Oh, but no, it's not good enough for these Hebrew roots people. No, that blood is not good enough. We need to go back to the blood of the bulls and of goats. We need to go back to the dietary laws. We need to go back to the Sabbath. That's better. Okay, then you stick to your old covenant and split hell wide open when you die. That's what it is. You want to try to save yourself? Okay, go for it. We'll see how that works out for you. In fact, ask Ellen G. White how that's going for today. Ask Miller and the Millerites how that's going for them today. Yeah, they became their own sacrifice. They're going to eternally burn. They're an eternal offering. And their smoke shall ascend forever and ever, the Bible says. That's what they wanted. I don't want that. That's why I got saved, amen. 14 years ago, I got saved. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I just rather have Jesus be my Sabbath than me try to keep the Sabbath, amen. Let's fire our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the blood of Jesus. We're thankful that he was the culmination of all of the ordinances. I'm so thankful for all Old Testament saints who believed just like us, or should we say we believe just like them? And they believed on Jesus Christ. They were under that Old Testament law, and they were integrated into the New Testament. Some of them were even integrated into the New Testament when Jesus Christ came, but they understood that those things were done away with. We're so thankful for people in the Bible in the Old Testament who had understanding of the Bible. They had understanding of your word, of the ordinances. They knew what they meant. And Lord, I pray, God, that you would continue to confound these Hebrew roots movement people, Lord, even the Seventh-day Adventists and those who seek to pervert the word of God and change salvation and try to bring people back under the law. Help us not to be a church that entertains that Lord.