Richvale Community Church
Sunday, August 2, 2026

  • Introduction

    Good morning.
    In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck a reef off the coast of Alaska, spilling more than 
    11 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine water of the Alaskan gulf.
    Thousands of workers,
    hundreds of boats, and
    millions of dollars were poured into the cleanup.
    Yet more than thirty-five years later, scientists are still discovering pockets of oil trapped beneath the rocks.
    On the surface, everything looked clean.
    But underneath, the contamination remained…
    There is an important lesson here…
    … sometimes it is easy to ignore what is happen below the surface.
    . and time doesn't necessarily heal all things..
    Many of us can look fine on the outside.
    we can put on a smile, and convince ourselves and others that everything is okay.
    But beneath the surface, there is often more going on than anyone else can see.
    Augustine the church father called this a restless of heart…
    He concluded that ..
    Our hearts are restless until they find rest in Christ..
    That is exactly where the book of Hebrews meets us…
    Our need and his provision..
    This place where mercy and grace intersect..
    We are in our series, Anchored:
    To day we talking ..Breaking Through Barriers.
    The original Jewish readers....
    had begun their journey enjoying the freedom found in Christ.
    But as persecution intensified, many were tempted to drift backward—to leave the freedom of grace and return to the familiarity of the old covenant and its system of laws and sacrifices.
    The problem was that the old covenant was never sufficient to do what they desperately needed.
    It could expose sin.
    It could remind people of sin.
    It could temporarily cover sin.
    But it could never completely remove sin or cleanse the conscience.
    This has been the writer's argument throughout Hebrews.
    Jesus is better than the prophets.
    Better than the angels.
    Better than Moses.
    Better than Joshua.
    Better than the priests.
    Then, in chapter 8, he explains why.
    Hebrews 8:7 ESV
    7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
    If the old covenant had been enough, God would never have promised a new one.
    We saw than in Jerimaiahs prophecy last week.. new heart..
    The new covenant doesn't merely clean the surface.
    It reaches beneath the surface.
    It transforms the heart.
    The heart is the command center of our lives—the center of our thoughts, desires, decisions, values, emotions, and will.
    And
    Because of Christ's better covenant, it deals with barriers — that were found in the Old Covenant..
    ...first

    I. The Barrier That Separates Us (Curtain)

    In 2022, Pam and I had the opportunity to visit Italy.
    One of the highlights was touring the Vatican Museum in Rome.
    We did a self-guided tour…
    It was incredible! There was so much to be seen.
    There was room after room was filled with history—gold, sculptures, priceless artifacts, and breathtaking paintings.
    The tour eventually led us into the Sistine Chapel.
    As you stand there looking up …there is this amazing fresco.. then you see Michelangelo's .. famous painting call the creation of Adam..
    God finger reaching out to wards Adam..
    When see this and you can't help but feel a sense of awe.
    Hebrews 9 is much like taking a guided tour.
    The writer walks us through the tabernacle, showing us the layout of Israel's worship. but It was more the architecture..
    Every room,
    every piece of furniture,
    every curtain,
    and every ceremony was designed by God to point beyond itself to something greater.
    Hebrews 9:1–10 ESV
    1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,
    The Writer of Hebrews begins with the Holy Place, this is the section where the priests carried out their daily ministry.
    There stood the golden lampstand,
    reminding Israel that God is light.
    Beside it was the table holding the show bread.. Bread of the Presence,
    symbolizing God's continual provision and fellowship with His people.
    Then there was another curtain.
    Behind that curtain was the Most Holy Place—
    the very heart of the tabernacle—where God's presence was uniquely manifested.
    There stood the Ark of the Covenant, overlaid with pure gold.
    Inside the Ark were three reminders of Israel's history:
    1..a jar of manna, reminding them of God's provision in the wilderness;
    2. Aaron's staff that had miraculously budded, confirming God's chosen priesthood;
    3 and the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, revealing God's holy standard.
    Above the ark stood two angelic cherubim overshadowing the mercy seat, the place where blood placed , once a year,
    for the sin of the nation..
    —- All this was behind CURTAINS..
    Hebrews..tells us..that
    While the tabernacle and the temple were spectacular… something was-missing…
    in verse 8
    Hebrews 9:8–9 ESV
    8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,
    We told that the Holy revealed that …as
    as long as the curtains are standing, direct access to God was
    limited.
    — because of the nature of priesthood..being a barrier …only the priests and high priests had access..on top of that..
    — the sacrifices were ..Were insufficient to atone for sins
    everything in the tabernacle was temporary..
    Have…you noticed..that sometimes temporary fixes can be permanent.. you had good intentions but
    because time, energy ot resources..
    But..GOD CAME UP WITH A SOLUTION..
    IT Came with sending of Jesus..
    That is why on Good Friday is so significant —.
    . when Jesus the lamb God willingly offered his life up on the cross…
    We told the earth shook…. and that the curtain ..barrier in the temple …tore from top to bottom..
    The barrier was broken - giving us access to all of us into his presence .
    Here is the thing about the New Covenant.. not only are we given access to God…
    but we forgiveness of the sin and it’s effects …
    The cross reminds us..
    There is nothing out side of the reach of God”s work ofGrace..
    —-There is no addiction that can defeat the cross
    — There is no Relationship that is without hope.
    … there is no failure that is terminal
    why because God work is complete..
    —
    not only are we forgiven… we made new creatures in Christ.
    We have been given a gift of grace..
    a clear conscious and be free from guilt and shame..
    Many people spend their lives cleaning up the surface—trying to
    look better,
    do better,
    and be better—while underneath, the residue of sin remains.
    We've all experienced it.
    The problem isn't only that we've sinned.
    It's also the guilt and shame that sin leaves behind.
    Tim Keller wisely said,
    "Guilt has to do with what we've done. Shame has to do with what we believe we are." Tim Keller
    The two are closely connected.

    Application

    The New Covenant is a better because we access and real forgiveness..
    The problem is that we can settle for so much less…
    We think we can change people
    That we modify our own behavior.
    — Here is the thing…
    Only Jesus transforms the heart. God isn’t interested in cosmetic changes.
    He wants complete cleansing.

    Transition

    The Old Covenant exposed the problem.
    Now the writer introduces the solution.

    2. The Blood That Saves Us

    Have you noticed how many of our great hymns are filled with blood imagery?
    William Cowper wrote,
    "There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains."
    Robert Lowry asked the question:
    "What can wash away my sin?"
    Then he answered it with one of the most memorable lines in Christian history:
    "Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
    And the chorus declares:
    Oh! precious is the flow That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
    To some people today, that language sounds strange—even disturbing.
    Why all the emphasis on blood?
    Because throughout the Bible, blood represents life.
    God declared in
    Leviticus 17:11 ESV
    11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood…
    Blood is the life-giving system of the human body.
    It carries oxygen to every cell, delivers nutrients, fights infection, and sustains life.
    When someone loses too much blood, doctors perform a
    blood transfusion—not simply to replace a fluid, but to preserve life itself.
    God took that physical reality and gave it profound spiritual meaning.
    In the tabernacle, blood became the supreme offering.
    It was a Life for life… we read in..
    Leviticus 17:11 ESV
    11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
    In other words… Under the Old system..a life had to be surrendered so another life could be spared.
    But there was an inherent problem and that was the blood of animals was never enough..
    And so you had this sacrificial engine of sacrifices
    in the temple..
    Every sacrifice had to be repeated - over and over again…because every sacrifice was only a shadow of something greater.
    There was no end to the process..
    But when Jesus came everything changed .. because instead of … .bring another sacrifice.. He brought himself..
    verse 11-14 tells us.
    Hebrews 9:11–14 ESV
    11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
    Verse 11 begins with two beautiful words:
    “But when Christ appeared…Good things happened…”
    Have you noticed that..
    When Jesus arrives on the scene -Good things happen!!
    when Jesus comes into your family!
    Good things happened..
    — when Jesus gets hold of our lives!
    when Jesus takes care of what we going through..
    Good things happen..
    When Jesus showed up 2000 years ago it was Good things happened
    Why?…
    because of the blood.
    David Martyn Lloyd Jones (welsh preacher..
    Our gospel is a gospel of blood; blood is the foundation; without it there is nothing.
    The blood of Jesus changed everything because…because it changed the whole system …
    No longer did He deal with shadows and types —
    BUT the reality..
    Unlike earthly priests,
    He didn’t bring the blood of goats.
    He brought His own blood.
    Verse 12:
    “He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”
    — Jesus became both Priest and Sacrifice!..
    OBTAINING ETERNAL REDEMPTION…THAT IS THE GOSPEL IN A NUTSHELL
    In 2006, Dr. Samuel Weinstein, a pediatric heart surgeon from New York,
    traveled to El Salvador to perform life-saving surgeries on children.
    During one operation, an eight-year-old boy began bleeding uncontrollably.
    The hospital had no blood available, and the boy's rare blood type
    —B-negative—itcouldn't be found.
    It just happened that Dr. Weinstein had the same blood type.
    So he set down his scalpel, removed his gloves, and donated his own blood.
    After a quick snack and some water, he returned to the operating room and completed the surgery that saved the boy's life.
    The surgeon became the donor.
    The one who could saved the child also supplied the blood the child desperately needed.
    This is what happened in Christ…
    He became both priest and sacrifice.. With one exception …
    .. Jesus didn't simply give a pint of His blood—He gave himself fully..
    No wonder the Preacher of Hebrews Marveled…
    Hebrews 9:14 ESV
    14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
    He says …How more effective was the Jesus Sacrifice…
    …. Part of it was
    a. the Divine Presence…
    In the Old Testament, when a sacrifice was placed on the altar, the fire consumed the offering, and the smoke rising to heaven became a picture of the offering being accepted before God.
    But
    Jesus sacrifice was offered “through the eternal Spirit.”
    The fire of The Holy Spirit—CONSUMED THE OFFERIG..
    (the eternal presence)
    THE HS—was at work in the sacrifice of Jesus, presenting it as the perfect and final offering.
    This means that..Jesus Offering fully appeased the righteous of God… satisfied all the requirements as an ever last sacrifical..
    This..Mean …the blood of Jesus is enough..
    It is sufficient l.
    It is sufficient for every generation, every sin, and every person who comes to God through faith.
    b. Second ..
    Jesus sacrifice.. effectively removed sin.
    In theology we call th
     expiation.
    Expiation means that something is cleansed, removed, or carried away
    This does not mean without sin…
    It doesn’t mean that we will never struggle with sin…
    We All have sinned and fallen short the glory of God..
    But rather sin no longer stands between us and God as an unforgiven debt.
    The penalty has been paid.
    The guilt has been removed.
    The power of sin is being broken. And one day, even the presence of sin will be gone forever.
    But there is something else that makes Jesus’ sacrifice so much better.
    c. It means - He is the perfectorof faith.
    The blood of Christ reaches the conscience.
    it deals fully with guilt a r shame It reaches the heart. It restores us to worship the living God.

    Application

    Here is the problem,
    We know we are forgiven intellectually.
    But emotionally we continue
    replay failures.
    carry shame.
    and wonder if we are ever enough
    Hebrews says:
    Your conscience doesn’t need our help…
    It simply needs the blood of Christ.

    Jesus provided the perfect sacrifice — Perfect mean nothing else is need… accept…
    Now what is to walk in the ..

    3. The Confidence That Sustains Us

    In 1987, a 19-year-old West German pilot named Mathias Rust did something that shocked the world.
    He climbed into a small Cessna airplane and flew
    hundreds of miles into Soviet airspace.
    At the time, the Soviet Union was one of the most powerful nations on earth.
    Its borders were guarded. Its airspace was protected. It was considered almost impossible for an outsider to get through.
    But somehow, this young man made it all the way to Moscow and landed near Red Square—the center of Soviet power.
    The picture was unbelievable: a teenager standing beside a tiny airplane in a place where no outsider was supposed to be.
    He crossed a barrier everyone thought was impossible to cross.
    And that is exactly what Jesus did for us.
    For centuries, there was a barrier between sinful humanity and a holy God.
    The temple curtain was a constant reminder of that separation.
    Behind that curtain was the Most Holy Place—the place that represented the presence of God.
    But ordinary people could not enter.
    The message was clear: God is holy, and sin separates us from Him.
    But then Jesus came.
    He crossed the barrier we could never cross…
    Hebrews 10 tells us what this means.
    Hebrews 10:19–22 says:
    Hebrews 10:19–22 ESV
    19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
    Notice the word the writer uses: confidence.
    The word ‘confidence’ in Greek (parresia) means ‘free-speaking’ — means frankness and bluntness..
    That would have been a shocking word for the original readers.
    They understood that you did not casually walk into God’s presence.
    But now the writer says, “We have confidence to enter. freely”
    Why?
    Not because we are good enough.
    But..
    it is in what Jesus has done for us.
    Verse 20 says Jesus opened “a new and living way…through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.”
    The New way to God is through the new covenant-
    It is “living” because Jesus is alive—unlike the old covenant’s dead animal sacrifices. ..
    Jesus was the indestructible life that rose form the dead..
    Jesus’ broken body became the means (Curtain) of entry into God’s presence.
    Hebrews says: the curtain is a picture of Christ’s flesh.
    The way into God’s presence was opened because Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice.
    His body was broken.
    His blood was poured out.
    And through His death, He opened a new and living way for us to come to God.
    The curtain that once said, “Stay away,” now says “Come near.”
    We have confidence because
    Jesus not only opened the way—He represents us in the presence of God.
    He does not simply bring us to God; He keeps us close to God.
    He is thr priest who over the house of God..
    So what is our response?
    Verse 22 says:
    Hebrews 10:22 ESV
    22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
    That phrase Draw near would have reminded Jewish readers of Abraham, who "drew near" to God in Genesis 18.
    It interesting the Mishna the Jewish Commentary..
    The ancient rabbis observed that drawing near can mean three things:
    drawing near to plead,
    drawing near to seek reconciliation,
    or drawing near to engage in battle. 
    — In other words we can come to God with anything — at any time…
    The blood of Christ does not just forgive your past; it gives you confidence to walk with God today.

    Conclusion

    This morning we started—with the oil spill in Alaska .
    The problem with the oil ..
    35 years is still there..
    It was that it was deeper than what people could see.
    The surface could look clean, but underneath there was still contamination.
    And that is a picture of what sin does in our lives.
    Many people spend their lives trying to manage the surface.
    We try to look good.
    We try to appear strong.
    We try to convince ourselves and others that everything is okay.
    But underneath there may be guilt and shame we have never surrendered.
    And the message of Hebrews is this:
    You do not have to live that way anymore.
    Because Jesus did not come to simply improve your life on the surface.
    He came to cleanse you at the deepest level.
    The curtain has been torn.
    The barrier has been removed.
    The sacrifice has been made.
    The way to God has been opened.
    So the challenge for us..
    Will we stop carrying what Christ has already carried?
    Will WE continue living as though WE have to earn God’s acceptance ?
    or will WILL WE
    , draw near.
    Not because WE have done enough—but because He has done everything…
    To day is communion..Sunday..
    Amen..

      • Hebrews 8:7ESV

      • Hebrews 9:1–10ESV

      • Hebrews 9:8–9ESV

      • Leviticus 17:11ESV

      • Leviticus 17:11ESV

      • Hebrews 9:11–14ESV

      • Hebrews 10:19–22ESV

      • Hebrews 10:22ESV

Richvale Community Church
brendenbridges@gmail.com
5308453694
http://richvalechurch.com
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