Turn to the book of Hebrews chapter
10 if you would. We're going to break away this
morning from our series of messages that we've been coming with from
the book of Luke. I'd mentioned that when we began
the series. Occasionally we'll step away
from the book of Luke and bring single ones here and there. I
was just inspired. I listened to a message Todd
Nyberg this week, who preached over there in Danville, Kentucky.
You know, he does that a lot. Lexington's not very far. He
goes down there and preaches for... They've been without a
pastor since Don Fortner passed away. I told them this when I
was there preaching for them a couple weeks back when Kathy
and I were in Kentucky. I said, you are a beacon of light
to the men in churches around the nation and around the world.
What? Who do we do? I said, your patience,
your God-given patience to wait on Him to bring you a pastor
is beyond my understanding. I don't think I could have that
kind of patience. I'd be out there looking for
somebody. I'd be asking people. I'd be,
come on in here, try to be our pastor. We'd want people to come,
wouldn't we? It's kind of what we did here,
isn't it? We thought the Lord was raising a man up. Oh man,
what did I do? We thought the Lord was raising a man up, and
we didn't wait on the Lord at all. We just put that man in
charge, and it turned out he wasn't the one to be in charge,
didn't it? It turned out he wasn't either one of us or a pastor.
We were beacons. Well, Todd Nyberg brought this
message, and he brought it from this section of Scripture here,
and I want to bring you my version of what Todd preached on Tuesday
night. Now, I don't know about you folks.
I do know this about God's people. I do know this about God's people.
We love to hear and speak about God's grace to us. That's the most precious thing
I have in this entire world. You would think it'd be my wife.
Well, let me tell you something. It's by His grace that she and
I are married. So what's even more precious
than her to me? God's grace. God's grace to this
man who is so undeserving of any of his blessings. So undeserving. We love to hear and we love to
speak. We love to tell others. What
makes you so different from those who are going crazy over what's
going on in the news? What makes you so different about
the stuff that they're teaching kids in schools nowadays? What
makes you so different? from what's going on over there
in San Francisco. You don't seem to care about
anything that's going on in the world around you. My Lord rules
it all. And it's by His grace that I
know that. It's by His grace that you know
that. And as children of God, we know
that it's by His grace because we remember a time when we didn't
have that grace. We could see now that we were
blind as a bat back then. Oh, we love to tell people about
God's unmerited favor for His people. For me, not getting what
I deserve. By my Lord's grace, tell me if
this doesn't fit you. By my Lord's grace, I have been
brought, I didn't come on my own will, I didn't get smart
one day. I didn't just say, you know what,
I'm going to stop doing all the dumb things that I've done all
my life and go to church. No, I was brought to a church
here in rescue where God had a minister preaching the truth
of God's word. And I sat there and I heard first,
I heard this, you don't deserve nothing. That's what hell is. It's nothing. It's nothing to
be deserving of, but that's what you're going to get if God doesn't
love you. Oh, those are harsh words, John.
Those would not go well in a church down the street. Why would you
say such things? God created everything. He loves
everything He created. No, He doesn't. And I was brought
Were you brought to understand that? I was brought to know that
there was nothing in me deserving God's love. I was brought to
understand what I was. As well as all mankind, sinners
before God, before a thrice holy God, one who has sinned against
God even in thought. Oh, you've had some bad thoughts
in your mind? Every time I thought that I had power over our Creator,
that it was John Reeves who was making things work, that's a
sin against God. Every time I get mad at something
that's going on, like over in San Francisco, or downtown Sacramento,
or over in the White House, or whatever it is, God cut me off
on the freeway, I'm sinning against my Lord. because I'm getting
mad at him. As the sovereign over everything,
all things are purposed by him, including every red light that
we're stopped at. Am I not right about that? Isn't that what God's
word says? We have to be brought out of our natural thought into
the light of his glory, into the light of his sovereign ruling.
Some are brought to understand what we are before a thrice-holy
God and that there is a Savior. Yet there are also some who are
yet sinners, shed by grace, and I'm one of them. Look at verse
19 of Hebrews chapter 10. Having therefore. Having therefore. Todd mentioned this. Brother
of Henry Mahan. Those of you who have heard of
Henry Mahan. You know the gospel preacher that is. He said this,
when you see the word therefore, find out what is therefore. Find
out what it goes to lead to that, because that's what therefore
means. It means something. It means because of this. Therefore,
and back up now to verse 18. Now, where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. We're remission of what?
Sins. Look at verse 17. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of this is,
where the remission of sins and iniquities are, there's no more
offering for sin. Having therefore, having therefore
because of that, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus. Boldness to come without anything
of yours to offer. Boldness to come before God with
nothing. Because that's what we're shown,
isn't it? We're shown we have nothing to offer God, yet we
have boldness to come to Him. We have boldness. This sinner
has boldness, freedom, to come to my Creator, the One who I
have sinned against, how can that be? How can it be that sinners
can enter into the holiest of holies? Well, that's what a picture
of the Old Testament saints were, the Old Testament priests were. They would go in once a year
into the holiest of holies, that's what it was called. It was behind
a veil. The tapestry, and as I
understand it, that tapestry was four inches thick. Could
you imagine that if you had curtains on your house that were four
inches thick? Wow. Four inches thick. You're not
going to see any sunlight coming through that. Once a year, a
priest would go in behind that veil into the holiest of holies,
but he would not go without blood. What do we see here in our text?
Having boldness. freedom, access to the holiest
of holies, to God Almighty, to where all the oracles of God
were kept that pointed to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
to the mercy seat. By what? By the blood of Jesus. I pray the Lord will give you
and I an understanding this morning of what His Word is saying. What
a statement of grace centers into entering into the holiest
of holies. Only the high priest could do
that before Christ came, Christ came. Did you know that when
he died on the cross, that veil, that tapestry that was four inches
thick was ripped from the bottom to the top. A picture, a picture
of God opening himself up to His people. Christ said, it is
finished. It was finished. Does that make you happy? Does that bless you? Are you
a sinner who's saved by grace? Because that's what it takes
right there, saved by God's grace and shining His light of glory
in your heart. removing that old stony heart
that we've all come into this world with, the grace of God
in doing such, and shining the light of His Son, our Savior. Could there be any greater statement
in God's Word? We, sinners, can come with boldness
to the throne of all power, through the blood of the Son of the living
God, Jesus Christ. Boldness. What is that saying?
It's saying that some are free from the wrath to come. What
is the wrath to come? It's eternal death. That's the
wages of sin. Eternal death. In Romans 5, verse
12, we read these words. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for they all have sinned. Romans 3.23, we read it this
way, "...for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God." Folks, this is grace. This is grace here in God's Word.
We're at 7.3.16, "...for God so loved the world." Now I want
to stop there. When you talk to a free-will
religionist, If you're asking me right now,
what is a free will religion? Is that somebody who thinks that
by their own decision, they accepted God? They think that God has
offered salvation through the work of His Son. It's an offering
to you, now you've got to accept it. You, the dead, need to get
up and grab a hold of that medication that will save you. That's not
God's Word. God's Word says, I saw you in
the blood and felt you were in that field and I came by and
I said, live. God's Word says, you must be
quickened, made alive, who are dead and trespasses in sin. They
want to say, those that are free willism, those who want to put
themselves above God, those who say, I have the power to save
myself, it's when I decide to be saved, They use this phrase
from John 3.16. And they completely disregard
this next part. What do we see next? That He
gave His only begotten Son. God gave His only begotten Son. Can there anything go wrong with
that? If it could, then He wouldn't be God, would it? This is the
grace that John loves to hear. I love to know that my Lord has
everything to do with my salvation and that I have nothing to do
with it because I would mess it up. He gave His only begotten
Son for you and I, for His people. Could He lose anything? Oh, what
a world we live in that preaches and teaches that God is just
trying. Brother Mike put a sign, made
a sign, if we were gonna go down and invite people to come to
church one time, and he made a sign that we were gonna hang
up above the pop-up, and we hung it up out here, we had a little
rummage sale out here for a couple days, we hung it up out there.
And it says this, it says, if your God is trying, your preacher
is lying. And that's the truth. If you're
hearing somebody speak about a trying God, then you're not
talking about God. God does not try. He does not
offer. He commands. And if He puts the
power behind His command, you will come. Those apostles that
He called as He passed by them on the Sea of Galilee, He didn't
say, hey, can you come with me today? No, He said, come. And
what did they do? They got up and came. That's
the power of the God of this book, the God of creation. He
does what he pleases, and it pleases him to shine his grace
in those that he's loved from before the world was. God's gracious
to us. He's loved us, despite us shaking
our fist in his face. Despite us sinning against him,
he's loved his people. Not the whole world, His people. That's what it says next, that
whosoever, that's His people. Whosoever, what? Believeth. What did we read? What was that
article, Joe Terrell? Let me put that again. Feelings
are looking inward at ourselves. Faith never changes. It's believing
God for who He is. It's believing His Word, the
record of God, and what He says about Himself. You folks know
me. I never went to seminary. Heck,
I never even graduated high school. Truck drivers don't have to graduate
anything. There's nothing easier for me than just to believe what
He says. How often have you heard somebody
say something, you say, don't you believe God's Word? It's
so simple. It's so simple, how can you not
believe it? We're dead in trespasses and
sin. It takes a miracle, a miracle for God to make us believe. Oh,
how I love to believe on my Lord, how easy it is. I'm not a learned
man. I didn't just figure things out
on my own. But my God gave his only begotten
son for me, the whosoever, that I would believe in him and should
not perish. And he does that for every one
of his people. But have everlasting life. These
whosoever believeth are the ones Our text is speaking of there
in Hebrews chapter 10, having therefore brethren. Did you hear
that? Brethren. Brethren who believe
God's word. We, we who have been given the
gift of faith, as it says in Ephesians chapter two, verses
eight and nine. We who have been given the gift,
and we know it was a gift. I think I said it a moment ago.
We know we were blind. We can see the color blue in
the sky now. We look at the sky and we see
the color. We look at the glory of Christ and we see it. And
we see that we were blind. We couldn't see it before. You
and I, brethren, have boldness to enter into the holiest of
holies. We can come to God by only one way. Through the blood of Jesus. Mark your places here in Hebrews
if you would. Turn over to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Look with me at verse 11. For
the scripture saith, whosoever believeth, this is the brethren,
whosoever, those who believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Are you ashamed of the all powerful,
almighty, all sovereign God? One thing about those who believe
in free willism, those who believe in Arminianism. You tell them
it's not their power, that it's God's power, and they'll poke
you in the chest, just like my aunt did, and turn into something
more wicked than I've ever seen a human being turn into, and
poke you in the chest, and say, don't you take my free will away. For the scriptures say it. God's
words say it. Whosoever believeth on Him shall
not be ashamed." Isn't that where we go out into the world and
declare that He is God Almighty in the flesh, that Jesus Christ
is our Savior, that we are saved by the grace of God, that salvation
is of the Lord and of the Lord alone? For there is no difference
between Jew and Greek. Verse 12, For the same Lord over
all is rich unto all that call upon Him. for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But don't stop there. Verse 14,
how then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him whom they have not heard? Are the religious world around
us the Arminian preachers The free-willism preachers? The so-called
God-loves-everybody Christians? Are they preaching and teaching
about the true Jesus? No. But how are you going to
learn, how are you going to believe in the true God of all creation
if you've never heard of Him? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they be sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings
of good things? But they have not all obeyed,
it says, in verse 16. They have not all obeyed the
gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? And Paul says these words. He's
inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these down. So then, faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by what? You read that? By the Word of God. The distinction is made. Some
will believe and some will not. Turn over to the 10th chapter
of John. John chapter 10. John, why do
you always have to refer to these verses? Isn't there something
else in God's Word that we can refer to that says the same thing?
Maybe so. No doubt there is. But it doesn't
get any plainer than these words right here. Romans 8, verse 28. I've almost worn the ink off
the page. I've looked at it so often. Do
you have Scriptures that you've done the same? I want it back. But if you ever
want to borrow Bill Silva's Bible, I don't know how long he's had
it, but I think he's had it ever since it was written. Somebody
gave it to him a long time ago. He's marked it so many places.
I'm telling you, there are spots where you've got to look at really
closely. What does that say? It's almost worn completely off. Verse 22. Verse 23, And Jesus
walked in the temple of Solomon's porch, Here's the religionist. Here's the self-righteous, natural
human being. Here's the good guy, who's good
in everything he does. He feeds the poor. He gives to
the church. He shows up on time. He does
all the things, the rituals, that religion has come up with.
And he says, Then came the Jews round about in verse 24 and said
unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be
the Christ, tell us plainly. We just don't feel like you're
the Christ. You know, I know you've been committing all these
miracles that no other man could ever do. But we just don't feel
that you could be the Christ. You just don't fit our description
of who God is. And Jesus answered him, verse
25, I told you, Is there anybody need me to help
them understand what he just did? I told you, says the Lord
of Glory, and ye believed not. That could be John Reeves. Oh,
you talk about grace? That could be me. That could
be you. There's grace. Some believe. And if some believe,
maybe it could be me. Maybe I could be one who believes,
maybe. Go on. I told you. The works,
the miracles, the things that I've done in my father's name,
they bear witness of me. No other man could do these things.
No other man has ever fed 5,000 people with just a couple of
baskets. They bear witness of me. They
bear witness of who he is. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish. Is that good news to you? Is
that something that just blesses your heart? God is gracious to
some. My sheep, he calls us. Those
that I have loved from before the world was, those that I had
determined to become flesh and lay down my life for, hear my
voice. And I know them and they follow
me. They don't follow somebody else. They don't run off and,
well, these guys over here, they're kind of close. Let's go over
there. No, God shows us that's not good enough. You need to
hear the truth. And the only way you hear the
truth is if God gives you ears to hear it. I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." This is grace. God's sheep will hear the word
of truth. I hear God's truth because God's
grace, because His love for His people. In Jeremiah 31, verse
3, we hear these words that the prophet was inspired to write
this. He said, the Lord hath appeared
of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. That's not one, that's not a
love that starts. That's a love that's always been.
A love that will never stop. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness, have I drawn they. Go back to your text in Hebrews
chapter 10 if you would, please. Boldness we have, freedom, cheerful
confidence. We have therefore boldness, brethren.
The Hebrews were taught all their life, the Jews, the Hebrews,
they were taught all of their life, only the high priest could
go and enter in behind the great veil. The vast distance between
man and God is on the other side of that veil. Between God and
man, and simple man. But one was allowed to enter
in, but he was not allowed to enter in without blood. To make intercession for the
people. Therefore, look again if you would at verse 18. Now,
where remission, where sacrifice, of these is there is no more
offering, no more forgiveness for sin. Now look at verse 17
again. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Can God forget? John, you're
standing here before me and you're telling me God knows all things.
And now you're telling me He forgets. There's a contradiction
there. No, there's not. No, there's
not. You know how God can't forget? Or how you can read that? And there is sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. That's because there's no sin
in you and I. Jesus Christ, our Savior, has
paid for every single sin we have committed. and every single
sin that we will commit until the day he takes us out of this
world. When God looks upon you, he sees the blood of his son,
the perfect righteous blood that was used to take him into the
veil, into the holiest of holies for our sins. That's grace. That's the story
of grace. Where there is remission of sins,
there is no more offering for sin. Don't try to bring something
of yours. Yours is full of sin. Everything
you do is tainted by what you are, and God only accepts perfection. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest of holies, by the perfected blood,
the perfect blood of Jesus Christ. Who has this boldness? Believers. Those who believe, just like
I read in that article. Not those who feel. Those who
believe. Whosoever believeth is what our
Lord says in John 3.16. Whosoever believeth. Not unbelievers. We just studied this last night,
or Friday night. In Mark 16, verses 15 and 16,
we read these words. And He said unto them, Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. Not everybody's going to believe.
Many are going to go through that doormarked death. and stand
before God and say, did we not cast out devils in your name?
Did we not feed the poor? Did we not show up on Sunday
for church? Did we not call you Jesus the
Lord? And God will say, depart from
me, ye workers of iniquity. I have never known you. Do you
see the grace in God looking upon us? And say, come, enter
in, thou faithful servant. Have you ever been faithful?
We have boldness to come to the holiest of holies by what? By
the blood of Jesus. His faithfulness. He made a covenant
before the world was ever created. God the Father is going to give
God the Son some people. My sheep, he calls us. God the
Son says, I'm going to redeem them. Though they're sinners,
I'm going to pay for their sin. I'm going to pay the cost. They're
mine. I shall lose none. God the Holy
Spirit, I'll go call them and give them life so they hear you. I'll give them life so they hear
the truth, so they believe. Oh, grace doesn't get any better. Not to this poor sinner. It just
doesn't get any better. Do you ever wonder if you're
saved from your sins? I ask you this, do you believe
God's Word? If you do, God's people call
you brethren. In Hebrews 2, 11 and 12, we read
these words. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren In the midst of the church will I sing praise
unto Thee. Folks, this is grace. This is
my story. I am saved by His grace through His blood. I'm justified
in Him. I'm sanctified in Him. I'm redeemed
by Him. And it's all in His blood. Now
because of this, look with me if you would at our text in Hebrews
chapter 10. I want to read verses 19-21,
and I'll make this quick. Let us draw near. It says in
verse 22, oh, I'm sorry, I was supposed to start in 19 again.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest of
holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way. Todd brought this out, I gotta
make this statement. Todd brought this out. You know the word new
there? If you look it up in the Hebrew language, this is the
only time that word new, N-E-W, is used. And the original word
means this. It means freshly slaughtered. That's what
they would use, that word new. Freshly slaughtered. This meat
I'm gonna cook for you tonight is new. That doesn't mean I just
took it out of the fridge. That means it was freshly slaughtered.
It was just slaughtered today. It's new meat. By a new, a freshly
slaughtered and living way. You know, if Jesus hadn't have
been slaughtered on that cross, you and I would not have any
life. A new and living way which he
hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. Then we see in verse 22, oh,
in having a high priest over, 21, in having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near. Knowing that we are saved
and we have boldness to come into the holiest of holies by
the blood of Christ, Let us draw near with true heart. Now we know that's Christ Jesus
because none of us have a true heart. In full assurance, boldness,
with freedom of what? Faith, belief, having our hearts
sprinkled from the evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. That pure water, that's the gospel.
The gospel is described John, Psalm 23, though I walk through
the valley of shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for my
Lord is with me. He maketh me to lay down in green
pastures along still waters. That's the pure water, the still
water of the gospel. Let us Draw near, it says. Let
you and I, the people of God, those who have the boldness to
enter in on the blood of Christ, not a boldness of their own works,
but the boldness of Jesus Christ, let us draw near. Grab a hold
of it. Come and hear the truth. Come
to where the gospel is preached. And then verse 23, let us. This
is my title for today, let us. Let us hold fast to the profession
Let us hold fast to our profession. That means confession. Let us
hang on to what we confess. Jesus Christ is Lord of all things. Let us hold on to what we confess,
that He is my Savior. When He said it is finished,
it is finished. Let us confess we are nothing,
that Christ Jesus is all. Folks, every true believer will
do that. Let us confess of our faith,
our belief, without wavering. For He is faithful that promised. And lastly, let's look at verse
24. And let us consider one another.
Let us, you and I, consider each other. I don't know that this
would happen, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone in this
very congregation stabbed me in the back. What? Folks, we're all human. I'm not
saying somebody would purposely do damage to me, but somebody
might accidentally do harm to me in some way or another. You're human. I'm human. Consider this. Consider each
other. I'm as much a sinner as you are.
I'm as capable of stumbling as you are. You're as capable of
sinning against me as I am sinning against you. Yet our Lord forgave
us. God help us to forgive each other. God help me to say I forgive
you 70 times 70. God help you to say, I forgive
John 70 times 70. And it's only by his grace that
we could ever do that. Some things just stick in our
craw. Oh, folks, God help us to cut that loose and be forgiving
to one another, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is. That doesn't mean That doesn't
mean showing up for church every Sunday. That means coming together
in faith. Brother, sister, I know you're
weak right now. Nothing I can say is going to
help you other than this. Look to Christ, the author and
the finisher of what we believe. Look to Him and be saved. Amen.