Turn with me in your Bibles please
to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. After we have a Bible reading
and prayer and some special music, the title of my message will
be, If Thou Wilt Be Perfect. If Thou Wilt Be Perfect. And I'll show you where that
is later on in the message. If Thou Wilt Be Perfect. Hebrews
10, verse 1. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year
continually make the comers there unto perfect. For then would
they have not ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in
those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the Book it
is written of me. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offering, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither has pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. By the witch will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering, oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he had perfected
forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is
witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Turn with me
again, please, to Hebrews chapter 10. Our Lord Jesus said, be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is
perfect. Perfect means complete, means
finished. It means the end, altogether
completed. perfect. If we are to see our
Heavenly Father or to be in heaven with our Heavenly Father, I should
say, we're going to have to be perfect. There's just no doubt
about it. We're just going to have to be
perfect. With men, our Lord said, this is impossible. With men,
it's an impossibility to be perfect, to have perfection. And I don't
care how good we might think we are, there's no perfection
there. Not in us. It's not in us. With men, this is impossible,
but thank the Lord He added this statement to that. But with God,
all things are possible. God could do it. As a matter
of fact, God did it. He was, our Lord Jesus Christ,
was that perfect sacrifice, was the perfect Savior. is the perfect substitute for
us, is the perfect satisfaction that God was looking for. He
paid the perfect price of redemption, the blood of the everlasting
covenant. He is our perfect peace. And if our minds are stayed on
him, we'll enjoy that perfect peace. Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Paul said in
Ephesians, he is our peace. He is the one who had perfect
obedience. We could not keep the law. We'll
see that as we go on here a little more about that. We could not
see the law, keep the law. There was no way. If a man tried
to keep all the law and yet offended in one point, He's guilty of
it all. Not just one point. He's guilty
of the whole thing. There's not a perfect person
in here in themselves. Now there are perfect people
in here. I believe that. But I'm gonna show you how that
could be here as we go along. You see, man is imperfect. No man will stand perfect on
his own. Paul said in Romans chapter 3,
there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are all become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. I think I believe God's word,
won't you? That's what he says about it. Man is imperfect. Man is imperfect. There's three
things I hope I can get across as we go through this message
today. One is man is imperfect. There's not a perfect person
in themselves. The second is the Lord Jesus
Christ is perfect. He's perfect. Everything he did,
he perfectly did for you and for me. And that's what we read
about here in Hebrews chapter 10. Lo, I have come to do thy
will, O God. And what did he come to do? To
give his body an offering for sin. And he did it perfectly. So perfectly that he carried
his own blood to glory, and his blood there covers our sin. Sometimes I think about that.
How does all that work? You know, when they went into
the Holy of Holies, When the high priest went in, and only
he could go in, when they went into the Holy of Holies, they'd
take the blood of the lamb, first of all for themselves on the
brazen altar, and then for the people as they went into the
Holy of Holies, and they sprinkled the blood on the altar, all over
the altar. The picture was, that the Lord
in that mercy seat, all over the mercy seat, the Lord that
was in the mercy seat would be looking at the high priest as
a representative of all the people and when he saw that blood, he
passed over their sin, passed over those people and gave them
life. The high priest representing
Jesus Christ himself. Perfect. Perfect. I can't say
too much about that. He was perfect. The Lord saw
the travail of his soul and he was satisfied with him. So satisfied
that he raised him from the dead for our justification. Man is imperfect. The Lord Jesus
Christ is perfect. He offered himself. And by the
way, so perfect, he offered himself without spot unto God. Hebrews chapter nine says, Peter
said it this way. He's a lamb without blemish and
without spot. who the writer of Hebrews also
said, who being the brightness of his God's glory, the express
image of God's person and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high. We'd not see God, we'd
not be with God because we're imperfect in the flesh. But someone
is, and He sits at the right hand of the Father. And He sits
there to intercede for you and me. All men are imperfect. The Lord Jesus Christ is perfect,
and He has perfected His own. His people He has perfected. He bore the sins of His people
on the cross. Isaiah said it this way, all
we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The psalmist David said it this
way, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. The Lord
will do it. I can't do it. I can't make myself
perfect. I can't do all kinds of good
things and all of a sudden become perfect. It's an impossibility.
As a matter of fact, I was shapen in iniquity and sin. Did my mother
conceive me? I went astray from the womb speaking
lies. I'm glad that the Lord in John
chapter 17 in His high priestly prayer said these words too. I in them, thou in me, that they
may be made perfect. that they may be made perfect. As a matter of fact, Paul tells
us that he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists,
some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints.
How could that be? They're the ones that preach
the word of truth, the word of grace. And God uses these called
preachers through the preaching of the word to produce faith
in the heart of his people. for the perfecting of the saints.
And if we don't get it from anywhere else, we can get it right here.
According to Colossians chapter two and verse 10, ye are complete
in him. You're perfect. You're perfect
in Jesus Christ. Now, my problem is sin. Not the things that I do, although
I do sin. The problem is me. I'm a sinner. And because I'm a sinner, I sin. And I gained that, if we can
say it that way, from Father Adam. When he fell, I fell in
him. When he fell, sin entered into
the world. You can see that from the first
two sons that were born to Adam and Eve, Cain. killed his brother. And then on through, all the
way through the scripture, God is angry with the wicked every
day. Ezekiel said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. He said it twice in the same
chapter, just to emphasize it for us. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. Paul said, the wages of sin is
death. On the other hand, thou shalt
call his name Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sin. Now that's perfection. That's
being perfected. John the Baptist said, behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Jesus said of himself, our Lord
Jesus said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Hold your place. We're going to get to Hebrews
10. Hold your place there and go just a few pages further to
Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 verse 20. Here's a prayer. They call it
benedictions, but it's actually a prayer. Now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in you, that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. In Hebrews chapter 10, we start
out with a shadow. We start out with a shadow. The
Old Testament sacrifices, they were shadows, they were pictures
of what was to come. In the Old Testament, as well
as in the New Testament, they had to put their trust in God's
Word, in God's Son. There's where salvation was.
Salvation wasn't in the keeping of the law. Salvation wasn't
in the sacrifices that they brought to the Lord continually. Salvation
wasn't in the high priest going once a year into the Holy of
Holies, bringing a sacrifice, the blood of the sacrifice for
all the people and confessing their sins. Salvation wasn't
in any of that. That was a picture. That was
a snapshot, if you will. That was the shadow. And in verses
1 to 4, he says, for the law, having a shadow of good things
to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with
those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make
the comers thereunto perfect. No amount of sacrifices, no amount
of work, no amount of doing will make any of us perfect of our
own. Mark your place there, turn with
me to Matthew chapter 19. See, these sacrifices, people
think that, you know, well, I've sacrificed my time. Well, he
has no pleasure in that because my times are in his hands. You
ever think about that? Well, I sacrificed my substance.
I sacrificed my money. What do we have that we've not
received? What kind of sacrifice is that then? Sometimes we think
we sacrifice who we are, who we were. And Paul says, I count
it all but done for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, to win Christ. He had no pleasure in these sacrifices. Matthew chapter 19, beginning
with verse 16. And behold, one came and said
unto him, good master, what good things shall I do that I may
have eternal life? What can I do? The master met
him at the level of his questioning, at his level of approach. He
said, I want to know what works I can do. What can I do to inherit
eternal life? And the master said, well, all
right. First of all, why callest thou me good? There's none good,
but God, that's who you're talking to. But if thou will enter in
to life, keep the commandments. And the young man said, which
one? Jesus said, verse 18, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt
not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear
false witness, honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. And the young man saith unto
him, all these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I
yet? First of all, what was before
his youth? He was born in a sin. He had
Adam's nature, the old sinful nature. But let's just assume
that he kept everything from his youth up and he was thinking
himself a perfect man. What lack I yet? Jesus said unto
him, if thou wilt be perfect, You want to be perfect. If you're
going to go and be with your Heavenly Father, you're going
to have to be perfect. You're not going to get there
any other way. If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou
hast, give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven,
and come and follow me. Did Jesus mean what he said?
He certainly did. I think he did. He meets everybody at their
own level of approach. This young man was keeping the
law, probably a great law keeper, one of the best law keepers of
his day. But he lacked something, and
that was love for his neighbor. He had something that was love
for money, love for substance, love of things. Isn't what Paul
said, the love of money is the root of all evil? Not money,
but the love of it. Love of money, the root of all
evil. That's where this man was found.
And when he heard the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he
had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When the disciples
heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can
be saved? With God, with man, it's impossible. With God, all things are possible.
And if anybody's going to be saved, it's because God chose,
purposed, called, sanctified, justified, glorified them before
the world ever began, the elect. So here we have the Old Testament
shadow, and here's a young man that thought he could do whatever
he could, keep the law. What lack I yet? Some people
think that they can just keep doing, doing, doing, and one
of these days, God will say, well, you've done enough, come
on. You're all right. It'll never happen. Turn with
me to Galatians chapter three. Let me read this passage here.
We're still gonna go back to Hebrews chapter 10. Galatians
chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
10. These Galatians had a problem
with this. They wanted to add works to grace. This is an impossibility. Works to perfection. If something
is perfect and you added to it, would it still be perfect? If
something was perfect and you took away from it something,
would it still be perfect? The perfection is God. The perfection
is Jesus Christ Himself. The perfection is here. Look
at verse 10, chapter 3 of Galatians. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident for the just shall
live by faith. And the law is not a faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live in them. He's going to have
to keep on keeping. He's going to have to keep on
going. But look, what he's already told us, cursed is everyone that
tries to live by this law. Now look at verse 13. our perfection. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. He took the curse. He took care of that for you
and for me. With men, it's impossible to
become perfect, to be perfect on their own. They can't save
themselves. They can't do enough to get themselves
saved. They can't do enough to keep
themselves saved. It's all of the Lord, all of our Savior,
all of Jesus Christ. It's in Him we have the hope
of glory, isn't it? It's all in our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Now there's the shadow. This
may not be the best way to say it, but I'm going to show you
the one that cast the shadow in these next few verses. Here's
what the shadow's all about. Here's who the shadow is. The
shadow's of things to come. Here's the one to come. Here's
the antithesis. Here's the anti-type. Here is
the type that was spoken of in the shadow. Now we see him clearly. Verse five, Hebrews 10. Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering
thou what is not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Why did
he prepare a body? He became a man for one reason.
Christ came into the world, Paul said, to save sinners, of whom
I'm chief. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He's the only sacrifice for sin. And he did it once for all. Once for all in Hebrews chapter
nine and verse 26, for then must he often have suffered since
the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. He's the only sacrifice for sin
and he did it willingly. Now what he says here, Verse
seven, then said I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book it
is written in me, to do thy will, O Lord. He willingly became the
sacrifice for his people. He willingly paid for their sins. He willingly died on the cross. And his blood shed for you and
me. There's no more. Verses 17 and
18. And their sins and inequities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. There's only one person,
only one offering that we can go to. This rich young ruler
said, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
The Philippian jailer sprang in to Paul and Silas, he was
ready to take his life because of the earthquake and all the
prison doors were open. Paul and Silas had been singing
at midnight, singing and praising God. Can you imagine the scene
inside a prison? The earthquake comes, the door
is open, And the Philippian jailer, supposing that all the prisoners
had fled, was ready to take his own life. Paul's out of stopped
him. And he said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? And here's the answer. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. No other, no other has the perfect
sacrifice. No other one is perfect. No other
one has ever satisfied God. No other one is sitting at the
right hand of God making perfect intercession for His people. There's no other one to go to.
Please don't think that you can, of your own selves, of our own
selves, we can muster up enough stuff that one of these days
our good will outweigh the bad and we'll be able to enter into
heaven. It ain't going to happen. Excuse
my English. It's not going to happen. The
only way is a person. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There's no other way. Religion
can't get there. I tried it. Forty years I tried
it. It won't get you there. I stayed
in a works stupor my entire religious life. I thought I had to do something. I had to do something. If I'm
going to get holier, I'm going to have to do something. You're
as holy as God as the Lord Jesus is right now. You who know him. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. He's the only sacrifice for sin. And look at verse 10. By the
witch will, that same will, he said, I come to do thy will,
O God. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. We're sanctified. That's that word, if you'll allow
me to use it in Greek. That's that word hagios. That
means holy. You're holy by the witch will,
whose will? God's will. You're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. No wonder Paul
said to young Timothy, 1 Timothy 2, who hath saved us
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. That's an amazing statement,
isn't it? Paul said to the Thessalonians,
for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. It's
God's will for your sanctification, for your perfection. And now
look down in Hebrews 10 to verse 14. For by one offering he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. He's perfected them. Those that were sanctified, they've
been perfected. You notice that's past tense.
All this writing, the actual writing of the scripture was
past tense to us, but that's a past tense word. He has perfected
us. Sanctified us, past tense. Perfected
us, past tense. Somewhere in the past, He did
it for you and for me. In the past, before the world
ever began, that's how he saw those he sanctified, those he
elected. At the present, right now, that's
how he sees those that are sanctified, those he perfected. And one of
these days, he's going to present them to the Father. June 24,
he's going to present them Not one thing wrong. Like the
Passover lamb himself, without spot, without blemish. They held
the lamb up for three days to inspect it to make sure there
was no spots, no blemishes, no broken bones, nothing wrong with
that little lamb before they killed it for the Passover. Spotless! Without blemish! And that's what
Christ said of His church. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
5. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 26
and 27. Speaking of Christ and His church
and the fact that He gave Himself for it in verse 25, verse 26
says, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of the water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself,
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. There's God's
people. There's the sanctified. There's
all those that have been perfected. What part did we have in this?
None. It was all of God. It's either
all of God or not of God, but it was all of God. We are sinners,
but aren't you glad that Christ died for the ungodly? He committed
his love toward us and while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. What part did we have in it?
None. He was the perfect sacrifice. He's the one that sanctified
us. He's the one that perfected us. He's the one that called
us. He's the one that justified us.
He's the one that glorified us. And who shall lay any charge
to God's elect? It is Christ that died. The sins
are gone. We're perfect. Sometimes I don't
feel that way, do you? But by faith, by faith, I believe
what God has done for me. If thou would be perfect, the
only way to be with the Lord in heaven is perfection. Are
you perfect? Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your word. Thank you, Father, that you have taught us, showed
us the gospel again. We who are imperfect have a perfect
Savior, and because of what he did, he perfected us. And one
day, because of our Lord, we will see him face to face. Our faith will become sight.
Our hope will become reality because of what you did for us
before this world ever began. And this evening, we want to
thank you. We want to praise you. We want to tell you again,
Lord, I love you because you first loved me. In Jesus' name
we pray, amen.