Well, having had two weeks of
a break, we come back and we're coming back to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10, a new and
a living way. That's a phrase in verse 20 of
chapter 10, by a new and living way. And I've put in the bulletin
an article by Don Faulkner with that very title, a new and living
way. Last time, we were looking at
the end of chapter nine, which is the unavoidable appointment
that we each have. It is appointed to man to die
once and then, the judgment and thinking about readiness for
it and the preparations for it. You know, we've just had an adventure
to the south of France and as we get older, things like this
become more and more daunting. The tickets, have I got the right
tickets? Will the tickets appear on my phone when I need to scan
them on the terminal to let me through the barrier? My passport,
Is my passport going to work? If it's mine, I tell you nine
times out of ten, mine doesn't work. Everybody else's does.
But passport, is it going to work and open the barrier? My
contacts, you know, the people I've got to contact to get into
the accommodation. It's all on my phone. What if
I lose my phone? Great apprehension attends adventures
and it seems to get worse the older I get. But each of us have
a much bigger, a much bigger trip that we're going to take.
It's awaiting everyone, as we saw last time. Leaving this life,
what awaits? Do I have things in order? Can
I relax about it all? You know, when the barriers did
open, when I put my phone on it, it's a great sigh of relief.
Oh, that bit worked, right. Hope the rest does. And it all
did. Can I look forward to it? Can I look forward? Hebrews chapter
two talks about through the fear of death, men being all their
lives subject to bondage. Can I look forward to it? Or
is it a prospect full of uncertainty, of doubt, of fears, and of dread? You know, my one main purpose,
and I'm sure the same for others who preach, my one main purpose
in preaching is to proclaim the way to eternal peace. That's
it. Not to tell you how to live,
not to specify rules and regulations, to proclaim the one and only
way to eternal peace. And in that, all true preachers
of the gospel of God, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, are
determined, like Paul the Apostle, as he says in 1 Corinthians 2
and verse 2, to know nothing else amongst you except Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Isn't that going to become a
bit boring? Isn't it going to become a bit narrow? Have you
got any other subject? No, no other subject. Why? Because
no other subject, no other answer supplies the need. There is nothing
else. As Peter the Apostle said, to
the crowds in Jerusalem. He said, there is none other
name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. If you would be saved from the
just consequences of your sin, that eternity of hell that awaits
those who are outside of Christ. This is the scriptural message.
There is none other name given under heaven amongst men whereby
we must be saved. And so we come to Hebrews chapter
10, which reinforces the ideas of chapter 9. It's largely a
repetition of the ideas. There's nothing inherently new
in the passage that we're looking at. So can't we just skip the
first half of Hebrews chapter 10? Answer? No. There is no more
important message. There's nothing that all of you
listening, from the very youngest of you to the very oldest of
you, there is nothing that you need to hear more. Underlined
again and again, we're all going to leave this life and face the
justice of a holy God who must condemn sin. Here's the question,
how can I escape? How can I be just with God? How
can I be saved from hell? The Hebrews, to whom the writer,
I believe, Paul, was writing, they hankered after a return
to their Old Testament worship, to the temple. Yes, they believed
Christ and the gospel, but surely those things have value. They
wanted to go back to those sacrifices and those priests, because it
was all still going on in Jerusalem, because I believe this was before
A.D. 70, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. They wanted to go
back to it, but the epistle declares clearly that Jesus Christ, whom
the Hebrews had believed for salvation and trusted, it declares
that he has completely fulfilled everything. He's done it. The
last verses of chapter nine, we read some of them, the last
verses. Now, once in the end of the world, all those things
were going on repeatedly, but now, once in the end of the world,
hath he, our Lord Jesus Christ, appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Wow. The force that's in those
words, stop and chew it over. He has appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it's appointed to
men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins, not of all, but of many. And unto
them that look for him, that's whose sins he bore, those that
look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. He's coming again, once, the
sacrifice of himself, once offered to bear the sins of his many,
his elect multitude. and their salvation is secure. And he came to do it because
the law couldn't do it. So I have three points this morning.
Firstly, the deficiency of the law that the Hebrews wanted to
go back to. Secondly, its fulfillment in
Christ. The very image that it was portraying
is accomplished. And then thirdly, finally, briefly,
the experience of full assurance. So the deficiency of the law.
Look at verse one of chapter 10. 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, make them righteous. Good things
to come, it had a shadow of good things to come. What good things
to come? Well, the just forgiveness of
my sin. the just forgiveness of my sin,
is that not a good thing to come? To be qualified as righteous,
to stand at peace with God before his throne, when I appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, there's a good thing to come
which is that I'm counted, no, I'm righteous, I am made righteous
by him. There's a good thing to come
in eternity, with intimate communion. We have fleeting glimpses by
faith of the majesty and the truth and the love and the glory
of God, but we're talking about intimate communion with God,
eternal life in the kingdom of God. The law had a shadow of
those things, but not the solid substance. not the reality, not
the very image of those things. The law is good. Don't get us
wrong in any way. In Romans 7, Paul says this in
verse 16. He says, I consent to the law
that it is good. The law is good. The law is the
decree of God. It's bound to be good. The Ten
Commandments reveal sin. The Ten Commandments show where
we fall short against the righteous standard of God. And the ceremonial
aspect of the law pictures propitiation, the turning away of just wrath
in blood sacrifice. It pictures how our offence,
our transgression of the law, is paid for in blood sacrifice. Physical observance in letter
only, just going through those motions of what the type, the
pattern, the picture was, it avails nothing with God. It does
nothing with God. That's why God says, and it's
repeated, but I'll just quote you one verse. In Isaiah chapter
one, right at the start of Isaiah's prophecy in verse 11, God says to the people, to what
purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the
Lord? I am full, I've had enough of
the burnt offerings of rams and of the fat of fed beasts, and
I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of goats. When you come to appear before
me, who's required it of your hand? God was saying to them
that He was tired, he was sick of their empty following of the
outward pattern without any faith and truth in the heart. There
were true spiritual worshippers in the Old Testament regime.
There were true spiritual worshippers who looked for Christ's coming.
And in the light of that truth, they saw through the picture,
through the animal sacrifice and the priests and the temple
and all of those things, they saw through to that which Christ
would accomplish, and how he would accomplish it in reality
when he came. They knew, those of them that
were of faith, they knew, thinking back to the end of Genesis chapter
3, where God had set that Shekinah, that angel, that guarding the
way to the tree of life. The way to the tree of life is
only, only by the blood of an acceptable sacrifice, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman who would come. And by
faith, those Old Testament saints experienced the reality of what
the law shadowed. Yes, there were true believers
who by faith looked to Christ and knew that their sins were
forgiven. They didn't trust the type, they saw through the type
to what it pictured. And as physical, literal sacrifices
continually were offered, they could never make perfection. They couldn't. They just couldn't
do it. Look in verse 2. For then would they not have ceased to
be offered, because that the worshippers once purged should
have no more conscience of sins. But they weren't. If they had
been successful in purging sins, those pictures, those animal
sacrifices, there'd be no need for it to be constantly repeated.
Because look in verse 3, in those sacrifices, repeated sacrifices,
again and again, daily in the outer court of the holy place,
and then in the holiest of all, once a year on the day of atonement,
it was every year it had to be done. There was just a continual
remembrance that sin has not been purged. If it had been purged,
why would you need to repeat it? The offering of Christ is
once for all. God's wrath against sin remains
unappeased. That repeating says that loud
and clear. God's wrath against sin remains
unappeased. This is the tragedy of erroneous
so-called Christian messages that are nothing of the sort.
Take, for example, the oft-repeated Catholic Mass. In Catholic churches
up and down this country and around the world, the mass will
be going on today, but it's the same idea. It's repeated, it's
repeated, it's the same thing, it's crucifying again the Lord
Jesus Christ. It doesn't satisfy God's offended
justice. It doesn't do it. Animal blood,
verse 4, it's not possible that animal blood can take away human
sin. The sacrifice of an animal can
never satisfy the justice of God for human sin. Because why? Animals, we love some animals,
we love them, but they're creatures of instinct. They're not moral
creatures. They're not made in the image
of God, not with a moral nature. It's worthless to try to pay
human sin debt with animal blood. The picture, the shadow, can
never accomplish salvation, can never do it. A new and a living
way must be manifested. And that brings us to our second
point. The very image is accomplished,
the very image. The pictures, the shadows accomplish
nothing other than to point to the reality, the reality, the
very image accomplished. The holy body that those spotless
lambs pictured, you know, the lambs for the, for the Feast
of the Passover, those lambs, they must be spotless. They were
to be taken from the flock and examined for 14 days to show
that they were spotless. But those spotless lambs, the
holy body that those spotless lambs pictured, that body must
come into the world to accomplish real salvation. And this is what
Christ did. This is what God did. God came
into the world. So when John the Baptist saw
him at the start of his ministry, what does he say to his disciples?
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin in the world. Behold the Lamb of God. To accomplish
real salvation, he came. Look at Psalm 40. Turn to Psalm
40, and let's just read a couple of verses in there. Psalm 40.
In verse 6, this same idea that the pictures being repeated without
true faith in the reality accomplishes nothing, and God doesn't desire
it. Verse 6, sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears
hast thou opened, or digged, or bored, is what that word is.
Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Compare that with what Paul quotes
here in verse six. Well, verse five, wherefore,
of Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, verse five, wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not. We've just read that in Psalm
40. 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, to do thy will, O God. Quoting Psalm 40, hold on a minute,
hold on a minute. Verse five, but a body hast thou
prepared me. Look at Psalm 40, mine ears hast
thou opened. What's Paul doing here? Is he
straying from the scriptural text? He doesn't quote it as
mine ears you have opened, mine ears you have digged, you have
bored. No. God, in the person of his son,
was fitted. Verse five, look. A body thou
hast prepared me, or the word is fitted. A body thou hast fitted
me. God in the person of his son
was fitted with a human body to fulfil the shadows. So in
what respect is a body thou has prepared me the equivalent of
mine ear you have opened, you have bought? Do you remember
the bond servant of the master whom he loved and came the year
when the bond servant under the law could go free and the bond
servant says, I love my master and I don't want to go free.
I want to serve him forevermore. And they went to the doorpost
of the house. I'm not quite sure how it happened,
but the ear was pierced with an awl. to show that this is
a bond-servant of this loving master, loving-servant for his
loving master. That's the idea. As a willing
bond-servant, his ear was pierced. And so, again, verses I quote
often, Philippians 2 and verse 5, let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who, look at this, being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
a bondservant. My ear you have opened, you have
pierced, and was made in the likeness of men, a body thou
hast prepared me. Why was it prepared? That he
might come and accomplish salvation. And being found in fashion as
a man, here is God found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself. He who is the supreme being of
the universe humbled himself. He humbled himself and became
obedient. Obedient to what? Obedient unto
death. This was it. This is why he came.
He came to die for his people. He came to die to accomplish
salvation. He came to die to pay the law's
demands for the soul that sins. He became obedient unto death,
which death? The death that would be worthy
of Almighty God? No, no, no. Even the death of
the cross, even the shameful death, the cursed death of the
cross, that those who deserve death might live. that those
who deserve death might live. Wherefore God also has highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. To
accomplish God's saving will, Christ came as a man and stood
in the place of men. And a body was prepared for him,
a body, we read about it in Psalm 139, fearfully and wonderfully
made in the womb of Mary, when that Holy Ghost came upon her.
That which was in her, he said, this is conceived of the Holy
Ghost. That one, which was put, mystery
of all mysteries, God is manifest in the flesh. And verse six says,
in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hadst no pleasure. God ordained those things, but
it said he had no pleasure. What does it mean? It means that
they didn't satisfy God's justice for sin. The pictures didn't
satisfy God's justice for the sin of his people. He had no
pleasure in them. He says in Ezekiel chapter 33
and verse 11, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Yes,
the soul that sins, it shall die. But God has no pleasure
in it. His justice isn't satisfied without
an eternity of death for sin. But, but, Isaiah 53 and verse
10, Isaiah 53 and verse 10, we read this, but it pleased the
Lord to bruise the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. In those
things he had no pleasure, but it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Why? Because when Christ came, in
a human body, in the likeness of sinful flesh, but without
sin. And when he bore the sins of his people on that cursed
tree, when he was made sin, he who knew no sin was made sin
for his people, it pleased the Lord because that death and that
shed blood satisfied the justice of God. Christ came in a human
body. Why did he come? Then said I,
lo, I come. We've read it in Psalm 40. Here
it is again. Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. That book that we read about
in Psalm 139. Him being clothed with human flesh. In the volume
of the book it is written of me. Why did he come? To do the
will of God. To do thy will, O God. To do
thy will. What's the will of God? What's
the will of God? John 6, 39. This, Jesus said
this. This is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, of all the
people that God the Father gave to him in the covenant of grace
before the beginning of time, that of all which he has given
me, I should lose nothing. How would he lose one of them,
by one of them on that judgment day being found an offender against
the justice of God and therefore condemned to hell? But he said,
I came to do the will of the Father, which is that of all
he has given me, I shouldn't lose a solitary one, but should
raise it up again at the last day. That he should raise it
up. That he should raise it up as he said to that thief on the
cross next to him, that penitent thief. This day you will be with
me in paradise. Raise it up again at the last
day. The type, the shadow, is taken away. Verse nine. well
verse 8, above when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings
and offering for sin thou wouldest not neither has pleasure therein
which are offered by the Lord then said he lo I come to do
thy will O God he taketh away the first that he may establish
the second the type the shadow the Old Testament pattern and
picture is taken away, it's ended, it's finished. And if it wasn't
finished when Paul wrote this to these Hebrew believers, in
A.D. 70, God accomplished that which
he said by the prophet Daniel. And Jerusalem and its temple
was destroyed and the temple has never been rebuilt. He took
it away, why? In order to establish, verse
20, a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, made
holy for us, specified for us, through the veil, that is to
say, through his flesh. And verse 10, verse 10, By the
witch will, by the will of God, we are sanctified, we are made
holy, we are separated from this world through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once. It doesn't say for all in the
original, that's put in italics by the translators, but it means
for all time and for all of his people. The will of God in sending
Christ into the world is that his people are made holy. through
the sacrifice of the prepared body of God. God became man. God, I've said it many times,
God could not die to pay the penalty for sin, except he become
man. God is spirit. He cannot die. God is spirit. He had to become
man that he might die. He took on him flesh. He was
made for a little while lower than the angels, taking on flesh.
Why? That he might die in the place
of his people. that he might purchase, that
God might purchase his church, his people, his elect multitude.
How does he purchase it? Acts 20. Acts 20. With his own blood. God has purchased
the church with his own blood. How has God purchased the church
with his own blood? By God becoming man with flesh
and bones and blood, and he shed that precious blood. And this
is what we remember when we share communion. We break the bread,
we break unleavened bread, speaking of the sinless, sinless nature
of Christ. We break it and we share it. Think looking back to that broken
body, that body which God had prepared, that body was broken
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. His blood was
shed to make propitiation, to turn away the anger of God against
our sin. How holy must I be to be able
to stand before God and be accepted before him? How holy must I be? Answer is simple. Most religion
falsely thinks, have a pretty good effort, and God will be
very reasonable. God's not an unreasonable God.
If you put in your best efforts, God will accept it. No, he won't.
No, he won't. Absolutely not. The message of
scripture is that God is absolutely strict in justice. God is absolutely
strict in justice. As holy as he is, he is absolutely
strict. He must make his people as holy
as he is. That's what he must do. He must
make his people as holy as he is. Every priest stands daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. The pattern could never be effectual,
but, verse 12, this man, this man who came in that prepared
body after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever. One sacrifice for all the sins
of all of his people forever. What, you mean the sins that
I haven't yet committed? Exactly, exactly. All my sin. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought, My sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to his
cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins for ever, sat down, Notice that the priest in verse
11, in the Old Testament rites and ceremonies, he standeth daily. He could never sit down ministering.
It was never, ever finished. But Christ sat down. This man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. He sat down because the work
was finished. He cried on the cross, it is
finished, it is finished. He sat down. The work is completed. Salvation is accomplished. The
reality was once successful for all time, for all of his people.
And so in verse 13, from henceforth expecting, till his enemies be
made his footstool. That's saying, if you like, Satan's
kingdom, this world in rebellion against God is defeated. Sin
is conquered. Death is abolished. Isn't that
an amazing phrase in 2 Timothy chapter one and verse 10, talking
about when in verse 9 talks about when God put us in Christ, before
the beginning of time, he gave us this certainty of eternal
salvation. And it says in verse 10, the
consequences of this is that death is abolished. Death is
abolished. He who believes in me has eternal
life, said the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 14, for by one offering,
look at this, Anybody, any believer who fears how things might be
with them when they pass from this life into eternity. Look
at this, for by one offering he, Christ, has perfected forever
them that are sanctified, them that are set apart, them that
are made holy. He's perfected forever. Perfected forever. Bold shall
I stand in that great day, for who ought to my charge shall
lay. Fully absolved from sin I am.
Fully absolved, he who knew no sin was made sin, that I might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And I'm judged, and
I will be judged on that day according to the perfection that
we are made in Christ. It says in two places, 2 Corinthians
5, 10, and in Romans 14, verse 10, the same phrase, we must
all, without exception, stand before the judgment seat of Christ
to receive the things done in the body. What must we do that
we do the will of God, that when we're judged according to the
things done in the body, we're not condemned to hell? That's
what they asked the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said, this is
the work of God. that you believe on him whom
he has sent, that you trust in him, because trusting in him
you are made the righteousness of God in him. And so the sins
of Judah and of Israel shall be looked for. Jeremiah, Chapter
50, verse 20, they shall be looked for, and they shall not be found.
Why not? Because he has taken them away,
as far as the east is from the west, as far as it can possibly
be. In the depths of the sea, he
has taken them away. He has given his people, in what
he has accomplished, a new nature. Verse 15, look, wherefore the
Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that he had
said before, this is the covenant. We've already quoted that in
the previous chapter. This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. This is quoting
Jeremiah 31 and Jeremiah 33. It's quoted in chapter eight
of Hebrews as well. This is the covenant 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. That's
a new nature. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Oh, the bliss of this glorious
thought. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. My sin,
oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part,
but the whole. You know, we used to sing that
hymn, and religion used to tell me, ah, but you can't really,
no, no, you've got to beware. You've got to know that you've
got to stand and give an account for all the things that you've
said and you've done. My sins and iniquities will God remember
no more. Could it be clearer? Absolutely
could not possibly be clearer. Do we need a mass for the dead?
as Catholicism does. Somebody's died, or we better
do things that might give favor with God. Let's have a mass for
the dead, a requiem mass. Do you know, I love some of the
music that's the requiems, but the idea behind them, I completely
reject. It's completely contrary to the
scripture. Purgatory, purgatory, a state where you go to, to be
put right for eternity. No, that's not Christianity. It's not the message of the Bible.
It's not the message of God. Nor is most of so-called evangelical
Christianity when it comes down to these things. Really, it isn't. You examine what they say. This
is salvation. What does it say in chapter 7, verse 25? Salvation
to the uttermost. Salvation to the uttermost. That's
what Christ has accomplished. The pictures are taken away for
he has completely accomplished it. And so therefore, very quickly,
What's the consequence of that? It's the experience of full assurance. Look at verses 19 to 22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, which is Christ himself, Let us draw near with
a true heart in the full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. I mentioned at the start as an
illustration apprehension about an adventure, about a holiday
or whatever else it is. But here we have terms such as
boldness. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest. Do you know on the day of atonement
when the high priest once a year went into the holiest of all,
there was great fear in the congregation and I'm sure in the heart of
the priest himself. There was great fear that it
might not have been done in an acceptable way. Uzziah was struck
dead for sincerely trying to stop the ark of God falling off
a cart back in 1 Samuel. that fear, that consciousness,
that if you didn't do things exactly right, God was a God
of strict justice and would judge. But no, we have boldness to enter
into the holiest. Boldness, absolute confidence.
How? Because Christ has made the way
open by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for
us through the veil, that veil of the temple, which was torn
from top to bottom when he died on the cross. In Jerusalem, that
veil was rent from top to bottom. All of that was representing
his flesh. That temple represented his body,
his flesh. That was the living way, the
new and living way, into the holiest of all. The holiest of
all, not that inner room of the temple, because that was only
a picture. That was only a type. But in the real holiest of all,
which is the heaven of God. Into there. boldly to enter into
the holiest of all. How? By the blood of Jesus, by
a new and living way. For he said, I am the way. Thomas said, we know not the
way, show us the way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. And in him we have full assurance
of faith. Oh yes, we're all, as long as
we're in this flesh, there is what Stephen mentioned in his
prayer. Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Forgive my
unbelief, help my unbelief. But here we have the full assurance
of faith. Because when we leave this life,
we will put off this doubting flesh, this nervous flesh, this
flesh that always wavers in itself, but we will have the full assurance
of faith that we're going there with complete confidence that
we've been qualified to be there, that Christ has made us the righteousness
of God in him, that he has accepted us, that every document, if you
like, is in order. There is nothing falling short.
There is nothing falling short. We're washed clean. The people
of God are washed clean in what Christ has done. We're made the
righteousness of God in Christ. We're certain to hear these words. Come, you blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Amen.