Hebrews chapter one, we've been
looking at the seven distinct truths of our Lord that's given
here in the first five verses. Seven distinct truths about who
He is and about what He has done for His people. In this particular
portion that we're gonna be looking at this morning, it says these
words, He purged His people's sin and then He sat down. We're
gonna read that in just a second. But while we read that, I want
you to acknowledge or to notice The fact that everything written
there is past tense. Everything written there is past
tense. Let's look here in Hebrews chapter one, verse one. God,
who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds. who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Being made so much better than
the angels as he had by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they, for unto which of the angels said he at any time,
thou art my son, This day have I begotten thee. And again, I
will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. That's
a rhetorical question, isn't it? He never said that to an
angel. What's spoken of our Lord here? Well, if there's ever,
if there's ever a hint. If there's ever any doubt, if
there's ever any inkling of uncertainty as to what Christ accomplished
on the cross of Calvary, he says when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down. If there is a spark in your mind
that salvation is an opportunity given unto you based upon what
you do to earn it or what you do to merit it, the Lord says
clearly, when he had by himself purged our sin, he sat down. Sitting down denotes that the
Lord's work is finished. Sitting down denotes that the
Lord accomplished salvation. Sitting down is something a priest
could never do in the Old Testament. You remember the temple, all
the items and all the furniture in the tabernacle in the temple.
They had the table of showbread. They had the table of incense.
They had the candlesticks. They had many different things
that the Lord commanded them to have. But one thing was missing,
wasn't it? A chair. There was never a chair
found in the temple. Why? The work was never done. The priest had to go in daily.
daily into the temple and offer up sacrifice. But this man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, when he had entered once into the holy place,
what did he enter with? His own blood. His own blood. And with that blood, he purged
his people's sin. Those for whom he died. Whomever
he died for, he purged their sin. He put them away. He put
them away with the sacrifice of himself. See, on the cross
of Calvary, it was never an offer to man. It was never an offer
dependent upon your obligation, it wasn't contingent. It wasn't
a contract that had fine print at the bottom and says you have
to do your part. No, when he had by himself, by
himself purged our sin, to say that he purged The sin of everyone
means everyone's going to heaven. It's that simple. To say that
he successfully put away all sin means that there is no sin
anymore to anyone. But that's not what the scripture
teaches us, is it? No, the scripture teaches us
that the sin for which he purged is gone. And for whom he loved,
he loved with an everlasting love. Jacob have I loved. Esau
have I hated. See, God hates just like he loves
with a holiness. None of his attributes can be
compromised. None of his character can be diminished. None of his
authority has ever given to you and I. He's God. He's sovereign. He's sovereign in all things. He, by himself, purged our sins,
all alone. All alone on the cross of Calvary,
him and his father, as the sword of justice pierced the sun, as
the wrath of God poured out, the angels couldn't look in.
Next hour we're gonna look at is the second part of that, where
it says, being made so much better than the angels. Why is he so
much better than the angels? We're gonna look at that, Lord
willing. But the angels couldn't help him. You and I couldn't
help him. If it was contingent upon you
and I doing something for him to purge our sin, what could
we have contributed then? We weren't even in existence,
were we? It was him by himself, all alone in the blackness, absorbing
the wrath of God because he had drank the cup of damnation for
his people. He became sin who knew no sin
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I often think that there is fine
print on a lot of contracts we sign. You ever, you take out
a credit card and you have 15 pages of fine print, don't you? There's no fine print here. This
is a contract that we are the benefactors of all by grace. This contract is signed in blood
by the precious Lamb of God. This is the covenant of grace
between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, wherein
God elected a people before time ever began. That's what Ephesians
1 teaches us. That's what 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, you have your bulletin. You can look at what it says.
There God who hath saved us and called us, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given to us when? Before the world began. This
is His purpose, this is His will, this is by His grace. He saved
us first, then He calls us, which came first. This is the covenant
of grace where the Lord saved His people in eternity and then
Christ became a man. and saved his people on the cross
of Calvary. And what does the spirit do? The spirit regenerates
in time. That's the calling, isn't it?
That's what he does. He calls his people. How did he save? Well, he purged, that word purged. And he noticed everything here
is past tense. I've already pointed that out, but I think that's
just miraculous. That's wonderful to me. I can't mess it up. You
can't mess it up. If he purged your sin, you can't
mess it up. You can't un-purge it. It's gone. The word purge
means to act rightly. He was the only one that could
act rightly. He's the only one that could do well because of who he was
by inheritance. He's God incarnate, God's son. That's who he is. He had the
blood of the father. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He's the brightness of his glory, the express image
of his person. That's what we just read here. He's the only
one that could act rightly. That's what purge means. Also,
purge translates to be the author of a thing. Boy, he's the author
and the finisher of faith, isn't he? And the second part of that
translation, to be the author of, is also to cause and bring
it about. I've mentioned this to us before,
but if you're the author of a book, you can control the temperature
that you put down. What, it's 70 degrees outside
and it was sunny this day and the sun was beaming down upon
the girl's face. You're writing the book. You're
the author of it. Most amazing part is, is he's the author and
the finisher of faith. He finished salvation for his
people as well. See, he's in full sovereign authority
over the inhabitants of earth, under the earth, and in heaven.
He's the author and finisher. The word purge also means to
perform to a promise. He kept his word. What was the
announcement of the Lord Jesus Christ whenever it came unto
Joseph? Joseph pondered the things that
Mary said. Now think about this. Mary was
with child. Mary was with child and the angel
of the Lord appeared unto Mary first and said, you're gonna
conceive of the Holy Ghost. That thing which you are gonna
conceive is of the Holy Ghost. You're gonna have a child. And
Mary said, how can I have a child? I'm not known a man. And that's
when he said that, You're going to conceive of the Holy Ghost.
Well, she had came and told Joseph this. She was with child. What
do you think Joseph's response would have been? Now, unless
God gives faith to believe the impossible, you and I will not
be able to believe it takes him giving faith. It's you're saved. How by grace through faith, is
it your faith? Well, no, because everything
I produce, God's not pleased with. He's only pleased with
one. That's his son. It's the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The scripture teaches us. What did Joseph do? He thought
on these things. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him and he said, call his name Jesus. Why? Why call his name Jesus? For
he shall save his people from their sin. He purged him. Did he try? Was it an attempt?
No, he's God. Everything he purposes come to
pass. It comes to pass. The very breath
that we take right now is his purpose. The very heart that's
beating in your chest is because of his purpose. Everything that's
happening, nothing takes him off guard. He's seated on his
throne in the heavenlies. Scripture says very clearly,
who can stay his hand or say as unto him, what doest thou?
Who art thou to reply against God, O man? He by himself purged
our sin. Now to purge the sin of his people
means, yeah, the other translations of purge means to make obsolete.
I love that one. Made our sin obsolete. It's been
deleted. But more than that, never existed. Now the way you and I see it,
we see that we are sinners. We see that we can do nothing
but sin in His eyes. That's what the Scripture says,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everyone
is born in sin, shaped into iniquity. The heart, the scripture says.
Somebody said, give your heart to Jesus. He doesn't want your
heart. It's a heart of stone. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. No, you have to have a new heart.
He's gonna have to give it. It's the heart of flesh, the
scripture talks about, one that's pleasing unto him. Everything
God requires, he must provide because he's only pleased with
that which he provides. Even the angels. Even the angels couldn't have
saved us. He's not pleased with the angels, but he said, this
is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. And his son, by
himself, purged our sin, made him obsolete, surrendered non-existent.
The Lord was the only one found worthy. Do you remember whenever
John, the revelator, the scripture says he was by vision of the
Lord, he was in glory, and he saw the Lamb's book of life. He saw the book, the having seven
seals, and they looked for one that was found worthy. They looked
in heaven, and in the earth, and under the earth, and what
did John say about that? None was found worthy, and I
wept. I wept much, but one of the elders
said, weep not, John, for behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
the root of Jesse, hath prevailed and is worthy to loose the seals
and open the book thereof. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the lamb of God. He's the lion of the tribe of
Judah. He alone was the one that could save. He's the only one
that could have redeemed. And he opened up those seven
perfect seals of the father and the father was pleased to bruise
him. The father was pleased to lay
the iniquity of his people upon him and punish him for our sin
in our room instead. And now those sins are obsolete,
never had existed. The way God sees it is the way
that it is. God's always seen his people in Christ. He's always
seen his people as perfectly righteous. He's always seen his
people as good, not bad. Righteous, not sinners. You and
I don't see it that way, do we? Aren't you glad the way God sees
it is how that it is? Christ was the only one deemed
worthy to be made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
those that were under the law. He was deemed worthy to bear
the sin of God's elected people, deemed worthy to make them, to
put them away, to purge, to purge their sin all by the sacrifice
of himself. I love the thought. If you look,
look back, you're in Hebrews. Just look at the page right above
it. Or if you have to turn back a page to Philemon, uh, just
one chapter, Paul is actually conferring with Philemon and
he's telling him because of a man named Omnesimus had left them. They had, he had betrayed or,
or stolen from Philemon. Paul says these words, verse
18. If he hath wronged thee or oweth
thee ault, put that on my account. Put that on my account. Can you
see the Lord Jesus Christ standing before the Father? Can you see
him, having been the lame slain before the foundation of the
world, looking to the Father and saying, their sin and their iniquity,
put that on my account. Put that on my account. All the
wrong that they have done, put that on my account. That's exactly
what happened on the cross of Calvary. The father would not
have executed his son or executed justice upon his son if the son
had not been bearing our sin. He was guilty. He was found guilty
bearing our sin in his own body. You say, well, I don't understand
how all that works. I don't either, but we believe
it. That's the only way. The Lord's not gonna enact justice
upon his son if his son's not guilty. But because he was bearing
the sin, he felt the sorrow of it. You and I know something
about feeling sorrow of our sin, don't we? Feeling guilty, feeling
shame. You ever done something shameful?
You remember being a kid, you did something, you stole something,
your conscience would bother you really bad, you'd feel guilty
for that. That's what I'm talking about. You did something wrong,
you felt guilty. Lord Jesus Christ on the cross
of Calvary was bearing our guilt. He was the only one that was
made sorrowful enough to please the Father. And he, by himself,
purged those sin that he was bearing. He said, put that on my account.
Think about that, the one that was made heir of all things.
We read that, didn't we? He was heir of all things. He was the
creator of all things. Without him, not anything made
that was made. He was the creator of everything. He's the creator
of everything. He said, put their sin upon my
account. The fullness of salvation was
laid upon him. Think about this, the work of
creation. Why was the world created? It was created for the cross,
to redeem the Lord's people. That's why the world was created.
Now that was a work of his power, the creation. He spoke it by
the word of his power. But on the cross of Calvary is
where you'll see the full attributes of God lighting upon one place. You'll see the love of God. being
manifest there. You'll see the work of His power.
You'll see the sovereignty and His justice being poured out.
You'll see the only hope of salvation that you and I have right there
on the cross of Calvary whenever the Lord Jesus Christ bowed His
head and said, it is finished. All His will, all His holiness,
His justice, His immutability, His sovereign right as God to
redeem His chosen people. That's where it's all at right
there on the cross of Calvary. And what happened on that cross?
To believe it by faith means he's given you faith to believe
it. To believe he by himself purged our sin on that cross. When God completed his task,
when the Lord Jesus Christ had completed the task given to him,
what did he do then? He sat down. He sat down. Why? Because it is finished.
When he successfully redeemed every single person he died for,
After he had purged our sin, he sat down. That give you comfort
to know the Lord's seated. He's not pacing the floor. He's
not playing chess with the devil. The Lord makes a move, the devil
makes another move. Well, the Lord's voted for you
and the devil's voted against you, now you have to break the
tie. That's not in the Bible. No, when he had by himself purged
our sin, he sat down. He's not playing games, he's
expecting until his enemies be made his footstool, is what the
scripture says. Sin of God's people are nonexistent anymore.
He so completely made his people, the righteousness of God in him,
so perfectly obtained eternal redemption that in God's eyes,
the Lord's people have never sinned one time. They're gone. They never existed. Never existed. Do you understand that? I can
kind of say yes, I understand what you're saying, but I don't
understand how that can be, because I'm with Paul when Paul said,
oh, wretched man that I am, not wretched man that I was. I'm
with Paul whenever he said, I'm the chief of sinners. Right now,
he said, in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
That's all that I can see. God says your sins are gone.
They've been obsolete. They've been made obsolete. How?
By what you do? He, by himself, purged our sin. That's how. By his own blood,
he redeemed his people. Matter of fact, he even eradicated
the stench of it. Remember the Hebrew children,
we have an allegory of that. The four Hebrew men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, they were told, you better bow down, or
the three Hebrew men, I'm sorry, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
They were told, you better bow down and worship this golden
image. And we talked about this. What
do you think that golden image was? Nebuchadnezzar had made
it. It was a golden image. He's going to put it in his likeness,
isn't he? That's what all men do. Look at me. I got a 60-foot
statue of myself. I'm better than you. And men
do that in religion. They sit a little higher than their peers.
They say, I don't do what that person's doing, or I do something
that this person's not doing. And it's their righteousness,
they think, before God. Scripture says there's none righteous,
no, not one. The only one that's righteous
is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Hebrew men knew that. He
said, bow down and worship. They said, no, we're not going
to do it. What happened? He threw him in the fiery furnace.
But upon the entry of the fiery furnace, the king saw a fourth
man. The scripture translates the
words, he was like the son of God. It's a picture of the wrath
of God we being deservant of being passed upon his darling
son. When they came forth from the fiery furnace, what did the
scripture, what does the scripture say? They were not burnt, neither
was the smell of smoke upon them. Now, I don't know how many of
you are around smoke very much. I think we all have been at one
point in time. It's offensive, isn't it? The smell of smoke.
If you, matter of fact, it'll burn your eyes, it'll burn your
nose, but you're around it for just a second and it gets on
your clothes. It's like it latches on. Isn't that what sin does?
It just latches on you. We're just, that's all we can
produce because that's what we are. A dog doesn't become a dog
when it barks for the first time. It's a dog, therefore it barks
and it's, scripture says it returns to its vomit. That's the nature
of a dog. We're in our flesh. Our nature is a sinful nature
that cannot please God in any way. We stink. We stink, but not the Lord Jesus
Christ. What does the scripture say about
him? He was offered up to the father, a sweet smelling savor. Now all those who are in him
smell just like he does. The very stench of sin no longer
exists upon them. Why? Because he by himself purged
our sin. That's why. Lord Jesus Christ became our
substitute, became our surety. And as he offered himself to
his father, he conquered death, he conquered hell, and he conquered
the grave. Understand where the absence
of sin is, there's no penalty for sin anymore. The wages of
sin is death. Do we see that? Sin's not what
we do, sin is what we are. The wages of what we are is death.
The only way that we are not going to be declared as worthy
of death is if one took our place and put away those sins. That's
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Where there's no sin found, there's
no penalty. I love the thought that death
has no claim upon the child of God. The grave can't say, you
belong to me. It's not true. Even the very
fires of hell are extinguished For everyone that Jesus Christ
died for, why? Because he put the sin away by
himself. He purged them by himself. Father was satisfied with his
offering, wasn't he? Understand, on the cross of Calvary,
the Lord Jesus Christ, by himself, he was the altar, he was the
priest, and he was the sacrifice, all in one place. Him being the
mercy seed, Him being the priest, Him being the sacrifice, and
His blood being the atonement. It's all about Him right there
on the cross. What part of that did you and
I have part of? Not a bit of it. He's all in all. Only the Lord's people are made
to express that from the heart. Only the Lord's people are made
to believe everything He set out to accomplish, He accomplished,
and nothing could have stopped Him. That's why the Lord saw
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's what the
scripture tells us in Ephesians chapter one, four. After he had purged our sin,
what did he do? You say you've already asked that question two
or three times. I'm going to keep asking it till we're done.
What did he do after he purged him? He sat down. Does that mean
he's waiting on you and me to do something? No. Everything required, everything
required, everything the father required to redeem his people,
Jesus Christ did in that one act on the cross of Calvary by
purging our sin. In this singular act of accomplished
salvation, the father gave his only begotten son, the son gave
his life. And the Spirit by grace confirms
it, confirms the work is finished all by faith. You believe that,
don't you? You believe that it's been finished. There's nothing
to add to or take away. Matter of fact, if I am adding
to or taking away from the finished work of Christ, I'm not saved.
If I'm adding to or taking away from the finished work of Christ,
I am not saved. No, Christ accomplished salvation. Christ himself being justified
in the spirit has justified his people. We're justified. Justified
by the Lord's standard and his standard is the standard, isn't
it? It's not one of them, it is the standard. I love the verse found in Romans
8, no, Romans 9. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. You
love the thought that God justified you. It's not you that justified
yourself. I love that. God justified us. It is Christ that died and is
risen again. And when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. Men and brethren, anybody that
thinks. Anybody that thinks. Or that thought. Salvation is
up to you and I. They're not saved. They're not
saved. The scripture says clearly God.
Saved us. God called us Jesus Christ by
himself. Put away sin. See, these words, when he by
himself, it denotes he obtained eternal redemption, doesn't it?
He had affirms that it's already been done. He had, that's past
tense, he had by himself purged. This affirms that we had no part
in it. No part in it. And if we do believe
that we have any part in it, we're not saved. It's as clear
as I can be. Faith looks to Christ, not self.
It doesn't look to what we're doing. It doesn't look to what
we're not doing. The faith of Christ that is given all by his
grace looks to him and his finished work alone. We rest knowing that
he by himself accomplished salvation. He by himself purged our sin. It's completely up to him. I want you to turn in closing
just a couple pages over to Hebrews chapter 10. Christ Jesus, without the aid
of man, entered into the holiest by his own blood. He endured
the full fury of the wrath of God. He paid in full the penalty
and consequence of every elect sinner. The Lord Jesus Christ
purged our sin. It's finished. It's finished.
And here in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11, it says this, every
priest, we talked about this already, didn't we? Every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, 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 hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a 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 the remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. 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. He consecrated it. He hath consecrated for us through
the veil. That is to say his flesh. And having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with true heart and
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed. with pure water. Who did the sprinkling? Who did
the washing? When he had by himself purged
our sin, he sat down. He's now seated expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. He successfully, completely,
wholly, 100% purged every sin that was, that he owned on the
cross of Calvary. They're gone. He by himself did
that for his people. And now he's seated. Let's pray. Father calls us to believe for
we know that if you don't, we will not. Forgive us of our sin,
Lord, we pray. In Christ's name, amen. Let's take a break.