All right, well, it's good to
see you this evening. Let's take our Bibles. Turn with
me to the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. I'd like to read verses 1 to
4. And then we'll ask our Lord's
blessing. Hebrews 10, beginning in 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 offered
year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
For then, Would they not have ceased to be offered? Because
that the worshippers, once purged, should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it's not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening how
we thank you for the blessed privilege to be able to pray and to call upon you in the name
of the Lord Jesus and to realize, Father, truly we can approach
you boldly with assurance knowing that our sin has been put away. by the precious blood of our
Savior, and that we can enter into Your presence in Him and
talk to You, that You hear, that You care, that You're able. Lord, tonight would You bless
this word. Lord, forgive us all for that
which we've done and should have done. Help us, I pray tonight,
to worship for Christ's sake. Amen. The Apostle under the inspiration
of God's Spirit sets forth in these Scriptures the actual purpose
of the Mosaic economy, the law. Now, Paul just told us what the
purpose of the law was. It was a shadow. A shadow of
good things to come. Now you think about this. When a shadow is cast, and you
see a shadow on the ground, something, lights out, sun's out, and you
see a shadow, that shadow is actually an image of something
that has substance. There's got to be something there
to actually cast a shadow. And the Scripture says that the
law having a shadow of good things to come. Now, the good things
to come was what was actually producing. the shadow. What the shadow was all about
and the actual substance that the law was but a shadow of was
actually the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the
world. Almighty God gave a shadow, a picture, a type, a pattern
the Scripture sets forth. It was a sketch of actually that
which had substance. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
the substance, the law, the shadow, the type. Almighty God had before
the foundation of the world eternally in that everlasting covenant
of God's grace, purposed. He was going to pardon His people. They were going to be at peace
with Him. There was going to be rest, fellowship,
eternal life. Good things. Good things. That's a good thing. Now you
think about this tonight. We're sitting here in this body
And I know that we see through a glass darkly. But God's people
see. And they know. I know that right
now it's as we look through a veil, but we do see. And we know as
surely as God's Word is so, that according to His promise, all
in Christ Jesus, called out of darkness, they've entered into
rest. They cease from their labors. They cease from trying to establish
a righteousness before God based on their own works. They've entered
into rest. The Lord Jesus Christ, He ceased
from His works. He said it was finished. descended
into heaven, ever liveth to make intercession, he rests. The Father, the Scripture said,
rested from his labors. No more creation. Father rested. Christ rested. And God's people
enter into rest. The law was a shadow of good
things to come. This shadow which was actually
the image. It was an image. Now, you know
this. You look at a shadow. You look
at a shadow of yourself. You're standing outside. You
see the sun casting a shadow on the ground. That's your image. Well, boy, there's a lot that's
not seen there, isn't there? But there is an image there,
a recognizable image. You see that which is produced
by the substance itself. and the law, that mosaic economy,
all of those pieces of furniture in that tabernacle. We talked
about this over the last few weeks. That candlestick, Christ
the light, that table of showbread, Christ the food of the soul of
God's people, that ark, that place where God meets, where
Christ has fulfilled the law. Beautiful, beautiful pictures. All of these things. Those priests
that went in there daily ministering in that tabernacle of the congregation
in the holy place and in the holy of holies. One time a year
the high priest, you see Christ in that. You see Him in that
shadow. They were rough outlines. That's
what is a shadow, rough outlines. But that actually was going to
set forth that which the Lord Jesus Christ would definitely
accomplish by the shedding of His own blood. So the Scripture
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. They were images. They were pictures. They were tied. They were indications
of what Almighty God said would surely follow in time. In reality, the very image, the
law, tied. was going to be revealed, absolutely
revealed by the birth, the life, the death, the ascension, the
great high priest ever living to make intercession. All of
that. Whenever you'd see that animal slain, you'd know it was
the spotless Lamb of God. Whenever that priest would go
in on that day of atonement one time, A year He'd go in. You
know that right now, our Savior by one sacrifice has perfected
forever those that are sanctified. Shadow. When I would do a painting,
somebody asked me one time, they said, how long does it take you
to do a painting? I said, well, as a general rule,
I would figure about a year. I have an idea. I get an idea
in my mind. And I'd get people together,
models, and I'd photograph them. That's what we did. Take models
together and photograph them. I'd take those photographs. I'd look at them. I began to
draw something on a canvas, just white canvas, like a pencil. When I get done doing that pencil
sketch, you're looking at a black and white, you know. But what
I was going to do, and that was an outline. It looked like just
take a color book, open up a color book, just look at it, you know.
You're looking at nothing. No color's ever been put on.
It's just there's an outline. There's a shape. There's an idea.
That picture that I was going to paint, in time I'd start painting
it. I'd put the colors daily on it. I'd have a finished product. I knew what I wanted in my mind.
I had it in my mind what I was going to do. I had somebody one time, I had
the canvas, and the picture was actually on the canvas, drawn,
black and white, no color whatsoever. Someone came up and looked at
it, and he said, boy, I like that. I'd like to have one of
those. I think I'd rather have that.
Whatever you're going to put on it, I think I'd rather have
that. I thought about that today. Years ago, somebody, what they
wanted was the shadow. What they wanted was the type.
You know, that's what man by nature wants. He wants the type
rather than the fulfillment. He thinks that he's more satisfied
with the shadow and the keeping of the law. That's what man by
nature desires. No, the law was a shadow of good
things to come. Those sacrifices year by year
prove that they were not effectual in the putting away of the sins
of God's people. They could never make the comers
perfect. Verse 2 says, for then would
they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sin. If the blood
of bulls and goats could have put away sin. Why were they done
year after year after year? They were showing that which
was coming, that which God Almighty promised, that alone is going
to put away sin. It's not this. The very fact
that they were repeated should have been adequate to show the
people this is not going to put away sin, but man, still, looks
to the law, thinking that he can please God by the shadows
and types. If they could have made the comers
perfect, why repeat them? Do it one time. It will be over.
Sacrifices were offered every year, every day, but on the Day
of Atonement once a year, It proved, because they did it year
after year after year, that sin still remained. And the conscience
could never be satisfied. There was no satisfaction to
the conscience. It had to be repeated. It's only
when a sinner has God's Word that that sin that Almighty God
has said has been put away. Only then Can the conscience
be clear? And a man or woman by faith can
say, Almighty God, by one sacrifice has put away my debt. And that
right now there is no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus.
Almighty God has forever settled the issue of sin for me. Oh, how many times when I think
about... I mention this a lot because
I think about it a lot. How many times in my conscience,
my conscience condemns me. I nitpick myself to death. Everything grieves me about myself.
It just bothers me. I don't do this as I ought. I
don't do this as I should. I wish I hadn't have said this. I wish I'd do this. It just grieves
me because I think of what I do, what I'm called to do. This is
serious. I think to myself, I might not
have but one day left. This might be the last day I've
got. I'd hate to know I went through this day wasting time.
I'd hate to think that I'd just honor and I'll think about this
Scripture. If my conscience condemned me,
God's greater than my conscience. And I think to myself, and I
needed to remember that passage of Scripture, I need for my conscience
to be clear before God Almighty. Is there any loopholes? Is there
any possibility that maybe something hadn't been taken care of? I
mean, the Scripture sets forth that I know this, that the law,
a shadow of good things to come, those things that was just an
image, those things, they could never have the conscience of
the comers of that economy, the conscience. could never be clear
that sin had actually been put away. Having no more conscience,
what's it going to take to have truly my heart purged, my conscience
clean? Now when it says no more conscience
of sins, it doesn't mean that I believe that I have no sin. When I say I have no more conscience
of sin, The Scripture sets forth 1 John 1.8. If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. A
believer does not believe that he has no sin. Romans 7.24 sets forth clearly,
O wretched man, Paul says that I am. Sin is present with us,
absolutely. We never try to justify our shortcomings
before God. And a believer is the first to
admit the humiliating truth that we are transgressors against
God. And we need the cleansing of
His precious blood every day. Remember, that's what the blood
of the red heifer. Remember the red heifer? That's
when they'd take the ashes of that red heifer. and they would
sprinkle it. After that, the ashes were mixed
with the pure water and he'd sprinkle it, cleansing daily. I need my conscience cleared
daily. Why? Because I'm a sinner. That's what I am. I'm a sinner.
But concerning my conscience, having no more conscience of
sins, means that a believer, one, a sinner, saved by the grace
of God has full evidence to his heart by the Holy Spirit's blessing
of God's Word. And this is the only thing we've
got. We've got God's Word teaching us that Almighty God in the blessed
person of our Savior has by his full atonement met all the demands
for justice, all the demands of God's law against God's people,
all the demand of God's law against God's people. God's law is holy
and just and good. Boy, whenever somebody, you know,
we start talking about the law of God, that's the standard of
God's holiness. There's nothing wrong with the
law. The problem is my ability to keep it. That's the problem. I'm weak. My flesh, I can't keep
it. But having no more conscience
of sins is to be convinced by the Spirit of God's teaching
me that my debt has been put away. That I stand before God
Almighty. Uncondemned. That the law looks
upon me in the blessed person of my Savior. Justified. No guilt. No chargeable guilt. And because
He has absolutely paid my debt, being made sin. Oh, when I think
about that, I know I know the arguments that men have against
setting forth the surety of Christ being made sin. But think about
this. When He was made sin and put away, made a curse to deliver
us from the curse of the law. He was made a curse for us. He who knew no sin made sin. And Almighty God judged it. in the blessed person of our
Savior, and now He justly, justly forgives us of our sins. In absolute
justice, justice demands, oh, the mercy of our God. He
is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. A believer is
convinced in his heart that Christ has put away His debt. And there's
no debt to answer for. Christ has paid the debt of the
sin of God's elect. Brother Scott wrote something.
I wrote this down. I thought this was so good. He
wrote there, he said, before we can worship God in peace of
conscience and liberty of heart, we must know on the authority
of God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit that the entire
question of our sin has been answered forever by the blood
and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must know that all
the claims of God's holy law and all of our needs as ruined,
guilty sinners have been forever settled in the court of God by
the death of Christ. gives perfect peace with God.
And in the enjoyment of that peace, we worship the author
of our salvation because we have a perfect sacrifice. We have
a perfect conscience. Isn't that good? That we can
with perfect conscience, taught by the Spirit of God, based on
God's Word, God's truth, God's promise, We stand before Him
uncondemned. Not by the blood of bulls and
goats. Not by the shadow. But the good thing. Good things
come. Verse 3 says, But in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. There's
a remembrance. That's what the apostles said.
There's a demanded remembrance by God toward the people that
they remember. There's a remembrance. Almighty
God set forth that shadow, that pattern. God set that forth for
a remembrance to teach the people. There's a remembrance by those
for whom the sacrifices were shed, setting forth That by those
continued sacrifices, year after year after year, you're going
to remember you're guilty. There's a remembrance that those
sins have been committed and that they deserve death. Every
time they saw an animal sacrificed. And there were thousands and
thousands and thousands. As I said before, 1,500 years
they offered those sacrifices. Day after day after day. You go back and look at the sacrifices
that were made. What does that say? Sin deserves
death. Sent forth that Almighty God
is going to demand. The soul that has sinned is going
to die. That there must be a sacrifice.
That there must be a priest. They're remembering all of their
guilt and iniquities, absolutely going to have to be put away,
paid for. But how are those iniquities
going to be remembered no more? I mean, you think about it. Fifteen hundred years of sacrifices
didn't put away one sin. The substance. is going to have
to put away the sin. Almighty God was going to demand
a perfect. When those bulls and goats couldn't
have blemished, what is He saying? There's going to have to be a
perfect sacrifice. One that Almighty God will look
upon and say, well done. That's my beloved son. Well pleased. Where is a sacrifice like that
going to be found? What kind of a hope does man
have? Here's it. God is going to have to provide
Himself a sacrifice. Almighty God to show mercy to
one sinner must come into this world. made of a woman, made
under the law. God's going to have to, as Brother
Scott would always say, God's going to have to do something
for Himself before He can do anything for us. Almighty God
is going to have to please God. God Himself. Why? Because, verse 4, it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. And Almighty God was going to
show mercy. He was going to show compassion.
Almighty God loved the order of man. And that He could be
just and justify a sinner. Almighty God Himself was going
to have to come into this world. And the Lord was going to have
to satisfy. That which He demanded. There was a necessity. Sin must
be taken away. Any sinner that dies with the
guilt of sin upon his soul is going to eternally perish. God Almighty is just. He's just. This is where men make a mockery
of salvation. They think that with their with
their tears or with their feeble, impotent efforts trying to do
something, going through the motions. God is just. Dealing with sin. Almighty God
must punish sin. He must. Remember, where sin
is found, Chargeable sin. Where chargeable sin is found. Where the debt is found. God's going to judge it. How
can it be that there can be no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus? How can that be? That sin had
to be dealt with in another. That sin had to. And how? Almighty God could absolutely
put away the debt owed to His people by His Son being made
sin. Marvel of all marvels. God Himself,
human flesh, holy. That body, as I said last Sunday,
prepared Him. That body that knew no sin. shun the thought. As I told you
before, I've had people accuse me, write me, and say, you're
saying that Christ was a sinner. I said, no sir, buddy. No sir. I never said that. He was not
a sinner. He was holy. He was perfect. He walked this earth. No guilt
in himself. He knew no sin. And in that body
prepared him, he who knew no sin was made sin. Why? Because it was not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. My sin
has got to be cast as far as the east as from the west for
me to have any hope. There's got to be no more conscience
of sins, and the blood of bulls and goats will not accomplish
that. My free will won't accomplish
it. My walking down an aisle won't accomplish it. Me taking
the Lord's table won't accomplish it. Me being baptized won't accomplish
it. I'm telling you, there's one thing that takes away sin. Nothing but the blood of Christ.
Nothing else. Men will tell you, I can have
my sins wiped away by confessing. Confessing that you're a sinner?
That didn't put away sin. You just confess what you are.
I'm talking about sin actually being dealt with. I'm talking
about sin actually being paid for. Sin was committed against
God by man, and the blood of bulls and goats was not the blood
that would be shed to put away that. I'm telling you that such
blood could never answer the penalty of the law or satisfy
justice any more than executing a goat. in the place of a murderous
crime could pay the penalty for that murderer. A man's committed
a crime against the state of West Virginia. Well, I tell you
what, something's going to have to die. Somebody's going to have
to die. Well, let's kill something else.
Something's got to die. That man's guilty. That guilt
has actually got to be dealt with. That guilt has got to. The blood of bulls and goats
could never atone for the guilt of a man against God. One had to be made the guiltiness
of precious Lord Jesus Christ. His blood alone answers the demand
of justice, righteousness, the holy, harmless Son of God. He satisfied God and had no sin
to answer for. You see, because I'm personally guilty,
because in myself I'm personally guilty, and remember, the debt
is before an eternal God, so the penalty is an eternal penalty. You sin against an eternal God,
and the debt that's to be paid is eternal. Okay? This is why, as I've said before,
men, women that die without the substitute of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because their penalty will never be paid. They'll never
satisfy God. They will forever be in the lake
of fire. forever. But he who knew no sin had no
sin to answer for himself. He had no debt to answer for
personally. He knew no sin. Being made sin,
now sin is found on him. Chargeable sin. Not his. Not His personally, but they
were made His. They were made His. The Scripture
says forth, the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Psalms says, My
iniquities have taken hold upon Me. He who knew no sin was made
sin for us. Sin was found. The law demanded,
demanded justice. And under the justice and wrath
of Almighty God, Christ died. Why? Because sin
was found there. The penalty was paid. An eternal
penalty for all God's elect. That's what I dealt with last
Sunday. Paid for. He was buried. The penalty was
paid. The debt was paid by one sacrifice. Three days later, that penalty
is now paid. God put it away. Cast it as far
as the east is from the west. And because He knew no sin, now
that the penalty has been paid, He knew no sin, and God raised
Him from the dead justified. Why? Because He knew no sin. Only in the substitute, of the
Lord Jesus Christ, not in the blood of bulls and goats, not
in the shadow, not in the patterns, not in the types. They were a
shadow of good things to come. But the good thing to come was
the Lord Jesus Christ and the putting away of our debt, putting
away of our sins. Thanks be unto Him for the blessedness
of the substance of that of which the law was but a shadow. the
patterns put away. And now, in the glorious light
of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, our conscience
is clear. We can go to bed tonight thinking,
you know, in Him, I have no answerable guilt. Lord, forgive me for the
way that I failed You. Lord, I look forward to that
day when even the very presence of sin will be put away. Who
shall deliver me, Paul says, from the body of this death?
He will. And in that day, we will forever
live with Him. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart. Give us a fresh remembrance of that which Christ
has done for us, for His honor, for His glory, and for our good
and comfort and peace. Amen.