Hebrews chapter 10. We'll begin at verse 1. We'll
look at really the first 14 verses. Paul writes, for the law having
a shadow of good things to come, but 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
the worshipers 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 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
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
for me. When Christ cometh into the world.
Christ. He said, a body thou hast prepared
for me. We saw earlier who is Christ. He's God's Christ. He's the promised
Messiah. He's the Savior, the Lamb of
God. And he's God manifest in the
flesh. He said, a body has thou prepared
me. and in burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. The Father, God the Father, has
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. Above, when he says sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin, all the
sacrifices of the Old Testament. all the sacrifices, the ones
that they offer daily, annually, monthly, every sacrifice. Neither has pleasure therein
which are offered, how by the law. Then he said, lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he might establish the second. By the which will, by the witch
will, by God Almighty, the Son of God, Christ, the Son of God,
coming down to do the will of the Father. As our representative,
he established righteousness for his people. As our substitute,
he died on the cross, enduring all the wrath of God for our
sins. Paul talked about it in Philippians.
He became obedient. He humbled himself and became
a servant. became obedient even unto the
death of the cross by the which will we are sanctified
how through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for
all all those who he represents And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. It was not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. And they offered
them continually, year by year by year by year, feast after
feast, ceremony after ceremony, holy day after holy day. 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 hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. What is
the law? What is the law? that Paul is
referring to here. When you read of the law and
the word of God, it refers to either the moral law, the Ten
Commandments, the moral law, the Levitical and ceremonial
law, or it can also refer to the entire word of God. It can
have those different meanings depending upon the context in
which it is used. And so it's important to understand
when we read of the law, what are we referring to? And it can
mean all of it, too, at the same time. The law being referred
to here is the ceremonial law, which was given to Moses by God
on Mount Sinai. It was concerning the tabernacle.
It was concerning the priesthood. It was concerning the duties
and the service of the priesthood, and in particular, the sacrifices.
Paul in chapter eight or chapter seven began with talking about
Melchizedek, the high priest, and showed unto us how Christ
is the high priest. And he talked about the tabernacle
and the service that went in. So he had talked about those
things in chapters seven through nine. And here in chapter 10,
he begins to focus more on the sacrifice that was made. And Paul tells us that the law
was a shadow of good things to come. It was a shadow, and not
the very image of the things. And this is extremely important
to understand, that the law was a shadow. The law was divinely
given by God to man, but it served a very specific purpose. A shadow, a shadow has no substance. It is not an image or reflection,
like looking in a mirror. If I look in a mirror, I can
see the image. I can see the reflection. But
that's not a shadow. A shadow has no details. It's
just a dark outline. I can look at the shadow of a
tree. And I can know that the shadow is a shadow of a tree,
but I'll not know anything about the tree until I look at the
tree. There's no details in that shadow
that reveals unto me what the tree is. I don't know how big
the tree is from the shadow. It all depends upon where the
light source is. If the light source is close
or far, it can distort how big the shadow is, if it's up or
down. So I don't know how big the tree is from looking at the
shadow. I don't know what kind of bark it has. I don't know
what the leaves look like. Many times I won't even know
what kind of tree it is by looking at the shadow. In order to learn
about the tree, I must look at and examine the tree that's casting
the shadow. The law was a shadow of Christ. The law was not given to save
men. Salvation cannot be obtained
by the law. The law was a shadow and given
to point us, lead us, and bring us to Christ, who is our salvation. Paul wrote the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. That was the purpose of the law.
The law wasn't given to save. The law was given to point us,
to lead us, to bring us to Christ, who is our salvation, who did
fulfill the law, who did keep the law and satisfy. He declared
earlier in Hebrews, he said, the law made nothing perfect.
The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better
hope did. The law was a shadow of good
things to come, and when those good things came, they brought
in a better hope, by the which will, by the which we draw nigh
unto God. The law couldn't give any peace. There was no rest in the law,
there was work. Every year they had to come back
and offer the same sacrifices. There was no rest there, there
was no comfort, there was no peace. Only in Christ do we have
rest and comfort and peace. That's why he said, come unto
me and I'll give you rest. He is our peace, he made peace. The law did not make a man righteous.
The law did not make a man just. The law did not sanctify a man.
Why? Because they had to come back
every year. Every year there was a remembrance
again made of sins. Every year. Aaron would have
to make a sacrifice before himself. He would put on the linen and
have to cleanse himself before he even went into the holiest
of homes. And then there was a sacrifice for the people. And
then you remember the scapegoat. The scapegoat, they would lay
the sins. The high priest would put his
hands and lay his hands upon the scapegoat and place those
sins upon the scapegoat. And a fit man would lead it off
to a land uninhibited. And they did that every year. Every year, there's a remembrance
again made of sins. And every year, they look to
those sacrifices. And they knew that the Messiah
was coming. One day, one day, was it Abraham told Isaac, God
shall provide himself a sacrifice. There was no peace in the law.
No forgiveness. These things can only be found
and obtained in and by Christ alone. In our text, Paul tells us that
these sacrifices, they can never make the comers there unto perfect.
He said, if they could, would they then not have ceased to
be offered? Because that, the worshippers once purged, should
have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance. Paul tells us what the law could
not do. The law could not make those
that offered the sacrifices perfect because it's impossible for the
blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. If it was possible,
then they would have had no more need to do any more sacrifices. That one sacrifice would have
accomplished it, right? It would have put away sin. In those sacrifices, there is
a remembrance of sin made every year. Now the Word of God declares
that the Lord God is merciful and gracious. We know He is a
God of mercy, a God of grace. We know that He is long-suffering. He's abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression,
and sin. But what he will not do is he
will not, by any means whatsoever, clear the guilty. He will not
clear them. Sin must be dealt with. That's
when they looked at those sacrifices in which there was remembrance
of sin, they understood that sin had to be dealt with. The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. God Almighty promised, I will
punish the workers of iniquity. In order for man to be saved,
his sin must be dealt with, and it must be dealt with in a manner
which satisfies God's justice. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness. But it's not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. So then how is a sinner saved?
How can God, who is just and holy, how can God, who is of
pure eyes and behold evil, how can God, who will punish sin,
how can he be just and justify the ungodly? Michael wrote, wherewith shall
I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall
I come before him with burnt offerings? With calves of a year
old, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams and ten
thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
How am I going to come before God, a sinner? How? Look at Isaiah chapter 1. Look at verse 11. And in this
passage before us, the Lord God clearly declares unto us what
we are. A sinful nation of people laden
with iniquity, from the head even to the sole of the feet,
nothing but sickness, sin. Well, look at verse 11, Isaiah
1 verse 11. He said, to what purpose is the multitude of your
sacrifices unto me? Saith the Lord, I am full of
the burnt offerings of rams and of the fat of fed beasts. I delight
not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats. When
you come to appear before me, who has required this at your
hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations,
incenses and abomination unto me, the new moons and the Sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies I cannot away with. is iniquity even to
the solemn meeting. Your new moons and appointed
feasts my soul hateth, they are trouble unto me, I'm weary to
bear them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make
your prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Wash you and make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed.
Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow. And he says,
come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Come now. Those
sacrifices, he said, I'm full of them. They say, come now and
let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow, and though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. So let us reason together today.
How can sin be put away? How can a man be just with God
and reconciled unto him? We read in our text that God
had no pleasure. He found no satisfaction in those
burnt offerings. None of those sacrifices satisfied
him. None of them satisfied his justice. None of them put away sin. However, there was a sacrifice
made which did put away sin, and there was a sacrifice made
which did satisfy God. Look at Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53 verse 1, who hath believed
our report? Who has believed our gospel?
Who has believed God's word? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? He said, lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written to me. Lo, I come. A body has I
prepared for me. He grew up before him as a tender
plant. and as a root of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him." So this world, the Lord Jesus Christ was, as we saw this
morning, he was a carpenter, wasn't he? He was just a man. And they had very low thoughts
of him, didn't they? He was despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we
hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. The Son of God came down to this earth. The Word was made flesh. and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the only begotten
of the Father. But yet he was despised, and
we esteemed him not, God manifest in the flesh. And surely he hath borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we're healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We're born into this world, shaped
in iniquity and conceived in sin, aren't we? From the womb,
what do we do? We go astray, speaking lies. Sin is mixed with everything
we do. The Lord looked down from heaven
and he saw that there's none that do with good, no, not one. And the Lord laid on him the
iniquity of us all. I guess Aaron put his hands on
that scapegoat and placed the sins of the people on that scapegoat.
God Almighty, God Almighty laid on Him the sins of us all. See the work of the cross, the blood of bulls and goats
couldn't take away sin. And the blood of a man couldn't
take away sin. Couldn't man by the shedding
of his own blood Make atonement? No. In order for God to be satisfied,
that sacrifice had to be God's Son, a man. Only God could satisfy God. But if he were to die as our
substitute, he also had to be a man. Paul said, great is the mystery
of Godliness. That's great. I can't explain
that, but I can only declare it. That's why he came. And that covenant of salvation
that was made between God the Father and God the Son in order
to save those to whom God the Father gave him, the Lord Jesus
Christ became a man. It behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren. that he might redeem them, that
he might save them. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he opened
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? Who's
going to declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land
of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no
violence, neither was deceit found in his mouth. He was perfect.
He had no sin. He was perfect. And that sacrifice
had to be perfect in order to satisfy God. Yet, It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. He
found no satisfaction in those sacrifices in the Old Testament. But it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It satisfied him. That's what that word means,
satisfies him. He didn't take pleasure in it.
It satisfied him. He hath put him to grief, for
now shall make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and bear
the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." He did
what all those sacrifices could not do, that it was impossible
for them to do. because they were just a shadow.
They were a shadow of the good things to come. They were a shadow
of Christ. Let's look back at our text.
Look back at Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9 look at verse
11 but Christ being come a high priest of what? good things to come what was
the law a shadow of? good things to come that tabernacle
everything in that tabernacle everything pictured Christ the
mercy seat that's Christ everything in there, everything
they did, the incense, the priest. The priest was a
picture of Christ. We talked about Uzziah the other
day. Chris referenced him. Uzziah,
who was king, decided, I'm going to be priest, and I'm going to
enter in and offer sacrifice. And the priest told Uzziah, he
said, it appertaineth not unto thee. You have no right to be
here. That office pictured and pointed
to Christ, who is our high priest, who is the only high priest. Christ become a high priest of
good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle.
God told Moses how to build the tabernacle. And we read, I think
it's in Hebrews chapter 8, it said that those things pictured
the heavenly things. That earthly tabernacle was a
picture of the heavenly tabernacle. And when you read in Revelation,
it talks about, it said in Revelation 21, it said the tabernacle of
God is now with men. They're in that kingdom of heaven.
Christ what? Tabernacle of the moms. by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle not made with hands. It's not of this building, neither
by the blood of bulls and goats, but by his own blood. He entered into once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? And for this cause, he is the
mediator of the New Testament. that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. When John saw Jesus coming to
him, he said, behold, the Lamb of God. Behold, the Lamb of God. But he didn't just end there.
He said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world. And this man, this man, after
he offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the
right hand of God. For by one offering he perfected
forever them that are sanctified." His blood was effectual. His
death was effectual. And here are the good things
to come which the law was a shadow of. The image that cast a shadow
was Christ, and in Him are all the good things of God. He is
the gift of God. In Him are all spiritual blessings. In Him does all fullness dwell.
He is our hope. He is our life. He is our righteousness,
our sanctification, our redemption. He is our wisdom. He is our rest. He is our peace. He is our reconciliation. He is everything. Christ is all,
and we're complete in Him. We read that in the volume of
the book, it is written of Him to do the will of the Father.
And the will of the Father was the salvation of His people.
That's why He came. Christ, Jesus, came into the
world to do what? Save sinners, of whom I am chief. He came to save sinners. He came
to lay down His life and die on the cross as our substitute.
He came to, what is it in Hebrews 12? It said, for the joy that
was set before Him, He endured the cross. What was the joy?
The will of the Father, the salvation of His people. He said, my meat
is to do the will of Him that sent me. He was manifested to
do what? Take away our sins. Luke 24 we
read, He said, These are the words which I spake unto you
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,
which were written where? In the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
Psalms concerning me. And then He opened their understanding.
that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said unto
them, Thus it was written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer,
to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day. And that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. He said in John 6, I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is the Father's will which is sent me, that all
which he has given to me I should lose nothing. I should lose nothing,
but should rise it up again at the last day. And he said in
John 17, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy
son also may glorify thee. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, Who has the power of salvation? He has the power
of salvation. God the Father gave him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, and the only true God, and Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Peter said, thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is life eternal,
that we might know him, know him whom thou hast sent." He
said, I've glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. That work of salvation, which
we see here in our text. Why did Christ come? Why was
he made a man? Why did he suffer and die and
bleed on the cross? to save his people. That was the covenant made between
God the Father and God the Son before the foundation of the
world. He is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
And that law was just a shadow, a shadow of that covenant. And
we have a new covenant. He said, I'm going to put that
law on their hearts and in their minds, and everyone's going to
know. He said, I finished the war. And
there on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered under the
full wrath of God for the sins of his people as their substitute,
and he accomplished their redemption and their salvation. That sacrifice was a gruesome
sacrifice. That lamb was killed, slaughtered, Because that's what sin deserves.
It deserves death. And Lord Jesus Christ is our
substitute. Endured all the wrath of God. Forsaken by the Father. He was made sin. He bore our sin in His own body
on that tree. He suffered. And He did it for those whom
He loved. He did it for those whom the Father loved and gave
Him. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. And He laid down His life. It
wasn't taken from Him. He wasn't a victim. He gave himself for our sins. There on the cross of Calvary,
he shed his blood. And he cried out, it's finished.
It's finished. By one offering, he perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled
how and the body of his flesh through death to present you. If you're in him, if you're in
him, if he died for you, present you hope and unblameable and unapprovable
where it matters in God's sight, in his sight. I believe it was in Jeremiah
50, the Lord said that he's gonna, he'll search for the iniquity
and the sin of Jacob in Israel. and says he'll find none. None. Because he will pardon whom he
will reserve. And he have done it. He has done
it. And he looks at his people right
now, in Christ, they're holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight. because we've been washed and
made clean in the blood of the lamb that was shed on Calvary. And that's why Paul says, God
forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,
saving who he is and what he did, what he accomplished on
that cross. That's the good news of the gospel. That's the good
news. It's glad tidings. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Who's gonna
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemned? It's
Christ that died. Yea rather that is risen again.
And where is he at? The right hand of God. Sitting
on the right hand of the throne of God. And you know what he's
doing? making intercession for us. Christ is the only hope a sinner
has of salvation. The only hope. And there is a
day coming where we're going to stand before God Almighty
and we're going to be judged. And there are many that are going
to say, Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonderful works in
thy name? He'll tell them, declare to them,
depart from you, you workers of iniquity. But there are those, there are
those that are going to plead the blood of Christ. They're gonna look to Him alone. And to them, He'll say, well
done. Come, come. we look to him and his blood
which was shed on the cross of Calvary consider just for a moment
consider where he is right now he's on the throne look at Revelation
chapter 5 and we'll be done Revelation chapter 5 he said
I saw on the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book
Written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals And I
saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy
to open the book and to loose the seals thereof And no man
in heaven or on earth neither under the earth was able to open
the book neither look thereon and I wept much and Because no
man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither
to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not.
Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,
he hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And I beheld him low in the midst
of the throne. And of the four beasts and in
the midst of the elders stood a lamb as if it had been slain. having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the
earth. And he came and he took the book out of the right hand
of him that sat upon the throne. And we had taken the book, the
four beasts and the four and 20 elders fell down before the
lamb, having one of them harps and golden vials full of odors,
which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song,
saying thou art worthy to take the book, and open the seals
thereof, for thou hast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and nation,
and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall
reign on the earth. and I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and
the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000
and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the
lamb that was slain he is worthy he is worthy I love
reading through these passages in Revelation where it talks about the saints
and the songs that they sang, where it talks about new Jerusalem
coming down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. I love hearing of how we'll worship
him in eternity. And I desire that, and I long
for that. For that, I would say time, but
it's not even time, it's just eternity. for when we will actually
be able to truly worship him. Because he is worthy. I don't
even fully understand it. I don't comprehend it. I don't
love him as I should. I don't worship him as I should.
I don't follow him as I should. I don't do the things that I
should. Because I've still got this old man in his flesh. And
we battle and we war. The spirit and the flesh is battling,
war against each other. There is coming a day where I'm
truly going to be able to worship Him. And I see, I see what He did
on the cross, and I see what He suffered, and I see the blood
that was shed, and I see the love that He had for His people,
and what He endured. I see it was for me. And I just want to worship Him
for that. And I know that one day I truly will. This world
and earth is bound by time, but one day in eternity I will never
cease to praise Him and worship Him. And I'll see Him as the
slain Lamb of God. Like I can never see Him right
now. Worthy is the lamb that was slain,
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in
the sea and all that are in them, heard I say, blessing and honor
and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne
and unto the lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said,
amen. And we do too, don't we? Amen,
amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever. Only in Christ, only in Christ
is God satisfied. only in Christ. And by faith,
by faith, we look to Him. We look to Him, to who He is
and what He accomplished on the cross. By faith, that's our only
hope. I'm not looking to Him and something
else. I'm looking to Him alone. He's my only hope. And I know
I'm assured that he accomplished the salvation of his people when
he suffered and bled on that cross by God-given faith. I pray that he'll cause us to
look to him this morning and reveal unto us what he's written
in his word. Let's pray.