Well let us turn to God's Word
and in that portion that we were reading at the beginning of Hebrews
chapter 10 and have a double text really in verses 10 and
14 Hebrews 10 verse 10 we read by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
And then again at verse 14, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And so the subject that I want
to try to address is that of sanctification in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And dealing with some three headings
to say something with regards to the one offering, and then
secondly to look at the perfecting that is being spoken of and then
finally the sanctify those three points and I want to try to take
up as we consider these two verses for a little while this evening. First of all the one offering
as it is stated here verse 14 by one offering By one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Who is the person being spoken
of in this masculine pronoun? He. By one offering He. It is of course the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. the one whom we have spoken of
previously in verse 12, this man after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of the
throne of God we see how he is identified as this man and remember
we said it before there is that sense in which as the Puritan
Thomas Goodwin says in God's eyes there are just two men there
is the first man, Adam, and there is the second man, the last Adam,
the Lord Jesus. And we have it there in 1 Corinthians
15, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam is made a quickening
spirit. The first man is of the earth,
earthly. And the second man is the Lord from heaven. And this is the man then that
is being spoken of, who had made the one offering, the one sacrifice
for sins forever. He is the mediator, one God and
one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. And we can think of the Lord
Jesus in His offices and His work, all that He came to accomplish
here upon the earth, He is the mediator, he is of course that
one who is the great high priest and that's really the theme that
is so apparent in this particular epistle to the Hebrews. Paul has a great deal to say
with regards to Christ in his priestly office and what a singular
high priest he was in chapter 7. He makes it clear that He
is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, a very
different priesthood from that of the priest of Aaron. Of course,
Aaron was of the tribe of Levi, but the Lord Jesus Christ is
of a different tribe, of the tribe of Judah, and there is
no mention of that tribe with regards to the priesthood in
the Old Testament, it's a completely different order of priests. And as I said, such a singular
priest is the Lord Jesus, as we're told there in that seventh
chapter, where we see him as one after the order of Melchizedek,
that mysterious character that's spoken of back in the opening
early chapters of the book of Genesis. And we're told, aren't
we, how He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him. There is an uttermost salvation
for all those who come to God by that One who is the Great
High Priest and Mediator between God and men. And how He is that
One who has now entered Heaven itself. so different really to
what was the case with the priest of Aaron they entered into the
holy place into the holy of holies just one day in the year but
the Lord Jesus we're told has entered heaven in chapter 9 And
verse 24, Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. And it is through him, and through
him alone, that we as sinners can approach unto God. When we
come together in this fashion, Thursday by Thursday, we look
to him as our great intercessor. And here in the verses that follow
on from where we stopped our reading, we stopped at verse
18, but verse 19, having therefore reverent 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 vial, that is to say, his
flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. Oh, what a blessed access is
this that sinners can enjoy through that great work that was accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is very much an interceding
priest, and that is certainly the aspect of his priestly office
that he is now engaged in. We have some anticipation of
it, of course, whilst he was here upon the earth in the 17th
chapter of John, the Great High Priestly Prayer. It's interesting
because we have that prayer and then what follows that prayer is the sacrifice, the sacrificing
High Priest. Because following what we are
told in that great chapter, we then read of the sufferings and
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But strictly speaking, of course,
there is that sense in which he must first accomplish his
sacrificial work before he enters fully into his interceding work. But here upon the earth it was
principally that of sacrifice, that that is spoken of here in
the text, one offering, verse 14, by one offering He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And again in that tenth verse,
by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. How the Apostle is emphasizing
these truths, and all that was entailed you You're familiar
I'm sure with the chapter and those verses that precede the
passage we're looking at, where we have mention of the body that
was prepared. Verse 5, When he cometh into
the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sins 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. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
neither have pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come, To
do thy will, O God, He taketh away the first, that He may establish
the second. Why has He taken to Himself that
human nature? He took it, of course, in order
that He might make the great sin-atoning sacrifice, that He
might accomplish all the will of God, always in accordance
with what God Himself had foreordained. He says, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work. He must be obedient. He must be obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. And the offering that He makes
is once for all. That's what it says there in
the 10th verse. It's once for all time. once
for all time, one sacrifice for sins forever. And again, if we go back to chapter
9, at the end of that chapter, so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of men, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. One sacrifice. Of course, here
we see the awful blasphemy of the doctrine of the Romish Mass. And the language that we have
in the 31st article of the Reformed Church of England, alas, it's
no Reformed Church anymore, but it's still there. That 31st article. that speaks of masses as dangerous
deceits and blasphemous fables. But not only can we see the nonsense
of Roman doctrine, but also here we're reminded of the weakness
of those sacrifices that were offered in the Old Testament. All the work of the Aaronic priests,
or that they sacrificed upon their altars could never take
away sins. It was all typical, but it all
must have its accomplishment, its fulfillment, in the antitype,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see it here in the
passage that's before us, the contrast that the apostle makes,
verse 11, every priest and daily, ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. He says
previously in verse 4, it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins. Verse 12, but this
man, oh this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever sat down on the right hand of God. He accomplished
his priestly work then, here upon the earth. Principally that
priestly work was to make that one offering. All that he does
throughout his life, and it's a life of submission to all the
sovereign will of God, there's a work that he has covenanted
to undertake, and he will submit then to the authority of God's
holy law. He's made of a woman, he's made
under the law. and he honors and magnifies it
by his obedience, the righteousness of the life that he lives. But
then ultimately, he magnifies and honors it as he makes the
great offering, the one sacrifice for sins, when he dies, the just
for the unjust, to bring sinners to God. And what is the outcome?
Well, it's what we see here, the perfecting. verse 14, by one offering He
has perfected forever. His offering has perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Going back to verse 1, with those sacrifices which they
offered year by year continually, He couldn't make the comers thereunto
perfect. That that was done there in the Old
Testament in type could not make those who were offering those
sacrifices perfect. But here is one who has perfected
the sanctification of his people by the offering of himself. We
know that his sacrifice accomplished salvation and accomplish salvation
in the sense that it saved the people it didn't just make salvation
a possibility for anyone and everyone it made salvation something
that was sure and certain for as many as had been given to
him by the father in the eternal covenant and Doesn't the apostle
bring that out quite clearly in what we have previously in
the second chapter? There at verse 9, how the man is identified as
Jesus. We see Jesus, says Paul. But we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. crowned with glory and honor,
that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Now
I know the Arminian might seize on that verse and say, look it
says he tasted death for every man. But of course we're always
to see every statement of Scripture in its context. We're to see
it in its immediate context, we're to see it in the general
context of the whole of Scripture. But looking at the immediate
context, there in chapter 2, we see quite clearly just who
every man is. The wonder of the Gospel is,
of course, that whereas in the Old Testament God's grace is
confined to Israel, they are a typical people, but there in
the midst of Israel there is always the true spiritual Israel,
the godly remnant, But when we come to the New Testament, there's
a glorious fullness, because the salvation is not just for
the Jew, it's for the Gentile only. And so Paul can say that
by God's grace, Christ tasted death for every man, all sorts
of men. But then see what follows. And though every man is specified,
it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. So every man is now spoken of
as many sons. Verse 11 For both he that sanctifies
and they who are sanctified are all of one. They are now referred
to as those that are sanctified. For which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren, in the midst of the church. Why? Every man is
those who are in the church. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee, and again I will put my trust in
him, and again behold I and the children which God hath given
them. They're not only his brethren, they're the children that God
had given to him in the eternal covenant. And so we see quite
clearly here that Paul is speaking of an atonement that has actually
accomplished something. It's limited in the sense that
it is not a salvation for every man who has ever lived on the
face of the earth, from Adam to Ada until the end of time.
It's a salvation that has not just made salvation possible
for all, but accomplish salvation for as many as were given to
Him in the eternal covenant. It's accomplished, salvation
is accomplished by the work of the Lord Jesus as He is obedient
unto the death of the cross and has made that one offering. And
it's also, of course, a complete salvation. The salvation is complete in
Him. When Paul writes in Colossians of the Gospel that he preaches,
Colossians 1 verse 28, he says it's a preaching to present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus. That is the aim and object of
the preaching that those who come to faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ are those who will be perfect. He will present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus. There is no perfection at all
in our flesh. There is only perfection in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so we come to know that perfection
by faith in the Lord Jesus. When Paul is giving very practical
instruction to husbands and wives, remember there in Ephesians chapter
5. Now we see the apostle mixing
in with these practical exhortations, great doctrinal truths, all rooted
and grounded in doctrine really. When he speaks of the husbands,
there at verse 25, husbands love your wives. even as Christ also
loved the church and gave himself for it. Of course, you'll go on to say,
then this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ
and the church. The whole marriage relationship,
the husband and wife, it speaks to us of Christ and his church.
But when he speaks of the husband, you see, it then draws our attention
to what Christ has done, how he loved the church, how he loved
his bride, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish."
This is what Christ has accomplished for the church then. It is now perfect in the sight
of God. There's no spot, there's no blemish
in the church at all. No perfection in the flesh, but
real perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the song of Solomon,
thou art all fair my love, there is no spot in thee. That's how
God looks upon his people even now in the Lord Jesus Christ.
How they are perfect, they're sanctified. They are holy people. By one offering He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. This is the work that the Lord
Jesus claimed to accomplish, to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness. He's done it all. In Christ there's
satisfaction for sin, there's perfection of righteousness,
and it's found there and nowhere else. Of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus, says Paul, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, the deed that glorieth, letting
glory in the Lord. And so, we have the One Offering,
and the consequence of that One Offering in that there's perfection,
an accomplished salvation, a complete salvation. And then thirdly,
we come to the sanctifying. In a sense, we've considered
the He, the singular masculine pronoun that we have here in
verse 14, by One Offering, He. have perfected forever them that
are sanctified so as we come to this third point the sanctified
let's consider who the them are who are the them that are the
sanctified well it's those that he made the sacrifice for the
very same ones that he died in the room instead of back in verse 10 it's God's will
being accomplished by the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all now observe
how both in verse 10 and in verse 14 we have the present tense Not the future tense. They are
sanctified. Sanctification is part of the
salvation that was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. They
are sanctified. And of course we know that sanctification
isn't just the work of God the Son. There's a sense in which
the sanctification involves all the persons in the Godhead. It's
the work of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And we can think
of that threefold sanctification in terms of a sanctification
that is in a sense eternal, it's historic, and then it's experimental. First of all, what do I mean
when I say there's an eternal sanctification? Well, it's the
sanctification of God the Father. Jude, verse 1, as sanctified
by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ and called as
sanctified by God the Father. Again, going back to what we
have here in the chapter verses 9 and 10, when the Lord speaks
and says, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He takes away the
first, that is the Old Testament covenant that he may establish
a second by which we are sanctified God's will is being accomplished
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. It's interesting Henry Cole makes
this observation, he says, election is sanctification in its highest
and primary meaning. When we think of the meaning
of the word to sanctify, to set apart, that's what it really
means, you set a thing apart from normal everyday use to some
holy use, that's the will of God. When He makes choice of
His people, He sets them apart to Himself, and He sets them
apart to be a holy people. Be ye holy as I am holy, says
the Lord. And they are set apart in God's
eternal will. And they are set apart in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember those words back in
chapter 2, Both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified
are all of one. The Lord Jesus, who is the mediatorial
head of his people, he is set apart to his offices, to his
work. And all that the Father has given
to him, at the same time they are set apart. According us he
hath chosen us in him, says Paul to the Ephesians, before the
foundation of the world. Or there is an eternal sanctification
of the Father, in that sense that He has set apart not only
the Saviour, but also the saint, and His eternal will is accomplished in time. And
then we have the historic sanctification. How is it accomplished in time? Well, it's accomplished, as we
read in these two verses, by the offering, the sacrifice.
There's a connection between what the Lord Jesus Christ did
there upon the cross and that sanctification of his people.
They are a pair, really, these verses. By the which will, we
are sanctified, how? Through the offering. of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified." They were set apart
by God the Father and He has perfected them by His great work
there upon the cross. Again in chapter 13 and verse
12, Jesus also that He might sanctify the people with his
own blood, suffered without the gate. That's how they were sanctified in time, historically, when the
Lord Jesus Christ made that great sin-atoning sacrifice. Again, here in chapter 9 verse
13, If the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an
heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify us 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? Oh, our
sanctification is there. in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
as I said, it's the work of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Eternal
sanctification, historic sanctification, and what we might term experimental
sanctification. We have to come into an experience
of these things. How? Being sanctified by the
Holy Ghost, says Paul, Romans 15-16. Again, Titus chapter 3 verse
5, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Ghost. The washing of regeneration,
the new birth. If any man is in Christ Jesus,
he's a new creature. They're partakers, aren't they,
of the divine nature. Or there's a new nature. And that seed can never sin. Remember the language that we
have there in the third chapter of that first epistle of John. In verse 9, "...whoever is born
of God doth not commit sin, for his seed the new birth remaineth
in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God that which is born of the flesh
is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit and the
flesh lost it against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
and he cannot do the thing that he would says the apostle how
is this sanctification evidence then? it's in the life of faith
It's in the good fight of faith. It's in that conflict where we
find God's people having to mortify the deeds of the body. We have
it there at the end of Romans 7, Paul cries out in all the
agony of his soul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. I myself with the mind serve
the Lord of God, but with the flesh the Lord of sin. The I
myself, the real Paul, is the new man of grace, that sanctified
one. But whilst we're in the body,
there is the conflict, the continual conflict with the old nature. But all our salvation, every
aspect of that salvation, it's already complete. We are those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are those who are sanctified
with those whom God sees as perfect. Oh the Lord then be pleased to
to own and bless these truths to our souls comfort and to God's
glory. Let us before we pray sing our second praise in the
hymn number 16 the tune Leicester 171 The Father is a holy God, his
holy Son he gave, who freely shed atoning blood of guilty
worlds to save. He makes them feel the cleansing
grace that flows through Jesus' blood, unites in love the holy
race, the newborn sons of God. Number 16, June 171.