Chapter 10, the title of the
message, Perfected Forever. Let that sink in. We have the Gospel so clear in
just these few verses. He has perfected forever them. that are sanctified, set apart,
elected by God the Father, made holy by God the Son, that is
our position, holy before God, and then made holy by the regenerating
work of the Holy Spirit. Do I feel perfect? I've not yet experienced that
full and complete perfection that the Lord Jesus Christ has
made me. I've not experienced it yet.
I'm not too far from it now, really. About half this crowd
is not too far from it. If we just die, you know, three
score years and ten or beyond, we're not far from it. Paul and
I were talking not too long ago and we were talking about, I'm
about to turn 70 and he's about to turn 70. We said, we're at
the dying age. We are definitely at the dying
age. And this center, this portion
of scripture, studying this portion of scripture this week has given
me such comfort. and I hope it gives you the same
comfort. And this is where our assurance
comes from, the Word of God. What we just read, we can lay
down when it's time to say farewell to this life, we can lay down
in peace and joy and let it go, and just let it
go. because we're perfect and we're
about to experience that perfection that the Lord has wrought for
us. Now we come to the high point
of this epistle, the putting away of sin and the perfection
of those whose sins are put away. It speaks here of the efficacy,
the sufficiency of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's enough. Jesus Christ is
enough. His blood is enough to atone
for our sins, all of them. His sacrifice is enough to put
away our sins, all of them. and His righteousness is enough
to make us righteous before God. Jesus Christ is enough. Now it
stood out to me as I was reading over this portion of Scripture
several times and read three or four, at least three or four
different translations of it, and then gone back and read it
and read it again. The one thing that just keeps
standing out. It's this putting away of sin. Sin is a big deal. Sin is a big
deal. It's not a big deal with most
people. Most people call it, I've made
a lot of mistakes. I've never made a mistake. I've
sinned a whole lot. I've sinned a lot. The Lord Jesus
Christ didn't die for my mistakes. HE DIED FOR MY SINS AND HE PUT
THEM AWAY. BUT THIS SIN ISSUE KEEPS COMING
UP. IT KEEPS COMING UP. IT'S GOT
TO BE DEALT WITH. MY SINS, YOUR SINS, EVERYBODY'S
SINS. I COULDN'T EVEN BEGIN TO TELL
YOU HOW MANY BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE LIVED ON THIS
EARTH AND HOW MANY MAY YET LIVE. and every one of their sins individually
and every individual sin has to be dealt with. This is how
holy God is. There can't be one sin. This
shows us how perfect and holy our Lord is who knew no sin. God the Father said this is my
beloved Son whom I'm well pleased if there was one sin in Him He
would have never said that, He would have never said in whom
I'm well pleased. It must be perfect to be accepted
and He has made us by His one offering, His one sacrifice,
He's made us perfect, perfect. WE NEED TO REALLY SIT DOWN AND
MEDITATE ON THAT. WE REALLY DO. LET'S NOT LET THAT
GO OVER OUR HEADS. LET'S SIT DOWN AND THINK ABOUT
THAT. NOW HE SAYS IN VERSE 11, EVERY
PRIEST, AND HE'S NOT TALKING ABOUT THE HIGH PRIEST WHO MADE
AN ATONEMENT FOR SINS ONCE A YEAR. HE'S TALKING ABOUT EVERY PRIEST
that stood at the altar every day, morning and evening. Think about that, morning and
evening, death every morning, death every evening, bloodshed
every morning, every evening. There were thousands of priests
offering morning and evening sacrifices And none of those
sacrifices could take away sin. You would think someone would
ask, why do we keep doing this? It's not working. But they didn't
get it. They thought it was. They actually,
most of them, most of them actually thought that the blood of those
bulls and goats took away sins. They actually believed that. MANY ANIMALS DIED BECAUSE OF
SIN. MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS
DIED BECAUSE OF SIN. A RIVER OF BLOOD FLOWED FROM
THOSE ANIMALS, YET NOT ONE DROP PUT AWAY SIN. I WAS THINKING
TODAY IT'D BE INTERESTING TO KNOW HOW MANY GALLONS OF BLOOD
WAS SHED SINCE THE FALL OF ADAM BECAUSE OF SIN. How many gallons of blood? There
would be a river, I believe there would be, if it all come together,
there'd literally be a river of blood. And not one drop of
that would put away sin. The only way sin can be forgiven
is for it to be put away. I realize this. You know, when
you're a young believer, you ask the Lord to forgive you,
you seek the Lord to forgive you, you ask Him that He forgive
you through the blood and righteousness of Christ. And then as you grow
older, you realize that God can't just forgive you, that there
has to be an atonement made for those sins you're asking forgiveness
for. GOD HAS TO BE APPEASED! FORGIVENESS CANNOT HAPPEN UNTIL
GOD IS APPEASED AND THOSE SINS ARE ATONED FOR. I KNOW THAT NOW,
I KNOW THAT, I REALIZE THAT NOW MORE THAN ANYTHING. THAT GOD,
FOR GOD TO FORGIVE ME, AND I BELIEVE GOD IS FORGIVING ME, AND THE
ONLY REASON WHY IS BECAUSE HE'S APPEASED. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
APPEASED HIS WRATH, PLEASED HIS JUSTICE. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin, but there is one that can take away my
sins. Oh, I wish I could find a sinner
that needs his or her sins taken away, forgiven, cleansed. I believe there's some here.
I believe there's some here. I've got good news and it's all
about this man. You know, in the original, man
is not in the original. It reads like this, but this,
but this, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, but this,
what? This priest, because he just said up in verse 11, and
every priest stands daily, but this priest, that's what he's
talking about. But this priest, but they said
this man and that fits too. That fits real well because this
man is no ordinary man. This man is God. This man is
the king priest. This man is the priest. This
man is the high priest. This man is appointed of God
to be the priest. He didn't take this upon Himself,
we read that earlier in Hebrews. He didn't take this office upon
Himself. God appointed Him to it. God
appointed His Son to come into this world, take upon Him flesh,
become a man, and officiate as a priest on our behalf in things
pertaining to God. That's exactly what He did. That's what He did. and everything
everything hinges on this man and everything hinges on this
man being God not just a man it can't be an ordinary man but
this man's got to be God and all our salvation hinges on this
man all of it and this man THIS PRIEST,
HE HAS SOMETHING TO OFFER! You know the scripture says earlier
in Hebrew, He must have someone to offer, He sure does, Himself. This man offered Himself as a
sacrifice for our sins, and here's the beauty of it, FOREVER! This man offered one sacrifice
for sin FOREVER! FOREVER! HE DID WHAT NO OTHER
MAN COULD DO, HE DID WHAT NO OTHER PRIEST COULD DO, HE DID
WHAT AARON COULD NOT DO, AND THAT'S ALL FOR ONE SACRIFICE,
JUST ONE, NOT MANY, JUST ONE, AND THAT SACRIFICE WAS HIMSELF.
HE OFFERED HIMSELF UP TO GOD, WE READ THAT EARLIER IN HEBREWS
WHERE HE OFFERED UP HIMSELF TO GOD AS A SACRIFICE, AS AN ATONEMENT
for our sins, our sins. Isaiah 53, He was wounded for
our transgressions. It doesn't say He was wounded
for transgressions, He was bruised for iniquities, the chastisement
of peace was upon Him, and by His stripes people are healed.
No, that's not what it says. He was wounded for our transgressions,
they belong to somebody. They belonged to someone. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. He hung on the
cross for someone, many someone, many. He hung on that cross. Now what else did this man do
that no other priest, no other man could do? What did he do? He sat down on the right hand
of God. Look over in Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1, let me read something here to you. Look
in verse 20 through 22. Well, let's go to 19. And what
is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe,
according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought
in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, set Him at His
own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality
and power and might and dominion, in every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all." But He's put all things under
this man's feet, everything. He sat down, listen, He sat down
on the right hand of God. Those priests who ministered
daily, the daily sacrifices, the one thing they could not
do, the one thing God did not provide them with, a chair. He didn't provide them with a
chair to sit at. There was no seat there. There was no seat. Their work was never finished.
I thought about this when I was reading this. He sat down, they
couldn't sit down because their work was never finished. There
were centuries of lambs, bullocks and goats
to be offered. They didn't live, no priest lived
long enough to offer all the bullocks and the goats and the
sheep. They lived a few years and died
and somebody else took their place. And then they would take
turns doing it. It was priests, it was Levitical
priests. There were hundreds and hundreds,
2,000 years from Adam to Moses, 2,000 years from Moses, when
the law was given, the ceremonial law was given, 2,000 years from
Moses to Christ. THERE'S A WHOLE TRAIN OF LAMBS
AND BULLOCKS AND GOATS AND RAMS TO BE OFFERED. THEY AIN'T GOT
TIME TO SIT DOWN. IT'S NOT DONE YET. IT'S NOT DONE
YET. BUT HE DID. HE DID. HE SAT DOWN. BECAUSE HE OFFERED
ONE SACRIFICE THAT GOT THE JOB DONE. IT GOT THE JOB DONE. NOW WHAT DOES SIT DOWN ON THE
RIGHT HAND OF GOD IMPLY? WELL IT IMPLIES THIS. FIRST OF
ALL, THE WORK HE CAME TO DO WAS FINISHED. IT'S FINISHED. IT IMPLIES HONOR. IT'S A PLACE
OF HONOR TO SIT AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND. HE DIDN'T GIVE THAT TO
ANY ANGELS. HE NEVER SAID TO ANY ANGEL, HE
SAID DURING HEBREWS 1, HE DIDN'T SAY TO ANY ANGEL, SIT ON MY RIGHT
HAND UNTIL I MAKE YOU ENEMIES OF YOUR FOOTSTOOL. AND THAT'S
WHAT HE SAID IN PSALM 110, 1. HE NEVER SAID THAT TO AN ANGEL.
IT'S A PLACE OF HONOR AND DIGNITY. AND YOU KNOW WHERE YOU AND I
ARE SEATED? SAME PLACE. GOD'S RIGHT HAND, RIGHT NOW,
IN CHRIST. WE ARE SEATED AT A PLACE OF HONOR. IT IMPLIES SATISFACTION. Is God satisfied or not? Well,
let's see if He comes out of the grave. Did He? We sure have
a witness to it. He came out of the grave and
He ascended back to heaven and seated at God's right hand. It
implies ACCEPTANCE, not only of Him. He's a federal head. He's a representative. It's acceptance of Him and us
in Him. whole elect of God, and then
it implies POWER in a position of AUTHORITY. All things are
put under His feet. God has turned all things over
to His Son. The Father loveth the Son and
has given all things into His hands. If you and I want anything from
God, if we desire a blessing, if we desire help, We go to Him
in Christ, in Christ's name, pleading His name. As I said
in my prayer, I pray that you answer this prayer in Christ's
name, for Christ's sake, and for the good of you, for you're
all good. Good is people. And now listen. He sat down on the right hand
of God. in verse 13, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. Now he's not sitting there passively,
he's not sitting there passively. There's no one more active than
the Lord Jesus Christ. He continually upholds all things
by the word of His power. He continually maintains all
things, all of creation. He continually rules over heaven
and earth. He's not sitting there passive.
No, that word, when he sat down, it denotes finished. It does
not denote passive. He's not passive. And listen,
henceforth, from henceforth expect until his enemies be made his
food store. How can such a person have enemies? Scripture says
he went about doing good. He did nothing but good. He healed,
he fed. He saves, he does nothing but
good, and yet he's the most hated man there ever was. You think
Trump derangement syndrome is something? Humanity hates Jesus
Christ a whole lot more. I mean a whole lot more. And his victory is assured. Expecting,
that's victory. He's expecting victory. When you die, you who believe
the gospel, do you expect to be saved? You expect it, don't you? You
expect to be saved because you've taken God at His Word, you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, you BELIEVE the gospel. And you expect,
when you die, to be saved. He's sitting there EXPECTING
His enemies to be made His footstool, He's EXPECTING VICTORY! It's
not MAYBE, it's not HOPE SO, He's expecting. He cannot and
He shall not fail. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. In 1 Corinthians 15, look in
verse 20. Let me get over to 15. FOR HE MUST REIGN, THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST MUST REIGN, TILL HE HATH PUT ALL ENEMIES UNDER HIS FEET. Now I don't know when the end
of time will be, I know it's going to be, I believe that,
I believe that with all my heart. I believe this whole thing is
going to be dissolved. But I do know this, it's not
going to end until He has put all enemies under His feet. HE
IS GOING TO ABSOLUTELY SUBDUE ALL ENEMIES. AND THE LAST ENEMY
THAT SHALL BE DESTROYED IS DEATH. WE WILL DIE NO MORE. WE WILL
DIE NO MORE. FOR HE HATH PUT ALL THINGS UNDER
HIS FEET. THE FATHER HAS PUT ALL THINGS
UNDER HIS FEET, BUT WHEN HE SAITH ALL THINGS PUT UNDER HIS FEET,
IT IS MANIFEST THAT HE IS ACCEPTED. THE FATHER IS NOT UNDER HIS FEET,
BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS. everyone else is everyone on
this earth is under the feet of the lord jesus christ i thank
god you and i are under his wings and not under his feet but we're
under his wings for protection You know, over in Joshua chapter
10, I'll just tell you this story, but Joshua had subdued, I believe
it was five kings, and he called his captains of the armies to
come out, and you know what he told them to do? He said, put
your feet on their neck. Put your feet on their neck.
That's exactly what our Lord's doing. He's putting His feet
on the neck of His enemies. And our enemies, because we have
the same enemies He has. If not, we've got a problem.
We've got a real problem if his enemies are not my enemies. Now who are his enemies? It's all who refuse to bow and
confess Him as Lord and Savior. They could be living in your
own house. anyone that refuses to bow and confess the Lord Jesus
Christ the world's his enemy the world's his enemy satan is
his enemy all demons are his enemies all false professors
are his enemies and he's going to crush absolutely every one
of them every one of them I thank God, I thank God that He subdued
me and you by His grace and brought us to Himself and
made us to fall in love with Him. If not, we'd be part of
that enemy that He's going to crush, He's going to step on,
it's going to be His footstool, that's what it's going to be.
Now in verse 14 we see the efficacy of His offering. and this is
so powerful and this is so assuring for us who believe. For by one
offering He hath perfected forever THEM, He perfected THEM that
are sanctified, set apart, chosen of God. One offering by one priest
forever perfected THEM. One priest, one offering, one
perfection. Never to be repeated. Never to
be repeated. There will be many priests, thousands
and thousands of priests. Here's only one. And he'll never
repeat the offering. He'll never repeat the sacrifice.
Never. You know why? Here's why. Because you're perfected. You're
perfected. and Christ is perfected. Our
salvation cannot be more sure or more secure than what we have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the power of His offering,
it perfected forever them. Eternal perfection. Eternal perfection
equals eternal security. I don't have to worry about falling
ever again. Don't ever have to worry about
that happening again. Death will never be part of the
vocabulary of the Kingdom of Heaven. Not our death. It's gone. We won't have to worry
about dying. Everybody in this room, everybody
in this room, you know this one thing. There's one thing you
know. You're going to die. You know it. You know it. And how precious, how precious
is the blood of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ, the person of Christ to us who know we're gonna die. Solomon said it's better for
the living to go to the house of mourning. And then when he's
talking about living, he's not talking about everyone shows
up, of course they're alive if they show up. He's talking about
those who are spiritually alive. You know what he says they'll
do? They'll lay it to heart. They'll lay it to heart. How
many funerals I have preached, and people that's known somebody
for years, and they've heard about them dying, and they've
come back home, and then they leave and they completely forget
about it. But the living lay it to heart. They know someday
that's gonna be them up in the casket. It'll be them. The living lay it to heart. And
boy, oh boy, what is Jesus Christ worth to them who are about to
meet God? What is He worth to them who
are about to meet God? He has by one offering perfected
forever them. The law could not perfect anyone.
The ceremonies couldn't do it. He was weak through the flesh
is what Paul said in Romans 8. Then he tells us here in verse
15 and 16 something interesting. whereof the Holy Ghost the Holy
Spirit also is a witness to us for after that he had said before
and he's speaking about Jeremiah 31 in verses 33 through 34 where
this covenant is mentioned where God mentions this covenant and
he doesn't attribute it to Jeremiah saying it he attributed it to
the Holy Spirit saying it this is this word is the Word
of God he says the Holy Spirit spoke And this is what He said,
there in verse 15, look here, Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that He had said before,
This is the covenant, this is the Holy Spirit, speaking of
that covenant, because all three are involved in the covenant
of grace, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are
all three involved in it. There is only one God, so it
has to be all three involved in it. THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT
I'LL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAITH THE LORD. Here's
that covenant, after those days, what's he talking about? After
those days of ceremonies, sacrifices, that old priesthood, that old
tabernacle, and that old temple, and after ALL OF THAT that spoke
of Christ, after THOSE DAYS, those days are over, the Lord
said this, the Holy Spirit said this, I will put MY LAWS Into
their hearts. I'll put my word my gospel Into
their heart You know the Ten Commandments and the you know,
the written on stone was never put in the heart They didn't
love that it written on now the law of God's written on the conscience
we know that but to love it David said in the psalm. Oh how I love
thy law Thy law thy word, you know Paul said the law is good I love God's Law. I love God's
Word. This is God's Word. Do you love
God's Word? This is food. This is where I
learn of Christ and read of Christ. When the Holy Spirit guides me
and directs me, He doesn't do it just by giving me a FEELING,
He does it by the Word of God. We are directed by His Word.
If we're listening, If we're listening, He's directing us
by His Word. Every question I've ever had
in my life sooner or later gets answered through the preaching
of the gospel and the reading of the word, I see. I see. This work, this new covenant,
this work of the Holy Spirit, He says here, it's an internal
work, completely different than that old covenant of works. This
is an inward work, but it's an inward work of grace and it's
an inward work of the Spirit of God. It's an internal work, it's a
new heart, it's a new mind, it's the mind of Christ in you. He
says here, let me go back here. This is the covenant that I'll
make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my laws
into their hearts and in their minds will I write them. How
often do you think upon the Lord? How often does a scripture come
to you? I realized some years ago, you
can't remember what you don't know. So you can't remember the
word of God if you don't read it. That's what my thought, that
was my thoughts. I thought you can't find comfort
in a promise if you can't remember a promise. He said, I'll write, I'll put
it in their hearts and in their mind. They'll want to read my
word and they'll love the gospel when it's preached. And they'll
think upon me. They'll think upon me. It's an
internal work. This covenant of grace is not
written on stone. It's written on the heart. And
this enables us by the Holy Spirit to worship God in spirit and
in truth. Can you enter into what I've
said tonight? Can you enter into what has been read tonight out
of this epistle, these verses? Can you really enter into that?
God has perfected you. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in
human flesh, has perfected you and He's bringing you into His
presence. and He is allowing you into His presence right now,
YOU ARE ALLOWED INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD RIGHT NOW, AND HOW LITTLE
USE WE MAKE OF IT! REALLY! HOW LITTLE USE WE MAKE
OF IT! THAT OPPORTUNITY TO ALWAYS COME
TO THE THRONE OF GRACE, THE DOOR IS NOT SHUT! HE RENT THE VEIL,
HE TOOK IT FOR YEARS AND YEARS, YEARS AND YEARS! NOBODY, NOBODY
BUT THE HIGH PRIEST COULD GO INTO THAT HOLY OF HOLIES, NOBODY
ELSE COULD DO IT OR DIE! And when he died, what happened?
That veil was written to, and it was wide open. And sinners are welcome, welcome
into the presence of God. Welcome, sinners, welcome! I
heard Henry tell a story, and it's a good story, it's a true
story. He said when he was growing up as a boy, he lived by the
train tracks. He was 100 yards off the train
tracks. He said about 100 yards from the train tracks. And the
neighbor lived there also. They're just a little closer
to the train track. Well, the son growing up there with Henry
growing up, he said, that boy was, boy, he was a scoundrel,
a scoundrel and a half. And he got older, teenager, he
left home. He left home and didn't write. His parents are nothing for years.
And then one day he wrote a letter. And he asked, he said he wanted
to come home. He apologized, sorry. He did
what he did, apologized. And he said that, if you want
me to come home, hang a sheet out. And she went and she borrowed
sheets and hung them out on the fence, a clothesline, everywhere
she could hang out a white sheet. And when he came by, he said,
TRAIN STATION WAS LIKE A HALF A MILE, SO WHEN THE TRAINS CAME
THROUGH, THEY WERE SLOW. IF HE SAW A WHITE SHEET, HE'D
JUMP OFF. IF NOT, HE'D JUST STAY ON THE TRAIN AND GO ON. AND BOY,
WHEN HE CAME BY, THERE WAS WHITE SHEETS HANGING EVERYWHERE. WELCOME,
SINNERS. WELCOME. THE LORD HAS OPENED
A WAY. AND THEIR SINS, HERE'S THE COVENANT
BLESSING that we have in Christ and their
sins and iniquities, their lawlessness. Any lawless people in here? Everybody
in here is lawless. Everybody in here broke speed
limits this week. I guarantee you, if you got in a car and
you went down the road, except maybe Ray, he may not have broke
it, but everybody else did. I guess you can break it for
going too slow. But anyway, we all broke, we're all lawless. We're all lawless, aren't we? And their sins and iniquities,
their lawlessness will I remember no more. Now where remission, forgiveness
of these is, there's no more offering for sin, there's nothing
else to be offered for it. The sin issue's been taken care
of. We're not on probation. God doesn't
put us on probation. He saves us. But this struck me. He says,
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. God
remembered on that day THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS KNELT AT THE CROSS.
GOD REMEMBERED EVERY THOUGHT OF MINE, EVERY WORD, EVERY WICKED
DEED, EVERY LAWLESS DEED. HE REMEMBERED THEM AGAINST HIS
SON. HE REMEMBERED EVERY ONE OF THEM
AND THEN PUNISHED HIS SON FOR ABSOLUTELY EVERY ONE OF THEM.
BUT NOW HE REMEMBERS THEM NOT AGAINST ME BECAUSE THEY'RE GONE. They're gone. You'll not remember
them on me. I will never hear, son. Remember
like that rich man in hell. That's the first thing he heard.
Remember. In your lifetime, you had the
good things, Lazarus the bad. It'll never be said to me, John,
you remember? No. There is one thing we are
told to remember. We are told to remember His death
till He comes, which we need to do here next Thursday. Let's do that next Thursday,
have the Lord's Table. I've been going to do that, and
it slips my mind. But let's do that next Thursday,
Lord willing. Here's the conclusion. We have here in these verses
such a powerful declaration of the Gospel. We have Christ and
His perfect work. We have how we are made perfect
in Christ forever. He's perfected us forever. He
perfected THEM who are set apart. We are perfected forever and
God REMEMBERS OUR SINS NO MORE! It's over with! There are some
parents I've seen discipline their kids and there's one person
comes to my mind THEY JUST NEVER LET IT GO! THEY DISCIPLINE, THEN
FOR THE NEXT WEEKS THEY HEAR ABOUT IT! YOU WON'T HEAR ABOUT
IT FROM GOD! HE'S DEALT WITH IT, IT'S OVER
WITH! IT'S OVER WITH! HE HAS MADE US PERFECT! PERFECTED
FOREVER!