Well, once again, we are just
blessed to have Brother Clay with us again. He's just become
part of this family, just like our dear Brother Don, coming
out here every year. And we're thankful, Brother,
that you're willing to do that, to come preach to us. And I ask
you now, please come and brag on Christ for us. Pastor Clay
Curtis, Ewing, New Jersey. Alright, brethren. Let's be turning
to Hebrews chapter 10. It's always so good to come out
here. I look forward to it. And it
has kind of become a thing, hasn't it? I do look forward to it. I'm always blessed to see you
and hear from you and talk with you. I look forward to it again
next year as soon as I leave. I'll start looking forward to
it again. I'm going to start with one verse tonight. And I'm
not going to preach a lot. I'm going to read quite a bit
of Scripture just right here in Hebrews 10 and Hebrews 9 and
10. And I'm just going to try to
give you the sense of what Scripture is saying. I find that those
kinds of messages the Lord blesses to my heart the most are those
where the preacher reads the scripture and just gives you
the sense of what it says. Because really, truly, the Lord
blesses the word His preacher preaches, but it's the word of
the Lord that He blesses. And to just see it right there
in the scripture, and the Lord bear witness in your heart, that's
where the blessing is. So I want to begin here in Hebrews
10. My subject is perfected forever. Hebrews 10 verse 14, By one offering
Christ hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. This
is the gospel message in one verse. This is the gospel, the
good news in one verse. Christ is salvation. That's what
this verse is telling us. He is salvation. He is salvation. By one offering He hath. See
that? By one offering He hath. It's
just one offering on the cross. One offering on the cross. Christ
alone hath. He's the one who made this offering. He hath done it. It's past tense. It's finished. It's done. He
did it. Look here now, by one offering,
what did He do? He hath perfected. That word
perfected means complete. Completed. Here's what completed
means. Wanting or lacking nothing necessary
to completeness. Perfect. Complete. When Christ cried from the cross
and said, It is finished. Same word. Very same word. Translated finished there and
translated perfected right here. Christ cried out, it is completed. It's finished. Amen. Nothing
else can be done. See, God's holy. He's perfect. He's perfect. He's whole. He's
complete. Nothing can be added to Him.
He's perfection. But you and me are sinners. We're
sinners, we're unholy, we're ungodly, we broke the law, we're
guilty, unrighteous. And God can have nothing to do
with a sinner unless we be perfect. Unless we be complete. Unless
we be just like God. Perfect, holy, complete. That's
the only way God can receive us. Now hear me now. We're talking
about something that we're going to all face. We're going to all
stand before God one day. And we can't stand before God
by anything we've done. We're not going to be perfect
and complete and unapprovable and unblameable, perfectly righteous
before the all-knowing, all-seeing God who knows everything. He knows us better than we know
Him. And we're not going to be able to stand before Him Perfect
by anything in us. Only in and by Christ is His
people complete. Perfect. Will this perfection
in Christ, will it ever change? Is it ever going to change? Is there anything that can change
it? It says in verse 14, by one offering
He hath perfected forever. Forever. Christ is at God's right
hand. Nothing and no one will ever
blemish or tarnish or change or undo what He has perfected
forever. Ever. Who did He do this for? Who did
He do this for? Verse 14 says, By one offering
He had perfected forever them that are sanctified. Oh, sanctified. Oh, there's more confusion over
that word than there is anything we preach. I'm told all the time,
you people, you confound sanctification and righteousness. No, no, no,
not God's people. We don't. Christ is sanctification. That's right. And Christ is righteousness. There ain't no confusion about
that. The confusion is with people who think it's something else.
They're confounded. God's people aren't confounded.
Brother John just read it. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom. It's the only way we know this.
And righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. So you know who
those that are truly sanctified glory in? They glory only in
the Lord. Only in the Lord. To be sanctified
is to be made holy. That's what it means. Sanctification
and holiness are the same word. To be made holy. It involves
three things. And I want to show you what these
three things are using some shadows here that God gives us. And this is the message of this
passage. It's the message of the whole
Hebrew letter. It's the message of the whole volume of the book.
Everything God says, this is the message. And here it is. This is the message. By what
offering? Christ had perfected forever,
and they're sanctified. Everything about salvation is
Christ. He's everything. You know, Colossians
tells us that it pleased God to give Him all preeminence In
all things, he's the head of the church, the beginning, the
firstborn, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
That means that he might get all the praise and glory, all
eyes be on him, everybody resting in him only. God the Father rested
in him from eternity, he's gonna have his people resting in him.
We'll all be praising him, the angels praising him, all the
heavenly hosts and all his people praising his son who has all
preeminence. Because it pleased the Father
that all fullness dwell in His Son. Everything you need to come
into God's presence is in Him. So everything we're going to
see here about how we're sanctified, one thing is that these three
things are going to have in common. They're all in Christ, they're
all by Christ, and they're all through Christ. OK? Now have you ever wondered, to
do this, I'm going to tell you something about the Old Covenant
Law before we get started. But have you ever wondered, and
I want to ask you this, you see this all around, have you ever
wondered why men still call themselves priests, dressed in robes? And it's not just Catholicism
that does this. There is Methodist preachers
that do it, and Episcopalian preachers that do it, and Baptist
preachers are the world's worst. I want to be a priest. I want
a Lord over me. You've got to meet a certain
criteria and depth of knowledge, and you've got to reach a certain
level of repentance, and then we'll absolve your sins. Come
to us. Come to me. Come to the front.
I'll help you pray through. Let's try to be a priest. There's one vicar, one synatonic
substitute, one mediator, one Savior. It's Christ the Lord.
He's the priest of His people. So why are there still priests
in the world? Why are men still trying to be priests? Why are
they burning incense? Why are they sprinkling water?
And why are they telling you this is an altar down here? And
why are they trying to get you to do all these ceremonies and
all these things that they're saying to do? All of that is
a holdover from old covenant law. And the ceremonies and all
the different kinds of washings and all the furniture. and rejoice in Christ has got
to have something to see with his eyes. Or he don't like religion. But you give him something he
can see with his eyes, something he can do with his hands, and
he loves it. All of that is just old law. That's all it is. But you see,
all that law that God gave was a shadow. It was a shadow. A shadow comes from an image.
It was a shadow. There was an image that came
before. And that image by the light casts a shadow. And that
whole law was a shadow. You remember when Moses went
up into the mount to receive the law about the tabernacle
and the priesthood and the sacrifices and the ordinances and everything.
He was told, you see that you make everything according to
the pattern that you saw in the mount. He saw the express image. And he made everything after
that express image. But the law and the ordinances
and the priesthood and the sacrifice was all just a shadow. You can't
be saved by a shadow. If you had a shadow of a tree,
you can't build a tree house in it. You can't climb up in
it. You can't cut it down and build
a fire with it. You can't do nothing with a shadow. It won't
help you. Look here in verse 1. Hebrews 10, verse 1, "...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
offer year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect."
There's that word again, perfect. Those offerings, none of them
ever made anybody perfect. They never made anybody complete.
What were they then? A picture is worth a thousand
words. And our gracious God used a nation
called Israel to draw us a picture of His spiritual Israel made
up of His elect from Jew and Gentile. He used a priesthood
to draw us a picture of Christ our High Priest. He used the
sacrifices of blood and bulls and goats to picture Christ Jesus,
the spotless Lamb of God. He used a tabernacle to picture
his tabernacle that he pitched. Everything was a picture. Everything
was a picture. But it was all to show us Christ
Jesus the Lord. Everything. He used to express
image. He used to express image. I had
to say that because we'll fix, look at some shadows and I don't
want you to think now that we're supposed to go back and start
trying to hold on to the shadow, the express image has come. I'm
showing you the shadow so that you can see who it pictured,
how it pictured Christ and what Christ accomplished. So how are
we sanctified? He perfected forever, by one
offering He had perfected forever them that are sanctified. How are we sanctified? First
of all, To be sanctified is to be separated by God the Father. That's what sanctification means.
To be separated. Separated by God the Father.
And to be preserved by God the Father. And to be declared holy
by God the Father for God's holy use only. That's what sanctification
is. That began in eternity. That's
where this took place. By God the Father was in eternity.
Now let's see the shadow in the law. God had these earthen vessels. He had a sanctuary. Go back to
Hebrews 9. The first covenant had ordinances
of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. There's the tabernacle. There's the first room. That
holy place was the first room. And in that was the tabernacle
made. The first room, there was the
candlestick, the table, the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.
God made that. He said, you see that you make
it after the pattern I've showed you. God made that. And then
after the second veil, there was a tabernacle called the holiest
of all. And you know, God made this.
He set this tabernacle apart from all other buildings on the
earth. And God declared, this building is holy. It's a sanctuary. God did that. So that made it
holy. That building wasn't like any
other building in the world. All right, in that holiest of
holies there was a bunch of earthen vessels, a golden censer, and
the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein
was the golden pot that had manna, and the arrows rod that budded,
and the tables of the Covenant, the tables of the law. And over
that Ark was the cherubims of glory, shadowing the mercy seat,
of which we can't speak particularly. These were earthen vessels. God
told them to make this golden cistern, this Ark of the Covenant,
lay it over with gold, put the golden pot of manna in it, erythrite
and buttered in it, the tables of the law in it. All these things
got in. These were all earthen vessels
that God said, those are my earthen vessels set apart wholly for
my use. That's sanctification. God did
that. Now, when these things were thus
ordained, verse 6, the priest went always into the first tabernacle
of accomplishing the service of God, but into the second,
into the holiest of holies, went the high priest alone, once every
year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for
the heirs of the people. Even those priests right there,
God chose the tribe of Aaron in Israel, one nation, God said,
these are my people. I set them apart. He chose one
tribe in there, and He set them apart. He said, this is a holy
tribe, used for me only. And in that tribe, He chose one
family, Aaron's family. Made them the high priest, and
made them the priests. He said, this is my holy people.
Set them apart for the work of the priesthood. In all of this
it says, verse 8, the Holy Ghost was signifying that the way into
the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as yet the
first tabernacle was yet standing. It was a figure for the time
then present, a figure, it was a shadow, it was a type of picture
for the time then present in which were offered gifts and
sacrifices that couldn't make him that did the service perfect.
There's that word again. This couldn't make anybody perfect,
complete, whole. as pertaining to the conscience.
I'm about to teach you something. We're talking about something
that's going to have to be done within and this law can't do
it pertaining to the conscience. But all these vessels and this
priesthood stood in meats and drinks and different washings
and carnal ordinances imposed on them till Christ came and
fulfilled all and put an end to it. That's what it was for.
Now, like that tabernacle, and like those vessels, and like
those priests, in eternity God the Father chose His people in
Christ, set us apart in Christ, preserved us in Christ from the
fall when we fell in and out by Him choosing us, He preserved
us in Christ, and God called us in eternity declaring, these
are holy, they're mine, they're for my use only. Just like He
did that tabernacle and those vessels and those priests. That's
what God did. Listen to Jude, verse 1. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are and preserved in Jesus Christ
and called, declared holy. This is why in Ephesians 1, 3,
you know the Lord said, blessed be the God and Father who blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in every place according as He
chose to send Him. Why did He do it? He did it before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. He made us accepted in the beloved,
all to the praise and the glory of His grace. God the Father
did it in eternity. Men want to talk about sanctification,
but they want you to talk about them. No, no. Sanctification
is of God. Sanctification is of God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And the truth
of the matter is, you and me do not contribute to sanctification
at all. I want to be crystal clear. We
don't even contribute to it at all. What most men think is sanctification
and getting more holy and all the things they're talking about
isn't. If it is, the Lord's doing it. It's just the fruit of what
He's already done, having already made us holy. But that doesn't
make you holy. With your works and the fruit
you produce, it's what He does. He makes you holy. He did it
in eternity. Now believer, knowing all this,
think about this. You that have been called by
Him, you were set apart before God made anything else. You were
set apart and declared holy by God for His use only. Why are we in this world? Brother George has written, please
the Lord to save through the foolishness of preaching. He's
going to use us. He's already called out to bear
witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, to preach His gospel, support
His gospel, send it forth in the world, and that's how He's
going to call the rest of them out. That's why we're here. So if I'm working a job, I'm
sanctified for God's use. My job, I'm not working that
job just to save up money and put it in the bank and have a
big estate and try to build up my name in there. I'm working
as unto the Lord to have some money that he provides to help
support the gospel so that we can send this gospel for them.
If I have children, what's the purpose of my children? I'm a
parent to teach them the gospel and try to teach them Christ
and bear witness of Christ to them. If I'm a neighbor, what's
that for? I'm saying, hey, let's go hear the gospel preached together.
Come go with me. In other words, we're in this
world to live, to further the gospel of Christ, because that's
how God's going to call His people out. We're not in the world to
live to ourselves and just live for pleasure and lust and all
that. We're here to live for Him. So that's, first of all,
God the Father. Now, secondly, Christ Jesus,
the Son of God, came. And by His one offering, He actually
perfected that those God sanctified in Him in eternity. That's what
our text says. The priest and those sacrifices
and that ark of the covenant and that mercy seat, that all
shattered Christ. Christ is the high priest. Christ
is the mercy seat. He's the ark. He's the propitiation.
He's the pattern in the mount. Now go back over to Hebrews 9
and let's look here at verse 11. Hebrews 9.11. Christ being come a high priest
of good things to come. The Holy Spirit said all that
other was a figure and a type and a picture. But Christ being
come a high priest of good things to come. He's to express image
of those good things. By a greater, more perfect tabernacle
not made with hands. That is to say, not of this building,
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood
He entered in once into the holy place. He entered the true holiest
in God's presence in heaven, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Look at verse 24. For Christ
has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figures of the true. They were just shadows. But into
heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Brother,
just think about that. We got a Savior. We got a high
priest. in the presence of God that appears
there for us, just for us. Look here, nor that he should
offer himself often like that high priest had to enter in the
holy place every year with the blood of others. For then he'd
be suffering since the foundation of the world. But now once in
the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. That's what Christ came to do.
That's what Christ did. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Now watch how He did this. It's
appointed unto men once to die. You're going to die, I'm going
to die, we're all going to die. But after that's the judgment. We're all going to have to face
the judgment. But look what Christ did. So Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many. Christ Jesus took all the sins
of all God's elect. He bore the sins of all God's
elect. And God judged Him. God poured out justice on Him.
God poured out His wrath and condemnation on His Son instead
of on all those that the Father sanctified in Him. You know what
that means? That means, brethren, our judgment
has already been accomplished. God has satisfied it. That means
that when we stand before God, I just preached the other day
on the confession we make. Our confession is that the Lord
said, every knee's gonna bow to me, every tongue's gonna swear,
and they're gonna say, in the Lord have our righteousness and
strength. And that's our confession right
now. Unto Christ shall every man come. We have sensed against
him now, and we're gonna confess, in the Lord have our righteousness
and strength. You know what? Scripture says
we're gonna stand before God and give account that day. You
know what our confession's gonna be that day? Same thing it is
now. In the Lord we have our righteousness. Ain't nobody else. That's the
account we're going to give. I don't have a righteousness
but Him. I don't have any strength but Him. Now look, if you're
one that's looking to Him, He says, but unto them that look
for Him salvation is in the look. The Lord said, look unto Me and
be ye saved. He said, those that are looking
for him, he shall appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. Now, let's go to Hebrews 10,
4. I told you I'm just going to read scripture. This preaches
itself, but I just want you to see it. I love it. Look, verse 4. It's not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. So when
Christ came into this world, he said, sacrifice an offering
thou would not. God wasn't pleased with sacrifice
and offering. He wasn't ever going to save
anybody through that stuff. He did it to picture Christ.
He said, but a body hast thou prepared me. And where are offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure? Then said, I,
lo, I come. That's Christ talking. I come
to do thy will, O God. In the volume of the book that's
written to me. You remember in that ark of the covenant, Christ
is that ark. He's that ark of that covenant.
In that ark of that covenant, there was the golden pot of manna,
Christ is the bread, there was Aaron's rod that budded, Christ
is the branch, he's the rod, he's the gospel, who is fruitful
and makes his people fruitful. And in that was the two tables
of the law unbroken. They were broken and Moses came
down and threw them down. The Lord wrote the law on those
tables again, and He gave it to Moses and said, you put it
in the heart. And that's where it was. And when Christ came
down, where that's quoted from, Christ said, I came to do thy
will, O God. Thy law is within my heart. Is
that just that old covenant law? Well, I'll tell you what the
law is. He said in the whole volume of the book it's written
to me. The law is God's word. The first five books are called
the Law, and it's everything given in Sinai, the moral law,
the ceremonies, the civil law, everything that is God's will.
Then you've got the Psalms that all declared Christ and spoke
of what Christ would accomplish. And you've got the Prophets that
all spoke of Christ and what Christ has accomplished. All
that was in Christ's heart to fulfill it all, because that
was the Father's will. And above, when he said, sacrifice
and offerings you would not, neither had satisfaction in,
which are offered by the law. And then he said, lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. Now watch this. He takes away
the first. He fulfilled everything in that
old covenant law and ended it. Put it away. It's done. It served
its purpose. It was to picture Christ. The
picture, the image has come now. We don't need the picture. The
image has come. I had somebody I baptized, and
I was so hopeful for this young person. And I hadn't baptized
her very long at all, and she went and left, and her relatives
in our congregation are very faithful. And I asked about her,
and they said, she thinks that she needs to be offering sacrifices.
She said it'd just be much more of a picture to go back to the
old covenant, bring that in, and just show all of it. Knows
I'm not saved by it, but I'll just show it all by this. I said,
that's going to end in a deadly thing. It will. He put an end to all that. I
love that illustration Brother Henry used to give. If your spouse
was on the other side of the world, and you had a picture
of them, and you was looking at that picture, and looking
at that picture, and at night your heart just longed to see
them, and you'd hold that picture, and you'd hold that picture,
kiss that picture and think about them. You could just see them
so clearly and you just, oh, you wanted to see them. Well,
then they come home. What kind of nut job would you
be if you just kept on holding on to the picture and there they
are sitting over here right beside you and you're just ignoring
them, holding on to the picture, kissing that picture and going
on and on about that picture? That's what men dressing up like
priests and going through all the rigmarole, whether they're
in any denomination, whether they're not even in the Christian
religion. They got them in every religion
in the world. Every man wants to take Christ's place. Every
man wants to take him off his throne. He wants to be the priest.
He wants to be the mediator. He wants to be the vicar. Every
man has that in his heart by nature. Christ put an end to
all that. Every bit of it. And he established
a second. That second is the everlasting
covenant of grace. It's so much better than the
law. The everlasting covenant of grace because it's ordered
and sure in all things by Christ. He fulfilled everything in it
so there's nothing that remains to be done and the word that
comes to you is grace, grace, grace, grace. It's a better mediator
with a better covenant established on better promise. Everything
about it's better. Everything about it's better.
Verse 11, every priest stands daily ministering, offering times
the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. Don't ever
let a man tell you your sins are put away. Don't let him say
that he absolved your sins or that he blesses you and put your
sin away. He can't do it. He can't do it. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expect until his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."
He perfected us forever. We're complete. Now listen, look
at Colossians 2 with me real quick. Due to man's tradition,
do the lost man's tradition. Some man's going to come along,
he's going to use philosophy, he's going to use vain tradition,
and he's going to tell you now. Now you can't tell people that
they're complete in Christ. He's going to say now, there's
some stuff you're going to have to do. You're going to have to
keep the law, and you're going to have to do this, touch not,
and taste not, And then you'll slowly put away
your sin and you'll slowly get more holy and then eventually
you'll reach perfection. After Paul stayed here and he
said Christ is the fullness, it pleased God for all fullness
to be in Him. It pleased Him to get all the
preeminence. He said He made peace to the blood of His cross.
He came and He reconciled you. He called you. And Paul said
this, verse 22. He's going to present you in
the body of His flesh through death. He'll present you holy
and unblameable and unapprovable in His sight. Here's the one
thing Paul said do. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the Gospel which you've heard, which was preached to every creature
in the heaven where I made a minister. Look here. Look over here at
verse 2. He says, Verse six, as you therefore
receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and
built up in Him, established in the faith as you've been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, that is carnal ordinances, touch not,
taste not, have not, and not after Christ, for in Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, and you are complete
in Him. You know what that's saying?
He's saying as fully as the triune God dwells in the body of the
man Christ Jesus, He said that's how complete you are in Him. Just as fully as He's the fullness
of the Godhead, that's how complete His people are in Him. Paul said,
And the proof will be that He's done this for you, as you'll
continue in faith looking to Him only. That's it. Alright, lastly. Lastly. Since we come into this world
unholy, ungodly sinners, anybody sitting here that hasn't been
born again of the Spirit of God and sanctified in the heart can't
hear a word I'm saying. I hope nobody here is in that
condition, but if it is, you can't hear anything I'm saying
and believe what I'm saying. You want and you can't, that's
what scripture said. So this work's got to be done
within us by the Holy Spirit. Now, when the Lord made that
old covenant, when he initiated that first old covenant to Israel,
Moses took those precepts and he read that whole covenant,
that law's the covenant, he read that whole old law, that whole
old covenant law, all the precepts to it. And they had slept slaying
a lamb in place of the people and he took the blood and some
scarlet and some hyssop and what have you and he sprinkled the
people as he read those precepts. And he sprinkled everything.
Sprinkled the tabernacles, sprinkled the altars, sprinkled, I mean,
they put, he sprinkled blood on everything. And as he did
it, he said, this is the covenant which God has enjoined to you.
That's what he did the whole time. Was that a shadow? Yeah, that was a shadow. That
was a picture. There's a picture of something far better. Look
here at verse 13. If the blood of bulls and goats
and ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify to the purifying
of the flesh, how much more should the blood of Christ through the
eternal Spirit offer Himself without spot to God purge your
conscience, purge you within, cleanse you within from dead
works to serve the living God. You see, Everything we do in
our dead flesh is a dead work. And it's these dead works for
sin. These dead works of trying to
atone for our sin and justify ourselves and make ourselves
holy. We've got to be turned from those dead works or we can't
serve God. And the only way that's going
to happen is for the Spirit to bless this Word in the heart
and sanctify your conscience through the blood of Christ.
Make you know Christ has done it all. That's the only way you're
going to stop working. That's the only way you're going to
stop having a legal motive in your heart that I've got to do
this or I'm going to be damned. It's going to take that. So Christ
is the mediator of the New Testament. Just like Moses was kind of a
mediator that initiated that first covenant, Christ is the
mediator of this covenant. He died. It's His blood that
was shed. He's the testator. The testator's
got to die for the testament to be enforced. He died. And
the Testament is His will, it's what He desires for His people.
And He comes to you and when He calls you, He makes a promise
to you, a covenant, that you're going to have an eternal inheritance.
Join heirs with Christ because of what He did. Now watch and
see how this is joined to us. Verse 18. Whereupon neither the
first Testament was dedicated without blood. When Moses spoke
every precept to all the people according to the law, That's
what he spoke. He spoke the precepts of the
law. We don't preach the precepts of the law that you've got to
do these to be saved. What we preach is the gospel
of Christ, how He's already fulfilled the whole law. Alright? Then,
He took blood of calves and goats and watered scarlet wool and
hyssop and sprinkled the book and all the people. The Spirit
does this work. He sprinkles the blood of Christ. He makes the gospel effectual
to you. He makes you hear what Christ
has done. He makes you hear it in the heart.
And He really purges your conscience. And look, moreover, He sprinkled
everything. Everything. Because it says there,
verse 22, all things are by the law purged with blood and without
shedding of blood is no remission. Now those were just patterns
of things in the heaven. They were patterned shadows.
He says, But the heavenly things themselves, that's including
His people, they're purified with better sacrifices than any
of you. Now let me paint just a picture here, and I've gone
too long, fix it, be done. Under that Old Testament, everything
you've just talked about there. So they entered into this covenant
by Him doing all that, reading the precepts and sprinkling the
blood, saying this is the covenant, and God's showing it to you.
Now, under that covenant, Let's look here at Hebrews 10. He tells us in verse 2, if those
sacrifices had put away sin, purged the conscience, they'd
cease to be offered. They'd stop offering them. Because
once they're purged, the conscience is purged, they wouldn't have
to offer those sacrifices anymore. But you see, what happens is
they get guilty in their conscience. And this is what vain religion
is. This is exactly what motivates vain religion. A man gets guilty
in his conscience, and they would get up in the morning, and they'd
have to go out and find him a lamb, make sure he was spotless. And
they'd take him to the priest, and they'd confess their sin
over it, and then the priest would slay that lamb in their
place, and then he would sprinkle the blood, and they'd be ceremonially
pure. You take that heifer, that red,
and you make that solution with the blood, water and ashes of
the heifer and sprinkle them, and they'd be clean from being
defiled. But you know what? By afternoon, their conscience
is guilty again because of their sin. So they had to go out for
the evening sacrifice. Then once a year, they had to
make a talmud before God. They had to bring a lamb and
a priest. to confess the sins of the people
over and slay that lamb and go in the holy place and sprinkle
the blood on the mercy seat seven times and make an atonement and
come out and bless the people. And for a whole year, they were
ceremonially atoned. The sins were atoned for. Then
they had to come back to it again the next year. See, those sacrifices
never made them perfect. They never did. But if it had
purged their conscience to know, it's done. I'm accepted. It will never be undone. they'd
have stopped working to try to appease their conscience. They'd
have stopped doing it. But that's what the Lord does
right here. Verse 14, we preach, not the precepts, we preach by
one offering He's perfected for every them that are sanctified.
And as we're preaching it, the Holy Ghost is a witness to us
in our heart, sprinkling the blood in our heart, He said,
this is a covenant I'll make with them after those days. He
said, Lord, I'll put my laws in their hearts and their minds
when I write them. Not that old covenant law. He's writing the
law of the gospel on your heart. The spirit of the law, the law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law
of sin and death. He's writing, he's making you
know what Christ did. The law of faith, the law of
love, the law of liberty. All of this gospel, the everlasting
covenant. That's what he's writing on the
heart. And here's when he declares, and the Lord said, as Moses did,
he said, this is a covenant the Lord has enjoined to you. He
sprinkles his blood in our conscience, and he says, here's a covenant
I've made with you. Here it is. Your sins and your
iniquities will I remember no more. Amen. I'll be merciful to your unrighteousness,
and I won't remember your sins anymore. And you know what the
result is when he does that? Oh, you came to the church better.
You's like them old men that had to give the conscience, and
they went with the lamb to the priest. You come to the church
house one day, and boy, your act of going to the church is
going to make up for the sin last night. I got to go, because
I got to make up for this sin from last night. And you go in
there and you sit down. You didn't want to be there,
but you got to sacrifice for this. Try to make up for that
sin, atone for that sin. And then you're planning on,
I'm going to leave afternoon when I do this. And I'm going
to stop off at the grocery store, and I'm going to buy poor old
Mrs. So-and-so with a so-and-so. I'm going to buy her a loaf of
bread and a gallon of milk. I'm going to drop it off at her house.
That'll atone for my sin. That'll make up for it. And when
I get done with that, I'm going to go home tonight. I'm going
to pray. I'm going to pray for 35, 40 minutes. Then I'm going
to read the scripture for an hour. And then I'm going to say
25 hailberries. And then I'm going to do this,
and I'm going to do that, and the other. And if I could stack these BBs,
I'd do that. But you came in there and you
sat down that day, and God sent a preacher to you, and he actually
preached the Gospel of Christ to you, and the Spirit entered
in and sprinkled your conscience from all that guilt and sin by
making you see. Hear God say, I don't remember
your sin anymore. I've put it away. In my Son,
you are complete. You are perfect. And that's the
result. Verse 18, where remission of
these is, There's no more offering for sin. You stop trying to offer. You're like, now, now, the difference
is this. Now, you walked out of that church
house someplace, what the Lord did to you, you said, you know
what? I'm going to go get a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk
and take Bob with us to his house and tell her about this, because
this is so good. I don't have to do it. I just
want to. I want her to know about this. Ah, and here's the good news,
brethren. Look here, verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now we're made priests.
We can enter into the holy place ourselves. Liberty, welcome access
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having
a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from that evil conscience, our bodies washed with the pure water
of this Word, and let us hold fast to the profession of our
faith without wavering." There's nothing else. Don't waver now.
Don't try to go back. Don't listen to the philosopher
and vain deceiver. Don't waver. Look, for he's faithful,
they promised. Let us consider one another to
provoke to love and a good works. How are you going to do that?
Preach this gospel. Remind each other what Christ
has done for us. And don't forsake this seminar of ourselves together
as men or some is, but exhort one another so much the more
as you see the day approaching. And in all of it, you know what
we're doing? Paul said we're bound to give thanks all the
way to God for you, brethren. The love of the Lord. Why? Because
God the Father had chosen you before the foundation of the
world. And He did it through sanctification of the Spirit,
belief in the truth, whereunto He called you by our Gospel.
And when He called you by our Gospel, you obtained the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is His glory to tell you, I've
done it all. You're mine. You're one with
me. You're complete. That's how you sanctify. And
that's what keeps you following Him and walking in faith. It's
all Christ. I pray that I work that in somebody
tonight. Amen.