It's very delightful to be here.
I haven't been able to make it up recently to the Bible study,
so seeing you all is a real treat. You want to turn in your Bibles
to the book of Hebrews chapter 10 with me, please. Hebrews chapter
10. I want to bring a message out
of that chapter. I've entitled this message, Full
Assurance of Faith. Full Assurance of Faith. And
I have a question to ask you, each one of you, and to ask myself. Assurance is one of those tricky
things I've found. I don't know if you've struggled
with assurance. throughout the years, but I find
this question to be helpful for me. What would it take for you
to be fully assured, to have full assurance of faith, assurance
of your salvation? What would it take? What would
you want from God? Let's pick up the reading here
in chapter 10. In verse 15, I'm going to start
there. It says here that the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us. For after that He had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them. And their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore,
brethren, 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 veil, 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, let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He
is faithful that promised." What wonderful words. I almost... I thought about the fact that
this particular book of the Bible for me and this chapter almost
can only be made worse by comment. It's so clear and so dear to
our hearts. Now, this message, I want to
bring seven points, and the first point is about this full assurance
of faith is, each of these points is to teach us what God says,
how we can have full assurance of faith. What is the basis of
this thing called full assurance of faith? And the first thing
I want to point out here is based on what God has promised before. What God promised before. Notice
what it says, we just read it in verse 15. The Holy Ghost also
is a witness to us. For after that He had said this
before, this is the covenant that I will make with them. This
is the Spirit of God speaking to us. And that's the first thing.
I want you to hold these in your thoughts as we go through this.
The second one is that, the second reason for assurance is that
God said He would do all that He promised. So the first reason
is clear. The second one is that God said
He would do all that He promised. And the third one, and then we'll
see this in the same chapter, is that the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Mediator, the Son of God, actually did the will of God. What a blessed thought that is.
And then the fourth reason for our assurance here, as we find
it in this chapter of the Bible and throughout the Scripture,
is that Christ, by what He did, actually obtained for His people,
we're going to see actually what He obtained for His people by
what He did. And then the fifth reason that
we'll see here is that God says what He sees, what Christ did,
and He's happy with it. And then the sixth reason is
God tells us to look at what He sees. And then finally, that
in looking to Him in this way, we are told by God Himself what
to do, to come boldly to the throne of grace. So if you can
follow this along with me, first of all, let's consider the fact
that the Spirit of God here is a witness to us. A witness, the
Spirit of God knows the mind of God. It says in 1 Corinthians
2 that He knows the deep things of God. He alone knows the deep
things of God. He knows God's mind and He knows
His will. He's known it from everlasting.
His mind never changes. And God, the Spirit of God breathed
out God's will in Scripture. And so we remember in Romans
chapter 8 how that we sometimes, all the time, really don't know
what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself
makes intercessions for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And He, the Lord Jesus Christ, who searches the hearts, knows
what is the mind of the Spirit. Because He makes intercession
for the saints according to what? The will of God. The mind of
the Spirit is the will of God. That's the first thing. And so
that will of God is called in Scripture a covenant. And it's
in fact a covenant of grace. This is what the Spirit of God
moved His prophets to speak of in the Old Testament. And you
know this is true because in 1 Peter chapter 1, you don't
have to turn there, but 1 Peter chapter 1 it says that the prophets
of old who prophesied of the grace that should come to you
searched what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ
which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
That is the will of God. That is the covenant, in a nutshell. So, the covenant that we're speaking
about here was spoken of throughout scripture, but in the book of
Jeremiah and in Ezekiel, God specifically calls it out. In
Jeremiah 31, for example, God speaks of this covenant. covenant
and in Ezekiel chapter 36 he also speaks of it there. Now
I want you to notice in Ezekiel 36, 36 these words of the Lord. He says in the latter part of
verse 36 from Ezekiel 36, I the Lord have spoken it, I will also
do it. It's very important that we see
that that first of all, God's own Spirit who knows His mind
from eternity has revealed to us that in His heart there is
a covenant that He has devised. And God's Spirit records it for
us in Scripture. And the first thing we notice
about it is that at the end of all the blessings and promises
that God says He is going to do, He says, I the Lord have
spoken it, I will also do it. This is the second reason we
have assurance of faith. First of all, God says what He's
going to do by His own Spirit. He promised it beforehand. Second
of all, He says He is the one who's going to carry it out and
perform it. Remember Psalm chapter 57 verse
2? He says, the Lord performs all
things for me and I'll cry to Him for that reason. So the second
reason The second evidence we have for assurance is what God
has said and what He said He would do. So these promises of
God are actually There's actually two promises here if you look
in Hebrews chapter 10, as you have your hand there, he says
in verse 16, this is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them. There are really
two promises that are featured right here, it's just a, it's
not a full list of the promises God gives, but these two are
featured here in this covenant. That God would write His laws
into the hearts of His people and He would put away their sins,
so that He would remember their sins no more. Now, this covenant
is the same covenant that God spoke about in the book of Galatians. If you want to look there, in
Galatians chapter 3, He says this, Remember, who wrote the
Scripture? It was God breathed. Here he
says in Galatians 3, verse 8, the same thing. And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations
be blessed. We know that this is the same
covenant that's spoken of in Hebrews and in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. We know it for several reasons.
First of all, that the promises in both covenants are the same.
In Galatians, God promises to justify His people. That's what
He preached here, that He would justify the heathen and His people. And He also said that He promises
to give them His Spirit. Look at Galatians chapter 3 verse
13. He says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree, that the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles. This blessing
is what was promised. through Jesus Christ that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. These
are the same two things mentioned in Hebrews chapter 10, where
we just read, He's going to write His laws on our hearts and put
them in our minds, and He's going to remember our sins no more.
That's justification, to write His laws into our hearts and
on our minds. That's giving us His Spirit,
the Spirit of God, given to us is God writing on our hearts. The law that God writes on our
hearts, we think naturally that would be the Ten Commandments.
Isn't that the first thing that your mind gravitates towards
when you see the law? But I want you to understand
that when God speaks about what He's going to write on our hearts,
He doesn't write the old covenant on our hearts. He writes the
new covenant. And what is that new covenant?
How is it described? How do we know what it is? Well,
remember, just like when Moses gave the old covenant, when God
gave it to Moses, he gave it to Moses to give to the people.
He was the mediator between God and the people. And God gave
it to him, he gave it to them, and then he took back to God
their agreement with that covenant. But he wrote the covenant in
the book of Exodus and Leviticus primarily, and then in the book
of Deuteronomy again, and Numbers is an account of the sojournings
and other things. So the covenant was documented.
on two tables of stones and throughout those five books of Moses, especially
the latter four. In the same way, God has recorded
the new covenant for us. The new covenant is, where is
it written? It's written in the book of Hebrews.
It's written in the book of Galatians, in Romans, throughout the New
Testament. This is the new covenant. And so when God writes his covenant
on our hearts, what is he doing? He's putting His own Spirit within
us. He's giving us life and He's
pointing us to all that He required of us, but required it not of
us personally, but of our surety, our mediator, our captain, our
Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us faith. to see and
He gives us faith to live on the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that what it says in Galatians? I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. So we know that
these two covenants, the one in Galatians and the one in Hebrews,
the one in Jeremiah, the one in Ezekiel are the same. Because
in all of these places, God makes the promises. And God says He
will work those promises out. He will fulfill His own promises.
And that's what we see here. In Galatians, God promised to
justify all those who would be born of God. And that He says
that He gives faith, that faith to see Christ as the one who
fulfills that covenant. Now, see in this covenant that
And the one that we just read here in Galatians chapter 3,
notice how God says it here. He says here that the promise
that God spoke is fulfilled. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. That was part of the promise,
was to justify His people being made a curse for us. For it is
written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And then the
second part, notice that this is through Jesus Christ. Look
at verse 14 of Galatians 3. That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. This we should see is that God
fulfilled the promise that he made to Abraham when he redeemed
his people. When he bore their sins in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that promise of the Spirit
now flows to us because of that. And that's the blessing of the
covenant. Okay, so I want you to notice here also in Galatians
3. that this covenant is unlike,
the covenant of promise is unlike the covenant that God made with
Moses. And this is the amazing thing about the covenant that
God made with Moses. That when God, and not Moses,
but Israel, through Moses, God gave the covenant, the laws to
Moses, and he gave them to Moses as the mediator, but then Moses
was told to give them to the people. The significant thing
about the old covenant is that all of the conditions required
to receive the blessings or to avoid the curse were given to
the people to do. Everything that God required,
He laid it on the people. By their own personal obedience,
they would receive blessing and they would continue their life.
And they would avoid cursing. That was part of that covenant.
So not only do we see that God gave those laws to the people,
but we see that the law, the covenant really could be summarized
as a principle in which God puts the conditions of the covenant
on the personal individual. All life and blessings from God,
and to avoid cursing, depended on their own personal obedience.
And that's the significant thing about that old covenant. And
it's so entrenched in the way that we think. It's not possible
for us to think about coming to God in any other way than
that old covenant until the Spirit of God gives us life. That's
the significant thing. We don't think that we would
naturally think that way, but that's actually the way we think
about life and everything, isn't it? Even in the Garden of Eden,
remember what God told Adam and Eve? Do not eat of what? The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil.
And then in Romans chapter 3 and verse 19 it says, that no flesh
is justified, or verse 20 it says, no flesh is justified by
the deeds of the law, because by the law is what? The knowledge
of sin. So this principle where we come
to God and obtain blessing from God and avoid the curse by our
personal obedience is what God actually gave us and He put us
under. Even in the garden, we put ourselves
under this because Adam and Eve took that tree and ever since
we've been under this covenant of works. Look at Galatians 3
and verse 20. He says, but the scripture has
concluded all under sin. Actually, let me back up to verse
21. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should
have been by the law. But the scripture has concluded
all under sin that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe. The law had a purpose. When God
gave the law, we were sinners already. It was clear to God. But it wasn't clear to us. And
when God gave us the law, it actually revealed to us our own
guilt. More than our guilt, it actually
revealed to us the power of our nature towards sin. We have no power against it.
Our nature is so inclined towards sin, but we have no strength
against it. Not only can we not remove one sin before God, for
ourselves, the guilt of it. We can't rid our heart even of
one sin. Have you ever tried it? I remember
as a little kid being in the room with my brothers and I thought,
I'm gonna stop sinning for at least a minute. And then one
of my brothers did something and it just upset the apple cart.
It's their fault. And I learned later, no, it's
my fault. It starts inside of us. It comes from within. Mark
7, 21 and 23, Jesus says, evil comes from within us. The law was given to teach that
to us in such a way that we would not forget it. We couldn't get
away from it. It holds us in bondage as in
a prison. A prison of our own nature and
our own unbelief. We cannot think of any other
way of pleasing God by what we do. Just can't do it. It's so
intrinsic. It requires the grace of God
to dig us out of this pit. I was thinking as I was preparing
this sermon, I think we live in the best time, the best of
all times. And that might seem wrong. I
mean, you might think, well, no, certainly it must have been
better in the 1700s when all these guys were writing these
theological books and everything. But I really think that we live
in the best of times. And the reason I say that is
because God gave the law for 1500 years. Everyone was under that law.
That's the only thing they knew. Not only that, but we in our
own experience have been subjected to it. So now we have the gospel
given to us. As we just read here, when the
scripture concluded all under sin, until that time, then Christ
would be given. And so we find in this struggle,
against sin and our conscience, the guilt of our conscience,
the way that God's requirements work in us and our attitude toward
God of coming to Him on the basis of our own personal obedience,
what He finds in us, something we could even find in ourselves,
that we find it so entrenched in our nature that we can't get
out of it, that this actually becomes a reason for having assurance
of faith. And why do I say that? How could
our sin be a cause or a help toward having assurance for faith?
Because our sin leaves us utterly unable to please God at all.
We didn't have any idea that God would have such a covenant
of grace as this. He had it in His heart from eternity,
but it wasn't revealed. Paul says in Ephesians 3.8, it
was hidden from the beginning of the world. And He didn't reveal
it until Christ sat on His throne, until He had actually accomplished
all that was done, needed to be done in that covenant. So
we could not contribute to what we didn't understand. Our sin
prevented us from from contributing to it, and therefore we're precluded,
we're withheld back from any glory that we might have in this
whole thing. Any participation of ourselves
in this is left out. And so in that sense, the law
serves to cause us to be driven in despair of ourselves and our
helplessness. It's meant to drive us to Christ
so that we are left with nothing except what God has said He would
do, what He said He would do, not only up by Himself, but in
His Son. Now, this is the third reason
why we have assurance. The third reason is not only
did God say what He was going to do, not only did He say He
would do all that was required to fulfill His own promise, but
He says here in Hebrews chapter 10 that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the one who would do that work. If we look back in Galatians,
we'd see that a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is
one. So in the covenant of grace,
God acts alone. But in this covenant, the one
who does the work is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who's
been given the will of God to do it. And so when we read in
scripture, of the Lord Jesus Christ and the will that God
had him to do. It's throughout scripture that
we find him referring to what he would do in doing the will
of God. Notice what it says here in chapter 10 in verse 5 of Hebrews. He says, When he cometh into
the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, He said this, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin 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." Remember Revelation chapter
5? He who sits on the throne has
in his hand a book written within and on the back side. And no
one in heaven and earth is found worthy to open that book. And
then finally, after the Apostle John weeps much because no one
is found worthy, then steps forward, the Lamb of God, and He takes
the book out of the right hand of him who sits on the throne
And He opens the seals, He breaks the seals and opens the book.
This is our Lord Jesus Christ. He says in the volume of the
book, it is written of Me, I come to do Thy will, O God. And that
will is the requirements, the conditions of the covenant of
all God gave Him to do for His people. All God gave Him to do
for His people is the will the Lord Jesus Christ came to do.
So you see this throughout, as I said throughout scripture.
Let me just read some of these to you and I'm sure that you'll
recognize them here. In Luke chapter 2 verse 49, Jesus
said as a young child, 12 years old, he says to Mary and Joseph,
I must be about my father's business. I must be. And then in John 4.34,
my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish
His work. And then in John 5.36, the works
which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that
I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. The Father
has sent the Mediator into the world, not to give the law to
us to do, like Moses did to the people, not to lay the conditions
for approaching God on us individually, but He laid it on the shoulders
of one who is mighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator. And
so he says in John 6, 38, 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 has sent me of all which He has given
me. I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day. Everything laid on Christ. What
was laid on Him? The eternal salvation of all
of God's people was put on Him to do, to bring them to God.
And so he says, going on in John chapter 10, he says, therefore
does the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again. And then he says in verse 18,
this commandment have I received of my Father. You see, this covenant
is called a covenant of grace because to us, every promise
is performed by God in the Lord Jesus Christ and given to us
not by any conditions we meet. But for the Lord Jesus Christ,
it was a covenant of works. He actually fulfilled the commandments
given to him. It was entirely on the basis
of strict justice that he approached God. He took the will from His
hand and He fulfilled it to the very end. He says that He had
to finish that work. And so He says in John 12, Now
is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me
from this hour? But for this cause came I unto
this hour. That's the reason He came into
the world. It would be fair and correct to say, that the total
purpose of Christ coming into the world was to do the will
of God. And so he says in John 17, in
verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. And then finally in John
19, verse 30, It says that Jesus, knowing that all things were
now accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel of
vinegar, full of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar
and put it upon Hyssop and put it to his mouth. And when Jesus,
therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and he
gave up the ghost. That is when he did the will
of God. So, we see here in our text,
in Hebrews chapter 10, as he was coming into the world, he
said, I came to do thy will, O God. Now listen very carefully.
Every condition required in God's covenant of grace is fulfilled
in what Jesus did here. When he says, I come to do thy
will, O God, he finished the work. Remember Matthew 5, 17?
I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. all the Law and the Prophets
He came to fulfill. So our assurance rests on the
fact that God purposed to do it, that He promised what He
would do, that He obligated Himself alone to fulfill His promise,
and now we see that He gave to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
a human body and a human soul that He might do the everlasting
will of God. Listen to what Jesus told the
disciples in Matthew 26 and verse 28. He takes the cup, that cup
of wine, and he says, as he gives it to them, he says, this cup
is the new testament in my blood. which is shed for many for the
remission of sins." What is he saying? By the shedding of His
blood, He put into force all of the promises and the blessings
of that covenant, so that everything God promised to His Son and to
His people in His Son from eternity was at that time fulfilled when
He shed His blood. And so we read in Hebrews chapter
13 verse 20, it's called the blood of the everlasting covenant. And this is the everlasting gospel
that that That messenger from heaven is preaching in Revelation
14, 6, where he says that he was sent to preach the everlasting
gospel to every kindred, tongue, people, nation on earth. The
gospel is the telling out of the New Testament in Christ's
blood. It declares God's everlasting
will to save His people by the doing and the dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's an eternal will. It was
accomplished as everlasting commandments given to Him, and when the Lord
Jesus Christ fulfilled that, He established for us an everlasting
righteousness. What a wonder! Just to think
about the fact that everything God requires of me, He not only
said He would do, but He gave it to His Son, and He actually,
actually really did it. And so we see that our assurance
is in these three things. First of all, what God said He
would do, that He obligated Himself, that He laid it on His Son, and
that the Lord Jesus Christ actually accomplished all He would do.
Now, the fourth reason for our assurance then is that the Spirit
of God now here tells us in the book of Hebrews what our Lord
Jesus Christ actually obtained by what He did. We know He fulfilled
the will of God, He said it. It is finished. But what did
He actually obtain by doing that will? Surely if there were promises
that depended on the condition of His own obedience and death,
Surely there must have been something obtained by what He did. And
so we read here, He not only gave Himself a ransom, but He
actually obtained eternal redemption for us. Look at Hebrews chapter
1, starting at the beginning of the book. The writer to the
Hebrews wastes no time in verse 3. He's told us that in verse
two that God in these last days has spoken to us by who? By the
mediator of the new covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, his own
son. He says, in these last days God has spoken to us by his son
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the world. He's God the son. Then he says,
who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person, of holding all things by the word of His power. Listen
to this next word and mark it carefully. When... When He had
by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high. Do you know what it says in Leviticus
chapter 16? This is what God says in the
law. This was the shadow of what Christ
would do. I'll just read it to you here.
The high priest, once a year, would go into the Holy of Holies,
and after he was done, he would come out. After he sprinkled
that blood there, after they sent that that goat out into
the wilderness. He laid his hands on it and confessed
over him all the sins of the children of Israel. It says in
verse 30, On that day shall the priest
make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from
all your sins before the Lord." When He had by Himself purged
our sins, that is the fulfillment of Leviticus 16.30. On one day,
the Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself and He actually really
made atonement for the sins of His people. And that's why He
says in, look it over in chapter 9 verse 12, Neither by the blood
of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He
obtained it. And then he says in verse 15
of the same chapter, for this cause he is the mediator of the
New Testament, that by means of death, his own death, for
the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament.
That's the law, isn't it? That's the covenant of works.
They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. His death not only obtained for
us eternal redemption, but it obtained for us an eternal inheritance. And then look at chapter 10,
where we are. He says in verse 10, in verse
9, he says, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He takes away
the first, that he may establish the second, by which will, the
will God gave him to do, we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Sanctified. That means made holy to God.
Set apart for God. And then look at verse 14. In
fact, let's just read from 11. I want to read through these
verses. Look at verse 11. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. Here they are standing, going
about the sacrifices daily. And they never take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God. In the book of Esther, the
king asks Haman, he says, what shall be done to the king, to
the man whom the king delights to honor? Haman thinks, oh, that
would be me. That would be me. I think we
need to take the crown from the king's head, the ring from his
finger, get his horse out, put the robe on him, march him through
the streets, and put the best man in the kingdom in front of
him and tell everybody, this is what shall be done to the
man whom the king delights to honor. The Lord Jesus Christ,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, God says, I
can only give him what's appropriate. for what he's done, the highest
place, the throne. Put the crown on his head, put
everything in his hand, whatever he asks, give it to him. Give
him all things, authority over all things and all of creation. Put my name, stake my own name
on what this man did. and give Him my people and put
them into His hand. He's faithful and He's true.
He cannot fail. He fulfilled the will of God.
He sat down, not just anywhere, but on the throne, on the right
hand of the throne of the majesty on high. And then he says, from
henceforth expect until his enemies be made his footstool. For by
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. I love that verse. I don't know
about you, but I love that verse. My name is in there, but I'm
not an actor. I'm a recipient only. He has
perfected forever them that are sanctified." You see, this reason,
this fourth reason given here, why we can have assurance is
that the Lord God says what Christ actually obtained by what He
did, eternal redemption. You know what that means? The
ransom has not only been paid, But the release has been given. The prisoners are now told about
the forgiveness of sins. They're in prison, they don't
know that it's been done, but it's done in heaven. And then
the everlasting gospel is preached to them and the Spirit of God
takes them. and he turns their eyes toward Christ, away from
themselves and the law, and he shows them it's all done, and
they receive the forgiveness of sins and looking in their
own person. In heaven it's done, but in their
own person they receive the peace and the joy and the gladness
of it in their heart because they see. God laid on him everything
he required of me, and he received it all from his hand, and now
God in heaven gives what is rightfully his, and gives it not only to
him, but all of his people he gave to him." And so we see what
a wonderful redemption. Isn't it wonderful? And that
is the fifth reason why we have full assurance of faith, is not
only did God say that before what He would do, not only did
He say He would do it by Himself, and not only did He tell us that
He would do all and finish all by what His Son would do in performing
His will, And he tells us what Christ actually accomplished.
But now he tells us that we are only to consider, we're only
allowed to consider our standing before God because of what God
has received from the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that sounds bold. I know that sounds, it almost
sounds presumptuous to think that you could come to God as
a foul, helpless, hell-deserving sinner and actually claim God's
word in Jesus Christ as having a perfect righteousness before
him because he's perfected forever them that are sanctified. I know
I couldn't contribute anything. I know I was under the complete
dominion of sin and the guilt of it and I couldn't rid myself
of it. And I know that I wasn't there
when God made this covenant. And he tells me all about it.
He tells me what Christ did and it's finished. Why wouldn't I,
why couldn't I submit myself to this declaration of this new
covenant in faith, believing what God said? To do anything
but to submit to it is what? It's disobedience to the new
covenant. To do anything except to come
boldly by the blood of Jesus is actually disobedience to God. To think, well, I need to bring
something. I mean, how could I have assurance
unless I find it in myself? But that's not, that's exactly
the opposite of what God says here. Notice what he says here
in verse 19. He says, having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Listen,
by the blood of Jesus. And what next? By a new and living
way. What is that new and living way?
It's the new covenant in His blood. And then He says, which
He hath consecrated for us through the veil. That is to say, His
flesh, His blood, this new covenant, His broken body, And then look,
and having a high priest over the house of God, what would
give you assurance before, full assurance before God? God gives
it here, and He says, look, behold the Lamb of God, behold Him. When I see the blood, God says
in Exodus 12, 13, I will pass over you. How many times in scripture
does God tell the people as they're facing their enemies and they
know they're doomed, He says, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Stand still and look at the Lord
Jesus Christ. What does God say about what
He's done for us? Throughout Scripture, He commands
us just to look. He says in Isaiah 45, 22, Look
unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Take his
letter in your hand and say, you told me to look at Christ
and to find in him, not just to look, but to actually find
with God-given persuasion that everything you require of me,
you've already received from him and you treat me. And consider
me only as you see your son." What a blessing of grace. There's
nothing greater than... That is joy, isn't it? Doesn't that give you peace in
your heart? That God would so say these things. Listen to what
the Lord says. In those days and at that time, the Lord says,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. and there shall
be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found."
You say, well that's a promise God gave in the Old Testament.
How do you know that's to us? Because all of the promises of
God in Him are yes and amen. We are, according to Galatians
4.28, we are the children of the promise. Not the children
of the flesh, they're not counted for the seed, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. And how do I know that
I'm a child of the promise? Because in my heart God has written
his law there, and that law will not leave me satisfied with anything. But what God has received from
His Son, what God says about what Christ has done, that's
the only thing that satisfies or gives me assurance before
God. It's the only thing. And that's what God is saying
right here in His own words. Therefore, He says, having therefore
boldness to enter into the holiest. We, our sin, closed the door
to heaven. It closed the door. God put the
flaming sword there at the entrance of the garden. In the Old Testament,
God gave the shadow, the priest would go in once a year with
that blood, open the veil, go in, come out, that was it, closed
forever. But when Jesus hung on the cross
from top to bottom, the veil was rent, the way was made, his
own body broken. And God says, enter boldly by
him, don't look at yourself, don't bring what you have, leave
it, abandon all. Remember what it says in Psalm
45, verse 10 and 11? Let's look at that one verse and then I'll
close. I think I've already gone over, but look at Psalm 45. This
is what God, the Lord Jesus Christ, says to His people, His covenant
people, the ones that He loved. He only had one reward in mind
when He went to do that will of God. It was to have a people,
to have them for Himself, to make them spotless and without
blemish before Him in love. And He says here in Psalm 45, Listen, O daughter, and consider
and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. So shall the King greatly desire
thy beauty, for He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him. Forget
everything you have, look to Christ, and when you do, you'll
have His own comeliness put on you, and He'll greatly desire
your beauty, because it's His own beauty. He'll say to you,
Thou art all fair, my love, I see no spot in Thee. I'm so happy. Lord bless you.