Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. I'm going to be in Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10. And I'm gonna begin reading in verse
eight to verse 14. Above when he said, sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hath pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice, four sins, forever sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And I'm gonna stop right there,
That is one fine place to stop. My title, Paul, is he established
the second. That's my title. On my way here
today, I passed a person on the road who was a foreigner, I think
from South Carolina or somewhere. Nothing against foreigners from
New Jersey or anything. But it had a sticker on the back
window. And it had three words on it.
It said, devoted to God. And I'm passing this person,
I'm thinking, that's not bad. If it's true, if it's true, that
is actually a glorious thing, a gracious thing, if it's true. But I'm here, I'm gonna try today
to tell you something even more glorious than that. Here's the
thing, if that's true, if you are in Christ, God is devoted
to you. That's grace. That's grace. That's a miracle of grace. And that just hit me as I was
watching that sign as I passed him. But see, if you put a sticker
like that on your window, God's devoted to me, people think you're
uppity, you know? They'll think you're boasting.
No, it's in Christ. It's only in Christ. But it's
also true. Beloved, now are ye the sons
of God. Now, in this world, That's grace, that's grace. Anyhow,
here in Hebrews 10, we have the words of Christ actually quoted
from Psalms 40. And I'm gonna just look at that
for just a second. Psalms chapter 40, verse seven.
This is a Psalm of David. And these are some of the words
of David, and these are, this is a Messianic Psalm. These are the words of Christ.
Verse seven, then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book
it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is in my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation and not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth
from the great congregation. Have you ever noticed when you
read the Psalms or read anywhere else in the scripture and it
talks about salvation, it talks about God's salvation? It talks
about thy salvation. Talks about thy righteousness,
not mine, thine. David was a prophet as well as
a king. And David prophesied, I come
to do thy will. I delight to do thy will. And then these words, the words
of Christ, yea, thy law is in my heart. And I preached righteousness
in the great congregation. And yes, Jesus Christ came to
preach righteousness. And here's the thing. He did
preach righteousness, and they received him not. They received
him not. His own received him not. even though he preached righteousness,
even though he preached the absolute truth with absolutely no mistakes. And I cannot claim to do that.
He did. And yet, the result is exactly
the same as preaching the gospel today. Some believed and some
didn't. That's the truth. That's the
truth. Some believed and some didn't. did not receive him or his word. Jesus Christ is the light, and
the light always shines. But men love darkness rather
than light. Why? Because their deeds are
evil. That's what the scripture says. It's not the fact that
they just reject the light. They love darkness. They love
darkness. Remember what Jesus Christ told
the disciples of John the Baptist. He told them to go, John sent
them to him. He said, go and tell John what
you see. He said, the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the dead are raised, the deaf hear. And he had one
more thing on there. And to the poor, the gospel is
preached. Right with that list of miracles.
Right with that list of miracles. To the poor, the gospel is preached. Ah. The gospel, the true gospel being
preached is not a natural act. And the gospel being heard with
hearing ears, seen with seeing eyes, and understood by a living
heart is not a natural thing. By nature, we're just like those
others that Stephen spoke to. He says, you uncircumcised in
heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost, just like
your fathers did. So do you, so do you. But the
gospel is preached. Right here, the miracle of the
gospel has been preached by Jesus Christ, by God manifest in the
flesh. And they didn't receive it. They
didn't receive it. You will not come to me that
you might have life. same as it ever was, and it's
still the exact same today. I know a lot of people like to
think that we're a lot more advanced. Well, scientifically, maybe we
are. I got here in a truck, going 70 miles an hour, maybe a little
more than that, but I didn't tell anybody, up at interstate,
and drove 35 miles, whatever, to get here. When you had to walk from wherever
to wherever back then, you walked and usually not by yourself.
You tried to join yourself to a caravan or to a group. We are
more advanced scientifically, but up here in this head, in
these ears, in these eyes, and in this heart, we are just as
dead as anybody else, as everyone else has been. Some believed and some did not.
But here's the words in Hebrews 10. Then said he, lo, I come
to do thy will, O God, thy will, O God. Then he tells us what
that will was, what he's talking about here. He taketh away the
first, that he may establish the second. Now, the word taketh
away, is one Greek word and it means this. Abolished. He abolished the first. The first. What's that mean? This is exactly what that means.
The first is no more. No more. It's abolished. He took it away, it's not there.
It's abolished. And I'm gonna tell you this.
The first had to be abolished. I'll repeat that. The first had
to be abolished. Now why do I say that? Well,
first of all, because he took it away. He abolished it. If he did it,
it's because it had to be done. If he did it, it was foreknown
to be done. because no none to God are all
of his works from the beginning. He came in order to take away
the first. He did it. The second is this. You look in verse one of chapter
10. For the law having a shadow of good things to come and not
the very image of the thing. The first was not the very image. The first was a shadow. It was
a shadow. It's not the substance. Why? For the law having a shadow of
good things to come and not the very image of the things, what?
Can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. The first was a shadow, and it
never made anyone perfect. And God, God demands perfection. God demands holiness. Be holy,
why? For I am holy. The first had
to be abolished. The law of the first had a shadow
of good things to come, but not the substance, not the substance. Now yes, it was to be done in
those times, in the Old Testament times. Those sacrifices were
to be made. God ordered them. But they never
made those that offered them perfect. Well, because you had
to come back and do another one. You had to come back the next
day and do another one. The priesthood never stopped. It never stopped. I have two words for the first
being abolished, two words. Thank God the first was abolished. Thank God. Because what was abolished,
I didn't say it, but it's the first covenant. It's what he's
talking about here. The first covenant. And the first
covenant was explained in these words. This do and live. But that wasn't all, folks. Lots
of people think, oh, that's good, let's do it, I'll do it, I'll
do it. That's what the Jews said. That's what the Hebrews said.
But here's the other part. Disobey and die. And now Walter had gone through
the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Leviticus before that
and the others. And you heard him read and preach
and talk about those laws. Some of them things are awfully
complicated. and awfully picky, if you wanna use that word, and
I don't really wanna, they're particular, that's it, not picky,
they're particular. God says do it this way or else.
And that's what God says about everything. But most people don't
know that, most people don't wanna know that. But here's the
thing, where it says this do and live, I cannot. I could not. And worst of all,
I will not. And don't let yourselves off
the hook, because you wouldn't either. You wouldn't either. You wouldn't
either. And here's the other part. Scripture
tells us very plainly to fail in one part of the law. One part is to be guilty of all. Oh my. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy strength. And
you have to do that all the time. Every day, every minute of the
day, every second of every minute of the day. And we can't do it. You're also supposed to love
your neighbor as yourself, but you can't get past the first
one to get to the second one, and neither can I. To fail in one part is to be
guilty of the whole law, everything written in Leviticus and Numbers
and Deuteronomy. We could not, we cannot, and
we will not even keep that first commandment, much less all the
rest. But right here in Hebrews, we
read it. He took it away. He taketh away the first. Oh, I like that, I like that.
You understand, in Adam all die. Here's the point to that, and
they stay dead. In Christ shall all be made alive. He took it away, he took it all
away. Because he did keep it. He's the only one who has kept
the law. In Psalms four he says, thy law
is in my heart. And it was in the heart of Jesus
Christ. Complete and perfect. And he
kept the law from first to the last. He loved the Lord God with
all his heart, mind, soul, and strength all the time. And he
loved his neighbor as himself. And we don't. But he takes it
away. He kept it. He took it away,
the first. That, that one little word there,
that. This is the reason he took away
the first. That, what? He may establish the second. Oh, the second. What does it
say about the second covenant? Well, it calls it the new covenant.
But here's even something I like more. It's called the better
covenant. The better covenant, I like that.
Because this better covenant is established on what? Better
promises. What's a better promise than
this do and live? Oh, he's done and you live. I like that. The second is better
than the first Period. Stop right there. It's established
on better promises, the promises of God, the promises of Christ.
He established the second in Hebrews, I think it's 8.13, I've
got it written down here, yes. Excuse me. In that he saith a
new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. He took it away. He abolished
it. You understand, this is not what
we say. This is what the book says. He
made the first old. We didn't. We didn't outgrow
the law. We didn't get so much better
that we don't, well, we don't need the law now. No, he took
it away. He took it away. He made it old,
and what it says? It says he said it, and he made
it. I like that. What? In that he
saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old. I like that. I didn't say it,
you didn't say it, theologians didn't say it, Jesus Christ said
it. And what's that mean? That means
it's so. If Christ said it, that means
it's so. And he did say a new covenant, well, I give you, I
give you. You didn't earn it. Really, when it came down to
it, at one time, I didn't want it. Didn't know anything about
it. Didn't care anything about it.
No, no. I'm gonna give it to you. And if he gives you something,
bless God, you're gonna have it. You're gonna have it. Better
promises established with a what? A better covenant established
on better promises, what? With a better sacrifice. This is the book of Hebrews.
Sacrifice and offerings you didn't want. but a body hast thou prepared
me. Hebrews 9, 26, he put away sin by the sacrifice, what? Of himself, of himself. For then must he often suffer
from the foundation of the world, but now, once, at the end of
the world, he hath appeared to put away, to put away sin. by the sacrifice of himself. A better covenant established
on better promises with a better sacrifice. The better sacrifice. He established the second. Verse 10 says this, by the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once. And I left that for all out.
Once. Once. By the which will. Which will? The one he was just
talking about. In verse 9 of Hebrews 10. What? Then said he, lo, I come
to do Thy will, O God, he taketh away the first to establish the
second. By that will, the will of God
that Christ came to perform, the abolishing of the first and
the establishing of the second. Everything in this Bible is related
to and concerning the person and the work of Jesus Christ. He came to do the will of the
Father. That's what he said while he's
here. That's what they're writing of here in Hebrews. And it was the will of the Father
that he takes away that first and establishes the second. By that will, by the very will
of God, we are sanctified. You understand? Believers are
not trying to get sanctified. Believers are not struggling
to get sanctified. Believers are sanctified by Jesus
Christ himself. We are sanctified, set apart
unto God the Father in His Son, Jesus Christ. Set apart in the
Son of God. I said earlier, beloved, now are
ye the sons of God. Now, right now. Purified, made
holy, not in ourselves, but in Son, in the Son, in His Son,
in Christ Jesus, what? In the Lord Christ Jesus. Sons of God, heirs of God, and
joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We are sanctified in Him, what? Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once, once, once. There's only one offering. There's
only one offering. His sacrifice and his offering
sanctified us. Period. It's not that we did anything
with it. No. It's what he did. It's what he did. And understand
this. The sacrifice and the offering
were not made to us. He made them to God. He made
them to God. Walter, you said it this morning
on the TV. He's the one who could touch us and lay hold of us and
not be defiled. And not be defiled by us. And he could lay a hold of God
and not be destroyed. And bring us together in himself. His sacrifice and his offering
was complete, and to the Father, and the Father's, the Father's
justice is completely satisfied. You understand? Yes, I sinned. Yes, I have sinned. Yes, I will sin. But in Christ, who took my sins
in his body on the tree, who took your sins in his body on
the tree before God. You have no sin. They've been
punished. Justice has been served, as they
say. Justice is satisfied. Why? By the sacrifice and offering
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not by you, not by me, and not
by any man or woman. through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ. You understand, Jesus Christ
did not make a partial offering. Jesus Christ did not make a conditional
offering. That offering was to God. And
that offering was accepted 2,000 years ago or thereabouts. Oh
my. He made himself an offering for
sin. For us, for us, those who believe. And it does say this word, and
I like this word. Once, once, once, once. The Old Testament sacrifice,
you did it again and again and again. Every year the festivals
came around. Every year, the Passover came
around. Every year, the Day of Atonement
came around. And they did it again and again,
and every day in between, people would come and offer a sin offering,
people would come and offer a burn offering, people would come and
offer a wave offering, a peace offering, or whatever. No. No. Not anymore. Through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ, once. Once.