No, I'm not doing a verse-by-verse
study of any thing. I will get back to Hebrews 6
when I get to Hebrews 10. Now that seems like a paradox,
but it really isn't. That's what I want to do because
the passages are like unto each other. So I want to deal with
that. That was one of the favorites
back in the days when I was in that Armenian Institute. That
was one of the two of their favorite passages, Romans 6, 4 to 6, and
Hebrews, Walter Watt 10. Well, I know it's there. Isn't that strange? I just can't
drop my eyes on it for the moment. Oh yeah, there it is. In the
26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th verses of Hebrews 10. One fellow met me in the hall
one night about 11 o'clock in the dormitory. And he said, Earl,
I want to talk to you. I said, all right, but this is
a poor place. You've got a roommate and I've got a roommate. We'll
have to stand here. Well, he showed me Hebrews 6, 4 to 6,
and Hebrews 10. the passage there up to verse,
what did I say now? I've forgotten. 26 through 29. Yeah. And he said,
I just read this and this just scared me to death. Well, I said,
I'm glad to see you're still standing. You don't often see
dead men walking. But anyhow, he was very much
disturbed. He went on to get a Doctor of
Theology degree and to become about as liberal as anybody can
become. So that's the way that happens.
So I want to spend some time in Hebrews, the ninth chapter, this morning, just before we
come into chapter 10, and see if we can see a few things that
ordinarily are not seen because preachers don't preach the book
of Hebrews. Not all that often. Just a text, here and there,
they'll use, largely taken out of context, for the most part. I made this statement a long
time ago. It's not original. I don't know
how much is original anymore, Walter. But instead, a text without
context is pretext. Well, I said that in a conference
one time. Three or four years later, Scott got up and said,
well, I've been told that text without context is pretext. And
I got a text out of context. So there you are. But I want
to spend some time in Hebrews 9. And I'll begin with verse
11. And then I'll go back. not review,
but talk about some other things. Verse 11, But Christ being come,
and high priest of good things to come, by a greater and 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,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. It's a finished work. Now, Paul here is writing to
Hebrew believers, and you can't understand, I said this before,
you'll never be able to understand the book of Hebrews unless you
understand that it was written by Paul the Apostle to Jews. You must understand that. There
are a few isolated portions that will apply, but he's saying to
these people, he's calling them back to the tabernacle in the
wilderness is what he's doing. Now, in this chapter, we'll see
four things, God permitting, to be considered. One, the tabernacle in the wilderness
with its furniture and its ordinances concerning the service of God.
That's from chapter one through chapter seven. And the Holy Spirit,
number two now, the Holy Spirit emphasizes through the word of
God that the way into the holy place, into God's presence, at
that time was not seen, was not manifest. It was a way that was, I wanted
to use a word there, but it's gone from me. This entry into
the holy place is by a select and special way. It's by blood. And that's the only way that
the Old Testament priests could enter into the presence of God
at any time, even after the first curtain, before you got to the
Holy of Holies. What's it called, Walter? The outer court. And then you
had the court of the Gentiles. That's what I didn't want to
get mixed up. The outer court was entered into by the priests.
The high priest alone entered the Holy of Holies once a year. Alright, this one that we're
talking about now entered into the presence of God once. And the Holy Spirit emphasizes
that word that back at that time in the first part of this tabernacle
that the way into the holy place was not seen. while the first
tabernacle was standing. In other words, men could not
literally and actually enter into the heavenly seat of God
the Father while the tabernacle was in existence. They went into
the presence of God when the Shekinah came down over the mercy
seat. Then they were in the presence
of God, but to make a distinction now, they were not then in the
seat of His glory. His glory was around them, but
they were not in the midst of Him. Look at verses 8 and 9 of
that 10th chapter. Above, when He said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not. Neither hadst thou pleasure therein
which are offered by law. God had no pleasure in the sacrifices
that were offered in the tabernacle. Why was that? Because they were
temporary. And I'll get ahead of myself
if I'm not awfully careful. Then said he, lo, I come. to do thy will, O God. He taketh
away the first, the old tabernacle, the temple, and later on the
temple, 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 Christ once for all. Now you tell me where anybody
could get the idea that you're offering the body of Christ in
communion. You can't. It'll not stand. To offer the
body of Christ in communion, he'd have to be crucified every
time you have communion. in type and that can't be he entered
in once for all time of course some people try to make it that
he entered in once for all men but he entered in once for all
time and and there is no need now for any kind of ceremony
or liturgy, or anything else, to bring men into the presence
of God, that is believers, that are believers, I'm sorry, that
are believers, to bring them into the presence of God, because
it's already been done. Was it done in the tabernacle?
No. No, because the way in then was not yet manifest. Somebody says, well, you've got
to understand all of these things before you can be a child of
God. There was not one Israelite other than very possibly the
high priest Aaron and Moses. There were no Israelites who
actually realized the whole import of the tabernacle and the temple.
And yet they were the children of God, if they brought the sacrifice. in in in in in also in verse
nine I think it's verse nine no I've got a wrong reference
it is for the time present if you read that through you'll
see it the time present but I don't see it now sorry verse one nine
one okay Well, I've got that right. This was just for the time then
present. It was limited. And we are now
worshipping in a time now present, which is limited, for we see
Him not. except by the eye of faith. We
have our citizenship in a world which is Antichrist. And you
know, I was thinking this the other day and I told Elizabeth
this, I think it was Elizabeth and Ellen, or maybe just Elizabeth
and Uni in the kitchen. It's been on my mind, you know,
I've said before that Walter and I both are hard on doctrine. I know that. Hard on preachers.
We criticize churches. And people will tell you right
to your face, you ought not to do that. They've got a right
to believe like they believe as much as you've got a right
to believe like you believe. That's true. But I also have a right
to try to convince them of the truth. See, I've had that right. But
then I too have questioned, and I know I'm sure I'm asking, but
I think that Walter probably has too. Let's stay off of the
negative and let's just preach the positive things about what
Christ has done. And I can't do it to save my
life. That's exactly right. Because we are surrounded by
error, and not only error, but falsehood. and just out and out
lies. And everything endeavors to take
us from our position into this liberalism that admits everything
and approves of everything. And right now They're trying
to brainwash these schools, children, school students, not children,
young people, young men and young women. They're trying to brainwash
them into the idea that all that comes on television and all that
comes over the radio and everything is just fine. That's the way
people live. And that's the devil's big lie.
That's not the way God's people walk. Well, uh, So I wondered,
well, maybe we should just shut up. But I said, then when I've been
reading through from Romans through to the first chapter of the Revelation,
and I discovered something. That Paul set forth doctrine
in the first part of his epistle, I'll guess, say the first three
and a half chapters on an average. Something happens. He goes in
to walk. And what does he talk about?
Heretics, liars, slow bellies, cretins, who are always liars,
always learning, never coming to any knowledge of the truth.
I mean, he laid it right out. So if you're going to preach
the word, you're going to have to preach against as well as
for. You've got to point out the error. And I'm telling you
young people now that about 70% of what you hear in school is
in error. And maybe I'm stretching the
flannel to say that. It could be. So for a given period
of time, we remain as we are. But let me tell you, that given
period of time is going to come to an end. The doors of grace
are going to close. And Jesus Christ is going to
come. And He is going to raise His,
put one foot on the land, how often have I said that? The other
on the sea. And raise His hand to heaven
and declare that time shall be no longer. He's going to do it. And the kingdoms of this world
shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. and he shall rule forever and
ever. It's gonna happen. Because here,
number three, he speaks until the time of the Reformation. This was all, these candlesticks
and on and on and on, here in the first part of chapter nine.
You read it. You'll see what I'm saying. All
these things, the law, the tabernacle, the priesthood, gave way to eternal
things. They were in shadow and in type. And sometimes it's difficult
to say. We entered a time, the world
entered a time of reformation insofar as God's purpose is concerned. I want to try to be clear. Insofar
as God's purpose is concerned, up until that time His purpose
was as recorded in the tabernacle and with the Jews exclusively. Everything outside of Israel
were dogs and unclean. Then there comes a time when
things change, and we see it beginning to change in the ministry
of Christ, as Walter pointed out. He said to this poor woman
whose daughter lay terminally ill, he said, it's not a good
thing for me to take that which belongs to the Jew and give it
to a wretched Gentile that's a dog. Now that's what he said. And the woman said, but Lord,
she said, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's
table. And he said, Woman, great is thy faith, so be it unto thee,
even as thou wilt. The law, which made nothing perfect,
nothing. the disappearance from God's
sight of all of the typical ordinances of the Old Testament, of the
Old Tabernacle, because all of them have been fulfilled by the
Lord Jesus Christ, every one. Why were they given? To point
toward Him who was to come and who still is to come again. His one offering, for by one
offering, this book says, this chapter says, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now, you
can take that word sanctified and put it over here and say
it means holiness. Well, it does in a sense. It also means separation. It also means marked for separation. it means made holy not created
holy but made holy so these things these things are gone and in their place there is an
eternal redemption in verse 12 But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. He offered sacrifice for sin
forever. Well, you know, I've heard in
years past, I haven't heard it lately because I haven't associated
with these people within the last 35, 40 years at all, but
I've heard it said, Many many times that well we had a good
altar call last night People coming forward we didn't
see anybody saved, but they came forward to renew up People are always going back
and back and back to something that is unavailing. Well, Earl,
doesn't the Scripture say, if we confess our sins, He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness?
Yes! But, what is it to confess your
sin? What does that mean? Lord, I
had a mean thought today. Well, you might as well plan
on praying 24 hours a day because mean thoughts are with us. We're supposed to manifest the
mind of Christ. And hopefully, in some things
we do. But may I say that we don't in
all things? Not in all things. So if you're
going to confess sin, where are you going to start? I can tell
you. You start with the fact saying,
Lord, I was a sinner, I am a sinner, and I shall be one until I appear
in your likeness. Now that's not excusing sin,
you know, I'm pushed all the time by other forces other than
you to put more emphasis on the higher
life. At Madscot one time I walked
out of the church down to the parking lot and a woman was sitting
there in a car and she said, I'm going to talk to you. So
I went over to the car and she said, do you sin? I said, no, not in God's sight. No, that's not what I mean. Do
you sin? I said, of course I'm a sinner. I'm not. Well, for once I kept my mouth
shut and just walked off. There is no need to discuss anything
there. But I'm saying if we confess
our sins, if I name myself a sinner before God, not only in the past,
but today and every day, it is as impossible for my flesh to
cease from sin as it is for a fire to cease from burning. Boy, you're making a lot of excuses
here, you and Walter both. We're not making excuses, we're
telling the truth. We don't make any excuses for
it. We we have become those who hate the garment spotted by the
flesh We don't want any part of it But listen, it's there
Even in our best hours Even in our best hours Walter you preach
a good message and and it doesn't happen here But four or five
people come through you tell you how what a blessing it was.
You're gonna get a little puffed up Maybe not much and so much
I did a good job today, hooray. And that's the kind of thing
we have to deal with. Preachers won't tell you this.
They're always coming out with the idea that I have reached
this plane and you ought to be where I am. Well, I'm telling
you, I am where you are. I listened to Elder Bradley this
morning. Can't agree with the old man. Yes, he's older than
I am. And he travels everywhere. I
heard him this morning, did a good job. Heard Thomas Mann this morning
down at Roanoke. There are few. And you know,
I said come into church. Why in the world is it that you've
got primitive Baptists in this county all over that deny the
new birth? When LeSueur Bradley came on
radio this morning and I heard it, he said, you'll either be
born by the Spirit or you'll not live. If that isn't the new birth,
I don't know what is. And he went over to John 3. Well,
a lot of people don't like LeSueur Bradley. And, you know, we speak of our
little finicky likes and dislikes, but if a man will call, will
speak on, here he is, LeSueur Bradley is the spokesman of primitive
Baptists all through the South. Everybody knows him. Well, I don't want to preach
on LeSueur either, but what I'm saying is, let a man disagree
with you once in a while, If he's speaking the truth and telling
people who God is, well, Earl, when he gets on the old church,
well, when he gets on the old church, I get on the old church,
too. The Primitive Baptist Church
was the founder of faith in Raleigh County, as well as all of the
surrounding area. The Coal Marsh Baptist Church
out here, Mack out, they cast him to the doves. I heard the
pastor of that church come on this morning after LeSueur Bradley.
And he spoke at the Coal Marsh Baptist Church and so on and
so forth. He said, we preach the sovereignty of God and the
gospel of grace, and I told you that's a lie. And what he's doing, he's trying
to combat LeSueur by his first announcement, you see. He doesn't. He doesn't. Most of them are under that law
which has been done away. Most of them. I won't be long.
Listen to this. For yet a little while. And he that shall come will come. And he shall not carry. That's in the 37th verse of the
10th chapter. But these things are what the
child of God feeds upon. It's what he lives upon. And it's... This is not a process of human
priests. Not at all. In verse 11, we see
that Christ has come. Christ himself appears having
nothing to do with fleshly ordinances or Levitical forms, but a high
priest of good things to come. Has nothing to do with fleshly
ordinances. To come is in contrast with those
old things that he's been talking about. Here is that which is as old
as the purpose and the decree of God and takes precedence over everything
else the high priest has come and I don't need any other priest
and neither do you of any kind he is spoken of here as high
priest and not as a redeemer He's high priest He's not spoken
of as a redeemer from the penalty of sin, but as in verse 14 For
by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified
of chapter 10 Do we see his blood cleansing
the conscience of all the mean and despicable things that we've
done? No! The Blessed High Priest cleanses
our conscience from what? From dead works to serve the
living and the true God. In other words, I can't I can't hold to, I can't claim
one thing before God. Because John said it, John the
Baptist, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above
or from heaven. So we can't claim to one thing.
This idea that I do or I did or I will is nonsense. Well, Earl, you're making a man
an automaton. No, I'm not. Because in the believer, and
I've said this since I first started to open my mouth preaching.
Somebody says, well, how do I know the will of the Holy Spirit?
As a believer, use your common sense. Now, anybody knows it's evil
and wicked to cheat on your wife. Anybody knows that. I don't have
to tell you that. Or to cheat on your husband.
Or immoral. If I'd preach in this pulpit
like Paul preached to the Corinthians, some of you would say, well,
I wish he'd get off that. Yeah, you would. But he told, in plain language
of that day, just exactly, he listed it. He listed it. And, well, I better not go on
there. He's not in the process of obtaining
eternal redemption for us. the word obtained is past tense
it's already happened and yet we continually say that it is done this is not a
process of human priests they're always occupied so they say of obtaining the favor of God
for us. Now what is the favor of God?
The grace of God. They call themselves instruments
of grace. God doesn't need such a sorry
instrument to bestow His grace on anyone. They're supposed to obtain the
favor of God for us. Our high priest has obtained
an eternal standing of righteousness with God before God for us. And then somebody says, well,
I don't want to be ashamed of Christ's coming. You won't. You
won't. That favor that we're talking
about is free grace. That's the best other word I
can think of. Favor. Favorite. The believer, in spite
of all of the falls and stumbling, is the pet. The believer is God's pet. He's his favorite. That's what it says. That favor is the free grace
of God toward his people. You know, old Fanny Crosby, and
some of her hymns are a little bit Arminian. I don't know what
she was. I know she was blind. I know
she suffered a great deal. There's a hymn that we used to
sing that says in it, someday, This is one verse. Someday my
earthly house will fall. I cannot tell how soon it will
be. But this I know, my all in all
has now a place in heaven for me. Now some people right away
say that's presumptuous. I don't think so. because here's the reason I shall
see him face to face and tell the story saved by grace and
I shall see him face to face and tell the story saved by grace
we speak only of the free unmerited grace of God maybe within the
confines of our little group here there is one that has been
disappointed, hurt, swindled, ridiculed, criticized, until
you begin to think yourself guilty of any and all crimes that are
laid to your door. Well, if you're in Christ, they're
gone. Remember, when you came to Christ,
it was all grace. Isn't that funny? It was all grace that saved you,
and I'm here to tell you that it is now all grace that keeps
you. It's only by and through that
grace, that grace of God that any one of us can last out one
day. You were able to sing then with
old Fannie Crosby, Saved by Grace. and grace alone. Let me, let
me, I heard Lucille Bradley this morning preaching on the old
themes of God's sovereignty and God's grace and things that I've
known for nearly my whole life. And you know, as I listened,
Walter, they meant just as much to me as the first time they
dawned on me. And I've heard them out of, I
can't get tired of it. I can't. The fact that God would
reach down. You know, there's a song, you
know, that somebody sings. When I reached up, and then He
reached down. He reached down. And took a hold
of me. And set my feet on a solid rock. When I reached up. They want to make everything
dependent upon our will and our purpose. Well, can't I get out
of the will of God, Earl? Yeah, sure you can. But I'm afraid
to. I have to do what I do, day by
day, because I'm afraid to alter it. You know what I'm talking
about? No, I don't. I don't want to
disobey God. But there are those who would
Have me stand up here every day, every Sunday, and preach to you
an outward righteousness, where everybody says, you know, he's
a good person, or she's a good person. That's flattering, isn't
it? Yeah, that's flattering. Somebody at Mabscot said one
time some woman said that her brother Cochran preaches a good
sermon, but he got a personality like a barracuda Now See I tell on myself Now there there is no some of
your fighting these things like this and Well, relax and trust the grace
of God. Maybe there was a reason why
she thought I had the personality of a barracuda. Maybe she was right. Because God picks every one of
us up from where we are. And let me tell you, down through
the years, down to old age, you'll not change all that much. Well,
your faith ought to grow. But they're talking to me about
victory every day, all day, all week, all month, all year. I
get those things constantly. I get them on email. It's awful. It's leading people
down the path where they begin to think that they are something. And I've told Junior and I've
told the family, it's a good thing that I know that I'm not righteous. Because if I thought I was, y'all
couldn't stand me. No, that's all there is to it. Just couldn't do it. I think
sometimes, let me talk to you personally, I think sometimes
that, Walter, that I'm so different from the preachers that I've
known that I'm totally isolated. Because Mason comes out, and
I talk to him about rifles and about a lot of nonsense at times. Once in a while, we get into
a scriptural discussion, but we don't plan that. But these other fellas wouldn't
know which end of a ramrod to stick down a barrel. You got guns? Yeah, a wall full
of them. What are you going to do with
them? Well, the South may be rising in one of these days. But the thing is, they want us
to preach things that are not true. And I'm just as serious
as I can be. Because every preacher that you
know is no different from your daddy.
None at all. If he's any kind of a shepherd
at all, he watches for your soul. And if you think he's a barracuda,
well then he'll just have to be a barracuda. Now that's all there is to it.
But we have, we are no sense of priests. Now remember, no
sense at all. But we need to know each other,
We need to unite. We need to realize who he is
and what we are. And yet we're to grow in the
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
the purpose of our being here. Before I leave, let me mention
this, that Herman Trent has had a recurrence. Now, Bobby, if
I'm wrong, you correct me. I'll give you permission. Herman
has had an outbreak of this cancer again. Is he going to take chemo,
Bobby? Okay, okay. Okay. And Jo has as children a set
of twin boys, 33, and one of them has very serious cancer. And Jo said she went to the doctor
for a complete physical. She's going to hear this. I better
be careful. She went to the doctor for a
complete physical, and she said, if what I've got begins with
the letter C, I don't want to know about it. Just forget it. Well, it does
happen. Our Father, we're grateful this
morning for your blessing and goodness toward us, for our gathering
together here, for these with whom we meet once a week for
a couple of hours. We're grateful for each one.
We would pray for one another that we might be strengthened
with might in the inner man, that we may be able to lay hold
upon the promises of God and walk in the light even as he
is in the light. Grant that you'd be with Herman and Joe and all
those that are afflicted, that boy that's afflicted and has
no idea what tomorrow is going to bring so far as men are concerned.
We pray that You'd be very near and touch their hearts and strengthen
them in a time of trial as we pray for all of us. We're always
going in to the hospital shortly. We pray that you'd be with him
and may we remember one another. Your word, Paul, the apostle
said in your word, God forbid that I should sin in ceasing
to pray for you. May we not do that, but may we
pray for one another for we pray it in your name. Amen.