You know, we see, as we're going
to read here, that all of those things that are in the Old Testament
bear witness of Christ. Christ is the sum and the substance
of this book that we hold in our hands from the beginning
to the end. A lot of people think that Christ
only appeared in the New Testament, but Christ appeared in the Garden
of Eden whenever He created man. And so it is that we come today to be reminded
of that as we continue in looking in the book of Hebrews and chapter
10. Let me read verse 28 prior chapter
and then we'll continue on. The scriptures are divided up
into chapters to make it easier for us to find things in it.
They're not written in chapters as it was originally recorded. So Christ, this is verse 28 of
chapter nine, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. For
the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very
image of those things, can never, with those sacrifices which they
offer year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered. because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those
sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and 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. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offering and offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither hadst 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. Now keep that in
mind. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices, which
can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for 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, Whereof 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 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 with 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. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another in so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and done despite unto the Spirit
of grace? For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to
remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated,
ye endured a great fight of afflictions. partly whilst ye were made a
gazing-stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst
ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had
compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling
of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better
and an enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye
have need of patience, after that ye have done the will of
God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just
shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. Now this chapter is really divided
into two parts. The first part is defining the
work that Christ has done in the behalf of his people. The
extent of it as he has fulfilled the law. And then as we read
in verse 19, is the second part of this, is what do we do as
a result of that? What are we having there for
now? You know, someone wisely said,
we need to find why the therefores are there for. What they're there
for. And so it is, he says, having
therefore these promises, dearly beloved. So we believe these
things that he said and then there is a result that takes
place because we believe those things. And so he begins by saying
here for the law, having a shadow of good things to come and not
the very image of those things. Now everybody knows what a shadow
is. I mean, we have all been out
in the sun. I mean, you can look right out
there today and you can see shadows. made by the trees as the sun
beats down on them. You don't look at the shadow
out there and say, well, there's the tree. It's merely that which
is the image of the tree. And so that's what he says here.
He says the law, that is that covenant that he gave to Moses
in the beginning, he said that was not the substance. That's
not the thing that was given For us, forever, it was given
for one reason, and that is to manifest the image. Because Christ
is that one who's the image of the law. He kept the law in all
points. He was without sin. Every jot
and tittle is made full in Christ. And so Christ is not the shadow,
he is the image. The law is the image of Christ. It is that which tells us there
is an image. Because see, when you look at
the shadow out there, you know there has to be a tree. I mean,
a shadow has no existence. apart from that which makes it.
And so it is, as David said, we'll not fear, even though we
walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Because you
see, what we see about death is but a shadow, because Christ
has borne death for us. Death wears our sting, O grave,
wears our victory. And so it is that as we look
at this, this is a very important thing, and a lot of people labor
in a fashion of not understanding what the law is. Now, the law
is just, holy, and good. And there is no part of the law
that is to be disregarded as to say, well, it's of no use. God gave the law, but Christ
fulfilled the law. The law is not a marker to tell
men what they ought to do, but it is a testament that shows
men what they are. Because you see, the law was
given to teach men that they're sinners. And every time you look
at the law, and every time you read the law, you're reminded
that you're a sinner. Because you see, a man that has
no inclination towards Stealing, he doesn't need to be told, thou
shalt not steal. You know, a man that doesn't
have any inclination toward murdering somebody, he doesn't need to
be told, you shall not murder. But you see, the law is given
to those who have these inclinations. I mean, that is the reason that
men sin, is because they're inclined to sin. And so it is that the
law is that which is sent forth as a condemning power. And a
man that looks at the law and sees anything else in it, he
hasn't understood what the power of the law is, what the purpose
of the law is. But the law was not, we were
not given, when the Pharisees questioned the Lord about healing
a man on the Sabbath, And they said to him, well, you healed
this man on Sabbath, you performed work. And the Lord said, well,
the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. And he said, the Lord
didn't give the Sabbath, he didn't make men for the Sabbath, but
he made the Sabbath for men. It was a benefit to men. And
so it is that we see the law, I mean, it is a benefit to men.
You know, I'm glad that there's a law of God. I'm glad that the
law of God cannot be changed. It's for the benefit of men.
I mean, it is that which, by the grace of God, He has written
into the conscience of men. Except those in whom He's seen
fit to sear their conscience with a hot iron, and they have
a disregard of it. But by the grace of God, he uses
the law to teach men that they are sinners, because it's by
the law that sin is revealed. And so he said the law, and we're
not talking specifically about the Ten Commandments, we're specifically
talking about the whole covenant of law, wherein men thought by
that which the Lord had set forth in order to show them Christ,
In order to show them that there was a need for a sacrifice for
sin, he gave this law and all of these different offerings
and things that were to be done. But these things were not the
very image of that which God was never pleased with. God was
never pleased with the offering of the blood of bulls and goats.
It was not a thing that was anything to him. But it was meant to teach
us something. Teach us that there was a necessity
for the taking away of sin by the sacrifice of blood, but not
the blood of bulls and goats. And that's what Paul's saying
here. And not the very image of those things, and it can never
with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually
make the comers thereto perfect. Now notice that he said continually.
Because you see, that's what all of those sacrifices, they
had to be continually done. Of course some people think today
that the blood of Christ has to be continually offered. But
you see what this book is to tell us is that He made that
offering once. And that offering is sufficient
because that offering was greater than all the sacrifices that
men could ever do. They could never, with those
sacrifices which He offered continually, make the comers thereto perfect.
Because you see, in order for a man to be made perfect, his
sin must be taken away. And he must have no conscience
of sin. That is, he must have an understanding
that his sin is taken away. I mean, the elect of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, paid the price for their sin. He satisfied the
claims of God's law in their behalf. But until such time as
he calls them out of darkness, and shows them the glories of
the gospel, and gives them light, they are as if they were not.
Their sins were not taken away. But you see, in the gospel, by
the preaching of the gospel, how shall they hear, how shall
they believe in him who they've not heard, and how shall they
Here, without a preacher, when the Lord is pleased to send his
word, and when the scripture speaks about a preacher, it's
not talking about somebody standing behind a pulpit. I mean, you
know, a man might preach when he's standing behind a pulpit,
but that's not necessarily preaching. It is the declaration of God's
word, however he's pleased to send it. He doesn't need a preacher
per se in the sense of a man standing before people saying
these words. He can use many means, but it's
always the gospel. You see, that brings life and
immortality to light. It is at which God is ordained
that men might know that Christ has done what He's done. And
that's why Paul writes this, and he's very adamant. You see, he's already said everything
that he's saying in this first part of this 10th chapter. He
already said it in the 8th and the 9th chapter, did he not?
I mean, he's already talked about the fact that Christ has purchased
eternal redemption for His people. He said they could never make
the comers there too perfect because they would have ceased
to be offered if they did. You see, a perfect sacrifice
is one which does the job. It's not something that has to
be done over and over. And so it did not need to be offered
again because the worshipers once purged should have had no
more conscience of sins. Now what is the conscience of
sins? A conscience of sins is knowing that you don't have a
Savior. See, the man who's lost and undone and beside himself,
he has a conscience of sin. But the man who knows that Jesus
Christ has paid the price for his sin, it doesn't mean that
he never thinks that he sins or that he doesn't know that
he's a sinner. But you see, to not have a conscience
of sins is knowing that our sin is paid for in Christ. We're
not looking for something else. That's where we're satisfied.
You know, we're very dissatisfied with our own performance. If
you're not, then I doubt that the Spirit of God works in you.
If you think that everything you do is acceptable to God in
yourself, then you are going about to establish your own righteousness.
But you see our righteousness is as we sang about a moment
ago. It's the robe of righteousness of Christ that's put on us. And
we live because He lives. We live because He has made that
sacrifice and He has covered us. In those sacrifices there
is a remembrance, again, made of sins every year because the
high priest went in there. What did the people know? Well,
we got an offer for sin. They were reminded of sin. See,
we don't come here to remind you of sin. The Spirit of God
will convince you of sin. You see, the Lord causes the
people to know they're sinners. That's the work of the Spirit
of God. He will convince men of sin, righteousness, and judgment. But we come to preach the gospel.
See, we come to tell you the good news. Come to tell you that
Jesus Christ has died for sinners. And that is that which gives
those who are given faith to believe a conscious void of offense. See, I know I'm unworthy of the
least of the Lord's mercies, but I believe Christ is worthy
of all of those mercies. And He has purchased them for
me. And I'm an object of mercy because
of Him, not because of anything I've done. For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Couldn't
ever happen. Because you see, the law required the death of
the victim, the death of the sinner. The soul that sinneth
shall die. Now, if you'd pay for your sin,
you'd have to die. Unless by the grace of God someone
was able to offer himself in your behalf. There's never been
but one who could do that. He was that one who was not only
a man born of a virgin, but he was God in the flesh who came. And he had no sin of his own.
Now if Christ had not been sinless, then he would have had sin of
his own. But you see, our sin was placed upon him and he knew
no sin. of his own, but he became sin
for us. And becoming sin for us, he offered
himself, and that was a perfect sacrifice for sin. Now, can you
make a man believe that? No, you can't do it, but the
Spirit of God can. And it's a mysterious thing how
he does. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing men of sin. revealing Jesus and the Word,
creating faith in them. I don't know how it happens,
but I know that the Spirit of God moves among His people, and
He gives men faith to believe. And when they hear the gospel,
they rejoice. You see, every man who's a believer,
he never gets tired of hearing the gospel. You know, I never
get tired of hearing that Christ died for my sins. Now, I'm not
offering up the blood of Christ every time. I know that He offered
it up once, and I'm satisfied. And I have a conscience that
tells me, yes, Christ died for sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and 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. Listen
to this, in the volume of the book it is written of me. The
volume of the book. What book? The book of God. The
truth of God. The word of God. This volume
of the book is about Christ. Everything of it is about Christ.
We're told of Him from the beginning to the end. Oh, what a glorious
thing. In the volume of this book it
is written, I come to do thy will, O God. Is that not what
He said? He said, I came not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. What a great mystery
this is. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. Can you explain that? I know
great scholars have spent many hours trying to write books and
stuff and tell us just exactly how it is, but I'm telling you
they never got it. Because it's a great mystery
that a man can't fathom. It only comes as the Spirit of
God reveals it to a man by faith. By faith we understand these
things. By faith we understand that God
created the world out of nothing. There's no other way you can
do that except God be pleased to give it to you. Sacrifice and offering and burnt
offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither has
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. Now the first covenant was a
shadow. Now you know, usually you see
the substance first and the shadow second. But he gave us the shadow
before he gave us the substance. And so it is in the shadow that
the substance is revealed. We see the shadow and then we
look and we see what is it that casts that shadow. And it is
Christ. Oh, I come to do thy will. He
taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. He
didn't just come to add to it. A lot of people think that, you
know, the Lord came and he just continued the law on. No, he
satisfied the law. He took it away, it says. Now,
does that mean that the Lord canceled the law insofar as the
commands that are given to us as to the moral aspects of the
law? Of course not. Those things are
eternal with Almighty God. I mean, it is revealing to us
the very character of God. And so it is. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. He's going to tell us what the
second is. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, the word all is in italics
there, actually for all. And so really we read that by
the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once. He did it. Nothing else to be
done. He satisfied it. And every high priest, in contrast,
every high priest standeth daily ministering and offering oft
times the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of
God. Now what is the right hand of
God? I mean do we picture Jesus Christ as Do we picture the Father
sitting on a big throne and Jesus Christ sitting on a little throne
beside the Father? Is that what this means to us?
No. The right hand of God is the
power of God. Jesus Christ is the power of
God. He is the power of God. And he
sat down on the right hand of God because he was finished.
He'd done exactly what he came to do. after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever he sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. Now when somebody, when a woman
is expecting their planning to have a child. That child is growing in their
womb. Now, when we read this, and there,
if you ask them, are they going to have children,
they would say yes, I'm going to have a child. Now we know
that in the natural realm of things, sometimes things go astray
on that, but nonetheless, the truth of the expectation is there. And it says here that he, from
henceforth expecting till his enemies, his expectations shall
come to pass. Now, all the enemies have not
been destroyed, have they? Don't read in the scripture,
it says the last enemy that shall be destroyed is dead. Now Christ
has triumphed over death and he's expecting that his enemies
be made his footstool. That is, he knows that they are
because he has already triumphed over them in our behalf. But
we've yet, you see, he left that one enemy that we might yet be
brought to him through it. For it is appointed unto man
once to die and after this the judgment. And so the death of Christ canceled
the power of death. So that as David said, yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Because you see, our enemies
are Christ's enemies. He loves his people. and he has
paid that price in their behalf. And he is expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool. He shall triumph over them, he
shall have them in derision, the scripture says. For by one
offering he hath perfected them that are sanctified. Now some
people think that they're being sanctified. And I would not discount
the notion that the Spirit of God is working in the people
of God, conforming them to the image of Jesus Christ. But sanctification,
as you study it in the scripture, is something that Christ performed.
Now, it says here, by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. You can't perfect something that's
already been perfected, can you? I mean, He perfected it. Them
that are sanctified. What does it mean to be sanctified?
It means to set apart. The Lord had a people when He
came into the earth. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. He said, Father, I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, those that thou hast given me. See,
the Lord has a people, they've been sanctified, set apart, and
Christ has paid the price for their sin, and they are as holy
as they can possibly be in Christ. Now, the Spirit of God does ever
work in His people, does He not? both the will and the do of His
good pleasure. He is constantly at work in them,
teaching them, leading them, guiding them, showing them the
way to go. Well, the Holy Ghost also is
a witness for us. For after that He said before,
now listen to this. Now here's the covenant. Do you
remember what the covenant of the law was? The Lord said to
tell the children of Israel, he said, do this and live. That
was a covenant of law. And what was the converse of
that? If you don't do it, what happens? You shall surely die. Now that was a covenant of the
law. Now if anybody wants to live
under the law, then they're gonna live under that covenant. If
you break that covenant, you're gonna die. And what did that
covenant prove to us? That men can't keep that covenant.
And so the Lord gave another covenant. And this is a covenant
that doesn't involve man at all. The Lord doesn't, there's no
ifs in this. This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days saith the Lord. I'm gonna do this. Not I'm gonna
do this, if you'll do this, See, this covenant's not conditional.
The covenant of law was conditional and men could not keep it. But this covenant, this is what's
called the new covenant, but the new covenant's actually the
old covenant. Because the old covenant, it
came after this one because it was established first. But it
wasn't revealed to men to be that way. And so he says, I will make with them after those
days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts
and in their minds while I write them. He'll teach us. He'll lead us. He calls us to love His word. He calls us to love His law,
His truth. You see, God's people cannot
disregard the truth of God. with an open mind, and an open
heart, and a glad heart. They can't just say, well, you
know, we're gonna despise what God has said. He said, I'll 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, he has written
that. Has he not? He wrote that in
our heart. He said, I won't remember your
sin. Oh, what a glorious thing. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now listen to this. Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Christ did it. And we're gonna stop there because
we got to the second part here. We don't really have time to
go through that. But where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. That which the Lord
has forgiven can't be unforgiven. See, the Lord will not forgive
a man one day and then turn around and cast him away the next, will
he? Would that be any forgiveness?
No. He said, I'll write my laws in
their heart and in their mind and I will be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people, a precious and a special possession
that belongs to Him. They are His. Now, who are they? Can you walk down the street?
And say, well, there's one of them. Here's one of them. Not
necessarily. Probably not at all. How are the people of God known?
Because they believe. He said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me. And that's the work of the Spirit
of God. You know, I can't cause a man
to believe. Sometimes I wish I could, and
sometimes I'm glad I can't. Because you know, this is one
thing I've learned. If you can decide to follow Christ, then
you can decide not to follow him. Is that not true? I mean, if you can get in, you
can get out. But if the Lord puts you in,
you can't get out. Because you remember when Noah
went in the ark? What's the scripture say? You
know, I've shared this before probably, because it stuck in
my mind years ago. And I don't even remember, it
was a movie about, I think it might have been The Ten Commandments,
the movie The Ten Commandments, but most of you probably seen
that at some point in time. But anyway, they show this picture
of when Noah went in the ark and he's got this rope, you know,
and he's hoisting this thing up and closing the door. But
that's totally outside of what scripture says. The scripture
says that the Lord shut him in. He couldn't have got out if he
wanted to. Now he didn't want to, did he? And you see, the Lord makes his
people willing in the day of his power. He makes his people
glad to be in the ark. That's a glorious thing. See,
there's not going to be anybody in heaven that doesn't want to
be there. And, you know, those that are
not in heaven, they wouldn't want to be there. Now, they might
not like where they are, but they would not want to give glory
to God. They don't want to fall down
and worship Him. They don't want to give praise to His name. But
those in whom the Lord has written His law in their hearts, they
gladly say, bless the name of the Lord. He's our Savior. He's
our Lord. He's our King. And we will follow
Him. Oh, that the Lord might give
us such a mind today. And we might call upon Him. Because
He is near. He is near to them that call
upon Him. He'll turn none away. I believe
it's a true thing. Every sinner is gonna be saved. Now, not every man that has sinned
will be saved, but every sinner shall be saved. What do I mean
by that? Because you see, a sinner, like Joseph Hart said, a sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
Everybody knows they have sinned. Now you can read little tracts
out, and the first thing they tell you is, you know, you gotta
know that you've sinned. Well, everybody knows they've
sinned. There's nobody that doesn't think they've ever sinned. But
it's only the grace of God that teaches a man he's a sinner.
See, that he has, that sin's something not that he does, but
sin's something that he is. Christ came to save such people
as that. Because man is a sinner called upon the name of the Lord.
He'll be his old blind Bartimaeus when the Lord was passing by
and he said, oh Jesus, our son of David, have mercy on me. Help me. I need you. I'm blind. Lord, would you show
mercy on me? I believe the Spirit of God moves
in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. He calls His people
in a way that is unknown to men, but is known to Him. And He said,
I will bring the blind in a way that they knew not. You never
knew. that you were gonna come to a
place to call on the name of the Lord. You never knew it until
such time as he brought it to pass. And then you wondered,
why on earth did I not call on him before I did? Why did I not
come? Because he appointed the time.
And he calls his sheep by name. And they will come. Oh, that
the Lord might call his people today.