Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. And if you'd like to follow along
in the message today, I'm going to be preaching mainly from Hebrews
chapter 10, beginning at verse 19, concerning this subject,
the way into the holiest, the way into the holiest. And we'll
be looking at Hebrews 10, 19, just a moment, but I wanna start
back in Hebrews chapter nine, if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles. And here in Hebrews, in the book of Hebrews, the writer
of the book of Hebrews, whom I believe was the apostle Paul,
the human instrument, but that's no issue to divide over because
ultimately the writer of Hebrews is the Lord himself, the Holy
Spirit, who inspired and used men to write these words. This
is the word of God, not just the word of Paul or the word
of the writer of Hebrews, whoever you think that is. But this is
the Word of God. And what the writer of Hebrews
is doing is showing the vast superiority of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the salvation that comes to sinners by Him in the
new covenant, as opposed to the old covenant law, the law of
Moses. As you know, the Old Testament
is mainly taken up with Israel, the history of Israel, under
the Old Covenant, which lasted about 1,500 years. That law that
was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and then he gave it to the children
of Israel. And in that law, you had the
Ten Commandments. You had also the ceremonial law,
the Levitical law, the laws of the priesthood, the laws of sacrifices,
feast days, all of that, washings, You had the tabernacle. If you've ever studied the tabernacle,
you know that tabernacle was a movable tent. As the children
of Israel, the Hebrew children, as they went through the wilderness,
they took that tent with them and set it up in the center of
their camp. And that tabernacle contained pieces of furniture
that taught a spiritual lesson. They were types in pictures.
And what we need to understand is why the law was given. That
law was given mainly for two reasons. First, it was given
to show the Israelites their sinfulness and depravity and
the impossibility of salvation from sin, from death, from hell,
based upon their keeping the law. because in their attempts
to keep the law, they always fell short. You think about it. Man by nature is a sinner. We fell in Adam, ruined by the
fall, born dead in trespasses and sins, spiritually dead. And
the Bible says there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that
doeth good, no not one. That is according to God's standard
of righteousness and goodness. And what the law showed is, at
times in their history, Israel was just in total rebellion against
the law. And then there were times when
they sought to keep the law, very few, but even at their best,
they still fall short. That's what that scripture means
in Romans 3.23 when it says, all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. It means that no matter how much
we try, we will always miss the mark of the perfection of righteousness
that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the
law was given to show them their sinfulness and the impossibility
of salvation by their works. But the second purpose for the
law was to show them that the only hope of salvation The only
way of salvation is by God's grace through the promised Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that fact was shown in the
types and the pictures of the ceremonial law, the tabernacle,
the priesthood, the sacrifices. You see all those things in the
tabernacle, the service of the tabernacle, the high priest and
the other priest. the sacrifices of bulls and goats
and lambs on the altar. These things were types and pictures
of the promised Messiah, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who would give his life unto death for the sins of his people
as their sins were imputed, charged, accounted to him. That's what
every lamb that was slain on Jewish altars was intended to
teach. The blood of those animals in
the ceremonial law, they couldn't take away sin. It says in Hebrews
10 verse four here. It says, for it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Animal blood could not take away sins spiritually and eternally.
Now, they had a ceremonial, temporal significance that was wrapped
up in that covenant, that old covenant, that Law of Moses. But those things were to serve
as pictures, types, and shadows of someone better to come. The
Lamb of God, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, over in
Hebrews chapter 9, The writer starts talking about some of
the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle. He talks about the
candlestick, that's the, that's the, that menorah that had the
candles on it that they lit. That was a picture of Christ,
the light of the world, the light of his people. He talks about
the table with the showbread, it had 12 loaves on it. That's
a picture of Christ, the bread of life. He talks about the golden
censer and all the washings. That's a picture of the washing
of the blood of Christ, all of that. And then he talks about
the holiest of all. You remember in the tabernacle,
it was divided into sections. When you went into the tabernacle
at first, you were in the outer court and there was the brazen
altar. And the brazen altar was the
altar of sacrifice. That's where the priest would
slay the lamb and catch the blood in a basin and they would burn
the lamb up. That was a picture of Christ,
the sacrifice, the lamb of God, sacrificing himself for his people
and that blood. And then that priest would take
that blood and he'd go into the next division, which was called
the holy place. And that's where you had the
table of showbread, the golden candlestick, and the labor. And
the other priests, they would perform the service there. But
then you had the holiest of all. There was a curtain there, all
right? There was a veil from the top
to the bottom. And inside that veil was the
holy of holies. And only the high priest could
go in there one time a year on the Day of Atonement with the
blood of the lamb off the brazen altar. And in that holiest of
all, you had the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat on top of
that. And inside that was the law.
And the high priest would come in on the Day of Atonement and
he would sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat. And all that
was a picture of the justice of God, the righteousness of
the law, satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ through His blood,
which is His righteousness. That was a picture. And the priests
and the prophets were to inform the people of these spiritual
things revolving around the tabernacle. That tabernacle was part of that
old covenant. And that old covenant lasted
from about 1500 years from the time of Mount Sinai when Moses
was given the law to the time of Jesus Christ when he died
on the cross. That's about 1500 years. And
you see, when Christ came, all of these pictures and types and
shadows were fulfilled and now to be done away with. In Hebrews
chapter eight and verse 13, it says, in that he saith a new
covenant, he hath made the first old. The new covenant has to
do with the coming of Christ into the world to do his work
as the surety, substitute, and redeemer of his people. And so
the new covenant, he made the first, the first in time, which
was the old covenant, that is first before the new covenant.
He made the first old, and he says in verse 13, now that which
decayeth and waxeth old, groweth old, is ready to vanish away. Now, we don't need that old covenant. It's been abolished by way of
fulfillment. And who fulfilled it? Christ
did. And you see that on the cross,
when he was hanging on that cross, in the book of John chapter 19
and verse 30, he cried out, is finished. Now there are many
things that were finished but one of the things was finished
is the Old Covenant was finished and God signified that miraculously
by tearing that veil in the temple at that time that separated the
holy place from the holiest of all. He tore that veil in two
from top to bottom. That's done away with. It's over. And why was it over? Because
now the way into the holiest was made clear and plain, was
finished. And if you look at Hebrews chapter
9, look at verse 8. He's talking about that old covenant,
that tabernacle and the holiest of all. And it says in verse
8, the Holy Ghost, this signifying, that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing. In other words, while that first
tabernacle and that temple stood and was in a force and in effect,
when the Holy Ghost kept that in that way, he was signifying
that Christ had not yet come. Now salvation had always been
by grace through Christ based upon the promise of God, but
he had not yet come in time. That's the new covenant, when
Christ came in time. And the way into the holiest
was not yet made manifest in the sense that Christ had not
yet come. And he says in verse nine of
Hebrews nine, which was a figure, those things were a figure for
the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience." In other words, it could not clear the
guilty conscience. The only thing that can clear
the guilty legal conscience is looking to Christ as our salvation,
our righteousness before God. He said in verse 10 of Hebrews
9, these things stood only in meats and drinks and various
washings, diverse washings, carnal ordinances, imposed on them until
the time of reformation, the time of change. And when was
that time? When Christ would come and do his great work of
redemption. It's finished, he said. And then
he goes on to Christ. Well, look over in Hebrews 10.
Now, this was our main text to finally get to it. But listen,
he's talking about in Hebrews 10 how Christ, one offering for
sin, did the work, did the job, finished it for all of God's
chosen people. And who are those chosen people,
God's elect? Believers. That's who they are. Under the old covenant for 1,500
years, those priests had to continually offer sacrifices, offerings,
one after the other, one after the other. But when Christ came,
because of who he is, God manifest in the flesh, God-man, and what
he did, it just took one offering. And he says that in verse 14. Look at Hebrews 10 verse 14.
For by one offering, he, Christ, hath perfected, completed, finished
forever them that are sanctified. That means by his one offering,
all for whom he died who are sanctified are saved, forgiven
of all their sins. And he says, look down at verse
18, now where remission of these is, there's no more offering
for sin. Where Christ has paid for my sin, there is no more
offering. It's a done deal, it's finished
forever. So look at verse 19. Having therefore brethren, now
who's the brethren here? That's believers now. Don't apply
this to yourself unless you're a true believer. This is for
God's chosen people. chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of
Life. And they have something. They possess something. They're
not trying to gain this or attain this. This is not a goal that
they're trying to meet. This is something they have.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness. The word boldness is the word
liberty, freedom, unhindered, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. And there you have it. What is
the way into the holiest of all? The blood of Jesus. Now His blood
refers to His death. It refers to His cross. It's
not even talking just about the physical blood of Christ. If
you, listen, let me say this. I heard a news story the other
day where somebody had said that they finally found, there was
a piece of the crib in which the baby Jesus was born and they
finally found it and returned it. My friend, that's sham, false
religion. They don't have a piece of his
crib. He was laid in a manger, which is a feeding trough. They
don't have a piece of that. People go to what they call the
Holy Land, and they'll buy pieces of wood, and they say it's from
the cross. It's not from the cross. Salvation's not from a
wooden cross. It's not from the cross that
you wear around your neck. And here's what I'm saying. If
you could have a vial of blood and prove by DNA that it was
from the human body of Christ, that vial of blood would do you
absolutely no good. Throw it away. His blood here
signifies His death and His death means His satisfaction to law
and justice for the sins of His people. He paid our sin debt. He drank damnation dry. He finished
the transgression, made an end of sin. He brought in everlasting
righteousness. That's what that means. It's
the merits of His obedience unto death. And what He's saying here
is those who believe in Him, who rest in Him, who've submitted
to Him as the Lord their righteousness, they have free access into the
way of the holiest of all, the very presence of God. On what
ground? The blood of Jesus Christ. His
righteousness imputed. His satisfaction to law and justice. In the Lord have I righteousness,
the prophet wrote. So understand that. Now look
at verse 20. He says, it's by a new and living
way. It's not that old way of that
blood of animals for the high priest. But this is a new and
living way. That way was dead, that old way,
because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin.
But this is a new and living way which Christ hath consecrated,
made new, for us, as my surety, my substitute, my redeemer, through
the veil, that is, into the very holiest of all, that is to say,
His flesh. His body. Now what does that
mean? That means His death. He gave Himself a sacrifice for
sin. The sins of His people imputed,
charged to Him. He bore in His body the sins
of His people on the tree. In a human body. He destroyed
the whole body of sin. Everything that sin is that stands
against us. His people. And so It says in
verse 21 of Hebrews 10, and having an high priest over the house
of God. Now that's Christ. Christ is the great high priest. Back over in Hebrews chapter
four, in verse 14, he's talking about how we as believers are
to approach God, and mainly people apply this to prayer, but I think
it's applied to every aspect of a believer's life. and it
certainly applies to prayer and worship. He says in Hebrews 4,
14, seeing then we have a great high priest that is passed into
the heavens or through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us
hold fast our profession. And he says, verse 15, for we
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are yet without sin. Christ had a human body. He was
God in human flesh. And he bore the infirmities of
the flesh, the weaknesses of the flesh without sin. And so
it says in verse 16 of Hebrews 4, let us therefore come boldly. All right, unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. You see, we have we who believe, sinners saved by
grace, sinners who are forgiven of all their sins by the blood
of Christ, sinners who are justified by His righteousness imputed.
We have free access to God's throne, the very presence of
God, and it's a throne of grace. wherein God saves us by his grace,
meaning we don't earn it and don't deserve it. And we have
that through Jesus Christ. So go back to Hebrews 10, 21,
and having an high priest, that's Christ, over the house of God. Now, what is the house of God?
Well, that's the church, the true church. Not just a building
on a street corner, not just a denomination, but the true
church, they are the elect of God. They are the redeemed of
the Lord. They are born again believers
who know the truth. They don't profess to believe
a false gospel. They profess to believe the true
gospel because they've been called out. That's what church means.
They've been separated out, called out of the world by the preaching
of the gospel, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. And so he
says in verse 22, listen to this. Now having this boldness, this
freedom, this confidence, Let us draw near with a true heart. True heart is a sincere heart.
In full assurance of faith. Now that's being confident. Full assurance of faith. Now
what is the full assurance of faith? It's the full assurance
that a believer has looking unto Christ. Believing in Christ. Resting in Christ. Paul wrote
in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. So that's the full assurance
of faith. And then verse 22 of Hebrews 10, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience. That's the washing. That washing that evil conscience. Now you know what the conscience
is. The conscience is the seat of judgment within your heart,
your mind. It's your sense of right and
wrong. And an evil conscience is a legal conscience. It's a
condemned conscience, condemned over sin, or it's one who believes
in salvation because of their works. That's a legal evil conscience. But when we are brought by the
Spirit to see Christ, He shows us, as is testified by Paul in
Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. And what happens there, the Holy
Spirit applies that truth to the hearts, the minds, the affections,
the will of God's people, and they're convinced that there's
no condemnation in Christ. I'm in Christ. He's my hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
That's what it's about. And that evil conscience is soothed. This is what I tell people all
the time when they say, well, am I really trusting in Christ?
Well, what gives you peace in your conscience? Well, I went
to church today. Well, that's an evil conscience. You say, well, I did what I was
supposed to. No, it's Christ's righteousness that cleanses,
sprinkles the evil conscience. and gives us the peace that we
need, the peace that passes understanding, peace with God through the cross
by the blood of Christ. And so he says, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. What is the pure water that washes
us clean? The blood of Christ. And so verse
23 of Hebrews 10, he says, let us hold fast the profession of
our faith without wavering. Let's persevere. Let's hold on for dear life,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith without
wavering. And here's the only way we're
gonna do that. Look at verse 23. For God is faithful, that
promised. He's faithful. Why is it You
know, we believe the Bible teaches, the gospel teaches that if a
person is ever saved by the grace of God, they cannot lose it.
The idea that you can be saved and then lost again is a false
gospel. If God saves you, he'll keep
you. And that's the reason you can't
lose salvation. It's because there's no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. It's because God cannot and will
not charge you with your sins. Romans 8, 33, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies, 34.
Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. He is faithful. And then he says in verse 24,
let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works. What he's teaching there is that
in this message of salvation by the grace of God, through
the blood and righteousness of Christ, that gives us free access
into the way of the holiest is the greatest motivation of love
and good works that God can give. You see, we're to love one another
and we're to encourage one another in service and obedience to the
Lord, not by legalism or fear of punishment, fear of death,
fear of loss of reward, or by mercenary working to earn your
reward, but by love and grace and gratitude. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.