Now let's open our Bibles again
to Hebrews chapter 10. The title of the message is,
Lo, I Come. I pray that the Spirit will enable
me to preach this with awe in which this ought to be preached.
The Savior says, Lo, here is something amazing to see. Here
is something exciting Here is something shockingly glorious. Lo, I come. Christ coming, coming
in the flesh is exciting. It's so glorious because of what
went before him, what came before him, the law and the ceremonies,
the darkness and the shadows and the types of the law and
the ceremonies. And we looked at this Last week,
five things which the law could not do. Christ came to do what
the law couldn't do. The law couldn't make anybody
perfect, but Christ did. The law couldn't purge away sin,
but Christ did. The law can never give anybody
a clear conscience, but Christ did. The law can't make sin be
forgotten, but Christ did. And the law can't take away sin,
but Christ did. See, the law just kept people
in misery. Then, lo, I come. I come to take
away all of that, to take away all of that misery and give my
people joy. Lo, I come to do something shockingly
glorious to save my people from their sin. And the Savior's notice
says, lo, I come. I come. And the law and the ceremonies,
we've seen the pictures. We've seen the Messiah and in
types and in shadows and darkness. But oh, what a joy. Now I come. Now we have the person. Now we
have the substance of salvation when Christ comes. And that's
really more glorious, more shockingly glorious than human language
can express. But with the limited use of English
language that I have, I want to give you four amazing, glorious
results of this statement, lo, I come. The first one is this. When Christ came, he pleased
the father. Verse five, Hebrews chapter 10.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he says, sacrifice
an offering thou wouldest not, but a body has thou prepared
me. in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure."
And that word pleasure is satisfaction. Now Christ came to do what all
those animal sacrifices could never do, to please the Father,
to satisfy the Father. Now, the law did require the
animal sacrifices. Those Jews, they had to offer
the animal sacrifices because this is what that, it was a picture,
but it's teaching us something very important. God cannot be
worshiped without a blood sacrifice. Blood must be shed for sin. So the father required those
sacrifices because they are pictures of Christ, but they never pleased
him. He required those sacrifices,
but those sacrifices never satisfied God's justice because an animal
can't pay for the sin of a man or a woman. God could never accept
animal sacrifices as the term, the foundation of righteousness. He could never accept the blood
of an animal as the forgiveness of sin. The only benefit to those
animal sacrifices was this, is that they pointed us to Christ,
who would come and take away sin. They kept offering those
animal sacrifices over and over and over again so that they understood
this. Those animal sacrifices aren't
taking away sin. I sure would like to see the
sacrifice come that would put away sin. And the Savior says,
Lo, I come. I come to satisfy and please
my father. The father couldn't be satisfied
with those animal sacrifices because of the nature of the
sacrifice. It was an animal. But he also couldn't be satisfied
with those sacrifices because of the nature of the man offering
the sacrifice. He was a sinful man. And nothing
sinful men and women can do will ever satisfy God. We can never
please God by anything that we do in this flesh. So, the Father
had to do something to satisfy Himself, didn't He? The Father
had to do something that would satisfy His holiness and satisfy
His justice and pay for sin. Well, then God's got to do it
Himself, didn't He? And He sent the Holy Spirit to
prepare a body for His Son. He sent the Spirit to prepare
a human body for His Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary. How low, low. Look with awe and wonder at the
incarnation of God's Son. This is something so surprising,
so shockingly wonderful. God Almighty took on him human
flesh. And the Apostle Paul could only
say this about it. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. Now, when we say that God was
manifest in the flesh, the Son did more than cover Himself with
flesh. Like this morning, I covered
myself with a suit. God's Son took on Him a real
human body, just as real as the body you're sitting in right
now. And He also took on Him a human soul. Now, that's amazing. That just blows my mind. I can't conceptualize that. But something more amazing than
that is this. The Son of God took on him a human body and
a human soul so that he could be the sacrifice for the sin
of his people. That he'd have a body to sacrifice,
but also a soul. He made his soul an offering
for sin. An animal cannot be a substitute
for a man. He's not the same flesh. He doesn't
have the same nature. But a man can. So the Son of
God became a perfect man. Sin is a problem of the soul.
Well, an animal can't be a sacrifice for our sin. The animal doesn't
have a soul. So the Son of God took on Him a soul so that He
could be the sacrifice for His people. He came in the flesh
so that He could be one with His people. So He would be Emmanuel,
God with us, so that He could redeem His people from their
sin. Now that's amazing. And you know
that is the only way salvation could come? The only way sinners
can be saved is by a representative man. We were made sinners, not
when we first told a lie. We were made sinners, how? By
one representative man, Adam. When Adam sinned, every one of
us sinned in him. We became guilty in him. So the
only way sinners can be made righteous is by another representative
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. We made righteous by his obedience
to the law. Look back at Romans chapter 5.
Let me show you this. Romans 5 verse 18. Therefore,
as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
Even so, in the same way, by the righteousness of one, the
free gift came upon all men under justification of life. For as
by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, everyone he
represented was made a sinner. So by the obedience of one, so
many be made righteous. Everyone Christ represented is
made obedient or made righteous by his obedience. Look at first
Corinthians 15. God will never teach us this
matter of representation. It will go a whole way towards
understanding all the gospel. How we got into this mess and
how we can get out of it. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 21. For
since by man, by that first representative man, came death, by man also,
a second representative man, that came the resurrection of
the dead. For as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ. shall all be made alive." That
happened through a representative man. And that's what the Lord
Jesus Christ accomplished when He came. His perfect life satisfied
His Father. His perfect obedience satisfied
the exact holiness of God. So His Father was pleased with
Him. The life of Christ in the flesh as a man pleased the Father
because in that body He obeyed the Father perfectly. And that's
amazing. He's the only man ever did it
to please and satisfy the father. His life pleased the father and
the death of Christ as a sacrifice for the sin of his people satisfied
the father. It pleased him. The Lord Jesus
Christ took the sin of his people away from them and he took it
into his own body on the tree. Now, the only way that the Lord
Jesus could take the sin of his people away from them is if his
body and soul were perfect. He couldn't take the sin of anybody
away if he was defiled with sin. Well, he's perfect. So he could
take the sin of his people away from them. And since he's perfect,
his sacrifice will pay for their sin and satisfy the father's
justice and enable him to accept those people. And three days
later, after he died, Christ rose again in glorified flesh. You see, the proof that Christ's
sacrifice put the sin of His people away is He's raised from
the dead. He could not stay dead if the
sin charged to Him was gone. His blood put away all that sin,
so He must rise again. And when He arose again, He arose
in the very same body the Holy Spirit prepared for Him. Except
now, He's in glorified flesh. And He ascended back to heaven
in the clouds. And right now, you know what
he's doing? A man sits on the right hand of God in flesh, just
like ours. A man, the Son of God in a human
body. And since there's one man in
glory, many, many more men are going to follow him there because
he died to put their sin away. Now that is amazing. It's shockingly
glorious that the Son of God would do that for the likes of
us. So look at him, whoa, study him with awe and wonder. Study
his life, study his death, study his resurrection. The son of
God was manifest in the flesh to save his people from their
sin by his obedience that satisfied the father. All right, number
two, when Christ came, he did all of his father's will. Verse
seven, then said I, lo, I come In the volume of the book, it's
written of me. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Now Christ came to do all of
the Father's will. He came to do everything that
concerned the redemption of God's people. He came to do everything
that would glorify God in saving His people from their sin. Now
it says here that He came to fulfill everything that was written
in the volume of the book. All the volume of the book It's
written of Him, what He's going to do. Well, first, the volume
of that book has to refer to the Old Testament Scriptures,
doesn't it? All of the Old Testament, every single word of it. There's
not a moral story in the Old Testament, not one. There's not
one story in the Old Testament that tells you how to live, not
one. Every single line, word, all of it is written to tell
of one man. Somebody's coming. Over and over
and over again. Somebody's coming. Somebody's
coming. Somebody's coming. The Old Testament is written
to describe who it is that's coming. So that when he says,
Lo, I come, we say, That's him. We just read about him. That's
him. That's what the whole Old Testament is about. Christ came
to fulfill every prophecy. He came as the seed of woman.
He came as that prophet, like unto Moses. The king, like David. He came as Job's days man. Job wanted a days man. Somebody
that could reach him and God. Lo, I come to do it. I come. He can be the mediator between
God and men. He came as Shiloh. The peace
that Jacob prophesied was coming. Christ came to fulfill every
picture. He came as Noah's ark. Get in the ark. There's life
in the ark. He came to fulfill the picture of the tabernacle
in the wilderness. as the picture of the high priest, our great
high priest. He came to fulfill that picture of the cities of
refuge. Like I said in the class this morning, if you're hungry
and you're thirsty and you crave Christ, you're in need, run to Him. Run, flee, run to
those cities of refuge. Run to Christ. You have safety
from God's wrath. Christ came to fulfill every
sacrifice. the sin offering, the burnt offering,
the trespass offering, the peace offering. He came to fulfill
it all. But I'm confident it goes deeper than that. I think
the volume of the book it's written to me does absolutely refer to
the Old Testament. But if you look at Revelations
chapter five, Revelation chapter five, I'm sure that this goes
deeper than that. Christ came to fulfill all of
the purpose and all of the will of God. He came to fulfill all
those things that are revealed to men in the Old Testament.
But He also came to fulfill all those things that are not revealed
to men. The secret will of God. Revelation
5 verse 1. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book written with the end on the backside,
sealed with seven seals. Now that book was a scroll. It was a scroll just like this.
It was a scroll. Well, in this scroll, there are
words you can see, aren't there? But there's also words you can't
see down inside. That scroll is the whole will
of God. What's on the outside. What's on the outside is the
revealed will of God. What's on the inside is the secret will
of God, that will of God that only he knows. And Christ came
and took that and look at verse two. And I saw a strong angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, who's worthy to open the book
and to lose the seals thereof. And no man in heaven nor on earth,
neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to
look thereon. And I wept much because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not. Behold, lo, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and
to lose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and low in the
midst of the throne of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders,
stood a lamb that had been slain, having seven horns and seven
eyes, perfect power, perfect vision, seeing all which are
the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And
he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that
sat upon the throne. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
he took the book because he's the only one worthy to open it,
and to carry out all the will of God that's in it. Now look
back at Psalm 40. The writer to the Hebrews here
is quoting the Savior's speech from Psalm 40. And Psalm 40 is
written to tell us that Christ came as a servant. He came as
a servant to do His Father's will. He came to carry out everything
that's in that scroll. Psalm 40, verse 6. Sacrifice and offering that it's
not desire. Mine ears has thou opened. Burn
offering and sin offering has thou not required. Then said
I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of me.
I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Now, it's interesting to know
it's important for us to know that David wrote this while those
sacrifices were still being offered, weren't they? David went to the
tabernacle. Those sacrifices were still being
offered, but David knew those sacrifices weren't pleasing God.
He said, they're not putting any sin away. That's why David
was looking for the Christ who was to come. He wasn't looking
for his son Solomon. He was looking for the son of
David, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand. I make your enemies your footstool.
That's who David was looking for. And David prophesied. He's telling us to comfort our
hearts if we're Under that burden of the law that can't take away
sin, he's telling us now, Christ is coming. And when he comes,
he's going to do all of the Father's will, the perfect servant who
will do everything the Father required. Now, for some reason,
the writer to the Hebrews did not quote this, but what David
wrote here, mine ears hast thou opened or did, is what the word
open means. I'll tell you what that refers
to. It refers to the law of the bond slave. Now a bond slave
was a slave. A man got into debt over his
head and sold off all of his possessions, wasn't enough to
pay his debt. And he would become the man that he owed the money
to, he'd become his slave. And he'd work for him X number
of years until that debt was paid off. And when the debt was
paid off, he went out free. Well, he's worked off his debt.
Time's up. He can go free. But during the
time he was a slave, his master gave him a wife. And they had
children. Well, the wife and children belonged
to the master. Now, the slave, he can go out
free if he wants to, but his wife and children got to stay.
And the man who was a bond slave said this, I love my master. He's a good master. Life is better
being his servant than being out there on my own. I love my
master. I love my wife. I love my children. I'm not going
to go free. I don't want to go free. I don't
want to go out there on my own. I want to be with my master.
I'm going to be with my wife and my children. I will willingly
remain a slave to my master so I can continue to serve him,
so I can be with my wife and my children. And what they do,
so everybody would know, this is what's happened here. They
take him right down to the public square. They probably had a big
post set up there. And they stick his ear up against it, and they
took it all, and they bored a hole in it. I've heard stories about
little girls, my daughter's getting her ears pierced, you know, and
it's over. They put an awl in that fellow's
earlobe and just bore a hole in it. Hung a golden earring
in it so everybody would know this slave is a willing slave. He's a bond slave to his master.
Well, that's what David's saying the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's
the bond slave to his father. Now, I guess you could say he
can go out free. I mean, Christ is the son over
God's own house. Nobody can force him to do anything
he don't want to do, can they? But he loves his father. He wants
to satisfy his father. He wants to please his father.
His heart's desire is to glorify his father. So he willingly became
a servant to honor and satisfy his father. And what's more,
he loves his wife. God's given him, the father gave
him a bride. He chose a people out of Adam's
fallen race and said, son, here they are. She's yours. This is
your bride, your children. And for reasons known only to
God, he loved those sinful people. He said, I'll take them as mine.
And I'll do everything it takes to make them mine. He willingly
became a servant. to redeem that wife they love. He said, I'm not complete without
her. I won't go out without her. I'll take on me flesh so I can
become one with her. Bone of her bone, flesh of her
flesh. She's got debt she can't pay. I'll pay him. I'm not just
going to have a hole bored in my ear. I'm going to give my
body, my soul to be sacrificed. They'll drive railroad spikes
through my hands, through my feet. Shove a crown of thorns
down upon my head. They'll pierce my side with a
sword. And I'll make my soul, I'll pour
out my soul to God as an offering for her sins, because I won't
go without her. And doing the Father's will was
not something the Savior did grudgingly. He did it in love. He said, I delight to do thy
will. He delighted to sacrifice Himself
for the Father's will. He delighted to come keep all
of the law. He delighted, even though He's the lawgiver, He
delighted to be made under the law and keep it for His people.
He loved His people so much, He counted it a joy to go suffer
and die for them. He fulfilled His Father's will,
and then He declared that will to His people. If you're still
there in Psalm 40, look at verse 9. He said, I preach righteousness
in the great congregation. I've not refrained my lips. Oh
Lord, thou knowest. I've not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I've declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I've not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. See, Christ
said, I fulfilled all your will as your servant, and I've declared
it to my people. I've preached righteousness to
the great congregation. I'm righteous within myself,
but I didn't hide that righteousness within my heart. I declared it
to your people. I declared to them that I am
their righteousness. See, it's God's will that Christ
be the righteousness of His people, and Christ delighted to do it
by fulfilling all righteousness, and then He declared it to His
people. So they know He is our righteousness. And Christ came
and declared God's faithfulness. Sinners are saved because God's
faithful. We're never saved because we're faithful to do anything. And it's a good thing because
we're unfaithful in all things. Sinners are saved through faith
in Christ. Nobody's saved who doesn't know
Christ. How can they believe on Him if they don't know Him?
Nobody saved doesn't believe Christ. But everybody's saved
who does believe Him. We're saved by faith in Christ.
But this is also true, and it's very important. Our salvation
is accomplished by the faith of Christ, by His faithfulness
as God's servant to please His Father and do all of His will
and obey the law perfectly, to produce a perfect righteousness
to give to His people. We're saved by the faithfulness
of Christ. And Christ says here He's faithful
to declare God's salvation. He's faithful to declare that
He is God's salvation, that this thing is done in truth and lovingkindness. Oh, God loves His people. But
He saved them in truth by punishing Christ, their substitute. By
seeing them in the obedience of Christ, their representative.
Christ the servant came to fulfill all that and to declare it to
His people. We'd never know it if He didn't
declare it. Aren't you glad He came as a
servant? The servant to fulfill all of the Father's will and
to declare it all to us? That's an amazing thing. That
is shockingly glorious that the Lord Jesus Christ would declare
that to the hearts of people like you and me. It's just shockingly
glorious. All right, here's the third thing
back in our text, Hebrews chapter 10. When Christ came, He took
away the first and He established, eternally established, the second.
Verse 8, above what He said, 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. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. That has a twofold meaning. It
means, first of all, that the end of the law, the goal, the
purpose of the law is to shut us up to Christ. The goal of
the law is to make us see we can't keep the law. So we've
got to go to Christ because he's our only hope. That's the goal,
the purpose of the law. But this also means this, that
Christ is the termination point of the law. Every requirement
of the law was terminated when Christ died. God made it obvious
to us when Christ cried, it's finished and gave up the ghost.
What happened in the temple? The veil was rent to. The way
to God, the way to the Ark of the Covenant was wide open. You didn't have to come just
once a year through the high priest. No. Anytime you want. The law of the high priest is
fulfilled in Christ. There's no more offering for
sin, no more blood to be sprinkled. Christ has died. Once was enough. The law is terminated. And Christ fulfilled that law.
He terminated it and replaced it with something far better. Himself. Himself. Christ replaced the picture with
the person. Christ replaced the shadow with
the substance. And when Christ takes away the
first and establishes the second, I want you to understand this.
God's not executing plan B because plan A failed. That's not what
the first and second mean. The first and second are the
things that were revealed to men. What was revealed to men
first and what was revealed to men second? The thing that was
revealed to men second came first. What was revealed to men second
is God's eternal will and purpose. It was just revealed to men second.
The first thing that was revealed to men was the law. And God showed
us the first so that we'd appreciate the second when he comes. God
showed us the first So we'd say, oh, he came. And when God takes
away the first, he always replaces it with something better. I've
often thought, boy, I'd like to see the Garden of Eden and
when you just I mean, I wonder what that look like. God replaced
the Garden of Eden with paradise. Christ is far better. He replaced
the first creation, the second creation, wherein dwelt righteousness. Thankfully, he replaced that
first Adam with the second Adam. He replaced that first righteousness
with a second righteousness. What was the first righteousness?
Adam's fig leaves. Did it work? No. So God replaced
those fig leaves with a spotless robe of his, of his righteousness. He replaces the animal sacrifices
with the sacrifice of Christ with the body the Spirit prepared
for Him. He replaced that first priesthood with Christ, our great
High Priest. He replaced the law with the
gospel. I was going over my notes yesterday
morning. I looked at that statement. He
replaces the law with the gospel. And I thought, I sure am glad.
I sure am glad that I don't have to get up in front of men and
women and boys and girls and pound them over the head with
the law, which Peter said didn't do us or our fathers any good.
He replaced the law with the gospel. Oh, there's good news
in Christ. Go to him. Aren't you glad Christ
came? He took away that ineffective
first that he might establish the eternal soul-saving Right, fourthly, when Christ
came, he sanctified his people, verse 10, by the which will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Now, God is holy. God's chief
attribute is his holiness, and the word attribute is a great
big word that means characteristic. It's his personality, what God's
like, his attributes, it's what God's like. Well, God's chief
attribute, his most important personality trait is holiness. So every other attribute of God's
got to be holy first. You know, people talk about God
is love, and I understand why the flesh wants to think God
is love, because if God loves everybody, if God is love, then
he can never be just. He can never damn me for my sin,
and that's not so. God is love. but his love must
be shown in a holy way. Got to be. So God's holy. You know what he did? He made
his people what he loves. He made his people holy. God sent his son for that purpose,
to make his people holy. That's what sanctified means.
He sent his son to sanctify his people, make them holy. Now God
can love them because Christ made them holy. Now, How are
God's people made holy? Well, they're made holy by the
whole Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. First, God's elect
are made holy by the Father, by his will. That's what the
writer says, by the which will? By God's will, we're sanctified. It's God's will that his people
be made holy. And God's will is always done,
isn't it? So his people are made holy because
God willed it. God chose a people that they
should be holy. He didn't choose them because
they were holy. No, they're unholy. And His will was that they be
holy. And that's why they're holy.
Because God's will is always done. And second, you can't separate
these three. All three have to go together.
God's elect are made holy by Christ the Son. They're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. See, it's God's
will that His people be made holy. And Christ came to fulfill
His will, didn't He? And the Lord Jesus Christ made
His people holy. He took their sin away from them. And He blotted it out with His
blood. There's no sin left. That means
they're holy, doesn't it? Now that is something shockingly
glorious. that somebody like us could be
holy. The blood of Christ is so powerful
that it made his sinful people holy. Now, I know we don't see
ourselves as holy. I hope nobody here sees themselves
as holy, because we're not. We've not done one holy thing
ever. We don't see ourselves as holy, but God does. Because
God sees us how? How does God see his people?
In Christ. He sees us in one of two representatives,
either the first Adam or the second Adam. If he sees us in
the first Adam, he sees us in our sin. But if he sees us in
Christ, the second Adam, we're holy. And how God sees us is
all that counts. It's all that counts. I say that
for this reason. You know I'm not excusing sin.
But the comfort for our souls is this, is in the sin we're
committing in this very second. What Christ is being preached
is already paid for by the blood of Christ. That's our hope, made
holy by His sacrifice. And third, God's elect are made
holy by the Holy Spirit. Now look in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. We're made holy by the Holy Spirit. in the new birth. When there's
a new man who is born, who's holy. We saw that in the class.
He's made in holiness and true righteousness. He's holy, so
he cannot sin. His nature is holy. Second Thessalonians
2 verse 13. But we're bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to sanctification or chose
you to salvation. There's God the Father. He's
chosen you to salvation through sanctification. There's the spirit
and belief of the truth weren't to be called you by our gospel
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God
the Father chose a people unto salvation. That's election. But
election is not salvation now. Election is unto salvation. Salvation
has got to start there. It's got to start with election.
Has to. It's got to start with God's
choice. Because we'll never choose God. Left to our own devices,
we'll never choose God. So it's got to start there. But
in order for that salvation to be accomplished, Christ must
come and die. He's got to shed His blood to
put that sin away. But then, there's got to be the
work of the Spirit. The blood must be sprinkled.
And when the Holy Spirit sprinkles the blood in our hearts, the
new birth, where we're given a new nature in the new birth
caused by God, the Holy Spirit. Well, that's wonderful. I believe even our children can
understand that concept, if that's the right word, understand what
that means. But this is the thing I really want to know. I bet
you want to know. How can I know I've been born
again. Is there a way I can know that
I've got that holy nature in me? I mean, when I look at me,
I don't see it. So is there a way I can know
that I've got that new holy nature? Well, there is. But let me tell
you, you're not going to have some supernatural experience
where suddenly you see a big light or you have this revelation
or something. That's not how you know. You're
not going to know you've been born again by looking at yourself
and saying, yeah, I've seen less than I used to. Matter of fact,
if you've been born again, you know what you're going to say
about yourself and look at yourself? I'm worse than ever. The only evidence
that you have that you've been born again, that you've got this
new holy nature, there's just one evidence. It's faith. Do you believe God? Do you? Do you believe Christ? then you've
been born again. Because the only people who believe
God are those He's caused to be born again. If you believe
the gospel that declares who Christ is and why Christ did
it and where He is now, do you believe that gospel? I mean,
you come here every week. I want you to answer that question
to yourself. Do you believe that gospel? If you do, you've been
born again. You're holy. You are eternally
saved and you will never be more holy than you are right now sitting
in that seat. That is something that is shockingly
glorious. Because what does our text say?
Once. It says once for all. The words
for all were added by the translators. Once. We're sanctified by the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. See, holiness is
not a grace that we grow in. There's no such thing as progressive
sanctification, where you get better and better and better
and better along your way, you know, to glory. You're finally,
I guess, good enough you can walk right in. Brethren, there's no
such thing. Holiness is cut and dry. It's
either black or it's white. You're either holy or not holy.
There are no degrees of it. Now, we grow in grace. We grow
in all these graces of love. of faith, of meekness, of gentleness,
but we don't grow in holiness. If Christ has made us holy, we
are holy. And we'll be that way forever
because that's the nature that's in us. And when this body finally
gives it up and dies, that holy nature is finally going to be
separated from this prison of sin and set free to go be with
God. Y'all that are left are going
to look at a dead body laying in a casket, just an empty shell
that was nothing ever useful but sin. That man, born of God, by the
time you look at that body in the casket, will already be in
the presence of the Father, worshiping Christ forever. God can only
accept what's holy. Perfect holiness is all He can
accept. Aren't you glad Christ came to make His people holy,
to satisfy His Father so that the Father would be satisfied
with His people? All right, let's bow together
in prayer. Our God, how can we begin to
thank You as You ought to be thanked? How can we begin to
express the praise that's due your matchless name for sending
your son in the flesh to accomplish for your people what we could
never accomplish for ourselves, that he'd satisfy you, that he'd
do all of your will, that he'd take away the first, that he
may establish eternally the second, that he might sanctify a sinful
people and make us accepted in Him, Father, how we thank You.
And I beg of Thee that You would take this message and use it
for Your glory, cause it to reach the hearts of Your people, that
take root in our hearts, that You'd give us faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ to look to Him, to know that there's nothing
left for us to do but to believe Him. Father, give us the faith
to believe Him and rest It's in Christ's precious name that
we pray and give thanks.