Hebrews 10, verse 11. And every
priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Now, throughout the
time of the Old Testament priesthood, there were many common priests.
Not only was there the high priest, there were the common priests
who served in the tabernacle every day. And Paul said they
all standeth ministering. They're all the time standing.
because their work was never finished. They offered sacrifice
after sacrifice after sacrifice, morning, noon and night. They're
always offering sacrifices. They always had to offer another
one because those animal sacrifices, the animal blood that they shed
was never meant to take away sin. They could never take away
human sin or pay for human sin. But when they offered those sacrifices,
they were following God's commandment. God commanded that they offer
these sacrifices. But God gave that commandment.
Not to offer animal blood that would atone for sin, those were
God gave that commandment to offer those sacrifices so that
we would be pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ so that we'd be
pointed and shown clearly the need for a sacrifice that wouldn't
have to be repeated. So that's why they stood ministering. But look at verse 12. But this
man. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. But this
man, that's quite a contrast, isn't it? But this man, those
Old Testament priests were just mere men. But this man, the God
man, this man is God's sacrifice for sin. This is God's lamb who
will come to take away the sin of the world. But this man is
God's eternal high priest. Those other priests, they were
just mere men. And all men are capable of is
offering ineffectual sacrifices. Because everything we do, everything
we touch will be tainted with sin because we're sinners. But
this man, he had no sin of his own. He offered just one sacrifice
per scene. That's all it took. Just one.
Under the law, I thought about this this week. Under the law,
the Jews had a sacrifice For everything, everything you did,
there's sacrifice for it. There's burn offerings. There
was sin offerings. There was trespass offerings.
There was offerings for the first fruits. There were offerings
for a purification of a woman. When you had a baby, there's
an offering for that. They had an offering for purification
of a leper. They had wave offerings and log
offerings and Passover lamb offerings. Offering for every situation. There it was. They needed all
those different sacrifices. Christ just needed one. That
one sacrifice for the sin of His people satisfies our every
need. Think about God's elect from
the whole history of the world. A lot of different backgrounds. We live in different circumstances,
different eras of history. But Christ's one sacrifice meets
Adam's need as well as it does mine. His one sacrifice for sin
is all it took. And Christ's sacrifice was effectual. It got the job done. Those Old
Testament priests offered ineffectual sacrifices. So they had to offer
another one. Christ just needed one because
it's effectual. It got the job done. Christ offered
His sacrifice and He did something those Old Testament priests never
did. He sat down. He sat down on the right hand
of God because His work was complete. When He hung there on the cross,
before He gave up the ghost, what did He say? It is finished. And at that moment, all the work
of redemption was finished. Completed forever. You could
never add anything to it. And now our Redeemer sits. He
sits at ease. He doesn't sit like I do. You
know, I sit and watch a Kentucky basketball game. I don't sit
at ease. He sits at ease. Comfort. complete satisfaction because
the job is done. He sits in the place of honor
and glory and acceptance because of the great work that he accomplished.
It's finished. And verse 13, he sits from henceforth
expecting to his enemies be made his footstool. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the mighty victor and we don't yet see all things subdued
under his feet, but we will. One day we'll see all things
put under his feet. One day he will put his heel
in the throat of his enemies and everyone, everything will
be subdued under his feet. And you think that someone as
wonderful as the Lord Jesus Christ, someone whose very name is wonderful,
would have no enemies. How can anyone hate him? But
we do. That's the nature that we're
born with. We're born enemies of God. Born
hating Christ because we all have Adam's sinful, rebellious
nature. And one day, in judgment, all
those enemies of Christ will be put under His feet, cast into
the lake of fire, eternally separated from God. But some of those enemies
already have been, some yet will be, subdued by God's grace. Not in judgment, but by grace. Can't you remember a day you
were an enemy of God? But no more. Why? God's grace. He came and conquered us with
His grace. Gave us a new heart that no longer
is His enemy, but loves Him. And He made us His friend. Our
Lord told His disciples, I call you My friend. No longer enemies
by God's grace. But one way or another, He'll
conquer all His enemies And words can't express the thanksgiving
that He conquered us now. Oh, I'm so glad. I'm so glad
He caused us to bow to Him now and be conquered by His grace
now. Be His willing, loving bondservants. And here's the reason that we
are, verse 14. For by one offering, He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now the reason that
Christ sits in such ease and satisfaction at His Father's
right hand is He accomplished everything the Father sent Him
to do. Christ has saved all His people, all those that the Father
gave Him in the covenant of grace. He saved them from their sins.
Put their sin away. And by Christ's sacrifice, by
the sacrifice of Himself, all of God's elect are eternally
sanctified. Right now, sanctified. And that
word sanctified means set apart. Set apart for holy use. and to
be made holy. And we're made holy, sanctified
by the Godhead. We are sanctified when the elect
were set apart by the Father. When He elected us unto salvation,
we are set apart, sanctified unto salvation. We are made holy
in Christ, perfected in Him. In His blood, we are cleansed
from all of our sins. Clothed in His righteousness,
we are as righteous as Christ Himself. Holy. We're cleansed
from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin. We're washed from
the filth of sin. We're set free from the punishment
of sin. And one day, we will know, we'll
experience what it is to be free of sin, both body and soul. And it'll be because of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we're sanctified by
the Holy Spirit. He comes and applies the blood
of Christ to our hearts. Gives us a heart that loves Him.
Gives us faith to rest and trust in Christ. A number of years
ago, a man asked me, he was kind of testing me, you know, about
my knowledge of doctrine. And he said, when is it? When's
the moment that a person is justified, sanctified? And you know, that
just came out of left field. Where did that come from? And
I thought for a minute, and this is what I told him. I said, well,
there's a sense in which we're sanctified in eternity past. When the Father chose us, elected
us unto salvation, put us in Christ, in the mind and purpose
of God, we're justified. Sanctified at that very moment.
Then there's a sense in which we are justified. Sanctified
in Christ. When He suffered under God's
wrath for our sins, we are justified when He shed His blood to put
away our sins. And then third, there's a sense
in which we're sanctified. We're justified when the Spirit
comes and applies the blood. Gives us faith to Him. And He
said, but which one? Which one of those three? I said,
you can't have one without the other. If you take away one of
those three, the whole thing falls apart. It's got to be all
three. elected by the Father, redeemed
by the Son, regenerated by the Spirit. You've got to have all
three. You'll be washed in His blood. So, verse 15, 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. Now, the gospel
message of the new covenant of grace in Christ, salvation in
Christ, There's no new message. The Holy Ghost moved the writers
of the Old Testament. Those Old Testament prophets,
they wrote of this new covenant too. Now they wrote of it in
prophecy. They wrote of it as what is to come. But they wrote
of Christ. The Old Testament and the New
Testament is one book with one message. It's not two books with
two different messages. It's one book with one message. The Lord Jesus Christ. And those
Old Testament prophets, they wrote of a time, they prophesied
of a time when the ceremonies and the pictures and the types
would be finished. When they'd be needed no more.
Because the Messiah would come incarnate. And He'd fulfill all
the types. He'd keep all of the law. He'd
work out a perfect righteousness that He'd impute to His elect.
At that time, the Old Testament prophets wrote of this. The law
won't be written on tables of stone anymore. You won't need
it written in tables of stone. It'll be written in your heart.
God's going to write it in the hearts of His people. And those
people will love God's law. Now those Jews, they chafed under
the burden of the law. And the law is a burden to a
sinner. It's a burden they chafed under
the law. But you don't hate God's law.
You love God's law. Why? Because God put it in your
heart. He wrote it in your heart. He gave you a new heart so you'd
love it. The Lord writes His law in the minds of His people
so you remember it, so you think on it, so it's always with you.
And the Old Testament prophets, now they wrote of that. They
wrote of a time when there won't be a need for a priest on earth
anymore. Because every believer's going to be a priest. You all
are priests to offer sacrifices. Not animal sacrifices and blood
sacrifices. I won't have the slightest clue
how to sacrifice a lamb. That's not what we do. The believer
offers sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and faith and love.
That's our sacrifices. In verse 17, this has to be one
of the high points of all Scripture. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now, this is how effectual the
death of Christ was. He put away the sin of God's
left. Now, the Lord's not saying He's
going to overlook sin. He's going to pretend like it
never happened. He's just going to kind of gloss over it and
let it go unpunished. When Christ was made sin for
us, God didn't overlook sin, did He? He punished our sin by
killing our sin bearer. under the full force of God's
wrath and justice and hatred of my sin and your sin and all
of God's left. Christ became guilty. He assumed
the guilt of our sin and God killed Him for it. Doesn't sound
like to me God forgets sin, does He? No, He's holy. He must punish
sin. But now, those sins that were
charged through the Lord Jesus Christ are gone. It's not like
they're gone. They're gone. They are gone. They've been put away under the
blood of Christ. God says that sin debt is paid
in full. It's gone. We've been washed
from all the iniquity and filth and guilt of that sin. I said
this a few weeks ago. God does not remember our sin
because they do not exist. They're gone. Oh, that's good
news. Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more because Christ has put them away through the
sacrifice of Himself. When Christ put away our sin,
He didn't just act like He was putting away sin. He did put
away sin. God didn't just pretend like
He was punishing our sin and putting it away. He did punish
our sin. Christ didn't act like He was
paying for our sins. He actually did it in the presence
of the Father. And now, there's no remembrance
by God of our sins. Now, we remember them in shame. We remember our sins. Not as
well as we should, but we remember them, don't we? But God doesn't
remember them. And He'll never bring them up
again to shame us, will He? He'll never bring those sins
up again to condemn us either. No believer for whom Christ died
will ever stand ashamed. You'll never stand before the
Father ashamed because He's not going to bring those sins up
because they're gone. And you won't stand before Him condemned
either because Christ has already stood condemned for us. So for
the believer, there is no judgment. There's no being ashamed. There's
no being condemned because Christ bore that shame and that condemnation
for us. Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, verse 18, there is no more offering for sin. The sin of
God's elect has been paid for. There's no more offering. There's
no more need for an offering for sin because Christ's sacrifice
was enough. If we've been redeemed by Christ,
it's dishonoring. not to rest in His sacrifice. It's dishonoring to our Lord
to try to add something to that sacrifice. Last Sunday, we were
in Lexington. Todd Nivet made this statement.
He said, have you ever felt guilty about something that you've done?
You sinned and you feel guilty about it, but you don't go to
the Lord in prayer right off to ask for forgiveness. You wait
a little while. Maybe you wait until you feel
a little better, clean things up a little bit, then you'll
go to Him in prayer. That's trying to offer another
sacrifice. There's no need for another sacrifice. Yes, we shouldn't have done that,
but Christ's blood put that sin away too. So go to the Father
in prayer. We never offer sacrifices for
sin. Like I said a minute ago, we
offer sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, faith and love, but not for sin
because of what Christ has already done for us. So verse 19, 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.
Now because Christ died for his people, we can come to God with
boldness, with confidence. You can come with boldness Because
He's expecting us. He's expecting His people. He
said, come. So you can come with boldness
and confidence. Now that's a great miracle. When
Adam fell, access to the Father was shut off. Cut off. God cast Adam out of that garden
and He put an angel with a flaming sword that turned every way to
keep Adam out of the garden. To keep him away from the tree
of life. When Christ came, He came to that entrance and He
took that sword in Himself and shed His blood and died so we
can go in. We can have access to the Father
through Christ because He took our judgment for us. And we have
boldness. We have liberty, freedom to come
to God in Christ. So come. Come boldly. But come
with reverence. Come with submission. cavalier
attitude about God is disgusting what you see in people. But do
come with confidence. Not confidence because we're
coming in our merit. We don't come with confidence
because we think, well, we've got the truth and nobody else
does and we do things right and nobody else does. There's no
confidence in that. There is no confidence in anything
we've ever done. We come with confidence. because
we're coming in the blood and the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, if you can't have confidence
in Him, you can't have confidence in anything. But we can have
confidence because we're coming to the Father in the blood of
His Son. We're coming in His Son that
He loves. We're coming in confidence because
we know there's peace with God through the blood of the Lamb
of God that He sent to take away our sin. And when Christ died,
the Father showed us plainly the way to Him is open. That
veil that hung in the temple that separated the holy place
and the holy of holies, the holy of holies where God's presence
dwelt, that veil hung there for hundreds of years, blocking the
entrance to the presence of God. But the moment that Christ died,
God rent that veil in two from top to bottom and pulled it apart,
showing us The way to God in Christ is wide open. You can
come boldly and confidently in Him. And since God opened the
way to Him, we ought to come, shouldn't we, in the way that
He provided? Trying to come another way shows
contempt for Christ, for God's Son. And God forbid that we'd
ever do that. But in Christ, we can come boldly. We can come through what Paul
calls a new and living way. And that phrase, new and living
way, is a freshly slaughtered way. Even in glory, John, when
he saw Christ in glory, saw a lamb as it had been slain. A new,
a freshly slaughtered way. It's the new way because it's
newly revealed. But it's the eternal way. Now,
John saw Christ in a vision, in glory, as the Lamb that had
been slain. How is Christ described in Scripture?
The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This is the eternal
way. It might be new to us, but it's
not to God. It's the eternal way. Christ
is the living way. Not only does He give physical
life, He gives spiritual life. He's a living way, the opposite
of a dead letter of the law. All that law could do is kill.
Just kill us. Show us how sinful we are. Christ
is the living way. He gives life. He's the living
way that's the opposite of all those dead carcasses. All those
animals that they killed as a sacrifice. They hauled those dead carcasses
outside the city and burned them to dispose of them. Well, Christ
suffered. He died outside the city, didn't
He? But he's not like those dead carcasses. He arose. You can't keep life dead. He
is life. And he is our life. So verse
21, And having a high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. Christ is our eternal high priest. He's offered Only sacrifice that
God will ever accept. The only sacrifice that will
ever be needed. Those sins have been paid for. Now we got that,
right? Scripture's been playing on that
as we've been studying these last chapters. Well, then let
us draw near to God. He's opened the way. Let's draw
near. Can you imagine the blessing of being able, a sinner like
you and me, to draw near to God. That's astounding. To draw near
to God. To be able to come into the presence
of God and stay. I wish I could say something
that would get across the awesomeness of this. To draw near to God. And to draw near with a true
heart. With a heart without hypocrisy. With a heart that's been cleansed
with the blood of Christ. and draw near with full assurance
of faith. Now, we've got to come in faith.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God. But we can come
in full assurance of faith because we know we're accepted in the
Beloved. You just can't be more confident
of anything or anyone than the Lord Jesus Christ. And we come
with a clear conscience. Now, this is one of those opposites
that lives in a believer. Our conscience bothers us because
of sin, doesn't it? Mine does. I hate the things
that I think and do. But at the same time, our conscience
is clear. Why is your conscience clear?
Even though you're a sinner, how can your conscience be clear?
Your conscience is clear because you know there's no other payment
needed. Christ has put those sins away. I'm not looking for
another sacrifice. I'm not looking for the need
to put away sin. Christ has done that. You can
lay down at night with a clear conscience. You can come before
the Father with a clear conscience knowing you're accepted in the
Beloved, cleansed in His blood. And verse 23, let's hold fast
the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful
that promised. Now hold fast. Hold fast to your
hope. Hold fast to your faith in Christ. Hold fast to Christ Himself. That's the point. Hold fast to
Him. He'll meet your every need. Hold
fast to the Gospel truths that you've been taught. One of the
writers said, hold fast to Christ like He's your greatest treasure.
And I thought, yes. He is your greatest treasure,
so hold fast to Him. Don't let Him go. And I tell
you, hold fast. This life is a storm, isn't it? We have times of calm seas, but
often they're rough. They're choppy. Hold fast. Hold fast to Him without wavering. Now get this thing set in our
minds, in our hearts. The Lord Jesus Christ. And hold
fast to Him. Don't vacillate in the wind like
the grass or the wheat fields. Don't be blown all over the place.
Be planted firm on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're in Him,
you won't waver. Because He's the eternal Rock
of Ages. He never moved. And He never will. Now, how can
we be so confident? How can, despite everything,
that's going on despite the storm of life, how can you be so confident? Because He's faithful. That promise. Not because of our faithfulness.
Because of His faithfulness. Oh, I want to be a faithful servant,
don't you? We ought to be. But that's not
where our confidence is. It's that He is faithful. We have this confidence. A confidence
that won't waver. Because God who cannot lie has
promised salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm telling
you, whatever else is going on, I know how the story's going
to end. Because God who cannot lie promised it. We can go through
horrible difficulties and deep waters and trials with confidence
because God who's faithful promised He'll be with us. I'll never
leave you nor forsake you. That's confidence. He's promised
grace for every need. He'll provide it. He's faithful
if it's promised. Verse 24. And let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Consider one
another. We need to remember. Everyone
else is just as frail. This is weak. This is prone to
sin and temptation and stumbling as we are. Consider one another. Remember, we're all but dust. Everybody's made out of the same
dust. But we're still brethren. Consider one another. We're still
brethren. And Paul tells us to provoke
one another unto love and to good works. And that's not provoke
like we think of provoke. It means to stir up. Well, how
do we stir up love and good works in each other? Well, I know one
thing. It's by being lovable. Do the
best you can to be lovable. Don't be a grouchy old man. But
try to be lovable. My brother Jonathan and I say,
you know, we're going to get to be old men like those two
old fellows on the Muppets are always grouching around, you
know. We need to work on that. Don't be like, be lovable. That
will stir up love in other people. Stir that up by being an example
of kindness and love. Generosity. I'll tell you what
a coach wants. Regardless of what it is that
you're coaching. A coach wants senior leadership.
You know why they want senior leadership? So those younger
ones will see those seniors. Those older ones. The ones a
team can depend on. They see them working hard. They
see them showing up for practice every day. See them showing up
on time. Taking it seriously. Setting the example. Well, that's
what Paul tells us. Provoke one another into love
and good works by setting the example. Be a good reflection
on our Lord, and it'll help. We need each other. Now, we do.
No man is an island. We need each other. That to be
cemented together in that bond of love. We're a whole lot stronger
together than we are apart. We need each other. And verse
25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the
more, as you see the day approaching. Now it is a God-given blessing
to have a place that we can meet together to worship. Wayne started
his prayer out that way. Thanking the Lord. He's given
us a place we can worship. Hear the gospel preached. That's
a privilege. And in a sense, it's also our
duty. This is the means that God's
ordained to feed His sheep through public worship. The preaching
of the Word. In public worship, where two
or three are met together in my name, they are mine in the
midst of them. A man told me one time how much
he enjoyed his private study at home. And I do too. I enjoy
studying for these lessons and reading the Word. I do enjoy
that. And this man told me, he said,
if I had to choose between my private worship study and public
worship, I'd choose my private study. I wouldn't. Not one bit. We need each other in public
worship. This is the means. Now, I'm not
slighting private worship by any means. That's so important. But the means of grace is public
worship. This is how God feeds His sheep.
I hate to end on a down note, but there is coming a day when
people will give anything to hear another Gospel message.
They'd give anything for it. Because soon, this is all going
to be over. So don't forsake the means of
grace. Take advantage of the blessing God's given us. It could
easily be taken away, couldn't it? It could. I'm so thankful
God in His mercy and grace and providence has preserved us a
place that we can worship and assemble together So don't forsake
it. Don't forsake the means of grace.