If you will, for our scripture
reading, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. I want to read the last two verses
of chapter 8 and then the entire chapter in chapter 9. For I will be merciful, verse
12, Hebrews chapter 8, to their unrighteousness, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith a new
covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth
and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Then verily the first covenant,
It had also ordinances of divine service in a worldly sanctuary. Now he's talking about that first
covenant that's growing old. It's waxing old and it's going
to pass. It had ordinances of divine service
in a worldly sanctuary where there was a tabernacle made.
The first we're in was the candlestick and the table and the showbread
which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the
golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about
with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's
rod that budded in the tables of the covenant, that is, the
Ten Commandments. and over at the cherubims of
glory, shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak
particularly. Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. They'd put the showbread out
on the table. They'd put the oil in the candlestick. They had services that they did
in there and the general priesthood would accomplish that. But into
the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, wherein he offered for himself and for the heirs of
the people. 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, which was a
figure for the time then present, were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. It was all symbolized. which stood only in meats and
drinks and divers washings and cardinal ordinances imposed on
them until the time of reformation. But Christ, being come and high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not earth, Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. And for this cause, he is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. Well,
the testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is
of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither
the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses
had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law,
he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet
wool and hissed and sprinkled both the book and all the people.
saying, this is the blood of the testament which God hath
enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, and
almost all things by the law are by the law purged with blood,
and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with
better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as a high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now, once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, and after this the judgment, 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. May the Lord add his blessing
to the reading of his word. If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 is an amazing
chapter of an awe-inspiring letter. And the reason the letter was
written was to enlighten a people whose eyes had been blinded by
traditional understanding concerning the promised redeemer. I like to study and preach from
this epistle because I live in a generation under a very similar
curse. They talk about Jesus. They use
his name all the time. They talk about salvation, redemption,
righteousness, justification, all these things. But they're
ignorant of the person. They're ignorant of who he is,
why he came, what he did, and where he's at. Antichrist religion
has so flooded the world with their lies that the gospel seems
like the doctrine of a cult. When they hear it, it's so unlike
anything they've ever heard that they just know it can't be so.
Millions this morning will dress up in their Easter clothes and
congregate in their assemblies for a twice-a-year acknowledgement of the birth and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. And I'm asked every year, I'm
asked, does your church celebrate Easter? Does your church celebrate the
resurrection of Christ? Yes and no. I celebrate the resurrection
when? Ever die? His death would be of little
value, his promises of little value, apart from the resurrection. Resurrection's a big part of
my hope. It's not my whole hope, but it's a big part of it. If
Christ be not risen, then all our preaching is vain, Paul said. It's all vain. Everything we
see is just vanity. It's just nothing. And not only that, if Christ
be not risen, then we're proven to be false witnesses of God. And your faith's in vain if He
be not risen. If He be not risen, you say,
well, I believe. So what? The one you believe
in, He didn't rise from the dead. Christ be not risen, from the
dead our faith is vain, and those who listen to me, their faith's
in vain, and those that we put under the ground, talking about
their hope and having given them a hope, they've all perished.
Yes, I celebrate the resurrection every day. And I'll tell you
something even greater than those things. If Christ be not risen,
the Word of God is in error, And all the hope based within
is a lie. Is that right? Because it's all
based on the resurrection. Do I celebrate his resurrection?
You bet I do. Every day when I wake, when I
wake, I'm still alive. Why? Because
he is alive. ever thought I have concern in
my hope in Christ, every message I prepare to preach. But his
resurrection and the way it's celebrated in the world is an
abomination to God. So if you're asking me, do I
celebrate the resurrection? Yes and no. No, I don't celebrate
the resurrection the same way they do. Not at all. The whole
world celebrates a resurrection that's meaningless. Huh? It's meaningless. His life had
no purpose, His death had no value, and His resurrection no
end. Jesus Christ came into this world,
the Bible said, to save sinners. And the Apostle said, of whom
I am chief. This is why He came. He came
to save sinners. Vowel sinners. Fallen sinners. Depraved sinners. Ignorant sinners. Sinners, God-hating sinners. And Paul said, this is a faithful
saying. It's worthy of all acceptation.
It's worthy for you to believe. Christ came into this world to
save sinners. Fact is, the angel told Mary,
he said, now when He's born, you're going to call His name
Jesus. Did he just pick that out of
nowhere? Why is he going to call his name
Jesus? That's the New Testament name for the Old Testament Joshua. You're going to call him Joshua.
Why? For he shall save, now listen,
his people from their sins. Not going to try to do it, he's
going to do it. He's not going to make a good attempt and leave
the rest up to you. He's going to save his people
from their sins. All of them. Do I celebrate Easter? Not really. I celebrate the person. Not so
much the resurrection as the person who was raised. Lazarus
was raised from the dead, wasn't he? Several people were raised
from the dead. But boy, when he was raised from
the dead, oh, think about that, he was delivered for our offenses.
Now listen, raised again for our justification. I was judged
in his death and proclaimed just by his resurrection. Do I celebrate it? You bet I
do. I celebrate the person of Christ. I celebrate his coming
into the world, his sinless representative life, his death on the cross,
his resurrection. And then he hung out here for
a month to validate his resurrection.
He stayed here for a month after he walked out of the tomb. He
didn't immediately walk out of the tomb and ascend into glory.
He showed himself to 500 people at one time. He validated his
resurrection. Read about 1 Corinthians 15. He validated his resurrection.
He validated, therefore, my justification. And then, after being here for
a month, he stepped onto a cloud and ascended up into glory and
took his seat at the right hand of God. Do I celebrate that person? You bet I do. You bet I do. I celebrate a living, reigning,
victorious king. That's what that thief saw. He
didn't see a poor, defeated reformer and felt sorry for him. He saw
a king entering into his kingdom. And I'm going to tell you something
else. We don't stumble into the church one time a year and call
it worship. No, we don't. No, we don't. We
worship him every day, every thought. God inspired his apostle
to write this letter to the Hebrews because faith as it is in truth,
the gospel and salvation by grace were established with them. If
you're going to learn something about true faith and true salvation,
you're going to have to see it in the Jew first. Can you make good on that, Preacher?
Yeah. Our Lord told the woman at the
well, she said, you all worship in Jerusalem, we worship out
here in the mountains. We're out here with a view, and
the trees, and the mountains, and the waterfalls, and we worship,
y'all worship down there in the city. Christ said, you don't
know what you worship. Huh? You worship you know not
what. Now listen, that ain't all of
it. He said, we know what we worship. You ever read the rest
of that? Now watch this. For salvation
is of the Jews. It's of the Jews. Everything
I know about salvation, I've learned from them. There's the
foundation back here. The foundation is not just the
apostles. When I was a kid, they'd pass
out New Testaments to everybody. That's half a Bible. That's right. That's what you got, half a Bible. You're going to have to go back.
You're not even going to understand who Christ is if you don't go
back here and read the prophets. You're not going to understand
the significance of His coming or the significance of His rejection
or any of those things until you go back here and find out
what this salvation is all about. He said, we know what we worship.
The salvations of the Jews. He saved a man called Abraham,
and of his natural seed raised up a people called Jews. The
high council told our Lord, we have Abraham to our father. And to the Jews, God gave a law,
and a big part of that law was a ceremonial law. And in these
ceremonial days and years and sacrifices, God set forth and
established the way of salvation. And he did it in type and picture.
And Hebrews 9 gives us a brief account of this priesthood and
sacrifices. He said they were figures, Hebrews
9.9. I read it to you a few minutes ago. These were figures for the
time then present. They couldn't preach Jesus Christ
because He hadn't come yet. But they foretold His person
and worked through the ceremonial law. God set it forth. Hebrews 9.23, He calls them patterns
of things in the heavens. Verse 24, figures of the truth. And then in Hebrews 10, 1, a
shadow of good things to come. That's what he's talking about
when he opens this chapter. The law having a shadow of good
things to come, but not that very thing. These things were given to show
how God saves sinners and lay the foundation for the first
and work of Christ. He says, the Holy Ghost, by these
things and their continuance, signified that the way into the
holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle
was still standing. They were still offering sheep.
Christ died. He was raised and ascended into
glory. The Jews were still offering
sheep and doves and goats. They still had a priesthood until
70 AD. And God took it away once for
all. In Hebrews 9, verse 10, it says, These meats, and drinks,
and divers' washings, and carnal ordinances were imposed on them
until the time of reformation. He's not talking about a religious
reformation. He's talking about the coming,
the fulfilling of these things in the person of Christ. What need have I of a lamb and
the lamb has come. Huh? I don't need to go out here
with a flock of sheep and pick out a lamb and then watch it,
make sure it don't have any blemishes, make sure it's not sick and then
take it down to a high priest and he'll slit its throat and
put it on an altar and burn it and then he'll take its blood
and go in and go under a veil in a tabernacle. I don't need
all that. John the Baptist saw Christ coming down the path and
he said, Behold the Lamb! The Lamb! Here's the Lamb! He's talking about until the
appearing, the fulfilling of these things come in the person
of God's dear Son. And when Christ appeared, He
appeared as a high priest of good things to come, Hebrews
9-11. He come in the capacity of a
priest. He's the high priest. What's
he doing out here? What's going on? He's the priest. His ministry, it said, is performed
in a greater and more perfect tabernacle. What's he talking
about? Well, he don't go in that old
tent. He didn't go under that veil.
He didn't do any of those things. He did these things in a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, His body, His flesh, His person. That's where He accomplished
these things. Not in a tent or a temple. In His body. He offered no goats or calves,
but by His own blood, it said, He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And then in
Hebrews 10 verse 8, we're told that in all the slain beasts,
God had no pleasure. That is, he had no satisfaction
and was not appeased for our sins. When he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body
hast thou prepared me. A sacrificial body, a substitutionary
body. Verse 6, and burn offerings and
sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I,
Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me to do thy will, O God. In Christ, Paul wrote in Ephesians
1.11, we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. And this is the Father's will,
He said, which is sent to me, that of all which He hath given
me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. Christ came into this world to
save sinners. His name says it, His person
says it, His work says it, His incarnation says it, His resurrection
says it, everything about Him says it. He's the Savior. And the fact of His coming to
do God's will, that is to accomplish our redemption, to reconcile
us to God, Hebrews 10, 9, takes away the first, takes away typical
religion, takes away the priesthood. Any religion that still operates
under a priesthood is a false religion. It's Antichrist religion. The priesthood's done away. The
priest has come. The sacrifice has been offered. How does it take away? By fulfilling
it. What are you going to offer?
The sacrifice is already offered. God's already accepted it. What
am I going to do? God told you this. I went to
Washington D.C. to visit my son. Past the time,
we went down and was going into all these different things that's
there down in what they call the park. And we went into this
art gallery. I'm not somebody who studies
art, but it was interesting. And we went in there, and we
went in this one room. And I'm telling you some of the
most gorgeous paintings I've ever seen. These men were of
Dutch descent. and they called them masters,
and they painted these big old paintings, some of them maybe
three feet high and six feet wide. I mean, they're huge. And
there was a bench out in front of each one you could sit and
look at. And we went in there and sat down and looked. I'm
telling you, those things were so real. There was nothing out
of proportion in that painting. Everything was just perfect.
Every brush stroke. No wonder they called them masters.
And then over by the door, this big old guy, I mean, he was big.
Reminds me of that picture of Mr. Clean you see years ago,
standing over there. My wife said, what's he over
there for? I said, he's over there so when
you pull out your watercolors out of your purse and go up there
to touch up one of them, he's gonna take you down. You see, that's what we do with
the priesthood. We're touching up the work that's already accomplished,
already accepted, already set on display. But we're not satisfied,
so we're going to take our little brush and go up there and touch
it up. No, you ain't. No, you ain't. What an abomination
to God it must be when he looks down and sees folks trying to
touch up the finished work of Christ. Huh? Oh, every priest, all priests, he
said, stand daily ministering and offering all times the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But this man, after
he'd offered one sacrifice for sins, Hebrews 10 verse 12, forever,
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. A man told me one time, he said,
that's not how that reads. He said, it reads this way, but
this man actually offered one sacrifice for sin forever shut
down. No, he ain't talking about his
forever sitting down, he's talking about his forever sacrifice.
Look where the comma is. You pause at the comma, right?
After he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever, comma, sat
down at the right hand of God. From henceforth expect him till
his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering, verse 14,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And not
only did Christ accomplish our redemption, but he sent to us
the Holy Ghost who is a witness to us to establish with us His
new covenant, His covenant of grace, writing His laws in our
hearts and on our minds. What's he talking about there?
We walk around and we read on our brains every minute the Ten
Commandments. What's he talking about writing
these laws? Writing these laws fulfilled. Writing these laws accomplished. writing the end of what they
demanded accomplished. That's what he's talking about.
Satisfied judgment. A righteousness already accepted. Therefore, Hebrews 10 verse 17,
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Oh, I tell you, you're going
to remember them. They'll ever be before me, but
they're not before Him. Now, he said, where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Where is that? What's he talking
about? Where remission of these is?
Where is this remission? Huh? It's in believers. In believers, the Holy Ghost
has revealed these things to us. Remission of these things
is in Christ, and Christ is in the believer. And where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. If we see salvation
accomplished in Christ, we're not looking for another way to
satisfy God. God satisfies. In Christ, Verse
6, to the praise of his glory, the glory of his grace, wherein
he hath made us accepted into blood, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence. That's over in the book of Ephesians.
I'm trying to establish where remission of these is. It's in
Christ and those who believe on Christ. In this man or woman that God
gives faith, makes wise and prudent. Our gospel, Paul said, come not
unto you in word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and
listen with much assurance. Nobody but a believer gets any
assurance out of the person and work of Christ. You think about what I say, I'm
going to repeat it. I want you to understand what I'm saying.
Nobody but a believer gets any assurance out of Christ. His death, His life, His representative
work, His righteousness, His ascension, His intercession and
glory all give the believer assurance because that's what he trusts
in. He's committed his soul to a person and that person is seated
at the right hand of God victorious. He has assurance of that, and
he rests in it, he rejoices in it, he leans on it, he hopes
in it, and he points others to it. Brother Mahan used to say, a
preacher is just one beggar telling another beggar where he got his
bread. That's what he is. Believers look to Christ, and
they find in Him an all-sufficient Savior, perfect righteousness,
eternal redemption, full pardon, free justification. Now watch
this, Hebrews 10, 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now if you've
got a strong concordance, I want you to look that up, because
when I get to my text at the end of the message, And he's
talking about confidence. It's the exact same word as boldness. Look it up. It's the exact same
word. We have boldness. We have confidence
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 and full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Now I've told
y'all the story about this friend of mine when we were just little
kids on the school bus and he found this money and we went
out and just blew it on everything. We were finders keepers, you
know, we just, first, second grade, we didn't know any better.
And a cheerleader, one of the young girls in the school had
lost his sack that had the money Anyway, we found it, and we spent
it, and we got caught. And I had to go back to all the
places where I spent the money, and I had to go to the little
girl's house and all that thing. And when I walked away, I was
clear. I was clear. Everything was satisfied.
The guy there that, boy, I thought sure he was going to put me in
jail. My dad stepped in for me. That was the point of my story,
the reason I told you. But here's my point now. I was
clear when I walked away. I didn't have anything to fear
from anybody. Full restitution had been made.
But I never wanted to see that guy again. There was no love involved. No
love involved. Now I'm going to tell you something.
When he establishes this covenant with you, it's all about love. Huh? It's all about love. And you
know that. You know that. And I tell you,
that love that He establishes in your redemption with you,
personally, with you, all of a sudden you love everybody
else that He redeems. Huh? I used to go to church with
people all the time. I love them. Boy, I did after
that. And even ones that are hard to
love, I wanted to love. Oh, my soul. It's not so with God. Believers
understand and see the love of God in Christ. They see His priesthood
a provision for them and an act of kindness. And it's a joy and
a great privilege to not only realize your reconciliation,
but partake of its privileges. No matter what you did as far
as transgressing the law, the priest was there to intercede
for you. And God gave us a priest because we're sinners. Why do
you even need a priest? Because you're a sinner. God demands the priest to make
Atonement. He didn't do it because he'd
come up with the idea. They didn't have a council and
they'd say, well, how are we going to please God? Oh, I think we'll
offer a lamb or a goat or something. No. God demanded this. He set the standard. He told
them how to do it. God made his son a priest forever,
he said, after the order of Melchizedek. He wasn't like Aaron and those
priests. He wasn't like the Levitical
priesthood. He was like Melchizedek. He didn't have a beginning or
an end. He didn't have a mother or a father. He was forever a
high priest. And he ever liveth to make intercession
for us. He's able to save to the uttermost
those who come unto God by him. They're just one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. All right, so what else does
he tell us? Verse 24. Hebrews chapter 10. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works. How are we to consider
one another? As sinners. Do I have unreal
expectations from you? I shouldn't. I'm a sinner. And
you're just like me. Full of thoughts and frailties
and shortcomings. Consider one another. Boy, you
know what he did? No, and I don't want to. Consider
one another. Consider men and their outward
condition. Consider men and their situations.
Well, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't go that far if I were
you. You're not in that situation. But more than anything else,
let me consider you as a saint and as a dear brother and a dear
sister. And let me consider you as having
the same Father as I do and partaker of the same grace and mercy that
I am. Now consider me that way. An object of God's particular
love and a fellow heir. Be careful, he said. You be careful. Don't you offend one of these
little ones. It'd be better for you than a millstone tied about
your neck and cast into the sea. An object of God's particular
love, a fellow heir redeemed by the same blood. We share in God's graces, don't
we, and privileges. What's behind this consideration?
We're to provoke unto love and good works. And he's talking
about brotherly love, a love that can grow cold and indifferent
if it ain't stirred up. That's what that word provoke
means, stirred up. Love is the commandment of Christ,
it's the evidence of regeneration, and it's what makes the saints'
communion so delightful when they love one another. You look forward to seeing one
another? I do. I love seeing your face when
you get out of the car. It just drills my heart. I see
you in my study. I see you in my prayers. And
I see you now when I'm preaching to you. It's a joy to me. It's not a burden. It's a joy. It's a joy. It's what makes communion
delightful. And it's a love without which
our faith is nothing but a vain profession. And provoke unto good works.
Good works that glorify God, ordain the gospel, put to silence
the gainsayers, and show gratitude to God. Good works to the profit
and advantage of fellow creatures as well as Christians. Now listen. Verse 25, not forsaking the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is, and so much
the more as you see the day approaching. The assembling of the saints
is not altogether about being taught of God, though that is
a big part of it, but for the saints to see one another, comfort
one another, and provoke brotherly love. and to encourage good works. I'm glad to see you here today.
Hope I see you here next week. That'd be a good work. It's not only the duty of saints
to assemble together, but their delight to do it. And their assembling
is an appointment of God whose glory is concerned in it. This
gathering together is not only for your benefit, but for God.
He's the one who who told us to do it and not to forsake it. It's His glory that's concerned
in it, and He's the one who approves of it. And the assembling together
for worship is for the saints, that they might be refreshed.
That's the word the Scripture uses, refreshed. Do you go home
refreshed? Oh, I do. delighted, encouraged,
edified, and for others that they might receive the seed of
regeneration, hear with hearing ears, and be converted. And this
assembly, God says, is not to be forsaken. What's lost when it is forsaken
cannot be calculated. It can't be calculated. We set a little standard in our
mind, well, it's okay, you know, this and that. The loss when
you don't assemble is uncalculable. It's the first step, the scripture
says, to apostasy and reprobation. And then listen to this, it was
practiced so much, he said, as the manner of some is. In Paul's
day, it may have arisen from a contempt of the Gentiles. The Jews didn't like the Gentiles.
But in our day, it arises from a vain conceit of having no need
of it. Now, you let that go home. You
let that go down inside. You mull it over. When I don't come, is it for
that reason? I don't really have need of it. I can do this, I can do that,
I can do all this at home. I don't need to go over there.
Really, you got no need of it. No need of edification, no need
of the watch care of a pastor, no need of encouragement or communion. In our day it arises from an
over love of the world and all its charming pleasures. And oh,
how this world calls when Sunday comes around. Oh, it'll be the
best day to get on the river. Perfect day. River's up, catfish
are biting. You cross that bridge and they
start calling, tell you, I need to get my boat out. How this
world calls with all of its charm and pleasures when Sunday rolls
around. Lakes and rivers and mountains
and a thousand other things lure folks away from worship. But
he said, you're not just going to come and assemble, but he
said, we're going to exhort one another. And so much the more,
as you see the day approaching. What day? You don't know about the Day
of Judgment? Well, it's approaching. It's coming. It's coming faster
than you think. But I believe also here and mainly
he's talking about the day of indifference. It's coming. Can you not see it coming? First
you miss a day every now and then. Pretty soon it becomes
a little more consistent. Finally, you say with Paul, Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Now you do what you want to with
this next verse, I've heard it explained away by a hundred writers,
ministers. But I find it striking that the
Holy Ghost inserted it where he did. Immediately after saying,
for Satan not to assimilate themselves together as the manner of some
is. Here's what he said, for, what's
that word mean? That means he's about to explain
what he's talking about. It's an explanation. Or, if we
sin willfully after that we receive the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Salvation in Christ is not just
His death on the cross and His loving obedience to God on our
behalf, but it's inclusive of all the means of salvation. repentance
and faith and regeneration, the work of the Spirit through the
ministers of Christ and the assembling of the saints. To truly have the Spirit of God
witnessing His covenant promises to us in Christ is a whole work. It's not a part of a work, it's
the whole of the work. You cannot have it in part. If
you had it in part only, if you had substitution and imputed
righteousness only, and there was nothing else involved in
it, then his death would be of no value at all. Because it didn't have any effect
on you. You see what I'm saying? You
can't have this thing in part. It's a whole work. To be enlightened by the Spirit
is to be enlightened within and to know and understand the will
of God. To forsake the assembling of
the saints is to forsake Christ because He is in their midst. And He's the reason for their
assembly and the knowledge of whom they hope to gain by assembly.
And when he says there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, he's
going all the way back to verse 18 where he talks about where
remission of sin is. It's in those that the Holy Ghost
has established his covenant. And it's in Christ. And we're
not to forsake those things. Not the people he bought, not
the Christ who bought them. and those enlightened by the
Spirit, taught of God, born of God. They went out from us, that's
what John said. But they were not of us. Had
they been of us, they no doubt would have continued with us. And to leave and forsake these
things give great evidence that his sacrifice was not for us. That's what he's talking about
here. Christ is a son over his own house, whose house are we
if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing firm unto the
end. Now, here's my text. Here's my
text. Cash not away, therefore, your
confidence. That boldness, that bold confidence
whereby You went into the very holiest of all. Our brother bowed
his head and led us in prayer a while ago. You're in the holiest
of all when you do that. And you bowed your head with
expectation, calling on the Father. That's boldness. And it's confidence. I'm confident in the victorious
Christ that he's bought us these rights and give us these privileges.
and all to forsaken. He goes on here in Hebrews 10,
you read the rest of the chapter and see if I'm not telling you
the truth. He said, those who disobeyed the law under Moses,
they were taken out and with two witnesses, and they were
convicted and put to death. Now he said, of how much sore
punishment suppose you, shall you be thought worthy who trodden
underfoot the Son of God? Counted the blood of the covenant
were with you a sanctified and unholy thing, and done to spite
under the Spirit of grace." Huh? Oh, don't tell me that ain't
what they're talking about. That's exactly what they're talking
about. Our confidence is not in our
competence. Our confidence is in God, in
Christ, and in such things that God has appointed for our salvation.
Believers believe. That's what I'm saying. Believers
obey. Believers follow. Believers grow
in grace and knowledge of Christ. And may the Lord. May the Lord
Himself. Here's our very company. Paul said, you work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling. I've told you the truth. I've
taught you the truth. I've showed you in the Scriptures
the truth. Now you work out your own salvation in fear and trembling.
Four. Here's another explanation. For
it's God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of his
good pleasure. And those in whom he works, in
whom he works, they don't forsake the assembling of themselves
together. They don't do it. They come. Why do they come? They want to. They want to. They want to be here. Every benefit
they've ever got, they've gotten from here. Where else you gonna
go? Lord said, you going to go too? Everybody else thinks I'm
teaching cannibalism. You going to go? They said, where
we going to go? Ain't nowhere else to go. Thou
hast the words of eternal life. Where we going to go? Oh, may the Lord work in us all. And I say myself in the first
person, may the Lord work in us all, both the will