Well, if God will enable me to
deliver it, I have a message for you this evening that I'm
certain will be profitable to your soul. Turn with me to two
texts, if you will. First, to Psalm 138. Psalm 138. We'll begin there, and then the
text for the message will be in Hebrews chapter 10. Someone
said the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and
the New Testament the Old Testament revealed. In the Old Testament,
believers anticipated that which God would do for them in Christ,
believing the word of his promise. In the New Testament age, you
and I rejoice in that which God has done for us in Christ, believing
his word of grace as it is revealed to us in the gospel. Let me show
you what I'm talking about. Here in Psalm 138 and verse 7. Psalm 138 verse 7. The psalmist
says, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive
me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. As you read through the Psalms
particularly, but as you read through the Scriptures about
the right hand of the Lord, it's talking about our Lord Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer. He who is the right hand of power,
who is the right hand of the majesty on high. The right hand
of God is that one that is honored by Him, to whom He's given everything.
Jesus Christ is that one then, of whom the psalmist speaks here.
Now look at verse 8. The Lord, that one who will save
me by His right hand. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine
own hands. Now turn to Hebrews 10 verse
14. This will be our text this evening.
Here we see a believer in this gospel age looking back to the
finished work of Christ and declaring with joy and confidence, with
the confidence of faith in Christ, what the Lord has done for him.
Look at this. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. In the Old Testament,
the believer's faith rested upon the promise of God and the work
of Christ as things yet unseen. His heart yearned for God's salvation. His heart yearned for the inheritance
that God had promised him in Christ. Today, we look upon the
very same thing. And we look upon the very same
God and Savior. But we look upon those things
and the salvation that's ours in Christ not as something to
be anticipated, but as something done and possessed. It is our
present inheritance. Now to be sure, there is a sense
in which our salvation is yet ahead of us. Now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. We have not yet entered into
the full joy of the experience of God's salvation, but the salvation
itself is done, and it is ours possessed in the hands of faith
by the experience of God's grace. Yet, as we possess it now, This
redemption that has been obtained by Christ brings for us that
righteousness which gives us perfect standing before God by
which now we are allowed and privileged to approach to God
with confidence of acceptance. Now I want us to look at this
14th verse here this evening and roll over the things here
declared. For by one offering the Lord
Jesus Christ hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's
one of those texts of scripture I've been rolling over in my
heart for years. It's one of those that just keeps
coming back to me and I keep going back to it almost every
day and some days countless times during the day. It's kind of
like one of those sweet, worthless, butterscotch candies, you know.
You just kind of roll it around and roll it around and roll it
around. It just gets better the longer it stays there. This is
exactly how this text is here. It's a sweet, sweet, blessed,
blessed passage. And yet it is profound and deep. Every time I open the door to
the text, I see another door. Every time I look at it, it gets
bigger and bigger. There's much more here than I
have seen thus far, and much more than I'm going to get declared
tonight. But in this passage, the Holy Spirit declares to us
that our Lord Jesus Christ has, by His one offering for sin,
perfected all God's elect, and that He has perfected them forever. Now, here are three things in
the text. a people sanctified, and a perfection accomplished.
First, here is an offering made. The book of Hebrews has constantly
shown us that the work of Christ as our sin offering is a work
he has done one time for his people. We've seen this throughout
the book of Hebrews. Here the Holy Spirit, by saying
this, is showing us plainly that our Lord's work of redemption
was a work that was fully effectual, accomplishing everything he intended,
everything he purposed, everything he desired, everything he designed. By his one offering, this is
what Christ has done. Come back to Hebrews 1. Let's
just look briefly back at what we've seen through these verses
so far, or through these chapters. By his one offering, our Lord
Jesus Christ has purged our sins. What a word. I love the way the
Holy Spirit uses adjectives and adverbs to describe for us in
nearly countless ways how God forgives sin. Lindsay stressed
Sunday morning how that he blotteth out our transgressions. He blots
them out. Sometimes he speaks of casting
them as far from us as the east is from the west. Removing them
from us and casting them behind his back. Casting them into the
depths of the sea. Because the Holy Spirit would
have us to understand that in God forgiving sin, he does it
so thoroughly, so completely, so absolutely, that there is
no possibility of sin being remembered against his people again, and
that he will in no way charge his people with sin. Our Lord
Jesus by his blood has purged our sins. He's gotten all the
stain out. He's gotten every vestige, every mark, every trace,
every speck of sin taken out of the book of God and it no
longer exists against us. Look at this, verse 1. God who
at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time passed
unto the fathers by the prophets. hath in these last days spoken
to us by his son, verse 3, who being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person, and upholding all things
with the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our
sins, he sat down. Look in chapter 7, Hebrews chapter
7, verse 26. Our Lord Jesus, having fully
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, sat down in the right
hand of the majesty on high. In verse 26, such an high priest
became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
made higher than the heavens, who needs not daily as those
priests to offer up sacrifice. They had to offer sacrifices
every day because the sacrifices were worthless. They had to offer
sacrifices every day because their sacrifices could not put
away sin. They had to offer sacrifices
every day because their sacrifices had no effectual merit or power. Our Lord Jesus is not such a
priest. They offered sacrifices first for their own sins and
then for the people's. But this he did once. One time. One was enough. One time was
enough. One payment was enough. Because
His sacrifice forever put away sin. By His one offering, the
Lord Jesus purged our sins. And by His one offering, He obtained
eternal redemption for us. Now I've quoted it for you so
many times, I hope you know it by heart. Not just by memory,
but by heart. But turn and look at Hebrews
9 verse 12 again. Hebrews 9 verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by or with his own blood, he entered in once
into the holy place. The word by might be translated
by or with, because the Lord Jesus entered into glory as our
mediator by the merits of his blood. He could not have entered
back into glory as our mediator when sin had been put upon him
and made to be his, if his blood had not thoroughly put away sin. And so by his own blood, by the
merit of his blood, he entered in. But that's not all, Bob.
He entered in with his blood. He entered in with the efficacy,
and with the result, and with the power, and with the merit
of his blood. And look at it. Having obtained
eternal redemption for us by his one offering, the Lord Jesus
Christ has put away sin. It's said again in another way
in Hebrews 9 verse 26. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once, one time, in the
end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And by his one offering, we're
told in this text in Hebrews 10, 14, our Lord Jesus has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. One offering. One offering. One
offering by which God Almighty has been satisfied fully. Our sins have been put away completely
and permanently because Christ is an effectual, sin-atoning
substitute. Alright, here's the second thing.
A people sanctified. Now this text is talking about
all of God's elect. All of them are described as
a sanctified people. What on earth does this mean?
What does this mean? Sanctified. Sanctified. Sandy
just looked up. There's Saint Sandy. No halo
around her head. No glow about her. Nobody has
canonized her as a saint, not yet anyway. How can you say she's
a saint? If she's in Christ, she's a saint. The New Testament addresses all
believers continually as saints. To the saints that are in Ephesus,
the saints at Colossae, the saints at Corinth, How is that? They're
sanctified. That's what it is to be one of
God's. And by his one offering the Lord Jesus has perfected
forever those who are sanctified. Now what does this mean? Obviously
it is not talking about something that we do. Obviously it's not
talking about something that we contribute something to. Obviously
it's not talking about what most people imagine when they talk
about sanctification. Most folks think that sanctification
is You know, the Lord, in justification, declares that we're righteous
and holy, and then the Holy Spirit comes, and the new birth, and
He kind of gives us a fresh start in life, and we start to grow,
and we grow, and He sets us in the right direction, and He helps
us along the way, but as we cooperate with Him, we get more and more
holy, and we get more and more righteous, and more and more
spiritually minded, until, at last, we're ripe for heaven,
and the Lord takes us home. That's nothing on this earth
that works. There's not any sound of grace in that. Well, what
does he mean when he tells us that we're sanctified? Now, I've
told you numerous times, believers are sanctified by the work of
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We're
not going to look at all the text again this evening, but
we were sanctified by God the Father in everlasting election,
set apart by him to be his own. Sanctified by God the Son in
regeneration, when he had by his blood purged our sins, so
that we were declared to be holy. In eternity set apart for holy
purposes. At Calvary declared to be holy. And then in the new birth, we're
sanctified by God the Holy Spirit, when he makes us holy, giving
us a holy nature. Now this was portrayed in the
Old Testament in many ways. An article in Tabernacle set
aside, and God said that's holy. What? That cup's holy? Ask Belshazzar whether or not
it is. But it's just a cup. But God
said it's holy. That means I've set it apart
for me. And that's what he did with Larry
Crisp before the world was born. He said, he's mine. And he defies
all hell to touch him. He's mine. He's mine. And then
that same cup would be washed, ceremonially cleansed, and even
sprinkled with blood. And thereby, ceremonially, it
was not only declared holy, but it was made holy, and it was
that which God had set apart for something holy, for holy
purposes. That's exactly what happens with
us in the work of God's grace. Set apart for him from eternity. And God says to all hell, don't
touch him. Touch not mine anointed. These
are mine. My anointed ones. by the blood
of Christ, declared holy. And then in time, by the work
of God's Spirit, made holy. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2, I'll
show you this. Now all believers are sanctified.
There's no such thing as an unsanctified believer. If we're saved, we're
saints. If we're not saints, we're not
saved. This is exactly what Paul told the Corinthians. He said,
you're washed, you're justified, you're sanctified. And it is
interesting that those words are used to speak of the most
unsavory of all New Testament churches. The church of Corinth. Man's strife and division and
lust and incest and adultery and asceticism. They had just about everything
going against them. But as Paul looked at those men
and women with all their faults and failures, he declared them
to be washed and justified and sanctified because they're in
Christ. They're in Christ. And if you're
in Him, the same is true of you. When he writes to the Galatians,
those people who presumed that they had begun in the Spirit
and now would make themselves perfect in the flesh, those people
who had been duped into engaging in the concept of legalistic
righteousness, Paul said, now I stand in doubt of you. I've
got some real questions about you. But he writes to the Corinthians,
and he says to sinners, trust in Christ alone, you are sanctified. Of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Now here in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, The Apostle writes to us about God's election and our salvation,
and he tells us exactly how it takes place. He says in verse
13, we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. Now there is a sense in which
salvation is eternal, but election itself is not salvation. We were
chosen to be saved. God has chosen you unto salvation. He didn't choose you unto service,
though certainly he has chosen those who serve him. But election
is not election to Christian service. Election is unto salvation. Look at it now. Chosen you to salvation through. How does God save sinners? Through
sanctification of the Spirit. That's talking about the new
birth. How does God save sinners? He sends His Spirit and calls
them out and puts in them a holy nature so that they are made
partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruptions
that are in the world. Causes us to live who were dead. That's what the sanctification
spirit is. He's talking here about the new birth Through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth We who are born of God
believe the truth of God where into he called you by our gospel
Now look at first John chapter 3 first John chapter 3 You see
when God saves the sinner He puts in him what was not there
before He gives us what we did not possess before. He doesn't
just take the old man, clean him up, and give him a fresh
start in life. He doesn't just take a building
that's fallen into disrepair and fix it up. That's not what
He does. When God Almighty saves a sinner, buddy, He gives him
a new nature, a new heart, a new will, a new life. Look at it
now. 1 John 3, verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Now that can't be so. It is so.
It is so. Somebody looks at that and says,
well then, see, we believe in sinless perfection. We can't
sin because we've been born of God. That's not what it's saying,
and you're a liar if you think it. You know that's not so. Well, what on earth is he talking
about? He's talking about that which is born of God. That which
is flesh is flesh, that which is spirit is spirit. The flesh,
lust of the flesh never change. But when God saves a sinner,
he gives him a new heart, a new nature, that which is born of
God. So the flesh lusts against the
spirit, the spirit against the flesh. Paul said that. I have
a warfare in me. The believer is a man or a woman,
not with just two different feelings, or two different emotions,
or two different psyches. The believer is a person with
two different natures, both of them mutually antagonistic. both of them at war with one
another. The flesh lusting constantly
against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, so that you
cannot do the things you want. That's the reason Paul said,
when I sin, there's no way I could do it, but sin that dwells in
me. It's not the real me. No, no, no. That which is born
of God does not sin. Look in chapter 5 of John, 1
John chapter 5 verse 18. We know that whatsoever is born
of God sinneth not. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and the wicked one touches him not. Those who
are born of God have been given a new nature. A new nature. So that they love what once they
hated, and hate what once they loved. So that they seek what
once they most despised, and despise what once they most sought.
They're at war with one another. Now while we live in this body
of flesh, the warfare goes on and it will never cease. We are
no longer the servants of sin. We're no longer under the dominion
of sin. We no longer live after the lust
of our flesh. We don't walk after the lust
of our flesh. But we constantly struggle with it. And the flesh
will never bow. It will never surrender. So the
warfare goes on. And it's best that it's that
way. A lot of reasons. But it's best that it's that
way, because this keeps us constantly looking to Christ. And it ought
to keep us gracious and kind with each other. Now understanding
that sanctification is altogether God's work, we recognize that
it is altogether the work of his grace, and there is no such
thing as progressive sanctification. Yes, believers grow in grace.
We grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We grow up in the
Lord. But we do not, by anything we
do, feel, learn, or experience, make ourselves more holy. That's
just not so. That's not the doctrine of this
book. Our standing before God is in Christ alone. We're accepted
because of Him. Now, let's look at this text
in its context. What? What exactly is the reason
why this statement is found here in verse 14 of this 10th chapter,
right in the middle of Paul's discussion with regard to the
tabernacle and the priesthood and the altar and the table of
showbread and the candlestick and the golden articles of utensils
within the tabernacle? Why? This is what we've been
talking about now. Go back to the ninth chapter
and you read all of these things that pertain to the tabernacle.
Well, all of those articles of furniture, all of those utensils,
all of those priests were sanctified things. They were set apart for
God. That's exactly what the context
is talking about. So the context is very practical. The priests
were specifically chosen men. Men who did nothing except serve
God. That was their whole function
in life. Every aspect of their lives revolved
around the worship and service of God and ministering to his
people. And some of them were just downright
scoundrels. Read about Nadab and Abihu. Read about Abram's
sons. They were just downright scoundrels.
Read about Elias' two sons. Just scoundrels. Just scoundrels. Good for nothing. But they were
sanctified. They were chosen. They were instruments
set aside for God's use. Well, what on earth is that teaching
us? This is exactly what the context
is telling us. Larry Criss and Don Fortner, Bobby Estes and
Judy Estes, we belong to God. We belong to God. And we're His
not because of anything good in us. We're sanctified, set
apart, accepted of God, not because of anything about our characters.
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14's got nothing to do with your
character. This sanctification has nothing
to do with your character. And I'm not suggesting by any
means that character in a man is irrelevant. It is not. But
in this text, your character's got nothing to do with it. We've
been set apart by God as his own for his service. This is just exactly what you
and I ought to be. We ought to be vessels of mercy,
fit for the master's use. If we're his, we have no right
to take that which belongs to God and use it for anything but
him. If it belongs to God, that candlestick,
no man, no man has the right to go in there and take that
candlestick and take it home with him just to light his house.
No man. If that's the table of sure bread,
no man has the right to go in there and eat at that table.
No man. That altar? No man has the right. Well that's
pretty, I'll take that home and sit at home and look at it. No
man. But there were just utensils. Like that. Ah, but they were
set apart for God. We have the treasure of the gospel. in these earthen vessels, and
if we're his, if Bob Duff and Don Fortner, Lindsey Campbell
and you ladies, if we're his, if we're his, God Almighty has set us apart
for him. And we have no right to use anything
concerning ourselves for anything but Him. My time is not mine. My family
is not mine. Any possessions I have aren't
mine. I have no rights. No right. I'm His. You're bought
with a price. Glorify God in your body and
in your spirits which are God's. We're His. Now watch this. When I say that, No man has the
right to take those things that are dedicated and consecrated
for God out of the sanctuary and use them for himself. If
he did so, he did so to his own destruction. Belshazzar went
into the house of God and he took the furnishings and he took
the cups and in his drunken folly He took the cup of the Lord's
house and he filled it with his wine and he drunk it with his
pleasure and his debauchery. And God wrote on the wall, you
watch this, your destruction is set. It's set. So it is with us. That which
is meant in this text by sanctification is just this, we are a people
set apart for God. What a privilege. Paul never got over the wonder
of it. He said to me, whom less than
the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. He said, but
pastor, we're not all preachers. No, we're better than that. We're better than that. We're
all priests and kings. In fact, the Holy Spirit calls
us a royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. What on earth? A royal priesthood. Men and women
sanctified to God not because of any holiness in ourselves,
but sanctified to God as vessels in his hands by which God Almighty
pours out his mercy and grace to his people on this earth. Now you want a purpose in life?
I just gave you a purpose in life. God's priest. God's royal priesthood. sanctified
in Jesus Christ the Lord. Now then, we're told here that those who
are sanctified, the Lord Jesus has perfected forever. The text
speaks then of a perfection already accomplished. What can that be
talking about? The vessels of the tabernacle,
or the temple, were set apart unto God, sanctified. And yet they needed something
to make them perfect for use in the tabernacle. Didn't they?
They needed something. Being set apart wasn't enough.
Being set apart by God was not sufficient. They had to have
something else, something else to make them perfect. The priests
were set apart. Aaron's family, Levi and his
family, and Aaron's sons chosen out of Levi's family, they were
set apart. Set apart specifically for this
noble work as God's priest. But they still needed something.
Something by which they could go in and do business with God
as God's priest. Something that would make them
accepted before God. They had to be washed with the
washings and sprinkled with blood. When the high priest went into
the holy place, even on the day of atonement, when he went in
with the blood of that animal, he would go in and make sacrifice
first for his own sins and then for the people's. He would go
in and on the breastplate, I mean on the miter of that infantry
war, he'd go in and had this description, holiness to the
Lord. And he'd go in and make atonement
for the holy things. For the holy things. So that
there was no perfection before God Almighty without blood. Blood sprinkled. And in just
exactly this sense, the Lord Jesus Christ has perfected forever
those whom God Almighty chose before the world began. who have
been called now as his priest, perfected forever, so that we
stand before God, accepted. And that's what he's talking
about. Accepted. Now, go over to chapter 10, verse
22. Let me show you this. You remember in Leviticus it
must be perfect to be accepted? God won't accept anything not
perfect. Hebrews 10, 22. Since Christ has died, since
Christ has obtained eternal redemption, since Christ with his blood has
entered into heaven, since Christ has ripped the veil, since Christ
has done it all, let us draw near. Near who? Near God himself
with a true heart in full assurance of faith. I'm not sure I haven't talked
much about that. Full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith. This center, draw near to God in his ineffable,
glorious holiness. God whose light, pure light,
whom no man has seen or can see, whom no man can approach unto,
God who is a consuming fire, a consuming fire. If I had broken the laws of any land,
even trivial laws of any land, where a monarch sat on a throne
with absolute power, And I was told he was a gracious man, but
I knew he had been known to execute fellows real often. And I had been told that he wanted
to see me because he wanted to issue a pardon. And I had it
on good authority that he wanted to see me because he wanted to
be gracious to me. I probably would go to him if
I had no other alternative. If I was just convinced I couldn't
stay in hiding, I might go. And when I went, I'd go grovelling,
and I'd go bowing and scraping, and I'd go begging for mercy,
but I dead sure wouldn't go with any confidence. Got no reason to have any. Let
me tell you something. This traitor, whose very heart is treasonous
against God Almighty, This man whose hands drip with the blood
of God's darling son, has been made perfect by that
blood which I shed. And because of his blood, I approach
God Almighty as my father. And I have absolutely no fear. that he's going to turn me away. How come? Oh, you must be a strong
man. You must be a good man. You must
have really gotten the victory over sin. Have you heard anything I've
said? Because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with his blood has
perfected forever sinners set apart by God to be his own and
were accepted in him and that is perfected. Perfected. Amen. Alright, you can listen
to him please.