I don't need to convince you
that the most amazing thing in all the world is the fact that
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, should condescend to
become a man. Condescend to become a man that
he might live and die in the place of sinful men as our substitute. That he might, upon the cursed
tree, endure the wrath of God in our room instead. I hope never
to get over the wonders of redeeming love, mercy, and grace. The hymn
writer expressed it well. Could we with ink the oceans
fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the scroll contain
the whole though stretched from sky to sky. And yet when I meditate
upon this great stupendous fact, the fact that the Lord of Glory
came here to live and die for me, to be made sin for me, to
bring in everlasting righteousness for me, that he came here to
put away my sin by himself being made sin, to give me life at
the cost of his own life, that he came here to save me by himself
being damned under the wrath of God. I'm compelled to ask
with reverent astonishment, why? Why did Christ come? Why? Now that question I want
us to consider this evening. It's answered for us many times
in scriptures in various ways, but there is no place in the
scripture where the question is addressed so fully and answered
so clearly as it is in Hebrews chapter 10. So tonight if you
will just turn in Hebrews chapter 10 and hold your Bibles open
there while I try to answer this question for you. did Christ
come. Here the Holy Spirit tells us
specifically why the Son of God came into this world, why he
died in our room instead at Calvary. Now if that doesn't interest
you, if that doesn't stir up your heart to seek God's honor
and glory, to seek from him that he may speak to your heart and
let you worship him now, I don't know what would. Why did Christ
come? Here in Hebrews 10 verses 1 through
10, the Holy Spirit answers this question for us in three ways.
Here's the first answer, verses 1 through 4. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, came here specifically to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself because there was no other way for it to be done. Jesus Christ died as our substitute
because there was no other way for sin to be put away. He died
at Calvary because there was no other way for God to forgive
sin. He died at Calvary because God
could not in his holiness, justice, and truth, in his infinite immaculate
glory, God could not forgive sin but by the sacrifice of his
own darling son. Look with me in Hebrews chapter
10 verse 1. For the law having a shadow of
good things to come. Now that word for is put there
to take up a little bit of space. It's put there to call our attention
back to what we have just read in the ninth chapter. How that
Jesus Christ now in the end of the world has appeared once to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And the word for
here has the meaning of because, as it often does, indeed probably
as it more often than not does in the New Testament. Since Christ
came and put away our sins, since he died at Calvary for the atonement
of sin, it is obvious then that the law had only a shadow of
good things to come, and not the very image of the things.
and can never with those sacrifices which they, that is the Jews,
the Jewish priests, offered continually year by year, make the comers
thereunto perfect. Now look at verse 2. For then
would they not have ceased to be offered? If the law by sacrifice
could put away sin, then would not the sacrifices have ceased?
Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more
conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there
is remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not
possible, you see those words? It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Now the law of
God given by Moses with all of its rituals, sacrifices and ceremonies
was only a shadow. It was only a type, it was only
a picture, a representation, if you will, of Jesus Christ
and of good things to come in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The good things to come that were portrayed in the law were
matters of forgiveness. The good things to come portrayed
in the law were matters having to do with salvation, having
to do with redemption and eternal life in Christ. Those good things
to come are justification. reconciliation, peace, pardon,
acceptance with God, access to God, fellowship with God. Those
good things to come are all those things included in the believer
being brought into blessed union and harmony with God Almighty
in everlasting life. The good things to come then
are those things which come to us according to the stipulations
of God's covenant grace given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. The tabernacle and priesthood,
the law and the ceremonies of the law were never given. Now I keep stressing this because
it needs to be understood. They were never given to put
away sin. Now, having said that, you go
through the book of Hebrews and the Holy Spirit just keeps hammering
away at that. He just keeps hammering away
at that, telling us that Aaron was not sufficient. Joshua was
not sufficient. Moses was not sufficient. The
sacrifices were not sufficient. The tabernacle was not sufficient. The temple was not sufficient.
The altar, the mercy seat was not sufficient. Those sacrifices
and everything connected with them could never put away sin. Now if they couldn't put it away,
how do you think you're going to about something you do? That's the conclusiveness of
what's being said here in the book of Hebrews. They only served
as a pattern, a picture, a blueprint of that which was to come. They
served only as a picture of the true tabernacle and the true
sacrifice which is our Lord Jesus Christ. We're told this over
and over in Hebrews. We're told it in Colossians chapter
2. These things were just a shadow. Just a shadow of good things
to come. Just a foretaste of that which
was to come. And whenever the law ceremonies,
whenever the law sacrifices, whenever the law traditions were
kept properly, They were kept by men and women who went on
the day of sacrifice, went into the temple of God, or into the
tabernacle of God, and there they observed those things being
done by God's high priest in God's appointed way with reference
to one who was to come, Jesus Christ the Lord. And if they
weren't done in that way, The very sacrifices that were made,
the temple service, the tabernacle service, the priesthood, all
became an abomination to God, though they outwardly observed
what God said for them to do. What a warning. What a warning. There are multitudes who presume
that if we have our doctrine right, If we have our ordinances
right, if we go about things in the right manner, with the
right creed and the right confession, with the right doctrine and the
right church order, then we automatically have God's blessings. Not according
to what you read in Psalm 44. Not at all. The psalmist writes, and he writes
with passion in his heart, and says, God, you've cast off your
people, you've forsaken your people, you've abandoned your
people, and God will abandon those who abandon him in the
worship of faith, no matter how acute the creed is. No matter
how accurate the ordinances are, no matter how accurate the outward
behavior is, those sacrifices became an abomination when they
failed to look to Christ and men failed to worship Christ
by them. Those Old Testament sacrifices, we're told in verse
2, simply could never put away sin. Now don't miss the Holy
Spirit's argument here in this text. If those sacrifices could
put away sin, they would have ceased to have been offered.
If I bring God a sacrifice, any sacrifice, any multitude of sacrifices,
which can make an atonement for my sin, if somehow I can bring
God something that will appease his wrath, satisfy his justice,
fulfill his righteousness, magnify his law and make it honorable,
then I have nothing else ever to bring to him. There's not
any need to bring him anything else. If my effort is to win
God's favor, if my effort is to find God's approval, if my
effort is to atone for sin, once a sacrifice has been offered
by which God Almighty says that's enough, then I don't need to
bring Him anything else. Nothing else. Those sacrifices
would have ceased. That's what's argued here in
verse 2. If the worshipers had one time
had their sins purged, then the sacrifices would cease because
the worshipers, once purged, have no more conscience of sin.
They're no longer guilty of sin, and their consciences testify
that it's so, because justice has been satisfied. Now this
is not a matter of feeling, it's not a matter of emotion, it's
not a matter of intellect and brilliance, it's not a matter
of scholarship, it's just a matter of faith. The Lord Jesus Christ,
by his one sacrifice, has put away my sin. Forever. Forever. That doesn't mean, Larry,
I'm not aware of it. If I'm not aware of it, there's
something bad wrong with me. It means God's not aware of it,
legally and judicially. It means that God in his holiness,
justice, and truth has declared the sacrifice of Christ to be
payment, sufficient, and effectual, and those for whom he suffered
justice bear no justice of wrath and condemnation from God Almighty. My conscience says, God said
that's enough, that's enough, that's enough. That which God
requires, God has provided, and God has paid, and seeing it in
the book of God, believing Him, my conscience is free of guilt.
Look here in Hebrews 10, verse 14. Not any need for another
sacrifice. Back up to verse 12. We'll look
at it again in a little bit. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, one sacrifice for sins, Forever. What language? Sat down. This
priest did what no priest ever could do. He sat down. He sat
down on the right hand of God. from henceforth expecting on
the grounds of justice satisfied, on the grounds of his perfect
obedience, on the grounds of having fulfilled all things written
in the book of God concerning him, expecting, lawfully, rightfully
expecting, till everybody who's ever drawn breath in heaven,
earth, or hell be put under his feet. Expecting till his enemies
be made his footstool. For by one offering, look at
it, he hath Perfected. Perfected forever. Not experimentally. We haven't come to that yet.
Not in our day-by-day conversation. We haven't come close. But before
God's holy law, this center stands perfect. Perfect. Perfect. with his spotless garments
on, holy as God's Holy Son. Perfect. By one offering he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those whom the Father
from eternity set apart to be his own, his chosen, have been
by the sacrifice of Christ one time made perfect before God. That means the work's done. That
means there's nothing that needs to be added to it, nothing that
can be added to it, and anything we put to it is a pollution of
it. Once our Lord Jesus Christ has
put sin away by the sacrifice of himself. Sin is discharged
and the sinner is discharged. Guilt is gone and condemnation
is impossible. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. I'm in him by
faith. That means experimentally there's
no condemnation. But I was in him before the world
began. And before God Almighty from
eternity, God declared me justified, and I had no condemnation before
him. And there is no possibility of
condemnation in days to come. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, to them which walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit. to those who live no longer by
carnal logic and reason, who live no longer ruled by their
own hearts and their own thoughts, but rather to those who walk
before God by faith in Christ. That's what it is having to walk
in the Spirit. We live in faith. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. Totally free. For what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and because of
sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Therefore we read that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. Now how do we fulfill the righteousness
of the law? People everywhere are just bum-fuzzled
by that. And they have the idea that somehow,
since Christ died for us, and he satisfied the justice of the
law, there is a righteousness of the law to be fulfilled by
us, by our works of obedience. What nonsense! The righteousness
of the law is the justice and equity of the law. And we fulfill
the righteousness of the law as we walk before God, trusting
his son. We fulfill the law by faith. Only by faith. Not by works. Not by something we do. Alright? Look at Romans chapter 8 for
a moment. Verse 33. This is the reason believers
have assurance and confidence in Christ. Christ has put away
sin. His blood is enough. Look at
verse 33. The apostle writes here by inspiration,
but as I read these words, I hope you will never forget, and I
try not to forget, what he's writing here, he's writing with
all the passion of his own soul. He's not passive and indifferent. He's not writing just as though
God the Holy Spirit picked up his arm while he was asleep and
wrote out the words and there's nothing to pull in it. Oh no,
his heart's here. It's the heart of a man who knows
forgiveness, the heart of a man who's been born of God's Spirit,
the heart of a man to whom Christ has been revealed. And this is
what it says, in the light of Christ's finished work, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who? Why, it's God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather than is risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. You see how he just moves up and up and up in confidence?
He said, there's no possibility that anyone can condemn me, because
Christ died, that's enough. And to prove that his death is
enough, he rose from the dead, and he was declared justified
in the spirit. And to demonstrate that, he sat
down on the right hand of the majesty of God in heaven, and
he who died for me rules the world for me. And more than that,
he pleads the merit of his blood, making intercession for me. Condemn?
No possibility. No possibility. Our Lord Jesus
Christ has offered one sacrifice. And now believing in him, we
have complete, total confidence and assurance that our sins are
gone. Just to the degree we believe
him, we have confidence and assurance that our sins are gone. Now,
you say, Pastor, I don't have that. Me either a lot of times. I'd be lying to you if I did.
But my lack of assurance is nothing on this earth but unbelief. When Satan accuses me and my
mind begins to agree with him, and I sense condemnation, I can't
imagine anything more horridly dishonoring to my God than that,
for that's I trust him, not like I should,
not like I would, but I trust him. I trust him. Sometimes I
hold him real firm. Sometimes I wonder if I even
hold him, but he's all my hope. He's all my plea. I trust him. That means that Jesus Christ,
the son of God, has discharged me of all sin. Now my faith didn't
get him to do it. But the fact that I believe him
is evidence that he did it. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. This
is what he says. The Lord God looking on the sacrifice
of his son in verse 17 says, their sins and iniquities will
I remember. When? How often Bobby? No more. No more. Even though
you do. No more. Even though the world
does, no more. Even though Satan often roars
against you as a roaring lion seeking to devour your very soul,
no more. No more. Even though the passions
of your heart rise up like a boiling cesspool of iniquity, no more! Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Turn to Isaiah 53. look at verse 4 I love the way the prophet speaks
here surely surely surely oh what a blessed word surely he
the son of God our Savior hath borne our griefs let me read it like I try to
read it personally. You read it the same way. Surely
he hath borne Don Fortner's grace. Surely he hath carried all Don
Fortner's sorrows. Yet it is true I did till he
made himself known to me. I esteemed him like everybody
else, stricken smitten of God and afflicted, good enough for
him. But then I found out he was wounded
for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement of my peace,
the chastisement by which alone I could get peace with God was
upon him. and with his stripes, blessed
be his name, I am healed. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Now look at verse 3. Here the Holy Spirit tells us
that those carnal legal sacrifices of the Old Testament did nothing
on this earth except remind the worshipers that someone must
come, someone promised in the book of God, someone of whom
all the prophets spoke, someone of whom all the sacrifices were
pictured, someone must come somewhere down the road at the appointed
time, someone must come to put away sin. Those sacrifices offered
day by day, week by week, year by year, those sacrifices offered
by divine appointment only gave a constant daily, weekly, monthly,
yearly remembrance of sin. That's all it is. The fact that
sacrifice had to be made every morning, every evening. The fact
that sacrifice had to be made every Sabbath day. The fact that
sacrifice had to be made every day of atonement. Every time
that high priest took the blood of the lamb and sprinkled it
on the mercy seat. That fact said sin has not yet
been purged. God is not yet honored. Justice is not yet satisfied. Just a reminder. That's all.
That's all. This is the problem with men
in works religion. They bring things, and do things,
and try, and sacrifice, and give, and work, and try, and sacrifice,
and give, and do, but nothing's enough. Nothing's enough. And
their conscience says it's not enough. It's not enough. What
are you going to do to please God? How are you going to atone
for sin? How are you going to make up
with the Holy God? Can't be done. It's impossible
that those things that are offered in a carnal sacrifice and carnal
ordinances could take away sin. Those things continued only until
Christ came. And when Christ came and put
away sin, the sacrifices ended. Well, why is it impossible for
carnal sacrifices such as these to take away sin? Look at verse
4 again. Did you ever notice how often
the Holy Spirit tells us in the book of Hebrews that something's
impossible? When I read this earlier this
morning, the first thing I looked at this morning was this passage
of scripture, and then I got down here to this fourth verse,
and I thought, that's something he does often. He says it is
not possible. It is not possible. The very
same word is used in verse 4 of chapter 6. Turn back there a
minute. The Lord God says it is impossible, that is, it is
not possible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted
the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance. How
come? Because they've denied the only sacrifice there is for
sin. Look at verse 18, Hebrews 6. That by two immutable things,
look at it. In which it was impossible for
God to lie. Not possible. Oh, would to God we had believed
that, Bob. He never lied to you. Not possible. Did he make a promise? He's as
good as his promise. Not as good as your faith, as
good as his promise. Has he sworn? He's as good as
his oath. Not as good as your understanding,
as good as his oath. It is not possible for God to
lie. Look at Hebrews 11 verse 6. Without faith, it is not possible
to please God. The only way a sinner can ever
please God is by him whom we trust, by faith in Christ. We don't please God by believing. You know, these days folks are
forever using the words, keep the faith. Keep the faith. I
hear it and I think, I wish folks would just shut up and quit trying
to act religious. Keep the faith. Keep faith in what? Keep faith
in who? Keep what faith? Just believing
doesn't do anything to please God. But he who we believe pleases
God. And we're accepted because we
believe him. Now keep him. Hold fast the profession of your
faith in him. All right, now look at this fourth
verse of chapter 10. It is not possible for the blood
of bulls and of goats. Are that the blood of bulls and
goats should take away sins? How come? I think it was John Gill who
gave three of these. I'll give a fourth one. Four
reasons. Number one, sin is the transgression
of God's moral law. Now while the moral law and the
ceremonial law cannot be separated in the book of God, they stand
and fall together, the moral law could never be atoned for,
the breaking of the moral law, by an animal sacrifice. Though
animal sacrifice has nothing to do with morality, righteousness,
and justice. Number two, the blood of an animal
can never make atonement for the sins of a man. This can't
be done. In fact, the scripture says even
the blood of a man can't make atonement for the sins of a man.
It takes the blood of one who is God and man in one person.
Number three, sin deals with the mind, the heart, the conscience,
the soul. An animal can't relate. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
came here, the holy, harmless, undefiled, righteous one. A man
who is himself God Almighty in human flesh. And a man like us. And made to be sin. And being made to be sin. Indescribably, infinitely more
than it can be said to be true of us. Sin became with him more
than an issue of legal judgment. He was made sin and was identified
with our sin. He took into union with himself
all that we are. And our sin as he bare our sin
in his own body on the tree became for him an issue of mind and
soul and conscience. We too much, preachers number one, academics
and theologians right in there with it. We too much try to organize
and categorize and sort out things and make sure we state them in
such a way that you know nothing contradicts. Well our puny brains
just aren't real big. And it doesn't take much to contradict
our thoughts. How can you say that this is something more than
a forensic matter, more than a law matter? Let me tell you
something. Should one of you assume some
debt that I've incurred willfully or by ignorance? Should one of
you assume to make some some identification with me and
suffer the penalty of the law for a crime I've committed. I
hope I'd be thankful. I hope I would appreciate it. But you're paying
the debt and you're enduring the penalty. I'll guarantee you
it wouldn't break your heart. It might break your wallet, but
it wouldn't break your heart. A mere legal transfer of guilt
is not all the scriptures speak of when it says Christ was made
sin. As he knelt in the garden anticipating
what he'd be made for us, his heart broke within him. He was made to be sin. Why is
it that sin could not be put away in any way except by the
sacrifice of Christ? Because fourthly, If that had
been the case, then the Apostle Paul reasons by inspiration and
says, then Christ is dead in vain. Christ died for nothing. If it were possible for God who
cannot lie to put away sin in any other way. All right, now
secondly, look at verses 5 through 9. Our Lord Jesus Christ came
here as a man, as our mediator, substitute, and representative.
to do and fulfill all the will of God, bringing in a better
covenant. In these verses 5 through 8,
we have a quotation given from Psalm 40. Here God the Holy Spirit,
we are told in verse 5, prepared a body for our Savior. How can
God's Son be made sin? How can God's Son be made to
suffer the wrath of God? How can God's Son be afflicted? How can God Himself be made to
suffer the penalty of sin? How can that be? It cannot be! Except a body be prepared for
Him. A special body. A body without
the taint of sin and corruption. A body without the taint of Adam's
fall. A body without the guilt of sin
upon it. And so the Lord Jesus, as he's
coming into the world, says, a body hast thou prepared me,
a body. The body of a man, a real man,
prepared for him, a real body and soul in which he could both
bear our sins in his body on the tree and in which he could
be made to suffer all the penalty of sin and yet a body united
to divinity so that he who died in our place is God and man in
one glorious person able to make one infinite effectual sacrifice
for sin. Tells us again that it was impossible
for animal blood to put away sin. Then in verse 7, our Lord
Jesus tells us that he came here as a voluntary surety, as Jehovah's
voluntary servant to die as our substitute at Calvary according
to the will of God. Lo, I come in the volume of the
book it is written to me. I delight to do thy will, O God. What book? the book of God's
everlasting decrees written of him from eternity the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world don't let anybody ever take you
away from the blessed joy of God's everlasting purpose all
things written out in the book written on the backside sealed
with seven seals which no man can open or look into but the
Son of God did and written in the book of inspiration, the
book of God's revelation of himself, so that all the Old Testament
scriptures, all of it, from the beginning to the end, pointed
to him who would come to do as no man could do, to do what no
man could do, the will of God. How? As our substitute. fulfilling
all God's purpose, all God's decree, all the stipulations
of the covenant, bringing in perfect righteousness and full
satisfaction. Now in order to fulfill and bring
in the new everlasting covenant and all the benefits and blessings
of it, our Savior completely took away the old. Look at verse
8. Above, when it said sacrifice
and offering, And burnt offering and offerings for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hath pleasure therein which are offered by the law."
This again is a quotation from Psalm 40, but here the Holy Spirit
includes all the sacrifices of the Old Testament. All of them.
Not just those offered by the priest on the Day of Atonement,
but every last one of them. He includes them all and says
none of them or all of them together could never put away sin. And
then in verse 9 we see that our Lord Jesus takes away the first,
that he may establish the second. If you are going to replace a
house on the same piece of ground as that on which a present house
is standing, you've got to do something with the present house.
You've got to do something with it. And the something you've
got to do is take it away. You get a wrecking ball and tear
it down. You take it away. You get your dozer and a truck
and you haul it all off. You take it away. And our Lord
Jesus Christ in order to bring in and establish and make over
to his people all the benefits and blessings of the new everlasting
covenant of grace has taken away the old covenant. He's taken
it away. He's death to the old covenant.
He took it away by fulfilling it. He took it away and has brought
in a new. That's the only way it can be
done. And now in Christ, we who have him have all things in him. All wisdom, all righteousness,
all sanctification, all redemption, all the blessings of grace. In
fact, the scripture says, and you are complete in him. Complete in Him. Nothing like
it. Nothing like it. I don't know
how on earth to make that crystal clear. And yet it ought to be
a plain as a nose on your face, Rex. Complete. Well, how complete
are we? Complete, complete. How full
are we with Him? Fully full. That means if you
add anything, you push Him out. anything, works, experience, emotion, feeling,
anything. We're complete in him. You understand
that? Complete. Now one last thing. I'll just touch on this 10th
verse and Lord willing come back at it another time. But I want
you to go home rejoicing in this. Christ came here thirdly. to
die so that he might redeem God's
elect. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ come? He came because
there's no other way for sin to be put away. He came to fulfill
and establish a better covenant. He came when all said and done
to redeem us by the sacrifice of himself. He came here to redeem
God's elect from the curse of the law by dying in their stead. Look at verse 10. By the witch
will. By the witch will. Lo, I come
to do thy will, O my God. Whose will? The Father's will.
By the witch will, we are sanctified, set apart, separated, made holy,
declared to be holy, stand before God holy, through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ, one time. And that's what those
words once for all mean, one time, one time. Now take these
things home with you and worship our God and rejoice in his grace. Here are four things taught in
this verse. The Lord Jesus Christ, number one, came here to offer
himself as a sin-atoning sacrifice to God. He came yonder at Bethlehem
to die yonder at Calvary. That's what he came for. Now, you can fit all your schemes
of theology and all your schemes of false theology however you
want to into that. But when he came, he said, Lo,
I come to do your will, by which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. When he came, his notion
was to die. His purpose was to die. His determination
was to die as our substitute. Number two, the Son of God came
here to die as our substitute by the will of God. Nothing happened
by accident. Nobody forced anything on him.
nothing's out of control. He who died in our stead at Calvary
died in our stead according to God's purpose and everything
associated with his death came to pass exactly as God had by
his determinant counseling for knowledge arranged from eternity.
Number three, he came here specifically to die for me. He came here specifically to
die in the room instead of God's elect. A people loved of him
from eternity. A people upon whom he set his
heart from eternity. A people he engaged to save from
eternity. They are those that are sanctified. Sanctified. He came here to die
for those whom the Father in everlasting love, called out
from Adam's race and said, I'll be their God and they should
be my people. And number four, he redeemed
us effectually with his blood. Now let me just read verses 11,
12, and 13. Every priest stands daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never put
away sin. Never, never. I recall preaching
from this passage, oh, this has been a long, long time ago, nearly
30 years ago. A friend of mine who was a missionary
in Italy happened to be present in the services. One Sunday morning
when I was preaching from this passage and he said, you'll never
guess, Don, how relevant that passage is to what's going on
right now. He said there is a very popular preaching priest in Italy. And preaching priests in the
papist church are rare birds. Most of them just kind of go
through liturgy and so on. But he was very, very popular.
One day he was administering the sacrament, as they called
it, the mass, they call it, and reading this passage of scripture
to thousands of people. And he said the priest broke
down right in the middle of the service and began to confess
Christ before me. He said here I am a priest offering
sacrifices that can never take away sin. But this man, this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. How come? Because by one offering
he has perfected forever. Them that are sanctified. Why did he come? For that reason. And he's done what he came here
to do. Amen. All right, Benji, loosen
him please.