He is a person. He doesn't have a material body
like you and I do. God the Father doesn't either,
only God the Son does. He is a person. Now, in salvation,
all three persons of the Godhead have a specific. Don't know what words to use
quite often, so I'll just use the best I can do. All three
persons have a specific office in salvation. God the Father,
the first person of the Trinity, God the Father elected, chose
a people out of Adam's ruined race and gave them to his son
to be his bride. Now, it's true that God loves
sinners. I'm thankful for that, aren't
you? But God's chief reason in saving was not his love to us.
It was his love to his son. And every believer is given as
a gift by the father to the son to be his bride. God the son agreed to bear full
responsibility to save those people the father gave him. And we read what he did in verse
14, where he says, for by one offering, he hath perfected. Listen to that. He hath perfected. Not he will perfect. He hath
perfected forever. them that are sanctified, them
that are set apart by God to be holy, them that Christ has
made holy, those the Holy Spirit has given life to. The Son's
work is redeeming these people to be His bride and God the Holy
Spirit's work is to regenerate, to give spiritual life to these
people. When Adam fell, we lost spiritual
life. We have physical life, our souls
are alive, but we no longer have spiritual life. But when God
the Holy Spirit comes to those the Father elected and the Son
redeemed, he births them. He gives them life. All you experience
of Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit. He enables you to see the beauty
of Christ. He enables you to trust His righteousness
as your all-sufficient standing before God. He makes you to see
the beauty of the gospel. Everything you experience in
the gospel is given to you through the work of God the Holy Spirit. Now this is mysterious. And you can't say one aspect
of any of the persons of the Godhead is more important than
the other aspect. All three of these aspects are
equally important in the salvation of the sinner. Now, the Holy
Spirit gives life and bears witness to that which produces life.
He gives life. Now that doesn't mean there's
a time when you have life but you don't believe the gospel.
Logically, you have to have life before you believe the gospel.
But chronologically, they come at the precise same time. When you hear the gospel and
you believe, you have been born of the Spirit of God. Now, look
in our text in verse 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, Now don't you want Him bearing
witness to you? I want to hear from Him. It won't
do me any good simply to hear from a man. I want to hear from
Him. And look what He uses in verse
15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, for after that He had said before. Now that's
talking about what He said in the Old Testament Scriptures.
God the Holy Spirit only uses His Word. Did you know he's the
author of the Scriptures? I love that passage in 2 Peter
chapter 1 where it says, where Peter tells us, Holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God. God breathed. What you have in
your lap right now is perfect. It's the Word of God. It's not the Word of man. It's
the Word of God, and this is all God the Holy Spirit uses.
You know, I think, this is just me thinking, but I think he never
even uses our comments on the Word. He uses the Word. I mean
the comments are helpful, preaching is helpful, I realize that, but
what he uses is the Word itself. God's Word is that which begets
life, and the Holy Spirit uses the Scripture. Turn with me for
a moment a few pages over to 1 Peter chapter 1. Verse 23, being born again, being birthed
by God, being fathered by God, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed. by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever." Now there, the word word is the same word
used with reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. One says in the
beginning was the Word. He is the Word of God. If you
want to know what's in God's mind, Christ. He is the Word
of God. Four, now he gives us the message
of the gospel, for, and this is a quotation from Isaiah 40,
for all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower
of grass. The grass withers, and the flower
thereof falls away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. Only his word is what's gonna
stand on judgment day. Only His Word endures forever. And this
is the Word. Now here the Word is a different
word than the Word in verse 23. It means the spoken Word, that
which is articulated. One is, I don't know if I'm pronouncing
them right, but one is Logos and one is Rima. Rima is the
spoken Word, blessed by God in the preaching of the gospel.
This is the Word What I have said in verses 23 and 24, this
is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This is
the actual content of the gospel. The Holy Spirit uses the word
of which he is the author. I love that scripture. The word
of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged
sword. The word of God. Now notice what
he says in verse 15. Wherefore the Holy Ghost also
is a witness to us. To us. Who is meant by us? The Holy Ghost is a witness to
us. What group of people is meant
by that? Me? You? All men? Who is this us
that the Holy Spirit himself, the third person of the Trinity,
bears witness to? And let me say this, if he bears
witness to my soul, I'll hear, I'll live. He's always effectual. Who is the us? Well, it's the
same us spoken of in Romans chapter eight, verse 31. If God be for
us, who could be against us? Speaking of the elect of God.
That's the us. And if I don't understand that,
I don't really understand the text. The us is the people of
God. In this context, Hebrews chapter
two. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified, that's the us. Both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified, no one that's not sanctified
is included in this. We're going to consider what
that means in a moment. But both he that sanctifies and they who
are sanctified are all of one for the which cause he's not
ashamed to call them brethren. I love what the Lord said to
John the Baptist. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. When Jesus Christ fulfilled all
righteousness, he did so as in us. And I fulfilled all righteousness
when he did. The Holy Ghost is a witness to
us. Now, what about all men? Well, there is a call that goes
out to all men. It's called creation. And creation
renders all men without excuse. Somebody, you can look at the
creation, everybody, I don't care what continent you're in,
I don't care what country you come from, what your education
is, what your, you can look at creation and conclude conclusively
that God is. He made this, he's all powerful,
and nobody made him. Everybody has that. understanding. Now, men hold it down. They might
not like the implications of it, and they therefore will believe
other things after they hear that, but still, creation says,
you ought to seek the Lord. He's altogether glorious. He
made all this, and every man ought to seek the Lord. If a man doesn't seek the Lord,
I say this I hope in the right spirit. But if a man doesn't
seek the Lord, he ought to be damned. The Lord ought to be
sought. Who is more glorious than him? And he ought to be sought. Back to our text in Hebrews 10. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. of the work of Christ and behalf
of those he represented for after that he had said before. Now
he's referring to something that he said back in Jeremiah chapter
31. Turn with me there for a moment.
Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 33. But this should be the covenant.
Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 33. And the writer to the Hebrews
quotes this twice. And one of the things I was thinking
about, I'm reading this, and it's quoted twice in the book
of Hebrews. I'm not afraid to quote it twice
either. God the Holy Spirit does. And he says it three times. The
writer to the Hebrews said it twice. One of the things I always,
this is one of the, once you've been preaching 40 years, It's
weird that I can say that, but I've been preaching over 40 years.
It becomes intimidating thinking, what else can I say? They've
heard it all and they've heard everything I can say. Well, I'll
repeat it then. God the Holy Spirit does. And he blesses it. Look at this passage of scripture,
verse 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah. not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God,
and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no man every
man his neighbor, and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall
all know me from the least of them unto the greatest. saith
the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, I will remember
their sins no more. Now, he quoted this previously
in Hebrews chapter eight, and he quotes it again here in Hebrews
chapter 10, as we're going to see in just a moment. Now, this is the covenant that
I'll make with them, God says. Well, I wanna hear what he says
he's gonna do. This is the covenant I will make
with Him, and the covenant He's speaking of is the covenant of
grace, or the New Testament. Look in Hebrews chapter 8, the writer to the Hebrews quotes
that passage I read from Genesis 31. Verse 8, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I make a new covenant. with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because
they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord, for this is the covenant that I'll make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I put my laws into
their mind and write them in their hearts. I will be to them
a God, they shall be to me a people. They shall not teach every man
his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord,
for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. And here's
why. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. The covenant, the testament,
you know, that word is used 14 times in the book of Hebrews
alone. 14 times. And let me give you
some of the ways it's used. It's called the better testament. It's called the covenant. God
calls it my covenant. It's called the new testament. And then we read of the blood
of the covenant. and the everlasting covenant
and the covenant he said, I will make. And here's what that looks
like. I will, you shall. That's exactly what that looks
like. I will, you shall. The first covenant
was I will, if you will. The problem with that covenant
is we won't. Nobody is saved under that covenant. But all in this covenant that
he intends to save are saved. Now go back to Hebrews 10. Verse 15, whereof the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
he quotes himself when he wrote Jeremiah chapter 31, this is
the covenant that I will make with him after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their
minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Here in those two verses, we
have the simplicity of the gospel, his work in us and his work for
us. We need both. His work in us
and his work for us, and the ground of his work in us. The reason he does it is because
of his work for us. He works in us. Now, have you
ever looked at this statement, I'll put my laws into their hearts
and in their minds while I write them and thought, what's the
difference between your mind and your heart? They're both
used and they're obviously not the same thing or he wouldn't
have used both words. But God says, I will write my
laws in their minds. I will put them in their hearts. They're not the same thing. There's
a distinction between them and they always go together. They're
never separate. They're not the same thing, but
they're never separate. He never puts his law in your
mind, but doesn't write it in your heart. He never puts anything
in your heart that he doesn't put in your mind. I'm afraid
that I believe with my head only and not my heart. Well, if you
believe in your head, you believe in your heart. If you believe
in your heart, you believe in your head. This is a distinction
God makes the mind and the heart. And when you have God working
in the heart, you'll always have him working in the mind. The
mind is the intellect, the reason. It could be called
the knowledge of the truth. You cannot believe what you do
not know any more than you can come back from the place where
you've never been. It's the knowledge of the truth, the knowledge of
how God saves sinners. The heart has to do with the
desires and the emotions. It could be called the love of
the truth. Where there's the knowledge of
the truth, there is the love of the truth. In true saving faith, both are
always in operation. If it were only the mind It would
be academic, nothing more. If it were only the heart, it
would be emotion without meaning. But it's the mind and the heart
that God writes his law in. God says, I'll put my laws in
their minds and write them in the hearts. Laws, notice, is
in the plural. It was not in the plural when
I read it in Jeremiah, but here the writer of the Hebrews puts
it in the plural. And this is his interpretation,
Jeremiah 31. Now, two months ago. I gave you
these, but the writer of the Hebrews is repeating, so I'm
going to repeat it too. I'm not going to feel bad about
it. I hope it comes as a blessing to see this, but this is talking
about the laws. When he talks about my laws,
I'll write in their mind and in their hearts. He's talking
about the laws of the new nature. Now, before I get into that,
let's think about this word nature. It's a scriptural word. What
is your nature? You're born, when you're first
born into the world with a certain DNA, there's things in your nature
that are there. Every time Lynn and I watch Wil
Hans and Isaac Hans walking to the parking lot to the church,
we think, it's the same man. Look at the way they walk. They
walk exactly alike. You can't tell any difference
between them. And we've commented on that so many times. I've watched
John Wamsley eat. You ever watch Paul eat? John
eats exactly like him. They have every mannerism. It's
their nature. You have a certain nature you're
born with. Now, we have a fallen nature
because of Adam, our first father. When he died, he became spiritually
dead. He became sinful and evil. We're
born into this world with an evil nature. You don't have to
teach a kid to lie. It comes natural. You don't have
to teach a kid to be selfish, it comes natural, it's like breathing.
An evil, sinful, and the best way of describing it is look
at the cross. I don't tell you the nature of man. Look at the
cross when men are left to themselves, an evil nature. But when God
gives you a new nature, partakers of the divine nature of the scriptures. He uses that word. When God gives
you a new nature, there's things that are in that nature, just
like there's things in your old nature, there's things in your
new nature. The laws of the new nature. Now, when he speaks of
the laws, God's at least, I'll write my laws in their heart,
in their minds, I'll write them in these things God's gonna do.
He's not talking about the Ten Commandments. Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. Beginning in verse 15. No, 14. For when the Gentiles
which have not the law." They don't have a copy of the scriptures.
They've never heard the Ten Commandments read. They've never read the
book of Genesis. They don't know anything about
the Bible. These are people without a revelation from God. For when
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature. There's
the word. They do by nature. The things
contained in the law These, having not the law, are a law unto themselves,
which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their
conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile,
accusing or else excusing one another. Now, this is in everybody's
heart. We know, somebody says, we need
to be taught to live. You already know how to live.
You really do. I've heard people say, well,
the Bible is a manual to teach you how to live. You already
know how to live. You know, you shouldn't steal.
You know, you ought to pay your bills. You know, you ought not
commit adultery. You know, you ought not murder.
You ought not lie. You ought not be covetous. You
ought to love God with all your heart. You ought to love your
neighbors yourself. Everybody knows that it's written in their
heart. Scripture says that. The laws He's speaking of are
the laws of the new nature, and I find six of them in the New
Testament. I'll give you these briefly. I'll give you the scripture.
I'm not going to ask you to turn to them, but you can write this
down if you want. The first law of the new nature is what is
called the law of righteousness, Romans 9.31, your conscience. If you have a new nature, if
you have a holy nature, if you've been born again. Your conscience
cannot be satisfied with anything but a perfect standing before
the holy law of God. That's the only thing you can
rest in. That if you stand before God's law, the Ten Commandments,
without guilt, perfect in God's sight. That's the law of righteousness. And then we read in Romans 7.23,
of the law of sin, which is in my members. Now listen to this.
If you're born again, if you have a holy nature, if God's
done a work of grace in your heart, if you've been born of
the spirit, you have a holy nature that perceives that everything
in your old nature is only sin. Present tense all the time. Every believer sees that. Somebody says, well, I don't
see that about myself. Then you've not been born of the Spirit.
Because anyone that's born of the Spirit has this law of sin
in their members' present tense, right now, the way I am, that
you see that everything about your flesh is sin. And the only way you can see
that is if you have a holy nature. If you only have one nature,
you can't see that. It doesn't make sense to you.
But if you have a holy nature, born of the Spirit, you see that. The third law we read of, and
you can find this in Romans 3.27, we read of the law of faith. Now this is In the nature. This is in the DNA of the new
birth. The law of faith. You cannot
not believe the Gospel. You cannot not trust Christ as
your only righteousness before God. You cannot do anything but
trust the Lord Jesus Christ as everything in your salvation.
That's your nature. You look to Christ. You rest
in Him. You glory in Him. That's natural. It's not something you try doing,
it's something you do. It's not something you choose to do, it's
something you do. You know who he is, you can't help but trust
him. And then we read in James chapter 2, 8, I love the way
this is said, the royal law, I like the royal law, the royal
law of love. You see, if you've been born
of God, It is your nature to love God as He reveals Himself
in His Word. Every attribute of God you love. It's your nature. You see, you're
partakers of the divine nature, and you've been begotten of Him,
and you love Him. You love his people. He that
loveth him that begat loveth him that's begotten of him. You
love his gospel. You love his way of saving. You love his son. And you know,
this has such an effect on anybody, anybody that loves the Lord.
It certainly affects their life in many different ways. Love
to Christ. You love Christ. It'll leak out
on you. It'll leak out on you. And then
we read in James 1 12 and James 1 25, or James 2 12 and James
1 25 of the law of liberty. The Lord is that spirit and where
the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. Liberty, freedom. Don't you hate it when you hear
something that brings you into bondage? I hate it. And I should. The Lord is that
Spirit where the Spirit of the Lord is. There is liberty. Liberty
means I don't owe anything. I'm already complete in Christ.
And liberty means I'm doing what I want to do. Not what I'm afraid
not to do. I'm doing what I want to do.
That which I consider to be a privilege to do. The law of liberty. This
is the law of the new nature. The law of liberty, the law of
freedom. And then the last one is called
in Galatians chapter one, the law of Christ. If a man be overtaken in a fault,
don't you understand anybody being overtaken in any fault? If a man be overtaken in a fault,
you which are spiritual, You know what that means? That means
you have the Holy Spirit. That means you have a spiritual
nature. That means you've been born again. You, which are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself,
lest you also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens. In love, put up with one another.
That brother's sin is a burden to him, your sin's a burden to
you, bear with one another, love one another, and so fulfill the
law of Christ. Now that's his work in us, and
here's why we have his work in us, his work for us, and their
sins, and iniquities will I remember no more." Now, the reason he
remembers our sins and iniquities no more is because they've been
removed. It's because there's nothing
there to remember. This is what the blood of Christ
did. Remember, we began with, He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Listen to this scripture from
Jeremiah chapter 50, verse 20. In those days and in that time,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall
be none." Now, that's the work of Christ for you, putting away
your sins. He said, I'll be propitious to
their iniquities. I'll be a sin-removing sacrifice
to their iniquities. And because of that, I will remember
them no more because there's nothing there to remember. Now
that's the person and work of Christ. It is described several
times in the scriptures. I think when the Lord was giving
His marching orders to the church, in Luke chapter 24 right before
his resurrection. He said that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name. Now there's the work
of Christ in us, repentance. That summarizes the work of Christ
in us. That covers everything. and remission
of sins. That's the work of Christ for
us. What he accomplished on the tree. Remember in Acts chapter
5 when Peter's preaching and he says, Him have God exalted
to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel. That's his work in us. And the
forgiveness of sins. That's his work for us. And that
is a summary of our preaching continually. repentance and the
remission of sins. And then he closes with this
statement, and I could well say that this statement is what everything
else in the book of Hebrews is leading up to. This is the crescendo,
as it were, of the whole book. This is what it's leading up
to. Now where remission of these ends, there's no more offering for
sin. Why? Because there's remission
for sin. The sacrifice was successful.
He began this book with the person and work of Christ, told who
he was, being the brightness of God's glory, the express image
of his person, giving his person, his work when he by himself purged
our sins. And now he uses all these glorious
scriptures that we have in the book of Hebrews. And here's where
this is all leading to. No other offering of sins needed.
You're complete. There's nothing you need to do. Rest. Rest. There remaineth a rest for the
people of God, for he that's entered into his rest hath ceased
from his own works, as God did from his. There's no more. Where the remission of these
is, there's no more offering for
sin. I am so thankful that his offering
is sufficient. Now, this is the witness of the
Holy Ghost and anything contrary to any of this from the Word.
Are you saying you didn't have any error in this sermon? Well,
I hope I didn't, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking
about what the Word declares. Contrary to any of this is not
of the Holy Spirit. It's of man. May God the Holy
Spirit bear witness to us. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you, from your word, by your spirit, would bear witness
to us of thy gospel. Lord, enable us to rest in what
your son has done. Lord, we ask that you would write
your laws on our minds and put them in our hearts for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.