Good evening. Open your Bibles with me to Hebrews
chapter 10. I'm thankful for the opportunity
to be here with you this evening. I'm thankful for your pastor. I was thinking back, it's been
a few years, but when your pastor started the preacher school downstairs,
he shared many things with us, but one of them was this, find
a passage of scripture that speaks to you. Find something simple. Find something that'll practically
preach itself and stick with that. And I believe that's what
we have here in Hebrews chapter 10. In verse 14, for by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. It's my prayer that we could
leave here tonight with this passage of scripture in our minds
but more so in our hearts. That almighty God would use this
passage of scripture to speak peace to the hearts of his people. That he would be pleased to open
the scripture, this scripture, to us, to his people. Look with me again at this verse.
For by one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. And I believe there are four
points in this passage of scripture. I'm sure there are many more,
but let's just stick with four. And here's the first. There's
one offering. One offering. Now in the Old
Testament, we read of many offerings. Many offerings and sacrifices
that point to the Lord Jesus Christ. There were burnt offerings. The most notable was when God
commanded Abraham to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
22. Genesis 22, look, beginning with verse 2. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the
land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose
up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young
men with him and Isaac his son And he claved the wood for the
burn offering and he rose up and he went into the place which
God had told him. And then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and he saw the place afar off. And Abraham
said unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass, I and the
lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son,
and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both
of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and he said, my father. And he said, here am I, my son.
And he said, behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the
lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went
both of them together and they came to the place which God told
him of. And Abraham built an altar there
and he laid the wood in order and he bound Isaac, his son,
and he laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched
out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel
of the Lord called him out of heaven, and he said, Abraham,
Abraham. And he said, here am I. And he said, lay not thy hand
on the lad, neither do thou anything to him. For now I know that thou
fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket
by his horns. And Abraham went and he took
the ram and he offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead
of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said this day in the
Mount of the Lord, it shall be seen. Here we learn of Christ,
our substitute. The Lord who provided himself
as a lamb. That lamb that was offered, that
lamb that was provided, he is the lamb. Christ is the lamb. God's the lamb. And he'll provide
that lamb for himself. A lamb for his people. Satisfaction
will be made. The Old Testament speaks of meal
offerings. The scriptures describe these
offerings as offerings made of a memorial. An offering to bring
iniquity to remembrance. There were peace offerings. The
peace offering was to be made without blemish, to make reconciliation
for the house of Israel. In 1 Peter 1, 19, we read that
God's people are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Abel brought
a lamb, he brought the firstlings of the flock, the fat thereof. The peace offering, it spoke
of reconciliation. In Hebrews 2 verse 17, wherefore
in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. By
the death of Christ, we have peace with Almighty God. By his
suffering, by his death, Christ saves us from our sins by satisfying
God's law and God's justice. We also read of sin offerings. The sin offering was a, it was
to be a blood sacrifice. The Passover lamb was a blood
sacrifice. The life of the flesh, we read
the life of the flesh is in the blood. And when that high priest,
when he went into the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement,
he went in with blood. No man, no man can come into
God's presence without a blood atonement. Men don't speak much,
your pastor does, but most men don't say much of blood, the
blood anymore. I heard Brother Don Fortner say
this, he said, men are too, they're too educated. They're too refined,
too sophisticated. Talking about the blood makes
us squeamish. It makes us, it sounds improper. It sounds rude, unsophisticated. But the scriptures declare this,
without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. We must
have the blood. Let me ask you, where is man? Where are we without the precious
sin atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Turn with me to
Exodus chapter 12. I know you're familiar with this
passage of scripture. Exodus chapter 12, beginning
with verse one. The Lord spake unto Moses and
Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, this month shall be unto you
the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,
saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them
every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers. A
lamb for a house. And if the household be too little
for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take
it according to the number of souls. Every man according to
his eating shall make your account for the lamb. And your lamb shall
be without blemish. a male of the first year, you
shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats and you shall
keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month and the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. And they shall take the blood
and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post
of the house wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the
flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and
with bitter herbs shall they eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor
sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with
the legs and with the pertinence thereof. You shall let nothing
of it remain till the morning. That which remaineth until the
morning you shall burn with fire. And thus shall you eat it with
your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your staff in your
hand, you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. Four,
I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast,
and against all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgment. I am
the Lord and the blood. He said, the blood shall be to
you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see
the blood, I'll pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. Look at verse
29 of the same chapter. It came to pass when your children
shall say to you, what mean you by this service? I'm sorry, verse
29. It came to pass that at midnight
the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on the throne to the firstborn
of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn
of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night,
he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there
was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there
was not one dead. Is the blood important? In Egypt,
in Egypt there was death. We read there was a great cry.
Can you imagine the cry that went out through the land that
morning? There wasn't a house among the
Egyptians where there wasn't death. But in Goshen, among the
children of Israel, among those houses, they woke up and there
was life. Don't you know they heard that
cry? I believe that was a great cry
that went out of Egypt. They had to hear that cry and
they probably ran into the room to find that firstborn just to
see. And there was life. Life. What was the difference? What was the difference? A blood
sacrifice. Blood unto the Lord. The blood of the lamb without
blemish. Perfect. Sinless. A picture of
our Lord Jesus Christ. A male of the first year in the
prime of life. Not an old lamb out there in
the barn that was ready to die, but one in the prime of life.
taken out from the sheep, or the goats, from the field, a
representative. Our Lord was taken from among
men. And the whole assembly of the
congregation were to kill that lamb. Those that were responsible
for its death. That's us, isn't it? That is
a description of his people. They were to kill it. Those for
whom it was offered took part in that lamb's death. In verse
seven, we read, take of the blood, take of the blood, no salvation,
no deliverance apart from the blood. The scriptures declare
without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And that
blood was to be applied to the two side posts and the upper
door post. The blood of Christ in like manners
is applied to our hearts and we rest. We rest. Our Lord said, when I see the
blood. You know, there was no reference
there to anything man was doing. Man was to kill the lamb, man
was to take the blood and apply it. I'm sure one probably put
a little extra blood on the door, but there's no reference to that.
No talk of what did you use to apply the blood, Todd? He said,
when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Well, the plague, he said, the
plague shall not be upon your house to destroy you when I smite
the land of Egypt. Judgment's coming, but to God's
people, we rest under the blood of Christ. A blood offering unto
the Lord. And by faith, again, they went
into the house and they rested. Shut the door, resting in what
God had promised. When I see, when I see the blood. A sin offering, a blood sacrifice. Well, we also read in God's word
of trespass offerings. When a man committed a sin through
ignorance. I imagine we do that often, since
everything we do is sin. committed through ignorance.
He was to bring a lamb, and if he couldn't afford a lamb, he
was to bring a couple turtle doves or two pigeons, bring it
to the priest, and the priest would make atonement for him.
Listen, sin, whether it's willful, whether it's done knowingly,
or whether it's committed through ignorance, it doesn't change
the fact that it is sin. A price has to be paid. Atonement has to be made. Now, all these Old Testament
offerings, they point to our Lord Jesus Christ. These burnt
offerings and meal offerings and peace offerings, sin offerings,
trespass offerings, they're all pictures. They all point to the
Lord Jesus Christ. But they cannot take away sin.
We could go out here and slay all the lambs and cattle we want
to. Can never take away, can never
take away our sin. Our offerings, that which the
man would call his offering, what he allegedly would do for
God. The foolishness of that is just,
is beyond us, isn't it? CAN NEVER, NEVER TAKE AWAY SIN. LOOK BACK AT HEBREWS 10. LOOK
BACK AT THE BEGINNING WITH VERSE 1 OF HEBREWS 10. FOR THE LAW IS Having a shadow
of good things to come and not the very image of the things
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year,
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then they would
not cease to be offered because that the worshipers, once purged,
should have had no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices,
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year, for
it is not possible THAT THE BLOOD OF BULLS AND OF GOATS SHOULD
TAKE AWAY SINS. WHEREFORE, WHEN HE COMETH INTO
THE WORLD, HE SAYS, SACRIFICE AND OFFERING, THOU WOULDEST NOT,
BUT A BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME. IN BURNT OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES
FOR SIN, THOU HAST HAD NO PLEASURE. THEN SAID I, LO, I COME IN THE
VOLUME OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou wouldest
not neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first that he may establish the second. By the witch will,
we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never, never take away sins. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, he sat down. being completed. He offered one
sacrifice for sin for him, and he sat down. I can remember years
ago working for a farmer across the road from me. And I'm going
to tell you, if any of you have ever worked on a farm, it's hard
work. It's hard labor. And he would
have a gene, he would have a list Take an old envelope. He'd write
a list down there. Every time we'd finish something,
he'd draw a line through it. And at the end of the day, about
five or six o'clock, he'd get that list out, and he'd go back,
and he'd look, and he'd scratch everything off. And you know
what we'd do then? We'd sit down. We'd sit down. The work was finished. Well, I tell you, that was a
relief. It just felt good to sit down. But you know what? It didn't last very long, because
the next day there was another list, and the whole thing started
all over and over. Isn't that what works religion
is? We think we're resting. We think we've got everything
done. It's never finished. It's never
finished. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
made one offering for sin, and he sat down. He sat down. The work finished. His sacrifice
accepted. His people sanctified. Our sins pardoned. There were
many priests. There's just one, one Savior. There were many sacrifices. But
our Lord, he made one sacrifice for sin forever. The Old Testament
sacrifices, they were types. They pointed to, they pictured
what the Lord Jesus Christ would do. But his sacrifice, it was
effectual. It got the job done. Those sacrifices
were offered again and again and again. We just read that
they could never give peace, they could never take away sin.
Our Lord made one sacrifice for sin. In Isaiah 53 10, we read,
yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief,
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He suffered as our substitute. He suffered as our sin offering. He was made sin that we might
be made the very righteousness of God in him. God's word declares
that he suffered beyond anything we could ever imagine. And yet he counted it joy. It
was a joy for him to suffer for his people. He suffered as our
substitute, as our sin offering. God purposed it, God predestinated
it, God willed it, and he brought it to pass. He made his soul
an offering for sin. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. And if we read on in Isaiah 53
about this one offering, we read he poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sin of men. He bore
the sins of his people. He made intercession for the
transgressors, intercession on our behalf. And God's justice,
God's holiness, which we can't even wrap our minds around, was
satisfied. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. How? By one offering, by one
offering. Go back to our text, Hebrews
10, 14. By one offering, that offering in which he was made
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he hath perfected. Now if something,
I don't know much, but I know this, if something has to be
made perfect, It's pretty safe to say that it wasn't to begin
with. Prior to being made perfect,
it wasn't. Perfect means this, without fault. It means complete,
lacking nothing. The scriptures declare it must
be perfect to be accepted. Is that a description of any
of us? Certainly isn't, is it? We're not, we're in no way are
we perfect. How did the scriptures, now some
think they are, but how did the scriptures declare man? What
do they say about man? Well, in Adam, we're dead. Romans
5 verse 12 says, wherefore as by one man's sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. Colossians 2 verse 13, you being
dead in your sins. Ephesians 2 verse 1, you hath
he quickened, you hath he given life that were dead in trespasses
and sin. Turn back to Ezekiel chapter
16. Here we read a A scripture that gives a pretty
good description of our condition. Ezekiel chapter 16, beginning
in verse 3. Thus saith the Lord God unto
Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan.
Thy father was an Amorite, thy mother was a Hittite. And as
for thy nativity, in the day that thou was born, thy navel
was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee,
thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None I pitied
thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon
thee, but thou wast cast out into the open field, to the loathing
of thy person in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed
by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto
thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased, and waxen
great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned,
and thy hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee, and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee,
and I covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Then washed I thee with water,
yea, I thoroughly washed away the blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered
work and shod thee with badger skin. I girded thee about with
fine linen. I covered thee with silk. I decked
thee with ornaments. I put bracelets upon thy hands,
a chain on thy neck. I put a jewel on thy forehead,
and earrings in thy ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head.
Thus was thou decked in gold and silver, and thy raiment was
of fine lemon and silk, embroidered work, and thou didst eat fine
flour and honey and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful,
and thou didst prosper in the kingdom. And thy renown went
forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through
my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. Here we see our natural condition
as conceived in sin, as a newborn babe helpless. And he said, none
I pitied thee. Listen, from the sole of the
foot even to the head, there's nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. Is there any to help? Well, if
there be any to help, it must come from Almighty God. We read,
he said, I pass by thee. We weren't seeking him. We were
in no condition to seek him. We can't seek him apart from
him drawing us to himself. He sought us. We did not choose
him. He chose us. We read, he passed
by, he saw us, and consider how he saw us. in our sinful condition,
polluted in our own blood, and yet He loved us. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In His mercy and in His grace,
He speaks. He speaks life into the heart
of the sinner. He said, I said unto thee when
you were in your blood, live. You, you hath he quickened that
were dead in trespasses and sin, called from death unto life. He loved us. He covered our nakedness. He washed us with water. He clothed
us. In verse 14, again, we read,
thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty. It was perfect. Why was it perfect? Answers that pretty quick, that
through my comeliness, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord
God. It's his work. The entirety of
it, it is his work. Perfect through his comeliness.
Our text, That's what it declares. By one offering, he hath perfected. He hath perfected. He didn't
help us to get perfect. He hath perfected. Spurgeon said
this, the whole work whereby a lost sinner is lifted from
the dunghill of sin, washed in the blood and made righteous,
exalted to eternal life and glory, It is of the Lord and of him
only. It's his work, the work of salvation. Well, back to our text, back
here in Hebrews 10. By one offering, he hath perfected. Well, who did he do this for?
Who did he perfect? Them that are sanctified. Them that are set apart, set
apart in eternal election. We're bound to give thanks always
to God, to you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you unto salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Them that are sanctified. Them who have no holiness, but
His holiness. We're made holy. Those chosen
to be holy and without blame in Christ from before the foundation
of the world. Those redeemed from all iniquity,
cleansed and made pure by Him. Those regenerated by the Holy
Ghost. and made new creatures in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Those who will hear his voice. He said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. We hear with the ear and with
the heart as a result of God given spiritual life. in a dead
center, opening our deaf ears. He said, I know them. There are those whom he does
not know. Those to whom he said, depart
from me. I never knew you. But he knows
his sheep. He knows them that are his. Those
whom God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Those whom he hath perfected
forever. Turn with me to John chapter
10. We read here of them, John chapter 10. Look beginning with verse 27
of John 10. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. Those who hear his voice, those
who he knows, those who he foreknew, those that will follow him. Verse
28, and I give unto them eternal life. and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand, those who have eternal life, those who shall
never perish, those eternally secure in Christ. He said, no
man, no man can pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave
them, me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand, not them that are sanctified. And that leads me to the fourth
and final point, Hebrews 10, 14. By one offering, he hath
perfected them that are sanctified. Now I skipped a word, I skipped
a word. This that he has done for his
people, them that are sanctified, it is forever. Forever. The entire work of salvation
is of the Lord. Now listen, I can't think of
anything that I can do that can't be undone. I can't, I could talk you into
something. And somebody could come along
the next day, probably quicker than that, and talk you out of
it. I could build something. I've
built things. And in a short time, somebody else could come
and tear it down. But that's not so with God. SHALL BE SAVED IN THE LORD WITH
AN ETERNAL, WITH AN EVERLASTING SALVATION. WE READ THAT ETERNAL
LIFE IS IN HIS SON. JESUS CHRIST IS THE AUTHOR OF
ETERNAL SALVATION. In 1st John chapter 5, we read,
we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is
true. Even in his Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and this is eternal life. Eternal life. to those that are
sanctified, those for whom he was made sin, those for whom
have been perfected. They'll never perish. They'll
never be lost. They'll never fall away. That's
our hope. That's our peace. That's our
comfort. That's our salvation. It's all
of him. It's all in him, in whom he is. and what Christ has done. You
know, God gave Solomon wisdom. He gave him wisdom. He gave him
a wise and understanding heart like none other. And I do find
that kind of the older I get, I'm kind of careful who I listen
to. And I believe Solomon would be
worth listening to. And he said this. He said this,
I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nothing
can be taken away from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before Him. What He does, He does forever. Aren't we thankful? Aren't we
thankful for God's Word? The comfort of God's Word by
one offering. The Lord Jesus Christ, he made
his soul an offering for sin. He hath perfected, he was made
sin that we might be made the very righteousness of God in
him. Them that are sanctified, them
that are set apart, them that are made pure, them that are
cleansed and made holy in Christ forever, forever. An everlasting covenant, an everlasting
salvation. And again, nothing can be put
to it, nothing can be taken from it. What God does, He does forever. I pray the Lord would comfort
our hearts this evening. And in the days to come, we might
think upon this scripture. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Thank God for his
word.