Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 9? I have entitled the message for
tonight, Four Things That I Cannot Live Without. Four things that I cannot live
without. Now there are a lot of things
that I can live without and still live. You know that. It may be
nice to have these things that make life easier. It's nice to
have heating and air conditioning. I love this air conditioning
right now. I came in to the house this afternoon, 85 degrees. Lynn
doesn't have the air conditioning on. She's always cold and I'm
always hot. But I love air conditioning.
I love heating, too, when it's cold. It's a great blessing,
but you don't have to have it. I love having a vehicle to get
here, but you don't have to have a vehicle. I love having a nice
home to go to. You do too. But you can get by
without those things and still live. But I cannot live without
blood pumping through my veins. I cannot live without breathing. I cannot live without food and
water. And I cannot live without an
immune system. Now, I've named four of the 10 systems. I realize
there are 10 systems. We went to see some kind of,
with a head down at Rupp Arena, all the different systems. I
can't remember what it was called. It was very interesting. The
bodies, we saw that, saw the different nervous system. But
I've only got four points of this message, so I can only use
four systems. And all of these systems measure up with these
things that I must have. Now, I must, I must have my blood pumping,
my circulatory system. I can't live without breathing.
The air supplies oxygen to my blood, my respiratory system.
I can't live without food and water. I need my digestive system. And I can't live without an immune
system. If my immune system goes down, I'm in trouble. I remember
in 1988, I couldn't remember if I've ever told this story
before, but they were trying to figure out what was wrong
with me at the time, and my mother was in the room with me, and
the doctor said, well, you have an autoimmune problem. And all
I knew of autoimmune was autoimmune deficiency syndrome. And I thought,
I've got AIDS. I was afraid to ask him about
it. I thought, how did I get it?
I had no idea. My immune system was gone, and
I was very relieved to find out that's not what it was. I was
afraid to ask anybody. I just thought, oh, it's awful. My mom thought, too. She said
she thought the same thing for 24 hours. I thought, I'm dying
of AIDS. What's everybody going to think? At any rate, the book of Hebrews
gives us four things that we can't live spiritually without. And we'll see the correlation
between these systems and these things. Hebrews 9.22 says, without
the shedding of blood. There is no remission of sins. Now there's one thing I cannot
live without. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. And then in Hebrews chapter 11,
verse 6, we read, without faith, it is impossible to please God. I cannot live without faith. And then in Hebrews chapter 12,
verse 14, it says, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Follow peace with all men and
holiness without which, without which no man shall see the Lord. I must have holiness. And if I don't have holiness,
I cannot live. And then in Hebrews chapter 12,
verse eight, we read, if you be without chastening, Where
of all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. I must have the chastening of
the Lord. Without his chastening, I'm not
even one of his children. You see, you don't chasten other
people's children, do you? You chasten your own. And that
serves as our immune system, because without his chastening,
what direction will we go? Now, here's the first thing that
I can't live without. In Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22,
It says, without almost all things are by the law purged with blood
and without shedding of blood is no remission. Now there's
not a more important verse in all the word of God right here. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. Now first, whose blood? Whose
blood? Well, you know whose blood. This
is talking about that one who sweat great drops of blood in
the Garden of Gethsemane. I don't understand how that is,
but he was under such pressure at that time that blood came
through his pores and he sweat blood. I'm talking about the
blood of that one who had blood dripping down his face from the
crown of thorns pressed in his head and his beard ripped off.
I'm talking about the blood of that one who had his back beaten
with the cat of nine tails. I'm talking about that blood
of that one who was flung down on a cross and they took nails
and hammered them through his hands and his feet and they lifted
that cross up in the air and dropped it in the stand. That's
the blood I'm talking about without the shedding of blood. There
is no remission. I'm talking about that one who'd
already died and they took the spirit and put it to his side
and out came blood and water showing justification and sanctification
come from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That blood. Without
the shedding of blood, that blood, there's no way my sins or your
sins will be remitted. We cannot live before God without
the shedding of blood. This is what God says. Now, I
realize people argue with this. Well, that seems cruel. Why does
there have to be bloodshedding for God to forgive sins? Why
can't He just forgive them? That's what the world thinks.
But Leviticus 17, 11 says the life of flesh is in the blood.
It's the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. That's what God
says. Well, can my sins be remitted
by me believing? No. That won't remit any sins. Can my sins be remitted from
me repenting and being holy and living an obedient life and stopping
all kinds of sins and starting all kinds of good works? Can
my sins be remitted by the things that I do? No. No. There's only
one way sin can be remitted, and that is the shedding of His
blood. Now, no matter who we are or
what position we have in life, there's only one thing that can
cause our sins to be remitted, and that is the shedding of His
precious, precious blood. If someone thinks, well, why
did blood have to be shed? I've thought that before. I dare
say you probably have too. But when we think something like
that, we show how little we understand of the evil nature of sin and
the holiness and justice of God. Yes, blood. His blood. Not your blood. That won't do
any good. His blood had to be shed. Here's something I can't
live without. The shedding of His blood for
the remission of my sins. Thank God, with the shedding
of His blood, there is remission of sins. Everybody He died for
has their sins remitted. Therefore now, No condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation because there's
nothing to condemn them for. Their sins have been forgiven,
lifted off of them, remitted. Now, who did he die for? If he died for you, if he died
for you, your sins are remitted. They're gone. They're washed
away. Who did Jesus Christ die for? And let me answer that from
Romans chapter five, if you'll turn there. We know he died for his sheep. We know he died for the elect.
We know the scripture teaches those things, but how can I know
if I'm one of them? How can I know if he died for me? And I don't
want to leave this place without knowing whether or not Jesus
Christ shed his precious blood for me. Who did he die for? Romans chapter five, verse six. For when we were yet without
strength, not just weak, but without spiritual
strength, in due time, according to God's time, Christ died for
the ungodly. I want to ask you this question.
Does this describe you? Right now. I'm not talking about
the way you used to be. I'm talking about right now.
Does this describe you? Without strength and ungodly. Somebody says, no, I'm sinful,
but I'm not there. Well, I can't give you any assurance
Christ died for you. But if this describes you without
strength and ungodly, I can guarantee you Jesus Christ shed his precious
blood for you and your sins have been washed away, put away, separated
as far from you as the east is from the west, cast behind God's
back, buried in the depths of the sea, gone. That's what His
blood accomplishes. You see, without the shedding
blood, there is no remission of sins, but with the shedding
of His precious blood, there is remission of sins. Where the
remission of these is, the writer of the Hebrews said in Hebrews
10, 18, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Don't try
to bring one. Trust His sacrifice. That's what you and I are to
do right now. Trust His sacrifice. Now, that's something I need.
I need Jesus Christ to shed his precious blood for me. I can't
live without that. My only hope is that he died
for me. And if he died for me, I don't
need anything else. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. Now, what do you do When you
come out of the womb and begin your life, what's the first thing
you do? Well, somebody said, well, your blood's already pumping.
I know, but what do they do? They hit the baby on the rear
end, so it will, I guess they still do that. I don't know.
I've seen it on TV. I've never been in when that happened. But
you breathe. You breathe. What is the evidence
of life? Your blood's pumping and you
breathe. What is the breath? What is the
breathing? What is the air of spiritual
life? Faith. Faith. And without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Here's the next thing that I
cannot live without. I must have real God-given faith. I must exercise it myself. I
must be somebody who believes the gospel. Without faith, It
is impossible to please God. Now, would you turn back to Hebrews
11 where that is written? Hebrews chapter 11. Verse six, but without faith,
it is impossible to please him. Now let's go back up to verse
five. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. He was not found because God
had translated him. That's a remarkable thing to
think about. Enoch never died. He lived 318 years old and he
just walked right into heaven. He never experienced physical
death. The scripture says he walked with God. Oh, what a blessed
thing to walk with the living God, to have fellowship with
God. He walked with God and he walked
right into heaven. Now, God translated him, for
before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased
God. God was pleased with Enoch. Now
that doesn't mean that Enoch was just so holy and better than
everybody else and he had such a handle on things that he became
ripe for heaven and walked into heaven. Doesn't mean that at
all. He pleased God the way Christ pleased. This is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased. And if I'm in Christ, God is
well pleased with me. It doesn't say with Him I'm well
pleased. It says in Him I'm well pleased. And if I'm in Him, God is well
pleased with me. Look back up in verse 4. This
says basically the same thing by faith. Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
from God that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts.
And by it, he being dead yet speaketh. God said he was a righteous
man. You see, the sacrifice made him righteous. He's a righteous
man. Enoch walked right into heaven.
He pleased God. But, verse 6, without faith. It is impossible to please him. It can't be done. For he that
cometh to God must believe. Now what's it say next? He that
cometh to God must believe. That he's one of the elect? No. That Jesus Christ died for him?
No. That he's born again? No, doesn't
say that. That he's a Christian? Doesn't
say that. It says he must believe that he is. He must believe that he is. And that doesn't just mean he
believes in the existence of God like the devils believe.
It means he believes that he is as he says he is in his word. He believes in the isness of
God. God is holy. Holy and reverent is thy name. And I believe that. God is just. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of his throne. I believe that. God is sovereign. He controls everything. The Lord
reigneth. I believe that. Our God is merciful. I believe
that. You see, we believe in the is-ness
of God. We believe He is as He reveals
Himself in this book we call the Bible. Do you believe that?
Do you believe the is-ness of God? And really, we're depending
upon the is-ness of God to save us. You know when it says, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord. What's that mean? When
the name of the Lord is who He is. It doesn't just mean audibly
calling out His name. What's His name represent? His
name is His attributes. His name is His character. His
holiness. His justice. His sovereignty.
His wisdom. His power. His love. All of His
attributes. That's His isness. We're depending
on His isness to save us. And His isness is revealed in
the cross, isn't it? All of who God is is revealed
in the cross. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. Now, here's what I cannot live
without, looking to Christ as all my salvation. That's what it is to look to
Christ. You look to Him as all your salvation. Maybe the best
way to illustrate that is there in Ephesians 1, 12, when it says
that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted
in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
God the Father did. He entrusted our salvation to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He looked holy to Christ, and
He didn't look to us for a thing, did He? He looked holy to me. We do the same thing. We look
holy to Christ. That's what faith is. It's a
reliance on him. And I cannot live without faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. But listen to me. The opposite's
true. If you have faith, if you believe,
if you're relying on the Lord Jesus Christ right now as your
salvation before God, you please God. God looks at you and He
doesn't see anything but that which He is pleased with because
you're in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't live without faith. Now, thirdly, look in Hebrews
chapter 12. Verse 14, follow, pursue peace
with all. Don't be a contentious, hateful
person. Don't be argumentative and strife
filled. Follow peace with all men. And
holiness. That's the word that quite often
is translated sanctification. Holiness. without which no man
shall see the Lord. If I am not a holy man, if I
don't have this holiness, I will not see the Lord. I will not
be in heaven. Now, what is holiness? What is sanctification? Sanctification
actually is our food and drink, and I'll show you that in just
a moment. But this is the word sanctification or holiness that
most completely describes God's salvation. It means very simply
separated to God. Separated to God. Set apart for
holiness. Now. I can't make myself holy. I can't. Sanctification is not
an attainment that you work in order to get to. Sanctification
is God setting you apart before time began to be holy. According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy. Sanctification, holiness, is
Christ declaring me to be holy by His work on the cross. By
the witch will, the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 10.10,
by God's will, we are sanctified once for all. perfectly completed,
never to be repeated, can't be improved, can't be taken from.
By the work of Christ on the cross, we are sanctified once
for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Don't you love that? And we're
sanctified by the Spirit of God. We're actually made holy, but
we're bound, Paul said, to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through, through sanctification of the
Spirit. That's the regenerating, life-giving
work of the Holy Spirit where He gives you a holy nature, a
holy nature, a nature that does not sin. If it can sin, it's
not holy. You see, true holiness doesn't
even have the potential to sin. You know, Adam before the fall
didn't have a holy nature and an upright nature, but it was
mutable. He changed. So holiness can't
change. God makes you holy. You're holy. You're given the Holy Spirit.
And the Lord said, put on as the elect of God, holy
and beloved. That's whatever believer is.
Wherefore, Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, every
believer is called a what? A saint, a saint. It simply means a sanctified
one, a holy one. And the Lord said, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. sanctification spirit and belief
of the truth thy word is truth now this thing of being a saint
being a holy one it's not attainment it's a state of grace and where it is he said sanctify
them through that truth thy word is truth there is an appetite
for the word of god where there's no appetite for
the word of God, there's no saint. A sanctified one, a holy one,
has an appetite for the holy word of God. Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. That's our food. Him sanctifying
us. And the scripture also says that
Christ is said to sanctify and cleanse the church with the washing
of water by the Word. Sanctification is our water.
Sanctification is our food water. That's what He does for us. That's
what sanctification is. That's what He does for us. And
let me say this. If I'm not holy, I'll not be
in heaven. Heaven is a holy place and the only people that enter
there are holy people. Revelation 22, 11 says he that's
unjust, let him be unjust still. And he that's filthy, let him
be filthy still. But he that's righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that's holy, let him be
holy still. You see, as you die, as you die. If you die tonight unholy, you're
going to spend eternity unholy. If you die tonight holy, you'll
spend eternity being holy. Now I can only be holy as He
makes me holy, and when He does, I separate myself to be His. I'm separated to the gospel.
I'm separated to the Lord Himself. I am, and that's what holiness
is. It's separating yourself to the Lord. Without holiness,
and you know that He's got to make you holy. 1 Corinthians
1.30 says He's made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification,
holiness. He is my holiness and redemption.
But without holiness, I can't live without holiness, sanctification. And last, I need an immune system
to fight off disease. And that's what the chastening,
the correction, the discipline of the Lord does. Would you turn
to Hebrews chapter 12? I guess you're already there. Verse 8. But if you be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, every
believer, then are you bastards. and not sons. Now chastisement
is what I cannot live without, because if I'm not chastised,
I'm not a son. Now look back up in verse 3 of
Hebrews chapter 12. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be
wearied and faint in your minds. You've not resisted unto blood
striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening, the discipline, the correction of the Lord, nor
faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth,
he chastens. I want to be somebody the Lord
loves, don't you? Whom the Lord loveth, he chastens. And he scourges
every son that he receives. Verse 7, if you endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom
the father chasteneth not? Now, as I've already said, you
only chasten your own children. If I'm not chastened, that means
I'm not his child. You know, the Lord did say you're of your
father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you'll do. There's
children of God and there's children of the devil. And the Lord only
chastens his own children. Now let's go on reading verse
eight. But if you be without chastisement, where of all our partakers, Then
are you bastards and not sons. If you can go on, if I can go
on walking in a way displeasing to the Lord and he doesn't correct
me, all I've proved by that is I'm not one of his. That's a
scary thing, isn't it? In that sense, I'm not looking
for chasing. I don't want to get whipped.
But I'm saying, Lord, I want to be somebody you love. And
I want to be chasing that. I want Him to correct me because
if He doesn't correct me, I'm going to go astray. There's no
end to what I'll do without Him chasing me and correcting me
and disciplining me and bringing me back where I ought to be.
Like David said, I've gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant,
for I do not forget thy word. Chasten me. Chasten me. Keep me on the straight and narrow.
Keep me walking with you. You see, that's like an immune
system. If you don't have the immune system, what are you going to
do? You're going to get sick. You're going to go bad. You can't
fight off the disease. We need the chastening of the
Lord. Now go on reading verse 9. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh which corrected us. and we gave them reverence,
shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of
spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure, after their own understanding,
but he, for our profit, that we, now look at this, might be
partakers of his holiness. Now what is chastening? What
is chastening? When the Lord chastens, what is chastening?
What is the discipline of the church? Is it bringing people,
having a committee and bringing people down and have them confess
their sins and tell what they did and then keep them from taking
the Lord's table or everybody shunning them? Is that church
discipline? No. That's man's foolishness
and religion is what that is. What is church discipline? What
we're doing right now. the preaching of the Word, the
correction of the Word. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for correction, for instruction,
for reproof, correction, instruction of righteousness, that the man
of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. And the Lord hides his face. He hides his face. When we're
corrected, he hides his face. And that's something no believer
can take. The worst thing that can happen
to me is for me to be left to myself to where I can't hear
the gospel, but I can't hide his face. That's his chastisement.
And whom the Lord loveth, he chastens, he scourges every son
that he receives, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Verse 8, 11. No chastening, for the present
time seemeth to be joyous. It's not joyous at all, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. This is what the chastening of
the Lord does. It yields the peaceable fruit. I love that
word. The wisdom that is from above
is first pure, but after that, peaceable, gentle, easy to be
entreated, approachable, full of good fruits without partiality
and without hypocrisy. The peaceable fruits, that which
comes from life, The life of God in the soul of man. The peaceable
fruits of righteousness. That's the righteousness of Christ.
You see there's only one righteousness. The righteousness of Christ.
That's my righteousness before God. And Him giving me His righteous
nature. A new nature. The peaceable fruits
of righteousness. and them that are exercised thereby.
Now, it's no fun to get a whipping. Nevertheless, the benefit that
comes from God's chastening hand. Now, I cannot live without chastening,
the chastening of the Lord. Does that mean I'm going to go
up and volunteer to get a whipping. John Walmsley, you did that,
didn't you? You did something bad and he came to his parents
and said, you all need to whip me. I never did that. I never did
that. But I do want the Lord's chastening. Now, these are four things that
I can't live without. Without the shedding of his blood. Now, this is what I cannot live
without. I must have Him, pay for my sins,
and cause Him to be remitted. That's so simple. That's everything
to salvation, isn't it? The shedding of His blood. I
can't live without it. I can't live without faith. If
I don't have faith in the Son of God, looking to Him only,
there's no life for me. And without holiness, I will
not see the Lord. I must have holiness. I must be a holy man. Every believer is a holy man
or woman of God. And it's, you know, when I was
reading things about this, I remember reading somebody, they talked
about positional sanctification. I thought, what? Positional sanctification,
that's just, that means it's not actual. That means it's virtual.
That means it's not real. No, holiness. Holy is God's own
Son. And I must have his chastening
because I know I'll go astray without it. Lord, don't leave
me to myself. Chasten me through the word and
keep me on the way, the way the Lord himself. These are things
that I must have to live. You do. Let's pray.