I couldn't help but open up the
songbook and look at the other version of that. There's a reason
we don't sing it. That was beautiful. Hebrews chapter 10. While you're
turning there, there's a couple of things that I was thinking
about this morning's service that I wish I said, and I thought,
well, I'll go ahead and say it now. You know, talking about
how the Lord always brings evil out of good. And only he can
do that. But something that I forgot to
say. What? I didn't hear it. Only the Lord. Oh, I see. Yeah,
I said, sorry, only the Lord brings good out of evil. Thank
you, Paul. But that sort of story about
David and what he did, it's a sort of story. The Lord came from
that union. He came through the land of Bathsheba. Isn't that glorious? The Lord
brings good out of evil. He always does. Always. And another thing I wish I would
have brought out this morning, where David said, I've sinned
against the Lord. You know what Nathan said to
him? The Lord had put away thy sin. What a response. Hebrews 10. See why I wish I would have said
those things during this morning sermon. That's just one of those
things I just couldn't get back at thinking about. I thought, why didn't
I say that? Every sermon I'm thinking of something I wish
I would have said, but that was pretty stupid to leave those
things out. Hebrews chapter 10. is a quotation from verse 5,
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldst 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 me to do thy will, O God. And this is this quotation
from Psalm 40, where the Lord says, Lo, I come. You know, the whole gospel is
in that message right there. That's the gospel. Lo, the word
means behold and see, and it carries with it the idea of surprise. And here's the gospel. Lo, I
come. That's a good definition of the
gospel, isn't it? The Lord Jesus says, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book it's written of me, I delight to do thy will, O God. Now, in verse one of this chapter,
the writer says, for the law, talking about the Ten Commandments,
the sacrifices, the feast days and holy days, the Sabbath days,
for the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices
which they offer year by year, continually, make the comers
thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once purged
should have no more conscience of sins. 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. Now, the law made nothing perfect. The gospel does. The Lord Jesus
coming in the flesh, what he did made every single person
he did it for perfect. The law never satisfies the conscience. But my conscience is satisfied
knowing that Christ is my salvation before God. My conscience is
satisfied that his blood actually put away my sins. My conscience
is satisfied that I actually have righteousness before God.
He is my righteousness before God. I'm satisfied. My conscience
is satisfied with that. The law, the sacrifices under
the law could never take away sins, but Christ took away sins. So verse 5 says, wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, aren't you thankful he came? He, the
Lord Jesus Christ, came into the world. God was manifest in
the flesh. He came. He did what He came
to do. That's the gospel. Lo, I come.
He came. And He did what He came to do.
He saved His people from their sins. I love to think of it as
finished. I just love thinking about that.
It takes all the pressure off. It's finished. My salvation's
accomplished. It was accomplished before I
even had the potential to have any hand in it. He did it. Isn't that wonderful? He did
what he came to do. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared thee. Now, in him coming into
the world, he tells us what God had no desire for or pleasure
in. That's the sacrifices and the offerings of the Old Testament.
God never had any pleasure in those things. They were given
simply to picture what the Lord Jesus does, but God never found
any satisfaction in any of the Old Testament law. As a matter
of fact, look, look how the writer to the Hebrews describes God's
law. Hebrews chapter 7, verse 16. He's talking about the priesthood
of Christ, and he says who is made not after the law of a carnal
commandment. But after the power of an endless
life, he called God's law a carnal commandment. Look at verse 18
of the same chapter. For there's verily a disannulling
of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof. Now he's speaking of God's holy
law, and he talks about the weakness and the unprofitableness of it.
Now, why does he use language like that? Because the law can't
save. That's why, that's the only reason
the law cannot save. Look in chapter 8, verses 7 and
8. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, talking about the law, then no place had been
sought for the second. For finding fault with them,
he saith, the Lord found fault with them, it won't save. Look
in verse 13, end of chapter 8, in that he saith a new covenant.
He hath made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Do you see how ridiculous it
is for somebody to think that they're still under Old Testament
law in any way? Look what God's Word says about this. He calls
it ready to vanish away. Look what it says about it in
verse 1 of chapter 9. Then verily the first covenant had also ordinance
of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. He calls it a worldly
sanctuary. That's never a good thing. Now,
remember, the Old Testament is a shadow. It's a schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ and the offerings and sacrifices and
the priesthood of the Old Testament. God never desired. He never found
satisfaction in these things, nor do we. The law. I love this
scripture. The law was given by Moses. But
grace and truth. Came by Jesus Christ. Now, the
law is true, but the law is not. the truth. It doesn't tell the
whole story. Grace and truth come by Jesus
Christ. Now back to Hebrews chapter 10. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he sayeth, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body has thou prepared me. Now, it's interesting. He
said a body has thou prepared me. But if you read in the Psalms,
he doesn't say a body has thou prepared me. He says, Mine ear
have you opened. And what that's a reference to,
when he talks about mine ear, has thou digged? Has thou opened?
What that's a reference to is the law of when the Hebrew slave,
he was a Hebrew and he had to be a slave because he couldn't
pay his debts. Let's say he went in to be a
slave. You can read about this in Exodus
21. And he had to be a slave for seven years serving his master. Now, If he married someone during
that time and had children during that time, when his seven years
were up and he was set free, he couldn't take his kids with
him. He couldn't take his wife with him. They had to stay servants
to his master. But he could say this. He could
say, I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I don't want to be set free from
them. I'm going to willingly serve
My master forever. So he would go into after that
seven years was up and he could have gone free. He goes in and
says, I want to be your servant forever because I love you. I
love my wife. I love my children. I don't want
to be set free. Now, that's what the Lord Jesus
did. He said, I love my wife. I love my children, so he became
the servant of the living God to stay with us forever. Lo,
I come, mine ear hast thou opened. But when the writer to the Hebrews
talks about it, he says, A body hast thou prepared me. Now, this
is talking about the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. A body hast thou prepared me. And this body is like no other
body. This is a sinless body. a perfect body. He came into
the world, a body hast thou prepared me. And in this body, the Lord
did what the Father desired. He did what the Father willed.
He kept God's law perfectly. He did God's pleasure. He did
God's satisfaction. And He pleased God in His death.
He satisfied the justice of God. That's why God raised him from
the dead. That body, that perfect body,
the God-man, did in that body what God required. Verse 6, he
says, 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's
written of me to do thy will, O God. Now what's this talking
about the volume of the book? Lo, I come in the volume of the
book it's written of me. Now, you can't find this anywhere
in the scriptures as far as this volume of the book he's talking
about. What this is a reference to is that volume in Revelation
chapter five. Remember, sealed with seven seals,
written front side and back side. Nothing can be added to it. That's
the book of God's decrees. All of God's purposes, all of
God's decrees are written in that book. And in the volume
of that book, it was written of him. Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. Now, in Psalm 40, verse 8, it
says, I delight. to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy
law is within my heart." And he delighted in doing the Father's
will. He delighted in God. He delighted
in his will. He delighted in his law. He delighted
in saving his people. He said, I delight to do thy
will, O God. He said in John 4, 34, my meat
is to do the will of him that sent me. He said in John 6, 38,
I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. And get him in his garden, he
prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine be done. And beloved, he did the Father's
will. He said, lo, I come in the volume
of the book. It's written of me. I delight
to do thy will, O God. And that's exactly what he did.
He did the Father's will. When he kept the law, He did
the Father's will. When He was nailed to a cross,
He was doing the Father's will. Remember, it pleased the Lord
to bruise Him. He was doing His Father's will.
This is why it came. When He was raised from the dead.
When He raised Himself from the dead. That's what He did. He
said, I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take
it up again. This commandment of I receive it of my Father.
Only God can raise Himself from the dead. He was doing the Father's
will. As he's right now seated at the
right hand of the Father, he is doing the Father's will, representing
us. Verse 7, then said, I, lo, I
come. In the volume of the book, it's written of thee to do thy
will, O God. Now, above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offering and offering, for seeing thou
wouldst not, neither has pleasure therein, which are offered by
the law, God never required those things. I mean, he never found
true satisfaction. Then said he, verse 9, then said
he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first,
that he may establish the second. Now, he takes away the first
covenant, that he may establish the second. He takes away the
law, that he may establish the gospel. Now, this is something
that our God does. He takes away the first. And
he establishes the second. What I thought about, I thought
about the parable of the marriage feast, where the governor of
the feast said, men always serve the good wine at first, and after
men have well drunk, then they serve the cheap wine. But you
save the best for now. You know, that's what the Lord
does. So in so many ways, in so many respects, he saves the
best for last. He took away You know, I know
we thought about what a paradise that must have been. He took
away. No, didn't he? The garden. He
took it away. But heaven is infinitely better. He took away in this sense, the
first man failed. But the second man. How he achieved. You know, I was thinking about
this. We all have a common ancestor, Adam. But you know what? We also
all have another common ancestor, Noah. Remember, God destroyed
everybody else and everybody came through Noah. You're just
as much coming through Noah as Adam. Everybody else was destroyed.
There wasn't any branches. Well, Noah, I mean, Adam stood
in his own obedience. His only hope was his own personal
obedience. The Lord took that away. Noah's safety was in the
ark, was in the gospel. He takes away the first that
he may establish the second. He takes away our righteousness. And he gives us the very righteousness
of Christ, the righteousness of God. He takes away our false
peace, the peace that we work up, and he gives us true peace,
the peace of the gospel. He takes away our earthly family. These earthly ties are not going
to last. But he gives a heavenly family
that's infinitely closer and more glorious. He takes away
these bodies of corruption that we're living in. They're all
going to be done away with. And he gives us glorified bodies. He takes away this earth and
he gives a new heaven and a new earth. He takes away the old
covenants of works He takes it away. It's abolished. And there's
a covenant of pure, free, sheer grace. That second covenant is
established. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. Now listen to this. Here's full
atonement. That's what this second covenant
is. Full atonement. Here's pardonful
for sin that's past. It matters not how black it's
cast. And, O my soul, with wonder view,
for sins to come, here's pardon too." Full, complete, free atonement. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. Now look at verse 10. Now remember,
he said, lo, in verse 9, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh
away the first, that he may establish the second, by the which will,"
that will of God that he came to do, by the which will, we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. We are sanctified. Now, this is in the perfect passive. That means it's perfectly completed,
never to be repeated, a sanctification, a holiness that is perfect, that
cannot be added to. You know, I've heard people talk
about positional sanctification and progressive sanctification.
No, this isn't progressive. It's perfect. It's not positional. It's actual. It's real. We're
sanctified by what the Lord did. Sanctified once for all. Perfect. A completed act that
can't be added to. That can't be improved. That
can't be changed. Once for all. Never to be repeated. And passive. This is in the passive,
in this sense. This is God's work. It's not
something that you and I had our hand in. It's what he did
by himself with no help from us. sanctified once for all through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, every believer is sanctified. I love saying this, St. Todd,
that's me, that's every believer, You're a saint. You're sanctified.
You're declared by God himself to be holy. We're sanctified
once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Now, this sanctification is the outcome of four things. Now,
understand, this is true of every believer. I'm looking at some
holy men and women. I used to have a hard time saying
that. Because when I look at myself, I certainly don't see
anything that's holy. I see sinfulness. I see weakness. I see anything
but holiness in a very real respect. But I believe I'm holy because
the Bible tells me I am. Holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling. I'm holy and I also know this.
I see the effects of that holy nature. Because there was a time
when I didn't believe, and I do now. That's because of that new
nature. There's a time when I didn't
even know what repentance was. But I know I'm repentant now.
That's because of that new nature. There was a time when I truly
had no love for God. I do now. I love him just as
he is. And that's because of that holy
nature that I'm a saint. Saints is what saints are. Saints
are. He's holy. Every believer is
holy. Every believer is sanctified.
And let me repeat, this is not something that's progressive.
It's accomplished. It's finished. It's not something that's positional.
I don't know where that came from. I don't know if y'all ever
heard that term positional sanctification. What that means is you're not
really sanctified, but it's as if you were. But no, not at all.
Every believer is holy before God. Now, there are four things
that bring about this holiness that every believer possesses
that can't be improved, that can't be added to. It's complete. First, this holiness comes from
the will of God, by the which will we are sanctified. Now, God's will is so supreme
that when He wills it, it is. He doesn't will that we will
be sanctified. He wills that we are sanctified,
and we're sanctified by the which will. By which will? By God's will. That will that
the Lord Jesus Christ came to perform. Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. By that will, we are sanctified
once for all. Now listen to me. Believe this.
You are holy before God by the will of God. He willed your holiness. If he wills it, it is. Do you
believe that? If he wills you to be holy, you
know what that means? You are holy. By the witch will, we are sanctified. Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ, once for all. You are holy through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ. When Christ died, God said of
all he died for, they are holy. They are holy. And let me repeat, this is not
a progressive holiness, that you've become holy. gradually
become holier. This is not a position of holiness.
This is holiness. When the Lord said it is finished,
everybody he died for was declared by God himself to be holy. By the witch will, we are sanctified
We are declared by God himself to be holy. We are sanctified
once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Now, that's what he did. What does it take to be holy?
Well, for one thing, you can't have any sin. And you have to
be perfectly righteous. And that's what the Lord accomplished
on the cross. He took away sin and he gave
me perfect righteousness. So every believer We're holy. What's it take to be holy? It's
the result of the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God. Would
you turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 2. This is a very important verse
of scripture. You know, before I read this,
I believe God by his grace. I believe God. And I believe
I'm only not because I see it. But because God says I am. We
are sanctified once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ, once for all a completed action. I believe God. I believe
what he says. I believe I'm a sinner, too.
I believe I'm a sinner, but I believe that God does not see my sin
because there's nothing there. put it away, and I'm holy. This is the heritage of every
believer. Now look here in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 13. Paul says, But we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's talking about election
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, every believer, they're
holy because God willed their holiness. Every believer is holy
because Christ died for them and makes them holy, sins taken
care of. Every believer is holy because
they have the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit. But notice
how he says this. He says, through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. How can I know that God
has done a sanctifying work of grace in me? One evidence. I believe the truth. You can't
separate the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and the belief
of the truth. Remember what our Lord said in
John chapter 17. He said, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Do you believe the gospel? Just
real simply, do you believe the gospel? Are you relying on Jesus
Christ as your holiness before God? Are you relying on Jesus
Christ as your righteousness before God? Do you really believe
that He is your entrance into heaven? You wouldn't dare come
anywhere. Do you believe the gospel? Then you've had the sanctifying
work of God, the Holy Spirit done in you. You've been sanctified
by the Spirit. And the evidence of it is belief
of the truth. Look, look up in this. Let's
not just talk about getting a sense of the truth. Look, look in verse
eight of the same chapter, 2nd Thessalonians, chapter two. And
then shall that wicked be revealed, talking about the Antichrist,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him whose
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs
and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness,
and in the parish, because they receive not what? The love of
the truth. Not just the truth, but the love
of the truth. You know, I love God's way of
saving, don't you? I love God's way of saving by
Christ. I love God's way of saving by
grace. I've received the love of the truth. Now, these people
who did not receive the love of the truth, that they might
be saved for this cause, God shall send them. Did you see
that? God shall send them strong delusion. that they should believe
a lie, that they all might be damned, who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But here's the difference between
you and them. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you. There's the difference. God.
We're bound to thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. So here we see God in sanctification. God, the Father, willed my sanctification. God, the Son, redeemed me and
made me sanctified. God, the Holy Spirit gives me
the new birth. That's sanctification. Now, what
this does in the life of the believer is what is the evidence
that God has done something for us. And let me let me try to
tell you Let me try to explain. If God sanctified me, I now love God. I love Him as He's revealed in
His Word, and I hate sin. You know, I don't believe there's
any understanding of love without hatred. Love is meaningless without
hatred. And what do I mean by that? Let
me give you some examples. I love God's Word. And I hate anything
that's contrary to it. I do. I hate it. I love what
God says. And I hate everything that's
contrary to it. David said, I esteem all thy
precepts and all things to be right. And I hate every false
way. We love God's people. You know, when we were beginning
this service, I was just looking out over this congregation. I thought, man, I love these
people. What a blessing to be identified with them. It's such
a blessed thing. We love God's people. And we hate the old man. I hate
myself. I hate my sinful nature. I hate
it. I do. I despise it. We love God's ways. And we hate the ways of the world. We love God's righteousness.
And we hate self-righteousness. We love grace. And we hate salvation
by works. We love liberty. And we hate
bondage. We love sincerity. And we hate
hypocrisy. We love good works. We hate evil
works. You see where there's a love,
there's a hate. And God has done something in
you and for you when you love that which is of him and you
hate that which is contrary to him. When someone is sanctified,
it's seen in their character. A holy Now, in our text, once again,
Hebrews 10, verse 10, by the witch will, we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ. And look at this next
word, once. Once for all. No degrees, no decline. We are sanctified
wholly before God through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Something that can never be repeated. Once for all. I've justified. Oh, I love that. I am without
sin. Once for all, I'm sanctified. Once for all, I'm reconciled. Once for all, I'm purified. Once for all, I'm glorified. Once for all. It takes faith to believe that,
doesn't it? It's only believing God's Word. Believing it because God says
it. If God says we're sanctified once for all, we are sanctified
once for all.