I want to begin reading again
in verse 5. The book of Hebrews chapter 10. Let's begin reading
verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh unto
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sins 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. Above, when he said, Sacrifice,
and offering, and burnt offering, and offering for sin, that which
is 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 which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices, which
can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting, waiting, till his enemy had made
his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
This is the covenant that I will make with them 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. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sins." Two times here in our text, he
made reference and emphasizes the body. of Christ, the body
of the Lord Jesus. The body hast thou prepared me.
And then it says in verse 10, we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ. And then he goes on down
here in verse 20. by a new and living way which
He has newly made for us, consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say, His flesh. So we looked at this last week
and we said that when Paul here was talking about a body that
the Lord had made Christ, that it wasn't at the exclusion of
His soul and spirit. That's true, but he emphasizes
here especially, and for a good reason, the body. A body hast
thou prepared me. And then he sanctified us through
the offering of that body. And it was a new and living way
by the rending of His flesh upon the cross of Calvary. Now let's
just think about this just for a few minutes, the offering of
the body, the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. It's amazing
that the eternal Son of God took to Himself a real body, a human
body. And we know how that happened.
We looked last week at the Incarnation, and we didn't look at this passage,
but in Luke 1, where the angel of the Lord came to Mary and
said, You're going to have a son, and he's going to be great, and
he's going to sit on the throne of his father David. And she
said, How can this be? I don't know a man. And she had
counted an awful sinful thing to conceive a child outside of
marriage. And He told her how this was
going to be, didn't He? He said, The Holy Ghost shall
come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow
you, and that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be
called the Son of God. There He's called a holy thing. And here's the amazing aspect
of this. And somebody's made this statement
about the Incarnation. The Incarnation is the most mysterious,
wonderful event between the eternities. Because here you have a fallen
woman, Mary, though she was a virgin, she was born just like you and
I. The Catholic believe in the immaculate conception. And when
I first read that, I thought, well, I believe that Christ was
immaculately conceived. But until I read that they thought
Mary was immaculate. But we have no record of that.
You know, she was conceived just like you and I, by natural means.
And so she was a fallen woman. And here the Son of God was implanted
in her womb. And when she brought him forth,
her son, he was holy. His body was absolutely holy. He had no sin about it. And that's
why we talk about and people talk for ever so long now about
the incarnation being the great mystery. And we think of the
world. and how God made it out of nothing.
Just spake it into existence. Spake the stars and spread them
out as a tent to dwell in. And that was a mystery. What
a wonder that was. And the resurrection, how the
Lord's going to speak and raise the dead that they don't even
have any bodies left. Their bodies have decayed and
gone. There's no record of them. But
He raises the body from the dead. What a mystery and a miracle
that would be. But nothing between the eternities
compares with the mystery of the Son of God being implanted
in the womb of a virgin and coming forth with a body, a real body
that is holy. You know that never happened
before. There's never been a man born of a woman that was born
holy. Adam was made. And he was holy,
but when he fell, all his children, their bodies were sinful. And
the Lord Jesus lived in this body for thirty-three and a half
years. And he was around sinners, fellowshiped with sinners, ate
with sinners, received sinners, but his body remained holy as
well as his soul and his spirit. And on the cross of Calvary,
when Peter said that He bare our sins, where? In His own body. He bare our sins in His own body.
And Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that He might bring us to God, being put to death in His flesh. In His flesh. And even then,
upon the cross of Calvary, you know something? He was still
holy. We read here in the ninth chapter where it said he offered
himself without spot to God. Now how he could take our sins
in his own body and bear the punishment for those sins and
suffer the consequences of those sins, even our guilt, and not
be defiled by those sins? That's a miracle, isn't it? But
when they took him down from that cross and laid him limp
in that tomb, in that sepulcher, he was there for three days,
and the Bible says he saw no corruption. Now, Wanda has seen
some dead people come in there, and I'm telling you, most people,
especially if the atmosphere is just right, they begin to
swell and to change colors within a few hours. But not him. Not him. And the reason is because
of this body. His body was holy. I want to
put you a little marker there and turn over to Acts chapter
13. Paul makes mention of this in
Acts chapter 13. This is the first recorded message
of the Apostle Paul. And look here how he says it
in Acts chapter 13. Look in verse 34. He was preaching
about this very thing. that the Jews had taken the Lord
Jesus and had crucified Him. In verse 34 of Acts 13, and as
concerning that God raised Him up again from the dead, now no
more to return to corruption, He said on this watch, I will
give Him the sure mercies of David. Wherefore, He said also
in another psalm, thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep, he
died, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption, his body
decayed. But he whom God raised again
saw no corruption." Three days he saw no corruption. And it's
because his body was holy. It was holy. And there's a good
reason. There is a good reason for the
Scripture emphasizing that the body of Jesus Christ was absolutely
holy, that it was kept from any sin or defilement because of
the design and offering of that body for human sin. There was
a design and there was a purpose in Him offering that body, but
it had to be holy to accomplish that design. First of all, let me say this.
Now look back over at our text. Look back over at our text again
because I don't want to lose you on this. Back over in Hebrews. Look at Hebrews again. Look in verse 8 and verse 9. Here's the first design of this offering of the body of Christ.
Above, when He said, Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt offering,
and offering for sins, thou wouldst not need that pleasure therein
which are offered by the law. Then He said, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
He may establish the second." Christ's design in giving His
body a sacrifice for sins is taking away, abolishing, all
the old covenant with all its sacrifices and all its ordinances
and establishing the new covenant. That's what His death was all
about, taking away, abolishing that. As amazing as that was
for the Jews, that's the purpose in His death. Now, look over,
I just started a minute ago to get you to look over here too
quick, but look over in Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter
2. There's a good reason that he
had to take away the first covenant. There's a
good reason he had to take away the ceremonial law. He had to
do this. Because you know, that's what
caused the enmity between the Jew and the Gentile. If Christ
had not have taken away these old sacrifices in those holy
days and those shadows, there could have never been peace between
the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles. The believing Jews
was the one that had this law. It was committed unto them. They
offered the sacrifices. The Gentiles had no part in that.
They were basically on the outside looking in. But look what happened
when the Lord Jesus gave His flesh upon the cross of Calvary. Look what He says in verse 11,
Ephesians chapter 2. Wherefore remember that you being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, and you were called the
uncircumcision made uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands. The Jews called you the uncircumcised
Gentiles. That at that time you were without
Christ. You were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. You
had no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were a for-off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ, for He is our peace, who hath made both one,
Jew and Gentile one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
petition between us." That was a petition that divided the Jew
and the Gentile. What was it? These laws. This
old covenant. Look what he says in verse 15.
"...having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in Himself of two one
new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to
them that are nigh." Why did Christ offer His body upon Calvary? He took away those ordinances. He took away the sacrifices.
And now that wall that was between the Jew and the Gentiles has
been abolished. Now we have peace. Every believing
Gentile and every believing Jew has peace in Jesus Christ that's
made us friends, made us reconcile again. This is why the temple
had to be tore down. This is why the priesthood had
to be abolished. This is why the sacrifices can't
be offered anymore. It's a wall that was between
the Jew and the Gentile, so it's all abolished. And now everybody
that's in Christ, everybody that's in Christ should
have fellowship one with another because He is the cause of our
fellowship. Paul said this when he's talking
about these two covenants won't mix. You can't hold on to this
law any longer, he said to the Jews, and hold on to Christ too. He said we have an altar and
what is that altar? It's Christ. And they have no
right to eat which serve the tabernacle. And he's telling
these Jews in the last chapter of this book, if you're going
to hang on to these sacrifices, and that will content you, and
that's where you'll find your peace and your hope. He said,
you've got no interest in Christ. Because these things will not
mix. Will not mix. We have an order. And it's not
in the temple. It's not outside the temple.
It's Christ Himself. And if you're going to serve
these sacrifices and serve these ceremonies in the old covenant,
then you've got no right to that altar. You've got no right. So
that's the first reason, first design in the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look back over to our text for
the second thing. When He came into the world, He taketh away
the first. He's taken it away. That's why
we continually emphasize these things will not be re-established.
We keep saying that and saying that because after you've said
it 500 times, somebody is going to come up and say, do you think
these sacrifices are going to be re-established? Do you think
the temple is going to be rebuilt? Do you think Jerusalem is going to be
the headquarters? So we just keep repeating it, don't we?
Here's the second design in the death, in the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ, and that's what he keeps emphasizing here,
not just the death, of course it's the death, but it's the
offering. Verse 10, By the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. We are sanctified. This word
means to set apart to God, to consecrate, to make holy, it's a complete work. It's a
complete work. What we need to do sometime,
and I'm just certain of it, is to have one whole study on this
word sanctify and sanctification. And we may do that soon. Just
take one whole study. Most of the time in the Old Testament,
this word simply means set apart. When you see the vessels of the
temple, the priesthood, the clothes, everything that was used in the
worship and service of God, it was said to be sanctified. They
would anoint it with oil or sprinkle blood on it, and they said it
was sanctified, which simply meant it was set aside for the
worship and service of God. And when you come to the New
Testament, most of the places, that's what it means. And here
it simply means that by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ,
all God's elect have been made holy and completely set aside
to God. By His body we've been made holy
and set aside to the worship and service of God. Sometimes it's a progressive
sanctification, not meaning that the body gets better or holy. but it simply means that we grow
in grace and knowledge. So we'll have to take a look
at that. We've been bombarded in this area of the country I
know to think that sanctification is the long dresses the women
wear, the long sleeve that the men wear, or the women wearing
their hair up in buns, and the way they talk so sanctified,
you know, I'm speaking for God, and all of this. And that's not
what that means. That's not what it means. So
maybe we'll take... But what it means right here is a setting
apart to God, consecration to God, making holy. And this, in
this instance, is a completed work. A completed work through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now, these things absolutely
astound me. These verses in verse 14 some
of these verses I'm going to read to you. I look at these verses and I
was looking at them today and I just sat back in my chair and
I thought, I can't even grasp that, that I am set aside, holy,
consecrated to God, not by what I'm doing or thinking, but through
the offering of the body, this holy body, a sacrifice for sin. But look how Paul says it. Hold
that and look over in Colossians chapter 1 and look how he says
it in Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 and look
in verse 19. This is one of those passages
that is absolutely astounding to me. Verse 19, It pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell. and having made
peace through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all
things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things on earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
have been reconciled. in the body of His flesh through
death, through His death, to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. Now, there is another commentary,
I guess, on the verse that we just looked at in Hebrews 10. We are sanctified. We are completely
set aside to God, made holy and acceptable to Him through the
offering of the body. And He says nothing here about
what we do, what we think, our character, our conduct. That's
not what reconciled us to God. But it was in the body of His
flesh. How could that possibly be? He
was holy. That sacrifice was holy, well-pleasing
to God. And when He says it's finished,
Now you come to believe on Him, Christ and Him crucified, and
immediately God is your friend. God is your Father. He'll never
hold anything else against you. He'll be a merciful, tender Father
to you, and you're welcome into His presence 24 hours a day. You've got fellowship with Him.
And it's established this one way through the offering of this
body. I remember one time, I don't
know what was going on, but I was going out to preach for Brother
John Mitchell out in Montana. And on my way out there, I ran
into one or two different people that was talking about establishing
a relationship with God. And it was more than that. I know it caught my attention.
I thought, man, what's this about, establishing a relationship with
God? I got out there and was talking to some of them about
it, and they said, this is a big thing now. That people are encouraging
people just to begin a relationship with God. Just begin a relationship
with God. Establish a relationship with
God. Well, how are people who are God's enemies to establish
a relationship with God? There first has to be reconciliation. And how does that reconciliation
come? By one way. The offering of the
body. of Jesus Christ once and for
all. That's the design in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to reconcile us to God. We were His enemies. That's the
second thing here that we see. And He says here in chapter 2
in verse 10, You are complete in Him. That's a wonderful statement,
isn't it? Boy, down through the ages, down
through the ages, people have been trying to find out a way
to befriend God. They know in their minds there's
something wrong. The heathen know that. People
in the jungles know this. There's something wrong. They
see the things it's made and they realize things ain't right.
And they start attempting by different ways, some offering
God all kinds of things, offering Him stuff. Promises trying to
be free in God. Quit themselves trying to beat
sin out of them, atone for their sin. Different ways to make friendship,
to make a relationship, to establish a relationship with God. But
there's only one way that that's possible. And it's already been
accomplished through the offering of the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ once and for all in the very instant A poor sinner comes
to believe in this crucified Christ. There's where he begins
a relationship with God as his Father and he as the Son. Well, somebody say, Bruce, you
have your way and we've got our way. But what's God's way? What's God's will? What's God's
will of reconciliation? What's God's will of making us
complete? What's God's will of sanctifying us, separating us
to Himself? It's through the body, isn't
it? It's through the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lo, I
come to do Thy will, O God, by the which will we're sanctified
through the offering. It was God's will through Jesus
Christ giving His body to reconcile us unto Himself. Look over in
another place. Look over in John chapter 6.
Wayne's getting ready here now. a while to begin, John, and you'll
be getting into some of these things, but this is a wonderful
book. But the Old Testament and New Testament as well talks about
our Lord Jesus, the design of His death upon
the cross and His giving His holy body and His flesh. And
look how He says it here in John chapter 6 and verse 51. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven, If any man eat of this bread, he shall live
forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh." There it is,
isn't it? My flesh. Which I will give for
the life of the world. That's the design in the death,
in the giving up of the body of Jesus Christ. My flesh, your
life. I give my flesh, and you've got
life. He is for us. That's what it
is. That's the design of that. I
come into this world and give my flesh for your life. And that's
God's will. Look what he says over in verse
38 of that same chapter. I came down from heaven, not
to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which sent me. that of all which He hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, sees Him in the
Gospel, sees Him in the Word, sees Him by the eye of faith,
sees Him through the understanding, and believes on Him, may have
everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day."
That's the design of Christ's death. And you can't feel that. You can't feel these things,
you just got to believe them. Through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ, we are perfectly set aside to God. Perfectly reconciled,
we have life eternal. This is God's will. Let's go
back over to our text again. Here's the third thing, the design
of Christ giving His body. It was to show the contrast between
all the sacrifices that had been offered before as opposed to
this one sacrifice, the body of Christ. God lacks contrast. You notice He always contrasted
darkness and light, righteousness and unrighteousness, Christ and
the devil, the truth and lies. He always has these contrasts.
And He sets the truth over against the lies. You've got to have
lies. or the truth won't be magnified. There's got to be heresies, even
in the church, or those that God's taught the truth won't
be approved. So He sets all of these things.
You've got to have a Pharaoh to exalt Moses. You've got to
have an Esau to exalt Jacob. You've got to have hell to exalt
heaven. So He contrasts these things together. as opposed one
to another. And look what he does here in
verses 11 and verse 12 in our text. And every high priest standeth
daily, ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices
which can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Can you imagine the Jews, this
was written to the Jewish believers. Can you imagine as they read
this and their minds went back to all the millennials of sacrifices,
hundreds of years, animal sacrifices was offered on those altars. If you consider just when it
was given to Moses, all the barrels of animal blood that was poured
out there before that old tabernacle. And then Solomon built this beautiful
temple and all the barrels of animal blood that was spilt around
that temple. Hundreds of years and hundreds
of years, barrels and barrels of blood, animal sacrifices. And all of them together could
not take away one sin. And here hangs this broken, weak
man, Jesus of Nazareth. And his body is mingled. His jaws are swollen. His tongue
is swollen to his cheeks. The bones in his back appear. And he is hanging there weak. And he gives up the ghost and
says, It's finished. And that one sacrifice of this
one man, did what all of those sacrifices together could not
do. It took away sin. It satisfied for sin. That was the design in the body
of Jesus Christ. It showed the contrast of all
other sacrifices. And you know, brothers and sisters,
of all the sacrifices that people are trying to offer today to
take away sin, it won't do it. It won't do it. Just another contrast, isn't
it? But He is dead. And that's why He said here that
He sat down. When He offered that sacrifice
for sins, He sat down because the work was finished. When the
Lord called Moses up to the mountain to give him the design of this
tabernacle, He said, You be certain you follow this design. He was admonished to God to make
all things according to the pattern showed him in the map. And when
Moses read that design and he looked over that blueprint, one
of the things that was not included in all the paraphernalia in that
holy place, and that was the stool to sit on. It wasn't there. And you know why? Work never
was finished. There's no sense in sitting down.
We've got to come right back here. We've got to come right back here.
We've got to come right back here. Because the blood of bulls
and goats can never take away sin. But Jesus in His body, that
holy body, by taking our sins to Himself and suffering in that
body hanging limp upon the cross, perfectly atoned for sin. I wonder if I'll believe that
sometime. I wonder if I really believe this. Do you believe
this? When you read these things, do
you believe it? It is wonderful. Fourthly, the design of the sacrifice
of the body of the Lord Jesus. We have here in verse 13, And
he goes one step further now. In verse 12, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, he is set down on the right hand
of God. He skips over his burial and resurrection and he goes
right to exaltation. But in verse 13, he gives the
reason for his exaltation at the right hand of God. from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." Here is
the design in the offering of the body of Christ that He would
reign. Out of His offering of His body
comes His reign. First the cross and then the
throne. The cross and then the glory. And that is why He says here
in verse 13, from henceforth waiting until his enemies be
made his footstool. Brother Wayne read it just a
couple of weeks ago, Romans 14, 9 to this end. Christ both died,
rose, and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and
of the living. He is exalted to be Lord. He
is declared to be Lord out of his death. The Lord said unto
my Lord, set on my right hand until I make your enemies your
footstool." There are three reasons concerning Christ being exalted
from the dead to reign. Three reasons that I thought
of as I was thinking of this. I am certain you could think
of more, but three reasons that He was exalted from the dead
when He gave His body. The first one was to save His
people. He died for his people, now he's going to save his people.
Peter was preaching to the Jews and he said this in Acts 5.30,
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged
on a tree. Him has God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior, to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. That's why he's exalted. He's at the right hand of God.
You say, Bruce, he's going to make his enemies his footstool.
You were his enemy. I was his enemy. He brought us
to his footstool, didn't he? Not to destroy us, but to forgive
us, to convert us. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. He's not going to destroy everybody.
Everybody by nature is his enemy, but he's going to bring his people
to him, and they're going to take that old handkerchief out
of their pocket and put it on a stick and start waving it.
I surrender. Lord, I surrender. I give up.
Have mercy on me. Save me. I'm yours, Lord. What will you have me to do?
Ain't that what his chief enemy said on the road to Damascus
when he fell at his footstool? Lord, what will you have me to
do? And some of you here tonight were His enemies. He brought
you to His footstool, didn't He? And He's conquered you. He's conquered you. Second thing
about His reign when it says that expect until His enemy has
made his footstool, He's exalted to execute judgment on all the
rest. He's going to save His people.
He's going to save His people. That's encouraging to me as a
preacher. I'll tell you that, boy. When you're priest and priest
and nobody's coming, and nobody's throwing up that handkerchief
and hollering, have mercy, He's going to save His people. He
may not have many of them around here that He's going to use us
to save, but He's going to save them. But you know something?
He's going to subdue the rest in time. He's going to conquer
the rest in time. He's going to have them under
His feet in time. Nobody's getting by. Every man
must have to do with Jesus Christ. You cannot escape that. When
a man comes into this world, the day is set that he will stand
before this reigning King and Lord, and he'll either lay there
with a crown on his head of life and righteousness that he'll
cast to the feet of Christ and give Him all the glory for His
salvation, or he'll stand there trembling. Wait until you hear
His sentence. Depart from Me. One of the most
fearful things that Jesus Christ ever said in the Gospels was
this, Bring hither My enemies, that would not that I should
reign over them, and slay them at My feet. Slay them here in
My presence. That's fearful, isn't it? But
that's why He's exalted from His death. One thing that tells
us that He accomplished His purpose in His death because of what
He is doing right now. He is at the right hand of the
Father, reigning there. And thirdly, He was exalted from
offering His body to fulfill everything that God has purposed
from before time. You know the Bible teaches that
God has an eternal purpose. He has an eternal purpose. It's
not that He has one if we'll let Him fulfill it. It's not
that He has a wonderful plan for everybody's life. I don't
know what His plans is for everybody. I just know this, He has an eternal
purpose. And ever since He created the
world, He's fulfilling that purpose. And Jesus Christ His Son is exalted
on His right hand to reign and bring all that God has purposed
to pass. God has put it all into His hands,
His care. He must reign. He must reign. He's going to reign over His
people, over His church. He's going to reign over all
His enemies. He's going to destroy Satan. He's going to destroy
His enemies on the Day of Judgment. And He's reigning right now,
accomplishing the purpose of God. If you want to know what
happened yesterday, God fulfilled His purpose. You want to know
what happened today? It's accomplished God's purpose.
We want to know what's going to happen tomorrow? God's purpose
is going to be accomplished. And who's living to assure that?
Jesus Christ. God exalted Him from the dead
and has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head
over all things to the church. All power, all authority, has
been given unto His hands. He is reigning. And this reign
comes out of the death, the giving up of His body. Look in the fifth place, a couple
of more things and we will close. Look in verse 14. This has something
else. He goes back now to the design
once again. For by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Up in verse 10 he says we are
sanctified, made holy and separated unto God through the offering
of that body. And here he says they are perfected forever. They
are being set apart. Their sanctification is a one-time
thing. They are perfected forever. Those He died for are perfected
forever. This word here, perfected, it
means to finish. It's the same word that the Lord
Jesus said, I'll finish the work which you gave Me to do. Remember
when He said it's finished upon the cross? Same word. Perfected. It means to fulfill. When they
had fulfilled all things that were written of Him, was there
anything that wasn't fulfilled? No. Everything was fulfilled.
It means to accomplish. Moses and Elijah speak of the
death that he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. The believer's
standing is in Christ, and that standing can never change. What
is his standing? Absolutely perfected, sanctified,
holy, in Christ. And that can never change. It
can never change. Now God puts the rod to His children's
back. Don't misunderstand me. And sometimes
He hides His face and tries them sore. But none of these things
changes the standing that they have with God. It's in Christ
and it is perfect. It's complete. Their standing
with God doesn't change because of the circumstances they find
themselves in. What did we read about being
reconciled through the offer? You think our reconciliation
is going to change? Can that change? The Bible says
that He has forgiven you all iniquity. Can that change? Is He going to take it back?
No. The atonement is perfect. Reconciliation is perfect. Eternal
life. And they'll never perish. He's
perfected for them everything. That's the design in the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. by one offering He hath prepared. That's why I say when I read
these things and it talks about this and you realize that there
is perfect justification, just think about that for a minute.
Perfect justification? That God has nothing against
me? That I'm not guilty before Him anymore? That's just astounding
to me. When I feel the way I feel and
know what I am and all of this and know who God is. And to think
that Jesus Christ by the one offering has perfected me. That's amazing to me. It's just
absolutely astounding to me. And the last thing is in verse
15 and verse 16. The death and the resurrection
and the exaltation of Jesus Christ has made way. for the coming
and the work of the blessed Holy Spirit. In verse 15, he goes
right from the offering of the body of Christ to the work of the Holy Spirit. Verse 15,
He goes right from the offering of the body of Christ to the
work of the Holy Spirit. Wherefore, the Holy Ghost also
is a witness unto us, for after that He hath said before, This
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their
minds, while I write them, and their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. The disciples didn't want the
Lord Jesus to go away. He said, I've got to go away.
If I don't go away, the Holy Spirit won't come. And if He
don't come, you can't have new hearts and new spirits. He's
got to come. And the only way He can come
is on this basis. I've given my body a sacrifice. I've made reconciliation. I've
fulfilled the law. I've satisfied justice. Now I
pray to the Father. And He's going to come and begin
His work on the grounds that I've already finished everything
that God requires. Here's a wonderful thing, and
it's another proof that Christ has accomplished just what He
says He's accomplished here. When the Holy Spirit comes to
your heart and He gives you a new heart and a new spirit, He's
putting new principles within you. You're not what you used
to be, are you? You don't think like you used
to think. You serve God now from completely
different motives. You're not what you used to be.
The Holy Spirit has completely changed you within. When you
talk about the heart, you're talking about the center of a
person, what makes us up, our will, our affections, our desires,
our love, our understanding, our intellect. That's the heart.
I'll give you a new heart. And that's just another evidence,
if He's done that for you, that Christ must have accomplished
His work because the Holy Spirit's doing His. And this is a witness. He says there in verse 15, the
Holy Ghost is a witness to us. You don't know if you're saved
or not. Don't listen for the Holy Spirit to come to you and
say, You're a child of God. That's not what it means when
He says He bears witness to our spirit. You know one of the ways
He bears witness to our spirit that we're children of God? He's
done a work in us. He's given you heart. He's put
His laws into your mind. He's doing a work within. What
laws? Well, the moral law, that's for
sure. Loving God, loving your neighbor. But the law of faith? You didn't think very much whether
you believed on Christ or not. I didn't think very much about
whether I believed on Christ or not, did you? But boy, you
do now, don't you? That's what the Bible calls the
law of faith. He's awakened you to that because
He's given you faith. The law of Christ in your heart. The law of love. He's put these
laws in your heart. And that's the way He bears witness
to you. Look at the work He's doing within
you. Do you love Christ? Do you love His people? Do you
hate sin? Well, that's a pretty good witness
that He's begun a work in you. And their sins and iniquities,
I will never remember them again. Never. I can't forget. I used to say this. There was a time when God couldn't
forget my sins and I couldn't remember. But now I can't forget
them and he can't remember them. It just turned upside down. That's
what he says, I'll never remember them. I think about my sins.
I think about the sins of my childhood. And I tell you what,
it's awful. It's awful. But you know something?
He can't remember them. I will never remember their sins
again. That's a perfect atonement, isn't
it? The body of Jesus Christ. Now where remission of these
is, where forgiveness of these is, there's no more offering
for sin. There's no more offering for
sin. There's no need to offer any more for sin. God forgives
sins on one basis. They've been atoned for. They've
been punished. And if He's forgiven you, you don't need another offering.
There is no other offering. That's why when we get down into
verse 29 and these verses, this will really come into play. You
know, if we turn from this, if we turn from this offering, if
we turn from this sacrifice, there is no more sacrifice. All
we've got is a certain fear for looking for judgment and for
our indignation because there's only been one to take away sins.
There'll never be another. There'll never be another. May
the Lord bless His Word.