If you'd like to be turning,
we're gonna be in the book of Hebrews again, chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. We heard the first hour that
men have a misperception of God. There's no hiding from God. There's
no escaping him. There's no one to rescue us from
God if we stand before him having sin. Scripture says, in John chapter
three, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So if you have Christ, you have
life. And if you don't have Christ, the wrath of God abides upon
you. If I trust in myself, that's
certain death. Certain death. If I trust my
works, if I trust my efforts, if I look at what I am doing
as part of my salvation, that's certain death. That's certain
death. But if I'm made and enabled and
caused, I wrote down made to begin with, and I wrote enabled
to begin with, and I was like, well, cause, so he makes us, he causes
us, and he enables us all at the same time, doesn't he? If
we're made, enabled, and caused to confess Christ is all, to
bow to him, to see him as God, then, It's gonna be all by His grace.
It's gonna be all by His grace. It's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, according to His
grace. It's all His doing. And we cannot trust both self
and God. It's not possible. Can't trust
myself and God. Either we are looking to and
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary's
cross, for the salvation of his people, or we're looking to ourself
in some way, shape, or form, and we're discrediting what Christ
accomplished. It can't be both, it's one or
the other. It's one or the other. What we're
actually doing if we're trusting in self is we're calling him
a liar when he said it is finished. When he said it is finished,
it was finished. God spoke, it is finished. And if we say we
have to do something else other than what the Lord has done,
we're calling him a liar, that it wasn't finished. Let's read
our text here in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 30. For we know him
that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord, and again, the Lord shall judge his people. Vengeance, recompense, and judgment. This is spoken in the light of
the previous verses, this is just reiterating the fact that
God is just, God is holy, God will not acquit the guilty. The
wages of sin is death, and that's all we can work is sin. But he
didn't stop there. He said, but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We will not
acquit the guilty. So we must be, we need a substitute. We need a surety. Notice the
word vengeance here. It struck me interesting because
it's capital, that's because it's his name. His name is Vengeance. His name is Vengeance. Vengeance
is mine, sayeth the Lord. Vengeance means meeting out of
justice, doing justice on all parties. He's just and holy.
He's going to have his justice. He's going to have his glory.
He is the potter and he has the ability, the power to make one
vessel of honor and another to dishonor. He said, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. He chose to do that. He chose
to do that. The most amazing part is, is
not that he would hate Esau, not that he would hate me and
my sin and hate what I am by nature, but that he would choose
to love Jacob. What a mystery. We know why,
don't we? The word grace. Grace. Religion has turned Christ and
his work of salvation into an offer. of acceptance or rejection. And it's not true. Christ offered
himself up to God, and God was satisfied. God doesn't offer
his son to anybody. Christ Jesus successfully redeemed
his people on the cross, and he just lets us know about it
in time, doesn't he? Men feel no motivation for fear, to fear
regarding their souls, because they believe they have the power
to save themselves if they make a choice. If I believed that,
I would wait till the very, very last of my live life, however
you wanna live, right? Wouldn't that be the, if all
I had to do was make a choice, I would live however I wanted
to live, and then at the very end, then I would do what I had
to do to make things right. That's what men would do. But
that's not how it works. Salvation's a choice, but just
not mine and yours. It's God's choice. God chose in the covenant
of grace before time ever began to elect a people. He said, I'm
going to set my affection upon you. I'm going to love you. You
were, and we read in Ezekiel that we were polluted in our
own blood, we were naked, we were without hope, without help,
and he said, I love you, and I'm gonna swaddle you, and I'm
gonna take you, I'm gonna buy you, purchase you with my blood,
you're mine. You're mine. Salvation, that's the very first
part of salvation, is the Lord choosing to elect. The second
thing is Christ chose to redeem. He chose to save his people.
That's what the scripture says in Matthew chapter one, call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin.
And he did. He did, it was finished on the
cross of Calvary, it was finished. Vengeance is what the Lord had
to lay upon his son. Vengeance is what he had to exercise
upon his son so that you and I would never have to face the
vengeance of God. Vengeance is the Lord's, he says,
I'll repay every sin, every sin. Vengeance is not merely wrath,
but it's seething and built up anger. seething and built up
anger. And the scripture tells us that
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. When thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, thou shalt be satisfied. Satisfied. What he's telling us here is
vengeance will happen to everyone. Everyone. And either it happened
on the cross of Calvary for you or it didn't. If I'm in Christ,
when he died and vengeance was taken out upon him, that vengeance
is gone now. The sin's been put away. But
if I am not in Christ, I have to endure that vengeance. I have
to endure that recompense. That means revenge for sin. He's
telling us that he's the avenger of blood. You remember, that's
what the picture is here. Remember in the Old Testament,
if you were guilty of blood, if you had committed, if you
killed someone, flee to a city of refuge. There were six of
them. And the city of refuge is the only place that you could
go where the avenger of blood, the kin person to whoever you
had killed, they couldn't approach you and they couldn't come into
that city. They couldn't take out their revenge. They couldn't
avenge that blood if you were in that city. So the picture
here is this, if the Lord's gonna recompense, I've gotta be found
in the city of refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, the
law is saying, I'm guilty of blood, I'm gonna die. We know
the wages of sin is death. I'm gonna die, but I have to
be in the city of refuge. Lord's gonna have to put you
there, isn't he? Lord's gonna have to put me there. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and everyone else is damned, just left to
themselves, just left to themselves. We conclude from this, we conclude
all of this because of the Lord's hatred for sin. We see his hatred
for sin throughout all of scripture. You can see he destroyed the
earth with water because of sin. He destroyed the city Sodom and
Gomorrah because of sin. We see his hatred for sin From his purity, his holiness,
his justice, his faithfulness to his word, he takes notice
of sin and he punishes it. Here's the good news of the gospel.
He, God, hath made him, Christ, sin for us, God's people, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. He's no respecter of person.
When he saw sin upon his son. He had to execute his wrath.
What do you think he's going to do to you and I? If we don't
have Christ, if we're not in Christ. The sword of justice. I said
this the first hour, I'm going to repeat it again. When the
sin was found upon Christ, perfect, spotless Lamb of God. We read
in Ezekiel, he said, Awake, O sword, smite the shepherd, smite the
shepherd. That's the only way you and I
could be redeemed as Christ had to die. And when he died, he
redeemed everyone God chose into salvation. And he says these
words, turn with me to John chapter 19. I could quote it, but I wanted
us to see it. What was accomplished this day,
our Lord is on the cross, and he's nearing death, and he says
in verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were
now accomplished, and we can stop right there if you want
to, all things were accomplished, all things pertaining to salvation,
all things pertaining to life, all things pertaining to death,
all things pertaining to the covenant, all things were accomplished,
all things. Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith I thirst. Now there was said a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it to hyssop,
put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and he
gave up the ghost. It is finished. What was finished?
What was finished? Well, he tells us all things.
Everything given to him of his father, all things were finished
right then. Complete. 100%. It's not 99.9 and you have
to do 0.1. It's 100% finished. Salvation was accomplished. Vengeance
was satisfied on Christ, our substitute. God recompensed. He repaid Christ for our sin,
for his people's sin. Think about that. He received
the payment for our sin. That's a terrible payment to
receive, isn't it? But that's what he had to go
through. That's what he had to do to redeem his people. He had
to be repaid. Every sin that I commit, every
sin that you commit, if we're the Lord's people, he had to
take the payment of that. What was that payment? The wages
of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. He
poured out his soul unto death. He was judged in our place. So
there you have the three. We have the recompense, we have
the vengeance, and we have the judgment of God that lit upon
the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Scripture says that the terrors
of judgment compassed him about on the cross. The terrors that
we deserve. The terrors come past him about,
the terrors of the wrath of God, so that you and I would never
have to experience those terrors. He put away the sin so that you
and I would never have to fear death, never have to fear life,
really. If we're in Christ, our life's
hid with Christ and God, isn't it? He was judged in our place. He satisfied justice. He satisfied
judgment. He successfully redeemed. Then
through the darkness he cries, it is finished. Now God's people,
now you, and I wish I could wrap my brain around this like I want
to. Right now, you are the very righteousness of God. Right now. Right now, as holy as he is,
right now. Not in the flesh, but the new man that he's given
us, created in Christ Jesus, just as holy as he is. That's
what Christ accomplished. When he sees me, he sees the
blood. And what did he say? When I see the blood, I will
pass by you. For the last part of the message,
I want us to revisit what I mentioned to us on Wednesday night about
the tetelestai word. That's the aromatic word for
it is finished. And that's what Christ would have spoke, Hebrew
aromatic. Tetelestai, it's three parts. Three, I'm sorry, it's
five parts. There's five parts to this glorious
word. First one is a debt paid in full. If you had a debt that you owed
someone, then after that debt was satisfied, whenever you paid
off that debt, you would write Tetelestai on the receipt. You
would write telestai in the book or the ledger showing that it's
finished. It's paid in full. It's paid
in full. Pertaining to legality, telestai
meant that the law was satisfied. The law was satisfied that you
had served your sentence. You were found guilty. You served
your sentence. Now you can go free telestai. Pertaining to legality means
that fully served, fully served. Pertaining to sacrifice, I love
this one. I love all these, but I love
this one. pertaining to sacrifice when the high priest would sacrifice.
You remember the scapegoat? We've talked about the scapegoat
before. There was two. One would have the priest lay his hands
upon it and it would bear the sin of the people and they would
send it out into the wilderness. The other one they would actually sacrifice.
And it was symbolizing that the sin had been transferred symbolically
to that scapegoat. And you know what happens whenever
he sacrificed that animal? He said, Tetelestai. Tetelestai. It's finished. It's finished.
Pertaining to the military, tetellistai was the word we used because
you were victorious. Because you were victorious in
battle. Because you were successful. The battle had been won, you
would say tetellistai. Tetellistai. Pertaining to completed
work. You had carpenters back then
just like you do now. You had artists back then just
like you do now. But when they were finished, they didn't say
were finished, they would say tetellistai. The work is finished. The work is finished. Christ
Jesus saved his people from their sin. When he said to Telestai,
it's five fold. It's five fold. He finished every
aspect of redemption. He paid the debt. Number one,
he paid the debt satisfying death, satisfying hell, satisfying the
law, satisfying God. He paid the debt that we owed. The debt we could never had done
anything about. Isaiah 53 11 says he shall see
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge.
Shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their
iniquities. He satisfied God. Second thing is he satisfied
the laws demands. He fully served the penalty to
us. We had transgressed the law. The law says you the. Person
that sin must die. that sinneth surely will die."
That was the consequence. That's just for one sin. I want
to take a moment to mention that. This isn't a mountain of sin
we're talking about. One sin. That's how God views it. Death.
That's what's demanded. What did Christ do? He took all
of our sin, nailing them to his tree, and he satisfied the law's
demands. He served the penalty for our
trespasses, our sins, and our iniquities. Isaiah 53 says, the
Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Lord told the Pharisees,
he said, you think that I've come to destroy the law. I've
not come to destroy it. I've come to fulfill it. He was the
fulfillment of the law. He kept the law perfectly because
you and I cannot keep the law. You and I cannot, we can't keep
anything perfectly. Can we? Much less the law. He said, Verily I say unto you,
till heaven and earth pass one jot and one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law till it all be fulfilled. And he fulfilled the law. The
law has nothing to say against the child of God now. When it
sees the child of God, it says perfectly righteous, perfectly
righteous, satisfied, satisfied. Number three, he being the substitute
surety of his people bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
First Peter 2.24 tells us in second Corinthians, for he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Then after he did that,
you know what he did? He said when he had by himself
purged our sin, Hebrews chapter one, when he had by himself purged
our sin, now they're gone, what did he do? Did he start pacing
the floor, waiting on you and I to do something? He sat down. He sat down as the successful
redeemer. He sat down as king of kings
and Lord of lords. He sat down as the sovereign
savior of his people. He sat down. Number four, pertaining
to military, he's the victorious captain of our salvation. He's
the victorious captain. He is seated as the only potentate
King of Kings and Lord of Lords for his people. He succeeded.
He got the victory. He won the war. Tell her her
warfare has been accomplished. Tell her her warfare has been
accomplished and I've given double for her sin. Her iniquity has
been pardoned. I've given double for her sin. I've given her grace
and I've given her mercy abundantly. Tell her her warfare is accomplished.
Christ Jesus accomplished the warfare on the cross. For this
purpose, the son of God was manifest that he might destroy the works
of the devil, that he might destroy sin, that he might destroy and
get all the glory in it and get all the glory in it by the sacrifice
of himself. Number five, he completed the
work given to him by the father successfully redeeming all of
God's elected children. He successfully redeemed. He completed the work. Just as
we were to build a house, and at the end of it, Jonah, you
just built a house. You know how excited you were
to move into that place and get the keys, and finally, it's over,
it's done. You would say, Tetelestai, and that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ is saying right here in John. He's saying the
work is finished. The work is finished, it's done.
No more work to be done. Boy, that's good news if you're
a sinner. You know that you can't do anything good anyways, but
to know and hear from the Lord, from his spirit, it's finished.
Everything, everything is finished. Every aspect of salvation, every
requirement by the law, every, all the judgment, all the vengeance,
all the recompense, the Lord took it all. And now all that
remains is just love and joy and peace with God, with God. Said in John 17, for I have complete,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
that thou hast gave me to do. Because the Lord's salvation
is completed entirely by his finished work. We read in Romans,
it says, there is now therefore no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Because it is perfectly completed,
He said, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And
all that come to me, I don't know why it's cast out. He said,
I won't lose one of them. Because every aspect of salvation is
complete, he's not gonna lose one sheep. He's not gonna lose
one sheep. We know why there's five definitions
to this, to tell us to die, don't we? It's the number of grace.
For by grace, are you saved through faith, in that not of yourself,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said to Telistai, and he bowed his head and he
gave up the ghost. Let's go back to our text, Hebrews chapter
10. Verse 30, For we know him that
hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith
the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. The Lord judged his people on
the cross of Calvary. As Christ being the center substitute,
as Christ being the surety, as Christ being the substitute for
all of the Lord's people. He took our vengeance that was
due us. He took our guilt and our shame. He took our sin. He took our
iniquity. He took our trespass and transgression.
And he put it all away. He put it all away. God poured
out his vengeance upon Christ upon the cross in our place. Christ Jesus finished salvation
that day. He successfully saved everyone
he died for that day. Successfully. Now the good news is is there's
no longer vengeance because there's no longer condemnation. There's
no longer vengeance. There's nothing to recompense.
There's no more judgment. There's no more judgment. When
you are pure before the Lord in glory, if you are in Christ,
you will be glorified at that point. And the scripture says,
we know not what we shall be, but we know that when we shall
see him, we shall be made like him, for we shall see him as
he is. You know who you're gonna be? You know whose record's gonna
be read? It ain't gonna be my record, it's gonna be the Lord Jesus
Christ's record. We find that from looking over in Jeremiah,
when he said that the Lord's name is Jehovah Sittkenu, the
Lord our righteousness. And then it goes on to say, well,
what's her name? What's the church's name? What's the Lord's people
name? Jehovah Sittkenu, the Lord our righteousness. He gave us
his name. He gave us his record. He gave us everything that Satisfied
God that day on the cross. That's what Tetelestai accomplished.
It is finished. It is finished. There's no longer
vengeance for God's chosen people. It's gone along with our sin.
God recompensed our sin in Christ and he paid the debt we owed.
Scripture says he was numbered with the transgressors, numbered
with the transgressors and bore our sin in his body. numbered
with the transgressors. That's us, isn't it? We're the
transgressors. So that he might save us from
our sin. I love knowing that we're saved
from ourself. Don't you? Saved from myself. How's that? Well, we're kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. He did all the saving. He does
all the calling. He does all the keeping. I can't
mess that up. You can't mess that up. I love
that. All that remains for God's people
is peace, and love, and joy, and hope, and grace upon grace,
and mercy new every morning. He delights in showing mercy
to his people. This all happened because he
said, it is finished. There's no more vengeance. Sin
has been recompensed. Christ took our judgment on the
cross. How do we know that? Because he said to Telestai,
it is finished. Either I am trusting in myself,
or I am trusting in His finished work. There is no in between.
Do not kid yourself. May the Lord keep me from kidding
myself. There is no in between. Either I am trusting Christ completely.
Either I'm clinging to His blood alone as my righteousness, or
I'm trusting in myself. And my righteousness is just
filthy rags, the scripture says. Either I've been given faith
and repentance, or I'm still dead and trespasses it in sin.
There's no in between. So ask yourself this question,
are you looking at finishing your work, or are you looking
at the one who finished the work, the one that said to tell us
die? We'll ask the men, if they would, to come disperse the elements,
Rob and Greg. You can remain seated.