We're going to be in the book
of Hebrews chapter 10 if you'd like to turn there. Hebrews chapter 10. At a young age, we are taught
by our parents, our peers, to use our imagination. You ever
told your child that? Use your imagination. But in
Noah's time, the Lord says that every imagination was on evil
and that continually. Every imagination of the heart
was only evil and that continually. The thoughts and imagination
of all men are described as only evil. If we're trusting in our
imagination and what we imagine to be so, that's not faith. See,
faith is not what we see or what we feel. Now, there will be some feelings
that you'll have looking to Christ, there'll be some joy that you
feel, but we don't look to those feelings, we look to him. We
don't look to what we think we know, we look to him. We don't
look at a experience that we've had, we look to him. If we're
trusting in what we think we know, we're trusting our Deceitful
heart. That's what the scripture calls
our heart. Deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. That's
our heart by nature. So we can't trust that. We can't
trust that. We need faith. The gift by God's
grace to look to Christ and believe him. All religion can do is imagine
God. They can't see him. They don't
know him because he has not introduced himself. All false religion can
do is just imagine God. And they will imagine him in
a way that causes them to feel good about themselves. They will
imagine him in a way that complements their lifestyle or what they
do, rather than bowing to the God of Scripture, they believe
that they're good enough the way that they are because they've
done this, where they haven't done that, and that's just a
figment of their imagination, that's all that it is. All they can do is change what
they imagine about God, to try to turn Him into something He's
not. Aren't you thankful the Lord causes us to believe Him?
Not to offer ourselves up and say, look at what I've done,
or what I've not done, or what I'm doing. No, we look to Christ. We have to have Him. Look at
what He's done for His people. We don't try to imagine God in
a way that would be where we get some kind of glory out of
it. No, the Lord's people want Him to have all the glory. Those that are in false religion,
they turn the truth of God into a lie and they worship and they
serve the creature more than the creator. What is the creature?
This is the creature. Worship and serve the creature
more than the creator. By nature, we desire worship
of self. We desire to be worshiped by
others. We desire to be seen, we desire
to be recognized, we desire to be approved of. But these who God hath not revealed
himself to are simply doing nothing more than worshipping a shadow.
And that's what's in our text, the shadow. That's what they're
worshipping, the shadow. They're not worshipping what's
real. They're not worshipping the image. They're just worshipping
the shadow. They have a form of godliness,
but they deny the power thereof. That's what the scripture says.
Let's read our text, Hebrews 10 verse one says, 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 there unto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered because
that the worshipers once purged should have had 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. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he say a sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin that thou hast had no pleasure. Let's stop reading
right there. The law had a shadow. Now, we
love the Lord's law. David said that. We believe that.
We know we can't keep it, but we love the Lord's law because
it gives us understanding of God's holiness. It gives us understanding
of our depravity. It gives us understanding that
we are sinners. We need a savior. Without the
law, there is no trespass. There's no consequence. And therefore,
there would be no understanding of how bad we really are. But there's not an image in the
law that the Lord's looking to. We can't conform in any way to
any part of the law before God and him be satisfied with that
image. It doesn't have an image, it's just a shadow. But there
is one image that he's pleased with. There's one image that
he delights in. There's one image that we must
appear as well. Not in a figurative way, but
literally, we have to be bearing this image. And it's the image
of the One, the Chosen One, the Redeemer, the Savior of His people. The One who is the substitute
surety of God's elect. He's the image that we must bear
or we will not be accepted, we'll be rejected. But here are the
good news of the Gospel. Turn with me to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 28 through 34
says, and we know that all things work together for them, I'm sorry,
and we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. What he just said was,
is everyone that he loves, everyone that he elected, everyone that
he predestinated, they're going to be conformed to the image
of the Son. They're going to bear the image
of Christ. Now, I love the fact that it talks He already tells
us here that He called us, He predestinated us, He called us,
He justified us, and He's already glorified us. Now, we don't understand
that, but we're already there. It's already finished. And that
goes over my pea brain, but we believe it. He just said it.
So we've already been conformed to His name. When the Lord looks
upon us, He sees His Son. When He looks upon the Lord's
people, He sees His Son. He sees the blood. He sees them
as righteous because of the finished work of Christ on the cross.
We don't seek after shadows anymore. We see the image, don't we? We
see the son. We see the glorious person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This is not something we chose.
This is something he chose in the covenant of grace, that we
would be conformed to the image of his son. He did it in eternity
before time. He chose to glorify his people.
He chose to justify his people. He chose to sanctify his people
by robing them in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, by
conforming them to his image. See, I've got to look just like
him, and you've got to look just like him. Can't approach him
looking like ourself. I've said this before, but whenever
David asked, is there any left have the house of Saul that I
may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And I would remind you
that those maybe we've not spoken about it a bit. David and Jonathan
loved each other and they made a covenant that they would take
care of one another's families after the one would die. It was
a covenant of love. And, uh, picture of the covenant
of grace is what it is. It is a blood covenant. And we
see that David remembers his covenant with Jonathan after
Jonathan had died. And he asks, is there any left
of the house of Saul, Jonathan's father, that he may show him
kindness for Jonathan's sake. And Ziba says, you know there
is one his name is Mephibosheth he is down in my car in Lodabar. And that actually translates
to the land of no bread. He was down in the land of no bread.
Well that is you and me we are down here in the land of no bread.
We have no hope. of coming to the king were actually enemies
against the king. See Mephibosheth would have been
an heir to the throne. And so therefore he was, it would
have been what you would perceive as a threat to David. He was
lame on both of his feet. So he really wasn't that big
of a threat, but you do understand that he was still an heir. Well, David tells Ziba, fetch
him. And you can probably see the chariots rolling up. And
you know David sent the best charity he had to go get him
because the love was involved in it. It wasn't just a business
deal that was happening. He loved Jonathan, therefore
loved his son. And that's the Lord coming to
us when his very best, robing himself in the likeness of sinful
flesh. That's what he did. He condescended
down to the land of no bread. And he brought us by his spirit.
He brought us into his very presence and showed us his image. That's
what happened when Mephibosheth went into the throne room of
David. He kneeled down before him. And Mephibosheth, he had
to be scared to death. I mean, you could imagine, he
was afraid, he's gonna kill me. He's gonna kill me. And by right,
David had the right to kill him. But the only reason he didn't
was because of covenant. God had the right to kill every
one of us. us to be in hell for eternity. But because of a covenant,
the covenant of grace, not a shadow, not a shadow of the law, but
a covenant of grace that fulfilled the law's demands, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he did all of that by himself. You and I didn't die. I know we hear the words that
David said to Mephibosheth, fear not, For surely I will show thee
kindness for Jonathan's sake. And that's what we hear from
our Lord, our Savior now. He says, fear not. I'll show
you kindness because of Christ's sake. I forgive you for Christ's
sake. Not for your works of righteousness,
which you have done, but according to my mercy, I've saved you. Not by how you're living your
life. That's not what's justified you. I justified you on the cross.
Therefore, we don't chase shadows anymore, do we? Not shadows of
the law. No, we chase, we seek Christ. We seek his face because he says,
seek ye my face. We seek what's real. We need
what's real. But I'll finish that story. I
actually didn't have that written down to tell us, but a lot of
times it works out better that way anyways. Mephibosheth sat
at the king's table, and the last thing it says is continually.
He ate at the king's table continually. Everything required for the salvation
of God's people, the Lord Jesus Christ successfully accomplished
it on the cross of Calvary. Everything, everything. And here
we get to sit at this table, and you know that that table
had to have a red tablecloth on it. I mean, it just had to,
because it's a picture of the blood covering Mephibosheth's
infirmity. He was lame. And I bet every
time that they brought him in, he was the first one to the table
and then everybody else could come in. So they didn't even
know that he had that infirmity. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. The infirmity, he put it away. It's gone. It's
gone. It's cast as far as the East
is from the West. The sin that we are is gone. The transgression
that we've done is gone. The iniquity that we tried to
do to fix it. It's gone. He took it all. Scripture
says the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all, all
of his people, the ones that he predestinated right here,
the ones that he called, the ones that he glorified, the ones
that he sanctified. This is who he's talking to. And we get to
eat bread continually at the king's table in this life and
in the life to come. In this life, we get to feast
upon the lamb now. We get the bread of life now
and the fountain of living water now. Oh, but we'll get to worship
in perfection there, won't we? We won't have this old dead corpse
on our back bogging us down. Every time we, you know how it
is, you come and you're listening to a message and all of a sudden
you remember you got this to do, you got that to do, and this,
and that's our flesh getting in the way, isn't it? One of
these days, that's not gonna happen. No, we're gonna be like Mary,
seated at His feet, just listening to everything He's saying. We
get to worship Him. We get to worship Him one day. We have to look just like him. We have to smell just like him. See, the Lord's the only one
that satisfied the senses of God. It took God to do that. You and I can't do that. We stink
of sin. We reek of it. And our image
is not the image that the Father is pleased with. We have to look
like him. We have to smell like him. What
do I mean by that? Well, when Noah got off the ark
after the flood had taken place, he offered up sacrifice unto
the Lord. And it's the first recording that says, and it went
up unto God a sweet smelling savor, a sweet smelling savor. It was worship. That's what it
was. And when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, that
was also mentioned as well, that he went up unto God a sweet smelling
savor. Now the first one under the law
was types and shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the second
one actually accomplished our salvation when the Lord was offered
up. And when the father smelled that smell of his son, the sacrifice,
he was well pleased with it. And he justified all of his chosen
people. He justified all of his chosen.
You and I have to smell just like that. Now I'll tell you
the good news is the word substitution. That is exactly what the Lord
did on the cross of Calvary, taking our sin unto himself,
nailing them to the cross, putting them away, and making us the
very righteousness of God in him. Now we look just like him. Now we smell just like him. That's
what the Lord did. If you want to please God, you
and I must be found in the only one that satisfied God, Jesus
Christ. We must be found in him. Mankind
believes themselves to reflect God by what they do. You see
people getting, and I'm not knocking anybody, it's sad whenever you're
able to see the truth. You have compassion on them,
feel sorry for them, because they're doing it ignorantly.
We were there at one time doing the same thing they do. They
dress a certain way or they present themselves a certain way. They
do certain things. And it's self-righteousness.
And that was what all the Pharisees were doing. They were, look at
me and look at what I'm doing. And they believe that their image
is now reflecting the Lord because they're obedient to certain things.
I'm not as bad as this person, so I must be the reflection that
he's pleased with. No, nothing but a shadow. The Lord's not gonna be pleased
with that. The Lord's not gonna be pleased with that. We don't
bring types and shadows to the Lord. No, we come to Christ alone. We come to Christ alone. It's true that men get caught
up chasing feelings and emotions. I can give you an example. It's
all through scripture, but one prime example, you remember when
the children of Israel were bitten by the serpents? you know why
that they even had serpents to begin with? Because of their
murmuring, and their complaining, and their just speaking ugly
to Moses. They were murmuring of God's
providence. He was feeding them manna from
the sky. They didn't have to work for it or anything. But
we see the Lord sent fiery serpents. They would bite them. If it bit
you, you would die. And they went to Moses and said, intercede
for us Moses. We're gonna die if you don't
do something. If you don't do something, we're gonna die. And
that's a picture of you and I having no power whatsoever. We come
to Christ, Lord, if you don't do it, I can't be made whole.
I've been bitten, I'm full of sin. That's what the picture
of the serpent is, is the sin. And we see that the Lord told
Moses to put a brazen serpent on a pole. And whosoever looketh
upon it shall live. Now you didn't have to, so you
can imagine some people probably had to look a long ways away,
some people didn't know which direction to look, but if you looked upon
it, if you were bitten, you'd be made whole. Now who do you
think looked at the serpent? Did everybody? The people who
were bitten. You know the reason you look
to Christ? Because you're bitten, you see that you're sinned, that's
all you are. I've been poisoned, I'm gonna die, Lord save me.
Lord saved me. And how did he do that? Well,
he became the serpent on the pole. The serpent was the cursed
animal, wasn't it? That was the animal that the
Lord cursed. He said, curse it as everyone that hangeth upon
a tree. The Lord had to become the curse that we are and deserve
in order for you and I to be made the righteousness of God
in him. And that's exactly what he did. But you know, the, the
part that is most interesting as the children of Israel, after
all that happened, They didn't worship God. They started worshiping
the serpent on the pole. They started worshiping the very
thing that God gave them in order for them to be healed. They was
like, well, this is our God. That's because of emotion. That's because
they could see it. That's just a shadow. That's
not the real thing. That's not the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's a picture of him. You and I don't worship shadows
and pictures, do we? No, we worship the Lord Jesus
Christ in spirit and in truth. So what did the Lord do? Well,
the Lord told Moses, well, grind it up and make them drink it,
put it in the water. And that's what they did, made it bitter. And that's
what all false worship is ever going to be is just bitterness.
It's never going to accomplish anything, never going to accomplish
anything. No, we, we must have his image. We must have the image of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You can conform to a shadow,
but it's still just a bunch of nothing. All a shadow is is just
a light can't pass through something, so shadow's created. That's something to be said about
the son of righteousness indwelling his people. The light passes
into us, but for those who the Lord has not been pleased to
reveal himself to, they just give a shadow off, don't they?
It doesn't do them any good. We don't follow shadows, you
know why? Mine eyes have seen the king. I've seen his image. We've seen his image, haven't
we? We've seen what he looks like through faith. And he's
fairer than 10,000 to my soul. It's like that, the Shulamite
and Solomon talking, my beloved, the love that they had one towards
another. You ever see yourself as a sinner? If we really ever
see the sin that we are, whatever degree the Lord will show us,
and you see Him as the Savior, it would be the most beautiful
thing you've ever seen. We follow Him for that reason.
We look to Him and His finished work, not to our work ever. Our
work's never finished, did you know that? I was trying to think,
even if I get done painting my house, and I'm not painting my
house, I'm just using this as an example. Let's say I paint
a bedroom in my house, Is that work finished forever? No, because
in a couple years, my wife's gonna say I want a different
color. Or a paint will chip off the wall, or it'll smudge, or
you know what I'm talking about. Our work's never finished here.
His is. The Lord Jesus Christ actually
finished salvation. The impossible work that you
and I could never have done, he did it. And he sat down. And
we don't touch it. Why? Because it's always gonna
be finished. It's never not going to be finished.
That's why we gotta look just like him. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
27. You gotta look just like him and we have
to smell just like him and a good story in scripture is Genesis
27 for that. Now Jacob, Jacob and Esau are twins, they're
brothers. And the birthright always goes
to the firstborn. But the word was given to Rebecca,
the elder shall serve the younger. And this was just the, that's
a picture of the old man and the new man, isn't it? That's
a picture of our, our new man created in Christ
is revealed at a later date than our old man being born in the
flesh. Anyways, It's time for the birthright to be given. Isaac
is old, well-stricken in age, the scripture says, and he's
blind, he can't see. And he tells Esau, go get some venison and
bring it to me, because he liked that, that was his favorite,
it was his favorite dish. He said, I'll bless you, I'll bless you.
So he goes hunting. Obviously, Rebecca had a favorite
because she found that information out and immediately started telling
Jacob, well, we're going to have to fool your dad to get you the
birthright. And the Lord was all in that, you know, all that,
all that being desired of her, that was just the Lord's providence
and all of that. But that's exactly what she does. She fixes the
venison she had and she gets, Esau was a hairy man, and she
got a, was it, it's goat skin, yeah, it was goat skin, and puts
on him. And it was his goat skin, so now he's gonna, he's gonna
smell like him, he's gonna feel like him, but he's not gonna
be able to sound like him, because he's still Jacob. And they obviously
had different, completely different voices, and let's read this,
and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Verse 18 through 29, he's
coming into his father, and he says, he came into his father
and said, my father, this is Jacob speaking, he said, here
am I. Who art thou, my son? And Jacob
said unto his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn. I have done according
as thou badest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat
my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto
his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my
son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me.
And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may
feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. Obviously he's skeptical, isn't
he? Jacob went near into Isaac, his father, and he felt him and
said, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of
Esau. And he discerned him not because
his hands were hairy as his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him.
And he said, art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.
And he said, bring it near me and I will eat of my venison,
my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought
it near to him, and he did eat, and brought him wine, and he
drank. And his father Isaac said unto
him, Come near now, my son, kiss me. And he came near and kissed
him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him,
and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field,
which the Lord hath blessed. Therefore, God give thee of the
dew of heaven In the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn
and wine, let people serve thee. And nations bow down to thee,
and be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow
down to thee. Cursed be everyone that curseth
thee, and blessed be he that blessed thee." He smelled just
like him, didn't he? He felt just like him. Now in
the substitutionary work on the cross of Calvary, what our Lord
and Savior did, is he, by accomplishing what he did, he robed us in his
righteousness. He perfumed us with his odor,
so that when we enter the presence of the Lord, through the throne
of grace, he sees his son. He sees his son, he smells his
son, he's well satisfied with the son. That's the only one
he's pleased with. We have to be made just like
him, and we already read Them he did foreknow, they also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ offered
himself to God, he was doing it as our substitute. He did
it on purpose. He did it on purpose. Men in
false religion, they don't, They don't believe Christ really accomplished
salvation. They believe something else has
to be done. We really believe Christ did it all, don't we?
He did it all. That's our only hope. We're not looking for types or
shadows. It's not a figment of our imagination. No, he took
his people's sin and gave them righteousness. Took our sin and
gave us his righteousness. Now the sin's gone. It's all
gone. No longer do we work iniquity
in the shadow of unbelief. No longer do we chase the shadows
of the law. We have Christ now. We have Christ now. And we believe
him by faith. David was made to know this as
well. Turn with me to Psalm 94. Amazing part of Jacob is and
his father Isaac. Is that? Isaac was blind. Lord's not blind. He sees everything.
There is no fooling him. There is no fooling him. So in
order for you and I to be seen without having sin, it just can't
be covered up. It just can't be swept under
a rug. It can't be hidden from him.
He can see all it has to be gone. It has to be gone. And you can
say that the Lord's blinded to our sin now because it's gone,
if you want to look at it that way. It's completely gone. That's
the picture there. David says this in Psalm 94,
verse 16. Who will rise up for me against
the evildoers or who will stand up for me against the workers
of iniquity? Unless the Lord hath been my help, my soul had
almost swelled in silence. When I said my foot slippeth,
thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts
within me, thy comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of
iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief
by a law, which frameth mischief by a law. That's exactly what
our text is talking about in Hebrews. If you go after those
shadows, all you're doing is framing mischief. by a law, that's it. It's not
gonna amount to anything. No, we're bearing the wrong image.
We don't seek after the shadows. Those that try to establish righteousness
by doing are just working iniquity. The sad part is they're working
mischief against their own soul, their own condemnation, their
own damnation. That's what working self-righteousness is and does. We've got to have Christ. We
got to have Christ. He's the only one that didn't
work mischief. He's the only one that doesn't
have a deceitful heart. He's the only one that's not
the shadow. He's the image. He's the only
one that pleased God. He's the only one that had the
blood that can wash us away. He's the only one we've got to
have him. We're like David here. We see
our enemies. David said, who will keep me
here? We see our enemies. Do we contend with the world?
Do we contend with Satan? Yes. But what's our worst enemy? I used to think in false religion,
the devil's worst enemy we got. You ever heard somebody say,
the devil made me do it? Yeah, that's kind of the mentality
there. No, we're guilty ourself. You
can't blame him. We are our worst enemy. We are our worst enemy. David says, who will keep me?
Who will keep me? Lord, keep my eyes. Lord, keep
my feet. Lord, keep my head, my thoughts.
Keep my body. Give me a new heart. Lord, you're
going to have to do all that. You have to keep me. And make
me conform to the image of your son. Or I'll go chasing shadows. I'll go work iniquity. I work
mischief. to my own soul's demise. Maybe someone's in denial and
says, well, I'm not as bad as you're saying. I wouldn't do
all that. I thought of this illustration. When you know you're in a picture,
a group picture, who's the first person you look for? Me. Where am I at? Why is that? Well, we're narcissists by nature,
that's why. We're stuck on ourself. Our flesh
still wants to be worshipped. Our flesh still wants to be worshipped.
Oh, our image will never do before God. Don't present yourself to
him thinking that he'll say, enter in, thou good and faithful
servant. If you present yourself, he's gonna say, depart from me,
you work iniquity, I never knew you. You've got to have the one,
the one, the image, the real image, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is from the beginning. From
the beginning, Eve's the first one that thought, well, I'm gonna
do something that I wanna do rather than believe God. I wanna be
God. That's that mentality you and
I have by nature. She wanted an image of her own,
just as all do. It's just a shadow, wasn't it?
Just a lie. There was nothing there of substance
where the Lord would be pleased with it. There's no other name
given among men whereby we must be saved. salvation in any other,
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in closing, let's go back
to our text, Hebrews 10. Let's read our text again. 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
offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Those that seek a righteousness after the law will never be able
to be made perfect. For then, would they not have
ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once
purged should have had 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. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifice
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. Next hour we're gonna look at
the will of God. What is the will of God? No other blood,
he's telling us so clearly, the blood of bulls and goats wouldn't
do it. And they're what we would call innocent animals. If that didn't do it, there's
only one blood that would, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
No other blood would cleanse the stain. No other sacrifice
would put away sins. Understand something, either
we're chasing the shadow, chasing the shadow, or God has revealed
the real image, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord calls me, calls me to flee
to you. Flee to you. Flee from shadows. Flee from imaginations. Flee
from this deceitful heart. Cause me to flee to you and be
found in you. Make me reflect your image. It's the only way the Lord's
gonna be pleased with us. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your word. Bless it to our understanding
according to your will. In Christ's name.