This morning we're going to be
in the book of Hebrews chapter 9. Both hours. If you would like to turn there. Hebrews chapter 9. One thing that we believe different. Than any other church or religion
outside of the gospel. is that Christ was actually successful
on the cross of Calvary in redeeming. Who he was attempting to redeem,
if I can put it that way, he was successful. The work of salvation
wrought on Calvary was accomplished. It was finished. It wasn't an
offer to man at a later date. It was an offering to God, and
he was successful. The father was satisfied with
his offering. That's something that other religions
don't believe. That's something that other gospels don't preach,
is that Christ was successful. What do I mean by successful,
and what do I mean by they don't believe that? Well, I mean that
everything he set out to do, he did. He sat down. It's finished. There's no more work to be done.
Somehow, some way, other religions, other gospels, other churches
will say that salvation's by grace, but then they'll say,
they'll add something to it in some way or some shape or some
form, which means they really don't believe that Christ was
successful. We really believe he was successful,
don't we? We really believe that Christ
Jesus was successful. Some may say there's a choice
to be made, even though that's contrary to scripture. Some may
say there's a prayer to be prayed, even though that's contrary to
scripture. But God's people knows, we know, that Christ obtained
eternal redemption for us, not by our works, but because of
his. Not by our sacrifice, but because
of his. Not only do we know all of that,
not only do we know he obtained eternal redemption for his people,
but that's our hope, isn't it? That's our only hope, that he
obtained it. And that is our confession, he obtained it. And
that's the title of this message this morning, Having Obtained.
Having Obtained. Let's read our text here, Hebrews
9, 11, and 12. But Christ being come in high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. These words, That's the assurance
of the Lord's people. He obtained eternal redemption. He obtained it. These are our
hope. These words are our comfort.
These words are our rest. He obtained it. He obtained it.
And what Christ accomplished when he offered himself unto
the Father. freely offered to the Father. In our room instead,
we now have these words, he obtained eternal redemption for us. Now notice the word but in verse
11, that's an interjection, and that's important, but Christ. Everything prior to this point,
he had talked about the old covenant, how they would go in and they
would offer up sacrifice as we looked last week and even the
week before about the temple and how all the objects were
pictures of Christ, but how that they were ordained of the Lord
in order for sacrifice to be made, in order for the work to
be done, in order for the ministry to be performed of all these
priests. And we see their importance, but the significance, they all
pointed to Christ, didn't they? But now we have the interjection
But Christ, and this is the interjection of the gospel. We find it all
throughout scripture. But God, who is rich in mercy,
wherein his great love he loved us. When we were dead and trespasses
and in sin, he quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are
saved. That's Ephesians 2, 4, and 5. This is all but God. See, here you and I are going
through life, Not really knowing who God is, and all of a sudden,
but God, it came to pass. He interjects. And if he doesn't
interject, you and I know that we have no hope. He's the one
that obtained eternal redemption. He's the one that has salvation.
He is salvation. If he doesn't interject into
our life, interrupt us, We will never know him, we will never
know him, but thank God that's exactly what he does for his
people. He saved us and then he calls us by his grace freely. This interjection declares the
opposite of all these other things being spoken, the failed old
covenant. It failed to perfect. and failed
to perfect the doer of it. How do we know that? Because
they continually had to do it. It even says they continually
offered sacrifice. And men today, what are they
doing? Whether they admit it or not, they are continually
offering sacrifice by the things that they do, by the things that
they don't do. Only the Lord's people rest in
the fact, in the truth, in the glorious gospel that when it
says he hath obtained eternal redemption for us. When we were
without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died
for his people when, when we were yet sinners, Christ died
for the ungodly. The writer is saying, but Christ.
That's the gospel, isn't it? That's the gospel. Whenever the
Lord says, but, he interjects. What the writer is saying here
is Christ is the fullness of everything that we have read
about, everything that we have seen for the last 10 chapters.
He is the fullness of all of the old covenant fulfilled in
one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the end of the law for
righteousness. He is the fulfillment of salvation. That's who he is. That's who he is. He was seen
as our high priest all throughout the last few chapters, wasn't
he? He was seen as our Melchizedek, king of righteousness, king of
peace, wasn't he? He was seen as our prophet, priest, and king. He was seen as the sacrificial
lamb unto God. He was seen as the sacrifice
and he was the offerer and the offerer. He was the one that
was both the sacrifice and the one offering the sacrifice as
the priest and the lamb. We see him as the blood atonement
that put away the sin of his people. We've seen him as. He
is salvation, we've seen Him as that. And that's what, we're
coming close to the end of the book now, and this is what the
summary is, is Christ is all. And it's true throughout the
whole entirety of it, but now we see every picture and every
type and every shadow points to the Lord obtaining eternal
redemption by Himself, by His own blood. I love the scripture that says,
I think it's, I know it's in Hebrews 1.3. He said, when he
had by himself purged our sins, he sat down. This is what he'd
done one time. This was a one-time thing. And
this is what the writer is saying here is all these other times,
this was one day, and then the next day they'd have to do it
again, and the next day they'd have to do it again, and the next day they'd
have to do it again, and they kept doing that over and over. But it never
put away sins. It never perfected the doer or
the receiver. It never did. Never did. But this man, he entered once
by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption, and now he
is seated. The work is finished. There's
nothing for you to do. There's nothing to be done to
obtain salvation. Salvation's received freely by
grace. Freely by grace. Notice that
he enters to a place not made with hands here. That's important.
Let's read this again. Verse 11, but Christ being come
an high priest of good things to come by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is to say, not
of this building, not made with hands. We're not privy to go
into that place. It's not made with hands. It's
the presence of God is what it is. That's where he entered into. On the cross of Calvary when
the Lord died, he died physically speaking, but his soul was offered
up unto the Father, which is something you and I could have
never done. He entered the very presence of God. And so you have
a spiritual transaction taking place there between the Father
and the Son, not just something physical. You remember those,
there's been so many movies made of a portrayal of what Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John have in them. They have a Jesus they
call in the movie, and you can see the agony and the suffering
outwardly, and you can see the words spoken, and it'll get an
emotional stirring. I remember that Passion of the
Christ movie that came out, and we had family members that they
bought into that, they were all about it. And all these people
at the theater, they were outside the theater doors, they were
kneeling down, they were praying, but what they were doing was,
is they were just, they were having an emotional stirring,
a moral reformation, that's all that was happening, because none
of that was by faith. There's no way we can enter in
and understand what was happening on the cross, spiritually speaking
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the agony. How do you describe pouring
out your soul unto death? How can we describe that? But
that was the price that must be paid for you and I to be redeemed.
He who knew no sin had to become sin that we might be made. He
had to be made sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Otherwise, we have no righteousness.
He took our place and then poured out his soul. And what did the
Lord say? When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall be satisfied. He shall justify
many. He shall justify many. He went to the place that you
and I could never enter into. We could never have entered in,
no matter how many deaths we die, we could never enter into
that place in death and approach the throne of God and hope to
be found righteous in and of ourself. It's not possible, but
he did. He did, how? By his own blood.
He entered into that place, that tabernacle not made with hands,
the very presence of God. You and I can only dwell and
work in the physical realm. We have no hope of doing anything
to please God in the physical realm. What does the scripture
say? They that are in the flesh cannot please God. And sometimes
these simple scriptures, they really ground us back to the
basics, don't they? They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. You're saying there's nothing
I can do to please God. That's exactly right if you're
in the flesh. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ gives faith and
we are looking to Christ, the Lord, Calls that good works.
That's amazing everything he requires he provides he causes
his people to look to Christ and we live move and have our
being in Christ and the Lord calls that good works now my
point is is that otherwise if we're doing it in and of ourself
if it's physical the Lord will not be pleased with it and everything
that Jesus Christ did physically speaking the Lord was pleased
with because he was perfect and everything he did spiritually
speaking the Lord was pleased with because he is perfect he
entered into that which is not made with hands that within the
veil doing business with God we were not allowed to look at
what was happening the Lord blacked out the world didn't he darkness
you couldn't And you know it's described in the plagues of Egypt. Those plagues of Egypt are a
picture of what befell the Lord on the cross of Calvary. It was
a mockery of all the other gods that was in Egypt, but it was
also the suffering that the Lord had to endure. And we see the
blackness and it was called a darkness that you could feel. Darkness
that you could feel in the land of Egypt. That's what the Lord
experienced on the cross. The darkness of our sin. He felt
it. He felt it. We couldn't look
in. We couldn't see what was going
on. It wasn't by the blood of bulls
and goats, but by his own blood he entered once, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. You know what that means? That means he settled the matter
of eternal life. It's settled. It's settled, it's
finished for all eternity. Now men desire to embrace the
physical, as I've already mentioned, about, they want movies, they
want trinkets, they want objects, they put crosses on top of steeples
and all kinds of things. And Lord desires, what did the
Lord say to the woman at the well? If you worship the Lord,
you gotta worship him in spirit. and in truth. That is by his
spirit and by his truth. We worship Christ. We worship
God in spirit and in truth, don't we? Not the physical. Not the
physical. By faith. Faith doesn't look
to physical things. Faith believes that Christ entered
into that realm that you and I never could. And he went to
death for us and died at our place as our substitute, as our
surety, and put away our sin, but the sacrifice of himself.
And by his own blood, he hath obtained eternal redemption for
us. He settled the debt we had. all the agony that we deserve
because of our sin, he endured that, every bit of it, until
justice was satisfied. And then we hear through the
blackness, we hear through the darkness, the cry that gives
us hope of salvation, it is finished. It is finished, and the veil
in the temple has rent entwined from top to bottom. When we think about what other
men may say about God and about other gospels. Remember this, Jesus Christ is
the only one, the only one who could offer himself in a body
that he prepared, in a place physically he had created, in
a place spiritually that he inhabited, with a tree that he erected,
with the only substance that he would be pleased with, his
blood. and thereby putting away our sin. He's the only one that
can do all that. The only one. He achieved his purpose to save
all those he chose to die for before time. He entered the presence
of God once, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Now we have this glorious declaration
of the gospel. Job said it this way. Deliver
him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. To everyone
that the Lord die for, that's the word being spoken to the
Lord's children, I have found a ransom. Deliver him from going
down to the pit. I use the word transaction and
I don't want to diminish the glory of what took place on the
cross of Calvary. It was a transaction. I looked
up synonyms for transaction and couldn't come up with a better
one. It was the offering of his life, the offering of his blood
for our life. That's a transaction by definition.
But it was entirely based upon the value of the offered price. And that was his blood, the most
precious substance that's ever been, ever will be, the blood
of Christ. Because of the value of it, the
redemption is an eternal redemption. It's not a temporary redemption.
It's not a maybe redemption. Because of the value of the blood,
it's an eternal redemption. It can't be altered. It can't
be changed. It can't be manipulated. It can't
be taken away or tampered with. This is God's salvation because
of the value of the blood. Furthermore, the blood, what
it accomplished was never determined by man, it was determined by
God. He obtained because of His will. Turn with me to Ephesians 1. through 12, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now he's about to tell us what
all those spiritual blessings are in heavenly places in Christ.
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Every bit of that is contingent
upon him doing it. Not contingent upon you and I
doing anything. It was all contingent upon him
doing thing. And what, what did he do it for his will, his own
purpose, his own pleasure to the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace. wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he
had purposed in himself. There it is again. That in the
dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. So many times I have heard men
read a lot of scripture, but they don't really give good takeaways
from what they just read. I want to give us a good takeaway,
if the Lord would be my helper. Everything in that was based
upon his pleasure and his will. And everything that had to do
with salvation in that had to do with Him choosing, Him saving,
and it's all by grace. That's what we get out of that,
every bit of it. It's all His will according to
His purpose. Given to us in Christ before the foundation of the
world because His will was to obtain. brethren, we have obtained
an inheritance. I want to say that again because
his will was to obtain salvation. We're reading over in Hebrews
and it said he entered one having obtained eternal redemption for
us because it was his will to obtain eternal redemption for
us. We have obtained eternal life in Christ Jesus by his will. Also, we have an inheritance. And the scripture says we've
been called to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, which
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. What does that
mean? You can't be altered. It can't be changed. It can't
be manipulated. It's finished. It's finished. That's what it means when it
says he obtained eternal redemption. It's finished. What a gift, what a gift. People, they talk about, and
we were in a religious area, two things that make me want
to preach, and I've heard others say this, good preaching makes
me want to preach, and bad preaching makes me want to preach, because
I want to tell the truth, and when you hear the truth, you
love the truth, you rejoice, you hear a lie, and you want to tell
the truth, you love the truth. But we heard so many religious
songs. I was looking for a radio station,
and I'm not going to tell you what kind of station, but it
wasn't a religious station, I'll tell you that. There were 18
religious stations, and I quit looking. I was like, I'm done.
I'm not going to do this anymore. And every time you click on something,
if it's preaching or singing or whatever, it all had the same
The same message, the feel good message, do good, do good. We're
gonna hear that next hour. Do good and you'll be all right.
I read a sign down there. I'm getting ahead of myself for
next hour, but it literally says, do good and be kind and that
will be enough forever. I thought, huh? No, it's not enough. No, because
I didn't obtain eternal life by entering once, he did. No,
I have to have him, that's enough, he's enough, not what I do. I'm
not saying don't be good, be kind, I'm not saying that, you
understand what I'm saying, but morals are good. No, brethren,
this right here, it's all about him and his gospel, it's all
about what he's obtained by his own will, by his own purpose,
by his own blood. It's not about what we do, it's
not about what we don't do, it's about him. It's all freely by
his grace, that's the gift. The gift, men talk about John
3.16, for God so loved the world, I love this verse. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That
doesn't change the gospel in any way, shape, or form. That's
part of the gospel, isn't it? It absolutely is. He was telling
Nicodemus that it's the world, Nicodemus. It's not just to the
Jew. And whosoever believe, they'll not perish. Well, all you have
to do is believe. That's true. But the problem
is I'm dead in trespasses and in sin. I have to be made alive
before I can believe. And I have to be given faith
or I'll never believe. And men think that they have that power
to do those things, and they don't. They don't. And it's sad to see the, the
lie that they have their hope in. They obtain eternal life
by doing those things. You see the difference? They
obtain eternal redemption because they allowed the Lord to enter
into them. That's just silly, isn't it?
No, Christ obtained eternal redemption. And I can't stress this enough
is what he And where we started earlier, we'll go back to that.
We are the only ones in the gospel, we have sister churches, but
we are the only ones that believe Christ actually accomplished
salvation. He actually did. Everything required,
he provided. Whenever he entered once by his
own blood, he obtained eternal redemption for his people. I go back to Hebrews chapter
nine. Verse 12, neither by the blood
of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Now I looked up the meaning of
these words and I think it'll be a comfort to you as it was
to me. The word that is, it's only one word, having obtained,
but they had to come up with two words in order to give us
the meaning. Having obtained means, and that's what I've titled
this, I told you that already. Having obtained means to find
something sought after. Having obtained, to find something
sought after. That word eternal, means never
having a beginning and never having an end. That which always
has been and always will be, never to cease. What is he saying? He's saying he has found something
sought after that never had a beginning, that never had an end, and that
will never cease. Eternal redemption for his people. He has always seen his people
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's always, if he had not always
seen us in Christ, then there would have been a time he would
have hated us. But that's not possible. God
cannot change. He's always loved his people
because he's always seen them in Christ. Think about that. It was so certain that the Lord
Jesus Christ would be successful because who he is, because of
his isness, he's God, he couldn't fail. It wasn't just a mere attempt
on the cross, and I use that word sometimes, attempt, but
it was purposed. The whole world was created for
it. There was no way that he was
gonna fail, it's impossible. And he by himself entered once
by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Come
with me to 2 Timothy chapter 1. This is familiar, we go to
this quite often. I could have just told you to pick
up your bulletin because it's always on there. Look at verse nine. First of
all, look at the last word in verse eight. God, who hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. This, what he obtained, it was
given to his people before time ever began. How certain is it
that you are saved? Before the world was ever began,
ever began, your name was written in a book, a guaranteed sealed
book called the Lamb's Book of Life. And those who are in that
book, the Lamb was the only one worthy to open and loose the
seals thereof, and he did. And he paid the price to redeem
every name written in that book. What was the price? His own blood,
his own death, his own sacrifice, offering his soul up unto the
Father. And you know what happened when he did that? He entered
once by his own blood and obtained eternal redemption for his people. Every name written in that book.
Every name. Every single person that he loved,
he redeemed. God's elect have always been
found in Christ. There has been a remedy found
in the precious blood of the lamb. The sweet balm of Gilead
goes deeper than the stain could go. Why did he enter into the presence
of God? Because he had obtained. Not to obtain. You notice, you
do notice how that's written. He entered by his own blood once,
having obtained. That's past tense. He had already
obtained it and entered in by his own blood, having obtained
it. God was pleased. God was satisfied. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Now go back to our text, and
that's the last place we'll turn. Hebrews chapter four, I'm sorry,
nine, chapter nine. And I wanna bring, in closing,
I wanna bring this point out. Notice the word us in the very
last word, last two words in verse 12. It says, having obtained
eternal redemption, last two words are for us. That's in italics,
you notice that? The translators thought that
would be the best place the best words to put there, us. And I
don't necessarily disagree with them, taking the context, if
we go back. But who are the us? That's kind of open-ended to
some people, and they can, and the Lord gives enough rope for
anybody. They can take the rope and hang
themselves with it, honestly, if that's what, if the Lord don't
give grace, that's what men will do. That's what men will do,
they won't believe. They won't believe. So who are
the us? Well, in chapter one, verse three, it says, when he
had by himself purged our sins, That's the us, he sat down. In
chapter two, verse 10, it says, but it became the Lord Jesus
Christ. It became him for whom are all
things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons. Unto glory,
that's the us, his sons, his daughters, adopted, the ones
that he died for, the one that he purchased. That's who he's
talking about, that's who the us. Now look in verse 24 of this
chapter, chapter nine, we'll see the word us again. For Christ
has not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to
appear in the presence of God for us. Does he appear in the
presence of God for everyone? No. No, His beloved. His beloved. That's what we read
in Ephesians chapter one, wasn't it? He's made us accepted in
the beloved. He is speaking about those who
were chosen in Christ before time. God's gospel is exclusively
to His people. Exclusively to His people. No
one else. It's our redemption. He is our
righteousness. He is our justification. He is
our wisdom. He is our everything, isn't he?
As we look at this wonderful passage about our Lord
obtaining by his own blood, we see that the blood alone is our
hope. The blood alone is our righteousness.
The blood alone is our, is the purchase price. That's our
plea. Nothing more, nothing less. You
know how the blood is received? By grace, alone. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it's
the gift of God. It's never offered, it's received. And receiving
is passive. Receiving is passive. Adam is
a good example, the first man that received anything. God formed
man out of the dust of the ground, he breathed into his nostrils,
and man became a living soul. Adam received the breath of life. Did Adam have anything to do
with the reception of that? No. And that is so true now in
salvation, isn't it? Oh, our Lord never has offered
himself to a man. He offered himself unto God when
he entered once. When he entered once. Isaiah
53 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 shall bear the sins for many. For everyone he died for, he
successfully redeemed. He saves us, and as we read in
2 Timothy 1, he lets us know about it after he saves us. I
love that. We still use the term saved,
and we will. We continue to use it. There's nothing wrong with
that. We definitely don't go around saying, I got saved. That
ain't what we say. We say, the Lord saved me. I
didn't get anything. The Lord saved me. The Lord called
me. The Lord did it. I didn't do it. He did it. But
for everyone he died for in time, he lets us know about it. He
said, I've declared. I accidentally left that on the
bottom of the bulletin on the front page, this verse from Isaiah.
It says, I have declared, I have saved. I love that. That takes me and you out of
the equation. I have declared, sayeth the Lord, I have saved. So I may end up leaving it there,
I don't know. But by the power of his right hand, which is the
Lord Jesus Christ, he put the sin away, all the sin of his
people, he put it away. Because he was made sin for us,
who knew no sin, we've been made the righteousness of God in him.
We who are born utterly depraved, have been made completely righteous
because of these words, by his own blood, he entered once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for every
single person that he loves. Let's pray. Father, bless this
to our understanding according to your purpose. Thank you. In Christ's name, amen. Let's
take a break.