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." He
has put away all our sins, remembered them no more, the blood of our
Redeemer. us from all sin. Our sins are
purged. And then in verse 18, because of the sacrifice of our
Lord Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sin through His blood, there's
no more offering for sin. There's no need for another atonement. There's no need for any other
work to be done. God was in Christ reconciling
us to himself. Nothing is required. The payment
is in full. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
we owe. Sin left a crimson stain, and
he washed it white as snow. God has put away all our sins.
And there's no further need for any offering, for any work to
be done. It's finished, he said, and sat
down at the right hand of God. Having finished his work, he
entered into his rest. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into his rest. Cease from our so-called work
of righteousness, of acceptance with God. No need for any more
offering. Now, by his grace, verse 19,
we have this blessed privilege to confidently and boldly, with
great liberty, come into the presence of God. It says in verse
19, because of our Lord's perfect sacrifice, having therefore,
brethren, boldness, to enter into the holiest, into
the very presence of God, by the blood of Jesus, a place at
one time where only the high priest could enter the holiest
of all. And that was the sacrifice, the
blood sacrifice. But now when our Lord died on
the cross, the veil was went into from top to bottom. And
you and I, we're He's made us kings and priests under our God.
And we can come through the blood of Christ by this new and living
way into the very presence of God, as priests of God to offer
sacrifices. What kind of sacrifices? Sacrifices
of praise, prayer, and thanksgiving, boldly into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus. Verse 20, by a new and living
way which he hath consecrated for us. Through the veil, that
is to say, His flesh. He's our tabernacle. He's our
altar. He's our high priest. He's our
atonement. He's our mercy city. We have
an altar. It's Christ. And verse 21, and
this is what we'll do. This is what we shall do. You
see, that's what our Lord's done for us. Now this is what, by
the grace of God, we shall do. Verse 22. Verse 21 says, having a high priest over the
house of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who ministers not in
the tabernacle made with hands, but in heaven itself, who's at
the right hand of the majesty on high. Number one, let us draw
near. Let us draw near. We'll draw
near in worship, in praise. We'll draw near unto God with
a true heart. with a sincere heart, not in
hypocrisy, but with a true, sincere heart, in full confidence, full
assurance of faith, not in ourselves, but in Christ, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience with the blood of Christ, and
our bodies washed with pure water, we'll draw near. We will worship
him. Let us come into his presence.
Secondly, verse 23, and we shall hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering. Even though trials and testing
and trouble comes our way, we'll be faithful. We'll hold fast
this profession of faith without wavering. And our confidence
is not in ourselves nor in our ability to hold fast. But our
confidence is in Him who is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful
to the promise. He'll keep us. He said, I'll
not depart from them, and they'll not depart from me. The believer's
standing is twofold. It's preservation and it's perseverance. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. God will finish, that's which
he began, but not apart from faith, not without faith, but
through faith, through faith. He keeps us. He'll not depart
from us. We'll not depart from him. Peter
said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and we're sure that's Christ, the Son of the
living God. So we're going to worship God.
We're going to come into this practice. through Christ, we're
drawn near. And we're gonna, we're gonna
die in faith. Like Abraham of old and Moses
and all those before us, these all died in faith. We'll hold
fast our profession. We'll hold fast. We'll be here
when he calls us, or we'll be here when he comes. But by his
grace, we'll be here. All right, thirdly, And we'll
consider one another. We're going to stay in love with
one another. We're going to consider one another.
We're going to encourage one another. We're going to be considerate
of one another. To encourage one another. Brothers
and sisters in Christ. Encouraging works of love and
labor of love and works of faith. Encourage one another. And then
fourthly, We're not going to forsake the assembling of ourselves
together. As a matter of some years, we're
going to worship God. One of the things that my dear
daughter said before she died, she suffered a long time. She
was in church on December the 3rd, 1995. And her sickness got much worse,
and she was not able to be here on December the 10th. And she
knew then she'd never be back here. And she made this statement,
better not to live than to live and not worship God with his
people on his day. That's a legacy that she left,
and a legacy you better listen to. It preaches better than I
can preach this. We will not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together, as the banner of some is. But so much
more, so much more as we see the day, what day approaching,
the day of death, the day of his coming, the day of reckoning,
the day when men shall stand before God, the day when we shall
give an account unto a most holy God. That's what we will do. Now he
has done, and there are a lot of good godly people that need
to hear these things. All right, let's look at verse
26 now. Verse 26. Verse 26. If we sing unwillfully after
that we've received the knowledge of the truth, There remaineth
no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversary."
Now what does this mean? If we sin willfully after we've
received the knowledge of the truth? Well, I know what the
knowledge of the truth is. The knowledge of the truth is
the knowledge that Christ is the God-man. That he is the one
sent offer. That he is the mercy seeker.
That he is our atonement and our sacrifice. That by his death,
God put away our sins. By his righteousness, God accepts
us in him as holy. By his resurrection, God declared
to the whole world, this is the way, he is the way. truth and
the life. There is no other way. Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid in Christ.
He's the fulfillment of all Old Testament scriptures, promises,
priesthood, sacrifices. Those things are done and put
away. Christ is the truth. Christ is our high priest. Christ
is our hope. Christ is all and in all. Now,
that's the knowledge of the truth. Now, he says, if we sin willfully. Now, what does that mean, if
we sin willfully? This is not to be understood
of an act of sin. You've done that today, or a
thought of sin, or an imagination of sin, or a nature of sin, because
we carry a nature of sin and thoughts and imaginations. Neither
is it a serious foul, as David felt greatly. But he didn't lose
his salvation. He didn't lose his relationship
with God. Peter, I hope I never do what Peter did. They said,
do you know Christ? He said, I don't know him. I
know not the man. He knew him. He loved him. But
he didn't lose his salvation. So it's not just a sin or even
a serious sin. Well, what is it? It's to deny
this knowledge of the truth. that Jesus Christ is the one
sinner. It's to leave Christ and go back
to that bondage of the law, legalism, self-righteousness, human works,
and deeds, and days, and so forth. After receiving the knowledge
of the truth, if I depart from Christ and deny the gospel of
his grace, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. sacrifices
that the sons of Abraham offered couldn't put away sin. If I leave
Christ and say he couldn't put away sin, then there is no sacrifice. You understand what he's saying? If those sacrifices won't put
away my sin, then his sacrifices wouldn't put away my sin. There
is no such sacrifice. There's not going to be another
cross. There's not going to be another tomb. It's just one thing
we're going to look for if we leave Christ. And that's verse
27, a certain careful looking for judgment. And fiery indignation
which shall devour the adversary. Without Christ, there's nothing. And here in verse 28 and 29,
Paul applies something that he uses often
in the book of Hebrews, and that is he enforces the importance
of a truth by arguing the less to the greater, the less to the
greater. We see that all the way through the book of Hebrews.
He says Christ is greater than the angels. The angels are less.
For a season he was made lower than the angels, but he's greater
than the angels. And God said, let all the holy
angels of God worship Him. Christ is greater than Moses,
as he who built the house is greater than the house. Christ
is greater than Abraham, when Abraham met Melchizedek. Abraham
in whose loins all of the people of God were at that time. He's
the father of the faithful. Levi was in his loins. And yet
Abraham worshiped and gave tithes to Melchizedek, the less to the
greater. The Old Testament priests, all
of them, were made priests without an oath, the less. Christ was
made a priest by the oath of him who said, you're my son. And I swear by myself, because
I can swear by no greater, that indeed shall the nations be blessed,
the less to the greater. And then the Old Testament Levitical
law. He takes away the first, the
last. The Sabbath, and the tithes,
and the offerings, and the sacrifices, and the ceremonies, and the circumcision,
and all these things. He takes them away. The last
establishes the greater. Now watch this. Here's what we're
saying. If a man or woman and they don't
come to a knowledge in the heart of the truth, they have a knowledge
of the truth, the knowledge of the gospel. If a person comes
to some kind of knowledge of the truth, the knowledge that
Christ is the fulfillment of the law, Christ is the satisfaction
of justice, Christ is the honoring of God's righteousness, Christ
is the sin bearer, Christ is the high priest, and you come
to that knowledge and turn away from him, to the beggar and the
elder. Watch this. He that despised
Moses' law, the less, died without mercy before two or three witnesses.
They stoned him. People who violated Moses' law,
the law of the tabernacle and the sacrifice and the circumcision,
they stoned him before two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment.
Suppose ye shall he be thought worthy. who trods under his foot,
the Son of God. Now think about that. These folks back there who violated Moses' law, like
the man that stole the wedge, sons of Korah who violated God's
law, and they stoned them before a temporary witness. The less,
and yet, of how much sore punishment Suppose you shall, that man or
woman, be thought worthy who despises the blood of the Son
of God, the gospel of the Son of God, who trods under his foot,
the Son of God, and counts the blood of the covenant, to be
unworthy of his affection, unworthy of his faith, unworthy of his
commitment, unworthy of his support, unworthy of his belief. That's the only way a man can
be sanctified. that He counts it an unholy thing,
an unnecessary thing, an unwanted thing. I don't need Christ. I don't want Christ. I don't
need His blood. I'm a good man. I'm a righteous
man. I've done this and I haven't
done that. He's done despite to the Spirit of grace. Oh, from
the less to the greater. That's what He's doing here.
It's just awesome. Awesome. But verse 30, what's this? Verse
30. We know Him who said, vengeance
is mine. Vengeance belongs to the Lord.
Vengeance doesn't belong to Satan. You know, people give Satan a
lot of credit for things he doesn't do. Vengeance doesn't belong
to Satan. God's not going to use Satan.
to bring his judgment wrath upon men. Vengeance doesn't belong
to the angels. When God told Moses at midnight
there'll be death in the land of Egypt, there'll be a cry go
up from Egypt such as never has been heard before or ever will
be heard. I will pass through the land
of Egypt and I'll smite the firstborn. Vengeance belongs to God. Vengeance doesn't belong to Satan.
Vengeance doesn't belong to angels. Vengeance doesn't belong to men.
He said, avenge not yourselves, beloved. Don't do that. Vengeance belongs to God. That's a quotation from Deuteronomy.
Let's turn over there and read it in Deuteronomy 32. Let's read
where the quotation comes from. Vengeance belongs to God. Vengeance
belongeth not to Satan, not to angels, not to men. It belongs
to God. So dearly beloved, avenge not
yourself. I'll recompense, God says. All
right, Deuteronomy 32, verse 35. This is the quote, Paul's
quoting Moses. To me belongeth vengeance and
recompense. Their foot shall slide in due
time, for the day of their calamity is at hand. things that shall
come upon them, make haste. For the Lord shall judge his
people, and repent himself for his servants. When he seeth that
their power is gone, there's none shut up or left." Now look
at verse 30 again, quoting Moses. Vengeance, we know him that said,
Vengeance belongeth to me. I will recompense. I will avenge
all injuries to my son, to his people. I'll avenge all injuries
done to the weak and the helpless. I will recompense, God says.
I will recompense. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. What's that say, his people?
Well, he'll discipline them. He'll discipline us. chastise
us. He'll judge his people. He'll
discipline his people, but he'll judge for his people. He will
judge for his people. And he will vindicate his people
by dealing severely with their enemies and with his enemies. I'll judge their cause. That's
what he's saying there. I'll judge my people, I'll vindicate
my people, I'll judge their cause. Their cause is my cause. In as
much as you've done it to the least of my brethren, you've
done it to me." That's what he said. It's a fearful thing. We're talking
about awesome things, fearful things that fall into the hands
of a living That's twofold. I want to look
at that a moment. To fall into the hands of the
living God in Christ by faith is the greatest blessing a man
can experience. That's where I want to be. I
want to fall into the hands of God. Turn to 2 Samuel. Let's use an
illustration here. David had numbered Israel. He
knew better. He knew better, but he did it
anyway. He numbered Israel. Even Joab
tried to get him not to. Second Samuel, chapter 24, verse
10. David numbered Israel. God came to him through his surfer,
and this is what he said. David, verse 2 Samuel 24, 10,
David's heart smote him after he numbered the people. And David
said to the Lord, I've sinned. I've sinned greatly. And that
that I have done, I've sinned greatly. And now I beseech Thee,
O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant. I've done very
foolish things. Have you ever said that? I've
been very foolish. For when David was up in the
morning, the word of the Lord came unto him, unto the prophet
Gad, David's seer, saying, Now you go and say to David, Thus
saith the Lord. David, I offer you three things.
You choose one of them, and I'll do it to you. Now you listen
to this. I'll give you three choices,
David. And you listen to them, and you
choose one of them. So Gad came to David, verse 13,
and told him, said to him, now, number one, shall seven years
of famine come upon thee in thy land, seven years of famine. Is that what you want? That's
the judgment. Number two, or will you flee
three months before your enemies? Or take this choice, I'll turn
the Philistines or the Amalekites against you, and they'll drive
you out of your land, and you'll flee. before your end, three
months. Or thirdly, or that there be
three days of pestilence in the land, a plague, death in every
home. Now see what answer I shall return
to him that sent me. Gad said, what do you want me
to tell the Lord? Now, what if you were faced with that? What
would you do? Let's see what David did. Let's
see what David did. A man after God's own heart,
a man who knew God. And David said to Gad, I'm in
a great strait. Just let us fall now into the
hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great. And let us not fall
into the hands of man. I'm not going to take a choice.
I'm not going to pick the famine. I'm not going to pick the enemies.
I'm not going to pick the pestilence. I want us all just to fall into
the hands of God. He's merciful. He's merciful. Now that's good. Isn't that a
blessing? So when you say it's a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of a living God, it's a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of a living God if you hadn't fallen first into
his hands by faith. If you haven't first committed
your soul and life and body and health and hope and family and
present and future and past and everything. I'm not going to
make any choices. I want to just fall into the
hands of my God. Mercy with the Lord. Hear me,
David said, I cry to you out of the depths, have mercy upon
me. If you should mark a nick with
it, who could stand? But there's mercy with God. Paul
says here, without Christ, fearful things fall into the hands of
a living God. And the days are getting shorter.
The coming of Christ draweth nigh. But now to his people,
listen to verse 32, he says, but call to remembrance, call
to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated
you endured a great fight of affliction, partly while you
were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions
and partly while you became companions of them that were so used. David said, call to mind. I know
we're surrounded by false preachers and ceremonialism and free will
religion and those who despise the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace in Christ, but don't be discouraged. Don't grow
weary. Think back. That's what he's
saying. Call to remember. What? The former days. in which when you were illuminated.
What's this, when you were illuminated? When you were enlightened? I
can call 40 some odd years ago when God enlightened
my mind and my heart with the knowledge of the gospel, with
the true knowledge of who God is, sovereign, almighty, eternal
God of heaven and earth. does what he will, when he will,
with whom he will. And Christ, the Redeemer, the
Sovereign Savior, who came to this earth, the Lord of all,
on purpose, redeemed the people, fulfilled the blessed covenant,
and gave to us life eternal. I learned that gospel. I learned
that gospel. We were illuminated. Now that
who God is, now that what we are, who we are, our great sins
and inability, Christ is, what he did, why he did it, where
he is now, and through him we have acceptance. We made the
children of God by sovereign mercy, sovereign grace. We didn't
love him, he loved us. And when we were illuminated
and enlightened with that gospel, what happened? You endured a
great fight of affliction. You were made a laughingstock. People People ridiculed you. You experienced a painful struggle.
You were ridiculed for what you believed, for whom you believed.
You were reproached. You were cast out. You were avoided. Religious people made your life
miserable. You remember? Sure you do. Made your life miserable
because while they are together in religion, they're together
in something else too. They despise sovereign grace.
They made your life miserable. But you found some companions
in your conflict and trials. He said down here at verse 33,
you were made a laughing stock, a gazing stock, reproaches, afflictions,
and partly while you became companions of them that were so used, you
had some fellas and some sisters and brothers. who took part in
the same affliction, and you found comfort in that fellowship,
and you found strength in that fellowship, and you found encouragement
in that fellowship, and you were together. Isn't that right? Leaning on the Lord, you lean
together and encourage one another. And the people you lost, for
Christ's sake, were nothing compared to those you gained in Christ. People you lost, people who left
you and cast you out, they were nothing compared to those you
gained, those companions in Christ. And verse 34, you weren't ashamed
of the gospel, you weren't ashamed. Paul said, of my chain, you had
compassion on me and my, he was in prison, and my bonds, You
had compassion on me and my bonds. I looked up that scripture. Turn
to Acts 21. This is a powerful impact here. Acts 21. Acts 21, verse 33. Bonds, you see, are fetters or
chains. Paul said, you had compassion
on me and my bonds, my chains. In verse 31, they were trying
to kill Paul. Acts 21, 31. And as they went
about to kill him, tidings came to the chief captain of the band,
and all Jerusalem was in an uproar, who immediately took soldiers
and centurions and ran down unto them. And when they saw the chief
captain and soldiers, they left all beating of Paul. But then
the chief captain came near and took Paul, commanded him to be
bound with two chains. and demanded who he was and what
he had done. It chained him, put him in prison. But Paul said, you weren't ashamed
of me. You weren't ashamed of the gospel. You weren't ashamed
of those who preached the gospel. You weren't ashamed of those
who believed the gospel. And he even took, go back to
our text, verse 34, some of them, some of them lost their jobs,
lost their homes. Verse 34, Hebrews 10, you had
compassion on me and my chains, and you took joyfully the spalling
of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better
and more enduring and a more enduring substance. We've got
an inheritance with the Father, undefiled, it faded not away,
reserved in heaven for us. It's all right. So verse 35, Do not cast away your confidence.
Don't fling away your fearless confidence in Christ. Don't.
You think back, you remember, when you learn the gospel. It's
in the bondage of sin, in the bondage of a man-made religion,
in the bondage of self-righteousness, trying to appease a holy God
by what you did, what you do, what you gave, what you said,
how you were. Somebody came along and told
you the good news of grace. Gospel of Christ, and you just
took hold of it in your heart and rejoiced, but then the arrows
began to fly. Folks began to work you over. But you found a companionship
with believers. Now, don't throw that away. That's
what he's talking about in 35. Don't cast that away. Don't cast
away your confidence. Don't cast away your confidence
in Christ, your faith in Christ. It carries a great and a glorious
compensation. That's right, a great recompense
of reward. A great recompense. Don't cast it away. I read Foxe's Book of Martyrs
years ago and it told about a believer that had been found guilty of heresy
because this believer loved Christ and the gospel of grace. And
they brought this woman to be burned at the stake. And they gave her one more opportunity
as they had her bound to the stake ready to light the fire. And the Catholics gave
her an opportunity to recant, to renounce her faith in Christ
and come back to the Mother Church. And these were her words, according
to Fox. She said, I didn't come here
to deny my Lord. And we stand here and sit there.
We didn't come here to deny our Lord. We're going to cast away
this confidence. We're going to stand. It seems to me the loneliest,
most pitiful person at the end of life would be that person
who left the gospel of the grace of God. Wouldn't you think so? And verse 36, we're going to
need patience. We're going to need perseverance.
Verse 36, you have need. It's not an easy road. In this
world, you'll have tribulation. Our Lord said, When they kill
you, they think they're doing God a service. They'll cast you
out of the synagogue. They'll hate you. You have need
of patience, that after you have known the will of God, the redeeming
will of God. What is this will of God? Look
back here at Hebrews 10, right across the page. Verse 9, Hebrews
10, Now then said he, I come to do thy will. He taketh away
the first and establishes the second, by which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all." That's his will, his will of redemption, his will
of redemption in Christ. And after you have known this
will and loved this will and embraced this will, you have
need of patience to continue. in this way, that you might receive
the promise. For yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come. Some of us believe it's a little
while, too. We believe it's a little while. This is from Habakkuk. You want to look over at Habakkuk
chapter 2 of Habakkuk. This is a quote from Habakkuk.
After a little while, And he that shall come will come, and
will not tarry. Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 1, listen to this. I will
stand upon the watch, and set me upon the tower, and I will
watch to see what he'll say to me, speaking of the Lord, and
what I shall answer when I am reproved. I've been rash to talk
to God this way, but Habakkuk said, I'm going to wait and see
what he says. So the Lord answered me and said, write the vision
and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth,
or he that passes by may read it, or the man in a hurry, or
the man just got his attention for just that long. Write it
plainly so he can read it, so he can be without excuse. So that he that runs may read
it, he that just flips by, flips by. Let him read this. Loud and
clear. Make it plain. The vision is
yet for an appointed time. Maybe the year 2000. Who knows?
At the end, it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait
for it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him. But the just shall live by his
faith. Christ's faith. His faith. He's coming. He's
coming. It's for an appointed time. It's
for a future time. It'll tarry. But wait for him.
He'll surely come. And that's the reference here.
Go back to my text now and you'll see it. And then he said the
just shall live by faith. In verse 37. Yet a little while.
And he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just
should live by faith. But if any man draw back, go
back from this position, from this faith, from this commitment
to Christ, from this gospel of grace, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. We're not of them that draw back. Paul says we're not, we're not,
that's not what God's done for us. God's done a permanent work,
an eternal work. He brought us to love Christ
more than life itself. To believe Christ. We're not
of them that draw back into perdition. We're of them that believe. We
have believed, we do believe, by God's grace we will believe.
We look to Christ, we're looking to Christ, By His grace we'll
keep looking to Christ. We came to Christ, we are coming
to Christ, and one day we'll come to Christ. We are of them that believe to
the saving of the soul. This is awesome scripture. But
all scripture is awesome. All scripture. It's God's Word.
It's God's Word. It's not debatable or it's not
up for argument. It's the Word of the Lord. And
we bow to the Word of God. Let's sing a closing hymn, number
327, O for faith that will not shrink, though pressed by every
foe, that will not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe.