again tonight, and we'll open
our Bibles to the ninth chapter. If you had lived in the days
of Moses and Aaron, one thing you would have been
acquainted with in the worship of God, one thing most obvious
to around the tabernacle and the work of the priest, and that
is the shedding of blood. The blood. If you'll read chapter
9, verse 18, notice how many times Paul refers to the blood, describing work around the tabernacle
and the worship of God. Verse 18, Whereupon neither the
first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses
had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law,
he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet
wool and hyssop and sprinkle both the book and all the people,
saying, This is the blood, this is the blood of the Testament,
which God hath enjoined unto you." Moreover, he sprinkled
with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry,
and almost all things. The reason he says almost all
things is there was a purging by fire sometimes and the washing
with water. But almost all things by the
law were purged with blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there was no remission. Moses wrote in Leviticus 17.11,
the life of the flesh is in the blood. God said, I have given
it to you upon the altar, the blood, to make an atonement for
your souls. Why, it's the blood. It's the
blood that maketh atonement for the soul. And that's what Moses
is doing here, is bringing the blood before the Lord, the blood
before the Lord. Now, in verse 23, this is something
I didn't deal with Sunday night or Sunday morning as I would
like to have. Let's read verse 23. It was therefore necessary, it
was necessary, that the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with these blood sacrifices. That's what he's
talking about, the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with blood sacrifices. And what are they? the pattern
of things in the heavens. Well, that's what all of these
things were, were patterns. The people of Israel, they were
a pattern. They were typical people. Most
of them were unbelievers. They didn't know God. They were
a pattern. The tabernacle, it had no saving
virtue or power, it was a pattern. But it was a pattern of true
worship. The children of Israel were a pattern of the Church,
a picture of the Church. The tabernacle is a picture of
true worship. And the vessels and the ministry,
those things he said he sprinkled with blood, the book and the
tabernacle and the vessels of the ministry, these were the
types of his servants. But they were all patterns, patterns
of heaven. All of these things were unholy.
And they must be purified by blood, by blood, by blood, the
vessels of the temple. Now read on verse 20, But the
heavenly things, what are the heavenly things? They are the
things of which these things are the pattern. The heavenly
things are the heavenly people, the true people of God, the elect,
of which Israel is a type. The tabernacle, the worship of
God, is a picture of true worship. pattern of true worship. The
vessels that we use are a pattern of God's true servants. And the heavenly things must
be purified with better sacrifices than animal blood. What's the
better sacrifice? It's Christ's blood. Those people
who are truly justified and truly sanctified and truly accepted
of God must be purified sanctified with better sacrifices than these."
That's what he's saying there. Verse 24, Christ is not entered
into this typical holy place, made with hands, the tabernacle,
holy of holies, to put blood on an ark or a mercy seat, which
is figures, all pictures, all figures. So our high priest Our Lord Jesus
Christ represents us not in a tabernacle made with hands, which are figures,
but in the heaven itself, in the presence of God. Not before
an ark or a mercy seat, but in the presence of God, to appear
in the presence of God. Not with a picture of suffering, not with a sacrifice which is
a picture, a pattern of suffering, but with his own precious blood. Our high priest is not entered
into the holy place made with hands, which are patterns and
figures of the true, true Israel, true worship, but in the heaven
itself to appear in the presence of God on behalf of us. Now, no one who has seen Christ,
our great high priest, no one who has truly seen what Moses
is talking about here. All these things were patterns.
These Old Testament sacrifices and types and pictures were patterns.
No one who has ever seen the true high priest, our Lord Jesus
Christ, with the true blood, atonement, will ever go back
to Ava and his sons. They just won't do it. And no
one who has ever stood in Christ before the throne of God, in
the presence of God, before a throne of grace, no one who has ever
stood in the presence of God, in the presence of Christ, will
ever go back to a tabernacle or a temple or a synagogue and
wait outside while one of the feeble sons of Avon goes in and
represents him. Why on earth would I want someone
to represent me, who himself is a fallible creature, when
I have such a great output? No one who has ever heard Christ
say, this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for
you, will ever go back to animal sacrifices which could never
take away sin. From Moses to Christ, that's
the proper order. But never, never, never from
Christ to Moses. No one who knows the simplicity
of faith would ever want to go back to the complicated ceremonies
and duties of the law. No one who has ever enjoyed the
liberty of Christ, the peace and rest that comes from looking
to him, will ever want to be under, again, Sinai's law. From Christ to Moses, perish
the thought. Perish the thought. Verse 28, Hebrews 9, For Christ
was once, once offered to bear the sin of many, and unto them
that looked for him shall he appear the second time, without
sin unto salvation. Now, Hebrews 10, this is our
text tonight, and the subject is, Lo, I come. Lo, I come. low I come." For the law, talking
about the law of Moses, the Levitical law, the ceremonial law, the
Mosaic law, the law of commandments and ceremony and sacrifice, for
the law having a shadow of good things to come, what are these
good things to come? Well, what we've been talking
about a moment ago, justification, true justification before God,
good things to come. Sanctification, purity, holiness
in Christ. The Lord had prayed a while ago,
our sins behind the back of God to be remembered no more. That's
good things to come. These people didn't have that
kind of confidence. Every one of these sacrifices
remembered sin, remembered sin. But sanctification is purity
and righteousness, righteousness. a holy nature before God, redemption. You know, a picture of food will
never satisfy us. A picture of an overcoat won't
warm us. A picture of water won't bathe
us. And a picture of redemption won't save us. So he says the law of being a
picture of these good things to come in Christ, good things,
sure things, wonderful things, redeeming things. And not the
very image of those things can never, never, with those sacrifices
which they offer year by year, make the comers there unto perfect.
Never! Contrast that word, never, with
the word in verse 14. Turn over to verse 14, Hebrews
10. far by one offering he hath perfected
forever." That's a lot different. These Mosaic sacrifices can never
make you perfect. But Christ, with one sacrifice
forever, perfected them to the sanctified.
A lot of difference in never and forever. The awkward year by year, watch
this now, verse 2. He said, this ceremonial law,
you know, the reason I'm leaning on this so hard is they, dispensationalism,
they talk about six or seven dispensations. There's a dispensation
of innocence before Adam fell. There was a dispensation of conscience
and a dispensation of judges. and a dispensation of laws, and
then a dispensation of the gospel, and then the dispensation of
the Millennium, and they seem to indicate that there were several
different ways in which God sought to redeem men. But the Apostle
Paul says all of these things are but shadows. There are dispensations
and there are clearer revelations. But there's not but one salvation,
and that's in the blood of Christ. And these things can never, for
verse 2, watch this now. If the Lord, the priesthood,
the blood sacrifices could put away sin, if they could, would
they not have ceased to be offered? In other words, if these sacrifices
offered by Aaron and Moses, if they could put away Wouldn't
they cease to be offered? Because the worshippers, once
purged, once forgiven, would have no more conscience of sin. Have no more conscience of sin. This is the way I feel about
the sacrifice of Christ. I looked at Calvary. He died
and paid the debt, and he's paid. Put away the sin, they're put
away. Justified us before God, we are justified. So there is
no need for any more sacrifice. Once, once, once, once. That's
what Paul keeps saying, once in the end of the world he had
to appear to put away sin with a sacrifice of himself. Now,
if these sacrifices could put away sin, they would cease to be offered,
because the worshiper would have no conscience of sin. But in
those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sin, a remembrance again made
of sin every year. Let me show you an example of
that. Turn to Leviticus 16. I read this again this morning. I got such a blessing out of
this picture. But it is a picture. Now listen
to it. It sounds so final. Now listen
to this. Leviticus 16, verse 20. And when he had made an end of
reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation
and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Now, this is the
straight goat. And Aaron shall lay both his
hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all
the sins and iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of
the goat. and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man
into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and the
man shall let go of the goat in the wilderness, and return
her. And Abram shall come into the
tabernacle of the congregation, and put off the linen garments
which he had put on when he went into the holy place, and leave
them there." wash his flesh with water in the holy place, put
on his priestly garments, and come forth and offer his burnt
offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement
for himself and for the people." Now, there it is. But they've got to do that next
year. He's got to take an animal, bring
it into the Holy of Holies, put blood on the mercy seat, come
out, put his hand on the scapegoat, confess their sins, and this
man leads the scapegoat way out into the wilderness and leaves
them. He comes back. That's a picture of sin borne
away. The blood on the mercy seat is a picture of sin purged. Our sins on the scapegoat is
a picture of sin borne away into the far east, east, west, and
they remember no more. The next year they go through
this again. All of this can't put away sin.
But when our Lord Jesus came as our sacrifice, by one offering,
he didn't go into this holy place and sprinkle his blood on the
mercy seat. He died and went before the throne of God, and
our sins were purged. And he bore our sins in his body
on the tree, and they were put away. He buried them. One sacrifice. Why is it not possible for this
blood of the animals to do that? Well, here Mr. Gill gives three reasons. Number
one, sin is a transgression of the moral law, the moral law
of God, the law having to do with the thoughts and the heart
and the nature and the intents and purposes, the moral law. A law a man can break without
even being awake. Laws that people break without
lifting a hand or moving a foot. Nature. And these sacrifices belong to
a ceremonial law. Christ, our sacrifice, was born
under the moral law. He was born, just like we are,
of a woman, but without that evil, wicked nature. And yet
he had the same nature. He was a man. And then secondly,
the blood of an animal is not the same blood, not the same
kind of person who is sinning. Jesus Christ is bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh. And thirdly, sin deals with the
soul, that's what I said a moment ago, with the mind, with the
conscience to which no animal can relate. But Christ made his
soul an offering for sin. That's the difference. Paul reaches
back to the words of David in Psalm 40. Turn to Psalm 40 a
moment. Psalm 40. And this is written, Psalm 40,
when these sacrifices were being offered. This is written when
these animals were dying. This was written when the priests
were in the heyday of going into the Holy of Holies. This was
written when the tabernacle stood and David was planning on building
a bigger one, an awesome temple in which to carry on these sacrifices.
And yet he wrote, Psalm 40, verse 6, "...sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou burnt offerings and
sin offerings hast thou not required, thou knowest pleasure. Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart, I have declared thy faithfulness, thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation." Turn back to Hebrews
10. See, Paul, when he says in verse 3, we read
a moment ago, in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again
made of sin every year. It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sin. Now verse 5, he takes
up that quote from David. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, when Christ came into the world in the flesh, he said,
These sacrifices and offerings thou wouldest not have to continue.
God will not have them to continue any longer. Not after he came
into the world, they won't continue any longer. But a body hast thou
prepared me, thou hast prepared for me a real body of flesh and
blood for thine anointed, in which I will do thy will and
redeem thine elect. Verse 6, In burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. All the time
these sacrifices were in force when they were being offered
by men like Abel, he offered a sacrifice. Abraham, Isaac,
Aaron, all the priests, these sacrifices were being offered
in faith. And God had respect to Abel's
offering, respect to Abraham's offering, and respect to Isaac's
offering, and respect to Moses and Aaron's offering. But in
those sacrifices, God had no pleasure. God had no satisfaction. These sacrifices themselves could
never please God, never satisfy his justice, never honor his
Lord, never cause him to be reconciled to his enemies. Verse 7, the end said, I. Though I come, in the volume
of the book is written of me, This is my beloved Son, God said. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I'm well pleased. In the volume of the book it's
written. In the volume of what book? I believe that's twofold. Let's go to Luke 24. Luke 24,
I believe that has a reference to two books. I believe, first
of all, it has a reference to this book that we hold in our
hands. Father, scripture says in Luke
24, verse 25, he was talking to some of his disciples here
after his resurrection, and they were filled with unbelief and
doubt and trouble and so forth. Then he said to them, the Lord
Jesus Christ said to these disciples, O fools, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ
just suffered these things? and to enter into his glory.
And beginning at Moses, beginning at Genesis 1, and all the prophets,
he expanded unto them in all the book and all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself. It's written in the volume of
the book. It's written up there. I come
to do thy will. Look down at verse 44. Now he's
with more of his disciples. several of them. He said to them
in verse 44, These are the words which I have spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which are written. And the volume of the book is
written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, in the Psalms
of me. Lo, I come, and the volume of
the book is written of me, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. He died for our sins
according to the scriptures. He rose again according to the
scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus it is written, it's
written of me, thus it behoove Christ to suffer, to rise from
the dead the third day, that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem." That's the first book to which But there's another
book, Revelation 5. Let's turn over and look at it.
Revelation 5. And John said, I saw in Revelation
5 verse 1, I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne
a book written. In the volume of the book he
said it's written. I saw a book in the hand of God,
written within and on the back side, and sealed with seven seals.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy
to open this book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man
in heaven, nor in earth, nor under the earth, was able to
open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open to read the book, neither to look thereon."
What do you think this book is? I tell you, I really honestly
believe it's the book of the purposes of God, the purpose
of God, the kingdom of God, known unto God all his works from the
beginning, and contained in this book all of redemption and righteousness
and glory and the kingdom and the covenant and the mercies
of God and the grace of God and the goodness of God in redeeming
centers. And of course nobody can open
that, and of course nobody can make that come to pass or reveal
what's in it or fulfill it in heaven, earth, or under the earth.
And one of the elders, verse 5, said to me, weep not. Behold
the land of the tribe of Judah. Who's that? That's King Jesus. That's our Lord, King of Kings,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, Son of David. He hath prevailed to open the
book and to loose the seven seals. Seven is the number of God. Seven
spirits, seven seals. And I beheld him, lo, in the
midst of the throne. He's God. And of the four great
beasts, the misted elders stood alone as it had been slain. Blood. Having seven horns, that's his
omnipotence. Seven eyes, his omniscience.
Seven spirits of God, his omnipresence. God sent forth into all the earth. And he came, it's written of
me, I come. Took the book out of the right
hand of him that sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book,
the only one who is worthy of whom it's written, who could
fulfill it, who could accomplish the glory of God and the good
of sinners, when he had taken the book, the four beasts and
the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having
every one of them hearts engoldened, bowels full of odors, which are
the prayers of the saints, and they sung a new song, Thou art worthy, no one else
is, to take the book, to open the seal thereof, to fulfill
it, to reveal it, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and
nation. You made us kings and preached
our God." In all these sacrifices and ceremonies,
God has had no pleasure. no satisfaction. His law has
never been fulfilled, it's just to satisfy. But Christ said,
Lo, I come. Hebrews 10, verse 7, I come,
and the volume of the book is written of me, to do thy will,
O God. Let's restate it, Paul said,
verse 8, above, when he said, You have neither desired nor
taken any delight in sacrificing offerings, burnt offerings, sin
offerings. All that man has done, is doing, can do, is imperfect,
insufficient, unacceptable, must be abolished." That's what he's
saying. Sacrificing offering and burnt
offerings and all the rest of it for sin, thou wouldest not
have continued. Neither hast thou pleasure therein
which are offered unto the Lord. Then he went on to say, that's
all done, that's all over. Couldn't get the job done, just
a picture. I come to do thy will perfectly. I come to do thy will fully. I come to do thy will willingly. I come to do thy will, O God,
that you may take away the first. take away all that was before
me, take away all that was before
me, and establish the second, me and my order." Let me say
that again, paraphrasing. Father, you have neither desired
nor taken any delight in sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, sin
offerings, and all that man is, has done, can do, In worship,
sacrifice is imperfect, insufficient, unacceptable, must be abolished.
But then I come. Lo, here I come to do thy will
perfectly, perfectly. Establish a perfect holiness,
a perfect redemption, a perfect righteousness, a perfect atonement,
And you can take away everything and everybody that preceded me
and establish me and my order. All right, what in the world
does all that mean? All right, let me give it to
you right here. The first and primary meaning,
he takes away the first, establishes the second. The first and primary
meaning is that law, that ceremonial law. with its Sabbaths and sacrifices
and holy days and priesthood and ceremony and washings and
sprinklings. Those things prepared people
for Christ, prepared people for the gospel. These types and ceremonies
acted as pictures, patterns, teachers to prepare us for this
gospel, free grace through the blood of the Son of God. Now
all of that is fulfilled. All those ceremonies and priesthoods
and washings and sacrifices and works and holy days are fulfilled.
They are taken away. They have no more use. We are
complete in Him. In Him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead. Bodily we are complete in Him.
And this principle relates to all things having
to do with our relationship with God. He said, Behold, I make
everything new. He takes away the first. All
right, let's make it, let's apply it to everything. It was the
first paradise, Eden. How beautiful it must have been. How beautiful, how wonderful
it must have been, where he prepared it for the man and put him there. But he's taken that away. You
burn it wherever it is, whatever it was, he's going to burn it
with the whole earth. But there's a new paradise, and Christ said
to the thief, today you'll be with me in paradise. The first man, Adam, our representative,
he fell. He's gone. Everything about him
is gone. The second Adam is the Lord from
heaven in whom our soul is restored. Adam's gone the first time. Second
Adam lives. The first covenant, and all covenants
that had any reference to doing, do this and live, do this and
be blessed, do this and be honored, do this and find peace, are all
gone. If you'll turn two pages to Hebrews
13, verse 20, it says, Brought again from the dead,
our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of an everlasting covenant. There's just one. It's everlasting. Every other covenant, there's
just one everlasting covenant. All the rest of them are gone.
And in the blood of that covenant, God will make you perfect. Perfect! No need for anything else. In
every good work to do his will. working in you, God working in
you, that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever." All the covenants are
gone. They talk about rebuilding the
Temple over yonder. No, no. They talk about reestablishing
the sacrifices. No, no. They talk about the nation
Israel ruling again. No, no. Those covenants are gone. That land is gone. Everything
about it is gone. We are complete in him. Our first righteousness and religion, like Adam. You know, when Adam
sinned, what's the first thing he did? He got real religious.
He tried to cover his nakedness. That's what he did. The first
thing Adam did when he sinned was began to try to cover his
sins with his own effort, his own works, his own provision. He pretended, and God ripped
it off of him, covered him with the skin of an animal. The Apostle
Paul had religion. He rested in how he was born
and from whom he was born and what he had done. He said, I'm
a Hebrew of Hebrews, and I'm this, that, and the other. And
blameless for the lost concerned and the Pharisee of Pharisees,
and God had to take all that away from him. And he said, I
count it but done that I may win Christ and be found in him.
And you and I, we're born religious. And our early efforts are to
make ourselves acceptable for God. Isn't that right? And we
get encouragement from all around us to do this and do that and
do the other, and then God will do something. That has to go. That has to go. And when it takes place is when
God saves a man. You can't have two righteousness. You can't have your works and
His. You can't have your doings and His. You can't have your
holiness and His. You can't have...God has to...it's
got to go. He takes away the first. The
religion with which we're born into this world has got to go.
The religion that's cultivated in us by our natural freewillism
and Arminianism and our families and friends that teach us in
the way of self-righteousness has got to go. He takes away the first, and
it's Christ, Christ, Christ. That's right. And then next,
there's another thing that's got to go. our confidence in
this flesh, even believers. When we first learn the gospel
and we realize that our righteousness is the filthy rags, our duties
and works and all these things, they just add to our condemnation,
they just throw them away, look to Christ. But then we get wrapped
up with our books and our doctrines. And our ministers and our brothers,
like training wheels on a kid's bike, need all the help we can
get to keep them falling over. So we lean on these things. Everybody does. We lean on these
things, like training wheels. And then, as God teaches us,
by his Spirit and through his Word, we even lay that down. teaches us the glory of Christ,
the sufficiency of Christ, the efficacy of Christ, and the light
of his glory in person, and we learn to have no confidence in
the flesh, ours or anybody else's. We'll take all the fellowship
we can get, we'll take all the encouragement we can get, we'll
take all the love we can get, But our source of grace is Christ
Jesus. Our salvation is in Christ Jesus.
If we have to, we'll stand dead alone for his glory. That's right. If we have to,
we'll fight this whole world for Christ and his truth. Never, never, never, never shall
I be moved. Because to whom shall I go? That's right. It's a thing of
growth. It's not the desire that sends
in milk of the Word. It's growth. I thank God for all that I have,
but I don't need anybody but Christ. You understand what I'm
saying? I thank God for all the encouragement
and fellowship that he's pleased to get. But need, I need Jesus. And that's all. And after a while,
he takes away the first. He takes away the training wheels.
He takes away the support. He takes it away. He takes it
away deliberately, because he's not going to share his glory
with another. And then in reference to the future, he takes away
the first. You'll have no rival. You'll
have no distraction. You'll have no competition for
glory. These old bodies have got to go. I think a lot of us, our nature
is to be proud. Our nature is to be proud. Strength, beauty, Intelligence, that's
got to go too. Let the wise man not glory in
his wisdom, the strong man not in his strength, the rich man
not in his wealth, but let him glory in me. And maybe there are several ways
for God to do this, and there are harder ways for God to do
it. take away this first established Christ, soul, body. Our family
circles, I can't speak fully of that, but I just know this,
there is one family, one family, and that's his family. Who is
my mother? Who are my brothers? Who are
my sisters? These who do the will of God. The same are my
brothers and sisters. It takes away the first. establishes a second, that in
all things he might have the glory. This old earth is earmarked
for destruction, utter and absolute destruction. He says it will
melt with a fervent heat. Heaven and earth shall pass away.
There won't be one solitary single thing left of this first, because
he said, Behold, I make all things And we look for a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And if we can
take any of this with us, it's spawning. Just an autumn of it, it's spawning. It's got to be all in Christ. So verse 10, I quit. By the which
will, here is the gospel summed up as beautifully as it can be
summed up. By the which will, whose will?
We are sanctified, made holy, accepted, through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ, his precious blood, his righteousness,
once for all. Once for all. All right. I hope that's a blessing.