And we're turning to Hebrews
10. I was thinking as I prepared
this message, amid all the traditions and the conflict and confusion, of religion,
religion in this day. And there's so much of it, it's
such a strange day. The prophets used to complain,
who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Our master said, all of the prophets
preacher's scent of God have been stoned and rejected and
despised. And our Lord warned his disciples
when they went forth with this gospel. He said, Marvel not,
my brethren, if the world hate you. It hated me before it hated
you. And in this world you'll have
troubles and tribulations. And they'll cast you out of the
synagogues, out of organized and recognized religion. And
men who kill you will think they're doing God a service. But religion today is popular. George Burns died And in your morning paper, a
very blasphemous sign was put up somewhere and
photographed, something about before George Burns enters heaven,
we hope he makes God laugh. You know, this is popular today. Religion is popular. I was thinking
as I prepared this message, wouldn't it be refreshing, so refreshing,
so wonderful, if people were really interested, interested
today in taking the time to sit down and not discuss the
Bible. The Bible doesn't need discussing.
It doesn't need debating. It needs to be studied. And wouldn't it be refreshing
if some people were willing to sit down and study God's word and find out how a sinner like
you and me, a sinner can stand before a holy God. How men like
George Burns can stand before a holy God, forgiven. justified, accepted and glorified
in Christ and received to live gloriously in his presence forever. Wouldn't it be wonderful if folks
would come together this morning and say, well, what does the
Lord say about sin and salvation and redemption and eternal life? What does he say? I do not ask people to believe
me. They have no more reason to believe
me than the next man. But I ask them to believe God.
Let's find out. Let's go see what Brother Mahan's
saying. Don't waste your time. Let's go see if Brother Mahan's
saying something about God. Let's see what God's saying.
Abraham believed God. Believe God, and our faith, mine,
yours, must not stand in the wisdom of men, in the traditions
of men. Our faith must stand in the word
of God, in the wisdom of God, in the power of God. And when
I looked at these first 14 verses in Hebrews chapter 10, these
two words stood out. Never, never, never, and forever, forever. It says in verse 1,
look at it, the law having a shadow of good things to come and not
the very image of the things can never, that's pretty, that's pretty
definite isn't it? with those sacrifices which are
offered year by year continually make the comers there unto perfect.
The law can never make you perfect, righteous before God, never. The deeds and duties and ceremonies
and requirements of religion can never make you perfect. Look at verse 11. And every priest, all these fellows
going about even today, daily ministering, ministering and
offering, oftentimes the same sacrifice, going through the
same thing, which can never take away faith. Never. Never. I hate to refer to things like
this, but Sometimes you have to, but I keep getting, it's slowed down
now because I haven't answered any of them, but inquiries, don't
I want to be a part of religion? There's a, in our weekly paper here in
Ashton, there's a little insert called religion paper. They keep wanting to know, don't
I want to have a part in religion? No, sir, I do not. I do not want
anything to do with anybody's religion. I do not. Jewish religion or Protestant
religion or Catholic religion or Baptist religion, I don't
want anything to do with religion because it can never put away
things and never make you perfect. I just, I'm sick of religion,
aren't you? I think that's why you're here,
because you're sick of religion. Come here and worship God. Read
the word. But now look, there's another
word. Verse 12. But this man, now I'm interested
in him. I'm interested in Christ. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sin forever, here's a forever sacrifice. Here's a perpetual,
everlasting sacrifice. Here's one that works all the
time. One sacrifice for sin forever
sat down on the right hand of God in verse 14, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever. Religion, never. Christ, forever. No sacrifices, never. Christ, forever. The duties and deeds, never,
never, never, never, never. But Lord, we've preached in your
name, never. But we did many wonderful works,
I never knew you, never. But we cast out devils in your
name, I never knew you, never. Come you blessed of my Father,
enter into the kingdom prepared for you Forever. Forever. I tell you, let's look
at it. Hebrews 10. There's something
here, oh, wonderful good news here. It says in verse 1, for
the law, this is the ceremonial law. That's what we're talking
about. When you see the word law in Scripture, it may mean
the Ten Commandments. It may mean all of the words,
like the law and the prophets. And here it means the ceremonial
law, the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the old temple,
so forth, special days, the tithe, the Sabbath day, eating certain
meats, abstaining from others, first fruits, the law, ceremonial
law given. It was in effect 2,000 years
from Moses to Christ. 2,000 years. You see, when Mary
took the baby Our Lord in human flesh to the
temple when Simeon met her she was there because the law told
her to come in there, right? She was there to offer a sacrifice
for this new baby the law commanded it Every Sabbath day our Lord
went to the synagogue Because the law commanded the laws in
effect ceremonial law Our Lord ate the Passover He was a man
fulfilling the law. He was circumcised. Did you know
that? Circumcision is a sign of putting
off the old flesh. The Son of God, the perfect Son
of God was circumcised because the law commanded it. So the
law here, the law is the ceremonial law. All these deeds and duties
and don'ts and so forth were in effect for 2,000 years from
Moses to Christ. But this law, it says, was a
shadow, a picture, a bare outline, an image, a rude outline, a picture
of good things to come. What's a good thing? Salvation,
sanctification, acceptance with God, forgiveness, what we have,
rest, peace. But this law was a bare outline
of those good things. And not the very image of those
things, not the very expression of those things, not the fulfillment
of those things, Christ is the fulfillment. And this law can
never, never, never, never with those sacrifices which
are offered make the comers there into perfect. Now listen, if
they could, if salvation had ever been in duties and deeds
and laws. If he could put away sin, two
things would be true. Number one, they'd cease to be
offered. As I said, when I read this,
the debt pays, the debt pays. If Avery, on a certain day, slew
an animal, brought its blood, put it on the mercy seat, and
that took care of sin, he wouldn't have to bring another one. You'd have to offer another sacrifice.
Then secondly, the worshippers, once forgiven, would have no
more conscience of sin. I don't have to receive Christ
as my Savior. Ask God to give me faith again. I've already received Him. God's
already given me faith. He doesn't need to die again.
It's done. The death paid. Don't need to
offer another sacrifice. But verse 3 says the very fact
that those sacrifices are repeated every year is a remembrance of
sin. In other words, in Leviticus
16, when Aaron took the scapegoat and laid his hand on the head
of the scapegoat and confessed the sins of Israel. And then
a fit man took the scapegoat while the people watched and
led it out into the wilderness. way out there. And they watched
him go, the man and the goat, until they were just two dots
on the horizon, and then they were gone. And the man left the scapegoat
out there. That's a picture of Christ, our scapegoat, bearing
our sins away, into the wilderness, into no man's land. And then
the man had come back without the goat. The sins were on the
goat. He was gone. Now that could bare sins away,
they would not do it next year. But next year here they were
doing the same thing, confessing the sin, got another goat. And
then the next year another goat, next year another goat, next
year another goat, then there's another man, then there's another
priest. It just keeps on going over and over again. Why? A remembrance of sin. Sin's still
there. Let me tell you. When the Father
laid on him our iniquity, he bore it away, and it never
has to be done again. See that? But these sacrifices,
this is what they're saying, cannot put away sin, is a remembrance
of sin. All right, verse 4. And it's not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. dealing with this. Well, it's what we call dispensationalism
that's carried to an extreme. It's taught that God tried to
save man in innocence, as a dispensation of innocence. Adam and Eve without
sin, but they failed. And then God gave an age of conscience. Every man did that which is right
in his own age. I believe the dispensation of
conscience. And that didn't work. And then God made a dispensation
of law and gave these sacrifices and so forth and that didn't
work. And so then God sent Christ and
he called it the dispensation of grace. Innocence and conscience
and judges and law and Now grace, no, no, that's not right. Christ
is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The covenant of
grace is an everlasting covenant. Christ is the surety of an eternal
covenant. And God has always saved men
by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, by his blood. These are
revelations of that grace. Dispensations of revelations,
not dispensations of salvation, but of revelations. That's what the conscience and
the judges and the law and so forth is, dispensations of revelation. But Moses was saved the same
way you are. Abraham, Abel, believed in Christ. And it says here in verse 4,
it's not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away
sin, and I'll tell you why. Would you listen to three reasons?
You could think of more, I'm sure. But sin is a transgression
of God's moral law. Not a ceremonial law, a moral
law. You see that? God's moral law, which stood
in the beginning, before there were any tithes and sacrifices
and so forth and so on. Sin is a transgression of his
moral law. Secondly, sin has to do with
the soul, with the mind, with the conscience, with the heart.
Sin is an offense of the heart. What men do physically is a result
of what they feel inwardly, what they think inwardly. A person
may not even act outwardly, but if he thinks it, it's seeing
already. You understand that? There doesn't have to be an act.
And therefore an animal can't relate to that. An animal can't
relate to soul suffering and soul convictions and soul temptation. He has no emotions in that regard. He'll eat his own offspring without
any pangs of conscience, an animal will. He can't be. The blood
of bulls and goats can't identify. Now Christ can. He became a man
and was tempted and tried in all points as we are and he made
his soul an offering for sin. You understand that? Thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin. Our Lord's agonies and sufferings
were not confined to the flesh, the shedding of his blood. His
soul agony was greater. That's what transpired between
the master and the father, soul agony. Cast your body and soul
into hell. All right, the third reason is
this. Animal sacrifice, it says the blood of bulls and goats
cannot take away sin. Animal sacrifices are not the
same blood with those who sin. Not the same nature. It's just
like when our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, he didn't
save every creature that sinned. The angels sinned. But he took
not on him the nature of angels. In other words, he took not the
nature of angels. He took not the nature of angels. He took the nature of the seed
of Abraham. And an animal doesn't have our
nature. He's not identified with us.
He's not numbered with us. He cannot be our substitute.
It's not possible. There's no need to dwell on that
on and on and on, but I'm trying to point out verse 3. In those
sacrifices is a remembrance of sin. The fact that they're offered
every year says sin's still there. And verse 4 says, it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Now forget
it. It's an impossibility. But, verse 5, wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he, our blessed Redeemer, our blessed
Messiah, when he cometh into the world, here's what he had
to say. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not." In other words, these Old Testament sacrifices and offerings,
the Father would not have us to continue any longer. They're
done. Sacrifice and offering for sin,
thou wouldest not. Thou wouldest not. But a body,
a human body, a body like a man, you have prepared for me to dwell
in. to do your work and to do your
will. Turn with me to Hebrews 2. Hebrews chapter 2. This is so
significant here. Our Lord, to redeem us, had to
become a man with our nature, with our blood, susceptible to temptation, Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
took upon himself the form of a servant, was made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and became obedient unto death, yea, even the death
of the cross, in every sense of the word. I can't explain
this, but Jesus Christ, in every sense of the word, is God. Thought
it not robbery to be equal with God? Thought it not taking something
that didn't belong to him to be called God? He is God. And the Father said, Thy throne,
O God, is forever. Let the angels of God worship
him. And yet I'm telling you, in every
sense of the word, he was a human being. He was a man. That's right,
of flesh and blood and bones. Now listen. Hebrews 2.14, For
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that
is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. He took not on him the
nature of angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore,
in all things, everything, everything, it behooved him to be made just
like his brethren, that he might be a merciful, faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. He's talking here, our blessed
Messiah, our Redeemer is speaking himself in verse 5. Sacrifice
and offerings and ceremonies, thou wouldst not have to continue
but a body, a human body thou hast prepared me. God prepared
it. Now listen, you prepared it in
the womb of a woman just like your body was prepared. You had
a human father who conceived you. of human seed, of Adam's
fallen seed. And you were formed, and he said,
conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity and brought forth speaking
lies. Conceived in sin because conceived
by a human father. Formed and shapen in iniquity
and brought forth lying from your birth. Me too. But Mary
said, I don't know a man. And the angel said, the Holy
Ghost will come on you. The power of God shall overshadow
you. And that which is conceived in
you is conceived by the Father, the Holy Ghost, the God of heaven.
And He shall be called the Son of God. But now, in the fulness
of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, not born of
a man, not begotten by a man, made of a woman. And when that
woman gave birth to that boy, that boy was exactly like the
boy my mother gave birth to when she gave birth to me. The only
exception is this. I was born in sin, and he wasn't.
That's exactly right. Exactly right. He was a man. And he was tempted in all points
as we are, yet he didn't sin. He's perfect. But that had to
be. He had to be like us. And any other sacrifice often
won't do because it's not like an angel couldn't redeem us,
the angel's not a man. The law was upon me, a man, and
a man obeyed it for me. God's requirement was upon me,
he took it, took my place. And like I've told you so many
times, the miracles that he performed When he made water into wine
for other people, he couldn't do it for himself. When he made
bread and divided it and fed 5,000 with five loaves and two
fishes. But when he was hungry, he sent his disciples in town
to buy food, because he's a man. He can do anything for us, but
he's got to be subject to the law and subject to the weaknesses
of this place. That's so important. Body has
stopped prepared me now. Look at verse 6 in burnt offerings
in Sacrifices for sin God never had any pleasure You say what
God when Abel offered his when Cain offered the fruit and God
Rejected and God Cain offered the blood and God accepted it
God accepted it because in Cain's heart He was dependent on the
lamb that blood represented Christ By faith he offered that lamb.
And when all these sacrifices were made, the only way that
God accepted them at all was because they were pictures of
Christ. But he never had any pleasure in those burnt offerings.
Then verse 7, Then said I, Lo, I come, and the volume of the
book is written of me to do thy will. Now listen to me. In the
volume of what book? This book. He died for our sins
according to the scripture. He was bare and rose again according
to the scripture. This is what my generation of
religionists, they say, don't you want to be a part of religion?
Here's my first complaint with religion. They've left the word
of God. And you watch them on television.
They're not doing what I'm doing this morning. This is what God
says. They're singing. They don't even
have Bibles. They don't even carry them. They
don't open them. They're just walking up and down screaming
and hollering, and preachers have turned into cheerleaders. You know, whipping people up
into a frenzy. But it's an outward frenzy. They
don't know anything in here. And when I read the scriptures,
when people in the Old Testament worshipped God, they didn't stand
up and scream, they bowed down and worshipped. They didn't holler about what
they were going to do, they praised God for what He had done. And
it was a, be still and know that I'm God. When you come before
God, let your words be few. The hymns were inspirational. It's written in the volume of
the book, this book. Let's return to the Word. You
do, I know that, but so many out there don't. Also, the book
is that book in the hand of him that sat on the throne in Revelation
4. Now, this is a key right here, and I'll give it to you. I come
to do thy will. Thy will. Above, when he said
sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither had pleasure therein. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will. My friends, salvation is by the
will of God. I want to read you some Scripture.
Turn to John 1. Christ came to do the will of
God, and the will of God is the redemption of His elect, of His
people. In John chapter 1, let's look
at this, verse 12 and 13. Verse 11, "...said he came unto
his own, and his own received him." Now John 1, 12, "...but
as many as received him." To them gave he power, the right
or privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born, not of blood, that is, not of
natural genealogy. My children aren't saved because
I am. They're not born of natural genealogy, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man. They're born of God. I come
to do thy will. Look at John 6 a moment. John
6, verse 37. John 6, verse 37. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. I come to
do the Father's will, and this is the Father's will which is
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I'll lose nothing
but raise it up again at the last day." See that? When I say
that's important, he said, low in the volume of the book it's
written of me, I come to do thy will. Then verse 9 says in Hebrews
10, then said he, lo, I come to do thy will. The will of God
is the redemption of his people, his church, his elect believers. Now what's this? He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. Let me dwell on that
just a moment. The first reference is to that
old covenant with his tabernacle, temple, priesthood, covenant,
sacrifices, ceremonies, all of those things. takes it away,
it's fulfilled, and establishes a second, that's Christ. The
first man is of the earth, earth is the second man is the Lord
from heaven. But that refers also to everything
about us. The first atom is gone, it's
the second atom. As we're born the likeness of
the first atom, we'll bear the image of the second atom. Our
first nature will go back to the dust. Second nature lives
on. The first family. Everybody's
got a blood family. But that family will be done
away. There's going to be no families in heaven. There's one
family. It's God's family. That's right. But your loved ones will be there,
and you'll know your loved ones. But that, just like that first
nature is gone. First, family is gone. This is
our family. And then the first earth is going
to be destroyed. There's going to be a new earth.
The first heaven is going to be destroyed. There's going to
be a new heaven. He takes away the first. All these things.
And listen to me. He said, I'll make all things
new. You and I better be glad that everything is going to be
new. If we could take anything, Anything,
any relationship or anything of this earth and put it in heaven,
you plant a seed of sin. That's right. Anything from the sole of our
feet to the top of our head, there's no soundness. You can't
take one atom. God's got to burn up in his own
fire. this earth, this old earth, and
this old nature, and this old heaven, and make all things new.
All things new. In Christ. That's right. Everything. Because it'd be,
it'd ruin it. Like Satan's sin ruined earth. But he's gonna, he's gonna do
away with it all. Takes away the first. Verse 10
says, By the witch will, the will of God, The blood of his
son was sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once and for all, and every priest, there were many
of them, standeth. They never finished what they
came to do. Daily, he wants them daily offering
up the same sacrifices which can never take away sin, but
this man, thank God for this man, the perfect man, the God-man. after he'd offered one sacrifice
for sin forever, sat down. And I'm going to tell you why
he sat down. I'm going to tell you why he sat down at the right
hand of God. I'm going to tell you why he
expects his enemies to be made his footstool. And I'm going
to tell you why we can rest confidently in him. That's a tall order,
isn't it? This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin, sat down forever on the right hand of
God, expecting his enemies to be made his footstool. Why? I'll
tell you why, verse 14. For by one offering, by one sacrifice,
he hath perfected. Without spot, blemish, stain,
faultless, holy, blameless before God, he hath perfected forever. them that are sanctified in him. The old covenant, the old ceremonies,
the old duties and deeds, never, never. Christ by one offering
forever. And I say sit down world and
listen to this. Listen to what it says. It's
very simple. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Preacher, how do I get in on
that? Believe Him. Believe Him and rest. Commit your case to Him. You boys and girls have been
doing that ever since you was born. Leave it to dad or mother. They'll take care of it. And
you rest. You go out to school in the morning,
go through your day happy. You don't worry about what you're
going to eat, what you're going to wear, where you're going to
sleep that night. You know when you come home from
school, that house is going to be right there. And mom and dad
have everything taken care of. There'll be supper on the table.
You pace the floor over at school, you sit and wonder, am I going
to have a home to go to? Am I going to have a place to
sleep tonight? Am I going to have supper tonight? Never think
about it. You believe in your parents,
and they never let you down. But I tell you, my Heavenly Father
is greater than your daddy or my daddy. My Heavenly Father
will take care of all my needs. And I'm not going to wonder if
I have a home when I leave here. I've got one. I'm not going to
wonder if I'll have a place to lay my head. I have a place.
I'm not going to wonder if there's going to be a table spread. It's
already spread. He's the host. He'll take care
of everything. I'd mess it up if he left it
up to me. And you would too. You would
too. So that's what faith is. It's
believing in God. And we exercise faith every day.
Every day. You'll go to your doctor and
he'll give you a prescription to put something in your eye
and you'll go to the store and you'll get that medicine, pay
him, go home and squirt that stuff. You ain't got but two
eyes, but you'll squirt them full of stuff that that man told
you to put in there. Could burn them up, you know.
It could give you the wrong thing, but you believe him. Now God,
if we believe, if you believe the witness of me, the witness
of God is infinitely greater. He can't lie. I can't. He can't.
I don't want to, but I can." But he can't. Nothing but God. And that's what the old John
Jasper, somebody asked John Jasper, are you going to heaven? He said,
yes, sir. Yes, sir. Got a good hope. He said, what
if after all these years of believing God, that when you get there,
there's no place for you? Oh, he said, God would lose a
whole lot more than I would. Oh, how could you say a thing
like that? God would lose a whole lot more than you. I'd lose my
soul, but he'd lose his character because he told me if I believed
on him, I'd have life. And God can't lie. And if God
does lie, he's going to lose his character. I'd lose my soul,
but he'd lose more than I lost. But he's not going to lose it.
God, who cannot lie, promised life before the world began in
Christ. Now, don't come any other way.
Now the law, I just read it, can never, never, never come
by Christ. He can forever. Forever. Alright, that's as good as I
can do.