I have a question. What would
it mean to you right now if you could have complete assurance
and complete confidence right now that you have peace with
God, peace with God, that every sin, every one of your sins Every
sin of thought, word, or deed, every sin of imagination, every
sin of omission or commission, every sin, absolutely every sin
of your entire life, past, present, and future, is totally forgiven,
atoned for, and put away, put away to be remembered no more. What would you give for such
a treasure? That every sin, past, present,
and future, every sin of imagination, heart, soul, mind, body, was
put away, atoned for, forgotten by God to be remembered no more.
You had nothing but peace with God, no judgment, no condemnation. Well, that's what the Bible says,
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin,
all sin. All sin. It says in Hebrews 10,
their sins and their iniquities, I will remember no more. No more. And Isaiah 118 said, come let
us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make
them as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool. All right? How would you like
right now? What would it mean to you? If
you could know that God Almighty, the eternal, living, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent Almighty God, was totally, completely,
irreversibly reconciled to you. Peace between you and God. All
wrath is gone. All condemnation gone. All enmity
removed. That you are a child, a son of
His love, totally of His love. Well, does not the Scripture
say that God was in Christ reconciling the world under himself? Does
not the Scripture say in Romans 5, 1, therefore being justified
by faith, we do have peace with God? Does Romans 8, 1 say this? There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment to them who are in Christ. Who shall anything to
the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth? who
can separate us from the love of Christ. You know what Scripture
says, doesn't John say, Beloved, now, behold, now are we the sons
of God. We have passed from death unto
life. That's what Scripture says for somebody. All right, what
would it mean to you, thirdly? What would it mean if you could
right now in this life have a new nature, a new divine nature,
inclined to holiness, and bound to Christ forever. A new divine
nature that would never leave him, that would never forsake
him, that would never depart from him, and he never depart
from you. That you were in Christ Jesus
a new person, a new person. Oh, sure, with fleshly conflicts
and concerns, infirmities, and afflictions that belong to this
old man and always will, but to have a new nature, a genuine
nature, not a put-on religious nature, not a phony hypocritical
nature, not a feigned nature, but a really in your soul, in
your innermost being, a genuine, honest, God-loving nature. that loves his word and loves
his people and loves God. Well, that's what scripture says,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Being born of
the Spirit of God, being born again, we have the nature of
God. He said, Hear my voice and to follow me and I give them
eternal life and they shall never perish. And in Jeremiah he said
this, I'll make an everlasting covenant with you and put my
law in your mind that you might think on it and write it on your
heart that you'll love it and you'll never turn away from me
and I'll never depart from you. That's Jeremiah 32, 40. What would that mean? What would
it mean to know that every sin, every iota of sin, every jot
and tittle, every atom of sin, every trace of sin, gone, gone,
gone into the depths of the sea behind the back of God to be
remembered no more, separated from you as far as the east is
from the west, no judgment, condemnation. that God was reconciled to you,
in love with you and would never cease to love you, had drawn
you with an everlasting love, that you are now a child of God
and there's no wrath and no judgment, that you have a new nature. What
would it mean to you to know that every trial in life, and
you'll have plenty of them, if you haven't already you'll have
them, but most of you already had a sufficient amount to to
tell you that in this world you'll have tribulation, but what if
you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that every trial, every misfortune,
every sorrow, every sickness, every trouble, every grief was
ordained of God, had His special direction and attention, and
came into your life as a result of His own purpose and plan and
would work together, no matter how severe, no matter how black,
no matter how painful, that every trial and affliction and infirmity
and sorrow and sickness, every tear, every prosperity, every
failure and success, that God brought it to pass, that he was
the first cause of it, And He brought it into your life for
His glory, His ultimate glory, and your eternal good. How would
you like that? But you know what Scripture says?
All things, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose. Isn't that what your Bible says? And does it
not say in 1 Corinthians 3.21, all things are yours? Whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, they're all yours. They belong to you, therefore
you're good. And you belong to Christ, and
Christ is God's. What about that? What would it mean to you to
know that old age, failing health, slowed steps, white hair, wrinkled
face, stooped shoulders, old age and sickness and death, and
death. If you lay down tonight and die,
that it'll only serve your good, that it'll be gain, actually.
It'll be the means to close this difficult chapter of life. That you're lying down to die
tonight would do nothing but bring you good and gain and glory. and close the last chapter on
this old difficult life and usher you right into the very presence
of God Almighty. Is that not what Scripture says?
Paul said, to be absent from the bodies, to be present with
the Lord. Did he not say, I have a desire to depart and be with
Christ? Did he not say, for me to live
is Christ and to die is gain? Why do people want to hold to
this miserable, sinful, toiling, sorrowful, difficult
existence on this earth in the muck and mire and misery of sin? I'll tell you why. They just
don't believe these things. Oh, they sing about them in church,
and they preach about them in the pulpit, and they talk about
them. But when it comes down to hard facts, most people don't believe it.
But according to the Word of God, according to the Bible,
these great blessings, I remember their sins no more. Though your
sins be a scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. I'm reconciled. God's not angry. I've drawn you
with an everlasting love. I've given you a new nature and
a new heart. You don't serve me out of duty.
You don't go to church out of a sense of duty, or pray because
it's your duty, or read the Bible because it's your duty, or give
your time because it's your duty, and go through all the difficult,
miserable acts of religion because it's your duty. You have a new
nature that loves the Word of God, and loves the Lord Jesus,
and loves the people of God, and loves the gospel. And you're
doing what you want to do because you want to do it. You've got
a new nature. And everything that happens in your life, it's
for your good and for God's glory. For God's glory. And when you
close the final chapter of this old book of life, you're going
to walk right into the presence of the King. And not only see
Him in His glory, but be just like Him. These blessings are
not a future goal. They're a present possession.
of everybody who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold,
now are we the sons of God." John said, we have passed from
death unto life. Paul said, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them who are in Jesus Christ. If you take
the time this morning to read the tenth chapter of Hebrews
with me, I'm going to go over a few verses in the tenth chapter
of Hebrews. And I'm going to talk after a
while about this little book I've written on Hebrews that
I want you to have. But if you read the 10th chapter
of Hebrews, I'll tell you this, these great blessings of redemption
would open up to you, and you would find a blessing and a sure
hope in Christ if you can believe. Now look at Hebrews 10 verse
1, and you know what that's saying? It's saying the Levitical and
ceremonial law of Moses, that's the law of Moses with all of
its tabernacle, and furniture, and priesthood, and sacrifices,
and ceremonies, and special days, and Sabbath days, and circumcisions,
and baptisms, and watching. All of this ceremonial law of
Moses with all of its tabernacle, priesthood, and sacrifices, and
ceremonies could never take away sin. They were but pictures,
and types, and patterns of Christ. of true redemption in Jesus Christ,
and these animal sacrifices offered on a regular basis for millenniums,
for hundreds of years, could not take away sin or make anybody
holy. They weren't given for that purpose
at all. That's what Hebrews 10.1 says. And verse 2 and 3 says this,
that if these sacrifices could take away sin, if these animal
sacrifices could remove sin, If these sacrifices could justify
a sinner, then when they offered one that could take away sin
and offered a sacrifice that could justify a sinner, then
there wouldn't be any need to offer another one. Because when
sin is taken away, it's taken away. When sin is purged, it's
purged. When sin is gone, the conscience
is cleared. That's the reason we can find
rest in Christ. That's the reason Christ didn't
have to die but once. By one offering, he's perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And his blood purges, his blood
cleanses, his blood atones, his blood sanctifies. And there's
no need for another sacrifice. No need for a mass every Sunday.
No need for it at all. Because Christ, by one offering,
has perfected us. And the very fact that they continued
to offer these sacrifices year by year was a clear indication
that sin wasn't gone, that sin remained, that sin wasn't put
away until Christ came. Now look at verse 4. You've got
the passage, Hebrews 10, verse 4. He says clearly, it is not
possible for the blood of bulls and goats to put away the sins
of a man. Not possible. These sacrifices
were never given to put away sin or to be our Savior. Christ
is our Savior. And the reason He can put away
sin is He's bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. We can't
be identified with an animal. An animal can't die for a man.
He can't even be identified with a man. Men brought animal sacrifices
and the blood of a lamb till God's lamb came. And they were
saying by bringing these lambs and these sacrifices that they
believed that God's lamb would come. And Hebrews 9 says this,
that Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands,
that is to say this tabernacle with the blood of others, but
he's entered into heaven itself in the presence of God with his
own precious blood which he put on the mercy seat of glory and
sufficiently and effectually and eternally purged all of our
sins. So these sacrifices, it's not
possible for the blood of bulls and goats to put away sin. And
then verse 5, but when Christ came into the world, I preached
on that last Sunday. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world.
But when Christ came into the world, verse 5, he said, a body
thou hast prepared me. That's what I told you. He lived
before. He is God from the beginning.
He is the one which was, which is, and evermore shall be. He's
the beginning and the end. He's Alpha and Omega. He's eternally
God. And God the Father prepared for
the Son a body. And that body was the body with
a nature of men, a human nature. God was in human flesh. And the
Lamb of God, who has come to do the redemptive will of God,
is housed in a human body, in a tabernacle of clay, in a tabernacle
of flesh. That's how he could be tempted
and tried in all points as we are yet without sin. It became
him to be made like his brethren, that he might be a perfect and
faithful high priest. In order to obey the law, he
had to be under the law. In order to do what man was required
to do, Christ had to become a man. In order to die, Christ had to
take a human body. God can't die. God can't suffer. Man can't satisfy. But God, man,
can both satisfy and suffer. It's not how much Christ suffered,
it's who suffered. And look at verse 9, Christ said,
Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it's written of me.
In the volume of what book? The Old Testament Scriptures.
He died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried
and rose again according to the Scriptures. The Old Testament
Scriptures, Genesis through Malachi. That rock was Christ. That Passover
lamb was Christ. That brazen serpent was Christ.
That high priest going into the Holy of Holies was Christ. That
blood which he had in his hand, the blood of the animal, that
was Christ's blood in type. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book that's written of me to do thy will, O God. What's
the will of God? Well, I asked him one time. I
said, What shall we do to do the works of God? He said, Believe
on him whom God has sent. God sent Christ to do what? He
said, I've come to do the will of the Father, and this is the
will of the Father, that every one that he hath given me I lose
nothing, but raise it up at the last day. Redemptive will, that's
the will of God. To take away the first and establish
the second. You've read that in Hebrews 10,
haven't you? Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God, he taketh away the first. Jesus Christ is talking about
here now, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, a body you prepared
me. I was with you from the beginning. Glorify me with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was. And yet a body thou hast
prepared me. And Christ Jesus came into the
world to do the will of God, to do thy will. It's written
of me in the book. And I'll take away the first
and establish the second." What's he talking about? Well, the first
covenant, covenant of works, he took it away. He fulfilled
it. And the grace, the covenant of
grace reigns. The first tabernacle. The first
tabernacle was replaced by Christ. That first tabernacle containing
the showbread, and the candlestick, and the incense, and the ark,
and the mercy seat. And the tabernacle, it's taken
away. The veil is rent, taken away.
Christ tabernacled among us. That old tabernacle is where
man met God and God met man. We meet God in Christ. God meets
us in Christ. The old priesthood, There's no
earthly priesthood today except every believer is a priest. Those
Old Testament priests, yes, they were there, sons of Levi, sons
of Aaron. They were the priests. They went
about offering the sacrifices, and they wore their white linen
robes, and they brought the blood, and they went through. But that's
all gone. All gone. Christ is our great high priest,
and He's the one who represents us before the Father. We're all
priests now to offer sacrifices of prayer and praise and thanksgiving
and worship. And that first Adam who brought
death, he's gone. And the second Adam is the Lord
from heaven who brought life. The first paradise, Eden, the
Garden of Eden, can't find it, it's gone. Don't look for it.
The second eternal home, the paradise of God, Christ said,
I go to prepare a place for you. The first nature, sin, our old
nature damned us. He gave us a new nature, holiness.
And when they put us in the ground, that old nature will go with
it. It will rot, corrupt, go back to the dust, and the Spirit
to God who gave it. The first heaven and earth shall
pass away, and there will be a new heaven and new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Christ said, Behold, I make all
things new. I make all things new. Lo, I
come in the volume of the book that is written of me to do thy
will, O God. I take away the first. Don't
hang on to that old first. elements and replicas and types
and pictures. Discard them, throw them away.
Worship God in the Spirit. Rejoice in Jesus Christ and have
no confidence in the flesh. Every believer is a priest. Every
believer is a saint. Every believer is a king in the
kingdom of God. Christ hath the preeminence.
But He bought for us all the same thing through the offering
of His blood, Verse 10 says, by God's will, by the which will? Whose will? Our will? No, by
His will. By God's will, not our will,
but by His will, we are sanctified once for all, made holy through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. My friends,
it's not of Him that will it, nor of Him that run it, it's
of God that shows mercy. We are born again, not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of the will
of God. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.
And here in verse 10, I wish we would read the Bible. It says,
I take away the first, that I may establish the second. O Lord,
I come to do your will, Christ said. And by which will we are
sanctified, we are made holy, we are sanctified once for all. through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ. You don't get sanctified in the
presence of God by coming down to an altar and having a bunch
of people surround you and weep and cry and beat on your back
and talk to you about religious things. You're sanctified once
for all by the offering of the blood and body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what God's Word says. Wholly sanctified. completely
sanctified because He is our sanctification. And the Scripture
tells us this, He of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And I'll tell you this, you're
not going to sanctify that old flesh of yours. In the flesh
dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. Flesh and blood shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. We are sanctified in spirit.
in soul, in Christ, once for all. We have a nature that cannot
sin, because it's born of God. It's a divine nature. And near,
so near to Christ, nearer I cannot be in the person of His Son,
I'm as near as He. And with His spotless garments
on, I'm as holy as God's Son. We grow in faith, and we grow
in love, and we grow in patience, and we grow in these things.
But my friends, when a man comes to Christ by faith and is washed
in the blood of Christ, he is wholly, totally, completely,
eternally, absolutely sanctified by one offering. Now you read
these verses, these words very carefully. I'm going to give
them to you briefly in verses 11 through 14. Every priest,
there were many of them, Christ won, standeth, they never sat
down, their work was never finished, daily, They offered sacrifices
over and over and over and over again every day, offering the
same sacrifices which can never take away sin. That's this Old
Testament priesthood. Don't try to reinstate it. It's
gone. Christ has fulfilled it, put it away, buried it. But this
man, Christ, the God-man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sin, what? Himself. Forever. He was a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Sat down. He sat down. Why did he sit down? He finished
his work. Where? On the right hand of God, the
majesty on high, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering, one sacrifice, himself, his blood, he has what? I like this word, perfected.
You say, are you perfect? In the flesh I'm not. I'd like
to be, but I'm not. Neither are you. Neither is any
son of Adam. But I am in Christ. I am perfected. He has perfected me forever.
Them that God has sanctified and set apart, and the Holy Ghost
is a witness of this, that God said, I'll make a new covenant
with them, and I'll remember their sins no more. Now, I've
had some of you write to me and say, I like the way you explain
the Scriptures simply, verse by verse. Well, I've written
some Bible commentaries. They're going to show them to
you on the screen. I'm holding Hebrews in my hand. This is Hebrews. I just preached from Hebrews
10. And just like I talked to you this morning, I've written
these books in simple, everyday language. There they are on the
screen. We've got Hebrews and James in one volume. We've got
Romans in a volume. We've got Galatians, and we've
got 1 and 2 Thessalonians and 1 and 2 Timothy. That's 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7 books in the New Testament, 7
epistles. And if you already have some of them and just want
the Hebrews books, They cost a dollar and a half each. You
can have them all for six dollars. That's what they cost us. I'm
not selling things to make money, to get your address, to write
you a letter, anything like that. I want you to have these books
in simple, everyday language. And I take the Bible, verse by
verse, 21 epistles. We're going to put out six volumes.
These books are being printed over in London, England by Evangelical
Press and being distributed worldwide. And we're buying them wholesale,
and I want you to have them. Now, if you already have some
of them, send for the others. But all four volumes, with all
of these officials, verse by verse, $6. Now, if you want this
tape I preached today, the cassette tape, on Hebrews 10, you write
for it. It costs $2. And on it also is
a message I preached last week on the gospel we've preached.
The gospel we've preached, and then this message on Hebrews
10. And then the books. If you want the books, Let me
know, right? You can order as many of them
as you want. They're just a dollar and a half each. That's what
they cost us. That's what I'm sending to you for, a dollar
and a half each. And the tape is two dollars. So you write,
and we'll be glad to send them to you by return mail. We'll
send them to you as quickly as possible. You don't have to wait
six or eight weeks for delivery. We'll send them right to you.
We have them in the office. And when we receive your letter,
we'll send you the books or the tape. Join us next Lord's Day
at the same time for for this program until then Henry Mahan
bidding you a very pleasant good day.