What would it mean to you if you could have complete confidence, complete assurance, that in this
life, tonight, March the 23rd, 1980, Right now, at your particular
age, you yourself, what would it mean to you if you could know
and be confident, have assurance that you are completely and finally
saved? That all of your sins, every
sin, every transgression, every iniquity of the past, and every
sin that you'll commit in the future. For you are certain to commit
them. Because we're sinners not only by birth and by choice,
but we're sinners by nature and by practice. And we shall sin tomorrow. and we'll sin the next day. But
what would you give to know that all of your sins are totally,
completely obliterated, blotted out, covered, forgiven, to be
remembered no more? What would it mean to you if
you could know that God loves you? Oh, I know I read that on
bumper stickers and I hear preachers say it, but What would it mean
to you if you knew, if you had God's word for it, not some preacher's
word for it or some silly sentimental emotional religionist telling
you, but God loved you. That God was reconciled to you,
God wasn't angry with you anymore, that peace between you and God
was settled forever. That you had peace with God,
that you had entered into a rest. and that God was not angry, that
God's wrath was not upon you in any way, that God in anger
would never speak to you in anger again. That'd be something, wouldn't
it? What would it mean to you to
know that God in his mercy and grace had given you a new nature,
another nature? That you weren't just the fleshly
person that you were born the first time, but you've been born
again, regenerated. That you have in you the life
of God. God in himself dwells in you. That you have a life of holiness
that's bound to Christ forever. That that life in you can no
more die than Christ can die. That that life within you can
no more cease to exist than Christ can cease to exist. that that
nature of God within you is eternal. What would it mean? And what
would it mean if death itself, if I were to drop dead right
now, that would be the best thing that could happen to me? It would
be gain, not loss. It would be my coronation day,
not the day of my destruction. That death is to be Death is
not to be feared, but death is to be coveted, actually coveted. A fellow named Paul had that
feeling. I have a desire to die, he said. For me to live is Christ and
to die is gain. What would those four things
mean to you? What would it mean? Well, you say it would mean everything
in the world. Well, I've come to tell you tonight that this
priceless blessing is not only obtainable It's not only obtainable,
I mean all sin, all sin, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from past sins. That's not what it says, it says
all sin, past, present, and future. The blood of Christ, God's Son,
cleanseth us from all sin. God said here in this scripture
I read, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. When
Christ died, all of my sins were future. There weren't any of them in
the past. Now when Christ died, Abraham's sins were in the past,
and David's sins were in the past, but mine were all in the
future, as far as I'm concerned. And God, the scripture says God
was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, that peace,
Christ the Prince of Peace has brought peace, that God's angry
no more. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. And Paul said, for me to live
is Christ and to die is gain. This is a reality. This is not
a dream. This is a present possession.
John said we have passed from death into life. John said we
are the sons of God. Beloved, now are we sons of God. One poet wrote these words, he
said, with Christ's spotless garments on, I'm as holy as God's
Son. Nearer so near to God, nearer
I cannot be, for in the person of his Son, I'm as near as he.
This is not only an obtainable blessing, it is a blessing that
has been obtained. It's a reality. There's some
folks that are enjoying it. And you're not enjoying it tonight
if you're not because you're looking for it in the wrong place.
Now that's what is plaguing men of our day. They have and they
do seek this priceless possession, this priceless blessing in other
ways. I've come tonight to tell you
that this blessing is found nowhere but in Christ. That all sin completely
pardoned, all sin completely blotted out. There is no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. Listen to this verse. Who can
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? That's what Paul
said. He faced heaven, earth, and hell,
and he challenged any force, or power, or ruler, or devil,
or anybody, he said, any of you, who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? And talk about the love of God,
he said, nothing can separate me from the love of God, nothing,
not anything past, present, or future. Not any other creature,
not death, nor life, nor anything, trials or tribulations, nothing
can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. We know that we pass from death
unto life. Now, I've come tonight to tell
you that this blessing, if this is what you want, this priceless
blessing, of security in Christ, of redemption in Christ, of justification
in Christ, of acceptance in Christ, it's obtainable only in Christ. No need to tell all the different
directions that people are going to find acceptance with God except
to say what Paul said in Romans 10, ignorant of God's righteousness,
they're going about to establish their own. But you know my friends,
if acceptance with God, or salvation from sin, or what I've been talking
about, if it could be found anywhere other than in Christ, I say if
it could. If it could be found anywhere,
anywhere else, except in Christ. I would say where it would be
found would be in the Levitical law. If acceptance with God,
if salvation, if this forgiveness of sin, if this This relationship
with God, this acceptance on the part of God could be found
anywhere else. I'd say it'd be found in this
Levitical law. Because God personally gave this law. God personally
designed the tabernacle, He designed the sacrifices, He designed the
furniture, He designed the priesthood, He designed the atonement, He
designed everything down to the last drop of blood Himself and
gave it to Moses on the mountain. Everything, every law, every
rule, every ritual, every ceremony, every feast day, every holy day,
every celebration, every ritual, everything God designed Himself
and gave it to Moses to write down and follow it By the letter. Now if acceptance with God could
be found anywhere other than Christ, it's got to be found
there. But let's see what Paul says
about it in verse 1, Hebrews 10. Let's see what he says about
it. Paul does not the works of righteousness
which we've done. We know that's not the way to
God. A way of acceptance, a way of salvation. Certainly not through
what we go through. I hope we have a worship service,
but I don't have any divine leadership for singing two songs and having
a prayer and reading the word of God and taking up an offering
and singing a special and preaching. I don't have any. Now Moses had
a design for what he did. The way that priest dressed,
God designed. The color that was on the borders
of his garment, God designed. The shape of his headdress God
designed, the wording on that thing was designed, and every
step he took was designed, and every move he made was designed,
and the depth of the water and the labor was designed by God.
Boy, they didn't leave anything to chance. They didn't leave
anything to their opinion or their observation. They went
through these ceremonies just like us. He said, see that you
do it just like I said. That's what he told Moses. See
that you do it. Well, now, if acceptance with
God can be, if you're looking for it somewhere else. Now, this
is a baptismal pool here. Our Lord was baptized in the
Jordan River. I don't have any rules or regulations tell me
I can build a plastic bat industry. And I know a lot of folks that
they take the Lord's Supper and some have grape juice and some
have crackers and some have this, some have wine, some have wine
and crackers, some have wine and unleavened bread, and some
have something else. They say it doesn't matter. Well,
the Lord has put it particularly over in the Old Testament, wasn't
he? Put it particularly. I don't know that we do anything.
I hope we do, but I do know what Moses did was right, I do know
what Aaron did was right, I do know what the sons of Levi did
was right, and acceptance with God could be found anywhere,
it'd be found right there. But don't you listen to what
he said, Hebrews 10, verse 1, the law was a shadow of good
things to come, blessings to come, salvation to come, and
not the image of those things, just an outline, just a picture
of the blessings to come in Christ. And he says, look at the next
line. It can never, can never, never, never, never, with those
sacrifices which are offered year by year, continually make
anybody perfect. Couldn't do it. That does away
with the law as a way to God. That does away with everything
Moses did, though God designed it, though God ordained it. Though God in particular fashion
told Moses and Abram exactly what to do, he says it can never
take away sin. It's just an image. It's just
a shadow. It's just a picture. It's just
a type. Now look at the next verse. For
if it could take away sin, they wouldn't have continued to offer
it. In other words, say on a certain day, 4,000 years ago, that they
offered an atonement and it could put away sin, they wouldn't offer
any more. No more atonement, because the person, the worshipper,
who brought the atonement, who brought the sacrifice and the
blood, if his sins were put away, he wouldn't have any more guilt.
That's the way I feel tonight. I don't have, I'll be perfectly
honest with you, I don't have any consciousness of unforgiven
sin, do you? No sir, I have consciousness
of sin, but not unforgiven sin. I don't have any consciousness
or any guilt whatsoever. And I don't believe some of you
do because Christ is sufficient. This puts a question mark on
the sacrifice of Christ if you have a consciousness or guilt
of unforgiving sin. Sure I have sinned. In the flesh
dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. The things I would do, I do them
not. The things I would not do, I do. My thoughts are sinful.
My words are sinful. From the sole of my feet to the
top of my head, except by the grace of God, there'd be nothing
in there worth God looking upon. But I have no sense of guilt
as far as sins unforgiven are concerned. God says they're put
away. I believe God. God says Christ paid for them.
I believe God. Somebody over here says, well,
if you die and commit a sin, you don't confess, you go to
hell. I don't believe you. I believe God. I'm not supposed
to believe you. That Bible doesn't say that anywhere.
Somebody said, well, if a fellow commits a sin and doesn't confess
it, would he still be saved? Well, read it to me where he
wouldn't. Rather than the Word of God declares
that our sins are put away, their sins and iniquities are remembered
no more. But these sacrifices, if they
could do that, they wouldn't need any more. Read on, verse
3. But in those sacrifices is a remembrance. In other words,
the continual sacrifices, the continued sacrifices told these
people, sin's still there, sin's still there, sin's still there. Every time they brought the morning
sacrifices, it said, sin's still there. God's not pacified. God's
not satisfied in burnt offerings and whole offerings and sacrifice
for sin. Thou hast no pleasure. You cannot,
look at the next verse, it is not possible that the blood of
animals can put away a man's sin. The death of an animal in
the place of a man won't justify God's holiness. That guilty man's
got to die. That sinner's got to die. You
know, this is what's wrong with the illustration that if a fellow
is sentenced to the electric chair and a man comes along and
says, I'll take his place. Well, the law says, uh-uh, no,
that won't do. Well, why won't it do? Well,
the law wouldn't be satisfied killing you. The law's only satisfied
by killing the guilty. You see where I'm going? The
law can only be satisfied, the justice can only be satisfied
when the man who committed the crime dies. The law's not interested
in just blood, it's interested in the blood of the man who's
guilty. That's the reason these blood sacrifices couldn't put
away sin. To begin with, there was animal
death, animal blood, and man sin. We say, what about Christ? Let
me tell you something. And you need to get this. Christ
was me. Now you need to understand, Christ
is the greatest sinner that ever lived. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He knew no sin. He committed no sin. But before
God, Jesus Christ was every believer standing in the flesh. That's
right, Jay. He was me. He was numbered with... That's the reason he didn't open
his mouth in front of Pilate. When they brought those charges
against him, a blasphemer, a liar, all these things, he stood there
in silence. You know why? Guilty. Because
I stood right there in him. I was guilty. And you know why
when the wrath of God fell on him on that cross, that you know
why the Father turned his face away? Guilty! Christ was guilty. He was bearing our sins in his
body on the tree. He didn't die as an example.
He died as a substitute, a criminal. God emptied the very bitter dregs
of the cup of his wrath on the head of his son because Jesus
Christ was the greatest accumulation of sin that's ever been in one
spot in the history of this universe. He was every believer's sin. That's right. God doesn't save
you because you believe a doctrine. He saved you because Christ took
your sins in His body on the tree. He doesn't save you because
you decide you're not going to do this, that, and the other
anymore, but you're going to come down and join the church
and be a nice little fellow. He saved you because Christ bore
your sins in His body on the tree. God deals with men and
two men. There ain't never been but two
men. There was a first Adam and a second Adam and everybody was
represented in that first one and in Adam everybody died and
when Jesus Christ came, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, he
represented a race of people he set out to save. And God deals
with every sinner either in Adam and they stay in Adam and they're
damned in Adam and they're separated in Adam or else in Christ. And the first Adam stood and
by his disobedience I became a sinner and the second Adam
stood and by his obedience I became righteous. And I'm more righteous
than Adam was because in Christ I have a perfect unfailing righteousness. God didn't restore to me just
what Adam lost, he restored to me what Adam lost and a whole
lot more. That's right. And I'm crucified
with Christ, I'm buried with Christ, I'm risen with Christ,
and right now, you know where I am positionally? I'm on God's
right hand. And you are too if you believe.
Now brethren, this is what the scripture says. These sacrifices,
and look here at verse 5, Christ came in the body of a man, Christ
said, verse 5, when he cometh into the world, he said, sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, no use keeping on with these
rams and lambs and turtledoves and bulls and goats and heifers,
enough of them, rivers of blood. But they fulfilled their purpose.
He said, you prepared me a body, you fitted me with a body. In
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, God has had no pleasure.
They haven't met the requirements of God's justice and holiness.
They fulfilled what they were given to fulfill. And that is
the coming of his Son. But, he said, I come! In the
volume of the book on every page, it's written of me! I come! Genesis
3.15 is written of me. Genesis 22.14, God will provide
himself a lamb, is written of me. Leviticus 17.11, it's the
blood that make us atonement for the soul, it's written of
me Isaiah 53, he was wounded for our transgression, it's written
of me I come to do thy will, what is God's will? His redemptive
will He's gonna save a people He's determined to put away sin.
He's appointed the Lamb from the foundation of the world.
God will be justified. God will be satisfied. God will
be reconciled. God will demonstrate His love,
His everlasting love, His infinite love, His great love on somebody. The riches of His grace are going
to be magnified on somebody. I come to do your will. And look
at verse 9, verse 10. And it's by that will that we're
justified. Not by the will of the flesh,
not by the will of man, it's by the will of God that we're
justified. Christ said, I came to do thy
will, by the which will, verse 10, we are sanctified. You know
what the word sanctified means? It has a threefold meaning. It
means to set apart, first of all. Father did that. It means
to set apart. It means to take something common
and ordinary and make something special out of it. God sanctified
the first day. You know people take the word
sanctified today and they make it to mean the old nature eradicated
and I live so I don't sin anymore. Well, the word sanctified in
the Bible even talks about God sanctifying animals. God sanctifying
a day. God sanctifying a glass. God
sanctifying a tabernacle. After eradication of sin, talk
about God sanctifying himself. And Christ had no sin, he said
for their sake I sanctify myself, I set myself apart. So in this
first place we are sanctified by the will of the Father, he
set us apart, he took something common, something ordinary, something
everyday, and he said this is mine. I don't know why, he's
back yonder before the foundation of the world, he said Jay Wimbley's
mine. He's mine. He belongs to me. I'm going to
set him apart. He's just like all the rest of
those fallen rebels. He's no different. He's no better.
But I'm going to make him mine. And God set him apart. Holy unto
the Lord. Chose him in Christ. Sanctified
him back yonder before the foundation of the world. And then to sanctify
means this. It means to regard as holy. When
Moses smoked that rock, God came to him and said, Moses, you didn't
sanctify me in front of the people. You're going to suffer for that.
You didn't sanctify me. You didn't regard me as holy.
You and I are sanctified in Christ Jesus. We're actually regarded
as holy. Did you know that? The blood
of Christ is so powerful. The blood of Christ is so sufficient.
The blood of Christ is so effectual that even God with his sovereign
omniscient eyes cannot see in me any fault. Because Christ
presents me before the Father, how? Faultless and without blame. That's what it says. Complete.
I don't have any sin. The blood of Christ has actually
made me holy. I am in the sight of God without
sin. And then thirdly, sanctified
by the Holy Spirit. The Lord came down to the people,
Moses said, now you folks The Lord's going to come visit with
us tomorrow. He's going to reveal himself
in our present. Wash your clothes. Wash your bodies. See, they lived
out there in the desert. And they just weren't as careful
as folks ought to be. Well, they didn't have the facilities
we have, you know. And they'd get their clothes,
it'd get a little dirty. It didn't wear out, but it got dirty. And
their bodies would get dirty. And Moses King said, now the
Lord's coming. Now, you wash your bodies and wash your clothes
and sanctify yourselves. You see, this sanctification
by the Holy Spirit is a progressive sanctification. It's progressing
in holiness and obedience and righteousness. It's striving
to be like the Lord. It's striving to be like Christ
in my daily walk, in my conversation, in my attitude, in my spirit,
in my words. And the Holy Spirit enables us
to grow in His fruit. Every believer has the fruit
of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, gentleness, meekness, kindness,
humility, faith, this fruit of the Spirit. But some have it
to a greater degree than others. You say, how can this fruit grow
in me? By the Word of God. Desire the
sincere milk of the Word that you may progressively grow. But
we are sanctified. Look here at verse 9 again. It
says, I come to do thy will, O God. He takes away the first,
that he may establish the second. What is the first? It's this
law we're talking about, this Levitical law, this ceremonial
law, this law of shadows and types and symbols. Our Lord took
it away. He took it all away, because
he fulfilled it. I'll be honest with you. Somebody
says, you keep the Sabbath? No, sir. I do not. The Sabbath's
on Saturday. And our Lord fulfilled that too.
He is my Sabbath. I've entered into his rest. Every
day to me is his day. Every night is his night. Now
on the first day of the week, the church met together and broke
bread upon the first day of the week. Paul preached to them upon
the first day of the week. Let every one of you lay by as
God has prospered him. Man needs a day of rest. God
designed the Sabbath not for man, not for the Sabbath, but
the Sabbath for man. Even the crops needed to be rested
once every seven years. He said don't plant the same
ground with the same thing year after year. Let them rest one
year. Man needs rest, his body needs rest, his spirit needs
rest, his heart needs rest. God ordained it. But Christ is
my rest spiritually. I don't keep a day in order to
get accepted by God. Christ is my Sabbath. If you
pick you out a little verse of scripture here says remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy and close your store on Saturday
and open it on Sunday, you're a fool. That's all there is to
it. My Lord laid in the grave on
the Sabbath day. He arose on the first day of
the week. But Christ is our Sabbath. We pick out any holiday, pick
out Easter, Christmas, all these pagan holidays you want to and
keep these holidays in order folks come to church on Easter
and Christmas. That's the days I'd stay home
if I knew. I would because that shows paganism. That shows they think there's
some significance in a day or a season, and if I were you,
that's the day that I'd stay home, just to show that I didn't
believe there was any religion or any spirituality in keeping
the day. That's right. There is none.
There is none. Our Lord took away the first.
Let me show you how he took away the first. Took away the first
covenant, established the covenant of grace. Took away the first
tabernacle, his body, the second tabernacle, took away the first
priesthood, gave us his priesthood, took away the first sacrifices,
gave us his sacrifice, took away the first Adam, raised up the
second Adam, took away the first paradise, talked about the one
that he had made, took away the first nature, gave us a new nature,
took away the first birth, gave us a new birth, took away our
old bodies, gave us a new body, took away the old heaven, created
a new heaven, took away the old earth, made a new earth. Behold,
he said, I'll make everything new. Everything. Behold in Christ I'll make all
things new. Brethren, our Lord put us away
first. If you want to become a slave
to laws and rules and regulations and special days and holy days
and feast days and all of these different things, let me warn
you, the Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled those things, and He
is my life, He is my Sabbath, He is my feast day, He is my
refuge, He is my tabernacle, He is my life, He is my hope,
He is my heaven, He is all things. You can't fail in Him. People
need to regulate. Christ regulates folks. Folks
need some boundaries put on them. I don't know any better boundary
than love for Christ is. I don't know any better boundary.
I don't know anything that will make a mother take better care
of her family than to love them. I don't believe you can legislate
morality. All these preachers in town, they can get together
to promote some special cause, but they can't get together and
preach the gospel of Christ. And I don't know any better way
to bring about godliness and honesty and truth and holiness
than for men to love Christ, to know Him. No other way. Now look at verse 11, and I'm
going to wind this down in a minute, but I want you to watch every
word of these two or three verses. says in verse 11, oh verse 10
says by God's will we are sanctified, not going to be, ought to be,
should be, can be, by special program we are, we are sanctified,
we are set apart, we are holy through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest, there were
lots of them, lots of them, Christ is one. Every priest stood, see
standard, they never finished their work, they always stood.
No place to sit because their work was never done. They stood
daily, a multitude of sacrifices constantly. Ministering and offering
all kinds of same sacrifices, they never varied. Certain ones
for certain purposes, certain ones for certain hours, certain
ones for certain days, same sacrifices which can never, never take away
sin. All these sacrifices and rituals
and rules and orders and ceremonies do is remind you, you're a sinner.
But I'll tell you, when you come in contact with the blood of
Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ, God so uncleanseth, it effectually
atones, it justifies, it makes whole. Oh, the power of his blood. Would you be free from your burden
of sin if fire in the blood? Would your evil of victory win
this power in the blood? Yes, this power in the blood
of Christ. Read on. But this man, he was the God-man. This man. Yes, he is a man. At the right hand of God there's
a man. There's a man entered heaven.
Good possibility then this one will. One's already there. The perfect man, the man Christ
Jesus. After he had offered one sacrifice,
one, just one, for our sins, for whose sins, for our sins,
forever sat down, he finished what he came to do, he completed
his work, sat down in the most prominent place of all, the place
of acceptance, the place of love, the place of power, the place
of authority on God's right hand, from henceforth expecting till
his enemies become his footstool, be made his footstool. He's victorious.
He's not crying his eyes out up in heaven because people won't
let him do what he came to do. He sat down and he's expecting,
he's expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Every
one of his enemies are going to be his footstool. For by one
offering, one sacrifice for sin, he has perfected forever Rather
than there's security, there's perseverance, there's particular
addiction, there's the effectual work of God, He has perfected
forever! Not the whole world, but them
that are sanctified. Look back up here at verse 10.
How do you get sanctified? By the will of God, by the which
will we are sanctified. That's, it's right there you
see. We're sanctified by the will
of God. And Christ has perfected every one of those who are sanctified
by the will of God. Every one of them are perfected.
Absolutely perfect. There's nothing lacking. It's
all fulfilled. And then God says, I'm going
to do something for them. Verse 15, the Holy Ghost is a witness
to us. For after that, He said before, He said, this is a covenant
I'll make with them. I'm going to make a covenant.
That covenant was made by the Son and Holy Spirit that included
us in it. He never made the covenant with
me, saying, I'll do this if you'll do that. That's what preachers
are preaching. That's the old covenant of works.
Adam, keep the law and you'll live. He didn't. He died. No
need God making a covenant with me. Not if he's leaving something
for me to do. Man, the creature has failed
under every dispensation. Go back to heaven. There's just
angels. That's all, just angels. Well,
you'd think surely they would stand there. Well, Satan fell
and one-third of the heavenly host, I'm told. All right, then
God made a man, put him in a perfect garden, made him the king, the
ruler, the overseer, everything. Gave him a beautiful wife. There
you are, Adam. Multiply and replenish the earth.
You and Eve lived together in joy and happiness. He had everything
he wanted to eat. He had all the sleep he wanted,
the rest. He had all the hobbies, vacations, entertainment, anything
he wanted. There it is. Just don't bother
that tree right there. That's the one thing J.E. wanted. The one thing. So God took a
man called Noah and he said, I'm going to show you something,
Noah. And he wiped out the whole human race and let Noah and his
family live. Now you'd think, after a fella
had seen that, he'd watched everybody perish but him and his family. He wasn't off that ark any time
at all until he was lying drunk in his tent. First thing it is,
plant him a vineyard and make him some wine and get drunk.
There was a fellow called David. God gave him the greatest kingdom
he ever gave unto any man. You know what happened to him.
Our Lord came along, picked twelve men to be his disciples. One
of them sold him for eighteen dollars and one swore he didn't
even know him. And even in the church where the apostles said,
boy, if we had an apostle for a pastor, you'd be just like
the ones they pastored. Corinthians, the Galatians, the
Philippians. They have the apostles as their
teachers. Human nature. I'll tell you,
God says, I'm going to make a covenant and make a covenant with them.
What he means there, what he's saying there, is they are the
recipients of that covenant. They are the ones that are going
to be blessed by it. But my son is going to fulfill for them
what needs to be fulfilled. See, Christ took my end of the
covenant. God will, if I will, no, if Christ will, and He did.
And God says, He says, I'm going to put my law in their hearts,
I'm not going to give it to them to carry around on a piece of
paper. But I'm going to write it on their hearts so they'll
love my law. His commandments are not grievous. David said,
I love His law. And I'm going to write them in
their minds so that, and He doesn't mean just His ten commandments,
thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. God's law is
His word. I'm going to write my word on their hearts. I'm
going to write my word on their minds so that they'll love my
word and think on my word. I know we're living in a day
when folks go to church on Sunday and then forget about it six
days a week, but not believers. Believers walk with God. Believers
get up in the morning thinking about their relationship with
Christ, and they go to bed at night thinking about their relationship
with Christ. It's day by day. It's hour by
hour. They walk with Christ. Sure, they mourn over their sins
and grieve over their fleshly pursuits and passions and desires
and these things, but they know Christ walks with them, and they
love Him. And he said in verse 17, I remember
their sins no more. Now watch verse 18. Now, where
remission of these is, remission, forgiveness, pardon. There is no more offering. John,
it's been done. It's finished. It's finished. Now brethren, I tell you this.
It's dishonoring to Christ not to believe that. It's dishonoring
to Christ not to rest in that. It's done. The great transaction
is done. And I'll tell you, this thing
of concern over God's attitude toward my sin, this thing of
concern over God Almighty, whether or not He'll damn me or send
me to hell, that's dishonoring to God. His Son paid my bill.
And I thank Him. And I believe Him. And I accept
Him. He paid my bill. Now I don't know how to illustrate
that except maybe if one of you owed a good bit of money and
one of the brethren here because of his love for you and because
of his kindness for you and his generosity for you went down
and paid it and just wiped it out. Now if you, if every once
in a while you'd call him up and say, you sure you paid that
bill? He wouldn't like that a whole lot. He comes to you and he says,
I paid your bill. You don't owe it. Oh, thank you.
Hug his neck, kiss him, appreciate it. Next morning he gets a call
from you. You sure you paid that bill?
I've been worried about that all night. About a week later
you see him on the street and you say, I haven't called you
in a week and I haven't gotten in touch with you and I just
want to know if you're mad at me. You sure you paid that bill?
You're not going to go back and get your money back, are you?
Now you keep on talking that way, he's going to go get his
money back. But I'm going to thank him, and every time I see
him I'm going to say, hey I appreciate you paying my bill. Thank you.
I'm sure glad I don't owe that anymore. He says in verse He
said in verse 18, there is no more offering, it's paid. Having
therefore brethren, look here, having forgiveness, having boldness
to enter the holiest by the blood of Christ, having the new way
Christ Jesus, having a high priest over the house of God, let's
draw near to God. Just like you are, come just
like you are. Draw near to God. Draw near to God. I tell you,
I believe if the Lord were to I don't know exactly how to say
this, but I think maybe if we didn't have
our infirmities of the flesh, we might become self-righteous,
mightn't we? Just might. I don't thank God
for my failures, but my failures helped me to see His success.
I don't thank God for my my lack of spirituality at times, but
I'll tell you if I got a little too spiritual I'd just like to
get too high and mighty. I think sometimes when we think
we're nearest to God we're furthest away. And when we think we're
furthest away that just might be when we're nearest. That just
might be. Let's draw near. Let's draw near.
On what basis? Having forgiveness Having a high
priest, having a new way. It didn't say, I know a church
that hadn't taken the Lord's Supper in two or three years. You know why? They are not worthy. Isn't that something? Boy, I
don't want to be there when they do take it, do you? I sure don't. Do you want to be there? I don't
want to be there. I don't want to take Lord's Supper with worthy people. I
don't want to take Lord's Supper with you sinners. That's the
folks I like out there. I look at Charlie and Dick and
Paul and all of them. I can fit in with them. I can
fit in with them. That's who I want to take the
Lord. That's the reason I take it, because I'm not worthy. Christ
died for my sins. When I don't have any sins, I
won't need him. But I need him, don't you? Because I have him,
I don't have any sins. Let's draw near. It doesn't say
draw near to God now that you had something special. He says
having a high place, let's draw near to God. And secondly, he
says let's hold fast to the profession of our faith. Hold on to your
faith in Christ. Hold on to the sound words of
the Word of God. Hold on to your hope of life. Don't waver. But
Brother Mahan, I tell you, I just, I'm so weak. Well, I know you
are. The rest of us are too. It doesn't
say hold on without wavering because you're strong. He says
hold on without wavering because he's strong. He's faithful. That promise. That's all. Christ is there. He's not going
to move. He's going to stay. If I'm up
high, He's there at the same place. If I'm down low, He's
right where He was when I got there. He's the same. And I'm
in Him. And then He said, let's consider
one another to provoke. I'm glad he didn't stop right
there, because sometimes we do provoke one another, don't we?
He says let's consider one another to provoke to love. Not just
to provoke folks, but to provoke them to love. To encourage them. Let's encourage one another.
Let's confess our faults one to another. That's scripture.
I didn't say sins, I said faults. Let's don't take on a pharisaical,
hypocritical, self-righteous, overly pious, holier-than-thou
spirit. Let's be honest with one another.
And let's tell one another about Christ. Let's encourage one another
in the gospel. Having a high priest, having
forgiveness, it's all blotted out. Let's draw near to God.
Let's hold fast. You hold fast to that right there.
That right there. And then let's see if we can't
help somebody else to hold on to that. When a fellow gets down,
you that is strong, lift him. Pray for him. When a fellow gets
in despair and doubt, lift him up. Consider one another. Encourage us to love and faith
and godliness and the walk of holiness. Our Father, for the
word, the precious promises, O the precious promises, O the
precious blood, and the precious faith of thine elect, how precious
are these priceless treasures Thy word have I hid in my heart,
that I might not sin against thee. Thy blood, O Lord, maketh
atonement for my soul, and thy faithfulness. I live not by my
faith, but by the faith of Christ Jesus, who loved me and gave
himself for me. Thy faith shall never fail. We
pray these mercies and blessings to be applied to every heart
in this congregation for Christ's sake. Amen.