Well, the Bible invites you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. This evening we come to verses 11 through 18. And we're arriving at really the conclusion of the chief doctrinal section of the book of Hebrews. From verse 19 forward in weeks and months ahead, I believe.
We're going to see this a great deal of application about the truth of Christ, including a warning at the end of this chapter. You know not to turn your back on Him. An entire chapter, chapter 11, about the people of faith and encouragements the persevere in faith in chapter 12 and practical instructions about how faith and Christ works itself out in chapter 13. Now, last time we were together in the book in verses 1 to 10, was that last week the writer told us that the Old Testament system of sacrifices was a constant reminder of sin.
And yet the animal sacrifices hadn't really taken away the people's sin. And so the conscience of the Old Testament believer was still troubled by their sins. And so what God did as was His plan was to send the Christ to do His will. We saw this in verses 1 to 10.
And it was the doing of that will of God by Christ, that perfectly obeying the law of God, that perfectly loving God and loving neighbor. And so becoming a perfect substitute without blemish or flaw or sin for us, because we failed to do that. That was part of our, the atoning work as well as of Christ of course of Christ fulfilling the will of God by offering Himself up as a sacrifice for sin. To be in Himself with the animal sacrifices could never be a perfect substitute for sinful people in the death and judgment we deserve.
And to do so in our place. And so by this twofold doing we might say of the will of God, by satisfying its righteous demands and by suffering its righteous judgments, Christ made a perfect atonement for sin. And now here in verses 11 through 18, the writer sums up the truth about this perfect atonement for sin by Jesus, the perfect high priest offering up a perfect sacrifice and the blessings then that we have in Him. Let's hear then and consider Christ from Hebrews 10 verses 11 through 18.
This is the word of God. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us for after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days declare the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds. Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Amen. This is the good news. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we pray that you would write the truth of this word on our hearts, that by the Spirit you would impress it upon our conscience.
And so give your people the enjoyment of the freedom that is ours and the joy that is ours in Christ. And glorify him before our eyes. In his name I ask, amen. I think a lot of people love courtroom drama, at least I suppose the kind you see on TV in a movie is maybe not if you're actually in a courtroom yourself.
But the drama of an attorney and someone on the witness stand in the back and forth of dialogue and debate. I want the truth, you can't handle the truth. That sort of thing. Well, the closing argument in a courtroom is where the attorney has the burden to make the entire case and wrap it up and succinctly persuade as he's able, his audience, and to summarize it then in a way that people are convinced.
It needs to be concise, it needs to be appealing, it needs to be persuasive. And in Hebrews 10, 11 through 18, we get to the writer's closing argument about the Lord Jesus, the case that he's been making at least as chapter seven. And so he's covering some familiar ground, even repeating himself in places, quoting again, Jeremiah 31. And he's doing so because it's a closing argument.
To persuade his hearers that there is no other sacrifice, but the blood of Jesus that can take away our sins. And his blood does do so. So we want to remind ourselves as we begin that we can't have done for ourselves. It has to be done for us by another, the announcer yesterday.
I forget if it was on radio or TV. I listen to the radio of the organ style of Auburn game, and then I watch the highlights. And at one point, our Arkansas kicker made a field goal. And the announcer said, he missed a 41-yarder earlier, but makes a tone mid with his toe.
Well, hogwash, I mean, it makes out good. And it's the colloquial way. People use the language of atonement, but it's the wrong word choice. He didn't make atonement for himself.
Atonement is a thing that's done between God and people by the Lord Jesus. And it's after all, not like he put three points on the board that satisfied for the three points he missed before. I mean, if he asked the coach after the game, the coach would have liked the six points, right? Not just the second three.
So he didn't get a tone. And besides the Bible is clear, nobody can make a tone for themselves. We need Jesus to do that for us. And the writer here is very concerned that we not miss the fact that Jesus does do this for us.
And he does it perfectly well, verse 11. And every priest stands daily in his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time, a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. I wanna do a little more by way of past more application before we dive into our outline.
And that's to say this, the writer is very concerned, as I said, that we not miss the fact that Jesus actually does this. And this is in part because well, pastoring people is a difficult thing. People discovering their own true spiritual condition can be a challenging thing. And there are basically four kinds of people in the world.
There are non-Christians who know that they aren't Christians, and they're not looking to Jesus to be forgiven for their sin. And they know that. And then there are Christians who know that they're Christians, and that they are looking to Jesus to be forgiven for their sins. And they are persuaded that they are forgiven.
They are assured that they have a humble confidence and joy that they're loved by God, forgiven by their sins because of their savior. And there are two other kinds of people. And they're the ones that are more difficult to minister to you. And I think a lot of us fall into these camps at times, or have.
There are people who are not Christians, but who think that they are. And that happens sometimes in the life of the church. And then there are people who are clearly Christians, but who doubt that they really are. To think that you are a Christian, and you are forgiven, and you are right with God, when you are not, that is a terribly dangerous place to be.
It's to be self-deceived and on the right of destruction. And to be a true Christian, and truly forgiven, and right with God, but think that you aren't, or doubt that you are, and have fears and like a sure, it's not a miserable place to be. I've been there. And God says, you're his, you're his beloved son, or daughter, and Jesus took away all of your sin, and guilt, and shame, and he's given you his perfect righteousness, and you've been given his Holy Spirit, and you do have genuine sincere faith in him, but you're constantly or periodically questioning yourself, anxious about your own failures and continuing sins, fearful God perhaps doesn't still love you, and doesn't still forgive you, worried that you've sinned one too many times, and there's probably no hope for you now.
I mean, that's a miserable place to live. And it's a sad place, because it isn't true, that is if you're a genuine Christian. The devil sews lies, and we believe them, and he makes people vulnerable to the voices of others who affirm them in the lie, and then tell them that the answer to their need is found anywhere, but in what they already have in Jesus. And the writer here doesn't want these believers, nor us, to suffer from that lack of assurance and confidence and hope that the gospel is designed to bring us.
And he doesn't want them, this original audience, to listen to friends and family and former priests and rabbis who might be calling them to leave what they consider to be this Jesus nonsense. And calling them to come back to the temple where you can see the little animals being blotured, and you can smell the blood that was flowing and being flung around, and where the priests all covered in blood knows your name. It says, hey, I'll look forward to seeing you again, again, the next time you blow it so badly, you've got to bring it off, or you'll put it that way, or I'll look forward to seeing you next time at the next New Moon Festival. And I'll look forward to seeing you at next year's day of its own ceremony.
We'll do all this again. And there would be a kind of appeal. This was familiar. This is what they knew.
The author is saying, you don't have to do any of that anymore. And he wants to be reassured and persuaded of what Jesus has fully and finally accomplished for them. And we need to know that too. So, hence the passage before us.
Let me just say one other word briefly, in a kind of by the way, in verse 11, in the way that he says it, it appears he's writing, while these animal sacrifices were still going on in the temple in Jerusalem. And I say that because he speaks of a priest standing at his service, present tense, so that the date of this epistle is, you know, as I understand it to be before the final destruction of the temple in AD 70, by the Roman army. But in any case, the writer brings forward then to persuade them, almost as in the courtroom, let's put it that way. The testimony that of various witnesses to the perfect and complete atonement of Christ.
And so he seeks to persuade them by that testimony. Let me point you to that testimony. The first is, and there's three big ones. The first is this.
There's the witness of the posture of the priest, verses 11 and 12, verse 11, and every priest stands daily at his service, but Christ, end of verse 12, sat down at the right hand of God. He's simply speaking of the posture of priests, either standing or now in Christ's case, seated. And we ought not misunderstand or overlook the importance of posture. I read recently of a boss who came to the factory floor to visit his people, and the employees were standing, ready to get to work after hearing from their boss.
The boss, one guy in the back, kind of leaning casually against the column, my dad would say, you're holding up the building. And so feeling the need to set an example for the employees, the boss said to this guy at the back, how much are you making a week? And the man replied, well, about $400. And the boss said, all right, you wait right here.
He goes into the office and he gets $1,600 out of the cash reserves, and he gives this guy an entire month's wages, and then tells him to get out. He fires it. And after this guy leaves, the boss feeling, I suppose, kind of tough and in charge. And he asks the crowd now, now, who was he anyway?
And someone replied, I think it was the pizza delivery guy. You can miss read posture. Sorry, I just found that so funny. But the writer of Hebrews here wants you to read posture correctly.
The priests stand in the temple because their work is never done. But Christ is seated at the right hand of God because he completed the work God gave him to do. Verse 12, when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. And he sat down because there's no other sacrifice that ever needs to be made.
And the priest, however, offered sacrifices daily and repeatedly. Christ offered his once and for all. And so his actually accomplished and completed redemption and reconciliation. And the total of the first sin, F.F.
Bruce says, a seated priest is the guarantee of a finished work and an accepted sacrifice. He sat down because there was nothing more than it needs to be done. And that is the best of good news for people who want to be right with God, want to know that their past sins have been taken away, that even their present sins don't condemn them to hell and their future sins. Won't either.
But our guilt is removed. There's no more to be done. And we can add nothing to what Christ has accomplished. That's the witness of the posture of the priest.
Then there's also the witness of the ascension of Christ and Christ's heavenly session. He doesn't use those words, of course, in verse 12. But it's clear that he has them in mind. Christ, after all, offered himself in death.
And he rose. And he ascended. And he sat down at the right hand of God. So he ascended into heaven.
And that language of heavenly session that I use means Christ sits at the right hand of the majesty on high, ruling and reigning from the throne room, the royal courts of the universe. That's why we call it in Presbyterianism, the gathering of our elders together before the face of Jesus meeting to carry out the work and pastoral ministry of the church, the session. Because we sit together in the royal court before Jesus, the king and head. But in any case, this is what Jesus has done.
He's risen, ascended, and is seated. And Eric out of theator says this. We cannot separate the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. His death requires his resurrection as God's seal on the sufficiency of his death to actually take away our sin.
And the resurrection is God's oban upon Jesus' death. His acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice. His seal upon what Jesus has done. And just as we cannot separate his death and his resurrection, neither can we separate the next events in his saving work.
His ascension into heaven and his being seated at the right hand of the majesty, the ascension and heavenly recession are vitally important for our understanding of all that Jesus has accomplished. I mean, this is part of the preaching of the gospel, not to overlook these things. In first Timothy chapter three, verse 16, the Apostle Paul writes, great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He, Jesus, was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit, seen by angels proclaimed in the world for the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up into glory.
And so you remember how important this was in the Apostle Paul's logic in Romans chapter eight, that majestic chapter that sort of culminates the doctrinal section of the good news when in verse 34, he says, who is to condemn? That is, who is to condemn those who trust in Christ? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, the one who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
So this ascension to glory of Christ speaks to his victory over sin and death and hell and Satan, as well as God's acceptance of his substitution before the judgment seat. The ascension proclaims his victory over every legion of Satan, over the whole power of darkness, over the whole dominion of sin. And what is he doing now? Waiting, verse 13, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
That is, until every area in the universe recognizes what has become true, that Jesus is King of Kings, he is waiting for that death. And it means that none of his enemies, not sin, death, evil, hell, more devils, can ultimately triumph over those who belong to Jesus. I mean, it proclaims his victorious conquering of all his enemies and those who have become his friends, he takes up our cause, he sides with us, he preserves and protects us. So as one asks, what is Jesus doing now, right now in heaven?
Is he wringing his hands, wondering if anybody will really believe in him? Is he worrying over his enemies as they continue to rebel against him, worrying that they'll never be stopped? Is he wondering how in the world things got so bad in the United States? No, he is interceding, always living to intercede and always living to rule and reign.
He's not waiting for someday. When he'll get some man-made chair, we would call it throne, in that dry dusty part of the world called Jerusalem. He is right now on the throne of the universe, governing over all things for the good of his church. And that means we can, they can put steel in our backbone as believers, knowing that the future of the world is not in the hands of Washington.
It's not in the hands of Moscow or Beijing or London, it's in the hands of him who sits on the throat of the universe at the right hand of the majesty. And he's waiting until all his foes become a footstool for his feet. And what is he doing as he waits? He always lives, as I said, to make intercession for us.
He mediates God's grace to us. He mediates God's blessings to us. He stands in our defense. And on our behalf, he takes up the cares of his people.
So there's the witness of his posture. And then there's the witness of his ascension and heavenly session. And what is the effect of this, we should ask, because he answers that question. What's the effect of this perfect, completed, once for all atonement?
Well, the effect of it is our assurance and confidence of our acceptance with God. Verse 14, for by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Now, there's a mass of theology there. But let's look at it briefly.
This is the seventh of nine uses of the word made perfect in the book of Hebrews. In the early chapters, it chiefly refers to Jesus himself. So in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 10, we learned that it was fitting that he, for whom, and by whom, all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Jesus was made perfect through suffering.
The point we made at the time, of course, is not that Jesus was ever morally or spiritually imperfect. That's not the point of the writer. He didn't have to go from imperfection to perfection, but that in his lived experience as a true human being, in this world, as the God-man, that lived experience, even of suffering and death, prepared him and qualified him for the office of mediator and redeemer. And prepared him for the work of sympathetic and merciful high priesthood.
Hebrews 5, we saw, as a similar language, it elaborates the point in chapter 5, verses 8 and 9. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered and being made perfect. He became the source of eternal salvation to all the obeying. That perfecting of Christ points to his perfect and unique fitness to put away our sin, both as the perfect sacrifice and as the perfect priest.
And now that the writer has made that point about Jesus, he uses the same expression, made perfect, regarding what God intends for believers in Jesus. So Hebrews 10, 1, as we looked at last week, critiques the old covenant by saying, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, it can never what make perfect those who draw near. That's the old covenant. It couldn't make perfect those who draw near.
But by contrast, verse 14 says, for by a single offering, he has perfected for all time, those who are being sanctified. Later in chapter 12, 23 he'll say that of believers in heaven, he'll describe them as the spirits of the righteous made perfect. So Christ was made perfect, says Rick Phillips. Christ was made perfect in his role as Savior and High Priest for the church in order to sit God's right hand so that we would be made perfect in him for our role as worshiping priests in heaven before the throne of God.
And it's really interesting to get important to understand the different tenses that are being used here. There's the past tense and the present tense and the future tense. There's the past completed action, verse 12. He offered a single sacrifice.
He sat down. It's done. It's completed. It's past tense.
It's a completed past action. Then in verse 14, he tells us the effect of Christ's work and uses a different phrase, the present tense. By a single offering, he has perfected us. The perfect tense signifies a completed past action that has an ongoing effect into the present and the future.
That is something of vital significance has already happened in the past. And its effects continue now and forever. We have, he says, been made perfect. Now, I know you don't feel perfect.
You would freely admit that you don't live perfectly. But what the writer really hears thinking of is that in Christ, who is perfect, you are perfect in him. All your perfection comes from him. For all you who are right now, present tense, being sanctified, he says, being progressively more and more made like Christ.
And so it's just an amazing truth. We are being transformed into what we already are in Christ. We are being transformed into the perfection we already have in Christ. John Bunyan, in his autobiography, Grace of Bound into the Chief of Sinners says this, every little touch would hurt my tender conscience.
But one day, as I was passing through a field, suddenly I thought of a sentence, your righteousness is in heaven. And with the eyes of faith, I saw Christ sitting at God's right hand and suddenly realized, there is my righteousness. Wherever I was or whatever I was doing, God could not say, where is your righteousness? Or it was right before him.
I saw that my good frame of heart could not make my righteousness better. Nor a bad frame of heart could make my righteousness worse for my righteousness was Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so Bunyan says, now my chains fell off indeed. And I felt delivered from slavery, to guilt, and fear.
I went home rejoicing for the love and grace of God. Now I could look from myself to him. And I realized that all these weak character qualities in my heart were like the pennies that rich men carry around in their pocket when their gold is safe under lock and key. Christ is my treasure, my righteousness.
Now Christ was my wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and salvation. This is the blessing of the gospel for every believer who in union with Christ through faith in Christ discovers that because he died, you have died with him. And because he rose, you have been made alive in him. And because he is made perfect, you are made perfect in him.
It's such good news. It's almost too good to be true. And so to persuade you, the writer brings forward another couple of witnesses, and very briefly, and we'll take them together, as the writer does, in verses 15 to 18. Notice the witness to this good news of the Holy Spirit and the prophet Jeremiah, in verses 15 to 18.
Christ's work, he says, was promised by the Holy Spirit. And he quotes Jeremiah 31 to explain it, verse 15. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. For after saying, and notice the writer's going to quote Jeremiah 31 again, but tells us it's from the Spirit.
But he's quoting Jeremiah. So there's this witness of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the prophet Jeremiah. And well, actually what the writer is doing is he's poking at his original hearers, many of whom, perhaps most of whom originally were either converted Jews or Jews who were thinking about conversion. And he basically says to them, you can't accept the teaching of your beloved prophet Jeremiah, and yet reject the new covenant that he prophesied.
You cannot accept one without the other. To accept Jeremiah is to accept Jesus Christ. To reject Jesus Christ is actually to reject Jeremiah, and then ultimately to reject the Holy Spirit himself. And so he says, the Holy Spirit bears witness to us, and then he, what does he witness?
Through Jeremiah, well, verse 16, he quotes Jeremiah 31. This is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds.
So what's going to be involved in the new covenant? Transformation. God's going to transform us by what? Writing on our minds, writing on our hearts, renewing us, changing us from the inside out and writing that law on our hearts and minds.
And what is that law? Well, Jesus summarized it. It's the law of love. Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
This is what God is doing in transforming us, in renovating us, but then in verse 17, he adds, well, it says then he adds, and who adds? Well, the Holy Spirit adds, right? Because it's the Holy Spirit who inspired Jeremiah. And what does he add?
I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds. No more. He's going to forgive his people and he does. And so this passage to the writers is helping us to understand that in the realization of the new covenant, we have that double grace, the double grace of both justification and sanctification, or that double grace of pardon and acceptance with God, as well as God's work in us to conform us to the image of Christ, which will be consummated in glory.
And so our whole hope is in Christ. And there is no hope in looking away from Christ, but look to Christ and you have hope. We need what? We need somebody to take away our sin and we need someone to take away our love of sinning.
And we have that in Christ and in Christ alone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can accomplish that. Where there is forgiveness of these verse 18, there's no longer offering for sin. You don't need anything or anyone else since I'll close with the story of Henry Light.
Forgive me if I've told some of you this story before, some time ago, he was a pastor and a very famous hymn writer. We sing his praise, my soul, the King of Heaven. We sing abide with me fast falls in the even tide. We sing Jesus, I, my cross, and take in.
He wrote all three of those hymns. But after he was converted, of course, but he had actually entered the ministry in 1815 as a 23-year-old right out of his preparation studies. But he was actually unconverted. Not unlike the Westleys, if you know their story and their initial ministry, they actually hadn't yet been brought to genuine sincere faith in Christ with a changed heart and they would confess to that as well.
But how does that happen, of course? How did he get a guy in ministry who's unconverted? Well, in that day, I know lots of ways it can happen, but in that day, it was actually a very noble calling. And if you weren't the firstborn destined to inherit the family's wealth, but you were a second or third or beyond board, you were looking for some other vocational calling.
It was a pretty comfortable and certainly well-respected living, and some men simply went into the ministry on that account and gave you plenty of leisure time to read and study, I suppose, at least they thought or imagined, but in any case. So here's why he's unconverted. He's in the ministry and a friend of his a fellow clergyman was dying and asked, how can I be sure of a happy eternity? And life was stunned into silence as the man went on to say that they had both been leading their people astray.
And this guy had begun to study the scripture and discovered that only the death and sufferings of Christ could atone for sin. And his friends is like, upon reflection, his friend died happy in the gospel. And like said of him, he died happy under the belief that though he had deeply aired, there was one whose death and sufferings would its own for his delinquencies and be accepted for all that he had incurred. So the loss of this friend and the loneliness of his isolation as well as he was a frail physically and that cold, wet climate there in England, many were struck with things like asthma and tuberculosis and sought warmer weather.
And as he did for some months in France, he actually ended up living a very short life. Dying just weeks after he wrote a bible with me as a pretty young man. But in any case, he takes his long break in France and he begins to ponder the scriptures. And he begins to ponder the experience of the Westleys who were converted after they had already entered ministry.
And then he adds this about himself. I was greatly affected by the whole matter and brought to look at life and its issue with a different eye than before. I began to study my bible and preach in another manner than I had previously done. Christ has taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
And so likewise, I think many Old Testament priests in the days of Jesus and the apostles were, well, we know that many were converted to faith in Jesus after already being in ministry, a ministry that was ultimately ineffective. And many Jewish non-priests too were converted to faith in Jesus and left behind the animal sacrifices in favor of the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They found in him as you do too, that those whom Jesus forgives, he transforms and will one day fully and finally renovate them after his unlikeness, even as he continues to account them forgiven of all their sins and makes them perfect in his own perfection. Let's praise our Savior.
Father, we do. We thank you for the glorious gift, which is ours in Christ Jesus. Grant that our hopes would be in him, that our souls would rest in him. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. Let's say it in same.