well i invite you to turn tonight after some time we return to our study in the book of hebrews we are in chapter 10 and i invite you to turn to hebrews chapter 10 page 1193 as we will be looking tonight at verses 1 through 18 of hebrews chapter 10 this is the word of the lord hebrews chapter 10 beginning at verse 1 for since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers having once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sins but in these sacrifices there's a reminder of sins every year for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins consequently when christ came into the world he said sacrifices and offerings you've not desired but a body you've prepared for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure then i said behold i've come to do your will oh god as it is written of me in the scroll of the book when he said above you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings these are offered according to the law then he added behold i've come to do your will he does away with the first in order to establish the second and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of jesus christ once for all 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 enemy 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 declares the lord i will put my law on their minds and write them on their hearts 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 there will end the reading of god's word well it is one of the greatest privileges uh of the pastorate and pastor uh to preach the gospel all over the new testament uh the apostle paul is emphasizes this uh in many different places the new testament writers relish in this they stay focused on this especially when paul said woe is me if i don't preach the gospel that was not just a mindless statement he was saying I call down upon myself prophetic curse and woe if I choose in the Christian ministry to not make it my aim and central focus of what I do is to preach the gospel so that's a very serious thing that he said and that he calls all pastors to we think of the charge preach the word in season out of season the great aim of that is to preach the law and the gospel it's really remarkable the law of course serves a very important place in the christian ministry doesn't it we read the ten commandments boys and girls that has a very important purpose in reading the commandments not only does it show us our sin and misery but it provides us a a way and a guide for leading a thankful life since god loves righteousness and holiness the law is a reflection of that holy character. But the gospel doesn't come natural to us. In fact, we fight that. We fight the Christian gospel. It's something we incessantly forget along the way. We're very forgetful. Always falling back into thinking that, and this is a daily struggle for us, that because of our innumerable failures in the Christian life, that God is sort of in and out when it comes to pleasure of us. Is he pleased with us or not? And so we struggle with his divine pleasure. And we struggle with that because our performance falls so short. Really, it's a struggle of performance. And this is the shock value, I think, of the book of Hebrews, because it's pressing us at sort of every angle and there's a lot of repetition in the book of Hebrews even in this passage tonight that's why I chose a larger section because he's he's saying the same thing over and over in a little slightly different ways but he's making the same basic point he wants to prevent and help because of these first century Christians who are struggling with this falling back into thinking that the basis of God's acceptance of us is performance oh performance matters of sure but not in terms of our right standing before god not in terms of our justification and and the christian life in a sense is performance driven the question that the author of hebrews would want to wrestle with as we say that it is whose performance whose performance the author here has been laboring to explain the entire old testament sacrificial system he's been laboring to explain the law of sacrifice and offering we've looked at all the different facets of this we've looked at the tabernacle and we've looked at the actual sacrifices and everything of what they were meant and what they were designed to accomplish and something that he's been summarily saying to us wanting us to think about what the whole old arrangement was saying to us that's what the the first century christians were struggling with because they were they were thinking they needed to go back to it they were thinking that there was more value there than in worshiping christ who is seated at the right hand of the father that we can't see worship wasn't exciting enough for them but the problem of these first corinthians christians was dangerously close to what was explained in second corinthians chapter three when paul described the problem of the nation of israel the great problem of the nation of israel when they read the law is that there was a veil over their eyes and hearts a veil what he was explaining was that when they read the old testament scriptures they didn't see jesus they couldn't see him and so they constantly returned back to trying to establish their own righteousness before god that's the default sort of problem is that we in many different ways fall back into this and it is the greatest detriment to everything in this life you'll notice in this very passage where the aim is to focus us on the person and work of christ he will talk about those who are being sanctified it if this is not understood it affects even sanctification as you feel like giving up and so that's what we're considering tonight paul paul was worried about this he was worried about the basic truth of romans 9 and 10 that that they tried to establish their own righteousness and they've not submitted to the righteousness that comes from god well again the author is working hard here to make this all clear for us. That we would, with the great goals, that we would rest on the finished work of Jesus. That we would trust in his work. That we'd find delight in that work. And it's beautiful. It's wonderful. He wants to fix our eyes on Jesus. He's about to say that in chapter 11. To fix our eyes on him, the author and the finisher of our faith. He is not only the author, but he's going to complete it and finish it and that's where he sums it all up tonight with us with another presentation which really kind of brings this thought to a closing section for next time we get into some very practical implications of what this does for worship in drawing near and and having confidence and boldness in worship and then how we mutually encourage one another that's we'll look at next time but here he sums up this this this long thought that he has had in working with and explaining the sacrificial the law of sacrifice and offering how it finds its fulfillment in jesus and really with the added pressing point that we should leave off trying to find any other way of acceptance with god that's what he's driving us to um so it really is a in a sense a heart of a passage that is teaching us on justification and a right standing and what is given to us in christ so the goal here tonight is to explain the failure of the law in the sacrificial system the law that regulated sacrifice and offering to take away sin that's a big problem in short what he's saying is all that they did in the old covenant did not actually deal with sin it pointed forward of course it had value of course because they were called to look by faith forward to the cross we'll come back to that thought but notice here that he is explaining that it failed to accomplish what they think and thought it might accomplish and so at the end of chapter 9 he made a case that's really beautiful that when christ comes we left off last time it's not to judge the sins of his people did you notice that at the very end of chapter 9 i'll probably refer back to this again so just as it was appointed for man to die once and after that comes the judgment that's the passage we read in isolation but it's not meant to be read in isolation so christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many he's going to appear a second time notice a little phrase not to deal with sin not to come to judge your sin sin's already been dealt with this is the great point he's making tonight sin has been dealt with he's not holding out your sins against you anymore he's not requiring payment on that day for sin from you but notice what it says to save those who are eagerly waiting for him so that is the the the thread and thought that he's working with now the implications and now repeating a bit of what he had made the case and how we look at sacrifice and offering but he you really do get the strong point here that he feels that his audience has not quite received this there's so much repetition here gospel's hard to receive we we fight inherently against it and the reality is is that because of the fall we were created in that original arrangement to work and the fall has has leveled us the fall has has now put us in a situation where we're not able not to sin as augustine used to say and because of that arrangement we need grace we need help we need salvation that's a hard principle the principle of grace is a hard principle for those who are hardwired to work hardwired to think that it's about us us performing acceptance with god so he jumps back into this again to repeat what he's been saying if you look at verse 1 of chapter 10 he says for since the law has put a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near again next time in hebrews 10 we're going to have the great implications of now the freedom to be able to draw near to god in worship and how that helps us to understand that but the law he says with the entire sacrificial system was a shadow of the things to come what he's saying here is is that everything intended to be understood in the law that regulated all these sacrifices that they were to do was not the actual fulfillment for they were in their practice not ultimately taking away sin it did not remove sin it did not ultimately deal with sin but in its form you'll notice he emphasizes here it was meant to teach about the reality behind it this is this is important that reality is in christ so so in hebrews you have a lot of language much of the emphasis on shadow and reality on thing and things signified type and anti-type that's that that's what he's working with in in explaining these old testament realities hebrews is simply saying here the author is saying that the law that required sacrifices didn't give us the real thing it didn't give us the real thing it was only a form that spoke of the thing the reality just like the tabernacle remember when moses was shown the tab we studied this moses was shown the tabernacle up on the mountain and and god handed him building uh plans he says that was just a shadowy sketch of the reality that's in heaven it was meant to teach you about heavenly realities when you studied the structure of the tabernacle that's why studying this tabernacle structure is fascinating getting a glimpse into heaven and how you can get close to god the old testament tabernacle had problems we talked about the veils and the barriers but you'll notice here he makes that point to prove the inadequacy of the old covenant and sacrifice an offering because he says they had to continually do this every year they had to continually do this which anyone you know if you're sitting there if you're a thoughtful worshiper he'd say you know why every year are we continuing to repeat this why do we have to go through this over and over and over again i mean if the very first sacrifice that we ever saw you might think of the worshiper of the old covenant actually cleansed somebody and made them perfect before god why are we continuing to do this over and over and over and i think the author is driving home a strong point with this and makes it even stronger when he says for if they had actually been purified from sin by these sacrifices that the law regulated notice what he says it would have taken away a consciousness of sin now i find that to be um a big benefit that he wants us to enjoy in the new covenant that he doesn't want us to miss what he means by that is this all those sacrifices in the old testament never took away a sense of guilt and never freed them from the sense of the reality of god's judgment he says the whole system was a reminder of this all the time and the conclusion he gives here is that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins that seems so evident but they wanted to go back to that now i don't think we can make too little of this um maybe there are times uh and i can say even as a pastor you struggled with with this standing back and looking over life you know depending on the kind of life you've led depending on the things that you've done depending on how well you see what you've done which is one of the biggest problems isn't it um it's easy to see failure after failure after failure and if you're a christian who's growing in sanctification this is this is a big problem if you take that in too much and if you're too introspective And you're constantly dwelling on all of the failures that you have been as a father, as a worshiper of God, all the sins that you have continued to struggle with and against. If you take that in, you know you can have serious anxiety. I don't know if any of you have had serious anxiety attacks where it feels like you're having a heart attack. A sense of impending doom is what they'll even describe this in sort of physical terms for people in doctor's will. The sense of anxiety or panic attack is driven by a sense of impending doom. One of the worst experiences for the child of God is the guilt that we can take in and that can cause this kind of distress. when our eyes are taken off of jesus it's very real it's much more real than we than maybe we talk about and that some of you constantly go through i even speak to many old older widows who struggle with this all the way to the end so so it's a it's a it's a big problem you'll notice this utter that sense of doom and guilt is strong and those who have experienced it those who've experienced real anxiety over something like this know what i'm talking about maybe the greatest thing that we take for granted in the christian life is something that happens every sunday and the great truth that i'm able to read from romans chapter 8 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus none it's gone there is no more condemnation he already said this in the last chapter what the blood of christ has actually accomplished for you is this is what he intends for us this is what he wants us to understand and again you live these things with understanding that's why we have to give ourselves to the ministry of the word what the blood of christ has actually accomplished for you is the cleansing of your conscience from all dead works how many bad dead works have been in your life what is the blessing of being set free from that really what is the blessing of faith and the knowledge that God is not going to hold any of them against you, but more importantly, the knowledge that they have actually been dealt with. That's the fundamental difference of the new covenant. If you don't get that, you'll miss what the author is doing here. When we have the assurance of pardon every Sunday, I can't not come back to this in a worship service. it is a special that's why i want to tell people who want to go and be entertained to death and worship do you know what you're missing when you miss the reading of the law and the assurance of pardon you're missing something crucial to the christian life in order to serve yourself after the reading of the law and the confession of sin what is announced to us something that could never be said by a sacrifice of an animal Something that could have never been made sure by the blood of bulls and goats. All of your sins are expiated. All of your sins are wiped away. All of your sins God has forgiven. When you sat on the other side of the cross, all of these were tokens and veils that were given to tell you what would happen when Jesus comes. But it hadn't happened. the authors of the new testament are amazed by the time in which we live the old testament prophets longing to see what we see this is the heart of it and i think what happens is precisely what happened here when we take our eyes off of this great truth that there is an actual cleansing of conscience in the christian ministry there is actual forgiveness that is given when we take our eyes off of Jesus and we fall back to looking at us and looking at performance it makes everything uncertain how does that work for the Christian life how does that work for sanctification it doesn't you know what it makes you do makes you not want to get up it makes you live under the cloud that god is always displeased with you and that god really deep down is ready to judge you any of you live like that my guess is we're always doing it to ourselves we're always doing it to ourselves and then comes the anxiety fundamental difference here that he's working with you see how special new covenant ministry is this is what he's he's impressing on us god is saying what he has said all throughout the new testament think of the great truth i was able to read this morning for the assurance of pardon by grace children you've been saved listen to me listen to me by grace you've been saved through faith that is not of yourselves it's my gift to you what do you do with a gift i want to pay back no you don't you don't do that to god you receive it by faith and the intention is joy when um the man was lower down in mark 2 remember he had had the infirmities and he didn't have to say anything jesus could look right into his heart and see his burden and his guilt all the pharisees are standing there waiting to see what Jesus would do. Remember what He did? Son, forgiven are all your sins. That was because Jesus had come. And the Pharisees stood there and said, blasphemy. Only God can do that. And they're right. Only God can do that. Who was standing there. well that's what the author now explains verse five therefore this is a big therefore why is it therefore it's therefore when he came into the world what does he do here the author grabs psalm 40 listen to it telling us that when david spoke in psalm 40 it was an inferior application to him david knew exactly who he was talking about what david saw is that psalm 40 when that was inspired were ultimately the words on jesus's lips and these were his words sacrifice and offering you did not desire in other words it wasn't the old testament sacrifices and the law of sacrifice and offerings that in the old arrangement, that was not the end game. That was not what God was after. What did He desire? Here it is. But a body you've prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you had no pleasure. but a body you've prepared for me. And if you go on to read that psalm, I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly. I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know. I don't hide your righteousness in my heart. I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly. Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord. Then I said, behold, I have come in the volume of the book. It is written of me to do your will, O God. The author is mesmerized by that. The author of Hebrews is mesmerized by that. Think the Psalms aren't about Jesus? What was on Jesus' lips when He came was this. was an acknowledgement that the old covenant order and the requirement for sacrifices and offerings was never the end game. That didn't please God. That didn't perfect worshipers. But the new covenant was all anticipated in Psalm 40 when Jesus in the incarnation would take a body to himself. Think about what we believe in the incarnation. That the eternal Son of God, who always was and always existed, assumed a human nature. He took a body. He added that body. Why? For you. He did that for you. That what? We might be sanctified through the offering of His body once and for all. There's no more repeat. what he's saying is that when christ took a body as our high priest and when he lived and when he died for us we were completely set apart to him as holy and all of the righteousness righteous requirements of whatever was intended in the old testament sacrificial system that demanded a perfect lamb without spot that demanded perfection was met and fulfilled in his body what is so special about psalm 40 is that what is being being displayed was the eternal covenant that the father and the son had made this is a discussion of that eternal counsel between the father and the son you know in eternity it was the plan for you were ever even born the father took delight in not setting up the sacrificial system so that we'd find our righteousness in it but that it would all point to in the fullness of time his son would come and take a body and come down to this earth in our place and bear the judgment for our sins and fulfill the law which the author is saying that's the reality of everything the sacrificial offering system was talking about. The shadow to reality. Priests never took away sins. They had to continually do this for themselves. But this man, this man, after he had offered a sacrifice for sins forever, what did he do? He went up and sat down at the right hand of the Father, now waiting until every knee shall bow, every enemy being put under his feet. Judgment day is coming. I have to say tonight, and this is the challenge, and I say this to myself, ministries have to make this really clear. I don't think ministries are making this clear today. And again, I speak to myself. I don't want us to miss the implication of this. Why is it so important? Look at the end of 9 again. Just as man is destined to die once and after that the judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people and he will again appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him so much confusion today on this we have well-meaning pastors who are confusing the law and the gospel telling us that the gospel is the good news of us keeping the law now maybe there's a application to it in the more broader sense we can talk about but some might talk about the gospel that includes all of salvation but we need to be really clear here we need to be really clear here paul when he speaks of the gospel when hebrew speaks of the gospel the primary thing he wants us to appreciate is not our works but his this is what first corinthians 15 is saying to us moreover brethren i declare to you the gospel when i preach to you which you also received and in which you stand is this talking about our works here's what it's talking about by which you're saved that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again um the day according to the scriptures This is how you stand, he says. So, primary application of the gospel. Primary focus of the gospel is on that work when he took a body for you. The author is not saying this to make us turn to guilt. What is his goal in this? He wants you to appreciate this truth for all that it's worth. and enjoy it. You know, we talk about glorifying God and enjoying God. You will most enjoy God when you really, really appreciate this. The basis of His body, the basis of His work for you. Listen to what He says here. You can't miss this verse. He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified that's one of those verses that you just stop and you meditate on and you don't leave notice it he has perfected those forever when he took a body and when he kept the law and when he laid down his life what the author is mesmerized with what the author wants us focused on especially in the way that he even uses the verb here as a completed action as a present benefit for you forever to say this it's done it's accomplished it's complete his offering has perfected you in other words you have received all you need to stand before God who are presently in this life being sanctified to that effect sanctification you're not going to be sanctified until you appreciate this you're not going to want sanctification until you appreciate this it's the sacrifice on the cross it means the judgment is completely behind you the judgment's over you stand in grace when when in colossians he was dealing with people struggling with sins it was this great truth that he laid out in front of them of of the truth of their right standing before god all judgment has been taken so that you won't have to face it why would we tamper with this why would we run away from this maybe the fear that i think deeply embedded in people is that it's going to produce careless licentious people if you preach too much grace like this will it really will it really a god who's been this good to you and given you everything and has perfected forever those who are being sanctified is committed to sanctification you think the gospel produces that kind of carelessness in people what will produce the carelessness is treating people as if they're never have done enough to be right with god as believers that's what will produce it in the sacrifice of christ the judgment's taken away when you feel that anxiety when you struggle with your sin you need to remember what the new covenant has accomplished by the one sacrifice of his life all your sins have been dealt with forever he doesn't have to continually do that it's done there's a reason why we react against the roman catholic mass this is where people get nervous you know what they say in the mass christ is re-sacrificed we should we should we should be repudiate that's a that's a terrible idea it's complete it's fulfilled he wants you to enjoy this and so he concludes by saying this that in this new covenant notice this not the old covenant we've been studying that joshua in the new covenant the time you get to enjoy the fulfillment of the time you live he quotes hebrews again he quotes jeremiah 31 again to make this point how many times does he to do it this is the covenant that i will make with them after those days says the lord i'll put my laws in their hearts and in their minds and i'll write them and he adds this here's the aim of what he wanted to get to because he singles it out and i will remember their sins no more i'm not remembering your sins anymore there is remission there is cleansing it is done it is finished and when he sees you and when he looks upon you it is in that perfect righteousness of jesus and when you believe the gospel you're never more righteous with him never within the day that you first received it that's the beauty of the good news of the christian gospel that he wants us to live in that he wants us to enjoy christ didn't go through all of this for us to look anywhere else especially to find perfection somewhere else in him you have it in him you have what the gospel is intended to accomplish you have the reality the apostle says to pastors woe to you pastor if you don't preach it what would be the pastor's response woe to you if you don't believe it let's pray heavenly father thank you for this great wonderful truth of christ in our place taking a body to fulfill all righteousness so that we would be declared righteous perfect before your eyes because of his life his death resurrection we need to constantly set this before us because we fail so much and even in our failures you tell us to constantly come back to you and when we send to confess our sins and that you're faithful that you're just to cleanse us again over and over and over cleanse us from all sin thank you for being so faithful to maintain this ministry let us believe it and of course oh Lord, since you remember our sins no more, may we go forward this week hating sin all the more and striving for righteousness as those who've been set free by the one sacrifice of Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.