James White | A New & Living Way

Turn with me please to the book of Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10

We are continuing our study from last week as a part of the

Roman Catholic controversy series We did the first few verses after looking at the teachings of the

Roman Catholic Church in regards to the subject of The Mass as a perpetuatory sacrifice

I Was going to try and I may still make it. I Was going to try to Get all the way through Verse 25 well, actually 23

But I'm not going to rush it. I there's so much here

That is and I hope you don't hear this series as first and foremost

A discussion of what someone else believes and we don't believe and and so why don't we, you know get ready to be witnesses and we need to do all that that's true, but hopefully what you're hearing from me as I speak on these issues is that The only way to give a truly consistent and I think spirit -blessed

Passionate response When we are faced with error is to first and foremost love the truth

That is being denied that is being obscured that is being replaced

To use an example that I think for us is particularly good. I Know that in past years when back in the 1980s and 90s when we would go out to the

LDS Easter pageant or we would go up to the General Conference of the

Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, and we would have extensive conversations

Sometimes even a line of people waiting to talk to us or talking to an entire group of More missionaries or things like that, which rarely happens anymore

But when that would take place, I certainly recognized that when

I was giving testimony to what I believed and It was a heartfelt commitment to something such as the finished nature of the atoning work of Christ or The eternal nature of God and his the fact he's

Unchanging I when I first when the first two more missionaries I talked to elders

Reed and Reese we met on a Monday and a Thursday in the summer of 1982

How many of you were not on earth in the summer of 1982? There we go back in rhythm

That's actually not far off for me these days anyway The last thing

I left them with is What I try to leave with Mormons even to this day and That is

I said to them. I said gentlemen my hope and prayer for you is that someday

You will see your need to know the true Unchanging God of history and My prayer is that you will either find me or more likely someone else who believes like me to be able to assist you to come to know that one true and unchanging

God and that's that's the message that I've had for the Mormon people ever since then and the fact that I believe that not because it's written down on a card that I'm you know,

I'm sitting here going and the Mormon is wrong because of no They can tell when someone is speaking to them from the heart that this means something to them that it's it's a part of of their entire understanding of the world and they're committed to it and The same way when we're dealing with these subjects in regards to Roman Catholicism.

My hope is That as for example, we walk through Hebrews chapter 10

My goodness The depths of the meaning that this has for us as believers

It's one thing to argue the Mass with a

Roman Catholic it's something else to say the reason that I'm speaking to you about this is because the the the finished nature of Christ's sacrifice his once for all giving of himself no no representation

No propitiatory sacrifice no sacraments that get in the way He gave himself once and By that one offering those who are being sanctified have been perfected for all time and when they can tell that you

You live in light of that every day And I guess

I have to ask the question. Do we do we I've often I've often said to us

We argue about the Trinity with people but if we're really honest with ourselves how many weeks can we go through Where we almost never think?

About Father Son and Holy Spirit we never think in our prayers about who we're addressing and So when we talk about things like the finished nature of Christ's sacrifice on the cross outside of the

Lord's Supper Is that something we think about in our morning devotions

Over lunch in the evening Before we go to bed.

It should be it's the very basis of our peace with God When we wake in the morning

Knowing what our thoughts were like the day before Why do we think we can have peace with God?

It's only because what of Christ what Christ has done and So when when that's a part of our our very essence

When we recognize this is how I have a relationship with God that comes across as you speak to others and so as we look at this text of Scripture, I Truly want this to be something that will

Provide you with an in -depth Understanding I want this to be a section of Scripture that you you come back to over and over again and Read what comes before and see how everything flows into it and we really hit to be honest with you some of the very key elements of what the argument of Hebrews is and since this is the longest discussion of The atoning work of Christ of what the

New Testament teaches on the cross Many of us wear a cross.

We've got a big old cross back behind me there What does it mean? We get to the very central aspects of that even in today's exhortation.

So Remember what we saw before? We saw in the first three verses

The assertion for the law since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things

Can never by the same sacrifices Which they offer continually year by year repetitive sacrifice repetitive sacrifice

You're coming to the the temple over and over and over again you come on yom kippurim the day of atonements and This is what we saw last year and it's what we saw the year before and what we're going to see next year and it's the same sacrifices being offered over and over and over again

We are told that since These are only a shadow of the good things to come they were pointing away from themselves.

There were just a shadow There needed to be a fulfillment because by those same sacrifices

They can never make perfect those who draw near they don't possess within themselves

The power To perfect those who draw near in worship

Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered because the worshipers having once been cleansed would no longer have consciousness of sins

Remember last time we talked about that and we said well, wait a minute. We we have consciousness of sins.

We confess our sins We would what what does that mean that that this is not powerful either.

No the recognition is that those worshipers

Notice it says having once been cleansed, but they knew That's not a life commensurate with my own that's being offered.

That's a that's a bowl. It's a heifer. It's a goat It's whatever and there's nothing in the promise

That has been given to us That that sacrifice will perfect me because in that law

I know I'm gonna have to come back again and again and again and again

There is no promise of perfection because they're just shadows. They're pointing to something else to something greater

And what is the greater? Emmanuel God with us the

Word made flesh The Lord of Glory crucified That's the greater and So these repetitive sacrifices

Do not perfect and that consciousness of sins

We know if we believe the Word of God, we know that our sin debt has been born in perfection by our

Savior in our place Our sins born by him his righteousness imputed to us

But then we saw in those sacrifices those repetitive sacrifices there is an anamnesis remember the term anamnesis a reminder of sins year by year

Year by year if you have to keep offering sacrifice Then you're being reminded of the need that brings that about which is a continuing presence of sin

For it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away Sins, they can't bear

Sins, they only point to the one who will and that's where we stopped last week.

So now Please note something especially for those of you who are

Zealous post -millennialists and yeah, you like to get on Facebook and get out your anti -dispensationalist sword and Maybe even have a few throwing stars for some amillennialists and things like that and you're ready to get into it something that really struck me is the fact that Some of our fate well most of our favorite texts about the lordship and rulership of Christ Appear right here in Hebrews chapter 10 in a completely

Sacrificial Soteriological the doctrine of salvation context

Showing once again That when we talk about Christ as ruler of the nations as king of kings and Lord of lords

You can't separate that From the work that he accomplished on the cross

It's all of one fabric So many people will focus upon one element or another element the

Bible keeps all of it together in beautiful harmony in beautiful beautiful harmony and So as is always the case in the

New Testament the writer wants to demonstrate the consistency with the old covenant scriptures

Therefore when he comes in the world He says and a quote from Psalm 40 sacrifice an offering you have not desired

But a body you have prepared for me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.

You have taken no pleasure Then I said behold I have come in the scroll the book. It is written of me to do your will

Oh God Hmm okay Now I don't have time right now.

This would normally be something that what I would find rather enjoyable to do But I will as I always do try to make you aware of the fact that there is what is called a textual variant

Amongst manuscripts now in this case. It's not amongst the manuscripts of the New Testament.

It's amongst the manuscripts of the Old Testament Because in many of the manuscripts of the

Old Testament it said instead of saying but a body you have prepared for me It is you have pierced my ear

Now the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which is what the writer is quoting Which is really interesting given these writing to the

Hebrews, but he's quoting from the Greek translation the Old Testament called the Greek Septuagint that Translation primarily has a body you have prepared for me and that is a part of the

Argumentation that is being made though. It's not the focus of the argumentation So here the writer says this is the

Sun as He comes into the world He says these things sacrifice and offering you have not desired

But a body you have prepared for me and burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin. You have taken no pleasure Then I said behold

I have come in the scroll of the book It is written of me to do your will

Oh God And then the writer says this after saying above then a fairly lengthy recitation

Sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. You have not desired nor have you taken pleasure in them

What are all those things? Which are offered according to the law. What's the whole point of the book of Hebrews again?

Come back to the old ways. You've joined a cult come back to the old ways Go to the beautiful temple in Jerusalem offer your sacrifices curse

Christ will it will it will accept you back? and so After saying sacrifices offering all the things the

Levitical priesthood were doing which are offered according the law Then he said behold

I have come to do your will you don't desire all that. I have come and He's the writer is tying this into the the incarnation of Christ is coming into this world.

I have come to do your will He takes away the first In order to establish the second a lot of people just go flying by this and don't stop long enough to go

Takes the way the first what in order to establish the second what? Well, if you look back

When it says sacrifice and offering you have not desired Coming from Psalm 40 that uses the same root term as will to desire and So you have the first will expressed in the law in the

Sacrifices and then he said behold, I have come to do your will he takes away the first all the sacrifices

All the things the priesthood is doing in order to establish the second

Which is where the son says to the father in essence Behold, I have come to do your will

Hmm Where have you heard something like that before? Where have you heard

Jesus? Saying something like that before How about John chapter 6?

I Have not come to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this the will of him who sent me that of All he gives me

I lose none of them, but raise them up on the last day so here

The Sun is saying I'm not I'm not some renegade down here detracting from You know trying to get followers for myself or anything like that.

I Have not come to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this the will of him has sent me that Of all that he's given me I lose none of them, but raise it up on the last day

Raise it up on the last day Behold, I have come to do your will Clearly the

New Testament writers Understand the harmony that exists between the father and the son in the accomplishment of the work of redemption

So he takes away the first which is all the old sacrifices in order to establish the second his

Accomplishing of the will of the father by this will By this expression of God's intention and purpose by this will we have been sanctified

Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all

Now if you take notes, I see a number of you are doing that but if you take notes

By this will that's the second will the one that the Sun expresses in his activity

We have been sanctified Now sometimes when you start talking about grammar people sort of roll their eyes and glaze over and things like that you can't do that Because The same term is used in verses 10 and 14

But they're expressed differently and we need to understand why? Okay So in verse 10, we have been sanctified.

We have been made holy is In what's called the perfect? The perfect refers to a completed action in the past with abiding results the present so It's something that is done in the past and it remains done in the present

There is a way of referring to something that was done in the past But not doesn't necessarily tell you whether it is still done in the present or not

But this means we have been Made holy now

One of the things I want to suggest to you Sometimes we struggle a little bit with Hebrews Because we take some of what we've heard in is what's called systematic theology and We try to make

Hebrews fit into our systematic theology language Rather than letting

Hebrews be Hebrews and then Make our systematic theology consistent with all of the

Canon of the New Testament and the Old Testament when we talk about sanctification Hopefully you've already heard the phrases positional sanctification and Experiential sanctification positional is simply meaning we have been made holy

This is something that has already been accomplished This is why it can be said that we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus That we have been declared righteous in God's sight

Experiential sanctification as Paul said, you know, this is God's will for your sanctification and he's

Talking there about putting to death sin and not living in the ways the world and and all those other things

That we experience on a regular basis. I Think what we see here in Hebrews chapter 10, especially

When it says we have been sanctified is The writer of the

Hebrews language that Comes right to saying the exact same thing

That Paul says when he says we have been justified in Christ Jesus We have been made holy

This is God's work or if you look at the golden chain of redemption in Romans chapter 8

Those who he called that's effectual calling. He justified and those who he justified he glorified

These are all divine acts they're all extensions of God's power and Hence are completely to his glory so by this will the will

Of the Father for the Son accomplished by the Son we have been made holy

How? What is the mechanism? well Man's religions will insert entire books into this sentence

All the things that we do all the things that we accomplish all the sacraments that we work through and everything else

But that's not what the text says By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all

Temporal adverb referring to the singularity of the offering

Believe me. I've heard lots of sermons Where someone either didn't take their

Greek or they didn't care to look up what it was saying See, it's one time for all people.

That's not what it's saying. That's that's it is impossible For a

Greek speaker to read that term and go. Oh, yeah, that's that's what I mean. No, that's impossible

It's not what it means. It is the singular offing and why is it? Well look at this the paragraph

We just read what did it start off with the same? sacrifices offered year by year repetitive ongoing

Instead now we have been sanctified Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once once for all

Never to be repeated Once for all never to be repeated

Now that is an amazing statement because if it's true Then the entire argument of Hebrews has now been established

There's nothing to go back to why would you go back to repetitive sacrifices that perfect?

No one when one offering has been provided That sanctifies and makes holy in a way that the old old covenants never could

The old covenant offerings ever could why would you go back to that? so that is a a major statement and so the writer is going to Expand a little bit upon his argumentation to make sure that that has been fully

Grounded Because that really is if someone were to say

To you go back to these ways. No, this is why well, why do you believe that? Verse 11 every priest

Stands, please note that word Stands Daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins

Now this isn't referring specifically to Yom Kippurim. This is referring to the regular worship taking place in the temple

But the point is the priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time

The same sacrifices you hear that theme Which can never take away sins

But he Having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time

Sat down at the right hand of God Waiting from that time until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet now once again

We especially should always recognize Psalm 110 when it gets quoted in the

New Testament. We know that one very well But notice here it is being quoted partially in regards to the finished mess of the sacrificial work of Christ He does not like the

Old Testament Old Covenant priests stand daily ministering and offering time after time he

Offered one sacrifice for sins for all time You see the contrast it's meant to be a stark

Contrast between the two He offered one sacrifice for sins for all time

But then notice the next thing he sat down at the right hand of God.

See you and I are so used to hearing this language that sometimes its significance misses us and it can it would certainly for the original audience

Have been a major point of wow So I want to make sure we get all the major points of Wow What does verse 11 say the priest does daily he stands?

What does verse 12 say? Christ does Quoting yes fulfillment text but he sat down now this is where and You know,

I wish these were things that I had caught when I was younger. I Do remember that in Sunday school

When I was a little one One of the things that the the

Sunday school teachers like to do is they liked to build like a little diorama type thing of the tabernacle and so you'd have the little tent and you'd have a little high priest and and All the rest that kind of stuff and you could you could take the roof off and you could see what was inside That was about the only way you can keep the kids interested what you were talking about how else can we talk about the

Levitical sacrifices with eight -year -olds and So even with that I Don't know that ever would have struck me the way it would have struck the original hearers of this text

Because if you know what's in the holy place and they did I know you've heard it called Holy of Holies, right?

Holy of Holies is just simply a Hebraism in Hebrew if you say the holy of holies what you're saying is the holiest place and So it's the place inside the veil that only the high priest goes once a year and Every Jewish boy and girl

Would know exactly what was in that place Exactly what was there it would have been described to them over and over again and Here's the one thing to keep in mind

There was no place to sit down. There weren't any seats There was a mercy seat, but that wasn't to sit on There was no place the high priest to rest

He wasn't gonna be in there long enough to rest in the first place Because his work was never finished but instead instead of the standing daily ministering sacrifice priests of the old order the

Melchizedek priest Because he offers himself and Because he's raised from the dead and hence has an indestructible life

Enters into the true holy place in heaven There to appear in the presence of God the

Father for us in our place This is the same picture presented for us the book of Revelation the

Lamb standing as if slain but is he continuing a sacrificial work

No, his work is done He sits down at the right hand of God There was no place to sit down in The shadows and types

But for the one who represents us He sits down and that's what would have caught their attention

He sits down That means his his work is completed it's finished it's done

Remember that horrific quote I read for you last week from the faith of millions

Where it's talking about the power of the Christian priest and so when he utters the words of consecration

Hocus corpus ma 'am. This is my body The immortal

God Jesus bows his head in humble obedience and renders himself present upon the altar once again

No one who has any clue What Hebrews chapter 10 is arguing would ever say that?

Would ever say that he has offered one sacrifice for sins for all time and Therefore he sat down at the right hand of God work

Completed no more. No more high priests. Nobody's gonna take his place. There's no one gonna be there's gonna be any

Melchizedek priests Make sure to tell that to your young Mormon missionaries when they come by Waiting from that time until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet

Does that sound? Strange to you in the middle of talking about the finishedness of the sacrifice

The Messiah sits down He's been raised from the dead.

He's entered into the holy place The earthly tabernacle and temple is just a picture of what's there in heaven

He enters into that heavenly place in the very presence of the Father as our representative member

Hebrews chapter 6 He goes in as our representative a sure anchor for the soul goes within the veil and he sits down his work completed

Because just as that lamb has the marks of his death upon him. So Jesus has the marks of the nails in his hand

That one sacrifice does not have to be Represented over and over again.

The finishedness of it is right there And so for all who are in him

God can now look at them as having his righteousness cleansed of sin and His righteousness in that he loved

God perfectly and kept God's law perfectly. There's our forerunner

There's the surety of our salvation Right in the middle of that.

Oh, that's all salvation. That's a teary ology. Yes it is Waiting from that time until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet his enemies his enemies

How does that fit how do we how do we put this together?

Well, I don't think that it is Out of line to remind you of what

I think is one of the most shocking texts in the

New Testament Remind you again the book of Revelation after chapters 4 & 5

Chapter 4 the worship of God in heaven chapter 5 now that looks like Isaiah 6 now in history something has taken place and There's another one being worshipped by all of creation not just some all of creation

The Lamb standing as if slain and we think of the

Lamb we think of Sacrifice we think of mercy and We should those things are appropriate, but they are not enough to adequately express

Who Christ is because in chapter 6 of the book of Revelation?

Judgment starts to come upon the earth and Men from the highest level of society to the lowest

They want to hide from God They want to hide from the wrath and they call the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from whom?

the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb the wrath of the

Lamb What an amazing

Joining of words How can you talk about a wrathful lamb?

Not overly not overly scary uh -oh the lambs gonna get me We're not scared of a little lamb

Now a goat and it's different thing some of those things are just mean they really are but a wrathful lamb

I Can think of the wrathful lion of the tribe of Judah, oh, that's good But that's not what the

Holy Spirit gave through John The wrath of the Lamb and that's what we have here he sits down at the right hand of God his sacrificial work completed

All those for whom his sacrifice have been made perfected Made holy and he waits from that time on Until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet

It's so easy for us to focus upon what God does to bring about salvation

That we don't think about the justice of God that is demonstrated upon those who love their sin those

Who reject his ways? And we live in a day where I think before my life ends

And I'm ain't no spring chicken anymore. I Think before my life ends in this

United States of America, we will see people Minimally Losing possessions jobs positions, but I think much more probably their freedom

And maybe their lives for daring to say that God will judge those who reject his ways if you quote first Corinthians chapter 6 and Say that these people will not inherit the kingdom of God There are already many many people in our society.

They would love to see government power brought to bear against such hate speech such bigotry

Now have they thought through what hate speech would be by what standard you define that?

By what standard you define bigotry? No, they're a part of the public indoctrination system.

They're not taught to think like that And so they just they just go with what they hear other people say

Neither one is bigoted Neither one is hate speech in fact

Is Psalm 110 hate speech Until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet how many

Christians are there today that would blush and Hesitate to say that Jesus has enemies

There Jesus has no enemies Jesus loves everybody

And he just just loves you wherever you are whatever you do That's my

Jesus. Well, your Jesus is a fake Unknown to Scripture Jesus has enemies and He is waiting in heaven until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet

And that had meaning back then When a king would put his feet upon the neck of a vanquished enemy

That was a total Demonstration of the destruction of that enemy's power

So here you have in the middle of the expression of God's grace in salvation

The recognition of God's wrath against sin and how much of the proclamation of The evangelical and even reformed churches in the

United States Represents the biblical balance on these topics.

How often do we become embarrassed? By the biblical testimony the reality is the words that the

Spirit of God has given to us Tell us That that loving

Savior who gave himself for his people is waiting his work completed

Until his enemies are put as a footstool for his feet That is the promise of Scripture and that then becomes the basis of verse 14 four by one offering again in the context of many offerings now one

Offering he has done. What there is a

New movement started amongst Southern Baptists. Initially, they called themselves Traditionalists that didn't go very well.

No one liked that term. Everybody's got their traditionalists We've got traditionalist

Calvinists, too And they can be real jerks, by the way You can have all five points memorized and have them all tattooed on your forehead still be a jerk.

So they changed their name to provisionists The idea is

God has provided a way for everyone There is no decree there is no decree of election of particular individuals

It's peanut butter grace for everybody you just spread it all over the place

Sort of reminds me a little bit my son's not here his car has died 10 ,000 deaths and and I just remember

I could always tell when he had a peanut butter sandwich when he was about seven or eight years old because I'd Find half of it on the refrigerator door handle

Peanut butter gets everywhere, doesn't it? You can just sort of spread it all over everything and that's what this grace is.

You spread all over providing Not salvation, but a means of salvation.

That's not the New Testament message by one offering

He has actually accomplished something every Doctrine of the

Atonement That does not assert that Christ's death actually

Accomplishes what father son and spirit intended is a sub biblical

Non -glorifying theology that's based primarily on emotion and not scripture

Emotion and not scripture by one offering

He has perfected he has perfected

That's the very same term Root term The Jesus cries out on the cross it is finished.

It's completed He has perfected

Who has perfected he has done it? He didn't make a way for us to do it.

He has Has perfected for now No for all time those

Who are being sanctified or simply sanctified and that's an important question because I said, please note this

Because the term is going to be used again remember up in verse 10

By this will we have been sanctified. Let's see how many of you are still awake from only 15 minutes ago.

I said have been sanctified Was in what form in the original language?

well Now this is of course why my daughter married him, but my son -in -law

Got it, right right off the bat there and There's probably a few things behind that we'll discuss at dinner

Tonight after the service, but it's in the perfect and what does the perfect mean?

It's an action that has been completed in the past with what abiding results to the present

So we have been sanctified verse 10 through the offering the body of Jesus Christ once for all

There is a positionality there is a finishedness But then in verse 14

For by one offering he is perfected for all time those who are being sanctified

Being sanctified So, why is there a difference between these two

One is a present tense. One is a perfect tense. Is it meant to be making a differentiation?

I Don't think so if you look back at verse 10 the the action in verse 14 is perfecting the action in verse 10 is

Those who have been sanctified so that's the action itself and so it's emphasizing the fact that this action is

Completed it's finished and it abides the current situation here in verse 14

He has perfected Is in the perfect so it is a parallel with verse 14 and so what you have and those who are being sanctified is a description as a description

That shows us that yes, that is that is the case in eternity it's done it's finished

But it's being worked out now amongst us and it will be for every generation. This isn't just true

Prior to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. It remains true today.

It remains true for us We are experiencing this in our lives

But it's both based upon Finished works that God has accomplished by his power, but please note something

It's a specific group. You see it It's a specific group for by one offering.

He has perfected for all time Those who are being sanctified he hasn't perfected for all time

Those in whom the Spirit is not working He hasn't perfected for all time

If we go back to Hebrews chapter 7 Jesus is able to save the uttermost that who those who draw nigh unto

God through him Who are those who draw nigh that's the picture from the Day of Atonement the people coming to God It's a specific group on The Day of Atonement the

Babylonians weren't coming the Egyptians weren't coming the whole world wasn't coming It was those that God was bringing to himself it's a specific group and As much as people might not like to see it the perfection

Demands in light of what Scripture teaches now, there's only one of the group that could try to argue this with us

Those are universalists now, you know, you don't run into a lot of universalists these days they are out there believe me

Everything's on the internet Everything if it's a heresy, it's on Facebook or Twitter somewhere

They're out there and I'm not just talking about the weird wacko universalist Unitarians and stuff like that I'm talking about real universalists who really believe that everyone's gonna be saved there are people who believe that Satan himself will be redeemed and So they'll look at a lot of the same passages you and I look at in In talking about God's sovereign grace and things like that and they'll go see there it is

Now I actually think this would argue against the universalist because not everyone's being sanctified that's pretty obvious But they're out there.

They will make that argument And the fact is when you look at what the scripture says about what the death of Christ accomplishes

You have to recognize That Redemption is specifically designed for those that God is drawing to himself or you create havoc in the

New Testament witness to the cross By one offering He has perfected for all time.

Those were being sanctified folks. That's the end of any work salvation system. That's it's done It's done

But it's also the end of any boasting on our part if you're amongst those who are being made holy

God's acting on you That's of grace. It's not because you're better than anybody else

There is never a basis for any child of God to boast against anyone else ever

That's why people chafe against God's sovereignty and salvation

It precludes our ever boasting before God That's right.

Yay Best response I'm gonna get all along All right.

Let's see if we can finish this up in just the next few minutes. I'm gonna only go through verse 18 We'll pick up with verse 19 when

I get back from my three -plus week trip But I don't want to rush this and The Holy Spirit also testifies to us

I was struck by that this week I Was struck by the

Holy Spirit also testifies to us There is a sense in which we could say that reformed people are afraid of the

Holy Spirit There really is we've seen so much pure idiocy promoted in his name

Behavior that is utterly outside of what scripture says the Holy Spirit does in people's lives

That we tend to shy away from anything. But the fact is

The Holy Spirit testifies That's a term martyr.

Oh Which we could turn martyr The Holy Spirit testifies to us in the plural

This is for all believers the Spirit has testified for us have you ever thanked the

Holy Spirit of God For providing to you in Scripture God's testimony to his truth

You should didn't have to But he did What a blessing it is

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us for after saying and wow

Here we are again Jeremiah 31 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the

Lord I'll put my laws upon their heart and on their mind. I will write them He says and their sins and their lawless deeds.

I'll remember no more now

It wasn't all that long ago that we finished up our baptism series with a rather close examination of Hebrews chapter 8 which includes the lengthy citation of Jeremiah chapter 31 and We made the argument at that point in time that the

New Covenant has specific Delineation in the

New Testament in the in the Greek Scriptures and that God would put his laws upon their heart on their mind.

He would write them and It goes on to say much more than that. But here is the work of regeneration

Taking out the heart of stone giving a heart of flesh He says their sins and their lawless deeds

I will remember no more. This is the nature of the New Covenant true forgiveness of sins

That's brought about by the once -for -all sacrifice That's why you don't need the repetitive sacrifice over and over again, but then look at the conclusion

What is the testimony? This is the testimony of the Holy Spirit to us

Now Where there is forgiveness of these things there is no longer any offering for sin

Do you see how this is the very heart of the epistle?

the very heart of the argument Remember the context come back

And it's hard for us after 2 ,000 years of church history To imagine what it was like in Those first decades you had no church history

You had nothing to look back on other than the living Apostles and they were despised by everybody and many of them had now been killed and The Romans now detested this little cult group

It's hard for us to imagine the pressure that was being brought to bear come back come back come back

And what's the argument where there is forgiveness of these things? Those repetitive sacrifices don't bring forgiveness now where there is forgiveness of these things

There's no longer any offering for sin we don't make a propitiatory offering for sin in the

New Covenant and That's the tragedy of Rome They do

I Read I read the material to you last week. I'm not gonna repeat it this week.

They do You have priests sacramental priests.

There are no sacramental priests in New Testament and they're offering a propitiatory sacrifice in an unbloody manner but a propitiatory sacrifice that does not perfect those for whom it is made and Fundamentally hear me hear me now

That's what distinguishes between the biblical doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ and the

Roman Catholic doctrine of the mass But that's an argument that the vast majority of Protestants can't make

Because they don't believe what the New Testament teaches is the fundamental nature of the sacrifice of Christ That it's specific.

It's particular and it's perfecting They deny that they make it universal

Non -perfecting so as to make room for the almighty free will of man

And that's why the vast majority of non

Catholic quote -unquote Protestants, whatever that term means these days Cannot present strong arguments against Rome's position, but we understand

We understand what the scriptures teach on the subject and therefore We can provide a biblically sound and hence

Holy Spirit usable testimony to those who need to know that Christ offered one sacrifice for all time and Bore sin in his body upon the tree.

You don't have to keep coming back again and again and again We can explain why that is

What a tremendous Thing God has done for us because if you noticed

The only thing we bring to any of this is our sin. It's not like God has provided This is this great way of salvation.

All you've got to do is just a few little things No He is perfected.

He is accomplished. He has finished It's all to his glory and it leaves none for us and that's why people don't like it

That's why people don't like it it destroys our pride well

Thank God he destroyed our pride Let's pray together. What a glorious message

Our triune God Father Son and Holy Spirit your wisdom your power

Your condescension your grace your mercy your wrath against sin it's all

Revealed in the gospel in balance and beauty and consistency

We thank you for it and we confess the only reason we're here the only reason we are now about to approach the table is because of the

Finishedness of that work the perfection of that work. Oh God If there's anyone listening to this sermon

Hearing these words that are trusting in anything outside of that finished work.

We pray that by your spirit You will bring enlightenment and understanding and a faith in what scripture itself teaches what you have said in your word

Free men and women from the bondage of human tradition Help them to understand what true freedom and peace with you involves