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Bro. Otis Fisher
Today, we're going to study the 10th chapter of Hebrews. Since we didn't take it last week, we'll start it today. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 1. For the law, having a shadow of things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually, make the comers there unto perfect.
They were but a shadow of the image. The perfect was there, but not seen. All earthly pleasures are shadows and dreams. Our earthly life can never make our carnal body perfect, so much for Mormonism. But it can be a shadow of the body that is yet to come.
Unless we pass through this earthly body, we have no hopes of passing into the heavenly body. By the way, the Mormons believe that if you are good enough and you do it repeatedly, life after life, since they believe in reincarnation, that you will eventually be put in charge of some planet, some place, and become God to that planet.
Now let me ask you, can a physical human act be like the divine demands? Can a physical human act be like the divine demands? It's not even probable, no. If someone wants to return to the legal system and put themselves under the law, they'd better build a little tabernacle and start raising sheep and goats, because they'll need them.
The law, fix it in your mind, the law had to do with the tabernacle, not with us today. We have a more perfect law, and it's put into our hearts. That was not in their hearts. Two, for then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin.
If the law would suffice, then one time would have been enough. But it wasn't. It was repeated over and over and over. If the sacrifices could have taken away their guilt, one sacrifice would have been enough, three.
But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year, showing that sins of those who offered sacrifices have not yet received a true atonement. So they had to do it over and over and over and over.
All a sacrifice could do was remind them of their sin, could not remove it. Four, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins, take away utterly. The blood of beasts could not take away the sin of man.
A man must do that. God did not institute the animal sacrifices under the mosaic economy for the purpose of taking away sin. God didn't intend for it to. They were types and shadows which represented the way in which God would take away sin.
That's good. Only man, only Christ could. Yes, that made the whole thing. They were types and shadows which represented the way in which God would, in the fullness of time, provide a lamb, a satisfactory and effective sacrifice, which he did.
Before the foundation of the world was laid, the father and son agreed that sinners could not be redeemed with things that were corrupt. Now, things that were corrupt. Aaron sanctified the things. He offered sacrifice for himself before he did for the nation.
Was that not holy? Was Aaron not holy when he offered the sacrifice? Greg? All right. Redemption must come through the precious blood of the lamb without spot or blemish. Now, he has to talk to us in our language.
The lamb, we know what a lamb is. Jesus was the lamb. The blood of the sacrifice only covered over their sins until Jesus came. It rolled them forward until finally it rolled them up on Jesus Christ. Well, are you talking as a normal citizen or as a priest?
What do you think, Bill? They knew that next year they'd have to do the same thing, so they did not. Or if they knew, they did not expect this to do. I can't really answer that. Bill's answer is as good as any.
Their sins were covered. Wherefore? Yes. Well, they pointed out their sin, all right. That's right. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he sayeth, sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared for me.
Who's speaking? David. Right. Jesus had a body prepared for him at the pre-creation council of the Godhead. Therefore, it was determined that Jesus the Son would take a body, become incarnate in human nature, and in that body would magnify, satisfy, and fulfill the holy law, the law of God.
In a human body, Jesus both honored the law and made the law honorable. He did in that body what the law could not do because the weakness of flesh. There was no law that could ever be passed that would do what Jesus did.
He satisfied the holiness of God. Now, why did Jesus need a body, Virg? All right, you'd say he had to have a body so he could die. Is that right? All right. Bill, why did he need to die? All right, because God demanded it.
We were in bondage to Satan, and God demanded that there be a sacrifice offered, and Jesus did it. Now, why did God demand it? David, why did he have to demand it? All right. All right. Because the world of man had sinned, right?
Greg, why did the world of man sin? Why did we sin? All right. Why did Adam sin? That's right. It was ordained of God that he sinned. Adam did it because he wanted to, but it was ordained of God. If you can get that in your mind, it'll answer a whole lot of questions.
He tried his best to shift it. Six, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou had no pleasure. God had no pleasure in sacrifices. David, why then do it? If God had no pleasure in it, why do it? That's right.
Seven, then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. This is the Jesus speaking. I come to do thy will, O God. Christ Jesus the Lord is in the first verse of the Old Testament in the beginning.
In John 1, 3, we learn that all things were created by Christ Jesus. Therefore, God made the heavens and the earth by Christ himself. He is the agent that did it. Eight, above when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest not, neither has pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Now, it's true that what Jesus did, he was because of his great love for us. Don't lose sight of that. He loved us. He laid his life down for us. But the uppermost joy of his life and the object of all that he did was to completely execute the Father's will and in complete subjection to him.
His first love was directed toward the Father. Always his first love is to Father. All of his obedience is to the Father. Nine, then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second.
Greg, what's he talking about, the first and the second? By the which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. It is by him that I am sanctified. No other way. The law can't.
You can resurrect it. You can do whatever you want to do it. You can kill lamb after lamb after lamb, and it will never satisfy God. It has to be Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice. We find the law given. We see that it was given to the Israelites only.
The same with the gospel of salvation is given to his people only. Once for all means one time only, and also once for all his people, not for the world. Christ did not die for the world. He died for his people.
11, and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. It must have been a very, very boring life to offer the same sacrifice over and over and over for years.
The fact that our high priest is now seated on the throne of grace suggests rest. He must have done it one time only. The completion of a work, the atoning work of his shed blood in his one sacrifice, what a contrast to the ceaseless, unending sacrifices that they have been doing.
Yes, that's right. It can't help but do that and be performed by man. Same thing, got to go do the same thing today as I did yesterday. That's right. That's right. Well, year after year, they had to do it.
Their work was never finished. Since Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father on the throne of grace and mercy, there can be no more offering, no more sacrifice for sin. And his position of authority will never change.
It is forever. Can you imagine an act that was performed years ago, and it will be one time only, forever? I heard a Sunday school class years ago discussing Ephesians 1 .4. This is the way they rationalized it.
They were told that the predestinated ones are those that believe, that God simply knew who would believe. So he predestinated them to be in heaven. They missed the whole point. The predestination includes the belief.
This puts God in the role of subservient, and it's not true. The predestination includes the belief. Yes, that's right. That's good. It produces the belief. You could never believe without it. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.
Can you visualize that? He sat down. Now, he was invited to sit down. He didn't sit down on his own because he was finished. He sat down because he was tired. He sat down because he didn't want to do anything else.
He sat down because he was invited to, because he had finished. All he was given to do on the earth is finished. From henceforth, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Now, we all know what a footstool is, his enemies being placed under his feet.
He will not return until all his people have been put into the church. I don't know when that is, if there's anybody else. He is not waiting until everybody has accepted him. Someday, our Lord will call the last one of his people to this church age.
Then comes the judgment. For by one offering, he hath perfected and forever them that are sanctified. He hath perfected forever. Them that are sanctified. He has perfected you and I. Now, I'm not perfect yet.
You're not perfect yet. But we will be. I am now spiritually. I will be then. The sanctification is our present verse. And our present verse does not mean instant, complete, personal holiness. It denotes the setting apart of the believer by the Holy Spirit, the standing of such a person before God is righteous through the finished work of Jesus.
It is only by Jesus and his work that I can stand in the presence of God. The true believer is being perfected forever. He is being perfected forever. When we cross over from this life to the next, I think that perfection will go on.
Won't have any of the sinful attributes. It'll all be holy, but it'll be perfecting on and on and on. Whereof, the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that, he had said before, does God the Father see our sins, David?
That's it. He sees us through the filter of the blood. Jesus Christ sees my sin. I'm sorry to say, but I sin. You do too. This is a covenant that I will make with them after those days, said the Lord.
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquity will I remember no more. The child of God does not need to beg, to plead with God for forgiveness.
We confess our sins daily, hourly, however they occur, knowing that we daily come short of the glory of God. And when we confess our weaknesses, we put our total dependence upon his grace and power. If I was to ask, do you right now have your total dependence upon God, you'd answer yes.
But tomorrow about 5 o 'clock, what about it? 2 o 'clock, what about it? Am I always depending on God? What about my work, which anymore isn't much? But I depend upon God. But I have to remind myself all of the time to do it.
It never becomes automatic. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. So he's worked it all the way around now. And he has come to the fact that our sins have been remitted.
If that's true, then there would be no need. There is no need for another offering. Because it's all been done in that one time in the offering, which the Old Testament was a shadow and a picture of what was coming.
Once your sins have been forgiven, they are forgotten. If they've been forgiven, they've been forgotten by our Lord. Well, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
That's right. Once your sins have been forgiven, they're forgotten. All things are simple if you understand them. Yeah, we can take a key and unlock the door. It's just a simple matter of putting it in and turning it.
But the key fits. The filing, I can imagine, the first key that was made, it had to be trial and error almost. Now we take the key and just turn. Simple. No, no. The most complex thing in the world is simple.
Yes. I'm so glad it's that way, because I have it. I don't understand it, but I have it. Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, only by his blood, not arrogance now, we get into the Father's presence by the blood of Jesus the Christ.
He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. All that we will ever be, all that we will ever have in spiritual life, in the city prepared for the children of God will be ours because of his finished work.
And not because of any merit on my part. Think about that. 20, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. The word new means freshly killed.
There is no back door to heaven, no side door. There's no detour. There's no way you can get in except through this blood. Always, except through Jesus or sidetracks of the devil. Detours of hell. They do not lead to the pearly white city.
Some might ask, how can we say that Christ was freshly sacrificed since the Hebrew epistle was written some 30 years after Calvary, a long time ago. It can be said because after almost 20 centuries, this sacrifice is just as fresh, new, living, powerful as the day Jesus entered into the veil.
His grace is fresh every moment of every day he ever lives. And therefore, he is the freshly sacrificed way. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, and high priest over the house of God, let us the saved draw near with a true heart in all honesty, in full assurance.
And it's a nautical term, meaning under full sail, full assurance. Faith is not a leap in the dark. Faith is knowing and doing with a positive attitude. Doubt is sin. And having our hearts sprinkled to make our hearts pure, to make it possible to receive forgiveness of sin from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water refers to the labor of water just outside the tabernacle.
Just before the priest would enter the tabernacle, he had to cleanse himself with water. You know, I've been saved so long that if I'm not careful, I take it for granted. But how could that erase this awful body, some of the awful things I've done?
This pure water indicates we are washed clean once for all. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful and promised. Believe what you have professed to believe. Just believe it.
And be what you are without wavering, without doubting. Allow nothing to shake your confidence in God. It is a sin to doubt, for doubt dishonors God. Unbelief is an insult to God and to his holy word.
It is true that we are in a tabernacle of flesh and we live in the midst of enemies, the world, but Jesus conquered these. And if we are trusting in him, and he's now seated at the right hand of God, then we have the assurance he is faithful and promised.
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. The word provoke suggests awakening as from inactivity or apathy, to rouse. The stronger term often implies incitement to vigorous or animated activity or excitement of strong emotion.
25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more, as you see the day approaching. Well, you may say it's no one's business how I live and what I do, where I go, but the word says different.
We are to meet together. For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. To go on offering animal sacrifices when we are willingly sinning willfully persists in sin.
If we choose to sin, sin deliberately, we do evil on purpose. This type of person's not safe. He can't be put right there. We'll start with 27. Does anyone have anything they want to add? That's right.
That's right. And it was his faith in Jesus completing this. It all comes back to right here. Everything comes back to here. I cannot sin with my hands without sinning with my head. And it is in my head first.
Let's stand and Greg dismisses.