Lord we thank you for this afternoon's service. We thank you for brother Dillon being here. We ask that you fill him with your spirit as he preaches your word to us and edifies the church and we learn from him and your work. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Alright, good to see everyone back this evening. I just wanted to wish you guys all a Merry Christmas. You guys are, you guys mean a lot to me. You guys are literally an answer to my prayers.
You know, living here for so long, having a church like this that's standing in the gap in my hometown is very, very special to me. So I appreciate all you guys. I hope you guys have a great Christmas.
We're here in Hebrews chapter number 10. Look down at verse number 26. The Bible says, "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins."
So let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day and thank you for this church. I pray that you just help me to communicate the truth of your word tonight, that you fill me up with the Holy Spirit, and just help everyone to pay attention. Lord, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, the Talmudic sermon is the real meaning of Hebrews chapter 10. The real meaning of Hebrews chapter 10. This verse that I just read to you, verse 26, if you go soul hunting for any amount of time, someone's going to throw this in your face, someone's going to say, "Hey, if you sin willfully, you have no more sacrifice for sin."
And people are going to always throw this in your face, and you know, as you go soul hunting more and more, you'll realize that the main fight that we fight every single day is the fight of eternal security.
This is a fight that is always going to be happening, and it's something that we all as individuals have to be very, very sharp on.
So tonight, we're going to be doing another Bible study in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, and instead of just letting these false prophets rip one verse out of context from a chapter and say you can lose your salvation,
we're going to look at this whole chapter, teach what the whole thing is going through, teach what the whole Bible is teaching in this chapter.
So let's go to through there in Hebrews chapter number 10, number one tonight, no one has ever been saved by the Old Testament law.
Look at verse number one, "For the law," so right away we get the subject of the chapter of Hebrews chapter 10, "For the law, having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the thing,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect." Now we should also be able to just close our vows and go home.
There you go, verse number one, "The law, the sacrifices, they were never able to make the comers thereunto perfect." Never.
But right away we get the subject of the chapter, look at verse number two, "For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins."
Paul's saying, "Look, if the law could have ever saved you, we never would have stopped the animal sacrifices. They'd be going on till this day." Go to Leviticus chapter one and leave a finger there, Hebrews 10.
Like I said, we're going to be coming there a lot.
Leviticus chapter number one, just to remind you again, what that verse is saying there, it said that, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come."
So what is a shadow? It kind of projects an image of the real thing, right? It's just showing you an outline of what the real thing would look like.
So let's look at Leviticus chapter number one, verse three. Talking about an offering here.
"If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation of the Lord.
And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord. And the priest, Aaron's son, shall bring the bullock, the blood, and sprinkle the blood round upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
So see, this sacrifice right here, what is this a shadow of? It's the shadow of the sacrifice of Christ, of course, right?
Because what is it? It's a male without blemish, right? Jesus Christ is the sinless Lamb of God.
And then it says that he shall offer it of his own voluntary will. That's a picture of salvation being a choice.
You have to choose to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to choose to be saved.
And then look at where it says in verse 5, "And he shall kill the bullet." That's a picture of what our sin did to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's our sin that put him on the cross. And we, although we weren't the ones that physically killed Christ, our sin did kill Christ.
So as you can see there, even from the very beginning, the very first chapter of Leviticus, the very first sacrifice there, what is it?
It's a shadow of things to come. It's a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's go back to Hebrews. Of course, I didn't even keep my place there myself. That's wrong of me.
So I'll read for you Hebrews chapter number 7 verse 12. The Bible says, "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law."
So why is there a necessity that there's a change, right? Because what Paul said there in verse 2 in Hebrews 10, "For then would they not have ceased to be offered."
Why is there a need of a change in the law? Because those offerings never could get you saved. It's that simple.
So go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 4 while I read for you Hebrews 4.
The Bible says, "For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."
So you have today a group of people called dispensationalists. They are huge in certain places in America and certain countries like the Philippines.
When it comes to American Baptists that are there, they're almost all dispensationalists.
They teach you that there are seven different gospels throughout time, right?
Well, right here in Hebrews 4, 2, the Bible says that the gospel that's preached unto us in the New Testament is the same gospel that was preached unto them.
You're there in Romans chapter number 4. Romans chapter number 4. Look there at verse number 1.
"What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath were of the glory, but not before God.
For what sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
So what is the saving agent in Abraham's salvation? What is it? It's his faith. It's the fact that he believed. That's what gave him his righteousness.
Verse 4. "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justified the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
Verse 6. "Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without works, saying, 'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.'"
So what does the Bible teach right here? The Bible teaches that Abraham and David both were saved by faith.
Now why is that important? Because people always like to talk about how people during the law and before the law or after the law were saved by works.
So Abraham was before the law, David was after the law, and in Hebrews chapter 10 we have Paul, that's after the law as well, all three of them were saved by faith.
So you mean to tell me that before the law was given people were saved by faith, and all the time after that people were saved by faith,
but God just wanted to make sure that Moses had to keep the law to cross every T and not every I otherwise he'd go to hell?
You know, it doesn't make any sense. If David and Abraham understood that righteousness is reckoned by faith without works, then Moses understood the same thing.
And right there in Hebrews chapter 4, the Bible taught how the Gospels preached unto them, the same one that was preached unto us.
Go to Romans chapter number 10. Romans chapter number 10.
You know, this is the biggest thing that separates us and the Jews that fell away from the correct religion of God is that they didn't understand the sacrifice of Christ.
They certainly don't understand eternal security, but that is what they missed.
Romans 10 verse 1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved."
You know, Israel's not saved today. They don't have that interceding sacrifice of Christ.
They're still trusting in their flesh to get there.
And that's what the Bible says here in verse 2, "For I bear them record that they have zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it."
So there you go. And that's even what people who are unsafe today don't understand.
They're going about to establish their own righteousness. They may have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
But the Bible says there that Christ is the end of the law to all them that believe, right?
End of the law for righteousness to all them that believe.
See, when Christ came back, he said, "Think not that I have come to destroy the law, but to fulfill."
So he didn't come to destroy the law for things like the moral law, murder still murder.
God doesn't feel any different about it than he did when he gave the tablets to Moses.
But he says that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Why?
Because Christ's sacrifice, when you believe in Christ, his perfect obedience is counted on to you for righteousness.
And the law is no longer applied to you for righteousness sake as far as getting to heaven.
Go back to Hebrews chapter number 10.
Hebrews chapter number 10, verse 4-5 reads,
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he said,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.
And burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin hast thou had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God.
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.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, and take it away the first, that he may establish the second.
So right there from verse 7 to verse 9 is actually a quote from Psalm chapter number 40.
And he doesn't want us to be in the dark about salvation, right?
He doesn't want us to be in the dark about the sacrifice of Christ.
So what does he do? From Genesis to Revelation, you look in the Bible and you see the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in Psalm chapter 40, he's not trying to confuse us.
He's trying to give us as many hints as possible.
Hey, the perfect lamb of God, Jesus, he said, "A body of sacrifice have you offered for me?
I come to do thy will, O God, to do thy pleasure, so that he can take away the first and establish the second."
So Romans 5a, I'll read it for you.
The Bible says, "But God commended his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
So there in Hebrews 10, the Bible's talking about how he never even had pleasure in the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Why? Because we're sinners.
The only thing that he ever cared about with those sacrifices was that it was the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was pleased seeing that it was a picture of what Christ would do, but for us, we're sinners.
But in Romans 5 it says, "But God commended his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, "For he hath made him to be sinned for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
You know, people that don't understand this, it blows me away how they have such a carnal and fleshly mind that they think that the God of the universe,
God Almighty God, can somehow be pleased with the smoke and the blood of animals to save your soul, right?
It doesn't make any sense, but when you understand when Christ came as the perfect Lamb of God, the sinless Lamb of God, and died for us, who are sinners,
that's the real sacrifice, that's the real love that God cares about. Go to Isaiah chapter 1.
We saw there in Hebrews 10 that He said that He never even had pleasure in these sacrifices. Why is that?
God obviously did command these sacrifices, but why did He have no pleasure in them?
Look at Isaiah chapter number 1, verse 4, the Bible reads,
"A sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters, they have forsaken the Lord,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger; they are gone away backwards."
Skip down to verse 11, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord?
I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of hegos.
When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me;
the new moods and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with.
It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moods and your appointed feasts, my soul hated.
They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bend them.
So these people right here in Isaiah, all they are, are a forefather of the Pharisees that Jesus was dealing with in his day.
He's saying that in verse 4, they're sinful people, laden with iniquity.
They're not obeying God. They're rebellious people. They're hypocritical people.
And even though they're doing all these ablations, even though they're doing all these sacrifices,
God looks down at them and says, "I hate that. I have no pleasure in that. It's an abomination unto me."
You think about it in Matthew chapter 3 when Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees.
He's saying, "Hey, these guys pay tithe of annies and cumin and mint and all of these things."
He goes, "Observe all the things that they say to do, but don't do it according to their works."
Because they're hypocrites. Because there are people that are focused on the flesh so much
where they were saying to their mother and father, "It is a gift. It is Corban."
They were using their tithe money or they were giving their money to church and saying,
"Oh, I'm taking care of my parents. I'm honoring my mother and father like God commanded me to."
Jesus said these people are hypocrites. They want to follow the law to make their flesh look good,
but inside there are people that honor God at their lips, but their heart is far from Him.
So when it comes to these sacrifices, all it was, all it ever was, was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
was to glorify what He is going to do for us. He's the lamb-slave from the foundation of the world,
but God never cared one little bit about the actual animals, about the actual blood.
It was just a picture, it was just a shadow of things to come.
First Samuel 15, 22, I'll read for you.
"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
You know, God cares a lot more about your heart than He does your obedience.
And obviously we preach against these free-in-Christ-bro people, right, that just say,
"Oh, just, you know, do whatever you want. You're free in Christ."
You know, God wants you to obey Him. I'm not saying that that's what God is saying there.
He's not making light of that. But to obey is better than sacrifice, right?
You following the law to a T and, you know, having some heinous secret sins
just because you want to make your flesh look good, God's not going to care, right?
If you're giving your money to the church and saying, "Oh, I'm honoring my father and mother,"
he's not going to care about that. So, go to Isaiah 53, you're there in the book of Isaiah,
you're here a little bit this morning as well, Isaiah 53.
So just like how in the Old Testament when God looks down on a sinful people who are maybe doing the sacrifices,
but they're still wicked on the inside, they're not obeying him, they're hypocritical,
he looks down at their sacrifice and says, "My soul loathes this, I hate this."
It's the same way when we bring our filthy rags of works to God and say, "Hey, Lord, this is my righteousness."
When you don't have the blood of Christ applied to your heart,
when you're not saved and you're just presenting your good works, it's the exact same,
God sees you the exact same as he saw the children of Israel.
Turn to Isaiah 53, let's read again the only sacrifice that God ever cared about.
Verse 5, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way,
and the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth,
and he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so he opened it, not his mouth.
You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is the real Lamb of God.
He is the only sacrifice that ever mattered.
When the Old Testament saints brought those sacrifices of lambs and of egos and of bullocks,
all it was was a picture of right here in Isaiah 53, Jesus Christ being bruised for our iniquities,
Him carrying our sins on us and being brought to the slaughter for us.
Go back to Hebrews chapter number 10.
People that say you can lose your salvation, it shows you they don't really even understand the sacrifice of Christ.
It shows you they don't even really understand the magnitude of what Christ had to go through for us.
Taking upon all the sins of the whole world in His body in one moment,
dying on the cross for us, being separated from God the Father's fellowship that He's had from eternity's past.
Genesis 17 talks about how God the Father loved Him from before the foundation of the world.
He's had that fellowship with Him for all eternity, and because He loved you and because He loved me,
He decided to separate that for us.
And not only that, after that He descended into the pits of hell for three days and three nights,
and people say, "Oh, you just need to live a good life to get to heaven," right?
Christ's sacrifice when He did that, that wasn't enough to carry all my sins.
I'm such a bad sinner, I have to bring my filthy rags to the table as well.
It's wicked and it's sending people to hell.
That's why it's so important that we understand this because false prophets that take chapters
like Hebrews chapter 10 where the whole chapter is teaching eternal security, they take one
verse out and want to turn the whole entire chapter on its head, it makes me sick.
So number three, Christ's sacrifice is valid for all people, for all sin, for all time.
Hebrews chapter number 10 verse 10, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Christ once for all and every priest stand at daily ministering and offering
often times the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, but this man after he
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God."
So sorry Calvinists, all means all, you know these sick perverts like James White and Jeff
Durbin that want to say that the gift of God is faith, right?
God just chooses that I'm gonna save brother Moses and brother Josh I'm not gonna save
him and so I'm gonna allow brother Moses to have faith in me and I'm not gonna allow brother
Josh.
What kind of a sick twisted God do these Calvinists serve?
Where I'm just gonna create people preordained destined to hell, they have no choice, they
have no opportunity to believe in Lord Jesus Christ, they're just born to die and go to
hell.
You know, right there in Hebrews 10, 10 it says Jesus Christ, the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all.
There's no limited atonement, show me limited atonement in that verse.
Jesus Christ died for all and all means all and then in verse 12 it says, "But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God."
God's sacrifice, God's grace that he gives unto us is not limited to a single person,
it's not limited to a single place or a single time or a single people or anything like that.
I'll read for you 1 Timothy 4, 10, "For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because
we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe."
So if he's the Savior of all men, especially those that believe, that would make him the
Savior of those that don't believe as well, right?
And of course, those that don't believe, if they don't believe before they die, they will
go to hell.
They will be separated from the love of God at some point.
But right now, if you're not a reprobate, even if you're unsaved, God does love you
and His sacrifice is available to you.
In 1 John 2, 2 I'll read for you, "And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not
for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
There is no way you can read just the King James Bible and come away Calvinist.
The only way you're going to be a Calvinist is if you're listening to these people trying
to deceive you by going back to the Greek, by trying to make you believe that the King
James Bible is not the only perfect word of God like James White, right?
Even though James White grew up independent, fundamental, King James only Baptist, and
now his entire life's mission is to fight against the King James Bible, you think he
might be a reprobate?
Yeah, he might be a reprobate.
He's trying to deceive you, he's trying to get you not to believe the word of God.
So remember, like I said, Christ's sacrifice is valid for all people, Christ's sacrifice
is valid for all sin.
I'll read for you Galatians 2.22, "I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
And one thing I always ask people out of Solany if they think that you have to do good works
and have faith.
When I bring into this verse, I say, "Okay, so if I had to stop sinning, then why did
Christ die?
If it was something that I can do to achieve my salvation, then why did the perfect Lamb
of God have to suffer and go to hell for three days and three nights for me if I could just
do it on my own?
It makes no sense.
So His sacrifice is valid for all people for all sin and for all time."
I'll read to you Revelation 13, 8, "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him
whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world."
So He was slain from the foundation of the world.
Even though Jesus Christ hadn't physically come and put on a body like unto sinful flesh,
you know, in the Old Testament, His sacrifice was just as available to those Old Testament
saints as it is to us today.
They were looking forward to the cross, we are looking back at the cross.
And dispensationalists like to make fun of us all the time for that.
That's what the Bible says.
The Bible teaches that David, how did he get righteousness?
By faith.
By faith in what?
By faith in God.
By faith in the sacrifice of Christ.
Have you ever read Isaiah 53?
Hello?
The sacrifice of Christ.
Yeah, it didn't say Jesus Christ is going to be taken by the Romans, and Jesus Christ
is going to be crucified on a cross, and they're going to put an elf.
The Bible doesn't get in that much detail about His sacrifice, but it was enough for
people to understand that He is going to take their sins.
Read Isaiah 53.
He's going to take their sins.
By His stripes, we are going to be healed.
That's how people in the Old Testament were saved.
The God of Calvinism is a psychopath.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 10, still there, look at verse number 14.
"For by one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy
Ghost is also a witness to us.
For after that, He has said before, 'This is the covenant that I will make with them.
After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds
will I write them.'"
John 5, 24, "Once someone is saved, they are saved forever."
Right there in verse 14, He said, "For by one offering, He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified."
Once you're sanctified, once you're saved by the blood of Christ, you're saved forever.
There's nothing you can do to ever lose that.
John 5, 24 says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that said me, 'Hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is
passed from death unto life.'"
You're going to tell me that someone can lose their salvation, you're calling Jesus Christ
the liar three times in one verse.
Hey, he said, guess what, you're going to have eternal life, you're not going to come
into condemnation, and you are passed from death unto life the moment you believe.
So I'm not going to be calling Jesus Christ the liar, I'm going to believe that his sacrifice
is good enough not just to save me right now, but to save me forever.
John 3.36 says, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."
This is why people that believe you can lose your salvation are not saved.
Because they're not believing the Son.
They're not believing that Jesus Christ's sacrifice was enough for them.
Turn to Ephesians chapter number 1.
Ephesians chapter number 1, I'll read it to you again in Hebrews 10 where it says, "This
is the covenant that I will make with them."
Well, who's the them there?
It's those that are sanctified that we just read about.
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more."
He said the Holy Ghost is a witness to us in that verse, he said.
Look at Ephesians chapter number 1 verse 13, "In whom also you trusted after that you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, whom also after that you believed you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."
That's why in Hebrews 10 he's able to say that the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.
How is the Holy Ghost a witness to us now?
Because this is the covenant that we'll make with them after those days and say, "Lord,
I will put my laws into their hearts and their minds.
Will I write them?"
That's what God promised to do for us that are sanctified in the New Testament.
What's the Holy Ghost witness to us?
That we're sealed under the Day of Redemption.
Hey, if you're sealed, you're sealed.
If you're sealed, you're sealed.
You cannot lose your salvation.
Okay, go back to Hebrews chapter 10 and I'll read for you.
Psalm 103.
And we're going to get into application later, I'm just going through this chapter, going
through what it teaches.
Psalm 103.
As far as the east is from the west, so far have He removed our transgressions from us.
So when David was writing this, he was saying, "Hey, God's already removed my transgressions
as far as the east is from the west."
Okay, so let's see there.
Look at verse number, look at verse number 18.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Why is there no more offering for sin?
Because Christ was that last offering for sin.
Remember He sacrificed once for all, the Bible says.
"Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by
a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say His
flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God."
And I won't get too far ahead of myself, but we see there again that where remission of
our sins is, there's no more offering for sin.
Why was the law changed?
Because there's a necessity that the law has been changed because Christ came to make that
sacrifice.
So let's go here.
Where did I stop reading there?
Number 23, okay.
So number five here, let's read verse number 23, "Let us hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promise.
Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another in so
much the more as we see today approaching."
So number five, now that we're saved, now that we're saved, we should do good work.
So you mean to tell me that the apostle Paul, who wrote this entire chapter from verse one
to verse 22, from verse one talking about the law to verse 22 talking about the sacrifice
of Christ, the whole time he's telling you, "Hey, the sacrifice is eternal.
It's good for all people.
It's good for all sin.
It's good for all time."
This whole time he's telling us that you can never lose your salvation, and then he's going
to show up on verse 26 and say, "Yeah, you can lose your salvation."
What a dumb way of reading the Bible, where you can read just 25 verses in a row of just
hammering in a concept that you can never lose your salvation, and then you see that
one verse, and he's like, "Oh, that makes all the rest of this chapter invalid then,
because I guess it's just saying you can lose your salvation."
When we read the Bible, we need to make sure we're reading things in context.
What's the context of this chapter, the law, the sacrifices, the Old Testament, the perfect
sacrifice of Christ?
Now, he says, now in verse 22, he says, "Now that we know we're saved, now that we know
we'll never lose our salvation," verse 22, "now let us draw near with true heart and full
assurance of faith."
Hey, we have full assurance of our salvation.
We're assured we're never going to go to hell.
"Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed from pure
water, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful
that promised what he promised in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works."
You see, although God is very clear in the Bible that we're saved by faith, although
God is very clear in the Bible that we'll never lose our salvation, he's just as clear
that once we're saved, he wants us to do good works for him.
That is not at all ... Paul never de-emphasized that point, and you hear all the time people
try to twist Ephesians chapter two, I'll read it for you, everyone's familiar here, Ephesians
chapter two, verse eight it says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we
are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them."
There's no doubt, you're saved by grace through faith, but once you're saved, God has ordained
that you should walk in good works.
You should do works after you're saved, but it is not any part of your salvation, it doesn't
get you saved, it doesn't keep you saved, all it is is it gets you rewards in heaven,
it allows you to be in fellowship with Christ, it allows you to please God, it allows you
to love God, it does not get you to heaven.
So let's see where I'm at here, let's go to Romans chapter number six, and just to show
you that Paul definitely believes that we should be doing good works as Christians,
not for salvation, not for salvation, but Paul definitely does emphasize this in scripture.
Romans chapter number six, the bible says, "What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life."
So he's saying, should we continue to sin just because we're saved?
God forbid that, right?
God forbid that we would do that.
How can we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
How can we knowing all the pain and suffering that Christ went through for us, how can we
just have that in our mind and say, "Yeah, I'll just keep doing a horrible sin, no big
deal.
The blood of Christ, it's not that big of a deal to me.
The fact that I'm saved, who cares?"
Paul's saying, "God forbid that you would do that."
Now, of course, if a person does do that, will they still be saved?
Absolutely, they'll still be saved.
Will they be the least in the kingdom of heaven like Matthew chapter 5 says?
Of course, they'll be the least in the kingdom of heaven.
They have very many rewards?
Absolutely not.
Then he goes on to talk about baptism right there.
He's saying, "So, does baptism save us?"
Of course not.
The reason we're baptized is so that, verse four, "Therefore, we are baptized with him
by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead of the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
What's our baptism signifying?
It's signifying, "Hey God, I want to walk in newness of life.
I want to live for you.
I want to do good works."
But it's not what saves us.
Go back to Hebrews chapter number 10.
Another good verse that I give people out-souling when they're thinking about, you know, "I have
to believe in Christ, but I also have to do good works."
Galatians 5, 4 says, "Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever you are that
are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace."
So if you trust 99% in Christ for your salvation and just 1% of your own good works, hell is
the end of that equation.
Hell is the end of that equation.
Why?
Because Christ has become of none effect unto you.
And then right there in verse 25 in Hebrews, he's talking about, "Now that we have full
assurance of faith, now that we know that he is faithful, that promise, now let's exhort
one another to love and to good works, 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."
So to say that works are involved in salvation would be to say that if you don't go to church,
that you're not going to heaven, which a lot of people believe that, right?
Even though this whole chapter spent time on talking about how we're saved, you know,
you would have to believe that if you miss church, you're going to hell because you're
breaking God's law.
It's craziness.
So, number six, when we sin willfully, God will judge us harshly.
So it's not only important just to talk about what this verse is not saying, in Hebrews
10 26, that people like to twist, it's important to teach what it is saying.
So we've gone through so far this whole chapter, just laying down the basics of salvation.
It's all pretty straightforward, all pretty simple.
But verse 26, for if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.
So what is this teaching?
It's saying, hey, if you know what's right after you're saved, if you know what you should
be doing, if you know what you shouldn't be doing, and then after that, you decide to
go against it, you decide not to do good works for God, you decide to keep doing wicked sin,
the Bible says, then you have no more sacrifice for sin.
What is this talking about?
Go back to Leviticus chapter number four, Leviticus chapter number four, because obviously
this is not talking about salvation.
So Leviticus chapter number four, read at verse number 13, the Bible says, and if the
whole congregation of Israel sins, this is talking about the whole people, if they sin,
through ignorance and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly and they have done
somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which should not
be done and are guilty, when the sin which they have sinned against it is known, then
the congregation shall offer a young boy for the sin and bring him before the tabernacle
of the congregation.
So if the whole congregation of Israel sins, guess what, they're still guilty, but here's
what they could do.
And he says, "Hey, here's this offering that you could make."
Okay?
Then it gets in, look at verse number 22, "When a ruler hath sinned," so we just talked
about when the whole congregation sinned, now let's see what the rules are for the rulers.
"When a ruler hath sinned and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments
of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be done and is guilty," you're
still guilty if you sin through ignorance, verse 23, "or if his sin were with you at
sin come to his knowledge he shall bring his offering a kid of the goats, a male without
blemish," go to verse 27, "and if any one of the common people sinned," so we've talked
about the whole congregation, we've talked about the priests, now we're talking about
the common people, "if they sin through ignorance while he do it somewhat against any of the
commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done and be guilty,
or if his sin which he hath sinned come to his knowledge then he shall bring for his
offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned."
So are you catching a pattern here? When you sin through ignorance in the Old Testament,
God's saying, "Hey, you're still guilty. You're still accountable for your sin. You don't
get a free pass just because you didn't know. If you sin through ignorance, you're still
guilty. But here's the offering that you could offer for salvation. No, we just learned in
Hebrews 10, none of those ever brought salvation. What was it for then? It was to restore fellowship
with God. It was to make them right with God again. You sin through ignorance, common person,
here's what you would have to sacrifice. If you sin through ignorance, priest, here's
what you would have to sacrifice. If you sin through ignorance, whole congregation, here's
what you would have to sacrifice. But you know what you'll not find in this chapter?
If any man sin willfully, here's what he can offer. There is no sacrifice like that. Why?
Because after we have sinned, for if we sin willfully, after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. What does that mean?
It means that when you sin knowingly, there's nothing you could do to stop the chastisement
of God coming your way. There's no offering of atonement or of peace that you can make
with God. There's no offering you as a pastor or you as a whole congregation can offer to
God to make Him not punish you for your sin. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourge
of every son whom he receiveth. That is what this verse is talking about. You'll not find
in the book of Leviticus where you can just sin willfully and throw a sacrifice to God
and you'll be good. Why is this? Hebrews chapter number 10. Verse number 27, "But a certain
fearful looking for of judgment." That judgment is coming to you when you sin willfully. "And
fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment? Suppose ye shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant
wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done the spite under the Spirit of
grace." Why is there not an option for you to bring a sacrifice to God after you sin
willfully because it's like you're counting the blood of Christ an unholy thing, because
it's as if you're stomping all over the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're walking over
Him. When you sin willfully, there's no more sacrifice for sins for you but a certain fearful
looking for judgment coming your way. That is what that verse is teaching. It's not teaching
you could lose your salvation. It's saying if you're saved and you sin willfully, you
better be afraid because judgment is coming to you. And it talks there about a story in
Moses' day. He that despised Moses' law. Let's go to that story and see what that's
talking about. Numbers chapter 15. Numbers chapter 15. We get an example of what this
looks like in practice. If any soul sinned through ignorance, then he shall bring a she-goat
the first year for a sin offering. This is what we just talked about. If you're sinning
through ignorance, here's your offering that you can make to God. Verse 28, "And the priest
shall make an atonement for the soul that sinned ignorantly, when he sinned by ignorance
before the Lord, to make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. He shall
have one law for him that sinned through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children
of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth ought
presumptuously." So now we get an example of what the Bible says happens to a person
that sins knowingly, presumptuously, on purpose. "Whether he be born in the land, or a stranger,
the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people, because
he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment. That soul shall
utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." So he lays down the laws of the
land right here. Hey, if you sin through ignorance, here's your sacrifice. If not, guess what?
You're going to be cut off. Why? Because you're reproaching God. Why? Because you're stomping
on the, treading underfoot the Son of God. Now here's the example here. Verse 32, "And
while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon
the Sabbath day, which was a violation of the Sabbath. Verse 33, "And they that found
him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation;
and they put him in ward, because he was not declared what should be done unto him. And
the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall
stone him with stones without the camp. And the congregation brought him without the camp,
and stone him with stones, and he died as the Lord commanded Moses. So this man, what
did he do? He sinned presumptuously. He sinned knowingly. He sinned on purpose. He knew what
the law of God said, not to break the Sabbath day, but to keep it holy. He did it, and what
was the punishment for that? He was stoned with stones. Why? Because he was treading
underfoot the Son of God. Why? Because he was counting the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified, an unholy thing. And you do that, and even in the New Testament, read
1 Corinthians chapter number 5, there are certain things that you do that will get you
kicked out of this church. And guess what? There's no more sacrifice for sin for you.
If you're living in fornication, you're going to be kicked out of this church. There's nothing
that you can do about it besides repent, right? You will have that punishment of God coming
your way. And even in the New Testament, what it's talking about in Hebrews, He's going
to bring us our punishment. We have the opportunity to repent and get right with God, but we don't
have the opportunity to get out of the punishment of God, to try to escape the punishment of
God. You read 1 Corinthians 5. If you're a drunkard, hey, guess what? The judgment of
the Lord is coming your way because you're going to be cut off from the congregation
of the Lord. You're going to be cut off from Verity Baptist Church, but guess what? You
can repent and come back, but that doesn't change the fact that you're not going to be
able to escape the judgment of God. God is not a respecter of persons. He doesn't care,
you know, about, he cares about us as individuals, but you know what I'm saying? He cares about
your heart as well. Go back to, or turn to Luke chapter number 12 to show you a few more
verses on this. Luke chapter number 12. What did Christ say about this? Luke chapter number
12, the Bible reads in verse number 48, Luke chapter number 12, verse 48, the Bible reads,
"But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few
stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required, and to whom
men have committed much of him they will ask the more." You know, this is New Testament
Christians, we've been given so much by God. We have the entire Word of God in our hands.
We have great churches to go to. We have freedom in the United States of America to preach
the Gospel. At any time you can crack open the Word of God and learn from Him. At any
time you can sing to the Lord and praise Him. We live in freedom in America. We have so
many luxuries that allow us to serve God better. "To whom much is given, of him shall much
be required." And if you sin ignorantly, you'll be beaten with few stripes, the Bible says.
You're still guilty, you'll still be beaten with stripes. But man, when you sin willfully
as a New Testament Christian, when you sin willfully as a member of Verity Baptist Church,
when you're a part of such a great blessing of such a great church like this, you have
such a great pastor as a man like Pastor Roger Jimenez, when you have so much, man, when
you sin willfully in your guy's position, you better be afraid of the fiery indignation
of God that's coming your way. And I better be afraid of the fiery indignation of God that's
coming my way when I decide to sin presumptuously. That's what this chapter is talking about
in Hebrews. It's not talking about losing your salvation.
Lastly here, go back to Hebrews chapter number 10, Hebrews chapter number 10, Hebrews chapter
number 10. Lastly here, God will reward you when you decide to live for Him.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 32, the Bible says, "But call to remembrance the former
days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great flight of afflictions. Partly
whilst ye were made of gazing stock, both were reproaches and afflictions, and partly
whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me and my
bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have
in heaven a better and enduring substance. So Paul's saying, you know, remember the former
days when we were on fire for God? You were enduring a great flight of afflictions, you
were illuminated, you were made of gazing stock, you had reproaches and afflictions,
but you know what? You knew that you had in yourselves in heaven a greater substance.
You'd realize that what you were doing for Christ mattered because you have rewards in
heaven. You know, I love how the book, how Hebrews chapter 10 is laid out because it
just goes long, you know, salvation, sacrifice of Christ, internal security, fearful, fiery
indignation, and it ends on a good note of rewards in heaven. You know, when you do decide
to follow God and you do decide not to just live like the world, not to just willfully
sin and tread underfoot the Son of God, you know, you have in heaven a better and an enduring
substance. It's a better way to live. The way of transgressors is hard, the Bible says.
When you decide that you want to kick against the pricks, right, and you want to just live
that hard life of sin, of knowingly sin, and you know all that judgment is coming your
way, that's a hard life. But, you know, even if you have the reproaches, the afflictions,
the gazing stocks, all of these things come your way, when you have in heaven a better
and enduring substance, it's going to motivate you to make sure you're choosing the right
path. It's going to motivate you not to be sinning willfully and trotting underfoot the
Son of God. It's going to motivate you to do right. Revelation 22.2, I'll read for you
if you turn to Matthew 6. Revelation 22.2 says, "And behold, I come quickly, and my reward
is with me, to give every man according to his works." You know, our life is just a vapor.
We live on this earth for a very, very short amount of time. Jesus said, "I'm coming quickly
with my rewards for you guys." So what are you going to make of your life? Are you going
to be, you know, the person in numbers that picked up sticks on the Sabbath day and gets
stoned and cut off from the congregation of the Lord? Are you going to be the person in
1 Corinthians 5 that goes off and commits fornication and gets kicked out of the
congregation of the Lord and gets cut off and has the fiery indignation of God? Are you
going to be the person that has the enduring substance in heaven because you chose to live
for God? Are you going to be the person that's great in the kingdom of heaven like Matthew 5
talks about because you did the things that Bible teaches to do and taught others also?
You're there in Matthew 6. I'll read one more for you. Second Corinthians 5 to 10 says, "For we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the bad thing, may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad." That's something
that's just, every once in a while you should remind yourself like, "Hey, I'm going to stand
before the judgment seat of Christ someday. I'm going to be standing before Jesus someday. I'm
going to be standing before Jesus someday." That's something you need to constantly remind yourself
of because when we live in this world, in this fleshly world and we get caught up with work
and family and everything, sometimes we can forget the bigger picture of why we're here.
Sometimes we can forget the bigger picture of what we're going to face someday. When you remind
yourself of that, we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ someday.
It'll motivate you to do right. Matthew chapter number six, verse 19, the Bible reads, "Lay not
up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust have corrupt and where thieves break
through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust
of corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is there will
your heart be also." So that just goes along with what I was talking about right there. It really
comes down to what you want to do with your life, what you want your life to be. Ecclesiastes 12-13
says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for
this is the whole duty of man." So don't let, don't let people taking one verse out of context
confuse you about Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10 is a beautiful chapter. It's my favorite chapter
in Hebrews just because of how it's laid out, how it's talking about faith, sacrifice, and
total security. Fear, but then the good news, but then the positive note, right? So let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of
man. Make sure in your daily life you're remembering these things. Make sure you remember, "Hey, I'm
going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ someday. I'm going to be judged in my body according
to what I have done." And that's both in this life, right? And our rewards will be given to us
in the next. But even right now, if you sin willfully after you've received the knowledge
of the truth, right, you have no more sacrifice for sins. You're not going to be able to get out of
the wrath of God or out of the judgment of God in your life. So if you want to avoid that, what do
you do? You just obey. The way of transgressions is hard, but just hearken unto the Lord. That's
the easier way. The world's always going to tell you that this book has too much rules. It's too
hard to follow. You know what? If you live by this book, you'll find out they're wrong. It's a lot
easier to live by this book than it is to live by the world's standards. So just in conclusion here,
number one, no one has ever been saved by the Old Testament law. Don't let dispensationalists
wreck you at the door, all right? When you're knocking on the door of someone at church,
know what Hebrews chapter 10 says. Know what Romans chapter four says. Don't let these false
prophets preaching multiple gospels fool you. Number two, the only sacrifice that ever mattered
to God was Christ's sacrifice. And anyone who thinks that our sacrifice, our filthy rags is
what gets us to heaven, just shows that they're carnal, fleshly, and that they don't understand
the true magnitude of what Christ did for us. Number three, Christ's sacrifice is valid for all
people, for all sin, for all time. Don't let the Calvinists fool you either. Chapter 10 of Hebrews
is able to destroy so much false doctrine. It's unbelievable. Number four, once you're saved,
you're saved forever. Number five, now that we're saved, we should do good works, but good works do
not save us. Number six, when we sin willfully, God will judge us harshly. Number seven, God will
reward you when you decide to live for him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day, and
thank you so much for this Christmas season where we celebrate you coming to earth, and being that
sacrifice for us. God, we can't thank you enough for it. I just pray that you help us to always
have a zeal to win souls in this community and to help others be saved as well. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.