Burbank Conference: 1973
Table of Contents
The in Two Aspects
Gospel—P.L. Johnson
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Want to read here the words of the Apostle Paul to the elders?
The Church at Ephesus. We'll read from verse 18, a few verses.
And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying and wait of the Jews. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.
Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks.
Repentance toward God.
And faith.
Toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then in the.
Verse 24 But none of these things move me, neither count. I am my life dear unto myself.
So that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Now turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, verse one. Therefore, seeing we have received. Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully.
But by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Well, what I had before me this evening is to speak concerning the gospel.
Of the glory of Christ.
And in contrast with that, the thought of the gospel of the grace of God. Now I do not want to convey the thought when I make a statement like that, that there are two gospels.
You remember what the apostle Paul says in First Corinthians 15 when he sets forth the gospel, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and he rose again the third day according to the scripture. So you see, the gospel in the fullness of the thought of God is not only Christ died for our sins, but he was raised again.
And he is seated now at the right hand of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is a living Savior. He is a living Savior. He is not merely one who lived in this world many years ago and went about doing good, healing those that were oppressed of the devil, and teaching the way of God.
It isn't merely that he was a man after that sort, but he is one who has died for our sins as a substitute.
From God for our sin. And he's one who has been raised again from the dead, and he is seated this very evening at the right hand of God, a living man at the right hand of God. That very man that walked this earth. That man who was here in lowliness and meekness and humility. That man who was here in love and who declared God in his every footstep brought glory to God. And that one who suffered for sinners on the cross of Calvary.
Has been raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God. Oh, it's a wonderful truth. The gospel, as I say, takes us right on up to the glory. So when I speak of the gospel of the grace of God and the gospel of the glory of Christ, we're not saying that there are two gospels. No, there is only one gospel. But it's the gospel. It's the two aspects of the gospel that takes our eyes back to Calvary and.
Shows us what God has done for us in giving His beloved Son to suffer for us upon the cross of Calvary. And then it takes our eyes up into the glory and shows us one who is even now at the right hand of God. So if you will, turn back to the 20th chapter of Acts.
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And we will take up the expression that is found there first in connection with the gospel of the grace of God.
Before we do this, perhaps you noticed in the reading of 2nd Corinthians 4 there was a little word there and the Spirit of God says if our gospel be hid.
It is hid and are to them that are lost.
What an expression it is hid to them that are lost.
That may be a strange expression to the ears of some. To many of us, we've heard it many times, the expression lost.
It's the contrast of being saved.
We know there are those that are, that are sort of stumped by such a statement like this. Are you saved? We've come across persons like that and you ask them if you're saved. They don't know what you mean. What do you mean saved? Are you lost? These are terms that perhaps are strange to some people, but I'll tell you what they mean. In the Word of God, lost means that your soul is lost for God for all eternity.
And if the Lord Jesus were to come tonight to take his saved people home, to be with himself.
You would be lost for all eternity. You would be apart from the presence of God.
And cast into the lake of fire, as we read in the Book of Revelation, It means that you are still a guilty Sinner, unfit for the holy presence of God. All one might say you mean that you're taking the ground that you're holier than thou, and you're better than I am. Oh, by no means. All have sinned. And the speaker takes his place right along with others in acknowledging that I have sinned. All have sinned.
And we are unworthy for the presence of God. But the difference is this. As a saved soul, I have been cleansed in the eyes of God by the precious blood of Christ.
The Word of God tells us that the blood of His Son Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that sacrifice of himself there on the cross of Calvary, that makes the difference. It is not what I am in myself as being better than what you might be. It is not that perhaps I have have done better things in my life than you have, and I consider you a worse person than I. But if one is not a believer in the Lord Jesus. If you have not come to the Lord Jesus Christ as a lost and guilty Sinner.
You are lost this evening, and you will be lost as the Lord says. If you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins.
Well, that is a rather strong term to use the word lost.
And you know, the Word of God makes a distinction between those that are saved and those that are lost.
First Corinthians chapter one, that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it's the power of God. You see, there's a distinction between those that are perishing and those that are saved. There are these two classes. The apostle Paul says that the gospel, if it is hid, is hid to those that are lost.
And if you have not believed the gospel, then you're lost. Well, I mentioned that because when we.
When we come to the subject of the gospel of the grace of God, one never can really appreciate the grace of God until he feels what it is to be lost.
Well, it feels what it is to be lost, I suppose, that everyone of us.
At some time or another have have thoughts seriously, I hope it's so. I say I hope it's so I really do that Every one of us in the room this evening have thoughts seriously, as to our relationship with God.
And if thought seriously as to how we would meet God in answer to God for the things that we have done.
And we know that it has been the experience of most of us, if not all. When we have thought of the things that we have done, we have we are ashamed.
And we feel that we we know that God is of holier eyes than to look upon sin, and we know that uncleanness can't dwell with Him.
And what have we done? Well, perhaps we've said to ourselves, I'm going to have to stop doing what I've been doing. I'm going to have to make things right that I've been doing wrong and we resolve to do things better.
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Or perhaps we say, I think I ought to go and and join a church.
Perhaps we say, I think I ought to go and join this religious group or that religious group. Or maybe I ought to go talk to a priest, or I ought to go have a preacher pray for me. Maybe these different thoughts come into the mind of different individuals as one considers his sins and his guilt before God.
Oh, you know what a wonderful thing it is to find out from the Word of God that God tells us we do not have to do any of these things, for none of these things could put away our sins. We read in the Word of God that none can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for his soul. There is nothing you can do to atone for your sins. There is nothing you can do to make yourself clean in the eyes of God. But the good news.
And that's what gospel means is good news. The good news of the grace of God is that he has provided a way. Is that he who really understands our guilt in all of its terribleness, and he who alone really knows the great disparity that exists between the Sinner and himself.
And the impossibility of a Sinner being in his holy presence, he is the one who has undertaken to do something about it. The Gospel, the good news of the grace of God is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has come down from heaven.
As I say, not just to be a teacher or a martyr or a witness for God, but he came down from heaven in order to die on the cross of Calvary for sinners. We read that he gave himself a ransom for all. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.
He says in the instituting of the Lord's Supper, as some of us had before us this morning, he speaks of the cup being bringing before his own there that precious blood of his weed, the blood of the new covenant which is shed for the remission of sins.
That precious blood which was shed for many.
And it's open.
Or 1:00 and all and each and everyone to be included in that. Because you see the very word all is all inclusive, a ransom for all.
But one says, well then are all saved? Oh no, we read in the Word of God that we are saved by faith in Christ. For there was one who asked that very pointed question, you remember, to Paul and Silas after he had been shaken up by an earthquake and he felt that he was soon to be called into the presence of God, where he didn't know how long he would be left here. He feared for his life.
And he came trembling into Paul and Silas in the prison, and he said, Sirs, what must I do?
To be saved while he was willing to do anything. Talk about these persons that pray several times a day, and these persons that get down on their knees and crawl towards some sort of a sacred institution are these persons that take pilgrimages. I believe that man would have been willing to do anything.
Whatever they had said.
And what did they say? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Oh, what a simple thing, what a simple word. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You know there was one of old in the Old Testament, a man by the name of Naaman.
And this man was a was a very sterling character in his day. He was a leader and he was a man no doubt looked up to by others. He was a man that was perhaps envied by by his peers and many good things are said about him. But there's one thing wrong with the man. It was said that he was a leper. Isn't that sad? With all of the good things that could be said and with all of the advantages that man had.
Why this fact?
Of being a leper spoiled everything and he wasn't satisfied. It bothered him. It bothered him that he was a leper. You know, he, he yearned to be cleansed from that leprosy. The fact that he was a great man in his country didn't mitigate the fact that he was yearning in his heart to be cleansed from that dreadful disease.
And you remember there was a little maid who gave a testimony to him that she knew of a man in Israel who could cleanse him from his leprosy. And so he makes the journey over to Israel to see this man.
And rather than coming to the prophet to whom he should have gone, he went to the king. But in due course he did come to the right man. He came to the prophet, came to the prophet. Elisha, remember. And Elisha told him what to do, that he should go and dip himself seven times in the river Jordan and he be cleansed from that dreadful disease. Why? The man scoffed at it. He scoffed at it.
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Why, he says, are not the rivers of abandoned Farpar in his own country better than these dirty waters of Jordan?
Why, it was ridiculous in his mind to require such a thing for him to be cleansed. Oh, what a picture I I would say to you this evening of many souls today. You see, that's a picture of souls in their sins. Leprosy in the Word of God is a type of sin, a picture of sin. And we know that if a person were to attain to great heights in this world, as many have.
There are men who have made quite a mark in this world and history records their deeds.
And they're admired by many persons, but if they're still guilty, lost sinners.
They're just like Naaman with that leprosy.
They're just like Naaman with that leprosy and with all of the things that might be said about them to their credit and for their good. It doesn't take away from the fact that they're guilty sinners. And sometimes persons are told a simple gospel to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and by faith to take him as Savior. And that alone is bring salvation to the soul. And persons almost scoff at it and think that's ridiculous.
Why? Surely God would require more.
More than that, surely God would require that we do some great thing like make amends for the things that we have done and go out and and do some great work in helping our fellow man, seeking to help the poor, the orphans, the widows and things of that. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. But that isn't the way salvation is brought to the soul. That is not the way deliverance is brought from the sense of guilt and impending judgment from God. It's through faith in the Lord Jesus. And finally, when Naaman.
Made the word and he went down into that river Jordan and dipped himself 7 times. We read that his flesh came again as a little child. Sure enough, he found that he worked. And I can say to anyone in the in the room this evening that if you will truly take the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you will find that in in that language it really works. You will be saved for there are those in the room along with myself who can testify.
That we did that. There was a time when we saw that we were lost and guilty.
And we turn to the Lord Jesus and saw that he suffered for our sins on the cross. We believe that in the heart and our souls have been cleansed. We're saved, we have the forgiveness of sins, we're justified, and we're made fit for the holy righteous presence of God through faith in him. Well, it's a wonderful thing, this, this grace of God. But now look in that chapter 20.
Before he speaks of the grace of God, the gospel of the grace of God, he says in verse 21 he speaks about repentance toward God.
As well as faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, repentance toward God, and he says he testified this repentance both to the Jews.
And to the Greeks.
That may sound strange that he would, that he would testify repentance to the Jews as well as to the Greeks. For you see, the Jews were those who had the word of God. They were religious and they had a religion from God. I want to remind you of that.
The Greeks, of course, they had their religions, but they were heathen religions. The Greeks worshiped a variety of gods.
They had various gods for all sorts of emotions, human emotions. We know they had gods that were connected with the firmament of heaven. They had gods that were connected with the various circumstances of life. They had all sorts of gods. The Greeks.
And one could understand why repentance would be required from such heathen in such darkness.
But even repentance was required of the Jews.
They were worshippers of the one true God.
Well, at least they had the worship of it. I don't say they were all true worshippers in their heart. We know they weren't or they wouldn't have had to repent. But the point is these Jews, they had the, they had light from God, they had the scriptures, they, they believed in the one God. They were not worshiping all of these gods of the heathen and they had a superior morality and all of these things.
They had them in their possession, but there were many, many, many of these Jews.
Who had not in their hearts turned to God, they had not repented and they need to repent.
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What I mentioned that because today in this country in which we live, we're not surrounded by heathenism, generally, there is some.
And it seems that it's coming in more and more that people are actually going back and worshiping demons.
It's very sad. It's, it's the apostasy is coming in. But generally we're not surrounded by heathenism and demon worship and these multiplicity of gods. We're surrounded by people who nominally believe in God. That is, they say there is one God. It's a rare thing to find, I'm sure in the in Southern California here if you were to ask the persons that you would meet, you would find very few people if they believed in God at all.
Would say they believe in the God of Thunder, they believe in a God of lightning, they believe in a goddess of love and all of these things. No, they believe that there is one God. Yes, they were like the Jews like that, but have they really repented? Have they really seen themselves as guilty sinners in the sight of that God? You see these Jews, they had the word of God, they had the Scriptures and they had all of this light and yet they were, they were unrepentant in their hearts for when the Lord Jesus Christ came.
From God himself, why they rejected him. A man come from God, the Lord Jesus. Well, I say a man, He was God manifest in the flesh, but he was a man.
And he was come from God. He was indeed God manifest in the flesh, and he was rejected, showing their unrepentant hearts. But there is need for repentance. There is need for repentance. You know, I mentioned a few moments ago about that jailer in Acts 16 who came in and asked Paul and Silas how to be saved. And the answer was believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to remind you that that man had been thoroughly shaken up by an earthquake.
And no doubt he had in his heart repented. That is he he had. He was conscious of the fact that he was a Sinner, and he was about to be called into the presence of God. That earthquake reminded him of the brevity of life.
Or he when that when that ground began to shake, why, he was reminded of the fact that he could be taken out of this scene just like that.
How easy it is that one could be taken out of this scene. And no doubt thoughts came into his mind. What shall I do to meet God? How can I meet God?
What's going to happen when I'm taken out of this scene? And his heart was turned from being careless, indifferent or proud.
And smug and all of that. He was turned from that into a trembling center that felt that he was lost. And so the Word is simply believed. And sometimes there are those who hear the gospel.
They hear the gospel and the plain gospel, and it's presented very clearly of the grace of God in the salvation of lost sinners, and it has no effect because there is not real repentance. There is not repentance. Now, repentance doesn't mean that you have to go out and do penance. I know there is a version that some have made of these Scriptures in which that very word is used of doing penance, but it isn't that repentance is not even going out.
And weeping, it isn't coming down to some altar and weeping and weeping for your sins. Repentance briefly and simply is merely that you have a changed attitude toward God. You're no longer turned from God in rejecting him and his word, but your attitude and spirit is that you want to receive from him what he has. That was the attitude of that, that Philippian jailer. That's why his attitude was, I want to know. He was turned to God. He's no longer had his back toward God.
But he was turned to God to receive. And if you have, if your attitude and spirit tonight is this, that you are ready to receive what God has for you.
You're in a right attitude and spirit, and you're not turned from Him in your heart. I believe God can show you from His precious word the way of salvation, and He will give you the answer, and it'll be very plain and very simple. But He speaks here of that repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and how He testified the gospel of the grace of God. Now turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.
Well, I would like to speak a little.
On the aspect of the Gospel of the Glory.
That expression.
The Gospel of the Glory is not conveyed in the exact words that I've used here in the King James.
But in the fourth verse.
When he says, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
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Lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, as perhaps a clearer translation would put it.
The light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.
Who is the image of God should shine unto them. Now what I was saying in the beginning is the gospel of the glory of Christ. It is that Christ is now in the glory of God, a living man at the right hand of God, and he's there as having accomplished redemption, as having finished the work. Turn over to Hebrews 10.
Where we have the what connects with this thought of the gospel of the glory and being a finished work. Hebrews 10 Oh, there's so many portions in the word of God that gives clearly.
The fact that the Lord Jesus.
Has made one offering for sin.
Verse 12. Well, we'll read verse 11 first, for it's a contrast with verse 12 in verse 11.
And every priest.
Standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes notice that offering many times the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.
And why? Why is the priest here the Jewish priest he's talking about in connection with their Jewish worship?
They every year at the Passover feast, there was the Passover, there was the slaughter of an animal and an offering made for God to God.
By the priests. But these sacrifices could never take away sins. Now they had their place in the Old Testament in this respect.
Not that they ever took away sins, even in Old Testament times before the Lord Jesus came into this world.
Those sacrifices of animals in the Old Testament never took away one sin.
But they all pointed forward and were pictures and types of the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood alone can put away sins, those animal sacrifices.
As it were, were merely foreshadowing.
Of the one offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. They never took away sins. Now it isn't that God has changed things.
Some have thought that, well in the Old Testament.
People were saved by animal sacrifices, and now in the New Testament it's not so. Well, that isn't true. They were never saved as far as their sins putting away by animal sacrifices, Romans 3 tells us.
That those sacrifices of old, that God passed over the sins of believers, that is, He passed over them, He did not judge them for their sins, because He saw in those sacrifices that one brought by faith to God, He saw in those sacrifices the death of His beloved Son. And when the Lord Jesus Christ came, he bore the sins of all of those men of faith in the Old Testament, Abraham.
Isaac and and all.
Those men of faith, Moses and David, everyone who was a man of faith and who had faith in God and believed God's testimony, the offerings that they brought of animal sacrifices never took away a sin. But God saw in that animal sacrifice the death of His beloved Son, and so he passed over their sins for the time being. And when the Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross of Calvary, their sins along with your sins and mine, if you're a believer on the Lord Jesus.
Were placed on him.
On the cross of Calvary. And he bore the judgment of those sins. He bore the judgment of David's sin when David sinned, as we read in the word of God.
No animal sacrifice could ever take away that sins. Even his weeping couldn't take away those sins. And David acknowledged that. He knew that. He knew there was nothing, but God could take it away. Now, I know that David didn't know exactly how God could take it away. In those days before the cross, they didn't understand exactly how God was going to take away their sins, but they had faith that He would.
Abraham believed that what God promised, he was able also to perform. God had not yet performed it, but he believed he would. But you know, the day in which we live, it isn't that we believe that God will do something about our sins. Oh, the wonderful thing is we can say that God has done something. It's past. We look back. It isn't that we expect Him to do something. It isn't that God merely passes over our sins with a view of doing something about them in the.
To come. It is that our sins were placed on the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, and He bore them away. The sacrifice of Himself was the sacrifice for our sins. Now it says here these sacrifices could never take away sins, no matter how often they were offered.
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No matter how great the faith of the individual that offered it, now you know there is often the thought.
And the breast of individuals that if a person's faith in a certain thing is just strong enough, well, that's sufficient. No, it isn't.
No, it isn't. It simply isn't true. It simply is not true. It isn't true even in in human things.
It's not true even in human things.
Now we know, and I might give a little illustration, that happened some years ago when my children were younger and small and still at home. We were taking a hike up in the Colorado Rockies on vacation.
And we came to a little stream and there was a, there was a log that had fallen across the stream. And my boy Tom at the time, while he was, he was, he started to walk right out over that and go across it.
He had he, he, you might say he had faith that, that, that that log that had fallen over, it wasn't a very large one would hold him up when he went across. But I was an unbeliever in that regard. I didn't really believe it would hold him. So I said, no, you better not you better. You better just step out there a little bit and see if it'll hold you. And so he did. Where he was in a safe spot, he put out one foot and sure enough now and it went, if he'd have walked out, he'd gone down. No matter how much faith he had had that they would have held him, it would not.
If he'd have walked right out, it would have gone down the weight, his weight would have broken and snapped it and he would have fallen into the water. You see, so regardless of how much confidence one has in a thing, if, if it is not sufficient, if the thing itself is not sufficient to to do what 1 even say has faith that it will do, one's faith can't make something out of nothing. You can't do that. You can't do that regardless of how much faith one has. You see, these men could have had all sorts of strong.
Faith in these animal sacrifices put the word of God says they can never take away sins and these priests were offering them year after year continually and oftentimes and no doubt they were doing it in faith, but it never took away sins but now notice verse 12. But this man.
After he had offered one sacrifice.
For.
Forever.
Sat down on the right hand of God. Well now I'm going to read it like it like it should. I didn't really read it smoothly. This man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins.
Forever sat down on the right hand of God.
One sacrifice for sins. Now we'd like to ask everyone in the room is that the sacrifice you're depending upon for your sins is the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, that upon which you have staked the salvation of your soul.
Can you say that that is the sacrifice that I am trusting God for the removal of all of my sins? There is only one sacrifice for sins, that's all.
And it's already been made. It's already been accomplished. For when he finished it, he sat down. We read here forever. He sat down on the right hand of God, one sacrifice for sins.
There will never be another. It'll never be repeated. The Lord Jesus will never come again. He for that purpose, we read in the Word of God that He appeared once in the end of the age, at the end of the world, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
But when he comes again, he's not coming again to deal with the question of sin.
To receive those whose sins are put away, those who have trusted him in that one sacrifice, those who have believed from the heart that that one sacrifice puts away their sins forever. Now he sat down on the right hand of God. You know what that means, do you not? It means that the work is finished, you see.
These priests, you notice in verse 11, it says every priest standeth. They were standing because they were, they were busily at work. They had a work to do.
And they never finished the work because they had to keep offering more and more sacrifices. We don't read of them sitting down.
But the Lord Jesus sat down because he finished the work.
He would have never sat down.
On the right hand of God, unless the work was finished, and I'd like to say this, that God would have never taken him up to his right hand if God was not satisfied with that work.
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Now that's what the Gospel of the Glory means. It means the work is finished, and it means that God is satisfied with the work.
God himself is satisfied. God says that's all the sacrifice that's necessary. Isn't it a shame that men and women and boys and girls would require more in their thinking for the putting away of their sins than God requires? God says that one sacrifice is sufficient for me. That's all that I require, That one sacrifice is sufficient. And when he had done that?
God raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right.
And the Gospel of the glory tells us that the man in the glory is the one who has finished the work to God's satisfaction. To God's satisfaction, God is satisfied. God will require nothing else.
God will require nothing else. And so we have the witness of the Holy Spirit in verse 17. Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Remember no more, for God did take an account of them when He put them upon the Lord Jesus.
And when the Lord Jesus suffered for sins, yes, God remembered my sins. You know, it's a wonderful thing to know.
That God knows more of my of the sins that I committed than I know myself.
It is the usual habit of individuals, you know, all of us, and I'm not Speaking of others. I say to myself too, we were all this way. We like to present ourselves in the best light we can. And very often when we we there is in the thought the heart of man, you know, to sort of cover up things. And they say, well, yes, perhaps we did this wrong and but it wasn't quite so bad.
Or perhaps we did this wrong, but it wasn't quite.
Bad. Then we forget a lot of things that we that we don't even own up that we have done. But the wonderful thing of it is that God knows every one of our sins. He remembers them.
Now you might think that sounds rather strange, that God could remember the sins, individual sins of every individual person.
But it's true.
You know, they're, they're marvels we run across. I don't know much about computers. In fact, I'm just awed and confused every time I see anything about them. But I'm told that these things store such immense amount of information. It's just tremendous. I can't really comprehend the the amount of information these things are able to contain.
Well, if man can make machines like that, think of God.
God who is over all.
How that he can contain, as it were, this vast amount of information on every individual?
Every individual in the world.
It may be, you know, that that most people know very little about you. There are some people that are sort of in this world that are sort of hidden in a way. Maybe they live very quiet lives. Maybe they don't have many acquaintances and and they and they really make very little mark in the world. Very few people know them or something. But you know, God knows all about that person. God knows about all about everyone of us. He knows our thoughts are far off. He knows our downseedings our.
Our uprisings, He's acquainted with all of our ways, we read in Psalm 139. All things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do, you know, Adam thought.
That after he sinned.
And he was conscious of his condition, and he heard the voice of the Lord God speaking in the garden. He hid himself.
Behind in the trees, among the trees, he wanted to just sort of get off someplace and, and, and get away from things because he was conscious of, of his condition. But God knew where he was. God knew where he was and God found him out and spoke to him. And so God knows each and every one of us where we are and what we're doing and what we think.
And He knows our sins, He knows our iniquities. But here the wonderful thing is he says their sins and iniquities. I will remember no more those who believe on the Lord Jesus. And we can say to each and everyone in the room tonight, if you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior and own that sacrifice for your sins that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary, you can have this word of God to your soul, your sins and iniquity.
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He will remember no more. The debt is fully paid, you know, I suppose.
If a person were had run up a lot of debts and there are people that do this, you know, they run up a lot of debts and they're not able to pay them.
And if someone came, this man that that owed all of this, all of these debts in his house and someone knocked at his door, a man that he didn't really recognize, he would probably say to himself, now that's a bill collector. And he's going to come and he's going to he's going to try to collect these debts.
And so when he answers the door to the man, the man says, now I understand that you're Mr. Soins. Oh, yes. And he said, I understand that you have a little bill down at this store that you owe. Well, the man would probably try to minimize. He'd say, well, yes, I it's a little bill. I don't really owe very much, but I'll pay it to you one of these days. And the man mentions other little debts, you know, and and he says, well, he tries to minimize them, that he doesn't owe really very much. And the man says, well, now are.
Other things that you owe. Do you have other debts? Well, the man perhaps would say, no, that's all I owe. Hoping that this man that he thinks is a bill collector will not, will not be aware that he owes other bills. You say, no, that's all I owe. And suppose this man were to say, Now what I've come here for is this. I'm not a bill collector. I have come here to pay all your debts.
I have come here to pay everything you owe and I want you to have a clean slate. When I finish, I want to pay everything. I don't want to leave even the smallest unpaid bill. I want to pay everything you will.
But you know, that man wouldn't begin to say I don't owe here and I don't know there. He'd say, well, I owe here. He'd tell him everything he owed. He'd bring out every bill. He'd say, oh, I owe here and I owe here because here's one who's going to take care of it all. Well, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who has, as it were, paid to the debt, the bill for us. And we can come and say to him, we can own before him.
All of the sins that we have committed, we don't want to hold them back.
We don't want to hold them back. We can say that we are sinners and we have sinned because we know that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sins their sins and iniquities. I'll remember no more. And now that the debt is paid, and you know, you might say the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory is our receipt that the debt is paid. We know the debt is paid because the one to whom we were a debtor has received the one.
That paid the debt for us. That's the gospel of the glory. There he is in the glory now and all There's much more. I know there's much more to that that one can go on in this second Corinthians 4 to speak of our position in Christ and taken into all of his favor and how that now we're a part of a new creation of which he is had all in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory. But I would just like to leave this with you to exercise heart and conscience of everyone in the room this evening.
That do you know in the presence of God that your sins and iniquities are no more, and that you can look up and see Christ in the glory that he is your Savior. He's there as the pledge and assurance of your salvation. And you know that he's coming again to receive you along with all of his blood bought children to take us up to be with himself. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. This is open to each and everyone who will.
To him as a lost and guilty Sinner, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
Breaking of the Earthen Vessel
Address—A.M. Barry
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Have before me beloved friends to speak to this afternoon on the breaking of the earthen vessel.
And perhaps, if I have time, I might have a word too on the dissolution of the earthen vessel.
We have these two subjects in the Second Epistle of Corinthians.
And the breaking of the earthen vessel you'll find in the 4th chapter of this epistle. And then you have the dissolution of the earthen vessel in the 5th chapter of Second Corinthians.
And we'll begin reading at the third verse.
2nd Corinthians 4 But if our gospel be hid.
Are veiled, it is veiled to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds.
Them which believe not.
Lest the light.
Of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Or we preach, not ourselves.
But Christ Jesus the Lord.
And ourselves your servants, for Jesus sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
Has shined in our hearts.
To give the light.
Of the knowledge of the glory of God.
In the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
That the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are troubled on every side.
If not distressed.
We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
That's a life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake.
That the life also of Jesus.
Right be made manifest.
In our mortal place.
So then, death worketh in US.
That life in you we have the same spirit of faith according as it is written. I believe, and therefore have I spoken. We also believe.
And therefore speak.
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus.
And shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes.
That the abundant grace might, through the Thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God.
For which 'cause we faint not.
But though our outward man perish.
Yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment.
Worketh for us a far more exceeding.
And eternal weight of glory.
Why we look not at the things which are seen?
But at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporal.
The things which are not seen are eternal, You'll notice in that third verse.
The apostle says R.
Gospel Elsewhere he speaks of my gospel.
Paul's gospel was the gospel of the glory of God.
Now the gospel is looked at in two ways. The gospel of the grace of God.
And the gospel of the glory of God.
And the Gospel of the Glory was specially committed to the Apostle Paul.
Because the only place he ever saw the Lord.
Was in that bright glory after his work here below was finished. The other apostles had seen the Lord in his life.
And with him and even that.
Had eaten and drink and drank with him after his resurrection.
But we find this all of tarsus, perhaps deliberately.
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Avoided ever getting to see the Lord down here because his heart was so filled with imitate awarding and God overruled that for his own glory, because when he did see him, he saw him as a man there in the glory of God.
And that formed the character of his.
His whole preaching.
That there's a man in the glory of God.
He tells us here that if this Gospel be hid is really veiled.
It's veiled to them that are lost.
Hello, it's friends here this afternoon. There may be 1 here or more.
To whom this Gospel is still veiled. It's a very solemn thing because you're in a lost condition.
And if you go on as you are.
You'll be lost for all eternity.
You had this morning in Sunday school that those whose names were not written.
In the book of life cast.
There's a little lake of fire fallen. Awful solemn thought to consider.
Well, now the devil has spoken of here.
As the God of this world, the Lord called him the Prince of this world.
When he was on his way to Calvary.
So the devil has those two positions.
More solemn, connected with this world, it should give us its true character.
That that he is the Prince, that is the political leader.
Of this world's affairs, all beloved, let's.
Avoid having any connection with this world.
And its political ambitions. But he is also the God of this world. That is, he's its religious.
Head and leader.
And so has the.
The God of this world, he blinded the minds of them that believe not.
And for what purpose? Lest the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?
Should shine unto them.
And he has many ways of keeping that light from that glorified man from shining right down into your dark soul.
He brings forward a false Christ.
And false religions, anything, it makes no difference if it's just a little pleasure in this world. He cares not if he gains it as what he's seeking. And that is to shut out that light that streams from the face of that glorified man, from every entering your dark soul.
So if you have never let that light, that glory shine into your poor dark heart, my beloved friends, defeat the God of this world. Listen to His gracious appeal to you, telling you of His love and how He's waiting there, longing to have you enfolded in His arms of love and mercy. Listen to His voice.
Accept Him as your savior.
They lay no longer to go on in your sins and folly, and oh what?
What blessing, what joy is, what delight will fill your soul?
So he says.
He speaks of the light of the IT should read a better reading, as the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Now, as we are saying, the gospel of the grace of God teaches us that there's a man come down from heaven.
He has lived for 33 years in this world.
He's on all the will of the Father.
And then in low, a humble Greece, he went to the cross.
And suffered so that any poor Sinner, regardless of who he is, could be saved. Then he rose. The disciples saw him in his resurrection glory, and were with him until he led them out as far as to Bethany, and lifted up his hands to bless them. And then he was received back into heaven, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
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That's where their gospel takes us.
Love the Apostle Paul.
Was taken beyond the cloud and sees the glorified man.
And that, again, we say, is the reason why his gospel is the gospel of the glory.
Of that man that's now seated at God's right hand and you can see, beloved, why that gospel has such importance for our souls that when the gospel of the glory is received, it immediately separates us from the whole course of this world because it.
Unites our souls.
And gives us the.
The very presence of Him whose glory has reached our hearts and brought us into the knowledge of His blessed Presence.
He goes on in the sixth verse.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
Has shined in our hearts to give the light to the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Now that verse takes us right back to the first chapter of Genesis and the second verse, and there we read.
The earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, let there be light, and there was light.
Now the one who is giving us the gospel of the glory.
Had experienced this in a very special way himself.
For his heart was just as dark.
Else is that.
Seeing that's described there in Genesis, where darkness was upon the face of the deep, the Spirit of God brooded, as it were, over the face of the deep.
And amidst that darkness, there came a voice saying.
Let there be light.
Or light be.
And light.
Now the apostle in his days, the Saul of Tarsus.
Was on his way to Damascus. Just think he had through persecution driven the.
Christians out of Jerusalem, and he wasn't satisfied. He pursued them, as he said, to strange cities, and in all the fury and hatred of his wicked heart, he was going there to bind those devoted Christians and bring them back and change to Jerusalem to punish them.
He said when they were put to death, I gave my voice against him.
The friends of light shone out of heaven upon him, and he heard a voice out of that glory that shone upon him.
And we're told that he saw the face of Jesus. Barnabas took Paul to for Saul, you know, to Jerusalem, when he went to Jerusalem and told him how he had seen the Lord in the way.
Oh, what a.
He saw the face of Jesus.
He heard his voice.
And the response was, Who art thou, Lord, as he sees the light shining in that glorious face?
He hears to his astonishment, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutes, the very one he hated in love and grace, with all the beauty and loveliness of his blessed face shining upon him, he learns that that was the Jesus of Nazareth that he hated. What was the next word He says, Lord?
What wilt thou have me to do?
Well, afterwards in his ministry in Romans 10 and 9, he says, If thou shalt believe in thine, if thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt deceive. That's when we get saved, when we own Jesus as Lord, when we submit, when we surrender to him.
And beloved friends, when that has been wrought in our souls of surrender to Him, a work is accomplished that will last through the ages of eternity for glory to His name. He'll never cease to be our Lord. We may fail Him.
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We may grieve him as we have so many times, but he'll never cease to be our Lord.
Through all the journey, through all the ways down here in this sea.
Well, that is the way the.
That the light shines into the dark heart of man.
Have with Paul's experience, and it was exceptional. Or, you know, there's never been two conversions alike.
God has taken different ways to reach our souls, but it's always the same result.
Now this Blessed One reveals himself.
To the dark heart, to the United soul of a Sinner going on in his sins. And stops his mad career then immediately he says.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
Come on friends, when we got saved that we've got perfect bodies.
So that we didn't have any of the infirmities around us and we became supermen.
Who would get the praise? Oh, they'd say, what a wonderful people those Christians are. Well, they don't have the the trials of other people. What wonderful bodies they have.
But God saw that that would not do.
So in order that Christ might have all the glory.
He puts the treasure.
Into a poor earthen vessel, with all its infirmities, where Peter tells us that the same affliction we are in your brethren, which are in the world.
So we have the same diseases.
The Lord could have healed all the diseases and left this world without any pain wreaks. What did the world do with the one who had the power to heal the the sick wherever he went?
They just put him on the cross and said we will not have this man to reign over us. So the world goes on in its darkness and misery. But all over this dark scene the light of the glory of God shines down in the heart of a poor Sinner. And then there is this treasure.
What is the treasure?
Oh, it's that glorified man.
That and is now.
The object, the one that the soul has received and accepted as his own Lord, that's the treasure.
That we have in these earthen vessels.
And the very fact is, the poorer.
Unworthy creature of earth that possesses this treasure. The Excellency of the knowledge goes up to God.
And not unto man.
Now this was especially true in the life of the Apostle Paul.
Because he was not a man that.
That had exceptional.
Powers as an orator.
In fact, he says, I was with you with weakness and fear, and much trembling, and my speech was not with Excellency of words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and the power. And these Corinthians to whom he is writing said of him that his bodily presence was weak, but his speech was contemptible.
And yet there was one who so thoroughly submitted his life to the Christ of God.
To whom Christ was everything that God was pleased to commit to him that great and mighty power that shook the whole world.
In a way that nothing else ever had.
I've read the writings of even unconverted men that were amazed how that one man a poorer.
Once persecutor named Saul, afterwards Paul the Apostle could have been the means of carrying the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to all the the known civilized worlds of those days. It amazes the men of the world even to think what he accomplished, and yet it wasn't his eloquence.
00:20:25
It wasn't his oratory, it was simply that he committed himself.
So entirely to the Holy Spirit that that power went out in all its wonderful, in all its Excellency that has brought in the work of God, that continues, and we're in the good of it ourselves to this very day.
Well, in our little measure, whenever we.
Submit to the one that God has glorified. There is a little of that.
Reflected glory that we see in the face of Jesus Christ coming out in our lives. And beloved, we don't want to just think of the wonderful preaching of the apostle Lord. We want to think of his hair's devoted life.
For they went together.
For the more he followed Christ, the more his testimony shown out. And I doubt not when he says here that if our gospel be veiled, it is veiled to them that are lost. That is, that when Paul had preached, led by the Spirit of God, such was the convincing.
The soul of soaring effect of the gospel that went from.
From his lips that those who rejected that were were an irrecoverable class.
The enemy had blinded their minds, had shut the gospel out from them. Now I surely would say that no one else was ever so devoted to whom God could commit His gospel to in such a way as he did to the Apostle Paul.
Well, now what we were saying at the beginning of our meeting is.
The breaking of the earthen vessel.
And that immediately begins in the next verse.
In the eighth verse, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.
We are perplexed, but not in despair there. If you follow those verses, you get how God smashes the earthen vessel to pieces.
So that this glory of that treasure that is within me shine out in its brightness to be reached the the heart of those that know Him not.
Well, he said. We are troubled on every side. That's the vessel.
Yet not distressed, that's the treasure. We are perplexed, that's the vessel. But not in despair, that's the treasure. Persecuted, that's the vessel. But not destroyed, that's the treasure.
Cast down again the vessel, but not destroyed. There again we get the treasure.
Now when we consider this subject, I feel that the Spirit of God was as it were.
Getting his thoughts from Gideon's victory over the Midianites that you find in the 7th chapter of Judges. The 7th chapter of Judges.
It says in the 16th verse.
And that 7th of judges.
And he divided the 300 into 3 companies.
And he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pictures and lamps within the pictures.
And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with the trumpets I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpet also on every side.
Of the all the camp and say the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
Well, when they carried out Gideon's instruction, well then the whole host of the Midianites.
00:25:04
Broke into what we might call a Stampede and they began to mow each other down.
Every man's sword was turned against his fellow, and there was a great victory, and the other tribes came in and pursued them over Jordan and the Midianites.
Were completely vanquished.
Well, we learn the most profitable lesson here. You notice Joshua, or I mean Gideon, tells them to keep their eye on him.
Oh beloved friend, keep your eye on Christ when the enemy is seeking to turn you away from the path of obedience.
And then they were to do what Gideon did.
For he gave each one of his 300.
Lamp inside of a pitcher.
And then they had a trumpet in the other hand.
I thought this is rather extraordinary, that they were to say the sword of the Lord and Gideon. But where was the sword with a pitcher and a lamp in one hand, and A and a trumpet in the other hand? Where was their hand for the sword?
The friends. It wasn't man's sword, it was the sword of the Lord.
That won the victory over the enemies of Israel that day.
So there they were on three sides of the army, 100 in each company, and all of a sudden they break their lamps.
They break their pictures and the light shines out, and then they blow with the trumpet, and they shout the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, and that won the victory that day.
Well, now the.
Apostle here is using that as an illustration.
Of this treasure.
That we have that glorified Christ.
In these earthen vessels, our poor bodies.
But in order that the light might shine out, these earthen vessels must be broken.
And then there is the testimony that goes out as well, for you have in this chapter we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake.
That's this. That's the trumpet of Gideon.
That we preach, not ourselves.
That Christ Jesus and leave out the word, the Christ Jesus Lord that is, It's again owning the Lordship of Christ.
And as far as the one who proclaimed the message is concerned?
Where he says we're only servants or bomb slaves.
For Jesus sake, there was a man that had his eye, as it were, on our Gideon.
The one that was doing just what the Lord commanded.
And then all those lights suddenly burst out.
And what a glorious, what a marvelous victory followed. But the lesson we have before us is this.
The subject of the breaking of the earthen vessel, and that's what we were going over where he says we are troubled on every side.
But not distressed, perplexed, but not in despair.
That is all the trials of this life.
They break our wheels. Know what wheels we have?
Oh, we are opposed to submitting. How often we have brought harm to ourselves and to our brethren by stubborn wheels. Did not I were unwilling to own when we had made a mistake, when we were wrong? Oh, the Lord alone knows how to break these stubborn wills of ours.
And it's not just by sitting in our rocking chairs and reading the synopsis, much as I value the synopsis that this work is brought out.
Is by putting us in some of the most difficult.
00:30:04
Trying and heartbreaking circumstances.
That they are possible to experience in this life. And that's the way he has of breaking these earthen vessels. Oh, he has a purpose That the light of the knowledge of the glory of God might shine out of these poor hearts.
Of yours and mine.
Well, now.
It goes on for we which for always bearing about in the body.
The dying of the Lord Jesus.
That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body, you will find in a better translation that the word Lord is not there, the dying of Jesus.
The life of Jesus and then the next verse.
Delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life of Jesus.
All that blessed name that's above every name that we had in our Bible class this morning.
That name that every tongue shall confess, and every knee shall bow to the glory of God the Father. That precious, precious name of Jesus, so he says, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord of Jesus.
We are seeing somewhere recently in the 1St chapter of Colossians, I believe it is in Los Angeles, in Los Angeles.
The the truth of.
Our having died with Christ, ye are dead.
We also saw that in the 6th chapter of Romans. If we're told to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God.
Well, here we have the practical daily carrying out of the truth that we have died with Christ. For it isn't just something we experience at the beginning of our Christian life and testimony. It's something that's to be carried out as long as the Lord leaves us in the scene that is that when the blessed Lord Jesus.
Died on that painful cross.
But he not only died for my sins, but I died with him, and that was the end of my Adam life.
That brought to a close all the ambitions of the worldly desires of the natural man.
We're now there has been a complete break with everything connected with what the the old nature desires and oh we have that old nature and we have to be on our God for it consumed display itself. But if we are reckoning ourselves dead.
Indeed under sin then then it is as we go on in this daily experience, then the life of Jesus isn't that wonderful. Now that's just not that's not said just to these old Gray haired brothers that said to you young people.
That the life of Jesus. Just think of it. Think of it, boys and girls, the life of Jesus manifested in your mortal place.
I think of the lowly Jesus.
Think about how he went about doing his father's will.
Think of his humility, Think of his love, think of his tenderness. Think of that grace that abounded over everything of man.
And something of that can be seen in you and me if we just put ourselves in the place of having died with Christ.
But you know, we have.
We're not up to that. Maybe we say.
Well, the Lord knows that too.
And so he sees to it that we go through that which will produce that.
At always being delivered unto death for Jesus sake.
Read the next verse now.
So then he says in the 11TH verse, For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake.
That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal place.
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Lord, as it were, he says. I know that you are poor, unstable.
On worthy things. And so I'll put you in circumstances that will bring about what I desire.
And that was true in a very special way in the life of the Apostle Paul.
For he had just been through the very thing that he's Speaking of. If you look at the 1St chapter, this epistle.
He says in the eighth verse, where we would not, Brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble.
Which came to us in Asia that we were pressed out of measure above strength.
Insomuch that we despaired even of life, but we have the sense of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead.
Well, when you think of a devoted man like the Apostle Paul having to be put right at the brink of death to bring out the sweetness of Christ, we needn't wonder if ye in his wisdom sees to it that we have to go through circumstances to so that something of Christ might be seen in our life in ways.
So if I like the apostles.
That he despaired of life he doesn't know from day-to-day, but thought that would be his last day on earth. Well surely make that day to the glory of Christ, the little time that's left me here. And so self had no place whatever.
And thus the life of Jesus.
Jesus, yes, that Blessed 1 was manifested in the life of the apostle in this blessed and wonderful way. And beloved friends, we who sit here on these seats this afternoon.
Are enjoying the results of Paul being brought down to those circumstances where.
He despaired even of life.
Because we have his writings here that are so rich and so.
So precious to our souls.
So then he says, death worketh in US.
But life in you, that is the very fact He was brought so low, brought out that precious ministry, the ministry of the glorified Christ that is occupying our poor hearts at this moment. Oh, what spiritual length is the result of Paul being brought down to the very brink of death?
We have we have the same spirit of faith according.
As it is written, I have believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak.
That's the quotation from the 116th Psalm.
And Paul, Coach said in reference to himself, we believe and therefore we speak, that is, in giving out the full revelation of God.
Here he doesn't hesitate because of the consequences or the troubles it would bring upon him.
If it brought stripes, stonings.
Imprisonment. He was going to give out the whole counsel of God.
Regardless of the suffering it would cause him.
Well, that was blessed. It wasn't that God had a man that was willing to give out the whole council of God.
For the eternal blessing of his own, then he says in the next verse, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. Well, He looks at the consequences of speaking the truth, what it might incur, what it might bring upon him.
But then he looks at another side of things. Oh, he gets his eye on the Lord Jesus.
He said he did all the will of the Father down here and they crucified him. Where is He?
Oh, God raised him from the dead.
And he said, if he raised his blessed son from the dead, I know that same power that is operated in my soul will result in his raising me up.
The same as he raised his beloved son and raised as he said here.
00:40:05
Raise up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus. That same word Jesus, you know, appears especially here again.
And shall present us with you.
For what deep love he had for the Saints to whom he was writing that, he said, if it cost me my life to minister what I'm ministering to, your soul says the Lord God is going to raise me up with that blessed one. But he doesn't stop there, He says, with you.
So if I lose everything down here that nature designs, he says. I'm going to enjoy that scene of glory in company with you and with my blessed Jesus that has won my heart for all things are for your sakes.
That the abundant grace might, through the Thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God.
Well, all, beloved, is for our sakes as well As for the sake of those Corinthians.
The one that's the vessel was addressed.
All the ministry that we have is for our spiritual encouragement and blessing. And here's the higher thought, though, not just thinking of our own.
Our own gain, for we gain infinitely in this way, but As for the glory of God?
And the love is when we get his glory before our souls, we have the right object in view before us. And that's what Paul leads on to. Not merely that he was going to be with them that, but the very fact that he would be them, the mighty triumphs of the grace of God.
But yet God would receive eternal glory in that way, for which 'cause we paint not that thou art man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
But now that Saints of God, we need to be more concerned about that inner man than about the outward man that perishes. For, says James, what is your life? It is but a vapor that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth the way. Well, we get everything that heart could wish in this life. How long does it last?
How soon it's all over and over forever. But all that inner man.
That is nourished and build up and strengthened and and gaining hopefully blessings.
And the her maturity and enjoying.
Before we reach the glory, that which lies before us. O what development there is for that new man, Well, that's what he would have, and that's why he was willing to suffer as he did. And this new man is renewed day by day.
Oh, the Lord is looking after our spiritual needs. He doesn't forget our temporal needs.
When the Lord had taught the multitude, then he said to his disciples.
He said Whence shall we provide bread that these may eat? He doesn't forget that they were hungry.
Men and women and young boys and girls there that day.
He would look after their temporal needs.
Well, if we're more concerned about our spiritual needs, we can be sure the Lord will look after our temporal needs.
So he goes on for our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us.
A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Rather, Macmillan has a way of illustrating what we've just read and.
Or bring it before us.
You notice it says glory at the end of the 17th verse.
Wonderful to think of glory, isn't it? Allowed, Saints?
We sometimes sing. The glory shines before me. I cannot linger here, though clouds may darken. Or me, my Father's house is near.
Wonderful to think of a glory that awaits us. But he doesn't merely speak of glory, but he speaks of a weight of glory.
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Oh yes.
It has weight and then it's eternal. Oh, this is, this weight is eternal.
Weight of glory.
And then he says.
They are exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
And he doesn't. That isn't all. It's a far more exceeding.
An eternal weight of blood. You know the Scripture never indulges in extravagant languages, never uses unnecessary adjectives. But when we do get to.
Something like this?
It's very exceedingly precious, isn't it?
All the Spirit of God would have our poor horse.
Just thrilled and filled with rapture.
At the thought, the thoughts of what awaits us.
In that coming day, why we look not at the things which you see, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temple.
But the things which are not seen.
Our eternal.
You know that to a man of reason, a man of the world wouldn't make sense.
How can we look at things that are Nazi?
Well, the The Unbeliever would scoff at that, but nonsense? Look at something you can't see.
But when you bring faith in beloved.
Quite a difference.
For faith pierces the thin veil that shuts out the unseen world and lets us.
Look into the future with absolute certainty. Think of that verse in the 2nd chapter of Hebrews.
But we see Jesus.
That's faith. And you know what is seen by faith is even more real than things that we can see with our natural eyes. Because so often we look at the beauties of nature and a beautiful scene like this city has this very fair day that I was remarking as we came along. While a beautiful city, it is the streets running from 1 mountain to the other.
But then the sister reminded us that someday the smog settles over here.
So even what is so beautiful in nature has it.
Its disappointments.
But are there any disappointments in what is revealed to the Eye of Faith?
None want ever.
And isn't it remarkable to that the soul that is in the enjoyment of the unseen and eternal things is the one who is contented with his?
Lot down here.
Crying, and with as many disappointments as it may contain.
Because he has something infinitely better before him, whereas the man that has nothing but this world after he has accumulated and grabbed after everything that the world offers as pleasures, while then he is sadly disappointed and often.
Goes to the extremity of committing suicide.
Well.
We have that vision of faith we brought before us, for the things which are seen are temporal.
But the things which are not seen.
Our return.
I had thought maybe I would get to the dissolution.
Of the area than Vassel, but I see our time as a.
But you can read on and you see the apostle had been nearly at the point of death.
Light, he'd nearly been martyred.
Had he been martyred? Why, he can say this, that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God.
And house not made with hands.
Eternal in the heavens, that is, He looks at our body as to its present condition as a Tabernacle or a tent.
Right here on a on a journey.
You'll pitch your tent.
And in the morning, you pull up the stakes and roll up the tent and you travel on. That's the way our body is in this present condition is looked at.
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But when we are called to part from earthly seas.
He tells us that we have a building of God. That's the glorified body. We have a building of God and house not made with hands.
And it's eternal in the heavens that leads a song to see the glorified state or what the apostle says in Philippians 3 that.
Who shall change these bodies of humiliation, that they may be fashioned like unto His body of glory, according to the working, whereby His evil even to subdue all things unto Himself?
Better Things for Us Replacing Judaism
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Like to turn to the 10th chapter of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10.
The beginning of the first verse.
For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect for them, would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take.
Sins. Wherefore when He cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering. Now would it not but a body hast Thou prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin? Thou hast 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 had pledged.
Therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away the 1St, that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes 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, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool, or by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereas the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that He had 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 mind will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now her remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having an high priest over the House of God.
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance.
Faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promise. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and a good work, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some, is but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Can we also turn over to the 12TH chapter?
And the first verse.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed to boat with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Enemy.
The 10th chapter and the 10th verse we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the Tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come by Him. Therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Well, it has often been remarked that the characteristic expression in the book of the Hebrews is better.
And the Spirit of God brings before us how much better everything is in Christianity that it was in the tights and shadows of Judaism. The glory of the person of Christ is brought before us as being far, far above the prophets who spoke to them, or the angels whom God used to communicate His mind in the Old Testament. Now He has spoken in Son. How much better the glory of that person.
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Than all that went before.
And then we find too, in regard to the priesthood, why they were types and shadows, the Aaronic priesthood, the Melchizedek priesthood. But oh, how much better In the Aaronic priesthood, sacrifices had continually to be offered in the priesthood of Melchizedek, Why we find a shadow of that one who has now gone up on high and who can dispense blessings because the work has been accomplished.
And then we find in these chapters how?
That God has even something better in store for us as believers. Israel had an earthly hope, earthly promises, but we have something far better, God having provided some better thing for us. That is, you and I, who have been saved now, who are part of the body of Christ, are going to have a more wonderful place than any of those who lived before the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Oh, what?
A place of blessing we have been brought into. And in the 10th chapter of Hebrews, it seems to me he brings a sort of a summing up so that we might be brought into the liberty of all this and the enjoyment of it in our souls, and also that it might have its practical effect in our lives. And that's why I've read the other verses in the 12TH chapter and in the 13th chapter because.
We find in this 10th chapter, and also in the 12TH and 13th, those two little words. Let us.
And I think this is the most beautiful. Now that is that you and I might be brought into the liberty of this, and walk in the blessedness of it.
Man thou shalt, and thou shalt not. But what holy liberty belongs to the Christian now, just as you might say to a friend, Well, let's do this, or let's do that. God by His Spirit has brought us into the place of blessing to enjoy it, I should say, that has been one for us through the work of Christ. And then He exhorts us in this lovely way now, that we might be in the enjoyment of it and in the practical.
Of it in our daily lives.
In the end of the 10th chapter of Hebrews, we have brought before us the Day of Atonement. And you know there were two goats on the Day of Atonement. Now the first one, the the goat was slain and its blood was brought into the holy of Holies, sprinkled on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat, and that provided the ground by which God could bless the people, and He brings it before us.
The 26th verse of the 9th chapter to show us now that through this glorious work of Christ there is a ground that God will put away sin and that looks on beyond this present time. It looks on to that marvelous time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, as we look around in all the confusion of the world today.
Isn't it grand to know that a work has already been done?
One by which that one who is the Lamb of God will take away the sin of the world, will bring in that glorious scene. I say again, where, as we often sing, all taint of sin shall be removed, all evil done away, and we shall dwell with God's beloved through God's eternal day. Doesn't it thrill your heart and mind amid all the wreck and ruin that we see in the world, to know that the work has already been accomplished, the grown work, if I could.
Put it that way, has been laid by which all this has been brought about, and the Spirit of God points us to the person. Just as John the Baptist looked at the Lord Jesus and as he saw sad results of sin and the condition of the nation, He said there's the one that's going to set everything right. Isn't it blessed for you and I to have our eyes upon Him, to know that one, and to know the glorious work that he has accomplished.
And then in the 28th verse, he brings before us the other goats. Now that is, there was the second goat, if I could speak in that way.
That the things of the people were confessed over that goat, and it was led by the hands of a fit man into a land not inhabited. Well, the first one brings before us propitiation. Now that is, the groundwork has been laid. The blood is on the mercy seat. So I can say to.
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Center Christ died for you. The way of blessing has been opened for you. Now God invites you to come because the blood is on the mercy seat. But it's only true of believers that we can say that the Lord Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And that's why it's careful whenever it speaks of that side of the work to say.
He bear the sin was once offered to bear the sins of many.
Oh, I trust that each one here is among the many who can not only say, I know the blood is on the mercy seat, but can say I know that my sins were placed upon the Lord Jesus. I know he exhausted the judgment for my sins, and my sins are gone. They're gone, as it were, into a land not inhabited. They were carried out of God's fight altogether because the Lord Jesus has borne the judgment of those sins and exhausted it in fact.
Translation of this 28th verse. It's remarkable that it says Christ was once offered to exhaust the sins of the many. Now that is, the judgment of those sins has been exhausted. The Lord Jesus has borne all a judgment. 1 is often thought of a very solemn thing, that as we hear those precious words of the Savior, it is finished. We rest upon those glorious words and know the Lord Jesus has exhausted.
Judgment of God against sin. But I've often thought of this. Those are three words a Sinner will never be able to say in a lost eternity.
He'll never be able to say it is finished.
God tells us that the judgment of those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal because it was only one who could exhaust the judgment. Thank God he has exhausted it. And all what those words mean to our souls when we think that right here and now we can say all the judgment of my sins has been exhausted. It thinks there's nothing left for you and I because the Lord Jesus is born at all. But oh, if there should be 1 here, that's not saved.
I warn you that if you should find yourself in a lost eternity, you'll never be able to say those words because you'll never be able to exhaust the judgment of God against sin. Only one can do it, and thank God He's done it. Only God grant that each one of us may enjoy this in our souls. And then he's coming back again without sin. That is, He's not going to take up the question of sin again. That's been settled.
Isn't it wonderful that when we gaze into the.
Of our precious Savior in a coming day.
The question of sin being charged to us will never be raised, and it's all been settled. The Lord Jesus has soulfully glorified God about the question of our sins, that when we look into His blessed faith, why not one shadow will cross that blessed faith that there's anything between US and Him. It's forever gone. And we wait for Him the second time without Him not to take up that question again because it's been settled.
Unto salvation.
God will be with Israel when they too are brought into blessing. What a marvelous thing it will be for them to see when they look on that one who may Pierce, and to know that He settled the question of their sins. That's why it tells us in the end of the book of Isaiah that it mentions before she traveled, she brought forth. And then he says, who heard such a thing? That is, how could it be a child would be born.
For travail. How could that be? He says, but he said that's what Israel is going to find out when they pass through the travail of the tribulation. Then at the end of it, they're going to look into the face of the one who is a man child. He was already born for their deliverance. He already accomplished their deliverance and they didn't know it. And he says you never heard such a thing, but it's true. And when Israel looks upon the face of that blessed one who may tears, they'll see that he was the sent 1 he was.
One who accomplished that glorious work. When we come to this 10th chapter, it says the law having a shadow of good things to come, but not the very image of the things. We need to remember this that the Old Testament is full of beautiful types and shadows, but not the very image of the thing. That is, It didn't bring before us the full blessedness, but it did have the shadow.
And the reason he mentions this is because there was a danger with these Jewish believers after they were saved, to go back to these types and shadows. And he wants them to realize that now that the substance has come, now the shadows have been fulfilled.
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They were not to go back to those types and shadows, and they were to live in the enjoyment of that which was the fulfillment of all those types and shadows. That's the meaning in the 6th chapter of Hebrews about going on to perfection. It doesn't mean perfection in the flesh. There'll never be such a thing as perfection in the flesh, but going on into perfection is going on to the enjoyment of this perfect work that has.
Been accomplished by a perfect Savior that gives the believer a perfect standing before God. That's what's going on. The perfection is how many there are who are looking in and wondering if they've gone on to perfection. Old friend, look to Christ and then you'll see a perfect work accomplished by a perfect Savior that has given you a perfect standing before God. What a blessed thing it is. But the Lord had the shadow, but not the image. And so He tells us.
And that if it had been so that the shadow was sufficient, as then they wouldn't had to continue offering the sacrifices, he says in the second verse for them, would they not have ceased to be offered for because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of Samson. That is, if it was possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin, and then it wouldn't be necessary for them to continue offering these sacrifices because?
It would have been enough, but all those thousands and thousands of sacrifices never put away sins. It does say in the scripture that they were accepted to make an atonement, and the word atonement comes from a Hebrew word that means to cover. But when we come to Christianity we find something very blessed. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sins.
To put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
So that God has not only, he has not only shown us in the type and shadow that there was something that was accepted for the time to cover sin, but He has shown us that a glorious work has been accomplished by which sin has been put away, put away in God's blessed sight. And what a thing for you and I to know that this work that the Lord Jesus has accomplished.
Has put away sin, and so that God doesn't see sin before him in the believer. It tells us in two Corinthians 5 in the last verse, He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. God sees the believer in Christ. He was the one who was made sin by his blessed work and by his precious blood sins.
Been put away and now the believer is in a perfect standing before God and no more sacrifice for sin is needed.
When we when we gather to remember the Lord Jesus and his death, it's not a sacrifice for sin. We know that there are those who speak of a continual sacrifice of the Mass now that shows that they haven't laid hold of the fact that this work the Lord Jesus did was once for all.
It's not to be repeated. When we gather, I say to remember the Lord Jesus. We must always bear this in mind. It's a remembrance of something that has been finished, has been done, and so we remember it. This do in remembrance of me.
And then he goes on in this fifth verse. Wherefore when he comes into the world, he says, sacrifice and offering. Thou wouldest not but a body. Hast thou prepared me? What a remarkable thing.
The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came down into this world and took a body capable of death, not subject to death. Your body and mind under normal circumstances is subject to death and will pass through death if the Lord doesn't come. But with the Lord Jesus, his body was not subject to death. It was necessary for him to dismiss his own spirit because of who he was. And so he said, no man taketh it from me. I have power to lay.
And I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father. But just think of him taking a body. And then too, isn't it lovely, brethren, to think now that He didn't come down and go straight to the cross?
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If it was just a question of putting away our sins, that was accomplished in what the Lord Jesus did in those three hours of darkness when he suffered for sins and His precious blood has been shed. But His blessed pathway from the Manger to the cross was a pathway of perfect love and obedience, and it's an example to us, and it's also a reason by which He can be a merciful and faithful high priest.
All those years of His blessed pathway here, he was a perfect example for us, I'd say, and He was entering into all that we have to pass through sin apart, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest, but it was not during his life that he was suffering for sin. It was not during the first three hours that he was suffering for sin, but it was when forsaken of God that he was suffering for sin.
Bearing the judgment that was necessary to put away your sins and mine.
And now when it says I come in the volume of the book, it is written of me. This carries us right back into our past eternity. God had these eternal purposes in his mind, and long before this world was made, God had a purpose and that purpose was. And that his blessed Son would glorify him as man here would accomplish that work, and that he would remain a man and have the company of redeemed men. And you and I would be part.
That company and so this was the way back in the councils and purposes of God and he, I might say, as we probably all know that these verses are quotations from the Psalms. Now that is what he is bringing before these Hebrew believers was at least there's no new thought in the mind of God. He said even while you were going on with those sacrifices. God had something else in view. He always.
Had his blessed son and the work that he would accomplish before him. And so, as we often sing in a little hymn.
Center of two eternities, which look with wrapped adoring eyes, onward and back to thee now That blessed work that the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross was the center of two eternities.
Well, perhaps that you have wondered why it says sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings, an offering for sin. Thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure therein. When we think of all these sacrifices, and we think of how God asked them to offer these sacrifices, or perhaps I should say, commanded them to offer these sacrifices, you might say, why? Now then, does it say in the Psalms that He had no pleasure in them? Well, because they were only a shadow.
And perhaps I could say more, God had no pleasure in the death of all those animals. It was made necessary through man's sin. It was made necessary. The whole lore creation has had to suffer as a result of man's sin. As soon as man sins, God made coats of skin and the lower creation, men began to suffer as a result of man's sin and all sacrifices that were offered.
Where a constant reminder of the seriousness of sin, that death must take place, blood must be shed so that God could be propitiated. But he didn't have pleasure. And perhaps you've read some time about all those thousands of animals that were slain at the time when Solomon dedicated the temple. And you wondered. Well, here it tells us.
In burnt offerings and.
Offering for sin thou what is not? Neither had pleasure therein. God looked upon them, God commanded them.
But it was pointing on to the cross what the Lord Jesus would do and when He would accomplish that work once and for all.
So it tells us in the ninth verse. Then says, He Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away the 1St, that he may establish the second. Now there those animals were offered. It wasn't any willing thing on their part. They were taken and offered as necessary sacrifices, but it wasn't any willing thing on their part. But think of 1 Coming into this world.
Whose?
Delight. What's to do with Father's will? Every step of His blessed pathway.
It was his joy and delight to do His Father's will. And then, when it was necessary to glorify God about the question of sins, we find that blessed One fulfilling what his Father desired in making that sacrifice, in doing that blessed work upon Calvary's cross. And so it says, He taketh away the 1St, that he may establish the second, that is, the whole of the 1St.
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Was.
Perhaps I could say, uh.
A mixture, that is, a God, demanded something of man, and the law was never withdrawn, but He provided under this, under the sacrifices, a way by which he could go on with the people until all the claims of the law would be satisfied. The one sacrifice of Christ would be accomplished. So, if I might put it this way, the people were never under pure law. If they had been under pure law, it would have been certain condemnation.
How about without withdrawing the law, God provided the sacrifices, and this looked on to the cross, where there would be one who would settle all those transgressions under the first covenant, who would glorify God about them, so that we might be dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so the Lord Jesus came to do his Father's will. And now, if I can put it this way, not a mixture of the.
God is not going to have part of that old order of things and the new. No, the old order of things has been set aside. He taketh away the 1St that He may establish the second. Now that is, there is One who has so perfectly and completely glorified Him now that now it is no longer necessary to offer those sacrifices. It isn't necessary that they should go on with all that ritual, because it's all been fulfilled and we have become dead.
To the law by the body of Christ it's most important that we should see now that we have been completely brought out sanctified means set apart and so it says by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all that is we're completely set apart from all an old order of things and brought into a new order of things in Christ Oh how blessed it is now that this is so and that we can.
Now be in the enjoyment of these.
Thing and this sacrifice the Lord Jesus offered is once for all.
So it says we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. Notice this. Never take away sins. Those sacrifices did not take away sin. They were accepted to make an atonement, but they did not take away sin.
And so there was one article of furniture. We have quite a few in this room, but there were none in the Tabernacle. There were no seats. There were no seats. He stood. And why? Well, he could never sit down because the sacrifices never came to an end in Judaism. They had to be carried on year by year, continually. And when you think of all the failures of the people.
Why? What a great what a vast number of sacrifices.
Were offered. In fact, I don't think anyone who's read carefully all those instructions in the book of Leviticus hasn't thought, well, how could they ever find enough animals to provide for all the sins of the people? Well, God was seeking to show them that sin was so serious in his sight that nothing less than that which those things pointed on to could meet his holy requirements. The precious word of Christ would be once for all.
They offered those sacrifices and there was no seed for the priest to sit down. But how different here it tells us of 1 and it says, But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever sat down on the right hand of God. That is, having offered this one sacrifice. Now he'll never, never have to rise up again to offer another sacrifice.
And he died. He died under sin once, and now this afternoon, he's a glorified man seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. All the majesty and glory of God's throne has been fully upheld and vindicated in this work that he has accomplished.
And what he is waiting for now is the time when everything will be set right.
If falls will be made his footstool. But this 14th verse is precious for us, isn't it? For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Isn't this grand? Doesn't say by one offering He has perfected till we sin again, but by one off. And He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now that one work the precious Savior has accomplished has been so glorious in the sight of God the Father, and that He has seated him.
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The right hand of the majesty on high and it says we are perfected forever. And that's your standing. If you're a believer this very afternoon. You don't have to do something to get this. You just accept it by faith. You believe it. The sacrifice has been made. Oh, you say, am I one of the sanctified ones? Well, the tenth verse says by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And so if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus, then you're one that is included in this number because it says.
That He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. I might say that this is really positional sanctification. Now in John 17 we have practical sanctification, but this is positional. I think we mentioned a little illustration before that would perhaps make this clear. Supposing you go into a store and you want a basket of apples, we'll say, and there are 10 baskets sitting there on the floor, and you purchase one of these.
And you say to the storekeeper.
Welcome back in an hour and pick this up. So you put your name on the handle, you pay the price. It's yours. It's really set apart in his mind for you because you have paid the price. But a little while afterwards, someone else comes in and picks out the same basket. And he says, well, that one's been sold. I can't sell that one to you. A little while later, another person picks out the same basket. And so he takes it and he puts it out in the back of the shop.
Well, it wasn't any more sanctified.
When it was in the back of the shop than it was when it was sitting there with the rest, as far as he was concerned. But there was a little confusion by it being mixed with the other nine. But when it was out in the back of the shop, it was practically set apart as belonging to you. And now what God is seeking to produce in your life and mine is practical sanctification. But let us not confuse this with positional sanctification. This is ours through the offering of the body of Jesus.
It's by His will that were sanctified through what Christ has done, and it's once for all perfected forever.
And so then, God has not only told us these blessed things, but the Holy Ghost is a witness to us. God has not only borne witness to the work of his beloved Son, but he has sent down the Holy Spirit to bring our souls into the good of death. And so the Spirit of God here on earth is to lead us into the enjoyment of these things.
The love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto.
To us again, because ye are sons God has sent forth is the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying ABBA father. Oh, how wonderful it is then that the Spirit is a witness to us. I don't speak here in a particular context.
The covenant has to do with Israel, and God will fulfill the covenant that has been made with Israel, that new covenant, and He is going to bring them into blessing. As believers. Now, we're not the subject of the covenant.
But if we come into the blessing of the work, the same work that will be the ground of Israel's blessing is now the ground of ours. And we enter into the enjoyment of this because God made a covenant with Israel to get blessing on a conditional basis, and they forfeited every right to blessing on that ground. So God says a new covenant is necessary. Now they must have a new covenant so that they can be brought into blessings, not on some basis that depends on them.
Thought that which depends upon the work of Christ and so that covenant will be made with Israel in a future day and they will be blessed through the work of Christ. But we weren't under the first covenant and a covenant hasn't to do with a Gentile. God blesses us though on the ground of what Christ has done and that's why it says the Holy Ghost is a witness to us. He brings us into the good of these things beforehand because that work as we have noticed is.
Ground of all blessings, all blessings. There is no blessing for fallen man apart from that one glorious work accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ.
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So it says in their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now her remission of these is there is no more offering for sin, no necessity to have any further sacrifices, because this sacrifice has laid a ground and has been accepted by God the Father, and He has seated them in His right hand. He has sent down the Holy Spirit to lead our souls into the enjoyment of it.
And now there are some exhortations here that follow.
Notice this 19th verse. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Has blessed the way the Spirit of God brings before us the fullness of that work. And brethren, is 1 glorious work. Now that is, He was made an offering for sin. The veil was wrapped, his blood was shed. It's all one glorious work and the Spirit of God would have our souls to lay hold of the largeness of this the one offering.
For sin has glorified God about the question of sin. But it was necessary also that we should be brought into a place here, that we could be in the very holiest of all. And so the veil must be rammed, and the blood has been shed. And so the type has been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. And so we have here.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, you know the high priest only entered into the holiest, and that but once a year. And he had to bring the blood of animals into that place, because there was no other way that he could come into the presence of God, except as God provided through the blood and with the incense. And so he went in once a year.
But isn't this lovely? When the Lord Jesus died, the veil of the temple was renting twain from the top to the bottom.
Now that is from God's side. That's why it says from the past right to the bottom, so that every believer now has access into the very holiest of all.
And isn't this word lovely? Boldness? I love that word because the high priest, I'm sure, went in with fear and trembling. But boldness?
Is it possible for us to go into the very holiest of all with boldness?
When I read that word, I think is the way a child comes into its own home. Watch a child coming home from school. Does it hesitate? Does it wonder if it's accepted? No, it just comes in with perfect confidence. And isn't it marvelous that the Spirit of God should resort to such a word as this, that tell us that we can come into the presence of God without one question as to our acceptance?
Because as a little hymn, says his precious.
Blood has spoken there before and on the throne, and his own wounds in heaven declare the atoning work is done. And so our place of acceptance and our place of worship is in the very holiest of all. That is where the believer has been brought before God, and we have title to be there through this blessed work that the Lord Jesus has accomplished.
And that veil?
If you recall, it was blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen. It represented the various glories of the Person of Christ. I believe the blue represents to us that He was the heavenly one. In second. Man is the Lord's in heaven, and then the purple represents royalty. He was the one who was Israel's rightful king.
It was there was a scarlet because He is the only one who has any right to human glory, a man who claims a lot of human glory for himself. But there was one who had a right to human glory, the Lord Jesus, and in His life that fine twined them, and that perfect practical righteousness that ever shone out in His blessed life. But what did that veil say?
Before it was rent. Oh, if you looked at all those beautiful colors, what it really said is no entrance.
And the Lord Jesus here in this world, by his life only condemned it only said.
You can't measure up to this standard, and so you're outside.
But when the Lord Jesus died, for it says the veil, that is to say, his flesh to them, the veil was wrapped. And now the believer can go in, God can come out. For in the Old Testament he dwelled in the thick darkness. But God has come out now, and he's told all that's in his heart, and he's brought us in. And so we're in there in perfect acceptance. And so through the work that Christ has accomplished, we have been brought in. And so that light.
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Faith, which would only condemn them, was given upon the Cross, and now, through that precious blood that He shed, we have access into the very holiest of all. What a place we have been brought into.
And now the 20th verse, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. Now this was new because it was never sold in the Jewish ritual. Why when King Uzziah tried to go into the Temple, why he was smitten with leprosy. The high priest alone once a year could go into the holiest of all with blood and incense.
But isn't this lovely? This is something new, every believer.
In the very holiest of all, what a place we've been brought into. But now it says it's a living way.
Why is that? Well, under the ritual of Judaism, it wasn't necessary to have a new life to go on with those things. Now that is how they could go on with all the ritual of Judaism without being born again.
And that's why people like to bring ritual into Christianity, because the flesh can enjoy it. It tells us in the 9th chapter it was a worldly sanctuary. Perhaps you wondered sometimes why God gave that grand building and why those robes and why that music and all that sort of thing. Well, if it was possible for man to be improved by ritual and ceremonies and that kind of thing, then God gave everything that was appealing.
The very finest of music, the very finest of robes, the grandest building. People will say, well you had a grand building. I might feel like going.
If you really had a good orchestra, I might feel like going well now. Under the ritual of Judaism, God gave all those things.
And after man had had all those things, what did it prove? It proved that all those external things didn't change his heart at all. It never improved the flesh. And you'll see in these verses that now what God is doing is a living thing.
And he has arranged an order of things in Christianity, if I can put it this way, that you can enjoy unless you possess a new life. And that's why a person who has not been born again thinks, well, what is there that's interesting about this? Because he doesn't possess a new life, about this new order of things in Judaism, in Christianity, as the Lord Jesus said, the new wine must be put.
A new bottle, that is. The new joys of Christianity could not be contained in the old bottles of Judaism. And so we have been brought into this place, and I'm quite sure.
That if you came into the meeting and you're not saved, why there's nothing that is particularly appealing, but if you really love the Lord Jesus, how it appeals to your heart that in simplicity, one after another can open his mouth in the liberty of the Spirit and give thanks and praise and adoration to the Lord Jesus can think of his sufferings and death and you're not thinking of whether.
They're building is wonderful or whether.
The singing is grand, or whether the people that sing have robes. It's a person that you have come to be occupied with. It's a new and living way. That's Christianity in contrast with Judaism. And then it says and having an high priest over the House of God, isn't this lovely?
And you and I might lose the enjoyment of all these things. So God says the person that died for you is going to live for you up there to maintain your soul in the enjoyment of it.
And many of us have been saved for a good number of years, and we just know that it's because we have one who's there at God's right hand is our great high priest and our advocate that we're still in the enjoyment of these things.
Here he is a high priest over the House of God, not to offer another sacrifice like the high priest in Israel, but to maintain our souls in the enjoyment of the place that we have been brought into.
Now let us draw an ear with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
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Azariel from the side of the Lord Jesus, there was the blood and there was the water. And the blood brings before us the fact that sin has been put away by what Christ has accomplished, and God looks upon the blood and he has been propitiated. And so it says, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. And isn't it lovely that we can sit in his presence and say.
The blood has so completely removed sin from God.
Website that I don't have to sit here with it on my conscience. I can know that the work of Christ has put it away. It's not the question here of our state, but of our standing.
There may be hindrances to our enjoyment of these things by something allowed in our lives, but the point here is our state and God has removed sin from the believer's conscience by the work of Christ. And it says in full assurance of faith, That is, we rest upon the value that God has put upon the work of His beloved Son and upon the precious blood that he has shed. And so isn't it lovely to sit there on Lord's Day morning and know?
Now that the blood has so completely answered to God that you can say, well, I don't have to have sin on my conscience, because the Lord Jesus has settled the question of sin and the worshippers once purged, have no more conscience of sin, That's the believers standing.
And then it says our bodies washed with pure water, while the water has spoken of in Titus is the washing of regeneration.
That was a little difficult to just get this thought, but perhaps I could bring before you what the Lord said to Peter. He said he that is washed.
Is clean everywhere, that is.
Peter didn't have to be washed all over again. He was now not only cleansed by the blood as before God, but he has looked upon as being in a new standing before God, that is.
Now you are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you.
Perhaps I could use a little illustration. Supposing I was a thief and I stole $100 from someone and he forgave me. Well, I'm very grateful that he forgave me. But I must confess I wouldn't feel too much at ease in his presence because I'd always think, well, he looks on me as a forgiving thief, I'm sure.
There's no question in my mind that he's forgiven me, but still I'm in his presence, knowing that I've been forgiven, but not for liberty. But supposing he said to me, Oh, I want to tell you something more. I've not only forgiven you, but every time I look at you, I'm going to look upon you as though you'd never done this thing. And I'm going to look on you in all the favor and acceptance and love that I have toward my own sons.
Now the believer has been placed before God, not only with his sins gone in the blood, but this is where the water comes in. We are now before Him in a perfect standing, washed all over, so that we are seen in Christ and before Him, accepted in the Beloved, and that is why we have the blood.
The heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and the water are new standing, so now I can say.
Well, I can feel at home now in the presence of that person, because I know he doesn't look on me as a forgiven thief. He loves me. He loves me just as much as he loves his son. Oh, you say, but he must think about that. Although he said that I wouldn't, that he wouldn't remember it anymore. And that's what God has said. Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Isn't it a wonderful whom, brethren, that said in his presence in this way.
I've often thought of it as we have in 1St Corinthians 10, where it tells us that we are at His table as members of His body.
We're not just there as forgiven sinners, although we are that, but we're there as though he were looking at us and saying, thou it all fare, my love, there's no spot in me. What a place then. Well, that's what faith lays hold of then in the 23rd verse.
The correct translation is hope, so I'll read it as in the other translation. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He is faithful that promise, because the three things that are brought before us here are faith, hope, and love. And so faith lays hold of what Christ has done, and then we have a hope.
What is the hope?
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Well, Israel had a hope of getting blessing that was conditional, but we have a hope that is founded upon what Christ has done. And so we hold it without wavering. Because we're faithful. No, because He is faithful. Isn't that lovely? He's faithful, you say, Oh, but if you sin, you might lose it. Oh, but he's faithful. He not only settled the question of my sins, but He's the captain of my salvation, carrying me through.
And he's not going to lose.
Of his arm so you say well I'm afraid I'm unfaithful remember those words. He is faithful he is faithful and that's why we're told a whole fast the confession of our hope. We've made a confession that we're going to be with Christ in glory. Oh and someone says but I assure you'll attain well we say he's faithful he's faithful he's going to carry us through isn't that lovely That's our hope and so we have faith and hope and now.
This 24th verse and.
Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good work.
Here we have now provoked love. So we have the third thing we have faith and hope and love and so wouldn't it be lovely, brother? And if we.
More to fulfill this little exhortation, I often think of it. It speaks to my own heart. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love. We can look at one another and see failures in one another, and I'm sure you see failures in May. But isn't it nice to look at one another with this thought? What can I do to encourage that person to love the Lord Jesus more?
That's what it means. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and the good works.
My father told me one time about when Brother Heaney, an old brother, used to be with us. I visited a sister in Ottawa and he said to the sister, do you provoke the same sister?
Well, she said, I hope not. It's better healing. But he said you should.
Why don't you get nodded, man? He said, Well, we should provoke one another unto love and to good work. Let me know what's easy to provoke our brethren other ways. And I'm afraid we often do things that provoke them. But wouldn't it be nice if we provoked them the right way, that we stir them up? So they want to do a little more for the Lord. They want a lot more to please Him. They want to walk more in the enjoyment of His love. Well, let's think about one another in this world and as we see one another.
Perhaps someone drifting and getting cold?
I want to be nice to say to ourselves, what can I do to revolt that brother to love and good work? What can I do to encourage him or her to follow the Lord Jesus more so isn't this lovely? After bringing before us the standing has been brought into we have here 3 exhortations sounded unsafe and hope and love faith that energy into and enjoys all this because God has said it.
Hope that and knows that it's also secure.
Because He is faithful and love that is like the lubricant that keeps us going on together for His glory in the little time that remains to us.
Briefly at the others here I I just like to mention them in the 12TH chapter.
And this first verse, it says, let us lay aside every weight.
And the sin which does so easily beset us. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Here we have we're running in a race.
And there are things that are hindrances in this race.
And they may not be wrong in themselves.
A weight isn't necessarily something that's wrong, but it's a hindrance.
I might have a pair of heavy shoes and they may be very fine for some occasions, but they're no good in a race and if I was going to run a race I'd take them off because they're a hindrance in the race.
And perhaps I hear someone say, well, tell me what's wrong about this or what's wrong about that. Well, it may not be wrong at all in itself, but it wouldn't be better to say, I wonder if this is hindering me from following Christ.
And even if it's not wrong in itself, it can be a hindrance in following Christ. And so if there's anything in your life or mine that is awake, it's just sort of dragging us down. It's hindering us from running after the Lord Jesus. Now let us just put it aside. Let's just put it aside. Then there are other things that are positively sinned and we're told here.
To lay aside the sin which does so easily beset us. And there may be something that's a positive sin. I believe here it prefers primarily to the sin of unbelief. But I think each one has some particular sin that is a particular snare, and we need to watch.
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Sin in a believer's life can hinder fruitfulness. How many a person has ruined his life because he has given away some secret sins and that has spoiled his life and testimony. It's hindered him from following Christ. And so it says, let us run with patience or endurance. The race now that is the Christian race is not 100 yard dash. It's a race of endurance. Now that is we need to go on.
It's easy to make a dash and start out, but somehow it takes constant looking to the Lord, constant dependence on Him, just to go on from day-to-day. Run with endurance the race that is set before us and we look to Jesus. He ran with endurance to race. He started it and He finished it to the glory of His Father in everything in his life. He had His Father before him and He is the exempt.
For us, others have run in the race and we can imitate their faith, but there was only one that ran it perfectly. So don't follow me, because if you followed me, you might make some mistakes, but if you look at the Lord Jesus, you will follow. You'll find one who was always perfect. He began and He completed the path of faith.
Now let's turn over to the 13th chapter.
Now I'd just like to make a few brief comments about this.
We have spoken about our place inside the veil now, that is, we have been brought into a marvelous place of nearness in Christianity.
But how does this place fit in regard to all that which might be called a carryover from Judaism that has been introduced into Christianity?
Paul christened them today, has taken on the character of Judaism now, that is, they have built these buildings, they have introduced robes, they have introduced ritual, they have introduced all kinds of singing entertainment, and all this kind of thing has been brought in now into Christianity. It is really the carryover and the brilliant end of that which was the shadow into Christianity.
Now we do.
Have the place in the holiest of all through the blood of Christ. But as regards all that which has to do with the old order of things, we recognize that as being the camp of Israel, and our place is outside. And then He goes to show us that just as that blood was brought into the very holiest of all, and sprinkled there and provided.
A way by which God could go on with the people, then he said, But we must.
Also remember that when that was done, the body of that animal was taken and it was burned outside the camp. Now he says, and the Lord Jesus by his glorious work has rent the veil and by his precious blood we have access into the holiest of all about if we want to be identified with the person, he's outside the camp, he's outside the camp. And now we have those two little words again.
Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach, and to take our place outside of all this that has been set up and organized in Christendom, which is really a mixture of Judaism and Christianity, which the Spirit of God is condemning in this epistle. It's a new thing, it's a better thing, it's a living thing.
It's not an improvement on the old order. The old order was a shadow.
So it's now an entirely new thing. The new wine must be put in new bottles. And where do we find ourselves? Outside the camp, gathered to a rejected person?
And there's no mixture. He says we have an altar of our love. They have no right to eat, which serves the Tabernacle. Now God is not mixing the two systems together. He is bringing us into a new place. And may you and I enter into this blessed privilege. Now this brings reproach, because for a Jew to step out from all that old order of things and identify himself with a rejected Christ brought recruits, and in a similar way today.
When we take our place apart from all that man is organized in Christendom, and go out to a rejected person, we bear his reproach. Isn't that lovely though his reproach? May the Spirit of God give us to value this privilege, because separation in Christianity is always to a person. Go forth unto him without the camp.
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And so in separation is enjoined in Corinthians it says.
Come out, and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
But as you might say, we had a city though, and God placed his name in that city. Well, he said, we don't have a continuing city here. We meet around the Lord Jesus as a rejected Savior here. But we do have a city. We seek one to come. We're going to be in the heavenly city. We're going to be in Jerusalem, which is above. We're going to be with that vast company of Saints in that glorious city above. And that's what we're looking for. But here we're.
Pilgrims and strangers, all that you say. What about sacrifices? Well, we offer the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips. Oh, how well can you play the instrument? Well, God is looking for what comes from the heart, and so he says, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. And so you can see that now in Christianity the shadows have been fulfilled. It's a new way, it's a living way as to nearness.
It's inside the veil.
But as to our position in Christendom, it's outside the camp. It's to a rejected Christ, and we don't introduce physical things. We don't have to build an altar because Christ himself is our altar. We don't have to glory in some particular city. Sometimes people say to you, well, where's the center of this movement?
The head is up there in heaven.
That's the city that we were waiting for, the city and the heavenly Jerusalem. Because you're coming to the mountain Zions, the heavenly Jerusalem. That's the place that we have been brought to. Well, what kind of sacrifices do you offer? The fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. And then this love flows out to do good and to communicate. Forget not, our hearts get filled.
We're so filled with what he has done for us, but then it flows out.
In the seeking the good and the blessing of others. Because the truth of God will never make us selfish and self-centered. It's impossible for the Lord to fill your heart and mind that it doesn't overflow. Our hearts are just too small to contain all that He wants to put in. And so whenever He fills our hearts, there's always an overflow. And I've often been struck, brethren, at the similarity between.
Worship and service, and I've enjoyed it more and more as I think of it.
That in worship we present Christ to God in all the excellence of his person and work, and in service we present Christ to the Sinner in all the excellence of his person and work. God delights to have us occupied with his beloved Son, speaking well of him. Well May God grant that the truth of these things may grip our hearts. And then that these little exhortations that are mentioned here in these different verses, let us.
I haven't read them all, but let us as if we should just take the arm of another Christian and say, well, let's live more for the Lord Jesus. He's done so much for us. We belong to him. He has a rightful claim over our hearts and it's a privilege that we can have now.
To know all that he has done for us and in response, to seek to acknowledge his claims and live for him until he comes again.