Well, from Hebrews 5 up through Hebrews 10, the emphasis really is on the superior priesthood of Jesus Christ. And the author's focused on two Old Testament passages as sort of the basis of his teaching. Psalm 110, which we just sang, and Jeremiah 31, and the prophet's teaching on the new covenant. This morning we're going to again encounter those two passages as the writer concludes the doctrinal section of this letter. When we come back next week there will be a warning and then after that it becomes very practical. But the overarching goal thus far has been to demonstrate from every conceivable angle that Christ is our perfect priest who offered a perfect once-for-all sacrifice to perfect God's people that they might draw near to Him with a clean conscience. And the great theological point behind this is that there's nothing that can be added to Christ's sacrifice, because it is in fact a truly and fully all-sufficient sacrifice. And that's precisely why the author is telling the Hebrew Christians they can't return to the rites and rituals of the tabernacle and temple, because everything those rites and rituals pointed to, they've been fulfilled in Christ. And so to go back to the types and shadows was to deny the sacrifice of Christ as being all-sufficient. The Reformers were convinced, and rightly so, that the medieval Catholics had embraced a similar error in their doctrine of salvation, and specifically in their doctrine of the Mass. Every time Christ was offered on a Catholic altar at Mass, it was in fact a declaration that Christ's sacrifice wasn't finished, it wasn't complete, it wasn't all-sufficient. And the Reformers were emphatic, we need nothing for our salvation but Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. That's why there's a banner hanging behind me with the slogan, Solus Christus, Christ alone. That's our Reformed heritage, and it's a biblical heritage. To that end, I thought it would maybe be helpful since it is, since Friday was Reformation Day, to share a few quotes that Reformers made in this regard. Let's start with Calvin. This is from the Institutes. He writes, we see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should take, therefore, care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain and from no other. That's Christ alone. Henrik Bollinger, some of you might not be familiar with Bollinger, but he was a contemporary and a friend of Calvin's and also a Swiss reformer and an excellent theologian, I might add. He put it this way. For his sacrifice is so complete that there's nothing left to be desired from it, so rich and abundant that there's no race of people which it does not absolve and redeem if only they believe." Another Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli wrote, Christ, having sacrificed himself once, is to eternity a certain and valid sacrifice for the sins of all faithful. Guido de Bray was the author of the Belgic Confession. He said, we find all comforts in his wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means to reconcile ourselves with God than this one and only sacrifice once made, which renders believers perfect forever. Did you hear that? Christ's all-sufficient sacrifice renders believers perfect forever. We're actually gonna see that in our text this morning. And then finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't include a quote from John Knox, because he is the father of Presbyterianism. He writes, from this we confess and avow that there remains no other sacrifice for sin If any affirm so, we do not hesitate to say that they're blasphemers against Christ's death and the everlasting atonement thereby purchased for us. I love what Knox says, there remains no other sacrifice for sin and anyone who argues otherwise is a blasphemer. By the way, those who were in Sunday school, that's a particular kind of language you would expect from a man, isn't it? Well this morning as we return to our study of Hebrews, we're gonna see that Guido de Bray and John Knox were simply echoing our text. By Christ's one sacrifice, he's perfected his people forever. And there's no longer any other offering for sin. Christ is it. Let me say it this way. It's Christ alone, or it's Christ not at all. Those are the only two choices. Well, let's seek the Lord and we'll get to work. Pray with me once more. Father, we're thankful and bless you for your kindness and mercy to us that you've given us a sure, true, delightful word eternally settled in the heavens. We pray, oh God, that your spirit will work as surely as it worked A millennia ago, carrying along men of old to record divine truth, we pray that one same spirit records these precious truths upon our very hearts this morning. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, please open up your copy of scriptures to Hebrew 10. We're gonna read verses five through 18, but our main text this morning will be verses 11 through 18. Hebrews 10, beginning at verse five. Therefore, when he came into the world, he said, sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me, and burn offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I've come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God. Previously saying, sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law. Then he said, behold, I've come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool, for by one offering he's perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I'll make with them after those days, says the Lord. I'll put my laws into their hearts and in their minds, I will write them. Then he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds, I'll remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, or where there is forgiveness of sin, there is no longer an offering. for sin. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of our God endures forever. May He bless it to our hearts this morning. Well, dearest congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we learned last week that it's imperative that we think rightly about the relationship between the old covenant sacrifices and Christ's once-for-all sacrifices. The old covenant sacrifices, we learned, are limited by God's own design. They were never intended to fully and finally save anyone because they couldn't. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. It was impossible for animal blood to make full satisfaction for the sin of God's image bearers. Those sacrifices were a shadow of the good things to come, not the reality itself. And we saw that these repeated sacrifices necessarily left the Old Testament worshiper with a sin-burdened conscience. Every time they returned to the temple with another lamb or another blood sacrifice, it demonstrated that the previous sacrifice wasn't sufficient. If those sacrifices had actually dealt with sin, the worshiper would not have had to keep coming back year after year after year. The very repetition of the sacrifices proved their inadequacy. But then we saw the astonishing contrast. The author of Hebrews took us back to Psalm 40, where David prophesied that God's ultimate desire was never for an endless supply of bloody sacrifices. What God actually wanted was obedience. What God actually desired were people who would lovingly obey Him and live for His glory. And the Lord Jesus took the words of Psalm 40 on his own lips, speaking to his father, saying, a body you've prepared for me. And in that body, Jesus would accomplish What Adam failed to do, what Israel failed to do, and what every other human being has failed to do. Jesus would, in that body, in his incarnation, he would live righteously. He would love the Father perfectly, and he would offer the sacrifice that God always desired. A true sacrifice that would be the gospel cure for sin. We concluded last week by saying how Jesus takes away the first covenant to establish the second. The entire sacrificial system has been taken away. Again, not because it was wrong, but because it fulfilled its purposes. And by God's will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the one body of Jesus Christ once for all. His work is complete. Nothing needs to be added to it. And that's where we pick up this morning. And again, as I mentioned, this is sort of a doctrinal wrap-up in this letter. I wanna ask you, if I can, to engage your sanctified imagination. Picture the temple in Jerusalem at dawn. The sun's just breaking over the eastern wall. And inside the temple, the priests are all ready, busy, making their preparations for the day. And the first thing they would have had to do is to wash their own hands and feet at the bronze altar to signify that they too needed cleansing. And then their work would begin. One set of priests would begin preparing the morning sacrifices, getting the animals ready to be tied down and slaughtered. Another series of priests would have tended to the bronze altar to make sure to keep the fire burning so that every morning they would have to stir those coals and they'd have to remove yesterday's ashes. Another priest would be in charge of mixing the oil and spices for the incense. Another would tend to the showbread. And still another priest would have made certain that there was oil for the lampstand and would have trimmed the wicks. So it's still early in the morning, they're at the temple, and there's already a flurry of activity. Every priest is on his feet, standing, performing his duties, and they're going to be standing all day. And not just this day, but the next day too, it's going to be exactly the same. And in fact, not just the next day, but the next week and the next year. You would continue to find the same thing at the temple. Priests standing and working and never resting. And why? Well, because as we've learned, their work was never done. No matter how many sacrifices they offered, they would always need to offer another one. And so, these priests were always standing. That's the imagery we want to have to understand verse 11. Listen to that. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. Now we first learned this truth back in chapter one and in a couple of other places along in our study, but one of the things, one of the pieces of furniture that was conspicuously absent in the temple or in the tabernacle before that was a chair. And the absence of the chair was a kind of sermon in itself, that the priest's work was never finished, atonement was never complete, there was no time for him to sit down and rest. Why? Because as we just heard, those sacrifices could never take away sin. It was constantly making sacrifice after sacrifice. And this sets the incredible contrast in our passage, a contrast that emphasizes the superiority of Christ's priesthood, and it boils down to this. The old covenant could only ever have standing priests, and as far as atonement was concerned, that meant all their work could be summed up with a single word, unfinished. But under the new covenant, We have a seated priest, and as far as atonement is concerned, his work can be summed up with a better word, finished. What a glorious word. Look there at verse 12. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down at the right hand of God. So you see the contrast? The contrast between verse 11 and 12, every priest stands, This man sat down. Every priest offers repeatedly. This man offered once. Every priest's sacrifice can never take away sin. This man, one sacrifice, deals with sin forever. Listen how Edgar Andrews captures this. The writer deftly uses the redemptive poverty of the Old Covenant as a background against which to display the surpassing excellence of Christ's atoning work. Now, I realize for us, the difference between a standing and a sitting priest might not initially sound earth shattering, but the contrast really is revolutionary in redemptive history. Again, a standing priest sent a message to the worshiper You're gonna need more than I can give you. But Jesus, our seated priest, sends a radically different message. I have provided for you all you will ever need for salvation. And listen, dear ones, the completeness and perfection of Christ's saving work should be a continual comfort to us. Many of us are constrained regularly to cry out with the Apostle Paul, oh wretched man that I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? I find myself crying that out several times every week. Because daily we're reminded of our sin and our frailty. Daily we're reminded of our failure to live up to the high calling of Christ. And yet this text is giving us wonderful gospel comfort. Because we're being taught our salvation isn't grounded in our performance, it rests entirely in His. The work is finished. And knowing that, we're driven to our knees in worship, not to despair. That makes all the difference. And the writer's telling the church, that's the wonder and majesty of Jesus, your high priest. who sat down at the right hand of God. And don't miss that where he sat down is the place of highest and supreme honor. He is sitting with the same Father who prepared a body for him. He's sitting with the Father whose will he came to do. He's sitting with the Father who was pleased with his perfect obedience, and because of that is pleased with us. But notice something important here, Jesus didn't just sit down and retire. Look at verse 13, from that time he's waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. So he's seated, yes, but he's actively reigning right now. This is the posture of a victorious king, resting in finished work, while his kingdom advances through the proclamation of the gospel. And here's what that means. as the Gospel goes forth to the nations, and the Spirit draws its elect from every tribe and tongue. As the church proclaims His name in power, Christ is progressively putting His enemies under His feet. Every soul saved is a conquest. Every knee that bows in worship on this side of glory is a victory. Every demon that flees at the name of Jesus demonstrates his supreme authority. The kingdom is advancing. The gates of hell can't prevail against his church. The battle's already won at the cross and the empty tomb, but now in this present age, Christ reigns from his throne, exercising his authority through his word and spirit. Dear ones, he's not passively waiting for some future moment when he'll reign. He's ruling and reigning now. He's subduing his enemies now. And he's waiting for that final day when the last enemy, which is death itself, will be destroyed. And that's when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Look there at verse 14 because this is where it gets subjective and personal. For by one offering, he's perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Again, by one offering. There's that emphasis again on the singular, once for all nature of Christ's sacrifice. You know, I was thinking about how repetitious the author of Hebrews is. And he's certainly repetitious. But let me tell you why. Do you know how difficult it is for the church to hold onto the doctrine solus Christus? Christ alone. It's profoundly difficult. That's why most churches don't believe it, and many churches who say they do don't believe it. That's why he's so repetitive, because we need it sort of drilled into us, as it were, by the word and the spirit. What does this one offering accomplish? He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. You might be thinking, perfected forever? Have you even met me? I'm far from that. And yes, you're right. If you think you're sinful, I can assure you, you're far more sinful than you think. In our daily experience, we do still struggle with sin, we still fall short, we still fail. But here's what you need to know. This perfection isn't talking about how you feel on Tuesday morning when you've lost your temper and struggled with pride. This is talking about your position before God. In Christ, by virtue of His one sacrifice, we have been perfected. Past tense, it's an accomplished fact. Our standing before God cannot get more perfect than it is right now. Our legal status can't become better because it's perfect right now. God can't love you more than He loves you right now if you're in Christ. The righteousness we have set to our account by faith is perfect right now. That means for us there's no condemnation, there's no outstanding debt left, there's no guilt recorded against us, no wrath hanging over our heads. We've been perfected forever. Get that word in your mind, forever. Not for a year, not until we sin again. Forever. Because His sacrifice is of such an infinite and glorious magnitude, it can't ever lose its power. His blood will never become ineffective. God's declaration of our righteousness, which is Christ imputed to us, it doesn't expire, it doesn't have an expiration date. It's permanent because it's based on His finished work, not our ongoing performance. And I bet everyone here would say, of course you're right, Pastor Bird, but tomorrow you'll live like you don't believe it. Well, there's something else here. We're told he is perfected forever. those who are being sanctified. Now that's present tense. That's ongoing. That's a continuous work of God's grace in us. This is those who are in the process of being sanctified, those who are growing in grace, those who are being conformed to the image of Christ, those who are fighting sin and pursuing holiness, which we will see in chapter 12, that without holiness, no one will see the Lord. You see what's happening? Our position is perfect and permanent, but the practice of the Christian life is progressive and ongoing, and they fit together. We're perfectly righteous in our standing, and we're being made holy in our living. We've been declared righteous through justification, and we're being made righteous through sanctification. We're perfected forever positionally and we're being sanctified progressively experientially. And both of these, our perfect standing and our progressive growth flow from the same fountain, the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His finished work is the foundation of our justification and the power source of our sanctification. Let me say this as clearly as I can. If you're in Christ this morning, you don't need another sacrifice. You don't need to do more to earn God's favor. You don't need to work harder to secure salvation. The work is finished. Christ has sat down. You're perfected forever. But that doesn't mean you have a license to live any way you wish. You see, if you're truly in Christ, if you've been perfected forever, you'll be one of those who are being sanctified. These two truths can't be separated. They have to be distinguished, but they can't be separated. So that you will be growing, you'll be changing, you'll be fighting sin, you'll be pursuing holiness. Not to earn your perfection, but because you've been perfected. Well, we see next how the writer grounds all this in God's covenant promises, verses 15 through 17. Once more in this section, he's quoting Jeremiah 31, the great prophecy of the new covenant. And the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is bearing witness and testifying that this isn't just the writer's opinion, but it's the very testimony of God. And there are two glorious promises. First, I'll put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds, I'll write them. Under the old covenant, the law was written on stone tablets. It was external. It was condemning from the outside, showing what to do, but not providing any power to do it. In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit's work is extensive in the lives of all believers, not just the prophets and priests and kings of the Old Testament, but throughout the church. And God's laws are internalized. God writes them on our hearts. And so that the law is no longer simply an external command, the Spirit creates a distinct internal desire to obey it. So we don't just know what God requires, we want to do what God requires. That's a mark of a person who's been perfected and being made perfect. Second, and this is stunning, their sins and their lawless deeds I'll remember no more. This is one of those passages that ought to always just warm our hearts, because the Lord is using language to communicate truth to us in our feebleness, to build us up in confidence and assurance. The omniscient God knows everything. He sees everything. He forgets nothing, and yet he's telling us here, he's using language that we can make sense of, I'll remember your sins no more. Again, it's not because God develops divine amnesia. He chooses not to remember, to not bring up our sins, to not hold them against us, to not count them to our account. And it's as though they never happened. Why? Because they've been completely dealt with. The sacrifice was made, the blood was shed, Christ bore them in his body on the tree, and God's wrath was poured out on Jesus instead of us. In light of Christ's finished work, God says, I'll remember your sins no more. It's forgiveness, complete forgiveness. Sins removed, taken away, blotted out, cast into the sea, never to be brought up again. Do you grasp this, dear ones? God is not keeping a record. of your wrongs. He's not holding a grudge. He's not waiting to bring up your past. If you're in Christ, your sins are remembered no more. Which means we need to learn to stop remembering them, too. If we've repented of them. Well, verse 18 gives us a conclusion. Now where there's a remission of these, there's no longer an offering for sin. This is the logical conclusion that he's been building up to. If sins are forgiven, if they're remitted, if they're taken away, if they're remembered no more, then what need is there for more sacrifice? The answer, none whatsoever. The sacrifice is made, the remission is accomplished, the forgiveness is secure. Therefore, there's no longer an offering for sin. That's why we don't need priests offering daily sacrifices. It's why we don't keep bringing offerings. It's why there is no altar in the New Testament church, because we don't re-sacrifice Jesus. And that's why the Reformers called the Mass a blasphemous idolatry. There is no longer an offering for sin. It's been made once for all. I alluded to this during the introduction, but this is why it's so deadly to embrace any system suggesting you need to add to Christ's work or that his work needs to be repeated. Because to do so says his sacrifice wasn't enough. His work wasn't finished, that God still remembers your sin, and you still need to find a way for atonement. And the gospel declares exactly the opposite. It is finished. But it really does hinge on this. It's either Christ alone, or it's Christ not at all. So let go of your efforts. that go of your hopes that your noble life will please God and embrace the one sacrifice that secures eternal redemption, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you and bless you for the gospel that is so powerful and so comforting. Day by day, we do take inventory of our lives And we're reminded that even on our best day, the echoes of sinfulness reverberate through our actions and our thoughts and our words. But we hate it. And it frustrates us. Help us to know, oh God, that in Christ, we're forgiven. That in Christ, the power that forgives also transforms. and help us to cling tightly to him, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Well, brothers and sisters, as we prepare to come to the Lord's table, as you know, the invitation to come to this holy sacrament is extended to those who are trusting alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are baptized community members of a Bible-believing or evangelical church. And if that's you, then please do come and feast with and upon the Lord. As I say nearly every Lord's Day, if that doesn't describe you or if you're living in unrepentant sin, and let the elements pass by you, repent of your sin, come back and celebrate next time. As we come to the Lord's table, you know, we confess with the historic church what we believe using the Apostles' Creed, and that's found on page 851, 851 in the back of your hymnal. Christian, what do you believe? I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead, and buried. He descended into hell. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Read two passages this morning and use the Lord's Supper as something of an application of this sermon. Christ is seated. One of the glorious gospel truths is that we are seated with him in heaven. And we're coming at this table to celebrate that. So I'm gonna first read from Ephesians 2. Verses four through six, then I'm gonna skip down to Colossians three. Ephesians two, beginning in verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you've been saved, and he's raised us up together and made us sit together, in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And then Colossians 3, let's see here. Colossians 3, verses one through five. If then you were raised with Christ, Seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore put to death your members, which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry. And then I have a meditation here from Calvin, and sort of following along with the reform theme this morning. Printed there in your bulletin. For in order that pious souls may duly apprehend Christ in the supper, they must be raised up to heaven. The function of the sacrament is to help us in our weakness to rise up and look upon the height of spiritual mysteries. It was established of old that before consecration, the people should be told in a loud voice to lift up their hearts. Scripture itself also not only carefully recounts to us the ascension of Christ, by which he withdrew the presence of his body from our sight and company, to shake from us all carnal thinking of him, but also, whenever it recalls him, bids our minds be raised up seek him in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father let us lift our spirits and hearts on high where Jesus Christ is in the glory of his father whence we expect him at our redemption let us not be fascinated by these earthly and corruptible elements which we see with our eyes and touch with our hands, seeking him there as though he were enclosed in the bread and wine, then only shall our souls be disposed to be nourished and vivified by his substance when they're lifted up above all earthly things, attaining even to heaven. and entertaining the kingdom, excuse me, and entering the kingdom of God where he dwells. Lift up your hearts, lift them up to the God of your salvation. Let's pray. Father in heaven, this is indeed a spiritual mystery. And when we come to celebrate this table, we are intimately communing with the ascended Lord Jesus Christ who is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. And while our finite minds can't discern the intricacies of this mystery, my faith help us to embrace it. Help us to know we are communing with the one who has finished our salvation and has taken that seat. Help us, oh God, to know that we're communing with the one who has fully accomplished our redemption, who has made a once for all atonement, and help us to rest in his full provisions. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Our hymn of application is number 380. Let's stand to sing 380, crown him with many crowns, 380. We'll receive the Lord's benediction. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. And all of God's people said.