We'll be returning to Hebrews chapter 10. So in our series through the book of Hebrews, This is now message number 29 in that series entitled, New Covenant State of Mind. And we're going to be looking here in Hebrews chapter 10 at verses 11 to 18. 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. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof 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 minds will I write them And if and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin so chapter 10 opened up by explaining the ineffectiveness of the old covenant the animal sacrifices The writer said, could never take away sins. And of course, by taking away sins, he's referring to full forgiveness, a full and permanent forgiveness once for all. Well, Jesus Christ came into the world to offer himself, to offer his own body. That's what he talks about in the earlier part of this chapter. And he did so once for all time for sins. So Jesus did not come to fulfill the Old Covenant by acting as an Old Covenant priest, by offering the blood of animals, but he came so that he could offer himself and enter into the true holy place in the heavens and serve as priest. Now, he contrasted the Old Covenant sacrifices that couldn't perfect, and he continues to use that language, that word that has the idea of completing, coming to a consummation, that he couldn't perfect the offerers And with the New Covenant sacrifice, that's one sacrifice, it makes holy, it cleanses, and it does so permanently. the doing away with the Old Covenant was by God's will in the New Covenant. Now, the writer brings this long priesthood of Jesus section, and we've been going through Hebrews. He mentions the priesthood back in Chapter 2. He's talking about it at the end of Chapter 4 and into Chapters 5 and 6 and all the way to where we are right now. We know there was a little digression there when he spoke about his concern about their maturity and ability to understand what was revealed in Scripture. But nevertheless, he has focused mainly on the priesthood of Jesus Christ. And really in this passage that we're looking at this morning, he brings this long section, which is the major portion of this letter, he's bringing it to a conclusion and is going to transition to a warning, to practical exhortations and applications from here to the end of the letter. And so he's adding in this section in particular a couple of witnesses to the ending and the replacing of the Old Covenant by the New Covenant. Also, he has already alluded to the purging of the conscience, and he proceeds in that vein to show us what I hope by the end we will see really is the New Covenant state of mind. So we're going to look at this in two parts, verses 11 to 14. when Jesus sat down, and that's what the writer emphasizes there. And in verses 15 to 18, where the writer states how there is no more offering for sin. So we'll start in this first part here, beginning again with verse number 11. And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. So notice that the writer begins here and he begins a series of contrasts with the Old Covenant. And he's highlighting the fact that the Old Covenant priests stood serving in the tabernacle. Now it'd be easy to read over that and to not think much, you know, well the priest stood and offered, but he's actually emphasizing the fact that they stood. Literally, their standing position in the tabernacle and for the offering of these sacrifices. So as they served the tabernacle, And in fact, the Old Covenant even refers to the priestly service that way in a couple places like Deuteronomy 10, verse 8. And in chapter 18, verses 5 and 7, where it refers to them as standing before the Lord. And the writer of Hebrews is picking up again that that's not just a figure of speech. It's not just an expression. They literally stood to do their service. And they repeatedly, offered what he refers to as the same sacrifices. In other words, when you think about it, Those priests, under the Old Covenant, literally did the same thing every day. Day after day after day after day. And, you know, there would be some breaks in the sense that there were certain feasts and certain sacrifices, Day of Atonement obviously being a major one, but even that was a complete cycle that repeated annually. So the priests continually did the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. Now, a lot of us have probably experienced times in our life when we feel like we're just doing the same things over and over and over again. And what does that mean? Well, what that means for us is that we're not making any progress. We're just sort of going around in a circle here. We're not making any progress. So the priest didn't, they didn't make any progress in their service. They simply did the same thing day after day after day after day. And then if they died, well then another priest took their place and they did the same thing day after day after day after day. This is what the writer of Hebrews is bringing out. There was no progress that was made. reiterates that those sacrifices could never take away sins. And that means that we know that the Old Covenant required certain sacrifices had to be of a certain age. They had to be spotless or without blemish. Essentially they couldn't have any sort of physical defects or even particular markings or what have you. So that That they could never take away sins means that no matter if the most pristine and best animal could be found, it still would not take away sin. No matter how many times that those sacrifices were repeated, they still could not take away sin. And the fact that the priest stood repeatedly offering the same sacrifices which could never take away sin is what he's setting up for this contrast. So we look at verse 12. after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God." Now this contrast, referring to the sacrifice of Jesus, and you can see that back in verse 10, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, and then he talks about the old covenant priest, then he's back to this man, talking about Jesus Christ again, after he had offered his one sacrifice. So he makes a point of the fact the old covenant priests they offer the same sacrifices repeatedly day after day after day and generation after generation. Jesus Christ made one sacrifice. He made one sacrifice one time and it wasn't animals. It was his body. It was himself as he pointed out in verse number 10. So what the writer is getting at is that this shows us that Jesus' sacrifice was effective. It was actually a sacrifice that took away sins because it was done once for all time, never to be repeated. So he's highlighting this contrast and even to the fact that he says that after he made this offering, he sat down on the right hand of God. So those priests, again, stood daily in the tabernacle, later in the temple. And in fact, we recently went through the book of Exodus, and sometimes the book of Exodus can be challenging to read through in your yearly Bible reading, and it can be challenging sometimes to work through. You've got so much description of all of these various aspects of the tabernacle that had to be made. And some of it, again, we don't even know for sure what it looked like. Sometimes we've seen some drawings or sketches and things people have come up with, and I'm sure that it's reasonable what they've come up with, but we don't know for sure what some of these things that were described, what they actually looked like. And throughout all of that long, extensive description, did you notice there was not a single description of a chair that was to be made for the tabernacle? No seat of any kind amongst all that furniture, amongst all of those materials, everything that was to be made, nothing to sit on in the tabernacle. And that's not just an oversight. The writer of Hebrews is actually picking up on this fact. The priests stood daily and there was no chair. Why? Because their work was never accomplished. They could never sit down. You know how it is when you've been working, you've had a long day, whatever it is, and it's just a great feeling to actually get accomplished what you set out to do, and then to sit down, maybe drink some water, drink some tea, or something, and just rest, and it's a great feeling. You've accomplished, you did it. But in the case of the priests, they never sat down in the tabernacle because their work was never finished. Even when they so-called finished the day's work, they had to do it all over again the next day. So the Old Covenant priests never sat down. and their work could never be finished because nothing that they did actually atoned for sins." Now the writer has already spent quite a bit of time talking about how these things were just shadows, they were just figures, they were just parallels or parables rather for the true that was to come and to be accomplished and that is what they were engaged in. Now the writer again here is referring to Psalm 110 in verse number one. And he's referring to it as a witness that this one sacrifice was permanently effective. In other words, because the sacrifice of Jesus was effective, he sat down. He sat down never to offer any other sacrifice. In fact, he would go on to say there is no other sacrifice effective. Now he has referred to this actually In chapter 1, in verse 3, that after he's made this offering, he sat down at the right hand of God again in chapter 8. And here again, contrasting it with those old covenant priests who could never sit down because their work was never actually finished. Verse 13, from henceforth, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. So here the writer is referring to the very last part of Psalm 110 in verse one, and he's referring to it as further evidence that Jesus' work was accomplished. Not only did he sit down, but he sat down to wait until the next thing, the next event, the next work that you could say that he has to do. Now in terms of salvation, he has no further work to do, but in terms of and bringing in the realization of the full inheritance and the fulfilling of all of the covenant. Yes, he has a work to do, he has to come to this earth. But he sat down to wait for that time when his enemies will be put under his feet, when he will subdue the nations. And if you remember back in chapter 2 and verse number 8 the writer has already clearly and plainly stated that this has not happened yet. Yes, he is currently presently at the right hand of God in heaven, but it's not yet the time for his enemies to be put under his feet as they will be when he returns. So the writer is saying here he made his one offering that was effective and he sat down and he sat down and waits. There's no more work to do in regard to that sacrifice for sins. The writer here is not, he's referring to this, again, as further evidence that his sacrifice was effective. He's not really getting into the fulfilling and subduing of the nations at the return of Christ in the future and all of that. But he's really emphasizing the completed nature of his sacrifice. And he has also shown that you say, well, Jesus has sat down and waiting, but it's not that he's inactive. It's that he's emphasizing that work was finished. What's he doing right now where the writer's already referred to it several times also? He's presently interceding. He's serving in the true holy place in the heavens in the presence of God as Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. He's referred to that in Chapter 7 and verse 25 and chapter 9 and verse 24. He's interceding for those who believe in Him, which means those of us here today who believe and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, He is presently at the right hand of God, serving in the true holy place and interceding for you and I. But as far as sacrifices for sins goes, there's nothing more to do. Nothing more to do. In terms of advancing or you might say moving to the next age, so to speak, he's sitting and waiting for that. In terms of being a high priest in heaven, he's interceding for his people presently and continuously. Verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." So the writer explained Jesus sitting down and waiting because his offering, his one offering, actually perfected. And again, that word that refers to completion or accomplishment And particularly the writer of Hebrews uses that word in reference to the purging of the conscience of the guilt of sin. In chapter 7 verses 11 and 19, back in chapter 9 and verse 9, again in chapter 10 and verse number 1. That actual accomplishment of the purging of the conscience of sin guilt is what he has repeatedly also referred to the fact that the old covenant could never accomplish, but yet the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ has. Now the sanctified, we've also seen this reference a few times in Hebrews as well, and he's referring to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ again, sanctifying back in chapter 10. Now the word sanctify, If we were to put it sort of in a group of similar terms, we could put it in a group of words that would speak of cleansing, of purification, that sort of idea of ceremonial type of consecration. Now the word itself means made holy, but here he's complimenting his use of perfection, that perfecting, the purging of the conscience of And he's saying those that are made holy, those that are purified. Now, if you think back to what we've seen in the last couple of chapters, he's talked about the fact that the old covenant sacrifices, they were effective in the sense that they could externally cleanse someone and make them ceremonially clean. They couldn't do anything for the heart. They couldn't do anything for the consciousness of sin, but they could externally make someone ceremonially clean so that they could, for instance, in the case of Levites and the priests and whatnot, they could serve the tabernacle in various ways. Or someone that had been defiled, maybe by a dead body or whatever the case may be, they could re-enter the camp of Israel. They could be made ceremonially clean. So those animal sacrifices and that priestly service and those washings, they were able to accomplish that. They could externally make someone ceremonially or ritually clean, but they couldn't actually cleanse the heart. They couldn't cleanse someone internally, purge the conscience of guilt of sin. So that is what he's speaking of here, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has actually accomplished, perfected, sanctified, what the old covenant could never do. And this accomplished purification is also, you notice, forever. It's forever by his one sacrifice. Now the cleansings of the Old Testament, again, they had to be repeated. Just because someone is ceremonially clean today, that doesn't mean they'll be ceremonially clean tomorrow, or the next day, or next month, or whatever the case may be. Even in some cases, the priests, by performing their services, became unclean and had to stay outside the camp until they could be ceremonially cleansed to enter in. But in the case of the cleansing, the purification of Jesus Christ through His one sacrifice, it's forever. In other words, it's permanent. It doesn't fade away. It doesn't disappear. It doesn't have to be renewed, which would tie into what he was talking about in chapter 6, verses 4 to 6. And this talk of permanency actually does somewhat circle back and support what he's saying there. And we're going to see that again before we get out of chapter 10, when he's going to essentially look at what he said there in chapter 6, just from a different perspective. why it is impossible to renew. To have experienced permanent purification through Jesus' sacrifice and then to turn from that and then to be purified again, he said it would require another sacrifice for sin. And that's why he said it was impossible there in chapter six. And he will show that again before we get out of chapter 10. Then we go to the next part, beginning with verse number 15. whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us for that after he had said before." So, Jesus sitting down at the right hand of God in the heavens is another witness to the ending of the Old Covenant. Now, he referred earlier to God speaking to that end when he spoke of making a new covenant. In other words, he referred to God speaking back in chapter 8 and verse number 8 when he was quoting from Jeremiah. And he referred to the words that Jesus said back earlier in chapter 10 when he was quoting from Psalm number 40. And now he brings in this third witness, the words of the Holy Spirit. And again, he's going to refer to Jeremiah 31 much the same way as he did to Psalm 95 back in chapter 3 and Psalm 40 there. Chapter 9. He's sort of loosely quoting from Jeremiah 31 verses 33 to 34. It's not every word, and it's a little bit paraphrased, but he's putting the statements, he's really going back there and he's taking a couple of statements, important statements, and again, he's not taking them out of their contextual meaning, he's interpreting them consistently and contextually, but he's taking those statements and he's putting them together. And he's going to draw a necessary conclusion from that. Another of those clear statements. And he's also going to draw attention to the order in which they were put. And so that's the way, and I know this verse divides a little awkwardly, for after that he had said before, is a little awkward, but then he starts to quote. But he is drawing attention to the order. This statement was made, and then this statement was made. So the first statement here in verse 16. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. So he spoke of the covenant to be made with the house of Israel, a new covenant that we are told. This house of Israel referring, of course, to the United Israel and Judah as one nation. Their judgment of exile would not last forever. And of course, Moses prophesied that. All the prophets have spoken of that since that time as well. It wouldn't last forever. Jeremiah spoke of that fact as well. It wouldn't last forever. will they be destroyed in it so that they cease to be a people. Rather than the external works of the old covenant, he says, he will write in the hearts and minds of this nation. Now, this is not the writer's point in this, but just sort of as an added here. We also know from other places that, yes, this new covenant is made with the house of Israel, but we also know from other places that the nations, what we commonly refer to as Gentiles, are grafted into New Covenant promises for the fulfilling of the Abrahamic Covenant regarding the nation. So if you remember our study of the biblical covenants, we know that the Old Covenant, which was made with Israel, was for the purpose of fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant and the promises pertaining to them. But we know that it could not actually accomplish that. But rather through the New Covenant it's going to be accomplished. And also the Abrahamic Covenant promises for the nations as well as for Israel. And so the nations will also experience the fulfillment of those through the New Covenant by being grafted in. Now again, the writer is not getting into that at all. I just wanted to mention that because we are We're talking about this and this grafting in is the way these things are fulfilled involving Israel and the nation. So it doesn't change or alter the promises to Israel which God first spoke to Abraham that are unconditional and everlasting. Now, let's get back to Hebrews. The writer here is emphasizing the order in which these were spoke. He said after that he had said this, which is what's in verse 16, and it's sort of then he said what's going to come in verse number 17. So the Old Covenant, of course, by way of contrast, the Old Covenant had laws. And the New Covenant has laws, but the former were written in stone and the latter is written in the hearts. And then he says in verse 17, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember So first he said, I'm going to write this in their hearts and in their minds, and then he said, I will not remember their iniquities or sins. So in other words, even in the prophetic announcement of this new covenant in Jeremiah 31, God spoke, and in this case He's referring to the Spirit, of taking away sins and iniquity, something the Old Covenant could not do. Sins, the word there is the most common word for sin in the New Testament, and it has an equivalent in the Hebrew that's the most common word for sin in the Old Testament that means essentially to miss the mark, to come up short. If God's standard of holiness and righteousness is here, we're way down there somewhere. We're not hitting that mark. That's the most common word. The word for iniquities is a word that speaks more of a violation of laws, commands, the idea of transgressing. Now, on the one hand, this statement where God says, through this new covenant, I will remember their sins and iniquities no more, this statement anticipates an effective sacrifice. That's not possible through the Old Covenant. It's not possible that God would remember sins no more through the Old Covenant. That's not possible. But by saying that he would remember sins no more, he's anticipating an effective sacrifice through sins through the New Covenant. If you remember, the Old Covenant, in fact, had a remembrance of sins built right into it. And he referred to that back in chapter 10 and verse number 3, which can be seen clearly just from the Day of Atonement itself, which is what the writer brought out, but is there in all of the aspects of the Old Covenant. So this is a very important contrast between that old and new covenant. And it also highlights the fact that these two are incompatible. And the writers already pointed that out. While the old stood, the way was not made clear. It wasn't made open. And the new replaces that of the old. And there's a new way, which we'll see in the next part of Chet Pertain, we're not getting into yet. But that language of remembering no more, that language is a covenantal term in the Old Testament of God remembering. It's not that God forgets or even could forget. It's not that God, well, He let it slip. Oh yeah, I made a promise concerning them, so I have to do this and that. It's covenantal language. It's referring to the fact that God will remember the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He will not fail to fulfill them. So He's not going to destroy, nor is He going to completely forsake the seed of Abraham, that nation that was promised to Him. And here He's saying He will not remember sins against them so that the covenants will not be fulfilled. In other words, according to Exodus 19, 5 and 6, we talked about how the purpose of the fulfilling of the Abrahamic covenant through the Old Covenant It couldn't actually be accomplished though. Why? Because the sins of the people, they couldn't keep the old covenant. If they could have kept the old covenant, so to speak, then the promises of Abraham could have been fulfilled to them. And again, that's sort of hypothetical, the way that it's presented. But they couldn't. And that was the problem. And so now he's saying, I'm gonna make a new covenant where I'm not gonna remember their sins and iniquity. That's completely different from the old covenant. That was a major problem, in fact, of the old. In verse 18, he says, now, where remission of these is, remission, he's talking about sins and iniquities, there is no more offering for sin. Now that word for remission, we've seen it before, it refers to pardon, to deliverance, to forgiveness. And the writer is referring to actual forgiveness of sins through the new covenant sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So what is he doing? Here he's drawing that important conclusion. This is a necessary consequence of these clear statements from the Old Testament. Where there is an effective sacrifice, where there is an actual cleansing of sin, there is no more sacrifice or no other sacrifice. In other words, on the one hand, there's no sacrifice that needs to be repeated. And on the other hand, there's no greater or better sacrifice to be made. And again, he's brought that out through the Old Covenant. You had repeated animal sacrifices that were not sufficient to take away sins. And so they had to be repeated over and over and over again. And then you have the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is a better, it's a greater sacrifice. So that those are ended and this never has to be repeated. Now in terms of dealing with sins, there is nothing left or nothing more to do. Sins cannot be any more paid for than what they are with the blood of Jesus Christ. There's no more money, no more interest, no more payment that needs to be made. So this ties back again to chapter 6 and what we're going to see in the rest of this chapter as well. It's reinforcing, though, the primary warning of this letter and the temptation that those first century Jewish believers were facing in turning back to the Old Covenant, the temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifices, and what he's been warning them repeatedly through this letter and giving them knowledge to understand that they must not do. There is no more sacrifice because Jesus accomplished forgiveness of sins with one sacrifice. There is no other. And it also means the end of the old covenant and the replacement of it by the new. Now, the writer has given the witness of the Father, Son, and the Spirit over this last little part of this section to the temporary nature of the Old Covenant and its complete replacement by the New, which was established with the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. The Old Covenant, he has told us, was a shadow. It was a figure. of better things to come in the New Covenant with Jesus Christ. And so a necessary consequence of that then is you can't go back. No, this is the reality. In fact, the Old Covenant, he's telling us, was looking forward to this. This was the reality the Old Covenant was pointing to. And so once the reality has come, the better, the greater has come, you can't turn back to the shadow, to what is merely pointing forward. The effectiveness was highlighted here by Jesus sitting down at the right hand of God in the heavens after He had made this one sacrifice for sins. His work was accomplished. The old covenant priests, they had to stand daily. Their work was ineffective and their sacrifices had to be repeated. Well, the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice for sins also has a very important application for us today. So contrasting the old covenant and the new covenant, reveals two different states of mind. The Old Covenant state of mind was one of fear, fear of condemnation. So God has given us the 613 commandments, and again, whatever that actual number is, this Old Covenant law, and we have to obey it to the letter to avoid the condemnation of the law, which is impossible. We also have to repeatedly offer for sins and observe cleansing rituals. Why? Because we're never fully clean. You're never fully clean through the Old Covenant. By contrast, the New Covenant state of mind is to have a desire within. to follow God, to obey his word through that spirit, his spirit that is within us. So the motivation to follow and obey in the new covenant state of mind, it's not out of fear of condemnation, but it's out of love and out of thanksgiving. It's out of the knowledge of the grace of God that has been received in Jesus Christ. And to know that sins are fully and finally forgiven through the sacrifice of Christ, so they do not need to be, nor can they be, repeatedly paid for. The New Covenant state of mind says, those sins are covered. And while, yes, I'm aware of my sins, I'm aware of those failures, I'm aware of those faults, I can't pay for them. They're already paid. There's no need for me to try to afflict myself or to punish myself or to try to do something in some way to try to pay or to add to the payment for those sins. It's done. Well, that's a new covenant state of mind. Jesus purges the conscience of sins, of the guilt of sin. So, yes, we have knowledge of sins that we've committed. We are aware of sins that we have committed. And we may also have certain emotional responses regarding sins and things that we have committed. But knowing that we are forgiven means that we can live in freedom in Jesus Christ. We're not shackled by guilt and the futile effort to try to pay for those sins, which we could never do anyway, and the Old Covenant should clearly show us that. Whether it's a surplus of good works or whatever that that course is. No, we are new covenant Christians and we're supposed to live in a new covenant state of mind. Understanding our sins have been paid for and our guilt has been purged by the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's gonna tie into the next part of Hebrews 10 that we'll look at, Lord, in the next service.