0:05 Thank God for his inexpressible gift. Tonight, I want to draw your attention to one of the most profound declarations and promises regarding the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if properly understood, if truly believed on, it has the power to exterminate every and any hindrance in the believing heart Yes. This Yes, this one statement that I'm going to quote to you that can be shared in one breath has such immeasurable force. A force that explosively exalts the person of Jesus Christ, silences every lie and fear regarding your standing before God, and motivates the believer to live a holy life all at the same time.
1:27 How is it that one single verse can unleash such blessings? What is it that these 16 words that the Holy Spirit has recorded for us in our own language? What is it about those words that can provide such power? Hebrews ten fourteen, for by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
2:14 Allow me this evening to present to you at least two glorious thoughts from this one single statement. And the first thought that I wanna bring to your mind and hopefully will reach your heart is the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice. For by a single offering This offering is not referring to the thousand upon thousands of sacrifices of beasts that were performed by the hands of appointed priests during the covenant that God has established with the nation of Israel. No. This author who is obviously a scholar in the law, in the Hebrew scriptures, He is speaking about a unique kind of sacrifice.
3:06 He is speaking here about something that has inaugurated a new covenant. A covenant that you and I are remembering today. I hope that every person in here is enjoying today, and even beyond that perhaps someone will enter into today. When you look at this sacrifice, this author is speaking about something that the great prophets have foretold. The Jeremiah's, the Ezekiel's, and many others have pointed to this one offering.
3:36 And although this offering is speaking about a physical sacrifice, The world has never known an act of worship concerning the object of this sacrifice. The best of bulls and goats have been slain, and they have been placed on many altars. And sadly, the blood of men and even children have been shed by misguided and deceived worshipers of false gods. But this single offering that we are speaking of tonight deals with a sinless man. Not that a son of Adam has been able to attain and maintain internal and external moral perfection.
4:23 No, that is not the case at all. Because this man that we are speaking of who was sinless was in fact God incarnate. God who became man. God who took on flesh. And this God who became man became an offering.
4:43 He became a sacrifice. How can it be? How can it be that God would become man? One, how can it be that God would become man with the intent of dying? And to die for what?
4:59 And to shed his blood for what? Well, this is precisely what we are going to look at. Can I give you the simple answer tonight? The simple answer to that grand question, a series of questions connected to it is this, because the justice of God required it. And there is only one person who can satisfy it.
5:24 Let me prove that to you. In the very same chapter that I quoted that glorious statement from, we are told in Hebrews 10 and verse five. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said look look what Jesus said. When Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure.
6:01 The Holy Spirit informs us that Jesus quoted a psalm. And he used these words in direct communication with the father. Oh, I pray that your heart would be open and hungry to understand what this reveals. God has indeed decreed and commanded to a nation to uphold and honor specific and elaborate rules concerning sacrifices, animal sacrifices, blood sacrifices, grain offerings, different sorts. But based on what Jesus is saying here is that such acts were never God's ultimate will or conclusive plan in dealing with the fall of humanity.
6:47 God has always had in mind, God has always from eternity past, had a more complete and a more effective execution against sin and death, and it is found in one thing, the blessed body of the Son of God. The second person of the triune Godhead becoming a man. This is what God always had in mind. And everything that he instituted before that was just pointing to this. And they also testified of their inadequacy to actually satisfy this whole sin issue that you and I are very familiar with in our own lives and are seeing destroy our world, even our own nation day by day.
7:35 God desired a specific body. And that body would come from his son who lived with him, coexisted, and has all the same godlike attributes, but would one day enter into our world because God has prepared a body for him to take on. And we can be satisfied with that alone. If God desired and he willed it, then we can just praise God for it. But oh, he has given us glimpses of wisdom into why that is the case.
8:05 Why a body? Why become man? Why escape glory and enter into a world that would hate him and despise him and reject him? Why? One of my favorite titles concerning the person of Jesus Christ is not a very familiar one, but it is packed with implication, packed with power, packed with glory.
8:30 The last Adam. In first Corinthians fifteen forty five, Jesus is referred to by Paul as the last Adam. What does Jesus have in common with Adam? Why give him such an identity? Why would the Holy Spirit bring us to that place of meditating on the aspect of Jesus that is connected with our first parent?
8:58 And the only thing that you can say about the strongest characteristic that these two shared, Adam and Jesus Christ is this, That they both operated as representatives here on earth for humanity. Adam being created first was appointed by God to be the federal head of mankind. This is a system that God has created. And what that essentially means is that in great measure, what Adam has done would have effect on those who would come from Adam, who would descend from him. And because Adam, as the representative of mankind before God, did not represent us well, we now share in the consequences of his failure.
9:48 And because of that, we have been born, and we have been birth into a sin nature. Inclined to rebel and disobey the same God that he turned his back on in the garden. That is why we all have that disposition. That is why we have we have that sense of being drawn towards that which God tells us not to do. It's because we are born.
10:14 We are wired this way due to Adam. And if you wanna know more about that, just read Romans chapter five. Paul explains that in great detail. How by one man, many have been made transgressors. And so we look at this and we think to ourselves, okay.
10:28 Well, I understand that about Adam, but what does that have to do with Jesus Christ? Well, in honoring his own system and God honoring the very thing that he's established from the beginning, he institutes a plan. A plan that he is, of course, always known. A plan in creating a new line of people, a new breed, a new family. And in this family, what would happen was a door would be open for people to escape the line of Adam, which is a line preparing people for condemnation.
11:01 And to now be connected to a new family that carries redemptive qualities and promises. And as amazing as that news is, such a thing will require something very important, very crucial, impossible without, may I add, and that is a new federal head. That is a new representation for mankind. And what Paul does and what many of the authors do in the New Testament, what the prophets promise and pointed to, is that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is that man. He is that man who came into this world with a much bigger project in mind than what even some believers fail to understand.
11:55 He came to now be the firstborn among many brothers. He came now to create a way out and for us to come into a new place, a new nature, a new standing before the same Holy God. The same holy God that was sinned against in the garden can now be satisfied through this one person Jesus Christ. What does that mean practically? What does it mean for Christ to enter in as the last Adam?
12:26 Well, it means many things. Let me say this one important thing. In the same way that we all inherited the effects that we all now are experiencing the consequences of Adam's failure at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now who comes on the scene? A new representation, a new mediator who doesn't fail like Adam did, but who triumphs at another tree.
12:57 Not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, no. The tree that was on the hill called Golgotha. The tree that you and I sang about just a few moments ago. That tree on Calvary. Everything started at a tree.
13:12 The fall began at a tree and everything turned around at another tree by another federal head. In other words, because Jesus Christ took on a body that was prepared and appointed by the father, In the same way that we have to experience what Adam did in his body, now we can enjoy what Jesus did in his body and what happened to his body. For those who are in Christ, there's a transfer that occurs, an amazing transfer. And this is what happens that through the currency of faith, through belief, through humbling yourself and realizing that you do need to be saved, there is this exchange that takes place. And in that exchange, Adam's headship is canceled, and Christ perfection is imputed onto you instead.
14:23 What happens is now in that exchange, as Christ represents us, we now give him our sin. And then he who knew no sin became sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That is the gospel. That's the centrality of what we believe. This is the significance of Jesus taking on a body.
14:52 It wasn't a random stunt. It was required in order for God to be consistent with his own system, his own justice. And that is a fascinating thought. God becoming a man, but be careful. Be careful that in being so overwhelmed by that amazing act of humility that you dismiss the reality of the divinity of Christ.
15:21 When Christ became a man, he did not dismiss his divine nature. No. His divine nature was equally required as he stepped in as the last Adam. And why is that? Because no mere man can even come close to performing the perfection that Jesus performed.
15:43 No mere man can obey God and fulfill the greatest commandment to love him with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your strength, with all of your soul. I want you to think about that for a moment. Jesus obeyed that commandment perfectly. With every waking moment, he obeyed that commandment. And no mere man, no mere man can even fathom what it means to bear the sin of the world.
16:18 Every failure, every error, every perversion, every internal crime, external violation from the beginning until the end, Christ took upon his shoulders. And because of that, he was able to drink all of the wrath of God for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. No mere man can do that. So the nature of God, not just in his humanity to be the last Adam, but also remaining as God is the perfect is the perfect combination that would satisfy exactly what we all need. And that is why when people ask this question, how can a man who is crucified for but a few hours apparently satisfy what is demanded of all of us and that is eternal punishment for our sin?
17:19 How does that correlate? How does the math work? And if you think that that man was just a good man, a man who seemed to be maybe a little bit better than others, then you might have a valid objection. But if that man is the sinless, spotless, eternal, without blemish, without error, without wrong, then you have a different story altogether. Then you can understand how it is that such a man could be on the cross for a few hours to satisfy the wrath of God forever and ever.
18:01 You understand. Right? The identity of Christ helps us understand the very first statement of that verse that I quoted to you earlier. For by a single offering. Who Jesus is makes this offering single and all satisfying.
18:22 It's not just merely the act of dying. It's who died. It's who died. And there is no more need because of who died for repeated incarnations. There is now no more need for repeated bloodshed.
18:41 Because of who Jesus Christ is, what he has done is enough. One time for all time. And that is why he is the last Adam. We don't have to wait for another. We don't have to await another representative to enter into our world to clean up this mess.
19:03 He put a period mark through his redemptive work. It's over. And while other religions are waiting for their own messiah, we here today realize he has already come. We're not looking forward to redemption, but we are waiting for our redemption to be complete. It is finished.
19:24 For by a single offering, what a thousand bulls and goats and birds, as mountainous as those offerings may have been, what one man did overshadowed it all. What one man did put everything into the back burner and now takes all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. Can I tell you something? In a very confused age where people are trying to figure out identity, Whether that is the color of your skin and what that means for you in society and now with the people who are being confused about what their orientation is and whether they are biologically this or biologically that, allow me to make it very simple because God's word makes it very clear. There are only two categories of people in this world.
20:17 Only two. Not white or black, not rich or poor, not educated or uneducated, not confused or straight. You're either in Adam or you're in Christ. That's it. Think whatever you wanna think.
20:37 Go ahead. Establish your own subjective understanding of the world. But may I suggest something? Take a peek at our world first before you give in to that and realize that this word has always been the word of God. It will always be the word of God.
20:51 When I'm gone and pastor Daniel's gone and every other church is gone, this word will be established forever. And this word declares, my friend, our dear visitors, those who are members of this very local church, you are either in Adam or you are in Christ. Who is your representative? Who is your federal head? Who is that represents you before God?
21:20 Oh, that's a statement that can end this whole meeting, can it not? But that's not the end of the verse. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. The first part of that statement tells us about the sufficiency of Jesus' sacrifice, but the second part of that statement informs us about the security of the believing saint. For by a single offering, here's the consequence, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
22:00 Notice, because of that offering, there is a certain group of people who have now been qualified to be in the presence of God forever. There are now a people who, positionally speaking, had had their record of debt vanquished and were made absolutely and totally perfect in the sight of a thrice holy God. This is exactly what this statement is saying. And most of us understand that. Most of us in here are here to to remember that and to worship God for that.
22:38 But I believe in the bottom of my heart that those who even confess that truth, many of them have trouble believing it with absolute certainty. With absolute certainty, you might be wondering why is that the case for one main reason. Because they examine their own lives and they realize that their own attitudes and many of their actions fail to reflect that perfect standing that they've been assured of in this one verse and many other verses. I hope that if you're a Christian in this place, you can recall the first few steps of being born again. That you can remember the sensation of having fellowship with God when you realize that he has forgiven you and that he extends grace to you.
23:22 I hope believer that you can recall the aroma of assurance When you first were exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and your faith connected with that truth, I hope you have a testimony. And you realize the lightness and you realize the freedom, and you realize the enjoyment of walking with God, not in heaven now because of what happened on the cross. But you know what I found to be true as an observation? That even people who once rejoiced in that experience, in that reality, over time tend not to know it as much as they should. Or at least they distance themselves from that truth that should produce a way of life, that should produce a tangible joy.
24:15 And I think there there are a couple of reasons why. I think one of those reasons is that once the excitement and the thrill of the gospel being believed on settles down, though it should never totally be removed. As we walk in this journey and we realize that it's not just about this heightened joy, but now there's war and there's a spiritual battle and you're dealing with the flesh. Some people are robbed of that assurance because Satan never fails to remind them of a sin before they came to Christ or season of transgression before they came to Christ. They are haunted by a perversion that they have committed or serious error that that seems to be absolutely unforgivable, humanly speaking.
25:00 And for others, it's not necessarily what they did before Christ that keeps surfacing in their mind's eye. No. No. No. It's not that.
25:09 It's their failures after they came to know Christ. It's their shortcomings that trouble them after they confess, after they gone to the baptism booth, after that they have shared, after that they have come and be part of a certain ministry. And at some point, maybe even for a season, have not been as faithful as they once professed to be. That is who I wanna speak to tonight as we are about to close in a moment. This is who I wanna address.
25:41 The one who is absolutely drained by doubt. The one who cannot find the strength to sing at least with a melody in your heart. The one who lives in fear at the thought of the return of Christ, instead of the anticipation that a bride would have concerning her wedding day. I want to address this truth to you. And this is what I wanna address to you.
26:10 For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Consider that. Consider that promise is being told to Christians who have not arrived at complete Christ likeness, but who are on their way there. Who have not achieved sinless perfectionism, but who are being made holy day by day even though they may not perceive the progress day by day. The whole point here of what the author of Hebrews is saying is that you have been perfected.
26:54 Not those who are perfect, but those who are being sanctified. Those who are submitting to God and allowing him to chisel them and warn them and chastise them. And that perfection is not based on your sanctification, how holy you are, how consecrated you are, how good you did in 2023 so far. It's by that single offering. It's the single offering that makes you perfect.
27:25 Not how often you are growing in your sanctification that is a great mark that you have been saved. And I think about that truth and I realize, okay. This is the only question I have to ask. This is the thing that hopefully will crush the doubts in my heart, that will give me the ability to sing with outburst of joy, And that will that will truly generate and motivate absolute consecration to the Lord at least as a desire. Here's the question that I I asked and and this is a question that I believe you need to ask.
28:02 All you have to do is answer this. Was his sacrifice sufficient? Yeah. But but no. But you don't no.
28:18 But you you don't you don't understand what it was. No. I'm not no. No. No.
28:20 No. No. Answer this question for me. Was his sacrifice sufficient? And if you can be honest enough based on what you see in this word to say yes, then why are you afraid?
28:39 And why do you doubt? And why do you concern yourself at night wondering if your name is in fact written in the Lamb's book of life? It's not about your performance. It's about his. It's not about what you can do.
28:57 It's what he's already done. It's not what lengths you go to or how long you pray or how much scripture you memorize. No. It's by a single offering. It's not by the blood that you can shed.
29:11 It's not about the bruises that you have on your knees. It's not about the lashes on your back. It's not about how hungry you can make yourself as you fast. It's not about how much you distance yourself from people because you don't wanna be contaminated by worldliness per se. It's about that single offering.
29:29 Was it sufficient? Did it complete what it needed to complete? Did it satisfy who it needed to satisfy? And if you can say yes, then I can say behold your strength, And I can say, behold your security. Then I can say, behold your song.
29:52 Then I can say, behold your joy and your reason and motivation to be holy, to be set apart, to be sanctified. You know, there's a lot of debate about the Sabbath. Do we keep it? Is it relevant? Is it applying the new covenant?
30:14 Okay. If it is, what day of the week do we do it? Friday sundown sundown to Saturday sundown, Sunday morning, all these different things. And I I don't wanna undermine the importance of that kind of a conversation. But people who get caught up in that debate can miss the point.
30:33 Just like the sacrifices where a shadow pointing to something that ultimately found its substance substance in Jesus Christ, it is no different with the Sabbath. See, the Sabbath, yes, was a actual command that people needed to keep, but the Sabbath was a prophetic statement as well. One that would point to a future rest. A rest that would not be known once a week, but a rest that would be known perpetually day by day. And not from work, from your nine to five per se.
31:09 Not from your personal projects which you have to put on pause as you honor the Sabbath. No. But by a different kind of work. A work that you and I are tempted to do more than to work an extra shift on a day in which you should consecrate it to worship God more than that? Let me prove that to you in a final text in Hebrews.
31:31 In Hebrews four verse nine, So then, in Hebrews four nine, so then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Hebrews four is teaching what the Sabbath really is all about. And yes, Paul gives specific instructions about how some consider one day holding others don't and not to judge each other based on that conviction. But here we see the Hebrews do something so masterful, so beautiful, so awesome.
32:18 The Sabbath speaks of God's rest. And there is a rest that is available for the people of God today, and that rest is greater than physical repose, greater than giving the land a break. No. It is a spiritual rest. It's an internal, solemn peace.
32:40 And that rest here speaks of Jesus. And here's what Hebrews is saying. In in the same way that God exemplified what rest looks like by working six days and seven on the seventh day, stepping back to enjoy and to rejoice in His work. You and I are called. You and I are called not based on what you have done, but what on Christ has done to step back, rest, and to rejoice in what he has done.
33:15 And you don't do that once a week. This rest touches every moment of your life. You walk in that rest. You sleep in that rest. You travel in that rest.
33:28 You minister in that rest. Somebody ancient said it better than I would. In the same way God rested from his work in creation, And in the same way, Jesus entered into glory and sat at the right hand of God, physically demonstrating his rest from his redemptive work. You and I are called to rest from the works of the law to attain righteousness because we have now believed on the works that have completed it for us. That's what it means to know true Sabbath rest.
34:16 And when you and I are about to come to this holy table, what you are about to do if you are a born again Christian in this place who could say in your heart in this past thirty minutes, amen, amen, amen, amen. You are coming to this table and what you are also saying in your heart is, his sacrifice was sufficient. His sacrifice was sufficient. His sacrifice was sufficient. Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling.
34:48 That is what you are saying here. You're coming to the symbols of Jesus' body and his blood, and you are saying this was sufficient. What he did two thousand years ago has made me perfect for all time though I am still being sanctified. Though I have not yet arrived and though sometimes it is a very, very turbulent journey, he has perfected me. He has made me whole.
35:18 My record of sin is gone for by a single sacrifice. There is a rest available for the people of God today. Do you have rest? Or are you restless? Do you have the assurance that when you do meet God, and you will meet God, you will meet him?
35:45 Are you sure that you will be met with a smile Or the awful announcement, Depart from me. I never knew you. I wanna tell you today that on this Good Friday, this God that I speak of, this God in whom I bear witness extends the cup of fellowship to you. And he desires you to be saved. He wants you to know this rest.
36:18 He wants you to know the freedom of realizing that what he has done by a single offering will make me perfect and keep me perfect, and he will hold on to me until the end. This is what this is all about. And this is why we preach. We preach the good news. Christianity is about good news.
36:39 The news is this, salvation has come. Jesus has come. A way out of condemnation, a way out of hell, a way out of the power of sin has has come. And he is still the last Adam and and the door is still open. You can enter in and it's real.
36:59 It's real. It's really real. You can actually know freedom. And you can actually know what it's like for the burden of sin to roll off your back. And you can know the spirit of God will bear witness with your spirit as Romans eight says that you are indeed a child of God.
37:16 But you have to repent. You have to believe. You have to trust that what he's done is enough and you have to declare him as Lord and as savior. And you have to, yes, let go of your sin. Be willing to say, I turn back from the very thing that put Christ on the cross.
37:35 But you also have to let go of your righteousness. I will not rely on what I can do to please God. I will trust that what Christ has done, He's done for me. That's the gospel. That's salvation.
37:54 And that's what I extend to you this evening. Would you be saved? Would you be born again? Would you allow the Spirit of God to transform you? Would you allow him to heal you, to restore you?
38:09 Would you allow him to do what psychologists can't do? What those pills can't do? What that bottle can't do? What your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your fiance, your husband, your children can't do? What your job can't do?
38:21 What the promotion can't offer? Would you let him do it? To fulfill you and to satisfy you? Would you let him do it? Oh, don't swat his hand away today.
38:34 Time is short. Time is very short. You're even having unbelievers say, it's we're near the end. You have you have more unbelievers who believe in the last days than believers who believe in the last days. It's unbelievable to me.
38:47 You talk to believers, I think we're living in the last days. I don't know about that. Talk to unbelievers like, yeah. I've never seen anything like this. It looks really bad.
38:57 Maybe you thought that too. If you wanna stay for another hour, I can tell you how it all points back to the bible. We're about to break bread. And as much as I've I've extended that call to salvation, I cannot extend the invitation for you to participate at this table unless you are born again. Jesus is the lord of the church.
39:24 He is the master of this local church. And he has instructed us to reserve this ordinance for those who are his children and we become children by faith in him. And so we kindly ask, not that it affects us necessarily, but because he is holy and he does he does see what happens here for your sake. Would you reserve yourself from participating? You have every right to observe and what you are observing is exactly what I alluded to, people coming forward to say what he has done is enough.
39:56 And we eat these elements to even engage our senses regarding that spiritual truth. And it tastes good to us to symbol symbolize the goodness that we taste in our own souls regarding our salvation. Oh, what a salvation. Oh, what a salvation. Oh, what a name.
40:17 There is something about that name. Would you agree believer? There is something about that name. And so what's about to happen now is that the team is going to come and they're going to sing over us. And you are welcome to sing as you come to the table and as you return to your seat.
40:35 We're gonna sing about what this is all about and that you would reflect on that and that you would prepare your heart to do this in a solemn holy way as an act of worship to him who died for you. Believer, you're free. You're saved. You have been perfected for all time by a single offering. Let's pray.
41:13 Father, help us realize the awesome significance of that single offering So precious, so wonderful, so sufficient that you take into account what took place then and you're willing to apply it to the sinner today. We thank you that we don't have to come today like on the day of atonement and bring another goat. Thank you, Lord, that we can come today with faith in our hearts to believe that what happened already is is what you require and is the only thing that will please you. We're overwhelmed by the love of your son. We're overwhelmed by the love that you show us, father.
42:08 We're even overwhelmed in this place as the spirit has helped exalt Christ. Lord, as we come to this table, help us help us think deeply about the gospel. Help us think deeply about how this applies to us. And Lord, may the person who doesn't know you today, may they sense a holy jealousy to be part of this family who has a faithful mediator, a faithful federal head who will bring us home, who will bring us into glory to enjoy the presence of the father forever and ever. In Jesus' name we pray.
