"How much more…"

The book of Hebrews is constantly referring back to the system of Law and Judaism – and that it was good. But, now we’ve come on this side of the Cross, and the Law has been set aside; it was completely fulfilled at the Cross. Now everything is what? Better! And so this is exactly what he is talking about here.

The Book of Hebrews is not a book of salvation like Romans or Galatians or even a book of church position like Ephesians. The Book of Hebrews was written to Jews who were still hanging on to a lot of the things of Judaism in Paul’s day. And remember that, when Paul writes Hebrews, the Temple in Jerusalem is still going.

Even though the Romans had been hating the Jews for probably a hundred years or more, God in His Sovereignty did not let them destroy the Temple until after Paul’s epistles were completed. I hadn’t thought of that before. So now with Paul’s epistles complete (and he can say that we’re no longer under Law), there was no need for the Temple. There was no need for the priesthood, and there was no need for sacrifices.

But, it wasn’t until after the revelations of this Age of Grace that God permitted the Temple to be destroyed, and the priesthood dissolved and all the things that were associated with it. What an amazing God we have! And He does everything in perfect timing. Now the other thing I like to point out about the Book of Hebrews is that it’s not for the novice. I don’t expect new believers to just jump in and say, ‘WOW! I can really get a lot out of Hebrews." I just don’t think that’s possible because of what Paul says way back in chapter 5, verses 13 and 14. And I think it’s just for this very reason that the novice cannot fully digest the things in Hebrews.

Now for the Jews (to whom he was writing), you see, they were steeped in all this. They had been for generations, but for the non-Jew, this is just something that we’re not accustomed to reading and seeing and delving into – and so he says there in chapter 5 verse 13:

"For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, (see!) even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised…" So the Book of Hebrews is not milk, let me put it that way. The Book of Hebrews isn’t for the novice, the young believer. It’s for the mature believer who studies the Word. And, consequently, I suppose, a lot of people think I may be going over their heads in these Hebrews broadcasts, but we trust that as we come through you’ll understand that, even for the novice, my, to just come in and periodically and feast.

Iris and I were just talking on our way up about how the world has been changing generation to generation. And she was talking about her Mom having to carry water from the well to the old washing machine and the hand-wringers and hanging out the clothes. You might remember that. Well, we didn’t have any part of that – by the time we got married, we had the washer and the dryer. And now our kids, I suppose they think what we went through was way back in the ancients someplace and they don’t do anything like we did.

Well then, as we kept on driving, I thought how this just fits with Hebrews. Hebrews is something you can just jump in and feast on like maybe an occasional trip to a high-class restaurant. Now there again, times have changed. You see, when we were first married and our kids were little, maybe three or four times a year we would drop the kids off at my folks, and we’d go to a real posh steakhouse and we would just live it up and feast.

But you know how much that cost us? Ten dollars! The filet mignon in that fabulous steakhouse was $3.75. Times two = $7.50. Plus a couple bucks for the waitress. We’d get out of there for less than ten bucks. Oh, it was a feast. Well, that’s Hebrews. Every once in a while you come into the Book of Hebrews and you just feast on it. Now you don’t do it every day, because Romans is the book for everyday, and Galatians. And Paul’s Church epistles. That’s down where the rubber meets the road as we say. But Hebrews, you just jump in there once in a while for a delicacy. All right, let’s come back:

"How much more (than the blood of animals mentioned in the previous verse) shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit (there’s your third Person of the Trinity, all involved together, see? ) offered himself without spot to God, (as a lamb, remember back there in Exodus 12 – without blemish) purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Are you all aware of what the word purge means? Now again, I just had a firsthand understanding of it. The natural gas people are laying a pipeline across our ranch, and it’s just going right next to our corral. And they’ve been cooperating with us and so the other day they were ready to lay that stretch where we wanted to have it closed up as quickly as possible. And I noticed that they had all of that pipe welded, laying above ground. Now if you’re like me and you’re going to start thinking, how are they going to get that steel pipe down in that ditch without busting it all up?

So when I noticed that they were starting to lay it into the ditch, I got out there and fortunately the foreman happened to be right there next to my corral and he said, "I watch you on television almost every morning." Well, that kind of made the day. So I said, "Now I’ve got a question. How are you going to lay all of these hundreds of feet of pipe that’s all welded together, how are you going to lay it down in that ditch without it breaking?" He said, "Well you see back up there?" That pipe was laying down in that ditch like a rope – it had that much flexibility. Now I was just flabbergasted. So then I went one step further and I said, "Now before your guys came and welded these things I noticed dirt was laying in it. Do you clean all that?" "No," he said, "we don’t pay any attention to that. When we’re all through, we’ll purge it."

What did he mean? When they’re all through, I don’t know whether they use air or water, but they’re going to make sure that that pipe is totally immaculate without a speck of steel or welding slag or dirt. They’re going to purge it. Well, that’s the same word. So what did God do with our sin? He purged it. He cleansed us of it. Every last bit! And then He forgot about it!

Now even in my small ministry, I’ve had several ladies who have called who had been saved, and as they began to tell me the next part of their life they start to weep. And now I almost know what’s coming. What do you suppose they’re weeping about? Their past. They’ve come out of prostitution and they can’t get it out of their mind. "Oh, I know I’m saved but it’s my past." You know what I tell these poor gals? I say, "Listen, I know that when we’re human, we can’t forget. Much as we try, you can’t forget. But God does!" That’s one of His attributes. God can forget! And when He purges us from our sin, He doesn’t ever bring them up to His mind, He never will throw them up to us. It’s over so far as God is concerned." And that’s what I try to tell them.

And there’s also men that come from almost the same kind of a rotten background. And they say, "Les, I just can’t get my past out of my mind. I can’t forget it." Well, look at it the way God does. God has forgotten your past. He will never throw it up to you again. You’re purged of all that. And all you can do is take it by faith and praise Him moment by moment. Oh, thank you Lord that you’ll never again hold my rotten past against me! We’ve been purged. We’ve been cleansed.

But what is the cleansing element? The blood! Now you don’t hear much about that anymore and it’s a sad, sad commentary on Christendom. The blood is the cleansing agent. And that alone can do it. So He offered himself without spot to God,

"…purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Now here again, the dead works response is directly given to the Nation of Israel, because see, they’re the ones that have been under a religion of dead works. All their Temple worship, all their sacrifices, couldn’t take away sin. It was dead works.

And so, now Paul is saying, "My, the blood of the Lamb! That which has purged us and has cleansed us from even the dead works of Judaism and has brought them to serve the living God." All right, now let’s move on to verse 15.

"And for this cause (because God has with His own blood purged us of all our filth and our sin) he is the mediator of the new testament (covenant) that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament (covenant),…"

Now you’ll notice I’m using the word ‘covenant’ rather than the word ‘testament’ because in the Old Testament as we call it, you don’t see that word ‘testament;’ it’s ‘covenant.’ And the covenant back in the Old Testament was from God to Israel but with Moses as the mediator. Moses was the go-between God and Israel. And there is a new covenant coming according to Jeremiah 31:31, directed only to the Nation of Israel. But, you see, we’ve come under all of the good things of what God has done to fulfill that covenant to Israel and we’re getting what I’ve often called the overflow. And everything that Christ did there at the Cross in order to establish that new covenant with Israel, we’re enjoying all the benefits as well.

All right, because He has purged us and He has purged these Hebrews of their sinfulness, He has caused them now to turn to the Living God instead of a dead religion. All right, verse 15 again:

"And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, (covenant) that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, (covenant) they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."

Well now a few weeks ago, I think I asked my class here in Tulsa, "How long is eternity?" You remember, it’s as long as God lives! Eternity is as long as God will live. And that’s how long? Forever and ever. All right, so this whole transaction then of the Cross, the shed blood, has made possible an eternal inheritance.

Now you know, I had to look at a couple of commentators. And, I’ve said for years back, I didn’t pay too much attention to commentators and sure enough, here again, one said one thing and the other one said another. So, which one am I supposed to believe? The one said that the word testament was totally out of order. It should be covenant all the way through, because testament was the Greek and the Roman concept. Whereas, covenant was the Hebrew concept. Well, that makes sense. But on the other hand, the other fellow came back and said testament is the right word because we are under a different set of circumstances than the covenants made back in the Old Testament. So there again, see, you just almost have to flip it in the air and take your pick.

For a testament (as we refer to it, as the last will and testament) is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."

Well, that’s understandable in our economy isn’t it? We know that if you have a last will and testament laying in your bank box or in your safe at home, it’s of no use. It doesn’t have any power until when? When you die. Then when you die, that becomes the law and by that they will establish the settling of your estate.

All right, so this is what I guess here in verse 17 is what it’s referring to, that Christ could not fulfill these promises made to us in the human race until He had died. Now verse 18.

"Whereupon, neither the first testament…" Now again, let’s be careful. In my Bible, the word testament is in what? It’s in italics. And I’ve taught some of you now for over twenty years. What does that mean? It’s added by the translator. So I like it better without it. Just leave it out. Verse 18 again.

"Whereupon neither the first was dedicated without blood." Well, the first what? Covenant! Now what covenant is Paul referring to? Law! When Moses came down the mountain with the commandments written in stone, that was the covenant of Law. And it was the first covenant. See?

So, "Whereupon neither the first (that is the covenant of Law) was dedicated without blood." It’s always involving blood. Now again, I’m sure every believer, sooner or later, is going to come to the point and ask the question, "Why does God put so much emphasis on blood when it comes to salvation?" Haven’t you? I have. And I think, I’ve got a little bit of the answer. Now you know, I’ve said so often in my class here in Oklahoma, this salvation work of God is so profound, it is so complex, it is so deep that I can’t comprehend it all. And I don’t think anybody else can. We can just take a little bit of it that we can really understand, and we take it by faith. But on the other hand as we’ve said so often, it’s so simple a child can believe it and understand it. But to really get down and understand all of the ramifications of this, I just don’t think it’s humanly possible. But, let’s take a stab at it.

Come back with me to Genesis chapter 9. And of course, we know that God had already instituted the blood sacrifice when He dealt with Adam and Eve back in chapter 3. And we certainly dealt with it with Abel who offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain because it was an animal sacrifice involving the shed blood. But now we come to chapter 9 and this will be the first time that we have anything definitive about the blood. All right, chapter 9, right after the flood, verse 4,

"But flesh (God says to Noah) with the life thereof, which is the blood, ye shall not eat. (and the whole idea was that in verse 5) 5. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed:…"

Well, the secret to the whole thing, I think, is up there in verse 4. Why the blood? Because ‘life is in the blood.’ The blood is the source of all living. All right, then of course, you come on over to Exodus and the lamb that was supposed to be without spot, without blemish. And then you come all the way up through the Old Testament sacrifices. It was constantly the animal sacrifices and the shedding of its blood.

I remember several years ago when we were in Jerusalem and, at that time, the guide would still take us up to the Temple Mount and into the Dome of the Rock where this huge rock comes up (some of you have been there) out of the basement, so to speak – where supposedly Abraham offered Isaac. But our guide was explaining that, according to legend (and of course that’s all you go by), right about in that very spot is where the priests were sacrificing all of these animals. By the hundreds, day in and day out.

Well, that involved a lot of blood. And they had discerned that the blood would go down deep into the crevices and then find its way out to the Kedron Valley. Well it makes for a good story, but the point I wanted to make was about this constant shedding of blood. And I don’t think our Jewish guide had ever comprehended it before, but he made the comment, "You know folks, a lot of times the Jewish family had to offer up a lamb that was really a family pet. And that would just make it all the more devastating that that little pet lamb had to give its blood for the sins of its owners." Later, I said to our guide, "It’s the same way with Christ. When Christ died and shed His blood it was to make such an impact upon the human race, whom He loved, that it would make them conscience of the horrible price of their sin."

And you know what that good Jew said? "I never thought of that before." But isn’t that true? You see, as that Jewish family would bring that precious little lamb, and they would see that lamb give its life and its blood because of what? Their sin. And if it had its right effect, it would devastate them to think that their sin caused the death of that precious little animal. And I imagine, too, that’s why God chose sheep as the primary sacrificial animal. They’re not a rebellious type. They’re not the kind that’s going to fight and buck and everything else. But, they’re so docile and it’s so easy to be touched by simplicity.

Well, it’s the same way when Christ died. The Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. He suffered, He died, and it was brought about by only one thing. And what was it? Man’s sin. That’s all. And so He went to that Cross in payment for man’s sin; otherwise He would have never had to do it.

But, getting back to what we were talking about, the blood – life was in the blood. And even in biology, unless a seed falls into the ground – and Jesus used the analogy Himself in John chapter 12, I think it was. Unless that seed falls into the ground and does what? Dies. It abides alone. But, if it die, then what? New life.

It’s the same way with the shed blood, see? When Christ shed His blood, it wasn’t just that alone, but it was the fact that His life was poured out and the shed blood epitomized that life and it became death and then out of that death came what? New life! And that’s where we are. We have eternal life because of that death of Christ. And not just as I’ve always stressed so often over the years, not just His death, burial and resurrection but we can never shun the efficacy of His shed blood. Because blood was the price of redemption as God had mandated from day one, that life was in the blood. And blood alone could be the price of redemption.

Alright, come back to Hebrews again, chapter 9, verse 18:

"Whereupon neither the first covenant (the covenant of Law) was dedicated without blood." And then in verse 19, we go all the way back to Exodus, and this is what had to happen.

"For when Moses (at the very beginning of the system of Law. When he had brought the Commandments down from the mountain and now has the instructions for building the Tabernacle to establish the ritual and the sacrifices.) had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood…" Now people don’t like this. Maybe that’s why I revel in teaching it. I like to rub people the wrong way, if it’ll wake them up and get them into The Book. And so, it was never without blood, see? He took –

"…the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, (that is the Book of Law) and all the people, 20. Saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God hath enjoined unto you." Now right from the very beginning of God’s dealing with the Nation of Israel in the matter of the Spirit, what is preeminent? The blood! And you go back to Exodus chapter 12, what was that one thing that spared the Nation of Israel on the night of the death angel? The blood. Where? On the door. And for those Jews who had put that lamb’s blood on the three spots of the door, which again of course, formed a cross, there was complete safety. Without the blood, they were doomed. So the whole concept from the very beginning of the experience of the Nation of Israel is, you cannot make the first step toward God without the shedding of blood.

We appreciate so much how your letters express you’re studying with us and you’re sitting down over a cup of coffee or whatever the case may be and I think 99 and 9/10 percent of our letters say, ‘Dear Les and Iris.’ And that’s as it should be. I just couldn’t do it without her. I thank God for her every morning. And so we appreciate the fact that you out there in television know that she’s part and parcel of this.

As you know we try never to attack anyone as we teach. All we want to do is just open up the Scriptures and let the Lord do the work. Before we start. I’m going to read part of a precious letter we got the other day. I read it to a couple of my classes here in Oklahoma.

"Dear Les, I’m writing this letter to let you know what your teaching has done for me and my family. My husband has been watching you for years. But I was lost. Very much an agnostic. A college educated unbeliever who scoffed at my husband’s faith. I don’t know how he could stand me. When our second child was born I was up many early mornings and that’s when I first heard you. And you shook me up. I had already been searching for God but not in the right places. You shined a light on God’s Word and led me home."

How much better can you put it? And those are the kind of letters that I literally weep over. I can’t help it, to think that God can use just an old farmer to bring people to a knowledge of salvation. And this isn’t the only moving letter, as we get them every day. And we just have to give the Lord the praise for it.

Okay, drop in at chapter 9 in Hebrews and verse 20. Again, we like to also call your attention to our Web site (www.lesfeldick.org). My, how that Internet audience is growing around the world. I wish I could get Matt on TV someday, but I don’t think I’ll ever succeed. You see Matt McGee works here in Tulsa and he does our whole Web site. Now he’s got some help as Robert Pennybaker is now helping him, and then we have a gentleman up in Minnesota, Carl Matheson, who also works with Matt on it. And naturally we have Jerry and Lorna Pool and Sharon Martin who do all the transcribing of the books and get things ready for the printer. But anyhow these have all made our Web site what it is – Thank You!

Okay, Hebrews chapter 9 dropping in at verse 21 where we just left off in the last lesson. The blood is the basis for everything in God’s dealing with man’s sin. It’s the price of redemption. Now I think before I go any further here, I’ve been saying over and over since we started Hebrews that we don’t have the plan of salvation per se in Hebrews like you do in Romans 10:9-10, for example. And some of the other places in Paul’s epistles, like I Corinthians 15:1-4, and I Thessalonians 4:14. Paul does not make as big a deal of the blood back in those church epistles as he does in Hebrews but that doesn’t mean he ignores it.

Let’s just go back and review a little bit. Come back with me to Romans chapter 3, and these great salvation verses, the likes of which, like I said, you won’t find in Hebrews. Hebrews is a special diet – if you really want to go in and just feast on some extraordinary things, then you go to Hebrews. But, for the plan of salvation, for the daily life of a Christian and so forth, then of course, we stay with Paul’s church epistles.

"For all (the whole human race) have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Because we’re sons of Adam. Now verse 24, and here comes the promise!

"Being justified freely by his grace through (what?) the redemption (paying the price) that is in Christ Jesus: 25. Whom God (the Father) hath set forth to be a propitiation (that’s a big word meaning ‘the place of sacrifice as well as THE sacrifice.’ He’s it all.) through faith in his (what?) blood,…" Here it comes, see? The blood is the price of redemption. And when we place our faith in His death, burial and resurrection then it is a given that we are also placing our faith in that shed blood as payment for our sin debt. Now verse 26.

"To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and be the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

Now that includes His death, burial and resurrection – but never forget the shed blood. All right, let’s come over to another one in Ephesians chapter 2. I always like to start at verse 11, because see here again, what a difference from Hebrews. Hebrews is talking to Jews who’d been under the Law for centuries. But the Gentiles are just now coming into the picture with Paul’s apostleship. And so he reminds us:

"Wherefore remember, (call to mind) that ye (Gentiles) being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision…" (that is by the Jew.) Now verse 12,

"That at that time (while God was dealing with Israel under the Law) ye (Gentiles) were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, without God in the world."

That was the lot of the Gentile world. They were hopelessly lost. Only Israel was under that economy of Law. But the next word is what? "But." The flipside! We’re no longer in that darkened area. We are now on this side of the Cross so the flipside is:

"But now in Christ Jesus ye who were at one time far off are made nigh (that is to God,) by the blood of Christ."

By the blood! You can’t cancel that out. You can’t throw that aside and say that’s a slaughterhouse religion. Sorry. Call it what you will but God demands faith in that shed blood – as we said in the last program, "It’s the blood that purges us from our sin." And if you’re going to cast that aside, you’re in trouble. That’s all there is to it. You’re in trouble. I always have to come back to this – I know a gentleman who was trying to show his brother-in-law what the Scripture said in plain English and his brother-in-law looked at it and said, "But I don’t believe that." And George said, "Then you’re in trouble."

Well put, right? Then you’re in trouble. If you can’t believe what The Book says when it’s directed to us Gentiles then we’ve got a problem! All right so, the blood of Christ is what brought us nigh to God. Now then, we can come back again to Hebrews and after Moses has now introduced this whole blood concept, not just with sprinkling the altar; not just with sprinkling the Ark of the Covenant – but He sprinkled everything, including the people – and the reason is in verse 22.

That’s what The Book says. And that’s what I always call ‘the absolute’ – the last half of this verse, and you’ve heard me teach it over and over. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission." Now in the Old Testament economy, it had to be animals. But as we saw earlier in chapter 9, the blood of animals couldn’t take away sin. It was just a shadow.

I read an interesting thing on the shadow. You know, we see this term all the time that this is a shadow of things that were coming. Well, I had a pretty good idea what it meant but I like this description even better. This gentleman had a big tall pine tree in the back yard and his friend wanted to buy it, to cut it up for lumber. So they were out there looking at it and the sun was shining brightly. And the guy asked $150-200 for that pine tree. The potential buyer said, "That’s more than I want to pay." "Well," the owner replied, "I’ll sell you the shadow for $50." See? Well what was the shadow? It was the likeness. It had the same dimensions with the sun shining in the right way. But hey, it wasn’t the tree.

And then you can take it a little bit further. Sometimes we use the word ‘image.’ The image of things. All right. You could have taken a camera up to that tree and taken a few pictures, then you would have been able to determine by the bark and the leaves and the shape what kind of a tree it was. Well, are you going to buy a picture for $200 bucks? No. Because that picture won’t build anything. But you see, this is exactly what you have to understand. That when we speak of the Law simply being the shadow of things to come, it in itself had no substance. But, when the Truth came, then God expects the human race to latch on to it.

All right, so "Without the shedding of blood." All the way from Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 3 to Cain and Able in chapter 4 and on up through the Old Testament, until we get to the night of the Passover – the lamb’s blood had to be applied to the doorpost or the death angel would strike. And that then became the beginning of the whole system of Judaism or the Mosaic Covenant of Law. Sacrifice. Sacrifice. Sacrifice. Thousands of animals were killed every year and that blood was shed to placate a Holy God, but it couldn’t take away their sin.

And for that reason the Old Testament believer, even the best of them, David, Moses, they couldn’t go into God’s presence. Their sin was never atoned for. It was only covered with animal blood and so they, too, had to wait down in Paradise [in the center of the earth where Christ went (Matthew 12:40 and then Luke 16) until Christ had shed His perfect, sinless, atoning blood.]. So whether you’re dealing with Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 3 or whether you’re dealing with you and I today in 2002 – "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." It’s an absolute.

God will not even look at someone who tries to approach Him without the shed blood. Now what percentage of Christendom does that take in? A big bunch of them. Most of them don’t want to even think of the blood. I told you several programs back – I remember back in the 1960’s, one of my friends up in Iowa was all shook up (and I’m not even sure he was a believer) because his denomination had called in the hymn books. Later, they issued new ones with all reference to ‘the blood’ taken out. A whole denomination. Well, you see, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But I’ve got news for them. ‘Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.’ It’s impossible. All right, let’s move on.

"It was therefore (see? Because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin) necessary (it had to be) that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; (that is with blood) but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." There it is again. See the comparison? Oh, the heavenlies. The sanctuary. And that Holy of Holies, into which Christ went after the order of Melchisedec, had to be better than everything that was taking place down in Jerusalem, the Temple or the Tabernacle. And so, the heavenlies had to be purified with ‘better’ blood sacrifices than the animals. And so what was it? The blood of Christ!

I just thank the Lord that we get very little opposition, but when I taught back in Genesis that Eve was in Adam, that shook people up. And then I pointed out that she had to be in order to be part and parcel of ‘the fall.’ And that the Seed of the woman would one day come, in the person of Christ, of course, and be the Redeemer, the Savior of mankind. And I pointed out that the mother’s blood never courses through the baby in the womb. And oh, that shakes some people up. They just can’t comprehend something like that and I come back with this answer. If Mary’s blood would have coursed through the baby Jesus in the womb, would He have had sinless, perfect, Divine blood? No. He couldn’t have, because Mary was just as human as anybody else.

But, Mary’s blood did not course through the infant Jesus in the womb. His blood originated as blood does in all mammals – livestock and everything – it begins with the what? The sire. The father. And so, since God was the Father, the Divine blood of Christ originated with God Himself. And oh, listen, without that, you’ve got a mighty weak theology. Because it had to be the sinless, Divine, perfect blood sacrifice to satisfy the heavenlies. It all makes sense, see?

God is even in charge of the physiology of the human being in order to fulfill His theological things. I always remember old Dr. M. R. DeHaun – many of you remember listening to him on the radio – and one of his premises was that the blood of the mother could never course through the infant or you would not have a Divine blood in the Savior. He had another one that I hope to bring up a little later. All right now verse 24,

"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true;…"

He didn’t go into the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem. He didn’t go back behind the veil in the little tent in the wilderness. Oh, the Shekinah Glory stood above it, I know that. But, Christ didn’t go behind the veil and present His blood in an earthly Temple or and earthly Tabernacle, which were figures, or types, or pictures of the true. But, verse 24 reading on:

"…but (he went) into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;"

I didn’t sleep much last night because I go over all these all night long. And it just kept ringing in my ears – come back a few pages in Hebrews. Let’s see, I’ll have to look a second. Chapter 4 just kept ringing in my ears all night long. And it’s just a statement that is put a little differently than what we normally think of at His ascension. I don’t know why, maybe it won’t strike anybody else the way it does me but I just love this particular word.

I don’t know why but that word ‘passed’ means to me just a great sweep. With just a great sweep of power and glory He passed into the heavens. Am I making my point?

But you see, it just tells me something. That when He ascended into the Heavens (and I think with that sample of His blood with Him), that He’s now going to present it not to the Temple there in Jerusalem but into that Holy of Holies in the presence of God Himself. And He passed into the Heavens. All right, coming back now then to Hebrews chapter 9:

"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; (or the picture of the true) but (He has passed) into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God (for what purpose?) for us." For us! See, that’s why we get as part of our salvation the word ‘substitute.’ He became our substitute. He took our place. First and foremost on the Cross. He died the death that you and I should have died. He was our substitute. And now He’s in the presence of God for the same reason. He’s our substitute. He’s there in our place. And all the glory of God is funneled down to us through Him. Oh, I think we’re getting through to people.

You see, to enter into this kind of relationship doesn’t mean that I’ve got to walk around ‘holier than thou,’ wrapping my Pharisaical cloak around me. No. That’s not what we’re talking about. Nothing thrills me more than when someone calls and says something like, "Les, yesterday a fellow came into my office and started asking questions, and I could share The Gospel with him." Well, that’s just being ordinary, isn’t it? You don’t have to be out there putting on some kind of a ‘holier than thou’ front. We’re just ordinary people. I’m just an ordinary cowman. I make no apology for it. But, I can revel in that Grace of God all day, all night for this very reason, because my substitute is right there in the presence of God pleading my case.

The same way with these women who have had a horrible past. Forget that past and come into the present, that Christ Jesus is now representing us, not our past. Our present, washed and cleansed, as only the blood of Christ can do it. All right, verse 25.

"Nor yet that he should offer himself (what’s the next word?) often…." What does that mean? Well, again, flash back to the Old Testament economy. That’s what He’s doing. How many days a week did the priests minister there in the Temple or the in Tabernacle before that? Every day. Non-stop. They had courses of the priesthood so that that could be going on constantly. The Day of Atonement – once a year. But how many years? For as many years as the Law was in vogue. What 1500? Every year. The same thing – over and over and over. But this priest – He appeared in the Heavenlies on our behalf – once! See?

"Not yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood (animal’s blood) of others; 26. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world:…" If that was the case – if His priesthood wasn’t different. But it is! It’s totally different.

"…But now, once in the end of the world...." (ages)

I’ve got this underlined in every Bible I’ve ever had. The word ‘o-n-c-e.’ Highlight it, underline it. Once! The old hymn writer expressed it how? "Once for All." Once for all, oh happy condition. See? All right and so, "Once in the end of the ages." Now the word ‘world’ I think is a bad translation. Because coming up out of the Old Testament economy you want to remember Christ’s first advent was the end of everything because it was all in proximity according to the Old Testament, as soon as Christ ascended the Tribulation was going to come in. The Tribulation was only going to be seven years and Christ would return and set up His Kingdom. So all of this is in proximity within a matter of a few years, so this is what it is. That at the end of the prophetic ages, He came once to put away sin. To bury it in the deepest sea.

Now I’ve been looking. I always thought that was a Scripture but I don’t think it is. If somebody can tell me where it is, you tell me. I’ve been looking and looking. But I’ve always had the idea that there was a verse in the Psalms that said – that our sins are buried in the deepest sea. And I can’t find it. So I need help. I don’t want to be like the guy I read about some time ago that always supposedly had a verse of Scripture for an answer. And everybody thought, "That old man knows his Bible. He’s got a Scripture for every occasion." Well, after he’s dead and gone somebody started checking him out. Not a bit of it was Scripture! It was all just various clichés, see? So I don’t want to be caught doing that. But you understand what I’m saying, our sins are far removed.

And "he appeared to put away." Never to be remembered against us. Never when you and I as believers come up before the Lord are we ever going to face God with our sins. It’s done. Oh, we’re going to have to face Him with what we’ve done as a servant, as a child of God. What have we done for reward? But never will God throw our sin in our face. That’s been done. That’s forgiven! It’s washed in the blood. It’s purged.

All right and so, "This he did once in the end of the age, to put away sin by the sacrifice (again, not of animals, but of what?) of himself." Himself. But listen, this is what we gain by faith. Now, there is not a religion on this planet that can even come close to anything like this. Not one. They don’t have this kind of a payment for sin. They don’t know what it is to be redeemed. They know nothing of it.

All right, we’re going where we left off in the last lesson. My people here in the studio got busy and they found the verses I was talking about in the last lesson that we couldn’t find, when we were looking for what God does with our sins.

They’ve been cast into the deepest sea. That’s a little different wording than I had thought. And then another one Jerry found is "that they are as far removed as east is from the west." Well, Jerry remembered that I said years ago, how far is that? Because when you start going east from Oklahoma where do you stop going east and start going west? Well you never do. You’re always going east. And so that’s how far our sins have been removed, as "far as east is from the west." Okay, so we got that covered.

Now let’s come back again to Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 and I think maybe I can spend a whole half-hour on this one verse.

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the (what?) judgment."

Nobody’s going to escape judgment except who? The believers. See, the believer doesn’t necessarily have to face death before the judgment because some of us, we trust a lot of us, are going to see the Rapture! We’re not going to die. Paul says it. Let’s look at that in I Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51. I don’t want anybody to take my word for anything. Now this is not a contradiction of Scripture because the Scripture is not speaking of believers. But rather it’s speaking of the lost of the ages. They’re all going to die and they’re all going to come up before the Great White Throne, but for us believers there will be some that won’t have to die, and I think we’re close enough that I’m looking forward to it. I really think that unless the Lord takes me out ahead of time, I’m going to be hearing that trumpet call! I really believe that. Here Paul is writing to believers, as I said.

"Behold I show you a mystery;…" Now right there is the answer to most people’s problems. They keep mixing all this stuff up together and they will not recognize that Paul had certain things revealed to him that were kept secret. And nobody had any idea of these things until it was revealed to this apostle and this was one of them. This is something that God had kept secret until He revealed it to the Apostle Paul. You won’t find it anywhere else in Scripture. Nowhere. From Genesis until Acts chapter 9 and from the little epistles, even in Hebrews, which was written to the Jews, all the way through the book of Revelation, there is not one hint of a group of people who will escape physical death. Paul alone refers to it. All right, read on.

"Behold I show you a mystery; (or something that’s been kept secret) We shall not all sleep, (or die physically) but we shall all be changed."

Well, that’s obvious isn’t it? If we’re not going to be changed through death and resurrection, then we’ll have to be changed by another miraculous act of God and that’s what He’s going to do at the Rapture. He’s suddenly going to change this physical body. Now verse 52, how?

"In a moment., (in a nanosecond someone reminded me in Florida. That’s the smallest division of time.) in the twinkling (or the blink) of an eye, (we’ll be changed from this body to the new body. All right, and it’ll be at) the last trump:…"

Now I get people who try to tell me, "Well this is the last trumpet in Revelation." And I come right back and I say, "Now look, just analyze Scripture. Those trumpets in Revelation are seven in number and they are given to what kind of creatures? Angels. This trumpet is singular. And Who’s holding it? God Himself!"

What a difference. I’m not waiting for the seven trumpets, I’m going to be long gone out of here before they start, but I am waiting for the trumpet call. Oh, I pray every morning, Lord sound the trumpet because it’s not going to get any better. Now I know for people who have loved ones that are still lost, that’s hard to do, but nevertheless, we might as well recognize the fact, things are not going to get better. It’s going to get worse. I read a shocking thing the other day. And again, I almost hate to repeat it but it was from a reputable weekly news magazine that said since the tragedy of September 11th – 800,000 Americans have converted to Islam. Now that’s enough to shake your boots, isn’t it?

Eight hundred thousand just since September have converted TO, not away from, Islam. And it’s taking over the world. Well, we pray for the last trump.

"…for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, (it’d be the dead in Christ) and we shall be changed."

We not going to die and be raised from the dead. We’re going to be changed if this takes place in this lifetime. And the reason is that nobody can go on to Glory until this old flesh of "corruption puts on incorruption."

Now let’s come back to Hebrews chapter 9 – Paul’s reference of death and judgment is not a reference to the believer, but rather to the unbeliever. And remember that’s the vast majority of people.

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die (physically. They’re going to go through death and after death, now what happens?) but after this the judgment:"

And a lot of good church people don’t understand this. Come back with me to John’s Gospel chapter 5, beginning with verse 28. If you have a red-letter edition, it’s in red. From the lips of the Lord Himself in His earthly ministry. I’m finding out very few church people realize this is in their Bible. But the Lord says:

"Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, (He doesn’t give any hint when,) in the which all that are in the graves (everybody since Adam and Eve until the end of time. Everybody that has lived a physical life and died) shall hear his voice."

Whose voice? God’s voice. And when God speaks, they’ll come forth from their place – as lost people and the saved. Verse 29:

"And shall come forth; (now here God separates them,) they who have done good (in other words, people of faith, that’s the only good that a man can do is have faith in what God has said) unto the resurrection of life; (Eternal life. Into God’s presence. But the other side of the coin are the lost) and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

The lost have remained in unbelief. They’ve never exercised faith. And so they are workers of iniquity, they’ve done evil. They’re going to come forth in a resurrection to what? "Condemnation." Horrible thought. But they’re going to. They’re not going to escape it. I don’t care if Cain has been dead, what, 6,000 years in our reckoning? Cain’s going to come forth in resurrection, as a lost person as far as we know. And where’s he going to stand? Before the Righteous Judge. Now we have to go back to Revelation chapter 20, don’t we?

Paul speaks of the resurrection of the saved or the justified ones in I Thessalonians 4:13-18, and I Corinthians 15:51-58, when the dead in Christ shall rise with new resurrected bodies fit for glory. But the lost are going to be resurrected to stand before the judge and to hear their sentence here in Revelation chapter 20. And this is at the end of the 1,000 years Kingdom Age, and John says:

"And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12. And I saw the dead, (see? The dead of humanity) small and great, (the great emperors, the great politicians, the corporate CEO’s, all of them, small and great, and they’re going to be resurrected to) stand before God;"

Now what person of the Godhead will they stand before? The Son! Jesus Christ is going to be the Judge. The Righteous Judge. And He will send no one to their doom that doesn’t deserve it. He will never make a mistake. And so they stand before God the Son:

"…and the books (plural, see?) were opened: and another book (singular) was opened, which is the book of life: (to show the lost that their name was not in that book) and the dead (lost) were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

So the dead were judged out those things which were written in the books (plural) according to their works. God’s record. They’re there from beginning to end of every life.

Now you know, years and years back I used to have to contemplate something like that. My goodness, Heaven would be full of books. But if mankind can put the whole King James Bible in a chip as small as a pin head, then God won’t have any trouble keeping track of everybody’s works. And it’s not going to take a lot of room doing it. His technology is far beyond human technology. So don’t ever doubt this. Yes, every lost person is going to come before Him, and the first thing they’re going to be shown is that the Book of Life does not have their name in it. Now you can look at it two ways. Either they were never entered into the Book of Life, or, like some say, every person that’s born, their name goes in then when they leave life as an unbeliever, it’s taken out. You take your pick.

They’re going to stand before the Judge and they’re going to have to see that their name is not in the Lamb’s Book of Life and then they will be judged out of those books which are a complete record of everything, from the day they were born until they die. And according to those works they will then suffer their condemnation.

Now, it stands to reason there’s going to be a lot of good people there. Good people who have never done anything vile. They’ve never done anything, what we would call wicked or sinful, but they’ve never become partakers of Paul’s Gospel of I Corinthians 15:1-4 and Romans 10:9-10 and 13. They stayed in their unbelief. It’s going to be frightening. Because you know, I’ve always said there’s only one sin that will condemn a person to a lost eternity and it’s unbelief! Not their wickedness, not their sin. It’s unbelief. And so yes, there will be some who are going to be ‘good people.’ But they were still in unbelief – condemned.

Then you’ve got the murderers and the wicked, just the lowest of humanity. Yes, they’re going to suffer. In fact, let me go back and show from Scripture that there will be degrees of punishment. We’ve done this before but you know, a lot of time has gone by and we’ve got to repeat some of these things. Come back with me to Matthew chapter 10, and again in chapter 11. But let’s start in chapter 10 of Matthew. And again it’s the words of the Lord Himself.

"Verily I say unto you, it shall be (what?) more tolerable (what does that mean? It’s not going to be as hard on some) for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, than for that city." Those wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are going to have an easier time of it at the judgment day than for that city where He had performed miracles and had preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, and rejected it. He goes on to say in verse 16:

"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves." That was the instructions to the Twelve. Now let’s go over to chapter 11 and He enlarges on it a little more and He names a couple of the cities that He’s speaking of. Jewish cities. Chorazin. Bethsaida. Capernaum is also mentioned in verse 23. But, look what He says starting in verse 20:

"Then he began to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, (why?) because they repented not. (they refused to believe Him. Now look what He says in the next verse.) 21. Woe unto thee Chorazin.! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! (now these were all Jewish cities.) for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, (which were basically Roman cities on the Mediterranean Sea coast and consequently were pagan and wicked – it would be more tolerable because) they would have repented long ago in sack cloth and ashes. 22. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you."

And so it’ll be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida. Now verse 23, Capernaum, once a beautiful city up there on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee. The ruins are still beautiful.

"And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven, (because it was such a beautiful city) shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day."

What’s he saying? Jesus performed miracle after miracle in the city of Capernaum. They should have believed in a minute Who He was. But what’d they do? They did everything they could to trick Him. They accused Him of being demonic. They accused Him of everything blasphemous. And what’s the result? Their judgment is going to be worse than the vile, immoral people of Sodom.

That stands to reason. God’s going to judge according to His merit scale, not humanity’s. Let’s come back again to Revelation 20. The Great White Throne is going to be awful. I think preachers should be preaching how awful it’s going to be at least two times a month. But instead they soft-soap it. They don’t let people know that this is in their future.

And they were judged by the Righteous Judge, Jesus the Christ and He’s never going to be unfair. Now you have to remember, we’re dealing with billions of people but we’re not in ‘time’ as we know it. We’re in eternity and I always like to rack people’s thinking – you know in eternity that would probably take, well I’m going to stretch it a little – things that may take a million years in time, will take five minutes in eternity. So don’t ever think for a minute that God won’t have time to judge every individual. Oh, yes He will. That will not be a problem for Him, not a bit. And they’re all going to be judged individually according to their works.

"And death and hell (the abiding place of unbelievers since Cain) were cast into the lake of fire."

We don’t like to read that. I know we don’t. It’s awful. But it’s the Word of God. This is the second death. Their first death was when they died physically. This is spiritual death and you can remember way back when I first started teaching, I put it on the chalkboard. What is death? Well, it’s the separation. Death is a separation. Physical death is the separation of the soul and spirit from the physical body. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul and spirit, the eternal make up of mankind, separated from God for all eternity. That’s the second death. A separation.

"And whosoever (none excepted, good or bad) was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Listen, do you realize that Jesus spoke far more of the doom of the wicked than He did of Heaven. Far more. How many times did He refer, for example, to, "and in that day they’ll come before me and they’ll say, but Lord, didn’t we cast out demons?" Didn’t we do this and didn’t we do that? And what will His answer be? "Depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you."

That’s just one example and He gives them over and over. It’s serious business. Now on the one hand I can talk about the joy of you and I as believers, the hope of glory! And I’m going to really hammer it home in the next half-hour. Oh, the glory that we’re going to experience! But the other side of the coin, the devastation, the horror of lost mankind is unbelievable. Let’s come back to Hebrews chapter 9, and verse 27 again.

"And it is appointed unto men once to die (unless they become believers and they live to see the Rapture. But otherwise – death hits every human being sooner or later.) but after this the judgment: (in the Great White Throne) 28. So Christ was once (once, contrary to what so many people think) offered to bear the sins of many;…" Now who are the many? The whole human race. You remember way back, I think, when I was in Romans, maybe Corinthians. I know I probably shook a few people up. When Christ died and finished the work of the Cross, how many sins of the world did He forgive? Everybody’s! Yes, I even made the analogy of Adolph Hitler – yes, his sins were paid for. The Atoning Blood had covered his sin. Why didn’t he get to cash in? Because he never believed it as far as we know.

And it’s the same way with wicked people today. Their sins are forgiven. That’s what makes it so horrible. They’ve already been pardoned. They’ve already been reconciled to God. God has done everything that He can do. And all they have to do to cash in is BELIEVE IT. Now, I’m not talking about ‘easy-believeism.’ I’m talking about genuine, saving faith. Trusting it. Believing it. And when we come then the Lord can say, "Oh, you’re already forgiven. I’ve already pardoned you. Yes, I’ve chosen you before the foundation of the world." That’s how all-inclusive that work of the Cross was.

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;…" Come back with me to II Corinthians chapter 5, and let’s drop in at verse 14:

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, (or conclude) that if one died for (how many?) all, (not just the few. He died for the whole human race) then were all dead." Or had a necessity of salvation. Now the next verse,

"And that he died (again for how many?) all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."

But the point I want to make is that when He died, He didn’t die just for a fraction of the human race. He died for ALL. And that’s why, when the lost get to that Great White Throne, there is going to be no real argument. Because they’re going to understand that the only reason they’re missing glory is their UNBELIEF. They refused to believe. They refused to take it by simple faith. And like I said earlier this afternoon, this plan of salvation is so complex that I can’t begin to fathom it. But on the other hand it is so simple that six and seven-year-old kids can enter in. They can believe it and they don’t have any problem.

"So Christ was once (there it is again, see?) offered to bear the sins of many." And as we studied in our last half-hour, that "many" was the whole human race.

Now of course, what Paul is referring to is that, when Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation, those that have embraced Him throughout the Gospel of the Kingdom in that seven years of Tribulation and have survived – they’re going to see Him coming, and He will come "without sin unto salvation." I feel what Paul is addressing here is that, at His first advent, He came for what purpose? To die for the sins of the world. And then II Corinthians 5 says so plainly that He was ‘made sin for us.’ He Who knew no sin.

He’s not going to come to pay any sin debt when He comes the next time. When He comes the second time it will be in wrath and judgment – and then establishing His Heaven-on-earth Kingdom. And I think that’s what’s referred to here, that He’ll come the "second time without sin unto salvation." Now let’s move on into chapter 10, coming right back again to the Mosaic System.

"For the law having a shadow of good things to come,..."

Remember I gave you an illustration of shadows (about a big beautiful tall tree. And it casts a shadow but you can’t get all that much from the shadow. It can give you an idea but that’s about all). Well that’s what the Law was. The Law really didn’t have anything of intrinsic value for us except that it was a foreshadowing of that which was to come.

You know I probably upset people once in a while and I don’t do it purposely. But you know when it comes to the Old Testament believers, some like to tell me that these believers understood or foresaw the resurrection. How could they? How about Abraham for one? Abraham believed God. And his believing was accounted unto him for righteousness. And then they tried to tell me that Abraham understood this Christ would die on a Cross? No. I don’t buy that, because he had no concept of that. How could he? The Cross was a Roman invention and didn’t come for hundreds and hundreds of years later. But what little God revealed to Abraham, he believed! And God accounted it to him for righteousness.

And so here again, the Law was just a shadow of good things to come. Oh, even the Rabbis and the Priests understood that there were things here that they weren’t comprehending. A verse just comes to mind that we need to look at. We’ve looked at it before, but it’s been a while. Come all the way to I Peter. And Peter again is addressing the Jews who had gone into dispersion. He’s writing to the ‘strangers scattered abroad,’ which are Jews. But you come into chapter 1, and this is what we mean by ‘it was just a shadow.’ Oh, there were things back in that Old Testament that the religious leaders of Israel just knew there was something that they weren’t comprehending.

I Peter chapter 1? Let’s begin at verse 7 and lead up to the main verse. Someday, if the Lord tarries, we’ll be finishing Hebrews and then we’ll go on into the little epistles of James. Some of you have already been asking. "Where are we going next?" Well, now you’ve got your answer. We’ll probably go on into James and I and II Peter; I, II and III John and Jude. And then of course, I’m open for suggestions as to what will follow. We’ll go back to the Minor Prophets and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel – oh my goodness we’ve got a long ways to go. I could live to be 500 and we’d never finish it!

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 2. Whom (speaking of Jesus Christ) having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; 9. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." See, there again, even Peter is emphasizing the faith aspect. Verse 10:

"Of which salvation the prophets have (what?) inquired (what does that mean? They asked a ton of questions.) and (they) searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you." It hadn’t come yet, but they understood that there was something coming and they searched and they tried their level best to put the whole thing together, but they could not.

Now, you know, many times throughout the years we’ve been on television, I’ve gone back to Rachel’s death at the birth of little Benjamin. And I think most of you are aware, as she was dying, what did she say the little fellow’s name would be? "Benoni." Which meant what? ‘The son of my suffering’ because she was dying. But old Jacob overruled it and he said, "No. We’re not going to call him ‘Benoni,’ we’re going to call him Benjamin." Which meant ‘the son of strength.’ Well now, what do you suppose the Rabbis did with that? Well, there’s something here. This didn’t just happen by accident. Surely there’s going to be two Messiahs. One who will suffer and they understood Isaiah 53 that said, ‘He would be led as a lamb to the slaughter.’ They could put that much together.

So evidently the Benoni was a ‘suffering’ Messiah. But then along comes Jacob and renames the little lad Benjamin, the ‘son of strength,’ and the Old Testament is full of the King and His Kingdom. So that Messiah must be the King. So they thought maybe there would be two. Well, that was logical up to a point. But what did they never put together? One and the same, but in two different times! Separated now at least by 2,000 years, but we hope it won’t be much more. But they could never comprehend that the Benoni was Christ’s first advent, the suffering Messiah. Now, nearly 2,000 years later, we trust that soon, the Benjamin aspect is coming and what is He going to be? The King! See how beautiful it all is? But these Old Testament people never figured it out. They never figured it out, and most Jews today still haven’t.

I had a nice phone call the other day from a Jew. She said, "Oh I’m with you all the way." I don’t like to express the good comments that we get, but I do get good comments from Jewish people and even from a Rabbi once in a while, and we appreciate that. But see, these Rabbis just didn’t have an understanding. They saw the shadow, but like I showed in my analogy, you don’t build a piece of furniture with a shadow. You’ve got to have the tree. And all they could pick up was the shadow. They knew there was something they couldn’t put their finger on. All right, verse 11:

"Searching…" Now if you understand Yeshivas in Israel’s educational system, all those young men do from morning till night is they just sit there and they do nothing but analyze the Old Testament; searching to see if they can come up with some little tidbit of revelation that nobody else has ever seen. Well, these old fellows were doing the same thing, searching the Old Testament.

"Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, (the Benoni) and the (what?) glory which should follow. (the Benjamin. The King, the Kingdom.) 12. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us (Peter, speaking now after the fact) they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them who have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." Peter is so clear and adamant here that these Old Testament Rabbis saw the shadow, but they could not construct the whole picture because God was keeping it secret.

Now let’s take you back to a verse in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 29:29. I had a dear, dear friend of mine who was in my class for a long time and his health has now deteriorated. And dear old Dr. Baker came up one night and said, "Les, I’ve found a verse that fits your teaching to a ‘T.’ And here it is. Oh, I’ve thanked the Lord for it over the years. It was a long time coming. But see, this just opens it all up.

"The secret things…" What things? Secret. Now listen, a secret is a secret! And when it’s a secret, how many people know about it? Nobody but one.

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God: (and nobody else) but (flipside) those things which are revealed (that are no longer secret, see?) belong unto us (Moses is writing) and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

What’s the verse telling us? That God keeps things secret until He reveals it. And He’s not going to reveal it all at once. He’s going to reveal it little by little. And so all the way up through Scripture God is revealing things that He has kept secret. And that’s why a lot of the prophecies back in the Old Testament were hard even for Bible scholars to comprehend. God didn’t expect them to. There was no need for it. What good would it have done to have started preaching prophecy back there in 1000 AD. There was no need for it. Even at 1500 AD there was still no need for it. But as we approached the 1900’s, all of a sudden Bible scholars began to see the picture of the end-time coming together. Well, that’s the way God works. You see, the Apostle Paul, over and over, is making mention of that.

Now let me take you back to what Paul says. Let’s go to Romans, chapter 16. Now don’t forget what we just read in Deuteronomy. God keeps things secret. And until He reveals it, that’s what they are. But once He reveals it, He expects mankind to believe it. Here in Romans 16 verse 25, this is one of my favorite verses. You know, I usually ask my seminar crowds, how many of you have ever heard a sermon preached on Romans 16:25? Well, until last Fall up in Minnesota, I never got a hand. Last Fall, I finally got two or three. But see, people don’t hear this. They don’t want to touch it with a ten-foot pole. Look what it says,

"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, (of I Corinthians 15:1-4) and the preaching of Jesus Christ. according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept (what?) secret since the world began."

See how plain that is? Well what was secret about it? In Christ’s earthly ministry, Peter, James and John and the rest had no idea that God would turn to the Gentile world with this Gospel of Grace. They had no concept of such a thing. The only mindset they had was that once Israel was converted, yes, then Israel could move out and bring the Gentiles in. But you see I’m always emphasizing back there in that earthly ministry, what did Jesus tell the Twelve when they began their ministry?

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Well what was that? That was something that was still kept secret from the Gentile world. They weren’t to go and reveal anything to the Gentiles, because it wasn’t time for it. Paul’s Gospel of believing in the death, burial, and resurrection for salvation hadn’t happened yet. And so Peter, James and John and the rest, they know nothing of going to Gentiles. You know, I always like to come back to Peter and the house of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. Now you see, that was probably seven, eight, nine years after Pentecost and they’d been situated only in Jerusalem all those years. If you don’t believe me, read Acts 8 verse 1. ‘They were all scattered abroad everywhere, except the apostles.’ They weren’t about to leave.

But finally, after Saul’s conversion in chapter 9 – and then in chapter 10, God providentially forced Peter to go to this Gentile house of Cornelius and you’ve heard me say it more than once – "heel prints in the sand!" Peter didn’t want to go to those pagan Gentiles any more than Jonah did. But he got there and God did something that those Jews could not comprehend. What’d He do? Saved that house full of Romans. Now we don’t know how many there were. Couldn’t have been hundreds as they were all living in a house. But anyway, the point I always make is, wouldn’t you think that after seeing the miraculous salvation of a bunch of Roman military men, that Peter would have just sent a messenger back to Jerusalem and said, "Fellows, I’m out of here. God is going to take the Gospel to the Gentiles, I’ll see you later!"

Is that what happened? No. He trekked right back to Jerusalem as though nothing had ever happened and when he got there they chewed him out royally. "What business did you have going to the Gentiles?" Isn’t that funny that those people couldn’t understand that? Why? Because this whole concept of going to the Gentiles with the Gospel of Grace was still kept secret. Now along comes the Apostle Paul and what’s the first thing God tells him? "I’m going to send you far hence to the Gentiles." Unheard of! Those pagan Gentiles? All right, now look what Paul writes in Galatians chapter 1 verse 11, and this is such simple language. Look what the Apostle writes, by inspiration of the Spirit.

"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which is preached of me (or what he called in Romans ‘my gospel’) is not after man. 12. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, (that is by other men) but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." Now when you let go of a secret what are you doing? Well, you reveal it. And so this secret that’s been in the mind of God was not revealed until the Apostle Paul. Not all at once – little by little.

All right, so he said, "I got it by revelation of Jesus Christ." I just pointed out to someone who called on the phone (as to where I stand concerning Christ’s earthly ministry), "Look, Christ’s earthly ministry was under the Law. It was directed to the children of Israel," and I quoted him to Romans 15 verse 8. ‘Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to fulfill the promises made to the fathers.’’ Plain English, isn’t it? All right, so He came to the Nation of Israel under the Law leading up to the crucifixion.

But this man Paul, now, has things revealed from the ascended Lord. What does that mean? Well, a whole new ball game. Now we’re ready to reveal some secrets – read on.

"For ye have heard of my conversation (or my manner of living) in times past in the Jews religion, (as you know he was a religious zealot) how that beyond measure I persecuted the church (called out assembly of God) and wasted it." Now that wasn’t the Body of Christ as is taught in Paul’s letters. Here he’s talking about the believers, which were Jews in Jerusalem that he was after.

"And profited in the Jews religion above many of my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers," He was religious, but God pulled him out of that. Now verse 15.

"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, 16. To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among (who? The Gentiles) the heathen;…" That was the first time this has ever been mentioned. A revelation of the Lord. Something held secret. Read on:

"Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me;…"

Now some of you have heard me teach this a hundred times. What would have been the logical thing for the Apostle Paul to do (recently Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor, but now struck down by the Lord from Heaven outside the Damascus gate and told you’re going to go to the Gentile world with the Good News of the Gospel)? What was the logical thing to do? Traipse back to Jerusalem, find the Twelve and just say, "Fellows, sit down with me. Let’s get out a pencil and pad and I want you to tell me everything you know about this Jesus of Nazareth." But what does the Scripture say? Exactly the opposite – sent him the other direction so that he couldn’t sit down with the Twelve.

He didn’t want the Twelve muddying this fresh new mind recently brought from religious tradition. So He sends him out into the desert, the opposite direction. So he said:

"Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia,…" Well, what was the whole purpose? To unload on this man things that had been kept secret. And he, over and over, refers to them now as the revelation of these mysteries or things that had been kept secret.

Now there’s another one in Ephesians chapter 3. It’s the same type of concept – and don’t ever accuse the Apostle Paul of being an egotist or of being puffed up. He was the most humble of servants. He was the most used of God of any man other than Christ himself. Of course, we don’t compare him to that. But I think the Apostle Paul stands head and shoulders even above Moses as God’s man for taking the Good News to the human race.

"For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you (what people?) Gentiles. (remember Gentile was a hated word in Israel) 2. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:"

Now I know there are some who would agree with a certain part of this. They’ll say, not all of this was kept secret. Just maybe the ‘Body of Christ.’ Now wait a minute. When we get a new administration in Washington, does half of the old group go out or all of them? All of them. That’s the whole idea of a transition. The old goes out and the new comes in. When we have a new administration, half the cabinet doesn’t stay with the old, they all move out. So the administration is the whole, not just part.

All right, now look what the Apostle says here in the second verse. "The administration of the grace of God was given to me to you-ward." Not half of it. Not just parts of it. Now, you remember in my programs in days gone by, what have I told you? That whole body of truth that is involved in the Gospel of the Grace of God – that that was revealed in this dispensation or administration of the Grace of God. All of it. "The beginning of the Body of Christ, to the end of the Body of Christ."

That’s why I adamantly say that the Church cannot go into the Tribulation because that dispensation does not fit with it. It won’t. It can’t because the whole body of truth was revealed to this man. So the secrets are now revealed. And oh, God expects us (like he told Moses), when He reveals it, to believe it. All right, if you think he’s stretching the point, look what the Holy Spirit inspired him to write. Go all the way down to verse 9.

"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been (what?) hid in God,…"

The Book of Hebrews is written to the Jewish people, and so the whole thing is naturally flavored in that direction. Although the overall doctrines go right back into Romans and Galatians and Ephesians (and pick up almost the same things), never forget that these things are written to Jewish people who are having a hard time turning their backs on all the traditions and the teachings of Judaism. And it’s no different than someone coming out of a cult. My, it is so hard to turn their backs on something that’s been pounded into them for a lifetime, and then suddenly they realize that it’s no longer the right way. So, Paul is addressing these admonitions to Jews who were understanding his Gospel of Grace to a point, but they still had to be convinced that all of this was part and parcel of God’s program for the ages, as I like to call it.

We’re going to go back to some of the things in Romans, but first let’s read Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1 where he writes:

"For the law…" The Law, the Old Testament economy. Usually we think of the Ten Commandments as the Law. But, you can’t confine it to just the Ten. Because of the Ten Commandments, God instituted the Temple worship or what we call the ceremonial aspect of the Law. In other words, if they committed a particular sin, they had to bring a particular sacrifice. But naturally, basic to all of it was the moral law, the Ten Commandments.

"For the law having a shadow of good things to come, (not necessarily good while it was in practice but looking forward to something that was good in the future.) 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."

Now in plain English, what’s he saying? All of this practice of the Law could never bring that Jew to a full relationship with God. It was impossible, because they were still under a system of animal sacrifices and everything was merely a shadow of that which was to come.

Since our last taping a month ago, we’ve been out to Ohio and Indiana, and even up into northwest Kansas. So, it seems like a long time ago that we covered the difference between the image and the shadow.

So I think it bears repeating. Remember I gave you the illustration of this gentleman who had a big beautiful tree. And his best friend was a woodworker. And that friend could just see that beautiful tree sawed into lumber that he could use for whatever he was going to make. So, he asked his friend what he would take for that tree. Well, of course, he wanted several hundred dollars. which was a lot more than the woodworker wanted to pay. So the owner of the tree said, "Well, I’ll sell you the shadow of the tree for $50." Well, you know we smile. But the lesson is the shadow is the exact outline of that tree but that’s all it is.

You cannot determine what kind of a tree it is from the shadow. You can’t see the shape of the leaves. You can’t see the configurations in the bark. All you see is the outline. You can go up to the tree, and you can examine it and you know exactly what it is. Now that’s the analogy throughout Hebrews, that all these things back under the Law were not the ‘tree;’ they were the ‘shadow.’ But if you start at the far end of the shadow and you follow it, where does it take you? To the tree. All right, now that’s the whole idea of the Old Testament economy. It’s just like the shadow of a tree, that as you follow it, it’s going to bring you to the image or the real thing.

Now the word image here in the book of Hebrews in the Greek is the same Greek word that, when the disciples were confronting Jesus about materialistic things, He asked them for a Denarius, a Roman coin. And what did He ask them? "Whose image is on that coin?" What was their answer? Caesar’s. All right, now that word image is the same word translated image here in Hebrews.

When they looked at a Roman coin, what did they see? They saw the likeness of Caesar. That was the image. All right, now this is what we’re supposed to understand, that all these Old Testament things and everything that took place under the Law were just the shadow of the real thing. And what’s the real thing? Christ – death, burial, resurrection, ascension to glory.

Okay, so the Old Testament economy was good while it was there. But it was only a shadow looking forward to something which would be, as we’ve seen throughout all these previous nine chapters, something far better. Over and over we’ve seen that. Yes, that was good, but this is better. Let’s go back to Romans chapter 3 where the same Apostle Paul writes now, not in the language that pertains to the Jew, but in language that pertains to the non-Jew.

That’s why Paul is always emphasizing that he was the Apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). But he’s basically saying the same thing. Only, he’s approaching two different kinds of people.

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law;…" I don’t think there’s a person in this room that doesn’t know who was under the Law? Israel. Israel was under the Law, not the Gentile world. Only Israel practiced the Temple worship and the sacrifices and had the priesthood.

All right, but the power of the Law to condemn didn’t stop at the borders of Israel; it went to the whole human race. To every last human being that’s ever lived, the Law condemned. Read on:

Now, you know I repeat and repeat and repeat. And over and over people say, keep repeating. So I’m not going to apologize for that. But again, how many people, even right here in the Bible Belt, have got that fouled up idea that the Ten Commandments are somehow a means of gaining entrance into Heaven.

The Ten Commandments are just the opposite. They’re God’s reason for not letting a human being into His Heaven. Because they are all guilty. And that’s all the Law could do was show men their guilt. And this verse says it plain as day. That "all the world may become guilty." Not saved. Not made ready for Heaven, but made guilty.

"Therefore (since that was the purpose of the Law, to condemn mankind.) by the deeds of the law (or keeping the Law) there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: (Jew or Gentile. Nobody. And then he repeats the reason.) for by the law is the knowledge of (not salvation or eternal life, but what?) sin."

That’s all the Law can do is show us our sin. Every time you read the Ten Commandments, all they can do is just bombard you with what? You’re guilty. You’re guilty. There’s not a one of us that can say I’m not guilty. And then the Lord Himself really made it tough with one of His remarks. "Even if you think it in your heart you’re guilty." James says, "If you’re guilty of one, you’re guilty of how many? All of them." I mean, we don’t stand a chance. That’s how condemning the Ten Commandments are. But look at verse 21, what’s the first word? One of my favorite words in Scripture.

Oh yeah, that’s all the Law could do was condemn – but – there’s a tremendous loophole. Big enough for the whole world to come through if they would, and what is it?

But now the righteousness of God without the law (now we’re coming to the end of the shadow, we’re coming to the image. We’re coming to the real thing.) is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;"

Now whenever somebody accuses me, and they do occasionally, of being too Pauline, by saying, "You make too much of Paul. Paul isn’t the only one that knows any of these things." I say, "He never claimed to." Look what he says right here. Everything that is being revealed is resting on that which went before and what went before the Apostle Paul? The Law and the Prophets. He never claims to have just come out of the woodwork with all this. His is just part of what I’ve always called progressive revelations. From Genesis 1:1, this blessed Book is a progressive revelation. You don’t get it all up there in the first chapter. It just keeps flowing and as it gets closer to the end it’s just like the old Mississippi. You know up there in Minnesota you can walk across it on a few stones. But by the time it gets to the Gulf of Mexico you need a ship to go across it.

That’s the way the progressive revelation of Scripture is. It just keeps expanding and expanding and expanding. And that’s why we can’t plumb the depths of it. But, Paul claims by inspiration that everything he’s had revealed to him is resting on the Law and the Prophets. Through the Old Testament economy Christ came in His first advent, presented Himself to the Nation of Israel for three years, but was rejected and crucified in order to become the supreme sacrifice that the Law again, was just a shadow of. See?

All right, so after being witnessed by the law and the prophets, this is now evident that "the righteousness of God," not man’s righteousness, but God’s righteousness as we see in verse 22.

"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:…" And that’s another pill that’s hard for some people to swallow, that all of this is appropriated on our behalf when we believe – plus nothing.

I got a letter in the mail yesterday; I haven’t had time to read it all. All I saw was the first sentence, "Les, you’re wrong. There’s more than faith plus nothing." Well, then I said, "Wait, I’ll read that one when I’ve got nothing better to do." Because it is Faith plus Nothing! It’s a free gift that you cannot work for. I don’t care what any person says because, over and over, the Scriptures make it so plain that this is where it’s at. It isn’t faith ‘plus.’ It’s BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART! (Romans 10:9-10) And we did that in our seminar out in Ohio a few weeks ago. One of the questions toward the middle of the afternoon was, "Is water baptism necessary for salvation?" And you know how that triggers me.

And so I just went back and I didn’t say a word from my own thinking, I just went Scripture after Scripture after Scripture. And fortunately, I think, with the Holy Spirit’s help, I was able to show all these verses like this one right here. Look at it again. This is one that I used and I’ll show you how I did it. "For it is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all them that believe" and are baptized? I had four hundred and some people raise their heads and shake them. No, that’s not what it says. And then you can go back to Romans 1:16, what does Paul say?

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it (the Gospel) is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth;…" and is baptized? Is that what it says? No. That’s not what it says. To everyone that what? Believeth! Period. And so I went all the way through Paul’s epistles where it says to him that "believeth." Plus nothing. See? All right so here it is all them that believe. With no strings attached. And then of course, "there is no difference between Jew and Gentile." Now they must all come the same way, by believing Paul’s Gospel of salvation.

Back to Hebrews 10, so let’s move on through the last half of the verse now. This whole system of the Law, which was only the shadow, with all of its works; feast days, the sacrifices, continuously – never ending. And then what does the verse say?

Or prepared and ready for God. Disheartening, wasn’t it? And yet it was an unending process. Now, I find it hard to believe, but I’ve read it more than once, that Josephus made the claim that at the time of Christ, almost a million animals a year were sacrificed. Now I find that hard to believe because you divide a million by 365 and that’s almost more than they could kill in a day. But, we know it was a humongous number of animals that were daily being sacrificed at the Temple there in Jerusalem, and yet practically for nothing because animal’s blood couldn’t do anything.

"For then would they not have ceased to be offered?…" In other words, if those animal sacrifices were all that were necessary, wouldn’t the day have come when they’d quit? But they never could. They never could because those sacrifices could not take away sin. Reading on in verse 2:

"…because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." If those animal sacrifices were complete in themselves, those Jews should have been able to go away from that Temple. They should have been able to go back to their homes in Greece or Babylon content that all of their sins were forgiven. But could they? No. Next year they had to be back again. Now verse 3.

"But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins (how often?) every year." We’re talking primarily about the Day of Atonement. And so Israel’s sins were never removed. They just kept coming back. It was unending. And this is what Paul is proving – and what a difference – as we’re going to see the other side of the coin. Here in verse 4 is why they had no assurance of sins forgiven, because it was not possible.

"For it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5. Wherefore, when he (speaking of the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth) cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared for me:"

Now we’ve got to stop a moment. What was he really saying? Did God take pleasure in all those innocent animals being slaughtered? No. He didn’t take pleasure in it. Now when they made a dent in Israel’s spiritual life, I’m sure it made a difference. But most of the time, Israel’s spiritual life was in the pits. Let’s go back to Isaiah chapter 1, lest we get the mistaken idea that God was so pleased when those Jews would bring those perfect little lambs or those cute little goats and have them killed. He wasn’t pleased with all that, but it was a part and parcel of His demands on the Nation of Israel to let them show their obedience and, yes, their faith. If they did it right, they brought those sacrifices by faith. Because that’s the way God told them to do it, but most of the time even faith was absent. See? Here in Isaiah, this is God speaking through the prophet concerning all these sacrifices.

"Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom (now that’s the other word for Jerusalem) give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah." Now, why in the world call Jerusalem, Sodom and Gomorrah? Because of their wickedness. Oh, you have no idea, see? Now verse 11.

"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full ("I’ve had it up to here" is the way we put it don’t we?) of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats."

"When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13. Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; (which of course was part and parcel of the sacrificial worship) the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting."

Now do you know how meticulous the Jews were about all that? See, most people don’t understand the customs. They were so intent on knowing the exact time that a new moon came about that they would actually station people on the mountains of Israel to watch the nighttime sky for the first slightest sliver of moon and they could announce to the Temple people, the new moon has begun, see?

All right, see this is what the Lord is talking about. They made such a big deal over the "new moons, the Sabbath days, the calling of assemblies." God says, "I cannot, away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting."

Now whenever I read these verses, you know what I have to think of? I wonder how many services across the world today the Lord has the same feeling for? Most of them have just become almost an abomination. They have departed from the truth of God’s Word and God hates it. But they think that they can compensate for it with all of the entertainment and what-have-you. But I’m sure God doesn’t. He doesn’t swallow that. And He would like to just say, "Away with it."

"And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood." Quite a condemnation isn’t it?

We just trust that you’ll take your Bible and line me up with the Scriptures. Just compare Scripture with Scripture and with the Holy Spirit’s guidance we trust we can stay with the truth. Again, we always like to thank our listening audience for your phone calls, your letters and your prayers especially. That’s the most important of all.

Okay, we’re going to pick right up where we left off in verse 4.

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins."

Now you know, that would be another half-hour lesson. But you see, that’s why the Old Testament believer didn’t die and go to Heaven, he went down into Sheol. He went down into Hell. He went down into Hades, which was split with a great gulf fixed, as Luke tells us in chapter 16. And so the believing element went down into those areas in the Paradise side, whereas the lost went down into the torment side. But then, at Christ’s resurrection, He took ‘captivity captive’ and now with the atoning blood shed, He could take those Old Testament saints up to Glory.

So, until the true atoning blood had been shed, they could not die and go to Heaven. They went down into Paradise; and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then just think of the thief on the cross. What did Jesus tell him? "Today, thou shalt be with me (not up in Heaven, but where?) in Paradise." (also see Matthew 12:40) And so, this is all because "the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins."

"When he cometh into the world, (that is speaking of Christ coming into His earthly, first advent – He said) Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared for me:"

Now, there are two thoughts right there. We saw in the last part of the last half-hour what God thought of a good portion of the sacrifices made by Israel. They were an abomination to Him because they thought it would just cover a multitude of sins, and it never changed their lives. They were still cheating their neighbors. They were still selling false products. They were still committing adultery. And they were doing all the things abhorrent to God, but they thought they could just smooth that all over with their religion. Well, that doesn’t work.

But, sacrifice wasn’t what God was looking for – He was looking for, even back then, changed hearts and lives. You know, I think I put it in our last newsletter that will be coming out the first of July – in our time out in Indiana and Ohio, I don’t know how many times people came up and said, "You’ve changed my life." Or "You’ve changed our home." "You’ve changed our marriage." Well, of course, they all know I don’t do it. God does it. But anyway, we’re an instrument that brings about a change in lifestyle. And you know, I’ve stressed that as long as I’ve been teaching. If you claim to be a believer and you claim to be a Christian, there has to be a change in lifestyle. We cannot keep on living like we did when we were lost. Because when God moves in we’re going to live differently.

Now that doesn’t mean that we become so heavenly-minded that we’re no earthly good. I’ve always used that little cliché. But, on the other hand, the change is all for the better. And I guess the simplest way I can put it is, when you become a true believer, you become a good husband; you become a good wife; you become a good mother; you become a good child; you become a good professional; you become a good worker; you become a good citizen. That’s what Christianity does. It just simply makes us good people.

Tocqueville, the French philosopher, after he had toured America, went back and wrote some of his famous things; and one statement he made, you remember. It’s quoted over and over. "America is blessed" (now this is way back in the early 1800’s)…America is blessed because America is full of good people. Well that has to be the case, see? All right, so God wasn’t just looking for the sacrifices as I said in the last program. He didn’t take pleasure in seeing those innocent animals killed one after the other, but it was His demand to make people conscious of sin.

All right so now, he goes on to say, that in His coming into the world, God prepared what? A body. Now you see, God in His omnipotence could have done it almost any way He wanted to. He could have set the standard. He’s Sovereign. But He chose to bring the whole plan of salvation to the human race through One of the members of the Godhead, the Son becoming a human being. Only the God of This Book could do something like that.

The god of the Buddha’s and the god of some of these other religions could never do it, but our God could. Because with Him nothing is impossible. So He saw fit to lay that plan of salvation based on a Person of the Godhead, God the Son, becoming human flesh and living amongst us. And being able to identify with all of our heartaches, our sorrows, our passions, our everything. That’s why the Scripture can tell us that there has no temptation taken you that is common to man, but that He has helped us find a way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13). Because He faced the same things.

So, "a body thou hast prepared for me." Speaking of the baby in the womb. And I always like to make the point that from the very time of Mary’s conception that baby in the womb never ceased to be the God of Glory. He was God from the moment of conception up until He ascended back to Glory after finishing His earthly sojourn. So, "a body thou hast prepared for me" for the whole purpose of bringing about this tremendous plan of redemption.

"In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins thou hast had no pleasure."

Now this almost flies in the face of most of our thinking concerning the Old Testament doesn’t it? But go all the way back to Psalms, chapter 40, where even the Psalmist makes it so plain; in fact, here is where Paul is quoting from. You want to remember, a lot of the things David said were not regarding himself, but regarding David’s Messiah, the coming Christ. All right, in Psalms 40 verse 6, here’s where Paul quotes from. And I just want you to see that all of this was not just something that came on the scene in Paul’s time, but it was from antiquity.

"Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; (that’s not what God was looking for) mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. 7. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, (Now here is the Messiah speaking.) I delight to do thy will,…"

Now, in Christ’s earthly ministry, what was He always praying to the Father? "Thy will be done." Not His, but the Father’s. So this is already declared back through the lips of the Psalmist.

"Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is written within my heart. 9. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest." Who was the great congregation? The Nation of Israel. And Christ came and proclaimed Himself as the answer to all their needs through this One Who had been born in Bethlehem.

All right, all the way back to Hebrews again, if you will. So God prepares a body with which he can minister to the congregation, to the Nation of Israel. But, in the long term it’s going to be that supreme sacrifice. That was the whole purpose of His coming, so that His sacrifice would end all sacrifices.

"Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;" In other words, I want you to be constantly aware that we are talking about that Temple worship, the bringing of these sacrifices. Now verse 9.

"Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will O God, (that’s why I took you back to Psalms 40, it’s the Messiah speaking) He taketh away the first, (the system of Law, the shadow) that he may establish the (what?) second."

Now, for those of you who have been with us from the very beginning of Hebrews, over and over this is what we’re seeing. Yes, that which was past was good as far as it went. But oh, this is so much better. And it is so much better that most of us just cannot comprehend it. We cannot even have the slightest notion that we can attain to all that God has provided for us. But, I’ll come to that a little later. For now we just have to realize that all these sacrifices aren’t what made God happy. Quite the opposite. But, it was what God laid down as the prerequisite for the Nation of Israel to find salvation, to cover their sin as an expression of their faith, even though most of it was done without faith, but it’s going to fade away so that something far better can come and take its place. All right, now verse 10.

"By the which (that is the second, the better economy that’s coming) will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Now look at that again. "By the which" (that is this second economy). Now when I use the word economy, I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about a system. The Old Testament economy was that Old Testament system of Temple worship and sacrifices and what have you. Our economy is that we’re saved by faith through God’s Grace plus nothing. We become a new creation, we become a different person. We now have new goals, we have new priorities, we have new desires. So that’s the better economy I’m speaking of, the present economy of grace, and it’s as difference as daylight and dark.

" By the which will (by this new economy, this second,) we are sanctified…."

Now way back in, I think probably in the Old Testament teachings (that’d be several years ago), I explained that for the believer there are really two sanctifications. The moment we’re saved, we’re sanctified – set apart for God’s purposes – we’re His. But on the other hand, there is an experiential sanctification that comes as a result of what? Growth. Because I just love to see people (in my classes here in Oklahoma especially), how, that today, they’re far more mature spiritually. They have a better handle on this Book; they have a greater love for it than they did a year ago. And the further you’ve come with me, the more you can feel you have grown. Well, that’s experiential sanctification.

You are far more set apart for God now than you were ten years ago. Six months from now we’ll all be more sanctified than we are today because it’s a growth process.

When you haven’t seen your kids for a little while, what do you suddenly realize? How fast these kids grow up. Well, why? Because time has gone by. They’ve been nourished, they’ve been fed. Well the same thing should be happening spiritually. Every one of us should be more spiritually mature today than we were a year ago. And that’s the experiential sanctification. But on the other hand, yes, the moment we were saved, God set us apart – we’re His. We’re in the palm of His hand and no one can take us out. That’s His promise.

All right so, "By the which will we are sanctified...." In other words, this whole new economy of God’s Grace, triggered by our faith.

"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Now do you see why he mentioned the body a few verses earlier? It had to come. We had to have Christ in the flesh. God had to have that body prepared so that it could be the supreme sacrifice. Now again, most of us cannot comprehend the idea and the necessity of the blood sacrifice. It’s beyond our human comprehension. One day, when we get to Glory, I think we’ll understand, but I don’t think most of us can even get a smidgen of the understanding of why God has demanded the blood sacrifice. The closest I can come to is that life is in the blood. And that you cannot get life unless there is first death. I mean that’s one of the laws of nature – for a seed to germinate and have new life, it has to die. Well, spiritually it’s the same way, see? We cannot experience new life until we have experienced death to the old. Let’s move on. So in verse 11, now we go back to the old economy.

"Every priest standeth daily (none excepted) ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

Those sacrifices could never take away sins. It was impossible. And so the whole thing was just a failure. God set it aside. Let me show you just some of the things that the Scripture itself refers to. We’ve used these before and this again is just a little quick review. Come back to Galatians, chapter 4. And of course Galatians is written to Gentiles who were having pretty much the same problem that the Hebrews were in the Book of Hebrews. They were being tempted to go back under some of the ramifications of the Law. And P