Classic Christianity Radio – Heirs of the Promise Part 2 (2-19-19)
Bob George first repeats a message from yesterday from the book of Ephesians that the believing Jews and Gentiles, together are heirs of the promise of God in Christ Jesus. About 14 minutes into the audio, Bob explains this New Covenant He made with man, both Jew and Gentile, from Hebrews 10. Bob begins by asking the question, “This covenant we are under, is that for us?”
Hebrews 10:11-18 (KJV)
11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Atonement is a covering. How many times do you hear about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus? Jesus did not come to atone for sin but to take it away. Jesus did something far greater than whatever a bull and goat can do. He came to take away sin.
John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Hebrews 10:12 (NIV)
12 But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God
Why did he sit down? His work is over. Chairs were prohibited in the temple by the Levitical priests who stood standing, sacrificing bulls and goats day after day.
Hebrews 10:11 (NIV)
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
John 19:30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Why did Jesus say “It is finished” at the cross? For the sacrifice of his blood shed on the cross was sufficient to take away sins. Those sacrifices of bulls and goats by the priests could never take away sins. Such sacrifices were a temporary covering or atonement for sin.
Hebrews 10:13 (NIV)
13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.
Who are the enemies of God? The unbelievers are the enemies of God.
Romans 5:10 (NIV)
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
What is an enemy? An unbeliever.
When were you reconciled to God? When you were an unbeliever. How were you reconciled to God? Through the death of his Son. Now that you have been reconciled, how have you been saved? By the life of Christ.
You are not saved by the death of Christ but by the life of Christ!
Hebrews 10:14 (NIV)
For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Being made holy (NIV) is a poor translation.
Hebrews 10:14 (KJV)
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
The word sanctified is a better translation and indicates that you have already been made holy. Sanctified means set apart as holy, declared holy, your sins have been washed away. The Greek interpretation of that is the holy ones. Anyone who is in Christ Jesus has been made complete in the eyes of God forever.
When you have been made complete, how complete has He made you? Complete forever. Yet, we try to improve on what God did through church attendance and tithing records, thus insulting God’s completed work. When God completes something he completes it and cannot be added to or taken away from. Yet people will say “You can walk away from it and lose it”. That is a refusal to believe in what God has said.
Hebrews 10:16a
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord
The Gentiles were never under the law. God never gave the law to the Gentile. The law and the covenants were given to the Jews.
1 Corinthians 9:20-21
20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
21 To them that are without law [Gentile], as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
Hebrews 10:16b
16 I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.
Laws (plural) is the only time you will see this use. The Hebrew / Greek is where the plural version is used in Hebrews 10:16.
Law (singular) refers to the first five books of the bible, also known as the Pentateuch.
I write the laws on their minds. What are these laws of Jesus? There are just two laws that Jesus gave in this New Covenant.
Matthew 22:36-40 (KJV)
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Love your God and love your neighbor are the two laws Jesus told this Jew who asked him which is the greatest commandment in the law. But Jesus did not respond with what was in the law of Moses. He spoke of future laws that will be written in the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit He will give to those who put their trust in the work he came to do! On these two laws hinge the entirety of the Old Testament, by which hang all the law and the prophets. All that was written in the law and spoken through the prophets will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus said he will write these laws on their minds.
Hebrews 10:17
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Do you believe what God has said? Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.
Hebrews 10:18
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any more sacrifice for sin.
Is there any more sacrifice for sins today, according to the word of God? No.
Hebrews 9:22
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission [forgiveness of sin].
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Since there is no more sacrifice, no more shedding of blood, what do you have to conclude about the one time he died for us?
Hebrews 10:14
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Is that positional, theoretical, forensic? No, that is true. All this theological gobble-gook is made up by those who say “I don’t believe that.” “Oh, but down here we still need to be forgiven” is what you hear preached from the pulpit. Such a statement must come from someone who does not believe what God has said. If I believe what God has said then the only thing I can say is Hallelujah and praise God. I believe what God has said by faith and not this false theology.
Sins have been put on the back of God never to be seen again. No more shedding of blood means that you have been forgiven. Therefore, if you are in Christ, you are a forgiven person. So please do not call me a person capable of being forgiven. If I am capable of being forgiven then I cannot be called a forgiven person. I will believe the word of God and say that I am forgiven person. Both those statements, “capable of being forgiven” and “I am a forgiven person” cannot both be true.
Jew under the law was beat up by the law. He could not live under it yet commanded to live under it. Here are my commandments and I command you to obey them. Gentiles never had these commands, he just stood there naked without the law, flaunting all his sins in gross idolatry and paganism. The Jew had his sins temporarily covered by the sacrifices of bulls and goats. You could say the clothing of the Law had temporarily covered the sins of the Jew.
If I give the New Covenant to the Jews, then what is the Jew going to do? He will take off the old clothes of Law and put on new clothes of grace. A Gentile is naked, without the Law, then he is just told to put on new clothes of grace.
So what did we do in the Christian world? We stole the clothes from the Jews and put them over our new suit. That is exactly what Paul was reproving the Galatians for. You who believed in faith, why are you putting on the law, those dirty clothes? Paul called the Galatians foolish and asked them, “Who bewitched you?”
Galatians 3:1-3
1 Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
To the sinner, Jesus said go and sin no more. To the legalistic, Jesus called them a whitewashed sepulcher, clean on the outside, but on the inside full of dead man’s bones.
To the woman caught in adultery, this is what Jesus told her, as one by one, all her accusers left.
John 8:11
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
To the religious Pharisees, boasting in their own righteousness, Jesus said this.
Matthew 23:27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
The harshest words ever spoken by Jesus were to the religious. Yet, what we do today is tolerate the self-righteous and legalistic. We gladly let them have fellowship together with us while they are spying on our freedom in Christ. And so we blend together law and grace in a new mix of false Christianity. It is a blend of Judaism and religion and a little mysticism thrown in.