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[0:00] Hebrews chapter 10, it's a very insightful passage, and it very much coincides with the communion service that we're going to be celebrating today.

[0:10] And the writer of Hebrews wants to make it very clear, and he uses his pen to emphasize it in every chapter, the superiority of Jesus Christ as opposed to the previous Mosaic institutions that were at one time in vogue and were supposed to be followed, but something changed all that.

[0:36] And what changed it was the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross. Nothing has been the same since. We are so grateful for that, and we are gathered here this morning to celebrate and remember his body and his blood as we partake of the elements.

[0:54] So if you would take your bulletin in which there is an insert with the passage that we'll be reading from in Hebrews chapter 10. Gary, if you will come and lead us in the responsive reading, he'll read verse 1, and then you follow with every other verse.

[1:14] For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, 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.

[1:40] For then, who would they not have sins to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should not have a more consciousness of sins.

[1:52] But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of the bulls and the goats should take away sins.

[2:07] Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me.

[2:23] In the great offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God.

[2:40] Above when he said, Sacrifice and offerings and earth offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldst not, neither hast thou prepared me.

[2:52] Which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

[3:07] On which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

[3:29] For this man, after being of all of the ones that have Christ's sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. From henceforth, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

[3:47] For by one offering, he hath perfect forever, the ones that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.

[3:58] For after that, he had said before, This is a 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 are the right of them.

[4:14] And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where permission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

[4:27] We will be providing some abbreviated remarks regarding the passage that you just read.

[4:48] It is striking how nearly every verse sets forth something by way of a contrast with the old system that served its purpose, but its purpose is now over.

[5:02] And what has happened, of course, is that the sacrifice that all of those animals actually pointed to had been accomplished.

[5:13] When our Lord Jesus said, it is finished, that's precisely what he meant. The whole of the sacrificial system has been completed.

[5:25] The final and ultimate payment has been made in his own blood. It's contrasted mightily, of course, with the blood of bulls and goats, which can never take away sins.

[5:35] So some might ask, well, how is it exactly that the blood of Christ takes away my sin?

[5:45] How does that work? Well, the scriptures make it quite clear as to how it works. First of all, when it talks about the blood of Christ, it is using that as a metaphor. As I've often said before, it was not sufficient that Jesus bleed for our sins.

[6:03] Because he had to die. And the shedding of blood is probably one of the most vivid expressions that can be used to depict death.

[6:14] And that's exactly what it did. So in the death of Christ, he was able to expiate. He was able to satisfy the righteousness and the holiness of God by taking on humanity's sin debt.

[6:29] And he was able to do that only because of who he was. Everything centers around the identity of this person.

[6:40] He was acceptable to God because he who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And when he made that payment on the cross, as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

[7:00] He secured the redemption of the entire human race. Someone says, was everyone redeemed? Absolutely everyone was redeemed.

[7:11] Let me ask you this. How many of humanity were involved in the fall? Everybody. Everybody. Everybody.

[7:22] There was but one who escaped it. And that only because of the virgin conception. He was able to escape the pain of sin.

[7:32] You see, God has a standard of absolute holiness, absolute righteousness. And we have no idea what it would be like to be absolutely holy and be sinned against.

[7:50] We don't know what that would be like because we are all sinners. And when we wrong one another, it's just one sinner wronging another sinner. And that's an entirely different category. But when the sin is an offense against the creator, that steps it into an entirely different realm.

[8:08] So when Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, because of who he was, he was able to balance the moral scales of the universe.

[8:22] As in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And this becomes the basis for the unborn or for children who die in infancy, who have not reached the age of accountability.

[8:39] This becomes the basis for their eternal life and their salvation because they are covered under that propitiatory work of Christ. And when we say that Christ made propitiation for our sins, it simply means that Christ satisfied the demands of a righteous God.

[9:00] And some would look at that with criticism and they say, well, isn't God supposed to be loving? Isn't God supposed to be forgiving?

[9:12] Indeed, he is. He is loving and he is forgiving. But you cannot divorce those attributes from his attribute of absolute righteousness. You see, God being just insists that sin must be paid for.

[9:28] And you know, we do the same thing. We do the same thing in our civilization. When someone commits a crime, we insist that they pay for it.

[9:39] And very often they are arrested and they are brought to trial and they are sentenced because we have a sense of justice.

[9:49] And can you expect anything less from God? But so far as God's love is concerned, it is true that he is just and righteous and he demands a balancing of the moral scales of the universe.

[10:05] But you must also couple that with his love. And because of his great love, he was willing to interrupt the composition of the triune Godhead for one member of that exalted trio to become flesh and dwell among us and live as us and die as one of us.

[10:35] It's an amazing thing. Let me tell you, dear friends, what happened on that cross during a three-hour period when the sun refused to shine and clouds covered the earth and there was an earthquake and it was a very eerie time.

[10:54] That became the most pivotal point in all the universe. That became the focal point. That is absolutely everything.

[11:08] In that, our redemption lies. And the writer of Hebrews here makes it so clear and he talks about having, in verse 2, the reason that it is not final is because that if the animal sacrifice worked, then that would be the end of it.

[11:29] But it didn't. Because it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. And why not? Why not? Because of the relative value between humans and animals.

[11:41] You see, there is an issue of relativity here. And we ought to understand this. The reason that animals could not take away sin, all they could do was cover.

[11:52] Just cover. Temporarily for one year. And then the high priest had to come back and go through the whole process again for another year on the Day of Atonement. And Israel, the nation, got a pass for another year.

[12:05] And then the priest had to come back and do it again. Because the blood of bulls and goats is the blood of inferior beings. The blood of Jesus Christ is the blood of the God-man.

[12:22] That we do not understand. But God was in Christ. Reconciling the world unto himself. Amazing.

[12:37] Amazing. We just sang that hymn, didn't we, that John Newton wrote. This is, if you understand this. Let me put it this way. If you are not absolutely awed by the grace and love of God.

[12:49] It is really questionable that you know him. Partaking of these elements today, to which you are welcome, will not make you a Christian.

[13:11] Will not even make you a better Christian. We partake of these elements because we are doing so in remembrance of him. And they are actually inadequate reminders of the blood and body of Christ.

[13:30] But they do represent physicality. And we've got something obvious. Something that we can see and something that we can handle. And we are to look beyond these things and contemplate what was really involved when Christ was on that cross and he gave himself for us.

[13:48] In our prayer today, for any who may be here, and it's entirely possible that in this audience, that every single person here has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

[14:00] Yes, that's possible. But it's also possible that there are some who do not. And perhaps they have not really confronted the issue. And we would invite you to do that, even today.

[14:11] So, if you would bow with me in a word of prayer. Our Father, we cannot begin to fathom the love and the grace and the mercy that has been poured out on us.

[14:25] All because Jesus Christ was willing to do what he did and you were willing to send him. We cannot begin to fathom that kind of love.

[14:36] But we do believe that you commended your love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And our prayer right now is that for any who may be here, for whom that truth is not a reality, may they see themselves as you see them, which is undone, unacceptable, and unable to make themselves acceptable.

[15:00] And cry out to you for the only remedy that is effective. It is an application of the finished work of Christ to their life.

[15:12] And our prayer is that anyone here now might make that decision. And if you, dear friend, happen to be the one of whom I'm speaking, would you be willing to say, would you be willing to silently repeat this prayer in your own heart and mind?

[15:28] If this represents your sentiments, would you be willing to pray silently to yourself? Dear God, I'm not even really sure that you exist.

[15:39] But I do want to know. And I do want to know if what this man says about Jesus Christ is really true. And if it is, I want that.

[15:51] I need and I want your forgiveness. And I acknowledge that I cannot make myself acceptable to you. And I want to turn myself over to the person of Jesus Christ and accept him as my savior, as my substitute for sin.

[16:08] So with all of my questions and fears and doubts and wonderings, as best as I know how, I know what I need and I know what I want. And if you're willing to provide it, I'm eager to accept it.

[16:21] Lord Jesus, I want you for my very own. I'm asking you to come into my life and make me whatever you want me to be. I'm yours. And Father, for anyone who may have uttered that, our trust and our prayer is that they will have the courage to tell someone of their decision so that they may be properly encouraged in the faith and so someone can rejoice with them.

[16:45] Thank you again for these elements and for what they symbolize and for the truth of this passage of Scripture. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Would you open your hymns again, please?

[17:01] Number 312. And we'll just sing the first verse. And as we sing, we'll ask the elders if they will come and we'll prepare to serve.

[17:11] Number 312. Would you stand, please? Far dearer than all that the world can impart was the message that came to my heart.

[17:32] Now that Jesus alone for my sin did atone, and Calvary covers it all.

[17:48] Calvary covers it all. Be seated, please.

[18:23] On the night that our Lord Jesus was betrayed, as he gathered with the apostles in that upper room, he took from a common piece of bread and passed it to them and said, Take, eat.

[18:39] This is my body which is given for you. And I am completely satisfied. Not a one of them there actually understood what he said or what he meant.

[18:53] Oh, they would later. It would hit them with a tremendous force later. But at that time, they did not understand. Because when they were going into Jerusalem on the next day, they expected the kingdom of heaven was going to come and that Christ was going to establish it, set it up.

[19:15] The Romans would be sent packing and Israel would come into the limelight, as it has always been promised. They had no idea what actually awaited the Lord, even though he told them earlier.

[19:29] But it didn't register. And even Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him for saying he was going to Jerusalem to die.

[19:40] But that's the reason he came. And in that time of agony, he prayed to the Father, saying, Father, what shall I say?

[19:53] Save me from this hour? But for this hour came I into the world. And if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

[20:09] He was talking about the cup of suffering and death and the cup of separation from his Father in a way that he had never been separated.

[20:20] What happened between Father and Son, we do not understand. But we know the Father turned away. The Father would not look upon him.

[20:34] The Father would not accept him. Because he was being made unacceptable with our sin. And he cried out, My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?

[20:51] The Father forsook the Son so he would not have to forsake you. Isn't that something?

[21:04] So, he took the bread. The Father forsook the Son.

[21:38] After our Lord gave thanks, he took the bread and said, Take, eat it.

[21:55] This is my body which is given for you. Would you take your hymnal again, please?

[22:08] Let's sing the second verse of number 312. Let's sing the second verse of number 312. Let's sing the second verse of number 312. The stripes that he bore And the thorns that he bore Told his mercy and love evermore And my heart bowed in shame As I called on his name And my heart.

[22:49] Oh my... And my heart broke the best of fizping And theôt 배s were real. And my heart broke up in shame And my heart broke the best of Woah God broke the best of fitsFA And the behavior of the fraud And my heart broke the best of faith Isaac ascotAd Linda My heart broke the best of faith And my heart broke it Jesus took on him there And Calvary covers all In the same manner he took the cup.

[23:37] Amen. Amen.

[24:37] Amen. Amen.

[25:37] Amen. Amen.

[26:37] Amen. Jesus took the cup and said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

[26:59] As often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you do show forth the Lord's death until he comes. Amen. We ordinarily do not receive offerings, especially on a weekly basis.

[27:21] We have attached an offering box to the wall outside the doors there. And anyone who wishes to give to the furtherance of this ministry is welcome to do so. And you can just drop your offering in the box.

[27:35] And if you wish offering envelopes, we can provide them for you. Thank you for your ongoing support of the ministry of Grace Bible Church. And from time to time, There are folks who call upon us in times of real need.

[27:51] Interestingly enough, almost none of them are from our congregation. But there are a lot of needs out there in our community. And just recently, we were able to assist a young mother with rent that she was unable to pay.

[28:07] And it is your benevolent giving that enables us to do that. So be advised, if you will, that 100 cents of every dollar that you give goes exclusively to help those who are having some kind of a financial need.

[28:24] We try to screen them as responsibly as we can because there are rip-off artists out there. And we've had some experience with that. So we've gotten wiser, too. So we're going to ask you now if you would like to participate in this, especially at this time of year.

[28:40] And the elders will wait upon you. And we will sing verse 3 of Calvary Covers at All as they are receiving the offering.

[28:55] Gentlemen. Calvary Covers at All And the last

[29:58] How blessed the thought that my soul by him bought shall be his in the glory on all Where with gladness and song I'll be one of the throng And Calvary covers it all Calvary covers it all And the text says And after they sang a hymn

[31:00]  They went out Happy Thanksgiving Thank you لل Hey guys