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[0:00] We are going to begin our examination of Hebrews chapter 10, and we would invite you to look at your sheet or your Bible, whatever translation you have.

[0:13] Remembering, of course, as we have made the point a number of times in the past, that there are no divisions in the original text. That a mere 500 years ago, if you picked up a Bible and began reading it, you would not find any chapters or any verses.

[0:30] Because those are all man-made. The only thing that is inspired of God is the actual text itself. So that will help us to remember that sometimes when chapter divisions occur, it breaks up the continuity or the thought.

[0:46] And we should not make for that division there. We should just continue right on reading. And we've got a kind of a situation like that here. Remember, when the verse begins in chapter 10 with for, it's a word that could very well be rendered, because.

[1:04] Because. And that, of course, links it with the content that went before. So he opens chapter 10 by saying, 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 offer year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect.

[1:30] And be reminded again, if you will, that the bold print we are reading is the base text, and that is the King James Version.

[1:41] Other translations that follow along in regular print right after that are somewhat helpful, and give a little bit of insight that some of the other translations do not.

[1:51] First thing I would like to mention, however, is his constant use of the law, which you would expect in Hebrews, because it was to the Hebrews, the Jewish people, that the law of Moses was given exclusively.

[2:09] There are two aspects of law in the Bible. And we will not go to Romans chapter 2 and verse 14 through 16 that explains these, but let's just run those by you very briefly, if I may.

[2:25] Paul writing to the Romans says, For the Gentiles, who have not the law, even though they do not have the law, they have the law of God written on their hearts.

[2:43] And he makes a distinction between the law and law. And the general term law, without articulation, that is, without the article the, refers to the common law, or the general law, or the natural law, that God has written into the hearts and minds of every human being.

[3:13] Giving them an innate knowledge of right and wrong, and good and evil. In other words, man is born with that law in him.

[3:26] And it involves also a human conscience that provides guilt when the law has been violated. That is a law for all of humanity.

[3:40] No human being has been born without that law. And as I referred to it, it's a general law, it's a common law, it's a natural law. And it is that law that will judge man for the use of his volition, what he did, and his acts, his deeds, etc.

[4:04] And the volition that God has given us, that is a will, becomes the basis for God's evaluating us in the final judgment. But then, there is another law.

[4:16] And this is a particular law. It is, it is the law which God gave to Moses when he went into Mount Sinai, came down with the tablets of the law, and, in fact, there are, if you enumerate them, there are 613 laws, regulations, provisions, etc., in the law of Moses.

[4:43] These were exclusively given to the nation of Israel, and the nation of Israel alone. They were never given to the Gentiles.

[4:55] When God spoke to Moses, he said, Thus shalt thou say, unto the sons of Jacob, the children of Israel, and then the law.

[5:06] And be reminded, that when he presented the law, to the children of Israel, it was not an imposition. God did not say, Okay, Israel, here's my law, I'm imposing this on you, and you better obey it.

[5:22] No, no, no. It wasn't like that at all. It was a proposition that God was making through Moses, and the deal was, Moses, you give the people of Israel my law, and you tell them, if they will obey my commandments, do what I tell them, then, I will be their God, they will be my people, and they will be peculiar unto me, so that no other nation will have the status that they have.

[5:54] Tell the people of Israel that and see what they say. Moses went down, told the people what God said, and he says, Okay, what do you think? You got a deal or not?

[6:07] And the nation of Israel said, You go back up there, and you tell God, all that the Lord has said, we will do. They signed on, to this covenant, and it was made between two parties, God and the nation of Israel.

[6:24] So there is a deal struck, there is a contract that is made, but the thing that needs to be really emphasized, is it was made exclusively, with the nation of Israel.

[6:35] It did not include the Egyptians, didn't include the Babylonians, didn't include the Americans, didn't include the British, didn't include anybody else, only Israel.

[6:48] Now, there are implications to that, and I'm not going to go into them now, unless you have questions, but Ann, there is one. Yes, Dana? What verse were you using, you mentioned Romans, something or other?

[6:59] Romans 2.14-16, For the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these not having a law, or a law unto themselves. Yes. Okay.

[7:10] Now, the question that popped up to me, was what you just said. Obviously, the nature of the law is for us. No question. Everybody. Okay. But now, we have the Bible, and we have the law, in the Bible, which we are to read, for our knowledge.

[7:26] Are we to take the principles, from the law, that God laid down for the Jews, and apply that, to our lives too, the principles, of a lot of the things, he laid down for them, specific laws.

[7:38] Are we to look to those, laws, for guidance in our life, behaviors? Well, I would just say this, not those specific laws, but, I would say that the essence, of those laws, and we're talking about, the Ten Commandments, primarily.

[7:52] But it includes, all of the law. The essence of the law, the essence, of the law, that God gave to, Moses, to give to the nation, of Israel, is the same essence, of the law, that is implanted, within us.

[8:07] And that is, boiled down to the right, and wrong of it. Now, where the difficulty arises, and it is a difficulty, because nobody is saying, that we, as believers, or the rest of humanity, apart from Israel, are lawless.

[8:24] No, we've all got that general law. And, the way that, a lot of theologians, have sought to get around this, is that, they say, well, you've got, you've got a problem here, of drawing lines.

[8:40] Where do you draw the line? We know, even though, the law, of Moses, demands, prescribes, animal sacrifice.

[8:55] What about us? Well, we say, we don't, we don't keep, that part of the law. Why not? It's part of the law. Why don't you sacrifice animals?

[9:07] Why don't you keep the Sabbath? Why don't you maintain, a kosher kitchen? Why don't you circumcise your son, on the eighth day? Well, those are ritual things.

[9:18] What we keep is, we just keep, the moral aspect, of the law. Those things that involve morals. Okay? Is adultery, a moral issue?

[9:30] Oh, well, yes, certainly. Okay? The law specifies, that an adulterer, is to be stoned to death. Do you do that? Well, gee, no, no, actually, we don't do that.

[9:42] And it also says, if you have a disobedient teenager, who will not listen to his parents, you take him to the elders of the gate, explain to them what's going on, and they will stone him to death. Right there.

[9:54] Is that a moral issue? Well, yes, that's, but you see, the problem is, when you try, to make, to make these distinctions, it becomes impossible. You just can't do it.

[10:05] So, the truth of the matter is, the law of Moses, that was given to Israel, was exclusively for Israel alone, but the general law, the common law, that God implanted in the hearts and minds of everyone, and listen now, listen, including Israel, before he gave them the specific law.

[10:28] They had the general law, just like everybody else. Now, they've got law added to that. And that is, the law of Israel. So, we are not under that. We never have been under that.

[10:40] But we have always been under, that law that God has written on the hearts of human beings. And that is the essence, of knowing and understanding, right from wrong, good from evil.

[10:54] So, we're all imbued, if you will, with that law. Roger? Is there people, that get, so bad, that their conscience is here, and they don't, they don't even have that, and they don't even have that, and they don't even have that, Oh, yeah.

[11:11] Absolutely. Absolutely. And this comes about, this comes about, as a result, of their volition. It also comes about, as a result of, I guess you would say, negative upbringing, or training, or whatever.

[11:26] It's entirely possible, that a person, can continue, to say, no, to what he knows better. And he knows, that, such and such, is not the right thing to do, but he does it anyway.

[11:44] Why does he do that? Because he wants to. He chooses to. That's the volition thing again. And it is possible, that someone, can get, on a roll, with negative activity, blurring out the distinction, denying what he knows, to be right and wrong, because of the path, he chooses to take, and, he can end up, hardening himself, and this is, this is what Paul is referring to, when he talks about, a seared, conscience.

[12:21] A seared conscience. I remember reading an article, a number of years ago, and, it's already come to pass, by the way. And the article was written, by an authority, in the FBI.

[12:33] And he lamented the fact, it was a, it was a newspaper article. And he lamented the fact, that he thought, that, in the United States of America, and this is probably, back in the, back in the 80's and 90's, this article came out.

[12:47] He was lamenting the fact, that he feared, that the United States, was rearing, a generation, of what he called, super predators.

[13:02] These, will be, young people, who will grow, to maturity, without, a sense, of conscience, or guilt.

[13:16] These, are the kind of people, that have been, guilty, of terrible crimes, often, murdered, and they, absolutely, show, no remorse, no guilt, no regret, no apology, just, hardened, consciences.

[13:36] And, the Bible, the Bible, calls that, a seared, conscience. And, the expression, that is used there, is exactly, what you would have, if you have a wound, if you have a wound, in your body, and you take, a hot iron, and put it, on that wound, and you burn it.

[13:58] And, what you do, is you cauterize, the flesh, around there, and that stops, the bleeding. But, it also creates, scar tissue.

[14:10] And, in that scar tissue, you have no feeling. There are no nerve endings, no pain sensation, in the scar tissue.

[14:21] And, the Apostle Paul, likens that, to what some people, experience, in their mind. Their conscience, is seared, with a hot iron.

[14:32] They have no feeling, no remorse, no compassion, no sympathy, no guilt, just, stone cold stoic. And, that's, that's what this, FBI expert, said he thought, was being reared.

[14:46] And, frankly, we're seeing, the results of that, even now. We have a nation, that has, an overly, generous amount, of, people, who have grown, to adulthood, who fit the bill.

[15:01] You read about them, in the newspaper, all the time. Some of them, are serial killers, and, other kinds of criminals. Dana. I don't know what you said, also, that, I'm probably mixing up, my mass murderers, but I think it was kind of, Sam, when you, let me start it all over again.

[15:19] I think we all have, the ability to, fool ourselves, as to what we're, really doing. But, I think it was kind of, Sam, after he was caught, they said something to him, and I think, I don't know, that conversation was, they said, I'm not a bad person.

[15:39] Yeah. In his body, he goes out of bad person, and he goes out, and builds all these people. Yeah, yeah. You're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you know, it, when, when, when Jeremiah says, Jeremiah 17, and 8, verse 9, the heart, that's the essence, the core of our being.

[15:56] It's not talking about the blood pump. It's talking about the core of our being. The heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately wicked.

[16:10] Who can tame it? That's not a compliment. That's a true picture of the essence of our being. And, it is a sad situation, but, do you not understand, that this is where, all of the crime, and corruption, and everything comes from?

[16:29] And, just because you hold yours in check, does not mean that you do not have the potential, to do some pretty ugly things. We all do. Yeah. Raj? Yeah.

[17:02] Uh-huh. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[17:25] Yeah. I don't have any doubt that demon possession does exist. And sometimes, sometimes, what may be a case of mental illness even such a thing as schizophrenia may be diagnosed as demon possession and it isn't demon possession at all.

[17:48] It's an abnormality in the brain and it's a physical problem and sometimes these things are very difficult to diagnose. But make no mistake about it, there is such a thing as demon possession and it makes its greatest inroads where the gospel has made the smallest inroads.

[18:05] And you find it in places like India and Tibet and Nepal and places like that. They are thriving in this thing called demon possession and plenty of missionaries can attest to some really hairy situations that they have been in in connection with that.

[18:22] So there's no doubt about it. So let's continue on here. For the law. Now here he's talking about the law of Moses. Moses. And that ought to be rather obvious because he is writing to Hebrews just like the book says and it is to the Hebrews that the law of Moses was given and to them exclusively.

[18:44] We're in Romans Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1. For the law. Having a shadow of good things to come.

[18:55] The shadow is not the reality. The shadow is like a reflection. The shadow is not the same as the thing that causes the shadow.

[19:06] It's just a representative of the shadow. When the lighting is right and you are in a situation in a room where the lighting is right and someone walks into the room you may very well see their shadow before you see them.

[19:24] And when you see the shadow you know they are coming because they are causing the shadow. That's the way the law is. The law is a shadow of good things to come. But it's not actually the things themselves.

[19:36] It's just a picture of that which is to come. And the very image oh I'm sorry and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices and here's talking about the law can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually this is year in and year out this was the priestly responsibility for the tribe of Levi was to offer these sacrifices they had a morning sacrifice and an evening sacrifice and this went on for hundreds and hundreds of years.

[20:16] which they offered year by year continually make the comers therein to perfect. The comers of course are those who bring the sacrifices to the priest and the priest examines them and then the priest kills the sacrifice etc.

[20:33] But it can never make those who offer them or the comers therein to perfect or complete. In other words these sacrifices were always and ever only a stopgap thing.

[20:50] They had no finality to them. They had no permanence to them. Sacrifice had to be offered again and again and again and again because these animal sacrifices could never do the job that needed to be done.

[21:07] And actually what they pointed to was the coming of one who could and would do the job that needed to be done and that of course is the person of Christ and that's what the author is getting at.

[21:23] And he says in verse 3 by way of by way of an argument verse 2 I'm sorry for then would they not have ceased to be offered.

[21:34] In other words if they did what needed to be done couldn't they have stopped offering them because the job would have been completed. Yes but they couldn't because it didn't complete the job because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin.

[21:59] In other words their guilt should have been gone. If sacrificing those animals was adequate did what needed to be done then their guilt would have vanished.

[22:14] And fellas the contrast that is established here is remarkable because what this is pointing out is that Jesus Christ in the sacrifice he made not only provides a complete and fully adequate sacrifice but it is his sacrifice that provides the basis for taking away guilt.

[22:40] No believer no believer has any right to harbor guilt. And if you do you are suggesting the payment that Jesus Christ made really wasn't adequate.

[22:57] We are free in Christ. This is what Paul meant when he said having forgiven us all trespasses. This is where true freedom and liberty comes from.

[23:12] It is in the finished work of Christ appropriated to the individual. Don? I try to wrap my mind around Hebrews. When this was written was this written to convince the converted Jews that they were done the right thing?

[23:30] This wasn't written to all Jews or was it? Oh yeah. It was written to there are three classes of Jews that are addressed in this epistle.

[23:42] one is the Jew who has come to full faith in Yeshua Hamashiach as the Messiah and they have embraced Christ as Israel's Messiah.

[23:57] And that would be the position of the one who's writing this for one thing. And then secondly there are Jews to whom this is written and it contains warnings for those who have spurned and rejected Christ as their Messiah and the writer of Hebrews is going to tell them later on that there is a certain fearful wrath and indignation that awaits these people.

[24:24] And then there is a third class of Jew that is vacillating and one day he thinks Jesus is the Messiah and the next day he's not so sure. He can't make up his mind. He's somewhere in the middle.

[24:35] This guy is trying to straddle the fence. And the writer of Hebrews is addressing all three of these classes but they are all Jews. They have that one thing in common. They are all direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[24:48] And the point that he is making here is that if animal sacrifices, however many there were, could have done what needed to be done, then they would have come to an end.

[25:00] But they didn't. All they could provide was the shadow of that which was the common. The animals represent the shadow. The reality is found in the person of Jesus Christ.

[25:12] Who is depicted as an animal also? Is he not? The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. These animals couldn't take away any sins.

[25:23] All they could do was cover them temporarily. Then you got to bring another animal. Well, what if you sin it well and you got to bring another animal? And the high priest did that on the day of atonement where he made atonement for the sins of the whole nation.

[25:36] And then he had to come back again next year and do the same thing all over again because there was no finality. No closure. No closure. In Christ there is closure.

[25:49] He saves the believing sinner to the uttermost. That means he carries our salvation all the way through and it is glorious.

[26:00] The contrast is exactly what he's trying to make. He's trying to get his Jewish audience to see the futility of the animal sacrifices.

[26:11] They were appropriate. They were required. They were demanded. But they were never intended to be permanent. They were pointing to that one final complete sacrifice that was to come.

[26:24] And that of course would be Christ. So, because then the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But, in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year for or because it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

[26:55] Why couldn't they? Couldn't they if you offered enough? Well, there were occasions in the Old Testament where they offered hundreds and hundreds of animals in sacrifice at one time.

[27:08] Some of these big feasts. Why couldn't they take away sins? And the answer is found in the principle of proportionate value.

[27:19] And this is an important concept to understand. The principle of proportionate value means is that the thing that is being offered as a sacrifice for whomever it is being offered has to be of greater value than that for which it is being offered.

[27:48] And no amount of animals, bulls, goats, etc., can equal the value of one human being. I don't think, well, we're living in a different day today.

[28:03] There may be some people from PETA who think that animals have the same rights as human beings and the same value as human beings. And this is an extreme view that is held by some who, well, we just won't go there.

[28:20] But anyway, the concept is this. The way that Jesus Christ could be offered for the sins of the entire world, we're talking about billions, is due to the fact that the proportionate value of Christ was greater than that for which he was sacrificed.

[28:50] Christ. And the reason it was greater is because of who he was. Jesus Christ as the God-man possessed the character and the nature and the quality of deity itself.

[29:09] He is the God-man. Utterly unique. He's Emmanuel, God with us. He is fully God and fully human. and because of who he was, he alone, being the only one in that category, was able to make the payment that was required in that his life and death was of greater value than all of humanity.

[29:38] humanity. Now, I know for elevated humans like ourselves, it's hard for us to understand that. But if you break it down to a situation that we can identify with, what we are talking about is the difference between finite man and infinite God.

[30:01] How do you compare those two? What's the difference between infinity and finiteness? The difference is infinity, you know?

[30:14] So, let's put it in a category that we can all understand. Let's take the common ant.

[30:25] let's take red ants and black ants and fire ants and every kind of ant that you can think of. How many ants do you suppose there are worldwide if you search the seven continents to come up with the number of ants?

[30:42] I would suggest probably in the billions, maybe the trillions, who knows? How could you possibly count them? Okay, how many ants does it take to equal the value of one human life?

[31:03] Could you find anyone anywhere, we would say, in their right mind, who would be willing to say that, well, all of these billions and billions of ants, they're surely more valuable and worth more than one lousy human being?

[31:19] No, they aren't. The human being is the only one that bears the image and likeness of God. Out of all the biological life forms that God has created, the human being is the only one that bears the image and likeness of God.

[31:38] That's what makes us so valuable. That's why Christ was willing to die for us. Because we have intrinsic, inherent value, not just in what we may do, but in what we are.

[31:55] The image bearer, the imago Dei, the image bearer of God Himself. So when Christ died on that cross, because of who He was, He was able to cancel out the sin death that was due from the whole human race.

[32:15] The songwriter said, Christ has for sin atonement made. What a wonderful Savior. Wow. Fellas, we do not begin to understand and appreciate what we really have in the person of Christ.

[32:34] Joe? And then you take a little of sin, which you did from it, then aren't we on pretty much equal level with Christ then? Absolutely. We are heirs of God, joined heirs with Christ.

[32:45] His righteousness becomes our righteousness. His salvation is our salvation. His life becomes our eternal life. That's what it means. Paul uses this phrase over and over and over again in his epistle.

[32:57] Two words. In Christ. In Christ. You are baptized into the body of Christ whereby you are identified with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.

[33:11] When Christ was on that cross, you were on that cross. When Christ came out of the grave, you came out of the grave. When Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father, you ascended to the right hand of the Father.

[33:22] That's your position. That is inviolable, and it is permanent. And it is all on the basis of grace. That's just amazing. Just, just, John Newton says it's amazing grace.

[33:36] He wrote a song about it, didn't he? Okay, let's go on. It's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin because of proportion to value.

[33:48] Therefore, when he cometh into the world, this is speaking of Christ, when Christ cometh into the world, sacrifice, he said, he said, sacrifice an offering, thou wouldst not.

[34:06] In other words, in other words, read some of the other alternatives. He said, sacrifice an offering, thou didst not wish, did not desire, no desire for sacrifice or offering.

[34:19] Taylor renders it, O God, the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy you, but a body, hast thou prepared me.

[34:30] This is a quote. This is a quote from Psalm 40. it is referred to as one of the Messianic Psalms.

[34:42] David the psalmist, and he didn't write all of the psalms, but he wrote a lot of them, lived a thousand years before Jesus Christ was ever born. And in a number of psalms that are labeled Messianic psalms, we have a clear-cut description of Jesus Christ speaking in that psalm, because the Son of God did not begin in Bethlehem.

[35:15] Jesus began in Bethlehem. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. That wasn't his name before Bethlehem. In fact, he didn't even have a human name before Bethlehem.

[35:29] He was simply the Eternal Son. And there was the Eternal Father and the Eternal Spirit. But when he came into the world, Bethlehem, the angels told Mary, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

[35:50] But a body thou hast prepared me. This is a quote from Psalm 40, and it is Christ that is speaking there. A body thou didst prepare for me.

[36:02] And of course, that's talking about the incarnation. In burnt offerings, turning the page, verse 6, In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, that is, the animals, thousands and thousands of animals for hundreds of years, thou hast had no pleasure.

[36:21] In other words, God was not satisfied. The righteousness and holiness of God could not be satisfied due to the sin of man and the blood of bulls and goats were simply a shadow of that which was to come, which would satisfy him.

[36:42] Like the psalmist said, he shall see the travail of his soul, as speaking of Christ, and be satisfied. This is why Christ is called the propitiation for our sins. When John writes in his first epistle, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

[37:01] And that word propitiation means he is the satisfaction. God looked upon the work that Christ performed in taking our sin upon him on the cross.

[37:18] God looked upon that, and God said, I am satisfied. That is sufficient. That is payment in full. Wow.

[37:29] that is so amazing. And we can be so grateful that it was payment in full. Christ left nothing unpaid regarding our sins.

[37:42] When he said, it is finished, he meant the whole thing is done in his death, burial, and resurrection. Just absolutely amazing.

[37:53] This is the case that he is setting forth and trying to get these Jews to upgrade from animal sacrifices to that final sacrifice that Christ made.

[38:04] Other comments or questions? Don? I get a little confused. Did God set up animal sacrifice? Oh, yes, absolutely. What was the purpose at that point?

[38:15] The purpose was to provide the shadow of that which was to come. And the installation of the animal sacrifices and the whole mosaic system, all was intended to be temporary.

[38:31] What we are talking about has to do with the items, with the ingredients of the old covenant. And where the Jewish people have such tremendous misunderstanding is they adopted the idea that the law of Moses and the covenant that God established with the nation of Israel was permanent.

[38:55] never to be changed. Never to be changed. Well, if that's the case, then that means the animal sacrifices would never end. But, you know, God brought them to an end himself when he allowed the Romans to destroy Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

[39:11] And that meant the temple came down and that meant there was no longer any place for the Jews to offer sacrifice. Kaput. That was it. And this, of course, was about 40 years after the death of Christ.

[39:24] But they were continuing on in that. So, this is all part and parcel of the same package that is incorporated in this epistle to the Hebrews. And he's trying to make them see that the old covenant established through Moses was never intended to be permanent.

[39:45] It was temporary. And Jeremiah is going to make that very clear when he says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with Israel.

[39:55] Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, which they broke, but this will be a new covenant. And that's what Christ was talking about when he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

[40:10] And that is such an amazing thing. Joe? Yeah, and he's going to lay that cover right on their hearts. They won't have to teach it and remember it like they do the old law. They're going to know it automatically.

[40:22] I will put it in their hearts. But isn't that kind of saying like the natural law then too then? Isn't that similar to the natural law? Well, I guess you could kind of say it would become a new kind of natural law, for sure.

[40:35] A new level of understanding and appreciation that the other did not have. Because the law that God put in us, that common law, that natural law, has been affected by our fallenness.

[40:52] You see, our fallenness in our first parents colored everything. Everything. Our thinking, our reasoning powers, this is why we think with a warped intellect.

[41:06] Because our intellect was bruised in the fall just like the rest of us was. Hillary scooped the results of them.