Have you ever placed your confidence in somebody or something only at a later point in time to discover at great pain to yourself that your confidence had been terribly misplaced have you ever placed your confidence in somebody or something only at a later point in time to discover at great pain to yourself that that confidence had been terribly misplaced. Perhaps you've had the unfortunate experience of placing your confidence in a financial advisor who over time proved to be irresponsible with your money. Or maybe it was a doctor in whose skill you were led to trust, but who proved his incompetence by terribly misdiagnosing the physical condition of your child. Perhaps in your case, it was misplaced confidence in a real estate agent or an attorney or a contractor or a mechanic or a minister. You've heard the all-too-common story, haven't you? A young man and a young woman meet, they fall in love, they get married. She believes in her husband and she sees his potential and she shares his dream and so she works hard to put him through college and then to put him through graduate school. And when he's finished, he finishes at the top of his class and he's given a good job at a well-known corporation. And almost immediately he begins to prosper. He proves to be very able at what he does. And so he moves up the corporate ladder and the reputation increases and the salary increases and the attention increases. What about his dear wife? The woman who shared the dream, the woman who invested so much of herself in him, why he's left her like a bad habit, is though she never even existed. And what is she left with? The painful realization that her confidence had been terribly misplaced. He was not the man she believed him to be. Have you ever placed your confidence in somebody or something? Only a later point in time to realize that your confidence had been terribly misplaced. The other evening Laurie and I were watching the sting. You remember that movie from the 1970s, some of you are old enough to remember that movie. It's a movie about a couple of con artists seeking to revenge the murder of a friend. And the man who was responsible for the murder is a dishonest banker whom they seek to convince to wage $500,000 on what they tell him to be a surefire horse race. And so they connive and they manipulate and they do everything they can to persuade him that this scheme is absolutely, absolutely positively a sure deal. And only after he is convinced of that fact that there's no way that he can lose, he lays down his money at four to one odds, fully expecting to walk away from the deal with two million dollars in his pocket. You know the story is confidence has been misplaced, he's been stung and by and by he is swindled out of every sin. Well my friends, you can appreciate the fact that this was the approach taken by the serpent in the garden of Eden. Wasn't it? God told that first couple not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To do so would result in consequences that was far more tragic than they could ever begin to appreciate or understand the experience of death and all of its far-reaching implications. But what does the deceiving serpent say? You
will not surely die. When you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like
God. Don't you want a life that is characterized by openness and breadth of experience?
Unbounded horizons, life to the fullest and what did Adam and Eve do? They placed their
confidence in the promise of the serpent and they ate the fruit. To what end? To an end that brought painful and disastrous consequences upon themselves and the race they would produce. You see my friends the source in which they had placed their confidence delivered the very opposite of what had been promised. I'm reminded of an ancient proverb that goes like this. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. And
my friends at this very hour this continues to be one of the most commonly employed deceptions concocted by the enemy of our souls where the subject of the forgiveness of sins is concerned. That is the wicked aim of the enemy to begile people like us into believing that forgiveness can be found in a source other than the finished work of Jesus Christ. And you see it is at this very point that the writer of Hebrews will not allow us readers to be swindled. To be conned into believing that eternal forgiveness can be found in some other kind of religious or moral or ethical activity, save that of the sacrifice of the Son of God. And my dear friends, can you for a moment think, imagine of any situation any more tragic than waking up in eternity only to discover that the source in which you had placed your confidence for the forgiveness of your sins was nothing but a cruel deception. That's why the writer of Hebrews has been so redundant about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the only sufficient means for eternal forgiveness. If you remember back in chapter 9 verse 12, the writer tells us that Jesus entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood having obtained eternal redemption. He says in chapter 9 verse 15, Jesus has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. Chapter 9 verse 26, Jesus has appeared once for all that the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Chapter 9 verse 28, Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. Chapter 10 verse 10, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all over and over and over you see from as many different vantage points as he possibly can. It's as though you see he really fears the truth of that ancient proverb. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. You see beloved contrary to popular opinion, opinion that is exceedingly popular in our own day, religious sincerity and moral integrity will not sufficiently compensate for a misplaced confidence where the forgiveness of sins is concerned. The fact of the matter is you may be the most religiously zealous person on this planet, faithful, a person of integrity, a person of upstanding moral value exceedingly and unquestionably sincere in your pursuits of religious activity. But I tell you this morning that if your confidence for the forgiveness of your sins does not rest squarely on the finished work of Jesus Christ alone and all of your zeal and all of your faithfulness and all of your morality and all of your sincerity will only serve to fuel a greater condemnation. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. May I ask you directly this morning, are your sins forgiven? Are you certain of that? Might it be possible that your confidence has been misplaced? Are you judgment day sure? And what about you who are sitting here as young men and women? What about you who are here as young boys and girls? You're not a sinner in the same way that your parents are sinners, but you're a sinner still. You're guilty before God. Do you have God's forgiveness this morning? A forgiveness that is not generated by your own moral or religious efforts which at the end of the day can amount to nothing but a forgiveness that is a gift from God Himself? I want you to know that that forgiveness is found in one exclusive source, a source that will never disappoint you. A source that is worthy of your greatest confidence and that is the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is here that God is satisfied and sinners are pardoned. You say, well, art, how can I be confident that my reliance upon this sacrifice will not leave me disappointed? I mean all things being equal, how can I be sure that this confidence is rightly placed or to ask it a bit differently? How can you know that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is efficacious? How can you know that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is effective, that it will in fact produce the desired effect that is securing eternal forgiveness for your sins from God Himself? Well, beloved, the writer of Hebrews now draws his argument to a close by providing us with two answers to this question. How can you know that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is efficacious? Here is answer number one, because of the majestic posture of Jesus Christ, because of the majestic posture of Jesus Christ. Let's read verses 11 and 12 and let me challenge you now to look for the contrasts that are set forth in these verses. They are fairly obvious, I think, verse 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, but that's a word that introduces contrast. When this priest had offered for all time, one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Now friends, here we have two covenantal systems, two priesthoods and their sacrifices, and some of their obvious contrasts. For one, did you notice the contrast regarding the number of priests? In verse 11, we read of many priests, as expressed by the phrase, every priest. Day after day, every priest. What does that imply? That there are many priests. Every one of them is the idea. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. Each of them, the old covenant system was characterized by thousands of priests, thousands of men who were set aside as priests. And I might add, the fact that there was the need for so many of them is one of the clearest indication that they were unable to secure the work of real forgiveness. And what's more dear friends, one of the reasons why there was the need for more and more and more and more priests throughout the fact that every one of these priests in their appointed times died, clearly indicating that like the people they represented, they too were sinners in need of a greater priest. In stark contrast, then, to the multiplicity of these priests, look at verse 12, we have one priest, simply referred to as this priest, the high priest of the new covenant, Jesus Christ, who was so utterly effective as a priest, there was need for no other. More over friends by virtue of his resurrection power, we never need to fear the cessation of his priesthood. Remember back in chapter 7, he says, all of these old covenant priests, they die. They don't hold their office for very long for a period of time and then they pass off the scene to the contrast there is Jesus Christ who occupies his priesthood permanently by virtue of his resurrection life. And what is he able to do for us by virtue of his resurrection life? He always lives to make intercession for us. He's able to save forever all those who come to God through him. So there is this radical contrast you see between many priests and one priest. Secondly, did you catch the contrast regarding the frequency of these sacrifices? In verse 11, we read of many priests offering an unending stream of sacrificial victims. Did you see the language? Look at it again, day after day. Look at the second phrase there again and again. And did you notice the present tense emphasis of these verbs here day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties again and again he offers. It speaks of ongoing activity, doesn't it? Every morning a sacrifice was to be offered. Every evening a sacrifice was to be offered and do you understand that on any particular given day dozens of Jewish worshippers would show up at the tabernacle with their turtle doves or their bulls or their goats to be offered in sacrifice. And so guess what? The priest would have to get to work. If you would allow me to speak figuratively for a moment, every day when a priest went home from work and his little boy crawled up into his lap and he said to him, daddy what did you do at work yesterday? He would say I offered sacrifices son. And daddy what did you do at work today?
I offered sacrifices son. And what will you do tomorrow daddy? All offer sacrifices son. And daddy when I grow up what will I do? You'll offer sacrifices son. And daddy when my son grows up what will he do? He'll offer sacrifices son on and on and on in complete futility. Their unending offerings proving that they were ineffective to accomplish anything in contrast however beloved. We're told that in verse 12 this one priest offered for all time one sacrifice verse in. In fact you recall up at the end of verse 10 we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. In fact if you've been with us throughout this study in a book of Hebrews you've discovered that this is one of the writers favorite phrases once for all he uses it eight times in this book and on every occasion he uses it with regard to the accomplishment of the work of Jesus Christ at the cross once for all it is a contrast regarding the frequency of sacrifices. So what do we have? Many priests one priest many sacrifices one sacrifice thirdly and this is really the point of emphasis here take note of the contrast regarding the posterior of these priests day after day every priest what stands a friends that's not there by accident
not just something of no significance when the old covenant law spoke about the functions of priests it often referred to priests as those who stand before the Lord that's a phrase often used to speak of the priesthood they were men given the unique privilege of standing before Yahweh it's also interesting to note that the furniture inside the sanctuary where the priest performed his functions was characterized by a piece of furniture that was conspicuous by its absence what was the furniture inside that tabernacle a table lampstand altar arc of the covenant that's all no place to sit down do you realize that in God's detailed instructions for the tabernacle no provision was ever made for a priest to sit down there was no chair there wasn't a bench there wasn't even as much as a stool you see by design the priests were to be ever standing why to symbolize the perpetual incompleteness of their work to show us beloved that those sacrifices that they offered day after day year after year could never secure forgiveness for sinners like us that's why he says at the end of verse 11 he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins as evidenced by the fact that he was always standing now notice the contrast but when this priest one priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of God my friends do you realize that even the angels do not sit in God's presence how was it that Gabriel introduced himself to Zacharias remember when Zacharias was carrying out his priestly functions in the temple we read about it in Luke chapter 1 Gabriel shows up and he identifies himself in this way I am Gabriel I stand in God's presence in the Old Testament scriptures to stand in God's presence was considered a privilege of great great honor but my friends you understand that to sit at God's right hand is something all together different it is to occupy the seat of highest glory in all of the universe you understand in Middle Eastern culture of this period to say that someone was seated at the right hand of a monarch meant that that person possessed equality of majesty and authority it's a way of speaking of the kingly deity of Jesus Christ and I would remind you that when Jesus was on trial before the high priest you can find this in the book of Mark chapter 14 I believe he made this very claim for himself when I return you will see me seated at the right hand of my father and how did the high priest respond tearing his clothes accusing of a blasphemy and saying for this he is worthy of death he understood the significance of such a claim only someone equal to God could occupy such a place now that having been noted however the fact that the author here says that Jesus took his place at the father's right hand is not primarily to emphasize his authority as king but friends more importantly his success as a priest the comparison the contrast as it were being made is between those priests who always stood because for all of their efforts forgiveness could never be secured and this priest who has now seated at the father's right hand because he successfully completed the work he came to do you see beloved it was his heavenly verification of his cry from the cross it is finished how do we know it was finished because he was raised from the dead and seated at the father's right hand the penalty for sin had been endured forgiveness had been achieved over against everything else his posture reveals the efficacy of his sacrifice
ff Bruce says that as simply as it can be said a seated priest a seated priest is the guarantee of a finished work and an accepted sacrifice he's seated he's seated and what's the further proof of this during this time Jesus Christ is now said to be waiting not working the work has been done now he waits verse 13 since that time having been seated at the right hand of God since that time he waits the word speaks of eager anticipation for his enemies to be made his footstool in other words because his work of atonement has been accomplished he now waits he now waits because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy because the work of securing forgiveness had been accomplished he now waits for all those who are his enemies all of those who have and continue to oppose him to be subjected fully to his lordship now my friends there was a taste a glimmer of this very thing in 70 AD when Roman armies led by Titus Vespasian sweet in jiruslam and destroyed that city leveling that Jewish temple to the ground it was a judgment of God on those who were the earthly enemies of Jesus Christ but the fact of the matter is beloved it was but a foretaste of the ultimate subjection of all of the enemies of Jesus Christ yet to come in fact according to the Apostle Paul the final enemy to be subject it is the enemy of death itself he waits he waits for the Father's perfect time how can you know that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is efficacious how can you be certain that your confidence in this sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins is not misplaced answer one because of the majestic posture of Jesus Christ when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of God his posture defines his accomplishment now there was a second answer to this question how can you know that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is efficacious answer to because of the prophetic promise of the Holy Spirit because of the prophetic promise of the Holy Spirit what the writer of Hebrews now does is what he always does throughout this letter he reinforces his point by appealing to the Old Testament scriptures in fact he quotes part of the new covenant promise of Jeremiah 31 he says to his readers God has told us that a greater sacrifice would come and I want to tell you it has come and how do we know that it has come by the effects produced by this cause in fact he highlights two of the premier features of God's new covenant promise one the internalization of God's laws and two the comprehensive forgiveness of our sins verse 15 the Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this first he says this is the covenant I will make with them after that time says the Lord I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds then he adds their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more he begins by talking about the internalization of God's laws I'm going to write them on their hearts I'm going to write them on their minds and what a radical what a radical and different thing this was to God's arrangement under the first old covenant you remember that scene beloved you remember what it was like when God gave his law to the people of Israel when God showed up on Mount Sinai it was a day that the people of Israel would never forget when the glory of God descended on that mountain it was a terrifying scene you would not have wanted to have been there the people themselves didn't want to be there a sound of the trumpet was heard and by and by it got louder and louder and louder and the mountain itself billowed with smoke like an erupting volcano and it shook violently in a mighty earthquake and when God finally spoke we're told that his voice was so awesome and frightening that the people pleaded with God to stop it was a terrifying scene
does it surprise you that only a few days later with that experience still fresh in their minds that the people of Israel are quite eager to give up their earrings to give up their necklaces to give up their bracelets to scurry around the house for all of the gold they can find that they might fashion it into a calf with inorgiastic worship and say this is our God who has delivered us from Egypt does that surprise you in a couple of days you see friends the terror of the quaking earth could not make them obedient the fearful sound of the trumpet and the smoke of God's glory and the power of God's voice could not make them obedient they had promised to be God's covenant people they had made their pledge but all of their great promises could not make them obedient because they lacked the heart to obey and this is you see the distinct problem that every man and woman in child faces born of Adam and Eve that left to ourselves we lack the heart the fortitude the strength the desire to be obedient to the will of God and herein beloved you see is the great superiority of God's new covenant it goes beyond a mere intellectual understanding of God's will but it involves the promise of putting inside of God's people a new governing principle that would incline them to do God's will instead of inscribing His laws on tablets of stone God would now impress His laws on the very center of a person's interior life so that now within the very constitution of a Christian there is this inner impulse that delights in knowing and doing the will of God and so thus you see my friends it is the characteristic of the Christian to want to obey to love to obey to take delight in obeying and when a Christian is bound and determined not to obey then we have something very perplexing an anomaly in fact and the latter part of the 80s early part of the 90s people were arguing and fighting among themselves about this business of the Lordship of Jesus Christ all of it would have not even been an argument had we understood the nature of what occurs when a person is genuinely converted when God comes to take up residence in a person's life shortly after the armistice of World War One Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse the late pastor of first Presbyterian church in Philadelphia visited the battlefields of Belgium in the last year of the war the city of Mons in Belgium had been a scene of great retreat on the part of the German army and for miles west of that city the roads were lined with artillery and tanks and trucks and other materials of war that the enemy had abandoned in their hasty retreat on the day that Barnhouse was there it was a lovely spring day as he told the story the sun was shining there wasn't a breath of wind in the air and as Barnhouse walked along examining the various remains of war he noticed that leaves were falling from the trees that lined the the road that arched along the roadway and he grasped that a particular leaf and he noticed that it crumbled easily in his fingers and it puzzled him
because this was spring not autumn nor was there any wind to blow the leaves off the tree they were falling that day seemingly without cause and then suddenly Barnhouse realized why the most potent force of all was causing them to fall it was spring and the sap you see was beginning to run and the buds were beginning to push from within from down beneath the dark earth the roots were sending life along the trunk through the branches into the twigs until it expelled every bit of deadness from the previous year and in many ways beloved you see this is what happens when God takes a person and supernaturally inscribes his law on their hearts the new life within purges the deadness of our past the life of Jesus Christ in us that same life that said here I am I have come to do your will oh God now animates us it's what a Scottish preacher from a former generation termed the explosive power of a new affection the explosive power of a new affection oh my friends you know when people come up to you or people talk to you and you know they hear us speak about the new covenant what they're so afraid of is oh man if if if you take the ten commandments and you don't use it as a means of laying on the conscience of the people Christians will run wild when when people talk like that I want to take some beloved they fail to understand the implications of the new covenant they don't understand their own covenant God puts that principle within us the question is not as the new covenant effective the question is has a person really experienced the new covenant Jeremiah's younger contemporary Ezekiel said it in these terms I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws why is it that is a Christian I now hate what I once loved and I now love what I once hate it
I cannot ascribe that to anything I have done that's what God does to someone who's genuinely a Christian that wonderful gift of a new heart a new disposition a new life was purchased for us by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ it is the effect produced by that cause but my dear friends even at this point this is not the primary burden of the author what he's really heading for is verses 17 and 18 where he talks about the comprehensive forgiveness of sins this is his passion then he adds their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more now beloved I realize that it has been a week but do you remember the contrast this sets up with with verse 3 you remember verse 3 chapter 10 speaking about those other animal sacrifices but those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins this is an interesting thing the old covenant sacrifices caused people to remember their sins the new covenant sacrifice of Jesus Christ causes God to forget our sins not just to forgive them but to forget them their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more now friends you have probably heard people say as I have often heard people say all forgive you but I'll never forget you ever heard anybody say that all forgive you but I'll never forget which translated means I'll never really forgive you the new covenant promise in Jesus Christ is this forgiven sin is forgotten sin God forgives and God forgets I will remember no more it's as though as an act of his sovereign will he refuses to entertain our experiences with sin you say well art how is it that the all knowing God can forget my friends the writer is using
an anthropomorphic way of speaking a very human way of speaking and he is saying to us that because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins God will never ever bring up our sins as evidence against us absolutely praise God all of the lies all of the immoralities all of the deceit all of the gossip all of the defiance all of the greed all of the lust all of the pride none of it will ever be used against us by God as a basis for our condemnation all of it is gone and so if ever a person could live a life in this world that is truly free and liberated and full it is the Christian who understands every moment of every day that all of his guilt has been put upon Jesus Christ never to be called up against him ever again and why is that the case beloved I'll tell you why because it would be a violent breach of divine justice for God to punish both you and your substitute were the same crimes if Jesus Christ has been punished for you then you have been pardoned now live is though that were the case you need not fear for a moment any retribution for a death that has already been paid and that's why you see he finishes with this conclusion in verse 18 and where these have been forgiven there is no longer any sacrifice for sin oh my dear brothers and sisters you need to understand I want you to understand this that there is nothing left for which God can punish you nothing there is no wrath in God against those for whom Jesus Christ has died he absorbed all of it and if you are a Christian this morning you have every reason to feel overwhelmed by a freedom from all guilt and all sin and all condemnation the Holy Spirit through the prophet Jeremiah promised that this would be and this is why you can know that the sacrifice to which this table now points is efficacious live in light of the fact that all condemnation has been removed I can't think of anything that would influence how you live more radically than this frankly beloved it's the reason why when we gather here on the Lord's day morning as the redeemed people of God are singing out of below the roof of this place we of all people free liberated let me ask you do you know what I'm talking about I mean is it your experience or is this puzzling to you does it unsettle you is it foreign to you are you absolutely certain that your sins have been forgiven or might it be possible that your confidence is misplaced that that you've convinced yourself that after all things will be well with you because you're basically a good person a moral person an ethical person a righteous person an honest person you're a person who believes and practices the golden rule after all there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death there is a way that seems right to a man he's sincere he doesn't know that it's wrong he thinks that he's right but in the end it leads to death
none of these things can secure forgiveness from God only the sacrifice of Jesus are you a sinner in need of forgiveness let me introduce you to the God who loves sinners let me introduce you to the God who calls himself a friend of sinners let me introduce you to the God who welcomes back prodigal men and women who will come to him in repentance by the means of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ if you're a sinner you've come to the right place on the contrary if you seek forgiveness by any other means I assure you you will one day wake up and discover that your confidence has been terribly and woefully misplaced avoid the disaster of a misplaced confident seek it in the efficacious sacrifice of Jesus Christ let's pray together shall we all father I'm so happy to be a Christian this morning I'm so happy to know that I can walk through this life not fearing the consequences of guilt condemnation from my sin judgment oh Lord and God I'm so thankful for what Jesus Christ accomplished for me on the cross and Father I pray that for those who are here this morning as Christians that you would that you would give them that same sense of freedom oh Father it's so transforming I want so much for them to experience it to enjoy it to be able to walk through this life oh God with the same kind of freedom and and liberation that ought to be part and parcel of those who are new covenant Christians and Father I pray for those among us who are not Christians I pray oh Lord and God that you would strip away any confidence they might have in a source other than Christ for the forgiveness of their sins I pray oh Lord that even today your Holy Spirit would be so powerfully moving upon their minds and upon their hearts that today that today once and for all they would surrender themselves and say yes yes I can only find forgiveness in Jesus Christ oh Father produce that work produce it among the men and women who are here produce it among the children who are here Father we're thankful that this table calls to it sinners who have been freed of all guilt by the death burial by the death of Jesus Christ and we're thankful that by virtue of his resurrection by virtue of his presence now seated at your right hand but we can know that this sacrifice gets the job done bring people to yourself this very day people in this very room bring them to yourself today oh God I pray how we love you in Jesus name amen