HEBREWS CHAPTER 10

HEBREWS CHAPTER 10

(1) “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
NOTES

CONTINUALLY MAKE THE COMERS THEREUNTO PERFECT.”
The exegesis is:

1.
The Law of Moses, as stated here, was only a shadow of the New Covenant which was to come.

2.
It was not the very image of the New Covenant, even though all of the ceremonies and rituals pointed to Christ, but not with such clarity that it was fully recognizable by the people.

3.
The mere fact that the sacrifices were constantly renewed, portrayed the insuffi­ciency of that Covenant.


THE LAW ONLY A SHADOW

The phrase, “For the Law having a shadow of good things to come,” presents Paul en­gaging in further explanation of the finality of Christ’s One Sacrifice and thus of its supe­riority to the sacrifices of the Law. A “shadow” suggests indefiniteness and insubstantiality; a mere indication that a reality exists.
In the first eighteen Verses of this Chap­ter, the contrast between the sacrifices un­der the Law and the One Offering of Christ is brought out more clearly than ever. It is important to follow the argument carefully and notice the close reasoning of the Apostle as he contrasts the one with the other. The Levitical economy was but a shadow of the coming good things.
The preceding sections have brought out the efficacy of the Blood of Jesus as a prevail­ing Sacrifice, and now stress is laid on the once-for-all character of that Sacrifice. First of all, Paul contrasts the substance and the shadow. He sees the ancient system that meant so much to the Jews as no more than an unsubstantial, shadowy affair. The real thing is in Christ. To leave Christ in favor of Judaism would be to forsake the substance for the shadow. The sacrificial system practiced by the Jews could not deal effectually with sin, even as Paul says in Verse 1. Since it was no more than a shadow, that was quite impossible.
“The Law” refers strictly to the Law of Moses, but here it stands for the entirety of the Old Testament, with particular reference to the sacrificial system.
As we will see from the next phrase, the “shadow” is merely the preliminary outline that an artist may make before he gets to his colors, and the finished portrait. Paul is say­ing that the Law is no more than a prelimi­nary sketch. It shows the shape of things to come, but the solid reality is not there. That awaited Christ, and was fulfilled in Christ.
NOT THE VERY IMAGE
The phrase, “And not the very image of the things,” presents the fact that the Law was basically only a suggestion, and not re­ally an image. In fact, it was quite impossible for the Law to present a proper image of Who Christ would be, and What Christ would be, even though the mere mechanics of the Law suggested, that something better had to come.
It’s very easy for us to look back and draw the “types” and “symbols” represented in the Law, for the simple reason that we now look at the situation after the fact. But before Christ came, it would not have been so simple.
However, as we have repeatedly stated, the fact that the sacrifices were constantly re­newed, showed that the Law possessed no more than a mere shadow of the coming good which was exhibited in those sacrifices. But yet, no repetition of the shadow can amount to the substance.
THE SPIRIT OF ALL THAT
WAS DONE AND IS DONE

What the Lord gave to Israel as it regards the Law, with all of its types and symbolisms, was done exactly as the Divine Spirit desired. While the shadow was there, this was all the Lord intended for it to be. So, the blame for Israel not seeing a perfect representation of the coming New Covenant in the Law, is not to be blamed on the Lord Who gave the Law.
The idea is, if the individual contained the right spirit, and we speak of the right spirit toward God, the Holy Spirit would then re­veal to him that which was necessary.
People tend to see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear. In fact, that which we are discussing as it regards the Law of old, applies in the same manner presently to the Cross.
As the majority in Israel could not see Christ in the Law, the majority presently in the Church cannot see Christ in the Cross. A problem of deception which is with humanity, doesn’t

NOTES

change. Everything that is necessary is given by God. If there is failure to recognize that which ought to be obvious, then the failure is on our part and not that of the Lord. His Way is Perfect, while ours is anything but perfect.
The Prophets of old constantly predicted One Who was to come, Who would give peace in the hearts of men, which the Law and the Sacrifices could not give; consequently, Is­rael should have recognized Him when He came, but regrettably, they didn’t!
As well, it should be obvious as to what the Cross means as it regards Christianity, but that also seems not to be the case.
As the sacrifices could not bring peace to the conscience of the Believer of old, neither can ways and directions other than the Cross bring peace to modern Believers. That should be the greatest tip off of all. But yet we seem to be making the same mistakes presently as the Jews of old made in their time.
IMPERFECT SACRIFICES

The phrase, “Can never with those sacri­fices which they offered year by year con­tinually make the comers thereunto perfect,” presents the fact that the very nature of the sacrifices, and their continued necessity, could not accomplish the task desired. So why did Israel place such stock in all of this?
It is understandable as to Israel’s pride in the Law before Christ, but not at all afterward. And I speak specifically of the Christian Jews.
One of the problems is that human beings quickly become enamored with the “doing of religion,” which is done most perfectly as it relates to rituals and ceremonies. There is something about these things that makes us “feel religious,” and thereby, that something has been accomplished, when in fact, noth­ing has been accomplished.
Rituals and ceremonies cannot cleanse from sin, cannot bring forgiveness, cannot bring cleansing, and cannot bring peace with God. But still, the “doing of religion” excites us.
As we study these texts, we must not rel­egate these great Truths and warnings only to the Jewish Christians of old, but we must see what the Holy Spirit is telling us pres­ently, and to be sure, He is telling us much. We make a grand mistake, if we feel that we presently are not susceptible to the same difficulties as the Christian Jews of Paul’s day. In fact, the problem is just as acute now as it was then, even though the shape of things may be a little different.
IT WAS THE CROSS THEN, AND
IT IS THE CROSS NOW

As the problem was the Cross then, the problem is the Cross now! It all boils down to the Cross!
Jesus dying on a Cross, and thereby aton­ing for all the sins of mankind, did not seem nearly as spectacular to those particular Jews as did the rituals and ceremonies of the Mo­saic Law. It was a question of “activity” vs. “Faith” or the “doing of religion” vs. “trust­ing that which has already been done.”
Considering the teaching given by Paul, I seriously doubt that ignorance of the Word could have been the greatest problem for these Christian Jews. I think the Text brings it out very graphically. The problem was “unbe­lief” (Heb. 3:12-13).
As I mentioned some pages back, when the Lord first began to open up to me the Revelation of the Cross, which was in 1996, my immediate thought was that the greater problem concerning most Christians was ig­norance of the Word; however, I have come to believe that this is not exactly the case. Whereas that definitely exists, the greater problem I fear, is the same as the problem in Paul’s day, the problem of rank unbelief. The Christian Jews, at least some of them, were fastly coming to the place that they simply did not believe that what Christ did was suf­ficient. It is the same presently! There is no way the modern Church can delve wholesale into humanistic psychology, without at the same time registering a vote of no confidence as it regards the Cross. And for the most part, that is the position of the modern Church.
MAKE PERFECT

The words “make perfect” are the trans­lation of the Greek “teleioo,” which means, “to bring to a state of completeness.” The idea here is that the ceremonial law could not actually save the Believer. Its work was always short of completeness.
When we think of the word “perfect,” we must understand that such perfection is found
NOTES

only in Christ. In fact, our Salvation is a per­fect Salvation, simply because it’s in Christ. Our Redemption is perfect, even as our peace is perfect. This means that our cleansing from all sin is perfect, for that’s all that God can accept.
He cannot accept partial cleansing, which means that there is no such thing as a partial justification. A person is either completely forgiven or all sin, or he’s not forgiven at all! And when the Believer turns to Christ, and confesses his sin (I Jn. 1:9), the Lord totally and completely forgives and cleanses from all sin, which He has promised to do. In fact, there is no limitation on the times of forgive­ness and cleansing which can be engaged.
Now the “perfection” here enjoined, does not refer to sinless perfection regarding the Believer. No Believer is perfect in this regard, but at the same time, our Salvation is perfect.
This is what makes it so wrong for Churches and Denominations to refuse to accept God’s Way, rather attempting to substitute other things of themselves. There is only one an­swer for sin, and that is Christ, and what He did at the Cross. To claim the great Sacri­fice of Christ, and then attempt to add some­thing to that Sacrifice, is a sin of gargantuan proportions. In fact, those attempting to add something to the Finished Work of Christ are committing far worse sins, than the poor vic­tim they are claiming to rehabilitate — which word incidentally, is not found in the Bible, and simply because such does not exist in true Scriptural terms.
The Salvation afforded by Christ on the Cross is a perfect Salvation. Nothing dare be removed from that Sacrifice, and nothing dare be added to that Sacrifice.
(2) “FOR THEN WOULD THEY NOT HAVE CEASED TO BE OFFERED? BE­CAUSE THAT THE WORSHIPPERS ONCE PURGED SHOULD HAVE HAD NO MORE CONSCIENCE OF SINS.”
The structure is:

1.
The necessity for the continued offer­ing of the sacrifices under the old Law, proved by that very thing, that they were insufficient.

2.
Had there been true cleansing, there would have been no more need for further sac­rifices. The very fact of continued sacrifices proved that the sins had not been washed clean.


3. Faith in the Cross of Christ, which Paul is here grandly proclaiming, cleanses from all sin, and thereby, the “conscience of sins.”
CONTINUED SACRIFICES
The question, “For then would they not have ceased to be offered?”, presents a tremen­dous Truth which we should study very care­fully. In this is the very heart of the Gospel.
It is obvious here that the old Law, even as grand as it was in its day with all its ritu­als, ceremonies, and sacrifices, still, could not cleanse from sin. The idea is, even though the sins were covered as it regards these sac­rifices, at least if faith was properly placed in the One Whom the Sacrifices properly rep­resented, still, the sins were not taken away. There is a great difference in sins being cov­ered than being completely removed, which latter only the Cross could accomplish, and in fact, did!
The Hebrew Christians were having diffi­culty accepting this. The simple fact of the Cross up beside the beautiful ritual and cer­emony of the Temple, seemed to place the Cross in a secondary position. I think we could say that many of the Hebrew Chris­tians to whom this Epistle was addressed were puzzled. If God had rejected the Temple and the Old Testament ordinances and wor­ship, why was the Temple still standing?
The truth is, in a very short time after this Epistle was written, the Temple was indeed de­stroyed, with of course, the sacrifices ceasing.
Paul gave no attention to the Temple it­self, rather speaking in detail concerning the Tabernacle, the Priesthood, and the Sacri­fices of the Old Economy, from which had come the Temple. In fact, the Temple and all of its ritual had been rejected by God, no longer possessing an authoritative standing in the minds of the Holy Spirit and, there­fore, as well, of Paul. The Temple sacrifices were continuing to this time because the nation of Israel had refused to accept Christ and His Sacrifice as final. In fact, Israel had rejected Jesus as their Messiah.
POLITICAL AND NOT SPIRITUAL
In the Lord’s day the attitude of the Jew­ish rulers concerning the Messiah was po­litical expectation rather than spiritual, and

NOTES

national rather than universal. They looked for a Messiah Who would overthrow their en­emies, restore the nation of Israel, and set up His Kingdom, all within the house and framework of Israel, and that in the land of Palestine.
They failed to realize how necessary was the removal of sin’s barrier. The Law had pointed to the Messiah’s redemptive work, but, in their national pride, they had missed the valuable lesson of their guardian, the Law. The significance of the Prophecy that indi­cated a change in the Priesthood and the es­tablishment of a New Covenant was over­looked in their zeal for a national kingdom.
The Tabernacle constructed under Moses, which of course was the foundation of the Law and later the Temple, had been only a figure or a symbol of that which would come in the Messiah. The rituals of purification given under the Law had only succeeded in ceremonial cleansing, but these rituals could not cleanse moral guilt. All of the offerings could not remove spiritual defilement or the guilt and disdain of sin. Only the atoning work of Christ on the Cross, and Faith in that Finished Work, could purge the conscience. The whole economy of Moses pointed to the Perfect Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but sadly, this Israel could not see!
NO MORE CONSCIENCE OF SINS

The phrase, “Because that the worship­pers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins,” proclaims what the proper Sacrifice of Christ could do, and in fact, did do, but which the sacrifice of bulls and goats could not do.
The phrase, “No more conscience of sins,” should not be misunderstood as “No more consciousness of sin.”
The subject here is the perfect peace of conscience resulting from the perfection of the Offering presented to God. Because the Offering, being the Body of Christ, was infi­nite in its atoning efficacy, therefore, the worshipper enjoys a perfected conscience, that is, perfect peace of conscience — the sense of guilt is removed directly the value of the Offering in expiation is known.
As before pointed out, the conscience of the worshipper is a reflection of the value of the Offering. If the Offering is perfect, the conscience is perfected; if the Offering is im­perfect, the conscience is imperfect (Williams).
A failure to understand this of which Paul says, is failure of the highest order. Let’s look at it more closely.
THE VALUE OF THE OFFERING

All of this boils down to the value of the Offering. We know with certitude, even as Paul says in many and varied ways, that the Offering or the Sacrifices of the animals, al­though ordained by God, was only intended to be a stopgap measure. All of this was lim­ited in what it could do.
By contrast, the Offering of Christ, which was the Sacrifice of Himself (Gal. 1:4), was and is an Offering of such magnitude as to defy all description. The idea is this:
If the Believer does not place total Faith and confidence in that “Offering,” then the Believer is in effect saying that it is worth far less than it actually is, or else it’s worth nothing at all. The question is, “How much value do we place on the Offering of Christ?”
Do we feel that the Cross is the answer to every question, the solution to every prob­lem, the strength for every weakness, the life for every death, the salvation for every sin, and the health for every sickness? How you as a Believer look at the Cross, is how you value the Cross. This is very, very serious, so we should think about it very carefully.
The venture of the Church into humanis­tic psychology is a simple statement which proclaims the fact, that they do not place much value on the Offering of Christ. As I’ve said again and again, one cannot have it both ways. Either that Offering suffices, or else it doesn’t!
If we try to add something to the Offering of Christ, we are at the same time saying that the Offering is insufficient, meaning that we do not place much value on its effectiveness. Let me make the statement again which we have just stated:
“The sense of guilt is removed directly the value of the Offering in expiation is known. The conscience of the worshipper is a reflec­tion of the value of the Offering. If the Offer­ing is properly understood and faith there properly placed, the conscience is perfected;
NOTES

if the Offering is not properly understood, which means that faith is improperly placed, the conscience will be imperfect as well.”
For one to receive the proper benefits of the Cross, in other words that for which Jesus died, one must understand its proper value, and at the same time, properly understand its value.
This is the reason that many say, “I’ve tried it, and it doesn’t work!”
In the first place, one doesn’t “try the Cross!” The very idea of such an effort por­trays the fact, that not much value is placed on this One Offering of Christ. Consequently, little value placed, little value received!
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
THE ATONEMENT


The whole design of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to set forth the excellency of Jesus Christ and the efficacy (effectiveness) of His Atonement. By many comparisons and con­trasts, Paul is able to show the inadequacy of the old system and the effectiveness of the New. He demonstrates how Christ was able to pay fully for the sins of men.
From the very beginning, the Lord had promised a Redeemer who could fully pay for sins, which meant that the blood of sac­rificial animals which was used as a stopgap measure, could not actually pay for sins. If they could, then there would have been no need for Christ!
No matter how often they were presented, the sacrifices of the Mosaic economy were never able to bring men into a righteous standing before God: the worshippers always came short of completion. But yet, there is something else we must say about that:
While this was the condition of the Old Testament worshipper as far as the animal sacrifices were concerned, yet actually, the Israelite who would come to the Tabernacle, and present his animal for sacrifice, thereby looking ahead in Faith to the God-appointed Lamb Who would someday bear his sins, to be sure, that Israelite was saved in Jesus’ Pre­cious Blood, meaning that he was just as saved as we are presently. It was by Faith then, as it is by Faith now; however, the great problem then as is the great problem now, was the object of one’s Faith.
The Blood of Jesus was just as powerful to save and keep saved for time and eternity be­fore the Cross as since the Cross, for we have a God Who takes things that are not in exist­ence, to bring to naught the things which are.
So, Paul is not saying that sins were not forgiven during those times, for in fact they were. What he is saying, however, is very, very important, and applies to us today just as much, as stated, as it did then.
He is saying that the blood of these ani­mal sacrifices could not save from sin, so to continue in this capacity even after Jesus had come, presents itself as a travesty of the high­est order.
Paul is not saying that no one was saved before the Cross. That’s not his thinking at all. In fact, he said otherwise in the Fifteenth Verse of the previous Chapter. It is the ob­ject of faith which the Apostle is actually ad­dressing, and nothing else.
THE OBJECT OF FAITH
If Israelites brought their sacrifices to the Tabernacle or Temple, placing their faith only in that particular ritual, and thereby ignor­ing what or who the sacrifices actually rep­resented, these individuals were not saved. Their sins were not forgiven, and in fact, their sins were not even covered. This meant that the object of their faith was wrong, which sadly was the case with the far greater majority.
This is the same thing that was happen­ing with the Christian Jews. Where were they going to place their Faith? Were they going to place it in the sacrifices of animals, or were they going to place it in Christ and what He had done at the Cross on their behalf? That and that alone, decided their Salvation.
It is the same presently. In fact, nothing has changed! Are you as a Believer placing your Faith exclusively in the great Sacrifice of Christ, realizing and understanding its great value, even as we’ve already addressed, or are you placing your faith in the Church, Preachers, Denominations, your confession, manifestations, etc.?
As a Believer in what Christ has done at the Cross, and placing all of my Faith in that, I know that my sins are purged; therefore, I have no more “conscience of sins.” I know they are gone, washed away, cleansed, taken

NOTES

away, etc. I know that they will never con­demn me again.
But at the same time, I do have a con­sciousness of sins, meaning that I am con­science of the fact of sin and as well, of the horror of sin. But because of Christ, my con­science is totally clear and clean of all sin, there being no condemnation (Rom. 8:1).
HOW DOES GOD LOOK AT A
CLEANSED BELIEVER?


God looks at cleansed Believers, which in fact, includes every single Believer who has ever lived, as perfect in His sight. Whatever sin they had committed, is now gone and washed away, and I speak of us properly con­fessing our sins to Him (I Jn. 1:9). That indi­vidual is not looked at as a second class Chris­tian, or someone on probation, or half a hun­dred other foolish positions which Satan can think of. The moment any Christian con­fesses their sin, that sin is instantly washed, cleansed, put away and forgiven. It is remem­bered against the Believer no more, because in the mind of God, it does not exist, and because it has been purged. It is all done through Faith in Christ, and because of what He did for us at the Cross, in atoning for all sin, past, present, and future.
So, this means that if any Christian looks at any other Christian in a negative way because of some sin committed in the past, which is now washed, cleansed, and forgiven, that par­ticular Christian is living under Law, and ac­tually bringing upon himself a curse. In fact, he is denying the same Grace to the other brother or sister, which he daily needs him­self, and in fact, must depend on constantly.
I’m trying to say that every single Chris­tian who has ever lived, has had to go before the Lord many times, asking for forgiveness for some particular type of sin. If we deny that, then we are denying the obvious.
Some might say, in their efforts to justify their accusations, “But I haven’t done that,” whatever “that” might be! Well what does the Bible say?
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I Jn. 1:9).
Now the Holy Spirit here through John said “all unrighteousness.” He either meant “all unrighteousness,” or he didn’t! I hap­pen to believe that He told the truth, and you had better believe the same.
Let me say it again in a little clearer way:
If you as a Believer place any Christian in a secondary or second class position, because of a sin they committed in the past, which has been duly forgiven and cleansed by the Lord, you are making a mockery of the Grace of God, doing despite to the Spirit of Grace, and limiting the value of the great Sacrifice of Christ, as far as that individual is con­cerned. The truth is, you have not hurt or limited them at all, but you have definitely hurt yourself.
Jesus plainly said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Mat. 7:1-2).
His statement is very clear: when you limit the Grace of God for someone else, as stated, you have in fact, limited it for your­self. Unfortunately, that is the condition in which entire Denominations presently find themselves. It is sad but true!
FORGIVING YOURSELF?

Unfortunately, the term “forgiving one­self,” has crept into the vocabulary of Chris­tians, even though it is from the world of psychology. In fact, very much psychologi­cal terminology has made its way into the vocabulary of Christians, which portrays in graphic outline the wrong leanings of the modern Church.
There is nothing in the Bible about Chris­tians, or anyone for that matter, forgiving themselves. Such shows a complete misun­derstanding of the basis of forgiveness, and above all the One Who can truly forgive, Who of course is Christ. If one is seeking forgive­ness from themselves, they are looking in the wrong place, and looking at forgiveness to­tally and completely in the wrong manner.
If a Christian does wrong, and unfortu­nately this happens quite often, the Chris­tian is to immediately take his sin to the Lord. The heavy guilt and condemnation are brought on by sin, which can only be assuaged by properly confessing the sin to the Lord (not other people), asking His forgiveness
NOTES

and cleansing, which He has promptly prom­ised to do (I Jn. 1:9). If that is done, under­standing that what Jesus did at the Cross handled all sin, and as well, understanding that “He ever liveth to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:25), the condemnation will then instantly leave, with fellowship instantly re­stored. As previously stated, the Lord doesn’t put anyone on probation; as well, there is no such thing as a partial justification. When the Lord justifies, He always does so totally and completely, and He will always do so the moment the person comes to Him in Faith believing (Jn. 3:16).
So, when Christians speak of someone and say, “He won’t forgive himself,” or terminol­ogy of that nature, they don’t really know what they’re talking about. Nothing like that exists in real terms as it regards our rela­tionship with Christ.
Understanding the Grace of God, we should never bring up past failures which the Lord has cleansed and forgiven, except pos­sibly in some remote way in order to teach others, etc. Even then, it must be done in a very limited way, and seldom. In Romans Chapter 7, Paul mentioned past failures on his part, but it was used in order to instruct Believers as to how to have Faith in the Cross and not themselves.
Sin is an abominable thing. A Brother mentioned in prayer meeting just this morn­ing, how that in the last few weeks the Holy Spirit has been dealing with him about the terribleness and the awfulness of sin. He mentioned that the Holy Spirit had used our Commentary on Galatians to bring this to his attention, for which we were grateful. This means that we are to never look at sin with impunity! It is awful beyond description.
God forbid that any Christian should fail in any manner; however, we know that the reality is that failures in one way or the other are more prominent than we would like to think. The major problem is, that most Christians do not understand the Cross; con­sequently, they attempt to live the life they ought to live by the means of the flesh, when they think they’re doing it by the Spirit. The results are always failure and often.
However, even then, the Lord will always forgive and cleanse, no matter how many times the infraction; nevertheless, such an existence is not the Will of God, and will defi­nitely cause the Christian great difficulties, even though the Lord will always be quick to forgive.
But if there is failure of any type, it must be handled correctly. We must always make certain that our thinking and our action never belittles the great Sacrifice of Christ in any manner. This, the Sacrifice of Christ and not our sin, is to always be held in view.
(3) “BUT IN THOSE SACRIFICES THERE IS A REMEMBRANCE AGAIN MADE OF SINS EVERY YEAR.”
The composition is:
1.
The word “remembrance” as it regards sacrifices and sins, tells us that the conscience of the worshippers under the old economy was not purged.

2.
The yearly repetition of sacrifices, speaking of the Great Day of Atonement, pre­sented itself as a glaring spectacle that the sin debt was still owing.

3.
Despite all of the activity and the ritu­als and ceremonies of the old Law, in fact, because of all the activity, such were a con­stant reminder that something else had to be done about sin.


SACRIFICES, REMEMBRANCE, AND SINS
In this Verse, several things are said:
1.
Sacrifices: the very fact that the word is in the plural, states that they were woefully insufficient. Hence the Holy Spirit through Paul would refer to them as “those sacrifices.”

2.
A remembrance: the idea is, in these constant offering of sacrifices, there was a remembrance of sins. Where the Bible car­ries the idea of remembrance, action appears to be involved. When people remember sins, they either repent (Deut. 9:7) or else persist in sin (Ezek. 23:19).


When God remembers sin, and we speak of sin unconfessed and unrepented, He usu­ally punishes it (I Ki. 17:18; Rev. 16:19); when He pardons, He can be said not to remember sin (Ps. 25:7). Under the New Covenant, God doesn’t punish Believers, that having already been done in Christ, but rather chastises (Heb. 12:5-11).
By Paul using the expression “remem­brance” he is reminding us that Jesus said,

NOTES

“Do this in remembrance of Me” (Lk. 22:19), as He established a Covenant in which the central theme is that God says, “I will re­member their sins no more” (Jer. 31:34).
As we have stated, the Day of Atonement each year reminded people of the fact that something had to be done about sin. But the ceremonies did no more than that, merely serve as a reminder.
3.
Sins: exactly what all of this fully meant to the Israel of old, we have no way presently of knowing. We know then that God defi­nitely did forgive sins; however, there is a difference in sins being forgiven, but with the fact of sin remaining, than sins being forgiven and as well taken away. The former cannot bring a relief of the conscience, while the latter definitely does, and can only be done through Christ.

Even though many of the Jews before the Cross believed in Christ and were definitely saved, still, due to the sacrifices of that time being woefully inadequate, the sin debt still remained. Now, due to what Jesus did at the Cross on our behalf, for all who believe in Him and His great Sacrifice, the sin debt is completely erased. This does cleanse the conscience.

4.
Yearly: Paul is not here demeaning what was then done. That’s not the idea at all! He is merely saying to the Christian Jews who were considering going back into Judaism, which would have meant the forsaking of Christ, for it’s impossible for one to have it both ways, that if they did so, ruin would be the result.


If one leaves the Cross, one has left every­thing. As He will say in Verse 26 of this Chap­ter, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” It’s the Cross or nothing!
(4) “FOR IT IS NOT POSSIBLE THAT THE BLOOD OF BULLS AND OF GOATS SHOULD TAKE AWAY SINS.”
The exegesis is:

1.
It is not possible for one to be washed, cleansed, and forgiven of all sin except through Faith in the Cross of Christ.

2.
There is no relation between the physi­cal blood of animals and man’s moral offense, which goes for any other atonement which man may try to make, other than the Cross of Christ.


3. The only thing that God will recognize is that sins are “taken away,” which was done by what Christ did at the Cross, and our Faith in that Finished Work.
NOT POSSIBLE

The yearly ceremonies were ineffective because “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The word “im­possible” is a strong one. It means there is no way forward through the blood of animals.
As well, the words “not possible” apply to all other efforts made by man to address the problem of sin. In fact, the entirety of the world of religion, whether it be Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Shintoism, or that part of Christianity which is corrupt, is but an effort to atone for sin in one way or the other, except God’s Way, which is the Cross. And make no mistake about it, the problem is sin.
Man may put one label or another label on the problem, may dress it up in all type of garb, but the truth is, the problem is sin. And the Holy Spirit here emphatically states, that it is impossible for a person’s sins to be washed away, except by that person having Faith in Christ and what Christ did at the Cross on our behalf. The reason is, none of these things done by man, have any relation with man’s moral offense, which in effect, has been against God.
THE BLOOD OF BULLS AND GOATS
The phrase, “That the blood of bulls and of goats,” proclaims the validity of the ani­mal sacrifices, and the fact that God gave this plan until Christ would come. So the idea is, if the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t take away sins, which was actually a program devised by the Holy Spirit, how in the world do we think that our own efforts in any man­ner, could affect a release from sins? The word “blood” as it is here used, is a tip off. There are all type of sacrifices offered by men, but it is only the shedding of blood which God will recognize, and because the life is in the blood. Life had been forfeited in the Gar­den of Eden by man’s disobedience, and be­cause life had been forfeited, life must be for­feited again in order that the problem be properly addressed. It is somewhat similar
NOTES

to an individual murdering in cold blood. They forfeit the life of their victim, and the Bible says that if such is done, and we speak of murder in cold blood, then the life of the perpetrator must be forfeited as well (Gen. 9:6; Rom. 13:4).
Considering that God demanded “life” which is in the blood, but that even the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t take away sins, this tells us two things:
1.
The One Sacrifice which would sat­isfy the Wrath of God, was only that of His Only Son.

2.
It tells us how helpless man is to pro­vide a suitable sacrifice. In fact, and as stated, it is impossible!


TO TAKE AWAY SINS

The phrase, “Should take away sins,” per­tains to that alone which God would accept. Even though the sacrifices of bulls and goats did serve as a covering for sin, that was not sufficient as it regards the Righteousness of God. Sin, and because it is so awful and hor­rible, must be completely taken away. This means that man’s moral offense had to be dealt with. In other words, what man had done, what man was doing, and what man would continue to do, which constitutes crimes against God, and ultimately the destruction of everything, must be addressed.
Sins being completely taken away, refers to the fact that a correct penalty has been suffered, which means that the Righteous­ness of God has been satisfied.
Due to the fact that God is omnipotent, and omniscient, He could have easily regen­erated man without Jesus having to go to the Cross. But this would in no way have ad­dressed sin and its affects. Even though the Mercy of God could forgive man his terrible sin, the Righteousness of God, which is just as important as His Mercy, demands satis­faction. In fact, satisfaction for sin not be­ing demanded by God, would be the same as a nation dispensing with all of its laws, thereby telling its citizens they were free to commit any crime they liked with no fear of penalty. Of course, such a society would completely destroy itself in a very short period of time. Wrongdoing must be addressed and must be paid for, or else everything self-destructs.
So it was more than the question of God being offended, it was what that offense meant. Sin is the ruination of everything that is good. It is the cause of all suffering, sickness, sor­row, heartache, and death. To ignore it, God cannot do! So the full penalty of sin would have to be paid, which would necessitate the giving of a life, but it would have to be a per­fect life, which was carried one might say, by a perfect body, controlled by a perfect mind, which alone could provide a perfect Sacri­fice. To do this thing, God would Himself have to become man, which He did! It’s called the Incarnation (Isa. 7:14).
That’s what John the Baptist was talking about when he said as it regards Christ, “Be­hold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29).
The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins, but Jesus did. In fact, he did more than that. He not only addressed individual “sins,” but as well He addressed the “sin” problem in totality. He removed its cause, which addresses the Fall, and He removed its curse, which addressed the penalty. The songwriter said:
“Hallelujah what a thought,
“Jesus full Salvation brought,
“Victory, yes victory!
“Let the powers of sin assail,
“Heaven’s grace can never fail,
“Victory, yes victory!”
A PROMISSORY NOTE
The application is simple and clear. It was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins; but every time a be­lieving Israelite brought his sacrifice to the Altar, he was, so to speak, giving his note to God. He acknowledged his indebtedness, his sin, and accepted responsibility for the same.
This was all he could do, but the preincarnate Christ endorsed every one of the notes and in the fullness of time came pre­pared to settle in full for all, which He did!
Today every Believer can look up and ex­claim with all confidence, that all his sins in totality, have been “taken away.” There is nothing greater than that.
(5) “WHEREFORE WHEN HE COMETH INTO THE WORLD, HE SAITH, SACRIFICE

NOTES

AND OFFERING THOU WOULDEST NOT, BUT A BODY HAST THOU PRE­PARED ME:”
The structure is:

1.
Due to the fact that animal sacrifices could not take away sins, Jesus must come into the world, which He did.

2.
He did not come into the world to offer sacrifices of that other than Himself.

3.
A physical body was prepared for Him, and done so through the Virgin Birth, for the express purpose of being offered in Sacrifice.


THE ENTRANCE OF CHRIST
INTO THE WORLD


The phrase, “Wherefore when He cometh into the world,” presents Christ coming as the Savior, Who undertakes in Grace to meet every claim that the Throne of God has against penitent sinners.
His coming was that to which the Proph­ecies had pointed from the very beginning, actually with the first prediction given in the Garden of Eden by God, as He addressed Sa­tan through the serpent (Gen. 3:15). The prediction was then carried out in type, when “the Lord God made coats of skins, and clothed Adam and Eve” (Gen. 3:21). To cover their nakedness to the Judgment of God, they had “sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons,” which man has contin­ued to attempt to do ever since, in his efforts to provide salvation for himself (Gen. 3:7).
Due to the terrible affects of sin, it took God some 4,000 years to prepare mankind for the Advent of Christ. This may seem to be an inordinate long time; however, it should portray to us just how bad that sin actually is. Considering the time it took, and even then man was barely ready, and the price that was paid to assuage this monster, we should get an idea as to the destructive power of this thing referred to as “sin.”
NO MORE OFFERINGS OF
ANIMAL SACRIFICES


The phrase, “He saith, Sacrifice and Of­fering Thou wouldest not,” refers to the fact, that He would pay for sin, but not with ani­mal sacrifices. Instead, He would Himself in His physical body gotten through the Virgin Birth from Mary, offer Himself as a supreme Sacrifice, which would suffice once for all, and for eternity.
The words “He saith,” proclaim the fact, that Christ is the Prophetic Word of Scrip­ture. Though not directly mentioned here, it is overly obvious that it is Christ Who has been the subject of the whole context. The words beginning with “Sacrifice,” are a quotation from Psalm 40:7-9. It is a Psalm of David.
THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE
The first part of the Psalm is an expression of thanksgiving to God for deliverance from peril. David has learned the true mode of displaying gratitude, not by offerings of slain animals, but by the sacrifice of the will. So far does the latter excel the former, so truly is the sacrifice of the will in accordance with the Will of God, that the value of the legal offerings is in comparison as nothing. And yet, in all of this, there is no real slighting of the sacrificial ritual, but there is a profound appreciation of the superiority of spiritual service to mere ritual observance.
DAVID AS A TYPE OF CHRIST

In this Psalm we read, “Mine iniquities are more than the hairs of mine head” (Ps. 40:12). David comes with a new perception of the true Will of God, to offer Him the service in which He takes pleasure. And yet not so — for such service as he can offer is itself defec­tive, his sins surround him yet in their results and penalties. Hence, in his understanding and his offering of himself he is a type, while his sinfulness and weakness render him but an imperfect type, of Him Who was to come.
By contrast, Jesus came to His Father with a perfect offering of will and self which was foreshadowed in the best impulses of the best of men of God, whose inspired utterances the Scriptures record. The words of David, but partially true of himself, are fulfilled in the Son of David.
And yet, in a sense, all of the Psalms por­tray Christ, whether in His role as Redeemer, or as Intercessor, as portrayed in Hebrews
7:25. In fact, one can only understand the intercessory role of Christ, by understanding the Psalms, and especially such as that of Verse
12. Christ took our sins, made them His Own, pleaded by His very Presence before the Throne
NOTES

of God, Mercy, and Grace on our behalf, which are guaranteed because of His Sacrificial Of­fering. He took our sin, i.e., “sin penalty,” that we might take His Righteousness.
THE PREPARATION

The phrase, “But a body hast Thou pre­pared Me,” proclaims the fact that deliver­ance from sin is not obtained by animal sac­rifices, but as stated, by fulfilling God’s will.
Vincent says, “The course of thought in the Psalm is as follows: ‘Thou, Oh God, desirest not the sacrifice of beasts, but Thou hast pre­pared My body as a single Sacrifice, and so I come to do Thy Will, as was predicted of Me, by the Sacrifice of Myself.’
“Christ did not yield to God’s Will as au­thoritative constraint. The constraint lay in His Eternal Spirit. His Sacrifice was no less His Own Will than God’s Will.” Paul said, “Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Him­self without spot to God” (Heb. 9:14).
A BODY

The Body that is prepared for Christ per­tains to the Incarnation, God becoming man, that in it He may obey God. God is a Spirit and, therefore, cannot die. So in order to go to the Cross, He would have to take upon Him­self a physical body, which the Holy Spirit pre­dicted through David approximately 1,000 years before Christ. However, it is the offer­ing of this body as a sacrifice in contrast to the animal sacrifices of the Law, which Paul emphasizes.
While the Passage in Psalms definitely emphasizes the Will of God, even as the Sev­enth Verse here proclaims, still, the Passage is far from saying that the essence or work of Christ’s offering of Himself lies simply in obedience to the Will of God. While that of course is definitely important as would be obvious, still, the entirety of this which Paul says, and which is taken from David’s proph­ecies, argues that the Son’s offering of Him­self is the true and final offering for sin, be­cause it is the Sacrifice, which according to prophecy, God desired to be made.
All of this, of course, proclaims the fact that Christ existed long before the Incarnation. In fact, as God He has always existed. As God He is unformed, unmade, uncreated, had no beginning, has always been, always is, and always shall be. Consequently, a human body had to be prepared for Him, which itself tells us, that the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t take away sin, or else what Christ did would not have been necessary. And considering what He actually did do, which is beyond comprehension, lets us know just how inad­equate were the animal sacrifices, etc.
(6) “IN BURNT OFFERINGS AND SAC­RIFICES FOR SIN THOU HAST HAD NO PLEASURE.”
The composite is:
1.
Burnt offerings and animal sacrifices for sin were insufficient.

2.
God took no pleasure in the sacrifices, due to the fact that they were inefficient, even though they were necessary at the time.

3.
It is only in the Sacrifice of Christ that God would take pleasure, inasmuch, as it would be totally sufficient.


SIN
The phrase, “In Burnt Offerings and Sac­rifices for sin,” proclaims the root of the problem which besets mankind. It is “sin!”
Man refuses to recognize sin as his prob­lem. While he admits, at least after a fash­ion, that there is a problem, he claims that the lack of education is the cause, or wrong political leanings, or a lack of money, etc.
Approximately 100 years ago, education was touted as the throughway to all solu­tions. Humanistic psychology has now taken its place. It’s ironical, under the former, the­ology was the queen of the Sciences. Theol­ogy has now been replaced with psychology. Humanism has become god, as man wor­ships Himself, and psychology has become its religion.
But despite all of man’s efforts, he never seems to be even close to any solution. The facts are, every single heart and life in this world which have been changed from dark­ness to light, which stands as a monument to the fact that a change can be brought about, all and without exception, have been brought about by Faith in Jesus Christ, and what He has done for the human race at the Cross. This means that Islam has never brought about one changed heart, neither Buddhism, or Mormonism, or Catholicism, or Shintoism,

NOTES

etc. As well, vaunted psychology, cannot boast of one single solitary individual who has ex­perienced a miraculous change in his or her heart, because of its teachings. Not one!
The problem is sin, and the solution is the Savior, and of course, the Savior Alone is the Lord Jesus Christ. And to be sure, His means is the Cross. That’s why a body was prepared for Him, in order that He might offer it in Sacrifice.
This tells man that his problem is far more severe than meets the eye. It is so bad in fact, that man has no solution, as man cannot have any solution. Unredeemed man is depraved, and totally depraved at that, which means that everything he touches he destroys, which is the very opposite of bringing about a solution.
PLEASURE

The phrase, “Thou hast had no pleasure,” doesn’t mean that God took no pleasure at all in the animal Sacrifices, for He was the One Who instituted this particular means. The idea is, as it regards “sin,” these sacri­fices were not sufficient; therefore, God took no pleasure in them in that capacity.
But when His Own Blessed Son came into the world to fulfill all these types, and to pay in His Own Person the Redemption Price, it is written: “It pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an Offering for sin, He shall see His Seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His Hand” (Isa. 53:10).
(7) “THEN SAID I, LO, I COME (IN THE VOLUME OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME,) TO DO THY WILL, O GOD.”
The exegesis is:

1.
Throughout the Old Testament are given prophecies and instructions regarding the Divine Will for the Messiah.

2.
This tells us that enough information was given that Israel should have known, and above all, these Christian Jews should know.

3.
To rebel against Christ, and His Fin­ished Work on the Cross, is to rebel against the plain and simple Word of God.


THE PREDICTION

The phrase, “Then said I, Lo, I come,” pro­claims the fact, that the theme of the Old Testament is the Messiah, i.e., “The Lord Jesus Christ.” In fact, Paul applies the words “Then said I,” directly to Christ, showing that he regarded this Passage in Psalms as referring to Him as the Speaker. The Incarnation of the Son of God becomes the heart of the mes­sage found in this Tenth Chapter of Hebrews.
This means that a belief in the Virgin Birth becomes necessary if we are to believe Jesus Christ was truly God manifest in the flesh. It is amazing how many in theological circles do not believe it is any longer necessary to believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus. It is time to let the world know that Jesus was both human and Divine: God was His Father, Mary was His Mother.
The world would like to reject the Virgin Birth and destroy it. The world would like to do away with the supernatural and the miraculous. However, to remove the Virgin Birth from our message would make Jesus merely a man, and an illegitimate son; it would present Mary as an unholy and un­chaste vessel. God would be made a liar. In fact, the evidence is so overwhelming in the Word of God, so plain, so clear, so simple, that either Christ is the Divine Son of God, or He is a fake and a fraud and He deserved to die. One must believe what the Bible says, or one must not believe at all!
IN THE VOLUME OF THE BOOK
The phrase, “In the volume of the book it is written of Me,” refers to the fact, that the entirety of the Old Testament points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every Prophecy pointed to Him. The nation of Israel was raised up for the sole purpose of giving to the world the Word of God, which told of the coming Redeemer, and in fact, to be a womb for the Messiah. All of the Tabernacle and Temple, along with all their Sacred Vessels, spoke entirely of Christ, whether of His Perfect Life and Ministry, or the sacrificial offering of Himself on the Cross. Truly, in the “Volume of the Book it was written of Him.”
Considering all of this, how could the Hebrew Christians consider returning to the system of sacrifices found under the Old Cov­enant? Did they not realize that the blood shed in those sacrifices could not purge their consciences from sin? There could be no
NOTES

perfect cleansing outside of the Blood shed by Jesus Christ Himself.
How could anyone compare the Blood of Jesus with that of animals? It was obvious that the blood of man would be greater than that of an animal, and the Blood of the God-Man would be infinitely more effective in cleansing from sin. This Jesus had been raised from the dead, glorified, and taken to Heaven; He had entered into the Presence of God by and through His Own Blood, all on our behalf.
Through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all, shows that it is the Atone­ment which explains the purpose of the In­carnation. The Incarnation takes place in order that sin might be put away by the Of­fering of the Body and the Blood of the Sav­ior. This and this alone, the Sacrifice of Christ satisfies the demands of a thrice-Holy God, thereby making it possible for man to be saved. Nothing else will suffice!
THE WILL OF GOD

The phrase, “To do Thy Will, O God,” pre­sents that which all of this is all about — to do the Will of God. The entirety of the Old Testament contains written instructions re­garding the Divine Will for the Messiah. It was outlined as to Who He would be, How He would be, and What He would be.
All of this tells us of the veracity of the Word of God, which in fact, is the Will of God. If Christ used the Word, which then was the Old Testament, as His foundation for all things, in fact, that which the Holy Spirit used to guide Him, which certainly set the example for us, shouldn’t we do the same?
To which we have already alluded, the Holy Spirit in this given by Paul, used the Psalms to portray this beautiful announce­ment concerning Christ. Let’s look at the Psalms a little closer:
THE PSALMS AND THE MESSIAH

On the road to Emmaus, and in the Upper Chamber, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, spoke to the Disciples of the things in the Psalms concerning Himself (Lk. Chpt. 24).
The Holy Spirit trained the writers of the Psalms; but He was their Author (Acts 1:16; 2:25, 30; Heb. 3:7). Hence, He says that no Scripture is of human origination (II Pet. 1:20), but that all Scripture is of Divine In­spiration (II Tim. 3:16).
The Book of Psalms is a volume of proph­ecy; its principal predictions concern the perfections, the sufferings, and the succeed­ing glories of the Messiah.
God having been dishonored by human unbelief and disobedience, it was necessary that a man should be born who would per­fectly love, perfectly trust, and perfectly serve Him; and Who would be the True Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, Moses, and David, etc.
God’s moral glory demanded that sin should be judged; that sinners should repent, confess, and forsake sin and worship and obey Him; and being God, His nature required per­fection in these emotions of the heart and will.
PERFECTION
Such perfection was impossible to fallen man, and it was equally out of his power to provide a sacrifice that would remove his guilt and restore his relationship with God.
The Psalms reveal Christ as satisfying in these relationships all the Divine require­ments. He, though Himself sinless, declares Himself in these Psalms in a sense, to be the sinner, and I speak of His intercessory role; and He expresses to God the abhorrence of sin accompanied by the repentance and sor­row which man ought to feel and express but will not and cannot. Similarly, the faith, love, obedience, and worship which man fails to give He perfectly renders.
HIGH PRIEST
Thus, as the High Priest of His people, He, the True Advocate, charges Himself with the guilt of our sins; declares them to be His Own; confesses them, repents of them, declaring at the same time His Own sinlessness; and atones for them. Thus, those Psalms in which the Speaker declares his sinfulness and his sinlessness become quite clear of com­prehension when it is recognized Who the Speaker is, and in what role He is occupying at the time — that of Savior or Intercessor.
The Messiah’s other Offices and Ministries as Son of God and Son of Man, as King and Priest, as Servant of Jehovah, as Angel of Je­hovah, as the Word of God, and as the Burnt

NOTES

Offering, the Meal Offering, the Peace Offer­ing, the Sin Offering, and the Trespass Offer­ing; and as the Resurrection and the Life, are all sung of, together with the sufferings or the glories appropriate to each Office.
The Gospels record the fact that He prayed; the Psalms, one might say, furnish the words of the prayer.
A DIARY

The Psalter is an inexhaustible source of strength, guidance, consolation, and moral teaching to the people of God, and many valu­able Commentaries point out these treasures. It may, therefore, in this aspect be justly re­garded as a diary kept by the Lord when on Earth in which are recorded His Own expe­riences and the experiences proper to those in whom He dwells.
Some of these Messianic experiences were entirely personal, others representative, oth­ers sympathetic, and others proper to Him as the True Israel.
The interpretation of the Book of Psalms, therefore, belongs to Him as Messiah, to Is­rael as His people, and to the nations as His possession. Its application is to all who feel their need of a Savior from sin and from its consequences. Actually, the Church, little, if at all, appears in the Book of Psalms.
(The Author owes a debt of gratitude to George Williams, for the above comments on the Psalms.)
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PSALMS
I have read after many writers who struggled to separate the Psalms, attempt­ing to point out that which pertained to Christ, and that which pertained to David or other personal writers. As such, they would refer to some of the Psalms as Messianic Psalms, meaning that they overwhelmingly spoke of the coming Christ, etc.
However, if we will understand that the entirety of the Psalms speak of Christ and in their totality, everything will become much more clear. In other words, one, I think can say, that all the Psalms, all 150 of them, are Messianic Psalms, because they all por­tray Christ.
The reason that it’s difficult for most Com­mentators to see this is because they fail to recognize the different roles in which the Holy Spirit places Christ. As previously stated, at times, He is presented as Savior, with the statements then being crystal clear as per­taining to Him. But other statements speak of failure, of sin, of iniquity, of pleas for for­giveness, etc. These as well speak of Christ, but in His intercessory role. In every sense of the word, He became the True Man.
In these cries and pleas, the Reader is not to misunderstand, thinking that Christ Him­self has sinned, for that is not the case at all. But the Truth is, and allow me to say it again, He as the High Priest of His people, as the True Advocate, charges Himself with the guilt of our sins; declares them to be His Own; confesses them, repents of them, while at the same time, declaring His Own sinlessness; in other words, He atones for them. Thus, all of this becomes quite clear, when we recognize the role which He is presently occupying.
TO DO THE WILL OF GOD

In connection with Psalms 40:8, which says “I delight to do Thy Will, O My God,” He said in John 6:38, “I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine Own will, but the Will of Him that sent Me.”
When He spoke of the “Will of God,” He spoke of all things, but more particularly, He spoke of the Will of God in His coming to make expiation for iniquity; and by His ac­complishment of that Will, which He defi­nitely did do, we who believe in Him are now eternally set apart to God on the basis, not of our promises or feelings or our personal righ­teousness, but of the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ in Sacrifice once for all.
How slowly truths like these seem to seep into our souls and become part of our very beings. But one may safely say there is no lasting peace until this aspect of Christ’s work has been laid hold of in faith.
In His doing the Will of God, and doing it perfectly, He had to be perfectly obedient to the Law in every respect. He could not fail in even the slightest part of the Law, even one time. This was totally necessary, if He was to be a proper Atonement for sin. He would have to become “obedient unto death,” but it would have to be a death that was the result of a perfect life (Phil. 2:8).
NOTES

So, the greater thrust in all of this is the offering of Himself in Sacrifice, which is ev­erywhere in the Scriptures held out as being the “Will of God.” There was Salvation in no other way, nor was it possible that the race should be saved unless the Redeemer drank that cup of bitter sorrows (Mat. 26:39).
THE VALIDITY OF THE CROSS

All of this, as surely should be obvious by now, proclaims to us the validity of the Cross of Christ. And by that, I mean that the Cross is the centrality of the Gospel. The Cross as we’ve already said several times in this Vol­ume, is not really a Doctrine, but is actually the foundation of all Doctrine. Everything from God to man comes totally and exclusively through the Cross of Christ. Everything that the Holy Spirit does in totality is done totally and completely within the parameters of the legal Work of Christ at the Cross. Yes, I said “legal!” And what do I mean by that?
Once again we go to Romans 8:2. The Spirit through Paul there said, “For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death.”
Notice that he said it is “the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.” That makes it something legal.
Man’s bondage in the realm of Satan, is a legal bondage. In other words, due to the fact that the wages of sin is death, Satan had a legal right to hold man in captivity because of man’s sin. When Jesus died on the Cross, He died in order to pay the just demands of a thrice-Holy God, which was and is a legal work. By His Death He legally satisfied those demands, which at the same time deprived Satan of his legal right to hold man in cap­tivity. Due to the fact that all sin is atoned, Satan actually has no legal right to hold any­one in the bondage of sin. Of course, most of the world is in the bondage of sin simply because they will not trust Christ. And sadly enough, most Christians are dominated by sin in some way, simply because they do not understand the validity of the Cross of Christ, as we are here explaining it.
You as a Believer must first of all put your Faith exclusively in the Cross of Christ, un­derstanding, as we’ve already stated, that ev­erything that God gives to you comes through the Cross, and your means of reaching God is totally and completely through what Jesus did at the Cross. When you put your faith there, then the Holy Spirit will begin to re­veal to you all of the meaning of the Cross, which in effect, is so vast that it literally beg­gars description (Rom. 6:3-5, 11, 14).
But if your Faith is misplaced, in other words, somewhat in the Cross and somewhat in your confession, or something else, that produces a double-minded spirit, which God cannot honor, and in fact, which is no faith at all (James 1:5-8).
Paul was given the meaning of the New Covenant, which he gave to us in his fourteen Epistles, which is in effect, the meaning of the Cross. Let me say that another way.
What the New Covenant is all about is what Jesus did for us at the Cross. That explains the Covenant; that in fact, is the Covenant.
Now Satan will do everything within his power to steer you as a Believer away from that Covenant, while all the time making you think you’re still in the Covenant. The point I’m making is this:
The Believer, even though having been saved as a result of what Jesus did at the Cross, which is the New Covenant, still, is in danger of being pulled away from the Cross after conversion. Satan is very subtle in this. He claims that for one to go on to deeper life, one must leave the Cross, simply because that’s elementary, and he must go on to deeper things. But of course, the definition of those deeper things is always different with different Preachers. The truth is, there is nothing deeper than the Cross! The Holy Spirit, even as we’ve already stated, works exclusively within the legal boundaries of the Cross, in everything that He does with us and for us. So, for one to say that they’re going to go deeper than the Spirit is facetious in­deed! Once, as a Believer, we understand that everything that the Holy Spirit does is done totally and completely within the parameters of the Cross, then we begin to understand how important all of this really is.
The Reader may grow somewhat weary concerning my constant applications of the Cross; however, understanding that this is the very center of our Faith, and actually the se­cret of all Blessings from God, I don’t see

NOTES

how it would be possible for me to overstate the case. I know how subtle that Satan is, in attempting to steer us away from that which is Scriptural concerning God’s dealings with us. His major effort is to get us away from the Cross of Christ, because he knows that this is God’s prescribed order of Salvation and victory, and more particularly, Faith in that Finished Work.
(8) “ABOVE WHEN HE SAID, SACRI­FICE AND OFFERING AND BURNT OFFER­INGS AND OFFERING FOR SIN THOU WOULDEST NOT, NEITHER HADST PLEA­SURE THEREIN; WHICH ARE OFFERED BY THE LAW;”
The exegesis is:

1.
The first part of this Verse has to do with Verse 5. All of the Sacrifices and Offer­ings were but a stopgap measure, until Christ would come.

2.
The Lord took no pleasure in these things, even though He had instituted them, for the simple reason, that they could not take away sin. They did serve a purpose, but not the ultimate purpose.

3.
All of this is under the Law of Moses, which was the Covenant that was absolved by Christ, even as the next Verse proclaims.


THE SACRIFICES OF OLD COULD
NOT TAKE AWAY SIN

The phrase, “Above when He said, Sacri­fice and Offering and Burnt Offerings and Offering for sin Thou wouldest not,” refers to the fact that animal sacrifices could not cleanse from sin. This could only be done by Christ, in the offering of Himself.
To this end, God prepared a body for the Eternal Logos Who came to do the Will of God and die for the sins of the world (Gal. 1:4; I Pet. 2:24).
God ordained the Sacrifices and Offerings of Leviticus as shadows of the great Sub­stance Offering of Calvary. He found no abid­ing pleasure in the sacrifices under the Law, but He does find an eternal joy in the Body He prepared for His Beloved Son, in which Body Christ was to make the Great Offer­ing purposed by the Will of God before the world began.
It is awe-striking to be permitted in Psalms 40 to hear the Father and the Son in the past eternities planning the Atonement. The sacrifice of dumb and irrational crea­tures is here contrasted with the intelligent obedience of Christ’s Sacrifice of Himself.
By the words “wouldest not,” some have thought that the Spirit is here saying that God didn’t want sacrifices; however, that’s not what is being said.
In effect, He is saying that animal sacri­fices, even though necessary, as stated, as a stopgap measure, still could not redeem hu­manity in that they could not take away sin. It should be understood, to be sure, consid­ering that God would have to pay the price Himself, that if it were possible that animal sacrifices would suffice, the Lord surely would have accepted them. He didn’t because they wouldn’t!
NO PLEASURE

The phrase, “Neither hadst pleasure therein,” concerns the fact of the insuffi­ciency of the animal sacrifices. If it is to be noticed, Paul mentions about all the types of Sacrifices offered, which were actually five in number — Whole Burnt Offerings, Sin Of­ferings, Peace Offerings, Meal Offerings, and Trespass Offerings. All involve the shedding of blood, with the exception of the “Meal Offering,” which was a thanksgiving Offer­ing of sorts, which involved bread, etc. The Peace Offering was generally used in connec­tion with the other Offerings. In other words, when a Whole Burnt Offering or Sin Offer­ing was Sacrificed, it would be followed by a Peace Offering, signifying that God had ac­cepted the Offering, and there was now Peace with God.
UNDER THE LAW

The phrase, “Which are offered by the Law,” refers to the fact that all of these Of­ferings were included in the Mosaic Law. The description of the Sacrifices is offered in the first few chapters of Leviticus.
It should be noted that it took five differ­ent types of Sacrifices to portray the One Sac­rifice of Christ. To turn it around and say it in another way, the One Sacrifice of Christ of Himself, fulfilled all five of the Levitical Offerings. The following gives a brief descrip­tion of what these Sacrifices typified.
NOTES

THE WHOLE BURNT OFFERING

The first Sacrifice offered, at least of which we have a record, was that offered by Abel (Gen. Chpt. 4). He offered a Whole Burnt Offering, the same as Noah, and Abraham. In other words, it was only Whole Burnt Offerings that were sacrificed up until the Law of Moses.
This was the offering of a Lamb in its en­tirety, with the exception of the skin that was stripped from its body. It symbolized two things:
First of all, it symbolized that man was a sinner, and that he needed a Substitute, and the Lamb pointed toward the One Who was to come.
Second, by the signification of it being a “Whole Burnt Offering,” the statement was made, that God was giving His all in refer­ence to the Redemption of mankind, which this Sacrifice represented, and that God ex­pected man in turn, to give God His all!
When the modern Christian feels a need of consecration to God, and he does so through prayer and the seeking of the Face of the Lord, He is in essence, offering up a “Whole Burnt Offering” before the Lord. He is say­ing, “Lord You have given me Your all, and now I give You my all!”
THE SIN OFFERING

Until the Law of Moses was given, the en­tire Atonement process was signified by the Whole Burnt Offering. It was only when sin was defined, which the Law did, that other offerings were required, and which were in­stituted in the Mosaic Law.
The Sin Offering means exactly what it says, that man has sinned against God, and was to offer up a sacrifice, which could be a Lamb, a goat, or even a Bullock. However, the far greater majority of the time, it was a lamb that was offered.
Most of the time a Peace Offering was of­fered immediately following the offering of a Whole Burnt Offering, or a Sin Offering, or a Trespass Offering. This signified that God had accepted the sacrifice, and now Peace was restored.
Whenever the modern Christian sins against the Lord, which is something that should never happen, but which regrettably and sadly, does, and they then confess the sin to the Lord, asking His forgiveness and cleansing, they are in essence doing the same thing as the Believing Israelite of old, when he offered a Sin-Offering.
THE TRESPASS OFFERING
This Offering was required, when one Is­raelite sinned against another Israelite. He had trespassed against his Brother or Sister in the Lord, which at the same time means that he had trespassed against God, there­fore, requiring a Sacrifice.
If a modern Christian sins against a fel­low Christian, he has to seek forgiveness from that person, as well as the Lord, which is the same as that which the Israelite did of old as it regarded his Trespass Offering.
THE PEACE OFFERING
As we’ve stated, this Offering was generally offered after one of the other Offerings. It sig­nified that Peace with God had been restored.
It was the only one of the animal sacri­fices, of which the Offerer could partake. In other words, when the Lamb was offered, a part would be given to the Priests, and a part could be taken by the Offerer, with him gath­ering his family and friends about him, hav­ing a feast, in effect celebrating relationship with God which had been restored. Of course, the Peace Offering would always fol­low one of the other Sacrificial Offerings.
This is the same thing with the modern Christian, whenever repentance has been en­joined, and peace with God has been restored.
All of these were blood sacrifices, in effect, which refers to the shedding of blood upon the killing of the animal. It all typified the great, One Sacrifice of Christ, when He would offer Himself on the Cross, which He did, making these things any more unnecessary. Thank God that we presently, do not have to offer up a Sacrifice to God in this respect, knowing that the One Sacrifice of Christ has made all of that unnecessary. Our trust in that One Sacrifice is all that is necessary for the Believer, and in whatever circumstance.
THE MEAL OFFERING
This was the only bloodless Offering of the five sacrifices. It was somewhat a Thanks­giving Offering to the Lord, for all His many

NOTES

blessings. It as well could be offered in con­junction with the other sacrifices which it oftentimes was.
It is the same presently as Christians of­fering thanksgiving to the Lord for His Mercy and Grace.
As stated, all of these Sacrifices are out­lined with descriptions given, in the first seven Chapters of Leviticus.
(For greater detail concerning the Sacri­fices, please see our Commentary on Gen­esis — Volume 1.)
(9) “THEN SAID HE, LO, I COME TO DO THY WILL, O GOD. HE TAKETH AWAY THE FIRST, THAT HE MAY ESTABLISH THE SECOND.”
The structure is:

1.
Once again, the Will of God is pro­claimed as the total requirement, which in effect is the Sacrifice of Christ.

2.
His Sacrifice of Himself on the Cross, took away the First Covenant, simply because it satisfied all its demands.

3.
As well, the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross established the Second Covenant, which in effect, is the Second Covenant.


TO DO THY WILL, O GOD

The phrase, “Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy Will, O God,” proclaims this state­ment a second time. Whenever the Holy Spirit says something twice, it is of extreme importance.
The doing of the Will of God as it regards Christ, pertains totally and completely to His Sacrifice of Himself on the Cross, proclaim­ing the fact, that the Cross was the eternal destination. This means that the Cross was not an incident or an accident. It was a planned work, actually planned from before the foundation of the world (I Pet. 1:18-20).
Inasmuch as the Cross was the Plan of God, some may have the tendency then to think that Israel, that being the case, was not culpable.
While the Cross was the Plan of God and in every respect, to be sure, Israel definitely was culpable. God through His omniscience, which means that He knows everything, past, present, and future, knew that man would fall, and that he would be redeemed only by the Sacrifice of His (God’s) Only Son. This Sacrifice would be carried out on a Cross, and for reasons which we will not now get into.
However, even though this was the Plan of God, it definitely was not the Plan of God for Israel to do this terrible thing. They did this of their own volition, strictly out of their wicked hearts. In other words, God did not force the issue in that capacity whatsoever. Consequently, even though the Cross was the Will of God, Israel would still answer to God for her perfidious action, which she defi­nitely did!
Some may ask the question as to how Christ would have been crucified, had Israel in fact accepted Him, thereby not doing this terrible thing?
Knowing the depraved hearts of men, the Crucifixion was a given. Rome would have been next in line had Israel not done this ter­rible thing. In Truth, all of humanity cruci­fied Christ. It was my sins and your sins, which nailed Him to the Tree.
CHRIST FULFILLED THE
FIRST COVENANT


The phrase, “He taketh away the first,” refers to the fact that the Sacrifice of Him­self, made the First Covenant unnecessary. He fulfilled all the requirements of the Law, both in keeping it perfectly, and then satisfy­ing its penalty on the Cross. The statement, “He taketh away the first,” means that the Offerings of the Old Covenant were tempo­rary and ineffective. The idea is, He took away the Sacrifices of slain animals that He may establish the doing of God’s Perfect Will. That such sacrifices as were formally offered are no longer according to God’s pleasure follows as an inference from this.
The words “take away” are very strong in the Greek, pointing to the total abolition of the former way. Therefore, it is an insult to God for anything of the First Covenant to be carried over into the present, as should be overly obvious. In fact, that’s what the argu­ment of the entirety of this Epistle to the Hebrews is all about.
THE CROSS ESTABLISHED
THE SECOND COVENANT


The phrase, “That He may establish the Second,” has to do with the New Covenant.
NOTES

This tells us that Christ’s One Offering is eter­nal and satisfactory. So the First is taken away in order to the establishment of the Second. Through the One Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all, the worship­per is sanctified forever and perfected forever.
By the taking away of the First Covenant, the Second is “established,” “made firm.” Nei­ther “the First” nor “the Second” are defined, but clearly the way of the Levitical Sacrifices and the Way of the Sacrifice of Christ are be­ing set over against each other. This means, they are not complementary systems that may exist side by side. The one excludes the other. In other words, no compromise is possible between them. Again, this is the whole ar­gument of Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews.
This phrase, “That He may establish the Second,” is the very reason we state that the meaning of the Cross is actually the mean­ing of the New Covenant. In fact, the words “New Covenant” and “Cross,” are synony­mous. When one says one, in effect, one says the other. The idea is this:
If one doesn’t understand the Cross, one doesn’t understand the New Covenant. And if one properly understands the New Cov­enant, one properly understands the Cross.
(10) “BY THE WHICH WILL WE ARE SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL.”
The composition is:

1.
The word “will” refers here to the Will of God which Christ came to do.

2.
The Will of God which the First Testa­ment Sacrifices could not accomplish was the Sanctification of men. Sanctification is ac­complished only through the Sacrifice of Christ, and Faith in that Finished Work.

3.
“Once for all” means that the Sacrifice of Christ totally suffices, and there will never be any other need for any other sacrifice.


ONCE AGAIN, THE WILL OF GOD

The phrase, “By the which will,” refers to a specific “will,” in this case the Sacrifice of Christ, which took away the First Covenant, which means it satisfied its demands, and established the Second or New Covenant.
In order to perform the Will of God per­fectly, Jesus must Himself of necessity be God; for to do all that which such a “will” says must be done, demands perfection of knowl­edge. All God’s Will cannot be accomplished twice. Were it possible to do so it would be a proof of the inadequacy of the first effort; and so of both.
In Psalms 40:6, the actual rendering is, “Mine ears hast Thou opened,” with Paul translating it “But a body hast Thou prepared Me” (Heb. 10:5).
However, the Holy Spirit moved Paul to translate it in this way, meaning that it is totally and completely translated with every accuracy.
Christ was the One and perfectly obedient Servant — only listening to One Voice, and only speaking the words that He was given to speak (Jn. 8:17). He was so to say, simply an ear. This figure of speech vividly pictures Him as the Perfect Servant Whose ear was opened morning by morning (Isa. Chpt. 1).
The bondservant in Exodus Chapter 21 engaged to serve perpetually his master, his wife, and his children; and his pierced ear witnessed to his affection. Psalms 40 and Hebrews 10:5 may, perhaps, point to this, for Christ in love to God, to Israel, and to her children, took the form of a servant and suf­fered the painful death of the Tree (Williams).
SANCTIFICATION
The phrase, “We are sanctified,” pro­claims one being set apart unto God, which can only be done, and can only come about, through what Jesus did at the Cross, and our Faith in the Cross. This one Verse of Scrip­ture proclaims in glaring, concise outline, exactly what I have been teaching through­out the entirety of this Volume. Because it’s so important, and to hopefully make it even more clear, let me say it again:
Paul is speaking to Believers, and by that of course, we mean those who have already accepted Christ as their Savior; however, af­ter Salvation, the Holy Spirit sets out to sanc­tify us, which means to root all sin out of our lives, to develop the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives, and to make us Christlike. As well, this pertains to everything else that we re­ceive from the Lord, be it Divine Healing, financial prosperity, and Blessings of every sort. It is taken for granted, that the Believer

NOTES

here has as well, been baptized with the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking with other tongues (Acts 2:4).
However, many Charismatics and Pente­costals have the mistaken idea, that once one is baptized with the Holy Spirit, then every­thing is automatic from there on out as it regards the Sanctification process. Not so! While the potential is there as it regards the Holy Spirit, He demands that we at all times, exhibit Faith in the Cross of Christ, under­standing that the Crucifixion of Christ, and our being baptized into His Death, is that which makes all of this possible. Now let’s see how it is done.
THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST

The phrase, “Through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all,” proclaims the means by which the Sanctification pro­cess is brought about, and the only means I might quickly add. Now the Christian can believe this which Paul has said in this Tenth Verse and experience all that Christ has done for him as it regards the Sanctification pro­cess, or else he can put his faith in something else, and suffer defeat. It’s just that simple!
We are here plainly told that “we are sanc­tified through the offerings of the Body of Jesus Christ,” and how much clearer could it be! We must remember that it is the Holy Spirit Who inspired Paul to write these words.
It is unfortunate, that the word “Sanctifi­cation” in the modern Church is almost never used anymore. It is not because the word is out of date, but because the Church has moved so far away from Sanctification.
Why?

Perhaps there are many reasons, but the major reason is because we have attempted to engage the process in all the wrong ways. Some Denominations have taught “Sancti­fication” as a definite Work of Grace. Others have taught that Sanctification is arrived at by proper confession, or by some type of su­per faith, etc. None of that works!
In fact, no Christian can be Sanctified ex­cept in one way, and that is by exhibiting Faith totally and completely in the Cross of Christ, which then allows the Holy Spirit to perform the task, Who Alone can do this thing at any rate. There is no way that the Believer can sanctify himself. It doesn’t really matter what you do, what effort you make, what things in which you engage, the only manner in which the Sanctification process can be enjoined is by the following way, in which I’ve already out­lined quite a number of times in this Volume:
1.
We must understand, exactly as Paul here says, that everything comes through the Sacrifice of Christ.

2.
You must exhibit faith in this at all times, and for the simple reason, that God works exclusively on the basis of Faith. In other words, and to make it even more clear, the Cross of Christ must ever be the object of your Faith.

3.
When this is done, the Holy Spirit will then work mightily on your behalf, bringing about this process, which only He can do (Rom. 8:2, 11).


If I could get the entirety of the Church to see this simple truth, which is so clearly brought out in the Word of God, untold mis­ery and heartache could be avoided. The Reader should understand, that the Holy Spirit will not deviate from the Sacrifice of Christ. It doesn’t matter how sincere you might be as a Christian, or how dedicated you are, or even how much God is using you in other ways, if you do not understand God’s prescribed order of victory, which is simply and plainly here given, irrespective as to whom you might be, you will live a life of spiritual failure in some way. And to be sure, we’re speaking of difficulties and problems which know no bounds. Satan fights the Cross as he fights nothing else, because He knows this great Truth as well. But if he can keep you in the dark regarding this which Jesus has done for us, and cause our atten­tion to be diverted elsewhere, which pertains to his effort to get us to place our faith else­where, he will have then won the battle.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW
ABOUT THE CROSS?


Someone sent us an e-mail the other day stating, “Why are you talking so much about the Cross? I’m a Christian, and all Chris­tians know all about the Cross,” or words to that effect.
Unfortunately, that is the thinking of most; however, the truth is, most Christians
NOTES

don’t know anything about the Cross. They know that Jesus died for them, but that’s about the extent of their knowledge. Most have absolutely no knowledge as to the part the Cross plays in their everyday, ongoing Christian experience. They read Romans Chapter 6, that is if they read it at all, not really understanding what it actually says. As a consequence, they are being dominated by sin in some manner (Rom. 6:14).
What we are addressing here is the single most important thing in the life of the Be­liever. We’re talking about one’s spiritual welfare, one’s happiness, one’s joy in the Lord, actually everything that truly makes Christianity what Christianity ought to be. So, it’s not something that one can pick or choose at one’s will. You either know and understand this and walk in victory, or else you don’t know this, and live in defeat.
And the words “once for all,” tell us that this is God’s Way, and that it’s a Way that will never change.
(11) “AND EVERY PRIEST STANDETH DAILY MINISTERING AND OFFERING OFTENTIMES THE SAME SACRIFICES, WHICH CAN NEVER TAKE AWAY SINS:”
The composite is:

1.
This Verse proclaims the fact that the Temple was yet standing in Jerusalem, which means that this Epistle to the Hebrews was written shortly before A.D. 70, the year that Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.

2.
The standing position of the Priests is set in vivid contrast to the seated posture of the Messiah, as given in Verse 12.

3.
This was apostasy on the part of the leaders of Israel. In defiance of the clear Will of God, in that Jesus had already paid the price, they kept on offering sacrifices.

4.
They did all of this despite the fact, that their sacrifices had never been able to take away sins, and couldn’t do so at present.


THE STANDING PRIESTS

The phrase, “And every Priest standeth,” refers not only to those at the present, but goes all the way back to the beginning of the Mosaic Law, a time-period of some 1,600 years. The reason for their standing posture is because their work was never finished. They had to keep offering more and more sacrifices, and because the blood of bulls and goats, even as Paul has said, could not take away sins.

As previously stated, this was God’s way for the period of the Law, which was meant to point at all times to Christ Who was to come, but after Christ had come, the con­tinuing of this system was an abomination in the Eyes of God. In fact, it was a slap to the Face of God, which brought total destruc­tion upon Jerusalem and the Temple, which took place in A.D. 70.
THE SAME SACRIFICES
The phrase, “Daily ministering and offer­ing oftentimes the same Sacrifices,” referred to a work that was never completed, simply because the Sacrifices themselves, were in­sufficient to take away sins.
We must remember that Paul is writing this to Christian Jews with some seriously considering abandoning Christ and going back into Judaism. Of course, being Jews they had been born and raised in Judaism, but at a point in time, had accepted Christ as their Savior. When they did this, they experienced a peace within their hearts, that all the Lev­itical sacrifices could never offer, and for all the obvious reasons; however, many of these Christian Jews continued on in Temple wor­ship, that is if they lived in Jerusalem, and if elsewhere, following the Law as closely as they could. This more than anything else, the serving of two masters, is what had brought them to this place.
To fully serve Christ, one must totally and completely follow Christ. Everything else must be abandoned.
CHARISMATICS
On January 1, 1969, we went on the air with our Radio Program, “The Campmeeting Hour.” It was a 15-minute daily, Monday through Friday. Despite so many things we lacked, the Lord began to bless, until we were ultimately on some 600 Stations daily.
About a year after the initiation of the pro­gram, the Lord began to deal heavily with my heart about teaching on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, which we did! I suppose I must have taught for a year or so primarily on this one subject.

NOTES

The Lord used the teaching to touch the hearts and lives of untold thousands of people. In fact, I think we probably had the largest audience in the world at that particular time for a daily Radio Program, at least in the field of Gospel.
During the 1970’s, tens of thousands of Baptists, Methodists, in fact, all types of De­nominational people were baptized with the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. This was the result of a hunger for the Spirit, and one of the reasons, the Lord instructed us to teach on this very important subject.
Of course, we were only a small part of this Move of God which was taking place around the world, but the Lord did use our efforts. The point I make is this:
Many of these people after being baptized with the Holy Spirit, attempted to maintain their ties with the old-line Churches with which they had been so long associated. It is a posture which will not work.
THE WAY OF THE SPIRIT

The Way of the Holy Spirit is a total way. And to be sure, the Spirit-baptized Way car­ries no similarities to the old-line Denomi­nations. As someone has well said, “Salva­tion separates the sinner from the world, while the Baptism with the Holy Spirit separates Christians from dead, cold, formal churches.”
Those who fit this mold were referred to as “Charismatics.” While the term actually means something else, it actually came to mean, as here used, old-line Church mem­bers who had been baptized with the Holy Spirit, and who elected to remain in their old-line Churches.
Failure to go all the way with the Spirit, which means they were trying to hold onto many unscriptural positions, has produced much error in the last several decades. It is the same problem although in a different way, which these Christian Jews faced. They didn’t quite go all the way, trying to hold onto Judaism while at the same time following Christ. Their modern counterparts did the same, at least for the most part, attempting to hold onto the old Denominational line, while at the same time attempting to follow the Spirit. In fact, millions do the same thing as it regards the world. They try to hold onto the world while at the same time attempting to follow Christ.
Serving Christ, means cutting loose from everything else, making Christ foremost in one’s life. All religion, all error, everything in fact which is not of the Spirit, must be totally and completely abandoned. Christ must be all in all! This, many of the Chris­tian Jews failed to do, and now were being pulled away from Christ altogether.
THE REMOVAL OF SINS

The phrase, “Which can never take away sins,” proclaims to us several things:
1. God cannot tolerate sin in any fashion. It must be taken away. In fact, all sin must be completely gotten out of the universe and in totality, which shall happen at the end of the coming Millennium. Concerning that, Paul said, “Then cometh the end, when He (Jesus) shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when He (Christ) shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
“For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Then, “God shall be all in all” (I Cor. 15:24-26, 28).
2.
The animal sacrifices were a stopgap measure at best, employed temporarily un­til the Messiah would come. They couldn’t take away sins.

3.
Only the Blood of Jesus, God’s Only Son, shed at Calvary’s Cross, could affect this work, which it did!

4.
This is the reason that the Cross is of such magnitude.

5.
When any individual places their com­plete trust in Christ and what He did at the Cross on their behalf, without fail, they ex­perience the glorious wonder of every sin being washed clean. It’s called “Justification by Faith” (Rom. 3:24, 28; 5:1).

6.
Then the peace of God comes into the heart, which is the most glorious and won­derful experience that one could ever have, and an experience which will last forever, as our trust in Christ continues (Gal. 1:3; 5:22).


(12) “BUT THIS MAN, AFTER HE HAD OFFERED ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS
NOTES

FOREVER, SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD;”
The composition is:

1.
“This man,” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Greek Text should have been translated “This Priest.”

2.
His Offering of Himself on the Cross was an act that has never-ending results and that needs no repetition.

3.
Christ is sat down at the Right Hand of God, implying that His Work is a Finished Work, and will never need any repetition, or anything added.


THIS PRIEST

The phrase, “But this man,” as stated, should have been translated “this Priest,” and because it is related to the word “Priest” of Verse 11. At any rate, the emphasis is on Christ and Christ Alone!
Let the Reader understand, that all Salva­tion is in Christ; all Victory is in Christ; all overcoming strength is in Christ; all Bless­ings are in Christ. In other words, everything that comes from God to undeserving human­ity comes exclusively through Jesus Christ, and more particularly, through what He did at the Cross on our behalf, as Paul reiterates in these Passages over and over again.
What I’ve just said is a very simple state­ment; however, it is from this simplicity that Satan seeks to deter us. One of his biggest weapons is to get us to look at our own faith. It’s “my faith this!” and “my faith that!” While Faith is definitely the basis on which God works, more particularly, it is the ob­ject of Faith that makes the difference. And by the object of Faith, we are speaking of the Cross of Christ.
As we’ve said repeatedly, even as Paul here outlines graphically, when we think of Christ, it must always be in connection with His great Sacrifice. That and that alone is the secret of all blessings.
ONE SACRIFICE

The phrase, “After He had offered one sac­rifice for sins forever,” speaks of His purpose, which was the Cross.
Does the Reader notice in all of this, that Paul doesn’t really mention the Resurrection of Christ? While of course, the Resurrection is of supreme significance, still, it was not by the Resurrection that Christ affected man’s Redemption, but by the Cross. It was His Sacrifice that made Salvation possible, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit possible, on­going victory possible, in fact everything!
Does the modern Church believe that?
Greek Scholar Kenneth Wuest says, “His Offering of Himself on the Cross was an act that has never-ending results and that needs no repetition. This is in contrast to the oft-repeated offerings of the Levitical Priests. It is also true that our Lord seated Himself for­ever at the Right Hand of God. This is in contrast to the perpetual standing posture of the First Testament Priests.”
The key to all of this is that this “one sacri­fice for sins forever,” has never-ending results.
When anyone denies that all things come through the Cross, they are in essence claim­ing that God deals with the human race in some other way, other than by the Sacrifice of Christ. Of course, they don’t get that from the Bible, because the Word of God which is glaringly obvious, proclaims the Sacrifice of Christ as the great intersection of God and humanity, and that alone! To project some­thing else, even as many are now doing, is to make up out of whole cloth, one’s own brand of Salvation or victory. And the fearful thing about this is, that this blasphemy, and blas­phemy it is, is not coming from the modern­ists so much, as it’s coming from the so-called “Word of Faith” people. And the tragedy of all tragedies is, hundreds of thousands of people who claim to be saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit are believing this lie of all lies.
Let the Reader understand, that we’re not speaking here of side issues, but rather the paramount issue of all things, the salvation of the soul, i.e., “man’s standing with God.”
One of their bright lights in describing the Cross refers to it as “past miseries.” He then recommends that the Cross be forsaken, in­asmuch as it was “the greatest defeat in hu­man history.”
Pure and simple, these people do not be­lieve in the Sacrifice of Christ as the key to all Salvation.
There are tens of thousands of these Churches all over the world. And the tragedy

NOTES

is, most Pentecostals upon hearing this gross error, and gross error it is, even if they don’t accept it totally, do not in any way denounce it. In fact, and I don’t think I’m exaggerat­ing when I say this, I personally feel that most so-called Pentecostals actually accept this blasphemy.
For the Cross of Christ to be denounced over world wide television, and to be de­nounced repeatedly, and no one say anything, or else very little, but rather pour millions of dollars into the coffers of these blasphem­ers, and blasphemers they are, lets us know the sick condition of the modern Church.
If the Cross is ignored, which is the foun­dation of all Biblical Doctrine, which the modern Church is now doing, then the Church drifts like a ship without a rudder, not knowing where it’s been, where it is, or where it’s going.
Jesus asked the question, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the Earth?” (Lk. 18:8).
He is speaking here of true Faith, which refers to Faith in His great Sacrifice of Him­self. In fact, there has been more teaching on faith in the last 50 years than all the bal­ance of Christianity put together; however, it has not been Faith in the Cross, but rather faith in other things, which means it’s not of God. One of Satan’s greatest ploys is to present a doctrine that is very, very similar to the real thing, so similar in fact, that many cannot tell the difference. The so-called modern faith message fits that description. Because it claims to be faith in the Word of God, it fools most people. The Truth is, it is not Faith in the Word, but rather in a perverted word, which refers to the Scriptures being pulled out of context. Satan tried the same thing with Christ in the wilderness tempta­tion (Mat. 4:1-10). If it’s not faith anchored squarely in the Cross of Christ, even as Paul is proclaiming from every angle, in this Epistle to the Hebrews, then it’s not really Faith that God will recognize.
A FINISHED WORK

The phrase, “Sat down on the right hand of God,” refers to the great contrast between the Priests under the Levitical system who never sat down, and because their work was never completed. Christ sitting down at the “Right Hand of God,” refers to the fact, that His Work is a “Finished Work.” And what does that mean?
It refers to the fact that everything which God demanded of the human race, Jesus met at the Cross. Nothing was left undone. The Cross also addresses every single thing that man lost in the Fall. While it is true that we do not yet have all the benefits of the Cross, some of those benefits awaiting the coming Resurrection, still, everything was there addressed.
It means as well, that no more Sacrifice or any other type of similar work will ever have to be enjoined, the Sacrifice of the Cross being sufficient for time and eternity. In fact, one Greek word “lutroo” which describes Redemption, carries the idea that such a price was paid at the Cross, that no creature in eternity future, be it man, demon, or An­gel, will ever be able to say that the price was insufficient.
That great Sacrifice being a “Finished Work” refers to the fact, that everything from God to man, and in totality, was made pos­sible by what Christ did at Calvary. This is the Source of all things, and of course, I speak of all things which come from God to man. That’s the reason our Faith must ever be anchored in the Cross of Christ. The Holy Spirit demands it, that is, if He is to work within our hearts and lives (Rom. 8:1-2, 11).
(13) “FROM HENCEFORTH EXPECT­ING TILL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE HIS FOOTSTOOL.”
The exegesis is:
1.
“From henceforth” refers to Christ sit­ting on the Right Hand of God, until all en­emies are subdued.

2.
That which He did at the Cross, will ultimately dispel every single enemy.

3.
“Enemies” constitute all Satanic pow­ers, and as well, all men who look to other than the Cross.


FROM HENCEFORTH

The short phrase, “From henceforth,” re­fers to the idea, that this which the Cross will ultimately affect, is a settled conclusion. There is no doubt about the outcome! As stated, it is a Finished Work, which will do exactly what
NOTES

it says, “finish the work.” So that the Reader will not misunderstand, please allow me to say it in another way:
The Work of Christ at the Cross is finished; however, all the things this Finished Work is to accomplish, have not yet been done, but most definitely shall!
EXPECTING

“Expecting” in the Greek is “ekdechomai,” and means “to await,” “wait for.” The idea is, that which Christ did at the Cross, with its continued results, will ultimately bring all things to a successful conclusion. It is not a case of “hope so,” or “maybe so,” but rather, that which is certain, but has not yet come to pass.
ENEMIES DEFEATED

The phrase, “Till His enemies be made His footstool,” is actually derived from Psalms
110:1. So it was prophesied by David, that what he had prophesied in Psalms 40:6-8, which was the Sacrifice of Christ, would fall out to the total defeat of all enemies. What does he mean by “enemies”?
The enemies of the Redeemer are Satan, the wicked of the Earth, and all the evil pas­sions of the heart. The idea is, that all things are yet to be made subject to His Will — ei­ther by a cheerful and cordial submission to His authority, or by being crushed beneath His power. The Redeemer, having performed His great work of Redemption by giving Him­self as a Sacrifice on the Cross, is represented now as calmly waiting until this glorious tri­umph is achieved, and this Promise is fulfilled.
By this, we are not to suppose that He is inactive, or that He takes no share in the agency by which this is to be done, but the meaning is, that He looks to the certain ful­fillment of the promise.
The word “footstool,” has to do with one putting his foot on the neck of his enemy, signifying that the enemy is totally defeated. The same idea is expressed in I Cor. 15:25 by saying that all His enemies shall be put un­der His feet. To be sure, this is certain of fulfillment.
(14) “FOR BY ONE OFFERING HE HATH PERFECTED FOR EVER THEM THAT ARE SANCTIFIED.”
The composite is:
1.
The “One Offering” is the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

2.
The word “perfected” means to bring to a state of completion.

3.
The Cross makes possible our Sancti­fication, and one might quickly say, the Cross alone!


ONE OFFERING
The phrase, “For by One Offering,” refers to the Sacrifice of Christ, which addressed every single problem that man has, in other words, all that man suffered in the Fall.
Paul possibly uses the word “one,” by con­trast to the five Levitical Offerings which were required under the old Mosaic Law. In other words, the One Offering of Christ ad­dressed itself to that which took five Offer­ings under the Levitical system. However, even that description begs the question. The facts are, the five Offerings of the Levitical system could not take away even one sin, whereas the One Offering of Christ atoned for all sin, past, present, and future. The dif­ference is in the worth of the Offerer. As should be obvious, Christ, the Son of God, is of infinite worth, while the animal sacrifices provide no comparison.
As well, the Levitical Sacrifices had to be offered again and again, actually multiple millions down through the centuries, while the One Sacrifice of Christ sufficed for all time.
PERFECTION
The phrase, “He hath perfected forever,” means that everything essential to the Sal­vation of the individual is included in the gift of Salvation, which the sinner receives by Faith in Messiah’s Sacrifice.
The idea of this is, whereas the offerings made under the Jewish Law were so defec­tive that there was a necessity for repeating them every day, the Offering made by Christ was and is so perfect that it needs not to be repeated, and as well, that it secures the com­plete and final Salvation of all those who avail themselves of it.
SANCTIFICATION
The phrase, “Them that are sanctified,” once again brings this word into view.

NOTES

Those whom Christ calls He sanctifies, that is, He sets apart for Himself. This is an operation of God’s Will and not of man’s. This Sanctification is affected by the one great Offering. Such was its cost. As an example, God took the unclean Hebrews from among the nations and set them apart for Himself. The blood of the Paschal Lamb affected this consecration; consequently, Faith can joy­fully exclaim: “Christ our Passover is sacri­ficed for us, therefore let us keep the Feast” (I Cor. 5:7-8).
This Offering of Christ is “once for all.” It admits of no repetition. The Sanctifica­tion it secures is eternal. It consecrates to God forever because of its eternal and un­changing value.
He Who made this Perfect Offering is seated in the Heavens; and He is Himself there the Righteousness of God. There is a Righteous­ness suited to the Throne of God. It never can vary or fail. In that Righteousness, the worshipper stands.
THE CROSS AND OUR SANCTIFICATION
Does not the Reader here see, which we have already stated, the connection between the Cross and our Sanctification? Actually, it is impossible for the Sanctification process to be carried out in our lives, which refers to our being completely set apart to God, with­out the Believer understanding that all of this comes through the Cross, and by no other means. This is absolutely essential!
Unfortunately, most of the modern Church has absolutely no idea of the part that the Cross plays in our everyday living for God, our overcoming victory, in other words, our Sanctification.
Before we can be what we ought to be in Christ, we have to understand that there has been a death in our lives. What do we mean by that?
This death occurred when we first ac­cepted Christ. We were baptized into His Death, meaning that His Death literally be­came our Death, inasmuch, as He died as our Substitute and in fact, as our Representative Man (Rom. 6:3). This is all done by faith on our part.
In other words, whenever we exhibited Faith in Christ and what He did for us at the Cross, and I am speaking of our initial Salva­tion experience, at that moment, at least in the Mind of God, we literally died with Christ.
What died, was so worthless, was so val­ueless, in other words so wicked and pol­luted, that it was buried with Christ as well (Rom. 6:4).
We were then raised with Christ “in new­ness of life” (Rom. 6:4).
All of this is what Jesus referred to as being “born again” (Jn. 3:3). But yet, a tremendous legal work took place with God, upon our Faith being exhibited in Christ when we were saved. Now that we are saved, we are “a new crea­ture: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17).
Now redeemed, it is crucial that we un­derstand, that we continue to have Faith in the Cross of Christ, realizing that this not only afforded us Salvation, but as well, it also af­fords our Sanctification experience, even as Paul says here in Hebrews 10:10, 14. And of course, this is also what Paul is talking about in the entirety of his Epistle to the Galatians.
The idea is, if we cease to look to the Cross, which alone provides us the liberty to live for God as we should, then “Christ is become of no effect unto you,” meaning, that all He did at the Cross is wasted, simply because we’re trusting something else (Gal. 5:4). In fact, if we look to anything else other than the Cross of Christ, we then “fall from Grace,” which presents itself as a catastrophe of un­precedented proportions (Gal. 5:4).
Every Believer has to have the Grace of God in order to live for God. This is not an option, but a “must.” The way Grace is obtained, is for us to just simply have Faith in the Cross of Christ and maintain our Faith in that Finished Work, for the simple reason, that it is the Cross which makes the Grace of God possible (Eph. 2:13-20). In fact, if we attempt to look to other things than the Cross, we frustrate the Grace of God, which places us in a perilous situa­tion (Gal. 2:20-21). It is somewhat like a diver underwater, who has his air hose cut. As should be obvious, he quickly finds himself in perilous circumstances. And so it is with the Child of God, who no longer has a plenti­ful supply of the Grace of God coming to him.
All of this is predicated on our Faith in the Cross, thereby, what Christ did for us.
NOTES

This is the only way the Sanctification pro­cess can work, referring to the fact, of mak­ing us what we ought to be in Christ.
THE HOLY SPIRIT

The great Sanctification process, and in fact everything we receive from the Lord, is all done by what Christ did at the Cross, but “through the Spirit” (Rom. 8:2; Gal. 5:5).
The facts are, even though we are now saved and even Baptized with the Holy Spirit, if in fact that is the case, still, we cannot within our own strength and power, bring about anything in our lives that pertains to God. It is only the Holy Spirit Who Alone can do all of these things which must be done. If we try to do it, it becomes a “work of the flesh,” which God can never recognize, and which will always fall out to our ruin and hurt.
Sadly and regrettably, this is where most of the Church operates. It operates in the flesh, which means according to rules and regulations made up by men, which means it’s not of the Spirit, which means it’s going to fall out to harm to everyone who comes under such teaching. The Church cannot sanctify you and neither can any Preacher. Every Preacher in the world can lay hands on you until there is no more hair on your head, and even though the laying on of hands is Scriptural, such being done in this man­ner will not bring you what you need. But unfortunately, most Pentecostals and Charismatics think that Preachers can solve their problems by laying hands on them, etc.
Of course, they pick and choose certain Preachers, thinking that God is using “this particular one,” and, therefore, I will get what I need. Even though God definitely does use Preachers, still, there will be no victory achieved by this process. Unfortunately, af­ter people come to Christ, too often, the Church points these converts to itself, instead of to the Cross. That is the sure road to spiri­tual catastrophe.
If the Church is not pointing you to the Cross, then it’s pointing you in the wrong di­rection, and the end results will not be pretty.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t function accord­ing to the edicts of the Church, or by the com­mands of Preachers; He functions totally and completely upon the premise of the Finished Work of Christ, and our Faith in that Finished Work (Rom. 8:2). As I’ve said repeatedly in this Volume, the Divine Spirit doesn’t expect much of us, but He definitely does expect one thing, and in fact, even demands that one thing, and that is that we exhibit Faith in the Cross of Christ at all times. He demands this, because as stated, He works exclusively within the parameters of that Finished Work.
If you follow this which we have stated, and I speak of a constant Faith in the great Sacrifice of Christ, then “sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the Law, but under Grace” (Rom. 6:14). In other words, the Grace of God will continue to flow to you like an uninterrupted river. But if you step outside of these boundaries, which sadly and regrettably, most of the modern Church has done, you will find your­self “under the Law,” which means that the Grace of God stops, and you are thereby des­tined for spiritual failure. In fact, Paul said if you do this, you will “be entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1).
In the One Offering of Christ, not only was our Salvation perfected, but as well, our “Sanctification.” This must ever be under­stood. This means, that in the same manner in which we received our Salvation, in that same manner we receive Sanctification.
(15) “WHEREOF THE HOLY SPIRIT ALSO IS A WITNESS TO US: FOR AFTER THAT HE HAD SAID BEFORE,”
The structure is:
1.
The Holy Spirit witnesses to all this which is said. This means it’s the Word of God, and cannot fail.

2.
The Spirit, Paul says, “testifies.” The choice of word implies that there is excel­lent testimony behind what he has been say­ing about Christ.

3.
For a fact, the entirety of the Word of God is inspired; however, when emphasis is added, even as it is here, with the Holy Spirit actually testifying of Himself as it regards Christ, we surely should be able to see the great significance of the Cross of Christ.


THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
The phrase, “Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us,” proclaims the very high­est emphasis that can be had. The idea is,

NOTES

the Holy Spirit is inspiring Paul to place His Name in the text (the Name of the Spirit), which cannot help but give added emphasis.
The Spirit is saying, that the one Atone­ment made by the Redeemer lays the foun­dation for the eternal perfection of all who are sanctified. The witness of the Holy Spirit here referred to, is that which is furnished in the Scriptures, and not any witness in ourselves.
I will never forget the day that the Holy Spirit led me to the Word as it regarded the manner and the way in which He works. He took me to Romans 8:2. To live the life that one ought to live, the Believer must have power. To be sure, this contest between good and evil, between light and darkness, is not idle games. Satan plays for keeps, and plays unto the death, the death of himself so to speak, or our death. This means that the powers coming against us as Believers are not mere fancies of our imagination, or mere philosophic inventions. The Child of God is facing the demon powers of darkness, which are trying to drag him down in the realm of sin and spiritual failure. Within one’s own ability, which Paul constantly likens to the “flesh,” there is no way that the Christian can overcome. He must have the Power and the Help of the Holy Spirit.
However, this help, to which we have al­ready addressed, is never automatic. Even as the Text here tells us, while the Spirit of God has been sent into our hearts and lives to perform a task, He will perform this task only on one basis, and that is within the great victory of the Finished Work of Christ. In other words, these are the legal boundaries in which the Spirit works.
For the Spirit to exhibit His great power, He demands of us that we at all times, ex­hibit Faith in the Sacrifice of Christ. It is Jesus Who has paid the price for our Redemp­tion. It is Jesus Who has satisfied the sin debt by the giving of Himself on the Cross. It is Jesus Who atoned for all sin, thereby making it possible for the Spirit to abide per­manently within the hearts and lives of Be­lievers (Jn. 14:16).
Due to this which Christ has done, with­out which man could not have been saved, and without which the Believer could not walk in victory, the Spirit glorifies Christ. In fact, Jesus said of the Spirit, “He shall glorify Me (and because of what Christ did at the Cross): for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you” (Jn. 16:14). All of this works through Faith in what Christ has done for us at the Cross (Rom. 3:25; 5:1-2; 9:30; 10:6; Gal. 2:16, 20; 3:2, 5, 14, 24; Eph. 2:8-9; Heb. 12:2).
According to one’s own strength, and no matter how consecrated the Believer might be, we are no match for the Evil One; how­ever, with the Holy Spirit working mightily within us, which He definitely will do if our Faith is properly placed, anything and every­thing is easy for Him. The Holy Spirit is God!
AN ETERNAL VICTORY

The phrase, “For after that He had said before,” refers to the fact that the Holy Spirit has always witnessed to the veracity of the Finished Work of Christ. Long before the Cross, which we will see in the next Verse, the Spirit proclaimed through Jeremiah what the Sacrifice of Christ would bring about.
This means that the Way of the Cross is not a new way, but actually the only way that’s ever been formulated by God, which was ac­tually planned from before the foundation of the world (I Pet. 1:18-20).
(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;”
The composite is:
1.
The Apostle appeals here to a Passage which he had before quoted (Jer. 31:33-34).

2.
Paul places the Jewish recipients of this Letter in the position where they will either accept their Prophet and thus the New Tes­tament, or in rejecting the New Testament, they will at the same time, be rejecting their own Prophet.

3.
This is a prophecy proclaiming the New Covenant, which Christ would bring about by His Death on the Cross.

4.
This New Covenant would function on an entirely different basis than the Old.


THE NEW COVENANT

The phrase, “This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days,”
NOTES

proclaims its distinctive feature as being the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit Who would be caused to take up His permanent abode in the Believer under the New Testa­ment dispensation.
Heretofore, He had come upon or in in­dividuals in order to equip them for a cer­tain Ministry, and then would leave them when the time of that Ministry was over. He did not personally indwell them for purposes of Sanctification.
The Old Testament Saint was regenerated, thus becoming a partaker of the Divine Na­ture, and thus had that impetus to the liv­ing of a holy life. However, the New Testa­ment Saint has both the advantages of Re­generation and the personal indwelling and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, under the First Testament, God wrote His Laws on stone, whereas under the New Testament, He writes them upon the heart (Wuest).
THE MANNER OF THE NEW COVENANT
The phrase, “Saith the Lord, I will put My Laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them,” proclaims that which was promised to Israel and Judah through the New Covenant, but is now made true of all who turn to Christ. By a New Birth God puts His Laws in our hearts and writes them in our minds, and then declares without any qualification, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
The quotation from Jeremiah Chapter 31 is here repeated. It was first cited (Heb. 8:8) to set aside the Old Covenant; here it is used to prove the perfection of the New Covenant.
(17) “AND THEIR SINS AND INIQUI­

TIES WILL I REMEMBER NO MORE.” The structure is:
1.
Sins and iniquities are the reason that Jesus came to this world.

2.
By and through His Death on the Cross, He took all of those sins and iniquities away, at least from those who will believe (Jn. 3:16).

3.
The sinner is then justified, which re­fers to “Justification by Faith,” which means that the sinner exhibited Faith in Christ and what Christ did at the Cross, and was, therefore, justified. Justification means that God looks at such a person as if they


have never sinned, and will remember their sins no more.
SINS AND INIQUITIES
The phrase, “And their sins and iniquities,” pertains to that which is man’s problem, and, therefore, why Jesus came to this Earth. As well, these two words, “sins” and “iniquities,” constitute a far greater problem than most will admit. In fact, the world, while agreeing that there is a problem, claims that it’s only slight, and can be addressed by certain par­ticular measures such as education, money, etc. Unfortunately, most in the modern Church as well, do not properly understand the horror of sin.
The entirety of the principle of the Gos­pel is according to the following:
1. Sin is the problem.
2.
Jesus Christ is the answer and the only answer.

3.
He is the answer only according to what He did at the Cross on behalf of sinners.


While many other things might be preached, that which we have just said must ever be the foundation of our presentation of the Gospel to the world. If we lose sight of this, we have lost sight of what the True Gos­pel really is.
Actually, the word “Gospel” means “good news.” That good news is “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified” (I Cor. 2:2). That and that alone is the solution to dying, hurting humanity.
If Satan can get the Preacher to place the emphasis elsewhere, and he really doesn’t too much care where the elsewhere is, he has then completely destroyed the effectiveness of that Preacher. This means that if the Preacher is truly preaching the Gospel, with­out fail, He must preach the Cross. Paul said, “For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (I Cor. 1:18).
He then said, “It pleased God by the fool­ishness of preaching (the Cross) to save them that believe.” Consequently, he further said, “We preach Christ crucified” (I Cor. 1:21, 23). The tragedy is, the far greater part of the Church ignores the Cross, doesn’t preach the Cross, with some of it even repudiating the Cross! Paul plainly says in the Text as he speaks of “sins and iniquities,” that Jesus

NOTES

“offered One Sacrifice for sins” (Heb. 10:12). How much clearer can it be, that the Cross of Christ is the only answer for the sins of man?!
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

The phrase, “Will I remember no more,” proclaims in a few words, “Justification by Faith.”
The Work of Christ is the Cross; the wit­ness to all of this is the Holy Spirit (vs. 15). This means that God is the “Source” of this great Salvation, Christ the “means,” and the Holy Spirit the “evidence.”
The guilty conscience that seeks peace with God is shut up to this evidence of the Spirit. There is no other witness. The Spirit has recorded His evidence in the Scriptures, and outside of them there is no other testi­mony for faith to rest upon. So the certainty that God will never remember the sins and iniquities of the Believer in Jesus is founded on the unchanging Will of God, the perfect Work of Christ, and the sure witness of the Holy Spirit.
This is complete justification from all things. No charge can now be brought against the one for whom Christ has settled every­thing. The very words “and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more,” presents the crowning promise of the New Covenant of which Jesus is the Mediator. When these words were first quoted in 8:12 some important points in the argument were still untouched. Now the firm basis of the Promise has been shown, for the Covenant has been ratified by the Death of Christ, and the blessings He has won for men are eter­nal. All of this tells us that the sin question is settled. The once for all Offering of the Messiah shows that sin is paid for and put away. There is no greater wonder, no great blessing, no greater news than this, hence the Gospel being referred to as “good news.”
(18) “NOW WHERE REMISSION OF THESE IS, THERE IS NO MORE OFFER­ING FOR SIN.”
The structure is:

1.
Sins being completely taken away, to never be charged against the sinner again, proves the effectiveness of the Cross of Christ.

2.
Consequently, there is no need for any more sacrifice.


3. If we attempt to add anything to the Finished Work of Christ, we sin greatly!
REMISSION OF SIN

The phrase, “Now where remission of these is,” settles the argument once and for all. The blood of bulls and goats never could remit sins; however, the One Sacrifice of Christ effectively remitted all sins for all people who will believe (Jn. 3:16). This short Verse emphatically conveys the utter finality of Christ’s Offering and the sheer impossi­bility of anything further. Where sins have been effectively dealt with, there can be no further place for an offering for sin, and be­cause there is no need for a further place for an offering for sin. This is what Jesus came to do, and this is what Jesus did, and He did this by the sacrificial Offering of Himself on the Cross, which makes the Cross the cen­trality of the Gospel.
A FINISHED WORK

The phrase, “There is no more offering for sin,” proclaims a statement of obvious mag­nitude. On this one short phrase stands or falls the Gospel which we preach. What do I mean by that?
This Text plainly tells us that Jesus paid it all. His Work is a Finished Work, meaning that there is nothing else that must be done, and because there is nothing else that needs to be done. As stated, Jesus paid it all!
That being the case, where does that leave Preachers who attempt to add something to the Finished Work of Christ? By that ques­tion I mean this:
As it regards sin, much of the Church world little regards the Sacrifice of Christ, but rather portrays their own program, as it regards Jus­tification. For the sinner coming to Christ, he is advised to “join the Church,” which in effect, substitutes the Church for the Offering of Christ. Or else they claim that one is saved when he speaks in tongues or is baptized in water, etc. All of this is substituting some­thing else in place of the Sacrifice of Christ, and Faith by the sinner in that Sacrifice.
When it comes to Christians who sin, the Church has by and large as well, substituted their own program in place of the great Work of Christ.
NOTES

In such cases, and especially as it regards Preachers, they’ve placed little stock at all in true repentance, but rather add other things. And what are those other things?
To be sure, these “other things” change with the wind; however, it really doesn’t mat­ter what these “other things” actually are, if anything is substituted in the place of the Sacrifice of Christ, and one’s Faith in that Finished Work, then the Sacrifice of Christ has been ignored.
Let us emphasize again, there is no sacri­fice for sin except the Sacrifice of Christ. To attempt to force individuals to do other things which are claimed to be necessary in order to effect forgiveness and cleansing is blasphemy pure and simple. Not only do those who insist upon such, sin greatly, but as well, any person who yields to such fool­ishness, forfeits the Grace of God.
Sin is awful! It is horrible! And because it is so awful and horrible, there is only one way it can be handled, and that’s by taking it to the Cross (I Jn. 1:9; 2:1-2). Jesus Christ is the only solution, not the Church, or some silly man-devised rules — only Christ and Him Crucified.
(19) “HAVING THEREFORE, BRETH­REN, BOLDNESS TO ENTER INTO THE HOLIEST BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS,”
The exegesis is:

1.
The word “Brethren” signifies privi­leges in Christ.

2.
“Boldness” as here given, refers to full access by all Believers to the Lord.

3.
All of this has been brought about “by the Blood of Jesus,” meaning that it was at the Cross where He opened up the Way.


BRETHREN

The phrase, “Having therefore, Brethren,” refers to the Family of God, all made pos­sible by what Jesus did at the Cross. There is no greater privilege than being in this great Family. Paul also said that Jesus is the “first­born among many Brethren” (Rom. 8:29).
The word “firstborn” as it is here used, doesn’t mean that Jesus was “born again” as are all Believers, but rather, that He is the Founder of the Church and, therefore, the “Head” of the Family of God. He is the Cre­ator of this Family!
BOLDNESS
The phrase, “Boldness to enter into the Holiest,” harks back to the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. The High Priest alone could enter this sacred room where dwelt the Pres­ence of God, and then only once a year. The people, nor any of the other Priests, could enter, except only in the High Priest as their representative. The reason for these limita­tions then, was due to the fact that the sin debt was not paid, which means that sins still clung to Believers, and because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins.
The idea is, that before Christ died and entered into Heaven, there was no such ac­cess to the Throne of Grace as man needed. Man had no offering which he could bring that would make him acceptable to God. But now the way is open. Access is free for all, and all might come with the utmost freedom, at least if they come by and through the Blood of Jesus (Eph. 2:13-20).
THE BLOOD OF JESUS
The phrase, “By the Blood of Jesus,” pro­claims to us, and in no uncertain terms, how all of this has been made possible.
Through what Jesus did for us at the Cross, which refers to His poured out Blood, our Faith in that and that alone gives us im­mediate access to the Throne of God, and that goes for every single Believer.
This is the reason that I constantly pro­claim the validity of the Cross. We have ac­cess to the Throne of God, not because of our great faith in ourselves, or our good works, or our supposed spirituality, but through one means alone, and that is the Blood of Jesus. In fact, Paul also said, that if we attempt to gain access by any other man­ner, that the Spirit of God will bar the en­trance (Eph. 2:13-18).
This then entitles the “Brethren” of Christ, the new priestly house, to enter with boldness as purged worshippers into the Holiest, the immediate Presence of God, and all the infi­nite value of the Blood of Jesus through that New and Living Way which He Himself opened for us when, by His Death on the Cross, the Veil was rent in twain, and God no longer was hidden, nor man in Christ shut out.

NOTES

So intimately are the Redeemed and the Redeemer linked together, so truly are the High Priest and priestly house one before God, that we are urged to enter in spirit where He has gone, and to draw near to God with true hearts and the full assurance of that faith that is based upon the knowledge of an accomplished Redemption; our hearts hav­ing been sprinkled by the Blood of Christ from an evil conscience, and like the once-defiled Israelite, “our bodies having been washed with the water of purification.”
It is to be regretted that so few Christians seem to apprehend all this today. It is safe to say that for thousands who have hope in Christ, the Veil might just as well never have been rent. They do not have any conception of liberty for access into the Holiest, but think of themselves as a people on probation still, who, if only faithful to their profession, and faithful to some type of laws made up by them­selves or others, will eventually be fitted for admission into the Presence of God.
How much is thus lost through failure to understand the true Christian position.
God sees every Believer in Him, and the feeblest Saint has title to immediate access into the Holiest through the Atoning Blood (Ironside).
Due to what is being said here about ap­proaching God, for that’s what the Text pro­claims, let’s look at the word “approach.”
APPROACH

The word “approach” usually describes a commonplace event. A man looked up and saw camels approaching (Gen. 24:63). Jesus approached a boat pulled up on the shore (Jn. 6:19). But in some specialized uses, this word is anything but commonplace — particularly in what we are taught about approaching God.
THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Old Testament makes it plain that ap­proach to God (seeking intimate contact with Him) is a distinct privilege, a privilege not lightly granted. God called Moses from the burning bush, but when Moses came over to see the phenomenon, God stopped him and said, “Do not come any closer,” or “Do not approach” (Ex. 3:5). Moses was told instead to remove his shoes, for he stood on holy ground.
When God thundered from Sinai, the people were warned not to approach the moun­tain in an attempt to see God, lest they be struck down (Ex. 19:16-25). When the Tab­ernacle was constructed to serve as the place for Israel to corporately worship God, only the Priests were allowed to enter the Tabernacle or serve at its Altar (Num. 18:1-7), and even they had to approach with extreme care and follow exactly the ritual established by God.
Two sons of Aaron who “offered unautho­rized fire before the LORD, contrary to His command,” were destroyed in flames that “came out from the Presence of the LORD and consumed them” (Lev. 10:1-3). Even the High Priest was warned that he must rigor­ously follow the established pattern when entering the Most Holy Place, and then just once a year, or he too would be struck down by the Lord (Lev. Chpt. 16).
APPROACHING A THRICE-HOLY GOD
All of these experiences and warnings to early Israel were intended to underline the fact that approaching a Holy God is never to be lightly undertaken. Looking back, the New Testament explains that the rigid walls of ritual, like the inner curtain of the Tabernacle and Temple, were erected because the way into the Holiest — into God’s very Presence — had not yet been manifested (Heb. 9:8). Human beings could approach the Lord only with fear, bearing offerings that reminded them of their sin and that God was willing to forgive.
It is clear from the Old Testament that the ritual observances were never enough to in­sure a welcome from God. So the Prophets spoke, condemning an unwelcome genera­tion who drew near to God with words but whose hearts were far from Him (Isa. 29:13; Jer. 12:2). But even with a pure heart, ritual was required.
THE NEW TESTAMENT ON
APPROACHING GOD


It is striking to move into the New Testa­ment and read: “In Him (Jesus) and through Faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Eph. 3:12); “Let us then approach the Throne of Grace with confidence” (Heb. 4:16); and “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that
NOTES

if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us” (I Jn. 5:14).
The Old Testament’s wall of ritual is gone, even as the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in the Jerusa­lem Temple was supernaturally torn from top to bottom when Jesus died (Mat. 27:51).
That tearing signified that, on the basis of Christ’s Death, the way of approach to God is open to all. Jesus’ Death dealt finally and decisively with the sins that separated us from God. Now, as forgiven and cleansed per­sons, we can approach God freely and with­out hesitation.
This freedom that we have in Christ is emphasized in each of the three theologically significant “approach” Passages in the New Testament (Eph. Chpt. 3; Heb. Chpt. 4; I Jn. Chpt. 5). In each, our approach to God is described by the Greek word “parresia.” The word signifies outspokenness or plainness in speech, openness to others, and confidence and boldness when in the presence of those of higher rank.
We now come into the very Presence of God with joyous confidence (Heb. 10:19), sure that Jesus has opened a new and living way for us to draw near to God (Heb. 10:19-22) (Richards).
(20) “BY A NEW AND LIVING WAY, WHICH HE HATH CONSECRATED FOR US, THROUGH THE VEIL, THAT IS TO SAY, HIS FLESH;”
The exegesis is:

1.
This is a new way, made so by Christ, which means it must not incorporate any of the old ways of the Law.

2.
It is a “living way,” made so by Christ, by contrast to the old way which contained no life.

3.
Christ consecrated this way, meaning that He made it possible for us to enter.

4.
The “Veil” is that which hid the Holy of Holies, but which now spiritually speak­ing, has been taken down.

5.
“His flesh” signifies His Death on the Cross, which made all of this possible.


A NEW AND LIVING WAY

The phrase, “By a new and living way,” presents the New Covenant. The way to God now is both “new” and “living.” It is “new” because what Jesus has done has created a completely new situation, “living” because that way is indissolubly bound up with the Lord Jesus Himself. Paul does not say, as John does, that Jesus is the way (Jn. 14:6), but this is close to his meaning.
At the same time, this means that this “new and living way,” is not the way of the dead animals of the Old Covenant or the life­less floor over which the Levitical High Priest walked. It is the living Lord Himself.
By the Holy Spirit using the words “new” and “living,” He is in effect, telling the Jewish Christians, that they certainly don’t want to go back to the old way of animal sacrifices. This new way is fresh, inviting, open to all, requiring only Faith, which is the opposite of the old way.
ISRAEL
I think in all of this, the Jews, even the Chris­tian Jews, were somewhat piqued that all of this was passing them by as an indigenous people. Heretofore, they had been the only people on the face of the Earth who had access to God, as limited as it was! But now, Paul is talking about there being no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, and that the old way is out, with a New and Living Way brought in. As stated, this must have somewhat grated on them.
However, this should not have been the case at all, if in fact they did feel that way. If they had looked at the Law properly, they would have known that it was temporary, and that it was meant to be replaced by something better. They had been used mightily by God to insti­tute this. In fact, they were the recipients of all the Promises, and could take great plea­sure in the fact that they had held the breech so to speak, until the Redeemer could come. Their legacy was great, even as their history was great, that is if they looked at it properly.
But instead, many of them were jealous of the Gentiles, and put off that they had to be saved in the same manner as these people whom they had formerly referred to as “dogs.” However, all of this was a matter of their pride, and not at all because God had in fact, mistreated them in some manner. Actually, He had been more gracious to the Jews than anyone on the face of the Earth. While it is quite true that they had great problems; still,

NOTES

it was because of failure on their part, and not at all on God’s part.
CONSECRATED

The phrase, “Which He hath consecrated for us,” refers to the fact that this way was opened up by Him, and through the shed­ding of His Blood, and it is set apart for our service. It is a path consecrated by Him for the service and salvation of man; a way of ac­cess to the eternal Sanctuary for the believ­ing sinner which has been set apart by the Redeemer for this service alone.
Paul is here making it clear that he does not have reference to the earthly Holy of Ho­lies, as it refers to the Tabernacle. In the first place, it is by means of the Blood of Christ that we are to enter, not by the means of the blood of animals. The old road to the Mercy Seat of the Tabernacle in Israel was a dead road. There was no life there. It was all symbolism, an index finger pointing to the reality with which this First Century Jew was then faced. In the new road was life, all furnished by Christ.
THE VEIL

The phrase, “Through the Veil,” contains an allusion as is obvious, to the Veil which sepa­rated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. No one could enter this Sacred Place where dwelt the Presence of God between the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim, except the High Priest, and then he could only enter once a year, which was on the Great Day of Atonement. The idea of this Text is, that Jesus literally did away with that barrier, i.e., “the Veil.” In other words, it no more remains!
HIS FLESH

The phrase, “That is to say, His flesh,” re­fers to the Cross. His flesh was torn on the Cross that the way to God might be opened, which it was.
When the Messiah died on the Cross, the Veil of the Temple was rent by the unseen hand of God, showing Israel two things:
1.
The Messiah had now provided the ac­tual entrance for the believing sinner into the Presence of God.

2.
The symbolic sacrifices were to be dis­continued, for the Reality to Whom they pointed had come.


3. In all of this, let us understand that an uncrucified Savior is no Savior. Even though all the things that Christ did were of vast sig­nificance, as would be obvious; still, it was not until He died on the Cross, that this way was opened. So, if we minimize the Cross in any way, we are striking negatively at the very heart of the Atonement, which is the foun­dation of all Salvation. The Reader must un­derstand, that every single thing that pertains to Christ, His Virgin Birth, His Life and Min­istry, His Healings and Miracles, everything and without exception, pointed to the Cross. It is only the Cross which redeems lost hu­manity; only the Cross which opened up the way to the very Throne of God; only the Cross which made Salvation possible.
(21) “AND HAVING AN HIGH PRIEST
OVER THE HOUSE OF GOD;” The structure is:
1. Jesus is now our great High Priest.
2.
He is an active High Priest functioning now in the Presence of God on our behalf.

3.
His High Priesthood covers the entirety of the Church, i.e., “all born again Believers.”


HIGH PRIEST

The phrase, “And having an High Priest,” in the actual Greek says “a Priest, a great One.” Not only is He now a High Priest, but He is a great One, and His greatness is shown by the fact that He is the Priest over the ac­tual House of God, the One Who by His Death on the Cross saves all those who belong to the House of God in all dispensations.
THE HOUSE OF GOD

The phrase, “Over the House of God,” pro­claims the Truth, that despite the fact that Jesus is a lowly Servant, and functioned as such in His earthly Ministry, still, He is “over” God’s household.
Paul does not forget Jesus’ high place. He has taken a lowly place, as it refers to His flesh, and has died to make a way to God for men. But this assumption of the role of a servant should not blind us to the fact that Jesus is the “Head” of the Church. Once again we have the highest Christology combined with the recognition that Jesus rendered lowly service.
There is a strong reason for believing that the language of one of the prophecies of
NOTES

Zechariah is here before Paul’s mind. In the preceding Verses (12-14), he has used words which united the Priestly and Kingly imagery.
On the head of Joshua, “the great Priest” (Zech. 6:11), are placed crowns of silver and gold in token of royal dignity. Then follows the prediction of Him of Whom Joshua was the type. “He shall build the House of the LORD: and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His Throne; and He shall be a Priest upon His Throne” (Zech. 6:13).
A TYPE

In the Verse of our study (vs. 21), are com­bined several of the characteristic thoughts of the Passage in Zechariah — the Great Priest, the Priestly Ruler, the House of God. The last-mentioned words are repeatedly used throughout the Old Testament, both in the Pentateuch and in later Books, for the Tabernacle or Temple of God.
In Hebrews 3:6 (to which there is a mani­fest allusion) the meaning is enlarged, but only so that under “the house” is also com­promised the household of God. Here the two thoughts are combined.
Into the House of God we may enter; over it Jesus rules as “The Great Priest.” The Family of God subject to His rule includes the whole community of “the people of God” in Heaven and upon Earth (Ellicott).
(22) “LET US DRAW NEAR WITH A TRUE HEART IN FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH, HAVING OUR HEARTS SPRINKLED FROM AN EVIL CONSCIENCE, AND OUR BODIES WASHED WITH PURE WATER.”
The structure is:

1.
It is only the true of heart who can come into the Presence of God.

2.
The proper Faith in Christ and what He did at the Cross on our behalf, gives us a “full assurance.”

3.
That which the Jews of old had in type as it regards the “sprinkling” and “washing,” we now have in reality in Christ.


A TRUE HEART

The phrase, “Let us draw near with a true heart,” not only states that such has to be if one is to enter, but as well, tells us that the Cross of Christ separates the true from the false. The idea is, it is impossible to place one’s Faith in the great Sacrifice of Christ, and at the same time be hypocritical, double-deal­ing, or false in any manner. Many other as­pects of that which goes under the guise of Christendom can entertain that which is false and often does; however, the Cross separates the false from the true, and does so perfectly.
In the first place, for one to place their faith and trust in the Cross of Christ, at the same time means that they are no longer trusting in themselves or anything else for that mat­ter. Such a position also proclaims the fact that the individual knows and understands that within himself he can do nothing, and that Christ has done it all, and it is only Faith in what Christ has done that will slake the thirst of the human soul.
Also, the very principle of the Cross speaks of humility, which is the very opposite of pride. In fact, the Cross was and is the great­est example of humility than mankind has ever known and ever will know. So, in order to place one’s Faith in the Finished Work of Christ, and to do so exclusively, automati­cally humbles one, which is an absolute ne­cessity as it regards the “pure heart.”
In all of this, the Reader must understand, that the desire placed in the heart of the seek­ing soul by the Holy Spirit, does not mean the heart is pure. In fact, it is not only im­pure but very impure, as is every heart which hasn’t been cleansed by the Blood; however, the Blood, and to be sure, will grandly cleanse the heart of all that is displeasing to God.
FULL ASSURANCE
The phrase, “In full assurance of Faith,” proclaims the assurance provided by Faith, and better yet, Faith in the Finished Work of Christ.
Christ as our High Priest deals with infir­mity; as Advocate He restores communion (I Jn. Chpt. 2). Power and enjoyment rest upon this double ministry. Man condemns the full assurance of Salvation, claiming that such cannot be; however, such an assurance magnifies the offering upon which it is based, and an absence of assurance discredits the perfection of that offering. The “full assur­ance of Faith” stresses that it is only by trust in Christ, Who has performed for us the High Priestly work that gives access to God, that

NOTES

we can draw near at all. Once again, “full assurance of Faith,” means “unwavering confidence.” It is a fullness of Faith in God which leaves no room for doubt. Christians are permitted to come thus because God has revealed Himself through the Redeemer as in every way deserving our fullest confi­dence. No one approaches God in an accept­able manner who does not come to Him in this manner.
THE LAW AND FAITH

The only manner in which one can have a full assurance of Faith, is through and by the Cross of Christ. When one places one’s Faith totally and completely in the great Sacrifice of Christ, due to the fact that this is the correct object of one’s Faith, assurance is thereby guaranteed. As stated, there is no other assurance.
Conversely, when one attempts to come by the means of Law, i.e., “good works,” or by the means of anything else other than the Cross, there is no assurance of faith. In fact, Law as the object of one’s faith is the cause of so much consternation, worry, anxiety, and fear on the part of the Christian. The reason is simple, these other objects of Faith, really boil down to “self.” In other words, irrespec­tive as to what we might think, if the Cross is not the object of our faith, then in actual­ity, it is “self.”
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY LAW?

To make it very simple and easy to under­stand, we’re referring to anything other than the Cross of Christ. Most Christians have their faith in their Church. Others have their faith in particular Preachers. Others in all of their religious activity; however, it really doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s not the Cross, then in some way, it is Law. We may not understand it as such, and to be sure, it’s not the Law of Moses; nevertheless, it is Law.
And inasmuch as it is Law, whether for­mulated out of our own minds, or the minds of others, in some way it comes back to self and for this simple reason:
When we place our Faith in other than the Cross, the Holy Spirit will not help us; consequently, we are left with nothing but our own strength and capabilities, which always are woefully inadequate. As stated, that’s the reason that we have no assurance of faith.
When one places one’s Faith exclusively in the Finished Work of Christ, understand­ing that it was all done there, the Holy Spirit will then help us, which gives us an assur­ance that defies all description. And to be certain, this of which we speak is far more important than we think at first glance.
If Christianity doesn’t have an assurance of peace with God, of rightness with God, of place and position with God, all perfected by Christ, then it’s really not true Christianity. This doesn’t mean an absence of problems, but it does mean a peace and serenity in the midst of problems, whatever those problems might be.
A NEW FAITH FOUNDATION

What we’re speaking of here is not a side issue, or just another fad. What we’re talk­ing about is a total and complete new way of thinking, and actually, a new way of doing. As I’ve said many times, the Cross of Christ is not a Doctrine. It is actually the founda­tion of all Doctrine. It is the foundation on which we build everything that we believe about Christ and our relationship with Him. Again, as I’ve already said, the Cross and the Word of God are synonymous. When one is spoken of, the other is spoken of as well!
This is one of the reasons that many Chris­tians balk at the Message of the Cross. They realize, once they begin to understand some things about the Cross, that they are going to have to completely reshape their theol­ogy. The Message of the Cross incorporates every single thing in the Word of God, and as well the entirety of our relationship with the Lord. This is God’s Way! In fact, it is His only way!
Unfortunately, most Christians do not give up their Ishmael’s easily. As Abraham of old, it’s hard to give up that which is our own fair work of the flesh. And regrettably, that’s what most of modern Christianity actually is — works of the flesh. The Church has been pulled so far from the Cross, that most Chris­tians are going to completely have to rethink their whole experience, upon being brought to their rightful place in Christ. The Church is so “works” oriented, so enmeshed in law.
NOTES

And the sad thing is, most don’t even realize this of what I say.
It sounds simple enough, the placing of one’s Faith entirely in the Cross of Christ; however, once this begins, one begins to real­ize quickly, that there is no end to the height or the depth of this great Message of the Cross. In other words, what Jesus there did for us, is of such moment, such magnitude, as to defy all description. What I’m actually saying is, that it’s impossible to exhaust the great Finished Work of Christ.
And yet, when one begins to anchor one’s faith in this which Christ did nearly 2,000 years ago, and begins to reap the results which continue to come from that Finished Work, one for the first time will begin to understand the glory and the joy of true, Bible Chris­tianity. This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abun­dantly” (Jn. 10:10). This is the way of victory over all the powers of darkness, and in fact the only way! This is the road to the “rest” promised by Christ (Mat. 11:28-30).
Because of its great significance, please allow me to state this Truth again:
The Message of the Cross is a total way of life. It is the true, Christian way. This is the faith which provides the assurance of which Paul here speaks. In fact, it is the only Faith which God will recognize — I speak of Faith in the Cross and in the Cross exclusively!
THE CLEANSING POWER OF THE BLOOD
The phrase, “Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water,” portrays Paul us­ing Old Testament types to represent the re­ality we now have in Christ.
The sons of Aaron were sprinkled with blood and washed with water. These carnal shadows of the First Covenant were figures of the spiritual realities of the Second. The sprinkling and the washing of this Verse must, therefore, be wholly spiritual — the conscience cleansed by a consciousness of the value of the Blood of Christ, and the con­duct cleansed by obedience to the Word of Christ applied by the Holy Spirit.
The reference here is to the Laver at the Door of the Tabernacle, in the Wilderness.
In it the Priests were baptized, i.e., washed, for to baptize means to wash, the water be­ing poured upon them. This symbolized the New Birth.
The most effectual way of cleansing from sin is by putting to death. In the New Birth of Regeneration, the Believer in Christ is put to death, so to speak. He is baptized into death with Christ at Calvary and He rises into a new life with Christ in Resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5). This is an effectual break with sin. It is an effective washing — not the applica­tion of material water to the outward flesh, which accomplishes nothing, but the effec­tual action of the Holy Spirit within the soul which accomplishes everything. Let us make one more statement about the Cross:
THE CROSS AND SPIRITUAL
CLEANLINESS

For a Believer to trust Christ for Salva­tion, and then after conversion to drift into “works,” which most do, and because that’s where most Churches lead them, presents that Believer in a sense as living under the old Mosaic economy. In other words, even though all Christians have place and posi­tion in Christ, still, most function as if they are functioning under the old Law of Moses. As all the ritual washings under the old Law could not truly cleanse the heart and life, like­wise, modern works fall into the same cat­egory. The truth is, if the Believer is not fully trusting in what Christ did at the Cross on His behalf, and doing so exclusively, which means to the exclusion of all else, then in some fashion, that Believer is living under Law, which can provide no true cleansing of the heart.
I would trust that the Reader by now can see how that the “Cross Life,” is in fact a to­tal way of life.
It was one thing for the Jews of old not to be able to enjoy what we presently have in Christ, and for the simple reason that it was not then available; however, it is a shame of unprecedented proportions, for Believers presently to have the availability of Christ, but yet to conduct ourselves as if we are liv­ing under the ancient Law. What a travesty!
It is only when one exhibits Faith totally and completely in the Cross of Christ, that

NOTES

one truly and surely knows the joys of sins forgiven, and the total cleansing which the Blood alone can provide. I realize that every Christian would argue that they do have this of which I speak, even though their faith is elsewhere; however, the reason they argue, if in fact they do, is because in reality, most Christians have never known what it’s like to fully enjoy Christ, which can only be done by ever having the Cross as the object of our Faith.
(23) “LET US HOLD FAST THE PRO­FESSION OF OUR FAITH WITHOUT WA­VERING; (FOR HE IS FAITHFUL THAT PROMISED;)”
The exegesis is:

1.
“Hold fast” refers to having a firm hold which masters that which is held.

2.
The “profession of our faith” refers to faith in the Cross of Christ, and the Cross of Christ exclusively.

3.
“Wavering” refers to the fact, that we aren’t to weaken in our profession of faith as it regards the Cross of Christ.

4.
Everything that God has promised, He will perform, providing our faith doesn’t waver.


THE PROFESSION OF OUR FAITH
The phrase, “Let us hold fast the profes­sion of our Faith,” refers exclusively to the Finished Work of Christ.
For years, the “Word of Faith” teaching has used this particular Scripture as it regards their claims. They were and are touting Faith, but it wasn’t and isn’t Faith in the Cross. Consequently, their teaching is unscriptural!
As should be obvious in these Passages, Paul is speaking of what Jesus has done at the Cross on our behalf. We are to place our Faith in that, “holding fast” its great Truth.
The idea of the words “hold fast” proclaim the fact that Satan will do everything within his power to dislodge our faith from the Sac­rifice of Christ. But the Spirit here through Paul, tells us that we are to hold so firmly to our faith, that we master that which is held, meaning that we perfectly understand what our Faith actually is, and where it is.
“Profession” in the Greek is “homologia,” and means, “to say the same thing.” The idea is, that our Faith is to be so synonymous with the Cross, that it says the same thing as the Cross, and the Cross says the same thing as our Faith.
What did Christ do at the Cross? He suf­fered the penalty of the broken Law on my behalf, and as well, atoned for all sin, past, present, and future. This destroyed Satan’s legal right to hold humanity in captivity; con­sequently, I can now live free from sin, sim­ply because of what Christ has done for me. In fact, at conversion, I was baptized into the Death of Christ, buried with Him, and raised with Him in Newness of Life (Rom. 6:3-5). This means that I literally died to sin and the old life, which also means, it no longer has a hold on me. I can now “reckon myself to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ my Lord” (Rom. 6:11).
This is what my “profession” says and, therefore, this is my Faith. As a result, “sin shall not have dominion over me, for I’m not under Law, but under Grace” (Rom. 6:14).
As a result, I am now functioning in “The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.” Consequently, I am free from “The Law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2).
WITHOUT WAVERING

The phrase, “Without wavering,” refers to the fact that as a Believer, and having my faith anchored firmly in the Finished Work of Christ, under no consideration must I waver toward anything else. Paul is here urging the Christian Jews not to lean back towards the First Testament. Like the gen­eration which left Egypt, who in their hearts were returning to that place of slavery, so these Christian Jews under stress of perse­cution were leaning back in their hearts to the First Testament. However, the Holy Spirit, even as Paul says in Verse 15, is con­stantly pushing them toward the Finished Work of Christ, even as He continues at the present in our own hearts and lives.
THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

The phrase, “For He is faithful that prom­ised,” refers to the fact that everything the New Covenant promises, will be realized in totality. Because He is unwaveringly faith­ful, therefore, He should be unwaveringly confessed.
NOTES

All the Promises of God given through the Prophets in the Old Testament, all and with­out exception, center up in the Cross. It is there that the Promises were realized and ful­filled. Consequently, it stands to reason, that our Faith must be in that great Sacrifice as well! If that’s where the Promises are made possible, then that’s where our Faith must be located. This must be our confession, and we must not waver in this confession.
(24) “AND LET US CONSIDER ONE ANOTHER TO PROVOKE UNTO LOVE AND TO GOOD WORKS:”
The composite is:

1.
If our Faith is properly in the Cross, we will then properly consider one another.

2.
The love here mentioned, has as its example the Cross (I Jn. 4:10).

3.
Proper Faith in the Cross will always produce good works, but good works will never produce proper Faith in the Cross.


CONSIDERING ONE ANOTHER

The phrase, “And let us consider one an­other,” harks back to the previous Verse. If we see our Brother waving in the faith, and I speak of Faith in the Cross of Christ, we are to give attentive, continuous care to that par­ticular individual. The exhortation is to take careful note of each other’s spiritual welfare which also harks back to our “profession of Faith.” We are to notice each other as it re­gards this singularly most important aspect of our Christian experience. Whenever faith is starting to slip, it becomes noticeable and obvious. If that happens, the next phrase presents the step we should then take.
LOVE

The phrase, “To provoke unto love,” refers to the manner in which we must deal with our Brother. Love as it is here used, is the charac­teristic New Testament term for a love that is not self-seeking, a love whose paradigm (ex­ample) is the Cross. In fact, there can be no real love, and we speak of “agape love,” which is the “God kind of love,” unless it’s love that has as its foundation, the Cross. Of course, the Cross was the greatest example of love which man has ever known and ever will know.
Keeping the Cross as the foundation of our love, due to the fact that Jesus there gave Himself for us, we are at the same time, to give ourselves to others. And how do we do that?
We do it by loving them through the Cross, which is the Biblical way of love. This type of love is not self-seeking, but rather the very opposite. In fact, considering that this is love anchored in the Cross, of necessity, it could not be anything else.
If we show concern for a Brother who is wavering, and do so in the shadow of the Cross, our concern will have a telling effect.
GOOD WORKS
The phrase, “And to good works,” presents that which will naturally follow true Faith in the Cross. As we previously stated, “good works” will not establish Faith in the Cross, but Faith in the Cross will definitely estab­lish “good works.”
(25) “NOT FORSAKING THE ASSEM­BLING OF OURSELVES TOGETHER, AS THE MANNER OF SOME IS; BUT EX­HORTING ONE ANOTHER: AND SO MUCH THE MORE, AS YE SEE THE DAY APPROACHING.”
The structure is:
1.
Christians are to be faithful to Church.

2.
In Church, we encourage each other.


3. As the signs of the times point to the imminent return of Christ, we are to be even more diligent regarding our faithfulness to Christ, and in every manner.
CHURCH ATTENDANCE
The phrase, “Not forsaking the assem­bling of ourselves together,” carries with it a far greater meaning than merely a gather­ing of Christians on a regular basis. We must not forget, that it’s the Holy Spirit Who is prodding Paul to write these words.
Whenever Christians gather together in like faith, there is a strength and an encour­agement which comes from such an assem­bly. In other words, we obtain something from the Lord by going to Church and mixing with other Believers, that we cannot obtain any­where else.
In an assembly of Believers, faith is greatly exercised and, thereby, greatly increased. Consequently, it becomes much easier to be­lieve God for the things we need.

NOTES

As well, this is so important, that Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mat. 18:20).
WRONG DIRECTION

The phrase, “As the manner of some is,” tells us plainly, that some Christians during the time of the Early Church were not being faithful. The Holy Spirit here plainly says, that such direction is a flirtation with spiri­tual disaster. To fail to obey this injunction, is to fail to obey, and will bring upon such an individual serious consequences.
As the manner of some Christians during Paul’s day was that of unfaithfulness regard­ing attendance at Church, what is your man­ner, and I speak of you the Reader?
Your “manner” should be to attend Church every single time the doors are open, if it’s at all possible. That means Sunday Morning, Sunday Night, that is if Service is conducted on Sunday Nights, and it refers to midweek Bible Study, on whatever night such is held. It also includes special meetings such as Re­vival Services and Campmeetings, etc. This should be the manner of the Child of God!
EXHORTATION

The phrase, “But exhorting one another,” refers to encouraging one another to be faith­ful to Church.
It should be understood that the Christians in those days were for the most part under persecution. If they were Gentiles, which most were, they had been brought out of pagan­ism, with all of its attendant idol worship. In fact, in every major city, there were scores of temples devoted to particular idol gods. In fact, the entire structure of society was built around these “gods.” Whichever god was worshipped, many of the people wore cloth­ing to symbolize that particular god, and even styled the furniture in their houses after a cer­tain fashion in devotion to their god or gods. Therefore, when they gave their hearts and lives to Christ, their lives miraculously and gloriously changed, but to be sure, the change was not so very much appreciated by their relatives and their former friends. In many cases, these people, whomever they may have been, made life miserable for the Christians.
It was the same way with Jews, except in a little different manner. While the Jews didn’t worship idols, still, for a fellow Jew to accept the hated Christ, was the worst abomination that most Jews could contemplate; conse­quently, they literally excommunicated any­one of their own who came to Christ. From then on, he was treated by his family as if he was dead.
Wherever it was that the Christians as­sembled together for Service, many times they were monitored, with the intention of causing problems for anyone who attended. Under these circumstances, one can see how that it would be somewhat easy to just sim­ply not attend Service. And yet, under these circumstances, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul, is telling the people that de­spite the difficulties involved, they must “not forsake the assembling of themselves to­gether.” Now let me ask this question:
If the Spirit of God insisted even in those troubled times that Christians not fail to at­tend Church, don’t you think such insistence holds true now, especially considering that there is presently no persecution for attend­ing Church!
THE LAST DAYS

The phrase, “And so much the more, as ye see the day approaching,” refers to the last days, and, therefore, the insistence by the Holy Spirit that Believers, especially now, be faithful to Church.
These are the last days, and in fact, the last of the last days, and we speak of end time events. By that, we are referring to the Rap­ture of the Church, the rise of the Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, and the Second Com­ing of Christ. To be frank, all of these things I’ve just mentioned are just ahead of us. So, the Holy Spirit is plainly telling us, that it is absolutely imperative that we be faithful to Church.
While there are many reasons that this should be done, in fact must be done, the principle of a group of Believers gathering together provides a spiritual strength that cannot be attained in any other way. In this of which we speak, a tremendous impact is made as well, on the spirit world. And I feel, that the Holy Spirit is referring to this above
NOTES

anything else, even though there are many other reasons that make it necessary that we be faithful in gathering together to worship the Lord.
One of the principle reasons that the Holy Spirit here mentions the last days is because of the great apostasy that will come upon the Church during this time. When one consid­ers that we have actually already entered into this apostasy, then we begin to realize just how important all of this actually is.
Apostasy is a departure from Truth, and anyone who claims to know the Lord, and cannot sense that the Church is presently departing from Truth as never before, if that be the case, then that Christian sadly and re­grettably has become a part of the apostasy. In fact, that is the case with a great number of modern Christians, and the situation is only going to get worse. In this climate, the Holy Spirit is telling us how so very impor­tant it is that we not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
CHURCH

When we speak of attending Church, that needs qualification.
In fact, most Churches shouldn’t be at­tended. The people actually should run from some Churches. I speak of those which aren’t proclaiming the Truth, and in fact, are teach­ing “another Jesus, another gospel, all by another spirit” (II Cor. 11:4). Let me be a little clearer:
To whatever degree your Pastor is preach­ing the Cross, to that degree he is preaching the Gospel. Of course, that would go for an Evangelist as well! If the Preacher is not preaching the Cross at all, then he is not preaching the Gospel at all, and should be shunned. The following somewhat describes most Churches:
1. Many Churches proclaim a modernist gospel, which is no more than a social gos­pel. It is a gospel of ethics, i.e., “The Golden Rule.” These Preachers do not believe the Word of God and certainly do not believe in the Cross. At the same time, there is a large group of Charismatic Preachers who claim to be Spirit-filled, but who denigrate the Cross, even referring to it as “past miseries,” and claiming that it was the greatest defeat in human history. They encourage their fol­lowers to flee the Cross. Pure and simple, these Preachers are “enemies of the Cross of Christ.” The Apostle then said:
“Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” (Phil. 3:18-19).
The name of the game for these particu­lar Churches is “money.” And, Paul said, “O man of God, flee these things; and follow after Righteousness, Godliness, Faith, Love, Patience, Meekness” (I Tim. 6:10-11).
Once again please allow me to parrot the Apostle: Flee these Preachers and flee these Churches!
2.
There are some Preachers who preach the Cross somewhat. By that I mean they preach the Cross as it regards sinners being saved, but not at all thereafter. Many if not most of these Preachers simply do not know the Message of the Cross as it refers to the everyday living of the Child of God. Prob­ably one could say, that most Fundamental­ist Churches fall into this category.

While what these Preachers proclaim is true and correct as far as it goes, the problem is, it just doesn’t go far enough. Consequently, most of their people will not live in victory, but rather defeat, and no matter how hard they try to do otherwise. In fact, most Chris­tians who truly love the Lord attend these type of Churches. As should be obvious, these Churches, even though not going far enough, still, are a thousand times better than the ones in the first category.

3.
The Churches which proclaim the Cross of Christ as it regards the sinner being saved, and as well, as the Source of Victory for the Christian, is actually the type of Church which should be indicative of all Churches. Such Preaching, which is the “preaching of the Cross” (I Cor. 1:18, 21, 23), will develop strong Christians, actually that which true Christianity ought to be. Regrettably, there aren’t very many of these type of Churches, and simply because the Message of the Cross has all but been lost in the last few decades. But thank the Lord, this is beginning to change! The Message of the Cross which is the true Bible Message, is beginning to be heard, practiced, and preached, by more and more people and Preachers of the Gospel.



NOTES

As we previously stated, the Message of the Cross requires a complete rethinking of our Biblical positions. This is a total way of life, actually that for which Jesus died.
What gives this such impetus of course, is that this is the manner in which the Holy Spirit works. He works totally and completely within the parameters of the Finished Work of Christ (Rom. 8:2). And of course, when He works, great and mighty things begin to happen.
THE CROSS IS THE BAROMETER
I think the Reader can see by now exactly what we are teaching. The Cross is the ba­rometer.
Martin Luther stated, “According to the manner one views the Cross, according to that manner will one view the Reformation.” In other words, the Cross then was the di­viding line, as the Cross has always been the dividing line, even beginning in Genesis Chapter 4.
Going back again to the words of Paul as it regards faithfulness to Church, “And so much the more, as ye see the day approach­ing,” I personally feel that the Cross of Christ is now the dividing line between the True Church and the Apostate Church. In fact, it’s always been that way, but I believe that the Holy Spirit is going to make it that way now more than ever.
Parroting what Martin Luther said, please allow me to state the following:
“According to the manner in which one views the Cross, according to that manner will one view the Gospel.” Or let us say it in an­other way, “According to the way one views the Cross, according to that way will they view the Word of God.” What I’m saying is this:
Unless one properly understands the Cross, which is actually the meaning of the New Covenant, which refers to all that Jesus did in the Sacrificial Offering of Himself, then one cannot truly understand the Gospel. I realize that’s blunt, but I intend for it to be that very way. The reason there is so much defeat today in the ranks of Christendom, and I speak of spiritual failures, is simply because of a lack of understanding of the Cross. It is impossible for any Christian to walk in per­petual victory, unless that Christian properly understands the Cross. It simply cannot be done otherwise!
That’s the reason that I plead with you the Reader to give one of these Commentaries to a Pastor friend, or any Preacher of your ac­quaintance, or anyone for that matter. What we’re speaking about here, as should be ob­vious, is of extreme importance.
The Church is facing the concentrated powers of darkness. These demon spirits and fallen Angels to be sure, have great power. While they do not at all have power as the Holy Spirit, still, they have far greater power than any human being. I’m trying to say this:
Paul said, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). This is spiritual warfare!
It’s going to take more than pious plati­tudes, or intellectual knowledge to overcome these type of things. It’s going to take the Power of God. But the great question is, how is the power of God activated within our lives?
THE POWER OF GOD

If the Christian doesn’t understand the Cross, there is no way that Christian, as stated, can walk in perpetual victory. They might have victory some of the time, or even part of the time, but they cannot walk in vic­tory all of the time. Consequently, the lives of most Christians are not lives of joy and happiness as they ought to be, but in most cases, the very opposite. Why?
Most of the Pentecostal and Charismatic worlds erroneously believe, if they are Bap­tized with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking with other Tongues, which inci­dentally is Scriptural, and desperately needed by all Believers, that this automatically guar­antees victory. It should be obvious that it doesn’t! And because it doesn’t, many Pen­tecostal and Charismatic Preachers are no longer preaching the Holy Spirit as they should. In fact, I am told that only about a third of the people who attend Assemblies of God and Church of God Churches, the two largest Pentecostal Denominations, actually even claim to be Spirit-filled. When I was a child, and a part of one of these particular
NOTES

Denominations (back in the 1940’s), I think I can say without fear of contradiction, that at least 90% of the people in these Churches at that time, were Spirit-filled.
While there are many reasons for the great decline, I personally feel that at least one of the reasons for the lack of emphasis presently on the Holy Spirit is because in many Spirit-filled lives, there is not a noticeable change. To be sure, even though this is true, it’s not the fault of the Spirit, but rather the individual.
What is wrong?

The problem is misplaced faith on the part of the Spirit-filled Christian. Not being taught the veracity of the Cross, most modern Chris­tians put their faith in other things. As we previously stated, the “other things” might very well be good things; however, even though they may be good, and even spiritual, the Holy Spirit will not function in that ca­pacity. So that leaves the Believer function­ing on his own ability and strength, which is a guarantee of failure. That’s the reason that the failure rate among Spirit-filled Christians is not too much different than their nonspirit­filled counterparts. Now please don’t mis­understand:
The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the greatest thing that can ever happen to a Christian. I consider myself to be one of the strongest proponents in the world of the Spirit Baptism. To be frank, the Christian is not going to really amount to anything for God, nor realize much of anything in Christ, unless that Christian is Spirit-filled. And again, to be sure, we teach according to the Word of God, that every single Baptism with the Spirit, will always be accompanied by speaking with other Tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance (Acts 2:4; 10:44-46; 19:1-7). In fact, I think it would be impos­sible to overemphasize the mighty Baptism with the Holy Spirit. But at the same time, the following must be noted:
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CROSS

Everything the Holy Spirit does for any Believer is done strictly by and through what Christ did at the Cross.
In the first place, the Holy Spirit couldn’t even come into the hearts and lives of Be­lievers to abide permanently before the Cross.
That’s why Jesus told His Disciples shortly before His Crucifixion, and when He was teaching them about the Holy Spirit, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter (the Holy Spirit), that He may abide with you forever;
“Even the Spirit of Truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him (one must be saved before they can be Baptized with the Holy Spirit): but ye know Him (they were already saved); for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (Jn. 14:16-17).
If it is to be noticed, He said, “For He (the Holy Spirit) dwelleth with you (which He did before the Cross), and shall be in you (which could take place only after the Cross).”
The Holy Spirit, even as we’ve already said several times in this Volume, couldn’t come in to abide permanently in the hearts and lives of Believers before the Cross, simply because the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t take away sins (Heb. 10:4). Due to this fact, the sin debt still hung over the heads of all Believers, even the great Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament. They were saved, but only by looking forward to what the Sacrifices represented, which was Christ and Him Crucified (Gen. 15:6).
At any rate, and without going into a long discussion, the Cross made it possible for the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and lives, and I speak of Believers, and to there abide permanently.
Now that He abides there permanently, as should be obvious, He has been sent to do a specific work (Rom. 8:26-27). He wants to develop His Fruit within our lives (Gal. 5:22­23). However, He does all of this, and in fact can only do all of this on the basis, of what Christ did at the Cross. In other words, the Holy Spirit works within the confines of the legal work of Calvary. Please notice, that I said that it is a “legal work.” Without going into detail, He functions within those legal parameters. That’s why Paul said:
“For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death” (Rom. 8:2).
Notice that he referred to all of this as a “Law.” Now of course, this is not the Law of Moses, but rather another Law also developed

NOTES

by God, as it regards the manner in which the Spirit works within our hearts and lives. This “Law” is “in Christ Jesus,” which re­fers to what Christ did at the Cross.
WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT
DEMANDS OF YOU


Now that we’ve established the fact as to how the Spirit functions and operates, we need to know what He requires of us.
In fact, not much! He doesn’t require that we perform any works, give great sums of money, be very religious, pray so many hours a week, fast so many days a week, etc. He only requires one thing, and a very simple thing at that!
He requires that you as a Believer know and understand that everything you have from God comes to you solely and completely through what Christ did at the Cross. You must understand that! You must believe that! Now if you have doubts about that, you have just jeopardized the entirety of your Christian experience. Faith is the principle on which God works, but more particularly, He works on the principle of our Faith mani­fested in the Cross of Christ.
Now many Preachers will tell you that since you have come to Christ, you must leave the Cross and go on to other things. As I’ve al­ready stated, many of these same Preachers refer to the Cross as the greatest defeat in human history. If you listen to these Preach­ers, and irrespective as to whom they might be, you will destroy yourself. Because what they’re teaching and preaching is not only not the Gospel, it is pure heresy, and if fol­lowed, will bring about destructive results in one’s life. In fact, those who would preach and teach such things were labeled by Paul as “Satan’s ministers” (II Cor. 11:13-15).
To help you to understand the Cross a little better, please allow me to say it in this manner:
The Cross of Christ is an event which took place in history, but has continued results, and in fact, results which will never be dis­continued. It’s the “results of the Cross” of which we speak. We’re not trying to put Christ back on a Cross, and neither are we trying to put Christians on crosses. In fact, the latter is one of the false doctrines perpetrated about the Cross, of which we will have more to say in a moment.
You as a Believer must anchor your Faith in the Cross of Christ, keep your Faith in the Cross of Christ, not allow your Faith to be removed from the Cross of Christ, and then the Holy Spirit will work mightily on your behalf, doing all the great things which He Alone can do. Then you will realize the full potential of the power of the Spirit. And to be sure, the Holy Spirit is God! This means there is nothing that He cannot do. But still, He does require of us and strongly so, that our Faith always be in the Finished Work of Christ. That’s what Jesus was speaking of when He said of the Spirit, “He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you” (Jn. 16:14).
When you embark upon this “Life” pro­vided by what Jesus did at the Cross, referred to as “the Spirit of Life” (Rom. 8:2), you will then begin to know and understand what real Christianity actually is. It’s the most won­derful life there could ever be, but only if we do it God’s Way, and the Cross is God’s Way.
ERRONEOUS TEACHING
ABOUT THE CROSS


I mentioned several paragraphs back, about putting Christians on the Cross, etc. What I meant by that is this:
Many Christians read the Words of Christ when He said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me,” and from these words draw an entirely, erroneous conclusion.
They think that Jesus is saying that tak­ing up the cross daily is referring to an exist­ence of suffering. In other words, they al­ways link the Cross with suffering. While that is correct as it refers to the Sufferings of Christ, it is definitely not correct as it refers to Christians.
The work that Christ carried out at the Cross is a Finished Work. This means, that we must not attempt to add anything to that Finished Work, because in fact, we cannot add anything to that Finished Work. And to in­sinuate that we as Christians have to suffer in order to be what God wants us to be, is at the same time saying, whether we realize it or not, that the Work of Christ is not a Finished Work.
NOTES

Most Preachers explain all of this by going back to the words “let him deny himself,” thinking this refers to some type of Spartan life that’s devoid of all pleasure of any na­ture. In other words, the harder we make our way, this is supposed to be taking up the Cross daily, etc.
Now it should be obvious as to why most Christians don’t want to hear about the Cross. They know that it’s right, simply because Jesus said it; however, they somehow think if they can just ignore the Cross, that maybe they will not be pulled into this vortex of suffering. And if they do see another Chris­tian undergo some type of difficult situation, they always label that as “bearing the Cross” and then add the following, “I pray that the Lord doesn’t ask me to do that!”
I realize that I’ve already explained all of this from this very Passage of Scripture in this Volume; however, what we’re speaking about is so important, of such consequence, that I want to make doubly certain that you the Reader hear, see, and understand, ex­actly what we are saying. I don’t want you to miss it, because if you do miss it, you will miss one of the greatest statements ever made by Christ. It affects your life in a tre­mendous way.
When Jesus spoke of denying ourselves, He wasn’t speaking of asceticism, but rather of denying ourselves as it regards our own efforts and ability to live this life by our own strength and machinations. One simply can­not do that. In fact, it is impossible! We must let the Spirit do this for us, which we’ve already addressed, which He does according to what Christ did for us at the Cross. That’s what Jesus is talking about!
When he said, “take up the Cross daily, and follow Me,” He was speaking of you under­standing that every single thing we receive from God comes strictly and totally through what He (Christ) did at the Cross. Our focus must ever be on the Cross! Our understand­ing must ever be in the Cross! The object of our Faith must ever be the Cross!
Were it not for the Cross, God couldn’t even look at us. It is the Cross which opened up the way to God, which Paul is explaining over and over again even in this Epistle to the Hebrews.
Instead of suffering as many teach, Jesus is actually telling us that we are to enjoy the benefits of all that He did at the Cross. He suffered greatly that we might have these things, and to be sure, we could not have these things unless He had suffered greatly. But the Cross is a Finished Work, and we are to enjoy the results and the benefits of that Fin­ished Work, which is what He was speaking about when He mentioned “more abundant life” (Jn. 10:10).
DAILY
In fact, all of this is so very, very important that we are to take up the Cross “daily” in our following of Christ.
This means that the Cross must ever be before us. We must not allow it to be some­thing that merely happened in the historical past, with our only thoughts in that direc­tion being a song that we sing sometimes, etc. We must understand the part the Cross plays in our everyday living. We must know that there is no victory outside of the Cross. This must be understood and thought out on a daily basis, which the Holy Spirit means for us to contemplate constantly.
Most Christians only think of the Cross in the past tense. And then they only think of it in a sentimental way. “Jesus died for me, and His suffering was terrible,” is about the extent of their understanding of the Cross.
As a Believer, you must understand the part the Cross plays in your living today. In fact, it has just as much to do with your daily existence in the Lord, as it did in your initial Salvation experience. To be sure, you couldn’t have been saved unless you trusted Christ and what He did at the Cross. At that time, you would not have understood very much about that, but you definitely did have to believe (Jn. 3:16).
Now that you are a Believer, and growing in Grace and the knowledge of the Lord, the Holy Spirit expects you to know more. In fact, the Holy Spirit uses the words “know,” “know­ing,” or “known,” some thirteen times in Romans, Chapters 6, 7, and 8. The problem with most Christians is that they fall into the category mentioned by Paul when he used the words concerning this very thing, “Know ye not” (Rom. 6:3). The tragedy is, most

NOTES

Christians simply don’t know, simply because it hasn’t been preached to them behind the pulpit. “Faith cometh by hearing and hear­ing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
Getting back to our original subject, Church must be measured by the barometer of the Cross. Paul said, “We preach Christ Crucified” (I Cor. 1:23).
What is your Preacher preaching?

(26) “FOR IF WE SIN WILFULLY AFTER THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED THE KNOWL­EDGE OF THE TRUTH, THERE REMAINETH NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS,”
The exegesis is:

1.
The willful sin which is spoken of here, is the transferal of Faith from Christ and Him Crucified, to other things. Here, Paul would have been speaking of Christian Jews put­ting their Faith in the Levitical Sacrifices, instead of Christ. However, it is definitely not limited to that.

2.
One cannot move their Faith from the Truth if they have not first heard and received the Truth, which these Christian Jews had. Their sin was a departure from Truth. The Truth is “Christ and Him Crucified.”

3.
When one rejects Christ as the only sac­rifice for sin, there remains no other sacri­fice. In other words, one has just closed the door to Salvation.


TO SIN WILLFULLY

The phrase, “For if we sin willfully,” re­fers to several things:
1.
He is speaking here of Believers who are on the verge of no longer believing. Be­lieving what?

2.
Of no longer believing in Christ and His Great Sacrifice as the only manner of Salvation.

3.
Such a sin is always a willful sin, be­cause it can be no other. It has to do with the next phrase.

4.
The Holy Spirit here through Paul is not speaking of other types of sin. Some people have misunderstood this as to think that if anyone sins willfully, they cannot be forgiven. The truth is, every single sin that anyone commits is in some way a “willful sin.” No, Paul is speaking here of a certain type of sin, which is the type of sin that can damn one’s soul. He is speaking of turning away


from Christ and His Sacrifice on the Cross, ceasing to believe in Him as the Savior, and thereby believing in something else. This “willful sin” is limited to this particular type of sin.
Even then, if the person at a point in time, renounces their unbelief, and desires to come back to Christ, every clue in the Bible is, that the Lord will gladly accept them. The idea is, if a Believer ceases to believe in Christ, and renounces Christ and the Cross, and re­mains in that condition, there is no way that person can be saved. The Sacrifice of Christ being the only way, and that being re­nounced, the door is closed.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH
The phrase, “After that we have received the knowledge of the Truth,” speaks of the Bible way of Salvation, which is “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified” (I Cor. 2:2).
“Knowledge” in the Greek as here used, is “epignosis.” It is not the simple word “gnosis,” which is commonly used, but something far greater. Delitzsch defines it by saying: “When ‘epignosis’ is used, there is the assumption of an actual direction of the Spirit to a definite object and of a real grasping of the same.”
Paul, by the use of this word, gives us to understand that he means by it not merely a shallow historical notion about the Truth, but a living believing knowledge of it, which has laid hold of a man and fused him into union with itself.
So, we are not speaking here of sinners having merely heard the truth and then re­jecting it, as many teach, but rather individu­als who have heard the truth, received the truth, and made the truth a part of their lives. As well, when we say “Truth” we’re speaking of “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified,” as the only answer for sin, which Paul again de­scribes in Verse 29. The willful sin in this Passage as stated, is the definite rejection of His Atoning Sacrifice.
I want the Reader to fully understand here the meaning of the word “Truth.” Of course, we know that Truth is the Word of God. In fact, the Word of God is the only revealed Truth in the world, and in fact ever has been. However, when we say “The Word of God,” we are at the same time saying “The Sacrifice
NOTES

of Christ,” for that’s what the Bible exclu­sively teaches. That’s why I keep talking about the Cross, because the Cross is Truth, even as Truth is the Cross, which is here so clearly borne out. And we must remember, it’s the Holy Spirit Who referred to the Sac­rifice of Christ as “Truth” (Jn. 1:14; 8:32; 14:6; 16:13).
The point is this: There is no other Truth! In fact, all Biblical Knowledge springs from the Truth of the Cross.
THE SACRIFICE FOR SIN

The phrase, “There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,” refers to the Sacrifice of Christ as being the only Sacrifice which will cleanse from sin. This means when the Catholic Church claims that the Church it­self is Salvation, and by that we refer to keep­ing the sacraments of the Church, they have at the same time denounced the Sacrifice of Christ. One cannot have it both ways! Sal­vation is either in Christ or it’s in the Church. We know it’s not in the Church, so that means that anyone who claims it is, and if they can get people to follow them, they have just damned that person’s soul!
Unfortunately, many Protestant Churches fall into the same category. They claim that one must belong to their Church, or sub­scribe to their rules, or whatever! Let the following be carefully observed!
There is Salvation only in the Sacrifice of Christ. Of course, that refers to Jesus dying on the Cross, thereby paying for our sins. Salvation requires Faith in Him, and to be more particular, Faith in Him and His Sacri­fice, in order to be saved. It’s not a very dif­ficult thing, but it is demanded (Jn. 3:16).
We must never separate Christ from His Sacrifice. If we do, we have just traded Jesus the Savior, for Jesus the intellectual, or Jesus the Healer, or Jesus the Miracle Worker, or Jesus the good man, or Jesus the whatever! Once again, all of this other than “Jesus the Savior,” is “another Jesus” (II Cor. 11:4).
What kind of Jesus are you serving? Or more particularly, who is this Jesus you are serving?
The problem with the human race is sin! And to be sure, the problem in the Church is as well, sin! The idea is this!
Every Christian knows and understands that the problem with the world is sin, but most Christians don’t have the knowledge they should have as it regards Christians and sin.
Of course, Satan wants you to quit just exactly as he was successful in getting some of these Christian Jews to turn their backs on Christ. That’s his ultimate goal. But if he cannot do that, he will surely try to get you into a mode to where that sin dominates you, and even though you are saved, your Christian experience is certainly not what it ought to be. And in fact, that’s where most Christians are presently. Again I state, the problem is sin!
If it wasn’t sin, why would the Holy Spirit through Paul say, after instructions were given regarding victory, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not un­der the Law, but under Grace” (Rom. 6:14).
Sin is the problem with the Christian, and Satan does his very best to dominate you with sin in some way. With some it’s sins of pas­sion, such as one of the vices, and with others it’s sins of pride, such as unforgiveness, apa­thy, lukewarmness, heresy, greed, etc.; nev­ertheless, in whatever capacity it is, sin is the most debilitating and destructive factor there could ever be in the heart and life of a Chris­tian. It makes for a miserable existence.
It is only through Faith in the Cross of Christ, which gives the Holy Spirit the lati­tude to work within our hearts and lives, which can keep us free from sin, and in ef­fect, walking in victory perpetually, i.e., “walking after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1).
BACKSLIDERS
Many have misunderstood these Passages, thinking that it is saying that a backslider cannot come back to Christ. That’s not what it’s saying!
As long as a backslider, and anyone for that matter, retains his Faith in Christ and His Atonement, he can be renewed to repentance. However, that needs qualification:
There are millions of people, even many backsliders, who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and who believe that He died on the Cross for lost humanity, and as well, believe that one must express faith in that in order to be saved. Even though such Faith

NOTES

is correct, if Faith stops there, the person is not saved. In fact, most of these people don’t even claim Salvation.
Their Faith is merely a mental acceptance of Who Christ is and What He has done. That doesn’t save anyone. That’s what one might call “vain or dead faith” (I Cor. 15:17; James 2:17). That individual must accept what they have believed, thereby making Christ their Savior and their Lord, before their Faith is actually valid.
However, if a person, including a back­slider, rejects Christ and His Gospel, which is the Cross of Christ, and remains in that condition, he becomes hopeless as far as Sal­vation is concerned.
(27) “BUT A CERTAIN FEARFUL LOOK­ING FOR OF JUDGMENT AND FIERY IN­DIGNATION, WHICH SHALL DEVOUR THE ADVERSARIES.”
The structure is:

1.
Judgment will ultimately come upon all Christ rejecters. This speaks of the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).

2.
“Fiery indignation” refers to that which is on the part of God, and pertains to the zeal of God in punishing apostates. In other words, it angers God for individuals to spurn Christ, especially considering the great price He has paid for their Salvation.

3.
This judgment will be so severe, that it will “devour the adversaries,” which actu­ally refers to hellfire, and above all, hellfire which is eternal (Rev. 20:11-15).


JUDGMENT

The phrase, “But a certain fearful look­ing for of judgment,” refers to the fact that this is all that the Christ rejecter has in front of him. It makes no difference whether he believes it or not; ignoring it won’t make it go away. Judgment is coming.
As we’ve already explained in previous Commentary, “The Great White Throne Judgment” looms ahead for all unbelievers. None will escape that judgment, all will be there. The end result of such is the Lake of Fire, which will last forever, and which will “devour the adversaries,” referring to the fact, that there will be no escape.
The Reader must understand, that man is an eternal soul. This means that the soul and the spirit will never die. At the conclusion of the coming Millennial Reign, which will last a thousand years, there will be a second res­urrection of damnation, when bodies made of eternal material will be given to every lost soul. With these eternal bodies, all will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:4-6, 11-15).
Some may claim that God is cruel for do­ing such a thing. Let’s look at the next phrase:
FIERY INDIGNATION

The phrase, “And fiery indignation,” re­fers to anger on the part of God, even great anger, because of men rejecting Jesus Christ.
When one comprehends the great price that Christ has paid in order that men might be saved, then one begins to understand the reason for this “fiery indignation.”
Of course, the unredeemed do not even be­lieve they need to be saved, that is in their natu­ral state of depravity. What they don’t realize, or else they refuse to realize, is that sin is the ruination of everything in the universe. It is the cause of all sorrow, heartache, pain, sick­ness, death, and dying. It is the cause of all of man’s inhumanity to man. And to be sure, it is more than a mere act, but actually is empow­ered by the Evil One himself, Satan. All of this has its birth in Lucifer sometime in the date­less past, leading a rebellion against God. Ap­proximately one-third of the Angels threw in their lot with him (Rev. 12:4). Consequently, this battle between light and darkness has raged from then until now, and will not have its conclusion, until Satan (Lucifer), along with all his cohorts, which refers to all of man­kind as well who have rebelled against God, are cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:10-15).
For the universe to be filled with Righ­teousness and Holiness, this problem of Sa­tan and all of his followers must be addressed first. It has been addressed in Christ and what He did at the Cross.
THE GREAT PRICE HE PAID

The Ordinance of “the Lord’s Supper” was given to us by Christ for several reasons, but foremost that we may remember the price that He paid (I Cor. 11:24-25). That price was the Cross.
The Church has a tendency to place the Cross in a subsidiary position, thereby making other
NOTES

things premier. Some make the Resurrection premier, while others make the Baptism with the Holy Spirit premier. And then some count the Cross as little or nothing as it regards this Plan of Salvation, rather attributing Sal­vation to a false conception of Christ, such as the “Jesus died spiritually” doctrine, etc.
While of course, the Resurrection is of su­preme importance, it was not that great work that Jesus told us to not fail to remember, but rather the Cross. As well, while the Bap­tism with the Holy Spirit is of supreme sig­nificance in the heart and life of the Believer, still, it was the Cross which made this Bap­tism possible. So in effect, Christ plainly tells us to “remember the Cross.”
The price that was paid there is actually beyond our comprehension. For God, the Creator to become man, i.e., the creature, is beyond the pale of human thinking. And then, that which He left in order to come here is also beyond our comprehension, not having anything to compare with what He had. Consequently, to attempt to try to ex­plain the price He paid, considering our lack of knowledge, presents itself as a futile ef­fort. We simply cannot do such!
The only way we can do justice to this all important act is to place the Cross in its proper place of preeminence. This more than any­thing else, will obey the command of Christ to “remember Me” (I Cor. 11:24-25).
THE ADVERSARIES

The phrase, “Which shall devour the ad­versaries,” refers to destruction, which is hellfire, which will ultimately come to all who reject Christ.
“Adversaries” in the Greek is “hupenantios,” and means “those who are hostile, those who oppose.”
While it refers to those who oppose Christ, more than all, and that which the entirety of the Text proclaims, it refers to those who re­ject the Plan of Redemption, which was brought about by what Jesus did at the Cross. This is the thrust of the subject and as well, the thrust of the judgment.
While the subject matter definitely does refer to opposing Christ, more than all, it refers to opposing what He did in order to redeem mankind. The idea is this:
If one attempt to accept Christ without the Cross, or else place the Cross in an inci­dental position, according to what Paul said, one has not accepted Christ, but rather “an­other Jesus” (II Cor. 11:4). And that’s where the Church makes its great mistake.
While the Lord doesn’t expect much from believing sinners coming to Christ, He in fact, expects very much from Believers. You as a Believer must not divorce Christ from the Cross in your thinking. In fact, when you think of Christ, which should be constantly, it should always be in connection with His Cross. That’s why He came to this world, and I speak of the Sacrificial Offering of Him­self on the Cross, and that’s why you are saved. It’s not because of your great faith, or whatever; you are saved totally and com­pletely because of what Jesus did at the Cross on your behalf, and your Faith in that Fin­ished Work. That is the Gospel! As well, you continue to grow in Grace and the Knowledge of the Lord because of your con­tinued Faith in that Finished Work.
Paul is telling these Christian Jews, if they repudiate Christ and what He did for them at the Cross, in favor of other things, in this case going back to the animal sacrifices, they would completely destroy themselves. As well, let the Reader understand, that what­ever part of the Church does the same thing, and I speak of forsaking the Cross for other things, such as humanistic psychology or whatever, they can expect the same end. I cannot see how anyone who reads these Pas­sages, wouldn’t come to the same conclusion!
(28) “HE THAT DESPISED MOSES’ LAW DIED WITHOUT MERCY UNDER TWO OR THREE WITNESSES:”
The structure is:
1.
An argument from the greater, the Cross, to the lesser, the Law, brings out the seriousness of the situation.

2.
To despise the Law of Moses was a very serious matter, but this is more serious still.

3.
From these statements, one certainly should gather the tremendous significance of the Offering of Christ.


THE LAW
The phrase, “He that despised Moses’ Law,” is meant to impress upon us the severity of

NOTES

all that God does. And yet, we must not take this as a general assertion, as true of who­ever in any way broke the Mosaic Law: but as an alleging of a well-known fact, that in certain cases a breaker of the Law was sub­ject to the penalty following.
“Despised” in the Greek is “atheteo,” and means, “to set aside, to disesteem, to cast off, disannul, bring to naught, reject.”
DIED WITHOUT MERCY

The phrase, “Died without mercy under two or three witnesses,” is derived from Deuteronomy 17:2-7, the last words being a direct quotation from Verse 6 in that section.
There the subject is apostasy from Jeho­vah to the worship of idols. That sin, which by the acknowledgment of all, had in ancient time robbed Israel of the name of God’s people, is tacitly placed by the side of the sin of those who forsake Christ.
Some may claim that since we are living in the day of Grace that these admonitions don’t apply; however, I must remind the Reader that judgment unto Grace is much more se­vere than it was under Law. Paul said:
“And the times of this ignorance (Old Tes­tament times) God winked at; but now (dur­ing this age of Grace) commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).
And then the Apostle said, “For the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the Truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18).
While God is long-suffering and merciful, if men continue to reject His way, the ulti­mate result can be nothing but judgment.
Many in the modern Church attribute all inclement situations such as adverse weather, or whatever, to Satan. However, to do such a thing, places God in a subservient position, in a sense answerable to Satan, which is pre­posterous!
No! While Satan may definitely be the one who carries out certain things, it is God Who gives him permission to do what he does, and in fact, God Who oversees all things. This means, that every single thing that happens on this Earth, God has either allowed it or directly caused it; either way, He is respon­sible! Jesus said as much in His statement:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Mat. 10:29-30). So what am I saying?
God instituted the Law of “sowing and reaping,” and to be sure, this Law is in mo­tion constantly (Gal. 6:7). In fact, the actual sin which takes people to Hell is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ, and the price that He has paid for our Redemption (Jn. 16:8-9).
However, while the world is one thing, the Church is something else altogether. And we must remember that Paul, more than anything else, is speaking here to the Church. While his statements definitely include all, the greater thrust is toward Believers.
In fact, the Gentile world during the time of the Law was not held responsible for the Law; consequently, those who died without mercy for repudiating the Law were Jews.
While all presently without God, if they die in that state, will definitely be lost for­ever; still, the “much sorer punishment” as given in the next Verse, is reserved for those who know the way, namely the Church, but abandon the way.
SERIOUSNESS OF THE MATTER
When the Lord began to give me the Mes­sage of the Cross in 1996, which Revelation has continued unto this hour, and I trust will ever continue, at the same time, He placed a burning burden within my heart, to proclaim this Message to the entirety of the Church. He has instructed me to emphasize this Mes­sage as I’ve never emphasized any Message.
It’s not because this is something new, because it definitely isn’t. Actually, the Cross is the foundation of the Church, and actu­ally the foundation of all that God has ever done as it regards the human race. The Mes­sage of the Cross actually began with the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God’s Message to Satan through the serpent at that time was a brilliant prediction of the Cross (Gen. 3:15). The “seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent, and the ser­pent bruising His (Jesus’) heel,” is a predic­tion of the Cross. Genesis Chapter 4 out­lines it perfectly as it regards the Sacrifice
NOTES

of Abel. And so it was thereafter, and so it is now!
In fact, the Message of the Cross is of such magnitude that John in his vision of the Throne of God, said, “And in the midst of the Elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the Earth” (Rev. 5:6).
If it is to be noticed, Christ is referred to here as “a Lamb as it had been slain.” The Holy Spirit is then pictured so much a part of this, that in some ways the “Lamb” and the “Spirit” are pictured as one and the same. The idea is this:
In fact, Christ and the Holy Spirit are two separate and distinct Persons of the Godhead. But the Holy Spirit works so very much within the parameters of what Christ did at the Cross, that He is here pictured in this context. And yet for all of this, the Message of the Cross has all but been lost to the mod­ern Church. Consequently, the Church has no moorings, and the people have no victory.
To proclaim this Message, the Lord has in­structed me to use our Television Network and as well, the SonLife Radio Network. At the time of this writing in late August of 2000, we have some 30 stations on the air. Actually the Radio Network is only about five months old at this particular time. The Lord has in­structed me to put these stations all over the nation, even several thousands of them, which we have set out to do. The entirety of this Radio effort, 24 hours a day, is geared to the Message of the Cross. And to be sure, I definitely believe this is the primary reason that the Lord has given us this Network. It is imperative that the Body of Christ hears this Message.
Beginning in the 1970’s, the Pentecostal and Charismatic sections of the Church be­gan to drift toward humanistic psychology. That drift now is a wholesale acceptance of this false way. Whether the Leaders of these Denominations understand it or not, this is a vote of no confidence as it regards the Cross of Christ. Either Jesus addressed every single problem of man at the Cross, or else He didn’t! I happen to believe that He did. One cannot have it both ways. Regarding the sins, per­version, and aberrations of man, we either trust Christ, or we trust humanistic wisdom, which the Holy Spirit through James said is “earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3:15).
For those who continue on this path, and I speak of the path which leads away from the Cross of Christ, judgment is inevitable. It cannot be any other way!
(29) “OF HOW MUCH SORER PUNISH­MENT, SUPPOSE YE, SHALL HE BE THOUGHT WORTHY, WHO HATH TROD­DEN UNDER FOOT THE SON OF GOD, AND HATH COUNTED THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, WHEREWITH HE WAS SANCTIFIED, AN UNHOLY THING, AND HATH DONE DESPITE UNTO THE SPIRIT OF GRACE?”
The structure is:
1.
If judgment was demanded for those who trampled the Law, it is more demanded for those who reject the Cross.

2.
Treading underfoot the Son of God, is a sin against God the Father Who gave the Son to become the Sin Offering.

3.
Counting the Blood of the New Testa­ment an unholy thing is a sin against God the Son Who shed His Blood.

4.
The word “counted” refers to a con­scious judgment resting on deliberate weigh­ing of the facts. Here it implies a deliberate, contemptuous rejection of the Sacrifice of the Son of God.

5.
The “unholy thing” refers to counting the Blood of Jesus as having no more sacred character or specific worth than the blood of any ordinary person.

6.
Doing “despite unto the Spirit of Grace,” is a sin against God the Holy Spirit, Who convicts of sin, and we speak of the sin of rejecting Christ as Savior.


GREATER PUNISHMENT
The phrase, “Of how much sorer punish­ment,” refers to the fact that Jesus is greater than Moses; the New Covenant is better than the Old, founded on better promises and es­tablished by a better Sacrifice; consequently, to reject Christ, and more specifically, to re­ject the Sacrifice of Christ, is the worst sin of all.
The Cross of Christ stands at the intersec­tion of the world, i.e., “at the intersection of mankind.” Man must deal with Christ and

NOTES

the Cross. To ignore it, is to reject it. And at the same time, it is the responsibility of the Church to take this Message, and I speak of “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified,” to the en­tirety of the world. The entirety of the frame­work of the Word of God proclaims this glar­ing Truth. Whenever God gave the great Revelation to Abraham, one of the first things He told him was, “In thee shall all families of the Earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). The pivot Scripture of all Scriptures says, “For God so loved the world . . .” (Jn. 3:16). The last Message given by Christ, and given just before His Ascension was, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every crea­ture” (Mk. 16:15).
This is the responsibility of every single Christian and not just a few. It is sad, when it is to be realized that Islam gives about 100 times the amount of money than Christians in the spread of its false message. Of course, we realize that this is not done as it regards the burden of Moslems as a whole, in fact, they have no burden, because they have no message. This money comes from Moslem governments; nevertheless, God has richly blessed Christianity, and in that blessing, He has blessed Christians. The money is there, but money is only a part of the problem.
The main problem is the Message. Most of the Church is preaching something that’s not the Gospel. In fact, if it’s not the Cross, then it’s not the Gospel.
Even during the time when I did not know and understand the part the Cross plays in our Christian experience as it regards over­coming victory, I preached strongly the Cross as it regards the initial Salvation experience. God rewarded the Message with hundreds of thousands brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and I exaggerate not!
But during those days, even though I did not understand the Cross as it regards our Sanctification, I did know that humanistic psychology was not the answer, or any other philosophy projected by man. I knew the answer was in the Word of God, but I did not know exactly how. Thank God, even though it took several years of seeking His Face, the Lord showed me the key to all victorious liv­ing. He plainly told me, as He took me to the Sixth Chapter of Romans, “The solution
for which you seek is found in the Cross.”
And so it was! And so it is!
If the Reader thinks I’m too strong on the subject, let the Reader understand that I have no choice. I see these words, “Of how much sorer punishment,” and knowing what they mean, referring to the fact that they are ad­dressed to the Church, how can I do less than place total emphasis on the great Message of “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified”! (I Cor. 2:2).
THE REJECTION OF THE SON OF GOD
The phrase, “Suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God,” proclaims the reason for the pun­ishment, and even the “sorer punishment.”
“To trample underfoot” is a strong expres­sion for disdain. It implies not only reject­ing Christ, but also despising Him — Him Who is no less than “the Son of God.” But let the Reader understand the following:
The thrust of all of this is not so much the rejection of Christ per se, but rather, the rejection of what Christ has done to redeem humanity, and we speak of the Cross. This is the “willful sin” here addressed. It is the individual, either rejecting the Cross as the answer to man’s dilemma, or ignoring the Cross. Either way, man has rejected the only way of Salvation.
In fact, untold millions in this world pres­ently think of Christ as a “good man” or even a “miracle worker,” etc. But they place no value on His Atoning Sacrifice. Irrespective as to what they think of Him Personally, if they do not accept His Sacrifice for sin, they cannot be saved.
NEUTRALITY?

There is no neutrality as it regards the Cross. We either accept it or we reject it. And if we call ourselves accepting it, but in­stead turn to other things, such as humanis­tic psychology, we have in fact rejected the Cross. As I’ve said over and over again, one cannot have it both ways. Man’s problem is sin, and Jesus went to the Cross to atone for sin. There is no other cure, no other pana­cea, no other remedy, other than the Cross.
This is why I feel the modern Church is in such danger. A great part of the Charismatic world is openly and even blatantly rejecting
NOTES

the Cross, referring to it as “past miseries.” Many in that genre refer to the Cross as the greatest defeat in human history. Conse­quently, their followers are admonished to forsake the Cross, which can be construed as none other than “blasphemy!” I speak of the so-called “Word of Faith” Churches!
Every single person in this world who is saved, is saved simply because of what Jesus did at the Cross. Every iota of victory pos­sessed by any Believer, is because of the Cross of Christ. All overcoming strength is because of the Cross of Christ. Every blessing, all prosperity, all healing, all Spiritual Growth, all the Fruit of the Spirit, all the Gifts of the Spirit, anything and everything possessed by the Christian, and I speak of that given by the Lord, have come exclusively to the Be­liever by and through what Jesus did at the Cross, which makes it possible for the Holy Spirit to do all of these things for us. The Cross is the central focus, as the Cross is the centrality of the Gospel.
While you may grow weary with my rep­etition, you must not grow weary with the Truth which I present. There is no other Way! And any Preacher who would point to another way, you should run from that Preacher, be­cause he’s not preaching the Truth.
Let me say it again, one cannot remain neutral as it regards the Cross. Neutrality is the same as opposing the Cross.
To use an illustration, if a person has a fatal disease, and there is a medicine which will cure that disease, the individual must take the medicine for it to be effective. In fact, he can address the medicine in one of three ways:
He can reject the medicine, refusing to take it; he can not reject the medicine, but yet not take it; or he can take the medicine. The first two ways will amount to his death, with only the last way giving him life. It is the same with the Cross!
THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT

The phrase, “And hath counted the Blood of the Covenant, wherewith he was sancti­fied, an unholy thing,” refers to a person who has found the Lord, i.e., “has been saved,” but is now expressing unbelief toward that which originally saved him.
The Scripture doesn’t say “could have been Sanctified,” but rather “was Sanctified.” This comes about only by Faith expressed in Christ and what Christ has done at the Cross (Eph. 2:13-18; I Cor. 6:11). This tells us that it is possible for Believers to turn their backs on Christ, and thereby become unbe­lievers, and, if remaining in that condition, be eternally lost.
“The Blood of the Covenant” is an expres­sion used of the blood that established the Old Covenant (Ex. 24:8; Heb. 9:20) and also of the Blood of Jesus that established the New Covenant (Mat. 26:28; Mk. 14:24; Lk. 22:20; I Cor. 11:25).
While these admonitions were written by Paul for the entirety of mankind, they were more specifically directed toward the Chris­tian Jews of his day. And yet let me empha­size, the Truth that was pointed at them, is as well, pointed toward all of mankind, as well as the modern Church.
As we’ve already stated, some Christian Jews of that particular time it seems had al­ready apostatized and others were seriously considering doing so. What did this mean?
Of course, and as would be obvious, all Christian Jews had been saved out of Juda­ism. And now because of discouragement or whatever reason, some were going back into that way. And the following is what it entailed.
These Jews who had accepted Christ, who had been enlightened, had tasted of the Heav­enly Gift, and had been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, had tasted of the good Word of God, and of the powers of the world to come (Heb. 6:4-5), which means they had been sanctified, which refers to being set apart unto God, if they went back into Juda­ism, would have to stand before a Jewish tri­bunal in a Synagogue, and publicly denounce Jesus Christ as an imposter, as a blasphemer, and Who should have been crucified. This is what is meant by “trodding underfoot the Son of God, and counting the Blood of the Covenant, wherewith they had been sancti­fied, as an unholy thing.” As should be ob­vious, if they remained in this state they couldn’t be saved.
And according to the last phrase of this Verse, it is almost certain, that some of these

NOTES

Jews actually blasphemed the Holy Spirit, which we will address momentarily.
HOW COULD ANY BELIEVER
REJECT CHRIST?


To be more particular, how could these Jews who had accepted Christ, who knew the joys of sins forgiven, who experienced the great Peace of God which floods the sancti­fied soul, then turn their backs upon Christ, and especially reject Him after this fashion?
Many modern Preachers claim that such is not possible; however, if it’s not possible, why did the Holy Spirit have Paul to write the entirety of the Epistle to the Hebrews? To be frank, such thinking is silly! It is not only possible, it in fact happened, and actu­ally, it has continued to happen from then until now.
The modern Church in its ignoring the Cross, is certainly not to be placed in the same category which we have just addressed; however, one must admit, that such position is definitely going in that direction. And that is a frightful thing!
Turning away from the Lord is not an easy thing, nor is it a quick thing. It is a process of spiritual declination, which takes place because of a lack of consecration on the part of the Believer. Most of all, it is an improper evaluation of the Cross, and our relationship to that Finished Work. Many Christians, not understanding the Cross, at least as it regards their overcoming experience, struggle mightily against sin, always without victory. There is a terrible, discouraging factor in such a lifestyle. Consequently, many grow discouraged and quit. They haven’t really abandoned Christ and the Cross, they just simply have not properly understood the Fin­ished Work of Christ, thereby attempting to live this life by their own strength, which is impossible. Of course, if they remain in the state of the forsaking of Christ, they will be just as eternally lost, as these whom Paul addresses in this Epistle.
But again I emphasize, that most modern Christians who lose their way, do so because they do not understand God’s prescribed or­der of victory. The Christian Jews of Paul’s day were different. In all likelihood, they defi­nitely did understand the Cross, but purposely chose to reject the great Sacrifice of Christ. But at the same time, how similar is this with many modern religious leaders, who ought to know better than the course which they are presently taking!
God is merciful, gracious and true. He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish. Thank God for that, or none of us would be saved. But the Reader must under­stand, that Light rejected, is Light withdrawn. And that’s the state in which the present Church finds itself.
It’s going to have to make a decision as to whether it accepts the Cross or rejects the Cross! There will be no middle ground.
If it rejects the Cross, the results are inevi­table. It is judgment! If it accepts the Cross, it will be victory unparalleled!
THE SPIRIT OF GRACE

The conclusion of the question, “And hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace?”, re­fers to the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit Who performs the Work of Grace in the be­lieving sinner’s heart and life upon conver­sion, which Jesus paid for at the Cross. It is the Holy Spirit Who thereafter carries out every Work of God in the Believer’s life, again all paid for by Christ. Paul does not often refer to the Holy Spirit in these Passages, be­ing occupied for the most part with the Per­son and the Work of the Son. As well, and as should be obvious, he sees the Spirit as a Per­son, not an influence or a thing, for it is only a Person who can be insulted.
“Despite” in the Greek is “enybrizo,” and means, “insolent self-assertion which disre­gards what is due to others. It combines ar­rogance with wanton injury.”
In the New Testament there are a variety of ways of referring to the Spirit, but only here is He called “The Spirit of Grace” (Zech. 12:10). The expression means, “the Spirit through Whom God’s Grace is manifested.”
The idea is, and to which we have already alluded, it is the Holy Spirit Who performs every single work in the heart and life of the Believer, and again as stated, all paid for by the Work of Christ on the Cross. That’s the reason that Jesus said:
“Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto
NOTES

men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men”
(Mat. 12:31).
BLASPHEMING THE HOLY SPIRIT

The question here begs to be asked: If these Christian Jews in their turning their backs on Christ, at least those who did, if they in fact blasphemed the Holy Spirit which would insure their doom? or did they merely grieve Him?
It is most certain that they definitely grieved Him, and severely. And due to the particulars of the situation, and I speak of them having to publicly deny Christ, actu­ally publicly stating that He was an imposter and a blasphemer and thereby deserved cru­cifixion, it is no doubt positive that at least some of them blasphemed the Holy Spirit. There are several particulars about blas­pheming the Holy Spirit which we should address. They are:
1.
Only a Believer can blaspheme the Holy Spirit, or else one who strongly professes to know God, such as the Pharisees of old, but who in fact doesn’t, and who in fact never has. It has to do with light given, and light professed. Those who have never known the Lord, and who make no profession of Faith of any kind, cannot blaspheme the Holy Spirit. How can they blaspheme someone of Whom they know nothing!

2.
The manner in which the Holy Spirit is blasphemed, and once again I speak of so-called Believers, is to attribute the Works of God to the devil. This is what the Pharisees did regarding Christ.


When Jesus was healing the sick and cast­ing out demons, “The Pharisees heard it, and said, this fellow doth not cast out Devils, but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils” (Mat. 12:22-32). As stated, due to this accusation, Jesus pronounced that they had in fact blas­phemed the Holy Spirit.
As we have stated over and over again, every single thing done in the Believer’s life by God, is done through the Person, Work, Office, Power, and Agency of the Holy Spirit. This means, that it’s a dangerous thing to refer to something as being of the Devil, when in fact, it is of God, in other words, a direct work of the Holy Spirit.
I have heard Preachers make fun of speak­ing in tongues, and do so in a most debilitat­ing way. In doing this, did they blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
Only the Lord can determine when the line is crossed. Suffice to say, a person who would do such a thing, is treading on dangerous ground. Once again, I suspect that all of this has to do with the amount of Light that has been given to such an individual.
The Pharisees of old who made these state­ments about Christ, had been given Light as no human beings in history had ever been given Light; consequently, they were totally without excuse.
3. If a person has truly blasphemed the Holy Spirit, that person will never again turn to the right way, and in fact will have no de­sire to turn to the right way. So, the idea that there are people who cry, plead, and beg to be saved, but cannot, and because they think they’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit, is blatantly incorrect. Such a thing has never happened, at least as far as God is concerned.
While it certainly is possible that some people might believe a lie, and no doubt have, that’s their doings and not God. The very fact that a person would want to come to the Lord is proof that they have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit. It is the very Spirit of God Who has put the de­sire within the person’s heart to want to be saved, and to be sure, He wouldn’t do such a thing, if that person had in fact, blasphemed Him.
(30) “FOR WE KNOW HIM THAT HATH SAID, VENGEANCE BELONGETH UNTO ME, I WILL RECOMPENSE, SAITH THE LORD. AND AGAIN, THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.”
The composite is:
1.
Paul first of all appeals to the under­standing of his Readers.

2.
“Vengeance” is an unfortunate trans­lation, because the word conveys the idea of vindictiveness which does not reside in the original Greek word. The emphasis is not on that. It is rather on the certainty that the Lord will act. The wrongdoer cannot hope to go unpunished because avenging wrong is in the hands of none less than God.

3.
Paul leaves no doubt about the Lord’s intervention, for He is here named and so is His activity.



NOTES

4. That a man claims to be a member of the people of God does not exempt him from judgment. God judges all. That being the case, let not the apostate think that he, of all people, can escape.
A CERTAINTY OF JUDGMENT

The phrase, “For we know Him that hath said, ‘Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense,’ saith the Lord,” is meant to imply, that every single thing is going to be judged by the Lord, Who Alone is the Righ­teous Judge. In fact, the very One Whom some of these Christian Jews was repudiat­ing, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, they will ultimately face as Judge. The Scripture says of Him:
“And He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears:
“But with Righteousness shall He judge . . . and He shall smite the Earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked” (Isa. 11:3-4).
Every single thing that man does, for that he will ultimately answer to God. I realize that’s a solemn statement, but it happens to be true.
Of course, every believing sinner who comes to Christ at that particular time wipes the slate clean. In other words, his sins were judged at Calvary and will never again be brought against him. It is the same with Be­lievers who sin, and dutifully take that sin to the Lord. He has promised to forgive, cleanse, and forget, and that He does (I Jn. 1:9). But for those who turn their backs on God, even as Paul is here addressing as it regards cer­tain of these Christian Jews, if they remain in that state, they will lose their souls, and as well, they will suffer the wrath of God, even as Paul here proclaims.
But what about Christians who embark upon a wrong direction, and I speak of a di­rection that is unscriptural whatever it might be, even as untold millions have done and continue to do? This is answered in the next phrase.
THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE
The phrase, “And again, the Lord shall judge His people,” is taken from Deuteronomy
32:36, even as the previous quotation of this Verse was taken from Deuteronomy 32:35.
The idea here is, that the Lord will judge Believers when they deserve it, and chastise them when they ought to be chastised. The mere fact that we are His people will not save us from chastisement if we deserve it, any­more than the fact that one is a beloved child will save him from correction when he does wrong. This Truth was abundantly illus­trated in the history of the Israelites; and the same great principle applies to Christians as well! In fact, Paul will address chastisement in the Twelfth Chapter of this Epistle.
If a Christian sins, and that refers to what­ever type sin, we have the privilege of taking the problem to the Lord, where it will be cor­rectly handled; however, the idea in this is that we are sorry for our failure, and we certainly do not desire that it continue. In fact, in that capacity, the Lord places no limitations. The truth is, most Christians not knowing the Way of the Cross, are dominated by sin in some manner, with them having to go to the Lord over and over again. While such is certainly regrettable, and will definitely cause grievous problems in the life of the Believer, still, the Lord will be faithful to forgive irrespective of the number of times requested (I Jn. 1:9). Such a person doesn’t want the problem in their life, whatever it might be, but due to the fact that they do not know God’s prescribed order of victory, are doomed to continue repeating the situation. However, even then, the Lord will ultimately bring on chastisement.
But yet, we are faced with myriads of Chris­tians who do wrong, at times grossly wrong, but who do not think they are doing wrong; consequently, those individuals do not ask forgiveness and help from the Lord. They have embarked upon a course which is totally unscriptural, and in fact, which is sin, be­cause any deviation from the true way of the Lord is in principle, rebellion against Him. But yet, that’s where untold millions of Chris­tians presently find themselves. In other words, they are deceived! What about these particular individuals?
First of all, the Holy Spirit will move upon them greatly, attempting to bring them back to the right way and place. With some He succeeds in doing so, and with others He has
NOTES

no success. What happens to those particu­lar individuals? And to be sure, they num­ber into the untold millions.
The Lord cannot abide any wrongdoing or wrong direction in the hearts and lives of His people. With some of these individuals, they will go the way of these Christian Jews, which means they will ultimately lose their souls. With others, while they won’t lose their souls, they will definitely lose the Bless­ings of God in many and most ways. And to be sure, they will lose great reward at the Judg­ment Seat of Christ (I Cor. 3:11-15). Let it ever be known, that no one gets by with God! And especially His people.
Jesus plainly told us, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.
“For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Mat. 7:1-2).
This is speaking of making a negative judg­ment of one’s motives, and then passing judg­ment upon the person, which no human be­ing is qualified to do. Only God can do that.
In fact, everything must be judged Scrip­turally, in fact, it is demanded that everything be judged Scripturally. The Word says, “To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).
When it comes to accepting wrong doc­trine, which again millions of Christians have done and continue to do, consequences will be suffered for that as well. The entire Epistle to the Galatians is written for that very pur­pose. These individuals were trading Grace for Law, and Paul said if they did this, they would be “entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1).
LEADERSHIP

Many Christians have the erroneous idea, that if their Pastor embarks upon a certain direction, or the Leaders of their Denomina­tion, that irrespective as to whether that di­rection is right or wrong, they will be held blameless in their following if in fact, such direction is wrong. Nothing could be farther from the truth!
To be sure, this is the Spirit that is projected by many Preachers and so-called religious leaders, however, such thinking is definitely not of God. Every single Christian is going to have to answer for himself personally. He cannot pass the buck to others, so to speak. Every Believer must know the Word, be guided by the Word, and base all their deci­sions and actions on the Word. It doesn’t matter what others do, and it doesn’t mat­ter what it costs you to do right, even if it means being put out of your Church. In fact, that has always been the cost of true Disciple­ship. Christ must come first in all things. In fact, He must be first, second, third, fourth, etc.
Let us ever take to heart this which the Spirit has said through Paul, “The Lord shall judge His people.” To be sure, the Lord meant exactly what He said, and we should know, that He means exactly what He says.
(31) “IT IS A FEARFUL THING TO FALL
INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD.” The exposition is:
1.
God says what He means and means what He says.

2.
God is active and working, and doing so constantly, as proven by the words “Liv­ing God.”

3.
Paul is speaking here of falling into the hands of the Lord in a negative way. Such is a fearful thing!


Several things are here said in this Verse. They are:
A FEARFUL THING
This word is being spoken here to Believ­ers. In fact, the unredeemed have very little knowledge of God, at least that which is cor­rect. It is Believers to whom the Spirit is here speaking.
As a Christian, and as stated, I should un­derstand that Grace does not cover willful wrong direction. Also, it does not cover in­correct doctrine. Unfortunately, many Chris­tians think that because we’re living in the day of Grace, that God winks at wrongdoing. In fact, the Scripture blatantly says otherwise:
“And the times of this ignorance (Old Tes­tament times) God winked at; but now (this age of Grace) commandeth all men everything to repent” (Acts 17:30). Christians should fear going in wrong directions, because they will ultimately have to answer.

NOTES

TO FALL

The basic idea of all of this is, that Chris­tians by accepting false doctrine, fall from Grace (Gal. 5:4). This refers to substituting something else in place of the Cross.
All Grace comes through the Cross, and in fact everything that comes from God to Believers. To guarantee an uninterrupted flow, the Believer must at all times keep his Faith in the Finished Work of Christ, i.e., “the Cross.” If Faith is removed from the Cross to other things, and irrespective as to what those other things might be, a “fall” is the guaranteed result. With the Believer going in the wrong direction, if there is not a cor­rection, chastisement will be the ultimate result (Gal. 2:20-21).
THE LIVING GOD

“The hands of the Living God,” refers to that which is negative. By the word “living” we are given to understand, that God is ac­tive in all things. Every single thing done by one of His children is very important to Him. When we go in wrong directions, the Holy Spirit immediately begins to make the at­tempt to pull us back to the right way, and I speak of the Way of the Cross. Due to how much He loves us, He will take whatever steps necessary to accomplish this — but will stop short of forcing our wills.
If the Believer insists on continuing on the wrong course, the Lord will apply sterner measures, and if that is rejected as well, there can come a time that the Spirit of God will leave. Far better the individual being chas­tised by the Lord, even strongly, than the Lord letting the individual go. It was said of one of the tribes of Israel, “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone” (Hos. 4:17).
That is the worst thing that can happen to a Believer. In fact, what does happen to such a Believer?
If a Believer has reached such a place that the Lord has done everything within His power to bring the individual back, short of forcing the will, which He will not do, that person will be eternally lost, that is if the Lord continues to pull back from him.
I do believe for some, that even though the Lord may withdraw from them for a sea­son, He ultimately comes back, with some then repenting. But if He doesn’t come back at all, there is no way that person can main­tain Salvation.
I’ve had people mention certain Preach­ers or individuals to me, who were obviously living in sin, whether of morals or doctrine, but who seemed to suffer no chastisement from the Lord whatsoever. What about these people?
The Holy Spirit through Paul answers this question: “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bas­tards, and not sons” (Heb. 12:8).
Despite their profession, this means that such people are really not Christians.
(32) “BUT CALL TO REMEMBRANCE THE FORMER DAYS, IN WHICH, AFTER YE WERE ILLUMINATED, YE ENDURED A GREAT FIGHT OF AFFLICTIONS;”
The composite is:
1.
Paul wants these Christian Jews to re­member the former days, referring to the time of their Salvation.

2.
As Believers, they were given light as it regards the Lord Jesus Christ.

3.
Persecution immediately came from family and friends.


CALL TO REMEMBRANCE

The phrase, “But call to remembrance the former days,” recalls the earlier proofs that these Christian Jews had given of their faith­fulness and love.
In the last six Verses, Paul has enforced his exhortation by an appeal to the danger of falling away and the fearful consequences of unfaithfulness. From warning he now turns to encouragement. These individuals were to call to mind and ever keep in remembrance what the Grace of God had already enabled them to endure. As Theophylact has said, he bids them imitate, not others, but themselves.
These “former days” and despite the per­secutions, were days of victory. That’s why Paul refers back to this time, even as every Christian should contemplate. In other words, he is telling them, at least as it regards a course of direction, to go back to where you got in.
Every single person who has come to Christ has done so by accepting Christ and what He did for them at the Cross. That’s the first thing the Holy Spirit illuminates to
NOTES

the sinful heart, “Jesus died for me.” In this, the sinner sees himself as wicked and there­fore lost, and as well, sees Christ and His Cross as the only hope.
Unfortunately, after coming to Christ, many, if not most, Believers then leave the Cross, and primarily, because their Churches direct them to other things. Perhaps it’s done inadvertently; nevertheless, it is done in most cases!
What do I mean by these statements?

Most new Christians are not taught that the Cross of Christ, i.e., “the Finished Work of Christ,” i.e., “the great Sacrifice of Christ,” is not only the means of their Salvation, but also figures in everything they will be in Christ thereafter. In other words, the Chris­tian must look to the Cross of Christ at all times, and not only as it regards the initial Salvation experience.
Not being taught this, Christians begin to look to themselves, and I speak here of all types of good works, or their Church, or something else. In other words, their Faith shifts from the Cross to other things. As stated, most of this is done inadvertently, but the results will be the same, and I speak of failure.
When they go to their Pastors about their problems, that is if they do so, they are gen­erally told to “get more involved,” or that they “need to increase their faith,” or a hun­dred and one other such type things.
While these things no doubt are good within themselves, they really do not address the problem. The problem is, that Christian is no longer depending on the Finished Work of Christ, but rather something else. In fact, this is the great sin of the modern Church.
THE WAY SATAN WORKS

Immediately after the believing sinner comes to Christ, Satan sets about to hinder that Believer in any way and every way pos­sible. The Evil One uses temptation in vari­ous ways.
There is only one way to meet that temp­tation, whatever course it might take, and that is by the Believer placing his trust and faith completely in Christ and what Christ did for him at the Cross, understanding that it is in the Cross that all victory was won. When he does this, the Holy Spirit will then grandly and gloriously help him, and the temptation is thrown over. However, most Christians at this stage don’t look to the Cross, because they don’t know to look to the Cross. Consequently, they attempt to face the situation in any number of ways.
Most of the time they face the issue with nothing but their “willpower,” which is al­ways woefully insufficient (Rom. 7:18). Oftentimes, upon hearing other Christians talk about meeting the Devil with the Word of God, they will quote particular Scriptures in the face of temptation, thinking somehow this will turn aside the thrust of the Evil One. They are confused when it doesn’t!
Others try stamping their feet so to speak, and rebuking the Devil. But then they find that doesn’t work either.
In such a situation, which to be sure af­fects every single Christian, they are success­ful in holding off certain temptations. How­ever, almost all the time, Satan will be suc­cessful in one or two particular efforts. In other words, the Christian will succumb in those capacities, whatever those capacities might be.
Upon such a thing, the Christian know­ing he has done wrong, instantly comes un­der condemnation. At that point, he asks the Lord to forgive him, which the Lord has promised to do, and in fact, will always do (I Jn. 1:9).
With forgiveness, comes an instant resto­ration of fellowship. Many Christians mis­take this for victory, when actually it isn’t. While it is certainly true that their wrongdo­ing has been forgiven, to be sure, Satan will come back. In this situation, the individual now finds himself failing again and again. Each time he asks forgiveness from the Lord, and each time forgiveness is granted; how­ever, this is not the Lord’s way. In fact, this Believer is now being dominated by his sin nature (Rom. 6:12).
TRY HARDER?
In such a situation, the Believer becomes very frustrated. In fact, the same thing is now happening to him, that happened to the Apostle Paul. The Apostle said of his own experience, and this was before he was given the Revelation of the Cross, “For that which

NOTES

I do I allow not” (Rom. 7:15). Actually, the Greek word here for “allow,” should have been translated “understand.” Then it would read: “For that which I do I understand not.”
This is where most Christians are. They are struggling with all their strength not to do wrong, but in some way sin is dominat­ing them, and they are left confused and with­out understanding.
Of course, the Lord told Paul what the answer was, with the Apostle then giving us that answer in Romans, Chapter 6.
He explains there how that the Believer is “in Christ,” and in Christ by virtue of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Re­deemer. Christ was our Substitute, doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Our simple Faith in Him, places us in His cruci­fixion (His death), His burial, and His Res­urrection (Rom. 6:3-5). This means that all of our victory is without exception in Him, and more particularly, what He did for us at the Cross. That’s the reason I continue to say that our Faith must remain in the Cross, for it was there, that all victory was won.
Until the Believer learns this, it doesn’t really matter what he does, or how hard he tries, the end result is always going to be the same — failure. He can go to Preachers, have them lay hands on him, and even though the Preacher may be truly used of God, and even though the manifestation which follows may definitely be of the Spirit, even though at that time he will be blessed, he will find a short time later, that the same problem returns. That’s why Jesus said:
“You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32).
The trouble with Christians, we’re seek­ing a Touch, when in reality we need the Truth. Because it’s so important, please al­low me to say it again:
Until the Christian learns the Truth of the Cross, sin is going to continue to dominate that Christian in some way, and that despite all his efforts otherwise. God has only one way of Victory, and that is through what Jesus did at the Cross. When we place our Faith in the great, Finished Work of Christ, the Holy Spirit then helps us, which guarantees us victory. In other words, the Holy Spirit guar­antees all that Christ did for us at the Cross, but for us to have all of these benefits, He at the same time, demands that we exhibit Faith in the great Sacrifice of Christ, and actually continue to do so, all the days of our lives (Rom. 8:2). That’s why Jesus said, and to which we have already alluded, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself (don’t try to gain the Victory by his own ac­tions), and take up his cross daily, and fol­low Me” (Lk. 9:23).
WALKING AFTER THE SPIRIT

Someone asked me once, as to the defini­tion of victory. The answer is simple, it is “walking after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1).
And how do we “walk after the Spirit”? First let’s see what it’s not.
Walking after the Spirit is not doing spiri­tual things. Many people confuse the two. They think if they do spiritual things, such as reading their Bibles, praying, witnessing to souls, faithful attendance to Church, etc., that this is “walking after the Spirit.” It isn’t! While those things are definitely good, and in fact that which all true Christians will do, that’s not what Paul was talking about.
“Walking after the Spirit,” in its most sim­plistic definition, means to simply place one’s Faith in the great Sacrifice of Christ, under­standing that it is in Christ that all Life, Sal­vation, and victory are found. In fact, Paul uses the phrase “in Christ,” or one of its de­rivatives such as “in Whom,” some 170 times in his Epistles. Our victory is found totally and completely in Christ, and that means what Christ did at the Cross on our behalf. That’s the reason, and which we’ve already stated several times in this Volume, that Paul also said, “For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death” (Rom. 8:2).
Again, as I’ve said over and over again, the Holy Spirit doesn’t demand much of us, but He does demand that we place our Faith in Christ, and that refers to what Christ did for us at the Cross, and keep our Faith in that Finished Work. When we do this, and con­tinue to do this, the Holy Spirit, Who is the key to all of this, helps us grandly, and we then walk in all the overcoming victory af­forded by Christ, but only in that manner. Then, “Sin shall not have dominion over us:
NOTES

for we are not under the Law, but under Grace” (Rom. 6:14).
LAW

When most Christians hear about “Law,” they don’t really know what you’re talking about. And yet, if it is to be noticed, Paul talks about Law constantly, especially in Ro­mans and Galatians. Why does he do this?
In effect, it is the Holy Spirit Who ad­dresses this subject through him, and for good purpose and reason. The reason is, the problem has always been Law, and the prob­lem now is Law. What do we mean by that?
When we say “Law,” we’re not actually speaking of the Law of Moses, even though that was basically what Paul was addressing. So, how does that affect us now? To make it very simple, I will explain it in this fashion:
If we try to live for the Lord in any fash­ion, except total and complete Faith in the Cross of Christ, we have placed ourselves under “Law” whether we understand that or not. As such, we are guaranteed of failure.
Most of these things we do in attempting to live for the Lord, or to draw closer to Him, or to walk in victory, are very good things within themselves. In fact, and as stated, they are spiritual things; however, while the do­ing of the things, whatever they might be, is not wrong, our dependence on them is wrong. By putting dependence on all of these things, we have in effect turned them into a “Law,” which of course God can never honor.
I realize it sounds confusing, but if you’ll understand it in the following fashion, most of the confusion will be taken away.
The Christian doesn’t have to learn a long list of rules as to what to do and what not to do. All you have to understand is that your salva­tion, your life, and your victory are all found totally and completely in what Jesus did at the Cross on your behalf. As stated, you are “in Christ.” Consequently, you are to have faith in that, and you are not to allow Preachers to pull your faith away from that to other things. If you maintain your Faith in the Cross of Christ as it regards your life and living, the Grace of God will then flow to you in an uninterrupted manner, and the Holy Spirit will guarantee that it does. That’s why Paul said, “You’re not under Law, but under Grace” (Rom. 6:14).
Now please understand, this is not one way of victory for the Child of God, it is the only way. God has provided only one Sacri­fice, and that is the Sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan will do his best to draw you away from this Finished Work. Don’t allow him to do such. And don’t allow him to use Preachers or anyone else for that mat­ter to entice you away. Put your faith in the Cross of Christ, and keep your faith in the Cross of Christ. That’s where all life and vic­tory are found (Rom. 6:3-14; 8:1-2, 11; I Cor. 1:18, 21, 23; 2:2).
ILLUMINATION
The phrase, “In which, after ye were illu­minated,” refers to the enlightenment the Gospel brings to the mind of the Believer.
When the person comes to Christ, the Holy Spirit immediately takes up abode in the heart and life of the individual. And then immediately, the Believer should also ask the Lord for the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, which is promised to all Believers (Jn. 14:17; Acts 1:4-5).
At any rate, the Divine nature that is now in the Believer, opens up understanding as it regards spiritual things. For the first time in his life, the individual now begins to un­derstand some things about the Lord, and about God’s Word, which were impossible before conversion. In fact, if the Believer will place his faith in the Cross of Christ, trust­ing in the Spirit to do His Work, this illumi­nation will continue to expand all the days of his life. In fact, it is the most glorious life there is.
A person really doesn’t know how to live until they find Christ, Who in fact, is Life. The true purpose and meaning of life now becomes evident, which is to please God, and which is done through our Faith in Christ. In other words, Christ is everything!
AFFLICTIONS
The phrase, “Ye endured a great fight of afflictions,” refers to the persecutions that came their way after conversion. With Jews, that could have been quite extensive.
Their families and friends immediately, would have begun to use extensive pressure for them to renounce Christ and go back into

NOTES

Judaism. That failing, at a particular point in time, they would actually go through a type of ceremony, which one might even re­fer to as a funeral, and from then on would treat their Christian relatives, as if they were dead. Their names were no longer allowed to be mentioned, and they were accorded no recognition whatsoever. If close loved ones became ill, they were not allowed to visit. And if the Christian Jew became ill, to be sure, no one from his family would visit him. If a loved one died, they were not allowed to attend the funeral. If they passed each other on the street, on the part of the non-Chris­tian relative, there would be no recognition.
Some could handle this, and some couldn’t! However, and as stated, if they de­termined to go back into Judaism, they would have to go through a ceremony in the Syna­gogue, and would be expected to publicly denounce Christ, and in the most negative of terms. So as we see, these “afflictions” were quite severe.
In most of the countries of the world pres­ently, it doesn’t cost very much to live for Christ. Were that to change, I wonder how many Christians we would have left? There is one thing for sure:
The false prophets and the false apostles would thin out considerably.
(33) “PARTLY, WHILST YE WERE MADE A GAZINGSTOCK BOTH BY REPROACHES AND AFFLICTIONS; AND PARTLY, WHILST YE BECAME COMPANIONS OF THEM THAT WERE SO USED.”
The exegesis is:

1.
Some of the Christian Jews had been made a spectacle by being exposed to insult and injury.

2.
The second group had suffered by be­ing associates of the former group.

3.
All must be given up for Christ, even our very lives if necessary!


A GAZINGSTOCK

The phrase, “Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflic­tions,” refers not only to the things just listed, but as well, to public ridicule.
For many people, the latter, and we speak of public ridicule, is the hardest thing of all to take. Most people, even Christians, go with the flow. If they are in any way, made a “gazingstock,” i.e., “laughingstock,” for their convictions, most can’t handle that! Conse­quently, most at this point, fold and buckle, as one might say.
These particular Believers were not merely reviled in words, they were also made to en­dure positive sufferings of various kinds. Oftentimes this fell out to financial loss, and to be sure, all who could be hurt in this man­ner definitely had such visited upon them.
Of course, the non-Christian Jews consid­ered themselves to be of God. Even though they blasphemed Christ, they still considered themselves to be God’s chosen people. So, whatever it is they did to their fellow Chris­tian Jews, they were doing it all in the Name of the Lord. And in fact, that’s the way with much of this nature. The following should be noted:
Despite claims to the contrary, those who are in actuality enemies of the Lord, are not content to merely disagree with others whom they claim to be wrong; they feel they must attack the individual as well, and even destroy him if necessary. In other words, in this per­secution, they will go as far as the law will allow. Again, it’s all done in the Name of the Lord. But yet, this is one way that is easy to tell if a person is actually of the Lord. Those who are truly of the Lord will not do such things. While they will definitely oppose false doctrine, they will not try to hinder or hurt the individual who is promoting the false doc­trine. They will pray for him, and leave him to the Lord, thereby, taking no further steps.
COMPANIONS

The phrase, “And partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used,” re­fers to Christian Jews who tried to be of help to Jews newly converted, and coming under severe persecution. Consequently, the per­secution would extend to those attempting to help, even though they were not relatives, etc. The idea is, “Your friend is my enemy!”
(34) “FOR YE HAD COMPASSION OF ME IN MY BONDS, AND TOOK JOYFULLY THE SPOILING OF YOUR GOODS, KNOW­ING IN YOURSELVES THAT YE HAVE IN HEAVEN A BETTER AND AN ENDURING SUBSTANCE.”
NOTES

The structure is:

1.
Some of these Christian Jews had helped Paul, and they were hated for this.

2.
They did this even though it cost some of them dearly!

3.
They had at that time seen the big pic­ture, which refers to eternity, and which is an example for all modern Believers.


MY BONDS

The phrase, “For ye had compassion of me in my bonds,” evidently refers to the time that Paul was in prison in Rome, as recorded in Acts Chapter 28.
Some have claimed that the words “of me,” and as they referred to Paul, are not in the original Greek texts. Those who claim that, knowing that the statement given in the King James is another strong proof that Paul is the author of Hebrews, are mainly those who do not believe he wrote the Epistle.
Paul was hated by the religious leaders of Israel, even to the point of murder. In fact, they did everything that was in their power to murder the Apostle, with him being spared only because of the protection of the Lord. Their hatred for him knew no bounds.
They blamed him for every single Jew who accepted Christ. In fact, they blamed him for the entirety of the Gospel of Christ, feel­ing that if it had not been for him, Chris­tianity would have died. While that’s not true, still, it definitely is true, that Paul was the principal player in the Early Church.
So if it wasn’t bad enough for Jews to ac­cept Christ, at least in the minds of non-Christian Jews, it was worse yet when they did all within their power to help the Apostle Paul, as evidently many of them did.
FINANCIAL LOSS

The phrase, “And took joyfully the spoil­ing of your goods,” presents the fact, that those who did help Paul, were persecuted se­verely, and that many of them in addition to what was already being done, great pains were taken, to hurt or even destroy them financially.
In fact, many modern Denominations fol­low the same principle. If they oppose a fel­low Preacher, the leadership of these Denomi­nations, is not satisfied to merely have a part­ing of ways. At the same time, they feel that they must destroy the Preacher in question, whomever he might be. Consequently, they seek to step outside of their own Denomina­tion, and try to do all they can to hurt him in any way possible, and in any capacity. In fact, if such is carried on in the business world, the guilty parties can be prosecuted, because they are definitely breaking the law. Unfor­tunately, self-righteousness knows no law. It justifies its actions in many and varied ways. In fact, there is actually nothing these reli­gious leaders won’t do, and as previously stated, if the law of the land allowed it, they would actually murder the person in ques­tion. They justify their actions by claiming that what they’re doing is for the good of the Work of God. In other words, they really con­sider themselves to be working for the Lord in these perfidious actions. It was the same with the non-Christian Jews of Paul’s day.
The reason their modern counterparts do these things is because Christ is not really the Head of their Church. In fact, they serve as their own head; consequently, they make up their own rules. In fact, the Word of God is actually never consulted as it regards their course of action. They become a law unto themselves.
IN HEAVEN A BETTER SUBSTANCE
The phrase, “Knowing in yourselves that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance,” proclaims these particular Chris­tian Jews, as looking at the big picture. While some of them did suffer financial loss here, and because of serving Christ and especially because of helping Paul, they looked beyond that, realizing that by their actions they were laying up treasures in Heaven, which was the far more important.
What we are addressing here is consecra­tion far beyond the norm. If something af­fects their pocketbooks in an adverse way, most Christians do not respond too favorably. In other words, if the scene was put into today’s timeframe, I’m afraid that most Chris­tians would be of little service to Paul, espe­cially considering that he was in prison at the time.
In fact, if the Ministry of the Apostle Paul was set down into this present time, I wonder how many Christians would really support

NOTES

Paul, even without these other problems such as prison, etc.? I don’t think very many would!
I think that most would bridle at Paul’s insistence upon Faith in the Cross of Christ, and considering that the Apostle was very hard on false doctrine, I think the support would have been scarce. Regrettably, the Christianity of most people extends only a certain distance. Most of it doesn’t nearly extend to “Heaven with its better and en­during substance.”
(35) “CAST NOT AWAY THEREFORE YOUR CONFIDENCE, WHICH HATH GREAT RECOMPENCE OF REWARD.”
The composite is:

1.
This first phrase shows that it’s pos­sible for a Believer to cast away their confi­dence, which means to lose faith.

2.
That which we do here for Christ will bring forth great reward in Heaven — and in fact, great reward which will be eternal.

3.
The faith of the Believer is the single most important thing he can have. Every attack by Satan is in one way or the other against our Faith; consequently, in all that he does against us, the main thrust is always to get us to quit believing.


THE CASTING AWAY OF CONFIDENCE
The phrase, “Cast not away therefore your confidence,” refers to the fact, that some of these Christian Jews had in fact done just that, and others were seriously considering abandoning Christ.
“Confidence” in the Greek is “parrhesia,” and means “outspokenness, frankness, plain­ness of speech.” The idea as it is here used, refers to their confession of faith. They have confessed Christ, which means they had ex­pressed faith in Christ as the Savior of hu­manity, by virtue of His Sacrificial Offering of Himself on the Cross, and above all, they must not throw this away.
“Cast away” in the Greek is “apoballo,” and means, “to throw off, or throw away.” This is a strong statement as given by Paul, and conveys the thought of a reckless rejec­tion of what is valuable. Because the earlier conduct of these Christian Jews showed that they knew the value of their possession in Christ, Paul can appeal to them not to dis­card it. As Christians, they had a confidence that was based firmly on Christ’s saving work and that would be the height of folly to lose. What they had already endured for Christ’s sake entitled them to a reward. They must not lose sight of this! The New Testament does not reject the notion that Christians will receive rewards, though, of course, that is never to be the prime motive for service.
REWARD

The phrase, “Which hath great recompence of reward,” refers to the fact, that everything will be answered at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
“Reward” in the Greek is “misthapodosia,” and means “requital, remuneration.” The idea is, that God will owe no man anything. Anything done for Him, will receive a just reward. As well, the reward here addressed, refers to this present life, and above all in the life that is to come.
(36) “FOR YE HAVE NEED OF PA­TIENCE, THAT, AFTER YE HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD, YE MIGHT RECEIVE THE PROMISE.”
The exegesis is:
1. Proper faith demands proper patience.
2.
It is our responsibility to do the Will of God, irrespective as to what that Will might be.

3.
The Promise will come, but we aren’t told exactly when. In fact, it may be at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The idea is that we be faithful to the end.


PATIENCE

The phrase, “For ye have need of patience,” proclaims to us a great lesson. Proper faith will always have proper patience.
This tells us that God may not send the great blessing right now, whatever that great blessing might be. Anyway, the blessing is not to be preeminent, but rather doing the Will of God.
In the last several decades, the Church has been led down a primrose path. In other words, due to improper teaching on faith, the attention of the Church has become riveted on the blessing, i.e., “the Promise.” Conse­quently, there is not much love for God in all of this, simply because there cannot be much love for the Lord in all of this. If our
NOTES

eye is on the reward, that’s where our heart is. We must understand the following:
If we are to live right and to do right, we will leave everything in the hands of the Lord. To be sure, He will not overlook anything. He who notes the sparrow’s fall, and num­bers the very hairs of our heads, as should be obvious, knows all things. If we leave the reward up to Him, and not busy ourselves about these things, the Lord will handle the situation in His Way, which is 10,000 times better than our way.
THE WILL OF GOD

The phrase, “That, after ye have done the Will of God,” proclaims this to be the most important thing in our lives and experiences. If we properly do that, and I refer to carrying out the Will of God as it regards all things, or at least do our very best to do this, we can rest assured that God will handle everything else. That’s where the attention should be! That’s where the emphasis must be!
Many Christians are fearful of the Will of God. They have been led to believe that God may want them to do some horrendous thing, such as moving to Siberia, etc. Consequently, they have very little relationship with the Lord, thinking that He will now ask of them such things in such a case.
Such thinking is ludicrous! First of all, if God asks anything of anyone, He will auto­matically give that person a love for that par­ticular thing or locality, which changes the complexion altogether. There is no such thing as a person toiling and laboring for the Lord in some fashion or some place, where they are grossly unhappy. That does not ex­ist, being only a fabrication of the Devil, which causes many Christians to lose out on what they could have from the Lord.
Doing the Will of God is the most fulfill­ing, satisfying, completeness that a person could ever know. This is the secret of real life, of true living. In fact, anything else other than the perfect Will of God, always and with­out exception, falls out to hurt for the indi­vidual involved.
THE PROMISE

The phrase, “Ye might receive the Prom­ise,” refers to that which will definitely come, whatever it might be. However, none of that is to be our concern.
We are to love the Lord enough, and to have enough faith in Him, to know that He will provide for us, will take care of us, and will always do for us what we need.
There are some Christians who seem to be blessed now more than others. If that is in fact the case, and I find myself seemingly not blessed as much, that is not to be my concern. The Lord knows what He is doing. He tailor-makes the experience of every Christian, and does so for our betterment, which we must understand.
As a Believer, I am to trust the Lord, un­derstanding “that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6); how­ever, it is first of all, my business to “believe that He is,” and at the same time “diligently seek Him,” and then leave the rewarding up to Him. As previously stated, we must not get our eyes on the Promise, as important as the Promise is. We must remember, that this Promise comes from God, in effect, a Prom­ise He has made, and to be sure, God keeps His Promises!
(37) “FOR YET A LITTLE WHILE, AND HE THAT SHALL COME WILL COME, AND WILL NOT TARRY.”
The composite is:
1. This expression comes from Habakkuk
2:3.
2.
The idea is, that whatever reward the Lord sees fit to give us here, will be nothing in comparison to that which will be given there.

3.
The Rapture of the Church should be the crowning thought as it regards all Chris­tians, and of course, we speak of the coming Resurrection. It is then, when every Prom­ise will be fulfilled.


This particular Scripture says several things to us. Some of them are as follows:
A LITTLE WHILE
This of which the Holy Spirit speaks through Paul, may seem to be in the never, never; however, in the light of eternity, which is the manner in which it should be observed by all Believers, whatever the timeframe may be, is not long.
In fact, the expression is very much stron­ger in the Greek text. Expositors translate it:

NOTES

“For yet a little — a very little — while and He that cometh will come and will not de­lay.” Another translates it: “For yet a little
— ever so little — while.”

So, if the Holy Spirit deemed the timeframe but short some 2,000 years ago, which He definitely did, then how much closer are we presently?! The truth is, we’re living in the very last of the last days, perhaps even the last months of the last days. The Church has already entered into the last great apostasy, which will only grow worse. This means that the Rapture of the Church cannot be very long off. In other words, it could happen at any moment (I Thess. 4:16-18).
HE WILL COME

The phrase, “And He that shall come will come,” refers to the Lord coming Person­ally Himself.
Once more the hope of His Coming is set before these Hebrew Believers, and all others as well, even unto this present hour, as an animating and certain expectation. He who cherishes that hope finds in it a moral power that makes real a life of victory. As we have stated, this Passage is derived from Habakkuk 2:3-4. Verse 4 pertains to Verse 38.
Christ is the subject of Habakkuk’s vision. Not the beginning, but the perseverance of God’s righteous man as opposed to declen­sion and apostasy, is the force of the quota­tion here. As the righteous man receives life by faith, so by faith he continues to live; but if he draws back, God has no pleasure in him. In fact, the Holy Spirit in Habakkuk states the cause of his drawing back — pride.
WILL NOT TARRY

The phrase, “And will not tarry,” means that there is an appointed time for the Rap­ture of the Church, and at that appointed time, this great happening will come about.
Some claim that the Rapture of the Church is either pushed up or delayed be­cause of actions of the Church, etc. That isn’t so!
First of all, God is omniscient, meaning He knows all things. So in simple terms, that means that He knows exactly when He is coming for the Church, and to be sure, that particular date, whatever it is, and He Alone knows, will not be pushed up or delayed. While some things of the Lord are delayed by the lack of faith on the part of men, there are other things, such as the Rapture and the Second Coming, etc., which are not moved by man’s faith or the lack thereof.
A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

I never cease to marvel at the manner in which the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God in any and every capacity. The original point in Habakkuk, is that the faithful must await God’s good time for the destruction of their enemies, the Chaldeans.
But as well, even as the Holy Spirit records in Hebrews 10:37, it refers to the Rapture of the Church and as well, to the Second Coming.
On a personal basis, the Holy Spirit gave me this Promise in Habakkuk in 1993, if I remember the year correctly. The exact quo­tation is:
“And the LORD answered me, and said, write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (Hab. 2:2-3).
In seeking the Face of the Lord concern­ing a moving and operation of the Holy Spirit as it regards my own personal Ministry, the Lord, as stated, gave me this Promise. It is now beginning to happen, even though it has been some years in coming. And I believe what will happen, is going to usher many people into the Kingdom of God. Conse­quently, this Passage as used by Paul, is very dear to me personally.
(38) “NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH: BUT IF ANY MAN DRAW BACK, MY SOUL SHALL HAVE NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”
The composite is:
1.
Faith is the principle by which God deals with man.

2.
It is possible for a person to come to Salvation, and then to draw back to the place and position of being lost. Such is a denial of the Faith.


3. God has a soul.
NOTES

4. God is saddened by the loss of Faith among Believers, thereby putting them in the category of unbelievers.
FAITH

The phrase, “Now the just shall live by faith,” is derived from Habakkuk 2:4. In es­sence, this is the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 15:6). As well, this was the Divine spark that lit the Reformation when Martin Luther, an Augustinian Monk, was led to this Text by the Holy Spirit, with it being illuminated to him. In simplistic form, it means that the justified person is justified by God upon the basis of, and in answer to, his faith in the Lord Jesus, and more particularly, what Jesus did for him at the Cross.
First of all we must understand, that it is on the basis of Faith and Faith alone, in which God deals with the human race. So what do we mean by that?
As just stated, it means that God gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to pay man’s ter­rible sin debt, which He did by dying on the Cross. He died for all men, including those who had placed their faith in Him even be­fore the Cross, which includes all the Old Testament Saints.
God then requires that all men simply exhibit Faith in Christ and what He did at the Cross, accepting Him as their Savior, thereby believing that the price He paid was and is sufficient. That’s what the central Text of the Bible tells us:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). That’s all that God requires of the human race.
That means that we cannot come to Sal­vation by the giving of money, by the doing of good deeds, by belonging to certain Churches, by “being good,” through or by education, or any other way. Those things are referred to as “works,” which God can never accept. In essence, these “works” at­tempt to “buy” Salvation, in which much if not most of the world constantly engages. In the first place, the terrible debt that man owes to God in the realm of sin which in ef­fect, is a crime against God, is of such mag­nitude, that there is absolutely nothing that man can do to assuage this debt. It’s like try­ing to pay the debt of a trillion dollars with a few pennies. So, man not able to accomplish his own Salvation, God had to do this thing for man, which He did, by becoming man, and going to the Cross, all on man’s behalf.
Simple faith in Christ and what He did for us instantly brings about Salvation, which means that God instantly imputes to man a perfect righteousness, actually the perfect, pure, spotless Righteousness of Christ.
Inasmuch as “Faith” is required of all men, this angers some, because they consider themselves much better than others. In other words, the Jew grew very angry with Paul because he boldly proclaimed that they must accept Christ in the same manner as the Gentiles, which was and is by Faith. It is the same with many educated and rich people. Many of them don’t want to admit that they have to come the same way as the poor and the uneducated. Also, those who subscribe to a code of ethics are loathe to admit, that they have to come the same way as the drunk or the drug addict, etc. Never­theless, God’s Way is the Way of Faith, and unless men come His Way, they cannot be saved, and that means the eternal loss of the soul into hellfire (Rev. 20:11-15).
EXACTLY WHAT DOES FAITH MEAN?
Whenever Paul or Peter mention Faith, or any of the other writers in the Bible for that matter, they are always, and without excep­tion, speaking of Faith in Christ, which re­fers to what Christ did at the Cross. There are two things we must here remember:
1. Our faith must be exclusively in Christ. It must not be Christ plus something else, but always Christ Alone. And this is one of the major problems as it regards humanity.
Many attempt to believe in Christ plus the Church, plus good works, plus other things, etc. To add anything to our Faith in Christ, nullifies such Faith, which means that God will not honor it. And that’s the reason that millions walk down Aisles of Churches, join­ing the Church, thereby thinking this affords Salvation for them. Their faith is in that Church, and more particularly, in the join­ing of that Church, than anything else. Christ is mentioned and thought of in a nebulous

NOTES

way, but to their minds, their Salvation rests in them joining the Church. Pure and simple, these people aren’t saved.
The Church, plus anything else, has ab­solutely nothing to do with Salvation, that being entirely in Christ. It’s certainly not wrong to join a Church, but it is definitely wrong to think that doing such affords Sal­vation or anything of spirituality for that matter. Joining a Church simply means that we are joining in fellowship with other like Believers, in order to be more effective, hope­fully, for the work of God.
2. When we say “Faith in Christ,” we must always remember, that it is Faith in what Christ did at the Cross. As we must never separate Faith from Christ, we must never separate Christ from the Cross.
Millions claim to have faith in Christ, but they really do not properly understand what they are actually saying. We must understand in our minds, that when we speak of Christ, when we think of Christ, it is always in con­nection with the Cross. While of course, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Exal­tation of Christ are very, very important, as would be obvious, still, it was not these things which purchased our Redemption, but rather what Jesus did at the Cross. This must never be forgotten or misunderstood.
THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH

All we’ve previously said, primarily refers to the sinner coming to Christ; however, as Paul uses this Text, the greater thrust of the statement refers to those who have already come to Christ and are now ordering their life after Christ. Unfortunately, in many Church circles, we properly tell people how to get saved, just as I have already attempted to do so, but then we lead them wrongly af­ter they come to Christ. As the believing sin­ner is saved by Grace through Faith (Eph. 2:8-9), the believing Christian is kept by Faith. And what do we mean by that?
“Live” in the Greek is “zao,” and means, “to live life.” It refers to our everyday living, the manner and way we order our behavior.
Because we have exhibited Faith in Christ and what He did at the Cross, we are now saved, i.e., “just.” As already stated, we can attain such, i.e., “Justification,” only by trusting in what Christ has done for us. We are “just” only on that basis. And we re­main just only on that basis. But this is where the problem arises.
SALVATION BY FAITH,
SANCTIFICATION BY SELF!


What do we mean by the statement, “Sal­vation by faith, and Sanctification by self”?
It means that millions of people come to Christ, are saved, and are saved by Faith, be­cause that’s the only way one can be saved, and then they attempt to bring about Sanc­tification in their lives by the machinations and efforts of self. In other words, they try to sanctify themselves.
The word “Sanctification” simply means to be “set apart unto God.” Now that we belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit lives within our hearts and lives, and is there to perform an intended task, which is to make us more and more Christlike. This is done basically by the “Fruit of the Spirit” being developed within our lives (Gal. 5:22-23).
He can only do these things in one way, even as we’ve stated over and over again, and that is by us continuing to exhibit Faith in the great Sacrifice of Christ, which makes all of these things possible. The Believer must understand the following:
As the sinner can do absolutely nothing to save himself except have Faith in Christ, likewise, the Believer can do absolutely noth­ing to sanctify himself, except to continue to have Faith in Christ, which means to have Faith in what Christ did at the Cross on our behalf. The Believer cannot make himself holy, cannot make himself righteous, can­not draw himself closer to God by his own efforts and machinations, in effect, cannot really do anything by his own strength and ability which will affect anything with God. The Scripture continues to say, “The Just shall live by Faith,” which means that he will order his life by Faith, which refers to the fact of what Christ did at the Cross, and our Faith in that.
But yet, the great full-time effort of the Church falls into the realm of “self-sanctifi­cation.” The only thing that such efforts succeed in doing is to make us self-righteous, which is the bane of the Church.
NOTES

POSITION OR ACTIVITY?

Many Christians think that one draws closer to God by one engaging oneself in spiritual activity. While the activity is good, and will definitely bless the individual, and in fact, which every Christian should do, still, none of this activity will draw us closer to God, will help us be stronger in the Lord, will give us victory over the world, the flesh, and the Devil, etc. And that’s where we make our mistake. We think by involvement or activity, that such does something for us in the spiritual sense. Again I say, it doesn’t!
Everything that we presently are in Christ, and everything we hope to be in Christ, is all given to us freely according to our “position in Christ.” Jesus died for us, and we in ef­fect, died with Him, i.e., “were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:3-5), were buried with Him, and raised with Him in newness of life. Consequently, we are “in Christ.” That is our spiritual position, brought about totally and completely through what Jesus did at the Cross, and our faith in that. That’s the way it is and the way it always will be. So, if I want to get closer to God, which every Chris­tian should definitely desire, what do I do?
It can only be done in one way and one way alone. I am to understand that every­thing I am in Christ, and everything I hope to be in Christ, comes totally and completely by my position in Christ, which refers to what He did for me at the Cross. My Faith is to be anchored there, which will give the Holy Spirit the latitude to work within my heart and life, and do all the great things which He Alone can do. In this manner, I not only grow closer to the Lord, but I constantly grow closer to the Lord, which is the intended pur­pose of all of this (Rom. 8:1-2, 11; Gal. 5:5).
DOES THIS MEAN I’LL NEVER HAVE ANY MORE PROBLEM WITH THE DEVIL?
No, not at all! Just because your Faith is now right, meaning that it’s in the right ob­ject which is the Cross, doesn’t mean that Satan is going to back off. In fact, he is go­ing to oppose you all the days of your life, and do so in every way possible. But you need have no fear, as long as you properly abide in Christ, and you do that by constantly exhibiting Faith in the Finished Work of Christ. Listen to what Paul said:
“For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith” (Gal. 5:5).
This means as we consistently exhibit faith in the great Sacrifice of Christ, and not allow our Faith to be deterred to other things, that the “hope of Righteousness” will be developed in us. It’s a process, which means that it takes some time. Just because you have your faith properly placed in the Cross, doesn’t mean that you will be instantly mature in a spiri­tual sense. But notice what he said in this:
He said this “hope of Righteousness” comes by “Faith,” which refers to Faith in the Fin­ished Work of Christ, which refers to position, and not activity. The phrase “through the Spirit” refers to the fact that this is the way the Spirit works. In fact, and as we’ve stated re­peatedly, every single thing that the Lord does for us, is all done by and through the Office, Person, Power, and Agency of the Holy Spirit.
I keep saying these things, because some­times it’s hard for all of us to fully compre­hend a particular Truth. We say we know it, but in reality we don’t. And the sad truth is, most of the Church doesn’t understand that everything that is done for us by God, is al­ways and without exception, a Work of the Spirit. And at the same time, this Work of the Spirit is not automatic. It doesn’t re­quire much on our part, but it definitely does require something, and what is that?
The Holy Spirit simply demands that we understand that He can do all that He does for us, according to what Christ did at the Cross. The Work of Christ at the Cross was a legal work, within which confines the Spirit works. In other words, He will not go outside of those parameters. This is so iron clad in fact, that He refers to this as a “Law” (Rom. 8:2).
Now that doesn’t mean we have to under­stand everything about the great Finished Work of Christ, which in effect is the New Covenant. In fact, no one understands ev­erything about this, simply because it is in­exhaustible. That’s the reason that Paul re­ferred to this Covenant as the “Everlasting Covenant” (Heb. 13:20).
But you as a Believer do have to under­stand that all that you have in the Lord has been made possible by what Jesus did at the

NOTES

Cross. You are to place your faith in that, and then the Holy Spirit will do great and mighty things for you (Rom. Chpt. 8).
CONSECRATION

We Christians use the word “consecration,” quite often, and of course, referring to con­secration to the Lord. When we see individu­als who are faithful to Church, etc., we refer to them as “consecrated to the Lord.” In fact, that may definitely be; however, not neces­sarily so!
The correct Scriptural interpretation of Consecration to the Lord is that we are trust­ing totally and completely in the Cross of Christ, understanding that this is the Source of all Spiritual Blessings (Eph. 1:3). This is true consecration, which again, is “position.” Let me make this statement:
Consecration is what we do, while Sancti­fication is what we are. However, that which we do as it regards Consecration, is found only in one aspect, and that refers to having Faith in the Cross of Christ. That is the total extent of our “doing.” If we try to “do” any­thing else, thinking it makes us conse­crated, we have then placed ourselves in the realm of works, which can never bring on true consecration.
But we in the Church have become ac­customed to thinking that a person is conse­crated to the Lord, if they don’t do certain things, or if they do certain things such as prayer, faithfulness to Church, etc. Not so!
Now, when a person is properly conse­crated to the Lord, which means that they are exhibiting Faith in the Cross of Christ, to be sure, that person will definitely do cer­tain things; however, he will do these things as a result of consecration, and not in order to be consecrated.
For instance, if a person is truly trusting in Christ and what Christ has done for us at the Cross, which is His consecration, he at the same time will have a prayer life, will be faith­ful to Church, will be faithful in his giving to the Lord, will “come out from among them and be separate,” etc. (II Cor. 6:14-18; 7:1).
DRAWING BACK

The phrase, “But if any man draw back,” portrays the fact that such can be done, and of course, Paul is speaking here of Believers. In fact, this is what the major thrust of this Epistle to the Hebrews is all about. Some of the Christian Jews had already drawn back, with others seriously contemplating doing so. What does it mean to draw back?
It means to draw back from Faith in Christ, and more particularly, to draw back from Faith in what Christ did at the Cross on our behalf. This is what the Apostle is here talk­ing about.
The Lord will never throw over any Be­liever because of sin. If He did, there wouldn’t be any Believers left.
While sin will definitely cause the Believer all kinds of problems, and will definitely sepa­rate one from God, the Lord doesn’t wash the Believer out because of sin. But let not the Reader think that sin is to be taken lightly. There is a terrible “deceitfulness to sin” which refers to deception. Sin also hardens the heart (Heb. 3:13). So, let not any Believer think he can look at sin with impunity, or use the Grace of God as a license for sin. The answer of the Holy Spirit to that through Paul is, “God forbid!” (Rom. 6:1-2).
But again I emphasize, if the Lord threw over every Christian who has sinned, there wouldn’t be anyone left. Thank God we have a recourse for sin, and that is to take it to the Lord, where He cleanses us and washes us from the effects of sin (I Jn. 1:9). In fact, that is the intercessory Work of Christ, which He is car­rying on at this very moment at the Throne of God before the Father (Heb. 7:25; 9:24).
The only thing that can permanently sepa­rate a Believer from the Lord is when the Believer quits believing, which means he no longer evidences Faith in Christ and what Christ did for him at the Cross. As stated, this is the “drawing back” of which Paul is here speaking. We get saved by trusting in what Christ did at the Cross, and if we lose our way, and God forbid that would happen, but if it did, it would be because of losing Faith in the great Sacrifice of Christ. Faith in that great work got us in, and faith no longer evi­denced in that great work, will put us out.
Millions claim presently that if you’re not in their Church, that you’re not saved; con­sequently, for those who believe that, if one is in that particular Church, whatever it might
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be, and they are put out of that Church, these same people equate such with that person then losing their soul. They have equated salvation with their Church, and so if a per­son is no longer in that Church, they equate them as being lost. Such is ridiculous! In fact, it is ridiculous beyond compare! It would be funny, if it wasn’t so serious.
I’m ashamed to say such, but many in the Denomination with which I was formerly associated, actually believe such foolishness. Pure and simple, those who would believe such, at the same time means they are not exhibiting Faith in the great Sacrifice of Christ. That being the case, they aren’t saved!
They may claim their Faith is in Christ; however, in reality it is in Christ plus their Church, which nullifies their Faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit will not accept such.
But to be frank, many Denominations be­lieve this foolishness. While most of them did not begin this way, as little by little in their minds, they make their Church bigger and bigger, at the same time, Christ becomes less and less. That’s what happened to the Denomination with which I was formerly as­sociated. While there are still many Godly Preachers in that Denomination, and of course, Godly people as well, still, the trend sadly and regrettably is away from Christ to­ward other things. In other words, they are “drawing back” from Faith solely in Christ and Him Crucified. That is the great danger throughout the entirety of the Church, and we speak of all Denominations, and even in­dependent groups, etc.
This means that if you, the Believer, have your Faith in anything other than the Fin­ished Work of Christ, in some way, in some degree, you are “drawing back,” which if continued, even as the next Verse proclaims, can lead you “to perdition.”
NO PLEASURE IN HIM

The phrase, “My soul shall have no plea­sure in him,” is speaking of God. Even though this particular phrase is not a direct quota­tion from Habakkuk, still, that which is said in that particular Book makes it clear that God is not at all pleased with the one who draws back. Some have claimed that Paul is here speaking of himself, or else the writer, whomever he may have been. Such does not fit the Text.
The beginning of Verse 38 begins with a direct quotation from the Prophet Habakkuk, and the balance of the Verse falls into the same category.
It should go without saying, that God is grieved over such conduct on the part of any Believer. Considering the price that was paid for our Salvation, for one to come to Faith, and then draw back from Faith, presents a heartrending situation.
The Lord said through the Prophet Ezekiel, “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” (Ezek. 18:23).
Through the same Prophet, the Lord also said, “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11).
(39) “BUT WE ARE NOT OF THEM WHO DRAW BACK UNTO PERDITION; BUT OF THEM THAT BELIEVE TO THE SAVING OF THE SOUL.”
The structure is:
1.
There must never be a thought in the mind of the Believer about drawing back.

2.
However, we are plainly told here that it definitely is possible for a Believer to quit believing, and thereby be eternally lost.

3.
Salvation of the soul is strictly by Faith, and that refers to Faith in what Christ did at the Cross, to which the Believer should ever look.


DRAWING BACK UNTO PERDITION
The phrase, “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition,” refers to two things:
1.
It is possible to lose Faith in Christ, and thereby lose one’s soul.

2.
There is no reason that any Believer should ever do such a thing. If faith is main­tained in Christ and what He did for us at the Cross, there is no danger.


“Perdition” in the Greek is “apoleia,” and means “spiritual ruin, destruction, eternal loss.” We are speaking here of the losing of one’s soul, which Paul has already addressed in Verses 26-31.
In effect, Paul is saying, “I’m a Jew, and I have suffered terrible persecution, but I’m not

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going to give up my faith in Christ because of that, and in fact, there has never even been a thought of doing such.” But yet, some had definitely “drawn back unto perdition.”
FAITH

The phrase, “But of them that believe to the saving of the soul,” refers to the fact that the key to all that we have in Christ is Faith, and more particularly, Faith in the Finished Work of Christ. This is the only thing that saves the soul, and the only thing that keeps the soul saved.
“O Savior, as my eyes behold the wonders of Thy might untold, “The heav’ns in glorious light arrayed, the vast creation Thou hast made, “And yet to think Thou lovest me — my heart cries out, ‘How can it be?’”
“As at the Cross I humbly bow and gaze
upon Thy thorn-crowned brow,
“And view the precious bleeding form

by cruel nails so bruised and torn, “Knowing Thy suffering was for me, in grief I cry, ‘How can it be?’”
“How can it be? How can it be? Was ever Grace so full and free!
“From heights of bliss to depths of woe in loving kindness Thou didst go, “From sin and shame to rescue me —
O Love Divine, how can it be?”