R665 Presenting the Son Pt. 4

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Welcome to today's broadcast. We're continuing in our study of Hebrews. Right now, headed to Hebrews chapter 1 as Dr. Don Wilson continues with Presenting the Son on the Encouraging Word. He's my best friend. He's all that I need. He's my closest confidant.

He died for me. And I'm going to invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 1. You'll need your Bibles this morning in Hebrews and chapter 1. And I'm going to read to you to begin with just one part of one verse. But I'm going to just tell you and notify you that this verse is absolutely more powerful than one could ever begin to describe. It is a verse that truly confounds the most brilliant of minds.

Here it is. It's in Hebrews chapter 1 and it's right there in the middle of verse 3. God's Word tells us, after He, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, had provided purification for sins. Now if you will just look at me for a moment. There are three things here that are going to just simply jump out at you. Really there are four things when I think about it. Number one, it's in the past tense, but it's also in the present and it's also in the future. Number two, evidently this involves the Lord Jesus Christ.

He did this. Number three, it involves this word providing. And by the way, the word provide there quite literally rendered means that He made something happen. He made purification.

It implies the deliberateness of the willful planned act of God. After Jesus Christ made purification. The next thing is this matter of purification from which we get our word purify or to purify. And to be pure means that there is not one slight little bit of impurity in you. Now I've got a little bit of a problem if you don't mind me sharing this with you quite honestly today. How is it possible that someone like me could be pure?

I don't see that as being possible to be honest with you. I don't even know how that I could stand here today and say to you, ladies and gentlemen, I am pure because I know myself better than that. We know ourselves. We understand our human nature. We understand the thoughts in our hearts.

We understand our wickedness. We see the sin that so easily besets us. And yet the Bible here tells me something that Jesus Christ made or provided purification for my sin. And what that literally means is that something here that Jesus Christ has done makes me spotless.

Don't ask my wife whether that's possible. But Jesus Christ is telling me that. Now friends, I want to say this to you this morning and I really want to beg you to listen very carefully. There are some of you who are not listening and you know who you are and I'm watching you. There are some of you who are not paying attention and God is watching you.

There are some of you worshipping God today that your minds are cluttered. You went to bed so late last night you don't know whether you're coming or going. The stock market has crashed and you are deeply concerned. You have problems at home. You are suffering physically.

You've got things that are encompassing you and you are not paying attention. I'd like to pray for you. Would you bow your heads for just a moment? Our Father which art in heaven, hear our cry today. Lord, for that one who may be seated at a television set or in a hospital room or in the sanctuary of God, who right now is about to miss the most incredible gift that God could ever give to a people such as ourselves.

Lord Jesus, hear our cry. This pastor and thousands just like me intercede on one another's behalf. May the sacrifice that you have made upon the cross, that you have given to us, may you by your Spirit open the eyes of the understanding of those who hear your word. May this preacher be removed from the way. May all thoughts and distractions be set aside. For we want to see Jesus, in whose name we pray together.

Amen. There are some things about this passage that are too remarkable for words. And I'm going to submit to you that as I have struggled to understand the deep significance in my own personal life of the fact that Jesus Christ provided purification for my sin, I came to understand that what God is saying to my heart is not only that I need a fresh understanding of the reality of sin and of the penalty of sin and of the death of Jesus Christ, which we looked at last week, but I believe that God demands of me a fresh understanding of the significance of purification. Now I want you to listen carefully today, because Jesus did something that results in something. Jesus provided purification for me. It results in the fact that I become pure. I must have a fresh understanding of the spiritual significance of Jesus' provision related to purification.

What does it mean? It means in the first instance that man is set free from the bondage of sin. That's what purification means. When Jesus provided or made purification for sin, what Jesus Christ was doing upon the cross is he was providing the means by which man is set free from the bondage of sin. It was about exactly what Jesus Christ does, because the Bible tells us that in our sinfulness that we are literally in bondage to sin.

In fact, the word that Paul uses many times is the word slavery. We are slaves to sin. We are captured by, we are rendered in captivity to sin. We are in bondage to sin, all of us, every person.

Here's what happened. Jesus Christ provided purification for sin. What does it mean? It means that man is set free from the bondage of sin, but it goes further than that.

It means that man is declared free from the objectionable nature of sin. Now, please listen carefully to this. Have you ever heard someone, and I'm going to just confess to you right now, that I'm guilty of this.

Have you ever heard someone say, well, you know, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm just going to tell a white lie. You know, if I tell a white lie, what that means is that I've kind of softened the intensity of the lie, therefore it's not going to be quite as objectionable. Well, evidently God's word tells us that because God is holy and righteous, you and I cannot soften sin. There's no such thing as a squashed sin. You cannot miniaturize sin or diminish the significance of sin as far as God is concerned.

God is holy and righteous and just, and the Bible says that God, because he is holy, cannot even remotely tolerate even the very thought of sin. So what happened when Jesus made purification for sin? He set people like you and me free from the bondage of sin, but he set us free from the objectionable nature of sin. And number three, he set man free from the pollutants of sin.

You see, the pollutants of sin are the resulting consequences of the bondage and the objectionable nature of sin. In other words, what God is telling us here is something of singular significance. He's saying to us, Jesus Christ made complete provision for sin. What does it mean? It means that he set me free. It means that he declared me free. It means that he made me free.

There is a setting free. There is a declaration concerning my freedom. I am made free from the bondage of sin, the objectionable nature of sin and the pollutants of sin. Jesus Christ has done it all.

Isn't that wonderful? Please forgive me for using a human term when it comes to something so magnificent. Jesus covered all the bases. We're going to understand what he meant by he provided purification for sin. We've got to have a fresh understanding of purification because that's what we are declared to be even though we can't fathom or understand it. But I want you to note furthermore that it demands and requires a fresh understanding of the complete completeness of the sacrifice of Jesus. Now folks, just put on your seatbelts and listen. Listen to this.

It requires a fresh understanding of the complete completeness of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now I love history. You know that by now. In fact, I'm going to burst the bubble of some people here.

I'm just going to confess this is a time of confession. I'm one of those who actually watches the History Channel. I do.

And I love it. I love watching history. I love listening to all those things. Love reading historical books. You know, I love going back and looking at church history too.

I've studied a lot of it over the years. You'll remember the great epic struggles that took place between the kings of Europe and the popes, between the secular and the religious. The kings of Europe tried to rule as secular kings and the pope was the religious leader and he was trying to rule from Rome and there was this massive struggle between king and pope.

We know about that. Historically, it resulted in some of the greatest schisms that occurred in the church back in the old ages. Well, you'll remember a king by the name of Hildebrand and he was a powerful old chap, no doubt. And he had his castle and he ruled the earth and he has Pope Pius and Pope Pius ruled from his religious perspective and these two just buttered heads. And for some time, they tried to gain ascendancy over one another until eventually the pope said, I have had enough.

And so they tried to negotiate a little bit and Hildebrand said, look, I'm going to beat you pope. And the pope said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do to you. I'm going to excommunicate you. And so he excommunicated Hildebrand from the Catholic Church. Now friends, if you're not a Roman Catholic, you won't understand the significance of this necessarily. But to be excommunicated from the church by the pope meant that you were no longer permitted to have any part of the Roman Catholic Church. You were no longer permitted to receive the sacraments associated with the Roman Catholic Church. But, but you were also banned for life from ever going into the presence of God. Roughly translated, if the pope excommunicated you, you were deprived of the means by which the church taught you that you could go to be with God. It was a very serious thing.

Hildebrand dug in his heels. He survived for a little while, started getting nervous because it wasn't working out, realized he needed the pope on his side. So he went down to his winter retreat just outside of Milan, Italy. And he went up to the pope and he said, pope, I've messed up. What can I do to be restored to the church and to God and to you? And the pope said, I'll tell you what you're going to do. I want you to go back to your winter castle in the middle of winter.

I want you to strip naked and I want you to go kneel outside in the snow for 10 days with no clothes, no food, no water in front of all your subjects. And I want you to pay penance and I want you to repent before me. And when you've done that, I will restore you to the church and to God. Do you know he did it?

Hildebrand went and did it, this great king. Now folks, I want to tell you about the complete completeness of Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Because the Bible here says that Jesus Christ made purification for my sin. I want to make an announcement to you today. Please don't misunderstand me.

I'm not trying to be facetious or funny. Folks, I wouldn't mind if somehow God just decided that I had the same power to be able to forgive sin and declare people to be pure. And that if any one of you came to me at any time, I could just make an announcement if you did what I told you to do. I would declare you to be pure and acceptable in the sight of God and I had the power to forgive you.

But there's a problem here. The problem, my friends, is that God determined that I am rendered incapable of being able to forgive people of their sin. And so, Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world. Is it any wonder that right here in this passage the Bible says that after these things that He provided purification for sin?

Well, what does it mean to have a fresh understanding of the complete completeness of the sacrifice of Jesus? Turn with me in your Bibles quickly to chapter 7 of Hebrews. Everybody turn there, chapter 7.

I want to show you something that is absolutely remarkable. Hebrews chapter 7, and we're going to read just verse 27. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 27. Here's what the Bible says. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.

Do I hear an Amen? All right, go to chapter 9 quickly. Chapter 9 and verse 12. Chapter 9 and verse 12.

Let me read to you 12, 13 and 14. He did not enter by means of blood of goats and of calves, but He entered the most holy place once and for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean, sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more then will the blood of Jesus Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to spiritual death so that we may serve the living God. Ladies and gentlemen, after Jesus Christ had provided purification for my sin, He sat down at the right hand of majesty. Let's say Amen again.

Woo! This is the Gospel. This is what it's all about. This is Shouting Time. Forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's teaching. But Dr. Don wants you to know we're here to pray with you 24 hours a day at this number, jotted down, store it in your cell, 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 to talk or listen or pray or connect with great resources.

866-899-9673. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. What does it mean, the complete completeness of the sacrifice of Jesus? What it means, number one, is that daily sacrifices are no longer necessary. Boy, they tried hard in the Old Testament, but Jesus died. Once and for all, daily sacrifices are no longer necessary.

I wish I could make an announcement to you today that you need to go and do this and you need to give your money to this and you need to be in this and you need to sing that, and I wish I could give you a whole list of things. The only thing that I can do is to point you to Jesus Christ. What does it mean, the complete completeness of Jesus' sacrifice? It not only means that daily sacrifices are no longer necessary, it means that religious rituals are no longer required. Now folks, I'm not against prayer books. I respect very deeply the manner with which some people worship the Lord, and I consider those people to be as much of born-again Christians as I am if they have trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord, but I can say this to you, that you will not find prayer books and religious ritual in this church. And as long as I'm your pastor, we will never find that in this church.

And I'm going to tell you why. Because God condemns religious ritual. Some of you may notice that we very rarely even say the Lord's Prayer. Have you noticed that? Is it because there's something wrong with the Lord's Prayer?

Absolutely not. But I grew up in the British world, my friends, where four and five and six times a day we recited the Lord's Prayer. I said the Lord's Prayer so many times you could say it backwards. It's said at ball games and in school rooms and boardrooms and council rooms, and it is just a meaningless babble.

It is nothing more than just a religious ritual. When we say the Lord's Prayer, we need to be talking to our Heavenly Father. Let's do it.

Join me. As each one of us from our hearts pray the Lord's Prayer, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth just as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, just as we have forgiven our debtors. And one more thing, Lord, please, please prevent us from being led into temptation. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and forever. Amen.

Can you feel it? Folks, that's why we don't come and sing the doxology every Sunday. The doxology is one of my favorite songs.

I feel like breaking into the doxology right now. But we don't do that every Sunday. Do you know why? Because religious rituals are no longer required. We don't stand up and sit down and read prayers and say prayers and recite prayers and do all kinds of all things to try to impress God.

Do you know why? Because Jesus Christ made purification for sin. Religious rituals are no longer required.

But there's a third meaning behind this. It means that priestly practices are no longer sufficient. You see, friends, the complete completeness of the sacrifice of Jesus means that daily sacrifices are no longer necessary. Religious rituals are no longer required. Priestly practices are no longer sufficient.

Why? Because Jesus Christ is our high priest. Jesus Christ is the one who is in the holy of holies. Jesus Christ is the one who made purification for sin. It is through him that we find the Father. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come unto my Father, which is in heaven, except through me.

This requires a fresh understanding of the complete completeness of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Moms and dads, look at me. Teach your children that. Put this on your people. Pastors and ministers of the gospel, preach your people concerning Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Be focused. Church, whatever we do and whatever it is God calls us to do, we will save to glorify the Father which is in heaven, through the Son, by his Spirit. Oh, it gives us a fresh understanding of purification and of the complete completeness of the sacrifice. But I'm going to tell you with joy in my heart that it gives us a fresh understanding of the significance of faith.

That's what's required of us, folks. Look at that verse in verse 3. The Bible says here, after he had provided purification for sins. It gives us a fresh understanding of the significance of faith.

Why? Well, it's simple and yet profound because it's all attributed to him. That's why. That gives us a fresh understanding of faith, folks. It's all attributed to him. What does that mean? I love this. It means that it all belongs to him.

That's what it means. That's our prayer that we all have gained new understanding today of our faith and of our need for Jesus. You've heard Dr. Wilton as he's been preaching in the pulpit. Now, open your heart to what he wants to share here in the studio. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin, and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just gave your life to Christ, we would love to help you grow. We have free resources Dr. Wilton wants you to have if you'll call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to hear from you, and before we get away, closing thoughts from Dr. Don. You know, I'm so glad that we've been able to share together by means of radio today.

You just mean so much to me and how thankful we are for the Word of God together. You can call right now and connect with me at 866-899-9673. Did you get that? 866-899-9673. Call and connect with me right now. Our time's gone for today, but tomorrow Dr. Wilton brings to a conclusion this wonderful study in the book of Hebrews. I hope you'll join us and bring a friend. Between now and then, let's stay connected on our website at www.tewonline.org.