R710 Why Jesus Was Crucified, Pt.2

God has an encouraging word for you and me today, through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton on this edition of The Encouraging Word. We are definitely going to be encouraged by the teaching of Dr. Don Wilton, but we'd also love to encourage you personally to pray with you anytime at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. As always, you're going to need your Bibles, for we have nothing to say outside of God's Word. And as you are well aware, we have been studying the letter to the Hebrews. We began a mini-series within a series on perhaps the most important subject that could ever be talked about at any time.

Paul put it into perspective when he said, I save to know nothing, nothing among you, excepting Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Our series is entitled, The Superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has been speaking to our hearts. I'm so grateful for the way in which you get your Bibles out and for the literal hundreds of letters that we get from our partners in television. And I want you to know how glad we are and I am to worship with you today, to let you know how much we love you right there in your bedroom, in that hospital room, a nursing home, your place of work. You are so much a vital part of what God is doing here in downtown Spartanburg. And I invite you to take your Bibles and open it with me to Hebrews chapter 10.

Why was Jesus crucified? Let's read together and I'm going to begin in verse one and I'll stop from time to time just to contextualize what it is that God is saying to us. The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly, year after year, make perfect those who are desiring to draw near to God. One must remember here, my friends, that talking to the Hebrew congregation, that there was a vast number of people, countless numbers who by virtue of their religiosity, their genuine sincere efforts, were doing everything that they could to try to draw near to God.

And they followed the letter of the law. They did what the Old Testament prescribed for them. They went and made sacrifices and met with their priests and they did this over and over and over again. But evidently, according to the word of God, those efforts were rendered futile. Verse two, if it could, that is, if these endless sacrifices year after year could have made these people perfect, would not they have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.

But those sacrifices are nothing more than an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. With burnt offerings and sin offerings, you were not pleased. Then I said, here I am.

It is written about me in the scroll. I've come to do your will, O God. First, he said, sacrifice and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings, you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them.

Although the law required them to be made. Then he said, here I am. I, the Lord Jesus Christ, have come to do your will. That is the will of my Father, which is in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ sets aside the first covenant in order to establish the new covenant. And by that will, we, that is people like you and me, have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again, he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

And since that time, the Lord Jesus Christ waits for his enemies to be made his footstool because by one sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us. By the way, that word there means that God, by his Spirit, confirms these things to us. That is one of the functions of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus ascended to be seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool, what happened? He said, I'm going to my Father in order that my Holy Spirit might come down from heaven to do, amongst many other things, to confirm the validity of all the things that I have already told you about.

Open your eyes to give you understanding, to guide you into all truth. So what is it that the Holy Spirit testified concerning? Verse 16, this is the covenant he confirmed that I, the Lord Jesus, will make with them after that time, says the Lord. Note the radical shift here from writing the laws on their doorposts and sprinkling the blood of a sacrificed lamb so the angel of death would pass by.

What changed with the death of Jesus Christ? He said, no, now in the new covenant, I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. Then he adds, their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any need for sacrifice. Now friends, I'm going to guarantee you something. There is at least one person here today who struggles with the fact of the forgiveness of your sin.

You know how I know there's at least one person? Because I am he. I struggle coming to grips with the fact that Jesus Christ, because of his sacrifice upon the cross, has forgiven me once and for all.

In fact, we find here in this great epistle, the repeating over and over again, this timeless truth that I am forgiven forever because of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I struggle with that in my own human predicament. I don't seem to quite get it. I've done a fair share of studying. I've got a PhD in these things. With all the studying and seminary training, I still struggle with that because of the frailty of my human condition. You see, that's where my faith kicks into gear. I live not by sight or by feelings.

I live by what? By faith. I accept what it is that God has done for me in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, what has he done for me, even though I don't understand it? The Bible says here in the last verse, verse 18, that I read, where these things, what things have been forgiven? All my sin, my lawless acts, where these things have been forgiven, how by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, what happens as a consequence? There is no longer any need for endless, repetitious ritual and sacrifice.

Why? Because the blood of bulls and goats cannot forgive my sin. I am redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world. Somebody say amen this morning. Amen. What an incredible truth. What a wonderful thing to come to understand by faith the imputed righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Well, let's remind ourselves briefly who this was written to.

Folks, listen, let's just understand something. There were three groups of Hebrew Jews that this was written to. The first group, very seriously, the first group were the never believers. I call them the never believers. This was a group of people who were sincerely religious. They took their religion so seriously they were orthodox to the letter of the T. They did everything right.

They followed the law and the commandments to the letter of the law. They were the never believers. They walked in and it would seem humanly speaking that there would be no way that they would ever come to believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. They were the never believers. The second group were the unbelievers. Oh no, they weren't Christian people.

They hadn't converted. But I think that this incredible epistle lets us know that there was a vast audience out there of Hebrew people that were right on the verge of coming to put their faith in trust in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who made atonement for our sin upon the cross. Oh, they were right there. You know there are unbelievers sitting here this morning.

I might just have looked at you a moment ago. There are unbelievers worshiping by way of television, some of the best people that I've ever met in my life. The believers are a vast group of people in America. They've done the right things. They go to church. They listen.

They're upstanding citizens. They don't deny the presence of God. They are right on the verge and at any moment they are hearing God knocking at their hearts door through the Spirit and the Spirit of God is drawing them unto himself and they are right there, right there at the point of opening the door and letting him come in and sup with them and he with them. They are about to be converted. Those are the unbelievers.

The third group were the believers. These were believing Jews. They had grown up in their traditions from the younger stage but they'd come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and they were engaged in a titanic struggle not unlike many of us. We grow up in our religious traditions. We know what mama taught us and what the church teaches. We come to believe that Jesus Christ has set us free and yet we just cannot seem to take our foot out of the tradition of our past and of our heritage and of our history.

We just cannot seem to understand that we've been set free by Jesus Christ and you see what God is doing here is he is talking to them and guess what the subject is? It's about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the one who came in obedience to the Father. That's what the subject is, the crucified Christ. Why was Jesus crucified? Number one, to make perfect. We looked at that last week.

I'm not going to spend any time on it. You'll find it in verse one, in verse 14. The Bible tells us very clearly that Jesus died in order to make perfect.

Why? Because we are imperfect. We are blemished. Jesus Christ is the spotless Lamb of God.

He is unblemished. And the Word of God says that no matter how many times I go through rituals and no matter how much I try to work to merit my faith, I can never rid myself of the blemish of my imperfection. Bible tells us right here in verse 14 that the Bible says that because of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that I am being made perfect forever. What does spiritual perfection provide? Well, it provides the ability to have access to God. That's what verse one says. They were trying to get access to God.

They couldn't because they were imperfect. My perfectness comes because of the imputed righteousness of God. Christ in me. And because Christ is in me, I am able to be presented in the presence of the holiness of Almighty God.

Forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message from Dr. Don Wilton. But Dr. Don wants you to know about a wonderful set of resources we have available right now called A Call for Courage and what it is to be salt and light. In this day and age, there is more opposition than ever to those of us following Christ. And how do we respond to that?

How do we find the courage to respond? You'll find more details on our website, TEWonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don. Number two, spiritual perfection provides the ability to attain personal perfection. And number three, spiritual perfection provides the means to complete my salvation. Verse 14 tells me about it.

We looked at it last week. I am saved. I am being saved. I am going to be saved.

I am in the process of being sanctified unto the holiness of a righteous God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ who lives in me. So why was Jesus crucified? Number one, to make perfect. Number two, to remove the burden of sin. We notice something here from verse two through verse four.

You can look at it in your Bibles for yourself. I love verse two. Verse two is a stark reminder of the impossibility of any method, ritual, person, or place to try to take the place of Jesus Christ. No wonder that the Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come unto the Father but by me.

That is singular. It is absolute because if there was any other means, if these means could do what only Jesus Christ could do, would not they have stopped being offered? Why do you suppose was it that the Lord Jesus upon the cross said it is finished?

Roughly translated, it is completely complete. What I've done upon the cross is all sufficient. It is the all sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, the completeness of his death upon the cross. Praise God. There is nothing else to be accomplished outside of him. And so it is Jesus died. He had to die.

Why? To remove the burden of sin. That's exactly what God's talking about, folks. What's the difference?

What's the difference? Is this something that happened in the Old Testament? It's happening in our world today.

There's some people today worshiping the Lord. You've lived exactly what you wanted to do. You carried on. You were unfaithful. You cheated, robbed, stole, did whatever it was. You came to church this morning and you think just by being in church that God's gonna forgive you.

No, he is not. Friend, let me tell you the reason why he forgives you is because Jesus Christ went to the cross. And what we've got to understand, my friends, is that the continual repetition in the Old Testament model reminded these people how sinful they were. The Old Testament Jews were never freed from the presence and awareness of sin, not only of sin, but of the guilt of sin. Now, let me make this very clear to you, my friends, lest there be any mistake. As Christians, we must be conscious of our sin, but we must not be burdened by our sin.

Why? Because burdens are lifted at Calvary. The cross, why did Jesus die? To remove the burden of sin.

Now, we've got to be careful here. Some people say, well, you know, if God is such a God of grace, that gives me license to go in sin. No, Paul writing to the church at Rome said, be careful, you carry on sin in order to extend the abounding grace of God, you've got a serious problem. You see, my friends, it is the love of God which constrains me. Christ Jesus in me constrains me. When I have the burden of my sin removed, I am under the constraint of the Holy Spirit who lives within me.

In fact, it's a mark of my belief and of my faith. And so, my friends, what's at stake here? If Jesus Christ was crucified in order to remove the burden of sin, what is at stake?

There are three things at stake. First of all is the removal of sin. The proverbial eternal question, how can I get rid of my sin? That's what's at stake. What's at stake here is the redemption of man. How can I be saved from my sin for all time and for all eternity? What's at stake here? Number three, reconciliation with the Father because my sin has separated me from God.

How can I have fellowship with my Heavenly Father once again? This is what is at stake. Jesus Christ died.

And so the question is this. If Jesus Christ died in order to remove the burden of sin, what exactly is removed? There are three things that are removed. Number one, my lack of freedom. You see friends, if I believe that I work for my religion, if I believe that I have to go through endless repetition, if I believe that my church can save me or my preacher can save me, I am a man who is bound by my sin. I am in chains. I am not free. But Christ Jesus has set me free. The removal of sin is God's means by which man who is restricted and rendered impotent, God has a plan which has been executed upon the cross that by virtue of the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross, I have been set free.

Whoo! You might say to me, well, pastor, what does that mean? Friend, listen to me. There is not a single sin that God will not forgive excepting one.

I love saying that because it always sounds kind of backwards. You might say to me, pastor, I have murdered someone. God will forgive you.

I got the most precious letter this week from someone guilty of the crime and the sin of murder. I want to make it absolutely clear to you, you have been forgiven once and for all by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. There is only one sin that God will not forgive and that is the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. You say to me, pastor, why blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? It's quite simple because my friend, when you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you are putting down, you are rejecting, you are denying the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross through His Son. Bible says blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means that you are effectively denying the finished work of Jesus upon the cross and if you deny the finished work of Jesus upon the cross, you do not believe that the blood of Jesus Christ has set you free, which means that you cannot be saved and if you are not saved, you're not forgiven and if you are not forgiven, you can never come into the presence of Almighty God. It is one sin God cannot forgive. So what happens when our sin is removed and the burden thereof? A lack of freedom, I'm set free.

Number two, a lack of joy. I want to tell you, you have a works-based religion. I challenge you to go into a church these days where they stand, sit, kneel, read, recite, prayer after prayer, sing the same things over and over again, time without number. I don't care if it's the Lord's prayer or whether it's the doxology, where your whole faith and your religion is based upon ritual. I'm going to tell you something, my friend.

You will have no joy. The Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of His death upon the cross, has set me free. He has given me joy. I am able to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Wow, what a blessing. The third thing that is removed is a lack of peace. How is it possible to have peace if you're never forgiven? I can't imagine day by day and week by week carrying around the burden of my sin. I'm not going to have any peace. Folks, I'm conscious of it because, as Paul said, my sin, which so easily besets me, but my burden has been lifted at Calvary. I have been forgiven once and for all.

I am free. I have joy and I have peace, the peace of God which passes all understanding, which keeps my heart and mind through Christ Jesus. And when you get into chapter 10, that's exactly what he says.

He says, I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. Are you with me today? What a Savior we serve. Number three, why did Jesus die?

Why was Jesus crucified? Number one, to make perfect. Number two, to remove the burden of sin. Number three, to give His body. Now friends, we are not going to get through this point today because I have seven points under this one.

But I'm going to simply begin. If you go back into Isaiah chapter 53 and verses four through seven and so many other passages, if you take a journey with the Lord Jesus Christ down the Via Doloroso, you think back to the night before as Jesus took His disciples into the upper room and He broke bread and He gave thanks. What did He say? He said, this is my body which is broken for you.

Now friend, listen to me. Jesus died in order to give His body because His body bore our grief. You've been listening to Dr. Don Wilton as he's been preaching and teaching from the pulpit, but now he steps into the studio to share his heart next. 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. Welcome to the family of God. I'm convinced some of you were praying along with Dr. Wilton moments ago or would like to speak to one of us and pray with us now. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD. Give us a call. If you'd like to talk or pray with someone or if you just gave your life to Christ or rededicated your life, we have free resources Dr. Wilton wants you to have if you'll call us at 866-899-9673. 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. It's been a great day of Bible teaching with Dr. Wilton and you can hear this message and others on our website at www.tewonline.org. It's also the place to sign up for the daily encouraging word from Dr. Don that's online at www.tewonline.org. The Encouraging Word