Joseph Prince - Can You Lose Your Salvation? - Part 2
The father's desire for all of you is that... and there's a reason I'm preaching these messages these few weeks, all right? I'm preaching messages on strong comfort and consolation, full assurance because the Father's desire is that his children come to him boldly. You know, come to him not like an abused dog. You know, a dog that's been abused, every time the master raises his hand to just flip his hair, the dog goes like... thinking the master is about to hit him. You know, you know that dog has been abused. God wants his children to come to him boldly, knowing there's no more judgment, that all the judgment is passed, amen, and what is in front of you is just hope and a beautiful future. Amen? Amen? All the judgment is passed. Praise God.
Now, some people don't believe that, and unfortunately amongst them are people who seem to be, like, you know, theologians and people who preach sometime in such a way that you can lose your salvation. And we are touching on this series about whether you can lose your salvation and we're looking in all the passages that normally people will bring up to try to enforce the point, their point that you can lose your salvation. But actually if you take a verse out of its setting, remember context is king. You take a verse out of its context, all right, take a verse out of context, you have C-O-N left, all right? You can con anybody, all right? You must leave the verse in its context. Amen. So that's what we intend to do, and because of that, we're going to dive right into it, okay? Are you ready?
So let's read Hebrews 10. If you're not freaked out yet, let me just freak you out right now, okay, with Hebrews 10. So this is a passage that they will bring up. "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries". Must sound like, you know, really a threatening as well, all right? "Anyone who has rejected Moses' Law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace"?
Wow. Howmuch sorrow punishment? So when someone just reaps this out of its context, guess what? They get fearful, all right, when actually the whole context here has got to be seen in its context. So let's look at this chapter. It starts with if we sin willfully. Let's go back to verse 26. "For if we sin willfully". Now, how many agree after you are saved... how many can say saved? Are you saved? Really, really saved? Praise God. Heaven is your home. God is your Father. Your sins are all forgiven. Amen? Praise God. Blessed be the Lord. Jesus said, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish". And never there is a double negative in the Greek, ou me. Never ever by any means perish. Now, we have said never allow an obscure passage rob you of the joy and certainty of clear passages. Remember? Okay? If you come across an obscure passage, go back to once Jesus gives you eternal life, you will never perish, all right, or else Jesus lied. Amen. Are you with me?
So when you see a obscure passage, don't let the obscure passage rob you of the joy of the certain passage. For example, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes. Are you one of the whosoever, amen, or are you a monkey or a horse? Are you a whosoever? Yes. Have you belief on Christ? Yes. You will not perish, but you have everlasting life. Amen. So these are clear passages. Amen. So keep that in mind as you look at obscure passages, okay? First and foremost, notice what chapter is this? Chapter 10, all right? The chapter is before the semicolon, okay? The one-zero, class, makes ten. You need to know this because I'm going to show you something about the chapter. Then what book is this? Hebrews, not Cantonese. All right, not Indian, all right, not Mexican. Very clear Hebrews is written to the Hebrews, to the Jewish people.
Can we learn from it? Of course. Of course, we can learn from it. Just like if somebody were to write to you a letter like Darlene Zschech. Let's say she was here last week, right? Let's say she writes to you a letter and in the letter she exalts you and she blesses you and all that. If you let me read the letter, I can be blessed by the exaltation. It's just as for me as they are for you, all right, because some things are ours in Christ. But then she says, "Hey, don't forget to pay back what you owe me".
Now, Darlene will not do that anyway, all right? But that is for you, not me. I owe her nothing, all right? Now, Darlene will do that. Y'all know that. But there are some things you need to interpret in its context. You understand so far, church, all right? So this is written to the Hebrews, that's why you don't find the customary greeting in chapter 1. In Paul's greetings you'll find him, like, he writes to Romans, "To all the saints in Rome, grace and peace be unto you. To all the saints in Ephesus, grace and peace be unto you. To all the saints in Philippi, grace and peace be unto you". He always opens up his epistles with grace, ends with grace. But notice in the Book of Hebrews chapter 1, "God, who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us in his son".
Now, that's written to the fathers. Who are the fathers of the Hebrews? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How many are with me? So it's written to the Hebrews. It's a book of contrast. The first two chapters contrast the ministry of angels and the ministry of Christ. Christ is superior. Then chapter 2, 3, and 4, the ministry of Moses. Moses was a servant in God's house. Christ is the son in his own house, all right? His ministry is superior. The law came by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, amen, and on and on. When he come to Hebrews 10 he compares the imperfection of the priesthood of the law and the perfect priesthood of Christ, which we are about to look at, all right? Are you with me?
What chapter do you find this warning? Chapter 10. Don't forget that. We're going to look at the context. Remember a few weeks ago I ended on the last verse of Hebrews 9? Hebrews chapter 9. Let's look at the last verse of Hebrews 9. It says, "So Christ..." verse 28 is the last verse of Hebrews 9. This will introduce you to Hebrews 10, okay? "So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation". Now, this salvation is not saved from eternal damnation. That he accomplished in his first coming. In his second coming he's coming back to bring about and accomplish our new bodies, the salvation of our bodies. Church, you and I will have a body that will be forever good-looking, forever young, forever healthy, never feel pain, never be subject to disease, never feel bored, and you never fall asleep when Jesus preaches in heaven. Come on. Amen? A body that is forever forever young, forever blessed. Amen.
Now, because you're Singaporeans, I want to show you that in that body you can eat because Jesus ate in his new body. Amen? Praise God. Hallelujah. That body is forever. So that's the body he'll bring us when he comes again. But how many have heard the teaching unless your life is right, you're not going up in the rapture? Unless your life is right, he'll leave you behind. How many heard that before? There was a teaching once, you know, and to put it in a very cute way, either you get right or you get left, left behind. Huh? So he seems to give you the idea in his first coming you are saved from eternal damnation, all right, by grace through faith, okay, but salvation of your body is on a different basis all together. It is by grace and by your works. Amen.
If you study the letters of Paul you'll find that there's no more carnal church, all right? There's not a more carnal church than the Corinthians, okay, and yet in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, Paul says, "Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all die, sleep, but we shall all be changed". The word all is there twice. All includes all those people he just rebuked in the previous chapters. We shall all be changed. Amen. Praise God. So, church, when Jesus comes again, if you're born again, you're a child of God, you're going up. Amen. He's going to reverse gravity for you, praise God, and you'll be forever young, forever healthy. Amen, church? Praise God.
Now, let's look at the second... the purpose of the second coming, okay? He tells you in this verse. "To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time apart from sin". Now, this word apart from sin in the Greek is a very rich word, all right? It means nothing to say to sin. Nothing in reference to sin, all right? In the New Living Translation, in the Amplified Bible, it brings it out. Look at the Amplified. Amplified says, "Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and once for all..." How often did Christ bear your sins? Once and once for all. You know, all your sins, the moment you believe on Christ, your sins were transferred to Christ. Amen. All my sins have been transferred to Christ. God sees us now without sin.
Now, I didn't say we are sinless. If I say we are sinless, what's the point of transferring my nothing to him? I just said we, you know, you got to believe that God has transferred all your sins to him. That means what? You have sins. But it's all transferred to who? Christ the Lamb. Amen? This is actual. It's not pretense. It's an actual transference. So all those who believe on Christ, their sins have been transferred to Christ. Whenever you fail, whenever you sin very quickly remember, "My sins have been transferred to Christ," and keep on walking with God. Don't succumb to condemnation or guilt or it will keep you in your sin. Amen. Jesus gave the woman caught in adultery no condemnation to empower her to go and sin no more. When people are under condemnation they will sin some more. Are you with me?
If you don't have assurance, let me tell you this. You'll sin more. You know, I think it was early last year in Palermo, Italy... was it last year? Two years ago. Now, 2 years ago I was preaching in Palermo, Italy, and after preaching we went for an Italiano dinner; really good stuff, man. Remember that, Dan? Daniel was with me. And we had good stuff. All right, I noticed a guy. Among the leaders there's one man standing down there looking at me, and he looks like Santa Claus, all right? White hair, long white hair, you know, and white beard. So he approached me after dinner and says, "You know, Pastor Joseph, I just want to share with you something. I'm a psychiatrist". Later on I found out he's a very well-known psychiatrist in Palermo, a very well-known psychiatrist. He said, "I'm a psychiatrist". And he says that, "If people will just believe what you just preached just now," he said, "I'll be out of job," he says, "because," he says that, "most of the people I see, they have unresolved guilt".
Then I asked him a question I've been trying to find out, all right, for some time because I heard many years ago a certain fact. So I asked him about this thing. I said, "Is it true that Christians who need care for mental health or psychiatric care, committed to institutions, for example, many of these Christians, and you know they are believers, all right, but they are there because they believe either they have committed the unpardonable sin or either they have read Hebrews 6 or Hebrews 10, you know"? You know what he told me? He said, "Pastor Joseph, you are right. Many of the Christians I know, they are genuine Christians, but they cannot believe that God has forgiven them of all their sins".
So you see, we cannot argue from experience, all right? So for the moment I'm arguing from experience. We must always argue from Scripture, but just indulge me for a moment 'cause most people argue from experience. So just give me this small moment. If believing, I ask him, "Has", I mean, "Do you find people believing they are eternally saved in mental asylum"? He, "No". So those who believe that they are forever saved, mentally they are okay, but those who believe they can lose their salvation, these are the ones who end up under psychiatric care. So this is argument from experience, which is bad, okay? Don't take my word for this, okay, but I managed to throw it out anyway. Praise God.
So the thing is this because there are a lot of people arguing from experience. They'll tell me, "Pastor Prince, I know of this guy. He's a Christian, and then, like, later on he went out there and do crazy thing". This argument from experience. You do not know whether he's saved in the first place. He might even be a pastor who might not be saved. I'm just saying if you're saved. So let's not argue from experience, let's go to the Scriptures. Amen. So is very clear the Bible tells, even Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you". Comes first. "I don't condemn you. Go and sin no more". She needed to hear the first before she can do the second. Amen? Are you with me?
And so let's go on right now. Praise God, all right? Praise God. Look at Amplified translation very clear. When he comes again, all right, it's not to bear as a burden the sins of many once and once and for all. Once and for all... how many times can you do once and for all? It's a stupid question actually, but... Once and for all, right? When he comes again he will appear a second time not to carry any burden of sin, not to deal with sin. Now, this is sin in his people, not the world. He will deal with sin in the world, yes, but when it comes to his people, us, and our is a subject here, his people, he will not deal with your sin anymore. Why? Because in God's mind when Christ bore your sins as the Lamb of God, it is complete. It is once and for all. "So, Pastor Prince, today if I lose my temper and all that"?
Know once and for all your sins have been transferred, it's gone, and pick yourself up and live for God. Amen. Live a victorious life. Come on. Praise the Lord. Some people will never come to God until they feel good. Your feelings can fool you. Many are child have died prematurely looking at a pool and thinking its shallow, jump in. Your eyes can fool you. Amen. Your feelings can fool you. The Word of God can never fool you, amen. Go by the Word of God, church. Amen? So he tells you when he comes again he's not going to carry any burden of sin for his people nor to deal with sin in his people, okay? Praise God? Are you excited about then? Why? Why will he not carry our sins anymore? Why? Because it's once and for all he has done it.
Therefore, because of that, Hebrews chapter 10, the next, this is the last verse of Hebrews 9. Chapter 10, look at the context. We just read verse 28 of Hebrews 9. That ends the chapter 9. Then you come to verse 1 of Hebrews 10. "For the law," because the law, "having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect". Now, perfect here is not perfect in your actions or sinless perfection. If you read Hebrews 9, it talks about perfect pertaining to your conscience. Let me explain perfect conscience. Your actions may not be perfect, but you can have a perfect conscience.
Let's say you owe someone money, right, okay? Ten thousand dollars. Every time you're with the person you feel your conscience has a consciousness of debt. Amen. Supposing someone heard about your predicament, and the person... now, this is unheard of, okay? I know. The person pays your debt, but he gives the person, your creditor, a million dollars for your debt. That's an overpayment; but this, church, is what God did. If you know the value of the person Jesus, he's an overpayment for all your sin debt. It's almost as if God paid an overpayment. So when you know you owe this guy, what did I say, 10,000, right, and this guy has received a million, that guy has been enriched because of you. That's exactly what happened in salvation. If we can say this, God becomes a gainer. The injured party becomes a gainer because of grace. What a glorious redemption.
Now, next time when you see your creditor, are you afraid of him? No. You look at him with a perfect conscience. Perfect conscience means what? There's no consciousness of debt, okay? So when you come before God, God does not want you to have a consciousness of sins. I'm getting ahead of myself, but that's what it says in the next verse. Next verse tells you, "For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins".
So the law is just a shadow of good things to come, it is not the substance. Do you know all these lamb they killed, all right, countless lambs they have killed down through the years before Christ came, all right, on the lamb, they are nothing more than what? Pictures. Images. It's almost as if... do you think that God washes the sinner's sin with a lamb? No. The blood just covers. It's like paying on credit, your credit card. It's not a real payment. By the way, revelation, your credit card is not a real payment. Remember that please. The real payment will come, all right? But what happen is that every year on the Day of Atonement or in Hebrew Yom Kippur, all right, your sins are covered for 1 year. Your sins are covered for 1 year. Your sins are covered for 1 year. It's an imperfect sacrifice because they have to offer it again.
The blood is sprinkled. The blood of the bullock on Yom Kippur Day, all right, is sprinkled in the Holy of Holies by the high priest. That's the only time he enters the Holy of Holies, sprinkles on the Ark of the Covenant, on the mercy seat, and the value of the blood before God brings the blessings of God on the nation of Israel. They have bumper crops. They have blessed families, victory over their enemies, protection and wellbeing for the entire family. But the value of the blood decreases, don't forget, or else there's no need to offer yearly. It's only good for what? Twelve months. Then you have to offer blood again. Now, is this what the blood of Jesus like? Why are we preaching as if the blood of Jesus must be renewed again and again? We are putting the blood of Jesus on the same level as the blood of bulls. Amen. What a bull. What a lie. Amen? Come on, church. Are you with me?
Then what it's saying is this, if those sacrifices worked at any time, if there was found a bullock or a lamb whose blood needs never be offered again and again, if those sacrifices had worked, all the worshipers standing outside, their conscience would be what? Perfect conscience. No more consciousness of sins. But how can one find a perfect sacrifice, sinless sacrifice, and also the sacrifice must be eternal quality? God in his love for you and I sent his son, and his son because he's fully man, he has blood, because he's fully God, his blood is not common, it's divine blood. Jesus was not murdered, Jesus laid down his life, all right? He came to be born to die. Amen. Are you with me?
All right? So now, it's very clear. It says, "worshippers once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins". The word purified there in the Greek... your English New Testament is taken from Greek. In the Greek it is a perfect tense, all right? Perfect passive, which means God does it to you. But perfect means what? Perfect tense means once and for all it can never be repeated. When Jesus cried, "It is finished," in the Greek is in the perfect tense, which means once and for all it cannot be repeated. Wow, praise God. So we are all purified how many times? Once and for all, cannot be repeated. "But, Pastor Prince, just this morning I lost my cool". All right, you're purified once and for all. Cannot be repeated. Amen. Now, the reminder and the consciousness and the remembrance of what Christ did can be renewed every day, all right, but the sacrifice cannot. Are you with me?
The fact you're purified, you're purified forever. "Pastor Prince, I don't feel pure". What's your problem? Feelings, right? Let me tell you this. Years ago when my wife and I were overseas, we were going somewhere to a hotel on a hill, on a mountain actually. So we're driving. And I remember when that hotel beckons close. We saw the hotel from afar. This hotel is on a mountain, all right? So we saw the hotel from afar. We all rejoiced, right? Then after the car went down into a valley, we cannot see a hotel. Does that mean I got lost? Then after that the roads went up again and then I saw the hotel again, okay? We were admiring the hotel from outside, then after that we lost sight of the hotel again. Does that mean the hotel, kapoof, disappeared by magic?
Come on, talk to me, people, all right? But I felt myself going up, down, up, down. But here's newsflash, newsflash. The hotel is fixed. The hotel never changes. Your feelings change. The sacrifice doesn't. God's Word doesn't. What Jesus did is fixed, eternal, unmovable. Amen. Our feelings, we can feel impure, we can feel dirty, we can feel unrighteous, but in God's sight you are righteous. You are purified. Perfect tense. Cannot be repeated. Amen, amen, church? Praise God.
Okay, let's go on. And it says would have had... once you are purified, you would have had no more consciousness of sins. Would have had here is in the present active in the Greek. What does that mean? Passive we saw just now someone does it to you, right? Active means, what? Present means, what? Right now you must possess this no consciousness of sins. Amen. It will not just happen to you. You must possess it. If Christ took all my sins, I'm no more sin conscious, I'm Jesus conscious. Instead of S-I-N conscious, you are S-O-N conscious. Amen. Come on, church. Hallelujah. When you come to God, are you sin conscious or Son conscious? Amen. So that's what you do. You got to actively possess it. Amen? "But in those sacrifices," in the Old Testament, "there's a reminder of sins every year".
Now, a reminder of sins is the opposite of what Christ did. What Christ did accomplished no more consciousness of sins. Reminder of sins every year means what? It's imperfect. That's what all the blood of bulls and goats in the Old Testament, they keep on reminding the people, why? Because they keep on coming back. They kept on coming back. Every year you must come back. It's imperfect. And it seems like for some reason there are people who believe, all right, that to remind people of their sins is good practice. It makes them holy. Every time they come to church, "I'll remind you of your sins".
Imagine having a relationship with a wife, okay? And husbands, you did something, okay, twenty years ago you did something stupid. Every day your wife reminds you of what you did 20 years ago. When she makes a bowl of soup for you, she says, "You know why I make this soup for you, all right? You know how kind I am based on what you did 20 years ago". Every day she reminds you. It's a reminder of sins. Now, that's the key to what? Intimate marriage, right? Of course not. Amen. So it's the same thing. When someone reminds you of your sins, doesn't help you overcome sin, it makes you more sin conscious. And people who are sin conscious sin. No, we got to be righteousness conscious. If you'll honor what Jesus did, you will act clean, feel clean, possess your cleanness, amen, your righteousness in Christ. Amen. Or else you're saying, you know, like, the guy who paid $1 million to your creditor? And you don't believe it.
"Is this still paid"? Even you don't believe. "Yeah, it's still paid". But you don't believe it. Do you feel it's paid? No, you don't feel it's paid, why? You don't believe it. But is it paid? It's paid, but you don't believe it. You don't feel paid. Stupid, right? Now, what have you done if the guy has really paid it? You have just insulted the guy who paid. You just insulted his grace. Let's go on. We're coming to the why we sin willfully, okay? Same chapter. Must prepare the groundwork, you see? Why am I doing this? I am preaching messages to impart to you a strong consolation. Whatever you are going through right now, you will know that God is on your side, amen? God is with you. When you pray, God hears you. Amen. Amen, praise God.
So let's go on. So instead of reminder of sins, what happened is that Jesus came on the scene and Jesus said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God," so Jesus saw that all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the constant repeated sacrifices of offering the lambs and upon the altar never, never, never satisfied God, never, never took away their sins, it only covered their sins every year. So Jesus says to the Father, this is before he became a baby, "God, I come to do your will". He offered himself. Praise God. Amazing grace.
"I come to do your will". And what is the will of God? Would you like to know the will of God? Read. "He takes away the first," which is the law, "that He may establish the second," the covenant of grace. Amen. The will of God that Jesus accomplished is to take away the first, the law, and bring in grace. But you cannot do away with agreements unless you pay the penalty. Okay, you understand? Covenant of law says you don't obey, you die. If you obey, you'll be blessed. But all of us, we are in the disobedient side. Somebody must die. Jesus died to finish off the covenant of law. Are you with me?
Christ is the fulfillment of the law. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law to bring, what? The second. What is second? Grace. Are you under the first or are you under the second? Now, let's go on. So I'll call these three Ws, all right? The first W is the will of God the Father, okay? The will of God the Father. Write down somewhere, will of God the Father. That's the first W, will of God the Father that Jesus came to accomplish. What is the will of God? God love you so much. God knows that you cannot be under law. The law demands, and demands, and demands, and demands, and demands. When you don't obey, condemns, and condemns, and condemns, and then demands, and demands, and demands, when you fail, condemn and cursing, condemn and cursing, condemn and curse. But grace is what? Imparts. When you fail, imparts again even more, and imparts and imparts. Grace is supply. Law is demand. Are you with me?
The more you rest, the better it is for you. People don't understand that our life is a life of rest. We'll come to that in a while's time. Look at this. So the first will. "By that will," by that will of God that Christ accomplished, "we have been sanctified or made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ". How long? Shout it. Wow. We have been what? Sanctified, made holy. How? Through our offering? Through our words? Through our obedience? No. Through another, the offering of his body, Jesus Christ, we have been sanctified. For how long? Until our next sin? No. Once and for all. Once and for all.
So on Yom Kippur Day when they bring the blood of the bullock and they sprinkle on the mercy seat, one time on the mercy seat, the value of that animal blood is only good for 12 months. What do you suppose... when Jesus entered the holy of holies after he arose from the dead and sprinkled on the true Ark of the Covenant, sprinkled the blood on the throne of grace, how long do you think the value of the blood is before God, the blood of Jesus? Twelve months? Twelve thousand years? Twelve millennium? Huh? Forever? Yeah, why? Because he is God, fully God and fully man. That blood is not on the same level of the blood of bulls and goats, but the way we Christians act sometimes, the Jews have it better. At least their blood of bullock last for once a year, you know, 12 months. Ours sometimes in one day. One day, all right? Morning you're okay. By evening, "Lord, I'm out of fellowship".
We are dishonoring the blood of Jesus. We are counting as the blood of Jesus as a common thing. And we're coming to that passage already, but let's go on, all right? "And every priest stands ministering daily". By the way, when this was written, the book of Hebrews, it was written about AD 64, around there, exactly seven years before the temple was burned down in Jerusalem in AD 70. So AD 64, seven years, all right? In seven years time if they refused to take heed to the warnings in this epistle, the temple would burn down, which it did in AD 70 in Jerusalem, all right? General Titus came in, burned it down. Therefore they have nothing to offer already now.
Now they really have nothing to offer. But at that time the temple was still standing. The Jews were still offering sacrifices on the altar, sacrifices which can never take away sins. So what happened is that many Jews believe on Jesus as the Messiah. Many of them believe Jesus is the Messiah, okay? Mentally they believe, but they're not born again. To be born again you must believe that he is the Lamb of God who took away all your sins. You must believe he took your place, all right? Accept him. Go all the way, in other words. But for them, they have mental assent, but they're still going to the temple offering sacrifices, which is now an insult to the Spirit of grace. How many understand that? These Jews are professors, but not possessors of the eternal life. You understand? It's written to these Jewish people.
Now, I'm getting ahead of myself, but you're seeing something here. At that time when it's written, the priest in the temple was still standing, ministering daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, okay? Now, they are standing. They never sit down. You know, Jesus sat down. Today he's seated. In the Old Testament temple, all right, the temple in Jerusalem, there is a table of showbread, but there is no seat. There is a lamp stand, but no chair. Remember the story of Elijah? The Shunammite woman saw Elijah passing by, and one day she told her husband, "I perceive this is a holy man of God. Let's make for him a special room with a lampstand, a table, and a chair". The proper thing is that all three, but in the temple of God, in the tabernacle there's only the table, but no chair. Why? God is showing the perfect has not yet come. The perfect has not yet come. Are you with me?
So they're standing, ministering daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But watch Jesus now. Watch Jesus. Next verse. "But this Man," capital M, "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God," why? Why he sat down? It's finished. It's finished. Now, how many sacrifices did he offer? One sacrifice. Amen? For how long? How long will he avail? Forever. What did he do after that? He sat down. Now, today when you sin, does he get up? Let's say you sin afresh. Does he get up and say, "My, I forgot to put that one under my blood," does he get up? No. And do you know something? We are seated with Christ. I said we are seated with Christ.
You know, people have this idea, the starting pose is here, all right, the finishing pose is there, and that is the throne of God. One day we all sit on it. They'll say, "One day I'll sit on Jesus's throne. One day I will rule with him. One day". And meanwhile you are struggling, you are performing, you are trying your very best, all right, you're praying, you're doing this, all kinds of things, hoping that one day you'll come here. Actually, this is a lie. This is a heresy. Christianity begins. It's not a religion. I told you that. It begins with this. This is your starting point, the finishing post, sit down with Christ. That is your beginning. Are you with me?
You begin with seated in Christ. Now, seated means what? The work is done. Does that mean you won't come under attack by the devil? Does it mean there will be no trials, no prosecution? No. When a devil attacks your body, for example, and give you a lying symptom, you don't get up and say, "Ah, the world is not finished. I must bababababa, all right? I got to do this". Or do you sit down there, relax, and say, "I'm not trying to be healed. I am healed". In other words, you sit it out. Sit out your trial. Church, are you with me?
Every time the devil launch a new attack is to get you to get up, leave your place of rest because that's the place of victory. God gives you the ultimate price. Jesus had to accomplish it to sit down, but God gives it to you right there as a gift of grace. Hallelujah. The grace of our God, how amazing? Amen. You begin your Christian life. The youngest Christian with not much knowledge, the moment he's born again, the moment he says, "Lord Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God and you took away my sins," bang, he's seated with Christ. He might not know everything about his position. He might not understand what a blessed privilege he's in. He might not understand how powerful his words are. He might not understand he has authority over the strongest devil. He might not understand all this, but if he keep on coming to New Creation Church, he'll understand.
You know, you had to put in something like that, you know. But it's got nothing to do with the fact, his knowledge or the lack of it has got nothing to do with the fact that he is seated. Therefore, church, we don't pray for victory, we pray from victory. We are seated. When the devil attacks your body, you say, "Uh-huh, I am the healed, and this symptom is trying to get into my body". Not like, "I'm now sick and I'm trying to get healing from outside". All right? No. It is, "I am healed, and this symptom is trying to get into me". Wow, what a powerful revelation, isn't it? You don't fight for victory, you fight from victory. That's a Christian position, okay? So you can put this, the other W, the work of Jesus the Son.
All right, the first one is will of God. The first W is will of God the Father. Second one is work of Jesus the Son, okay? "From that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool, for by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witness to us". Now, the third W is the witness of the Holy Spirit. Guess what? We got all the Triune God here in this chapter. The will of God the Father, the work of Jesus the Son, and now the witness of the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit witness? Because in Jeremiah 31 it talks about the new covenant. The Holy Spirit witnesses to us. For after the Holy Spirit had said, go on, "'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,' says the Lord. 'I'll put my laws into their hearts, in their minds I'll write them.' Then the Holy Spirit adds, 'Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'"
Do you remember there was a time God says, "I am the Lord your God? I will visit your sin to the third and fourth generations. I will by no means clear the guilty, but I'll punish all those who have sinned," right? By no means clear the guilty, but now God says, "I'll remember their sins no more". No more is a double negative in the Greek. Which means what? Once upon a time he remembered your sins, now he no more remembers your sins. You know why? Because one sacrifice for sins forever has been accomplished. Amen?
Let's all say it. "One sacrifice for sins forever". Shout it again. For how long? How many sacrifices? What happens when you blow it, when you sin today? You're still not perfect in your behavior. In God's eyes you're perfect, but in your behavior you're not. What happen when you fail? Just say one sacrifice for sins forever, amen, and keep on walking. Keep on thanking God you're forgiven. Keep on thanking God you're seated with Christ. Amen, church? The devil is so afraid because this teaching will bring the body of Christ to maturity. We are doing nothing but preaching the gospel in its context. And this is the Holy Spirit's witness.
So the first W is? The will of God the Father. Remove the law, bring in grace. Accomplished by? The work of Jesus the Son, the second W. And the last one, the Holy Spirit. It's almost like in a court. The Holy Spirit is now a witness. He witness to us. So God calls for a witness. "You got any witness"? "Yes, the Holy Spirit". Wow, God himself, all right? So the Holy Spirit comes and sit in the witness box. Watch this. All right, God the judge look at the Holy Spirit in the witness box. He doesn't have to swear on the Bible. He wrote it. Every word of his is truth. And you know what he says? God says, "You have witnessed my will, the work of my Son. What have you to say"? The Holy Spirit from the witness box, the witness is truth, eternal truth. He's a Spirit of truth. This is what he says. "Their sins I will remember no more".
That's the W, the third W, the witness of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Can you find a more reliable witness? Can you find a more truthful witness than God the Holy Spirit? What a witness. You see, we must understand all these three Ws to understand verse 26, because once our sins are remitted, "Now, where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin". No longer an offering for sin. No use going back to the temple, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. Why? The sins have been remitted. There's no more an offering for sin, all right? "Therefore", because there's no more offering for sin, they're all remitted, therefore... when you find a therefore in the Bible, find out what it's there for. Therefore means based on the three Ws, all right, the will of God, the work of Jesus, the witness of Holy Spirit, now we can what?
"Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus". Wow. Hallelujah? Amen. You don't have to ask me to pray for you. You don't have to. You have access to God. Hey, I never see a queue before God's throne of grace. I never hear God saying, "Son, can you hold on? I'm talking to Daniel now, and it's quite long-winded, son. So you just hang on for a while". You never find that. All of us, God can listen to all of us at one time, and all of us have access into the holiest. Why? Because of what Jesus has done. What a God. What a God. And instead of looking at all these verses in Hebrews 10, what do we do? "If we sin willfully, there remains no more sacrifice for sins. How much sorrow"? And this is what people are conscious of when they say, "What about Hebrews 6? What about Hebrews 10"? They hardly read Hebrews 10.
So let's come to that verse, okay, but we can pass by all this verse, "Therefore, brethren". Next verse. "By a new and living way..." The old way was old and dying way. Last time when the priest enter God's presence, if they're not well-prepared, they dropped dead, and then they would tie a rope around their leg, and they got to pull that poor guy out, all right? So the priest is dead. So they shout, "Gobo, you're next". Gobo is trembling, and it's not shake, rattle, and roll, okay? He's not dancing or whatever. He's not doing the shuffling. He is fearful. So the old way was the old and dying way, but now Jesus Christ, all of us can come to God by a new and what? Come on, shout to me. Shout to me. Do you know what it means or not? Do you know? Do you understand the implication, living way? The more you come, the more you live.
Now is the opposite. Running to God's presence make me strong, make me vital, makes me young, makes me healthy. Amen. Young, vibrant, healthy living. Somebody, if you feel so good, you say, "Man, this is life, man". Jesus didn't say, "I come that you might have more laws and laws more abundantly". No. He says, "I come that you might have life and have life more abundantly". Life, life, life more abundantly. Amen? For our Aussie friends, "loife," "loife,"more abundantly. "Having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith". God... you see, God is all about come boldly. Come in full assurance, full assurance of faith. If you know what Jesus had done, you don't come to God like that, "God, if it pleases thee that I cometh to thee, in thy great mercy, thy servant would just spend 1 minute, no more. Please do not take all my burdens. I don't mean to burden you, Lord. Just take half my burdens. Thank you very much, O Lord. I shall go now".
What are you all clapping for? You know, it's like...imagine from a third-party observer. What do you see? It's like the story of the dog I told you just now, a dog with a tail tucked between his legs coming to the master fearful and the master just stroke his hair. The dog is afraid. I mean, you're impugning upon the generosity and the tenderness and the love and the grace of our God. When I see happy children, I know they belong to happy parents, good parents. When you see a child always, you know, you can see the bones sticking out, you know somewhere along the way there's abuse.
Now, you can talk all you want. You can bring theology and say, "Well, Pastor Prince, I don't believe in the prosperity gospel". And you're living in a lended property. You have two, three cars and you're not for the prosperity... of course you're not for others having it. Yourself okay. It's funny, isn't it? Why is it we go to heaven one day, streets of gold? There should be some slums somewhere. If slums is of God to teach us humility, why don't you live in one? No, deep down in our heart, those who say, "I don't believe God heals everybody," and they themselves, when they are sick, they go to the doctor. The first thing they do, they go to the doctor.
So you believe it's not God's will to heal and then you go to the doctor to be healed. Something doesn't click. All right? The elevator don't go all the way up. Who are you trying to fool? Why be such a hypocrite? God has put in all of us a desire to be well. You want your children to be sick? Of course not. No parent in their right mind. You're more righteous than God, huh? So to me I got no time to argue with people who come against prosperity because I know many at times it's hypocrisy talking. They themselves don't do it. So God wants you well, God wants you prosperous.
See, God wants you to have plenty of money but not to indulge, not to be selfish, not to be greedy, not to be covetous but to be a great blessing. Because, you know, there are poor people with plenty of money, but they are poor. Doesn't mean they're rich. Plenty of money doesn't mean you're rich. But when you're a giver, you're a blessing, and you have plenty of money, you are truly rich, okay? Praise God. I got a lot more to say, but I got to stick to the context. "So let's draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience..." You know what an evil conscience in the context? We just read what? A conscience of sins, coming to God with, "Oh Lord, it is your mercy to forgive me of my sins and..."
The eye is not on the cross, the eye is on "Am I persuasive enough, oh God"? You know, they think the more they slash themselves, who needs your stripes? Your blood shed also is sinful blood. Sorry. I don't know what got into me in the second service here, but I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good. You can sacrifice as much as you want. I mean, there's no quality in your sacrifice. You know why? Because when you owe everything to God, what sacrifice? But Jesus owes nothing. So when he sacrifice, Jesus does not have to die. He didn't sin, but he died. He must have loved you. Amen, church? Okay. Then it says, verse 23, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope..." We all know these verses. "Let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together..."
That's why we come here on every Sunday. What happen is that some of the people they know that to join the Christians in those days, leaving the temple means persecutions. You know what they do, these professors? They neglected the assembling and they go back to the temple. Okay? Now, this verse, right after this verse, this verse 25, verse 26 says, "For if we sin willfully..." Now, do you see the context? In other words, if you forsake Christ and the once and for all sacrifice, you forsake the assembling of God's people. These people are not saved, and you go back to the temple sacrifices, we can never take away sins anyway. What are you doing? You're sinning willfully. It is not this idea of, "Oh, I lost my temper. Oh, was it a willful sin"?
Trust me, it was a willful sin. Every sin you and I committed after we are saved was willful. It's not referring to that. This passage is not referring to Christians, all right, for the lack of a better word, backslide, all right? This is not referring to Christians who sin occasionally. Okay? By the way, the Bible does say in 1 John everyone who is born of God does not practice sin. Now, your King James is a bad translation. It says in this verse whoever is born of God does not commit sin, but actually the word there is, does not practice sin. NIV brings it out. NASB brings it up. In the Greek it's a present tense. He does not practice sin.
Now, if you're truly born again, you may fall into sin, might lose your cool, all right? Your eyes might go wayward. You might do something wrong, whatever, but it's an occasional fall. All right? But you don't practice sin. You cannot. Why? God's seed is in you. Are you listening, church, okay? So that is a fact. This portion of sinning willfully is not referring to Christians, true born-again Christians. It's referring to the Jewish people who profess that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, but then when the thing, I mean, when the heat is on, they forsake Christ with opened eyes, knowing that he's the Messiah and go back to the temple sacrifices. In the first place, they're not saved, okay? So watch this if they do that. "After we have received the knowledge, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins".
Now, they receive the knowledge of the truth. They never receive the truth. There is a difference. You see, there are people who come to church, I'm sure they are down through the years. They may sit here a few times. They receive the knowledge of the truth that Christ died for our sins, but they go away not saved, unsaved. Yet they have received what? The knowledge of the truth. But have they received the truth, who is Christ himself? No. What they receive was the knowledge of the truth. So if we sin willfully, we turn our back on Christ with opened eyes, referring to non-believers, all right, who know the truth but they turn their back. There remains no more sacrifice on this side. It's all accomplished. All right?
And then what? "A certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses," next, "of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God," excuse me, "underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing..." You see, he takes the blood of Jesus what? The same as the blood of bulls and goats. "Well, you know what? Going back to the temple offering the blood sacrifice is the same". It's not the same. That blood is eternal. Efficacy is forever. This one is only for 12 months. Right? Are you with me?
Now he's counting the blood a common thing, the blood of Christ. "And insulted the Spirit of," what? Grace. It's a sin against grace. Hmm, notice that. God gives you so much, it's like this. God has so much blessings in his hands he offers to you. You know what you do? You slap his hands. That's insulting the grace of God. There remains no more sacrifice. All right. "For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is Mine. I will repay,' says the Lord. And again, 'The LORD will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God". These two quotations are from the song of Moses written for Israel. In the song of Moses, chapter 32 of Deuteronomy is side by side. The first one is vengeance is mine. See that? He was quoted. Verse 36, "For the LORD will judge His people". See that? It's side by side. Go back to Hebrews 10. It was written for the Jewish people. You know, people say, "See, the Lord will judge his people," thinking Christians. No, his people here refers to the Jewish people. Are you with me?
Some years ago our church... now we support quite a number of work in Israel; mission work, all right, among the Jews. And years ago we used to support one particular group doing a great work at that time in Israel. I know the gentleman in charge, all right, and you know, he talks about the New Testament and, you know, he say he believes in Jesus. After some time, we supported him for a while, he actually changed and started believing that Jesus is the Messiah but he's not the son of God. Now, he's Jewish. This work is in Israel. So when I met him I confront him twice, once in person as well as over the phone. He said, "Pastor Prince, please don't misunderstand me. I believe Jesus is the Messiah". Then I said, "But do you believe he's the son of God"?
You see, all hinges on this. You know, John wrote 1 John, 2 John, 3 John with this mission in mind. All right? To declare Jesus is the son of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and John warned us in his epistles. If anyone does not bring this doctrine, do not even bid him Godspeed. So I told this guy, I said that, I said, "What's wrong with you"? I told him I was stunned. I said that, "You believe he's the Messiah"? "Oh yes, I believe he's the Messiah. You know, he's the Mashiach". Later on I found out that the Jewish... some of the Jewish people even believe in a few messiahs. So therefore, if he's not the son of God, his blood is common blood. That's why it says you've counted his blood what? Common. And I said, "I'm sorry. I cannot fellowship with you". And that's the last I heard of him.
Let me just say this to you, church. What we believe about Jesus Christ is very important. Okay? You can say God; God here, God there. It's almost the atmosphere has not been shaken. Like in a party or whatever, the more you say, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ, everyone say, "Excuse me. I guess I'm going to go and fill my drinks". Everyone just clears, you know. It's almost the powers of darkness cannot stand, in Jesus's name, the whole... like the Red Sea open up. Amen. So the world when they are very angry, they can't think of a more powerful expression to use the name of our Lord in vain. Don't be afraid to say Jesus. It is at the name of Jesus every knee bows, every name obeys, diseases, if it can be named, it will obey the name above every name. Amen, church? All right.
Let me close with this. He's trampled son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, insulted the spirit of grace. These are not Christians. These are not believers. These are people who come close, all right, and then they turn their back with opened eyes having the knowledge of the truth yet go back to the temple sacrifices. There's no more sacrifice. How many of you understand that? They have literally insulted the spirit of grace. It's not referring to you because you lost your temper at your husband for being late for church this morning. It's not referring to you, okay? Don't lose your security. Don't lose your joy. Are you with me, church? Let's see how this chapter ends, shall we, all right? It ends like this. "We are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul".
Wow, what a way to end the entire chapter. Very clear we are not those who draw back to perdition or destruction, we are those who believe to the saving of the soul. All of us have believed to the saving of the soul. Amen? By the way, I need to answer one objection before we close. Go back again to the passage. Do you see the... it says a certain fearful expectation of judgment. You see the word judgment there? All right. It's the word krisis, krisis in the Greek. Now, read John 5:24. Jesus's own words. Jesus says, "Most assuredly..." Now, I prefer the original. Original just says amen, amen. That means he's about to say something double truth. Amen, amen.
Now, new translation, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment," krisis, "but has passed from death into life". Can anything be more clearer? Is there a certain Scripture? Is there any suppositions or doubts about this passage? No. Very clear. We will never come into what? We believers will never come into judgment. Amen. We have passed from death into life. See? The same word is used in Hebrews 10. All right. These people are fearful now of what? Judgment, krisis, which true believers never fear, okay? And look at verse 29. Someone will say, "Counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing". "But, pastor, he was sanctified". You see, he was sanctified. The word sanctified is there. "So he's a believer"? No. Unbelievers can be sanctified.
Let me explain. When Jesus died, the nation of Israel is a special nation with God. How many of you understand they have a special covenant? All right? So when he died, they were all sanctified. They're not all saved. They must believe on Christ. But they are all set apart. How many of you understand that? Do you know an unbeliever can be sanctified? Let me prove that to you when it comes to marriage relationship? 1 Corinthians 7, "A woman who has a husband who does not believe..."
By the way, this whole passage talking about marriage, okay? Not about dating. "A woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he's willing to live with her let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife". But he's an unbeliever. He's sanctified by the wife. "And the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean in the eyes of God, but now they are holy". Amen. So if you have a unbelieving spouse, don't worry. God treats your family like it's a believing family. Your husband's body is sanctified because of you. Amen. But is he saved? No, he must make his personal decision to put his trust in Christ. But is he sanctified? That goes the theory that only Christians are sanctified. Are you with me?
When Jesus died, the whole nation of Israel was sanctified. But they're not saved. Sanctified means what? Set apart. Holy, set apart as holy to God, but all must receive Christ. Now, I'm not talking about dating, okay? If you date, make sure you're going for the same goal. Jesus in the center, you here, your girlfriend or boyfriend here. You're both going towards Jesus. You see like the triangle when you go towards Jesus, the distance between the two of you get shorter and shorter. That's how you get close, going towards Jesus. But if this guy is going this way and you're going towards Jesus, trust me, all right? You're going in a merry-go-round. Amen.
So this passage is talking about those who are already married, then the husband is saved or the wife is saved. Don't worry. Your husband will be set apart from the curse of the world because of you, but he still needs to be saved. He will receive many miracles because of you, but he will still need to be saved and your children are now holy. Isn't that beautiful? So, church, I hope that we have imparted strong constellation, full assurance of faith. When you read next time, "we sin willfully," understand this. It's not referring to true believers, it's referring to those who turn their back with open eyes after having received the knowledge of the truth going back to the temple sacrifices. Amen? And finally, AD 70 General Titus of Rome came in, burned down the temple, now the Jewish people have nothing to sacrifice with.
All those who went back, all right, ultimately came to nothing. It was a fiery indignation. It was burned down, okay? Church, one sacrifice for sins forever. That's how God looks at you. All right? No more sin consciousness. Come on, give him praise. Hallelujah. Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Everywhere that's watching this right now, my friend, God loves you so much. God's will is that you enjoy the supply of his grace, the supply of his blessings, the supplies of his favor and loving kindness. He wants you to receive all this wonderful good things from his loving heart. Will you receive them? God's will is to remove the... first the law and to bring in the second, grace. Remove demand, bring in supply.
The work of Jesus was to offer himself as that one sacrifice for sins forever at that cross and, my friend, once and for all he did it. He will never repeat it again because his efficacy is forever. Amen. Have you received it? Now the Holy Spirit sits in the witness box and the Holy Spirit says, "For those of you who put your trust in Christ, your sins I will remember no more". And when God says no more, it is no more. My friends, if that is you, wherever you're watching this, you're going to place your trust in Christ, accept Christ, and God accepts you. Receive the full payment of your sins by believing that Christ has accomplished it. If that is you, just pray this with me right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus is the son of God. I believe you sent him to die for my sins at the cross. His precious blood washes me clean from every sin. You raised him from the dead as a testimony, that all my sins are put away. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior now and forever in Jesus's name.
And all the people said amen. Praise God. Give him praise, hallelujah.