O ye guilty, the gospel is meant for you!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… – Hebrews 10:11,12

“This man,” says the Apostle, “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever.” If thou wouldst have peace of heart, thou must get it only from this one glorious person, the Christ of God…There must be no looking anywhere but to Jesus, not in any measure or degree. He who looks partly to Jesus, and partly to himself, looks not to Christ at all. If a man shall put one foot upon the land and the other on the sea—the foot that is on the land will not avail him, he must certainly fall, because his other standing place is weak. If a chain be made strong enough to bear huge weights in every portion except one link, yet as we all know its strength is not to be measured by the stronger portions, but by the weak link; and if you have one weak link in your hope, if you are resting in anything you are or hope to be, or can do or feel, that one weak link will snap and ruin you for ever.

“None but Jesus, none but Jesus,
Can do helpless sinners good.”

From top to bottom, from foundation to pinnacle, our hopes must be in the work of Jesus, and we must trust in Him alone, or else we shall build in vain. “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid.” Other hope beneath the skies there is none. O soul, learn the uselessness of looking to anything but Christ; but be thou assured of this, if thou wilt look to Him, and to Him alone, He will put away thy sin, nay, He has done it by the sacrifice of Himself. O ye guilty, the gospel is meant for you. If there be any of you who are innocent and pure, and without spot, for you I have no words of consolation; but oh, ye sinners, the gospel is for you, for you the priesthood and the substitution of Jesus, for you His death on earth, for you His reign and power in heaven. This fact ought to encourage every trembling conscience…The gospel has for its special aim and intent the putting away of sin, and therefore it is suitable to your case.

The Only Atoning Priest by C. H. Spurgeon

The Inner Side of Conversion

Sherry sermon

You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

Sermon Text

Perfected and Sanctified by Christ’s Sacrifice

Sherry Christian Life

For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. – Hebrews 10:14

(Notice) the effect of Christ’s death upon His own people: we are informed that He hath “perfected” them. What a glorious word! Those for whom Christ has died were perfected by His death. It does not mean that He made them perfect in characters so that they are no longer sinners, but that He made those for whom He died perfectly free from the guilt of sin. When Christ took their sins upon Himself, sin remained no longer upon them, for it could not be in two places at one and the same time; if it was on Christ, it was not upon them; they were acquitted at the bar of God when Christ was, on their behalf, “numbered with the transgressors.” When Jesus suffered the penalty due to His people’s sins to the last jot and tittle, then their sins ceased to be, and the covenant was fulfilled: “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more for ever.” There was a clean sweep made of sin: “He hath finished transgression and made an end of sin;” and that for all His people. They want no other washing, no further purging, as far as pardon of sin and acceptance with God in the matter of justification are concerned, for they are all perfected by His sacrifice.

His people are described in the text as “them that are sanctified.”…When effectual grace separates men from the world by conversion and regeneration, then they become the sanctified; they are set apart even as Christ set apart Himself, dedicated to God’s service, and separated from sinners. As the work which began at regeneration is continued and carried on in them, they are in another aspect sanctified; they are realising in themselves that sanctification, or dedication to God, was theirs from before the foundation of the world. The text relates not only to those in heaven who are perfectly sanctified, but it relates to all who were set apart in the purposes of grace, that as far as their pardon and justification are concerned, Christ perfected them for ever when He offered up Himself without spot unto God.

The Only Atoning Priest by C. H. Spurgeon

He Fulfilled the Ancient Promise

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel. – Genesis 3:16

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. – Hebrews 10:12,13

Observe carefully the result of His offering with regard to His enemies. He sits there “expecting till they be made His footstool.” They are crushed already; sin, which is the sting of death, has been removed, and the law which was the strength of sin has been satisfied. Sin being put away by Christ’s death, He has effectually broken the jaw teeth of all His enemies. When Jesus Christ offered Himself unto God, He fulfilled that ancient promise, “The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” Christ has set His foot upon the old dragon’s head and crushed out his power. Still, however, a feeble fight is kept up; feeble, I say, for so it is to Christ, though to us it seems vigorous. Sin and Satan within us, and all Christ’s enemies without us, including death itself, are vainly raging against the Christ of God, for every day they are being put beneath His feet; every day as the battle rages the victory turns unto the enthroned Christ. In us I trust sin has been put beneath Christ’s feet; in thousands of others, it shall yet be so. Jesus upon the throne expects the growth of that victory till all His enemies shall be utterly and ignominiously beaten. “O long expected day, begin!” Father, fulfill Thy Son’s expectations, for Thy saints expect it in Him. Let the time come when every enemy shall be beneath His feet.

The Only Atoning Priest by C. H. Spurgeon

He Sat Down

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God… – Hebrews 10:12

The typical priests stood because there was work to do; still must they present their sacrifices; but our Lord sits down because there is no more sacrificial work to do; atonement is complete, He has finished His task. There were no seats in the tabernacle. Observe the Levitical descriptions and you will see that there were no resting-places for the priests in the holy place. Not only were none allowed to sit, but there was nothing whatever to sit upon. According to the rabbis, the king might sit in the holy places, and, perhaps, David did sit there; if so, he was a striking type of Christ sitting as king. A priest never sat in the tabernacle, he was under a dispensation which did not afford rest, and was not intended to give it, a covenant of works which gives the soul no repose. Jesus sits in the holy of holies, and herein we see that His work is finished.

He “sat down;” this shows that He took possession of the holy place. Under the law, when the priest had done his work, what did he do? He went home. Neither the temple nor the tabernacle was his home. If you had asked a priest, “Where dwellest thou?” he would have said, “amongst the tribe of Levi yonder I have my abode.” But this Man, when He had finished His work, sat down in the holy place, because He was at home, not a servant only but a son, yea, and Lord of the whole house; and, therefore, He took His own seat therein by right. It is a joyful truth that He did this representatively, to show us that while the law gave no permanent possession and could not establish the seed of Israel in possession of sacred privileges, the gospel gives us an abiding place amongst the children of God, who dwell in His house for ever. The apostle tells us where this seat of Christ was. He says, He “sat down at the right hand of God.” This indicates the highest glory possible; our poet calls it, “The highest place that heaven affords.”

The Only Atoning Priest by C. H. Spurgeon

Once for All Forever

Sherry Christian Life, salvation, Character of Jesus, promises, Sovereignty of God

…we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… – Hebrews 10:10,12

We are told by the apostle, that as there was but one priest, so there was only one sacrifice. He “offered one sacrifice for sins.” He Himself was the sacrifice; His body the altar, Himself the priest, Himself also the victim. On Calvary’s tree He presented Himself a substitute for human guilt, and there He bore the crushing weight of Jehovah’s wrath in His own body, on the behalf of all His people. On Him their sins were laid, and He was numbered with the transgressors; and there He, in their stead, suffered what was due to the righteousness of God, and made atonement to divine justice for the sins of His people. This was done, not by many offerings, but by one sacrifice, and that one alone. Jesus offered no other sacrifice: He had never made one before, nor since, nor will He present another sacrifice in the future. His sin offering is one.

The text adds further that, as there was but one sacrifice, so it was but once offered forever, or, as the apostle puts it, “Once for all.” “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” There is in the Scriptures no such idea as that of Christ perpetually offering Himself; (transubstantiation) is a childish invention of superstition. We are expressly told that He offered Himself “once.” Under the law the lamb was offered many times, the same sacrifices were repeated; but our Lord exclaimed, “It is finished,” and concluded all His sacrificing works. He “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever.”

The Only Atoning Priest by C. H. Spurgeon

He is All Sufficient

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… – Hebrews 10:11,12

The twelfth verse says, “this Man.” The word “man” is not in the original; it is “this,” “this Priest,” if you will; “this Man,” if you please; but its vagueness may make us think that the apostle scarcely knew what to say. You see the stars and the moon in their brightness, but suddenly they are all eclipsed and lost in a superior light. What can this glory be which has paled their fires? It is the sun rising in his strength. So, while we are beholding the priesthood of Aaron with all its excellence, it suddenly ceases to shine, because of the glory which excelleth, the radiant presence of One, for whom, like heaven’s manna, it is not easy to find one fully descriptive name. Shall we call Him “man?” Blessed be His name; He is so, our near kinsman, the “Son of Man.” Shall we call him “priest?” He is so. Blessed be His name; He is the true Melchisedec. Shall we call him “God?” Well may we do so, for He counts it not robbery to be equal with God. But this one divinely mysterious person—this unique and solitary High-priest, accomplishes what the many priests of Aaron’s race could not compass. They were weak, but He is all sufficient. He has wrought out eternal redemption and made an end of sin.

Note well, that none stand with Him at the altar; none is appointed to aid Him, neither before Him nor after Him is there one to share His office. He is without father, without mother, without predecessor, and without successor. He stands alone and by Himself, this glorious One who looked and there was no man, and therefore His own arm brought salvation; He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with Him. Jesus, the sole sacrificing priest of our profession, has completed what the long line of the Levitical priesthood must have left for ever incomplete.

The Only Atoning Priest by C. H. Spurgeon