All Work for Salvation Is Done

Transcript

GR 1702
9/29/2013
All the Work for Salvation Is Done
Hebrews 10:11-18
Gil Rugh

We're in Hebrews 10 and we're coming to a conclusion of a section in Hebrews that is perhaps the focal section of all the Scripture. From Hebrews 5:1 through Hebrews 10:18 the focal point is on the superiority of Jesus Christ as high priest and the finality and completeness of the sacrifice that He has offered as payment for sin. That is the heart of the Gospel. If we are not clear on the person and work of Jesus Christ as high priest, confusion and a fog will soon settle in over the church. And I fear that is happening to a large degree. We must understand that Jesus Christ is God's high priest, offering the one and only payment for sin that can ever be offered. And the payment He has made provides permanent, complete, eternal forgiveness for sins. Anything that adds to that or takes away from that will result in eternal condemnation to hell. And that's where Hebrews will go in Hebrews 10. We get to the latter part of the chapter in a future study, the strong warning of the judgment of God coming on anyone who does not place their faith in the Son of God and the sacrifice He has made as payment for their sin.

Just go back to Hebrews 5. There has been indication of the priestly ministry of Christ and His sacrifice in the first four chapters. In fact Hebrews 4:14 said, “since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” and so on. And then he gets into this to draw a contrast between the Levitical priesthood under the old covenant, the Mosaic Law, and the sacrifice of Christ. So he begins in Hebrews 5:1 by saying,” every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God.” That's the priest's ministry, to represent the people to God. Offering gifts and sacrifices for sins. The problem with the priest under the Levitical system, the Mosaic Law, was they were sinners, they had to offer sacrifice for themselves as well as for the sins of the people. He mentions that in verse 3. They have to be appointed by God.

And he goes on to say there is a new priesthood replacing the old priesthood, the Levitical priesthood. There is a priest that has been prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures, a priest who will come after the order of Melchizedek. And His priesthood will be eternal. That will be the Son that Hebrews started out with in Hebrews 1, “God in these last days has spoken to us in One who is Son.” And this Son has been appointed a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So bringing the two priesthoods before us—the priest under the old system, and there are many sacrifices for sins, for their own sins and for the sins of the people, and the Son who is of a new order of priesthood, the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.

And Hebrews 5:9 tells us, “having been made perfect he becomes to all them who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” The salvation provided in the death of Christ is eternal. It's one sacrifice for sin for all time. That sacrifice covers all sins and it brings permanent salvation, not to every person on the earth but to those who obey Him, submit themselves to the work He has done, believing that He is the Son of God who has paid in full the penalty for our sin, which is death. That brings an internal cleansing that is complete, so that God says He will never again bring our sins up before us for judgment. We'll get to that in this section in Hebrews 10.

So we've moved through these chapters, chapter 5. In Hebrews 5 we move to a warning passage, remember, beginning with verse 11. And that goes through Hebrews 6, and then Hebrews 7 picks up, “for this Melchizedek,” verse 1. And talks about the Old Testament anticipation of the priesthood of Christ. Shows the weakness of the Levitical priesthood. Verse 11, “if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, and on the basis of it people receive the Law.” Remember the priesthood is foundational to the covenant. The Mosaic Law or the old covenant had at its heart and foundation the Levitical priesthood that provided for access to God and a way for the sins of the people who trusted God to have the wrath of God turned away from them.

Verse 12 tells us, “when the priesthood is changed there will be a change of the Law also”. The old law, the old covenant had the Levitical priesthood. With the coming of the priesthood of Melchizedek there will be a new law or a new covenant. I'm mentioning this because this will be part of the summary that he brings to our attention in the section we're going to look at in Hebrews 10. Again a reminder in verse 17, the priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchizedek is permanent. There will be no successive priests, there will be no other priests offering sacrifices for sins. We talk about the priesthood of the believer, all believers in Christ are priests in the sense we have access to God and can come before Him because of our high priest Jesus Christ. But we offer no sacrifice for sins. There is only one high priest who does that and He is functioning forever.

Hebrews 8 draws us to the details of the new covenant from Jeremiah 31 which will come up again in Hebrews 10. Then in Hebrews 9 he reviewed and contrasted the first covenant and its regulations and then what Christ has done and accomplished that the old covenant could.

We looked at Hebrews 10:1-10 as we've worked our way through Hebrews. In the first four verses he focused on the inability of the Law and its sacrifices to provide inner cleansing. We will be reviewing that with the last part of this section. What is key? Verse 4, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The sacrifices under the Old Testament were animal sacrifices. You cannot take away the sin of a human being with the sin of an animal. Those animals were accepted by God when they were brought to God by the believing people to turn away His wrath. But that's not the foundation for His forgiveness. He made clear back in Hebrews 7 that forgiveness under the old covenant was on the basis that God would provide an acceptable sacrifice, the sacrifice of His Son. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. So keep that in mind. It doesn't matter how many animals are sacrificed, over what length of time. They can never take away sin. If the sacrifice of one animal for one person could not take away sin, if you multiply that times ten thousand, you still get no ability to take away sin. Animal sacrifices, whether you have one animal or you have 100,000 animals, they can never take away sin. It has to be an acceptable sacrifice offered.

So verses 5-10 drew to attention that Christ has always been the One in the plan of God who would offer the only sacrifice for sin that could pay the penalty for the sins of men. God prophesied that that would happen, quoting from the Old Testament. Because remember the letter to the Hebrews is written to Jews who have professed faith in Christ. But under pressure they are thinking, maybe a return to Judaism and its sacrifices would relieve some of the pressure that we are experiencing. You have to understand, even what was revealed through the Old Testament prophets living under the old covenant indicated that God had a greater plan than animals. It was to provide a body, a human body for His Son so that His Son could be the sacrifice for sin. He used Psalm 40, the verses there that are referred to in verses 6-7. And you'll note there Christ said, “behold, I have come to do your will, oh God.” So the will of God is that Jesus Christ the Son of God would have a body prepared for Him by God the Father so that in His body on the cross He might bear the penalty for our sins, as Peter would write. Important here, this is the will of God. So you cannot turn away from Christ, you cannot change what God says about Christ and not be disobeying the will of God and the consequences that will come with that.

So he concluded there in verse 10, “by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. “ And we noted there is a difference in the perspective of Old Testament saints and New Testament saints. Old Testament saints according to verse 3, had in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year, focusing particularly on the ultimate sacrifice under the Levitical system, the Day of Atonement. What did that do? That constantly reminded people they were sinners, they were guilty, they needed a sacrifice. Constantly reminded them of their sin and guilt. In the annual sacrifices as we'll see repeated here, even in the daily sacrifices. The contrast with us as believers with the coming of Christ, look at verse 10, this will “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” His one sacrifice paid the penalty for all my sins for all time. I'm not focused on my sin and guilt. I am focused on the wonder of my forgiveness. Believers forget that and they get mired down. And we all stumble in many ways, James writes. And we sin. And oh, God, forgive me one more time; oh, Lord, I'm really sorry. And we think we can work up enough emotion maybe God will forgive us one more time. I'm already forgiven. That doesn't mean I treat sin lightly, but I treat sin in light of the fact that Christ paid the penalty for my sin once for all. It is done, it is taken care of. I don't need to confess it for forgiveness, it is taken care of. Doesn't mean we take it lightly.

An example from our marriage. Our marriage hasn't been perfect, Marilyn has many flaws. She married a perfect man. You would get a different story if she could preach, but we don't believe in women preachers. But early on we agreed, there would be times when I would do stupid things, wrong things. Or she might do something I didn't like. We wouldn't do the old silent treatment—we won't talk until one of us apologizes and asks for forgiveness and go through that. We would just go on the basis, she'll assume I knew I was stupid and did the wrong thing. And she won't be waiting for me to say, dear, forgive me please, I won't do it again. She would just go on, knowing I know it, she knows it. It's done, it's behind us. And I would do the same.

Basically, that's where I am with God. He is not waiting there, I will forgive Gil if he comes and asks me to forgive him. No. I'm forgiven in Christ. 1 John 2, we looked at,”if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father and He is the propitiation, the One who turns away the wrath of God from us so that God can be merciful to us. He is the propitiation for our sins,” it has all been paid for. Thank God for that. I know the sin I may commit this afternoon, He has paid for. That doesn't make me want to sin this afternoon. It has the other effect—the desire is to please Him with my life that He died so that I might live pleasing to Him.

So we come to verses 11-18 to wrap this up. And we've reviewed and we'll move through these rather quickly because they are review. He's going in verses 11-18 to break it into two paragraphs and we'll look at the first one first, 11-14. Then he's going to draw from another Old Testament passage, Psalm 110:1, and show the finality of Christ's sacrifice and its permanent effects.

Look at verse 11. “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.” That's basically, he's repeating what he said in Hebrews 10:1. The Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin. You'll note what he says here. “Every priest stands.” And he's going to draw a contrast in this that the Jews with their Old Testament background would understand. The Old Testament priest stands, Deuteronomy 18:5, “the priest will stand and go about his sacrificial ministry.” So within the area where the priest carried on his sacrificial duties, there aren't chairs provided. He stands. That represents the fact his work is never finished. He may finish offering this particular sacrifice or finish the sacrifices of this particular day, but he'll get up the next morning and have to offer new sacrifices. So the point here is on the daily sacrifices. The Day of Atonement was the one time of the year when the high priest and only the high priest could enter into the most sacred portion of the tabernacle or the temple where you had the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat. And that's where God manifested His presence in the nation. It was only once a year, one time with the sacrifices on that day he could offer. So that's the most important sacrifice. But there were multitude of daily sacrifices, the morning and evening and otherwise.

So here he refers to the fact he stands daily. His work is never done and it goes on day after day. There is only a problem—they can never take away sins. Stands daily ministering, offering time after time the same sacrifice, repeating the sacrifice that is not effective in taking away sin. Multiplied a thousand times it still doesn't take away sin. You have 0, multiply it by 1,000, you still have 0. It's not effective in taking away sins. It can never take away sin.

Contrast, “but He,” referring to Christ, “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of the Father.” The Levitical priest offered many sacrifices day after day, continual sacrifices. He offered one sacrifice for sins. The Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin. He offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, it had a permanent effectiveness. And that is supported by the fact that when he was done offering that sacrifice, He ascended to heaven to sit down.

In the Old Testament system, verse 11, “every priest stands daily.” He offered one sacrifice for sins for all time and sat down at the right hand of the Father. He didn't just sit down and wait until it was needed so that His sacrifice would need repeated but less often, He didn't even just sit down in the presence of the Father. He sat down at the most exalted and honored position—at the right hand of the Father, indicating the Father's approval and acknowledgment of the finality of His sacrifice, effective to pay the penalty for sins for all time. That's the point, that's the contrast. It is done. To think you could go back to Judaism and its repeated sacrifices, they never were effective. There is nothing or no one who could pay the penalty for sin but the Son of God. That was the will and plan of God.

Isn't it sad people think today they are going to be saved by ‘I try to live a good life, I try to keep the Ten Commandments.’ That is the road to hell. God never said you could be saved by your good works, in fact He said you couldn't be; He never said you could be save by keeping the Ten Commandments, you never could be. There is only one way of salvation. That's why Jesus said,” I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” You say, that's pretty narrow. That's what Jesus said. “There is a broad gate and a broad way that leads to hell, there is a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life.” There are many who go through the broad gate, travel the broad road; there are few who go through the narrow gate and travel the narrow way. But it is the way. You say, that's narrow. It is broad enough for you to get in if you will believe in what He has done. That's the point.

So the contrast between the Old Testament sacrifices and the sacrifice of Christ.

Come back to Hebrews 1. Psalm 110 has been brought up in reference prior in Hebrews, in the opening verses that were given an overview and would be unfolded what is summarized here. And you'll note, after speaking about the Son and His position, He says in verse 3, “when He had made purification of sins He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High.” Now what he has been unfolding in this major section of Hebrews is the details of that and why that accomplished what the Old Testament sacrifices could never accomplish.

Look in Hebrews 8:1,” now the main point of what has been said is this, we have such a high priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” Now we come to Hebrews 10:12, “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time He sat down at the right hand of God,” referring to Psalm 110:1. And then he for emphasis breaks in, he just doesn't continue to quote it, he says in verse 13, “waiting for the time onward.” And then he resumes quoting from Psalm 110:1, “until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.” Very clear, He has “offered one sacrifice for sins for all time,” that is the sacrifice that has been accepted by God for payment for sins. And anyone and only those who recognize their sin and the person and work of God's Son in sacrificing Himself to pay the penalty for sin will experience forgiveness. Now He is seated, there is no sacrificial work going on. And He will sit there until the time comes for all those who have not believed in Him to be crushed under His feet by the purpose and plan of God. This anticipates the time when He will rule. You see the coming together of Old Testament Scriptures.

Under the old covenant the priests could not be kings and the kings could not be priests. The priests had to come from the tribe of Levi. The king had to come from the tribe of Judah. Jesus is from the tribe of Judah and He will be the fulfillment of the promises of the ultimate Davidic king, but He is not of the order of Levi. But that's all right because His priesthood is not of the Levitical system. He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. In effect He has His own order of priesthood when it comes to it. There is a foreshadowing of it in the Old Testament in Genesis, but He is the only one who offers the final sacrifice for sins. So you see the permanence of that. There is nothing in between, no sacrifice in between. He offered the one sacrifice, now He sits down at the right hand of the Father, in that sense the next event He'll come to rule and reign.

Back up to Hebrews 9:26, “but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, after this comes judgment, so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin.” When He appears the next time on earth it will be to offer a sacrifice for sin. It will bring ultimate deliverance to those who have believed in Him and ultimate destruction to those who have not believed in Him.

Back in Hebrews 10. “For by one offering,” verse 14, “He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Verse 10 said “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Now verse 14,” He has perfected those who are sanctified.” He used different words because they all focus on the same event. We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, made holy, set apart from sin, consecrated to God. God said,”you must be holy for I am holy.” That was said in the Old Testament, repeated by Peter in his letter in the New Testament. It's the holiness that is provided through the finished work of Christ. Those are the ones that He has perfected, brought them into the condition by His sacrifice and their faith in that sacrifice that they are everything and all that God says we must be to be accepted in His presence. There is no defilement of sin. There is no guilt of sin. It has been taken care of. We have been made perfect in Christ. That doesn't mean everything I do, I am perfect; doesn't mean I never sin. It does mean as God sees me in the finished work of Christ and the payment He made, it is all taken care of.

By one offering He has accomplished what multitudes of offerings could not accomplish. He has perfected for all time. The sacrifice of Christ has provided permanent perfection, all that God requires we must be in His presence. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” but the sacrifice of Christ is so powerful and so effective that now we no longer come short of the glory of God. Doesn't mean we are God, it does mean we have been perfected in His sight, sanctified, made holy. Same basic word we get the word saint from or sanctified. Same basic word we translate holy. We are holy ones, saints. It might have helped if we had translated that word, we translate it to be holy. Maybe we should have translated saints as holy ones. It reminds us of what we are in Christ and what we are to be in our lives because of what we are in Christ—holy ones, sanctified.

“For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified,” or literally those who have been made holy, as some commentaries on the Greek text translate it. We have been set apart from sin. We have been consecrated to God. We are those now accepted in His presence. That's why we saw back in Hebrews 4 before we began this extensive discussion of His priesthood, that the high priestly ministry of Christ now enables us to come with boldness before the throne of God which for us is a throne of grace, not a throne of judgment, to find all we need, all the help we have to have in time of need. Understand that. In the Old Testament only the high priest could go into the presence of God in that tabernacle on earth, and only once a year. And only with fear and trepidation, realizing he is offering sacrifice for his own sin and then for the sin of the people. Now you and I come, knowing there has been a sacrifice that is offered that has opened the door. We come with confidence because we have been perfected for all time as those made holy.

So verses 15-18 he is going to use the new covenant in Jeremiah 31. So you see what he is doing, he is going back to Old Testament Scriptures to show that even though the old covenant, the Mosaic Law, was in operation, that was never God's ultimate plan. He made clear that He had something that would ultimately replace that and do what that could never do. He used Psalm 110:1 in the preceding paragraph. Now in verses 15-18 he is going to use the new covenant in Jeremiah that God prophesied there. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us. You'll note here, he doesn't say Jeremiah tells us, he says the Holy Spirit testifies, bears witness.

In the book of Hebrews we have the work of God the Father, the work of God the Son and the work of God the Holy Spirit. It was God the Holy Spirit who bore testimony that the old covenant with its weakness and inability would be done away with, would be replaced by a new covenant which would do what that old covenant could never do. The old covenant could never make perfect our consciences as he has already written. But under the new covenant we would be made perfect in our conscience, we would get inner cleansing. The Holy Spirit testifies, note this, to us. Important that these readers realize this wasn't just written to a past generation, it wasn't just written to something that was yet way in the future. The Holy Spirit is speaking to us, he says to his readers, who now have seen the sacrifice of God's Son on the cross. And with a new priesthood there has to come a new covenant. When the priesthood is changed there is of necessity a change of the covenant, we saw back in Hebrews 7.

So he is going to quote from Jeremiah and the new covenant which the Spirit is testifying to us. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put My laws upon their heart, on their mind I will write them. So in contrast to the old covenant inscribed in tablets of stone in summary form the Ten Commandments and all that went with it, this is going to be inscribed on the inner heart and mind. It's not the Mosaic Law. I will put my laws upon their heart. Well a new covenant will have new laws. These are not the Mosaic Laws or the Mosaic covenant. It is going to be inscribed on the heart. Then he says, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

Two things that he has made a point of here drawing just from part of Jeremiah 31. He quoted more fully from Jeremiah 31:31-34 in Hebrews 8. Here he just points out the two points he wants to make. One, he would put His laws on their hearts and minds. So we have that with the Holy Spirit now dwelling within us, guiding and directing us. The Holy Spirit who gave us the Word of God now dwells within us, and Paul could write in 2 Corinthians 3:18, as we are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, the mirror being the Scripture. We're looking into the Scripture, that's like a mirror. And we are seeing in this mirror the glory of the Lord and we are being transformed into the image of the glory of our Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. So the first thing this new covenant promised, God's truths, His laws, His desires would be inscribed within us.

And then He promises in verse 17, still quoting from Jeremiah 31, He would not remember their sins anymore. Not remember their sins anymore. It is done. Can you imagine that? When he says He will not remember their sins any more, he means, look at verse 18, another one of these great statements. Where there is forgiveness of these things there is no longer any offering for sin. When He says He won't remember them it means they are totally forgiven, they'll never be brought up again. I will never be called into account for them, it's done, the payment has been paid. That's the greatness of our salvation. So what he says now, where there is forgiveness of these things because they are not remembered anymore. We say, God can't forget. The point is they are forgiven, they will never be called up again. They don't have to be dealt with again. I won't remember them anymore because the sacrifice has been paid.

You have a debt. You know you borrow money at the bank maybe to buy a car or something. Then it is paid off, you get it back and sometimes it is stamped, I don't know if they still do this, but ‘Paid In Full’ on this date. That's the way my account it. The penalty for my sin, it's been stamped ‘Paid In Full.’ The date of Christ's death can be stamped there. It is covered, it is done. The day I placed my faith in Christ, stamped ‘Paid In Full.’ Done. Never to be remembered again. I don't need another sacrifice for sins. Well, I've sinned quite often since I trusted Christ many years ago. Maybe there is something else I need to do to take care of sin since then. There is no other offering for sin. You don't need it because the sins have been dealt with. You see there is only one transaction, the transaction of when I believed what God has done for me in Christ. That takes care of it, all of it for all time. There is no other sacrifice, there is no other work. Nothing can be done. There is only one thing that could ever be done. The completeness and finality of it. Great verses in this chapter. Verse 10, by this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all; verse 14, for by one offering He has perfected for all time. It is once for all, it is for all time for those who are sanctified.

Verse 18, now where there is forgiveness of these things there is no longer any offering for sin. There is only one alternative for forgiveness, that is to believe in Christ. The option is you will spend eternity in hell as payment for your sins. You would think people would be crowding to get in that narrow gate. Jesus said there are many who go to the broad gate but few come. Why? We are stubborn, proud people. We come up with our own ways.

I want to give you an example of a denial of what we have been studying. This comes from Roman Catholicism. People think I am anti-Catholic. I am. I believe Catholics can be saved, I believe Protestants can be saved. And I'm just dealing with Christendom as we think of it. I think Buddhists can be saved, and Muslims can be saved. But I believe there is only one way of salvation for all people. I made a statement in a previous study. ‘I do not believe Roman Catholics are saved.’ I want to make that clear. I do not believe Roman Catholics are saved in light of what we have studied even in this portion of Scripture. I do not believe that most Protestants are saved because there is only one way of salvation. You add anything to that or you take away anything from that, you are doomed to an eternal hell.

Let me read to you from the Roman Catholic catechism because there is confusion. There is much in Roman Catholicism that seems to be in agreement with what we as Bible-believing Christians hold. But there is no agreement. Even what sounds like it is saying the same thing we do ends up to be totally different. This is the Roman Catholic catechism done in 1994 under Cardinal Joseph, Cardinal Ratzinger who went on to become Pope Benedict. It's official Roman Catholic doctrine, some 800 pages of it. So if you are looking for reading.

Let me read you what they say about the sacraments. I just picked out sections here. The whole liturgical life of the church revolves around eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. This is what the heart of the Roman Catholic church is. This is what makes up the Roman Catholic church as the Roman Catholic church. There are seven sacraments in the church—baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders of matrimony. And what are sacraments? Sacraments are powers that come forth from the body of Christ, which is ever living and life giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in His body, the church. And then you note here what the church is about in the sacraments. The sacraments are powers coming from Christ but they only come from Christ through the Roman Catholic church. What it says, they come through His body, from His body the church. Now that's important because, and there is a lot in here on the ‘only the priesthood,’ they go on to say, ‘those formally ordained,’ we might say ‘who go through holy orders, are qualified as representatives of the pope, the bishops to administer sacraments.’

Then they go on to say the church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the new covenant are necessary for salvation. Necessary for salvation being emphasized. That comes from the Council of Trent in the 16th century. You see you have to partake of the sacraments, the sacraments only come through the church, and if you don't partake of the sacraments you cannot be saved. So while Roman Catholics talk about salvation by faith and salvation by grace, they don't mean salvation by grace alone through faith alone. In fact the same Council of Trent declares if anyone says salvation is by faith alone, they are anathema, cursed to hell. The sacraments are necessary for salvation, that's what the church teaches, they say.

One of the sacraments is baptism. Let me read you what they say about baptism. ‘Holy baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, the door which gives access to other sacraments.’ So until you have been baptized in the Roman Catholic church you can't have access to the other sacraments. This is the initiating sacrament. Through baptism we are freed from sin, reborn as sons of God. We become members of Christ, are incorporated into the church, made sharers intermission. Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration. You are saved when you are baptized. That's why they go on to say in here, and I read this in an earlier study to you, that if you don't get your baby baptized, you've consigned them to hell. But baptism doesn't bring final salvation, that's the gateway into salvation. Because in the Roman Catholic church your salvation is never complete, it is never done. That's how the Roman Catholic church keeps the hold on its people. Because you are not in a position to receive the sacraments, you are outside the church, you will be condemned.

Here is that statement, the church and the parents would deny a child the priceless gift of becoming a child of God were they not to confer baptism shortly after birth. You see baptism is an act in and of itself that brings salvation, even to a baby. And a baby without it means you deny them the priceless gift of becoming a child of God. It's almost like a magical action.

They refer to it as a necessity of baptism for salvation. The church does not know of any means other than baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude, eternal blessing. The church is it, no other way. This is the Galatian heresy where Paul said, anyone who teaches that salvation is not by faith alone, but adds circumcision or keeping the Law, is cursed to hell. They have turned it around and said just the opposite. If you say faith alone isn't sufficient and don't believe it is faith plus baptism, you have no way of salvation.

By baptism all sins, emphasized, all sins are forgiven—original sin, personal sins as well as the punishment for sin. Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte a new creature, an adopted son of God who has become a partaker of the divine nature, member of Christ, co-heir with Him, temple of the Holy Spirit. It's through baptism that we receive the grace of justification, righteousness.

So it's a major difference. You cannot be saved without the sacraments. The sacraments can only be bestowed in the context of the Roman Catholic church and its priestly hierarchy. And the first sacrament that initiates you into the fellowship of the church and into God's salvation is the sacrament of baptism. Now, no matter what else is said, their statement in here and in other sections I read at another time, outside the church there is no salvation. Because if you can't partake of the sacraments outside the church and you can't be saved apart from the sacraments, how can you be saved outside the Roman Catholic church? You can't. So all the other nice talk, I say Roman Catholics aren't saved. Roman Catholics are clear in their doctrine, we are not saved.

Confirmation, that's another sacrament. I'm not going to read you all seven. Baptism, the eucharist and the sacrament of confirmation together constitute the sacraments of Christian initiation whose unity must be safeguarded. In other words getting baptized, if you don't follow through with the other sacraments like eucharist and confirmation, your salvation is dead ended because they all go together and they must be safeguarded as a unity. The ongoing participation in the eucharist is necessary for salvation. So you see they talk about salvation, but it's not a once-for-all done based on the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ.

Let me read you about the eucharist. This is the heart of the Roman Catholic church, and that's what they would say. It is central to everything else. As often as the sacrifice of the cross, now note this, remember we just emphasized the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. How many times in Hebrews have we seen that. As often as the sacrifice of the cross by which Christ our passover has been sacrificed is celebrated on the altar, this is now by the priest in the Roman Catholic ceremony, the work of our redemption is carried out. Didn't we just read by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified? We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now where there is forgiveness of these things there is no longer an offering for sin. And now I read as often as the sacrifice of the cross by which Christ our passover has been sacrificed is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out. Redemption is not complete, it is not done. It's like the Old Testament system, they kept bringing another sacrifice and another sacrifice. You have to keep coming back to the mass for another sacrifice and another sacrifice. That keeps on cleansing you, keeps you in fellowship with the church and keeps you saved, if you will.

They make the point on the next page, this can only be carried out through the officially recognized priests of the church. In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass the same Christ who offered Himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. Now we realize the book of Hebrews didn't have it all done, they try to put it all together, and they'll refer to Hebrews, by saying it's only one sacrifice. It's the sacrifice of Christ on the cross but it is continually being reoffered. I read one sacrifice for all time. What about an unbloody sacrifice?

The eucharistic sacrifice is offered for the faithful departed (in italics for emphasis). This eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed. In other words for members of the church who have died. They have died in Christ but they are not yet wholly purified. So we offer the sacrifice of the mass for them so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ. Do you know where they are? They are in purgatory. The sacrifice of Christ didn't cover some of the sins they did so now as living members of the church we can go and have a mass offered for them because they are not yet wholly purified. We just cancel out what we've given such careful consideration to in the book of Hebrews.

And that's not enough. You can go on to penance and the treasury of the saints. And the treasury of the saints in Catholicism is the treasury of the church. The treasury of the church, they say, contains all the merits of Christ, what He accomplished for us. It also contains all the merits of Mary which are in themselves perfection. Plus it contains all the merits of the saints who have acquired more than they needed for their own salvation. So now you not only go to Christ, but you go to Mary. And you can go to the saints and the church has the authority to draw from the treasury that has been entrusted with their overflow works, and they can bestow that upon you. And through penance and so on you can either cut short your time in purgatory or cut short the time of someone else in purgatory. All that you're saying is what Christ did once for all is not once for all.

Now why do I say Catholics aren't saved? I'm going to read you one more statement. Now I'm going to forgiveness because it tells you forgiveness can only be bestowed by the priest. You can't get it by going directly to Christ because all authority has been bestowed on the Roman Catholic church with the pope as Peter's descendant and through him to the priests. So if you have committed sins, especially mortal sins, you have to go and confess every single one of them, no matter how secret or the priest will not be able to bestow forgiveness. Paganism.

Are Roman Catholics saved? Here is what the church's definition in their catechism is of a Roman Catholic. Who Belongs to the Roman Catholic Church? is the title of this section. Fully incorporated into the society of the church are those who, possessing the Spirit of Christ, now listen, accepting all the means of salvation given to the church. All the means, plural; all the means of salvation. So we'd say salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. No. All the means of salvation given to the church. That means you have to accept salvation through baptism, you have to observe the eucharist, you have to do penance, you have to go to confession. All these are means of salvation. To be a true member of the Roman Catholic church means you accept all the means of salvation given to the church together with her entire organization and who by the bonds constituted by the profession of faith the sacraments, ecclesiastical government and communion are joined in the visible structure of the church of Christ who rules through her supreme pontiff and the bishops.

I say no one who believes that can be saved, is saved. They can be saved if they turn from that and believe in Christ. But they are not saved. So, are Roman Catholics saved? Absolutely not. And I don't understand how a person would say, “well can't there be some who really have believed in the Roman Catholic church?” How can you say you have understood the finality of God's grace demonstrated in the finality of Christ's sacrifice as payment for all sin and then still be part of a church who requires you to believe that faith is only one means of your salvation. You have to do everything else the church tells you to do and then your salvation will never be completed until hopefully at the end you get that final sacrament on your deathbed and they absolve you from any sins. But you still won't be done, you have to go to purgatory.

You know we have to be careful. Am I picking on Catholics? We can be thankful we are Protestants so you're all safe. No, it's not just Roman Catholics who are lost. Protestants are just as lost. We're just dealing with Christendom. Protestants add good works and going to church and keeping the Ten Commandments. There is only one way of salvation. I'm using Roman Catholicism because they have structured a priesthood after the pattern of the Levitical system. The truths we are studying in Hebrews, if we don't understand them, hold onto them, are not clear on them, the truth of the gospel is lost because we become murky and muddy. Well maybe Roman Catholics are….. you know we hold a lot in common. They believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. So did the Judaizers. Paul said they were cursed to hell because they added something to that. These are serious matters. If we are not clear on what is necessary for salvation, who will bring the gospel of salvation to a lost and dying world? Then we have to ask, are we clear? Just because you are sitting in the auditorium at Indian Hills Community Church doesn't mean you are on your way to heaven. There is only one way of salvation. You can come and sit in this auditorium and subject yourself to sermon after sermon for years and die and go to hell, because the payment for sin is not the penance of listening to sermons. You have to come and understand, I am a sinner. The truth of what God has said has gripped my heart and I recognize Jesus Christ the Son of God was on this earth in a human body that died to pay the penalty for my sin. And He is the only hope for me of eternal salvation. I'm placing my full trust in Him. When that truly happens, the Spirit of God engraves His Word on our heart, our forgiveness is complete. Then we see the error of our former life, our former trust and all of that.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of what You have done for us in Christ. Lord, how important it is that this precious truth be clear in our minds as believers, that we understand the importance of this truth, the beauty and wonder that this is our salvation. It is the only salvation for our family and our friends and our loved ones and those we work with. Lord, in love may we be bold and clear with the truth of what You have done that enables us to be so forgiven. You have assured us our sins will be remembered no more. We pray in Christ's name, amen.