Dedicated To The Men of God
Who Preach the Word of God As It Is To Men As They Are
"Preach The Word"
What You Can’t
Afford To Be Without
Text:
Heb.9:5-28
Introduction:
We live in a day where there are some things that many
people just feel like they cannot be without and yet do
not look at spiritual things in the same light.
1. Many feel they cannot do without riches. It is no sin
to have a great deal of material possessions, but sin
comes in the picture when material possessions have hold
of us.
Some folks get obscessed with the thoughts of getting
rich. Riches can lead to many things such as pride,
forgetting God, denying God, forsaking God, rebelling
against God, rejecting Christ (as the rich young ruler),
self sufficiency, worry, violence, oppression, fraud and
even sensual indulgence.
Jesus summarized it well when He said, "Life
consisteth not in the abundance of things a man
possesseth." Jesus says in those words, "Do not
build your life around things." We should build our
lives around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Riches do not gain for us real prosperity, they certainly
cannot redeem the soul, and they cannot deliver in the
day of God’s wrath.
That is why the song-writer said, "Take the whole
world but give me Jesus."
2. Others feel like they cannot do without worldly fame.
Some of the dearest saints of God I ever have known, have
been people that were not famous in this present world
system. Your name may not be on the billboards in this
world, but when you got saved there was a new name
written down in glory. It does not matter how many people
know you in this world, if the Lord does not know you and
cannot identify you as one of His own.
Fame is one of those fleeting things. It may be here
today and gone tomorrow. On the other hand, the things of
God are invisible, but are eternal. Live with eternal
things in view!
I have observed through the years some folks doing
anything to be popular with the crowd around them. We
would be wise to seek the favor of God above the favor of
man.
We need to build on things eternal and hold to God’s
unchanging hand.
Let’s look together for a few minutes this morning
at some of the "withouts" of the Bible.
I. WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD THERE IS NO
REMISSION--
Heb 9:22 states: "And almost all things are by the
law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is
no remission."
The greatest need of man is to have his sins
"remitted." Our verse here in Heb. 9:22 tells
us, without the shedding of blood there is no remission
of our sin.
The same Greek NT word for "remission" is
translated several times "forgiveness" in the
New Testament.
MAN IS BORN WITH A PROBLEM CALLED SIN AND UNTIL IT IS
DEALT WITH THROUGH THE BLOOD AND SACRIFICE OF JESUS
CHRIST, SIN WILL STAND IN THE WAY OF MAN KNOWING GOD
PERSONALLY.
Having your sin forgiven is one thing you had better not
fail to get taken care of in this life.
Note:
We all know we will eventually die, so we have wills made
up and living wills, to make preparation for that hour,
whenever it may be. It is good to do that and we should
take time to see those things are taken care of while we
can do so. But,why don’t we take time to make
preparation as well for the time that we will leave this
world and stand before a holy and a righteous God? The
most piercing words we will ever hear will be when the
words are given to some, "Depart from me, ye workers
of inquity." I had much rather hear the words,
"Enter thou into the joys of thy Lord."
Note:
In the OT their sins were only covered for a year, when
the priest went into the Holiest of all. Every Old
Testament lamb that was offered pointed ahead to the Lamb
of God who would come to deal with sin once and for all.
The death of Jesus made possible a new and living way.
His sacrifice is once for all and requires no more
sacrifices to be offered for the sins of mankind.
A. Remission is through the riches of His grace.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his
grace;
If God were short of grace, then we would have never
known forgiveness and remission. God is never deficient
when it comes to grace. There is grace for you, grace for
me, keeping full, keeping free.
We can rejoice in a God who is rich in grace.
B. Remission is through His name.
Ac 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that
through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins.
It is "through his name" that we receive
remission of sins.
To say it another way, we are accepted not in what we
have done, but in what He has done, when He became our
offering for sin at the cross. We are not accepted before
God because of who we are, but because of who He is.
C. Remission means no more offering.
Hebrews 10:17 and 18 says, " And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin."
When your sins are forgiven, there is no more need of
bringing an offering to atone for sins, when the
atonement has been made once and for all.
Aren’t you glad we do not have to look through a
flock of sheep to find one without flaw to offering to
God in heaven? Jesus made things so simple. When we put
our faith and trust in Him as Savior and take Him as our
Lord, then our sin is removed and He promises that He
will remember them no more. He does not forget
accidently, but purposely.
Baptism does not save you.
Clean living will not save you.
Doing good will not save you.
Joining the church will not save you.
Trying to keep the ten commandments will not save you.
You must have the blood of Christ applied to the soul.
"For without the shedding of blood, there is no
remission (or forgive-ness)." Heb. 9:22. We can turn
that statement around and see the other side of it---that
being--- "With the shedding of blood there is
remission of our sin."
II. WITHOUT FAITH WE CANNOT PLEASE GOD
Heb 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please
[him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him.
All of Hebrews 11 is a divine testimony of lives who
pleased God because they possessed faith.
Why can no one please God without faith? It is because no
one will ever come to God, unless they first believe that
He is and unless they are convinced that He rewards all
of those who seek Him and try to find Him.
Why can we not please God except by faith?
A. Faith please God because it brings access to Him.
Since access to God is opened by faith, all who do not
have it are objects of God’s displeasure.
Illustration:
When the jail house at Phillipi collapsed, the jailer
went to Paul and Silas and cried out, "Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? They said to him, "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." They
were telling the jailer how to get to God.
The Bible says of Abraham that he, "Believed God,
and it was counted unto him for
righteousness"(Rom.4:3). When Abraham believed God,
the Lord took away the unrighteousness that was one his
account, and put the righteousness of God.
You can do all kind of things but you will never please
or satisfy God until you have saving faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Going in a garage doesn’t make you a car.Getting in
the water doesn’t make you a fish.Flying through the
air does not make you a bird.Climbing a tree does not
make you a monkey.
BUT, saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will make you
a Christian, a child of God. It all happens through faith
in the Lord Jesus.
The word "please" here means to "gratify
completely."
God is completely gratified and satisfied when we trust
His Son as Savior and take Him as Lord.
B. Faith pleases God because it will result in the right
kind of life.
The premise of the entire Book of James is that saving
faith will produce the right kind of works in a persons
life. We want to do what is right because of faith being
present in our lives.
Jesus put it this way:
Lu 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit;
neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Jas 2:18- "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and
I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I
will shew thee my faith by my works."
Illustration:
You have good water to come out of the spigot because you
have good water coming out of the well. The right kind of
faith produces ‘good works.’
WITHOUT SHEDDING OF BLOOD- NO REMISSION
WITHOUT FAITH WE CANNOT PLEASE GOD
III. WITHOUT HOLINESS NO MAN CAN SEE GOD
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all [men], and holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord:
There are basically two types of holiness:
1- Positional 2- Practical
A. Positional Holiness has to do with the time we are
saved
Paul said: 2Cor. 5:21- " For he hath made him [to
be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him."
To be made "holy" is to be made "pure,
undefiled."
That is a status that never changes. The devil, hell and
all of the demons in the universe cannot change that
status. What I am telling you is that once you are
genuinely made holy by faith in Jesus Christ,
positionally, you will never become unholy.
God is no Indian-giving God. Once you become His, He is
big and powerful enough to get you all the way home to
heaven to be with Him one day. We are "more than
conquerers"(Rom. 8:37)"through Him that loved
us."
B. Practical Holiness has to do with our lives after we
are saved.
The word "holy" in the Bible is translated
"sanctify and saints." It has the idea of one
who is pure and clean.
That is to be so after we are saved. I Jn. 3:9 says if we
are born of God, we cannot "commit" or practice
sin as a habit. Paraphrased it means you are going to
want to live holy once you have been made holy.
Illustration:
Years ago I went to a funeral of a man that was some kind
to some of our members in the first church I pastored in
Seagrove, NC. The last speaker at the funeral stood up
and before he was through with his part of the funeral
service said of the man whose body lay in the casket,
"Our dear brother is now home with the Lord."
The man had been a drunkard for years and yet the
preacher stood over him and said that. The preacher lost
a great deal of credibility that day to all who knew the
man’s life.
Note:
No preacher after your body has died and you have left
this earth can preach you into heaven and make a saint
out of you if you have lived like the devil and lived in
sin.
Jesus can make you holy positionally, and can keep you
living holy practically.
How do we live holy from day to day?
1. The Word of God
Jesus said in Jn. 15:3 "Ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you.
2. The Spirit of God
He is called the spirit of holiness. He is the Holy
Spirit (pure) Spirit. Since that is true, the more the
Holy Ghost controls you, the purer, and the holier your
life will be.
The Holy Ghost will not make you "holier than
thou," but I guarantee you that He will make you
holy---pure in living.
What do people say about you on the job? Do they say to
others, "That is a holy person working over there
behind that desk or behind that machine."
"Seeing God" in relationship to practically
living has to do with our fellowship and communion with
God.
IV. WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE WE HASTEN ON INTO SIN
Pr 19:2 ¶ Also, [that] the soul [be] without knowledge,
[it is] not good; and he that hasteth with [his] feet
sinneth.
What should we know about sin to keep us from hastening
into it or falling into it?
Sin is the transgression of the law; it is of the devil;
all unrighteousness is sin; it is leaving off what we
should do; whatever is not of faith is sin; the though of
foolishness is sin; and all the imaginations of the
unrenewed heart are sin.
You had better know:
A. Sin Leads To Shame
Ro 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye
are now ashamed? for the end of those things [is] death.
Sin will lead you to do things that you will later be
ashamed of and regret that you have ever done. God will
forgive you of whatever you have done that is wrong, but
it does not erase the past consequences of the sin
committed. A person most of the time has to live with
those consequences.
B. Sin Leads To Disquiet
Ps 38:3 [There is] no soundness in my flesh because of
thine anger; neither [is there any] rest in my bones
because of my sin.
Sooner or later, no one is troubled like a person who has
let sin have its way in their life. Sin brings us more
trouble in our lives than it is worth, no matter what
shape or form it may take.
It is good to be able to live for God, let Him control
our lives and lie down at night with peace in our hearts
toward Him. That is worth more than all the gold in Fort
Knox and all of the cows and oil fields in Texas.
C. Sin Leads To Disease
See Ps. 38:3b
Ps 38:7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome
[disease]: and [there is] no soundness in my flesh.
The road to sinful and fleshly pleasure may look good at
the time but it might lead to your physical death and
will lead to eternal separation from God.
So many have waited to late to take heed to God’s
warning.
There are incurable diseases which are being transmitted
today by sexual acts and kissing. You better be careful
who you kiss young man or young woman.
V. WITHOUT CONFIDENCE WE WOULD BE FILLED WITH
FEAR
Zecharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and began to
prophesy and a part of what he said was:
Lu 1:74 "That he would grant unto us, that we being
delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him
without fear"
You cannot serve God effectively and walk in fear of
every kind of thing that may come your way.
Lu 1:74 That he would grant unto us, that we being
delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him
without fear,
I had a friend years ago when I was a boy, that was
afraid of every shadow that would come on a moon-lit
night.
Illustration:
One night we were working on our little cave that was in
the woods. We heard a noise and saw a shadow moving
around us.
He all the sudden screamed, went running off through the
woods, and tripped and hurt himself on the way out. The
shadow would never have hurt him, but when he panicked he
brought more trouble upon himself than it was worth.
A. When It Comes to Enemies, God Is In Charge
Have you heard folks say over someone’s grave,
"He didn’t have an enemy in the world."
Well he didn’t live for God like he should have.
God can handle enemies. Israel went to battle in the name
of the Lord. We can still do that and it will work.
B. When It Comes to Events, God Is In Charge
Sickness, job loss, family trouble, you name it.
C. When It Comes to Energy, God Is In Charge.
Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power."
We can do more than we ever imagined through the mighty
wonder-working power of God.
VI. WITHOUT CHASTISEMENT, THERE PROOF LACKING
OF YOUR SONSHIP
The writer of Hebrews says:
Heb 12:8- "But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not
sons."
A. His Correction Comes Out of Love
It is not to vent frustrations or anger.
Proverbs tells us that the person who really loves their
child will correct them.
B. His Correction Comes To All of His
"scourges EVERY son whom he recieves"
C. His Chastisement Is For Our Profit
Heb. 12: 10 "For our profit"
D. His Correction Will Produces Positive Results if we
Will Give the Proper Response
Heb. 12:11 says, " Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby."
CONCLUSION:
You cannot be without:
The shedding of blood for there is no remission
With faith because you cannot please God.
Without holiness for not man can see God without it.
Without knowledge, for you will hasten into sin without
it.
Without Confidence in God or you would be filled with
fear.
Without chastisement which would prove we were never
converted.
From Dr.Tom Walker- Zion Hill Baptist Church
Marion, NC
Site created by
Tom Walker