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The Book of Hebrews: Message Fifty
Eight
By Dr. Michael
Guido, D.D.
It was
interesting to note in my travels through Europe that
many of the towns still bear the marks of walls that
surrounded them in days of old. The streets curve
with the walls, and sometimes they wind up in a dead
end. One day a visitor asked a man how to reach a
certain address. But the directions puzzled him, and
he asked, "Is that the best way?"
"Sir," he replied, "it's the only
way." That's a good illustration on salvation.
To get to God you must go through Christ and His
death on the cross. Should you ask, "Is that the
best way?" the Bible answers, "It's the
only way." How important it is that you make
sure that you've taken this way. And the 10th
chapter of Hebrews emphasizes this fact.
It begins with
the pronouncement that God planned it. "That is
why Christ said," declares the Bible, "as
He came into the world, 'O God, the blood of bulls
and goats cannot satisfy You, so You have made ready
this body of Mine for Me to lay as a sacrifice upon
Your altar. You were not satisfied with the animal
sacrifices, slain and burnt before You as offering
for sin.' Then I said, 'See, I have come to lay down
My life, just as the Scriptures said that I
would.'" It was God "who loved the world so
much that He gave His only Son." It was God who
sent "His only Son down from heaven to bring to
us eternal life through His death." Every step
He took, every sermon He preached, every act He
performed was all planned by God the Father before
the foundation of the world, and was carried out
according to His perfect will. For Jesus said,
"I delight to do Thy will, O My God!" In
ancient Greek mythology there's the story of Atlas
who was sentenced to bear the world on his shoulders.
This, of course, is a myth. But this isn't a myth
that God bears the world on His heart, and He planned
our salvation.
But while the
will of God the Father planned our salvation, the
work of God the Son procured it. For the Bible says,
"Under this plan we have been forgiven and made
clean by Christ dying for us once and for all."
On one of our missionary trips I visited a city that
had been utterly destroyed by an earthquake. At the
sound of the crashing timbers all of the members of
one family had left the house, except a maid and the
infant child. Rushing to the crib, while the walls
were giving way, she stretched forth her arms to
enfold the baby. The building rocked to its
foundation. The roof fell in. The heavy boards fell
upon the maid, but the baby escaped unharmed; for she
had covered the baby with her body, and, at the
sacrifice of her own life, saved him from
destruction. Thus did the Lord Jesus die for us,
bearing in His body the just due of our sins.
Yes, the will
of God the Father planned our salvation, the work of
God the Son procured our salvation, and the witness
of God the Spirit pledges our salvation. It's written
in Hebrews 10: 15, "Whereof the Holy Spirit also
is a witness to us." Men aren't any better than
their convictions. What are yours? Men aren't any
happier than their assurances. What are yours? Men
aren't any more secure than their anchorings. What
are yours? When you become a Christian, the Spirit of
God within you witnesses to your spirit the assurance
that your sins have been forgiven, and that all's
well between your soul and the Savior. On that
never-to-be-forgotten night when I prayed, "Lord
Jesus, I receive Thee as my Savior; please come into
my heart!" I was directed to read John 1:12,
"But as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name." As I read that, a voice
within me bore witness that I had become a son of
God. No man or woman had to tell me that I was saved.
The Holy Spirit spoke to me deep in my heart, and
told me that I was really a child of God. That
reminds me of a 12-year-old boy who had been
listening to Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse preach. He
summed up his sermon with the sentence, "Our
sins are forgiven, forgotten, cleansed, pardoned,
atoned for, remitted, covered; they've been cast into
the depths of the sea, blotted out as a thick cloud,
removed as far as the east is from the west;
remembered against us no more, cast behind God's
back." After the closing hymn, as he stood at
the door, the young fellow took hold of his hand and
said, "Good sermon, Doc!" And then he added
with a smile, "Gee, we're sure sittin' pretty,
aren't we!" Said that great pastor, "I
looked after him for a moment and a great joy came
into my heart, because I knew that there had been in
his heart the witness of the Holy Spirit. It makes no
difference in what language you say it; it's the same
truth. 'We're sure sittin' pretty,' said the boy.
'His Spirit beareth witness with our spirit,' said
the apostle Paul."
copyright 2000 Guido Evangelistic
Association
All Scripture verses are
quoted from the New King James Version.
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This series of messages on the
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Sower." They are collected and reprinted here
for your enjoyment and spiritual edification.
