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November 30 & December 1, 2013
Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption Matt Hessel | Hebrews 9:1-28
You all doing okay? Good Thanksgiving? Hey, go ahead and grab your Bible and open it to Hebrews, chapter 9. We are in the middle of a series studying in the Book of Hebrews. If you’re new or you’re visiting, Hebrews is one long sermon written to a group of Jewish Christians – to Hebrews. Now last week, Aaron went through chapter 8 which really unpacks Jesus – our High Priest of a New Covenant, a better covenant for God’s people and that includes all Bible believing Christians. Here’s the thing. Chapter 8 and chapter 9 are one continuous thought in this Book, 9 is going to continue where we left off last week, unpacking this New Covenant, what we have in it and how we have it. There is a lot packed into this chapter. I will do my absolute best to get through it all so please stick with me. It can get kind of heady, but we’re going to get to one of the core messages of Hebrews in this chapter. Are you with me? Good. I love you guys. Let’s do this. Let me set it up for you this way. We like to compare and contrast things, don’t we? We make comparisons on a daily basis. Thanksgiving is awesome. It’s got the four “Fs” – food, friends, family, and football, right? But compared to Christmas, I think it might take second place. Christmas has everything Thanksgiving has plus Jesus and Clark Griswold – it’s a big deal. I don’t know if it’s okay that I just made that joke. Anyway, Rocky III – awesome but compared to Ivan Drago, I don’t think it holds a candle. If you don’t know what I’m talking about that means you were born after 1988. So, Peyton was great. Peyton was great. But compared to Andrew Luck, I thing he kind of runs like a duck. Luck is a little bit better. Those are just jokes. I love Peyton – relax, relax. Those are just jokes. They are on the lighter side of what we compare but that’s the point, right? We compare things trivial like sports and movies. And things that are more serious too. Like comparing choosing one professional field over another. Or choosing one town to live in compared to another. Or even comparing Christianity to fill-‐in-‐the-‐blank world religion – we’ll get back to that one. The point is, we compare almost anything that we can think of – that’s exactly where the author is going in Hebrews, chapter 9. He’s going to compare and contrast the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. The first five verses set up this comparison. Verse 1, “Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent” now tent and tabernacle are the same word right here – they are interchangeable, “For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was the second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden alter of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.”
Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
Those were the 10 Commandments. “Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.” So, we need to understand what these verses are talking about. Very tempting right now to just skim over this because these are details from the Old Testament, we’re in Hebrews. Why are we going through this? Well, if we skip this we will completely miss the comparison. What God is saying right here is that there are regulations for worship under the Old Covenant – there were regulations as to how you could worship. This all comes out of Exodus. God says to Moses, “Hey, I want you to build this tent/ tabernacle. This is where my Presence will be. This is where you and I will meet. This is where I will be worshipped. Build it exactly how I tell you to. Everything that I tell you to put in it – be sure it’s in there because it’s symbolic of something.” The golden lampstand – that was representative of God’s light. It was symbolic of God’s revealing Himself to His people. The bread of Presence on the table – that represented fellowship with God. This is all in the first section – the Holy Place. Then there was a curtain, a big veil that separated the second section – that was the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies. You’ve probably heard that term. This is where the ark of the covenant was, where God’s actual Presence was. This is the set up for worship. This is how it is supposed to be in the tent/ tabernacle. Later it will be in a permanent setting when Solomon builds the temple in Jerusalem. This is how worship is set up. God says, “Build this tent, this tabernacle. I want you to come to Me. I want you to worship Me. But wait. There are going to be restrictions. There are regulations. The first one is in verse 6. It says, “These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties.” So, here’s the first restriction. Not everyone can go into this place of worship. Only the priests were allowed to go in and perform the regulations for worship, to offer sacrifice. Their job was to represent the people to God. Nobody else could go in. There’s more. Look at verse 7, “… but into the second” that’s the Holy of Holies where God’s Presence is, “only the high priest goes and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.” So, number one restriction not everyone gets involved. Only the priests go into the Holy Place. Everyone else is left out. Then there are three more, hard line restrictions to access God’s Presence. Number one: Only the high priest. Two: Only one day of the year. That was the Day of Atonement. Number Three: He couldn’t go in without the blood of the sacrifice. That was it. There was no access to God outside of this setup. Let me try to illustrate it this way. Let’s say that all of us, we are all the people of God. This represents Israel, the Hebrews. And let’s just say that I am the high priest. That means that I’m the only one in this room who has access to God. Nobody else does. And I only have it one day a year. And I have to take blood. What the point of all of this is, why we’re going through these details, what the author of Hebrews is doing is he’s trying to let us see that under the Old Covenant there are barriers between man and God. There is restricted access between man and God and that’s frustrating. Right? That sounds kind of frustrating. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
Well, there’s even more. Look at verse 9, “According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot”—key word—“cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with the food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.” Here’s what that means. The regulations for worship, the rituals, the sacrifices that are meant to cleanse the people of Israel, are meant to make them right in God’s eyes, and are meant to justify them – all of these regulations, all of these sacrifices, all of these rituals – they fall short. They’re void. Think about how that would have been received by the Hebrews. So, the sacrifices they’ve made and the regulations for worship that they had built their culture upon for 1,500 years are void. They cannot accomplish what they needed them to accomplish. Think about how that would have been received. We can’t miss this. This would have been an earth-‐shattering declaration. You would have been able to hear a pin drop in the room. I was trying to think of some analogy that would give us a perspective on this. But I don’t think that there is anything that does this justice. I don’t think that you and I can really understand the scope of this. At this point, the Hebrew people’s history was 2,000 years old. We are 237 years old here in the U.S. Their culture, their nation, their entire life was built around and upon the Old Covenant and now the author is saying it’s void – doesn’t matter anymore. Man that would have rocked them. That would have hit really, really close to home. He’s not just dropping this for shock value, what he’s trying to do is set up the comparison of how great the New Covenant is compared to the Old Covenant. They thought the Old Covenant was really, really good. Now, you might have noticed that I skipped verse 8. It was intentional. It’s because it starts to set up why it’s void, “By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing.” Not yet – those two words sum up the Old Covenant. The really sum up the entire Old Testament. It means that while the tabernacle was still standing, while the tent was in place, while the Old Covenant is in effect, while we were under the law, the true way into the holy place is shut – we can’t go in. It’s saying that there are two major weaknesses with the Old Covenant. Number one: Severe limited access to God. The second weakness is this: The inadequacy of the sacrifices that cleanse from sin. Here’s how it translates for us. Religion creates a false sense of access to God and it cannot save. Religion can’t bring us closer – works can’t bring us closer to God because we are trying to do it in our own power, in our own will, in our own efforts – not letting God bring us closer to Him. What religion by law says is that I have this belief whether I realize it or not that somehow I can create a clear channel to God and have direct access to Him based upon my own efforts. The problem with this misconception is that it will inevitably create a huge disillusionment that will eventually show itself as spiritual frustration. So, I’m marking off my check list. I’m living by the law. I’m doing good things. I should have access to God but it feels like I’m hitting a wall, What’s going on? I’m dialing up the phone but it feels like nobody is answering on the other end. Why won’t God respond to me? Either He isn’t who He says He is because He won’t respond to me or this whole thing is a joke. Then one of two things will start to happen. We will either try much harder in our religious efforts and pursuit – only furthering that frustration for the lack of access to God that we have assumed on our own efforts. Or, we’ll just become embittered and hardened and then we’ll miss where true access to God comes from. Verse 10 says where it comes from. It says the time of reformation. Do you know what the time of reformation is? It’s the crucifixion of Jesus. At the crucifixion the Old Covenant ended and the New Covenant began. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
Verse 11 starts to unpack that. It says this, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,” underline that, “then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” So at the crucifixion Jesus our High Priest of the New Covenant entered into the true holy places, the true tabernacle, which is the actual presence of God in Heaven – not here on earth – that was a symbol and shadow of what was to come. He entered by His own blood paying the price the Old Covenant demanded, that the blood of animals could not pay for, thus rendering the Old Covenant obsolete – it’s no more – and ushering in the New Covenant. Jesus is the New Covenant. The New Covenant is not religion, it’s not works, it’s not morality – it’s Jesus. And He’s much better. And then verse 11 starts to talk about the good things that have come. What are the good things that have come; That we have a secured, eternal redemption. It means that, for anyone who turns from the law in faith to Christ and what He has accomplished, there is an eternal redemption and security, because there are only two destinations for eternity – eternal redemption and eternal damnation. No other options. The cross secured redemption. Galatians 3:23 says this, “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.” It’s been revealed – it’s Jesus. So the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith – what are we justified by? Faith – not works. Faith in Christ. So the good things that have come – these are what we are going to compare the Old Covenant to. The first good thing is that we have redemption in Christ. Here’s the second. Remember how under the Old Covenant there were barriers between God and man – there were restrictions. Jesus changes all of that. Through His sacrifice Jesus has provided unrestricted, unlimited access to God the Father. That’s a good thing that has come. Let me try to illustrate it this way. If you are a Christian – if you’re not, I’m so glad you’re here – if you are a Christian, if you’ve given your life to Christ, I want you to stand up. Stand up – don’t be shy. This will be the easiest stand for Christ that you will ever have to make. Alright, under the Old Covenant access to God meant one man, on one day of the year, and not without blood. Because of Jesus, it’s hundreds every day of the year. And that’s only in this room. You see the difference? It’s a big difference. If you’re in Christ that means that you have unlimited, unrestricted access to the King of Glory – to talk to, to worship, to delight in, to enjoy right now. That’s a good thing that has come in Christ. Alright, you all can sit down – thank you. Eternal redemption and then unlimited access to God – and yet often I think that a lot of us aren’t moved by that. Yeah, we might toss up a quick prayer every once in a while, usually when something is wrong. If we can find time in our busy schedule, we may crack open God’s word and read a chapter if we can fit it in around the Colts game. Your own personal audit – has the unrestricted access to God affected your life in any way at all? Because if we’re not blown away by the fact that we have unrestricted access to the King of Glory, then we really have no clue as to what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Yeah, we know that Jesus died for our sins. That’s the foundation – we’ll get to that later. But if that’s the only thing that we think Jesus accomplished on the cross, we’re are selling the Son of God really, really short. = Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
Maybe you have an understanding of the service and sacrifice that Christ made. Maybe you understand that. But if you’re not trying to wear out that access to God, if you are not tirelessly delighting in it and using it, then really you’re disrespecting the Son of God who sacrificed Himself so that we could have that gift. That’s like complaining, and not enjoying and delighting in and using your freedom to a soldier who just walked off the battlefield who fought, served, and sacrificed so that we could have that gift. It’s a slap in the face to him. It’s like being given this incredible gift and then just putting it in a closet. Yeah, you were given a gift but you never received it. If the unlimited, unrestricted access to the King of Glory does not create in us, as Christians, a heart of gratitude, humility, and excitement then you might understand the crucifixion in your mind but you’ve never let it transform your heart. If that’s the case, you’ve never left the Old Covenant. You’re still under law and not grace. It’s a good thing that’s come that we have access to God and yet I still think that some of us miss it on another end. Do you know what the temple priests did when the veil was torn? Did they fall on their knees in praise? Did they turn and look to Jesus in faith? Did they cry out, “Praise God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the sacrificial Lamb of the world who takes away our sins and gives us direct access to God? Thank you!” Did they do that? No they didn’t. Instead, one of the greatest tragedies the world has ever known happened. They sewed the veil back up. God, Himself, tore down the barrier that separates man from Him. And they put it back up. Barriers to God’s presence are no longer God imposed, they are only self-‐imposed. So what barrier are you putting up between you and God? Is it inner guilt because of sin? Now if that’s it, if you’re in Christ then you need to understand this. Our sin does not sever our access to God. It will certainly strain our relationship with Him, but it will not end your access. If it did there would be no way for us to repent and come to the Lord for forgiveness, which He promises to give. It does not end your access to God. The guilt of inner sin is the greatest self-‐imposed barrier to God’s presence. Our guilt says, “I don’t want to come to the Lord. I don’t want to see Him in His holiness. I don’t want Him to see me in my sin.” Our guilt says, “I’m not worthy. I’m not savable.” The problem with that is, that’s not what the Gospel says. If that’s your stance, “I’m not worthy. I’m not savable. I’m too far from God,” then really you have a weak view of the cross. What you’re saying is that the power of your sin is greater than the cross. There is no sin that is greater than the power of the cross. “I’m not worthy. I’m not savable. I’m too far from God. If I step into church I’ll be struck by lightning.” All of that – that is a lie from Satan. It’s a lie. Our sin does not end our access to God, but the guilt of it will be the number one self-‐imposed barrier. There is no greater burden in the world than the guilt of sin. But, when you feel the weight of that sin, that burden – then the blood of Christ becomes precious to you because it’s the only thing that has the power to remove that burden of guilt. It promises to do so for all who come to Christ. “Well Matt, I’ve given my life to Christ but I still have a guilty conscience.” I would say that you’re not alone. There’s no such thing as a Christian who does not struggle with some issue of sin, who is not in daily dependence of God’s grace. That Christian doesn’t exist. Following Jesus isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. It’s hard. There are mountain tops – baptism is a mountain top. Then there are valleys. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
If your conscience is guilty because of un-‐confessed sin, un-‐repentant sin, well that’s not a guilty conscience – that’s the Holy Spirit convicting you. It’s an act of grace. If that’s the case, you need to confess that sin to the Lord, you need to repent, and you probably need to go make something right with someone you sinned against. But, if your conscience is guilty because you have a past, you still struggle with something, well then I would just say – welcome to the club. Verse 9 talked about perfecting the conscience of the worshipper. Here’s the thing. There’s a difference between a clean conscience and a clear conscience. There’s a difference. The blood of Jesus will cleanse our conscience. My conscience has been cleansed by Jesus, but I’m still aware of my sin. I still know what I’ve done in the past. I still know what I struggle with even today. My conscience has been cleansed – it hasn’t been cleared though. Not yet. Kelly has forgiven me for the time that I accidentally, I want to stress that key word, accidently, threw my son up in the air when he was 12 months old not realizing how low the ceiling was. You see where this is going, right? Do I even need to finish? Some of you are like, “Yeah, finish.” I threw him up in the air and of course he slammed into the ceiling – I caught him on the way down. As if that makes it better, right? Please don’t call CPS on me – that was three years ago. It was just an accident. There is no permanent damage – not that we know of yet. He’s okay. Kelly has forgiven me for that – but there are times that she won’t let me forget it either. If you’re in Christ then your conscience has been cleansed of sin and there’s a promise on the day when Jesus returns it will also be cleared. Our conscience tells us what we must think of ourselves, but the blood of Jesus tells us what God thinks of us. My conscience tells me and reminds me that I’m a sinner; that I struggle daily, and I need God’s grace daily. I know how dark my heart is. My conscience won’t let me forget that. But the blood of Jesus tells me what God thinks of me, how much He loves me because when I was in the midst of my junk, when I was bankrupt in sin, He sent His Son to die for me. What kind of love does that take? That really should produce humility in me. So what’s denying you access to God? Are you putting up a barrier? Is it a burden? Is it this feeling of unworthiness or a feeling of dirtiness? Colossians 2:13 says this, “And you,” let me say that again, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.” So our debt has been paid, our sin has been nailed to the cross. What that means is that no one can judge you as justified or unjustified, worthy or unworthy in the eyes of the Lord. Not your neighbor, not Satan, and not yourself. You don’t get to judge yourself as unworthy in the eyes of the Lord anymore. Jesus has removed the burden of sin. He’s removed that guilt. That veil has been torn down. Don’t sew it back up. Here’s the snapshot of the two covenants. Old Covenant: Restricted access to God in a system that cannot cleanse sin. New Covenant: Unrestricted to the King of Glory, a cleansed conscience of sin and the promise of a cleared one when Jesus returns. Eternal redemption secured. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
When you’re looking at the two like that – I think the New Covenant wins hands down. Now, the Old Covenant has been obsolete for 2,000 years. But when these two comparisons were made, when the Book of Hebrews was originally written, comparing these two would have hit really close to home, probably too close for some people. There’s no one here who has experienced the animal sacrifices under the Old Covenant. If you have, I’m sure it was illegal in the state you were in and I’m never going to let you walk my dog. But many of us still make ourselves live under the law of religion, not the 618 laws of the Old Covenant, but the law of works. If you’re Jewish or you have a Jewish background, there is no more temple or tabernacle where the sacrifices of the Levitical law take place. It doesn’t exist anymore. It hasn’t since 70 A.D. That was prophesied in the Old Testament and by Jesus. So comparing the Old Covenant to the New Covenant – I think that it loses a little bit of its impact on us that it would have had on the Hebrews because none of us had any experience with it. So what about comparing Jesus and the New Covenant to things that hit close to home today? What about comparing Jesus to what we see today? C. S. Lewis is an author – if you don’t know who he was, he was the author of the Chronicles of Narnia. He was a Christian and he was a professor at Oxford. One day he was confronted by some of his colleagues about his faith. And they asked him to come into this classroom with him. And he did. And when he got in there, there was a chalk board. And written on the chalkboard were many different world religions and Christianity was written right in the middle of it. And they said to him, “What’s the difference between Christianity and all of these world religions,” thinking that Lewis would be stuck because in their mind there was no difference – all religion was the same. So Lewis looked at the board and he responded, “Well, that’s easy. The difference between Christianity and these world religions – the difference is grace. That’s the difference.” Every world religion requires man’s works – man reaching up to God. Christianity requires man’s faith – God reaching down to man. The difference is grace. So, this won’t be exhaustive but let’s do a quick comparison. Hinduism: Hinduism says that there is not one God but there are 3.3 million gods. It says that you must adhere to internal law. The more bad deeds you perform the more good deeds you need to perform to pay them off. It’s called Karma. You’ve probably heard that before. It says it’s an illusion to know God that everyone must pay off their own debt. There is no grace or forgiveness. That sounds fundamentally different, doesn’t it? It boils down to this. Live a good life then one day you can cease to exist as a human. It may take multiple re-‐incarnations but the end goal is to not exist. That’s the goal. That kind of sounds like – to me that sounds like a curse. It sounds like being born is a curse if the whole point is not to exist. Jesus says, “You can’t pay off your debt. I’ve already paid it for you. Here is grace and forgiveness. Not because of what you have done but because of what I have done, because I created you to exist with me for eternity.” Eternal life is not a curse, it’s a blessing. Jesus is better. Buddhism: Buddhism is really a break off from Hinduism. It says that there is no one god to be worshipped, that everyone must adhere to this internal law that you follow four principle truths and if you live an eight step life, one day maybe in this life or the next, you can experience enlightenment which they call Nirvana – it’s not just a band, this comes from Buddhism. Nirvana, that’s the goal. It says Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
that knowing God is an illusion, you must achieve and there are multiple paths to enlightenment – everyone must find their own path. Basically it boils down to this, live a good life, achieve, and you can cease to exist. Jesus says, “You can’t achieve salvation. I’ve already achieved it for you. There are not multiple paths. I’m the path. I’m the guide. I’m the map. I’m the GPS. Follow me because I love you.” Not only can you know Him personally and intimately, but that is actually God’s desire. He wants you to know Him personally and intimately – that’s why He gave us His word. That’s why we have the Bible. Jesus is better. Islam: Islam says that you cannot know God and that having a personal relationship with God does not exist, that you must achieve also. It says to adhere and submit to the five pillars of Islam and then you can achieve salvation – it’s based upon works. Salvation, then, becomes subjective because on the Day of Judgment Allah, depending on what mood he is in, can either revoke or grant salvation, all based upon works. Jesus says, “I’m God. You can know Me.” You can have a personal relationship with God the Father because God is a personable God. Not only does God interact and engage directly with man, but He takes it to the next level. He sacrificed Himself so that we could engage with Him, we could have a personal relationship with Him, we could enjoy Him, and we could delight in Him right now and for eternity. Jesus is better. Maybe comparing Jesus to other world religions, maybe that doesn’t hit very close to home for us because many of us don’t have any experience with other world religions. I know some of you do but most of us don’t know a Hindu, a Buddhist, or a Muslim. So how does Jesus compare to some of the cultural ideologies that have become religion. What about Humanism? Humanism says that man is the measure of all things, not God. Humanism says that people are the source of truth, and people are the pursuit and goal in life and people are the solution to the world’s problems. Bible believing Christians think that the God of the Bible is the measure of all things, that He is the source of truth, that He is the pursuit and goal of life. Christians believe that man isn’t the source of the solution but that man is actually the problem. Because of man’s sin the world is broken, it is filled with problems, and it will be until Jesus comes back and makes all things new. Jesus is the solution. Humanism boils down to this. Man is his own god. I don’t know about you but I make a terrible god. I’ve tried and I’ve crashed and burned. Let me just tell you from personal experience, Jesus is better. What about tolerance? Tolerance has really become a religion in our culture that must be worshipped and followed – have you noticed this? So tolerance sounds something like this. To each his own, no judging. Truth is whatever is true to you. Be open minded. These are some of the things that you will hear from the religion of tolerance. It’s the idea that man is free to believe whatever he wants to believe as an individual, to do whatever he wants to do, because the chief goal in life is man’s own personal truth and happiness – which is actually very, very humanistic. Now, don’t raise your hands but how many of you have heard that Christians are intolerant? Have you heard this? Usually what happens is that Christians are criticized for their beliefs as being intolerant. But Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
isn’t that in and of itself intolerance? Isn’t that a contradiction? So usually what happens is that someone is waiving the flag of all encompassing tolerance and then criticizing me for what I believe – but aren’t they being intolerant of my beliefs? Now, I understand that tolerance, as an all encompassing virtue, is an attempt to love everyone. I understand that but it’s a feeble attempt at best. It doesn’t work because if you tolerate everything you can stand for nothing. If we tolerate every single belief, every single thought, every supposed truth, every ideology, every action then eventually all of those things are going to conflict with each other at some point. And then the all encompassing banner of intolerance collapses because there is no foundation. Jesus is actually incredibly tolerant. He’d have to be in order to die for us. God is a God of love. God is a God of grace. Here’s the thing that people tend to misunderstand, both Christians and non-‐Christians. God does not tolerate sin. He doesn’t. It is okay to come to Christ as you are, wherever you are at, whatever you are in. It’s not okay to stay as you are once you are in Christ. True conversion results in a changed heart. You’ll begin to love what God loves and hate what God hates. God loves people but He hates sin. Here’s the problem. Here’s where we’ve made the mistake in our culture. We attach someone’s sin to their identity. God doesn’t do that. If God attached someone’s sin to their identity then He would hate them. But we see throughout Scripture that He doesn’t. God loves people but He hates sin. Here’s what that means for Christians. It means that sometimes tolerance is not loving it’s actually the most hateful thing that you can do. If I know that sin leads down this path of destruction and death, if I’m going to just stand back and hold the flag of tolerance, I’m not loving that person, I’m hating them. What it means for Christians is that we are called to love everyone, our brothers and sisters in Christ and those who are outside Christ. We don’t attack people who are outside of Christ for their sin. We point them to Jesus. We don’t smash them in the head with the Bible like a club. No, we give it to them as the message of hope and redemption that it is. Christians, please, don’t try to win someone to Christ through argument or using the Word like a billy club. It never happens. It’s never happened. Yes, we are supposed to speak the whole counsel of God boldly, unapologetically. We’re not supposed to skip over the tough parts. We’re not supposed to water it down. But, we speak this boldly and unapologetically with grace and truth, grace and love. If grace and love are not married to boldness and truth there will be disastrous effects on either side of the fence. Here’s how people are won to Christ. They hear the power and the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in love and then they see its power manifest itself in you. Salvation is not your work, it’s the Lord’s. Your job is to steward your own salvation in order to bless other people because Jesus is much better. Now, I understand that some of the things that I’ve just said sound incredibly arrogant to some of you. I get it. I knew that going in. But please don’t mistake this for my arrogance because these are not my words, they are the Lord’s. I’m just a messenger, that’s all I am. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way” singular, “the truth” singular, “the life” singular, “nobody comes to the Father but by me” singular. What that means is that there are not multiple world views – there are not. There are only two. There’s Jesus and the lie. There’s Jesus. Everything else, world religions, cultural ideologies, and false gospels are a false god. Jesus is much better than the lie. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
The obvious question is, how? If you’re going to make a bold statement like that, how is Jesus better? Well good thing that verse 13 explains it for me, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” So, here’s the answer. How is Jesus better? The answer is His blood. That’s the answer. There are three things that we need to see about the blood of Jesus. 1. The blood of Christ is superior. It’s superior to the blood of animals in the Old Covenant. That means that it is superior to religions, to cultural ideologies, to our own religious efforts. We trust in Christ’s blood, not our sweat. You following me? 2. The blood of Christ has power. Oh, it has power. Verse 13 says that it purifies from dead works – that means that religion doesn’t remove sin, good works doesn’t remove sin, man doesn’t remove sin. Only the power of Jesus’ blood can remove sin. If you’re under law, if you’re under works – how do you know when you are good enough? If you’re trying to pay off your own debt – when do you know that it’s paid off? The answer is that you don’t. Only the divine blood of Jesus can remove the debt of sin. It’s the only thing that has the power to cleanse conscience – that’s it. 3. The blood of Jesus gives us purpose. It gives us great purpose. Verse 14 gives us that purpose. It says to serve the living God. And that’s a question that has been asked for centuries, right? What’s the meaning of life? What’s the purpose of life – the answer, verse 14 – to serve the living God. Charles Spurgeon gives a great explanation of this. Let me just read this because I certainly can’t say it better than he can. “To serve the living God is necessary to the happiness of a living man. For this end we were made. And we miss the design of our making if we do not honor our Maker. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. If we miss that end we are ourselves terrible losers. The service of God is the element in which, alone, we can fully live.” Our purpose is to serve God. Not as some meaningless slave but as what we were designed to do, with our greatest joy in mind and His greatest glory. Serving the living God is not a mundane requirement it’s a joyful privilege. There’s more of why Jesus is better. Verse 15, this is going to answer another often asked question, “Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.” Verse 22, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
So here’s the question that is asked, “Why did Jesus have to die.” Why did He have to die? I’m guessing that you have probably asked that at some point. Your kids are asking it right now. Or maybe that’s the first time you’ve heard that question and you’re thinking, “Yeah, good question. Why?” Two reasons. 1. Forgiveness of sins. Verse 22 says that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. If Jesus didn’t die on the cross you and I – no forgiveness. No grace. And that sounds a little harsh and morbid, doesn’t it? Why is death a requirement for forgiveness? Here’s the thing. God didn’t make that a requirement. We did. That goes all the way back to Genesis 3. God told Adam in the garden, “Don’t eat of this tree.” What that means is that sin and death – they are attached. They cannot be separated by us. So when man chose to bring sin into the world, he also chose to bring death into the world. And now, those two things cannot be separated. There is no forgiveness outside of death. The problem is – your death, my death – not powerful enough to grant forgiveness. Only Jesus can. The first reason He died was for forgiveness. 2. The second reason is in verse 15. We have a promised, eternal inheritance. So because of the death of Jesus, the will that we have been written into has been enacted. If you’re in Christ you are a beneficiary of that will. The Bible says no one can imagine what God has planned for those who love Him. Here’s what we know about our eternal inheritance if you’re a Christian. All we know is that it is going to be awesome. That’s it. It’s going to be awesome. It means that we are co-‐heirs with Christ. That means that everything that God the Father blesses Jesus with in heaven – we get a share of that. That’s awesome. And that’s not because we earned it. It’s because of faith. An inheritance is not earned it’s a gift from a loving benefactor. Faith has its hands opened to receive it’s not reaching out trying to grasp or earn it. Jesus has secured a promised, eternal inheritance for all who will turn in faith to Him and have their hands open in faith. That’s a pretty good thing. Let’s try to wrap it up in verse 24. It says this, “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” He is our High Priest. “Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” So, the work is done. It’s done. Jesus is our High Priest of the New Covenant. He has secured our eternal redemption. He has given us direct access to God. We have a promised, eternal inheritance. Here’s the question are you under the Old Covenant or the New? If you’re under the Old Covenant, meaning that you’re still trusting in law, religion, your works – or in unbelief altogether then you are still dead in your sin and you’re under law, not grace. There’s a reason that verse 24 says man dies and then comes judgment. That’s one of the warnings we see in Hebrews. It’s a warning because if you are under the law, if you’re under the Old Covenant, if you’re under unbelief, the warning is that some of you have seen your last Thanksgiving. Death may come today. Whenever it does come, if you’re under the Old Covenant, if you’re outside of Christ, there is no more grace – it’s only judgment. The whole point the author of Hebrews is trying to Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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Hebrews: Securing Our Redemption
November 30 & December 1, 2013
make is that failure to move from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, from religion to relationship, from unbelief to faith in Christ results in no salvation. It leads to death. And then verse 28 says Jesus is coming back a second time, not to deal with sin, He already did on the cross, but when He comes back He’s coming to save those who are, key word, eagerly awaiting Him. We have this secured redemption. We have this access to God. We have an eternal inheritance waiting for us. The question is this. Are you eagerly awaiting the return of Christ? Paul says in Philippians 1 that, “To live is Christ. To die is gain.” It’s much better for Christians after death. Eagerness for the return of Christ is a distinct characteristic for all true believers. Are you eagerly awaiting His return? Or are you still trying to save yourself, “Forget the redemption. I can do it on my own.” Or are you making multiple confessions in Christ hoping that one will stick, but you’ve never repented of sin. You’ve given a confession in your mind in faith but you’ve never given your heart in faith. If you’re not eagerly awaiting the return of Christ, you’re probably not in the New Covenant. It boils down to this. The blood of Jesus is superior. It has power, oh it has power. It gives purpose to everyone who will put their faith in it. That’s it. Jesus died for you. Jesus has given access to God to you. Jesus has secured an eternal redemption for you. Jesus has a promised eternal inheritance for you. Jesus is calling you. Now, it’s your move. So we’re going to enter into a time of communion and offering. This is just a continuation of worship – offering and tithes – this is how we say to God, “Hey, God. I trust you with my salvation, so I’m going to trust you with my finances.” It’s an act of worship. II Corinthians 9 says, “Don’t give unless you’re a cheerful giver.” God’s not concerned about your money. He’s concerned about your heart. If you’re in Christ this is a way that you get to worship Him. If you’re not a Christian, you’re not obligated to give. But if you’re a Christian this is something that you do to worship the Lord. So, we’re going to worship God through tithes and offerings. We’re going to enter into a time of communion. It’s a time where, if you’re a Christian, you get to reflect upon the cross. You get to reflect upon the New Covenant, the blood of Jesus and what we have in that. If you’re not a Christian just let it pass. It’s okay. Nobody’s going to think anything of you. And if you are in Christ and you’ve got something going on in your heart, maybe there’s something between you and another brother, let the tray pass. Let it go. I’m going to pray for us and then the servers are going to come forward. Father, thank You for Your Son. Thank You for giving us direct access to You. God, it’s a gift that I can talk to You right now. My words aren’t adequate at all, but You say that You delight in me and I get to delight in You. Thank You. Thank You for redemption that I don’t deserve, that nobody deserves. Thank You for giving me the blood of Christ, for giving us the blood of Christ showing what You really think of us and how much You really love us. Father I pray that if any of these words are not Yours, that they were mine, strike them. And the words that were Yours, God I ask that You penetrate hearts, that You shape hearts, that You even break hearts. That hearts are filled with encouragement, conviction, joy, delight in You, and Your Name is made famous. That You are glorified in this church, in these people, and other people around Indianapolis and the world will be affected by the Gospel and its manifestation in our own lives. Father, King of Glory, I can’t wait to see what You have stored up for us. God, we love You. It’s in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.
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