Steve Gentry
[0:00] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to the book of Hebrews, Chapter 10. [0:03] We’re going to start in verse 17 this morning.
[0:08] One thing that we have here at Village Church that I believe is integral to who we are and [0:14] what we do each and every week is village groups. [0:18] And if you haven’t been here for very long or if you’ve been here for a time and you’re [0:21] having trouble to connect, that’s something that village groups actually exist for. [0:26] It is us as a church coming together, getting to know one another and making sure that our [0:32] lives are connected and that we’re actually doing everything that we can to live out what
[0:37] we hear and what we see in the Word of God each and every week. [0:41] I know sometimes it’s hard when we walk away and we say, okay, how do I actually live that? [0:48] How does that actually impact my life? [0:51] How do I actually take what I learned on Sunday morning in each and every day and actually [0:55] begin to see gospel fruit in my life? [0:59] Well, village groups exist for that very purpose.
[1:01] It’s a time for us to come together and really ask the question, okay, now what? [1:06] Maybe it’s something in the sermon that I’ve said that you didn’t understand, which is [1:09] probably pretty easy to do. [1:11] Or maybe it’s something that you just kind of wonder, what should I do in this aspect [1:17] with this topic and in this text that we went over this week? [1:21] Well, friends, we’re not meant to go through life alone.
[1:24] You know that discipleship is not something that you can do as an individual. [1:28] That’s not the way that God designed it. [1:30] God designed for us to come together in relationship with one another and help one another live [1:36] out the gospel each and every day. [1:39] And one way of starting that, I don’t think it’s the final solution. [1:42] I think it’s really the beginning is when we come together in village group and actually
[1:46] just say, how do we do this? [1:49] How do we live this? [1:51] And so each and every week, what I like to do is I like for us to take time to just [1:56] spend together, not in this large group where it’s mostly a monologue, but in a smaller [2:00] group where it’s a dialogue. [2:02] Maybe you’re like me.
[2:04] Maybe it’s a nightmare to think about sitting in a group of 12 to 15 people and actually [2:10] talking about myself or actually maybe having to explain something or talk about something [2:14] that’s personal or even worse yet, hear about someone else’s personal life, because that’s [2:18] something that we learn to avoid even at work in our every day. [2:23] Well, here’s the thing about the gospel. [2:25] It breaks down every barrier between me and God.
[2:29] It breaks down the barrier of sin and God comes and he gets intricately involved in [2:35] my personal life. [2:36] And what I’ve found as I’m growing in the grace of God, as I’m growing in my relationship [2:40] with God, I see other barriers in my life begin to happen. [2:45] In the gospel, God reconciles us to himself and he invites us into a relationship. [2:50] But then he also calls me to learn to be reconciled to others because the gospel commands in my
[2:58] life that I live to proclaim the good news to other people. [3:03] And so if I’m called to proclaim the good news to others, guess what? [3:06] Those others are also called to proclaim the good news to me. [3:11] Discipleship is a team sport. [3:13] Growing in God’s grace and growing in your relationship with God is absolutely impossible [3:19] unless you get involved in the lives of others.
[3:22] We have so many people whose lives have been changed, not even here on Sunday morning, [3:27] but in the relationships that they’ve developed in their village group. [3:30] And if you’re not in a village group, I don’t want to tell you, you’re missing out on a [3:35] great opportunity that you could have to go to another level with your relationship [3:41] with God, as well as learn to be involved in the lives of others. [3:48] Because if it’s one thing I hear as a pastor, it’s how do I preach the gospel to people?
[3:55] Well one step is to actually make friends with people. [3:59] And one great way to do that is just spend an hour a week in a room with 10 or 12 other [4:07] people who, believe it or not, probably feel the same way that you do. [4:12] They’re scared, they’re worried, they’re nervous that they’re actually going to have to talk. [4:18] But as you grow together as a group, and everybody that’s in a group learns this, just those [4:24] barriers and those things, they begin to break away and we learn of how much we need
[4:29] to repent of our sin each and every week. [4:33] So if you’re not involved in a village group, why don’t you fill out that connect card, [4:36] drop it in the offering plate and just mark groups or after the service, Pastor Nate [4:40] would love to talk to you at the next steps table, get you connected to a group, even [4:44] today as we head into the next month of our life as a church. [4:50] Last week we started a new series called life.
[4:54] Last week we talked about what it is to have a real life. [4:59] And that all the definitions, all of the reasons that we live and everything that we do change [5:04] the day that Jesus rose from the dead. [5:07] When he rose from the dead, what we learned is that we don’t necessarily know what life [5:12] is all about because we’ve never seen the type of power that can have life after death. [5:19] And that’s what Jesus brought.
[5:20] That’s what he proclaimed and then that’s what he did. [5:23] He gave us a real life and everything else in our lives flows from that. [5:29] Life is about what you receive from God. [5:33] Maybe you’re a little bit like me or maybe you’re a little bit like everybody else in [5:36] which you define your life, you define your authority, you define your identity, you define [5:42] what you do in your mission as what you do, what you earn, what you build in your life.
[5:49] Well, the gospel changes absolutely all of that. [5:51] We saw last week that the gospel is about living life through something that I receive [5:57] about a grace that God gives about a life that God transforms through his power. [6:02] Not about what I’ve done, not about what I’m going to do, not about what I’ve earned, not [6:06] about my fame, not about my power, not about my success, but rather about Jesus, about [6:11] everything that he’s done, about everything that he’s earned.
[6:15] It’s not about me anymore. [6:18] It becomes about Jesus. [6:20] And when that happens, everything changes. [6:23] My life takes on new meaning and I begin to flow into different environments. [6:28] I begin to flow into different actions and activities and I begin to simply live differently. [6:36] We don’t have to investigate very far to see why we need a different life, why our lives
[6:43] aren’t real. [6:44] We all know the truth that none of us measure up to even our own expectations, even our [6:49] own standards, let alone living up to the standards and expectations that God may have [6:54] for us. [6:54] We’ve all got one thing in common and that’s sin. [6:58] Whether you think it’s against God or whether you think it’s against someone else, you have
[7:04] And that is the thing that’s keeping you from living and understanding what each and every [7:09] day a real life is to be lived for. [7:13] Every act of disobedience has served in your life, scripture tells us, as an action of [7:19] disrespect towards God. [7:22] Whenever you disrespect someone, I mean think about your relationships and your life. [7:26] If you’re disrespected or if you disrespect someone, it causes some great hindrances in
[7:31] your relationship with them. [7:32] It causes some barriers that weren’t there before. [7:36] But the beautiful thing that we saw last week and the beautiful thing that I want to measure, [7:39] excuse me, I want to focus in on this week, is that God is the one who’s been offended [7:44] more than anyone else by your sin. [7:46] No matter what it is, no matter what you’ve done, it’s ultimately against God, the scripture
[7:50] tells us. [7:52] But God doesn’t desire for that disrespect to keep us from Him. [7:58] God desires to forgive each and every one of us and Jesus proves that. [8:04] I think forgiveness though is the hardest part of the gospel to believe. [8:08] We either continue to carry our guilt around or we think that we need to add some form [8:12] of effort of our own to it in order to earn it.
[8:16] God though promises in grace that Jesus will give forgiveness based on His effort and not [8:23] our own. [8:23] He then calls us to find our identity in a forgiven life.
[8:31] If you’ve been in church for any length of time, I’m sure that you’ve heard over and [8:36] over and maybe you’ve said it, that if I confess my sin, God is faithful, He’s just, He’ll [8:42] forgive it. [8:43] So if I confess it, He’ll forgive it and we proclaim that mantra over and over and over [8:48] that many times we struggle to even believe the very things that we say. [8:54] I think we struggle to believe that.
[8:57] I think it’s either that you think that your sin is keeping you from a level and a relationship [9:02] with God than you could have without that sin and that guilt that you carry, you think [9:07] that your sin is too great. [9:09] If I only knew what you had done, I’d know that the grace of God is different for you. [9:14] Well, you’re right. [9:15] I don’t know most of you personally and I don’t know even what those I do know personally,
[9:21] maybe their biggest sin or their biggest flaw is, but I do know one thing and that’s that [9:25] Jesus knows you. [9:29] Jesus knows everything that you’ve ever done. [9:32] Jesus knows every sin. [9:33] Jesus knows every striving for obedience in which you fell flat on your face. [9:38] Jesus knows every goal that you’ve ever set that you’ve failed to reach.
[9:42] Jesus knows every sin, no matter how great, because we do have a level of sins, at least [9:48] that we see and one thing is harder than the other. [9:50] The reason I know that each and every one of us have that is because we’re very quick [9:53] to say, well, at least I haven’t done that. [9:56] Well, I know that some of you have done that.
[10:01] And that just is this baggage that you carry around and you say, I could never be as close [10:07] to God as that person because then I did that. [10:12] Or maybe you’re in a position where you think, you know what, I’ve been forgiven of all [10:16] that, but I’ve got to earn my keep. [10:22] I’ve got to earn my place in God’s kingdom. [10:26] I’ve got to make sure that God doesn’t take that forgiveness away from me.
[10:31] I’ve got to make sure that I stay good enough so that God will continue to love me. [10:37] God will continue to bless me. [10:39] God will continue to work in my life because I don’t want to be like that other guy.
[10:44] Because surely I’m a little more forgiven than him.
[10:49] Maybe you’ve based your life on that. [10:51] And here’s the funny thing about those two spectrums is that they’re not that different.
[10:57] Because everybody that I’ve ever met that bases what they think they have with God on [11:00] what they’re doing to keep it. [11:03] Well, they never reach that level of satisfaction where they think they’ve done enough. [11:07] And in those moments where they’re like, I can’t do enough, you know what comes into [11:12] their mind? [11:14] That sin way back when.
[11:18] Well, maybe that’s why.
[11:20] Maybe I’ll never be washed completely clean of that thing. [11:26] It’s ultimately guilt is what defines most of our lives. [11:30] What I want to hone in on today is that even though forgiveness is the most difficult [11:36] thing you’ll ever deal with.
[11:41] It’s what God desires to give each and every one of us. [11:47] Fully. [11:48] Complete. [11:50] Whole. [11:51] Nothing to ever add to it. [11:53] Nothing to ever take away from it.
[11:55] Because of Jesus. [11:59] God will never love you more than the moment you trust in him. [12:04] But even better, he’ll never love you less. [12:08] Than that moment you trusted in him. [12:11] Look in Hebrews, chapter 10, starting in verse 17 with me.
[12:17] I will remember their lawless. [12:19] Excuse me, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. [12:23] Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. [12:29] Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, [12:34] by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. [12:40] And since we have a great priest over the house of God.
[12:44] Let us draw near with a true heart. [12:48] In full assurance of faith. [12:50] With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [12:59] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised. [13:06] Is faithful.
[13:08] Number one, this morning, Jesus came on a mission to forgive sin. [13:14] Jesus came on a mission to forgive sin. [13:18] Of all of the things that Jesus can bring to us, of all of the reasons that Jesus came to live on this earth, [13:25] die on the cross, rise from the dead of everything, forgiveness is ultimate. [13:32] Because ultimately, this is what each and every one of us need, and that is what the book of Hebrews means to lay out for us. [13:40] Jesus fulfilled all of the promises that God ever gave or will ever give or has ever given to forgive.
[13:49] You know, verses 17 and 18 of Chapter 10, when it tells us that God will remember our sins no longer, [13:55] our lawless deeds no more. [13:57] And where there’s forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering to be given. [14:02] This is a summary. [14:04] Of the entire book of Hebrews. [14:07] If you want to understand the book of Hebrews, it’s through the lens of these two verses.
[14:12] That Jesus is better than any offering you could ever hope to give God. [14:18] That Jesus is better than any act of contrition that you could ever give, any restitution that you could ever pay, [14:25] any sacrifice that you could ever make in your life. [14:28] Jesus is absolutely better than that. [14:30] In our history of trying to find God, we constantly, though, encounter barriers. [14:36] We sacrifice, we make restitution, we make contrition, we feel guilty, yet we continue to encounter barriers that we can’t overcome.
[14:46] It’s not because of a lack of knowledge or understanding to reach a higher life that these barriers come. [14:52] Because then you’re kind of forced, well, I’m going to go back and maybe I didn’t sacrifice enough, maybe I didn’t earn enough. [14:59] But what you find in every religion is an attempt to find more knowledge, to find more sacrifice, [15:07] to make more contrition, to pay more restitution. [15:10] But there’s always something missing every single time. [15:15] In Hebrews, the book as a whole means to show us that our problem is that no matter what we do, we can never wash away our sin.
[15:27] Because maybe you’ve noticed that for every act of obedience in your life, very quickly, you find one more act of disobedience. [15:35] Or maybe two, or three, or four acts of disobedience. [15:40] And for every moment you pay a higher price, you find a motivation that isn’t absolutely pure. [15:49] Maybe it’s selfishness, maybe it’s pride, maybe it’s to prove that you’re better. [15:52] But you ultimately find that it doesn’t reach God in the way that you hope it will. [15:57] And sin is the barrier to the life that we need to live and that we want to live.
[16:01] And it’s also our barrier to God. [16:03] You know, throughout the entire Bible, God has sought to show this to us. [16:07] Verse 17 is actually a restatement of a promise that God made hundreds of years before Jesus even came. [16:15] Look at Jeremiah, Chapter 31, verse 34, where God proclaims through the prophet Jeremiah, [16:20] No longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me. [16:27] For the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.
[16:34] What God is promising in that text is he’s saying that no longer are you going to have to search. [16:42] No longer will you have to say, maybe there’s another thing that I need to do. [16:45] Maybe there’s another thing that I need to explore, a religion, a thought process. [16:50] No, Jesus is saying you’re, excuse me, God is saying that your search will be complete. [16:55] That your exploring will cease to be necessary because God was knowing that there’s coming a day where he was going to make it so sure that you could have him.
[17:06] That everything would be complete. [17:09] You would be made whole. [17:11] And what is the basis on which he builds that? [17:14] He says, I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. [17:21] What you see in that text is God making his mission known. [17:26] That he doesn’t seek to simply give you guilt.
[17:30] He doesn’t seek to just make you jump through some hoops. [17:34] He doesn’t seek to just take things out of your life and make things go a certain way. [17:38] No, God seeks to give you full grace. [17:41] God seeks to forgive you fully. [17:44] God seeks to take away every guilty barrier that you’ve ever thought you’ve had from God or that you ever put up in your guilty conscience toward him. [17:53] There’s no more barrier, no more sacrifice, no more law to condemn.
[17:57] And what God is saying in the book of Jeremiah is that Jesus is enough. [18:03] Because everything that Jesus has done has built a foundation to trust the promise of God’s forgiveness. [18:12] And this is no light task.
[18:16] This is no simple sweeping under the rug. [18:19] Jesus himself and his life showed us over and over again that forgiveness is the most difficult thing that will ever be accomplished in this world. [18:26] And forgiveness is the hardest thing that you will ever have to believe that you could have in this life. [18:31] It will take more faith than anything else. [18:33] I want to give you two stories as examples of that. [18:37] In Matthew chapter nine, there’s a story about the serious nature of God’s claim to forgive.
[18:44] Jesus tells a man who had faith that his sins were forgiven in that moment. [18:51] Jesus, you’re forgiven.
[18:54] And the Pharisees, they look to him and they say, whoa, whoa, whoa, who do you think you are?
[19:01] Only God can forgive.
[19:04] And Jesus, in his great power and his great wisdom, he doesn’t just look to him and say, well, but that’s who I am. [19:12] Rather, Jesus looks at that same paralyzed man and he says, get up and walk.
[19:18] And he does. [19:20] Jesus looks back and he gives him a counter question. [19:23] Let me ask you a question. [19:24] Was it easier for me to forgive his sins or was it easier for me to make him whole physically? [19:29] Of course, they’re dumbfounded. [19:31] They have no answer because what Jesus is exhibiting to them is he’s saying, look, I have the power to forgive his sin, but I also have the power to remove something that the curse of that sin caused.
[19:43] So what do you say about that? [19:45] And they all walked away amazed and says they were now afraid of Jesus. [19:50] How could God give someone this power? [19:53] Well, Jesus is exhibiting the vast difficulty of the task that his mission had, because it’s something that only God can do fully. [20:04] Only God can wipe a slate clean, but then he proves through healing him that only God can then rebuild a new life under new authority, new identity and a new mission.
[20:17] And Mark, Chapter 11, it’s the last week of Jesus’s life on this earth. [20:24] Starting in verse 20, the text reads as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. [20:30] And Peter remembered what Jesus had done because Jesus had cursed it.
[20:36] He says, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed is withered. [20:40] And Jesus answered them, have faith in God. [20:43] Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt it in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. [20:53] Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. [20:58] And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your father also who’s in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. [21:06] You notice one thing about that text is that when people read that, they get it wrong all the time.
[21:13] Jesus isn’t telling you that if you have a little bit of faith, you can crumble a building or something. [21:20] He’s not talking about the force.
[21:24] Now I know who the nerds are.
[21:30] I’m just messing with you.
[21:33] Jesus is talking about forgiveness. [21:35] You see, in Israel, there was a phrase that was used, you know, you could move a mountain. [21:41] What that is, is it’s describing an absolutely impossible task. [21:46] Jesus had no desire to change the geography of the planet. [21:51] What Jesus is talking about is the difficult nature of forgiveness. [21:57] And that’s the example that Jesus uses.
[21:59] Jesus, if you have faith, what he’s saying, in me, [22:05] then your life will be so strong that you’ll have the ability to forgive people.
[22:15] And when that type of life springs forth, you’ll know that you’re forgiven by God. [22:21] Jesus is marking out the absolute ferocity of sin in our life. [22:26] And he’s also pointing out the absolute power of God to give forgiveness. [22:32] And then Jesus himself goes to the cross to earn that very thing. [22:37] It’s no coincidence, it’s no accident that a few days before the cross, [22:42] Jesus is cursing fig trees and then using them as examples of forgiveness and faith.
[22:48] Jesus knows full and well where he’s going and what he’s about to do. [22:52] And he knows the reality that all of the judgment for your sin was going to be laid on him. [23:00] Every action that Jesus ever had in this world and everything that he ever did [23:04] pointed to a mission of forgiveness. [23:06] And that was God’s great mission throughout all of scripture.
[23:10] We often look to the stories of Jesus for inspiration and help in the life that we’re building. [23:17] But within them, all of the focus is on Jesus’s mission, not ours. [23:23] A life that we do not have apart from giving everything over to him, everything he did led to the cross. [23:28] And then we’re distracted by a fig tree while God wants to tell us of the real power that is needed to forgive sin. [23:36] Jesus went to the cross and died for that penalty.
[23:41] You see, we owed God a great debt and we could never pay it, [23:44] but Jesus could because he owed God nothing because he was God.
[23:49] The only perfect person that ever existed, that ever walked this earth, [23:52] the only one who ever had full obedience, [23:54] the only person who ever never needed to look at someone and say, I’m sorry.
[24:01] The only person who never needed to ask for forgiveness from anyone, especially God.
[24:08] And in great love, he goes to the cross and he pays the price for your sin. [24:14] And then in his last moments, when he’s short of breath, he cries out, it is finished. [24:21] What was finished? Your sin. My sin payment made in full. [24:29] We have to understand this morning that Jesus offers a forgiveness that is complete and whole. [24:34] It’s the second thing you need to know this morning. [24:37] Jesus offers a forgiveness that is complete and whole.
[24:42] In verse 18, he says, where there’s forgiveness of these, there’s no longer any offering for sin.
[24:51] Memorize that. [24:53] That where God gives forgiveness, no offering ever needed again, no work ever needed to be done, [25:00] no earning, no religion, no nothing. [25:04] That this is the promise of God and this is what should define our very lives. [25:10] And then he means to explain how this works in our lives, starting in verse 19. [25:16] This is because this is true.
[25:19] Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, [25:24] by the new and living way open for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.
[25:32] He’s making reference there to the temple in Israel where they had the Holy of Holies, [25:37] where only the high priest could go once a year to offer the sacrifice for the atonement of the sins [25:43] for the year for all of the nation of Israel. [25:45] That’s the curtain he’s talking about. [25:47] The curtain that you enter into the Holy of Holies, the one that was torn into the moment that Jesus died on that cross. [25:54] And he says, enter in, but not through a sacrifice that you’re going to make,
[25:59] not through something that you’re going to do, not through something that you’re going to earn, but through what? [26:04] Through his flesh, through Jesus’s flesh, through Jesus’s offering, through Jesus’s sacrifice. [26:11] Not because you’re good enough. [26:14] Not because you’re going to wipe the slate clean. [26:16] Not because you’re going to clean yourself, but because of what Jesus did.
[26:22] Jesus takes all the wrath and judgment and gives you and me life.
[26:32] The penalty of sin is paid. It’s gone. [26:36] Never be paid again.
[26:39] Never to be brought up again.
[26:44] How often does your mind and your subconscious bring it up?
[26:50] How imperfect you are?
[26:54] How you failed here, how you failed there, how you didn’t measure up here, how you’re not smart enough there. [27:01] You just screw up.
[27:06] That person’s better than you. [27:10] How often does that happen?
[27:13] In that moment.
[27:17] Don’t be tempted to try harder to earn it. [27:23] You will be. [27:24] You will be this afternoon.
[27:30] You cry out and preach the gospel yourself and say, Jesus is enough.
[27:37] No more offerings.
[27:40] No more sacrifices. No more effort. [27:44] Jesus is enough. [27:47] Romans chapter six, starting in verse five, the apostle Paul writes about this very thing, about what Jesus did on the cross. [27:56] I think this is great commentary on this section of Hebrews where he says, [28:00] If we’ve been united with him in a death like his, in other words, if we have faith in what Jesus has done, [28:05] we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
[28:08] We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. [28:14] So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin, for one who has died has been set free from sin. [28:22] Now if we’ve died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. [28:24] We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. [28:30] Death no longer has dominion over him. [28:34] For the death he died, he died to sin once for all.
[28:38] But the life he lives, he lives to God.
[28:42] This is mercy unparalleled. [28:46] God went even further than the cross. [28:50] Do you know that if someone just wipes your slate clean, it’s not going to be very long until you dirty the dishes once again.
[29:03] I hear a phrase frequently that kind of just doesn’t set well with me. [29:10] And I think everybody says it with a good heart. [29:13] I think you have the best of intentions. So if you’ve said this before, I’m not trying to offend you. [29:17] But stop saying it.
[29:21] God’s a god of second chances. [29:24] No he’s not.
[29:26] He’s better than that.
[29:30] Because God knows, and I know, and you know, that a second chance will only lead to the need for a third one, fourth one, fifth one, sixth one, and about the 27th chance. [29:44] Unless you’re completely insane, you better be looking in the mirror saying, I think I need to try something else. [29:49] This isn’t working out for me. [29:52] He’s not a god of second chances. He’s a god of a new life. [29:57] He’s a god of a new standard. [29:59] He’s the god of making old things brand new. He’s a god of creation.
[30:03] He’s the god who takes nothing and makes it everything. [30:06] He’s the god who looks at Jesus and gives me his righteousness and says, you don’t have to try again. [30:13] Your trying is over.
[30:17] Jesus will never die again because the penalty is paid. [30:23] The life, it’s risen. [30:25] It’s not about your effort. It’s not about more chances. [30:29] It’s about Jesus. [30:31] It’s about peace. [30:33] It’s about rest.
[30:37] It’s about understanding that your effort will never earn you a single thing in this world. [30:42] And that’s what he tells us in Romans 6 and 9 there. [30:44] He gives us the realization that the penalty for our sin is paid for. [30:48] Then there is no more death to be feared.
[30:53] Because in that second chance, you’ve got the same thing looming over your head that you had yesterday.
[30:59] Failure.
[31:02] Unreasonable expectations of a righteousness that you can never hope to have. [31:06] You keep running on that treadmill of self-righteousness.
[31:12] All the while God is just saying to you, when are you going to trust me?
[31:19] Why do you think he sent his son to die on the cross?
[31:24] Not so that you could earn it, but so that it would be done.
[31:29] That’s what he means when he says once for all.
[31:34] Jesus will never have to die again.
[31:38] He’ll never have to pay for sin. [31:39] Why? [31:39] Because he paid it.
[31:42] Let me ask you a question.
[31:45] Why are you still paying for your sins?
[31:49] Why are you torturing yourself for your past?
[31:55] Because God is not.
[31:58] If you trust Jesus. [31:59] He says.
[32:04] Chapter 10 verse 20. [32:06] He starts to unpack. [32:07] Through his flesh, Jesus gives us a new and free way to live. [32:11] Our debts canceled. [32:12] Colossians 2.14 says, He nailed it to the cross. [32:16] I will never have my sin held against me by God again.
[32:22] Do you know that?
[32:26] That when those sins of the past continue to manifest themselves. [32:31] When that guilt overcomes you, that’s not God.
[32:36] He does not set out on a mission to remind you of sins that he’s already forgiven you of, friends. [32:42] He’s better than that. [32:44] And that sounds too great and too wonderful, doesn’t it? [32:47] Well, I’m with you. [32:49] It does. [32:51] That is, until I understand the enormity.
[32:54] Of the price that Jesus paid.
[32:58] That unfolds when I look at the cross. [33:02] Jesus took my sin. [33:03] He didn’t just set it aside. [33:04] This is no cheap grace. [33:06] He nailed it to the cross. [33:08] The creator sacrificed his life for me.
[33:12] And that is what it took to the greatest price of all time. [33:15] But Jesus is also clear that believing this good news requires the greatest faith known of all time. [33:20] But friends, the story is complete. [33:22] Jesus brought real forgiveness. [33:25] Justice is had for you.
[33:33] You get to verse 20 and 21 and we focus in then on the work of Jesus.
[33:39] You know, Hebrews presents Jesus as the final solution.
[33:45] Hebrews recounts everything that Israel did for atonement. [33:49] Every sacrifice ever made.
[33:53] The blood of bulls, the blood of goats, turtle doves and pigeons.
[34:01] The author of Hebrews asks the rhetorical question of how many will need to be sacrificed for it to be enough.
[34:09] There is no number enough. [34:13] There is no sacrifice that needs to be paid. [34:15] This is for ultimate sacrifice to be paid. [34:17] The priest would never leave the offering. [34:19] He would never stop sacrificing animals. [34:21] He would have to do it over and over and over and over.
[34:25] And it still wouldn’t be enough.
[34:29] But when the one to whom all sacrifices point comes, no other sacrifice is needed.
[34:38] But he also tells us no other figurehead is needed either. [34:43] Because we now have a high priest who will never die. [34:46] Who is eternal. [34:48] You don’t need anyone to stand between your relationship with God and make offerings for you. [34:53] Jesus did it. It’s over. [34:54] You can go straight way into the holy of holies yourself.
[34:58] Jesus is not a ceremony. He doesn’t find a substitute.
[35:03] Instead, he is the substitute. [35:06] Through his flesh, Jesus removes all barriers between us and God.
[35:12] Thirdly this morning.
[35:14] The forgiveness of Jesus means that the baggage of guilt and shame can be laid down.
[35:25] Verse 22, the tone changes.
[35:30] Until this point, he has been talking about Jesus, but then he talks to us.
[35:37] And he makes a pronouncement when he says in verse 22, he says, [35:40] Let us draw near.
[35:45] There are two commands in these verses that God makes of us. [35:51] He starts with what God has done. [35:54] But then he tells us two things that we need to do. [35:57] The first is draw near. [36:01] With a true heart. [36:03] Full of assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.
[36:09] Our bodies washed with pure water.
[36:13] Even in what he tells us to do, he is quick to remind us that it has nothing to do with what we have done.
[36:22] Because in his command is also a privilege and a blessing. [36:25] He says, draw near. [36:27] You know the thing that you have been needing to do your entire life. [36:31] You know the one who you have been searching for forever. [36:34] You know the satisfaction that your life is not giving you. [36:37] You know the worship that you know you need to give to a being that is greater than you.
[36:42] Here it is.
[36:47] And then he doesn’t say, and here is what it costs you to draw near.
[36:53] And he says, done. [36:55] It is complete. [36:57] Walk in. [36:59] You belong. [37:01] No more barrier. [37:03] Draw near.
[37:07] Full assurance.
[37:10] You know what it is like to be confident?
[37:14] Some people are more confident than others. [37:16] Some people don’t have a lot of confidence. [37:18] Some people have too much confidence. [37:20] But ultimately we all struggle with confidence to some degree.
[37:26] But the author of Hebrews there says, walk in with full confidence. [37:31] Full. [37:32] Don’t fret. [37:34] Don’t worry about what you are wearing. [37:35] Don’t worry about how you look. [37:37] If you shaved this morning it is okay.
[37:39] If you didn’t it is cool. [37:40] He says, walk in. [37:42] It is not based on you. [37:45] It is based on Jesus. [37:46] He is enough. [37:48] But then he gives us the barrier to full assurance.
[37:54] Because he knows we are going to have it. [37:56] An evil conscience.
[37:59] He knows that you are going to struggle. [38:02] He knows that you are going to doubt. [38:03] He knows that the sin of your life will keep coming back into your mind.
[38:11] He reminds us that Jesus died for that guilt.
[38:15] Jesus died to sprinkle clean.
[38:18] That guilty conscience. [38:20] Why? [38:21] Because that sin that you think still has a penalty laying over your head. [38:25] He took it. [38:27] On to himself.
[38:30] One of the biggest things that hinders you from serving God. [38:33] Is your guilt.
[38:36] Let these words wash over you. [38:41] If you trust in Jesus. [38:45] The fruit of the gospel that is born in your life. [38:49] Is that you are sprinkled free from an evil conscience. [38:53] Do you know what that is? [38:55] That is your guilt and shame.
[38:58] You know what this text is crying out to you? [39:00] Lay it down.
[39:06] You ever tried to walk carrying weight?
[39:10] You ever tried to run through the airport before they put wheels on luggage? [39:14] Before we got really lazy?
[39:21] Go to the gym and you see people sometimes now. [39:24] Crazy people. [39:25] On a treadmill. [39:26] It is hard enough to be on a treadmill. [39:28] But then some people carry weights on it. [39:31] What is wrong with you people?
[39:37] You ever notice that the moment you drop that weight.
[39:42] It is like you have started a brand new activity. [39:46] Everything has changed. [39:48] Everything is new. [39:50] The burden is gone. [39:51] You feel free.
[39:56] That is what God wants you to feel.
[40:00] That is what God wants you to have.
[40:04] God does not start with do. [40:09] Do. [40:10] Do.
[40:13] God starts with done.
[40:24] Jesus removes sin based on His ability to forgive. [40:31] The Bible is saturated with God’s desire to forgive.
[40:37] Psalm 103. [40:40] God makes this promise. [40:41] He says that as far as the east is from the west. [40:44] So far does He remove our transgressions from us. [40:49] As a father shows compassion to his children. [40:51] So the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.
[40:57] That is an interesting distance. [40:59] I cannot figure it out. [41:01] How far is the east from the west? [41:02] I do not know. [41:04] That is His point. [41:06] It is immeasurable.
[41:08] As far as you can get. [41:11] God has removed your sin completely. [41:15] Through what Jesus has done on the cross. [41:17] Paul the great apostle knew something about guilt. [41:22] In Romans chapter 7 he writes about being consumed. [41:24] With guilt and shame.
[41:27] But then he finishes this section. [41:31] Where he is struggling to believe. [41:33] He is struggling to trust because of sin. [41:36] He cries out in one of my favorite texts. [41:39] This praise to God in Romans 8.1. [41:41] Where he says there is therefore.
[41:44] And that therefore means because of Jesus. [41:46] There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [41:52] None. [41:53] Zero.
[41:56] Not even a little. [41:59] It is gone. [42:01] It is complete. [42:01] Why? [42:02] Because Jesus washes you with the pure water of His righteousness. [42:08] Hebrews 10 tells us.
[42:09] Not of your righteousness. [42:11] It is not about how you can clean yourself. [42:14] You cannot but Jesus can.
[42:18] He says. [42:19] In verse 23 he gives us the second command.
[42:24] He says hold fast. [42:27] To the confession.
[42:30] Of our hope. [42:31] Without wavering.
[42:36] For he who promised. [42:39] His faith.
[42:43] He says don’t waver.
[42:46] But when you do.
[42:50] These are my favorite commands in scripture. [42:52] This is don’t. [42:54] But when you do.
[42:59] He who promised is faithful.
[43:04] I love that every time. [43:06] In the New Testament where a command is given to me. [43:08] It is followed up by the truth of the gospel.
[43:14] You are unfaithful.
[43:18] I am unfaithful. [43:21] Jesus is faithful.
[43:27] The voice of Satan will come into your mind.
[43:31] You are not good enough. [43:34] Look at what you did. [43:36] God will not love you based on this.
[43:40] In that moment.
[43:43] Confess back. [43:46] You are right.
[43:50] But praise God it is not based on me.
[43:55] It is based on Jesus.
[43:58] Friends live the forgiven life because Jesus is enough. [44:03] The hope for victory and the fight against sin is only found in Jesus.
[44:08] As the band comes up this morning. [44:10] I just want to give you a moment to take inventory of your life.
[44:19] Maybe you are in here and this is a different type of faith than you have ever heard of. [44:25] This is a different type of faith that you have ever known of. [44:29] And this morning you have realized I don’t know this type of forgiveness.
[44:36] Question that I always ask people who tell me of the struggle with guilt.
[44:42] It almost seems too simple to them. [44:45] But it is this simple.
[44:47] Have you ever trusted Jesus to forgive you of your sins?
[44:53] I don’t mean that one thing that one time. [44:58] I mean all of them. [45:00] For all time. [45:01] Past, present, future. [45:03] He is enough.
[45:08] If that is you this morning I want to invite you to trust him. [45:13] Draw near to God. [45:16] Hold fast to the confession. [45:17] You know what it means to make a confession in that language? [45:20] It is not about something that you have done. [45:21] It is about something that you believe.
[45:26] Believe that Jesus is God. [45:28] That he rose from the dead. [45:30] That he paid for your sins. [45:31] And he will save you. [45:35] Do that today. [45:38] Secondly this morning maybe you are in here.
[45:41] You have been following Jesus but you are struggling with a couple of things.
[45:47] Whether it is a sin from your past that keeps coming into your conscience.
[45:53] Whether it is an ongoing sin that you are battling and you are struggling with it. [45:58] This morning I want to call you to do something. [46:00] I want to call you to lay it down.
[46:05] I am going to tell you to stop trying to pay for sins that Jesus paid for already.
[46:13] If that is you, just a few moments. [46:17] I am going to call you to reflect on communion.
[46:21] But when you do it, I want you to do it without that weight. [46:26] Not that baggage.
[46:30] Jesus wants you to walk free. [46:32] He wants you to experience a new life. [46:34] He does not want to remind you of your failure. [46:36] He does not want to remind you of your shame. [46:38] He wants to remind you of him.
[46:44] When someone says preach the gospel to yourself, that is what they mean.
[46:49] So this morning if you are a follower of Jesus, [46:51] just before you go to one of the six stations in this room to practice communion,
[46:59] why do not you confess your sin to God?
[47:04] And then believe that he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sin. [47:09] And it is over.
[47:12] When you are ready, come.
[47:23] Amen.