Episode Transcript
[00:00:17] If you're new to Redemption Hill, my name is Brad. I'm one of the pastors here.
[00:00:22] Maybe you're here this morning and this is your first time to Redemption Hill. Maybe it's your first time to church, or maybe it's your first time to church in a long time. And you're sitting there and you're wondering why we're doing the things that we're doing. I think that's for Christians in the room. For those who have walked with Jesus for any amount of time, sometimes it can be assumed that everybody knows why we're doing what we're doing. Right? Like, but throughout millennia. So for thousands of years, those who have put their trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord by the grace of God, have done these things. We gather together and we sing and we pray, and we open the Bible and we read it and we explain what the Bible's saying. This is this portion of the service called preaching. We explain what the Bible's saying, and then we take communion, which I'll explain in a little while. But these are things that the church has done for thousands of years. The church is not a building. It's a people. And the reason we do these things is because Jesus is alive.
[00:01:19] Okay? We don't do these things because we come in having it all together or being great people or having a lot to brag about on the basis of our own life. We come in because we're broken, because we're imperfect, because we're sinners and we're sufferers, and we don't have it all together. But the Bible gives us this amazing promise. Christianity offers us something that no other religion in the world offers. And it has nothing to do with what you've done for God, but what God has done for you and what he's done for Me through Jesus. And so the promise of the Bible when we bank the entirety of our lives on, is that Jesus is alive. And if Jesus is alive, that changes everything. So that's the reason we gather. It's the reason we sing. It's the reason we lift our hands and we celebrate. We smile. If you're a follower of Jesus, and all of these things is because Jesus Christ is alive. It's the reason that you and I have hope this morning. Okay, so we're in the Book of Hebrews. We're in chapter 10, so we're nearing the latter part of the book. We have three chapters to go, and it's going to be great in the weeks to come. Okay, so we have a Lot of text today. 18 verses. I'm not going to be able to explain every verse, but try to summarize in this way. Let me start with just a brief story.
[00:02:37] Many months ago, Sidney was out of town for the weekend. And so I wanted to find something to do for the kids. And so I gathered them all up, put em in the car, we took em. I took em to the stockyards. Okay, so took em to the stockyards. They were having some things going on at the time. I'm not even sure what they were, but like not a parade, but like horses coming down the road, et cetera. It was just a fun time. So we go to the stockyards and they have this human maze. So anybody ever done a human maze? Like one of the big life size mazes where you. Couple of people. Okay, all right, so we did the human maze. And my oldest son, Haddon is. He's kind of just like, man, he loves to lead things. So he was like, hey, Dad, I want to lead us out. So we start and we start making our way through the maze. And hadn't like, I'm going to lead us out. I'm like, okay, man. And I'm very pridefully just sitting back waiting for him to fail. And so he begins to kind of lead us through this maze and we get all the way around until we get to a dead end. And he's just like, I don't know where to go. And I was like, hey, dude, don't worry about it. I got it. Y'all follow dad. And so they follow me. And I'm very confidently saying, all right, take a left, take a right, take a left.
[00:03:39] No, turn around. That's not the right way. And we get all the way out until I can see kind of the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. And I'm like, I've done it. I've done it. Effortlessly, we make our way out. And I realize that I've led us back to the starting spot. Okay, so nowhere close to the finish line. Back to the starting spot. Back to square one. Okay. And I was thinking about this. I wonder maybe you can relate to this how often that feels a bit like the Christian life is we kind of feel like we're in this cycle, okay? And here's how the cycle typically goes.
[00:04:16] The cycle, you can think of it like a sin cycle that starts with sin. Okay? Sin, if you're unfamiliar with that word, just means missing the mark. Okay? God has created us for a joyful, happy, fulfilling, satisfying Relationship with himself. That's why you exist, okay? You're here and you exist because you were created by God for God.
[00:04:44] Nothing in this life or in this world will ever satisfy your deepest longings and desires. But God himself.
[00:04:52] You're created for God. You're created by God to be in relationship with him and to be in relationship with others. That's. You and I exist for that purpose. But we have missed the mark. And we haven't missed the mark accidentally, okay? We've missed the mark because as Romans 6 says, we're born into Adam. The first man, Adam sinned, he rebelled against God. You and I are born into Adam, and so we are born in this world with a bent away from God. Does that make sense? This is why babies do the things they do. This is why babies main concern is what?
[00:05:30] Themselves. I'm picking on babies. Kids, okay? Like, this is why kids main concern in life is themselves. Because this is human nature. So whether you're in the room and you're a Christian or not, I think we have to agree on these terms, right? Like, kids have an inward bent. Life is all about me, okay? This is sin.
[00:05:53] And so we are born into this both by proximity to Adam, the first human who rebelled against God, and by choice.
[00:06:05] And so we're born into this life with a bent away from God.
[00:06:12] And this is. And we'll get to more of this here in a little bit. So you and I need a rescuer. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, you need to be rescued. You need to be rescued from your sin. You need to be rescued from the righteous and just wrath and condemnation of God because of your sin. You need to be rescued.
[00:06:32] That's your need. And if you're here this morning and you are a follower of Jesus, you have been rescued. What a glorious reality that you and I can. We have been rescued. But here's the problem. Like, we still continue to struggle with sin. And so much of our life as followers of Jesus is this kind of cycle where we sin and then we feel guilt, which is the recognition that you've done something wrong. And then we feel shame, which is the recognition or belief that you are wrong. You see the difference between the two. Guilt has to do with what you've done. Shame has to do with who you are.
[00:07:09] So sin, guilt, shame, shame, condemnation. And this is often for many of us, the way we think about our life as a follower of Jesus.
[00:07:19] We sin, we feel guilty, we feel ashamed, we believe we're condemned. But we know we're not condemned, but we believe like we're condemned. And so we kind of live this whole cycle out on a day by day basis, really believing, kind of like fundamentally, if you're a follower of Jesus, that the Father's just kind of putting up with you.
[00:07:39] And we don't really know how to get out of it, and we don't really know how to stop sinning. Like, we don't really know how to break this cycle and how to get out. So we kind of just keep doing the same things over and over again. And I'm not just talking about you, believe me. Okay? All of us do this to varying degrees.
[00:07:56] And so these 18 verses, I think, give us a really, really sweet antidote on how by the grace of God, you and I might not only experience intimacy with God, but might actually grow in holiness.
[00:08:14] Okay, so how we. How do you experience intimacy with God, which is what you were created for? And how do you and I grow in holiness? And all of it, if I could summarize, all 18 verses really depends on what you choose to focus on.
[00:08:31] What do you choose to focus on in your pursuit of intimacy with God and in your desire to grow in holiness as a follower of Jesus? So let's look at the verses together.
[00:08:44] Chapter 10, verse 1. I'm just going to read the first five.
[00:08:49] I'm sorry, the verse. The first four. For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, instead it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. So let me just stop and define what that phrase means.
[00:09:10] When the New Testament talks about being made perfect, it's not talking. The author's not talking about being made perfect morally. As if on this side of heaven you and I could ever be perfect morally. That's not what it's talking about. He's talking about this idea of wholeness or completeness.
[00:09:32] And so he says that the law can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect or make whole or complete those who draw near, otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. All right, so what does the author, who's unknown by the way, but inspired by the spirit, what does the author mean by the law when he uses that phrase? The law, okay? We can't really understand what he's saying if we don't understand what this phrase means. So in the Bible, and if you're taking notes, I would encourage you to write this down or think about it. In the Bible, the law is generally categorized in three ways. Okay? So in the Old Testament, you have what's referred to as the civil law, which is Israel's theocracy. These are laws that were specifically for the nation of Israel for a specific time. Okay? So there are things written in the civil law of Israel that it would be odd at best for you and I to think apply to you and I today.
[00:10:56] Okay, so you have the civil law. You have the ceremonial law, which pertains to cleansing from impurities, so the washing of water, the cleansing of impurities. And then you have the moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, okay? That's the moral law.
[00:11:15] The law was given by God and contains the very words of God, which is what Paul says in the New Testament Book of Romans, chapter 3, verse 2. The law is good, and it's good precisely because God was the one who spoke it and initiated it. Okay? So the law is good. We need not think, as followers of Jesus that we're against the law or we're opposed to the law, or the law is bad. The law is not the problem. The law was never intended to be the problem. Problem is our sin.
[00:11:49] And so the law, while being good and right and holy, is powerless to make you and I right before God. The law is powerless to cleanse us of sin and make us holy. The law is powerless and unable to make you and I whole and complete or perfect, as the author is saying. Why? He gives us two reasons. Number one, because he says the law is a shadow of the good things that would come. The law is not the true substance, but the law is a shadow pointing to the one who would be the true substance. And because of that reality, the law, specifically the. The rituals associated with the law, like the sacrificing of bulls and goats for the forgiveness of sins, was temporary. And so because it was temporary, the priests had to offer these sacrifices once a year. This is called the Day of Atonement. It's found in Leviticus 16, the Old Testament book. Okay, so once a year, the people of God would have to go to the temple to meet with God. And in order for the people to be made right with God, because God is good, and because the people were sinful, a sacrifice had to be made. And so priests were would Offer that sacrifice on behalf of the people to God. And through the sacrifice of the priests, the people would temporarily be made right with God. But the problem was, because this was a shadow, because it was temporary, it had to happen over and over and over again.
[00:13:23] Many. Gosh. A year ago. Over a year ago, Sydney and I were on a plane coming back from London during my sabbatical. And Sidney's really good about talking to people on airplanes. And I don't like to do that very often. So I want to plug in, I want to watch a show, I want to whatever. And so. But Sydney, we're sitting there, row of three. I'm on the window seat, Sydney's in the middle, and this Orthodox Jewish lady comes down and sits right by Sydney. Okay, so. So the whole time, Sydney's having a conversation with her doing what Christians are supposed to be doing in that moment. And after the conversation, she's kind of filling me in on what her and this Orthodox Jewish lady talked about. And the one kind of baseline from the conversation takeaway was when asked, hey, what does it look like to kind of live as an Orthodox Jew? This particular young lady would talk about, we pray and we read and we practice penance, and we do, like, all of these different things. And when you really kind of got to the why behind all of that, it was just because we do these things.
[00:14:30] Okay, you read because that's what you're supposed to do. You pray because that's what you're supposed to do. You fast because this is what you're supposed to do.
[00:14:38] There's just a hyper focus on the law as a means of righteousness. And what the author of Hebrews is warning these Christians and us against is diverting back to this way of living in which we think that if we can focus in on what we're supposed to do and how we're supposed to live, somehow that's going to make us righteous before God and it's going to help us grow.
[00:15:02] And what he's saying is, he's saying, brothers, sisters, you can't go back to that way of thinking.
[00:15:07] The law is powerless to make you right before God. How does this translate to you and I today in the 21st century? Okay, what. What is it that motivates your pursuit of intimacy with God for you?
[00:15:22] Like, what motivates your desire to grow?
[00:15:28] Like, I desire to be the best dad in the world. I'm speaking for Brad. I desire to be the best dad in the world because I didn't grow up with that.
[00:15:42] I desire to be the best husband in the world for all sorts of reasons. I want to do all of these things. And these things aren't bad in and of themselves. But I do think it's really important for us to ask why? Why?
[00:15:56] Why do you want to be these things?
[00:15:59] What's your motivation behind pursuing these things?
[00:16:07] The Law can never, by the same sacrifices that are offered continually year after year, make whole or complete those who draw near. The Law was never intended to do this. What is the primary function of the law? And there are several, I think, but what's the primary function of the law? Romans 3:19 and 20.
[00:16:29] Paul says, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be made right in the sight of God, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
[00:16:49] So what is the purpose? What does the Law do? Primarily, the Law serves as a mirror.
[00:16:56] When you read the Ten Commandments, when you read, when you see the holiness of God displayed through his law, and you come face to face with that law, what it's intended to do is to serve as a mirror to show you your deep need for the Savior.
[00:17:15] That this law, as good as it is, has no power in and of itself to bring you and I intimacy with God. Or it has no power within itself to help you and I grow in the Christian life serves as a mirror that we might see our own sin in light of the goodness of God as expressed in the Law.
[00:17:38] So the law cannot. On the basis. I'm sorry, the law cannot be the basis of our intimacy with God and our growth in holiness.
[00:17:48] Because in the law, and listen to this. Because in the Law, we are reminded of our sin.
[00:17:53] That's what the author's saying. He's saying, if you want to put your focus on the law and have the law be the basis of your wholeness, completeness, or your growth and becoming more like Jesus, if you want the Law to be the basis of that, here's what the law is going to do. Every time you look at it for the basis of doing those things, it's going remind you of your sin.
[00:18:15] And so how often do you and I live the Christian life with this just kind of blanket over our eyes? That is our sinfulness?
[00:18:23] We're like, gosh, I'm just so bad.
[00:18:25] I just keep failing.
[00:18:28] I just can't get it right. Take two steps forward and one step back, and it's a bad step back.
[00:18:34] We just kind of live with this cloud in front of our eyes of our own brokenness and sinfulness.
[00:18:43] We can't experience intimacy with the Father if we're living this way.
[00:18:52] So the law cannot be our basis of intimacy with God and growth in holiness, because in the law we are reminded of our sins. So what then do we do? If the focus should not be on the law, what should our focus be on? Look at verses five, starting in verse five. And I'm just going to read through comment a few.
[00:19:11] Give a few comments on it starting in verse 5, chapter 10. Consequently, the author says, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
[00:19:33] Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.
[00:19:42] When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. Then he added, behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. So what the law could not do for us, friends, Jesus did.
[00:20:26] That's the good news that you get to choose to believe this morning.
[00:20:32] What the law could not do for you, and what the law could not do for me, Jesus did.
[00:20:43] While works of the law. Let me illustrate it like this.
[00:20:47] Before the Protestant reformation, in the 16th century, we had a pastor explain this to Sidney and I. One time, we were like, man, that's really helpful. Before the Protestant reformation, in the 16th century and even today, the Catholic priests, during Communion, okay, we believe different things about communion than Catholic folks do, obviously. But one of those things is during Communion, the Catholic priest would take the elements. And before administering them to the people, as they'd come forward and take the bread and take the juice or the wine, he would turn back and he would pray and essentially give the offerings to God as an offering. Okay? So the Catholic priest would have his back turned and he would offer these elements to God as an offering to God. And when the Protestant reformers came in they said, hey, this isn't the way we ought to be thinking about this. This isn't the way that the Bible talks about this. The person administering the sacraments ought not be looking back, but ought to be looking forward to remind the people of God that in communion, you and I aren't offering anything to God. You're receiving what's been offered to you by God.
[00:21:49] That's the good news. Do you see the difference? If you think about the Christian life as you're offering things up to God in order to please God, in order to be right with God, or to be holy or blameless before God, then you're never going to experience intimacy with God and will never experience growth. But if you and I begin by the grace of God to shift our thinking from this is about what I offer to him instead, this is what I receive that he's offered to me fully in Jesus, then we'll begin to make, we'll begin to take steps forward.
[00:22:25] And so while works of the law were man's offering to God, Christ came into the world as God's offering for man.
[00:22:37] It was the Father who in love for his people, sent his only Son. The author says a born. This is Jesus speaking, a body you have prepared for me. Who prepared that body?
[00:22:49] The Father did.
[00:22:53] He prepared a body for his Son, the eternal Son of God, to take on human flesh and to come into the mess and brokenness of this world for his people.
[00:23:09] Jesus didn't come to offer up animal sacrifices to God repeatedly. Once a year, Jesus came to offer up himself once for all. That's all that was needed.
[00:23:22] There was no yearly sacrifice needed, just one.
[00:23:26] A sacrifice so powerful, so mind blowingly amazing, so sufficient that it need not be sacrificed more than one time.
[00:23:37] Jesus came, took on the body prepared for him by the Father in love for his people to do the will of God.
[00:23:51] Having a conversation around this this week as well. But this is pointed out to me in Matthew chapter seven.
[00:23:58] I think one of the most terrifying is the only word that comes to mind verses I can think of is when Jesus says this, not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
[00:24:18] Okay, that's unsettling because you're like, oh my gosh, like am I doing that?
[00:24:26] How do I know if I'm doing the will of the Father in heaven?
[00:24:32] I think this is exegetically right. But all throughout this text, the author of Hebrews uses this phrase that Jesus came to do the will of the Father to do the will of the Father to do the who's who is the only one who can perfectly fulfill and accomplish the will of the Father, Jesus.
[00:24:51] So Matthew 7 is in the context of Jesus talking about walking through the narrow door. Who's the narrow door? It's him.
[00:25:02] The religious leaders missed that entirely. They thought that relationship with God was about what they did.
[00:25:12] And Jesus is saying, hey, I came to do the will of the Father.
[00:25:17] I'm going to accomplish the. I'm going to perfectly satisfy the demands of the law in myself.
[00:25:25] I'm going to die on the cross once for all, shedding my own blood to cover the sins of my people forever.
[00:25:34] And in his ascension, that's his rising from the dead three days later. That's the resurrection. His ascension is when he went back to heaven. After appearing to many people who ended up writing, many of whom wrote the New Testament, goes back into heaven to be with the Father in His ascension, we see that Jesus work is complete, that his offering is sufficient, and that his enemies are all now under his feet.
[00:26:01] And so what the law could not do for us, Jesus did. So in closing, I'm going to read just a few more verses from the text.
[00:26:10] How then do you and I grow in intimacy with God and holiness?
[00:26:14] Not by focusing on the law, by, but by focusing on Christ.
[00:26:21] If you live according to the law, that is, if the way you think about your Christian life, if you're a follower of Jesus, the way you think about your Christian life is what this is about, is me accomplishing many things as offerings to God, then all you're going to be left with is a reminder of your sins.
[00:26:43] But if you'll turn your focus to Christ, to the person of Jesus, the perfect life of Jesus, the death of Jesus on the cross for you, the resurrection of Jesus, the rule and reign of Jesus, the sufficiency of Jesus, the beauty of Jesus, if you'll fill your mind with the person of Jesus, you'll experience intimacy.
[00:27:12] You and I will grow in what it means to live as a son and daughter of God. Because our focus is not on what we ought to do, but what has been done.
[00:27:25] This is what the gospel allows, demands that you and I do is spend our days thinking about Jesus, putting our attention and our gaze upon Jesus. Like, I love hearing Taylor and I just talked about this, hearing older pastors who had walked with Jesus for a long time say this statement, the gospel is not rocket science.
[00:27:50] I mean, this, this isn't quantum physics, but we man, we we just don't know where to set our focus.
[00:27:58] And so many of us just, we just look internally like there are two group, always groups of people. On one side you have folks who maybe don't think about heavenly things at all.
[00:28:14] Maybe there's not a desire of holiness at all and just kind of coasting through life. And then on the other side, there are people who are so hyper focused on themself and their brokenness and their sin and their failure. That man, you just can't break out of that. You lack joy and you lack peace and rest and joy and peace and rest and growth will never come as a result of focusing on what you ought to be doing more or doing less but focusing on Christmas.
[00:28:54] He is wonderful.
[00:28:56] He is the best person in the universe. There's nobody like him.
[00:29:01] There's nobody that will ever satisfy you like he does.
[00:29:06] There's nothing like putting our gaze upon Christ and obedience to Christ flowing out of that place.
[00:29:19] I mean, you have to assume that this is what first century Christians who lived in Rome and were willing to go into the Coliseum to be eaten by lions were motivated by.
[00:29:29] They weren't motivated by the law.
[00:29:32] They're motivated by love for Christ.
[00:29:35] I just love him.
[00:29:37] Look at how wonderful he is. Look at what he's done for me.
[00:29:42] He's alive. He's the true Caesar's, not the true king. Jesus is the true king. Like, I'll die for him because I love him.
[00:29:51] Like, what motivates your desire for holiness?
[00:30:02] Jack Hacker says the holiest Christians are not those most concerned about holiness as such, but those whose minds and hearts and goals and purposes and love and hope are most fully focused on the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:30:25] Those are the holiest Christians, not the ones worrying about holiness all day, but the ones whose minds and hearts and ambitions and goals and dreams are fixed on him and how wonderful he is and all that he's done for us through his life and death and resurrection. What is your focus, friends?
[00:30:52] What's your fuel for intimacy with God? What's your fuel for growth in the Christian life? Might it be by the grace of God turning from what you ought to be doing to Christ and what he's done?
[00:31:10] One last quote and then I'm going to pray. Robert Murray McShane, who created the Bible reading plan that you and I are participating in right now, together. I hope. If you're not, hop in. It's not too late.
[00:31:23] Robert Murray McShane died at a very, very young age as a young pastor. But I don't Know that there are many people throughout church history you could read who had a greater love for Jesus than him.
[00:31:34] Just love Jesus. Just amazing to read. I mean, it just like pours out of his writings.
[00:31:43] Here's what he says as he's talking about these various ways that you and I, these spiritual disciplines that you and I must do in order to focus our attention on God. Bible reading, prayer, meditation, silence and solitude. All of these things that are means by which you and I, these are spiritual disciplines. Here's what he says about the disciplines.
[00:32:06] In the daily reading of the Word, Christ pays daily visits to the soul.
[00:32:14] In daily prayer, Christ reveals himself to his own in that other way than he than he does to the world.
[00:32:25] In the house of God, that's in the gathering in the church, Christ comes to his own and says, peace be unto you.
[00:32:33] And in the sacrament, the Lord's Supper, he makes himself known in the breaking of the bread, and they cry out, it is the Lord.
[00:32:42] These are all trysting. I think that's the word which just means a meeting between lovers.
[00:32:51] These are all trysting times when the Savior comes to visit his own. Do you think about your Bible reading that way?
[00:32:58] That the Bible reading isn't intended to be an end in and of itself, but a means by which you spend time with the lover of your soul.
[00:33:09] That prayer is not the ultimate goal, it's a conduit by which you commune with the living God.
[00:33:19] That the elements are not the point, but they point us to the true substance which is Jesus, the nourisher of your souls.
[00:33:29] When we gather and sing, we don't sing just because we sing, because Jesus is here saying, peace be unto you.
[00:33:39] Jesus is the point.
[00:33:41] So let's pray that the Holy Spirit would turn our gaze upon him.
[00:34:17] Sa.
