EPIC: High-Impact Truths in the New Testament – Part 15

All right, well, as I said, we're continuing our series and last week we looked at Hebrews chapter 6 and 8. Today we're going to look at Hebrews chapter 9 and 10. We're hitting the big hot spots. We're hitting the big deals, passages, as we look at this idea of epic, high-impact truths in the New Testament. The Bible is not what we thought. You know, growing up, you might have thought the Bible was a bunch of rules. But it was the book of rules where you obey and try to become a good person in order to impress God. The Bible is not a book of rules. It's actually about the author. So we read the book to get to know the author. And when we get to know the author, we discover this incredible thing called the new covenant, the new agreement, the new pact, the new deal that God has made with humanity. It's an offering of Jesus on the cross and that brings us forgiveness. And then it's an offering of Jesus rising from the dead to give us new life. Now we're going to talk a lot about the cross today. We're going to talk about the new covenant. And one of the things we need to discover is when the new covenant really began. Now I don't know about you, but the publishers, I think the publishers have done us a bit of a disservice. When you go to Matthew chapter one and then you flip back one page in your Bible, one page back from Matthew one, it says in big block letters, the new Testament. Well we're going to find out today that that is not actually when the new Testament begins. The new Testament does not begin on a page in a book. The new Testament begins on a day in human history. The new Testament, the new covenant begins not at the birth of Jesus like in Matthew one. No, the new Testament actually begins at the death of Christ.

It is a death that brings in a covenant, a death that brings in a Testament. So if you're hearing what I'm saying right now, we're about to do a 33 year shift. We're about to shift the dividing line of human history about 33 years. See the world, when it divides history, it divides it BC and AD and BC and AD relate to the birth of Christ. We're saying that's wrong. That is not what scripture teaches. What the Bible tells us is that the new Testament begins not at his birth, but at his death. Watch this as we journey through a bit of Hebrews chapter nine. We read, for where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. Now it's a little bit tricky because in the original language, this word covenant is also the same word as the word Testament or the word will. You've heard someone speak of their last will and Testament, right? Someone creates a last will and Testament in order to leave things to their children. Well what has to happen for that will to go in effect? Obviously they have to die and without a death, there is no will that is in force. Well the author of Hebrews is genius because he is saying that just like you cannot cash in on a will without a death, you also cannot have a covenant or a Testament without a death. Now is this just a bunch of legalese? Is this just a bunch of legal jargon and language for no cause? No, we are locating the exact dividing line of human history and it is the cross and that helps you understand some of the things that Jesus said before his death, right? Do you remember what Jesus said before he died? I mean some things in the Sermon on the Mount are outrageous. Cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, be perfect like God. He told the rich man to go sell everything. What is he doing? Well he's bringing the old covenant standard to the ultimate level. He's saying, you think you can be good enough for heaven?

How about you be perfect? And everyone gets that little gulp in their throat, they get the guilt and the gulp, right? The guilt and the gulp, it's a big gulp, right? And so there we are confronting that standard. You think it's enough to avoid adultery? Oh you've been a moral person, good for you, you've avoided adultery. Jesus says looking with lust is the same thing. You think you've been a good person? You've avoided murder? What Jesus says, if you get angry with someone, it's the same as murder. And so he's bringing everyone to the end of their own resources. He's bringing them to the end of their own efforts. He's bringing them to the end of self-improvement. He's showing them that nobody can do it and everyone falls short of the glory of God. And so then he dies and then the new way of grace is shown to us. It is showcased through the death and the resurrection of Christ. You gotta have a death for the New Testament to come into play. Now he continues in verse 17 and he just reminds us, hey, because you know, a covenant or a will is valid only when men are dead and it never is in force while the one who made it is living. So you know that prodigal son routine. You remember the story of the prodigal son? He tried to bypass all of that.

He said, mom, dad, I've got some parties planned down the street. I was wanting to hang out with friends and burn through some cash and have a great time. Do you mind if I cash in on your will a little bit early? And so we try to call that prodigal son routine a little bit early for ourselves. You know, we go to mom and dad and we ask them, could I have my inheritance now? They cannot say yes. It is illegal. You've gotta have a death for there to be an inheritance. So the author of Hebrews is driving this home. He doesn't want us to think it's baby Jesus in a manger that divides history. It is the cross that divides history. And this is why even in Galatians chapter four, verse four, Paul writes that Jesus was born under the law so that he could redeem those who were under the law. All right, so how do you redeem people who are under the law? If somebody's under the law, 613 commands, the average Jewish person thought they were being a good person. You know, they think, well, I'm moral and I'm ethical and I've got the bloodline and I've got the lineage and I've got the heritage. I got my members only jacket. I'm club Israel. I'm good to go, man. Well, what does Jesus do?

Does he pat them on the back and say, good job, sir? No, he shows them they're nowhere near the peak of law-based living. They're still at the base of the mountain. They're nowhere near the summit of Mount Sinai. They're nowhere near the standard. The standard is perfection and they're not even close. So then they see their need for grace. They've got to see that they are unable to achieve in order to receive. All right, so now we go to verse 18 and he says, therefore, even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. Do you guys remember this in the Old Testament? The first covenant, I'm talking about Moses. He's talking about Sinai and Moses comes down from the mountain. He's got tablets in hand and the first covenant, the old covenant is inaugurated. You know how? It's blood, blood everywhere and it's gross. As we said in the 1980s, it's grody, man. I mean, there's blood everywhere. You would want to bring an umbrella to church because he kills the animals, he takes that blood, he spreads it all over the scroll and then get this, he splashes it all over the people of Israel. Gross, why did he do it? To remind them in graphic form, to remind them in order to have a covenant, you've got to have blood.

In order to have a covenant, you've got to have death. So we have no business calling the birth of Jesus the beginning of the New Testament. It is the death of Jesus. There was blood in the Old Testament and blood for the New Testament, you see it? So now, with that clear dividing line, we pop over to verse 25 of the same chapter and now we're gonna see something that's a bit controversial. As we think about blood, we're gonna think about forgiveness. Now, growing up, I kind of had the tendency to think, mom and dad are gonna forgive me when I apologize. Mom and dad are gonna forgive me when I do better. Mom and dad are gonna forgive me when I express sorrow and a desire to perform better. We have, you and I, on planet Earth, we have an apology-based system. Right? I say my words and then you say your words. I say, I'm sorry, will you forgive me? And you say, yes, I'll forgive you. And we exchange words, we exchange apologies. But that's not God's way. God doesn't have an apology-based system. He has a blood-based system. Blood is the payment for sins. So if you've ever wondered, why did Jesus have to die? People ask that all the time. Why did Jesus have to die? Couldn't he just come and live a good life

and be a nice example and then beam himself up to heaven? Why couldn't he just do that? And the answer is because only blood pays for sins. And so I don't pay for my sins with apologies. I don't pay for my sins with confessions. I don't pay for my sins with any act of my own. Only Jesus can pay for my sins. And so the gospel is, I'm gonna let him. That's what the gospel is. I'm gonna let Jesus do what he wants to do. So Hebrews chapter nine, look at this. Jesus, talking about Jesus, it says, "'Nor was it that he would offer himself.'" Jesus would not offer himself often, like in the Old Testament, you know, when the high priest would enter the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. So now we got a competition. You see, Hebrews is basically a competition. In this corner, we have in the Old Testament, the high priest of the people of Israel, he's a human priest, he makes mistakes, he sins himself, he's gotta offer sacrifices for his own sins, and not to mention every sacrifice he offers is never perfect. And so he has to get himself clean, he has to get himself pure, and he has to offer sacrifices year after year repeatedly and endlessly, just like you paying off your mortgage,

just like you paying your car payment. It is always happening and it's never done. That's the theme of the Old Testament, again and again, repeatedly, endlessly. Now I told you it was a competition, right? Because in this corner, we have the ultimate high priest, Jesus, who is above every high priest that came before him. He doesn't sin, he doesn't have to offer sacrifices for his own sins because he doesn't have any, and he doesn't have to repeat his work because he died once and it worked the first time and there's no repeat needed. So do you see the competition? Basically, the author of Hebrews is asking you, what do you believe about your forgiveness? Is it little by little or is it one time? What do you believe about your forgiveness? Is it progressive as you apologize or is it once and done, one and done through the blood of Jesus? Because I'll tell you the difference between world religions and grace. The difference between world religions and grace, world religions, they have a book, they have a founder, they have rules, they have a system for being sorry and a system for cleansing and purifying and it's progressive. It's always you're in process, you're never there, you never arrive.

Maybe you'll find out after death if you did enough. But the gospel is one and done. Jesus said from the cross, it is finished. So now, as believers, we have a choice. What are you gonna believe about your forgiveness? Are you trying to get or do you got? Are you trying to get what you've already got? Because either it's finished or it's not finished. And he said it's finished for a reason because you and I don't have to finish it. So year by year or once for all, again and again or forever. And that's the decision that the author of Hebrews is giving us here. Did God do it perfectly or did he somehow need more to be done? All right, verse 26, he says, otherwise, think about it, picture it, picture the other scenario. Otherwise, Jesus would have needed to suffer how many times? Often. Like if he didn't get it done perfectly, he would have to die every time you sinned. He says he would need to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But what's the truth? Now, once, one time at the consummation of the ages, Jesus has been manifested. to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So, again, what is being said here?

Well, imagine it. He's saying, imagine if your forgiveness wasn't done. Imagine if it wasn't finished. How many times would Jesus have to die? Well, you think a nasty thought, Jesus gets up on the cross again. You covet somebody else's belongings, you wish you were them, he gets back up on the cross again. He gets back up on the cross every time you mess up under that scenario. But that is a false scenario. Jesus is not dying for your sins. Jesus has died and it worked the first time. Now, even in the song we sang this morning, I don't know if you noticed, but it said the blood flows. That's not the truth. The blood is not flowing. The blood already flowed. And so, we forgive the songwriter, don't we? But the idea is that the blood is flowing and so, therefore, you are being forgiven progressively. That's not the gospel. The gospel is Jesus died for your sins, past, present, and future. There's no blood flowing. It flowed once and it worked and your sins are gone. That's the gospel. It's called the finished work of Christ.

Otherwise, Jesus would have to suffer often. He'd be climbing back up on the cross every time you said a curse word. You see it? Dying over and over. And there are movements within Christianity. There are movements within religiosity where we got crosses on the wall. Jesus is still hanging there. Why do they still have him hanging there? His body's still there in the statue. Why? Because they believe he's still dying, he's still offering, blood is still being shed. They need to know it's finished. When you put your confidence in Jesus for salvation, you are a totally forgiven person forever. That's the gospel. And in as much as it is appointed for men to die once and then after this comes judgment, he says, so also Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time. What's he gonna do? Why is he coming back? A second time for salvation without reference to sin. Do you hear that? Without reference to sin. Now, if you consider yourself an intellectual, I would encourage you to read it even slower. All right?

Without reference to sin means he's not gonna refer to your sins. Why wouldn't he? Because he already referred to them on Calvary. He already referred to them on the cross. The wages of sin is death. Jesus died. Do the math and celebrate. It's finished. He's returning and it says, to those who eagerly await him. Now, I would ask you, can you eagerly await him if you're imagining the big movie screen in the sky? You know what I'm talking about. The big movie screen of your sins where you're there in line, you got your popcorn, right? Your buddies are behind you and they say, how you doing, man? You say, oh, brother, I'm blessed. But you are freaked out is what you are because your movie, your blockbuster film is about to play the movie of your life, you're scared out of your wits. Well, I got some great news. No cause for fear because there is no movie. God destroyed the real. That is the whole purpose of the cross. He took away your sins. The scripture says he remembers your sins no more. They are removed as far as the east is from the west. Notice the scripture is genius. He chooses east and west.

You go north, eventually you'll be going south. You go east, you're always going east. You go west, you're always going west. Your sins are removed as far as the east is from the west. Remembered no more. That's what Jesus did. And so it makes sense then that God's not a double talker. God's not gonna say, oh, I forgave you and then later on at the final judgment, let's talk about these sins. But I thought you said, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgave you positionally, but now it's time to talk. You see, God's not a double talker. When he says they're forgiven and they're gone and they're remembered. no more than at the final judgment, they're remembered no more. And that's why he says we can eagerly away him. Man, I love living. I can't wait to die. I can't wait to die, but I love living. And that's what Paul said, right? I'm torn. I'm excited to see God face to face. I'm thrilled about that final judgment. I'm not worried a bit about it. In fact, God invites the church to participate. He says, help us, right? Judge the world and the angels. Well, I've said it before, it bears repeating.

We keep worrying about how we're gonna do at the final judgment, and Jesus has qualified us to participate as co-judges. We're gonna be helping him judge. You're a co-heir with Christ. Why? Because your sins aren't an issue. If your sins are an issue, then why did Jesus die? If your sins are an issue, then you tell me what the blood of Christ even means, because it means nothing at that point. The whole Bible is plastered with the fact that Jesus' blood causes your sins to be taken away forever, once for all. We'll keep seeing this too. Look at Hebrews 10 now. We pop over to the 10th chapter. Look at these couple verses as it opens. Now, the Old Testament law, it was just a shadow of the good things that were coming, and it was not the form of things. We'll talk about what that means. But the law could never, remember the law with the same sacrifices, a bull and a goat and another animal and a temple and a tabernacle and more blood? It could never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, it could never make perfect those who draw near. Now, what's implied there?

What's the goal? The goal is to make you perfect. Did the law do it? Couldn't make you perfect. But the goal is to make you perfect. So by the end of today, we better see a passage in here about you being made perfect. Otherwise, the goal still hasn't been achieved. The goal was to make you perfect, but it won't be with animal blood. It won't be with sacrifices that are over and over as the priest is sweating and tired and frustrated, more work to be done. Oh, they sinned again, put another lamb on the altar. Oh, they messed up again, put another goat up there. It was never done. And so the law was just a shadow. It represented something that was coming later. What did that lamb represent? Ultimately, Jesus. But that lamb couldn't accomplish anything. It was from down the street. It was some animal they picked. It was a shadow, a symbol. But the reality is Christ. And when Christ forgives you, get this, when Christ forgives you, He makes you perfect. He doesn't mess it up. Jesus doesn't forgive people partially.

Nobody in this room is partially forgiven. You are either in Adam unforgiven, or you are in Christ totally forgiven. And we say this to people when we let them know what the gospel is, that we say, come to Jesus, put your faith in Jesus, and you will be forgiven of all your sins. And then they're in church for a week, a month, a year, and we say, are you asking Him to forgive you? Well, I thought you said He forgave me of all my, well, I did, but I just meant, well, yeah, uh-huh. Do you see, we engage in double talk when we don't understand the finished work of Christ. Now, verse two, Hebrews 10 continues. He says, otherwise, what would have happened in the Old Testament? Excuse me, sir, we need to get some construction workers in here because it's time to fold up shop. We can close down the temple. We can shut up the tabernacle because the sacrifices can be ceased. They don't need to be offered anymore, they would have said because we found the perfect spotless lamb. They could cease to be offered because the worshipers have been cleansed once. And so we don't need the temple anymore. Please bring that backhoe in here. Please bring that crane in here. Please bring that wrecking ball in here. Please, let's get rid of all this.

It's not needed anymore. All systems, no, because of the one system, the perfect lamb, but that never happened. The Old Testament priests never had that. And so it says they would have ceased. to be offered because the worshipers would have been cleansed once and would no longer have had consciousness of sins. Now you know the obvious question, hello, has this happened for you? It never happened for them. You know the priest, the idea of him coming down from the hillside, oh my goodness Eureka I found it, the perfect spotless lamb, let me spin it around and show you the perfect animal and everybody ooh and ah, oh the perfect lamb we found it, let's shut everything, that never happened. That never happened, it couldn't happen. But it did happen ultimately, John the Baptist said look the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Has it happened for you? Okay, so if it's happened for you then do you have consciousness of sins, verse 2? Are you letting your conscience kill you? We've heard that right, my conscience is killing me. Well it shouldn't be if you know the blood of Jesus has cleansed your conscience once for all. As a believer in Christ your conscience doesn't have to kill you any longer. That's the whole point. All right now we finish with a few more verses. The final verse of the day will be one of the most powerful verses in the Bible and it will say, it will say indeed that you have been made perfect. Not perfectly behaved, of course not, but perfectly forgiven and perfectly cleansed forever. We start in verse 10, by this will, which is remember a fancy word, an alternative word

for covenant or testament, by this will we have been sanctified, past tense, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. How many times? Not my idea. Is this my favorite idea to share? Is this my idea, did I dream this up? Is it my pet theology, is it a trendy movement, is it a special focus? No, it's right here in black and white, this document, 2,000 years old, it says you have been sanctified once for all. The most popular way to talk about sanctification today is progressive sanctification. This says the opposite, it says you've been sanctified once for all. So who's right when you and the God of the universe disagree who's right? So what does it mean to be sanctified? Well I have this mic on my face, I've sanctified it for the purpose for which it was created. If I put it on top of my head, well I'm not sanctifying it, I've got shoes on my feet. If I put them on my ears, they're not sanctified, they're not set apart for the purpose for which they were created. Sanctified means to be reserved or set apart for a purpose. And when you put your faith in Jesus, you are reserved for Him once for all, you are set apart for Him once for all. So let me be clear, sanctification is not a purity party. Sanctification is not you trying for 80 years to get right and stay right. Sanctification is when God says you are a person of my possession and I love you and I'm crazy about you and I'll never let you go and I'll always have you and I'll never forsake you, nothing can separate you from my love. That's sanctification, you're in, you belong once for all. All right verse 11, now we've got to talk about furniture because in the Old Testament they couldn't sit down on the job. You guys look comfortable in your chairs this morning but they could never be comfortable in the Old Testament.

Not a priest, watch this. Every priest stands, notice he's not seated, he's standing, daily ministering and offering time after time, I'm even exhausted reading it, time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. So you can imagine it, he's up on his feet, you go interview him, you get in the time machine, you go back 2000 years, you put a microphone in his face, you say, sir, how you feeling? Exhausted. Why? There is so much work to be done. What are you talking about? Well, another bull, another goat, more forgiveness, I feel like I'm paying off my camel. And you say, well, don't you know about the once for all? What are you talking about the once for all? No, for us it's again and again. It's repeatedly, endlessly, year after year, the blood never stops. So the forgiveness never stops being needed. Now watch, that's the Old Testament. What are they doing? Standing up. Watch this now. It's like incredible. Watch this. Verse 12. But he, Jesus, having offered one sacrifice for sins, one for all time, what did he do? He did the illegal. He did the forbidden. He did what no Old Testament priest could do. He sat down at the right hand of God. Now I have to ask you, what position are you in?

About your sins, I mean, with all that guilt and that conscience. What position are you in? Are you up running around Texas? Up running around the United States? Running around the world trying to get forgiven and get cleansed and get right and stay right? Are you standing with more work to be done? Or will you sit down with Jesus and say, Lord Jesus Christ, I trust you. I trust your blood. I trust your salvation. I trust the cross. I trust the resurrection. I trust you that it is finished. What position are you in? Standing up, stressed out about your destiny, your future, your forgiveness, and your life. Or will you sit down with Jesus Christ and agree with him? He did a perfect work on that cross. You are not being forgiven. You have been forgiven once for all. Imagine it in the Old Testament. They never had it. Israel walks in to the temple or the tabernacle. Israel walks in and the priest, that old priest is kicked back in a lazy boy chair and he says, what's up? You would look at that guy. They would look at him and say, what are you doing? You got no work left. Get up, buddy. Jesus never has to get up out of that seat. Seated at God's right hand. It worked the first time.

You're totally forgiven. Waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. What's that talking about? Well you look around today. You see sin. You see death. You see disease. You see an earth that's decaying. You see all kinds of things. We're waiting. We're waiting and ultimately Jesus will be shown for who he is. But for right now it's struggle and it's stress and there's a confrontation, a clash. Planet Earth comes at you. Jesus Christ lives in you. The intersection of the hurt and the healer. Planet Earth comes at you. Christ is working in you. Some messages out there, false messages say, well we're going to fix planet Earth. We're just going to fix all the trouble. If you name it, claim it, believe it, speak it, grab it, it's all going to be smooth sailing. You'll be rich and you'll be healthy. No. No. No. Earth is tortured and killed. Jesus himself tortured and killed. There's no promise of easy circumstances. Planet Earth comes at you. Your counselor works in you. Christ in you.

That's our hope of glory. Alright, I told you we'd be finishing with one of the most powerful verses in the entire Bible, and here it is. Verse 14, for by one offering, 2,000 years ago, by one offering, he has perfected, for how long? For all time, those who are set apart or sanctified. Wow, wow, perfectionism. It grips us. Some of us struggle with perfectionism. We can't feel good about us until everything around us is perfect. Oh, I'll feel good when the garage is finally clean. Oh, I can get some work done when my desk is finally uncluttered. Oh, I'll feel good when all my ducks are in a row and my boxes have been checked and my list has been crossed off with every item. I'll feel good about me when everything's perfect. And then we bring that into our Christianity. We imagine God measuring us with boxes to check and lists to cross off. Have you done your Bible study? Have you done your church attendance? Have you been a good person? Have you lived a good life? Have you done enough? That is not the way to relationship with God. Relationship with God is not about you and your lists. It's not about checking boxes. It's about the perfect work of Jesus, the perfection of another person, the perfection of someone who is not you. The only way to be saved, the only way to be forgiven, the only way to be righteous is to let Jesus do it for you. And by one offering, he has perfected for all time those who were sanctified.

You're not perfectly behaved, but you are perfectly forgiven and cleansed and right forever because of Jesus. Let's thank our God. Father, there may be somebody here online, West Texas, far, far away. There may be somebody that has never really understood the finished work of Jesus. We're all learning about how good it really is. Some of us just need to say, I'm letting you, Jesus, I'm letting you, I'm letting you save me. I'm letting you forgive me. I'm letting you into my life. I'm opening, opening the door to you. Others of us were in the room. We're in the room of grace. We just need to take a look around. Wow. Look at that forgiveness once for all. Wow. Look at that righteousness, a free gift. Wow. Look at that closeness with God, united with Christ. Grace. It means it's all free. Grace. We thank you for this finished work of Christ. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.