Implications of True Forgiveness

0:00 Just very briefly as we get started today, I would like to say thank you to Steve for getting our sprinklers back working again. Had a couple of dry spots and they got pretty dry. Uh but I think it should get green again out there at least by about the end of October. Should be kind of green back up out there now that the sprinklers are working properly again. But appreciate that. Also, thank you to uh Barry and dad for coming out to help trim the trees out front. If you take a look out there, they're a little less poofy because we trimmed off quite a lot there. And you start using chainsaws on ladders. That's always an exciting thing, but it went well. And so, it was quite the haul that we got off of there. Uh the Catholic Church next door had requested that we trim them so they had

0:47 more parking space because the branches were hanging so low. And it's like, I didn't even notice that, but yeah, you're right. So, I appreciate that. And then uh and we also trimmed on both sides so that whoever is mowing is not getting you know you're not having to bob and weed to miss the branches that are hanging down. So praise the Lord for that. And also thank you to Mark. I can't I it was just hot and I got tired. So I real I decided I was going to come back and pick up the last few little twig piles when it was cool in the morning and I came back at 7 the next morning and they were already picked up. The trash cans were already put out. So thank you Mark for doing that. Appreciate that. And uh so all of that is done. Grateful that that project is taken care of. And also enjoyed the special music last week with Belle. So thank you, Lanny and girls. I know a lot of practice went into that. So thank you

1:34 for that. Now we're just I'm I'm burning through some announcements that are not in the book. They're in the bulletin this morning. Again, we always have our bulletins right out here by the front door. Encourage you to take those. Lots of good church information. But I have a very important announcement to make, very exciting announcement to make, and that is that our building permit has been issued and approved. So, praise the Lord. So, our project to convert these rooms back in here into a church guest quarters. We're we're good to go now. So, that means a couple of things. I'll actually pick up the building permit this week, finish paying off uh the fees beyond the deposit for that. But we'll need to begin to clean out the sheds and

2:19 the kitchen to make some room for things to be moved around. We will put in some new storage solutions in the shed. So, for example, one of the things that we're going to do is put the chairs up on the walls in the sheds on chair racks there instead of the wheelie racks that are really frustrating to use anyway and be able to begin cleaning out, moving, organizing things from what has been the quote unquote flower closet for many years been that. So, I'm excited about this. We're also going to have, you know, you got to name things. So, we're going to have a naming contest for the guest quarters. So, if you have an idea for that, like I think it should be called this, then be sure to give me that idea and then we're going to select by vote, you know, all of the we'll look

3:06 at the names. We will vote and the name that wins, the name that gets the most votes, that's going to be the name of it. And then there's also going to be a little prize to go with that. So, you know, if you've got ideas, it's going to be worth your time to put those out. And if we have a whole bunch of names, we might have to limit to, you know, like two entries per person or something. I don't know if we're going to need to do that. But then once the room is cleaned out, we'll be able to begin the demo. And this is an exciting thing. I'm excited about it. I think it is going to be a tremendous asset for the church in the long run once we get that thing actually done. So, I'm looking forward to that and excited about it. And then just looking uh well, no, I think that's in the bulletin. the members meeting and having Camp Utivica.

3:52 So, we'll leave that. Let's go ahead and sing a song this morning. Number 45, we'll open up with that. Number 45, [Music] all hail the power of Jesus name. And we will sing all four verses. Number 45. Oh Jesus. Angels for the royal high. [Music] Bring forth the royal high

4:41 of he is gra by his grace and come lord of Hail him who saves you by his grace from him for the Lord. Let every trial fall to him all

5:27 right. Lord of all to him all majesty right and crown him Lord of all [Music] that sac [Music] join the everlasting sen And from him, Lord of all will join the everlasting song and crown him Lord

6:15 of all. Amen. At this time, we're going to have our opening prayer and announcements. If you can come up for that. [Music] Let's approach the Lord in prayer. We're grateful, Lord, for the day. We're grateful for the people that have come out to hear your word preached. We pray you'd open our hearts up to the teaching. Be with pastor, anoint him as he delivers. May we be a a blessing to others and may things always work out for your honor and glory. Thank you for the folks that are here. Bless the ones that can't be here today that are sick or afflicted or the ones that are traveling. Please give travel mercies to them. and then bless our missionaries. Lord, thank you for them. We pray these

7:00 things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay, let's I just want to say be mic. That's even better with the mic off. I just want to say in this naming contest thing, Steve's electrical nightmare will be my choice. So, nobody touch that. Okay, let's say our memory verse for the month. Say it together. 1 Peter 4:8 and 9. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without

7:47 grudging. First Peter 4 8 and 9. Okay, come back tonight. We're going to have a missions report from the John and Annie Keeler. They're in Mount Pleasant this morning reporting. They are trying to do two churches every Sunday. So, it his name wouldn't be Kefeler if he wasn't an overachiever. He's just that way. But, uh they've got their missions down in Mexico and they're doing a lot of great work down there and they're coming tonight to report. So, come back for that. We'll sing favorite songs and then we'll have uh have the report from John and Annie. Wednesday night disciplehip class will be here at the church at 700 p.m. Uh there will be prayer requests taken and

8:33 we'll pray for one another and then there will be a Bible study. We're in the book of Revelation. We've made it all the way to chapter 3. Praise the Lord for that. No comment. And uh we'll also have food to eat. If you're hungry, come. Spiritually, we'll feed you and also physically we'll feed you. So, please come for that. The July calendars are available out in the lobby. If you'd like to see what's on the agenda for the church, there are also new gospel tracks. There's numerous gospel tracks out there. Please take them. Don't be shy about handing them out to people. The junior high camp in Camp Utypica is this week from 7:14 to 7:9. Please pray for Liz and Luke as they attend. And

9:22 we've got a couple that were there this week, last this past week, and it sounds like they had a really good time. You going back again next year? Okay. Huh? We're going to do a Well, you can do both. Yeah, you can do both. It'll be okay. I'll pay your way. She'll take you up on that. Uh and then Sunday, July 27th, mark that. Uh we're going to have Camp Utypica staff will be here joining us. They're going to do a report on what's going on up at camp. Following the morning service, we'll do a potluck lunch and then we'll have the quarterly members business meeting will be held

10:08 immediately following the potluck and then that will be in lie of the evening service. So, we got a lot of things to discuss in that business meeting uh as we evaluate our missionaries in that one. So, pastor will come and do the missionary report. Speaking of the uh missionaries, our missionary of the week this week is Ed and Carol Henry. He is the Europe director for BIMI, the missions organization. And from their last prayer letter, I've got just a couple of bullet point things. uh prayer requests especially. He mentions at the beginning of the letter to please pray for peace in Jerusalem and notes that he has heard that many Jews in Israel are more open to in particular attending services now

10:55 uh than they have been for quite a while and a lot of times they they are more willing to go because of kindness that has been shown to them. He mentions that they had candidate school where they have training and they had 48 missionaries who were involved with candidate school and that it went well. So, praise the Lord for that. They have two weeks of what they call camp BIM coming up which is kind of like summer Bible camp but it is designed for kids who are interested in missions and in becoming missionaries. And so they asked for prayer for that. He said that both of those weeks are full. Then they have their director's planning meeting in August. He asks for prayer for wisdom for that. And then their fall travels will begin. They spend a lot of the summer or the fall, winter, and spring

11:41 months on the road going into different churches, recruiting for missions, talking about uh the needs that are out and that sort of thing. And that will include his taking a trip out here to see us in I think the month of October for kind of a missions emphasis Sunday. We're looking forward to doing that as the round robin missions conference has been discontinued. will have him in this year for a missions emphasis Sunday. So let's take just a minute this morning and pray for the hims. Father, as we come to you today, I do thank you for Ed and Carol, their faithful service on the mission field for many years and then now is uh he serves as the director for the Europe Theater of of work and missions. And I pray that you would just grant your blessing, your provision, your peace on the the different

12:27 decisions that need to be made. We think of these different outreach opportunities and training opportunities. We're grateful for the the the actual just training that they had the candidate school and we do pray for this camp BIM. Pray that you would use that to bring forth laborers to your field and call them and and to help equip them. Lord, we also think of the direct the director's planning meeting coming up next month. We pray for your wisdom there and guidance. And we also think of just safety and and travel as uh they will spend a lot of time on the road and in the air over the coming months once school has started and and the weather cools, all of those things. And so we pray for your protection and provision there as well. Lord, help us to be faithful in giving toward missions and praying for our missionaries and and

13:13 supporting them, encouraging them as we have opportunity to do so. Lord, thank you for the great commission. May we take that very very seriously and I ask these things in your name. Amen. Next, we will sing our chorus of the month. And so, at this time, I'm going to ask that's going to be number 56. We'll get there in just a moment, but I'm going to ask our men to come forward to receive the tithes and offerings today. And uh for our regular church folks, I try to typically give a what I call a giving challenge. Everybody's welcome to give as the Lord might lead you to, but for specifically our church folks, um here is kind of your thought today. I've been thinking this week that uh in so much of the world comes down to money, does it not? You know, there you can get people to do almost anything as

14:02 long as you're willing to pay them enough. You know, they'll clunk around in your sewer system and do all sorts of things as long as there is enough money involved. Uh money is one of the main ways to motivate people to get them to do something. That's how business works. I'm not even opposed to that, but it's good to keep in mind. But it does go beyond that. You know, if you want to find out if there is corruption in an organization, well, track the money, see where it goes, see if it's even recorded where it goes. And we can often times see that. If you want to see uh where the corruption is in in an organization, what do you do? You follow the money. You see where it goes. And very quickly those things become evident. And while money and wealth themselves are neutral

14:49 things and in fact I you know we see in scripture often times money and wealth are good blessings from a good God. So we're we're not opposed to those things as biblical Christians. But what we do with that money and with that wealth that God gives us, it is one of the very best ways to see what it is that we truly value. And whether we have a little, whether we have a lot, or somewhere in between, what we do with what God gives us is a very good mirror of our spending values. And that's why Billy Graham said, quote, "Give me five minutes with a person's checkbook and I will tell you where their heart is." Because very quickly, it becomes evident. So, as we think about our own hearts, well, let's follow the money. Where does it go? What's it going to? Does it show a motivation to serve and

15:36 please the Lord? Where do our bank and credit statements say that our hearts are? So, there is your thought for this morning. And then Chad, if you'd ask the blessing on the offering. Lord, we thank you for your provision and your grace. We know that all we have, Lord, is from your blessing. As we present our tithes and offerings and back a portion of what we have, I pray that you'd be honored and glorified. We would take our gifts and bless them in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Number 56, new chorus of the month. His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful.

16:24 Jesus my lord. He is the mighty king, master of everything. His name is wonderful. Jesus my Lord. He's the great shepherd, the Lord of all. Almighty God is king. Bow down before him. Love and adore him. His name is wonderful. Jesus my Lord.

17:11 And then over to number 53. If you are using your himnil this morning, the Gishard funeral. Oh, I Yeah. Yes. Okay. I forgot to put the Gishard funeral in the bulletin. I'm sorry, Bonnie. Um Rob Gushard's funeral is going to be livereamed today um at a place of grace. I'll send the link in the prayer chain, but hit that funeral at 2 o'clock this afternoon. And so YouTube. What? It's on. Yeah, on YouTube. Yeah. So, I'll send the the live stream link to their church. But yeah, his his funeral is at 2:00 today. Sorry. And if it is on YouTube, it should remain there. So, if you're not able to tune in live at 2 p.m. exactly, that

17:58 should still be there to watch later. Uh Gushards were faithful members here for many years. He went to be home with the Lord a few weeks ago after fighting cancer. And so uh especially the I will tell you this, Rob Gushard is doing great, but his wife and his family, they need prayer. And so uh let's let's be thoughtful, prayerful toward them. And we intended to send flowers. We will typically do that, especially if it's a church member, they move somewhere else and there's a death in the family, uh we'll do flowers. And we tried and tried. Caitlyn made almost a dozen calls to different florists trying to get that worked out. And we could not get any of the florists to answer their phones to do that. But then Sherry said, "Well, we would rather that uh if the church is going to do something like that, they

18:44 just make a donation to a children's hospital." Right? Is it St. Jude? To St. Jude. So that's what the church is doing instead of flowers is and if you would like to give additional money to that and like yes I want to give on top of what the church is already doing then you can designate that in the offering and just put guushard funeral something like that and very will make sure that that money goes to the the to St. Judes and children hospital there. So yes, thank you for remembering that. I had forgotten that today. Number 53. Oh for a thousand tongues. And we'll sing all five verses. Number 53. Oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer praise. The glories of my

19:34 God and king. the triumphs of his praise. My gracious master and my God are rely [Music] through all the earth abroad the honors of thy name. Jesus the name that charms our tears that is our sorrow seas. His music in the sinner tears his life and help and peace. Here in the death is crazy down your lenol. [Music]

20:21 Your savior found for joy. He brings the power of canled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulless free. His blood avail. And we'll finish this out with number 43. Crown him with many crowns. If you will go ahead and stand this morning and we'll sing the song. And then if you would remain standing out of respect for God's word, we're going to do our reading a little bit differently today. We're going to do what's called responsive reading. And uh just to kind of mix things up a little bit today. So

21:08 when we go to do that, I'll read a verse and then as the congregation, you'll read a verse. Now, in order to keep things cohesive, we're going to be using the King James. And so if you if that's not what you have with you, all of the Bibles that we just have out on the seats are King James. So I' I'd encourage you to take and turn there and we'll do that reading. Uh number 43 verses 1, two, and four. First, second, and last. [Music] The lamb of God is now the heavenly music. Awake my soul and sing

21:54 of him thy for thee. and heaven as my majesty through all eternity. Lord of love. Behold his hand and his tr [Music] in the sky and holy there. My power is wondering I his so

22:40 [Music] of heaven with the father one with the spirit through him another glorious to the endless praise. Praise for thou for us be thou oh Lord through endless days and magnified. And then then if you would take your Bible this morning over to Psalm 47. Psalm 47.

23:34 Give everyone a moment to get there. Our theme and worship is Jesus Lord overall. Only nine verses in this psalm. So again, we will do it this way. I will start and I will read all of the oddnumbered verses. I will ask you to read the even-numbered verses and then we will conclude together on verse 9 and all read that together. Psalm 47 beginning in verse one. Oh, clap your hands all ye people. Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord is terrible. He is a great king over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feets. He shall choose our inheritance for us.

24:22 The excellency of Jacob. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises unto our king. Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. [Music] The princes of the people are gathered together. even the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted. Thank you this morning. You may be seated. We're not going to do it that

25:07 way every time, but may be an interesting way to mix it up now and then. Again, I would like to welcome each of you this morning. Uh in particular, I would like to welcome our regulars, our frequent flyers, and our visitors today. I hope each of you feels welcome this morning. It is good to have you here. We will be in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. And as we have been working our way through the book of Hebrews, one of the things about this book, about its structure, its style is it has elements of being itself a sermon. And it may be that the book of Hebrews was essentially written as a sermon to be read and and preached and taught within these Jewish

25:54 churches. There's a great deal of stylistic polishing and and masterful illustration work within the book. And the author spends some extended sections developing certain themes. One of the most central themes in the book of Hebrews is how Jesus did what the Old Testament law could not do. That's one of the core themes. And as I have been preaching through this book, I've preached multiple sermons on this sermon as it were. And I feel like I have perhaps beaten that one topic that's already pretty welldeveloped. I've beaten it about halfway to death. And so I don't want to continue to hammer away on it at the same pace because I think by the time we're done, I would have beaten it to death twice

26:40 over by the time we finish with that. So I don't want to camp on that overly long. Uh, for example, this section we're going to read today in Hebrews chap 10:es 1-18. As we study through this, this section in one of my study Bibles is entitled Christ's sacrifice once for all. And if you happen to recall the last sermon that I preached on this from chapter 9, I entitled Jesus, the once for all sacrifice. So, you can see how this one theme is very welldeveloped here. And I don't want to camp out here at nauseium. So, we're going to pass over a little bit some of the longer parts uh or some parts of this longer passage this morning fairly quickly and then we're going to spend some more time on some novel nuggets, if you will, some newer ideas that are slipped into the text that will help to

27:26 expand on and develop this main theme of Jesus doing in the new covenant what the old covenant could never do. So Hebrews chapter 10 picking up in verse one. For the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered yearby year continually make the comers there unto perfect. For then why uh for then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into

28:13 the world, he saith, "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. But a body hast thou prepared me? In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin hast had thou hast had no pleasure." Then I said, I lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, oh God. Above when he said, sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadest pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, oh God, he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take

28:59 away sins. But this man that is Jesus after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his foottool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that he had said before, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, sayeth the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning. Father, as we look at your word today, I pray that you would work in our hearts, in our minds, in our

29:45 lives. I pray that you would make clear to us the truths that are here in these verses, in this passage. I pray that you would help me by your grace, your Holy Spirit to preach exactly and only what you want me to preach. That you might be pleased today. Lord, I'm grateful for your word. I'm grateful for you, for your Holy Spirit, your work in our lives. May we respond to all of that correctly. I pray. And Lord, as we enjoy the privileges of the new covenants, may we yet not take them for granted. Lord bless this time I ask and be glorified in it in Jesus name. Amen. So in verses 1-10 I've got this passage broken up into three main sections. And inside in verses 1-10 we see the old sacrifices and the final sacrifice.

30:34 As we have seen the old law and the old sacrifices, the old covenant, the old testament, those were all a shadow, a picture of what was to come later. or really rather who was to come later and that is the man Jesus Christ. The old system we read could never perfect or the idea of complete to finish to to bring about totally. The Greek word there is tell it could never perfect those who sought to draw near to God. We see that in verse one. Uh can never with those sacrifices which they offered yearbyear continually make the comers there unto perfect. to those who would draw near to God. We cannot be made perfect under the old covenant. All we can do is is offer the sacrifices as God

31:21 instructed and be obedient in that. But it could not erase sin and bring us close to God. Actually removing the barrier of sin that is between God and us. The author reasons that uh if this you know this stop gap if it could complete their sanctification if the old law could sanctify he says then they could have been sanctified and stopped offering the sacrifices but they couldn't never stop because they could make a sacrifice for this sin and for that sin and this day of atonement and the next year's day of atonement all of these things but they had to keep doing that because it was only ever temporary. It was insufficient to complete the job. Uh last uh last time we were here, I likened it to a great big credit card and all you're doing is making the

32:06 minimum payments. And so what happens to the actual debt? Well, it really doesn't budge. It just stays there. And then Jesus comes and actually pays the entire debt off. So now the bills stop showing up. You don't have to worry about it any longer. But these sacrifices, what they could do is is they could bring reminders of sin. But they couldn't do more than that because the blood of animals could never wash away sin. We see that in verse four. It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. And please understand, I I know that most people are not under the impression that they need to offer animal sacrifices today to have their sins forgiven. Personally, I've never spoken with anybody who said they believe that. Well, I know that I got to I got to

32:52 offer these sacrifice. I know there are people who do believe that, but it's a a relatively small minority. But I I think that there are many people today who think they can sacrifice some money. They can sacrifice some time. They can sacrifice some service and some effort and that sort of thing and that is what will equal out their sins. That's what will wipe their sin away. But if the blood of bulls and goats, if the blood of a perfect spotless little lamb could not wipe away sin, don't think that some money dropped in a plate is going to wipe away sin. It is not possible that those sorts of sacrifices will erase sin either. The only thing that can erase sin, put it in remission,

33:37 wipe it away, forgive it, expune it from our records completely, is the blood of the savior, Jesus Christ. There is nothing else. And we need to understand that Christ came into the world because none of the sacrifices man could give would ever accomplish anything. And by the way, we think about it this way as well. Everything that we ever have is the Lord's anyway. So, can I pay off my debt to God by taking money out of his wallet and giving it back to him and saying, "All right, we're square now, right?" I don't think so. Doesn't work that way. Ultimately, it's only when God pays the debt and says, "No, it's actually forgiven." That that debt is gone. It's erased. That's when it's actually dealt done away with. verses five, the the latter part of verse 5 down through verse 7. We have a

34:24 quote here from Psalm 40:es 6-8. [Music] Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, and this is where the quote begins, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then I said, I lo I come in the volume of this book, it is written of me to do thy will, oh God. So it's a very messianic psalm there, very me messianic verses, but it also shows us that it was always God's ultimate plan for Jesus to come and do what sacrifices could not do. That was always God's plan. It wasn't like he decided to try the Mosaic law. See if

35:10 that could save people and then if not, well, we'll figure something else out. No, the Mosaic law and those sacrifices, they were always meant as a picture of the actual savior, Jesus Christ. And so, we see that likeness, that representation there, but we see the Old Testament law is the shadow. Jesus is the substance that casts the shadow. It points to him. And when Jesus came and established the New Testament in his blood, and remember that word testament, it comes from a word that means covenant. So the new covenant, the old covenant, that's that's what we need to read when we're reading those passages that when he did that, he did away with the old covenant. When he brought in the one, it it removes the first one. Verse 9, then he said, "Lo, I come to do thy will, oh God." He taketh away the first the first

35:58 covenant, the first testament that he may establish the second testament, the second covenant. And so there is a replacement there that occurs. And we see this throughout the New Testament. It is what Jesus himself said he would do. Matthew 5:17, Jesus made the statement, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy." But what does it say? To fulfill. But once fulfilled, then it is set aside to be replaced with the new covenant. And that is what we are under. Jesus didn't come to ignore the old covenant. It was good. It served many purposes and it continues to serve many purposes. But bringing people to

36:44 God is not one of them. That is now through Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. We see that as well in Hebrews 8:13 that once Jesus sacrificed himself in his own lifeblood, the old was set aside and he took away the first in order to establish the second. If you turn back probably just a page or two in your Bible, Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 13, which we've looked at before, in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayth and waxth old is ready to vanish away. So we see that that replacement of covenants that takes place and really the second covenant is the ultimacy and the fulfillment of the first does what the first cannot and all of this is affirmed

37:33 in depth in the book of Galatians as well. But why I personally am not in the Hebrew roots movement and why I do not seek to live under the Old Testament law is this principle that Jesus came and established the new covenant. And that is what we are now under. That our salvation is through the new covenant. And by the way, the salvation for the Jews was through Christ as well. They weren't saved by the Old Testament law. There's kind of that there's that obedience. There's that faith. And we read of Abraham that he believed God and God counted that to him for righteousness. And and true faith is always acted out in obedience, but they weren't actually saved by the Old Testament law. The salvation came through the sacrifice of Christ. For

38:19 every righteous Jew who believed God, they were born again ultimately through the sacrifice of Christ. That's how they got eternal life. But I don't, it's not just our salvation that is through Christ, but also our sanctification. It's through Christ. is through his Holy Spirit as he he grinds away those parts of us that are not like him and as he grows and brings out within us and and matures in us the things that are like him which we don't have naturally those you we we have to have spirituality grafted into us. We are spiritually dead without Christ. But faith makes us alive unto God. And then he begins to sanctify us to make us more like our new adoptive heavenly father,

39:05 our maker. Yes, for everyone, but also for children of God, our our father. And this uh we we see this throughout the New Testament, throughout the Old Testament. We're we're not sanctified by keeping the Old Testament law as we see in verse 10. Uh by which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. So we're sanctified by Christ, not by Old Testament sacrifices or again even even the many other sacrifices we might try to make today, but rather we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Christ and his blood once and for all. And hallelujah and amen for that, right? Christ once for all. Praise the Lord. And the New Testament has plenty to say about what obedience to God looks

39:50 like in the New Testament era, please don't misunderstand me that, well, since we're not under the Old Testament law and we've got Jesus, now we can just go do whatever we want. I would point you toward Romans 6. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. We've been baptized into Christ's life and his death. And so, we're dead now to sin. Jesus did not save us so that we could sin the more. He saved us from sin and its penalty and one day even from its very presence. And repeatedly throughout the New Testament, believers are referred to and referred to themselves as slaves to Christ. We see that in Romans 1 in verse one. We see it in Jude verse one, James

40:37 1 vers1, uh, Revelation 1. And we're told in 1 Corinthians 6 that we are not our own but have been bought with a price. Bought with the blood of Christ. It is uh it's very because of America's history and everything else. This is very sensitive and touchy subject. But biblically speaking, everybody is a slave. We're either either a slave to sin and to death. We're under that taskmaster as people who are spiritually dead or were spiritually regenerated, have eternal life, but we now belong to Christ, right? We call him our Lord and Savior. And that Lord, that that's that's

41:23 mastery. I I need to live in obedience to Christ because he's bought me with his lifeblood. I'm not my own. I don't get to decide what is best for me. I don't get to decide what my life is to be. I don't get to decide this is what I want. Therefore, you know, I have the right to pursue anything that I think will make me happy. I know we get the pursuit of happiness. That's kind of a core American thing. But as Christians, it's the pursuit of Christ that we're called to. It's the pursuit of God. And as well and and we can come to understand this eventually. the more we experience we gain. But the more we try to pursue the sinful things that we think will make us happy, the less happy we get. God's not

42:11 being a meany head. No, I know that's really fun and enjoyable. I just don't want you to enjoy anything. No, that's not God. The Bible says at his right hand are pleasures forever more. It's as we live in the way that God has made us and designed us and called us to live that we're actually able to enjoy things. If we want genuine pleasure and genuine joy, the pleasures of sin are for a season. Scripture says, it's a lot like credit card debt. Man, I'm telling you, boy, it's fun in the moment, but then here come the bills, and here comes the interest, and here comes this, and pretty soon you're bankrupt. But the pleasures of God, it's it's like a it's like more like a paycheck where, yeah, here it is. Here's the money, and and you can spend it and enjoy it, but it's not it's not on credit.

42:58 that it's good, honest. It's an honest thing and doesn't bring with it the consequences and sorrows of sin. Secondly, in verses 11 through 14, we see the seated savior and sanctified sinners. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering often times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his foottool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. We looked at the Old Testament furniture and we noted that one of the things you don't have in the Old Temple and tabernacle is seating. There's furniture. It's very important. But

43:45 there were no seats because the priests always had more work to do. No sooner do you get, you know, Jim, Bob, his sacrifice done for this sin that he comes back in saying, "Hey, I did it again. And come on, lamb. I messed up again. I need to sacrifice again." And so there was always work to do. And there were morning sacrifices and evening sacrifices and yearly sacrifices and sacrifices for special feasts and celebrations and all of these things. So there was no seating. There was always work to do. But and we see then why it's very significant that when Jesus had died on the cross, he went where? He was seated at the right hand of the father. It's why one of the very last

44:32 things he said on the cross is that Greek word to tell us. It is done. It is finished. And then he sat down. Because there was no more work to do. Jesus had accomplished salvation. Praise the Lord. It's done. It is finished. But I do want to note here, this is kind of one of those things. You know what furniture often time goes with a seat? a foottool. As Jesus is seated, he is now waiting for his foottool, which we're told here are his enemies. From henceforth, expecting waiting till his enemies be made his foottool. Jesus is now waiting until the day when

45:17 the father says it is time. And Jesus returns to judge his enemies and set up his millennial reign. You can read of this in Revelation 19-20. We need to understand the reality and nature of Jesus. I think that unfortunately many people today believe in a very flat two-dimensional Jesus. Well, Jesus is love and Jesus is kind and Jesus is patient and and Jesus is these things. He would never dream of making anyone uncomfortable. I think that anybody who believes Jesus would never make anyone uncomfortable has never read a lick of the New Testament. Amen. Have you seen what Jesus had to say to the religious leaders of the day? Have you read Jesus's interactions with

46:03 the money changers in the temple? I'm reminded of that quote and you know there was this big thing especially in the '9s. What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do? Was on shirts and bumper stickers and wristbands and everything else. And I appreciate the quote when someone asks what would Jesus do? Let's remember that flipping tables and chasing people with whips was within the realm of possibility. That is something that Jesus did, I believe, in fact, twice. There's some disagreement on that, but I think Jesus did it once at the beginning of his ministry and then again the second time at the end of his ministry. Cleanse the temple. Yes, Jesus is patient. He's more meek and mild than we can imagine. His default response

46:50 is mercy and grace. That's Jesus's reflexive response. He's peaceful. He's merciful. He's gracious. But if that is all that we ever learn of Jesus, we do not understand who he really is. That is all true of him. But that is not everything that is true of him. the silent lamb going to the slaughter for our sins and the roaring lion of Judah who will rule with a rod of iron. They are the same person. They are both Jesus the Christ. He who is God. He who is the creator of the universe. He who is also eternal

47:36 co-equal with the father and the holy spirit within the trinity. That is also him. The same Jesus that was gentle with children and broken people called those who opposed him liars and murderers and snakes and devils and children of the devil. The same Jesus who would not break a broken reed or put out a smoldering wick in Matthew 12:20 will also slay the multitudes of his enemies in one fell swoop at his return. This is the same Jesus and he will not hesitate to send every unrepentant sinner to eternal judgment in hell. It's

48:25 the same Jesus. But he again his default is patience, love, mercy, grace. That's his default response. We're told in Ezekiel that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He would so much rather that sinners repent. And who's a sinner? Well, the biblical answer very quickly is all of us. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've gone everyone after his own way. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. There is none that seeks him. We have all come short of the glory of God. And that is why we're told in John 3 that God so loved the world that he gave. He opened that way of salvation to the

49:11 entire world. We read in Romans 10 that all who believe in him will not be ashamed but rather enjoy that eternal life. Jesus is far more complex than we oftenimes give him credit for. He's far more powerful. He's far more just. Many people say that they believe in Jesus, but the Jesus that they are talking about bears only a passing resemblance of the God man from the Bible. Many people are quick to say, "I like this about Jesus. I like this about Jesus. I like this about Jesus. I'm going to I'm going to take these things and this is Jesus, but I I don't like these. I don't like wrath and justice and I don't like those things." And what is that? Well, at the end of the day, that's an idol.

49:56 It's a It's a figment of their imagination. This isn't a real person. This is a figment of their imagination that they've dressed up with the name and the robes of Jesus. They've given this idol a permanent smile, maybe even a nod and a wink about their sin. No, Jesus is he is God. He is man. He is fully both of those. And Jesus died to do away with sin. He is serious about it. You won't die for something you don't really think is important. Jesus died to deal with our sin. He takes sin very seriously. And let's not tell ourselves the lie that we have an infinite amount of time to get right with the Lord Jesus. He

50:42 offers an olive branch to every person. But that offer is available as long as we live. When we pass from this life to the next, our eternal destination is sealed and certain, it is appointed unto man once to die. And after this, the judgment. We're told that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is God is Lord to the glory of God the Father. But some people confess it willingly in this life and enjoy eternal life as a result of it. Others confess it before being sent to that place of eternal judgment called

51:28 hell. But everyone will confess. I heard someone say while I read them as they said, "If God is real and I meet him one day, he will have to beg me for mercy and forgiveness." The hubris of a statement like that is hard to quantify. The ignorance is staggering. That is not how any meeting with God will go. Job found that out and Job was righteous and he found out, "Oh, I don't really understand God the way that I thought I did. I don't really know him the way that I thought." The writer of Hebrews is fond of quoting the Psalms. Before we move on, here is another

52:14 messianic psalm. You're welcome to turn there and follow along if you would like to into Psalm two. Psalm two. As we think about this idea of Jesus waiting until he makes his enemies his foottool. This psalm is about the reign of God's anointed. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands of sunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that siteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

52:59 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. We've seen this quoted in Hebrews already. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, oh ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest, and notice son is capitalized there. This is speaking of Christ, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all that put their trust in him.

53:46 So clear a picture of salvation given in that psalm. Salvation through faith in Christ. And so when will we submit to the Lord? will be it now willingly or later on because we are obligated to. We see as well as we pick back up in Hebrews that Jesus does perfect forever those who place their faith in him. Verse 14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. This is something the fullness of that perfection is not consummated until glorification. In 1 John 3 and:2, John writes, "Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we

54:31 shall see him as he is." There is so much of Christianity that can be characterized as already, but not yet. Already the believer is a child of God. Already their sins are forgiven in Christ. Already they have eternal life, but there's so much not yet. That being a child of God is not yet fully realized. Our sin nature is not yet erased. We don't always think and act and speak and live like a child of God, do we? We still we we still find that sin comes very naturally even though now we're conflict conflicted because we have the Holy Spirit afflicting our conscience. We have our conscience accusing and yet excusing and all of that that Paul talks

55:17 about in Romans. And there is the already but the not yet. And when we see Christ as he is, then we have what's theologically called glorification. When our sin nature is removed, our body is even glorified. Never more to suffer. No more aches or pains. No more mutations in our DNA. No more of those things. No more diagnosis. No more even going to the doctor. How many of you can get excited about not even needing to go to the doctor? Oh, praise the Lord. All of a sudden, the doctor's like, "Hey, wait a minute. You know, Jesus going to put all the doctors out of business." You see that in Revelation 21-22. It's an exciting thing.

56:04 But we live in the not yet. Already these things are fully secured, but they're not fully realized yet. But Jesus did this with one sacrifice that the millions of Old Testament sacrifices could never do. He secured and completed our salvation and sanctification forever. Third this morning quickly we see the solution for sin and the sessation of sacrifice in verses 15-18. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that he had said before, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, sayeth the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. In their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Now, where remission of these is, there is no more

56:50 offering for sin. So, if you were here in Sunday school this morning, you listened as these verses from Jeremiah were referenced, but this is Jeremiah 31:es 33-34. And we see in this quotation again that God never intended for the Old Testament, the old covenant made with Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness between Egypt and Israel for that to be permanent and eternally in place. And he said as much in Old Testament passages like this Jeremiah 31 33-34. And he pointed ahead and notice he doesn't say Jeremiah, but he actually says the Holy Spirit is the one who said this. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for approve, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God

57:35 may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. This when we read the Bible, we're reading the word of God. We're reading that which is inspired of the Holy Spirit. It's not just somebody who had a moment of inspiration like we might think today and oh yeah, I need to write that down. I need to write this into a poem or a song or a story. No, this is the word of God. The Holy Spirit said this that there would be a new covenant and that with this new covenant, God would write his laws into his people's hearts and into their minds and he would no longer remember their sins. One of the interesting things we see in the Old Testament, Israel does a pretty good job of obeying God sometimes, but then later on when they're disobeying God and God comes to judge them, he actually makes reference back

58:21 to the beginning. And he says, "From the beginning, this people has been wicked and they've been stubborn. Even in those times when Israel was being obedient, their sins were not erased. God still very much had a record of those. They were still there." That changes when the blood of Christ washes those away. And so he said as much in the Old Testament in passages like this where he directly and explicitly states that a new covenant is coming. And again, Jesus stated when this New Testament, this new covenant was inaugurated with his blood and it was shed on the cross at Calvary and memorialized in the last supper in the ongoing Lord's supper. We see that picture there. But Jesus stated the new covenant is here. It's done.

59:08 And there are a couple of significant changes that take place, implications of true forgiveness, which is where I've drawn the title of this message from. says, "Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more where there is remission of these. There is no more offering for sin." And before that, we see that we actually we actually know the Lord. We actually know God as God's people, as born again believers today, we actually know the Lord. And that's why we talk of true Christianity not just being a set of religious rituals and rights. You go to church and you do this and you give this and you all these things. But it is actually a personal relationship with God.

59:54 And it is impossible to be a Christian and not know God. It is knowing God that makes us believers. It is knowing God that makes us Christians. And I no longer need a human priest and a human gobetween because now I know the Lord myself. And boy, I don't deserve that. But I do and every Christian does. And this is often called the priesthood of the believer. We've seen this in Hebrews already that we we now have the Lord Jesus as the great high priest. He who is God is our goeteen for God. He is both God and man. So he perfectly fulfills that role. But we can and we always should get to know our God better. So there is that.

1:00:40 We need to put depth into this knowing God. But we know him. We have a relationship with him because the barrier between us and the Lord has been erased. And that barrier is sin. It's been washed away by the blood of Christ. So now we can know him personally. We can be adopted into his family. We can come boldly before the throne of grace because this barrier of sin is removed. And very simply put, someone who does not know God personally is not a Christian. Someone who does know God personally is a Christian. And that takes place by faith in Christ. The second major implication here is that our sin is truly washed away by Christ. That our sins are actually forgiven. God chooses to no longer recall them. We see this in verse 17 again quoted

1:01:26 from Jeremiah 31. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Divinely forgotten. He no longer chooses to recall them because it is finished business. The debt is paid. And since they are truly forgiven, there is no longer any need for sin offering where there is remission or forgiveness of these of sins. There is no more offering for sin. And that is why we do not have an altar where we offer animals because Jesus paid it all. It's done. Where there is true forgiveness, there is no more offering for sin. Jesus is the perfect and complete offer. And in fact, I suspect God would find any attempted sin offering now to be offensive because we can't do that without

1:02:12 slighting the perfect and complete sacrifice of his son. And so we're we're not offering for sin because Jesus has done it. Our sin is gone. We've been set free. Consider these verses as well. Psalm 103 and verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. And Micah 7 and 19, he will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Right? Where the picture there is they are irretrievable. They're gone. That's it. We'll see as we close this morning in the next verses how these theological truths enable us to have a right relationship with God and to truly live for him. But in the meantime, if your

1:03:00 sins have been permanently erased by the blood of Christ, then take a moment to thank the Lord for that, for his sacrifice on your behalf. I do not want to stop saying, "Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole." And if you have not done so, then you can have your sins permanently forgiven and erased by the blood of the savior when you trust fully in him. Which, by the way, this is one of the reasons that we believe in the security of the saint. That our salvation is secure because all our sin was erased by the blood of Christ at the moment of salvation. And that's not just our past sins, but all of our future sins as well.

1:03:46 We're able to be right with God permanently because of the effectiveness of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. The fact is though, we've all done things we're not proud of. We've all done things we don't want others to know about. Things that we think, "Boy, if they knew that about me, they might never talk to me again. If they knew the real me." But the fact is that God already knows it all. As the judge of all the earth, Abraham noted of God, he must judge sin. But also, and as we've discussed with Jesus already this morning, John noted that God is love. So here we are. We are sinners and God must judge that. But he also loves each

1:04:31 of you and made a way of salvation. And so you can have your sins forgiven and erased forever by placing your faith in the sacrifice of Christ. Not in what you can do for the Lord. Not in the fact that well my parents went to church. We've always been a very spiritual family or I just, you know, I I believe that Jesus exists. Yes, I the devils also believe and tremble. It's not enough to simply believe in Jesus's existence, but actually to trust in him personally to save you personally from your sin. That is saving faith. Won't you accept that gift and be born again if you have not done that already? Today is the day of salvation. Scripture

1:05:18 says you can simply pray something like this. Lord, I know I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died to save me from that sin. and I know I can't save myself and so please forgive my sin. Bring me into your family. I am trusting in Jesus now. Can be a very simple thing like that. And it doesn't have to be verbatim because it's not words that save. It's faith. It is faith in Christ that saves the but it is often pictured and worked out in the prayer. But it's actually saving faith. But we call it that because when we place our faith in Christ, he pays for the sin. He died for the sins of the world. But when we believe in him, our personal sin is actually erased. It's effective. It's

1:06:05 available for everyone. It's effective for those who believe in him. If you haven't done that, would you do that today? The fact is, we might not get another chance. We don't know. Nobody knows how much time they have left. Let's make certain that we're right with God now and start living for him now. Let's stand this morning. We'll be dismissed in a word of prayer. As we bow our heads and close our eyes, is there anybody that would say, "Pastor, I might need to do that. I I haven't put my faith in Jesus. I want to do that today. Would you just pray for me just by raising your hand? I won't call you out." Anybody that would say, "Pastor, just pray for me. I know I'm not born again. I need to do that." Yeah, I see that hand. Anybody else? So, anybody that would say, "Pastor, I've gotten a little casual about my

1:06:51 salvation, and I need to be more intentional about praising the Lord for what he's done for me. God's convicting me about that." Or maybe something else. I know I'm born again, but the Lord's convicted me about something this morning. Just raise your hand. Several hands. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Let's do business with God today. Father, as we come to you, I'm so grateful for salvation. May we not take it for granted, though it's eternally secure. May we not think, "Well, now I can live however I'd like." Lord, for the one who raised their hand this morning, I pray that you would make your path of salvation clear and that they would simply embrace eternal life through faith in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, the washing away, not just the covering, but the removal of sin. And Lord, for those of us who we know were born again, help us to live in a

1:07:37 way that's commensurate with that, to live and to walk worthy of the name of the God who saved us. Help us with this, I pray. Work in us that we might do so by your grace. I ask these things in your name. Amen. Thank you for being here this morning. Lord bless you as you go today. You are dismissed. Don't forget John and Anie Keeler reporting in 6:00 tonight. Please.