Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM- "The Ministry of Christ" Hebrews 10:1-18 ~ Pastor Ryan Nichols

Hebrews, chapter 10. Hebrews, chapter 10. It's good to be back from vacation. I always enjoy taking a little trip, but it's always fun to come back home. It's as hot and humid as it is in Kansas. In Florida, it's just a different kind of humidity. You know, when you go to Arizona, they're like, it's a dry heat. And when you go to Florida, they're like, it's just wet. Everything's

moist all the time. Right? Like, you walk outside and immediately you start sweating. But it was a great time. I'm not a big swimming pool person, but I do love ocean-type water. I've become like a small child playing in the ocean. And so, we decided that when we got back, we're going to have to get into our little pool that we have in the backyard and hold on to boogie boards and just bob up and down like

we're in the ocean and occasionally go, jellyfish. Right? So, that kind of makes the pool a little bit more fun that way. But it's good to be back with all of you. This morning, we are back in Hebrews, chapter 10. We had some great guys fill in for me. While I was gone, the beauty of the fact that we have the online service is we actually got to watch both services while we were away on vacation. So, it was fun to still be plugged in while we were

away. So, Hebrews, chapter 10. We have been in the book of Hebrews for quite some time now. And just since I've been gone for a couple of weeks, I thought it would rebuild a little bit of context for us. So, the book of Hebrews, of course, was under the entire theme of, but we see Jesus. The Jewish believers that this was a book of Hebrews. And so, we're going to be talking about

the book of Hebrews. And so, the book of Hebrews was written to, had found themselves in a place where persecution was beginning to arise and they were wanting to give up the faith. They were thinking that it could be just easier for them. They could find community if they would leave behind their Christian faith and just go back to the law. Go back to the ceremony, the ritual,

all of the things, and to kind of defect from the faith. And so, the book of Hebrews was written to encourage them, to strengthen them, and to convict them to an extent to say, listen, the only hope in your life is in Jesus. And so, hold on tight to the hope. Keep your eyes focused on the author and the finisher of your faith. And so, as the writer to the Hebrews has done so, there's a

handful of things that he's done. He's, number one, shown that Jesus is so much better than the angelic realm. He's shown that Jesus is better than Moses, that Jesus has a superior priesthood to the high priesthood of the old covenant, that he has a better ministry. And as we've looked at this aspect of the better ministry, we've seen that Jesus has a better ministry, because he has a better sanctuary, because it's a heavenly sanctuary. He has a better covenant,

because it's a new covenant that is sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ, that there is a better tabernacle, because it's a heavenly tabernacle that's not a shadow, but the very substance of the truth. And today, what we will look at is that Jesus has a better ministry, because Jesus is a better sacrifice. And so, we start off in chapter 10, verse 1, and it says this, Now, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would not they have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers, having been

once cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins year by year. For is it important, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In whole burnt offerings and in sacrifices for sin you have taken no pleasure. And I said,

Behold, I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God. After saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have taken pleasure in them, which are all offered according to the law. Then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. But he, having offered one sacrifice for sin, for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also testifies for us, saying, This is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws upon their heart, and I will on their mind write them. And he says, And their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. There's two things that he does for us as he talks about

the better sacrifice of Jesus. The first thing is he does is he reminds us of the shadow of the law, but then he begins to tell us about the substance of Christ. So we'll take them in that order. First of all, he begins to tell us about this shadow of the law, and that's exactly where he starts in verse one of chapter 10. He says, Now we're reminded that the law was not only the Ten Commandments that made up the righteous standard

for God, but the law was also the sacrificial system. You see, those Ten Commandments were just one portion of the law. What do you do when you break those Ten Commandments, which was almost inevitable because we could never be perfect? What do you do? Well, then comes in the sacrificial system. So when he says the law, he's not just talking about the Ten Commandments, which create

the righteous standard, but he's talking about the entire system of the law given to us from about the middle of Exodus to the end of Leviticus. And so as he shares this law with us, he says, For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of the things. He's given to us this illustration before about the shadow, but it's important for us to pay attention to because the shadow is not the substance. Think, if you will, I'll remind you of the first daughter, first started playing soccer. Her favorite thing to watch on the soccer field

was not the ball. Her favorite thing to watch was her shadow. This is fascinating because everywhere she went, her shadow went with her. Why? Because it reveals that there is something real, but it's only the shadow. It's only the shadow. And so sometimes the shadow is a little distorted. Sometimes the shadow is a little hard to see. It's hard to make out the exact form because

the shadow is just that. It's a shadow. It alerts you to the fact that there is something real behind it. And so he says, this law was only a shadow. It's a distorted view of who Jesus is. It's a, it's an unclear view of who Jesus is, but it shows us that there is something real that is to come. I really enjoyed Lloyd Pulley's illustration that he used. He says, I have a

picture of my wife from when we first started dating. And I love that picture. It's a beautiful picture. And it reminds me of the time when we first started dating. And I just, I love it. I keep it on my desk in my office. He says, but if my wife walks into my office, I don't just keep looking at the picture. I look at my wife because the picture is a shadow of who

she is. The reality just came walking into my office. Unfortunately, these Jewish believers wanted to go back to looking at the picture instead of looking at the substance that was standing right there in front of them. He says, for the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of them, the things can never by the same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year.

I need to point this out about the sacrificial system. The sacrificial system is something where you never know if you've done enough. As a matter of fact, you can never do enough. It is something that you have to keep doing over and over and over again. And I have a question for you. How many of you live your Christian walk like you're living in a sacrificial system? How many of you live

your Christian walk like you're living in a sacrificial system? How many of you live your Christian walk like you're still living in the sacrificial system? Like, well, I went to church this Sunday. I think God loves me today. Oh, I missed church this Sunday. I'm not sure if God still loves me anymore. I read my Bible today. I think God loves me today. I didn't read my Bible

today. I failed. I'm not sure if God still loves me. And you're still living in that sacrificial mindset because every time you do what you're supposed to, every time you feel like you've kept the list up, you feel pretty good about it. You're making that sacrifice year by year, day by day. But if you fail to make the sacrifice, you go, maybe God's mad with me today. Why? Because the sacrifices that were offered year

by year, look at the end of verse one of chapter 10, can never make perfect those who draw near. The word perfect is a very interesting word in the Greek because the word perfect there means to make complete, to make complete. And I want you to understand something. I read this in one of my commentaries. I think it was David Guzik. He says, the law was always an

incomplete work. The law was always an incomplete work and I added this to it and everything that is not Jesus will always be an incomplete work. Anything that is not the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross in your life will always be an incomplete work. That's why if you try to live according to a system where you try to be good enough, you will never feel like you've been good enough because it will always be an incomplete work. If trying

to be kind is how you're going to make it to heaven it will always be an incomplete work if attending church enough is how you plan on trying to make it to heaven it will always be an incomplete work if trying to read through the bible is your way of trying to get into heaven it will always be an incomplete work because by the works of the law can no flesh be justified you will have to keep making that sacrifice year by year by year and so he says the law is only a shadow of the good things to come he goes on to say this in verse 2 otherwise if it wasn't a shadow if it was able to make perfect would they not have ceased to be offered because the worshipers having once been cleansed would no longer have had consciousness of sins look if the law could

make you perfect why did you have to make another sacrifice every single year and can i put this on the flip side if sin satisfies you why do you keep going back to it why do you have to keep doing it because sin can never satisfy just like the law can never make complete satisfaction and completion is only found in jesus and so he says otherwise they wouldn't have to keep making these sacrifices every every single year why because the worshipers would have been once cleansed and then no longer had consciousness of sins in other words their their their conscience their guilty conscience would be cleansed and then no longer had consciousness of sins in other words their their their conscience

would be completely solved by the works of the law but it wasn't there was a continual consciousness of sins verse 3 says but in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year i underlined that because i thought what a terrible way to live life to be constantly reminded of your sins to have that constantly thrown into your face and isn't it a good reminder of what the enemy likes to do to us isn't that kind of what satan likes to do to us he likes to keep bringing up our sins over and over again that's how you know that that's not from jesus because once your sins have been put under the blood of jesus christ listen he doesn't keep bringing them up again and we'll we'll deal with this again at the end of this section but but

if your sins keep being brought up to you after you've already confessed them and dealt with them listen that's the enemy because he wants you to live in that guilt he wants you to live in that fear he wants you to live in the place where there is a reminder of your sins we don't see a chance of you getting out of that 몸 to God or whatever we either know now theど we see that because once your sins have been put into the blood of jesus we wouldn't have any real chance to re Unter consciousness or kind of greater reason and he doesn't want to your sins over and over and over again. The next thing he says is that the law cannot take away sins. Notice what it says, verse 4, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats

to take away sin. That word impossible literally means unable to be done. If you took it out to some of its other definitions, it would mean incomplete or weak. In other words, there is an impossibility in these sacrifices that were a part of the old covenant to take away sins. And I will tell you again, there is always going to be an insufficiency. It is not able to be done for whatever sacrifice you think you need to make to take away your own

sins. He says, therefore, verse 5, when he comes into the world, he says, sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins you've taken no pleasure. And I said, behold, I have come and the scroll of the book, it is written to do your will. Oh God. He now gives us a quote out of, and I didn't have

them put this on the screen. It's out of Psalm 40. Let me look at my notes here. Verses six through nine, Psalm 40 verses six through nine. And he quotes this. This is the Messiah speaking. He says, sacrifice. And offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. And he goes on to say in the scroll of the book, it's written, I have come to do your will. Oh God. Notice what it says in verse

eight is he gives us commentary on this. He says, after saying the above sacrifices, offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins you have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure in them, which are offered according to law. He says, behold, I have come to do your will. He takes away the metal of��� and purchased out the wealth of the world for your owní heads, f or sources. Otherwise they were not really

clap but they were living for you God. And so I was talking to you in 10, 12 and 15 and God said, not actually but you are children of me and what I need, and here is a quote from Psalm 41,2から and I'm reading currently in the Book of Jeremiah right now. and it's interesting, both in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, how often God says, please stop bringing me your sacrifices. I'm tired of them. I'm tired of the blood. I'm tired of the sacrifices. I'm tired of the smelling of your burned offerings. Why simply God 107 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 wise. Because their heart wasn't really right before the Lord and

that God is like, I don't really want those sacrifices. What I really want is your heart. What I really want is the reality of who you are. And so he says, it was written, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired. Why? Because that will never truly bring an end to sin. Instead, what he says is, behold, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

The Messiah says, I have come to do your will, O God. Look back at that quotation from Psalms. I want to read it to you one more time. It says, sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. Now, this is a quotation from the Septuagint. When the nation of Israel came back into the land after their Babylonian captivity, the Hebrew language had almost died.

And so they needed to make sure. That the people who were now speaking Greek could still be able to read the Old Testament. So a group of 70 scholars got together and they put together a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. It was called the Septuagint. So there's kind of some interesting differences in the way that it's translated. Well, in this it says, a body you have prepared for me.

I promise I'm going to get to a point here. It says, a body you have prepared for me. If you were to go to Psalm 40, verse 6 right now, in the Bible you're reading, it says, my ears. You have opened. Now, that seems like two very different things, doesn't it? It's kind of like, what? Well, that doesn't make sense. What does he mean, my ears you have opened?

Well, if you were to look at that specifically in the Hebrew text, what it says is, my ears you have dug out. And what it is, is it's a Hebrew idiom speaking of a ceremony that took place in the Old Testament. You see, in the Old Testament, if you found yourself indebted, you owed a bunch of money to someone, you would become what we refer to today as an indentured servant. You would now sell yourself to the person that you owed the debt to.

And he could keep you for six years. He had to set you free on the seventh, but he could keep you for six years as what's called a bond slave. And you were a slave to that person so that you could pay off your debt. But let's say you went into that person's home and you were single. And while you were there, he gave you a wife and you found that you loved your master.

And quite frankly, he became less like a master and more like a father figure to you. And you kind of just wanted to stick around. The year comes that you could be set free and you say, I love my master and I love his family. So I'm going to continue to stay on as his servant, but not a servant by force, a servant by choice. And what you would do at that point in time is he would take you to the doorpost of his home

and he would take an awl and he would pierce through your ear because it was a showing of the fact that you had surrendered your life to your master. You had surrendered your life to do his will. That's the Hebrew idiom that he's giving when he says, my ears you have opened. And so when he says a body you have prepared or my ears you have opened, it speaks of the willingness of Jesus to sacrifice his life for us.

Sacrifice an offering you did not desire, a body you have prepared. I have come to do your will, O Lord. It is a reminder of the willing sacrifice of Jesus. And so as he tells us this, he says he does away with the first, the sacrificial system, in order to establish the second, the sacrifice of Jesus. Now, after he tells us about the shadow, he's now going to begin to discuss with us the substance.

Notice what it says in verse 10. By this will, we have been sanctified. Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. There's three statements in here that have the idea of once for all. And the first one is given to us literally once for all. He says, by this will. Well, what will? Well, by God's will that Christ would be the sacrifice. By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

That term sanctified there means, to be permanently set aside for the work of God. To be permanently set apart to God. This speaks of positional sanctification. This is not what we're all in the process of becoming more like Jesus. This is you permanently being set apart unto God. Because that's who you are as a believer in Jesus Christ. You are permanently set apart unto God.

Which is why you need to live a life that is permanently set apart unto God. Because that's the positional sanctification. That you are in. He says, by this will. The will of God to make Jesus Christ the sacrifice. We have been sanctified. Permanently set apart unto God. How? Through the once for all offering of Christ. Do you notice the contrast? In the old covenant, they were offered year by year.

In the new covenant, Jesus Christ is offered once for all. Because as he was offered once for all. There's no longer a need for a sacrifice. For a sacrifice for sins. In other words, those of you that are still trying to make yourself right with Jesus. Stop. Stop trying to work for it. And start believing that Jesus already did. He goes on to tell us the second thing.

He says, not only was it once for all. But it was one sacrifice. Notice what he says in verse 11. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time. The same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But he having offered one sacrifice for the sins of all. Sat down at the right hand of God. Waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.

I love this. I love the contrast that he brings. Every priest stands daily. We talked about this before. But the one piece of furniture that was not in the tabernacle was a chair. There was no place for the priest to sit. Because he was always working. Indicating that the law was always a work that needed to be done. And so he says here. He creates this contrast.

He says every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time. The exact same sacrifice. You could almost say. The priest offers a perpetual sacrifice for sin. It's a continual thing that he just has to keep doing. Again I can't imagine the discouragement on the heart of the priest. To go. It's okay. You'll be back tomorrow. Well it's dealt with today.

That's okay. We'll see you in the morning. Right? See you again tomorrow buddy. Because I know you. You'll be back. He says he stands daily ministering. But he. Speaking of Jesus. Having offered one sacrifice for sins. For all time. I love this. In the Kenneth Weiss translation it says. Having offered sacrifices for sins. For all perpetuity. In other words.

It was for anything that took place from the beginning of time starting. Until the end of time on this earth is complete. Because that's how complete the sacrifice is. It was once for all. That's why the earth shook when Jesus cried out. It is finished. Because of the great power of the sacrifice that took place in that moment. Because of the great power of the word of God in that moment.

Because when he cried out it is finished. When he cried out paid in full. It wasn't just a one time thing that dealt with the sins of the people that were standing right around him right there. That would have been powerful enough. But it was something that was so powerful that it could cleanse the sins. For thousands of years. For trillions of people. Who would live for all of time.

Because that's how powerful the blood of Jesus Christ is. And if the blood of Jesus Christ and that one sacrifice was powerful enough to cleanse sins. For all of humanity. For all of time. Why don't you believe it's powerful enough to cleanse yours? Why don't you believe that it's powerful enough. To take away your guilt. Over sins. Why are you still trying to make yourself perfect in the eyes of Jesus?

He says it's once for all. And it was one sacrifice. But notice what it says he did after this sacrifice. I love this. And then he sat down at the right hand of God. He was like. Glad that's done. Right. I don't know if he actually said that. But I think that's what he said. He's like. Because we know he wasn't really looking forward to it. Right. Remember the prayer in the garden.

Lord if there's any other way. I'm open for options right now. He says. I will but your will be done. He goes through with the entire thing. And then he sits down at the right hand of the Father. I'll point out again. There's only one time in all of scripture. That we see that Jesus is standing in heaven. And that was on the day that Stephen was martyred. When Stephen looked up and he says.

I see Jesus. Standing. At the right hand of the Father. You know why Jesus was standing. Because he says. Well done. Good and faithful servant. In my estimation. That's the only time Jesus is standing. Is to greet those. Who come through the gates. To say. Well done. Good and faithful servant. Other than that. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. Why?

Because the work is complete. Because the work is finished. And there's nothing else that needs to be done. And now he's only waiting for one thing. And it tells us right here. He's waiting until his enemies are made his footstool. That will be when Jesus comes back to rule. And to reign. Which it's not time for yet. But I do believe that time is getting close.

When Jesus will come back to rule. And to reign. And to make his enemies his footstool. And so. We see that not only was it once for all. Not only is it one sacrifice. But the last thing he tells us. Is that it is one offering. Notice what it says in verse 14. For by one offering. He has perfected for all time. Those who are sanctified. This is such a powerful verse.

For by one offering. The one offering of Jesus Christ on the cross. The one thing that he did. Have you noticed this? Now the third time. Just in this little section. That the idea of a one time offering is given. It's not the only time that it's used throughout the book of Hebrews. This is actually a theme throughout the book of Hebrews. But he says. By one offering.

By the one offering of Jesus Christ on the cross. Notice what it says. He has perfected for all time. He has perfected for all time. Let's go back to our definition of perfected here. Our definition of perfected is. Brought. To. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. Brought to completion.

Brought to completion. That means that you are complete in Christ. And I want to spend just a moment talking about this. This principle that I think is so important for us to pay attention to. And that's that our lives are made whole in Christ. Our lives are made complete in Christ. The world right now tells us. We need so many things to make us complete. It tells us.

many things to make us whole. That you being complete comes through having a spouse. You being complete comes from having kids. You being complete comes from having the right job. That your completion, you're made whole when you finally have your forever home. You're made whole when you finally have a fully funded retirement account. You're made whole when you finally have

the looks maxed body you've been looking for, right? That's where completion comes from. And we laugh about these things, but this is what the world tells us right now. And so we have an entire generation of people running around looking for completion in something besides Jesus. They're looking for completion in a spouse. They're looking for completion in a job. They're looking

for completion by trying to be perfect. They're looking for completion in the right kind of body. If you don't believe me, get on Instagram sometime and see exactly what shows up on there. Run down to the gym and see who all's down there and why they are in the gym. Go to your job and ask them, what makes you whole? What makes you complete? Listen, I have talked to some athletes that have made it to, in their minds, their pinnacle in their

sport. And what they realized was it still didn't make them complete. It still didn't make them whole. I've seen people who have reached the pinnacle in their career and they finally went, is this all that there is? One of the greatest warriors the world has ever seen, one of the greatest military leaders the world has ever seen is a guy by the name of Alexander the Great.

And Alexander the Great conquered the entire known world. At the time, by the age of 30, what are y'all doing? Anyway, by the age of 30, he completed the conquering the entire known world. And you know what he did? He sat down and cried and he said, is this all? Is this all that there is? And I'm here to tell you right now, wives, you can't find completion in your husband because he can't do that for you. Only Jesus can.

Husbands, you can't find completion in your wife or your job. Only Jesus can do that for you. Kids, you're not going to feel complete once you find that person you're going to spend your life with, can't complete you. Only Jesus can do that. You know why marriages struggle sometimes? Because each person is looking for in their spouse, what their spouse cannot provide for them.

They're looking for their spouse to make them complete. The problem is their spouse is a fallen sinner too. Only Jesus can complete them. And listen, you young people still looking for somebody out there. If you can't find satisfaction in Christ, you will never find satisfaction in a person. And you need to know that. Those of you who hate your husband, you need to know that.

If you can't find your satisfaction in Christ, you will never find satisfaction in a job. Those of you who always want just a little bit more money, a little bit bigger of a house, a little bit bigger of a retirement account, if you can't find your satisfaction in Christ, you will never find it in those other things. That's why you always need more. And you'll eventually go, is this all there is? And quite frankly, apart from Christ, that is all there is. I've shared this before,

I am a million miles from a Tom Brady fan, but one of my favorite quotes comes from Tom Brady. And in an interview he had, I think it was with Time Magazine, but it might've been with ESPN. And he is at the pinnacle of his career at this point in time. He's winning Super Bowls. He's married to a supermodel. He has more money than anyone could ever imagine, mainly because he was

married to a supermodel, but that's neither here nor there. He is at the pinnacle of every part of life anybody could ever hit. And he's at the pinnacle of every part of life anybody could ever hit. And in this article, he said, but sometimes I ask myself, isn't there more to life than this? Because if you can't find your completion in Christ, you're not going to find it in anything

else. Listen, his one offering has perfected for all time. It has completed for all time, those who are set apart unto him. And so brothers and sisters, as we sit here today, and we look at who we are and who we are in Christ, have a question for you. Are you complete in Christ, or are you still looking for something more? Because the world is lying to you right now, and the world is lying to you very loudly,

and it's telling you what you need, and it's telling you what's necessary to make you whole. And the fact of the matter is, it's always falling short, which is why when everything in the world falls short, the best thing to do is to fall into the arms of Jesus and to say, I can't do it. This world is not enough. These things are not enough. I'm still empty on the inside, even though

I have everything that I want, or I can't find a place where I have everything that I want. And then you have to finally say, it's going to have to be found in Jesus, because his one offering perfected, completed for all time. Who? Those who are sanctified, those who are set apart unto him. He goes on from there to say, because the Holy Spirit says, verse 15, I love this, because he attributes the work of the

Old Testament to the Holy Spirit. He says, the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws upon their heart, and on their mind, I will write them. He then says, and their sins, and their lawless deeds, I will remember. I will remember no more. I love this, because he now transitions into a quotation from the book of

Jeremiah. In the margin of your Bible, you might write Jeremiah 31. I believe this is verses 33 and 34 of that same chapter. But I love it, because this chapter in Jeremiah, who, by the way, was one of the most famous Old Testament prophets in the Hebrew mind at that point in time, one of the great prophets of the Old Testament, foretells of the new covenant. He says,

the Holy Spirit testifies to us. And how does the Holy Spirit testify to us? He testifies to us through his word. And I didn't intend to make a point out of this, but I'm going to anyway. If you want to know what the Holy Spirit has to say, I'd get into the book that the Holy Spirit wrote. If you want to start hearing messages from the Holy Spirit, I'd get into the book that he wrote.

Like, how do I hear from the Holy Spirit? Well, he's speaking all over the place in here. So why don't you open it up, and then let him speak to you. Because that's where the Holy Spirit speaks to us. And so he says, That internal transformation is what takes place at the point of conversion. When you put your faith in Jesus, there's an internal transformation that takes place in

your life. And that internal transformation that takes place in your life is called being born again. That's what Jesus referred to it as in John chapter 3, Nicodemus came to him and had questions for him. He says, Unless a man is born of water, that's physical birth, and he is born of the spirit, that's spiritual birth, he will never see the kingdom of heaven.

But when he is born again of the spirit, God begins the process of writing his laws on their heart and putting his laws in their mind. In other words, he changes your desires. That doesn't mean you become perfect immediately. It means you begin the process now of going, Hey, you know, I don't think I'm supposed to do that anymore. I actually think that that's wrong.

And then you read it in God's word. Like, yep, that backs it up. What I'm concerned about right now in our culture is there's not any internal change. There's not any internal transformation that's taking place in so many of these people that are making public statements of faith. Because if there's no internal transformation, then we don't see any external fruit from it. And what I'm seeing right

now is a lack of external fruit in the revival that's taking place. I was just having a conversation with some people about this the other day. Because the internal transformation will start to show itself on the outside. I see all of these people, and these are not people that are famous people. These are people I know. And they post pictures of their baptism. And then two days later, they're posting pictures of themselves holding a Miller

light, flipping off the camera. And I'm going, at some point in time, we've missed something here. We've missed an internal transformation that has taken, that has shown itself in an external change. Now, I've got tons of patience with people. I'm happy to be the one that says, Hey, you know, that's actually not true. I'm not going to be the one that says, Hey, you know, that's actually not

what jesus wants and if their heart really has changed they'll go oh but if their heart's not they'll go well you can't tell me how to live well i'm not the bible is bible says maybe that's a bad idea because you're being a terrible witness in the things that you're doing right now but holiness is what's missing in the revival that's taking place right now because there should be an internal transformation he says i will write my laws on their hearts and i will put them in their minds but not only that i want you to notice this he then says after he tells about this internal transformation and their sins and their lawless deeds i will remember no more their sins and their lawless

deeds i will remember no more this is the second time that this has come up if not more in the book of hebrews and it's almost like maybe the holy spirit thinks this is a problem for us as people it's almost like the holy spirit thinks that we we struggle with this that we struggle with remembering our sin No, we don't struggle with remembering. We struggle with forgetting. I want to remind you of a couple of things that I've told us before that I think we all need to hear again. Because in this it says that because of the one sacrifice, because of the once-for-all sacrifice, because of the one offering that Jesus offered for us, and his blood completely cleanses sins, and he says, I will remember them no more, that means two things for us.

Number one, you need to stop holding on to your past sins. You need to stop holding on to the guilt of it. You need to stop holding on to the shame of it. You need to put that stuff under the blood of Jesus. The enemy, remember we said before, he wants you to remember. He wants you to keep being reminded of what you've done wrong. He wants you to keep being reminded of the failures

that you've had in your life. The best thing that you can do is actually embrace the accusation and say, you're right, but then claim the truth, but that's under the blood of Jesus. Now, listen, I don't get real name it and claim it in a lot of things, but when it comes to this, I do. Because I have struggled with this in my past. I have struggled with this in my walk with Jesus,

where I have gone through times in my life, particularly in my early 20s, where all of the past kept coming back. And it's like I was just dwelling on it. And I couldn't do it. And I couldn't do it. And I couldn't do it. And I couldn't do it. And I couldn't do it. And I couldn't do it. And I couldn't do it. And I couldn't do it. And I couldn't let it go. And I was just living in the slime of what I used to be

before I surrendered my life to Jesus. And that was when I had to learn that I have to choose to believe what God says and stop believing what the enemy says. And so I have to choose to say, Lord, your word says that's under the blood of Jesus, and so that's not mine anymore. So I am claiming the fact that that sin is forgiven and that's not mine to hold on to anymore.

And there are probably some of you in here this morning that have said, well, things in your past that you need to let go of and you still tend to dredge up, you still tend to pull up, and you still tend to redownload those thoughts, and it's time to put them under the blood of Jesus because he does not remember them anymore, so neither should you. The blood of Jesus Christ means you don't have to have that consciousness of sin. Your conscience can be completely clean from the past. But Ryan, it still happened.

Yeah, but Jesus dealt with it. So stop bringing it back up. But the second thing that it means is that if Jesus doesn't remember your neighbor's past, you shouldn't either. You should not keep bringing up sins that are in the past. Listen, this goes for just about every area of our lives, right? Like this is, you want to kill a relationship? Keep bringing up the past.

You want to kill your marriage? Keep bringing up the past sins. You want to kill a church? Then be judgmental and start bringing up everybody's past sins all the time because that's what guilt does. Guilt kills. Shame kills. The Spirit gives life. So the best thing that we can do is not bring up someone's past. Not keep holding the past. Well, Ryan, you don't know what they did to me before.

I don't care what they did to you before. Jesus doesn't remember it anymore. It's time for you to stop remembering it. Jesus isn't holding it. He's not holding it against them anymore. It's time for you to stop holding it against them. And so we have to remember that this is what Jesus says. He says, their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more.

So you shouldn't either because that's transformation. Transformation is being able to put the past behind us and walk in the freedom of the present and the hope of the future. Amen? So there's one last thing that he says here. He says, now, so we're at the conclusion of this entire thing where there is forgiveness of these things. There is no longer any offering for sins.

Forgiveness of these things. There's no more an offering. Kenneth Weiss translates this word forgiveness in a very fascinating, oh no, it might've been the Amplified Bible, translates this word forgiveness in a fascinating way. It means complete cancellation of the penalty. Complete cancellation of the penalty. I don't know a ton about the law. I've just heard a little bit about this,

but we have this clause in our legal system. It's called double jeopardy. It means once you have paid the debt for a crime that you've committed, you cannot get retried for that crime. Once the penalty has been paid, you can't be held accountable for it any longer. Otherwise it's called double jeopardy. Well, the penalty for your debt, has been paid. You can't be retried for it.

The penalty for your debt has been taken care of. It can no longer be held against you. Well, I got to thinking about all of these things. Everything that we've talked about in A Better Ministry, but in particular with this better sacrifice. And I thought, what does this mean for us? What do we do with this sacrifice of Jesus, this better sacrifice? And how does it apply to my daily life?

Because sometimes we read theological things and we're like, that's great, because that's what this has been. It's been very theological. Can we all agree with that? It's been very theological, everything that we've discussed. So how does that walk into my world on Monday? Well, I wrote down two things. I think there's two things that are really important for us to pay attention to about what,

knowing that this better sacrifice of Jesus does for me. Number one, this better sacrifice of Jesus is meant to bring peace into my life. You see, turmoil is what comes about because of sin. You are either in turmoil because you're always trying to cover your sin. You're in turmoil because you're always lying about your sin. You're in turmoil because you feel guilty over your sin.

There's a lack of peace in your life because sin is affecting your life. Until you realize that Jesus has put all of that under his blood and that sin is no longer yours to carry. That sin is no longer yours to hold onto. That is not a burden for you to hold onto. And as you begin to lift that burden off of Jesus, give yourself and put it onto Jesus, it's like lifting the elephant off of your chest

and you can breathe again. You can see clearly again. I was talking to a young lady and she said the day after she got saved, it was like colors were more vibrant. And I thought, that's probably pretty true because you're not cast down anymore. You're not always looking down because you're feeling guilty over your sin. I just love that statement because there's truly peace in your life

when you're not looking down. You have put the blood of Jesus Christ over those sins that you've committed. But before I get to the next point, I have a question for you. I don't ever want to take for granted the fact that people show up to church every single Sunday. I don't want to take for granted the fact that maybe some people have never really gotten to that place of peace in their life.

They've never really lifted the burden of sin off of themselves because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And you're still carrying that burden around with you right now. And I want you to know today is the day that you start confessing that sin to the Lord and you realize that you're not cast down. You receive the salvation that Jesus can give to you because he doesn't want you to live in that place any longer.

He doesn't want you to live an incomplete life. He doesn't want you to live constantly looking for that next thing that's going to bring wholeness to your life. He wants you today to give your heart to him and to give all that sin to him so that he can be your salvation. So number one, it gives peace in our life. But number two, it gives confidence in my walk.

You see, there's a godly confidence. That we can have knowing that I am a child of God. This is not an arrogance. And arrogance would be sin because that would make me really awesome. But there is confidence in knowing that I am a child of God. There is confidence in knowing that I'm where I'm supposed to be in my walk with Jesus Christ. And all of a sudden I walk a little bit straighter

and I carry myself a little bit better because I know I am loved by my father and I am saved by Jesus and I have heaven that I'm looking forward to. Because that Holy Spirit is indwelling me. That internal transformation has taken place and it's starting to show itself on the outside of my life. And I can now walk confidently instead of in guilt. I can now walk confidently instead of in shame.

I can now walk confidently instead of in fear. And knowing that the one sacrifice of Jesus has taken care of all of it and I don't have to keep working to hold on to my spot gives me great confidence in who I am. And if you wanna walk in that kind of confidence, it's time to start believing with that kind of faith. Believing that the work of Jesus is enough.

Believing that what Jesus has done on the cross truly brings completion into your life. Amen? Let's all stand. And if I could invite the worship team to come on up. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I praise you for who you are. Lord, I praise you for the better ministry of Jesus Christ and the work that he did for us on the cross.

And Father, I praise you that you remember, remember our sins and our lawless deeds no more. And so Father, for every person that's in here right now, I pray for freedom. I pray for confidence and I pray for peace. Lord, I pray that if there are those who, who need that in their lives, that you would begin that process right now. And if there are those who need to come to know you

for the first time, that you would do that work right now. And so Father, I just pray that, that you would be at work in hearts and lives this morning. Lord, that your Holy Spirit, it would continue the work that you have begun here. Lord, that you would fashion in us the heart of the men and women of God that you want us to be. Father, we thank you and we praise you.

In Jesus' name, amen. I'm going to be down here at the side if anybody needs prayer for anything. So if you've got something going on, come on over. We'll pray about it.

Had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is all. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. Because Jesus, paid it all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. But now indeed I find, thy power and thine alone can change a leper's spot. And melt this heart of mine.

Because Jesus, paid it all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. Before the throne, I stand in him complete. Jesus died, laid my soul to slay. My lips shall still reveal. Because Jesus, paid it all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.

He washed it white as snow. Praise the one who paid, raised his life up from the dead. Oh, praise the one who died. Oh, praise the one who died. Praise God. Praise God. Father, we just come before you. And Lord, you for what you've done we thank you for paying that that debt the price that we owe on the cross lord a price that we can never pay there's no sacrifice there's no amount of work there's no

amount of good deeds there's no amount of money lord that could ever perfect us that can make us complete that could ever pay that price but you did lord and we give you praise and we give you thanks lord we love you we praise you and we thank you in jesus name all god's people said amen love you guys have a wonderful week