This is Weimoku Falls in Maui. It drops hundreds
of feet down this massive cliff, and when you're
standing there looking at it, it is absolutely
overwhelming. Whether you can stand at the bottom
of it, which is a very difficult hike to get
there, or you're standing a little bit away looking
at it from a distance, it is absolutely... overwhelming.
The sound, the height, the mist, just the sheer
scale of it. It is the largest single drop waterfall
on the island. Now, you don't start at the waterfall.
What you do is you actually travel the road to
Hana and you go all the way up. It's about a
six hour drive on one lane roads each way and
you better hope you have a good driver or you'll
be nervous really bad. So don't have Brother
Rick driving this trail. And then you get to
the state park and then when you get to the state
park you see this sign. It tells you the trail
on how to get to the waterfall. The sign tells
you exactly where the waterfall is. It tells
you the distance, tells you the right direction,
it points you in the way that you are supposed
to go. The sign is accurate. The sign is helpful
and the sign is necessary. But let me ask you
a simple question. Is the sign the waterfall?
No. So what you do is you take this hike all
the way up. We weren't about to try to get the
hike to the bottom of that falls. We had already
spent two and a half miles traveling up through
a bamboo forest. It's beautiful. It's glorious.
It is wonderful. But you have to leave the sign
in order to go to where the sign Points and when
you arrive, you know what? You're not interested
in when you finally see this waterfall. You're
not interested in the sign You don't think to
yourself standing at this waterfall You know
what we need to do. We need to hurry back down
so we can go look at that sign again If we just
get a good look at that sign, well, that'll be
glorious. It'll be beautiful Once you reach the
thing that the sign is pointing to You've reached
your destination and there's no reason to want
to go back to the sign. You're looking at the
glory, and it truly was glorious. This is exactly
what Hebrews wants us to understand about the
Old Covenant. The priests, the sacrifices, the
tabernacle, the day of atonement, they were all
real. They were all God -given, all of them important.
But the old covenant was never the destination
The old covenant was pointing beyond itself all
of these things were in fact shadows of something
better and once you see the reality You don't
go back and cling to the sign or cling to the
shadow and that is what Hebrews Chapter 10 is
all about so we're gonna read these first 10
verses and then we'll dig into them and look
at this Sacrifice that stopped the sacrifices
verse 1 For since the law has but a shadow of
the good things to come instead of the true form
of these realities it can never By the same sacrifices
that are continually offered every year make
perfect those who draw near Otherwise they would
have ceased to be offered since the worshipers
Having once been cleansed would no longer have
any consciousness of sin But in these sacrifices
there is a reminder of sins every year For it
is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats
to take away sin Consequently when Christ came
into the world He said sacrifices and offerings
you have not desired but a body you have prepared
for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings you
have taken no pleasure and then I said behold
I have come to do your will O God as It is written
of me in the book a scroll of the book And when
he said above, you have neither desired nor taken
pleasure in sacrifice and offerings and burnt
offerings and sin offerings, they are offered
according to the law. Then he added, behold,
I have come to do your will. He does away with
the first in order to establish the second. And
by that will, we have been sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
and for all. Let's pray. Lord, I come to you
and I thank you, God, for this text. It is glorious.
It is beautiful. It is wonderful. And I'm so
thankful that we get to dig into it today and
find all of these treasures that are found here
as you inspired the author of Hebrews to write
this letter. Lord, we know that the greatest
treasure that all of this is talking about is
you. And we are so thankful that you have given
yourself to us and made it possible for us, Lord,
to have a relationship with you. In Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. The writer of Hebrews begins chapter
10 telling us exactly what the mosaic system
was. He says, for since the law has but a shadow
of the good things to come, not the true form
of the realities itself. So the law is a shadow.
That does not mean that it is bad. It doesn't
mean that it is false. And it certainly doesn't
mean that God made a mistake when He gave Israel
priests and sacrifices and rituals. God designed
the entire Mosaic system, but He designed it
to point beyond itself. A shadow gives you the
outline of something real. It tells you something
about the shape of the real thing that is casting
it, but the shadow is not the substance. John
Calvin compared the old covenant to the first
sketch of a painting before all the colors have
been filled in. The basic shape was already there.
Now, when he says shadow here, I mean him, I
take him to mean the entire old covenant mosaic
system. The priesthood was a shadow. The tabernacle
was a shadow. The day of atonement was a shadow.
Every lamb that died pointed beyond itself. It
too was a shadow. The entire Mosaic system was
preaching Jesus before Jesus came. And that means
that we take, we make a very serious mistake
when we read the Old Testament. as though God
was trying to save people one way and then abandon
that way for a better idea. There has only been
one way that people are saved by grace through
faith. There has only been one Savior. There
has only been one way for sinners to be reconciled
to God. The difference is that Israel saw Him
in the shadows. While we see him in fulfillment
and there is a limitation to every shadow is
there not a Shadow can show you the shape of
salvation But it cannot accomplish salvation
And that is exactly what the writer says next
the sacrifices Could never make perfect those
who draw near now this word perfect in the context
that it is used does not mean morally flawless
The writer here is talking about being brought
into relationship with God He's talking about
the the the relationship that human beings need
With God it's talking about being cleansed being
accepted able to draw near with the barrier of
guilt removed So the sacrifices could never bring
a worshiper in right standing before God they
could picture the cleansing They could point
toward the meaning of the cleansing, but they
could not finally cleanse. And church, it's interesting
because I think human beings still have a tendency
to go back and rest on the shadows, even people
who have come to Christ. Of course, we're not
bringing sacrifices and animals to an altar,
but we can still put our confidence in religious
things that were never capable of making us right
with God. Going to church does not make you right
with God. Serving at a church does not make you
right with God. Giving cannot make you right
with God. Having Christian parents does not make
you right with God. Even becoming more disciplined
and cleaning up your life cannot remove the guilt
of sin. All of those things are good things But
good things become dangerous things when you
begin to use them in a way they are not intended
to be used Trying to use those things to do what
only Jesus can do Here the writer is gonna go
on and give us the evidence that these sacrifices
could never do it and here's his Proof that these
Sacrifices were incapable of finishing the work.
Verse 2, otherwise would they have ceased to
be offered. In other words, the fact that they
have to keep being offered over and over and
over again is proof that they're not working.
The question here in verse 2 exposes the entire
problem. If the sacrifices had finished the work,
then why are we still making sacrifices? If last
year's Day of Atonement had finally removed sin,
why are we coming back this year at the Day of
Atonement? And then the next year. Then the next
year and the next year NT right uses a picture
of repeatedly taking something back to be repaired
Let's say you hear a weird noise in your vehicle,
and you know something's wrong Okay, maybe your
transmissions messing up that happened to brother
Rick find out this week Maybe maybe your alternators
going out Something's wrong right so you take
your car into the shop The shop works on it tells
you it's fixed, gives it back to you, you're
driving it the next week, and you hear that same
noise. You take it back to the shop. The shop
says, yeah, our bad. We got it. Start working
on it again. They tell you it's fixed. They give
you the car. You start driving it again. And
you hear the noise again. And you take it back.
At some point, you have to stop and realize the
problem's not getting fixed. If I gotta keep
taking my car back to get fixed for the same
problem, then the problem's not getting fixed.
And that's the writer's argument here. Year after
year, sacrifice after sacrifice, priest after
priest, blood after blood, every new sacrifice
is testifying that the previous sacrifice had
not finished work. If it had, we wouldn't be
making another sacrifice. And I think there's
something here that can reach right into the
way that many Christians relate to God. I want
you to be very honest with yourself here. If
you're a Christian, you believe Jesus died for
your sins. Okay? It is a requirement to be a
Christian. It's to believe that you are a sinner
in need of forgiveness and come to Jesus Christ
to be forgiven. but it is very easy for us to
begin thinking and Living as though his sacrifice
wasn't quite enough We fail God and then we think
we need several days of feeling terrible about
ourselves Before we're allowed to come back to
him We sin and instead of immediately running
to Christ with that failure, we feel like we
gotta pay for it emotionally. We punish ourselves,
we withdraw, we promise God we're gonna do better,
we try to build up enough good behavior to feel
clean again. And without realizing it, we start
adding our own little sacrifices to the final
sacrifice of Jesus. We start thinking, Well,
if I do these little things, then somehow God
will feel better about me, or welcome me more,
or I'll be more acceptable to Him after I fail
and after I mess up. But your guilt is not removed
because you feel bad enough about it. It is not
removed because you have a good week after a
big failure. It is not removed because you punish
yourself sufficiently. It is removed only by
the sacrifice God provided. And the Old Testament
sacrifice could not bring that finality. In fact,
verse 3 tells us something very surprising. These
sacrifices, in these sacrifices, there is a reminder
of sin every year. So the sacrifices not only
didn't remove the guilt or the sin, It actually
reminded Israel every single time that the problem
remained. Imagine standing there on the day of
atonement. The priest goes in, the animal dies,
the blood is shed, and instead of the ceremony
concluding and announcing the problem is gone
forever, it actually carries the reminder of
you're gonna have to do this again. Next year
you're gonna have to come back. Another animal,
another sacrifice, another reminder. And that
is why verse four is so absolute. It is impossible
for the blood of bulls and goats to take away
sin. Not difficult, not unlikely, impossible.
An animal could never be the moral, could never
bear the moral guilt of a human being before
a holy God. Its blood could teach, it could symbolize,
it could point forward, it could demonstrate
that sin deserved death but animal blood could
never reach into the human conscience and say
your guilt is gone. I mean it's actually just
silly to think that. Now this is where we need
to be careful again. We need to appreciate what
God was doing through the Mosaic system. The
Mosaic system did not fail. Okay The old covenant
was not a failure. It actually accomplished exactly
what God designed for it to accomplish It was
a failure if you think it's trying to do something
that it's not trying to do then it's a failure
But the old covenant actually accomplished exactly
what God wanted it to accomplish The sacrifices
were never intended to compete with Jesus They
were intended to prepare people for Jesus The
shadow succeeded when it made people look to
the substance The priest succeeded when it made
people long for a priest that would not have
to be replaced The repeated blood succeeded when
it made people long for a sacrifice that would
not need to be repeated So for century after
century the altar kept saying Not yet, not yet,
not yet. That is what the old covenant kept saying.
That's why it's a shadow. And if you put your
faith and your trust in these things, you are
asking it to do something that God never designed
it to do. It was simply saying, not yet. The
work is not finished until the one casting, the
shadow, steps into history. That's where our
author moves next. This is where the writer turns
verse 5 Begins with one of the most important
transitions in the passage Consequently when
Christ came into the world he said For four verses
the writer has been telling us what the sacrifices
could not do and then verse 5 Christ came into
the world That's the turning point That's the
shift. The answer to the failure of the sacrifices
was not a better animal. It was not a better
priest from the tribe of Levi. It is not a more
elaborate ceremony. It was not more blood poured
out on the altar. The answer was a person. Christ
came, verse 5 says. And then what the writer
does, is he's going to take quotes from Psalm
chapter 40 and he's going to use these to explain
what Jesus did when he came. He puts Psalm 40
in the mouth of Jesus. Okay? That's crucial.
He takes Psalm 40 that was written by David And
he understands Psalm 40 as not really being about
David, but being about Jesus. And so he takes
those words and he puts them in the mouth of
Jesus. Sacrifices and offerings you have not
desired, but a body you have prepared for me.
Jesus speaking according to the writer of Hebrews.
Now we have to be careful here. What does Scripture
mean when it says sacrifices and offerings you
have not desired. Now that's weird if you don't
understand that because who commanded the sacrifices
and offerings? Jesus did. So in one sense he
required them to be made and then in another
sense he did not require them. That can be confusing.
So let's understand context. In what way did
God require them? Well, He commanded them because
they were to be a shadow or a sign pointing to
Jesus. But in what way did He not require them?
He never required them to be an end in themselves.
He never saw these things as the ultimate that
He desired. The sacrifices had value because
they were offered in faith and because they pointed
beyond themselves to what ultimately God would
provide. So so what he means is if you are just
coming and offering sacrifices and that's where
it ends God in fact in the book of Amos God says
away with your sacrifices. I don't even want
them Why because the sacrifices were supposed
to be brought in faith looking forward to what
God was going to do They were never to be an
end to themselves The blood itself was never
enough And now Christ comes and says, a body
you have prepared for me. That statement takes
us right to the incarnation, doesn't it? The
Son of God took on a real human body. And any
Christian, quote unquote, Christian religion...
that does not believe in the incarnation of the
second person of the Trinity, does not believe
in the incarnation of the Son of God, wherefore
he takes upon himself the fullness of the human
nature is not Christianity. Christianity by its
very definition believes that Jesus had always
been God, but in the incarnation he took on the
nature of a human being without releasing any
of the nature of God. So therefore he has two
natures, fully God and fully man. And he enters
into our world and he becomes one of us. But
he doesn't just become one of us to experience
what we're experiencing. He took the body so
he could obey the Father. He took the body so
he could suffer. He took the body so that he
could die. He took the body so he could offer
himself in the place of sinners. The body that
was prepared for Christ was the body in which
he would accomplish the will of the Father. Christmas
was already pointing to Calvary. Shane and Shane
have a song called Born to Die. Christmas is
already pointing toward Calvary. The manger was
already pointing to the altar. The body prepared
for him was the body that he would eventually
give for you. That's why he says sacrifices and
offerings you have not desired, but you gave
me a body. Verse seven gives us the heart of
this mission behold. I have come to do your will
oh God Now you know what this distinguishes it
distinguishes Jesus from every other sacrifice
that has ever been made because the animals never
chose the altar Right The lamb never said I've
come to do your will a Bull never willingly laid
itself down, but Jesus did He wasn't dragged
unwillingly into the plan of God. He came willingly.
He came deliberately. He came obediently. And
He came saying, I have come to do Your will,
Father. That means the cross was not an accident.
It was not merely the tragic end of a good man's
life. It was not Jesus losing control of the
situation. The cross was the obedient mission
of the Son. And by the way, since God is not
bound by time, that has been the eternal mission
of God himself. Before time and space came into
existence, Jesus having a body and dying on the
cross was always God's plan. Not the backup plan
after Adam and Eve messed up. As if God set everything
in motion and then went, oh man. Adam and Eve,
what are y 'all doing? All right, Trinity, gather
it up. Plan B? You'll go? All right, we got a
plan. That's not what happened at all. Jesus
was the lamb of God slain before the foundation
of the world. This was always God's plan. Philippians
2. says that he became obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross. Hebrews is saying
the same thing simply from another angle. He
came to do the Father's will and that willing
obedience means that the problem of humanity
is not merely that we've done bad things. It's
easy to think that the problem with humanity
is that we do bad stuff. Our deepest problem
is that we refuse the will of God. From the very
beginning, what did God tell Adam and Eve? Be
fruitful. Multiply. Fill the earth. Fill the
earth with what? Just people? Was that God's
plan? I just want the earth filled with people.
Or was it fill the earth with people who are
image bearers of God and are gonna take his glory
all over the world? And Adam and Eve said, no
thanks. Humanity has always been saying, not
your will God, mine be done. Always. We have
wanted God's gifts without His rule. We have
wanted life on our own terms. We resist His authority
and we have disobeyed. Where Adam disobeyed,
Christ obeyed. Where Israel failed, Christ obeyed.
Where we have rebelled against the will of God,
Christ obeyed. and the Savior dies in our place,
perfectly obedient to the will of God. So we
need to catch the connection between sacrifice
and obedience. Christ does not merely die. His
whole life is one of obedience to the Father.
His death is the climactic act of that obedience.
You with me? All of the life of Christ is obedience.
The death on the cross was the climactic moment
of obedience. This matters enormously for us
because our salvation does not depend on the
quality of our obedience. It depends on the perfection
of His obedience. If my standing with God rests
on how faithful I have been to His will, then
I have no hope. I have not done it perfectly
and neither have you. We've obeyed inconsistently,
we've loved imperfectly, we've believed weakly,
we've sinned knowingly, and we have failed repeatedly.
But the gospel is not that God finally found
people who obey well enough. The gospel is that
the obedient son came for disobedient people.
And the writer just continues to press this contrast.
Verse 8 when he said above you have neither desired
nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings
and burnt offerings and sin offerings Then he
added behold. I have come to do your will The
writer explains. What's this what this means?
He does away with the first to establish the
second The coming of Christ does not simply add
one more sacrifice through the others He brings
the sacrificial order to an end. And I know there
is a lot of talk about a rebuilt third temple,
okay, and then you get into all the eschatological
talking about how things are going to play out
and all that stuff. Let me just say this flat
out. If Israel builds a third temple and starts
sacrifices, it is a blasphemy to Jesus Christ,
okay? So we're not sitting around going, oh this
is a good thing, Israel's starting back up the
sacrifices. No, it's idolatry if they do that.
Why? Because Christ has brought an end to those
sacrifices pointing anywhere. Why? Because the
shadow is done, the reality is here. The sacrificial
system wasn't repaired when Jesus came. It was
fulfilled. And because it was fulfilled, it could
be set aside. Once the reality has arrived, going
back to the old order makes no sense. Why would
you cling to the shadow when the reality is there
in front of you? Why would you run from the waterfall
back down to the sign? Why would I hug the shadow
of my wife on the ground instead of hugging my
wife? We may never be tempted to return to a
temple and offer sacrifices, but we are constantly
tempted to add something to Jesus. Jesus plus
my performance. Jesus plus my morality. Jesus
plus my religious record. Jesus plus my penance.
Jesus plus my approval of other people. But the
moment we begin to think that something that
we do needs to be added to Christ in order for
us to be accepted We have failed to understand
what the writer of Hebrews is saying Christ did
not come to improve the old system He came to
accomplish what the old system could never accomplish
and he came and finished the work He came to
do the will of God He came freely To do the Father's
will there's something beautiful about that the
father didn't have to force Jesus The son willingly
came to accomplish the will of God Our salvation
is not Extracted from a reluctant Savior Christ
wanted to do the Father's will He willingly took
the body that was prepared for him. He willingly
walked toward Jerusalem. He willingly endured
the cross. He willingly offered himself. And
so when you begin to wonder whether Christ is
willing to receive sinners, look at what he says
here. I have come. I have come. He came for this
he came to obey he came to offer offer himself
That's why it is so foolish of us to think my
acceptance with God is based upon how I perform
I know I got Jesus I know he loves me I get that
and I understand that that he forgave me and
took away the guilt and all that and there's
no condemnation I get that but you don't understand
what I did yesterday To that Jesus says I have
come And you say, yeah, but you don't understand.
This is something I've struggled with for years.
To that, Jesus says, I have come. But Jesus,
you don't get it. My faith is so weak at times.
And Jesus says, I have come. This is the whole
point. Stop trying to do something that's going
to get you accepted by God. For centuries those
old sacrifices kept saying Someone must come
someone must come someone must come and Jesus
here in this text steps forward and says I have
come And all of that is done away with The shadow
has pointed forward long enough No more shadow
Then verse 10 is where this entire argument of
the passage lands He says, and by that will we
have been sanctified through the offering of
the blood of Jesus Christ once and for all. For
four verses the writer showed the sacrifices
could not bring the finished work. Then he showed
us that the Son has come into the world to do
that work, the will of the Father. And now he
tells us what has happened because Jesus has
come to do the will of the Father. We have been
sanctified. Now that word can be confusing because
often we see that word sanctified and we think
of the lifelong process of Moving from glory
to glory and looking more and more like Jesus,
right? I would say for most Christians that I've
ever known when the word sanctified is used that's
kind of the first First place we go Sanctification
is the process where I am moving from glory to
glory moving from holiness to holiness Looking
more and more like Jesus and by the way, that
is it is used that way in Scripture But that
is not how he's using it here He is talking about
something that has already happened we have been
sanctified Because Jesus says I have come Because
He obeys the Father perfectly, we have been sanctified.
What does that mean? What is He talking about
here? He's describing our standing before God.
We have been set apart because of this death.
We have been cleansed. We have been consecrated.
We have been designated as God's holy people.
The verse doesn't say by our obedience we've
been sanctified or our religious devotion or
finally becoming good enough We've been sanctified.
It's through his offering that we've been sanctified
and side note when were you sanctified? When
you believed nope when the offering was made
Please catch that You didn't get sanctified.
You didn't get set apart. You didn't get consecrated
as God's holy people when once you believed You
were set apart by the offering. 2 ,000 years
ago, you were set apart. We could actually go
further than that, right? But at the cross, Jesus
obeying the Father perfectly did what God called
him to do. And because of that, God's people
have been set aside now. And you're like, well,
then what happens when I believe? The cross was
the payment for your faith. J .I. Packer talks
about it this way He says a lot of times we think
that Jesus died on the cross and then we take
our faith and our faith that somehow we muster
up Shoots back toward the cross and then Jesus
goes over the supplies to you He said no the
cross Set you apart the offering sanctified you
It bought your faith So when when we should look
at it like this When I'm lost and undone and
broken Dead in my sin and trespass Actively doing
actively going against the will of God doing
my will not his will By his grace. He sends his
Holy Spirit to us to bring us to new life and
In that new life in that spirit Inside of time,
the gift of faith is given to us. So you need
to see faith that's coming from the cross to
you. Who is the author of our faith? You? What
does scripture say? Jesus is. Where? How? The
cross. And then inside of time, you get that
faith from Him. And yes, you believe and you
want it. Why? Because you've been brought to
life. You've got a new heart. You've been born
again. But please don't see it as Jesus dying
and then the sanctified people come about by
whoever just puts their faith in God. That's
not what this text is telling us. We have been
sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ.
There's nothing about your standing before God
that you get to say, I did. Nothing. Hebrews
leaves us completely empty handed, right? Our
holiness before God is not something we achieve,
it is something that Christ secured for us. There's
tremendous freedom in that. Because if my standing
before God depends upon how well I'm doing today
Then my assurance is gonna be like a roller coaster
up and down and up and down and up and down On
a good day. I'll think that God really loves
me a lot and on a bad day. I'll feel like well.
He's putting up with me When I'm spiritually
disciplined I feel really close to him and when
I fail I assume I've been pushed away But Hebrews
is anchoring everything about our standing before
God in the work of Jesus Christ. His offering.
Your feelings are gonna change. Your obedience
is gonna fluctuate. Your faith is gonna feel
strong one day and weak the next day. But the
sacrifice of Jesus will not change. And then
comes the phrase that explains how his sacrifice
is different from every other one. Once for all.
This is the title of the whole argument once
for all again once for all add What's the word
we should add to the end of that to understand
it properly? We've said this like four times
once for all time once for all time Not every
year not every month not every time we sin not
every time we fail once for all Christ site sacrifice
is never repeated because the work is finished
This is why this this is the sacrifice that stops
all the sacrifices. The priest couldn't bring
it to an end. The worshippers always needed another,
but God doesn't need another because the offering
that Jesus brought himself was sufficient. Christ's
sacrifice is characterized by finality. Old Testament,
more is needed. New Testament, Enough. Nothing
else is needed. Enough has been given. And we
need to let that truth settle into us. Because
often we treat our relationship with God as though
Jesus made a down payment and we're paying off
the bill. Right? Called the debtor's ethic. I
was in debt to God, God paid my debt, and somehow
I got to pay him back. No, you don't owe God
anything. You don't owe God anything. You don't
make the blood of Jesus more effective by feeling
sufficiently guilty, or serving more faithfully,
or being a better Christian. Christ's sacrifice
is sufficient because Christ offered it. Not
because you can add anything to it and people
start getting all kinds of scared right here
They do How are you gonna control people? How
are we gonna keep people obedient and doing the
right thing first of all not my job It's Holy
Spirit's job, it's not my job But I need you
to listen very carefully Hebrews is not worried
about producing a careless Christianity. As if
the hearers are going to hear this and go, yes,
we can do anything we want to, we can sin and
it won't matter because we're just secure in
Christ. Do you know what this message does to
a child of God? It doesn't produce a careless
Christianity, it produces a grateful Christianity.
It produces a Christianity that says, I'm not
serving to become His. I serve because I am His.
I don't pursue holiness so that God will finally
welcome me. I pursue holiness because God has
welcomed me. I deal with my sin. I repent of
my sin. I battle my sin. Not so that God will
accept me again and again and again after I mess
up. Because I am accepted, then I can deal with
my sin from a place of victory and a place of
being loved. That changes the entire Christian
life. Stop doing things for God because you think
that's gonna get you something from God. You're
not that good enough, you're not that powerful
enough, you don't bring enough stuff. And really,
it's a smack to God. Because it's saying my behavior
is going to get me something from God that Jesus
didn't. If I can just act better today, then
I'll get more acceptance to God. And God's going,
you really think that the way you behave today
is going to determine my relationship with you?
And I'm just going to overlook what my son did?
What are you thinking? Jesus is like, I've done
it all for you already. I've already secured
your relationship in this kingdom. I've secured
your acceptance to God. I don't want you living
trying to earn something from me anymore. I want
you living out of worshipful gratitude because
of what I've done for you. And by this, by this
will we have been sanctified. Whose will? have
we been sanctified by? God the Father's. It was
the Father's will. I think sometimes we think
that God the Father is like the angry old man
sitting up on the throne in heaven, and he's
looking down at how bad we all are, and he's
just sitting there going, I can't wait to get
them all, can't wait to get them all, can't wait
to get them all. And Jesus goes, please God,
no Father, please. I'll do something to stop
it. Is that the gospel? For God so loved the
world, he sent his Son. It's the Father's will
that we're sanctified. In fact, John chapter
6 says it's the Father who draws us to the Son.
The Father wanted this and the Son accomplished
this, and therefore our confidence should rest
in no one else but God. So the Son's sacrifice
actually accomplished what all the other sacrifices
could never accomplish. Generation after generation,
sacrifices were offered. Animals died, blood
flowed, priests worked, worshipers returned,
and every sacrifice pointed forward. It kept
saying, not yet, not yet, not yet, until the
Lamb of God steps on the scene and says, I have
come. And after his sacrifice, there is no need
for another. Here is where Calvin's imagery becomes
so beautiful. Once the completed picture is all
colored in, once the painting is all done, You
don't need to keep tracing the outline. The reality
has arrived. The shadow has served its purpose.
The sacrifice can stop because Jesus offered
himself once for all time. And if God says that
Jesus' sacrifice is enough, then guess what church?
It is enough. Stop trying to pay Jesus back for
your sin. Stop digging up guilt that God has
already dealt with on the cross. Stop measuring
God's acceptance. by the quality of your weak
and stop looking inward for the basis of your
assurance. Look to Jesus. Paul said, there's
one thing that is the main crux of what I preach
to know Him and Him crucified. Look to His body
offered on the cross. Look to the sacrifice that
will never be repeated because our confidence
is not that we have finally become good enough
for God. Our confidence is that Jesus was good
enough for God.