Sermon Central
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Holy Like Jesus Series
Contributed by E. True Neilson on Dec 16, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus!
SIMPLY JESUS
HOLY LIKE JESUS
INTRODUCTION
-I learned a big fancy word a while back that I want to share with you. It’s the word “metanarrative.” Impress your friends at party
-The idea of the metanarrative is that there are overarching stories that people share in common…
-Big picture explanations that shape how we think about life and that most people can generally agree upon.
-But more recently the culture that we live in is being shaped by a postmodern philosophy.
-And one of the distinguishing characteristics of that philosophy is the rejection of all the metanarratives.
-In other words, there is no commonly accepted story about life…
who people are, where we came from, and why we’re here.
-People in our culture want to write their own story and define for themselves what the big picture is really all about.
-But Christians have a metanarrative; we have a story that shapes how we think about life. And our story starts in Genesis.
-Most of us know Gen 1:2, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
-That’s where the story of humanity begins….with God @ creation
-Most of us have heard about the Garden of Eden that he created, & we’ve heard about Adam and Eve; the 1st dysfunctional family!
-And we know about the fall; when sin entered the world.
-This is the story that Xians & our Jewish predecessors have told for 4000 years. The story hasn’t changed.
-This morning I want to frame our story for you in a different way. -I want us to consider our story through the lens of holiness.
-HOLINESS IS THE AWE-INSPIRING PERFECTION OF GOD.
-Before we existed God existed…and he existed in holiness.
-There has never been a defect in his character.
-There has never been a limit to his power.
-There has never been a flaw in his thinking.
-There has never been anything evil, malevolent, or dark in his motives or actions.
-He is absolutely and completely holy; our God is perfection.
-And his holiness is so pronounced that when Bible characters stood in the presence of God they…wilted.
-In God’s presence people are painfully aware of how completely imperfect and unholy they are.
-If our God is so holy, what kind of things does he create?
PEOPLE OR THINGS WHICH ARE HOLY HAVE BEEN SET APART.
-That’s the second meaning of the term holy:
-So when God created the garden of Eden, it was holy.
-What’s a holy garden like? There wasn’t a weed in the place!
-There wasn’t a rotten tree, a sickly plant, and all the animals were perfect specimens. The river was filled with holy water!
-God put Adam and then Eve into the garden and they were holy.
-And the Bible says that our Holy God walked in that holy place, that he interacted with those holy people….personally.
-And everything in Eden reflected the holiness of God.
-But then something happened. You know the story.
-Adam & Eve sinned against God. They sinned against each other.
-They violated God’s command…and in doing so they defiled the holy place. They were unholy.
-And because of that sin our world has never been the same.
-That’s what sin is. SIN IS THE OPPOSITE OF HOLINESS.
-Holiness is perfection, sin is corruption.
-Holiness is the nature of God; sin goes against the nature of God.
-And that’s our metanarrative…that’s the story that frames how we look at life.
-When you understand that story…you can start to understand the Bible…and specifically Hebrews chapter 10:1-10
1 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.
WHAT WAS GOD’S PURPOSE IN CREATING THAT “OLD COVENANT”?
-HOLINESS. Our holy God only creates things that are holy.
-And so, just like in the garden of Eden, our holy God created a holy place…a tabernacle.
-And he ordained holy priests…and designated holy sacrifices.
-God introduced a way of making his wayward children holy!
-And under that old system of worship people were declared holy!
-But vs 1 under that old system…their holiness didn’t last.
2 If they (sacrifices) could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. 3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.
-Old Testament worshipers made a lot of sacrifices and offerings.
-And every time they sinned it cost them and it reminded them of how fallen and unholy they really were.
-And if you were an over-achiever in the sin department…you had a lot of reminders of just how sinful you really were.
