SIMPLY JESUS
HOLY LIKE JESUS
HEBREWS 10:1-19
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.
-Some of us would be in the poor house if we had to make an offering every time we sinned!
-When I was starting out as a youth pastor I ran into the age old problem at summer camp; how do you make kids go to sleep?
-The lights go out in a Jr. High boy cabin and suddenly there is giggling. There are bodily function noises…
-And they can keep it for a very long time….because Jr. High boys are the natural born enemies of cabin dads everywhere.
-So I devised a plan. I would say: “if anyone makes a sound the whole cabin is going to clean toilets tomorrow during free time.”
-And sure enough someone would make a sound. Hee hee funny.
-Ok. You’re all cleaning toilets. If you talk more you’re doing breakfast dishes. First night…testing boundaries…another sound.
-Ok. Breakfast…next is lunch dishes.
-And you can feel the tension building…they sense their camp fun slowly slipping away.
-And the next day when those boys are paying their dues: cleaning toilets, and doing dishes it’s not so funny anymore.
-And the second night, when the lights go out…it’s strangely quiet.
-It’s no fun facing the consequence of your sins!
-Every time the OT worshipers headed to the temple there was guilt. Their friends saw them going, the neighbors talked.
-What did she do now? How’d he mess up this time?
-That’s the third trip this week!
-Every time they had to make an offering they were reminded how unholy they were…and how holy God is.
-And just when the slate was wiped clean…they sinned again.
-Can’t you relate to that?
-As hard as we try not to sin…we will always struggle with sin.
-No matter how many prayers you say, how much you serve, how much Bible you read…you will always struggle with sin.
-And that was the futility of the Old Covenant…
4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
-The sacrifices in the Old Testament had limited effectiveness.
-The OT sacrifices didn’t have long lasting effects.
5 That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, (quotes Psalm 40) “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. 6 You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. 7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”
8 First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). 9 Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect.
-God didn’t want animal sacrifices. That wasn’t his original plan!
-But the wages of sin is death. And the only thing that can satisfy a death sentence is a death. So sacrifices were made.
-But what did our Holy God really want? Holiness.
-He wanted his people to be holy. He wanted them to be how he created them to be…holy.
-And so a better sacrifice was made…God came to earth as the man Jesus Christ and did what nobody expected.
-He offered himself to make us holy; which is what he wanted for us all along.
10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
-WHAT WAS GOD’S PURPOSE IN CREATING THE NEW COVENANT? HOLINESS. -It was his original plan in Eden. It was the purpose of the O.C.
-All those OT sacrifices were just previews pointing to the final phase of God’s plan…to make us holy through his son Jesus Christ.
-Christ’s became our High Priest. He is a superior high priest.
-Christ’s became our sacrifice. He was the perfect sacrifice.
-Christ has made us holy, and it’s different than what the Old Testament people experienced.
-Because our holiness is lasting. Jesus Christ has made us holy by that one final sacrifice…of himself.
-And it says that his sacrifice was once for all time.
-That is an incredible statement. Do you know how long “all time” lasts? What else do you know of that lasts for all time?
-There are no countries that have lasted for all time.
-No governments, no policies, no statutes.
-Certainly no people have lasted for all time, no animals, no plants, no natural features have remained unchanged for time.
-There is even a saying, “Nothing lasts forever.”
-Our passage says the holiness that Jesus brings us does just that!
-When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior we became holy.
-Not because of what we did, but because of what he did.
-If we sin we’re still holy. If we slip up, make a mistake, still holy.
-God doesn’t call us holy because of what we do or don’t do.
-He calls us holy because of what Jesus did.
11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. 14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
-You’ll notice that while we are holy in God eyes we are ALSO being made holy.
HOLINESS IS BOTH OUR STATUS AND OUR AIM.
-How many of you are home owners? Show of hands.
-If you’re filling out a form that asks the question about your living situation…it will usually say “renter or owner”.
-And so, if you are a home owner you check “owner”.
-But what’s the technical truth in that?
-Practically you are considered a home owner…but technically you don’t own it until you pay off the bank.
-So you are a home owner, but you’re still in the process of owning your home outright.
-And so it goes with holiness. We are holy.
-If we were taking a survey and it said, holy or unholy…we could accurately check the holy box!
-We are declared holy by the sacrifice of Jesus!
-But we won’t be completely holy until the day we meet Christ in his Kingdom. Then we’ll finally be free of sin.
-Did you catch what vs 13 says?
-After Jesus made the sacrifice to make us holy, he returned to his rightful throne in heaven. And he is waiting.
-For what? For things to be set right.
-Our Holy God has plans to make all things holy once again.
-Once again holy people will dwell with God in a holy place.
-Not only will we see God face to face…we’ll enjoy the splendor of his holiness in person….without fear.
-We won’t be overwhelmed by God’s holiness; we won’t flip out like the OT people did.
-When we finally see God face to face we will fit right in because we will be finally and completely holy!
HEAVEN WILL BE A PLACE OF COMPLETE AND UTTER HOLINESS.
-Which means there will be no more sin.
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,
16 “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” 18 And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices. 19
-Our sins are forgotten by God. They are removed.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
-We can approach our Holy God, in the Holy place that he dwells, boldly because in heaven there is no more sin.
-No more sin. No hatred and no heartbreaks.
-No hurts, no habits, no more hang-ups.
-No more sin. No lying, or cheating, or stealing.
-No more sin. No broken hearts, broken families, broken homes.
-No more sin. No killing, no fighting, no more dying.
-What would it be like to live in a place where there is no sin?
-It would be like…“heaven”.
-That’s what heaven is: a holy place…a place devoid of sin.
-In the beginning our Holy God created people, and they were set apart in a holy place. And they were connected with God.
-After the fall God made the Old Covenant.
-Our Holy God set apart a holy place where people could connect with him and be made holy.
-In the New Covenant Jesus took it one step farther.
-Our Holy God once again made his people holy…but now we have a lasting holiness.
-And…we are the holy place where the Spirit of God dwells.
-That’s our story. That’s our metanarrative.
-That story shapes how we see life, what we believe, how we interpret everything around us.
-But we also know the end of the story.
-All of the people who have been made holy through Jesus will once again enter a holy place.
-But you can’t get into that holy place without Jesus.
Heb 12:14 “…for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.”
-When Christ returns our Holy God will once and for all, dwell among his holy people in that holy place forever.
