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HOLY HELP FOR THE HOPELESSTHROUGH THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRISTHebrews 10:11-18INTRODUCTION Jesus Christ says, “In this world you will have trouble.” You don’t need faith to know that this is as true a statement as has ever been uttered. This is a troubled world. Whether its bridges collapsing under you while you sit in rush hour traffic on your way home from work or the doctor telling you that the cancer has returned or the child who breaks your heart by his rebellion and indifference to you or your friend who has better things to do than spend time with you or your inability to overcome some troubling habit or global climate change or credit card debt or high gas prices; this world is full of trouble and nobody escapes it. But in John 16:33 Jesus does not merely inform us that this world is full of trouble. Listen again to what he says, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." He not only tells us we will have trouble but he also tells us in that same verse that he has spoken to us so that we might have peace in him. Everything you and I need in order to live a life of peace is contained in the word of Jesus. We can live in a troubled world at peace if we will listen to and believe what Jesus says. In addition Jesus tells us that we are to take heart or have courage in the face of the trouble in our lives because he has overcome the world. You can be encouraged and not discouraged no matter what trouble you are in because Jesus has overcome the world. My experience in living life and in talking with hundreds of people about life over the past 30 years tells me that most people do not “get” how what Jesus did and what Jesus says can actually be the source of peace and courage when immersed in a world of trouble. The way to find peace and courage in a troubled world is not through psychotherapeutic drugs or through understanding how your parents screwed up your life or by getting a better job or living in a better place or getting a better husband or wife or better children or better friends or finding a better church or getting to go on a vacation or whatever…. The only way to find peace and courage while experiencing trouble is to know and believe Jesus, what he has said and what he has done. We have noted on numerous occasions that the people to whom this letter of Hebrews is written were people in serious trouble. In addition to all the “normal” troubles of life they were being persecuted for their faith. Some were thrown into prison. Some had their property confiscated. Some were beaten up and mocked and ostracized. In short, they are experiencing the fullness of Jesus’ promise that in this world you will have trouble. It is to people in this kind of serious trouble that the author has spent almost three and one half chapters describing in great detail how Jesus is our high priest and our once for all sacrifice. He is telling them and us the words of Jesus so that they and we can have peace. He is describing for us how Jesus has overcome the world so that we can have courage and not be overcome by the trouble. That's what this entire letter is about. It is why I've entitled the series we are doing, "Holy Help for the Hopeless." In our passage this morning he is finishing his description of this overcoming work of Christ. Therefore, as we finish this concluding section of his letter I want you to see how Jesus has overcome the world so that you can have peace and courage in the midst of your troubled life. MAIN POINT Jesus Christ is the only one who can give us peace and courage in this troubled world because…I. His work has finished all human work (vv. 11-12) We have noted throughout this letter that the author contrasts the OC that God gave to the nation Israel through Moses on Mt. Sinai with the NC that God established with everyone who believes in Jesus. There has been the contrast between the high priests of the OC and Jesus, the high priest in the order of Melchizedek who is priest on the basis of God’s oath and not on the basis of human ancestry and who is a priest on the basis of an indestructible life. There has been the contrast between the tabernacle that the OC priests served in and heaven itself where Jesus serves and performs his ministry. Most recently there has been the contrast between the repetitious animal sacrifices and the once for all sacrifice of Jesus. All of these contrasts are now brought together in this one final contrast in vv. 11-12. Virtually every word in v. 11 finds its antithesis in v. 12. However, the new point of contrast and the main emphasis between these two verses is that the priests in the OC system stand and perform their religious duties whereas Jesus has sat down forever at the right hand of God. The priests in the OC system never sat down because their work was never done. Verse 11 is a description of utter futility. There is no end to the animal sacrifices because they can never take away sins. The priests can never stop working because their work is impotent. Quickly let me say that God was not playing a cruel joke on the priests and the people of Israel. As we saw last week the point of the entire system associated with the tabernacle was not to take away sins but to remind people of their sins and to foreshadow Christ who would be a successful high priest and sacrifice. As Paul says in Galatians 3 the reason God gave the entire OC on Mt. Sinai was to lead people to Christ. Now Christ in contrast to the priests, after he offered his one sacrifice on the cross has sat down forever at God’s right hand. The point is that his work is over and because his work is over there is no need for any other human work in order to be made right with God. His work has indeed finished all human work. There is nothing to be added to what he has done as evidenced by the fact that he is right now and forever will be seated at the right hand of God. I can relate to the standing work of the priests. I rarely sit down and just relax. We had friends stay with us this past weekend and the wife asked Jane if I ever sat down when I was home. I don’t say that for your pity or praise but simply to illustrate the point. I rarely sit down because I’m always working. You can’t take care of a family and a home on your butt. When the work is done, that is when you sit down. For a number of reasons I rarely feel as if my work is done and thus I rarely sit down. I love this picture of Jesus, seated at God’s right hand because he has finished the work. He has accomplished what no amount of human effort through all those long centuries of Jewish worship could ever accomplish. It is because his work is done that our work is done. He is the priest who has sat down at God’s right hand because the work of making people fit for heaven is finished. There is nothing left for us to do in order to be accepted by God and to go to heaven. For the first 10-15 years of my Christian life I regularly felt guilty because I was not doing enough. I wasn’t reading my Bible enough, I wasn’t praying enough; I wasn’t sharing my faith enough. In addition I also knew that I was sinning too much. I regularly felt like God was angry with me because I wasn’t doing enough of the right, spiritual things and I was doing too many of the sinful things. There was no single event that finally brought me to my senses, just the relentless work of God’s Spirit through his word and through his people that finally convinced me that God was not angry with me--because of what Jesus did, not because of anything I ever did or didn’t do. This is a tremendous picture for those of us who are weary of working to prove that we are worthy of heaven, worthy to be accepted and loved by God. While we frantically work to demonstrate to God and man that we deserve to go to heaven, Jesus is sitting at his Father’s right hand and saying, “Son, come take a load off. Come and sit down with me. I’ve already done all the work. There’s nothing more left for you to do. Sit here. Rest in my finished work.” When we work to make ourselves fit for heaven we look stupid, like the woman who dusts her shelves the hour after the professional cleaning service she's paying $200/month has cleaned her house But not only do we look foolish, but more importantly, we also insult Christ. When we think and act like our piety, our work, our goodness is necessary to gain salvation we are looking Jesus in the face while he sits at his Father’s side and saying to him, “Your work isn’t good enough. I can do it better.” Dear friends, you don’t want to say that to Jesus. He will despise the people who despise his suffering on the cross. So I ask you, are you sitting with Jesus as he sits at God’s right hand or are you working to prove that you are worthy of God’s love and of God’s heaven? Having peace and courage when trouble comes begins with not working, with resting in Christ’s finished work. So sit down and rest in the finished work of Jesus who is forever sitting at God’s right hand because he completed all the work of reconciling you and I with God. Jesus Christ is the only one who can give us peace and courage in this troubled world because…
II. He eagerly and actively waits and we eagerly and actively wait (vv. 13-14) The fact that Christ is sitting at God’s right hand is explicitly referred to five times in this letter and alluded to a number of other times. On most of those other occasions his sitting at God’s right hand is connected to the fact that he is now and forever our high priest or representative in the presence of God. He is always interceding for us with the Father so that the Father accepts us because of the prayers of his Son, not because we are worthy. However, in v. 13 the author picks up another idea associated with Jesus’ sitting at God’s right hand. He is giving a free form quote of Psalm 110:1, which he quoted exactly in 1:13. In Psalm 110 God the Father says to God the Son, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Jesus gets to sit at his Father’s right hand because his work is done and here, while he sits he eagerly waits for the Father to put all his enemies as a footstool for his feet. On one hand we see Jesus sitting at God’s right hand actively interceding for us but on the other hand we see Jesus passively, though eagerly waiting for God the Father to subdue all of his enemies and place them under his feet. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:9-11 says the same thing in a different way, “And he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.” God the Father is eagerly working towards that day when he will cause everything and everyone to submit to Christ. His enemies will be made a footstool for his feet, that is, they will be forced to submit to his lordship and to suffer his wrath. In addition, all of creation and all of his people will willingly submit to his Lordship and enter into the joy of their master. But that day is not now. Jesus, right now, is waiting for that day to arrive. The really cool thing to see is that just like Jesus is waiting, so are we. We are both waiting for the same day. Look back at 9:28. There we are told that Jesus is going to appear a second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. So Jesus is waiting until the Father puts all his enemies under his feet and we are waiting for Jesus to appear a second time to bring salvation to us. Why does God not put all of the enemies of Jesus under his feet right now? Why didn’t he do it as soon as Jesus ascended and was seated at his right hand? There are two answers to that question. One of them is in v. 14 and the other one is stated at several other places in the NT. In John 10:16 Jesus says, “I have other sheep who are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also.” In Matthew 24:14 he says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” In 2 Peter 2:9 Peter responds to this exact question when he says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to come to repentance.” The reason God has not already put all of Jesus’ enemies under his feet is because he intends to save more of his enemies first. He has more sheep to bring out of the world and he aims to save all of his sheep. Thus he waits yet until all of his sheep out of every nation are safely brought into the fold. The second reason for why he waits is in v. 14, which begins with the word “because.” God the Father waits to subdue the enemies of Christ because by his one sacrifice he made his people perfectly fit for heaven forever. Who are his people? His people are identified as all those who are in the process of being made holy. Work with me here to see what is being said. First, remember that this idea of being made perfect refers to the completion of the goal of being a Christian, which is living with God forever in the new heavens and the new earth. Thus by his death on the cross Christ has made every Christian perfectly fit for heaven. There is nothing more to be done than what has been done by Christ. If you are a Christian you will not be more fit for heaven ten years from now than you are right now. You are as completely prepared to be received into heaven as you can possibly be. Therefore, the reason God waits cannot be to make you more fit for heaven. But notice the last clause of the sentence. Everyone whom Christ has made perfect forever is in the process of being made holy. Look back at v. 10. In that verse we were told that by Christ’s once for all sacrifice we have been made holy. Yet here we are in the process of being made holy. The point in v. 10, as we saw last week, is that Christ makes everyone fit for heaven by cleansing them from sin and making them perfectly holy, like God. Verse 10 describes our position in Christ: we are already holy in him. But now in v. 14, everyone who has been made holy is right now, while they live on this earth, in the process of being made holy. Verse 14 describes our present condition, we are, in our experience being made holy. It is this process of being made holy that is the reason that God yet waits. One day, when we are with the Lord in the new heavens and the new earth we will be in our condition what we are in our position. In heaven we will experience complete holiness, now we are in the process of being made holy. God waits to subdue all the enemies of Christ and to bring salvation to all his people because he values the process of his perfectly holy people being made holy in this troubled world. One of the reasons that you and I are not now in heaven is because God thinks that you and I growing to be more holy in our actual experience is more important than his bringing everything immediately to an end. That process of being made holy is what is called “progressive sanctification.” It is another way of saying that we are becoming more like Jesus in this life, over the span of our lifetime, in how we think and feel and behave. It is something that is done to us: we are being made holy and it is something we participate in, we are becoming more holy in our actual lived out experience. What is it about our progressive sanctification that would motivate God to wait before he ends the world? The short answer is that God is more glorified by his saving people who grow in holiness while living in the midst of his enemies than if he immediately took everyone to heaven as soon as they were converted and then quickly brought this troubled world to an end. When the countless multitude of God’s saints, who were made perfect by Christ’s one sacrifice worship the Triune God in the new heavens and the new earth, their joy and gratitude will be far greater because they were made holy in the midst of the rampant ungodliness that is in this world. When you and I gladly choose to love others and to be morally pure no matter what it costs us because we are so delighted with Christ by the power of the HS, God is far more glorified than if he simply saved us and took us immediately out of this world of sin and to heaven. When the angry person learns to conquer his anger by believing that Christ is better than getting what he or she wants and so becomes a peace loving, gentle person God is glorified. When the man addicted to pornography and lust conquers his desires and learns to love sexual purity and chastity because he delights in Jesus more than the pleasures of sex, God is glorified. When the woman addicted to a perfect house and perfect clothes and perfect children learns to be happy even when the house is dirty or she's not buying more clothes or the children are acting up because she has found in Christ all she needs, then is God glorified. God is glorified when we learn to love others rather than demanding that others love us because we can't get over the fact that we are loved by God through Christ. What is Jesus doing while he is waiting? He is interceding for us with the Father to obtain the resources of heaven for us so that we can grow in holiness in this life. As we saw in Hebrews 4:15-16 we boldly come to the throne of grace in our time of trouble because he is our high priest in order that we may find grace and mercy to help us. The help we are looking for is not that God change our circumstances but that he change us in the midst of our circumstances. Jesus while he waits gives us the resources we need to become more holy while we wait. We are both actively waiting. One day we will be made perfectly holy, when God puts all of Christ’s enemies under his feet. Until that day, what we yearn for as Christians is to become what he has already made us. So our prayers are mainly concerned with asking our great high priest to give us his gracious help that we might live out what he has given to us by his death. Our goal is to become more holy not to live a trouble free life. If your goal is to be made holy, then no matter what trouble comes to you; you can still pursue what you love, being holy. You can have peace and courage in this troubled world because you are waiting with Jesus and we know that our waiting is not in vain because we are becoming more holy while we wait. Jesus Christ is the only one who can give us peace and courage in this troubled world because…
III. He no longer remembers our sin (vv. 15-18) The first thing I want you to notice is not on the point but we can’t pass it by without any comment. Notice that the Holy Spirit testifies in the words of Jeremiah 31:33 & 34. The author of this letter believes that this passage of Scripture written almost 1000 years prior to his writing is the Holy Spirit speaking directly and personally and presently to the people to whom he is writing. The other thing to notice is that the Holy Spirit also testifies. The word " also" means that the Holy Spirit is adding his testimony to that of another. He is corroborating testimony that someone else has already given. He is not the first to give testimony. Who else has testified? Look back at v. 5. In vv. 5-7 we have the words of the Son of God who became the man Jesus Christ. The supremacy and power of the death of Christ was testified to by Christ himself prior to his incarnation in the words of Psalm 40 and is also testified to by the Holy Spirit when he spoke the words of Jeremiah 31. I think we can also safely say based on the fact that in this quote itself God the Father is said to be speaking (NOTE: “says the Lord” and Hebrews 8:8) that the Father is also a witness to the sufficiency and glory of Christ’s death and present intercession. In the letter to the Hebrews, God’s word, which is living and active, is said to be spoken by each member of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here is another example of how the identity of the one God, eternally existing as three distinct persons, each one being fully God is clearly stated. The word of God is the word of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, because these three are one God. Verses 16 & 17 are a fairly free quotation of portions of Jeremiah 31:33 & 34. He has already quoted the entirety of these verses in chapter 8 where he used them to show that God had always planned on replacing the OC with this NC. The first part of the quote is not what he wants to highlight but it is important in light of the end of v. 14. Verse 14 ends by saying that all those who are going to heaven are in the process of being made holy before they go to heaven. The HS testifies to the truthfulness of that assertion in the verse quoted in v. 16. The reason every Christian is growing to be more like Christ, more holy, is because one of the benefits given by Christ in the NC is that God’s laws are no longer external rules but internal desires. God’s law is written on our hearts and so we want to do what God wants. This is the reason that the Bible can say that every Christian, without exception, is being made holy in this life. But the main emphasis of this quote from Jeremiah is v. 17, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Even people who are “being made holy” still sin and thus always need their sins forgiven. Thus the author closes this section of the letter, prior to his turning to their conduct, with this powerful statement of God’s forgiveness. God does not remember our sins means that God has forgiven our sins. If our sins are forgiven as promised in the NC, then that means there is no other sacrifice or act required to obtain forgiveness. If you have been made perfect by Christ’s one sacrifice and thus are being made holy, you need to know that God does not remember your sins. This does not mean that God has amnesia. It means that God is not holding your sins against you. He is not remembering that you are in his debt, that you are guilty and deserve his punishment as a just judge. When he looks at you the first thing he thinks about is not your sins. He eagerly and warmly receives you without hesitation or qualification. He isn’t shaking his head at you. He isn’t frowning in disapproval with his arms crossed across his chest. Remember, this isn’t because you don’t sin it is because Christ made you perfect by cleansing you and making you holy by his one sacrifice. He shed his blood to obtain your forgiveness. Let me quickly add that doesn’t mean you don’t have to confess your sins. Just this last week a friend of mine related how a person in a Bible study he attends told him that because we are forgiven we never have to confess our sins or ask God to forgive us. This is a very common error. I talked about this a little bit last week but let me restate that the NT teaches that while we are forgiven because of what Christ has done and not because we are sorry for our sins or confess our sins, yet everyone for whom Christ died, whose sins are forgiven confess their sins to God. Confession of sin is the daily work of the Christian as Jesus taught us in the Lord’s prayer and as James teaches us his letter and John in his letter. It is the greatest of all benefits to know that God does not remember your sins. It is the foundation of a life that is full of peace and courage in the midst of trouble. Jane and I were married in August of 1976. I had graduated from UW-Stevens Point the previous May. She still had a year of school left and so we moved into an apartment in Stevens Point near campus after we were married. A general contractor who built houses by the name of Jerry Ostrowski hired me to work for him. The first day on the job we began to lay down the sill on a new foundation he had just had poured. The sill is made by nailing together a 2x6 and a 2x10 in the shape of an L. We laid the 2x10 flat on the foundation wall and then I held the 2x6 in place while Jerry drove the nails to make the sill. As we came to the end of the first section Jerry lifted his hammer to drive in a nail he had already started and as his hammer came down I moved the 2x6 about an inch which then placed the thumb of his left hand right under the hammer blow. Jerry was a strong man and it was a 20 oz. hammer with a corrugated head. He flattened his thumb. Blood gushed everywhere. He screamed in pain. I immediately began apologizing profusely. He quickly grabbed an old shirt out of his truck and wrapped up his thumb and told me to lay out all the floor joists while he went to the doctor. I felt terrible and certain that when he returned he would fire me. He came back about an hour later with his thumb wrapped in gauze. He didn’t fire me. In fact, when I again apologized he told me to forget it because it was just an accident. I worked with Jerry for the next 10 months, and he never once brought up what I had done to his thumb. He obviously remembered as it took at least a month for him to be able to use his left hand again. However, he never let my “sin” interfere in our relationship and he never used it against me in any way. While I was very embarrassed for about a week and uncomfortable around him, the more he didn't bring up my sin the less I felt guilty about it. Eventually I didn't let it interfere in how I related to Jerry either, other than I always felt grateful to him for not using my stupidity against me. If you are a Christian, God does not remember your sins anymore because of Jesus. He does not hold them against you. He is not waiting for you to mess up so he can rub your face in it by bringing up all the other times you’ve screwed up. You don’t have to grovel or beg or do anything else to get him to forgive you. It is forgiven because of Christ and nothing more needs to be done. He remembers your sins no more so you can freely and confidently come to him as your loving Father, with nothing to fear. Jesus Christ is the only one who can give us peace and courage in this troubled world because…
© Copyright 2007 John Swanson.
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