I was given the opportunity to preach the last sermon of the year to the church and the topic gave me room to share about what it means to be a Christian both in terms of what God has done and what we must do, matters that have been on my heart and mind.
Good morning.
Elder Peter had to change his travel plans and couldn’t be here this morning and so asked me to step in for him. It is a privilege and honour to bring you the word of God this morning.
The text for this morning is specifically Hebrews 10:5-7 but we will be looking at the whole chapter. I have entitled the sermon “The Sovereign Will of God” not only because this is a key theme in this passage where Christ declared his willingness to obey that will, but also, as I hope you would have seen, that this is the key theme of this whole series.
Now let’s examine the text before us:
“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
I’d like to bring us back to the sermon series on Leviticus and remind you of all the meticulously detailed sacrifices, and especially the day of atonement; how once a year, on top of all these sacrifices, a special ceremony, with a special sacrifice for the chief priest to allow him to enter the Holy of Holies in order to conduct another sacrifice for the people and finally to cleanse the instruments of sacrifice. All of that, repeatedly, in order to keep a small section of the Temple, the Holy of Holies, acceptable for the Presence of God without destroying all who come near, so that the regular sacrifices throughout the year may take place without incident.
When you get the sense of what the sacrifices convey, you will perhaps have a small glimpse into what it means for Logos to set aside his glory to be born as a human baby.
With this as the backdrop, you then can understand what the writer of Hebrews is saying: All that the Law can offer is only temporary. “But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Let us now look at our next passage:
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’” First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
“First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law.” The Law, and its ceremonial sacrifices, is not enough to satisfy God even though they were commanded by him. The writer explained that they serve as a reminder rather than a solution.
Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And so Christ stepped in as the second and superior Adam, as it were, to obey God’s will and sacrifice himself. The old order, the sons of Adam, barely protected by the Law, is replaced with a new order, the children of God, led by the Son of God and protected by the new covenant established with the blood of Christ.
Hebrews then tells us: “by that will (that will being the will of God) we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Christ satisfied the demands of God for our sin by obeying the will of God to establish the new order under him through his blood. All sons of Adam who choose to follow Jesus and enter the new order, will be made holy through the sacrifice of the body once for all.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Having established this new order, God blesses the work of Christ with the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, God establishes a new relationship with all of us under Christ: “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” He adopts us as children of God.
When all of these have been put in place, then sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary and we will have complete access into the Presence of God.
So all the sacrifices that were necessary to maintain the Holy of Holies, just a small space in the whole world, is no longer needed because the Temple now resides in all of us who follow Jesus. God’s Presence is accessible because of the blood of Christ.
This is the sovereign will of God, to clear away all the obstacles that would have caused our destruction if we were ever to approach God and through Jesus and the Holy Spirit he is now able to declare to us who decided to follow Jesus as Lord, “The way into my Presence is now clear for all who carry the blood of Jesus Christ; sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”
As the Sovereign Will of God has been fully accomplished by Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we now enjoy 3 new realities:
- Full access into the Presence of God
- Adoption as children of God
- Light and Life that is in the Son of God
To spurn the Will of God, to ignore him and his love and grace, would, in the words of the writer, tantamount to insulting and desecrating God himself:
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. … How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
And so the writer of Hebrews proposes 3 clear responses to avail ourselves of what the Will of God had accomplished for us.
God’s Presence → Prayer
Our Hope and Destiny → Perseverance
One Another: The Church → United in Passion for the work of the church
Let’s examine each of these:
Prayer: Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Firstly he tells us to take advantage of what God has willed and what Christ and the Holy Spirit has done and “draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” This call makes perfect sense because it would be totally insulting to God that after all that he had done to make it possible we have no regard for it.
Broadly, it means to walk close to God and the phrase that comes to my mind, if you’ll forgive my blatant advertising, is “Time Alone with God”, to have fellowship with God around his Word. But more specifically, I think, it is to pray. John in his first letter tells us:
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)
If you remember the point I made when I preached on that chapter, we tend to use prayer to ask for what we want: good health, good jobs, free from troubles so we can be happy and at peace. But John tells us that we should ask for what God wants because we are then guaranteed to receive it.
Jesus showed us the way when he prayed, “Yet not my will but yours be done.” I think that we are afraid of God’s will because it took Jesus to the Cross. But think of the degree of blessing his obedience resulted in, and the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him above all others in heaven and on earth, and you will understand that God’s will is the better choice. God’s will that was at the heart of our redemption, is not opposed to our good, our joy and our peace but it seeks to bring our accomplishments to greater heights of love and good deeds. We can accomplish so much more when we yield our will to his. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart.
Perseverance: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
There are many ways to unpack “the hope we profess” but in the context of our sermon series I wish to highlight the hope that we will be children of God. The call then is that we hold unswervingly, meaning despite the challenges and failures we may face and experience, and we do so because God is faithful; we know that that day will surely come when we are truly children of God. How then do we express this? Simply by seeking each day to be more and more like Christ, to make decisions that reflect his character and values, to act in grace and truth, to enlighten, to heal and to bring joy and peace to this world of darkness. Failure does not deter us; we simply pick ourselves up and continue. Difficulties do not stop us; we pray his will be done. He who promised is faithful.
Passion: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The first two “Let us” call us to look at God and to look at our destiny. This final “Let us” calls us to look at one another. The third response to what the sovereign will of God accomplished for us is to take care of the church. Notice that the focus is on spurring one another and encouraging one another; we are to consider how we can do this.
The church is the kingdom of God and as the local church we represent the body of Christ in our community. We are Christ’s light shining in the darkness of ignorance and sin, in love and good deeds; not as individuals, but together as the church.
Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” and Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” And Jesus responded, “Feed my sheep.”
Our gratitude and love for God is to flow into the church.
We cannot spur one another when we ourselves are not spurred. Only the spurred can spur, if you’ll pardon the language. And so the first two “Let us” are vital for the third. If we are not spending time with God and we have no ambition to follow Christ, we have nothing to offer to the church.
But I would also like us to look at what is necessary for us to be spurring one another. It can be summed up in the word “together”.
The writer tells us not to neglect meeting together because if you are not in physical fellowship with one another, you cannot influence, inspire, admonish and encourage one another. We often use this verse to encourage the church to meet together, to come to church, to care groups, to participate in the church’s activities, but we do well to understand that meeting is not the goal but the means; spurring one another to love and good deeds is the goal.
The church has done a lot to encourage us to meet together; but are we spurring one another on and encouraging one another in our Christian walk? What do these meetings together accomplish? Each of us has to answer that question.
But let me say this: Be generous in reaching out to one another when you are together. Say thank you, say well done, say wonderful, I’m so glad for you, say that’s very thoughtful of you, say you’re such a lovely person, say I’m so touched, say that’s a lovely dress, say what a lovely smile. Every little opportunity for you to say positive things honestly, do so to one another.
The other is, share what is on your heart, even if you need to withhold details, share the things that touched your soul. And touch each other: arm over the shoulder, hand over hand, eye into eye, smiling, acknowledging each other. The church can never have too much of positive communication.
However, the other aspect of “together” is also vital: united in purpose. Here I would like to bring us to back Philippians 2 and consider the context of the passage that Julian expounded to us last week:
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:1-4)
Paul tells the church that if we appreciate all that we have received from Christ and the Holy Spirit, if we are enjoying the blessing of being in fellowship with God, then we must lay aside our selfish ambitions, our pride, and be humble to elevate others in the church. We do this when we listen, when we empathise, when we look beyond the faults of others to understand their need, their concern and their interests—not that we must follow everything being said but that in doing so we honour and respect them.
We are not called to think of ourselves but of one another. Our concern must not be merely for individuals but for the community and our desire is for us to be one: one spirit and one mind. This we see in God as Christ united with the Father and the Spirit to accomplish God’s will. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 says:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23)
In the past few weeks many issues confronting the church have been highlighted and discussed, from the question of our calling and identity as a church, to the practical issues confronting an ageing community, to the issues surrounding the fact of our significantly reduced numbers and the corresponding drop in resources.
As I look back at the recent town hall discussion, 3 things stood out for me:
- We were not listening to one another and we feel we are not being listened to.
- I didn’t see us standing together, reaching out to each other to assure each other that we will face these challenges together.
- I didn’t hear a collective concern to seek the will and direction of God.
Paul makes it very clear, in Philippians 2, that one mind and one spirit is possible only when there is humble obedience to the will of God, as exemplified by Christ. In humility we listen to one another; in humility we forgive one another; in humility we stand side by side with each other; in humility we seek God’s direction that in humble obedience we may be brought to complete unity.
We are focused on what the church will achieve but we forget that our most important achievement in Christ’s eyes is our unity and our love for one another.
The 3 “Let us” in Hebrews 10 gives us a pattern that we can use to guide our response. They are also useful as a regular checklist for us to ascertain our own spiritual health:
Presence/Prayer: Through the obedience of Christ, God has cleared the path into his Presence. Are we availing ourselves of the grace of God to fellowship with him? Is prayer the pillar of our spiritual development?
Hope/Destiny/Perseverance: Through the obedience of Christ, God has adopted us as his children. Are we working hard to be more like Christ in humility and obedience? Do we overcome the obstacles in our path by trusting that God our Father is faithful to forgive and to enable?
One Another/Church/Passion: Through God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, the church is now God’s Temple, the source of his light and his life in every locality. Are we passionate about our church’s mission to be Christ’s light in love and good deeds and do we stand side by side with each other, encouraging one another as we spur one another on?
As we enter the new year with these challenges before our church,
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, and encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.