Good morning, church.
It's good to see you all this morning.
Our text this morning is Hebrews 10, verses 1 through 10.
Let me invite you to turn there with me.
It's page 1006 in the Pew Bible.
If you want to turn there, Hebrews 10.
Before I read this passage for us, let me pray.
God, indeed, we know that we are prone to wander.
So, Lord, we ask now that you would take your word and, again, call us forth to yourself.
God, grant us hearts that are receptive to hear what you are saying to us through your word this morning and by your spirit.
God, help us to see Christ in his beauty this morning.
In deeper and fresher ways, Lord, bind our wandering hearts to him and so to you.
God, we ask all this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Hebrews 10, 1 through 10.
Let me read this passage for us.
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, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed,
would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
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 sins.
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
When he said,
When he said above,
You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings.
These 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 for all.
I was in the laundry mat on Monday,
And there's a bulletin board there with advertisements for all sorts of local businesses.
Pet care, daycare, car care, you name it.
If you're ever in the wash tub on Monday morning, you will find me there.
One of the ads on this bulletin board was for a gym.
And it simply said in big letters,
If you're not working on yourself, you're not working.
Now it strikes me that the sentiment behind that ad is one of the great mantras of our time.
One of the beliefs that we nearly all hold is that the greatest project before each one of us is to fashion a self.
To construct my identity.
To work on my self.
To make a better and more true me.
And we're told that that is the way to authenticity and to happiness.
That self-expression and self-construction, well that's what it means to be human.
And if I'm not engaged in that work, well golly, what am I doing with my life?
If you're not working on yourself, well you're not working.
You're wasting your time.
You're doing nothing really productive at the end of the day.
Of course there are all sorts of other things that we could point to to get at this deeply held cultural belief of ours.
Think of the closing stanza of that 19th century poem Invictus, which was sort of made popular by the 2009 movie about Nelson Mandela and the South African rugby team with Matt Damon.
Here's how that poem goes.
It says,
It matters not how straight, that is how narrow, the gate.
How charged with punishments, the scroll.
I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.
It's up to me to determine what will become of me.
Now for roughly 200 years, this idea has been gaining ground.
At least since the Romantic movement of the late 18th century.
If you remember from English class, William Wordsworth, you get the idea, right?
And yet one has to wonder whether culturally, now, in our time, whether this idea is finally starting to run out of steam.
Whether we aren't starting to see, finally, how problematic it is.
Think on the personal level.
We've been told that happiness is found in self-expression, self-construction, and we've been trying to live that way.
And yet, are we happy?
Reports tell us that anxiety and depression, and tragically, even suicide, are at alarmingly high levels across the board.
College campuses, just to take one little slice of our culture, are seeing mental health needs rise every year.
And of course, there are multiple causes of these things.
I don't want to oversimplify.
But at one level, it's as if this drive to create myself, to be the captain of my own ship, has simply been a burden too great to bear.
We've handed ourselves the keys, and we simply haven't known where to go.
But if it's running out of steam personally, then it's also, I think, running out of steam perhaps culturally too.
As our public discourse becomes more and more divided.
As something like a common good seems almost an impossible idea.
After all, how can there be a common good if we're all creating our own destinies and identities for ourselves, right?
Personally, we're fragmenting.
And communally, we're fragmenting.
If you're not working on yourself, you're not working.
Perhaps by the time an idea ends up on a laundromat advertisement for a gym, the idea itself is no longer working.
But where do we go?
How do we find our way back out of the maze that 200 plus years have led us into?
If my life isn't meant to be lived as one giant self-construction, self-expression project, then how should it be lived?
What's the alternative?
What's the hope for us?
And Hebrews 10, 1 through 10, actually points us to the answer.
And shockingly to our ears, the answer is met in one who found his identity holy in the will of another.
And in so doing, achieved a perfect wholeness and holiness for everyone who stops trying to construct their own lives and who put their lives completely into his hands.
But before Hebrews gets to that answer, he's going to show us the problem.
Look again at verses 1 through 4.
Verse 1 says,
Now, as we've seen in our study of Hebrews, the law here is the law of Moses.
And in particular, he has in mind the sacrificial and ceremonial aspects of the law.
The tabernacle, the priesthood, the animal sacrifices, the cleansing rites.
And all of that, he says, even the sacrifices themselves can't make you perfect.
And perfect here means not necessarily without flaw, but complete.
To be perfect means that you lack nothing to be right with God and have free and intimate access with him.
Which, friends, is exactly what you and I were created for.
Could it be that in our search to create the perfect self, one that will express myself to the T and fulfill my being,
could it be that we've forgotten who we're actually created for?
And having excluded God from the picture, our hunt for perfection, for completion, still goes on and on and on.
We still try to become something, but it's become an endless and tireless search because we don't know where or what we're supposed to become.
And just like the law prescribed a continual stream of sacrifices every year,
don't you and I keep trying to continually reinvent ourselves in a continual stream?
Maybe I'll be a jock or a goth or a prep or a band geek, right?
Give it up for band geeks.
No, just kidding.
And then we grow up and it's maybe I'll be a lawyer or a policymaker or a doctor or a teacher.
Or a vagabond, you know.
Or maybe I'll be in this relationship and when that one doesn't work, I'll move to this relationship.
And when that one doesn't work, I'll move to this relationship.
Maybe I need to be more physically healthy.
Maybe I need to be more intellectually interesting.
Maybe I need to get religion.
And it keeps going and going and going and it never stops.
And because it never stops, doesn't that show us that it never actually works?
That we'll never reach completion that way.
And by giving the law 1,500 years before Christ,
God was trying to teach not just Israel but all of us some important truths.
God was trying to teach us something that we needed to know.
And first, what the law sacrifices were teaching us,
what it was showing us was a reminder of sins.
That's verse 3.
Every time a faithful Israelite came to the tabernacle or temple
and offered a sacrifice in accordance with the law,
he or she was being reminded of the sin that stood between themselves and God.
And because these sacrifices couldn't take away sins,
couldn't cleanse the conscience,
they couldn't ultimately put us right with God.
And for 1,500 years, God in his kindness set up this system
that every day reminded humanity that in their most important relationship
between themselves and God, a barrier of sin remained.
Isn't it a great kindness in God to show us so patiently for so many years
where the true problem lies?
You know, sometimes with my kids, I'm like, one strike and you're out.
Boom, timeout, done.
I've learned I'm not a very patient man.
Friends, how much unlike us is God?
That in his infinite patience, he would take such great lengths
to show us what we truly need
and to remind us again and again and again
where our real problem lies.
You see, friend, your desire and my desire,
our desire to find a self that's whole
and that feels fitting and right
is there because you were created in God's image
to know him and worship him and live him and reflect him.
And why are some of us so relentless to keep working on ourselves?
Is it not because deep down there's a sense that something's not right
and that all the work isn't actually working?
And we keep believing that maybe this next thing will finally make me right.
Maybe this next thing will finally make me clean.
Maybe this next thing will finally make me whole.
Friends, listen to what the law is telling you.
You were made for God
and your sin is what needs to be dealt with.
Now, of course, if that's all God was trying to teach us in the law,
it'd be a pretty bleak picture, right?
But look again at verse one.
The law is not just a reminder of sins,
but it's also a shadow of the good things to come.
And of course, a shadow isn't the thing itself, right?
But a shadow points you or shows you something of what that thing is.
And Hebrews is saying the law foreshadows the good things,
the very reality that's to come.
Imagine on this side,
the sort of bright sun of God's plan and God's future.
And then on this side, shadows that run the whole way to the wall.
Friends, stretching into the distance, that's the old covenant.
That's the Old Testament with its sacrifices and with its temple and with its priesthood.
Shadows cast.
But of course, the great question is,
who is it that's casting the shadow?
Who is the true form of those realities?
Who's the one upon whom the light of God's future and God's plan shines
that casts such a brilliant picture in the Old Testament?
Friends, it's Christ.
Christ, he's the one who stands at the center of what God is doing in the world.
The light is shining on him.
And cast its shadow back into the Old Testament.
So when you read the Old Testament, you're looking at four shadows of Christ.
Christ, he's towering across its pages.
And God has orchestrated all the elements of the Old Testament,
the prophets and priests and kings,
the temples and tabernacles and sacrifices,
the wisdom and the law and the narratives,
all of it as a foreshadowing of the true image to come.
And the question that Hebrews has for his audience and for us
is why in the world do we keep on living in the shadows
when you can turn and see the thing itself?
Let's read again verses 5 through 7.
Consequently, when Christ came into the world,
he said,
sacrifices and offerings you've not desired,
but a body you've prepared for me.
In burnt offerings and sin offerings,
you've taken no pleasure.
Then I said,
behold, I've come to do your will,
O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.
In other words,
what the law could not do
through all of its sacrifices,
Jesus does
by submitting himself wholly to the will of the Father.
The eternal Son of God,
one with the Father and the Spirit from before all time,
takes on a body,
a body in the incarnation
and lives a life of complete obedience to God the Father.
In Psalm 40,
the text that Hebrews is quoting here in verses 5 through 7,
it's a Psalm of David,
who you remember is ancient Israel's great king.
And in these verses,
the king is expressing his desire
to heed God's word
and to obey him.
Because it's over and over again,
what the Old Testament says is,
what God desires more than sacrifice,
his first people to trust him
and obey him
and to love him.
To obey is better than sacrifice.
And it's fitting
that Hebrews would put
this Psalm
on the lips of Jesus
as the words he says
upon entering the world
in his incarnation.
Because don't they summarize
the mission of Christ
perfectly?
Friends,
he is the utterly
obedient king.
Not a single sacrifice
was required for him
because he never sinned.
Even the great David
fell.
Even the best of us
in this room
are flawed
and fallen
and haven't trusted
and loved
and obeyed God
like we should
and like is right.
But friends,
not Jesus.
Jesus perfectly
obeyed God.
He had come
to do God's will.
In his earthly ministry,
do you remember
how Jesus summarized
God's moral law
in two great commands?
The first,
to love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and soul
and mind
and strength.
And the second,
to love your neighbor
as yourself.
And you know,
the truth is
none of us
have kept
these commands.
And in fact,
Christianity
is for people
who know
that they haven't
kept those commands.
So if you're here
this morning
and you're not a Christian,
we're really glad
you're here.
But let me tell you
a little secret
that's not so secret.
This room
is full.
I mean full
of sinners.
each and every
last one of us.
And you're welcome
here too.
You belong here
as well.
Because the glory
of what this
whole thing
is about
is that
into the sea
of sinful humanity,
Jesus came
and lived
a life
of complete
trust
and love
and submission
and obedience
to the Father.
And that
perfect
loving
obedience
led him
to be
the most
compelling
person
who ever
walked the earth.
Crowds
gathered.
Outcasts
loved him.
Religious people
had no idea
what to do
with him.
history
can't seem
to forget
him.
And his
closest
followers
came to
believe
the ones
who had
the closest
view of his
life day
in and day
out
were the
ones who
finally came
to believe
that he
was God's
true
king.
But
shockingly
as Jesus'
submission
to the
Father's
will
continues,
it
eventually
leads to
conflict
and to
betrayal
and to
arrest
and to
abandonment.
And
finally
to
crucifixion.
And on
the night
he was
betrayed,
Jesus,
knowing
that he
was about
to drink
the cup
of our
death,
the cup
of God's
hatred
for our
sin,
says,
Father,
not my
will,
but yours
be done.
As Paul
put it in
the passage
we read
earlier,
he was
obedient to
the point
of death,
even death
on a
cross.
He had
come to
do the
Father's
will,
and he
did it
to the
end.
And
having
given his
life for
our sins,
three days
later,
God raised
him from
the dead,
demonstrating
to everyone
that the
sacrifice
was perfect
and acceptable.
And Christ
ascended to
the right
hand of the
Father where
he sits
right now
to present
his perfect
life and
his sacrifice
for our
sins for
all who
would believe.
And he's
commanding
all of us
to repent
and to
believe in
him and
to find
our life
in his
life.
Friend, I
wonder when
you think
about this
central claim
of Christianity
that Jesus
died on the
cross for
sinners, I
wonder how
you imagine
that in
your mind
when you
think about
God.
Do you
imagine an
angry father
in heaven
reluctantly
being convinced
to change
his mind
about sinful
humanity
because Jesus
just happened
to step in
at the last
minute?
The sort
of angry
father and
the willing
son.
Or do you
imagine the
son being
sort of an
innocent and
reluctant
victim, sort
of mistakenly
finding himself
caught up in
this plan of
a vengeful, of
a sort of
vengeful and
wrathful God?
Friends, too
often in our
thinking about the
work of salvation
we pit the
father and son
against one
another, but I
hope you see
from this text
that that is a
gross caricature
of what we
find in
scripture.
In fact, that
idea misses it
altogether.
The Bible
teaches nothing
of that sort.
Instead, what
we really find
is this.
The father
in love
planning a
work of
redemption for
sinful humanity
and the son
in love
accomplishing that
work and
even the spirit
going forth in
love to bring
that work to
its completion.
salvation.
And the
wonder of this
plan is that
God, father,
son, and
holy spirit
brings about
salvation for
sinners without
in any way
compromising his
holy character
or his loving
character.
Without rejecting
either his
perfect holiness
or his perfect
love.
Because in
holiness, he
condemns sin.
And in love, he
bears that
condemnation
himself.
Friends, every
other religion
will tell you
what you have to
sacrifice in
order to win
favor with God.
What you need to
perform.
Whether it's the
sacrifice of a
really moral,
scrupulous life,
or whether it's
the performance
of daily rituals
and prayers.
But at the
heart of
Christianity is
something totally
different.
In Christianity,
God makes the
sacrifice.
God does the
work.
What God
requires of us,
perfect human
obedience,
God provides.
The perfect
obedience of
Christ.
yours through
faith.
This is God's
will, as our
passage puts it.
His purpose,
his plan.
Do you see how
incredibly
generous and
loving that it
is?
How unlike
anything else
it is that
God would
choose to
freely forgive
and cleanse
everyone who
puts their
life into the
hands of the
risen Christ.
who died for
you?
You see,
friends, at the
end of the
day, there are
really only two
ways to live.
You can keep
trying to
work on your
perfect self.
Or you can
give your life
to the only one
who really is
perfect.
One is a road
that will lead
eventually to
darkness and
loneliness far
from the God
who made us
and loves us.
But the other
is a road that
leads to freedom
and joy in
his presence.
In fact, the word
that Hebrews uses to
describe it in verse
10 is sanctified.
sanctified by his,
that is by God's
will at his
initiative, because
it's his plan,
because he loves,
by God's will,
we who have
trusted in Christ
have been
sanctified through
the offering of
the body of Jesus
Christ once for
all.
Now, sanctified has
got to be one of
the most religiously
sounding words in
the planet, right?
But it means to
make something
holy.
To be sanctified
is to be made
holy.
And sometimes in
the New Testament,
this word
sanctification
describes an
ongoing process
of progressively
becoming more
and more like
Jesus after you
become a
Christian.
But sometimes
in the New
Testament, this
word sanctification,
being sanctified,
is used to
describe not an
ongoing process,
but something
that's definitively
true.
A position,
a status that
you have before
God because
you're in Christ.
And that's how
Hebrews is using
it here.
He's saying that
when God looks
at us in Christ,
he sees us as
holy, as clean,
as complete.
Because Christ
did all that the
law required for
us, fulfilling
its commands,
paying its
penalties.
Now there's
nothing lacking.
That's what
perfect means.
There's nothing
lacking for us
to be fit for
God's presence
and God's
purpose.
When God looks
at you in
Christ, he's not
looking around for
the better version
of you.
He's not sizing
you up to decide
whether or not
you'll make the
cut.
Oh, Stan, he
needs to hit the
gym.
Mmm, that
one better do
some more
penance.
No, friends.
He's made you
holy.
You're in.
You're clean.
You're complete.
Now, yes, he's
going to do
everything in his
power to see that
you actually grow
and change and
actually share
his holiness
actually in your
life.
We'll get to
that in chapter
12.
Buckle your
seatbelt.
But the reason
he's doing all
of that hard,
glorious work in
you is because
he already
accepts you.
Because he's
already made you
holy in Christ.
And all this
means three things
and then we'll
close.
First,
having been
sanctified in
Christ, it
releases us
from our guilt.
Verse 2 said
that the law
could never deal
with our
consciousness of
sin.
No matter what
we did, no
matter how many
sacrifices we
made, no
matter how hard
we tried to be
a good person,
or how hard we
worked at
constructing the
authentic me,
deep down things
still weren't
right.
And there was a
residual sense of
guilt and shame.
And many of us
never even knew
why we felt that
way because we
didn't even believe
in God in the
first place, but
it never went
away.
And our
psychotherapist
told us to go
have more sex,
so we did it,
and that didn't
work either.
The preacher
just said sex
from the pulpit.
But now, you
see friends, but
now that Christ
has made us
clean through
his perfect
life, now
that we're in
him, united
to him through
faith, our
past can no
longer accuse
us.
we're free
from our
guilt.
Look, I
know that
some of us
in here have
done things
that if you
knew someone
else knew what
you did, you
would never
come back.
But friends,
let me say to
you that
whatever it is,
if you're in
Christ, it's
done.
That's not you
anymore.
it's been
cleansed through
the offering of
his body for
you.
You've been
sanctified.
You've been
made holy.
And if you're
someone who's
afflicted by a
guilty conscience,
remember your
baptism.
Yeah, we've
got this big
box up here.
Do you
remember how
after coming to
faith in Christ,
you stood before
the church and
professed your
faith in the
Lord Jesus?
And do you
remember how
you stood in
that water and
went down and
came back up?
Friends, that is
God's way of
saying something
to you.
Are you
listening?
That through
your faith in
Christ, you've
been cleansed.
That your sins
died with Christ
on the cross and
that your new
life began with
him in his
resurrection.
Baptism is
Jesus' gift to
you.
It's his way of
taking that
spiritual
reality and
shouting it
into your
heart.
You're clean.
You're new.
You're mine.
And he does it
publicly, right?
We get up in
front of people
and we do this
thing so that
everyone can
remind you of
it when you
start to doubt.
And so that
whenever anyone
else gets
baptized, like
we'll do this
morning, you can
be reminded
that it's
for you
too.
Here's how the
Heidelberg
Catechism put it
nearly 450 years
ago.
Christ
instituted
this outward
washing and
with it made a
promise that
as surely as
water washes
away the dirt
from the body,
so certainly
his blood and
his spirit have
washed away my
soul's impurity.
that is all
my sins.
Friends, do you
see what they're
saying?
They're not saying
that this water
actually does
anything to you,
but they're saying
it's a promise of
Christ, that He's
speaking something
to you, that as
surely as you've
gone down and
up, so surely
your sins have
been washed away
through faith in
Christ.
So when your
conscience is
troubled and your
inner accusations
come, remember
your baptism.
and in so doing
remember Jesus'
work for you.
The Puritans
used to say,
for every one
look you take
it yourself, take
ten looks at
Christ and who
He is and what
He's done for
you.
Now of course
this sanctification,
this release from
guilt doesn't mean
that as Christians
we'll never feel
conviction for sins
that we commit
after becoming
believers because
the Holy Spirit
lives in us, we
definitely will feel
conviction.
And doesn't Jesus
teach us to pray
that we would have
to forgive each
other just as
God has forgiven
us.
So clearly
there's still a
place in our
Christian life for
confession of sins,
for continual
repentance in our
Christian walk.
So friends, if God
is laying something
on your heart this
morning, confess it
to Him.
If it's something
that you've done
wrong to another,
confess it to them
and seek forgiveness
and reconciliation.
reconciliation.
But know that if
we've confessed our
sins, then He is
faithful and just to
forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.
Your conscience at long
last is cleansed and
you're released from
your guilt.
That's one side of
having been sanctified or
made holy in Christ,
being released from
guilt.
But you know the
other side of it is
that it releases us
for good works.
You see, when
something was
sanctified or made
holy in the Old
Testament, it wasn't
just considered pure or
clean, but it was
also set apart now for
a special task.
It had a noble purpose.
It was consecrated for
God's service, for
God's kingdom.
Do you remember what
Jesus says to His
disciples?
You are the salt of
the earth and you
are a light of the
world.
You're a city on a
hill, so let your
light shine before
others that they might
see your good works and
give glory to your
Father who's in heaven.
Paul says in Ephesians
2.10 that we've been
created in Christ Jesus,
that is recreated in
Christ Jesus, for good
works.
not by our good works,
but for good works.
And if you don't
understand the difference
between those two,
friend, come talk to me
after the service.
Because that is the
difference between
religion and
Christianity.
So you see, when we
come to trust in Christ,
His perfect life makes us
holy in God's sight, and
suddenly a massive shift
takes place.
We no longer have to
work on ourselves and
obsess about ourselves.
Suddenly we're freed from
the tyranny of centering
our lives on ourselves.
Think about it.
Before we became
Christians, why did we
even do good things?
Well, partially because
we wanted to help.
We had a natural sense of
pity.
But largely because we
wanted to be a good
person.
We were doing good,
largely, for ourselves.
But when Christ cleanses
us, we stop needing to
live for ourselves.
Because He's already
done that.
And He did it a lot
better than I could do
it for me.
And now we can start
living for others.
Friends, one of the
strongest forces for
good in the world are
local churches who know
that in Christ they've
been sanctified, they've
been made holy, not
because of what they've
done, but because of
what Jesus has done.
Imagine not just two or
three people living like
this, freed from self,
to serve others.
But friends, imagine
whole communities,
congregations of
hundreds of people
covenanted together in
membership to love and
serve one another and to
be salt and light in the
city where they live.
In our school and in our
workplaces, in our
dorms and in our
neighborhoods, living as
people who are finally
off the hamster wheel of
self and who have eyes to
see and hearts filled
with love for those
around them with a love
that Christ has shown to
them.
Friends, if you can
imagine that kind of
community, then that's the
church.
That's our call.
Again, it's hard not to
make the connection to
baptism here.
You see, when someone is
baptized, that is the
church identifying that
person as a genuine
believer in Christ, as a
member of Christ's
kingdom, as one who's
been set apart for that
noble purpose of being
Christ's ambassador in
the world.
Just as these waters
represent our cleansing
in Christ, they
represent our calling in
Christ.
To go and to live new
lives in the church for
the world to the glory of
God.
Christian, I wonder, does
your life speak of this
cleansing and calling you've
received?
Are you still living for
yourself?
Or are you living in the
freedom from self for
others that Christ has won
for you because he has
sanctified you?
After the service today, over
lunch, in coffee hour
downstairs, maybe talk
together about ways in
which God has positioned you
personally in your work, in
your neighborhood, to do good
works that glorify his
name.
Who has he put in your
life to share the gospel
with?
Certainly that's the
greatest good you could do
for anyone.
And consider as well, who
might you meet up with
regularly?
Someone who's in your
church family here for
encouragement, for prayer,
for discipleship.
And what other needs are you
seeing?
In the world around you, and
how has he gifted you to
meet them?
And who else shares this
passion and this concern?
What avenues for gospel
speaking and gospel doing is
he placing on your heart?
And what practical steps
could you take, even this
afternoon, to see some of
these things start to take
shape?
Friends, what I know is this.
If in Christ we have been
sanctified, set apart for his
purpose.
It's not a question of whether
God has good works for us to
do.
He's already set us apart for
his kingdom, and he's already
prepared good works for us to
do.
It's simply a question of where
we'll begin.
He has released us for good
works.
Third and last, having been
sanctified by God's will through
Christ, it releases us from
guilt for good works to trust
God's will for our lives in his
word.
Friends, if everything we've been
saying is true, then notice you
see that God certainly has your
ultimate good in mind.
If the Father would plan from all
eternity, and the Son would
accomplish in history your
redemption, your cleansing, through
the horrible death on a cross, if
he's done all that for you, then
surely you can trust him.
If by that will you've been
sanctified, then certainly by that
will you will also find continual
freedom and life and joy.
And where do we find God's will?
Friends, again, the graciousness of
God, we find it in his word.
Instead of trying to fashion our
lives and create our identities
according to our own desires, we can
now gladly shape our lives according
to God's own word.
After all, the one who created us
knows us best.
And he knows how best we ought to be.
And he knows how best we ought to use
our money and our bodies and our
status and our privilege and our
position so that we might flourish.
And so that others might flourish
too.
And he's not just our creator, but as
we've been saying this morning, he's
our cleanser.
He's our redeemer.
He's the one who loved us and
cleansed us.
Now surely his commands are not
wasted, but they're for our good.
Now make no mistake, a life shaped by
God's word might not be one filled
with ease or wealth or worldly status.
You might not actually get your best
life now.
But friends, it will be one of increasing
freedom and joy and hope.
So this is the answer to our problem.
As we've gotten lost in the maze of
making our own selves and fashioning our
own identities, Christ has come and done
something completely off the map for us.
He's lived a life in radical obedience
to his father so that we might share in
his perfection, in his sanctification, in
his wholeness.
And it's there in giving our lives to him and
letting him shape our lives that we find true
freedom and joy.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you this morning for Christ.
God, thank you for giving us in him the perfect
cleansing that we need and the calling to go
forth and to love you in freedom.
God, take these things and impress them deeply in our
hearts today.
Lord, help us to see in the days to come how we can
start living in line with the truth of this good news.
We pray all this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Well, as I've been mentioning a lot this morning,
we are having two baptisms this morning,
which is a great joy for us.
In Matthew 28, the resurrected Jesus says,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I've commanded you.
And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the
ages.
So, friends, baptism is something that we do in
obedience to Christ's command.
It's the way in which disciples of Jesus, who've placed
their faith in him, make a public profession of that
faith.
And as we've said, what baptism is, it's a powerful
portrayal of Jesus' own death and resurrection.
That he's gone down into the grave and come up in newness
of life.
And baptism also says that we, through faith in Christ,
have also died and come to new life in him.
That our sins have been cleansed.
That our new life has begun.
So I wonder if Lee and Laura would come up at this point.
It's been a great joy for us as pastors to get to know, come
on up, guys.
Laura and Lee.
Laura's been here for how many years, Laura?
Four and a half.
And Lee's been coming for about a year, right, Lee?
Is that?
Yeah.
So, since summer.
So, they're going to share their testimonies with you all.
And we're going to rejoice with them.
So, Laura, why don't you come up and share?
Good morning, church.
I think for a lot of people, baptism comes together with a new faith.
And for me today, baptism is just one more sign in a long, long list of signs
of God's faithfulness to me.
In sustaining me through all kinds of hardships.
And refining me, sanctifying me, as we heard in the sermon.
And I became a Christian 12 years ago when I was a freshman in high school.
After a time that I had really rebelled against the Lord for many years.
I was raised in a Christian home.
But during middle school and high school, I started thinking that maybe I knew better than that.
And I started following the ways of the world.
And I can tell you that rebellion only led me to a place of pain and hopelessness.
Toward hatred, toward people who wronged me.
Left me feeling like a burned out house with no room for emotion.
No hope, no love.
Even thoughts of suicide.
And in that time, I thought back to when I had been a young child.
Praying to the Lord as my parents had taught me.
Having an innocence and a hope in him.
Knowing that he was my father, that he loved me, that I could trust him.
And I began reading my Bible again regularly.
I began praying.
I began asking God to help me come back to him.
To change my heart.
And it took a couple months.
And he brought some people into my life who helped me recognize how I was still holding on to some sins that had become very strong in my life during that rebellion.
And helped me to turn from them and repent to them and to truly give my life over to Jesus.
And I remember one night I was praying and reading the word.
And I just felt his presence in a completely unmistakable and unprecedented way.
And I just knew that I was his daughter.
That he was my father and he had saved me and he would never leave me.
And that he had changed my heart so that I wouldn't leave him either.
That he was holding me strong and that nothing could separate me from his love.
And since that night, there have been so many times that he has been faithful to me in other ways.
That he's brought me through hardships and trials.
Both things that are a product of the fallenness of this world.
And also things that are part of my own fallenness and my own weakness.
And my own tendency to sin.
And to disobey the God who loves me so much and gave everything for me.
Who rescued me from feeling worthless like so many girls in high school do.
To helping me recognize that lie that I'm not worthless.
That the God of the universe loved me enough to die for me.
When I was still rebelling against him.
When I was still hating him and spitting in his face.
He came and he died for me.
Not because I deserve it.
But just because he's good.
And because he's loving and wonderful and beautiful.
So as I mentioned, I was brought up in a Christian home.
I was brought up in a Presbyterian church.
And I was baptized as an infant.
So though I've been a Christian for 12 years, I'm getting baptized today.
And that again is just through God's faithfulness and patience with me.
And working in me.
That he's led me to attend churches that really helped me to think about what the scripture does say about baptism.
To challenge my views on that.
And really dig deep into the word.
And ask God to reveal his will to me.
And so I had some time to really devote my study of the word and my prayer to this question of baptism.
And the Lord did show me how this is what he wants for us.
That this is his design in baptism.
For us to be repentant.
And to accept this baptism as a gift.
Knowing that we have been saved.
So I'm accepting the believer's baptism this morning.
And as I said, for me it's another sign of his faithfulness.
And the joy for me today is just the simple joy of hearing my Lord's voice and obeying.
Just having the pure and simple satisfaction and joy of following him wherever he calls me.
And I'm so thankful that he has allowed me to see this part of him.
And for all the ways that he will continue causing me to grow and love him more in the future.
Good morning.
My name is Lee.
And I'm just going to tell you a little bit about my journey of faith.
In February, I heard Pastor Nick say that the Bible is filled with stories of people who don't deserve God's grace.
But they receive it anyway.
Fortunately for me, that has been the case in my life.
I grew up in New Jersey where I lived with my mom and my dad and my older brother.
Both of my parents are wise and generous and loving.
And my mom's probably crying already.
When I was four years old, my mother got saved.
So I knew about Jesus from a very young age.
And I was taught that we're all sinners.
And we need to believe that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins.
Okay, fair enough.
Jesus was my savior.
I never doubted this.
Church was definitely a big part of my life from a very young age too.
My mom would take my brother and me to a Baptist church every Sunday.
But church was not close to my hometown.
So Sundays were long and tiring, especially as a kid.
As I got a little bit older, I grew resistant to the long services and the long drives.
I hated going to church.
But if I didn't go to church, I was grounded.
My mom would say, if you don't have time for God, you don't have time for your friends.
And although I might steal that line and use it on my own kids one day, at the time I really hated it.
But reluctantly, I continued to attend church every Sunday.
But when I got to middle school, I only grew more resistant.
I was becoming resentful of the rules that were implemented on my life.
I wasn't allowed to listen to certain kinds of music.
I couldn't read certain books or watch certain movies.
I viewed Christianity as a list of everything that I couldn't do.
By the time I hit high school, I had a strange relationship with Christianity.
I felt like my faith made me different, and I was embarrassed by it.
Still, I never doubted that Jesus was my Savior.
From the time I was in kindergarten, this was all that I'd ever heard.
And by that time, I had also become vaguely aware that Jesus was the person that I would talk to in my head all day.
And I thought that that was enough to make me Christian.
But that was the extent of my relationship with Jesus.
I didn't want him to invade the other parts of my life.
As far as I was concerned, Jesus was seriously cramping my style.
And so I was still resisting God's word and God's love.
When I graduated from high school, I felt like my parents had equipped me with strong values and a good moral compass.
I was ready to go be an adult.
And in the fall of 2007, I enrolled at Quinnipiac University.
And now that I was living on my own, it occurred to me,
I don't have to wake up early on Sundays and go to church anymore.
So I enjoyed my newfound freedom, and I didn't bother to find a church in Connecticut.
Like most 18-year-olds, I thought that I knew so much about life and how to live it well.
And I probably was better prepared than a lot of my peers.
But the truth is, college is going to throw a whole lot of craziness at you that you were not prepared for.
Maybe some of the college students in the room might agree.
You're going to be faced with curveballs that you couldn't have expected.
And college is full of scenarios that are going to test your faith and challenge your morals.
I thought that I knew how to handle everything that came my way.
But of course, as sinners do, I made a mess of things.
I dug myself into some pretty deep holes that I wasn't sure how to get out of.
In a time where so much is uncertain, and you're still finding your way,
and you're trying to figure out who you are and who you want to be,
wouldn't it be nice to have a friend who's always going to have your back,
who knows everything that's going to happen to you,
and who's going to hold your hand through the entire thing?
I didn't realize it in college, but that's actually the perfect time to rely on God.
Unfortunately, many college kids don't.
I didn't.
But I wish that I had.
It would have saved me from a lot of stress, worrying, pain, and heartache.
In the summer of 2013, two years after I graduated from college,
I met a new friend here in New Haven, and he was attending Trinity Baptist Church.
I was inspired by his close walk with God,
and I recognized it as something that I needed in my life, too.
It had been too long since I'd been in church.
I was curious to find out if this Baptist church was like the ones that I went to growing up.
So I started coming here in July, and I joined a small group here, too.
What I found was a welcoming and warm and uplifting experience every time I walked through the doors.
One Sunday morning last August, Pastor Greg was preaching about God's pursuing love.
And I sat in my pew, and I had a moment of self-reflection.
I looked back on the past several years of my life and the mistakes that I had made
and how I'd distanced myself from God, especially in college.
I thought about how I'd been resisting Jesus for years, probably my entire life.
And I thought to myself, if I were God, I probably would have given up on me by now.
I'd been resisting God for 24 years, but he'd been pursuing me for 24 years, too.
And in God's perfect timing, in a roundabout way, I had found myself sitting back in church, in that pew right there.
And I sat in that pew, and I began to sweat, and my breathing became erratic, and my eyes welled up with tears.
And I felt strongly that I was sitting in church that day for a reason.
I guess I always knew that God had been working in my life in some abstract sense.
But in that moment, that was the first time that I could really feel it.
And it wasn't that God hadn't been working in my life before.
Sadly, I think I'd just been ignoring him for a really long time.
But as I was having this realization, I heard Pastor Greg say,
God could have given up on me, but he never did.
And those words echoed in my head, and I realized that God never gave up on me either.
And I cried in that pew for like 20 minutes.
Needless to say, these were good tears.
And it wasn't that I had received any new information.
I always knew that Jesus loved me, but this was the first time that I could really feel it.
And it's one thing to have the technical knowledge of what salvation is,
but it's another thing for the lens in which you view your whole life to actually change.
And so while that was certainly a pivotal day for me,
I know that salvation is not just one fleeting experience,
but it actually brings a permanent change in your life.
And last summer was when I finally stopped resisting God's love.
After 24 years of God softening my heart,
the desire to obey God and do things his way has finally come naturally.
My parents are much like my parents.
I know that if God sets guidelines for us to follow,
it's only because he loves us and wants to protect us from harm or pain or heartache.
He wants us to experience all of the blessings that he has in store for us.
So today, just a few days before my 25th birthday,
I'm very excited to be celebrating a new chapter in my life by getting baptized.
And when I'm submerged under that water, two things are going to happen.
One, I'm going to ruin a perfectly good hair day.
And two, I'm giving my life to God and I'm doing things his way from now on.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you.