I'm reading from Hebrews 10, starting at verse 1 through to verse 18.
No longer have any consciousness of sin.
But in these sacrifices, there is a reminder of sin 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,
Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me.
In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the
scroll of the book.
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 abolishes 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.
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which
can never take away sins.
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the
right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for
his feet.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us.
For after saying, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares
the Lord, I will put my laws on their heart and write them on their minds.
Then he added, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Good morning, church.
How are you all doing?
Good.
I'm very delighted and honored to have the opportunity to preach and share God's word today.
Why don't we bow our heads and pray together?
Yeah.
Our heavenly Father, it is your word that created the world and it's by your word and your son
that we are sustained.
We need you, Lord.
So please help us to be excited about your word and above all to be excited about your
son, Jesus.
Help our minds and hearts turn to you and may your word change our lives.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Yeah.
So welcome to Hebrews chapter 10.
Today is our 10th sermons on the series.
Just wanted to ask, have you ever considered what life would be like if we could travel back
in time to the first century, the time of the Roman Empire, when some of the apostles were
still around, the New Testaments that are now in our hands are still being written and
we were part of the early church.
What would we be struggling with as an early church, as a first century Christian?
History says that, unlike us in 2025, the early church wasn't struggling with gender
issues or US politics.
Or evangelicalism versus Pentecostalism or computer PowerPoint problems.
They were a minority group of people, many of Jewish descent, who upon hearing the good
news of Jesus Christ gave their life to him and gave up their Jewish way of life to follow
Jesus.
Some suffered physical abuse.
Others lost their properties, their jobs, their social status, pretty much everything.
Following Jesus was very, very costly.
And besides social economic changes, becoming Christian also meant forsaking all the daily
seasonal rituals that they grew up with if they were a Jew.
For example, circumcision ceremonies, cleansing rituals, temple sacrifice where their community
is centered and all the feasts and that they celebrated throughout the year, all canceled.
It's like having all our electronic devices taken away, including the old television.
Plus our birthdays, our Christmas, our Easter, which is coming up soon, our Labor Day, and even
that King's birthday, all canceled at the same time.
Pretty devastating, isn't it?
Just imagine that.
In Mark chapter 8, Jesus said,
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, carry the cross, and follow me.
For whoever would save his life would lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and
the gospels would save it.
Our Savior was not kidding.
He expected his followers to pay a hefty price as a result of following him, and the earthly
church experienced exactly what Jesus said to the full.
To get out of this hardship could be quite simple.
You just go back to the old weight of life.
Stop following Jesus.
Stop being countercultural.
And just be a normal Jew.
Practice what Moses says.
Follow everyone else.
Denounce Jesus.
This is the kind of stuff the early church leaders were up against, and that is why the
Letters to the Hebrews, which was a sermon, was originally written.
The early local church needed a strong reminder that Jesus is better than the angels, bigger
than Moses, far more superior than any priest in any sanctuary and any sacrifices.
So it should not make sense for anyone to give up on Jesus, no matter the cost.
And today, as we look at the first half of chapter 10, we will see the author of Hebrews going
a step further.
This one step further is a huge step further.
Using the Old Testament, he argues that Jesus is better than even the Mosaic covenant, the
law.
And that Jesus had already replaced this law.
To us, it's like, so what?
To the Jews, the law was what gave them their national identities.
These people were originally slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years.
But God rescued them and made a covenant with them and promised to make them his special people.
Here is what the Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 19.
Thus, you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the people of Israel, you yourselves have
seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to
myself.
Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my
treasured possession among all peoples.
For all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.
The law was what gave the Jews their identity according to God.
Now, 20 years ago, Cindy and I had moved to London and we were working there and living
there.
Everyone we met asked where we were from because people just move in and out of London.
Nobody actually stays there, apparently.
Yeah.
And so we told them proudly, we're Australians.
Now, 90% of the Brits would look at us with the weirdest look on their face.
You're, what?
How come you look Chinese?
What's with the accent?
You know, so after a while, we just gave up.
You know, we're just like, okay, forget about this.
We're from Hong Kong.
Much easier that way, right?
To us, giving us our Australian national identity, although we're still patriotic, didn't seem
like a huge deal.
But to the Jews, the Jewish Christians, that is totally something else.
To give up on practicing God's law is to give up God's covenant promise, give up on being
God's kingdom, people, and nation, and give up on their Jewish identity.
Basically, they're self-excommunicated.
The stakes are super high.
Why would anyone do that for anybody?
Today, I'm going to share with you three reasons.
Following the text of Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 1 to 18, it'd be great if you can follow
along, I will first discuss why it makes perfect sense for the Jewish Christians to give up
on the law, which gave them their identities.
Along the way, I'll try to relate this to us.
And the question I would like us to think about and consider today is, why should we give up
on whatever it is that defines us and follow Jesus instead?
Now, here there are three headings, and they're in your bulletins.
First, the practice that never made perfect.
Second, the propitiation that is perfect.
Third, and last point, the promise of complete transformation.
So, are we ready for this?
No?
Just want to check that you're still here.
All right, let's go.
First, the practice that never made perfect.
Now, practice makes perfect is a widely accepted saying, isn't it?
But if we were to keep practicing something that deviates just slightly from the right way,
whether in sport or music or your studies or your skincare routine, chances are you will
achieve something that is anything but perfect.
Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 1 says,
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.
Every Jewish person in the first century knew that Yahweh, that God, is supremely holy, and
that he is highly sensitive to sin because they grew up memorizing large parts of their Hebrew
scriptures.
Not that God gets sick, but he is a bit like someone with nut allergies.
God's level of tolerance for presence of sin, it's zero.
Zilch.
Now, some schools in Australia have signs saying, we are a nut-free school.
I suppose that helps people enroll and help them with the numbers, right?
Because some kids could get really, really sick from the presence of nuts without even
touching them.
In a similar way, God's temple, which symbolizes his earthly presence, has dozens of signs that
says, I'm a sin-free God.
Not written signs on plastics, but signs that involves real people, real sacrifices like animals
and actions.
Leviticus 16 says that, besides the tent of meeting, which more people can access and touch,
which needed blood atonement, even the holy place, which is further in, and the altar and
areas restricted only to the priest, also needed blood atonement.
All because of the uncleanness and sins of the Israeli people.
So sin is like airborne contamination.
And on top of that, they had all the clothes changing and rituals of washing and everything.
It's quite like us during COVID, isn't it?
We were putting alcohol disinfectants everywhere.
You know, even on grocery shopping bags, we like spraying them, you know, to avoid contagion.
A lot more washing and frequent washing of clothes too during that time for us.
And that is how sensitive God is to sin.
Zero tolerance.
Every Jew knew that because their law said so.
But what they didn't know was that all these animal sacrifices that had been offered yearly
for thousands of years did not actually make perfect the priests or the worshippers they
were representing so that they could all draw near to the real presence of their God who has
zero tolerance for sin.
That is why the Hebrew authors had to break the bad news to them.
What a bummer.
And of course, this wasn't the only bad news.
Earlier in Hebrews chapter 9, the author also said that the earthly tent or tabernacle was
just a copy of God's presence, not the real deal.
And that the animal blood was only a copy of Christ's blood, which symbolically cleansed
only the outside, but not the inside.
It's like they were living in Legoland.
You know, everything were grand and fascinating, but they were just copies of everything from
Harbour Bridge to Notre Dame with fake people, fake grass, fake animals.
And the harsh reality is hammered home with a logical argument today in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 2.
And I paraphrase.
If the practice of offering repeated sacrifices annually cleansed only the worshippers' conscience,
that is, making them perfect or complete in God's eyes, wouldn't they have stopped the practice?
Or to use an analogy, if the bleaching worked and the linen is already white as snow, why would anyone keep washing it?
So, although the Jews have been obediently following God's given law for centuries, it was all futile, useless, wasted.
Yes, the law had given them their identity.
And without the law, there is no order, no holy nation, and no priestly kingdoms.
But what they practiced year after year for almost 1,500 years could not actually qualify the high priest or the people they represented actual access to God.
And instead of a clean conscience, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 3, and if you take a look here,
it says all they got from practicing the law was a reminder of sins every single year.
An annual reminder of separation.
It's like those of us who are doing or having tried long-distance relationship.
You were connected via letters in the old days, phone calls that you have to keep paying money if it's really long-distance.
You're sending tapes and things like that.
Some of these younger guys have no idea what I'm talking about.
Now, if you're Gen Z or something, you're dating via texting and IG or Zoom or something like that, aren't you?
You can't hold hands.
You're not watching movies in the cinema together.
You can't even have a meal together.
You are not truly enjoying each other.
Every call is like a reminder of separation.
You're connecting, kind of, but your heart is crying out,
this can't be it forever, right?
That is why the Jewish Christians must give up on practicing their law clean and clear.
It does not make them perfect as access to the real God requires.
Should they choose to remain with the law or the shadow that we heard about during kids' time in verse 1,
they will just be stuck with their consciousness of sin and never arrive at enjoying God's real presence.
A pretty hopeless outcome for this life and also beyond.
So what does this all mean to us who are not born under the law of Moses?
I have a few thoughts that come to mind.
I just want to share this with you.
First, from this passage, we saw that the removal of inward sin
seems to be what the author was preoccupied with.
This can never remove sin.
This can never do away with sin.
Do we share the same preoccupation in our daily lives?
How often do we think about sins that's inside?
If God who gave Israel the law with all the sacrifices and all this requirement of purifications
and he promised to set them apart as a holy nation,
but then that could only get them to draw near to a copy but not actual of his presence,
where do we Gentiles who had none of those things belong?
With respect to God's presence.
Where do we actually belong apart from Jesus?
Third, practicing God's law gave Israel their identity,
but it did not make them perfect or take away sins
because outside-in cleansing never worked.
If that's the case,
what would the little subcultural laws that we follow
achieve with respect to our relationship with God?
Now here's some of the subcultural things that I just picked up in this past year
that since we came back to Australia that you might be familiar with.
For example, and I heard this at a restaurant yesterday,
there's nothing more important than health.
Another one.
Sport obsession equals masculinity.
Another one.
Google says,
so,
it must be true.
Another one is,
you do you.
Don't tell me what to do.
And we have this cancelled culture, don't we?
Like,
let's unfriend this guy.
Another one is,
I have,
there's nothing political here,
I have the right to have a voice.
And another one that's kind of older is,
there's this better home and garden culture that's around.
Everyone's just spending poor fortune in Bunnings, you know.
What recession?
You know,
Bunnings full.
There's all these other ones as well,
and we can all think about it.
These are these mini laws that the world has given us.
That,
you know,
sometimes,
perhaps sometimes we might just indiscriminately follow.
Do they give us true hope
in this life and beyond?
Now,
don't get me wrong here.
Not all cultural laws are inherently bad.
But they all strive to give us some sort of identity,
don't they?
An image to portray.
The question is,
are they really worth practicing
if they fall short of making us perfect?
Or,
are they worth really practicing
if they point us to some hope
that is other than Jesus?
If God's law given to Israel
never made perfect anyone,
then no other law in this world does.
But what God requires,
he provides.
So in the next couple of verses,
we will find that God has provided
the propitiation that is perfect.
That's point two on our bulletins.
First,
what is propitiation?
To propitiate means to offer a sacrifice
that appeases God's righteous wrath
against sin,
which we are full of.
The propitiator, then,
is the one who offers.
And the propitiation is the sacrifice.
If God's wrath is like a fire,
then propitiation is something
or someone that quenches that fire.
So how did God feel
when the Jews following the law
offered up their propitiation?
In Hebrews 10, verse 5,
the author,
paraphrasing Psalms 40, verse 6-8,
positions the passage as Christ's own words
and says that it is Jesus' understanding,
not his own,
that God hath taken no pleasure
in any of the offerings.
Ouch!
What a disappointment.
Those offerings cost a fortune, you know.
The propitiation done,
according to the law,
just wasn't the right stuff
that appeased God.
And the reason?
It is in verse 11 here.
Please take a look.
Every priest stands daily at his service,
offering repeatedly the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sin.
Never is a strong word.
Not once,
not for a nanosecond,
did any of the costly offering
actually work.
God has serial tolerance for sin,
and sin is what fuels God's wrath,
even though it grieves him
at the same time.
So until sin is effectively dealt with,
God is not going to be appeased.
In other words,
unless we are sanctified,
God cannot be satisfied.
The perfect propitiation, then,
must be one that sanctifies our sins.
Earlier, in Hebrews 2, 17,
the author already introduced the idea
that Jesus is our propitiator
and also our propitiation.
Jesus is both the offering mediator
and the sacrifice.
He threw himself
into the fire of God's wrath.
Wrath, sorry.
It's American there.
But how does Jesus sanctify us?
Let's hear what Jesus says
in Hebrews chapter 10.
First,
let's take a look here in verse 5.
First,
Jesus became fully human
according to God's provision.
Second half of verse 5 says,
a body you, God,
have prepared for me, Jesus.
And then Jesus,
fully human,
following God's word,
carries out God's will
with delightful obedience.
That's how he sanctifies us.
Again,
the author is paraphrasing
Psalms 40.
He in Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 7.
So he's kind of shortened
the original a bit
if you compare the two.
His audience probably knew
Psalm 40 already,
like we know Amazing Grace
because it was a song
written for the temple choir.
And here are the original lyrics
from the Old Testament.
And I'm quoting from Psalm 40 here.
Then I said,
Behold,
I come in the scroll of the book.
It is written of me.
I delight to do your will.
Oh my God,
your law is within my heart.
This is the second step
of how Jesus sanctified us,
delightfully fulfilling
what God says
his will is as a human.
And the third step of sanctification,
Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 10 explains,
it is by this will
that Jesus offered his body
once for all
so that it is through
his sacrifice
that we have been sanctified.
Jesus lived the life
that we ought to have lived
with delightful obedience to God
and died a death
that we ought to have died,
slaughtered like an animal
to sanctify us,
to make us whole
and set us apart
to be in mutually loving relationship,
self-giving relationship
with God
and with one another.
we can have atonement
or atonement with God
not because of our obedience
and sacrifices
but because of his sons.
Jesus went from being
the creator universe,
the lord of hosts
of all the angelic beings,
down to become
like a slaughtered animal
so that we won't be slaughtered
by God's wrath.
God made Jesus,
who knew no sin,
to be seen on our behalf
so that we might become
the righteousness of God
in him.
2 Corinthians chapter 5.
We came down low,
he came down low
and lower than low
so that we may go up high
to where we never deserve to be.
I'm not a professional firefighter
but recently I joined a school
to work there
and so I went through
some mandatory fire training.
Fire fighting training,
not lighting fires.
Did you know that
there are different
fire extinguishers
for different types of fire?
I only just found out.
They have water foam
based extinguishers
that are good for
like wood and paper
and other combustible stuff
and there are other ones
like dry powder
or carbon dioxide extinguishers.
They're all labelled
on the red thing,
the tanks.
They're all good for something
and not good for others.
Now, there's this special
type of fire,
they call it
class D fire.
Class D fire.
It's a metal fire
and it's like
combusting aluminum
and titanium
and magnesium,
all this elementary
table stuff
that I can't pronounce.
Apparently,
it is highly dangerous,
very volatile
fire.
You know,
and what the fire
expert says
in the training
is,
if that happens,
don't try to fight
the fire
and whatever
extinguishers
that you have,
just leave it there,
right?
Shut the place down,
evacuate,
call the professional
firefighters in.
The fire of God's wrath,
it's a bit like
a metal fire.
It is beyond us
to extinguish.
Only Jesus,
with his life
and blood
poured out,
can quench
God's fire.
We also need to
quit trying to
appease our
holy God
because even
Jesus,
our great high priest,
is done with it.
The author says
that in Hebrews
chapter 10
verses 12 to 13,
Christ has
accomplished
his high priestly
mission for all
time.
Past,
present,
and future sins
are all dealt
with.
He has moved
on from
sacrificing for
sins.
It is now
onto his
ministry of
kingly rule,
the Bible says.
That is why
Jesus has
sat down
at the right
of God,
waiting for
God to
completely
subdue his
enemies and
pile them
under Jesus'
feet like
a footstool.
That's an
allusion from
Psalm 110.
Now,
to sum up
point two,
it is by
Christ's
sacrifice that
we have been
sanctified so
that God
is satisfied.
Hebrews 10
14 says
Jesus has
perfected for
all time
some people.
Perfected
already?
Who?
He's talking
about us.
We've been
made whole,
complete,
and perfect
in God's
sight,
even though
our daily
experiences
might say
otherwise,
and if you're
married,
your spouse
will remind
you of that
every day.
Apart from
Jesus,
we are supposed
to be the
objects of
God's wrath,
love,
but because
of Jesus,
we are now
the objects
of his
pleasure.
Would our
subcultures
look at us
and say
that we are
perfected for
all time?
Or would
they forever
say that we
need to get
better and
try harder
and keep up
with this
positive thinking
and self-help
or white
lotus trip
or yoga
or mindfulness
app,
listening to
your inner
voice and
do some
trending diet
or whatever
they decide
to put up
on TikTok
tomorrow?
One tries
to enslave
us and
the other
says we
are free
already.
Jesus has
done it.
Which one
would you
choose?
Now,
Jesus is
the propitiation
that is
perfect.
John Stott
in his book
The Cross
of Christ
says this,
the essence
of sin
is man
substituting
himself for
God,
while the
essence of
salvation
is God
substituting
himself for
man.
Because of
Jesus'
substitution,
we are now
set apart
and purified,
no longer
defiling or
defiled and
contagious,
by which we
can confidently
approach God's
throne of
grace,
fully enjoy
him,
rain,
hail,
or shine.
But wait,
that's not all
that Jesus
has achieved.
There is
more.
that brings
us to
point two,
sorry,
point three,
the last
point of
today,
the promise
of complete
transformation.
In
Hebrews
10,
verse 9,
we are
told that
when Jesus
completes his
mission of
sanctifying us
through his
self-offering,
he does away
the first
in order
to establish
the second.
First and
second what?
the answer
is covenant
or the
law.
A covenant
is a promise
or positive
commitment
to give
that is
later
fulfilled.
For example,
when God
gave Abraham
a covenant
saying,
I will make
you into a
great nation
or I will
bless those
who bless
you,
he commits
to it
and then
he later
fulfills it,
although it
felt like
taking forever
for Abraham
for a while.
over the
course of
the biblical
narrative,
God has
made a
number of
covenants
with a
good number
of people,
Adam,
Noah,
Abraham,
Moses,
and David.
These are
some of the
key ones
and there
are other
ones too
in the
Bible.
But in
the context
of Hebrews,
the main
covenants
here,
like the
book of
Hebrews
here,
are the
Mosaic
covenants,
also known
as the
old
covenant,
and the
new
covenant
promised
in
Exodus
24 and
Jeremiah
31
respectively.
The
old
covenant
was
inaugurated
by
animal
blood,
while the
new
one
by the
blood
of
Jesus.
Both
covenants
are very
purposeful.
The
old
aim
at
partial
and
temporary
atonement
for sin
and
restoration
of
relationship
between
God
and his
chosen
people
to an
extent,
and the
new,
as we've
discussed,
complete
atonement
for sin
and full
renewal
of
relationship
between
God
and those
trusting
in
Jesus
Christ.
Now,
in both
covenants,
God promises
transformation
too.
In the
old,
God
promised
the
people
of
Israel
to
transform
them
from
what?
Slaves
to
God's
holy
nation,
the
kingdom
of
priests.
How
about
the
new
one?
Now,
there are
three that
I would
like to
share.
Three
things about
this
new
covenant
promise
that I
would
like to
share.
First,
the
new
covenant
promises
a
transformation
that is
inside
out.
Transformation
that is
inside
out.
How does
it do
it?
Let's
take a look
at
Hebrews
chapter 10
verse 16.
This
is the
covenant
that I
will
make
with
them
after
those
days,
declares
the
Lord.
Them
being the
church here,
not just
the house
of Israel.
I
will put
my
laws
on
their
hearts
and
write
them
on
their
minds.
laws
on
hearts
and
minds.
Now,
what is
the
heart
here?
The
heart,
contrary
to
modern
thinking,
is not
only the
seat of
our
feelings.
In the
biblical
sense,
the
heart is
also the
seat of
our
will,
our
decision
making,
our
emotions,
our
mind,
our
desires,
pretty
much
center
of
everything.
Hebrews
chapter 4
23
says,
above
all else,
guard
your
heart.
For
what?
Everything
you do
grows
from it.
Everything
you do
flows
from
everything.
Our
objects
are love,
trust,
and
obedience.
Everything
that is
in us,
that comes
out of
us,
is from
the
heart.
That is
what the
new
covenant
promises.
Transformation
of the
heart,
inside
and out.
If you
think about
it,
this is
the exact
opposite
of the
old
covenant,
isn't
it?
Because
as we
discussed
earlier,
the
practices
of the
law
could
only
cleanse
the
flesh
symbolically,
the
outside,
but change
nothing in
the inside
as the
consciousness
of sin
or guilt
and shame
and everything
that goes
with it
lingers on.
Now,
the second
thing the
new covenant
promises is
a heart that
is filled
with ardent,
centered love,
a heart that's
like Jesus.
Jesus.
When God
talks about
putting his
law into
our hearts
and minds,
it is
unlikely that
he's talking
about turning
us into
Old Testament
Bible trivia
kings.
Can you
recall when
Jesus was
tested by
a lawyer
in Matthew
chapter 22?
The guy
asked Jesus,
which is the
great commandment
in the law?
How did
Jesus reply?
Jesus said,
you shall
love the
Lord your
God with
all your
heart and
all your
soul and
all your
mind.
This is the
great and
first commandment.
And the
second is
like you.
You shall
love your
neighbor as
yourself also.
And on
these two
commandments
depend all
the law
and prophets.
To have a
heart filled
with God's
law is to
have a heart
filled with
God's love.
God's love
is other
centered love.
That is on
others and
on God.
A few
moments ago,
we looked at
Psalms 40
verse 8,
didn't we?
And I
quoted,
I delight
to do
your will,
O my
God,
your law
is within
my heart.
These were
the words
originally of
David,
but even
more so,
as Hebrews
10, 5
says,
it was
Jesus
speaking.
Having God's
law in the
heart then
is not like
someone who
knows a lot
of Bible,
but having
a heart
like Jesus.
And it is
because of
this heart
that he went
on the cross
and gave
his life
to us,
for us.
A perfect
and complete
heart in the
sight of God.
And of course,
our hearts
are still a
work in
progress.
While only
glimpses of
our transformation
may emerge
in this life,
its entirety
will be
surely
unveiled
in the
other side
of eternity.
Third and
lastly,
the new
covenant
promises a
transformation
that is
fueled,
not by
ourselves,
but by
God's
mercy.
Hebrews
10,
verses 17
to 18
says here,
if you can
follow with
me,
I will
remember
their sins
and their
lawless
deeds
no more.
That's
God's
new
covenant.
Again,
he's
paraphrasing
Jeremiah 31
here.
Then the
author
explains,
where there
is forgiveness
of this,
there is
no longer
any offering
for sin.
This,
again,
is the
exact opposite
of the
old
covenant.
With the
old,
it's about
an annual
reminder of
sin.
But with
the new,
God chooses
to forgive
and literally
forget,
not literally
forget,
but counts
as forget,
which means
he's not
holding our
sins against
us anymore.
And we
all know
why,
don't we?
It is
because if
the accuser
goes to
God and
says,
look at
Calvin,
he's
stuffed up
again,
Jesus,
he says,
look at
my hands
and my
feet.
His blood
is covering
us once
and for
all.
So here
we have
it,
the new
covenant.
It promises
a transformation
that is
inside out,
a heart
like Jesus,
fueled by
God's
mercy,
a perfect
and complete
transformation.
What a
promise.
or to
put it
another
way,
the new
covenant
promises us
transformation
that isn't
about adopting
a new set
of rules.
It is
about hearts
that is
transformed
by the
gospel.
Finally,
back to our
original question,
why should we
give up on
whatever it
is that
defines us
and follow
Jesus
instead?
it is
because the
gospel of
Jesus is
infinitely
greater than
everything in
the world.
Our
heavenly
father,
our hearts
are so
small and
so broken,
we fail to
see how
holy you
are,
how great
you are,
and how
wonderful
your son
and everything
that he has
done for
us is.
Help us
see your
beauty,
and feel
the reality
of the
gospel
every day
in our
lives,
so that
we can be
transformed
by you
and to
reflect your
glory in
this one,
in this
broken,
very broken
world.
In Jesus'
name we
pray,
amen.
what do you