The Shadow, The Reality & Beyond

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.

Yeah.

So welcome to Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

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,

Mark 8 · chapter mention

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.

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

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

Hebrews 10:1–18

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,

Hebrews 10:1

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

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

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.

Hebrews 10:2

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,

Hebrews 10:3

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,

Hebrews 10:5

the author,

paraphrasing Psalms 40, verse 6-8,

Psalms 40:6–8

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.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

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,

Hebrews 10:7

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,

Hebrews 10:10

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.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

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

Hebrews 10:12–13

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

Hebrews 10:9

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

Hebrews 10:16

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

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

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

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

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

Psalms 40:8

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

Hebrews 10:17–18

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