The Sacrifice That Ended The Sacrifices

This is Weimoku Falls in Maui. It drops hundreds

of feet down this massive cliff, and when you're

standing there looking at it, it is absolutely

overwhelming. Whether you can stand at the bottom

of it, which is a very difficult hike to get

there, or you're standing a little bit away looking

at it from a distance, it is absolutely... overwhelming.

The sound, the height, the mist, just the sheer

scale of it. It is the largest single drop waterfall

on the island. Now, you don't start at the waterfall.

What you do is you actually travel the road to

Hana and you go all the way up. It's about a

six hour drive on one lane roads each way and

you better hope you have a good driver or you'll

be nervous really bad. So don't have Brother

Rick driving this trail. And then you get to

the state park and then when you get to the state

park you see this sign. It tells you the trail

on how to get to the waterfall. The sign tells

you exactly where the waterfall is. It tells

you the distance, tells you the right direction,

it points you in the way that you are supposed

to go. The sign is accurate. The sign is helpful

and the sign is necessary. But let me ask you

a simple question. Is the sign the waterfall?

No. So what you do is you take this hike all

the way up. We weren't about to try to get the

hike to the bottom of that falls. We had already

spent two and a half miles traveling up through

a bamboo forest. It's beautiful. It's glorious.

It is wonderful. But you have to leave the sign

in order to go to where the sign Points and when

you arrive, you know what? You're not interested

in when you finally see this waterfall. You're

not interested in the sign You don't think to

yourself standing at this waterfall You know

what we need to do. We need to hurry back down

so we can go look at that sign again If we just

get a good look at that sign, well, that'll be

glorious. It'll be beautiful Once you reach the

thing that the sign is pointing to You've reached

your destination and there's no reason to want

to go back to the sign. You're looking at the

glory, and it truly was glorious. This is exactly

what Hebrews wants us to understand about the

Old Covenant. The priests, the sacrifices, the

tabernacle, the day of atonement, they were all

real. They were all God -given, all of them important.

But the old covenant was never the destination

The old covenant was pointing beyond itself all

of these things were in fact shadows of something

better and once you see the reality You don't

go back and cling to the sign or cling to the

shadow and that is what Hebrews Chapter 10 is

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

all about so we're gonna read these first 10

verses and then we'll dig into them and look

at this Sacrifice that stopped the sacrifices

verse 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 Otherwise they would

have ceased to be offered since the worshipers

Having once been cleansed would no longer have

any consciousness of sin 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 sin Consequently when Christ came

into the world He said sacrifices and offerings

you have not desired but a body you have prepared

for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings you

have taken no pleasure and then I said behold

I have come to do your will O God as It is written

of me in the book a scroll of the book And when

he said above, you have neither desired nor taken

pleasure in sacrifice and offerings and burnt

offerings and sin offerings, they 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

and for all. Let's pray. Lord, I come to you

and I thank you, God, for this text. It is glorious.

It is beautiful. It is wonderful. And I'm so

thankful that we get to dig into it today and

find all of these treasures that are found here

as you inspired the author of Hebrews to write

this letter. Lord, we know that the greatest

treasure that all of this is talking about is

you. And we are so thankful that you have given

yourself to us and made it possible for us, Lord,

to have a relationship with you. In Jesus' name

we pray. Amen. The writer of Hebrews begins chapter

10 telling us exactly what the mosaic system

was. He says, for since the law has but a shadow

of the good things to come, not the true form

of the realities itself. So the law is a shadow.

That does not mean that it is bad. It doesn't

mean that it is false. And it certainly doesn't

mean that God made a mistake when He gave Israel

priests and sacrifices and rituals. God designed

the entire Mosaic system, but He designed it

to point beyond itself. A shadow gives you the

outline of something real. It tells you something

about the shape of the real thing that is casting

it, but the shadow is not the substance. John

Calvin compared the old covenant to the first

sketch of a painting before all the colors have

been filled in. The basic shape was already there.

Now, when he says shadow here, I mean him, I

take him to mean the entire old covenant mosaic

system. The priesthood was a shadow. The tabernacle

was a shadow. The day of atonement was a shadow.

Every lamb that died pointed beyond itself. It

too was a shadow. The entire Mosaic system was

preaching Jesus before Jesus came. And that means

that we take, we make a very serious mistake

when we read the Old Testament. as though God

was trying to save people one way and then abandon

that way for a better idea. There has only been

one way that people are saved by grace through

faith. There has only been one Savior. There

has only been one way for sinners to be reconciled

to God. The difference is that Israel saw Him

in the shadows. While we see him in fulfillment

and there is a limitation to every shadow is

there not a Shadow can show you the shape of

salvation But it cannot accomplish salvation

And that is exactly what the writer says next

the sacrifices Could never make perfect those

who draw near now this word perfect in the context

that it is used does not mean morally flawless

The writer here is talking about being brought

into relationship with God He's talking about

the the the relationship that human beings need

With God it's talking about being cleansed being

accepted able to draw near with the barrier of

guilt removed So the sacrifices could never bring

a worshiper in right standing before God they

could picture the cleansing They could point

toward the meaning of the cleansing, but they

could not finally cleanse. And church, it's interesting

because I think human beings still have a tendency

to go back and rest on the shadows, even people

who have come to Christ. Of course, we're not

bringing sacrifices and animals to an altar,

but we can still put our confidence in religious

things that were never capable of making us right

with God. Going to church does not make you right

with God. Serving at a church does not make you

right with God. Giving cannot make you right

with God. Having Christian parents does not make

you right with God. Even becoming more disciplined

and cleaning up your life cannot remove the guilt

of sin. All of those things are good things But

good things become dangerous things when you

begin to use them in a way they are not intended

to be used Trying to use those things to do what

only Jesus can do Here the writer is gonna go

on and give us the evidence that these sacrifices

could never do it and here's his Proof that these

Sacrifices were incapable of finishing the work.

Verse 2, otherwise would they have ceased to

be offered. In other words, the fact that they

have to keep being offered over and over and

over again is proof that they're not working.

The question here in verse 2 exposes the entire

problem. If the sacrifices had finished the work,

then why are we still making sacrifices? If last

year's Day of Atonement had finally removed sin,

why are we coming back this year at the Day of

Atonement? And then the next year. Then the next

year and the next year NT right uses a picture

of repeatedly taking something back to be repaired

Let's say you hear a weird noise in your vehicle,

and you know something's wrong Okay, maybe your

transmissions messing up that happened to brother

Rick find out this week Maybe maybe your alternators

going out Something's wrong right so you take

your car into the shop The shop works on it tells

you it's fixed, gives it back to you, you're

driving it the next week, and you hear that same

noise. You take it back to the shop. The shop

says, yeah, our bad. We got it. Start working

on it again. They tell you it's fixed. They give

you the car. You start driving it again. And

you hear the noise again. And you take it back.

At some point, you have to stop and realize the

problem's not getting fixed. If I gotta keep

taking my car back to get fixed for the same

problem, then the problem's not getting fixed.

And that's the writer's argument here. Year after

year, sacrifice after sacrifice, priest after

priest, blood after blood, every new sacrifice

is testifying that the previous sacrifice had

not finished work. If it had, we wouldn't be

making another sacrifice. And I think there's

something here that can reach right into the

way that many Christians relate to God. I want

you to be very honest with yourself here. If

you're a Christian, you believe Jesus died for

your sins. Okay? It is a requirement to be a

Christian. It's to believe that you are a sinner

in need of forgiveness and come to Jesus Christ

to be forgiven. but it is very easy for us to

begin thinking and Living as though his sacrifice

wasn't quite enough We fail God and then we think

we need several days of feeling terrible about

ourselves Before we're allowed to come back to

him We sin and instead of immediately running

to Christ with that failure, we feel like we

gotta pay for it emotionally. We punish ourselves,

we withdraw, we promise God we're gonna do better,

we try to build up enough good behavior to feel

clean again. And without realizing it, we start

adding our own little sacrifices to the final

sacrifice of Jesus. We start thinking, Well,

if I do these little things, then somehow God

will feel better about me, or welcome me more,

or I'll be more acceptable to Him after I fail

and after I mess up. But your guilt is not removed

because you feel bad enough about it. It is not

removed because you have a good week after a

big failure. It is not removed because you punish

yourself sufficiently. It is removed only by

the sacrifice God provided. And the Old Testament

sacrifice could not bring that finality. In fact,

verse 3 tells us something very surprising. These

sacrifices, in these sacrifices, there is a reminder

of sin every year. So the sacrifices not only

didn't remove the guilt or the sin, It actually

reminded Israel every single time that the problem

remained. Imagine standing there on the day of

atonement. The priest goes in, the animal dies,

the blood is shed, and instead of the ceremony

concluding and announcing the problem is gone

forever, it actually carries the reminder of

you're gonna have to do this again. Next year

you're gonna have to come back. Another animal,

another sacrifice, another reminder. And that

is why verse four is so absolute. It is impossible

for the blood of bulls and goats to take away

sin. Not difficult, not unlikely, impossible.

An animal could never be the moral, could never

bear the moral guilt of a human being before

a holy God. Its blood could teach, it could symbolize,

it could point forward, it could demonstrate

that sin deserved death but animal blood could

never reach into the human conscience and say

your guilt is gone. I mean it's actually just

silly to think that. Now this is where we need

to be careful again. We need to appreciate what

God was doing through the Mosaic system. The

Mosaic system did not fail. Okay The old covenant

was not a failure. It actually accomplished exactly

what God designed for it to accomplish It was

a failure if you think it's trying to do something

that it's not trying to do then it's a failure

But the old covenant actually accomplished exactly

what God wanted it to accomplish The sacrifices

were never intended to compete with Jesus They

were intended to prepare people for Jesus The

shadow succeeded when it made people look to

the substance The priest succeeded when it made

people long for a priest that would not have

to be replaced The repeated blood succeeded when

it made people long for a sacrifice that would

not need to be repeated So for century after

century the altar kept saying Not yet, not yet,

not yet. That is what the old covenant kept saying.

That's why it's a shadow. And if you put your

faith and your trust in these things, you are

asking it to do something that God never designed

it to do. It was simply saying, not yet. The

work is not finished until the one casting, the

shadow, steps into history. That's where our

author moves next. This is where the writer turns

verse 5 Begins with one of the most important

transitions in the passage Consequently when

Christ came into the world he said For four verses

the writer has been telling us what the sacrifices

could not do and then verse 5 Christ came into

the world That's the turning point That's the

shift. The answer to the failure of the sacrifices

was not a better animal. It was not a better

priest from the tribe of Levi. It is not a more

elaborate ceremony. It was not more blood poured

out on the altar. The answer was a person. Christ

came, verse 5 says. And then what the writer

does, is he's going to take quotes from Psalm

Psalms 40 · chapter mention

chapter 40 and he's going to use these to explain

what Jesus did when he came. He puts Psalm 40

in the mouth of Jesus. Okay? That's crucial.

He takes Psalm 40 that was written by David And

he understands Psalm 40 as not really being about

David, but being about Jesus. And so he takes

those words and he puts them in the mouth of

Jesus. Sacrifices and offerings you have not

desired, but a body you have prepared for me.

Jesus speaking according to the writer of Hebrews.

Now we have to be careful here. What does Scripture

mean when it says sacrifices and offerings you

have not desired. Now that's weird if you don't

understand that because who commanded the sacrifices

and offerings? Jesus did. So in one sense he

required them to be made and then in another

sense he did not require them. That can be confusing.

So let's understand context. In what way did

God require them? Well, He commanded them because

they were to be a shadow or a sign pointing to

Jesus. But in what way did He not require them?

He never required them to be an end in themselves.

He never saw these things as the ultimate that

He desired. The sacrifices had value because

they were offered in faith and because they pointed

beyond themselves to what ultimately God would

provide. So so what he means is if you are just

coming and offering sacrifices and that's where

it ends God in fact in the book of Amos God says

away with your sacrifices. I don't even want

them Why because the sacrifices were supposed

to be brought in faith looking forward to what

God was going to do They were never to be an

end to themselves The blood itself was never

enough And now Christ comes and says, a body

you have prepared for me. That statement takes

us right to the incarnation, doesn't it? The

Son of God took on a real human body. And any

Christian, quote unquote, Christian religion...

that does not believe in the incarnation of the

second person of the Trinity, does not believe

in the incarnation of the Son of God, wherefore

he takes upon himself the fullness of the human

nature is not Christianity. Christianity by its

very definition believes that Jesus had always

been God, but in the incarnation he took on the

nature of a human being without releasing any

of the nature of God. So therefore he has two

natures, fully God and fully man. And he enters

into our world and he becomes one of us. But

he doesn't just become one of us to experience

what we're experiencing. He took the body so

he could obey the Father. He took the body so

he could suffer. He took the body so that he

could die. He took the body so he could offer

himself in the place of sinners. The body that

was prepared for Christ was the body in which

he would accomplish the will of the Father. Christmas

was already pointing to Calvary. Shane and Shane

have a song called Born to Die. Christmas is

already pointing toward Calvary. The manger was

already pointing to the altar. The body prepared

for him was the body that he would eventually

give for you. That's why he says sacrifices and

offerings you have not desired, but you gave

me a body. Verse seven gives us the heart of

this mission behold. I have come to do your will

oh God Now you know what this distinguishes it

distinguishes Jesus from every other sacrifice

that has ever been made because the animals never

chose the altar Right The lamb never said I've

come to do your will a Bull never willingly laid

itself down, but Jesus did He wasn't dragged

unwillingly into the plan of God. He came willingly.

He came deliberately. He came obediently. And

He came saying, I have come to do Your will,

Father. That means the cross was not an accident.

It was not merely the tragic end of a good man's

life. It was not Jesus losing control of the

situation. The cross was the obedient mission

of the Son. And by the way, since God is not

bound by time, that has been the eternal mission

of God himself. Before time and space came into

existence, Jesus having a body and dying on the

cross was always God's plan. Not the backup plan

after Adam and Eve messed up. As if God set everything

in motion and then went, oh man. Adam and Eve,

what are y 'all doing? All right, Trinity, gather

it up. Plan B? You'll go? All right, we got a

plan. That's not what happened at all. Jesus

was the lamb of God slain before the foundation

of the world. This was always God's plan. Philippians

2. says that he became obedient to the point

of death, even death on a cross. Hebrews is saying

the same thing simply from another angle. He

came to do the Father's will and that willing

obedience means that the problem of humanity

is not merely that we've done bad things. It's

easy to think that the problem with humanity

is that we do bad stuff. Our deepest problem

is that we refuse the will of God. From the very

beginning, what did God tell Adam and Eve? Be

fruitful. Multiply. Fill the earth. Fill the

earth with what? Just people? Was that God's

plan? I just want the earth filled with people.

Or was it fill the earth with people who are

image bearers of God and are gonna take his glory

all over the world? And Adam and Eve said, no

thanks. Humanity has always been saying, not

your will God, mine be done. Always. We have

wanted God's gifts without His rule. We have

wanted life on our own terms. We resist His authority

and we have disobeyed. Where Adam disobeyed,

Christ obeyed. Where Israel failed, Christ obeyed.

Where we have rebelled against the will of God,

Christ obeyed. and the Savior dies in our place,

perfectly obedient to the will of God. So we

need to catch the connection between sacrifice

and obedience. Christ does not merely die. His

whole life is one of obedience to the Father.

His death is the climactic act of that obedience.

You with me? All of the life of Christ is obedience.

The death on the cross was the climactic moment

of obedience. This matters enormously for us

because our salvation does not depend on the

quality of our obedience. It depends on the perfection

of His obedience. If my standing with God rests

on how faithful I have been to His will, then

I have no hope. I have not done it perfectly

and neither have you. We've obeyed inconsistently,

we've loved imperfectly, we've believed weakly,

we've sinned knowingly, and we have failed repeatedly.

But the gospel is not that God finally found

people who obey well enough. The gospel is that

the obedient son came for disobedient people.

And the writer just continues to press this contrast.

Verse 8 when he said above you have neither desired

nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings

and burnt offerings and sin offerings Then he

added behold. I have come to do your will The

writer explains. What's this what this means?

He does away with the first to establish the

second The coming of Christ does not simply add

one more sacrifice through the others He brings

the sacrificial order to an end. And I know there

is a lot of talk about a rebuilt third temple,

okay, and then you get into all the eschatological

talking about how things are going to play out

and all that stuff. Let me just say this flat

out. If Israel builds a third temple and starts

sacrifices, it is a blasphemy to Jesus Christ,

okay? So we're not sitting around going, oh this

is a good thing, Israel's starting back up the

sacrifices. No, it's idolatry if they do that.

Why? Because Christ has brought an end to those

sacrifices pointing anywhere. Why? Because the

shadow is done, the reality is here. The sacrificial

system wasn't repaired when Jesus came. It was

fulfilled. And because it was fulfilled, it could

be set aside. Once the reality has arrived, going

back to the old order makes no sense. Why would

you cling to the shadow when the reality is there

in front of you? Why would you run from the waterfall

back down to the sign? Why would I hug the shadow

of my wife on the ground instead of hugging my

wife? We may never be tempted to return to a

temple and offer sacrifices, but we are constantly

tempted to add something to Jesus. Jesus plus

my performance. Jesus plus my morality. Jesus

plus my religious record. Jesus plus my penance.

Jesus plus my approval of other people. But the

moment we begin to think that something that

we do needs to be added to Christ in order for

us to be accepted We have failed to understand

what the writer of Hebrews is saying Christ did

not come to improve the old system He came to

accomplish what the old system could never accomplish

and he came and finished the work He came to

do the will of God He came freely To do the Father's

will there's something beautiful about that the

father didn't have to force Jesus The son willingly

came to accomplish the will of God Our salvation

is not Extracted from a reluctant Savior Christ

wanted to do the Father's will He willingly took

the body that was prepared for him. He willingly

walked toward Jerusalem. He willingly endured

the cross. He willingly offered himself. And

so when you begin to wonder whether Christ is

willing to receive sinners, look at what he says

here. I have come. I have come. He came for this

he came to obey he came to offer offer himself

That's why it is so foolish of us to think my

acceptance with God is based upon how I perform

I know I got Jesus I know he loves me I get that

and I understand that that he forgave me and

took away the guilt and all that and there's

no condemnation I get that but you don't understand

what I did yesterday To that Jesus says I have

come And you say, yeah, but you don't understand.

This is something I've struggled with for years.

To that, Jesus says, I have come. But Jesus,

you don't get it. My faith is so weak at times.

And Jesus says, I have come. This is the whole

point. Stop trying to do something that's going

to get you accepted by God. For centuries those

old sacrifices kept saying Someone must come

someone must come someone must come and Jesus

here in this text steps forward and says I have

come And all of that is done away with The shadow

has pointed forward long enough No more shadow

Then verse 10 is where this entire argument of

the passage lands He says, and by that will we

have been sanctified through the offering of

the blood of Jesus Christ once and for all. For

four verses the writer showed the sacrifices

could not bring the finished work. Then he showed

us that the Son has come into the world to do

that work, the will of the Father. And now he

tells us what has happened because Jesus has

come to do the will of the Father. We have been

sanctified. Now that word can be confusing because

often we see that word sanctified and we think

of the lifelong process of Moving from glory

to glory and looking more and more like Jesus,

right? I would say for most Christians that I've

ever known when the word sanctified is used that's

kind of the first First place we go Sanctification

is the process where I am moving from glory to

glory moving from holiness to holiness Looking

more and more like Jesus and by the way, that

is it is used that way in Scripture But that

is not how he's using it here He is talking about

something that has already happened we have been

sanctified Because Jesus says I have come Because

He obeys the Father perfectly, we have been sanctified.

What does that mean? What is He talking about

here? He's describing our standing before God.

We have been set apart because of this death.

We have been cleansed. We have been consecrated.

We have been designated as God's holy people.

The verse doesn't say by our obedience we've

been sanctified or our religious devotion or

finally becoming good enough We've been sanctified.

It's through his offering that we've been sanctified

and side note when were you sanctified? When

you believed nope when the offering was made

Please catch that You didn't get sanctified.

You didn't get set apart. You didn't get consecrated

as God's holy people when once you believed You

were set apart by the offering. 2 ,000 years

ago, you were set apart. We could actually go

further than that, right? But at the cross, Jesus

obeying the Father perfectly did what God called

him to do. And because of that, God's people

have been set aside now. And you're like, well,

then what happens when I believe? The cross was

the payment for your faith. J .I. Packer talks

about it this way He says a lot of times we think

that Jesus died on the cross and then we take

our faith and our faith that somehow we muster

up Shoots back toward the cross and then Jesus

goes over the supplies to you He said no the

cross Set you apart the offering sanctified you

It bought your faith So when when we should look

at it like this When I'm lost and undone and

broken Dead in my sin and trespass Actively doing

actively going against the will of God doing

my will not his will By his grace. He sends his

Holy Spirit to us to bring us to new life and

In that new life in that spirit Inside of time,

the gift of faith is given to us. So you need

to see faith that's coming from the cross to

you. Who is the author of our faith? You? What

does scripture say? Jesus is. Where? How? The

cross. And then inside of time, you get that

faith from Him. And yes, you believe and you

want it. Why? Because you've been brought to

life. You've got a new heart. You've been born

again. But please don't see it as Jesus dying

and then the sanctified people come about by

whoever just puts their faith in God. That's

not what this text is telling us. We have been

sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ.

There's nothing about your standing before God

that you get to say, I did. Nothing. Hebrews

leaves us completely empty handed, right? Our

holiness before God is not something we achieve,

it is something that Christ secured for us. There's

tremendous freedom in that. Because if my standing

before God depends upon how well I'm doing today

Then my assurance is gonna be like a roller coaster

up and down and up and down and up and down On

a good day. I'll think that God really loves

me a lot and on a bad day. I'll feel like well.

He's putting up with me When I'm spiritually

disciplined I feel really close to him and when

I fail I assume I've been pushed away But Hebrews

is anchoring everything about our standing before

God in the work of Jesus Christ. His offering.

Your feelings are gonna change. Your obedience

is gonna fluctuate. Your faith is gonna feel

strong one day and weak the next day. But the

sacrifice of Jesus will not change. And then

comes the phrase that explains how his sacrifice

is different from every other one. Once for all.

This is the title of the whole argument once

for all again once for all add What's the word

we should add to the end of that to understand

it properly? We've said this like four times

once for all time once for all time Not every

year not every month not every time we sin not

every time we fail once for all Christ site sacrifice

is never repeated because the work is finished

This is why this this is the sacrifice that stops

all the sacrifices. The priest couldn't bring

it to an end. The worshippers always needed another,

but God doesn't need another because the offering

that Jesus brought himself was sufficient. Christ's

sacrifice is characterized by finality. Old Testament,

more is needed. New Testament, Enough. Nothing

else is needed. Enough has been given. And we

need to let that truth settle into us. Because

often we treat our relationship with God as though

Jesus made a down payment and we're paying off

the bill. Right? Called the debtor's ethic. I

was in debt to God, God paid my debt, and somehow

I got to pay him back. No, you don't owe God

anything. You don't owe God anything. You don't

make the blood of Jesus more effective by feeling

sufficiently guilty, or serving more faithfully,

or being a better Christian. Christ's sacrifice

is sufficient because Christ offered it. Not

because you can add anything to it and people

start getting all kinds of scared right here

They do How are you gonna control people? How

are we gonna keep people obedient and doing the

right thing first of all not my job It's Holy

Spirit's job, it's not my job But I need you

to listen very carefully Hebrews is not worried

about producing a careless Christianity. As if

the hearers are going to hear this and go, yes,

we can do anything we want to, we can sin and

it won't matter because we're just secure in

Christ. Do you know what this message does to

a child of God? It doesn't produce a careless

Christianity, it produces a grateful Christianity.

It produces a Christianity that says, I'm not

serving to become His. I serve because I am His.

I don't pursue holiness so that God will finally

welcome me. I pursue holiness because God has

welcomed me. I deal with my sin. I repent of

my sin. I battle my sin. Not so that God will

accept me again and again and again after I mess

up. Because I am accepted, then I can deal with

my sin from a place of victory and a place of

being loved. That changes the entire Christian

life. Stop doing things for God because you think

that's gonna get you something from God. You're

not that good enough, you're not that powerful

enough, you don't bring enough stuff. And really,

it's a smack to God. Because it's saying my behavior

is going to get me something from God that Jesus

didn't. If I can just act better today, then

I'll get more acceptance to God. And God's going,

you really think that the way you behave today

is going to determine my relationship with you?

And I'm just going to overlook what my son did?

What are you thinking? Jesus is like, I've done

it all for you already. I've already secured

your relationship in this kingdom. I've secured

your acceptance to God. I don't want you living

trying to earn something from me anymore. I want

you living out of worshipful gratitude because

of what I've done for you. And by this, by this

will we have been sanctified. Whose will? have

we been sanctified by? God the Father's. It was

the Father's will. I think sometimes we think

that God the Father is like the angry old man

sitting up on the throne in heaven, and he's

looking down at how bad we all are, and he's

just sitting there going, I can't wait to get

them all, can't wait to get them all, can't wait

to get them all. And Jesus goes, please God,

no Father, please. I'll do something to stop

it. Is that the gospel? For God so loved the

world, he sent his Son. It's the Father's will

that we're sanctified. In fact, John chapter

John 6 · chapter mention

6 says it's the Father who draws us to the Son.

The Father wanted this and the Son accomplished

this, and therefore our confidence should rest

in no one else but God. So the Son's sacrifice

actually accomplished what all the other sacrifices

could never accomplish. Generation after generation,

sacrifices were offered. Animals died, blood

flowed, priests worked, worshipers returned,

and every sacrifice pointed forward. It kept

saying, not yet, not yet, not yet, until the

Lamb of God steps on the scene and says, I have

come. And after his sacrifice, there is no need

for another. Here is where Calvin's imagery becomes

so beautiful. Once the completed picture is all

colored in, once the painting is all done, You

don't need to keep tracing the outline. The reality

has arrived. The shadow has served its purpose.

The sacrifice can stop because Jesus offered

himself once for all time. And if God says that

Jesus' sacrifice is enough, then guess what church?

It is enough. Stop trying to pay Jesus back for

your sin. Stop digging up guilt that God has

already dealt with on the cross. Stop measuring

God's acceptance. by the quality of your weak

and stop looking inward for the basis of your

assurance. Look to Jesus. Paul said, there's

one thing that is the main crux of what I preach

to know Him and Him crucified. Look to His body

offered on the cross. Look to the sacrifice that

will never be repeated because our confidence

is not that we have finally become good enough

for God. Our confidence is that Jesus was good

enough for God.