The Be All End All | Simply Irresistible

So we continue our sermons here. We're not going to do it again.

We continue our sermon series through the book of Hebrews.

Again, a 10,000 foot view, looking at Jesus as simply

irresistible, the writer of Hebrews, whoever it was,

writing to a Jewish Greek audience, right?

That kind of deeper understanding of faith, people that have been in the faith for a while,

making sure they're keeping the main things the main things,

that Jesus has the highest, the best, the greatest, simply

irresistible. We talked, and I know you all remember the very

first sermon of this a month ago, that we talked about what are things

that are irresistible in life, right? And we didn't come up with

a lot of serious answers, you know, maybe you feel

your spouse is at times, maybe your

family or what you do for a living, but there

really isn't anything like irresistible, that we, for all

intents and purposes, have the ability to resist things.

Right? Whether it's food or, I don't know,

a sports team or whatever in life, maybe it's

even that ego or that pride of wanting to be wanted or needed,

we can resist a lot in our life. And what

the writer of Hebrews is trying to get us to understand is you don't need to do that with Jesus,

you don't want to do that with Jesus, you shouldn't do that with

Jesus. That what is the point of resisting the greatest thing

ever, period, in the world, ever, period? It is the best.

And last week we talked about that Jesus is the better covenant.

We walked a little bit through the covenants of the Old Testament, that Jesus not only

fulfills those covenants, but He is the better covenant.

We're going to stay there a little bit. We're going to do an overview of 9 and 10, because 9

and 10 are really kind of a review. There's a review

in 9, there's a review in 10, there's a little content there that's new.

We're going to touch a little bit of that. But we're going to talk about and finish up

this conversation around covenant. Now, it does get brought up one more time,

but in a different way. It's about those who kept covenant.

And again, we'll get to that in a couple weeks. But this understanding of covenant,

who remembers from last week what makes a covenant

different than a contract. So we have a contract mentality

in life that, you know, I look out at Colin, you know,

Colin, I'm going to mow your lawn, right? And you're going to give me

20 bucks, that's very Dutch of you. And understand that,

because you have a big yard, that's junk. But, you know, if I enter

into contract with him, I mow his lawn, he gives me

still sticking there, okay, even if I do a good job, he's

still going to give me 20 bucks. I'll pray for Weston.

And understand that, Weston's his son, by the way, and that if I don't

do it, he's not going to give me it. That's the contract. The covenant

is different. A covenant says,

and it's really odd to put a covenant on mowing the lawn,

because it's almost like a waste of the word, but the covenant says, I'm going to still

do my end, even if you don't do yours.

Ultimately showing and pointing to the covenant we have with

God, because while we were still sinning, Christ died for us, I've already used that today,

but that shows the covenant. The covenant should be,

I am holy, you should be holy, we should be holy together. But God

knows we can't do that. God knows that we mess up, God knows

that we do all of the things we are not supposed to do, right?

Paul says that in one of his epistles, the things that I don't do, or I shouldn't do,

I do all the time, and the things I know I should do, I never do.

That's us. So God knew we were never

going to be able to meet the atoning

sacrifice that Jesus was going to be for us. That's why Jesus

went to the cross for you and for me, not the other way around. You didn't go

to the cross for Jesus, I didn't go to the cross for Jesus, Jesus went to the

cross for you and for me. And therein lies the main detail

of covenant. A covenant requires sacrifice.

Because if you use kind of my dumb

lawn mowing analogy, it takes sacrifice for Colin to pay

me $20, even if I don't cut

his lawn. There's sacrifice there, right? He's sacrificing

a lot in himself. He's sacrificing

reason, right? He didn't do anything

for me, yet I'm still giving him the $20. Again, I understand

the example somewhat falls in on itself because it's not very good. But understand

that's exactly what covenant means. That's the

foundation of covenant is sacrifice. A sacrifice was required.

Biblically, a sacrifice required the shedding

of blood. I know that's a weird thing to kind of start off, maybe this is the

first time you're in church and now the pastor said the word blood at least three times.

But it is, it's by the blood of Jesus we are saved. That the

sacrifice required blood. Because blood

speaks of a life laid down.

Now, do I think that Colin's going to lay down his life for me not cutting his lawn?

No. Nor should he.

But understand that the ultimate sacrifice for sin, so that sin

would be forgiven and heaven now will be filled with

those in Christ who not only recognize the sacrifice, but

believe in God as Lord and Savior to try to live our

best life His way, not ours. That is the sacrifice.

Have you ever thought of that? Your sacrifice

to become a believer is that you don't get to live life

your way. Let that sit for a minute.

Because I know each and every one of you and some of you I've never met because you

are looking at your face and you are brand new. That's awesome. I want to meet you after service.

We all have an idea of how we should live our life.

I always say that I am

the head of the house but care is the runner of the home.

And that relationship is an intertwined relationship of our marriage

relationship. Maybe that's how yours is, maybe that's not.

And understand that we all have our roles. But yeah, there are going to be times

that we are going to get ready to go out. It just happened a couple of weeks ago

where all of a sudden we are both getting dressed and I am ready to go.

She walks out, looks me over once and not in an appreciation

kind of way and says, nope.

And I had to go change. I am a man.

I have been dressing myself for years.

Yet my wife can look at me and go, nope.

And what happened? I changed.

I did. Why? Because I weighed the options.

I could not change and we could just start our night with tension.

And does that resolve well?

No! Or I could submit and change.

So what did I do? I changed and went

way the other way to get another no.

We were late because I was being idiotic

and that was my choice. Now none of you are shocked.

But understand that there are times that we have

to submit. We have to understand that there is a better plan.

There is a better way of doing things.

And in that small example, God's way

of dressing us and telling us how to live our lives

is a better way. But I look at all of you and some of you

just went like this. You just clenched because you do not like

being told what to do. Now I am not going to ask who in your marriage

or your relationships likes to be told what to do more than others so they don't want to start fights

because then you have to reconcile before you come to the table next week.

But understand we don't like that because we want to make our own decisions.

We live in a world that is your way right away. Thank you Burger King.

You have all of these things telling you the way you are doing is just fine.

Live your truth. Yet a lot of those times

it denies what God is saying. And God gets the final say.

He is the be all and the end all.

He is the one that required the sacrifice, gave the sacrifice

so that you and I could have relationship with Him.

Alright let's start the sermon. So we are going to be in Hebrews 9

and we are going to do a couple of verses in 9 and then we are going to jump to chapter 10.

Again this is a little bit more of an overview and then we are going to get into really the bread and butter

of the second half of this letter.

And this is setting up. Therefore not even the first sacrifice

was inaugurated without blood. Going into the old covenant, the old sacrificial

system that on the day of presence

one lamb would be slaughtered and the other lamb would have the blood of that on it

and it would be sent out taking the sins out of the camp.

That is kind of the visualization of what that was.

There was sacrifice when it came to the covenant. How they walked it out.

You go throughout the entire book of Leviticus, the kind of Levitical

code, the holy code of living. Now some people quote that

when it suits them this Christ has fulfilled it. Again

He does not abolish it, He fulfills it. That in Christ there is a new lens

in how you do that but that is a sermon series in Leviticus that guess what

I have never written. And so I do not know if we are going to do it but we may

in ten years. And so understand that basically

this was the kind of thesis of the sacrificial system.

The covenant was made, it could not be made without

the blood. That blood had to be a part of it. Go to verse

19. For when every commandment of the law had been declared

by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water

and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book

itself and all the people. So this is starting to talk about the Ark

of the Covenant. And Raiders of the Lost Ark with Indiana Jones

only got it half right. We can see in chapter 9 what all would be

in there. You got Aaron's staff, you got the tablets, you got manna.

All of those things. Notice how they did not leave quail in there for forever because that

would have been gross. And so understand that these were representations

the Ark of the Covenant is a representation of God's

relationship with His people. That is why it was holy.

God said I called you out, I made you a people and I am putting the

representation because He knew we would be visual here. Keep it holy because

He knew, and this may make people uncomfortable, He knew

we were prone to worship yet we were prone to wander. And so

what does that mean when you mix it together? That there are times we wander and worship

things we shouldn't. So He said my presence will be with you always.

Well that sounds like Jesus in the New Testament. The fulfillment

that no longer do we need to carry the Ark of the Covenant.

No longer do we need to have the holiest of holies. Those

have been torn apart. Those have been set in itself

as Christ. And this is how He is fulfilling

the covenant. But what the Hebrews is going back to

is knowing that Jesus is greater. We have talked about that every week. Jesus is

greater than this, Jesus is greater than this. Jesus is not only the greatest

covenant, Jesus is the greater temple.

That He is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

When He was talking about that the temple would be destroyed and in three days

He would build it up. Notice no brick and mortar was broken. Just the curtain

that we now have relationship with the Father.

We have relationship because of the Son, because of Christ, that

Jesus is the better temple.

And yet in 2023 and over the last 75 years

we have put a lot of effort, we have put a lot of

specific things, we have put a lot of

hope and joy in the idea of building. And I know

it's a little weird to bring this up, we are going to talk about it a little bit at the family meeting.

But we don't have this mentality

or at least churches shouldn't because the last 30 years it doesn't work. If you build it they

will come. What movie was that from? Field of Dreams.

It was about cornfield in Iowa.

I don't know, that's not all that exciting to me. On the

list of date nights and the list of things that I am going to do with my boys I doubt I am going to

say, let's just test it out. Guys we are going to go see the Field of Dreams

next year in the cornfields of Iowa.

Ok, that backfired, he wants to go. Ok, I thought he would just say fire

again. But understand that that's, I mean this mentality

if you build it they will come. Guys that is

not biblical. If you stand on my

word I will draw all men to you is what the Bible says. Not

if you build the greatest buildings. No.

Though people may appreciate new buildings and sometimes having new is good

it shows effort, it shows vision, it shows all of those

things. The mentality isn't if you build it they will come. It's if you

stand on my word I will draw all people to you.

Because Christ is the greater temple.

I don't think any of us would debate this but Christ is better

than this sanctuary. Christ is better than the

community life center. Yet we do this, we have these buildings

so people can encounter Christ. We know that he is

out there everywhere. He is omnipotent, he is sovereign, he is omnipresent.

Not only is he alive and well in the sanctuary here, but he is

alive and well with Elaine Van Almen when she is driving in her car.

Right? He is alive and well in the Ohm's home.

He is alive and well when Jeff hunts whatever Jeff

hunts. He is alive and well there. That he is

all in us.

That if he is the greatest temple he gives us the Holy Spirit and tells us

we are the temple of the Holy Spirit that means we are greater.

If Christ is greater we are greater.

So what are we doing with that responsibility? What are you doing

at being the better temple of the Lord?

That's rough. Some of you are like don't put that on me

I didn't, Jesus did.

What if you are the only church someone on your street ever experiences?

In your job, the cubicle next to you.

That cousin that you really can't stand.

What if you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?

What if you are the only one they are going to encounter?

That should inform the way we live our life. And inform

what that actually means. Let's jump to verse 23 to 26.

Thus it is necessary for the copies of the heavenly things

to be purified with these rites. But the heavenly things themselves

with better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered

not into the holy places made with hands, which are copies

of the true things, but into heaven itself. Now to appear

in the presence of God on our behalf.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest entered the holy

places every year with blood not of his own. For then he would have had

to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

But as it is he has appeared once and for all to end

to the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Every year, every year the high priest had to go in

and sacrifice. Jesus did it once.

And said it is finished.

That is exactly what it is finished means. That is what the writer

of Hebrews is alluding to. When Christ died on the cross, this

covenant relationship of what we had to do is

done. Over. We don't have to go back to it. Now through Christ

we get to do these things. Talked about that last week.

That we get to live lives of grace and

love and community. We get to not live lives of

oppression and racism and injustice.

That we get to live out these things. And it is not

like the first time you let your son or daughter go when they are trying to ride

a bike because you ultimately know they are going to run into a tree.

He is not taking a chance on this.

He is not going, I hope they get it. No.

He establishes this new covenant. He establishes who he is.

And why he is our Savior and our Lord. And he is saying, and now

go from me and make

disciples. All authority on heaven and earth. God to Jesus

to you. It didn't pass through anything else. It didn't filter out

the kind of education you grew up in or the church you were a part of

or how many trunks you have done in your life. It doesn't pass through any

of that. God to Jesus to us.

That authority

has now been given to us. And we get to be

the temples of the Lord.

That is a high calling. Absolutely it is a high calling. It should

be. What if it was just like, hey,

you get to be the temple of the Lord when you like to, when you want to

on Sunday mornings. Friends, it is easy to be the temple of the Lord in the

temple of the Lord. But what is it like after Sundays?

What is it like when you are in the hotel room by yourself

on a business trip? When you are interacting

with your spouse and your kids. If someone were to look at your

marriage and go, here is the temple of the Lord.

The way you discipline your kids.

Oh yeah, they are following something greater than themselves. The way you work your jobs.

The way I mow your lawn. All those

things. Do people see Christ?

Because friends, that is the goal. And you are going to do

it perfectly? No! We are going to fall. We are going to need

His mercies. Thank God they are new every morning.

Because I need them. You need them. The church needs them.

Because we are not going to do everything right.

But that is why we weren't the sacrifice.

You are sinful. I am sinful. We couldn't be the sacrifice.

A sinless person needed to be that. And that was

Jesus. Once and for all. Now let's jump into

chapter 10. So it is a significant chapter.

Chapter 10 in Hebrews. Because it is really the bridge of what we have talked about

to what is. And it really just kind of repeats a lot of

chapter 9. So we are not going to read a lot of chapter 10.

But it starts off like this. For since the law has been 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.

Remember the draw near part. Otherwise they would not

have ceased to be offered since the worshippers having

once been cleansed would 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.

The reason why they had to do it every year

is because they were sinners. It is really easy. One plus one equals two.

They are sinners. Their sins need to be atoned for.

They can't do it. So they offer the sacrifices. Jump to

2023. We are sinners. We can't die to ourselves and make it all

go away. We can't be the atoning sacrifices. Jesus was.

But now we have the thing called grace.

Forgiveness. Reconciliation.

Colossians said that Jesus has taken all of this and reconciled it to the cross.

That the work for you has been done.

So you don't have to harbor those negative feelings. You don't have to seek your pound

of flesh. You don't have to look back to your childhood and go, I was hurt

then. I will continue to be hurt now and I will be hurt next year.

You can let that stuff go. The things that are going on in your life

now. The hurts, the pains, the addictions. You can let that

go. It does not define you.

If you are in Christ, Christ defines you.

Christ always will show you how to dress.

And there are going to be some times

he is going to look at the way you are living your life. And he is going to go

nope. And then you are going to try

to recalibrate. Don't make the same mistake I did.

Don't try to over swing. Because then Jesus is going to go

no. Because he is the one

that gets to call the shots. He is the one that

did the work. And I know that is hard.

We have a lot of type A personalities in this room. Hi, Pop.

This is Kettle. You are black. It is for me. I get it.

But even the most type A cannot

do this themselves. Even the most extroverted. Even the

most domineering. Even the most steamroller mentality. Even the most independent

entrepreneurial. Even the most trainer, leader, whatever.

We all bow down to Christ. Because we

have to be okay with the fact that he knows the best dress for you.

He can say

wear me. I will do it.

Colossians, the word in duio, put on then in chapter 3

is literally the Greek word for putting on a coat.

Put on Christ. Because he represents all

that has been fulfilled once and for all.

So what

do we do with this? We are going to turn next week and it is going to get fairly

practical in a lot of this. But notice you can't

walk it out. You can't live it out if you don't know what it is you are living

for. What is keeping you on that straight

and narrow if you will. It is remembering when you were

wayward. And maybe that was just this past week.

But Christ is the one that brings you back. That is why it is

important to come to worship. To hear God's word.

To take it and to mediate on it. Consume it and

let it come out of you. Because hopefully you come

off nice. Because it is really hard

to live the life of a believer as a jerk. It really is.

It is really hard to live the life of a believer as

someone who lies or has double speak or isn't

trustworthy or breaks confidence. It is really hard to

live the life of a believer like that. We say in the elders all the

time, the best elder is the elder that can keep confidence. Because

if you are known as just a gossip, you are going to make a terrible elder.

And you probably shouldn't be an elder then. Because breaking

confidence is hurting people. And elders are the overseer

of people. Pastors, same thing. But even

you without any kind of title. Are you trustworthy?

Are you loyal? Are you helpful?

I learned it in Boy Scouts. A scout is trustworthy.

And I said scouts not cadets. Don't throw stones. It's alright.

A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful,

thrifty, and reverent. They pulled that from the

scriptures. Back when they had that instilled in there.

And that is a great way to live life. That is a Christ way of living.

But knowing that the sacrifice is once and for all. What is

keeping you from living that way?

What more do you need? And I say that to me first.

What more does Jesus have to show you to show that he's

the greatest? He is simply irresistible.

That's exactly what the writer of Hebrews wants you

to wrestle with. And he's going to make a lot more sense of it

in the Psalms. Because then he quotes Psalm 40.

Psalm 40 says this, In sacrifice and offering you have been

delighted. You have given me an open ear.

Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

Then I said, Behold, I have come in the

scroll of the book. It is written of me.

I delight to do your will. Oh my God.

Your law is written in my heart. I have told

the good news of deliverance in the great congregation. That is the

world. Behold, I have not restrained my lips.

As you know, oh Lord, I have not hidden your deliverance within

my heart. I have spoken of your faithfulness and of your

salvation. I have not concealed your steadfast love.

Your faithfulness from the great congregation. Leave that up.

All right. This might hurt a little bit.

But for some of us in the room, we're really bad at evangelism.

Our definition of evangelism is I'm going to tell people that already know

about Jesus about Jesus. That's not evangelism.

That absolutely is not evangelism. That's discipleship, that's Christian fellowship.

And that's great. Evangelism is telling people that don't know Jesus about

Jesus. That is a working definition. We're not going to debate all the nuances of it.

But understand, one of the best ways to evangelize

is exactly what this Psalm is talking about. And doing, really doing the

opposite of that, right? For I have not hidden your deliverance

within my heart. You have been redeemed. It is

the greatest story of your life. I look out, and we have

some very successful people. Have run very successful businesses.

Have amazing talents. Have amazing gifts. You all.

Amazing gifts for the church. Right? That's not

your greatest story. It's because of the sacrifice and deliverance

of Christ that you have those things. But the best

evangelism is to not hide those within your heart.

Right? To never speak of the faithfulness of salvation.

It's the great... You guys come in and talk to me

when you get a new aspect of your job or you get a new job. And that is

all awesome. Right? I have boys that, you know,

Dad, look, I have underarm hair. Like, that's great. It's a wonderful thing

for them. But the greatest story you're living

out is the story of Christ and His faithfulness

to you. You don't talk about the faithfulness you have to Christ

all the time because we don't. We're not going to

lead with sin unless you're going to talk about salvation.

Oh, I've been there.

Maybe I'm currently there. And oh, man, I'm just a sinner.

Have a great day. That's not the

end of your story. That's not the end of your testimony. That's the one

of the two-one punch. Right? That is the evangelism. I was

a sinner. You saved me from who I was.

Lisa, that's what Jesus does.

Exactly. Jesus

gives you this story and says, all you got to do, and thought,

word, and deed is live my story out in you.

And I'm going to look at each and every one of you that believe,

oh, I don't have a testimony. I wasn't redeemed by anything. I didn't have a near-death

experience. Right? I didn't fall into the world of sex, drugs, or rock and roll.

And God delivered me from that. My testimony is so boring.

Right? That's my wife. For years she believed that.

And she had a pastor one day look at her and go, or

the steadfast of God has

been first and foremost in your life through anything

that came. And it just bounced off.

That's an amazing testimony. Because you could be like

me, ups, downs, ups, downs. Emotionally, spiritually, emo

through most of the 90s and the early 2000s. Right?

Denominational mutt who prayed a prayer but didn't think I did it right.

My wife always, she goes, I've always known God as Lord

and Savior. Yeah, one year, she confessed it at one point, but for her

it was like, she's walking and doing this like, I just took the next

step. What? That's amazing.

Now a lot of you are like, that's why they're married. That makes a lot

more sense. She is his center and his foundation.

Yes, she is. But what about you?

Your story, are you hiding it in your heart?

And maybe you're hiding it because you're embarrassed. Maybe you're hiding it because, oh, I'm in a

I'm in a world of nonbelievers and I don't know how they're gonna

take that. Try.

That's evangelism. Maybe because we're in the culture we're in

in Ileana, maybe you're in a

world where you work with a bunch of Pharisees.

And they live by the law.

And everything is law based and there is no grace

whatsoever. Maybe you need to be the one that teaches

them grace. That's hard. Don't get me wrong, that's not gonna be easy.

But if that's your story, how dare you not

tell your story then? Because someone may in fact

just need to hear it.

I have not concealed your steadfast love and your

faithfulness from the great congregation, from

the world. I hope in my prayers that's not us.

But the next two weeks is gonna talk very specifically

on what that looks like. Let's pray.

Father this is what you do.