A Finished Work in Progress

all right so like i said hebrews chapter

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

10 and verse 14 and we're going to go

ahead and ask the lord's blessing upon

our time heavenly father

lord we come to you tonight

god first of all humbled that we can

even come to you like this in prayer

god the truth of it is lord none of us

are

fit none of us are worthy

and of ourselves lord god to

even begin to come near your presence

lord god and yeah your word tells us we

can come boldly

in your presence but that's not because

of us god because

we'll see tonight that's only because of

jesus

who has made us worthy

father god tonight lord we desire above

all things that you're glorified

therefore lord i submit myself to you

and ask that you would use

my brain and my mouth to speak to your

people

god let the words that come forth for me

be yours

heavenly father i pray that you would

remove

the enemy from this place lord god

there's nothing the devil would like

more than to distract us god from this

time and i just pray that any

distractions lord god that you would

just cast away

that god's night

we can hear from you

we can be

changed closer to the image of jesus

father god receive all the honor and

praise through our time and bless this

word in christ then we pray amen

amen so

does anybody ever have any times in life

where you get frustrated

nobody well i do

there's a lot of things in life that

frustrate me for instance

after the holidays when i go to put a

pair of jeans on they don't fit

that frustrating

anybody come on there we go thank you

we're gonna get into this one tonight um

isn't it frustrating that it takes like

months to lose 20 pounds but you can

gain it back in like a few weeks

yeah that's that's frustrating to me

what's also frustrating to me is

when i'm exhausted and want to go to bed

my brain won't quit talking anybody ever

have that problem

yeah

that's frustrating to me here's

something else that's frustrating why is

it that the person that snores always

falls asleep first

anybody ever think about that

something else that frustrates me

why is it every time you go to walmart

they got 20 registers and only one's

open

does that ever bug anybody the to be yup

that definitely frustrates me um why is

it that when there's a movie you've been

wanting to see some way and somebody

inevitably spoils it for you before you

get to see it

and then there's insurance

this really frustrates me

why is it that we have to pay them every

month but they get to pick and choose

what they pay us anybody figure that one

out

yeah that frustrates me

why is it that when you're in a hurry to

get somewhere you inevitably get behind

somebody slow and hit every stoplight in

town does that ever bug you

there's a lot of frustrations in life

isn't there i mean there's a lot of

things that can really get under your

crawl and under your skin but you know

what the number one thing

that gets under my skin is in fact i

think

if you thought about this you'd probably

agree with what i'm about to say

the number one thing that gets under my

skin

is me

anybody anybody else have that problem

do you ever irritate yourself

like does it ever

bother you how you respond to certain

things

how you allow things to get to you

i bugged me

i irritate myself quite often and this

is especially true

for

christians who are sincerely trying to

live

for the lord

why is it that

sin seems so easy

to give into

and yet doing the things we're supposed

to do like

read our bibles and spend time in prayer

and be kind to people

is so hard

you ever think about that and that

frustrating you ever get irritated with

yourself like why

why do i struggle with the good things

so much and yet given so easily two

things that i

shouldn't

why is it that when we have a bad day we

always take it out on the people we love

the most you ever think about that

doesn't that bug you

why does it always feel like a losing

battle

in this christian life

anybody have just something that you

struggle with like a sin issue a

struggle of some sort that just it's

like you can't overcome it

it's like no matter how hard you've

prayed about it no matter

how much you've read the bible how much

you've begged the lord to to get rid of

this storm in your side it just seems

like it won't

go away

that frustrates me

it aggravates me and quite honestly it

just i get so frustrated with myself

sometimes be because of those things

because it just seemed like the

christian life is an endless battle of

two steps forward and one step back

and sometimes two steps four to two

steps back it kind of just seems that

way

and the big problem with that constant

cycle in our lives where we're getting

frustrated with ourselves especially as

a christian is that it

it creates a what i'm going to call a

breeding ground for

satan to come into our heads to come

into our minds and to

convince us of things that really aren't

true

it gives them

almost permission to come into our heads

and wreak some serious havoc

when it comes to our spiritual

lives

because when these voices in our head

from the enemy

come in

he tries to convince us of a lot of

things

[Applause]

like

how could god ever love you

how could god ever save you you think

you're saved you can't be really saved

you think god would accept you no

you think you can really call him father

when you act the way you do when you

struggle the way you do when you deal

with the things the way you deal with

them

you really think that god's gonna accept

you

does anybody deal with that ever in your

life

and the problem with that is it brings

these feelings of shame

into us feelings of

truly just unworthiness

where we don't even feel like

we should ever even come to god in

prayer

like we don't feel we should even bother

him with our with our voice because

he wouldn't want us to come to him

anyways after the way that we acted or

the week that we had and

and oftentimes our personal frustrations

lead to anger with ourselves that can

lead to even in many cases with people

almost hatred of themselves if they're

not careful

and they can get to the point where

they're so

defeated

and feel like such a loser because they

keep on failing that they

almost just completely walk away from

the lord

this happens

it's happened in a lot of christians

lives

i've experienced it personally maybe you

have two at different points in your

walk with the lord and and during those

times

there's like kind of a cycle that we go

through sometimes we go to great lengths

to try to compensate for our flaws

like if we can do a bunch of good stuff

to overcome the bad stuff maybe we'll

kind of balance the scale in our favor

but let's just face it that's stressful

because no matter how hard we try it

seems like we keep stepping on our toes

and then after we go through that cycle

we almost feel like just giving up

there's

times where we can get so far to where

we're so defeated we just throw our

hands in the air and say well if i'm

going to turn into that i might as well

go

both feet in and we almost just go into

this rebellion phase against

the lord

and the problem with that is it gets to

a point where christians people that

that are born again believers saved

children of god can come to the point

where they actually

are angry

at the lord they can grow even to resent

god

because god i thought you loved me

enough to keep me away from this stuff

why aren't you why don't you give me the

strength i've prayed i've tried i've

read my bibles i've done all the right

things why is it that i struggle so

deeply

and christians will turn

away

because they feel completely

unacceptable to the lord

this is a dangerous dangerous place to

be

as a christian and if we're not careful

we can easily fall

into that trap

because satan would like nothing more

than to convince us that god doesn't

want us

and yet that's completely

untrue

and so when a christian gets there

that's a bad spot it's a difficult spot

to get out of so what we're going to

look at today um in our time here is

really

how do we

keep ourselves from getting there to

that point how do we keep satan's voice

out of our heads how do we

stop the cycle from happening in our

lives and allowing him to destroy us and

the answer as we'll see today is

understanding that for us as god's

people

a truth that we need to grasp is that

god sees us far differently than we see

ourselves

and i praise god for that

now as i said today we're going to be

looking at at one verse and it's

here in hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

and verse 14 and i will tell you this is

one of the most

profound verses i've ever read in my

life it's a verse that i have never

forgotten it's one that has stuck with

me

as long as i have known it and it says

this

for by that one offering

he speaking of jesus forever made

perfect

those who are being

made holy

now

think the title of my message

is on purpose this week

i entitled my message a finished work in

progress

and if you'll get the little bit of a

pun on that or the play of words on that

it really plays into this specific

passage of scripture because

it says for by that one offering christ

for

ever

has made perfect now

in the greek language and i know we

don't speak greek as americans but it's

but it's understood it's important to

understand some of these some of these

verses from that text because that's

what they were written in in this

specific phrase forever made perfect is

in what's called the the perfect tense

in the greek language meaning that it

was a a work that was done in the past

that its effect goes on into the future

forever it's kind of the idea and so

jesus in his one sacrifice

has already perfected

forever it says

but then it says those who are

being as in active present tense being

made holy so how here's here's the

profound nature of this verse

how can we

in one sense be absolutely perfect in

the eyes of god

and yet

not be perfect in being made perfect

you get it

we have been perfected and yet we're

being

perfected

how does this work

and it's in this if we can grasp

this passage it will completely change

your view

of how you believe god sees you

as a christian

now to understand this passage really we

need to understand the context behind

the specific passage of scripture

now this book of hebrews was written in

the to first century jews right and so

these jews were used to living under

what was known as the jewish law or the

law of moses and although this was

believed to be written somewhere 35 to

40 years after jesus had already died

and arisen and went back to his heavenly

throne many jews still struggled with

what i'm gonna call works based

salvation

that this idea that they had to perform

a certain way

for god to truly accept them for

who they were meaning there were still

something there was still something in

these jewish

christians that believed for god to

truly accept them for him to truly have

for them to truly have their names

securely written down to heaven they had

to follow the rules enough

so that god would receive them

and can i tell you something that is

still something that so many christians

struggle with all the time

this idea that

for god to accept me i need to follow

the rules

for for god to really be pleased with me

i need to do this this this this

and this and then god will really be

happy to have me as a part of his family

this is essentially what these jews of

this first century were dealing with now

although the gospel had been kind of

widely preached by this point and even

these jewish people that this was

written to had already made a decision

to follow jesus as lord and savior most

of them they had a really tough time

leaving the roots of their jewish faith

that faith that centered around the

performance of

the law now in the old testament we have

genesis which is a cool book we have the

first part of exodus which is a cool

book and then you have like the second

half of exodus and leviticus and numbers

and deuteronomy and

those books and you read them and it's

like

it's like all these rules and laws and

stuff and it's like what does this have

to do with anything right well to the

jewish people that lived in it had had

everything to do with what they were

living with i mean for one it governed

them um part of the reason they got the

law was to it was part of how they were

supposed to run their government um

there was different things like feasts

and festivals they were expected to take

part in and the purpose of those was to

remind them of the incredible works that

god had done um to be a constant

reminder that god was on their side that

god was worthy of worship and and worthy

of to serve and they had laws about food

and clothing that were designed to set

them apart from the other surrounding

nations um there was a list of things

that would make them ceremonially

unclean which would prevent them from

coming to the place of worship um if

they were unclean they were essentially

unfit to be in the presence of god and

so this was kind of the context of what

the jews even a few years after jesus

had already died this is all they had

known

now when we think about the law we often

think about like the ten commandments

you might be more familiar with those

right the ten commandments were god's

moral law his expectations for his

people and then the other one most

people think of when they think about

the law where the sacrament was the

sacrificial loss

like have you read the old testament

it's there's a lot of blood in the old

testament isn't there

i mean they're killing

turtle doves and they're killing goats

and they're killing sheep and they're

killing bulls and they're and it's all

these blood sacrifices

and everything else and this was part of

is this what was called really this old

covenant of the old testament which was

an agreement between god and the nation

of israel which were his called out

people and here's the idea he was they

were given rules you follow these rules

these ten commandments but god knew that

they were going to fail and so because

they were going to fail which

essentially is sin right because when we

break god's law that's what breaking

god's law is is sin and so because they

sin he instituted these sacrificial laws

because from the very beginning of time

the penalty for sin is what

death

which is why hebrews chapter 9 and verse

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

22

talks about how this is always the way

it's been without the shedding of blood

there is no forgiveness of sins and so

in the old testament you had an innocent

animal's life that was taken

in place of the guilty person who had

sinned why because again since that

beginning of creation this was the

decree and this incident innocent

animal's life was taken to cover

to atone for if you will the life of the

guilty person now this doesn't seem

today in our context of living seem to

make any sense and yet

it's a good thing god did it that way

because if you would have acquired

death from the person that sinned

instead of allowing an animal to recover

for their sin how many people you think

will be left alive today

how about this many we wouldn't be here

and so there's a good reason god did

this now there was also

spiritual reason god did this which was

obviously

to help them understand that they in

their own strength they in their own

power

could never do enough to be acceptable

by god

and the fact that they had to do these

sacrifices all the time was continual

proof

that

they weren't good enough

and so the law really in its intent as

we see in the new testament was to lead

them to a better sacrifice to lead them

to jesus the one who died one time for

all people which brings us back again to

this verse for today that for by that

one offering jesus when he went to the

cross when his blood was shed when he

died when he was buried that he had in

that one offering he forever made

perfect those who are being made holy

now as we think about that verse i want

to talk about two basic things before we

kind of bring in some application

one is this i want to talk about the

completed work of jesus

for us

on our behalf

see when jesus went to the cross he

accomplished something that nobody else

could

when jesus went to the cross he

accomplished more in that one sacrifice

than the thousands upon thousands upon

thousands of animals that had been

killed from that time

before

now hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 through

Hebrews 10:1–4

4 says this

the old system under the law of moses

was only a shadow

a dim preview of the good things to come

not the good things themselves the

sacrifices of the under that old system

were repeated again and again year after

year but they were but they were never

able to provide perfect cleansing for

those who came to worship if they could

have provided perfect cleansing the

sacrifices would have stopped for the

worshipers would have been purified once

for all time and their feelings of guilt

would have disappeared but instead those

sacrifices actually reminded them of

their sins year after year for it is not

possible for the blood of bulls and

goats to ever take away sin and so what

the blood of bulls and goats couldn't do

jesus did

with his blood on

the cross

hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12 our high

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

priest speaking of christ offered

himself to god as a single sacrifice for

sins good for all time and then he sat

down the place of honor at god's at

god's right hand in this picture of

christ ascending to heaven and sitting

down is a huge picture image of the fact

that his work was done

he had completed what he came

to do

now

we get this idea of that one offering

making perfect forever those people that

come to faith in jesus and the question

is we have to ask is how is that really

even possible if you have your bible

flip over to romans chapter 5 for a

Romans 5 · chapter mention

moment

and we get this interesting um picture

here

romans chapter 5 i'm going to read verse

Romans 5 · chapter mention

12 and then verse 15 through 19.

so roman chapter 5 verse 12 says this

when adam sinned adam the first man when

he brought sin into the world when

adam's sin sin entered the world adam's

sin brought death and so death spread to

everyone for everyone sinned and so we

have this picture in the beginning with

this first man adam the first created

being right he brings sin in the world

because he did the one thing god told

him not to do and because of that he

brought this curse of sin that has

passed on generation after generation

after generation person after person

after person literally to everyone to

this very day if you are sitting in here

the fact that you frustrate yourself say

thank you adam because it's his fault

he brought well we can't we can't blame

him too much because it's our fault just

as much right we're accountable for our

own sin but but but the truth of it is

he brought sin and passed down all of us

all the problems we see in our world all

the all the junk we see in our world

today it's because of the fact that sin

was brought in this world and spread to

everyone

and what we see today is a result

brokenness and and war and death and

disease and struggles and strife all

because of

sin

however

jump down to verse 15 this is where it

gets good

but there's a great difference between

adam's sin and god's gracious gift for

the sin of this one man adam brought

death to many but even greater is god's

wonderful grace and his gift of

forgiveness to many through this other

man jesus christ and the result of god's

gracious gift is very different from the

result of that one man's sin for adam

said love the condemnation but god's

free gift leads to our being made right

with god even though we were guilty of

many sins

for the sin of this one man adam caused

death to rule over many but even greater

is god's wonderful grace and his gift of

righteousness for all who receive it

will live in triumph over sin and death

through this one man jesus christ yes

adam's one sin brings condemnation for

everyone but christ one act of

righteousness brings a right

relationship with god and new life for

everyone because one person disobeyed

god many became sinners but because one

other person obeyed god many will become

righteous

and so what jesus did on the cross

essentially is this

he died for sin itself

that sin that adam brought into the

world that curse of sin that spread to

all people jesus died so they could

cancel out

what adam brought into the world you get

that right now the question is is how is

it applied then to

people because he says here in verse 14

for that by that one offer he forever

made those who are the those

it's not everybody in the world it's

those that have placed their faith in

jesus christ in his life death and

resurrection and made him lord and

savior over their lives

that's who jesus finished work on the

cross

applies to

so if you know jesus

what he did on the cross now applies to

you that that that curse of sin in your

life has been canceled

now

he says

he has made perfect so by that one offer

he has made perfect those second

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17 says

if anyone is in christ he is a new

creation old things have passed away and

behold all things have become

new

if you know jesus you are not the same

person as you were before you know jesus

you may have the same skin you may look

the same

in the mirror depending on when you got

saved it was a long time ago you may

look a little older

but

you're not the same person

you were spiritually reborn

before christ

the bible tells us we were people

controlled by satan destined for hell

spiritually dead

after christ we have been given new

birth new life and we are eternal beings

headed for eternal life

in heaven all because of the fact that

what jesus did on the cross

counts for us

applies to our life colossians chapter 1

Colossians 1:3

verse 3 13 says for he

rescued us from the domain of darkness

and transferred us into the kingdom of

his beloved son so god rescued us from

the hands of satan

and

replaced us into the hands of jesus how

is this possible second corinthians

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 and verse 21 god made him

speaking of jesus who knew no sin to be

sin for us that we might become the

righteousness of god in him so on the

cross an incredible thing happened jesus

pays the debt of sin

defeats sin defeats the curse of sin

completely right and because of that

because of his death because of his

resurrection the completed work of

salvation this great transaction is made

when a person comes to faith in jesus

he took our sin to the cross

and guess what we got in exchange when

we came to faith in christ

his perfection

see what what made christ

death so effectual on the cross

it was the fact that he lived a perfect

life

that old testament law that i talked

about a little bit ago the bible talks

about how christ came under that law

for a reason

he obeyed literally everything to the to

the t to the period

perfectly in his life

the only one in all of history to be

able to do that

he didn't have to die but he willingly

died right and so his perfect life is

then

transferred to us

who have made him lord and savior and so

when it says that he has made perfect

forever that's what it's talking about

we have the transferred righteousness

righteousness of christ it's the idea of

imputed righteousness given to us by him

transferred to our lives so that when

god sees us right now in this moment he

sees

the perfection of his son

right now that's not someday that's

right now god sees

the perfect righteousness of christ for

those of us who know jesus as

savior

colossians 2 14 tells us that he

canceled the record of the charges

against us and took it away by nailing

it to the

cross

what an amazing

thing that is

what's amazing is even

in ephesians chapter 2

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

in verse 6 we see this picture says he

raised us up

from the dead along with christ and

seated us with him in the heavenly realm

because we are united with christ it's

speaking of christians that were alive

at the time

so the apostle paul reading to this

writing to this ephesian church he's

telling them if you know christ you are

seated presently spiritually with christ

in heaven you're already there

when it says he has made perfect our our

salvation is secure our place in heaven

is secure as christians

like how's that even possible

we're not even there yet and yet we're

there how does that work out

there's a lot of crazy stuff like that

in the bible but yet

by faith we believe it because it says

it to be true

in fact hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

a few verses before this one says

god's will was for us to be made holy by

the sacrifice of the body of jesus

christ once for all time and so when you

came to faith in jesus not only were

your sins that you had done in the past

forgiven

any sin you will ever commit

has already been forgiven

isn't that crazy

we are presently perfect

in god's sight

and you know what that means

as romans chapter 8 and verse 1 says

Romans 8 · chapter mention

there is therefore no condemnation for

those of us who are in christ jesus

it doesn't matter what satan speaks into

our mind because you know what the bible

says we're perfect

the condemnation we feel in our lives is

not the voice of god as the voice of

satan

ephesians chapter 9

verses 27-28

it says each person is destined to die

once and after that comes judgment so

also christ was offered once for all

time as a sacrifice to take away the

sins of many people and he will come

again however not to deal with our sins

but to bring salvation to all who

eagerly wait for him when we see jesus

it's not to be condemned he's not if you

know christ his judgment is no longer

upon you he's going to receive you as

his own

and that is an incredible thing to think

about

so that's our present state right now

however the rest of that verse says

he has perf made perfect forever those

who are being made holy and so we have

this like conundrum right this

paradoxical thought that we're all we

are perfect and we're not quite there

yet so what is this talking about well

spiritually positionally in heaven we're

made perfect however practically in our

everyday lives we have a long ways to go

before we look like jesus

does that make sense

and this is what's called this process

of sanctification right big word that

simply means we are mom of my moment day

by day

being made into the likeness of jesus

if you can picture a piece of rock the

idea is

there's little chips being taken out of

it all the time in our lives

and there's a there's a there's a

sculpture a perfect sculpture at the end

of it

and when it's done it's going to be

perfect

because it's going to look like jesus

michelangelo the famous sculptor once

said this every block of stone has a

statue in it inside of it

and it's the task of the sculptor

to discover it

what's interesting about the second half

of this verse those who are being made

holy is actually in a tense it's called

the passive tense in the greek language

which means that that we are the ones

receiving

the being made holy does that make sense

so that the being made holy is not

something that that we can accomplish on

our own it's actually an outside source

that is causing this in our lives who do

you think that outside source is

the lord

he is the one making us

holy in our practical lives day by day

chipping away the rough edges of our

lives

slowly making us look more and more like

jesus every day week and year that

passes

philippians chapter 1 and verse 6 tells

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

us i am certain that god who began the

good work within you will continue his

work until it is finished that's the

hope we have as christians

when it looks like our all our life is

full of blunders and mistakes and

there's no way in the world i'm ever

going to get anywhere to my spiritual

walk because i feel like a failure

constantly guess what that's not the

voice of god that's the voice of satan

and we can't say i'm never going to get

there

don't say that because guess what it

ain't up to you because you belong to

the lord now and he's the one that says

he will complete it

he will do it no matter what it takes in

our lives he is day by day by day week

by week by week making this more and

more like his son

the question is how does that work

how does he do it well there's the

numbers to what there's a number of ways

the lord does that one is mainly through

his holy spirit

the holy spirit that is that indwells us

as god's people the bible tells us that

when we got saved the spirit of the

living god made us home inside of us as

his people

the bible talks about how the when the

holy spirit comes he convicts

what does that mean to be convicted it

means when we get into god's word and we

start reading bible and and we and we

see stuff like we're supposed to be

patient and something inside of us says

you ain't very patient

where do you think that little voice

came from

it's not the angel on your shoulder it's

the spirit of the living god inside of

you saying you got some work to do in

this area of your life let's start doing

it right and so through the spirit of

god through the word of god as we as we

get in it as we read it we see areas of

our life that boy we just don't quite

match up to perfection like we're

supposed to so guess what i got to do i

got to start working on that particular

area of my life and and so i begin this

endeavor starting to work on this

particular area of my life but but man

it's hard

and why do i stumble over my own feet

all the time

isn't it real i mean the struggle is

real

but slowly day by day week by week year

by year

it's amazing that some of the things

that struggle with 10 years ago i don't

struggle with anymore

things that i never thought i'd get over

i don't struggle with it anymore why is

that because the spirit of living god

inside of me day by day week by week

year by year is making me more and more

like jesus

happens through his spirit through his

word

happens many times through his church

the bible talks all over the place about

how we're supposed to build one another

up and strengthen one another all the

spiritual gifts we've been given by god

or for what the building up of his

church

helping us grow and mature in our faith

to gain a knowledge and understanding of

his words so that we can be convicted by

the spirit and be moved and changed in

the image of god that's another way that

he sanctifies us that he makes us more

holy another way that he does it is

through times where we step out in faith

and he meets us where we're at and we

and he proves himself faithful just like

his word says and boy we go we we take

that step of faith and and god meets us

there and we go wow

now i want to take a bigger step and god

calls us to a bigger step and guess what

happens god meets us right there again

and step by step leap by leap god begins

to grow our faith because he proves

himself faithful which causes us to

trust him more and guess what another

piece of that stone chipped off

look a little bit more like

jesus

but i tell you something

there's a couple other ways that aren't

all that fun

that help us look more like jesus and

one of the difficulties in our life

don't you wish he didn't have

difficulties

he didn't have trials he didn't have

sorrows that we didn't lose people that

we didn't have bad things happen in our

life catastrophes

but they're real aren't they

well then why would god do that

you know many people will walk away from

god because of the struggles in their

lives when the but what they fail to

understand is those very struggles that

god's allowing for the purpose of

perfecting them

james chapter 1 verses 2 through 4

James 1:2–4

says brothers and sisters when troubles

of any kind come your way consider an

opportunity for great joy for you know

that when your faith is tested your

endurance has a chance to grow and so

let it go grow for when your endurance

is fully developed you will be listen

perfect

and complete lacking in nothing

so when god allows those things in our

lives

it's for a purpose

is to draw us closer to him

who knows we learn quicker through

blunders than we do through victories

it's just a fact

and the fact of it is he even grows us

through our own sins

like what like god uses our sins to make

us look more like jesus how does that

work out that don't seem very bible-like

does it

that he'll use our sins to make us look

more like jesus how does that

but he does

have you ever dealt with a sin it got

you to the point where it finally broke

you it got you to the point where you're

like god i can't do this anymore you

need to help me with this and rest and

he finally does

and now you're on the other side of it

and you know what inevitably happens

somebody else will come into your life

that is struggling with the exact same

thing that you just dealt with

and guess what you get to do

you get to come alongside of them and be

the church

and encourage them and tell them look

here's what i dealt with but let me tell

you what god can do

god look he's using even our sins when

romans 8 28 says that god works all

things for the good of those who love

him or those who are called according to

a purpose he means that even the sorrows

even the struggles even the sins he is

using all of those things to make us

look more and more like jesus

in heaven we're already perfect

practically we're not here there yet but

the road from now to the end of our life

is this process of sanctification where

every week day month year that passes

chip by chip by chip by chip he's making

us look more like jesus and there's

going to be a day that we stand before

him that we will

look like jesus

it's not just going to be some standing

in heaven that's going gonna be the

actual thing

of standing before him

what a beautiful picture this verse

depicts

however here's the application

we have to accept it as true

and can i tell you something that's the

hardest

part of it

because i don't feel very perfect

anyone else have that problem

in the midst of your flaws and

frustrations and struggles

you ever look at the mirror and go what

is wrong with you

why do you struggle like this all the

time

why don't you get over yourself yeah

we have to accept it

either the bible is speaking truth or

speaking a lie

and if it says that our standing right

now

before god is perfect holy and righteous

how about we just accept it

and believe it

the apostle paul wrote this

romans 7 21-25

he says i have discovered this principle

of life that when i want to do what is

right i inevitably do what is wrong

i love god's law with all my heart but

there's another power within me that's

at war with my mind this power makes me

a slave to the sin that is still within

me and he says this i mean this is the

apostle paul who wrote the great portion

of the new testament he says oh what a

miserable person

that i am

who will free me from this life that is

dominated by sin

and death

and then he says thank god

the answer is jesus christ

our lord

can i tell you something what was true

for him

is true for me and you

and we have to accept that as

truth

and then you know what we need to do

we need to take some time

and literally just to sit in awe of that

truth

do you ever do that

when you read something in scripture you

just go

wow

and just shut up for a few minutes and

let it sink in

that is so important especially with

this truth

to let it sink in like god i know me i'm

not perfect

but he said yes you are

because of jesus yes you are

and you're not only perfect you're mine

you're my child because ephesians

chapter once we've been adopted into the

family of god

he has placed his name upon us

he has promised us

a heavenly inheritance

that's amazing

as david wrote in psalm 139

he says how precious are your thoughts

about me oh god that cannot be numbered

i can't even count them because they

outnumber the grains of sand

in this psalm

david king david is pondering his life

and in all the ways god has been with

him since

before the foundations of the earth were

ever laid he told me he talked about he

how he knew him

when he was in his mother's wombs it was

the hands of god that was

forming him

how no matter where he went

god would be with him and as he pondered

these things

he just

says wow

how awesome are you lord

that's so important in our lives

to let the word of god sink into our

soul

so often we we hear amazing things like

this and we get like this little

fluttery feeling inside of us and it

goes here and out here and then nothing

ever changes we need to like truly

internalize these things because what i

can tell you is when we internalize

those things it will change us forever

because

our christian faith will come to have a

whole new meaning

in that moment

we'll understand that the christian life

is not about do's and don'ts it's not

about coming to church and reading our

bible doing these things because god

says so because i really want him to be

happy with me

that's not the christian life

those things are important it's what

we're supposed to do

but that's not what makes success

acceptable

can i tell you something if you've sat

for 24 hours a day for the rest of your

life and did nothing but stare at the

bible and talk to the lord as long as

you could handle that can i tell you

something you wouldn't be any more

acceptable to god than you are right now

in this moment

and it's that realization that

understanding that will transform us

because now the reason that i read my

bible the reason that i prayed the

reason that i come to church the reason

that i serve people the reason that i

evangelize is not to get god's approval

it's because i want to glorify him with

my life because all he has done for me

that will transform your christian life

when you quit trying to gain god's

acceptance and just believe that you

already have it and then use that as a

catalyst to live your life out for him

it will change and transform everything

and then once we do that

how we can respond to the lord is this

although

he who began to work in us is going to

be the one that completes us although

we're the recipient of his sanctifying

work here's what we can do we can help

accelerate the process along

meaning we can do it one way or the

other we can do it kicking or screaming

or we can do it willingly one way or the

other guess what's going to happen he's

god we're not just going to get done

we're going to do that the hard way

we're going to do it the easy way you

ever have that conversation with your

kids

god and our father in heaven says the

same thing

one way or the other it's going to

happen so we can we can either kick and

scream or we can accelerate the process

along meaning if we want to accelerate

it we can submit ourselves to the

authority of christ

galatians 5 16 says walk by the spirit

and you will not gratify the desires of

the flesh galatians 5 24 and 25 those

who belong to christ have nailed their

passions and desires and their sinful

nature to the cross and have crucified

them there since we are living by the

spirit let us follow the spirits leading

in every part of our lives romans

Romans 8:5–6

chapter 8 verses 5 through 6 those who

are dominated by the sinful nature think

about simple things but those who are

controlled by the holy spirit think only

about things that please the spirit so

letting your sinful nature control your

mind leads to death letting the spirit

control your mind leads to life and

peace

so guess what we can do it one of two

ways we can say lord i'm going to submit

to you

my life is in your hands i'm chaining

myself to you lead me guide me help me

to live my life for you god i'm going to

get into your word i'm going to start

applying your word because i want to

live my life in a way that honors you i

want to live my life in a way that makes

me look more and more like jesus

and god i'm doing it

willingly

gotta tell you something that weighs a

whole lot easier and a whole lot more

fun

the fact is god sees the finished you

but the finished us won't be seen by us

until we see jesus

and in that day as we look back in our

lives we will see everything from a

different perspective we will in that

day see how the trials and the

challenges of our lives shaped us

how the sins and struggles helped

develop our character and how all the

different seasons in our life

intersected to

mold us and to shape us into the person

god saw

before the foundations of the world were

ever laid

we are a finished work

in progress

but i praise god

that i'm in his hands

amen

let's pray

heavenly father thank you so much for

this time this night lord for your word

for this incredible truth

lord god i just pray that it would sink

way down in deep our hearts and minds

and souls

god for the christian here lord i pray

that

they would just be able to grasp

that they couldn't be any love than they

are more than they are right now

they couldn't be loved more

no matter what they do than they are

right now in this moment they couldn't

be any more acceptable to you than they

are right now yes we may not be perfect

yet

in the practical areas of our life god

but you see us as righteous lord let us

believe it

in our lives let us

choose to walk in a way that honors you

choose that to walk in a way that allows

this this process of us becoming more

like jesus each year

but father there may be a person in here

that's never even made the decision to

follow christ and for that person lord i

pray that they would take the first step

that first step of receiving jesus is

our lord and savior

god your word says we can simply come in

faith

and talk to you in prayer

and your god your word tells us if we

will ask jesus to come into our lives to

forgive us of our sins to come in to be

our lord and our savior

believing upon his death and

resurrection that we'll be saved

you'll forgive us of those sins that you

will save us and make us yours and if

anybody here in this place never made

that decision god tonight

in these moments we have remaining god

let them just cry out in faith

and receive jesus

lord we love you we thank you

and we pray these things in the precious

name of our lord

amen

as we close tonight

we are going to sing a song

and i'm