Present And Future Hope

Good Morning!

What an incredible thing to be part of the proclamation of a new believer!

Congratulations to Jude and his family!

This gives us such a good introduction into our passage today, to officially welcome a new believer.

These last few months we have been focused on the role that Jesus plays in the lives of all people as the Perfect High Priest and Final Sacrifice.

Last week we specifically talked about the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice.

First, we learned that Jesus’s sacrifice has no limit and is of the highest possible value.

Second, we learned that his sacrifice never has to be repeated and is permanent in its effect.

Because of what Jesus has done, the sacrifice that he made on all of our behalves, days like today are possible.

Days when we can celebrate the beauty of what God has done for all of us.

He gave his own life so that we could enter into a relationship with God.

In response, we follow Jesus’s example in being baptized to mark the work that God has done and is doing in our lives.

The main focus of last week, that the O.C. Has been completed and we now live under the New Covenant.

Jesus, giving Himself as the sacrifice, fulfilled the Old Covenant requirements for all of us.

Jesus took the punishment that we deserved upon himself so that the broken relationship between God and people could be restored.

Today we celebrated Jude’s decision to accept the forgiveness, that Jesus offers everyone.

Salvation and baptism are the first steps that all of us must take to begin our relationship with God.

Salvation is the decision to trust your forgiveness and acceptance by God based on what Jesus has done, not what you can do.

Baptism is simply the public announcement of that decision to trust Jesus.

It is the way we share with others what God has done in our lives and that Christ wants to do the same in everyone’s life.

But salvation is not the end of the story, it is just the beginning.

It is the beginning of a relationship with God that all people long for.

To know God is to truly understand what it means to be human.

As we grow in our experiences with God, we learn who he is as we walk in obedience, and our lives are forever changed.

In the past, the church has put such a focus on salvation and baptism that what comes after is forgotten.

Don’t misunderstand, salvation is the first step, but today we are going to talk about what comes after that.

Today the author of Hebrews is going to speak of the promise of what is to come through the new covenant.

Read with me in chapter nine, verses 23-28.

Hebrews 9:23–28 CSB

23 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us. 25 He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. 26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— 28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Today we are going to focus on two main points.

Jesus entering the true temple, which is in heaven.

He will return to completely remove sin from the earth.

1. Jesus lives in the heavenly temple.

The author has made many references to the temple and we have talked about it a lot over the last few weeks.

It is important for us to understand its role in the daily life of God’s people, but also its role in God’s redemptive work.

The earthly temple was just a copy or representation of the true temple that is in heaven.

God had Israel build that temple to help them understand his holiness and to point them to a better future.

It is clear though that this point had been missed by the priest.

Rather than the focus of the temple being on God, they made the temple and its rituals a god.

We see this through the message in this section where the author is trying to help the people understand that the role that the temple had once played in the life of Israel was no more.

The temple was no longer needed because its usefulness was gone.

Hebrews 9:23–24 CSB

23 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us.

The author is showing them that, at one time, the sacrifices were needed in order to purify the copies, but now, the actually heavenly temple has been purified by the sacrifice of Jesus.

We also see this misunderstanding about the purpose of the temple in John 2.

John 2:13–21 CSB

13 The Jewish Passover was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there. 15 After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” 17 And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me. 18 So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” 20 Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

For the priest, the temple had become their profit center.

People were coming from all over to celebrate Passover, but rather than bringing their sacrifice, they took the easy way out and bought one.

You can see just in that simple decision that the purpose of the sacrifice was lost on the people and the priest.

The heart behind the ceremony was lost because their focus was on convenience, not on sacrifice.

This reminds us again of Cain and Able and how important the heart behind the offering is to God.

God’s desire was for Israel to be brought back to himself and he gave them the law to reveal the sin in their lives.

The law has the same effect on us today and it is the reason that we realize our need for a savior.

When a person gives their life to Christ, the first thing that must happen is for them to have a realization of their own sin and depravity.

It is only then that our hearts can be opened to Christ.

I read somewhere this week that there are two kinds of people; “The righteous who believe they are sinners and sinners who believe they are righteous”.

The purpose of the law is to show all people that no matter how hard we try, we are not righteous.

In this passage from John, Jesus is alluding to what the future holds for himself and for God’s people.

The copy of the heavenly temple will be destroyed and the heavenly temple will be revealed.

His death on the cross opened the doors on the heavenly temple for all people and closed the earthly temple because it is no longer needed.

Jesus was raised to life and now resides in heaven at the right hand of the father.

He has entered the real temple in heaven and has made it possible for us to join him.

This brings us to the second point that the author is making in this section.

2. Jesus will one day return to the earth, not to die again, but to completely remove all sin from the world.

We still struggle with sin because it still exists on this earth.

In fact, we spent an entire year talking about God’s love in this broken world.

Because the world is sinful, God gave the law to reveal the sin and show the need for a savior.

Jesus came to earth, lived, died, and rose again as the savior that we needed.

Both of those actions are part of the total redemptive process.

The forgiveness and grace of Jesus, if we accept those things, bring us into right relationship with God.

Sin has been concurred, but not destroyed.

You and I are well acquainted with sin.

It doesn’t matter how hard we try, we still find ourselves making the very mistakes we try to avoid.

Romans 7:14–25 CSB

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

The apostle Paul describes what we know so well.

There is a constant battle between our spiritual selves and our flesh.

Even though the battle has been won in the future, we are still in the midst of the war right now.

It is that daily war that we are so acquainted with.

Like Paul, we want to be like Christ in every way, yet we find ourselves falling short.

It is not because of a lack of desire, but because of the sin that still exists in the world.

We can and do experience victory over sin, but the point I am making is that there is still the struggle with sin.

Look at what Paul goes on to say in Romans 8.

Romans 8:1–11 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. 6 Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. 10 Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

We are given new life, through Jesus’s work, not through our works.

This is why we say in baptism that we die to ourselves and are raised to life in Christ.

The hope we have is that one day the war will be over.

No longer will we have this struggle between the flesh and the spirit.

The final step in the redemptive process is for Jesus to return to earth and completely and irrevocably remove sin.

Hebrews 9:27–28 CSB

27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— 28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

The author is showing the final step, the one that will finally bring God and his people back together as we were created to be.

Look at how John describes this in Revelation 21.

Revelation 21:1–4 CSB

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

Do you see what John is writing about in verses 3 and 4?

When this final step happens, God will come and dwell here on the new earth with his people!

No longer will there be a war between God’s holiness and sin.

No longer will there be suffering on the earth.

All things will be made new and be like they were meant to be in the beginning.

This is what all of us are longing for.

This is what the world is trying so hard to accomplish.

Peace on earth, where there are no natural disasters, wars, famines, etc. this will happen when Jesus returns.

Jesus’s work on the cross was to save us from the penalty of sin and His return will save us from the consequences of sin on earth.

There is great hope in trusting in Jesus!

Jesus is in the heavenly temple, right now, interceding on our behalf.

He has promised that one day he will return and the earth will be made right again.

No longer will we have to experience the brokenness of a sinful world.

It will be restored to its former glory and the creator of all, the beginning and the end will return and all will be reconciled.

It is my prayer today that the testimonies you have heard, both in word and in baptism, will work in your heart.

It is my prayer that those who know Christ will love him more as they understand more fully just how much he has done.

It is my prayer that those who do not know Christ would be drawn to him.

As we did last week, we are going to celebrate all that God has done for us through Jesus’s death and resurrection by sharing The Lord’s Supper.

Last week Bethany shared that we allow kids to participate in The Lord’s Supper.

I appreciate her doing that and I wanted to echo that again this morning and remind us that the expectation is that if your children aren’t yet believers, that you would use it as a teachable moment to share with your kids what it means.

It is also a special time this morning because this will be Jude’s first time to experience The Lord’s Supper as a believer.

I want to invite Jude and his parents to come forward this morning and sit here in the front row.

Jude, how are you this morning?

I wanted to take a moment this morning to explain what it is that we are about to do.

Do you know how we pray before we eat and ask God to bless the food?

This is what Jesus was doing with his disciples just before he went to die on the cross.

they were gathered together at their table to celebrate Passover.

This was the yearly reminder of God protecting the Israelites when they were in Egypt.

God told all of them to put the blood of a lamb over their doors and death would pass over them.

Jesus used this moment to give new meaning to this celebration.

Mark 14:22–26 CSB

22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” 26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

When we do this, drinking juice and eating crackers, Jesus wants to remember all that God has done for us.

The bread represents his body, that was God’s provision, and that was broken as the final sacrifice so that we could be forgiven of our sins.

The juice represents his blood, that was poured out for us, that purifies us and allows us to be in God’s presence.

Before Jesus died, sacrifices had to be made regularly, but then Jesus gave Himself as the final sacrifice.

Both today and from now on, when we eat, Jesus wants that to be a reminder of what God has done because of how much he loves us.

This morning I am so pleased to be able to share this meal with you as your brother in Christ.