The Problem and The Solution

Good Morning!

Last week was so nice of all of you.

Carey asked me this week if I felt appreciated, and yes, I do.

At your request, I are going to preach the same sermon again, but the whole thing instead of just the “cliff” notes.

In chapter nine, we saw the author explaining the differences between the Old Covenant, which was limited and temporary, and the New Covenant, which has no limit and is permanent.

In this first part of chapter ten, we are going to see the author recapping the case that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice and why.

Chapters seven through nine were devoted to helping the church understand all that Christ did.

He was the perfect High Priest and the Perfect Sacrifice.

In this chapter, he brings those two ideas together at one time to tie those two ideas together.

As I mentioned last week, my desire is that we can put the final nail in the coffin of trying to be “good”.

Read with me in chapter ten verses one through ten.

Hebrews 10:1–10 CSB

1 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. 2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. 6 You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings. 7 Then I said, “See— it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, God.” 8 After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law), 9 he then says, See, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first to establish the second. 10 By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

1. Sin is a problem that we all have.

To clarify, by we, I mean every person that has ever lived.

I’m not calling someone out, I’m calling us all out.

And what is sin?

Sin is missing the mark or to fall short of the standard.

Sin is the cause of all that God has done to redeem us.

If you really drill it down, our sin is based on our rebellion against God.

Mankind sins because we believe the lie that doing the opposite of what God has told us to do will make us happier or bring more joy to our lives.

Think about trying to help a toddler that is going through the independent stage.

No matter what is happening, whether buckling up in the car or pouring juice, they want to do it themselves.

As the adult, you know full well how that is going to turn out.

That is frustrating, but if you think about it, we are the toddler and God is the adult.

He is trying to show us the right way, the safe way, the best way, but we are more interested in doing it ourselves.

This has been the case since Adam and Eve.

Mankind’s rebellion hasn’t weakened nor has the effects of sin waned.

As we have heard before, the law was not given to get rid of sin, but to remind the people of their need for something greater.

In the same way that the law can’t perfect us, the blood of animals can’t purify us.

This is what the author is bringing back to the forefront of our minds in the first four verses.

Hebrews 10:1–4 CSB

1 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. 2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Sacrifices were never intended to fix the problem of sin, but to be a reminder of them.

While we don’t do animal sacrifices anymore, there is still something we do in the same vein.

We try to please God, not with blood, but with what we consider good works.

Our attempts at goodness are our modern day sacrifices.

We cannot be perfect or good and the law proves this over and over again.

When our goal is to “be better” or “get right”, we have already lost.

Romans 3:19–20 NLT

19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

Literally, nothing we can do can ever make us right with God or fulfill the law.

The law’s only purpose and result is that it reveals sin.

That is literally all it can do and when we focus on good works in order to gain God’s approval, we are turning away from his plan.

There is no hope found in living outside of God’s redemptive plan in Jesus.

We are all sinners and there is only one solution.

That solution doesn’t include us trying harder or being better people.

2. The problem of sin has been fixed by Jesus.

Look at how I worded that.

It has been fixed.

I didn’t say it was partially fixed and needs you to finish it.

The life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law.

Romans 3:21–26 NLT

21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

What did Paul say, how are we made right with God?

By placing our faith in Jesus Christ.

We are made right ONLY by believing in Jesus.

There is no fine print or sub-clause that adds to that.

This is literally the only way to be made right in God’s sight.

Not only can we not do it on our own, but when we step outside of God’s plan by trying to do it ourselves, we are moving farther away from God.

The enemy would have you believe that trying harder will bring you closer.

However, participation trophies or most improved awards do not do any good in terms of your relationship with God.

They make you feel good at the moment, but that good feeling will pass quickly and you are now not only feeling empty, but also tired.

You can try as hard as you want, but you cannot please God by continuing to live in rebellion.

If you try to please him by your works, you are rebelling against his Holy plan.

You are in fact saying that you know better than God about how to deal with sin.

Romans 7:7–13 NLT

7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. 11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. 13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.

The law is good and holy, but sin has twisted it in us.

We have talked a lot about the effect that sin has had on this world and it is broken because of it.

Sin has affected everything and the last thing we need to do is to make it worse.

When we try to make ourselves better and tell others to do the same, we are making the problem worse, not better.

God isn’t looking for us to figure it out on our own.

He has already told us how to fix it.

Look at Hebrews 10:5-8

Hebrews 10:5–8 CSB

5 Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. 6 You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings. 7 Then I said, “See— it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, God.” 8 After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law),

The author quotes David with this Psalm, and David is referring to when God rejects Saul as the king of Israel.

This story is found in 1 Samuel 15 and to remind us all, God has told Saul to go and defeat the Amalekites and destroy all the people and animals in the land.

But Saul doesn’t do that, he kills all the people except their king, and his men sort through all the animals and keep the ones that they think are best, but that isn’t what God told them to do.

They took what God said and added to it...

They rebelled against God’s directions and did what they thought was best.

Look at this with me starting in vs 10.

1 Samuel 15:10–23 CSB

10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, 11 “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.” So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night. 12 Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, “Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.” 13 When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14 Samuel replied, “Then what is this sound of sheep, goats, and cattle I hear?” 15 Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep, goats, and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we destroyed.” 16 “Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” he replied. 17 Samuel continued, “Although you once considered yourself unimportant, haven’t you become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel 18 and then sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.’ 19 So why didn’t you obey the Lord? Why did you rush on the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?” 20 “But I did obey the Lord!” Saul answered. “I went on the mission the Lord gave me: I brought back King Agag of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites. 21 The troops took sheep, goats, and cattle from the plunder—the best of what was set apart for destruction—to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” 22 Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.

Saul disobeyed God.

God told him what to do and Saul did what he wanted instead.

It says in verse nine that Saul and his troops spared the king and the best of his animals.

When confronted, Saul blames it on his troops and claims that they did it as a sacrifice for God.

Saul believed that adding more to what God had said would make the victory better and that it would be more pleasing to God.

Saul’s actions didn’t please God, they moved him farther from God.

It is easy to judge others, but we are all guilty of almost doing or doing more than what God says and then when confronted, it is everyone else’s fault or we try to change the motive behind the disobedience.

For so long the church has taught people that we had to fix ourselves in order to be pleasing and acceptable to God.

We are doing exactly what Saul did, we are adding to what God requires and making it harder for people to see God for who He really is.

What we have taught people and what we have believed for ourselves is actually moves us away from God, not closer to him.

I want to point out what Paul says in verse 22 of Romans 3.

Romans 3:22 NLT

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

“No matter who we are.” - this means that we are made with God, no matter what sin is in our lives.

Your past sin doesn’t define you wether it was years ago or on the way to church this morning.

Every person that has ever lived has sinned, and many have sinned more than you, but God loves you in spite your sin.

What is it that we are supposed to do? What does God want from us?

Look at our last two verses that we will read in Hebrews 10.

Hebrews 10:9–10 CSB

9 he then says, See, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first to establish the second. 10 By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

To clarify what we are reading, Jesus is saying that He has come to do God’s will.

Jesus has come to fix the brokenness.

He has come to do what we cannot, to fulfill the law by living in complete obedience to God.

I think this is worth pointing out, Jesus didn’t come to focus on the law and do it perfectly.

He fulfilled the law BY his obedience to God.

Last week we looked at Jesus cleansing the temple and not long after that, Jesus begins interacting with people and speaking about who he is and what God has sent him to do.

He has his interaction with Nicodemus where he explains the idea of being born again.

He and his disciples then spend time baptizing people.

Then he has a famous conversation with the woman at the well.

The disciples return as the woman is leaving and all they can think about is their bellies.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit, as a man that can get very hangry, there are times where the next meal is all that matters to me.

They keep urging Jesus to eat and if you look at the text and think about the timeline of events, it is clear that Jesus knows what is coming and he is far more concerned about the work that God is doing in that moment than he is for his physical needs.

He knows that the woman he just talked to is in town sharing about her experience and that before long, most of the town is coming to hear the same message that she just heard.

She is sharing her story and that is drawing people want to know Jesus.

Why bring this up?

What does this have to do with anything else we have talked about today?

Look at Jesus’s response and consider our passage in Hebrews.

John 4:34 CSB

34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.

This is such a telling moment about Jesus.

Jesus sees the work that God is doing in his people and joining God in that work becomes more important than anything else.

In our struggle with sin and brokenness, we fall short when it comes to prioritizing the work that God is doing over what we want.

Jesus is able to do what we cannot.

He prioritized obedience and was fully aware of what God was doing around him.

We need to see the beauty and the freedom that we have been given.

Stop trying to do stuff to please God!

God doesn’t want our meager attempts or our very best.

He isn’t interested in what we can “do for him”.

God’s desire is for us to know him, to abide in him, and do what he says.

We don’t have to try to impress him or anyone else.

We have been freed from the death that is brought about by sin to live in the freedom of Christ righteousness.

Hebrews 10:10 CSB

10 By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

All that is needed has been done.

The problem of sin has been fixed by Jesus.

Jesus is our priest forever and the sacrifice that was required for the forgiveness of our sins.

This aspect of our faith has been spoken since Jesus rose, but for some reason we are still convinced that we must add our good works into it.

The message that Jesus has done it all needs to be internalized and shared.

As you internalize the fact that Jesus is your goodness and righteousness, it changes your relationship with God.

Your sin is no longer the focus of the relationship.

The goodness of God takes front and center.

In experiencing this, our lives are forever changed by his grace and all that is left to do is enjoy it.

When the woman and the well experienced the freedom of Jesus’s grace, she couldn’t help but tell everyone.

The same will be true for you as well.

This is a story that is worth sharing.

There are so many in bondage to sin and the law and freedom is right here.

It is found in Christ, not in trying harder.

Freedom is found in abiding.

Hearing, obeying, seeing, and loving.

All that needed to be done was done so stop trying and start living in freedom.

Enjoy the relationship that you have with God by listening to what he is saying, doing it, and seeing him for who he really is.

God loves his people and he wants us to know that.

We can’t buy his love with our good works and there is no need to try.

He already loves us.

Share that with others so they can experience the same freedom.