1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:07,800 Good to see all of you this morning as we celebrate 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,040 Pentecost together. We're going to be looking at 3 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:16,360 Hebrews chapter 10. And yeah, if you'll stand with 4 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:18,680 me for the reading of God's Word, we'll hear. 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:29,520 We'll hear verses one through 25, starting in verse one. 6 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,120 For since the law has been a shadow of the good things to 7 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,800 come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can 8 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,800 never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered 9 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:42,720 every year, make perfect those who draw near. 10 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,480 Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the 11 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:49,840 worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have 12 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,680 any consciousness of sin. But in these sacrifices there is 13 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,120 a reminder of sin every year. For it is impossible for the 14 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,360 blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 15 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:02,600 Consequently when Christ came into the world, he said, 16 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,200 sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you 17 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,160 have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin 18 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:10,960 offerings you have taken no pleasure. 19 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:16,040 Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is 20 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,960 written of me in the scroll of the book, when he said above, 21 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:23,000 You have neither desired nor taken pleasure. 22 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,000 And sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin 23 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,960 offerings. These are offered according to 24 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:30,440 the law. Then he added, Behold, I have 25 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,440 come to do your will. He abolish is the first, in 26 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:38,080 order to establish the second. And by that we have been 27 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,640 sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once 28 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,440 for all. And every priest stands daily at 29 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:50,680 his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can 30 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:55,320 never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for 31 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,880 all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right 32 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,400 hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemy should be 33 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:10,080 made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has 34 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,000 perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 35 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:18,240 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. 36 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,520 For after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with 37 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,080 them after those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws on 38 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,440 their hearts and write them on their minds. 39 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,080 Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless 40 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,080 deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of 41 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,600 these, there is no longer any offering for sin. 42 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,800 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the 43 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,200 holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way 44 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:47,400 that He opened for us, through the curtain, that is, through 45 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:51,160 His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the House of 46 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:54,800 God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of 47 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,280 faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, 48 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,400 and our bodies washed with pure water. 49 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,200 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without 50 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:06,040 wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 51 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,600 And let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good 52 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,920 works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of 53 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:16,800 some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you 54 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,000 see the day drawing near. This is the word of the Lord. 55 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,200 Go ahead and have a seat. We'll pray, and that's God to 56 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,200 bless us. Lord, we do thank you for your 57 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:33,200 word. We thank you for how you 58 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:37,360 instruct us. And long passages like this with 59 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,080 cryptic language from the Old Testament is weird to our 21st 60 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,280 century years. And I pray that your Holy Spirit 61 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:49,120 would enlighten us, illumine the truth of this text to us. 62 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,840 And Lord, most of all, I pray that you would make clear for us 63 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,800 the confidence that we can have through Christ, through the Holy 64 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,640 Spirit to commune with you and enjoy you and be transformed 65 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,520 further into Christ image. In Jesus name we pray. 66 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:07,320 Amen. Yeah. 67 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,600 So I, I have spent my whole life trying to figure out what does 68 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:15,200 it mean to or how do you actually engage the Holy Spirit? 69 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:17,200 If we're going to be celebrating the Holy Spirit, we should 70 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,320 actually know something of what it means to actually engage him. 71 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:26,360 And as as I've thought about that, Hebrews 10 has been a 72 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:31,560 chapter that is central to helping me learn how to do that. 73 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:34,880 I'm still learning and I'm sure you all are as well. 74 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:37,680 But I often ask myself the question of like, what do I need 75 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,240 to do? Like I love fishing on my kayak. 76 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,920 Is that do I go out into nature alone, isolate myself and get 77 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,320 alone with God? Is that is that how I engage the 78 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,640 Holy Spirit? Do I go into my closet at home 79 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,720 alone and go into fasting and prayer? 80 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,640 Do I do that? Like what, what do I do? 81 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:57,480 Like what am I? How am I supposed? 82 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:04,080 Do I need a worship worship leader as gifted as Joseph is to 83 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,480 hit the right notes and chords to make that tingly feeling up 84 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,760 my spine to know I'm with the Holy Spirit Like what, what, 85 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:13,480 what is it like? How does it work? 86 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:17,480 And I think when we look at chapter 10 here of Hebrews, we 87 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,680 get some clarity on that. And so my hope, my hope is to 88 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:29,640 show you that this gathering, being with each other is the 89 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:35,640 perfect place to engage and experience and get help from the 90 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,880 Holy Spirit. So we got a lot of work to do to 91 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,960 show that through this text. So hopefully we can get there 92 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,320 together. So here in chapter 10, verses 1 93 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:53,240 to 14, I say Paul, who knows who the writer of the Hebrew to the 94 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:55,920 letter of the Hebrews is, but I'm going to say Paul. 95 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,520 So as the writer is writing in these verses, he is helping 96 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,720 Jewish Christians figure out how they how to navigate their 97 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,720 relationship with God. They have navigated their 98 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:09,640 relationship with God through Moses and the law. 99 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,720 All of a sudden Jesus comes, things have changed, and he's 100 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:15,480 writing here trying to help them to see what the difference is 101 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:17,920 now that Jesus has come. And he's trying to help them 102 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:19,520 figure out, well, what do we do with Moses? 103 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:20,640 What do we do with the sacrifices? 104 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:22,280 What do we do with the Old Testament law? 105 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:27,200 And he's explaining to them in this section that Jesus is 106 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:31,880 superior to all of that and has replaced the sacrifices, the 107 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,920 priests, as he is the sacrifice, He is the high priest. 108 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:40,280 He has come to establish what all of those things were 109 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:45,000 pointing to, that those laws and those sacrifices, as we read 110 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:49,760 they cannot and do, did not fully pay for sin or their 111 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,120 guilt. And the law and the sacrifices 112 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,720 had no power and no inherent life in them to sustain them, 113 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:58,560 anything that they might give them. 114 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:01,720 Which is why the Holy Spirit would come and go in the Old 115 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,080 Testament. He'd show up and then leave. 116 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:09,880 And this way, keeping God's rules, worshipping God rightly 117 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:14,800 with proper sacrifice, while good, while holy, while 118 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,440 righteous, it didn't perfect them. 119 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,360 It didn't. It didn't fully help them to 120 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,200 become who God demanded and wanted them to be. 121 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:30,520 However, as we look at this text, verse 14 kind of sticks 122 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:31,960 out. It sticks out. 123 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,880 It's it's like it's in bold in the text even though it's not. 124 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:41,480 We read in verse 14 that Jesus is 1 sacrifice on the cross 125 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:47,120 where he spilled his blood to take away our guilt has noticed 126 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,560 there the past tense perfected us. 127 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:56,280 Jesus, in his death and in his resurrection from the dead, so 128 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:02,080 purifies us through his blood that we now enjoy the status of 129 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:07,960 those who are perfected. Now, I don't know about you 130 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,000 guys, but as we're going through that liturgy and as you hear me 131 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:16,400 say those words just now, I tend to bristle a little bit that 132 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:21,280 word perfect, that Jesus has perfected us. 133 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,720 It sounds pretentious to me. It just does. 134 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,560 It sounds pretentious. It sounds arrogant. 135 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,760 It sounds it sounds like something that's that you would 136 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,919 consider to be haughty. It feels awkward to bandy about 137 00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:38,159 that kind of language, especially when referring to our 138 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:42,760 own selves. We might even resist it. 139 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,320 We would resist it even if we if it if at least it didn't just 140 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:52,240 seem to be too good to be true. It's certainly uncomfortable. 141 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,720 We call people perfectionists, not as a compliment. 142 00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:03,080 And those who act as if they're perfect, well, probably not 143 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:08,160 friends with them. They're not typically the kind 144 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:09,640 of people we enjoy hanging out with. 145 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:14,760 We typically call people perfectionists, ironically, and 146 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:19,600 ingest. Yet that's how God is talking 147 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,680 about us here. It's awkward, It's it's 148 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:27,480 interesting, it's different, and it's being used of you. 149 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,400 It's being used of you who put your trust in your faith in 150 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:38,240 Jesus. To you it says you are perfected 151 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:44,160 in Christ. Your guilt is gone, your sin is 152 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:49,320 fully forgiven and cleansed, and God has received you as His 153 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:54,800 righteous child and the whole Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit 154 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:59,720 look at you and they see a perfected individual. 155 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:08,560 You are perfected in Christ. Let that just wash over you for 156 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:10,840 a moment. That doesn't. 157 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:15,840 That's not normal. That's opposite of everything 158 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:22,160 that we see and feel. It's such strong language and 159 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:26,040 it's used to define who you are before God. 160 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,480 But it doesn't just stop there in verse 14. 161 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,320 Let me read the whole of it again to you. 162 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:39,600 He says by a single offering he has perfected for all time those 163 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:44,600 who are being sanctified, those who are being sanctified. 164 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,160 The word sanctified there means holy. 165 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,120 Just another way of saying perfected. 166 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:57,280 But it describes someone who's becoming holy, someone who's 167 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:02,440 becoming a more holy person, a person who is more formed into 168 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:06,320 the image of Christ, a person who is more perfect. 169 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:12,920 So that sounds like a contradiction, does it not? 170 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:15,480 At least it should if you're thinking about it. 171 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:20,800 Christ has perfected us and we're being sanctified. 172 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,480 There's this dual reality that we're experiencing. 173 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:29,440 You heard it even in our liturgy this morning, These the now and 174 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:33,800 the not yet the now. We live in sin in the world, but 175 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,880 we're also perfected and like we're well. 176 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,720 It's why life is so confusing and so weird, especially as a 177 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,320 Christian. And so how do we, how do we put 178 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:49,840 together in our heads this the fact that we really are 179 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,080 perfected, but when we look at our lives, we don't necessarily 180 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,760 see it and we're going through this difficult process. 181 00:11:56,200 --> 00:12:01,800 Well, I'm a father of five children, four of whom are now, 182 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:07,840 believe it or not, adults. Yes, one of our daughters just 183 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:10,080 turned 18. I've only got 1 left in the 184 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:11,560 house. That's a minor. 185 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:21,720 So she's an adult, but is she? She's an adult, but she doesn't 186 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,000 pay her own bills. She still lives in the house. 187 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,600 She may be mature for an 18 year old, and I would say she is, but 188 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,680 she's entirely dependent upon us. 189 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:38,520 She's entirely ignorant of anything about the world. 190 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,200 She's an adult, but she's still a child. 191 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:53,720 Her legal status is that of an adult, but in reality she's 192 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:56,560 learning what it means to become an adult. 193 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:05,080 Both my child and we, her parents, live between her status 194 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:10,840 of adult while she is still a child and if we handle ourselves 195 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:12,920 wisely as parents, and hopefully we do. 196 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,760 And we've had to learn to do this now more than once, rather 197 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:21,840 than clutch on to her as a child and demand that that's really 198 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,160 what we want her to be and remain. 199 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,240 Instead, we'll maybe hold her hand and help her to move into 200 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:32,800 her identity as an adult and walk with her in that process to 201 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:38,520 live into and become what she is legally, what her identity 202 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,720 actually is and what that's what's, that's what the right of 203 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:49,080 the Hebrews is getting at here. That legally, literally, legally 204 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:56,560 before God, you are perfected. You are an adult in Christ. 205 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,520 That is your identity. It is your status. 206 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,000 It is real. It is not just a figment of an 207 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,840 imagination. It's not just spiritual mumbo 208 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,840 jumbo. It is who you are, and it's only 209 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,960 with a matter of time with Jesus at your side, walking with you, 210 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:17,600 that you will become fully formed into His image and your 211 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,520 status will become your lived reality. 212 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,960 That is what Jesus is doing in you, and that's what He's doing 213 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:27,360 for you. He comes to your side, He holds 214 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,480 your hand, He knows your struggle with sin, but He looks 215 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:36,000 at you and He knows you are also already perfected in Him and you 216 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,320 simply need his help to move your heart and your body into 217 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,240 that reality. As painful and challenging as 218 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,440 that may be. That's great news, right? 219 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,360 That's amazing. It's wonderful, wonderful news. 220 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,560 It's what we celebrate. It's, it's the hope of the 221 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:52,320 gospel. It's what it's what we look to 222 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:59,240 Jesus to do for us and in us. But there's more because he goes 223 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:00,960 on. There's another 10 verses that 224 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:02,400 we're going to consider this morning. 225 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,880 And the reason why we go on is because what we learn in verses 226 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:13,760 15 to 25 is that how Jesus comes alongside of us and brings us 227 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:17,960 into maturity, brings us into adulthood, bring helps us to 228 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:23,920 manifest the perfected status that we have in him is actually 229 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:26,120 through the ministry and through the work of the Holy Spirit. 230 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:28,440 That's what that's how he does it. 231 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:33,680 So here in verse 15 down through 25, we see that there is this 232 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:38,600 transition that takes place in verse 15 where the focus now 233 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:44,360 turns to the Holy Spirit and it says there that the Holy Spirit 234 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,960 is with us to in verse 15 bear witness with us. 235 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:57,040 Look there, verse 15. And the Holy Spirit also bears 236 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:03,920 witness to us. Now we'll get to what that means 237 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,080 in just a second. But to bear witness to us, the 238 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:11,640 Holy Spirit has to be near us. He's got to be consciously 239 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:18,520 present somewhere in our lives in order for us to have anything 240 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:24,840 to hear from him to to have anything born witness to us, to 241 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:28,440 affect us. And we know that in Acts chapter 242 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,600 2, Jesus from his throne in heaven, having risen from the 243 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,760 dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, he did what 244 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:39,360 he promised to do. He sent the Holy Spirit not just 245 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:44,720 to be near, but to become, but to enter into us, to come upon 246 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:49,840 us, to take up residence in us, to make in us his own home. 247 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:54,880 Which is wild because when you read the Old Testament, and 248 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,240 especially for these Jewish readers who originally got this 249 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:02,960 letter, for them, the Holy Spirit only went into the most 250 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,920 cleansed, the most perfect place on earth. 251 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:13,000 And the basically almost all of the laws and rituals and priests 252 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,520 and everything in the Old Testament was there to make a 253 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:21,599 space that is good enough for the Holy Spirit to go into. 254 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:26,960 And what we learn is that Jesus accomplishes all of that, 255 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:33,400 perfecting us so that now we are perfected to become the perfect 256 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:35,240 place for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell. 257 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:42,560 You don't merely as a Christian have a perfected legal status 258 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,440 before God. You are so perfected in Christ 259 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:49,200 that God is happy to live within you. 260 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:57,320 He's happy to live within you, and not just to live within you 261 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:04,240 begrudgingly, the way some of my teenagers have with me, but He 262 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:11,120 lives in you to bear witness to you, to bear witness to you. 263 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,720 What that means is that the Holy Spirit looks upon what Jesus has 264 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:21,440 done and he agrees. This is a good place for me to 265 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:28,400 be. You are God's chosen place to 266 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:32,480 live. That's how effective Jesus has 267 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:37,800 been for you, so perfected that he would dare enter into us and 268 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:41,160 make us his home, to make us living temples in which he 269 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,400 dwells. And he doesn't just live there, 270 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:49,000 but he speaks and bears witness. And what we learn in verses 15 271 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:53,720 and following is what He's actually bearing witness to us 272 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:59,040 in with what he's saying to us. He's reminding us of God's 273 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:03,560 promises. He reminds us that we're loved 274 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,120 by God. He reminds us, He reminds us 275 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:09,480 that we are his children. He he assures us. 276 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,080 That's what the language here says. 277 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:17,200 He wants to assure us of our status before God. 278 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:22,360 He wants to remind us of who we are in Christ, to encourage us, 279 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:29,040 to help us, and to help us live into the identity that Christ 280 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:36,120 has won for us. The Holy Spirit has chosen you 281 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:44,000 to be His dwelling place to make you a confident, assured child 282 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,120 of God. That's that's what he's done for 283 00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:49,280 you and that's what he currently is doing for you. 284 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:56,720 So that's that's like the theological explanation and 285 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,640 content for our experience in our lives as Christians. 286 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:08,080 But what happens in verses 19 down through 25 is the right of 287 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:10,880 the Hebrews now says, OK, this is what this means for you. 288 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,200 He says this is. These last 10 verses I'm going 289 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:22,600 to go in and I'm going to show you how what happened on 290 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:27,320 Pentecost because of the blood of Christ actually works in your 291 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:32,400 life. He takes the perfecting work of 292 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,240 Christ in the indwelling assurance and witness of the 293 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:39,720 Holy Spirit, and He makes practice of it in verses 19 to 294 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,200 23. We see there that the Holy 295 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:47,720 Spirit bears witness to us so that we would have confidence to 296 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:52,920 enter into His presence so that we would have confidence to 297 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,400 enter into His presence. All throughout the Old 298 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:02,760 Testament, you would see the temple or the Tabernacle cleanse 299 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:04,360 so the Holy Spirit could show up. 300 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:11,880 And then there was this sense of, Oh my gosh, I'm sinful, I'm 301 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:16,560 impure, I'm defiled. If I go in there and I spend 302 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:21,520 time with God, I'm going to defile the place and incur God's 303 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,840 judgment upon myself. And that happened. 304 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:25,840 That happened. You read the Old Testament, 305 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:30,480 Leviticus chapter, chapter 10, literally immediately in Chapter 306 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,880 9 where the Holy Spirit comes. Chapter 10, the next verse is 307 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:37,040 two dudes walk into the Tabernacle where the Holy Spirit 308 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,000 is and they get burned alive by God. 309 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,960 That's not going to invite a lot of confidence for anybody to go 310 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:48,680 into God's presence. That's at least going to make 311 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:54,240 you think twice. So the purpose, one of the main 312 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:59,000 purposes of the Holy Spirit is to come into your life and to 313 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,400 bear witness to your soul, to say, hey, what Jesus did was 314 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:07,840 real and you can happily confidently walk into God's 315 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,640 presence. Look, look at what it says there 316 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,520 in those verses, verse 19. Therefore, brother, since we 317 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:18,760 have confidence to enter into the holy places by the blood of 318 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:23,520 Jesus, by a new and living way that He is open for us through 319 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:26,600 the curtain, that is, through His flesh, since we have a great 320 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,800 priest over the House of God, let us draw near with a true 321 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,120 heart in full assurance of faith. 322 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:37,800 The Holy Spirit lives within you to bear witness to what Jesus 323 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:42,320 has done for you so that you can confidently walk into the 324 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:44,480 presence of God and not fear judgment. 325 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:52,240 To remind you that Jesus's death was real and His blood really 326 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,720 did accomplish everything the Bible says it did and is sinful 327 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,040 as you are, no matter what your week was like last week or what 328 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:05,000 it will be like next week. That you can confidently walk 329 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,920 into His presence because He has perfected you. 330 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:13,080 And the Holy Spirit is there to remind you of that and to call 331 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:20,320 you into it. Despite the fact that we live 332 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:25,680 like children. We may be adults, but yet we are 333 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:30,440 like children. Maybe like an 18 year old 334 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:35,840 spiritually. The day I turned 18 I did two 335 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,240 really foolish things. This is real, this is not a 336 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,280 joke. The day I turned 18, I took my 337 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:46,760 new ID and I went into the Amoco gas station in Maquoketa, IA and 338 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,880 bought myself a pack of Marlboro 25 cigarettes. 339 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:56,200 And then I went to the Bumblebee Tattoo shop in Davenport, IA and 340 00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:00,200 got myself a $35 tribal art tattoo on my left shoulder. 341 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:13,800 Yes, I peeked early. Yes, I had a new legal status. 342 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:21,200 I'm an adult and I exercise my new identity like a child. 343 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,240 And no doubt have done many more childish things like that with 344 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:32,280 my new perfected identity in Christ. 345 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,520 But let's not miss what happens here. 346 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:42,320 The reason I bring that up isn't just to tell on myself. 347 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:47,080 The reason I bring that up is because I may have been doing 348 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:51,000 really stupid childish things, but I really actually believed I 349 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,360 was an adult and I walked into that Amoco gas station not 350 00:24:55,360 --> 00:25:01,840 fearing like I have a fake ID. Like I put my slap my ID on that 351 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:07,120 counter and I was like I want a pack of cigarettes and they gave 352 00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:13,400 it to me. When you are confident in your 353 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:19,480 identity, it creates a boldness in you to use your identity 354 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:26,240 properly or legally. And this is what the Holy 355 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:31,720 Spirit's in us to do, to embolden you to build your faith 356 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,920 up so that when you walk into the presence of God, you don't 357 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,480 have to walk in sheepishly like, oh, I got a fake idea. 358 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:43,160 I hope I can get away with it. It means when you go to prayer 359 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,280 before God, even when you're full of guilt from sin, you 360 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,000 could go in confidently that He's there to love you and 361 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:52,480 forgive you and to transform you. 362 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:59,040 It means when you when you have a horrible week and you walk 363 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:03,160 into church on Sunday morning and you feel like trash, that 364 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,320 you can walk boldly into God's presence. 365 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,840 And no, you're not going to face judgment because Christ has 366 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,800 perfected you. And the Holy Spirit is there to 367 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:14,600 buoy your soul and to create confidence in you so that you 368 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,040 know that you're going to get what you need from God, the 369 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,360 encouragement and the help that you need. 370 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:25,160 This is this is what Pentecost gets us, but it gets us more 371 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,960 than that. And verses 24 and 25, this is a 372 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,680 command. We see a command, and it's a 373 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:35,120 command to go to church. Don't neglect gathering 374 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:38,280 together. But isn't it interesting that 375 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,200 it's right here that He gives us command? 376 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,000 This isn't coming out of thin air, folks. 377 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,680 This command in verses 24 and 25 is not just falling out of the 378 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,800 sky. Unrelated to everything else 379 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,120 that has just been going on in the book of Hebrews. 380 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,720 This is coming at the precise point that it needs to come. 381 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:02,960 And the reason is because you've just been invited somewhere with 382 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:07,000 your new status. You've been invited into the 383 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:12,120 holy place. And so we get to the question. 384 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:17,400 We open with what, where and how do I get to meet with the Holy 385 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:23,360 Spirit? Well, it's among one another 386 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:29,400 because if we take seriously what God says here in Hebrews 387 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:34,040 chapter 10, it's not just you personally who've received the 388 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:39,320 Holy Spirit, every person who loves Jesus around you, They are 389 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,000 temples of God's presence as well. 390 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:45,760 And when you get around them, you get around God. 391 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,680 How does the whole where do you find the Holy Spirit? 392 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,560 You hang out with one another, you worship with one another, 393 00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:59,040 you pray with one of these, serve one another. 394 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:04,160 And guess what happens when that when you do that, you get the 395 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:07,800 things that the Bible call the fruit of the Spirit and all the 396 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:09,320 evidences of the presence of the Spirit. 397 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,280 You get help and encouragement, which is exactly what we find 398 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:18,240 the calling to hear in verse 25. Not neglecting to meet together, 399 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:22,200 as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the 400 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,280 more as you see the day drawing near. 401 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:29,000 That as we're waiting for the fullness of all that Christ has 402 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:35,160 accomplished to manifest itself, we can be encouraged by the Holy 403 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:41,360 Spirit in each other. That the Holy Spirit encourages 404 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:48,800 you through one another. Now that can be good news or bad 405 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,000 news, depending upon your experience with the Church. 406 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:58,400 No doubt, like you and me, on paper, when we look at it, the 407 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:02,600 church is a mess. Historically, the church has 408 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,680 failed profoundly. I don't need to list the endless 409 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:09,440 evidence of that. And no doubt some of you here 410 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:15,040 have been personally hurt, disappointed, ignored, or feel 411 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:19,800 invisible in the church. And for you, when you come among 412 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,160 the gathering of God's people, you don't experience being 413 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:27,200 encouraged. Some of you at least, maybe even 414 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,800 just for a season. But you don't feel encouraged. 415 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:36,000 Nor do you see, feel seen or loved For some of you here. 416 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:40,600 It's likely that as you hear that this would be the perfect 417 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:48,160 place for the Spirit to be met, you bristle, maybe even balk at 418 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:53,200 it. Like, yeah, that don't work yet. 419 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,960 The church, we need to remember, we need to be careful here to 420 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:01,080 allow us to interpret the church the way we're invited to 421 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:07,360 interpret ourselves. The church is not defined by her 422 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:12,640 failures. The church is not defined by her 423 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:17,960 sins or her stupidities. Just as your sin is not your 424 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:23,280 identity, the corporate gathering likewise is a group of 425 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:28,360 people who collectively have a perfected identity in Christ. 426 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,200 So when you look at that really annoying person who's hurt you 427 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:36,720 or ignores you, you're looking at a perfected person in Christ 428 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:43,360 that the Spirit of God lives in and is your hope to experience 429 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:49,760 the helping presence of God. And there's a real hope to 430 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,160 experience the perfecting presence of the Holy Spirit in 431 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,960 that person because God is in them to make it happen. 432 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,760 Just as you, if it were up to you, would mess up your own 433 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:08,200 perfection in Christ. You can look at them and know, 434 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,600 oh, they would do it. They're doing it too. 435 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:14,680 But just like I have hope in the God's presence in me, I can have 436 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:20,720 hope in them as well. You see, this passage invites us 437 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,400 to do for each other what we are encouraged to do for ourselves, 438 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:27,160 to be filled full of faith that Jesus has perfected us and is 439 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,280 sanctifying us into what he accomplished for us through the 440 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,040 empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. 441 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:38,280 The person who trusts Jesus in front of you, behind you, beside 442 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:45,200 you, those people are perfected. They are ideal dwelling places 443 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,040 for the Gods presence, and they're ideal places for you to 444 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,520 encounter and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in your 445 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:54,600 life. And when you see them, you're 446 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,240 invited to see them from God's view, and he sees most clearly 447 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,000 they are perfected houses of God that you're invited to 448 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:07,400 experience and know God's power. Do you see each other in the 449 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:12,640 church that way? Paul in First Corinthians 7 450 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,120 double s down on this idea when he's talking about the spiritual 451 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:19,600 gifts. And all of the spiritual gifts 452 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:25,200 are described there as to be for the purpose of building up for 453 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,440 encouragement. But he defines what a spiritual 454 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:32,840 gift is in verse 7, and he defines the spiritual gift as a 455 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:38,480 manifestation of the Spirit, a manifestation of the Spirit. 456 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:43,880 Which means if someone is using a spiritual gift, God's Spirit 457 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:50,200 is literally on display, manifesting himself for your 458 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,920 building up, for your encouragement, for your help. 459 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:59,400 That means if you want to experience the Spirit, get 460 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,920 around people who care to use their spiritual gifts. 461 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,160 This is the power to reshape your entire view of everyone 462 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,720 around you here. As good as personal devotion is 463 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:18,080 to God in prayer and Bible reading and communion with God 464 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:23,040 in a kayak on a beautiful lake, this passage shows us that the 465 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:25,920 perfect place to meet God, for help, for encouragement, to 466 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,080 experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is to 467 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,280 be with each other because that's where God is. 468 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:40,280 But I also want to say this, that there are some of you who 469 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:44,320 feel inadequate to serve in the church, to do the work of 470 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:48,800 encouraging other people. They feel inadequate. 471 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,840 They feel like they can't, there's not really anything they 472 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:56,320 can do well enough, or that their words get all jumbled up 473 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:01,440 when they try to help someone or encourage someone, or they just 474 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,640 feel too broken, sinful, and inadequate to spiritually be of 475 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:10,520 any real good help to anybody. God is inviting you to see 476 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:16,679 yourself differently here. He's inviting you to see that in 477 00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:19,920 Christ you really are perfected and the Holy Spirit is with you 478 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:23,040 to assure you and give you confidence in that so that you 479 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:30,280 can freely serve and love others and be the actual presence of 480 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:34,040 God for their help and for their, for encouragement in 481 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,360 their fight against sin and their encouragement in their 482 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,800 fight against depression or in conflicts. 483 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:46,600 It means you are God's direct and personal encouragement for 484 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:50,040 others. You are the ideal place for 485 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:54,639 other people to see and know and experience God's help. 486 00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:06,200 So you're needed in the church. You're needed on paper. 487 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:10,560 You might feel like and look like a failure, and surely on 488 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:14,200 paper the church looks this way. But God invites us to fresh 489 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,280 faith this morning, to actually believe the gospel about 490 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,800 yourself, to believe the gospel about each other. 491 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,360 And he invites you to press deeply into that, that you might 492 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,920 experience more and more of the spirits help by digging deeper 493 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:29,160 and deeper roots here among one another. 494 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:31,760 And that's my prayer for you all this morning. 495 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:35,600 So let's pray and ask God's help for us to receive that. 496 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,040 Lord, we thank you and we praise you for all the good work that 497 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:44,480 you've done for us in Jesus. We thank you for the the fact 498 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,160 that you didn't just ascend to heaven and forget us, but sent 499 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,680 your Spirit to us to do all those things that we just 500 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:56,040 discussed to give us confidence to come near you and to make us 501 00:35:56,040 --> 00:36:00,880 useful among others. And Lord, to make everyone 502 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:05,600 around us more than what we perceive with our own eyes. 503 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:11,440 So Lord help us, we pray to believe and receive that, that 504 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:16,880 we would be even more excited to come to church on Sunday. 505 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:23,320 The Lord more full of faith in what you have done and are doing 506 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,200 in and through us. So we pray and ask your Spirit 507 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:30,200 to do that work on us even now. Ask us in Jesus name, Amen.