SPEAKER_00: Tab your Bibles this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be in Hebrews chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: As you turn there, for those of you who were here last week, you remember we talked about the new covenant.
SPEAKER_00: For those who weren't, last week we talked about the new covenant that God was bringing to mankind.
SPEAKER_00: It was not like it was a covenant unlike the Mosaic covenant.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the difference.
SPEAKER_00: In the Mosaic covenant, the Mosaic covenant was a covenant where man had obligations to fulfill to God.
SPEAKER_00: And as as Israel kept those obligations, then God was going to be their God.
SPEAKER_00: They were going to be his people.
SPEAKER_00: But the new covenant was not like that covenant.
SPEAKER_00: The new covenant was different in this.
SPEAKER_00: In the new covenant, God, who is obviously the stronger power, is obligating himself for the benefit of mankind, who is obviously the weaker party in him.
SPEAKER_00: God is obligating himself.
SPEAKER_00: He is going to write on our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: He is going to start from the inside in this relationship that he is building with mankind.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we look about, look at that and think about that, sometimes we think, grant, that is just too good to be true.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and if we're honest with ourselves, I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_00: I get a lot of spam.
SPEAKER_00: Email, text messages, phone calls, get a lot of spam messages.
SPEAKER_00: And most of the time, those things are too good to be true.
SPEAKER_00: The latest that I've really been getting in my video feed lately has been Tai Chi workouts for men over 40.
SPEAKER_00: For just seven minutes a day, for the next 28 days, you can not only transform your body, but also your whole life.
SPEAKER_00: And if you watch these videos, which I have to get some amusement out of them, usually it is a guy whose body looks a lot different from mine, who is conducting a conference with his shirt off.
SPEAKER_00: But Divine Prince says this this actor is AI generated, results may vary.
SPEAKER_00: Too good to be true.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and it's because of videos and commercials like that, so often, when we hear things like God is obligating himself for our benefit.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds too good to be true.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you, the new covenant is not spam.
SPEAKER_00: It is true.
SPEAKER_00: What we're going to find in our passage today is that Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient for our salvation and our sanctification to bring us into a new covenant relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: So as we hear this message, what we need to hear is that we can accept Christ's sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: We can accept his sacrifice for our sins and live under this new covenant and in this new covenant relationship with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge is that we just need to trust Christ's forgiveness and move towards maturity.
SPEAKER_00: The question that we seek to answer this morning, though, is if Christ's sacrifice is sufficient, and you hear me say that Christ's sacrifice is sufficient, the question that I would ask is how do we know?
SPEAKER_00: Grant, how do we know this isn't spam?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that this sacrifice was sufficient?
SPEAKER_00: So I invite you this morning, if you are able to stand with me as we give honor to the reading of God's Word from Hebrews chapter 10, we'll begin reading in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.
SPEAKER_00: But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting for that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
SPEAKER_00: For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: God, we thank you for today.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: God, we pray that today you will change our lives because of your word.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So before we actually get to our passage in verses 11 through 14, we we probably need to take a moment and glimpse back even to the beginning of the chapter in verses 1 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: In verses 1 through 4, what we're going to find, the author of Hebrews saying is that the blood of bulls and goats is insufficient to make atonement for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: He actually says almost that very same thing in verse 4 when he says, It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
SPEAKER_00: See, God, he set up this old covenant with Moses and with the people of Israel, and he knew that they wouldn't be able to keep the law, so he had to make a way so that they could stay in relationship with him and through offering bulls and goats as sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: But he knew it was really impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sacrifices, actually, take away sins.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, what those things were were shadows of what was to come.
SPEAKER_00: I remember one time as a kid, my brother and sister and I decided to camp out in our backyard.
SPEAKER_00: Now many of you have heard me talk about my feelings on camping, and some of you will remember that my thoughts on camping is why?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: But we decided for some reason, this and this this story may be part of the reason for that.
SPEAKER_00: We decided to set our tent up in the backyard, and we did we set it up there, and you say, Grant, it's the backyard, can't be that much to it.
SPEAKER_00: You've never been to Troy.
SPEAKER_00: We set our tent up in the backyard.
SPEAKER_00: Now we did have one of those lights that goes on the post, you know, that the power company comes and sits in, but those things cast weird shadows.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember in the middle of the night, I say the middle of the night, I have no idea what time it was.
SPEAKER_00: It felt like the middle of the night or the wee hours of the morning.
SPEAKER_00: A wild boar came and started circling our tent.
SPEAKER_00: Woke us up.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you could see it had that little snout and it was snorting around, grunting in the dirt, had the curled up tail in the back.
SPEAKER_00: We got scared to death, didn't know what we were gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, granted, we were only probably 15 yards from the house, but still, oh my goodness, what we were gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, my sister, who was the bravest of all of us, opened the door to the tent and saw our terrier-sized dog walking around the tent.
SPEAKER_00: See, we saw a shadow and illusion.
SPEAKER_00: What the old covenant was is it was a shadow, it was an illusion, and while it gives us a better picture of what was to come than our dog gave us of that wild boar, while it gives us a better picture of what is to come, it is a shadow of what was to come for them.
SPEAKER_00: It was only a picture of what would take place, that they were looking forward to a Messiah who would come.
SPEAKER_00: Because, see, it was impossible.
SPEAKER_00: What the law did for the what the law did for mankind is it let us know that it is impossible for us to reach God on our own.
SPEAKER_00: It is impossible for mankind to be good enough and for mankind to set up a way to reach God.
SPEAKER_00: That is an impossibility.
SPEAKER_00: But as we come to verses 5 through 10, I love how the ESV starts that paragraph.
SPEAKER_00: Consequently.
SPEAKER_00: Some translations will say, therefore.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he's saying: because it is an impossibility, or even though it is impossible for man to get to God, God has a solution.
SPEAKER_00: He has put forth a solution to that impossibility.
SPEAKER_00: What is impossible for man, it's become possible for God.
SPEAKER_00: And his possibility for us to be in relationship with him is he sent his son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He sent his son to not be a shadow, but to be the sacrifice that was sent for us.
SPEAKER_00: He sent Jesus to fulfill the Mosaic covenant.
SPEAKER_00: He quotes in verses 5 through 7, he quotes from Psalm 40.
SPEAKER_00: He says, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me.
SPEAKER_00: In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying is, listen, I know the blood of bulls and goats is insufficient, that it can't atone for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: But he says, A body you have prepared for me, the Son is saying, a body you have given for me, because I'm gonna come and I'm going to be the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be the one.
SPEAKER_00: And through my blood that we just sang about, I'm going to atone for those sins.
SPEAKER_00: I'm coming.
SPEAKER_00: He even says in verse 7, then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.
SPEAKER_00: It is as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic covenant because he became that sacrifice that truly atoned.
SPEAKER_00: We see him fulfilling the Davidic covenant even here, because what the author did is put in the mouth of the Messiah the words of David.
SPEAKER_00: So he has put in the mouth of Christ the words of David, linking the two.
SPEAKER_00: So the Messiah, Jesus Christ, has fulfilled both of those covenants, and he has come to atone for our sins by being the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And only, only Jesus could do God's will.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus could establish this new covenant.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus can sanctify us.
SPEAKER_00: And it is only Jesus who can do that.
SPEAKER_00: Because he came and he lived a perfect life here on this earth, keeping the full law of Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Not failing one time in it.
SPEAKER_00: And he went to the cross, and on the cross, he took upon himself the wrath of God that it was intended for us as sinners.
SPEAKER_00: And he was buried.
SPEAKER_00: And three days later he arose.
SPEAKER_00: Only Christ could do that.
SPEAKER_00: So now we actually finally come to our question of how do we know that he did that?
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that his sacrifice was sufficient for us?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's three things here I think that show us and demonstrate to us that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: First, we find in verse 11 in the beginning of verse 12, and every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
SPEAKER_00: He repeats himself again because they need to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: We can't get to God on our own.
SPEAKER_00: As we read as we have been reading through the Bible together, DeSoda Hills, as we read through Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and I hear that they stood daily and offered their sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I think about?
SPEAKER_00: I think, man, if I were there, they wouldn't have to stand daily.
SPEAKER_00: They would have to stand hourly offering sacrifices for sins.
SPEAKER_00: They repeatedly offered these sacrifices for sin, but not Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 12, it says, But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sin, Christ didn't have to continue to offer that sacrifice one time.
SPEAKER_00: One time and the job was complete.
SPEAKER_00: One time he died on the cross and the blood that he shed was sufficient to cover our sins.
SPEAKER_00: One time Christ died.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that it was sufficient that it took away because he only had to offer it once?
SPEAKER_00: When I was interned at the University of Southern Mississippi in the BSU, part of my job was just to build relationships with students.
SPEAKER_00: BSU director said, Grant, I just want you to get to know these students.
SPEAKER_00: And so one way that I was able to do that is in the BSU.
SPEAKER_00: We had a ping pong table.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, we had two.
SPEAKER_00: I played a lot of ping pong.
SPEAKER_00: Got pretty good at it.
SPEAKER_00: Got pretty good, so students would come in and they say, Hey Grant, let's play ping pong, and I would go out there and play ping pong and about got to a place that not a student could beat me.
SPEAKER_00: The associate BSU director, now that was enough, that's a story for another day.
SPEAKER_00: But then when I went to Crystal Springs, we had a ping pong table in our youth room, and I would play those students, and they would come and get so mad because I just beat them bad every time.
SPEAKER_00: But then there was one Sunday school teacher who came and he just he couldn't beat me, would get so mad.
SPEAKER_00: He even set up that he worked there in town not far from the church and he would take his lunch break every day, got an hour for lunch.
SPEAKER_00: He would walk to the church almost every day to play me in ping pong.
SPEAKER_00: Repeatedly, he played me and played me and played me to try to beat me.
SPEAKER_00: And then one day he did.
SPEAKER_00: Not by my choosing, but by his.
SPEAKER_00: When he accomplished his task, when he accomplished his goal, there was no longer any reason to play.
SPEAKER_00: There was no longer any reason to go.
SPEAKER_00: There was no longer any reason to repeatedly come and play.
SPEAKER_00: Hear me.
SPEAKER_00: We know that Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for us because one time he hung up on the cross, one time he offered his life as a sacrifice for us, and one time was all it took because the job was accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: We know it was sufficient because he offered one sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, we know that it was sufficient, that his sacrifice was sufficient because what he did after he offered the one sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: See what happened with the priests.
SPEAKER_00: When the priests in the old covenant, every day, what did they do as they repeatedly offer the sacrifices?
SPEAKER_00: See their posture.
SPEAKER_00: They stood offering those sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: Daily they stood.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't sit down, they couldn't stop because the job wasn't complete.
SPEAKER_00: They had to repeatedly offer these sacrifices, but not Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What does it tell us that Jesus did?
SPEAKER_00: When he offered his sacrifice, his single sacrifice for sin, what does it tell us he did?
SPEAKER_00: He sat down.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, my family is coming to visit us today.
SPEAKER_00: They'll be here in the next service.
SPEAKER_00: So yesterday was a day of cleaning at our house.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all understand that.
SPEAKER_00: It was a day of cleaning.
SPEAKER_00: And as we got towards the end of the day, I told Amber, I said, I hope I can preach tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: My legs are tired, my feet are tired.
SPEAKER_00: But I knew this.
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't stop.
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't stop because you know what would happen when I sat down?
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be able to get up.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, at the end of the day, when when we were done, I took my shower and I sat down in our bed.
SPEAKER_00: It was done.
SPEAKER_00: It was over.
SPEAKER_00: The day had ended.
SPEAKER_00: It was completed.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus sat down.
SPEAKER_00: And we know the resurrection was was sufficient from his seating because of this.
SPEAKER_00: One, because he resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: We know his sacrifice was sufficient because God raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: The price had been paid.
SPEAKER_00: Appeasement for his wrath had been made.
SPEAKER_00: So he raised him up.
SPEAKER_00: And then he sat at the right hand of the throne of God.
SPEAKER_00: It was sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: Finally we see that the sacrifice was sufficient because now he is waiting.
SPEAKER_00: From that time until his enemy should be made a footstool for his defeat.
SPEAKER_00: He is waiting.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Grant, what is so what?
SPEAKER_00: He's waiting.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that his waiting means his sacrifice is sufficient?
SPEAKER_00: Well, best way I can think of this.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not a duck hunter.
SPEAKER_00: There are people who are.
SPEAKER_00: And if I'm wrong, come tell me in between services.
SPEAKER_00: I've never really, I've had labs and stuff that I've halfway trained, but I've never had a great trained dog.
SPEAKER_00: But I've seen some.
SPEAKER_00: I've seen them.
SPEAKER_00: If you watch a good duck dog, when the ducks fall or when you're training them and you throw that buoy out for them to go get, man, they wait.
SPEAKER_00: But have you ever watched them wait?
SPEAKER_00: They're waiting.
SPEAKER_00: But they're ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: And they're waiting because they have waiting on them on their master just to give the word to go because they know they can do what they've been trained for.
SPEAKER_00: They know it's time to go and get what they know it's time to fulfill their task, to fulfill what has come.
SPEAKER_00: They know it's time, so they're just waiting.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the Father to say, Go get my people.
SPEAKER_00: It is time.
SPEAKER_00: He is waiting, and we know that his sacrifice is sufficient, that his death on the cross was sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: We know that it is because he is waiting.
SPEAKER_00: He is waiting.
SPEAKER_00: What does he say in verse 14?
SPEAKER_00: For by a single sacrifice he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
SPEAKER_00: He is waiting to go get those whom he has perfected for all time.
SPEAKER_00: Because his death on the cross was sufficient to bring us into relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: So what?
SPEAKER_00: Grant great.
SPEAKER_00: His sacrifice was sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: So what?
SPEAKER_00: The author of Hebrews tells us.
SPEAKER_00: Because right after that, he quotes from Jeremiah 31 what we looked at last week in the New Covenant.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I will put my laws on their hearts and I will write them on their minds.
SPEAKER_00: Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it means for us that his sacrifice was sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: And now that he is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Father, he has sent the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And the Holy Spirit is at work.
SPEAKER_00: As Hebrews says, he is he bears witness to us.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is bearing witness to us.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Holy Spirit who calls us.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Holy Spirit that draws us to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Holy Spirit, and He can come, and the Holy Spirit can work because Christ's sacrifice was sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit can work on us now.
SPEAKER_00: And now what we need to do, what this new covenant means for us, as we trust in the work of the Holy Spirit that He is calling us, and we believe in the Lord Jesus and the redemption that He has made for us, that He died on the cross, that He Arose and that sacrifice was sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: When we believe in him, we find true forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: We find a true relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: We must trust in Him.
SPEAKER_00: Just a moment, we're gonna stand and sing a hymn of invitation.
SPEAKER_00: As we do that, we are inviting you to come.
SPEAKER_00: Those who have never believed in Jesus, who have never accepted for yourself the sacrifice that Christ died for you, that he arose and offers you life.
SPEAKER_00: We invite you to come.
SPEAKER_00: We'll pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: There will be people who will take you out after we pray and counsel with you and share with you how you can know Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you have.
SPEAKER_00: But you are still trying to live under this old covenant.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, Christ's sacrifice was not just to save us.
SPEAKER_00: Does it save us?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not a one-time thing.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are being sanctified, he perfects those who are being sanctified.
SPEAKER_00: Christ's sacrifice was sufficient to change us and help us become the people He has made us to be.
SPEAKER_00: And if this morning you are trying to do that on your own, this morning you think you can be good enough, or you think you can just you got this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this morning in this time of invitation, you need to repent and stop trusting yourself and trust in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Not just to save you, but to change you.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: You can come kneel at these steps and pray.
SPEAKER_00: You can do it at your seat.
SPEAKER_00: However, God's moving you.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe this morning you're looking for a church home.
SPEAKER_00: We would love to have you here.
SPEAKER_00: However, God is moving you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to pray for us, and as we're going to stand and sing, and as we sing, we invite you to come.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for today.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the sacred moment that we have now to respond to your call.
SPEAKER_00: Spirit, as you bear witness to us that Christ came and died and arose and is seated at the right hand of the Father as you call us, as you convict us, give us the faith that we need to answer your call, to believe in you.
SPEAKER_00: God, work in our hearts and lives.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.