WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 Let's pray together before we go into the sermon. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.679 God, we come before you and say, Have mercy on us. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:09.359 How much we need to hear that you cleanse and renew us. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:18.239 We have our own set of issues as we come in here this morning, whether it be loneliness or weariness, definitely all of us are not perfect before your law. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:22.399 And we need to hear the statement of absolution which we receive every week. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:33.280 May the God of love and power forgive us and free us from our sins, heal and strengthen us by your spirit and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord. 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:34.240 Amen. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.320 So we're making our way through the book of Hebrews. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:42.079 We're in Hebrews chapter 8 at this point, going through the fall. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:46.159 I think there's two main ways, at least for me, there's been two main ways. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.240 I tend to live out the Christian faith. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:51.280 The first one, I would kind of call it a play the part. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:55.600 It feels like a lot of pretending and a lot of performing. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:15.120 It feels like adopting a Christian life via a very particular set of Christian behaviors, usually defined like within a subculture of Christianity, within a subculture of subculture of the church you happen to be in when you become a Christian, and there's a set of behaviors that if you pretend and perform up to them, then that's kind of like the Christian life of which you live. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.000 And all of that is behavior-based. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:19.840 It's not all bad. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:32.319 But if you live that out and just kind of perform the role, there is the side to it that like if you feel like you're accomplishing it pretty well, you can feel like really deep down that you don't really need the grace of God. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:40.000 Like the grace of God is like actually just kind of like it's like a little help along the way, but you're kind of carrying out the goodness of your faith. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:44.879 And sadly, underneath the surface, we all know the reality of it. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:55.200 And that is, is when you're living out faith by pretending and performing up to a standard, it's like we talked about last week in the covenant of law and covenant of grace, exhaustion will eventually set in. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:02:01.200 You'll be exhausted, you'll feel condemned, you'll live out of guilt and shame. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:05.920 Perhaps hearing that voice of condemnation more than voice of love. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:08.560 But the good news is, is there is a second way, right? 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:09.439 Like we've done that. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:10.319 Many of us have done that. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:11.360 Maybe you're doing that now. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.879 Maybe you're learning the way of grace in this new covenant. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:18.080 And the second way is like to grow in the Christian faith. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:28.479 And as you're growing in the Christian faith, you're just coming to a deeper or more profound knowledge that you just don't have your act together. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:39.280 You're becoming more aware of your emotional volatility, your neediness, your love of idols, your woundedness that you thought was over with, and it's still there and it's doing stuff. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.439 You're painfully aware. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:44.400 You're painfully aware of your sinfulness. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:47.120 Maybe you're becoming more godly. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:51.599 But you're not really aware of it that much, thankfully. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:03:02.159 Because it simply feels like just a greater and greater collapse into Jesus' sufficiency for you, and how good this grace of God is. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:10.240 So one is the exhaustion and the burden of the ideal self that the law is calling you to. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:12.719 And the law is good and holy. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:20.000 But if we know nothing of grace, the law just crushes and condemns because we are not perfect before it. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:26.879 But this new covenant that Hebrews 7 and 8 is laying out for us is telling us about the grace of God known in Jesus. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:33.360 And it's a different way that the law crushes us as to be found and live in the grace of God. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:35.039 That's the heart of our church. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:39.759 That's this one verse we're going to camp out in this morning, Hebrews 8, verse 12. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:45.520 For I, this is speaking about God, for I will be merciful toward their iniquities. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:49.120 And I will remember their sins no more. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:59.520 Point number one is this God holds the authority to forgive and forget your sins all the while he delights in your heart. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:09.039 On fall break a few weeks ago, uh Christy and I we put the girls in the car, we were headed down to Christy's parents' house in Florida, and the first hour's great. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.639 Girls were watching movies in the back, and we didn't have to turn the radio on or anything. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:13.280 It was just silent. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:15.520 We're just driving quiet and talking some. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.120 And it started to drizzle. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:18.240 We left about noon. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:19.600 This is about two o'clock in the afternoon. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:22.000 It started to drizzle a little bit, and then it started to rain a little bit. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:28.000 If you know, like driving on the interstate on a long trip, you're heading down the expressway, it's two in the afternoon. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:33.199 It felt like it was like nine in the evening because the clouds came in, and then it was just legitimately raining. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:37.920 And I was 10 and 2, laser focused, you know, I was tuned in. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:44.560 I wasn't changing lanes, I was just trying to see the headlights in front of me, and it was just difficult, right? 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:45.920 Just like so hard. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:48.560 You can't wait for that drive to be over. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:51.839 It's so tense, so tiring. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:53.839 You just can't wait. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:55.040 We've had trips like that. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:02.800 You've driven in a trip like that, or you've been the passenger, and they're like, hey, you can't go to sleep, you've got to stay awake, because that journey is just so exhausting. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:06.800 This is what it feels like to carry around your own sin. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:13.120 To not be able to have it cast upon God Himself to take the sacrifice. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:15.199 That's the guilt trip, right? 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:22.959 The guilt trip that never ends, the exhaustion of it, the condemnation of it, even if it's just like a passive under the surface. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:26.079 But we're free. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:28.399 The guilt trip is over. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:32.160 I'm 41 years old now. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:35.360 I've been in ministry for 20 years. 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:37.040 I have some gray hair. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:39.519 I have a lot less hair. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:41.279 Apparently, my ears are growing. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:43.759 That's what one of my daughters told me last night when I tucked her in. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:45.600 She said, Your ears are big. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:46.800 And I said, Thank you. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:51.360 My other daughter told me my breath smelt like the spirit of dance studio. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:55.439 Um, I've never been in there, but I don't think it was a compliment. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:06:01.040 It's just, if you need humbling, you just tuck your children in a bed, you know, really close to them, and they inspect you. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:04.319 So I've been around, that's the point. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:07.439 The point is, I've been around 20 years of ministry. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:12.720 I have heard every confession imaginable at this point. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:20.800 I've heard confessions of every addiction you could imagine, and even the ones you haven't imagined. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.319 I've heard confessions of adultery. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.079 I've heard confessions from abusers. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:38.399 I've heard confessions about just sins of uh impatience and anger and lust that are destroying and eroding the foundation of relationships. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:43.199 Confessions of just like wanting somebody else's life, right? 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:43.920 You ever done that? 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:48.959 You just want somebody else's life, or you just want to run away, just like get out of your life for a little bit. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.439 Self-righteousness where there should be humility, judgment, where there should be compassion, right? 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:56.399 I'm just trying to get you to think about your sin, perhaps. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:02.879 The overall reality that I'm not perfect and you're not perfect. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:16.000 And what we need to hear over and over again, because we so much want to revert to the law as to assert our justification and earn some forgiveness so we can feel good about ourselves. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:20.720 What we need to hear over and over again is no, the forgiveness is free, earned outside of yourself and given to you. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:27.680 Not only that, what Hebrews 8, 12, the gift of it is, is he not only forgives us, he forgets about it. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.480 He has chosen to forget. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:35.120 We're the ones who keep bringing it back up. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:40.560 The writer lays it out for us in Hebrews 8, 8 and 9. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:44.240 For he, for God, finds fault with them, with us. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:08:03.680 For he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand and bring them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:10.480 So in the law, God finds rightful fault with us and with me. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:16.160 His beautifully created children that just don't live up to the standard. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:19.519 We don't even live up to our own standards, much less God's. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:25.680 Verses 10 and 11 go on to say that the law is actually in our hearts now. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:42.559 We know how we should be, and yet before the law, you read it, whether it be Old Testament law, whether it be moral law, whether it just be like how you should live, pray continuously, and that will crush you because you don't pray continuously, neither do I. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:53.360 But verse 12 comes along right after it, right after we're crushed, right after we could feel so condemned and so guilty, it says, God forgives. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:55.120 He forgives your iniquities. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.440 He does, you know, he forgets. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:08:59.840 He chooses to forget. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:11.840 Point number two is this God's chosen forgetfulness, like of our sin, God's chosen forgetfulness, is our heart's resting place and our move toward godliness. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.519 It's both those things. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:20.720 For life application, listen to this quote, uphold it from Scotty Smith's prayer on this verse. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:22.799 On this verse, he wrote this, this prayer. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:36.480 Now that I'm no longer guilty or condemned, let me fearlessly see my sins, ruthlessly hate my sins, and relentlessly turn from my sins. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:44.399 Increase my love for gospel holiness and decrease my shame and self-contempt. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:47.679 Only the gospel can bring such freedom. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:53.360 Only by seeing more of you will I delight in this journey. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:04.159 See, the freedom of the forgiveness and God's chosen forgetfulness of our sin is the way, is the way of our healing and move toward godliness. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:08.399 Our confession does not fill God in on, well, he doesn't know. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.399 Like, oh, you know, like, oh, I didn't know about that. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:11.600 I didn't know that you did that, you know. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:13.039 It's like, oh, I didn't know you had an affair. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:15.759 Like, it's not what that's not happening in a confession. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:17.519 You're not filling him in. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:23.039 He's already forgiven it in Jesus, and he's chosen to already forget it. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:32.960 Our confession is our collapse back into that great grace, into Jesus and into that path of healing and godliness. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:47.360 Our confession is our act of casting that shame and guilt on him, that we might know that welcoming love that he has for us, and in that we're healed and empowered by his Holy Spirit in this journey of what it means to walk with God. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:54.159 Point number three is this In the gospel, the performance act is over. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:11:03.039 So we are perpetually forgiven, fully righteous, and empowered toward godliness. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:04.639 It's all of that. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:07.120 It's wonderfully all of that. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:15.360 A couple of years ago, Christian and I went on a four-day trip with some friends of ours, a mentor couple older than us, and we got to the cabin. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:22.240 There's this really nice cabin on a river, and we got there, I was like, well, this cabin's not the kind of cabin listed on VRBO that I'm used to. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:23.440 This is a really nice cabin. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:26.799 I got there and saw this and was like, oh, you know, like what's our portion? 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:28.000 Or what's our portion of this? 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:36.000 Like, what's that gonna look like at the end of the four days when we kind of like settle up and we go out to dinner that first night, they treat, and it's like, oh, that was nice, you know. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:38.720 And I'm thinking, well, the tab, the tab's growing, right? 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:44.960 We go fishing the next day, and that was with guides, and I had never done that before, and I don't know what that looks like. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:52.240 And so I'm going, okay, like this is gonna be a six-month kind of recover financial recovery coming out of these four days. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:57.120 And at the end of it, you know, just at the end of the four days, I'm like, hey, what's like what what do I owe you? 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:58.320 What do I need to send you? 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:02.559 And they say, no, no, no, no, no, like this is this is our delight. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:06.320 Yeah, you're you're there's no there's no debt to us. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:07.919 Right? 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:08.879 Like this feeling. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:09.759 I mean, we drove home. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:17.519 I thought the drive home was gonna be like this painful Venmo sending of money to them, and instead, like the drive home was like, that was incredible. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:22.240 Like all that, I mean, we have a clean slate, we got all that with them, we're not in, we're no debt. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:25.840 Like we were at zero clean slate with them. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:29.120 Now the gospel gets even better, right? 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:30.879 So let's just pretend. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:42.080 Let's just pretend on the drive home, they texted and they said, Hey, by the way, not only that, but like we're gonna mail you a debit card connected to our checking account. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:46.320 And just whatever you need to just put on, put it on in it, you know, just whatever. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.799 It doesn't matter, put it on there, and there will always be enough in there. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:51.120 We're gonna make sure it's always fully funded. 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:54.639 I mean, I could put my mortgage on there, my girl's braces on there. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:59.919 I would buy a 1973 Ford Bronco in Britney Blue with a convertible top. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:05.039 I already have the restoration company picked out in California if that day could ever happen. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:08.240 I know what I'm gonna buy, and I would buy it on that debit card. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:15.600 Like I would have a source of wealth, source of wealth that I could never perform into, but only receive. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.759 That's the fullness of the gospel. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:26.720 Not only, that's the fullness of this new covenant of grace, not only are we fully forgiven, we're also fully righteous. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:30.879 That's the sufficiency of Jesus for us. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:37.039 You're not just a servant and right standing, you're a son and a daughter and heir. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:43.919 Priest and author Robert Farrer Capin, he wrote this about the outrage of grace. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:57.120 And so many of us need to hear this because we have stuff we're still bringing up from 10 years ago, that thing you did, that thing that night, that thing, and you bring it back up and you're relieving that shame and that guilt over and over and over again. 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:06.399 Here's what Capin says the whole slop closet full of mildewed performances, which is all you have to offer, is simply your death. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.960 It is Jesus who is your life. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:18.879 If he refused to condemn you because your works were rotten, he certainly isn't going to flunk you because your faith isn't so hot. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:24.000 You can fail utterly, therefore, and still live the life of grace. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:30.159 You can fold up spiritually, morally, or intellectually and still be safe. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:34.960 Because at the very worst, all you can be is dead. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:41.679 And for him who is the resurrection and the life, that just makes you his cup of tea. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:48.799 Grace is scandalous when you state it as good as it is, as free as it is. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:50.240 And it is free. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:53.919 That's not to say that it doesn't have effect, right? 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:10.960 Like what we love to say is like, is earning is over in the grace of God, but effort continues in the grace of God, but the grace of God, the sufficiency of this forgiveness and the forgetfulness of God for you, and you're righteous to him, is fully free. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:12.799 You are free in that. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:17.440 It's the end of the law condemning us. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:33.200 It's the death of the old Adam for a new self to rise in Christ, who is free in the grace of God, perpetually forgiven, always fully righteous, and guided by the Holy Spirit. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:39.840 My brothers and sisters, you are God's cup of tea, not because of your goodness toward him, but because of his goodness toward you. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:41.360 Let's pray together. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.720 God, thank you for your goodness to us. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:00.960 We hold on to guilt and shame as if they will justify us. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:05.600 Would you free us this morning by your perfect grace? 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:12.879 By your inexhaustible love that pursues us in our shame and guilt. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:14.639 Would we hand it over? 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:16.639 Would we keep handing it over? 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:22.559 Would we keep hearing that you have chosen forgetfulness of our sins. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:24.720 You remember that no more. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:26.720 We are free. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:32.639 Thank you for this great gift of Jesus, in which we know our forgiveness and we know our righteousness. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:34.399 In his powerful name we pray. 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:35.039 Amen.