Heb 10:5-10 | Love

Heavenly father. Thank you for for sending your son. To give his life for us. There's not a one of us in this room. That is deserving of your. Life-giving sacrifice. We're not worthy and yet, you've made us Worthy. and that's a, that's a seemingly contradiction in terms are Concepts that we really have difficulty understanding and so We acknowledge that your ways are higher than our ways and your thoughts higher than our thoughts and we accept, and believe in faith. According to your word, these things you tell us about who we are and not who you are. But how you've loved us about how we're to love you. We thank you that we bring you our offerings and Hazard Hazard are offering our life as our offering. In our attempts to bring you offerings, our attempts to love you and serve you fall wool. Felicia short.

But the beauty of that is your love for us, does not depend on. The level of. Perfection if you will for our efforts. Your love for us. Depends on. Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

And when we are in Christ.

You could not love us more.

And you don't love us less.

Please capture our minds and our hearts with that reality.

With that. Glorious truth.

In Jesus name. Amen. Hey, man, please take your seats. You know, one of the things that I've always kind of appreciate about the Christmas season, is the Reese's commercial some time with our service members around the world. And I I love why they're not really commercials right there. There are no spots but their publicity spots on TV and I love seeing these things because at times, it kind of gets out of sight. Out of mind. We know that there are people serving our country around the world, some domestically, and some in Friendly territory and some not-so-friendly territories, but we just kind of get going about our days. And it's easy to forget. It's easy to forget, or maybe. To let it. You do drift forming in the front of her mind, until I love those ads because those spots because they bring right back into the front of our minds, the reality that there are men and women who made a decision to go and and use their lives to help. Keep us safe. You noticed, right? They could have some different messaging. Obviously, or what? Not. Doesn't matter, except that they would just be in front of us. In that way. I just think that would be tremendously helpful up for us. It would help us. It would honor their sacrifice. May I could just say so much about that. But listen, among the many reasons that people decide to or give to join the armed forces. Most, if not all go with the understanding that they may give their lives in service to our country. In other words, that go with a particular purpose in mind and a same, and more is true of God giving sending his son Jesus to his Earthly, post to his Earthly station, the father, since the sent the Sun for a particular purpose, in one of our most well known Bible passages. We read it Christmas. We read Matthew 1, 20, through 23, an angel of the Lord appeared to to him, but to Joseph in the dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, or that which is is conceived in her, is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill with the Lord has spoken by the prophet. Behold a virgin, that will conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means god with us. A particular Mission requires a particular plan. God has never been a reactionary God. He's never have seen how the flow of the world take place, and then into a bag of strategies to figure out what is next. Isaiah 53 tells us and asked to 22 and 24 times as much as think about it, if our Armed Forces, went into a into a war or into a particular battle in a war, right? Cuz we know that Wars are made up as battles and different things like that, if it went into a particular theater, and then then on the way over they start creating their battle plan or they land. And then they start trying to talk about what we're going to do or how this is going to look. I mean, we be done. We would be done and they would, they would lose that. They went into with that. In mind, Isaiah 53 tells us that it was the will of the Lord to crush Jesus. I want to try to slow down when we read that because we really easy to just read that as a as a fact or a truth about God and just keep moving on. But just think about that reality for a minute. We've had some really fun family nights. This Christmas season, we read through reading through an advent book at. We had some fun nights recently sitting on the carpet, playing games laughing, and sparring, and wrestling and picking on each other. And I'll tell you, you do all of those does, think the game that we played the wrestling, the that you do, whatever it might be. All those things are just tools to really, to be able to be together. There's nothing I love hearing more. Maybe a bit of an overstatement, but then when are kids, we just get to laughing and they just start belly laughing? When I could just record that and I could just play that for hours. Right. I told I told her to talk to the kids yesterday, Sherilyn, busted a gut laughing at it and I was like, I didn't even think you think I was funny. It was just in ways that I don't even know how to describe. Thing, I want you to go and die for those mean, people over there.

And you're going to love them and they're going to spit on you.

They're going to treat you like garbage. You deserve to be treated like royalty. They're going to, they're going to treat you. Like I just I just can't even imagine what that's what our father did in sending his son. Jesus x223 says, when he's preaching is kind of in the middle of this sermon, if you will. And he says this Jesus who is delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and you killed by the hands of Lawless, man, been soaked in God's Eternal purpose. God God's master plan, the father devised a way, a plan do away with the requirement of the law for salvation.

Who is a question? What, why, why would God do away with this old Covenant system? If it was working so, well, why would God need to devise, or or put into practice or put into effect this additional or secondary plan? Well, it didn't work. And God wasn't surprised by this. In fact, I need for the New Covenant. Since before the foundation of the world, God, devised an old Covenant and he devised a new covenant. And sending Jesus. He says out with the old and in with the new rights of Jesus's purpose in coming to Earth to the Virgin birth was to abolish, the old Covenant and its sacrificial system and to establish a New Covenant, right? Until the law is the law of the rules and regulations that the men and women had to keep perfectly right there. Not one slip-up in order to have an internal relationship with God, the Father will we know since the days of Adam and Eve? They never kept that Covenant and since then Adam was kind of, it was a type of Christ and throw in the same way that Adams sitting, right? Where was kind of talked about Eve gets the bad rap some time. It's right. She ate of the fruit.

Will Adam fell before she ever got there and not conveying God's command to her, or not, leading her in some way Adams. Responsible for it and Adam's sin Adam's transgression.

Transfer down to every other human ever born.

If they would have sacrifices and burnt offerings, they were required. But they were never intended to function as a permanent removal of the Eternal penalty for our sin, because it couldn't could only be a temporary way to give people the opportunity to cleanse, their consciences to learn about the Holiness of God. And to walk in faith field, obedience for a. Of time. It was never intended to save people from the Eternal punishment of their. That's why is, as can you read this morning, right? The Hebrews tells us that that Jesus came for what to do. God's will he does away with the first the old Covenant in order to establish the second Covenant? So for thousands of years, people would offer the offer these sacrifices and pain. He's burnt offerings.

And if Jesus would not have come, you Jesus would not have been born of a virgin. That's a critical fact of Christmas. He had to be born through a virgin so that he would be 100% of God and 100% man, that reality alone, just blows our minds. When we, when we come across these truths, that seem so simple. And yet are beyond our capacity to understand. How is that possible? That he could be 100% fully God. 100% fully man simultaneously. Really appropriate response. This is kind of an aside is to step back. Slow down your life and worship God. to say something to the effect of

Wow.

God. You're too big for my little mind to comprehend.

And our minds are pretty fascinating creations. And how they work? How much information they were able to process. And yet they're so,

So humid. And God is glorious.

Beyond our understanding.

Jesus was born to a virgin in order to make it so that you and I wouldn't have to offer sacrifices forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever you get the idea and never never never never work. Is there always intended to point forward to the one? Who could right? You know, I don't know if man in the room here. I've ever gotten a honey do list from your wives, right seeing some Expressions. Try not to make too much eye contact. I'll start laughing in real. Somebody under the bus here. I got to be honest with you. They can be a challenge right before things. I mean, hypothetically in somebody else's household. List of four things, five, things turns into six or seven and see you got a list of things that you want to be working on for your wife and to love her and serve her. And I know, honey, do list can go the other way to what you're working on these things. And, and

You kind of strategize your time and she goes out and does other things or runs errands or does our other work or whatever. The case might be, and you just getting ready to finish up that list and sit down for the game. And you get a phone rings. We get a text or you just hear from the other room. Oh, honey, by the way. And now the honey do list, isn't for things are five things. Maybe it's seven or eight, right? I figure out this like Master question, right? So, it's sometimes I'll just be, I'll just say, hey, this is great hon. I'm happy to do these things for you. Can I just ask you a question of them kind of thinking through my day? Anything else you think you might want to add to this list?

It's like my way of locking it in, right? This is my responsibility. I'm trying to learn your expectations here. I'm happy to do. Whatever you want me to do. Let's just not leave five like lines on this thing. Let's fill them up now, so I can kind of manage my time and then do what I want to do, right?

Our list of expectations and rituals and sacrifices would go on and on, and on and on, it would be a never-ending list. And we would never meet the end of that list because we're not perfect. We needed Jesus to come and do away with the list once and for all, there's no possible way to accomplish her to complete. All of the requirements of of the law. No possible way, because God is, Holy and we can never meet his standards. We couldn't actually compiled all of our efforts together and say, hey, we think we're pretty good people. Let's get together, Oak, Grove Church, and let's try this thing out. Maybe if we combine a cumulative, Lee become wholly together. Perfect.

Cuz every one of us to send one time. if I had to guess, maybe more than once.

So we never get there. We never do it to the Earth to be a good example for us. He came to be our savior. He came, as Matthew said, to save his people from their sins by abolishing or demolishing, the requirement of the law to redeem us to save us to buy us back, purchasing our Salvation. From the curse of a lot of this Mission has at least two objectives. These are the primary two objectives that the god-man Jesus would live in absolutely perfect life in thought, and deed. He had to be perfect, which is why he was born of a virgin. With the Holy Spirit said, we had to be perfect and he would have willingly an undeservedly. Allow himself to be murdered on a cross at Calvary.

Do you have to live a perfect life? He would fulfil all righteousness. He never send in his thinking. Never had one, but we often think about his actions, but he never had one thought. It was sinful Bible tells us that are what we speak out of the heart, the mouth speaks, right? All the sin that we commit externally starts on a heart Works. Its way out, Hebrews, 9:11 and 12 says but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come then through the greater and more perfect 10 not made with hands, that is not of this creation. He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats, goats, and Cavs. But by means of his own blood.

Does securing a turtle Redemption? This is the writer of Hebrews goes on to tell us that Jesus. No immediate, that means to stand as a go-between between God and man between the father, who is Holy and perfect and, and you, and I who are not wholly in perfect. But, but will, when we look to Jesus, and we trust him in faith for our Salvation acknowledging, our own depravity reims in. Jesus is a, as a friend, a brother in a mediator, a go-between between us and God, which is why we pray in Jesus name. Amen. God. I'm coming to you. By the power of the spirit of God, in the name of Jesus. Add a friend, who told a story one time about going to, I'm going to check out a professional field and, you know, you can't just like drive up to a stadium and say, hey, can I come in and take a look like, well, you can buy a ticket for $80. Or $200. And you're welcome to come and take a look around. Yeah, for sure.

But he was the chaplain of the Yankees, who's the chaplain, the Spanish-speaking players on the Yankees. And so,

His friend called him and said, hey, can I come take a look around? I said, yeah, you can cuz it's all about who, you know. And the same is true of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus taught his disciples. This is my commandment. That you love one another. As I have loved you and John, 15 greater love has no one than this. That he would lay down his life for his friends, and you are my friends. If you do what I command you, no longer do I call you servants. For the servant, doesn't know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my father. I have made known to you and you didn't choose choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you. That you should go and bear much fruit, and that your fruit should have died. So that whatever you ask, in my answer, whatever you ask, the father in my name. He may give it to you and these things I command you. So that so that

So that you will love one another.

The son of God. Who, who? Who, who, who thought everything, right? It's not that he just didn't think wrong, thought everything that he was supposed to think everything that he was supposed to think on. He thought on and he didn't just avoid sitting, he did everything perfectly that he was supposed to do and living his life on the earth, so that he could be our sin sacrifice so that he could open the door for us to have eternal relationship with eternally. Holy, righteous. Perfect, and loving God. It's the most sacrificial. Love possible in all the world. Could there be a greater love? I need answer is unequivocally.

There could not be any greater love. Not just because we understand it that way. Although, that's true. But because Jesus said, it greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friend.

And Jesus laid down his life for us for his friends. So that's so that we would bear much fruit.

He sacrificed his life so that you and I will grow up into him that we will, we will mature. We've been looking at 1st Corinthians in a Sunday school class in talking about the reality of growing from from milk to soft foods in from soft foods to harder foods. And to meet that, that's God's go for us as Christians to be continually growing up into Christ as a body. That's not a competition, not a race, but wherever you're at today.

Next week, or next month. The Lord wants you to be a half a step further. Right. Not not now. We don't hear not at the end of the race bearing. Much fruit fruit, that its enduring fruit that lasts. Fruit. That last Jesus had a purpose to do. The father's will verse seven tells us.

Can you read it for us? This morning, sacrifices and offerings? You have not desired, but a body. You prepared for me. This is coming from Psalm 40. In burnt offerings and instant offerings. You have taken. No pleasure.

And then I said, behold I have come to do your Will O God as it is written for me in the book.

Become I have I'm sorry to hold. I have come to do your will. And by that will we have been Sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all God has a will God's will for us is not to do Jesus's.

Job, if you will. Irr will I'm sorry God's will for us is to walk in fellowship with him by coming to Jesus first and foremost. And by loving one another and the love that we have for one. Another is really the the Overflow or I'm sorry. That was the Overflow of God's love for us. But it's also the visible manifestation of God's presence in his people.

By this, they will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

Jesus said in John 15.

You are my friends. if you do what I command,

So, if you need the name of Jesus.

Where to do what? God commands. Never not going to do all perfectly. But if if you Proclaim that Jesus is your savior, you ought to be bearing some increasing amount of fruit that lasts and that fruit is made visible in how we love one another, that's the end of that little section and John. These things, I commanded you so that you will love one another.

The Jesus had a purpose to do the father's will and our father has a will for each of us who named him as his savior to love one. Another showing that we are Jesus's friends showing the Jesus Is Our Savior purposeful mission of Christ change or strengthen your affections for God. Because you'll be really easy to to move right to what are you doing for? God? It'd be really easy to move, right? To a place of like what they like with an Entertainer. Right spinning, a bunch of plates in the air and you got to keep them all spinning and you move to a different state. Can you spend that plate and you spend his plate and I probably know you're doing it right? Cuz I know how that works. Soccer.

If you move right to what I need to do for God, you very easily could be moving right into sacrifices and offering mode. And as we sang this morning, our life is our sacrifice. It's Jose Lord. What? What your will for me? How do you want me to be loving? You following you and the best place to start? The first place to always, start is our my affections impacted by. What I know. God has done for me.

Because otherwise you get the cart before the horse and You Begin thinking about all of these plates, you got to keep spinning all these balls you got to juggle and keep them all up in the air in your ear. Julian Christ will rise or fall on whether or not you see that you're doing it well or not.

And the primary thing that God wants for us, the primary thing that God purchased for us is our hearts to be able to love God. And let everything else flow. From that.

We see the results and it a little bit later in Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 21 through 25. If we have a great high priest, I'm sorry. Great. Priest over the house of God. Let us draw near with a true hearts in full Assurance of Faith with our hearts sprinkled clean, from an evil conscience, and our bodies wash with pure water. Let us hold fast, the confession of our hope that are confident expectation.

Hold fast to this confession without wavering. For he who promised that is, God is faithful. And let us let us consider how to stir. One another out toward love and good works. Not neglecting to meet together. This is why God wants us to be here. Lots of things that we can be doing in the faith that are good. Bible studies that made throughout the week are good. This is the one where God says. I want you to be there with my people. I want you to be there so you can be the loving one, another encouraging one another sharpening, each other in the face meet together, regularly weekly with one another, for this purpose. Not neglecting to meet together. Where's 25? As a habit of something, but encouraging, one, another and all the more as you see the day Drawing Near?

I was standing with the nearly eight hundred others that worked in the company that I work for at the time as we watched one airplane, and then another Korean into the Twin Towers in New York City. I was in Tennessee at the time, but I family that lived in New Jersey not too far away. And so I was like, everyone just especially interested and curious and fearful for what was happening. In fact, my my brother-in-law has a, his dad has a plane and he was actually out in the air flying at that time. So, everyone was a little disconcerted and everyone of us in my office in the company that I work for down in, Knoxville, Tennessee.

Everybody was concerned for our nation. And we we stood over cubicles like this silence. Just watching waiting for more news.

In fact, if you're early college or younger.

You weren't alive when this happened.

And as a nation, we came together very strongly for a. Of time.

Among the many things that flowed from that painful horrific horrible situation.

Where some? Positive ways that our nation was caught a fight.

To this day. There's a memorial. That remembers what happened? And I know you see it on a picture sometimes. It's massive. Two lights that shine straight up in the air. That will always be a part of that New York City skyline. And one of the other things that has flowed, out of that day was the phrase say it ready? One, two, three. You're afraid, you're going to get it wrong. We will never forget.

Apparently, there's more than one price.

What's a petrified? Look?

We will never forget became the mantra. If you came to monitor for for many who who were killed or badly injured, as a result of those Twin Towers falling. It also became the mantra for those brave men and women. Well, everybody else was running for their lives and nobody would blame them. But the police and the firefighters and more ran to their death.

And as a nation we have said, we will never forget.

God calls us to come together to love each other to meet together to challenge each other to do life together. And when were together, He calls us never to forget. Always remember what Jesus has done on the cross in coming to live on this Earth and to give his life as a sacrifice. For you and for me not one who who who who ran away and I don't mean that in a cowardice says, I mean, one who came intentionally and ran to his death. Because it was the father's will for him in order to do away with the old Covenant and bring in the new. In fact, when Paul is telling the church about this and 1st Corinthians, he says for I received from the Lord. What I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night. He was betrayed, he took bread. And and when he had given space to the father, he broke it. And he said this, this is my body or he he needs a picture of my body or My Sacrifice. This is my body, which is for you, given for you to eat this in remembrance of me. Never forgets.

In the same way. He also took the cup after supper and this cup he said is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes every one of our, our families. Every one of our our our our tribes. Maybe if you will, we've got certain phrases that we want to say that Proclaim, something about the importance of things in our life. And we want to keep saying about 911, we will never forget if you spend time, if I had the opportunity at times to spend time in DC and you get to go see varying memorials from different Wars. We intentionally erect statues walls, send lights up into the sky and build memorials as we ought to So that we will never forget.

Before all of that, Jesus left us a sign.

When you're together, do this in remembrance of me? Proclaim, tell the story of my death until I come again. He goes on whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord. In an unworthy. Manor will be guilty, concerning the body in the blood of Our Lord for anyone who eats and drinks without distorting render standing the intensity, and meaning of what Jesus did on the cross at a Loosely paraphrase there, whoever eats or drinks without Discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. We have to be extra mindful when we come to this time.

We will not be flippant about our time together. That doesn't mean we have to sit in seats with our heads down. We want to be intentional, we can sit in our seats. We can our heads and use this as a quiet personal time to pray. We can also be doing the many other things that God calls us to do together as a body, right? In a minute, we'll have two stations up here, will have two stations in the back. And if you believe that Jesus is your savior. There's nothing you can do to earn your way to heaven to work your way to heaven. We invite you to come in and remember. The perfect life and sacrificial death of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Come partake. It also may be wise for you to take a beat, take a moment. After where to Search Your Heart. God, am I really your child? Or Lord. Am? I am I knowingly living in ways that I understand to be contrary to your will? That I haven't repented out yet. Let me get that right with you first. Are you don't have to go away and fix it first because God's forgiveness is ready for you. That it's already been purchased for you.

First 28th of what a person examine himself in. And so eat of the brain can drink of the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without Discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. And that's why so many of you are weak and he'll in some of died. But if we jump judge ourselves, truly we, we would, we would not be judged. But when were judge by the Lord, we are our disciplined. As we spoke about recently. God's loving discipline for his children.

We are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

If you sent the Lord's discipline in your life, rather than fighting it kicking against the goads.

Go to the Lord agree with God. We call it confession, agree with God that he's right. And you're sitting.

Thank you.

And turn from your sin. And eat and drink. To remember God's blood body. And Gods blood. So then my brothers whenever you eat together, wait for one another if anyone's hungry, let him eat at home. So that whenever you come together, it won't be for judgment about other things. I will give you directions when I come. There's a togetherness about the New Covenant. There's a togetherness and how we're to understand God's love for his people through sending his son, which is intended, to be two to change, or to increase our affections, our love for God, which enables us to to walk in the will that God has for us so that we can bear much fruit and therefore love one. Another.

And so we love one another. Even as we come. And we eat this bread and we drink this cup. Let's pray together. Heavenly father. There is so much.