It is Accomplished: Man's Righteousness, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Hebrews 10, 16, and 17 tell us that in this new covenant through Jesus, God will put his law on our hearts and write it in our minds, and that he will remember our sins no more. Our status and our future are sealed through Jesus' sacrifice, and as we pursue the heart of our Lord, he continually works to change us, not our outside only, but starting with our attitudes and our desires. Let's listen to today's message from Hebrews 10, 11 through 23 titled, It is Accomplished, Man's Righteousness. This is the second part of the message.

It was first preached on September 23, 2012. I have a holiness about me that allows me to fellowship and commune with him because I have been perfected forever. Let me give you a definition of what this means. Very practically speaking, if I have been perfected forever, what it means is at the core of my being, my essential character, my essential nature, at the core of my being, I am what God wants me to be. At the core of my being, I am what God wants me to be because I am in Christ. This is what Paul says to the Corinthians when he says, He made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, in Christ. The righteousness of God.

You know what's amazing about this? The words are important, but also the tenses are important in this verse, Hebrews 10, 14. By one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. That term perfected forever is in the perfect tense. I'm not joking.

This is a God thing, okay? Perfected forever is in the perfect tense. That means something. The perfect tense means it is a completed verbal action that occurred in the past but which produced a state of being that exists in the present. The emphasis of the perfect tense is not so much on the past action, but on the current state of affairs that is true because of the past action.

Did you follow that? I'm not going to say it again. Alright, I'll say it again. The emphasis of the perfect tense is not so much the past action, but the current state, the current being, the current state of affairs based on that past action. By one offering, he has perfected forever.

What is my state of affairs right now because I am in Christ? I have been perfected forever. And that's true of me now because of a past action that God has done.

Remember, there's no command here. The Bible isn't saying be perfected forever. It says I am perfected forever because of what God has done and because I have both feet in the boat. I have surrendered myself in faith to Jesus Christ. That means that His righteousness has been credited to me. Wow.

That's the doctrine of imputation. Credited. His righteousness credited to put on my account and I therefore am acceptable to God and He has the same opinion of me that He has of His son Jesus Christ. Now doesn't that just make you stop and think?

That's good stuff, folks. The second thing that is true of every believer, the first thing is we have been perfected forever. The second thing that is true of every believer is that we are being sanctified.

Wait a minute, Rich. Doesn't that contradict? The fact that I have been perfected forever means that at the core of my being, I am what God wants me to be, what He designed and intended me to be. But also, on this side of eternity, in this context, in this tent of flesh, of corruptible flesh, in the context of a fallen, created, groaning, created order, I am being sanctified. Don't be scared by the word sanctified. It means being made holy.

Okay, that scares you too. Alright, that means I'm being made like Christ. I'm being made into the image of exactly what God wants me to be outwardly. Remember, have been perfected means at the core of my being, I am exactly what God wants me to be.

But outwardly now, He's molding me. It is a present participle. It means this is what's going on now. Again, this is not an imperative. This is not an imperative. This is not a command. This is not God saying, become what God wants you to be.

So don't go there. It is something that God is doing now. If you are in Christ, He is molding you into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. God's Word and His Spirit are at work on you and in you. Philippians 1-6 says something very clear.

We sang about it this morning. Philippians 1-6 being confident in this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. That's verse 13. When everything is as it ought to be, then you and I will be perfectly like Christ in character, absolutely holy, freely desire, freely desiring and fully delighting in God's perfect character and His purpose without distraction.

That's the way we will be. I have a question for you this morning. Are you neglecting God's work or are you submitting to it? Are you with the program? Are you neglecting God's work or are you submitting to it? Do you feel like you just, well I have my ticket to heaven, let's just get on with life and someday I'll reach heaven? You probably have a foot on the dock.

How do we do that? How do we get with the program? The fact is that I have been perfected forever which means I have been reconciled to God which means I am free to pursue that relationship with Him. Christians listen to me.

If you catch anything this morning, you have to catch this. Priority number one for you, paramount for you, is your pursuit of God. Now, stop and listen for a minute because for a lot of people, when they hear about walking with God, they immediately think about and their mind wanders off to all the things you're doing for God. That's not what I'm talking about this morning. When I'm asking you about walking with God, I'm not asking you the things you're doing for God.

Got it? I'm asking you about your fellowship with the person of God, your communion with Him, your interaction with Him, your pursuit of Him, His person. Do you want to know Him more? Do you want Him to be working in you, teaching you, molding you, correcting you? Do you want Him to manifest Himself and His love more fully to you?

Are you pursuing Him? I'm not asking you about the things that you're doing for God. So I talked about before the habits of regeneration. I mentioned four of them.

What are they? Draw near to God, abide in Christ, walk in the Spirit, and let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Christians, listen.

If you're going to do something, do this. And this is not doing things for God. This is a passionate pursuit of God. And there is a world of difference between the two.

Because you know what? You can do things for God and do it academically, mechanically. You can do it in the flesh. You don't even have to be a Christian to do it. But these things, you cannot do them unless you are in Christ.

And they are priority number one. Because you have been reconciled to God, you are now free to pursue your relationship, your fellowship with God, and your behavior becomes an outflow of that pursuit. Which is why the Bible says that we have been perfected forever and we are being sanctified.

God is at work in me through His Word and His Spirit molding me. Let me use an illustration here. Let's think of a sculptor, okay?

A sculptor finds a piece of granite and starts chiseling away. Alright? And this is the finished product. This is the image of Christ.

Alright? And that image represents all of His perfect, holy character. Loving, kind, gracious, forgiving, all of that. And His purpose to simply please God and delight in serving God and doing His will. That's what Jesus Christ did perfectly. And God is in the business of molding you and me into that.

Which is the idea of being sanctified. Now, the fact that I have been perfected forever means God looks at the piece of granite and at the core of my being, He sees this. He sees the finished masterpiece in the image of Christ.

He sees that. And that's who I am because I am in Christ. I have been perfected forever.

And that's the way it will be when all of His enemies have been made His footstool. Verse 13. In the meantime, I am being sanctified.

And what does that mean? The sculptor is chiseling away all the rough edges on the outside and bringing out that masterpiece that exists in the middle. I have news for you. God's sanctifying process, the process that makes you holy, will involve pain. It will involve adversity because we live in a fallen, created order. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m. .