It is Accomplished: Man's Righteousness

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, 11-23 titled, It is Accomplished, Man's Righteousness. This is the third part of the message.

It was first preached on September 23, 2012. God does not mold you with comfort and prosperity. He molds you with pain. He's chipping away the rough edges. He's sanctifying you. He's molding you into the image of his son, Jesus Christ.

And that's what's going on now. So the masterpiece exists in the middle. God sees it. God knows it's there.

I have been perfected forever, but today, right now, he's chipping away the rough edges from the outside to bring that masterpiece out. Get with a program and draw near to God and abide in Christ and walk in the Spirit and let his word dwell in you richly, and you will discover, you will discover that masterpiece that God has for you. So how do I know this? The writer of Hebrews knew that you would ask that question.

How do I know this? And that's why he brings us to verses 15 through 17. The Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after he said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds, I will write them. Then he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

That's 15 to 17. How do I know this is true? That I have been perfected forever and I am being sanctified?

How do I know that's true? The writer of Hebrews says, remember the new covenant. Remember the new covenant. A covenant, something that comes between two is an arrangement saying, I will be this towards you.

I will have this disposition towards you. And the new covenant is something coming between us and God, which is a good thing. Namely, the person of Jesus Christ as our high priest who intercedes for us daily. And because of that, and the blood of the sacrifice lamb, Jesus Christ, God says, I will be this way towards you. I will be your God. You will be my people. Four elements to the new covenant.

I'm going to run through them real quickly right now and then we'll go back, walk through them one at a time. Forgiveness, relationship, presence and transformation. Forgiveness, relationship, presence and transformation. Those are the four elements from which that you and I benefit from the new covenant today. And it's all encapsulated in verses 15 to 17 right here. So he says, remember the new covenant.

That's his ultimate promise. Remember the definition of the high priestly function of Christ? He intercedes for me in the presence of God to guarantee the ultimate promise, that's the new covenant, based on his ultimate sacrifice. The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that covenant consists of forgiveness, relationship, presence and transformation. Let's talk about those each one at a time, very, very briefly.

We're not going to spend a lot of time because this is pretty much review here, okay? But forgiveness. He says, I will remember their sins no more. Their lawless deeds and their sins, I will remember no more. That's forgiveness. Gone. The debt has been paid. And the sin that separated me from God is taken away. The guilt is removed, now the righteousness of Christ is credited to me by faith, as one who has both feet in the boat.

I will remember their lawless deeds no more. Secondly is relationship. God says, I will be their God and they shall be my people.

What is that? That's identity. That's ownership. That's the fact that we have been reconciled to God. I am now in relationship with the infinite sovereign creator of the universe who made me because he desires me to fellowship with him and enjoy him forever.

And that can now be true. But without relationship, relationship without presence, what is that? And so that is the next promise of the new covenant and that is presence. And he says in Ezekiel 36, he says, I will put my spirit within them. He says that here in verse 15, the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us after he had said before. We have the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit?

He is God taking up residence in me as one who has been perfected forever. God, the Holy Spirit is person and he is truth. And so the internal witness of the Holy Spirit speaks to me the truth, the indicative of scripture, all that God says is true about him and about me. All of that, the Holy Spirit witnesses that to me. He is the spirit of truth who will guide you into all truth, who will bring to you remembrance of things which I have spoken to you, the Lord Jesus said, John 16. So the internal witness of the spirit who makes much of Christ. So the very presence of God, not only do I have his forgiveness, not only can I now have relationship, but I have his very presence with me in me bearing witness.

And then fourthly, transformation. Transformation, it is God's intent to bring out that masterpiece of my life in making me just like Jesus Christ. When he says, I will put my law in their hearts and in their minds, his law represents what pleases God. His law represents what is in line with his character and his purpose. And therefore, I am renewed in the spirit of my mind as God molds my thinking, as I think God's thoughts after him and he renews my thinking by his word and his spirit. Which is going back to the habits of regeneration, letting the word of Christ dwell in me richly. And that then becomes the behavior which is the outflow of the truth that exists in me. Again, we don't start with the behavior, we start with the truth. You don't start with the imperatives, you begin with the indicative. If you don't have the indicative, the imperatives don't make sense. And you can become so busy with the imperatives that you're becoming too busy trying to gain favorable opinion from God.

You don't want to go there. I like what Raymond Brown says in the message of Hebrews. He says, the heart of this new relationship is focused on what we choose to remember and what God chooses to forget.

What is it that we choose to remember? Well, that's the faith. That's entrusting myself to Christ in faith. And it's the gospel. It's reliving the gospel, remembering the gospel. It's that self-talk of understanding what the gospel is, who Christ is and what he has done for me and how that identifies me and how he's given me his spirit. The heart of this new relationship is focused on what we choose to remember and what God chooses to forget.

That's the doctrine of justification and redemption is forgiveness. You see, this correlates very much with 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 13 and 14 where it says the spiritual things are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2, it says God has not entered the mind of man what God has prepared for those who love him, but the Spirit has revealed them to us.

You see how we leave that last part off? We think that verse is just talking about heaven. It's talking about us right here, right now. Because the Spirit has revealed them to us. But the spiritual things are spiritually discerned. That means if I am walking in the Spirit, if I'm drawing near to God and I'm abiding in Christ, I am walking in the Spirit and letting his word dwell in me richly, then God reveals himself to me through his word.

And through that he transforms my thinking and my behavior becomes an outflow of that. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. I challenge you today Christians to know that verse and repeat it often. It is God's truth. This is not opinion. This is God's truth.

There's no command in there. God is saying this is what I have done for you. Which means, verse 18, we just simply need to make a clean break. Verse 18 says now where there is remission of these there is no longer an offering for sin.

Let me put that in a 21st century Rich Powell translation illustration kind of thing. Somebody's paid off your mortgage. So stop making payments.

The debt's been paid. But sometimes we feel so busy that we need to gain that favorable opinion of God. Maybe we've wandered a little bit. Maybe we've, you know, we've just been kind of mean for a while and I think, you know, I just need to get back to church. I just need to do more good stuff.

You know, I just I need to get back to getting that favorable opinion of God. Doesn't work. You're making payments on a mortgage that's been closed already.

Doesn't work. The debt has been paid in full so stop making payments and stop trying to redeem yourself. Christ has redeemed you. The thing that we are called to do is to surrender to Him in faith.

Get back to the boat. Do you have both feet in the boat or do you still feel that you still need to be kind of busy making sure that you have God's favorable opinion of you? If that's what you're doing and the habits of regeneration, the drawing near to God, the abiding in Christ, the walking in the Spirit and letting His Word dwell in you richly, if that's just a Sunday thing to you, then you're a baby. You are a spiritual baby. It's time to grow up. This is what the Scriptures is calling us to.

Make that clean break. You cannot gain God's favorable opinion by your busyness. The debt has been paid. Learn Hebrews 10 14 for by one offering. He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 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.