Should We Be Expecting a Newer Testament?

Sermon Transcript

This week, as you surely heard, the electronics industry released the PlayStation 3. And people went crazy for it. I said that in the first service. I just said the word PlayStation 3. Some guy erupted over here in the back. Woo-hoo! It did excite a lot of people.

As a matter of fact, as you probably saw in the news this week, They were camped out on the sidewalks and sleeping there in front of these Best Buy stores and Walmart. They were anxious to get their hands on the latest and greatest gaming system. Cops were called in. There was all kinds of people assaulting each other and fighting to get their hands on the new PS3.

Just so you know, we didn’t get one at my house. My boys are still living in the antiquated world, the dark ages of the Nintendo GameCube. All of two years old, I think it is at this point. They want the PS3, but I tell them, hey, when the PS5 comes out, I’ll get you a great deal on the PS3.

So, actually, I tell them, what’s wrong with your old one? I mean, the old one works. It’s good, right? You got all kinds of games for that. You like it. You play with it. You and your brother like it. It’s fine. It’s good. Nothing wrong with it. It ain’t broke, right? Don’t don’t fix it.

 

And it’s funny how they look askew at me when I say that kind of thing because they’ve watched mom and dad with their, you know, fine appliances and gadgets in our adult life, and they listen to a squawk and complain about not having the latest and greatest. And they watch it and they live it because like all of us they have a propensity and an inclination to have the newest and greatest things. They just like that, and that’s no different than us.

 

And it’s not only outside department stores and Walmart’s that people are lining up for the latest and greatest. It’s actually happening and has happened that people are lining up outside the doors of the church, hoping to find some new truth, some new late and great version of Christ or the New Testament.

 

Consider, if you would, historically names like Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy, Charles Taz Russell, Ellen G. White, you know some of these names, Mohammed, Sun Yung Moon—all these people, including a whole host of characters on cable TV these days, that are in some way discontent with the message of the New Testament, and they see in some way the insufficiency of what we know of Christ as presented in the Bible. They don’t care for that. They want something a little new. They want Jesus 2.0, you know, truth of the new covenant, an upgraded version. And so they’re happy to proffer and hand out and peddle a new kind of Christ.

 

And unfortunately, there are lots of people lined up to buy it, feeling like they must be missing something, sensing that there’s got to be more to this than what we read in the New Testament.

 

Well, the best way for us to respond to all the claims—and there are many and varied and there are sundry—of people saying you’re missing out, there’s something you’re missing, you’ve got to have something extra, something new, there’s a new word, there’s a new revelation, the best way to respond to all of that is to read the fine print real carefully of when Christ is presented to us in the New Testament. We need to learn whether or not he comes with an addendum that says, and watch out for version 2.0 because that’s coming, or whether or not there’s verbiage that relates to the finality of the presentation of the truth in the New Testament and the completion of the redemptive work in Christ.

 

And if that’s there, then that changes everything about how we respond to these folks who are trying to peddle a new and upgraded version of Christ.

 

As a matter of fact, why don’t we start in the book that we’ve been studying, the book of Hebrews. We’ve been in it now for 40 weeks, believe it or not. Let’s go back to, and I know it’s hard to remember, way back to chapter 1, just to get a little bit of the setting of the entire book.

 

Let’s start with the very first three verses of the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, which begins, as you might remember, by saying in verse 1 of chapter 1: In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

 

But in these last days—something about this new period, this new time that He classifies with the word last. Now the last days have lasted for a long time, but He calls them the last days—He has spoken to us, not by the prophets, not at various times and in various ways. He’s done it through his Son, whom he appointed.

 

Now watch all the superlatives pack up here and stack up on one another. The heir of all things, through whom he made the universe. This is no prophet here. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God’s being. And he sustains all things by his powerful word.

 

Now note this carefully. This is the theme that’s been unpacked for the last 10 chapters that we’ve studied. After he had provided purification for sins—now this isn’t bracketed or underlined yet in your Bible, please do it—He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

 

And that’s a reoccurring theme throughout this entire book. That whatever he did in providing us with forgiveness, when he was done with it, he went back up to heaven. It was called the ascension. And he went up to this place where God lives called heaven. And according to this text and several others, he sat down at the right hand of God. And that is a statement of completion and finality.

 

Matter of fact, the juxtaposition in chapter 10, and if you turn there now as we get to our text, the juxtaposition is the priest who stand daily ministering over and over and over again with symbols and shadows. But when Christ did his work of dealing with sin, he was done. And this priest didn’t continue to stand with symbols and shadows. The reality of his ministry, when it was over on earth, he went and sat down.

 

Now, priests in the Old Testament had had no duty to sit. They always stood and did their work because it was an ongoing perpetual reminder of the problem. Christ, though, is presented in the book of Hebrews as solving the problem once and for all. And when He was done, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. Christ’s work was perfect, unlike the symbols and shadows.

 

Let’s read the first half of this chapter, if you would. Just follow along as I read it for you, beginning in verse number 1, Hebrews chapter 10, as we summarize everything we’ve been looking at for the last six weeks.

 

We’ve looked at this middle section of Hebrews and how the old covenant was pointing to one thing, the fulfillment and reality of Christ. And here’s—it’s all summed up right here, verse 1. The law, all that Old Testament, all the ceremonies, all the regulations were only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves.

 

For this reason, it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect—that’s the concern—those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they have not stopped being offered? Of course they would have. For the worshipers would have been cleansed once and for all—that’s the concern—and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.

 

But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because it’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. They didn’t do it. They reminded you. They symbolized the need. They pointed to the solution, but they weren’t the solution.

 

And then he quotes Psalm 40, which should be in the margin of your Bible. If you’ve got a reference Bible, hopefully it’s there. He’s quoting Psalm 40, verses 6 through 8, as he gives one last Old Testament example that is fulfilled in Christ as he replaces the sacrificial system with the sacrifice of his body.

 

Verse 5: Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he echoed the words of Psalm 40: Sacrifice and offerings you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.

 

Then I said—verse 8 says in Psalm 40—Here I am, it is written about me in the scroll, I have come to do your will, O God.

 

Now what’s this? Not with sacrifices of animals, but with a body. And of course we know the will of Christ with a body was to die in our place.

 

And he explains a bit of this. He says in verse 8: First he says, sacrifices and offerings, burn offerings and sin offerings, you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them, although the law required them to be made. I mean, obviously, that was an obedient act, but it was all symbolism.

 

Then he said, Here I am, I’ve come to do your will, which has been explained for the first 10 chapters of Hebrews, what he accomplished, death on the cross, to substitute our place for his, so that his righteousness could be applied to me, and my sin could be laid on him, and God could take it out of the way.

 

So the body, as opposed to the sacrifices—those are the two things set against each other here. And in the bottom of verse 9, he sums it up by saying he sets aside the first, all the animal sacrifices and regulations, to establish the second, the sacrifice of his own body.

 

And by that will, we have been made holy, verse 10 says, through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ. Now here’s the phrase that’s important: Unlike the sacrifices of the animals in the Old Covenant, once and for all.

 

Every day the priest stands—you can circle that word—and performs his religious duties. Again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest, Christ, according to the order of Melchizedek, not Levi, when he had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, look what he did. He didn’t continue to stand and minister. He sat down at the right hand of God.

 

Now since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool because by one sacrifice he is made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

 

The Holy Spirit testifies to us about this first and he re-quotes now. We’ve already studied it in the earlier chapters. Jeremiah 31 where he says, This is the covenant I will make with them after that time says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds.

 

And then he adds this, Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. Whatever the new covenant was going to do, it was going to once and for all settle the problem of sin.

 

And then he sums it all up, verse 18, and says, where these have been forgiven—what’s that? Sins and lawless acts—there is no longer any sacrifice for sins.

 

If God accepted the sacrifice of the body of Christ for your sins so that they’re forgiven, there’s no other sacrifices to be made. As a matter of fact, all sacrificing is over. Christ can now sit down at the right hand of the Father. He’s done His work. And your sins and mine, if we’ve responded to that work through repentance and faith, is forgiven, nailed to the cross, and it’s done.

 

If you found your worksheet, I want you to pull it out. It was in your worship packet there. Christ changed everything. Should we be looking for a newer testament? I mean, if we’re moving from old to new covenant, maybe there’s a newer covenant out there.

 

Let’s just start with this fact and this simple summation of the first 18 verses of Hebrews 10. Let’s jot it down like this.

 

Be assured that the new testament provides—are you ready? Here it comes—a perfect and complete salvation. Whatever was needed for me to be right before a holy God, because I got a sin problem just like you, it was perfectly and completely met and satisfied and settled by Christ’s death. There was nothing else that needs to happen for me to be forgiven. There’s no other work to be done. There’s no going to jail for 2,000 years in a make-believe place called purgatory before I get there. There’s no good works or penance that I can do. There’s no meeting God halfway, it’s completed.

 

And let’s look at that from two perspectives. And I didn’t put the pointy fingers. I must have run out of the pointy finger graphic here this week or something.

 

But jot down letter A, okay? Here’s the first way that this happens. The assault on the completion and perfection of the ministry of Christ begins, first of all, by the assault on the sufficiency of Christ’s death. Let’s just at least jot that down.

 

People are saying what Christ has done, It’s good and you need it, but it’s not enough to make you right before God.

 

I summarized it quickly, but that’s what a lot of churches today are peddling. A gospel that says, well, I know Christ did a lot for you, but there’s stuff you got to add to all that good that he did so that God will look at you one day and say you’re acceptable to him.

 

That’s why when you ask your friends, are you going to heaven when you die? They a lot of times do this. I hope so. Based on what? Are you hoping that Christ did completed work on your behalf? Or are you hoping that if this whole equation depends on your adding to his merit, are you hoping that you’ve done enough good things?

 

And that’s exactly what they mean. I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ve done enough good things. I’m kind of thinking the big balance scales will be there when I get there. And I don’t know. I’ve got to pour a few more good works on there so that God will accept me.

 

And if you say, what, don’t you think you need Christ? They’ll say, oh, I need Christ. I know that. But I also need this big trunk full of treasures called good works. And if I pile enough of those up there, then God will embrace me.

 

Now, it’s one of the first verses you learn as a tyke in Sunday school, but at least jot it down at this point. Ephesians 2:8–9. And it tells us in clear and no equivocation that by grace we’ve been saved, right? It’s through faith. It’s through trusting him. It’s not from ourselves. It’s a gift of God, not as the result of my works.

 

Now, here’s an important phrase: that no one should boast. No one does this when they go through the finish line and say, look at what I did to get here into heaven. No one walks through the gates going, yay, I did it. You didn’t do it.

 

As a matter of fact, you could die—or you could rather, you could confess Christ, you could put your trust in Christ’s atonement at the very last minute of your life, which I don’t suggest because you never can plan those death things very well. But you could.

 

And if you hung on to Christ at the last moment of your death and said, okay, I trust you. I’m a sinner. I repent. I trust in what you’ve done to make me right before a holy God. You know what? You will be right before a holy God.

 

Jesus proved that by dying next to a bunch of slimy criminals. And one of them who was hanging there next to him, he looked at and he said, because he confessed Christ and put his trust in Christ, he said, what? Today you’ll be with me in paradise.

 

After a few thousand years in purgatory. Is that what he said? Is that what he said? Today you’ll be with me in paradise.

 

How in the world does that criminal get off thinking that he’s going to be right before a holy God? Well, all the merits of Christ, fulfilling all of the law on his behalf, now transferred from his life to that criminal’s life. You know what? He’s in. Fully in? Fully in. Completely in? Completely in. Is he 100% perfect before God? Absolutely. Why? Because of the work of Christ.

 

That is the message of grace, and it’s being attacked all the time by people with lofty positions in quote-unquote lofty churches with big Bibles in their hands saying you kind of got to meet them halfway. You do enough good things, maybe you can get there. I don’t know. We’re going to kind of work on it. That’s what church is all about, kind of clean you up, and hopefully God will accept you. That’s heresy. That’s not the Bible.

 

As a matter of fact, Romans 4:4, it’s a great connection for a society like ours, a great analogy. Matter of fact, let’s turn there. Romans 4:4. This is helpful because if there is a contribution that I bring to the equation that gets me into heaven, then this verse doesn’t make any sense.

 

Look at this text. It says in verse 4 of chapter 4 of Romans, now when a man works, his wages aren’t credited to him as a gift. You don’t go, oh, that was so sweet of you to give me that check this Friday. That was so nice. Wow. That was great. Thanks. You do that to your boss? You get your check on Friday? No. I mean, you’re angry if it’s a day late, right? You want that thing in your account right away. Why? Because you earned it. It’s not a gift. You don’t send a thank you note every 15th and 30th of the month. You think that was swell. No, why? You worked for it. You logged in those hours. It’s a quid pro quo. You do this and you get that.

 

And if salvation is a you do this and you get that, and it’s a reward, then it isn’t grace.

 

And he goes on to say, verse 5, the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies those that are trying hard—underline that phrase. Who does God justify? The do-gooders. Who does he justify? The wicked. He justifies the sinful. His faith is credited to him as righteousness, as opposed to verse 4, an obligation.

 

It would be an obligation if you could get saved by adding something to the work of Christ. Christ did all the work to forgive. He did all the work to cleanse. He did all the work to take your sins away from you as far as the east is from the west. There is nothing more you can do to the atonement than respond to it. You can’t add to it.

 

And people are trying to add to it all the time in religious groups, trying to say, well, just clean yourself up for God. That is not the gospel. It’s heresy.

 

Our redemption has been completely provided for. Believe it. Trust in it. Depend on it. Don’t try to earn it. It is an offense to God for you to try to earn something that he is offering to you as a gift. You don’t go to a birthday party, hand a gift to the guy, say, oh, I’ll wash your car every week. Thank you. It’s not the way it works. You don’t earn it. You don’t somehow contribute to this. You respond to it with repentance and faith, turning and trusting.

 

There’s another way, pointy finger number two, letter B, if you want to put it that way, where there’s an assault on the perfection and completion of the work of Christ. The Christ who says in this text, He makes us holy. And it talks about this covenant, this new covenant, which has been promised in Jeremiah 31 and throughout the scriptures, and now is fulfilled in Christ.

 

The other assault on it is not on the work of Christ. The other assault on it is on the documents that contain it, the new covenant documents.

 

And in many ways, most groups, aberrant groups, begin by saying what you have in your lap, the Bible, that’s not enough. There’s something else. There’s more. Those documents are insufficient. They’re helpful and they’ll get you started. It’s a few helpful nuggets, but there’s other things. You need more than that.

 

And people are quick to offer whatever else it is to say, well, even they might suggest that Christ provided all you need to get to heaven, but really there’s more that you got to know if you want to live right before God.

 

And pick the plethora of cult groups, particularly those that started in the 19th century in America, most of them, where people said, listen, you know what? What you need is more. You need more information. Maybe God can save you based on the merits of Christ, but you need more information if you’re going to live in a way that’s holy and pleasing to Him.

 

And people were out there peddling all their extra and new revelations to people, saying, well, come and line up and listen to me, and I’ll tell you what you need. Because what you have in your lap is not everything you need. You need more.

 

2 Peter chapter 1. Very important for us to catch this truth. It is important for us to catch this truth in 2 Peter chapter 1. And if you’d turn there and take a peek at this, it’s important to catch because there’s not just the 18th and 19th century cult leaders that are doing this. There are people in Bible study groups and people writing best-selling Christian books doing the same thing right now all the time. Every day on cable TV, it’s happening all the time.

 

And that is that what you have in terms of written revelation needs to be augmented and added to. Either as some special revelation of new insight, and you didn’t have this nugget, and now that you have this nugget, you can look at it, and now you can see it the way God wants you to see it.

 

Or you’ve got to have this whole other body of work and the writing of this prophet or that prophet, and then you’ll have it. Then you’ll please God.

 

2 Peter 1, verse number 3, says that God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

 

Well, maybe that knowledge is an increasing knowledge and a continuing knowledge, and it’s going to continue for thousands of years, and this whole revelation is going to keep on going. Take a look at verse 4. Through these, that is His glory and goodness, He has given us—here it comes—something inscribed.

 

Now I’d like to get to heaven, and I’d like to live a good and godly life that’s pleasing to God. Those two things, according to this, have been provided in the great and precious promises of God. I’ve got them. And whatever I need, I’ve got it from the inscribed promises put down in black and white that the apostles and prophets have provided.

 

And you’re going, well, right there, you just said it. I opened the Orange County Register. There’s the church page. And it’s got Apostle so-and-so and Prophet Susie and Apostle Jim. And look, here they are, giving us more. That’s what they are, prophets.

 

Jot this down. This is important. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20. The Bible is very clear that the church is now being built upon—here it comes—two things, the foundation and the cornerstone. The cornerstone is Christ. The foundation was the ministry of the apostles and the prophets.

 

That’s the ministry that God founds the church on. And then he says, you Ephesians are being built on top of that. And so are you Orange Countians. You’re being built on top of that. On top of what? The foundation of the apostles and prophets. Their ministry provides us the inspired great and precious promises of God and from that we build the church.

 

Now here’s the thing. I’ve never seen the pictures in the Orange County Register and then the church section where apostle you know Danny is is given his his new word from God up in Santa Anna. But I’m assuming if they’re really an apostle of Christ, that picture I really want to see it because their body is going to be old and wrinkled. I mean they’re going to be really old because according to the scriptures and you remember in the beginning of the book of Acts the only way you ever be deemed an apostle is to have been a part of the living ministry, first century ministry of Christ, observing the miracles, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. That’s the only way.

 

And therefore, I don’t know, I’m kind of thinking they’re not that old. You’d have to be 2,000 years old to be a valid biblical prophet or apostle in this age.

 

Everything is done in the first century, and upon that is built what? The church. And you and I are building our lives, redemption, escaping the corruption of the world and my sanctification. It’s all being done because of my reliance on the work of the apostles and prophets.

 

And it’s no mistake, one more passage, end of the book. It’s no mistake that the last book of God’s revealed book, the revelation of God, both chronologically and canonically, is written by the oldest surviving apostle. It’s the last book that is written.

 

He’s exiled to the island of Patmos, the disciple John, who walked and lived and saw the resurrected Christ. It’s no mistake that the last book that ends up in your Bible before all the white space and the references and the maps and all that stuff is a statement by that aging apostle who was soon to die, who says something that is true not only about the book of Revelation, though that’s specifically in view.

 

It’s no mistake that God had that providentially put at the very end of this whole thing called the Bible. The last of the 66 books, the last paragraph of the last book. Take a look at this, Revelation chapter 22, if you’re not already there.

 

He says, I warn everyone, verse 18, who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life, in the holy city, which are described in this book.

 

Now, what’s the book in view? Obviously, the book of Revelation. But you know what? It’s no mistake that this last apostle, the last surviving apostle, in the last revelation from God, the last possible written and scripted word from an apostle, ends with this statement, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that ends up in the last page of your Bible.

 

And you know what? I think it’s good advice for us to recognize, as Jesus warned in Matthew 24:24, that there would be many false prophets and false Christs that go into the world claiming a new thing, saying, hey, over here, over here, look over here, Christ over here.

 

And here was Jesus’s very terse and simple admonition: Do not believe them. That’s what he said. Don’t believe them.

 

He said, because people are going to try to deceive you, even people claiming miraculous signs and wonders. And he says this, do not believe them. And have I not warned you ahead of time?

 

The last days of the last days, the last period of the last days, Jesus said, is going to be known for people trying to say, hey, I got something new.

 

And it was no—it was no mistake that in this last generation, the last two or three generations here, especially in affluent America, we got people popping up left and right going, hey, we got a new word from God over here. Hey, we got a new word from God. And even in the evangelical church, it seems epidemic now that people want to say, I got a new word from God.

 

Be assured the New Testament provides a complete and perfect salvation. The new covenant documents itself, the new covenant Christ has provided all that we need.

 

Turn back to Hebrews chapter 10, if you would. You can hear all that and say, well, that’s interesting. If this is perfect and complete, I’m looking around and I’m thinking it’s not having a perfect and complete effect because the church is messed up and Christians are messed up and the world’s messed up. Wow, if God’s done with his redemptive work and Christ has done all the atoning work that there is to do, hmm, it’s not looking real good.

 

As a matter of fact, that sense of discontent right there is the whole reason that people have cashed in their old Jesus Christ of the new covenant and looked for a new one. It’s like my kid sitting there with his GameCube going, I can’t get this game. I can’t figure it out. It’s too hard. Oh, I want a PS3. What? You know, the problem isn’t with the box you got. The problem’s with the player.

 

And the issue of the new covenant, and people all the time trying to look for a new thing, is based on a discontent about what’s going wrong here and now.

 

Well, Jesus addresses this for us in this text through the writer of Hebrews. He says in verse number 12, take a look at this, just to get some context, 12 through 14.

 

He says, when the priest had offered, this priest, the Melchizedekian priest, Christ himself, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, now circle these two words, he waits.

 

What’s he waiting for? His enemies to be made his footstool. Now, invert that logically in your mind. That means right now he is waiting and there are things that are not under his footstool, so to speak. I know that’s all imagery, but think about it. He’s got enemies, and those enemies out there are not all brought into some kind of practical subjection to Christ and all of his redemptive work.

 

Because, verse 14, by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. So whatever it is—and the juxtaposition of those two phrases is interesting—he’s done something complete, but there’s something left undone. He’s done something complete, but it hasn’t worked itself out completely. He’s done something that is perfect, but it hasn’t perfectly had all of its effects yet.

 

And the best way I can illustrate that, and I know I’ve done it before, forgive me for repeating myself, is when the baseball player knocks one over center field, and it’s out and it’s gone. And everybody stands up and cheers. Why? Because there’s no doubt about the scoreboard. And yet, even with the bases loaded, the score doesn’t go up, because there’s one little thing you got to do first. You got to kind of jog around and touch all the bags. And all those guys have to be brought home.

 

Now, I know it’s taken 2,000 years to round the bases. I get it. It’s a long kind of run around the bases. But God is running the bases. He handed the baton off from Christ to the Spirit, and Jesus leaves and sends his Spirit, and the Spirit is going to work out and apply all the redemptive work of Christ until all of the things that are not right are brought into subjection under his feet.

 

And that takes place in three ways. Did we put number two down? Let’s put it down.

 

Number two, be assured of this. The New Testament—we don’t need new revelation. We don’t need something brand new. We don’t need a new version of Christ. Everything in the new covenant has provided for us, here it comes, the solution for the world’s problems.

 

Everything in the world, everything that is wrong with the world, including your life and mine, has been provided for and paid for by the atonement. It’s been taken care of.

 

Now follow me now in three areas. The first one, let’s just start personally with you and me. Most of us here, repentant people, ask God to forgive our sins, we put our trust in Christ, we’re Christians now.

 

Back up to verse 14. I just read that one for you. Look at it again. Because by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever. Are you made perfect forever? Well, according to this verse, I am. How do I know I’ve been made perfect forever? Because I’m one of those who are being made holy.

 

Do you see two things going on here? If you were with us when I was teaching through Romans about a year ago, we looked at this verse and it was super important for us as we understood the distinction in Romans between justification and sanctification. Remember that distinction? Something going on here.

 

I’ve been made perfect forever. What does that mean? That even if the moment I repented of my sins and put my trust in Christ, responded to the finished work of Christ, I have been made perfect, like the thief on the cross. I completely have all the credentials to live with a holy God forever.

 

How do I know I’m judicially and legally made right before God? Well, you should be able to look at my life and then begin to see a process of practically being made holy. My life should be changing.

 

And if my life is changing from sinfulness to less sinfulness to more Christ-likeness, then that is evidence that I am made right judicially. That’s the distinction between justification, being made right before God in heaven, and sanctification, a process of moving me from where I am to be more like Christ.

 

That distinction is important. Now, in this text, it says this, that Christ has done whatever it takes for me not only to be made right before God, justification, but he’s already in the process of making me holy. That is the process of sanctification. And guess what? That’s all been provided for too.

 

Has it all been applied? Has the Holy Spirit rounded all the bases in my own life? No, he’s working on some things in my life. How about yours? Mr. Perfect, right? You’re not there yet either. Do you need to be more like Christ? You still got sin problems in your life? So do I.

 

You know what that means? We need more sanctification. Does that mean the work of Christ is not finished? No. Does that mean we need a new version of the Bible? No. Does that mean we need some kind of new Christ 2.0? No.

 

Christ has done everything. He hit it out of the park. And now the Holy Spirit in our life is trying to work out the process of sanctification. And the things that are wrong in our lives, if we have time on this earth to continue to walk with Christ, we will continue to see victory in these areas, and we will become more like Christ. That’s called sanctification. And whatever is needed for that process has been provided by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, because he’s already at work in it.

 

Okay, I don’t want to get too far afield here, but jot this down at least. 1 Corinthians 15, we talked about Pastor Al dying this week.

 

Now think about this. Pastor Al’s got a problem that you and I have, or at least he had it, and that was we got bodies that are diseased and riddled with all kinds of imperfections, and eventually it’s all the biological unit is dying, and eventually it will die.

 

That doesn’t seem to match the work of Christ in redemption. If Christ has taken away the wages of sin, which is death, then I should see the death problem reversed. Death is an enemy of God, according to 1 Corinthians 15.

 

And Paul utilizes the verbiage of talking about the enemies being put under Christ’s feet, and he says one enemy that has yet to been put under his feet, in practical terms, is your biological death. He’s got to fix that problem. And he will through the resurrection. But to show he’s already paid for it, he brought forth the first fruits from the grave.

 

And who was the first fruits from the grave? Christ. And because sin was taken care of, he accelerated this whole resurrection thing, and he popped Christ out of the grave in three days to prove that he was in there long enough to be sure that everybody knew he was dead. And now he’s coming out to show he’s got victory over death.

 

I have victory over death. Pastor Al has victory over death. You have victory over death. But that enemy has to be put under Christ’s feet in practical, real-time terms by me being resurrected. And that hadn’t happened yet. And it hasn’t happened yet for Pastor Al. And it hasn’t happened for any Christian loved one that you know that’s been laid in a grave. But it will.

 

He’s working out. The Holy Spirit is working out his plan. And one of the things with an exercise of his power that he will do is pop all of our biological units out of a grave, recondition them, refurbished them according to the manufacturer’s specs, and he’s going to put us in a new place called the New Jerusalem. That’s going to happen.

 

And it’s going to happen because Christ has to make another payment yet because he’s got a few installments to make on the payments until that works, right? No, it’s already been paid for. He hasn’t exercised that right yet.

 

Another great phrase, and I don’t want to confuse too many passages here, but in Revelation chapter 11, there’s a great statement in verse 17, and it’s all about the eschatological events, as it relates particularly to the relief of the church who’s being persecuted by the world.

 

And here’s what he says. The angels and the saints cheer on God as the end time events unfold in this picture in the book of Revelation. And they say this. They say, we give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the one who is, the one who was and is to come, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.

 

He didn’t just get his power. He’s had his power. But now he’s going to utilize that power to bring more of his enemies and things that aren’t right in the universe under subjection.

 

I should have read this one first to you, but this is familiar verbiage because we already hit it in Hebrews 2. Keep your finger in Hebrews 10 and turn back to Hebrews 2, please. I should have read this earlier for you, but it’ll tie it all together. It’s the same comment, same statement.

 

Hebrews chapter 2. Look at verse 8. It says he’s going to put everything under his feet. There’s the whole Psalm 110 quotation. Now, look at the middle of verse 8. This is Hebrews 2:8. In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him yet. Now read the rest of it. At present, we don’t see everything subject to him.

 

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch. How’s that? Well, it’s not that he hasn’t earned the right. It’s that he hasn’t exercised the right. It’s not that he hasn’t made the payment. It’s that he hasn’t actually walked through and made it happen. He hasn’t put it physically in real time under his feet.

 

And that’s exactly the issue for us. He made us holy judicially in heaven, but he’s working out the process of holiness in our life.

 

That’s letter A. In your life and mine, there’s a lot of things that are wrong. And you know what? He’s done all that it takes to fix those problems. It’s called sanctification. He’s working on it in your life.

 

Secondly, the world. Now I’m going, okay, he’s fixed the problems for me. What about the world? The world’s a mess. The world is an absolute mess. Then people are out there doing all kinds of things. They have no interest in following Christ or following his word. They’re doing their rebellious thing every day. It makes it on the 11 o’clock news every night. What’s wrong with this world is messed up.

 

Now, according to the Bible, he’s done everything that’s needed to fix all the problems of the world. His redemptive work and lordship has been paid for. It’s complete. It’s done. Then why isn’t he really the Lord in people’s lives?

 

Side note, he will be, by the way, even before he tosses some people into outer darkness. They will all, according to Philippians 2, bow before him. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father. You know what precedes that verse? That God has exalted him to the highest place. He has already been exalted to the highest place, and he is the boss, he’s the king.

 

Problem is, he hasn’t exercised that bossness, that lordship in everybody’s life in a practical sense, but he’s already earned the right to be there.

 

How do we deal with that in this world? What is our response? What is our commitment as it relates to that? I’m looking at a world that’s messed up. I’m looking at my life that’s messed up. I’m trying to see God’s spirit work and fix my life. That’s called sanctification. What do I do with the world?

 

One simple thing, jot this word down, and we’ll show this to you in scripture. It’s the word evangelism. It’s the word evangelism.

 

The bottom line is God has provided a way for me to confront the world with what’s wrong and it’s the cross of Jesus Christ and that does one of two things. It either—let’s prove this to you.

 

Go to John chapter six with me. John chapter six. It does one of two things. And again, this is a passage I know that may tweak your mind theologically on a finer point of eschatology—or not eschatology, but soteriology, the salvation of people. But look past the naughty concern of philosophically figuring out predestination and just look at this verse to give you a sense that as it relates to God saving lost people, He’s got it under control.

 

And our responsibility is simply to present the world with Christ. And look at John 6. Are you there? Verse 37. Let’s start there.

 

All that the Father gives me—this is Christ speaking—will come to me. Now, apparently there’s some transaction here in eternity past where these future people here, God is, the Father is giving them as gifts to the Son. And the text says, all that the Father gives me will come to me.

 

And whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. For I’ve come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me.

 

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of them that he has given to me, but I’ll raise them up on the last day.

 

And that reeks of that whole statement in Romans 8, that if he’s predestined us, you can look through all those big words to the last one, he’s glorified us.

 

Now that’s what we call prophetic perfect. I’m not glorified yet. I haven’t gotten to that place. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of Christians that are being drawn to Christ that aren’t even justified yet, let alone glorified in the New Jerusalem.

 

Well, that hadn’t happened, but it is such a certain thing because of God’s redemptive plan that was completely paid for on the cross that he can state it as though it’s already happened. In Hebrew, it’s an idiom that kind of filtered into Greek, and we call it a prophetic perfect.

 

It’s stated in the past because it’s so certain God’s going to get it done. You know how it is. Those he’s predestined, he’s called. If he’s called, he’s justified. If he’s justified, he’s glorified them. Well, that hasn’t happened for any of us yet, but it’s as though it’s already happened because God’s plan of reaching out to those that he’s called, he is not going to lose one of them. He’s going to bring them all to himself.

 

What stands between that and where they are now? Well, people like you and me presenting them with Christ. That’s why evangelism is so important.

 

We go out and tell the world, hey, Christ is the answer to the problem of you not making it before a holy God when you die. And as you do that, God says he’s going to draw those people to himself.

 

Or, like you’ve already experienced, not. Or you’re going to present Christ to those people and they’re going to go, ick, yuck, stupid, get away from me.

 

As a matter of fact, Paul put it this way, to some, we’re a fragrance of life, and to others, we’re a stench of death. See, the same message, the same gospel, the same appeal to get right with the holy God, and some go, yes, you’re right, I need that, and Christ draws them.

 

And others say, I don’t want anything to do with that, and in their rebellion, they put their hand up, and they stiff-arm you, and they say, I’m not interested in hearing that stuff. It’s a stumbling block to them.

 

Turn ahead. That’s part of the Holy Spirit running the bases, by the way. Turn ahead to chapter 16 if you’re still in John. We’re in John 6. Go to John 16.

 

Jesus said that’s part of the handoff of the baton from Christ hitting it over the fence to the pinch runner, if you will, coming in the Holy Spirit and running the bases.

 

As he runs the bases, part of what he’s doing is collecting a team for himself. The other part of what he’s doing is proclaiming his lordship to people who are going to stiff-arm him and reject him.

 

Take a look at it. Look at verse 7. I tell you the truth. He talks to his disciples, Jesus, and he says, it’s good that I’m going away. And that didn’t compute for them. He says, unless I go away, the counselor, the parakletos, the comforter, the Holy Spirit, he won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

 

See, there’s the pinch runner. When he comes, here’s what he’s going to do. He’s going to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment.

 

In regard to sin, because men do not believe me, and they will be convicted of that. In regard to righteousness, because I’m going to the Father where you can see me no longer, and they’ll have no lived out standard of righteousness. So the Holy Spirit is going to work in concert with their conscience and show a standard of righteousness, and they’ll be convicted.

 

And in regard to judgment, because not only them, but the Prince of the world—now check this verbiage out—now stands condemned. The ministry of Christ won that battle for the universe.

 

But the Spirit, as He runs the basis, so to speak, even though the work has been done, is going to not only collect for himself redeemed people, which is why we exist as a church on this earth. In heaven, we can go to heaven and worship him and learn all about Christ, but now we’re here to reach lost people for him.

 

He’s also going to, as he presents the lordship of Christ and the message of the gospel, people are going to go, no thanks, I’m not interested. He already exists and has been exalted to the highest place. The redemptive worker, the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

 

Part of the job now, for us, practically speaking, is to present him to a lost world, and God will fix it. He’ll either present them with the accountability of the gospel and judgment, or he will draw them to himself and bring them into the family.

 

He’ll fix the problem with you and me through a process of sanctification. He’ll fix the problem of the world through evangelism and presenting Christ to a lost world.

 

Thirdly, let me make this clear, and I want to draw this out and knead this out from the other two. He will fix the problem with the church.

 

And I say that because most aberrant cult groups and theological error, when people are trying to step in with new revelation and a new version of Christ 2.0, they’re doing that because they’re frustrated with the church.

 

Just go back to the 19th century and watch all the people going, I don’t like what’s going on in the church, and they step out and say, well, God spoke to me and I’ll tell you what he said. And off they start their group.

 

Why? Because they’re frustrated with the problems in the church.

 

Does the church have problems? Yeah. Let me tell you about them. The church has got problems. But the answer isn’t all of that stuff. Version 2.0 of the Church of the New Covenant documents. The problem is solved by the work of the Holy Spirit. And it is a problem that God, just like in the sanctification of the individual Christian life, is working out in the church.

 

And if you go and read these top-selling authors in the Christian bookstore—God forbid our bookstore, hopefully we’ve weeded all this stuff out in ours—but you can read about them. And I’ve heard it starting in the late 80s all the way to today. One of the most recent books of one of the most popular Christian evangelical authors has said it over and over and over again. And that is the church of Jesus Christ is basically irrelevant.

 

And you know what? You can live the Christian life and have all that God wants for you, and you really don’t need that antiquated thing called the church anymore. Okay?

 

Well, I hate to break the news to them that in Matthew chapter 16, that’s not the way Christ saw it. He looked and he said, he said, you know what? I’m going to build my church.

 

And you know what? A real hard-hearted 21st century in Western society is going to kill it. That’s what he said. Is that what he said?

 

I’m going to build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

 

Church have problems? Yes. Is it going to be irrelevant? Like the titles of the books that I’ve read in my past, and they made me sick, but the titles of the—oh, the church is going to die. The church is going to be extinct, you know, by the year 2000. No, it’s not.

 

God has got his church. There’s a lot of false churches. I recognize that, and false prophets. But God has his true church, and that true church will never, ever be extinct or irrelevant.

 

He is going to build that church, and hell itself will not be able to stand against it. Why? Because of the victory that was won by Christ in his redemption. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, not because there’s anything else to do for the victory of the church. It has already been won, and the Spirit is going to tag all the bases and live it out corporately for us, just like he does individually for us.

 

Is there sin in the church? Yes. Are there problems with the church? Yes. Are there bad leaders in the church? There are. I understand that. But God is going to have his purifying effect because the Spirit cares about the church, and he is going to lead the church into victory, the real church. He’s going to do that. And there’s no doubt about it.

 

And practically speaking, and let me say it again. Let me turn into a passage. I know it’s a lot of passages, but this is Compass Bible Church. And it is Sunday morning, right? So please turn in your Bibles. Yes, that’s nice. You brought one. Nice golf clap there for that. Thank you.

 

Acts 13, please. Acts 13. As I think of this passage, I think of Romans 11:25, too. I won’t make you turn there, but in Romans 11, there’s that interesting statement about what about God’s plan for Israel?

 

And Paul says this, you know what? There has been a time, a partial hardening of Israel, and it’s taken place, and I love the verbiage here, until the full number of Gentiles come in.

 

There is something in the divine plan where God has a roster, and that roster isn’t full yet. And if that reminds you of 2 Peter 3, you’re on the right track. He prolongs the consummation of the ages because the full roster is not full yet.

 

The Spirit is running the bases. And for the church, He’s got to fill it up. And He’s going to put people in there that He’s called by name.

 

And I love that picture next to that great statement about it being a light for Christ in Acts 13. Look at how it’s put. Drop down to verse number 47, almost to the end. Acts 13:47.

 

For this is what the Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And from their perspective, man, we’re on the edge right now, baby. We’re a whole new continent. They hadn’t even—I mean, think about it. We are on the other side of the planet. And he’s working his plan out. He’s faithful to do that on the coast of a continent they didn’t even know about.

 

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and they honored the word of the Lord. Now underline this. And all who were appointed for eternal life, guess what they did? They believed. They jumped on board and put their trust in Christ.

 

That is a great and encouraging statement. And you know what that says? God has not only paid for redemption, his spirit as he runs the basis is working out the redemptive plan, not just for us individually, not just in external evangelism in the world, but right here in the church, he is bringing the full number of saved people, Gentile, he’s bringing them in.

 

And as they hear us proclaiming the gospel, and as they see the church doing its thing and shining the light in this world, you know what? They come to their place at the table.

 

And I know there are a lot of people sitting around whining about it. I don’t like the church getting so big and it’s a parking problem. And I don’t like it. I don’t know the pastor personally. I can’t control the church. I don’t like it. It’s too big. I hear that kind of stuff. Sorry. Okay.

 

Because here’s the biblical problem. We got a task to do. We’ve got people to reach for Christ. We’re going to proclaim the light of Christ as best we can until the full number is here. Until God gets every person appointed to eternal life in the kingdom. That’s the job.

 

And you know what? If we fill up the number here, he’ll move us somewhere else. He’ll make it happen somewhere. He wants the full number of his team in this thing called Christianity. That’s what God’s doing.

 

And you know what? That means we’re going to have to grow a little bit. Sorry. That’s just going to happen, right? Come early. Walk. Ride your bike to church. I don’t know. And I know that the aisles are going to get narrower and more people. And I don’t know these people. I’ve got to sit next to people I don’t know.

 

I can’t fix it. The Bible says that the redemptive work of Christ has provided for the building of his church, the appointment to eternal life of everyone on the roster to believe. Our job is to shine the light of the gospel.

 

And that’s why it’s so important for us to keep looking outside the doors of our church and thinking how we can accurately and clearly, without compromise, present the word of God to the world. That’s what we’re all about.

 

And so it is that God has provided the solution for the world’s problems because of the finished work of Christ. Everything practically, not under his feet yet, but it’s all under his feet. And one day he’s going to work that out with the exertion of his power progressively in our sanctification, progressively in the world through evangelism, and progressively in the church through church growth. It’s going to be a reality for us.

 

Now, you’re going to say, well, that’s great, but there are real big issues in my family or in my life or in my Bible study group, or maybe you’re listening on the radio, or you’ve got a CD, you go to some church, my church is all messed up.

 

Listen, here’s what you need, because I know that every single church, I’m sorry, every single aberrant theological movement, I mean, almost without fail, has been birthed from a real frustration with the church.

 

But no, there are two very distinct options, very distinct options. There are people that want to seek new revelation, and then there are people that return to the old revelation of the new covenant, pardon the pun. They return to the inscripturated new covenant word, and they seek something that’s not new revelation. It’s called reform.

 

Let’s put it this way, number three on your outline. No matter what happens, good or bad, catastrophic, you know, or chronic, whatever the situation, seek reform, not new revelation.

 

And that’s where most of the church is. They’re going, well, I don’t know. I don’t see the answers in God’s word. I don’t see God working. We need some big new revelation.

 

See, there’s a big difference between Joseph Smith and Martin Luther. You realize that, right?

 

One came out of the problem. Both of them said the church is screwed up. Church is messed up. It’s a real mess. It’s a sewer. It’s a pit. It’s not right.

 

And you can take the two and say one came out with a new testament of Jesus Christ and said, here, this is what we need. And the other one came out with a Latin phrase that was the cry of the Reformation. And you know it, right? Sola Scriptura, the scripture alone.

 

Which means the mess in our church is not that we lack new information. It’s that we’re not applying what we already have. That’s the problem with the church. And it’s the problem with my life. And it’s the problem with my Bible study group. And it’s the problem with your life and your church. The problem is we’re not applying what we have.

 

And so I’m tired of people going, well, I need new revelation. I need a new word from the Lord. I need a new word for this new day. No, you don’t. You need the old word of the new covenant. You need to master it. You need to study it. And you need to get into it.

 

And you know what I find? People want the new revelation because it’s a lot easier than studying the old one. You recognize that, right?

 

And I love J. Vernon McGee. He preaches from the grave on the radio every morning. And you know J. Vernon, right? Don’t you love the hymn that was picked for the beginning of his show every day?

 

How firm a foundation you saints of the Lord is laid for his saints in his excellent word. I love this next phrase. What more can he say than to you he has said? I mean, that’s just it. What more can he say?

 

People go, oh, God, tell us something new. We need a new word for a new day. God’s going, you know what? Just—he’s pointing. The book’s right there collecting dust on your shelf. Get it off and master it.

 

I will never forget. I went to Bible school, became a Christian at Bible school, and I walked every morning past an inscribed stone, cornerstone of the dorm. And every day I passed it. Passed it in the spring and in the fall. I passed it in the dead of winter with snow piled up underneath it.

 

And it was one verse from 2 Timothy 2:15. You know that verse? And it was the cry of the leaders in my life at that time saying, What we’re here to do for you is not give you new information and new insight. We want you to become a master of the thing that God has already said.

 

Because like J. Vernon McGee’s opening bumper music, I mean, my professors were saying, what more can he say than to you he has said? He’s already said what’s for you.

 

And you know 2 Timothy 2:15? Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, one who rightly handles the word of truth.

 

Our need, our desperate need, is for us to know the Word, to know and study the Word and handle it accurately and apply it.

 

I know this isn’t fair, same passage in two points in one sermon. But in 2 Peter 1, we quoted that verse about the fact that He’s given us everything for life and godliness through the precious promises that He’s provided to escape the corruption in the world. You remember that passage?

 

The next verse says this, that because of that, or with this in view, it says, let’s make every effort to add to our faith. Now you’re thinking, what, new revelation?

 

He says this. He starts listing all these biblical qualities. Let’s add to it goodness and gentleness and self-control and brotherly kindness and love. I need you, basically, Peter says, to take the promises of God, master those promises, put them to work in your life, and add some application of that word.

 

The problem with the medieval church that all the reformers came out and said, I’m sick of it, we got to fix it, was fixed by one book, a book that the church already had, but they didn’t want anybody to read. They didn’t want anybody to look at. They didn’t want anybody to turn to any passages. They wanted to keep it in a different language that no one could study it.

 

You know, that’s the problem. You take a church or religious system and divorce it from good, open Bible study with a Bible staring at your face and studying that, not just in the service, but encouraging people like good Bereans to go home every day and study it to see if the things that the guy on the stage is yakking about whether they’re true or not, if you divorce the ministry from that, you are in big trouble and you are in danger of going down a road like most people today saying, well, what new thing does God have to say to us?

 

What more can he say than to you he has said?

 

Now, I understand for this generation that we’re reading about, the new covenant was new. And that’s why so much is given about the emphasis and the argument that all those symbols and shadows we’re pointing to Christ.

 

But don’t miss this. Once we have Christ, now that Christ in the new covenant is 2,000 years old, please know that the fine print on that new covenant says, and this is God’s final word.

 

As a matter of fact, Jude puts it this way. There are so many people with new ideas and new thoughts, and Christ, like he said in Matthew 24:24, is saying, hey, come and listen to this new thing. Here’s what Jude said. You and I, we ought to contend for the faith that was once and for all deliver to the saints.

 

And you and I are in a society, and I know we can look at all the big names of the cult leaders and say, look at them, but you know what? It’s happening all the time in Christendom today, all over evangelical Christianity.

 

And people saying, I know what you’ve heard, but you know what? This is kind of old antiquated stuff.

 

God has finished the work. Christ has accomplished our redemption. Christ changed everything. That’s what we’ve been talking about for the last six weeks. But it’s something that we can unwaveringly and resolutely hang on to, because it doesn’t shift and it doesn’t change.

 

And you’ll never be able to have anybody rightly come up to you and say, well, you know what, you’re missing something. You need a new piece to this puzzle.

 

Every piece to the puzzle is here. We don’t know everything that God has for us, that God knows. We don’t have completely the mind of Christ. But what we have is what he needs us to have and what we need to master.

 

Charles Wesley—I mean, he wrote, he was prolific. He wrote, I don’t know, thousands of hymns, Bob could tell you. But Wesley, in his hymn writing, Charles Wesley, wrote a little hymn.

 

I’ve never heard it sung in public, but it’s called Tis Finished. And I love those words as I research some of his hymns from time to time. And here’s what he wrote. Listen to these great words to sum up all that we’ve been talking about in Hebrews.

 

He says, the types and the figures have all been fulfilled, speaking of the Old Testament. Exacted is the legal pain. The precious promises have all been sealed. The spotless lamb of God has been slain.

 

Tis finished. All the debt is paid. Justice divine is satisfied. The grand and full atonement is made. God for a guilty world has died.

 

Accepted in the well-beloved and clothed in righteousness divine, I see the bar to heaven removed and all the merits of Christ are mine.

 

If we died today, we’ve got all we need. If we never heard a new concept ever, we’ve got enough revealed to us in the scripture. He has provided it all for us in Christ.