The Book of Hebrews 10:1-4 A shadow of the good things
Hebrews 10:1-4 · Vern Peterman · Jan 19, 2014
Hebrews, No. 39
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926413406908

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. I'd like to take you on a little walk down memory lane. Remember when? Maybe you remember when there was an announcement made. Mark Henderson is engaged to be married to Angie. We wrote then that Roger and Bonnie are struggling to contain their excitement but aren't doing all that well at it. Pray for them. We also Said not shortly after that, yes, they did get married. It was on a June 12th, a while back. And still, I see people struggling to contain their excitement. Anyway, then also remembering when we had, not that long ago, some football score announcements.

During that time, we said that Jeremy and Jenny Doan were going to make a touchdown. That was coming up in October, and of course that's come to pass. Craig and Jessica Johnson also a touchdown, and that came to pass. Mark and Angie then have two field goals for extra points coming up by Roger and Vonnie and also by Megan.

That was slated for February. Well, guess what? February isn't even here yet. But their baby is. So Cedar and Alan Henderson, born January 15th, close to 8 o'clock in the evening, 5 pounds, 12 ounces, and 18.7 cute inches. And Roger and Vonnie have all but given up on trying to contain their excitement.

Now let's step our way through this Hebrews passage. Hebrews 10.1 is what we'll start with here. And one thing just to kind of give us a context and introduction, just remembering these are Hebrew Christians, Hebrew, Jewish, Israelite Christians.

They have become believers in Christ and yet what's happening is they're being drawn to go back in reliance upon all the sacrifices that are going on at the temple. What that tells you is that the temple is still around. At 70 AD, the Romans completely dismantled it. It has not been reconstructed since and remains in broken, dumped pieces off the edge of the Temple Mount now. But nonetheless, at that time, they're looking at relying upon it.

What's interesting about the book of Hebrews is it never mentions the temple once. it always refers to the tabernacle out in the wilderness very interesting emphasis so here Hebrews 10 one goes like this for the law since it has only a shadow of good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, make perfect those who draw near."

So let's take a look at that a little bit at a time. So here he makes reference to the tabernacle, but whether the tabernacle or the temple, there were these sacrifices that they would go through an annual cycle on. And you do the same sacrifices every single year. And by the way, there are also additional sacrifices for other things. For example, the birth of a child would be another instance for an additional sacrifice.

So, the Law of Moses contains 613 individual statutes. That's a lot. Addressed civil, criminal, dietary, social, and health issues. all those things, plus everything in the tabernacle and temple. It talked about, you know, here's how you construct it, here's how the various articles, the candelabra, the table of sacred bread, here's the Ark of the Covenant, all those things were described. Here's how you construct them, here's how you use them, here is the way that the priests are supposed to dress and how they're supposed to behave. Everything about that was described. And that was all part of the 613 individual statutes. And these set of statutes, it's important for us to recognize, address things that were very large and obvious to things that weren't so large and obvious.

One of them, we've said jokingly, it was against the law of Moses to eat an apple with a worm in it. That was a breaking of the law. Even something as, what we would think, insignificant as that. Or maybe that bothers you enough it's not insignificant. Anyway, all right.

So the Apostle Paul, when he addressed the Law of Moses, tended to focus on personal application most of the time. He didn't focus primarily on the sacrifices and that sort of thing, even though the temple was operating. And we know that he did go into the temple area. But he focused on personal application, an example that we looked at some months back was in Romans 7, 7 and 8.

Paul wrote then, I would not have come to know the sin nature except through the law, for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, You shall not covet. But the sin nature, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. It's as the cartoon that I've shown from time to time would say, here's this couple standing at the side of the street and there's a sign right next to them that says, absolutely no machete juggling. And one person says to the other, suddenly I have this compulsion to juggle machetes.

I don't know why. The author of Hebrews tended to focus, however, on the tabernacle rather than all the other personal laws. Everything is about the tabernacle. Why? It's because the Hebrew Christians that this letter is addressed to, the Hebrew Christians were thinking, you know, I really kind of miss those old sacrifices and, you know, just having the priest go in there and do what he does. And I really think I'd like to go back to that. And so the author of Hebrews is trying to get them to get some spiritual perspective on this. Now, one of the things that we're going to point out here is something the Apostle Paul pointed out, but it's actually fairly self-evident. Whether we're talking about the punishments for individual sins, which often included stoning, which could end in stoning, or the sacrifices of animals in the tabernacle or the temple, either way, the Law of Moses was a ministry of death.

2 Corinthians 3.7 says exactly that. A ministry of death, a ministry of condemnation. In Deuteronomy 30, 15 through 20, and it's not the only place, but it's one of them, we'll point out here, Moses is towards the last, the very last part of his life. And in that passage, he puts a life and death choice in front of the people of Israel. Life and death, blessing and curses.

Those are the things that he makes stand out. He says you can choose and he tells them choose life, which means follow the law. And here's the way it reads. You have it also in your handout on page one. See I have set before you today life and prosperity and death and adversity. Those are your choices.

Life and prosperity, death and adversity. in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it." So he's telling them this right as they're getting ready to enter the land, but he himself is not going. Verse 17, "'But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, and by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him, for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

You've got death and you've got life. You've got curses or you've got blessings. He doesn't say pick one. He says pick life. Pick the blessings. Now how are you going to do that? You've got 613 laws. You better keep them all. Every single one. But one of the things to point out We talk about someone being saved, and what we mean by that is someone is saved when they believe that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again. They're eternally saved.

The law doesn't tell you how to get saved. Not in that sense. The law only tells you are you going to live or die physically, and are you going to be blessed or cursed here on planet earth. That's it. The law does not tell you how to be eternally saved, and never did and never could.

Many people today have somehow gotten the idea that if a person lives by the Ten Commandments, or at least tries to, that this will allow that person to be accepted into heaven. This is a huge mistake. Here is an artist's rendering of Jesus with a man standing in front of the law as if that's going to be the standard of your salvation. Is that going to be the standard of your salvation? No. Did you believe that I died for your sins, was buried, and rose again? That's the question. If you did, your name is in the book of life. If you didn't, it's not. It's that simple. has nothing to do with the law. The law never saved anybody.

Now, to illustrate something, I'm going to show you a pie chart. So brace yourself. I'm sorry to show this so close to lunchtime. But, a pie chart. It goes like this. You have this also on page one of your handout. This circle here, this pie, uncut, represents all 613 individual commandments of the Law of Moses. So that's all 613. The Ten Commandments, and I've made the line a little wider so you can see it. The Ten Commandments is just that much of the law, that vertical line that's halfway in the middle. That's it.

So if someone says, I follow the Ten Commandments, well, good luck with that, because that means there are 603 other commandments that you're not following. And what that means is you have decided that you're going to break 603 commandments and just keep 10. Good luck with that. You've decided if you're going to keep the 10 commandments, you're going to break 603 other commandments, and it's most of the law.

And you've told God it doesn't matter. Good luck with that, right? So, when someone says they followed the Ten Commandments, boy, they really have not gotten anything done. And by the way, how well are they doing at it? My guess is, they're not doing too well at keeping the Ten. Now, the Law of Moses never saved anybody. All 613 of the laws were given to the people of Israel, who were baptized into Moses.

That's 1 Corinthians 10, verse 2. and it all relates to the land, just like the passage we just read that Moses said. We're going into the land, and this all relates to the land. How many of you are in the land of Israel right now? I doubt a lot of us have even been there. The law lays a path to physical life or death and to blessings in the land or curses. And one of the curses is the land will spit you out.

It has to do with the land, it has to do with the people of Israel, and it has to do with all 613 laws. All of them. Not one exception. The book of James says you break one law, you've broken the whole thing. So if you decide to break 603, well that's really something, right? So here's Moses. The Jews are all baptizing to Moses. He's about to introduce them into the land. He's given them all 613 laws they're supposed to follow.

And he says, I lay out a path for you as you enter into this land, physical life or physical death, blessings in the land or curses. It does not mention being eternally safe. The law is not about salvation. If you keep the law, if you try to keep the law, If you do your best effort, even if you memorize them all, and good luck with that, you couldn't carry them out. It relates to the land.

You have to be Jewish and you have to know what tribe you're in. How many Jews know what tribe they're in these days? Just about none, right? Close to zip. They have no idea. And part of the law says if you're of this tribe, this happens. If you're of this tribe, that happens. They don't even know what tribe they're in now, and there is no temple for them to do all this stuff in. Even a Jew who tries his best to be observant can't keep the law today.

The rabbis have said, for any law that we can't keep because, for example, the temple isn't there, that prayer is an adequate substitute. Where does it say that? It's about Moses. It's about the law. It's about the land. It's about the people of Israel. Now, so what do you think about shadows? What's your thoughts about shadows? I mean, shadows can be cool.

You know, all the interesting patterns and whatnot. I mean, photographers have done marvelous things with shadows. I mean, it's just amazing. I looked through it and interesting patterns of things with shadows. Here's shadows of a chain link fence. comes at an interesting angle. Shadows of things constructed in the ceilings and in the walls, etc. There's even little hand puppets in the shadows and that kind of thing. People have done some amazing things with that, too.

So what do you think about shadows? Well, how about this? Would you prefer to eat with a fork or is a shadow of a fork just as good for you? Would you like some shadow utensils to eat with? Maybe even you like shadows of the food. Would you like a nice fresh peach? Or is the shadows good enough for you?

You see what this passage keeps telling us, and this one included, is that everything that was going on in the tabernacle, and in fact the temple, which is what the Jews of the author's time were concerned with, Everything that was going on there had to do with being a shadow and an illustration of the reality which is Christ as the Lamb of God and the heavenly tabernacle.

Everything was pointing to that, to the reality. But these believers were tempted to get all attracted to the shadow. all attracted to what was really an illustration for them, whether it was in the tabernacle or in this case the temple, which is now completely destroyed. It's a funny thing about shadows. All the articles and rituals and tabernacle and the temples and the priests and the sacrifices were just illustrations of things that were real, as this passage has it, the very form, that's real, of true and spiritual substance. So what he was saying is this temple is an illustration of something that has substance, but the temple and the tabernacle themselves are shadows that don't have substance.

Just like the fork. It's a shadow. A shadow fork isn't much use, is it? Neither is shadow food. Whether it's the tabernacle out in the wilderness, that's described there with Moses and Aaron, or whether it's items in the tabernacle, either way, it's shadow.

It's still illustration. It's not the real thing. The priests who worked there in the tabernacle and in the temple and did all the sacrifices, all they were doing was serving an illustration. None of what they did ever really dealt with sin. which is why they have to go back and do it again and again and again and again and when they died the next generation of priests would come in and they would do it again and again and again because it was a constant illustration but it wasn't effective it wasn't effective it was still a shadow even if you're indiana jones running away from a huge boulder The Ark of the Covenant was still a shadow. Still a shadow, still an illustration to get the point across. It didn't by itself accomplish anything. In Colossians 2, 16 and 17, Paul writes something very similar, only he puts most of the focus on all the other things aside from the sacrifices. He writes this way, Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink.

In other words, the Jews had laws about things that you eat and are not supposed to eat, and things that you drink and things that you're not supposed to eat. Or in respect to a festival, as we pointed out, the Jews had seven festivals that they were supposed to have under the Law of Moses, to which they added Purim, out of the Book of Esther, and Hanukkah. which happened between the Old and New Testament era, and John 10, 22, and 23 records Jesus celebrating Hanukkah. So the Jews had all these different festivals.

He says, no one is to act as your judge with regards to those things. But he goes on, or a new moon, the moons were what established their months, their months were all lunar months, or a Sabbath day. So they had, of course, we have these strange pagan terms, right? So we call it Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and every day of the week that we have is based on a pagan term. The Jews didn't do that. They called the first day the second day. They would number the days of the week. And the Sabbath means the seventh. That would be the last day of the week, starting at sundown on what we call Friday.

The things which are a mere shadow of what is to come. The substance belongs to Christ. All these are to point and picture Christ. But many of them didn't get it. But we should. We should. The law keeps us focused on the illustration, but not what the law is illustrating Christ.

Wouldn't it be strange to have someone who had a set of plans and had a building built and for the person with the set of plans to continue to be occupied with the plans after the building was built. You'd say that's a little odd, right? This guy just loves the plans. He puts the plans under his pillow at night and he sits there and looks at it in the morning. Now forget about looking at the newspaper at breakfast time, you know. Pull up the plans. Oh, I love these plans, right?

Instead of having the building and enjoying the building and seeing what it points to, right? The law keeps us focused on the illustration, but not what the law is illustrating, and that's Christ. It's the problem with the law is it has us occupied with the wrong things. Occupied with the wrong things. The law keeps us focused on the illustration.

Here are the Jews, and boy, they're going in and out of the temple. And matter of fact, Herod had begun, this is the temple that you see here in model form, Herod had begun this in 20 BC, and they were still building it at 60 AD, this reconstruction of the temple, while the temple was operating. When they finished it, they laid off 18,000 workers. And there was a riot, by the way. So it was a huge, huge endeavor. Everybody was preoccupied with the illustration. Oh, and by the way, with paying taxes for it, too. Everybody was preoccupied with the illustration instead of what it's illustrating.

So what are, in this verse, the good things to come? What are the good things to come? The good things to come is everything about Christ. Everything about Christ. Who Christ is. Who He is. And think about it for us as believers. It's who you are in Him and who He is in you.

And that's just a start. But it's a very important start. Who Christ is has to do with all the good things to come. what Christ has accomplished and the future consequences of that. He accomplished it in the past, he did it once, but all the consequences of that are good things to come. All what Christ did. Beyond that, what Christ is doing.

One of the things we saw earlier in this book, Christ right now isn't just twiddling his thumbs and saying, okay, when can I come back, right? He is instead ministering as high priest for us in the heavenlies. He has an ongoing action that he's carrying out. The book of Romans says he's also interceding for us, praying for us. So what Christ is doing is a part of the good things to come and what Christ will do in the future. There will come a day, and I hope it's today, when he will call his church home and we'll go home to be with him.

So what Christ will do Christ has given new definition to words like grace, blessing, love, hope, and life. Let me give you some examples. Grace in the pagan world at the time of the New Testament, grace was a favor that one person did for somebody else, for a friend or a relative, for which they expected nothing in return. That was grace.

So what does God do with that? God, while we were yet enemies, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He paid a price we could not pay. He offers grace to us as a sufficiency. Grace as strengthening, as we'll see in Hebrews later on. He offers grace to us and God has wealths of grace. that wealth of grace or riches of grace shows up twice in Ephesians 1 and 2.

He has grace that is infinite that we're going to be astounded at, this is Ephesians 2.7, as God reveals and shows His grace on into the rolling ages of eternity. When this life is done, we're still going to be awestruck at God's grace, gasping in awe at how amazing God's grace is.

Blessing. Blessing is no longer, hey, your crops and your flocks and everything are going to do well and you're going to be free of diseases and things like that. Blessing is now, for us as believers, in the heavenly places, in Christ, every spiritual blessing unconditionally. A completely different definition. Love is God's expression unconditionally towards us.

John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

Galatians 2.20, Christ loved and He gave.

Ephesians 5.2 and 25, He loved and He gave.

Here's hope. Hope now is not an I hope so. I hope this happens. I hope this doesn't happen. That's this world's kind of hope. This is hope that is absolute and certain. It is a fixed hope. It's not an I hope so outcome. We have a certain fixed and absolute hope about the future and life. Notice what we read from Moses was life is not getting killed. Right? Moses said life was not getting killed, but life for the believer is eternal life.

So there are new definitions to these great words. Good things to come. For believers, the good things to come will never end. Ever have something happen and you say, this was great and then it ends? Okay, well that was good while it lasted. There will be no good while it lasted event in heaven. It won't be, we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun and then it was all over. It won't be that way. It won't be the great disappointment. Not going to happen.

Now, here is a listing of this word perfect that is used here in this first verse, and it starts with Hebrews 7.19. You have it on page one of your handout. For the law made nothing perfect, and let's define perfect because this doesn't mean without flaw. It means brought to completion and full accomplishment. That's the meaning of that word. And on the other hand, there is a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God.

Okay, so that's what we saw a couple chapters back in Hebrews 7.19.

Now in this passage, the law, and just to bring the point together clearly, the law, dot, dot, dot, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. The law doesn't bring anybody to completion and full accomplishment. The comparison we have is, you know, you take kids on a vacation, on a trip, and what are they asking? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? With the law, the law never gets there. You can ask, are we there yet?

And the answer is no, because this car isn't moving. That's the way the law goes. It's not really doing anything, it's just pointing. So it's kind of like a vacation that you're always dreaming of what it would be like to be there. Always dreaming of what it would be like to be there, but never getting there. You're still in the driveway after several days. How would you like that?

Then we're going to see later on in chapter 10, 10-14, for by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. He has accomplished it. He did it. It's His accomplishment. He has brought to completion and full accomplishment for all time those who are in the process of being sanctified. Okay, so let's talk some more here about perfect. When it comes to perfect, there is a position of being perfect that is true of every believer in Christ. If you're a believer here today, you are in your position perfect, that is brought to completion and full accomplishment.

So that's Hebrews 10.14.

We'll see that in just a couple weeks here. There's also a process, so there's a position, now a process of being made perfect God intends to carry out with each one of us who believes. So we have position, we have process. So guess what's going on right now? You're in the process of being brought to completion. You're being brought to full accomplishment. So if you wonder what God's doing in your life, it's the process. It's the process.

Sometimes people will get frustrated. As a matter of fact, I've talked to people who get angry at God. I'm mad at God because He did this, and allowed this, and this happened in my life, and this didn't happen, and all the different things that people get mad about. God's doing everything He's doing for a reason, for a purpose.

And it's a part of the process. It's a part of the process that he's carrying out. There is nothing that God allows in our lives that is meaningless. Nothing. One way it's been put, and there's probably a good simple way to put it, we need what's happening to us. We need what's happening to us. Even Courtney's hip replacement, he needs that. Okay? All right.

But because being made perfect is about completion and full accomplishment, the process ultimately brings us to the place when our condition, moment by moment, and position are the same, and that's when we go to see Him. So the position is fixed from the time we believe, the process is going on as long as we're on this planet, and the ultimate fulfillment of the position and the promise is when we see the Lord face to face. That's where it's headed. Now, it also says in verse 1, The law can never make perfect those who draw near because the 613 individual statutes in the law of Moses were all illustrative shadows, not that, illustrative shadows to point us to Christ. The law of Moses was never intended to replace Christ in our lives. It's like the example we've given before.

You know, we have at various places around the doors and whatnot, see these fire exit signs. If we ever have a fire here, please do not stand by the exit sign. Get out! If we have a fire here, the exit sign is not the place to hang out. Just in the same way, these people were tempted to hang out at the temple, right? Boy, these sacrifices are great! No! The sacrifices and everything here is intended to point to Christ. That's what it's for. Don't mistake that point, he's saying.

The law can never make perfect those who draw near. You want to be close to God? Well, hanging around the temple isn't going to fix it, okay? No matter which part one chooses, and it's very interesting that even those who like to go to the law tend to pick a part of it. I like God's top ten, right?

So you have people say that. No matter which part one chooses, though choosing the follows, a part of the law was never a valid option under the law of Moses. We went through two Sundays going through all the passages that say all the statutes and all the law, all 613.

Here's Leviticus 19.37 as an example. You shall thus observe all my statutes and all my ordinances and do them, I am the Lord.

Next chapter, verse 22, Leviticus 20.22. You are therefore to keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and do them, so the land to which I am bringing you To live will not spew you out. So what happens if you follow 612 of them?

You've broken the law. So 10 is not even a good start. 10 is not even a good start. The law is always about condition. You're always worried about your condition. But being made perfect is about our position, the position that we have because of what God's doing. The law focuses on your condition. The law is about one's condition from one moment to the next. Once you've, for this moment, followed the law, you can never let your guard down because you've got to follow it the next moment, and the next, and the next. It is always about what one is doing and not doing at the moment, which could be reversed in just one momentary lapse.

Here's an example. I got this guy collecting firewood, okay? Numbers 15, 32 through 36. Now, while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood. That sounds okay to me, right? Sound okay to you? Gathering wood? Yeah, sure. On the Sabbath day? Uh-uh. Okay? Not so good. It's a problem. So, gathering wood is fine. On the Sabbath day, eh-eh. You can't do that. So, what do they do? They come up to him and warn him. Hey, you know, you really ought not to do that. We'll let you go this time. Right? Is that what they do? Uh-uh.

Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him. Verse 35, Then the Lord said to Moses, The man shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned the death with stones just as the Lord had commanded Moses. And by the way, you've got the Ten Commandments. All those Ten Commandments are enforceable by death penalty. And failing to apply the death penalty is breaking the law.

So good luck with that. Hope you all went to do your Sabbath duty starting Friday sundown, right? Because that one's one too. Including this, don't be collecting firewood. Matter of fact, modern Jews don't break off a piece of that toilet paper. You know how it has little places where you're supposed to break it off? Can't do that on the Sabbath. That's against the law. And don't you dare turn that light switch off or on on the Sabbath. That's work too. If you go into a Jewish building with multiple floors and an elevator, on the Sabbath they're all programmed to open up at every floor because every single button push is work. So that's the way the law works.

Law is about condition. Being made perfect is about position. Being made perfect is about establishing our position, which God does, not us, which cannot be lost no matter what we do or don't do. Position is about who we are spiritually forever in relationship to Christ.

Now, here's Hebrews 10, 2 and 3. Otherwise, they would not have ceased to be offered because the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins. He's saying the sacrifices that you do again and again and again don't get anything done.

And how do you know that? Because you have to keep doing them again and again and again. But we did this last year, Dad! I know, we got to do it this year, and we got to do it next year, and the year after that. And when I'm gone, you'll have to keep doing it year after year after year after that, because the law, the sacrifices never get it done.

But in those sacrifices there was a reminder of sins year by year. Oh yeah, sins. Oh yeah, sins. And so the Jews would have this annual calendar of mosaic feasts to which they added Hanukkah and Purim. Hanukkah from the time between the Old and New Testaments, Purim from the Book of Esther. And so they had the seven mosaic feasts plus those two. And they went around year after year after year doing these with more and more and more sacrifices.

So, if the worshipers had actually been cleansed of their sins once for all, They would not need to keep on sacrificing and sacrificing every year, year after year after year after year after year. They wouldn't need to do that. But because the sacrifices were ineffective, they kept going back and doing it again and again and again.

Because the sacrifices didn't really take care of the sin problem, Sacrifices were a constant reminder of the sins. Sin, sin, sin. Why do I keep coming back? Because I've got a sin problem. And these sacrifices don't fix it. They just keep pointing to the solution.

So, they beheld their sins rather than beholding the Lord. And they were constantly reminded of their sins with these sacrifices. Even on, for example, the Passover, which is the first feast in which they would sacrifice a lamb, the Jews would bring in lambs for their family or whatever group was gathering. And some estimates, 200,000 lambs slaughtered from about noon to sundown. Huge sacrifices. You'd get an awesome sense, continuing sense of our sins.

In contrast, here's 2 Corinthians 3.18, which talks about having no law, not being veiled by the law, but instead beholding the Lord and being preoccupied with Him.

You have this on page 2 of your handout as well, but let me read through it. But all of us who are in Christ with a faith that is not veiled by the law, having died in relationship to the law and living by God's amazing grace, are right now continuing to behold as we read and hear the written word of God, seeing as one looks into a mirror the glory that is the radiant essence of who Christ is, the glory that comes from Christ himself, and where in fact in the very process of being changed and transformed into the same spiritual character, growing from one level of Christ's glory to the next, and every part of this beholding and transformation is from the God-given ministries of the Holy Spirit. Occupied with the Lord and not with our sins. Occupied with the Lord and not with our sins. That's what God has in mind.

We've died to the law, We've died to the law so that we can be free to behold the Lord instead of being preoccupied with our sins and looking at not another and another and another sacrifice because they never get it done. Instead, beholding the Lord because He sacrificed Himself once for all so that we can be preoccupied with Him forever.

Here's Hebrews 10.4, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. So, the blood of bulls and goats don't take away sins, but sin happens, right? Sin happens. All the sacrifices of the tabernacle just make illustrative shadows regarding sins, but never actually deal with the sins. and nothing we can do deals with the sins.

We cannot deal with the sins. It's not our job. We don't have the capacity for it. And like we show in this illustration here, the wheels are spinning, but it's not really going anywhere. That's the way it works with all the sacrifices. You see a lot of action, but it's not really doing anything.

Thankfully, God through Christ has dealt with the sins in reality once and for all forever. Jesus, when he was on the cross, says in the Gospel of John, when he was done with his time on the cross, he was up there and he yelled out one word. It's translated frequently, it is finished.

That one word, to telestai, in the Greek, means it's all paid. And it's in a form that says it's all permanently and completely paid. Done deal. 100%. He paid the price. Jesus paid it all. It's done once, it's done forever. He never has to do it again.

The Lamb of God does take away sins, rather than the dead animal, we have Christ's life. See, when they did the sacrifices, they went, okay, and they killed the animal, and you got a dead animal. Alright, good. Now what? Ah, you gotta do it again next year. Instead, we have Christ's very life. Christ's very life.

In John 1.29, The next day he, John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that word takes away means to lift up. It doesn't mean he just makes the sins just go away. It means he takes the sins of everyone and places those upon himself. So Jesus did pay it all.

A few verses later in John chapter 1, John the Baptist says, and again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked and said, Behold the Lamb of God. God's Lamb, not the ones these human beings are presenting year after year and time after time. Behold the Lamb of God, the one who takes away, lifts up the sins from all of us and places them upon Himself.

And why is this said? Why is this spelled out? John writes at the end of his book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have a dead animal. No. Believing you may have life, real life, not just, we're not going to stone you today. Right? Real life in his name. Real life that lasts forever. Eternal life. Believing you may have life through his name. Not doing more stuff. Not, we're going to do this again next year. And not, okay, we're going to buy a more expensive animal next time. No. Christ paid it all once.

All we do is believe, and we have life, eternal life through his name. And it's not just life that keeps you from being stoned today. Life that lasts forever. And a life that we can't gain on our own. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you for the price that you paid that we could not. We thank you for doing what we could not do once and for all, paying the price for us. And now we have good things to come for not only today, but ages and ages to come. And Lord, that's just awesome. We thank you for your most amazing grace. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.