all right so like i said hebrews chapter
10 and verse 14 and we're going to go
ahead and ask the lord's blessing upon
our time heavenly father
lord we come to you tonight
god first of all humbled that we can
even come to you like this in prayer
god the truth of it is lord none of us
are
fit none of us are worthy
and of ourselves lord god to
even begin to come near your presence
lord god and yeah your word tells us we
can come boldly
in your presence but that's not because
of us god because
we'll see tonight that's only because of
jesus
who has made us worthy
father god tonight lord we desire above
all things that you're glorified
therefore lord i submit myself to you
and ask that you would use
my brain and my mouth to speak to your
people
god let the words that come forth for me
be yours
heavenly father i pray that you would
remove
the enemy from this place lord god
there's nothing the devil would like
more than to distract us god from this
time and i just pray that any
distractions lord god that you would
just cast away
that god's night
we can hear from you
we can be
changed closer to the image of jesus
father god receive all the honor and
praise through our time and bless this
word in christ then we pray amen
amen so
does anybody ever have any times in life
where you get frustrated
nobody well i do
there's a lot of things in life that
frustrate me for instance
after the holidays when i go to put a
pair of jeans on they don't fit
that frustrating
anybody come on there we go thank you
we're gonna get into this one tonight um
isn't it frustrating that it takes like
months to lose 20 pounds but you can
gain it back in like a few weeks
yeah that's that's frustrating to me
what's also frustrating to me is
when i'm exhausted and want to go to bed
my brain won't quit talking anybody ever
have that problem
yeah
that's frustrating to me here's
something else that's frustrating why is
it that the person that snores always
falls asleep first
anybody ever think about that
something else that frustrates me
why is it every time you go to walmart
they got 20 registers and only one's
open
does that ever bug anybody the to be yup
that definitely frustrates me um why is
it that when there's a movie you've been
wanting to see some way and somebody
inevitably spoils it for you before you
get to see it
and then there's insurance
this really frustrates me
why is it that we have to pay them every
month but they get to pick and choose
what they pay us anybody figure that one
out
yeah that frustrates me
why is it that when you're in a hurry to
get somewhere you inevitably get behind
somebody slow and hit every stoplight in
town does that ever bug you
there's a lot of frustrations in life
isn't there i mean there's a lot of
things that can really get under your
crawl and under your skin but you know
what the number one thing
that gets under my skin is in fact i
think
if you thought about this you'd probably
agree with what i'm about to say
the number one thing that gets under my
skin
is me
anybody anybody else have that problem
do you ever irritate yourself
like does it ever
bother you how you respond to certain
things
how you allow things to get to you
i bugged me
i irritate myself quite often and this
is especially true
for
christians who are sincerely trying to
live
for the lord
why is it that
sin seems so easy
to give into
and yet doing the things we're supposed
to do like
read our bibles and spend time in prayer
and be kind to people
is so hard
you ever think about that and that
frustrating you ever get irritated with
yourself like why
why do i struggle with the good things
so much and yet given so easily two
things that i
shouldn't
why is it that when we have a bad day we
always take it out on the people we love
the most you ever think about that
doesn't that bug you
why does it always feel like a losing
battle
in this christian life
anybody have just something that you
struggle with like a sin issue a
struggle of some sort that just it's
like you can't overcome it
it's like no matter how hard you've
prayed about it no matter
how much you've read the bible how much
you've begged the lord to to get rid of
this storm in your side it just seems
like it won't
go away
that frustrates me
it aggravates me and quite honestly it
just i get so frustrated with myself
sometimes be because of those things
because it just seemed like the
christian life is an endless battle of
two steps forward and one step back
and sometimes two steps four to two
steps back it kind of just seems that
way
and the big problem with that constant
cycle in our lives where we're getting
frustrated with ourselves especially as
a christian is that it
it creates a what i'm going to call a
breeding ground for
satan to come into our heads to come
into our minds and to
convince us of things that really aren't
true
it gives them
almost permission to come into our heads
and wreak some serious havoc
when it comes to our spiritual
lives
because when these voices in our head
from the enemy
come in
he tries to convince us of a lot of
things
[Applause]
like
how could god ever love you
how could god ever save you you think
you're saved you can't be really saved
you think god would accept you no
you think you can really call him father
when you act the way you do when you
struggle the way you do when you deal
with the things the way you deal with
them
you really think that god's gonna accept
you
does anybody deal with that ever in your
life
and the problem with that is it brings
these feelings of shame
into us feelings of
truly just unworthiness
where we don't even feel like
we should ever even come to god in
prayer
like we don't feel we should even bother
him with our with our voice because
he wouldn't want us to come to him
anyways after the way that we acted or
the week that we had and
and oftentimes our personal frustrations
lead to anger with ourselves that can
lead to even in many cases with people
almost hatred of themselves if they're
not careful
and they can get to the point where
they're so
defeated
and feel like such a loser because they
keep on failing that they
almost just completely walk away from
the lord
this happens
it's happened in a lot of christians
lives
i've experienced it personally maybe you
have two at different points in your
walk with the lord and and during those
times
there's like kind of a cycle that we go
through sometimes we go to great lengths
to try to compensate for our flaws
like if we can do a bunch of good stuff
to overcome the bad stuff maybe we'll
kind of balance the scale in our favor
but let's just face it that's stressful
because no matter how hard we try it
seems like we keep stepping on our toes
and then after we go through that cycle
we almost feel like just giving up
there's
times where we can get so far to where
we're so defeated we just throw our
hands in the air and say well if i'm
going to turn into that i might as well
go
both feet in and we almost just go into
this rebellion phase against
the lord
and the problem with that is it gets to
a point where christians people that
that are born again believers saved
children of god can come to the point
where they actually
are angry
at the lord they can grow even to resent
god
because god i thought you loved me
enough to keep me away from this stuff
why aren't you why don't you give me the
strength i've prayed i've tried i've
read my bibles i've done all the right
things why is it that i struggle so
deeply
and christians will turn
away
because they feel completely
unacceptable to the lord
this is a dangerous dangerous place to
be
as a christian and if we're not careful
we can easily fall
into that trap
because satan would like nothing more
than to convince us that god doesn't
want us
and yet that's completely
untrue
and so when a christian gets there
that's a bad spot it's a difficult spot
to get out of so what we're going to
look at today um in our time here is
really
how do we
keep ourselves from getting there to
that point how do we keep satan's voice
out of our heads how do we
stop the cycle from happening in our
lives and allowing him to destroy us and
the answer as we'll see today is
understanding that for us as god's
people
a truth that we need to grasp is that
god sees us far differently than we see
ourselves
and i praise god for that
now as i said today we're going to be
looking at at one verse and it's
here in hebrews chapter 10
and verse 14 and i will tell you this is
one of the most
profound verses i've ever read in my
life it's a verse that i have never
forgotten it's one that has stuck with
me
as long as i have known it and it says
this
for by that one offering
he speaking of jesus forever made
perfect
those who are being
made holy
now
think the title of my message
is on purpose this week
i entitled my message a finished work in
progress
and if you'll get the little bit of a
pun on that or the play of words on that
it really plays into this specific
passage of scripture because
it says for by that one offering christ
for
ever
has made perfect now
in the greek language and i know we
don't speak greek as americans but it's
but it's understood it's important to
understand some of these some of these
verses from that text because that's
what they were written in in this
specific phrase forever made perfect is
in what's called the the perfect tense
in the greek language meaning that it
was a a work that was done in the past
that its effect goes on into the future
forever it's kind of the idea and so
jesus in his one sacrifice
has already perfected
forever it says
but then it says those who are
being as in active present tense being
made holy so how here's here's the
profound nature of this verse
how can we
in one sense be absolutely perfect in
the eyes of god
and yet
not be perfect in being made perfect
you get it
we have been perfected and yet we're
being
perfected
how does this work
and it's in this if we can grasp
this passage it will completely change
your view
of how you believe god sees you
as a christian
now to understand this passage really we
need to understand the context behind
the specific passage of scripture
now this book of hebrews was written in
the to first century jews right and so
these jews were used to living under
what was known as the jewish law or the
law of moses and although this was
believed to be written somewhere 35 to
40 years after jesus had already died
and arisen and went back to his heavenly
throne many jews still struggled with
what i'm gonna call works based
salvation
that this idea that they had to perform
a certain way
for god to truly accept them for
who they were meaning there were still
something there was still something in
these jewish
christians that believed for god to
truly accept them for him to truly have
for them to truly have their names
securely written down to heaven they had
to follow the rules enough
so that god would receive them
and can i tell you something that is
still something that so many christians
struggle with all the time
this idea that
for god to accept me i need to follow
the rules
for for god to really be pleased with me
i need to do this this this this
and this and then god will really be
happy to have me as a part of his family
this is essentially what these jews of
this first century were dealing with now
although the gospel had been kind of
widely preached by this point and even
these jewish people that this was
written to had already made a decision
to follow jesus as lord and savior most
of them they had a really tough time
leaving the roots of their jewish faith
that faith that centered around the
performance of
the law now in the old testament we have
genesis which is a cool book we have the
first part of exodus which is a cool
book and then you have like the second
half of exodus and leviticus and numbers
and deuteronomy and
those books and you read them and it's
like
it's like all these rules and laws and
stuff and it's like what does this have
to do with anything right well to the
jewish people that lived in it had had
everything to do with what they were
living with i mean for one it governed
them um part of the reason they got the
law was to it was part of how they were
supposed to run their government um
there was different things like feasts
and festivals they were expected to take
part in and the purpose of those was to
remind them of the incredible works that
god had done um to be a constant
reminder that god was on their side that
god was worthy of worship and and worthy
of to serve and they had laws about food
and clothing that were designed to set
them apart from the other surrounding
nations um there was a list of things
that would make them ceremonially
unclean which would prevent them from
coming to the place of worship um if
they were unclean they were essentially
unfit to be in the presence of god and
so this was kind of the context of what
the jews even a few years after jesus
had already died this is all they had
known
now when we think about the law we often
think about like the ten commandments
you might be more familiar with those
right the ten commandments were god's
moral law his expectations for his
people and then the other one most
people think of when they think about
the law where the sacrament was the
sacrificial loss
like have you read the old testament
it's there's a lot of blood in the old
testament isn't there
i mean they're killing
turtle doves and they're killing goats
and they're killing sheep and they're
killing bulls and they're and it's all
these blood sacrifices
and everything else and this was part of
is this what was called really this old
covenant of the old testament which was
an agreement between god and the nation
of israel which were his called out
people and here's the idea he was they
were given rules you follow these rules
these ten commandments but god knew that
they were going to fail and so because
they were going to fail which
essentially is sin right because when we
break god's law that's what breaking
god's law is is sin and so because they
sin he instituted these sacrificial laws
because from the very beginning of time
the penalty for sin is what
death
which is why hebrews chapter 9 and verse
22
talks about how this is always the way
it's been without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness of sins and so
in the old testament you had an innocent
animal's life that was taken
in place of the guilty person who had
sinned why because again since that
beginning of creation this was the
decree and this incident innocent
animal's life was taken to cover
to atone for if you will the life of the
guilty person now this doesn't seem
today in our context of living seem to
make any sense and yet
it's a good thing god did it that way
because if you would have acquired
death from the person that sinned
instead of allowing an animal to recover
for their sin how many people you think
will be left alive today
how about this many we wouldn't be here
and so there's a good reason god did
this now there was also
spiritual reason god did this which was
obviously
to help them understand that they in
their own strength they in their own
power
could never do enough to be acceptable
by god
and the fact that they had to do these
sacrifices all the time was continual
proof
that
they weren't good enough
and so the law really in its intent as
we see in the new testament was to lead
them to a better sacrifice to lead them
to jesus the one who died one time for
all people which brings us back again to
this verse for today that for by that
one offering jesus when he went to the
cross when his blood was shed when he
died when he was buried that he had in
that one offering he forever made
perfect those who are being made holy
now as we think about that verse i want
to talk about two basic things before we
kind of bring in some application
one is this i want to talk about the
completed work of jesus
for us
on our behalf
see when jesus went to the cross he
accomplished something that nobody else
could
when jesus went to the cross he
accomplished more in that one sacrifice
than the thousands upon thousands upon
thousands of animals that had been
killed from that time
before
now hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 through
4 says this
the old system under the law of moses
was only a shadow
a dim preview of the good things to come
not the good things themselves the
sacrifices of the under that old system
were repeated again and again year after
year but they were but they were never
able to provide perfect cleansing for
those who came to worship if they could
have provided perfect cleansing the
sacrifices would have stopped for the
worshipers would have been purified once
for all time and their feelings of guilt
would have disappeared but instead those
sacrifices actually reminded them of
their sins year after year for it is not
possible for the blood of bulls and
goats to ever take away sin and so what
the blood of bulls and goats couldn't do
jesus did
with his blood on
the cross
hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12 our high
priest speaking of christ offered
himself to god as a single sacrifice for
sins good for all time and then he sat
down the place of honor at god's at
god's right hand in this picture of
christ ascending to heaven and sitting
down is a huge picture image of the fact
that his work was done
he had completed what he came
to do
now
we get this idea of that one offering
making perfect forever those people that
come to faith in jesus and the question
is we have to ask is how is that really
even possible if you have your bible
flip over to romans chapter 5 for a
moment
and we get this interesting um picture
here
romans chapter 5 i'm going to read verse
12 and then verse 15 through 19.
so roman chapter 5 verse 12 says this
when adam sinned adam the first man when
he brought sin into the world when
adam's sin sin entered the world adam's
sin brought death and so death spread to
everyone for everyone sinned and so we
have this picture in the beginning with
this first man adam the first created
being right he brings sin in the world
because he did the one thing god told
him not to do and because of that he
brought this curse of sin that has
passed on generation after generation
after generation person after person
after person literally to everyone to
this very day if you are sitting in here
the fact that you frustrate yourself say
thank you adam because it's his fault
he brought well we can't we can't blame
him too much because it's our fault just
as much right we're accountable for our
own sin but but but the truth of it is
he brought sin and passed down all of us
all the problems we see in our world all
the all the junk we see in our world
today it's because of the fact that sin
was brought in this world and spread to
everyone
and what we see today is a result
brokenness and and war and death and
disease and struggles and strife all
because of
sin
however
jump down to verse 15 this is where it
gets good
but there's a great difference between
adam's sin and god's gracious gift for
the sin of this one man adam brought
death to many but even greater is god's
wonderful grace and his gift of
forgiveness to many through this other
man jesus christ and the result of god's
gracious gift is very different from the
result of that one man's sin for adam
said love the condemnation but god's
free gift leads to our being made right
with god even though we were guilty of
many sins
for the sin of this one man adam caused
death to rule over many but even greater
is god's wonderful grace and his gift of
righteousness for all who receive it
will live in triumph over sin and death
through this one man jesus christ yes
adam's one sin brings condemnation for
everyone but christ one act of
righteousness brings a right
relationship with god and new life for
everyone because one person disobeyed
god many became sinners but because one
other person obeyed god many will become
righteous
and so what jesus did on the cross
essentially is this
he died for sin itself
that sin that adam brought into the
world that curse of sin that spread to
all people jesus died so they could
cancel out
what adam brought into the world you get
that right now the question is is how is
it applied then to
people because he says here in verse 14
for that by that one offer he forever
made those who are the those
it's not everybody in the world it's
those that have placed their faith in
jesus christ in his life death and
resurrection and made him lord and
savior over their lives
that's who jesus finished work on the
cross
applies to
so if you know jesus
what he did on the cross now applies to
you that that that curse of sin in your
life has been canceled
now
he says
he has made perfect so by that one offer
he has made perfect those second
corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17 says
if anyone is in christ he is a new
creation old things have passed away and
behold all things have become
new
if you know jesus you are not the same
person as you were before you know jesus
you may have the same skin you may look
the same
in the mirror depending on when you got
saved it was a long time ago you may
look a little older
but
you're not the same person
you were spiritually reborn
before christ
the bible tells us we were people
controlled by satan destined for hell
spiritually dead
after christ we have been given new
birth new life and we are eternal beings
headed for eternal life
in heaven all because of the fact that
what jesus did on the cross
counts for us
applies to our life colossians chapter 1
verse 3 13 says for he
rescued us from the domain of darkness
and transferred us into the kingdom of
his beloved son so god rescued us from
the hands of satan
and
replaced us into the hands of jesus how
is this possible second corinthians
chapter 5 and verse 21 god made him
speaking of jesus who knew no sin to be
sin for us that we might become the
righteousness of god in him so on the
cross an incredible thing happened jesus
pays the debt of sin
defeats sin defeats the curse of sin
completely right and because of that
because of his death because of his
resurrection the completed work of
salvation this great transaction is made
when a person comes to faith in jesus
he took our sin to the cross
and guess what we got in exchange when
we came to faith in christ
his perfection
see what what made christ
death so effectual on the cross
it was the fact that he lived a perfect
life
that old testament law that i talked
about a little bit ago the bible talks
about how christ came under that law
for a reason
he obeyed literally everything to the to
the t to the period
perfectly in his life
the only one in all of history to be
able to do that
he didn't have to die but he willingly
died right and so his perfect life is
then
transferred to us
who have made him lord and savior and so
when it says that he has made perfect
forever that's what it's talking about
we have the transferred righteousness
righteousness of christ it's the idea of
imputed righteousness given to us by him
transferred to our lives so that when
god sees us right now in this moment he
sees
the perfection of his son
right now that's not someday that's
right now god sees
the perfect righteousness of christ for
those of us who know jesus as
savior
colossians 2 14 tells us that he
canceled the record of the charges
against us and took it away by nailing
it to the
cross
what an amazing
thing that is
what's amazing is even
in ephesians chapter 2
in verse 6 we see this picture says he
raised us up
from the dead along with christ and
seated us with him in the heavenly realm
because we are united with christ it's
speaking of christians that were alive
at the time
so the apostle paul reading to this
writing to this ephesian church he's
telling them if you know christ you are
seated presently spiritually with christ
in heaven you're already there
when it says he has made perfect our our
salvation is secure our place in heaven
is secure as christians
like how's that even possible
we're not even there yet and yet we're
there how does that work out
there's a lot of crazy stuff like that
in the bible but yet
by faith we believe it because it says
it to be true
in fact hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10
a few verses before this one says
god's will was for us to be made holy by
the sacrifice of the body of jesus
christ once for all time and so when you
came to faith in jesus not only were
your sins that you had done in the past
forgiven
any sin you will ever commit
has already been forgiven
isn't that crazy
we are presently perfect
in god's sight
and you know what that means
as romans chapter 8 and verse 1 says
there is therefore no condemnation for
those of us who are in christ jesus
it doesn't matter what satan speaks into
our mind because you know what the bible
says we're perfect
the condemnation we feel in our lives is
not the voice of god as the voice of
satan
ephesians chapter 9
verses 27-28
it says each person is destined to die
once and after that comes judgment so
also christ was offered once for all
time as a sacrifice to take away the
sins of many people and he will come
again however not to deal with our sins
but to bring salvation to all who
eagerly wait for him when we see jesus
it's not to be condemned he's not if you
know christ his judgment is no longer
upon you he's going to receive you as
his own
and that is an incredible thing to think
about
so that's our present state right now
however the rest of that verse says
he has perf made perfect forever those
who are being made holy and so we have
this like conundrum right this
paradoxical thought that we're all we
are perfect and we're not quite there
yet so what is this talking about well
spiritually positionally in heaven we're
made perfect however practically in our
everyday lives we have a long ways to go
before we look like jesus
does that make sense
and this is what's called this process
of sanctification right big word that
simply means we are mom of my moment day
by day
being made into the likeness of jesus
if you can picture a piece of rock the
idea is
there's little chips being taken out of
it all the time in our lives
and there's a there's a there's a
sculpture a perfect sculpture at the end
of it
and when it's done it's going to be
perfect
because it's going to look like jesus
michelangelo the famous sculptor once
said this every block of stone has a
statue in it inside of it
and it's the task of the sculptor
to discover it
what's interesting about the second half
of this verse those who are being made
holy is actually in a tense it's called
the passive tense in the greek language
which means that that we are the ones
receiving
the being made holy does that make sense
so that the being made holy is not
something that that we can accomplish on
our own it's actually an outside source
that is causing this in our lives who do
you think that outside source is
the lord
he is the one making us
holy in our practical lives day by day
chipping away the rough edges of our
lives
slowly making us look more and more like
jesus every day week and year that
passes
philippians chapter 1 and verse 6 tells
us i am certain that god who began the
good work within you will continue his
work until it is finished that's the
hope we have as christians
when it looks like our all our life is
full of blunders and mistakes and
there's no way in the world i'm ever
going to get anywhere to my spiritual
walk because i feel like a failure
constantly guess what that's not the
voice of god that's the voice of satan
and we can't say i'm never going to get
there
don't say that because guess what it
ain't up to you because you belong to
the lord now and he's the one that says
he will complete it
he will do it no matter what it takes in
our lives he is day by day by day week
by week by week making this more and
more like his son
the question is how does that work
how does he do it well there's the
numbers to what there's a number of ways
the lord does that one is mainly through
his holy spirit
the holy spirit that is that indwells us
as god's people the bible tells us that
when we got saved the spirit of the
living god made us home inside of us as
his people
the bible talks about how the when the
holy spirit comes he convicts
what does that mean to be convicted it
means when we get into god's word and we
start reading bible and and we and we
see stuff like we're supposed to be
patient and something inside of us says
you ain't very patient
where do you think that little voice
came from
it's not the angel on your shoulder it's
the spirit of the living god inside of
you saying you got some work to do in
this area of your life let's start doing
it right and so through the spirit of
god through the word of god as we as we
get in it as we read it we see areas of
our life that boy we just don't quite
match up to perfection like we're
supposed to so guess what i got to do i
got to start working on that particular
area of my life and and so i begin this
endeavor starting to work on this
particular area of my life but but man
it's hard
and why do i stumble over my own feet
all the time
isn't it real i mean the struggle is
real
but slowly day by day week by week year
by year
it's amazing that some of the things
that struggle with 10 years ago i don't
struggle with anymore
things that i never thought i'd get over
i don't struggle with it anymore why is
that because the spirit of living god
inside of me day by day week by week
year by year is making me more and more
like jesus
happens through his spirit through his
word
happens many times through his church
the bible talks all over the place about
how we're supposed to build one another
up and strengthen one another all the
spiritual gifts we've been given by god
or for what the building up of his
church
helping us grow and mature in our faith
to gain a knowledge and understanding of
his words so that we can be convicted by
the spirit and be moved and changed in
the image of god that's another way that
he sanctifies us that he makes us more
holy another way that he does it is
through times where we step out in faith
and he meets us where we're at and we
and he proves himself faithful just like
his word says and boy we go we we take
that step of faith and and god meets us
there and we go wow
now i want to take a bigger step and god
calls us to a bigger step and guess what
happens god meets us right there again
and step by step leap by leap god begins
to grow our faith because he proves
himself faithful which causes us to
trust him more and guess what another
piece of that stone chipped off
look a little bit more like
jesus
but i tell you something
there's a couple other ways that aren't
all that fun
that help us look more like jesus and
one of the difficulties in our life
don't you wish he didn't have
difficulties
he didn't have trials he didn't have
sorrows that we didn't lose people that
we didn't have bad things happen in our
life catastrophes
but they're real aren't they
well then why would god do that
you know many people will walk away from
god because of the struggles in their
lives when the but what they fail to
understand is those very struggles that
god's allowing for the purpose of
perfecting them
james chapter 1 verses 2 through 4
says brothers and sisters when troubles
of any kind come your way consider an
opportunity for great joy for you know
that when your faith is tested your
endurance has a chance to grow and so
let it go grow for when your endurance
is fully developed you will be listen
perfect
and complete lacking in nothing
so when god allows those things in our
lives
it's for a purpose
is to draw us closer to him
who knows we learn quicker through
blunders than we do through victories
it's just a fact
and the fact of it is he even grows us
through our own sins
like what like god uses our sins to make
us look more like jesus how does that
work out that don't seem very bible-like
does it
that he'll use our sins to make us look
more like jesus how does that
but he does
have you ever dealt with a sin it got
you to the point where it finally broke
you it got you to the point where you're
like god i can't do this anymore you
need to help me with this and rest and
he finally does
and now you're on the other side of it
and you know what inevitably happens
somebody else will come into your life
that is struggling with the exact same
thing that you just dealt with
and guess what you get to do
you get to come alongside of them and be
the church
and encourage them and tell them look
here's what i dealt with but let me tell
you what god can do
god look he's using even our sins when
romans 8 28 says that god works all
things for the good of those who love
him or those who are called according to
a purpose he means that even the sorrows
even the struggles even the sins he is
using all of those things to make us
look more and more like jesus
in heaven we're already perfect
practically we're not here there yet but
the road from now to the end of our life
is this process of sanctification where
every week day month year that passes
chip by chip by chip by chip he's making
us look more like jesus and there's
going to be a day that we stand before
him that we will
look like jesus
it's not just going to be some standing
in heaven that's going gonna be the
actual thing
of standing before him
what a beautiful picture this verse
depicts
however here's the application
we have to accept it as true
and can i tell you something that's the
hardest
part of it
because i don't feel very perfect
anyone else have that problem
in the midst of your flaws and
frustrations and struggles
you ever look at the mirror and go what
is wrong with you
why do you struggle like this all the
time
why don't you get over yourself yeah
we have to accept it
either the bible is speaking truth or
speaking a lie
and if it says that our standing right
now
before god is perfect holy and righteous
how about we just accept it
and believe it
the apostle paul wrote this
romans 7 21-25
he says i have discovered this principle
of life that when i want to do what is
right i inevitably do what is wrong
i love god's law with all my heart but
there's another power within me that's
at war with my mind this power makes me
a slave to the sin that is still within
me and he says this i mean this is the
apostle paul who wrote the great portion
of the new testament he says oh what a
miserable person
that i am
who will free me from this life that is
dominated by sin
and death
and then he says thank god
the answer is jesus christ
our lord
can i tell you something what was true
for him
is true for me and you
and we have to accept that as
truth
and then you know what we need to do
we need to take some time
and literally just to sit in awe of that
truth
do you ever do that
when you read something in scripture you
just go
wow
and just shut up for a few minutes and
let it sink in
that is so important especially with
this truth
to let it sink in like god i know me i'm
not perfect
but he said yes you are
because of jesus yes you are
and you're not only perfect you're mine
you're my child because ephesians
chapter once we've been adopted into the
family of god
he has placed his name upon us
he has promised us
a heavenly inheritance
that's amazing
as david wrote in psalm 139
he says how precious are your thoughts
about me oh god that cannot be numbered
i can't even count them because they
outnumber the grains of sand
in this psalm
david king david is pondering his life
and in all the ways god has been with
him since
before the foundations of the earth were
ever laid he told me he talked about he
how he knew him
when he was in his mother's wombs it was
the hands of god that was
forming him
how no matter where he went
god would be with him and as he pondered
these things
he just
says wow
how awesome are you lord
that's so important in our lives
to let the word of god sink into our
soul
so often we we hear amazing things like
this and we get like this little
fluttery feeling inside of us and it
goes here and out here and then nothing
ever changes we need to like truly
internalize these things because what i
can tell you is when we internalize
those things it will change us forever
because
our christian faith will come to have a
whole new meaning
in that moment
we'll understand that the christian life
is not about do's and don'ts it's not
about coming to church and reading our
bible doing these things because god
says so because i really want him to be
happy with me
that's not the christian life
those things are important it's what
we're supposed to do
but that's not what makes success
acceptable
can i tell you something if you've sat
for 24 hours a day for the rest of your
life and did nothing but stare at the
bible and talk to the lord as long as
you could handle that can i tell you
something you wouldn't be any more
acceptable to god than you are right now
in this moment
and it's that realization that
understanding that will transform us
because now the reason that i read my
bible the reason that i prayed the
reason that i come to church the reason
that i serve people the reason that i
evangelize is not to get god's approval
it's because i want to glorify him with
my life because all he has done for me
that will transform your christian life
when you quit trying to gain god's
acceptance and just believe that you
already have it and then use that as a
catalyst to live your life out for him
it will change and transform everything
and then once we do that
how we can respond to the lord is this
although
he who began to work in us is going to
be the one that completes us although
we're the recipient of his sanctifying
work here's what we can do we can help
accelerate the process along
meaning we can do it one way or the
other we can do it kicking or screaming
or we can do it willingly one way or the
other guess what's going to happen he's
god we're not just going to get done
we're going to do that the hard way
we're going to do it the easy way you
ever have that conversation with your
kids
god and our father in heaven says the
same thing
one way or the other it's going to
happen so we can we can either kick and
scream or we can accelerate the process
along meaning if we want to accelerate
it we can submit ourselves to the
authority of christ
galatians 5 16 says walk by the spirit
and you will not gratify the desires of
the flesh galatians 5 24 and 25 those
who belong to christ have nailed their
passions and desires and their sinful
nature to the cross and have crucified
them there since we are living by the
spirit let us follow the spirits leading
in every part of our lives romans
chapter 8 verses 5 through 6 those who
are dominated by the sinful nature think
about simple things but those who are
controlled by the holy spirit think only
about things that please the spirit so
letting your sinful nature control your
mind leads to death letting the spirit
control your mind leads to life and
peace
so guess what we can do it one of two
ways we can say lord i'm going to submit
to you
my life is in your hands i'm chaining
myself to you lead me guide me help me
to live my life for you god i'm going to
get into your word i'm going to start
applying your word because i want to
live my life in a way that honors you i
want to live my life in a way that makes
me look more and more like jesus
and god i'm doing it
willingly
gotta tell you something that weighs a
whole lot easier and a whole lot more
fun
the fact is god sees the finished you
but the finished us won't be seen by us
until we see jesus
and in that day as we look back in our
lives we will see everything from a
different perspective we will in that
day see how the trials and the
challenges of our lives shaped us
how the sins and struggles helped
develop our character and how all the
different seasons in our life
intersected to
mold us and to shape us into the person
god saw
before the foundations of the world were
ever laid
we are a finished work
in progress
but i praise god
that i'm in his hands
amen
let's pray
heavenly father thank you so much for
this time this night lord for your word
for this incredible truth
lord god i just pray that it would sink
way down in deep our hearts and minds
and souls
god for the christian here lord i pray
that
they would just be able to grasp
that they couldn't be any love than they
are more than they are right now
they couldn't be loved more
no matter what they do than they are
right now in this moment they couldn't
be any more acceptable to you than they
are right now yes we may not be perfect
yet
in the practical areas of our life god
but you see us as righteous lord let us
believe it
in our lives let us
choose to walk in a way that honors you
choose that to walk in a way that allows
this this process of us becoming more
like jesus each year
but father there may be a person in here
that's never even made the decision to
follow christ and for that person lord i
pray that they would take the first step
that first step of receiving jesus is
our lord and savior
god your word says we can simply come in
faith
and talk to you in prayer
and your god your word tells us if we
will ask jesus to come into our lives to
forgive us of our sins to come in to be
our lord and our savior
believing upon his death and
resurrection that we'll be saved
you'll forgive us of those sins that you
will save us and make us yours and if
anybody here in this place never made
that decision god tonight
in these moments we have remaining god
let them just cry out in faith
and receive jesus
lord we love you we thank you
and we pray these things in the precious
name of our lord
amen
as we close tonight
we are going to sing a song
and i'm