3^rd Last Sunday Hebrews 10:11-18 The Spirit Makes You Holy

Daniel 12:1-3 Hebrews 10:11-18 Mark 13:1-13

There was once a preacher who decided to be a missionary to the people in the rain forests of South America. So he and a few companions traveled into the lush vegetation of the forest filled with excitement and a sense of purpose. That very first evening, they set up their camp in a clearing and prepared to get some much needed rest. 

As darkness descended he noticed two jaguars were watching their every move.   As it grew darker, their yellow eyes reflecting the light of the fire were all that could be seen of the hungry cats and the campfire was all that kept them from coming any closer.  In fact, when the fire would die down, the cats would move in closer. So all night long the men stayed up, tending the fire.

They had plenty of wood but since they were in a rain forest it was a difficult task to get the wet wood to burn bright enough to keep the Jaguars from coming into camp. But in order to keep them out of danger, it was a job that needed to be done each night and needless to say, they did not get much rest. After a few weeks of fire building every night, their excitement dissipated and their sense of purpose eroded, the preacher and his helpers left the rain forest.

The Hebrews faced a similar situation during their wilderness journey. When Moses led the people out of Egypt, God instructed them to make a tabernacle, a portable temple in which the priests would make sacrifices for the sins of the people. As our Epistle lesson states, “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” 

Just as the fires in the rain forest kept away the jaguars, but did not remove them, the sacrifices for sins in the tabernacle, were necessary, but they did not take away the sins of the people.

 Since each person continued to sin, the priests worked in shifts day after day, 24 hours a day offering up the same sacrifices over and over for each individual. Every Hebrew looked forward to deliverance from sins, to leaving the wilderness and living in the Promised Land.

God delivered them to the land he had promised them, but they did not stop sinning and so a grand and magnificent temple was built where the priests continued to burn their sacrifices day and night, day after day, week after week and year after year. They had been freed from the bondage of Egypt, but they were still in bondage to sin--still in the prison caused by their breaking of God’s Law. No matter how great the temple was and no matter how many sacrifices were offered, sin, death and the devil still remained.

Even today the Law causes despair in the hearts of men, because no one obeys God’s Commandments with the perfection God requires. Whenever we sin, the law stares out of the darkness--accusing us and making us feel uncomfortable.

At first, when churches teach that people have to obey His Commandments fully in order to get in God’s good graces, many people buy into the idea of cooperating in their salvation. Their good works, their offerings and even their worship become sacrifices for the sins that they commit. But all of their own sacrifices do no make their sins go away and those yellow eyes of the Law still stare at them out of the darkness.

Consequently, the love of most people who do not understand the Gospel grows cold. It happens time and again in our society. Many are deceived by these false teachings and return to a life void of Jesus Christ.  They live frustrated lives without the hope of salvation; fearful of their sins and fearful of an angry God.

Jesus told us about the unbelievers and what would happen before His final return; there would be an increase of wickedness and love of the Gospel would grow cold – and we can observe these things still happening today. There are deceivers, wars and rumors of wars; earthquakes in various places and famines ravage many peoples.

Furthermore, Jesus tells us, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me.” Sadly, this is happening in many countries in this world. And all of the violence between men is caused on account of the Law of God being perverted by the will of men. 

 Jesus does give us encouragement however.  He tells all who would listen, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

What do we stand firm in? We certainly do not stand firm in the Law.  To the contrary, we stand firm in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the Good News that Jesus has paid for our sins through His death on the cross. Jesus fulfilled the Law by living a life free of sin and dying for the sins of all mankind.  Jesus defeated Sin, Satan and death on the cross.  Satan has been cast out of heaven and can no longer accuse us before God the Father.

What’s more, Jesus now rules at the right hand of God the Father and makes intercession for all who are in Christ Jesus.  As Saint Paul tells you and me, “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

Therefore, we are no longer under the sacrificial law that requires payment for sins. And we are no longer under the watchful accusing eyes of Satan.  One little word can fell him! However, the Gospel does not free us from obeying the law.  Rather the Gospel frees us from the condemnation of the Law.  So we no longer live under the threat of the Law but we live by the Spirit of the Gospel in Jesus Christ. 

As Saint Paul tells us in Chapter 8 of Romans, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”

^“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” (Romans 8:1-11)

When we come together in worship, we admit that we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.  But we do not gather together to make restitution for our sins over and over again. We gather together to confess our sins before God and to have forgiveness repeatedly given by God the Father for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ.  

The Gospel is all about the New Covenant where full and final pardon is freely given. One sacrifice, the Sacrifice of God’s one and only Son is enough to secure for all nations at all times the spiritual pardon that lasts for all eternity. Worship becomes a place where the faithful gather to share not in a repeated sacrifice of our Great High Priest but to receive the benefits in the sacrifice that has already taken place. 

The means by which Christians enjoy such privileges, is by the blood of Jesus, by the merit of that blood which He offered up as an atoning sacrifice. Through the Gospel of Jesus we know that we are justified, and that God will not remember our sins. By faith in His work given to us by the Holy Spirit, we are made holy. When we are made holy, the law written in our hearts becomes something that we do not fear but rather is something that we love to obey. And  we are uncomfortable when we disobey. So we go to Jesus Christ for comfort and assurance that only He can give.

Let’s go back to a rain forest again for our example, but just as heaven does not have anything evil, this rain forest has no Jaguars.

At the Fort Worth Texas zoo, there is a building where the birds are kept in a tropical rain forest. The hallway where the people walk is dark and the birds are in lighted areas. The rain forest has a miniature waterfall, a pool, trees, and all sorts of plants. The small, brightly colored birds fly throughout the trees and perch on the rocky ledges.

As the people enjoy watching the forest and the birds, they eventually become aware that there is no glass or bars between them and the birds. The birds could easily fly out. But they do not.  A sign above the cage explains that the birds do not venture into the darkness, and when it gets dark, they go to sleep high up in the treetops. Even though they are free, they love the light and will not deliberately fly from the light into the darkness.

So it is with Christians. We are in the light of the kingdom of God. We have been called out of darkness. Although we sometimes stray, we will not deliberately fly back into the darkness, for we love the light.  The light of the Gospel is the fire that proclaims that we are saved by grace through faith alone.  Where the scriptures are taught and the sacraments are administered properly, worship is the fuel that keeps the fires of faith burning.

You my friends who are filled with the Gospel are the light of the world, shining the bright light of Jesus Christ for all to see. 

So remember what David said to God in our Introit lesson: “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at you right hand.  Keep me safe O God, for in you I take refuge.” (Psalm 16)  In Jesus Name, Amen.