Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
What a great time of worship, right? Isn't it just amazing how no matter where we're at,
God just like draws us in. I mean, as we just come and just lay aside things that we came here with,
no matter what it is, if it's issues at home or work or worries or fears or whatever,
when we just kind of just resolve to worship Him, He just draws us into Him. That was awesome. Thank
you. Thank you, worship team. That was an incredible, incredible time. Well, here we are in the book of
Hebrews, and this has been a really exciting study, hasn't it? I mean, I've really enjoyed it. I just
love the Calvary church model of teaching. So I mean, as we came here, this was my first time
kind of being exposed to this kind of moving through the Bible. I've been teaching for many,
many, many decades, and I always thought I enjoyed topical teaching. I'll pick a topic,
and God's putting on my heart and just kind of build that out, and that's such an easy way to
teach. It really is an easy way to teach. This is a challenging way to teach because you have to
look at everything in context of how it was written or God intended. It's easy to kind of
sometimes, I don't want to say cherry pick, but I'll say cherry pick. It's kind of easy sometimes to
pick scriptures to support something we want to say, but when you look at scripture in context
and you begin to study it, it's just a different level, and I really, really enjoy this.
So the book of Hebrews, there's a ton of awesome things to dig in, and there's a
lot of really, really deep, healthy debate even among the scholars about things within Hebrews,
when it was written, why it was written, who wrote it, all of these things, and I'm going to really
try really, really hard not to nerd out on you folks and get too entrenched in all this stuff.
I told my friend Ken Bailey here, I said, just give me the symbol if I'm kind of getting too
nerdy on stuff, but I do want to get just a little bit into it, totally to the point where you don't
glaze over too much. How's that sound? If you start to glaze over, I'll try to pay attention
to it. So scholars used to think that it was written before the temple destructions,
and most of them have shifted that thought process. One of the reasons they thought that was because
of the language that was used in it in present tense, and I love a lot of the stylistic writing
throughout the Bible. It kind of gives you indications of where folks were coming from,
but there's a ton of super interesting things in here. I personally just love the dialogue
around the Levitical priesthood and worship and all that sort of thing. So let's get into it right
here. This book digs into a lot of the Jewish culture and worship and how the Jews looked at
it. The book was written very specifically to Jews, not that we... When you think about the audience of
who things were written to back then, you think, well, maybe that's not applicable to me. Of course,
this is very applicable to us. But in this particular chapter that we're going through now,
the priesthood really comes to the forefront of things. I don't know about you, but
for much of my life as a follower of Jesus, the idea of a priesthood was just very distant from
what I understood, my only understanding of priesthood with priests in a Catholic church.
I didn't understand the context or really understand identifying Jesus as a high priest,
because I never really understood the whole priesthood idea. But the temple
was the epicenter of Judaism in the Levitical priesthood. It's where they observed the law.
It was kind of the epicenter for all that stuff, the calendar of feasts, all the festivals and
things that all centered around this temple that you see right before you hear. And once the
temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans, Judaism really changed radically,
and they lost their spiritual identity. So this temple here is called the Second
Temple, and it was built about 500 years BC, and then it was majorly renovated by King Herod.
The Jews were allowed to rebuild this during the Persian captivity, because the Persians were
a lot nicer than the Babylonians and the Assyrians. So they said, yeah, build your temple
back, that would be real nice, whereas the Babylonians just quite wiped everything out.
The original temple was about 950-960 BC, and it was built by Solomon, as many of us know.
So before that, they had the tabernacle or the tent of worship, and we've studied a lot
about that on Wednesday night, and this is one of those areas where I was really tempted to
kind of dig in and just really talk a lot about that, but I was straining from a lot of that.
So that was originally developed. It was kind of this mobile tent that they could move around,
but this was how the Jews worshiped. This was how they drew close to God, and the reason that is
foreign to many of us who know Jesus and walk with Jesus and can consider us followers of Jesus,
because that idea of this place and this idea of this very structured worship just doesn't
fit in with what God has done in our lives. So the Jews at this point were having a very,
very difficult time understanding this idea that Jesus was bringing forth, and there were
many, many followers, many Jewish followers of Jesus in the first and second century and as it
folded out, and they were actually being persecuted by their own own faith. So the Jews
that were still really not followers of Jesus, and they didn't look at him as a messiah, they were
constantly pressuring the Jews that were following Jesus to, you know, this is not the right way.
This is not what we were called to do. So Hebrews bring some great comparisons and great
contrast between this older system and then this newer system that Jesus was talking about,
and this newer idea of holiness and righteousness and what it means. As some of you know,
you know, the Jewish law was just that. Law after law after law after law started out as
hundreds of laws evolved into thousands and thousands of laws. So it was this very, very
regimented system of how to draw close to God. And I don't know about you, but for me,
before I knew Jesus, before I came into a relationship with Jesus, that's how I perceived
religion.
Laws, rules, can't do this, got to give up that, can't be like this, can't be like normal people,
you got to be like this and follow the rules. That's how I viewed it. Maybe not as extensive
as the Levitical law, but that's how I looked at it, and I believe that's how many people
in everyday life view faith, that have not experienced it in a way that perhaps we do.
And these Jews that were enlightened at the time as they saw Jesus as, hey, this is the guy.
This is the guy we've been talking about for hundreds of years. And they got on and they
began to follow, they began to experience this new idea of attaining righteousness in this new way
that Jesus provides full access, unlimited access to God and to the heavenlies and to this realm
that they had so vigorously followed through this rule system. So let's take a look at,
I want to do just kind of a quick, brief recap of some things just to kind of lay the foundation
for where we're going here. So the author of Hebrews, Jesus, they're making a case
here, right from the beginning to where we're at, where we're coming up on now. They're making a
case of Jesus, making a case that Jesus is higher than the angels. So the angels were viewed,
as we see in the Bible, as messengers. They would come and they were holy and they were powerful,
but Jesus is higher than these messengers. And he goes on to say, this is, and I'm sure this was
just like really rough for some of them to hear is like, you know, Moses is, you know, really,
they kind of held Moses up as kind of this, this icon, this God in the Old Testament. This is kind
of our God. And, you know, he was a prophet and he was a leader, you know, in the house of God,
you know, took the Israelites out of, out of Egypt, you know, took them through, took them
through the desert, led them right up to the promised land. And the author is saying,
Jesus is the faithful son over the house of God, not in the house of God, but over the house of God.
And he's greater than Moses. And then he goes on to say, Joshua, who is the one who led the
Israelites into the promised land, into that rest. And the author is saying, Jesus leads us into
God's ultimate permanent rest. And then he began to talk about the high priest and Aaron's role.
Aaron was appointed, you know, as high priest, the very first high priest. And they're saying
that Jesus is this eternal high priest. Not only that, he was sinless in this process. Priests were
not sinless. They had to go through the same atoning process as everyone else. But they were
the leaders within that. And the author is saying that, yeah, this was good, but Jesus is better.
And then he gets into talking about milk, he's a deck. This is one of those things
that once I read the Bible, I would always used to just scoot past that stuff.
And it's really easy to miss things when we do that. Now, when I see things that I don't understand,
I immediately look at that as, this is great. This is kind of this little Easter egg that's
put here for me to follow along, follow along the path. So, you know, Melchizedek, you know,
he predated the priesthood because you know what? The first thing that these Jews would have said
is that, well, Jesus can't be a priest because he's not from the tribe of Levi. He's not a Levite.
Only priests can, only Levites can be priests. So the author is making this case here. He's here,
yeah, yeah, yeah. But he is in the priesthood of Melchizedek, which predates. And we're going to
get into a little, just a little bit of this, not a ton of it, just a little bit of this we're
going to get into. And then he begins to talk about the old covenant and the law, which we're
going to talk a little bit about here today, that Jesus brings this new way, this better,
this better way. So, so Jesus offers this clearer version, this better way for the Jewish people
and us, but it challenged everything that they knew about faith. So, and this is one thing that I was
never really, and I still don't have a full understanding, but I have a much better
understanding of it. You know, I really used to look at, okay, this is old, this is new, old is gone,
new is here, old is no good, old is bad. And really Jesus, if you read the Gospels and read
and really study how Jesus approached Torah and the old covenant, he never abolished anything.
He didn't remove. In fact, he said verbatim, I haven't come to remove any of this. He was the
fulfillment of it. He represented and he explained with every breath that he had
what the true meaning was of the old covenant. So, so as we talk about this, it puts it in easy
context to say the old verses are new because Jesus brought a better, more fulfilled way,
a better understanding of the law, even in ways, definitely in ways that the Jews just never
understood it to be. But even for us, as we, as we look at it, ways that we don't, he, he
demonstrated what it really meant. And, you know, he was basically essentially saying that, that,
that, that you no longer really have a need for the temple, you know, or mediators. But this idea,
you know, of, of, of Torah and the law, I'm giving you a better, clearer way of interpreting it.
And then as this book was written, they would have understood that this was, as Jesus was talking
about it, they wouldn't have understood the sacrifice, his sacrifice that went along with
it, but they certainly would, would have now. So God presents this better way. His kingdom is better
than the riches of this world. Isn't it? You know, I think of things that I use to strive for
and things that I used to want out of this world. And I look now and I see his way is just a better
way. And, and as I mentioned earlier, many times we think of, okay, if I come,
you know, if I come to God and I really commit to this faith thing, man, I got to give up all this
stuff that I really like and I really enjoy doing. And we don't have a grasp yet that
God's way is so, so, so much better and so much more fulfilling than any of that could be. You
know, being in the presence of God, like this morning, you know, worship is just one way,
you know, in which we experience the presence of God is so much better than the things out there.
You know, when we think of, you know, what do I like certain things, you know, why do certain
things just excite me, you know, and all of that, you know, because, you know, certain things like,
you know, you know, nightclubs and parties and, you know, drinking and, you know, drugs and all
these kind of things and, you know, all types of things that we look at now as believers and say,
you know, you know, there's no life in that. Well, you think that there's life in that when you're
living through it, because all these endorphins are firing off in your mind and saying, wow,
this is just great, right? You want a real explosion of endorphins, you know, to come to
God, man, and just be in His presence, you know. His love is incomparable to anything out there.
So Jesus was providing, the author of Hebrews is providing this better way. So let's dig in
to the text. Now,
so we're going to tackle Hebrews 7, 11 through 29. I'm not going to read the whole thing, but I'm
going to read a decent amount because we're going to really, really, really dissect this pretty well.
So now, perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood for under the people,
under that the people received the law. What further need would there have been for another
priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than one named in the order of Aaron?
For when there was a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as
well. For the one whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe from which no one has
ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was a descendant from Judah.
And in the connection with that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests.
This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,
who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily
descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him. You are a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For on the one hand, a formal commandment is set
aside because of its weakness and uselessness for the law made nothing perfect. But on the other
hand, a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God. And it was not without an
oath. For those who formally became priests were made such without an oath. But this one was made
a priest with an oath by the one who said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.
For you are a priest forever. This makes Jesus the guarantee of a better covenant. The former
priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.
So they were in there for office, kind of like Supreme Court, right?
But this holds the priesthood permanently because it continues forever. So this is,
that's a lot, a lot to read. And we're going to dig in to some of this. But let's take a
quick look at the priesthood. And I promise I won't get too, too deep into this. So the first,
the first priest was Aaron, and he was the brother of Moses. So let's take a look at what,
what it meant to be a high priest. So this is, I don't, I don't know if that's Aaron or not.
I mean, I guess it could be, but it's a, it's an example of, of how the high priest dressed.
Pretty wild, right? We, we, we got, we got deep into this on, on Wednesday nights when we were
going, going through the Levitical, but we won't get that deep into it here. But the high priest
had to be from the line of Aaron. So from the tribe of Levi must be without physical defect or
blemish, must maintain a higher standard of holiness than ordinary priests who were special,
consecrated garments like the ephod, the breastplate with 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Judah
of Israel, the robe, the tunic, the turban, the golden plate, you know, holy is the Lord,
all of these things, everything you see here on this high priest had meaning, deep spiritual
meaning. And when you dig into it deep enough, you realize how it points to a greater high priest,
which is, which is Jesus. So the importance of the high priest to, to the Jews, these guys
were the spiritual leaders. They basically representative from, from God. They were the
mediator. They stood between the nation of Israel and God. So you got to God through,
through these guys. They were, they oversaw the sacrificial system, which again is another amazing,
amazing thing to get in for the entire nation. They were guardians of worship.
You know, when we talk about the worship here and the worship team, I mean, these Levites,
boy, they, they worship. In fact, they, their, their worship was so powerful.
You know, in the time of David, they would send the lead, the musicians out ahead of the warriors.
So they would be out in the forefront of things. That's the power of worship that these,
that these Levites had. So they were the bearer of the nation. In other words, they,
they were, they were showing them and demonstrating how to get to God.
So over the centuries, you know, you know, coming up to the time of Jesus, you know,
over hundreds of years, this beautiful, wonderful priesthood that God, God had instituted had, had
become institutionalized and political and corrupt. And again, there's so much to understand what
happened, you know, through the various captivities that they went through and how things just kind of,
you know, fell apart as a nation, but they were not even, even in the most remote sense,
close to what they were supposed to be in the time, in the time of Jesus. So very political,
very corrupt, all about spiritual control and manipulation and power. So the high priests had
become political instead of these are the people we can go to when we want to draw close. They were,
they were, they were even somewhat of a paid position. So, you know, if the more money you
could offer, it could kind of get you into some of these positions within, within the priesthood.
And, and they were instead of, you know, when you think of someone that's going to help guide you
to, to God, you think of someone super approachable, someone that can kind of help navigate through
some of these things. These guys were not that. They were, they were feared. They were not
approachable in, in that way. They were head of, head of the Sanhedrum, which
was the group basically that orchestrated capturing, killing, killing Jesus. And,
and that's another, another area of, of understanding. We often very much confuse this idea of,
you know, when we think of, you know, you know, we, we, instead of looking at, you know, the,
the high leaders, you know, the Sanhedrum and the high priest, you know, we often use the word
Pharisees and they're very different, very different. There were many Pharisees who came,
came into the saving knowledge, knowledge of Jesus, but that's not necessarily a discussion
for today. The Gospels, and even within Acts, they, they depict these priests as opponents,
adversaries of, of, of Jesus and how they were coming out. And in fact,
really the only time you saw Jesus kind of lose it, and I use that term loosely,
kind of getting angry and confronting and just, just getting after someone, it wasn't the sinners.
It was never the sinners that he would, he would, he would just, he would go after. It was always
the religious leaders and the high priests and the Sanhedra. And it was the only time that you saw
him act out in anything other than love and acceptance. And it was because of the fact
that these people had, had taken what his father had made as pure and as holy and as this is,
this is, you were supposed to help guide and shepherd people into the presence of God
and you turned it into this corrupt political business and it infuriated him because he knew,
he knew the holiness of what, what that role was meant to be. And for those who had eyes to see
and ears to hear, they understood what Jesus was saying, that I am the way, I am the better way,
I am, I represent what this was always, always intended to be. He was the eternal high priest.
It was Jesus. And you know, you can almost see it in scripture when, when people's eyes were just
opened to this. It's like, it just changed their, their world. But to those who refused and their
hearts were so callous because this is the, and so much of it was motivated by their own self,
self gain. I mean, these people were, were in a system that was benefiting and profiting them.
And so part of that, that, that hatred for Jesus was coming from that, but part of it was just,
they just don't want to see. So this gives you a little glimpse into the idea of the high priest.
Let's look at Melchizedek. You know, in ancient Judaism, Melchizedek was kind of revered as this,
this figure symbolizing, you know, righteous. He was not, he was not Jew. He was both a priest
and a king, which was very, very unheard of. And, and the author, this is, this is another one of
these little kind of cues as you read through these things. The author of Hebrews assumes
that Jews, that the Jewish audience will know what he's talking about in this subject. You know,
it was a, it was, from what I understand in study, I mean, it was, it was a common thing
in rabbinic study to, to bring up this topic of, of Melchizedek. And it's mentioned, you know,
for the first time in, in Genesis, Genesis 14, 18, 220 says, as king of Salem, meaning peace,
and priest of God, Most High, he blesses Abram and receives a tithe from him. So Abraham, Abraham
tithed to, to Melchizedek. Melchizedek is also mentioned in Psalms, which we'll kind of review
in a little bit and becomes a very significant figure here in, in Hebrews. But Melchizedek was a
foreshadowing of who Jesus was as an eternal king and his righteousness as, as a king, because that's,
that's the other part is that in the Bible, according, according to scripture, you know,
Melchizedek was a king and a priest. Well, guess who else is a king and a priest?
Jesus, right? Except he's the eternal king, righteousness and peace, and he is the true
high priest. So that, that kind of gives a little top level of, of the Levitical priesthood and,
and Melchizedek. So I want to, I want to just kind of zero in on a few things in this,
in that scripture that we, we read here. Two, two of the call outs here are,
they are, are direct quotes from, from Psalm 10. And again, the author, he doesn't give the
verses, oh, I'm taking this from Psalm, because the Jews would have known this,
they would have recognized these scriptures. So this is a Messianic prophecy that foretells
of the coming of a ruler greater than King David. So let's read this whole thing. It's a short,
very short Psalm. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies
your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power.
In holy garments from the womb of the morning, the dew of your path will be yours.
And then these two verses that are pulled right verbatim out of scripture, they're grouped
together here. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. So the Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings
on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them.
The corpse says he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth and he will drink from the brook
by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head. So David the psalmist is describing this
prophetic person who we know now as Jesus, as the Messiah. He is exalted,
right? He is seated at the right hand of God in divine authority.
He's victorious. He's a victorious ruler. His enemies will be subdued under his feet.
He's a priest. He's declared a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
He leads his holy people. He is, he eternally reigns.
And he will be there for final judgment to crush kings of this earth and judge the nations.
So this was prophesying about the coming Lord and Jesus. And this is another great indicator as
to how the Jews saw this. Jesus' name wasn't tied to this. So they had no way of knowing
when Jesus came. You know, he's the guy. He's the guy we've been reading about here. Some
immediately saw it. Others struggled with ideas of, okay, he couldn't be this because of this.
He couldn't be this. But they were looking for this great Messiah or Mashiach, as they would
call him, who would fulfill. They looked at this as a militant thing. He's going to be the guy
that comes and delivers us from all of this stuff. But this was prophesying about the Savior
who was greater than David the writer. He proclaims that himself and greater than Melchizedek.
The other thing I want to pick up here in this little bit of scripture is
this section here from 18 to 21 says, for on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside
because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law made nothing perfect. But on the other hand,
a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God.
And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without
an oath. But this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said it to him,
the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are forever a priest. So this word, oath,
is a very unique word. See, this is what's so very different about Greek and Hebrew and the
from a Western perspective and words just, you know, they are what they are, right?
Well, words back then could mean things at a much deeper, deeper level, things that we just can't
necessarily translate. That's why you see so many different types of translations out there because
scholars really work hard at trying to get these atlas. Sometimes a word can make up this
whole idea of something that doesn't necessarily translate into one word. So this word,
oath, that is used here, it's pronounced, let me take a stab at this, horkimosia.
And this is used exclusively
by the author here. It doesn't appear anywhere else in the New Testament. The word oath does,
but not this particular Greek version of it. So it's a unique word for oath that's used to
emphasize this permanency, okay? This eternal nature of Jesus's priesthood. You know, this
this grandness of it that's so much different, you know, this promise of God that comes with it
saying, I will not change my mind on this. This is a literary style of choice that was used by
the author. It was intended, if you're interested in digging into it, instead of reading over,
it was intended to draw this unique attention to his priesthood, which is guaranteed by God.
This is something, again, that is so easy to miss in scripture, especially in a book like this
that is written, you know, by a Jew for the Jews, who were used to kind of unwrapping these things.
There was, they would always, and this is how Jesus, this is how Jesus taught,
it's always happy taught. So often we say, well, why didn't he say it plain?
Why couldn't he say something so clear? Why do you always have to talk in mystery?
Well, it's just how it was. You know, he said it himself, that if you have ears to hear,
you will hear. If you have a desire to learn, you will dig in and understand it. Not that the surface
value of what these teachings are isn't important, they are. But when we're willing and we desire
to know more of God, you peel away those layers of the onion, which is what the Jews would do.
So often it's how rabbis taught. So it's an easy point to miss. So again, yes,
the word oath is used in other places in the scripture, but not this particular word, oath.
So the second, the last part of this scripture that I want to tackle, meaning the ones that
we read, we've got a little bit more to move through here, is this idea of a better covenant,
the guarantee. He says in 22, this makes Jesus the guarantee of a better covenant. So this
new covenant, this new way that Jesus was talking about, this fulfillment of the law,
bringing the law into the fullness that it was already intended to be,
God has now written this law in our hearts.
Imagine how mind-blowing that must have been for them. Imagine this idea of, okay,
this was the rule set in how we got to God. These are the laws, and as I said,
thousands and thousands and thousands of laws, these are now written on our hearts.
I don't know how it all fits there, but it's there. So the law is now not written in stone,
but written on our hearts. Jeremiah 31, 33 says, this is the covenant I will make with the people
of Israel. After that time, declares the Lord, I will put my law in their minds and I will write it
on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Jesus transcended from this idea of this is the law, and these are the rules, and this is how you
follow to this idea of personal relationship with God and with him. You know, I will be their God,
and they will be my people. This would have been a concept very foreign again to the Jews,
this idea of universal access to God. Everybody has access.
I mean, how awesome is that? That Jesus just provided that way, this complete forgiveness
of sin, no matter what. Doesn't matter what you did, where you came from, who you are,
what tribe you're from, or even if you're outside of it. None of that matters anymore,
because God now has this eternal covenant through Christ, and we are sealed by that.
The new covenant, this new idea, promises transformation, promises relationship, promises
access, forgiveness, eternal security with him. It's a relational-based covenant instead of a
transactional-based. You understand the difference? The relationship is this just
wonderful thing, and a transaction is, okay, well, I'll do this, and it'll get me to here,
or I'll pay this, and it'll get me there. None of that is relevant anymore.
I want to finish out this chapter here. So, starting at 25,
consequently, he's able to save to the utmost those who draw near to God through him,
since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should
have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners and exalted above the
heavens. He has no need like those high priests who offer sacrifices daily. First, for his own sins,
and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he was offered,
when he offered himself. For the law appoints men in the weakness as a high priest, but the word
of the oath which came later than the law appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.
So, this idea of perfection and supremacy, you know, this emphasis on this idea of, you know,
he is able to save us to the utmost, the utmost for those who draw near to them.
Jesus' way is better. In fact, that's what the original movement of Jesus was called,
the way. His way is better. You know, he loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. And
he loves us just as we are. You know, in our minds, we often think,
yeah, you can come to God, but, you know, you got to kind of fix these things.
You know, so we like to fix things, right? Jesus is saying, come to me. All that stuff is going to
melt away eventually. You don't have to make a single change. Just come to him.
He wants us to live and walk in his kingdom here on earth to do his work. He wants to partner
with us. All throughout the Bible, from the beginning to end, is this idea of God partnering
with humankind to do his work here. And he wants to partner with us to guide people
to this better way, to this better place. The good news is simple. This new way is a very
simple thing. There's not a lot of rules and regulations that go with it. Probably wasn't
easy to be a Jew back then. It wasn't easy to be a Jew, but it's easy, easy to be a follower of
Jesus. This good news is simple. Jesus will accept you and forgive you of all of your sins
if you believe and confess him as Lord. John 3 16, we all know well, for God so loved the world
that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It doesn't say, as long as you do this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this,
you will have eternal life. It's not what it says at all. It says, if you believe.
I remember the first time I heard those words and I remember vividly
when I heard this message of this way to get to God. I mean, it just cut me. I mean, it was,
it was, it was literally like a knife cutting through all the stuff that had accumulated in my
life up to that point. All the hatred and the resentment and the addiction and everything
that went along. Those words just cut. You ever, ever try to, try to, try to spread like cold
butter on a, on toast and you're cutting through it and trying to make like soft pieces out of it?
But then you have this like, like room temperature butter and it just glides right through. That's
to, to a point where it, on the spot, on that moment, changed everything. It changed everything
for me. It's such a simple, simple message of this good news. And what about the law?
Well, you know what? Jesus summed that up. He summed up the old covenant. He summed up
all of those thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of law.
He summed it all up in Matthew 22, 37 to 40. And he said, simply this,
love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind.
This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important is like this, this one.
And it is love others as much as you love yourself. All of the laws of Moses and the
books of the prophets, everything is summed up into this. And if the worship team could,
could come forward. This was what Jesus came to tell. And this is what was so complex and hard
for the people to understand. Because you know what? We, we love, even as, even as, as, as,
as Westerners, we love system and we love process. Do you ever notice with kids,
you know, they, they, they crave rules and they crave discipline. It's in our nature
to love process and the simplicity of this message that Jesus brought, the simplicity
of this new way that Jesus brought was almost like, this is just too good to be true
for so many. How can this possibly be true that he is our eternal advocate now.
He has a better way for us and all we have to do is come to him humbly.
For me, how I look at it, this is really, really, really, really good news. Right?
If this is news to any of you out there and you want to know more,
or if, if, if, if the God's Spirit has cut through you, like it cut through me in a way,
even if it was just kind of like a little nick, come up afterwards. There's people up here that
will pray with you, give you a little bit of guidance along the way. Jesus, we thank you,
Lord, for this new way. We thank you, God, that you loved us so, so much, God,
that you gave of yourself fully beyond what we could ever, ever imagine doing. You gave it freely
and you did it to provide this clear pathway to the Father where we can experience that kind of
love and acceptance that we've really never known here on earth and, and may never, ever know here,
here on earth, but you provided that way for us, God, and all you want from us, all you want, God,
is for us to come to you. You want to be in relationship with us. That's all you want.
You want to partner with us, God, to show others this better way, this kingdom way of living.
And, Lord, we are so thankful, God, for what you've done for us.
We give you all the glory, God, in Jesus' name, amen.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His Word. Don't forget
to join us for Worship Live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!