The Gathering Surf City

I want to share with you
a couple things,

because there's some cool
things happening.

And, you know,

I look back,

I get to look back now,

you know,

being where I am and with a lot of young
guys on staff and all that sort

of thing.

I'm a little loud,

Chris, because it's going
to get worse,

just so you know.

He didn't hear me.

I'm a little loud,

just so you know.

And it'll get worse,

I promise.

But anyway,

two of my mentors have retired
in the last couple of years.

Don Wilton,

who was the pastor at first
Baptist Spartanburg,

was my preaching professor
in seminary,

and he was my evangelism
professor in seminary.

And so if I can remember when I preached
in class to an examination,

this was like our test for
our preaching class,

right? And I did this several
times during the message.

And so when he did my evaluation,

he said to me,

you ready?

He said,

don't do spider fingers.

That's like,

a long time ago.

And I remember that.

Right.

And then another of my mentors is the
first pastor I served with at a

seminary, Doctor Tommy Green.

He's been the executive director in Florida
for the last several years.

I mean,

long time now,

since 90.

I know.

I can't remember how long he's been.

Anyway, he retires this year and got
an invitation to his retirement

party. So I just mentioned that because
it's interesting to get things

like that in the mail and consider kind
of what has given shape to our

lives. Right?

Because we're in the
book of Hebrews,

and we're still talking about,

my drawing disappeared.

It's up here somewhere.

But we're still talking about
the object of our faith.

We're talking about Jesus.

I mean,

the Book of Hebrews is
all about Jesus.

It points out in scripture,

in the Old Testament,

what the old covenant,

the first covenant,

points to in the messiah
and in Christ.

And then it takes the work of Jesus,

the person and work of Jesus throughout
the New Testament and kind of

gives us the shape of
what God planned,

what he intended,

what he provided for throughout
scripture.

So when I look at the
book of Hebrews,

and as we've taken it apart over the
last five and a half months now,

we start to realize that the book
of Hebrews kind of knits it all

together for us in a way
that gives us the,

you know,

I like that phrase in that song,

a sure foundation.

We start to look at this and go,

wow. Well,

that makes sense.

And so we're in Hebrews,

chapter nine,

because here's what's happening,

y'all? The book of Hebrews just keeps
repeating itself in establishing

who we are in Christ,

in establishing our identity in Christ
and telling us what God has

accomplished and what he
has provided for us.

All right,

so Hebrews,

chapter nine,

verses eleven through 22.

It's a long passage,

so you're going to just have
to endure me reading it.

But here we go.

But Christ.

See, that is the start of it.

But Christ has appeared as a high priest
of the good thing that have come

in the greater and more
perfect tabernacle.

Not made with hands,

that is,

not of this creation.

He entered the most holy place
once for all time,

not by the blood of
goats and calves,

but by his own blood,

having obtained eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls
and the ashes of a young cow

sprinkling those who are defiled sanctify
for the purification of the

flesh, how much more with
the blood of Christ,

who through the eternal spirit,

offered himself without
blemish to God,

cleanse our consciences from dead works
so that we can serve the living

God. Verse 15.

Therefore, he is the mediator
of a new covenant,

so that those who are called might receive
the promise of the eternal

inheritance. Because a death has taken
place for redemption from the

transgressions committed under
the first covenant,

where a will exists,

or that can be translated covenant,

testament, a number of things.

But where a will exists,

the death of the one who made
it must be established.

For a will is valid only
when people die,

so it is never in effect while the
one who made it is living.

That's why even the first covenant
was inaugurated with blood.

For when every command had been proclaimed
by Moses to all the people

according to the law,

he took the blood of
calves and goats,

along with scarlet wool and hyssop,

and sprinkled the scroll itself
and all the people saying,

this is the blood of the covenant
that God has ordained for you.

In the same way he sprinkled the tabernacle
and all the articles of

worship with blood.

According to the law,

almost everything is purified
with blood.

And without the shedding of blood,

there is no forgiveness.

All right.

Long passage.

Let's kind of consider it.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you for your word,

God. I just thank you that you've
explained it all to us.

I thank you,

God, that you revealed yourself.

Genesis to revelation.

You have shown us yourself.

You've shown us what you planned,

desired, what you have accomplished.

And God,

even in this,

that little word,

those who are called God,

thank you for calling our names.

Thank you for adopting us
and making us yours.

God. Now,

by your spirit,

by your strength,

by your power,

help us to live that calling,

that identity.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.

It's interesting when you
consider scripture,

that there are a lot of different
schools of thought in scripture.

A lot of people think a lot of different
things about what the Bible

says. And one of the things schools of
thought is a reference to covenant

or covenant theology and the various
covenants that are established

throughout scripture.

And, you know,

I've always said,

you know,

when I start to put God's word
and God in a system,

then I'm the one that's establishing
the understanding,

and I am finite and God is infinite.

So there,

I'm going to tell you what essentially
are six covenants that are

identified in scripture.

Some of them are between
God and an individual,

but have an impact on
a broader community.

Two of them specifically are what
the book of Hebrews talks about.

So here you go.

You got the,

what is referred to as
the adamic covenant,

where in the curse,

God said to Adam,

you know,

because of your sin,

you're gonna have to work.

You're gonna have to work all the rest
of your days just to provide for

yourself.

Then you got the Noah covenant,

which God said to Noah,

guess what?

From here on out,

no more floods.

I will not destroy the word
by the world by flood.

And here's my bow in the heavens,

which I,

years ago,

wanted to get me a bumper
sticker even before the.

The more current craziness
that's going on now.

But back in the nineties,

I wanted to have a bumper sticker
made that just said,

redeem the rainbow.

Right? Because it seems like
every little group,

and it's got a different idea,

wants to take the rainbow
away from God.

Well, you can't.

It's his.

The abrahamic covenant,

which is the promise God made to Abraham
and his descendants for a

nation, a name,

and a land.

Those three things are promised
in Genesis twelve.

And then you got the
mosaic covenant,

which is the reference to the law,

the obedience to the law,

and God's blessing based on
obedience to the law.

You see also the outworking
of that in Hebrews.

When God says about the covenant
I made with them,

when I brought them out of the land
of Egypt and they broke it,

God says that.

Then you got the davidic covenant,

which is the promise
God made to David,

that he would have a descendant on
the throne for all eternity.

Right? And then the new covenant,

which is the messianic covenant that
God has established in Christ.

So when you see all those things,

you're like,

okay, wow.

There are a lot of agreements
between God and people,

humanity.

But we look in Hebrews and we keep
seeing this reference to first

covenant, new covenant.

We read in Hebrews chapter eight
the passage from Jeremiah,

chapter 31,

verses 31 to 34,

where he says,

see, the days are coming,

says the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant.

And then we see how God sort of breaks
that out to establish the

messianic covenant which
God has included us in.

And so when we talk about
the new covenant,

what we're referring to is
the present covenant,

which, which we enjoy our
salvation as part of.

So what I've been looking at
in the book of hebrews,

I'm trying to understand.

I'll just be honest.

I've already preached this.

I've preached it about three times
already in the book of hebrews.

And so I started figuring out,

now, what is he doing?

So remember that the writer of
Hebrews is writing to what is

predominantly a Jewish population
who has recognized Christ as the

messiah and trusted in Christ,

the Messiah,

and the new covenant that Christ
established in his death,

burial and resurrection,

and that he inaugurated
in the upper room.

All right,

so you've got this JEwish population
acknowledging Christ,

and then all the pressure that was
put on them for acknowledging the

mesSiah. And some of
them were going,

you know what?

We might as well just
go back to the Lord.

And the writer of Hebrews is going,

why in the world would you go
back to an old covenant,

an incomplete covenant?

He even calls it an
obsolete covenant,

when what we've got is
the new covenant,

the perfected covenant.

You see,

that's what this is all about.

So we've got the present covenant,

which God has completed.

And so I started looking
at this thing like a,

like a spring.

Y'all know.

Do you know what a spring is if it's
not wound up like that wire?

Y'all know that it just
a piece of wire.

I got one right here in this pen.

I think I was going to take it out,

but then I wouldn't get
it back together.

But what he does is he
makes the argument,

or he makes the case for the messiah
and he establishes that,

and he comes back and he makes it
again in the book of Hebrews.

And he comes around and
he makes it again.

And so what we're seeing
is this doubling up,

this stacking of the argument
for Jesus Christ,

Jesus the Christ,

the anointed,

the messiah,

as God's provision in and
for the new covenant.

And I'm just like,

wow. All right,

so let's read it.

But Christ has appeared as a high priest
of the good things that have

come in the greater and more
perfect tabernacle,

not made with hands,

that is not of this creation.

So what we see there is,

is he's just repeating the fact that
Christ went through the veil,

the heavens,

into heaven,

the presence of God,

to present the sacrifice once for
all for the sins of the world.

So that's what he's establishing
there.

And then in verse twelve,

he says he entered the most holy
place once for all time.

That's just repeating
what I've just said.

We've already seen that not by the
blood of goats and calves,

because we saw in a chapter past that
the blood of goats and calves can't

make anybody perfect,

you see?

And so he's just establishing
this covenant,

this sacrifice that Jesus made,

but by his own blood having obtained
eternal redemption.

He was perfected in that.

Now people say,

oh, well,

that just means Jesus
wasn't perfect.

No, he,

that word perfected,

that we translate that way,

means he completed the work that
God set before him to do.

You see,

Jesus knew why he was here.

I came to do.

What did he say?

Even as a kid,

I came to do the work of my father.

He wasn't talking about
Joseph and carpentry,

you see?

And so Jesus came to accomplish
what God had established,

I believe,

all the way back in creation,

at the fall in Genesis three,

when he said that,

son, Satan's head would be crushed,

God was foretelling,

or he was telling us that Satan
would ultimately be defeated,

you see?

So he's just stacking it,

man.

He just keeps stacking
this thing up.

So the covenant sacrifice that we get
to enjoy is the sacrifice that

Jesus made for if the blood of goats
and bulls and the ashes of a young

cow sprinkling those
who are defiled,

sanctify for the purification
of the flesh.

Here you go.

Here's the good question.

I like it.

How much more will the
blood of Christ,

who through the eternal spirit,

offered himself without
blemish to God?

Christ's blood.

Not some old cow blood or goat blood or
lamb's blood or even dove's blood

and all kind of sacrifices.

They were offering not just some
animal out of your yard,

but the Son of God,

which in the early chapters
of Hebrews,

the creator,

the sustainer of the universe,

the heir of all things.

You see,

the writer of Hebrews,

by God's inspiration,

is establishing the
only begottenness.

Is that a word?

The uniqueness the once for all time
work of Jesus Christ for us,

you see,

so that we.

How much more will the
blood of Christ,

who, through the eternal spirit,

offered himself without
blemish to God,

cleanse our consciences
from dead works?

Now, what is that?

Talking about the dead works is not.

And we talked about this before.

It's not the works of the law.

Dead works is thinking
you can earn it.

Dead works is thinking
you deserve it.

Dead works is me believing.

And this is the way
I like to put it.

You know what?

I was a little guy in school.

I was really short.

Still short,

but I was a little guy,

right?

And what's funny about that is,

is that I didn't typically get picked
first on the playground.

Y'all know?

I was that one at the back.

And then finally they go,

okay, Bobby,

you come on our team,

but stay out of the way.

All right?

But I've always put it this way.

I always thought,

you know what?

We talked to God.

We say,

God, you did a good job getting
me on your team.

Like we're something special,

but we're not.

God sees us in our sin
and loves us anyway,

and redeems us,

buys us back.

By what?

By the shed blood of his own son.

So that.

And this is the last phrase
of chapter of verse 14,

so that we can serve the living God.

Therefore, he is the mediator
of a new covenant.

Talking about Jesus.

Jesus is the mediator
of the new covenant,

so that those who are called might receive
the promise of the eternal

inheritance because a death has taken
place for the redemption from the

transgressions committed under
the first covenant.

Now, you get into that word called,

and you.

You know what?

I went to Bible college and
I went to seminary,

and I sat around tables and sat in the
common room in the dormitory and

all that sort of thing.

Folks love to talk about words.

Y'all know that people really like
to break things down and give you

their understanding of it.

And it's always funny to me that
I never claimed to be smart.

And so I would sit there
with people,

and they would just.

They deliver their understanding of
the word of God in the Bible.

And they'd like,

you know,

I'm right and nobody else is.

And da da.

And I remember one guy
in my dormitory.

I was sitting across from him,

and I said,

dude, you take yourself
way too seriously,

right? Do you know what?

If you're a believer this
morning in this place,

then God called you.

Okay?

I believe that God calls us.

He calls us by name.

I believe he wants for us to come
after him in salvation.

But I do believe there is at least an
element of human responsibility

whereby people have to receive
the gift that God's offered.

There has to be a response.

Okay, that's not work.

That's just.

Thank you.

Okay. But,

boy, people like to
debate this stuff.

So we've got the covenant sacrifice
that we live under in the present,

and we've got the covenant cleansing
by the shed blood of Jesus Christ,

which is this present cleansing
that we enjoy.

And we're working in the
direction of what he's,

what he's provided for us,

that we might receive the promise of
the eternal inheritance because a

death has taken place for redemption
from the transgressions committed

under the first covenant.

Then he breaks into this
little explanation,

because where a will exists,

the death of the one who made
it must be established.

For a will is valid only
when people die,

since it is never in effect while
the one who made it is living.

This is why even the first covenant
was inaugurated with blood.

So what we're seeing here is that
when God made this agreement,

it was as if a testament,

covenant, will,

whatever you want to call it,

God in the flesh,

God the Son died on the cross,

and he rose the third day.

You see?

Then he gets into this little story.

And I thought this was interesting
because we just finished chapter

eight, which quotes for us Jeremiah 31
31 to 34 that talks about the day

is coming when I will make a new
covenant with my people.

And then in the book of Hebrews,

he's explaining then we,

by adoption,

are God's people.

You see,

we become a part of that family through
the shed blood of Christ and by

adoption of God's own word.

And so when we look at this,

and then he starts talking about
Moses and all the people,

according to the law,

he took the blood of calves and
goats along with water,

scarlet wool and hyssop.

This says he sprinkled the scroll
itself and all the people.

So they're at the base of Sinai.

God's delivered the law.

Moses has written it down.

Moses takes blood of sacrifice.

And what would y'all do if I stepped
up here and started slinging blood

at you?

Right? But that's the picture that's
painted all the way back there.

In Exodus chapter 24,

Moses steps up and he sprinkles
the people with blood,

and he sprinkles the law with blood,

and he sprinkles all the
articles of the,

of the covenant with blood.

He sprinkles the articles of
the tabernacle with blood.

He sprinkles it all with blood.

According to the law,

almost everything is purified
with blood.

And then something that I've always mentioned
as part of God's salvation

and redemption economy is that without
the shedding of blood,

there is no forgiveness.

You see,

because there's sin.

Something has to die
because of our sin.

We're supposed to die for the
wages of sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life
through Christ Jesus our Lord.

See, Christ died my death.

Christ died your death.

That substitution,

you see?

And it's in that substitution
that my sins are forgiven.

Bible even says,

into the sea of forgetfulness,

you know who brings your
sin up to you?

Satan. You know who likes to remind
you that you're worthless?

Satan. You know what God tells
you you are valuable,

precious. I'll go ahead
and say it special.

You see?

See, that's what I like about this book
of Hebrews and the case that God

is making through this author to
keep layering this on for us to

understand that this new covenant that
we looked at in Hebrews chapter

eight, that was promised in
the book of Jeremiah,

that those days are coming when
I will make a new covenant,

it says,

I will be their God.

They will be my people.

And you're not going to have to tell
each other about it because I'll

write it on their hearts.

So when somebody in this room say,

you're getting together
with somebody,

yesterday, it was real fun
that we were friends.

Breakfast, men.

If you missed it,

well, sorry we ate all the bacon,

but there is some over there this morning
because it's pancake breakfast

morning, y'all.

Camp fundraiser pancake
breakfast morning.

Okay, so when you leave here,

go eat pancakes and put
money in the bucket.

But anyway,

there's bacon,

too.

I'm just telling you.

But it's funny that yesterday Tom Burns
got up and shared his testimony

yesterday. It's very cool.

Tom. Tom.

I always tell folks,

Tom got up,

said what he wanted to say,

and then sat down.

Right? He just said it and sat down.

And then people started
asking questions.

But point was,

when he shared the fact that he had a
conversation with God and God saved

him, every christian in the room understood
what he was talking about.

We didn't have to say,

well, what do you mean?

What do you mean God saved you?

You know,

the only people you have to explain
salvation to is the unsaved,

the people that don't know.

Because if you're a believer,

if you've trusted Jesus for salvation
and received that gift of

salvation, when we talk
to each other.

We understand what we're
talking about.

See, and that's what he's referring
to right there.

This covenant that God's
made with us,

this new covenant,

this messianic covenant,

it is the present covenant
of salvation.

And God paid the price
for that covenant.

We celebrate it.

The book of Hebrews.

It just goes over and over and over.

And next week we're going
to finish chapter nine.

And guess what?

It goes back into the explanation of
the sacrifice that God's made,

that Christ accomplished
on the cross.

And then we get to chapter ten.

And you know what my bible says?

The title of chapter ten is?

The perfect sacrifice.

So guess what?

You can count on the next two weeks
being the same message because God

wants to anchor it in our
hearts and minds,

in our very identity,

in our being.

You can't walk out into this world
questioning who you are in Christ

because the world will attack you.

Satan wants to defeat you.

Do you know who you are?

You're God's kid.

Adopted through the shed
blood of Jesus Christ.

Don't miss that.

Enjoy that.

Okay. If you don't know
Jesus this morning,

guess what?

We'll introduce you to him.

We want you to know Jesus before
you leave here this morning.

We want you to understand that
God loved you that much,

all right?

And that Christ died on the cross.

And my mom told me.

I remember when.

When I prayed to receive Christ
at eight years old.

I remember my mom.

If you'd been the only person alive,

Bobby, Jesus would have
died for you.

That's how much God loved us.

All right,

let's pray.

God, thank you for the morning
and the opportunity,

God, that you give us to
gather in worship.

God, I thank you that you
have explained it,

God, you've explained it and you've explained
it and you've explained it

again. And yet,

God, sometimes we live our lives
as if we don't understand.

And so,

God, my prayer this morning was that all
of us who have been called to be

your kids,

God, that we'd understand
who we are,

that we belong to you.

And that,

God, we'd go out into the world
living that identity,

that people would see Jesus in us.

God, that's my prayer.

And if there's one here this morning
that doesn't know Jesus,

God, we want him to know Jesus,

I'd love to be able to sit down right
here on the front row and just

share the truth of the gospel,

the good news that Jesus
died for them.

So, God,

help us to share that all the time.

God, as we sing,

we want to praise you for
what you've done.

In Jesus name,

amen.