2007 Book of Hebrews Series –
“P.I.F. – Paid in Full”
Hebrews 10:5-18
Sermon preached at Curwensville Presbyterian Church – July 8, 2007
Prayer Introduction: Does it sometimes seem like the only thing you receive in the mail – besides enough advertisements to topple a landfill – is bills? However, it is very satisfying to receive those statements with the stamp “P.I.F. – Paid in Full.”
Our passage this
morning –
Scripture Introduction: Our passage this morning is one that has affected me deeply in my life. It was at a time of confusion that the Holy Spirit directed these words into my heart and mind and radically changed me. They are words that I have come back to time and time again. We begin at verse 5 of chapter 10, which begins with the word “therefore” – let’s remember what it’s there for.
The first 4 verses we looked at last week – “The Shadow Knows.” The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming. The Old Testament sacrifices foreshadowed the New Testament sacrifice of Christ. It is the light of Christ that shined behind the law – for those who obeyed in faith, not just going through the motions – and it is the light of Christ that shines behind every situation that we face in our lives. When we look at our life situations from God’s perspective we can see what result God wants to produce from that situation – the shadow that He wants to create. “Therefore…” READ Heb. 10:5-18
I. Trying to Pay it Ourselves
Could this passage be any clearer about the fact that our sin debt is paid in full by the sacrifice of Christ?! These words leave no doubt that it is the sacrifice of Christ, and His alone, that sufficiently paid for all sins. The words of the worship song are wonderful: “In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song…” (“In Christ Alone” by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend).
In our minds we know this to be true. Anyone who’s heard the gospel has heard that Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life – the only way to the Father. We’ve all heard the good news that salvation is by faith alone. We know that forgiveness – salvation – is through Christ alone. We know this; but this glorious truth often doesn’t make a difference in our everyday lives the way it could – and should.
In “real life” we live as though we’re on our own.
Standing in line at the grocery store, the people in front of us are annoying. We’re running late. The cashier has an attitude. “And do I have the money to pay for these groceries and all of the bills that are staring me in the face.”
That’s our real life situation and we feel all alone. We can be surrounded by people, but still feel all alone in trying to make it through the day.
In “real life” we live as though we’re on our own; instead of realizing that in Christ, God has given us everything we need.
Does this mean that we can tell the cashier, just put it on God’s credit card? It doesn’t work quite like that, but close. The salvation of our souls has been put on God’s credit card. Jesus Christ has credited us with his righteousness. He paid our sin debt in full.
This “imputed righteousness” – the crediting of righteousness – is accompanied by the Holy Spirit who enters into our heart and actually begins the work of sanctification – making us righteous.
Now, whenever the preaching and teaching of God’s Word talks about actually being righteous – doing good works, repenting of sin and living out the Christian faith – our natural reaction is, “Oh, so we need to be perfect, huh?” [Notice our tendency to think its about works]
We instantly begin to think that we are on our own: “I’m a good person. I’m doing the best I can. Nobody’s perfect. I’m just trying to hang in there and do the best I can.”
In the Old Testament, people brought burnt offerings and sin offerings. In the New Testament, we also have a tendency to focus on the outward acts.
When we live by faith, we can embrace every situation as a situation in which God is trying to sanctify us – trying to produce real righteousness in our real life.
We search our hearts and ask, “Why do I think these people are annoying? Is it that they are simply in my way – and since the world revolves around me – they should just clear out and let me through? Wait a minute, they are people too. They have stresses. They may be running late. They may be worried about their bills. That person just dropped something; let me pick it up for them. That cashier probably has a load of worries, let me say something encouraging to her…”
And suddenly, we begin to act differently. When we look to Christ, we look inward, and that affects our outward actions.
We no longer think that everyone’s a Christian and everyone’s a good person. We have genuine concern for the souls of others, knowing that we all need Christ.
We no longer look to live out of our natural abilities, but realize that God calls us to do what is unnatural in order to draw our strength from Him rather than in ourselves.
We no longer seek to avoid guilt, but realize guilt is God convicting us to repent. We don’t think that repentance saves us. We repent, because we are saved.
II. Taking it for Granted
On the one side, we can live as though we’re on our own – focus on outward activities – rather than realizing that we have Christ and focus on our inward heart.
On the other side, we can take salvation for granted. What would happen if someone came to you and said, “Give me all of your bills; I’ll pay them for you.” We would be ecstatic.
What if he came back the next month and again said, “Give me all of your bills; I’ll pay them for you.” Wow!
But now we would begin to wonder if that person is going to come back the next month. We spend a little more. We’ve already got some extra money, because he paid all my bills for the last two months; and if he pays them again this month, then I could buy that new Harley I’ve had my eye on.
Now you begin to wait for the person to show up and offer to pay your bills. The first bill has come in the mail. “When is he coming?” The next bill shows up. “How come he hasn’t come, yet?” Another bill shows up. “He should have come by now. I deserve that Harley. How rude to make me wait.”
How quickly we have gone from the thankfulness of having our debts paid, to taking payment for granted.
Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. offers some very wise words: “Self-indulgence is the enemy of gratitude, and self-discipline usually its friend and generator. That is why gluttony is a deadly sin. The early desert fathers believed that a person's appetites are linked: full stomachs and jaded palates take the edge from our hunger and thirst for righteousness. They spoil the appetite for God. And they may therefore crowd out gratitude.”
Anyone who has been on any kind of government assistance knows the potential trap of taking things for granted. The first unemployment check is a welcome relief; but how soon before we start to feel like we deserve that check.
Christ offers to pay our sin debt in full, and this can put some into an entitlement mentality – thinking that we deserve to have our sins forgiven; and deserve greater earthly blessings in this life.
Thanks be to God that we don’t get what we deserve. The Newsboys sing a song with the chorus: “When we don’t get what we deserve that’s a real good thing. When we get what we don’t deserve that’s a real good thing.” That’s grace.
Let us never take
grace for granted; and we won’t when grace affects our very heart. The apostle
Paul addresses this directly in
The good news is that we don’t have to get trapped into taking things for granted. Because the truth sets our hearts free.
III. The Truth Has Set You Free
Verse 16 is a quote from the
Prophet
In the New Covenant in Christ, the law is written, not on tablets of stone, but on our very hearts. It was through the Prophet Ezekiel that God said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
The sacrifice of the Son of God has set our hearts free – giving us a heart of flesh on which the law is imprinted within us. Obedience is not a legalistic outward obedience; it is within us.
Notice what
God’s Word says in
We, who are in Christ, have been declared holy and perfect, but we are also being made holy and perfect. These two separate truths are inextricably linked. We are saved by faith alone; but true faith produces works.
The “imputed righteousness” – the crediting of righteousness – is accompanied by the Holy Spirit who enters into our heart and begins the work of sanctification – making us righteous.
Will we ever be perfect in this life? No. But nor are we ever satisfied to remain in our sins. We want out. We want to be free from sin’s guilt and power. We don’t want any sin to master us; we want Jesus Christ to master us.
We know “Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay” and this truth of Jesus has changed us; so that we want to live a life of grateful obedience.
Has this truth set you free? Do you know that Jesus paid your sin debt in full? Are you living as one who has been set free? Are you looking at your inward heart and seeing outward change?
If you have never had your heart changed, so that the law could be imprinted on your heart within you, then come to Christ now. Confess your need for Christ, and Christ alone, to pay for your sin debt and ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart.
Perhaps you have had your heart changed, but you have become trapped in an entitlement mentality – taking forgiveness for granted. Know that you are still forgiven, but you don’t deserve it. Embrace God’s grace and give thanks.
Perhaps you are just facing a tough situation right now. Look at from God’s perspective. What sanctifying work is he seeking to perform through this situation? Because we’re not yet perfect, God is busily working to produce actual holiness all of our lives.
At work, at the grocery store, at the mailbox – in every situation of our real life God is seeking for you to know the truth, so that…
THE TRUTH MAY SET YOU FREE – AMEN!