April 7, 2025 • 34 mins
In this sermon, Pastoral Resident Kenny Dyches continues NewCity’s series in Hebrews by exploring chapters 9 and 10 and the insufficiency of the Old Testament sacrificial system. Pastor Kenny compares our modern reliance on systems—whether technological, biological, or religious—with Israel's sacrificial system, highlighting how all human systems inevitably fail when used to grasp for control or to justify ourselves apart from God. He emphasizes that these systems, while not inherently bad, become insufficient when they're disconnected from a relationship with God and used to avoid true dependence on Him.
Pastor Kenny calls listeners to recognize the futility of self-reliant spirituality and instead rest in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus, our great High Priest. Christ’s blood not only secures eternal redemption but also purifies our consciences from dead works, empowering us to serve the living God with joy and freedom. He concludes with an invitation to build life-giving systems—like confession, community, and accountability—that continually point us to Jesus, reminding us that our sins are forgiven and we are truly free.
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Kenny (05:50):
I was getting anxious, and so, while the car's
navigation system wasn't working, my internal system was
creating anxiety and I justcouldn't be present.
I couldn't quite enjoy themoment with my dad because of
really sin in my heart that wascentered around a lie that I
(06:10):
believed right, a wrong way ofrelating to God and to the world
around me, which was that Ineeded to have control, I needed
to do what had to be done inorder to show up here, in order
to preach a good sermon, inorder to perform correctly, and
then, in turn, that startedaffecting my digestive system.
I started to feel it in my gutto feel this kind of low nausea,
(06:34):
and so when I finally did gethome, I was talking to Lauren
about this and she was likeyou're probably nervous for
tomorrow, and, of course, I'mjust so distant from my emotions
.
I had no idea that was going on, and my wife is so emotionally
intelligent she knew exactlywhat was going on.
But in that moment I realized Ihave not, in the last 12 hours,
just come to Jesus, and so Ijust sat down and I was like
(06:58):
Jesus, what is going on in myheart?
And Jesus said why aren't youtrusting me?
That whole the last 12 hoursbefore that, I had just been
leaning on my own understanding.
I'd been leaning on my owninternal systems, and so when my
internal systems failed me,when the external systems failed
me, it just reaped anxiety andsin.
(07:22):
And so the reality is, we wantto be in control of our lives,
right, peter William?
Ernest Henley penned the famousphrase I am the master of my
fate, I am the captain of mysoul.
And it's romantic.
Many of us want to believe it,right?
There's a sense in which, likewhen I imagine this verse, I'm
(07:43):
like on a ship, you know, likeCaptain Morgan, with my leg up,
and I'm like looking out to seaand there's something, you know,
that really manly and excitingabout that.
But if we don't believe thatwith our head with our heads,
because we know, we know thatGod is in control, we still want
to believe it in our hearts.
And so just look at the way weuse our phones and our
smartwatches right In the palmof your hand.
You have the ability to controlso many systems.
(08:04):
You can control your ownfinancial systems.
You can access your own bodilysystems, your social systems, so
much in the palm of your handat all times.
We control our calendars andour days, and so the temptation
to constantly try and takecontrol is always there.
And systems themselves?
They're a collection ofelements or components that are
(08:26):
organized in a way that achievea specific purpose.
So, like I said, you havefinancial systems, social
systems, technological systems,biological systems,
transportation systems all ofthese things working
individually for a specificpurpose, in which together add
to your whole day.
So when you go from point A topoint B during your day, you've
got internal biological systemsthat are constantly working.
(08:47):
When you use the Starbuck Act,you're depending on financial
systems.
When you're going down thehighway, you're depending on
transportation systems.
And if just one of thosesystems, one thing in one of
those systems, fails, well guesswhat?
Your whole day is thrown intodisarray.
We use systems to control ourlives and get what we want.
If you need proof, just watchyourself the next time one of
(09:10):
your systems fails.
Maybe it's the navigationsystem in your car, maybe it's
your ice maker that one'sparticularly bad.
I spent I don't know how manymonths trying to fix our ice
maker.
Maybe your credit card won'twork.
Maybe your alarm doesn't go offwhen these things don't work.
Do you get anxious andfrustrated?
It's a sign that you're tryingto control your world through
(09:31):
systems, and regardless ofwhether or not we believe we're
in control, we can't help buttry.
It's been in our DNA since thefall In the garden.
Adam and Eve had a relationalsystem with God based on
steadfast love.
In the garden, Adam and Eve hada relational system with God
based on steadfast love.
In Genesis 3, the snake offersAdam and Eve a new system to get
what they want on their ownterms, a type of control, the
(09:51):
knowledge of good and evil, sothey can be like God.
At the root of all of us is thatsame, now broken relational
system.
It comes out in sin as we usesystems which are neither good
or bad in and of themselves, butwe use them for our own selfish
and prideful ends rather thanto get more of God, and the Old
(10:13):
Testament sacrificial system wasno different.
The people of Israel were givena system by which to draw near
to God.
The problem is that they arestill sons and daughters of Adam
and Eve, a people with a brokenrelational system, stained by
sin, pridefully grasping forcontrol.
Simply put, in our brokencondition, we wield systems in
order to be like God, instead ofgetting more of God.
(10:35):
Because sin is at work in ourmembers, these systems will
always fail us because sintaints the members of the system
unless they're organized aroundsomething that can cleanse that
sin and never fail.
However, jesus can heal abroken people and empower broken
systems.
I'll say that again Jesus canheal a broken people and empower
(10:57):
broken systems.
My first point today is theinsufficient systems of worship.
Let's go ahead and look atchapter 9, verse 1.
And actually go ahead and lookat chapter 9, verse 1.
And actually, sorry, before Ido that, let me give you an
illustration of a type of systemwhich is the immune system.
For millennia, the virus thatcauses smallpox plagued
humankind.
It killed hundreds of millionsof people.
(11:18):
Until May 8th 1980.
The World Health Organizationdeclared smallpox a thing of the
past.
So how was it vanquished?
By boosting the immune systemthrough vaccination, a technique
discovered by 18th centuryEnglish physician named Edward
Jenner.
He observed that milkmaidsoften contracted the less
serious cowpox and that, uponrecovery, they were immune to
(11:40):
the smallpox.
Jenner knew that two viruseswere closely related and he
hypothesized that intentionallyexposing humans to cowpox could
protect them from smallpox.
Thus the birth of vaccination,the activation of an immune
system, or rather an immuneresponse in our bodies that
produces virus-killing cells.
As a result of this discovery,the World Health Organization
(12:03):
launched a smallpox eradicationcampaign in 1967 that used
extensive vaccination withincredible success.
See, vaccination is a systemthat exposes the body to harmful
disease and consequences, butin a form that it can take.
In so doing, the body isprepared to fight the actual
(12:23):
virus when it encounters it.
The vaccine isn't what willkill the virus when you
encounter it, though, that isyour body.
Likewise, the sacrificial systemexposed God's people to the
depth of their sinfulness, whilealso protecting them from being
fully exposed in the presenceof a holy God, which would have
meant their death.
In so doing, it prepared themto repent and receive God's
(12:45):
promises.
The system itself wouldn't killsin.
That would one day be God inthem.
Now look with me at verse 1,chapter 9, verse 1 of Hebrews,
which reads Now, the firstcovenant, see regulations for
worship.
That's our system, right there.
(13:11):
And then we see an earthlyplace of holiness.
That's its insufficiency.
And so these regulations forworship were in an earthly place
of holiness, the earth istemporary, right, it will be
renewed, but how we experienceit now is temporary, and so this
system of sacrifices was alsotemporary.
This earthly place of holinesswas ultimately going to fail, it
(13:35):
was ultimately going to passaway, and so we see our
insufficient system from thebeginning.
And so what we have here is thetabernacle right.
So this was in the middle ofGod's people, which were
organized around it, the 12tribes of Israel, in the
wilderness after the Exodus, andin the tabernacle they had the
outside, where they would makethe actual sacrifice and
sacrifice the animals.
(13:56):
Then they had the exterior tent, where they would go in the
priests and make the regularofferings, and then the Holy of
Holies, where only the highpriest would go once a year.
And so how, though, did thatrestore broken relationship with
God?
Well, look with me at chapter 9, verses 6 and 7.
Verse 6 reads thesepreparations having thus been
(14:20):
made, the priests go regularlyinto the first section,
performing their ritual duties.
But into the first sectionperforming their ritual duties,
but into the second section,only the high priest goes, and
he but once a year, and notwithout taking blood which he
offers for himself and for theunintentional sins of the people
.
And so we see the daily ritualsacrifices and the once a year
(14:41):
day of atonement.
Twice a year the priest wouldmake no, I'm sorry, twice a day.
Actually the priest would makesacrifices outside the tent and
bring those offerings in forsins, and then, only once a year
, the high priest would go intothe inner sanctuary, into the
Holy of Holies, for the day ofatonement to cover all
intentional sins of the people.
(15:02):
But why the shedding of blood?
Turn with me to chapter 9,verse 22, which reads Indeed,
under the law, almost everythingis purified with blood, and
without the shedding of bloodthere is no forgiveness of sins.
See, the shedding of blood hasinaugurated covenants since
Abraham, signifying that if thecovenant is broken, that the
(15:26):
penalty is death, but alsorevealing the consequence of sin
, which is spiritual death andseparation from God.
And so we see that the oldcovenant and the sacrificial
system was meant to point us tothe reality of sin and the
consequences of sin.
But it's also meant to pointforward.
Look with me at chapter 9,verses 8 through 10.
(15:47):
By this the Holy Spiritindicates that the way into the
holy places is not yet opened aslong as the first section is
still standing, which issymbolic for this present age.
According to this arrangement,gifts and sacrifices are offered
that cannot perfect theconscience of the worshiper, but
deal only with food and drinkand various washings regulations
(16:10):
for the body imposed until thetime of the Reformation.
So the way to restorerelationship with God is still
closed.
Only the high priest can comeinto the Holy of Holies, and
only once a year.
So, god's people, they weren'tfully restored in relationship
yet.
Right, the Holy Spirit by thesacrificial system was showing
something.
More is needed, right?
(16:31):
This system by itself does notdraw you near to God.
It shows you your sinfulnessand it invites you to look
forward to when God will fulfillhis promises, because that time
has not yet become manifest.
They needed to look forward tothe time of the reformation,
depending on God's promises, torestore them through the seed of
the woman promised to deliverthem, which even Moses
(16:56):
referenced.
The problem with any system, notjust this one, is that the more
complex it gets, combined withthe greater dependence of the
system's parts means the morelikely it is to fail.
The reason the sacrificialsystem is insufficient and would
always fail is because of thesin in the human heart.
We make it complicated because,from the very start, we aren't
(17:17):
seeking God, we're seeking to beour own gods.
So the more Israel practicedthe sacrificial system, but with
a broken relational system andtherefore a system of wrong
motives, the more they actuallycondemned themselves.
And so I wonder what are ourinsufficient systems of worship?
On the one hand, maybe you showup to church every Sunday,
(17:39):
you're involved in circles andor communities, you serve in
City Kids and you practice thecommon rhythm which is our own
system of the spiritual lifehere at New City.
However, you can do all ofthese things, but this system of
the spiritual life made up ofthese parts is insufficient by
itself to bring you near to God.
And so you know that it's aninsufficient worship system,
(18:02):
that you're using it wronglywhen you do all of these things
but fail to experience joy inthe Spirit and freedom from sin
and brokenness.
In one sense, on one end of thespectrum, you can call this a
legal system or a system oflegalism rather right when we're
doing all the right things butwe're not seeking the person for
whom they're for.
On the other hand, you may beaware that this is a reality.
(18:25):
Maybe you don't want to fallinto legalism, and so you kind
of go the other way.
You attend Sunday worship andcommunity as you're able, but
maybe you don't feel any urgencyto be there.
You sort of practice the commonrhythm, but you spend far more
time video gaming, netflix,binging, working out,
socializing or filling yourtimes with things that aren't
bad in and of themselves, butrather are what our flesh feels
(18:52):
is restful.
Like the former, it will lacktrue, lasting joy and freedom
from sin, and you could callthis the antinomian or worldly
system.
Right, both are ends of thespectrum that we don't want to
fall on.
And this reminds me of the otherday.
I was at Lineage, of course,and there's this guy who thought
he recognized me.
Turns out there's no possibleway we can know each other, but
it ended up being a greatconversation.
(19:13):
He told me about his life, hisfamily, he lives in Tampa, he
owns a business and he did lotsof really cool things.
He would most of the money thathe made for his business he
would then turn around and putinto charity and he served a lot
in his community.
And so I asked him, like, whatmotivates you to do these things
?
And he said well, I'mculturally Jewish, but I
actually admire a lot about theteachings of Jesus and
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Christianity, and so I was likeoh yeah, so like, what does that
look like for you?
Tell me more about that?
And it turns out that he doesn'tcall himself a Christian or
religious or spiritual, but hejust really appreciates what he
sees from some Christians andsome Christian charities and the
good works that they do, and soI invited him to lean in.
I said, well, good works thatthey do.
(19:56):
And so I invited him to lean in.
I said, well, jesus claims tonot just be a good person but to
be God, and so this is an.
I wonder if it would be worthinviting Jesus through prayer
into your life.
Is that something you'veconsidered before?
And he said well, you know,when I look at religion, when I
look at the church, I see a lotof hypocrisy, and so I'm not
really sure that that'ssomething that I want or desire.
(20:17):
And so, again, we had a longerconversation and it was a good
one, but by the end of it andafter he walked away, I realized
that he was able to see theinsufficient systems.
Right, He'd been exposed tothem.
He's seen hypocrites in hislife, in the church, but he
wasn't able to see how theypointed to his need for Jesus
right, the person of God.
(20:38):
We have insufficient systemsall around us, but what they do
is point us to our need for aSavior to look forward to the
promises of God being fulfilledin him.
We all need true forgiveness ofsin and cleansing of the
conscience to restore the lostrelationship with God, both one
time and ongoingly.
And so if my first point wasabout insufficient systems of
(21:02):
worship, my second is aboutinsufficient systems.
I can say that of the heart.
So now look with me at chapter 9, verse 11.
Which reads but when Christappeared as high priest of the
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good things that have come, thenthrough the greater and more
perfect tent and actually I'llpause there Christ has appeared
as the high priest of the goodthings that have come and so
that have come.
Word in the Greek has a senseof manifest, and so the good
things have become manifest inJesus Christ.
God is no longer just in theinner sanctuary, in the
(21:44):
sacrificial system.
He has become manifest in theworld through his incarnation,
his becoming man in Jesus Christ.
Let's continue on to verses 12and 14.
(22:09):
The ashes of a heifer sanctifyfor the purification of the
flesh.
How much more will the blood ofChrist, who, through the
eternal spirit, offered himselfwithout blemish to God, purify
our conscience from dead worksto serve the living God.
As the priests on the day ofatonement would sacrifice
outside the tent and then bringin the blood for offering into
(22:31):
the inner chamber, so also Jesussacrificed his life in his
earthly tent that he might offerup his blood in the blood for
offering into the inner chamber.
So also Jesus sacrificed hislife in his earthly tent that he
might offer up his blood in themore perfect tent in heaven.
The earthly high priest couldnot forgive sin, but Jesus'
blood, being eternal, couldeternally forgive the sin of
those united to him by faith.
The sacrificial system couldnot cleanse the conscience, but
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Jesus' blood cleanses ourconscience.
In other words, the sacrificialsystem could not heal us.
Religion cannot heal us.
Nothing can restore the achethat we all have that leaves us
longing for healing, nothingexcept the blood transfusion
from Jesus.
So how has he done this?
What we see in these verses isthat he's redeemed us, which, if
(23:15):
you look up that word in Google, it has the sense of compensate
for the faults or bad aspectsof something, or to gain or
regain possession of somethingin exchange for payment.
God and Jesus Christ came anddied and was raised in order to
redeem those who would believeby faith, and died and was
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raised in order to redeem thosewho would believe by faith.
And he did this once and forall.
We no longer need to doanything to maintain
relationship with God, but we'vebeen purchased forever by the
sufficient blood of Jesus, andhe did this with his own blood.
Right God.
Such steadfast love had he forus that God and Jesus Christ
gave his life for ours.
This is his goodness, this ishis steadfast love and mercy
(23:57):
poured out to us so that we canparticipate in the beautiful
community of the Trinity.
This is God and Jesus Christsaying I've made you worthy of
love.
And he secured eternalredemption.
The work of Christ and the HolySpirit we're able to trust, and
God has proven himselftrustworthy by making good on
his promise to bless the world.
(24:17):
And he's purified the consciousby the spirit sent into our
hearts.
We are made people able toserve him.
And so, to illustrate this,there was a gathering of friends
at an English estate whichnearly turned to tragedy when
one of the children strayed intodeep water.
The gardener heard the criesfor help and he plunged in to
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save the drowning child.
The youngster's name wasWinston Churchill.
His grateful parents asked thegardener what they could do to
reward him.
He hesitated, then said I wishmy son could go to college
someday and become a doctor.
We'll see to it, churchill'sparents promised.
Years later, while Sir Winstonwas Prime Minister of England,
(25:02):
he was stricken with pneumonia.
The country's best physicianwas summoned.
His name was Dr AlexanderFleming, the man who discovered
and developed penicillin.
He was also the son of thatgardener who had saved young
Winston from drowning.
Later Churchill remarked rarelyhas one man owed his life twice
to the same person.
The gardener redeemed Churchillby throwing his own body into
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that water to save a boy whocould not save himself.
The boy's bodily systems wereinsufficient, but the Gardner's
were not.
What is more, he redeemed hisfuture son, the future of his
son.
Rather, his son's social andmonetary prospects were
insufficient for that social andfinancial system.
He had neither the means orconnections to go to college,
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but the Gardner's redeeming actgained possession and secured
that future for him, enablingboth sons to accomplish amazing
things in the service of theirnation.
We can't depend on our ownsystems for what only the person
of God can offer us.
Our insufficient systems of theheart need to be redeemed by
one outside of ourselves who hasthe power to do so.
(26:10):
That's why Paul in Romans,chapter 6, verses 10 through 11,
says for the death, he died tosin for us once and for all, but
the life he lives, he livesunto God.
So you also must consideryourselves dead to sin and alive
to God in Christ Jesus.
He renews the spirits, thesystems of our heart.
(26:33):
And so if my first point wasabout insufficient systems of
worship and my second was aboutinsufficient systems in the
heart, my third and last pointis about insufficient systems
that are renewed.
So go ahead and look with me atchapter 10, verses 11 through
(27:07):
14.
Which reads at the right handof God, waiting from that time
until his enemies should be madea footstool for his feet, for
by a single offering he hasperfected for all time those who
are being sanctified.
As I mentioned earlier, thesacrificial system was meant to
be a warning sign to turn awayfrom sin.
(27:28):
So we know that those whoreceive Christ by faith can be
forever forgiven and cleansed oftheir sins.
So we know that those whoreceive Christ by faith can be
forever forgiven and cleansed oftheir sins.
However, in our day-to-daylives, we can still fail to see
how we begin to depend on thoseinsufficient systems and
therefore fail to bring our sinsto Jesus in order to experience
his goodness manifested in ourlives.
(27:48):
In their book Meltdown, chrisClearfield and Andras Tilksic
show how ignoring warning signsin systems can sometimes have
catastrophic consequences.
So, as an example, inWashington DC in 2005, three
metro trains came within a fewfeet of crashing deep under the
Potomac River.
Only luck and quick action bythe train driver saved the day.
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So engineers suspected that theunderlying cause was a problem
with the track sensors, butbefore they got around to fixing
it, the problem went away.
So they investigated a ratherthan invented a testing
procedure, hoping to ensure thesame glitch couldn't happen
again elsewhere.
The trouble was, their bossessoon forgot about this near miss
and stopped running the tests.
(28:31):
Four years later, the sameerror showed up in a different
spot, causing a horrific crashand the deaths of nine people.
We often ignore the clues andsmall errors as long as things
turn out okay.
The near disaster in 2005 was awarning sign that the Metro
organization chose to ignore.
An essential feature of complexsystems is that we can't find
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all the problems just bythinking about them.
We can't just hear a sermon,think about it and see all of
our sins wash away, all thestruggles that we deal with go
away.
We still, in this life, live inthe already and not yet.
Sin is still present in ourbodies and we need to bring it
to Jesus.
But that makes me wonder whatsystems in our lives are giving
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warning signs that we arechoosing to ignore.
Jesus has perfected us, but weare also being sanctified,
scripture says, and when we cometo our high priest we
participate in thesanctification in which the
Spirit enables us to experiencegreater freedom from the guilt
of sin and its effects and alife pleasing to God.
In a strange but also true studyof airline crew errors, the US
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National Transportation SafetyBoard, ntsb, found that between
1978 and 1990, nearlythree-quarters of major
accidents happened when it wasthe captain's turn to fly.
That is, not the lessexperienced officer.
Three quarters happened duringthe more experienced officer.
That was alarming because thecaptains were flying 50% of the
(30:03):
time, so their errors shouldhave been equal or less than
their deputies.
So the NTSB dug deeper.
They confirmed that thecaptains weren't worse at their
jobs, far from it.
Their seniority meant thatmistakes were going unchallenged
.
The first officers lacked thetools with which to give the
captain feedback and werebottling up concerns or giving
vague hints instead of raisingalarms.
(30:25):
Hierarchy was putting lives indanger.
They would go on to solve theissue by providing a system for
critiques and concerns by whichthe other captains could speak
into it, and so my question isdo we have helpful systems in
place that point us to Jesus?
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It's true that showing up tochurch and doing all the church
activities in and of themselves,they won't bring you lasting
joy and freedom from sin.
However, pursuing the person ofGod in those places will.
For example, are there peoplein your life that you've given
permission to call you on yourerrors?
Do you have spaces where peopleare asking you about what you
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need to confess, what hardthings are going on in your life
, what you need to lament andhow sin is plaguing your
personal life, your family lifeor your work life?
When those spaces exist, thenyou give people opportunity to
be priests unto you byinterceding for you and bringing
you to Jesus so you canexperience his mercy and grace.
(31:28):
They can see those warningsigns, they can speak into your
life, they can lead you to Jesus.
In 1 John 1, 6-9, the apostlesays if we say we have
fellowship with him while wewalk in darkness, we lie and do
not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, ashe is in the light, we have
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fellowship with one another andthe blood of Jesus cleanses us
from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, wedeceive ourselves.
We need to build systems in ourlives that point us to Jesus.
Here at New City, we believethe church and its people are
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one of those essential systems.
So finally, let's look at verses17 through 18.
This is his mic drop of sorts.
So this is chapter 10, verse 17through 18.
Then he adds I will remembertheir sins and lawless deeds no
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more.
Where there is forgiveness ofthese, there is no longer any
offering for sin.
Let's turn now from ourinsufficient systems of worship,
the insufficient systems of theheart, and to the living God
who restores every system to itsintent.
So hear this over your lifefrom Jesus I will give you rest.
(33:03):
I will remember your sins andlawless deeds no more.
Your sins are forever forgiven.
You are free.
(33:23):
Be with me.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, you poured outthe blood of Jesus, your Son,
that we might be covered andcleansed by it.
Thank you, oh Lord.
We know that there areinsufficient systems in our
(33:45):
lives that we turn to in orderto get what we can only get from
you.
Would you help us, oh Lord,through your Spirit, bring
conviction of sin, bring peopleinto our lives that can lead us
to you, that can be priests untous, so that we can come to our
great high priest, jesus Christ,and hear him say you are
forgiven, so that we can besanctified, so we can experience
(34:05):
true joy in relationship withthe living God who makes himself
known and present to us by thepower of the Holy Spirit.
We give you all thanks andpraise, oh Lord, in Jesus.
I was getting anxious, and so, while the car's
navigation system wasn't working, my internal system was
creating anxiety and I justcouldn't be present.
I couldn't quite enjoy themoment with my dad because of
really sin in my heart that wascentered around a lie that I
(06:10):
believed right, a wrong way ofrelating to God and to the world
around me, which was that Ineeded to have control, I needed
to do what had to be done inorder to show up here, in order
to preach a good sermon, inorder to perform correctly, and
then, in turn, that startedaffecting my digestive system.
I started to feel it in my gutto feel this kind of low nausea,
(06:34):
and so when I finally did gethome, I was talking to Lauren
about this and she was likeyou're probably nervous for
tomorrow, and, of course, I'mjust so distant from my emotions
.
I had no idea that was going on, and my wife is so emotionally
intelligent she knew exactlywhat was going on.
But in that moment I realized Ihave not, in the last 12 hours,
just come to Jesus, and so Ijust sat down and I was like
(06:58):
Jesus, what is going on in myheart?
And Jesus said why aren't youtrusting me?
That whole the last 12 hoursbefore that, I had just been
leaning on my own understanding.
I'd been leaning on my owninternal systems, and so when my
internal systems failed me,when the external systems failed
me, it just reaped anxiety andsin.
(07:22):
And so the reality is, we wantto be in control of our lives,
right, peter William?
Ernest Henley penned the famousphrase I am the master of my
fate, I am the captain of mysoul.
And it's romantic.
Many of us want to believe it,right?
There's a sense in which, likewhen I imagine this verse, I'm
(07:43):
like on a ship, you know, likeCaptain Morgan, with my leg up,
and I'm like looking out to seaand there's something, you know,
that really manly and excitingabout that.
But if we don't believe thatwith our head with our heads,
because we know, we know thatGod is in control, we still want
to believe it in our hearts.
And so just look at the way weuse our phones and our
smartwatches right In the palmof your hand.
You have the ability to controlso many systems.
(08:04):
You can control your ownfinancial systems.
You can access your own bodilysystems, your social systems, so
much in the palm of your handat all times.
We control our calendars andour days, and so the temptation
to constantly try and takecontrol is always there.
And systems themselves?
They're a collection ofelements or components that are
(08:26):
organized in a way that achievea specific purpose.
So, like I said, you havefinancial systems, social
systems, technological systems,biological systems,
transportation systems all ofthese things working
individually for a specificpurpose, in which together add
to your whole day.
So when you go from point A topoint B during your day, you've
got internal biological systemsthat are constantly working.
(08:47):
When you use the Starbuck Act,you're depending on financial
systems.
When you're going down thehighway, you're depending on
transportation systems.
And if just one of thosesystems, one thing in one of
those systems, fails, well guesswhat?
Your whole day is thrown intodisarray.
We use systems to control ourlives and get what we want.
If you need proof, just watchyourself the next time one of
(09:10):
your systems fails.
Maybe it's the navigationsystem in your car, maybe it's
your ice maker that one'sparticularly bad.
I spent I don't know how manymonths trying to fix our ice
maker.
Maybe your credit card won'twork.
Maybe your alarm doesn't go offwhen these things don't work.
Do you get anxious andfrustrated?
It's a sign that you're tryingto control your world through
(09:31):
systems, and regardless ofwhether or not we believe we're
in control, we can't help buttry.
It's been in our DNA since thefall In the garden.
Adam and Eve had a relationalsystem with God based on
steadfast love.
In the garden, Adam and Eve hada relational system with God
based on steadfast love.
In Genesis 3, the snake offersAdam and Eve a new system to get
what they want on their ownterms, a type of control, the
(09:51):
knowledge of good and evil, sothey can be like God.
At the root of all of us is thatsame, now broken relational
system.
It comes out in sin as we usesystems which are neither good
or bad in and of themselves, butwe use them for our own selfish
and prideful ends rather thanto get more of God, and the Old
(10:13):
Testament sacrificial system wasno different.
The people of Israel were givena system by which to draw near
to God.
The problem is that they arestill sons and daughters of Adam
and Eve, a people with a brokenrelational system, stained by
sin, pridefully grasping forcontrol.
Simply put, in our brokencondition, we wield systems in
order to be like God, instead ofgetting more of God.
(10:35):
Because sin is at work in ourmembers, these systems will
always fail us because sintaints the members of the system
unless they're organized aroundsomething that can cleanse that
sin and never fail.
However, jesus can heal abroken people and empower broken
systems.
I'll say that again Jesus canheal a broken people and empower
(10:57):
broken systems.
My first point today is theinsufficient systems of worship.
Let's go ahead and look atchapter 9, verse 1.
And actually go ahead and lookat chapter 9, verse 1.
And actually, sorry, before Ido that, let me give you an
illustration of a type of systemwhich is the immune system.
For millennia, the virus thatcauses smallpox plagued
humankind.
It killed hundreds of millionsof people.
(11:18):
Until May 8th 1980.
The World Health Organizationdeclared smallpox a thing of the
past.
So how was it vanquished?
By boosting the immune systemthrough vaccination, a technique
discovered by 18th centuryEnglish physician named Edward
Jenner.
He observed that milkmaidsoften contracted the less
serious cowpox and that, uponrecovery, they were immune to
(11:40):
the smallpox.
Jenner knew that two viruseswere closely related and he
hypothesized that intentionallyexposing humans to cowpox could
protect them from smallpox.
Thus the birth of vaccination,the activation of an immune
system, or rather an immuneresponse in our bodies that
produces virus-killing cells.
As a result of this discovery,the World Health Organization
(12:03):
launched a smallpox eradicationcampaign in 1967 that used
extensive vaccination withincredible success.
See, vaccination is a systemthat exposes the body to harmful
disease and consequences, butin a form that it can take.
In so doing, the body isprepared to fight the actual
(12:23):
virus when it encounters it.
The vaccine isn't what willkill the virus when you
encounter it, though, that isyour body.
Likewise, the sacrificial systemexposed God's people to the
depth of their sinfulness, whilealso protecting them from being
fully exposed in the presenceof a holy God, which would have
meant their death.
In so doing, it prepared themto repent and receive God's
(12:45):
promises.
The system itself wouldn't killsin.
That would one day be God inthem.
Now look with me at verse 1,chapter 9, verse 1 of Hebrews,
which reads Now, the firstcovenant, see regulations for
worship.
That's our system, right there.
(13:11):
And then we see an earthlyplace of holiness.
That's its insufficiency.
And so these regulations forworship were in an earthly place
of holiness, the earth istemporary, right, it will be
renewed, but how we experienceit now is temporary, and so this
system of sacrifices was alsotemporary.
This earthly place of holinesswas ultimately going to fail, it
(13:35):
was ultimately going to passaway, and so we see our
insufficient system from thebeginning.
And so what we have here is thetabernacle right.
So this was in the middle ofGod's people, which were
organized around it, the 12tribes of Israel, in the
wilderness after the Exodus, andin the tabernacle they had the
outside, where they would makethe actual sacrifice and
sacrifice the animals.
(13:56):
Then they had the exterior tent, where they would go in the
priests and make the regularofferings, and then the Holy of
Holies, where only the highpriest would go once a year.
And so how, though, did thatrestore broken relationship with
God?
Well, look with me at chapter 9, verses 6 and 7.
Verse 6 reads thesepreparations having thus been
(14:20):
made, the priests go regularlyinto the first section,
performing their ritual duties.
But into the first sectionperforming their ritual duties,
but into the second section,only the high priest goes, and
he but once a year, and notwithout taking blood which he
offers for himself and for theunintentional sins of the people
.
And so we see the daily ritualsacrifices and the once a year
(14:41):
day of atonement.
Twice a year the priest wouldmake no, I'm sorry, twice a day.
Actually the priest would makesacrifices outside the tent and
bring those offerings in forsins, and then, only once a year
, the high priest would go intothe inner sanctuary, into the
Holy of Holies, for the day ofatonement to cover all
intentional sins of the people.
(15:02):
But why the shedding of blood?
Turn with me to chapter 9,verse 22, which reads Indeed,
under the law, almost everythingis purified with blood, and
without the shedding of bloodthere is no forgiveness of sins.
See, the shedding of blood hasinaugurated covenants since
Abraham, signifying that if thecovenant is broken, that the
(15:26):
penalty is death, but alsorevealing the consequence of sin
, which is spiritual death andseparation from God.
And so we see that the oldcovenant and the sacrificial
system was meant to point us tothe reality of sin and the
consequences of sin.
But it's also meant to pointforward.
Look with me at chapter 9,verses 8 through 10.
(15:47):
By this the Holy Spiritindicates that the way into the
holy places is not yet opened aslong as the first section is
still standing, which issymbolic for this present age.
According to this arrangement,gifts and sacrifices are offered
that cannot perfect theconscience of the worshiper, but
deal only with food and drinkand various washings regulations
(16:10):
for the body imposed until thetime of the Reformation.
So the way to restorerelationship with God is still
closed.
Only the high priest can comeinto the Holy of Holies, and
only once a year.
So, god's people, they weren'tfully restored in relationship
yet.
Right, the Holy Spirit by thesacrificial system was showing
something.
More is needed, right?
(16:31):
This system by itself does notdraw you near to God.
It shows you your sinfulnessand it invites you to look
forward to when God will fulfillhis promises, because that time
has not yet become manifest.
They needed to look forward tothe time of the reformation,
depending on God's promises, torestore them through the seed of
the woman promised to deliverthem, which even Moses
(16:56):
referenced.
The problem with any system, notjust this one, is that the more
complex it gets, combined withthe greater dependence of the
system's parts means the morelikely it is to fail.
The reason the sacrificialsystem is insufficient and would
always fail is because of thesin in the human heart.
We make it complicated because,from the very start, we aren't
(17:17):
seeking God, we're seeking to beour own gods.
So the more Israel practicedthe sacrificial system, but with
a broken relational system andtherefore a system of wrong
motives, the more they actuallycondemned themselves.
And so I wonder what are ourinsufficient systems of worship?
On the one hand, maybe you showup to church every Sunday,
(17:39):
you're involved in circles andor communities, you serve in
City Kids and you practice thecommon rhythm which is our own
system of the spiritual lifehere at New City.
However, you can do all ofthese things, but this system of
the spiritual life made up ofthese parts is insufficient by
itself to bring you near to God.
And so you know that it's aninsufficient worship system,
(18:02):
that you're using it wronglywhen you do all of these things
but fail to experience joy inthe Spirit and freedom from sin
and brokenness.
In one sense, on one end of thespectrum, you can call this a
legal system or a system oflegalism rather right when we're
doing all the right things butwe're not seeking the person for
whom they're for.
On the other hand, you may beaware that this is a reality.
(18:25):
Maybe you don't want to fallinto legalism, and so you kind
of go the other way.
You attend Sunday worship andcommunity as you're able, but
maybe you don't feel any urgencyto be there.
You sort of practice the commonrhythm, but you spend far more
time video gaming, netflix,binging, working out,
socializing or filling yourtimes with things that aren't
bad in and of themselves, butrather are what our flesh feels
(18:52):
is restful.
Like the former, it will lacktrue, lasting joy and freedom
from sin, and you could callthis the antinomian or worldly
system.
Right, both are ends of thespectrum that we don't want to
fall on.
And this reminds me of the otherday.
I was at Lineage, of course,and there's this guy who thought
he recognized me.
Turns out there's no possibleway we can know each other, but
it ended up being a greatconversation.
(19:13):
He told me about his life, hisfamily, he lives in Tampa, he
owns a business and he did lotsof really cool things.
He would most of the money thathe made for his business he
would then turn around and putinto charity and he served a lot
in his community.
And so I asked him, like, whatmotivates you to do these things
?
And he said well, I'mculturally Jewish, but I
actually admire a lot about theteachings of Jesus and
(19:33):
Christianity, and so I was likeoh yeah, so like, what does that
look like for you?
Tell me more about that?
And it turns out that he doesn'tcall himself a Christian or
religious or spiritual, but hejust really appreciates what he
sees from some Christians andsome Christian charities and the
good works that they do, and soI invited him to lean in.
I said, well, good works thatthey do.
(19:56):
And so I invited him to lean in.
I said, well, jesus claims tonot just be a good person but to
be God, and so this is an.
I wonder if it would be worthinviting Jesus through prayer
into your life.
Is that something you'veconsidered before?
And he said well, you know,when I look at religion, when I
look at the church, I see a lotof hypocrisy, and so I'm not
really sure that that'ssomething that I want or desire.
(20:17):
And so, again, we had a longerconversation and it was a good
one, but by the end of it andafter he walked away, I realized
that he was able to see theinsufficient systems.
Right, He'd been exposed tothem.
He's seen hypocrites in hislife, in the church, but he
wasn't able to see how theypointed to his need for Jesus
right, the person of God.
(20:38):
We have insufficient systemsall around us, but what they do
is point us to our need for aSavior to look forward to the
promises of God being fulfilledin him.
We all need true forgiveness ofsin and cleansing of the
conscience to restore the lostrelationship with God, both one
time and ongoingly.
And so if my first point wasabout insufficient systems of
(21:02):
worship, my second is aboutinsufficient systems.
I can say that of the heart.
So now look with me at chapter 9, verse 11.
Which reads but when Christappeared as high priest of the
(21:24):
good things that have come, thenthrough the greater and more
perfect tent and actually I'llpause there Christ has appeared
as the high priest of the goodthings that have come and so
that have come.
Word in the Greek has a senseof manifest, and so the good
things have become manifest inJesus Christ.
God is no longer just in theinner sanctuary, in the
(21:44):
sacrificial system.
He has become manifest in theworld through his incarnation,
his becoming man in Jesus Christ.
Let's continue on to verses 12and 14.
(22:09):
The ashes of a heifer sanctifyfor the purification of the
flesh.
How much more will the blood ofChrist, who, through the
eternal spirit, offered himselfwithout blemish to God, purify
our conscience from dead worksto serve the living God.
As the priests on the day ofatonement would sacrifice
outside the tent and then bringin the blood for offering into
(22:31):
the inner chamber, so also Jesussacrificed his life in his
earthly tent that he might offerup his blood in the blood for
offering into the inner chamber.
So also Jesus sacrificed hislife in his earthly tent that he
might offer up his blood in themore perfect tent in heaven.
The earthly high priest couldnot forgive sin, but Jesus'
blood, being eternal, couldeternally forgive the sin of
those united to him by faith.
The sacrificial system couldnot cleanse the conscience, but
(22:53):
Jesus' blood cleanses ourconscience.
In other words, the sacrificialsystem could not heal us.
Religion cannot heal us.
Nothing can restore the achethat we all have that leaves us
longing for healing, nothingexcept the blood transfusion
from Jesus.
So how has he done this?
What we see in these verses isthat he's redeemed us, which, if
(23:15):
you look up that word in Google, it has the sense of compensate
for the faults or bad aspectsof something, or to gain or
regain possession of somethingin exchange for payment.
God and Jesus Christ came anddied and was raised in order to
redeem those who would believeby faith, and died and was
(23:35):
raised in order to redeem thosewho would believe by faith.
And he did this once and forall.
We no longer need to doanything to maintain
relationship with God, but we'vebeen purchased forever by the
sufficient blood of Jesus, andhe did this with his own blood.
Right God.
Such steadfast love had he forus that God and Jesus Christ
gave his life for ours.
This is his goodness, this ishis steadfast love and mercy
(23:57):
poured out to us so that we canparticipate in the beautiful
community of the Trinity.
This is God and Jesus Christsaying I've made you worthy of
love.
And he secured eternalredemption.
The work of Christ and the HolySpirit we're able to trust, and
God has proven himselftrustworthy by making good on
his promise to bless the world.
(24:17):
And he's purified the consciousby the spirit sent into our
hearts.
We are made people able toserve him.
And so, to illustrate this,there was a gathering of friends
at an English estate whichnearly turned to tragedy when
one of the children strayed intodeep water.
The gardener heard the criesfor help and he plunged in to
(24:41):
save the drowning child.
The youngster's name wasWinston Churchill.
His grateful parents asked thegardener what they could do to
reward him.
He hesitated, then said I wishmy son could go to college
someday and become a doctor.
We'll see to it, churchill'sparents promised.
Years later, while Sir Winstonwas Prime Minister of England,
(25:02):
he was stricken with pneumonia.
The country's best physicianwas summoned.
His name was Dr AlexanderFleming, the man who discovered
and developed penicillin.
He was also the son of thatgardener who had saved young
Winston from drowning.
Later Churchill remarked rarelyhas one man owed his life twice
to the same person.
The gardener redeemed Churchillby throwing his own body into
(25:27):
that water to save a boy whocould not save himself.
The boy's bodily systems wereinsufficient, but the Gardner's
were not.
What is more, he redeemed hisfuture son, the future of his
son.
Rather, his son's social andmonetary prospects were
insufficient for that social andfinancial system.
He had neither the means orconnections to go to college,
(25:47):
but the Gardner's redeeming actgained possession and secured
that future for him, enablingboth sons to accomplish amazing
things in the service of theirnation.
We can't depend on our ownsystems for what only the person
of God can offer us.
Our insufficient systems of theheart need to be redeemed by
one outside of ourselves who hasthe power to do so.
(26:10):
That's why Paul in Romans,chapter 6, verses 10 through 11,
says for the death, he died tosin for us once and for all, but
the life he lives, he livesunto God.
So you also must consideryourselves dead to sin and alive
to God in Christ Jesus.
He renews the spirits, thesystems of our heart.
(26:33):
And so if my first point wasabout insufficient systems of
worship and my second was aboutinsufficient systems in the
heart, my third and last pointis about insufficient systems
that are renewed.
So go ahead and look with me atchapter 10, verses 11 through
(27:07):
14.
Which reads at the right handof God, waiting from that time
until his enemies should be madea footstool for his feet, for
by a single offering he hasperfected for all time those who
are being sanctified.
As I mentioned earlier, thesacrificial system was meant to
be a warning sign to turn awayfrom sin.
(27:28):
So we know that those whoreceive Christ by faith can be
forever forgiven and cleansed oftheir sins.
So we know that those whoreceive Christ by faith can be
forever forgiven and cleansed oftheir sins.
However, in our day-to-daylives, we can still fail to see
how we begin to depend on thoseinsufficient systems and
therefore fail to bring our sinsto Jesus in order to experience
his goodness manifested in ourlives.
(27:48):
In their book Meltdown, chrisClearfield and Andras Tilksic
show how ignoring warning signsin systems can sometimes have
catastrophic consequences.
So, as an example, inWashington DC in 2005, three
metro trains came within a fewfeet of crashing deep under the
Potomac River.
Only luck and quick action bythe train driver saved the day.
(28:11):
So engineers suspected that theunderlying cause was a problem
with the track sensors, butbefore they got around to fixing
it, the problem went away.
So they investigated a ratherthan invented a testing
procedure, hoping to ensure thesame glitch couldn't happen
again elsewhere.
The trouble was, their bossessoon forgot about this near miss
and stopped running the tests.
(28:31):
Four years later, the sameerror showed up in a different
spot, causing a horrific crashand the deaths of nine people.
We often ignore the clues andsmall errors as long as things
turn out okay.
The near disaster in 2005 was awarning sign that the Metro
organization chose to ignore.
An essential feature of complexsystems is that we can't find
(28:56):
all the problems just bythinking about them.
We can't just hear a sermon,think about it and see all of
our sins wash away, all thestruggles that we deal with go
away.
We still, in this life, live inthe already and not yet.
Sin is still present in ourbodies and we need to bring it
to Jesus.
But that makes me wonder whatsystems in our lives are giving
(29:21):
warning signs that we arechoosing to ignore.
Jesus has perfected us, but weare also being sanctified,
scripture says, and when we cometo our high priest we
participate in thesanctification in which the
Spirit enables us to experiencegreater freedom from the guilt
of sin and its effects and alife pleasing to God.
In a strange but also true studyof airline crew errors, the US
(29:42):
National Transportation SafetyBoard, ntsb, found that between
1978 and 1990, nearlythree-quarters of major
accidents happened when it wasthe captain's turn to fly.
That is, not the lessexperienced officer.
Three quarters happened duringthe more experienced officer.
That was alarming because thecaptains were flying 50% of the
(30:03):
time, so their errors shouldhave been equal or less than
their deputies.
So the NTSB dug deeper.
They confirmed that thecaptains weren't worse at their
jobs, far from it.
Their seniority meant thatmistakes were going unchallenged
.
The first officers lacked thetools with which to give the
captain feedback and werebottling up concerns or giving
vague hints instead of raisingalarms.
(30:25):
Hierarchy was putting lives indanger.
They would go on to solve theissue by providing a system for
critiques and concerns by whichthe other captains could speak
into it, and so my question isdo we have helpful systems in
place that point us to Jesus?
(30:45):
It's true that showing up tochurch and doing all the church
activities in and of themselves,they won't bring you lasting
joy and freedom from sin.
However, pursuing the person ofGod in those places will.
For example, are there peoplein your life that you've given
permission to call you on yourerrors?
Do you have spaces where peopleare asking you about what you
(31:07):
need to confess, what hardthings are going on in your life
, what you need to lament andhow sin is plaguing your
personal life, your family lifeor your work life?
When those spaces exist, thenyou give people opportunity to
be priests unto you byinterceding for you and bringing
you to Jesus so you canexperience his mercy and grace.
(31:28):
They can see those warningsigns, they can speak into your
life, they can lead you to Jesus.
In 1 John 1, 6-9, the apostlesays if we say we have
fellowship with him while wewalk in darkness, we lie and do
not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, ashe is in the light, we have
(31:51):
fellowship with one another andthe blood of Jesus cleanses us
from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, wedeceive ourselves.
We need to build systems in ourlives that point us to Jesus.
Here at New City, we believethe church and its people are
(32:15):
one of those essential systems.
So finally, let's look at verses17 through 18.
This is his mic drop of sorts.
So this is chapter 10, verse 17through 18.
Then he adds I will remembertheir sins and lawless deeds no
(32:39):
more.
Where there is forgiveness ofthese, there is no longer any
offering for sin.
Let's turn now from ourinsufficient systems of worship,
the insufficient systems of theheart, and to the living God
who restores every system to itsintent.
So hear this over your lifefrom Jesus I will give you rest.
(33:03):
I will remember your sins andlawless deeds no more.
Your sins are forever forgiven.
You are free.
(33:23):
Be with me.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, you poured outthe blood of Jesus, your Son,
that we might be covered andcleansed by it.
Thank you, oh Lord.
We know that there areinsufficient systems in our
(33:45):
lives that we turn to in orderto get what we can only get from
you.
Would you help us, oh Lord,through your Spirit, bring
conviction of sin, bring peopleinto our lives that can lead us
to you, that can be priests untous, so that we can come to our
great high priest, jesus Christ,and hear him say you are
forgiven, so that we can besanctified, so we can experience
(34:05):
true joy in relationship withthe living God who makes himself
known and present to us by thepower of the Holy Spirit.
We give you all thanks andpraise, oh Lord, in Jesus.
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