Now let's give our attention to the reading of God's great and holy word. If you would turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 to 18, you'll find that in the Bible in front of you and it's on page 1,190. Hebrews 10 verses 1 to 18. The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said, sacrifice and offerings you did not desire but a body you prepared for me. With burnt offerings and sin offerings, you were not pleased. Then I said, here I am. It is written about me in the scroll. I have come to do your will, O God. First He said, sacrifices and offerings burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire. Nor were you pleased with them, although the law required them to be made. Then He said, here I am. I have come to do your will. He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties again and again. He offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool because by one sacrifice, he is made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says, this is a covenant I will make with them after that time says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. Then He adds, their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. And where these things have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. This is the word of the Lord. And your friends on the indoor will not survive. There is no risky. My young apprentice, your lions will die as will your friends, your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon, strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete. I believe that is one of the best movie illustrations of spiritual warfare you'll ever find. We're going to talk today about our enemy, captured on film by the Emperor. Our enemy, not talking about a human being, I'm not talking about Al-Qaeda. I'm not talking about move on.org or the Tea Party movement or a political action committee or an athletic team or any such thing. I'm not even talking about a human being, I'm talking instead about our supernatural enemy, the devil. We're going to talk today about some of the lies that the devil tells Christians. The devil is a concept, a being that is doubted in many quarters, considered a relic of an old religion that should not exist anymore. But Jesus certainly believed in a devil, a personal being who opposes all things good and all things godly and all of God's people. He goes by several names in the scriptures, Timpter, evil one, Prince of this world, Baleil, Beelzebub, deceiver, great dragon, god of this age, accuser. He's probably best known as the devil or Satan. Satan is a word taken from the Hebrew word that means adversary, someone who lies in weight, someone who opposes. And as your adversary, Jesus tells us that the devil has basically two agendas. You can find this in John 844. The two agendas that our enemy the devil has are to kill and to deceive. And we're going to focus on that second one. One of the main things the devil wants to do is to deceive us. Says in John 844 that the devil was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. No truth in the devil. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar, says Jesus, and the father of lies. He lied to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when he said, you're not going to die if you eat the forbidden fruit. He lied to Jesus in the wilderness when he said, all you got to do if you want the kingdoms of this age is to bow down and worship me. And he lies to God's people, he lies if you're a believer in Jesus today, to you all the time. You may just not recognize his voice. It's interesting that the conference that we had this weekend, redeeming sexuality, many of you were there. But I had this message pretty well worked out in my head, but not on paper. And I didn't even get to put it on paper until after the conference was over yesterday afternoon because I really wanted to be engaged with what Dan Allender was talking about. And it turns out that he said so many of the things that I had already thought I wanted to bring to you this morning. And so it's obvious that God has this message in mind for the UPC community today. I want to tell you about three lies that Satan tells Christians and then tell you what you can say back to him. First lie, he tells you is you're guilty. Second one is you're not going to change. Third lie is you need something more than just Jesus. Okay, so let's begin with the first lie that I believe in one of the main lies that Satan tells the followers of Jesus. And that is you're guilty. Have you heard him accuse you of that lately? You're guilty. It's one of the most effective weapons in his arsenal. Satan, our enemy, likes to bring up our mistakes and the failures of our past. Things you did this morning, things you said yesterday, something that you should have done and didn't do last week. He wants to bring up your promiscuity when you were in college, your use of pornography yesterday, things you did when you were a child, things done to you, when you were a child. All of those things and more, Satan loves to bring to your mind and say you're guilty. You're rotten. He'll remind you that you don't share your faith nearly often enough. That you've been unkind and arrogant and greedy and selfish and impatient and demanding and petty and deceitful. He'll suggest to you one moment that you're too passive and then in the next moment he'll accuse you of being too pushy. He'll point out your pride one moment and then your false humility the next. He'll give you no quarter. That's why I like that clip from the return of the Jedi. It's like he leaves you no way to win the argument if you get into a shouting match with him, just like he did with Luke Skywalker. He'll label you a coward in one breath and then nail you to the wall for getting angry in the next. Remember earlier, I said that one of Satan's names in the Bible is accuser. It says in Revelation 1210 that he's the accuser of the brothers who accuses Christians day and night. Think of Job, for example. When you open the book of Job in the Old Testament, you see this crazy setting in heaven. You see God and Satan together talking about Job. And God says to Satan, do you see my servant Job? He's a faithful man. I'm going to boast in him. He's an upright and blameless man, a man who fears God and shuns evil. That's what God tells Satan. And Satan, the accuser, says back to God. Really? Don't you understand God that Job fears you for a reason? Does he fear you for nothing? No. Stretch out your hand and strike everything he has and he'll surely curse you to his face, God. See, don't you know Job is totally in it for himself? He's such a selfish person. Why, the only reason he follows after you is to get your goodies. But if you take them away, God, you'll see him for his true colors. You'll see what Job is really made of. You hear that voice, don't you? You call yourself a Christian. You call, you think you love God. How could you be thinking the way you've been thinking lately? Why could you have said that? How could you have treated your friend that way? How could you be such a whatever? You fill in the blank. Those are the words of the enemy. So what do you say to him in those moments? If you've put your hope and trust in Jesus and if you are trusting in what he did for you on the cross, here's what you say the devil when he says you're guilty, you give him verse 10 of this text right here. You give him verse 10 and I hope you'll memorize it and give this to him because that verse says we have been made holy through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ once for all. Now let me remind you about the flow of this text, the flow of this whole book. The author in Hebrews 10 is once again contrasting the gospel with the law. The new covenant with the old because the people to whom he's writing this letter were tempted to renounce their faith in Jesus and get back under the Old Testament sacrificial system with its priests and its temple and its animal sacrifices, its rules, its regulations, its dues and its don'ts, its odds and its sheds. And the author says don't do that. Don't you get up under the Old Testament system because if you do, you'll always feel guilty. You're just asking for a guilty conscience. He says in verse 1, right at the opening, the second half of verse 1, he says the law can never make you perfect. Never. That is the old covenant system built on laws and rules can never make you complete or whole. It can never restore what you lost in the fall. It can never really, fully and finally take away your sins and the feeling of being dirty. You see that in verse 2, he says if it could, if it could do all those things, then wouldn't those animal sacrifices have ceased to be offered at some point? For the worshipers he says would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. No, the author is saying those animal sacrifices do nothing more than merely remind you of your incompleteness. You're guilt. But now he says Jesus has come. And by his one final and perfect sacrifice on the cross, you have been made. It says in verse 10, holy. That verb is in the perfect tense, which means it speaks of something that happened in the past, which has ongoing effects and benefits in the present and in the future. In other words, he's saying we have been made holy. It's true then. It's true now and it will be true tomorrow and forever through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now the key thing is what is holy mean because you and I often don't feel very holy, do we? It doesn't mean that you don't ever struggle with sin and temptation. It means that when God looks at you, he sees his son. You are robed, covered, wrapped up in his righteousness. You lack nothing. Yes, you messed up this morning. Yes, you sinned last week. And the week before that and the week before that and you're going to sin tomorrow, but it's not going to show up on your record ever. You are never and will never be called guilty by God. You are never and never will be punished for your sins if you're trusting in Jesus Christ because Jesus was punished for you. Jesus was declared guilty for you. He took the curse away from you so that you're clean. Whole, the word here is holy, set apart, considered beautiful and perfect. Look at verse 14. In fact, the word is perfect. Verse 14 by one sacrifice. Jesus has made perfect forever. Those who are being made holy. Now we'll get to the second half of that verse in just a moment, but right now focus on the first half. Jesus has made you perfect forever. Do you hear that? Are you listening? He's made you perfect forever. The word perfect means whole, complete, gorgeous, delightful, beautiful, acceptable. When God looks at you, he doesn't see sin or ugliness or rebellion or guilt. He sees a son, he sees a daughter, and he couldn't be more pleased. He considers you perfectly holy, not lacking anything. Theologians have a term for this. It's called definitive sanctification. The moment you turn from your idols and put your hope and trust in Jesus, you're complete. Not sinless, mind you, but as far as God is concerned, you're perfect. Now that's a paradox, isn't it? But it's a glorious paradox. So don't you dare argue with God when he says you've been made holy. Believer in Jesus when the devil says you're guilty. You are so guilty. You say to him, I'm dressed in the righteous robe of Christ, and I am not guilty. So the first lie you're going to hear is your guilty, and we've said what you do with it. Now let's go to the second lie that the devil will say to God's people, and that is you're never going to change. Okay, he'll probably grant, okay, I hear you. I know about sanctification, justification. I'll go with you, you're not guilty, you're righteous, but you've still got problems. You still are messed up, and you're never going to get any better. You know what the devil will say to you, say things like this, you're hopeless. You're struggling with unforgiveness. It's going to follow you to the grave. You're addiction to alcohol. You may as well give up. You're never going to see victory. Your marriage is beyond repair. You're too big a sinner. You'll never going to learn how to listen to your wife. You're never going to know how to appreciate your husband. You have a problem with masturbation. Forget it. Nobody can help you with it. Nobody wants to hear about that. At least of all God. You're problem with passivity. You're just a no good lazy bum. Let me tell you folks, that's the voice of the enemy. Remember John 844 that Jesus spoke. He is, that is the devil. He is a liar and the father of lies. The idea that you as a Christian are beyond hope and cannot change is a lie from the pit of hell. I love how Steve Brown always says, it smells like smoke. So how do you talk back to the devil when he looks at you? Points out your weaknesses and sins and frailties and says you're hopeless. You're beyond cure. No hope for you. You're never going to get any better. Okay, well, what do you do? You give him the second half of verse 14. Remember I said we would come back to verse 14. We looked at the first half, which said, by one sacrifice, he, Jesus, has made perfect forever. But look at the second half, those who are being made holy. Now I know here's a second paradox. Earlier I said it's a paradox that God considers you perfect, even though you continue to sin. Here's a second paradox. The second one is that even though you're already perfect in the sight of God, he is making you more and more and more holy every day. You say that makes no sense. That sounds very contradictory. Mike, can't you put those two together? No. I'm not going to try to resolve it for you. I'm just going to tell you that's what the verse says. It says you've arrived and you're still on the way to the destination. God has made you holy. He has set you apart. Looks at you says gorgeous. You're beautiful. And at the same time as he says that about you, he says, I'm going to make you better. I'm going to perfect you. I'm going to make you holy. That may be a mystery, but isn't it a glorious mystery? Notice that phrase being made holy. That verb is in the passive voice. It's talking about something that's being done upon you, something that's being done for you, something that's being done in you. You're being worked on and shaped and molded by a power greater than you. Who is that power? Bible says it's the Holy Spirit. Look at verses 15 and 16 of our text. The Holy Spirit testifies to us about this. This is the covenant I will make with them after that time says the Lord. I will put their laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. See the contrast the author is making here. Unlike the law, that is the law of the Old Testament which was written on tablets of stone and which said do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that. The Holy Spirit changes us from the inside out and gives us the power to do what the law never gave us the power to do. The law was cold and impersonal. Good, yes, but cold and impersonal while the gospel is warm and personal. Christianity, you see, and listen, if you are not one who has embraced the faith we call Christianity, you'll want to know this. Maybe nobody's ever told you this before. Christianity is not a religion of rules. It's not just about a set of behaviors. It's concerned with behavior. Yes, but it's a relationship that is about somebody else, a God who loves you coming to live inside you and change you and make you better. When my wife and I moved here, we rented a house a couple of years and then on the third year we lived here, we bought a home over in Eastwood. It was a home we loved when we saw it. We loved that home, but there were things about it we didn't like. We didn't like the carpet colors. We didn't like the colors on the walls. We didn't like the landscaping. We didn't like the fact that it didn't have a screen around the back porch and so what my wife and I did. I took a couple of weeks vacation and we painted all the walls, the colors we like, we changed out, ripped out the carpet, put some new flowers and plants in the flower bed, screened in the back porch. See, that's an illustration of what God does when he sees you. He loves you, but there are some things about you and me that he doesn't like and he wants to change. And so what does he do? He moves inside us. The Bible says that you're a house of God. You're a temple of the Holy Spirit. God himself comes to live inside you and he begins a renovation process that doesn't take two weeks, it takes a whole lifetime. It's a transformational process that God is involved in in your life right now and he's not going to give up. Philippians 1.6 says that it says he who began a good work in you began will carry it on to completion. All he asks is that you cling to Jesus, trust in Jesus, keep in step with the Spirit. Be sensitive to his prottings, allow God to bring conviction in your life if you step out of step with the Spirit and when you fail, when you fall as you most surely will and do. Get up, keep going, put your hand in the plow and say yes to God. That's what God asks, but he's going to make it happen. He will see to it that you get better. So when the devil says you're hopeless, when he says you're powerless and that you're not going to change, tell him this truth. Look him dead in the eye if you can and say enemy of mine and enemy of all that is good through the cross and by his Spirit Jesus is even now, even this moment, even when I'm at my very worst, he is making me holy. That's true. That's not a lie. First, you're guilty. I'm perfect. Second, you're never going to get any better. God is making me holy your third lie. Okay, Satan says, but you need more than just Jesus. Here's what I'm explaining. The devil will tell you, and those of you from a legalistic background, maybe a Roman Catholic background, you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about. The devil will suggest to you that you must do acts of penance to remain in God's favor to somehow, you know, stay with God in his love. The formula goes something like Jesus plus something equals salvation. You can fill in the blank with all kinds of things. Jesus plus having obedient, well-mannered children equals salvation, validation equals I'm in the inner circle now. People are going to like me. Look up to me. Jesus plus knowing the Bible well equals the favor of God. Jesus plus conquering my love of money equals fulfillment. Jesus plus being a campus crusade missionary equals I finally have significance. Jesus plus giving my money away to the poor equals righteousness. Jesus plus leading somebody to Jesus equals I've justified my existence. We could talk forever about all the fill in the blanks. All those things are great things to do. It would that we all might want to read the Bible more, give money away to the poor, and so on. But once you write anything in that blank, you've turned away from Jesus and the cross. Once you say, I have to do this because it makes me worthy. You have bought into the devil's lie and you've done what the Hebrew Christians were being tempted to do. Now in their case, it was going back to the old system of bringing animal sacrifices to the priest. I doubt anybody here is going to be tempted to do that. That's what their temptation was. As though doing that could somehow add to or supplement or replace or improve upon the work of Jesus. But I want you to notice verse 11 and here's where you'll be able to connect with these Hebrew Christians. Verse 11 says, day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties again and again, he offers the same sacrifices. Haven't you felt that way sometimes about your Christian life? Day after day, I have to be faithful with my Bible reading. If I skip a day, I've lost a few notches on God's scorecard. Again and again, I must think kind thoughts. I must say the right thing to my neighbor. I must recite my memory verse to my accountability partner because if I don't, I won't match up to the Christian standard of excellence. Notice again, verse 11, it speaks of the priest standing. Now this is something important. It says the priest is standing. Why does the priest stand? Well, it's because he's always doing his job. He's always doing his work. It's never done. But now look at verse 12. But when this priest, that is Jesus, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, what did he do? What did he do? He sat down. Jesus is not not standing, doing the work of his of a priesthood. He sat down at the right hand of God. Friend, that's why Christianity is not a system of rules and obligations and all of those kinds of things. Did you know that? Do you know why the Jehovah's Witnesses show up at your door? Do you think it's because they love you? No. It's because if they don't do that, they're not being good JWs. Do you know why Muslims pray five times a day after having washed themselves and facing the city of Mecca? It's because if they don't, they're unclean and they're not good Muslims. Did you know that that is obligatory upon a Muslim? That it is mandatory five times a day to wash themselves and find out where Mecca is and face it and pray? That's what it takes to be a quote good Muslim. Now look, is it good to pray five times a day? Absolutely. I wish I prayed five times a day. That would be great. But is Jesus enough if you pray four times a day? Two times a day? One time a day? What about never? Absolutely. Now you're thinking, Mike, you should not say stuff like this because if you do, don't be surprised. They won't even come to church. Jesus loves me. I'm just not going to do anything, et cetera. No, you don't get it. If that's how you're thinking, you don't get it. When you really understand free grace and the fact that the God of heaven and earth has owned you for his child, you will want to pray and you'll pray more than the good Muslims do and you'll want to give and you'll want to serve. And if you're having a problem praying, giving, serving, et cetera, I suggest you that the problem is you're not getting the gospel. You're not really getting Hebrews 10. So sit on it for a while, dwell in it, soak it up. And maybe you're not a believer in Jesus. Have you ever thought of that? Maybe you need to go to the cross today, say, I'm, Lord, I'm not getting it. I believe, I believe you died for me to make me your child. See, Christianity is not a system of rules and obligations and five prayers a day. The work is finished. There's nothing more to do if you are in Christ. The work has been completed by Jesus. You've probably heard this. Religion is spelled do, but Christianity is spelled do any done. It's done. The hymn we sang a couple weeks ago is called Jesus paid it all, not Jesus paid it some, not Jesus paid it mostly, not Jesus paid it all except what I've done. It's Jesus paid it all all to him. Oh, sin had left left a crimson stain and he washed it. Why does so next time Satan suggests that Jesus is not enough. Here's what you say to him. Jesus plus nothing equal salvation. And I'm resting in him. And all that he did on the cross and through the empty tomb and his ascension to heaven, that's my confidence on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Jesus plus nothing equals security. Jesus plus nothing equals God's love and God's approval. I think I've told you before about one of my idols success, but I'm not sure I've told you the story behind that title. So if you don't mind, I'm going to tell you a little story and kind of show you why success became such a big deal for me. When I was in high school, I was about 17. I was invited to come and give a little speech at my father's rotary club a luncheon. Now back then, rotary club meant a bunch of men sitting around smoking and eating lunch together. And they invited me to come to the rotary club and give a speech. I was real honored to do that. And so I did. I gave a little 15 or 20 minute talk. And I thought that was good. It went well. And I was about to sit down when the MC came over and said, Mike, we'd like to do a little Q&A with you. And so, okay, that was a shock to me. I wasn't expecting that Q&A time. I didn't know what that meant exactly. But somebody raised his hand and asked me a question. It was a question about my high school dress code. That was a big thing back then. Jeans, you know, all of that was kind of unheard of. So they wanted to know what I thought about my high school dress code. And I got to tell you, I was just struck with terror. I didn't know what to say. So I just started talking. And the more I talked, the drier my mouth got, the ratter my face got. I don't know what I said. I went all around the map. I just kept digging my whole deeper and deeper and deeper. It went on agonizingly too long. And then I stopped talking. And the room erupted in laughter. And I was just about, I wanted to run out of the room. Here were my dad and all of his cronies. And I looked over at my father, hoping to see, and instead I saw him laughing too. And on his face is a sneer. It's the best way I can describe it. A sneer. And I was crushed. And I walked out toward the car. And though I did not know I was doing this, I made an agreement with the devil right then and there. I agreed with the devil you what I screw up you are. You can't even answer a simple question. You're so incompetent. You're dumb. These are the voices I heard. And I made an agreement. I agreed with him right then and there. I agreed with him. And so you know what I said. I said, I'm never going to get caught unprepared again. I'm going to excel. I'm going to succeed next time. You'll see I'm going to do a lot better. And so you know what my idol became that day. A craving to be right. To be at my best. To be always prepared. And to be admired by other men. Let's call that success. And even as a pastor I find a fierce temptation to worship again and again at the idol of success. To find in competence and in skill and in people's adoration, the ground of my hope and confidence. But things began to change a couple years ago. I was in a small group out on the west coast, one of Dan Allenders' workshops as a matter of fact. And I identified for my small group that agreement that I had made and I shared it with him. And they began to help me break the vow I made to the devil and break my agreement with him. And since that time am I free of it? No, but I sure do know what freedom feels like and I feel a lot better than I ever did because I said to the devil, I am not guilty. There is hope for me and Jesus plus nothing equals the love of God. I guess what I want to tell you is that I went back and embraced that pimply faced, embarrassed 17-year-old. And I spoke to him and I said, you might have felt like it was a horrible day but God was looking at you smiling. A proving of you, just as I want you to know that if you're in Christ today, God is looking at you smiling, saying to you, you are so holy. You don't know the half of it. And the parts of you that you don't like, I'm going to make it better. And besides, Jesus plus zero equals, I love you. Rest in it. Rejoice in it. Enjoy it. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the fact of the truth that you have come through Jesus to give life to the dead, to give freedom to the captives, to give joy to those in sorrow, to give approval to those who felt that they were rejected, to welcome the worst offenders into your family. And Lord, my prayer is that if there is someone today who does not know this freedom, this grace, this unconditional love from you, Lord, may that person, however, whoever he or she is, old young, whatever, may that person run to the cross and realize in that cross that you've done it all. And help us today to take up our weapons of warfare and continue the fight, the fight of the faith against our enemy who keeps lying to us all the time. And we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.