Fellowship Baptist Church Unknown

There is no shortage of people and methods attempting to define God and Christ according to their own ideas. From the false sects who claim to be Christian such as the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses to the atheist who denies Him altogether- every single religion is a statement about the veracity of scripture and the power of God to save. Every single religion at its heart says something -even in silence or denial- about Jesus Christ. True Christianity also says something about Christ, and it says in echo, what God Himself has said. Christ is EVERYTHING- Christ is the very heart of all creation and the reason for its existence. God Himself tells us the center of all things is Jesus when He confirmed the priesthood of Jesus with an oath. His own vow, His own promise staking His name on the worth and truth of this man Jesus Christ.

There are two possible reactions to the truth of God- We will either believe and seek, or we will doubt and hide. Those who make up God according to their own imaginations, and those who deny his existence, and everything in between, choose the latter. It is the default position of mankind. Since God is Holy, we are not- our sin and our own innate knowledge of our filth means that we will not run toward the Holy One. That is, unless something outside of us compels and draws us. Apart from the mercy of God, we will all flee- But the working of God in us through Christ creates the opposite response. We press in, we lean in, we seek Him through whatever it is that we are facing and the result is the presence of God - This drawing near is the single most important thing we can possibly do, and it is the work of a lifetime to do it.

In the life of the mind, what we set our eyes upon shapes and aims the rest of our life. We seek and we search looking for that which we desire, that for which we hope. But all too often our hope is set upon the shallow, upon the passing, upon the flesh. These hopes that drive us on, are really just a longing for escape- but real hope is not built upon a desire away from- true hope is fashioned from a desire toward. And more, it is birthed from the power of God to fulfill its longing. It is fashioned out of the stuff of our soul's hunger. The scripture promises us that hope is the purview of those who are found in Christ, because hope is derived from and defined by His finished work on the cross. It supersedes all other desires, transmutes all other promises, transforms all other motives, and becomes that which both enlivens and guards the mind and life.

The book of Hebrews has been systematically demonstrating that the OT law is of NO VALUE to save us. Today we move forward and look at the reality that the Law has been fulfilled and its power over us annulled. It has not been temporarily set aside, to be revived at some later time when a temple of man's devising has been built. It is not on hold, it is not on pause. According to Scripture the law has been abolished. It no longer has the power to harm us, to condemn us for Christ was condemned on our behalf. We have been set free from the bondage of the law forever, and no one who ever comes to God will or has come because the law saved them. For the law has ALWAYS been powerless to save- --Galatians 2-16 says -knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law- for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.---The good news of the gospel is this- Jesus Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf and God accepted the payment. Therefore we are FREE-

We are shifting back to the argument that has been laid by the author of Hebrews regarding the superiority of Christ. Specifically over the Levitical priesthood. The groundwork has been carefully laid and the arguments honed to a fine point- and we must come to grips with the import of the whole structure. Jesus Christ is the ONLY path to salvation by His own declaration. But just as importantly, by the very nature of what He came and accomplished vs what the OT Levitical priesthood attempted and failed to provide.-Salvation is ONLY through Jesus Christ.

The final and perfect consummation of the gift of eternal life is hope. Hope answers the despair of the moment, it flows hand in hand with joy and finds its root firmly anchored in the shared victory over the grave which is ours because of the death and resurrection of Christ- The promise of scripture is that our lives are so profoundly connected to Him that His death becomes ours, and likewise, His eternal life is ours as well. So we look to the power of His resurrection as the hope of our lives, the hope of our purpose, the hope of our existence in every way. Christ has been raised and upon that fact stands the whole of all our hope-