Text: Hebrews 10:1-18
Topic: The effectiveness and scope of Christ's forgiveness of our sin

• Guilt runs rampant in the body of Christ.
• If you are a believer, hear me: you don't have to feel that guilt.

• First, before I go a step further, I want to say something to the unbeliever. You should feel guilt, because you have yet to take care of your sin.
• Let me offer a word of hope, though: the hope of forgiveness has been extended to you—but with a requirement.
• Hebrews 10:14
• A lot of people try to make Christian principles work before they become Christians. But there's always a prerequisite in the things Jesus gives to his disciples, and it is that you must be his disciple.
• A typical approach of what I would call American folk religion is to take wisdom set apart for members of the kingdom and apply it to the world.
  • Illustration: Brown tells a story about a man who tried to build a birdhouse using instructions on how to build a sailboat.
• You are forgiven, if you've accepted Christ.

• Second, I want you to note the reality of forgiveness.
• Hebrews 10:1
• The ideas in this verse are complicated, so let me give a simple explanation. The writer is using the thought forms of Plato.
  • Illustration: Brown explores Plato's theories of reality and shadows of reality (taught via Plato's cave myth theory).
• In a very sly way, the writer of Hebrews is using Plato's theory to say that the law—the sacrificial system—was the shadow, not the reality.
• No sacrifice of a lamb or a goat ever made anybody pure. But that sacrifice pointed to the sacrifice—the sacrifice of Jesus on a cross, vicariously bearing the sins of many.

• Third, I want you to note the remedy of forgiveness.
• Hebrews 10:9
  • Illustration: Brown shares a legal term, novation, which speaks of the substitution of one for the other.
• God abolishes the first, the law, in order to establish the second, Christ.
• Your forgiveness cost God his Son. It didn't come cheap. Jesus Christ died in your place on a cross.
  • Illustration: Brown punctuates this idea with a story from the Middle Ages about a noble who was declared free from going to war because someone went in his place.
• Christ said: I'm going to take your place. You should be the one hanging on the cross, but I'm going to take your place.
• A Christian is never flippant about sin, because we know what it cost. Jesus Christ died in our place on the cross.

• Fourth, I want you to note the reliability of forgiveness.
• Hebrews 10:12
  • Illustration: Brown tells a story from his days in seminary, when he was awarded an A that he didn't feel he deserved.
• If I tell you you're forgiven, that doesn't amount to a hill of beans. But if the One in authority tells you that you're forgiven, you are forgiven.
• The one in authority has declared you forgiven and free. It's an abomination to God to say you're not forgiven.

• Fifth, I want you to note the reach of forgiveness.
• Hebrews 10:14
• Christ has perfected me. He has taken my past, my present, and my future and forgiven it all.
  • Illustration: Brown shares a quote from Corrie ten Boom: "God takes our sins—the past, present, and future—and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says 'No Fishing.'"
• The problem is that Christians run around fishing all the time.
  • Illustration: Brown shares how as a father, his daughters will never do anything that he won't forgive.

• Finally, I want you to note the reminder of forgiveness.
• Hebrews 10:3
• In this verse, the writer of Hebrews is drawing from images of the sacrificial system.
• Every time the priest makes his trek up to offer a sacrifice for human sin, what do the people remember? Their sin.
• In verse 17, though, note the difference. God remembers no more. The sacrifice of Christ is not a reminder of your sin but a reminder of your forgiveness.
  • Illustration: Brown shares a humorous story about how a nun once asked God about the sins of the archbishop and God said, "I don't remember."
  • Illustration: A woman once shared with Brown that it's easier to hug a little kid covered in mud than a kid who isn't open to being hugged at all.
• You're probably muddy tonight. That's what it means to be fallen in a fallen world. But listen, Christian, you're forgiven at a great price. Remember the forgiveness, not the sin.